#blaine's arcanine

[pokemon-cards-hourly]

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Pokemon Card of the Day #2710: Blaine’s Arcanine (Gym Challenge)

Blaine’s Arcanine took the typical Fire-type role to the extreme. It had the strongest attack the game had seen to this point, able to KO any Pokemon it faced. It also needed a ton of Fire Energy and had to discard most of it to use the attack. An attack like this would almost never work in the era of Energy Removal, so it would have to wait until Rocket-On to have a chance. It was lucky enough to be in a type that had some acceleration in the format, so even such a hard to use attack had a chance. Seeing all the Pokemon with high HP in the new format made Firestorm extremely tempting as well.

90 HP was pretty good for a Stage 1. While it was no Steelix, it did take a pretty big hit to get a KO, and Blaine’s Arcanine was no stranger to surviving against a deck that wasn’t another deck using Blaine’s Arcanine. The Water Weakness was a huge problem with Feraligatr and later Dark Feraligatr and Kingdra around. You could try Cinnabar City Gym if you wanted an out to it, which could be nice to have, but Feraligatr was often able to get to 90 damage anyway so it wasn’t always enough to save you. The Retreat Cost was quite high, as 3 Energy was a lot to ask. Firestorm already discarding 3 Energy meant that any switching would likely be done by Warp Point.

Heat Tackle was the weaker attack here, at 40 damage for a Fire and 2 Colorless Energy while also dealing 10 damage to Blaine’s Arcanine. While not great, there were times you’d want to use this to take out a weakened Pokemon.

Firestorm was the big move. 4 Fire Energy was a ton to put on a Pokemon, and 3 Fire Energy cards attached to Blaine’s Arcanine had to be discarded. The reward was 120 damage, which would KO any Pokemon on the field. This made it one of the few Pokemon that could take down the dominant Feraligatr, and Fire decks somehow got used early in the Rocket-On format since Typhlosion provided some sort of way to accelerate discarded Energy.

Firestorm was such an absurd attack that Blaine’s Arcanine got into decks with Typhlosion in the Rocket-On format despite all the discarding. Anything that could work against Feraligatr was welcomed at that point, and while the game diversified once Neo Revelation and Neo Destiny joined the Rocket-On format, it was still a solid deck due to a strong attack that actually could have some of its Energy  brought back with a bit of luck.

[tabaki]

Neo Destiny Espeon & Blaine's Arcanine

[daily-pokemon-trivia]

Blaine's signature Pokemon is hard to determine. Originally, Arcanine held this spot. But then the anime came, and made Magmar his signature. Amd in return, in Johto games Blaine has a Magmar instead of a Arcanine.

In Black and White 2, his Arcanine is back but his Magmar is a Magmortar instead.

Finally, in Let's Go they decided to just give him both Pokemon.

[bugcatchergina]

Pokemon Pocket Monsters Manga Vol 8 Chapter 1

Red, Pikachu, and Clefairy are competing in the Banana League

Scan and translation by: @bugcatchergina on Tumblr / @catcher_gina on Twitter

[melancholywally]

Pokémon — Kanto teams 7/?

Fire-type Gym Leader Blaine's Pokémon team, based on his teams from Pokémon Red and Blue and Pokémon Black 2 and White 2.

Artwork by:

Megumi Mizutani for SM Unified Minds (Blaine's Quiz Show) Masakazu Fukuda for HS Triumphant (Magmortar) Ken Sugimori for Gym Challenge (Blaine's Rapidash, Blaine's Ninetales, Blaine's Charizard, Blaine's Arcanine) Ryota Murayama for SV 151 (Flareon)

[kob131]

Pokemon Team Symbolism in Pokemon

You would think a series that emphasizes a colorful cast of creatures would try to use them to symbolize a character and their journey.

They have. Just not as often as you would think. It's damn good when they do though.

What Symbolism?

The symbolism I am talking about is using a Trainer's Pokemon to demonstrate aspects of the Trainer's personality and/or journey. For example, a Pokemon evolving after the Trainer has reached a turning point in their story or a Pokemon's move or Ability to demonstrate a personality trait that isn't so obvious.

Gen 1

Now normally I would begin off by talking about how a Pokemon represents a character and how they change alongside the Trainer...but Gen 1 doesn't really...have this.

This isn't an insult or anything- Gen 1 simply doesn't have the variety to pull this off. For example, what Pokemon can you use to represent Misty within Gen 1? Maybe Seaking or Gyardos but there's a reason why, in her Heartgold/Soulsilver rematch, she uses a Milotic due to it's heavy association with the fluidity and grace of water alongside being a counterpart to perhaps Gen 1's most famous Water-Gyardos. It's because no other Water type can really symbolize who Misty is, especially since there are no rematches to give her a more expansive team. And Misty's one of the EASIER people to make a more symbolic team with.

I guess of particular note is Blaine's use of Arcanine as his ace, due to how supplementary material implies he helped make Mewtwo and how Arcanine is referred to as the 'Legendary' Pokemon. Or Alakazam's immense power and almost alien appearence fitting with Sabrina's creepy vibe. And Giovanni using Nidoking and Nidoqueen, Ground/Poison types, can symbolize his leadership of Team Rocket and his status as the Ground Gym Leader. It's all cool... But not really anything special.

Gen 2

Ah here's the good shit.

This is where Game Freak started experimenting with more...expressive uses of Pokemon. Before we get to the big example, I want to try and talk about some of the other trainers.

In particular, I want to make a special mention of Clair and Lance's teams. With Clair, her team consists of three Dragonairs and a Kingdra. Now this doesn't look all that special aside from the Dragon-Type's status as being uber powerful in earlier gens but it does gain quite a bit of significance if you consider her relationship with Lance (him being her stronger and older cousin that she's implied to feel inferior to) and his own team. Namely that her Dragonairs all only have one move seperating them (Surf/Thunderbolt/Ice Beam) which is very similar to three Pokemon from Lance's team...except that the moves chosen (Thunder/Blizzard/Fire Blast) all have higher BP and the Pokemon in question are his Dragonites, the fnal stage of Dragonair. Meaning that Lance's team is basically an upgraded version of Clair's, showing why she feels so inferior to him.

And this chink in her armor is further emphasized through her ace, Kingdra. Kingdra's typing of Water/Dragon actually removes the signature Ice weakness that Dragons have (as well as giving it a STAB against the Swinub line the player will likely try to use against her) but it leaves it weak to Dragon-Types still. Meaning Lance's mastery will lead to Clair facing a harder battle. And for extra points- Lance's Gen 3 rematch team even gives him a Kingdra, further connecting them.

Now to move on- Silver.

