A high level of nostalgia means that this year my chosen theme for the 2016 A to Z challenge is Pokemon. Whether you yourself have a similar level of sentimentality or you’ve never really gotten into it, I hope that you enjoy this month of posts as I indulge myself.
P! The letter for everything Pokemon! Practically everything can have Poke- added to the front of it in this world, so there was a heck of a lot to choose from for today’s letter! I did, in the end, manage to get it narrowed down though, to two important aspects of the Pokemon world – The Professors and the Pokedex.
We’ve touched a little on Pokemon Professor’s before. They’re an expert on Pokemon in the region in which they live, there is often only one Professor per region (although they tend to have assistants and can travel around) and they are often the first person that you as a brand new trainer meet, responsible for giving out your very first Pokemon and the Pokedex!
As well as helping new trainers out, they also have an area of research that they focus on. It would be pretty unusual to be called a Professor otherwise. This research will of course involve Pokemon in some fashion, but each of the Professor’s has a different topic that they specialise in.
Rowan, Elm, Sycamore, Oak, Juniper, (Ivy), Birch
There are six Professors from the ‘core’ series, one for each region (and of course there are others in side games and the anime).
- Professor Oak, Kanto, studies the relationship between Pokemon and humans
- Professor Elm, Johto, studies Pokemon breeding patterns
- Professor Birch, Hoenn, studies Pokemon habitats
- Professor Rowan, Sinnoh, studies Pokemon evolution
- Professor Juniper, Unova, studies the origins of Pokemon
- Professor Sycamore, Kalos, studies Mega Evolution
Of course, they do publish some of their work, and if you can get your hands on a copy of Pokemon Researchers Monthly, you can find exciting articles such as “Pokemon adaptive variation as a function of regional distribution” or “Challenges facing anthro-Pokemon global co-habitation”.
And as already stated, the Professors are the people who give you your Pokedex, which is a very key part of the games, the anime, and the Pokemon world! Originally created by Professor Oak, in the very first game, and every game afterwards, you are given a Pokedex with the goal of completing it.
The Pokedex is a handheld electronic device which is designed to record and retain information on every Pokemon that is encountered by the trainer. This can be when a trainer meets a Pokemon in the wild, meets the Pokemon of another trainer, or sometimes even seeing a picture of it (mostly for legendary Pokemon this one). Basic information is recorded upon meeting a Pokemon, but detailed information is not stored until the trainer either catches the Pokemon, trades for the Pokemon, or acquires it in some other fashion. Detailed information includes a few sentences describing the Pokemon, habitat and wild activities of the Pokemon, height, weight, cry, footprint, history, anatomy, and of course, a picture.
One of the goals of the games is to attempt to get a complete Pokedex. Of course, with every generation that gets released, that gets a little bit harder. But since Pokedexes are only ever given to a few exception trainers, or those with exceptional potential, I always feel like I owe it to the Professor to at least try and encounter as many Pokemon as I can, even if I don’t catch them all.
But, you know, since the catch phrase of the entire Pokemon world is ‘Gotta catch em all’, I generally at least attempt to catch quite a number of Pokemon, even if I don’t end up using them. That, and I am a completionist at heart.
Pokemon of the Day
P is for Pikachu.
Pikachu is a short yellow rodent Pokemon, with long pointed ears, a lightning bolt tail, and two red circles on its cheeks, which is where it stores electricity. In the wild, Pikachu live in groups in forested areas, and it uses its electricity to roast berries before eating them. It can unleash varying degrees of electrical energy, absorb energy from both human and natural sources, cause lightning storms when in large groups, and although it is classed as a quadruped, it can walk on its hind legs as well.
Of course P is for Pikachu. Pikachu is the official mascot of the Pokemon franchise, Ash’s only permanent team member in the anime, and it was even the special starter for the original Yellow game. In the anime, Ash shows up late on his first day as a trainer, and because of that, he gets Pikachu instead of the usual starters. They have a rocky start, but eventually they become fast friends, and you never see them far from each other. Pikachu doesn;t like being in it’s Pokeball either, so he’s usually out either walking or riding on Ash. To mirror this, in the Yellow game, the Pikachu you get follows you around as well, walking behind you for the whole game. it also refuses to evolve, much like Pikachu did in the anime. Either way, I remember having Yellow as my original game, and my own Pikachu got ridiculously strong, because I basically didn’t use many other Pokemon. Why would I need to? I have my tiny yellow mouse! Although these days I have other favourites, but that happens when they keep bringing out new ones.
Princess of Dragons 