Pokémon and the Mandela Effect

[Emmy]

If you've been around the internet for a while you've probably heard of the Mandela Effect - a commonly held "false memory" held by people due to the fog of time amongst other contributing factors.

From what I understand, a common example that occurs in the Pokémon fandom is the misremembering of which Gen a Pokémon debuted in because the anime sometimes features them before the next Gen games (which they're from) come out. Examples include Misty's Togepi or Tracey's Marill. Though I imagine the more hardcore fans would be less likely to make such a mistake.

So I was curious if there are any other instances you've heard of or maybe even had yourself? Feel free to share~

I'll go first. I'll admit I haven't seen the "Pokémon 2000" movie in a considerable amount of time, but I did watch it a million times on VHS as a child since it was by far my favourite of the movies. However, until recently I would've sworn to all that is holy that the main trio in that film consisted of Ash, Misty and Brock. It was only a few days ago when the discussion about old characters potentially reappearing and Tracey Sketchit was brought up that out of curiosity I was looking up his appearances post-Orange Islands (to see how often the writers remembered he exists) that I stumbled across his role in the 2000 movie and I was like "....wait what?" I know the age old joke is that Tracey was a forgettable temporary replacement for Brock but I had my mind blown by that revelation and had to look up screenshots to double check and make sure I wasn't going insane.

 

[Puddle]

I actually have heard about something like this happening in the Pokemon fandom. Some people mistakenly believe that there were no dual-type Pokemon in Gen I, possibly due to the dual-type damage misinformation glitch, which sometimes caused the wrong type match-up text to display.

 

[prog rocker]

There's also the situation when people think Pikachu has a stripe or something at the tip of its tail. My sister was kinda surprised when I told her it didn't have that.

 

[Daenerys]

I'll go first. I'll admit I haven't seen the "Pokémon 2000" movie in a considerable amount of time, but I did watch it a million times on VHS as a child since it was by far my favourite of the movies. However, until recently I would've sworn to all that is holy that the main trio in that film consisted of Ash, Misty and Brock. It was only a few days ago when the discussion about old characters potentially reappearing and Tracey Sketchit was brought up that out of curiosity I was looking up his appearances post-Orange Islands (to see how often the writers remembered he exists) that I stumbled across his role in the 2000 movie and I was like "....wait what?" I know the age old joke is that Tracey was a forgettable temporary replacement for Brock but I had my mind blown by that revelation and had to look up screenshots to double check and make sure I wasn't going insane.

Whoa that's a really big one considering that the movie took place during the middle of the Orange Islands arc so of course Brock being in the cast wouldn't have made sense. Tracey is definitely forgettable so I don't fault fans for forgetting that he was with Ash and Misty in that film, but I can't wrap my head around fans thinking that Brock was with the group there. He did make a cameo by the way, but only for like half a second I think.

I don't have that many Mandela effect examples that happened to me, but one that does cross my mind every now and then is the Seagallop ferry; I could've sworn that back when I first played FireRed and LeafGreen, the railing inside the port where the Seagallop ferry is housed was blue instead of green and that it was just one straight line.

 

[Puddle]

I just remembered something interesting that happened to me a few years ago, which could also be described as a Mandela Effect. I used to think that Pidgeot had a gender difference, with the male having a longer crest on his head than the female, and was really surprised when I discovered this wasn't actually the case. Pidgeot's crest looks shorter on its 3D model than on its sprites, which may have been what misled me.

There's also the situation when people think Pikachu has a stripe or something at the tip of its tail. My sister was kinda surprised when I told her it didn't have that.

Could your sister have been thinking of Cosplay Pikachu? She has a black marking on the tip of her tail resembling a heart, but on her menu sprite it kind of looks more like a triangle.

 

[Emmy]

Whoa that's a really big one considering that the movie took place during the middle of the Orange Islands arc so of course Brock being in the cast wouldn't have made sense. Tracey is definitely forgettable so I don't fault fans for forgetting that he was with Ash and Misty in that film, but I can't wrap my head around fans thinking that Brock was with the group there. He did make a cameo by the way, but only for like half a second I think.

