#the fact that pikachu and charizard had it double

[humano205]

i realized something

#pokemon #mega evolution #z-move #gigantamax #charizard #blastoise #venusaur #pikachu #snorlax #eevee #gengar #the fact that pikachu and charizard had it double #also you can play them all in pokemon unite

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Pokemon Card of the Day #2646: Kartana-GX (Crimson Invasion)

Kartana-GX was not the kind of Pokemon you used for attacking. It would be a pain for any deck relying heavily on Special Energy, and its GX attack could make a huge difference in a few spots, which gave it some use despite not having power or an even better Ability in the mold of Tapu Lele-GX or Dedenne-GX. Being Metal-type could hold it back a little, but any deck with Rainbow Energy could get around that, giving Kartana-GX a decent chance at finding a landing spot.

170 HP was actually slightly below the norm for a Basic Pokemon-GX. While usually able to survive a good hit, any chip damage could cause all sorts of problems and things like Fighting-type Pokemon and their many boosts in BKT-On or Electropower with Pikachu & Zekrom-GX in SUM-On could get there. The Fire Weakness wasn’t too big of a problem early on but gave an easier time to Blacephalon-GX and Reshiram & Charizard-GX after the rotation. The Psychic Resistance could occasionally matter against an attack from Garbodor or Mewtwo & Mew-GX, but it only helped in a few spots. Kartana-GX was able to retreat for a single Energy, which made it hard to lock into place.

Slice Off was the first reason to use Kartana-GX. When playing it from your hand onto your Bench during your turn, you could discard a Special Energy from 1 of the opponent’s Pokemon. This was especially useful against Zoroark-GX, which was the sort of deck to rely very heavily on Double Colorless Energy. Kartana-GX had much more use in the earlier BKT-On format due to that and the fact that Basic Energy was far more common in the Tag Team era of the game.

Gale Blade was weak. 70 damage for a Metal and 2 Colorless Energy was just low, though you could shuffle Kartana-GX and anything attached to it back into your deck. It might be able to save the Pokemon in a pinch but was rarely worth it.

Blade GX was a new sort of attack, and there was a reason it was the GX attack for the game. A Metal Energy was all that was needed and you simply got to draw a Prize. There were potentially spots where playing Kartana-GX down, getting it Active, and using a Rainbow Energy on it could simply win a game. This wasn’t always going to happen with so many Pokemon giving up 2 or 3 Prizes, but was more than enough to make it worth a look for decks already using the right Energy.

Taking a single Prize with a GX attack and getting rid of a Special Energy once were both helpful in the right spot. Kartana-GX was worth considering for decks supplying the right type of Energy due to those traits while not needing much deck space to fit in. It wasn’t always going to be the right play, and it was far better in 2018 when Zoroark-GX and friends were really common due to the higher reliance on Special Energy and the number of Pokemon giving up lower Prize amounts. Being a Pokemon that could just slot into certain decks was really nice, and Kartana-GX would pop up in lists from time to time partially due to that.

#pokemon #pokemon tcg #card of the day #kartana #kartana-gx #crimson invasion

[fierykitten2]

With the hope that they do reruns of the 7-star Tera Raid Events (don't worry, there hasn't been official confirmation I'm just being hopeful that they do reruns) I want to say which of my aces are the most viable for each of them

I'm gonna start by listing my aces just for reference (please don't laugh at the overspecialisation in Spriggie and Char's movesets):

Spriggie the Meowscarada (male), Grass Tera Type, Ability: Overgrow - knows Tera Blast, Flower Trick, Leaf Storm and Grassy Terrain

Char the Ceruledge (female), Fire Tera Type, Ability: Flash Fire - knows Tera Blast, Bitter Blade, Overheat and Sunny Day

Knight the Iron Valiant, Fighting Tera Type, Ability: Quark Drive (holding Booster Energy) - knows Psycho Cut, two powerful (120 damage) Fighting-type moves (but not Brick Break) and Sleep Talk

Cherry the Iron Leaves, Psychic Tera Type, Ability: Quark Drive (holding Booster Energy) - knows the same moves it knew when caught and I have no intention to change that

And now here's every 7-star Unrivaled Pokémon so far and which of my aces would be the most viable

Dragon Tera Type Charizard the Unrivaled - Knight is the one that comes to mind here as the others are weak against the Dragon type and, with the exception of Char, the Fire and Flying types. It also resists the Fighting type

Fighting Tera Type Cinderace the Unrivaled - Char, easily. She's immune to High Jump Kick until she Terastalises and she's also immune to Pyro Ball until abilities are negated, plus she resists Iron Head. She still takes regular damage to Acrobatics but two all three of the alternatives are taking double (technically the base power is already doubled because Cinderace doesn't have a held item)

Poison Tera Type Greninja the Unrivaled - Char is the only one without a weakness to Gunk Shot (trust me, I double-checked, defensively the Psychic type doesn't balance out Cherry's weakness to Poison) just fact-checked, Char also has a weakness to Poison. When it comes to the poison weakness, Spriggie is the only one that doesn't have it removed when Terastalised, though, so there's that. Out of everyone else, (you'll notice it's basically the same thought process that went into Inteleon because the other moves are of the same types) Char resists Ice Beam but is weak to Hydro Pump while Cherry resists Hydro Pump but is weak to Ice Beam and Knight takes regular damage from both as well as having a double resistance to Night Slash, which Char and Cherry are both weak to

Water Tera Type Pikachu the Unrivaled - Cherry. Both Spriggie and Cherry resist Thunder and Surf, as well as dealing double damage with their Grass types, and take regular damage from Iron Tail but Spriggie is weak to Play Rough, which I know from experience does a lot of damage. It's like the Brick Break (a move I had a lot of trouble with in Let's Go! Eevee) of Pokémon Violet (admittedly it's because of my starter in both cases)

Flying Tera Type Decidueye the Unrivaled - All four have at least one weakness here (Spriggie and Knight are weak to Brave Bird and Air Cutter, Char is weak to Spirit Shackle and Cherry is weak to both). On the plus side, all but Knight resist Leaf Blade while Spriggie and Cherry resist Low Kick while Char is immune to it until Terastalised, so either Char or Cherry (who still resists Low Kick even after Terastalising, plus losing the weakness to Brave Bird and Air Cutter) would be the best choice, but in Cherry's case I'd have to spam Psyblade

Bug Tera Type Samurott the Unrivaled - both Char and Knight have a double resistance to Megahorn but Char is weak to all Samurott's other moves while Knight has a double resistance to Night Slash and takes regular damage from its other moves. Offensively, all of Knight's moves are resisted (because apparently the Bug and Fighting types resist each other. I don't get it either)

Ghost Tera Type Typhlosion the Unrivaled - here we run into a problem, partly caused by Typhlosion and Char both having Flash Fire as an ability and also partly caused by Char not knowing any Ghost-type moves, both of which make Char unviable. Spriggie and Cherry are also both unviable due to their Fire weaknesses and Cherry's Ghost weakness. This leaves me with Knight, who is weak to Play Rough. I would like to say that Cherry is the best choice because at least it removes its Fire weakness when Terastalising, but it's still susceptible to Shadow Ball. Looking at the moves, I think Knight's weakness to Play Rough is probably more survivable than Spriggie's weakness to Eruption

Ice Tera Type Inteleon the Unrivaled - Spriggie and Cherry resist Snipe Shot but are weak to Blizzard while Char resists Blizzard but is weak to Snipe Shot and Knight takes regular damage from both. Char and Cherry are also weak to Dark Pulse while Spriggie resists it and Knight has a double resistance. Long story short, I realised like an hour after I decided to call it a day on Sunday that I should've been using Knight this entire time

Basically it's mostly Knight and somehow never Spriggie

#charizard #cinderace #greninja #pikachu #decidueye #samurott #typhlosion #inteleon #meowscarada #ceruledge #iron valiant #iron leaves

[punz4lyfe]

Now you've been asked what you do like about him what about the opposite what don't you like about goh?

Aw man, this is gonna hurt.

TL;DR - Goh’s a completely lovable character, but I have three particular issues with him that I feel could become worse if not taken care of properly.

First off, DISCLAIMERS!! To all my fellow Goh fans, please know that writing this, I do not mean any hatred to Goh in anyway. I LOVE Goh, and if you’ve seen literally ANY of my past anipoke posts, you would already know that. These are just issues I find with his character that I want to be changed for the best.

Now with that outta the way, here’s what I don’t like about Goh:

1. His iffy character development. While he’s doing fine in becoming more open to people and more willing to help Pokemon, his fighting skills are what I have trouble with it. Let’s go back to his first ever official battle.

It was at Hoenn’s Frontier Cup where he used Scorbunny and Scyther against a trainer’s Mightyena. Despite having a type advantage with Scyther, he lost horribly, which is completely understandable. He’s a beginner and doesn’t possess the same kind of street smarts and experience Ash and many other trainers have. Alright then, so maybe this will lead to a change in character of wanting to become better in battles by getting some training with Ash, who made quick work of that Mightyena trainer. Surely we’ll get some development over this topic after this episode!

He beats Saffron City’s Karate Master and scores a free Hitmonchan.

...Okaaaay, I mean, we’ve never seen the Karate Master in battle before, so perhaps it was just another fodder trainer the anime is filled of. I sure we’ll get some more Goh development after thi-

He easily defeats and captures a powerful Flygon.

