h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yeah, I agree.. So it really does just throw the whole game and anime coinciding thing further out of the window.

Although your idea is plausible, if not somewhat difficult to pull off. That would involve each Gym Leader having a hell of a lot of Pokémon.. Although looking at the Cerulean Gym as an example, they have quite a lot of different Pokémon there. The battles wouldn't be so rigid and structured as in the games, since they can use different Pokémon.

.. Actually, the more I type out, the more I can see it working. I don't see them having levels and having Pokémon AT designated levels, but I see some Pokémon being used a lot more than others. Perhaps if a trainer was unsure or had failed a Gym battle already (assuming their battle record would be registered), the Gym may use slightly easier Pokémon for the first Gym or two. Not all the way since that would give them false preparation for the Pokémon League. But at least to wean the trainer into the whole Pokémon world.

Well, why shouldn't a Gym have dozens of Pokemon? There's gotta be hundreds at Oak's place, so why not?

Besides, presuming three Pokemon teams, all you'd need is a Level 5, 10, 15, and so on up to Level 50. Twenty teams of three is sixty Pokemon. Round up a bit to account for variables, but it's still not THAT many.

Yeah, that's fair enough.. I'd say about space purposes, but I guess that as long as they let every Pokémon out every day, it wouldn't be so much of an issue.

Mind you, Oak is devoted to research, so it's kind of more understandable in his role for him to have hundreds of Pokémon in a large amount of space. It'd be VERY hectic for a Gym to do battles, AND give a large amount of Pokémon the nurturing that they'd receive at the lab.

Well, I sort of got the feeling that Oak is sort of like Dr. Doolittle in that the Pokemon like him so much that they CHOOSE to live with him. Thus I presume that he has one of the largest private Pokemon collections in the world.

Another possibility is that Gym Leaders maintain country houses elsewhere, with assistants posted there to train the young Pokemon and give the older ones a place to retire in. These could also double as the place they spend my hypothetical week of "vacation" a month in.

You know, those are all some very good theories! Although on top of his Dr. Doolittle guise, he obviously has the Pokémon of other people due to his position as the highly respected researcher of the Kanto region.

Although it does make me wonder if other trainers originating from other regions send their Pokémon to the respective Pokémon researcher. I'd guess so.

Your idea of the assistants also makes sense - kind of like the other trainers working under the Gym Leader in the games. They have to do SOMETHING to keep a job going for a Gym, right?

The anime sort of indicates that each region has its own resident Pokemon Professor that specifically sets aside a part of his/her time to aid the Pokemon Trainers originating in that region. This is most likely a volunteer position. And since Ash's Pokemon are not transferred to a Johto or Hoenn equivalent, I'm guessing that for experienced Trainers at least, it's probably a matter of preference.

Yeah, that's what I would think.. Although I think that every trainer would be registered with the professor from their own region (like Ash and Gary went on their first day to get their Pokémon, Pokédex and Pokéballs). Thus the Pokémon would only go to that professor.

I'd think that the professors would have to get paid something for their research. But in the case of trainers, it goes hand in hand since the professors need Pokémon to research, and the trainers need somewhere to keep the Pokémon they don't take along with them.

I'd hope that the government at least pays for all of the Pokechow and water that Professor Oak has to be using on a daily basis. In addition, although we've seen that Pokemon can live on Pokechow, they must prefer real fruits every once in awhile.

This raises an interesting question: are Pokemon vegetarian? Even Plant-type Pokemon are essentially animals that merely look like plants. This also leads into the question of whether people eat Pokemon. Most commentators assume that the answer to both questions is yes.

I'm sorry, that's wrong. No and yes. I'm fairly certain we've seen Meowth eat meat.

One last point on the professors, and something I found quite interesting.. I don't know if it was touched upon in the anime, but having restarted Pokémon Crystal today (not my favourite of the generation - although it is the best generation of the games in my opinion - but it's the only version I have where the battery still works!), it seems that the individual professors have their own unique talents. Mr. Pokémon gave me the Mystery Egg and told me to take it back to Elm, since he was the "authority" on such things, a fact that even Oak (present in Mr. Pokémon's house) would acknowledge.

So I thought that was pretty interesting that each professor has their own specialised area of research as opposed to being all general. Oak has the Pokédex, and Elm looks into things like Eggs and evolution.

As for the "do Pokémon eat meat" question.. I would imagine that like real animals, there are some Pokémon that are herbivores, some carnivores, and some omnivores. The Pokémon do like to eat fruit (Pikachu choked on an apple in one episode by eating it whole, and the Pokémon in the games love berries and all - assumedly the same for the anime). They do like the food, of course, but wild Pokémon wouldn't be able to get their paws on man-made foods.

