#those games gastrodon is from

[neomel]

Hi sorry I need to do some more Pokemon posting bc this is the funniest shit. the cute-looking Pokèmon TCG series is making "TM10" part of its branding. Like, TM10 from the games - its the TM for the move Hidden Power, thats cute! Its reflecting the main character discovering herself in the same way the move works in the game, what a cute little detail!

Except uh. Just one problem.

Game Freak in all their brilliance removed Hidden Power from the franchise four years ago in Generation 8* and its still not able to be used in Scarlet and Violet. Its not just that you cant teach it to Pokèmon anymore, you straight up cannot use the attack even if you trade in Pokèmon from older games who know it. Its like a banned technique.

So then that begs the question – if the TCG show is gonna be referencing TM10 this much, but TM10 *isn't* Hidden Power anymore, surely that means TM10 is another similarly inspiring attack - Stored Power, or Calm Mind, or Smart Strike?

Well, depending on if its Gen 8 or 9, I hope the kids will have fun Discovering Their Own Magical Leaf and/or Discovering Their Own Ice Fang. Truly inspiring words. love how well managed this franchise is

[neomel]

This be sounding like the clothing store theme in X and Y

(source)

[felinenthusiast]

pick your fave from my fav pokemon!

SOME answers being condensed because I love both evo stages/outcomes and it felt sensible to do so. feel free to clarify in the tags if you do choose one of those!

my faves shift about somewhat, but these are the highlights right now. some of these of very motivated by specific pokemon I've had in games. honourable mentions to all the cat pokemon that didn't make it on, especially skitty, my first favourite pokemon that I chose as a fave purely because pink cat!

also small edit to mention inspired by @haveyouusedthispokemon!

[neon-moon-beam]

What is your 3rd favorite and your 5th least favorite Pokemon?

I don't really rank Pokemon, and my favorites kind of alternate depending on what game I'm playing currently and what's in my party, but some of my top favorites are the Chandelure line, Stunky, and Gastrodon. Those tend to stay pretty consistent from game to game. As for least favorites, it's kind of the same, although I'm not really fond of the more humanoid Pokemon, ones that tend to be all over a region and get really annoying (like the local rodents sometimes, or Zubats in caves in earlier games), and of course Arceus is on my shitlist. Enamorus comes to mind for being an unnecessary hag (the Forces of Nature themselves are very unappealing), and Sawk and Throh have some pretty icky things about them (like Throh keeping opponents' sweat on its belt...toss that in the laundry!!!) Answered from this ask thing

[miyos-multiverse-express]

Wait I forgot to post the live-blogging of the Aaron Vs Cynthia fight.

Thank fuck I took notes, I guess???

OKAY. COPY AND PASTE IT IS.

oh she's just sending out garchomp right away okAY

Drapion starts with Pin Missile, so far so standard - Garchomp tries to go in for a Brick Break, but it's dodged and ah OUCH that drapion knows ice fang -

NASTY earthquake there, Yikes. Drapion still standing though

Ice Fang again, yep - IMMEDIATELY followed by a Hyper Beam, is that legal? I should check later

Dragon Claw from garchomp, that's gotta hurt

*Squints* I swear hyper beam takes longer to recharge than that.

Dragon Claw aga - oh OOF and drapion catches it with ice fang! I think - yeah, that's garchomp out of the fight. Props to Aaron for that one, wow

Out comes the Lucario - and Aaron switches to Vespiqueen, that's probably smart. The Lucario goes for a Fire Punch - ohhh, good dodge

Air Slash hits, and Yeouch, that looked like it actually hurt. Immediately sends out a Defend Order too, smart.

Ohhhhh OW not smart enough to evade that Rock Tomb, though. Didn't know Lucario learned tha - WHAT THE DIST WAS THAT ATTACK

"Endeavor", thanks Brock. By the lakes, that looks like it nearly took the Lucario out.

... Not enough, though! Aura Sphere and the Vespiqueen is down.

Hi Beautifly! You were caught. Yesterday. And know Air Cutter, apparently. Down goes Lucario.

Hello Roserade! You are not a great choice for this.

Ohhhh, Poison Spikes. Yeah, that makes sense.

Annnnd now the poor dear is getting juggled by Air Slashes. That was quick, yikes. Bye bye Roserade.

Milotic, wow that's pretty. I've never actually seen one of those before, I think?

Aaron looks a little at a loss for what to do here.

Ahhhh, OUCH, Ice Beam.

Aaron switches out - smart move there, except that's his Skorupi?? Why the Child.

Oh it knows Toxic. That explains it.

Still, that is a Child™, so one Hydro Pump and it's out. Ouch.

