What are your game headcanons?

[Dreary_Rowlet]

That falinks are very short, the 9 feet tall thing is just a miscalculation. They are as tall as a kirby when measured individualy.
Are you kidding me? 9 feet tall or long? How do they fit in the tunnels?

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

That falinks are very short, the 9 feet tall thing is just a miscalculation. They are as tall as a kirby when measured individualy.
Are you kidding me? 9 feet tall or long? How do they fit in the tunnels?

I'm pretty sure that the 9 feet thing refers to the length of the entire troop combined. Much like how Furret and the snake Pokemon are also measured head to tail. That said, even then each individual Falinks trooper would probably need to be quite a bit larger than Kirby (who mind you is eight inches tall canonically) in order for them to collectively add up to nine feet when in formation.

 

[Dreary_Rowlet]

I'm pretty sure that the 9 feet thing refers to the length of the entire troop combined. Much like how Furret and the snake Pokemon are also measured head to tail. That said, even then each individual Falinks trooper would probably need to be quite a bit larger than Kirby (who mind you is eight inches tall canonically) in order for them to collectively add up to nine fit when in formation.

Yea, that is probably the case. I just imagine them being pretty small.
But yea, the headcanon doesn't really add up.

 

[RK9]

Zapdos, Articuno and Moltres are a Fearow, Pidgey and Farfetch'd that have been experimented on respectively. As Normal/Flying types and Kanto being very science-orientated, they experimented upon them in an attempt to have them obtain the elemental powers, much like how Eevee is able to obtain elemental powers upon evolution. As a result of this, their facial features and beaks look very similar, if not 1:1.

This also explains how there are seemingly more pairs of them than just the one sole one and how one pair even managed to adapt and become Galarian forms. They still have the ability to reproduce that they had as Fearow, Pidgey and Farfetch'd, though due to the experimentation and subsequental behavior and habitat development, not to the extent of the normal species anymore.

 

[BackSet]

Stop letting nukes reproduce. Stupid scientists.

 

[plasmas4ge]

i have a lot for the deino line!

-when deino are born, they're shaped kind of like a beanie baby. they don't have their mane yet, but within the first few days of life they grow soft fur like a newborn baby. over time the fur becomes more wiry, like a wire-haired terrier, then it hardens when it's close to evolution, eventually feeling a bit like actual wire
-their scales also harden with age and become a darker blue; at birth, deino are a light blue-grey color
-hydreigon are prone to neurological issues with their two smaller heads, because they have no full independent thought they're wired closely to the brain of the main head. so if a small head gets damaged from something, it can disrupt the hydreigon's nervous system and cause an array of neurological problems
-hydreigon are triggered to attack by quick and sudden movements, so trainers with them must learn to stay calm and collected around them
-deino and zweilous are prone to ""moods"" like teenagers, their lack of sight frustrates them and they may sometimes lash out at even those they trust
-ghetsis' hydreigon is fully evolved MUCH earlier than it should, and i believe it's because he cut off or otherwise disabled one of its heads when it was a zweilous. since zweilous in the lore evolve when one head eats more and becomes stronger than the other, this triggered his zweilous to evolve very early
-also, his hydreigon took out his eye and partially paralyzed him after evolving
-in the wild, baby deino are typically abandoned by their mothers early on and must fend for themselves
-because of their behavioral issues, generally children in unova are taught that deino are NOT beginner pokemon, no matter how cute they may seem
-my bw protag oc replacing hilda/hilbert is a self proclaimed deino professional, he raised his partner connie after finding her abandoned at a very young age. not a hc but i wanted to share him

they are my favorite pokemon EVER and i think about them so often. little dragon babies

 

[RK9]

not a hc but i wanted to share him

Based.

 

[Serverus Snope]

It's generally assumed that trainers are in charge and their Pokemon trust their authority because of how badass and/or kind they are. But there are cases where this is reversed.

In the most unambiguously positive cases, a trainer who is unsure of themselves may be guided forward because of their Pokemon's "believe in me who believes in you" energy.

Somewhere in the middle, you have trainers who initially didn't want to pursue the goal they're going after now. Then their Pokemon convinced them to pursue it. Example: the League challenger who did it to make his battle-hungry team of Blood Knights happy.

And then you have the Pokemon who are highly domineering and/or high-maintenance. For some reason, the trainer either can't or won't get them to leave. They resign themselves to wait on their Pokemon hand and foot for the rest of their days.

 

[FelipePR]

my headcanon for like nearly 7 years now (or my entire time as a pokemon fan, as a subconscious thing) is that leaf is the true protag of the kanto games, not red.

yes i am fully aware that its red whos fought at the end of the johto games. yes, this is also almost entirely fueled by the fact that until recent years leaf was almost completely ignored in like 99% of pokemon media. yes, its also because leaf is objectively best protag. (just kidding, you can have your faves.)

