Anonymous asks:

what are your views on ledian and how can you make him (i really see ledian as a him) good or actually viable? because i, for one, was disappointed back when i was playing the gen 2 games for the first time because i thought ledian’s whole “ladybug that punches things with its four boxing glove arms” design was awesome.

Better stats.

I mean, that’s a dull cop-out answer, but… like… that has to be step one. The boxing/punching thing seems to be a fairly important element of Ledian’s design, but they gave him an attack stat that’s outclassed by baby seals, some caterpillars, seaweed, and f&#%ing Bidoof. Continue reading “Anonymous asks:” →

The Philosophical Sheep asks:

When you review the major trainers in gen 7 (a.k.a. the rivals, villains, champion etc.) would you mind talking more about how the pokemon they use “fit” them as a character? My biggest complaint about Cyrus, for instance, was that his ace was a Weavile which didn’t seem to fit him at all. Lysandre, meanwhile, had a Gyarados as his strongest pokemon, which was unexpected given his element but fell in line with his motives quite well. Just something to consider.

Hmm. Duly noted, and I think there’s a couple of choices of that kind in Sun and Moon that would be worth talking about, when I write those (probably after reviewing the Pokémon, since I’ve been putting that off too long already).

I think there’s sort of an argument for Weavile as Cyrus’ signature Pokémon, in that his type is very appropriate for Cyrus – “dark and cold” basically sums Cyrus up. But yeah, other than that, I don’t think Weavile was a great choice; Cyrus isn’t a spiteful person or a particularly devious and cunning villain, and those stick out as Weavile’s core characteristics. Obviously they wanted it to be a Pokémon that was new in generation IV, and I’m not sure what else I would have chosen… maybe Magnezone (for his affinity with machines) or Spiritomb (for his interest in ancient magical powers)…

Rockcutter64 asks:

Since they seemed to have abandoned mega evolution for the moment, any idea what you’d do with megas of the 2nd gen starters?

Not really… I’ve never been wild about any of the generation II starter Pokémon (not even Meganium, who enjoys the benefit of my blanket fondness for all Grass Pokémon), and honestly I don’t really like designing mega evolutions very much. Typhlosion in generation VII actually got an interesting little almost-signature-move (she shares it with Moltres, and it can be bred into Growlithe, but hey, who’s counting?) – Burn Up, which gives you one really powerful Fire attack and then strips you of your Fire type, which in Typhlosion’s case makes her typeless. I’d sort of like to give Meganium and Feraligatr something new to match, and then maybe these putative mega forms could have new abilities that mesh with the signature moves somehow. For Typhlosion, you could have her automatically regain her Fire type at the end of the turn after losing it (for any reason – Burn Up, but also Soak, or anything else added to the game in the future that can cause a Pokémon to lose its original type) and increase her special attack whenever that happens. Meganium ought to have something better than Sweet Scent that emphasises her ability to quell violence and conflict or restore life… maybe a kind of mass Wish, a delayed full restore that affects everything in play, with an ability that causes all healing from Meganium’s moves to recur one turn later, with reduced effect. And Feraligatr can just… I don’t know, be able to bite everything in half, or whatever.

Anonymous asks:

Is it just me or have Psychic types really gone through an overhaul? In the first generation it was populated by bizarre, unnatural creatures like Mr Mime, Hypno, Exeggutor, and Starmie and now it’s basically the generic legendary type.

Well, I mean, I agree completely with your assertion that French mimes are bizarre and unnatural, but other than that, I don’t think so. Inkay and Malamar the mind-controlling land-squid in VI fit the bill of “bizarre and unnatural” to me, and V had Gothitelle, Sigilyph, Reuniclus and Beheeyem. I think partly you’re maybe just noticing that there are very few Psychic-types in generation VII. Like… Cosmog, Cosmoem, Solgaleo and Lunala are basically all one thing, then there’s that freaky prism demon, and Tapu Lele, and other than that, there’s… what, Bruxish and Oranguru? And honestly Oranguru (a.k.a. the Stalker Pokémon) gives me the creeps every bit as much as Hypno ever did.