Hi again, Drapion. Let me guess, Poison Jab? Poison Jab. Down goes Milotic, I guess.

Annnd Hello Spiritomb. With Confuse Ray, that's gotta be annoying.

Wait Fairy Types aren't a thing here. That 'mon has zero weaknesses, as far as anyone's aware. Legends, that's gotta be terrifying to face -

Yep, Hyper Beam isn't doing anything.

Confused AND burned with Will-O-Wisp? Ouch.

Annnd that Giga Impact went straight into the arena wall. There goes Drapion.

Out comes Beautifly again - their attacks aren't exactly doing a lot of damage, but they're very good at dodging, WOW. This is a chip-away game right there - annnd the Spiritomb is actually down!

Wait, is Cynthia on her last Pokémon? Wow, I did not expect that.

Gastrodon? ... I thought she had a Togekiss...? Wait, no, she used Gastrodon in Celestic, too. Weird.

Well, Gastrodon Vs Beautifly, go!

Beautifly attempting to go for a Solar Beam, but - Gastrodon used Stone Edge quicker than it could charge up -

Annnnd that's the match right there, yeah. Didn't expect that to be so close, though.

... I agree, me-of-a-few-hours-ago! That was a surprisingly close match!

... okay, I think I bolded all the Pokémon when they're switched or knocked out. I am. Not a professional battler by any means. Or a good storyteller. I uh. Hope the battle came across clearly enough anyway?

[neomel]

@kafus

Follow me for more Zweilous feeding tips

[neomel]

UMM??? WHJAT THE FUCK????

ive been playing pokemon for literally 15 years and never found a single shiny in my life. like ever. other than GTS trades tbeyve never been on my console. and now when im doing a NUZLOCKE this Meditite shows up as my FIRST encounter in Mt Coronet???? What the HELL!!!!!!!! AAAAAHHH!!!!

[originalwinnercheesecake]

Anne, Sasha, and Marcy as Pokemon Trainers

.

So apparently my new favorite thing is to take story based family cartoons and turn all the characters into Pokemon trainers. I have already done 2 posts for The Owl House, Gravity falls has a post saved in my drafts, and I have plans for multiple other cartoons. The Owl house just ended, and that has sme poeple talking about Amphibia to again (I know the endings were different, I am not gonna say which ending was better. One show was about the hardships of growing up, one show was about the importance of finding a supportive community). But I figured now was as god as any time to do my Amphibia trio as trainers post. I am only making Anne, Sasha, and Marcy pokemon trainers. The amphibious characters I am using as inspirations for their teams.

ANNE BOONCHUY”S TEAM:

Froakie: It’s a tough little Frog pokemon, and I picked it to represent Anne’s bonds with the Planters and the Frog citizens of Amphibia.

Torracat: Anne loves her cat Domino more than almost anything in the world. When she first tells Sprig and Polly about Domino she states “You would like her. She has fire”. So  I had to give her a fire-type cat pokemon. I chose the second evolution of Litten’s line because Anne has a;ready invested so much time into raising and training Domino, that I feel like she would have already evolved the first time.

A western Gastrodon: I picked this one for a couple reasons. 1.) I really wanted to give Anne a sea based water-type because she mentions that loves the aquarium in her home town and goes there whenever she feels sad. Also while I know a sea slug and a garden snail are not the same thing, Gastrodon still reminded me a bit of Bessie. I went with its Western apparence because it is blue, Anne’s calamity color

Ambipom: Since Tennis is Anne’s sport I tired to find a tennis based pokemon that she could train/play with. There is not any pokemon that are tennis based. So after looking and finding nothing I decided to instead give Anne an Ambipom. She could teach one to play tennis with her. It stands upright and has two gloved hands on its twin tails for holding and swinging a racket.

Honedge and Bronzo: Honedge is a single bade which is the weapon Anne learns to wield during her time on Amphibia. Bronzo is a shield and representative of Anne’s protective nature for towards her friends and her willingness to leap to the defense of those in need

Anne’s team: Froakie, Torracat, Western Gastrodon, Ambipom, Honedge, Bronzo

SASHA WAYBRIGHT”S TEAM

Crogunk: its a fighting toad, and represents Sasha’s bond with Grime and the Toad citizens of Amphibia.

Doublade: Sasha learns to wield dual blades during her time in Amphibia

Pom-Pom style Oricorio: Surprise, surprise there actually is a cheer leading based pokemon. Well actually its 1 pokemon with 4 different styles based on what color flower nectar it is fed. Cheer leading Pom-Pom style is flying and electric, and is maintained by giving it nectar from yellow flowers. I imagine that is what Sasha would feed hers.

