Sabotages and Clues

Season Six

2009 has been an interesting year hasn't it? I rate it 6/10 personally. It wasn't a 9/10 2007, but it also wasn't a 2/10 2008. Somewhere in the middle. Possibly we might be due a midway 4/10 2010, but I've got my heart set on another 9/10 2007 personally.

What is the meaning of life? How do you solve a problem like Maria? How do you follow up the most successful PokéMole series ever? Well, with a messed up personal life, probable upcoming alcohol poisoning and a dissertation to write, with great difficulty was the answer. The series was formed in my head last January and first took shape in June. Episode 8 was finished a huge 5 months later. Lazy, me? Don't be ridiculous.

So here we have our eagerly awaited series walkthrough. What Raticate did to put the Contestants off, the naturally amazing clues that you all missed and something about the second PokéMole of the series. No, not really, but... well, you'll see what I mean.

Oh, and I suppose I might post the winners as well. If you're lucky.

Psychology of the Series

Raticate is a little cow. Not literally. I do of course mean in the negative sense of the word. A different type of PokéMole, I feel, from any we've had before. The PokéMole formula is very much set in my head, and I feel confident saying I can make most of them extremely difficult to spot using the template in my head. Raticate, in some ways, was built outside of this formula. Maybe I compensated that a bit by making some of Raticate's sabotages a little bit more subdued than in previous years, but if the final result is the same, the PokéMole has done their job.

The Contestants were pretty varied. Clefairy was, let's be fair, a little bit overenthusiastic and... well, stupid, but ultimately cleverer than perhaps anyone realised. I remember reading in the forums that Clefairy had to be the PokéMole because she was still in the game. Well, in order for Clefairy to still be in the game at the later stages, she had to be getting a fair number of questions correct in the quiz. So either she was the PokéMole... or she knew who was. Clefairy openly suspected Raticate for quite a long time. Smeargle also deserves a mention - she very obviously pretended to be the PokéMole. This of course is outrageous behaviour, and soon she was punished with elimination.

Sabotages and Other Stuff

Meet The Contestants

Surprisingly, Raticate did not sabotage anything in this episode. You can put the trainer names in order if you fancy a bit of an easter egg though.

Episode 1

In Yes, You Need To Jump Twice:

Yes, Raticate is scared of heights, but time is time.

In All In A Day's Wobbuffet:

With Raticate looking after the clues, she could waste a lot of time by not telling the Contestants about the numbers.

Oh, and the sequence 25 23 13 6 24 11 10 appeared in Episode 1. Special mention here for Pokeapache who managed to solve that. I've uploaded the code for you all if you want to solve that. Please don't hate me.

Episode 2

To Combee Or Not To Combee:

I love how everyone ignored that. Oh, and in Chuckle Like A Shuckle, Raticate starts off with a nasty comment followed by some poor jokes. Obviously that wasn't going to get very far.

Episode 3

In The Mock Flock Raticate suggested a number of incorrect answers, as a couple of contestants picked up on in their diaries:

And in Berry Good, Raticate was involved in the destruction of a second sack:

Episode 4

In The Science Of Getting Things Wrong, while not explicitly stated, I think it fairly obvious that with all answering obscured, Raticate got all of the questions wrong.

In How Very Ice Raticate does not grab any money:

Episode 5

In That Figures, Raticate fails to escape from her cell.

In Mamoswine Flu, Raticate plays a big part in ultimately trying to wind the Contestants up, attempting to goad them into quitting the challenge:

Episode 6

In Battle 3 Raticate is defeated and in Putting Your Footy In It Raticate did actually score the own goal.

Episode 7

In To Know The Unown, Raticate constantly tries to hurry the Contestants:

And in Battle 4 Raticate once again loses.

Episode 8

In PokéMole 6 Raticate gets her first question wrong:

In All Out Assault, Raticate takes thirteen minutes to complete the course - nearly half of the target half an hour.

The Clues

1. Episode 1 began with "This is your first clue". T-H-I-S is your first clue.

2. The first letters of Raticate's diary entries in the first 7 episodes spell out I AM THE POKEMOLE.

3. Raticate was singled out right from the start of Episode 1:

4. The 4 battles throughout the series were against Rotom, Ariados, Tentacruel and Sceptile. How stupid do you all feel now?

