Oh yeah I remember that character, what makes it neat is that they're your biggest fan since Day 1 and has been seeing all of your matches.
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Little things you like about Pokémon
- Thread starter Kurona
- Start date
Recently while playing Pokopia, I discovered that Floragato (and by proxy Sprigatito as well) is primarily found in a habitat called an "interrogation desk". The habitat is set up like an interrogation room, with a desk, two chairs, a lamp, and an Arcanine doll. I was a bit confused about this at first, since I wondered why an interrogation desk would be fitting for Floragato and Sprigatito of all things...but then it clicked.
Floragato, being the mischievous little shit it is, is essentially playing the role of the criminal in this scenario, with the Arcanine doll representing the dog of the interrogator.
More specifically, Floragato is a gentleman/lady thief. A phantom thief, a la Arsène Lupin. Floragato is essentially a mischievous outlaw who steals in style. And true to a gentleman/lady thief in such film and literature, the interrogation room represents the trope where the thief gets caught, but the thief doesn't see this as a defeat, but as a glorious opportunity for Floragato, as the mischievous, witty thief, to engage in a game of wits with the interrogator and win by outsmarting them and humiliating them before escaping.
Floragato is a Pokemon who would definitely love playing the role of the lady thief/gentleman thief and taking pride in outwitting the investigators. Putting it in the interrogation desk habitat is a fun way to showcase that idea and a uniquely clever habitat association in Pokopia imo.
Sprigatito and Floragato both have a mask-like pattern on their faces as well, something I noticed when trying to draw them for fun as of late. And that ties nicely into Meowscarada, who has a mask face, is part Dark-type, and leans into the dirty trickster fighting style.
The Horizons anime and Pokemon UNITE alike both knew what they were doing here haha. Meowscarada has a Holowear in Unite called the Phantom Thief Holowear, tying into Meowscarada's aesthetic and fighting style, as Meowscarada is definitely tailor made for the gentleman/lady thief aesthetic. And Liko's Meowscarada in the anime wore the Phantom Thief Holowear in the Unite tie-in episode as of late, which is extra cool. Both Liko and Meowscarada have that sort of sneaky, underhanded fighting style, and Liko's cat wearing the Phantom Thief holowear is extra clever in that regard.
I'm going on and on but I just love this on multiple levels.
Floragato, being the mischievous little shit it is, is essentially playing the role of the criminal in this scenario, with the Arcanine doll representing the dog of the interrogator.
More specifically, Floragato is a gentleman/lady thief. A phantom thief, a la Arsène Lupin. Floragato is essentially a mischievous outlaw who steals in style. And true to a gentleman/lady thief in such film and literature, the interrogation room represents the trope where the thief gets caught, but the thief doesn't see this as a defeat, but as a glorious opportunity for Floragato, as the mischievous, witty thief, to engage in a game of wits with the interrogator and win by outsmarting them and humiliating them before escaping.
Floragato is a Pokemon who would definitely love playing the role of the lady thief/gentleman thief and taking pride in outwitting the investigators. Putting it in the interrogation desk habitat is a fun way to showcase that idea and a uniquely clever habitat association in Pokopia imo.
Sprigatito and Floragato both have a mask-like pattern on their faces as well, something I noticed when trying to draw them for fun as of late. And that ties nicely into Meowscarada, who has a mask face, is part Dark-type, and leans into the dirty trickster fighting style.
The Horizons anime and Pokemon UNITE alike both knew what they were doing here haha. Meowscarada has a Holowear in Unite called the Phantom Thief Holowear, tying into Meowscarada's aesthetic and fighting style, as Meowscarada is definitely tailor made for the gentleman/lady thief aesthetic. And Liko's Meowscarada in the anime wore the Phantom Thief Holowear in the Unite tie-in episode as of late, which is extra cool. Both Liko and Meowscarada have that sort of sneaky, underhanded fighting style, and Liko's cat wearing the Phantom Thief holowear is extra clever in that regard.
I'm going on and on but I just love this on multiple levels.
While I was checking stuff in Let's Go for how Pokopia actually fits its chronology*, I saw that Let's Go actually tweaked Champion lore a bit.
Per Oak & Lance, originally you beat Oak just got registered as a Champion (like a title, like in Paldea) and that was that. But starting with your & Trace's run on the league, it's now have the Champion marks the end challenge.
And they tweaked the post-game rematch against Trace as a title defense situation like in Alola
and turns out there's an extra email from Samson in the post game too
I dunno I think that's a fun set of changes, likely done to reference Alola's situation in a few ways. Cute!
