- Well, hello there Pokemon Masters.
Bird Keeper Toby here.
Today's video is going
to have a Pokemon theory,
some kind of gross science,
and everyone's favourite, Pikachu.
Pikachu is the mascot of
the Pokemon franchise.
He's the general favourite.
He's the most popular Pokemon.
He's on the most merch.
And this is all because
he is Ash's Pikachu.
And, while a lot of trainers,
if they had a Pikachu,
would evolve it as soon as they can,
get a Raichu because
it's nice and powerful,
they forget that Pikahu has
a pre-evolution, a Pichu.
Now, Ash's Pikachu has
never evolved into a Raichu.
That's the charm of the Pokemon.
But has it ever evolved from a Pichu?
Ash met his Pikachu back
when he was just 10 years old
at the start of his journey.
At a time when Pichu didn't even exist
in terms of the real world.
In the Pokemon lore, it's a bit confusing,
because you assume it exists.
It hasn't been discovered yet.
That doesn't really work.
Many times, Professor
Oak says this Pokedex
has information on all of the Pokemon.
Despite the fact he's been to
Johto and he's been to Sinnoh
and he's seen Celebi.
He knows, when he hands over the Pokedex,
that is not all the Pokemon.
Maybe this is all down to
a retcon of information.
As the later series come
out introducing Pichu,
they just retcon the old information.
Yes, there were baby Pikachu
in the most heartbreaking
episode of Pokemon ever,
Goodbye Pikachu.
But, realistically, if we
remade the episode now,
those would be Pichu.
It's a retcon that the viewers
aren't supposed to think about too much.
But there is a little bit more to this
than meets the eye.
Maybe coming at this a
totally different way.
I've brought the idea of Pikachu
having this whole life where
it was a Pichu beforehand
and evolving into Pikachu.
It feels wrong.
And, not only that, if you look at
the way that Pichu evolves into Pikachu,
it's through having high
happiness with a trainer.
So, unless that was Professor Oak,
that means Ash's Pikachu
had another trainer
before he found it.
Boy, oh boy.
Now, Pichu is what's
known as a baby Pokemon.
In terms of Pokemon, originally
you had basic Pokemon,
stage one Pokemon, and stage two Pokemon.
Baby Pokemon go before basic Pokemon,
but they don't turn the basic Pokemon
into a stage one Pokemon.
They're a whole level lower.
They are a lot weaker.
And, other than being really,
really cute and collectible,
we don't really know what
value they add to the game.
They often get a lot of
slack, but I love them.
What was interesting about them
is some of them are actually quite rare.
You can only, for example,
get certain baby Pokemon
by breeding the basic Pokemon,
like Snorlax, for example.
If you breed a Snorlax and a Snorlax,
you'll get a baby Snorlax.
But, if it's holding the Lax Incense,
then you'll get a Munchlax.
Pikachu isn't one of those.
Pikachu doesn't need to
be holding an incense.
Whenever you breed Pikachu,
it makes a baby Pichu.
And, actually, Jigglypuff
is in the same boat.
So, what's going on here?
Is every wild Pikachu actually
previously owned by a trainer?
Every wild Jigglypuff
previously owned by a trainer
as an Igglybuff and then
levelled up with high friendship
and then just released and abandoned?
Is there just some giant
Pokemon breeder conspiracy going on?
No, I don't think so.
There is an explanation.
And, as always, we return to science.
Well, the real world.
See, have you ever wondered
why baby animals are so
efficient at surviving?
Why baby deer just get
up and start walking
and running around
pretty much straightaway?
How some birds only take a
few weeks to learn how to fly
and fish that are born on
the beach get to the sea
and they're swimming right away?
And then, in contrast, how human babies
are just a bit rubbish?
Well, it's because we're
all born prematurely.
This is a result of our evolution.
See, we used to walk on all fours.
But, over many millions of years,
we come to walk on two legs
and, thus, our hips have
become closer together.
Allowing us to run away from predators
and hunt things a little more efficiently.
It's what's allowed us
to survive and be us.
However, another thing
that allows us to be us
is our giant brains.
Our capacity to think and problem solve.
However, a brain that size can't develop
inside a human person for
any more than nine months.
It would simply be too dangerous
for a baby to be allowed to
develop to that kind of stage,
the stage where it could look after itself
and survive and crawl and run,
inside a human person
without killing that person.
So, what ended up happening?
Human babies were born earlier.
Born prematurely and rely entirely
on their caregivers for their survival.
And, given our big
brains, this seems to have
worked out pretty well.
Jumping back to Pokemon.
This could be what's
happening with baby Pokemon.
Remember how I said before,
if you breed two Snorlaxes,
you just get a baby Snorlax.
But, if you breed it with a certain item,
it becomes a Munchlax.
This could be the Lax Incense changing
the nature of the egg hatching.
A human created item
that's gonna make sure
you get a Munchlax instead of a Snorlax.
Because Munchlax is cuter.
Or because it's easier to manage
than a Snorlax from birth.
And this may well be the
case for those baby Pokemon.
With Pichi, though, again,
it's a little bit different,
because there isn't a specific
item you need it to hold.
That said, the only way you get Pichu
is by breeding Pikachu at the day care.
Again, a human built institute.
Possible that the way the
day care breed Pikachu
just automatically, if
it's done in human care,
ends up with Pichu.
And the reason there's no wild
Pichu in the Viridian Forest
is because, when in the wild,
Pikachu's eggs hatch normally.
Which means, in the case of Ash Ketchum,
if his Pikachu came from
Viridian Forest initially,
then it was probably just a Pikachu,
because Pikachus hatch
normally in the wild.
However, had it come from a
day care centre or from a breeder,
then, likely, it would
have been a Pichu first.
There is a small issue with this, though.
Which is what about wild baby Pokemon?
You can find wild Munchlax or Pichu.
My answer to this would be that, simply,
baby Pokemon are a
little bit more effective
at surviving than baby people.
And so, potentially,
after being human bred,
they would, then, be
released into the wild
to thrive in a certain area.
Which is why you find baby
Pokemon very rarely in the wild
and, when you do find them,
it's always in really low level areas.
Areas where they're
gonna be able to survive.
That would just be my guess.
You've got two options here.
One is that the Pikachu that Ash got,
if it came from Viridian Forest,
because wild Pikachu just hatch regularly,
it was always a Pikachu.
Or that it was a retcon and,
actually past Generation One,
all Pikachus should really have
just been a Pichu at first.
And that's just something our
viewers have to acknowledge.
Maybe tweet me what you think.
If you wanna know what's going on with me,
Twitter is the best
place to be up to date.
It's @birdkeepertoby.
To be following me and making sure
so you know what's going on.
Why this video was late this week.
But, if not, leave me a comment.
Let me know what you think.
Soar high, Pokemon Masters.
Also, a special thank you
to my patreons of the month,
including Joey Pals and John D. Gotlich.
Thank you.
- [Ash Ketchum] This is Ash Ketchum.
You just watched a video
by Bird Keeper Toby.
That makes you a Pokemon Master.
