#alomomola line

[shiny-poke-edits]

the alomomola line

[toast24]

Alomomola and luvdisc!

Tried something with no lines again. It's actually really fun to do and comes out looking interesting. Also I really wanted to draw these Pokemon because I think they don't get enough love from the fans.

[haveyouusedthispokemon]

Unova Poll Stats

Going over the most and least used Pokemon from the fifth round of polls!

This is not including Pokemon that were in the Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, or Sinnoh sets.

The Least Used Pokemon

The pokemon who had the largest percentage of No, I haven’t used them

Alomomola with 91.1%

The Most Used Single-Stage Pokemon

The pokemon who had the largest percentage of Yes, I have used them

Reshiram with 47.9% (Overall)

Emolga with 37.9% (Non-Legendary)

The Most Used Evolution Line

The pokemon who had the largest percentage of Yes, I’ve used all evolutions

The Snivy line with 64.6% (Overall)

The Litwik line with 59.4% (Non-Starter)

The Most Used Partial Evolution Line

The pokemon who had the largest percentage of Yes, I’ve used at least one evolution

The Yamask line with 35.6%

The Most Used Overall

The pokemon who had the largest percentage of combined Yes answers

The Oshawott line with a combined total of 82.4%

Honorable Mentions

The poll with the most votes was the Zorua line with 778 votes, while the least votes was Heatmor with 338 votes.

The most used starter pokemon was Oshawott, while the least used was Tepig.

The most used Legendary was Reshiram, while the least used was Thundurus.

The most used fossil pokemon was the Archen line with a combined yes percentage of 50.2%.

The Pokemon closest to a tie between used and unused was the Cottonee line with a combined yes percentage of 50% and a no percentage of 50%.

Out of 83 polls, 55 have higher 'not used' percentages than combined yes percentages.

[bethanythebogwitch]

It’s once again time for me to talk about the real-life inspirations for every fish Pokémon. Today I’ll be covering generations V and VI. For previous generations check here and here.

The Unova games were the first ones I played and so a lot of the gen V Pokémon are special to me. This is not the case for Basculin. These stupid fish made any time spent on the water a living hell and they don’t even have the decency to evolve into something good like Zubat. Basculin was added to the Unova dex last minute to fill out the fish archetype and they really shouldn’t have bothered as this Pokémon is pretty garbage. But wait, what’s this? BAH GAWD IT’S HISUI WITH AN EVOLUTION! Basculegion redeems white-striped Basculin as a concept by giving it a pretty awesome evolution. Only white-striped Basculin though, red and blue still stink since they can’t evolve. Anyway, they’re bass, most likely largemouth bass as they are large, predatory, and the dex entries say they put up a hell of a fight when hooked. Largemouth bass are a very common predatory fish in north America and have been introduced to freshwater systems around the world due to them being incredibly popular amongst anglers for the fight they put up. This has led to them becoming invasive species in many regions, which could be why Basculin can be found in every region since Unova.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH (image: a largemouth bass)

Basculin’s aggressive nature could be based on common misconceptions about piranhas (see the gen III entry for more info about that) and their different colors and habit of fighting each other could be based on bettas, which are famous for being colorful and ready to throw down at the drop of a hat. The color differences of the Basculins could be based on allopatric speciation. This is when a population gets split by some geographic feature and the populations on each side start developing differently to each other. If that is the case, all I can say is that the Shellos line did it better. White-striped Basculin takes the same inspirations as red and blue and adds in salmon. Like salmon, they swim up rivers to spawn and their jaws have points like kypes, those weird jaw hooks that male salmon get.

Puberty hits the salmon the way Godzilla hit Tokyo (image: a male salmon in breeding season)

Basculegion continues the salmon trend of white-striped Basculin, while also adding some Ainu inspiration. Ainu legend has the ciray, a gigantic salmon or taimen (a salmon relative) that can eat deer and boars. It also drawn influence from a type of Ainu boat called the itaomacip, hence its use as a ride Pokémon in Hisui. The Ainu are indigenous people hailing from Hokkaido, the Japanese island that inspired Hisui. Basculegion status as a combination of fish souls may be inspired by schooling fish, though in this case the whole school is one fish. I also think it has some definite inspiration from decorative carp streamers. The color differences between male and female Basculegion is inspired by the sexual dimorphism in salmon and relatives. Both sexes change color during mating season, but males become much more vibrant than females. Wow, I did not think I would have this much to say about Basculin.

Alomomola should be the long-needed evolution for Luvdisc, but it isn’t. Hell, the devs know it should be an evolution and teased us by putting Luvdisc in Alomomola’s Paldea pokedex picture. It’s a mola mola, also known as the ocean sunfish. I mentioned these previously while discussing Sharpedo. They are gigantic and weird animals that look like somebody chopped the back half off of a fish.

(image: an ocean sunfish)

like Alomomola, the mola is a gentle giant that moves slowly and is basically incapable of actually hurting anything. The sunfish’s diet consists largely of jellyfish, which is why Alomomola lives in the same places as the Frillish line. Its fins look like hands and its body looks like a heart, making it a possible reference to the Claddagh ring, an Irish symbol consisting of two hands clasping a crowned heart, representing love, loyalty, and friendship, fitting for a defensive support Pokémon. Alomomola’s tendency to wrap itself in a protective membrane is likely a reference to parrotfish, who incase themselves in a  protective mucus cocoon when sleeping. Alomomola’s role as a healer fish may be inspired by cleaner fish (who clean parasites and dead skin off of larger fish, something that molas often need) and the red garra, a fish often used in spas to eat dead skin off of people’s feet.

