#all 3 stages of the alola starters

[xurkitreeking]

gender is like pokemon. most people only know charizard and pikachu and when i say i like the ultra beasts my mum doesn't know what that is

[quillpokebiology]

What are some good starter pokemon that arent yknow. starters

10 Alternate Starter Pokemon

Note: A lot of first stage pokemon are good starter pokemon (I said a lot, not all of them). There are plenty of trainers around the world who have uncommon starters (my rival's starter was a sinistea and this kid at my school named Magnus had a ralts starter).

1. Pikachu

I'm sure we've all met someone who has/had Pikachu as their starter. But they're strong and friendly pokemon, making them perfect for beginner trainers.

2. Eevee

Another popular non-starter starter. They're easiy to care for and can adapt to practically any situation, which is perfect.

3. Pawmi

Mostly for kids in Paldea. Since Pawmi can be found near Mesagoza (capital of Paldea for those who don't know) and evolve into strong pokemon, they're really common and popular for beginner trainers.

4. Zigzagoon

Really common first pokemon for trainers in Hoenn and Galar. The Galar ones are a bit harder to train, due to their nature, but they're still really popular.

5. Rookidee

Considering how they're found literally everywhere in Galar, they end up being a lot of trainers first pokemon.

6. Yamper

A lot of people in Galar have Yamper, and they end up being really common starters because of that.

7. Vulpix

Both of then are good alternate starters, as they're generally calm and easy to care for.

8. Rockruff

Really common for people in Alola. They're also great pets.

9. Oddish

Being grass types, they're very common and popular starters in the Kanto region.

10. Nacli

A bit of a controversial one, as some trainers say they're creepy. But Nacli are good starters because they're small and easy to care for.

[foxoftheasterisk]

hi y'all want to hear about this pokémon challenge run i made up? yes you do

it's significantly more complicated than a Nuzlocke (not hard given that has literally two rules) but i feel it wins out on Feel, style of challenge, and which parts are most challenging

so anyway i present to you:

The Average Trainer challenge

(This is best played with the use of a randomizer, but rules for vanilla are also provided)

Rule 1: Normal Starter

Instead of the regular starter, you start with a Normal-type pokémon.

If using a randomizer, you should replace the starters offered with random first-stage Normal pokémon. Lists for each generation follow:

Otherwise, as soon as you can obtain poké balls, go to the first route, catch the first Normal-type pokémon you encounter, and release your starter.

Rule 2: Party Loyalty

Once you catch a pokémon, you cannot remove it from your party.

... except if it dies. Also, deliberately killing your pokémon to remove them from the party is strictly forbidden.

You also can't catch excess pokémon and store them in the PC.

Rule 3: Only the willing

You may only catch Pokémon that seek you out.

(Ok, that's not really the rule, but i couldn't make this one pithy, sue me.)

Only the first pokémon you encounter in an area may be caught. However, this resets after defeating a gym leader or losing one of your pokémon.

(In Alola, both types of trial reset this.)

Also, you may never catch a second pokémon of the same evolutionary line, even if the first has died. (If the first pokémon in an area is a duplicate, that still uses up your opportunity!)

Also, you may not accept gift pokémon, trades, eggs, or fossil pokémon, nor may you catch legendaries or mythicals. Other static encounters (such as voltorb or drifloon) are allowed.

Rule 4: Rules of Battle

In battle against other trainers, you have a limited number of items or switch-outs to use.

This is the complicated one.

A bailout is defined as use of an active item or switching out a usable pokémon.

Using held items—even single use ones like Berries—does not count as a bailout. You may also withdraw a non–fainted pokémon without counting it as a bailout if it has less than 50% (yellow or red) health or a non–volatile status effect, but if you do, you cannot use it again this battle.

Different types of trainers have different rules of engagement.

League battles, like those against gym leaders, elite four, champions, and kahunas, are the strictest. You may only use as many pokémon as your opponent, and you may use a number of bailouts equal to half that number, rounded down.

Battles with most trainers are civilized. In such battles you may use all your pokémon, but only a number of bailouts equal to half your opponent's number of pokémon, rounded up.

A brutal battle, such as one against wild pokémon or villain teams, has no limits to the number of bailouts used.

Rule 5: Less rules, more risk

The looser the rules of engagement, the greater the risk of death.

Brutal battles carry a high risk of death; if your pokémon faints in a brutal battle, and a single turn of battle passes, that pokémon is dead. (Any amount of time outside of battle is fine, but if another battle starts, the pokémon will die.)

This includes a turn in which you run away! However, if you run before sending out your next pokémon, your fainted pokémon is safe. (For now.)

In civilized battles, trainers make some effort not to kill their opponents. However, it's not foolproof, and if your pokémon faints in a civilized battle, it will die if you enter another battle.

League battles are highly regulated, and pokémon who faint in a league battle have no risk of death.

Rule 6: All battles matter

If you lose any battle, you lose the game.

Rule 7: Limited supplies

You may never buy revival items, nor may you obtain more than one by any individual renewable means.

Revival items include, but may not be limited to, Revive, Max Revive, and Rare Candy.

Rule 8: Battle experience only

You may not use the Daycare, Exp. All, Exp. Share, or any other source of non-battle experience.

Rare Candy is the one exception.

Also, you may not use experience boosters such as the Lucky Egg.

One last thing...

These rules are not meant to restrict your use of HMs. Pokémon you use only as HM slaves may ignore all of these rules; however, you may never use them in battle.

Also, randomizer restrictions!

These rules are designed for the normal distribution of wild pokémon; therefore, if you wish to randomize wild pokémon, you must use the "global 1–to–1" and "similar strength" options. (If not using the Ultimate Pokémon Randomizer, these may have different names.) However, you may also play with only the starters changed. (I tend to find a trio of runs with each set of wild pokémon—including the vanilla set—is a reasonable number to use and not get bored.)

I usually also use the "change impossible evolutions", "use time based encounters" and "don't use legendaries" (for wild pokémon), and "national dex at start" options. You don't have to use these, but I recommend it.

I tend to find that randomizing wild pokémon but not trainer pokémon makes the game a little easier (at least at the start), so you may want to randomize trainer pokémon to avoid that. If you do, I strongly recommend also using the "similar strength" and "type themed gyms" options.

I don't recommend randomizing items or pokémon traits, but you do you.

That's it! Go play!

[shining-kommo-o]

Hey there, same person as before , have a couple of more questions and opinions I wanna share

-After looking at the gen 3 sprites , was it possible that the Poochy Pokémon would evolve into the 2 other dogs found in the sheet based on its in game gender ? Ally (the primarinna lookalike) is very clearly a dog based on her collar and paws and Eidog is just a dog. This may be a bit far fetched since they’re quite far in the Pokédex but the Seedot and Breeloom evolution are quite far as well

- Was it confirmed that the scrapped Scraggy was the fossilmon of the gen that evolved into Archon?

-I’ve been wondering about something, was the scrapped 3 staged sea Snail line supposed to be the water starter for the region? I does match a bit with oshawott’s shell motif and the final stage also fights with a shell similar to samurott ?

- Could the scrapped electric mythical from Kalos be Zeraora? Thinking about it both it and zygarde had more of an importance on Gen 7 , and we know that Pokémon Z would’ve had zygarde complete in it. And Zera maybe is supposed to be Rattatoskr

And I’ll end it with an opinion, man , I wish whoever drew those gritty designs got to direct a game of their own, they look so much like concept art for a late ps1 obscure JRPG , and they also must be working at game freak still because the concept art for N also resembles them, maybe during the Gear Project years we could’ve gotten it, but oh well

Welcome back dear anon! I’ll do my best to answer all your questions!

I’ll put it all under a read more to save everyone’s feeds!

1. By Poochy, Ally and Eidog, I believe you mean these three?

There could be a chance of all of them being related? But their dex position seems to point to the contrary. Ally (also known as Arei) was earlier in the Pokédex, and Eidog was way later. Maybe at some point they were from the same line, but i couldn’t really see it. They are so different from one another!

I had a spreadsheet, but seems like it was taken down. So instread, here’s this picture. It’s all i have and it’s really not up to date… ^^’ things have really moved since then

(Also, for a sec, when I read Poochy, I thought this was about the character from the fighting game Power Instinct ^^’… I’ve been way too much into fighting games lately!)

