Thread XXVII: Pokémon GO Recharge Your Phone!

[Mando Knight]

Celebrating 20 years of running down the batteries on your mobile devices,

http://i.imgur.com/kshUnI5.png

3DS Friend Codes and XY Friend Safaris

Remember, these are your 3DS Friend codes, so these are good both for Generation VI games (XY and ORAS) but also for the upcoming Generation VII games (Sun and Moon) and any other 3DS game you and another Playgrounder might decide to play (Smash, Mario Kart, Fire Emblem, Metroid Prime: Federation Force, etc.). Don't forget to PM the player you're looking to add as a Friend, so they can add you back.


You can only have 100 Friend Codes registered at a time.

To use the Friend Safari, you need to have defeated the Elite Four, and both you and your friend must have added each other. For more details, see here (http://serebii.net/xy/friendsafari.shtml).
GitPName
Code
CharacterName
3DS(Mii)Name
SafariType
Pokémon1
Pokémon2
Pokémon3

Alaris
1907-9395-1731
Tom
Alaris
Flying
Farfetch'd
Swanna


Aotrs
5172-0494-3728

Bleakbane
Normal
Lillipup
Kecleon
Smeargle

Arcran
2294-3882-2896

Arcran
Water
Octillery
Wartortle
Azumarill

Armaius
3239-3640-9568

Timothy
Ice
Spheal
Beartic
Lapras

AstralFire
0834-1672-7022
Adorabelle
Cinder
Bug
Ledyba
Volbeat
Venomoth

AtlanteanTroll
4055-3788-4115

Fresca
Normal
Lillipup
Loudred


bluewind95
0473-9066-8078
Raziel
Kallie
Grass
Tangela
Swadloon
Gogoat

boj0
1693-1768-6943
boj0
boj0
Fairy
Swirlix
Togepi
Floette

Burley
1547-6257-5822







Burnerpower
0645-6906-6047
Chase
Burner
Fire
Pansear
Pyroar
Braixen

ChaosArchon
4742-5730-4052







Codswallop
1650-2047-0584

Dan
Ghost
Lampent
Phantump
Spiritomb

CynanMachae
2964-9109-7883

Cynan
Pancham
Hariyama
Mienfoo
Pancham

DMan7733
0104-0178-9108

Dennis
Psychic
Duosion
Espurr
Munna

DarkTira
4012-4193-6629
Flair
DarkTira
Grass
Ivysaur
Sunkern
Quilladin

DarkLightDragon
3110-5232-7003
Gwendolyn
DLD2
Water
Krabby
Floatzel
Azumarill

Derjuin
2063-0607-0374
Gwen
Derjuin
Flying
Tropius
Doduo
Tranquill

Domino Quartz
3024-8274-5412
Dexter
Ignispirus





DiegoHavoc
5343-7951-5809
Diana
Diego
Ghost
Lampent
Phantump
Spiritomb

Dihan
3909-7507-9532
Cai
Bryn
Fairy
Kirlia
Mawile
Floette

Drakenkin
1220-6369-1867

RC
Steel
Forretress
Magneton
Klefki

Dvil
1891-1492-0775

Lorzo
Ghost
Shuppet
Pumpkaboo
Dusclops

Elhann
4656-7012-2957
Afo
Afo
Normal
Lillipup
Loudred
Ditto

EmperorIng
1134-7922-2243
Rand
EmpI
Ground
Phanpy
Dugtrio
Palpitoad

FallenGeek
2938-7158-7152

UberGeek
Fairy
Dedenne
Mawile
Floette

FoolishTeeth
2965-0036-6655
Jerome
80s
Flying
Farfetch'd
Woobat
Rufflet

Forrestfire
0044-4109-2187
Linae

Normal
Kecleon
Dunsparce
Smeargle

Freudianship
0791-1490-0816

Victoria
Ice
Delibird
Bergmite
Piloswine

Gengy
1762-3248-0955
Genaur
(Redacted)
Dark
Pawniard
Crawdaunt
Liepard

geonova
3625-8744-4346
Geo
Geo
Water
Wartortle
Panpour
Poliwhirl

GiftJeraff
0662-3715-4355

Venkman
Fighting
Mankey
Throh
Hariyama

Goldfly
1203-9717-6298
Gold
Gold
Electric
Pikachu
Electrode
Luxio

GreenSerpent
0662-3910-6053
Jaegar






Gulaghar
4012-3882-1934
Nadia
Ghar
Fairy
Dedenne
Mawile
Floette

HandsomeGoblin
0920-0919-2787







HappyGravity
2208-5735-4223
Eileen
-_-
Poison
Swalot
Kakuna
Croagunk

Harnel
5472-7302-7698
Halae
Halae
Water
Krabby
Gyarados
Frogadier

Hogwarts9876
3024-5607-5601
Adam
Adam





HunterNoventa
0189-8423-5030
Emi
Emi
Electric




InfernallyClay
1891-1230-7244
Alice
Winny
Psychic
Sigilyph
Grumpig
Duosion

JustPlayItLoud
4785-6164-8724
Toaster
Brett
Fire
Magmar
Charmeleon
Ninetales

Keris(Full)
2423-2600-9179
Tarn
Tarn
Water
Bibarel
Floatzel
Frogadier

Kurgan
1478-3987-4689
Kurhanik
Kurgan
Steel
Magneton
Forretress
Klefki

Kuroten
2809-8617-8608
Raijin/Akemi

Water
Panpour
Floatzel
Frogadier

Kuulvheysoon
5257-9453-0107
Ariik






LawlessIII
5129-1568-6363
Gorgeous
Andrew
Flying
Farfetch'd
Woobat
Fletchinder

LordFullbladder
5343-8973-8240

SheG
Normal
Aipom
Minccino
Ditto

Mando Knight
4742-9573-4652
Chris
Chris





MaryRing
5215-0045-7397







Mattarias,King
5343-8171-8375
Mattarias
Mattarias
Water
Bibarel
Floatzel
Frogadier

MeatShield#236
1950-7553-3565
Thomas
Meatshield
Bug
Combee
Beautifly
Pinsir

MercenaryPen
4227-2044-9144

MercenPen
Flying
Pidgey
Tranquill
Hawlucha

Mtg_player_zach
1590-5500-0148
Zach
Zach
Electric
Pikachu
Dedenne
Luxio

NeoPhoenix0
2852-8259-2899
Victoria
NeoPhoenix
Water
Octillery
Floatzel
Azumarill

noparlpf
0705-3326-2027
Jude
Jude
Flying
Spearow
Woobat
Rufflet

OracleofWuffing
2234-7142-0224

T-Dawg
Dragon
Dragonair
Gabite
Sligoo

Othesmo
0533-5350-5769

Gaius
Electric
Emolga
Electabuzz
Manectric

Partof1
4313-0044-7312
Magnus
Tom
Bug
Ledyba
Beautifly
Vivillon

Peelee
5370-1262-5440
Peelee
Peelee
Flying
Pidgey
Tranquill
Rufflet

Peelee'sWife
4339-2708-2563
Sephrenea
Sephrenea
Ice
Delibird
Sneasel
Lapras

Perkinz
1993-7396-5551

Armads
Fighting
Pancham
Mienfoo
Riolu

PingPongAlong
4914-4022-6171
Pierre
Jake
Psychic
Wobbuffet
Gothorita
Abra

ProphetRipley
3437-3875-9174
Artemis
Carebear
Water
Bibarel
Gyarados


Psychotic
2836-0282-0242
Jimmy
Jimmy
Steel
Forretress
Mawile
Klefki

Quietus
3067-5701-8746







Qwertystop
1805-2284-9978
Qwertystop
Qwerty
Dark
Mightyena
Crawdaunt
Absol

Rezkeshdadesh
0104-0343-1530
Gaston/Sylthia
Rezzy
Psychic
Espurr
Grumpig
Girafarig

RisingPhoenix
2492-5555-9928
Mortimer
Dimi
Psychic
Sigilyph
Abra
Xatu

RyuhoTsugu
3823-9797-6825
Periphas
εχθρός
Fire
Growlithe
Charmeleon
Fletchinder

SaintRidley
1650-2179-8114
AElfgif/DoñaXimena
ColbertJr
Ice
Beartic
Snover


Sajiri
0748-2783-1667
Sadi
Sajiri
Psychic
Abra
Espurr
Xatu

Sasaisen
2380-3648-0994
Trevor
Sasaisen
Grass
Pansage
Petilil
Maractus

ScowlingDragon
2148-8339-5834


Ground
Sandshrew
Marowak
Diggersby

Seerow
4184-2537-0787

Jack
Psychic
Grumpig
Gothorita
Sigilyph

Shinken
4442-0172-6654
Shinken

Flying
Pidgey
Hoothoot
Fletchinder

ShinyRocks
2294-4502-1203

Joelio
Ice
Snover
Beartic
Cloyster

SKarious
2449-5207-9736

Shai
Poison
Kakuna
Ariados
Drapion

spectralphoenix
1864-9713-0312

Alex
Normal
Teddiursa
Minccino
Smeargle

Squark
4571-1588-1000

Squark
Fighting
Meditite
Sawk
Hariyama

Svata
5215-0731-7054







Talvereaux
2406-5576-5996


Poison
Seviper
Ariados
Toxicroak

TamerBill
4828-4410-2451
Bex
Bill
Poison
Venomoth
Gloom


Terazul
3411-1167-8365
Pen
Pen
Water
Frogadier
Wartortle
Bibarel

TheSuccubus
4613-7683-1174

Doc





TheGeckoKing
4098-2424-2486
Martin
Martin
Psychic
Grumpig
Espurr


ThelazyMage
2938-7262-8516
Eric
Eric
Dark
Nuzleaf
Sandile
Absol

ThePhantom
2680-8881-4704

GR
Ghost
Shuppet
Pumpkaboo
Drifblim

Thormag
0619-3578-2378

Thormag
Grass
Oddish
Petilil
Quilladin

Togath
1650-2364-0504
Merry
Ken
Flying
Pidgey
Tranquill


Tono
1478-3812-1377

Tono
Bug
Butterfree
Heracross
Masquerain

truenekomancer
0619-4369-0275

TSK
Bug
Butterfree
Illumise


Tylorious
3668-7804-7430
Tylor
Tylor
Fire
Charmeleon
Magmar
Braixen

urbanwolf
4425-1730-5201

King
Fighting
Pancham
Mankey
Tyrogue

userpay
2036-6900-9795

userpay
Fairy
Togepi
Spritzee


Winterfate
1246-9091-8502

Winterfate
Ice
Snorunt
Bergmite
Cloyster

WJMill
3625-8308-8437
Whitney
Whitney
Fighting
Machoke
Throh
Breloom

Woodzyowl
0834-2121-7393

Woodzy





Wookieetank
5386-8601-6140







YukiAkuma
1633-4400-9136
Yuki
Will
Ghost
Shuppet
Phantump


ZamielVanWeber
3067-5161-6274

Zamiel
Electric
Electabuzz
Pachirisu
Galvantula

ZeltArruin
3840-5756-8123

ZeltArruin
Rock
Corsola
Dwebble
Rhydon

Olinser
1564-3913-5983


Rock
Nosepass
Pupitar
Barbaracle

Razade
0748-3672-5689









Helpful Links/Hints For Adventuring Ten Year Olds
Bulbapedia (http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/): Like Wikipedia, but Pokémon.
Smogon (http://www.smogon.com/): In-depth discussion and analysis of competitive Pokémon.
Serebii (http://www.serebii.net/index2.shtml): Comprehensive fansite that can be useful in how it organizes information differently from Bulbapedia. Also has an IV calculator (http://www.serebii.net/games/iv-calcxy.shtml).
Pokémon Showdown (http://pokemonshowdown.com/): For playing competitive Pokémon battles, without the need to actually manually train your team.

So, you're tired of navigating a Pokemon thread where everyone uses fancy words and stuff? Well no worries! Here's a guide on... BREEDING FOR DUMMIES!

One of the first things to remember in breeding is that there are Natures that help and ones that hinder. For instance, a Special Attacker such as Mewtwo would be hindered by an Adamant nature, but helped in his stat growth by a Modest nature. To improve your chances for getting a particular Nature in a child Pokémon, use at least one parent with the Nature you want, and give it the Everstone. In Gen IV, the Everstone doesn't guarantee the inherited Nature, though it does in Gen V and VI.

Brilliant Spreadsheet for Growth (http://pokemon.marriland.com/statcalc_dp.php).

Some IVs (don't know what an IV is? Check the next spoiler box!) are randomly inherited from the parents. You can lock in a maximum of one IV by giving a parent the corresponding Power training item (Power Bracer for Attack, Power Lens for Special Attack, and so forth), or (starting with XY) randomly inherit 5 (instead of the normal 3) by holding the Destiny Knot. Use Flat Battles to determine the IVs of a hatched Pokémon, or if you only care about the highest IV and the sum of all of its IVs, you can take it to a guy who's in the lobby of either the Battle Tower or the Battle Subway in the DS games, depending on the generation, and in the Kiloude City Pokémon Center in XY. You're looking for them to judge it Relatively Superior overall and Can't Be Better in its best stat. The XY judge will also tell you about any really bad IVs the Pokémon has.

The third main thing with breeding is Egg Moves. Egg moves are moves the parent has, and passes down to a child. For instance, in my breeding of Chimchar, the egg moves are Grass Knot and Swords Dance, which are passed down to the child who gets said moves from the start. In order to pass on most Egg Moves, the father must know the move (Genderless Pokémon never learn Egg Moves). These include all of the moves that are listed as the child Pokémon's Egg Moves in a move list chart, as well as any compatible TMs or HMs. You can also pass on moves that the child would learn by level-up that aren't in those two lists--for these, both parents must know the move. In XY, some moves can be inherited from the mother...

The fourth and final thing to keep in mind are Hidden Abilities. Starting in Generation V, most Pokémon were assigned an additional ability that they could only get if you caught them under certain circumstances (the special Darmanitan in Desert Resort, or Pokémon found in hidden grottoes, the Dream World, or some in Friend Safaris). Some Hidden Abilities are highly sought-after, like Dragonite's Multiscale. If the mother has the Hidden Ability, the children will inherit it. The father can occasionally pass down the Hidden Ability if bred with a Ditto.

Don't feel the need to bother with this stuff unless you're playing against humans or at one of those "Battle Whatever" places. You shouldn't need it for most of the game, and it can be kind of a pain.

First, the equations. These are how the game calculates the Pokémon's final stats.
HP = (IV + 2*Base + EV/4) * Level/100 + 10
Others = ((IV + 2*Base + EV/4) * Level/100 + 5) * Nature
So, at level 100, 1 IV or 4 EV raises a Pokémon's stat by 1 while a 1 point difference in Base stat is worth 2.

Nature
Most natures raise one stat and lower another, while some don't change any stats. A raised stat has a multiplier of 1.1 (or +10%), a lowered stat has a multiplier of 0.9 (or -10%), and a neutral stat has a multiplier of 1.0.

Base Stats (Base)
With a new generation just out, there's a lot of talk about finding out about a Pokémon's base stats. What are these, some of you ask? Well, they're modifiers to stats that a Pokémon gains just by being that kind of Pokémon. A (normal) Tyranitar has a base Attack of 135, a Mewtwo has 154 base Special Attack, and so on. When a Pokémon's stats change as it Mega Evolves or changes Form, it does so by changing the set of base stats it looks at. Otherwise, these base stats can't be changed (hence the "base"). At level 100, a Pokémon gets twice its Base stat to its final stats.

Individual Values (IV)
In addition to base stats, every Pokémon gets a bonus of 0-31 points applied to each stat. So a level 100 Tyranitar could have an attack stat of 273, or it could have a attack of 304. That bonus is the IV.
A Pokémon has its IVs generated the moment you meet it, or accept its egg, and there's no way to change them (for now). You're stuck with what you've got. However, you can influence them a little, if you're willing to breed. Bred Pokémon don't randomly generate all their IVs, they inherit up to 3 from their parents. In XY, giving a parent the Destiny Knot causes them to inherit five random IVs instead. There's a few other ways of influencing IVs in bred Pokémon, which are explained in the breeding section.
In addition, in XY, some Pokémon are guaranteed to have some "perfect" (31) IVs. Pokémon found in the Friend Safari will have two random perfect IVs, while Pokémon that can't breed will have 3.

Effort Values (EV)
Every time you win a fight, your Pokémon get experience, but that's not all they get. Every Pokémon also gives out effort points. For every 4 effort points in a particular stat, your Pokémon gains 1 point in it. So if that Tyranitar from earlier with 304 attack had 4 attack EVs, his actual attack would be 305. If he had 252 attack EVs, it'd be 367. Sounds handy, but there are limits. You can't have more than 255 points in a single stat, and you can't have more than 510 EVs in total.

You'll see a lot of Pokémon with 252 attack/special attack EVs, 252 speed, and 4 HP, but there are a lot of ways to configure them. Defensive Pokémon will obviously focus on different things, Pokémon which use both physical and special attacks will need to split EVs between them or possibly sacrifice speed, and so on.

It's a tremendous pain to work out what EVs your Pokémon has (if you weren't keeping track, anyway), so you'll likely want to start with a Pokémon that you freshly hatched and work from there, though you don't have to. There are 6 berries that reduce EVs in a single stat each, so you can use those to reset your Pokémon and start from scratch. After that, just keep a careful record of what you fight, and only take down Pokémon that you know give you the EVs you want.

EV training takes a while, but there are a few ways you can speed it up. The first is an astonishingly rare status condition called Pokérus. Any Pokémon with Pokérus gets double EVs from fights, and will spread the Pokérus to any Pokémon in your party for the first 72 hours after it catches it. After those 72 hours it stops being contagious, but still gets double EVs. Pokérus has something like 1/20000 chance to appear on wild Pokemon, but with the magic of the internet I'm sure you can obtain it.

The second way to speed up EV training is through Power Items. If a Pokémon is holding the right item, they get bonus EVs from every fight. For example, a Pokémon holding a Power Lens will get 4 special attack EVs. A Pokémon holding a Power Anklet will get 4 speed EVs. A Pokémon holding a Macho Brace will just get double the EVs of whatever they're fighting. These bonuses are doubled if you have Pokérus.

The third way to speed up EVs is through vitamins. Each vitamin given to a Pokémon gives them +10 EVs in a certain stat, up to a limit of 100. 1 protein gives 10 attack EVs, 10 give 100. These unfortunately aren't doubled by Pokérus or items, so you'll have to pay for the full amount. Luckily money is easy to come by in these games.

Just as an example, I'll show how I EV'd my Gengar.
First, I gave him 10 calcium, and 10 carbos, so 100 special attack and 100 speed already.
After that, I gave him Pokérus and a lucky egg, got him to meet a Floatzel (2 speed EVs, doubled to 4 because of Pokérus), and then sent out my Weezing to explode on it so Gengar could get all the experience, for a higher level and 100 special attack, 104 speed.
After that, I gave him a Power Lens, flew over to the Old Chateau, and killed 15 Gastly (1 special attack from Gastly, 4 from the lens, doubled to 10 from Pokérus) for 150 special attack EVs, bringing my total to 250 special attack, 104 speed.
After that I equipped a power anklet and killed one more Gastly (1 special attack from Gastly, 4 speed from the anklet, doubled to 2 and 8 from Pokérus), meaning Gengar had 252 attack, and 112 speed.
Leaving the anklet equipped, I flew to Route 201, and killed 14 Starly (1 speed from Starly, 4 from the anklet, meaning 10 speed per starly thanks to Pokérus), for a total of 252 attack, 252 speed.
All that was left after that was to kill a Bidoof with a Power Weight (1 HP from Bidoof, 4 from the Weight, 10 thanks to Pokerus, although I only gained 6 points because I hit the EV cap), leaving my Gengar with 252 special attack EVs, 252 Speed, and 4 HP, just how I wanted him.
Roughly an hour's work, and one Pokemon down.

In XY, there's an additional method of EV training, which doesn't involve beating up wild Pokémon, but you instead play minigames (called Super Training) with the Pokémon. This lets you choose which stat you'll train, and awards you 4 EVs per difficulty level (so +4 for level 1, +12 for level 3). In addition, you may gain special training bags that can make further Super Training easier, reset your EVs entirely, or other effects. The training system also displays your earned EVs graphically (but not numerically), making it somewhat easier to keep track of a Pokémon's EVs.

tl;dr: The simplified version of EVs/IVs - EVs are gained by fighting other Pokémon. They vary by the Pokémon defeated. They increase your stats for every 4 gained. IVs are inherent to a Pokémon. They increase stats for every point possessed, and range from 0 to 31. EVs have to be manually tracked or else removed entirely with certain berries. IVs can be checked by knowing the EVs of a Pokémon and then plugging its stats into an IV calculator. The higher the Pokémon's level, the more accurate; level 100 wifi battles provide maximum accuracy.

How do you get those accented e's? On a PC, change your keyboard layout to US-International, and press 'e. For some versions of Windows, if you don't want the US-International keyboard on all the time, you can also have it switch between different registered keyboards with a press of Ctrl+Shift. On a Mac, you can type Option+e, followed by the letter to which you want to apply the accent, i.e. Option+e, followed by e. You can also copy-paste them from someone else's posts. Or the thread title.

Previously on PokéThread: (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?494534-Thread-XXVI-Pokemon-Go-Outside-Please-Just-Go-outside-We-re-begging-you)

New Pokémon Sun/Moon trailer! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFbMGKvN6ts) Strange creatures and ominous omens within!

[Squark]

Transplant from previous thread


Yeah, I know, we want animals to be wild and frolic the in mud and all, but I think someone covered last thread that if you let animals from other places go all willy-nilly in ecosystems that don't necessarily support them, bad things happen. Heck, Team Skull wouldn't be trying to steal their Slowpoke if Aether were the bad guys. Guess I feel they're kinda more like a parallel to Silph Co or Devon Corp, just that they ran out of things to sell to Pokemon Trainers to build a business conglomerate.


It strikes me that I still don't know what they're gonna build in that ground that Machop was stomping flat. And it bugs me even more that Machop can't learn Stomp.

Were you thinking of Yungoos and Gumshoos specifically there, or just in general? Because I know it's been mentioned before, but that's litterally what happened with them. And what happened when their real life counterparts were introduced to Hawaii.

