Current Events > The long-running semi-hidden backstory in more recent Pokemon games is cool

(+) Yeah! (+)

It's been a consistent storyline since R/B, but a bigger storyline started in Diamond and Pearl that has continued up to (and especially including) Pokemon Legends revolving around Team Galactic and wormholes. And alternate universes. As explained in DP and further expanded in Platinum, Dialga/Palkia/Arceus and Giratina exist in a delicate balance that prevents making the normal flow of spacetime unstable. But Giratina is released in Platinum, a Pokemon that exists in a sort of anti-world that is incompatible with normal space-time, and Team Galactic is left destabilized. This leads to a recurring character...

The Looker, a character that is somewhere between a detective and a time/space traveling FBI agent (and may be a Doctor Who homage) has played an increasingly important role in the more recent Pokemon games. In addition, he seems to have ushered in the increased focus on trying to stop the wormhole problem.

Pokemon Omega Ruby / Alpha Sapphire, you encounter The Looker in a house, having nearly drowned and having lost all of his memories. Many Pokemon fans suspect he "regenerated" after some event like The Doctor does. Shortly after you encounter him, wormholes appear in the sky and legendary monsters can be encountered. No explanation for this is given in the game.

Later, he appears again in Sun and Moon, enlisting you in stopping the Ultra Beasts, which are appearing in various locations without explanation. It isn't clear how they're appearing, but this is expanded further in Ultra Sun / Ultra Moon, where it's revealed that they are actually from other dimensions in both time and space (Guzzlord is clearly from a distant future alternate history of Alola, amidst the ruins of the mall).

But US/UM appears to be a split timeline from the original games, in which Lusamine does not merge with Nihilego due to the intervention of the Ultra Recon Squad - a time and space traveling team that essentially acts like the Time Variance Authority from Loki. Because they intervene and enlist the main character, The Looker doesn't really appear in US/UM (he probably doesn't need to). This culminates with Team Rainbow Rocket presumably forming from Team Galactic opening wormholes and gathering the previous "Teams" under Giovanni's (Team Rocket) banner. This story arc concludes with Giovanni noting that he has bigger plans. In this game, it's revealed that Necrozma is actually an interdimensional-traveling being that consumes energy.

Little of this is discussed in Sword and Shield, except that Chairman Rose mentions he needs Dynamax energy (the energy generated from Eternatus) in order to power both Galar and "other advancements." Eternatus, a being that looks remarkably similar to Necrozma, is strongly implied to be from another dimension.

All this leads to Pokemon Legends. The opening involves a tear in spacetime above an ancient version of Mt. Coronet, with the main character falling from it with modern-day (appears to be from Alola or Galar) clothing. Arceus talks to you and gives you a smartphone, which is a clear out-of-place artefact in Hisui (supposedly ancient Sinnoh). This seems to be the game where the bigger plotline starts to come more into focus, though how it will play out in the "main series" is yet to be seen.

DarkRoast posted...

Arceus talks to you and gives you a smartphone

lmao

I thought the wormholes in ORAS were Hoopa wormholes

Fanfic is fun lol

--Zero- posted...

Fanfic is fun lol

None of that is fanfic.

It's explicitly a subplot that has continued unabated since Diamond and Pearl.

Ive seen a fan theory that the MC in Legends is from the same dimension as Rainbow Rocket. The Team Galactic in that scenario was never challenged and stopped by Lucas/Dawn, so maybe they were just pulled from their time to participate in the events of Legends: Arceus.

Or so Ive heard; I never finished the Rainbow Rocket stuff because teleporters suck.

Arceus modifies your existing phone, but close enough

Interesting. Curious what will happen in the next main entry in the series (Gen 9)

Alpha218 posted...

Ive seen a fan theory that the MC in Legends is from the same dimension as Rainbow Rocket. The Team Galactic in that scenario was never challenged and stopped by Lucas/Dawn, so maybe they were just pulled from their time to participate in the events of Legends: Arceus.

Or so Ive heard; I never finished the Rainbow Rocket stuff because teleporters suck.

Interesting. That would explain the Alola shirt.

Why do you keep calling him "The" Looker, instead of just Looker.

Youre over thinking it. Shit is just about catching and battling monsters

I'm not really overthinking it, it's pretty much a continuous story

DarkRoast posted...

The Looker,

His name is just "Looker".

(and may be a Doctor Who homage)

He isn't.

I thought you were gonna mention how the games basically made it canon that the other "versions" and remakes of Pokmon games are actually alternate universes.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/2/2/AAHmLtAAC4KS.jpg

A version of Hoenn where Mega Evolution is unknown? Sounds like the original games. And it also sounds like the creators basically put this here to say that all the versions and remakes of the games are canon, they're just AU.

One detail I thought was kinda cool is that using this, Pokmon Sun/Moon/Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon are connected to Pokmon Emerald. In Pokmon Emerald's Battle Frontier, Anabel is the Frontier Brain of the Battle Tower. She shows up in Sun/Moon/Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon's story having no memory of who she was, except that she came from Hoenn, protected a tower, and was a powerful trainer. She ends up joining the International Police and actually surpassing Looker's position and becoming his boss. I just thought it was neat that this one-off character from Emerald ended up getting an actual part in a main story, while further confirming that the different versions are AUs.

DarkRoast posted...

It's been a consistent storyline since R/B

Where does this story show up in R/B, or G/S?

I haven't played them in quite some time, so I don't recall any mentions of alternate realities and wormholes.

There's a multiverse with a lot of interdimensional travel, but there's not some singular story arc that's been spanning 15 years of pokemon games. Looker isn't "The Looker"

what

plot twist: mc is the forgotten lovechild of Anabel and Looker

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Agreed. There was a lot of interesting, out-of-the-box ideas there. I think Emerald had some of the best ideas. It'd be nice if they brought back the Battle Frontier and more gameplay, but instead we get giant Pokmon.

There wasn't really any intention of a multiversal timeline until ORAS (one of the head writers at game freak tweeted out a linear timeline after XY's release) but it's pretty clear that there is something going on with wormholes/time traveling since SM. Especially since Ingo unexpectedly shows up in Legends too

Is this why we gotta catch em all?