How do you envision TMs work in games?

[Sheep]

I'm partial to the idea that you put the disc in a TV and the Pokémon just watches it to learn the move. Learning them through the PC while they're deposited can kind of work too, since there is probably a slot for TMs in it?

But I remember I used to think that Pokémon just ate those CDs one way or another as a kid. No idea how. :'D

 

[Devalue]

Apply directly to the forehead.



Injects data into them...or something like that. Stuck with this process ever since seeing it.

 

[𒈟Lavemu𒐫]

I always thought that maybe you put the data of the disk in the pokeball and some kinda screen inside the pokeball shows them how to use the move, since it's been confirmed that pokemon shrink to go inside the pokeball and not get turned into data or something like that.

 

[Zeostar]

I visualized them eating the CD's too. I also thought they were eating the potions and revives. (maybe they do eat revives)? I know that I thought the zoom ins were neat. I'd toss TM's and Potions at my pokemon for the sake of it.

 

[Alex_Among_Foxes]

I second what Deva said honestly. Just stick in on their head and let it 'download' lol. :p

 

[icycatelf]

Pokémon listens to instructions on a CD via device that looks like the Technical Machine Cubes in the TCG. Alternatively, receives information from said device via frequency waves.

EDIT: Cubes apparently have a compartment to place the Pokémon's ball.

 

[Corveone]

You insert the disk on the Pokédex or a Rotom disk player (because if Rotom phone exists why not disk player), then the Rotom/Dex converts the learnable move data to sound waves and sends it to the brain of the Pokémon that you want to learn the move.

 

[Palamon]

Probably the trainer like plugging the data into something in newer gens. In older ones? The pokemon probably just eat them lol.

 

[Sweet Serenity]

I always envisioned TMs as discs that show a tutorial on how to use the move in question. Depending on the game, I imagined them only showing the tutorial once after getting the data off it, similar to how you can only download most Mystery Gifts once, hence most of them being unable to be used more than once. I envisioned the ones that can be used multiple times as discs that allow Pokémon to be able to watch it multiple times, similar to how you can watch a movie as many times you want. As for HMs, I always envisioned those as special TMs that could be watched multiple times that were never placed in the market. More likely than not, people such as scientists and/or professors probably made them to help them for specific purposes rather than to sell on the market to the general public, hence their rarity and being called "Hidden Machines."

 

[ReKoil]

I always just saw them as 'they just look like CD's'. Instead it's really just some kind of material that dissolves when pressed against a Pokemon's body and gets absorbed by said Pokemon.

 

[giradialkia]

So, Origins gave us a cool representation of a TM being a floppy disk. It was a nice touch of nostalgia, because that (among other things) indicated that Origins was based on original 90s RBG and not FRLG.
In the games, as of FRLG, the TMs have been represented as discs.

Our Pokémon can be stored as data on the PC, and while they're in their Pokéballs we can presume they're in data-form.
It's not the case, or the games would've represented it as such by now, but I like to imagine the player can use the PC or perhaps their Pokédex as a means to 'install' the TM on their Pokémon.
Just having it done through that kind of interface would make sense out of it.

I did enjoy that FRLG had a visual for teaching moves, though it didn't make an awful lot of sense.

 

[PoryKid575]

I envision them as similar to those physical DLC discs you can get for games like The Sims. Pokemon are stored as digital data inside the PC; so it makes sense that you could "install" a new move to them by using the CD/DVD. As for why it can only be used once, I imagine that the disc gets destroyed inside the trainer's bag. They don't look like they have cases, and a DVD won't last long just hanging around in some backpack.

 

[Setsuna]

Apply directly to the forehead.

View attachment 155206

Injects data into them...or something like that. Stuck with this process ever since seeing it.

This.
"Apply directly to the forehead" is the exact thing I think of because the idea of just jamming a disc into a Pokemon's head and having it magically work is thousands of times more entertaining than whatever an actual explanation would be.