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Little things you like about Pokémon

I don't know why TCG Pocket decided to have a live stream dedicated to the Puppy Pokemon in the set (the gimmick of the set was "every day wonders" and all the puppy pokemon had the "Puppy Pile" attack) like 3 weeks after it went live


but it is very cute. They're all sleepy
 
Looking at the Eeveelutions, I think I kind of like how the different Eeveelutions introduced in each generation have an underlying thematic throughline being kept between them. Eevee has eight different evolved forms and each has a different type, but the different Eeveelutions have things in common with each other thematically.

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These three are fairly simple. Water/Electric/Fire is basically the classic RPG elemental attack trinity that's very common in old school RPGs of the time. Water is sometimes Ice, but the two share thematic overlap in many RPGs, Pokemon is just an unusual case where Water and Ice are classified separately. Vaporeon learns Aurora Beam naturally. As the OG three they lean into that since Gen 1 was pretty strongly rooted in standard 90s RPG tropes. A lot of variants of this threesome have been around from the start: Ice Beam/Thunderbolt/Flamethrower, Ice Punch/Thunder Punch/Fire Punch, Blizzard/Thunder/Fire Blast, and among the Pokemon the original legendary bird trio Articuno/Zapdos/Moltres.

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These two leaned into the Day/Night cycle introduced in Gold and Silver, and it informs their abilities too. Umbreon itself is a token representative of the then-new Dark-type, but these two lean into Psychic and Dark in a way that ties into time of day. Espeon is deeply tied to the sun, as a friendship evolution that happens during the daytime, and its psychic powers are tied to sunlight, being able to sense the weather and even its opponent's actions through it. It even learns Morning Sun. Umbreon is deeply tied to the moon, as a friendship evolution that happens during the nighttime, and its powers are tied to moonlight, especially moon cycles where its power peaks during a full moon. It learns Moonlight in contrast to Espeon learning Morning Sun. They not only represent two types with contrasting properties (and their own statlines contrast each other) but are tied to something cosmic and draw their powers from celestial bodies.

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These two were location-based evolutions introduced in Sinnoh in Diamond and Pearl. Leafeon evolves near a Moss Rock while Glaceon near an Ice Rock, and these rocks are usually found in opposite kinds of habitats. The Moss Rock is usually found in forests while the Ice Rock is found in snowy biomes or icy caverns. The two of them lean into weather-based abilities: Leafeon with strong sunlight, and Glaceon with snow, and in general thrive in opposite environments. Leafeon thrives in warm, temperate forests with photosynthesis and the ability to create clean air around it, and Glaceon thrives in cold, harsh snowscapes and caves and can freeze the air around it and create snowstorms.

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The only standalone Eeveelution. Aside from repping the then-newly introduced Fairy-type which was a huge deal back in the X and Y days, it was also deeply tied to the Pokémon Amie mechanic and affection. This leans into playing with your Pokemon and bonding with them, but it also ties into an underlying concept that is prevalent in the Pokemon series but especially so in Kalos, which is bonds. Mega Evolution was the big new thing in X and Y besides the Fairy-type, and its lore really leans into it requiring a strong bond between Trainer and Pokemon where they are in sync with one another. Sylveon by evolving via affection gained in Pokemon Amie leans into this idea, but its lore ties into it too. Its ribbons sense the emotions and feelings of its Trainer, which also by extension allow it to be in tune with them. It's a small thing but it works really well with X and Y as a whole.

I think that's kinda neat with all of them. I don't even mind that we haven't seen another one since because the ones that do exist are actually pretty cool in a way outside of just their types.
 
I just want a 50/50 gender ratio.

The grandfathered 7:1 ratio feels like it was an actively spiteful decision specifically designed to make breeding starters in Gen 2 harder.
Well I don't know about "spiteful" but it's definitely not coincidental that the ones in that group are Starters, Eevees, Fossils and...Togetic/Togekiss? Well the last one's a bit weird, guess they wanted Togepi to be more special.

Though it's funny in the context of gen 2 specifically since Ditto was right there so at that point it's just flavor to mark them as "rarer" regardless. Much more of a pain in pre-FRLG/Emerald Gen 3.
 