.....Alright, alright, it was only a wild Pokemon. Everyone can beat those, right? Heck, in the next episode, he technically suffers a curbstomp loss against Kiawe and admits he only battles Ash every so often. Perhaps this loss will encourage Goh to train more with Ash so he could become a stronger trainer. I mean, despite his good luck with Pokeballs, he’s gonna need to be as strong as he can be for tougher mons, like Legendaries. I’m 100% sure we’ll get something out of thi-

He takes down a wild Zapdos and NEARLY captures it.

.........Uh, okie dokes, it wasn’t a successful capture, and who knows? Even though we have not seen him battle/train that much on-screen, maybe he just got a little lucky. Even in the games, it happens to the best of us. Perhaps this barely missed victory will finally give Goh the time to actually development more on-screen so that he could have a better chance agai-

He defeats Oleana’s Milotic, using his fire-type Raboot who only wanted to use a weak fire-type move.

..............Allllriiiiight, maybe Oleana just got a little cocky later on. Plus, Raboot finished Milotic by evolving in Cinderace and finishing it off with Pyro Ball. With this powerful evolution in hand, maybe Goh will finally realize that, in order for Cinderace to reach its greatest potential, he must start training for once and obtain some proper development for a chance against stronger threa-

Cinderace fights decently well against Mewtwo, even lasting longer than Pikachu and being on-par with the more trained Lucario.

....................At this point, I’m all out of excuses for him. Overall, Goh’s development as a trainer is very rushed to the point seeing him achieve numerous victories despite all odds being against his favor to be iffy.

2. Slightly touchy topic, but there are some negatives with his whole catching all Pokemon goal. So Goh wants to catch every single mon he can in order to reach up to Mew, as he said to Mewtwo in episode 46. And yes, this includes Legendaries as well. Unfortunately, this is where my issues with his goal starts. First off, where in the world will Goh keep any Legendary he encounters? Cerise’s glorified garden dome? Yeah, keep Dialga and Palkia, literal beings of space and time, inside a glass dome with a bunch of weaker mons. And speaking of which, wouldn’t catching mons like the Creation Trio or the Island Guardians cause quite the upset in, well, y’know, the natural balance of things? Sure, Goh technically hasn’t caught a single Legendary yet (Eternatus doesn’t count because it had to be sealed away), with how the anime is playing out, issues like this will surely rise throughout the series.

And yes, the anime is playing it out for Goh to indeed catch every single mon before reaching Mew. If you pay attention to the openings as well as many of Goh’s own character moments, such as episode 46, then you can easily see the signs telling us that Goh is bound to catch them all, just as Ash is bound on defeating Leon. In the past, pretty much all of Ash’s traveling companions had their own goals as well, but it’s usually because of those goals is why they leave Ash by the end of their journeys, like May and Dawn pursuing contests in other regions, Brock wanting to become a doctor, Iris wanting to find more Dragon types, Kiawe wanting to become an Island Kahuna etc. Because of that, it becomes up to the audience’s interpretation (and fanfics) on how they achieve their dreams and what challenges they could face throughout the way. With Goh, there will a lot more focus and emphasis placed on his goal, and while this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s too bad there aren’t really any stakes or obstacles in Goh’s journey!

Really now, another glaring issue with Goh’s goal is that he has NO trouble going through with it at all. From his very first fodder capture, all he has to do is get a good throw and then PING! Pokemon caught. Guess the thing of having to weaken a Pokemon first before capturing it has been retconned out of the anime forever. With that said, there’s absolutely no struggle for Goh to overcome in his journey, which kinda makes things boring. Where’s the challenge? Where are his rivals? Are there any doubts? Does he have any issue of having to catch and connect every single mon in existence? No, well then good for him I guess! Sad thing too is that he catches so many Pokemon with so much potential, but they then disappear completely after their debut.

Remember that free Hitmonchan he scored from Saffron’s Fighting Dojo who seemed completely willing to train with Riolu and Farfetch’d? Never seen again. That female Raichu who loves giving berries? Completely forgotten about. That Aerodactyl Goh resurrected and bonded with before catching? Thanos snapped. The Heracross Goh obtained from a trade at the cost of a second Pinsir he worked hard to find? Literally who?

3. And my biggest issue with Goh. The fact he’s somehow on the same scale as Ash.

Don’t believe me? Well, let’s go back to the ending of episode 46. After Mewtwo teleported him, Ash, Pikachu, Lucario, and Cinderace back home, Goh said this: “We’ve still got a long way to go.”

Excuse me, but WHAT?!?!?!

You BOTH got a long way to go, even though you both suffered a complete curbstomp from a mon that would probably even make the likes of Lance, Cynthia, and Leon comparable to Youngster Joey?!?! What the Distortion World?!?! Why is Goh and, by extension, the writers implying he and Ash are on even terms when it comes to being a trainer? Goh, as a reminder, you literally only began your trainer career 45 episodes ago!!

Alright, let’s talk about Ash for a second and what he’s been through since he started his trainer career. Ash started in Kanto, and while he really only fairly achieved three out of his eight badges (Brock and Misty’s were givens, Erika’s was a thank-you gift, Sabrina’s was all Haunter’s doing, and Jessie and James are complete jokes that no one should take seriously), he still partook in as many battles as he could against tough trainers while getting some pointers from the much more experienced Misty and Brock. After that, he went on to become a much more impressive trainer in later journeys. Instead of a full recap, I’ll just list two impressive things Ash has done in each region he’s journeyed through after losing in the Kanto League.

Orange Islands: Won his first official double battle with Pikachu and Charizard despite neither initially getting along at first and then defeated the Orange League champ, Drake.

Johto: Survived an entire forest of bloodthirsty Ursaring with his friends and defeated Gary’s Blastoise with his Charizard.

Hoenn: Helped stopped both Team Magma and Team Aqua’s elemental threats and reached Top 8 in the Hoenn League despite only two of his mons being fully evolved with one being a glass cannon bird.

Kanto again: Conquered the Battle Frontier and tied with May in his first ever contest.

Sinnoh: Helped protect a Riolu from the famed Hunter J and knocked out two of Tobias’ Legendary Pokemon.

Unova: Defeated Iris’ Dragonite twice (Charizard pretty much had the high ground in their fight) and helped protect Meloetta.

Kalos: Defeated four Mega Evolutions (Lucario, Abomasnow, Absol, and Sceptile) and was one of the main heroes against Lysandre.

Alola: Became an Ultra Guardian and conquered the Alola League.

And right now as of Journeys: Defeated Korinna’s Mienfoo and Mega Lucario with only Dragonite right after the two curbstomped Gengar and defeated Chairman Rose.

And this isn’t even scratching the surface, and yet, somehow, Ash is still on the same scale of Goh. This doesn’t make any logical sense, it completely negates Ash’s experience while over-wanking Goh’s, and it ruins any semblance of power scaling between the two. Logically, Ash should be leagues above Goh and the latter should always confide to Ash whenever he needs assistance or pointers, not “Oh, we both lost to a powerful legendary, guess that means we both have stuff to learn and we’re both beginners lul”. It’s like Deku and All Might both losing a villain that’s beyond both of their capabilities, and then Deku saying that they BOTH have much to learn afterwards! Does it make sense? HECK NO.

If they had to have Goh comment about their loss, why couldn’t he say something that would’ve made more sense? Maybe say something like “Wow, I can’t believe I lasted that long, honestly.” And then Ash would say, “Hey, you’re only getting better. And me and my team will always be there in case you need more training.” Have the two acknowledge the fact that even trainers like Leon wouldn’t fare any better than them against Mewtwo. Just absolutely anything that doesn’t completely ruin what we know of these characters to the point the two are considered equals, despite all the evidence saying otherwise.

I’m getting a little exhausted now, so I’m done, but thanks for asking, anon!

And for anyone reading, please feel free to agree or disagree. I’m completely acceptable to anyone else’s thoughts/opinions over Goh and would love to hear them.

#anonymous ask #pokemon journeys #anipoke #pokeani #goh #scorbunny #raboot #cinderace #sobble #scyther #flygon #heracross #aerodactyl #raichu #hitmonchan #Golurk #ash ketchum #pikachu #lucario #professor cerise #eternatus #darkest day

[miraculouscontent]

You said that you could roast XY&Z for days in your last post. What about it didn't you like?

Keeping things short (...well, short for my standards anyway):

In terms of strictly just the anime, XY did a lot of things right and was a step-up compared to Black & White. It raised a lot of people’s hopes and seemed to be taking things more seriously in terms of plot, like how Ash’s team was actually getting fully evolved and such (some cases of which are admittedly ridiculous since the series is pretty short yet he has a Goodra and a Noivern, the latter of whom he raised from an egg), but ultimately, XY&Z just brings back all of the old formulas.

me when anything involving Zygarde happens: Wow, it would be great if any of this actually existed or happened within the games instead of just the show flexing like, “Hey, look at this cool thing you can’t personally experience!”

Serena losing her final contest performance. I know they’re actually showcases but it’s just Pokemon contests with a different coat of paint, let’s be honest. I was already sour about the fact that someone in the show, again, gets to experience something we can’t (Gen 5 had Pokemon Musicals and that was the closest thing we got to this, but that was in Gen 5, not 6), but the thing about Serena losing her final contest performance is that it’s irritating for a multitude of reasons, not just the fact that we can’t do showcases ourselves (to be clear, it’s not about how exciting/unexciting showcases would’ve been in-game; it’s that they had to make up showcases to give Serena something to do because XY was so light on content).