What’s this? A non-water type fish? Yes, it’s the Tynamo line. Anyway, these fellows have an interesting inspiration. They’re based on lampreys and electric eels, two animals that are often called eels but aren’t. Electric eels are a genus of knifefish while lampreys aren’t even fish. Maybe. This gets complicated. Starting simple, electric eels are famous for their ability to generate electricity, though this isn’t unique to them. The ability of an animal to generate electricity is called electrogenesis and it is usually used to detect prey by creating an electric field and then sensing changes in the field. A few animals take this farther by generating enough electricity to stun or kill prey and potential predators. Electrogenesis and electroreception are mostly seen in aquatic animals as water is a much better conductor than air. Electric eels are easily the most famous electric fish, capable of delivering very painful shocks to humans. Studies on it appear to have influence some very important inventions in the study of electricity. Electric eels are also obligate air-breathers, being incapable of breathing water. This could be a reason why the Tynamo line live outside of water.

More like EELectric, am I right guys? ...Guys? (image: an electric eel)

Lampreys are also capable of electroreception, though they can’t generate shocks like electric eels. Lampreys are some of the only surviving agnathans, a group commonly known as the jawless fishes for pretty self-evident reasons. Most agnathans went extinct due to competition from jawed fish (gnathostomes) but the lampreys and hagfish managed to hold on. Lampreys are famous for their conical mouths, which they use to suction onto things. While the Tynamo line are based on the more famous parasitic lampreys, who suction onto other fish to drink their blood, the majority of lamprey species are harmless algae-eaters.

Gimmie a kiss (image: a lamprey, mouth toward the camera)

Tynamo is distinct from its later forms in that it looks like a leptocephalus larva, a type of fish larva known for a body plan that looks like a transluscent leaf with a head on one end. Leptocephalus larvae are found in fish of the superorder elopomorpha, which includes eels among others. So an eel larva evolves into a combination of to animals that are often called eels but aren’t. I love it.

(image: a leptocephalus larva)

Tynamo may also be based on early lightbulbs like the Crookes tube. The lamprey brings up to the complicated question of “what is a fish?”. From the standpoint of a fisherman, a fish is any scaly thing with gills that lives in the water, but when you look at things from a taxonomic viewpoint, it’s much more complicated. Because you can’t evolve out of your ancestry and belong to any categories your ancestors belonged to, any attempt to classify all scaly things with gills that live in the water in the same clade results in every vertebrate falling under the fish classification. This is why, to taxonomists, there is no such thing as a fish. it’s simply not possible to put bony fish, cartilaginous fish, and jawless fish in a category together without making that category so overly broad it isn’t useful.

It’s flat fuck Friday and I’m talking about Stunfisk. Its biggest influence seems to be the flounder, the most famous of the flatfish, though flounders lie on their side and stunfisk lies on its underbelly.

(image: a flounder)

Because of this, it likely also draws influence from stingrays, particularly the electric rays, which can release an electric shock to stun prey similarly to the more famous electric eel. This would explain the electric typing.

It's shocking! (image: an electric stingray)

Both Unovan and Galarian Stunfisk live in wet, muddy areas but don’t necessarily live in water. This makes me think of fish that can live both in and out of the water, like walking catfish, mudskippers, and lungfish. These fish can often breathe air and can spend much of not most of their time on land, though they generally must stay in wet environments like beaches and mud puddles. Both forms of Stunfisk are ambush predators, but they employ different strategies. Unaovan Stunfisk simply buries itself under mud and waits for prey to step on it before delivering a shock. Galarian Stunfisk is somewhat more active as it uses aggressive mimicry to actively lure prey in. Disturbingly, it uses a mouth colored like an item ball to lure in prey, suggesting it may be specialized to attract and prey on humans. Because Galarian Stunfisk doesn’t have the electricity generating organs of its Unovan cousins, it relies on strength to take down prey, clamping shut with modified fins that are based on a bear trap.

Moving on to gen VI, we have the Skrelp line. These are based on the weedy seadragon, a relative of the seahorse and pipefish. Like its inspiration, Skrelp relies on defensive mimicry for survival, camouflaging itself as seaweed to avoid predators, and its tail is not prehensile like a seahorse’s would be. Once it evolves, it becomes more of a leafy seadragon, another seahorse relative of seahorses that uses the same defensive mimicry, but it much more elaborate in appearance. However Skrelp and Dragalge are poison-types and I could find no examples of poisonous or venomous seahorses or sea dragons. That being said, there is a possible inspiration for their poison typing. The line is specifically stated to live around rotting seaweed, which emits hydrogen sulfide and ammonia, both of which are toxic to humans and many other animals in high enough doses. Like with Kingdra, Dragalge’s dragon tying comes from the Japanese word for seahorse: “tatsu-no-otoshigo”, which means “dragon’s child”.

(image: a male weedy sea dragon carrying his eggs)

(image: a leafy sea dragon)

Next time I'll cover gens VII and VIII. Gen IX will probably get its own post as there are a surprising amount of fish in Paldea

[favevostagepoll]

wrong poll options on the luvdisc/alomomola poll boss

Oh no that's on purpose. The part about pitting Luvdiscand Alomomola against each other was a joke because they're not an evolution line. So it's just a solo Alomomola poll. Sorry if that wasn't clear!

