A god of one universe taking a vacation in another. Sounds like an anime for sure.
Edit: Dang, we're off track.
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Unpopular opinions
- Thread starter antemortem
- Start date
Edit: Dang, we're off track.
Guys have you seen Cynthia in the anime yet? She has alot more depth then some champions.
Hey, we already have a Champion thread. I'd rather not have to start moving posts, so if you want to continue this discussion, do it over there. This is not the thread for that.
Also, I'm of the opinion that the more you try to make sense of Pokémon, the more dumb things become. At some point, I find it totally fair to just cut discussion off and say "Gameplay and story segregation". No need to make elaborate theories or convuluted explanations of apparent discrepancies. Some parts of the franchise were never meant to be held up alongside one another.
Also, I'm of the opinion that the more you try to make sense of Pokémon, the more dumb things become. At some point, I find it totally fair to just cut discussion off and say "Gameplay and story segregation". No need to make elaborate theories or convuluted explanations of apparent discrepancies. Some parts of the franchise were never meant to be held up alongside one another.
Unpopular opinion (in the competitive scene): While less challenging, the idea behind having a team based on one type is really cool. It adds more to the character of each gym leader. Norman's gym in Ruby and Sapphire, attempting somewhat to have a gym based on different strategies, was rather forgettable. Usually gyms centered on types are just easier to build around lore wise than a gym based on, say, smogon terminology.
It's ok, even beneficial, to have a few gyms with a different focus, but what makes them special is their uniqueness. If they were no longer unique they would seem quite dull.
Going with that idea, Grimsley is my favorite Elite 4 member for his combination of using dark types and a high class feel. I don't really think liking him is that unpopular though and wouldn't be surprised if positive reception of him helped lead to the fashion focused XY versions (though that could just sprout from France being the inspiration for the region).
It's ok, even beneficial, to have a few gyms with a different focus, but what makes them special is their uniqueness. If they were no longer unique they would seem quite dull.
Going with that idea, Grimsley is my favorite Elite 4 member for his combination of using dark types and a high class feel. I don't really think liking him is that unpopular though and wouldn't be surprised if positive reception of him helped lead to the fashion focused XY versions (though that could just sprout from France being the inspiration for the region).
Let's be honest here, Grimsley has been the best dark type specialist in the franchise, a varied team, an interesting backstory that isn't on your face, a cool design and to boot a rather nice lesson to kids about doing the best with what you have, compared to the other 2 he is quite awesome, Karen team even on hgss rematch was dull and her speech will forever be the worst piece of garbage competitive wise and an anthem for whiners that expect a role play team to hold against a competitive team as they wine about how we don't use our favorites(bitch please I have always loved cleffable and slowbro, went to extreme lengths to have a magic guard softboiled seismic toss twave cleffable in DP and used slowbro since gen1 even before the godsend hidden ability just because it is adorable and a good water wall, the jokes on them) and then we have the Hoenn guy there isn't much debt to him outside of him liking dark time and having fun battling, if I had to rank them I'd go with Grimsley the Hoenn guy and Karen at last place, at least the Hoenn guy didn't force himself as idealistic and had better team composition.
We had a Champion Discussion thread? I never knew that. *looks at last non-recent post* Oh wow, last time it was active was a year ago. What is Smogon's rule about bumping dead threads? Like I wouldn't have thought to bump up a dead thread unless a mod told us it was okay.
Also I'll add on any over-examination of a children'scard game should probably be kept on the Mystery and Conspiracy thread for the most part.
Mono-type, while a very simple idea, is an interesting idea. There are some layers to it of course, like depending on the type you're eventually going run into a Pokemon that type is weak against and it could very well be against a boss/rival or even another player. Thus the challenge with a mono-type team is figuring out ways to defend against weaknesses effectively and how to get around types that'll wall them. Also each type has a certain preference of play so there's a balance there where do you stick with that type's specialty or find subversion so you're not locked into generally one strategy. In BW2 they introduced an achievement system (that I wish they brought back, removing the medals that involve connecting with other players in any significant way other then trading and battling over the internet) and a set of the medals was defeating the Elite Four and Champion with a mono-type team. It was fun creating mono-type teams to take on the Pokemon League and carefully planning which Pokemon should go up against who (except for Psychic-types since one of the other medals was beating the Pokemon League with one Pokemon so I just curbstomped them with Mewtwo getting that medal and the Psychic-type master medal).
