Between 2016 and 2017, male specimens of a new species of Nocticola cockroach were discovered at the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve in Singapore. The species' discovery was first published in 2023, and it was also announced that it had been named after the Ultra Beast Pheromosa, a Pokémon designed to resemble a "freshly-moulted" American cockroach, from the Generation VII games Pokémon Sun & Moon. The authors of the findings were fans of the series and noticed similarities between the two, including "having a long antenna, wings that mimic a hood and long slender legs." Unlike the hardy American cockroach, cockroaches in the Nocticola genus are very delicate and are known to be found in Africa, south-east Asia, and Australia. This species, Nocticola pheromosa, is the first scientifically-documented instance of a Nocticola cockroach in Singapore.

In a Q&A with Game Informer in 2019, producer Junichi Masuda revealed that programmer Koji Nishino was given the nickname "Kabi" after Nintendo's Kirby ("カービィ" or "Kabi" in Japanese) because of his big appetite. Nishino's behavior and appetite would serve as a direct inspiration for the design of the Pokémon Snorlax, including Snorlax's habit of constantly eating and sleeping, as well as its Japanese name "Kabigon", which was derived from Nishino's nickname. This means that by association, Snorlax's name is technically derived from Kirby.

In Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, Roaring Moon's Violet Dex entry as well as the occult magazine's description of the Paradox Pokémon both imply that there is a deep connection between Roaring Moon and Mega Salamance. Considering that Roaring Moon, like all past Paradox Pokémon, is a prehistoric version of an existing Pokémon, in this case Salamance, this could mean that there is also a connection between Mega Evolution and Pokémon prehistory.

Foongus' Pokemon Scarlet PokéDex entry states that there is an in-universe theory that the "creator of the modern day Poké Ball" was inspired by the Pokémon's appearance when designing the device.

All three games in the Pokémon Stadium series contain the Game Boy Tower, a feature that allows the player to play the mainline Pokémon games from Generations I and II on the Nintendo 64 through a Transfer Pak. This is achieved through running a modified, emulated version of the Super Game Boy 2 BIOS within the data for the Pokémon Stadium games. Through the use of hacks, it is possible to make the Game Boy Tower run other Game Boy and Game Boy Color games as if on a Super Game Boy 2, complete with custom borders and palettes for titles that support such features. However, saving is disabled due to the Pokémon Stadium games not being equipped to run these cartridges in the normal course of play.

Daniel Espinosa, the director of the Superhero film Morbius, said he was unexpectedly inspired by the Pokémon franchise for the depiction and look of the title character's superpowers.

"I have a daughter who is six years old, and she was really getting into Pokémon, [...] And you know, I’ve watched Pokémon over the years. But I really adore how they use light and colors to express those powers. [...] When you watch Morbius he always has this trail of purple in the comic books and that normally is just lines that are made with a pencil, [...] But I thought maybe if we can take that kind of Pokémon-esque idea and translate that over to the psychedelic experience, I could create a new version of how to express powers."

In Generation V, the sounds that play with each individual hit of the move Thrash sound extremely similar to the opening notes of the "Ground Theme" from Super Mario Bros.

When Pokémon Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver and Crystal were released on the 3DS Virtual Console in Europe, they were given a PEGI 12+ rating due to the playable casinos in Celadon City and Goldenrod City.

According to the consumer marketing director at The Pokemon Company JC Smith, one of the big hurdles that Game Freak and other Pokemon devs have to endure is the balance between massive fan demand and the developers' own specific vision for each game.


Smith also revealed that the company does listen to fan demands of wanting a grander and more sophisticated game in the series, but he also revealed that Game Freak very much strives to make future games extremely accessible at their cores as well.

The in-game description for the Ability "Levitate" used since Generation IV states that it makes the Pokemon that knows it completely immune to all Ground-type attacks. However, this is false, because in all games since the Ability's introduction in Generation III, a Pokemon that has Levitate can still get hit and affected by non-damaging Ground-type attacks, such as Sand Attack. This means that the Ability only makes its Pokemon immune to damaging Ground-type attacks, such as Earthquake and Earth Power among others, and not ones that do not affect the Pokemon's HP.

