(Little) Things that annoy you in Pokémon

NU is still a lower tier. If the pool of trashmons has increased in size enough for NU to be statistically average (I'm too lazy to check and see if that's actually the case; it doesn't sound right to me but I'll accept it at face value for now), that doesn't change the fact that these Pokemon are still considered bad both colloquially and by the standards of inclusive formats.
I can't fully explain the methodology right now, but I've checked this. 55% of fully-evolved forms (because forms can be tiered differently) are PUBL or higher. Which means that NU Pokemon are about average.

Also, people's perceptions should change. Between power creep and the tier cutoff changing, NU Pokemon are pretty strong these days. There's Rotom-Mow, Starmie, and Dhelmise. It's not filled with Kangaskhans and Pinsirs anymore.

There are already Pokemon who have sufficient coverage, so the cat is completely out of the bag there. You seem to be suggesting that increasing the amount of Pokemon with good coverage will hurt defensive Pokemon as they're more likely to run into something with super-effective coverage against them, but in reality the newly buffed Pokemon would be taking team slots that would usually go towards other offensive Pokemon that generally have good coverage. The total likelihood of encountering a threatening offensive Pokemon with good coverage wouldn't much change.

Also fuck stall.
Defensive Pokemon in OU might be facing the same number of high-coverage attackers, but the increased distribution and competition lets them percolate into lower tiers. Stakataka is currently able to effectively check Fairies and Psychics in NU which don't have Focus Blast. The same goes for Togedemaru in PU. If there's so many Fairies and Psychics with good coverage that some fall to NU and PU, then Staka and Toge get pushed down.

This just boils down to 'status quo good', and what exactly constitutes an interesting background is completely subjective and honestly kind of meaningless.
It's subjective, but I still like it when things seem thematically coherent to me. There are limits to how much you can distribute some things without issues (like every Fighting type having Knock Off), and interesting background is a good way to decide.

(Edit: Made a mistake earlier with the number of Pokemon that are PUBL or higher)
 
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QuentinQuonce

formerly green_typhlosion
-People referring to Pokespecial/Pokemon Adventures as "the manga". It is neither the first nor the longest-running manga adaption in the franchise. That goes to "Pocket Monsters", the manga starring that weird clefairy that has a lot of Japanese wordplay and crude humor, and also is the only manga adaption to have been acknowledged in other Pokemon media directly(Red, Pikachu, and Clefairy briefly appeared in in a Gen III anime episode as a show-within-a-show type of deal)
Guilty, sorry.

In my defence I've been trying without success to scrub that image of Red stretching his testicles for several years now.

I do tend to think of PokeSpe as *the* manga, though, because Satoshi Tajiri was explicit in it being the most faithful adaptation of his vision for the Pokemon world. To me that unofficially makes it the official Pokemon manga, if that makes sense. But obviously there are lots of others.
 

Dusk Mage Necrozma

formerly XenonHero126
Sylveon just needs boomburst and earth power
I actually agree with most of your post, but giving -ate mons Boomburst is extremely uninspired. It doesn’t make lore sense for Sylveon to know Boomburst, and it’s the laziest way to make anything with STAB on it good. Aerilate Noivern when

This has probably been said before but Ability Capsules/Patches should be able to change from hidden abilities to normal abilities. If they’re that worried about No Guard Fissure Machamp (even though it wouldn’t be usable in VGC) they could just:

1: retcon Machamp’s No Guard to another ability like they did with Gengar (this does kinda remove Machamp’s “gimmick” of No Guard Dynamic Punch though)
or 2: just make OHKO moves not affected by No Guard

When we have ingame tools to alter literally every competitively relevant aspect of an existing Pokemon (apart from egg moves) (and technically shininess and mark, which affect the timer) (and uhhh pokeball, which can reveal information about which game or event it’s from) it’s mystifying how Hidden Abilities still aren’t replaceable.
 
When we have ingame tools to alter literally every competitively relevant aspect of an existing Pokemon (apart from egg moves) (and technically shininess and mark, which affect the timer) (and uhhh pokeball, which can reveal information about which game or event it’s from) it’s mystifying how Hidden Abilities still aren’t replaceable.
Tbh I wouldnt worry too much about this bit.