Though for the most part a mono-type team is probably best left as bosses or challenges runs through the story. However I would like to see other themes looked through. In BW2 they had N using weather teams which was quite interesting, why not Gyms like that? Or using other mechanics like Trick Room & entry hazards or battling styles such as Double, Triple, Tag Team, Sky, or Inverse? How about a Gym focusing on a certain stat (including Accuracy and Evasion)? Or why not based on certain groups of Pokemon such as fossils/ancient, Eeveelutions, Starters, dogs, cats, Pikaclones, Gen rodents/bugs/birds, etc.? True that probably would make things more challenging so maybe best left for a post game challenge, but still would like to see other team themes explored.
Grimsley was definitely the best Dark-type specialist, if only because he has a backstory and a theme.
Like what's Karen suppose to be? A rebel of some kind? I guess that sort of goes with her speech about "there being no weak Pokemon" if you look at it from the competitive standpoint... then again in the game they also spout that same ideology so she's not really rebelling against anyone in the game. But other then that we don't know anything else about her. She's just there to show off the Dark-type which was new at the time of Gen II, but when they revisited Johto with HGSS they had a chance to update her character but chose not to. Nostalgia only gets you so far.
Sidney is a bit a better in that he just loves the Dark-type battling style... but once again what is he? A punk? His new design seems to indicate maybe he's a fancy businessman or gangster/mobster of some sort? I don't know. We're not a gen after Dark-type introductions so they're nothing new, it's now time to build on the people who train Dark-types but Sidney was just as vague as Karen. And once again they had a chance to expand on his character in ORAS. When he appeared in the Battle Maison I got interested as I thought we were going to learn some more about him... only for him to reveal he's just looking for Steven and we should try out the Battle Maison before leaving *sigh*.
Finally we got some insight on those who train Dark-types with Grimsley and with a theme we can recognize and connect with his type; gambling. Grimsley is from a once rich family that lost their fortune and in his misery he turned to gambling. While a bit of a sad story (though note he's now one of the most powerful trainers in Unova so I think he's probably doing alright now; maybe not as rich and needs to work but hey he's not living in the gutter begging for coins he'll waste in gambling) it does give us insight on how a person would turn to using Dark-types. His family lost their fortune, their poor now, and depending on how poor they got it could have gotten to the point of what else did Grimsley got to lose? So right there goes away any thought of "righteousness" some elite trainers seem to hold. But that doesn't mean one would turn to doing dark or evil things. That's where the gambling comes in. Originally probably a way to get his mind off being poor, Grimsley may have realized he could make a lot of money gambling and, having already hit rock bottom in his mind, he might as well do whatever he has to win. Thus, while maybe not cheating (but who know) he starts doing underhanded tricks and tactics to slowly build himself up. And at some point Pokemon battling came into the picture and he saw the same opportunity there, using the same fierce tactics as he did when he gambled and discovered/knew the Dark-types were the perfect type to do this with since that's their gimmick; it's right in their name. But Grimsley isn't a bad guy, it's just that he knows what's it like to be at the bottom and fully encourages anyone in that position to do whatever they can to get themselves into a position they're comfortable with; a sort of Darwin "survival of the fittest" mentality. And if you step over/topple someone on your way to the top? Well that's their story and thus their own concern to how to get out of.
Tl,dr; While other Dark-type specialists are just there, Grimsley if the first to have a story which tells us how someone would come to becoming a dedicated Dark-type trainer. With Grimsley its from desperation and tossing away any thought of "righteousness" after his family losing its fortune, turning to gambling, and deciding he can build himself back up by doing whatever it takes to win (possibly barring cheating) and when it came to Pokemon battling he applied the same principle with Dark-types filling that niche.
