Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
This is a Muckstein Productions Podcast.
Introduction to Unknown Radio
00:00:23
Speaker
Hello homies and trainers and welcome to Unknown Radio, your Mugstain production Pokemon talk show where we take a peek at every Pokemon. I'm Claudia and I'm here with my co-host and partner in team Rocket Catherine. Hello, as always, I bring the pizzazz, Claudia brings us the facts. And today is gonna be a good one.
Ekans: Characteristics and Traits
00:00:45
Speaker
hope so. Today we are going to be doing number 23 and number 24 in the Pokedex. And we will start with number 23, and this is Ekans. Ekans. Do you know what his tagline is? The snake Pokemon. Bang on. Absolutely bang on. At least these ones make sense.
00:01:08
Speaker
Yeah, this one makes sense. He is a poison type. He is six foot, seven inches long, I'm assuming, not tall. And he weighs 15.2 pounds and that translates to 6.9 kgs. That's pretty long. He's a long boy. He is a long boy. What does he look like? He's purple.
00:01:32
Speaker
He's a purple snake. He got rattle on end and he's got no teeth. He is a tough less snake and he's purple. And his shiny version is green. And he got no teeth. He got no teeth. He got rattle on end.
00:01:58
Speaker
Pretty self-explanatory, the skeezer. Yeah, he's just a snake. So he appears to be based on a rattlesnake. It may also be based on an egg-eater snake due to its penchant for preying on Pidgey eggs.
Ekans: Behavior and Feeding Habits
00:02:15
Speaker
Yeah, Fez. That checks out.
00:02:18
Speaker
And then here's a little fun fact for you, coming in with the fact strong from the start, is the fact that it is in the dragon egg group and its ability to learn the move glare may be a reference to the legendary basilisk, which is a venomous serpentine dragon said to be able to kill people with its stare. Also it's in Harry Potter.
00:02:43
Speaker
He's in Harry Potter and spiders run away from him. Maybe, what are the names? Spindlers? Yeah, they're really annoying ones. Yeah, maybe they run away from Ekans. They must do, because he's in, that's a fact in Harry Potter. Yeah, Harry Potter facts are also facts in Pokemon. Why are we talking like this? Just worked out, didn't it?
00:03:10
Speaker
Fun fact number two is everybody knows this, but Ekans is snake spelled backwards. Oh my God. Is it really? We never knew this. How? Wow. That's a language fact. Why's he got no teeth though? It's really wigging me out. I've never noticed it before. Now that's all I can focus on.
00:03:34
Speaker
You're welcome. Well, we can jump ahead and I can tell you that that's because it preys on eggs from Pidgeys and Pidgey eggs and Spiro eggs. It's like population control. Yeah, so it just shoves that sucker mouth over those eggs and sucks them up right in there. If you had teeth that would just crack the egg and he likes them all. He likes them all. Shellino.
00:04:00
Speaker
and it just goes down the hatchet. I bet you could see them too, like when they go in, like when snakes eat something big, it just comedically moves down the snake. Oh, absolutely. But also, Pokémon eggs are friggin' massive. Right. And also, you never knew what it was gonna hash out for.
00:04:21
Speaker
Oh no. Imagine if he thinks he's going to be eating, I don't know what's big, a whale-ma. He thinks he's eating a Pidgey egg, but it's actually a whale-ma and it's almost going to hatch and it just hatches inside of him. And you just see like a big whale-ma shape inside of him. I think, I think he'd die. Probably. Like, I think he'd like, it would like burst through and just, it'd be like the most horrific scene ever.
00:04:47
Speaker
Right, because I guess it takes a little while for the body to be able to digest through the egg. So what if the Pokémon hatches before its body digests it? I don't know. I've never thought that deep about a snake. I mean, even if it's a Pidgey, that would be just a bird fluttering around in its insides. It's poking its way out.
00:05:13
Speaker
I hate that. Now I'm just thinking about that seed in Shrek when they blow into the snake and make a balloon animal, and I don't know why. Jewel, the amount of Shrek references we make is actually quite high. Right. We just love Shrek. Shrek is life. Shrek is love. So a little bit about the Ekans is by flicking its tongue out, it is able to detect danger and the scent of prey, basic snake behavior. Yeah.
