#mega armor model series

[bassdaily]

The Complete Visual Guide to Bass (from Mega Man) in the Third Dimension That No One Wanted or Asked For: A Checklist

Articulated "Action Figures" (including model kits):

Tamashii Nations D-Arts Forte [4.5"] - 2013 Tamashii Nations D-Arts Gospel Jazwares Series 1 Bass [6", short helmet fins] - 2003 Jazwares Series 2 Bass [6", long helmet fins] - 2004 • Remote Mine [teal colorways]

Bandai Mega Armor Iron Buster Forte model kit - 1997 Bandai Power Buster Rockman Forte candy toy [4"] - 1997 Atelier Sai Forte garage kit - 2009 Crossover! Megamix Forte garage kit - 2015 Jazwares Bass [3"] - 2004 • Remote Mine [teal colorways] The Loyal Subjects Bass - 2020 • [metallic colorways] • [battle damage colorways] • [glow in the dark colorways] The Loyal Subjects Treble - 2020

Canceled: Jazwares "Minimates-style" Bass (proof of concept) • From the collection of nightram56 on Youtube • "These prototypes are from Jazwares […] the designer called these "Minimate-type" figures. They are not related to Minimates from Diamond Select Toys, but it seems at one point Jazwares wanted to mimic the brand." Canceled Jazwares Treble Darkstar 3" line vehicle [riding cars] Canceled: Jazwares Retro Roto Bass (picture is a custom) • Custom by hankhillp65 on eBay • Announced for a future Retro Roto release but it doesn't look like there were any prototypes, this custom gives a glimpse of what might have been. Canceled: Bandai Iron Buster metallic plated vers. [gold colorways] • From the collection of u/Last_Disk on Reddit • "Is that a gold Forte ironbuster I see? What's the story on that?" "Prototypes from ex bandai employee."

Bonus - Articulated Dr. Wily:

Funko Action Figures Dr. Wily - 2018 Jazwares Dr. Wily [from "Dr. Wiley's Lab" playset] - 2005 Canceled: Jazwares Retro Roto Dr. Wily

Figurines, mini figs, statuettes:

Tamashii Trading Super Model Spirit Rockman Forte - 2010 • A [standing, open palm] • B [jumping, fist] Unknown MM7 Bass minifig [purple] 25¢ Capsule/Dollar Store Bass minifig - early 2000's

Tamashii Chogokin 10th Anniversary Forte metal mini [4cm] - 1997 Bandai Rockman & Forte Forte candy toy ["puzzle pieces"] - 1998 Bandai Battle Brushers RM7 set Forte mini - 1995 Jazwares Wrecking Station Bass mini [playset] - 2004 • Clear minifigure [yellow colorways] (bonus with 6" S2 Proto Man)

Chibis:

Funko Pint Size Heroes Bass - 2017 Mitsubishi Pencil Forte pencil topper Banpresto Forte keychain [4.5cm] - 1998 Bandai Rockman Chasers Battle & Chase Forte and Gospel candy toys [riding cars] - 1997 Planeswalker chibi Forte and Gospel statue garage kit Q's Workshop chibi Forte and Rockman minifig garage kit - 2024

Keshigomu:

Unknown Battle & Chase Forte and Gospel [riding cars] Bandai Rockman 7 3D Encyclopedia Forte [assorted colorways] Bandai Rockman Fighters Forte [assorted colorways] Bandai Super Forte [assorted colorways] Bandai Rockman 8 Chibi Forte [assorted colorways] Bandai Rockman 8 Gospel [assorted colorways]

None of the images are mine, most are collected from public auction and sales listings, toy news sites, review sites. I have a lot of additional information on some of these, as well as a lot of thoughts about scale and which lines work together. At some point I'll put together something for Forte.exe too.

[aqueousablution]

(March 2023) morXa sorXa armorXa

Note: this post originally was only b&w sketches; I'm using the colored version of the first image here because I figure I might as well post it now.

Original post body under the cut:

These are still WIPs and I want to further refine the vambrace buster concept before I get to coloring any of this, but I'm getting antsy sitting on all this unshared progress I've made with sorXa's armor design, so fuck it, I'm posting what I have so far!! I've more or less said "fuck it" and started leaning into the Χ/χ motif à la X (particularly his X8 design), though the besagew is actually also meant to evoke a clover, partly because sorXa's name is pronounced like the Irish way of saying "Sorcha" (which would make it a shamrock), but also largely because I'm nothing if not a huge MMZ dweeb and I love the lyrical version of MMZ2's credits theme from RTRZ: Idea, which is called... Clover. (the original song is Awakening Will, for reference, which itself is a reprise of the hypest intro stage theme I've ever fucking heard, Departure, which plays during what's also probably the most badass opening to a game I've ever seen. Zero 2 isn't my favorite in the series, but that intro goes so fucking hard!!... I think I got a bit off-topic here, haha)

Transcripts under the cut, since even if I'm not done yet I figure I might as well help people make out what I wrote if I'm posting these as WIPs:

Page 1 (sorXa armor concepts):

gold rivets? (pointing to the forehead plate of her helm, accompanied by a sketch showing the positioning of the three rivets)

speakers (pointing to the circles on her facemask)

Megamix-style arms (next to her big bulky round forearm armor; this idea is altered in the third image to be more like Mega Man Volnutt from the Legends series)

Page 2 (sorXa armor concepts):

mask can detach if lip-reading is needed for clearer communication (near her detached mask, which is connected to her helm by a tether on each side)

❌ no (next to a besagew shaped like a Phillips-head screw)

sapphic! (next to a besagew with indents shaped like the violet used in some versions of the Sapphic pride flag)

Clover + "Χ" (next to a variant of the previous besagew with only 4 indents; an arrow points from the Sapphic violet besagew to the clover besagew)

historical! (next to a besagew with a shallow cone in the center of a bowl-like rim)

gold or red ring? (pointing to a variant of the above besagew with a lighter-colored ring around the central cone)

maybe only 1? → R or L? (above a small mockup of sorXa's torso with only one besagew; "L" is circled, which is reflected by the first page's design of her armor)

Page 3 (sorXa armor concepts (buster cannon)):

vents on top | slides up & out (pointing to a raised part of her vambrace, which is now more cylindrical than the previous images)

thruster (pointing at jetpack-like structures on the back of her cuirass; note that these will be revised in a future drawing, probably)

(duplicated at the back of her calf, which also has a visible jet of sorts)

[various color ideas for her boots] (the poleyns will probably be gold with red "fan plates"/hinges, which will be replicated on her ankle adornments as well; the calves themselves are black (of course), and the notes show her boots as having white outsoles and red soles, though I think I might reverse that in practice)

4 holes (pointing to the beveled edge of her vambrace hear the wrist, accompanied by a simple drawing showing roughly the positioning of those holes, which are in an X-formation)

Model A + Bridget (pointing at the bumpy protrusions on the outsoles of her boots, which are meant to evoke the boots of Model A from Mega Man ZX Advent and the shoes of Bridget's Guilty Gear Strive Design)

[rockmiyabideusexmachina]

Hey there! Do you know where I could find the pencil versions of the Biometals and the Mega Man (ZX) armors ❓ I've been trying to learn the style, and I've felt like tearing my hair out a few times because I don't know how one is supposed to draw a Biometal. (Emoji is there because my keyboard seems to hate the question mark right now)

Hi, Unfortunately, the ZX series was not lucky enough to get a major artbook, so there is a lot of concept art we have long hoped to see, but has never been officially released. Certainly not to the extent that the vast majority of the rest of the franchise has seen. While the Zero/ZX Legacy collection gave us a little bit in pretty nice quality official art, concept sketches are few and far between. Most of what I am posting here can be seen on the wiki as well. Biometal Model X is basically the only one that got a color turnaround as your best reference, a piece that was seen in strategy guides and other spots in the past. These are all I can screenshot to assist with:

We know there is more out there, as people who attended the 20th anniversary event in Tokyo back in 2007 took pics of some concept art that was framed and viewable:

And other stuff found elsewhere:

But great quality, detailed scans or digital releases? Sorry, sadly just not out there yet. Hopefully one day...