I've come to the realization that Silver might be one of the most important characters in Pokemon. Not story wise mind you- he basically falls off outside of his Gen and it's remakes. But rather, in his writing. Because Silver's team actually includes the first notable use of Evolution to symbolize a Trainer's personal development. In his own story, Silver begins as your average edgy teen with an obsession with power and being a badass, even though you keep whooping his ass. However unlike Blue, Silver actually reacts to being beaten by you as he grows more and more frustrated. This coincideces with everyone he fights telling about how cruel and abusive he is acting towards his Pokemon. And by the time you beat him in Victory Road- he accepts what he did wrong and works to improve himself, not just his Pokemon. And this is shown as his Mt. Moon fight (...Really Game Freak?), his Kadabra and Haunter have evolved, meaning that Silver had to have become more personable to get someone to trade with him and his Golbat evolves in Crobat in his finale fight, a friendship based evolution. (Bonus points- Zubat/Golbat are commonly used by Team Rocket members, with Giovanni their leader being Silver's dad.)

This really shows how a Trainer's team can be used to symbolize their growth as a person. I can't wait to see what the next Gen accompli-

Gen 3

... God damn it.

So Gen 3 kind of falls back a bit in turns of using Pokemon teams for characterization. You have the usual basic symbology- like Brawly the martial artist using martial arts focused Fighting types, Norman being an everyman and a mundane but everpresent presence in your life being the master of powerful Normal types and the sea surrounded Sootopolius having a Water Gym. But nothing like the interplay between Lance and Clair or the subtly of Silver.

Best I have is the quite and sensitive Wally using the sensitive and shy Ralts evolving into the powerful Gardevoir/Gallade. But poor Walley doesn't get much time. The rivals...aren't really characters in Gen 3 and I've never played the Gen 6 remakes. For fuck's sake- they didn't even fully evolve her starter in the original games!

At least the Gym Leader aces do a better job of portraying them. Like Tate and Liza's Double Battle makes them like souped-up versions of the twins you've encountered in the game, their teamwork is shown through their Claydol always having access to Earthquake while their other Pokemon have some way of mitigating its team hitting function. Steven's love of rare stones and minerals is shown through him using the fossil Pokemon and Metagross. Or Winnoa's love of the sky being shown through her cloud-shaped Altaria. And Wallace's love of elegance being echoed in Milotic.

... Let's move on.

Gen 4

Okay, we're getting better.

Specifically, I'm talking about Barry. Specifically, his second to and last fights alongside his general team composition.

In his second to last fight, Barry fights you in Calvacade City, right before the sixth. By this point, most players will have evolved their starter. After all, Byron's team is edging Level 40 and the starter's evolve at Level 36 (Infernape/Empoleon) or 32 (Torterra). This is because Barry hasn't hit his turning point yet, in his loss to Jupiter at Lake Acuity which results in Uxie's capture. This causes Barry to become more serious and focused in his later appearances, as shown by his team battle with the player and his final fight at the Pokemon League having his starter fully evolved.

There's also the fact that Barry's team is actually rather well balanced, better than even Blue's team. As it turns out, Barry's family has a history of being tough trainers as his Dad, Palmer, is a Battle Frontier member. The Battle Tower, in fact. Which is basically the Pokemon location for 'ultra tough battles.'

Of course, there's also Cynthia. Her team is where Game Freak really go out of their way to try and capture the feeling of a 'Pokemon Master'. She begins with Spiritomb, a VERY rare Pokemon that the player likely knows nothing about. She also wields Milotic, a former Champion's ACE; Lucario, another rare Pokemon that you can only get from being gifted an Egg; Togekiss, a Pokemon that involves evolution through friendship and a Gen 4 stone; Roserade, a similar Pokemon to Togekiss through it's evolution line as well as being Gardena's ace and Garchomp, a Pokemon that takes advantage of Gen 4's more varied BST distribution to be a kind of Master of All pseudo-legendary. All of this together showcases Cynthia's power as a Champion- the varied methods of evolution display her wide range, the rarity of her Pokemon show her extensive travels, her use of former aces show her higher rank and her own ace being almost specifically stated to take advantage of every single advantage possible show her sheer strength.

Of smaller note is also Volkner and Flint, friends as shown in game, having similar kinds of teams whose aces are Electrivire/Magmortar, two evolutions of Gen 1 counterparts Electibuzz/Magmar with Gen 2 baby pre-evolutions. And Rorak and Byron's Aces, being Ramphardos and Bastidon, showing them to both be miners and having Byron be a Steel Gym Leader, when Steel is essentially an upgraded version of Rock, to show them being father and son.

Gen 5

Oh this is the good shit.

Gen 5 is famous for the MASSIVE leap in story quality and it really shows. Ignoring the two green elephants in the room for right now, let's start with the rivals.

With Bianca, her story is all about wanting to go out into the world with her childhood friends to live out her dreams, like them. However, she comes to learn that she might not be suited for being a Trainer since even with her strong resistance to her father's demands- she can't really keep up with the other two. And this shows in her battles- Namely that she fights you less frequently than Cheren (five vs. his seven) and with Cheren having better strategies.

Speaking of, Cheren is someone heavily focused on becoming a stronger Trainer and being determined to overcome the Player, which is reflected in his team. He not only fights you more often but his team is at a higher level before the post game than Bianca and he's one of the Trainers in the series to use extensive use of held items. It also demonstrates a knowledge of Pokemon battling than most Trainers in the series, showing why he'd qualify for being a Gym Leader in the sequels.

Then we have perhaps the two who stand as the standards, if not pinnacles for great team symbolism- N and Ghetsis. With N, it's already noted that for each battle he partakes in, he catches nearby Pokemon and uses them for his battles. And it's already said that he does this because he thinks capturing Pokemon is wrong and that humans and Pokemon can't coexist. But the interesting thing comes from his teams in the original games and the sequels.

In the first game, N is unique in that he sends out his ace, Zekrom/Reshiram, first. While on a gameplay level it makes sense as your own dragon will be sent to the first slot, it works on a story level too as N sees this fight as the big, determining battle to see whose side is right with your dragons representing your sides of the conflict. I even think N will always start the fight with the Fusion attack of his dragon, showcasing how you have affected him and his view of Pokemon and humans. You also have his other Pokemon- like how he has Carracosta and Archeops, the fossil Pokemon, and Klinklang and Vanillux, a futuristic Pokemon and a Pokemon inspired by a modern beverage, showcasing Black and White's duality and focus on the past and future while also showing N's deep connection to Pokemon old and new. And finally we have his Zoroark, a Pokemon shown in the opening of the game as a Zoura to have been with him his whole life, likely feeding into his beliefs through its experiences...and how said beliefs were based on lies.

Then we have his sequel teams, themed after each different type of weather for each season (Rain for Spring, Sun for Summer, Sand for Autumn and Hail for Winter)- implying that not only is N such a masterful trainer that he has mastered multiple kinds of teams but also showing that he's unwilling to force himself onto nature and Pokemon, instead working with them to achieve the best they can.

