Fridge pages are Spoilers Off by default, so all entries have been folderized as a security measure. Proceed with caution. You Have Been Warned!
open/close all folders
Fridge Brilliance
- The portable Snag Machine is designed to be worn on and used with the left arm. What was being left-handed called again?
- As pointed out by Chuggaaconroy, the A.I. taking out their own Pokémon makes sense, as you can't snag a fainted Pokémon, so the opponent still "wins" in a way.
- Wes's starting Pokémon are Espeon and Umbreon, both Pokémon who evolve from having a high friendship. Additionally, Espeon has a full power Return, meaning it's at MAX friendship. Even when Wes was an unrelenting Pokémon thief, he still cared for his Pokémon.
- Both of them being at nearly the same level also implies that he managed to get his hands on two Eevees at once and presumably raise them together, only evolving at differing times of day. Really highlights that Wes is both fortunate for the rarity and extremely kind beneath that Anti-Hero surface.
- At the beginning of the game, Es Cade promises to investigate Cipher for you. Yet throughout the game, he never once calls you to give you new information, and any time you visit him, what info he does have is stuff you've already known for a long while. At first it seems like he's incompetent, until it is revealed that he's the Big Bad.
- Whenever you snag an Admin's Shadow Pokémon, in future battles, they will have a replacement for it. Gonzap will as well. When you fight Fein at the end, the man who is deliberately framing Wes for assault, his team (with the exception of Shadow Togetic) consists of the replacement Pokémon used by Gonzap and the Cipher Admins.
- Double Battles being the default battling style in the Orre region. The bad guys there are much more willing to directly attack defenseless people (i.e. people who just lost a battle), so having two Pokémon out at once covering for each other lessens the chance.
- When you first capture a Shadow Pokémon, you can't order it to use any of its non-Shadow moves until you open up its heart a certain amount, yet the trainers you snagged them from can have a Shadow Pokémon use all of its moves (except for the ones replaced by Shadow moves). Why is that? Because the Shadow Pokémon opened its heart to them. Nowhere does it say that you're the only one who can open a Shadow Pokémon's heart. You basically kidnap them, so of course they're going to shut their heart to you.
- Speaking about Shadow Pokémon, their downsides really outweigh their positives, even only thinking of their usage in combat. Shadow moves may have tactical uses, but the fact that Shadow Pokémon cannot level up or learn more powerful moves makes their long-term prospects questionable. So why hadn't Cipher caught on? Well, when you remember that their Pyrite Colosseum plans were about collecting battle data, it becomes clear that at that point, they were still in the testing phase! They hadn't been using them long enough for the level lock to become an issue. Perhaps Evice actually did notice later on, and that was why his later plans emphasized showing off their ruthlessness to make money in admission fees and bets — he's realized that they aren't as suitable for real battles as he thought. As for Greevil, notice that he didn't bother giving most of his admins Pokémon that he and his sons couldn't stomp to the curb if they proved disloyal until they were being driven back to their last strongholds and he didn't have much of a choice...
- Furthermore, his goals of creating Shadow Pokémon that didn't need his underlings to control them might have been a matter of Combat Pragmatism. A "Wild" Shadow Pokémon would be much more likely to ignore typical battle conventions and just go for a killshot on an enemy trainer if it saw the chance. They wouldn't need many levels for that.
- The creation of Shadow Pokémon was an effort to turn them into nothing more than war machines. A Pokémon with no sense of mercy or moral reasoning has no issue with outright killing Pokémon, or even attacking people, such as how the Shadow Makuhita strikes Wes in his first fight against their kind. Evice wanted an army of killing machines; to do that, he closed off their hearts, because the majority of trained Pokémon are not inherently evil enough to do such things.
- If you fail to catch a Shadow Pokémon from someone, but you get another chance to snag it later, the Pokémon will still be the same level with the same attacks and stats, even if this makes the trainer's other Pokémon several levels higher than it. This makes sense when you remember that Shadow Pokémon in your possession don't level up or learn new attacks until they've been purified — the same is true for other trainers.
- It also makes sense given just how much Pokemon's themes (competitive gameplay not withstanding) emphasize the bond between trainer and Pokemon, and how it helps both of them grow. Shadow Pokemon aren't just the opposite of the nature of Pokemon in regards that battling is not akin to dogfighting or war machines, but that it also permanently ensures that there can be no bond between Pokemon and trainer. A Pokemon that has had its heart closed off cannot grow, bond, or develop beyond the level it was at because it's had its ability to emotionally grow and change permanently stunted. And to really add the cherry on top, the fact that Shadow Pokemon are still able to open up their hearts again, and in the process learn their lost skills again only proves how worthless the idea of Shadow Pokemon are. The Shadow Pokemon plan was basically doomed from the start.
- The first 3D games were titled Pokémon Stadium, which underlines the "battle as sport" theme of the main series RPGs. "Colosseum", however, is an allusion to ancient Roman mortal combat between slaves... and the plot depicts Pokémon who are stolen and robbed of their free will.
