reynard531

Created 06/29/13

So now we can move onto Dark types. Out of all the types in the Pokemon franchise, the Dark type may be the hardest to classify in a realistic sense. Most of the types are easy to figure out, since most of them specialize in using specific things as weapons. Or you have things like Ghost types that get their name because they resemble what we think of as ghosts. But what about Dark types?

The general idea, from the game side of things, is that Dark types are supposed to look evil and menacing. But on the more realistic, story side of things, appearance can't be the only factor in declaring a whole new Pokemon type. Pokemon types would be part of a classification system. You need more than that. Besides, a Pokemon can be intimidating and nasty and not necessarily a Dark type. Take Gyarados. That thing is a creature of nightmares.

Stat wise, Dark types only have above average attack. That could tell us something about what they may be like as animals. Also, many of the Dark type attacks revolve around trickery and status effects, things like poison and other status effects that weaken enemies. These Pokemon clearly like to play dirty. And I think that too says a lot about what the pure Dark type characteristics are.

Okay, so we have established that the common strategy of Dark types is using tricks and dirty tactics. What does that imply? Why do they feel the need, as a type, to use that sort of strategy? Why don't they just go into direct combat? I think the implication here is that they can't.

This implies that the bodies of pure Dark types are not made for endurance or stamina. They can't take hits very well, and they don't have the energy for sustained combat, and deep down, they know it, even if they won't admit it. Knowing this, they use tricks and other dirty tactics to throw off their opponents or weaken them, making them easier to beat and avoiding direct one on one combat. This also works with their stats. They only have above average attack, so they like to hit opponents hard and fast so they don't really have to fight too hard.

This explains their weakness to Fighting type attacks. Fighters hit very hard. So if a Fighting type managed to connect a blow with a Dark type, the weaker Dark type body, not built to endure attacks, would be hurt much more. It's like the Florida manatee. They have very dense bones, but the design of their ribs is such that if you apply pressure from a particular direction (like the kind from being hit by a boat), their ribs actually become some of the weakest of all animals because they will break so easy.

Now let's get onto the relationship between Dark types and Psychic types. Psychic types are supposed to be weak to Dark type attacks, and Psychic type attacks do not affect Dark types. Why is that? It may be something similar to my Psychic/Bug theory.

Dark types may have brains that are developed in such a way that they can actually resist psychic assaults. These would be attacks aimed at paralyzing or controlling the body, or messing with the mind, like Disable, Confusion, or Amnesia. This would not count for attacks like Psybeam or Barrier. Dark type brains may not be developed enough to employ psychic powers like the Psychic types, but they are strong enough to defend against mental intruders.

These developments, along with the fact that they use deceptive tactics, would imply that Dark types, like Psychics, possess above average intelligence. And the reason their attacks work better on a Psychic type is simple. Because a Psychic type can't stop the Dark type from attacking (aside from things like Barrier of course), they are more vulnerable to those attacks.

Now let's talk about Ghosts. Dark types hurt Ghosts and resist their attacks. Why is that? Well, considering that some Dark types have attacks that look like energy attacks, perhaps Dark types also have some capacity to manipulate dark energy and/or dark matter, like I proposed with Ghost types. They can't manipulate it to the extent where they can be intangible like Ghost types, but you see the point. This ability would explain their ability to resist Ghost type damage. This might also explain why they can hurt Ghost types, because they can fight on their level, sort of, or something like that.

Their weakness to Bug types may be similar to Psychic types, in that Bug type bodies are difficult to use their usual tricks on.

In general, it seems like the Dark type would be some sort of intermediate between the Psychic and the Ghost type. They possess weak bodies like Psychics, and they also possess mental developments to resist Psychic attacks and greater intelligence. But they don't have enough to just use psychic powers as a weapon. And like Ghost types, they seem to be able to manipulate some of the same forces Ghosts can, but not enough to be Ghosts. So the Dark type is a hybrid of both.

Also, Dark types are probably nocturnal (may have been a reason for the name in universe), and given their love of tricks, they may not be gifted with the most pleasant dispositions (similar to Gyarados. Not to typecast, but it seems like the Gyarados species as a whole are not happy Pokemon. Then again, they have issues since they get laughed at by everyone and everything as Magikarp.)

EDIT: Created 06/28/13

Okay, now let's go into Psychic types. But first, what does "psychic" even mean? The word is used so many different ways. Shawn Spencer of Psych may not be a real psychic, but he pretends to be one, and claims to hear spirits, get visions, or whatever else, and everyone accepts all that as "I'm psychic". Alice Cullen of Twilight can see into the future, and the author, fans, and non-fans all call her psychic without any problem. Then you have psychic powers as displayed by the X-Men, who move objects with their minds. So "psychic" is actually a vague word. Is it talking to spirits, seeing visions, predicting the future, moving objects?

So let's define the word. I'm going to give the definitions used by those that actually believe in the existence of psychic powers. Whether or not you think it's true, this is how they say it works, and it is useful for understanding.

Psychic phenomenon break down into two categories, extra sensory perception (ESP) and psychokinesis (PK). ESP is about acquiring information in ways beyond the five senses. This includes precognition, or seeing the future. This also includes things like clairvoyance. Clairvoyance is French for clear seeing, and involves getting information and having that information interpreted through the sense of sight into visions. It is still beyond the normal five senses in that these visions are not of things right in front of you. Also note that it is only interpreted through the visual sense, there is no sound or anything else. This is in contrast to its sister of sorts, clairaudience, French for clear hearing. This is the same thing, but only through sound. I believe ESP would also include telepathy.

PK is about moving objects with the mind, like telekinesis, as demonstrated in the X-Men or Matilda. Also, if you watched Superman the animated series, you may remember Volcana. She had "pyrokinesis", the ability to start and control fires. Things like  that would be PK too.

The main difference between the two is explained with a radio metaphor. ESP is like a radio receiver. It takes in information about the world, but doesn't put out information. PK is like a radio transmitter. It sends out signals into the world, shakes up the world around it, but it doesn't take in. A person can have forms of ESP, PK, or both.

Now, a Psychic Pokemon would be a creature that has adapted itself to use psychic powers to both defend itself and hunt prey. Since Psychic attacks are used to effect other creatures, those abilities would fall under PK, so Psychics have that type of ability by default. And since many of them are capable of telepathy, I would say that there is a capacity for ESP too. ESP just isn't all that workable for offense and defense. Though some species, like Natu and Xatu, can see into the future, so they have developed a greater capacity for ESP.