The gender ratios in general are odd, and something they should probably consider why they have it and what it adds to the game.
The list.
So, 100% male is the male counterparts of male/female matched pairs, a couple legendaries, and a handful of fighting types that are apparently purely male because they hit things. (oddly, not Machamp or Hariyama for some reason, but Hitmontop and Grimsnarl. Where is the line?!) This...well, it doesn't make sense, but it's nonsense in a way I expect with gender issues.
1/7 is, as stated, fossils, starters, and specialty mons(Eevee, Togepi, Zorua, the monkeys, Snorlax, Lucario). Making it harder to breed those mons makes sense, I guess. Salandit and Combee are also here for lore reasons, and are the only gender ratio other than 50/50 or paired 100/0 counterparts that I don't hate.
1/3 is gen 1 mons that are masculine but don't earn the 100/0 ratio for some reason. Machop, Abra, Magmar, Electabuzz, and Growlithe all get this, which doesn't make a lot of sense. (Are lion-dogs masculine?) In later gens, they added Hariyama and Conkeldurr to the list, which fits the rest, but I have trouble understanding why anything is here. 50/50 or 100/0 are the only things that matter, and having the ratio be odd just puts a spotlight on female Machamp and the many questions that raises.
1/1 is most of the mons and doesn't need further discussion.
3/1 is a handful of "feminine" mons and fairy types. This has a similar number of mons to 1/3, but these were mostly added after gen 2 instead of existing from the start. Again, I have no idea why this exists and it only raises questions. Oricorio is a bird, what do you mean it has the same gender ratio as a high school theater dept?
7/1 is just Pyroar, this is for lore reasons and I respect it.
Female only is, again, half of matched pairs, some legendaries(though fewer), and a handful of mons that are coded female. Again, why is Florges always female but Gothita 25% male?

I've called out specific things I find odd, but let's be clear. I don't want the gender categories reshuffled. I want them either abolished or completely rethought. If there's not a clear consistent rule, stick the mon in the 50/50 category and move on.
 
Grimmsnarl is the male counterpart of Hatterene, which is 100% female. Also it's an orc/goblin and those are usually always male, especially in Japanese media.
The Hitmons are 100% male because Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee are named after real people, even in Japanese.
1/3 is gen 1 mons that are masculine but don't earn the 100/0 ratio for some reason. Machop, Abra, Magmar, Electabuzz, and Growlithe all get this, which doesn't make a lot of sense. (Are lion-dogs masculine?) In later gens, they added Hariyama and Conkeldurr to the list, which fits the rest, but I have trouble understanding why anything is here. 50/50 or 100/0 are the only things that matter, and having the ratio be odd just puts a spotlight on female Machamp and the many questions that raises.
Hariyama and Conkeldurr and Machamp are mostly male to represent the fact that the thing they're associated with is mostly a male thing but also they're animals so there's no reason there wouldn't be females, or vice versa for the 75% female mons. That's just kind of how these groups work.
Electabuzz and Magmar are onis. Also, fun fact: in the Spaceworld demo Electabuzz is always male and Magmar was 50/50
(Are lion-dogs masculine?)
Uh, kind of. Some of them depict a male and female pair (the ones holding a ball are males, while the females have a cub) but older ones are often both male and solo ones are also usually depicted as males. So among actual ones, males are actually quite a bit more common, I guess?
Again, why is Florges always female but Gothita 25% male?
Gothitelle is sometimes male because that's what they do when they design a clearly feminine Pokemon that doesn't have a male counterpart and doesn't belong to a group that specifically uses a specific gender ratio. The Florges is always female cause it's a nymph/actual fairy/dryad all of which are pretty much always depicted as always female in most mythological sources and most pop culture ones, again especially in Japan. Gothitelle is just a weird person like creature, a very feminine one.
 