00:05:42
Speaker
Its jaw can detach to swallow large prey, but such a meal can make Ekans too heavy to move or become stuck and cause it to faint. Bless. Nerd. Can't even eat a big meal. That just passes out. Yeah. It's like Christmas dinner. Can't be taking him to all you can eat, can you? Nah, he'd eat until he passes out. Bless him. I mean, we've all been there.
00:06:09
Speaker
It's so true. Me,
Ekans: Habitat and Abilities
00:06:12
Speaker
whenever I go out for an Indian, I will eat and eat until I feel sick. Oh God, Indian food though is the best. Right. I had it last night. Anyway, while painful, a newborn Ekin's bite is not venomous. Obviously it's got no teeth. Yeah. Nuts to transfer venom. I guess saliva like a cobra, maybe. Cause they are a poison type. They're just gummy to death.
00:06:40
Speaker
Like a rabid old lady. So this Pokémon also grows longer with age. These are just snake facts. Yeah, you are just handing me snake facts. There's no Pokémon here. Just snake. Also, side note, I'm looking at a picture of Ekans right now. You know the classic one where his mouth is just open? Yeah.
00:07:01
Speaker
Look at his tongue. Does it not wig you out? It's just a flat, normal-looking tongue. Yeah, I know. And that's what really confuses me that he's got no teeth. How have I not noticed that before? Why is his tongue round? Like, he's a snake with a human mouth. It makes no sense. But he flicks his tongue out to detect danger and prey. Does he just go bleh, bleh, bleh over there? With a normal ass human tongue? Yeah. Like a dog.
00:07:30
Speaker
Well, yeah, is he a dog? Is he a cat? Wait, no, is he a dog? Is he a snake? He's got an old person mouth. He has! Is this what I said? He's gonna gum you to death like a rabid old lady!
00:07:44
Speaker
While flicking out his normal tongue. It's not weird if a fork tongue comes out and like flicks, but it's weird if like a round, normal, basic-looking-ass tongue comes out and goes blah blah blah. Like that kid in middle school that would pretend they're a dragon. AKA me. So you.
00:08:07
Speaker
Oh, awful. So a little bit about this boy's behaviour, Ekans lives in grassy savannas and plains where it moves stealthily through the grass, and it can also be found in forests and desolate wastelands. So it eats eggs from nests, but will also strike other prey from behind. Okay, so it's a snake.
00:08:29
Speaker
A snake that will just jump up. Okay, maybe, you know, he's behind a Pokémon or a person, he just sees their butt and he's like, yeah, that's round enough, that's an egg, and goes to suck it up. I like it's blind, so he can just suck eggs. Well, normal snakes can't really see, can they? Can they not? No, no, they see things through heat. Oh.
00:08:53
Speaker
That's why they flipped their tongue out. It is. Thank you. He's just a bloody snake. Let's move on. So it wraps itself around tree branches at night to rest. If not in a tree, it will coil itself up a position where it can defend itself from all directions, snake behavior. And then though often associated as a land Pokemon, they are capable of swimming incredibly long distances. Okay. So it's a river snake.
00:09:22
Speaker
It's a river snake. When threatened in the wild, it will rattle its tail, flick its tongue to get its surroundings. You cannot speak today. I can't. I might use the move glare to scare the opponent and have a possible getaway. Okay. Snake behavior. He's a snake. He's a snake. Ekans a snake backwards. It's just snake in a different font. Let's go ahead and evolve him.
Arbok: Evolution and Patterns
00:09:52
Speaker
To... Arbok! Arbok, number 24 in the Pokedex. What is his tagline? The snake Pokémon. Oh, close. The cobra Pokémon. Oh, that's fair. And you know why?
00:10:08
Speaker
because our bot is cobra spelled backwards exactly and he is a poison type he is 11 foot 6 inches long yeah he weighs 143.3 pounds which translates to 65 kgs not bad not bad it's pretty hefty boy and what does he look like
00:10:34
Speaker
And he's purple and he's flat near his head, but it's got like a weird pumpkin face on. It does. We'll get into that. Cause that is a really interesting thing that he has, but yes, it's essentially a cobra. He has teeth now. He has got teeth now and also a normal snake tongue. We've come full circle. Oh yeah. Thank God for that. Cause it'd look even weirder with a round tongue, wouldn't it? Had no teeth.
