Animation physics

typically refers to unusual, impossible, and sometimes absurd moments in animation where real-world physics do not seem to apply. 
Some common examples of animation physics in the Pokémon animated series include: unusual human feats of strength, agility, and endurance, and the theory, sometimes called (the ability to hold innumerable items in one bag). At times, the term can also be used to describe when an attack works differently in the animated series than it would in the . 
Note that inconsistencies in animation, such as objects changing in size between scenes or frames, or characters being depicted with inconsistent heights (without specific reason), may instead be the result of unintentional mistakes on the animators' part.
Deviations from standard laws defined in the real world are common in some genres of animation, in this case, the Pokémon animated series. Characters may sustain damage that normally would result in mortal injuries or immediate death, but instead are simply left soot-covered (in the case of explosions or incineration), disheveled, or fatigued. Characters may not age, whether or not time does actually pass within the fictional universe. In the Pokémon universe, main characters often mention weeks, months, or even a year to have passed, but themselves do not age. Ash Ketchum, who at his debut was confirmed to be 10 years old, remains at the age of 10 through to the end of the 25th seasonAsh's character profile (in Japanese) mentions that he is 10 years old as of Pokémon Journeys: The Series., despite the fact that episodes occasionally state weeks to have passed since the previous one.
==Examples==
===Loose physics===
Some phenomena that appear in the (as well as in other Pokémon canon) are impossible in real-world physics.
* Poké Balls change in size and convert Pokémon to and from a plasma-like substance (the retains its consciousness in this state).
* Whenever a character throws a Poké Ball they usually throw it forward, but once the Pokémon is released the ball falls back down as if thrown up.
*Many moves are shown to expel large blasts of matter; it is unknown if they convert matter, or if they create matter from nothing. 
** Moves like are depicted as spitting water, but usually the Pokémon spits much more water than its body could hold.
** In Mass Hip-Po-Sis!, initially doesn't weigh down 's balloon, but he does so after using . This means the move creates the sand out of nothing.
* In the animated series, many things explode. Most attacks explode when they connect with an opposing attack, even if the attacks would not normally do so (even, and some would say especially, inert, non-volatile substances such as leaves or water).
** In Pokémon Contests, almost every move will explode and send a shower of sparkles down into the crowd.
** Some moves explode when they clearly cannot, such as a attack.
* During certain battles in the animated series, the Pokémon stay in the air longer than usual despite their weight, either when using attacks or receiving attacks (not including Pokémon that fly naturally). This is particularly evident in Dealing With Defensive Types! when 's battles against Byron's and actually can be seen floating for a significant period of time.
** On a similar note, many attacks do not move at the speed they normally would (or should), sometimes even leaving enough time for characters to have a three or four sentence conversation. An example is in Jumping Rocket Ship!. has his use a few seconds before Ash's Chimchar uses , and they clash in the exact middle of the battlefield. This could just mean that that Flamethrower accelerates much quicker, but before the attacks even collide, Jessie gets in several lines of dialogue.
* In Like It or Lup It!, Dawn's Piplup uses while spinning in the air. Defying the laws of physics, Piplup manages to "float" in the air while releasing the bubbles which spin around Piplup when Bubble Beam is supposed to travel in a straight direction, not floating around slowly.
* In almost every episode, Jessie, James, and manage to get launched hundreds of feet into the air, sometimes crashing through the roof of a building or a cave wall, by various means (usually a Pokémon attack). However, others standing near them will not be moved or even affected, and Team Rocket never get too hurt from the flight, which would surely kill a normal person. They also are in a stationary position during the first part of their flight, and then start suddenly spinning, normally after making a humorous comment.
** In Training Daze, Team Rocket is already flying when the episode starts and they don't land during the episode.
** Similarly, in Cerulean Blues, is struck by numerous attacks, but suffers no lasting injuries. Also, the Invincible Pokémon Brothers are blasted through the Gym's roof by a , yet can still be heard to make a comment as they fly off.
* Characters throughout the animated series have repeatedly been shown to take attacks such as (the Japanese name meaning 100,000 Volts), and Flamethrower with no long-lasting harmful effects, though there are obvious problems with this in the real world.
** One example of this is in The Ninja Poké-Showdown, where is shown to survive taking one of 's Flamethrower to the face. Less than ten seconds after the attack he is shown looking perfectly fine with the attack not even damaging his clothes. These types of scenes often are like this one in that they are intended to be humorous.
** However, this is not always the case. For example, in Lessons in Lilycove, when was almost attacked by her 's , people were very worried about her.
* In All Fired Up!, when Victreebel swallowed a burning Meowth to put out the flame, the fire continued to burn, even though its oxygen had been cut off.