- Shadow Pokémon are little else than weapons for them. With their hearts being sealed away, the Pokémon have no trouble doing things even as terrible as attacking trainers. A fight with a Shadow Pokémon is very much a fight between life and death, the same as any gladiatorial fights in the ancient Roman Colosseum.
- Cipher mentions that their plan in Realgam Tower is to raise enough money with Shadow Pokémon battles to fund their world domination plans. But if the true leader of Cipher really was the obscenely rich Mr. Verich all along and he had the tower built, why would they need more money in the first place? Then you remember the idea was specifically for "wealthy old men" to bet and you realize their real goal wasn't money, but for the Orre branch of Cipher to convince their absolute leader to support and fund the Shadow Pokémon plan while still being able to attend incognito.
- Most of this game’s shadow Pokémon are Johto Pokémon. They were used in the game because they were unobtainable anywhere else aside from a few exceptions in events and Hoenn's Safari Zone. Porting from Gen II was impossible and Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, which made some of the creatures available in the Sevii Islands, weren't out yet. XD, by contrast, had shadow Pokémon from all the generations that were out at the time.
- While Shadow Pokemon are very obviously violent and dangerous, it seems strange that characters are so specifically shocked by their willingness to attack humans. The opening sequences of Red/Blue, Ruby/Sapphire, and Diamond/Pearl all established that non-Shadow Pokemon are also happy to attack people, even when they lack Pokémon to defend themselves. However, it makes sense when you remember that Orre doesn't have any wild Pokémon. The region's citizens only ever interact with Pokémon that were either raised in captivity or trained ahead of time by people in other places, so they've never experienced natural Pokémon attacks. It's not that Shadow Pokemon are the only Pokémon who attack humans — they're just the only Pokémon in Orre who do it, because all of the others have already been taught not to do so.
- After winning the Pyrite Colosseum, Wes is escorted to the warehouse to be gifted a Shadow Pokémon but doesn't actually receive one. At least until one remembers the Peon that was about to give him one uses a Shadow Yanma. Which implies he is using the very Pokémon you won against you.
- Ever wonder why Pokéballs are so hard to come by in Orre? None of the marts sell them, except for this gas station in the middle of nowhere where the clerk has to dust them out of storage. Well, given the scarcity of wild Pokémon, why would they sell them? In fact, the only people who need them are just about thieves and criminals.
Fridge Horror
- Female Riders wear hats that appears to be made of purple leopard fur. Normally one wouldn't think much of it. However, now that we have a purple leopard Pokémon, Liepard, one has to wonder just what material was used to make that hat.
- The trainers in these games are pretty non-nonchalant about their Pokémon getting stolen by the player. This is Orre, which is noted for being a rough region that is essentially run by crime syndicates. The people living here must be used to crime happening on a regular basis. And with no wild Pokémon to be found, that means they're rare goods that must get stolen and trafficked on a regular basis.
- Orre itself seems to be a rather darker setting than the other Pokémon games. Most of it is a desert wasteland, save for one little grove of trees that Celebi's power presumably keeps green. The wastes cut off a little further west in XD, but still, Fridge Horror kicks in when wondering how the rest of the region got that way, which is even more intense with the revelation that Kalos was previously devastated by the use of a WMD three thousand years ago, yet still maintains a flourishing ecosystem in the present day. Just how recent was the last major disaster/extinction event in Orre, and why has the region not even fully recovered?
- Things are so bad that not even wild Pokémon live there. It's remedied a little in XD with a few places where wild Pokémon can possibly appear, but still.
- Pokémon have been established as living everywhere. Even the most barren or hostile environments have Pokémon in them in other regions — there's three lines of Pokémon that actually thrive in the most toxic of environments, due to being living pollution. And yet, somehow, Orre is so desolate and barren that no Pokémon lives here.
- Harsher in Hindsight comes into play; Pokémon X and Y has revealed the existence of Yveltal, whose lore is that it sucks the life out of everything around it. Could Orre have been a fairly recent site of Yveltal's feeding?
- Cipher's last appearance was back in Generation III. Who knows what havoc they could wreak if they manage to make Shadow Pokémon out of stuff like Hydreigon, Haxorus, Chandelurenote , Darkrai, Heatrannote , Cofagrigus, Trevenant, or Arceus itself?!? Or any of the other nightmarish Pokémon in this setting.
- Like Yamask and Cofagrigus (mentioned on the Pokédex page); Pokémon that can make humans into more Yamask? Or Phantump; a Pokémon that is the spirit of a dead child confined in a tree stump after losing his or her way in the woods, or Drifloon (to carry the children away and make them Phantumps)? If Cipher had those Pokémon, they would have an army of Shadow Pokémon that were once humans and now serve as ghostly Child Soldiers, Empty Shells of their former selves and forced to battle for other trainers without empathy or remorse whether they want to or not.
