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It makes me happy how the Earth Badge worked for gen II in Japan; the original name being Green Badge, and the first rival, named Blue in the west but Green in Japan, is the one who gives it out.
@@vossboss220 Almost. Considering the names of the cities, the JP names make more sense for the badges. Pewter is a gray, the badge is the Gray Badge. Cerulean is a blue, the badge is the Blue Badge. Vermillion is an orange, the badge is the Orange Badge. I'm not sure where the Erika Badge fits in this, but considering Celadon's the center (literally, moreso metaphorically in its culture) fits it being the Rainbow Badge.
To further that, most Gym Leaders do that with their names, have some kind of relation to their type specialty: •Brock: B+Rock •Misty: Mist+Y or just Misty as in a misty day or misty weather •Lt. Surge: Military Rank+power surge •Erika: scientific name for heath or heather plants (spelled with a c normally, but the k makes it Japanese) •Koga: old ninja clan famous for using poisons •Sabrina: Sabrina the Teenage Witch •Blaine: Blaze+Flame •Giovanni: Geo (another name for Earth like in Geography or Geology). and that's just the Gen 1 ones.
The Earth Badge was originally modelled after a feather. Before Giovanni was made the 8th Gym Leader, Viridian City was home to the 1st Gym Leader (which also made Brock the 2nd Gym Leader, Misty 3rd, etc.). Said Gym Leader, who really just looks like Giovanni's final sprite but as a kid, was meant to specialise in the Flying-type. Also, from what I recall Koga's and Sabrina's badges were accidentally swapped during development or something like that, but I'm not too sure on that one.
I think I remember hearing their gyms were swapped, not the badges. Hell, Sabrina still has a whip sprite from the whole evil carnie animal tamer pre-release era. Yeah, the random whips in sprites, everyone was to use them. You too.
@@LegendStormcrow The whips were used primarily by tamers and Team Rocket, and there are implications in either an older version of the game or the final game's files that Sabrina was meant to be the main villain before Giovanni.
So then the Soul badge was for the psychic type gym and the Marsh badge was for poison types. That honestly makes more sense. Marshes are places with more contaminated or unsafe to drink water I believe. Meanwhile Mind/Heart/Soul ...well they're usually somewhat interchangeable.
@@wolfofsummerbreeze Except that 1) it really was just a rumor, they were not, in actuality, switched. and 2) AGAIN, the badges ENGLISH names are irrelevant as in Japan, the badges were simply named after colors "Pink" and "Gold" respectively. The latter, of which, was chosen because "Gold" is heavily associated with Psychic powers in Japan. The poison type being Pink was also that way since the beginning, despite we now more so associate "poison type" with the color purple, while Pink was a sub-color of the Normal type until Fairys came along.
I feel like people got too hung up on the few myths of switched things in gen 1 like Psyduck and Golduck or Venomoth and Butterfree and everyone just says their personal weirdest quirk was a result of a swap with no evidence
I like to think of the thunder badge as a little explosion. It fits the military theme and the self destructing voltorb well. It's a less jagged square shape due to the limitations of fitting it into the same square slot as the other badges, so they used all the space they could.
I always thought the same thing, ever since I first saw it. Explosion fits the type and the man’s own history so it seemed a great way to represent both.
Eh, maybe. The thing about the gen 1 badges is that they didn't always seem to match their gym (and I'm pretty sure part of that was due to some translation errors) so the analysis is warranted. But for generations 2 through 6 most of the badges are more straightforward, and generations 7 through 9 don't really have anything to analyze.
i initially thought that the last badge had to do with wheat, because it was doing a service to the comunity (the wheat growing) while something shady was going on in the shadows (the roots of the plant, digging deep into the manure covered ground). Or because becoming a mafia boss required hard work, as it does being a farmer or being a gym leader.
That's the rumor. It makes sense because there's a lot of old things discarded in development that survived to the end like characters holding whips (including sabrina) because of the lion tamer type of way you were supposed to control pokemon before the balls were invented.
And let’s not forget the Pokémon manga where Giovanni was obsessed with catching the legendary birds and using his invention to fuse them together… flying would make a lot of sense then.
I had always thought that the Soul and Marsh badges were incorrectly swapped somewhere during translation, since "Soul" can be better linked to psychic types, and marshes can contain poisonous critters, but this explanation makes sense too.
I think about the Kanto badges a lot. I think the badges were designed based on their cities rather than their gyms. Celadon being the metropolis is a blend of everyone in the region. The colours of the Rainbow badge correlate with the 9 colours of Kanto including Indigo. Saffron being the corporate and industry centre having a gold badge. Pewter being located by Mt Moon, I think the appearance of the Boulder Badge looks like it could be a moon stone. In the original Japanese, Fuschia retains the name of the city that inspired it, Sekichiku, which is the name of a pink chinese blossom. My favourite part of this theory is the gold/alchemy connection. It would definitely explain why they decided to put a Psychic gym in an industrial city.
Yes, Kanto badges are based on the city rather than the gym. And most of the cities are named after colors of natural things in Japanese. For example, Celadon city is called Tamamushi city in Japanese. Which is named after a jewel beetle that refects different colors. Therefore it's basically translate as Rainbow city in most Asia regions. Viridian is called Tokiwa, the color of evergreen, hence the green badge.
@@Alain0227 I remember the Earth badge always being one that messed me up as a kid. I had a theory about how Giovanni was originally chased out of Celadon city, and was replaced by Erika. The Game Corner being the last remnant of their presence in the city. And Viridian gym was kind of leaderless until Giovanni started up in the abandoned gym. I know that's headcanon though. There's enough evidence in the manga etc to show that isn't true.