*As far as Pokopia goes following this Blue beat the league before and earned the title (Pokopia's documents state him as a former-champion so its not quite the same but eh kind of works) and Red seemed to become the new Champion position at least a year after the Magnet Train opened in Saffron.
Per Oak & Lance, originally you beat Oak just got registered as a Champion (like a title, like in Paldea) and that was that. But starting with your & Trace's run on the league, it's now have the Champion marks the end challenge.
And they tweaked the post-game rematch against Trace as a title defense situation like in Alola
and turns out there's an extra email from Samson in the post game too
I dunno I think that's a fun set of changes, likely done to reference Alola's situation in a few ways. Cute!
*As far as Pokopia goes following this Blue beat the league before and earned the title (Pokopia's documents state him as a former-champion so its not quite the same but eh kind of works) and Red seemed to become the new Champion position at least a year after the Magnet Train opened in Saffron.
I saw this on the (UK) Pokémon Facebook page, related to the eclipse from earlier this week.
Just fantastic.
Just fantastic.
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Today I'm going to talk about a very small detail that very well may not have been intentional, but I really hope it is and if it is I think it's very cool.
So, as you probably know, one of the big moments in Pokemon Platinum is the appearance of Giratina at Spear Pillar. For the two of you who don't know, Cyrus is up there with his plan to create a new universe and destroy the old one, using Dialga and Palkia which he has taken control of with the Red Chain. Before he can do this however, Giratina appears and sucks him into the Distortion World.
This is a very cool moment, but a question that it brings is of course, why? And the official answer seems to be a bit disappointing. I asked why Giratina did this a while back in the Mysteries and Conspiracies of Pokemon thread, and the answer I got was that Giratina intervened not to protect its siblings or to save the world, but because Cyrus' plan endangered the distortion world too.
But when watching the cutscene again, I noticed something that suggests another motivation. Now, I'm not disputing that Giratina showed up to protect the Distortion World. But when looking at how exactly this all goes down, it seems to suggest another layer to Giratina's character.
So, let's set the stage. Cyrus is doing his thing, going on how his dream will finally be achieved. Then, the world darkens, and Cyrus says "What is this presence I feel...? Something... is enraged?" And then Giratina slowly emerges from shadow. This is clearly very big. Dialga and Palkia, despite apparently being under the control of the Red Chain, step back, as does Cyrus despite his attempt to put on a calm demeanor. We can see a wave emerge from Giratina's protrusion into this reality. Giratina is evidently very powerful, and a force that is very clearly feared. Even before Giratina made its entrance to this dimension, Cyrus could feel how it was enraged.
But I need to emphasize what exactly its vibe is right now. Giratina is clearly displayed as an eldritch, shadowy force that you should fear. But what isn't clear is its intentions. Yes, Cyrus felt it was enraged, but aside from that, nothing really suggests Giratina has any ill intentions here. The scary part is Giratina's existence, not what Giratina plans to do. Giratina has this aura just by appearing, and isn't evidently hostile yet. Look at its body language.
It isn't taking any action yet. It's more observing than anything. Cyrus does pick up on its intentions to stop him because... I mean why else would it be here? Then, Giratina stands out more, and manifests its wings, as if it's trying to take foot in this world.
It's just staring at Cyrus, not taking any action. And the music seems to reinforce this.
This music isn't exactly inviting, but it also isn't that of an active threat. It is off-putting, it is bizarre, it is alien, it is scary, but it is not actively hostile. This is the theme of a powerful otherworldly force that is imposing and dangerous, but not that of one that necessarily has any bad intentions. It is the rumbling of the storm on the horizon, but the storm is not here yet.
And I am emphasizing the fact that very little conveys that Giratina is aggressive here, because very shortly this completely changes. When Giratina appears, Cyrus goes "Interesting. So there is a Pokemon that can only appear as shadow." Then Giratina spreads its wings. And pay very close attention to what happens next. Cyrus says "Regardless, the effort is rash and foolish. I have harnessed the powers of DIALGA and PALKIA..."
And that is where the statement cuts off. As evidenced by the ellipsis, it seems as if Cyrus wasn't finished with his thought. Because as soon as he says the names of Giratina's siblings, a very noticeable shift happens.
This track starts to play. First of all, the fact that this track exists is noteworthy in my opinion. The developers deemed it necessary to have two different tracks for Giratina's entrance. And this track is also different from the previous one. Unlike it, this track is more active and immediately threatening. There is action in it. There is a distinctly different type of fear in it. This is not the theme of Giratina's entrance. This is the theme of Giratina going on the attack. And indeed, at the very same time this track plays, Giratina's demeanor changes.