00:11:03
Speaker
Toothless! Where's your teeth now for now? Where's the discord? Let me get them snake eggs. I'll slap them up. That's how Ekin sounds. Sounds like he should be allowed here at school. I mean, they probably shouldn't have snakes in the school anyway, especially if they're 11.6 foot. I dunno, it's Florida or anything can happen.
00:11:30
Speaker
That's true. There's gators in a lot of schools here. Not on purpose, but it happens. So moving on, the shiny version of the Arbok is yellow, which is pretty dope. And Arbok appears to be based off a cobra. It might also be partly based on a bubble constrictor and slash or an anaconda. However, the spots on its body represent an Indian cobra. Oh, that's interesting. It's beautiful.
00:12:00
Speaker
I don't really know much about snakes, so I feel like I'm learning a lot today. You're learning all of the snake facts through a Pokémon. Look at that. Full circle. So you mentioned about that pumpkin looking face on its hood. Yeah.
00:12:16
Speaker
So that is there to somewhat look like an angry Pokémon to intimidate other Pokémon. And it is known that there are six different patterns on Arbok, each one appearing in a different generation of the games slash anime. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah, I like that one. I like that fact. That's good. He's got more... I'm more interested about this one than I was Ekans. I won't lie to you. I think that's a fact across the board with everybody about these Pokémon.
00:12:46
Speaker
So in terms of its ability, the Arbok has the ability called Shed Skin that cures Arbok from status ailments at the end of every turn. There's like a 30% chance that they can shed skin and get rid of any status conditions like confusion or poisoning or burns, freezing, stuff like that. That's actually quite cool. That's convenient. And I didn't know that. I've never used this Pokemon.
00:13:15
Speaker
I haven't either because Ekans is so shy. I can't be able to, you know. It's one of these Pokémon I've always just caught to be like, yep, got it. Moving on. Yes, then. A bit like, I don't know, there's loads like that that we've gone through. Spearow, you know? It's always going to be Spearow is the worst Pokémon so far.
00:13:40
Speaker
So in the anime, there is one particular arbok that could change its pattern at any time to increase power to different stats and get invulnerability to status conditions if the pattern is uncovered. All that's cool. All arbok should be like that.
00:13:56
Speaker
Like, the new DLC that came out for Skylet and Violet, well it's not the newest one, but a new one, had a Pokémon that, depending on what mask you put on it, changes its, like, terror type. They could do that with Arbok, that would be really sick. That would be cool, actually. Yeah. Get a new pattern on there and it will change, like, in vulnerabilities. Would be cool. Take note, Pokémon. Take note.
00:14:23
Speaker
So a powerful constrictor Arbok can crush a steel barrel in its mighty coils. A steel barrel? Yes. Damn. He's pretty strong. I wouldn't want him to be stuck in this thing. Crush me. And not in a good way. And not in an auto-erotic asphyxiation kind of way. Uh-uh. Uh-uh. So here is a fun fact for you that I think you might like. I highlighted it because I thought you might like it.
00:14:51
Speaker
Gone, gone, I'm excited. I'm excited. It has been stated that if any part of Arbok's body except for the head is cut off, it can regrow the rest of its body again in a matter of a few weeks. Right, so, love that fact, but I also have the same issue when you know you can cut a worm, right? Where does its head end? Like, how far down does it need to be cut off? Like, tip the tail, fine, okay? But like, when you get nearer up its neck,
00:15:21
Speaker
At what point is enough enough? Like, can it just be a head and then it regrows its whole self again? Probably not. That's insane. But that's what it sounds like. I need to know. Where does it end? Well, I would assume the head would just be... Are you talking about a worm or an arbok? An arbok. Or a worm. Either or.
00:15:42
Speaker
I'm assuming the head part is like where the eyes and the mouth is, and I would assume, because it's head, hood, body, if it just is anywhere where... You can see where the hood kind of ends. Yeah. As long as there is the head still there, you can cut any part of that hood where it gets wider. I'm assuming that. So, you're telling me that I could behead an Arbok, right, and just have its head?
00:16:11
Speaker
And it will grow itself back again. Yep. In a matter of a few weeks. That's stupid. That makes no sense. Like how, no, like it doesn't make sense. Like how are you going to kill it then? God, obviously you put the sort of Gryffindor through its mouth, but I don't understand why, like, so you can cut it half, like, no, I just, I just, I'm really passionate about this. Okay. It really upsets me. We'll have this discussion later.