[switchnx]

Roll Alternate Universe!

A few things to note here:

This take on a Roll and Rock rollswap (get it?) AU is one where I wanted to not just alter the story, but consider how this would be reflected in/affected by the games themselves, so I started at the beginning, basing the art on the sprites and promotional art for Mega Man 1.

The designs for the Robot Masters and Doctors were all based on concept art and beta designs, really leaning into the “Alternate Universe” feeling. (Could make for an interesting crossover, perhaps!)

Roll’s armor here was modeled after the armor she wore in the OVA, fitting for the theme I was going for since I believe it was designed by Keiji Inafune, the character designer for the series for most of its history. I did simplify the armor a bit to match with the 1987 style.

I wouldn’t say anything here is finalized quite yet, but this is certainly a fun concept to explore! Let me know what you think, and any suggestions or questions you have!

(Bonus: How Roll’s Sprite would fit together given NES hardware limitations!)

[etes-secrecy-post]

Hi, before I explain my post, I want to say something important.

• What you see my blog has become a major overhaul. And despite the changes, I decided that my 2nd account will be now my artwork blog with a secret twist.

⚠️NEW RULE! (W/ BIGGER TEXT!)⚠️

⚠️ SO PLEASE DO NOT SHARE MY 2nd ACCOUNT TO EVERYONE! THIS SECRECY BLOG OF MINE IS FOR CLOSES FRIENDS ONLY!⚠️

• AND FOR MY CLOSES FRIENDS, DON’T REBLOG IT. INSTEAD, JUST COPY MY LINK AND PASTE IT ON YOUR TUMBLR POST! JUST BE SURE THE IMAGE WILL BE REMOVED AND THE ONLY LEFT WAS THE TEXT.

⚠️ SHARING LINKS, LIKE POSTS, REBLOG POSTS, STEALING MY SNAPSHOT PHOTOS/RECORDED VIDEOS/ARTWORKS (a.k.a. ART THIEVES) OR PLAGIARIZING FROM UNKNOWN TUMBLR STRANGERS WILL IMMEDIATELY BE BLOCKED, RIGHT AWAY!⚠️

😡 WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT EVER LIKED & REBLOG MY SECRET POST! THIS IS FOR MY SECRET FRIENDS ONLY, NOT YOU! 😡

Okay? Capiche? Make sense? Good, now back to the post…↓

No #OnThisDay throwback post, only exclusive for super secret blog(s) albeit re-post. Instead, I have this!

Title: Cuteness Girl Member - Chick-Sara

Hello, April! 🎗️🧩 Here's my "Secret Art Trade" for my good 'ol G-Pal, rafacaz4lisam2k4. 🇬🇹🙂

• I'm still thinking about Ricky's (another rafacaz4lisam2k4's HTF OC) first "Cuteness Mecha Armor", soon. But, in the mean time, let's meet "Chick-Sara" 🐤🐿️, an adorable chipmunk HTF OC (owned by his) in chick's clothing. And by that, I meant the yellow baby chicken (not a female slang word 🙄😒). I was gonna give her a Zeon's armored "Zaku" series ❌, but look how innocent she is that she deserves a Federation's armored "GM" ✔️, instead; "GM II" to be specific. 🤖🙂

BTW: Don't worry, though, there will be more members that will fitted in Zeon's armored Zaku for the selected "Cuteness Members", someday to make balance out. 😉

GM II Chick-Sara Based on the: RMS-179 GM II [CLICK ME!]

Armament(s):

60mm Vulcan Gun • A pair of shell-firing armament built into the helmet. Low offensive power, only used to restrict enemy movement, and lay down a wall of suppressive fire due to their rapid fire capability.

Beam Saber • The beam saber is a small device held in the armor's hands when deployed and is powered by a rechargeable energy capacitor. It emits high-energy Minovsky particles to form a blade-shaped I-field (via manipulation of electromagnetic fields), and then fills this I-field shell with superheated Minovsky particle plasma to produce an effective cutting blade. Like the GM, the GM II has one beam saber stored on its backpack, but features an improved blade generator unit.

BOWA·BR-S-85-C2 Beam Rifle • A portable firearm that shoots out mega particles beams. It has a power rating of 1.9 MW and is powered by a built-in energy CAP system.

BLASH HB-L-07/N-STD Hyper Bazooka • An improved model of the HB-L-03/N-STD Hyper Bazooka with added targeting sensors, increasing its accuracy. The magazine has also been changed to be completely sealed/airtight, and this not only makes exchanging magazine easier, but also protects against debris intrusion, accidental explosion due to being hit, etc. Additionally, no special attention needs to be paid to the weapon during operation as the rigidity of the rib section connecting the carrying handle to the bazooka's rear has been enhanced.

HWF GMG·MG79-90mm Bullpup Machine • The bullpup machine gun was a system weapon developed as a Space/Ground dual-use projectile weapon. Though compact, it has sufficient anti-MS firepower while maintaining accuracy. Its muzzle velocity is increased due to the use of new gunpowder and this enables it to easily penetrate the armor of Zeon's. A box-like sensor system incorporating a video camera and laser sensor is installed at the top, and when this system is used alongside the GM II's targeting system, target acquisition capability is enhanced.

HFW-GR·MR82 90mm GM Rifle • A portable, mobile suit-use 90mm rifle built based on the 'system weapon' structure, its effective range and accuracy is superior to the HWF GMG·MG79-90mm machine gun. With the extended barrel, the GM Rifle sees a 15% increase in muzzle velocity, leading to increased armor penetration capability. Additionally, a newly developed caseless cartridge allows for a lightened ammunition load.

YHI YF-MG100 100mm Machine Gun • First utilized by Federation's armor ground forces during the One Year War, its use became less common after the war as the Federation switched to 90mm caliber weaponry. Equipped with a box magazine and folding stock, it has excellent rate of fire and is easy to wield. It utilized a smoothbore type barrel that lacked rifling and has to be replaced after firing 3000 rounds. The weapon could utilize three different types of ammunition: HEAT (High Explosive Anti Tank), APFSDS (Armor-Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding-Sabot), and HESH (High Explosive Squash Head), allowing combat units to select the appropriate type to meet operational needs.

Bazooka • A portable, physical projectile-type firearm, this general purpose bazooka was used by the armored Jegan and other Earth Federation Forces' armors. A spare ammunition cartridge is mounted in front of the bazooka's grip, and the weapon is compatible with various types of warhead. Despite the relatively slow speed of the bazooka's projectiles, they have sufficient destructive power to deal critical damages to an armor.