- First is that what we saw of Aria’s performance was really generic and unimpressive, but the second thing is big and just--I’m sorry, whichever writer decided that it was a smart idea to have the winner between Serena (a rando from Vaniville Town who’s only just making a name for herself) and Aria (essentially a celebrity who’s been around for a long time) be decided by the people in the audience needs to be fired. It makes sense when it’s a bunch of no-names all competing against each other, but when it’s a no-name versus a celebrity? For Arceus’ sake, the whole reason contests were originally decided by judges is because judges are (at least supposed to be) impartial. Did it suck when May and Dawn lost their Grand Festival? Yes, of course it did, but at least it didn’t feel so much like it was weighed against them.

- Like, imagine sitting and watching this episode and seeing the in-show audience decide who wins, most of whom probably have Aria merchandise like posters and figures and just, like--”Wow, gee, it really seemed like Serena could’ve had it! Wonder what tipped the scales for the audience!”

- To put this into perspective, imagine if the show decided that the viewers - the actual, real-life viewers - of the show got to decide who won the showcase. Even if some of them honestly thought that Serena deserved to win, you don’t think a majority were like, “Who cares about Aria? Serena’s our main girl and she’s gotta WIN!”?

Speaking of Serena--

- Serena at Ash before leaving to go to Hoenn: Hippity hoppity your lips are now my (implied) property.

Ash Greninja was a cool concept that amounted to nothing. The idea that Ash has this special link with one of his Pokemon (”Hey, look at this really cool thing that you can’t actually experience in-game!” until Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire and it’s underwhelming at best) and can feel their pain, but the link can cause him to get carried away because now he’s really experiencing the adrenaline rush of battle... that’s incredible! That’s a really neat idea!

- But... ultimately, it’s giving preferential treatment to a starter... again. Gen 6 already threw Charizard an extra bone by giving him a second Mega (and even when they got rid of Megas in Gen 8, they were like “lol let’s give him a Gigantimax form in advance and give him to the champion”; by the way, no, I didn’t play Sword & Shield because I’m a Living Dexer so the lack of - you know - Pokemon was a deal-breaker) and now here they are again not treating the starter lines fairly (even in-game, we have Protean Greninja, so it’s a double hitter). I was open to the idea and was getting swept up in the excitement, but... what does it mean in the end? It doesn’t amount to anything; Greninja is still another Pokemon who gets released essentially.

- Why didn’t they just do something with Pikachu (Ash Hat Pikachu was eventually a thing after all), which is something they could’ve easily carried over to future seasons and continued expanding upon? I mean, Ash’s Pikachu is already special in its own right and this would be like giving it the evolution it’s never going to get. Heck, even just like... they could have it where it wasn’t even either Ash nor Pikachu being special, but they engaged in some sort of special bonding ritual at some special place (anyone remember Ashachu? That was a cool concept too and they wasted it; could’ve even been a reason for them to make this connection at that place because Ash had been a Pikachu once before).

Alain’s existence. Just--like, his entire existence, fanservice Charizard X and all.

- I want to make it clear for anyone who didn’t experience XY&Z (count your blessings) that, when the Mega Evolutions specials were coming out, we were given at least the impression that it wasn’t going to have anything to do with the series. Then things started happening and this is essentially how it went down.

- everyone, seeing that Alain is part of the main series now: oh no

- everyone, seeing Ash plant the seed in Alain’s head about entering the League: oh no

- everyone, seeing Alain having a near-loss against Ash (after having a couple wins before) before Ash blacks out, ending the battle abruptly and leaving the battle undecided, which is similar to what they pulled with Sawyer (having Sawyer win once against Ash before the League so it would still have suspense and wouldn’t just be Ash wrecking him again) except now it’s in the opposite direction: OH NO

- The League finale episode, in Japanese, was essentially called, “Kalos League Victory! Satoshi's Ultimate Match!!” and yeah, it was blatant clickbait.

- Ash!Greninja pulls off a Giant Mega Death Water Shuriken for the final exchange of blows in the match (Water Shuriken VS Charizard X’s Blast Burn) and it amounts to literally nothing because Greninja goes down anyway (to a Fire move of all things, which somehow feels even more offensive).

- They didn’t play Ash’s theme when said Water Shuriken happened so it was semi-obvious that he wasn’t going to win. Heck, his mom didn’t even show up to watch the match from what I remember.

- So yeah, Ash lost and--People. Were. Livid. The dislike bar on the Japanese trailer for the following episode was insane. I think what it ultimately amounted to was that people were so sick of the formula and XY seemed like such a step up from the last attempt and people really thought that the writers were finally learning their lesson. They really thought everything was going to turn around, and--yeah. It just ended up being more of the same except worse because they did everything to make it look like they cared.

#non ml talk #other: ask and answer #((All these old wounds just being reopened lol.)) #((Say whatever you want about Orange Islands but it gave Ash the win he deserves.)) #((Dude took down a Dragonite with an INSANE amount of moves.)) #((There's Alola too but Orange Islands was first.))

[crystalelemental]

Okay, listen.  I think I've figured out what Pokemon Company and GameFreak are talking about with the new Gen 8 games focusing on balancing the meta.  I...do not know if I like it.

Consider: mega evolution existed, and for a time, put certain Pokemon at the top of the proverbial food chain.  This, however, introduced greater power creep than ever before, and the competitive scene wound up being the most stagnant it had ever been, even in Doubles, because certain options just guaranteed success.  Then, Z-moves were introduced to try and fix the problem, and...well, it kinda just shifted thing around a bit, but Ash-Greninja and the Tapu kinda dominated alongside the usuals, including the megas from the previous generation.  The metagame stagnated.

Now, consider the fact that they're removing a large part of the dex, and the old powerhouses that stagnated the game are gone.  In its place, we now have Gigantamax, which is a "new" system that functions similarly to mega evolution, where all moves are Z-moves, but the form only lasts 3 turns.  These forms are also going to new Pokemon to the series, like Corviknight and Alcremie, but also to Pokemon like Butterfree who had gotten nothing before.  Outside of Charizard, Pikachu, and Eevee (because Gen 1 favoritism), very little repetition has happened.  We haven't seen a Gigantamax for, say, Beedrill, despite its mega evolution dying, for instance.  It seems like the new tools are going to other options.

Which...okay.  I love megas.  I think they were the perfect solution to the problem of meta imbalance.  The problem with megas wasn't what they were, but how they were distributed.  Shit like Salamence, Garchomp, Siczor, Tyranitar, and Metagross never should've gotten megas.  But when Beedrill, Lopunny, or Banette got them, suddenly they can perform decently to spectacularly.  Megas took weaker options and boosted them, AND ONLY THEM, in a way that let the weaker option compete.  Z-moves and Dynamax don't do that.  They're a universal buff, applied to everything, and therefore does nothing but create a scenario in which only the most powerful options got to use them, and pushed the overall powerlevel so high that the weaker things got worse.  That's not a good system.  Gigantamax, however, feels like an attempt at replicating the same occurrence as megas.  It's going to a select few Pokemon, and is allegedly a much more powerful version of the Pokemon, and of Dynamaxing, suggesting that it's a pinpointed buff.

So...why get rid of megas?  I think...this is their solution to powercreep.  Imagine, momentarily, that power creep occurs in a temporary way.  Megas and Gigantamax both give massive stat boosts to the Pokemon in question, and for a time they'll rule the meta.  But, after that generation, the mechanic is removed entirely.  Now the Pokemon that once had this power, no longer do, and the meta shifts back to baseline, only for a new set of Pokemon to receive the gimmick buff of the generation.  I think this is their attempt at creating an ever-churning metagame where new threats will always be on top, because old threats suddenly lose all power and new threats suddenly appear thanks to regional mechanics.

As a concept, it's frankly not bad.  It's definitely a way to avoid long-term problems of just pushing power further and further.  I think the problem is that...some Pokemon have already been optimized for a metagame with megas.  Garchomp isn't as prominent as it once was, but is still a terror in its own right, and is still very present in the meta.  Toxapex is hugely defensive, and the removal of megas and the Tapu means it might just break into Ubers if there's nothing new to stop it.  Ferrothorn will continue to dominate, and god help us the day Lando-T returns.

Basically what I'm saying is, megas weren't the only problem.  Gen 5 had massive powercreep too, and the hyper min-maxed mentality that goes into allocating stats for new Pokemon hasn't gone away.  Look at Pheromosa and tell me that's not obscene regardless.  The meta's overall power level has already shifted significantly in favor of heavy min-maxing.

And therein lies the true problem.  There's no standardization.  Pokemon have wildly varying BSTs, and allocation is not always pretty.  Early generation Pokemon were optimized for their particular games, and the flat "average across the board" spread doesn't work anymore.  It's why the base 100s mythic legends don't happen anymore; they just aren't as effective half the time.  You need something to help you stand out.  Which is why something like megas were so important for, say, Beedrill.  There is no room for a new evolution in the chain, and its stats are hot trash.  It's why I love the concept of Obstagoon, despite hating its execution.  An evolution to a regional early-game rodent?  That's perfect!  It's just a shame it's regional-specific, and the design is like that.  But otherwise, that's what's needed.  The slight improvement to stats that they do each generation is nice, but it's ultimately not quite enough to get things where they need to be.  Pelipper and Mantine are like...the only two that really succeeded with slight changes, and that was more due to a change in ability and movepool respectively.  Those are the kinds of buffs that are generally needed, but in cases like base Beedrill or Furret, having a great movepool and getting a better ability isn't going to fix how awful your stats are.  There needs to be some kind of shift in that mentality for there to be proper balance, otherwise you get maybe one generation of fame thanks to a temporary mechanic, then drop off the face of the planet forever.