Very much unlike his father, Ghetsis. With him, he starts with the defensive and stalling Cofagrigus which uses Toxic and Protect to slowly whittle away at the player with his Mummy ability representing the way he infected and controlled N; Boffluant with Reckless demonstrating his wild emotions and how he views his Pokemon as expendable; Seismitoad and its sweeping power to demonstrate his threat; Bisharp with Defiant to show his status as the final boss as well as how he truly commands Team Plasma much like how a Bisharp commands Pawniards; Eelktross and it's almost leech like appearence to show how he used N and his Hydrigeon, Gen 5's Pseudo-Legendary and known for its violent disposition to show what Ghetsis is really like.

This gets especially blatant with his sequel team, which is far less effective with his Sesimitoad losing Swift Swim for Poison Touch, losing his Bisharp and Boffulant for Draipon and Toxicroak and finally his Hydriegon losing its Special set for an inferior Physical set (the only upside being a maxed out Frustration. Which...yeah, three guesses why). All to show how far he has fallen, how he has lost his ability to lead by this point, how corroded his mind actually is now and how he's lost his effectiveness.

We even have some interesting symbolism in the Gym Leaders, like with Clay's ace, Excadrill, not only being based on a mining tool but also seems to be perfectly designed to defeat the ore-based Roggnerola line (with Ground/Steel attacks to it's Rock, Mold Breaker to ignore Sturdy and Sand Rush/Sand Force to take advantage of the line's future Sand Stream ability). Things are looking up once aga-

Gen 6

... I need to stop pissing in the face of fate.

So...Gen 6, probably the worst Generation of Pokemon, has next to no interesting Pokemon symbolism. Cool, the dancing rival has Pokemon that use dance moves. ... That's it. Trevor wants to travel Kalos because his parents left him behind but his team is a Raichu, a Aerodyctal and a Florges. Shanua is aimless and has a crush on the player character, gets the type-weak starter and fights you twice. Calem and Serena are the kids of famous Pokemon battlers...but their teams aren't very well put together.

The Gym Leaders have nothing. Best is Wulfric, a bulky guy, uses the iceberg Pokemon Avalugg.

The villain leader Lysander does use a Pyroar in his matches, matching team Flare's colors and showing their obssession with beauty. And Malva also uses a Pyroar to show she was a supporter of Team Flare.

That's it.

.... Moving on.

Gen 7

Getting back on track. Again.

First up is Hau. In the Sun and Moon games, Hau is a very laid back and generally easy going guy who doesn't put much stock into the battles he gets into. While this would normally be seen as a good thing, a few characters call him out for his easy going attitude which ends up affecting his performance in battle. The culminates in his loss in Aether House, hammering home that he cannot continue this path. And so, he works harder to become stronger for the sake of his friends. It's around this time the games visibly have his starter, previous stuck in its middle or 'teen' evolution, grow into it's final stage. There's also quite a bit of Fighting Type hate in his team, from his Pichu knowing Charm and it evolving into a part Psychic type, his Eeveeloution also having Charm and Baby-Doll Eyes as well as having a Noivern on his team. Showing that he's still focused on beating his grandpa, Hala. And yet, he's still proud of his heritage, as shown with his Tauros (commonly found on Melemene island as a Ride Pokemon) and his Crabmomible (the ace of his grandpa).

Things don't end there, since there's also Gladion and his ace, Type: Null. Gladion is a runaway young team having recently lost his dad and basically his mom (since she goes either coocoo from neurotoxins in the original games or goes all Count of Monte Cristo on aliens in the Ultra games). Much like his ace, Gladion is bound and chained by his past, driven to either stop his mother or protect who he has left but can't really take advantage of his strengths because of it too. So instead he's kind of stuck seeking power even when we know he's way in over his head. That is until he meets the player and Hau, whom he learns to trust and put his faith into. And by the end- he's free as his family is safe and he can pursue the life he wants. A story neatly packed into Type: Null's own evolution, going from a rampaging beast bound and restricted to a freed and kinder creature. For bonus points, out of Gladion's other six Pokemon- three of them are friendship evolutions with one being a Lucario, a Pokemon that only follows those who have justice in their hearts.

Oh and you get a nice dose of N with his Zororark imitating his Silvally, showing that his threatening demeanor is just a really complicated version of teen angst and coping.

Speaking of coping- Guzma. A tough looking leader of Team Skull...whose actually a man who grew up abused by his dad before beating him up and running away, took up the Island Challenge and is now a washed up leader of bitter people desperately trying to make something of themselves. And wouldn't you know it- He uses the Bug Type, a type that gets shit on both in universe and out for its weak members and generally being outclassed. This shows Guzma's inner weakness and connection to the weak and discarded Team Skull. They're also some of the more threatening Bug Types, including his rather strong ace Golisopod. This Pokemon in particular represents Guzma, as it begins as a weak and scared Wimpod before evolving after a lot of hard work into the threatening and determined Golisopod. Rather fitting for a man who once jumped into an interdimensional portal to fight aliens and also got involved in the downfall of the Super Interdimensional Gay Mafia. Awesome.

Moving back to the blondes- Lusamine. Said mother who went coocoo over her husbands death. A woman obsessed with the beauty of Pokemon, herself deceptively beautiful for a violent and destructive person. Her team consists of Pokemon commonly considered beautiful or cute...while also being rather strong. Those being- Clefairy, a kind hearted and helpful Pokemon showing her loving nature that is either hidden or wrecked; Lilligant, a Pokemon heavily associated with beauty and grace that requires skillful care to ensure its flower blossoms to show her geniune love for Pokemon; Lopunny, a cautious and active Pokemon that also displays Lusamine's kinder side; Mismagius, an eerie witch-like Pokemon known for its cries harming but sometimes helping others, showing Lusamine's violent mood in the earlier games before being switched with the kinder Lopunny; Milotic...we've already talked about it and Bewear, a giant fluffy Pokemon that loves to give hugs...that smooths and crushes those it hugs due to not understanding its own strength. ... Take a guess as to what this Pokemon represents.

And finally we have Lillie. A girl who starts off scared, indecisive and unable to do anything until events force her to help out or lose everything. WIth the likes of Hop and the player's actions, she's inspired to take a more proactive role in battles...while still not being the best and acting as support. As shown with her team being support based Fairy types. A type that just so happens to be heavily connected to feminine beauty. And her signature Pokemon is a Friend Guard Clefairy. ... Did I mention Lusamine's first Pokemon in all her fights is an offensive Magic Guard Clefable?

Sadly can't say too much about the Kahunas- they aren't really focused on. It's more the Totem Pokemon...and those aren't teams. So...moving on.

Gen 8

Okay, get a snack and a drink. We're going to be here for a while.

