What's your favorite headcanon?

[Lord Raziere]

I've always assumed that the professors give an empty Pokédex to each young trainer on purpose, so they can gather new information and expand the knowledge base about each individual Pokémon depending on how they encounter them. After all, with each new game you are getting different information, so presumably the circumstances or location you encounter them is meant to affect what information is gathered.

My assumption is that its like sending new youngsters to try and confirm information they already have as a form of repeated testing: basically the pokemon database is the pokemon universes version of wikipedia, so the professors are trying to make kids try to get all this information themselves so that it can be updated without the kid being biased by by information already in there, to see if its true or not. and if new information is found? great!

[Kitten Champion]

I've always assumed that the professors give an empty Pokédex to each young trainer on purpose, so they can gather new information and expand the knowledge base about each individual Pokémon depending on how they encounter them. After all, with each new game you are getting different information, so presumably the circumstances or location you encounter them is meant to affect what information is gathered.

I... I don't get that.

The Pokedex should operate like it does in the anime. Giving its user immediate data upon scanning to warn them of possible dangers or opportunities, that you should steer clear of that Beedrill hive or not go near that Grass/Poison type without precautions. There's no plausible benefit to sending a child in blind to confront the most dangerous creatures on the planet, beyond the meta-knowledge that it's a game and they'll invariable find themselves back at the Pokecentre regardless.

[Lord Raziere]

I... I don't get that.

The Pokedex should operate like it does in the anime. Giving its user immediate data upon scanning to warn them of possible dangers or opportunities, that you should steer clear of that Beedrill hive or not go near that Grass/Poison type without precautions. There's no plausible benefit to sending a child in blind to confront the most dangerous creatures on the planet, beyond the meta-knowledge that it's a game and they'll invariable find themselves back at the Pokecentre regardless.

So just plain pokemon wikipedia then? because it still says a lot of bull that is clearly wrong in the anime.

my headcanon for pokemon regions:
the reason why people say "new regions" when the region has clearly already been settled for hundreds of years at least, with new pokemon? because Arceus is actually remaking the world whenever a new generation comes out and retconning all the new pokemon in, but the remaking isn't perfect so there are holes in the retcon that make it so that people think the new region is something just discovered and that the new pokemon despite always being there, is something new to the outsider because Arceus is always region-focused in his remaking so everyone else gets an imperfect retcon that doesn't make sense.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

The Pokedex should operate like it does in the anime.

So just plain pokemon wikipedia then? because it still says a lot of bull that is clearly wrong in the anime.

Yeah, the only way I can explain the Pokédex is if it is not a scanner-encyclopedia, but a notebook, and everything in it was made up by you after 3 minutes of enthusiastically hopping around your awesome new Pokémon. Ash apparently gets a copy of that data for his scanner-encyclopedia that confusingly enough goes by the same name.

I know there are more people with this headcanon, but it's mine as well.

I like the Arceus region theory as well, very meta. Not sure yet if that one is going in my headcanon.

[Traab]

I go with the prof using this as free labor. There is always something new to discover. So while yes Ash may find the same 150 pokemon that Oak already knows about, he MIGHT find something NEW! And when that pokedex comes back with an unknown (not the pokemon, just an unidentified pokemon) Then Oak knows there is something new there to learn about. Also, it keeps a solid census of what can be found in each area. "Ok, so far out of twenty trainers going along route 42, all 20 have found a rattata and pidgey, 12 have seen an oddish, and 2 have found a jigglypuff. That meshes with what I expected to see out there." Or, "What? He found a pikachu there? Thats unexpected as they havent been reported in the vicinity before now." These trainers are the lewis and clarks, going out and discovering all this information. Oak is the scientist back home collating all the information and learning what he can from it all. That being said, its hardly one sided, while the trainers are doing all the legwork, they get to benefit directly from every bit of knowledge oak knows about these pokemon and the area they are in.