Basically, my problem is this: competitive Pokemon, in the broad sense, functions on VGC rules.  Which sucks.  Not just because of doubles, which I don't like, but because Doubles is as harsh, if not harsher, than singles for what's viable.  Yet because they operate on these rules, all that matters is performing at the top level, and the concept that some Pokemon are decent but not top meta, and some are so awful they're unusable almost within the main game, is lost on them.  That's the problem.  I may not always agree with Smogon, but the recognition of distinct tiers for lower-performing Pokemon is exactly what Pokemon Company and GameFreak need to take into account.  My problem isn't that every single Pokemon doesn't function in OU, my problem is that something like Dustox will have literally nothing to ever offer anyone in any competitive format, yet gets absolutely no recognition or attempted buff.  Megas at least got that recognition, and Gigantamax is continuing that trend by showing off Butterfree, but ultimately?  It's shallow.  Because it does nothing long-term for them.  It's a bandaid on a broken leg, you're just not addressing the problem we have here.

Thinking about it like this, Gigantamax isn't so bad, and I don't necessarily hate the idea of megas being removed as a concept, or that Gigantamax won't last, in order to prevent powercreep by shifting goal posts.  What I do get annoyed by is the fact that it feels like an excuse to not actually address what power imbalance means at large, and acknowledge that some Pokemon are just bad in every respect, including the main game, and need something to set them apart.

#pokemon #gigantamax #this was a lot more talking than I expected to do

[sage-nebula]

Scrawlers you’re not gonna leave the fandom are you? I know a lot of people who are dropping Pokemon altogether because of this National Dex fiasco, which is really upsetting. Personally even though Pokemon’s main games have been in a slump lately I always stick with this franchise in the hopes that things will turn around but I know not everyone is that optimistic. I’d hate to see you leave because your passion for these games something I’ve always loved but it’s your choice in the end.

Your timing for this ask is spot-on because I was just about to make a post about it, haha.

Short Answer: No, I’m not going to leave the fandom.

Longer Answer:

Pokémon is not just a fandom for me. I usually express this through two separate jokes (“Pokémon is a way of life” and “Pokémon is my past, present, and future, Harry Potter”), but I honestly mean it in all seriousness. I have loved Pokémon for 21 years. Pokémon helped me overcome bullying (though my fists also did that) and make my first friends (my fists weren’t involved here) in elementary school. Pokémon was my go-to escapist fantasy during the hellish life I had in my childhood and adolescence due to parental abuse at home. I bred my arcanine so that my platonic soulmate would have a way to still be with me even after her death. Of course the arcanine is not the same as having the real, breathing dog, but it’s the best I can do with what I have. The original Pokémon overture brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it. It’s the one fictional world I would want to live in, without hesitation.

That isn’t something I can let go of, or leave behind. Pokémon is way too special to me for that. It’s not something that I could replace with another monster series (hence why things like Yo-Kai Watch hold no appeal to me), or another game series. The idea of dropping the Pokémon games forever from here on out is painful to me. I pass on lesser Zelda titles all the time if they don’t look like they’ll be fun or interesting. I do the same thing with lesser Sonic titles. But Pokémon? The fact that the Let’s Go games were main series games that were such trash and that threatened in ruining the main series forever (which it seems they’ve succeeded in doing since no one listened and everyone bought them new anyway) upset me deeply. For the first time since 1998 I didn’t buy a main series Pokémon game. Sure, I saved $60, but it really, really hurt and upset me that I couldn’t be excited at the launch of a new main series Pokémon title. To be fair, I wasn’t excited for Ultra Sun / Ultra Moon either, but I still bought and completed Ultra Sun because at least it didn’t carry the threat that if it sold well the rest of the franchise would be negatively impacted. Let’s Go Pikachu / Let’s Go Eevee did carry that threat, and have now made good on that threat, and so I skipped them to do my part to try to save the franchise that I have loved with all my heart since I was eight years old.

But I alone wasn’t enough.

Masuda Junichi has given several different reasons why the National Dex won’t be in Sword / Shield, but every single one of them is nonsense. 

“We don’t have time,” he says, but not only would no one mind if the games were delayed if it meant making them better, but they could always patch in non-Galar pokémon later, and everyone would be fine with that since Home won’t be released until some time in 2020 anyway. 

“We’re making all the models unique and over 800 is too many,” he says, but:

Scorbunny’s kicking animation is the exact same as Buneary’s (pretty sure it was Buneary; maybe it was Bunnelby, but still)

The models they created for X / Y were future-proofed, meaning that they were already fully rendered 3D models that just weren’t being shown in the highest possible resolution on 3DS. They don’t have to remake models for all the old ‘mon, just the new ones.

They have walking / running animations for every single pokémon through Alola that they just haven’t used, meaning that so much of the work is already completed.

They could just upscale pokémon for Gigamaxing, and could have done the same for the Totem Pokémon in Sun / Moon, but apparently they don’t know how to do what is honestly a rather simple thing to code because they chose instead to make brand new models for the Totem Pokémon and likely the Gigamax one, and also created brand new models for NPCs for completely unnecessary reasons (e.g. they made a brand new Lillie model for every area she appeared in, which bloated the amount of models in the game for no goddamn reason), something which was found in the Sun / Moon datamine. If there is a lot of work to be done, it’s because Game Freak is purposefully choosing to work harder, rather than smarter. All this, despite the fact that they hired a programmer specifically for consoles about two years ago.

“We care about game balancing,” he says, but not only has Masuda in particular been adamant about killing off the competitive scene (removing things like the Battle Frontier because he thinks players will find it to be “too hard,” removing EV training from Let’s Go, and so on), but the only reason why having certain old pokémon in the game would throw off game balancing worse than in previous gens is because the Galar pokémon have stats that are just that bad, which spells bad things for competitive play in these games anyway. These games which, mind you, were supposed to be for us, the core players.

“We want to stick to a regional theme and will pick pokémon that apply to the widest base of players,” he says, meaning that only popular ‘mon and Pikachu are likely to make the cut.

“Having 800+ ‘mon is very intimidating to players,” he says, which is what ties the blame back to Let’s Go and its sales. Let’s Go only had the Kanto ‘dex (+Meltan) because they didn’t want Go players to be intimidated by the large amount of pokémon typically available in a new game. Of course, we all knew this logic was flawed back when that was announced: If Go players would be intimidated by the national ‘dex in Let’s Go, how was limiting it there supposed to help them get used to it in Sword / Shield? Well, now we have our answer: Masuda never intended to give it back to us. He always wanted to limit it, because he doesn’t want the core players to play the games anymore. He only wants the Go fans to play.

Here’s the thing: The majority of my One True Team™ is already confirmed to be in the Galar ‘dex. Charizard, Arcanine, Espeon, Umbreon, Mimikyu, Kanto Raichu, and most likely Lapras are all going to be in. (I say most likely, because a Lapras regional evolution was in the leak that has been spot-on about things such as Nessa and Gigamaxing so far, so I would be very surprised if Lapras wasn’t in.) The only ones who are still up in the air for me are Furret and Midday Lycanroc. So the issue here is not what I personally am able to bring over. The issue is the principle of the matter.

See, here’s the thing: I’m lucky because most of my One True Team™ are pokémon that most everyone likes. Everyone loves Charizard. Everyone loves the eeveelutions. Mimikyu was a surprise hit. Arcanine, while less loved than Ninetales, is tied to some cool east Asian mythology and so is unlikely to be cut, and so on. But not everyone is in the same position I’m in. My best friend’s favorite pokémon is Scolipede. Her second favorite pokémon is Kabutops. How likely do you think it is those two will make it in? And if they don’t make it in Gen VIII, how likely it is do you think they’ll return for Gen IX? 

Every pokémon is someone’s favorite. For everyone that hates Trubbish or Vannilluxe, someone out there loves them. And to say that those people shouldn’t be able to bring the ‘mon they’ve raised for generations over to this new region, even eventually—and to double down and say that every single new generation will be like this from now on—is unacceptable. During the press conference that aired the week before the Pokémon Direct, they said when announcing Home that the purpose was to allow us to stay connected to the ‘mon that we’ve bonded with over generations. They know that there are those of us out there who have brought pokémon up ever since the Game Boy generations, and they want us to continue journeying with them. They made it sound as if we could use Home to transfer our pokémon to Sword / Shield, and now they’ve yanked that away from us. They’ve gone back on their word. They lied not only to their fans, but to their stakeholders, during that press conference, and if you were watching Nintendo’s stock around the time the Treehouse video was airing live, their stocks took a dive as a direct result.

And while this is the thing I’m most angry about, it isn’t even the only thing. They also announced during the Treehouse that they’re not only removing the National Dex, but that they’re also removing Mega Evolution in favor of Gigamaxing. This one actually does impact me directly, because I bred and raised my Charizard around the fact that I would Mega Evolve her into Mega Charizard X. I painstakingly hatched hundreds of Adamant Charmander. I EV trained her so that her stats would be perfect. I gave her a moveset built around ‘Zard X. And now, even if I can bring her over to Galar, I won’t be able to Mega Evolve her because the Key Stone and Charizardite simply won’t be available in the game. This, despite the fact that they have the assets for it thanks to Let’s Go. There is absolutely no reason to remove Mega Evolution when Mega Evolution’s assets are already available in a game on this system. There is no excuse. They’re just doing it anyway, because they want everyone to focus on their shiny new mechanic, and demonizing Mega Evolution apparently didn’t do a good enough job of that in Gen VII. (That said, they’re also removing Z-Moves, so apparently they weren’t too attached to those either.)