[adobe-outdesign]

What are your thoughts on Luvdisc? And Alomomola too if you feel like it, because let’s admit it, those two should’ve definitely been related.

Luvdisc is... well, a disc. No false advertising there. It's probably one of the simplest Pokemon designs out there, literally just a heart shape with eyes, cheeks, and a bit of a mouth.

While the simplicity is nice to some extent, I do find myself wanting more of out it. I think it's just the lack of anything to break up the body—even just a small fin at the top or the side would've helped it look more organic (seriously, how does this thing swim) and would've given it just enough detail as to not feel so plain.

One thing I do like about Luvdisc is that it has some neat worldbuilding associated with it, such as being used as a gift to loved ones and being considered a good romantic omen if spotted. Outside of this, however, Luvdisc is fairly forgettable.

Alomomola is so obviously similar to Luvdisc (heart shaped, pink, water-type, associated with love and kindness) that I'm pretty convinced it was designed to be Luvdisc's evo before they decided that Gen 5 would only feature previous Pokemon in the post game, thus they decided to break it off into its own 'mon. It's a particularly weird choice to have both be separate, as we now have two lines with the same theme that are both single-stagers for no reason.

Looking at Alomomola on its own though, I do like it a bit more than Luvdisc. It's based off of the mola-mola or ocean sunfish, also known as one of God's silliest creatures:

However, despite being based on such an interesting fish, Alomomola is fairly unremarkable. It could've shared the mola-mola's gigantic size, maybe even having Luvdisc feed on its parasites in some regions if they really didn't want to go with the evo route. Instead, Alomomola is characterized as a loving Pokemon, which is fine but already done to death with Pokemon like Chansey and Audino.

Visually, the additional fins help break up the design a bit and work better than Luvdisc's plainness; mostly because it's clearly a (sun)fish that looks like a heart, rather than literally looking exactly like a heart and nothing else. I like how the mouth shape mimics the fin shape and how the black makes the eyes pop, but otherwise it's fairly standard. Nothing bad, just nothing remarkable either.

Seeing as GameFreak is never going to retcon these guys into one line, I think they could both use a little something. I could easily see Alomomola getting a regional—maybe a dark-type based on a broken heart or something obvious like that. Then maybe Luvdisc could get an evo that goes in a different direction, like it starts getting some cupid-like elements or something. That might help make the two lines more distinct, because if they're not gonna be together, might as well push them further apart.

Tl;dr: Both lines are decently designed and do what they need to, but suffer from being unrelated single-stagers for no reason, something that new forms could potentially fix. Between the two, Alomomola is a bit more thought out, but ultimately both are pleasant enough.

[prayers-to-hyliarceus]

Hello! My name is Zelda, she/her, and I am a Faller hailing from the kingdom of Hyrule, along with some of my friends.

hey i'm Link! renowned swordfighting genderless Hylian cryptid. also an unofficial chef, just 'cause i like food a lot. he/they.

My name is Urbosa (she/her), chieftain of the Gerudo. Also somehow an adoptive mother of six and still most likely counting. I love my children very much. This is a threat to whomever decides they want to attempt to cross a line.

Ought to introduce myself as well, I suppose! I am Princess Mipha of the Zora. She/her. Pleasure to make all of your acquaintances.

I'm sorry, six?

I've known you for a while now. One of them is Illanero, and— you can do the math.

I...... see.

Our Pokemon teams are as follows:

Me

Celebi (F)

Satori (Ponyta ✨, M [sie/sier])

Naydra (Dratini, F)

Link (he/they)

Madas (Honedge, X [they/them])

Epona (Ponyta, F)

Koshia (Kirlia, M)

Fi (Kirlia ✨, F)

Shido (Gible, M)

Urbosa (she/her)

Naboris (Blitzle, F)

Blupee (Pachirisu, M)

Daruk (Sandshrew, M)

Mipha (she/her)

Andante (Alomomola, F)

[OOC info below cut!]

hi, Pancake here (@pancake-umbreon) with another intro post because the fourth and final main character has joined the blog! i am so not normal about botw/totk. especially with Zelda :3

pelipper mail/malice is on, but magic anons are not. also no nsfw is allowed! also this is the link for tag navigation!

Zelda and Link are post-totk (totk spoilers will not be tagged, so take caution if you haven’t finished the game), but Urbosa and Mipha are pre-botw. they have not died yet. i do in fact intend to be scheming with this.

note about pink text color: anyone whose text color is pink is a side character! they will not be joining the blog permanently whenever they pop on. hence why characters like Cynthia and Fantina have the same text color.

please let me know OOC if any trigger warnings need to be tagged!

also here's the full-sized profile picture if you're interested :> (tis indeed my art)

additional important note: please do not send me any pokemon or pokemon eggs or anything of the like unless you ask for permission first. unfortunately, chances are that i will say no because i already have their teams laid out.

also, anyone is free to interact! literally anyone! eebies/sapient pokemon, fallers (obviously), etc etc. again, just as long as it’s not nsfw ^v^

[jazz-kity]

i can forgive killing crawli's parents but i draw the line at alomomola

[doubleddenden]

I've come around to the idea of Convergent Species in Pokemon for a pretty fun idea I had.

