Pokémon Headcanon Sideblog

Research assistant in the Dogghe Region, situated near Galar and Kalos. Interested mainly in Pokémon habitats. Mirror City based. Proud owner of a grand total of 2 badges.

[scyther-no-scything]

[flimflix]

[dogghe-region]

Attempting to recreate some famous Dogghe paintings: Vermeer's Milotic, Van Gogh's Skiploom, and Mondriaan's Poké Balls. The results are mixed.

[dogghe-region]

Pokécenter nurses in Dogghe use Alomomola as their partner Pokémon. The Poké Center is specifically outfitted with indoor ponds to accommodate them and the huge number of water types native to the region.

[bills-pokedex]

why is perrserker classified as its own pokemon and not as galarian persian

This is a question that comes up frequently in the pokémon enthusiast circles, so allow me to put it this way.

It's for the same reason slowking is not a Johtonian slowbro but a Galarian slowbro is. The first is too genetically dissimilar to be the same species, while the latter shares enough of a similarity to be considered a breed. In the same way, perrserker is indeed an entirely separate species because it literally is one, whereas Alolan persian is simply and genetically a breed of persian.

I realize this is quite short and perhaps a bit too simple of an answer, but I admit there . . . is sadly not much more to it. As part of cataloging new pokémon, scientists will often try to obtain a DNA sample for analysis (hence our reliance on trainers). If the sample matches something in our database, even if it's just a near match, then it's classified as a regional variant. If there is no match, then it's a new species. Perrserker just happened to fall into the latter category.

(As a side note, I should emphasize that we do this with most unidentified pokémon, not all. Some, such as legendaries and mythicals, cannot be analyzed this way for obvious reasons. In their cases, we simply record what we can of their existence and theorize their status based on the other qualifiers for a species, namely morphology and behavior. This is how we determined that Galarian articuno was, indeed, an articuno. For example, anyway.)

[bills-pokedex]

@foremanrwby-blog replied:

Huh, I thought the reason slowking isn't Johtoean Slowbro was because they start out as the same form but their evolution isn't dependent on where it was evolved, unlike Alolan Raichu.

While it's true that Alolan variants often need the spiritual energies of Alola in order to evolve (pikachu into Alolan raichu, cubone into Alolan marowak, and so on), it's not necessarily true or even well-understood how other variants are able to evolve. For example, there isn't anything inherently special about Galar (nothing that would affect evolution, anyway), yet completely ordinary koffing that by all means are identical to the ones found outside of Galar can evolve into a unique variant within the region's borders.

Granted, at the risk of putting it bluntly, this is all a bit off the point, as the main thing I was getting at is that slowking is a secondary evolution first identified in Johto, yet it's not a Johtonian variation of slowbro. This is because it really is, right down to genetics, an entire separate species, in the same way perrserker is an entirely separate species from persian. The difference between these examples is that the evolutionary markers for slowking exist in all slowpoke (for Galarian slowpoke, this means the markers lead to Galarian slowking); it's simply that the requirements hadn't been discovered until the link between slowpoke and king's rock, a mineral native to Johto (but not Kanto), was discovered. It's a very similar story to other pokémon whose evolutions were first described in other regions. Gallade is not a Sinnohan gardevoir, for example; bellossom is not a Johtonian vileplume; and so on. Meanwhile, the evolutionary markers that lead to perrserker only exist within a specific breed of meowth, but this doesn't erase the fact that perrserker is an entirely separate species from persian.

[dogghe-region]

My perspective on Galarian Weezing is that its regional variant can best be understood as an adaptational leftover and social behaviour. The form originally developed as a change in diet: in pre-industrial times, it fed almost exclusively on the gasses of rotting organic matter, which could be supplemented by toxic waste, and continues to be its main food source in other regions. However, due to Galar's rapid industrial revolution, the change in diet prompted the activation of this form that is apparently dormant in all Koffing, as a way to capitalize on the industrial smog as a food source, avoiding competition with its pre-evolution in the process. Due to better environmental policies, both food sources have declined, so neither form has huge a natural advantage any more. However, since the Galarian form still has the advantage of not competing with Koffing over food sources, it is retained by native Weezing. Furthermore, most Pokémon are at least moderately social, so I think it's reasonable to assume that foreign Koffing would adopt this form as a kind of pack behaviour.