2. Signs point to yes! If you refer to the picture above, you can see they are right next to eachothers, as number 396 and 397! They are also pretty much the only ones with a bold color palette like this, so i’d day yes, the old scraggy-like pokémon evolves into the blue proto-grovyle! I can’t say for sure if it was a fossilmon, but i could very well see it as that!

3. That was one of the lines of Pokémon that slipped by when I started posting… I was sure I saved / Posted these guys, but I guess I forgot!

As for their status, I would have to reconfirm. A lot of information came out all at once and it was hard to track. I know there was a few waves of gen 5 beta content. From what I’m aware, there was sprites for the oshawott line in the leaks, but they were already pretty much fully formed. I’m not sure if he coexisted with the sea snail pokémon. I’m sure once this blows over, people will have everything in order and i’ll have an answer to give you. They do look like starters tho so i’ll give you that!

I’ll give you this as an apology for my lack of answer, some tepig line beta sprites that i, ALSO, didn’t post! ^^’

4. It’s all speculations, but I tend to ascribe to this theory, that Zeraora was the scrapped electric mythical. It would fit in the lore built around the legendaries of Kalos. Also, an interesting bit someone pointed out to me is that Zeraora starts with a Z, and ends with an A. Brings it back together i guess. And maybe it’ll show up in Legends Z-A because of that.

I also think that its inclusion in Alola was random. Ik it’s the case for all mythicals, but come on. They just distributed this thing and went home. Zarude had more of a story going. (Love Zarude btw). And considering Alola ALSO was the region stuck with the whole “100 zygarde cells” thing, i could see Zeraora being pasted on there as to not waste it i guess.

Kalos as a region is. Full of disappointments. Things were set up, and abandonned. Never elaborated upon. That of they were rushed.

Injecting my own opinion here, those who know me know that I make no secret of my dislike for Kalos. When I play those games, I feel nothing. I felt nothing back when I played them at 14. Actually no, i was pissed off that the cover of X lied to me by telling me Xerneas was gonna be this cool rainbow deer, but it was actually just Dogwater Blue, and I had to use Geomancy for it to be cool. But besides that, i felt nothing. I’ve played Pokémon games for all my life. I was barely out of the womb that my older sister would put her Pokémon toys on me so I’d learn their name. I felt something with every game I played except XY.

I hope Z-A can be some sort of course correction for this generation. At least make everything make sense.

I also dislike Kalos because I’m a native french speaker. And the way they use french pisses me off. Why is there a trainer named “Chaise” (literally chair). Why is there a road named Brun Way (brown way. Ew??). Im so glad theres a street called Avance Trail. Derrière way. Vallée étroite way. Dear god this pisses me off. And iirc they don’t do this shit with ANY other games so WHY HERE. GSJFBDJDBFKFN.

Sorry about that… I tend to get heated when talking about those games ^^’. Anyways back on track!

As for your thoughts on the gen 3 concept art, people have speculated that it was done by Okutani Jun. He mostly did work on Pokémon games, but he did also do concept art for Xenoblade Chronicles, Mystic Arc, Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles - Rings of fate and Magatama according to Moby Games. Though i’ve seen your feelings shared across other users in the tags of that post: the public demands a PSX JRPG!

[powdermelonkeg]

how many pokemon are in your dex, and how many are original? i’m unsure of how many to make lol

It’s actually a kind of checklist I go through:

What are my starters/starter evolutions?

Obligatory inclusions: every region has a Pikaclone (some kind of mouse with circle cheeks), a low-level wild bird, a low-level bug (usually with a cocoon stage), 2-3 box legendaries, some kind of minor legendary set with a matched theme, a pseudo-legendary 3-stage dragon, and a mythical.

Figure out what country/area you’re basing it on, and look up the area’s culture, see what sticks. For example, there’s a superstition in Poland that a squirrel on the roof means a fire’ll happen. So I made a fire-type, smoke-based squirrel.

Look at native animals to the area. See if you can mix these with the cultural things, and think of what type they would be in your head.

Work in the theme of your game as much as possible. If it’s time, make clock or ancient pottery Pokémon. If it’s volcanoes, use igneous rocks or those pine trees that only release seeds during a wildfire. And if your Pokémon versions have opposing themes, try to make equal amounts for each theme—those are your version exclusives.

With all of those done, NOW you start on including past Pokémon. They should fall in either the realm of “seldom used” or “I really like these,” ideally both. For example, I added in Comfey, because it’s only in Alola and the Sword/Shield DLC.

Add in the Pokémon that always show up—Magikarp, Ditto, the Eeveelutions, etc.

With established Pokémon, try to make a few regional variants that fit either your base country’s culture or your overall theme. I’ve got a Fire/Ground Skiddo and Ice/Normal Wooloo for Summer and Winter, and I have a variant on the Oddish line that makes them more poppy-like. Vileplume is modeled after a poppy, Bellossom after a Polish wedding crown.

If you get any other good ideas for variants, toss them in! I’ve got an Electric/Water Magikarp that turns into an Electric/Dragon Gyarados, because it sounded cool. Go for it!

After ALL THAT is done, take stock of how many types you have, and start adding Pokémon from past gens that fit the types you’re lacking. Try to keep your Pokédex between 150 and 200 total—Kanto was 151, and Hoenn was 202.

Tweak whatever types you have too much of/get new ideas for.

Then you’re done!

To answer your question, my Pokédex (margin of error for one or two, I just counted these by hand) has 159 entries, with 76 being totally original, and 20 being regional variants of established Pokémon.

[mythgirlimagines]

3 if this proseka character had this pokemon region starters to choose from which would they choose?:

Hakura with Hoenn (Treecko, Torchic, Mudkip)

Toya with Unova (Snivy, Tepig, Oshawott)

Mizuki with Alola (Rowlet, Litten, Popplio)

Have fun! (^_^)

I got. very into this lol

Haruka I think would go with Torchic. At first it's because she found it the cutest when she was young, and the red/yellow of it kind of contrasted her "blue" image which her company found interesting. But when Haruka started getting out of that into MMJ, Torchic evolved with her and Haruka really appreciates the strength they bring out in each other

Toya would have Snivy, hands-down. Snivy is the kind of pokemon that's strong, and can be mischievous, but also looks graceful and even regal throughout its evolution stages. I think it reflects Toya pretty well, and Toya and Snivy would work well together in bringing out Toya's personality

A friend and I were just talking about Mizuki with a Popplio a week or so ago (or longer, can't remember) but honestly Popplio just Fits for them, so that's definitely the easiest decision to me. After all, Popplio grows up to be super cute! Definitely fits Mizuki's style and cuteness

[nonovyabuisness]

So as you may know, In Pokémon Sun/Moon/US/UM , you can get different starters depending on the island on which you start your Island challenge on.

This is shown by the three normal starters on Mele’ Mele island with Kahuna Hala and professor Kukui. And by the three alolan meowth on Ula’ Ula island proposed by Kahuna Nanu to a new Island challenger in the police station.

And so, my brain decided to imagine what the options would be for Akala and Poni island.

I choose 3 Pokémon that all have a 3 stage evolution and can be found in Alola, no pseudo legendary and other ‘official’ starters. Also note that I will not follow the traditional Fire-Water-Grass thing.

Akala Island (Kahuna Olivia):

- Bounsweet

- Alolan Geodude

- Pikipeck

[ For this, I decided to make it a triangle as well. With Bounsweet being effective against Geodude, Geodude against Pikipeck who,is super effective against Bounsweet. Olivia has an alolan graveler on her team, and while Geodude may look like the best option at first.

Bounsweet’s typing will do good against the Water trial, Olivia and Hapu.

Pikipeck is good against Hala, Guzma, the Grass trial and half decent for the Electric trial (the one with the Vikavolt line) and Molayne.

And Geodude is good against Guzma, the Fire trial, Kahili, Molayne and (kind of) the Water trial.]

Also can we talk about the fact that Olivia is super hot…

Poni Island ( Kahuna Hapu):

- Nidoran (gender is random)

- Trapinch

- Swinub

[ All of these Pokémon are found in Alola and all of these are 3 stage evolution that have or gain the ground typing. Which is Hapu’s type specialty.