But yeah, introducing non-native animals into an ecosystem is incredibly risky. Granted, Pokemon aren't quite animals, but most of the wild ones behave like ones (albiet slightly more intelligent)

Wait, are you talking about the Machoke in Vermillion City from the first games? Wasn't it just clearing room for a house?

[Illven]

Lurks sadly due to lack of pokemon go.

[BiblioRook]

Lurks sadly due to lack of pokemon go.

You're in luck then because as of the moment the big topic is the new Sun and Moon trailer!


I see what they're getting at (Admins and "grunt"-type employees? Obviously reading from "How to be Team Evil in Pokémon" by Giovanni, for fashion tips if nothing else), and I'd be surprised if Gladion and his ACHING BLOOD don't have a connection to Aether, but I would also like them to avoid the SECRETLY EVIL expectations that everyone's latched on to.

Thinking over it a bit more I think, for me at least, it's not as if I want Aether to turn out to be bad guys as much as I just find myself really liking the concept of Team Skull reforming and becoming good in-game. I'm sure one way or another we;ll see the usual handful of former Team members repenting their ways in the post game but honestly I always considered that really rather weak. I mean like I mentioned before, for the most part they don't really seem to be much more then a bunch of messed up kids and there could be a really good message there if they were given a shot at redemption and fixing up their lives. I guess it's just really hard for me to see them as being the 'big bads' of the game...

[DaOldeWolf]

Personally, it would be nice to have an evil female boss for once (6 gens and all of them are male). It would also be nice to have a boss who starts evil and then helps in the last leg of the game.

Putting my wishes aside, Aether is not necessarily an evil team, they could also have stupid but good intentions. Like the saying goes "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions".

Being the most likely creators of Type: Null and most likely responsible for the eldritch abominations traveling to our side makes me think that even if they aren't necessarily evil, that they aren't as nice and perfect as they try to portray themselves. If Type: Null was created by them (which seems more likely considering the low budget of Team Skull), I doubt it would involve any pacific and lovable reasons (considering its supposed to be as powerful as legendaries).

Their actions are also pretty tied with the new creatures that have been described as a danger to all human and pokemon life. Their actions are probably the reason behind these creatures are arriving to the pokemon world. How much its their conscious development remains to be seen but there is no doubt that some responsibility falls on them.

Team Skull´s actions on the grand scheme of things doesn't seem to involve much or have any lasting effects. They also possess a tiny budget since the grunts are described as having to buy their own clothes. If anything, I can see them getting stuff to be a strong team by taking over the aether institute but getting anything done by themselves. I just cant see it.

[BiblioRook]

Really none of these 'Aether might be evil' vibes would probably be going on if it weren't for this guy (http://www.pokemon-sunmoon.com/media/uploads/sept_6_assets/faba.png). Seriously. Goatee, bad posture, hands behind back? He practically screams 'up to no good' and it would be very hard not to assume something not in the up-and-up with that guy, and by extension the organization as a whole...



Putting my wishes aside, Aether is not necessarily an evil team, they could also have stupid but good intentions. Like the saying goes "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions".
The idea of a much more morally grey 'villain' team actually could be rather refreshing. I mean even the likes of Aqua/Magma or Plasma who all at least claimed to have noble intentions or individuals like Lysandre never came off as anything other then definitive bad guys right from the get-go.

[Lord Raziere]

Rewatching the trailer, Type:Null is actually only one pokemon, a normal type one. It just has a weird name. also it apparently was an alchemic attempt to create Arceus, so, its basically a Bargain-Bin Arceus much like how Ditto is a bargain-bin Mew. Which makes me really interested in it and what its capable of.

[OracleofWuffing]

Transplant from previous thread
Were you thinking of Yungoos and Gumshoos specifically there, or just in general? Because I know it's been mentioned before, but that's litterally what happened with them. And what happened when their real life counterparts were introduced to Hawaii.

But yeah, introducing non-native animals into an ecosystem is incredibly risky. Granted, Pokemon aren't quite animals, but most of the wild ones behave like ones (albiet slightly more intelligent)
Just in general. You want smart people able to examine the environment when you have random critters around in random environments, and smart people by cliche wear white lab coats and have high-tech stuff. Otherwise, we don't know they're smart.


Wait, are you talking about the Machoke in Vermillion City from the first games? Wasn't it just clearing room for a house?
At least going off what Bulbapedia says (HG/SS is a bit of a blind spot for me), it's still a Machop and they never said what building it was going to be, just that the guy doesn't have money to build it so he's leveling the ground anyways. Which has either been happening for 3 years or 20 years, depending on how you look at it. But yeah, that thing.


Unless there was something in B2/W2, there was only one Riolu event, plus getting one from Riley because it wasn't catchable in the wild. I mean, it still had a whole big main-story event in XY about it, so that's plenty.
Riley, Korrina, the Pokemon Ranger transfer, and Target giveaway for late purchasers of Black or White- that's more events than Zygarde or the Kalos starters had. From a personal opinion, that's five more events than he deserves, and I kind of feel like counting Dream Radar as like another 50 Riolu events even though it's not truly even one. :smallyuk:

[Yuki Akuma]

I'm wondering about these alien beings... are they going to just be weird Pokemon like Deoxys? Or, if we fight them, will they be the first non-Pokemon enemy encounters in the series that aren't just movie special effects?

[Mando Knight]

Really none of these 'Aether might be evil' vibes would probably be going on if it weren't for this guy (http://www.pokemon-sunmoon.com/media/uploads/sept_6_assets/faba.png). Seriously. Goatee, bad posture, hands behind back? He practically screams 'up to no good' and it would be very hard not to assume something not in the up-and-up with that guy, and by extension the organization as a whole...

On the other hand, if his signature Pokémon is an evolved Rockruff that talks and/or he turns out to have a penchant for Poffins, he would be a hilarious unexpected Shaggy reference.

[Lethologica]

Really none of these 'Aether might be evil' vibes would probably be going on if it weren't for this guy (http://www.pokemon-sunmoon.com/media/uploads/sept_6_assets/faba.png). Seriously. Goatee, bad posture, hands behind back? He practically screams 'up to no good' and it would be very hard not to assume something not in the up-and-up with that guy, and by extension the organization as a whole...
He's also secretly a Flygon. Seriously, just look at those goggles.

[Flickerdart]

He's also secretly a Flygon. Seriously, just look at those goggles.


He really is a Pokemon Professor! *rimshot*

[Lvl 2 Expert]

I just caught an Onix that weights 109kg. It's still close to 6 meters long and made of rock, but sure, I could totally carry it on my shoulders.

At least it's not Wailord...

Also, I think I figured out something regarding Go continent exclusives:
It wouldn't be too weird if South America and Africa both got a continent exclusive pokémon when Go eventually hits gen 2. It's also not too farfetch'd (boom) to assume they'll be single stage pokémon, and while they won't be the most spectacular ones, they are allowed to be strong, like kangaskhan and tauros. For Africa: girafarig is generation 2. For South-America's exclusive: heracross is based on a South-American beetle. Those two are probably a better match than anything gen 1 had to offer, which is why those two didn't get an exclusive. It also means, if the theory is correct, that there definitely are plans to roll out at least one more generation.

[Aotrs Commander]

Lurks sadly due to lack of pokemon go.


You're in luck then because as of the moment the big topic is the new Sun and Moon trailer!


And my periodic rambling as I watch Diamond & Pearl for the first time...



Speaking of:

New crack theory: Ash's father is actually Arceus. (And not Professor Oak, as reasonably popular fan theory suggests...)

That's why is he doesn't physically age ('cos he's part Pokémon, so he needs to evolve instead), why he can shake of injuries and actually death like it was nothing and can occasionally do the fragging impossible, 'cos it's limited reality alteration and why he can use Aura. (And why he's like, always saving the world and stuff.)

So, if this is true, what would Ash evolve into?

(And why do I get the impression Bruce Campbell is mandering in the general direction of this conversation?)

[BiblioRook]

(And not Professor Oak, as reasonably popular fan theory suggests...)
I thought the popular theory was that Ash's father was Giovanni?

[noparlpf]

I thought the popular theory was that Ash's father was Giovanni?

Isn't Giovanni canonically the Johto rival's father?

[BiblioRook]

I think all that's really known of Ash's father is that he abandoned his family to be a Pokemon Trainer, which honestly does seem very Giovanni-ish (and makes more sense then with Professor Oak honestly). Considering how long he's been separated from Ash and his mom it really wouldn't be that surprising if he eventually had another kid elsewhere. Almost a shame this wasn't explored more really considering that they seem to make a point to say that his father abandoned him (which suggests that he's still out there somewhere) rather then just saying that he died or something. Also, was Silver ever even part of the anime?

[Lethologica]

I thought the popular theory was that Ash's father was Giovanni?
That's another theory.

Ugh, now I'm remembering this decade-old Pokemon anime let's watch (only it wasn't called that because that wasn't a thing then) that presented the "Prof Oak is Ash's father" thing in the early going. I can't remember the name, though. What a pain.

...Oh, Pokemopolis! (http://www.pokemopolis.com/episodes/indigo/001.htm) That's what it was. Oh dear. Now I have to go read those again.

[Aotrs Commander]

I think all that's really known of Ash's father is that he abandoned his family to be a Pokemon Trainer, which honestly does seem very Giovanni-ish (and makes more sense then with Professor Oak honestly). Considering how long he's been separated from Ash and his mom it really wouldn't be that surprising if he eventually had another kid elsewhere. Almost a shame this wasn't explored more really, was Silver ever even part of the anime?

Actually, even that is not canonical - it was said by someone working on the show, which has all the weight of "what some dude might have said once sometime int eh last eighteen years." Until it appears on the show, it's nothing more than wishful thinking.

To my knowledge, the actual show has mentioned him exactly ONCE in the second or third episoe ion the line "you father would be so proud, Ash" which really says nothing.



Hense, Arceus.



(Also notable - Dawn's father not mentioned (nor any pictures of him) in the arc that I just watched that took place in her hometown.)



I'm serious about it when I say, actually, it would make a heck of a lot of sense to have a lot of single-parent families (with not only no stigma, something so commonplace to be unremarkable), what with all the teenagers wandering around unsupervised. Seriously, all you'd need is somewhat with more of a clue than Ash (assuming, as I'm steadily quietly being convinced, he's not just faking it for his own private amusement1 and with more tact than Brock.



1Because I just saw an episode where Ash and Pikachu went off for a walk (not to train, just a quiet walk) and he stopped for a chat with a young lad. And I couldn't help bt observe that, out of sight of Dawn and Brock, he was acting like a quite mature person of his actual age (as opposed to his "always ten" age.)




That's another theory.

Ugh, now I'm remembering this decade-old Pokemon anime let's watch (only it wasn't called that because that wasn't a thing then) that presented the "Prof Oak is Ash's father" thing in the early going. I can't remember the name, though. What a pain.

...Oh, Pokemopolis! (http://www.pokemopolis.com/episodes/indigo/001.htm) That's what it was. Oh dear. Now I have to go read those again.

Small world. I discovered that by accident not long ago, and have, after amusing myself with some of them (I actually found it with seeing if I could find a review for Solid as a Solrock so see how other people reacted and I nearly wet myself laughing when I read theirs), I've been reading it in lockstep with DP.



That said, when I read a lot of Pokémon fanfic (I basically stopped once I fell out of sync with the show, on the basis I thought one day I might have watched it again - rightly, as it happened), it wa something I saw coming up more than once. Or, failing that, just that Mrs Ketchum and Prof Oak are gettin' it on. Heck, I think that was nearly the default at the time...!

[Lord Raziere]

And my periodic rambling as I watch Diamond & Pearl for the first time...



Speaking of:

New crack theory: Ash's father is actually Arceus. (And not Professor Oak, as reasonably popular fan theory suggests...)

That's why is he doesn't physically age ('cos he's part Pokémon, so he needs to evolve instead), why he can shake of injuries and actually death like it was nothing and can occasionally do the fragging impossible, 'cos it's limited reality alteration and why he can use Aura. (And why he's like, always saving the world and stuff.)

So, if this is true, what would Ash evolve into?

(And why do I get the impression Bruce Campbell is mandering in the general direction of this conversation?)

My personal theory is that Ash's father was that Mankey he caught and evolved into a Primeape. He can use Aura- which is primarily used by Fighting Types- he has great resistance to damage, like fighting types would, he gets angry a lot much like a Primeape, he is always up for a pokemon battle, eats a lot of food like a Mankey would, he also loves the Pokemon League hat, much like the Mankey who stole it, and they even have similar eyes.

So Ash is half-Mankey and just has yet to evolve into a Half-Primeape. And the clincher? Ash is supposed to be a shonen protagonist in many ways, so a Mankey would connect him to Sun Wukong, much like all the others that have a Sun Wukong connection. This is backed up by the fact that Ash in D&P got a Chimchar for his fire type, which is the pokemon most based on Sun Wukong.

[Aotrs Commander]

My personal theory is that Ash's father was that Mankey he caught and evolved into a Primeape. He can use Aura- which is primarily used by Fighting Types- he has great resistance to damage, like fighting types would, he gets angry a lot much like a Primeape, he is always up for a pokemon battle, eats a lot of food like a Mankey would, he also loves the Pokemon League hat, much like the Mankey who stole it, and they even have similar eyes.

So Ash is half-Mankey and just has yet to evolve into a Half-Primeape. And the clincher? Ash is supposed to be a shonen protagonist in many ways, so a Mankey would connect him to Sun Wukong, much like all the others that have a Sun Wukong connection. This is backed up by the fact that Ash in D&P got a Chimchar for his fire type, which is the pokemon most based on Sun Wukong.

That.... Yeah. That manages to top mine.



I just saw Where No Togepi Has Gone Before.

That... That was AMAZING!

Pahahahahahaha!

Oh wow! That was so incredibly stupid and at the same time so incredibly hilarious. That was nearly Thunder Armour levels of daft.

Evil Togepi confirmed (and how, ye gods!), Yanmega gets a gender, James gets to (very briefly) be awesome...

(Given Pokemopolis had a running gag about how Misty's Togepi was secretly an evil eldritch horror, they must have a field day with this episode.)

Now I'm really hoping Evil!Togepi gets to be a recurring antagonist, because that would be just perfect. Make way Paul, you've been outdone in one episode, mate...

[Squark]

So, I'm currently experimenting with Pokemon Breeding since I got tired of the AI having perfect pokemon in the Battle Maison and Institute. My current efforts have produced two goomies with 4 perfect IVs (HP, Attack, S. Attack, and S. Defense). However, I'm not entirely sure where to go next, since it seems like I'd want perfect Attack or Special Attack, not both, and as I understand it it's impractical to breed for better than 5 perfect IVs, correct? I do have Goomies and Sligoos with the other two perfect IVs, if that helps.

Also, is spending a while grinding BP to get the remaining Attack, Defense, and Speed power items worth it?

EDIT: Also, just an idea I was toying around with. If you had to create a team using one Pokemon from each of the generations, what would you use? (Apologies if this was a fad for a while when X&Y came out. I wasn't playing then). I'm not asking for a greatest hits list, but an at least decently built team with pokemon who could cover each others weaknesses and play to each other's strengths.

[Lethologica]

Goodra is probably better off with SpA. Its best physical STAB move by far is Outrage, but once you're committed the opponent can just throw a Fairy-type at you for free tempo (though I suppose if you know what you'll be facing, that's less of an issue). The real choice is whether to invest in SDef and HP for the full-on special tank, or get an Assault Vest and invest in HP and SpA. (Those don't affect which IVs you get, though.)

[cobaltstarfire]

I've seen some theories floating around that the pokemon world might be recently post war too (to explain the relatively low population and things). I don't personally think the theory holds up especially well to scrutiny, but it could be an interesting little thought experiment for those interested in it.

Ash and other characters having single parents is not something I've really thought that hard about, but single parents also never stood out as particularly strange to me, IRL or in stories (especially in stories!)

As far as Ash's father I dunno, based on what little we have (and if the writers even care about continuity across series) I'd hazard to guess that (in no particular order)

a: Mystery Fling!
b: They're separated in some way, and either it was an amiable separation, or Ash's mom is just classy enough not to speak ill of the father in front of the son.
c: He's passed on, and Ash only has vague memories, enough that "your father would be proud" might be meaningful to him, but not especially important to his character generally speaking.

[OracleofWuffing]

So, I'm currently experimenting with Pokemon Breeding since I got tired of the AI having perfect pokemon in the Battle Maison and Institute. My current efforts have produced two goomies with 4 perfect IVs (HP, Attack, S. Attack, and S. Defense). However, I'm not entirely sure where to go next, since it seems like I'd want perfect Attack or Special Attack, not both, and as I understand it it's impractical to breed for better than 5 perfect IVs, correct? I do have Goomies and Sligoos with the other two perfect IVs, if that helps.
First thing's first, you'll always get tired of the Battle Maison getting perfect pokemon. If you won't take my word for it, take the words of my No Guard Sheer Cold Ninjask, Sturdy Endeavor Shedinja, and Huge Power Life Orbed Mega Heracross.

That said, if you don't want speed on your Goodra- and assuming your perfect 4 IV pokemon are opposite gendered- breed those with one holding a destiny knot (everstone the other one if it has a beneficial nature). You're basically waiting for Destiny Knot to pick your 4 perfect stats for you while the 5th is speed (I don't to the math but I think that's a fairly good chance relatively speaking), and just waiting for the 1 in 32 chance of just naturally having a 31 Defense stat.

If you do want speed, it's probably best to restart from one of your 4 perfect IV pokemon and one of your other ones with the other 2 perfect IVs. Reason being you'd normally "dump" either Special Attack or Attack, depending on the build you're going (yes, there are exceptions but keep it simple). Odds aren't as good, but you'd get more out of the end result- You'd basically hope Destiny Knot picks three stats from the 4 perfect IV (so, NOT one of the attacks and NOT speed, and it's already a 50% chance to pick 3 from the "right" pokemon, let alone the right stats), then the two from the 2 perfect IV (which is where RNG starts twisting the knife).


Also, is spending a while grinding BP to get the remaining Attack, Defense, and Speed power items worth it?
They're usually used at the start of breeding, in order to mitigate situations like... The one you're just now having. You'd basically use them to start with a 31 special attack and speed pokemon and a 31 defense and special defense pokemon, then destiny knot those so it's only HP's IV that's an issue and you're just facing the former case of breeding. Guess they're still technically faster for EVs if PokeRus and hordes are in play, but Super Training's fast enough for me.

[Lord Raziere]

I've seen some theories floating around that the pokemon world might be recently post war too (to explain the relatively low population and things). I don't personally think the theory holds up especially well to scrutiny, but it could be an interesting little thought experiment for those interested in it.


I dunno, seems pretty plausible. Pokemon has a lot of anti-war themes despite its competitive battling nature, especially in light of Pokemon XY. and we don't see any authorities that are higher or hold more power than the regional Champion, who often act as protectors of the region. I find it very plausible that Pokemon world used to be a lot more warring in the past and that this entire tournament and Gym Leader system plus the six pokemon limit was come up with as a way to limit fighting and how much pokemon you can fight with in universe so that no trainer has too much power.

and its not just lack one parent, I've watched the anime and observed that some families have no parents at all and are just plain a bunch of sisters or brothers living together. Almost none of them fit a nuclear family.

[cobaltstarfire]

Yeah, but the war in XY took place a really long time ago , and team flare talked about how the current population is growing too big for the world, and sacrificing most of the world and all pokemon to avoid overpopulation, and create a "beautiful" world or something right? (or that's how I read it anyway, it's been a few years so I can't really remember anything but how I interpreted things).

The theory though is for a fairly recent war having happened, and mostly built around the original games. It was based on the low NPC population, and Lt Surge seemingly having been active in a recent war or conflict I think? But there aren't really many other signs of a war (well not local to any of the regions anyway, maybe all the war was waged in places we haven't/won't ever visit)

[Hiro Protagonest]

New Japanese trailer, actual TV trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oO_P4GX_RA)

So there's one thing that caught my eye as it flashed through all those characters...

http://i.imgur.com/ZhVWEkK.png

オーキド・ユキナリ博士 Dr. Yukinari Okido

HAWAIIAN PROFESSOR OAK.

Will we be getting Kanto starters again?

[Squark]

Thanks for the advice. I ended up backtracking slightly since I realized I might as well try to introduce the correct nature before I finish IVs. So I went with a x/x/31/x/31/31 and a 31/x/x/31/31/x.

One last question- If the mother doesn't have their hidden ability, but the father is of the same family and does, can he pass it on, or do fathers only pass on hidden abilities with Dittos?

[Lord Raziere]

If we are getting Kanto Starters, they'd better be Alolan form versions, cause I've literally gotten aaaaaaall the pokemon except for a few Mythics, I do not care for any extra charmanders, squirtles or bulbasaurs at this point. I will stone cold release any extra kanto starters they give me and just use the ones I'm transferring from previous Gens if they don't give me any twist on them that will make them worth keeping.

[Red Fel]

New Japanese trailer, actual TV trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oO_P4GX_RA)

So there's one thing that caught my eye as it flashed through all those characters...

http://i.imgur.com/ZhVWEkK.png

オーキド・ユキナリ博士 Dr. Yukinari Okido

HAWAIIAN PROFESSOR OAK.

Will we be getting Kanto starters again?

Holy crap, Okido-san. You've, uh, really embraced island culture, huh?

... get a haircut, hippy.

[Hiro Protagonest]

If we are getting Kanto Starters, they'd better be Alolan form versions, cause I've literally gotten aaaaaaall the pokemon except for a few Mythics, I do not care for any extra charmanders, squirtles or bulbasaurs at this point. I will stone cold release any extra kanto starters they give me and just use the ones I'm transferring from previous Gens if they don't give me any twist on them that will make them worth keeping.

Apparently the textbox is talking about Alolan forms, so starters or no that's got to be why he's there.

Holy crap, Okido-san. You've, uh, really embraced island culture, huh?

... get a haircut, hippy.
It's his Alolan form. :smallwink:

[Squark]

It's his Alolan form. :smallwink:
This forum really needs a like function.