[Kitten Champion]

I go with the prof using this as free labor. There is always something new to discover. So while yes Ash may find the same 150 pokemon that Oak already knows about, he MIGHT find something NEW! And when that pokedex comes back with an unknown (not the pokemon, just an unidentified pokemon) Then Oak knows there is something new there to learn about. Also, it keeps a solid census of what can be found in each area. "Ok, so far out of twenty trainers going along route 42, all 20 have found a rattata and pidgey, 12 have seen an oddish, and 2 have found a jigglypuff. That meshes with what I expected to see out there." Or, "What? He found a pikachu there? Thats unexpected as they havent been reported in the vicinity before now." These trainers are the lewis and clarks, going out and discovering all this information. Oak is the scientist back home collating all the information and learning what he can from it all. That being said, its hardly one sided, while the trainers are doing all the legwork, they get to benefit directly from every bit of knowledge oak knows about these pokemon and the area they are in.

But... if there's something new to discover, there's no harm whatsoever in listing what you already know exists. You know they already know they exists because the entry is already ready for them to be filled in and most of all Pokemon have already been caught by someone in the first place. In fact, it's much more preferable to show the known varieties because it would motivate the Pokedex-holders to go out of their way to find those not already listed rather than hunting down Pidgeys or whatever because how would they know if you don't tell them?

It's especially vexing in Sun & Moon, where your Pokedex is literally fused with a Rotom at the beginning and yet Rotom doesn't actually appear in the regional Pokedex. That's like a Dictionary which doesn't have an entry for "Dictionary" in it.

Regardless, that's not even Ash's issue, that's only for the games. Ash's works exactly as it should. He flips it open, it takes a quick image of the Pokemon in front him, the database is searched, and the entry for that Pokemon is revealed and explained text-to-voice style. There's no mention of Ash discovering nor catching all Pokemon, and that's not even a problem because "Catch'em All" is largely a manufactured marketing thing and not really relevant in-universe. The Pokedex is just a valuable travelling tool, not a confusing method to double-check existing field research.

[Lord Raziere]

Again, its pokemon wikipedia, kitten champion. even if Ash's pokedex is the right way to do it- it still has that whole problem the pokedex still states that a Magcargo temperature is 18,000 degrees Fahrenheit. which is hotter than the surface of the sun. so if thats true, imagine a Magcargo just chugging along a human or well anything flammable gets near it, they would just automatically be on fire just from being near it, the ground around it would be heated orange and probably beyond that, grass, trees and what not would all die in flame, it would just.....everything on fire, thats what would be, everything on fire, senselessly, forever. water would just evaporate in its presence, it would be end of anything that comes near it. simply because that heat wouldn't just sit in there, it would radiate out and rise.

so obviously given thats not happening, that isn't actually true. now my headcanon is that all those researchers you see in the anime doing in depth analysis stuff at special locations and what not are getting the real information, and that the pokedex is just a way to spot new pokemon to let professors know to send researchers out to study them further. like trainers are just the scouts that make the first find, but the professors and researchers are the ones that follow up and the real work after its discovered, because normally researchers are y'know, not mobile and focused on researching while the trainer is constantly exploring and going on adventures so it makes sense for trainers to have a thing to let professors know something to investigate deeper, even if its the anime pokedex.

[Traab]

Well I havent played the games since diamond and pearl, and I stopped watching the show back when may and her little brother joined up. So thats why I said the pokedex and oak work the way they do. I dont know about any changes to its functions since then.

[Lord Raziere]

Well I havent played the games since diamond and pearl, and I stopped watching the show back when may and her little brother joined up. So thats why I said the pokedex and oak work the way they do. I dont know about any changes to its functions since then.

Trust me, as a pokemon fan: it hasn't actually changed at all. game-dex still blank until you fill it in, anime dex still works but Ash is still an eternal loser. its just the sun/moon dex can talk now because a Rotom, it doesn't know any moves, can't fight, so its like, perfect opportunity for a special psychic rotom or whatever wasted, and the rotomdex its probably going to be gone the instant the next generation rolls around. the change is purely aesthetic.

[Bohandas]

The reason why all of Batman's villains end up in Arkham asylum (besides the fact that many of them really are crazy and the burden of proof being on the prosecution to show that a man who burns down hospitals while dressed as a clown is sane because when has any of that ever mattered in the real world) is that Batman works closely enough with the police and gathers evidence in a sufficiently non-regulation matter that a guilty verdict often won't stick, so the prosecution deliberately pushes for 'not guilty by reason of insanity' instead

[BWR]

In Elder Evils he's described as having originally been one of the lords of the ancient baatorans who preceded the modern baatezu and that he was exiled to the area of the material plane near Cynidicea after he was ousted by Asmodeus (though only after it became apparent that his extreme regenerative abilities made him effectively unpurgeable)

It's still wrong. I already said why: no Baator in Mystaran cosmology, no Asmodeus, no Abyss, no baatezu, no ancient baatorians.
Zargon is just some big, weird Lovecraft Circle-ian underground monster they happened to find.

