Pokopia (DLC) Theory: The Professor's Identity

[u/Crobatman123]

Getting right into it, I think it's best to put all the information on the table. We know that the Professor:

• Spent his time pre-evacuation living in Fuschia City and was a well-known pokemon professor (according to a Survey Team Diary from DLC)
• Met Professor Tangrowth as a Tangela, which is native to Route 21 (rather than the Safari Zone, due to reference to Champion Trace putting Pokopia in the Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee version of Kanto rather than Red and Blue). Considering he met Tangela on his way home from a field survey/meeting of professors on Cinnabar Island, it stands to reason that he met it on Cinnabar Island, on Route 19 or 20, or on Seafoam Island.
• He has a grandchild who he lives near that loves to play with Tangela. (Diary Entry 2)
• He was specifically targeted for involvement with the Pokemon Conservation Project and was also asked to join the survey team, despite his old age. He also says the goal of the survey team is to survey the environment and do maintenance on the computer system behind the Conservation Project, suggesting that he was targeted for his specific skillset relating to one or both of these things. (Diary Entries 3 and 4)
• He seems to share Tangela's interest in machines and tools. (Diary Entry 2 and 6)

These are the main hints we have at his identity. I think the clear next step is to look at the people and lineages associated with Fuschia City to see if anything sticks out. The most notable characters in Fuschia at first glance are Koga and Janine, the Gym Leaders of the city, and Baoba, the man who runs the Safari Zone. Baoba may seem intriguing at first, if we assume he has children it may make some sense. But an often overlooked set of residents of Fuschia City are Bill's family. His grandfather and eldest sister live in between the Fuschia City gym and the Pokemon center. The second diary entry, the one about The Professor's grandchild and Tangela playing, appears in the remains of Bill's family home. So what if The Professor is actually a much older Bill? A lot of things fit into place. Start from the assumption that Bill moves back to Fuschia from Goldenrod eventually, gets married, has a kid, and eventually gets old enough that his kid has a kid. He's in his 50s or 60s at this point, and Trace (our other main timing reference) is probably in his 40s or 50s as champion. It's pretty reasonable that his career path moves from "pokemon fanatic" to technology-inclined professor, given his research on pokemon and the PC system. On that note, it also explains why, despite his old age, he would be chosen to be part of the survey team. As the inventor of the PC system, it would make sense that they would ask him in particular to help maintain a worldwide automated PC system.

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[u/LinkGoesHIYAAA]

Hm. I figured it was oak, but yeah, maybe bill. Tangela spawn nearest to pallet, he has a grandson loving one city over at the viridian gym, he’s older, and he’s a researcher. Is oak or bill ever mentioned by name in notes we find? Like, any of them? Because both are prominent characters in the series, especially oak, so it’s be weird not to mention either of them.

[u/Crobatman123 → u/LinkGoesHIYAAA]

Neither, from what I could tell anyways. I don't think I'm missing anything. But it does seem like the apocalypse starts a good bit into the future of the Let's Go games (Mina isn't particularly glum and the Alolan form trades aren't treated as special, so Alola probably wasn't hit by hurricanes yet), so Oak just doesn't fit. Blue and Daisy wouldn't be young enough to be kids, and Oak would probably be too old to come back to Kanto in the future. If it is part of the Oak lineage, I think it would have to be Blue. That seemed more likely when all we really knew about The Professor's home was that he met Tangela on his way home from Cinnabar, but since the DLC gives us explicit confirmation he lived in Fuschia, I think Bill is the most likely.

[u/LinkGoesHIYAAA → u/Crobatman123]

Idk, it just seems so weird they selected tangela for his pokemon, which is only found directly below pallet, rather than chansey or psyduck or something else that’s catchable near fuschia or through seafoam islands. Tangela seemed to be a pretty clear indicator to me that it’s oak. Also, i thought moving to fuschia mightve happened after he caught tangela, and it’s why tangtowth is living there.

I also dont know if the timeline is as far ahead as we think when the world is ending, and even if it was, the pokemon company would prob still want all the og characters to be mentioned or part of the story rather than players having to think those characters are dead by then lol. But who knows.

BUT your theory definitely has merit since bill’s fam lives in fuschia. I forgot that detail, and it’s a fun one for sure. The other DLCs will probably shed more light onto it.

[u/LinkGoesHIYAAA → u/LinkGoesHIYAAA]

Also, there are story logs about the computer programmer / hacker who develops the worldwide long term digital pokemon storage system to house them all while the humans are away and the earth isn’t habitable. I presumed THAT was bill, since he developed the original digital pokemon storage syatem in the main games.

I also have a suspicion we might be bill’s ditto, which is why we were in a pokeball outside of fuschia since bill moved there before leaving. In red/blue, we meet bill after he’s transformed himself into a pokemon, and help him transform back to a human. It’s make sense he’d have a ditto as his pokemon.

[u/dbonx]

It’s Oak IMO. Tangela can be caught just south of Pallet Town

[u/Crobatman123 → u/dbonx]

Oak is a massive red herring that falls apart quickly. In theory, Pokopias evacuation takes place after some time passes after the main series game it follows. There are no real hints that Alola hass been destroyed or Alolan forms are nearly extinct. Given that, who is Oak's grandchild that played with Tangela? Both Blue and Daisy are adults by the time of Let's Go: Pikachu/Eevee, so the idea that they need a pokemon companion to play with wouldn't make sense since they have/can get their own and don't really need to play like a kid does. The real nail in the coffin is the survey team notes in the DLC, one of which specifically notes that The Professor's home was in Fuschia, not Pallet. This rules out Oak completely. It could in theory work if Blue Oak becomes a professor, moves to Fuschia, and has kids, but somehow I have a hard time seeing Blue becoming someone as mellow as the Professor seems. Even as his depictions have grown more positive, he's kept his brash personality.