Tag: pokemon design

In your pokemon X playthrough journal, you made the egregious statement that the “updated” cries of older pokemon appeal to nostalgia. How dare you! The cry is the most distinguishing trait of a pokemon. If there was one thing I was ever certain of, the cries were the one thing about a pokemon that would never change. Psyduck and Cubone’s classic cries were butchered! What they did to Pikachu is the worst. I’ll give you one and say they pulled off drowzee well, but the rest are unforgivab!

Well, that statement was actually referring to the sixth generation’s treatment of older Pokémon in general – which you can contrast sharply with Black and White’s (unprecedented) total exclusion of them – more so than to cries in particular, but since you bring it up… no, it’s not “the most distinguishing trait of a Pokémon;” I’d actually go so far as to call that a truly ridiculous assertion.  I mean, if you look at Vileplume and Aerodactyl, the difference between their cries, originally, was all but imperceptible, despite their being totally different in every other respect.  Likewise Ditto and Poliwag, Charizard and Rhyhorn, etc.  And then there’s the fact that, while most of a Pokémon’s characteristics are constant across different media (games vs anime), the cry is rarely even similar.  I saw it as an example of Game Freak paying attention to older Pokémon and giving them something to help ensure that they would feel every bit as shiny and polished as the new ones.  Perhaps nostalgia is the wrong word for that, but I still feel my original sentiment is justified.

What would be your ideal Grass-type Pokemon, aesthetically, mechanically, conceptually? You’ve said Grass is your favorite type, and you’ve definitely expressed opinions on it before, so I was just wondering: if Game Freak gave you a few sheets of paper and a set of colored pens, what would you come up with?

Mmmrrrrmmm.  Hmm.  Grass Pokémon, to me, can be tranquil but sinister, peaceful but deadly.  More than half of all Grass-types in the first generation were Grass/Poison, you know, and real-world plants are the ultimate source of thousands upon thousands of medically useful chemicals, and ten times as many deadly poisons.  My favourite Grass Pokémon, as you’ve probably heard me mention, is Vileplume.  So… gimme a plant, gimme a plant…

Got one.

In Homer’s Odyssey, there is a short episode where a number of Odysseus’ men, off exploring one of the strange lands they’ve discovered, are taken in by the locals, who are called the Lotophagoi (Lotus-Eaters), and offered a meal of a mysterious fruit, the lotus, that seems to be the only food anyone eats there.  The fruit turns out to be incredibly addictive, and induces a state of bliss in which the men are completely unable to remember who they are, where they come from, or what they are supposed to be doing.  Odysseus and the others have to literally drag them kicking and screaming back to the ships.  So then, how about a Pokémon like that?  A Grass-type that grows mysterious psychoactive fruit which, when eaten, compel other wild Pokémon to do its bidding?  Grass/Psychic or Grass/Fairy could both be justified, and both of them already exist (Exeggutor, Celebi and Whimsicott) but neither is particularly laboured at this point.  I think Grass/Psychic is probably most appropriate, thematically.  ”Because it is still young, this Pokémon’s psychic powers are too weak to influence others, so it offers them the mysterious fruit that grows on its vines in exchange for protection and favours,” then later, after evolving, “A single bite of its tantalising fruit can bring you under its psychic control for hours or even days.  It surrounds itself with other wild Pokémon for protection.”

Now, fun fact about the Homeric lotus – no one is 100% sure what it is.  It’s almost certainly not the plant most commonly referred to as “lotus” today, the sacred lotus flower Nelumbo nucifera, which is native to south east Asia (this is what the lotuses in the first Percy Jackson movie are based on – in the books there is no fruit or flower at all, probably because the author knew better).  Because the historian Herodotus seems to have thought that the Homeric Lotophagoi lived in North Africa, people commonly go with fruit trees native to that region, like the date plum, but a wide variety of interesting candidates has been put forward – possibly the high point of my entire last semester was finding, in the course of research for a presentation on the Odyssey’s portrayal of faraway lands, a legit scholarly article from 1937 which argued, in total seriousness, that the Lotus-Eaters were actually addicted to watermelons.  That being the case, the physical design of this thing would be wide open; at the moment what I’m imagining is a sort of shuffling bush thing with clawed, woody feet, eyes near the base, and long tendrils that sprout from the top and hang down around it, with several different coloured fruits on the ends.  Maybe an actual lotus flower on the top, at the centre of the tendrils, but again, you can sort of go either way on how appropriate that is.  Something like that.