For some reason, it seemingly backpedals on the idea of having wings. Instead, it shapes the appendages into something more resembling hands, with the points being arranged at the end. At the same time, Giratina leans in toward Cyrus. There is very clearly a change here. Giratina went from observing and trying to enter the reality to very clearly readying to attack. And this time, Giratina does not wait for Cyrus to finish his thought, or as far as I can tell even the player to press the button to proceed, before attacking. This further suggests that before Giratina was watching and observing, but now Giratina is going on an offensive. And this change happened on a dime specifically after Cyrus talked about how he was controlling Dialga and Palkia. Is it possible this was all unintentional and a coincidence? Yes. But I believe that this seems a little too deliberate to be unintentional. I believe this may be an intentional story decision that suggests Giratina's attack was a reaction to Cyrus capturing its siblings. And I think this small detail that suggests more depths to Giratina's character is rather neat.
So, as you probably know, one of the big moments in Pokemon Platinum is the appearance of Giratina at Spear Pillar. For the two of you who don't know, Cyrus is up there with his plan to create a new universe and destroy the old one, using Dialga and Palkia which he has taken control of with the Red Chain. Before he can do this however, Giratina appears and sucks him into the Distortion World.
But when watching the cutscene again, I noticed something that suggests another motivation. Now, I'm not disputing that Giratina showed up to protect the Distortion World. But when looking at how exactly this all goes down, it seems to suggest another layer to Giratina's character.
So, let's set the stage. Cyrus is doing his thing, going on how his dream will finally be achieved. Then, the world darkens, and Cyrus says "What is this presence I feel...? Something... is enraged?" And then Giratina slowly emerges from shadow. This is clearly very big. Dialga and Palkia, despite apparently being under the control of the Red Chain, step back, as does Cyrus despite his attempt to put on a calm demeanor. We can see a wave emerge from Giratina's protrusion into this reality. Giratina is evidently very powerful, and a force that is very clearly feared. Even before Giratina made its entrance to this dimension, Cyrus could feel how it was enraged.
But I need to emphasize what exactly its vibe is right now. Giratina is clearly displayed as an eldritch, shadowy force that you should fear. But what isn't clear is its intentions. Yes, Cyrus felt it was enraged, but aside from that, nothing really suggests Giratina has any ill intentions here. The scary part is Giratina's existence, not what Giratina plans to do. Giratina has this aura just by appearing, and isn't evidently hostile yet. Look at its body language.
It isn't taking any action yet. It's more observing than anything. Cyrus does pick up on its intentions to stop him because... I mean why else would it be here? Then, Giratina stands out more, and manifests its wings, as if it's trying to take foot in this world.
It's just staring at Cyrus, not taking any action. And the music seems to reinforce this.
And I am emphasizing the fact that very little conveys that Giratina is aggressive here, because very shortly this completely changes. When Giratina appears, Cyrus goes "Interesting. So there is a Pokemon that can only appear as shadow." Then Giratina spreads its wings. And pay very close attention to what happens next. Cyrus says "Regardless, the effort is rash and foolish. I have harnessed the powers of DIALGA and PALKIA..."
And that is where the statement cuts off. As evidenced by the ellipsis, it seems as if Cyrus wasn't finished with his thought. Because as soon as he says the names of Giratina's siblings, a very noticeable shift happens.
For some reason, it seemingly backpedals on the idea of having wings. Instead, it shapes the appendages into something more resembling hands, with the points being arranged at the end. At the same time, Giratina leans in toward Cyrus. There is very clearly a change here. Giratina went from observing and trying to enter the reality to very clearly readying to attack. And this time, Giratina does not wait for Cyrus to finish his thought, or as far as I can tell even the player to press the button to proceed, before attacking. This further suggests that before Giratina was watching and observing, but now Giratina is going on an offensive. And this change happened on a dime specifically after Cyrus talked about how he was controlling Dialga and Palkia. Is it possible this was all unintentional and a coincidence? Yes. But I believe that this seems a little too deliberate to be unintentional. I believe this may be an intentional story decision that suggests Giratina's attack was a reaction to Cyrus capturing its siblings. And I think this small detail that suggests more depths to Giratina's character is rather neat.
Something I think is interesting to consider is the specific wording Giratina reacts to (only going off English since Pokemon has been subject to localization story-tweaks before) is Cyrus mentioning that he has "harnessed" Palkia and Dialga's power, essentially confirming he is in control of them and not simply here after they were summoned (as was the case for their appearances in Legends Arceus in a later release/parallel). The line is not only what suggests their being endangered as a motive, but the immediate shift is pragmatic lest Cyrus turn them to attack it.