I think the thunder badge are more based on the city. As Vermilion is described as "The Port of Exquisite Sunsets" or "A southern city that is bathed in orange by the setting sun."
The puzzle piece thing was pretty interesting, but I really wish they were just a little more imaginative with the names after a whole generation without official gyms
Well, Lt. Surge is called Major Bob in German, I always wondered why they did this change. "Major" in German pronunciation is a military rank in the German army, but they pronounce it in English in the German dubbed anime, which makes sense since he is an American. Maybe they thought the word "lieutenant" is too hard for children to understand, but considering that the demographic group the anime is made for generally shouldn't know _any_ military ranks from other languages, that is probably not the real reason...
Combining his german and english name, one could conjure up something nice like Lt. Robert Surge. Fortunate are those characters who name remained the same in the german translation, including Misty, Erika, Sabrina, Koga, Giovanni, Lorelei and Bruno. I think Agathas name was only slightly altered in german, as was Brocks who is known in Germany as Rocko.
Regarding the Thunder badge, I saw an ad or similar in a comic book once years ago, where, among other things, we had Ash holding it out as he usually did with won badges. However, the badge had been given the wrong colors. Instead of being full yellow, the points were a violet color, while the center was red, making it look very much like a Starmie.
I remember the first time I saw a starmie (namely in the S. S. Anne episode, which was right after the Vermillion Gym episode) I was puzzled as to why there was a character who had a giant thunder badge and was talking to it as if it were alive.
For those of you who don't know, the running theme in Kanto is that all the towns/city are named after colors It's also why the starting town is called "Palet Town" (based on the color palette)
Fun Fact: The german name of Celadon City is Prismania City, which gives the Rainbow badge much more sense as a Prism breaks light into its different colors
Another way to look at the marsh badge is… kinda lore based? So if I’m not mistaken, Sabrina took the role of Saffron Gym from the fighting dojo next door, with their fighting types. Marsh Badge could have been *Martial* Badge at one point, and the marsh badge could be like the heavy weight belt thing or the fight bell between rounds.
I think that the Marsh badge's shape could also be a gold coin because a coin on a string is often used in media for hypnosis, as seen in Pokemon with Hypno.
I like to think that the Soul Badge is based on the pink petal of a WAY more significant flower, the cherry blossom. tmk it's a symbolic trope in some media, especially in anime and other japanese media, to use cherry blossoms as a symbol of death, of a passing, or of life's fragility. (Among other things. There's like a whole TVtropes page about cherry blossom symbolism.) For a group of ninja, specializing in the use of deadly poison type pokemon, who give out a badge that's named for something which is released from you when you die, having the badge represent a symbol associated with death feels fitting.
I really do enjoy the whole color-theme Kanto has going, the cities are named after color, the main characters, Red, Blue and Green, are named after colors, and the bagdes were also originally named after colors. I really like these kinds of themes.
I miss the old style of badges for the game, they were more cryptic and fun design wise. Also would love to see you break down more badges. This was a fun video.
I remember hearing somewhere that the rainbow badge was intended to be the final badge as it was a combination of all the badges you had received and concluded the color theme the gen 1 towns had. You start in blank palette town slowly amassing the colorfully named badges (in Japanese) from the colorfully named towns and they all come together to make a rainbow. I don’t know if that was fan theory or if it was said in an interview however, If it was true maybe they changed it because they felt having evil Giovanni give you the rainbow badge was too heavy a contrast? I know that Giovanni wasn’t always intended to be the final gym leader. Honestly, I’d love to see you do a video where you compile all the known tidbits about gen 1’s development because I find it extremely fascinating.
Your section on the Earth Badge is my favorite, because of the manga, Pokemon Special/Adventures. In the manga it's revealed that every now and then a child is born in Viridian Forest that possesses its mysterious powers, and that Giovanni (along with Yellow and Lance) is one of those people.
12:47 Think it's worth pointing out the western part of Pokemon Kanto's map is based on the eastern part of the Chūbu region, which is far more rural. Johto has the western half of the Chūbu region in addition to the Kansai region too.
i always thought the marsh and soul badges were mixed up as a kid. like why does the poison trainer give the soul badge and the psychic trainer the marsh badge??
3:45 Lt. Surge's original japnese name is Matisse based on the flower genus Clematis (some species of which such as Clematis Edda do resemble his badge) and his rank actually _is_ major (that's a gold oak leaf, not a flower though). I don't know why the English localization put Lt. in his name (in German his name is Major Bob lol)
For Lt Surges badge I always thought it was an explosion because of voltorb and electrode being electric types, and because explosions are seen in combat. Explosion + pikachu/Raichu colors seemed a great way to represent both the type of gym and the man.
My canon on why sometimes the badges feel so different to the gym leader's type is maybe because all of those badges were first created AGES ago, specifically for those first gym leaders since when the pokemon league as a whole was just created. So the feather badge of Giovanni maybe was created for a Flying-Type leader, or Erika's rainbow badge was created for a Gym Leader with no type specialty/mastered all types like Blue. Through time those leaders retired/handed over their leader titles along with their badges to the next generation's leaders, who may not use the same type specialty as their predecessors.
I’ve heard that the Earth Badge is shaped the way it is because originally Giovanni’s gym was going to be flying-type, not ground. That’s why it resembles a feather and also why Giovanni’s organization is called Team Rocket…you know cause rockets fly.
