Skyesby said:
I should have added a couple of points:
1) Where does it say that Lavender Town/Tower is about Pokemon ONLY? What if it was someone ELSE who died that Blue was visiting, perhaps his absentee parents. That would explain his attitude and his reaction (with you stumbling in on a "moment of weakness"), as well as his "I made a promise" attitude afterward (after rediscovering who he truly was or something, heck we're writing a biography on him, why not?). Just because he's a douche [http://www.vgcats.com/super/?strip_id=2] doesn't mean he isn't human. That's the point I was making there.
2) This story has been repeated, exactly as you stated it, more or less verbatim, in a relatively short period of time, no less than 12 times on the only two message boards that I frequent. It's the mindless copy/paste repetition (redundant, no?) that irritates me, not the story itself. ESPECIALLY since the copy/pasters and commenters never seem to add any new thoughts or angles on the story (seriously, not even a "here's what I think happened"?).
3) The Giovanni thing was a tangent that probably should have been shorter, but surely y'all know what it's like to be on a roll. At least it's a different angle.
4) Just because you have to dig into far deeper levels of thought than the apparent scope of the game's story to find hidden meanings and connections doesn't make the events deep or meaningful (or intentional). On the other hand, it doesn't mean that it isn't either. It's fun to create stories and meaning behind otherwise superfluous things (how else can you explain The Enquirer?) and more so when other things seem to confirm the story.
5) All that being said, I agree that Red and Blue are a great video game relationship, I only disagree with the reasoning behind it. However, I think the relationship between Gold and Silver is far meatier than Red and Blue (especially since HeartGold and SoulSilver added significantly to Silver's story). I also have to compare the Pokemon rivalries to already fleshed-out characters like Cecil and Kain (from Final Fantasy IV). Without all the embellishment, sadly, Pokemon characters fall flat in comparison. (as was likely the intention. they are two fundamentally different games, after all.)
PS. We don't know how Pokemon moves work. Why wouldn't Hyper Beam travel past (or through) your victim and knock down a building or level the town you're fighting in or near? In fact, in the whole of Pokemon, only two moves cause any kind of real, visible (in-game) destruction: Cut and Rock Smash. A strike than can crumble solid rock can easily shatter bones, and a slash that can fell a tree can cut poor vendor-trash Bidoof [http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=235] clean in half. These are the only two moves that can be
confirmed as lethal. (Think about that the next time you think they're "weak" moves, Pokemon fans. lol)
PPS. Oak is a douche too. [http://www.vgcats.com/super/?strip_id=4]