One lunatic's love-hate relationship with the Pokémon franchise, and his addled musings on its rights, wrongs, ins and outs. Come one, come all, and indulge my delusions of grandeur as I inflict my opinions on anyone within shouting distance.
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.
I like your Sylveon motto, but it’s not as straight forward as the other eeveelution mottos. Would you mind elaborating on “A Whole New World”? 🙂
I went with that mainly because Sylveon was our introduction to the Fairy type. Fairies in folklore are mysterious creatures that live just at the edge of what humans understand, sometimes in another world entirely, but when Sylveon turns up, we all dive head-first into that world, and everything changes. Evolving into Sylveon also opens up the world of magic for Eevee, which plays into the ‘adaptation’ theme that I tried to get with all the mottos for that family.
What do you think of Allerglen, the fanmade game Pokemon Ethereal Gates take on Darmanitan’s zen form. I think it’s much more useful, since it has high speed so it can actually get attacks in (And a staff member has promised future updates will buff its special attack)
I’m not familiar with Ethereal Gates, but just looking it up quickly now…
Doing Zen Mode this way does make a lot more sense – part of the reason it just doesn’t work for Darmanitan is because Zen Darmanitan is trying to be a tank when it inherently starts with less than 50% HP, which is something of a recipe for failure. Allerglen can take hits with its fairly solid initial defences and then strike back hard in Zen Mode. The trouble is that you still have only one moveset that you have to use to fill two different roles. Allerglen’s initial attack and special attack are sufficiently awful that it wants support moves like Stun Spore so it isn’t just wasting its time before Zen Mode activates, whereas once it’s in Zen Mode it wants Quiver Dance and as many special attacks as it can think of. It’s definitely more flexible, and Zen Mode sucks a lot less for this Pokémon than it does for Darmanitan (who is so much better off without this unique and interesting ability that it’s just not funny anymore) but I suspect the problems with the ability are a little more systemic than that…
Of all the fossil pokemon, not including the kabutops and aurorus lines, which do you think would be the most intimidating to encounter? What about the least intimidating? I did away with those two because they’re obvious answers to the respective categories, since kabutops has the whole slashing thing going on and aurorus is a gentle, color changing giant.
You know, I’m not sure I agree with you on either of those! Like, Kabutops has the slashy thing, sure, but he’s also about four feet tall, which is a big strike against him as far as intimidation goes. Aerodactyl is larger, can fly, and will eat your face off, while Tyrantrum is just unfairly massive. As for least intimidating, well, Aurorus is beautiful and gentle, sure, but still big and bulky enough that she could hurt you pretty badly just by failing to notice you. Lileep, on the other hand, is made of seaweed and literally cannot move.
So I have this like, intense desire for there to be a poison/fairy type pokemon, since it’d be a good type combo and they’re my favorite types. But since fairy types are generally based off of mythical creatures/folk tales, I’m unsure of what the design could be. Also, fairy and poison types have clashing aesthetics, with fairies being cute and poisons being grotesque. Hopefully if they do make one it isn’t disgusting looking; as shallow as it is, I can’t stand ugly pokemon (weezing). Thoughts?
I think Fairy/Poison could be really interesting! Poison-types aren’t always grotesque (witness, for instance, Roserade, Nidoqueen, Seviper), and Fairy-types aren’t always cute (Granbull, Mawile), so I’m sure there’s room to meet in the middle on that one. And there’s plenty of room for poison in fairytale – what about the poisoned apple that the evil queen gives to Snow White? Or the association between fairies and poisonous mushrooms? I think a Fairy/Poison-type that acted as a sort of fungal counterpart to Flabébé, Floette and Florges would be really neat – a fairy whose body is covered in growths of mushrooms and toadstools, that contributes to the balance of nature by advancing decay. Or maybe a witch-like Pokémon that brews potions, some of them miraculous cures, others deadly toxins.
Do you like Cherrim?
Eh. Ambivalent. Cherrim shares Sunflora’s main flaw – namely, that she’s a Grass Pokémon whose most interesting characteristic (her love of and dependence on sunlight) is shared by… well, all Grass Pokémon. Now, in Cherrim’s case, Game Freak gave her a transformation gimmick so that her sun theme would actually matter and so that her dependence on sunlight would be more dramatic than that of other Grass-types, which is great. The trouble is that, because of that amazing Flower Gift ability, they felt they needed to smack her with a rare double dose of Grass Pokémon Don’t Get Nice Things in order to make absolutely sure she wouldn’t somehow be overpowered, and as a result Cherrim is beyond terrible (of course, Flower Gift applies to her partners as well, so I imagine in doubles and triples you must be able to make something out of her, with appropriate team composition). But I applaud the concept. Cherrim is basically Sunflora done right, if you ask me.
What do you think of the new formes of Zygarde that were revealed? They turned him into Cell from DBZ.