[DaOldeWolf]

...confirms we are getting alola form of previous characters?! First new character is Alola form Professor Oak. :smalleek:

[BiblioRook]

First off if feels worth mentioning that that trailer was amazing

On Kanto starters though, it seems pretty obvious that they will be in Sun and Moon considering that Charizard has been featured pretty predominately from the beginning whenever the concept of ridable Pokemon is brought up or suggested. That being the case however it's also always just normal Charizard (as far as I can tell) which doesn't suggest that we'll be seeing Alola versions of the Kanto starters. A shame really because that would have been awesome. That being said, I will never turn down an in-game opportunity to get Kanto starters. Even if there are only there for novelty or sentimental value and end up going straight to the box it's always an option I appreciate, mostly due to the fact that unlike most players in this modern age trading and whatnot seems even more of an impossibility, particularly across generations...

Pokemon Houseboats!
http://i.imgur.com/VjqAccT.jpg

I mean...
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8XuzadeXGmg/VXDUqzIWlBI/AAAAAAAAA64/R_a2lu7fFgo/s800/blasting-off-in-magikarp-sub.png

[Lvl 2 Expert]

I've seen some theories floating around that the pokemon world might be recently post war too (to explain the relatively low population and things). I don't personally think the theory holds up especially well to scrutiny, but it could be an interesting little thought experiment for those interested in it.

Ash and other characters having single parents is not something I've really thought that hard about, but single parents also never stood out as particularly strange to me, IRL or in stories (especially in stories!)

As far as Ash's father I dunno, based on what little we have (and if the writers even care about continuity across series) I'd hazard to guess that (in no particular order)

a: Mystery Fling!
b: They're separated in some way, and either it was an amiable separation, or Ash's mom is just classy enough not to speak ill of the father in front of the son.
c: He's passed on, and Ash only has vague memories, enough that "your father would be proud" might be meaningful to him, but not especially important to his character generally speaking.

The man he thinks of as his father is a war hero, who died around the time of his birth, fighting somewhere far from home, where the war was still ongoing by then. All the long stretches of lionely nights though, the uncertainty, crying herself to sleep every evening because her husband could be dead by now, Ash's mother had a relationship with the older but handsome scientist next door.

Giovanni as Ash's father might explain a lot about his personality, but Oak as his father explains more about the story. He is treating him a lot like he does his own grandson.

That's my story, and for now I'm sticking to it.

[BiblioRook]

I always saw Oak being so nice to Ash compared to Gary down to the fact that they were both from the same small town and that Gary was, well, Gary.

[noparlpf]

New Japanese trailer, actual TV trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oO_P4GX_RA)

So there's one thing that caught my eye as it flashed through all those characters...

http://i.imgur.com/ZhVWEkK.png

オーキド・ユキナリ博士 Dr. Yukinari Okido

HAWAIIAN PROFESSOR OAK.

Will we be getting Kanto starters again?

Wait, since when does Pokémon use kanji? This is a kids' game, darn it. Also, I can't read kanji.

[Yuki Akuma]

Wait, since when does Pokémon use kanji? This is a kids' game, darn it. Also, I can't read kanji.

Those are very simple kanji, at least, that most of the player base would have learned in school by now.

[noparlpf]

Those are very simple kanji, at least, that most of the player base would have learned in school by now.

Still, when I played HGSS and BW in Japanese it was all kana. They must have upped the target age by like two years.

[cobaltstarfire]

The man he thinks of as his father is a war hero, who died around the time of his birth, fighting somewhere far from home, where the war was still ongoing by then. All the long stretches of lionely nights though, the uncertainty, crying herself to sleep every evening because her husband could be dead by now, Ash's mother had a relationship with the older but handsome scientist next door.

Giovanni as Ash's father might explain a lot about his personality, but Oak as his father explains more about the story. He is treating him a lot like he does his own grandson.

That's my story, and for now I'm sticking to it.

Aww that's a somewhat sad headcanon.





and its not just lack one parent, I've watched the anime and observed that some families have no parents at all and are just plain a bunch of sisters or brothers living together. Almost none of them fit a nuclear family.

I can see that sticking out as rather strange to most people. Though it's still the cornerstone of a lot of stories and backstories in fiction.

But even that isn't really odd (well probably depending on what country you live in, I live in the US), when I was student teaching there were several kindergartners living out of their cubbies, because they had no home to really go to. It was heart breaking to learn about. I know some people who used to work in the childcare system in various states, and there are far more homeless or parentless children out there than is probably comfortable for anyone to actually think about.

At least in the case of the anime, everything is so utopian that kids with no parents still probably have something resembling a good support system unlike in the real world. (Though I'd argue that a nuclear family in particular is not really required)

[Hunter Noventa]

Still, when I played HGSS and BW in Japanese it was all kana. They must have upped the target age by like two years.

I think one of the earlier announcements mentioned them adding a partial-kanji language option.

[Red Fel]

Wait, since when does Pokémon use kanji? This is a kids' game, darn it. Also, I can't read kanji.

To be fair, as mentioned, there are certain kanji you're just expected to know. Particularly when they come up in a lot of names, seeing as, even if you know no other kanji, you need to know any kanji that appear in your own name, for formal documents.

I mean, I studied the language, and I'm an adult, and I only know a handful of kanji, but there are some you have to know, people.

I assume that 博士, which translates to "Ph.D." would qualify as need-to-know. Because you need to know if somebody who calls himself a "Pokemon Professor" is an actual professor, or just a whackjob into dogfighting and small children.


Still, when I played HGSS and BW in Japanese it was all kana. They must have upped the target age by like two years.

Or upped their expectations of the kids playing. Hooray for standards!

[noparlpf]

I think one of the earlier announcements mentioned them adding a partial-kanji language option.

I wonder whether the resolution on the New 3DS is good enough to render furigana clearly. I would totally use that setting to learn kanji. :smalltongue:

"But sensei, I was studying kanji."
"I don't care. You can get your game back after class."

[Red Fel]

I wonder whether the resolution on the New 3DS is good enough to render furigana clearly. I would totally use that setting to learn kanji. :smalltongue:

"But sensei, I was studying kanji."
"I don't care. You can get your game back after class."

Hey, if they declare a school holiday when a new Final Fantasy is released, I wouldn't be surprised if some teachers allowed Pokemon Teaches Kanji in class.

[noparlpf]

Hey, if they declare a school holiday when a new Final Fantasy is released, I wouldn't be surprised if some teachers allowed Pokemon Teaches Kanji in class.

The Louvre actually had a 3DS tour guide app made and rent 3DSs at the lobby instead of the old-school dial-in-the-number audio guides.

[Flickerdart]

I thought Giovanni was supposed to be Gary/Blue's father, not Ash/Red's?

[Woodzyowl]

I thought Giovanni was supposed to be Gary/Blue's father, not Ash/Red's?

Silver's, if I recall. If Giovanni was Blue's father, that would make him Oak's son. Which is just weird.

[Yuki Akuma]

To be fair, as mentioned, there are certain kanji you're just expected to know. Particularly when they come up in a lot of names, seeing as, even if you know no other kanji, you need to know any kanji that appear in your own name, for formal documents.

Even learning the write the days of the week, you learn the characters for Sun, Moon, Fire, Water, Wood, Gold and Earth. (And a kanji that is completely useless unless you're writing a day of the week.) Which are surprisingly useful to know in Pokemon...

[Flickerdart]

Silver's, if I recall. If Giovanni was Blue's father, that would make him Oak's son. Which is just weird.

In this hypothesis, Silver and Blue are (half-)brothers. And why is it weird for Giovanni to be Oak's son?

[Lvl 2 Expert]

In this hypothesis, Silver and Blue are (half-)brothers. And why is it weird for Giovanni to be Oak's son?

Well, it would make Silver (who is indeed supposed to be Giovanni's sun) and Ash (not sure if this theory would apply to Red, much less story material to go on) (half-)brothers. Gary/Blue would probably be their nephew, unless of course he was Giovanni's son as well, or if he shared a mother with Silver (because I'm reasonably sure he doesn't share one with Ash). In that last case Gary/Blue and Silver would be half-brothers through their mothers side as well as nephews through Oak, Silver and Ash would be half-brothers through Giovanni, and Ash and Gary/Blue would be nephews, again through Oak.

It's a small world. Also, that's kind of weird.

In any case, if Giovanni is Oak's sun he pretty much has to be Ash's father, because otherwise Oak probably would have mentioned it. Old people story time. You know that evil boss you're up against? I once knew a little boy... He's kept that a secret because Ash's mother has asked him not to bring up Giovanni with Ash, as he might find out it's his father. Giovanni doesn't bring it up because he either doesn't care or isn't heartless enough to destroy a hopeful young lad like that.

I think my previous story was less traumatic.

EDIT: Oh crap, there's another option.

With the weird way aging works in Pokémon, Ash's father could potentially be...

Brock.

(Ash's mother claims she didn't recognize him when she first met him during the series, but then again it was a long time ago, and maybe it was dark?)

[cobaltstarfire]

Sometimes I forget that pokemon is really ripe for interesting crack theories. :smalltongue:

[Lord Raziere]

Sometimes I forget that pokemon is really ripe for interesting crack theories. :smalltongue:

Well yeah. There are just so many questions that are left unanswered. All throughout the series. I'm surprised that there isn't a bigger fan-fic following, since there is so much you could do with just all the little things left hanging. Pokemon is a universe full of things mentioned once then never used again or maybe twice if that.

like the Snag Machines, or the Dark Balls, or the cloning technology that Movie Mewtwo uses, or many of the ancient contraptions that they come across, that are just weird pokemon-based superweapons made by some ancient civilization clearly through some form of magic. So many things that people don't even bring up in fan-fics. that could be used more widely, or be explored a bit more in some manner. or heck, just what is up with Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny. or heck, remember Richie? got an appearance in Kanto, then Johto, then in Chronicles then......never again!

I just hope Mega-Evolution doesn't prove to be one of them. especially given all the 7-gen stuff that might be just as one-shot as all the other strange concepts.

[Lethologica]

The fanfic community is kinda absorbed into the nuzlocke community, is probably why.

[cobaltstarfire]

It'd be especially fun to explore what the deal is with pokemon that are rather explicitly "created" in some way or another.

You know the ones that just started to appear one day like voltorb, or the bronze mirror/bell pokemon, or porygon. I could see an entire side shoot of pokemon professors who are specifically interested in studying the appearance and inner workings/minds of those sorts of monsters.


I haven't looked at the OCT scene in a long time, but those were good places to find people exploring some of the elements that were weird or simply left hanging in anime or games. Though some people take too many liberties in my opinion (ex sigilyphs that are redesigned to be anthropomorphic birds, rather than sticking more closely to the weird things that they actually are)

[BiblioRook]

...or many of the ancient contraptions that they come across, that are just weird pokemon-based superweapons made by some ancient civilization clearly through some form of magic.

One thing I always found amusing that is never addressed is the obvious and apparently not-uncommon display of legitimate psychic powers, not just with Pokemon (which is a given) but even with some humans.

[DiscipleofBob]

In this hypothesis, Silver and Blue are (half-)brothers. And why is it weird for Giovanni to be Oak's son?

At least one version of the canon I've read has Giovanni and Oak as childhood rivals, so that would make it implausible.

I don't know about Ash or Red's father, but I always had a theory of Lance being Gary's father and (possibly) Oak's son. Though the role of Blackthorn complicates that headcanon up a bit.

[Aotrs Commander]

One thing I always found amusing that is never addressed is the obvious and apparently not-uncommon display of legitimate psychic powers, not just with Pokemon (which is a given) but even with some humans.

Well, considering Ghosts are Real and there are people who can actually use Dragonball Z supepowers in the form of aura - never mind the actual Pokémon themselves - that psychic powers exist is kinda unremarkable.

[Squark]

If we are getting Kanto Starters, they'd better be Alolan form versions, cause I've literally gotten aaaaaaall the pokemon except for a few Mythics, I do not care for any extra charmanders, squirtles or bulbasaurs at this point. I will stone cold release any extra kanto starters they give me and just use the ones I'm transferring from previous Gens if they don't give me any twist on them that will make them worth keeping.

While I can certainly understand the sentiment, providing Kanto starters is mostly for returning genwunners. With X and Y being the first time I'd done anything pokemon related since the TCG, just seeing Sycamore use the three Kanto starters so early in the game was a delight, and when I found out I'd get to keep one, I was positively giddy. And while I know a portion of the fandom resents hardcore genwunners, attracting people who'd lost interest in the games is a solid move, and giving a returning player back their best buddy from their favorite childhood game is a good way to do that.

[Aotrs Commander]

Pahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

[Expletive] you, Hunter J! [Expletive] you and the handbag you rode in on!

Two Future Sights and you and your mottley crew go down, crash and - as far as I can tell at this moment and hope to Lichemaster is so - drown then explode! Out like a little female poochyena!

Priceless!

I haven't laughed that hard in AGES.



Edit: *One Team Galactic finale later*

Oh hell yes! that is it! She DEAD! (And Cyrus too, of "dead" isn't putting it mildly!) Damn! This may be the frackin' arc of the anime I've seen yet!

Wow.

Y'know, it's REALLY cathartic to actually see those fraggers get completely fracking HOSED for once - no redemption, no arrest, no last minute change of heart, just a "see you in hell [female canine]!" and not even THAT for you Cyrus! Pokémon, I am SO proud of you right now! You make an old Lich truly happy!

[Squark]

Since Aotrs Commander is discussing his Pearl/Diamond watch, I decided to try watching Pokemon X Y on Netflix. Decent start, the characters seemed likable, and I was starting to think Bonnie was avoiding pressing triggering the annoying little kid response... and then she starts trying to set every available female up with her brother*.


Head, meet wall. Wall, meet head.

*Except for Serena. It's almost like she knew Serena has a crush on Ash even before Serena had done anything more than watch him during a dramatic pokemon battle.

Clemont's catchphrase is also getting a little annoying. Or rather, Ash's increasingly over the top, "Science is Amazing!" responses are. Seriously, we get it. You're trying to make kids want to study science. But does Ash really need to gush over every invention Clemont brings out even thought we know it's going to explode within the next three minutes?

[Lord Raziere]

.....Argh, this reminds me that I need to get back to watching Pokemon episodes myself. I'm stuck in Hoenn! and I want to get past that. but how.....this is what I get for trying to watch it in chronological order....

[BiblioRook]

*Except for Serena. It's almost like she knew Serena has a crush on Ash even before Serena had done anything more than watch him during a dramatic pokemon battle.

I haven't seen any of the X and Y anime but from what I've seen the fanbase is really divided on Serena. Like some people think she's the worst female companion in the series where others like her so much that I've actually seen petitions requesting that they keep her as a traveling companion even through Sun and Moon... (Which to that I say... Please, just no.)

[OracleofWuffing]

According to BulbaNews (https://twitter.com/BulbaNewsNOW/status/773916103202394112), Alolan Professor Oak is actually Samson Oak, not Samuel Oak. They're cousins, apparently, but not the same person. :smallfrown: Though I'd wager a guess that Professor Oak will show up for a visit and give us the National Dex when the time comes. :smallwink:


One last question- If the mother doesn't have their hidden ability, but the father is of the same family and does, can he pass it on, or do fathers only pass on hidden abilities with Dittos?
Ugh, that's one rule I know has changed since back in the day, so I could be wrong on this and am looking it up... Okay, Serebii and Bulbapedia both say Fathers only pass on hidden abilities with Dittos.

[Aotrs Commander]

Gonna be watching XY soon (got it on DVD), so can I please ask that anything discussion of bits that's, well, spoilery gets spoilered until I've caught up?

(Sadly, merely glancing over youtube videos titles while looking at music vidoes suggests Ash's League result - that was really annoying - (and the Ash/Geninja thing was the clips that got me all fired up again to watch the series), but I'd kind of like to keep as much of the rest of it as a surprise as possible!)

(What has been said so far isn't spoilery, but I thought I would grovel before anyone got to deep into the discussion!)



(I haven't bother with spoilering DP since I figured since it was five-to-ten years old most folk who wanted to watch it would have (and no-one asked specifically asked!))

[unseenmage]

In PoGo, should one Power Up their pokemon before or after evolution?

I have heard both and have no clue which info is accurate.

[Flickerdart]

In PoGo, should one Power Up their pokemon before or after evolution?

I have heard both and have no clue which info is accurate.

After.

The reason is not what you might think. Powering up before or after does not affect CP, because CP is calculated as a function of Pokemon level and powering up always increases it by the same amount (half a level) rather than increasing CP directly.

No, the reason is that moves are shuffled randomly when a Pokemon evolves. Stardust and Candy are extremely precious, and boosting up your Pokemon only to end up with a crappy moveset is extremely disappointing.

[unseenmage]

After.

The reason is not what you might think. Powering up before or after does not affect CP, because CP is calculated as a function of Pokemon level and powering up always increases it by the same amount (half a level) rather than increasing CP directly.

No, the reason is that moves are shuffled randomly when a Pokemon evolves. Stardust and Candy are extremely precious, and boosting up your Pokemon only to end up with a crappy moveset is extremely disappointing.

Thank you. Quite enlightening.

[BiblioRook]

According to BulbaNews (https://twitter.com/BulbaNewsNOW/status/773916103202394112), Alolan Professor Oak is actually Samson Oak, not Samuel Oak. They're cousins, apparently, but not the same person. :smallfrown: Though I'd wager a guess that Professor Oak will show up for a visit and give us the National Dex when the time comes. :smallwink:

Still, since we are currently talking about the anime so much I imagine that the whole Samson/Samuel reunion will be fairly amusing when it happens. Well, for this time I mean. I can see it getting out of hand of they take the joke to far and try to Officer Jenny/Nurse Joy him...

[5a Violista]

This is unrelated to what everyone's been talking about, but: Know what would be a fun game? Pokémon Search-and-Rescue.

Your character works for Search and Rescue and has the job of going out and saving lost children. Equipped with only a handful of Antidotes and accompanied by your pidgey, you have to trek through Viridian Forest to find children who lay unconscious, poisoned after all their pokémon fainted. You take your trusty Growlithe up Mount Moon to find starving 11-year olds who got lost in its extensive cave system. You fly your supervisor's Charizard up Mount Silver, in a race against time to rescue teenagers before they freeze to death. You take the company Lapras out to find trainers lost in the currents who never learned to swim. In the meanwhile, you discover that your coworkers have made a deal with Team Rocket (or whoever the new villain-of-the-week are) to sneak them into the Safari Zone to poach rare pokémon, and after you get promoted you try to root out the corruption from your forces. You race on a Rapidash through a blizzard to take needed medical supplies to all the Pokécenters and Nurse Joys trapped up in the mountains because of all the snow. You search far and wide, desperately trying to take all these blacked-out teenage cockfighters back to the hospitals in hopes they'll change their ways. You try to be the very best, in a way that no one ever was.

[digiman619]

Of all the things I'm hoping for in Sun/Moon isn't the new pokemon, nor the new bad guys, or anything else; what I'm hoping for is that the main character has a father. Other than Norman in Gen III, we haven't seen hide nor hair of any main character's father in ANY of the mainstream Pokemon games. In fact, the only rival character I can think of that had a father show up in any way, shape or form is with Silver (the Gen II rival), and said father who is Team Rocket founder Giovanni is a deadbeat dad.

I understand that Japan has a lot of "daddy is off working" culture (My Neighbor Totoro leaps to mind), but seriously, it's been long enough. He doesn't even have to do anything with the plot, as it's not like Mom ever does anything other than heal your pokemon. I'd just like for him to be there.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Well, considering Ghosts are Real and there are people who can actually use Dragonball Z supepowers in the form of aura - never mind the actual Pokémon themselves - that psychic powers exist is kinda unremarkable.

Although it would be kind of cool is there were humans with say water powers as well. If some humans can do a psychic attack, and all of us can do fighting attacks, why not water gun?

Wait, are we a normal/fighting type pokémon with access to some psychic coverage moves?


This is unrelated to what everyone's been talking about, but: Know what would be a fun game? Pokémon Search-and-Rescue.

Your character works for Search and Rescue and has the job of going out and saving lost children. Equipped with only a handful of Antidotes and accompanied by your pidgey, you have to trek through Viridian Forest to find children who lay unconscious, poisoned after all their pokémon fainted. You take your trusty Growlithe up Mount Moon to find starving 11-year olds who got lost in its extensive cave system. You fly your supervisor's Charizard up Mount Silver, in a race against time to rescue teenagers before they freeze to death. You take the company Lapras out to find trainers lost in the currents who never learned to swim. In the meanwhile, you discover that your coworkers have made a deal with Team Rocket (or whoever the new villain-of-the-week are) to sneak them into the Safari Zone to poach rare pokémon, and after you get promoted you try to root out the corruption from your forces. You race on a Rapidash through a blizzard to take needed medical supplies to all the Pokécenters and Nurse Joys trapped up in the mountains because of all the snow. You search far and wide, desperately trying to take all these blacked-out teenage cockfighters back to the hospitals in hopes they'll change their ways. You try to be the very best, in a way that no one ever was.

That would actually be pretty cool. It's a little close to ranger, but if the mechanics are different (and you're not using wild pokémon so they probably are) it could warrant it's own game.

The idea you seem to be putting out here, a shared pool of pokémon who are assigned to a human partner depending on the mission, would be pretty different in its own right. But if you can't choose who you use, and you can't really invest in any mon because they'll be gone after this mission, is that the most possible fun? (It would definitely be a cool concept for a comic or something.)

[Lord Raziere]

Although it would be kind of cool is there were humans with say water powers as well. If some humans can do a psychic attack, and all of us can do fighting attacks, why not water gun?

Wait, are we a normal/fighting type pokémon with access to some psychic coverage moves?


Maybe.

But then again there are those creepy hex girls with affinity for ghost pokemon with strange abilities that might or might not be psychic.

and Aura is technically a thing that exists in all pokemon, not just Fighting, its just that Fighting Types use it in the most obvious manner with moves like "Aura Sphere". it might be that different pokemon possess different auras and thus can use the power of those auras to fight- Fire Aura, Water Aura, things like that, and maybe Humans have varied auras, and that their moves depend on the specific aura they have. It might just be that only the Aura Guardians and the Psychics know how to access theirs. I'm pretty sure there is an element of whether your Aura is "good enough" to be an Aura Guardian in there.

It might also explain Arceus changing types- he is using the plates to change his Aura to match the type he wants.

[Mando Knight]

In fact, the only rival character I can think of that had a father show up in any way, shape or form is with Silver (the Gen II rival), and said father who is Team Rocket founder Giovanni is a deadbeat dad.