Let's try something simple- Marnie. One of the more static trainers, this isn't to say she doesn't have any symbolism on her team. It kind of seems odd for someone like Marnie, who isn't even really aggressive in her rivalry with the player, to be using a Dark type team, since Dark types are known for their underhanded tactics and propensity for malicious behavior. But it does make sense when you see that she hails from Spikemuth, which is the hometown of Team Yell. Said team is, in actuality, her brother's Gym Trainers having gone off to support her. This is shown by her team being made up, while perhaps not fully moral Pokemon, are the more beign Pokemon of their types. Like her Liepard, Morpeko and Grimmsnarl are all more akin to tricksters rather than the malicious Pokemon usually associated with the Dark Type. Even her Poison type is a Toxicroak, a Pokemon known for its toxicity but not for any underhanded tactics. This is also a Pokemon that appears frequently on villain teams, hinting at her connection to Team Yell. Further connecting her to them is Scrafty, a Dark/Fighting type she shares with her brother Piers. Over half her team also has a type ADVANTAGE over Team Yell, indicating how she not only controls them but also takes over for her brother in the end.

Yeah, that was one of the more...easy examples. Bede is a bit more complex. He starts off as your typical example of a 'jackass rival', being smug and condescending to you and your friend Hop. As he seems to be a call back to the likes of Blue, Bede uses the Psychic type, which was infamously overpowered in Gen 1. However, Bede is..not good. His team entirely consists of Psychic, Normal and Fairy attacks which sounds good...until you remember that A. this leaves Bede with no means of answering Steel types which resist Psychic, Normal and Fairy and B. Half his moves use his Pokemon's inferior attacking stats (like Gothorilla used Rock Tomb and Galarian Pontya uses Special moves). These kind of leave him as an ill fitting opponent despite his arrogance. And that weakness to Steel types likely isn't a coincidence- his benefactor is Chairman Rose, a Steel type specialist who helped Bede become a Gym Challenger before revoking his right later. Around this time, the Fairy Gym Leader Opal takes a liking to him and proceeds to drag him off. Next time he appears, he shows up as Opal's apprentice and successor, becoming a Fairy type trainer. From here, we see that he has learned a bit of humility and understanding on where he went wrong. This nicely coinsides with his team having far more diverse type coverage, being fully evolved and even having a coverage move against Steels. Coolest part is that Bede retains half his team, with his formerly pure Psychic Ponyta and Hattrem evolving into Psychic/Fairy Rapidash and Hattrene, which is now able to stand against Rose. Even so, he still cares for him, as shown by his Mawille, a Steel/Fairy Pokemon, being his lead. It's part Steel typing and Intimidate ability summing up Bede before his encounter with Opal and displaying Rose's permanent impact in his life.

And yet they both pale in comparison to your main rival- Hop. Hop is the childhood friend of the player character and brother to the current Champion, Leon. An energetic boy with high hopes for his travels, he starts his adventure with his Wooloo (this game's first Normal type) and the starter weak to yours. SO naturally you beat the crap out of him. Simple as always. .... Except. Hop...doesn't just take it. When you beat him after obtaining your first badge, he briefy bemoans how he's weaker than you before admitting he need sto keep his guard up. And this isn't a one and done deal. He later loses to Bede who proceeds to insult him, telling him that he's dragging his brother's name through the mud. Which he later admits to really affecting him. And so...Hop does something that no other trainer in the series has ever done. He does a near full revamp of his old team. He benches his Wooloo and Corvisquare he had been using up until then for various different Pokemon in not just his next fight but the one after that. And after each loss, Hops becomes more and more despondent. After all, if he can't beat you even after overhauling his team twice then does he really stand a chance of beating his brother? However, upon hearing about the Galar legend about the Darkest Day, Hop resolves himself to stop doubting himself and simply focus on getting better, as shown by him returning his old Pokemon (now fully evolved), including a Pinurchin and adding the Snorlax he had been using before. So alls well that ends well.

Until you beat Hop in the semifinals before proceeding to beat his brother, the so-called unbeatable Champion. The man whom he looked up to. The man he dreamed about beating and surpassing. The man YOU just beat after beating him multiple times. ... Yeah. After the credits roll, you and him are called back to the resting place of the Legendaries where Hop asks to fight you once again. And here's the return of one the Pokemon from his 'doubt' period. And once again, Hop loses to an asshole insulting him (Sorward or Shieldbert) and even run off with the Legendaries' items, causing a huge hit to his confidence. It even makes him question whether or not he can even help you as you try to catch the brothers, even though Hop had done as much in the plot as you had. Even though he kept one of the items the Legendaries used to fight Eternatus. Even though he helped you BEAT Eternatus. Which is far more than can be said of most rivals. But Hop proves himself once more- he helps quell the raging Dynamax Pokemon, helps defend you as you chase after the brothers and even risks his life to go quell one of the Legendaries as it runs wild. All culminating in an honor that no other rival in the series has gotten: Hop catches the opposing Legendary and adds it to his team. Proof that he is just as much a hero as you are.

And he deserved it.

But this section is going on long enough by this point so we really need to move on. Because Hop sets a standard for the next Gen of Pokemon.

Gen 9

We're FINALLY at the last Gen as of this post's making (Gen 9 Teal Mask DLC). And...fuck my arm is tired.

So, let's try to get the Gym Leaders out of the way quick. Because yes- The Gym Leaders all have some kind of symbolism, rivaling their Gen 5 counterparts. Like Katy bemoaning that she's forced to go easy on Trainers is neatly symbolized by her cute ace Teddiursa becoming the fierce and violent Ursaring; Brassius' signature artwork being a stone statue of a Grass Type with his ace being a Tera Grass Sudowoodo, a Rock Type that emulates a tree; Kofu being a seafood chief using a team themed around seafood (including the self fillieting Veneluza); Larry's ordinary profession belying effectiveness shown through his Tera Pokemon sharing it's type with it meaning it gets extra damage; Rhyme being a rap artist connected with the dead through her Tera Ghost Low Key Toxicricity ect. I can't speak too much about them cuz shit's gonna be long.

Let's start with Arven. A boy who isn't much of Trainer, closed off and hostile because of his parent(s?)'s neglect- Arven doesn't really have any Pokemon to speak of at the beginning. He has a Skwot...and that's it. He even admits he just caught the damn thing. But as he travels with the player, slowly opening up to them and becoming friend with them, he catches nearby Pokemon and uses them to fight off the Titans. And he does a pretty damn good job- His Pokemon will always have a type advantage to be advantageous and each are fairly decent Pokemon in their own right (Cloyster, Scovillain, Garganacl and Toedscruel) along with his previously caught Greedent and his old friend Mabosstiff, an intimidating but loving and loyal Pokemon. Much like Arven. And like Mabosstiff, Arven gains friends and allies in his efforts through his adventure with the player.