Nidoran is good against Mina’s fairy trial and the Grass trial at first. Then it’s good against the Electric and Fire trial as well as Olivia and Molayne.

Trapinch is good against the Electric and Fire trial as well as Olivia and Molayne. Before being pretty good against the Wild trial ( Kommo-o’s trial).

And Swinub is good against the Electric, Fire and Grass trial. As well as the Wild trial, Olivia, Molayne, Kahili and Hapu.]

And there you have it, my island starters headcanons.

[sexysilverstrider]

i cant believe after 8 generations i will finally main a grass starter

[haunted-skitty-doll]

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#litten is my favorite alola starter for the first and middle stages for sure but decidueye is definitely my favorite of the final evolutions

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See the full post

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Ok I'm omw to ur house

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When legends arceus was announced I remembered how drayden said he remembers a time before pokeballs and thought "that seems like a plot hole, he can't be THAT old"

BUT WHAT IF THE REVERSE OF WHAT HAPPENED TO INGO/THE PROTAGONIST HAPPENED TO HIM? WHAT IF HE WAS FROM A REALLY LONG TIME AGO AND WAS SENT TO THE FUTURE?

He's also the gym leader of opelucid city, which is all about the past and future. Gonna be thinking about this.

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[askkrenko]

Krenko’s Guide to Pokemon: Pichu Line

Ah, the main character. Let’s bitch about it! DESIGN: Pikachu is scientifically proven to be the perfect design. Simple but expressive, cute but cool, round and jagged, Pikachu is the the mascot for Pokemon because they knew they’d struck gold when they designed him. He’s some sort of rodent, but also some sort of lightning bolt, and there’s nothing out there that’s really like Pikachu. Sure, there’s other adorable mascots, but Pikachu is its own thing.

Raichu, then, is... good. Raichu is still cute. Raichu is still badass. Raichu has a soft but tough design that a lot of pokemon try for and only a few really perfect. However, Raichu is incomplete. It’s starting to become more but still feels so... small. And there’s a reason for this: It’s a middle form. The final evolution, Gorochu, got cut from Pokemon Red and Blue for space, and for reasons I will complain about shortly, never returned. While we don’t have full imagery for Gorochu, we know its back sprite, and vague descriptions of it, and it would’ve been the normal final form ‘angry badass’ style... Though fan interpretations still tend to make it rather cute. This isn’t really the place to talk about what could have been, but take a look HERE for a great interpretation of Gorochu. My point is just that Raichu wasn’t designed as a final form and you can kind of tell by looking at it.

Pichu... is a waste of time. Look, I get it, Pikachu’s cute, and breeding is showing up in the next game, so time to make babby Pikachu, but let’s be honest: Pichu’s not actually cuter than Pikachu, it’s just “less cool Pikachu.” It doesn’t look softer, it doesn’t look more huggable, and it sucks in Smash Brothers.  Also, the idea of a ‘baby pikachu’ is sort of silly when Pikachu’s already one of the smallest, weakest Pokemon there is. And I don’t say this to disparage it, but it’s a very early game pokemon that you find in the wild as low as level 3 or that you get as a starter. There’s no need for ‘pikachu but small.’ Pikachu’s already small.  Pichu shifts the potential line from “Pikachu, Raichu, Gorochu” to “Pichu, Pikachu, Raichu” and while I respect the idea of moves that it can only learn if raised as a Pichu,  the only one that mattered when it was introduced was Charm... So it was a really roundabout way to let your Raichu know Charm. At least Nasty Plot was added later. I don’t inherently mind the concept of the Pichu as the first form in the PIkachu line, and if it was well implemented in the games I could really respect it, but Pikachu has always been such and early game pokemon that Pichu feels entirely redundant to me.

And then there’s Alolan Raichu. Alolan Raichu is soft, round, golden brown, and looks like it’s fresh out of the oven. I just want to shove it in my mouth and OMNOMNOM. It’s soft, adorable, and yet because of its rounded edges and unique tail-surfing manuever it looks far more complete than Raichu ever did. Don’t get me wrong, I still love Kantonian Raichu- hell I used to date a Kantonian Raichu- but Alolan Raichu just looks so much more like it’s right in being its own thing.  I also love the idea of making a Surfing Raichu after Surfing Pikachu was a thing, and making it Psychic so it can surf on air instead of water is just a stroke of brilliance. I just love this fluffy pancake monster so much. EVOLUTIONS: Pichu can evolve twice, and has two final forms, but I have to say I think its method of doing so is a hot mess.  First off, Pichu only evolves into Pikachu via friendship with the trainer, but all baby Pikachu are Pichu, so how are there ANY Pikachu in the wild? At the very least why are there so many more wild Pikachu than Pichu? Friendship evolutions are great, but anything that needs Friendship to evolve should be RARE. And Friendship should really be the last stage of evolution, not the first. Pikachu to Raichu is a Thunder Stone, and sure. I have no problem with Stone Evolution. I do think we’ve got a few too many stones these days, and not enough evolutions for each, though. Thunderstone has been around since Red and Bue, and yet only evolved Pikachu and Eevee until Gen 5, which only added Eelektrik, and now in gen 8 it only gained two more Pokemon.  Hell, Fire Stone still only works on four pokemon, three of which are gen 1.... But this is about Pichu, and  Pikachu to Raichu with a Thunderstone is fine.

What’s weird to me is that the way to get Alolan Raichu is still with a Thunderstone, but in Alola. I love regional variants, and when they’re a whole line like Rattata, that’s great, but it’s weird to me that Alolan Raichu is only available in Alola, and it seems like an oversight that’s already come to bite them in the ass as both Let’s Go and SwSh have had to include randos who will trade you Alolan Raichu for Kantonian Raichu.  You know what would’ve worked better?  Everything in its dex entry says the reason it evolves that way is because of too many pancakes. So why not a pancakes item that just happens to be much easier to get in Alola? Sure, it’s another new evolution item, but if every game’s going to have Alolan Raichu anyway, might as well. Or make it something like “Feed your Pikachu 10 Big Malasada.”  Of course, Alolan Pichu and Pikachu could’ve been an option, but that seems like going a bit crazy.

The availability to turn your Pikachu into an Electric type OR an Electric/Psychic type is great, but the fact that there’s no actual way to make the choice with a given Pikachu in a given game is a pain in the butt.

There’s also a Gigantimax Pikachu for SwSh players who have Let’s Go Pikachu save files, which is cute, but as it’s still using Pikachu stats, you’re better off with a Raichu.

TYPING:  Pure electric type’s actually a solid type to be. Resistant to flying, steel, and electric, only weak to ground, and STAB on electric moves is entirely decent.  Sure, ground types ruin your day entirely, but other than that you just have to watch out for grass and dragons resisting... but they’re not super-effective against Raichu so you just need coverage for that. 

Alolan Raichu’s typing is more wild. Four weaknesses, five resistances, two types of STAB. It can use Psychic against Ground types and Electricity against Dark types just fine, but it’s not exactly covering its own weaknesses. Still, it’s hardly a problem.

STATS:  You know, for all the people who think PIkachu’s so great, people don’t seem to realize that outside of Let’s Go, where it got a major stat inflation, Pikachu is not significantly than the other starter pokemon. In fact, it was weaker until it got a defense buff in gen 6.  With a stat total of 320, it’s just an early game pokemon, that even with Gigantimax, Light Ball, and all the other special Pikachu love, you should just evolve it. Yes, technically Light Ball gives it an attack and special attack higher than a Raichu (110 and 100 compared to 90 and 90 or 85 and 95) but the Raichu can more than make up for that with, say, a Life Orb, which brings its damage  up over Light Ball Pikachu’s while not bringing it’s defenses down nearly as far as Pikachu’s.

As a catch there, did you notice where I said 110 and 100? Pikachu has higher physical attack than special attack. And  Kantonian Raichu’s are equal to each other. You’d look at this thing and think it was a special attacker, but no, Pikachu was built to throw down.  Alolan Raichu does have the edge toward special, but not so much that it can’t use a physical attack if it wants to. 

Like most electric types, these boys are fast. Pikachu’s speed is a whopping 90, and Raichu’s is 110. 

