Game Theory: I SOLVED The Oldest Pokemon Debate!

Pokemon sizes listed in the Pokédex are inconsistent and illogical. Charizard is only 5 foot 7 inches, Lucario is 3 foot 11, and Furret is 6 feet long despite being based on a ferret.

Wailord, a 47-foot-long whale Pokemon, has sparked a two-decade debate among fans about whether it is lighter than air. The controversy even led to a published academic paper on the subject.

Is Wailord lighter than air despite weighing only 877.4 pounds, which is vastly lighter than a real blue whale?

Apply real-world scientific principles to determine whether Wailord can float through the air or is dense enough to swim in water.

Density is the measure of how much mass something has per unit of volume. Objects with lower density than a fluid will float in that fluid.

The formula for density is D equals M over V (mass divided by volume). This is a straightforward calculation once you know an object's mass and volume.

A lead cube and a wooden cube of equal volume will have different densities. Lead is denser than water and sinks, while wood is less dense and floats.

Air has a density of 1.293 kilograms per cubic meter. Objects lighter than this would theoretically float through the air.

Voltorb is a perfectly round sphere, making its volume easy to calculate using the formula V equals 4/3 Pi R cubed.

Voltorb has a height of 0.5 meters (1 foot 8 inches) and a radius of 0.25 meters, resulting in a volume of 0.065 cubic meters.

Voltorb's density is 160 kilograms per cubic meter, making it much denser than air (1.293) but less dense than water (1,000).

Voltorb would float on water and could theoretically learn to use the move Surf, but would not float through the air.

William Farmer from the University of Leicester wrote an undergraduate research paper published in the school's Journal of Interdisciplinary Science Topics arguing that Wailord is lighter than air.

Farmer used pixel measurements from game sprites and modeled Wailord as a cylinder with a radius of 2.855 meters and height of 14.5 meters to estimate his volume.

The cylinder model resulted in a volume of approximately 370 cubic meters and a density of 1.08 kilograms per cubic meter, which is lighter than air at 1.293.

According to Farmer's calculations, Wailord is lighter than air and would float like a whale-shaped balloon.

Reddit user PetscopMiju used pixel measurements but refined Wailord's shape by adding hemispheres to each end instead of just using a cylinder, reducing empty space in the model.

• Reduced radius to 2.2 meters (instead of 2.8) • Set cylinder length to 8 meters • Allocated 2.1 meters on each end for the tail and head • Accounted for pixel measurement inconsistencies across different games

The refined equation combining a cylinder and two hemispheres resulted in a volume of only 166.24 cubic meters, less than half the academic paper's estimate.

Wailord's density would be 2.39 kilograms per cubic meter, nearly double air's density, meaning Wailord cannot float in air.

The Reddit approach is more accurate because it accounts for Wailord's actual shape nuances and pixel measurement inconsistencies across different games, using multiple calculations for refinement.

• Wailord's scale has never been consistent across games • Large Pokemon are shrunk down to fit within the game system and screen • Any estimation error gets exaggerated in a large creature • Pixel measurements may not be the best tool for accurate results

Wailord has grooves, crevices, giant fins, and a tail that don't fit into simple geometric shapes like cylinders or ellipsoids.

The Reddit calculation appears more reliable, but neither method is perfect without direct access to Wailord's actual 3D model data.

Wailord's appearance in Pokemon Sword and Shield's Isle of Armor DLC provides a full 3D model, eliminating the need for pixel measurements and estimates.

• The 3D model was imported into Blender, a 3D modeling program • Blender's built-in volume calculator measured Wailord's precise volume • No estimates needed, including tails and fins • Proper scaling was verified using Pokédex height and in-game comparisons

The 47-foot Pokédex entry refers to Wailord's length, not vertical height, confirmed by examining size comparison tools and player character positioning in Sword and Shield.

Using Blender's mesh and volume calculator, Wailord's exact volume was determined to be 182.8557 cubic meters with no assumptions required.

Wailord's definitive density is 2.18 kilograms per cubic meter, calculated by dividing its mass of 398 kilograms by the exact volume of 182.8557 cubic meters.

Wailord is NOT lighter than air. Even excluding Wailord's tail from the calculation, it still would not be light enough to float through the air.

This result aligns with Pokédex entries dating back to Sapphire, which describe Wailord knocking out prey with the shock of its splash, something impossible if it couldn't sink into water.

Reddit's conclusion was essentially correct, though not perfectly accurate. The academic paper's claim that Wailord is lighter than air has been definitively disproven.

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