Hitmontop and Braixen: So when Sasha creates a introduction title for herself, after hearing General Yuana’s many times, she recounts that she is “Captian of the cheer squad, top scorer on the arcades dance game, and 1st lieutenant of Grimes Army”. She seems equally as proud of her dance skills as she is of her fighting skills, so I gave her two fighting type pokemon that also have moves when it comes to dance

Houndour: okay Sasha is really protective of her loved ones too, but unlike Anne she is a lot more forceful and alpha type. So instead of a shield she gets an alpha guard dog... I also wanted to give her a dog because she cannonly struggles with going back and forth between her parents houses, and according to Matt was just starting to realize her bisexuality during the shows original run and that realization was scaring her. the girl is going through a lot and I feel she needs something furry to pet/hug.

Sasha’s team: Crogunk, Doublade, Pom-pom style Oricorio, Hitmontop, Braixen, Houndour

MARCY WU’S TEAM

Marcy was actually the hardest of the three girls to chose a team for, and I had to change and eliminate some pokemon I had originally picked out for her, but I eventually buit a team that I am satisfied properly represents Marcy’s character

Treeko: It’s a Newt and reprasentative of Marcy’s bonds with Yuana, and lady Olivia and the Newt citizens of Amphibia

Decidueye: I looked for a bow and arrow or crossbow pokemon but no. Deidueye as the only archer pokemon I could find. it’s high level but since Marcy is both the most strategic and researched of the group, as well as an experianced battler I could see her being able to level it up fast.  Still after giving her Decidueye I had to take pigeot (Joe Sparrow) off her list.

Ledyba: Marcy has a notable interest in bugs in the show (ants, spiders, ladybugs, and beetles). I looked at the pokemon counterparts and I picked Ledyba because it looked liked the one that was the least likely to injury her while training.

Lampent: she is good a architecture and public lighting.

Rotom: closest thing I could find to an electrical/ computer based pokemon

Klefki: she wants to go to new and unknown areas to adventure. I did not want to give her an unknown, because I have already given it to a couple other nerd characters and they’re supposed to be rare. So instead I am giving her klefki to unlock new doorways to hidden adventure. plus its a fairy type which appeals to Macy being a fantasy nerd.

Marcy’s team: treekco, Deidueye, Ledyba, Lampen, Rotom, and Klefki.

[neomel]

LETS FUCKING GO

you're going about your normal day when, suddenly, surprise! you've been pokémon mystery dungeon'd!

unfortunately, due to budget cuts, the pokémon assigning quiz has been canceled. instead, you must spin THE WHEEL, assigning you a random, unevolved, non-legendary and non-mythical pokémon. you must now go on some sort of world-saving adventure as this pokémon. good luck!

tell me in the tags what you rolled, and how you feel about it - for bonus points, you can spin the wheel again for (or just take your pick of) a pokémon to be your partner.

bonus rules:

you're not shiny unless the wheel tells you you're shiny

take your pick of regional forms and evolutions (for example, if you roll vulpix, it's up to you whether that means normal or alolan vulpix)

apply whatever logic you like with regards to gender

have fun and be yourself!

[hazelplaysgames]

you know, if Kingdom Hearts on Switch wasn't doing some cloud based shanigans, i'd probably have gotten it. this is a train of thought starting from Wakka's line in the first game that i'm gonna make a pun on: "what's Hapu-ning, man?"

the train of thought is off the rails today. lets reign the iron horse in a little.

level 54 will be my next attempt for Hapu, i think Viridian is still the right lead, as hitting Dugtrio with String Shot is just too important. Foul Play hits hard to healing range, and Viridian goes down in short order to a second EQ- no Sandstorm this run. at that point, Fuchsia can come out, and level 54 can make Night Shade 2-hit Dugtrio.

Mudsdale is still second, and a misclick see Cinnabar hit the field. uh. whoops. i think every Smeargle does outspeed it, let alone the fastest of the bunch, so i can get Spore off... and then i think i switch into Saffron? i can't lose Cinny. do so, and Hapu uses a Full Heal. i think her Z move is incoming. Magical leaf does a bit, and yes. yeah Saffron ain't living that.

given what Hapu has left, i can send out Vermilion to hit some Shadow Balls. well, singular, actually. at least that came with a Sp. Def. drop, so Cinnabar can hopefully come out and Spore the savage beast, and promptly Energy Ball it into Oblivion. i can two shot what's left, but it wakes up ASAP, and hits. Heavy Slam? that ain't gonna KO!