GameFreaks has been, albeith slowly, giving ways to "edit" any aspect of the Pokemon over the generations.
Until gen 7, you had no way to alter a pokemon IVs, meaning that if you wanted a competitive shiny or with a specific hidden power you were prolly just going to have to hack it. You also had no way to swap normal abilities, meaning that if you were breeding for non-HAs, for many pokemon you were still at a 40%-ish risk of getting the wrong ability.

Gen 8 gave us the possibility to swap to HAs, virtually change a pokemon Nature, and also to "edit" egg moves since you can now pass egg moves to already existing Pokemon. This was likely done because Gigamax pokemon were "catch only", but it solved the issue of HA Legendaries being event only, and also allows almost full customization of any shiny pokemon *after* they're already caught or bred.

And on top of it, gen 8 actually introduced the Battle Ready mark, which while completely useless for any non VGC-player, it now allows to bring over pokemon from previous gens and actually use them competitively. Sure this causes a wipe of any tutored or TMd move (due to VGC rules pretty much), but it lets you keep egg moves and all other parameters.

As far as I know, what is most in demand atm for competitive shenenigans is the option to "change back to normal ability" (which honestly can just be done by making the Ability Patch function both ways) and "0 IV bottle caps" which are mainly useful for TR shenenigans as well as optimizing special attackers to have 0 attack IVs.
It's not too farfetched that these may actually be in SV.
 
Satoshi Tajiri was explicit in it being the most faithful adaptation of his vision for the Pokemon world
He said that before it was even 1/4rth of the way through the Red/Greeb/Blue arc. I'm prettty sure if he had waited even a little longer, he wouldn't have said that considering all the weird stuff that happened in it after he said that line everyone seems to always quote.
 
He said that before it was even 1/4rth of the way through the Red/Greeb/Blue arc. I'm prettty sure if he had waited even a little longer, he wouldn't have said that considering all the weird stuff that happened in it after he said that line everyone seems to always quote.
"Having 3/4ths of the Indigo League be villains was a bit gauche, but Blue hiding Jigglypuffs in her chest changed my mind on it."
 
-People referring to Pokespecial/Pokemon Adventures as "the manga". It is neither the first nor the longest-running manga adaption in the franchise.
PokéSpe might not be the first, but it's also the most popular outside of Japan. And IIRC it overtook Pokémon Masters as the longest-running manga.
Wasn't it OU in Gen 5? I'll blame it on power creep.
haha Magic Bounce go brrr
Seriously, Abilities alone can carry a Pokémon in competitive. Sometimes. At least partially.
Just ask Xatu, the only other Pokémon with this Ability back in Gen V. Meh typing, bleh stats, but Magic Bounce is a great Ability, so it had some use in higher tiers in Generation V.
And even in subsequent Generations, Xatu still fills a unique niche in at least NU (and sometimes RU). The only other Pokémon with this Ability since then are three Megas (a wall with great support and two mixed offensive powerhouses) and the Hatenna line.
And even then, Xatu is still unique among them thanks to the Flying type, U-turn, and its stare.
I actually like this flying model.
 
Whenever I look at Electivire's stats I'm always like "Man, I was sure you were bulkier than this."

What's the point of looking like a brolic yeti if you got 75/67/85 defenses? Hit the gym fool! That's why you didn't make it into Pokken!!! :swole::changry:
The entirety of Electivire line has shit physical bulk. Their special bulk are abov averge but a chain is as strong as it's weakest link. The biggest problem with electivire is the 10 point speed drop when it evolved(from 105 to 95). It should have been a glass canon.
A BST spread of 71/123/65/110/65/106 is much better for him.
 
While seemingly late to the eeveelutions buff conversation above, I do feel like some of the proposed buffs above might not feel all that thematically appropriate -mostly the random ass coverage moves (even if they would indeed help the offensive mons out a fair bit). IMO glaceon only really needs one buff to truly lift itself up: Slush rush. Yes, that's it really. No other changes to its stats or movepool (gen 8 already gave it freeze dry and even weather ball which was honestly exactly what the mon needed covered anyway). This alone would finally let glaceon capitalize on its offensive prowess, firing off strong, perfectly accurate blizzards under hail (whose potency has already been demonstrated by fellow pure ice type mon vanilluxe) while outspeeding almost every unboosted mon ever (if arctozolt could make do with a slightly lower speed tier, surely glaceon can too).