Bianca's a "weak rival" instead of the "strong rival" like Silver, but her dad (http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Bianca%27s_father) shows up in BW, initially not too keen on her becoming a wandering Pokémon Trainer.

[BiblioRook]

But then again there are those creepy hex girls with affinity for ghost pokemon with strange abilities that might or might not be psychic.

I was thinking more along the lines of the Psychic trainers that are always casually floating their Pokeballs around.

[Lord Raziere]

I was thinking more along the lines of the Psychic trainers that are always casually floating their Pokeballs around.

Which is why I pointed them out. The Hex Maniacs seem somehow different from the Psychics, possessing strange abilities and being creepy, and they often use Ghost types, which are strong against Psychics. They might be a separate power, but I'm not sure what.

[OracleofWuffing]

Of all the things I'm hoping for in Sun/Moon isn't the new pokemon, nor the new bad guys, or anything else; what I'm hoping for is that the main character has a father. Other than Norman in Gen III, we haven't seen hide nor hair of any main character's father in ANY of the mainstream Pokemon games. In fact, the only rival character I can think of that had a father show up in any way, shape or form is with Silver (the Gen II rival), and said father who is Team Rocket founder Giovanni is a deadbeat dad.

I understand that Japan has a lot of "daddy is off working" culture (My Neighbor Totoro leaps to mind), but seriously, it's been long enough. He doesn't even have to do anything with the plot, as it's not like Mom ever does anything other than heal your pokemon. I'd just like for him to be there.
As far as Rival fathers go, there's Palmer. I thought Wally's father was around, but I could be mixing up him and his Uncle.

[noparlpf]

As far as Rival fathers go, there's Palmer. I thought Wally's father was around, but I could be mixing up him and his Uncle.

Both his parents are in Petalburg, and his aunt and uncle (and cousin, I guess) live in Verdanturf.

[Squark]

Brendan is Birch's son. Ruby and Sapphire sort of bucked the trend since the player and their rivals come from Nuclear Families.


I think you also meet your neighbor's father in XY on victory road, but it's just a generic Veteran who mentions their son/daughter is from Vaniville town and on a Pokémon journey.

[BiblioRook]

The whole missing parent thing really I think is more out of laziness then pathos, I mean think about how until only recently they started giving the player's parent's their own rooms.

[Aotrs Commander]

Volkner... If you gave so little of a frack about the gym that you were handing the badges out, why the unholy fracking crap didn't you retire as gym leader and get a replacement, you fracktard?!

Though if I were to do some reading between the line, I get the feeling that the E4 had sent someone along to give Volkner the riot act (either shape or you're out on your arse, mate), and Flint had insisted on it being him, hoping for one last chance to talk Volkner up before they would be forced to pull the plug. And if Ash hadn't come along when he did...

[enderlord99]

Darn... I can't teach a Kangaskhan mud-slap.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

There are some theories floating around making a creepy amount of sense. I'm double-spoilering them for those who don't want potentially most of the story spoiled for them.


I'm skipping most of the explanation here, bare with me. The story is based on alchemy. Type null is an attempt to create another arceus. It's created by infusing a rockruff (I'm allmost surprised it's not an eeveelution) with the power of the tree starters (which in turn might mean you get two rivals with a starter each this time), either directly or through a philosopher's stone created using the starters. Team Skull is not just a bunch of gangsters, they act so nihilistic because they represent void, symbolized by a skull. Type Null is supposed to "neutralize" the world in some way, bring about the end of the imbalance that is life or matter or some world wrecking **** like that. The Aether Foundation is not just actually good rather than secretly bad, they're literal angels. They change into the megabeasts, forms granted by arceus himself, to stop the world's annihilation.

How does any of that make sense? Link 1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RSGN-REYj8), link 2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dneg_VNrrMc).


In other news, I got an incubator with pokécoins and synched it with my limitless incubator, because I developed a Pokémon Go superstition after getting twin oddishes and another good set from eggs hatching at the same moment. Superstition didn't let me down. I got a psyduck and a poliwag, both pokémon I have been waiting to get a decent individual of for a long time (slowpoke as well). Both came out the strongest in my collection (although after evolution it turned out the last golduck I made has a higher CP, though at a significantly higher level), and especially the poliwag had good IV's. Their moves were kind of bad on evolution, but I still max leveled poliwrath, so now I have a second 1700'er. That will give me some extra elbow room in the gym game.

[Asmodean_]

Sturdy Endeavor Shedinja

EEEEEVVVIIIIIIILLL

I mean it works but EEEEEVVIIIIILL

[Mando Knight]

EEEEEVVVIIIIIIILLL

I mean it works but EEEEEVVIIIIILL

Well, it works until your opponents' teams always have something with Mold Breaker or Sand Stream...

[DaOldeWolf]

There are some theories floating around making a creepy amount of sense. I'm double-spoilering them for those who don't want potentially most of the story spoiled for them.


I'm skipping most of the explanation here, bare with me. The story is based on alchemy. Type null is an attempt to create another arceus. It's created by infusing a rockruff (I'm allmost surprised it's not an eeveelution) with the power of the tree starters (which in turn might mean you get two rivals with a starter each this time), either directly or through a philosopher's stone created using the starters. Team Skull is not just a bunch of gangsters, they act so nihilistic because they represent void, symbolized by a skull. Type Null is supposed to "neutralize" the world in some way, bring about the end of the imbalance that is life or matter or some world wrecking **** like that. The Aether Foundation is not just actually good rather than secretly bad, they're literal angels. They change into the megabeasts, forms granted by arceus himself, to stop the world's annihilation.

How does any of that make sense? Link 1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RSGN-REYj8), link 2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dneg_VNrrMc).




The theories about this game having lots of influences from alchemy is not new. The sun eating lion, the starters resembling the symbols of alchemy that give life, etc. I think that theory might be right. The lastest pokemon movie even has some references to alchemy.

Now, about the second part, this is rather interesting since this puts them as them as null and void and thus representing no power, no value, no effect. I don't know if I agree with the conclusions from that theory. For me, that would mean that they are inconsequential or unimportant to the plot. :smallconfused:

Now, about the third bit of the theory, I am not sure I understand. Does that mean they are pokemon? Does that mean they grow wings? Does that mean that they are ultra beasts? I really don't understand this part of the theory. There are so many ways this theory could be represented though it really doesn't have any evidence. Still, the popular theory I have read comes from their names being related to plants.

Also, since we are on the subject of theories. There has been some speculation about the guy in the image in the spoiler and the aether organization.
http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/thumb/9/98/Black_2_White_2_Colress.png/200px-Black_2_White_2_Colress.png

[cobaltstarfire]

Well, it works until your opponents' teams always have something with Mold Breaker or Sand Stream...

Won't burn or poison break it too?

[Lord Raziere]

The theories about this game having lots of influences from alchemy is not new. The sun eating lion, the starters resembling the symbols of alchemy that give life, etc. I think that theory might be right. The lastest pokemon movie even has some references to alchemy.

Now, about the second part, this is rather interesting since this puts them as them as null and void and thus representing no power, no value, no effect. I don't know if I agree with the conclusions from that theory. For me, that would mean that they are inconsequential or unimportant to the plot. :smallconfused:

Now, about the third bit of the theory, I am not sure I understand. Does that mean they are pokemon? Does that mean they grow wings? Does that mean that they are ultra beasts? I really don't understand this part of the theory. There are so many ways this theory could be represented though it really doesn't have any evidence. Still, the popular theory I have read comes from their names being related to plants.

Also, since we are on the subject of theories. There has been some speculation about the guy in the image in the spoiler and the aether organization.


Well then lets try to rethink this:
Maybe Team Skull represents decay, destruction, the parts of existence that break things down. entropy. dissolution. They don't care about any structure at all- they just break things down, destroy. They are the obvious villain of the certainty of destruction that people always try to prevent. they will steal, or attack or chaos general mayhem for their own desires, things like that.

Type: Null, well what element represents no power or effect? it could mean Lead. Type: Null is the lead to the Arceus's gold. Similar, but lead is the base metal, while gold is the perfect one, the pinnacle. or Type Null represents salt, since chemically salt has a neutral Ph, and chemistry came from alchemy.

The Aether Foundation could represent the creative force- that doesn't necessarily mean what they mean what they create is good. Destruction can be wielded to erase what which is undesirable, while Creation can be wielded to make that which is undesirable. Destruction may destroy things that are desirable, but Creation always has the potential to be a pandoras box creating something new that might be good or might be bad and it all depends on who uses it.

maybe the Aether Foundation isn't evil- but perhaps their actions have potential evil uses and dangers that could happen if things go disastrously wrong-which they will, since they are scientists in fantastic media- and the results of their good intentions might have great unintentional fallout that the protagonist has to clean up.

[OracleofWuffing]

Well, it works until your opponents' teams always have something with Mold Breaker or Sand Stream...

Won't burn or poison break it too?
Yeah- and Gastro Acid is also an annoyance. In my experience, the computer frequently decides hail is the thing to use, so it has Safety Goggles. Luckily with Burn, Poison, Confusion, and the odd Leech Seed, I still usually get an attack in, so it just means an easy chip damage from Mega Heracross to get things back to even, (usually Bullet Punch. Yeah, it's kind of a waste to have a priority move on that kind of setup, but any attack coming off of a 1,030 attack stat is still an attack coming off of a 1,030 attack stat) and usually at that point the AI has one pokemon to my two.

Had been thinking about fathers in Pokemon a bit more, but for less-than-main characters. I know the anime cannon is different from video game cannon, but Brock's father is a thing in the anime. The Team Rocket guy from the second generation and its remakes got married and lives in Icirrus City. And last and least is that Koga's daughter is Janine. I mean really, Ariados? That's like the Hoothoot of Beedrills, and in the same generation that gave us Steel types!

[Aotrs Commander]

Had been thinking about fathers in Pokemon a bit more, but for less-than-main characters. I know the anime cannon is different from video game cannon, but Brock's father is a thing in the anime. The Team Rocket guy from the second generation and its remakes got married and lives in Icirrus City. And last and least is that Koga's daughter is Janine. I mean really, Ariados? That's like the Hoothoot of Beedrills, and in the same generation that gave us Steel types!

Brock's father is pretty much the definitive absentee (his mother too), though since it took Ash coming along to basically shove him into actually, y'know taking care of his TEN children instead of letting his (according to bulbapedia) fifteen-year old son take the adult responsibilty for NINE. SIBLINGS. Oh, and also be the gym leader.

Brock's family is actualy a really good example of how fracked up Pokémon can be; they are arguably the worst case, since we KNOW both of them are confirmed alive and BOTH of them left their home.

Frankly, that Brock is who he is is nothing short of miraculous.

[noparlpf]

At this point I'm just hoping I'll get Porygon, Lapras, and Aerodactyl out of eggs, so I've started spending my gym coins on extra incubators.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Does that mean that they are ultra beasts?



Basically that. The ultra beasts and the aether humans are two forms of the same beings, either ascended humans or descended something else.

Compare these two pictures.
https://www.yahoo.com/sy/ny/api/res/1.2/zM_g9qhapfsZSJcknDdJfw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjtzbT0xO3c9ODAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en-US/homerun/digital_trends_973/40b513768940f0076e0359ab00f10bf7
http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/5/51/Sun_Moon_Lillie.png
That's not a coincidence.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Basically that. The ultra beasts and the aether humans are two forms of the same beings, either ascended humans or descended something else.

Compare these two pictures.
https://www.yahoo.com/sy/ny/api/res/1.2/zM_g9qhapfsZSJcknDdJfw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjtzbT0xO3c9ODAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en-US/homerun/digital_trends_973/40b513768940f0076e0359ab00f10bf7
http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/5/51/Sun_Moon_Lillie.png
That's not a coincidence.

Or, well, the beast modeled its attitude after her...

[Kantaki]

Basically that. The ultra beasts and the aether humans are two forms of the same beings, either ascended humans or descended something else.

Compare these two pictures.
https://www.yahoo.com/sy/ny/api/res/1.2/zM_g9qhapfsZSJcknDdJfw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjtzbT0xO3c9ODAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en-US/homerun/digital_trends_973/40b513768940f0076e0359ab00f10bf7
http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/5/51/Sun_Moon_Lillie.png
That's not a coincidence.

Female Alcor/ Al Saiduq?:smallbiggrin:
Does this mean this Gen. will be the Pokémon version of Devil Survivor 2?
Considering that was basically Shin Megami Tensei: Neon Genesis Evangelion that association doesn't bode well.:smalleek:

But, to be honest, a Pokémon version of that game sounds like a awesome idea.
Three sources of nightmares combined.:smallamused:
It would be fun:smallamused:

[Lord Raziere]

Or maybe, its the other way around?

Maybe its the Aether Foundation's attempt at transhumanism by turning themselves into pokemon? They are really scientific right? and the Ultra Beast looks a little like an eldritch abomination right? So like, an Ultra Beast is what happens when a human tries to become a pokemon through some method. So either eldritch abomination into human, or human into eldritch abomination

The only question remaining: can I catch them? :smallbiggrin:

[BiblioRook]

...Brock is only supposed to be 15? Seriously? I really thought he would have been one of the rare older characters (though in the world of anime I guess being 15 would be considered 'older' in this world of 12 year olds and younger...). The whole absurdly young protagonist thing is a constant annoyance I have with most anime, it drive me crazy because more often then not it just flat out breaks my suspension of disbelief in any given situation. Pilot a giant robot? Battle ancient evil? Clearly only a pre-teen can accomplish such feats. And before anyone tries to chime in to correct me on something I'm very aware that the protagonists being the age that they are is a demographic thing, but I still think it's stupid.

Actually now that I think about it, I'm really kind of wondering just how hard the requirements to be a Gym Leader actually are if most Gyms are held by children.

These theories you guys have are interesting. Granted, naysayer that I am, personally they seem a little far-fetched \ to me I do still feel inclined to point out that they seem to make a point on how the movement of UB-01 resembles that of a young girl (whatever that is supposed to mean. I mean 'resemblance of a young girl' I would get considering things that can be seen as arms, legs, hair, etc. But specifically 'movement'?).
That there is a connection though, that I buy, but it also really makes me wonder when also considering this:



Lusamine
https://assets.vg247.com/current//2016/09/Lusamine.png
Lillie
http://www.nintendowire.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/lill.jpg
and Gladion
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GdJgQA9dEmo/hqdefault.jpg

are most likely related. They also share the aether weird green eyes.

Seriously, even the grunts have that eye colour. What is up with that? :smallconfused:

[Squark]

More adventures (and questions) in Pokemon Breeding!

So, I've succesfully bred my first perfect pokemon; a 31/31/31/x/31/31 Adamant Huge Power Marill. I now have it breeding with a 4x 31 IV female so I can get a perfect female. However, I'd like to breed in Belly Drum and Aqua Jet. I'm afraid I'm feeling a bit lost as to how to go about it. Is there anything I should do beyond catching a Male Poliwhirl and Floatzel in the friend safari, breeding them with the Perfect female, and then breeding the offspring with the a perfect parent of the appropriate gender until I get a Perfect Marill again?


In a related note, if anyone wants a Marill with 4+ Perfect IVs, let me know, because my storage box is rapidly becoming infested with rotund blue mice.

EDIT: Speaking of which, I started breeding Marrils because I caught one in ORAS and wanted to make it part of my team, but remembered the azurill I could catch in XY would have 3+ perfect IVs, and then I got carried away. Anyway, this leads to a question- Is Gardevoir-Sceptile-Azumarill a decent starting point for an ORAS team, or is 2 fairies to much of a steel weakness?

[Knaight]

...Brock is only supposed to be 15? Seriously? I really thought he would have been one of the rare older characters (though in the world of anime I guess being 15 would be considered 'older' in this world of 12 year olds and younger...). The whole absurdly young protagonist thing is a constant annoyance I have with most anime, it drive me crazy because more often then not it just flat out breaks my suspension of disbelief in any given situation. Pilot a giant robot? Battle ancient evil? Clearly only a pre-teen can accomplish such feats. And before anyone tries to chime in to correct me on something I'm very aware that the protagonists being the age that they are is a demographic thing, but I still think it's stupid.

It's also just flat out inaccurate in a lot of cases, and while I'm not necessarily saying that the cases where that doesn't happen are on the whole better I'm also not saying it would surprise me if they were.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

The buddy system is going live in the next Go update, apparently. This update will also block jailbroken and rooted phones, which should stop cheating (and lots of general techie players) for at least like a week or so.

As a personal victory I cached in on 5 gyms this morning. I wasn't planning on a gymrun early last evening, but I kept running into good ones to join, and they all held. Sunday afternoon, mystic time.

[noparlpf]

The buddy system is going live in the next Go update, apparently. This update will also block jailbroken and rooted phones, which should stop cheating (and lots of general techie players) for at least like a week or so.

As a personal victory I cached in on 5 gyms this morning. I wasn't planning on a gymrun early last evening, but I kept running into good ones to join, and they all held. Sunday afternoon, mystic time.

Yeah, supposedly that update was launching two days ago (at least, that's when they tweeted about it with the changelog) but I haven't seen it yet.

And supposedly the original app blocked jailbroken phones, but there was a patch for that within twelve hours of the launch. Which is what I'm counting on. It's super annoying when an app blocks me from using it at all when I don't even have any tweaks installed for it, just because I wanted to change my boot logo or something.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

...Brock is only supposed to be 15? Seriously? I really thought he would have been one of the rare older characters (though in the world of anime I guess being 15 would be considered 'older' in this world of 12 year olds and younger...). The whole absurdly young protagonist thing is a constant annoyance I have with most anime, it drive me crazy because more often then not it just flat out breaks my suspension of disbelief in any given situation. Pilot a giant robot? Battle ancient evil? Clearly only a pre-teen can accomplish such feats. And before anyone tries to chime in to correct me on something I'm very aware that the protagonists being the age that they are is a demographic thing, but I still think it's stupid.

Actually now that I think about it, I'm really kind of wondering just how hard the requirements to be a Gym Leader actually are if most Gyms are held by children.

15 (or maybe 14 or so) might actually be a slightly believable age for Ash, ignoring the whole "saves the world where noone else can time after time" stuff and writing the "travels the world on foot alone" off as this being an adventure story about a fantastical world. Behavior wise it's probably pretty close. Misty should probably be around 17 then, she's easily older than Ash, but not necessarily by many years. Brock is hard to pin down because he's all over the place (Ash can be as well in rarer but delightfully funny places), but I would peg him as at least about 25, his paternal instincts seem to be flaring up and that "romantic" behavior of his means he's either 13 or old enough to have gotten really desperate from trying. Tracey is also older, 21 or so at least, he's thinking about stuff like a career. The other girls seem younger than Misty, but none of them much more than a year or so younger than Ash. which makes sense since I think most of them are based on rivals or player characters rather than gym leaders.

[Flickerdart]

It's been a while since I watched Pokemon, but I get the impression that Brock pulls the romantic stunts for the sake of the stunts - the way he's not terribly picky about the target seems to suggest that he doesn't really care if he succeeds or not, he just likes doing weird lovey stuff.

[DaOldeWolf]

We have the evolutions of Rockruff. It depends on whether it evolves during day or night.
https://heavyeditorial.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/screen-shot-2016-09-12-at-5-54-41-am.jpg?quality=65&strip=all&w=769
https://heavyeditorial.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/screen-shot-2016-09-12-at-5-54-46-am.jpg?quality=65&strip=all&w=758
And we got a new Ultra Beast. UB 02 comes in two forms, beauty (appears in moon) and expansion (appears in sun).
https://heavyeditorial.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/screen-shot-2016-09-12-at-5-54-59-am.jpg?quality=65&strip=all&w=757

It is interesting that we are getting different kinds of ultra beasts forms. There is also a connection with pokemon go and the alolan forms?

At least there is an image showing something like that:
http://heavy.com/games/2016/09/pokemon-sun-moon-new-corocoro-september-2016-leaks-pics-scans-rockruff-evolution-werewolf-ub-02-ultra-beast-02/6/

[Lvl 2 Expert]

https://heavyeditorial.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/screen-shot-2016-09-12-at-5-54-59-am.jpg?quality=65&strip=all&w=757http://www.perfectly-nintendo.com/wp-content/gallery/pokemon-sun-and-moon-aether-06-09-2016/1.png

[Aotrs Commander]

15 (or maybe 14 or so) might actually be a slightly believable age for Ash, ignoring the whole "saves the world where noone else can time after time" stuff and writing the "travels the world on foot alone" off as this being an adventure story about a fantastical world. Behavior wise it's probably pretty close. Misty should probably be around 17 then, she's easily older than Ash, but not necessarily by many years. Brock is hard to pin down because he's all over the place (Ash can be as well in rarer but delightfully funny places), but I would peg him as at least about 25, his paternal instincts seem to be flaring up and that "romantic" behavior of his means he's either 13 or old enough to have gotten really desperate from trying. Tracey is also older, 21 or so at least, he's thinking about stuff like a career. The other girls seem younger than Misty, but none of them much more than a year or so younger than Ash. which makes sense since I think most of them are based on rivals or player characters rather than gym leaders.

At the start of the show, Ash was emphatically stated to be ten, Misty was generally assumed to be about to be older by a couple of years by the fanfic community (though apparently bulbapedia says she was preportedly stated to be ten in Japanese dub, not that I think anyone particularly believes that) and Brock a couple of years older; so that's not far off the preported "official ages."

At this point, any even distantly realistic look says that they must be at least six years older, with roughly one year per league season. (As I say, I reckon Ash is just short; though I am understanding that the characters are shown as taller in XY.)

ABSOLUTE MINIMUM of three years of more, whatever the anime says, every episode takes place over AT LEAST one day and often two and we're into 800-odd episodes. so Ash cannot possibly be less than about thirteen at this point. (And unlike pony, I'm not volenterring to go back and watch the entire show and do an estimated day count...!




I have, incidently, a theory why Ash seems to keep losing the leagues: Pikachu aside, he does recruit a whole new team in each region and doesn't spend much time training with his old team-mates. (From the looks of the Sinnoh Lague Victors splash screen, it does seem that he will use some of the old crowd; but (I've just finished the Grand Festival), I'll be surprised if we see them prior to a surprise use in the battles.) Now, as I understand it (and will view for myself when I go back and watch Battle Frontier once I've finished DP), he used his older and more experienced Pokémon (e.g. Charizard) and with that was able to trounce the Frontier Brains.