One of said allies is Penny. An unassuming girl who the player saves from being harrassed by a group of deliquents called Team Star...who ends up being a skilled hacker and also the LEADER of Team Star under the pseudonym of 'Cassiopea'. And Penny's team is...entirely standardized with six Eeveelutions that share the moves Baby-Doll Eyes, Quick-Attack, a STAB move and a single coverage moves. A rather...underwhelming team of Pokemon, especially for the climax of a storyline. ... But that's intentional. Penny maybe the leader of Team Star but, as you could probably guess, no one had ever even SEEN Penny face to face before. While Team Star have formidable Trainers in their upper ranks, Penny never took to the battlefield personally. Penny is not a fighter and her team reflects this. Her Eeveelutions are not specially trained Pokemon- they're effectively pets. This is why they all have low-level moves in their movesets: they're hold overs from when they were Eevees that were never removed because Penny never had a reason for it. In fact, Quick Attack and Baby Doll Eyes arguable work better for a pet (being able to zoom around quickly to release energy and beg for food) than a battler. Hell, her Pokemon all provide some kind of utility and two of which are friendship evolutions- they really ARE pets.

Next we have Nemona, the rival character of the game. Unlike the other rivals, Nemona is in fact a more accomplished trainer than the player at first. In fact, she's so strong that this combined with her obssession lead her to becoming isolated from her peers. And for a peak at her strength: she beat the Top Champion of Paldea while still holding back. And it shows in the contrast between her fights with the player throughout the Victory Road story. She constantly talks about holding back, carefully considering her team to match what you should be at that point. And her teams are, consequently, nothing special. Just some basic level up moves. Right up until the very last fight of the storyline. Nemona, having changed her class from 'Pokemon Trainer' to 'Champion', is not only using a full team but is now packing STAB for each of her Pokemon AND coverage moves to smack your Pokemon hard no matter the matchup. Even with her choosing the starter weak to yours- her team is made up of rare and powerful Pokemon like a Goodra (pseudo-Legendary), Orthworm (a Pokemon previously fought as a TITAN), Lycanrock (a speedy Rock type), Pawimot (a Pokemon with the rare Electric/Fighting type) and a three segment Dundunsparce (a bulk and strong Normal Type that's also a 1/100 evolution, showing her sheer talent). Unless you overlevel your team, Nemona will be knocking out some of your team. As befitting a Champion. Moreso than fucking Geeta...

And if that's not enough, we also have the Professor stand in- Director Clavell. Introduced as the well meaning, attentive, kind and reasonable principal of the Academy, you would be forgiven for thinking that he might just be okay fight. ... He has more strategy to his team than 90% of Trainers in the series. No really.

He starts with an Oragnuru, a Pokemon noted for its intelligence and ability to use tools. FIttingly, it's a support Pokemon that lacks the usual weakness to Ghost types that Psychics have (important as SV is lousy with absurdly strong Ghosts), Oranguru will debilitate your team with Yawn to smack you with Dream Eater, Foul Play any cheeky Physical Attackers and use Reflect to shore up his team's Physical weakness. He then uses an Abomasnow, which sets up snow to further boost its defense. He then uses it to smack your team hard with STAB, perfect accuracy Blizzards, Wood Hammers and priority Ice Shard. And you want to kill it quick because it setting up snow means it can use Auorua Veil, effectively Reflect AND Light Screen in one. Which is bad because his next Pokemon is a Shell Smash using Poltigeust that spams Shadow Ball for STAB and Sucker Punch to punish priority and revenge killers. And it ALSO has Will-O-Wisp to weaken Physical attackers, which is bad because one of his next two Pokemon can be a Hex-spamming Amoongus which also has the lovely combination of Toxic and Spore to fuck with your team. And it has Giga Drain for recovery. Literally the only thing separating this Pokemon from its competitive counterpart is lacking Regenerator and Leftovers. He can also have a Gyardos, an almost evergreen Water type with a ton of coverage. Telling that his easiest Pokemon is a possible Houndoom. Oh and he uses the starter not picked in the beginning. The one strongest against you.

Really goes to show that Clavell really did earn his spot as the Director.

And if this was just about the base game, I could end it here. But even with all this and more- this wasn't what inspired me to make this post.

No, that would be the Teal Mask DLC and its two key players- Carmine and Kieran.

Starting with Carmine, a basic overview of her story here- she's a dickhead who has a more caring side but is basically covered by her being utterly awful at expressing herself and not being the best sister. She doesn't like outsiders due to people treating her hometown of Kitakami as a tourist trap but grows more open as she befriends the player. Why am I saying all this?

Because her team is a perfect representation of this.

She will always start her fights with a Poocheyna that evolves into Mightynea. A threatening Dark type that excels in pack tactics and is known to follow strong Trainers. Showcasing that despite Carmine's dickish attitude- she's most certainly a skilled trainer while also demonstrating how she bosses around her little brother.

Next is her Morpeko. An Electric/Dark type that wildly switches mood based on hunger, from friendly to aggressive. This duality is a summation of Carmine's character- how she switches from arrogant and standoffish to kinder and sweeter.

Then comes her Swadloon that evolves into Leavanny, a kind and nuturing Pokemon known for taking care of small Pokemon by weaving clothes for them. This showcases Carmine's real feelings for Kieran as despite acting like a bully towards Kieran- she geniunely loves and treasures him. Hell, the Pokedex in Scarlet even deviates a bit from its usual depiction of Leavanny to mention its protective instincts, similar to Carmine's own protectiveness.

Next comes her Ninetails, a Pokemon based off a kitsune and known for its mystical power but vengeful nature. A rather apt summation of how Carmine usually acts- a strong trainer but very easy to set off.

Finally comes her Poltchageist that evolves into Sinistcha- a Pokemon exclusive to her hometown of Kitakami, a Grass/Ghost type that tries to trick people into drinking it in order to drain them of their lifeforce...but failing most of the time. Whereas Morpeko is an overview of Carmine and Ninetails is the usual side of her, Sinistcha is what Carmine really is at the end of the day- a harmless fool. While she can burn people much like her Sinistcha can through its signature move and Scald, she means no ill will and can't do much to hurt anyone. And she can help as much as she can harm, just like how Sinistcha can aid others through its ability, Hospitality.

And what makes this interesting is the effectiveness of the team. As her Mightyena has one of the most useful lead abilities in Pokemon along with Howl to boost it's Sucker Punch and Play Rough; her Morpeko taking advantage of Aura Wheel's Speed boost through a held Focus Slash; Leavanny being a setup sweep through Swords Dance and Fell Stinger; Ninetails supporting the team through Disable and Will-o-Wisp and Sinistcha negating Grass' Fire Weakness through a Berry- it communicates that Carmine is an effective trainer. Fitting as her school is said to be specifically focused on Poke Battles.

But even this pales in comparison to her brother, Kieran. A shy boy who starts out looking up to and befriending the player character, neatly shown through his first two fights being simple 2-3 Pokemon fights. And as the story progresses, we learn a bit about him. That he expresses an admiration for the ogre in the village myth, having defeated three strong Pokemon by itself. He admires that strength and the seeming independence it has, since he himself wants to be strong and relied on due to his sister's unwitting damage to his ego through taking over his tasks. He even comes across having a crush on the player character to add to his likeability.

