can we talk for a second about how surreal it is that Professor Willow a realistically designed character is talking to Professor Oak who looks like the a chicken nugget??? Just seeing them together is really jarring.
Speaking of Pokemon, someone traded me their level 100 Ditto that had a Gameboy original marking (meaning it’s from a virtual console) and my friend told me that if you take it to Morimoto at the Game Freak office in Heahea City, he'll have interesting dialogue. This is what he said:
"! That Ditto of yours...I don't know why, but it sure takes me back! You know Diglett, right? It's actually basically just a character that I had made up when I was a little kid. I even drew up a flip-book featuring it then!
Your lead Pokemon's Nature is Hardy. That means all its stats grow about the same. If it's all the same to you."
ISN’T THAT...SO CUTE...
thinking about disability and mental illness in the pokemon world is pretty wild
a slowking who is always calm and ready to help when their trainer is having an anxiety attack or a breakdown
a blissey who lays its happiness eggs to help its trainer with depression
a gardevoir who uses its psychic black hole ability to prevent its trainer from getting sensory overload
a lucario reading its epileptic trainers aura to watch out for episodes
a munna helping a trainer with insomnia avoid bad dreams and sleep peacefully
a sylveon using its ribbons to calm someone who’s been badly triggered
And what about pokemon trained to help blind trainers, like zubat, golbat and crobat or other cave pokemon, as well as poochyena and houndoom like service dogs
And psychic pokemon or unknown aiding deaf trainers with communication
I’m also fascinated with the idea of more humanoid pokemon learning sign language to communicate with deaf trainers. If meowth can learn to talk, mr. mime and others can certainly learn the pokemon regions equivalent of signing
go further
a ditto mimicking the shape of a wheelchair so that their trainer will have assistance (pokemon powered!) on hard hills or when they get tired
or fighting types that are used not for fighting but as vital assistants for accessibility and mobility- machamp pushing wheelchairs and effortlessly lifting said chairs (and occupants) over steps; hariyama cradling their trainers in one hand when they get fatigued or chronic pain starts up, and carrying them around gently; hitmonlee with their super-steady legs and fighting-honed balance providing a good support to trainers with balance issues.
or nonverbal trainers that rely on their psychic pokemon (or pokemon like lucario) to translate their thoughts telepathically to other people when they can’t form words or signs
or autistic trainers with dragon types that sit next to them and allow their trainers to stroke their scales, the bumpy-smooth texture perfect for stimming with
minccino being absolutely vital to keeping the spaces of asthmatic trainers clean to not trigger an asthma attack; those same trainers cuddling with a water type that keeps their environment at the right humidity and temperature while they sleep to aid their breathing