But what appears to happen is he basically resets everyone aside from Pikachu... (And Pikachu, I note, seems to get not a lot of extra training himself, mostly just helping the others.) So that every league he comes into, his Pokémon are about at the same level every time (even if he's a little better as a trainer). And while he might use Pokémon from storage, he's never put the same level of practise into them in the past [year], so, with the best will in the world, they've not fought a proper battle for ages and so won't be on tip-top form. [/quote]

Basically, he brings his A game to the leagues, and that gets him really far... But the leagues are so hard, he really needs to bring his A PLUS game and use and train his veterans, especially in the finals, where every slight advantages helps. Essentially, his training stratagy just never goes quite far enough, because despite it working really really well and him being a bit of a battle savant (most of the time...), in the end, he can only get so much out of his Pokémon without the extra boost of more practise and experience than he can just physically fit into a mere [year]. For all that he regularly out-does people in other things that he picked up in a day that they've been working all their lives for...!

[Hunter Noventa]

We have the evolutions of Rockruff. It depends on whether it evolves during day or night.
https://heavyeditorial.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/screen-shot-2016-09-12-at-5-54-41-am.jpg?quality=65&strip=all&w=769
https://heavyeditorial.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/screen-shot-2016-09-12-at-5-54-46-am.jpg?quality=65&strip=all&w=758
And we got a new Ultra Beast. UB 02 comes in two forms, beauty (appears in moon) and expansion (appears in sun).
https://heavyeditorial.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/screen-shot-2016-09-12-at-5-54-59-am.jpg?quality=65&strip=all&w=757

It is interesting that we are getting different kinds of ultra beasts forms. There is also a connection with pokemon go and the alolan forms?

At least there is an image showing something like that:
http://heavy.com/games/2016/09/pokemon-sun-moon-new-corocoro-september-2016-leaks-pics-scans-rockruff-evolution-werewolf-ub-02-ultra-beast-02/6/



A Day vs. Night evolution is hardly mindblowing, we've had a split like that since Gen 2 (Umbreon vs. Espeon)

That said, I like Day Rockruff 2 more than Night.

As for the new UB...I'd say it lends some more credence to the theory of them resembling the Aether people if it wasn't for the Expansion form. I think we might have noticed Ira Gamagori at the Aether Foundation.

[Flickerdart]

Given that the night/day split is a thing, it would be cool to have a twist on daytime and night-time evolutions:

Rockruffs obtained in Pokemon Sun evolve only during the day, into the day evolution.
Rockruffs obtained in Pokemon Moon evolve only during the night, into the night evolution.

[Hunter Noventa]

Given that the night/day split is a thing, it would be cool to have a twist on daytime and night-time evolutions:

Rockruffs obtained in Pokemon Sun evolve only during the day, into the day evolution.
Rockruffs obtained in Pokemon Moon evolve only during the night, into the night evolution.



But they would have to future-proof this for later games, unless the region flags for Sun/Moon Alola are different.

[BiblioRook]

In hindsight a Day/Night evolution should have been so obvious that I'm kind of embarrassed I didn't already think of that. But to be fair I guess it didn't really occur to me because it was so obvious and to be honest not really all that special, after all they really were hyping up this evolution.

One thing though, wasn't it said that Rockruff and the starters 'share a secret'? Is that supposed to mean that the starters also are affected by the day and night cycles? Starters with a split evolution would be a pretty big thing I think. Also do the Rockruff evolutions have different typing at all? Hopefully something more interesting then 'Rock' and 'Rock/Dark'.

On Ultra Beasts. Well, um... I already kind of was leaning towards Moon over Sun anyway. UB02 Expansion is kind of intimidating. Curious that they are given the same number, is that supposed to imply that they are in fact the same entity only in different forms?

[Aotrs Commander]

(From the looks of the Sinnoh Lague Victors splash screen, it does seem that he will use some of the old crowd; but (I've just finished the Grand Festival), I'll be surprised if we see them prior to a surprise use in the battles.)

*gives Ash stick about using only new Pokémon, not veterans too much*

*very first action Ash does upon reaching league is swap in new team for old team*

Touché, DP, touché...!

[DaOldeWolf]

In hindsight a Day/Night evolution should have been so obvious that I'm kind of embarrassed I didn't already think of that. But to be fair I guess it didn't really occur to me because it was so obvious and to be honest not really all that special, after all they really were hyping up this evolution.

One thing though, wasn't it said that Rockruff and the starters 'share a secret'? Is that supposed to mean that the starters also are affected by the day and night cycles? Starters with a split evolution would be a pretty big thing I think. Also do the Rockruff evolutions have different typing at all? Hopefully something more interesting then 'Rock' and 'Rock/Dark'.

On Ultra Beasts. Well, um... I already kind of was leaning towards Moon over Sun anyway. UB02 Expansion is kind of intimidating. Curious that they are given the same number, is that supposed to imply that they are in fact the same entity only in different forms?

Well, to be fair, they are the same pokemon with a different form. Yep, those two pokemon are actually the same. They got the same name. :smallbiggrin:

Also, does this give some hint about starters getting a split day/night evos?

[BiblioRook]

Well, to be fair, they are the same pokemon with a different form. Yep, those two pokemon are actually the same. They got the same name. :smallbiggrin:

Also, does this give some hint about starters getting a split day/night evos?

Oooh, okay. That's different and interesting enough, though I guess it will basically come off like Castform only with times of day rather then with weather. Still will be interested to see how it turns out, even if it does smack a bit of novelty rather then usefulness (I mean, because everyone loves using Castform, don't they?)

On it being a novelty though, for that reason alone I really hope the Starters don't end up doing this as well. Might be cute for a while but feels like it would be rather annoying in the long-term after the novelty has worn off, depending just how much of a change comes with these day and night forms...

EDIT: Okay, still got it wrong. I read that in that it changes back and forth depending on what time of day it was, but no I guess it just gets locked into a day or night form depending on when it evolves. Less fiddly that way I guess but also kind of less interesting too.

[Flickerdart]

This might be gen 1 grogness talking, but it feels really dumb that different Pokemon with different types get categorized under the same name. Separate Nidorans were pretty silly, sure, but this is taking it way too far in the opposite direction.

[noparlpf]

This might be gen 1 grogness talking, but it feels really dumb that different Pokemon with different types get categorized under the same name. Separate Nidorans were pretty silly, sure, but this is taking it way too far in the opposite direction.


Meowstic wasn't bad enough for you with the different movesets based on gendered evolution?

[Mando Knight]

Oooh, okay. That's different and interesting enough, though I guess it will basically come off like Castform only with times of day rather then with weather. Still will be interested to see how it turns out, even if it does smack a bit of novelty rather then usefulness (I mean, because everyone loves using Castform, don't they?)

On it being a novelty though, for that reason alone I really hope the Starters don't end up doing this as well. Might be cute for a while but feels like it would be rather annoying in the long-term after the novelty has worn off, depending just how much of a change comes with these day and night forms...

EDIT: Okay, still got it wrong. I read that in that it changes back and forth depending on what time of day it was, but no I guess it just gets locked into a day or night form depending on when it evolves. Less fiddly that way I guess but also kind of less interesting too.

Permanent Forme differences locked in on Evolution debuted in Gen IV, with Wormadam gaining a second type depending on what cloak Burmy was wearing when it evolved.

[Flickerdart]

Meowstic wasn't bad enough for you with the different movesets based on gendered evolution?

I don't know what that is.

[Squark]

I don't know what that is.

Meowstic (http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Meowstic_(Pok%C3%A9mon)) has a different appearance and a different movepool based on its gender, with the male being support focused while the female is an attacker.

[unseenmage]

PoGo-ers, does 'mon size appear to get displayed with the new Buddy update? Is there an visible difference between a massive 'mon and a miniscule one?


On that note, does 'mon size affect anything? Hp? Speed? Anything?

[MesiDoomstalker]

PoGo-ers, does 'mon size appear to get displayed with the new Buddy update? Is there an visible difference between a massive 'mon and a miniscule one?


On that note, does 'mon size affect anything? Hp? Speed? Anything?

Can't say for the Buddy update (have yet to receive it) but the size literally has no bearings except for the Youngster and Fisherman medals (the first wants XS Rattata and the second wants XL Magikarp).

[BiblioRook]

Permanent Forme differences locked in on Evolution debuted in Gen IV, with Wormadam gaining a second type depending on what cloak Burmy was wearing when it evolved.

Which is why I feel a bit disappointed. At least when I thought it was a shifting form that seemed a bit new and interesting (though now that I think about it I guess they are still doing that with Wishiwashi, which only means it would have made more sense to do a shifting form evolution here...). I mean especially considering that the 'Night' form is based on a werewolf. What are Werewolves known for? Not staying the same shape when the moon rises.

[OracleofWuffing]

ABSOLUTE MINIMUM of three years of more, whatever the anime says, every episode takes place over AT LEAST one day and often two and we're into 800-odd episodes. so Ash cannot possibly be less than about thirteen at this point. (And unlike pony, I'm not volenterring to go back and watch the entire show and do an estimated day count...!
Wait, just fact checking, do we have confirmation that the anime takes place in a ~365 days per year cycle? I once heard of a tri-state area that managed to make summer vacation last 104 and 223 days, simultaneously.

[MesiDoomstalker]

Wait, just fact checking, do we have confirmation that the anime takes place in a ~365 days per year cycle? I once heard of a tri-state area that managed to make summer vacation last 104 and 223 days, simultaneously.

There's an episode in the Johto series which celebrates the 1 year anniversary of Ash meeting Pikachu (which would be his 11th birthday). Also, at the start of Unova, Ash says he's 15 (in the Japanese cut, it was changed to 10 in the US dub). His 'not getting older' malarkey is entirely on the US dub team.

[noparlpf]

PoGo-ers, does 'mon size appear to get displayed with the new Buddy update? Is there an visible difference between a massive 'mon and a miniscule one?


On that note, does 'mon size affect anything? Hp? Speed? Anything?

The update still doesn't seem to have gone live, at least around here.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

One thing though, wasn't it said that Rockruff and the starters 'share a secret'? Is that supposed to mean that the starters also are affected by the day and night cycles? Starters with a split evolution would be a pretty big thing I think.
My money is still on them being the origin of Type Null together. It seems to make sense looking at Null's design.


Curious that they are given the same number, is that supposed to imply that they are in fact the same entity only in different forms?
Yes, most likely. I don't think pokémon does "they were wrongly classified, turns out they were actually different beings all the time!"

[Lord Raziere]

There's an episode in the Johto series which celebrates the 1 year anniversary of Ash meeting Pikachu (which would be his 11th birthday). Also, at the start of Unova, Ash says he's 15 (in the Japanese cut, it was changed to 10 in the US dub). His 'not getting older' malarkey is entirely on the US dub team.

Ah good, more evidence that the whole Eight badges and League routine take only one year to fully accomplish using normal means. One region, one year.

Ignoring of course Theoretical In-Universe Speed Run Tactics that I'm sure the Theoretical Insanely Competitive Pokemon Trainers use to finish the Gyms as fast as possible just so that they can use the rest of the time to focus on training for their real opponents with diverse teams and powerful strategies.

[noparlpf]

Ignoring of course Theoretical In-Universe Speed Run Tactics that I'm sure the Theoretical Insanely Competitive Pokemon Trainers use to finish the Gyms as fast as possible just so that they can use the rest of the time to focus on training for their real opponents with diverse teams and powerful strategies.

You mean, a car? :smalltongue:

[Lord Raziere]

You mean, a car? :smalltongue:

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.......

you think people in Pokemon need cars. Thats a good joke. :smallamused:

Tactic No. 1: Flying pokemon. This is the slowest, and much faster than a car

Tactic No. 2: Teleporting pokemon. Which is much faster than flying.

My headcanon is that all the trainers that Ash keeps losing to/only wishes he could be are the kind of people that have already done the year-long journey once, get an Alakazam or other Psychic type and teleport around to each city with a Gym of the region to try and defeat every single Gym Leader within a maximum time of eight days, then spend the other 357 days constantly obsessively training in isolated areas so that no one sees their strategy or tactics and teleport back to the cities to have fun when they take breaks. and that the Gym Leaders always dread the START of the year since it means all the experienced people who have completed one or more regional circuits come by in a rush to defeat them just to get it out of the way, then look forward to the rest of the year where normal trainers and people just starting out come to them the normal way, meaning they can relax most of the time and don't have to work as hard for the crazy competitive ones.

[noparlpf]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.......

you think people in Pokemon need cars. Thats a good joke. :smallamused:

Tactic No. 1: Flying pokemon. This is the slowest, and much faster than a car

Tactic No. 2: Teleporting pokemon. Which is much faster than flying.

My headcanon is that all the trainers that Ash keeps losing to/only wishes he could be are the kind of people that have already done the year-long journey once, get an Alakazam or other Psychic type and teleport around to each city with a Gym of the region to try and defeat every single Gym Leader within a maximum time of eight days, then spend the other 357 days constantly obsessively training in isolated areas so that no one sees their strategy or tactics and teleport back to the cities to have fun when they take breaks. and that the Gym Leaders always dread the START of the year since it means all the experienced people who have completed one or more regional circuits come by in a rush to defeat them just to get it out of the way, then look forward to the rest of the year where normal trainers and people just starting out come to them the normal way, meaning they can relax most of the time and don't have to work as hard for the crazy competitive ones.

Eh, I'm sure people from some towns don't get access to a flying Pokémon (and I don't mean Pokémon that can learn the move Fly, I mean a Pokémon that's realistically big enough to carry a person) until they've covered a couple of gyms, depending on the area they're from and which routes they take.

As for teleport, that has even more limited distribution, and I wouldn't be surprised if psychics are the only ones who can actually get a Pokémon to teleport to a specific place rather than just back to a semi-random safe place they've been recently.

[Aotrs Commander]

There's an episode in the Johto series which celebrates the 1 year anniversary of Ash meeting Pikachu (which would be his 11th birthday). Also, at the start of Unova, Ash says he's 15 (in the Japanese cut, it was changed to 10 in the US dub). His 'not getting older' malarkey is entirely on the US dub team.

Oh ho, REAAAALLLY?

Now that IS interesting.

So, yes, the age ten is officially a load of cobbler's then; just like we've been saying all along.




Ah good, more evidence that the whole Eight badges and League routine take only one year to fully accomplish using normal means. One region, one year.

Ignoring of course Theoretical In-Universe Speed Run Tactics that I'm sure the Theoretical Insanely Competitive Pokemon Trainers use to finish the Gyms as fast as possible just so that they can use the rest of the time to focus on training for their real opponents with diverse teams and powerful strategies.

Actually, as far back as Ash's FIRST eight badge in Viridian, Ash outright says "I can't believe it's been nearly a year since we were last here!" So it's not like it wasn't like this from the start, it's obviously really just apparently the US dub people still have not got over their astouding dips into idiocy (let us not forget the whole "call riceballs everything but what they clearly are" fiasco of the original series...." And the original Japanese show writers aren't that daft - and good for them.




AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.......

you think people in Pokemon need cars. Thats a good joke. :smallamused:

Aside from the number of people in Pokémon that actually have and use cars...?

(Starting with Gary back in season one...?)

Sure, they are less common than in western society, but they exist.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Aside from the number of people in Pokémon that actually have and use cars...?

(Starting with Gary back in season one...?)

Sure, they are less common than in western society, but they exist.

But people are mildly afraid of the possibility that there could be a mythical pokémon hiding underneath them.

[cobaltstarfire]

Oh ho, REAAAALLLY?

(let us not forget the whole "call riceballs everything but what they clearly are" fiasco of the original series...." And the original Japanese show writers aren't that daft - and good for them.




In all fairness, 4kids was doing the localization at that time, and they did feel that children were too stupid to handle or understand any amount of non-US culture (and also too stupid to notice that those "hamburgers" definitely were not hamburgers) TPC handles it now, and they aren't quite as draconian about localization.

[MesiDoomstalker]

A few more CoroCoro leaks have cropped up.

Nothing much, Midday form gets a priority Rock move and Midnight form gets Counter.

[Aotrs Commander]

In all fairness, 4kids was doing the localization at that time, and they did feel that children were too stupid to handle or understand any amount of non-US culture (and also too stupid to notice that those "hamburgers" definitely were not hamburgers) TPC handles it now, and they aren't quite as draconian about localization.

But wren't they the ones oin charge of Pokémon by the time Unova roled around? Which means they kinda aren't much better than 4Kids (eventually) was.

And they SUCK at title themes; the only one that was more than adequate at best was the new remix of the original for XY. Certainly nothing to reach the level of Born to Be a Winner, Master Quest and the best theme to date Advanced Battle (and the rest of the pre-Battle Frontier themes were not bad either).



(Speaking of why in the merry heck is there nowhere that's got the English song Ultimate Challenge/This is the Moment that plays in the background of some of the big fights this season! Dammit, I want to hear a clean version of that but it seems none such exists? What giuves guys? The only decent song you concocted you hid away...?)


So, I just watched the final battle between Ash and Paul...

Unholy fracking crap, three episodes! Now that's what we're talking about.

Sort of a massive anticlimax to get Ash inevitable knocked out in the next round by Man with Darkrai - which even if I hadn't already osmosed that would be obvious - since the stakes are just not there. As Pokémon has - despite a few twists and turns - leaned a little bit too heavily on the only matches with any weight being those against priorly known characters, and the Ash/Paul arc was one of the - of not, really the actual - driving force between the series, having them face off in the quarter-finals means one of two things: either Paul was going to win (and thus prove Ash wrong) or Ash was going to be knocked out next round... Because there's no narrative investment in it. If they were going to have Ash win the league, he'd have come up against Paul in the final round, to maximise the dramatic stake and impact. Bringing in Man With Legendary only at the start of the league (bettin' he's going to win the league) might have worked in previous arcs, where each battle was played out in full and it wa about Ash's battles... But this arc, Non-recurring characters have been so minimised to be irrevelant. So it's quite clear that the narrative weight was placed on Ash vrs Paul and not Ash winning the league.

Contrast with Dawn's arc. Her final battle with Zoe was really good, because we knew both sides and when Zoe won, it felt to the audience (or at least to me), she'd earned it, sicne we'd seen her grow as well. (And - honestly - i was expecting Nando to win the contest, so they actually got me there.)

I am expecting some sort of half-arsed kerb-stomp by Man With Hax to prove that well, woo, he's got a Darkrai, so he can brute force his way to victory. 'Cos I'm guessing we're not going to get a proper slugging match like we did with Master Quest, after Ash took down Barry and then what'shis-face with the Blakizen very narrowly beat Ash.

Guess we'll see, though. DP HAS managed to surprise me several times by doing not what I expected...

[MesiDoomstalker]

But wren't they the ones oin charge of Pokémon by the time Unova roled around? Which means they kinda aren't much better than 4Kids (eventually) was.

And they SUCK at title themes; the only one that was more than adequate at best was the new remix of the original for XY. Certainly nothing to reach the level of Born to Be a Winner, Master Quest and the best theme to date Advanced Battle (and the rest of the pre-Battle Frontier themes were not bad either).



(Speaking of why in the merry heck is there nowhere that's got the English song Ultimate Challenge/This is the Moment that plays in the background of some of the big fights this season! Dammit, I want to hear a clean version of that but it seems none such exists? What giuves guys? The only decent song you concocted you hid away...?)


So, I just watched the final battle between Ash and Paul...

Unholy fracking crap, three episodes! Now that's what we're talking about.

Sort of a massive anticlimax to get Ash inevitable knocked out in the next round by Man with Darkrai - which even if I hadn't already osmosed that would be obvious - since the stakes are just not there. As Pokémon has - despite a few twists and turns - leaned a little bit too heavily on the only matches with any weight being those against priorly known characters, and the Ash/Paul arc was one of the - of not, really the actual - driving force between the series, having them face off in the quarter-finals means one of two things: either Paul was going to win (and thus prove Ash wrong) or Ash was going to be knocked out next round... Because there's no narrative investment in it. If they were going to have Ash win the league, he'd have come up against Paul in the final round, to maximise the dramatic stake and impact. Bringing in Man With Legendary only at the start of the league (bettin' he's going to win the league) might have worked in previous arcs, where each battle was played out in full and it wa about Ash's battles... But this arc, Non-recurring characters have been so minimised to be irrevelant. So it's quite clear that the narrative weight was placed on Ash vrs Paul and not Ash winning the league.

Contrast with Dawn's arc. Her final battle with Zoe was really good, because we knew both sides and when Zoe won, it felt to the audience (or at least to me), she'd earned it, sicne we'd seen her grow as well. (And - honestly - i was expecting Nando to win the contest, so they actually got me there.)

I am expecting some sort of half-arsed kerb-stomp by Man With Hax to prove that well, woo, he's got a Darkrai, so he can brute force his way to victory. 'Cos I'm guessing we're not going to get a proper slugging match like we did with Master Quest, after Ash took down Barry and then what'shis-face with the Blakizen very narrowly beat Ash.

Guess we'll see, though. DP HAS managed to surprise me several times by doing not what I expected...

WARNING! THIS IS A SPOILER FOR YOU! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Ash gets curbstomped, but he's the only one who managed to defeat the Darkrai at all (no one else manages that). A Latios cleans up Ash's team.

[cobaltstarfire]

The last I watched dubbed pokemon was sometime during the Johto league, so I don't really know how terrible TPC is/was once they took over.

I have tried watching some of the newer stuff dubbed, but the differences in the voices is really distracting. All I've watched of any of the newer stuff has been subs.

[DiscipleofBob]

I personally stopped watching the anime just because I was tired of Ash and Pikachu as the protagonists.

Hypothetical scenario:

If you could pitch a Pokemon anime (or manga for that matter) how would you go about it? Keep the same protagonist for each region or switch them up? What about mascot Pokemon? How would the protagonist's team look at the end? What would the final tournament challenge be like? Would there even be a tournament? Anything else you'd change?

[Lethologica]

It's weird that the skill ceiling is reachable in a year, though, right? Just one of those things they have to do because it's a TV show and a video game.

[Aotrs Commander]

@MesiDoomstalker

I'll hold on looking (and why I didn't quote directly), 'cos it won't be long now until I watch the last few episodes of DP...




I have tried watching some of the newer stuff dubbed, but the differences in the voices is really distracting. All I've watched of any of the newer stuff has been subs.

