When I first found out Alolan Vulpix is going to be an ice-type, I really didn't know how to process this. To my mind, the type(s) of pokemon is so essential to its identity that I couldn't imagine a pokemon assuming a completely new type and still remaining the same species.
After that initial shock subsided though, I began to think- maybe that's how types are meant to be thought of. They aren't essential to a pokemon's identity. They're mutable. Just like in the real world, an animal geographically isolated in a unique region would slowly become adapted to that region. The genetics of a pokemon, therefore, is malleable enough to accommodate and produce any type, given certain conditions.
Fair warning: The discussion below is rather convoluted. In a sequel to this article, I may include some diagrams or use amino acid sequences to make it a little easier to understand. But for now, I just want to write out my initial thoughts on the matter.
Assumption: Change from one type to another is gradual (even Darwinian)
The assumption I'll be making here is change from one type to another isn't an abrupt event. Rather, like Darwinian evolution, it involves cumulative effect of minute changes in a population. In other words, some property or properties in a species change slowly, accumulating over a long period of time, until a macro-change is observed. Neo-darwinian mechanisms locate the unit of this change in genetic mutations, and I'll be using genetic language in this post as well.
Types: discrete or spectral?
Alolan forms may occasion a rethinking of how we view types. Rather than thinking of types as eighteen discrete properties a pokemon can potentially take, maybe we should think about them as constituting a spectrum. In the language of genetics, that translates into the following. At any particular time, the genetic makeup of a Geodude is such that it takes on the ground-(pheno)type, and the associated weaknesses and resistances. But since types are mutable and not 100% static, as the Alolan forms teach us, Geodude's genetics can adopt a non-ground characteristic as well- just that in those particular circumstances, its genetics is not doing that. A Geodude isn't necessarily a ground type (pace Aristotle who thought giraffes are probably necessarily long-necked), but only primarily so.
The upshot of all of this is that types aren't rock-solid characteristics of pokemon. On the types being spectrum-like hypothesis that I'm suggesting, if each type is characterized by a particular genetic profile, that means each type can accommodate a degree of flexibility to which a pokemon's genetics can vary and still remain the same type. The sequence that's responsible the ground-type phenotype, for example, isn't 100% identical in all Geodudes. Which means, some Geodudes can be more or less ground-type than others. Being (say) ground-type or non-ground type isn't a binary- few things in nature are- it's, again, a spectrum. There's probably a threshold to which variability is tolerated, beyond that threshold a Geodude can't be called a ground-type any more.
So why did Brock's Geodude faint to Pikachu's Thundershock in the anime?
Maybe this explains how ground types occasionally get hit by electric-type moves in the Anime. Since types are mutable and form a spectrum, then so does the weaknesses and resistances associated with them. Since a genetics of a Geodude can be such that it's more- or less- ground type than other members of its species, that means a Geodude can be more- or less-resistant to electricity than other members as well. This really isn't that stretchy as it may seem at first. If my hypothesis about ground-type or non-ground-type being a spectrum is accurate, then that means resistant-to-electricity or susceptible-to-electricity is a spectrum as well. As ground type-ness of a Geodude varies, so would the associated characteristic of being resistant to electricity.
That means, maybe, if a Geodude's genetic profile is such that it's only moderately ground-type, then it's resistance to electricity- while still very high- would not be absolute. In cases of extremely powerful electric shock, supplied by (say) Ash's Pikachu, such a not-so-ground-type Geodude would indeed be affected, and may even faint.
Summary of argument
Let's take stock. The argument I'm making can be summarized as follows.
(The argument uses the language of genetics, but fill the gap with whatever other hereditary factor you choose and I doubt it will compromise much of its plausibility. We begin with the assumption that each type is determined by a particular genetic profile)
1. Alolan forms show types are mutable, not absolute.
2. Each type's genetic profile is mutable and can change into profiles of other types.
3. Change isn't abrupt, rather involves minute changes in genetic variability which progressively accumulate.
4. Each type tolerates a degree of genetic variability within which a pokemon can still be of that type.
5. Difference in genetic makeup within this variable limit translates into differences in type-ness (while still being the same type).
6. Difference in type-ness (within the same type) translate into difference in essential characteristics associated with the type.
7. Weaknesses and resistances are essential characteristics associated with types.
8. (From 6 and 7) Differences in type-ness translate into difference in degree of weaknesses and resistances.
9. There is a difference of degree in a pokemon of a type being weak or resistant to an attack the type is usually weak or resistant to.
Conclusion. Type resistances aren't absolute. In some (perhaps extreme) circumstances, pokemon of a certain type may be affected by a move it's supposed to be resistant to.
I understand there are some assumptions here, like premises 3 and 5. But I'm not going for absolute truth, only plausibility.
Conclusion
If all this is true, or at least plausible, then that means the occasional ground-type fainting by an electric-type move is closer to reality. It is the Anime which, in this case, makes more sense. We would indeed expect the odd violations of type resistance given type mutability and the underlying genetic variation.Such a complex mechanic is virtually impossible to implement in the games, however.
