Red and White

The other day, while on my second ever playthrough of Pokemon: Fire Red, I reached the Power Plant. Most of you may remember this place as the breeding ground of several Electric-type Pokemon, as well as where you find Zapdos. I, however, remember this place for a different reason.

I come across a dropped Pokeball. Conditioning through this game has taught me that it's an item. But when I go and pick it up, it's not an item at all! It's a damn Electrode!

...Now, of course, I knew that these items were fake beforehand. After all, as I said, this is my second playthrough of Fire Red, and I HAVE played Blue and Yellow many a year ago as well.

But just stop and think about it for a sec... Put yourself in the game's world, and replace your avatar trainer with yourself and see through his/her eyes.

How the FUCK do you confuse an Electrode for a Pokeball? I can sort of understand Voltorb, but Electrode?


The Pokeball, when enlarged, fits in your hand.


The other is a 3-foot-11 insane abomination ready to blow your face off at any second.

If not the size, then how about the fact that their colors are reversed? A regular Pokeball is red on the top and white on the bottom. Electrode is white on the top and red on the bottom. Nevermind the fact that Electrode doesn't have a button at its center. This doesn't make sense.

...Then again, a lot of things don't make sense in the world of Pokemon. A world where 10-year-old kids can leave home on a Pokemon journey all by themselves, where there are an infinite amount of Officer Jennys and Nurse Joys (what's going on in their families), where criminals use Pokemon instead of weapons (most of the time), where entire evil organizations can be taken down by a single 10-year-old kid, and where Doduo and Dodrio, earthbound Pokemon, are immune to Earthquake and other Ground-type moves only because they're part Flying for some reason.

Maybe it's better not to think too seriously about stuff like this.