Now because Psychic types have developed such strong mental abilities, it is not unreasonable to say that there are differences in their brains to accommodate those abilities. In particular, you would be looking at differences, or just much greater development, in the frontal lobe of the brain. The parts of the brain in different points of the skull roughly correspond to the complexity of functions. So if you start at your face and move back, the further back you go, the more primitive the functions controlled by the corresponding parts of the brain. the frontal lobe is for all higher level functions like thought, emotion, judgement, personality, so on and so fourth. If you had a naturally psychic creature, this is where the changes would be.

Greater development of the frontal lobe would also correspond to a higher average intelligence for psychic types. Not that Pokemon are stupid. They are not. They think on the same level as humans. But the average intelligence of psychics would be above even the average for other Pokemon. One reason humans are different is that we have a much more developed frontal lobe.

And because Psychic types have developed their mental powers so much, it is not unreasonable to say that their bodies are not very developed. Their resistance to Fighting type attacks makes sense because, as TV Tropes put it, Psychic types use their powers to attack the vulnerable minds of fighters. They would also use their powers to control their bodies.

This means that Psychic types don't really have any natural resistance to Fighting type attacks per say. They resist damage because their powers allow them to stop or avoid those attacks. However, because their bodies aren't as developed, if a Fighting type did manage to land a blow on a Psychic type, it would do a large amount of damage.

Their resistance to psychic attacks make sense, because it's their own type of weapon, so like how Water types resist their own type, Psychic types too can take what they dish out.

Their weakness to Ghost types can be explained by the odd nature of Ghost types. There is something about their minds that resists psychic manipulation. Or maybe it is their bodies that are hard to manipulate.

Their weakness to Bug is an odd one. My theory is that perhaps there are some differences in the brain structures of Bug types. These small differences are unique to Bug types, and so they throw off your average Psychic type. If psychics like to invade the brain, then they are used to brains with certain structures. They are familiar, and a psychic can walk in, look around, and if they have practiced their powers (like they should) they can go "okay, the muscles controls should be right over here, and memory should be right here, and consciousness should be right over there."

If Bug type brains have small differences, it creates an unfamiliar area, which makes it hard for a Psychic to get their usual grip. It confuses them. This leaves them open to Bug type attacks. That's why I think Bug types hurt them.

As for their weakness to Dark types, I think I would rather save that for my discussion of Dark types, which I will get to soon. But before Dark types, I want to get into Ghost types next.

EDIT: Also created on 06/24/13.

I seem to be on a role today with typing these out, so I thought I would keep going with this, how Pokemon types work. This is an examination of how types would work in a realistic setting, like when I mentioned how Treeko's electrical resistance didn't work. I also want to thank the Fanon Pokedex on TV Tropes for helping with these ideas. Also note that when I talk about type characteristics, I am talking about pure types. Species with secondary types would be a bit different. These are just the general characteristics that Pokemon researchers on Poke-Earth call one type A and another type B.

The first type I want to go over is the Rock type. Rock type Pokemon generally look like they are made of rocks, hence the name. They also use rocks or just their rock bodies to their advantage.

Now the TV Tropes entry on Rock types said that they had "armor". And the idea of armor is actually quite perfect. IMO, it is not so much that Rock types are 100% rock, but that, yes, they just wear rocks as literal armor. Other things to note is that these creatures tend to have above average strength (attack power) and above average weight.

Their weight makes sense because of the rocks they use. Their greater strength also makes sense. It takes muscle to wear rocks like that, an their attacking power is probably boosted by having that hard armor. The armor means they are free to hit harder and not get hurt.

This hard armor explains why they resist Normal type attacks. It also explains the strength against Flying types. Flying types can't dive into Rock types, because that would hurt, and while wind is a force of rock erosion, it isn't as good as others, relatively speaking. This also explains the resistance to Poison type attacks, because Poison types can't get through. And as for their resistance to Fire type attacks, I remember from an earth science class that it takes a great deal of heat to melt rock, something a Fire type might not be able to generate or maintain.

Now let's look at their advantage over Electric types. I am going to focus on the episode on Hoenn where Ash fought Roxanne. First, take a look at Pikachu vs her Geodude. Pikachu let out a very large blast of electricity at the start of the fight. This blast was blinding, destroyed her rocky battlefield, and left the long-experienced Roxanne very surprised. But her Geodude, on the other side of the field, wasn't hurt.

Now later on in the fight Geodude is stuck. Pikachu then got right up to it and delivered another very large shock at point blank range. An Geodude was down. As Brock said "a blast like that can even do serious damage to a Geodude."

Let's look at how electric attacks work. The idea of using electricity as a weapon is that by directing it into an enemy or prey, the large shock will mess with their nervous system, hurting and possibly paralyzing them. If a Rock type Pokemon is unaffected by that strategy, then that means two things:

1. They do not have a nervous system that responds to electricity at all. They must have a nervous system of some sort to move, but if it runs on electrical charges than an electrical shock would affect it (unless it is adapted to electrical discharge like an Electric type).

2. The electricity cannot reach the electrically based nervous system.

Because Geodude was hurt by the second attack, that would say that Geodude and other Rock types do have nervous systems that work with and respond to electricity. That is why I like the idea of armor. It goes with theory two, and explains how attack one did nothing, but attack two did.

The rock armor, like real armor, is on top of the body. It is very dense and hard. Normally it blocks electrical shocks from reaching the nerve endings beneath. Such is the case with attack 1. But attack two was different. Not only was it powerful, it was point blank. The up close distance combined with the raw energy must have pushed through the armor, allowing contact with Geodude's actual flesh.

If this armor theory is true, that means that a Rock type's nerve endings do not reach the surface. This means that Rock types wouldn't have much in the way of touch, if anything. They wouldn't feel contact (except around the eyes or mouth, or feel much by way of temperature.

Now let's keep looking as Roxanne. Her next Pokemon was Nosepass. This is a species that is a pure Rock type, but has an electromagnet in its nose that can function like a compass. Roxanne also taught it to use that electromagnet as a weapon, teaching it to focus and utilize that energy for a Thunderwave attack. That attack is allowed for Nosepass not because of type but because of unique biology.

Pikachu is worn out, but in the end receives a Thunderwave attack to recharge, and then charges head on from the air to smash into Nosepass's face with an electrical shock. Nosepass is then paralyzed because of "static electricity" and Pikachu gets under it to deliver a powerful and final shock to knock it out.