i needed Cinnabar for Gastrodon, Spore into Energy Balls. i get very lucky on this one this time, probably to make up for that first attempts accuracy debacle, and can take it out in three shots, no waking up!

last up, Flygon. i go for Fuchsia to try and Leech it, and get that much before falling. Cinnabar's the fastest at 145, so i'm hoping he'll just outspeed, but Flygon has base 100. i don't think i'll get that.

i get that! two turns worth of E-Ball and Leech Seed sees over half the health gone. all i have left is notable Icicle Spear user Cerulean, and Flygon needs a crit to 1-shot a Smeargle. it gets it not, and Cerulean shows off the power of Icicle Spear, boosted by her Technician ability and that Never-Melt-Ice she found.

things are definitely slowing down a lot, and the Vast Poni Canyon sets the roadmap for what i can only presume to be the roughest challenges yet. i think, odds are good i could get held up on some random trainer that i have to get past, and even if i have to grind to get through that, i might still need to grind to get through the OTHER challenges up ahead: the Dragon trial doubles as a fighting trial, and Kahuna Hala is an Elite 4 member in Moon!

i should probably prioritize getting some of those fighting resist berries.

[sostanotes]

State of the Dex (1/?)

So as I get ready to start my second Legends Arceus playthrough, what state is my living form dex in?

First, it's probably best to define what I'm doing for a 'living form dex'. For PLA, I want a regular pokémon, a shiny pokémon, and and alpha pokémon of each distinct form. There are 3 kinds of different forms that pokémon can take:

Temporary Forms: These are reversible changes that pokémon can undergo. Some are stable, requiring specific triggers to cause them to shift again, others are transient, lasting only under certain conditions (usually battle). I obviously don't care about transient form changes, since those can't be boxed, but I do care about ones that can be. There's a second factor here that needs its own bullet point later.

Regional/Other Forms: These are a hard-coded feature of the pokémon. The only different forms of this type are sneasel and the two shellos/gastrodon forms. And unown. They go in the upcoming bullet point.

Gender Differences: These are also hard coded, but are *typically* less dramatic than other kinds of form difference. I will be including these.

There are 242 pokémon in the PLA pokédex. If I included EVERY box-able form obtainable in PLA I would need space for 991 distinct pokémon. The 32 pastures, each hold 30 pokémon, give room for 960. I need to make some cuts.

Since the whole point of this is to get a second Enamorus and Shaymin for my HOME living form dex, I'm not going to be able to keep them in the ARCEUS living form dex. So let's break the PLA living dex into 5 chunks and see what we can do.

Main Pokédex: Accounting for form difference of the pokémon that don't get removed to the upcoming sections, this contains 288 distinct forms of 222 pokémon. (total 864 spaces)

Unown Dex: This gets it's only little section in the in-game dex, in addition to their normal dex page. Unown has 28 distinct forms: the 26 letters of the English alphabet, "!", and "?". (total 84 spaces)

Rotom Catalogue: Rotom has 6 forms, it's base form, and 5 different machines it can possess. (total 18 spaces)

Special Gift Pokémon: You can obtain 1 alolan vulpix from a quest. I still have the one from the first playthrough. (total spaces 2)

The Legendarium: There are 18 legendary pokémon obtainable in PLA, 5 of which have 2 box-able forms. (23 total spaces)

I'm not transfering extra pokémon back into Arceus for this dex, and I'm taking 2 of the legendaries, so the Legendarium is immediately reduced to 16, saving 7 spaces. 24 to go.

If I settle for all 28 base unown, plus 1 form shiny and one form alpha, that's 30 forms (a full box/pasture), saving 54 spaces. We now have an entire free box/pasture.

I don't actually care if I get 3 forms of all 6 rotom forms, so the base set of 3 can be added back to the main pokédex block, and the reduced up-to-15 member catalogue can get shunted to the back with the others.

So the Main living dex will be in Hisui pokédex order, having 3 samples of 289 distinct forms, taking up all but 3 slots of 29 boxes/pastures. The 30 sample unown will fill 1 more box/pasture. And the rotoms, alolan ninetales line, and sundry legendaries I do keep can fill one more (plus the 3 spaces of the last main box/pasture, leaving me one free pasture for whatever.

Great! How far along am I already? Exactly 2/3rds, as far as the main pokédex is concerned. I have 239/289 regular samples (my previous work did not account for all gender differences); 120/289 shinies; and 219/289 alphas. I have all 28 unown and an alpha ("?"); a regular sample of all transformed rotom; and an alolan ninetales. Total percentage is 613/930 (~65.91%).

A lot of those regulars will fill in pretty easily over the course of the playthrough as I catch those pokémon.