M-120A1 120mm Machine Gun • The same portable firearm used by the Zaku II. It can switch between semi-automatic and automatic fire. Although useless against Luna Titanium Alloy, it can still destroy weaker armor material with multiple shots. It fires 120mm caliber rounds that are stored in a 100-rounds drum magazine.

Harpoon Gun • A projectile weapon designed for amphibious combat. The harpoon gun fires four harpoons one by one in a rotary manner similar to a revolver. The tip of each harpoon is loaded with explosives that detonate once the projectile has penetrated the enemy's armor.

YHI ERRL-TYPE.Doc-04/380mm Rocket Launcher • A portable large rocket launcher meant for armor, it is independently developed by Yashima Heavy Industries for use specifically in 1G environment. Also known as Hyper Bazooka (Ground Type), it has a very versatile design with features that include targeting sensors, etc. It uses a banana-shaped magazine and has a short barrel to facilitate its use in jungle/forested areas. This weapon can utilize a number of different munitions including warheads that deploy stabilizing fins after launch, and this shows that its design took many references from human-sized ground weaponry used in older eras.

YHI YF-RC180 Railcannon • A weapon that uses electromagnetic forces, rather than gunpowder, to fire solid projectiles at very high velocities. Manufactured by Yashima Heavy Industries. This equipment was developed in consideration of the problems that the early beam weapons had decreased power due to attenuation in the atmosphere, and the basic structure is diverted from a battleship's main gun. It was first used by the armor (RGM-79F) Land Combat Type GM.

170mm Cannon • A successor to the 180mm Cannon developed during the early stages of the One Year War. Although the caliber of the shell was reduced to improve handling, its range and power have been increased. The cannon's trigger grip is mounted at the top surface, and a foregrip can be used to stabilize the weapon when in use. Like the 180mm cannon, the 170mm cannon was fed by a magazine: though this time it was underneath the cannon.

BR-87A Beam Rifle • The same beam rifle model as the one used by the Marasai and Hizack. It is powered by a replaceable e-pac and is power rated at 2.2 MW.

FADEGEL RGM-M-Sh-003 Shield • A basic defensive armament used by the Federation's GM type MS. It is composed of a triple honeycomb structure made of Luna Titanium and the surface also has anti-beam coating for defending against beam attacks.

FADEGEL RGM-M-Sh-007 Shield • An improved model of the RGM-M-Sh-003. It has the exact same size as its predecessor, but its material was changed to Titanium-Ceramic composite. Its mount latch was made movable, allowing the shield to be positioned up or down when carried by a Mobile Suit manipulator or mounted on the forearm, increasing its usability.

RGM*S-Sh-WF/S-00109 Shield • The GM II can also use the same forearm-mounted shield as the armor G-Ground Type and GM Ground Type. This small, light shield is constructed of Luna Titanium alloy, and is designed to primarily protect the cockpit and other critical areas. Additionally, it can be used as a close-range striking weapon in C.M.A. (Cuteness Mecha Armor) combat. Furthermore, through lodging the spikes at the tip into the ground, the shield can serve as a free-standing frontal defense. This also allows the mobile suit to use both hands to hold large-caliber weaponry and maintain a stable firing position.

Special Equipment(s)/Features:

Ballute System • An atmospheric entry device designed to be used by a multitude of different mobile suit models. As the mobile suit enters the atmosphere, a bowl-shaped ballute (balloon parachute) deploys to protect it from the friction heat of atmospheric entry. The balloon then detaches, leaving the armor with chest and leg hover units which ease its descent to the ground. If the mobile suit reaches the ground without expending all the fuel in the leg units, these devices can also be used for hovering and high-speed strike missions.

Chick-Sara (HTF OC) - owned by rafacaz4lisam2k4 Armor (Mobile Suit Gundam - Universal Century Timelines) - Gundam series © Bandai Namco Filmworks, Inc. (SUNRISE), Sotsu

[sylviegunpla]

Plamo?: Bandai Shokugan 66 Action Dash: Mega Man 2

This is a series of mini-figures that i think were sold in blind boxes, maybe? I think i still have the boxes, they might have been labeled; but when i bought them, it was as a set of all five off of the shopping website i won't name here. They're not full model kits, mostly poseable mini figures with some changeable parts. But those extra parts come on tiny runners, so maybe that counts for something? lmao. But they all came pre-painted, which they did a pretty decent job on. it's nothing spectacular, but probably worth the price you'd pay in Japan (I actually didn't check the MSRP on these because i assumed i was getting them at a markup) The reason i ordered this set is because they came with Vile and X figures, which are compatible with the Super Minipla line of Ride Armor's from Mega Man X (which will be a separate entry on this blog)

CUT MAN:

This CutMan figurine is pretty nice. As you can see these are eminently poseable, but they're also a little fragile. Still, once you get them into a decent position they tend to stay. The Rolling Cutter actually has a good friction fit in his right hand. SUPER MEGA MAN:

I love this boy. As a kid i had (and still have actually) a pencil topper of Super Mega Man. I love this little figurine doing the rocket punch from the games that have this feature. Gotta point out the paint jobs on these are pretty okay. Not like super refined but they're definitely charming and great. GEO STELLAR / MEGA MAN STAR FORCE??:

I admit, i don't know much about this particular subseries. I tried to play the first star force once, but couldn't get into it. nonetheless, he came with the set, so here he is, posing for you! MEGA MAN X:

Okay so this and the next figure are the primary reasons i got this set. As you can see, it comes with swappable pieces that allow him to pilot the Ride Armor Super Minipla kits. Not going in depth on these here, but here you can see the "painted" (with gundam markers) job i did in 2020 when i went full hog into Plamo. I believe the silver used was a metallic silver gundam marker, GM177 to be exact. It was very stinky!! A strong, acrid smell. Anyway, I'm currently working on repaints of the Chimera kit to recreate game-accurate-ish versions of the Hawk and Kangaroo Armor. Actually, here's a sneak peak of that:

Anywho, that's all for another post. The last guy left is..

VILE:

You know him as the devilish rival to X. You can see the minifig has a magazine for his vulcan coming from his backpack. The minifig is nice, though the only customization he has is the hands gripping the steering stick. Or you can make them look like he's laughing maniacally. Either way. Maybe the back of his head could use some panel lining and painting? but i don't feel like trying that over a pre-painted surface. Not sure why the joints seem to be splitting at the seams. Could be a good reason to revisit this model one day with sprue glue or some such. I usually keep these guys displayed diorama style in my light cabinet on the megamans shelf:

I know they've never actually faced off in their ride armors before. In my defense, toys are for making cool scenes so i will do just that with them. Anyway in conclusion, I really like Mega Man and have since i was a child, thank you for coming to my TED Talk. Here's the stats for this set (and yes some of the spare parts for these figs came on sprue)

Not super wasteful on the consumer side of the plastic equation.

[zxsweep]

[ID: Digital art of Atlas from Mega Man ZX Advent in her Model F form. She is depicted from the waist up, glancing to the side and frowning. Her armor is altered so it resembles Fefnir’s from the Zero series: instead of being an open vest, her chest piece is solid and box-like, and she has armor on her shoulders with stripes of white. Her helmet, guns, and the overall coloration of her armor are still the same. End ID]

thinking about what if atlas had unique armor like fefnir

[janarthanan]

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[heinousactszx]

top 5 mega man bosses?