IMO, Nosepass was paralyzed not because of static electricity, but because Pikachu hit it with a shock right smack on its nose. Its nose is an electromagnet. That means it is not covered by the same electrically resistant armor as the rest of its body. So it is one big weakspot. Roxanne's Nosepass might have been able to defend itself though. If she taught it to manipulate that energy to fire, it might have been able to brace for impact and absorb that shock into its nose. Maybe. But anyway, Pikachu clealry surprised it. That is why it got paralyzed. And another point blank heavy shock took it down.

Now this point blank electricity strategy may not work on all species. Golem is supposed to be able to resist a bomb. It's armor is probably so dense that it would take a massive blast to push through. But you get the point.

Now let's go into their weaknesses, the attacks that hurt them the most. Much of this I took directly from TV Tropes, so I want to thank them again for this.

Fighting: TV Tropes stated that the powerful muscles of Fighting types can break rocks, so their up close hits would definitely break down armor.

Ground: The heavy weight of Rock types make them more vulnerable to falling into the traps typically dug by Ground types.

Grass: Grass types are part plant and may be able to squeeze their way through the armor.

Steel: Steel types have their own armor, of the metal variety, which might be able to break rock on contact.

Water: The typical attack of a Water type is Water Gun, water under pressure. Water is the greatest force of rock erosion, so they would erode the armor. Also, a Rock type's weight would make them sink, so they would be at a disadvantage if they ran across a Water type in their natural habitat, near the water.

And that's it for now. There are so many types that I think it would be better if I just leave one post per type. The next one I am going to do is the Water type, the most common type of them all.

EDIT: This is the first in a series of old posts I drafted but never made public on this journal for one reason or another. Looking over them, I think it's time that I did so. This was originally from 06/24/13.

Here is another Pokemon related subject: breeding and gender.

Gender
Many Pokemon have genders. And according to the games, many Pokemon are "genderless". I take issue with much of that categorization. I feel like it's part of the game mechanics and that it could be removed in a story. For example, take the Magnemite line. That is labeled as genderless. Magnemite is a metal ball with an eye and a couple of magnets attached to it.

In the anime, Brock calls it "inorganic", and that would certainly seem to fit its appearance. But that just means it could be a form of inorganic life. And you can't assume that it doesn't have a gender at all based on looks. The gender may be hard to tell, but don't just presume it is genderless based on appearance.

For example, take Ghastly. According to the game data, Ghastly can be male or female. And yet, Ghastly is a ball of gas with eyes and a mouth. How does a ball of gas with eyes and a mouth have a gender? Apparently it can. Also, Muk, a living pile of toxic goo, can also have a gender. So if these strange lifeforms can have genders despite their appearances, then Magnemite could have a gender too, as could other strange species.

Now for some Pokemon species, the idea of being genderless could work. For example, take the Staryu line. It is based on a starfish, and admittedly, gender can sometimes be hard to tell in starfish, and sometimes you can't tell until they are breeding. Some starfish also reproduce asexually by regenerating from split body parts. Considering the regenerative qualities of the Pokemon, this method could very well be used too.

Another possible genderless Pokemon is Porygon. It is made of data, so the biological concept of gender doesn't really apply to it. Also, Pokemon like Baltoy or the Regis. Those creatures are based on golems, particularly the Regis. Golems are creatures of Hebrew myth, creatures formed of the earth and given life. Adam is called a golem before God breathed life into him and made him fully human. If they are based on golems, it could be that those creatures are "made" rather than born.

Now some species are made of a single gender. Sometimes that works because they have a gender counterpart. For example, Volbeat and Illumise. Other species have unofficial gender counterparts, like how fans pair together Tauros and Miltank. That works so well. Other species have no counterparts, official or otherwise.

All-female groups like Chansey and Khangaskhan can work because of a real life process called parthenogenesis (suggested by TV Tropes). It is a form of asexual self reproduction, and is found in, among other things, a species of lizards that are all female. They live in New Mexico, are the state reptile, and are nicknamed the "lesbian lizards". Such a method was also used by Godzilla in the 1998 movie.

One problem though is that this process only works for all female species, not all male species. The biggest issue is the Hitmon family, Tyrogue, Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee, and Hitmontop.

One possible solution is that they switch genders for a time. Some real animals do that. The problem is that this method is usually used under special, emergency circumstances, and there is a certain logic to that. If a species makes gender switching their primary means of breeding, then why not just have separate genders from the get go? By switching you acknowledge the need for different genders, so wouldn't it be much simpler to just start with different genders in the first place?

I personally think they should have both genders. It works out better that way. You can't say that they need to all male for the muscle power. The Machop family has genders (albeit with a very unbalanced ratio). And to my knowledge, being female doesn't seem to be an issue for a female Machamp. They can probably punch you to the moon as easily as males.

You can't say that the are all male based on looks either. Again, look at the Machop line. Machoke and Machamp have muscles on top of muscles. That is not what we as humans consider typically "feminine". Yes, many women are very strong, but the the female  body is built more for flexibility (and far greater pain tolerance) than for building large amounts of muscles mass, not like that. That's why testosterone (the muscle building hormone) is in the minority in the female body. And yet, even though a Machoke looks like a male body builder, it can be a woman. THAT is a female.

Or take Alakazam. The female Alakazam has a shorter mustache. But it still has a mustache. And having a mustache of any sort is still considered an acceptable trait in Alakazam women. The point is that if you want to go purely based on looks, you cannot assign "all male" gender to the Hitmon family. The gender norms for other Pokemon species can be wildly different than the ones for humans. Alakazam women probably find it bizarre that our women lack any kind of mustache at all. So if anything, just give the Hitmon family the same gender ratio as the Machop family.

If you want other examples of how you cannot declare gender, or even lack of gender, based solely on appearances, take these: 

Example 3: Bellosom. Bellosom looks like it wears a skirt, something traditionally female. And yet there is a 50% chance of there being a male Bellosom. And for a Bellosom, something resembling a skirt is totally normal for both genders.

Example 4: The Nidoran family. As humans, we typically associate baby boys with the color blue, and baby girls with the color pink. And yet the male Nidoran, the child stage, is pink, and the female is blue. To the Nidoran families, blue is the color they associate with baby girls, and pink is what they associate with baby boys. Nidorans probably find our use of blue for boys and pink for girls very odd.

