For all you people talking about such things such as Red and Blue's personality or how the government works in-game, you're all forgetting that this fic is likely to fall under AU. This basically means that the author doesn't have to strictly follow cannon; though, I do believe that a good portion of it should be followed. With this in mind, it is feasible to make Red a stoic asshole while making Blue the tragic loser. I especially like the part where the death of Raticate matured Blue from his former childish, arrogant viewpoint of the world.
Many posts ago, I had started to write something along these lines, but deleted it because I thought I would come across as trite. However, Game Freak201's post here contains all of the sentiments that I had contemplated voicing, and it's something that I would like to comment on. The OP of this thread was basically a collection of fic ideas, and I still see it from that perspective. The goal is not to create a universe that is "correct" as much as it is to create a universe that is "entertaining." That being said, "correct" (in the sense of "abiding by canon") and "entertaining" often coincide, but this isn't always the case.
First off, let's establish one thing: if we are trying to build a universe that makes sense, deviations from canon are inevitable, because
the Pokemon universe doesn't make sense. For an example, turn to the breeding mechanic. Whenever two Pokemon of different species breed, the offspring inherit the species of the mother. How is it, then, that Tauros (which are only male) are not extinct? If we strictly abide by canon, the only way that Tauros could reproduce and create Tauros offspring is to breed wtih Ditto, which are not found in the same area as Tauros. A plausible alternative explanation is that Tauros and Miltank (which reside in the same general area in GSC) mate and produce Miltank and Tauros offspring in relatively equal quantities. This violates canon (the rules of the Pokemon universe dictate that in Miltank/Tauros breeding, the offspring would
always be Miltank), but it does make more sense than presuming that the Tauros are mating with Dittos to avoid becoming extinct.
The main reason to abide by canon is that it helps to make the result more recognizable. One of the things that makes posts like
this and
this cool is that they revisit an idea that is familiar to us and attack it from a different angle. Reading these would not be as enjoyable without a familiarity with Pokemon's background.
With this in mind, one thing becomes apparent: what most people
perceive as being Pokemon canon is more important than what is
technically canon. The game manual says Red is 11 years old, but I'm guessing at least 90% of Pokemon players believe him to be 10 years old. (This is still a rather trivial issue; I was just using it as an example.) A non-trivial example: There are a
very few lines that suggest Red has emotion; a few words from the game's manual, and a few lines at the end of the game. However, for the remainder of the game (which consumes more than 99% of the player's time), Red is a stone-faced silent protagonist.* Moreover, consider this: how many players actually read the game manual and remember its contents? I'm guessing that less than 1% of the people who played Pokemon remember anything from the game manual.
In addition to considering recognizability, there is another important thing to keep in mind: the
rule of cool. When introducing ideas that are not addressed in canon, the rule of cool (or the "entertainment factor") is a very important consideration. When you stray outside of the scope of the source material, you lose the element of recognizability. In other words, any non-canon element that is added must be sufficiently cool for the audience to tolerate its presence. There are many ideas that, while not contrary to canon, are less desirable in a work of fiction, because they do not sufficiently "cool." This is my primary justification for the idea of Red and Blue being bioengineered superhumans. It is one way of addressing the issue of their rather unusual names, but more importantly, it's cool. (At least, in my opinion.)
At this point, there arises an entirely different argument altogether: what constitutes "cool." Unfortunately, this is a subjective measure, and it's the reason I was reluctant to bring this up. This isn't an argument that I'd like to get into, because there's little that could convince me that a peaceful communistic society where Pokemon battling is a sport could possibly be cooler than a setting where those in authority hold power because they have command over creatures capable of lethal force.
Regardless, I'd like to thank everyone who has contributed to this thread so far. I don't mean to silence discussion of topics that I personally find uninteresting, but I did want to make my own intentions clear.
A few minor nitpicks (which are not central to the points made above, but that I still wanted to address):
* In fact, there are several lines that reinforce the notion of Red being a literal silent protagonist. In some other games with "silent protagonists," there are parts where it is implied that the protagonist is talking even when his lines aren't "spoken." For example, another character's dialog might be something along the lines of "What's your name? Oh, your name is Link?" Based on this, it can be inferred that the protagonist introduced himself in a manner non-explicit to the viewer. However, Pokemon does the
exact opposite on the S.S. Anne, when a waiter says: "Bonjour! I am le waiter on this ship! I will be happy to serve you anything you please! ... Ah! Le strong silent type!"
As for the whole Red/Blue thing, there's no evidence that a human fabrication type technology exists
There's no evidence of human fabrication type technology, but it's not unreasonable to believe that the same technology that allowed scientists to construct Mewtwo from Mew's DNA might also be used to construct Blue from Daisy's DNA. (Example.)
how does Silver get more money than the average trainer?
Keep in mind that Silver was able to steal a Pokemon from a research lab. It's not unreasonable to believe that he might also steal money; he certainly has no ethical compunctions about stealing. Another possible explanation: most trainers abide by the etiquette that the loser pays half of the money they are carrying. Silver, being the ruthless monster that he is, could conceivably demand that losing trainers forfeit
all of their money (and valuables). If a guy with a giant bipedal alligator demands that you give him your wallet after defeating your only means of personal defense, who would refuse?
Lastly, a few questions that came to mind that could be interesting launching points for discussion:
- The world of Pokemon is absolutely littered with random items. Even areas that are relatively far off the beaten path (like the Seafoam Islands and Unknown Dungeon) have items. In fact, the less-trafficked locations oftentimes have a higher density of items than high-traffic areas. Why is this? One idea: when a trainer walks into a dungeon like the Cerulean Cave or Seafoam Islands, the Pokemon there are savage, having had little exposure to humans. When/if all of his Pokemon faint, the feral Pokemon kill and feast upon the defenseless trainer. Eventually, their remains decay, leaving only a collection of items behind. These items become strewn about, somehow.
- After a Pokeball has been used to attempt a capture, it can never be used again, regardless of whether the attempt was successful or not. If the attempt was successful, the Pokeball becomes permanently "assigned" to that Pokemon. If the attempt was unsuccessful, the Pokeball becomes useless junk. What's the science behind that?
- Humans seem to be the only animal in the Pokemon universe that cannot be captured by Pokeballs. Why is this? One explanation is that it's not impossible to catch humans in a Pokeball; it's just very improbable (something absurdly low like a 1 in 10^100 chance). The more highly evolved a species is, the more difficult it is to capture. This, primitive species like Caterpie and Pidgey are easy to catch, while the likes of Zapdos and Mewtwo are harder to catch, with humans being the most highly evolved species (and this nearly impossible to catch.)
- Why are trainers limited to carrying six Pokemon at a time? I originally theorized that this was a practical limitation due to the weight, but I'm more inclined to adopt FlareBlitz's wormhole idea. The question remains: what is it that prevents unscrupulous trainers (like most of Team Rocket) from carrying a huge number of Pokemon?
- Lastly, one fact to throw on the table (I don't think it needs to be phrased as a question to inspire discussion): in the Pewter museum, there is an NPC who says "July 20, 1969! The 1st lunar landing! I bought a color TV to watch it!"