Lockstin, I've watched your content for years now. Between my art commissions and steady(ish) working schedule I learn so much about both the Pokemon franchise and our world that I never took time on my own to learn. I may be just a face out in the crowd of viewers, but you and the effort you put into these videos is awesome! Please keep it up! ❤️🔥
I need more of this. I love these style of videos you do like all the Pokémon trainer classes. They’re so easy for me to binge and go back to. And your editors make your videos extra entertaining for my eyes. Love your work y’all
To be honest, I always thought the Thunder Badge was meant to be a stylized sun. Still doesn't feel like it fits the electric theme but still. But yeah, for Badge designs, I would like a mix of the two, clear enough to indicate what Type Gym it's from, but a general universal look of "Oh, that's the Badge set from the (Insert name) Region!" so as to not have a "copy-paste" feel.
In the German version Celadon City´s Rainbow badge makes a bit more sense: The town is called Prismania City from the word prism - splitting light into rainbow colors
Another point for Marsh Badge: The place you get it, Saffron City, is described as a city with golden commerce. Perhaps the origins of the badges extends to its location?
Pretty sure Sabrina was supposed to have the Soul Badge and Koga the Marsh badge but they got swapped, and Giovanni's gym was supposed to be originally a flying gym.
in relation to Lockstin making that joke about skipping Saffron, I actually did that one out of order. I did Saffron _before_ going to Fuschia City, so I was really under-leveled but I powered through cuz Alakazam's physical stats suck.
My favorite Gym Badges are the ones from Gen 8. I like how all the badges fit inside a small disk. The thought of beating the gym and placing it in a disk that fits like a puzzle piece.
This is a bit of an odd take, but as a kid, I always figured that Giovanni just outright stole the gym, explaining why his badge was so mismatched: it was somebody else's design, and he just used it.
Seriously, how does this dude only have 1.12 Million subs? The amount of dedication into both the research and editing is amazing! This man should have atleast 3 Mil. Keep up the good work Lockstin!
I'd be interested in seeing you do more with the badges and the leader names and such, like why is Clair's Dragon type badge called the Rising Badge and Chuck's Fighting type badge called the Storm Badge or Maylene's Fighting type badge called the Cobble Badge or what does the Gym Leader name Tate and Liza have to do with Psychic or the Gym Leader name Ramos have to do with plants and grass or the names of the Galar Leaders with their types (aside from Allister, Opal, and Gordie), stuff like that. I've for the most part always had the head canon that the Soul Badge and Marsh Badge were swapped, because Marshes are toxic and have toxic fumes and such from what I understand and Souls have a lot to do with the magic elements of the Psychic type. Also, maybe you could do a video on the city names, since there seems to be themes in the city names for regions, like all the Kanto cities are named after colors or things associated with colors in the case of Pallet, all the Johto cities continue the color theme but also are each named after a plant, the Hoenn cities seem to have a city theme to the names (borough, ville, burgh, fortress, metropolis), stuff like that.
with that split in the middle.. i think the Soul Badge looks like both a heart and a brain.. both vital organs, both things that the ninja would need to train, pretty fitting
4:32 Funnily enough, Lt. Surge is called Major Bob in german. He is called neither in japanese, simply Matis. From Clematis, a flower that bears a resemblance to the badge actually. It also brought to my attention that Vermillion City is called Orania City in german and Kuchiba City in japanese, which kinda confirms that the badge color reffers to that
I need you to know I googled why the Marsh and Soul badges were with their specific gyms this morning and nobody had a theory on YT!!! You literally read my mind like Sabrina with this video. 🎉❤😊
I always figured the thunder badge was a sun. Doesn't make anymore sense than anything. But with the soul badge and marsh badge figured badges wasn't necessarily designed based on the type the gym uses Also anyone else think the Marsh badge looks like a Werthers original but flattened
This was a very interesting video because other than learning what the word cascade meant because of Mario Odyssey and the on the nose Boulder Badge I never gave any if the gym badges much thought. You should continue and make this a series with the later badges
I don't think it pertains to this video at all, but just a random gym note: At some point right before release, there was some kind of last minute swap between Saffron's gym and Fuchsia's gym. It's the reason that Koga's gym is mostly filled with psychic type trainers and has an invisible wall "puzzle", and why Sabrina's gym is mostly filled with poison type and ghost type trainers and has a teleporter "maze" instead (it feels more like a 'trapped ninja house' that way, while invisible walls is very much a psychic barrier thing).
The Marsh/Gold Badge could be shaped like a bell, like the kind you'd see in boxing. Which makes sense Saffron City was originally home to a Fighting-type Gym that got beat out in favor of the Psychic-type.
With the Earth Badge, I think there's also some symbolism of the Player's growth as well. Viridian City is the first town you reach, but the last gym you actually face. Over the course of your journey you've grown and become stronger, like a seed maturing into a fully formed tree. A tree that bursts out of the earth, splitting it with it's strength.
Your videos are always informative and hilarious! I always look forward to them! Do you plan on doing more gym badge analysis videos for the other regions? Whatever you have planned next, I know it will be great!
I always really liked the Soul Badge, but I had no idea why it would be a heart. Before watching this video, I guessed its like how the heart symbolizes emotion, so maybe it being tied to the Poison Type gym leader is like a signifier of toxic love or something...except that makes zero sense with Koga's character since he's a ninja. Interesting to see all these other cool reasons for why one of my favorite gym badges was designed like that.
There’s a few things that weren’t mentioned here that definitely contribute to the origins of the various badges: The Thunder Badge is most likely meant to look like a sun, since most of vermillion city’s map descriptions and slogans mention its sunsets. The Rainbow Badge is actually named after its city, just in Japanese. Celadon is known as Tamamushi City in Japanese, which comes from the tamamushi beetle, a type of beetle who has a green, iridescent shell, which makes it look rainbow colored. Finally, the Earth Badge is essentially the way it is because Giovanni was originally going to be a flying type gym leader. This is why the original design of the badge actually looks more-so like a feather, and afterwards when the badge was updated, it was just given more earth like elements to represent the ground type instead.