Meowth has eaten meat at least once in the Indigo League to my recollection. I would imagine wild Meowth to perhaps go after small Pokémon such as Rattata and Pidgey. Any Pokémon that doesn't have a type advantage to endanger it (ie, other Normal types) seems quite logical.

People may possibly eat Pokémon, but from what the anime seems to put across, there seem to be real-world animals coinciding with the Pokémon, although we never see these. What Pokémon would even be edible? I could see Magikarp (although there wouldn't be much to eat on it), and possibly Goldeen.. But meat-wise, I don't honestly know!

Most discussion on the topic that I see seem to point specifically at Tauros as a beef substitute. However, the poultry substitute seems to fluctuate based on opinion.

I keep returning to the question of "who pays for all of the food, lodging, medical care, etc. that Pokemon Trainers use?" In the games we get money from defeating other Trainers, but that hardly seems plausible. If you're spending money on food, how can you give it to people who defeat you? A system like this would quickly lead to a pyramid that elevates people like Ash into lives of luxury while denegrating everyone else into abject poverty. I can sort of understand government-sanctioned Pokemon Centers providing services (no discussion on socialism, please), but even Pokemon centers couldn't possibly afford to provide groceries to Trainers as they leave. Brock usually has a supply of thinks like milk and soup to supplement anything they forage from the forest.

I suppose that since Brock and Misty aren't "official" Trainers, they may get a share of the allowance allotted to their native Gyms to pay for their needs (ditto for Max). Not sure who pays for Tracey. I suppose that there could be law that makes vendors sell things to Trainers at cost. Thus Ash could get a minimal allowance from his mother for his needs. Then again, perhaps Ash gets nothing at all to eat except at a Center, and thus leads a life of relative luxury because he has two Gym Leaders with him to pay for his food instead of forcing him to use his Pokemon to forage in the wild.

Well, I finally opened the time capsule. That is, I've updated my Favorite Things list on My Space. I was fully prepared to leave things as is, but then I noticed, no Yu-gi-oh! That game is still a major component of my free time. It's scary to think that far back. A time when I'd never heard of Yu-gi-oh. Or Ranma 1/2, for that matter.

Hey wow.. Sailormoon made the list, huh? Awesome. I just updated mine to say it was STILL pending, and honestly it probably will continue to be, haha.

I can see Tauros being a (somewhat vicious) beef substitute. Perhaps an equivalent to buffalo meat of sorts. There is Miltank after all that's an actual cow!

I could see the Government or whoever paying Gym leaders to be able to reward trainers who defeat them.. Perhaps paying each Gym by means of commission depending on how many battles they win or lose as to how much they get for paying trainers and what have you.

Otherwise the initial bulk of money may have to come from the parents of the trainer or what have you. Trainers may perhaps place money wagers or bets on their battles, but I don't see paying a large sum to the winner as compulsory.

In regards to Brock/Misty, I always consider them leaders regardless of what other relations they have at their respective Gyms. They're pretty much just on extensive leave (with the exception of Misty going back to Cerulean Gym). This would probably entitle them to money from their respective Gyms, as long as they could still be seen as doing work for them (out on the road training as an inclusive). They can probably get perks in shops with the proper identification (like how Brock showed Viridian City Jenny the Pewter Gym badge as proof of being a good citizen).

As for Tracey? Undoubtedly, Oak probably has him registered as an apprentice at his Lab, thus covering costs for him (much like the aides at any other professor's Lab).

Yeah, but what about Tracey before he joins Oak? I suppose the only answer is that he IS a Trainer, since he has Pokemon and all, but he just doesn't pursue badges. Perhaps it's similar to the Pokemon Contest system: as long as you're improving and actually learning something, you can have Pokemon and use Pokemon Centers.

Regarding Miltank, people have said that they're too valuable for milk to be used as beef.

I doubt that Trainers in the anime give money to people that beat them. I don't think we've seen Ash with anything more than pocket money for the odd ice cream cone or something.

I remember Brock using his badge now, but 1. Why is he carrying around badges away from the Gym and 2. How is his badge (meaning "I work at Pewter City Gym") different from Ash's badge (meaning "I defeated the Pewter City Gym Leader")?

It's probably simply a matter of "Trainers can get stuff essentially at cost" and "The government will pay for most essentials."

Well, it's just a case of how one defines "trainer". Tracey classes himself as a "watcher", so I'd suppose that everyone who works closely with Pokémon as their primary occupation (be it trainer, researcher, watcher), in other words a vocation that leaves no time for a non Pokémon-related job.. Would entitle a person to some sort of Government-based income.