Example 5: Going on the color thing, take the Jigglypuff line and the Clefairy line. Both of these creatures are pink in all their stages. And while the gender ratio is 25% male 75% female, that still means that a quarter of them are male. And yet they are pink, and for them, pink is not an inappropriate color for men at all.

Breeding
There is a breeding system in the games. It's the Egg Group system. I understand it as a game mechanic, but in a story I find it utterly ridiculous. I can accept the idea that Pokemon lay eggs. But the very idea that two completely different Pokemon can breed and yet the offspring is always the same as the mother is utterly ridiculous. Hot Skitty On Walord Action indeed.

Seriously. A female Nidoran can breed with a Psyduck, and yet produce a Nidoran. Remember what I said about genetics? How can a creature like Psyduck, who gives to its offspring the instructions for building webbed feet, end up with a child that has paws? It doesn't make sense. Not to mention that different Pokemon species may have different numbers of chromosomes, which would prevent healthy or living children. Mismatched chromosomes are nothing to trifle with, because one missing half or one extra half can result in serious disorders in humans.

It is much more reasonable to just say that Pokemon do lay eggs and that those eggs are created between two Pokemon of the same species, or between gender counterparts (which would technically be the same species).

On another note, Nidoqueen. Nidorina and Nidoqueen are supposed to be unable to breed in game, while their equals, Nidorino and Nidoking, can. I don't think there are many fans that adhere to this idea either in fiction. It is just stupid. In the beginning it could have been because of game limitations, or maybe it was a game glitch. Whatever it was, the company isn't admitting to it.

But in fiction, it is so bad. It seems vastly unfair to either parties, robbing the women of the ability to breed in their later years. And their physiologies aren't all that different from the males, so I don't see the reason why that would happen. And if you go on the idea that Pokemon only breed within their species, this means that all female Nidoran would be forced to lay eggs in their first stage.

Remember that these stages of Evolution are like growing up, so Nidoran is sort of the child stage, while stage 2 would be a teenager stage, and stage 3 is an adult stage. Yeah, thanks game for encouraging those Pokemon to have kids so very young. Great message, really. And on the practical side of things it's also really bad. After all, the Nidoran stage is the one where they are least able to protect their babies from predators, unlike their, you know, adult or teenage stages.

That is why that little factoid can be easily put in the "I reject your reality and substitute my own" box when it comes to fiction.

Another part of the game mechanic is that some other Pokemon cannot breed. Many of those are the genderless ones. I don't necessarily agree with that for fiction. I get why they do that in the game for Legendaries, I do. I also get it for baby Pokemon. And baby Pokemon would also be excluded in fiction too. But I want to go back to Magnemite. I already pointed out how it could easily have a gender despite appearances. It could also very easily breed.

So what if it is a metal ball with magnets? Ghastly lays eggs. Muk lays eggs. Ghastly can breed with Muk and lay eggs... and that is a horrible image I don't want in my head. Someone get me bleach for my brain.

Even Geodude has a gender and lays eggs, and it has a similar body type to Magnemite. Where Magnemite is covered in metal, Geodude is covered in rock. And yet Geodude can lay an egg. If a Geodude can do that, so can things like Magnemite. Porygon might be a bit different. They could just copy themselves, or maybe two Porygon could mix their data. But you see my point. Genders are breeding are not impossible, at least in my opinion.

<b>Title:</b> <a href="http://calaetmornie.deviantart.com/art/HL-KH-10-A-Witch-Confrontation-211010234” >Heart of a Lantern continued</a>

<b>Author:</b> CalaEtMornie (aka Aslan's Provident Child)

<b>Rating:</b> <img src="http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m612/clockworkpussy/heartless_fics/shadow.jpg"><img src="http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m612/clockworkpussy/heartless_fics/shadow.jpg"><img src="http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m612/clockworkpussy/heartless_fics/shadow.jpg"> The rating is the same for this part as it was for the previous sporking, and for the same reasons. Be advised that the rating will probably be going up with later parts.

 

<b>Full Name (including any titles):</b> Chava, Ashe, Akiko.

<b>Full Species(es):</b> A hybrid of Marysueus Maximus (super sue) and Fanus Girlus (fangirl)

<b>Hair Color (include adjectives):</b> None given

<b>Eye Color (include adjectives):</b> None given

<b>Unusual Markings/Colorations/Physical Features:</b> Chava has a deep voice for a girl

<b>Special Possessions (if any):</b> Kanabos, claymores, and lantern rings for all!

 

<b>Origin:</b> A very small and well hidden area of Inept Crossings

<b>Connections To Canon Characters:</b> Fangirls of them.

<b>Special Abilities:</b> Love! Lovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelovelove! Oh, and being able to live inside a video game (and possibly comic book?). But mostly it's love.

<b>Other Annoying Traits:</b> Several very questionable uses of capitals. 

 

<b>I Say/Notes:</b>

You are all probably wondering why this is here. I mean, didn’t we spork this already? Well, yes and no. It’s a somewhat long story, but I assure you this isn’t a mistake or a prank. Explanations will be given inside for the spork team.

 

<b>Sample: </b>

 

 

 

Here's a new one, the origin of Pokemon. First off, let's talk about Arceus and Mew. Some people have been debating over which one is the true creator of Pokemon. Before Arceus, Mew was looked at like God. Nowadays, that is incorrect. Let's just get this established: Arceus is supposed to be the creator of all Pokemon and the Poke-Earth, and Mew is the ancestor of all Pokemon. Arceus is religion, Mew is science.

The story about Mew is that is the ancestor of all Pokemon, that all Pokemon developed from it. It "contains the DNA of every Pokemon within it". It also knows every move, including Transform. Now consider that "DNA of every Pokemon" bit. Is that to say that it has the complete genetic pattern of every single future Pokemon within it? Well that's one interpretation.

I think this is a good point to put in an overview of how DNA works, along with my favorite metaphor for DNA. You probably know what DNA is, that spiral shaped molecule that serves as your blueprint, and that humans have 23 chromosome pairs of DNA. That's the simple version. Actually, chromosomes are made of those spiral molecules, not the other way around. DNA is wrapped around proteins and folded many, many times to fit inside the nucleus of your cells. Actually, trying to fit a single human chromosome in a nucleus is like trying to fit the length of a football field inside of a baseball.

Think of the nucleus of the cell as one giant library, one filled with books so very important that they are never allowed to leave the building. Each chromosome is a section or row, and each section is lined with books (your genes). These books are filled with diagrams and instructions for everything you could need, from "How to build a human foot: Step 1..." to "growth patterns" to "How to make Protein X for Function Y".