Then you meet the mascot of the Teal Mask DLC and the ogre from the legend, Ogerpon. Through a series of events involving Carmine making you swear not to tell Kieran about this to preserve his feelings and Kieran evasdropping- he learns that we met Ogerpon and we unknowingly keep lying to him. Which, considering we met the Pokemon he had been admiring for so long and being his first friend...he takes it hard. Things spiral out of control as his mental state burrows down, with him lashing out at the player character and Carmine for percieved injustices, eventually resulting in Kieran challenging the player for the right to be Ogerpon's partner...even though she had already chosen the player character. Even Kieran admits this is selfish but still pushes for it.

It's around this time that his team starts changing for real. Before his team consisted of a Yanma, Furret and Poliwhirl; all with unremarkable moves. Now his Yanma is a dedicated Special Attacker, his Furret is a setup Pokemon using a breeding move to clean hazards and get a Dragon Dance boost; his Poliwhirl evolves into Poliwrath with Haze to clear boosts and he adds a Applin evolution, Dipplin, based off of the candy apples he likes. His next battle has him shelve the Furret for a Cramorant, he adds a Gilgar to his team and his Yanma has evolved into a Tinted Lens Yanmega. ANd then there's his final team.

A Shiftry with a Focus Sash and the new Wind Rider ability with tailwind to boost Speed and Attack at once; the afromentioned Tinted Tens Yanmega so resistances are less effective than ever; Dipplin for more speed control and Leftovers for recovery; Probopass with Sturdy and pinch berry to become a cannon of a Special Attacker; Poliwhirl is now a Belly Drum-Sitrus Berry user to be a massive sweeper and now a fucking Yache Berry holding Gliscor. ... This is one of the most well put together teams in Pokemon history. Which, again, makes sense since Kieran is ALSO a student at Carmine's school. And not only that- he is actively trying to prove himself worthy of Ogerpon. He will obviously put out ALL the stops to beat you.

And the symbolism isn't just limited to movesets. Each Pokemon have...eerie undertones. Yanma, despite its looks, is a rather big Bug Type known for moving very fast and keeping a close eye on prey with Yanmega capable of crippling foes with its wingbeats and BITING the heads off prey. Shiftry can level houses and its Violet entry posits that it's based off a bird Pokemon that recieved divine punishment. Both representing Kierian's radical change. Poliwhirl goes from a dopy sleep inducing Pokemon to powerful swimmer, reflecting his desire for strength. Probopass manipulates the little mini-units to catch prey and Gliscor is a terrifyingly effective predator, reflecting Kierian's sheer hostility by this point. And Dipplin, the last remainder of the child-like innocence his team once had after Furret gets benched? Its apple is hollowed out and filled with two dragons, unlike Flapple and Appletun who coexist with the apple. Much like how Kieran's childlike demeanor has been hollowed out into a shell.

And just like how Kieran's story isn't done with the Teal Mask- datamines and experimentation with Eviolite has revealed Dipplin will be getting an evolution in the Indigo Disk.

Conclusion

You would think a series that has a core gameplay mechanic like Evolution, basically the symbolic progression from childhood to adulthood, would use these aspects for characterization more. But the history of this is rather bumpy, since the games have prioritized gameplay over story for so long. But good god damn, I would say that Pokemon beats out its contemporary in SMT for using its Mons cast for symbolism when it does.

I mean, you don't write an essay of THIS length over nothing. And I would like to remind people- I glossed over a few things. As in depth as this is: it's not all encompassing.

So I do think Game Freak deserves credit for this.

[efverse]

since peepaw espeon was the one behind the whole mewtwo project would that also make him the one who wrote the cinnabar island mansion logs in that one drawing that had mewtwo reading them? was just wondering btw..

also on an unrelated note did mew just kinda go along with team rocket's thing of wanting to clone her and she just allowed them to since she didnt care all that much or was there *some* resistance on her part and she just fled the scene the moment the whole mewtwo project got outta control?

tbc espeon wasnt "behind the whole mewtwo project".. there were other scientists there for similar reasons he just put in a lot of "valuable work" and seemed to have the least amount of gripes w the whole thing compared to other scientists...so actually if anything the journal came from the arcanine scientist i drew here who also more or less takes the place of blaine and mr fuji in efverse actually :)

to answer your other question...mew...not only caught the scientists(one of them being arcanine) who got a little of her dna but...gave them more of it than they had originally gotten. hell one of them that was having second thoughts about the whole thing(not arcanine at this point) told her what would probably happen with the mewtwo project and she just acted like it was no concern of hers what they did with her "gift" and told them do whatever they wanted with it so...yeah.

[nerdpokemonheadcanons]

Hello professor, I wanna share something that brightened my day. Recently the train station near Lavender town has adopted a Meowth as the station master, which does match the station mascot being a meowth. Kanto has an extensive railroad system that actually spreads around the region, granted not a lot of trainers use it but a lot of regular folk do. Each station has it's own Pokémon mascots depicted in wall art and plush form in the Pokèmart in the station, alongside other pieces of merchandise centered around them.

The stations and their mascots

Pallet Town- The Kanto starters

Viridian city- Nidoking and Nidoqueen

Pewter City- Clafable (originally a steelix but it was changed in the late nineties because it was too scary for young kids)

Cerulean City- Poliwhirl

Vermillion City- The Pikachu line

Lavender town- Meowth

Celadon City- Bellsprout

Fuchsia city- Venonat

Saffron city- Alakazam

Ok so Cinnabar island technically doesn't have a train station because of the whole being an island thing but there is a ferry station at the docks, the town's managed to rebuild very nicely after the volcano erupted several years back, Blaine actually still has his gym in the seafoam islands to give trainers a challenge, the ferry station has an Arcanine as the mascot and right outside to access the rest of the island is a shrine dedicated to the Pokémon Ninetales

The sevi islands also have the ferry system and they have mascots too

One island- Flareon

Two island- Vaporeon (it was temporarily changed to a Psyduck due to something going around online but due to community outrage it was changed back)

Three island- Jolteon

Four island- Espeon

Five island- Umbreon

Six island- Leafeon (was changed from Eevee)

Seven island- Glaceon (was changed from Eevee)

Eight island- Sylveon (this was changed from Eevee about a year ago and so far no one's made a fuss about it)

Nine island- Eevee

Cute!

[irateborzoi]

Picked up an near mint Blaine’s Arcanine to add to my growlithe/arcanine collection

[doktorpeace]

The Great All Generation Nuzlocks Roundup

This is gonna be long and have multiple parts thanks to the image limit on posts. Each game will be headlined by their title in Bold Print so if you're only interested in certain games it'll be easy to filter through. These notes will also only be on the Successful Run of each game. I'll note how many times I wiped in each game, but largely won't mention those runs for sake of relative brevity.