Pichu is a pile of garbage with a stat total of a mere 205, which only compares favorably to Caterpie if you’re really impressed by Pichu going first. The only reason Pichu should exist is for use as a trash mob on first routes, but the only game that’s done that is Sun and Moon and even they made it super rare.

Raichu and Alolan Raichu have an overall stat total of 485, which is on the low end of good for end-game. They do have a lot of ‘redundant’ stat points in that they have both good physical and special attack and really don’t need both, but their attack stats and speed are high enough to compete, even if they’re rather frail.

ABILITIES: 

Kantonian Raichu (as well as Pichu and Pikachu) generally knows Static. Static is an entirely useful ability that gives a 30% chance to paraylze the enemy whenever they use an attack on Raichu that make contact. The problem with this ability is that most attacks that make contact are physical and physical defense is Raichu’s poorest stat.  It’s not a useless ability by any stretch of the imagination, but it has a 30% chance to work when things are going poorly for Raichu. Its Hidden Ability, Lightning Rod, is far more useful. LIghtning Rod grants full immunity to electric attacks, increases Raichu’s power if struck by an electric attack, and, in double battles, means that enemy electric attacks can only target Raichu (though this doesn’t stop multi-target electric attacks.)  In single battles, this ability is mostly used to switch Raichu into an electric attack, steal the stat boost while protecting another pokemon, and then start sweeping with a relatively potent special attacker. Despite Raichu’s equal attack stats, this is one of many reasons it tends to be used as a special attacker. In double battles, it’s even better. Setting a pokemon with Lightning Rod down next to a pokemon weak to electricity covers its weakness perfectly, and many battles have been won by pairing a Lightning Rod pokemon with Gyarados. Lightning Rod takes strategy to use, but any successful use of it can really swing a battle in your favor.

Alolan Raichu has a unique ability called Surge Surfer, which doubles its speed in Electric Terrain. As there are NO pokemon with more than twice Alolan Raichu’s speed, this means in Electric Terrain, Alolan Raichu will always go first if there’s no other effects in play. Now, actually getting Electric Terrain up can be difficult, but Max Lightning sets it up, Raichu can learn the move to create it by TM, and a few other pokemon can set it up just by existing, making it a lot more reliable in double battles.  MOVES: By virtue of being the main character, the Pichu line has a LOT of good moves.  Pichu learns Nasty Plot, which is the best reason to raise your own from an egg. As with Lightning Rod, Nasty Plot is a reason Raichu wants to use its special attacks more than its physical ones.... Which is a shame because a properly bred Pichu is the only thing that can learn Volt Tackle, a 120 Power, 100 accuracy electric move with recoil damage and a chance to paralyze.  So Kantonian Raichu just uses good old Thunderbolt as its electric attack. 

Alolan Raichu might want Thunderbolt as well, but if you are building for Electric Terrain, it has another option as well: Electro Ball. Electro Ball’s damage is based on how fast your pokemon is compared to the opponent, and with Surge Surfer it’s not difficult for an Alolan Raichu Electro Ball to have a base power of 120 or even hit its max of 150. 

Now that we’ve got our sweep setup (Nasty Plot or Electric Terrain) and our electric attack (Thunderbolt or Electro Ball) it’s time to look at what else these mice can do. 

Kantonian Raichu only gets a few non-electric special moves, none of which it learns naturally.  Surf and Grass Knot are both potent special attacks against the dreaded Ground-Type Pokemon, enabling Raichu to try sweeping right through them, with Grass Knot generally better against high-powered ground types. Focus Blast is a hell of a drug at 120 power, but 70% accuracy makes it incredibly unreliable. Volt Switch is a decent option for switching out, but once you set up a Nasty Plot sweeper you really don’t want to ever switch out.  Maybe take Surf AND Grass Knot so anything immune to Lightning Bolt knows you really mean business.

Alolan Raichu can get all the important special attacks Kantonian Raichu can, but is also a Psychic type. This means it can learn Psychic, but I’d actually suggest learning Psyshock over that. Against the majority of Pokemon, Thunderbolt or Electro Ball will do quite well after you’ve set up, and while Psyshock is slightly weaker than Psychic, it has the benefit of targeting SPecial Defense instead of Physical Defense. This means a Special Wall, like Blissey, won’t stop you cold.  This does work a lot better with Nasty Plot than Electric Terrain, of course, as Electric Terrain only boosts electric damage, but of course that’s the trade-off. Either way, still take Surf or Grass Knot. Gotta show those ground types whatfor.

Alolan Raichu has its own unique Z-Move, Stoked Sparksurfer, which is just a better version of Gigavolt Havoc, doing the same damage when used off Thunderbolt and paralyzing the target if it manages to survive. This is particularly powerful, but whether or not Z-Moves return will remain to be seen.

Pikachu also has two of its own unique Z-Moves, Catastropika and 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt, but as Z-Crystals and Light Ball both take the item slot, using either of these moves means you’re back down to 55 attack and 50 special attack, and thus wasting everyone’s time even with a 210 power move. 

In Double Battles, Raichu gets even more utility. It can learn both Charm and Eerie Impulse, Fake out, Protect, Encore, Nuzzle, and all sorts of other solid moves for messing with an opponent. Interestingly, many of these attacks require it being a Pichu first... or at least they did. I think in SwSh you can just move relearn them even as a Raichu, making Pichu even more useless. Double Battles also let it take advantage of Thunder, which gains perfect accuracy in the rain, if your other pokemon is, say, a Pelipper with Drizzle or another water pokemon that really wants to hide behind Raichu’s Lightning Rod.

OVERALL: I love this stupid little thing and everything about it except for Pichu which is dumb and awful. I own multiple Pikachus and I like to hug them. Alolan Raichu is one of my favorite Pokemon ever. I used a Raichu back in Blue and her name was Amanda and I loved her bunches.  Raichu’s an entirely solid pokemon to just have in your lineup, but really shines in double battles as both Lightning Rod and Surge Surfer have more utility there, and Raichu can combine its utility with its ability to just end someone’s life with Thunderbolt. 

And in doubles you can even use Volt Tackle because it’s not like you’re going to Nasty Plot a special sweeper out of this marshmallow in 2v2.  You’re just gonna keep ruining an opponent’s ability to do stuff until you have an opening to hit with a 120 power electric attack. 

[kokichi-and-co-imagine-blog]

To everyone: what would your Pokemon teams be and why?

Oh good god.

Well… this is going to get complicated. At least from me.

Let’s start with assuming no legendary Pokemon. Makes life a bit easier. Of course only a bit.

So… first off a lot of this depends on generation and limit. If you’re asking for a full team that I would have with rotations and stuff, we’re looking at… probably close to 10 full teams of 6, maybe even more.

In my defense, I’m a major Pokemon fan and I really really like a lot of them.

Of course, if we’re going to cut down the team to a more manageable six which can be from any region/gen, but only one from each region/gen to keep things interesting and varied… well, it would depend on a lot of things, including mood and such, so if one were to ask me this question again it would likely change. But, here would be, as I feel right now, the team I would use if I was limited to only six, one per region/gen.

1: Lucario. I’ve been a fan of this guy for so so long, ever since it was first introduced. I loved Lucario and the mystery of Mew as a kid (still kinda do). The whole concept behind aura is amazing. One’s spiritual energy/life force/ soul being utilized in combat? Being able to sense others and see without seeing? So awesome. Lucario is just SO. FREAKING. COOL. It’s design is wonderful as well. Jackel/Anubis? Yes please. Plus, I’ve been maining Lucario in Smash Bros. ever since Brawl. You better believe it’s making my team.

2: Tyranitar. Is it probably the weakest pseudo legendary when it comes to typing? Yes. Do I care? No. Tyranitar is BA. First, it’s one of the only two pseudo’s to not be a dragon. Yes, 8 regions, 9 pseudo’s, and only 2 are not dragons. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some dragons. But… variety would be nice, you know? But yeah, not a dragon, still awesome. It’s Godzilla for crying out loud! Plus, its design is just so good. It’s simple but perfect. It’s a giant Lizard creature that could fell mountains. It doesn’t need to be complicated, and is perfectly awe-inspiring and terrifying without being complicated. I also used a Tyranitar in my Ultra Sun playthrough, a male one named Typhon, Man was he fun to use.