Arbok: Behavior and Environment
00:16:40
Speaker
Okay, so it is very territorial and it lashes out at intruders with long fangs tipped with deadly venom. Vengeful in nature, it will not give up a chase once it targets its prey or an opponent, no matter how far. Okay, so he's a speedy boy. Yeah, he's giving me Mimikyu.
00:17:02
Speaker
Oh, God. That Mimikyu episode, that was emotional. So it will hunt you down and it says, I will find you and I will kill you. All right, Liam Neeson. Even if you cut off my head. Liam Neeson couldn't do that. He can't row back his body, can he? Well, we don't know that, do we? Liam Neeson, he can do anything. That's true. No one's ever tried to cut off his head before.
00:17:29
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. We don't know that he hasn't been cut from like the waist down and just regrowing his legs.
00:17:35
Speaker
Good old Liam Neeson, what a legend. So the abbot makes its home in grassy savannas and plains and can also be found in forest and desolate wastelands along with echins. That's a given. If it encounters an enemy, it raises its head, mimics, and stuns the opponent using the frightening pattern on its body. It can also make an eerie sound by expelling air from its mouth. Okay.
00:18:03
Speaker
So I'm assuming like, like a snake. Well, yeah. If it looks like a snake and it acts like a snake. It's a snake. Yeah. So I was getting out. I didn't think I needed to finish it, but yeah. So they're known to hunt smaller Pokemon like whoopers and are capable of slithering to higher places such as trees to do so. And it has been known to be capable of spending long periods of time underwater and surviving in aquatic environments. Love that.
00:18:33
Speaker
Final fact is that they can detect vibrations through their body. Ooh, a nice one. So he's still a snake, but he's like a supernatural kind of snake. Like a fancy snake. He's like a fancy basilisk, like Harry Potter. Harry Potter, you got nothing on our box, sweetheart. He'd defend the Chamber of Secrets. Chop off this head with a sword of Gryffindor. You know what? He'll just grow everything right back again.
00:19:05
Speaker
So you're ready to move on to the questions section? I am. So where are we right now? Are we still in Viridium Forest? Is that our box in Viridium Forest? Well yeah, we literally talked about how they can climb trees.
00:19:18
Speaker
Oh, you're right. Forest and jungles, you're right. I stand corrected. So if you're just wandering around Viridian Forest, and then all of a sudden, out of a grassy patch, out pops a toothless snake with its mouth hung wide open, flat tongue of flapping. What do you do? Flap tongue of flapping? I'll just fucking leave it. I don't have a use for it.
00:19:48
Speaker
I don't want to bring it home. I don't really like snakes. I'd take a fight on Warcraft to be honest.
00:19:54
Speaker
That's fair. So you turn around to walk off and then out of a tree you just see this weird looking pumpkin face and then you realize that that's not a pumpkin face. That's an Arbok that is. What would you do then?
Potential Uses of Ekans and Arbok
00:20:11
Speaker
So Arboks are a little bit more exciting and I think I would quite like one just for the street cred but also I don't think I could fit it anywhere like here living in a Bavaria, is he? He's 11 foot long.
00:20:23
Speaker
You can ride him though. Interesting. I don't like snakes enough to want it. I won't lie to you. I just take a picture and leave. They're not for me. Yeah, and this 11 foot, that's pretty hard to keep anywhere. Yeah, I don't have a garden, so... You know. You can't just leash it up outside and start eating people's cats. It would, and I quite like cats, so...
00:20:52
Speaker
So picture and leave. So other than battling, what use would you think an Ekans would have first? I genuinely can't think of any, because he's just a snake. Like, he'd be a pet. Be a classroom pet. You could blow him up like a balloon. Yeah. He's still quite long as well, so like, you know. You could skin him and make some shoes.
00:21:19
Speaker
Yeah, he'd probably be good to hunt, I guess. But no, he just doesn't really do a lot. He's just a snake. Depending on the suction of his gummy mouth, you can use him to open jam jars. He's a jar opener. He tests the jars in the factories. The food that popped into my head, if someone's particularly adventurous, it could be a dangerous flashlight.