I just … I can’t support this. I cannot support any of this. It kills me. I feel incredibly conflicted, because there is a lot in Sword / Shield that I still am excited for. I love a lot of the new pokémon, such as Corviknight, Zacian, and Yamper. I like several of the new trainers we’ve seen. I think the region looks gorgeous. But I don’t want to give Game Freak and Nintendo money for any of this, because that will make them think that what they’re doing is a good idea. Just like with Let’s Go, where Masuda said that if those games sold well they would shape the next twenty years of the franchise (which they did, and they are), I don’t want to reward them for poor decision making.

So I’ve decided to buy Sword used. 

When you buy a game used through Game Stop or a similar store, the store gets every single cent. Nintendo and Game Freak see none of it. I still want to play these games for the features I like. But I do not, and will not, support Game Freak and their asinine decision making. So while I might not be able to get Sword on launch day (though we’ll see; I’ve seen used games in Game Stop on launch day before), I’ll be able to get it soon enough and play it in a way that just doesn’t support Game Freak or what they’re doing. I’m only one person, and as we saw with Let’s Go, my lack of sale isn’t going to be enough to stop the train wreck. But if the severe backlash they’re facing now isn’t enough to do it (last I checked, the Treehouse video had 13k Likes in contrast to 24k dislikes, and angry hashtags about this are trending in both the west and Japan on Twitter), then I want to contribute in any way that I can. I love this series too much to just passively support every bad decision Game Freak makes that lessens not only my enjoyment, but also the enjoyment of so many others.

So no, I’m not leaving. I will always love Pokémon. And if Game Freak and / or Nintendo decide to listen to the backlash and backtrack this decision—say, make a statement saying they’ll patch in all the rest of the pokémon later, and hopefully even give us Mega Evolution back—then I’ll happily go back to buying a new copy of the game on Day 1. But until then, I’m buying used from now on. They don’t deserve my money if they’re going to act like this. And again, I alone won’t make a difference, but if there’s one thing that Pokémon has taught me over the years, it’s that that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try.

#orasforlife #pokemon #pokemon sword and shield #pokemon swsh #bringbacknationaldex #long post for ts

[pkmnmasterlyra]

Sinnoh League Victors

So this season, this season is, a mixed bag. So it's got the Grand Festival and Pokemon League, which are def highlights of the whole generation, but there really wasn't much else besides that? The Pokemon League was 7 episodes, Grand festival 4, last gym and contest build up and winning was 5 more, that's 16 of 33, half the season, so not much time for anything else. I also think postponing the Sunnyshore gym 13 episodes was a bad idea, that was all the same day for me this time, but the first time that was a 3 month wait! On the more positive side, I never realized how good Paul's development was in the 2nd half. I'd def say he has a fairly weak first half between being so irredeemably jerkish and the Chimchar abuse, but the 2nd half is much better. Don't have much to say aside from a warning that since half the season is league battles, win rates are a little low, as the average win rate for official league battles is usually 50/50, since they're usually close down to the wire matches.

Pokemon            Total             Wins             Losses                          %

Pikachu                   13               10                   3                           77%

Infernape                 9                 8                    1                          89%

Torterra                   8                 5                     3                         62%

Buizel                     7                 3                      4                        43% Staraptor                 5                3                      2                         60%

Gible                    4(7)            3(6)                     1               75%(86%)

Gliscor                  2                 1                         1                        50%

Heracross                2               1                        1                       50%

Noctowl                  2                1                        1                        50%

Sceptile                  2                1                        1                        50%

Snorlax                  1                1                        0                      100%

Donphan                1                0                         1                         0%

Torkoal                  1                0                          1                        0%

Swellow                 1                0                         1                          0%

Total Fights: 57(60)

Legends

                     Wins   Ties

Sceptile:          1          0

Pikachu:          0           1

This season showing how short it is by giving Pikachu a record low number of battles, and because of that record low number of battles, those 3 losses are enough to tie this season with the first for lowest win rate for Pikachu. In fact everyone had a real bad season, aside from Infernape, solely cause there just, weren't many battles to go around. speaking of Infernape, he has officially entered the 80% club! And Donphan has been booted out. Snorlax swoops in with his 10 seconds of screen time once again swiping 1st place from Pikachu for the gen like he did in Hoenn. While Sceptile's win rate is real low, and he had help beating Darkrai here, this should definitely still be heavily used in considering how strong he is, as Sceptile is the only one of Ash's mons not one shot by one of Tobias' mons aside from Pikachu. This season was more than enough to give Sinnoh the new, and probably permanent title of generation with the most battles at 286! It was however just 9 short of giving us that 1000th battle (4 if you include Gible's gag KOs) Noctowl and Herracross finally made their way into double digits with their battle count, altho at the price of dropping their win rates a bit. Infernape pulled a Charizard, actually beating 3 of Paul's Pokemon. He also pulled a Pikachu, having his only loss be against an E4 member! With that I believe that's all I have to say!~ Join me next time for the dreaded Best Wishes! thought I'd give my opinions now to see how they change when I come back to em after watching, so Best Wishes, unlike most I actually enjoyed it, altho I do think it's the only gen of the anime that's actually bad. But every gen so far I've liked more than I remembered, even Sinnoh which I had really fond memories and expected to have put on too high a pedestal, so I'm actually pretty excited to watch it again and see it without all the negative vibes I was getting from everyone else at the time it was first airing. so see ya after the first season!~ (finally, no more 4 season long generations~)

#pokemon #pokeani #anipoke #ash ketchum #satoshi #pikachu #latios #sinnoh #sinnoh league victors #Ash's Pokemon stats #ash's pokemon stats sinnoh

[midori-berry]

Who some part 1 characters would main in super sm4sh bros

Jonathan Joestar: Jonathan likes to play as Ike, as he quite likes how similar he looks to the fire emblem character. He also likes to play as Captain falcon, luigi and Pikachu, as they’re some of the more classic characters. He was sad when he found out that the Ice climbers were not in the new game, as he enjoyed playing as them in brawl due to their play style being based upon double attacks, which reminds him of when he and Zeppeli fought side by side.

Dio Brando: While at first Dio mained Gannondorf, he eventually got the DLC and found that he much prefered playing as bayonetta instead. He’ll still occasionally play as Gannondorf, and will also sometimes play as Mario, as he thinks mario is the superior brother, and it has nothing to do with the fact that Jonathan sometimes plays as Luigi, nothing at all.

Speedwagon: Speedwagon likes to play as Meta Knight, though he was quite distraught to find out how much he had been nerfed, he still thinks his mask is very cool and continues to play as him, despite how the character is a lot weaker now. He’ll also play as Rosalina/Luma and King Dedede, as he prefers heavy hitting characters. He also likes collecting amiibos.

Erina Pendleton: While erina sometimes goes for the cuter characters such as Kirby and Toon link, she’s very good at playing as Little Mac, and will often choose him for more serious brawls. Out of all of the part 1 characters, she’s the one who is most likely to win a game of smash, with Dio often coming second.

William Zeppeli: Zeppeli doesn’t play much smash brothers, but will sometimes play if pushed, where he goes on random. The characters he is best with are Greninja and to a lesser extent Ness.

Poco: Enjoys playing the game for fun instead of more serious battles, he likes to play as his favourite characters, Charizard, Captain falcon and Jigglypuff. He didn’t really like Jigglypuff at first, but after finding out how useful the critical sleep could be, he started playing more as Jigglypuff.

Bruford: Really enjoys playing as Link, as he sees him as a good knight who fights for what is right. While he enjoys playing as Link, he isn’t very good with sword characters, and is better at playing heavy hitters such as bowser and Gannondorf, though he doesn’t like playing as bad guys.

Tarkus: Tarkus most definitely mains bowser, he likes how heavy hitting he is, and how he can breathe fire and how he won’t go down as easily as many other characters. In some game modes he will kit bowser out with a hammer or a light beam, in order to do as much damage as possible and in order to win. He will sometimes play as Palutena or Samus.

Tonpetty: Tonpetty prefers to play as Greninja, due to the character seeming cool and collected. He will also sometimes play as fox, and he takes the brawls somewhat seriously. He’s more likely to change and experiment with the movesets of characters to see which moves fit best for each character.

Dire: Dire likes to play as Zelda, and he much prefers it now that Zelda and Sheik are seperate characters, as he felt the two being one was a bit more complex. He’s the most likely out of all the players to get stunblocked after having blocked for too long. He will also sometimes play as Falco and Robin.

Straizo: Straizo will play as pretty much any fire emblem character, as he likes the series. He’s best with Ike, and makes good use of the counters that many of the sword wielders of the series can utilise. He’s the least likely to change any of the movesets of characters.

