A 7 hour stream yet only 30 minutes really contained new info. I would ask what was the point, just show thew new info; but my argument becomes invalid with the reveal of what we've all been expecting and waiting for: Mega Rayquaza! Does it meet expectations? Does it disappoint? Well that's all personal, I can only explain what I think:
POKEMON: Mega Rayquaza
TYPE: Dragon/
Flying (Same as normal Rayquaza)
NORMAL RAYQUAZA'S STATS: 105/
150/
90/
150/
90/
95//
680
INCREASED STATS: Major to
Attack &
Special Attack; Minor to
others
ABILITY: Delta Stream (Summons "Strong Winds" weather condition. "Strong Winds" replaces and prevents other weather conditions (including Extremely Harsh Sunlight and Heavy Rain) AND makes Flying-type weaknesses to neutral damage. Delta Stream and "Strong Winds" is only active as long as Mega Rayquaza is in play)
NEW MOVE: Dragon Ascent (Japanese: Finishing Touch)(Flying-type)
OPINION:
Design: How disappointing... that there's no official art to show how AWESOME MEGA RAYQUAZA IS! (but seriously, they updated the main website with Mega Rayquaza but didn't put up its artwork? I can even see where the artwork is suppose to be placed, where is it?!)
So, guess we'll start with it's appearance: AWESOME! Do I need to say anything else? Well, of course I am, but that's my general opinion. Let's start with the differences between it and normal Rayquaza, with a picture of normal Rayquaza for reference:
Quite the transformation, though still recognizable as Rayquaza. So what's different between the two (starting wit the body):
1. The segments of armor between its air foil segments vanish revealing what's underneath: a body with a green back, black underbelly, and two yellowish-orange orbs on the side (corresponding to where the side yellow circles were on the armor).
2. The air foils also changed shape, going from a half hexagon with red outline to a shark find shape with yellow outline.
3. The tail loses its air fol segment and instead now has two long yellow streams attached to the sides of it.
4. The two air foils on the arm segment changes from a half hexagon with red outline to two long triangular wings with yellow outline.
5. It's top head foils are now more apart of face and become sharper with the top of it being lined with yellow. Yellow streams with diamonds at either end are attached to each foil.
6. It's lower head foils have changes into a mandible-like piece that now connects to the top jaw.
6a. The upper jaw and inner mandible is outline in yellow, seemingly replacing Rayquaza's red gums.
6b. The most outer of the mandible is jagged where yellow energy spews out but then form into a streamer on either side. The streamer has several of the two circle design that was on Rayquaza's now lost body segments on them (4 on each streamer or a total of 8). The stream ends two two green scale-shaped pieces attached to them.
7. On top of the head, the yellow circle now has a yellow triangle after it (a delta symbol to match with Primal Groudon's omega and Primal Kyogre's alpha additional symbols).
8. On the side of the head, a spiky serpent design goes down its length starting from its eye.
Out of the design I like the changing of the head shape and the missing armor pieces revealing what's underneath them. However there's a lot of designs going on from the spiky serpent eyes, the repeating two circles on the mandible streamers, and the two green scales at the end of the mandible streamers. They don't look bad but it feels like there were multiple designers for Mega Rayquaza and each one had a design theme idea and so they all were added in. Still, I would call this a Mega Rayquaza.
Type: FINALLY moving onto its type... it's still Dragon/Flying. Moving on. ACTUALLY wait, let's talk about something odd with Mega Rayquaza. It not has lots of what looks to be streamers which looks to be made out of electricity, yet it's not part Electric-type. "Well of course it isn't, what type would they replace to make it part Electric-type"? And that's the thing, they really couldn't change its type yet they still added electric-like details to its design? And yes, I know, electricity is related to the sky and heavens and Rayquaza can learn plenty of Electric-type attacks. Still, parts of its design now sort of is trying to say it's Electric-type yet it hasn't changed types at all. Thinking about it that's not really a type thing but rather another minor flaw with its design.
Stats: I think it was a give-in that Mega Rayquaza would majorly focus on its offensive stats if it was given one Mega Evolution. As
Imanalt's calculations shown, and going by the website saying ALMOST all of Mega Rayquaza's stats are increased, it's possible that its Speed isn't going to change which is a bit of a shame. Personally I wouldn't have focused that much on its defensive stats and given a major boost to speed. Maybe not as much as its offensive stats, but Rayquaza is suppose to be the incarnation of the sky and heavens, it should be a bit more speedy like the winds it can now summon! But whatever, it still got increases offense which is the important thing and increased defense isn't so bad, especially not that Fairy-types are running about giving it yet another weakness it needs to worry about. Imanalt's prediction is
105/
180/
110/
180/
110/
95//
780 which I agree with, though I kind of wished it was something like 105/185/100/185/100/105//780. Oh well, I'm sure they did it for balancing reasons as it's new Ability sort of makes it something to fear.