Aaand now I'm sitting here asking myself why I bothered to spend so much effort to theorize about THINGS THAT DON'T EXIST I MEAN I COULD'VE PUT AN END TO WORLD POVERTY WITH THIS MUCH TIME AND EFFORT
After that initial shock subsided though, I began to think- maybe that's how types are meant to be thought of. They aren't essential to a pokemon's identity. They're mutable. Just like in the real world, an animal geographically isolated in a unique region would slowly become adapted to that region. The genetics of a pokemon, therefore, is malleable enough to accommodate and produce any type, given certain conditions.
Fair warning: The discussion below is rather convoluted. In a sequel to this article, I may include some diagrams or use amino acid sequences to make it a little easier to understand. But for now, I just want to write out my initial thoughts on the matter.
Assumption: Change from one type to another is gradual (even Darwinian)
The assumption I'll be making here is change from one type to another isn't an abrupt event. Rather, like Darwinian evolution, it involves cumulative effect of minute changes in a population. In other words, some property or properties in a species change slowly, accumulating over a long period of time, until a macro-change is observed. Neo-darwinian mechanisms locate the unit of this change in genetic mutations, and I'll be using genetic language in this post as well.
Types: discrete or spectral?
Alolan forms may occasion a rethinking of how we view types. Rather than thinking of types as eighteen discrete properties a pokemon can potentially take, maybe we should think about them as constituting a spectrum. In the language of genetics, that translates into the following. At any particular time, the genetic makeup of a Geodude is such that it takes on the ground-(pheno)type, and the associated weaknesses and resistances. But since types are mutable and not 100% static, as the Alolan forms teach us, Geodude's genetics can adopt a non-ground characteristic as well- just that in those particular circumstances, its genetics is not doing that. A Geodude isn't necessarily a ground type (pace Aristotle who thought giraffes are probably necessarily long-necked), but only primarily so.
The upshot of all of this is that types aren't rock-solid characteristics of pokemon. On the types being spectrum-like hypothesis that I'm suggesting, if each type is characterized by a particular genetic profile, that means each type can accommodate a degree of flexibility to which a pokemon's genetics can vary and still remain the same type. The sequence that's responsible the ground-type phenotype, for example, isn't 100% identical in all Geodudes. Which means, some Geodudes can be more or less ground-type than others. Being (say) ground-type or non-ground type isn't a binary- few things in nature are- it's, again, a spectrum. There's probably a threshold to which variability is tolerated, beyond that threshold a Geodude can't be called a ground-type any more.
So why did Brock's Geodude faint to Pikachu's Thundershock in the anime?
Maybe this explains how ground types occasionally get hit by electric-type moves in the Anime. Since types are mutable and form a spectrum, then so does the weaknesses and resistances associated with them. Since a genetics of a Geodude can be such that it's more- or less- ground type than other members of its species, that means a Geodude can be more- or less-resistant to electricity than other members as well. This really isn't that stretchy as it may seem at first. If my hypothesis about ground-type or non-ground-type being a spectrum is accurate, then that means resistant-to-electricity or susceptible-to-electricity is a spectrum as well. As ground type-ness of a Geodude varies, so would the associated characteristic of being resistant to electricity.
That means, maybe, if a Geodude's genetic profile is such that it's only moderately ground-type, then it's resistance to electricity- while still very high- would not be absolute. In cases of extremely powerful electric shock, supplied by (say) Ash's Pikachu, such a not-so-ground-type Geodude would indeed be affected, and may even faint.
Summary of argument
Let's take stock. The argument I'm making can be summarized as follows.
(The argument uses the language of genetics, but fill the gap with whatever other hereditary factor you choose and I doubt it will compromise much of its plausibility. We begin with the assumption that each type is determined by a particular genetic profile)
1. Alolan forms show types are mutable, not absolute.
2. Each type's genetic profile is mutable and can change into profiles of other types.
3. Change isn't abrupt, rather involves minute changes in genetic variability which progressively accumulate.
4. Each type tolerates a degree of genetic variability within which a pokemon can still be of that type.
5. Difference in genetic makeup within this variable limit translates into differences in type-ness (while still being the same type).
6. Difference in type-ness (within the same type) translate into difference in essential characteristics associated with the type.
7. Weaknesses and resistances are essential characteristics associated with types.
8. (From 6 and 7) Differences in type-ness translate into difference in degree of weaknesses and resistances.
9. There is a difference of degree in a pokemon of a type being weak or resistant to an attack the type is usually weak or resistant to.
Conclusion. Type resistances aren't absolute. In some (perhaps extreme) circumstances, pokemon of a certain type may be affected by a move it's supposed to be resistant to.
I understand there are some assumptions here, like premises 3 and 5. But I'm not going for absolute truth, only plausibility.
Conclusion
If all this is true, or at least plausible, then that means the occasional ground-type fainting by an electric-type move is closer to reality. It is the Anime which, in this case, makes more sense. We would indeed expect the odd violations of type resistance given type mutability and the underlying genetic variation.Such a complex mechanic is virtually impossible to implement in the games, however.
Aaand now I'm sitting here asking myself why I bothered to spend so much effort to theorize about THINGS THAT DON'T EXIST I MEAN I COULD'VE PUT AN END TO WORLD POVERTY WITH THIS MUCH TIME AND EFFORT
