Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
019: Rattata
84 Plays1 year ago
Meet Rattata, the vape smoking, ruckus causing, mess making anti-social youth of the Pokemon world. Knowing your Rattata differences is important... Trust us!
Join Katherine and Claudia as they stumble through the Pokédex and figure out which of these Pokemon might be semi-edible in a podcast full of stupidity and laughs.
New episodes every Saturday Morning!
Unown Radio is brought to you by Mugstain Productions.
-Find us on IG @unownradio
-Links: https://linktr.ee/unownradio
- Pokemon are licensed to Nintendo
Recommended
Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
This is a Muck Stain Productions Podcast.
00:00:22
Speaker
Hello,
Introduction to 'Unknown Radio' Pokémon Talk Show
00:00:23
Speaker
homies and trainers, and welcome to Unknown Radio, your mug-stained production Pokémon Talk show, where we take a peek at every Pokémon. I'm Claudia, and I'm here with my co-host and longtime buddy, Catherine. Hello, I'm Catherine, I bring the pizzazz, and Claudia smacks us with the faxes.
00:00:43
Speaker
Oh, I like that one too. I thought you were too.
Spotlight on Rattata: Love or Hate?
00:00:46
Speaker
I'm going to smack you in the face with our Pokemon of the day, which drum rolls please is Rattata. The worst. The actual worst. We had a little pre-show talk with me trying to say, you'll like it. I think you'll like him better. No, because you lied to me once.
00:01:13
Speaker
I'm not, I'm not falling for it again, you know. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me sweetheart. Well, I came through with Pidgey and the Pidgey fam, so I'm hopeful. Yeah, but Pidgey is lovable. Pidgey is squidgy. Rattata is literally a rat. Well, yeah, this part might anger you. So we'll just get right into it. Rattata.
00:01:42
Speaker
What's his tagline? If it's not the rat Pokemon, or the Rodan. What is it? The mouse Pokemon. For you kidding? I fucking knew it. Why? It's not even a mouse. It's a rat. It's called Rattata. Rattata. Whatever you want. Rattata just makes it sound like a posh pasta dish and it's not. It's a Rattata. I'd like my Rattata ravioli please.
00:02:10
Speaker
Yeah, like steak tartar. We should just refer to him this entire episode as Ra-tata. Ra-ta-ta. Ra-ta-ta. Better dick. I'd like one with tartar now.
00:02:26
Speaker
So Rattata is a normal type. He weighs, oh, he is one foot, which is a pretty big rat mouse, and he weighs 7.7 pounds or 3.5 kgs. That would actually be terrifying if it came towards you. A foot tall rat mouse, just going, eh. Why is it a three rat mouse? Because he's a rat, but he's a mouse.
00:02:56
Speaker
It's just a joke, man. Rat-mouse. What does he look like? He's purple. He's got rat teeth with a rat tail and rat ears. He's just a purple rat. He's got his stupid red eyes. That's very accurate. That is exactly what it looks like. So the shiny version of Rattata is even more gross because it is exactly the same, but the purple is green and the red is blue.
Rattata's Early Game Annoyance
00:03:24
Speaker
Why are you going to want a green wrap? Just a little bit of a razzle-dazzle compared to the purple one, I guess. There's no razzle-dazzle with this Pokémon. I'm sorry. I'm very close-minded this evening.
00:03:38
Speaker
It's just how I'm gonna be. Alright, I can't blame you. This is probably one of the most annoying Pokémon in the original games because they are everywhere. Oh look, a wild Rattata appeared. Oh look, a wild Rattata appeared. Oh look, a wild Rattata, yeah I know, I'm walking through Viridian Forest. And then you're happy if you run into a little pudgy-pidgey. God, so happy.
00:04:02
Speaker
So Rattata is based on several species of rodents, such as rats and mice, and its large ears resemble those of the Dumbo rat, which is a species of rat that has big ears, if that wasn't obvious by the term Dumbo. Oh, so it's based off a rat, yes, do, called the mousepakling. Yes.
