Pokemon and Genealogy

Dear Readers,

Over the years I have noticed several subconscious social phenomena. One of the greatest in my youth was Pokemon. Though I never got very much involved with the card game other than collecting the cards, I did love the television show and to play the games on Nintendo Gameboy, Color, and Advanced. I stopped playing before DS because it seemed as though the creators lost sight of what made the games good, polluting their own world that they created with aspects and features including ridiculous Pokemon and mega evolutions that evolve and then regress. Though some of these features seem cool, and even look exciting and new, it has the air of being a vain copout.

The new features, especially the mega evolutions, bring it closer to being like Digimon, which surprisingly grew from Japan around the same time but was not backed by such a powerful company as Nintendo. I can see why Digimon didn't do as well beyond the support of the gaming industry. As similar as Pokemon meaning Pocket Monsters and Digimon meaning Digital Monsters they both evolve and progress. Despite the better detail and quality of the monsters in Digimon, they were also more complicated. Though they could digivolve into higher forms, usually they would regress and either return to their normal state or even revert further back, making it feel like no matter how hard you try to progress, you can always slide down back further down that slippery slope.

Though this sense of fleeting power and progression is an impressive metaphor for how we too can make forward progress as we try to become better people, and yet fall by indulging in sin and slide backwards, often leaving us worse off than we were, it is not a message that appeals to the innocence of youth.  As children, we often look to adults either as examples of what to be, or what not to be as we grow up.

Mewtwo evolutions image link

Thus in this sense, it is almost poetic how these mega-evolutions of pokemon are able to regress down, but only to the point of "adulthood". In that way, showing kids that they can improve, and become something more, up to a point. After that point, there is the uphill climb as to what kind of adult you will be.

All of this being said, and though I prefer the simplicity and encouragement of early Pokemon, my examples of adults included my mother. She is a genealogist, meaning that she searches and studies family history, especially lineage and family lines. It is a way to look back at where we came from so we can focus on where we want to go as individuals and as a society.

Yet, the only parts of family history work I found interesting were the stories of my ancestors. Everything from Philemon Merrill who was a body guard and dear friend of the Prophet Joseph Smith Jr. To my third great uncle the Texas outlaw Bill Langley who killed over 30 people and was hanged twice. Their stories have fascinated me. However, it wasn't until my monsterology (study of monsters) days that I realized that my mother and I were more similar than I thought.

For Pokemon, it has been easy enough to link the lines of evolution: Charmander becomes Charmeleon, then Charmeleon becomes Charizard. Three generations, just as we are encouraged to know: our parents, grand parents and great grand parents. This is part of the simplicity that has been lost. However, it was with the incredibly complicated and convoluted digivolutions in Digimon that I really began to realize that I was engaging in monster family history work.

Let's take one line of digimon ancestry. The cute little "baby" digimon Botamon. It digivolves into the "in training" Koromon, which then digivolves into "rookie" Agumon. Thus far it has been a fairly straight line, again three generations like with pokemon, however, it starts to get complicated.

In the original series, Agumon became "champion" Greymon. Yet with the more recent Digimon Data Squad, Agumon digivolves into Geogreymon. Thus splitting the branch into two different lines.

Geogreymon continues into Risegreymon then Shinegreymon.

On the other side, Greymon's line splits again, this time between good and evil (vaccine and virus). Leading to Metalgreymon or Blackmetalgreymon each as the "ultimate". Blackmetalgreymon continues one step further into Skullgreymon, the "mega" ,while Metalgreymon can split again, either into Wargreymon or Blackwargreymon. Though, there some possibility that Blackwargreymon, being a virus type digimon, could be Blackmetalgreymon's alternative to Skullgreymon.

Alas, because of how convoluted and in precise the Digimon world is, it is difficult to determine the truth of the digivolution lines. Just as the truth behind evolution is so confusing, especially when scientist cannot agree on what a species even is let alone adhere to its definition, as I talked about in my Creation blog post. Not only that, but our own human history is stuffed full of rumor, myth, legends, hearsay and plain old missing or incorrect records that it can be difficult to find the truth.

(Left to right columns) Baby, In Training, Rookie, Champion, Ultimate, Mega

Nevertheless, as I persisted and held onto only those lines that I knew to be true, the pieces began coming together and I realized that I had begun making my own genealogical charts, or family group sheets. My own passion for monsters awakened in me a special love for family history.

(Left to right columns) Child, Parents, Grandparents, Great Grandparents (Vertex 42 Family Tree Chart)

Though I am not as active in family history as I should be, I dabble in my own ways. From the small and simple roots of Pokemon, onto Digimon and then into the real world, I know that knowing where we come from can lead us into the future. I encourage all who read this to get or make a three generational pedigree of their families. It may seem daunting at first, so you can always start with making one for your favorite Pokemon. Good luck and God be with you as you begin your journey into this marvelous work.

Love,
Jacobugoth