That is Charles Darwin for you

on the origin of knife fights

Basically what we are trying to say is that if Michael Vick really wanted to bet on animals fighting each other, he could have just played some Pokémon.

(Yuko and I will be at Katsucon this weekend; please, if you happen to be there, come by and say hey! We love meeting you guys. )

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That last panel...beyond tremendous.

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Possibly the best 'Darwin's 200th Birthday' related item I have seen. The lecture I'm attending tonight will be hardpressed to beat it, even with cake.

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I can guarantee you, this was entirely coincidental.

FATE

I MEAN IT WAS FATE

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WHOAAA we're all sort of blown away, we had absolutely no idea it was Darwin's birthday!

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It's also 150 years since he published his book "Origin of Species."

It's a big Darwin year. Perhaps you could even say it was Dar-WIN!

...
...

I'm so sorry.

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Oh man I think you just broke my brain Dx

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It's like OCD or something. Every time I see the opportunity for a very, very bad pun or play on words, I just have to go through with it.

Again, I will apologize, but I can't deny that it felt really good at the time.

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My brother forced me to go to Toys-r-us this week and get a free Shayman for him. The shame D: ... on the plus side, free Shayman.

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I went to Toys R' Us last year BY MY OWN VOLITION to get a free Manaphy. *NERD*

A-AND HAVE I EVER TOLD YOU HOW GREAT THE MEEK IS? I HAVE NOT HAVE I

G-GOD THE COLORING IS SO BEAUTIFUL

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The look of horror on the face of Pete's coworker when you guys came in that day made it all worth it. She could not believe there were MORE of us.

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I DEMAND ANSWERS!

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YAY! darwin! ZoMG. Now i HAVE to use this description!

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HAPPY DARWIN DAY, GAIZ. :D

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When people roll their eyes at Pokemon, I explain it like this:

You're a zoologist. You can catch animals in the wild and BEND THEM TO YOUR WILL.

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thats the best way to sum up Pokemon i've ever heard. also the picture at the end is awesome, i want that on a t-shirt.

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He'd have still gone to jail. Can you imagine if Pokemon was real? PETA would f'in lose it.

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Yes, but then we'd all be in jail.

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I'll have you know that Pokemon exists in a socialist utopia. We wouldn't be in jail. We'd be getting free food from Pokemon centers while we're loved by our cute magical animals and terrible monsters, who are also the basis of our entire economy.

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President Obama, I demand you get on this. Since you are totally a socialist and all.

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i love how agitated john looks while asking about it. i also really want to get my hands on Fire Red now..

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I'm that angry all of the time.

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Darwin vs. Torchic and they're using swords. I agree that this would be a great shirt.

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The cockfighting comment totally got me imagining making wagers on video game fights. Like racing for pink slips, but with pokemon duels instead of racing and VG Consoles instead of pink slips :p

Coming next year at PAX! Lose the fight, lose the console!

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I have been talking about pokemon alot lately. I hate teh fact that every game has the same freaking content. Also Red and blue were the best. :| . They only had 150 and not like 500. They still expect us to collect them all. WTF. Also only having four moves when they learn a butt load of them. Now that is utter crap. The ones in the cartoon get more then 4 why can't we.

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Hell YES! I just bought Red off of Ebay, and it is awesome. D:<
It was so much more simpler. :>

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I had no idea Darwin was left-handed!

Also, I have to second that comment where PETA would totally flip if Pokemon were real. And what do people in the Pokemon universe DO if they have no interest in Pokemon!

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This was not only strangely appropriate, but also inherently awesome.

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"Charles Darwin meets Cockfighting"

Not really. Cockfighting (and dogfighting, bearbaiting, etc.) is usually a fight to the death. Pokémon matches are more like Greco-Roman wrestling with superpowers: they fight each other using their unique abilities until one or the other is unable to continue. (Generally due to exhaustion or, very rarely, injury. When have you ever seen a match actually end in the death of one of the pokémon?) Unlike cockfighting, etc., the matches seem to be strictly refereed and adhere (just as strictly) to certain rules, and the players generally seem willing to stop a match before things go too far.