3: Golisopod. Listen, if a Pokemon is good enough for YOUR BOI GUZMA to use it on his team, you know it’s a good pokemon. It’s the Alola take on Gyarados and Milotic (weak pathetic first stage with few moves  and while those two do have a slightly higher BST, that ain’t enough to keep my boy Golisopod down. Golisopod’s design is just so good. An Isopod mixed with a Samurai? Sign me right up thank you. It mixes the creepy crawly aesthetic of the bug type with the strong proud samurai perfectly and I love it. And yeah, sure Emergency Exit can be kind of annoying, but it allows you a second usage of First Impression. That is worth it. Also, it’s shiny is dope.

4: Toxtricity. Part of building a team means keeping in mind type composition. I love Grimmsnarl dearly and equally, if not more so, but I already have one Dark-type on the team, so Toxtricity manages to bag this spot. At least, for now considering my current mood. Ask me again tomorrow, or even in an hour, my answer may very well change. Anyway, Toxtricity itself. When I fist saw the design, I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt. It was… interesting to say the least, but I couldn’t figure out what I was looking at, or what it was supposed to be. But after some more time with it, learning more about it and using one I can say that Toxtricity is easily one of my new favorites. Quite possibly my absolute fave from Gen 8. A punk lizard that plays music? Rock/Metal? HECK. YES. The form change is also pretty nice. The stats don’t change between the two, but I honestly like it that way. Just the idea that more energetic natures would have an ‘Amped Up’ form based on an electric guitar while the more mellow natures would have a ‘Lowkey’ one based on a bass is ingenious. Same with the movepool changes. It makes sense that the different forms with their different music preference would have different moves. (My personal fave is the Amped Up, especially with its shiny colors.) Plus, an electric posion type? SO. COOL. Who cares about 4x weak to earthquake, this thing is boss! And Punk Rock is an amazing ability.

5: Flygon. Man oh man was Flygon treated poorly. Added in Gen 3 as a solid pokemon, but with a better attack stat than a special attack one. True, not bad in it of itself but before the Special/Physical split, ALL Dragon-type moves were special. Meaning Dragon Claw, a solid dragon type move back in Gen 3, wasn’t yet a physical move. And Outrage wasn’t even something Flygon could learn yet (it wouldn’t be until Gen 7 that it became a TM). Then came gen 4. Now, I love gen 4. I truly do. It is by far my favorite Gen. And it did do something very good for Flygon. It gave the special/physical split, allowing some Dragon type moves to now be physical as well. But you know what else came along? Garchomp. Honestly, I like Garchomp, I do. But suddenly here we are with a new Dragon/Ground type that is a pseudo-legendary? My poor poor Flygon. And it didn’t get any better. I mean seriously, give Mewtwo and Charizard two megas but none to Flygon? WHILE GIVING ONE TO GARCHOMP WHO DIDN’T NEED IT AND WAS ITS BIGGEST COMPETITION?! Why Game Freak? Why?Anyway, mini-rant aside, I love Flygon. The design is incredible. The line is based on an antlion and is so cool. That sweet green design and the little lenses over the eyes? Perfect, just perfect. Plus, it has some sweet lore. Appearing in sandstorms with haunting music coming from its wings? Yes please. Beautiful pokemon that was done such disservices. It’s a shame really. With Megas gone, Flygon will likely never get that final boost it needs. Though considering it is in Galar while Garchomp isn’t… maybe Flygon will have a chance to shine again. (A shame though that it will never get to have a type change to Bug Dragon. Would be sick.) Regardless of the future though, Flygon will always have a place in my heart, and in my team. 

6: Zoroark. Yeah, I know what I said about team composition above with Toxtricity and Grimmsnarl. But  I also pointed out mood has a lot to do with it. Anyway, for Zoroark itself. Like Lucario, I’veb een a fan for so long, ever since it was first introduced. It’s kinda funny in a way. Zoroark acts as the perfect yin to Lucario’s yang. Lucario uses aura to sense things and to see, Zoroark is the maser of illusions. In it of itself, this illusion business is awesome, but add in how it counters Lucario and it works just so well. Typing as well, Lucario is a fighting steel, the type you’d think of for a chivalrous paladin of justice and truth, while Zoroark is dark (evil type in Japan), perfect for a sly illusion master. Of course, it’s not just dualism with Lucario. The line is just so amazing itself. Clearly drawing from Kitsune, Zoroark is a sly fox that is able to not just use illusions, but masters them to the point of being able to create solid constructs out of them (see the anime). It is just so cool, how can I not love it? Also, like Tyranitar before it, I used a female one named Vixen in my Ultra Sun playthrough and it was a delight. 

Anyway, that would be my team. You know, assuming all the limitations I put on myself and my mood at this moment. But if you guys enjoyed this and want to know more about my favorite pokemon, please let me know. I’m always happy and excited to talk about Pokemon.

Anyway, going to hand this over to the other mods. I’ve been monopolizing this ask for too long.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ooo!! This’ll be fun to answer! Cause, well, I love Pokémon!!!

But, forgive me for this; I haven’t played any of the games.

So im just saying my favorite characters!!!

1: Glacieon, I really, really like glacieons and have always loved ice type Pokémon. Mainly because I really like the cold. Like; really, really, like the cold. I also really like her attacks, their cool!!! (Pun intended)

2: Furret. Absolutely furret, I never knew why I liked furret, but. I’m just gonna blame it on me really liking Ferrets and cause I honestly have really liked normal types for some reason.

3: Vulpix (either one), I really like any fire type Pokémon mainly because I’ve always just had a very weird interest in fire and because vulpix can be either a fire or ice Pokémon I love that about them. And they remind me of a bunch of irl animals that I love!!

4: Smom , I LOVE THOSE LIL ICE BABEYS SO MUCH!?!? They are so cute-!? I JUST LOVE THEM SO MUCH???! They are all my children and I want to adopt them all, and I will. No one can stop me………except maybe the other mods-

5: Sylveon, absolutely. I always have such an attachment even with digital animals, so I absolutely would give my eevee enough attention and love for them to evolve into sylveon. Honestly, it’d end up be accidental, but, I still really love Sylveon, and wouldn’t care if I got more than one of them-

6: Flareon, listen- I just love eevees okay-? I love them all so so much, and would lay down my life for each and every one of them. Just 💞💞💕💖💓💖💝💞💖💕💝💓💕💞💖💞💖💝💘💖💕💕💞

——————————————————————————

Ah, I bet you missed hearing from me! No worries, I’ll tell you my pokemon team, even if it’s not particularly exciting.

First off, a Pachirisu is a must for my team. I’ve always loved how hyper it can be and the mishaps it would cause. Plus, c’mon- who doesn’t like its color scheme?

I’d also incorporate Chimchar to my team. I’ve always had a soft spot for Chimchar, since it was my first ever starter and I leveled mine all the way up to 100 in my Pokemon Platinum playthrough.

Yamper definitely had my heart the moment I saw it! I have a really strong love for dogs, and its addition to the game got me so excited!! Kirigiri can vouch for me on that one.

Growlithe is also integral to me. When my dog was a puppy, I used to jokingly call her a growlithe. I don’t think I still have pictures, but I even got her a floof for halloween once so she could be in a costume with me. Also... Arcanine is seriously badass.

Wooloo is super cute too! I love that it rolls away from its problems, and I, too, wish to do that. Plus the braids immediately reminded me of Peko, so I was super soft for it the moment it was revealed.

Finally, I’ll add my favorite Eeveelution to the team: Glaceon! Something about its sleek design always made me happy, and the way its fur sharpens as defense is super interesting!

(If legendaries were allowed on the team, I would’ve added either Giratina or Shaymin. They’re my favorites.

[sadlazzle]

tbh im doin alright on the shiny starter front. i hav all 3 alola & hoenn starter evos, and ive started on galar & kanto … i’ll masuda for the galar lads but i might DA for the mid stage kanto boys

[littiescorp]

So @great-hero-yellow tagged me in this, so I gotta talk about my Super Smash Bros Ultimate roster. So let's go!