00:04:24
Speaker
So in the original games, he was called the rat Pokemon in the blue, red, yellow games, and then it did get changed to the mouse Pokemon later on. Not sure why, couldn't find it on the internet anywhere. I did think that Pikachu was the mouse Pokemon, so a little bit confused. Pikachu is also the mouse Pokemon. I've had enough of this, actually. In Nintendo, I sort it out.
00:04:46
Speaker
Yeah, there's a lot of them. We could probably do a whole episode on the Pokémon that have the different categories and how they could be related because there is a whole, not going to get too into it, but there is a whole thing about all the rat and mouse Pokémon kind of coming from Rattata, and that's why there's a lot of electric mouse Pokémon.
00:05:07
Speaker
because birds prey on mice, but flying is weak to our electric, so that's why a lot of the mouse Pokémon are electric types for that defence thing.
Evolutionary Theory and Rattata
00:05:18
Speaker
But we can get into that on a special episode about evolution, I guess. I think we should, because that has made me interested. Right. That piqued my interest, a little bit of evolution, a little bit of science behind good old Rattatata.
00:05:34
Speaker
Yeah, we could do a whole episode on science, but Rattata is one of the few Pokemon that actually has gender differences. So the male Rattata is kind of the one that you picture when you say Rattata, and then they introduced, when they started introducing gender variants, the female Rattata had much shorter whiskers. Not selling you yet, am I?
00:06:01
Speaker
No, it's got short whiskers. Okay. So a little bit about Rattata's name. Rattata may come from the words rat and attack, and then this is more clear in its beta name, where a K was at the end of its name. So it actually was rat attack. See, that sounds cooler. Yeah, because it sounds very similar to rat attack, which is pretty badass. I wouldn't want to be attacked by a rat.
00:06:29
Speaker
No, no one would want to be attacked by a rat, specifically not one that's one foot. God, a one foot rat. It would be like living during the plague. It would be like living the plague. I mean, I'd be terrified. Imagine the fleas on that bad boy. Oh, I didn't even think about that until right now. Oh, you're welcome.
00:06:47
Speaker
Hmm. Yay. Thanks. So imagine the size of the fleas on this thing. If Rattata is a foot and there is like a, I think it's called nimble or something, like a flea looking Pokemon, but they're pretty big. So that's horrible. The fleas in the Pokemon universe are probably much more ginormous as is everything else.
00:07:10
Speaker
God, I feel like the plague in the Pokemon universe was maybe even worse than it in real life, you know? Oh yeah, like the black plague shut everything down because the rats are a foot long and there's multiple different types of rat mice and the fleas are inches tall. Oh my God. Are you really? But the people are people sized. Yeah, no, that's actually terrifying. If anything, the people are smaller than real people.
00:07:38
Speaker
Yeah, they would seem smaller because everything else is so much bigger. Oh, god, terrifying. I'm all good, thanks. So, going back to Rattata's name, it may also come from Rattatat, which is the reference to the noise that a rat makes when it scurries inside walls or it gnaws on wood. Like, Rattatatatata. Okay. Or how you jazzyly knock on your friend's door. There you go. People are using Rattata just to go Rattata. I'm here, the Black Plague.
00:08:08
Speaker
Surprise! The black plague is here, or the purple plague, I guess, because they're purple. And they are a plague. So a little bit about the characteristics of a Rattata. There's not much for the basic version of him. But like most rodents, its teeth grow continuously throughout its life, and it must be worn down by gnawing. Okay, standard. Standard, basic ass mouse behavior.
00:08:36
Speaker
Yep, a little rodent living its life. Yeah. So it lives one to three years, pretty standard. Feels like a hamster, I guess. And it can live wherever it can find food, which it spends most of its days searching for. Cool. So he lives a very exciting life, does our ratata. I'm sorry, I just can't. Like it's just, it's just a rat. Yeah.
00:09:04
Speaker
But thanks to its sharp fangs, it is able to chew on nearly anything. When it is threatened, it can deliver a powerful bite. They constantly keep their ears up, even while asleep, and will immediately scurry away from even the slightest sound. And then Furrit, which is that weird ferret kind of Pokémon, is the natural predator of Rattata.
