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Pokemon Evolution vs Darwinian Evolution
11 points by barbazoo 2 days ago | 4 comments
  • CM30
    Things also get more complicated here by how many Pokemon don't have just one evolutionary line, but multiple, and that said lines diverge based on various external factors.

    Eevee is obviously the most famous one, since based on what evolutionary stone was used, how happy it is, the time of day it got happy enough or where it leveled up it can evolve into Flareon, Jolteon, Vaporeon, Espeon, Umbreon, Leafeon, Glaceon or Sylveon.

    But there are other interesting examples too. Poliwhirl becomes Poliwrath if you use a water stone, but Politoed if traded with a king's rock. Kirlia evolves into Gardevoir if female and Gallade if male, though it also needs the dawn stone for the latter. A whole bunch require them to have a certain move, level up in a certain region (country), level up in a certain part of that country, to defeat certain other Pokemon, get traded with certain other Pokemon, etc.

    That make things a tad harder, since in real life a maturing animal becomes the same thing no matter where it grew up or what it learned to do. A kitten doesn't become a different type of cat based on whether it lived in the US or France.

    But yeah, it's interesting to see these comparisons. Just worth remembering that the mechanics of Pokemon evolution and real life evolution or metamorphosis don't map to each other particularly neatly or at all.

    • thaumasiotes
      > Kirlia evolves into Gardevoir if female and Gallade if male, though it also needs the dawn stone for the latter.

      This is incorrect; male Kirlia evolve into Gardevoir just as females do. You can evolve a male (and only a male) into Gallade before that happens, but there is no restriction on Kirlia evolving into Gardevoir.

      > in real life a maturing animal becomes the same thing no matter where it grew up or what it learned to do

      This is false too. A maturing animal in real life may have its sex determined by environmental factors. (And to complete the analogy, there are paired Pokemon 'species' that differ only by the fact that one species is the male or female version of the other one. For example, female Tauros are called Miltanks, and male Miltanks are called Tauros.)

  • xandrius
    As much as I love some good overthinking, the Pokémon franchise so obviously follows what looks cool to the target audience that it's quite silly treating it as being in any way consistent.

    You get car pokémons, teapots and other contraptions that just make 0 sense.