MAINS

1. Corrin

I'm not gonna lie, I suck at SSB. The only reason I'm any good, is this good good (broken, some would say) boy here. And my strategy with him? Button smashing and counter spam. Deadass, that's how I rock this dude. I've even beat great-hero-yellow with a well timed counter from him, it's that good. So yeah, this guy is my main and I intend to keep it that way. His only downfall is his recovery sometimes goes in the wrong direction and you can't move after using it, so I just watch him drift to his doom

2. Marth

Have you seen his white colored alt? It's gorgeous, and the reason I started using him tbh. And I'm not that bad with him either. His only downfall for me is he has no good basic down attack. I remember his counter when I accidentally trigger it, and I don't really know how to do Dancing Blade properly, but he's probably my second best character, and again, Damn that's a nice white outfit

3. Shulk

I love this picture, it's such a mood. A few months before his release trailer, I got into Xenoblade Chronicles, so I was thrilled when he joined the roster. Alas, he's a technical fighter that requires strategy and well timed movements and attacks. I'm no good at any of that. It was a rough go at first, but I slowly (very slowly) got the hang of him. When I die its most likely by spamming backslash, and then using one too close to the edge of the stage, and down he goes. But yeah, I like using him, he's alright. The Monado's defese skill is a blessing

NON-MAINS

1. It's me, bitch! (Mii Sword Fighter)

Yeah it's kinda lame, but I'm a sucker for self inserts. Also I love making Miis. So I made myself a sword fighter cause swords are cool (also the ninja outfit looked cool). They have a lot of personalization with their attack style, so it's fun to mess around with. Mine has a good recovery, a strong down attack, and even a counter. Side-b is fun, but I'm also prone to go flying off the edge of the stage towards death with it, so there's that, but otherwise I think I've built a solid Mii. If only I was good at the game to utilize it lol

2. Bayonetta

When her trailer dropped, I was enamored with her. She's beautiful, sexy, and sassy, and I love it all. Hell, Nintendo had to change the rating just to get her in the game, and her trailer had a warning for "implied sexual themes" which kills me every time I see it. And yes, I do go back and watch it every now and then to relive that glory. But again, she's a very technical character, and unlike Shulk I didn't get too good with her. I'm not terrible, and I can get off one of those long combos every now and again, and witch time is fun when I remember to use it, but her wicked weaves are hard to trigger and miss half the time so yeah. I mostly play them just to piss great-hero-yellow off because of the sleight her trailer gave to the Kid Icarus characters

3. Pikachu

Pikachu was my main in Brawl, and I was actually fairly good with him. He has a fantastic recovery, and let's be real, thunder spam does in fact work. But for some reason, I'm not too good with him in smash 4. Maybe that'll change in Ultimate, but for now I don't use him all that much, but I love him the same. Also, the emerald headband is the cutest alt, don't test me

NEW AND RETURNING CHARACTERS TO TRY

1. Snake

I played Snake a little bit in Brawl, and honestly it's mostly because of his ass (rip snakes ass in Ultimate). I don't think I was too good, but it's been so long since I've played so who knows. I'll probably try him out in Ultimate cause why not.

2. Isabelle

Look at her, she's so precious and pure. I haven't played much of the Animal Crossing games, I'm not too big a fan of real time based games, but even so I got excited when she was introduced to Smash, and I do enjoy her. Besides, who could fight this adorable face and not feel guilt? That's how I plan to play her

3. Incineroar

My boy is here. I chose Litten as my starter in the Alola games, and I truly loved Incineroar, so when I saw him kick that Ken dudes ass, I was overjoyed. He doesn't look like he'll be the best fighter tbh, with the slowest walking speed in the game, but one of his attacks does have a large smash radius, though I can't remember which at this time. But yeah, I love my buff bara cat, and I do plan on trying to use them. Besides, slow characters means I can't get too close to the edge, right? Right?

HONORABLE MENTIONS

I do wanna try playing the Inklings, they're really cute. And Chrom, I'm so glad he's got his chance. Also, I did play a bit as Robin, but I'm not too good tbh. And I may try picking up Roy and Ike, I like their characters but they have pretty bad recoveries, so idk maybe I'll try again.

Anyways, that's my Smash Roster plans. If any of you want to go ahead and do this, feel free. I don't talk to many of my mutuals here, so I'm not gonna tag anyone, sorry. But tag me if you do this, I'd love to see others players, and maybe we can trade friend codes and play together when the game comes out

[hauntinghyrule]

Oooh that’s a cool thought I haven’t considered before!  So these are gonna be mostly disorganized, incomplete ideas, but...

Green:  Green is actually the one giving me the most trouble with this...

Uhhh... something focusing on a theme of teamwork, probably?  Like how some Pokemon games will have a section where you team up with an NPC and do double battles?  And in that case, maybe there are two totem Pokemon - the midday and midnight forms of Lycanroc - and you have to fight them as a double battle that is also an SOS battle.  Challenging!  (also potentially very lag-inducing, but shhh this is all pretend anyway)  Or if that’s too complicated, you could maybe have to do teamwork-stuff to get through most of the trial, but face the Totem Pokemon - in this case a Dusk Lycanroc - by yourself.

And maybe the Totem(s) SOS-summon Minior in addition to Rockruff, because a) they’re Rock/Flying type; Lycanroc is Rock-type and Green’s element is Wind, b) they come in different colors and look a little like the elemental keys in FS+, and c) I kept thinking of that drawing Sarah did of Green with a Minior as I was trying to come up with a trial for him.

Or for a completely different alternative, maybe the trial could be something based on the four forms of Oricorio?  I dunno.  Sorry Green, I’m having trouble coming up with ideas for you!

Red: Now, Red though.  Him I have ideas for.  Red should absolutely have something involving lighting lanterns, like he did in the Temple of Darkness.  Possibly a direct parallel to it: you start out lighting lanterns one by one, but they go out so fast it’s physically impossible to light them all in time that way.  When they go out, you’re faced with a Pokemon battle.  After ~3 battles, a method of lighting all the lanterns at once is revealed, and after doing so you face the Totem Pokemon - Chandelure!  ...technically Chandelure isn’t in Alola’s regional dex, but I want to make an exception because I think it would be such a perfect fit for Red’s trial!

Blue: Not sure what the puzzle would be exactly, but I imagine it’d be something along the lines of “facing challenges head on.”  I keep thinking about A:tLA, and the episode where Toph was first trying to teach Aang to Earthbend.  Could make some use of the Tauros Charge ride Pokemon, perhaps.  Oh, or you could get Sharpedo as a ride Pokemon after completing this trial, and it could have a Sharpedo as a Totem Pokemon!  Or, alternatively, Crabominable.

Vio: For Vio’s trial, I’m thinking you have to retrieve pages from his notebook that have been “stolen” by some mischievous Pokemon in the trial area.  You learn trivia facts about different kinds of Pokemon that help you figure out where they might be hiding.  (Some of Vio’s dialogue would definitely hint that the whole thing is orchestrated and he and the Pokemon actually planned the “theft” as part of the trial.)

As for Totem Pokemon... dang, I really want to say Decidueye.  On the one hand, yeah having an evolved form of a starter as a Totem Pokemon doesn’t seem like something that’d happen, and it’d be part Ghost, same as Red’s Chandelure, but c’mon!  Archery bird!  It’s even grass-type, which suits Vio’s Earth element!  I’m having a very hard time coming up with other options that I like even half as well.

Shadow: Something involving darkness, reflections, the seen vs. the unseen... how does this sound: the trial takes place in an obsidian cave. Shadow’s dialogue says some things about “knowing your true self” and “seeing yourself as you really are,” which sounds quite poetic and meaningful.  And maybe that’s true, but it’s also quite literal advice.  See, each chamber of the cave offers several paths forward.  Near each path will be a patch of obsidian on the floor or wall polished smooth enough to see your own reflection.  But only one of them will show you accurately - all the others will have some small detail wrong.  (This is a great chance to play to the trainer customization features, too!)  You can only progress via the path that shows your “true self”; any other path will send you back to the beginning of the trial.