00:09:28
Speaker
Okay, do you reckon a ratator could bite through a human's leg? It's only a foot long. Yeah. But it's got its mouth is very large compared to its body and like half of its body is head. I reckon it could bite through like a baby's arm. Okay, good to know. Definitely take off a digit.
00:09:50
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, definitely take off a digit. And then like back in like the olden times when people would wake up to rats cheering at their legs. If you didn't wake up, I think this could definitely like take up a foot if you are heavy sleeping and you had an infestation. Oh yeah, for sure. I reckon you could lose a foot.
00:10:08
Speaker
Ooh, and then get the plague. Nasty. So the ratatas hardiness lets it live in many environments, although it mainly lives on the plains and in savannas. And because it reproduces so quickly, one pair of ratatas can quickly colonize an area. Yeah, it seems legit. Yeah. Kind of like bunnies. So on that note, like any rodent.
00:10:37
Speaker
You have two, you end up with 75. Exactly. So on that note of it being able to reproduce so quickly that they can populate a whole area, we will go ahead and switch to the much more interesting Alolan form of Rattata. Do you know what this looks like? Is it not just like a grey version of Rattata?
00:11:00
Speaker
Very, very similar. So it's ratatou that live in the Alola region have black fur instead of the usual purple. Their undersides are now darker and their fur is much scruffier, leaving their whiskers as tufts that resemble a mustache. I'll get out.
00:11:20
Speaker
If you look at them, they have a little like French mustache. Yeah, I like it. Now he could be called Rattata. He is a Rattata. Yeah. So this guy is still a foot, but he weighs a little bit more at 8.4 pounds or 3.8 kgs. So they got a little bit heftier.
00:11:42
Speaker
in the Alolan region. So do you have any idea or what would you assume became of this Alolan form? How did they get there? And why do they look the way that they do? Isn't Alolan gonna be really cold? Alola's Hawaii. Oh, so it's really hot. Mm-hmm. I don't know them, buddy.
00:12:04
Speaker
You might, you're going to like this because you like a bit of history. I don't know how much you like a Hawaiian history, but. Surprise me, sweetheart. All right, let's go. This is the one I thought you might like. Let's go. Not just because of the mustache. There's a go. So the Alolan Rattata is a dark normal type. So they did gain an additional typing when they came over to
00:12:30
Speaker
the Alolan region. So the Alolan Rattata resembles the Black Rat, which is a rodent that is considered an invasive species in Hawaii. And is the one that literally caused the plague? Mm hmm. We've come in full circle.
00:12:47
Speaker
So the Alolan Rattata has like a terrible relationship with Young Goose, which is like a Zangoose kind of Pokemon from the Alolan region. But their kind of rival gang behavior kind of with Rattata, we're going to get into this, but it's a little bit like the Mafia. And Young Goose is like...
00:13:12
Speaker
Young Goose and its evolution are kind of like the watchtowers and the police. So they kind of have this like cops and robbers relationship.
Alolan Rattata: Real World Inspiration
00:13:23
Speaker
But that may be a reference to the real life relation of mongooses and black rats as the mongooses were introduced to Hawaii to lessen the rat's population, but ironically caused both the species to become invasive because
00:13:42
Speaker
Rodents breed, and they breed, and they breed, and they breed. Yeah, rodents don't stop. No. So essentially, it is kind of a mimic with that relationship that historically went on in Hawaii. But the Alolan Rattata's mustache-like whiskers.
00:14:01
Speaker
may be inspired by a stereotypical Mexican outlaws in Western movies, as well as gangsters and pirates. And its whiskers also resemble the knot found on like a cloth mask, which are often used in media by burglars to give a comedic effect of covering one's face fully. Oh, okay. I can get on board with that. So you see in the kind of vibe that we're going with Ratater now that we spiced him up a little bit.
