What can you tell me about the use of Pokemon in war? What were

>>32599433
>Were pokemon originally designed to be vague representations of their species before they became very specific creatures that we see in the show and games?

http://www.glitterberri.com/pokemon-red-blue/game-freak-staff-interview/creating-the-pokemon/

According to this interview, the first Pokemon created were for preforming certain tasks in the game world,. The idea of typing wasn't in place yet so the designs tended to be more dinosaur like. I don't think there was ever much variation within species however.

>>32599461
That's pretty interesting. I kind of expected as much. I always like looking back on the early concept art of Pokemon and wondering what that early world was like.

The reason I'm asking all of these specific questions is that I'm working on my own monster breeding concept and while I was thinking about the actual setting and the world of Pokemon, I realized that I wanted to know more about these specific topics.

I understand that Pokemon is "just a kid's franchise" or whatever, but after a certain amount of success and building upon a setting to this degree, the writers have a certain duty of filling people in on the specifics of how their world works. Fans can be forced to speculate too, and that's just as interesting.

>>32599496
Yeah, I definitely agree that dismissing pokemon as just a kid's franchise overlooks the effort put into the games. If memory serves, the development of the games started in 1990 and took six years to complete nearly bankrupting Game Freak in the process.

File: 1457005226490.png (66KB, 141x392px) Image search: [Google]

66KB, 141x392px

I'm going to bump this thread once before I head off to take a nap. I'd really like to discuss some of these topics with you guys.

A lot of these are speculation and can only be answered by headcanons.

We know Pokemon have fought and died in wars. We don't know if they fought in the same way they fight in trainer battles, where pokemon only faint.

Early pokeballs were made out of apricorns and resembled modern pokeballs. No idea how they worked without a PC system, probably arcane magic.

We do not know what political system is in place. We do not even know if the regions are one country or not, as there is evidence to support both theories. We have not seen any government figures, we do not know if the pokemon league is supposed to replace the government. We know institutions like police and pokemon-exclusive hospitals and markets exist, but how and where they get their funding from is a total mystery.

The pokeworld does not have a central religion in place in the modern times. Most regions have regional legends and myths, but they are passed down like stories and less like religious texts. In the case of Alola, you have local deity worship. In Sinnoh, you have a church-like building that does not worship anything in particular. You have monks and priests preaching select buddhist and taoist ideals, and then you have outright magical people like psychics and shamans. The whole approach to religion is tied up in a shinto flaver, with some emphasis on deities but a larger one on morals and maintaining a good standard of living.

File: samuel_oak_pokeball.jpg (66KB, 600x480px) Image search: [Google]

66KB, 600x480px

I think this is the oldest shown pokeball within the franchise discounting apricot ball. Interesting to note it opens like locker.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1DWzqUbJE8

File: Pokemon war.jpg (89KB, 700x394px) Image search: [Google]

89KB, 700x394px

>What can you tell me about the use of Pokemon in war?

Basically used as weapons, as shown in XY. Lt. Surge also mentions being saved by his Raichu during the war in RBY.

>What were early and "proto" Pokeballs like?

The anime (inb4 not canon, still the only official material to shows older pokeballs) shows ancient pokeballs and how pokeballs worked when Oak was a kid.

>What sort of political system is set in place in the Pokemon setting?

Has never been touched upon.

>What religion do the people of the Pokemon setting follow?

The only "religion" shown so far in the series is Arceus related. There's a church dedicated to worshipping it in Sinnoh.

>>32599940

>We know Pokemon have fought and died in wars
>We don't know if they fought in the same way they fight in trainer battles, where pokemon only faint

I sense a contradiction here

There's a theory that says that humans are Pokemon in their own particular type, whose primary ability allows them to command other Pokemon. Until the invention of Pokeballs, people probably just had one or two Pokemon that they had pal along with them. Pokemon were probably used more like mounts and strategic weaponry; so only the really strong or very specialized.

The Pokemon League itself seems to function kinda like a cross between a governing sports organization and a League of Nations sort of thing, that, it seems you have to, as a country, join the PML and it establishes particular rules to follow. On Alola, almost everyone only carries no more than 3 Pokemon because of Island Traditions AND it not being part of the Pokemon League.

The only concrete religion we see in the games is the Poke-Shintoism practiced in Shinnoh.

The original writer of the show apparently wanted to reveal that Pokemon were an invasive species from another dimension

>>32600024
We know that moves, even super strong ones like hyper beam, only result in fainted pokemon that a quick trip to a center can fix. We don't know if the same hyper beam can be used to kill. Games don't operate on nuzlocke laws.

>>32600110

Pokemon can control how strong or weak their moves are. The ones used in official battles aren't strong enough to kill, because killing the opponents' Pokemon is probably against the rules and very illegal.

Thanks for the discussion, guys. It's a lot of stuff to think about.

If anyone has any interesting headcanon stuff that they would like to share, I'm all ears. I can use any info on the project I'm working on.

>>32602438
There's an ongoing fanfic that treats the Pokemon setting more realistically than usual:
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9794740/1/Pokemon-The-Origin-of-Species

Writing quality is bad at first but improves as the author gains experience. Also: educational content warning. This was inspired by Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, so you might hate it already.

>>32599496
>writers have a certain duty of filling people in on the specifics of how their world works.

Geez, talk about entitled assholes that must be spoon fed everything...

File: tmp_6132-Secret-Mission254428206.jpg (49KB, 400x220px) Image search: [Google]

49KB, 400x220px

>>32599433
>What can you tell me about the use of Pokemon in war?

Pokemon saved my life during the war.

>>32603515
Why are you trying to pick an argument? I'm just trying to hear peoples thoughts regarding the stuff that the show and games don't cover.

>>32603488
That sounds pretty awful, story-wise. But I would be interested to see what sort of stuff they have to say about such a setting.

>>32599461
>>32599496
youre both pretty stupid. it is well know pokemon was based on the idea of catching and collecting bugs. thats what the jap creators said about it.

>>32604378
>paraphases an interview with people who worked on the game
>that's wrong

File: Pokemon+war+eh+this+is+the+war+that+killed_f7b200_4956183.gif (1MB, 500x281px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 500x281px

pokewar looks like this

Context: they are fighting over which version is better, red or green, in the beginning of the movie "Lukario and the Monastery of Few"

File: 1171ba3df1e2756ffadd48034eb24fbdcd329c24_hq.jpg (18KB, 485x266px) Image search: [Google]

18KB, 485x266px

I posted this in a similar thread at some stage, but based on this frame I think it's relatively to safe to assume humans fought on the frontlines alongside pokemon in old time wars, which also means they can viably kill them with swords/iron age weapons to some degree. I can only imagine what guns do to most of them.

Granted, pokemon themselves are obviously capable of some pretty destructive shit. It's interesting (and probably nonsensical) that they are pictured fighting side by side, because you'd think it'd make more sense to just send out pokemon against each other and keep human casualties to a minimum.

>>32605535
That's completely my headcanon but what if the pokemon who fought were belonging to the soldiers and during the battles their trainers-soldiers were needed to command them (to use their abilities in the most efficient way) but it also recquired the trainers to be beside them in order for the mons to hear them. But, as humans couldn't kill the pokemon with their weapons they could kill the opposing trainer to make their pokemon less skillful in battles. Hence the armor, weapons etc.