GrayGryphon asks:

Do you think there should have been a Fairy-type that got Illusion as an ability? Not necessarily an existing one, just as a concept in general.

Hrm.  It makes sense, don’t get me wrong – fairies go well with illusion and deception – but I think the Illusion ability is something that it’s better to keep as Zoroark’s ‘thing,’ both for Zoroark’s sake (because, to be honest, it would probably not be difficult to come up with a Pokémon who gets more out of Illusion than Zoroark does) and to avoid the chaos that would be brought about by having both of them on the same team.  That’s not to say we can’t try to think of something that draws on a similar idea of deception, though… fairies from different cultures and different stories can have control over a wide variety of elemental forces, so… maybe a Fairy-type who can have several different secondary types, which the opponent can’t immediately identify.  It can be (say) Fairy/Fire, Fairy/Electric, Fairy/Water or Fairy/Grass, chosen at birth, and its appearance is the same for all four (maybe including elements from all four types), which means that the opponent has to fire off one or two “test” attacks to figure out what its weaknesses and resistances are.  Undecided on whether to have moves that are unique to each form or just give all four a wide range of attacks.  Could go either way there.

What do you think about this idea I have about butterfly and moth Pokemon? First I’d mash them into one evolution, Caterpie into Butterfree during the day, and Venomoth during the night. I’d change them the Bug/Psychic and Bug/Dark respectively, then give them different forms based on what region they’re found in. Hoenn Butterfree is Bug/Fire with a sun motif, and Venomoth is Bug/Water with an ocean motif, in Kalos Bug/Fairy and Bug/Ghost… they’d have signature abilities that change also.

What is the logic behind the form changes?  I mean, sure, there’s nothing wrong with the idea, and it gives Butterfree and Venomoth something neat to do (poor Venonat, though… is it actually necessary to merge the evolutionary lines?  What aim does that serve?), but it needs some flavour stuff behind it and not just game mechanics.  We’ve seen Pokémon that have different appearances in different parts of the world before – Shellos/Gastrodon and Vivillon – but they don’t have this variation in their powers.  What is it about Butterfree and Venomoth that makes them so adaptable?

I can’t help but wonder whether the effort is misplaced…  Beautifly, Dustox, Mothim and Vivillon need upgraded powers way more than Butterfree (who has Compoundeyes Sleep Powder) and Venomoth (who has Quiver Dance, Baton Pass, and Tinted Lens).

So I’m making my own fake Pokemon region, Unotos, and in it I’ve got gremlin Pokemon. I know I want them to be Fairy-type, but what should be the secondary type (if any)? I mean, Dark seems apropos, but Flying is closer to the gremlins’ origins but not in the “correct” way. Maybe a Fairy/Dark line with an ability that makes their moves super effective against Flying and Steel-types as gremlins in folklore sabotaged aircraft? I respect your opinion immensely and would love your advice on this. :)

I like the idea; it’s a good excuse to have a Fairy Pokémon on the more malicious side.  I agree that Fairy/Flying isn’t quite right because gremlins don’t (I think) actually fly in spite of being traditionally associated with aircraft, and Fairy/Dark seems to make the most sense immediately – but then hey, who says your gremlin Pokémon can’t have wings after evolving (or just be able to learn Fly)?  I think that would also make a great deal of sense, and be a good way of playing with the basic concept.  As for beating Steel-types, what jumps to my mind would be a “Sabotage” attack – Fairy-type (physical?) but super-effective against Steel Pokémon in the same way as Aurorus’ Freeze Dry beats Water-types.  As for an ability… Technician seems like the logical choice (bonus points if Sabotage has 60 power and can get a Technician boost).

SkarmorySilver asks:

I see you liked my pitohui Pokemon, thanks! Which leads me to this question: I remember you said you were tired of bird Pokemon (among other generic templates) being repeated with each generation. That said, if you HAD to design a “common bird” (without any cop-outs like using a previous gen bird, for example), what would be the result? Would you have picked something different from a songbird, for example?

What have we had so far?

Pidgey isn’t so much a pigeon as a composite ‘generic bird,’ [EDIT: in fact it’s more probably a cedar waxwing, a medium-sized North American songbird] similarly Spearow is a composite ‘generic raptor’ and pretty clearly not a sparrow.  Aside from those, we’ve had an owl, a swallow, a starling, an actual pigeon who eventually winds up as a pheasant, and a robin who winds up as a peregrine falcon.  With the exception of Hoothoot and Noctowl, all fit into the same basic battle role as fast physical attackers (with… varying degrees of success).  With the exception of Fletchinder and Talonflame, all are Normal/Flying.  Now, if I understand the prompt you’re giving me, the requirement here is for an early-game Pokémon based on a bird without any particularly remarkable traits, initially Normal/Flying but not necessarily all the way?