(Disclaimer: I'm not a regular Pokémon viewer, nor do I consider myself a fan. The above are simply observations from watching occasional episodes.)

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You are complicating my fragile, four word understanding of the Pokemon. I choose to reject your reality.

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If a weird creature shot flames at another weird creature that was made of PLANTS, I'm sure death would happen. :B If pokemon were real, there sure would be deaths, but the game is geared towards children, and a game based off of 'survival of the fittest' that included death would be picketed by parents and Jack Thompson.

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Jack Thompson is pretty much poison to any legal efforts to quell a game. If he supports something then no judge in the USA is going to listen to him seeing as he has been disbarred in Florida and last I heard was under investigation for illegally practicing law in other states.

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cockfighting was just used as a comparison, no need to analyze it. Also...gladiators fought to the death too.

Anyway... I have always wondered... if all the animals are pokemon... where do they get meat for food? Tauros burgers? Miltank steaks? Roast raticate? O_o;;

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Especially once those bastards learn hyper fang. I'd roast one now if I could.

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Actually, yes. In the Red/Blue era, if you look at the descriptions of Pokemon, there was a proper food chain and biology aspect. Bird types would eat bugs, rat/mice types would gnaw their teeth down, herbivores would chew grass and then get eaten by the carnivores. Tentacool/cruel catch various organisms in the water and constrict before eating. I remember in the episode where James buys a Magikarp from the shady guy, either James himself or Meowth tried to take a bite out of the fish.

But then it all became about friendship and teamwork and love between a boy and a girl (human or otherwise), and all the critters suddenly became hunky dory with each other and focussed on their "pokechow".

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...but it was Meowth. After attempting to bite it, his teeth broke, and he cried out, "the moment of TOOTH is at hand!!!"

...Yeah. I remember that episode. All too well... ¬_¬;

What in the world am I doing with my life?

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I know how you feel. I keep remembering strange things from years ago xD Like entire Monster Rancher episodes.

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I GET IT NOW. Holy crap.

Ugh, now I want to go out and verify this for myself. D= I cannot afford a new hobby.

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Ironic, its Darwin's 200th today. Happy Darwin Day!

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Darwinmania finally hits the comic page...!

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I had an awesome gallade, too. That boy would cut you, man, cut you so bad you wish he hadn't cut you. Ah well, gives me an excuse to buy Platinum.

Can't wait to show this one to my internet-deprived friend. She loves torchic, has a level 100 one I think.

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That is perfect nuff said.

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I just find it funny that this comic happened to come up Right after I got a huge urge to start playing Pokemon again, and decided to use my tips to go out and buy leaf green xD There are too many weird coincidences in the world.

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Darwinism is the shit.

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Pokemon games are already awesome, but that last panel...well, I applaud you.

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I have always wondered:
How come humans are the dominant species over creatures that can fly, bend reality, interact with machines, breath fire, control the elements, have psychic powers, live beyond death,etc.?

Best I can figure is that some 2001 monolith monkey figured out the poke'ball before walking.

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Uhm, actually, if I remember correctly, an episode of Pokemon, possibly an early one, depicted the 'cavernman' pokeball; apparently, they did fashion the pokeball before pokemon became a 'dominant' factor in the world.

In other news, I really want a game that actually depends on genetics for breeding. I WANT MIXED BREEDS, ABSURDITIES AND THE ABILITY TO DETERMINE DOMINANT AND RECESSIVE TRAITS. Not just pick Pokemon A and Pokemon B to get the baby form of Pokemon A. No imagination. D:

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And the moves of Pokemon B.

Sorry, had to.

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You can inbreed pokemon. it would be funny to inbreed pikachus so much they learn a water move just cause of the massive amount of genetic inbreeding o.o .

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Eventually we'd have to have inviable offspring and inbred mutants. Pretty soon they're living in the hills and abducting traveling motorists.

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I find it highly unlikely that a race who has mastered space-time compression is confined to Earth...and can't make people's heads explode like Scanners.

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That is Charles Darwin for you

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