Lugia was initially created as a plot device for, and only meant to be seen in, the Second Pokemon movie, The Power of One (aka Pokémon the Movie 2000). In fact, his designer, Pokemon Anime writer Takeshi Shudo said he was surprised to see Lugia in the games at all. Game Freak seemed to love the creature so much they not only made him canon, but also made him the mascot of Pokémon Silver.

In an interview with Yomiuri Online, Pokemon designer Atsuko Nishida revealed that Raichu was originally meant to have an evolution named Gorochu; the form would've featured “fangs and horns,” with the name "Gorochu" being a pormonteau of "goro-goro" (a Japanese onomatopoeia for thunder) and "chu" (a Japanese onomatopoeia for squeaking, used in Pichu and Pikachu's names as well). However, Gorochu ended up being cut for balancing purposes, and Pikachu was eventually given a pre-evolution in Pokémon Gold & Silver in the form of Pichu.

Snorlax's appearance and its Japanese name Kabigon seem to be based on Koji Nishino, a programmer at Game Freak. Nishino's in-game appearance even uses a Snorlax as his highest level Pokemon in Black 2 and White 2.

Ho-oh is named after a Chinese phoenix.

Before the release of Pokemon Gold & Silver there were rumors about Marill being a mysterious new evolution to Pikachu and Raichu called Pikablu, somehow achievable in Red and Blue. These rumors were nothing more than conjecture by fans due to the lack of information at the time. However, this name actually made it into one of the official Pokemon movie trading cards by Topps. This is despite Marill's actual Japanese name even being mentioned on the official Pokemon website. It was corrected in a later edition of the set, but for a time it only served as fuel for the rumors.

The pants which the Pokemon Machamp and Machoke wear are actually not clothes but part of their markings, according to the official Pokemon website. Your typical Pokemon don't actually wear clothing.

Although Magnemite's evolution, Magneton, is three Magnemites being linked together, Magneton's weight is more than 10 times more than Magnemite's weight at 132.3 lbs. instead of 3 times the weight at 39.6 lbs.

A real-life genus of Pterosaurs was named after Aerodactyl. Its only known species so far, Aerodactylus Scolopaciceps, was previously confused with a number of pterosaurs due to similarities in their physical appearance, just as Aerodactyl doesn't appear to be based on a single specific pterosaur.

In an interview with @Gamer magazine, Junichi Musada and Ken Sugimori, directors of development and art respectively at Game Freak, revealed that there was a rejected Pokemon design based on Dolly, the first cloned sheep. They removed it after deeming it "too controversial" for Pokemon.

Despite its pokédex entry stating that its patterns differs between regions, Arbok's pattern is the same in generations 1, 4, 5, and 6. Interestingly, its Pokemon Gold & Silver pattern is different than its Pokemon Heart Gold & Soul Silver one, despite both games being in Johto, and its Generation 1 back sprite has two black stripes that don't appear anywhere else.

Even though it was a type since the first generation, with the exception of flying type Arceus and Kecleon when color change makes it flying, there was never a pure flying type until the fifth generation (Tornadus).

Despite being called the "Licking Pokemon", and the line "It leaves a tingling sensation when it licks enemies" appearing in its Pokedex entries in Pokemon Red & Blue, Lickitung couldn't learn Lick until Generation II.

Game Freak employees are found in every main entry to the Pokemon series with their canonical base of operations being the Celadon Condominiums.

Satoshi Tajiri decided to make Pokemon faint instead of die to make sure children don't associate losing with death.

Vullaby is able to use Fly, even though in its Pokemon Black Pokedex entry says "Its wings are too tiny to fly."

If you visit a real life Pokemon Center in Japan on your birthday, you can download a special Pokemon for visiting.

It's possible to get a legitimate Celebi without the use of a Gameshark code or any third-party software in Pokemon Gold, Silver, and Crystal.

Arbok's hood pattern differs in each of the main regions of the Pokemon universe.

Of all Pokemon, Larvesta takes the longest to go through a single evolutionary stage, evolving at Level 59.

In the first 3 generations of the Pokémon games, the player can use the HM "Cut" to remove patches of tall grass to avoid wild Pokémon. In Pokémon Emerald, the ability Hyper Cutter enhances this feature of Cut, causing it to clear a larger area of tall grass around the user. However, neither of these features were carried forward to the fourth or subsequent generations of Pokémon games.