5. Two key quotes from during Episode 2:

Beatles album Anthology 3. Disk 2, Track 34: Shake, RATtle and Roll.

6. The opening to Episode 3 went as follows:

7. From Episode 3:

A reference to the fact that Raticate gives out Speed EVs.

8. Take the following excerpt from Episode 4:

To me that almost sounds like Raticate reporting back on another victim.

9. Remember that blackboard from Episode 4? Change the chemicals into their symbols (CM FM SM K P S) - one letter for each contestant, apart from R (Raticate).

10. Episode 5 opened with:

Ever heard the phrase "smell a rat"?

11. In Episode 5, the answer to one of the puzzles (Raticate's puzzle actually) in That Figures was 18. However, what did the Episode 5 opening also tell you?

18 + 2 = 20. Raticate's National Dex number.

12. Raticate's diary entry after That Figures in Episode 5:

How would Raticate have known that?

13. Quote from Episode 6:

That would make the time twenty past eight. Or 20:20. Yeah, I hope you're literally kicking yourself.

14. Following on from Raticate's previous quote:

And what song was sung on Day 24 in Episode 8?

15. Allow me to present you all with the answers with the questions in To Know The Unown:

16. Raticate's diary entry in Episode 7:

Say "wonder luck in four" quickly. Go on, do it. One they're looking for?

17. In the PokéMole 6 challenge in Episode 8, only one question had a contestant as it's answer - that contestant was Raticate.

18. The message "I didn't deceive originally - something changed along the way" appeared in Episode 8. This is a reference to the fact that Raticate was originally classed as a Rat Pokémon, but is now classed as a Mouse Pokémon. How ridiculous.

Trivia and Odd Stuff

• For the second year running, Kay managed to look at all ten contestants and pick out the PokéMole without actually reading a single word of the series. Damn you.
• On the blackboard puzzle, the average of the numbers was 35 - Clefairy's National Dex number. This was actually a complete coincidence, and something which made me panic a little. The inclusion of "Ignore the average" at the end of Episode 5 was to compensate for this, although I apologise if this put anyone off :( A special mention to #Emma---# here, who had a score of (I think) 39/40, but then had her mind changed by this. Sorry :(
• Following on from this, at least four things were changed in the series before it went out, such as sums were also lead to Clefairy when interpreted a certain way, and Joeno is still adamant Clefairy was a second, subconscious PokéMole in the series.
• Three people achieved a perfect score in Episode 1's quiz. I hate you all.
• Something like 80% of the submitted guesses were for Mothim and Clefairy, which Joeno and myself found hilarious looking at the final three contestants.
• Clefairy originally was eliminated in Episode 7. All the way up until I wrote Episode 8 and changed my mind. Mothim was the original winner.
• Clefairy was mentioned in Mime Jr.'s Christmas Day news update last year. Now THAT'S planning in advance.

Winners

Oh go on then. Quiz results first.

Congratulations to the PokéMole Quiz Winner for 2009, Darkness Energy! I probably owe you a drink now. If you're that bothered about what position you finished in the quiz scores, PM me. And here we go. The big one:

• 1ST: OMGLOLZORS (Episode 4)
• 2nd: Hicky (Episode 6)
• 3rd: laironlover77 (Episode 7)

A clear winner, at a time when we were beginning to wonder if one would ever arrive. Shame really. I could have got used to the idea of ME being the winner. Mwuhaha. Alas no, and a big congratulations to OMGLOLZORS - the PokéMole Champion, 2009! Apparently I now owe you a drink now as well, or something. Christ, this thing is expensive.

And now a list of thanks:

• Joeno - for proofreading the whole thing.
• Alex - for not winning part of it this year.
• Kay - for listening to my moaning on MSN a lot.
• Lottie - ditto :p
• Peter - for giving Joeno someone to moan to about me. Plus he's an awesome guy. For a Liverpool fan.
• Rob - not sure why.
• Joe - I know you'll never read this mate, but thanks for making me smile again.
• Wayne Rooney - for scoring against Hull this afternoon and winning me a Lindt chocolate snowman in a bet at work

And of course, thanks to you, the readers. Without you there would be no point me doing this. Hope you enjoyed it :)