The various ways Pokéballs work

turquoise: So I on a whim have been trying out a bunch of games recently, some I've played before and some I haven't, and one of them is Pokémon Y. Watching the little animation of catching a Pokémon reminds me of how Pokéballs have strangely worked very differently throughout the various mediums the Pokémon franchise inhabits; the comics, the show, the games, even the card game, (almost) all show Pokéballs storing Pokémon, but each seems to explain it and depict how in different ways. As an example, let's contrast the two that are the most similar.

Before I begin! I am not an expert on Pokémon lore and am doing minimal research for this post. This is all based off of memory for the most part, so if I get something wrong I won't be surprised and would love to hear it pointed out in comments if you feel it's a good use of your time.

In the TV show, Pokémon are seen turning into energy which is then stored within a Pokéball. That Pokéball can then be shrunken further for even easier storage in pockets. This seems pretty understandable. Contrast this with the games, where in Pokémon Legends Arceus we're explicitly told that all Pokémon have the innate ability to shrink themselves down to be stored in Pokéballs, something that was a huge shock to me and made me laugh at the thought. I always assumed it was the same between the games and the TV show up until that point, and so the thought of Pokémon just... Being able to shrink out of nowhere seemed really funny to me. It almost seemed like something you could make an entire Pokémon about, a Pokémon that could shrink itself down to tiny sizes to avoid predators and such.

However, that feels far less absurd to me than what they have going on in the manga. I actually read the Toshihiro Ono Pokémon comics when I was a kid, and something that I vividly remember was that the Pokémon become Pokéballs. Once they've been "captured" (a word which implies containment of some kind), they then can transform to and from a Pokéball form. You never have both at the same time after a "capture," you either have the Pokémon out on the field, or their Pokéball. The trainer usually has some control over whether or not they enter or leave this form, and one panel I very clearly remember is one of Ash holding out his hand as one of his Pokémon materializes back into its Pokéball form in his hand, and at the center of where the Pokéball is forming is a little sphere, a Pokéball core of sorts.

When you think about it, this depiction of how Pokéballs work is actually kind of the best of them all from a purely functional and ethical point of view. It gets rid of questions like "How do trainers get their Pokéballs back after throwing them?" and "Are Pokémon just kept in tiny spherical cages?" However, it's still incredibly strange to me, especially with how Pokéballs are depicted as pieces of technology used to contain Pokémon rather than... Well, I'm not even sure how I'd describe it in the manga. A form all Pokémon can take? Possibly, but they seem to only be able to take it once they've already been captured.

Admittedly, I don't remember any scenes of Ash actually catching any Pokémon from the comics, so I don't actually fully know if before Pokémon are captured the Pokéballs are their own separate pieces of tech, but I assume they are just because... If not, that really breaks away from the Pokémon brand I feel. You throw a Pokéball and catch a Pokémon. To be different from that would be incredibly strange to me.

With the card game, Pokéballs are a lot more limited in their use. This is, of course, because it's a card game, and they can't translate every single aspect of their existence within the franchise to game mechanics, and they don't put flavor text on item cards as far as I can tell. However, I feel it is interesting to note that within the card game, you don't need to use a Pokéball for a Pokémon to be "on your team." And it's not even that they just aren't required, it's that they are more of a luxury item in a sense; if you have one, it's great! It gives you a chance at getting exactly the Pokémon you want! But if not, that's fine. You just get whatever Pokémon comes up first, which is... Very interesting and completely different from what someone without experience with the TCG might expect.

Pokéballs also don't really have a purpose beyond their initial use. In other media, to have a Pokémon on your team, you must capture it with a Pokéball, and that allows you to store it and easily transport it and save it for later, but in the TCG you use a Pokéball to search for a Pokémon you want and add it to your hand. Your hand. Not even to your team. I imagine it kind of like... A way to send a Pokémon to your boxes, to make a comparison with the games. You can then get it out and add it to your team (if you have or make room) after using it, and then... Poof, the Pokéball is gone. This is, again, because you can't really translate the storage and transportation uses of a Pokéball to a TCG. But it still feels very strange to have a Pokéball that doesn't really even contain a Pokémon (or allow for storage, if we're going with the comic interpretation). It's more like... Pokémon Amazon delivery, haha.

Generally, I think it's really interesting that the way Pokéballs work is different across all the mediums, but it doesn't actually affect any much. They still generally serve the same purpose (with certain card game exceptions), and the variety is generally positive if you ask me. It allows you to choose which way you like best.

If you read this whole thing, thank you, haha. Let me know your thoughts if you have any, or anything I got wrong.