I've always had a head canon that the Marsh badge was just the badge the Fighting Dojo used when they were the official gym and it represented a gong. When the Psychic Types took over official gym status they kept the badge design for some level of continuity with their predecessor state
About the rank of Lt. Surge: It could be pure coincidence, but his name in the German version is 'Major Bob' so here his badge being the badge of a major makes more sense. Don't know if that was the intention though
I've always had a preference for the badges of the first three generations. In gen one, thank mainly to the anime, they looked like carefully handcrafted jewels, not the two dimensional flat pins most people see them as today. The gen two badges locked more like traditional talismans wich fits well with the traditional themes of Johto and the gen three badges locked like a slight combination of the two previous groups but with their designs serving as representation of the gym leaders personalities.
I was waiting for the next series of “Pokémon games have this in the lore” from Lockstin. Never thought about the Badges. It make sense. He has gone through moves, typing, Pokémon and even shiny Pokémon.. yay!
Its more likely that the names for the marsh badge and soul badge got swapped in translation imo. As you pointed out, the badge names are different in Japanese and its not unreasonable that they could've mixed up a couple of the new names.
I feel like you also forgot to mention that the place you get the Volcano Badge, Cinnabar Island, is also home to an actual volcano! A volcano which later destroys the gym, the manor, and everything else on Cinnabar Island when it erupts! so the name "Volcano Badge" is also a reference to the very thing that everyone on Cinnabar lives next to and also the very thing that would end them all.... *DUN DUN DUN!!!!* Wow, that took a dark turn!
I wonder if those 2 badges were in case the other gyms we know about had to be closed for some reason. I mean gyms can not be open all the time and Erika was seemingly allowed to decline Ash's battle which I feel you wouldn't be able to do that.
Was it ever confirmed or denied that the codes for the badges for Koga and Sabrina was switched? Cause marshes have a lot of poisonous gasses as things decompose and the soul would work well for the psychic type…
I don't know if the marsh and sould badges were actually swapped accidentally, but it makes sense. Psyche literally means soul while marsh lines up well with poison and stuff like Muk.
I think the Thunder Badge is meant to be more like an explosion, explosions cause shockwaves that rumble the earth, causing sounds similar to thunder. Either that or it's meant to be sharp and spiky like how lightning and electricity is depicted in various art forms
The thunder badge is like an action 💥 bubble type thing I thought it was kinda like an explosion hence the sound connection to thunder. The sunset is also a big part of vermillion's identity, so it could be nodding to the sun as well. Just thinkin
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Finally; a Gnoggin video without a sus thumbnail
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K
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Next vid should be explaining every pokemon items. Like metronome, razor claw, scope lens, etc. Explaining how they work logically
Actually it is a theory that Koga and Sabrina swapped names for their badges. Think about it(Marsh-Poison) and (Soul-Psychic).
It makes me happy how the Earth Badge worked for gen II in Japan; the original name being Green Badge, and the first rival, named Blue in the west but Green in Japan, is the one who gives it out.
From Green Badge to Green's Badge.
I find this really cool ! 😄
Completely lost to western fans
@@vossboss220 Almost. Considering the names of the cities, the JP names make more sense for the badges.
Pewter is a gray, the badge is the Gray Badge.
Cerulean is a blue, the badge is the Blue Badge.
Vermillion is an orange, the badge is the Orange Badge.
I'm not sure where the Erika Badge fits in this, but considering Celadon's the center (literally, moreso metaphorically in its culture) fits it being the Rainbow Badge.
I'd also like to point out while Giovanni could also be seen as a "stereotypical mob boss" name, it does have "geo" in it, befitting the Ground type.
Oh true! Never thought about that !
Thanks for that nugget of thought
Good catch!
Bro just blew my mind like that
To further that, most Gym Leaders do that with their names, have some kind of relation to their type specialty: •Brock: B+Rock
•Misty: Mist+Y or just Misty as in a misty day or misty weather
•Lt. Surge: Military Rank+power surge
•Erika: scientific name for heath or heather plants (spelled with a c normally, but the k makes it Japanese)
•Koga: old ninja clan famous for using poisons
•Sabrina: Sabrina the Teenage Witch
•Blaine: Blaze+Flame
•Giovanni: Geo (another name for Earth like in Geography or Geology).
and that's just the Gen 1 ones.
But if it's Italian wouldn't it be pronounced "Jo-vanni"?
The Earth Badge was originally modelled after a feather. Before Giovanni was made the 8th Gym Leader, Viridian City was home to the 1st Gym Leader (which also made Brock the 2nd Gym Leader, Misty 3rd, etc.). Said Gym Leader, who really just looks like Giovanni's final sprite but as a kid, was meant to specialise in the Flying-type.
Also, from what I recall Koga's and Sabrina's badges were accidentally swapped during development or something like that, but I'm not too sure on that one.
I think I remember hearing their gyms were swapped, not the badges. Hell, Sabrina still has a whip sprite from the whole evil carnie animal tamer pre-release era. Yeah, the random whips in sprites, everyone was to use them. You too.
@@LegendStormcrow The whips were used primarily by tamers and Team Rocket, and there are implications in either an older version of the game or the final game's files that Sabrina was meant to be the main villain before Giovanni.
So then the Soul badge was for the psychic type gym and the Marsh badge was for poison types. That honestly makes more sense. Marshes are places with more contaminated or unsafe to drink water I believe. Meanwhile Mind/Heart/Soul ...well they're usually somewhat interchangeable.
@@wolfofsummerbreeze Except that 1) it really was just a rumor, they were not, in actuality, switched.
and 2) AGAIN, the badges ENGLISH names are irrelevant as in Japan, the badges were simply named after colors "Pink" and "Gold" respectively. The latter, of which, was chosen because "Gold" is heavily associated with Psychic powers in Japan. The poison type being Pink was also that way since the beginning, despite we now more so associate "poison type" with the color purple, while Pink was a sub-color of the Normal type until Fairys came along.
