Pokémon Special/Fridge

Fridge Brilliance

• Early on in the Pokémon Special manga, I wondered why there were Kangaskhan and Venomoth in the Viridian Forest. I settled with artistic license at first. Later on, it's revealed that Team Rocket was using the Forest as breeding grounds, so those out of place Pokémon make sense as they are out of place. Also makes sense on how a Kangaskhan got injured too despite being a strong Pokémon; a lot of different Pokémon were probably duking it out between themselves to make use of their new surroundings. I bet those rampaging Magmar (which initially came off as bit of a BLAM) that attacked Pewter City were also the effects of the Rocket experiments. Even Pika's appearance in Pewter makes sense; it was stealing food in the markets because it could no longer forage for itself in the forest, not to mention it shows how pissed it is later when it runs into Giovanni.-The Violent Tomboy
• Most people are calling bullcrap on how Cheren's and Bianca's Pokédexes malfunctioned simply by them being dropped into a puddle, especially when the older models survived harsher abuse. Then when reading the Made of Indestructium page, I remembered, well, what are the Dexes based off of? The Nintendo handhelds! The DS systems are more fragile compared to their Game Boy ancestors, so it (kind of) makes sense that the new Dex Models are like that as well.
  • Even better. The Unova Dexes aren't based on a Nintendo handheld. They're based on iPods, which really do easily break.
• The Sinnoh Trio's starters evolved much faster than the other Dex Holders', reaching their final forms right after the third gym. However, the Sinnoh Trio only had two Pokemon each for the majority of their journey, and anyone playing the games can tell you that it's easier to level up the smaller your party is.
  • Also, it was already established in the GSC arc that Pokemon that grew up together tend to evolve together as well. Seeing how the Sinnoh Trio were the only Dex Holders who traveled together, it makes sense that the Sinnoh starters evolved quickly.
• Although Pearl is shown to be an awesome battler and Platinum is the focus character, it's really Dia who's the hero of the Diamond and Pearl saga. Why is that? Well, consider- he's pretty much Cyrus's antithesis. While the Galactic leader loathes his emotions and his desire to eliminate them is his reason for attempting to become a god... Dia simply embraces the joy of being alive and feeling. Look at how well-adjusted and self-aware he is for a kid his age- when Pearl is angrily yelling at him, Dia's able to argue back completely calmly and tell Pearl exactly why he's wrong without being rude or harsh! How many ten-year-olds do you know who are that mature? It's because Dia is so mature and able to control his emotions (that is, in the best possible way, not suppressing them like Cyrus) that Regigigas chooses him as its partner and that Dialga and Palkia shift their allegiance to him- because Dia represents the exact opposite of what Cyrus stands for- he's the only one of the characters that could make them see that. He may not be the best fighter or most learned about Pokemon, but he's every inch the hero that his fellow Pokedex owners are, and in some ways even more.
• Musha eating away at Black's dreams and helping his thinking capabilities is a reference to the C-Gear. Musha helps him C better.
• A lot of the gym leaders and Elite 4 members have powers and/or abilities that have no basis in the games and can possibly border on ridiculous. However, it is well-known that their game counterparts are likely to have underleveled Pokemon with illegal movesets and abilities. It's just the author's way of showing it, albeit in a more flashy and noticeable way.
• In the RS arc bio pages, the levels of Sapphire's Pokemon are shown while Ruby's show their conditions. This isn't only to show their respective goals; this also cleverly hides Ruby's true strength, as his Pokemon (particularly Nana and Coco) would logically have phenomenally higher levels than hers given their pasts.
• Darach and Caitlin's talk about tea time suggests that she has a preference for dry flavors, which is associated with the special attack stat. Perfect for someone who has actual psychic powers.
• In the DP arc, Pearl's role in his and Dia's manzai routine is the tsukkomi, which roughly translates to mean 'calling someone out'. Pearl often serves as the one who calls Dia out on his many antics. Midway through the arc though, in a strange case of role reversal, it's Dia who calls Pearl out for his stubborn and abusive behavior.
• After the events at the Nimbasa Ferris Wheel, White knew that there was something bigger than just her going on and that she would have to learn how to battle in order to face it. This, however, entailed that she sacrifice her reputation and career. Think about it; who in their right minds would want to work for/with someone who would apparently just suspend her business out of the blue, especially if said person did so right after successfully organizing an event like the Musical? On the other hand, Black declaring that he would still wear the BW Agency logo at the Pokemon League is Fridge Heartwarming in that he's basically carrying on her dream for her while she can't. Winning the League would be huge media exposure and give her a much needed leg-up after everything is done with.
• Ruby sometimes wears glasses. People with red eyes in real life are likely to have poor eyesight.
• Although I appreciate the entertaining battle strategies that many characters use, it always bugged me that many of these strategies required the trainer's Pokemon to perform attacks without any direction from the trainer; it's like the Pokemon just magically knew what the trainer wanted (see Red vs. Giovanni, the majority of Platinum's battles). Then I read about a (real) horse named Clever Hans, who appeared to be able to solve math problems by tapping the correct number of times with his foot. He was even able to do it without his owner in the room, meaning that it wasn't a hoax. Eventually, it was discovered that Hans couldn't do math: he was incredibly in tune with the body language of humans and was able to stop tapping his hoof at the right time because he could tell that the humans wanted that, just from subtle changes in breath and stance. I figure, if a real animal is capable of that, then Pokemon should be able to do that too. Then I realized, the ability to silently issue orders to your Pokemon is a sign of being a great trainer; you and your Pokemon have trained together so much, your Pokemon are able to pick up on your body language and know what you want.
  • It is also stated in the manga that very well-trained Pokemon can fight effectively on their own without needing commands. Pokemon that aren't immediately lose focus and get confused very easily if/when the trainer is knocked out or something.