I like the idea of his Totem Pokemon being Absol.  Although it’s a one-stage Pokemon so I’m not really sure what it would summon as SOS allies.  Alternatively, it could be Weavile, maybe make the cave reflections ice rather than obsidian?  Though, Weavile would result in more type doubling no matter which Totem Blue uses, and... I’m just very fond of Absol and its “not as 'evil’ as I seem” symbolism ^^;;

(If anyone else wants to share their own thoughts on this, too, please feel free!)

[pokemaniacal]

Poplio, Brionne and Primarina

Time for Alola starter number 3: the Water-types, Poplio, Brionne and Primarina.  I have something of a history of being distressingly lukewarm on Water-type starters, whom I’ve often put in the “fine” basket with little further comment, and for a while it looked like Poplio was going to go the same way, if not worse.  I know I’m not the only one who was less than enthusiastic about Alola’s Water-type starter initially.  After all, we’re onto our fourth pinniped Pokémon now (that’s seal, sea lion and walrus Pokémon, for the uncultured masses), they’re all Water-types, and this is even the second starter among them.  But even Poplio has design elements that show a different direction to Dewgong, Walrein and Samurott, which only continue to diverge through evolution, and this has turned out to be one of those Pokémon that feels weird to me at first, but makes more sense the longer I keep looking at it.

Poplio, Brionne and Primarina, above everything else, are performers.  They progress through different performing arts as they evolve, which can give the design a sort of patchwork feel when you look at it from certain angles, especially the middle stage.  On the other hand, the progression from frivolous clownishness to “high” art, along with the fact that all three forms are appropriate to seal Pokémon in different ways, helps tie it together.  Poplio is a typical performing seal who entertains crowds with ball and balloon tricks, with the twist that her powers let her create bubbles of water where a real performing seal would use a rubber ball.  As Brionne, she picks up a sort of “tutu” and becomes a dancer, though she doesn’t lose her clown nose, which… y’know, ballet clowns are totally a thing, right?

…okay, I googled it and I’m just not even going to question this stuff anymore.

Primarina takes the final step on this “career” to become an opera singer, who controls her bubble attacks with her voice.  Balloons and bubbles, to dance, to opera feels a bit pasted together at first, but I’m beginning to warm to it; Poplio’s tricks are exactly the kind of thing we expect from a performing seal, and seals undeniably have the grace (in the water, anyway) to be appropriate as inspiration for a dancing Pokémon, while Primarina’s songs have a more indirect link that we’ll get to later.  The three stages are also tied together by their shared attitudes to life and their respective arts.  As performers, these Pokémon emphasise looking and sounding perfect for their adoring public.  We’re told that Brionne will never let herself appear sad in front of anyone but a trusted trainer, maintaining a happy pop idol persona at all times regardless of her true feelings, while Primarina is, well, a prima donna.  According to the Pokédex, Primarina’s trainer “must prioritise the daily maintenance of its throat at all costs,” presumably by taking pains not to overwork her voice, and… I don’t know, maybe using some kind of throat spray to relax the vocal cords?  It’s a line that paints a picture of a very demanding, high-maintenance Pokémon, much like a pop idol or a famous opera singer.  In fairness to Primarina, her song is what controls her Water-type techniques, so if she sings herself hoarse, it’ll all be over before the proverbial fat lady gets to her first note.  As with whales, their songs are shared amongst their social groups so that different colonies have different musical traditions, like different human languages or cultures – a core part of their identity.  It’s not really clear what all these different kinds of performances are actually for, though we could imagine (as with most animal traits that seem manifestly impractical) that they originally formed part of mating displays, and have now been adapted to new purposes with Poplio’s integration into human society.  I’m writing this from Sydney, Australia, where I’m applying for a Greek visa (don’t ask), and just yesterday saw some sea lions perform with their keepers at Taronga Zoo.  There’s something almost doglike about their playfulness, intelligence, and willingness to take commands (which sort of makes sense, since pinnipeds are related to dogs).  What’s really striking, though, is how much they seem to revel in the attention of spectators – I imagine this is more a product of their upbringing and training than anything innate to the animals themselves, but still something that Primarina captures and exaggerates in quite an interesting way.

Primarina’s magical song also has a hint of the siren or mermaid – alluring creatures whose beauty, enchanting voice, or both (accounts vary as to whether they are really attractive or simply possess enthralling magic) can bewitch sailors into veering off course and wrecking their ships on jagged rocks.  The sirens of Greek mythology originally seem to have been birdlike in Greek art, but subsequent ages have morphed them so that they often appear more like mermaids today, and they give their name to the order of marine mammals that includes manatees and dugongs, the sirenians (as well as, for that matter, Primarina in Japanese – Ashirene).  Now, Primarina is obviously much more seal or sea lion than dugong, but on the other hand, Dewgong (or Jugon, in Japanese) makes it quite clear that Game Freak’s designers have never really known what a dugong actually is, so I’m not going to lose too much sleep over that one.  Besides, seals have their own mythological link to mermaids, sirens and the like via the selkie, a Celtic water spirit who can shed her seal form to become a beautiful woman, and will be forced to stay with any man lucky enough to find her skin before she puts it back on and returns to the sea (because, you know, what better foundation is there for a relationship than stealing someone’s skin so you can hold them against their will?).  Primarina’s sort of a kid-friendly version of all this, with neither seduction nor abduction coming into it, but bears a distinctive mermaid-like tail and feminine-coded characteristics.  And of course I keep calling Primarina “she ” even though the Poplio line, like all starters, have a 7:1 male-female ratio in the games.  Maybe we should think of her as a drag queen – after all, if nothing else, it would fit the theme of performance (not to mention sassy prima donna personalities)…

Turning now to her gameplay characteristics, Primarina’s Water/Fairy type combination invites comparison to Azumarill, but with a look at her stats it’s clear she’s trying to do something quite different.  Primarina has one of the most skewed stat lines of all the starter Pokémon (who are typically very rounded), with the highest special attack and special defence of the lot, and tied with Incineroar, Swampert and Empoleon for second-lowest speed (after Torterra).  She’s much too slow to sweep a team on her own, but can help wear down your opponents to clear the way for another member of her team.  Her Moonblast can blow massive holes in just about anything that doesn’t resist Fairy attacks (and not much does), and her Water attacks, Surf, Scald, Hydro Pump and Sparkling Aria (more on which later) will hammer almost anything else.  You’re sort of almost fine with just two attacks, but Primarina has a surprisingly thin support movepool, so most likely you’ll end up loading a couple of coverage moves onto her.  Ice Beam and Psychic are both viable choices for the Grass/Poison Pokémon that resist both of her main attacks (Psychic is probably to be preferred because it hits Water/Poison as well), while Energy Ball gives her a nasty sting for rival Water-types.  Shadow Ball is also there, but isn’t conspicuously great against anything that Primarina needs to watch out for, unless for some reason you’re particularly worried about Shedinja, who is immune to all of Primarina’s other attacks.

Primarina’s support movepool, again, is surprisingly lacklustre, and you don’t want her massive special attack stat to sit gathering dust, so she lends herself more to being a blasty tank than a supporty one.  If you want to fit some utility into her moveset though (and you probably can, if she’s not using a Choice item; she’s got pretty fantastic baseline neutral type coverage from Moonblast and Water attacks), Reflect can shore up her poor physical defence, or Light Screen can push her special defence to ridiculous levels.  Encore is cute, but better on a fast Pokémon, Sing is garbage and always has been, and Perish Song is wonderful thematically but just doesn’t work without a trapping move or ability.  She also gets Misty Terrain, which is worth noting purely because it’s still a fairly exclusive move; only a dozen Pokémon can learn it.  It’s not a great field condition because its benefits are almost wholly defensive, and its dampening effect on Dragon attacks doesn’t help the Fairy Pokémon who actually learn it, since they’re immune to Dragon attacks anyway.  Moreover, if you do want Misty Terrain, you’re almost certainly better off using Tapu Fini, who is the same type, gets Misty Terrain as a passive ability, and has better stats for a support role anyway.  Probably the most conspicuous absence is that Primarina has no healing aside from Rest (well… I mean… and Aqua Ring… I guess…), which again makes her very much a blasty tank.  She can take most special attacks all right (physical ones are another matter, but fortunately her weaknesses are to types with few powerful physical attacks), but she can’t recover from them, so play her cautiously and try to avoid taking unnecessary damage.