There's a theory that Wobbuffet's blue body is a decoy, and that the black tail is the actual Pokemon. Many believe this due to the fact that Wobbuffet can take such a beating and not be affected. Multiple Pokedex entries also say that Wobbuffet is very protective of its tail. The Pokedex entry in Pokemon Silver claims "To keep its pitch-black tail hidden, it lives quietly in the darkness." In Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, the Pokedex entries claim "It desperately tries to keep its black tail hidden. It is said to be proof the tail hides a secret." On top of all of that, the tail does possess a pair of eyes, which further supports this theory.

"Shiny Pokémon" was originally a fan term used to describe the sparkle effect whenever such Pokémon appeared. They were originally referred to as "色違い" (Different/Alternate Color) Pokémon from the mechanic's debut in Generation II (Gold & Silver, Crystal). Starting from Generation V (Black & White, Black & White 2), "光る" or 'Shiny' became the official term for alternately colored Pokémon, with a non-playable character in Nimbasa City using the term in Black & White.

Archeops' National Pokédex number, 567, is also the same as it's base stat total. It is the only Pokémon to do this. Also, in the Dewey Decimal system, 567 refers to fossil cold-blooded vertebrates, which is where the creatures the Pokémon resembles would be classified.

Empoleon is approximately the same height as its namesake, Napoleon Bonaparte.

The Pokemon Kabuto is named after a helmet which was commonly used by Japanese Samurai.

Each of the games in the first four generations feature a reference to a famous movie, found by checking the TV in the main character's house.

• In Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow, "Four boys are walking on railroad tracks", referencing "Stand by Me".
• In Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, "Two men are dancing on a big piano keyboard.", referencing "Big".
• While Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen kept the Stand by Me reference with the male character, the female one will see a film where "A girl with her hair in pigtails is walking up a brick road", referencing "The Wizard of Oz".
• In Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, "Two boys are in a cave searching for treasure", referencing "Tom and Huck".

There is a method on breeding Shiny Pokemon called the Masuda method. The method is named after Game Freak director Junichi Masuda, who programmed it into Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. He documented the method in his blog, where he mentioned a way that "rare colored Pokémon's Egg can be found little easier." The Masuda method involves breeding two Pokémon created in games of different countries.

Charmander is only able to learn Metal Claw by leveling up in FireRed and LeafGreen, at level 13. In later generations, the move is only available to the Charmander line through breeding. It's likely that Charmander was given this move to ameliorate the comparative early disadvantage of picking the fire-type starter in Red and Green, when faced with the Pewter Gym and Mt. Moon, which contain many Pokémon strong against fire-type Pokémon.

Fire Blast's animation is based on the Daimonji of the Japanese festival Gozan no Okuribi, where a large bonfire is lit in the shape of the character 大 (meaning "big" or "great").

The whole franchise was banned in Saudi Arabia due to claims of it encouraging kids to gambling and Zionism. Despite the ban, the games are still being sold normally.

Rotom is the only non-legendary pokemon to have legendary music when encountered.

The Pokemon 'Rotom' is just motor spelled backwards. It's thought this is because motors make machines work, but Rotom does the opposite.

Ekans is snake spelled backwards and Arbok is cobra spelled backwards.

Kangaskhan are born with their baby already in their pouch.

Many Pokemon are inspired by real-life creatures. Pokemon evolution, too, is based on real natural phenomena, although it has less in common with genuine evolution than it does with a process called metamorphosis.

Dunsparce is based on a Japanese cryptid called the Tsuchinoko. Dunsparce's Japanese name, Nokocchi (ノコッチ) is an anagram of Tsuchinoko (ツチノコ or 槌の子).

The Flygon evolutionary family is based on the Antlion.

The Pokemon Metagross seems to be heavily based on the number 12. It has 12 "toes", and the X on the center of his face has 12 sides. In addition, its name contains "gross" which means 144, or a 12 dozen. It also weighs 1212.5 pounds. .5 can be written as 1/2.

The Lileep-Cradily evolutionary line of Pokemon are based on crinoids, also known as sea lilies.