New Unpopular Opinion: I don't like how the Fairy-types were specifically brought in to be "dragon slayers". And it's not because I didn't think Dragons were over powered, they were a bit, but rather it feels like they limited what and when a new type could be introduced. Introducing a new type is a big thing in Pokemon, it only happened twice and between those points there was 3 generations. However when you look at when they did so you'll notice it was always for type balancing. Dark and Steel was mainly to counter Psychic with Dark being "psychic slayers" and Steel being "psychic walls". Not throughout the generations these types we expanded upon, but now they did so again with the Fairy-type. It sort of takes something away from the type, like they didn't introduce the type because they wanted to mix things up and thought it would be a fun idea but rather because they saw one type was becoming overpowered and took that as an opportunity to introduce a new type. Now while not a bad idea itself, this also limits when a new type can be released. Now I'm not asking for a new type every generation, that'll be a bit ridiculous, but does this trend mean we'll have to wait for another type to get too overpowered we'll have to introduce a counter for it? Like right now Fairy-types are a bit overpowered, if that continues for a few gens does that mean the next new type will be a "fairy slayer"? Or what if the metagame levels out and everyone becomes mostly balanced, will they dare to introduce a new type or leave things be?
Tl,dr; I don't feel new types should be restricted to only being released as "top threat slayers". It not only limits what the type can be but also when they can introduce a new type.
Also I'll add on any over-examination of a children's
Mono-type, while a very simple idea, is an interesting idea. There are some layers to it of course, like depending on the type you're eventually going run into a Pokemon that type is weak against and it could very well be against a boss/rival or even another player. Thus the challenge with a mono-type team is figuring out ways to defend against weaknesses effectively and how to get around types that'll wall them. Also each type has a certain preference of play so there's a balance there where do you stick with that type's specialty or find subversion so you're not locked into generally one strategy. In BW2 they introduced an achievement system (that I wish they brought back, removing the medals that involve connecting with other players in any significant way other then trading and battling over the internet) and a set of the medals was defeating the Elite Four and Champion with a mono-type team. It was fun creating mono-type teams to take on the Pokemon League and carefully planning which Pokemon should go up against who (except for Psychic-types since one of the other medals was beating the Pokemon League with one Pokemon so I just curbstomped them with Mewtwo getting that medal and the Psychic-type master medal).
Though for the most part a mono-type team is probably best left as bosses or challenges runs through the story. However I would like to see other themes looked through. In BW2 they had N using weather teams which was quite interesting, why not Gyms like that? Or using other mechanics like Trick Room & entry hazards or battling styles such as Double, Triple, Tag Team, Sky, or Inverse? How about a Gym focusing on a certain stat (including Accuracy and Evasion)? Or why not based on certain groups of Pokemon such as fossils/ancient, Eeveelutions, Starters, dogs, cats, Pikaclones, Gen rodents/bugs/birds, etc.? True that probably would make things more challenging so maybe best left for a post game challenge, but still would like to see other team themes explored.
Grimsley was definitely the best Dark-type specialist, if only because he has a backstory and a theme.
Like what's Karen suppose to be? A rebel of some kind? I guess that sort of goes with her speech about "there being no weak Pokemon" if you look at it from the competitive standpoint... then again in the game they also spout that same ideology so she's not really rebelling against anyone in the game. But other then that we don't know anything else about her. She's just there to show off the Dark-type which was new at the time of Gen II, but when they revisited Johto with HGSS they had a chance to update her character but chose not to. Nostalgia only gets you so far.
THOUGH after watching a review of Pixar's Ratatouille it reminded me of the ending and now has given me a new perspective on what Karen said. For those who haven't seen the movie (though I suggest you do, its a good and fun movie):
So, how does that apply here? While probably not their intention, you can maybe twist Karen saying "Strong Pokemon. Weak Pokemon. That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled Trainers should try to win with the Pokemon they love best" as meaning there is no Pokemon who's completely useless and one day a Pokemon may get some time in the limelight. Yes, there are Pokemon who are better at battling at others, but as we've seen time and time again the metagame sometimes has gaps appear which a certain niche a generally considered "weak" Pokemon can fulfill and abuse. Does that make the Pokemon OU or Uber material? No, of course not, now that people know about the gap they'll be more weary of it. But, just for that one moment, that one oversight, a Pokemon that people used to laugh at who was probably someone's favorite was able to make a mockery of the top tier Pokemon. So it's not that everyone Pokemon is able to compete fairly against one another, but rather if you have a favorite Pokemon that's considered weaker maybe one day you'll find that one niche no one else saw and had your unsuspecting favorite Pokemon come out on top for once and it'll be all the sweeter for it. Also, note Karen never said you will win but rather should "try to win".