I want a frickin’ ptarmigan.

Ptarmigans, for those unfamiliar with the name, are hardy little alpine- and tundra-adapted birds related to chickens, pheasants and quails.  Probably their most interesting feature is that their feet and toes are covered in feathers, unusually for birds – part of their cold adaptation.  Let’s play with that and have them evolve into Ice-types with ice crystal feathers on their feet, for performing a sort of ice-kick attack parallel to Blaze Kick (I’m sure some other Pokémon would love to share it).  While real ptarmigans hibernate in burrows during the winter, these guys hibernate in summer and emerge when the weather starts to cool down again.  They can fly, but aren’t great at it, and don’t generally like to travel long distances that way.

Wikipedia also informs me that the rock ptarmigan is known in Japan as the raichou – thunder bird (rai being the same word that appears in, e.g., Raichu and Raikou), which is a wonderful excuse to have it randomly learn a couple of Electric attacks as it levels and confuse everyone who isn’t in on the joke.

I kinda want the final form to be called Ptarmagnicant, but I’m worried that’s too long (2 letters longer than Fletchinder, who has the longest English name of any Pokémon), and I have no ideas on the smaller forms.  Suggestions?

Here’s an ask I’ve thought of after re-reading some of your past Pokemon reviews… If you had to design an evolved form for one single-stage Pokemon (not counting the ones for whom you’ve already discussed ideas for evolutions, e.g. Pachirisu in your Top 10 Worst Pokemon list), which one would you choose and how would you pull it off in a meaningful fashion? Conversely, which single-stage would you give a PRE-evolution?

Hmm… well, outside of the ones I already talked about in that series, the one I most want to see evolved is easily Dunsparce; the problem is that Dunsparce is such a weird and unique creature that it’s difficult to know what to do with him, stylistically.  I feel like he should have the head of a Chinese dragon with the whiskers and antler-like horns, a feathery body, still small wings but multiple pairs (which he uses to ‘swim’ through the ground; yes I know that doesn’t make sense), a larger, more vicious-looking drill, and his existing yellow/black/white colour scheme.  Normal/Dragon type, Levitate in place of Run Away, keeping Serene Grace.  It’s said that if you catch a wild one with your bare hands and hold onto it while it tunnels through the earth to escape, this Pokémon will grant you a wish.

I often have difficulty with pre-evolutions; I don’t always see the point of them.  Manktyke I get, because I like how the unique evolution method ties him to Remoraid.  Tyrogue I get because they wanted to link Himonchan and Hitmonlee.  Munchlax I get because he actually makes an interesting contrast with Snorlax’s inactivity.  In many cases, though, they’re just smaller, cuter versions of Pokémon that were small and cute to begin with; I don’t see why that’s necessary.  I guess if I had to do one, I’d go with a baby form of Druddigon – soft and cute on the outside, but just as bad-tempered on the inside, with a conniving streak that it uses to trick prey into its cave.

Do you think they should have made grass good against fairy? Fairies tend to nourish forests and such since nature is their home, and grass tends to be good against things that it gets nourishment from, such as water and the earth. At the least, I think it would have made sense to give grass a resistance against fairy.

You know me too well.  I’m on board with anything that means Grass gets more advantages.  However… I think statements like “fairies tend to nourish forests” and “nature is their home” are kind of dependent on a very particular notion of what a “fairy” is, not unlike the idea that dragons should have leathery wings and breath fire.  Also, couldn’t this just as easily be spun in the opposite direction, giving Fairy Pokémon an advantage over Grass-types because they have power over plants?

I’ll probably do a whole entry on the Fairy type once my playthrough is done, so there will be more to be said here.

What new type combination do you most want to see in the inevitable next generation of Pokemon?

Hmm.  Well, I’ve always wished there were a Grass/Dragon Pokémon, double-weakness to Ice be damned (hey, Dragonite and Salamence can live with it), just because I love Grass-types.  Not sure where I would go with this; one thought I had just as I was writing this is that you could combine the whole ‘hoarding’ thing that Western dragons have with the idea of a seed bank – so you have a great big Dragon Pokémon whose life’s work is to collect seeds of different rare plants.  Because he stores them all over his body, random flowers and vines and things tend to burst out from little cracks between his scales.  Maybe give him a spore-breath attack that does damage and has a chance to cause paralysis, sleep or poison.