I feel like people got too hung up on the few myths of switched things in gen 1 like Psyduck and Golduck or Venomoth and Butterfree and everyone just says their personal weirdest quirk was a result of a swap with no evidence
I like to think of the thunder badge as a little explosion. It fits the military theme and the self destructing voltorb well.
It's a less jagged square shape due to the limitations of fitting it into the same square slot as the other badges, so they used all the space they could.
I always thought the same thing, ever since I first saw it. Explosion fits the type and the man’s own history so it seemed a great way to represent both.
I always thought the thunder badge was the sun. It's a ball of energy. Energy = electricity.
@@GalavantmanNot to mention that both the sun and lightning are both made out of plasma.
The flower makes actually sense, as Lt. Surge's name in japanese is Matis. It's from Clematis, a flower that looks a lot like the badge.
@@Galavantmansame bro
This could be a series on your channel, going through every generation and explaining that region’s badges
i second this!!
I would DEFINITELY like this to be a series. There are a lot of interesting badge designs.
I hope this does become a series
Eh, maybe. The thing about the gen 1 badges is that they didn't always seem to match their gym (and I'm pretty sure part of that was due to some translation errors) so the analysis is warranted. But for generations 2 through 6 most of the badges are more straightforward, and generations 7 through 9 don't really have anything to analyze.
Yeeees pls
I think the Earth Badge actually used to look like a feather because of the discarded flying gym
i initially thought that the last badge had to do with wheat, because it was doing a service to the comunity (the wheat growing) while something shady was going on in the shadows (the roots of the plant, digging deep into the manure covered ground). Or because becoming a mafia boss required hard work, as it does being a farmer or being a gym leader.
That's the rumor. It makes sense because there's a lot of old things discarded in development that survived to the end like characters holding whips (including sabrina) because of the lion tamer type of way you were supposed to control pokemon before the balls were invented.
@@christianlorreOr Blaine's original portrait that is still used on the manual
And let’s not forget the Pokémon manga where Giovanni was obsessed with catching the legendary birds and using his invention to fuse them together… flying would make a lot of sense then.
As a kid I always thought it was a really big leaf like a palm leaf.
What's your favorite badge design?
The Earth Badge, mainly because green is my favorite color!
Gotta be forest badge
Dragon Badge from Gen 8 since i like the Dragon's movement or the Trio Badge since Starter Colors
Freeze Badge probably
I like Sinnoh’s Beacon badge because it looks like Meltan
I had always thought that the Soul and Marsh badges were incorrectly swapped somewhere during translation, since "Soul" can be better linked to psychic types, and marshes can contain poisonous critters, but this explanation makes sense too.
That is what happened. It was an error during development. The badges got switched around.
I think about the Kanto badges a lot.
I think the badges were designed based on their cities rather than their gyms. Celadon being the metropolis is a blend of everyone in the region. The colours of the Rainbow badge correlate with the 9 colours of Kanto including Indigo. Saffron being the corporate and industry centre having a gold badge. Pewter being located by Mt Moon, I think the appearance of the Boulder Badge looks like it could be a moon stone. In the original Japanese, Fuschia retains the name of the city that inspired it, Sekichiku, which is the name of a pink chinese blossom.
My favourite part of this theory is the gold/alchemy connection. It would definitely explain why they decided to put a Psychic gym in an industrial city.
Yes, Kanto badges are based on the city rather than the gym.
And most of the cities are named after colors of natural things in Japanese.
For example, Celadon city is called Tamamushi city in Japanese. Which is named after a jewel beetle that refects different colors. Therefore it's basically translate as Rainbow city in most Asia regions.
Viridian is called Tokiwa, the color of evergreen, hence the green badge.
@@Alain0227 I remember the Earth badge always being one that messed me up as a kid. I had a theory about how Giovanni was originally chased out of Celadon city, and was replaced by Erika. The Game Corner being the last remnant of their presence in the city. And Viridian gym was kind of leaderless until Giovanni started up in the abandoned gym. I know that's headcanon though. There's enough evidence in the manga etc to show that isn't true.
I think the thunder badge are more based on the city. As Vermilion is described as "The Port of Exquisite Sunsets" or "A southern city that is bathed in orange by the setting sun."
It's actually based on the city and Lt. Surge's japanese name, Matis (from Clematis, a flower)
We kind of had the balance of the 2 badge styles in Galar. They had simple type matching names but designed like puzzle pieces.
someone said it!! I loved the Galar gym badges!
I loved how perfectly they fit in their little wheel. A very underrated set of badges!
The puzzle piece thing was pretty interesting, but I really wish they were just a little more imaginative with the names after a whole generation without official gyms
Well, Lt. Surge is called Major Bob in German, I always wondered why they did this change. "Major" in German pronunciation is a military rank in the German army, but they pronounce it in English in the German dubbed anime, which makes sense since he is an American. Maybe they thought the word "lieutenant" is too hard for children to understand, but considering that the demographic group the anime is made for generally shouldn't know _any_ military ranks from other languages, that is probably not the real reason...
Ground control to Major Bob~
That is his name in French as well!
His rank in Japanese is also Major. Which would make sense if he was a CO in the Army.
In the German version celidon Citty is named Prismania Citty, to (kind of) match the Rainbow Badges collor
Combining his german and english name, one could conjure up something nice like Lt. Robert Surge. Fortunate are those characters who name remained the same in the german translation, including Misty, Erika, Sabrina, Koga, Giovanni, Lorelei and Bruno. I think Agathas name was only slightly altered in german, as was Brocks who is known in Germany as Rocko.