Before, when we looked at something like Wiglett and Wugtrio, they were basically just regional variants with a fancy new label- but then we got Sinistcha and Poltchageist, Convergents that- while not my favorite- proved that at bare minimum, the naming conventions can be swapped around.

Which to me... got me thinking.

Think of Carvahna and Sharpedo, and now think of Garchomp. They've always had a fun design similarity and are both sharks, but are unrelated.

But imagine a regional variant or new evolution introduced for Sharpedo- its now a water type Garchomp with a different name and a slightly remixed design.

Now, think of how Cubone was probably meant to be Kangaskhan's baby, but is not part of the evolutionary family. Imagine a convergent species where either a regional variant or something resembling Cubone and Marowak evolve into either Kangaskhan or something similar. And we'll just say the same thing for something like Luvdisc and Alomomola.

They could even give starters a unique convergent take- say, instead of something like Cyndaquil being a standard starter, it could be an ice type convergent species that has stats and evolution levels more akin to a pseudo legend, and can be found in the wild in a specific place.

Could even turn the rarest of pokemon into just ordinary mimics. Take Treeko for instance, except instead of it being a 3 stage grass type, it's now a 2 stage normal type. Or, take something like Articuno of all things, and now it's a 3 stage line about as powerful as a standard regional bird.

I think we'll see a curve ball like something from above happen in ZA and or Gen 10. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if there were convergents made to resemble lost forms- think like if Mega Charizard X was a separate Pokemon from Charizard and had it's own evolution tree, or similar to something like Gmax Kingler.

If nothing else, there's food for fan art ideas, anyway.

[pokemon-variants-pokedex]

Azure is big but fluffy and dark blue in color… he’s also been eating fish and rawst berries more often that normal noibat food. Does this help in identifying him?

Hmm. To me, it sounds like that Azure's mother was a "Fruitvern" and his father was from the Hydreigon line making for a very interesting cross! Azure is most likely going to rely on his sonar/echolocation abilities as he grows due to Deino and Zweilous less than stellar vision. Don't worry if he bumps into things at first! He's just getting used to the new environment! Fish, berries, and traditional noibat food is a good diet for him. Sounds like he likes bitter food. Some other bitter berries are Leppa, Oran, Lum, Sitrus, Aguav, Nanab, Wepear, Pomeg, Kelpsy, Hondew, Rabuta, Durin, Rindo, Coba, Haban, Ganlon, Petaya, Jaboca, and Maranga! I've heard that Alomomola is often enjoyed by pokemon who enjoy bitter tastes but getting him fish found in areas around where you caught him might remind him of home!

-Prof. V. Maple

(/ooc: I didn't spend 20 minutes figuring out which berries where bitter shut up.)

[the-koiking-pond]

Are both Feebas and Magikarp from the same family species but they somehow branched each other? If so, are they the only species of their family or is there more like them? I heard that the Dratini, and Dragonair line once evolved into Gyarados due to how similar their appearance are.

I don't know nearly enough about the evolution of the dratini line to comment, you'll want to talk to @ask-professor-dracaena or @dragonofthenorth about that subject.

While feebas and magikarp are often assumed to be very similar species, and historically were considered as such, they're actually quite distant from each other. Feebas, believe it or not, branched off of a common relative they share with basculin. That feebas and magikarp share the dragon egg group is because they evolved in a very similar way to suit their environment.

The next closest relatives of feebas and basculin, by the way? Alomomola and finneon/lumineon. Magikarp's closest relatives are barboach/whiscash, followed by dondozo and carvanha/sharpedo.

[imthepunchlord]

What do you think of convergent evolution in pokemon?

Concept wise I love it. I am here for Pokemon exploring and expanding on natural evolution we see in real life, like the regional variants and convergent evolution. They're really nice ways to expand on the world, take familiar designs and get creative with them, do new spins on them.

Biggest bummer is that we only got 2 convergent evolution of pokemon so far; but at least a lot of artist love this concept and are getting into exploring designs. I have been enjoying finding those.

I'm also curious if there are any existing pokemon created that can apply as convergent evolution, like do Luvdisc and Alomomola count? Sharpedo and the Gible line? Lurantis and Leavanny?

Either way, very fascinating, opens up to fresh ideas for older pokemon, and offers alternatives to regional variants, which both I'll look forward to seeing in future games.

[big-bad-skull-boss]

Not a Nuzlocke || An original pokemon challenge run

Ok, so. First off, this is gonna be a long ass post. There'll be a read more line somewhere so im not committing domestic tumblr terrorism by posting a 6 mile long post but for now, I'll start with the basics.

This is a modular, adaptive challenge run style.

This challenge run is based around a versatile points score system. I did a fuck load of maths to create this, but the short of it is, Pokemon available in the game (this is for Black & White only so far) are tiered based on a combination score of ease of use, how worthwhile each pokemon is for their given game, base stats; general impact in the story as well as being weighted by the gen 5 end of generation smogon competitive singles tiers. These both form a combined score for each pokemon, which is then cut into tiers.

2. The tiers

Here are the tiers. Mostly consisting of fully evolved pokemon, but they do include a few notable NFE pokemon acclaimed by either serebii or smogon. (Don't worry if a certain pokemon isn't here, I'll explain that afterwards.)