When a cell does a job, it consults the nucleus. Proteins are sent in. Imagine they are workers. These workers walk in, find the right section and the books with the instructions they need, open them up (unravel the DNA), and then, since they can't take the books out, they make a copy. This copy is RNA. DNA is complementary, with four chemical components, abbreviated as A, T, G, and C. If you have A on one strand, then it connects only with a T on the other strand, while G only fits C. RNA uses that to make copies, though T is replaced with another chemical with the same properties we will call U.

After that, the books are closed and put back, and the copies are taken outside to the cell factory, the ribosomes. They make proteins and everything else. The RNA is then fed into the machine, and the machine reads it reverse to get the instructions to make whatever proteins it needs.

Back to Pokemon. It is not very reasonable to think that Mew literally has the full instructions for all Pokemon. That would be a ridiculous amount of data, and impossible to fit in a nucleus without popping it. And why would Mew need stuff titled "How to Build a Pikachu...step 1: Ears..."?

A better interpretation of that statement is that Mew possessed  the TYPE GENES of all Pokemon. What I mean is that it had possession of many sets of genes, with each set detailing those physical characteristics that Poke-Earth researchers use to identify each Pokemon type. So it had the Water type set, the Fire type set, the Grass type set, so on and so fourth. This would also explain how Mew knows every move, because it had the instructions for the qualities needed to use them. Now this idea also results in a very large amount of data that probably wouldn't fit in a nucleus, but it is far more reasonable than the other interpretation, so let's just use willing suspension for the rest.

Now about the Transform power. Transform would be controlled by its own gene. But Transform would have been rather useless to Mew on its own in the beginning. Ditto uses Transform to copy the strengths and skills of its enemies, or to hide. When Mew was first around, it was the only species on the planet, so Transform wouldn't have had a use all alone, except for turning into trees and rocks. But the Transform gene could have been used to make using all the other genes easier. Fire type skills require an internal flamethrower. With the Transform gene, Mew could have rearranged it's body to accommodate.

Now comes the subject of Pokemon evolution. And by that I mean regular, normal evolution. What we see in the franchise isn't really "evolution" (as in the concept by Darwin) per say. If anything, in biology terms it is more like metamorphosis. But that amounts to semantics right now, and it is a staple of the franchise. So let's just distinguish what Pokemon do as Evolution with a capital E, and regular Darwin evolution with a lower case e.

I think Pokemon still evolve as well as Evolve. Darwin's theory of evolution is very logical and sensible. Animals change to adapt to their environment, and when they find themselves in a place with different conditions that aren't favoring them, they can either move somewhere else, adapt, or perish. Animals adapt to avoid competition, and form follows function. Pokemon have specific qualities that suit them to their homes. And also, Evolution to Pokemon is more like growing up.

The one exception to evolution would be Mew. Mew is very, very powerful, and to start it was the only species. It wouldn't have needed to evolve. And that happens in real life too. Alligators and crocodiles have changed very little since the dinosaurs. And their jaw design hasn't changed at all since there is literally no room for improvement. Now when it comes to Mew, there was actually room for improvement. The very existence of Mewtwo says that people found room for improvement. But Mew did not have reason to evolve or improve.

The entire process of evolving takes a tremendous amount of time and energy as a species, so why bother with it without reason? My theory is that Mew didn't change into other Pokemon out of need, but rather a strong want. Mew is supposed to be a curious and playful sort. Suppose that you had groups of Mew that were curious about their abilities and wanted to focus on developing specific abilities (i.e. specific sets of type genes). That fits in with their personality.

This decision would have neglected the other type genes, slowly filtering them out. Ultimately Mew would have downgraded itself, so the plan wasn't the most well thought out, but it still fits with the playful nature of the species to do something like that. This is how I think Mew became other Pokemon, by first differentiating by type via groups of Mew.

Now once Mew started to change into different creatures, the Transform gene suddenly had new uses. Now it could be employed as a full on weapon. Now let's create a whole new set of Mew. This group wants to play around not with any of the type genes, but with the Transform gene alone.

Someone on the Bulbapedia forums by the name of Instrutilus once proposed the theory that Ditto were Mew that had lost their form. The idea had some good points, but for me didn't entirely work. Still, without it I never would have developed this, so I want to thank them for the idea, if I didn't do so already on the forum.

Take a look at Ditto. Take a look at its body and what it can do. Its body is a shapeless, boneless blob. Right off the bat, you would think that body shape would be a positive adaptation. After all, a shapeless, boneless, flexible body is easier to manipulate for abilities like Transform. It is certainly easier to use Transform like that than having to mess with a rigid skeleton.

And yet Ditto is supposed to have come from Mew, and Mew has been seen using Transform easily, despite having a rigid structure. So why can Mew do that and Ditto cannot? Clearly Mew has something in its DNA that allows it to change and deal with hard bones. It Ditto could do the same, why is it still a blob? Again, form follows function.

I believe that Ditto descended from their own separate Mew group, the ones that wanted to play around with Transform. These Mew had a genetic defect. This defect lay in their ability to transform easily with their bones. Because these Mew wanted to focus on Transform, they chose to adapt themselves so as to lose their rigid bone structure, thus becoming the blob-like Ditto.

Genetic flaws are not impossible for Pokemon. Remember Duplica and her second Ditto, Mini-Dit? It couldn't get bigger. That issue was never solved, and in the end Mini-Dit managed to make good of that quirk. But it was still a quirk of its body that it could never get over, unlike the first Ditto. It seems to me like another genetic flaw, something that is wrong in the part of its DNA that allows it to change size (under the power of willing suspension).

On another note, I am also of the belief that abilities like Assist, Mimic, and Metronome are all rooted in a variation of the Transform gene. Think about it. All of those abilities allow Pokemon to perform attacks that they may not normally be able to do, like May's Skitty using Razor Leaf, despite not having leaves.

Also, some other variation of the coding in the Transform gene is probably responsible for Pokemon's ability to Evolve. Again, think about it. Pokemon Evolution involves rapid change, and glowing. Transform involves glowing as well as rapid changing the body. The genes for Evolution and the ones used for Transform are probably related.

And that's it for my theories on the origin of Pokemon, Mew, and Ditto. If anybody is reading this, I hope you found it interesting, and please feel free to leave comments. I'd love to hear from others.