Regarding the Thunder badge, I saw an ad or similar in a comic book once years ago, where, among other things, we had Ash holding it out as he usually did with won badges.
However, the badge had been given the wrong colors. Instead of being full yellow, the points were a violet color, while the center was red, making it look very much like a Starmie.
I remember the first time I saw a starmie (namely in the S. S. Anne episode, which was right after the Vermillion Gym episode) I was puzzled as to why there was a character who had a giant thunder badge and was talking to it as if it were alive.
So from my knowledge, about the earth badge, it is shaped like a feather because in concepts he was supposed to be a flying type gym leader
Huh.
For those of you who don't know, the running theme in Kanto is that all the towns/city are named after colors
It's also why the starting town is called "Palet Town" (based on the color palette)
Fun Fact: The german name of Celadon City is Prismania City, which gives the Rainbow badge much more sense as a Prism breaks light into its different colors
Another way to look at the marsh badge is… kinda lore based? So if I’m not mistaken, Sabrina took the role of Saffron Gym from the fighting dojo next door, with their fighting types. Marsh Badge could have been *Martial* Badge at one point, and the marsh badge could be like the heavy weight belt thing or the fight bell between rounds.
I think that the Marsh badge's shape could also be a gold coin because a coin on a string is often used in media for hypnosis, as seen in Pokemon with Hypno.
The Unova gym badges were my favorite! I sometimes used my DS stick to constantly shine the badges, and the designs were amazing and creative.
I like to think that the Soul Badge is based on the pink petal of a WAY more significant flower, the cherry blossom.
tmk it's a symbolic trope in some media, especially in anime and other japanese media, to use cherry blossoms as a symbol of death, of a passing, or of life's fragility. (Among other things. There's like a whole TVtropes page about cherry blossom symbolism.) For a group of ninja, specializing in the use of deadly poison type pokemon, who give out a badge that's named for something which is released from you when you die, having the badge represent a symbol associated with death feels fitting.
I really do enjoy the whole color-theme Kanto has going, the cities are named after color, the main characters, Red, Blue and Green, are named after colors, and the bagdes were also originally named after colors.
I really like these kinds of themes.
Much like Venomoth and Butterfree believed to be switched evolutions, I believe the names of the Marsh and Soul badges were switched as well.
I miss the old style of badges for the game, they were more cryptic and fun design wise. Also would love to see you break down more badges. This was a fun video.
I remember hearing somewhere that the rainbow badge was intended to be the final badge as it was a combination of all the badges you had received and concluded the color theme the gen 1 towns had.
You start in blank palette town slowly amassing the colorfully named badges (in Japanese) from the colorfully named towns and they all come together to make a rainbow.
I don’t know if that was fan theory or if it was said in an interview however, If it was true maybe they changed it because they felt having evil Giovanni give you the rainbow badge was too heavy a contrast? I know that Giovanni wasn’t always intended to be the final gym leader.
Honestly, I’d love to see you do a video where you compile all the known tidbits about gen 1’s development because I find it extremely fascinating.
Your section on the Earth Badge is my favorite, because of the manga, Pokemon Special/Adventures. In the manga it's revealed that every now and then a child is born in Viridian Forest that possesses its mysterious powers, and that Giovanni (along with Yellow and Lance) is one of those people.
12:47 Think it's worth pointing out the western part of Pokemon Kanto's map is based on the eastern part of the Chūbu region, which is far more rural. Johto has the western half of the Chūbu region in addition to the Kansai region too.
One of my nitpicks with Sword/Shield was the the badge names were just "type" "badge", Grass badge, Fire Badge, Water Badge etc
Of the ones I've collected, I really like the Gen 4 remake badges the most. ^^
i always thought the marsh and soul badges were mixed up as a kid. like why does the poison trainer give the soul badge and the psychic trainer the marsh badge??
3:45 Lt. Surge's original japnese name is Matisse based on the flower genus Clematis (some species of which such as Clematis Edda do resemble his badge) and his rank actually _is_ major (that's a gold oak leaf, not a flower though). I don't know why the English localization put Lt. in his name (in German his name is Major Bob lol)
4:34 Fun Fact: Atleast in the German versions Lt. Surge is known as Major Bob. So maybe he really is one.
Major Robert Surge hahaha
In the French versions as well ^^
And he's also considered as a Major in the Japanese and Chinese ones 🙋
For Lt Surges badge I always thought it was an explosion because of voltorb and electrode being electric types, and because explosions are seen in combat. Explosion + pikachu/Raichu colors seemed a great way to represent both the type of gym and the man.
My canon on why sometimes the badges feel so different to the gym leader's type is maybe because all of those badges were first created AGES ago, specifically for those first gym leaders since when the pokemon league as a whole was just created. So the feather badge of Giovanni maybe was created for a Flying-Type leader, or Erika's rainbow badge was created for a Gym Leader with no type specialty/mastered all types like Blue. Through time those leaders retired/handed over their leader titles along with their badges to the next generation's leaders, who may not use the same type specialty as their predecessors.
Another thing about the rainbow badge is that Celadon City, which holds the gym the badge resides, is called the "City of Rainbow Dreams" in-game.
I like the theory that the earth badge and rainbow badge were switched. Mainly because of the impossible foreshadowing of Rainbow Rocket
I’ve heard that the Earth Badge is shaped the way it is because originally Giovanni’s gym was going to be flying-type, not ground. That’s why it resembles a feather and also why Giovanni’s organization is called Team Rocket…you know cause rockets fly.
Lockstin, I've watched your content for years now. Between my art commissions and steady(ish) working schedule I learn so much about both the Pokemon franchise and our world that I never took time on my own to learn.