Like most Alolan Pokémon, Primarina has a signature move: Sparkling Aria.  This is a Water-type special attack, as powerful as Surf and with the same range in a double battle.  There are basically two differences, both of them fairly subtle and one of them a little bit useless.  First: Sparkling Aria is a sonic attack, which means that it bypasses Substitutes (neat, since Primarina is otherwise the type of Pokémon to get screwed pretty hard by Substitute) and is blocked by the Soundproof ability (potentially useful if you pair Primarina with a Soundproof partner in doubles).  Second: for some reason, Sparkling Aria cures burns.  Not Primarina’s burns, but the target’s burns.  There are occasions when you might want to heal an opponent’s burn, because a couple of abilities trigger while a target is burned, but if that’s actually important to a Pokémon’s strategy it’ll probably carry a Flame Orb, which will immediately inflict another burn at the end of the turn.  In doubles you can use it to cure your partner’s burn… at the cost of hitting them with a strong Water attack from Primarina’s impressive special attack score.  “Well,” you might be thinking, “at least I can use it to cure burns on allies with Soundproof or Water Absorb,” but no, that would clearly be much too useful; if you’re immune to Sparkling Aria’s damage, you don’t get the healing either.  I don’t quite understand what this is for; the upside and the downside are both so tiny that they shouldn’t really influence the choice of Sparkling Aria vs. Surf, Scald or Hydro Pump, so all it really does is force me to waste time evalu-

…

…well played, Game Freak.  Well played.

Liquid Voice, Primarina’s hidden ability, is just as weirdly specific.  It turns all of her sound moves into Water moves, which… well, might be useful for a Pokémon that didn’t already get Sparkling Aria.  I guess a Water-type Hyper Voice is nice in doubles because it doesn’t damage your partner – but if you go that way, you’ll miss out on Sparkling Aria’s totally sweet burn healing effect!

I can’t tell whether I’m being sarcastic anymore; it’s time to stop.

Overall, I’m fairly happy with this one.  Poplio, Brionne and Primarina have flaws.  I think Brionne could have used some more work to make the transition from Poplio’s playfulness to Primarina’s stately elegance a little smoother; there’s elements of the design, like the ‘tutu’ and weird bubble-string ears, that don’t seem to go anywhere.  On the mechanics side, that signature move and hidden ability seem more like they’re here for the sake of giving Primarina something nominally unique than because the designers actually had an interesting role in mind for either of them (having said that, I’m glad Sparkling Aria exists, because it’s thematically important; I just wish it posed more interesting trade-offs, and weren’t somewhat redundant with Liquid Voice).  But honestly, most of that is fairly minor quibbling.  I don’t think there’s anything seriously wrong with any of them, even if Poplio did seem a little on the derpy side at first, and they take some characteristic of real sea lions in an interesting direction while distinguishing themselves from previous Pokémon of the same kind.  So yeah.  Good job, Poplio.

[ryes-reviews-blog]

Pokémon Direct Trailer Review: Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield

The Pokémon franchise has been one of the most successful of its time, with a mass following of both male and female, young and old, from across the globe. Unsurprisingly many people wait for the next generation of games to continue their adventure and discover new regions and Pokémon.  Generation 8 brings us Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield.  One of the strengths of The Pokémon Company is that they know how much information to give their fan-base without releasing too much and forgoing the anticipation.  So what all does the first trailer of Generation 8 provide?

The Galar Region

The Galar Region is the name of where this adventure takes place, with settings including plains, industrial cities, misty forests, caves with glittering jewels, snow-covered mountains, coastlines, and what looks to be a hot spring.  With so many different landscapes it stands to reason that there is going to be a large amount of native Pokémon to the Galar Region. The map of the region shows a large clock tower, and as many Pokémon fans know the inspiration for the regions comes directly from the actual world.  Kalos’ electric-gym is based off Paris’ Eiffel Tower, and the islands of Alola mirroring the Hawaiian Islands are two of the more recent examples but they go back as far as Generation 2’s architectural inspiration, if not farther.  This clock tower mentioned above appears to be based off Big Ben in England.  The map of the region does look quite linear, but it should be brought to attention that the Pokémon games have always been linear in gameplay, requiring trainers to visit the gyms in a specific order which is pre-planned and placed on the trainer card.  There has also always been an element of back-tracking to past locations within the games, so it is a near-certainty that the same will occur within Generation 8.

The Starter Pokémon

Probably the most anticipated aspect of Pokémon next to the title legendary Pokémon for each game, the starter Pokémon are three characters that involve so much speculation, anxiety, hope, and fear.  At the start of each adventure, the player gets to select one of the three Pokémon to take with them on their journey, so it’s understandable why everyone looks forward to the release of this information, especially since these Pokémon can’t be caught in the wild.  The Fire-type rabbit, Scorbunny, Water-type chameleon, Sobble, and Grass-type monkey, Grookey are the starters in the Galar Region.  Nintendo and Pokémon continue their trend with the Fire-starter as a member of the Sheng Xiao (Chinese Zodiac). To date there is:

Charmander – Dragon Cyndaquil – Rodent/Mouse Torchic – Rooster Chimchar – Monkey Tepig – Pig/Boar Fennekin – Fox/Dog Litten – Tiger Scorbunny – Rabbit

Due to a trend that has happened over a 3-year period, there is a lot of worry that Scorbunny will evolve into a Fire/Fighting-type like other Fire-starter Pokémon have.  However, with only the first-stage design revealed and no information about second-stage sprites, it is much too early to confirm.  Nonetheless, speculation about dual-typings for all 3 starters is a topic at large.

The Pokémon Seen

The Pokémon within the trailer will sometimes help to flush out what the region will entail as well as some of the mechanics that take place. Pokémon that we have seen currently include (in order of appearence):

Pikachu Minccino Wishiwashi Grubbin Hoothoot Zweilous Flygon Braviary Meowstic Wailmer Lucario Tyranitar Munchlax

Only one Pokémon from Generations 1 and 2 are seen, but little is meant by this with a new region.  There is a chance that some new evolutions from pre-existing Pokémon will be introduced, but speculation of such additions are present with every new Generation.  With that said, the Pokémon shown offer up some insight into what mechanics may (and should) be included within Generation 8.

The Mechanics

With so many different mechanics having been introduced across the generations required to evolve certain Pokémon, it stands to reason everything seen in the past will be present in Sword and Shield. Location-based evolution, item evolution, and friendship levels are all examples for mechanics that will be returning to gameplay.  Pokémon-amie is also likely to appear for Sylveon to be obtainable.  New in-game mechanics have not been mentioned yet, but like any Pokémon game there is almost certainly going to be some new evolution mechanic(s) introduced.

Motion controls will be used in the game as it is released on the Nintendo Switch.  Like Pokémon: Let’s Go Pikachu and Pokémon: Let’s Go Eevee, the Pokéball Plus will be useable with the game to control the avatar as well as catch Pokémon.  Wild battles also play a role in the game.  Usually this would go without saying, but it is worth mentioning since it was not included in the Let’s Go games.  Pokémon gyms will also be part of gameplay, a facility that was swapped out for trials in Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon.

The end of the trailer shows a male avatar wearing what might be a soccer (or football) uniform walking into a stadium.  This might be a minigame similar to the Poké-athon that Heartgold and Soulsilver had, or it could be the Elite 4 location. With only a second or two of footage there is no certainty, but it would definitely be a great addition for a game set in a region taking place in the UK.

The Title Artwork

Pokémon games have teased what the legendary Pokémon for the generation will be since Generation 2 with Gold and Silver.  The symbols for Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield both include the head of a wolf, which could be a clue to what Legendary Pokémon will be introduced to the games.  Part of the joy in the game series is the lore that the developers include in their game, drawing off different mythologies or counteracting forces.  One area that Pokémon has not been delved into much as of yet is Norse Mythology, but in a landscape that, as we know it, is in the Northern regions of Earth it is likely that this could be a huge inspiration for the games.  If intertextuality is anything to draw upon, A Song of Ice and Fire (A Game of Thrones) might be an indication to what the typings will be for these legendary Pokémon. It should be noted this is all speculation and nothing is concrete other than the fact that there are indeed wolf heads.