vikingboybilly asks:

If diamond is harder than steel, shouldn’t the rock and steel weakness/resistance to each other be reversed?

I see no compelling reason for it, unless we believe a) that Rock Pokémon are made of diamonds or something equally hard, b) that Steel Pokémon are made of ordinary carbon steel and not some kind of bizarre bio-alloy, and c) that Mohs’ hardness is a good indicator of how a Pokémon’s body holds up under the diverse stresses of battle.  On the other hand, I see no compelling reason for the way that relationship works currently either, and Steel-types have too many damn resistances anyway, so sure, go nuts.

Anonymous asks:

How do you think “fainting” came about in the Pokemon universe and what is its purpose? I might be stretching things, but it seems to be some sort of specific process that’s different from being knocked unconscious, due to the way ALL Pokemon, even ones that are totally different – dragons, starfish, floating magnets – faint in the same way, and faint in the same way in response to a wide variety of totally different attacks.

Do they?

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Anonymous asks:

More than once, I’ve seen you complain about how gen 4 didn’t simply switch Sceptile’s physical and special attack stats. Are there any other pokemon who you think should be fixed simply by having some of their base stats changed or switched? That was never a solution you brought up in your Top 10 Worst Pokemon, and while I know it’s a bit of an uncreative solution, for several pokemon it’s the only plausible solution.

Hmm.  Well, I think the Pokémon on that list need a good deal more than that – most of them do actually have attack stats that match their movepools reasonably well, if memory serves; the problem is that both are awful.  I’m not sure I’ve every really thought that about any other Pokémon.  Sceptile is sort of a special case because there’s a flavour/aesthetic component to it.  Sceptile looks and feels like he should be a physical attacker, but he isn’t because the designers loaded him up with moves that push the limits of what makes sense in generation III mechanics – moves that, like Sceptile, look and feel physical but were actually special at the time because of their type, like Leaf Blade and Dragon Claw.  I don’t know if there’s any other Pokémon that had quite the same experience of that transition; the vast majority of them came out better off.  Sceptile is just weird because it seems like they deliberately statted him up to work with the quirks of the pre-generation IV mechanics that Pokémon like Absol, Feraligatr and Sneasel were stuck trying to work against.

Anonymous asks:

Sorry if this has been asked before, but do you plan on reviewing the entire Pokemon anime series? Or just Kanto, and then specific episodes that you find particularly interesting, or what’s the DEAL HERE, MAN

Put it this way: notionally I want to do the whole thing, but in practice, to say that I “plan on” it would be a bit of a stretch.  At my current rate of progress, I would be lucky to finish before the heat death of the universe.  So I’m just going through them more or less in order, as and when I feel like it.  Plans do not mesh well with real life responsibilities.

Anonymous asks:

How would you design a Champion? I don’t mean in terms of visual design, but personal character and team composition. What kind of profession would they have (if any)? What would their personality be like? What type or theme would they specialize in (if any)? And, of course, what Pokémon would you give them?

Tricky.

Well, we’ve had a rival, a superhero, a geologist, a mythographer, an adventurer, a dragon princess, and an actress… what would I like to have next?  Maybe… a politician, a leader?  Someone whose philosophy revolves around responsibility, duty, and community?  This champion is the mayor of a major city that the player visits on their journey.  They’re not on the front lines of crises like Lance, Steven or Alder; instead they’re leading from behind, making sure everyone is where they need to be, when they need to be, protecting civilians from chaos, and taking charge in recovery efforts after disasters.  In interactions with the player, they constantly stress the responsibility of Pokémon trainers to use their power and skills for the good of all, and challenge the player to think about how their journey is benefiting people and Pokémon other than themselves.  In battle, this Champion’s Pokémon are all Normal-types (because Normal-types need some love), focusing on those that value protectiveness, loyalty or industry – Stoutland, Pyroar, Braviary, Diggersby (with Huge Power, of course) and Sawsbuck, with Mega Kangaskhan to cap it all off.