00:21:51
Speaker
Perfect. So he could be a prostitute. What about Arbok? Again, he's just a long snake. He could like work at a recycling center, I guess. Crush the steel barrels.
00:22:06
Speaker
That'd actually be great. It says that it can drive, like, make people halt and stop because of the face on its hood and then the glare look. He could be like, you know when there's road work going on and there's people that stand there with like stop go signs to control the traffic if only one lane's open? Yeah. You could just write go on the back of his hood and he can just be there all day just turning around.
00:22:36
Speaker
Or he could be an advert, like have an arrow, you know, like hot dogs this way. Oh, yeah. Like the, the sign swingers. Like the sign swingers. It's perfect. Just stand on the side of the road for hours. You can just replace all of those, you know, those wiggly things that are outside like car sales yards, the arms, the flappy arms. You know what I'm talking about? I do know what you're talking about, but we don't really have them.
00:23:03
Speaker
Oh, well, we had them in America and you could just replace those with Arbok. Just get them to wiggle. Just wiggle. Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle. Perfect. Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle. They can detect, detect, detect. They can detect vibrations. So you could use them as like guard dogs. Yeah. Would they be able to detect an earthquake?
00:23:29
Speaker
Because that would be useful. Probably. Otherwise I see no use for him. They could just have him there at a weather centre and as soon as he detects... Why am I saying ditex? Detects an earthquake. He can just sound his like weird hissing alarm. They could be like, right.
00:23:48
Speaker
This is the weather institute. Our Arbok has let us know that there is an earthquake incoming. That would be useful because at the moment we can't detect earthquakes. Arbok can. Well, Arbok, there goes, sorted. He finally has a use. Also, wait, we'll get into the next thing when we talk about if we could eat this. But what do you think Arbok eats, well, Ekans eats.
Is it Possible to Eat Ekans and Arbok?
00:24:14
Speaker
Ekans eats eggs. We've already been through this.
00:24:16
Speaker
eggs and, uh, perky butts. What about Arobok? I assume he also eats eggs. Yeah, or just anything that would fit in his mouth. Yeah, I reckon he'd have some ratatas. Oh, he'd have some ratatas. Uh, maybe a, um... Hopefully some Spiros. Yeah, some of them sheep Pokemon, the Mareeps and that, Wooloos. Wooloos! Ah, good old Wooloo. Yeah, everybody's favourite food, Wooloo.
00:24:44
Speaker
Oh god, Wooloo would make a nice roast. Oh, I'd love to eat a Wooloo. I would enjoy every second of it. Who doesn't love lamb shanks? Oh yeah. So, could we eat an Ekans? Yeah. Yeah. You can eat snakes, can't you? Yeah, apparently it's alright. I've had snake jerky. Yeah, fair enough. Apparently everything's made from jerky where you are now, Lucy. Oh yeah. If you can eat it, you can jerk it.
00:25:16
Speaker
I heard that after it came out of my mouth. I love it. I'm so here for it. Could we eat an arbok? Yeah. Still a snake in it. And here's another use for an arbok. You could just cut it up like this tail off. Oh my god. Could he help Stike end some starvation?
00:25:42
Speaker
Like, I don't know how much nutrients is in a snake, but like, imagine like, each family has an arbok and just cuts its tail off. And then it'll grow back. Yeah. You could send them out to starving villages. That's what I'm thinking. Or just give them an arbok.
00:26:01
Speaker
Perfect. And it could eat like the predators that are trying to get them at night. Yeah. So it's like a twofer. So we've actually come up with like a use for it. Right. We can cure world hunger. Yeah. By giving them a snack.
00:26:18
Speaker
Perfect. I mean, we can also do by sending them some like rice and stuff just because you want a side. You don't want to just do it. Yeah. Yeah. Our box and rice. Yeah. Perfect. So you're in this nice little bar that you've been frequenting a lot recently, right?
Imagining Ekans in Everyday Scenarios
00:26:35
Speaker
So outside of Viridian Forest. I've got a real problem.
00:26:39
Speaker
Yeah, you're spending a lot of time in bars. We might have to have an intervention. So you're sat there just enjoying, you know, your evening and in slithers and echins and he just flaps out his tongue and he's coming for your drink. Who would win? Coming for my drink. Not on my watch way out. You're going to get out your sort of Gryffindor. Yeah. I'd like to think I could kill it. Like, although it's quite long, it's very light.