00:14:29
Speaker
Yeah, like spicy ratatouille, I think I could get a board with. But regular ratatouille, absolutely not. So a little bit about the characteristics. There isn't too much because we covered a lot of it with the original ratatouille, which that's still prevalent for this version. But that little whisker mustache provided with a keen sense of smell, which enables it to pick up the scent of hidden food and locate it instantly.
00:14:57
Speaker
Oh, okay. Much like a normal rat. Yes. So in the Ultra Sun game, there is a really interesting Pokedex entry that I didn't see written anywhere else, but it reads as follows. It shows no interest in anything that isn't fresh. If you take it shopping with you, it will help you pick out fresh ingredients. Oh, so a bit like Ratatouille, though.
00:15:24
Speaker
Very much like Ratatouille. I'm not sure if this came out before or after Ratatouille. I'm pretty sure it was after, which makes it very cool. So we can in theory have an Alola Ratata, sorry Ratata, live under our hats and make us better chefs. Yes. Yeah, I definitely think the other one is Ratata and this one's Ratata. It is. I told you, as soon as I saw it with that mustache, you're Ratata now, you know?
00:15:56
Speaker
So, a little bit about the behavior and origins of the Rattata. They are non-native to Alola and arrived in cargo ships. The Rattata population in Alola was booming until young goose and gumshoes were imported as a control measure.
00:16:16
Speaker
In order to avoid these new predators, Rotata, altered its habits, moved into more urban areas, became nocturnal, and formed large nests that were led by a Raticate. Oh for God's sake, bloody gang mentality happening in Pokemon as well as in the youths.
00:16:37
Speaker
Exactly. Pokemon, as we've mentioned many, many times in our however many episodes that we've done, Pokemon are teenagers. They are, yeah, they are teenagers and they just love a gang as well. These ones specifically love a gang. They have their little gangster mustaches slash burglar masks.
00:17:06
Speaker
Speaking of, they are known to sneak into people's homes and steal their food, returning the food to their dens where it is either stored or given to the ratacate leader of the den. They are known to be greedy, often storing too much food which would lead to rot, which they then have to remove from the nest and make a mess in the cities. Oh, come on ratatas, do better!
00:17:34
Speaker
Yeah, they're not only stealing, they're stealing, they're making a mess, they're wasteful. God, they really are 15 year old boys, aren't they?
00:17:46
Speaker
Yeah, they have no thoughts for antisocial behaviour. Antisocial little rat boys. So would you like to move on to our question section? Oh, I would love to move on to the question section. Oh, right. We will treat these as two separate Pokemon because I feel like you might have two separate answers. Yeah, you are probably correct.
00:18:11
Speaker
So if you were just wandering around, let's say Viridian City, because that's where we currently are. I already know what I'm gonna do. Yeah, you come across a Rattata. What do you do? Yep. I'm gonna kick it. Fuck off. Don't even want to take it home. I just want it gone out my life.
00:18:33
Speaker
Alright, that's fair. I would do the same thing. I don't want the plague. Yeah. So let's say you are on vacation in the Alola region and you're just hanging out in a really pretty kind of quaint town. And then from out of a, say like a sewer, there's a rotata. What would you do then? Oh, not be funny. But if it's a sewer rotata, I will have to really think about it. I would still take a fight off it. I don't think I'd take a rotata home.
00:19:02
Speaker
Because it is going to breed like mad, and then I'm just going to have a Ritasa problem. And he's going to probably end up upsetting all my other Pokémon that I've taken home. So, but I would take a photo with it and I would let you know. Right. And imagine if you did take one of these home and they changed this much with moving to the Alola region, what would they do going to England? Exactly. I don't even want
Rattata's Hypothetical UK Adventure
00:19:25
Speaker
to know. Like, I reckon it'd turn into a roadman, a roadman, a roadman.
00:19:31
Speaker
And that'd be it. It'd be trying to, like, steal vapes from the shop and... I don't know, carry knives or something. I don't know what it does. A knife-carrying vape-smoking interpreter. Ah, steal some marijuana or something. I don't know what kids are doing these days. And Asbo.