Anonymous asks:

Why is it that if I challenge a Gym Leader like Misty, who carries 2 Pokemon, that I’m allowed to use up to six against her? Surely the people that makes the rules don’t honestly believe she or any other Gym Leaders have strong enough Pokemon and strategies to contest a potential 2 vs 6, right?

I know people hate it when I do this, but my instinct here is to point to the anime and say “well, they do restrict the numbers available to the challenger; that fact just gets elided to produce a smoother gameplay experience.” Besides, a single Pokémon can and will wreck an entire team’s $#!t if you don’t know what you’re doing (looking at you, Whitney’s Miltank and Winona’s Altaria), and the Gym Leaders are, for the most part, supposed to be testing a trainer’s basic/intermediate/advanced proficiency, not trying to block them or halt their progress.

Anonymous asks:

Finneon and Lumineon get Silver Wind via level up, being the only non-Bugs who do so. What?

Well, I think it’s because of their butterfly-wing fins. Silver Wind is an attack associated not just with bugs but specifically with butterfly and moth Pokémon, all of whom have access to it aside from Vivillon, and they account for most of the Pokémon who learn it by levelling. Lumineon is clearly meant to resemble a butterfly (for what reason I’m not sure, though Bulbapedia suggests a link to the freshwater butterflyfish). The “wings” also net Lumineon access to Gust, for what it’s worth, and are perhaps responsible for her getting U-Turn as well.

Anonymous asks:

People wonder why Psyduck isn’t a Psychic-type, and I do too, but why isn’t it a Flying-type? It’s a bird, and all other generation I birds are part Flying-type (including Farfetch’d, who is also a duck, and Doduo/Dodrio, who are also flightless).

I think this may in fact be the best argument for thinking that Psyduck is not a duck at all, but a platypus, which I know people have suggested. There’s an important caveat here that even at the best of times Game Freak doesn’t quite seem to know what the Flying type actually is, and frankly neither do I, but other than the beak there’s not a lot which is especially ducklike about Psyduck. He has arms and webbed hands rather than wings (likewise Golduck), learns no Flying-type or bird-themed attacks aside from Aerial Ace (which… look, just f&$% Aerial Ace), and his body doesn’t really look feathery the way most bird Pokémon do.

Anonymous asks:

I think anime Jessie would find Team Skull appealing, don’t you? What with her growing up poor and becoming a criminal to ‘stick it to the man’ as it were, that’s some Team Skull motivation right there! Not sure if she and Guzma would get on, though… Maybe a frenemy relationship with Plumeria?

Well, I’ve seen exactly one and a half episodes of the Sun/Moon anime, and Team Skull did not feature, so grain of salt and all that, but yeah, I actually think all three of our Team Rocket trio would find a lot to like in Team Skull as they’re presented in the games. Jessie and Meowth would sympathise with their disadvantaged position in Alola’s society and respect their ambition, and I think James – despite his own privileged background – has enough of a rebellious streak to appreciate their desire for change. Also, given that a lot of individual members of Team Skull are actually not particularly malicious, I kinda think James and Jessie would fit right in, with their “only evil because I’m supposed to be” attitude. Jessie and Guzma would immediately battle to the death for control of the team though.

Anonymous asks:

We all know you hate Arceus and the Jewel of Life, but what’s your FAVORITE Pokémon movie? This does not count TV specials (like the Mewtwo origin) or Origins/Generations. Mine’s probably The Power of One, simply because of pure nostalgia!

Y’know, I gotta be honest, most of them are pretty dumb in a lot of ways; like, I give Jewel of Life a lot of $#!t but Rise of Darkrai gets seriously trippy in places and I’m still not sure what the point of Victini and Reshiram/Zekrom was supposed to be.

Also, in fairness, there are several I haven’t seen.

But I guess I’m a fan of Power of One too, and that probably is nostalgia to some extent, but I still feel in retrospect like the way it treated its legendary Pokémon was relatively sane, most of the characters felt like they actually had reasons to be there (even Team Rocket), and, y’know what? The whole “thus the world shall turn to Ash” thing was satisfying. Dumb. Corny. But satisfying.