* Pokémon often disobey : attacks, such as , that blast the target backwards do nothing of the sort to the user. This is especially notable with or Pokémon, which cannot even brace themselves against the ground.
* In An Elite Coverup!, Team Rocket's can be seen running on top of while staying in place. This would be impossible because then Mime Jr. would run in Wobbuffet's inertial reference frame and increase speed in respect to Wobbuffet.
* Whenever Team Rocket has prop decoys such as a fake building to hide away from pursuers, the building always decreases in height after it falls so that the pursuers are not crushed.
* In Shell Shock!, James is knocked off a cliff by a giant boulder. He is later seen to be perfectly fine with no hint of the fall.
===Magic satchels===
* Ash and his friends seem to have an unlimited amount of space in their bags or pockets, especially Brock, , and , from sleeping bags to cookware to machinery.
** This was played for laughs as early as The School of Hard Knocks, when Ash and watch in disbelief as Brock produces a full dining set out of his bag. This comes complete with a table, chairs, and fine china in perfect condition.
** Cilan appears to keep a table, chairs, and a miniature kitchen complete with tableware in his backpack.
** Clemont's backpack contains thousands upon thousands of his inventions, some of which are even too big to fit inside an ordinary backpack.
* In A Tent Situation, brings out around 40-50 sketchbooks to show to and then puts them back in the same bag that they should not have fit into in the first place.
* Dawn's Piplup is never seen holding the Everstone he was given in Stopped in the Name of Love!, yet its effects remain. Even then, it could be that the Everstone is now linked to Piplup, though as of A Midsummer Night's Light!, it's unknown whether this is permanent or not.
===Move and type effectiveness errors===
* Many times when Ash's Pikachu fights a Pokémon prior to Generation IV, he uses an move and still causes damage.
**The animated series comments that certain Ground-type Pokémon are still vulnerable to Electric-type attacks. Rhydon's armor has been characterized as Electric-immune, but its horn has been considered a sensitive spot to attack. Pryce's Piloswine's fur is Electric-immune, but Piloswine's soft underbelly has little to no fur, rendering it vulnerable.
** Since the beginning of Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, however, Electric-type attacks have been consistently shown to have no effect on Ground-type Pokémon, no matter what part of the body is attacked, as the properties of the Ground-type now apply to the entire body.
* Pokémon are depicted as vulnerable to attacks if they are grounded rather than having an immunity to damage like Electric-type attacks on Ground-type Pokémon. This occurs even before the introduction of , , and where Ash's Charizard was hurt by Gary's 's in Can't Beat the Heat!.
** Similarly, is depicted as affecting Flying-type Pokémon if they are low enough on the ground such as A.J.’s Sandshrew in The Path to the Pokémon League, Harrison's against Ash's Noctowl in Playing with Fire! and Ash's Chimchar against Fantina's Drifblim in Shield with a Twist!
* Normal type moves are shown to affect Ghost-type Pokémon when they should (and have shown to be) immune to those moves instead.
** While Normal-type Pokémon are also immune to Ghost-type moves in the games, there has yet to be an occurrence of a Normal-type Pokémon being immune to Ghost attacks in the animated series.
* Pokémon without survive one-hit knockout moves, like , without fainting.
* Some non-damaging attacks cause damage to the Pokémon being attacked, such as Brandon's Dusclops using .
** Furthermore, it affected Ash's Charizard which, as a Pokémon, should not be affected by Will-O-Wisp.
* has been able to protect against attacks instead of status problems.
* has been able to block physical attacks, even though it usually only affects special attacks. There have been inconsistencies with Light Screen affecting physical moves or just special moves as A Judgment Brawl clearly demonstrates physical attacks correctly bypassing Light Screen. On the other hand, which was a physical attack at the time, was briefly blocked by Light Screen in Bye Bye Psyduck.
** was used to block status moves such as in For Ho-Oh the Bells Toll!.
* has been shown to block special attacks, even though in the games it only affects physical attacks. This was disputed in Imitation Confrontation, which was also the debut of the move in the animated series. Regardless, Counter and Mirror Coat were then used interchangeably.
** Both Counter and Mirror Coat have the users being unharmed by the enemy attack.
** Mirror Coat is demonstrated to block status moves such as in For Ho-Oh the Bells Toll!.
* Before the physical and special attack split in Generation IV, , , , and were inconsistently demonstrated where they worked on moves that appeared to be physical or special rather than their actual attribute at the time:
** Jessie's Wobbuffet used to deflect as it looks like a physical move. Contrastingly, Counter also deflected in the same episode Tricks of the Trade despite the fact that both moves at the time should not be affected by Counter.