Worth pointing out that I wasn't able to go cinemas as a child so I ended up seeing the movie on VHS by which point it was around mid-2001 and I believe we were in the Johto saga already which I suspect lead to the muddling of my memories.

 

[Cybersai]

I think a big mandela affect is now that Brock has been gone from the anime for a decade, people are now starting to think he left at the end of Johto, instead of lasting 8 more years after that. Maybe because Brock's role in the Hoenn/DP arcs was so forgettable that people don't think much of him there. On a similar side, I've seen people wrongly assume Misty lasted a lot longer in the anime than she did, I've seen people claim she was in the anime for a decade or something like that, when in reality she was only around for 5 years. Maybe it's also their SM anime cameos, since they were both featured together in those episodes and the writers treated them like a set, people have forgotten that Brock was in the anime for two more series without Misty, and now people wrongly assume they were always together at the same time. This is something I've noticed a lot recently, probably between that and Pokemon Go and all the other recent merch advertisements treated them like a "set" again, when they weren't like that for a long time between 2002-2010.

 

[Nicolas721]

While I was completing my ORAS Dex, I was somehow sure that Psyduck evolved with a Water Stone, so I left it until the end. Eventually I remembered that it evolved by level up.

I had the belief that Slowking evolved from Slowbro until 2007, and I met the species in 2001. However that belief didn't impact any of my playthroughs as the only game I owned at the time was Emerald.

I have also a story about something I thought was Mandela effect but wasn't: I saw an anime episode around 2002 which had some images of some invisible or magical towers building themselves and couldn't remember what episode it was, and without internet it was impossible to find out. In 2007 I rewatched the whole of Seasons 1-3 bar 5-6 episodes and those images were nowhere to be found, so I assumed I made them up. Then in 2017, I rewatched some Kanto episodes, including It's Mr. Mime time, which was one of the 5-6 episodes I skipped in 2007 and...there it was. It felt very surreal watching it.

 

[prog rocker]

Could your sister have been thinking of Cosplay Pikachu? She has a black marking on the tip of her tail resembling a heart, but on her menu sprite it kind of looks more like a triangle.
View attachment 137537

Considering she doesn't play Pokémon, I don't think so.

 

[Puddle]

I had the belief that Slowking evolved from Slowbro until 2007, and I met the species in 2001. However that belief didn't impact any of my playthroughs as the only game I owned at the time was Emerald.

One of the unofficial Pokemon books I had as a child erroneously claimed that Slowking evolved from Slowbro, so I, too, believed this for quite a few years. It was quite a surprise when I learned Slowking actually evolves from Slowpoke.

Considering she doesn't play Pokémon, I don't think so.

Ah, maybe not then! I mean, it's possible she might have still seen a Cosplay Pikachu (Pikachu Libre is in Super Smash Bros., GO and Pokken Tournament, so it might be more in the public consciousness than the other forms thanks to posters, adverts etc) but they haven't really been featured that often outside of the ORAS promotional material. Maybe some people remember the brown markings on Pikachu's back and on the base of its tail, but mistakenly remember them being on the tip of its tail.

 

[Esserise]

Less a Mandela effect and more just a design element that I didn't notice for a long time, but it took my until XY to realize that Fearow had a fuzzy white down all over its back. I always thought there was just a little bit on each shoulder because most of the official art and earlier sprites kind of obscure Fearow's back (and I never saw it from behind in the Gen 4 or 5 games).

Maybe some people remember the brown markings on Pikachu's back and on the base of its tail, but mistakenly remember them being on the tip of its tail.

This is a pretty common one, yeah, and I think it is just people misremembering the markings at the base of the tail. Personally, I've never gotten it mixed up - pictures of Pikachu with some kind of pattern on the tip just look all wrong to me.

 

[WyndonCalling]

Not one of mine, but I've heard several people over the years claim that a lack of badges prevent you from effectively levelling up your own catches.