#headcannons #my headcannons #jjba #JoJo's Bizarre Adventure #Phantom Blood #jjba pb #jonathan joestar #Dio Brando #speedwagon #erina pendleton #william zeppeli #poco #bruford #tarkus #tonpetty #dire #straizo #smash brothers #sm4shbros #and some more headcannons that nobody asked for but you all are getting anyway because i can

[joshmspicer]

Ask me! I’ll answer honestly

Nabbed from @nachosforfree​

1: How tall or short do you wish you were? I’m okay where I am, maybe a smidge taller. 2: What’s your dream pet? (Real or not) A Charizard, but one that’s lovable and thinks it’s a dog while aware of its tail. 3: Do you have a favorite clothing style? Not really 4: What was your favorite video game growing up? Pokemon Crystal 5: What three things/people do you think of most each day: Wrestling stuff, what I’m gonna do going forward in life, and how much of a liar I am. 6: If you had a warning label, what would yours say? “Be aware of being unable to hear him. It’s okay, you’re not the only one. If he gets mad, stay calm about it.” 7: What is your opinion on Disney remakes? Fuck it, I already sold my soul to them long ago. 8: What is your Greek personality type? [Sanguine, Phlegmatic, Choleric, or Melancholic] Dunno, don’t feel like looking those up. Sorry. 9: Are you ticklish? [Oh god, I don’t wanna say yes, then I’ll get tickled, but if I say no then they might get suspicious and tickle me anyway so I don’t know.] 10: Are you allergic to anything? Failure...but not really 11: What’s your sexuality? A human 12: Do you prefer tea, coffee, or cocoa? Cocoa 13: Are you a cat or dog person? Cat, but still love dogs 14: Would you rather be a vampire, elf, or merperson? Elf 15: Do you have a favorite Youtuber? Right now it’s probably Everglow 16: How tall are you? 5′ 9″ 17: If you had to change your name, what would you change it to? Officially to Joshua Meredith Spicer, but probably something like Joshua Meredith Crumpton-Spicer to keep the Crumpton name going 18: How much do you weigh? 220 lbs.-ish 19: Do you believe in ghosts/spirits? Yes 20: Do you like space or the ocean more? Space 21: Are you religious? Yes 22: Pet peeves? What does my pet peeve? 23: Would you rather be nocturnal or diurnal [opposite of nocturnal]? Noc 24: Favorite constellation? Stars 25: Favorite star? Brian Blessed 26: Do you like ball-jointed dolls? I like vagina-jointed dolls 27: Any phobias or fears? Advanced darkness, being completely alone, the undying pressure of living my goals but settling and giving up and making my mom disappointed. I don’t know why, my mom means nothing to me beyond a base level of love and care, but she just won’t shut the fuck up. 28: Do you think global warming is real? Of fucking course. If you don’t you’re well and truly an idiot. 29: Do you believe in reincarnation? Yes 30: Favorite movie? Christopher Robin 31: Do you get scared easily? Jumpscared usually 32: How many pets have you own in your lifetime? 6 orange cats, one was officially ours named Festus. Keeshound named Hunter. Calico cat named Callie that we saved from the vet. Black cat named Borus. Husky named Rory/Aurora that we red to get eight puppies. We kept three of them named Stitches (mom tried to eat her at birth but my mum saved her), Tiki/Tikitus (dumb as fuck, and I do mean dumb as fuck, the guy was a literal moose), and Brutus (most loving dog ever but will force his love on you god dammit.) Two terriers named Sophie and Charlie that my mom kind of adopted from her current husband. 33: Blog rate? $75 a night for a double 34: What is a color that calms you? Couldn’t say 35: Where would you like to travel and/or live? California, Vancouver, Toronto 36: Where were you born? Mason City, Iowa

37: What is your eye color? Blue 38: Introvert or extrovert? Intro by design, extro when needed 39: Do you believe in horoscopes and zodiacs? Yes 40: Hugs or kisses? Sure 41: Who is someone you would like to see/visit right now? My sister 42: Who is someone you love deeply? My sister who is the only relative I trust wholeheartedly 43: Any piercings you want?  No 44: Do you like tattoos and piercings? I can 45: Do you smoke or have you eiver done so? No and no 46: Talk about your crush, if you have one! God she’s so amazing. Big dork but a hell of a smile. So shy when she does’t need to be. 47: What is a sound you really hate? When a tree falls in the woods. 48: A sound you really love? I dunno 49: Can you do a backflip? No 50: Can you do the splits? Poorly 51: Favorite actor and/or actress? Ryan Reynolds and Emily Blunt 52: Favorite movie? Christopher Robin, didn’t we already--yeah, #30 53: How are you feeling right now? Alright 54: What color would you like your hair to be right now? I’m okay 55: When did you feel happiest? Couldn’t tell ya 56: Something that calms you down? Can’t think of anything right now 57: Have any mental disorders? None that are diagnosed 58: What does your URL mean? Name I came up with when I first joined the internet. An OC brother of Jack Spicer from Xiaolin Showdown that I used on an old XS RP board. 59: What three words describe you the most? Kind, empathetic, stubborn 60: Do you believe in evolution? In some ways yes 61: What makes you unfollow a blog? If they’re too hamfisted in their belief/opinion to the point that it contradicts something so blatantly that they don’t realize it OR if they blatantly post a cheating/NTR fic/art with no remorse or with enjoyment. 62: What makes you follow a blog? Fun opinions, great art 63: Favorite kind of person: Someone who appreciates you for who you are and won’t judge you for your interests or dislikes. Kind and sweet, trustworthy, able to talk to. 64: Favorite animal(s): Cats, dogs, foxes 65: Name three of your favorite blogs. Nah 66: Favorite emoticon: Nah 67: Favorite meme: Right now it’s still surprised Pikachu. All time it’s probably the flagging ref 68: What is your MBTI personality type? Dunno 69: What is your star sign? Cancer 70: Can your dog roll over on command, if you have a dog? No 71: What outfit out of all your clothes do you like to wear the most? T-shirt, jeans, converse rip-offs, white socks, and my blue Menards jacket 72: Post a selfie or two? Yeah sure, see down at the bottom. 73: Do you have platform shoes? No 74: What is one random but interesting fact about yourself? This question is always asked and I never know what the fuck to post. 75: Can you do a front flip? No 76: Do you like birds? All but geese and Pidgey 77: Do you like to swim? Not particulary 78: Is swimming or ice skating more fun to you? Swimming 79: Something you wish didn’t exist: Teeth diseases 80: Some thing you wish did exist: All my hopes and dreams 81: Piercings you have? None 82: Something you really enjoy doing: Sitting here at the computer and coming up with film plots and characters that will probably never be made. 83: Favorite person to talk to: My sister or Dawn 84: What was your first impression of Tumblr? Good site in concept with a nice structure that holds up when it works but shit-tier communication from the top down and a tendency to break 85: How many followers do you have? 200+ 86: Can you run a mile within ten minutes? Maybe if I actually gave a shit about a mile I would but the mile was the stupidest fucking thing in gym class 87: Do your socks always match? Yes 88: Can you touch your toes and keep your legs straight completely? No 89: What are your birthstones? Ruby 90: If you were an animal, which one would you be? A house cat 91: If a flower could aesthetically represent you, what kind would it be? Dunno 92: A store you hate? Salvation Army 93: How many cups of coffee can you drink in one day? None 94: Would you rather be able to fly or read minds? Fly 95: Do you like to wear camo? Not really 96: Winter or summer? Summer 97: How long can you hold your breath for? Dunno 98: Least favorite person? My mom’s husband 99: Someone you look up to: Dunno 100: A store you love? Hot Topic or Video Games Etc. 101: Favorite type of shoes Tennis shoes, converse 102: Where do you live? Denver, CO 103: Are you a vegetarian or vegan? If so, why? No 104: What is your favorite mineral or gem? Not particularly 105: Do you drink milk? Yes, I’m grown up 106: Do you like bugs? Eh 107: Do you like spiders? No 108: Something you get paranoid about? The weight of pressure ever expanding on me 109: Can you draw: Not well. I can doodle decently. 110: Nosiest question you have ever been asked? Nothing I can think of 111: A question you hate being asked? “What was that? Why can’t you slow down? Why can’t you speak up” 112: Ever been bitten by a spider? Maybe once 113: Do you like the sound of waves at the beach? Yes 114: Do you prefer cloudy or sunny days? Cloudy 115: Someone you’d like to kiss or cuddle right now: Couldn’t tell ya 116: Favorite cloud type: Blonde, long-ass sword 117: What color do you wish the sky was? Warm orange/yellow 118: Do you have freckles? Yes 119: Favorite thing about a person: Their laugh (usually), their voice 120: Fruits or vegetables? Fruits 121: Something you want to do right now: Nothing forever 122: Is the ocean or sky prettier? Ocean 123: Sweet or sour foods? Sweet 124: Bright or dim lights? Bright 125: Do you believe in a certain magical creature? Maybe 126: Something you hate about Tumblr: @staff​ 127: Something you love about Tumblr: Everything else 128: What do you think about the least? All the friends I’ve left behind 129: What would you want written on your tombstone? “This bitch empty. I’m ash so let the world turn to me.” 130: Who would you like to punch in the face right now? Myself 131: What is something you love but also hate about yourself? I can give advice and feel emotion for anybody but lack the ability to practice what I preach. 132: Do you smile with your teeth showing for pictures? No 133: Computer or TV? Computer 134: Do you like roller coasters? Yeah sure 135: Do you get motion sickness or seasickness? Only when I’m cramped and already have a headache 136: Are your ears lobed or attached? Lobed 137: Do you believe in karma? Yes 138: On a scale of 1-10, how attractive would you say you are? I’ve been told I’m a 7 by a gay guy when I was in high school and wasn’t fat or hairy. I’d say maybe a 5 now-a-days. 139: What nicknames do you have/have had? McLovin, Toad/Toadman, Crumpton 140: Did you have any pretend or imaginary friends? Yes 141: Have you ever seen a therapist/shrink? Yes 142: Would you say you are a good or bad influence to others? Good with what they know of me 143: Do you prefer giving or receiving gifts/help? Receiving gifts, giving help 144: What makes you angry When people can’t hear me despite speaking clear as possible. When people go through my shit without my express permission. When people disobey people’s trust and relationships. 145: How many languages do you speak fluently? English. Really wanna learn Japanese. 146: Do you prefer boys, girls, and/or non-binaries? Females for the most part but I’m coming around to males 147: Are you androgynous? No 148: Favorite physical thing about yourself: My hair when it’s not bed-ridden 149: Favorite thing about your personality: Empathy boiiii 150: Name three people you would like to talk to right now in person. Dawn, my sister, Caroline 151: If you could go back into time and live in one era, which would you choose? Post-WW2 152: Do you like BuzzFeed? Neutral 153: How did you meet your spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend/partner? I time warped to the future and decided I’m good. 154: Do you like to kiss others’ foreheads or hands for platonic reasons? Not really 155: Do you like to play with others’ hair? Never tried 156: What embarrasses you? My stutter. My internet past, much to my chagrin. My likes and interests to somebody new. 157: Something that makes you nervous/anxious: Introducing my likes and interests to somebody new. 158: Biggest lie you have ever told: “Yes I’ve totally been going to football practice for the last two months.” “Yes I’ve totally been going to school for the last two months.” 159: How many people are you following? A lot 160: How many posts do you have on your blog(s)? A lot 161: How many drafts do you have on your blog(s)? None on purpose 162: How many likes do you have on your blog(s)? Not a lot 163: Last time you cried and why: Infinity War on its third rewatch because Peter 164: Do you have long or short hair? Longer 165: Longest your hair has ever been: Probably now 166: Why do you like, dislike, or have neutral feelings about religon? It gives me hope that everything will be okay when I die. It also gives me hope that people can be good. There are bad people within this sect, yes, but there are good people out there. Genuinely good people. I’ve met them. 167: Do you really care how the universe and world was created? Not really 168: Do you like to wear makeup? No 169: Can you stand on your hands or head for more than thirty seconds? No 170: Did you answer the questions you were asked truthfully?  Mostly

