Morals don't really play into Pokémon most of the time. If they did, you'd end up like PETA, the animal rights group and sort of terrible people who produced a couple of knock-off games highlighting how cruel it is to stuff sentient beings into tiny plastic balls until you want them to do battle. Even if those sentient beings are fictional, so what's the problem anyway. Anyway, playing Pokémon, chances are you're not going to think too deeply about the implications of your actions. Unless you're the sort of person who comes up with fan theories about video games on the internet, anyway. In which case you're probably racked with guilt for the murder you committed when you were ten years old. When you get to Lavendar Town in the original games, you battle your rival in a graveyard. Only this time, he doesn't have the signature Raticate he's been using in his line-up since the start maybe he just traded it or, perhaps, you whupped the poor creature so bad in a previous tussle it died. Chew on that. Murderer.
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/