[danwhobrowses]

Continuing the saga of Ash beating trainers he absolutely shouldn't have beaten, we turned Cynthia from incredible veteran tactician to complete moron over the course of one episode.

Seriously, what logical reason can you come up with for Sinnoh Champion Cynthia, who is familiar with Ash and has seen him Mega Evolve Lucario to beat Raihan, seen him beat Steven and Tobias' Darkrai and then underestimate him? There's also no logical reason for her to bring out her main Garchomp twice against Dracovish and Sirfetch'd when she had Togekiss and Milotic in the wings who both have super-effective moves against those two, but we had to sell the 'tension' as if her fate wasn't sealed when she made the ridiculous decision to Dynamax Togekiss against a Lucario she knows can Mega Evolve and has some daft hikari no willpower Aura Sphere (because Cynthia couldn't possibly have a close bond to her pokémon like Ash does) and now Adaptability to stack onto its super effective Bullet Punch and then spam Max Airstream for all 3 turns (one of which Lucario can dodge for some reason) before then trying Sky Attack, the move that takes time to charge and leaves you open for attack, all instead of just mega evolving her Garchomp who doesn't have a type weakness to Lucario. Seriously though, Garchomp and Togekiss didn't even get to use one super effective move on Lucario, even though every game iteration of Cynthia's Togekiss knows Aura Sphere and the anime has had Garchomp use Dig and Brick Break before, but Cynthia - the learned veteran champion who knows Ash has a Lucario - doesn't opt to teach or use those moves? Unlikely.

I'm also sick of Ash's Pokémon bypassing damaging attacks; Dracovish while poisoned can run through a STAB Leaf Storm, Sirfetch'd can run through a Super Effective Disarming Voice, Pikachu can just avoid Earth Power because a rock appears underneath it so it can platform in the air and ignore gravity for 3 hits so it can Iron Tail some rocks Gastrodon still catches but apparently that's enough for Pikachu to Quick Attack through and KO Gastrodon's defenses in effectively 1-hit KO Gastrodon even though the attack was cushioned by 2 boulders. And of course Lucario can just Bullet Punch away Scale Shots and Air Slashes and Aura Sphere a Max Airstream, I don't think it was even affected by Garchomp's Rough Skin ability either. And the consolation for Cynthia fans are that she's not actually quitting after her main champion team lost to a team Ash trained this series, not even his biggest big guns, and he only used 1 strategic type advantage selection - since Dracovish never tried Ice Fang on Garchomp or Roserade - what a farce, losing to Ash already kills any credibility Cynthia has in the future because if she even looks like a threat we already know Ash can beat her.

It pisses me off really, because we sacrificed so many former characters of high credibility - and also Iris - just to push Ash vs Leon when frankly if they just did the same old formula of using rival trainers and Galar gym leaders we'd have the same amount of hype, all we've done is made Alain, Diantha, Cynthia, Steven, Wallace and Lance look like novice trainers. And now instead of immediately going to the final we get another gap of padding so this series can make its episode limit. An let's be honest, in reality Ash should be thwomped by Leon but he's gonna somehow get Leon down to Charizard as his last Pokémon, where we'll have Ash wipe out most of his other 5 like he's never even trained them before. The same old shit that the writers never actually change even though that's one of the parts that's been broken a long time in this anime. Win or Lose Ash vs Leon has ruined several champions this series, but I still hope Ash loses, I mean if it was me I'd have him be absolutely humbled but we know that's not gonna happen, because if Ash's story is gonna end I'd rather it get done right, and Journeys has been all wrong.

[neomel]

I want to point out as well that Nishida has been illustrating for the Trading Card game since way back in the 90s and still makes new card art to this day. Her artstyle is absolutely beautiful!

full list of her cards

I just learned yesterday that Pikachu, my favorite Pokemon, was originally designed not by Ken Sugimori (he only finalized the design), but by a female graphic designer named Atsuko Nishida. 

Also after googling her, I found out that she’s also designed Sylveon–another favorite PKMN of mine. She’s also illustrated some very pretty Pokemon cards!!

Thank you Ms. Nishida! :-) May you get more credit and love for your contribution to the Pokemon franchise.

[spoonyglitteraunt]

I have built up an entirely new classification system for pokemons since starting to play this game. No longer shall they be sorted into types, nah too easy, too boring, too predictable. From now on this shall be known as the Arceus scale of oh crap I’m fucked.

Gaze upon my sorting and weep (whether in joy or frustration is of your own choosing). - Friend shaped also known as the curious buggers that should perhaps learn some survival skills. Example: Aipom, Petilil, Magicarp If you get near them they will come see what you are doing, crowd around you and won’t even bugger off if you catch one of them, because they are just so damn curious. May in fact be so curious they get in your way. Cute to feed though.