After ten years, I've gotten used to the voice change enough to not notice it, but it was what put me off Battle Frontier, and why I missed DP (to my detriment) until now.




I personally stopped watching the anime just because I was tired of Ash and Pikachu as the protagonists.

But they're the best part!

(Well, when Ash is allowed to actually grow and display his increasing skills and - yes, even occasionally - maturity. Something DP has done rather well, I think.)

My best arguement, though is thus:

Thunder.

Armour.




Hypothetical scenario:

If you could pitch a Pokemon anime (or manga for that matter) how would you go about it? Keep the same protagonist for each region or switch them up? What about mascot Pokemon? How would the protagonist's team look at the end? What would the final tournament challenge be like? Would there even be a tournament? Anything else you'd change?

Honestly... I wouldn't change that much. As mentioned, I rather like Ash and Pikachu. I'd notch the aimed maturity up a couple of notches though - not much, just enough to avoid some of the exposition that we really don't need (like every time some says "that's right, fire types are weak to water types" in the peanut gallery...) I'd break away a little further from the adherance to the game mechanics a little more (I was going to save this for the overview when I finish the series, but I'll say it here - my biggest mark against DP is it's just a little bit to game-y in the way things are done and explained. Pretend like the game mechanics are an imperfect simulation of the reality and they've taken some liberties for interesting game balance.)

As I've often mentioned, I'm a big fan of Saphroneth's huge Ashes of the Past fanfiction. I'd actually do a lot of what he does (one of the reasons I like it is because it does so many things I like). I'd aim for that sort of level; pretty light-hearted, but intense where needed. It also - as I would do - doesn't limit the number of moves the Pokémon know to four, but as many as they can take the time and effort to learn.

I'd drastically drop back Team Rocket's appearances... (Something Ashes also does, and also makes them more competant and more sort-of anti-heroes rather than antagonists and it works very well in the context of the story.) And.. do SOMETHING with Jessie. I dunno what. James I actually have some time for (when he's not being Team Rocket-y, he can be pretty damn awesome), Meowth I can take or leave, but Jessie just grates on my nerves. (The voice doesn't help - no denigration to either voice actress, its the CHARACTER'S voice that is the problem...)



I'd bring back a lot of the older characters much more frequently, and rather than have a whole new set of characters each time, maybe just the one (with Ash sort of acting partly as mentor in his old age...!), plus a rotating mix of the older (i.e. from earlier series) characters, for kicks and giggles and because frankly I'd love to see them all interact more. I love ensemble casts. (And obviously, not keep them statically aging, though I'd definitely make Ash looking like he's really young and short be a running gag.) I'd certainly take DP's vastly increased number of supporting cast (though I'd not exclude the random nameless trainers completely from relevance).

So, were I at the helm, you might see Ash heading to Alola with Misty and Dawn... Or Brock and Gary... Or Zoe and Max... Or Tracy and Paul (yeah, why not? Put him into a few situations of daftnitude and crack his composure a bit... Basically, do a bit of Neij Hyuuga In A Dress syndrome on him (that never isn't funny). Heck, even Sasuke was fun when he was allowed to be the butt of the joke occasionally.)

I'd make way more of Bunary's crush on Pikachu and Bayleef's on Ash, because that's just hilarious. Actually, I'd definitely mine the whole shipping thing around, with Ash completely (or, just occasionally hinted, deliberately) oblivious to it all, 'cos that's damned funny as well. (I am in favour of shipping and romance principally when it can be used as a comedy gold-mine, or at least for cheap laughs.)

I might take pity on Brock a bit though; for all he's... overeager, he is a decent chap when all's said and done. Maybe throw someone at him who pre-empts his flowery "handsome Brock" routine with an equally daft routine of her own, just to see the complete "what in the actual frack" reactions from Brock, his Pokémon and his companions...



Naruto - at it's best - did a fine job with a cast of about fifteen, so I don't see why Pokémon couldn't attempt that a little bit more...!



Huh. Okay, that's perhaps a bit more than "not much," but whatever...!

[TurboGhast]

I personally stopped watching the anime just because I was tired of Ash and Pikachu as the protagonists.

Hypothetical scenario:

If you could pitch a Pokemon anime (or manga for that matter) how would you go about it? Keep the same protagonist for each region or switch them up? What about mascot Pokemon? How would the protagonist's team look at the end? What would the final tournament challenge be like? Would there even be a tournament? Anything else you'd change?

I'd probably switch to a different protagonist when switching regions, so that characters have cohesive ends to their story arcs, and to prevent power resets. Older protagonists could show up in later regions.
I'd deliberately place focus on Pokémon without a lot of focus, rather than mascots. Final teams for the protagonist would vary in size from six to ten members, with members being rotated out occasionally if it's past six. Typing balance would be considered and advanced strategies from the games would appear in the hands of skilled trainers.
The finale would probably vary by region. The Elite Four probably wouldn't require winning a tournament to challenge them on top of getting the gym badges, but tournament as finale could still occur with unrelated tournaments, or the final battle could be against the villainous team instead of the champion.

EDIT: The question doesn't state whether we're making something new or changing the existing anime, this is assuming I'm making something new.

[Flickerdart]

It's weird that the skill ceiling is reachable in a year, though, right? Just one of those things they have to do because it's a TV show and a video game.
Who says that's the skill ceiling? It's one thing to rack up enough badges to challenge the Elite Four (you see loads of trainers on Victory Road) but it's another thing entirely to actually challenge them and win.

And then there are things like Battle Frontier where you can only go once you've beaten the Champion, and where way, way, way stronger trainers congregate in massive numbers. As far back as Gold/Silver, it took Red (a much better trainer than Ash, or for that matter anyone else in the games) three years to get from "beat the Elite Four" good to "level 70 and 80 Pokemon" good.

[cobaltstarfire]

After ten years, I've gotten used to the voice change enough to not notice it, but it was what put me off Battle Frontier, and why I missed DP (to my detriment) until now.


I don't have ten years of watching to help me get used to them unfortunately. I stopped watching before the voices changed because of a combination of being too busy from school, and/or not having access to a tv at all, it was so long ago that I can't really keep my memories from that far back straight. It's just something I have to accept. It doesn't help that ontop of the voices feeling distressingly off to me they often add really cringeworthy pop music in place of the nice orchestral track of the originals.

[Aotrs Commander]

I don't have ten years of watching to help me get used to them unfortunately. I stopped watching before the voices changed because of a combination of being too busy from school, and/or not having access to a tv at all, it was so long ago that I can't really keep my memories from that far back straight. It's just something I have to accept. It doesn't help that ontop of the voices feeling distressingly off to me they often add really cringeworthy pop music in place of the nice orchestral track of the originals.

I haven't been watching it, either - I stopped watching regularly after Advanced Battle. But ten years and the odd periodic episode softened the blow somewhat. And by the time I'd got several episodes into Diamond & Pearl, it had softened enough I'd didn't notice it anymore.

DP isn't a bad one to pick up actually - with a new main protagonist and it... Not being a bit pants like what little of BW I've seen. I would definitely say it's one of the strongest arcs in the series - maybe even the strongest. There are way less filler episodes and almost none in the first season; and even many of the fillers are a bit higher standard.

[Hiro Protagonest]

I'd probably switch to a different protagonist when switching regions, so that characters have cohesive ends to their story arcs, and to prevent power resets. Older protagonists could show up in later regions.
I'd deliberately place focus on Pokémon without a lot of focus, rather than mascots. Final teams for the protagonist would vary in size from six to ten members, with members being rotated out occasionally if it's past six. Typing balance would be considered and advanced strategies from the games would appear in the hands of skilled trainers.
The finale would probably vary by region. The Elite Four probably wouldn't require winning a tournament to challenge them on top of getting the gym badges, but tournament as finale could still occur with unrelated tournaments, or the final battle could be against the villainous team instead of the champion.

*Cough* Pokemon Adventures

[Manticoran]

Looking at getting into watching the shows, since it has been *ages* since I watched them last. Any recommendations on where to find good subs? This is being triggered by me seeing Pokemon Indigo on Netflix... And then recoiling in horror at the English Dub of the show.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

I'm interpreting the question as "what would you do with the/a pokémon series if you were approached to tackle it and do things differently than so far?" This is not going to happen to anybody, Ash is staying, but it's a nice thought experiment.

I might give the series more protagonists, using the recipe for characters like Brock and Misty and all Ash's other companions a bit. They're characters about whom you know all the important stuff after seeing half an episode, and who you remember correctly ten seconds into their next appearance. They're also characters who don't have everything in the world revolving around them. One episode you're watching "rock pokémon guy who can't be near women" and "the drawing guy with the marill", next episode it's the turn of "pokémon beauty competition girl", "that girl with those water pokémon plus the one that looks like an egg" and "that weird talking Meowth". And the episode after that we follow yet a third group, who meets with either of the first two and mixes the teams up. It's not as attractive for binge watching maybe, nor for really irregular viewers, but it's pretty good for semi-regular out of order viewers. And there can still be some kind of overarching storyline, it's just going to end up fragmented differently.

The big draw is probably that people can have genuine skill without them looking like they found the cheat codes for life, as Ash often does outside of big competition matches. There is bound to be a character who likes physically strong pokémon and trains them in hand to hand techniques who can be a legitimate contender in the Pokémon K1 or Pokémon sumo wrestling. And another character likes fast pokémon and can do pokémon racing and extreme pokémon/pokémon racing on a skateboard. Maybe that last one has one or more birds as well, or a scyther or something, and they can do the episodes where they find someone in the forest by letting the flyer scout. There would be less potential for switching to an entirely new generation of pokémon every few years, the teams need some continuity, or it might get too confusing, but there could be additions and leavers over time. I'd avoid giving them too many pokémon per person. It's kind of weird when you think about it how Ash travels around with some tiny funny pokémon, trains them all the time and then decides they're not strong enough yet, so he'll just handle the real matches using some random pokémon he never spent more than a few days with since their capture. Let them travel and battle with their real teams.

[Lord Raziere]

If I had control over the anime....

I'd probably make it the fan fiction I'm already writing. My own protagonist, actual goals other than some nebulous "to be a master" motivation that doesn't really mean anything, my own take on the pokemon world in general, a start in Kalos, and just generally doing everything my way. The goal for my protagonist would actually be to capture Mew and wouldn't be concerned at all about being the "best" or "strongest" trainer ever- they would just want to catch the pokemon they'd want to catch, train and befriend them and battle with them. I'd err on the side of awesome. though I'd probably leave everything a little jokey, snarky and ridiculous as a result. Also no lack of progress- no resets like with Ash, and would probably make fun of the concept at the same time.

[noparlpf]

Buddy update is live, at least in several parts of the US.

[enderlord99]

http://0.media.dorkly.cvcdn.com/94/33/8be5902b29a2ba9934953bae1b7a674c-pokemon-alola-forms-we-wish-were-real.jpg

[cobaltstarfire]

Looking at getting into watching the shows, since it has been *ages* since I watched them last. Any recommendations on where to find good subs? This is being triggered by me seeing Pokemon Indigo on Netflix... And then recoiling in horror at the English Dub of the show.

I don't think the forum rules allow us to really point you towards subs...cause they're not technically legal.

[Manticoran]

I don't think the forum rules allow us to really point you towards subs...cause they're not technically legal.

...There's actually nowhere legal to find subs of these shows? That's insane.

[noparlpf]

Fansubs and scanlations can be kind of a fuzzy area, but once a show gets licensed in your home country and there's an official dub, yeah, it's technically piracy to download a subbed version of the original dub. Which is kinda weird, because the content you want (the Japanese dub) still isn't actually available in your country, just the localised dub. But I guess if you're concerned with doing things legitimately, you could always buy the original Japanese dub on dvd (or whatever the kids use for video these days), see if you can find srt subtitles online, and hope they're synced to the videos you bought.

[Flickerdart]

I've got the Pokemon GO buddy update! They raised km requirements to get candy (groups are 1, 3, 5 instead of 1, 2, 3), but sometimes your buddy will find 2 candies instead of one.

[noparlpf]

Now I can finally level up my Snorlax (it's still around level 23-24; the rest of my main Pokémon are level 27-28). And my Exeggutor has started to lag behind a little too since it turns out there are hardly any wild Exeggcute around here.

[Aotrs Commander]

*watches Ash getting knocked out of Sinnoh League*

Yep. Pretty much what I expected. Curb-stomp, even if he did manage to push Tobias harder than the other guys. At least he fragging got ONE of the buggers. But even Pikachu can't take five to one.

Which, frankly, seems like bullcrap, as I find it hard to believe anyone other than Ash competant enough to get into the semi-finals wouldn't have specifically planned for fighting Darkrai.

(I agree with Pokemopolis - aside from the last bit with Pikachu vs Latios, it wasn't even an interesting fight, it was just "lookit! My legendary iz ta bestest!" When Ash got stomped on by Paul, you at least felt Paul has earned it with clever tactics and planning. Tobias just boringly brute forced his way through whle being all smug about it. He didn't even get upset much when Ash did beat Darkrai, taking away even that little bit of entertainement.)

In my own mind, when Tobias next enters a league, he gets reamed in the first round by a guy from Kalos (who did his research) who turns up with a lowly Vivillion who friendship-dodges his first attack, sleeps Darkrai and proceeds to level him with quiver dance and bug buzz/hurricane.

(Yes, I'm petty.)

Really though, Ash, what was even the hell with that team? Torkoal? Sceptile? Did... you not even attempt to PLAN for fighting the Darkrai you knew damn well was coming? Torkoal especially seems a really strange choice, especially for second up. Infernape would REALLY have helped there with Mach Punch (given how few fighting and bug moves Ash has). And as for strategy... Pikachu was the only one you really did anything other than "go head to head with clearly stronger Pokémon." Come on, dude, you're better than that.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Wheeeeeeeh, buddies!

I really should go with eggxecutor, but rhyhorn, I choose you!

Took me a while to find the button though. *shame* I was looking in the pokémon menu, but it's in the trainer menu.

[Aotrs Commander]

Whelp. That's it - end of the DP arc and bye bye to Brock (dangit!)

Also, Pikachu - seriously, your would-be girlfriend is going to be a model. Brock would straight up murder a guy to have that sort of oppurtunity, y'know? (Except he wouldn't.) I mean, I'm far from the expert, but maybe missed the boat a bit there, mate? (And we know you're not a clueless as Ash...)



Final thoughts:

Definitely one of the better arcs of the series. The filler was of lower frequency and of higher quality - helped by the much larger recurring cast members. Paul was stellar as an adversary to Ash and in the end, Ash got to him after all (sort of).

Top of the supporting cast was Zoey, I think, with a runner up for Nando. Kenny and Barry were kind of blah, but an improvement over "random trainer of the week."

As I mentioned before, I think my biggest gripe about the series was it was just a little bit too gamey at times. On the one hand, I think they only once forgot a typing (mamoswine being ground verses Ursala's twin Plusle and Minum) and about three times they were right about typing and I was wrong). On the other, it felt as if they could have eased up on the game-mechanic-y exposition from Brock and on the typing advantages.

Tobias remians the second next sticking point (and I can't be alone in that). They could have made a far better job of him than they did - just dropping the "he's only used his Darkrai" angle for one would have madr him seem like somebody's hax self-insert. Unlike basically every other trainer who's beaten Ash when it mattered, Tobias didn't feel like he'd earned the win. And narratively it only existed because of the frack-daft reason that Ash can't win a league and say "y'know what, I'mma do the next league anyway, because damn if I don't love me some travelling and competing" because by DP's own admission, it's not even the end if he wins the league; he's got plenty of places to go.

I think the first season was the most solid in terms of arc, simply because as everyone was catching their Pokémon, it reduced the filler to almost zero. But it also had the really most drab episode of the series as well, so there's that.



I think I need to go watch Battle Frontier, as I sort fo expected, if only to see Ash Win A Thing for once (and I'll start on XY now my DVDs have arrived once I've finished W.i.t.c.h!)

I am trying to decide whether or not to try with BW... we'll see, I guess!

[Red Fel]

Yeah, I'm currently using a Magikarp as my buddy. Not because it's any good, but because (1) Gyarados requires a metric crapton of candy; (2) Magikarp spits out candy every KM, so easy motivation to walk around (which is one of my primary reasons for playing this thing); and (3) I don't yet have a 15-15-15 worth truly powering up, so I'm just going with a "why not"1 Pokemon until I get one.

1 "Why not" / Wynaut puns are not welcome.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Pikachu is 1km/candy, and Raichu has the only decent electric moveset. Easy choice.

[Lethologica]

1 "Why not" / Wynaut puns are not welcome.
https://media.tenor.co/images/c20cb897a883ab6242bbebedfc5df625/raw

[Flickerdart]

Pikachu is 1km/candy, and Raichu has the only decent electric moveset. Easy choice.

Electric Pokemon don't have a use - the only common flyer is Dragonite (resisting electricity thanks to Dragon type), and the common water types are Vaporeon and Lapras (murdering the attacked with brute power). Plus they are all Speed-focused in the main games, and therefore useless in PoGo.

I'm using Charmander as my buddy because he was my starter, he's rarer than Squirtle and Bulbasaur, and Charizard is in the top 20 attackers (unlike Raichu).

[Red Fel]

I'm using Charmander as my buddy because he was my starter, he's rarer than Squirtle and Bulbasaur, and Charizard is in the top 20 attackers (unlike Raichu).

Yeah... Fact is, all of the fully-evolved starters are stable, if not chart-topping like Snorlapradosite. And they do take some solid candy to get to that state. I could see using one as a buddy if I had one worth evolving.

Side note, here's a question: Does an evolved 'mon generate candy at the same rate as prior evolutions? Or do you basically need to keep one unevolved one as a buddy to spawn powerup candies for a bigger evolved one?

[noparlpf]

Pikachu is 1km/candy, and Raichu has the only decent electric moveset. Easy choice.

Electric-types are pretty seriously underpowered in PoGo. The only strong defender worth using an Electric-type against is Gyarados because it doesn't have the weakness to Grass. (Although there's no 4x-effective bonus in PoGo, which kinda sucks). The other two strong Flying-types are Dragonite, which takes neutral damage from Electric anyway, and Charizard, which you're better off facing with a Vaporeon. Other than Flying, what's left is Water-types, and Vaporeon and Lapras are just so overpowered that Raichu and Jolteon can't compete. Something like Exeggutor (stronger overall, but no Grass-type standard move) or Victreebell (a bit weaker, but gets Razor Leaf) is better if you're looking for a type advantage against Vaporeon. As for Lapras, it can actually only learn Ice-type or Dragon-type moves, so it's actually not a bad idea to face it with an Arcanine or maybe a high-level Flareon; you only hit neutral, but its attacks are mostly weak against Fire-types.

[Flickerdart]

Yeah... Fact is, all of the fully-evolved starters are stable, if not chart-topping like Snorlapradosite. And they do take some solid candy to get to that state. I could see using one as a buddy if I had one worth evolving.
I was fortunate that of the few Charmanders I've encountered, two were hatched, giving me 80 and 89% perfection specimens. But I'm using my starter one as a buddy, because come on, that's just the obvious thing to do.



Side note, here's a question: Does an evolved 'mon generate candy at the same rate as prior evolutions? Or do you basically need to keep one unevolved one as a buddy to spawn powerup candies for a bigger evolved one?

Same, I'm pretty sure.


(Although there's no 4x-effective bonus in PoGo, which kinda sucks)
I thought there was? Double weakness, anyway. For a total 2x modifier.


*Arcanine and Gyarados as defenders*
I see this a lot, but it's such a terrible idea. Save your monsters for attacking, and slot in a Bubble Poliwrath or Confusion Exeggutor, which are dirt-common and much more resilient.

[noparlpf]

I thought there was? Double weakness, anyway. For a total 2x modifier.

Oh wait, apparently there is something. Either I was just misremembering, or nobody had figured out that part of the code last time I checked.

So super effective does 1.25x damage, double super effective does 1.56x damage, not very effective does 0.8x damage, and double not very effective does 0.64x damage.

And it seems like no-effect type combos were simplified to standard not-very-effective.


I see this a lot, but it's such a terrible idea. Save your monsters for attacking, and slot in a Bubble Poliwrath or Confusion Exeggutor, which are dirt-common and much more resilient.

Yeah, seriously. Although it does vary by area; there are hardly any Poliwag or Exeggcute up here, so my Exeggutor is lagging behind a couple of levels now.

Personally I've been working on raising an extra five high-IV Vaporeon for the gyms around here, aside from my main team Vaporeon that's already at its current max level.

[Flickerdart]

extra five high-IV Vaporeon
How common is Eevee where you live? You don't need any Poliwag or Exeggcute when your go-to strategy is "I can just get more Vaporeons."

[Lord Raziere]

In my own mind, when Tobias next enters a league, he gets reamed in the first round by a guy from Kalos (who did his research) who turns up with a lowly Vivillion who friendship-dodges his first attack, sleeps Darkrai and proceeds to level him with quiver dance and bug buzz/hurricane.

(Yes, I'm petty.)


If it makes you feel better, league winners go on to fight the Elite Four and the Champion....and Cynthia when we see her later, is still the Champion of Sinnoh. meaning, either one of the Elite Four beat Tobias, or Cynthia did it herself.

meaning despite all of Tobias's power, he either lost against Cynthia-one of the hardest fights an most badass trainers in pokemon- or he never got to her.

[noparlpf]

How common is Eevee where you live? You don't need any Poliwag or Exeggcute when your go-to strategy is "I can just get more Vaporeons."

Fairly common, but it's actually just that 90% of my 10km eggs hatch Eevee.

[Flickerdart]

Fairly common, but it's actually just that 90% of my 10km eggs hatch Eevee.
I wish I had your problem, all I get are Electabuzz. Barely have one competitive Vaporeon to my name.

My top guys right now are:
2186 Exeggutor: 87%, Zen Headbutt/Solarbeam
2065 Vaporeon: 93%, Water Gun/Hydro Pump
1835 Poliwrath: Something dumb like 40%, Bubble/Ice Punch
1758 Gyarados: Doesn't matter because Twister
1736 Flareon: 40%, only evolved him because the Eevee was max-level

Then goes a wild Vaporeon I caught with middling IVs at 1569, Victreebel rounds out my 1500+ roster with 1556, followed by Golduck, Starmie, Vileplume, and Nidoqueen.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Side note, here's a question: Does an evolved 'mon generate candy at the same rate as prior evolutions? Or do you basically need to keep one unevolved one as a buddy to spawn powerup candies for a bigger evolved one?