I'm gonna pick boss fights from across the series here, since i already answered one about the characters

Sunstar in Mega Man V. hard to believe the screen of the gameboy could contain a fight this epic, but it's just awesome. mega man fighting an ancient robot way out of his weight class, with multiple phases and an incredible boss theme. the one time wily wasn't the final boss, and it showed

Omega in Mega Man Zero 3. The plot built up to this fight amazingly well, and it does not disappoint. zero having to fight what he would have become if not for the maverick virus is potent, and you have to be so good to win.

Vent/Aile in Mega Man ZX Advent. This one isn't that crazy of a fight, i am just a HUGE sucker for player characters fighting each other. that's you! you're fighting you! I always stay model A for this fight, it has to be even.

Alpha in Mega Man Battle Network 3. An appropriately epic final boss for an epic of a game. the pre and post fight cutscenes really got to me as a kid. when that music starts playing... if you know you know. i'm glad i had the guts buster for this fight though, not sure how much fun it would be without it.

Unfinished/Hell Sigma from Mega Man X6. Awful, awful game, but god what a boss fight. sigma as basically a zombie and rampaging beast is so good thematically to me. he died too many times and lost his mind, i love it. pretty fun fight too (if you have the ultimate armor)

[geibuchan]

Now they can BOTH ride their ride armors together!

[megaman-rockman]

ROCKMAN MEGA ARMOR SERIES

The mid 90's was a very different time for Mega Man, the Mega Man X games were going strong and after the carddass content picked up in sales the brand was expanded to other goods. One of these was the Mega Armor model kit series, these model kits were small pieces that you had to build yourself from the package inside.

It first started with sets based on X3 and the Rockman X Mega Mission cards, X and Zero had various weapon and armor variants but other characters like Bit, Vile Mk.2, and iX. Inside of the X and Zero sets, there are little exoskeletons that hold the reploid armor together. A fun detail is that inafune produced a concept sketch for X and Zero without their helmets connected for this set.

Then, in 1997 the lineup expanded to Mega Man 8 and X4. The classic series got model sets of Mega Man, Proto Man, Bass, Duo, Rush ( misspelt Rash on the box for some reason. ) and two robot masters. Tengu Man and Sword Man.

As for the X series kits? Starting from here they continued to produce new armor kits, though it burnt out quick. Mega Armor series sets became less mainstream and more of a novelty after there was no big Mega Man game for three years, though X5 and X6 did receive armor sets they were more commemorative rather than being a big thing.

...Though, one of the last model sets to come out was a set of four Legends 2 sets. It featured Mega Man Volnutt with various different special weapons, honestly with his design I think these are really cool!

Overall though, the Mega Armor series are very good novelties and maybe one day I would go out of my way to purchase one. There's a lot of different little Mega Man toys and figures that are obscure to most of us. So I'll make sure to write more about that. This'll be all for now though!

ALL IMAGES FROM MMKB

WRITTEN BY T.R

[reversemoon255]

Healin' Good Precure

I finished another season of Precure; yeah! It's not that I didn't watch Hugtto or Twinkle, but I had issues with the sub groups I was following during both seasons, and fell off half-way through. Which sucks because I heard Twinkle ended up being really good. I do have all the episodes I haven't watched saved somewhere, but whether I'll get to them or not is up in the air as I'm really bad at binging shows.

But we're not here to talk about those seasons, we're here to talk about the latest season, which I quite enjoyed. It was definitely on the more mellow side of the spectrum, but it had a very well-rounded cast of both humans, faeries, and villains, which fits the more slice-of-life attitude the show rolled with. Is it my favorite? No, but I think it still had a lot of positive things going for it.

The Good: Let's start with the characters. Nodoka was a very chill pink, which is a nice change of pace. Pinks are usually very energetic and outgoing, and Nodoka still has those characteristics, but a much more laid-back personality. Her backstory is also very poignant for the series, and how it ends up tying into the plot was not unforeseeable, but still well executed. Chiyu is a standard cool blue with chinks in her armor, but like Nodoka is usually very laid back which helps her stand out amongst the crowd. Despite how generic she seems on paper, I can't really think of another blue that acts like Chiyu, which is a point in the positive. Hinata has the quirky yellow thing down flat. In terms of general personality, she acts more like a pink than Nodoka does. She's also two character tropes we haven't seen in Precure yet: Gyaru and Dumb. I don't mean anything bad by that, but Hinata definitely acts very anime-gyaru, which is very funny to me as I feel like Gyaru are typically not portrayed as role models. She's also not smart; and don't get me wrong, there are plenty of Precure that aren't geniuses, but Hinata actively tries and doesn't have the attention span to do it. It makes her far too relatable as someone who was not the biggest fan of school. Asumi was an interesting take on the fairy-turned-Precure idea, basically being a husk that has to experience emotions for the first time. She is also very mellow, making it 3-for-4. It's a very laid back team.

Rabirin, Pegitan, and Nyatoran are all very good faries. They can carry entire scenes and episodes on their own, and despite their cute appearances are able to do it with as much weight as a human character. Latte may also be my favorite fairy ever, as she's a non-talking dog, and just acts like a very smart dog. It's both adorable and hilarious. The Pathogerms are also pretty well done. They all have very standard personalities and drives, but there's nuances to how they act and do things. When we get to them evolving, each of them creates their own way of making more powerful Mega and Gigapathogerms. And the fact that none of them are redeemed is very different for Precure, but not unwelcome. They have their funny moments, but they were bad guys through and through.

I'll also say that the character development for this season was very different than what we normally see. Like, most of the time it's "I'm shy and want to be more outgoing," "I'm aiming for my dream job," or something along those lines. Here, other than maybe Pegitan, nobody really goes through that type of standard, measurable progression. Nodoka's big character moment is realizing she doesn't have to put herself at risk to help others if she doesn't want to. Chiyu's is realizing she can have multiple interests. And Hinata is just realizing she's ok as she is and doesn't need to try and change. None of them are bad revelations, it's just none of the characters really go through anything that fundamentally changes them as a person; they're all pretty much the same from start to finish. Which, they're all 14. It's not super weird.

The plot feels very in-style with what Toei's been doing for a bit now. It's very episodic. Not a ton of huge shake-ups, and those that we do get are resolved pretty quickly so people tuning in for the first time or skip episodes don't get lost. It's the type of show that feels formulated to attract new viewers, and I'm ok with it since everything was well written. I can't think of an episode I didn't think was at least decent, and there were a few gems sprinkled throughout. The one-off characters from all those episodes have very distinct personalities, and nothing ever felt too rushed.

One thing though; I get this is the doctor series, but I find it strange that they went with the usual Earth-Water-Sky motif, and not have any aspects of the animal partners be incorporated into the actual costume design. They didn't have to go all out, like in Kira Kira, but I don't think they even had a paw-print on anything but their weapons.

The Bad: So I mentioned one-off characters earlier, and one of my problems with this show is that it's filled with one-off characters. Other than the parents, there are no real reoccurring characters. No other friends they all hang out with. It's just the main cast most of the time. This isn't necessarily a bad thing as it allows more time for developing the characters you care about, but at the same time it makes the focus of the show very narrow, to the point that  near the end of the series you can't help but think "Oh yeah, this takes place in more than a small town." And while I feel for the characters when they're going through something tough, there weren’t that many moments like that. There’s a lack of overall investment. Even near the finale, I never walked away from an episode begging for more. There were plenty of times where I'd just binge through a month's worth of episodes while doing other stuff. And, again, that's not a bad thing, but, even if I didn't finish it, I got that feeling of investment from Star Twinkle, from Kira Kira, from Maho. Maybe it's because the Precure themselves were seldom attacked? The only mess-with-your-character moment I can think of is when Nodoka get infected, and that was just because she stumbled onto Daruizen; he wasn't actively targeting her. It's more that the chill nature of the show has a double-edged nature to it. It's cute and fun and easy to watch, but you're not going to walk away with it changed in any way, like I was with Go! Princess.