Fossil evidence shows us that creatures such as sea urchins began to view the stationary sea lilies as an easy meal: many crinoid fossils from the Triassic period show evidence of teeth-marks! It seems that this is why some crinoids became motile again. Some, such as the feather stars, have become reasonably adept swimmers: not especially quick or graceful, but enough to make a break for it if things seem to be getting dangerous. Other species have been seen to slowly walk along the sea floor using their multiple arms. This gradual progression towards motility seems to be referenced in the Pokédex entries of Lileep and Cradily, too... while Lileep is stated to be immobile, numerous references are made to Cradily moving around (albeit inelegantly).

Charmander may be based on a 1000+ year old misconception about the salamander.

Both Aristotle and Pliny the Elder believed that the salamander was capable of withstanding the heat of flames, and even had the ability to extinguish them. In Pliny's Natural History, the oldest surviving encyclopedia, a fairly accurate description of the salamander is followed up by claims that "This animal is so intensely cold as to extinguish fire by its contact, in the same way as ice does" (Book 10, Chapter 86). Later in the same work, though, he seems to view these supposed properties with more skepticism, claiming that "if it had been true, it would have been made trial of at Rome long before this" (Book 29, Chapter 23).

The connection between salamanders and fire persisted, however, and we can also find it in the Talmud, which briefly mentions the salamander as a creature actually produced by flames, whose blood could protect anybody smeared in it from fire. Even Leonardo da Vinci, one of history's greatest scientific minds, seemed content to echo the received wisdom on the subject, mentioning in his notebooks that the salamander "has no digestive organs, and gets no food but from the fire, in which it constantly renews its scaly skin."

Garchomp is known as the Mach Pokemon, which means it can go as fast as the speed of sound. Pidgeot's pokedex description states it can go Mach 2. That is twice the speed of sound. But in the games, Garchomp's speed stats are higher than Pidgeots.

In early artworks for Venomoth, it was shown having yellow spots on the back of its wings. These were later removed.

Haunter's cry changed from generation to generation. In Generation I, it had a humming noise accompanied by a beeping noise. In Generation II, the beep's pitch changed to a jingle similar to a Magneton's cry. In Generation III and onwards, the beeping was removed entirely, leaving behind only the humming.

Two early Pokemon designs are named 'Godzillante' and 'Gorillaimo'.
'Godzillante' is most likely based on reptilian monster Godzilla, and
'Gorillaimo' could be based on Donkey Kong or the Universal monster King Kong. Not much is known about either Pokemon. Their designs could have been developed into other Pokemon, as they vaguely resemble Tyranitar and Slaking.

Throughout the Pokemon series are several references to a previous Game Freak game, Pulse Man. Two of the most well known references are Barry's battle theme having very similar notes to Pulse Man's first stage, and Pikachu's move, Volt Tackle, also being an attack from Pulse Man. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Pikachu's Volt Tackle Final Smash shares a similar appearance to Pulse Man's Volt Tackle.

All main series professors are named after a type of tree.

The default character 'Red' had a short cameo appearance in the Pokemon Anime as a character in a movie.

In every generation there is at least 1 small legendary Pokemon with a base stat total of 600 and a stat distribution of 100 all around.

Deino, Zweilous, and Hydreigon reference numbers in the German language. Ein(s) is one, zwei is two, drei is three.

In the english versions of Pokemon, there are the Pokemon "Hitmonlee" and "Hitmonchan". The English names are references to Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan.

In the Japanese version it's "サワムラー" (Sawamular) and "エビワラー" (Ebiwalar). Sawamular is a reference to Tadashi Sawamura, the one of the first kickboxers. Ebiwalar is derived from Hiroyuki Ebihara, a Japanese world-champion boxer.

The non-damaging and non-effect move Splash is a mistranslation. It's move name in Japan is はねる (haneru) which can be translated as both Splash and Hop (although usually as the latter). This mistranslation was mostly a result from the exclusive usage by Magikarp in Generation I.

This also explains why this move can be learned by non-aquatic Pokémon such as Hopip, Spoink, and Buneary for their nature of hopping and why it is disabled by the move Gravity.

Pikachu has had four balloons in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The first one (nicknamed "Flying Pikachu") ran from 2001 to 2005. The second one was a redesign that now featured him chasing a Poké Ball balloon and ran from 2006 to 2013. The third was another redesign featuring him wearing a green scarf and holding a small, Pikachu-shaped snowman, ran from 2014 to 2020. In 2021, the fourth balloon was introduced, featuring Pikachu and Eevee riding in a bobsled resembling a Poké Ball.