I may be just a face out in the crowd of viewers, but you and the effort you put into these videos is awesome! Please keep it up! ❤️🔥
The could have called the Rainbow Badge the Bouquet Badge to make the plant relation more clear.
I need more of this. I love these style of videos you do like all the Pokémon trainer classes. They’re so easy for me to binge and go back to. And your editors make your videos extra entertaining for my eyes. Love your work y’all
To be honest, I always thought the Thunder Badge was meant to be a stylized sun. Still doesn't feel like it fits the electric theme but still.
But yeah, for Badge designs, I would like a mix of the two, clear enough to indicate what Type Gym it's from, but a general universal look of "Oh, that's the Badge set from the (Insert name) Region!" so as to not have a "copy-paste" feel.
Here's something of note. In Japanese, Gen II has Green giving out the Green Badge.
pkmntrainer which is the original.
In the German version Celadon City´s Rainbow badge makes a bit more sense: The town is called Prismania City from the word prism - splitting light into rainbow colors
Funfact regarding the whole Major thing for Lieutenant Surge in the german Versions of the game he is actually called Major Bob.
Oh man, I hope we get a video on all of these. I really need him to explain the Paldea badges. I don’t see how they fit their types at all.
Another point for Marsh Badge: The place you get it, Saffron City, is described as a city with golden commerce. Perhaps the origins of the badges extends to its location?
Pretty sure Sabrina was supposed to have the Soul Badge and Koga the Marsh badge but they got swapped, and Giovanni's gym was supposed to be originally a flying gym.
4:50 it's funny that you animate going from vermillion to celedon city as a simple up and left as if it were that simple
14:13 Lt. Surge is called Major Bob in the French version; so, the gold star does technically match his ranking there.
in relation to Lockstin making that joke about skipping Saffron, I actually did that one out of order. I did Saffron _before_ going to Fuschia City, so I was really under-leveled but I powered through cuz Alakazam's physical stats suck.
My favorite Gym Badges are the ones from Gen 8. I like how all the badges fit inside a small disk. The thought of beating the gym and placing it in a disk that fits like a puzzle piece.
This is a bit of an odd take, but as a kid, I always figured that Giovanni just outright stole the gym, explaining why his badge was so mismatched: it was somebody else's design, and he just used it.
Seriously, how does this dude only have 1.12 Million subs? The amount of dedication into both the research and editing is amazing! This man should have atleast 3 Mil. Keep up the good work Lockstin!
If this becomes a little 9 part series of "What do badge mean" I'd be happy with that.
I like that each region’s badge system is meaningful to the region. I don’t have a preference for one style over the other.
I'd be interested in seeing you do more with the badges and the leader names and such, like why is Clair's Dragon type badge called the Rising Badge and Chuck's Fighting type badge called the Storm Badge or Maylene's Fighting type badge called the Cobble Badge or what does the Gym Leader name Tate and Liza have to do with Psychic or the Gym Leader name Ramos have to do with plants and grass or the names of the Galar Leaders with their types (aside from Allister, Opal, and Gordie), stuff like that.
I've for the most part always had the head canon that the Soul Badge and Marsh Badge were swapped, because Marshes are toxic and have toxic fumes and such from what I understand and Souls have a lot to do with the magic elements of the Psychic type.
Also, maybe you could do a video on the city names, since there seems to be themes in the city names for regions, like all the Kanto cities are named after colors or things associated with colors in the case of Pallet, all the Johto cities continue the color theme but also are each named after a plant, the Hoenn cities seem to have a city theme to the names (borough, ville, burgh, fortress, metropolis), stuff like that.
with that split in the middle.. i think the Soul Badge looks like both a heart and a brain.. both vital organs, both things that the ninja would need to train, pretty fitting
4:32 Funnily enough, Lt. Surge is called Major Bob in german. He is called neither in japanese, simply Matis. From Clematis, a flower that bears a resemblance to the badge actually.
It also brought to my attention that Vermillion City is called Orania City in german and Kuchiba City in japanese, which kinda confirms that the badge color reffers to that
ah yes, _looking_ at Surge is how i'll get my back -blown- thrown out.
I need you to know I googled why the Marsh and Soul badges were with their specific gyms this morning and nobody had a theory on YT!!! You literally read my mind like Sabrina with this video. 🎉❤😊
It almost feels like the poison and psychic badges got switched. Poisonous/venomous creatures in swamps/marshes, psychics attack the soul.
I always figured the thunder badge was a sun. Doesn't make anymore sense than anything. But with the soul badge and marsh badge figured badges wasn't necessarily designed based on the type the gym uses
Also anyone else think the Marsh badge looks like a Werthers original but flattened
tbh I would love to see lockstin do another video explaining the other gym badges from the other Pokemon games.
I think all the badges in all the regions all have their own unique charm
This was a very interesting video because other than learning what the word cascade meant because of Mario Odyssey and the on the nose Boulder Badge I never gave any if the gym badges much thought. You should continue and make this a series with the later badges
Giovanni in the beta games was originally a Flying type Gym Leader, so the Earth Badge actually looks like a feather in early depictions.
I don't think it pertains to this video at all, but just a random gym note: At some point right before release, there was some kind of last minute swap between Saffron's gym and Fuchsia's gym. It's the reason that Koga's gym is mostly filled with psychic type trainers and has an invisible wall "puzzle", and why Sabrina's gym is mostly filled with poison type and ghost type trainers and has a teleporter "maze" instead (it feels more like a 'trapped ninja house' that way, while invisible walls is very much a psychic barrier thing).
The Marsh/Gold Badge could be shaped like a bell, like the kind you'd see in boxing. Which makes sense Saffron City was originally home to a Fighting-type Gym that got beat out in favor of the Psychic-type.