I almost had a different read of Giratina's appearance at the start of the sequence though: Cyrus has a clear animation of stepping back when he senses its presence before any physical manifestation from the void, but Palkia and Dialga almost float back in time with Giratina's emergence distorting the pillars (an effect that persists after it vanishes and the portal remains, while Palkia and Dialga have seemingly left after being freed). It gives this impression that Giratina is so strong that its presence can physically repel the other two Legendary Pokemon, whether deliberate or owing to the minimal animation on their field sprites. It fits the Eldritch nature of the introduction that Time and Space, two of the strongest/most intrinsic concepts to our existence, are pushed away by this thing, and falls in line with the movies depicting Giratina, malevolent or not, as something Palkia and Dialga ought to be afraid of (Dialga spends the M11 opening less fighting than trying to book it and escape Giratina).
The new tcg pocket set has a "Rocket Researcher" card, with this design
Which I thought looked familiar, but didn't line up with the cassidy-esque design I was thinking of. But I wasn't far off thinking it looked familiar because it turns out it's a separate deep pull design!
She's from this old card from Gym Challenge! Very cool imo
Which I thought looked familiar, but didn't line up with the cassidy-esque design I was thinking of. But I wasn't far off thinking it looked familiar because it turns out it's a separate deep pull design!
She's from this old card from Gym Challenge! Very cool imo
SV has this supremely annoying quirk in the battle system where the game won't proceed until Pokémon finish their roar animations if they come up. Major time waster.
Champions solves this by forcibly ending those animations in the middle of their cycle to prioritize game speed, which is hilarious.
Champions solves this by forcibly ending those animations in the middle of their cycle to prioritize game speed, which is hilarious.
This made me think about how the Stadium games did it, and I believe the game would cut away and reset the field/models to play out the turn once both sides settled on a move. This wouldn't work for SV, but it's arguably more elegant (or, at least, more presentable) than just canceling the animation in real time.
For the 30th anniversary, they did another "Can You Name All The Pokemon". This time for all the Pokemon up to Pecharunt*. It's really fun if you have half an hour to kill: it goes through a ton of different musical styles and they celebrate the series by drawing on damn near everything. Every pokemon has their own "scrapbook" and you'll see stuff from the main games, the anime, tcg, the spin offs down to the arcade games, the real life parks, merchandise, mascots... Genuinely I think the only thing not referenced in any way (eg: they don't show off EVERY spin off, but they ARE referencing that spin offs exist) are any of the mangas (especially odd for the clefairy manga considering it's been running for longer than the anime or tcg). Maybe weird artist rights?
You might recognize the singer, Masayoshi Ōishi, as the one who did this!
Unfortunately they privated it (& the follow up that had all the art rares)...doesn't seem like anyone mirrored it either. Shame. So maybe save this one if you like it.
*
You might recognize the singer, Masayoshi Ōishi, as the one who did this!
Unfortunately they privated it (& the follow up that had all the art rares)...doesn't seem like anyone mirrored it either. Shame. So maybe save this one if you like it.
*
the last few seconds are showing 3 blank pages as the winds & waves are heard in the background
IDK If this is the place for it, but I am happy that Mega Lucario Z beat the fraud allegations.
When playing ZA OU - I found Mega Luc Z to not be as powerful I was hoping - even with base 164 special attack, it didn't hit anywhere near as hard as its normal mega counterpart w/o adaptability because it was relying on two weak 80 BP STAB moves. For a Pokemon this frail, it was quite disappointing, as it felt like it would struggle in 1v1s. And this was with an ability as good as Mind Eye, letting it beat counterplay like Gholdengo and Aegislash w/o needing Ghost coverage.
Its new ability, Aura Guard, makes it feel very distinct - and likely better - than its standard Mega Counterpart. That standard mega ofc still has a niche with physical sets being powerful, but Lucario Mega Z's ability gives it actual defensive utility against meta staples such as Kingambit or Rillaboom. Crucially though, it gives it more reliable oppurtunities to actually setup Nasty Plot which I felt it struggled doing in ZA OU due to its middling power and poor bulk. A Pokemon this fast having such defensive utility is a rarity. Frankly it may be a bit TOO overtuned, even compared to its standard Mega, but I still like it more than standard Mega Lucario, so I don't mind too much. What a like about the ability is that it isn't a complete get out of jail free card either - as Mega Lucario still retains its weakness to one of the most common attacks in the game, Earthquake, which bypasses its ability and it ran on many metagame staples such as Garchomp or Hippowdown. Depending on how these Pokemon invest in bulk, Lucario may not even be able to KO them after it sets up a Nasty Plot either.
