>>44043259>Man, why do types have to have existed for the gastly line to have been designed as poison gas ghosts?Because specially that far back in time(1990) there's no reason to come up with a meaningless secondary quality that adds nothing to the basic idea(being a smokey spirit). Koffing and Grimer being pollution it's their whole point, that's what they fundamentally are and its reflected in game not only from the pokedex and movepool but where you can find them and the trainer types that use them(villains, bikers, scientists)
Gastly is first and foremost an incorporeal ghost. Its appearance is based on the Smoke from Dragon Quest. There's no japanese lore about ghost yokai that poison people. The original pokedex says when it cloaks its target it puts them to sleep rather than poisoning, doesnt learn poison gas and smog or any other poison move for that matter, in game they are exclusively found on a graveyard and the only trainers that use them are possessed shinto priestesses. Any association you could try to draw with living poison gas gets flimsier as its evolutions gradually become a more corporeal shadow, you cant possibly try to spin the line as being a manifestation of pollution in the same way Grimer and Koffing are.
Grimer line - water pollution personified
Koffing line - air pollution personified
Gastly line - spooky spirits........ oh wait, at the same time lets make our only generic ghost that already has its own set of specific meanings and fuctions also be another redundant air pollution monster despite it literally having nothing(refer to the paragraph above) that reflects that
>prove that santa doesnt existits called deductive reasoning and common sense and besides, with the franchise moving forward without retconning the more shaky tacked on types, there's no major reason not to roll with it, it's not like Sugimori was gravely offended and refused to have his smoke monster ghost expanded on in lore as being part poisonous gas.