** briefly blocked a in Bye Bye Psyduck due to the attack appearing to be a special move. However, was correctly (at the time) able to deflect Hyper Beam in Playing with Fire! by Harrison's Houndoom and Mewtwo in Mewtwo Strikes Back.
** has been correctly depicted as blocking a (which was considered physical at the time) in Fear Factor Phony. Contrastingly, Reflect was used to block in Zoroark: Master of Illusions.
* moves have persistently been shown to affect Pokémon, even though Dark-type Pokémon are immune to the effects of damaging Psychic-type moves. This goes against what has occurred in the earlier episodes as Power Play! clearly demonstrates an 's not working against Gary's Umbreon.
** In The Blue Badge of Courage, uses on a that belongs to the Gym Badge thieves.
** In Zoroark: Master of Illusions, Karl's levitated with .
** In Seeking Shelter from the Storm, James's Inkay was affected by a wild 's .
** In Facing the Grand Design!, the bad 's Psychic and the good Malamar's affected James's Inkay and the bad Malamar respectively.
** In An Explosive Operation!, James's Inkay's affected Mable's .
* Moves that cannot miss in the games, such as and have been dodged by Pokémon several times.
* Grass type Pokémon have been shown to be affected by when they are supposed to be immune.
** In The Bamboozling Forest!, Leech Seed has been shown to not drain Grass-type Pokémon's strength, but it still can be used on Grass-types by restraining them.
* Steel-type Pokémon have been affected by Poison type moves when they are supposed to be immune to those moves. This contradicts situations where Steel-type Pokémon were correctly depicted to be immune such as when 's did no damage to Professor Kukui's Lucario.
* Pokémon can sometimes be hit out of a move that has a Semi-invulnerable turn. An example of this occurs in A Clubsplosion of Excitment! where Montgomery's hits Iris's Excadrill out of with .
===Other conflicts with the games===
* The weight of some Pokémon is sometimes ignored in the animated series. This can be explained by a Pokémon's weight varying in the animated series unlike the games. Competitions such as the Seaking Catching Competition confirms this as there was a Seaking that weighed 55 kg while its Pokédex entry in the games state that Seaking weighs 39 kg.
** is able to pick up despite it weighing 158.7 lb (72 kg).
** Ash carries a on his back, amounting to 109.1 lb (49.5 kg) of weight bearing down on his head and neck.
** In Showdown at the Shalour Gym!, Ash easily holds up his arm with his 35.3 lb (16 kg) Fletchinder perched on it.
** Ash holds Nebby in his hands while it is a , despite its weight of 2204.4 lbs (999.9 kg).
** In Going for a Spinda, not only lifts one-handed despite it weighing 277.3 lb (125.8 kg), but also pitches it high enough for it to land in the mouth of a giant mech.
** May's Beautifly often lands on people's heads with no adverse effects despite the species weighing 62.6 lb (28.4 kg).
** In Get Your Rotom Running!, was able to hold her on her back despite it weighing 123 lb (55.8 kg).
** In Sweet Baby James, Jessie picks up May's Munchlax and puts it in a bag, despite it weighing over 231 lb (105 kg). In Off the Unbeaten Path, Max was able to carry Munchlax on his back.
** Iris's Axew is 39.7 lbs (18.0 kg) and is able to ride in her hair.
* The animated series often makes Pokémon bigger than the games say they are. This is especially common for species of which there is only one, like and .
* In early seasons of the animated series, certain Pokémon like , , and cannot be used by Trainers in without being in a body of water, unlike how they seem to float over the ground in the games. This has lessened in prominence over time, with Pokémon such as Elesa's and the Sharpedo used by Levi and Cherie in Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel floating over the land as they do in the games.
* In Second Time's the Charm!, Ash recalled his and sent it right back out in the same turn to cure its , which is impossible in the games.
* and Pokémon are depicted as disliking contact with any form of water such as Brock's Onix and Pietra's -type Pokémon due to being weak to . This contrasts to Pokémon such as May's Combusken, Ash's Charizard, and Kiawe's Charizard who are shown to submerge themselves in water without any discomfort but are still weak to moves. This occurrence of water with and Pokémon appears to be the only time a Pokémon's type weaknesses affects how it interacts with the surrounding environment rather than just the type of moves it gets hit with. In the games, Pokémon weak to moves can learn without any in-game penalties or side-effects compared to the in Right On, Rhydon! who was considered a unique Rhydon as it was not afraid of water.
** An example where this does not occur is when Brock's Onix acts as a sled in Kanga Games where it does not get harmed by the snow, despite being weak to as a part .
==Related articles==
* Differences between the Pokémon games and animated series
* Size discrepancies in the animated series
==References==
Category:Animation