00:19:53
Speaker
Yeah. Oh god, the Tories would hate it. I don't use the word chaff anymore, sweetheart. We use roadman. Roadman, okay. You're behind on the stones, yeah. I am. I'm way behind with the British lingo. Yeah. So what function do you think a ratatou could have besides battling?
00:20:16
Speaker
Alright, now you're fucking causing the plague. What function does a rat have in society? Nothing. There is no use for them. Like, at least a little mouse. I don't know. They're kind of cuter and they kind of keep, they've run around. What the fuck are you gonna do with a one foot rat? Well, you can see why Team Rocket would have had them if they're this annoying. Yeah. You could find the person that you hate and then just sneak it into their window and it can bite up all of their electrics.
00:20:47
Speaker
Oh my God. Yeah. You can, instead of like, you know, you can send a poo in the post anonymously. Send a Rattata? Yeah, boy. Oh, there's a few people I could think of that deserve a Rattata through their mailbox actually. So Rattata will be used for revenge and only revenge.
00:21:09
Speaker
Yeah, I can't think of another use, if I'm all honestly. Me neither. Apart from if you train one up to be like ratatouille, but I feel like that's a one in a million. You know, I don't think you could do that with every ratatouille. Yeah, that'll be a job for a ratata. Yeah, and only like the crems of the creme of ratatas. You know, not like the one that's not a ruffian.
00:21:35
Speaker
Yeah, the one that goes actually, sweetheart, I want a better life than this. And you go, do you know what, fair play to you? I could take you off the street to train you up. Like my fair lady. Yeah, I feel like I'm thinking way too hard about this, actually. Like I've gone too deep. Let's take it out of it.
00:21:56
Speaker
I can imagine like an old lady going around the grocery store with a little Rattata in her purse who's kind of graying at the whiskers because he's, you know, he's too old for thug life and he's helping to do the grocery shopping. So that'd be nice. I'd like that. I was going to say, you know, if you could really train them, they would be great to help blind people do their food shop. Oh, that's so cute. But it depends. Are they trainable or are they just rodents to the core?
00:22:27
Speaker
You know, maybe it's one of those, there's the occasional dark horse in them when one might be like, you know what? I've seen the sun a little bit and I'm tired of being nocturnal and unlovable. Like West Side Story. Yes. Yes. I think there's always hype, you know? Yeah. A real rags to riches. Exactly. Real rags to riches.
Rattata's Culinary Discussion
00:22:52
Speaker
So what do you think they eat?
00:22:56
Speaker
Oh, fucking anything they get their hands on. They're rats. So could we eat them? Absolutely, but would we want to? Probably not.
00:23:10
Speaker
I was going to say it's really horrible. But what are you going to say? I said I'd like to cook it just to see the life leave its eyes. Just the red eyes just turned milky. Like a crab in a stew. Yes, but in the pot here it's scream like a lobster.
00:23:38
Speaker
Just slowly lower the lid and just smile. Good night, sweetheart. Your bank's days are over, sweetheart. Or like in Shrek, just rotisserie it, you know? I was just about to say I just watched Shrek yesterday because it was Thanksgiving. I'm time stamping this. It was Thanksgiving yesterday. And he was cooking that weed rat.
00:24:07
Speaker
And I was hungry because I was waiting for my skin. You fool! No, the smoke and mirrors. It's all light. But I was watching that and I was like, that looks really tasty. And as soon as I asked you, could we eat this? I was thinking about Shrek making the rotisserie weed rat. And I was like, could you imagine that one foot?
00:24:38
Speaker
I'd give it a go. I probably would too, just to say I have it. Yeah. It's as long as we knew they weren't diseased. Because I feel like a random sewer rat in real life. You wouldn't want to eat that because you'd probably catch something. But, you know, a one foot ratator wrote history over an open fire. It's got a little je ne sais quoi.
00:25:01
Speaker
They're a foot. So they must have some meat on them. It's not like, you know, when you, if you were to eat just a normal rat, you'd have to pick around all the bones because they're so small. This looks like it's got some meat. Yeah, it's definitely got a bit of oomph, you know? And I reckon the cheeks, the cheeks in particular are probably good.