[Bohandas]

It's still wrong. I already said why: no Baator in Mystaran cosmology, no Asmodeus, no Abyss, no baatezu, no ancient baatorians.
Zargon is just some big, weird Lovecraft Circle-ian underground monster they happened to find.

Wasn't Mystara a setting in 2e?

Because the worlds of all the settings in 2e were interconnected, even Ravenloft and Dark Sun

[Bohandas]

Both your Matrix theories are meh. Reasons:

1) everyone who was plugged into Matrix is obviously cybernetic, we see the holes and plugs and all. Hence, the simplest explanation for Neo's Out-of-Matrix powers is that he has wireless technology embedded in him. We know wireless technology exists, because that's what the hoverships use to connect with Matrix. So when Neo fries the sentinels and enters the Matrix without being plugged in, he is simply sending and receiving radio signals. The golden code he sees after being blinded is radio transmissions captured by his implants and translated into visuals by his brain.

That might work for actual machines, but what about Bane? He wasn't actually a machine, his brain was overwritten.

EDIT:
In any case the whole premise is fishy. It would be more efficient to their stated purpose in their apparent world and course to use fake rebels to usher malcontents into the real world and then summarily kill them once they're awake and replace them in the matrix with an additional fake rebel agent

EDIT:
And also manacles would be far resource efficiant than the Matrix

[Frozen_Feet]

That might work for actual machines, but what about Bane? He wasn't actually a machine, his brain was overwritten.

1) Bane is still a cyborg, like all who were plugged in.
2) Bane too gets the diagnosis that his brain patterns match someone who is plugged in.

From here, we can gather Bane is still broadcasting/receiving broadcast from the Smith(s) in the Matrix. As with the Sentinels, Neo is seeing a visualization of a radio signal.

[Bohandas]

Just thought of another variation on the fake zion Matrix theory:

1.) Zion, again, is as much as an illusion as the Matrix
2.) The film actually takes place in the world of Total Recall. Mr.Anderson is one of the titular company's clients.

[Traab]

You know, thinking on the sequels, The Matrix being made up by an autistic kid staring at a snow globe makes a lot of sense.

[Eldan]

2.) The film actually takes place in the world of Total Recall. Mr.Anderson is one of the titular company's clients.

Oooh. I like that one.

[Bohandas]

In the Fallout series Nuka Cola Quantum is made with quinine

EDIT:
tell me that that's not the same

[rooster707]

Star Wars: There is no such thing as the "will of the Force." There is no dark side or light side. The Force is simply, as Obi-Wan described it, an energy field created by all living things. People who use its power for evil are doing so because they chose to, not because they've been corrupted by some supernatural force.

[BWR]

Wasn't Mystara a setting in 2e?

Because the worlds of all the settings in 2e were interconnected, even Ravenloft and Dark Sun

Mystara was BECMI. It was pretty much the only setting for that system. Red Steel, same world but different location, was 2e and they tried a couple of 2e updates for the Known World. Still doesn't matter, Mystaran cosmology is not the Great Wheel. It simply isn't, it's built differently. There is no Baator/Nine Hells, no ancient Baatorians, no devils or baatezu.

And though some canonically Mystaran characters ended up in other settings (like Farrow in Uncaged), it didn't really make sense. Don't get me wrong, I love PS to bits but forcing every setting into it didn't always work out well. Like trying to shove Eberron in there.

[Bohandas]

Mystara was BECMI. It was pretty much the only setting for that system. Red Steel, same world but different location, was 2e and they tried a couple of 2e updates for the Known World. Still doesn't matter, Mystaran cosmology is not the Great Wheel. It simply isn't, it's built differently. There is no Baator/Nine Hells, no ancient Baatorians, no devils or baatezu.

And though some canonically Mystaran characters ended up in other settings (like Farrow in Uncaged), it didn't really make sense. Don't get me wrong, I love PS to bits but forcing every setting into it didn't always work out well.