S tier: [11-10 pts]

Excadrill - 11pts

Haxorus / Darmanitan / Scrafty - 10pts

A Tier: [9.5-7.5pts]

Conkeldurr - 9.5pts

Ferrothorn / Reuniclus / Krookodile - 9pts

Chandelure - 8.5pts

Archeops - 8pts

Gothitelle / Lilligant 7.5pts

B Tier: [7-5.5pts]

Jellicent / Cobalion / Virizion / Crustle / Emboar / Galvantula / Sigilyph / Samurott / Sawk / Thundurus - 7pts

Escavalier / Gigalith / Throh / Simipour - 6.5pts

Terrakion / Volcarona / Cofagrigus / Druddigon / Klinklang / Gurdurr / Stoutland / Mienshao / Cinccino - 6pts

Scolipede - 5.5pts

C Tier: [5-4pts]

Bisharp / Tornadus / Amoongus / Bouffalant / Cryogonal / Durant / Ferroseed / Basculin / Carracosta / Golurk / Musharna / Sawsbuck / Seismitoad / Serperior / Simisage - 5pts

Accelgor / Whimsicott - 4.5pts

Eelektross / Liepard / Audino / Beheeyem / Scraggy / Swanna / Zebstrika - 4pts

D Tier: [3.5-3pts]

Fraxure / Krokorok - 3.5pts

Alomomola / Braviary / Garbodor / Mandibuzz / Stunfisk / Gothorita / Duosion / Dwebble / Maractus / Swoobat / Emolga / Leavanny / Simisear / Unfezant / Vanilluxe - 3pts

E/F Tier: [2.5-1pts]

Klang - 2.5pts

Beartic / Watchog - 2pts

Zweilous - 1.5pts

Heatmor - 1pt

--------------

NOTE: If any pre-evolved pokemon is not listed here, its points are simply half of its next evolved form's, for example:

Serperior (5pts) > Servine (2.5pts) > Snivy (1.25pts)

[A pokemon's points will never be divided lower than .25 to keep things simple. If that does happen in future lists going forward, it'll just get rounded down to the nearest whole number of points.]

--------------

Now, the reason why there are half points are for multiple reasons. Trade evolutions lose half a point in calculation and pokemon in a BL smogon tier gain half a point.

A few inconsistencies are also in here for balancing reasons, for example, Zweilous having 1.5pts despite Hydreigon appearing nowhere on the list. Reason being - It's useable but its crap for the endgame and absolutely not worth it.

Now for the omissions + some examples:

Anything unobtainable before the Pokemon League/Elite 4. (Kyurem, Hydreigon*)

Event exclusive pokemon & Mythicals. (Keldeo, Genesect, Meloetta, Victini)

Pokemon that ended generation 5 in Smogon Uber tier. (Reshiram, Zekrom)

* Put a pin in this for now, we'll come back to it later.

3. The rules

The rules can be adjusted for how easy or difficult you want your challenge to be. You can also introduce your own rules or take some of these out to change the difficulty to suit your personal play style.

UNCHANGEABLE RULES:

One heal per Pokemon Centre, nurse, rest stop, etc. - You may heal once more in an area with a gym AFTER completing the gym there and earning its badge.

You cannot buy revives.

If you black out, you must release (or box permanently) one pokemon on your team AT RANDOM.

No healing your pokemon by depositing them in the PC.

If you're out of Pokemon, you lose.

----------------

These rules aren't as immediately punishing as a Nuzlocke in terms of "whoops your pokemon fainted. its dead now. fuck you, debbie. cope." - but they force primary strain in a nuzlocke, HP management, to instead become a more evenly spread out challenge across the board.

You can't rely on Pokemon Centres to restore your pokemon, so PP becomes a heavier consideration. Do you learn that powerful move with only 5 PP or keep your decently powerful move that has 15 or 20 PP? Experience also becomes an issue as a result. You don't want to waste all your PP on grinding before your gym battle only to have your pokemon Struggle to its bitter end against the Leader's almost defeated ace.

This also makes fainting have an actual consequence (besides a nuzlocke's obvious death rule lol) If you have used your heal in the current area and haven't got any others you skipped before to go back to, that pokemon is out of commission for a while and is gonna miss out on a good amount of EXP until you get to your next heal stop.

This challenge aims to be... challenging, but also a little more forgiving than the traditional nuzlocke by not making your entire challenge hinge on each and every battle.

SUGGESTED RULESET:

All mandatory rules apply (as above)

You can use any found/gifted revives.

Only one pokemon may be caught before each gym. Gifts are exempt.

Only pokemon from C tier and below may be used. (5pts or less)

No Audino/Chansey/Blissey farming.

----------------

You can change the useable tiers to increase or decrease your challenge. I found C tier to be a good starting point and a manageable enough challenge to get me using pokemon I otherwise wouldn't use.

The Audino grinding rule is there to stop overlevelling from insane grinding, and also means that Hydreigon is essentially impossible to obtain in this challenge.

If you want more of a challenge than this, here are a few more rules you could add if you're particularly good at the game. (not all of these will go together, find what works for you.)