That first one, looks like (https://www.reddit.com/r/TheSilphRoad/comments/524kzl/buddykms_list/). The distances are the same, and I don't expect a difference in the chance to spawn multiple candies or something.

[BiblioRook]

If it makes you feel better, league winners go on to fight the Elite Four and the Champion....and Cynthia when we see her later, is still the Champion of Sinnoh. meaning, either one of the Elite Four beat Tobias, or Cynthia did it herself.

meaning despite all of Tobias's power, he either lost against Cynthia-one of the hardest fights an most badass trainers in pokemon- or he never got to her.

Granted I don;t know one way or another on how things actually ended up but I was just thinking about how Ash never actually ever ends up beating the Elite Four of a given area as well as how Iris is his main travel companion in the Best Wishes anime who (in the games at least) eventually becomes that region's Champion. It probably didn't happen like this but it's amusing to think that by the time Ash took on the Elite Four in the Unova region that he proceeded to try and fail as usual only for Iris to try right after him and mop the floor with them.

[Aotrs Commander]

Oh COME ON, Battle Frontier!

Queen Lucy was totally into Brock! He was, like IN there! Seriously!

Max, you little thing-I'm-not-allowed-to-say-n-the-forums-blocker!

Frag dammit!

*skulldesk*

*skulldesk*

I mean, this is a weird stance coming from me, but dear FRAG at this point even I want to see Brock catch a break! (And yes, I know this is set before DP so couldnt have happened, shut-up!)

(Ever more appreiative of Ashs of the past actually setting him up with someone...)




Actually, this might show why Lucy is a Frontier Brain; she's might be smart/perceptive enough to instantly see something in Brock that almost no-one else does until they actually get to know him...

[Alabenson]

If it makes you feel better, league winners go on to fight the Elite Four and the Champion....and Cynthia when we see her later, is still the Champion of Sinnoh. meaning, either one of the Elite Four beat Tobias, or Cynthia did it herself.

meaning despite all of Tobias's power, he either lost against Cynthia-one of the hardest fights an most badass trainers in pokemon- or he never got to her.

Considering one of the Sinnoh elite 4 is a bug type specialist (a weakness shared by Darkrai and Latios), my guess is that Tobias never even got to Cynthia.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

How does that even work in the series, the elite 4? Do you have to marathon them like in the games, making it really unfair, or are they simply scary good compared to any trainer we've ever seen other than perhaps Tobias himself? After all, even if his other four pokémon are no legendaries themselves but "just" the badasses that helped him catch those two his team could easily handle any two opponents he met in that tournament.

(Alternate explanation: the elite 4 are actually complete pushovers, and Tobias had no interest in joining them, so he pulled a Red (gold/silver/crystal) and left the old guard in charge.

[Woodzyowl]

Actually, this might show why Lucy is a Frontier Brain; she's might be smart/perceptive enough to instantly see something in Brock that almost no-one else does until they actually get to know him...

His eyes. You're thinking of his eyes.

[Kitten Champion]

How does that even work in the series, the elite 4? Do you have to marathon them like in the games, making it really unfair, or are they simply scary good compared to any trainer we've ever seen other than perhaps Tobias himself? After all, even if his other four pokémon are no legendaries themselves but "just" the badasses that helped him catch those two his team could easily handle any two opponents he met in that tournament.

Although the actual answer for the anime is probably just an unintelligible mumble followed by a dismissive cough and quick change of subject, in my mind there's probably another level of competition with broader media attention and more experienced contestants (i.e. adults) than the one we see prepubescent Ash participate in.

In this theoretical superior league the Elite Four represent the highest seeds. Something like the professional tennis association I suppose - with a complicated ranking system - but the Four get more leeway as top-ranked contestants than in tennis and can arrange individual challenges between them rather than having grand slams or whatever.



(Alternate explanation: the elite 4 are actually complete pushovers, and Tobias had no interest in joining them, so he pulled a Red (gold/silver/crystal) and left the old guard in charge.

...and he just shows up in every subsequent regional league Ash participates in, with new freshly caught Legendary Pokemon in his team. Next time we see him he arrives into the Alola league on Arceus-back, and just crushes everyone with his MissingNo,

[Hunter Noventa]

In unrelated news, I've been playing Pokemon Red on my New 3DS (i got the pokemon edition one). And I've been exploiting item duplication via Missingno for fun and profit. Mostly duplicating TMs that don't exist past Gen 1 to see how many weird moves I can get into Sun/Moon once that part of Pokebank is set up. I hope they don't mess with those and let them be passed down via breeding. Having pay Day as a TM is hilarious, as is Water Gun.

[noparlpf]

Wait, did they actually say they would let you transfer Pokémon from the 1st gen games up?

[Hunter Noventa]

Wait, did they actually say they would let you transfer Pokémon from the 1st gen games up?

Yes, they've specifically said you'll be able to move Pokemon from the VC versions of RBY up to Pokemon Bank, and from there to Sun/Moon. If they don't mess with the moves they know in the process, it could result in hilarious things like a Machamp with No Guard that knows Fissure.

They also made VC RBY able to trade using the 3DS wireless, which is pretty cool. But yeah we don't have more details other than that it would be possible. I'm not sure how they'd handle IVs and EVs, given that those are completely different in RBY.

[Aotrs Commander]

His eyes. You're thinking of his eyes.

That's one of those things that starts off being funny and become more hilariously accurate the more you think about it.



New crack theory (after watching Ash and Anabelle the Frontier Brain no.6): Ash is not actually completely oblivious to girls, but just pretends he is, to cover up his long-running secret relationship with the only girl he ever showed overt interest in - Giselle, from alllll the way back in The School of Hard Knocks.

Discuss. (Or ignore, one of the two...)



But seriously, wow. Them frontier brains lasses seem to have an eye for Our Heroes, don't they?

...

Oh dear Lichemaster, please do not let Brandon does't have a Thing for May.

Or Max.

Or Pikachu.

[BiblioRook]

Or Pikachu.

Pikachu only has eyes for Ketchup (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNJ5D4_TCp0)

[cobaltstarfire]

In unrelated news, I've been playing Pokemon Red on my New 3DS (i got the pokemon edition one). And I've been exploiting item duplication via Missingno for fun and profit. Mostly duplicating TMs that don't exist past Gen 1 to see how many weird moves I can get into Sun/Moon once that part of Pokebank is set up. I hope they don't mess with those and let them be passed down via breeding. Having pay Day as a TM is hilarious, as is Water Gun.

I'm kind of surprised to hear that they left Missingno in! That's kind of neat.

I've heard people in the competitive scene(s) are a little worried about how moves learnable in only gen 1 might cause some waves in the various modern metagames.

[Hunter Noventa]

I'm kind of surprised to hear that they left Missingno in! That's kind of neat.

I've heard people in the competitive scene(s) are a little worried about how moves learnable in only gen 1 might cause some waves in the various modern metagames.

They left all the glitches in. The only thing that was changed is that the emulator playing the game can catch an attempt to link trade and has the protocol to connect it to your Wi-Fi. I found a list of moves only learnable by TM in Gen1 and it wasn't THAT impressive, the Machamp I mentioned earlier is the big one.

We still have no idea how they're going to assign IVs or abilities to imported mons.

[Flickerdart]

We still have no idea how they're going to assign IVs or abilities to imported mons.
Generation I Pokemon already had IVs. In Gen II (where Special was split up) SpAtk and SpDef IVs would be identical when a Pokemon was imported from Gen I.

As for abilities, it might be a random assignment based on the Pokemon's species.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Generation I Pokemon already had IVs. In Gen II (where Special was split up) SpAtk and SpDef IVs would be identical when a Pokemon was imported from Gen I.

The first two gens had something called DVs instead.

[Aotrs Commander]

Pikachu only has eyes for Ketchup (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNJ5D4_TCp0)

One of the reasons I've always liked Pikachu is his impecable taste.

[cobaltstarfire]

Generation I Pokemon already had IVs. In Gen II (where Special was split up) SpAtk and SpDef IVs would be identical when a Pokemon was imported from Gen I.

As for abilities, it might be a random assignment based on the Pokemon's species.


IV's in gen I and II are not the same as all the IV's in future generations. EV's were also different.

I do kind of wonder how those differences will be handled. Looking it up on bulbapedia, IV's ranged from 0-15, and you could max out the EV's on all of a pokemons stats. (with the max for each being 65535)

edit: I wonder if it'll be possible to have a transfered pokemon turn out to be shiny, since shinyness is attached to another hidden value that didn't exist in generation I that will likely be generated upon transfer, or if they'll be locked out of being shiny like some event monsters are.

[Quietus]

IV's in gen I and II are not the same as all the IV's in future generations. EV's were also different.

I do kind of wonder how those differences will be handled. Looking it up on bulbapedia, IV's ranged from 0-15, and you could max out the EV's on all of a pokemons stats. (with the max for each being 65535)

edit: I wonder if it'll be possible to have a transfered pokemon turn out to be shiny, since shinyness is attached to another hidden value that didn't exist in generation I that will likely be generated upon transfer, or if they'll be locked out of being shiny like some event monsters are.

I suspect for things like shiny qualities, they'll just roll that number when the pokemon arrives in the later generations. Usually moves like this are one way only, so it's not like you can trade them back and forth waiting for it to hit that magic shiny number.

[cobaltstarfire]

Yes I know, that's what I said.

Shinyness is tied to a hidden value, which like I said I assume would be assigned upon transfer.

In the past they have shinylocked event pokemon, basically made it so that when you generate them they cannot have a value that would have them shiny.

I'm basically wondering if they will shinylock pokemon from the VC games.

[Squark]

Wooh! Finally bred an Adamant Marill with 5 perfect IVs, Huge Power, Belly Drum, and Aqua Jet.

Regarding Gen 1 shinies: Gen 2 apparently used a pokemon's IVs to calculate whether or not was shiny, so that method could work if Game Freak didn't want to generate any new numbers.

[cobaltstarfire]

I'm not wondering how they will generate the numbers.

I'm wondering if they will be locked out like many event legendarily are.

[MesiDoomstalker]

As far as Gen 1 only moves, the only things I've noticed that are noteable is Counter (lots of things get it), Softboiled Mew (through the Mew glitch), Seismic Toss Chansey, Fissure Machamp (as already mentioned). Thats... pretty much it. The only other move that I saw that was only obtainable in Gen 1 (and is worthwhile competitively) is Double-Edge, but no pokemon with an -iliate ability exists in Gen 1, so thats only an issue if Gen 1 mon get -iliate abilities (or Megas with -iliate abilities) in Sun and Moon or later games. I guess one could do some kind of gimmicky set with Mimic (lots of things get Mimic). I think there are other oddball gimmicky moves, but that's just it. Gimmicks.

[Squark]

I'm not wondering how they will generate the numbers.

I'm wondering if they will be locked out like many event legendarily are.Oh, yeah, that's a possibility. Honestly, I could see Mews being untransferable since they're glitches. I was just adding my two cents on how the numbers could be generated if Game Freak didn't allow for Shiny Gen 1 pokemon.


As far as Gen 1 only moves, the only things I've noticed that are noteable is Counter (lots of things get it), Softboiled Mew (through the Mew glitch), Seismic Toss Chansey, Fissure Machamp (as already mentioned). Thats... pretty much it. The only other move that I saw that was only obtainable in Gen 1 (and is worthwhile competitively) is Double-Edge, but no pokemon with an -iliate ability exists in Gen 1, so thats only an issue if Gen 1 mon get -iliate abilities (or Megas with -iliate abilities) in Sun and Moon or later games. I guess one could do some kind of gimmicky set with Mimic (lots of things get Mimic). I think there are other oddball gimmicky moves, but that's just it. Gimmicks.

Well, Surfing Pikachus would make their triumphant return, but on the other hand, Aolan Raichus are going to be surfing anyway, and neither is a major competitive force.

[MesiDoomstalker]

Oh, yeah, that's a possibility. Honestly, I could see Mews being untransferable since they're glitches. I was just adding my two cents on how the numbers could be generated if Game Freak didn't allow for Shiny Gen 1 pokemon.



Well, Surfing Pikachus would make their triumphant return, but on the other hand, Aolan Raichus are going to be surfing anyway, and neither is a major competitive force.

Actually, Surfing Pikachu is relatively easy to get. I forget which game it is, but one of the Pokemon games for Wii gives out a Pikachu with Surf as a reward for a relatively easy task, which you can repeat by deleting your save data. Transfer to Gen 4 game, then 5 then 6 (and then 7).

[Alabenson]

As far as Gen 1 only moves, the only things I've noticed that are noteable is Counter (lots of things get it), Softboiled Mew (through the Mew glitch), Seismic Toss Chansey, Fissure Machamp (as already mentioned). Thats... pretty much it. The only other move that I saw that was only obtainable in Gen 1 (and is worthwhile competitively) is Double-Edge, but no pokemon with an -iliate ability exists in Gen 1, so thats only an issue if Gen 1 mon get -iliate abilities (or Megas with -iliate abilities) in Sun and Moon or later games. I guess one could do some kind of gimmicky set with Mimic (lots of things get Mimic). I think there are other oddball gimmicky moves, but that's just it. Gimmicks.

You do know Chansey can get Seismic Toss in Gen VI via breeding (Primeape to Mawile to Chansey)

[noparlpf]

Actually, Surfing Pikachu is relatively easy to get. I forget which game it is, but one of the Pokemon games for Wii gives out a Pikachu with Surf as a reward for a relatively easy task, which you can repeat by deleting your save data. Transfer to Gen 4 game, then 5 then 6 (and then 7).

I can't remember, but didn't the gen 4 to 5 transfer system lock out HM moves? I feel like there was something to prevent my Flying Pikachu from the Pokéwalker from coming up to newer games.

[MesiDoomstalker]

You do know Chansey can get Seismic Toss in Gen VI via breeding (Primeape to Mawile to Chansey)

I did not. When XY came out, I looked into making a competetive team. At the time, that info wasn't widespread, and since I saw I needed a FRLG tranferred Chansey, I said screw it.

[Aotrs Commander]

So... (eventually, after all sorts of technical issues that in the end made me watch it on my PC) I watched my Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea DVD.

It was... kind of a bit bleh, until then suddenly Ash Motherfrackin' Ketchum did his usual rountine. Which was so hilariously, ridiculously badass that it made up for the near complete lack of actual Pokemon battling in the rest of the movie.

And then Ash Ketchum was Aquaman. And not the lame Aquaman, the whole "king of the sea, remember," rides on Cthulu's head Aquaman.

The titular ranger... Was completely and totally useless in pretty much every regard post the opening credit and had his bloody job done for him by a 12-13 year old kid.

That said, it could have been resvoled a hell of a lot earlier if Ash, May and Brock had just used the dozen or so Pokémon (sans Corphish) to beat p a fat old beard prat who probably had not more than three Pokémon on him...

Also, ye gods, how much thicker do you want to lay in ot poor old May. Mother at ten, forcibly seperated from her adoptive child is one thing, but no, we had to get to the whole "wuv you" thing as well. I've not seen that so daft since the Wave Arc backstory of Naruto with the puppy that Naruto Abridged rightly puntured in its heyday...



Oooh, I can't wait to see how Ashes of the Past handles this...




Edit: Pikachu's Island Adventure, on the other hand, was almost unwatchable, solely due to utterly idiotic decisoion to have the narrator narrate everything, like it was a bad program for very small children. The story wasn't complex, it absolutely did not need the narrator adding dialogue (which I'm sure must be only in the English dub). They didn't even have him do a convincing job (clearly by design, because I'm sure the voice actor could do better than that). It might have been entertaining if they'd left well alone, as it was, the urine-poor narratiuon completely ruined any comedy value it might have had.

[Kuroten]

I did not. When XY came out, I looked into making a competetive team. At the time, that info wasn't widespread, and since I saw I needed a FRLG tranferred Chansey, I said screw it.

I bred a shiny Chansey with the egg moves: Counter, Heal Bell, Metronome, Seismic Toss a long time ago. I might still have one of the leftovers in a Pokebank box somewhere if you're interested in a ST Chansey.

Edit: Yeah had a look. I got 3 boxes of them still lying around...
Calm Nature, 5 IVs (the 6th is random), Love Ball Chansey

[MesiDoomstalker]

I bred a shiny Chansey with the egg moves: Counter, Heal Bell, Metronome, Seismic Toss a long time ago. I might still have one of the leftovers in a Pokebank box somewhere if you're interested in a ST Chansey.

Naw, I'm good. SM is so close anyways, I'd rather wait to see where the Meta settles at before starting to build a team (or 20) again.

[Illven]

Guess who caught a shiny oddish in their hoenn random flying monolocke.

This guy.

Thing is,

Do I replace my team of Pidgeot, Crobat, Xatu, Mantine, Aerodactyl, and Zapdos, for a Vileplume or Bellosom?

[cobaltstarfire]

Has anyone else checked out Pokemon Generations (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQWzKIaERirwv9M89dxN3bNLY0PyuChOU) yet? (sorry if I missed someone else bringing it up)

The first one is kind of a quick little trip through each generation, and the second one is Looker trying to catch Giovanni (takes place a bit after red and blue would have gotten their Earth Badges)

It looks interesting, and like it'll be following threads similar to Origins or Special in terms of tone and stuff. (pokemon fight a bit nastier, and lean more towards animal-like utterances rather than flat out saying their name)

[Maryring]

I've seen em. It was fun to see Pikachu go from an adorable naive greenhorn that jumps around randomly to dodge a string shot and tries to thundershock earth types, to stone cold badassing a fight against Volcorona where they prop up a stone panel as a shield and then volt tackles a semi-legendary into submission. :smallbiggrin:

[Lvl 2 Expert]

The titular ranger... Was completely and totally useless in pretty much every regard post the opening credit and had his bloody job done for him by a 12-13 year old kid.

I thought the ranger was easily the best thing about the movie, elevating it from barely watchable (How are you thirsty and out of water? You have like 10 water type pokémon with you!) to pretty darn awesome. I've excepted that Ash is for some reason always going to save the world, and do it completely by itself, so I gave the guy a pass on that aspect. I loved his over the top style. The movie dresses him up as a clown, and I figure that's a Bond reference, because this ranger basically is Bond. When the credits roll we see Ash and friends wave goodbye and walk off, we see the ranger flirt with the local Jenny and than catch Zapdos as his ride back to base. The things he does when the story does not bend over backwards to make Ash the main character are pretty darn cool, in ridiculous but good way. And even when Ash is around he's cool enough to make Ash, who has been completely focused on competitive battling for the last several years, fantasize about becoming a ranger.

What I also liked was every so often Ash's voice noticably drops a bit, and the things he says that way are open to interpretation but sound (to me) like very "bro-ey", sometimes even douchebaggy comments. When May says something like "I guess it's hard to be a mother" and Ash answers "yup" it really sounds like he means "sucks to be you". (Spoiler: No, May is not pregnant in this movie.)

Those are basically the things I really enjoyed about the movie. The temple itself looked pretty cool, but made no sense at all. The screen filling swarms of water types were pretty cool though.

[Aotrs Commander]

Okay.

Is it just me (and Pokemopolis), but are the Rangers in the anime... Just really really kind of dubious in their entire set-up? Because the more I see of them, the more you see when they're trying to capture something, the more alarmed the Pokémon become. (And they are about as effectual as Jenny, since nearly all the time, they end up having their jobs done for them by Ash. Or MAX. They're like the ANBU of Pokémon.)

You can't help but feel that their whole schick seems completely contrary to.. Like every other thing about dealing with Pokémon (y'know, befriending them, making bonds etc).

I mean, I'm watching the Deoxys Crisis two-parter an the Ranger's first response is "try to capture Deoxys repeatedly" and it's only fracking MAX who is being like "um, maybe we should try, I dunno, TALKING to it first?" What even would she do if she DID capture it?

It just feels to me this whole capture thing (aside fom looking, I'm sorry, COMPLETELY FRACKING STUPID) is basically trying to short cut by... Well, it really can't be described as anything other than sort of mind-control... All the hard work of actually befriending and capturing Pokémon to use them like a sort of utility belt and then discard them. I mean, it's not even like they do anything other than, if the Pokémon is lucky, they get a half-hearted "thanks for being my tool/transport." The more I see of them, the more dubious I find the whole thing.

It just... They don't even ASK. Trainers, at least, either battle or outright (if you're a GOOD trainer, like Ash) just say "hey, wanna come along with me, mate?" The rangers are like "I'mma just steal you away from whatever you're doing, expose you to whatever danger I need you for and then release you with maybe a 'soz for mucking your day up, mate.'"

The fact they they don't carry a full team of their own Pokémon around is just... IDIOTIC. So instead of using wild Pokémon to SUPPLEMENT their own team in a pinch (perhaps, by, I dunno, ASKING), they just rely on just happening to be lucky enough that a "useful" Pokémon is around whenever they want to do anything.

The idea of the Pokémon Rangers is sound; the implementation is... appalling, both thematically and in the utterly ridiculous way they tried to tie in the entirely-a-touch-screen-gimmick game mechanic. Actually, the basic premise of the ranger games themselves sort of fall apart when viewed in the context of the rest of the world.




I thought the ranger was easily the best thing about the movie, elevating it from barely watchable (How are you thirsty and out of water? You have like 10 water type pokémon with you!) to pretty darn awesome. I've excepted that Ash is for some reason always going to save the world, and do it completely by itself, so I gave the guy a pass on that aspect. I loved his over the top style. The movie dresses him up as a clown, and I figure that's a Bond reference, because this ranger basically is Bond. When the credits roll we see Ash and friends wave goodbye and walk off, we see the ranger flirt with the local Jenny and than catch Zapdos as his ride back to base. The things he does when the story does not bend over backwards to make Ash the main character are pretty darn cool, in ridiculous but good way. And even when Ash is around he's cool enough to make Ash, who has been completely focused on competitive battling for the last several years, fantasize about becoming a ranger.

I might have agreed with you, right up to the point he was like "yes, I know what Manaphy wants to do, let's take it away from the mother it's bonded to, because it's not like IT should have any choice it what is does or anything."

