VikingBoyBilly asks:

Do you feel pokemon has ever jumped the shark? Granted, jumping the shark does not automatically mean “became bad,” it just means hitting a drastic turning point it can never return from. For me that’s gen 3, because [long list of reasons].

Well, I would take issue with your understanding of the term “jumping the shark,” because I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a single use of it that hasn’t been negative – TvTropes says “it’s reached its peak, it’ll never be the same again, and from now on it’s all downhill,” while Wikipedia says “the moment in the evolution of a television show when it begins a decline in quality.”  But whatever; drastic turning points it is.

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X Nuzlocke, episode 9: On the High Seas

Route 12

Ruby: Look, it’s perfectly simple; as my personal minion, everything you know about the Mega Stones now belongs to me.
Amaldos: And so the stars belong in the sky, yet the sky never sought to constrain the stars to wait out the dawn.
Ruby: Yeah, but… that’s not… that analogy makes no sense.
Amaldos: Of course not; for my senses have taken leave of me.
Ruby: If you’re not going to help me find the stones, then why did you want to come along with us in the first place?
Amaldos: There is something new under the sun, old tricks learned again on borrowed time… and soon, a bolt from the blue.  In a matter of life and death, sometimes a Liepard must find more than one way to skin a Purugly in order to change its spots.
Ruby: …okay, sure.  And… the reason I can’t try using yours is…?
Amaldos: It is mine.
Ruby: Ah.  Well.  Fair enough, then.
Amaldos: When you despise something, keep it close; if it leaves you, it was never worth your hatred in the first place.
Spruce: But if the journey is more important than the destination, then why is the road less travelled… um… always blocked by construction workers?
Amaldos: [long silence]
Spruce: And how does someone who walks off the beaten path find their way up the garden path?
Ruby: Uh…
Amaldos: An Accelgor can never catch a Torkoal that has been given a head start.  There is a place nearby where moss gathers on the wrong side of the trees.  Come, blinded one; let us find your stone and set it rolling.
Ruby: [to Spruce] How the hell do you even do that?
Spruce: [shrugs helplessly]

Continue reading “X Nuzlocke, episode 9: On the High Seas”

Anonymous asks:

Hello, I just read your Roman glass post and went through your non Pokemon tag, and I’m wondering if you had another non-Pokemon blog (or maybe just an academic blog) I could also follow?

I don’t, no; I’ve kind of been tempted on occasion to start one, but to be honest I have quite enough trouble keeping up with this one as it is.  Mostly I post this stuff to reassure people that, when I vanish for a month at a time, I am in fact doing something arguably useful.

VikingBoyBilly asks:

How come heatran has sexes (not ‘genders’) and can’t breed? It’s the only legendary that is like this (Latias and Latios have fixed sexes, Manaphy can breed).

Well, Latias and Latios probably have genders because they’re supposed to reference Gnostic aeons, which come in male/female pairs (I’m not altogether convinced by this interpretation, but it’s the best suggestion I’ve seen for what they’re about); Manaphy can breed because being a legendary Pokémon that can breed is Manaphy’s particular gimmick.  Heatran… well, to be honest my best guess (and I do not think it is a terribly good one, but it’s what I’ve got) is that Heatran was originally not intended to be a legendary Pokémon, and somehow its genders were retained by mistake.  There isn’t really anything particularly “legendary” about Heatran other than its stats, after all, particularly not in comparison to some of the other nonsense going on in the fourth generation.  If you’re looking for an in-universe explanation, I would say that Heatran can and do breed – but since they’ll only lay their eggs in a volcano that isn’t already claimed by another Heatran, good bloody luck to anyone who wants to try it.

Anonymous asks:

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.

Anonymous asks:

Do androids dream of electric sheep?

It’s kind of an odd question to ask, really, because who the f&$% dreams about sheep?  Well… except, like… sheep farmers.  We count sheep before we fall asleep; we don’t dream about the damn things.  What kind of lame-ass android is so myopic that it can’t think of anything better to dream about than a sheep?  Although… I guess it is an electric sheep, which implies that the android is a Pokémon fan, so at least it’s got that going for it.

Anonymous asks:

What would you do to give Beheeyem a bit of a boost? Do you think widening its movepool to give it a niche that’s not already filled by Reuniclus is possible, or is an evo (mega or otherwise) the only way to save them from the metaphorical Tartarus that is forgetabiity?

Let’s see… at the moment, what Beheeyem is good at is slow, powerful special attacks, often within a Trick Room, which Beheeyem himself can set up.  Which is fine, and Beheeyem’s not even bad at that, really; if he can get a power bonus from Analytic, stacked on top of an item boost, his attacks seriously sting.  It’s just that Reuniclus, as you note, is significantly better at exactly the same things, being tougher, and protected by either Magic Guard or Regenerator, which makes spamming Calm Mind a solid option.  And to be honest, I don’t really think movepool stuff really changes that.  You could add Focus Blast, I guess, but that’s just copying Reuniclus more; Dazzling Gleam or Flash Cannon might be justifiable, but I’m not convinced they would help much.  Zap Cannon would be hilarious, but of questionable value.  Beheeyem’s support movepool already has just about everything you could ask for, except maybe Hypnosis (…come to think of it, why doesn’t Beheeyem get Hypnosis?).  The trouble is, being as slow as Beheeyem just doesn’t work for a Pokémon that physically frail.  I think at minimum you have to rejigger his stats… swap his special attack and physical defence, maybe?  Dunno if that makes him better; I mean, it helps on the “different from Reuniclus” front, I guess, but those souped-up Analytic special attacks are most of what he’s got going for him at the moment.  To make matters worse, Beheeyem’s base stat total is at an awkward spot where getting another evolution seems really unlikely… I don’t know.  Mega Evolution might be the only way to go with this one.

RandomAccess asks:

I was thinking about Pokemon not being classified by sex but their internal gender, and that pokemon are sexless. But then I was thinking how these genders are classified by male and female which are classifications for biological sex, not one’s internal gender, which would be man, woman, or non-binary. It’s probably because the word sex is a bit too PG for an E rating, so they just used gender instead. Though male and female can be used for gender. Would the original Japanese reveal anything?

Oh, that is almost certainly what they really mean; I don’t even think there’s any doubt about that (although I can’t read Japanese, so I’m afraid you’re on your own there).  I just think it’s more entertaining to make wild speculations based on their poor word choice.