There’s a popular fan theory that posits Kanto went through a war sometime before the events of Red & Blue. The Great Pokemon War, or Kanto War, would explain why there only seem to be children an🅠d elderly people in Kanto, why your character doesn’t have a dad, and why your rival🅠 doesn’t have any parents at all. Unfortunately, there’s not a single shred of evidence to hold up this theory. There’s no war memorials, no battle sites, and no references to war - save for one. Vermillion City gym leader Lt. Surge tells you that Electric-type Pokemon saved him during the war. In the absence of any other references to war in Pokemon, fans made one up.
Here’s the weird thing though: Lt. Surge isn’t even from Kanto. In fact, he isn’t from the Pokemon Nation at all apparently. Like the Diamond 🍸& Pearl’s French gym leader Fantima, Lt. Surge is from a real life place. According to the sign outside the Vermilion City Gym in FireRed and LeafGreen, Surge is known as the Lightning American. Folks, Lt. Surge is a United States army veteran.
Let’s break this down. Suppose the real world exists in the Pokemon universe too. There’s Kanto, Johto, Galar, and all the other regions from the Pokemon games within the Pokemon Nation, but then there are real countries too, like America and France. Before Legends: Arceus, Ghastly’s Pokedex entry 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:directly referenced Indian elephants. Supposedly, Lt. Surge fought for the US 💜in some real life war ꧑before later moving to Kanto and becoming a Pokemon gym leader.
Now to answer the question, what war did Lt. Surge fight in? We don’t know his exact age, but we can guess he’s somewhere between 30 and 45 years old, based on his appearance. Red & Blue came out in 1996, which means Surge likely fought in either the 1990 Gulf War or took part in the invasion of Grenada in 1983. Outside of those major conflicts, it’s unlikely that Surge would refer to simply “the war” and expect anyone to know what he’s talking aboꦚut. Maybe he was involved in the bombing of Libya in 1986, but I doubt it.
There’s a couple of obvious issues with Surge being American. As I’ve mentioned, Surge tells you that Electric-type Pokemon saved him during the war. As far as we know, the🦋re were no Pokemon enlisted during Operation Desert Storm. Of course, he could have been speaking metaphorically. Perhaps the idea of Pokemon just helped Surge get through some tough times, I know it has for me. Maybe while Lt. Surge was firing mortars at the Iraqi Republican Guard during the Battle of Norfolk, he looked down at a picture of Raichu he kept in his pocket and knew that everything was going to be okay.
There are a few more details about Surge that ruin that theory. The Pokemon Journal💎 from FireRed and LeafGreenܫ says Lt. Surge was rumored to be a pilot while home in America, and that his plane was powered by Electric Pokemon. Whatever war Surge fought in, it was definitely one that included Pokemon.
Youtuber Lockstin & Gnoggin has . In his video, he explains that the Pokemon regions that resemble real life places are actually meant to be those places. I imagined that Galar was the United Kingdom’s Quebec - a separate nation that idolizes and mimetizes the United Kingdom - but he thinks Galar is literally the UK. If that’s the case, then Surge is either from Unova (New York), Orre (Arizona), or Alola (Hawaii). He makes an argument for each one, but eventually settles on Alola based on a few key details: there’s a signed photo of Lt. Surge in your character's house at the start of the game, there’s a Kantonian Gym where you can earn a Surge Badge in Malie City, and finally, real-life Hawaii has a lot of military applications. Maybe you’ve heard of Pearl Harbor?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgXVqKu1-pg
It’s the most compelling option of the three, but it's still quite a stretch. I’ve got a different theory, and it's non-falsifiable, which means it can’t be proven wrong. I think Surge is completely full of it, he never fought in any war, and he isn’t even a veteran. Let’s review the facts:
Surge was supposedly in the army, but he flew planes? That would be the Air Force Surge, not the Army. Secondly, the planes were powered by Pokemon? Planes exist in the Pokemon universe, we&rsqu🍒o;ve seen Ash fly on one back and forth from Alola in the anime, but they’re just norm🎃al planes, not some kind of primitive Pokemon-powered aircraft. Why would the army even allow that? I don’t think Surge knows how planes work, and he definitely doesn’t know the different branches of the military.
But let’s take a step back, 🦂why is Surge the only veteran in the entire Pokemon series? Why are there no other references to war? There’s a simple explanation for this: Surge is a con, a phony, a fraud. He claꦅims he’s from a distant land called ‘America’ and fought in ‘The War’ and we all just take his word for it? Instead of crafting elaborate theories about Surge’s past and made-up wars, we should just follow Occam’s Razor on this one and recognize that Surge is talking out of his ass.
Honestly, who could blame him? 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Sabrina is a psychic, Giovanni is a crime boss, and Koga is a ninja - Surge definitely needed to find some kind of gimmick. I’m not defending stolen valor of course, but is it really stolen if you're making up the war itself? We’ve accepted his story at face value for almost 30 years, but enough is enough. There was no Great Pokemon War, Surge didn’t fly Pokemon-powered airplanes, and I’m pretty sure he isn’t even American. It’s the greatest con in Pokemon history. I’m not even mad at you Surge, if that’s even your real name.