Throughout the movie the main character, Remy (who's a rat that likes to cook), has a chef he admires that always said "anyone can cook". At the end of the movie a cynical food critic who strongly disagrees with that saying is going to critique the restaurant that Remy and a young want-to-be-chef (Linguini) he teamed up with are at. The food critic tastes the food and enjoys it and wants to see the chef. They tell him to stay after closing hours and reveal to the critic the actual chef was not Linguini (who's the son of the deceased-chef Remy admired) but actually a rat as they show how Remy guides Linguini. After seeing this the critic leaves and writes up his review of the restaurant, saying he now understands that when the top chef said "anyone can cook" he didn't mean every single person has the capability of cooking but rather you never know what individual has the skill to become a top chef.
So, how does that apply here? While probably not their intention, you can maybe twist Karen saying "Strong Pokemon. Weak Pokemon. That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled Trainers should try to win with the Pokemon they love best" as meaning there is no Pokemon who's completely useless and one day a Pokemon may get some time in the limelight. Yes, there are Pokemon who are better at battling at others, but as we've seen time and time again the metagame sometimes has gaps appear which a certain niche a generally considered "weak" Pokemon can fulfill and abuse. Does that make the Pokemon OU or Uber material? No, of course not, now that people know about the gap they'll be more weary of it. But, just for that one moment, that one oversight, a Pokemon that people used to laugh at who was probably someone's favorite was able to make a mockery of the top tier Pokemon. So it's not that everyone Pokemon is able to compete fairly against one another, but rather if you have a favorite Pokemon that's considered weaker maybe one day you'll find that one niche no one else saw and had your unsuspecting favorite Pokemon come out on top for once and it'll be all the sweeter for it. Also, note Karen never said you will win but rather should "try to win".
Sidney is a bit a better in that he just loves the Dark-type battling style... but once again what is he? A punk? His new design seems to indicate maybe he's a fancy businessman or gangster/mobster of some sort? I don't know. We're not a gen after Dark-type introductions so they're nothing new, it's now time to build on the people who train Dark-types but Sidney was just as vague as Karen. And once again they had a chance to expand on his character in ORAS. When he appeared in the Battle Maison I got interested as I thought we were going to learn some more about him... only for him to reveal he's just looking for Steven and we should try out the Battle Maison before leaving *sigh*.
Finally we got some insight on those who train Dark-types with Grimsley and with a theme we can recognize and connect with his type; gambling. Grimsley is from a once rich family that lost their fortune and in his misery he turned to gambling. While a bit of a sad story (though note he's now one of the most powerful trainers in Unova so I think he's probably doing alright now; maybe not as rich and needs to work but hey he's not living in the gutter begging for coins he'll waste in gambling) it does give us insight on how a person would turn to using Dark-types. His family lost their fortune, their poor now, and depending on how poor they got it could have gotten to the point of what else did Grimsley got to lose? So right there goes away any thought of "righteousness" some elite trainers seem to hold. But that doesn't mean one would turn to doing dark or evil things. That's where the gambling comes in. Originally probably a way to get his mind off being poor, Grimsley may have realized he could make a lot of money gambling and, having already hit rock bottom in his mind, he might as well do whatever he has to win. Thus, while maybe not cheating (but who know) he starts doing underhanded tricks and tactics to slowly build himself up. And at some point Pokemon battling came into the picture and he saw the same opportunity there, using the same fierce tactics as he did when he gambled and discovered/knew the Dark-types were the perfect type to do this with since that's their gimmick; it's right in their name. But Grimsley isn't a bad guy, it's just that he knows what's it like to be at the bottom and fully encourages anyone in that position to do whatever they can to get themselves into a position they're comfortable with; a sort of Darwin "survival of the fittest" mentality. And if you step over/topple someone on your way to the top? Well that's their story and thus their own concern to how to get out of.
Tl,dr; While other Dark-type specialists are just there, Grimsley if the first to have a story which tells us how someone would come to becoming a dedicated Dark-type trainer. With Grimsley its from desperation and tossing away any thought of "righteousness" after his family losing its fortune, turning to gambling, and deciding he can build himself back up by doing whatever it takes to win (possibly barring cheating) and when it came to Pokemon battling he applied the same principle with Dark-types filling that niche.