- What do I see upon yonder- oh it’s gone. Or the I see your stealth, player, and raise you a very run away. Examples in this category are: Starly, Abra, and all the baby pre evolutions (which fair, I’d run away too if I was a harmless little babe) They will spot you the second you land in the area. Often before you spot them and make like a tree and leave. In a hurry. Good luck getting even near enough to throw one of the feather balls.

- Couldn’t care less. Examples: Shellos, Gastrodon These guys are perfectly happy to ignore you and let you go on your merry little way. If you attack or catch them they may react, but otherwise, have fun little player. You do you.

- Gotta catch them all. Examples: bloody freaking Cherrim You will have to catch them. You will curse your existence. They have better hiding skills than any superhero with invisibility powers. And they may or may not prove uncatchable even if you do track one down. Have fun playing the what am I doing with my life existential crisis roulette.

- Ready to throw down and start shit. Examples: Parras, Shinks These buggers will spot you the second you get near and when they do they are instantly ready to throw down. They are surprisingly nimble and will keep tracking you for quite a ways. Murder hornets having nothing on these babies. They will try to fuck you up. Even if you are beyond a doubt way out of their league. Honey badger may not care, but these guys certainly do. About your annihilation.

- Can you bloody not? Also the, oh it’s you again, category. Examples: Geodude, Zubat Any experienced pokemon player has at one point in time cursed these babies. Especially those who played the earlier gens where you had caves filled with them and every two steps was “SURPRISE, BABY!” They are much the same in this game. Bonus ugh points if it’s night time and they both exist in the same area. They will notice you, they will make a nuisance of themselves and you WILL curse their existence before long. Only saving grace is that they tend to be easy to walk away from even when spotted.

- Danger noodles and other malicious pasta Examples: gyrados, machamp, scyther They are a danger, but they are also noodly (in spirit not always shape), which means they are fairly easy to walk around if taken proper care. Not too bad in the grand scheme of things. Unless you run full on into them by accident, in which case hope you got a type advantage on you.

- Danger will Robinson. Also known as RUN AWAY!! Examples being: anything alpha really and some of the final evolutions It big, it stronk and it knows it. Ready to kick you into next week if you are foolish enough to come near. It doesn’t even wait for you to introduce yourself, it will let the energy wave blast thingy do the talking for it. You better sneak up on it and have a type advantage on your side. Only saving grace is that they don’t wander far, so running away is feasible. We suggest you learn the art of retreating quickly.

- And finally the best category of all The Himbo! Population: Bidoof. Too pure for this world, too dumb to care you may be a threat and will cheerfully and respectfully come see what you are doing. We truly do not deserve them.

[crystalelemental]

Unit Viability Speculation - Trainer Lodge Alts

Blue, Lillie, and Cynthia hit 5 alts simultaneously, not the outcome I expected.  I’m rushing to get Cynthia.  If I can get her Sygna Suit, I can beat every stage of every week of CS with Cynthia.  But for those of you more sane than I, who don’t have a husbando/waifu in this race, may be wondering “Which alt is actually worth picking up?”  Hopefully I can divine an answer.

BLUE Blue and Exeggutor are a Grass-type support.  His main function is X Atk All and a trainer move that buffs defense +2, crit +1, and gradual healing on himself.  Seed Bomb and Stomp are moves, while passives are Posthaste 4, First Aid 4, and Speeding Sun 2.  Stomp gets Aggravation, trainer move gets Pep Rally, and he otherwise has no ability to heal the team or buff special defense.  You know how I said I didn’t love BP Clemont because he couldn’t heal, despite being otherwise pretty damn good?  Blue’s worse off than him.  He’s Sonia, but without any of her utility, and having split the trainer move into two options.  I really don’t love this alt.  Which is a shame, I expected more from Exeggutor.

SILVER Silver got Feraligatr, to the frustration of many who wanted Sneasel.  He’s a Water tech, to the frustration of everyone tired of Water types.  Waterfall, Ice Punch, Liquidation, and 1MP trainer move that gives +4 attack, +2 speed, and +1 crit.  Yikes.  Sync nuke powers up based on foe’s defense being lowered.  Aggravation 1, Hostile Environment 2, On a Roll 3.  Hilarious.  He gets another stack of On a Roll on grid, so he’s a defense debuffer per action on Liquidation, as well as another stack of Hostile Environment for a 40% freeze chance, which is respectable and frankly his most unique trait.  Otherwise it’s a few multipliers like Ramming Speed and Interference Sync.  Silver isn’t great, no one is really in need of more Water type damage dealers, but the freeze chance is a legitimate consideration.  We usually cap around 20%, with some lucky few getting 30%.  Holiday Leon was the exception at 50%, and now Silver’s got 40%.  That’s legitimately good, especially with most Gauntlet fights being exceptionally weak to Freeze.  He’s a contender.

