Pokemon personalities (>>)

Started by Gothitelle. May 22nd, 2011 8:07 PM
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  • 11 replies
Age 31
Female
Partyin' wit Segata Sanshiro
Seen March 1st, 2013
Posted November 23rd, 2012
532 posts
12.1 Years
Sooo, I have a story planned out. It's about Giratina coming from her world to this world and she meets Hydreigon and instantly wants to be friends however, Hydreigon is shaky and rude at first. (don't wanna give too much)

However, I do need advice when it comes to personalities. For example: are people going to find it weird that Giratina would come up to Hydreigon and say "Hi, I'm Giratina. LETS BE FRANDSSS!"?

I want to have personalities that fit the Pokemon. In the story, Hydreigon (also female in the story) is going to be mature, calm and collected but has a bit of a temper. Need help expanding more in Hydreigon.

But my biggest problem is Giratina. I've been told that Giratina wasn't meant to be a cute type... if she wasn't maybe she wasn't meant to have a cutesy personality. I basically need advice on what kinda of personality this Pokemon would have then I'd work from there. I already have it planned out.

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Age 28
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Seen 4 Weeks Ago
Posted January 27th, 2022
2,096 posts
14.5 Years
Well by the way you want giratina i'm guessing you want it to be fierce looking but who is actually kind, cute and acts like shes a little jigglypuff no?
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Impo

Playhouse Pokemon

Male
Earth
Seen 1 Week Ago
Posted December 7th, 2021
2,456 posts
13.3 Years
I can see it being a little odd, but it can be a nice trait for a character to have. The only thing you have to watch out for is that it is coherent with her personality. That means it goes with how she acts.

For example, if you have someone who is suspicious of almost everyone, they won't be doing that ever.
But an innocent - and possibly naive - person could pass that action.

I tend to like the characters who are overly friendly like that, so I won't object :) .

Impo

Playhouse Pokemon

Male
Earth
Seen 1 Week Ago
Posted December 7th, 2021
2,456 posts
13.3 Years
I believe you're aiming for the adorable lovable character?
Then yes, I guess it could fit. Just try to make it as believable as possible.
Considering you noticed the oddity and asked for help tells me that you should be capable of making a nice reason for their interaction. Good Luck :) !
Age 34
Male
USA, Florida
Seen January 17th, 2012
Posted July 11th, 2011
49 posts
12 Years
Ah I see. Giratina is adorable.. so I made her act that way.. I wouldnt know how it acts in the canon.
Giratina was kind of aggressive and all-powerful in the canon. :P If you are looking to do an adorable personality, why not do Celebi and something with time travel? Or Mewtwo retruning to the world from his Island? Or for something a little quirky, Lugia transforming Melody (the girl who played his song in the 2nd movie) into a female Lugia and taking her as his wife?
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Mewtwo has an adorable "let's be friends!" personality after deciding to leave the human world alone because there's no place for it and its clones?

Now I just have that hilarious picture of Mewtwo drinking from a juice box in my mind.

There's no reason why Gothitelle can't have Giratina be fun-loving and cute if she has a reason to do so in the story. Like have an in-story reason why Giratina wants friends. It's a nice break away from "Giratina looks evil therefore it is evil" role most Pokemon fall into. Like how people always think that Darkrai is a villain, so whenever any story needs any villain, it's Darkrai. When the better thing to do is something not expected, have the villain be a Jigglypuff (or a Togepi!) and have the story be a little more memorable. (So long as the in-story reason is good.)

Besides, it would be rather hilarious to have a Pokemon that deals with horrible things have an excitable personality to deal with every horrible thing it does.

There are some things that can be played around with in canon (I feel as though this will lead to punishment for me) so long as the explanation in the story makes sense. And the canon breakage also makes sense. A Pokemon not having a personality that it would appear to have is, I feel, one of these cases where canon appearances shouldn't always be followed.

Like it is possible to have Mewtwo drinking from a juice box if the story calls for it.

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Male
Seen July 28th, 2012
Posted June 29th, 2011
44 posts
12.3 Years
I agree with Matt completely. Abilities and personality should mostly come from Pokedex entries I think. The way you explained it makes it seem like Giratina is just friendly and overly happy for no reason at all, which in all honesty to me doesn't fit the ruler of the distortion world very well.