Pikachu is the second video game character to be featured in the parade after Sonic the Hedgehog in 1993.

The first 4 regions are based on real life Japan.

In some of it's Pokédex entries (namely Yellow and Gold), Slowbro is said to turn back into Slowpoke if the Shellder on its tail comes off. This and most of Exeggutor's entries (which states that if its' heads fall off, they will become an Exeggcute) are the only Pokemon that mention devolution.

According to studies carried out by Iowa State University, the Pokéwalker is one of the most accurate pedometers ever.

Until Generation III, the Normal type is the only type to have multiple type-enhancing items.

The Charcoal is the only type-enhancing item that can be purchased from a regular store, the Azalea Town Poké Mart in Generation II.

The Swirls on Poliwag's stomach are actually based on real life tadpole's intestines.

The Pokemon 'Drowzee' is based on tapirs, which, in Japan, are said to eat dreams.

Lance has two Pokemon with illegal moves. In Red & Blue, his Dragonite uses Barrier and his Aerodactyl uses Rock Slide in Gold, Silver, and Crystal. These Pokemon cannot learn these moves in-game without the use of a cheat device.

It is actually possible for a female Azurill to evolve into a male Marill. The reason for this is because Azurill and Marill have different gender ratios. Azurill have a 75% chance of being female, while Marill have only a 50% chance. Due to the mechanics that decide gender (a hidden value called the Personality Value) combined with this unique ratio difference, one in three female Azurill will change gender when they evolve.

The blue Pokemon mini was modeled after Wooper.

Porygon is the only Pokemon that can evolve at level 1 twice without actually leveling up.

In November 2000 the psychic/magician, Uri Geller, sued Nintendo for using his image without his permission. The Pokémon Kadabra (know as Yungerer in Japan), is a psychic type that uses a spoon, which is Uri Geller's trade mark. The character also has a star on its forehead and lighting-bolts on his chest. Because of all this, Kadabra stopped appearing in the Trading Card Game until 2020, when Geller dropped the case following gradual fan requests over the years.

The Nintendo DS library has the most Pokemon main-series games. In all it has 9: Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Heart Gold, Soul Silver, Black, White, Black 2 and White 2.

In both personal art work and the American red/blue sprites, Kakuna has arms. It is unknown if this is a mistake or if they originally had arms, but for all other media, the arms are missing.

In Pokemon generations II, III, and IV, the in-game Pokedex designs are based on their corresponding handheld device.

Togepi and its evolutions are 87.5% more likely to be male.

In the Generation I games, the plaque accompanying the space shuttle model reads "Space Shuttle Columbia"; however, in the Generation III remakes the plaque simply reads "Space Shuttle". This is probably due to the fact that on February 1, 2003, the real Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry during its 28th mission, killing all seven crew members. The reference to Space Shuttle Columbia was kept in the Japanese version of the Generation III games.

Rhydon was the first Pokémon ever created.

The name of Ghetsis, the main antagonist of Pokemon Black and White and their sequels, actually originates from his battle theme. His Japanese name, G-Cis, comes from the musical notes G and C#, which are the notes the timpani are tuned to in his battle theme. Ghetsis, his name in the English localizations, is a mistranslation. His last name, Harmonia, is Latin for "harmony", another musical term.

In 1st generation games, Lapras was able to learn Solarbeam from TM. This was taken out of later games.

Even though the move "Explosion" is a normal type attack, the only normal type Pokemon who can learn it is Lickilicky (by TM, not level up).

There can be 4,294,967,296 different visual variations of Spinda, as Spinda's spots are determined by its personality value. The number is significantly higher if you also include shiny Pokemon.

Despite looking black-faced, Jynx wasn't meant to be racist. It is actually based off the Japanese Myth, Yama-Uba. Yama-Uba was described as having bright blond hair and a torn red kimono much similar to the design of Jynx.

The Pokemon games (starting with generation II) feature an in-game virus that Pokemon can catch called Pokerus. It can't be healed at a Pokemon center or with items, and can only be contracted by the Pokemon in question once. It has a 3 in 65,536 chance of generating on a Pokemon, either wild or bred. The virus causes Pokemon to gain double the effort values from battles.

