vikingboybilly

Do we need another low level grass type attack when we’ve had absorb, vine whip, and razor leaf since gen 1? Has GameFreak decided that Rowlett is incapable of any of those moves (I honestly see razor leaf as a fitting move), or did they just want a non-physical vine whip?

Well, clearly they want a starting move for Rowlet, something it can have at level 5 (just like all the starters had in generation VI), and just as clearly Razor Leaf is too strong for that.  It could easily learn Razor Leaf later on.  Is Vine Whip appropriate for Rowlet?  Eh.  Doesn’t strike me as a great match.  We’ve never had a bird-like Grass-type before, so new moves that go along with that strike me as nothing more than we should expect.

Anonymous asks:

What exactly is “special defense”?

I don’t think it’s necessarily anything, really.  I don’t think any of the stats are anything.  Think about speed, for instance.  Rapidash has a base speed of 105, and that’s clearly because she runs really fast, but then, Kadabra also has a base speed of 105 and it’s equally clear that this does not mean Kadabra can run as fast as Rapidash.  In Kadabra’s case it represents something more like reaction time.  So really speed is “anything that enables a Pokémon to gain a tactical advantage which can be represented by moving first.”

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Anonymous asks:

What do you think of the theory that the Rowlet line will be grass/steel, the Litten line fire/poison, and the Popplio line water/fairy, to tie into potential themes of knife-thrower, fire-breather, and clown/entertainer-seal?

Pretty much the same thing as I think of most of these predictions that people like to make in the run-up to a new generation: “It could be right; it’s probably wrong; there’s too little evidence to make a good assessment; I don’t really care.”

batabid asks:

What’s your explanation for how the move Trick-or-Treat works?

Hmm.  Well, when you go Trick-or-Treat-ing, you “become” a ghost, or monster, or whatever, for a little while.  You take a little journey into the spirit world, and gain new perspectives on the natural and the supernatural.  Pumpkaboo is a Jack-o’-lantern, a light that guides souls through the spirit world, so it makes sense it would be able to get other Pokémon to follow it on that sort of escapade.  Once you go along with that, you have some of the properties of a spirit yourself, including immunities and vulnerabilities.

vikingboybilly asks:

Timburr should learn wood hammer.

Should he, though?  By the time Timburr reaches a level where a move as powerful as Wood Hammer becomes remotely reasonable, he’s not Timburr anymore.  It makes sense for Timburr, sure, but in practice what we’re actually saying is “let’s give Conkeldurr Wood Hammer,” and… I don’t think there’s any good reason for that?

EDIT: Pansexualkiba adds: There are some Pokemon who have access to moves in their base form that their evolutions can’t get, though! Like, for example, Riolu and Force Palm or Nidorina and Poison Fang.
To which I would answer: absolutely true, but so what?  Those are moves that still make perfect sense for Lucario and Nidoqueen.
Conkeldurr getting Wood Hammer would hardly be the stupidest thing we’ve ever seen in terms of move compatibility, but I think that not giving it to him is perfectly understandable.

Anonymous asks:

Obviously, any regular reader knows that you’re a champion of the Grass type. One thing that occurred to me recently – any thoughts on why is there only a single Grass/Ground type? Wouldn’t that seem an obvious combination to be exploited? Roots would presumably feature heavily. It seems that flavour wise, at least, this one would seem natural.

I think maybe the fact that it seems so natural is actually part of the reason.  Ground is, let’s face it, a poorly thought out mess of a type.  Pokémon can be assigned to the Ground type because they have powers related to earth and soil, or because they happen to live on the ground, or sometimes, it seems, just because they’re generally tough and resilient.  It’s a really vague set of traits, most of which also apply to pure Grass-types.  If most of the things that define Ground are also essentially inherent to Grass anyway, there’s never any need to add Ground to a Grass Pokémon, unless you come up against something like Torterra who’s associated with the earth in a much more elemental sense than most Ground Pokémon.