Oddly enough, Dragon Ball Z’s Cell is not what leaps out at me, though I certainly wouldn’t want to rule him out as a possible influence. Conceptually, the way Zygarde’s forms are described – scattered cells that operate independently, gaining full power when they reunite – that reminds me, more than anything else, of Jenova from Final Fantasy VII. The black and green colour scheme, the notion of many individual units working as one under a single intelligence, along with Zygarde’s existing designation as the Order Pokémon… well, that, bizarrely enough, calls to my mind Star Trek’s Borg Collective. The red and blue elements of Zygarde’s “perfect” form hint at Yveltal and Xerneas being somehow absorbed (or assimilated? :-p) into it – which sounds like Cell, I admit, but is already something that exists in Pokémon, in the person of Kyurem’s augmented forms. In any case… all this possibly has interesting symbolic resonance with Zygarde’s presumed role as guardian of Kalos’ ecosystem, in that Zygarde is itself, apparently, a self-contained ecosystem of sorts, a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. A strikingly appropriate theme for the “Order Pokémon,” I think.
Also, I feel compelled to note that Bulbapedia seems to have decided that Zygarde’s dog and humanoid forms are based (in line with the Norse mythology theme that someone decreed back when X and Y were released) on Jormungandr’s siblings, Fenrir and Hel, respectively. Hel, the goddess of the underworld, who was a beautiful woman above the waist and a rotting corpse below. I mean, okay, maybe this is what they’re referencing, but if so, they’re doing it badly. It’s a stretch, for me. Presumably if Zygarde’s “10%” form were a goat, people would be saying it was based on Tanngniost and Tanngrisnir; if it were a horse, people would point at Sleipnir; if it were a boar, people would point to Gullinbursti. I have little patience for that whole conceptual house of cards.
What’s your favorite Legendary Pokémon, and why? We all know it’s not Rayquaza (because of Emerald) or Arceus (because of The Jewel of Life), but which one’s your favorite (or favorites, in the case of duos or trios)?
That’s a hard one… You’re right that it’s not Arceus because Jewel of Life can rot in hell, and also because the whole “god Pokémon” thing just does stuff to the setting that I don’t really like, and which I’m not convinced anyone ever thought through. It’s also not Rayquaza, although I actually feel that Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby quite satisfactorily redeem the mess that was made of Rayquaza’s involvement in Emerald (though Deoxys is just a total Giant Space Flea from Nowhere). I like the designs of Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres, but I’m less keen on the fact that (in the games at least) they have nothing to do with anything. Similarly, I’m fond of Cobalion, Virizion and Terrakion’s backstory, which I think is really interesting, but I was incredibly underwhelmed by how little they had to do with the story of Black and White, considering how directly invested they are in the ideological conflict behind the plot. You know, all things considered, I actually might go with Xerneas and Yveltal as joint winners; the designs are really evocative, they enabled an interesting story with some cool themes in X and Y, and the way they’re described hits a good spot on the “cosmic power” scale, where you can appreciate that these things might have region-wide significance, but they don’t necessarily place the power to unmake the universe in the hands of a ten-year-old trainer the way Dialga and Palkia do.
You could maybe tie the Aphrodite Pokemon thing with encantados, Brazilian dolphins who take human shape, go to parties, and seduce women back to the water with them. Maybe throw in a mermaid/siren angle too? It’s deceptive and sometimes pretends to be a human. It can sing a beautiful song that’s lured sailors into wrecking their ships. Though this is just starting to sound like Mega Lapras or something of the sort.
Well, the thing is, at this point you’re doing a Pokémon based on the encantado, not on Aphrodite – which, to be honest, I think is sort of a better place to start anyway. The notion of Pokémon based on the Greek gods doesn’t really sit all that well with me, just because the whole point of the Greek gods is how human-like they are in their moods, desires and flaws. It’s really interesting from a cultural or theological perspective, but kind of “meh” as a basis for designing Pokémon. Or at least, that’s what I think.
If Aphrodite were an important pkmn trainer (respected one, leader, champion, etc.) what would be her team and strategy? More over, how would you design an Aphrodite-based pokemon?
Well, “strategy,” in the vaguest possible sense of the word, would involve everything knowing Attract, and probably as many other delaying techniques as possible. Aphrodite is not a confrontational goddess – she “fights” in the Trojan War, for instance, but in her case “fighting” is more floating around doing vaguely protective motions towards heroes she likes, taking Paris out of the battle when he’s about to get murdered by Menelaus, that sort of thing. So lots of moves that heal, protect, delay, and so on. Milotic is obligatory, since she’s seen as an ideal of beauty in the Pokémon world, and the Milo- part of her name is thought to be in reference to the Venus de Milo. Cloyster makes a lot of sense, in reference to the famous Botticelli painting The Birth of Venus, which has her rising out of the ocean on a scallop shell. Sparrows and doves are sacred to Aphrodite, and probably the closest we’ve got to that is Pidove, but I’ll take a bit of artistic license and give her an Altaria. Swoobat, for the heart motif. Heatmor for her husband, Hephaistos, and a big scary Fighting-type, maybe Infernape, for her lover, Ares.
As for designing a Pokémon… to be honest I’m not particularly inspired by the idea of something directly “based” on a character normally depicted in human form; I don’t really think that allows you to do anything terribly interesting. Mechanically speaking, I think it would be really interesting to make a Pokémon that somehow tries to make Attract not suck, probably using custom abilities or moves; if I wanted to bring Aphrodite into that somehow I would probably do it by basing said Pokémon on one of her sacred animals – sparrow, dove, swan, dolphin, or maybe even her sacred plant, the myrtle, but I’m not sure that necessarily would add anything to the idea of a Pokémon that fights with infatuation.
Pokémaniacal 