- Gen VI gives us such pleasantries as the aforementioned Phantump; its evolved form Trevenant; Honedge, a possessed sword that can drink the life force of others; Clawitzer, the "BFG Shrimp" Pokémon; and mental manipulator Malamar. Shadowing any of those is bad enough, and that's not even going into Mega Evolution. On top of that, Yveltal can desoul entire towns, Primal Kyogre can wash Orre away, and Primal Groudon can melt it to the consistency of glass; giving those latter three to the likes of Cipher equates to handing the worst people in the world a WMD and the carte blanche to use it. Sweet dreams.
- As of Generation VII, it gets worse; now we have more nightmarish Pokémon, such as Salazzle (who can brainwash both Pokemon and humans), Bewear (who is infamous for unintentionally killing their trainers), Palossand (which can entrap, then suck the life out of their victims), Mimikyu (which, if one tries to look under its disguise, the peeper will die), and Araquanid (which is known to drown small Pokémon in their bubble). In addition, this generation also debuted the Eldritch Abominations known as the Ultra Beasts, otherworldly beings that consume entire oceans (Guzzlord), bisect entire buildings (Kartana), set whole forests ablaze (Celesteela), and cause other beings to act more violent than normal (Nihilego, as it demonstrated to Lusamine). Just having the above Pokémon would be bad enough (a Shadow Bewear, for example, could just snap a trainer in two without inhibition or remorse, eschewing the battle altogether if it could manage to ambush somebody), but factor in the Ultra Beasts, beings that are powerful enough to destroy entire universes, and Cipher would have dominion over the universe if they maintained control over the dimensional interlopers.
- Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon bring with it an even more dangerous threat than any of the aforementioned in the form of Ultra Necrozma. Upon taking over Solgaleo and Lunala, Necrozma has been proven to open Ultra Wormholes by roaring. Not to mention prior to transforming, it was able to beat back Lusamine and Guzma with ease, throwing them back to their world. To top it off, its Ultra forme is already difficult enough to beat on its own without being a Shadow Pokémon, so one can only imagine what would happen if Cipher got a hold of Necrozma, Lunala, Solgaleo, and the Ultranecrozium Z....
- Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon bring a different kind of horror with it in the Rainbow Resort and Team Rainbow Rocket. The central premise of the facility is that its major inhabitants are parallel instances of villainous leaders who were successful with their schemes, like a Cyrus who rewrote reality or a Lysandre who obliterated Kalos. Remember how Greevil's plan involved prototyping Shadow Lugia so that he could make Shadow Pokémon that function without the need for a trainer? The possibility of a parallel Greevil or Ardos running amok with a team, let alone an army, of autonomous Shadow Pokémon is not something one wants to comprehend. Then again, given how competent Cipher is in comparison to the other villain groups, maybe these parallel leaders should be grateful that they don't have to bunk with men and Pokémon they can't control...
- Gen VII introduced the practice of adding Pokémon during the lifespan of a given Generation. This opens the door to a brand-new possibility — Cipher deliberately creating a brand-new Pokémon from scratch, a la Mewtwo or Genesect, to create a trump card that nobody could possibly anticipate or prepare for.
- Gen VIII introduces Dynamax, Gigantamax, and Eternamax. Imagine them weaponizing those... and worse, it was never said they could not be done with Mega Evolution or Z-Moves. Thankfully, all of those are tethered to Eternatus, who is bound to the Galar region, but if Cipher were to expand there and take over, suddenly the Darkest Day feels so small...
- Gen IX brings Terastallization to the metagame. A Shadow Pokémon capable of changing its type to something more advantageous would be a major boon for Cipher on its own, but the real potential prize are the Paradox Pokémon said to reside within Area Zero. Such Pokémon are already highly-dangerous and capable of causing heavy damage and death if allowed to roam free. Imagine the levels of destruction Cipher could achieve by creating Shadow Paradox Pokémon.
- If you think that's bad enough, let us direct your attention to the Paradise Protection Protocol. You know, the bit of code that locks down any unauthorized Poké Balls in its area of effect? On the defensive front, this could shut down any opponent of Cipher's that dares to come after them. On the offensive front — which is Cipher's expertise, by the way — the use of even one Snag Machine punches holes through the PPP that it is fundamentally incapable of patching over. The one silver lining is that information on Area Zero is so airtight you can't squeeze a penny in, because the instant any mention of it gets out of that closed circle, word one, Cipher is going to be drawn to the region like flies to manure, whether that time machine is functional or not.
- Want a bit more horror and Nightmare Fuel? What about Cipher crossing over to Real Life itself? After all, in the Augmented world of GO Shadow Pokémon already exist.
- Furthermore it's not Cipher, but Team GO Rocket themselves the ones who corrupt Pokémon into their Shadow forms. Makes you wonder what kind of nefarious deal Giovanni struck with the Cipher admins.