No healing in battle

No held items

Only relying on healing items found or gifted to you by NPCs

No TM use

No move deleter/tutor/reminder

Marts can only be used once

The total combined points of all the pokemon on your team cap out at [X], allowing you to use any pokemon in any tier until you reach the points cap. This would force you to use low tier pokemon if you want to use a very high tier pokemon for example

You can only catch the first applicable pokemon in an area

No fully evolved Pokemon

Well, That's the end of the explanation. I might make tierlists for this challenge for other games in the future when I get round to playing them. (Next would probably be the alola games).

GLHF!

[delicatefury]

Do not take it personally (you just happened to be in the tag as I was scrolling), but everyone wondering why pokemon spain would have chinese legendaries is such a funny concept to me. Where were you guys when *checks palm of hand* northern japan had god and atlas, golems resided in southern japan, new york was home to djinn and musketeers, and famed japanese fable protagonist but from another dimension appeared for the first time in hawaii? And don't get me started on starters (pun unintended) (kyoto is famous for its native honey badger and alligator populations /s)

Oh, i don’t take this personally. I’m well aware I’m taking the L on this.

But if I had to explain it, I guess it’s because I didn’t feel like they were really putting in a major effort in matching the pokemon to the regions’ real-world counterparts’ uniqueness until Sun/Moon. And I didn’t really play that one.

I mean, Unova had a few very-America pokemon (like Bouffalant and Rufflet and vullaby) but also a lot of very not-America pokemon (alomomola (not lower-48 at least), cofagrius, darumaka, Muna, blitzle…). The “America” pokemon felt more like a treat than an expectation. And as pointed out, several of the legendaries more closely resembled Japanese legends. Which made sense since ultimately Pokémon is (or at least used to be) a very Japanese game.

So you went from a lot of the legendaries being pretty Japan-based to 3 very fae-like legendaries in France, to Tiki guardians in Hawai’i, then the knights-based dogs in England. Then you have Ting-Lu and Wu-Chien and Chi-Yu and Chien-Pao in Spain. If you’re not paying attention, it feels a bit like 2-steps forward and one step back.

Another factor is probably the set-up for the legendaries in other games. For most of the gens, it’s really hard to start your legendary quests without at least some background about them. You literally can’t start some of them without triggering a cutscene where an NPC tells you the myth.

I stumbled on the first stake before I got to the school! I thought I’d trigger a cutscene along the way as I pulled them out but the only one was when they woke up. I found Ting-Lu’s location by wandering past it trying to hatch eggs. I could complete the whole quest line without taking a single class. As such, for me and others these four literally came out of nowhere. The only connection to China I’d seen before that was the random bamboo forest by the Paldea-Kalos border! And it’s not like the Pokédex entries gave any clue.

As for the starters, I’m pretty sure they’re rare/foreign pokemon that the game’s professor is studying. At least in the early generations. Kinda like how until we got to poké-Europe, Eevees couldn’t be found in the wild.

[bethanythebogwitch]

More Australia and Aotearoa/new Zealand based fakemon (sadly, not better art). Previous posts part 1, part 2, and part 3.

I really wanted to make a water/fire type, but was stuck on ideas. I debated on a naval mine bivalve and a hydrothermal vent Pokemon, but then it hit me: a sun sunfish. Meet Bilamola, the sunfish Pokemon, water/fire type.

It's based on the Mola mola, also known as the ocean sunfish. Molas are strange fish that look like someone chopped off their back ends. The name comes from their tendency to bask in the sun at the surface of the water. Pokemon already has a mola Pokemon: Alomomola, and I think Bilamola would be a close relative of it. Bilamola's rear end looks like a cartoony sun mixed with the strange, lumpy back ends of molas. Bilamola basks in the sun at the surface of the water to charge up its internal flame sac. Once charged, it dives into the dark and frigid depths ocean where the flam sac keeps it warm and allows it to release blasts of superheated water at prey and predator alike. Its name comes from "mola" and Bila, the sun goddess of the Adnyamathanha culture people of Australia

Another Pokemon found around the shore is Merconey, the mercury Pokemon, poison/steel type.

Merconey is a snail-like Pokemon with a body made of liquid metal and a shell made of metal and rock. The liquid metal that makes up its body is highly toxic. As a result, it has few predators. When it does face a threat, it shoots a harpoon from its shell at the target, which injects them with the same liquid metal that its body is composed of. It doesn't do this to hunt, as its diet consists of minerals and metals. Merconey evolves to Merxoon, the mercury Pokemon, poison/steel type.

Merxoon's shell is covered with spikes. These spikes act like hypodermic needles that inject the neurotoxic liquid metal making up its body into anything they touch. Because of this, it has no natural predators as nothing can safely touch it. It retains the harpoon of its previous stage. Lifeguards at beaches keep an antidote to its toxin on hand because, while Merxoon are not hostile to humans, beachgoers may accidentally touch one hidden underwater and get poisoned.

Merconey and Merxoon are both based on cone snails, a group of snails found in Australian waters that are famous for being so venomous that some can kill humans. Cone snails are active predators that use a harpoon-like radula to spear their prey and inject venom into it. The liquid metal aspect is an exaggerated version of the volcano snail, a deep-sea species that incorporates metal into its shell. I picked mercury as a metal because it is soft like a snail and because it's toxic, which fit because I decided I wanted to make a steel-poison type (I came up with this idea before SV publicly introduced the Varoom line). Merxoon also draws from snails of the genus Murex, which are famous for their elaborate, spike-covered shells. The name Merconey comes from "mercury" and "cone snail" and Merxoon comes from "mercury", "murex", and "harpoon".