....And this actually brings me to an annoyance of my own I've been meaning to express for a while now: the vast majority of good ice type mons, both with slush rush and without, are physical. Not only is this an annoyance because they have to rely on inaccurate, mid power stab moves (icicle crash, or if they're lucky enough to get it, triple axel), but it also means slush rushers don't even take full advantage of all the benefits from hail (they only get doubled speed, hail immunity and...no move that takes advantage of the weather itself). There's indeed very few good ice type mons that're also special attackers- kyurem is a legendary, thus often viewed in...particular ways (and was finally properly considered broken in all of its forms the moment it got actual ice type stab moves!), and....arctozolt, kind of (its offensive stats are mixed but physically biased, especially since the mon is mostly as potent as it is due to bolt beak being broken as hell, and its secondary ice stab/random coverage moves mostly serve to cover up bolt beak's blind spots than anything).

The above issue about the inability to fully take advantage of hail also extends to ice types in general, actually: stallrein could only make use of ice body because of permanent hail, and once that was gone, well....yeah its average stats couldn't hold up anymore. Which is actually also an issue various ice types from older gens have: the reason ice/water is considered a bad type is because all the mons with the type are not only slow but also have middling stats in general (even slush rush wasn't enough to get arctozolt that high up...but at least it messed up the lower tiers so yay :D). But before I completely railroad myself here, hail already has few ways to benefit mons outside of chip damage/a few related abilities, but even those are few and far between. Aurora veil is used because of the potency of screens, not because of the weather itself (though these aren't mutually exclusive). Without permanent hail, fat mons can't really take advantage of ice body anymore, not to mention how little it heals in the first place. And there's only so many ice type mons with the special attack stat to make their blizzards really sting, which when combined with the rest of their stats not really being high enough to bother supporting them with hail, makes for a truly sad case.
 

QuentinQuonce

formerly green_typhlosion
Phoebe (or indeed any NPC in Hoenn outside of the Battle Frontier) not using a Shedinja. Phoebe doesn't have many Ghosts to choose from so uses two Dusclops and Banette instead.

In fact, both Phoebe and Glacia (and Drake in RS) are forced double up on species because Hoenn doesn't have enough of their chosen type. Even DP Sinnoh, which had a much smaller regional dex, did the Elite Four better than that. The only other options I can think of for Glacia would be Castform (weak) and Cloud Nine Golduck (quirky, but pretty much defeats the point of her using Hail to begin with).
 
There's a whopping two (2) trainers in the entire series that uses it: HGSS Rematch Bugsy (who you have to actively opt-in for and fight alone in the post game) and ORAS Post-Game Food Court Trainer (where I'm prety sure the trainer partners with someone who uses Fire Plume so she dies at least once to friendly fire)

Shedinja is used very sparingly in the games its in, likely because its gimmick means that if the player doesn't have something SE against it you're just stuck there until you either reset the game or PP stall to struggle. They're more willing to let this "Gotcha" happen in the frontiers where anything can happen and you're expected to have coverage of some sort, but they likely see it as a no-go for this reason in the main games. Its bad game feel, you cannot fully account for what the trainers are doing with their team and pokemon, and unless you use Shedinja you don't have any real way to know how Wonder Guard works.

Likely they just marked it as a no-go entirely in gen 3 because of this, and only dipped their toes into it with HGSS & ORAS under certain circumstances (ORAS Phoebe probably not allowed it regardless because she's part of a trainer gauntlet and it is, as said before, kind of bad game feel). I don't think it's coincidental that there's no Shedinja trainer at all in the other games, even if they probably could afford a "gotcha" like it on a random trainer on a route.
 
Sure, it'd work, but Earth Power is generally restricted to Rock or Ground Pokemon (and Legendaries for some reason). Aurorus already has Earth Power (with a good thematic backing), so all it needs is the improved stat spread. Couldn't you say that Aurorus deserves this kind of buff just as much, if not even more?
Honestly, Earth Power should be a lot more widespread than it is, considering the distribution Earthquake has.

Same with with Nasty Plot wrt Swords Dance, really.
 
There's a whopping two (2) trainers in the entire series that uses it: HGSS Rematch Bugsy (who you have to actively opt-in for and fight alone in the post game) and ORAS Post-Game Food Court Trainer (where I'm prety sure the trainer partners with someone who uses Fire Plume so she dies at least once to friendly fire)
Does the PtHGSS Battle Hall count? I've met more than one Shedinja here.
 