The virus will eventually dissipate after two days, all the while remaining highly contagious, though placing an infected Pokemon in the PC will cause the virus to last indefinitely. After the virus is gone, a smiley face (a red dot in Generation II) will appear on the formerly infected Pokemon's status screen, and the positive effects will still remain, particularly the increase in effort values

Koffing and Weezing were originally named "NY" and "LA" respectively, referencing the polluted states of the cities New York and Los Angeles.

The Pokemon Jynx went through a slight redesign due to allegations of racism. The effects were first implemented in the international version of Pokemon Crystal, and can even be seen in the virtual console re-release of Pokemon Snap.

In 2008, Japanese researchers discovered a new protein which helps carry electrical impulses from the eyes to the brain and named it 'Pikachurin.' According to the researchers, the decision was based on both the Pokemon and protein possessing 'lightning-fast moves and shocking electrical effects.'

Niue, an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, made a set of usable $1 coins to commemorate the popularity of the Pokemon games. The Niue coat of arms is on one side, and a Pokemon on the other. The featured Pokemon were Pikachu, Meowth, Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle.

There is an ongoing police investigation in Spain called "Operación Pokemon" (Operation Pokemon). It got its name from the almost endless amount of politicians that had committed fraud, so the police took the motto "Gotta catch 'em all!" from the Pokemon series.

Pokemon was originally called "Capsule Monsters" but was renamed as the creators had trouble trademarking the name. They also tried to trademark "Capumon" and then "Pocked Monsters". Capsule Monsters was put on hold so Game Freak could develop Yoshi for the NES and Game Boy. The success of Yoshi helped Game Freak acquire the resources they needed to continue work on Pokemon, and could even be the reason we have Pokemon today. The name "Capsule Monsters" is inspired by Japanese gashapon machines. It appears PokeMarts were supposed to sell the capsules, as indicated by this concept art.

There's evidence suggesting that the psychic type in Pokemon is weak to bug, ghost, and dark types because they are basic fears, and fear can manipulate the mind. This is further implied by the ability "Rattled" (or "Jitter" in Japanese) where the user's speed stat is raised one stage when hit by bug, dark, or ghost-type moves, implying they have been shook up, or scared.

When Paras evolves into Parasect, it's actually being engulfed by the fungi growing on its back. It takes over the Pokemon's body and does all the thinking. This essentially leave the Pokemon zombified and lifeless, as illustrated by its lack of pupils.

In the Japanese releases, the normal type move "Self Destruct" is called "Suicide Bombing".

Magikarp and Gyarados are based on a Chinese mythological story where a "Dragon's Gate" is located at the top of a waterfall cascading from a legendary mountain. The few carp that manage to leap over th gate are transformed into powerful dragons. This legend is directly referenced in Pokemon Snap when the player must knock Magikarp into a waterfall to evolve it into a Gyarados.

There's an old Japanese idiom that says, "A duck comes along carrying a leek". It means a happy convenience, as duck with leek is a popular meal. The Pokemon Farfetch'd is based on this saying. The anime also states they are rare due to them being delicious. It seems that Farfetch'd were designed to be eaten from the very beginning. Any notion of them being used as food was later toned down or dropped. Along with the word "leek", which is now called a stick or a stalk.

It's rumored that the Pokemon Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf represent the Triforce from The Legend of Zelda, as they are the Knowledge (Wisdom), Emotion (Courage) and Will-Power (Power) Pokemon. They were also created by the God Pokemon Arceus, and the Triforce was created by the Goddesses Din, Nayru and Farore.

In the Japanese versions of Pokemon, the attack "Night Slash" is called "Blade Testing". This is a reference to an old practice that some immoral samurai held to test their new swords. They would wait alongside a road at night for a random passer-by, then attack them with the intention to kill. Night Slash also has a higher than average critical hit rate, which could be another nod to the story, as the passer by would be defenseless.

There is a gene in the human body that was originally named "Pokemon", but was renamed to "ZBTB7". The name change was sparked by The Pokemon Company threatening legal action against the center that discovered ZBTB7, as it is a cancer-causing gene.