So, um, I decided to watch the battle with Gym Leader Nessa when I noticed something which debunks a major theory we have:
Remember how we said the clouds around the Dynamaxed Pokemon's head probably are there to count the turns it has left? Well, that's wrong.
Throughout the battle the Dynamaxed Pokemon always has three clouds around its head. So on one hand, if Dynamaxed Pokemon are separate models that means there's only one... but on the other hand it also shows how pointless that would be as it means the clouds are just a "stationary" rotating ring of clouds so wouldn't be too difficult to just have it hanging above the Pokemon's model which would just be upsized.
But what are the point of the clouds then if they're not meant to be a visible cue to how many turns there's left of Dynamaxing? And I mean aside from lore, I'm talking more aesthetically. Is it supposed to make it look more impressive having those storm clouds circling above it? Like we're supposed to get the idea it's so big now it's reaching the sky? Well I feel that idea falls flat because we can perfectly see how big they are and, no, they're not reaching the sky, those are just magical storm clouds circling above it.
Also, finally watching a Dynamax battle in action... I am not the least bit impressed. It BARELY changes the battle it feels. Maybe they're hitting harder and taking hits better, but still Dynamaxed Wooloo needed to 2HKO a normal Goldeen and a normal Grookey did major damage against Dynamaxed Drednaw (and yes, I know it's quadruple weak to Grass-type moves, but that's my point. Even when big it still took a heavy hit so how is that impressive?).
And because of this I gotta compare them to Mega Evolutions and Z-Moves, and how better they were. Mega Evolutions may not have made the Pokemon grow big but it completely changed the shape of the Pokemon, giving it a massive boost in stats and sometimes changing around some other traits like Type and/or Ability. When a Pokemon Mega Evolved it was a big deal as it became a major threat, even if you're able to do major damage to it you know it's now going to hit back hard (or its such a defensive powerhouse a super effective move barely scratches it). Z-Moves, while one-use, was so high powered that even a resisted one did major damage. Both also had more spectacle to them, the Mega Pokemon posing after Mega Evolving and the Z-Move animations being very elaborate (though I can see some thinking they took so long to do). The only elaborateness to Dynamaxing is the growing of the Poke Ball, otherwise it's just the Pokemon's model being upscaled and given a red glow around it (and the storm above and the three red clouds honestly barely register). The Max Moves look less impressive then Z-Moves as well, even if they have useful secondary effects.
Also, some other things I noticed:
5:13: So the League looks to have a mascot character, a person with a Poke Ball for a head.
5:38: How did no one report this? So apparently the Badges apparently fit onto the inside of this gold ring. If the Water Badge is anything to go by, the Badges are also gold pieces with a colored pattern on it representing the Type of Gym it's from. So does getting all the Badges fully fill in the ring to make it into a disk? If so some Badges would have to be bigger pieces, or maybe they form around the ring's inner edge leaving an empty space in the middle which gets filled in upon beating the Elite Four & Champion.
Another thing: according to this demo, Nessa would be the first Gym Leader. However, since the pieces just attach to the inner edge of the ring, maybe we do have a case of at some points getting to choose which Gym Leader you get to challenge. Now we'll have to see whether it's an actual choice or you're sent in a specific order depending on the Starter you pick, but eitherway this is all an intriguing way of doing the Gyms and Badges!