And on the ending, it was very abrupt. I know a few episodes got cut, but that would have been known near the start of the series, and there was plenty of filler. As much as I complain about the time issues associated with the epilogues in accordance to new series and crossover movies, this felt like a season that could have used it. In fact, I think it's the first since Princess to not have one.

Overall, I'm fealin' good ‘bout Healin' Good. It's a nice, easy watch with some fun characters. It's just not very meaty, and I could have used a little more. I'm looking forward to Tropical Rouge. It's already starting out with some interesting premises, like having Summer copy the Zenkaiser color scheme, staying away from the typical colors, etc. Also, whenever I try and design a Precure season (because I get bored at work and do that sometimes) I always do an ocean theme in a seaside town. In fact, Coral is usually the name I give my pink. But enough about how my mind wanders; let's hope the next season is just as fun, but a bit more compelling than this season.

[askkrenko]

Krenko’s Guide to Pokemon: Scyther Line

Who wants a hug?

DESIGN: 

Scyther is one of the coolest creatures ever designed. It’s clearly modeled after the praying mantis, but instead of spiked forearms, it just has swords for arms. Swords for arms are awesome. Scyther is awesome. Scyther has always been awesome. Scyther will always be awesome. And you know what else is awesome? Ninjas. And according to the Pokedex, Scyther has ninja skills. Sword-arm-ninja-bug is the coolest thing I could imagine when Pokemon hit the states in 1998, and you know what? I’m pretty sure it’s still the coolest thing. 

Scizor, then, is a huge disappointment. Instead of sword arms it’s turned into some sort of lobster thing, with a heavy metal coating that vaguely resembles Iron Man. And the thing is, Scizor is still cool. It’s a steel warrior bug with deadly claws. But it’s just NOT as cool as a ninja mantis with swords for arms.

And then Mega Scizor is just… ugh. This thing doesn’t feel like an evolved super powered Scizor, it feels like Dr. Wily made a Scizor in his garage and sent it to kill Megaman. Its ridiculous proportions just make it look like it can’t move, and it’s anime as all hell. Sure, all Pokemon designs are a little anime, but there’s degrees. This thing doesn’t even look like a Pokemon anymore.

One thing you’ll notice about Pokemon is that there’s different designers and designs change over time, but the Scyther line really just looks like the Pokemon weren’t designed by the same people. Yes, there’s clear visual throughlines from Scyther to Scizor to Mega Scizor, but there’s very different ideas and concepts of what to do with each form, such that Scyther is easily the coolest despite being the first form.

EVOLUTIONS:

Scizor is the only lateral evolution in all of Pokemon.  While some Pokemon lose some stats on evolution to gain more in others, like how Metapod and Kakuna have higher Defense than Butterfree and Beedrill, Scizor is the only pokemon whose stat total does not increase on evolution. This alone is really, really weird. Further, Scyther and Scizor have base stats of a whopping 500. There’d be plenty of room for a pre-evolution of Scyther, but we’ve never seen one.

The actual evolution method here is to trade with the metal coat, which I’ve established is dumb, because it could just be Trade or Metal Coat and doesn’t need to be both. 

Mega Scizor is a weirdly unnecessary Mega. Scizor was already really good without it, and the evolution gives much more to defense than attack, meaning even in formats it’s allowed there’s reason to use non-Mega Scizor. It’s still quite good, though, it’s just not such an obvious, necessary upgrade as some Megas are. For this reason, we’ll be talking about all three of Scyther’s forms here.

Art by Clinkorz

TYPING:

Scyter’s Bug/Flying typing is a bit high risk, high reward due to overlap. Immunity to ground and double resistance to Fighting and Grass are big deals, but 4x weakness to Rock is vicious in a game where Stealth Rock exists, and there’s four other weaknesses besides. When Scyther resists a hit, it really resists… But it’s always open for taking big damage.  Offensively, bug is really weak, with far too many types resistant to it. Fortunately, flying can hit most of them, giving Scyther super-effective options against Bug, FIghting, Grass, Psychic, and Dark and only stopped doubly by Steel.

Scizor, on the other hand, is a defensive powerhouse with typing. Steel resists most types, and Bug type covers both Fighting and Ground, leaving Scizor only weak to fire and, sure, it’s 4x weak to fire, but it resists (or is immune to) nine of the game’s eighteen types.  On offense, Bug/Steel gets to be super-effective against one more type than Bug/Flying, but both Steel and Fire resist both its types. Mega Scizor shares Scizor’s typing.

Art by AbelVera

STATS:

At 500 base stats, Scyther has a good 110 attack, a good 105 speed, and then basically average defensive stats. All in all it’s a solid stat lineup that makes for a good, aggressive Pokemon. Numerically, it has no real weaknesses, though its typing makes it more vulnerable to attacks than its defensive stats suggest. On the other hand, Scyther’s one of the strongest Pokemon that can use Eviolite, which ups its base defenses both to 120, and multiplies its other defensive bonuses as well.

Scizor’s stats are still 500, but it trades 40 points of speed to increase attack and defense both by 20. This means Scizor’s a seriously heavy hitter and, combined with its high number of resistances, far more durable.  The lack of 40 speed is actually a pretty big hit from a sweeping standpoint, but 65 speed isn’t so low as to be unusable, and the attack increase is very real.

Mega Scizor adds another 100 points of stats onto Scizor, mostly in the defenses. While its attack does increase from 130 to 150, the big boost is a defense jump to 140 and special defense to 100. It’s still extremely flammable, but it’s going to be able to take the vast majority of attacks in the game safely. So, why still use Scizor? Because the jump from 130 Attack to 150 attack, while strong, isn’t as strong as using a Life Orb or Choice Band, or even a Metal Coat, and Mega Evolution takes your item slot. This isn’t to say Mega Scizor isn’t great, just that it’s not the only good Scizor build.

Art by MorganHowell

ABILITIES:

Swarm, available to both Scyther and Scizor, increases the damage of their bug moves by 50% when their health is at ⅓ or less. This generally means you’re only getting one attack off with it before you go down. While not useless, the second ability is far better for damage.

Mega Scizor’s sole ability, which Scyther and Scizor can both get, is Technician. Technician increases the damage of any attack with base power 60 or less by 1.5x. Scyther and Scizor actually have a lot of these moves, though a few of the better ones aren’t currently available in Sword and Shield. Still, this is going to be the best ability for most builds.

Scyther’s hidden ability, Steadfast, increases its speed when it flinches. While Flinching is certainly a thing that happens, Scyther has enough speed that an ability that only increases its speed under specific circumstances just isn’t worth it.

Scizor’s hidden ability is Light Metal, which drops its weight from 260 pounds to 130 pounds. This is a super situational ability that only comes up if somebody’s going to hit Scizor with Low Kick or Grass not, so the only reasonable use for it is to use on a Scizor you’re intending to Mega Evolve so that you can choose not to Mega Evolve it if you’re expecting the Low Kick… But even then you’re only reducing the base power by 20 and you’re giving up 40 points of physical defense by not Mega Evolving, so it’s real corner-case stuff.

