So whilst the majority of the canon Pokémon stories are light and fancy-free, set in a world where a ten-year-old can leave home and do just fine by themselves by exploring dangerous locations and making their pets fight for prizes, there are still glimmers of darkness around the edge. Like the fact you never have a dad. In every Pokémon game it is a single mother who sends you off into the world to make your...fortune, or whatever. Never a dad. It's a pretty standard fictional trope that's given countless heroes in movies, books and TV shows a little personal tragedy and psychological trauma to make them interesting and motivated. Nobody explains where exactly your absent father is, but one fan theory suggests he's never that far away. You know that guide who advises the player before they take on every gym leader? Apparently that's your dead beat dad, trying to make up for abandoning your mum when she was pregnant. Not much of a substitute for alimony, but...
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