New Unpopular Opinion: I don't like how the Fairy-types were specifically brought in to be "dragon slayers". And it's not because I didn't think Dragons were over powered, they were a bit, but rather it feels like they limited what and when a new type could be introduced. Introducing a new type is a big thing in Pokemon, it only happened twice and between those points there was 3 generations. However when you look at when they did so you'll notice it was always for type balancing. Dark and Steel was mainly to counter Psychic with Dark being "psychic slayers" and Steel being "psychic walls". Not throughout the generations these types we expanded upon, but now they did so again with the Fairy-type. It sort of takes something away from the type, like they didn't introduce the type because they wanted to mix things up and thought it would be a fun idea but rather because they saw one type was becoming overpowered and took that as an opportunity to introduce a new type. Now while not a bad idea itself, this also limits when a new type can be released. Now I'm not asking for a new type every generation, that'll be a bit ridiculous, but does this trend mean we'll have to wait for another type to get too overpowered we'll have to introduce a counter for it? Like right now Fairy-types are a bit overpowered, if that continues for a few gens does that mean the next new type will be a "fairy slayer"? Or what if the metagame levels out and everyone becomes mostly balanced, will they dare to introduce a new type or leave things be?
Tl,dr; I don't feel new types should be restricted to only being released as "top threat slayers". It not only limits what the type can be but also when they can introduce a new type.
Don't know how unpopular this is, but I'm not a big fan of the Dark Mewtwo design in Pokken Tournament.
One of the things that I liked about Mewtwo was that he looked very dangerous from his posture and expression, despite a relatively simple design. The new one looks like they're just overdoing it to really hammer him in as an SNK boss fight or something.
For comparison, imagine if Mega Rayquaza was designed to look like this.
It's just overdoing it on the demonic imagery in a series where we already know these things have fantastic powers. Designs like Grima's there work better in Fire Emblem because human appearance and strength is the "standard" they have to prove themselves against.
One of the things that I liked about Mewtwo was that he looked very dangerous from his posture and expression, despite a relatively simple design. The new one looks like they're just overdoing it to really hammer him in as an SNK boss fight or something.
For comparison, imagine if Mega Rayquaza was designed to look like this.
It's just overdoing it on the demonic imagery in a series where we already know these things have fantastic powers. Designs like Grima's there work better in Fire Emblem because human appearance and strength is the "standard" they have to prove themselves against.
Sorry to bring this off-topic, but I just remembered this video that pretty much shows the entire feeling this thread had about Zubat in caves.
I wonder how many people actually take the time to use Zubat. I mean, it's generally ranked as mediocre in most games, but what's a bigger turnoff: the time it takes to really get it going, or the fact that it's literally everywhere in whatever game it shows up in (except XY)?
Used to be really into nuzlocking. Always loved zubat because though they start a bit weak they often are the first to reach their third evolution. At that stage in the game they're even a bit bulky and hit plenty hard. The only thing that turned me off occasionally was disliking having it in every single run.
Of course... accidents happen pretty easy when it's just a zubat. Considering the work it takes to get them to a point where they can actually hit... But the possibility of death is necesary to enjoy a nuzlocke, so just gotta keep going. Anyways, I've put enough work and gotten enough out of them to really apreciate the bat.
I don't mind encountering Zubat. I love the little bastards. Hell, I remember catching a Zubat on a cousin's copy of a Generation I game and naming it Zoobat. I even have a competitive Crobat that I love. It is more of the fact that when you are in a cave, you seem to encounter a wild Pokémon every. Single. STEP.
"Zubat everywhere, this is dumb!"
I actually loved running into Zubats because it's easy to kill and give a free Speed EV (since you don't EV train in-game, any free points in stats is good). Plus, ever since the complaints that Game Freak got over Fire Red (seriously, no Crobat until post-game? What were you thinking, Troll Freak?), I also started to love using it for in-game purposes and it was solid in my White 2 run (and a Crystal play through recently)
More unpopular opinions!
Zubat is a good pokemon. It is only annoying in Gen 1.