The point is: Technician. Scyther line’s only relevant ability is Technician.

Bug Catching Contest by Sa-Dui

MOVES:

Did you know Scyther invented the Swords Dance Sweep? Oh, sure, it wasn’t the only Pokemon in Gen 1 that could do it, but it was the only Pokemon that learned it naturally and had enough of a speed stat to sweep with it. And this was back when Slash would basically always crit because critical hits were based on speed, so you’d get this Pokemon that naturally learns Swords Dance, Agility, and Slash and you’d just power up and go to town.

What I’m saying here is: Take Swords Dance. If you’re not using a Choice item, all three forms are built to make use of it. Scyther has the higher speed, and (Mega) Scizor can take the hits to spend time building up.

For actual attacks, it’s important to remember Technician here. For Bug attacks, this means the best option should be Bug Bite, but Gen 8 currently doesn’t have a move tutor for it,  If you can’t get Bug Bite on your Scyther, you’re stuck with either X-Scissor or Fury Cutter (Which, with Technician, starts at 60 power for the first, then 80 for the second, then 160 for all subsequent cuts.)  Another strong bug-type move is U-Turn, and though you can’t sweep with it, it lets Scyther or Scizor get in a strong hit while using another Pokemon to defend. 

But let’s be honest here: Bug is only super-effective against three types and it’s resisted by way too many, so if you just don’t have a bug attack, you don’t have a bug attack.

Art by Macuarrorro

For Scyther’s Flying attack, Dual Wingbeat is newly available in the Isle of Armor and it has beautiful synergy with Technician. As a two-hit attack, it actually has 80 power, but reads as 40, so Technician increases that to two hits of 60, for a 120 power hit with 90 Accuracy. Whatever Scyther was doing before (Aerial Ace mostly), this is just better. Though not as good for Scizor due to a lack of STAB, a 120 power Flying move is still good.

Scyther also learns a series of Dark moves in older generations. Pursuit with Technician can be a major hit, and Knock Off is always good, even without the Technician boost. Assurance, still available in Gen 8, does get the technician boost, and serves as a solid Dark attack even without any way to trigger its secondary effect. Further, Quick Attack, while generally weak, winds up being a lot more potent with Technician and the aid of Swords Dance, even if Scyther can’t get STAB with it.

Scizor, meanwhile, gets Bullet Punch, which is just like Quick Attack but Scizor does get STAB with it, meaning an attack with a base power of 40 hits as though its power were 90, which is quite an effective way to deal with Scizor’s lower speed.  Iron Head serves as a stronger Steel type attack, but Iron Head with STAB only matches Dual Wingbeat without STAB, so it’s really not worthwhile. 

Scizor, but not Scyther, can learn Superpower. While not particularly spammable, enough types are weak to Fighting attacks, and its base damage still matches anything else Scizor can do.

In older generations, Scyther can learn Roost, which works great for both forms. For Scyther, it can reliably go before an incoming attack and alter Scyther’s weaknesses, and with a bulkier Pokemon like Scizor (or even Scyther with Eviolite) or a complete tank like Mega Scizor it can seriously increase the Pokemon’s longevity. 

For an actual build, I recommend Swords Dance, Dual Wingbeat, and Roost, with Bullet Punch for Mega Scizor, Bullet Punch or U-Turn for Scizor, and Quick Attack or U-Turn for Scyther as the final attack. 

Art by ChrisMasna

OVERALL:

Scyther is still SO COOL and Scizor is also so cool just less cool. Dual Wingbeat really gives Technician something to work with, as does Bullet Punch, and Swarm’s not a useless ability it’s just… less good than Technician.  My only real complaint is that Scyther lost Bug Bite in the new generation.  Bug is a pretty weak type offensively, and X-Scissor just isn’t very good. Bug Bite, First Impression, or even Lunge would be a serious boon to Scyther and Scizor. 

It’s also sort of weird to me that Scyther doesn’t have a baby version. Scyther is one of gen 1’s strongest first form Pokemon, tied with Pinsir, and with only Lapras, Snorlax, Aerodactyl, and the legendary Pokemon having higher stat totals. While Legendaries and Aerodactyl having a pre-evolved form is hardly necessary, Snorlax already has one, so it’s a bit odd to me that Scyther, Pinsir, and Lapras just appear fully formed as powerful as they are.  Scyther is also one of the strongest Pokemon that can still evolve, beaten out only by Type: Null.  I suppose that explains the unique lateral evolution a bit, but that’s still very odd, too.

Scyther’s just weird, because Scyther was already super cool and then they had to add two more forms to it for some reason. But Scyther is still the coolest.

And he knows it. Art by kenket

[smokeybrand]

I Am No Jedi

With season two of Mando over and the entire series in the can, for now, i was still on a pretty high Star Wars kick. Since i have Disney+, and time before WandaVision starts, i figure I'd ride this wave right into another Star Wars show i didn’t have the opportunity to actually get into deep; Star Wars: Rebels. Now, i have REALLY mixed feeling about this show. It’s an odd watch for me because of the conflict between the parts that are clone wars-y and the original content being presented. I kind of hate it when Ahsoka, Vader, Maul, or Thrawn aren’t onscreen but, at the same time, there are some really standout episodes. The Honorable Ones and The Forgotten Droid immediately come to mind. Unlike Clone Wars, however, which is a whole ass masterpiece of storytelling and character development, Rebels feels incredibly flaccid, overall. Still, i did like some things therein. Others, not so much...

The Things I liked

This show is gorgeous, man. The character models are lovely, this soundtrack is one of the best in the entire franchise, and the animation is head-and-shoulders above the first last season of Clone Wars. By that i mean season six. This thing ain’t got sh*t on season seven. Not even a little bit. Even so, this how is f*cking stunning to see. Everything about this aesthetic is just chef kiss levels of kino, as the kids would say.

All things Ahsoka. Look, its no secret i adore Ms. Tano but she really comes into her own with Rebels. You get to see that wisdom she gleaned during the Clone Wars on full display, even if she isn’t a proper Jedi anymore. Watching her reunite with Rex was wonderful but watching her fight Vader? That was hard. That was really hard. That episode, Twilight of the Apprentice, is easily some of the finest Disney Star Wars produced to date. It’s up there with Mando and the seventh season of the Clone Wars, for sure, and is the best episode of Rebels, itself, hands down.

Vader.

Maul in Rebels was exceptional. I enjoyed his turn in Clone Wars, of course, but his relationship with Ezra and his growth over the course of this series was exquisite. I was stunned by how much i liked Maul because, admittedly, i didn’t see the allure. I came to Clone Wars late so watching Maul blossom was a surprise. Seeing that continued evolution through Rebels was a real treat. That last duel with Obi-Wan? F*cking tragic. Beautifully tragic.

The Inquisitors. I like the whole concept of the Inquisitors but, specifically, The Grand Inquisitor and the Seventh Sister are decidedly the superior of the lot. I really enjoyed Grand and felt like his character was a little short-changed but Seventh Sister came along and picked up that slack only a few episodes later. Thanks to Rebels, i got other amazing characters like Second Sister in Jedi Fallen Order, The High Inquisitors in

F*cking Thrawn, man. I knew this dude was the dude from the Thrawn trilogy sequel books and never expected him to actually be canonized. Seeing my favorite blue sociopath show up in season four was a real gas, giving him proper credence as a threat going forward in the canon Disney mythos. The revelation that Ahsoka’s whole mission in her Mando appearance, was just to find a lead on this dude, was one of the biggest geek-outs i ever had for Disney Star Wars and it was Rebels that set all of it up.

