#iron boulder

[tealmaskmybeloved]

I may be Pokémon Scarlet's Number One Fan but I gotta say the NEO Swords are awesome

[legendling]

Which one of you.... was made to be the very best....

[jadeazora]

Some new HOME stickers via Mattyoukhana.

[front-facing-pokemon]

[cosmopoliturtle]

Pokemon Redesign #1022 - Iron Boulder

Ancestor

[trustyalt]

got to draw this beautiful girl for the scarvi art collab 🥰

[1r0n-m0th-d3f3n53]

Thought this meme was appropriate for the blog

[n0rtist]

Here are the Paradox Swords of Justice as emojis

[tidiestpegasus]

paradox… uh… deers? ungulates? idk man have some robo sword fellas

+shiny versions (aka no paint jobs lmao)

[claitea]

commission for @haveyouusedthispokemon! :D

[cupcakedex]

Scarlet and Viiolet DLC Pokemon cookies by YKTBKic!

[turning-n-into-random-pokemon]

hi i love iron boulder. turn him into iron boulder

[goddess-of-eyes]

I feel like the Neo Swords don't get enough credit. Like sure they're not as drastically different as the Legendary Beasts are but I feel like there's so many subtle details about them that people haven't noticed yet.

Let's start off with Iron Crown's Scarlet dex entry.

>It resembles a mysterious object introduced in a paranormal magazine as a cutting-edge weapon shaped like a Cobalion.

Let's think about the context of that for a second. Of that wording. A weapon shaped like a Cobalion. Now, why would anybody build a robo-Cobalion in the first place? What purpose would it serve?

Well, let's take a look at Iron Crown's Base Stat Total and compare it to Cobalion's!

Iron Crown has a slightly higher base stat total than Cobalion does, but take a look at how different some of their stats are. Iron Crown is a VERY strong special attacker, with a special attack of 122. Then compare that to Cobalion's special defense. It's their weakest stat at 72.

Take their typings into consideration too. Iron Crown is Steel/Psychic, while Cobalion is Steel/Fighting. What are fighting type Pokemon weak to? Psychic types.

You could probably brush this off as a coincidence, but I fully believe that this was intentional. Let's compare Iron Leaves' Base Stats and Virizion's Base Stats as well real quick.

Once again, we've got a huge difference in stat distribution. Iron Leaves? Very strong physical attacker. Virizion's lowest stat? Physical defense. Iron Leaves' physical attack has almost twice as many points as Virizion's physical defense.

So coupled with the fact that not only do the Neo Swords have a higher base stat total than the Swords of Justice, but they all seem to exceed in places where the Swords of Justice falter, not just in stats, but also in type matchups.

Iron Crown and Iron Leaves were built to kill and replace Virizion and Cobalion. By taking advantage of the strengths that the Swords of Justice lacked, they could bring them down from just how much stronger and more powerful they are, having the higher up in advantages in every single way.

But things get a bit different when we look at Iron Boulder and Terrakion.

In contrast to Iron Crown and Iron Leaves, Iron Boulder doesn't outclass Terrakion in any stats other than special defense and speed. Sure, it can move faster than Terrakion, but Terrakion isn't much of a special attacker anyway and it's still much bulkier and stronger than Iron Boulder.

Not only that, but it could still reasonably go toe to toe with Iron Boulder. Sure, fighting types are weak to psychic types, but Iron Boulder is still a rock type, and rock types are weak to fighting types. So, what gives? Why do Iron Crown and Iron Leaves take advantage of Cobalion and Virizion's weaknesses while Iron Boulder doesn't?

Let's refer to Scarlet's dex entry on Iron Boulder.

>It resembles a Pokémon described in a dubious magazine as a Terrakion that had been modified by an evil organization.

And therein lies the difference. It's not a robot made to take down Terrakion, it IS Terrakion.

When you compare them side by side it's clear they had to take a few liberties to get Iron Boulder to be as fast as it is. Terrakion is much bulkier while Iron Boulder has more of an armored shell thing going on with its body. Its structural integrity probably leaves much to be desired, but perhaps the idea is you wouldn't need to worry about it getting hit when it's too agile to get hit in the first place.

Iron Leaves and Iron Crown were built to kill Virizion and Cobalion, and then when those two were gone, they likely had to weaken Terrakion so they could bring it back to be modified, since Iron Leaves and Iron Crown all outclass Terrakion in terms of stats and typing, leaving Terrakion with no advantages at all.

Living beings tend to make mistakes, lapses in judgement. Often times, it might be critical, and in the heat of the moment, one might slip up, miss something, leading to justice not being served as it should be.

The Swords of Justice cut themselves off from humanity after the war ended, hid themselves away after realizing how much of a burden people were to Pokemon, and the harm they could bring. Even in the years past, they still refused to believe humans and Pokemon could co-exist, attacking anyone who drew near for the longest time. A stubborn mindset, a flawed one, the fault of the mind. A machine would have no sense of selfishness.

Why waste time with human error when a machine is less likely to make mistakes, if at all? Surely, a machine must have a better understanding of justice, of righteousness than a living being. Thousands of calculations per minute to determine the best possible outcome, the best course of action. A machine would be a far better protector than the Swords of Justice ever could be.

Right?

[jadeazora]

Our TCG Instagram art drop today features the Paradox Beasts and Swords of Justice!

[adobe-outdesign]

Anonymous:

My issue with Iron Boulder is the fact that someone decided it should have a base Speed of 124?! I don’t exactly picture either it or vanilla Terrakion as being speed demons, you know?

attempting to make any sense of Pokemon speed stats in general is a fool’s errand

[giant1v1poketourny]

Round 1, Match 1: Vaporeon VS. Iron Boulder