My main general gripe with this Pokemon is its access to Steel Beam and Focus Blast, which I think sorta remove these weaknesses in frankly stupid and unfun ways. Steel Beam is certainly more fun, but also more Broken IMO since it just lets Lucario trade positively in significantly more match-ups - esp in 3v3s. Focus Blast is just stupid and unfun because both the player and opp are just gambling on whether Lucario hits the move or not. I am hoping GF just removes these moves from its toolkit in future updates.
When playing ZA OU - I found Mega Luc Z to not be as powerful I was hoping - even with base 164 special attack, it didn't hit anywhere near as hard as its normal mega counterpart w/o adaptability because it was relying on two weak 80 BP STAB moves. For a Pokemon this frail, it was quite disappointing, as it felt like it would struggle in 1v1s. And this was with an ability as good as Mind Eye, letting it beat counterplay like Gholdengo and Aegislash w/o needing Ghost coverage.
Its new ability, Aura Guard, makes it feel very distinct - and likely better - than its standard Mega Counterpart. That standard mega ofc still has a niche with physical sets being powerful, but Lucario Mega Z's ability gives it actual defensive utility against meta staples such as Kingambit or Rillaboom. Crucially though, it gives it more reliable oppurtunities to actually setup Nasty Plot which I felt it struggled doing in ZA OU due to its middling power and poor bulk. A Pokemon this fast having such defensive utility is a rarity. Frankly it may be a bit TOO overtuned, even compared to its standard Mega, but I still like it more than standard Mega Lucario, so I don't mind too much. What a like about the ability is that it isn't a complete get out of jail free card either - as Mega Lucario still retains its weakness to one of the most common attacks in the game, Earthquake, which bypasses its ability and it ran on many metagame staples such as Garchomp or Hippowdown. Depending on how these Pokemon invest in bulk, Lucario may not even be able to KO them after it sets up a Nasty Plot either.
My main general gripe with this Pokemon is its access to Steel Beam and Focus Blast, which I think sorta remove these weaknesses in frankly stupid and unfun ways. Steel Beam is certainly more fun, but also more Broken IMO since it just lets Lucario trade positively in significantly more match-ups - esp in 3v3s. Focus Blast is just stupid and unfun because both the player and opp are just gambling on whether Lucario hits the move or not. I am hoping GF just removes these moves from its toolkit in future updates.
All Steel types get Steel Beam, it's like Draco Meteor. Why would you think they'd take away Focus Blast from Lucario, that's just stupid.
They've taken away moves that make sense on Pokémon seemingly arbitrarily - like Archaludon losing Metal Burst and Ambipom losing Tail Slap. Right now it seems to me that champions is primarily targeting Pokémon that can trade extremely favorably - which is why Archaludon lost both Metal Burst and Mirror Coat. Lucario with Steel Beam is somewhat similar in how favorably it can trade - with its physical bulk being not too far off from Archaludon, and its speed / power being noticeably higher.
That said you probably are right they won't take away these moves from it. What are more fair nerfs to give it in your opinion?
I think they consider this a bit more valuable trade, as you trade your one mega evolution (supposedly your power house) for the opponent Pokemon. Compared to trading Archaludon which is a "normal" pokemon.
That may be why they are ok with keeping this.
That said they do have shown they intend to do "balance passes" on movepools of Pokemon that are already in the game, so i wouldn't exclude that if ... say... during reg MC, "Steel Beam Mega Lucario Z proves problematic", then they could remove Steel Beam from the movepool.
I think it's worth mentioning that the (most recent) Arch nerf was hyper-specific to how it can be used BSS and didn't affect its VGC performance at all. Removing Steel Beam from Lucario is taking away a potential option that could see legitmate use in VGC, and I doubt the balance team would even find it problematic because the recoil is a fairly reasonable drawback. Focus Blast is mega ass in VGC but is also ass in BSS so I doubt anything would be done there.
Waking up with Typhlosion: death by fire
These are the things you sign up for when you commit to owning a 5 foot fire producing badger
Stumbled across this and it's a remarkably interesting perspective on the design of a fairly odd Pokemon.
:sv/rotom-fan::air-balloon:
Air Balloon Fan Rotom is like, a pretty normal thing to see in the TCG
Air Balloon Fan Rotom is like, a pretty normal thing to see in the TCG
TBSkyen mentioned! I love his shorts on Pokémon
Some of the best and most ubiquitous supporters in the TCG right now:
One of the most popular characters in the franchise.
Your choice of evil team main antagonist.
This fucking guy.
One of the most popular characters in the franchise.
Your choice of evil team main antagonist.
This fucking guy.