Here's another theory I would like to share, how the trainer's license works. The idea of a license to certify a trainer (aka, someone that owns a Pokemon, a license for having a Pokemon, period)  is actually a very logical concept for a world like Pokemon. Pokemon are very, very powerful. If you were a ruling body of a country with these kinds of creatures, sentient creatures (Pokemon seem to think and feel on the same level as humans) with whom you want to keep good relations with, wouldn't it be a good idea to have a system where anybody that wants a Pokemon has to be certified? Yes.

We do something similar with dog licenses, so why not a Pokemon license?

The anime was the one to first state that you had to be 10 years old to get a license and become a Pokemon Trainer. This makes some sense. We have age restrictions on driver's licenses, and you heard parents say that their kids are too young to be responsible for a pet. Ten seems to be a reasonable age at which someone could be held responsible for the life of an animal.

There is the question of kids that are younger than ten and yet have Pokemon. What about them? The answer could be that the Pokemon aren't actually theirs, on paper anyway. If you get in trouble or your pet gets in trouble with the law, who is held legally responsible? That would be your parent or guardian.

In the same sense, if a child is under 10 and has a Pokemon, it could be because their parents acquired  the license instead. So even if the Pokemon is technically for the child, on paper and in the eyes of the law, the owner is the parent/guardian. When a kid is ten years old, they could apply for their own individual license.

I personally think that the whole thing regarding Trainers and Pokemon involves a great deal of parental consent. Parents are held responsible for their kids here, and would have a say in what they do. I imagine that sort of thing would also be true on Poke-Earth. Even if a kid is ten, they may not get a Pokemon. It is possible that a parent may think that their child is not responsible enough to have one, and so may not allow them to apply for the license. I don't think that would be a legal restriction mind you, but it is something to keep in mind. It's the same sort of thing I mentioned before, only in reverse.

Linkara once reviewed the first volume of the Electric Tales of Pikachu manga. In it, Gary said that the minute every kid turns ten, they get a Pokemon license and become a Trainer, and that "Trainers are exempt from school". Linkara replied by asking "if that's true, then why even have school if every kid does that?"

That's a good point. Education is important, no matter what world you are on. It isn't possible that someone could learn all they needed to know to survive in the world by age 10. There are higher concepts that ten year old brains aren't developed enough to grasp. And yet it occurs to me that just because someone has a Pokemon doesn't automatically mean they travel and compete in a league.

Yes, I know that is the setup for the games of course, but that could just be a coincidence. There are plenty of characters with Pokemon that live in an area that just living there, and not traveling. And Pokemon are not just for competing. They are companions, not to mention potentially helpful with various kinds of work (electric types at a power plant for example).

So just because a ten year old has a license doesn't mean they want to travel and compete in a league. And you would think their parents would have some say in the issue of their child wandering from town to town. So IMO, a ten year old that wants to travel as a Trainer can only do so (legally) with permission from their parent or guardian. And if they ARE allowed, there is still the issue of school.

That issue could be resolved with a standardized test of some sort to make sure the kid has a benchmark of abilities in basic things like math, reading/writing, science, etc. If you are groaning, trust me, I know. I live in Florida with the stinking FCAT, which is a terribly stupid high stakes standardized test. But just because mine is messed up doesn't mean the idea of one is a bad one. And you would want to make sure kids have literacy down. Literacy is the basis of all education, and allows for better lives with more options. You can't skip that.

The Manga also stated that Trainers have to pass a class that takes a day or a few days. This idea made Linkara laugh, because something that short doesn't seem like enough before giving a child the right to handle creatures of potentially immense power. But the essence is good. You have to pass a test to get a driver's license, so a Trainer must not only have to apply themselves (instead of being automatically issued one), but they must have to prove that they can take care of a Pokemon.

This also means that a Trainer may have to take the tests again for re-certification. And because it is something issued by a government, that means the thing can be taken away if you violate the laws concerning the treatment of Pokemon. This was indicated in the episode with the Eevee Brothers in S1 of the anime, where the older brothers told Mikey that he could lose his license leaving his Eevee tied to a tree.

And this would also mean Paul would face serious repercussions for his abusive treatment. That was a major flaw of the show, that he never seemed to face any real, serious consequences for what he did. He should have at least been cited and up for trial, and at most been stripped of his license and his Pokemon, possibly for life.

Now let's get onto a related subject, the starter Pokemon. In my opinion, trainers on Poke-Earth aren't actually required to have one. Clearly they are picked out for their similar qualities and because they are easy to raise and handle for novices. So they are highly recommended. But you aren't forced. Starters would be handed out for free by a local Pokemon researcher, who would be able to care for them.

Hello everyone. This next post is also related to the "Heart of a Lantern" spork. To be honest, it's not so much an extra segment to the plot as it was a discussion.

When you work on a spork, alone or with someone, you not only make jokes but you point out what went wrong, or what possibly went right, or how something could have gone right. And as much as I don't like the fic, there were elements that could have worked in some way. For example, take the part where OC Ashe convinces Riku to go with her and leave Maleficent. That was in part 3.

It really didn't come off as believable. As we said in part 5, Ashe doesn't really show any true spiritual or faithful attributes, thing associated and required of Blue Lanterns. All of her assurances seem to be because she knows the plot of the game (knowledge that would become less and less useful the more changes are made) rather than a belief in better things to come despite not having concrete proof. Also, Blue Lanterns can show visions of hope to others with their rings, which would have worked better. With that in mind, I felt a desire to rewrite the scene. And here is what I wrote. Tell me what you think.


“I’m just so mad at Sora. I’ve always been better than him. And yet he’s the one with the Keyblade! Why didn’t it pick me? I’m the only one that can help Kairi, and I can only do that with Maleficent’s help.”

“You’re wrong,” said Ashe.

She sat down next to him, and took his hand in hers, and lifted it close to his face. “I want to show you something Riku. Look…”

She put the ring before his eyes, and he saw a blue light glow from its symbol. And then he saw more.

He saw himself with them. He saw his friends. He saw Kairi’s warm smile as she danced on the sands of the island. He saw Sora waving at them before he ran over to join them. The sun was bright, and warm on his skin. They were older now. Sora had a few little scars on his face. But they were all happy. They were all together, together and safe.

He saw worlds so vast and different. He saw his himself and his friends there too. He saw the stars glittering in the night sky, all a young blue. He saw himself with a Keyblade. All of them had one. He saw himself fighting beside them, back to back, striking down every enemy that came toward them. He saw them come out victorious. He saw them gaze up into the night sky. And then he saw a bird, a great blue bird hovering in the sky. It radiated a blue light, a warm and soft aura that felt like a deep hug. And he heard it speak.