MAY May and Wailmer, because we still did not have enough Water types, and wanted to double down on her being part of Team Aqua.  Brine’s okay, Surf’s just funny, X Sp Atk, and a trainer move that gives +2 crit and supereffective up next, which is a disaster because you want to use it twice to cap crit, unless you have Team Sharp Entry.  Have Team Sharp Entry.  Healthy Healing, Flameproof, 50% more move damage if supereffective.  Brine has Mind Swell and another 50% on supereffective, and she can get Sharp Entry and Furious Brain.  This is...odd.  It’s not great, but I kinda like the odd focus on setup, sync with supereffective up next to lead into Brine spam that should have a ton of power.  But she feels heavily locked into on-type, and fairly support reliant.

CYNTHIA Cynthia and Gastrodon are a Ground-type support, so let’s see if this free unit is better than Nita.  Dire Hit All+.  Game ober, Cynthia wins.  Earthquake’s kinda high gauge use for a support, and Rock Tomb is fine I guess.  Trainer Move gives move gauge acceleration, +2 special defense, and +1 accuracy.  I love the accuracy buff.  Healthy Healing, Group Water Guard which is odd, and MGR2.  It’s...a choice.  Rock Tomb has Trip Up 4, so it’s worse than Grant.  Earthquake has Gobsmack 2, which is...something.  First Aid 4, Quick Cure, it’s...something.  She is support, and supports always have utility, but this isn’t ideal.  She’s just really lacking in clear cohesion.

ROSA Okay, before I get into this, I need to say something.  Dewott is the best part of this evolutionary line, and I’m so glad we’re collectively acknowledging that by giving her Dewott.  Silver got Feraligatr, there was no reason she couldn’t have gotten Samurott, but they gave her the infinitely cuter Dewott because they knew.  Rosa’s on fire this month, I’m so happy for her.

Anyway!  Water Tech.  I...I give up.  Come on, man.  It’s not funny anymore.  Aqua Jet, X Atk, Razor Shell, 1MP trainer move that sets move gauge acceleration, +1 accuracy, and a whopping +3 crit.  Now that’s good stuff.  Just like Silver, lower defense means bigger numbers.  Vigilance is hilarious for Gauntlet, On a Roll is guaranteed defense drops without energy eat shit Silver, and Power Reserves 4, so I expect to see her one day on a Zinfogel video.  Four sync tiles!  I didn’t pay attention, others might have that, but that’s a good amount of damage to throw around.  Unfortuitous 4 on Aqua Jet is sure something.  Endurance is funny, Staggering 1 is too low to matter, Insult to Injury is incredibly synergistic damage.  Rosa’s...fine.  Needs a bit of help on attack buffing, but she’s not terrible.  I don’t think her utility is quite as interesting as Silver’s high freeze chance, but it’s more reliable.

N

N YOU MOTHERFUCKER GIVE SIGILYPH BACK TO CAITLIN OR I SWEAR TO GOD

*ahem*

I’m not mad.

Psychic Tech!  Psychic is damage, Hypnosis is busted if he has any method of ensuring a hit, Calm Mind is funny, Trainer Move is +4 speed, +2 crit, and Endure.  Sync powers up by lowering foe’s special defense.  On a Roll 4 is Bianca levels of not quite consistent enough, Charging Infliction, Ramming Speed.  Calm Mind has Ramp Up and Barricade.  Smart Cookie, Brainteaser, oh Pinpoint Entry!  Okay that’s solid.  But not solid enough.  He needs Troublemaker as his lucky skill or accuracy buffing support, and to be honest, I feel like his only utility is sleep chaining and trying to roll Psychic debuffs.  There’s no reason to waste time on Calm Mind, and his Trainer Move can be used for gauges to facilitate sleep chain but is otherwise unnecessary.

SYCAMORE He has Bulbasaur, so no matter what I say my wife will be going for him.