All runs were performed with the following rules - Only One Encounter Per Route/Zone/Area/Cave [Unique Names Denote Separate Areas] No Duplicate Encounters No Using Items In Battle No In-Game Trades No Overleveling the next Gym Leader or Major Boss Purchased/Gift Pokemon Are Allowed (Though there is only one case where I use one) but count as your encounter for that Area. No Use Of 'Affection' Based Mechanics.

RED - Kanto is a genuine joy to Nuzlocke for a few reasons. It's quick to get going, most early game Pokemon are quite strong (Ratticate, Primeape, Nidoking/queen, and Fearow are all genuinely incredible encounters), and it has probably the most balanced set of starters overall with regards to choice. All three have viable reasonings to be picked in the context of a nuzlocke. I, personally, went with Bulbasaur because my primary goal was to Win The Game and not to flex.

Kanto's also great for developing basic skills for nuzlocking. Team building, knowing when to switch, resource/Power Point management, moveset scouting, etc. all go much farther than normal in Kanto thanks to the poor AI and generally weak enemy trainers.

My favorite thing about it, though, and what made it very fun and a great start is that unlike every other region you can 100% assure yourself VERY powerful encounters in the mid and late game, and I don't mean gift Pokemon. There's just so many routes where all the encounters are filler you're 100% going to have out of the way early (Ratata, pidgey, etc.) that it's a surefire thing that you WILL get a Doduo right outside Celadon, for instance. Extending this to the whole region, you can guarantee you get other extremely potent Pokemon like Slowbro, which I did.

My team in this one was a strong Water/Fire/Grass core and otherwise strong goodstufts that compliment one another well. The surprise of this run was definitely Arcanine. I remember as a kid really being underwhelmed with trying to raise a Growlithe and never really getting the hype behind Arcanine outside of a VGC setting. However, I realized as an adult that keeping it a Growlithe until level 50 for flamethrower is Stupid. I immediately evolved that sucker and taught it Dig, which has 100 base power in gen 1. Arcanine was able to coast off of Dig and Body Slam until we beat Blaine and got the Fire Blast TM. It can also learn Reflect in this gen! All in all a stellar team member whose absolutely massive stats right after obtaining at level 19 really let it shine!

I always forget just how absurd the level swing from even just Lorelei to Blue is though. Just an absolute cliff of increase. Thankfully, however, leveling up in Kanto is a non-issue, so I was able to keep pace even while abiding Hardcore Nuzlocke rules. Total Wipes - 0

CRYSTAL - My overall opinion on Johto really hasn't changed at all, lol. It's still suffers a lot from what I'll call 'Fake Nonlinearity'. Like, sure, you CAN go to a lot of places after beating Morty but like...why would you do anything but go Chuck->Jasmine->Pryce and their associated content? It's not like you can meaningfully get strong early since the entire region has a dearth of strong trainers and wild pokemon alike. It's simply not productive to do things outside of the obviously intended order, except perhaps in the context of a Nuzlocke and trying to get some encounters early.

What does give Nuzlocking this region a unique flavor is that the best pokemon in the game, Alakazam, is a 100% ensured encounter assuming you're willing to pass over the free Eevee from Bill, which you should be. For a mere 200 coins at the game corner, you can get an Abra which can immediately be taught all 3 elemental punches on the cheap and raised up. Johto Nuzlockes thus take the form more of building an ensemble cast to support your clear Main Character, rather than building a cohesive team. As a result, Steelix and Machamp greatly stood out for being so dramatically different from Alakazam that they could patch up his few deficiencies.

We faced a setback VERY late and lost our Tauros on Victory Road, leading to the emergency training of Golly the Politoed. He ended up doing almost nothing, but that's true for the entire team besides Pugilist, who swept the entire Elite 4 and Lance unassisted.

It was definitely a fun time and had a very unique flavor compared to other regions. What Johto offers it does offer uniquely, at least.

Total Wipes - 2 (Rival Fight in Azalea Town Gym Leader Morty)

EMERALD - I'm gonna be totally honest. I love Hoenn and I love Gen 3 but I had somehow never actually pushed all the way through Emerald before. I've beaten Sapphire and ORAS each several times, so there was some nice new stuff to me waiting. Emerald is the first game you can play that still feels 'Modern' even without the Phys/Special split. The gameplay design, routes, and everything else just feel much more well realized and iterated upon, which makes sense. Gen 2 was made to capitalize on the Pokemon Craze where Gen 3 was made with the idea of 'Oh, we have a long running thing on our hands.' They worked to impress!

That said, I don't have all that much to say! Emerald is a very Standard Pokemon game and I had a lot of fun with it. I did end up repeating a single pokemon on my endgame team, Gyarados, but most of the run was played without it. I simply blundered a good number of strong encounters away in the midgame and had to fall back on a Pokemon I knew would be strong and could help get me through the Elite 4 and Juan!

This team has a very funny Water/Fire/Grass/Water/Grass core and it's also the first game where I actually EV trained my team on purpose. Thanks to Gen 3's thoughtful encounter design, training up Sp. Attack, HP, Speed, and Defense are all trivial, which greatly helped out. Sunny Day on Ludicolo was specifically to counter Juan, and we NEEDED it too because we lost Gyarados to Drake and Juan got TWO FREEZES in that final battle, so I needed Ludicolo to put in extra work. All in all, this was definitely one of my weaker Final teams, but I partly blame that on my relative unfamiliarity with Emerald's mid and late game. I also simply was not using all the resources at my disposal, which would dramatically change starting with the next game. The big surprise was honestly Electrode, who was a pretty stellar and reliable teammate all through the late and endgame due to fast, strong thunderbolts and screens support.

This game had a nickname theme - Fruits.

Total Wipes - 1 (Gym Leader Brawly)

PLATINUM - If you've followed me long enough you know I've historically been very hard on Gen 4. I do not like Diamond/Pearl and have started and dropped Platinum many times. However, this run I had a genuine joy playing through. Really and truly, playing in this format with the momentum of three runs behind me energized me to see Sinnoh in a new light and I can truly appreciate the dramatic improvements Platinum makes to the region. Most importantly, I've made a new, lifelong friend.

Encountered as a Nosepass at level 14 in Mt.Coronet, Cao Cao was a true champion and help throughout the midgame and into the early late game. Stonewalling tons of trainers, enabling easy captures on lots of encounters, offering free and important switches at critical moments, and just generally being a reliable member of our core duo for most of the game with Rotom Fan...but we lost him at Iron Island in a completely optional double battle... (artist's rendition in the workbench room at my office)

To make matters worse, the teammate we went to Iron Island for, our Scyther so we could evolve her into Scizor, would also be lost shortly before the Elite 4, rendering his loss all the more painful! I knew, for him, we had to carry on and we had to win.