- A headcanon I've always had, and which, who knows, might even contain some truth, is that Red/Leaf are, at least originally, two sides of the same coin. That is, that Leaf is basically an alternate female version of Red, or vice versa.

- I believe this justification first came to me from the fact that, in FRLG, regardless of which version of the protagonist you choose, both will never coexist in the same world, which contrasts with the treatment given to the protagonists in Hoenn and several later generations. (Although the last two generations have come back with this approach)

- Another fact that always caught my attention is that the hair tone and hair quality of both characters, at least in FRLG, is quite similar, if not identical.

- I believe this may be one of the reasons I've never appreciated ships involving both characters or their counterparts, like LuckyShipping. Or who knows, this isn't just a justification to favor Blue♡Leaf ships, Lol.

 

[BackSet]

And then you have the Pokemon who are highly domineering and/or high-maintenance. For some reason, the trainer either can't or won't get them to leave. They resign themselves to wait on their Pokemon hand and foot for the rest of their days.

In other words, cat owners.

 

[Emmy]

Charizard is not a real dragon as evidenced by its lack of Dragon-Typing.

It is instead a member of the Dinosauria clade judging from its Japanese name "Lizardon" that grew wings in order to imitate dragons due to its innate desire to fly.

 

[Serverus Snope]

The red lacerations/lesions on Hisuian Zoroark's body can heal under the care of a trainer it trusts, especially if it no longer uses Bitter Malice. Shadow Ball, for example, can channel its ghostly power without causing harm to it. It can also use Dark Pulse without hurting itself if it learns to channel dark Aura using emotions other than spite. Maybe it could use troublemaking glee like its Dark-type cousins!

That being said, teaching Hisuian Zoroark to draw ghostly/dark power from something other than spite can be a difficult process. It may be accustomed to lashing out with all its hatred in battle.

 

[XionKuriyama]

Finally, somewhere to dump these. These are just a smattering of the ones most impactful to filling plot holes, I've been working on this for ages now.

• The world was enveloped in a global war about 20 years prior to FRLG, which eventually ended in Kanto creating a singular world government based on its own meritocratic gym and champion system, which in itself is based on the ancient culture of shoguns. Galar was the lead nation of the losing side, and the peace treaty included the stipulation that Galar (and presumably future regions) would have a very slow and methodical reintroduction of Pokemon species enforced by local customs control--hence the NatDex cut.
• 11 is the minimum age to take the Rite of the Journey, a custom that harkens back to Kantonian myths of child shoguns. It is not actually all that common, though it does happen. Instead, you'll usually see champions in their teens to early twenties--that is, the prime age to be doing basically sports. These young champions are often influenced by 'old power' in the region--think Lance.
• The traditional starters are actually functionally extinct--these are creatures for which the War was absolutely devastating. They were just barely saved by bringing them to allied and resistance laboratories and going through breeding programs. The Starter Program actually exists as the first steps of a slow and cautious reintroduction to the wild, much like Przewalski's horse in our world. Conveniently, it also serves as a screening program for what is essentially a political campaign--it involves a whole lot of paperwork and, though not mandatory, it is heavily preferred for championship candidates to have gone through it, even if they did not receive a traditional starter from it for whatever reason (think Ash's Pikachu).
• The Pokedex is an AI system that fills in data about Pokemon by scanning local reports, mythology, and urban legends for anything similar. This is why it can fill out instantly even if a Pokemon isn't known to the broader world--and why it seems to wildly exaggerate so much, it's not exactly perfect.
• The six-Pokemon limit is a function of the Demilitarization Clause of the peace treaty. It also accounts for why Mega Evolution, Z-Moves and Dynamaxing are rare, and why there's almost no weapons anywhere--though there are of course plenty of ways to get your hands on a gun if you really want one, they're all highly illegal.
• Poke Pelago has always been a thing, and a living dex is in fact ethically attainable--though only Red has actually achieved that for the entire world.
• You don't so much 'catch' Legendary and Mythical Pokemon as they gift you an avatar of themselves if you prove yourself worthy of wielding the power of the gods and spirits of this world. This is why there can be multiple, why they can be shiny, how they can still go about their divine duties, etc.
• Arceus is an exception even to this--instead of catching it, it chooses a human to be its chosen guardian, messanger and prophet as it manifests on Earth to carry out its terrible yet righteous Judgement. Previous guardians have included the Hero/Heroine from Conquest, Dawn, Lucas (in PLA), Gold, and Lyra.
• The energy crisis in SwSh is far more urgent--the thousand years line is the government coverup to avoid panic. You can see further signs of the crisis in Pokken Tournament (where the main plot is about "Gaia energy" runnning low), UNITE (Pokemon fighting each other for bastions of energy iirc?) and even New Snap (the plot is investigating certain Pokemon taking in a mysterious energy that makes them bioluminescent).
• Dawn turned down the Championship, as did Hilda, which is why Cynthia still plays a major role and why Hilda is nowhere to be seen in BW2.
• Maxie is an Elon Musk esque techbro who thinks he can bring about utopia with Technology and The Free Market , no systemic change required, and who can't see the flaws in his plans because all he has to do is throw the money in. Archie is a nihilistic "humans are the real virus" ecoterrorist who wouldn't mind if all humanity went extinct, including himself. This is why they're so dedicated to apocalyptic plans and refuse to see any potential backfire to awakening Groudon and Kyogre.
• Normal animals exist, and are generally greatly preferred for farming and husbandry purposes. Pokemon are more like if the dinosaurs never went extinct--ancient, powerful predecessors to the more mundane animals of the modern day. We even see evidence of this in PLA--Alpha Pokemon could be considered the last of the megafauna versions of many Pokemon.
• Bonus: Chase and Elaine from Let's Go don't like battling wild Pokemon, since they feel it's hurting them in a way that isn't comparable to trainer battles, so they do what I'm sure we've all tried at least once--chucking balls at them until they get in out of sheer luck. Let's Go also takes place in the same timeline as FRLG, about a year or two later, and concurrently with Emerald/ORAS.
• Extra Bonus: Cinnibar Island is destroyed by Groudon and Kyogre's battle.