Speaking of canonization, Rebels mad Darth Bane a thing and i will forever be grateful of that fact. Darth Bane is a huge deal in the canon and Filoni sneaking his legitimacy into the new lore, right under Kathleen Kennedy’s hating ass sabotage, was genius. I heard that he wanted to do the same for Darth Nihilus, Darth Traya, and Darth Scion, but that script was rejected. I imagine Darth Kennedy didn’t care for the Bane slip and put the kibosh on all other lore.

I actually like a lot of the additional lore. The Bendu, those temples, the mega-weapon on Malachor, The Veil; All of it enriches and expands upon the new canon. It gives it more life, more potential. and i love potential in storytelling. Makes for a ton of different, wonderful, possibilities.

Look, i just really like the Bendu. That motherf*cker is hilarious.

I really did enjoy Hera and Sabine. Those two ladies were a delight. I’ glad they were added t the lore because, particularly Sabine, there is a wealth of potential for them going forward. Hell, we’ve already seen the return of Hera in Star Wars: Squadrons and, with Mando going full anthology, i would be hard pressed not to think that Sabine will have her turn as the titular Mandalorian in a few seasons.

Not going to lie, seeing Zeb in this show was pretty dope. As a Star Wars geek, i knew that the Lasat were basically prototype Wookies that were cast aside. It’s dope seeing that design getting a second wind onscreen and a prominent role in the main cast. Plus, i mean, Zeb is actually a pretty chill character, himself.

The Things I didn’t

What the f*ck are these lightsabers, man? They're supposed to reflect the original concept of the weapons from one of the first Star Wars draft scripts, which is cool in a geek sense, but corny as sh*t in practice. These things look anemic, as f*ck, man.

It’s ridiculous to me that the crew of the Ghost are so goddamn pivotal to the fledgling Rebellion. These assholes cannot be this important, even with all of the plot armor. Like, seriously, I'm supposed to believe that they were the ones who retrieved the B-Wing, founded the first Rebel base, and stole Phoenix Nest from the Empire? Word?

There no stakes to this show. Like, i get that our principals had a lot of plot armor in Clone Wars, i never once felt like Ahsoka, Kenobi, or Anakin were ever in real danger, but there were certain episodes where i thought, for sure, their characters would be totally crippled somehow. Not with Rebels. I don’t expect any of these motherf*ckers to have even a semblance of lasting bruises. Kanan literally dies and nothing of importance was lost. Like, i know this is Ezra’s show but goddamn.

Speaking of Ezra, i hate this kid. I don’t know if that’s by design, like Filoni did with Ahsoka in the first few seasons of Clone Wars, but i grew to love her. She’s literally my second favorite character in the entire mythos, after Vader. Ezra did not grow on me. At all. I hate that so many lore altering events surrounded this dipsh*t. Kid ain’t even all that powerful in the force. I’m pretty certain that Ahsoka is stronger than Ezra is but he gets to be the one to “discover” the Veil of the Force. Like, bro, for real? You telling me Anakin, Yoda, or even f*cking Luke missed out on this sh*t? Word?

This show feels a lot like Avatar The Last Air Bender but worse. I had a whole ass emotional connection to the characters in that show. It broke my heart to see Azula having that meltdown. I did feel that same agony in Rebels, but it was for Ahsoka. When Vader looked up and you heard Anakin’s voice through the filter? “Ahsoka.” F*ck, that broke me. It was like watching Spider-Man getting dusted in Infinity War. I never felt that way about any of the ghost crew. Never. Not when Kanan died. Not when Ezra disappeared. Never.

The best parts of this show, of the actual, Rebels, canon, is either leftovers from Clone Wars or Legends content. Bane, Thrawn, Ahsoka, Rex, Obi-Wan, Yoda, Vader, the Emperor, even f*cking Hondo; All characters that existed before Rebels. Outside of the Inquisitors, Rebels added nothing of worth to the canon. It’s effectively a non-show. I mean, The Veil might be a thing eventually. We’ll see. That motherf*cker is a whole ass retconning mcguffin if I've ever seen one.

It’s weird to say, but nothing about this show feels of consequence. I know, for a fact, there are certain aspects Rebels added to the lore that will be vital to the overall canon but it doesn’t feel like that, you know? It feels like this was a detour, a frolic of, like, three or four episodes but holds no bearing to the grander scheme playing out. Sh*t’s ridiculous because Clone Wars felt like a whole ass problem, Rogue One gave us a legit catharsis, and Mando outdid everything Disney ever made while setting up an entire new age. F*ck, man, even the sequel trilogy gave us Kylo Ren. Rebels feels like Star Wars: The Filler Show and i kind of hate it.

[inlightsimage]

//-ALRIGHT WHO’S READY FOR “VIO GETS WORKED UP OVER DUMB STUPID MEGA MAN NERD SHIT”

//-Alright, so at this point in my life, I’ve at least taste-tested every mainline entry in the Classic timeline of Mega Man games except the Legends series. Played Classic across the span of a few years, binged the X series when the Legacy Collections dropped, and did the same when the Zero/ZX Collections dropped as well. Each series has its own merit, except for the Zero series, which is Poopy Butt and I hate it but that’s a rant for another time.

//-Needless to say, I’ve also seen how the story plays out. From Light and Wily’s feud, to the Maverick Wars, the Elf Wars, and finally whatever the fuck Model W was doing in the ZX series. There’s a lot of story, and a lot of it is really good! I fell in love with the ZX series, for example, and I’d love to take up a character from it.

//-I have one huge, massive, INSANELY ANNOYING problem with it, though, and that’s that the Classic series is rarely EVER directly acknowledged in the timeline. What little there is is focused in the X series entirely, with Light appearing for X’s armor capsules + a flashback in Day of Sigma, and Wily showing up in a flashback in X4, an implied ghost in X5, and possibly as a robot in X2 (that one’s weird). Every reference to the Classic series after that is more so a cameo or a callback— the Masters in ZX Advent, for example, being named after Light, Wily, and Cossack, or Konro Man showing up on a comic cover also in ZX Advent. Even when Zero’s past is brought up in the Zero series, Wily isn’t directly acknowledged to my memory. Classic doesn’t matter. Hell, the X series barely mattered by then.

//-But you wanna know how many times Rock himself is acknowledged in the timeline after his presumed death? Across 10 X games, 4 Zero games, and 2 ZX games?

//-ZERO. NONE. NOT A SINGLE REFERENCE.

//-Even LIGHT doesn’t ever talk about him in the armor capsules. No “You’ve been forced to carry the torch that Rock left for you. I’m so sorry, X.” No “Previous hero Mega Man.” As far as the extended Classic timeline is concerned, Rock never even existed. The timeline effectively started when Light made X, and Wily Zero, not with the creation of Rock, or Blues before him, or the Double Gear before either of them.

//-It BUGS ME. I know I’m biased, since I love the Classic series means so much to me, but COME ON, MAN. MEGA MAN SAVED THE WORLD ON AT LEAST 11 DIFFERENT OCCASIONS, MANY MORE IF YOU COUNT SPIN-OFFS LIKE MEGA MAN & BASS AND THE GAMEBOY GAMES, AND HE DOESN’T EXIST? He fought aliens! Gamma! Himself! That’s gotta count for SOMETHING even in the future, doesn’t it?