Ability: With Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre getting SUPER Abilities if Rayquaza was going to compete it needed one as well and they delivered! Delta Stream is actually different from Air Lock. Air Lock simply stops a weather condition's effects from happening (it doesn't clear it, just stops their effects as long as Rayquaza was on the field). Delta Stream on the other hand DOES remove weather by replacing it with its own unique weather. It's similar to Desolate Land and Primordial Sea in several ways: It prevents other weather from activating while its active (though Delta Stream also prevents them activating), it effects a certain type (but while DL and PS hinders Water- and Fire-type attacks, respectively, DS specifically helps Flying-types by neutralizing their weaknesses), and their weather effects is only active when they're on he field. So basically Delta Stream is to Desolate Land & Primordial Sea what Air Lock is to Drought and Drizzle, the former being upgrades to the latter.
But what does Delta Stream mean gameplay wise? With it neutralizing Flying-type weaknesses that means Rayquaza's type chart changes significantly:
Weakness x4: None
Weakness x2: Ice,
Dragon, &
Fairy
Neutral: Normal,
Flying,
Poison,
Ghost,
Steel,
Psychic,
Dark, &
Rock
Resist x.5: Fighting,
Bug,
Fire,
Water, &
Electric
Resist x.25: Grass
Immune: Ground
In other words, it's now a pure Dragon + Flying-type resistances and immunity. If you weren't scared of Rayquaza's power before, YOU SHOULD BE NOW! And hiding behind a Fairy-type won't save you as Rayquaza's new Signature Move is Flying-type!
New Move: Dragon Ascent is a bit of a deceiving name. Now I can see why they didn't want to use "Finishing Touch", but why didn't they go with a name similar to that meaning? Dragon Ascent makes it sound like it's a Dragon-type move which it isn't, unless they're going to be revealed it's a dual-type Dragon/Flying move. Personally I would have called it "Final Blow" because it's similar to its Japanese name and it's a pun.
Onto the move's stats. It's not only a Flying-type but is said to boast the highest power of ALL Flying-types! So unless they forgot about Sky Attack, it'll have a Power higher than 140. Also a video revealed that its Defense and Special Defense drops when using it. However I wonder by how MUCH does its defensive stat drops? I ask because how much it drops could determine how powerful it is. Basically I have three ideas in mind for the move:
Overheat-Like: 150 Power, 85% Accuracy, Defensive stats drop 1 stage each.
Superpower-Like: 150 Power, 100% Accuracy, Defensive stats drop 2 stages each.
V-Create-Like: 180 Power, 85% Accuracy, Defensive stats drop 2 stages each.
Unless the defensive stats drop by more than 1 stage I can't see it being neither that more powerful than Sky Attack nor having perfect Accuracy (at least without it being considered broken). Also, judging by the animation, I think it might be a Physical move.
Mega Vs. Primal: So we were wrong in that it's a normal Mega Evolution instead of a Primal Devolution. The reason is explained here:
It was a primal age, early in the world's history... The natural world was overflowing with energy. That energy granted Groudon and Kyogre an overwhelming power. Seeking ever more of that energy for themselves, the two clashed again and again, and their battles cast the people and Pokémon of Hoenn into great danger. Brimming with the overwhelming power granted by the energy of nature, this transformation was named by later people "Primal Reversion." And the people called their tormentors Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre.
One Pokémon looked down upon this battle from the sky above. The Pokémon that dances in the heavens: Rayquaza. Rayquaza is venerated by the people of Hoenn as their protector and savior. When Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre had battled for 20 dawns and 20 nights, the world began to lose its natural balance and tilt toward destruction. The people, unable to endure any more, cried out to their mighty savior Rayquaza before a great stone that shone with rainbow brilliance. And a change came upon Rayquaza, weaving in the sky above Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre. Suffused in brilliant light, its body began to transform visibly. And then...
So yeah, as it turns out Groudon and Kyogre started hogging all the primal energy so much that they wanted the other's hogged energy and began fighting. This kind of started the end of the world so the people of Hoenn (which I'm surprised to hear existed back then, I thought this battle happened early in the Pokemon World's history where it was still a young planet thus no one was really around) called Rayquaza for help. But with no primal energy to use, instead it used a mysterious rainbow-colored stone to Mega Evolve.
Thematically this makes sense. Groudon and Kyogre became selfishly dependent on a power not of the bonds between people and Pokemon that resulted in the world ending. Rayquaza, being the savior of the people of Hoenn, instead used the power of the bond between people and Pokemon which would give it the strength to fight against Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre as well as not damage the world any more.
But of course Rayquaza would still need a special way to Mega Evolve. So, the question is now how will we get the Weather Trio to Devolve/Mega Evolve? Honestly, I think all this means is that they won't have a Mega Stone. Oh, they'll have something they need to hold in order to Primal Devolve/Mega Evolve, but its won't by Groudonite, Kyogrite, and Rayquazite. That's its. MAYBE these items will also give bonus effects, but overall I think these special ways to devolve/Mega Evolve will just mean they need to hold something other than a Mega Stone.
Well, that's all I have to say about Mega Rayquaza and a few issues about it! Now it's time to go through many of the posts everyone else had made and possibly like/comment on them. Seeya in a few posts!
