VikingBoyBilly asks:

If you look at serebii’s latest episode pictures, Tyrunt is really really big. It’s like, six times larger than Dedenne.

That… sounds about right to me. Tyrunt’s height is listed in the Pokédex as about 80 cm, and if that’s height at the shoulder, which seems likely, he’s probably over a metre long. Dedenne is only 20 cm from head to toe.

Frezgle asks:

Hey!!! Did you see the a trailer for Pokemon Go? What do you think? I’m pretty psyched, since Ingress was awesome and it’s made by the same people.

I have indeed. It’s actually kind of funny to me, because I have a friend back home who works in the mobile games industry and has been working towards a pitch for basically this exact game for years, and now they’ve gone and done it first, the bastards. Anyway, I don’t actually know anything about Ingress, but yeah, I’m excited! Pokémon was always supposed to be about exploring the world around you, and I think this is a fantastic way of building on that theme. I’m particularly interested in the segment from the trailer that depicts a massive battle against Mewtwo – legendary Pokémon finally getting the respect they deserve, as huge challenges that take as many as a dozen Pokémon working in unison to take down. I wonder whether you’ll be able to see different Pokémon in different parts of the world, or whether the game will be able to choose species that are appropriate to the real world environment? Lots of interesting decisions they could make here.

Anonymous asks:

What’s your favorite Legendary Pokémon, and why? We all know it’s not Rayquaza (because of Emerald) or Arceus (because of The Jewel of Life), but which one’s your favorite (or favorites, in the case of duos or trios)?

That’s a hard one… You’re right that it’s not Arceus because Jewel of Life can rot in hell, and also because the whole “god Pokémon” thing just does stuff to the setting that I don’t really like, and which I’m not convinced anyone ever thought through. It’s also not Rayquaza, although I actually feel that Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby quite satisfactorily redeem the mess that was made of Rayquaza’s involvement in Emerald (though Deoxys is just a total Giant Space Flea from Nowhere). I like the designs of Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres, but I’m less keen on the fact that (in the games at least) they have nothing to do with anything. Similarly, I’m fond of Cobalion, Virizion and Terrakion’s backstory, which I think is really interesting, but I was incredibly underwhelmed by how little they had to do with the story of Black and White, considering how directly invested they are in the ideological conflict behind the plot. You know, all things considered, I actually might go with Xerneas and Yveltal as joint winners; the designs are really evocative, they enabled an interesting story with some cool themes in X and Y, and the way they’re described hits a good spot on the “cosmic power” scale, where you can appreciate that these things might have region-wide significance, but they don’t necessarily place the power to unmake the universe in the hands of a ten-year-old trainer the way Dialga and Palkia do.

VikingBoyBilly asks:

Go over to Slowflake’s blog and tell him to unban me.

Theoretically a sound notion, with just a few minor flaws:

1) I have no idea who Slowflake is.
2) I can think of no reason he would pay any attention to me whatsoever.
3) This is frankly none of my business.

Anonymous asks:

You could maybe tie the Aphrodite Pokemon thing with encantados, Brazilian dolphins who take human shape, go to parties, and seduce women back to the water with them. Maybe throw in a mermaid/siren angle too? It’s deceptive and sometimes pretends to be a human. It can sing a beautiful song that’s lured sailors into wrecking their ships. Though this is just starting to sound like Mega Lapras or something of the sort.

Well, the thing is, at this point you’re doing a Pokémon based on the encantado, not on Aphrodite – which, to be honest, I think is sort of a better place to start anyway. The notion of Pokémon based on the Greek gods doesn’t really sit all that well with me, just because the whole point of the Greek gods is how human-like they are in their moods, desires and flaws. It’s really interesting from a cultural or theological perspective, but kind of “meh” as a basis for designing Pokémon. Or at least, that’s what I think.

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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