//-This always bugged me so much. I know Reploids are the future and they extend from the X series to the ZX series while Robot Masters are isolated in the Classic series, but I wish their impact on robots with independent thought would be acknowledged. And I wish Rock saving everyone’s ass like 15 different times counted for something.

//-Maybe he should have left everyone’s ungrateful asses to die.

[angelamurkrow]

We are two weeks away from the new Pokemon DLC and I just really want to believe that we’ll be getting at least one more piece of official information before Oct. 22nd. (an essay follows, and leaks are mentioned.)

First, I think it is important that Isle of Armor went two weeks before release without giving us any new “official” information. With it being the only precedent for DLC, it is currently our baseline to predict DLC news. If we’re going to predict off of that, then I guess I’ll see y’all on October 22nd.

However, it was revealed that the base games PLUS the DLC will be available for sale as cartridges two weeks later. It’s very likely that Nintendo will treat this as the yearly “Pokemon Game Release” and market it as such. But the question is, which release date will get the most hype? Oct. 22nd or Nov. 6th?

It’s entirely possible that they’ll treat this with respect to the Nov. 6th release. What was the pace of information last year before SwSh came out? In reverse chronological order and keeping in mind a Nov. 15th, 2019 release, we got new information on November 11th, November 8th (in a YouTube video that is now marked private), Nov. 6th, and a trailer with no new information on Nov. 1st. Now if we’re only projecting for the dates between Oct. 22nd and Nov. 6th this year, then the only other days of note for SwSh new info would be October 28th, 2019 and October 25th. This was the pattern that I noticed: info on the four Fridays prior to release, info the Monday before release, and info the second Monday prior. 

How does this model translate to 2020? First, think it’s important to acknowledge that Nintendo has been making most official announcements this year on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. This past announcement was on Wednesday the 30th, and the announcement prior, Tuesday June 2nd. So it makes it unlikely that we can easily assume one year’s Monday information as the following year’s Tuesday information. With all of this being said, that doesn’t mean that they won’t follow last year’s “every Friday”/”every other Monday” schedule.

Friday October 9th is a prime date to release new information. First, it would be fourth Friday before the Nov. 6th release. Second, the Pokemon anime is moving to it’s new time on Oct. 9th at 18:55 JST, or 6am EST. And third, there are a series of event Pikachus being shared through the month--we KNOW the dates that each code will be released

If we take the the first point, and assume the every Friday/every other Monday schedule, then I think we can expect information on the following days: Oct. 9th, Oct. 16, Oct. 19th, October 23rd, October 30th, and November 2nd. This is also assuming that they would continue the trend of releasing news the Monday prior the game’s release. Coincidentally, that would give us some sort of information the Monday before each release date. This also leads to my second point, the Pokemon anime was moved to Friday nights in Japan.

Let’s start off by mentioning that tomorrow’s episode centers around a Raid Battle with the Legendary Pokemon, Zapdos. With Legendary Raids being a main focus of the DLC, it isn’t that much of a leap in logic to believe further information could coincide with the episode. Frankly, it’s the least likely option and the soonest to be disproved, but with the hubbub around the time slot change (ex: event Pikachu in Pokemon Go), I’m not ruling it out. 

If we look at this how Pokemon treated USUM and the anime, then we can take a look at October 2017 and we can see that they began a new “season” of the anime on Oct. 5th with information around the “sequel” games coinciding. Serebii’s archives show that there was some information revealed on the 4th, but it appears Oct. 5th carried more substantial information (though accounting for time zones--some news in Japan was revealed early in the morning with more that followed in the evening). 

While it’s hard to point to precedent for DLC, I think it’s worth looking at release information for a November remake that has relevancy to the anime. I don’t think the two are entirely dissimilar. One thing to keep in mind: the anime would air at 18:55 JST or 5:55AM EST. If news followed the episode, then East Coasters might want to set an alarm for 6:30AM. It could also get pushed back to follow the more recent convention of releasing info at 6AM PST/9 AM EST/2PM BST/10PM JST.

Going back to this year, two of the three following episodes specifically focus on elements of plot found in SwSh--the Slumbering Weald episode is projected to air on October 23rd and Darkest Day likely airing on October 30th. But that third episode-- Operation: Dub Pikachu Half Marshtomp--doesn’t rule out a connection to the DLC. According to the datamine back in June, it is all but confirmed that the Hoehn starters will be in the game. Could we see a confirmation by Nintendo on Oct. 16th to coincide? Mark your calendars. 

Let’s now take a moment to consider the third point, the release pattern of event Pikachus. The first and second Pikachu got released with the various Pokemon news that day but two hours apart, around 9AM EST and 11AM EST. (Most of this is still homepage of Serebii) The Hoehn Cap Pikachu and third code was released during the Oct. 2nd Pokemon Anime livestream at approx. 6:15AM EST. We are expecting a code for a new Pikachu on the following dates: Friday Oct. 9th, Oct. 16th, Oct. 18th, Oct. 23rd, and Oct. 30th.

Right off the bat, Oct. 9th--considering the last code was revealed during an anime livestream at 6:15AM EST and we’re expecting a new episode of the anime at 5:55AM EST, then there’s the possibility some news may be shared with that next code for the Sinnoh Hat Pikachu. (Sinnoh remakes confirmed.)

October 16th? Another anime episode. Could just be the code, could continue their pattern of Friday announcements. Could just be a code for Unova Hat Pikachu.

But what’s up with October 18th? What’s planned for that Sunday? Pokemon has found a vehicle for each of the prior codes. With a precedent of the Hoehn Cap Pikachu, I assume that will stay true for the 9th, 16th, 23rd, and 30th. But no episode is set to air that day. The only other precedent would be using news about the DLC as the vehicle for the code. Then if you consider the episode prior involves a Marshtomp and a Marshtomp can evolve into Swampert. Meanwhile the code given on that day will get you a Kalos Cap Pikachu. AND KALOS is the region that introduce MEGA EVOLUTIONS AND SWAMPERT GETS A MEGA AND

“But Angela Murkrow,” you may say, “that’s a Sunday and outside the typical every friday/every other monday schedule. Or even the only tues, weds, thurs pattern.” Yes, that’s valid and it’s a good thing I’m only hypothesizing anyway. I am not a prophet, just a detective for a case that’ll be solved regardless of my input. Who knows what’s a hint and what’s a red herring, but I still think the Friday/Monday pattern can still be honored, with a code released on Sunday Oct. 18th--the code is released late afternoon Oct. 18th in EST, but the morning of Monday Oct. 19th in Japan.

But how do we get Friday involved if the DLC is coming out Thursday Oct. 22nd? Well, according to this Eurogamer article Oct. 22nd is the release for North American (and I assume Central and South too?). Everywhere else will get access to it on Friday Oct. 23rd. It’s very likely that we’ll get that Monday/preview to Friday/game release after all, but I also think that means that people in EST shouldn’t expect to play until some time between 7pm and midnight.

(I don’t feel like rambling on much longer, but I anticipate news regarding Gmax Melmetal and Pokemon Go/Home connectivity by Nov. 2nd.)

Finally, I just want to end on one note. Actually game journalists will likely get to play some form of a preview before the 22nd, so at least we can look forward to some legit secondhand information by Oct. 20th.