For those who don't get the joke, I'll explain it. On the new Pokemon games, since you can't fight wild Pokemon, you instead gain experience points by capturing. Your likelihood of successfully capturing a Pokemon depends on how well you throw a ball. Therefore it stands to reason that your Pokemon are merely learning by watching how you throw a ball (any alternative theories would be rather sadistic).
If your Pokemon get stronger by merely watching you throw a ball. Imagine how quickly they'd level up if you took them to a baseball game!
That's the joke.
To be honest, it's not exactly a great joke. But at least it's laid the groundwork for a potential follow-up where Doug's Cubone evolves by watching other Pokemon get caught. Which I think would be even more silly.
And yes, this is the same Cubone that Doug hatched in an earlier comic. If you put together all of the Pokemon we've seen Doug with (or mention) in previous comics, Doug's party currently consists of a Wobbuffet holding a Lax Incense, a Pokemon that can breed with a Wobbuffet, a Wynaut, a Parasect, a Salamence, a Cubone, and a Pidgey. Of course that's only counting the Pokemon from Ruby and onwards, since it's possible to bring your Pokemon from Ruby all the way to the Alolan games. (I don't know about Let's Go, but I suspect if it isn't, it'll be possible soon.)
If I counted the Pokemon he had from before Ruby, it would include all of the Gen 1 and 2 Pokemon, since he swore to never move beyond Crystal until he caught every single Pokemon, which he did.
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For those who don't get the joke, I'll explain it. On the new Pokemon games, since you can't fight wild Pokemon, you instead gain experience points by capturing. Your likelihood of successfully capturing a Pokemon depends on how well you throw a ball. Therefore it stands to reason that your Pokemon are merely learning by watching how you throw a ball (any alternative theories would be rather sadistic).
If your Pokemon get stronger by merely watching you throw a ball. Imagine how quickly they'd level up if you took them to a baseball game!
That's the joke.
To be honest, it's not exactly a great joke. But at least it's laid the groundwork for a potential follow-up where Doug's Cubone evolves by watching other Pokemon get caught. Which I think would be even more silly.
And yes, this is the same Cubone that Doug hatched in an earlier comic. If you put together all of the Pokemon we've seen Doug with (or mention) in previous comics, Doug's party currently consists of a Wobbuffet holding a Lax Incense, a Pokemon that can breed with a Wobbuffet, a Wynaut, a Parasect, a Salamence, a Cubone, and a Pidgey. Of course that's only counting the Pokemon from Ruby and onwards, since it's possible to bring your Pokemon from Ruby all the way to the Alolan games. (I don't know about Let's Go, but I suspect if it isn't, it'll be possible soon.)
If I counted the Pokemon he had from before Ruby, it would include all of the Gen 1 and 2 Pokemon, since he swore to never move beyond Crystal until he caught every single Pokemon, which he did.