And win we did. My total unfamiliarity with Platinum past the first couple gyms had me doing much more planning and research out of game on upcoming trainers to help ensure a strong run. As a result we lost far less team members than in the past three runs. In particular I was really sweating the encounters with Barry, who is dramatically stronger than previous rivals. But really, we didn't have any noteworthy losses to him.

Platinum is certainly a challenging game in its back quarter but it also really squanders its otherwise quite excellent pacing in the first two thirds or so of the game. After the sixth gym the game gets really long in the tooth and I was just ready for it to be over by the end. Nonetheless, I did have quite a lot of fun and when I play Platinum again in the future I'll definitely do it as a more casual nuzlocke, for fun.

For the vast majority of this run I had a Rotom Fan, Probopass, and Scizor but they were all lost somewhat to VERY late and were replaced with the bottom row. While Whiscash and Porygon 2 stepped right up and were excellent performers, Bronzong was absolutely abysmal and did nothing but provide a single free switch against Cynthia. This run also came closest to dying, with only Crobat surviving the champion battle. (in my heart, however, any team that completes the game all get to go on and I have in fact transferred them into pokemon home, lol) Wuxuan the Crobat was basically my true starter. With me from before the first gym and all the way through to the end. A stellar pokemon. While this run endeared me to many Pokemon I hadn't used in game - or at all - before in Rapidash, Crobat, and Rotom Fan, above them all stands my new true friend, Probopass.

This run was downright cursed when it came to natures, too. Basically every single encounter had a nature that was negative on their most important stat. It was really frustrating, tbh!

This game has the second and final case of a team having a duplicate species of a previous team - Machamp This game has a nickname theme - Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Total Wipes - 0

Post will continue in a Part 2 because of the post image limit.

[pokemon-cards-hourly]

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Pokemon Card of the Day #3127: Light Machamp (Neo Destiny)

Light Machamp had some interesting traits. Getting a minor heal and a free switch with Evolution could be pretty useful if enough Energy was in play to attack right away, and the hit against Dark Pokemon and Darkness-types was nice when it worked. This was all put on an attacker with decent power. There was already some competition for the Fighting-type with interesting traits role, most notably with Donphan due to an equal base damage output, so separation would be needed to get this to see use.

100 HP was a very solid number, though one that was kind of needed on a Stage 2. Only the biggest hits would get a KO right away, such as a well set-up Feraligatr or a Blaine's Arcanine. More likely you'd see this go down in 2, which meant trading blows was rather doable. A Psychic Weakness meant that you were relying a ton on coin flips against Dark Gengar and were in trouble if Espeon showed up. The Retreat Cost here was 2, and the goal was to get Energy in play well enough to let another Light Machamp take over so you never needed to worry about it. In practice, you'd probably retreat at least once during a game.

Tag Team was a fun Pokemon Power, but did limit when you wanted to evolve. If Light Machamp was played from your hand to evolve a Pokemon on the Bench, you removed 3 damage counters from your Active Pokemon. You then switched Light Machamp with your Active Pokemon. There was no choice here, so you had to only evolve when ready to attack. The possible exception was if you just wanted to use it as a pivot using Balloon Berry, which wasn't usually what you wanted to do but also gave a chance to conserve Energy or get a desperate heal in. It was nice to have some of these plays available even if it was also awkward at times.

Beatdown, against most Pokemon, did 50 damage. This was pretty solid against most things, taking most opponents down in 2 hits. IT should be noted that it fell a little short against important Pokemon like Feraligatr and Steelix, howver, which was a problem. The side effect only came into effect if targeting a Darkness-type Pokemon or a Pokemon with Dark in its name. This got you a coin flip, and heads added 50 more damage. 100 for 3 was absurd in this era, and was a KO against the likes of Dark Feraligatr, Umbreon, Dark Vileplume, and even Dark Gengar through the Resistance. This was, of course, if you got the flip, which made it less nice than you might expect it to be sometimes.

Light Machamp was all about match-ups. It was quite good at messing with Dark Feraligatr if it got even decent luck, and the healing and pivoting could be really annoying for any deck trying to run Murkrow. On the other hand, it was atrocious against Feraligatr and wasn't too good at facing Steelix or Crobat either. If you really expected to see those good match-ups a lot, Light Machamp was a very capable deck. If you expected some other sort of mix and still wanted to go with a Fighting-type, Donphan could be way more annoying to deal with due to being able to hide behind a Baby Pokemon a bunch, so that was worth considering instead. Giovanni's Machamp was also worth looking at as well, but Light Machamp had its good moments.

[bodacious-becc]

Hailing from Saffron City in Kanto, it's Silph Co.'s Sweethearts: Team Mikan! They come to us here by the endorsement of Cinnabar Gym's Hotheaded Quiz Master, Blaine!

Alongside her parents and "twin sister" (Mitsue the Arcanine), Mikan works at Saffron City's Silph Company Head Office where they work on fantastic inventions, tools and wares for the use of trainers the world over, though Mikan herself seems to be limited to more of an intern position despite her keen intellect and knack for machines.

One might not think a homebody such as Mikan to be much of a battler (let alone a Championship contender), but according to some sources she has been honing her battling skills since childhood, apparently around the time of the Team Rocket takeover of Silph Co. many years ago.

(From left to right: Mitsue the Arcanine, Trainer Mikan, Ringo the Ditto)

[koeiasequoia]

Lovey Dovey asks!

1, 3, 5, 6, 9 for Koeia

♥ (01) Is your OC in love? If so, with whom, and for how long?

Yeah! We love a whole lot of people! Buuuuut we know you mean like, "in a relationship/get married/settled down with" kinda love and stuff. And yeah! We're in a really committed relationship with two people. Gen, and Blaine! Gen is a ah-... we'll say synthetic, arcanine. And Blaine is a bun! Been with Gen for about two years, and Blaine about one and a half!

♥ (03) Are there any romantic gestures that your OC loves?

Heh, weeeeeee're kinda a sucker for the usual romantic things; flowers, nice restaurants, etc etc

♥ (05) What is the most romantic thing your OC has done for someone else?

Uhhhh... well that... depends on what people find romantic. Knowing Gen and Blaine... they'd probably point to any number of times we've killed people for them... we like to think they know it's that time we made that private little valentine's dinner for the three of us.

♥ (06) What is the most romantic thing that has been done for your OC?

Ooh ooh!! That time Blaine took us to see a history of trains exhibit! And! And that time Gen carried us off to watch the fireworks together

♥ (09) What is your OC’s favorite small way to show their love?

Just, little things! Making those two coffee, or giving em a quick hug or kiss, or helping clean up around the lab or house. Just, simple things like that yknow?

[shadrys]

Arcanine and Shiny Arcanine!!!

How long has it been since I’ve done Pokémon art? Ogs will remember I use to do this all the time-

Post is dedicated to the Blaine’s Arcanine card and as one of my favorite Pokémon’s!

I hope you like it! 💕✨

Please do NOT steal or copy my art, thanks!