Here's one that I came up with solely based on a pun, but ties in with one regional legendary. It's Stalactmite, the speleothem Pokemon, rock type.

Stalactmite grow over the course of centuries as running water creates stalactites and stalagmites that eventually break off and come to life. They feed exclusively on mineral-rich water and can live for centuries. Stalactmite are blind, but highly sensitive to vibrations in their cave habitats. Spelunkers should be careful, as a frightened Stalactmite may drop down on people passing beneath it. Legends say they are born from the life force of a legendary Pokemon that slumbers deep underground and may even be the rock itself.

Stalactmite is, of course, based on stalactites, stalagmites, and mites. Mites are tiny arachnids and there are some species that have adapted for a life spent entirely in caves. Stalactites and Stalagmites, as well as many other cave formations (also known as speleothems) form gradually over the course of centuries as water carries minerals into caves. I will note that while Stalactmite is not a bug type, it is still based on a bug and unlike almost every official bug type, it has the correct number of legs.

The final line I will showcase in this post it my first line of convergent Pokemon (or ecologically-similar Pokemon or whatever they're being called now). The first stage in this line is Baykacayka, the cupcake Pokemon, fairy type. Stories say the first one was a cupcake made by a master baker which was inhabited by a spirit. Its body is made of a delicious confectionary that will never go bad. They were once though to be a regional variant of Roggenrolla, but are now known to be unrelated.

Baykacayka evolves to Poundore, the cake Pokemon, fairy type. They consume an incredible amount of sugar and stores it in the form of crystals that look like decorative sugar. If one of these crystals is damaged, it will explode, leaving the surrounding area coated in fine sugar.

Poundore evolves to Gigalicious, the cake Pokemon, fairy type. Its body contains so many calories that a single bite can lead to long-term health problems. The sheer caloric energy stored in its body can be released in an explosion that can level buildings and leaves the rubble coated in icing. A Gigalicious visiting a bakery is said to be a sign of prosperity.

The Baykacayka line are convergent to the Roggenrolla line, but they're cakes instead of rocks. Baykacayka is a cupcake, Poundore is a cake slice, and Gigalicious is a tiered wedding cake. They can serve as a reference to fairy bread, a dessert from Australia and Aotearoa/NZ that consists of butter bread with sprinkles on it. I thought of this connection after I came up with the line, but I'm still rolling with it. They also fit with the trend of pastry-based fairy types. They don't have a consistent name scheme like the existing convergent Pokemon, but neither did the original line so I'm going to say I'm in the clear. Baykacayka is a corruption of "bake a cake" just like Roggenrolla is a corruption of "rock and roll". Poundore is "Boldore" + "pound cake" and Gigalicious is "Gigalith" + "delicious"

[cure-icy-writes]

I posted 1,735 times in 2022

That's 885 more posts than 2021!

164 posts created (9%)

1,571 posts reblogged (91%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@dino--draws

@ofstormsandfire

@milstev

@kayuripax

@stormcloudsandshadows

I tagged 1,064 of my posts in 2022

Only 39% of my posts had no tags

#disability - 78 posts

#adulting tag - 29 posts

#pokemon - 25 posts

#ask game - 19 posts

#re: prev tags - 18 posts

#bryelle chihiro - 17 posts

#fall into flying - 15 posts

#pokemon legends arceus - 12 posts

#personal - 11 posts

#answered asks - 11 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#trying again one more time except this time the kids on the online playground sit crosslegged in front of you and listen with rapt attention

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

pokemon in mental health

gonna dump some worldbuilding headcanons on tumblr bc sharing is caring

“Therapy pokemon“ is a vague term and the one most commonly used, but can refer to either personal support pokemon, or therapeutic assistance pokemon. Personal support pokemon are pokemon who assist their trainer exclusively, and require a bit of paperwork as well as confirmation from a healthcare professional, but this is pretty easy to set up. Often, these pokemon assist with anxiety disorders, poor balance, executive dysfunction, time blindness, and other assorted conditions. They tend to be smaller in size, and are permitted in situations where pokemon are normally restricted unless it becomes a safety concern.

Personal support pokemon don’t require a clear diagnosis so much as confirmation of symptoms. If someone experiences chronic pain and isn’t sure why, they can still get permission for assistance. These pokemon often wear vests to signify that they’re working, but not always. In general, asking to pet or touch these pokemon is looked down upon unless you’re close to the trainer, although introducing yourself to the pokemon and offering a hand to sniff is a common courtesy.

Therapeutic Assistance Pokemon, on the other hand, require quite a bit of training. These pokemon must get their official certifications, and are trained for tasks such as:

how to help a human through a panic attack 

how to signal for help 

how to communicate to emergency responders through a specific code the state of the human 

how to de-escalate violent situations 

how to guide a human who is dissociating to a safe place

Therapeutic Assistance Pokemon are very common in mental healthcare facilities, the foster system, large companies in certain sections of HR, hospitals, and schools during finals week/after any kind of tragedy affecting the student population such as a death. They're also deployed in the wake of natural disasters.

common therapeutic assistance pokemon might include: 

lillipup. lil dog, very easy to train, friendly, sensitive to changes in environment 

riolu, although they're more often deployed in more high intensity situations. almost all of them carry an everstone 

sylveon, since according to the pokedex they can use their ribbons to help calm people down

vulpix/fennekin, fluffy and warm. 

alomomola-- more common in hospital settings, and tend to work in shifts because pokemon have emotional needs as well. honestly, highly empathetic pokemon are more prone to burnout than others. same goes for the chansey line and audino 

eevee. always in demand for trainers, not all of these little guys are cut out for battling, and breeding/raising programs for eevee tend to sort the young by career paths of battler/non-battler depending on the preferences that the pokemon has shown. 