[dogghe-region]

A quick sketch of the Dogghe region!

[dogghe-region]

The latest version of the Dogghe region's Pokédex!

[dogghe-region]

OOC: Reorganizing what Pokémon are available and which gyms go where for the millionth time <3 Fairy, Fire, Normal and Steel gyms are OUT on account on not having enough eligible mons, Bug, Dark, Poison and Psychic gyms are IN.

The latest version has even more water, IGN be damned

[dogghe-region]

My favorites in the Dogghe Pokédex!

[dogghe-region]

It's tradition in Dogghe that instead of being given their first Pokémon, beginning trainers are given an old fishing rod and catch their own under supervision. Poliwag, Krabby, Goldeen, Chewtle and Arrokuda are common to have as first Pokémon.

[dogghe-region]

I miss the habitat listing from frlg

[dogghe-region]

While you'd expect fire types to be extremely rare in Dogghe, since the region sunk into the sea and was rebuilt, some have managed to thrive nevertheless. Houndour especially seems to be able to live comfortably in the swamplands, and Fletchinder are common on sunny days. Slugma have found places to thrive in urban areas, like the population living on Kanto's cycling road. Litwick also thrives in urban areas, and Ponyta seems to be able to withstand the wetter conditions reasonably well. Finally, Litleo, historically popular with the upper classes, have been imported from Kalos and feral populations have settled Dogghe's famous flower gardens.

[dogghe-region]

I at one point decided to become a Psychic-type specialist, and I got myself a Slowpoke and an Inkay. It didn't pan out.

[dogghe-region]

Reading up on Tell Mikado, one of the prominent ancient cities during the Age of Legends. It was known for its gardens, and the Tower of the Heavens, where its protector Pokémon, Rayquaza roosted. Many cities at the time had a legendary Pokémon to protect them, as rogue legendaries were common and only a few people owned Pokémon for protection.

[dogghe-region]

I came across some really interesting articles today about ancient forms of Pokémon. Primal Magikarp and Shellos are relatively well-known, and the research on Primal Dunsparce is becoming more prominent recently. There is still no conclusive evidence about those primal forms' typings, assuming they differed from the modern variants; I believe the most likely candidates are Water/Dragon for Magikarp and Water/Steel for Shellos. Dunsparce is trickier; it was almost certainly a Flying type, and some sources assume either Normal/Flying or pure Flying. However, the vestigial Dragon-type traits in Dunsparce's moveset are suggestive. There is also a quite vocal minority arguing it was a Ground/Flying type, but I believe that its Ground-type traits originate after it became flightless.

What are your thoughts? Are there any other Pokémon whose ancient forms are substantially different from the modern ones?

[dogghe-region]

How do you pronounce Dogghe? Is it like "doggy" but with an "h"? Dog-he?

I don’t really have an English pronunciation in mind - it’s based on a Middle Dutch word which was pronounced something like dokh-kha, but that‘s not really a reasonable English pronunciation. I guess “dogga” would be closest, but I kinda like “doggay” better.

[dogghe-region]

Galarian forms occur natively in some places near Galar as well. Corsola and Slowpoke, being marine species, inhabit neighboring regions, including Dogghe. Farfetch'd are migratory, and the Galarian variant is quite common in Dogghe as well. Galarian Meowth and Perrserker are not even technically natively Galarian, but were introduced from the far North.

[professor-vanad]

Fascinating! Do you get much other regional overlap in Dogghe? I’ve always wondered why there aren’t more Galarian variants in Kalos. I think it has something to do with the weather.

[dogghe-region]

I mean, we are on the same latitude as some parts of Galar, and have similar variations in weather, so that might be a factor. Also, given the history of Dogghe, many ecosystems are relatively young, which means there might just have been more opportunities for foreign regional forms to settle.

With Kalos, there’s considerable overlap in the north, with the ecosystem on Route 14 basically extending into Dogghe.

[chibitasm]

bring back Duplica!! ✌️

fun fact- all those plushies with the ditto faces are based off of Duplica’s first ditto! truly a legend :]