00:25:22
Speaker
And I don't know why I'm looking at it and I'm hungry now. Let's move on. So, back to Viridian City. You're just walking into a bar and there's a rat. Just a rat. A ratator sat at the bar gnawing on a piece of wood and it turns around looking at a little rabid because this is the boring ratator.
00:25:52
Speaker
Uh, and you know, he's about to chase you. Uh, who would win? Me. I'm taking that. I'm taking that fuckers out. One foot, I'll kick him. I'll pick him up, see around and beat up his mates as well. Just beat up his mates with him. Yeah. I just jump on him, you know, just an easy squash and he's gone. Yeah, isn't much to him. Yeah, exactly. Easy. That was an easy one. So on your little Alola vacation, if you're walking to like a little tiki bar on the beach, uh,
00:26:22
Speaker
And then you go up and you order like a pina colada, because I feel like they would have pina coladas in the Alola region in a bountiful amount. And there's a retarder sat at the bar with his little mustache. And he's a gangster, so like maybe like a trilby or something. Drinking, what kind of drinks do gangsters drink? I don't know. I've never actually seen a gangster.
00:26:47
Speaker
I can't think of what they drink in. Or whiskey, that's what everybody drinks in Western movies. He's nursing a whiskey, and he's feeling a little bit rowdy. Maybe you have some nice fresh food in your pocket. Who would win in a fight between you and this geezer? I'd still take him. He's still a little rat, isn't he? He's just got a mustache.
00:27:09
Speaker
It might look odd, but yeah. But what if, if we are going to like the outlaw mafia type route, would it be a case of if you hurt this guy, there's going to be all of his mates coming after you? Yeah, I hadn't thought of that. Are you going to be wanted in a gang war at that point?
00:27:32
Speaker
Yeah, nah, it's not worth the hassle, honestly. I can't move with the agro. So I'll probably just leave it alone. He's gonna fork over the food in your pocket? Yeah! Well, it's probably gonna be like a little Tesco meal deal. He doesn't want your money, he wants your Tesco meal deal. Depends what one it is, because they've got the Christmas ones out at the moment and they are bloody good.
00:27:52
Speaker
Mm. So I guess it will depend on the je ne sais quoi, what's the Tesco meal deal? Tesco meal deal, yeah. It's fair to tell how much I've saved, you know. They've got up to £3.40. If it's worth losing a finger. £3.40? £3.40 now for a Tesco meal deal. Dang.
00:28:12
Speaker
I'll stay like Robbery in it. It's your 40p I've heard of. Tell you who else likes daylight Robbery? Robbery? Rattata. Sorry, Rattata. Rattata. Two completely, if you're listening, two completely different Pokémon, Rattata and Rattata. You know, you gotta know your meats from your cheese. Oh, you gotta know your meats from your cheese. You gotta know your Gouda from your brie. Exactly. Very important. They're very different Pokémon. Yeah. Yeah.
00:28:41
Speaker
But one's better than the other. Alright, so that's it for our Rattata Rattata two-shot. Nervous to ask, but what do you think?
00:28:53
Speaker
I prefer Rattata based purely on the amount of jokes we've made about him being a mobster and the fact we've named him Rattata because he's got a mustache.
Final Thoughts on Rattata
00:29:03
Speaker
But really, I still have no feelings towards the fucking Rattata. It's just pointless. Why is it there? Yeah. Rattata's pointless. Rattata's got some interesting history and lore and I like what they're based on, that it's actually based on something historically, which is cool.
00:29:23
Speaker
Yeah, I like that. And I like the fact it has just got a little bit more excitement, but generally they're still both shit. Yeah. There's much better Pokemon out there. Just save your time. Yeah. You're not looking forward to it? Absolutely not. I might just tap out.
00:29:43
Speaker
The bigger ones, the... What would it be? Raticate and Rata... Rata... Yeah. Yeah, we will... We'll circle back to this next week. I don't have a good sign off. Well, Rata-ta-ta for now. Rata-ta? Wow. Rata-ta for now. Yeah, see you later.