There needs to be a dark type gym user
Steven is better than Wallace
There are still pokemon which need to be changed to the fairy type: Celebi, Azelf, Uxie, Mespirit, Jirachi (Maybe Mew?) as they are/look like pixies/faires
The Normal type and the electric type need more weaknesses as they only have one weakness (instead of dragon which did have 2 weaknesses before the fairy type)
Zubat is a good pokemon. It is only annoying in Gen 1.
There needs to be a dark type gym user
Steven is better than Wallace
There are still pokemon which need to be changed to the fairy type: Celebi, Azelf, Uxie, Mespirit, Jirachi (Maybe Mew?) as they are/look like pixies/faires
The Normal type and the electric type need more weaknesses as they only have one weakness (instead of dragon which did have 2 weaknesses before the fairy type)
I thought literally every Pokémon fan in the world wants this tho
Just so this post is more than a reply; I kind of love Mega Slowbro's design. It's incredibly goofy which is Slowbro's entire basis; and I know it probably would have been better with the dumb smile it always had but as is it's still really fun. I also find it kind of hilarious that literally only Defence and Special Attack are the only stats buffed.
I agree! I love how the shell which Slowbro dipped it's tail into has engulfed it's entire body! It is literally a defence/SpD God. I dont think it's as OP as some people think it is, though.
1. Zubat family is okay. It's fast (most notably for Crobat) and has decent Attack and some handy moves. I'm interested to see what they plan on doing for a Mega Evolution of it.
2. I thought about if there was a reason they wouldn't want a Dark-type Gym Leader. Well in Japan the Dark-type is called Evil-type and thinking about a Gym Leader's role I can maybe see why they wouldn't want someone who trains in the Evil-type be one. In a way the Gym Leader is sort of like a guardian of its city/town, especially when Pokemon are concerned. There's a rampaging Pokemon in center square? Quick, get the Gym Leader! A group of Pokemon have been sneaking around alleys and stealing food? Ask the Gym Leader for some advice. There's a few ruffians and their Pokemon who are bullying people? Get the Gym Leader to show them who's boss! But what if that ruffian was the Gym Leader? I wouldn't surprised had the Dark-type existed in Gen I that maybe Giovanni would be a Dark-type Gym Leader being a mob boss. Whoever the Dark-type Gym Leader is they'd have to be someone who's not exactly what we think of as Gym Leader material. I mean who would trust them if they have that Gym Leader fall in line with the type they train? This is why the Elite Four can get away with Dark-type specialists, they work for the Pokemon League and are not in a prolonged position of guarding a city/town so don't have to worry about what people think of them. Is it impossible? No, but they'd have to make the Gym Leader sort of be a mismatch of their type while at the same time justifying them using Dark-types. Though with that said we have lucha libre wrestler who trains Water-types so there is precedence for that. Like I can think of a few things but that might start falling close to wishlisting.
3. I do prefer Steven over Wallace only because they replaced a Steel-type specialist Champion with a Water-type specialist and they replaced the Water-type specialist Gym Leader with a... Water-type specialist. Yeah, I always found it a bit odd when the games would have multiple Gym Leader/Elite Four/Champion specialize in the same type. Like I already proved I can defeat this type in battle. Course Hoenn wasn't the first one to do it, Johto has I think two cases with Chuck and Bruno being Fighting-type specialists and Clair and Lance being Dragon-type specialists (I'm not counting the Kanto Gym Leaders as they're more of a bonus). And in BW2 they had two Dragon-type specialists with Gym Leader Drayden and now Champion Iris.
But otherwise I can take Steven or Wallace. They're both okay with my only problem with Wallace is his ORAS redesign. Seriously man, put on some clothes that aren't missing parts of it!
4. Let's not go Fairy-crazy here. Yes, there are a lot of Pokemon who can be made into Fairy-types BUT at the same time the type they are now is also fine. Of the ones you listed I think Celebi and maybe Jirachi could replace their Psychic-type with their Fairy-type. The Lake Guardians represent intelligence, willpower, and emotions which are all psychology traits so I think them being Psychic-types are fine. Mew honestly probably should be at least part Normal-type since its suppose to be the ancestor to all Pokemon thus hinting at some neutrality about it, but that would be boring so it also has heightened psychic power; nothing really Fairy-type about it.