Well I don't know about "spiteful" but it's definitely not coincidental that the ones in that group are Starters, Eevees, Fossils and...Togetic/Togekiss? Well the last one's a bit weird, guess they wanted Togepi to be more special.
Spiteful is probably the wrong word but the decision definitely comes like it was a made just to complicate things. It's also made less and less over time to keep the 7:1 ratio for modern starters as breeding has been altered so much the point of being almost superfluous as of SV.
 
Gothitelle is sometimes male because that's what they do when they design a clearly feminine Pokemon that doesn't have a male counterpart and doesn't belong to a group that specifically uses a specific gender ratio. The Florges is always female cause it's a nymph/actual fairy/dryad all of which are pretty much always depicted as always female in most mythological sources and most pop culture ones, again especially in Japan. Gothitelle is just a weird person like creature, a very feminine one.

Oh this made me think about something, but it took a while to figure out what. It is a fairy, and while I don't know what a dryad is without googling it, I do know in Digimon dawn/dusk dryad RINGs add 150 earth resist.

There is no ground(earth) and fairy type. That's not at all something I like, so this might be in wrong place, but it got figured out here xd. Why is it an earthen fairy...and has no secondary type to reflect this. That would been something I'd have liked m lol.

Well there's my off topic spiel. I do agree with the post that got I into gender and then this ta gent-itd be weirder if some sysrters we t more female than male imo, so i like they kept that. Like venu is the best example I can give. It seems more female, but bulbs more male. Best keep status quo forever then some gender coinflip on 2nd evo lol.
 
prob someone have mentioned this in the previous 200 pages but I like how there is a nurse in the battle maison who will tell the player she's not on duty and sth like "what are you expecting? I'm gonna cure your pokemons?" sth like that, it was so funny that she's my favorite non main character.
(i played the game in Chinese so there should be some miswording and stuff, its the nurse on the 2f of the battle maison in the bottom left corner)
 
Oh this made me think about something, but it took a while to figure out what. It is a fairy, and while I don't know what a dryad is without googling it, I do know in Digimon dawn/dusk dryad RINGs add 150 earth resist.

There is no ground(earth) and fairy type. That's not at all something I like, so this might be in wrong place, but it got figured out here xd. Why is it an earthen fairy...and has no secondary type to reflect this. That would been something I'd have liked m lol.

Well there's my off topic spiel. I do agree with the post that got I into gender and then this ta gent-itd be weirder if some sysrters we t more female than male imo, so i like they kept that. Like venu is the best example I can give. It seems more female, but bulbs more male. Best keep status quo forever then some gender coinflip on 2nd evo lol.
From what I've read, dryads are mostly associated with trees. I don't know Digimon's type setup (wild guess is it's classical four elements, where plants are often put into earth), but Grass fits a lot better than Ground for them.

For Florges still being mono-Fairy despite nearly everything else screaming Fairy/Grass, I think it's the result of Floette-Eternal. The Fairy type as representing pure life force is mostly just Xerneas, but could easily be added to the one other plot-important mon expressly overloaded with life force. Still not quite sure why Eternal couldn't have a distinct type to go with its stats and signature move, but it being pure Fairy (effectively Fairy[nature spirit]/Fairy[life force]) does make sense to me.
 
From what I've read, dryads are mostly associated with trees. I don't know Digimon's type setup (wild guess is it's classical four elements, where plants are often put into earth), but Grass fits a lot better than Ground for them.

For Florges still being mono-Fairy despite nearly everything else screaming Fairy/Grass, I think it's the result of Floette-Eternal. The Fairy type as representing pure life force is mostly just Xerneas, but could easily be added to the one other plot-important mon expressly overloaded with life force. Still not quite sure why Eternal couldn't have a distinct type to go with its stats and signature move, but it being pure Fairy (effectively Fairy[nature spirit]/Fairy[life force]) does make sense to me.

Yea well put. Digimon is thrown into the same category as the other on, but they are also hugely different. That's funny that it means more plant stuff, dryads. Cause that is very much a type there well NVM.
 
I think that at the very least Florges specifically could have been Grass/Fairy.

I wonder if it really just came down to they wanted this to be one of the flagship fairies and thus keep it simple: Pure fairy through the entire line in contrast to the various retyped often-dual-typed old Pokemon you'll find around it & most of the other new fairies. All but 3 of the new fairies were pure Fairy, and all 3 of those were single stagers (1 of which was a mythic).
 