Although, if given a good enough reason you could make anything work for the most part. Say it's friendly because it's so lonely in the distortion world or something like that. As long as theres a reason.
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Harassing Bill
Seen August 19th, 2020
Posted December 8th, 2012
3,276 posts
19 Years
Abilities and personality should mostly come from Pokedex entries I think.
Pokédex entries can only explain so much. For example, while it's said that Giratina was banished for its violence, it's not known whether or not it still is violent or what it did to be deemed violent in the first place. (It could have, for example, accidentally screwed with reality just by sitting still. Some fans do think it's the legendary of anti-matter, after all.) Moreover, how it acts in the games isn't necessarily how it acts in other canon. Example? In the movies, while Giratina was rather ticked off, it was understandably so because the other legendaries were messing around with its home. Once it settled down, it helped straighten things out in the real world by defending everyone else from Arceus (who was pretty much batcrap crazy and trying to kill everything that moved at the time).

Then, there's also pure fan interpretation from that. A lot of fans argue that there may be more than one legendary. (Example: The anime shows more than one Lugia, and not all of them have the ability to churn hurricanes with a flutter of their wings like the 'dex says they can.) For that reason, one can argue that each legendary has their own unique personalities. That's why it's easy to buy one fan's interpretation of a legendary, even if it's not quite consistent with what we're used to. For example, if Gothitelle wanted to write a fic about a bubbly Giratina, she could say that it's just not the same one as the one seen in the movies or the one described in the 'dex, and that would be okay because it's a lot like saying one human isn't the same as another, if that makes sense.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that while there's certain bits from the 'dex that you just can't change (like how Growlithe might get territorial or how Clefairy are attracted to moonlight), but other bits (like bits about personalities) are a bit harder to pin down as the final word concerning that Pokémon. The best way to go about writing any character within this universe is by sitting down, going through everything you can concerning the cast you want to use, and figuring out from there what your take is and how you can get everything to make sense. Don't just stop at the 'dex if you want to be canon-accurate. Check out the anime, manga (if you can find it), games (some clips of which are on YouTube), anything you can find.

Meanwhile, I do agree that there needs to be a good reason for making a character a certain way, but this is generally true unless you're writing complete crack. It's just easier for a reader to grasp a certain personality if it makes sense in context. While Distortion World isn't necessarily Hell, it does have certain qualities to it that Gothitelle should keep in mind while developing Giratina's personality (because those details can lend a hand towards how Giratina sees reality). I'm being vague at this point because even the Distortion World is interpreted differently across different canon, and not every fan thinks of the same thing when someone says "Distortion World." If you really want to see someone having fun with the concept of an off-beat Giratina, I'd suggest checking out Wings Have We and other fics by Giratina. She uses a Giratina that isn't as violent, broody, or psychotic as the 'dex would imply.

Long story short: not every person is the same, not every canon is the same, and not every fan interprets canon the same way. 'Dex entries shouldn't be the only thing you stop at when it comes to developing a Pokémon character.
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Seen November 9th, 2013
Posted November 9th, 2013
40 posts
12 Years
Mewtwo drinking from a juice box
Hey, I thought of that a few months ago! [/get out of my head]

I think you should give your characters whatever personality you want. To do otherwise feels like stereotyping. Better to show diversity among different members of the species (likely a reason why the "Nature" property was made).

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Age 31
Female
Partyin' wit Segata Sanshiro
Seen March 1st, 2013
Posted November 23rd, 2012
532 posts
12.1 Years
Oh I didnt see that this got more comments. I did keep in mind about an explanation as to why Giratina is the way she is in the story. I did provide a backstory. Giratina is really a good Pokemon but she isn't seen that way. All she wants is to see people and make friends and that's why she went crazy when she met Hydreigon.

Another example would be that in another story I am doing; Gothitelle is a skilled pilot, mechanic and martial artist. But I can get away with it because she CAN be bred with a Lucario which is a fighting Pokemon. So I can say that her dad is a Lucario that taught her fighting moves Also because to even her out with Renuclus... someone superpowerful but lacks intellgence.