Author: pokemaniacchris

witchesandmushi asks:

(Not the anon, but curious regardless) If you did do a Gym Leaders series, you could do it like the anime and do two or three Gym Leaders at once, united by element or theme or region, and you could definitely talk about their anime incarnations at the same time. That way we could get your opinion on Leaders and their Gyms in nice little packets and if there did turn out to be ones who you find yourself with a lot to say about, they could have their own posts.

Hmm.  Well, to be honest the likelihood of me doing this at any point in the near-to-medium future is slim to none, but if I ever find myself wanting ideas, I’ll bear that in mind.  Could be interesting to take it as a way of doing a thematic look at different types.

Anonymous asks:

Bunch of random thoughts on my favorite type, Poison? I think some simple tweaks, that also make logical sense, would make the type much more balanced: poison should be super effective on water(cause toxins affect aquatic animals more strongly), and the poison status effect should sharply lower special attack(analogous to burn). Maybe throw in effectiveness on bug and resistance to dark? Also, what do you think of the idea of a Poison/Fire legendary that creates oil spills and sets fire to them?

Poison, Poison, Poison…

Poison is underrated, I think.  Like, everyone knows Poison attacks are terrible, but Poison as a type, defensively, is actually really good; just ask Weezing.  Making all of those changes would make Poison much too strong, I think – but making it super-effective on Water types probably wouldn’t be too much, and it’s thematically appropriate.  As for the poison status… well, thematically burns weaken your physical attacks because they make movement painful and make the affected parts of your body tender; I guess you might justify an equivalent special attack penalty from poison by claiming that the poison damages concentration or something?  But I think thematically I would prefer just making all poison “toxic” to bump it up to the level of other status effects.  For the attacks that currently cause that status (Toxic, Poison Fang, potentially Toxic Spikes), give them a head start on the damage ramping – start at 1/8 of the target’s HP on the first turn instead of 1/16.  The legendary Pokémon could be interesting; I think I’d be inclined to see it as a sort of souped-up Muk, an avatar of industrial pollution, which potentially comes with some interesting territory to explore – if something is born out of toxic waste or oil spills, does that make it evil, or mean that it doesn’t have the same rights as other Pokémon?  Does it spread pollution itself, or does it actually wipe out oil spills by burning them away, and what is its overall impact on the environment?  Mechanically, what could also be neat there is a signature move along the lines of a Fire-type Venoshock – fire damage, with a bonus on poisoned targets (much stronger than Venoshock though, obviously).

Anonymous asks:

What do you think of Clampearl/Huntail/Gorebyss? Beyond the weirdness of an oyster evolving into two fish…

I talked with Jim the Editor about the evolution thing, and he thinks Clamperl is actually an egg, of sorts, surrounded by an elaborate protective shell – Huntail and Gorebyss ‘hatch’ out of it.  Also, weirdly, while it looks like Clamperl’s face is in its pearl, its Pokédex entries suggest that the pearl – the one pearl that it makes over the course of its life – is left behind when it evolves, so I’m not really sure what’s going on there.  

Anyway.  I don’t think either of them are spectacular.  Huntail, I always felt, was somewhat lacking in personality, but I like the stark contrast between Gorebyss’ beautiful, elegant appearance and savage behaviour.  I suppose if I have a problem with them, it’s that they’re not nearly as weird as they could be.  Considering some of the bizarre stuff that lives in the deep ocean, a couple of eel-like Pokémon with mostly generic Water-type powers is… something of a let-down, to be honest.

Anonymous asks:

What’s your favorite English Pokémon name, and why?

Tricky; it’s hard to pick just one… there’s quite a few that just roll off the tongue in a way I really enjoy, particularly Octillery and Galvantula; they have this wonderful sort of dactylic rhythm to them… Octillery is also an undeniably badass name (likewise Clawitzer, for much the same reason).  I love the sonorous feel of Bronzong as well.  

Anonymous asks:

What would you say to wonder guard gaining an additional magic guard effect?

Well, it might make Shedinja suck less, and I’d be in favour of that… but the thing about Shedinja and Wonder Guard is that, because it’s so all-or-nothing, it’s almost impossible to balance.  If your opponents can consistently damage it, it’s completely worthless.  If your opponents can’t consistently damage it, it’s horrendously overpowered, until people wise up and start building their teams so that they can.  There’s no middle ground.  I don’t think changing the list of things that can insta-kill Shedinja actually helps much.  Maybe if Wonder Guard worked differently – like if, in addition to its existing effect, it reduced all damage Shedinja does take to 1, and then Shedinja could be given more than one hit point (something like 3 or 5)… I feel like, at that point, you have more variables involved and more capacity to fine-tune the ability (by giving Shedinja a different number of hit points).  But that’s just me brainstorming.