 

[Neyo]

In my AS save file, I swear I had a shiny Linoone. But in the Pokédex, there wasn’t a shiny sprite, and I couldn’t find it after I noticed it. Darn Mandela effect.

 

[LukeLucario6]

I think a big mandela affect is now that Brock has been gone from the anime for a decade, people are now starting to think he left at the end of Johto, instead of lasting 8 more years after that. Maybe because Brock's role in the Hoenn/DP arcs was so forgettable that people don't think much of him there. On a similar side, I've seen people wrongly assume Misty lasted a lot longer in the anime than she did, I've seen people claim she was in the anime for a decade or something like that, when in reality she was only around for 5 years. Maybe it's also their SM anime cameos, since they were both featured together in those episodes and the writers treated them like a set, people have forgotten that Brock was in the anime for two more series without Misty, and now people wrongly assume they were always together at the same time. This is something I've noticed a lot recently, probably between that and Pokemon Go and all the other recent merch advertisements treated them like a "set" again, when they weren't like that for a long time between 2002-2010.

Sounds less like a mandela effect example and more like cherry-picking fan mistakes that people make on Twitter. I'm not surprised that you somehow found a way to make this partially about Misty and her fans as well.

 

[GhostLucario]

Funnily enough I was just thinking about this today. Coincidence?
Anyway I distinctly remember getting the shiny Zygarde event back in 2018. But when I got a Home suscription to move all my shiny/legendaries to SwSH I couldn't find it anywhere. Not in Sun/Moon/US/UM/Bank. I checked the pokedex and a shiny Zygarde isn't even registered. So was it a dream? Did I imagine it? Maybe I traded it away and I just couldn't remember? I guess I'll never know.

 

[Daenerys]

I've heard about the 'mandela effect' about Pikachu's tail and how some people swear it had a colored tip. It's something that I didn't really take too seriously but I will say that I found some old Pokemon drawings that I did back in 2004 or so and my version of Pikachu had a black tip on its tail. Don't know if that was just me not paying attention to Pikachu's actual design or proof of the tail originally being that way, but it's something that I've been thinking about.

 

[Minya_Nouvelle]

I have a memory I would like to share. I'm not sure what part of it is a Mandela Effect, but I do know that what I remember could not have happened.

Let's go back to Pokemon Sapphire. After I beat the game, I had my first encounter with the Battle Tower. Having no idea what to expect, I entered the level 100 battle tower with my Wailord in the lead slot.

The very first trainer had a Shedinja. Having never seen a Shedinja before, I assumed it was ground type because of its color and decided to attack with a Hydro Pump. The Hydro Pump hit and OHKO'd . I was really excited and thought that must mean my wailord was super powerful because I was only level sixty-something. However, I was later told by my friend that the reason it OHKO'd was because Shedinja only has 1HP because of wonder guard and I kind of forgot about it after that.

The problem here is that Hydro Pump should not have hit. For some reason, I assumed for a bit that Wonder Guard must have a small chance to fail and that was what happened, but that does not seem to be the case. I don't know if the Mandela Effect is something to do with Wonder Guard or the typing of Shedinja. All I know is that I killed one with a water type move once.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

In my AS save file, I swear I had a shiny Linoone. But in the Pokédex, there wasn’t a shiny sprite, and I couldn’t find it after I noticed it. Darn Mandela effect.

I had the same experience with either Roselia or Finneon in Diamond.

Also, when I was little, I briefly thought that Arbok evolved into Seviper, yet I have no memory of seeing that infamous Trainer's Choice quiz.

 

[Daenerys]

I had the same experience with either Roselia or Finneon in Diamond.

Also, when I was little, I briefly thought that Arbok evolved into Seviper, yet I have no memory of seeing that infamous Trainer's Choice quiz.

You probably assumed that since they were both Poison typed snake Pokemon that they had to be related. It reminds me of how some people thought that Luvdisc and Alomomola had to be related to each other.

 

[R.O.B.]

Ice resists and is super effective against water.
Slugma and Skarmory are from Gen 3.