Actually Spelljammer did this a lot more heavily and explicitly than Planescape did

[Lacco]

My recently-emerging headcannon. Don't correct me, I know I'm wrong

HP in D&D represent:
- fighter's armor that gets damaged/loosened/broken, as well as his ability to withstand a blow - HP 0 means the blow got through the armor and killed him, or that he's too beaten to fight back,
- rogue's ability to dodge out of way - HP 0 means he's out of breath and luck and gets hit,
- cleric's favour of deity, who does everything to keep him alive, HP 0 means his deity got tired with him and let him die,
- wizard/sorcerer's ability to weave protective spells (usualy level -1 "sub-cantrips") into his morning/evening rituals that recharge overnight, HP 0 means his spells ran out of power for the day.

[khadgar567]

this threat becomes more like ymmv gitp edition then people sharing their head cannons with each other

[DomaDoma]

So I guess you object to the theory that The Labyrinth took place in a pubescent girls head which explains the abnormal crotch bulge of the goblin king?

Labyrinth is every inch a coming-into-maturity story, and I don't mind one bit. (Plus I can't think of a decent plot-based explanation for Jareth to spend the climactic confrontation making surreally-staged come-ons to Sarah.)

Theory: adopted.

[Bohandas]

Zalgo and Y'golonac are the same entity (or at least somehow related). They're both lovecraftian posessing spirits known for having multiple mouths and waiting behind some kind of metaphysical wall

[Bohandas]

In Austin Powers neither Dr.Evil nor Scott Evil is familiar with the concept of a firing squad. They seem to assume that shooting someone and subjecting then to "an overly elaborate and exotic death" are mutually exclusive concepts, whereas they are not - case in point: firing squads

[Traab]

In Austin Powers neither Dr.Evil nor Scott Evil is familiar with the concept of a firing squad. They seem to assume that shooting someone and subjecting then to "an overly elaborate and exotic death" are mutually exclusive concepts, whereas they are not - case in point: firing squads

Yeah but you just know dr evil would demand the firing squad be used to set off some rube goldberg style death trap.

Dr Evil: "Now mr powers, these gunmen are going to take aim and fire. But not at you. Instead they shall aim for that domino over there. Upon hitting it, the flap it was holding down will lift, releasing the bowling ball which will roll down this hallway until it collides with the explosive plunger. Said plunger will set off depth charges meant to awaken my mutated sea bass who will proceed to swarm up and attack the flock of razor bats floating on the surface of the pool. They will fly off and in the kurfluffle, will slice through the ropes holding you suspended over this... ACTIVE VOLCANIC VENT! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

[Keltest]

Yeah but you just know dr evil would demand the firing squad be used to set off some rube goldberg style death trap.

Dr Evil: "Now mr powers, these gunmen are going to take aim and fire. But not at you. Instead they shall aim for that domino over there. Upon hitting it, the flap it was holding down will lift, releasing the bowling ball which will roll down this hallway until it collides with the explosive plunger. Said plunger will set off depth charges meant to awaken my mutated sea bass who will proceed to swarm up and attack the flock of razor bats floating on the surface of the pool. They will fly off and in the kurfluffle, will slice through the ropes holding you suspended over this... ACTIVE VOLCANIC VENT! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Also, firing squads are neither elaborate nor particularly exotic.

[Bohandas]

Also, firing squads are neither elaborate nor particularly exotic.

They're extremely unnecessarily elaborate compared to shooting someone in the way Scott was implying.

If you're shooting a captive and the gun barrel isn't pressed against their head or torso you're probably doing something unnecessarily elaborate.

EDIT:
Also, who the hell gets shot by five people at once? Or shot with a rifle outside of a war zone? That's exotic.

EDIT:
I mean yeah, compared to modern execution methods like the lethal injection or gas chamber or electric chair it's not particularly overly elaborate or exotic, but it's still pretty unusual and pretty unnecessarily complicated.

[Traab]

I think the firing squad is still technically on the books in at least one state as an option for execution. But this is dr evil. A man based as a parody of james bond bad guys so a firing squad, no matter how many gun holding troops are involved, is NOT elaborate enough! Hence my description of how he would use one to kill austin powers.