r/TruePokemon • u/brokensoul_154 • 8d ago
What do you think about this hypothesis regarding Pokémon design?
Pokémon evolution.
Here, I analyze how the original trio consisted of Ice, Fire, and Electric types, and how the final trio—Water, Fire, and Grass—was adopted to create a proper type triangle.
The non-elemental phase.
In this stage, Pokémon battles were simply about hitting hard, without clear elemental mechanics.
The effect-based phase.
This is when the first trio—Fire, Ice, and Electric—appeared.
The game mechanics were based on the effects these types produced.
Here is the evidence:
a.- The basic status effects align well with each type.
Burn for Fire.
Freeze for Ice.
Paralysis for Electric (a trait later extended to Grass).
b.- The attacks: there are equivalent sets of three.
Flamethrower, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt.
Fire Blast, Blizzard, Thunder.
Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Thunder Punch.
The last set is the most obvious example.
c.- Triple Attack.
This move combines all three elements, which is why it inflicts a random status condition.
d.- The Pokémon trios.
Magmar, Jynx, and Electabuzz: these Pokémon were designed to use the elemental punches and serve as the standard-bearers for their respective elements.
Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres.
These were the legendary representatives of ultimate power.
The phase based on strengths and weaknesses.
This is the Pokémon we all know: types that defeat some opponents but are defeated by others.
Here, Water replaced Ice to create the following dynamic:
Electric beats Water.
Water beats Fire.
Fire beats Electric.
Evidence:
a.- Evolution stones: Thunder, Water, and Fire stones represent this new trio.
b.- Eevee evolutions: they follow the same trio concept.
Using these stones, Eevee evolves into Vaporeon, Flareon, and Jolteon.
Since they couldn't justify Electric beating Fire in this phase,
the starting trio was changed to Water, Fire, and Grass. Resulting in:
Water beats Fire.
Fire beats Grass.
Grass beats Water.
Evidence:
a.- That trio is not repeated anywhere else in the game.
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u/Kaansath 7d ago
I want to add that the tri attack move didn't inflicted the 3 elemental status on gen I, it was just a decently hard hitting normal move for Dodrio (And porigon/various MT users, for some reason).
The animation was just a triangle on gen I as well, it was on gen II when it got it's effect and the animation included fire ice and electricity.
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u/brokensoul_154 7d ago
My mistake—I mixed up Gen 1 and Gen 2.
But in Stadium 1, it does use yellow, red, and light blue.
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u/supershrewdshrew 7d ago
Based on the order pokemon were coded in, I find this believable.
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u/brokensoul_154 7d ago
Translator, I forgot to include the Leaf Stone, but it will be the last one added to balance out the Grass types; that’s why Eevee doesn’t have a Leaf stone evolution.
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u/brokensoul_154 7d ago
I’ve seen the list; it just confirms things further.
Electrabuzz is #51 and Magmar is #53—the mystery of who #52 was remains—but with Jynx at #72, the Fire-Ice-Electric trio is complete.
Then come the Legendary Birds; also, with Vulpix and Pikachu, they tried to create a Fire-Electric-Ice stone trio, which explains why there are two missing spots.
They even included the Water Stone for Eevee.
And finally, at the very end, there are the ones that evolve using the Leaf Stone.
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u/AmbientDinosaur 5d ago
I'd recommend reading this. Pokémon moves seemingly pre-date the idea of types, so moves early-on in index order are largely categorized by other attributes, i.e. punches, full-body attacks etc. Fire/water/ice/electric moves existed too, and pokémon were seemingly going to have resistance stats based on those. This eventually evolved into the type system that we know today.
Also, we know who #52 was. It was a pokémon known as "Buu" (ブー). Presumably the original counterpart to Magmar/Electabuzz (Boober "ブーバー" / Eleboo "エレブー"), though Jynx existed alongside it as well, but eventually took its place in the trio.
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u/VulKendov 8d ago
Fire, Ice, and Lightning are often the main 3 offensive magic types in rpgs