Fridge Horror

• So, Pryce, you managed to travel back in time to reunite your Lapras with its parents. That's good and all, but does that mean baby!Lapras will now also die in the same incident that took the lives of its parents in the first place?
  • Well, Pryce probably told La Glace all about how its parents died -- and even if he didn't, La Glace probably saw it happening through the time window thing just like the Pokedex holders. It could probably just tell its parents about the accident so that they could avoid dying there. Yes, this might lead to a paradox, but consider the fact that La Glace being present as an adult before it was even born already changes the past drastically anyway.
• Special is already Darker and Edgier compared to the main series games. What will happen as of the BW arc?
  • Better yet, N is shown is be a significantly bigger jerk than his game counterpart. What will this make of Ghetsis?
• More like a Fridge Depression, but looking at the timeskip between the FRLG and Emerald arcs makes you realize that Blue spent her 17th birthday as a stone statue. Bet she had already been planning to spend it with her parents instead...
• Regarding the fridge brilliance of the Viridian Forest tidbit above, there are quite a few disturbing things it details. First of all, the Forest is full of Pokemon Team Rocket stole and experimented on, which likely translates to "pumped full of rage-steroids" (ie, Misty's Gyarados), not to mention that any un-evolved Pokemon likely was forcibly evolved (ie, the Fan Club President's Abra, Koga's Rhyhorn). These over-leveled Pokemon then duked it out with each other, driving out/and or hurting the local population (Pika and Chuchu, respectively). The ecosystem has truly been shot to hell as:
  • 1) It is almost impossible to remove all these Pokemon from the forest. There is no way to find out who their original trainers are. Furthermore, they are probably too strong for ordinary trainers to capture and handle. There is also no point in trying to return these Pokemon into their natural habitats, as then those habitats would get disturbed by these uber-Pokemon.
  • 2) The local Viridian Pokemon, Weedle, Caterpie, and Pikachu, are likely now extremely rare in Kanto. They are weak Pokemon, and even if they escaped the forest, they in turn either disrupted the ecosystem of wherever they ended up or just died off. Hopefully, some of them managed to get captured. And this, my friends, is how selfish humans can really screw over Pokemon and nature.
• Bianca wandered down a dark alleyway by herself when someone sneaked up behind her and knocked her out. If Pokemon wasn't as idealistic as it is, this could easily be seen as a pre-rape scene.
  • Only if someone was desperately looking to see rape everywhere.
    • You don't live in Manhattan, do you?
• In Pokémon Special, a lot of people find it hard to swallow how Celebi somehow magically fixed everything, including bringing Norman, Steven, and Courtney Back From the Dead...however, Ruby doesn't state that Celebi did so. He says that Celebi brought him and Sapphire to an Alternate Timeline where the three didn't die. So, does that mean that while Ruby and Sapphire are a-okay, there's another world where the three are still dead and probably everyone there believes Ruby and Sapphire to be dead as well since they aren't there anymore?
• Yellow was asleep when Sird called out her Darkrai, meaning that, even if it was for a few seconds, Yellow must have been under the effect of Darkrai's Bad Dreams ability.

Fridge Logic

See here