#jmsanswers

[punz4lyfe]

Why a Rivalry Between Lucario and Cinderace WOULD NOT Work

So with the latest episode of Pokemon Journeys yesterday, we got a brand new opening animation as well. As per usual anipoke trends, the opening showcased many potential events that we could expect in the near future, like Iris and Gary returning, the gang traveling with Leon, and... Lucario and Cinderace forming some sort of rivalry.

Before we go on, I would just like to point out that not everything we see in anipoke openings should be taken seriously, as there’s been plenty of times an opening animation has showcased a certain event that never came to be, such as Ash catching a Grubbin in one of the Sun and Moon openings. And now using the previous Journeys opening as an example, that one teased events like Riolu and Farfetch’d training with each other alone and Ash and Goh having a full-out battle. Did either of those two came to be? Nope! So with that said, it is possible the same deal will done with this particular event.

However, because of much focus was placed on this upcoming rivalry, as well as taking episode 48 into consideration, it is actually very likely the writers are egging in giving us a Lucario-Cinderace rivalry, despite evidence pointing out how much of a bad idea it will be. And how are the reasons why:

Reason #1: It Would Be Forced

Ever since Lucario hatched as a Riolu, the two have barely, if ever, interacted with each other. For the most point, they mostly just shared comedic group moments (with Pikachu and Sobble, mind you). Have they ever trained with each other? Nope. Showcased any negative and/or competitive emotion? Not even in the slightest. In fact, the first time they ever had a meaningful interaction was in episode 45 where they both evolved, but really the only thing did with each other was fist bump, and then help take down Eternatus with Pikachu and the legendary doggos, so there really isn’t much we can take from there.

The same can be said for episode 46 where they both worked together to fight Mewtwo. They just cooperated with each other without any sort of meaningful interaction with each other.

And then we got episode 48. I’ve already talked about on how and why their whole thing between each other was forced, but in order to break it down for the sake of this blog post, the mostly just got into a bunch of silly shenanigans caused by their own simple mistakes. Y’know, just like Team Rocket with each other and sometimes Ash and his own traveling companions. Did any of them formed some sort of rivalry because of their silly mistakes? No. Then there’s nothing else we can take from this episode as well.

With all that said, Lucario and Cinderace forming a rivalry would just come on out to be extremely given their lack of interaction. And the crazy part is that’s not even scratching the surface, given reason #2.

Reason #2: They Have No Reason To Form a Rivalry

Rivalries shared between Pokemon is an uncommon thing. While they’re never usually given much emphasis compared to trainer rivalries, there’s usually some reason on why they are formed in the first place.

One of the most iconic examples I can think of would be the one between Ash’s Greninja and Sawyer’s Sceptile. In its younger stages, Scepy kept losing to frog boi, despite the two having very similar fighting styles and both gaining super forms later on in their lives. They also both deliberately shared a love for battling and their trainers both aimed for the same goal: conquering the Kalos League, so a rivalry between them was due to come. We also had Ash’s Lycanroc and Incineroar wanting to match and surpass their teachers in Sun and Moon (Gladion’s Lycanroc and Kukui’s Incineroar respectively).

Now looking at Lucario and Cinderace, what reason would they have to form a rivalry? Become the strongest? Then shouldn’t they focus on battling Pikachu or Dragonite then? It’s not like their trainers share the same goal or anything. Ash wants to fight ‘em all while Goh wants to catch ‘em all. Hecks, this point kind of brings up the next reason why a rivalry between these two would be stupid, which is...

Reason #3: Power Balance

It shouldn’t be a secret to anyone that Lucario would absolutely body Cinderace in a one-on-one serious match with their trainers. For one, ever since he was a little baby Riolu, Lucario has always been training. He’s helped his trainer defeat strong opponents to help raise his ranking and heckles, if you look up his battle record, you can find that Lucario is Ash’s second most used Pokemon in Journeys so far.

On the other hand, Cinderace, while he has a bit more experience than the standard Goh-captured mon, still pales in comparison to Lucario’s resume. He hardly ever trains, in fact, he mostly just helps Goh in catching and studying mons, but that’s not enough. And while it’s true Cinderace has been depicted to be on equal footing with Lucario in their fights against Eternatus and Mewtwo, please take in note that they were not fighting each other and both legendaries were capable of bodying the both of them because, well, they’re legendaries.

So there’s really no reason to think they’re equal when Lucario has clearly done more battling than Cinderace. And if you want to bring up that Cinderace has the type advantage, please take in mind who is Lucario’s trainer. Ash flippin’ Ketchum. Y’know, the same guy who has defeated Blaine’s Rhydon with Pikachu, Gary’s Blastoise with Charizard, Clark’s Quilava and Charizard with Grovyle and Glalie, Cilan’s Pansage with Oshawott, and Sawyer’s Sceptile with Greninja. It’s at this point where type advantages literally mean nothing to him. And if you want to bring up instances like Juan’s Luvdisc beating Grovyle or Alain’s Charizard beating Greninja, then let me tell you this: Compare Goh’s skill and experience to the likes of Alain, Juan, etc. and see where that argument takes you now.

I think it’s safe to say that in an actual battle, Cinderace would be screwed. Not only is Lucario a more adept battler, but he has a trainer (who’s basically Goh’s own mentor, mind you) who can completely wipe the floor with Cinderace’s. If you really think about, Ash’s strategic mind could help Lucario pull off crazy stuff like reflecting Cinderace’s Pyro Ball back with the force of his physical moves or just go all Naruto on it with Double Team. Ash has conquered the Orange and Alola leagues and the Kanto Battle Frontier, so imaging Goh having that level of skill would just be laughable considering we’re only halfway to 100 episodes in Journeys.

Final Points

Overall, a rivalry between these two would be stupid because they barely interact, their goals are different, and Lucario has Ash for his trainer. Additionally, I just want to ask this: Why? Why would they need to form a rivalry?

Doesn’t Lucario already have one with Bea’s Grapploct, a Pokemon owned by a trainer with the same goal as his own? That’s honestly much more interesting. And what about Farfetch’d? The two are currently Ash’s only fighting types on his team and Farfetch’d’s debut appearance established that they are about on equal skill and share a love for battling. Shouldn’t the two form a rivalry as well? You could even put in Farfetch’d’s own development, making him jealous that someone younger than him has evolved first, and thus, could now be stronger, motivating him to push himself to evolve as well so he can be back on equal footing. You could also give Lucario a student-teacher thing with Korrina’s Lucario, just like Lycanroc and Incineroar, but let’s not get too redundant considering Lucario has already copied Lycanroc’s hatred for getting dirty.

And if you want to give Cinderace some sort of rival, might I suggest to you Sobble? Just think about it. Out of all of Goh’s large arsenal of mons, these two are his most prominent. Maybe whenever Sobble evolves, he could pick up on Cinderace’s Raboot phase, and that could make Cinderace look back on how moody he was and try to help Drizzle/Inteleon move on from that, albeit, getting into some conflict as well. But those are just my ideas.

And that’s all I have to say over this topic. As you may have figured at this point, I don’t want a rivalry like this be formed due to the reasons given, but it’s likely inevitable at this point, so I’ll certainly review the heck out of it whenever it comes. Thanks for reading and don’t forget to follow if you haven’t already!