If I'm allowed to throw in one Pokemon to the suggestion box (and I can for quite the few, but I'll only do one) it would be Cresselia. It's a Psychic-type who's paired with a Dark-type but is meant to be the one that stops the Dark-type... what? Also just in general its qualities fit that of a Fairy-type, most notably its relation to the moon which Fairy-type are now linked to. Psychic/Fairy is a decent defensive type being weak to uncommon attacking types such as Poison, Ghost, and Steel; Resisting common attacking types like Fighting and Psychic; and of course immune to Dragon. Not to mention Dark would only do neutral damage to it and it'll get STAB on its Fairy-type moves (and it can already learn Moonblast which is the strongest non-signature Fairy-type move) which Dark is weak too thus its lore would make a lot more sense.
5. Normal trades having one weakness for having no resistances (only immune to Ghost which is immune to it in return) and no other type being weak to it (not to mention Rock and Steel resisting it). Normal-type is meant to be the "neutral-type", the type that usually doesn't need to worry about type match-ups. The only reason its weak to Fighting it probably sort of a symbolic meaning; Normal-types are going into battle with normal fighting experience while Fighting-types, who are trained to fight, are going into battle fully skilled. The one with no combat training is going to get the snot beat out of them.
As for Electric-types, they actually don't have as many type match-ups. They're only weak to Ground but at the same time only hit two types super effectively and 3 types resist it (and Ground being immune to it). They traded only having one weakness for being a "specialty" type, usually you only bring in an Electric-type when the situation calls for it or its "safe" for it to be out. Also Electric-types more rely on outspeeding and Paralyzing their opponents, they don't need you to be weak to them for them to mess with you.
Though I think one of the best things about Mega Slowbro is the obvious but still funny conclusion of what Mega Slowking will be:
Also there is official art of Mega Slowbro happy:
Also here's an interesting thought. Obviously all the Mega Evolution energy went into the shell and not Slowbro itself. But the shell is actually an evolved Shellder, which would mean its a Cloyster... so isn't Mega Slowbro actually more of a Mega Cloyster with a Slowbro inside it?
I agree with the idea of Cresselia being fairy and psychic totally.
Now that is a funny thought! I was thinking along the same sort of lines. We are told about the 'shelder' part but nothing else. What if the shelder evolved whilst it was still on the slowbro's tail?
While Pikachu315111 makes an interesting point about Dark Gym Leaders, I feel like the Elite 4 make a perfect case why it probably should happen by now.
We've had Dark members of the Elite Four who, while quirky or brooding, weren't evil or particularly unlikable. Meanwhile you've got Malva, who isn't exactly the brightest knife in the toolshed considering even if she doesn't openly discuss her Team Flare affiliation, still has a very condescending speech mannerism and still speaks in a way that's easy to connect her to Team Flare in some manner, even if not direct employment/involvement. The Pokemon League still has to approve the Gym Leaders in some way since their badges have to be sanctioned for the league to accept them. Malva is a sticking point for me since it shoots down the idea of a real standard of courtesy for those representing their image.
On the Gym Leader side, if he has to match to his Pokemon theme, make him sort of a broody or serious-business character, like Batman or comic anti-heroes. Even manga has characters that could be the basis for this, if not Pokemon having characters like Silver or Hugh that act that way. They're not amoral, but they're not playing under the same honor system since Pokemon trainers inevitably have to be prepared for that type of play from unsavory opponents for their own safety. It'd tie into the type's usage of moves like Taunt or Sucker Punch.
We've had Dark members of the Elite Four who, while quirky or brooding, weren't evil or particularly unlikable. Meanwhile you've got Malva, who isn't exactly the brightest knife in the toolshed considering even if she doesn't openly discuss her Team Flare affiliation, still has a very condescending speech mannerism and still speaks in a way that's easy to connect her to Team Flare in some manner, even if not direct employment/involvement. The Pokemon League still has to approve the Gym Leaders in some way since their badges have to be sanctioned for the league to accept them. Malva is a sticking point for me since it shoots down the idea of a real standard of courtesy for those representing their image.
On the Gym Leader side, if he has to match to his Pokemon theme, make him sort of a broody or serious-business character, like Batman or comic anti-heroes. Even manga has characters that could be the basis for this, if not Pokemon having characters like Silver or Hugh that act that way. They're not amoral, but they're not playing under the same honor system since Pokemon trainers inevitably have to be prepared for that type of play from unsavory opponents for their own safety. It'd tie into the type's usage of moves like Taunt or Sucker Punch.