So about the best thing I can say about him is "more competant than Officer Jenny," which is about as damning with faint praise as I can think of... And let's remember that's a level that extends to one Jenny (who OWNS A POKÉMON) not believing it was possible for people and pokémon to communicate.

And, case in point, said dude in the credit grabs a Zapdos to go fly him somewhere. SERIOUSLY? What, you went all the way up the mountain for find a Zapdos (who is legendary, and probably has better things to be doing) to fly you around, and then have to no doubt fly back however many miles you flew to your destination for nowt more than a "cheers mate?"

And yet you won't carry Pokéballs with your own bloody Pokémon (e.g. Pidgeot, Dragonite) to do that sort of thing, you'd rather interrupt some poor wild Pokémon's day?

Yeah, REAL friendly to nature, that is, matey.



Edit: Ye gods that Deoxys Crisis two-parter was so STUPID.

That above rant said, I owe Jacky a bit of an apology - he at least only used capturing when he had to (transport above notwithstanding) and it wasn't his Plan A for dealing with any crisis situation like Salona there. And... She didn't have a Plan B, her entire plan for dealing with the situation started and ended with "capture deoxys." So, he is clearly one of the better rangers (though again, that bar is set pretty low).

Jacky, at least, you feel, might have actually tried to save Max and Meowth himself and not let himself be COMPLETELY shown up by a ten-tear old girl. (In the movie, he had at least the excuse he wasn't literally standing right in front of the endangered party and had made a legitimate and reasonable assumption that everyone else had gotten out).

[noparlpf]

Yesterday driving home from class I passed a Lapras and had to make a u-turn to pull over for it. (The one day of the week I drive instead of biking. But I don't really feel like biking home after an eight-hour day with four hours in the cadaver lab.) Now the only two single-stage Pokémon I need are Porygon and Aerodactyl. I'm one or two Bulbasaur (which pop up here once or twice a week) from evolving a Venusaur, and then once I've walked my Snorlax and Exeggutor enough to level them up to the rest of my team, I guess it'll be a couple weeks of walking my Grimer, Kabuto, and Dratini to evolve them and finish up the North America dex. (The other day while I was at my usual two-Pokéstop spot to restock items I ran into a wild Dragonite completely out of nowhere, but it's a low level and has terrible IVs. And I still don't have Dragonair registered because I've been waiting for 125 candies to evolve a high-IV Dratini I hatched.) After that I guess I'll work on grinding out starter candies so I can evolve a better Squirtle and Charmander I hatched.

Does anybody else think there's probably a rarity chart hidden within the different egg distance groups? There's no way Lapras and Aerodactyl are the same rarity as Eevee. I've hatched mainly Eevee from 10km eggs, then a few Onix, and I think one each of Dratini, Kabuto, Omanyte, Jynx, Hitmonlee, and Hitmonchan.


Edit: Pikachu's Island Adventure, on the other hand, was almost unwatchable, solely due to utterly idiotic decision to have the narrator narrate everything, like it was a bad program for very small children.

I mean, wasn't it a program for very small children?

[BiblioRook]

So looks like information about the anime is starting to come out, or at the very least there's a promotional poster for it.
http://nintendoeverything.com/wp-content/uploads/pokemon-sun-moon-anime.jpg

So things I think are important points? Well Rowlet is clearly going to be Ash's Alola starter for one. Also it's looking like I was right with Mallow (the green haired girl) being the new travel companion what with her focus in the poster compared to everybody else as well as the complete lack of the female player character. Oh, and the Rotom Pokedex, but that basically could have been assumed. At first I thought that Charizard was also going to play a big part but then I noticed Kiawe (the fire guy) riding him so I guess it's not going to be Ash's Charizard. It also makes sense that they would be making good use out of Lapras given how much surfing will be needed getting around the Alola region. Also Rockruff and... Sharpedo? Another interesting point is that Jesse and James look like they will be getting a Bewear and Mimikyu, that sounds like it should be amusing. Oddly no sign of Legendaries (unless you count Tapu Koko) or Ultra Beasts or even much in the way of Alola forms.

The one thing I'm most interested in seeing with the poster though? A complete lack of X and Y stuff. I mean, no Greninja, no Serena, not even any sign of Zygarde that I can see. This pleases me.

Anyways, I've just been really interested in seeing news on the anime. Not really because of any interest in watching it but much like the Marvel Cinematic Universe it often feels like it's more what goes on on-screen that gets the biggest focus regardless what is going on with the more core materials and I wanted to see what I could start to expect when it starts coming down to toys and merchandise and the like...

[Aotrs Commander]

I mean, wasn't it a program for very small children?

I mean, like, maybe at or below the "Pepper Pig/Dora the Explorer" level. And I don't mean, like a GOOD one (as the aforementioned would be by that standards.)

It was just an atrocious design choice, and I'd lay LONG odds it was a dub only thing - bear in mind this was the first movie post 4Kids.

[noparlpf]

So looks like information about the anime is starting to come out, or at the very least there's a promotional poster for it.
http://nintendoeverything.com/wp-content/uploads/pokemon-sun-moon-anime.jpg

So things I think are important points? Well Rowlet is clearly going to be Ash's Alola starter for one. Also it's looking like I was right with Mallow (the green haired girl) being the new travel companion what with her focus in the poster compared to everybody else as well as the complete lack of the female player character. Oh, and the Rotom Pokedex, but that basically could have been assumed. At first I thought that Charizard was also going to play a big part but then I noticed Kiawe (the fire guy) riding him so I guess it's not going to be Ash's Charizard. It also makes sense that they would be making good use out of Lapras given how much surfing will be needed getting around the Alola region. Another interesting point is that Jesse and James look like they will be getting a Bewear and Mimikyu, that sounds like it should be amusing.

The one thing I'm most interested in seeing with the poster though? A complete lack of X and Y stuff. I mean, no Greninja, no Serena, not even any sign of Zygarde that I can see. This pleases me.

Anyways, I've just been really interested in seeing news on the anime. Not really because of any interest in watching it but much like the Marvel Cinematic Universe it often feels like it's more what goes on on-screen that gets the biggest focus regardless what is going on with the more core materials and I wanted to see what I could start to expect when it starts coming down to toys and merchandise and the like...

Here, I found it on Serebii.
http://serebii.net/smposter.jpg

That actually answers my main question, which was what the heck is going on with that Charizard's belly?

Although, the next big question I have is, what the heck is up with the new art style? That's not just some minor change like getting an eye color. Wow.

[BiblioRook]

Although, the next big question I have is, what the heck is up with the new art style? That's not just some minor change like getting an eye color. Wow.

I can't put my finger on it exactly but for whatever reason I find myself just really liking the new art style.

On the topic of travel companions though looking over it again I'm starting to wonder if all four of the Trial Captains (I think that's what they are being called) are going to be joining Ash on his adventure. Well three of the four at least, Kiawe looks more like he's being set up as a rival then a friend...

[Hunter Noventa]

I did find a list (http://pastebin.com/RUcfWV6q) of TM moves that can only be learned in Gen1, arranged by pokemon. I'd say the most interesting things are the number of mons who can learn Bubble Beam. And possibly Pay Day.

[Spore]

Please do not abbreviate Sun and Moon as S&M. This leaves a rather weird association. In other new, Pokemon Generations shorts are awesome: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeX5GzN03AU

[cobaltstarfire]

I've seen em. It was fun to see Pikachu go from an adorable naive greenhorn that jumps around randomly to dodge a string shot and tries to thundershock earth types, to stone cold badassing a fight against Volcorona where they prop up a stone panel as a shield and then volt tackles a semi-legendary into submission. :smallbiggrin:

The pikachu was really cute.

I liked the magnemite in the second one using electrical resistance to melt a lock out of a door. That was pretty cool, I bet the magnemite was pleased with itself too.

[enderlord99]

Does anyone have a spare HA Exeggcute or Exeggutor?

EDIT: Preferably one holding a Starf berry?

[Mando Knight]

I could breed a Harvest Exeggcute (have a female in White), but I don't have the patience to grind out a Starf Berry.

[enderlord99]

I could breed a Harvest Exeggcute (have a female in White), but I don't have the patience to grind out a Starf Berry.

The berry part's less important, since I can get that on my own eventually. How does online trading work, and do you want anything in particular in exchange?

[Knaight]

It was just an atrocious design choice, and I'd lay LONG odds it was a dub only thing - bear in mind this was the first movie post 4Kids.
Those odds seem reasonable. Right after a studio renowned for their staggering ineptidute takes the helm quality drops precipitously. What a coincidence.

[Mando Knight]

The berry part's less important, since I can get that on my own eventually. How does online trading work, and do you want anything in particular in exchange?

Online trading in Generation VI is really easy. First, both players need each others' Friend Codes and enter them on the 3DS (the orange smiley-face box icon is your Friend List). Then in-game, switch to the Player Search System on the bottom screen, tap your Friend's icon (if they're online and in a Gen VI Pokémon game), and initiate the trade.

My Friend Code is 4742-9573-4652.

[enderlord99]

Online trading in Generation VI is really easy. First, both players need each others' Friend Codes and enter them on the 3DS (the orange smiley-face box icon is your Friend List). Then in-game, switch to the Player Search System on the bottom screen, tap your Friend's icon (if they're online and in a Gen VI Pokémon game), and initiate the trade.

My Friend Code is 4742-9573-4652.

Thanks!

Is a Mightyena with Quick Feet an acceptable trade? It knows Fire Fang.

EDIT: My code is 2423-3565 4649

[Mando Knight]

The Mightyena will be fine. I have the Exeggcute for whenever you're ready to trade.

[enderlord99]

The Mightyena will be fine. I have the Exeggcute for whenever you're ready to trade.

Thank you. :smallsmile:

[Aotrs Commander]

What the actual copulating excrement is wrong with Brock's parents?!

'Cos I'm pretty sure Forrest isn't even old enough to technically have his own Pokémon, and CERTAINLY isn't old enough to be looking after eight younger siblings when the idiots decided to just swan off on holiday! I'm pretty sure negligence is a crime EVEN in POKÉMON!

What, precisely (aside from Team Rocket stealing all the Pokémon) would have happened if Brock hadn't actually shown up at that precise moment? It's not clear how long the two of them were gone, bt by FRAG.

Brock, mate, sometimes ou're too good for yout own good! Report the frackers, frack dammit!

Ye. Gods.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

I might have agreed with you, right up to the point he was like "yes, I know what Manaphy wants to do, let's take it away from the mother it's bonded to, because it's not like IT should have any choice it what is does or anything."

Okay, you're right. That plotline/scene was weird. Especially since he doesn't talk to May about it, but to Ash. He asks him to help sabotage their bond. If May hadn't overheard the conversation (or they hadn't noticed her) that movie would have gone to a pretty disturbing place.

Scheming antiheroes can be cool characters in their own right, but it came out of left field for a pretty straightforward action man and it was not the best way to accomplish his goal.


Does anybody else think there's probably a rarity chart hidden within the different egg distance groups? There's no way Lapras and Aerodactyl are the same rarity as Eevee. I've hatched mainly Eevee from 10km eggs, then a few Onix, and I think one each of Dratini, Kabuto, Omanyte, Jynx, Hitmonlee, and Hitmonchan.

Not just probably (https://netherfable.com/pgo-egg-hatch-distribution/).

[SaintRidley]

Started a Nuzlocke in White. Prepping for the first gym. Almost considered going sans monkey, but that's probably suicide.

The current team, all level 10:

Packrat the Patrat
Woofles the Lillipup
Teh Pig the Tepig
Broccoli the Pansage


Still nothing on the Mawile shiny front in X, so that's annoying.

[enderlord99]

So, it turns out Clefairy won't be available to me for a long time, except via trade. Could someone help with that? I'm offering either a Swellow or my Latios (though I'd obviously prefer to give the Swellow.)

Preferably, it should have a minus-Attack nature.

Pipe-dreamishly, it should also have perfect IVs everywhere except Attack, which should be as low as possible.

EDIT: Also offering Castform.

[Alabenson]

So, it turns out Clefairy won't be available to me for a long time, except via trade. Could someone help with that? I'm offering either a Swellow or my Latios (though I'd obviously prefer to give the Swellow.)

Preferably, it should have a minus-Attack nature.

Pipe-dreamishly, it should also have perfect IVs everywhere except Attack, which should be as low as possible.

Quick question, do you have a swellow with Scrappy?

[enderlord99]

Quick question, do you have a swellow with Scrappy?

No, it has Guts. Sorry.

EDIT: Literally the only Pokemon I have ever had with a Hidden Ability is the Exeggcute that Mando gave me.

[Spore]

Started a Nuzlocke in White. Prepping for the first gym. Almost considered going sans monkey, but that's probably suicide.

The current team, all level 10:

Packrat the Patrat
Woofles the Lillipup
Teh Pig the Tepig
Broccoli the Pansage


You go. But remember, it's always the second gym leader who is the first really dangerous one in the games. Be it Misty, Whitney (okay, she is third), Brawly, Grant or in your case Lenora. Her Pokes having Retaliate should prompt you to have a tanky pokemon by then.

[Squark]

If we're doing trading, is anyone interested in Marill? I've managed to breed a second one with 31/31/31/x/31/31 stats, Adamant, Huge Power, and Belly Drum, Aqua Jet, and Body Slam, and I'd like to start building a team either for WiFi battles or the battle Maison. Shroomish and Fletchling (with HA) are the two pokemon I'm thinking of using alongside it at present, but I'd be open to other offers.
Started a Nuzlocke in White. Prepping for the first gym. Almost considered going sans monkey, but that's probably suicide.

The current team, all level 10:

Packrat the Patrat
Woofles the Lillipup
Teh Pig the Tepig
Broccoli the Pansage


Still nothing on the Mawile shiny front in X, so that's annoying.

I'd been toying with doing a similar thing after I finish Alpha Sapphire, since I picked up a used copy of white. Does anyone have any tips for a first try at a Nuzlocke?

[Mando Knight]

Make sure you get a Fighting Pokémon (Pignite, Timburr, Throh) for Lenora, since that Watchog can be a pest. Pignite probably has the best shot, as Flame Charge against Herdier lets it outspeed the Watchog and avoid its Hypnosis by knocking it out with Arm Thrust first.

[Alabenson]

On the trading front, I do have a pair of Jolly Rough Skin Gibbles with Outrage available as a result of breeding my Garchomp. One is a female with 31s in HP, Atk and Def, and the other is Male with 31s in Atk, Def, and Speed. If anyone is interested let me know.

[Spore]

I'd been toying with doing a similar thing after I finish Alpha Sapphire, since I picked up a used copy of white. Does anyone have any tips for a first try at a Nuzlocke?

Agreed. Also the part around Lenoras gym can become tiresome and dangerous because of Roggenrola. You either have a special attack by then or someone tanky to take a few hits. Super effective attacks on rock types would be a smart choice.

[Mando Knight]

Agreed. Also the part around Lenoras gym can become tiresome and dangerous because of Roggenrola. You either have a special attack by then or someone tanky to take a few hits. Super effective attacks on rock types would be a smart choice.

Arm Thrust, again, is a decent move if your Pignite is high enough level over the Roggenrola, since multi-hit moves get around Sturdy.

[noparlpf]

Man, jailbreak detection is a pain. Even if you don't actually have any tweaks for a given app installed you get locked out. And it's not like it's even worth the effort by the companies because people just write patches to get around it. But now it looks like something in the updated xCon or Poke Patch for PoGo is messing with tsprotector, which is the one I use to access Pokémon Shuffle (although Shuffle only blocks jailbroken devices from ranked multiplayer events). So now I basically have to uninstall the PoGo patches to try to get an Alakazite, then reinstall them to play PoGo, and cycle throughout the day. :smallannoyed:

[enderlord99]

So, as I asked earlier: Does anyone have a spare Clefairy? I don't have any requirements beyond species, but I also don't have anything substantial to offer.

[Icewraith]

If we're doing trading, is anyone interested in Marill? I've managed to breed a second one with 31/31/31/x/31/31 stats, Adamant, Huge Power, and Belly Drum, Aqua Jet, and Body Slam, and I'd like to start building a team either for WiFi battles or the battle Maison. Shroomish and Fletchling (with HA) are the two pokemon I'm thinking of using alongside it at present, but I'd be open to other offers.

I'd been toying with doing a similar thing after I finish Alpha Sapphire, since I picked up a used copy of white. Does anyone have any tips for a first try at a Nuzlocke?

Speedy, fragile pokemon will eventually die.
Critical hits will be your nemesis.
Consider how your death rules will work in Double Battles- do they still apply, because rules; or do they not apply, because double battles are cheap and lethal and you've usually got a friendly NPC healing your pokemon up after every single battle, so them dying really doesn't make sense.
Flash+Thunderwave Audino is a monster... until you start running into Pawniard.

Be really, really careful with pokemon that are 4X weak to something. Newer pokemon especially often have decent coverage moves in their standard learnset, and so will not only be found in gym battles, but trainer battles and wild encounters as well.

About mid-game, you'll finally catch something really cool that you want to replace one of your core team members that has been around since nearly the beginning. You'll start training it up on local pokemon roughly appropriate for its level. It will be way weaker than you expected and probably die horribly to something your other team members handle nicely. Why? 1) Next to no EVs. 2) There were no evolved pokemon in the first few routes, and now there are. "Trash" pokemon like Raticate and whatnot evolve ten levels or more ahead of their eventually-more-powerful higher tiered bretheren and levels 20-40 or so are their time to shine. And prey on your newly caught temamates. (Also watch out for pokemon that don't evolve, they're just as bad.)

[Kuroten]

So, as I asked earlier: Does anyone have a spare Clefairy? I don't have any requirements beyond species, but I also don't have anything substantial to offer.

I don't have any pokébred clefairys but I can catch you a HA female from my friend safari in X/Y. Don't need anything special in return...

[enderlord99]

I don't have any pokébred clefairys but I can catch you a HA female from my friend safari in X/Y. Don't need anything special in return...

Thank you for the offer, but I kind of... sort of... got one from reddit.:smallredface:

[Kuroten]

Thank you for the offer, but I kind of... sort of... got one from reddit.:smallredface:

No problem :)

[SaintRidley]

By the time I get to Lenora, I'll be hoping the coinflip between Woobat and Roggenrola at Wellspring Cave gives me the rock. Currently have the crew to level 11. Once they're 12 we'll be going through the Striaton Gym.

[Maryring]

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/images/160919.gif

[Flickerdart]

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/images/160919.gif

http://i.imgur.com/40CADf4.gif

[Aotrs Commander]

Well, finished Battle Frontier.

Yeah. It was... Okay. Until pretty much the very last, I thought there was a marked difference between contests in Battle Frontier and the later ones in DP - the latter were much more spectacular, the former much closer to regular Pokémon battles.

And the filler was... pretty bad. (Also, DP also focussed a LOT more on the Pokémon as a group, they were forever all coming out at once, where as that wasn't true in BF...) It also was much more rife with typing errors - Meowth and Aipom being even remotely concerned about shadowball, for one.



But... Having come this far, seen all this - and preparing to watch XY... I feel that I have to do it... So I will brave my precious little remaining sanity and watch through the BW generation.

Wish me luck.

I'll need it...

[Kuroten]

https://youtu.be/VLWz2YMJSlg

I like the animation for Eevee's Z move. :smallbiggrin:

[DaOldeWolf]

And with passimian, my themed team is one step closer to being complete. I currently have Mimikyu, Tauros, Litten, Pyukumuku, Jangmo-o, Mudbray, Passimian, Oricorio, Rockruff and Meowth.

I am just missing the last three pokemon to complete this generation team. :smallbiggrin:

Edit: here is the japaese trailer. I would reccomend to watch it too since it tends to show some extra stuff even if the reveals are the same:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhNJ7pX12Tw#t=18

[boj0]

So it looks like once again, Pikachu gets all the love over Pichu and Raichu; but I'm excited to try Captain Planet Eevee out.

[MesiDoomstalker]

So it looks like once again, Pikachu gets all the love over Pichu and Raichu; but I'm excited to try Captain Planet Eevee out.

Calling it now, Eevee will be banned from Little Cup. Or maybe just Z-moves in general.

Someone pointed out how bad Instruction can be. M-Kangaskhan + Instruction is bad. Power-Up Punch? Instant +4. Return? Pretty much gaurentee's a KO (possibly 2). It's just.... really meta-defining, really.

[Maryring]

So it looks like once again, Pikachu gets all the love over Pichu and Raichu; but I'm excited to try Captain Planet Eevee out.

Err what? Raichu has both a new Alolan form and its own Z-move. Pichu may not have gotten anything, but Raichu has certainly gotten a lot of love this gen.

[Hunter Noventa]

https://youtu.be/VLWz2YMJSlg

I like the animation for Eevee's Z move. :smallbiggrin:

Shame it's on Eevee, who's kinda meh as a pre-evolution.

Loving the new hairstyles and the ability to go hatless though.

The new pokemon with double-focused abilities are okay I guess, definitely more for the competitive scene.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Shame it's on Eevee, who's kinda meh as a pre-evolution.

Kinda maeh, sure, but not after a few +2's to everything. There are pokémon out there that function as a decent wall or a setup sweeper pretty much because they're good at using a move that gives +2 in total (yeah yeah, and a bunch of other things, but this is a central aspect to their use). This move opens up so many possibilities in a single swoop. If Eevee survives the first round and a half it's a completely different pokémon afterwards. Granted, I have no clue if there are going to be any special requirements for using Z moves. Maybe you use up a Z-move berry, maybe you can only do one after charging it up for two turns, maybe it takes up two move slots and your held item, no idea, so they might rebalance it. But without knowing that, I would be very worried if I saw this on any pokémon stronger than Eevee.

[MesiDoomstalker]

Kinda maeh, sure, but not after a few +2's to everything. There are pokémon out there that function as a decent wall or a setup sweeper pretty much because they're good at using a move that gives +2 in total (yeah yeah, and a bunch of other things, but this is a central aspect to their use). This move opens up so many possibilities in a single swoop. If Eevee survives the first round and a half it's a completely different pokémon afterwards. Granted, I have no clue if there are going to be any special requirements for using Z moves. Maybe you use up a Z-move berry, maybe you can only do one after charging it up for two turns, maybe it takes up two move slots and your held item, no idea, so they might rebalance it. But without knowing that, I would be very worried if I saw this on any pokémon stronger than Eevee.

Takes up held item and only 1 s move per battle