Leaf Storm, X Atk, Sludge Bomb, 1MP Trainer move with +2 sp def/speed/crit.  If it were just 2MP it’d be unreal.  Impervious is funny, Toxic Power is okay, Ramming Speed is bad given he can’t buff speed well.  It just compounds his needs.  Wait, Fast Track 6 on grid, that’s something.  I hate to skip the rest, but it’s standard.  These are pretty cookie-cutter utility grids.  The reason to pull Sycamore is simple: Poison damage.  He can’t reliably Poison by himself, but thankfully we got BP Janine, who has Team Sharp Entry and can buff his offenses reliably while supplying Toxic.  Like, there’s your F2P Poison-damage core.  A support user with Toxic, and a Grass-type striker.  Poison stay losing.

LILLIE Lillie and Comfey, a Fairy type tech, we needed that I guess.  Dazzling Gleam, Wrap, Petal Blizzard, trainer move gives +2 attack, +2 special attack, and free move next.  Sync nuke improves on foe’s attack being lowered.  Overwhelm 9 is solid.  Synchro Healing is insane since she’s a damage dealing sync that’s now keeping people alive.  Natural Recovery’s fine.  Trainer Move Super Preparation 9.  Okay.  Very normal.  Satisfied Snarl 4 is actually insane.  Then a bunch of stuff for damage based on foe being trapped.  Lillie’s legitimately good.  That’s consistent and fairly threatening.  Her main issue is needing a ton of offensive support.  You want special attack for sync, and crit.  That’s a tall order.  But I do think this is really solid.  Compressing team healing on sync, offense debuffs, and Trap damage in one is great for Stall.

MARNIE The only one I can’t get.  You need the PokeFair version to have access to them in the lodge.  Thanks, game.

Marnie and Toxicroak is a Poison Tech pair, so...god, I hope they’re not better than Looker.  Mud Slap, X Sp Atk, Sludge Wave, trainer move gives +3 crit and supereffective up next.  Uh oh.  Sync powers up based on foe’s lowered accuracy, which is devastating in how bad it is.  Hostile Environment 4 is decent, Obscuring Power is nice and apparently works with only one debuff, and Antitoxin.  Ripple Effect 2 is too low to matter.  Everything else is just about damage when foe’s poisoned.  Except a skill that reduces Water damage and heals a bit if she’s hit by Water moves.  Don’t know why we couldn’t give that to Looker.  I fear she may actually be better than him, but I’d need damage numbers to be certain.

FINAL THOUGHTS By utility, Silver, Rosa, and N feel like the best and most consistent.  Silver’s got a rare ability in high freeze chance, Rosa’s got consistent defense debuffs and some nice offensive presence.  N has Hypnosis for Sleep Chaining.  I’d also say Lillie’s looking really good, having very interesting tools at her disposal, while Sycamore is a pretty interesting option for Grass and Poison damage.  I hate to say it, but May is the worst of the batch.  Wailmer isn’t needed, doesn’t offer anything unique, and is just damage.  Cynthia and Blue are at least supports, they have viability solely based on their role.  But May?  This should’ve been Kecleon.  I’m just saying, it really should’ve been Kecleon.

[ladykailolu]

I did catch three alpha pokemon way over my level though! 😅 I'm only at star rank one and haven't even crossed the bridge in the obsidian fieldlands, and I caught the resident alpha rapidash, luxio, and alakazam. The rapidash and luxio were at level 40 and the alakazam was at level 60 lmao. And no, I didnt battle them. I just saved my game and snuck up to them then used mushroom cakes and heavy balls.

That damned rapidash took me over 20 tries and multiple soft resets to get it right! Then the alakazam took 14 tries, one reset, and licherally I got it on the first try after that soft reset lol. Then the luxio took 3 tries, I think.

I also completed shinx's dex entry entirely (perfected it), so my odds of seeing a shiny shinx in the wild without outbreaks and without the shiny charm should be maxed out.

It was kinda scary though going into the Sandgem Flats area. There was that alpha snorlax ofc ( which idk how to even catch aside from battling it), so I ran from it and was immediately hounded down by luxios, luxrays, and driftblims!!! I RAN FOR MY LIFE

I also didn't expect the Pokemon there to be level 30 when I still have single digit levels lmaoooooo. I actually dove I to the small grass and cheekily tried to stealth nab some of those drifblims. Anf this is where I really discovered that if you back strike them with a pokeball, that might help you catch the Pokemon. So I patiently waited in the grass until these level 30 drifblims wandered over to me (or took my berry bait) then showed their backs. And I caught a few!!!! I even went a little further and caught a gastrodon, although that slimy bugger took me several tries to get right.

I caught a metric shit ton of Pokemon lmao. I hate to have to sort through them all...One thing though: I fucked up and missed catching a pichu. I didn't even realize that it was there oof. Apparently, it's a rare spawn so oops.

When searching for a particular shiny, do y'all just clear (catch or battle) the individuals of that species first and run through the same areas until one pops up?