Posts are up! I still need a post from @tex before I can get Redorchard.

@Delta44 I made you a sort of giant, Frankenstein post in an attempt to catch you up as much as possible. We're close to getting there, but not quite yet. You should be caught up to Derrik in the next post or two. Also, if you'd like Rivalry instead of Intimidate for Shinx, feel free to change that, just let me know beforehand.

Looking forward to y'all's responses, as always!

@Whimsley Oh, sorry. I'll get on that tomorrow morning.

@whimsley

I truly am amazed at how much work you put into your posts, especially to help a new person to catch up. Never seen a gm this dedicated *applauds*

-edit-

the irony is that I was gonna have derrick find some old tracks of swinub in my next post only to end up battling one instead xD

Heh. Alright. That's a cute little thing.

@Morose So, you or me, first? I'm just planning on interacting with the tiny Pokémon in front of me, then I figure if you've written anything I'll respond to it after. Or maybe you just want to watch, in which case I should definitely post first. I just want to ask how you want to do this, first.

@PlatinumSkink I'll post after you :)

@Morose Alright~ I've posted as Rowan, who has not noticed Mara. Now then...

@Whimsley Two extremely important questions.

First: What's the gender of the Azurill? It felt odd calling it "it" all the time.

And secondly...
Is it's ability Huge Power? XD

@samreaper That's a pretty good idea, all of these Pokémon have to be holing up somewhere...

@PlatinumSkink

First: Since you're not a Pokémon biologist, you have no idea. Few Pokémon have aesthetic differences between genders, which I always found strange but I'm trying to be as true to the series as possible. Even if there are any, the differences are incredibly picky as well, so it's tough to tell gender unless you catch the Pokémon or if you're a veteran trainer or some kind of researcher. Feel free to assign a gender to it in your posts, though, if that makes you feel more comfortable.

Second: You wish you knew! Same thing, have to catch it to know its ability.

@Whimsley ... I was afraid of that.

Then, don't mind me if I catch a Pokémon sometime and it doesn't suit what I liked and Rowan suddenly gains an extremely convenient in-character reason why he's releasing said Pokémon that has absolutely nothing to do with how I as a player is thinking... XD

and a postilily dilly

@Whimsley
I'll be able to take my character back if I still may. Your call. The only problem is trying to fix the character... Also, @Lasrever I'm thinking Abigail made a few too many actions in her post. It isn't likely she would get past the running away part before the "bad guy" could react.

And if I may point out, in both the game and show most trainers are easily able to identify Pokemon genders if they pay it any attention. You'll notice the game always tells you, and even most newbie trainers in the shows (Ash being an exception) can usually tell. And think about it, even in real life it is normal easy, they just cant show the differences in a kids show.

@Zardoric Absolutely, feel free to take over the situation. I'm not sure what you mean by fix the character, but PM me if you need help figuring it out.

Classifying gender in non-mammalian species is actually quite difficult in real life, and even with some mammals like rabbits, but this is Pokémon so that's a separate discussion. You make a good point with gender always being revealed in the games, though I don't remember the show doing that, I'm sure there are examples out there I just haven't found.

--

@hatakekuro@samreaper@Delta44@Eklispe@Xan the G @BlueSky44 (Do you know Delta? Or is the 44 just by chance?) @Morose@PlatinumSkink@Rune_Alchemist @tex @Lasrever

I'll leave it to the players to decide, as it's not really too important to me whether or not gender can be instantly classified. If it could be recognized on sight, I would likely take liberties so as to make every Pokémon look different by gender, even if there are some species that look identical in canon. This explains away the "I know it's female just because".

What do y'all think? Yes or no to knowing gender?

I wish there was like a poll option where I could just tag everybody...

@Zardoric Absolutely, feel free to take over the situation. I'm not sure what you mean by fix the character, but PM me if you need help figuring it out.

Classifying gender in non-mammalian species is actually quite difficult in real life, and even with some mammals like rabbits, but this is Pokémon so that's a separate discussion. You make a good point with gender always being revealed in the games, though I don't remember the show doing that, I'm sure there are examples out there I just haven't found.

--

@hatakekuro@samreaper@Delta44@Eklispe@Xan the G @BlueSky44 (Do you know Delta? Or is the 44 just by chance?) @Morose@PlatinumSkink@Rune_Alchemist @tex @Lasrever

I'll leave it to the players to decide, as it's not really too important to me whether or not gender can be instantly classified. If it could be recognized on sight, I would likely take liberties so as to make every Pokémon look different by gender, even if there are some species that look identical in canon. This explains away the "I know it's female just because".

What do y'all think? Yes or no to knowing gender?

I wish there was like a poll option where I could just tag everybody...

I really don't care. xD

@Zardoric Sure, I'll edit it if it makes more sense!

Edit: Okay, done! I cut it off before she sent out any Pokemon, so she's just hiding against a tree now.

And on the gender thing, it really doesn't bother me either way. Unless there's obvious visual differences for the species, I'd say most trainers would be paying attention to more important things at the time.

You could maybe have the Pokedex be able to tell by scanning them.

@Whimsley I'm going to say no to knowing gender. In real life, people mess up the gender of each other's pets all the time, so I think it'd be more realistic to not know. And it reminds me of the pain and struggle to get a female eevee.

@Whimsley I'd say yes to knowing gender. In the games, we can tell a Pokémon's gender immediately upon encounter. It's a little marker by their health-bar. ... It's also a lot more convenient than having to call all Pokémon "it". Though, I'd rather not the Pokémon look different from canon just to make us tell the gender. It's a very inconvenient matter, all-in-all. Is it that harmful that we can just tell that "this is fe/male"?

@Whimsley Awesome. And actually, the mistake was mine, I mistook him for a different one of my people.

As for the gender, how about having it so that a quick glance at the pokedex could inform them while those with the right knowledge can identify them without it. @Morose, although people often do mistake pet genders, the signs are relatively easy to spot in almost every species, so proper knowledge is/could be more then enough.

@Lasrever Thanks.

@Zardoric

Oh alright, smooth sailing then.

I am curious, though, by every species do you just mean pets? All animals? That's simply not true. Without being crude about it, sex determination isn't always just looking where the sun doesn't shine. There are many examples, but I specifically work with salamanders, and you need a microscope and proper knowledge to determine their sex.

Boy, are we cracking open the gender issue so soon? I can agree with Zardoric, a pokedex probably would know the gender of what you are looking at. Personally, I do like knowing the gender. Unless you happen to really know the Pokemon you are looking at or they are just that different. Excluding Nidoran F/M, because they are different Pokemon somehow.

Surprisingly, I'm gonna cast a no for trainers knowing. We can't all be omniscient on every possible thing going on around us.

@Whimsley I'd say use the Pokedex, but remember experienced trainers can tell the difference between male and female all on their own. If they look different or act differently in the games and anime based on sex, then I don't see why they can't here. Try everyone in Shinx's evolutionary line, for example XD

Roleplay doesn't need to be realistic. Sure, why not? :P

Also, who is this other Delta you speak of? That's the 7th one this week...! I'm going to have a graveyard when I'm done!

@WhimsleyIT makes sense to have some form of distinction. I just assumed we would know without necessarily having to explain why. It's just "Oh that's a female Charizard".