Dex Holder Abilities

[Doryuzu]

I've finally finished the Johto chapters and did the revelation of the Dex Holders' abilities, Fighter, Evolver, etc. Feel a bit? Contrived? I mean a lot of those abilities don't seem like natural special traits rather then normal talents that any trainer could have, sans Gold's Egg Hatching ability and Yellow's predetermined powers. I felt like in-general the author was grasping for straws with abilities, like "The Trainer" or "The Exchanger". Will these abilities ever even be brought up again for one? I actually liked the idea a lot, it just seemed thrown in for the sake of making the Dex Holders look good.

What are your thoughts on them?

[lolipiece]

Meh. They're kind of boring anyway. Luckily for us, no later Dex holder has them.

And yes, they are mentioned. But aren't really important.

[00poke_maniac]

They are brought up in FR/LG. :P

They aren't so much a "power" (barring a few) but for some of them deep knowledge within a part of Pokemon.

I always found the titles cool tbh. XD

[Weedy Spyze]

They were completely contrived, and I agree that the writer(s) seemed to be grasping at straws for a few of them. It's like Oak knew that he wanted a few of them like Red or Crystal to have a special ability, and then decided that hey, everyone should have an ability! Silver's "Trader" is probably the worst imo. As if exchanging Pokemon is such a hidden skill that needs to be perfected. Green's "Evolver" was pretty damn stupid as well, because she never even evolved any of her Pokemon except for Blastoise. You expect me to believe some girl trotting around with stage one Pokemon is supposed to be a master of evolution? What a joke. Don't get me started with the time that she suddenly decided to evolve all of the rest of her Pokemon at once in FRLG. Now THAT was some forced crap right there. Also, what's the difference between Red and Blue's abilities? Battling and training pretty much go completely hand in hand.

tldr, yeah it just seemed to be thrown in at the last second for Oak to have his little jerk move with Gold and then him have his heroic BSOD. Oh well, wasn't the only thing GSC completely dropped the ball on, that whole arc was pretty much a mess from the beginning. But that's another topic for another day.

[00poke_maniac]

^ Regardless of what they done, Blue/Green-girl and Silver studied Evolution and Exchange under the Mask of Ice.

[Weedy Spyze]

^ Regardless of what they done, Blue/Green-girl and Silver studied Evolution and Exchange under the Mask of Ice.

I don't really care if they studied them under the Mask of Ice or not, they still felt forced when it came to their special abilities. Heck if kind of makes less sense since you'd think Mr. Generic Villain would focus more on Pokemon battling and whatnot then perfecting the art of handing over a PokeBall to another person.

[00poke_maniac]

^^; I never saw Pokemon Special as something to nitpick....

Anyway, I never really felt they were latched on, but maybe I just accept things like that.

[Dreamingflower]

Wow I never really had a thought about those abilities. I just thought they were like... facebook status? I don't know why Kusaka decided to add that in the manga and I don't really care either, but it sounds funny to give dexowners those kind of nicknames.

[Macromind101]

Imo the "Dexholder" abilities are what separates them from any other characters. And also, it kinda was continued for later Dexholders (sorta). Ruby was contests, Sapphire was badges, Emerald was symbols, Diamond was emotion, Pearl was willpower, and Platinum was knowledge. Though they weren't referred to as Dexholder abilities specifically, that's probably what Kusaka had for them. Though the Gen III abilities make a bit of sense (though not as much as the previous ones), the Gen IV ones are kinda ridiculous. Emotion, knowledge and willpower are traits for one set of legendaries in one generation, not universal (in Pokemon) traits like battling and evolving. The Dexholder abilities may have been major to the plot earlier on but later I think they were ditched.