00:27:10
Speaker
So I reckon I could, I don't know, pick it up maybe. You could do that thing that they normally do with snakes, that if you grab them kind of behind the head and they can't bite you, you can just become full on Steve Irwin. That is my goal in life from fighting all these Pokémon. To be Steve Irwin. Yeah. And he hasn't got teeth. Exactly. Like, what's he gonna do? Bite me? Yeah. Gum you to death. Lick you with his flat tongue.
00:27:37
Speaker
His explicitly flat humanoid tongue. Yeah, just doesn't make sense, right? Right. So you've fought this Ekans, you've tied him up into a nice balloon dog and he's going out the window. And then in slithers, an 11-foot arbok.
Challenges of Battling Arbok
00:27:53
Speaker
Who would win in this fight? I don't think I could take the arbok. It's too big. He's pretty big. Yeah. I don't think I could do it. Unless you had the sword of Gryffindor. Yeah, obviously, but that's...
00:28:07
Speaker
Would it come to be my time of need? I like to think so, but then I'm also not a Gryffindor, so you know. There's also no sorting here.
00:28:16
Speaker
It becomes in other places, doesn't it? It doesn't just appear in the head. Yeah, that's true, yeah. And then you can only kill it if you get it in the head. And considering it's like 11 foot, I doubt it can like stretch up the whole 11 foot, but that's still a really high place to try and... Because if you stab it anywhere else, it doesn't die. No, but also you said that I could... If I cut it, it just grows back anyway. I don't like it.
00:28:43
Speaker
No, I'm out. He can have whatever he wants. I can't beat him. Just succumb and bow to the King Arbok. Yeah, unless I've got, like you said, the Sword of Gryffindor, what's the point? You'd have to succumb and then start a whole cult in his honor. I don't think I could be bothered with it. Just run away. Yeah.
00:29:07
Speaker
He says vengeful he will not give up on a chase once he targets his prey. He would spend your whole life on the run from an unlock. God. I hate that for you. I do too. I didn't even know it was happening, but my life's really hard at the moment. Rest in peace to a good one.
00:29:32
Speaker
Yeah, I tried. I've also got like a gang of squirtles and bloody ratatas after me as well. You're becoming Kanto's most wanted. I literally am. I'm worse than Team Rocket. I'm going to have a bloody 10 year old boy come into my place of work soon to beat me up.
00:29:58
Speaker
You can run away from an arbot, but you're not going to run away from a 10 year old boy. To be fair, they're bloody fast. So on that note, that is this episode.
Hosts' Final Opinions on Ekans and Arbok
00:30:10
Speaker
First off, what do you think of Ekans? I just have no, I don't care either way for him, I'll be honest. Yeah, me too. I hate the tongue. I just noticed that today and I hate it.
00:30:23
Speaker
Yeah, I don't like, his mouth really upsets me actually. Like I don't, like it wigs me out a bit. All I see is a flashlight. Yeah. It's not, I feel like you need a different flashlight. I don't know. I feel like Toothless, right? The dragon. Cute. Toothless snake. Creepy. Yeah. Agreed. I'm just not here for it. What about Arbok?
00:30:50
Speaker
Again, I still have no feelings for him. Like, it's just Arbok in it. I'd like to use him in a battle. Yeah, I like him more than I did. Like, I have. Right. But also, he still doesn't wow me. Yeah, there's better Pokémon out there. Still better than Spearow. That's our thing. Is it better than Spearow?
00:31:17
Speaker
It'd be like, yes, it's better than Spirit. Okay, so it's not the worst. No, but it's still, you know, it's no Squirtle. Love that. Better than Spirit, but no Squirtle. Alright, so with that, that is the end of that episode. And you know who we're doing next week? Pikachu! I'm so excited.
00:31:42
Speaker
I am too. Peek-a-la-choo-choo, peek-a-la-choo-choo. See if it's better than Charmander. I don't think it will. Well, we'll see. We'll see. We'll have to debate it first. And I'll see you on the slip side. See you on the slithery side.
00:32:05
Speaker
I'll slither in to bed. Not again with the flashlights. I'm gonna slither away and see you later. Bye. Bye.