With the Earth Badge, I think there's also some symbolism of the Player's growth as well. Viridian City is the first town you reach, but the last gym you actually face. Over the course of your journey you've grown and become stronger, like a seed maturing into a fully formed tree. A tree that bursts out of the earth, splitting it with it's strength.
tbh I always thought the earth badge was like a brush that people use to brush through the ground, looking for stuff in it.
Your videos are always informative and hilarious! I always look forward to them! Do you plan on doing more gym badge analysis videos for the other regions? Whatever you have planned next, I know it will be great!
If this one does well we absolutely will! Had a lot of fun with this.
"You are videos" 😂
I always really liked the Soul Badge, but I had no idea why it would be a heart. Before watching this video, I guessed its like how the heart symbolizes emotion, so maybe it being tied to the Poison Type gym leader is like a signifier of toxic love or something...except that makes zero sense with Koga's character since he's a ninja. Interesting to see all these other cool reasons for why one of my favorite gym badges was designed like that.
FINALLY, SOMEONE QUESTIONS THE THUNDER BADGE, it looks closer to a sun for a Fire Gym than anything Electricccc
When talking about Lt. Surge: "Ohm-y-god"
There’s a few things that weren’t mentioned here that definitely contribute to the origins of the various badges:
The Thunder Badge is most likely meant to look like a sun, since most of vermillion city’s map descriptions and slogans mention its sunsets.
The Rainbow Badge is actually named after its city, just in Japanese. Celadon is known as Tamamushi City in Japanese, which comes from the tamamushi beetle, a type of beetle who has a green, iridescent shell, which makes it look rainbow colored.
Finally, the Earth Badge is essentially the way it is because Giovanni was originally going to be a flying type gym leader. This is why the original design of the badge actually looks more-so like a feather, and afterwards when the badge was updated, it was just given more earth like elements to represent the ground type instead.
Another fun fact is Brock face is in the shape of the boulder badge
I've always had a head canon that the Marsh badge was just the badge the Fighting Dojo used when they were the official gym and it represented a gong. When the Psychic Types took over official gym status they kept the badge design for some level of continuity with their predecessor state
Hopefully this will become a series. Everything this channel make are worth watching.
About the rank of Lt. Surge: It could be pure coincidence, but his name in the German version is 'Major Bob' so here his badge being the badge of a major makes more sense. Don't know if that was the intention though
I always associated the Rainbow Badge being what it was because Celadon City is right in the middle of the Kanto map
I've always had a preference for the badges of the first three generations. In gen one, thank mainly to the anime, they looked like carefully handcrafted jewels, not the two dimensional flat pins most people see them as today.
The gen two badges locked more like traditional talismans wich fits well with the traditional themes of Johto and the gen three badges locked like a slight combination of the two previous groups but with their designs serving as representation of the gym leaders personalities.
I was waiting for the next series of “Pokémon games have this in the lore” from Lockstin. Never thought about the Badges. It make sense. He has gone through moves, typing, Pokémon and even shiny Pokémon.. yay!
This is one of those things that I think about all the time but no one acknowledges, and then someone makes a video on it and I feel validated
My fav must be Giavonni's Earth Badge, it's cool and weird? But, I really love Unovan Gym Leaders' badges.
Its more likely that the names for the marsh badge and soul badge got swapped in translation imo. As you pointed out, the badge names are different in Japanese and its not unreasonable that they could've mixed up a couple of the new names.
I feel like you also forgot to mention that the place you get the Volcano Badge, Cinnabar Island, is also home to an actual volcano! A volcano which later destroys the gym, the manor, and everything else on Cinnabar Island when it erupts! so the name "Volcano Badge" is also a reference to the very thing that everyone on Cinnabar lives next to and also the very thing that would end them all.... *DUN DUN DUN!!!!*
Wow, that took a dark turn!
Will you do the other generatons later??
Also....I never knew the volcano badge was red because fire type! You learn something new everyday! /S
would love you to make a badge series. i completely lost track of all the badges after gen 2. also you forgot the mysterious 2 extra badges garry had
I wonder if those 2 badges were in case the other gyms we know about had to be closed for some reason. I mean gyms can not be open all the time and Erika was seemingly allowed to decline Ash's battle which I feel you wouldn't be able to do that.
Was it ever confirmed or denied that the codes for the badges for Koga and Sabrina was switched? Cause marshes have a lot of poisonous gasses as things decompose and the soul would work well for the psychic type…
... I always assumed the Soul Badge was a cherry blossom petal.
Also, anything that's small but expensive (like saffron) is said to be "worth its weight in gold."
I don't know if the marsh and sould badges were actually swapped accidentally, but it makes sense. Psyche literally means soul while marsh lines up well with poison and stuff like Muk.
I think the Thunder Badge is meant to be more like an explosion, explosions cause shockwaves that rumble the earth, causing sounds similar to thunder. Either that or it's meant to be sharp and spiky like how lightning and electricity is depicted in various art forms
I just love every single video. They are full of knowledge and so fun to watch. It’s really an amazing Chanel ❤
Soul badge: it's a tenuous connection at best, because it's very common as a radical, but the word for Ninja, 忍, has 心 or "heart" in it.
The "Ohm my god" pun made me laugh far more than it should have.
Now that gets me curious. Should keep this series going and do gens 2-5 as well Lockstin.
Your research stuff is my favorite part about Pokémon, and I’m so glad your so good at doing it!
The thunder badge is like an action 💥 bubble type thing I thought it was kinda like an explosion hence the sound connection to thunder. The sunset is also a big part of vermillion's identity, so it could be nodding to the sun as well. Just thinkin
What about when Blue took over? What did the Earth badge mean then?