“You’re friends are waiting for you Riku, they want to find you and help you, believe in that, and all will be well Riku…all will be well.”

And then he pulled away, his body shaking at the experience. “What…what was that? That bird?”

“Adara,” said Ashe softly. “What you saw was hope Riku, pure hope. Come with us, away from here, and we will help you find your friends, away from the shadows.”

Riku sat there, his heart still warm from the blue light, and right there, he knew what he wanted. “I’ll go with you.”

“Good,” said Ashe, as she stood up and pulled the hood of her long sapphire cloak over her head. “Then let us leave now Brother, before Maleficent returns.”

She reached out her hand, and he took it, knowing more than anything he wanted to see his friends, he wanted to feel that warm light in his heart again. He didn’t need the darkness.

END SCENE

I hope you all liked that. It's not that the idea in the fic was bad necessarily. Yes, the things Riku does lead to character development later on. But it's another thing for a character who knows what's going to happen to just stand there and let it. Could you do that? Even knowing the outcome of the game, would you still be able to stand there and watch Riku do the things he did? That's a very good question, and not everyone may be able to be an observer in that situation, or may want to act anyway, despite what they know.

The story however just doesn't handle it very well, and never addresses the consequences of this future knowledge, or any sort of real struggle for the original characters. And again, it lacked any real sense of hope, which is what I was playing on when I wrote the above scene.

What do I mean by game logic vs story logic? Well, if you read the Heart of a Lantern spork I did with thelectureroom (and I strongly encourage you to do so and comment), then you may recall this bit from part 3:

"Oh! Before we go, you should learn Dodge Roll and Fire," Goofy said.

Riku: Fic, let’s have a nice chat about game logic versus story logic. There are things that make sense in games and things that make sense in fiction. But things in games don't make sense in fiction. And when it comes to this, it doesn’t make sense for the characters to learn Dodge Roll and Fire. Yes Sora can learn magic, although he doesn't know that yet, but Dodge Roll is a command, a video game thing. It breaks willing suspension and plain sounds strange for the characters to reference game mechanics.

That's what I wanted to discuss in greater detail. Imagine that you are writing a story based on the plot of a game. You cannot simply write out everything in the game exactly as you saw it. You couldn't write about HP or MP or save points, so on and so forth.

Is it reasonable that people can only take so much punishment before dying? Yes. It is reasonable to think that using magic takes energy and effort, and could leave someone exhausted? Yes it is. But does that mean that in a story, a person's health is measured in fixed points, or that their magical energy is measured in fixed points? No. It's silly. People are not made of fixed numbers like that. The concept of numbers to represent health or magic make sense for a game, because a computer needs hard numbers to work with.

Take the Dodge Roll example again. When Sora uses that move, he rolls out of the way of an attack. And that's what he is doing, ducking and rolling out of the way. It's a classic maneuver in combat. And yet something like that in real life doesn't deserve the strange sounding term "Dodge Roll". It doesn't even deserve the capitals. 

When writing fiction based on a game, or even vice versa, there is translation that needs to be made. Many modern games have intricate and involved stories, something that is more possible because of better technology. RPGs particularly focus on story elements, because RPG stands for "Role Playing Game", and the point is to immerse yourself in the game world and pretend to be your character.

Some games manage to weave game elements in very well. For example, take "Cthulhu Saves the World". That game involves going from town to town. There are circles of light which restore MP and can be used to save your game. But the same function is also included in inns you find in every town. Just go to the front desk and you can save and be restored.

Restoration from an inn makes so much sense, because people heal partly from sleep/rest. And if you are going on a long journey, one that takes days, a group is going to need to find a place to sleep, so staying at an inn works. Other games to use this type of thing are "Epic Battle Fantasy 3" and "Castaway 2".

You will remember from my discussion of Unfairy Tales that one of the things I found irritating was the lack of restore points and/or inns. Saving could be done at any time, but there was no place to restore all your health or power for free or for a cost. The journey involved in the game involved walking what seemed to be huge distances, going to all the corners of a continent. And yet it seems like it takes just  a single day. The incorporation of an inn to restore the characters would have benefited the game and the story. 

Kingdom Hearts plays with that with the inclusion of items like the Tent, the Cottage, or the Camping Set. These items cannot be used in combat, but restore the HP and MP of the party. This is useful when there is not a savepoint around, since savepoints restore those things. The item also works because it adds to the idea that the journey is long, and the trio would probably need to camp out for the night. It also makes sense that it cannot be used in combat, because why would you use a tent in combat?

The Station of Awakening
Let's keep going with Kingdom Hearts and go over other things that may or may not go from a game to a story based on a game. For example, the opening of the game where you are at the Station of Awakening. How does that work in a story? Well, first, let's define what it is.

The Station of Awakening is a series of stained glass platforms that serve as a tutorial to the game system. An unknown voice talks to you as the character. You are told to choose a weapon from one of three stands, and discard another. These three are a sword, a shield, and a rod/magic wand. This act has repercussions for gameplay. Each represents a different stat. The sword is attack power, the damage your weapon does. The shield is defense, how much damage you take is reduced, as well as HP. The rod is magic power, it increases MP and magical strength. 

The one you choose is the stat that your character will have in greater supply. It is your preference. The one you discard means that you will be weak in that area. It also determines when you get some abilities. Now the sword is in the shape of a Keyblade. Goofy is always the one armed with the shield, being a guard, and Donald has the rod, being a magician. But no matter what you pick, Sora always has the Keyblade, or sword.

The Station scene can work as a large dream. The tutorial wouldn't be there, not exactly. But it does not work a way to literally pick the weapon you use. If that were the case, why does Sora always end up with the Keyblade? If he is meant to have the Keyblade, why offer him the other weapons at all? And Sora's magical stamina, physical stamina, or physical strength would be determined by his body and physical health.

Magic
Or take learning magic spells, like the example I put at the top. It is okay for Sora to learn magic. But when Sora acquires a spell, people make a motion like they are handing him something, like "here, take this spell."

Now one would imagine that magic would be like any other skill, and that it would take practice to learn. You would imagine that Sora would learn magic from two people, Merlin or Donald, since they are skilled magic users. Sora learning Fire would involve lots of time practicing the spell. This would slow down the pace of the game, so Kingdom Hearts just summarizes it with a simple motion. That is totally understandable for a game.