Therapeutic assistance pokemon must have a handler, often with a ratio of multiple pokemon to a single handler.

213 notes - Posted February 14, 2022

#4

things i’ve learned about hyperacusis, because the medical system is frankly SHIT

And frankly, I’d rather my experience help someone else who needs it. This isn’t universal or exhaustive, just something that I wanted to share. Anyone can reblog or add on, but don’t clown.

Hyperacusis is a neurological disorder characterized by extreme sensitivity to sound, and it’s a fucking bitch to deal with. I’ve had it for two years, and only recently got a diagnosis. In my case, I’m fairly certain it was caused by a combination of existing ADHD/sensory issues and the slowly building stress of high school, which is an entirely different can of worms that I still occasionally have vague nightmares about.

It’s hard to cope with, and largely not understood by the public.

You’re going to get some judgement from older folks about being “antisocial” for wearing headphones and avoiding crowds, especially if you’re younger. This is the equivalent of a squirrel encouraging a fish to be more outgoing when the fish is literally struggling to breathe and taking refuge in its bowl of water.

Earplugs will be your best friend. Don’t listen to audiologists who tell you that it’s the worst thing you can ever do to your hearing; the medical system is largely unsympathetic to your actual needs. Get them in bulk, and use them as needed. Silence is bad for your ears, yes, but damaging them with noise is even worse. Earplugs combined with over-the-ear headphones playing music is a good compromise.

Seriously. Stock the fuck up on these lil bitches. Put ‘em in an altoids tin and never leave the house without some. And don’t forget to use clean ones; these are disposable for a reason. If you store them in a dirty place, you’ll end up with an ear infection.

You may need accommodations, but that doesn’t make you any lesser of a person. Start looking around cripplepunk* spaces for confidence. Own your disability. You deserve to live just as much as anyone else, and you deserve to be happy. Accessibility may not be universal, but it sure isn’t optional either. You are worth more than what you can contribute to society.

If possible, an audiologist can help you get custom made earplugs to filter out sound equally. These let you reduce volume at all frequencies, as opposed to the foam earplugs which muffle sound.

Earplugs designed for musicians and autistic folks are also good options; ideally, you want to have something of a variety of hearing protection. Too much or too little will only make things worse. Find what works for you and allows you to function and heal. Active noise cancelling is also an option.

Lifestyle changes won’t fix the problem and you should be skeptical of anyone who says they will, but they’re also not something to be overlooked. Sound dampening panels can be expensive, but keeping soft things in your room can improve the sound absorption. For me, having a rather large fabric stash is an excellent solution, but plushies and hanging quilts are also reasonable. Reducing stress can help, too-- start setting some healthy and reasonable boundaries. Force yourself to view your distress as rational and justified, rather than something to push through.

Tinnitus Retraining Therapy is the main method used in treating hyperacusis, but this...can vary. In my experience, audiologists are unsympathetic shitheads about this, and can veer into victim blaming, so take it with a grain of salt and keep your own limitations in mind. It works on a similar principle as exposure therapy, rewiring the brain in order to break down the association between “noise = bad” and helping you become accustomed to normal levels of auditory processing. Never force yourself to do this if it causes you distress; take it at your own pace. Forcing yourself will only strengthen the associations created, and make things worse for you. Imagine your brain as a scared cat in a new house; give it space, then introduce new stimuli as needed. Tinnitus retraining therapy is not punishment. You don’t need to punish yourself for having this disorder, even if you think that’ll make it go away faster.

You deserve patience and love.

*cripplepunk, sometimes censored as c-punk, is a movement similar to disabled pride that centers the needs and lives of disabled folks over the convenience of the abled population. Not everyone is comfortable with reclaiming the word “cripple” and it should be used with discretion. Be wary of physical/mental separatism in disability.

Anyways, I think that’s all for now! I may add on more later, but I hope this helps.

267 notes - Posted April 6, 2022

#3

Tired of the submas angst?

After some consideration, I’d like to propose an event dedicated to content of the twins being autistic and happy. Much of the information is subject to change, and help spreading the word and organizing the event would be greatly appreciated. With that being said, here’s a basic outline to serve as an interest check. Feedback and reblogs would be greatly appreciated! 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bL-cK_3-ycAdoxTt8VVx2fmGc2WmMfO6CQsbaUSwaeA/edit?usp=sharing 

318 notes - Posted June 14, 2022

#2

See the full post

501 notes - Posted May 5, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

i love writing the pokemon world as just. socialist utopia where pokemon training is sort of like pet ownership, battling is good enrichment, and the government is pretty nonviolent. free healthcare and minimal police, because people just take care of each other

and also every couple years, a feral ten year old will team up with a god and take down some terrorists. this is just a thing that happens and everyone has come to accept it as normal. ten year olds have no fear and no filter, and a strong sense of justice

919 notes - Posted July 15, 2022

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