Does the PtHGSS Battle Hall count? I've met more than one Shedinja here.
greentyphlosion already discounted frontier trainers and i acknowledge them here
They're more willing to let this "Gotcha" happen in the frontiers where anything can happen and you're expected to have coverage of some sort, but they likely see it as a no-go for this reason in the main games.
Shedinja has been in basically every frontier and tower and such, sometimes only in the "bad pokemon" set.

Also all of their sets are just maximally annoying. The gall to expect good pokemon going into a facility and then throw Sand Attack Lax Incense Shedinja at you
 

Pikachu315111

Ranting & Raving!
is a Community Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributor
As weird as it is to frame this way, Pokemon's environmental concerns are less the Pollutant generation at all and moreso the degree of it, since Poison Types were already a pseudo-Green solution within the fiction for a lot of it. Now they can't really bring waste creation to 0 without having to handwave the eating web for some of their creatures
If you're saying its weird due to relation with real life, it's actually not as farfetched as it seems. While we don't have pollution eaters, animals have been shown using pollution or benefitting from it with some creating an entire ecosystem.

There is the case of the Peppered Moth, which there's two varieties: a mainly white-colored species and a completely black-colored species. Normally the white moths had the advantage as most of the trees in their natural environment matched their color, giving them natural camouflage; the black moths stood out thus preyed upon more thus were a rarer sight. Then the Industrial Revolution happened. The extra pollutants entering the environment covered the trees in soot turning them dark, completely flipping the advantage. Now the black moths had natural camouflage while the white moths stood out and were preyed upon. However, with modern times now focused on keeping green and cleaning up pollution, the trees have once again lightened up returning things back to the white moth's favor. (NOTE: Reading the Wikipedia page now, I see there is criticism to this hypothesis, though the most recent experiment supports it).

For a more direct coexistence, there are organisms which have fully adapted to plastics. There is a LOT of plastic pollution in the oceans & seas, which is of course having negative effects on the marine ecosystems. But, as Jeff Goldblum's Jurassic Park character Ian Malcolm famously said: Life finds a way. Small marine life have started using the plastics as a material to live on, creating an entirely new ecosystem which has been dubbed the Plastisphere. Many of these species, from small crustaceans to clams, used to use natural debris like driftwood to make a home but it would eventually wear down the material and break it down (essentially marine decomposers). But now these species are using plastics which don't break down, thus can live on for many generations. Not only that, some microorganisms have begun evolving to indeed feed on the plastics. You can say its a bit extreme to compare this to the Grimer & Koffing family which straight up eat toxic material, but it's still an example of a life form adapting to plastics and some eventually feeding off it.

Besides, as the Sword and Shield plot proved us, it's easy to solve the environmental problems caused by humanity, just wipe everyone out by unleashing a primordial doom on them :zonger:
Actually that's XY's plot.

But rather than accepting the fact that he will one day inevitably be surpassed, he obsesses about Galar’s future — an abstract future he’ll never live to see — in order to justify a drastic and radical measure that he thinks will enshrine him as Galar’s savior for generations to come. He calls it “my purpose, my duty, my destiny.” He’s not actually a well-meaning-if-reckless environmentalist (which is a dumb trope that was dumb back when they did it in Gen 3 and I’m glad it wasn’t repeated here because it’d be even more dumb in today’s climate). He’s a billionaire mogul superstar who revels in the spotlight. His concern for Galar’s energy prospects is entirely self-interested. He’s doing what he’s doing simply because he believes it can bring him even more fame and a lasting legacy, consequences and risks be damned.
I mostly agree with everything you said, though I do think we're supposed to believe that Rose does genuinely care about Galar (and what he built up with it).

Yes, in the end he is doing this for selfish reasons and does see himself as a messiah figure. But, even after things don't go his way and realize he will be villainized for releasing the Darkest Day, he still fully believes in his cause and even satisfied that his actions will give Galar hundreds if not thousands of years of energy. Rose isn't seeking fame, if we're to really break down what he's seeking, it's self-satisfaction. HE built up Galar, HE built up the Pokemon League, HE harnessed the power of Eternatus (as in he used his fortune to create the technology and hire the smarter scientists), HE only realizes the energy disaster that is coming in the far future. In Rose's head, he IS Galar. And for a belief that a far future energy crisis will bring all that to an end, that all his work will be for naught and Galar will be nothing but a blip in human & the planet's history, he just can't accept it. After that thought nothing else matters to him: power, money, fame. So what? It would mean nothing anyway if Galar doesn't exist in the future. And so Rose ultimately decides, after an attempt to keep his power & fame fails, to give it all up. Because, to Rose, Galar IS HIS legacy, even if he's not allowed to be a part of it.