And when Phil gives you Thunder, it is also understandable. When you think about it, he should not be able to teach you that. While he does train heroes, you can see from the movie that he's more like a real coach, focused on physical skill, not magic. And yet spells and abilities are placed in the game to be given at times that fit the game play. As in "we should give the player the Thunder spell right at this point, because they are going to need it right about now." If you turned the game into a book, that part of your conversation with Phil would not exist.

Pokemon
Now let's go onto another fandom: Pokemon. I read a Pokemon fic recently, and at first it was really good. It had a good grasp of the canon characters, it had good OCs that didn't overtake the canon ones. It had good description, dialogue, and a plot which was interesting and dark, but not dark for the sake of dark. It worked.

And yet there was a moment in it where I stopped reading it. It was when Ash's Pikachu faced off with a genetically enhanced Pokemon. The trainer of the mutant reported to his boss that the Pikachu was "level 88!". That is where I lost interest completely. Why? Five words:

POKEMON. DO. NOT. HAVE. LEVELS.

They don't. Not in stories. I know they have them in the games but they can't have them in fiction. Why? Well what are levels? Levels are a artificial concept used by games like RPGs. They are used to indicate strength, and when a character can use certain abilities or items. It works to help quantify things in RPGs. After all, it is perfectly natural for characters to grow stronger, more skilled, and more experienced, and therefore be able to do more difficult things, right? Levels give that real concept hard numbers for a machine to work with. Even non-computer RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons use it because the numbers still manage to apply some solid, ordered rules to the chaos that is life.

The premise of Pokemon is that the fantastical creatures are supposed to be real, living creatures made of flesh and blood. This is in contrast to Digimon, where the monsters are made of data. We are supposed to pretend Pokemon are living things, things that feel, that get hurt, that bleed, that die, that have their own wants and desires as sentient creatures, like humans.

If Pokemon have levels in a story, that means they are probably made of data. If they are made of data, that means this is a game. If they are made of data and this is a game, then they have no life and will of their own. And that also means that the trainers and everyone else are just data too. They aren't real either, they are just extensions of some unknown user, and their actions are not their own. And if they are all just lifeless data in a game, why should I care what happens to them? Why should I get involved in the story?

Not even Porygon has levels. As I just said, "levels" in the sense we think of them, are a construct for games like RPGs. Porygon may be digital, but it wasn't designed for a game, so it doesn't have levels in the sense we think of.

Even Digimon still goes on the idea that their monsters are real living things, real characters. The Digimon Tamers cartoon even played with that idea, of whether Digimon were truly alive. Rika didn't think so at first, so she was okay with heartlessly slaughtering Digimon for their data to make Renamon stronger, just like the card game she was queen of. And Digimon wouldn't have levels either, because they don't seem to have been made with games in mind. They have stages, which act sort of like levels, but they don't have levels like "He's a level 20" or something like that. This is particularly true of Tamers, because Digimon spawned off an artificial intelligence project, not a game.

The point of fiction is to suspend our disbelief and imagine that what we are reading is real. Using raw game mechanics breaks that. It highlights how artificial and empty everything is. Various mediums of Pokemon suffer from the problem of forgetting to translate between game and story.

For example, on volume 1 of the Pokemon manga, The Electric Tales of Pikachu, said mouse has been beaten up by Spearow and Fearow. Ash holds Pikachu in his arms and seemingly scans it with his Pokedex, screaming that it's Hit Points are almost zero. Really. This is stupid. If all Pokemon were really data, then why do they make such a big deal about Porygon being the artificially made, virtual Pokemon? Saying that implies that it is in contrast to all other Pokemon, who are NOT digital or artificially made.

Another mess up was in the anime. Remember the episode in season 1 with Pokemon Tech? That episode had a student being made to answer various Pokemon questions. He listed off what levels Pigey evolves and/or learns various attacks. This is, again, stupid. The abilities of a living animal cannot be quantified like that. Now a minute earlier they had a 4th wall joke, but that's a joke. Breaking the fourth wall is only done for humor. Those questions were not humorous.

Other than that, many, many times the characters say how a Pokemon is at a "higher level" or something like that. But that can usually passed off as metaphor, since no hard numbers are involved. And there are times where the anime is actually very clever in transitioning from game to story.

Take for example, when Ash caught his Treeko. In that episode, Pikachu launches an electric attack at Treeko and Treeko gets really hurt. But why? It is a Grass type. The mechanics of the game say that the attacks of Electric types don't do very much damage to Grass types. You might ask how this show could dare to go against game laws. Max even asked this very question in the episode.

The damage came from the fact that the show took the time to explain WHY the type advantage exists. We can accept that electric attacks don't hurt Grass types, yes, but the show creates a good reason as to why that is and how that works. As Brock told Max, the reason it hurt was because Treeko was in the air when it got hit. He said that normally Grass types resist damage from electrical attacks by safely channeling that energy into the ground or a plant. But since Treeko was in the air and not connected to anything, he had nowhere to ground himself, so he got really hurt.

This is very smart. It makes so much sense. Since Grass types are part plant, they are most comfortable being close to the ground or on plants. And because they are part plant, they must have some sort of built in lightning rod that allows them to use their natural environment as a shield.

Admittedly, many of the type advantages in the franchise are based on some real world logic. For example, there is the classic rock-paper-scissors type stalemate between the types of starter Pokemon. Fire types have an advantage over Grass, which works because plants burn and (most) plants don't like fire. Water types have the advantage over Fire types because water puts out fire (plus if they battle in the Water type's environment, that's even worse). Grass types have an advantage over Water types because plants aren't as hurt by water than fire.

That sort of thing just fascinates me, figuring out the way that the various type advantages work. I've also become interested in how types work in a physical, realistic sense. I mean what are the physiological characteristics that define each type, the kinds of things that would allow researchers in the Pokemon world to define a new type. Something similar to that has been done with the fanon Pokedex on TV Tropes.

This has been a long discussion, and if I there is to be any point to all this, it's that what you see isn't always what would really happen. When transitioning from one medium to another, there are differences. You may have disagreements on what is acceptable, how much you can suspend you disbelief. But don't use raw game mechanics without thinking. If you do that it's like you are just playing the game. And if you want to do that, then just play the game for real instead. I wrote up my experience of Unfairy Tales, but that was because I couldn't record myself, and I wasn't pretending it was fiction.