Grimmsnarl is the male counterpart of Hatterene, which is 100% female. Also it's an orc/goblin and those are usually always male, especially in Japanese media.

The Hitmons are 100% male because Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee are named after real people, even in Japanese.

Hariyama and Conkeldurr and Machamp are mostly male to represent the fact that the thing they're associated with is mostly a male thing but also they're animals so there's no reason there wouldn't be females, or vice versa for the 75% female mons. That's just kind of how these groups work.

Electabuzz and Magmar are onis. Also, fun fact: in the Spaceworld demo Electabuzz is always male and Magmar was 50/50

Uh, kind of. Some of them depict a male and female pair (the ones holding a ball are males, while the females have a cub) but older ones are often both male and solo ones are also usually depicted as males. So among actual ones, males are actually quite a bit more common, I guess?

Gothitelle is sometimes male because that's what they do when they design a clearly feminine Pokemon that doesn't have a male counterpart and doesn't belong to a group that specifically uses a specific gender ratio. The Florges is always female cause it's a nymph/actual fairy/dryad all of which are pretty much always depicted as always female in most mythological sources and most pop culture ones, again especially in Japan. Gothitelle is just a weird person like creature, a very feminine one.
I can point to plenty of things to argue with this, stuff in the 50/50 group that meets the criteria you've laid out, reasons why what you said is irrelevant, but that's getting very in the weeds. Suffice it to say that the logic of these decisions is often not obvious to a significant chunk of the playerbase and many of their specific decisions are debatable. Which is why:
I've called out specific things I find odd, but let's be clear. I don't want the gender categories reshuffled. I want them either abolished or completely rethought. If there's not a clear consistent rule, stick the mon in the 50/50 category and move on.
I do not see a reason why gender ratios for mons need to exist beyond very specific lore options(Salandit/Pyroar/Combee), or mono-male/mono-female. The breeding balance options have always been more annoying than actually useable for balance, and recent changes to the mechanics mean even that is no longer relevant. All including them does is make sexism a fundamental mechanical element to the universe, and the games would be better without that.
 
Frillish being the only new Pokémon in the Pokopia DLC to have the Burn specialty feels odd at first, but I think I can trace their logic:

- Fire-type moves generally aren’t learned by anything that lives undersea, except for a few Pokémon like Gyarados and Slowbro that were already included in the base game
- Also they shot their wad on Volcanion already
- Well, what Fire-type moves can sea-dwelling Pokémon learn to justify this?
- Frillish can learn Will-O-Wisp
- Plus that can be inferred as a sort of spectral, supernatural fire to gloss over why it works underwater (it even uses purple flames in-game)

Good problem-solving, team
 
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Learned from a friend that Lebanne had a Wikipedia article out of everyone in the Z-A cast, and went to check. The list of human characters who have articles beyond the obvious Ash, Professor Oak, etc is a very funny spread to me.

It includes: Nessa, Larry, Ball Guy, Rika, the Hex Maniac, and the aforementioned Lebanne. Even if i have my skepticism on the human-writing of the articles, that specific selection is just amusingly random among popular characters to me.
 
Learned from a friend that Lebanne had a Wikipedia article out of everyone in the Z-A cast, and went to check. The list of human characters who have articles beyond the obvious Ash, Professor Oak, etc is a very funny spread to me.

It includes: Nessa, Larry, Ball Guy, Rika, the Hex Maniac, and the aforementioned Lebanne. Even if i have my skepticism on the human-writing of the articles, that specific selection is just amusingly random among popular characters to me.

I’m still depressed Ball Guy never returned. On that note - its a decent question, who is your favourite side character in each game? The definition of side character is of course a bit ambiguous.
 
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It's also not like he's had much opportunity to come back anyway. BDSP & L:A weren't going to have that anyway and SV kept most of its references to just textual or implied (Penny). And Z-A was allergic to having its own region's cast show up.





Anyway my favorite side character is Zach from Z-A.
 
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