I can see that with Miltank, although like actual cows I suppose some could be bred for milk while others are bred for meat.

There must be some sort of distinguishing feature about an official Gym Leader's badge to say that they're a leader and not just another trainer. Not that it was animated, but I think that leaders should have something that would say that they're the actual leader.

Maybe Leaders carry around larger versions of their Badges that sort of act as wallets for the actual Badges. You know, open it up like a cigarette case and there are Badges inside. Of course, Brock held up a regular Badge, so that theory doesn't really fly.

More and more I wonder about this "Trainers start at the age of ten" thing. I'd say Ash started at twelve. That seems more reasonable, anyway. Let's say Misty started at fourteen and Brock at sixteen. Furthermore, I hope we don't equate one anime year to one real year. Didn't we sort of agree that Kanto was a year, Orange Islands was a summer, Johto was a year (maybe a year and a half, tossing in Whirl Islands), Hoenn was a year, and now we're in the fourth or fifth year of his journey?

So, how long can these kids be Trainers before they have to stop? Stop going on Pokemon Journeys, I mean. Presumably you can always have Pokemon.

That's plausible, but then there was that episode where Misty had to get badges and they were only in a wooden box. Mind you, they could just transfer them from that to the case. I just think that there's got to be something distinctive to identify them as the leaders.. Mind you, I'm sure that most of the people really tied in with Pokémon (like Nurse Joy, Officer Jenny et al) would be aware of the Gym Leaders.

.. That doesn't stop all the Nurse Joys freaking out about Brock though, haha.

I do believe that we did confirm that each season wasn't equal to a year. Orange Islands really wasn't that long, and Johto seemed to go on for a heck of a long time.

As for trainers? I don't know that there would be an age limit.. There are plenty of adult trainers around, after all. It almost seems like Pokémon Trainer is a career choice and that people go around for as long as they want until they can't handle it any more. Some people quit out really early, and others go exploring all over the world.

I do wonder about education though.. I can't see Ash going out and getting any sort of halfway decent job once he gets too old for training, what with lack of school education.

I'm trying to think about the oldest person I've seen as a challenger in an official Gym battle or at League Tournaments. Jesse and James seem to be pushing the envelope, and they gotta be early twenties by now.

If we'd ever seen Misty or Brock with a Pokedex, I'd just say that Gym Leader status was part of the certification. I seem to recall Dexter saying once "this Pokedex is registered to Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town" or something like it. So if Misty had one it could say "This is Misty Waterflower (or whatever). She has Gym Leader status" or whatever.

I think we've covered the "Misty's last name" thing, and I think the summation is "why CAN'T it be Waterflower?" I understand to a point that we don't want the little kids getting confused by having too many last names to remember. However, major sidekicks and Team Rocket members that are in hundreds of episodes really should have them. "I'm Brock Whatever, and I'm a Pokemon Breeder." Plus we've seen James' parents, and a last name really should've come into play. And if Jesse was in Pokemon Nursing School, so "Miss Whatever" should've been used there, too.

I'm sure that in the Indigo League, there were quite a few older trainers. The Astounding Mandy HAD to be somewhat older than Ash, possibly the same age or a little older than Jessie and James.

I don't think that Leaders are presented with Pokédexes; it's only the trainers who get Pokémon from a Professor. Of course they may have been trainers BEFORE becoming Leaders (although both Brock and Misty's Gyms seem to be family-run affairs), but unless a trainer gets a certified official Pokémon from a Professor, they can't get a Pokédex.

That would of course bring up the question about what would happen if one ended up in Ash's situation in Viridian City with no sort of ID. There are all sorts of "unofficial" trainers as it were, after all (take AJ and Samurai as examples), trainers who don't appear to be endorsed by the Pokémon League to travel for badges.

I think that it was more that they never bothered to establish surnames for the other characters. Except Tracey. And hearing "my name's Tracey Sketchit, and I'm a POH-KAY-MON WATCHER" all the time was a little grating, at least to me. Whether the others HAD surnames in the original, I don't know.. But thing is, is even if the characters DID have last names, kids probably wouldn't care. They have enough to remember with nearly 500 Pokémon around as it is.

I wonder why Gym Leaders wouldn't have Pokedexes. Regardless of whether they were ever Trainers, that's still a lot of Pokemon to keep track of. Plus we've seen Pokedexes serve a multitude of other uses.

Okay, here's a new (I think) topic: how come Ash only had a Pokegear (and that one borrowed) in the third movie? Is it not standard equipment for a Johto trainer? I suppose it would make things too easy on a weekly basis to have instant contact with civilization.