was it right for lance to use hyper beam on people

Flametix · December 11

in the johto games lance has his dragonite casually hyper beam a guy

http://i.imgur.com/tXq9eRY.png

pokemon masters would later imply the npc was just a hired security guard for the store and not a team rocket member himself

and masters would continue to show lance hyper beaming random people

is lance going too far with nobody questioning his methods?

MonstaDash · December 11

no

I don't think he has gone far enough.

TheJeffers · December 11

no

I suppose it is a little vague whether or not Pokémon attacks are as harmful to humans (or Pokémon for that matter) as the real world equivalents.

Pokémon may be knocked out, but otherwise regularly survive being burned, electrocuted and generally abused in manners that would kill most living creatures if move descriptions and Pokédex entries are to be believed.

Still, it is clear that people and Pokémon do not enjoy being hyper beamed, and it causes them physical discomfort and injury, so I suppose the question becomes "is Lance's use of corporal punishment justified?"

In the cases where he is stopping criminals like Team Rocket, I would say yes. Casually attacking people who displease him but otherwise represent no threat or have committed no crime, I would say no.

(I think it's played for comedy in Pokémon media, though. I wouldn't overthink it.)

What is with these esoteric questions from you all of a sudden? Need more content for the screenshot thread?

Flametix · December 11

no particular reason, i've just been thinking about pokemon with poison heal and lance acting more like a vigilante despite being a champion over the past few days, and thought it would be interesting to see other opinions from the pokemon forums on these more grounded in-universe issues that may still feel relevant today

(also kind of, thanks for the support)