#pokemon journeys #anipoke #pokeani #ash ketchum #pikachu #lucario #goh #cinderace #sobble #chloe #leon #eternatus #mewtwo

[crystalelemental]

I've gone on record stating that Gen 3 is not my favorite, and I stand by that.  I think Team Aqua/Magma had a lot to do with that, being far less interesting than they should have been.  As much as we mock IGN for it, the fact that the latter third of the game is a bunch of surf routes with the same Pokemon over and over is also frustrating.   Also, since I'm in the middle of playing the remakes of ORAS, I find it really frustrating the things that they changed, with my biggest gripe being that I wish my rival would go away forever.  That said, the Pokedex itself has always been something I appreciated.  A lot of my favorites came from Gen 3, so I tended to remember the Pokemon in the region fondly, even if the region wasn't my favorite.

TOP 15: 15) Mightyena line - There was so much competition for this slot, it's ridiculous. Ultimately though, I have to give it to Mightyena and its pre-evolution, Poochyena.  Both have great designs, but the thing that stood out to me most was that, in the early game, we were given a Dark type.  That's really atypical! Usually you go through the normal types, the Flying types, and the bugs, until after the first gym.  But Gen 3? You got things like Mightyena right away; it wasn't even rare!   Combined with things like Seedot/Lotad and Ralts, you had some interesting types going into the first gym.  Mightyena is a great starting point for introducing how unique Gen 3 and its Pokedex are, and I think it stands out a lot because of it.

14) Nosepass - Imagine being a kid who had faced Brock back in gen 1.   Imagine again that you started with Red and Blue, and didn't pick Charmander. Odds are, you blasted through him without a second thought.  Literally no issue. Now, imagine going to Roxanne, blasting through her Geodude like they're nothing, and then encountering Nosepass, who can tank those Grass and Water hits just fine, and hits pretty hard for early game.  Nosepass is awesome.  It's a fantastic tank, who can take all sorts of hits in that early game.  While it doesn't hit particularly hard later on, its main draw is as a wall among walls, with great support options.  The concept of basically being a walking easter island head statue is also comical.  It looks funny, but it's adorable too, making for a fantastic overall Pokemon.

13) Absol - This is a Pokemon that gets a lot of favoritism based on aesthetics. It's a sleek and pretty Pokemon, but also has a great role.  It tells of impending disasters, and is a fun but short-lived character in Red Rescue Team as well.  I really like Absol, and just wish it could be a bit faster so it could have a solid competitive niche.

12) Aggron line - We've had big bipedal rock monsters before, like Rhydon and Tyranitar.  But Aggron is just a different kind of cool.  Its sleek metal plating and terrifying design are fantastic.  The fact that it starts out as the cute little Aron only helps add to its charms.  Best of all, you get it super early game.  Rhydon was surprisingly late-game, and Tyranitar was literally only attainable when you had nothing left to do.  But Aggron? You can run one the whole game.  I love the ability to do that.

11) Metagross - YEAH!  Metagross is a beast, and a strong contender for my favorite pseudo-legend.  It's literally a walking tank, with the glorious Steel/Psychic typing.  It had one of the few Steel moves in the game that was actually useful, and back before the nerf, Steel covered all of Psychic type's weaknesses, making it a defensive and offensive nightmare.  I love the entire concept behind this behemoth, too.  It's a walking robot monster, whose evolution is basically just it gaining more legs until it becomes Omega Weapon. 

10) Breloom - I'll get to a similar case later, but Breloom is a favorite based on typing.  Grass/Fighting was unreal at the time, and it did super well for itself. Plus it's just cute.  A tiny little punching mushroom child, with stubby little arms that apparently shoot out to hit really hard.  It's a quirky concept with a fun design, and I adore it. Plus, Spore with the abilities it would later get made it a surprisingly brutal enemy to face.

9) Roselia - IT'S SO PRETTY!  Such a gorgeous Pokemon.  Grass/Poison was pretty overdone, even at this point, but I just loved the appearance of it.

8) Swampert line - Dual-type starters, at this point, were still relatively rare. Venusaur had Grass/Poison, but so did every Grass type in gen 1 barring Tangela.  Charizard had Fire/Flying, but the fact it wasn't Dragon is stupid.  Gen 3 introduced new dual-types for starters, and one great one is Water/Ground with Swampert.  While the combination had been done before with Quagsire, Swampert offered far better overall bulk and damage output, on top of its excellent typing.  It's also goofy-looking, but in a really charming way.  It's just so loveable, and every evolution retains that cute look.

7) Flygon - Flygon is just cute to me.  It looks like such a friend.   Being a Pokemon that exists in the sandstorm-focused desert area was also cool.  I really liked that there was an entire region dedicated just to the new weather effect.  Shame that Sandstorm was such a pain in the ass, but it's a really cool area!

6) Altaria - Altaria is so pretty.  Just a fluffy cotton ball bird...dragon.  It's apparently more of a songbird, too, which is just heavenly.  It also got a great mega evolution, receiving Dragon/Fairy typing, which is hilarious and excellent.

5) Latias - I'm guessing this run of Dragons is proving I really like the soft, friendly dragons over the big intimidating ones that actually do well, huh? Dragon/Psychic was, at this point, the coolest typing I had ever heard of.  But what's cooler than that?  How about a super adorable Dragon/Psychic type.  Oh, what's this?  It gets a hold item that boosts special attack and special defense 50%?  That's ridiculous, I love it. Latias is the more defensive option of the two, which I always felt was better if you factor in hold item.  The added defensive bulk is going to matter more than slightly more physical offense from their perspective.  Of course, Latios having much better special attack is ultimately better in competitive, but Latias still has her use, and is super cute.

4) Blaziken line - Remember when Fire/Fighting was a novel type?  Remember when its introduction was a kick-boxing chicken creature?  Those were the days. Torchic is one of the cutest starters, and its final evolution is surprisingly still an elegant design.  It was such a cool idea, and I love that Hidden Abilities brought it back to the top.

3) Mawile - It's such a cute little creature.  Cute and terrifying, and excellent combination for sure.  It's a shame that Mawile ultimately was a forgettable Steel type in terms of competitive use, but the acquisition of Fairy type and the best mega really helped it out on that front, too.  So I guess it's basically perfect? Sounds about right.

2) Milotic - I never caught one in gen 3.  Not fairly, anyway.  I could never figure out how to get Feebas to show up.  In fact, I don't think I've ever captured a Feebas.  I've always traded for it.  It's just so hard to find.  But man, is the final form ever beautiful.  It's such a gorgeous Pokemon, and an excellent tank to boot.  Everything about Milotic is wonderful.

1) Gardevoir line - Don't you judge me.  We all knew this would happen.  If you read anything in this post or the ones before it, you know elegant and cute are the biggest draws for me.  Gardevoir is both. It's also a Psychic type, so bonus points there.  Also, as mentioned in the Mightyena entry, it's super early-game. Rare, sure, but you can have a Psychic type from nearly the very start of the game.  I love Gardevoir so much, it's definitely an all-time favorite, and it should come as no surprise that it winds up being the favorite from this generation.

BOTTOM 10: 10) Pelipper - I like Pelipper.  Its reason for being here is that so many Gen 3 Pokemon are great, it just doesn't stand out as much as the others.  I have literally no complaints, I just locked myself into "it has to be 10" and here we are.

9) Huntail - Same as above, it just doesn't hold as much aesthetic appeal.

8) Seviper - If there's anything I actually dislike here, it's just that it's pure-Poison type.  We had a Poison snake already.  I would've liked to see a different typing added in.  Poison/Dark at this phase of the game would've been amazing.

7) Zangoose - Still good, but it loses points based on my frustrations with Pokemon Coliseum.

6) Glalie - Getting closer to legitimate frustrations, Glalie is here because its design doesn't captivate.  Snorunt is cute, but it evolves into an angry face in a block of ice.  Not exactly all that interesting.

5) Volbeat - Did nothing legitimately wrong, but I am upset that Volbeat gets a lot of nice and unique tools that Illumise does not.  I like Illumise.  I think its color scheme is a lot better.  But Volbeat gets the nice tools, so whatever I guess.

4) Ninjask - Please stop speed boosting, I am begging you.  You do nothing else but Swords Dance, Speed Boost and Baton Pass, please do something else.

3) Slaking - Okay, actual legitimate complaints.  Slaking's problem is it goes backwards.  Vigoroth was a nightmare to face, and I have a friend who stated that facing Norman's was the reason he started to respect Normal types as something other than early-game fodder.  But Slaking?   It re-acquires Truant, which is an awful ability by any standard, and requires very specific team support, on Doubles only, to mitigate.   Anyone who sees Slaking knows exactly what will happen, and is probably more than prepared to shut it down.  It's a nice design, and a nice concept, but it's been so ruined by the ability it is burdened with that it's virtually unusable.

2) Plusle/Minun - Possibly less legitimate complaint, but I feel more strongly about it. Plusle and Minun are cute and have solid designs, but their great sin is being Pikachu clones for the new area, kicking off the trend of needing an electric rodent in every area.  Worse, they do not evolve, offer little in the way of any competitive value, and existed to show off the introduction to Double Battles with their unique abilities and access to Helping Hand.  Beyond this, they offer very little, and are the reason we have to always have a new electric rodent that ultimately winds up having no competitive niche.

1) Grumpig - Literally the only one on this list I dislike.  Spoink is cute, and Grumpig is...not.  It just looks irritable and not all that friendly by comparison.  It's also nothing too impressive competitively, and offers little in the way of uniqueness, losing the quirk of constantly bouncing around like Spoink did to...just be grumpy.  It's a Pokemon I might like more on its own, but as an evolution of Spoink it doesn't seem as interesting.

#regional pokedex opinions #hoenn pokedex