And it's perfectly fine and understandable if you don't like, especially in recent times where we've had quite a few egotistical & overall bad people billionaires. Having Pokemon have one of these as the villains but trying to present him as a well-intentioned extremist does feel rather tone death, especially when they're having Rose trying to prevent an ecological whereas real life billionaires are some of the people causing it. Still, there's no reason to believe Rose isn't genuine in his feelings; whether they're misplaced is another story.

This all effectively confirms that all Regis are linked to Nuclear disaster
100% horoscopic confirmation bias bullshit, but it's literally just as strong as the "regis represent ages of human development" theory lmao.
Interviewer: Tonight we're interviewing a very special guest:
  • Regigigas: ZUT ZUTT... *COUGH* Sorry about that, my home is kind of cold which gives me a bit of a cough, should clear up in 5 seconds tops. Anyway, glad to be here!
  • Interviewer: Glad to hear! Our viewers have a lot of questions to ask you, about yourself and mysteries surrounding you.
  • Regigigas: Oh you're too kind, but I'm not that complex. I'm just Regigigas.
  • Interviewer: How about then we start off with your creations, the Regi Trio. Is that what you call them?
  • Regigigas: Like any proud creator I just call them my "kids", unless they displease me which case I call them "useless pile of rocks" or "metal" or whatever material I made them out of. I'm sure all the other parents out there can relate.
  • Interviewer: As a parent I've been there. *Everyone chuckles* So, first thing on everyone's mind, why did you make them?
  • Regigigas: You see moving continents isn't an easy thing. Oh, and by the way, "ropes"? HA! You think Arceus thought that far ahead? No, you see these muscles? *Flexes* I PUSHED and PULLED the continents! But I did need some help and no normal Pokemon could survive the tremendous pressure which I work under, so I made my kids to keep watch of things to make sure things move smoothly; at least as smoothly as tectonic movements go.
  • Interviewer: And you based them on the major ages, correct?
  • Regigigas: The what?
  • Interviewer: You know, the Stone Age, the Ice Age, and the various Metal Ages.
  • Regigigas: What are those?
  • Interviewer: They're the major ages which the history of the planet and humans have gone through. The Types of the Regi Trio perfectly align with them.
  • Regigigas: Stone, Ice, and Metal you said? Like, I guess? I just built the first three out of the materials I had on hand. I wasn't really thinking about a theme, I built them for work, for function.
  • Interviewer: So Regieleki and Regidraco aren't for the Digital Age and Medieval or Prehistoric Age?
  • Regigigas: No, those two were a side project to see if I could make some energy-based workers, see if they could provide me and their siblings more power. They're a work in progress. I'd get back to working on them, eventually.
  • Interviewer: Speaking of power, if they're not based on the ages or any themes, does that also mean they aren't based on the Atomic Bombings of Japan in WWII?
  • Regigigas: DEAR LORD ARCEUS NO! Why would you think that? Or rather your viewers. No, they're not weapons of mass destruction. They're workers made for helping me move the continents. I made them out of materials I just had on hand, there's no theme or controversy or whatever else you're imagining about them.
  • Interviewer: Well that was certainly enlightening! Time for a commercial break! When we come back we'll talk more about Regigigas such as his relation with Arceus.
  • Regigigas: Arceus? Well you see that's a complicated work relationshi- *Cuts to commercial*


Secondly, this is literally the first time I've seen someone say Mismagius should be a Fairy-type, and the only person I know who thought Empoleon should be an Ice-type was me when I was seven.
I always thought the Misdreavus family should have become part Fairy, they're partially based on the Banshee which is some tellings is a fey.

Also I actually used Empoleon as my "Ice" example when I made my joke "Favorite Pokemon of Each Type" cause I couldn't really think what other Pokemon I could see being Ice/part Ice.

All Pokemon don’t need to have great stats etc, in fact it would be shit if they did. If one of your favourite mons sucks in competitive, get over it.
Now that letting your Pokemon walk aside with you is a thing, maybe they should consider letting you able to have a "Team Mascot", a Pokemon you don't use in battle but stands beside you while battling to help cheer on the team. That way you can have your favorite Pokemon with you, it's just not battling.
 
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