Oddly I was also thinking Batman, but my other example was going to be like a lawyer/prosecutor who is known for using fierce tactics to win court cases. I can also see maybe a detective using Dark-types, like to catch a criminal you need to think like a criminal. Or they could go with the misconception angle like having an astronomer who compares Dark-types with the night time and darkness of space.
Here's something that I think will definitely be unpopular. And it involves one of Pokemon's biggest competitors, at least to me.
Not Mario.
Not Zelda.
Digimon.
I really don't think Digimon is better than Pokemon, but I also don't think that Pokemon is better than Digimon. They both have great things and not so great things about each franchise. To me, Digimon will always have the better anime (I haven't see the most recent, so if I'm wrong about recent well then the original was really good.) while Pokemon has the better games. It's that simple. Digimon didn't have that great games, but it has/had an excellent anime with actual character development, plot, and villains. Meanwhile Pokemon has a great game history, but from the many pages we've had discussing the anime I think most of us can agree the Pokemon anime really isn't that good. So, to me, I like them both the same. When I want to watch a fun show with a nice story, I'll hop on Netflix and watch some Digimon. If I want to go and catch and train monsters, I'll pick up my 3DS and start playing Alpha Sapphire.
Not Mario.
Not Zelda.
Digimon.
I really don't think Digimon is better than Pokemon, but I also don't think that Pokemon is better than Digimon. They both have great things and not so great things about each franchise. To me, Digimon will always have the better anime (I haven't see the most recent, so if I'm wrong about recent well then the original was really good.) while Pokemon has the better games. It's that simple. Digimon didn't have that great games, but it has/had an excellent anime with actual character development, plot, and villains. Meanwhile Pokemon has a great game history, but from the many pages we've had discussing the anime I think most of us can agree the Pokemon anime really isn't that good. So, to me, I like them both the same. When I want to watch a fun show with a nice story, I'll hop on Netflix and watch some Digimon. If I want to go and catch and train monsters, I'll pick up my 3DS and start playing Alpha Sapphire.
And you know what? That's perfectly fine. I'm sure some of us can remember the fandom rivalry of an earlier age, but you're absolutely right, they have different strengths, and it's difficult to call one "better".
Some other "monster taming" franchises that could be seen as a competitor of Pokemon:
Yo-Kai Watch!: The newest contender in the ring, it already has taken Japan by storm. From what I understand it more relies on story and the imaginative designs of the Yokai than gameplay. From what I heard you choose the Yokai you want to fight and they fight on their own with little managing on your part.
Monster Hunter: A sort of different kind of game in this genre, instead of having monsters fight monsters its you fighting the monsters. You also don't really tame them but rather kill and sell & scavenge their bodies to become stronger and get better equipment so you can hunt bigger and stronger monsters. It's also a multiplayer game, primarily one infact. It has little story but that's because you're meant to be having fun with other players taking down giant fierce beasts. It gives players a more personal feel since it's their character fighting and growing richer and more powerful.
Shin Megami Tensei/Persona: A much more darker and edger monster series. The jokes we make about Pokemon actually having horrifying and deadly connotations? Well that's sort of the focus here. Monsters in this series are eldritch abomination and death is very much a thing. You take control of monsters and have them fight for you as you try to figure out what's going on and trying to stay alive.
In regards to the digimon stuff above- I agree with it being the better anime. I believe I watched a few episodes when I was younger.
Here's another monster taming game: DQM joker 1 and 2 in it you get to fuse and battle with monsters. The plot of the first one is very much like pokemon games. It has more depth though
Here's another monster taming game: DQM joker 1 and 2 in it you get to fuse and battle with monsters. The plot of the first one is very much like pokemon games. It has more depth though
And let us not forget the fallen knock-offs, like Monster Rancher, Dinosaur King, and Medabots or others in the mon genre like Ni no kuni, Puzzle & Dragons, Tales of Symphonia 2, Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance, Fossil Fighters, and many more.
For interesting trivia, Shin Megami Tensei/Persona WAS the first example of the "monster capturing" genre, so everything is technically descended from that.
Makes the accusations of Pokemon being satanic in the late 90's a little more ironic.