Might come in here with more at another time, I think about this verse a lot.

 

[XionKuriyama]

Hate to double post but here's a new one: X/Y takes place prior to or concurrent with the Kanto games, because LGPE has Fairy type Pokemon and specifically calls them out as existing.

Obviously, this is ignoring that one dev tweet and the fact that LGPE is in a weird place wrt canon status in the first place, but I ignore those in my verse already.

 

[BackSet]

Because he's a jerk, Faba is the one responsible for leaking a Beast Ball and Type: Null on the Black Market in SwSh.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

LGPE has Fairy type Pokemon and specifically calls them out as existing.

I haven't played Let's Go, so what's the line?

 

[BackSet]

I personally headcanon LGPE to be yet another alternate universe. I know people dislike the multiverse thing but in my personal headcanon it's only three (and by personal headcanon I mean one I completely stole from Lockstin & Gnoggin the video of which I cannot find because YouTube is stupid): The Original Timeline (GB-DS), the Mega Timeline (XY-SV but the others still happened), and the End Timeline (LGPE, Necrozma stole all the light in the universe and destroyed it, creating a new Big Bang in the process thus leading to LGPE's timeline). I know, I know they need better names.

Oh, also there's those alternate universes where the Rainbow Rocket guys come from and the anime and many, many mangas are technically alternate timelines but I'm only taking games into account here.

 

[XionKuriyama]

I haven't played Let's Go, so what's the line?

Mina from Alola can be fought outside of the SS Anne and talks about them. The Alola references in LGPE are actually kind of interesting imo, but in this case it creates some timeline weirdness.

I personally headcanon LGPE to be yet another alternate universe. I know people dislike the multiverse thing but in my personal headcanon it's only three (and by personal headcanon I mean one I completely stole from Lockstin & Gnoggin the video of which I cannot find because YouTube is stupid): The Original Timeline (GB-DS), the Mega Timeline (XY-SV but the others still happened), and the End Timeline (LGPE, Necrozma stole all the light in the universe and destroyed it, creating a new Big Bang in the process thus leading to LGPE's timeline). I know, I know they need better names.

Oh, also there's those alternate universes where the Rainbow Rocket guys come from and the anime and many, many mangas are technically alternate timelines but I'm only taking games into account here.

Personally, I don't have a problem with the multiverse shenanigans in and of themselves so much as the fact that the timelines are disconnected based on one mechanic. I think that's dumb. My solution is to make it a branching timeline starting whether the events of PLA happen or not, the idea being that Volo going through with his plan sets everything in motion.

Of course, my timeline is a whole mess because I'm trying to combo the games, anime and manga into one verse, so this may be a questionable solution, lol.

 

[BackSet]

Of course, my timeline is a whole mess because I'm trying to combo the games, anime and manga into one verse, so this may be a questionable solution, lol.

I tried that once. Only gave up because I have dedication issues. Fairly certain most of that fic is gone anyways.

 

[BackSet]

Unrelated headcanon, this is the song Piers sings during his gym battle: