Sword & Shield **Official news only** DLC Crown Tundra 22nd October

[Siggu]

So they are going with the telekinetic unicorn approach, then?

The fact it's Shield-exclusive makes its reveal method make much more sense... as Sirfetch'd also had a unique presentation. Still sticking with Sword though.

Its ability is either a variation of Flower Veil or Water Veil. Either one seems appropiate.

And you are telling me a Unicorn, a creature that has been depicted living in hallowed valleys amongst fairys and rainbows is Psychic type? We've had a problem with Psychic typing in recent years. They put it anywhere. Anything that looks mystical or whose desing doesn't relate to any known typing is Psychic because yes.

That's because both Psychic and Fairy types have been used for mystical Pokémon. There is a little overlap on that.

And besides, Kantonian Ponyta and Rapidash were not retooled to include a Fairy type, so they have some kind of precedent over this.

 

[Kurona]

Given it is shield-exclusive and that Rapidash will obviously have a Galarian Form too, this makes me wonder even more if we'll get a Galarian Farfetch'd after all rather than Sirfetch'd evolving from a normal one. Said normal one has mysteriously been omitted from every piece of marketing for Sirfetch'd so far; including this -- there's not even a piece of stock artwork either. They use stock artwork of Ponyta to show "hey, this is what it's a new form of!", but no stock artwork of normal Farfetch'd to go "this is what it evolves from!"?

Just saying. Things are starting to add up.

 

[Volt-Ikazuchi]

Not buying the Psychic-type. Scan is just too low res for that.
Besides, the ability seems specifically built to deal with poison. Poison is one of Fairy's weaknesses. I dunno, the link to Fairy-type just seem stronger.

Can we talk about how they handled Sirfetch'd and Galarian Ponyta reveals tho?

Rotom trolled DUX's dex entry (and got promptly dealt with by some hired trainers) and then DUX got a like, 30 second trailer.
Ponyta got a 24h stream with a new location (and some trolling by Impidimp) and a massive build up to its reveal.

Hax! I call hax! That's favoritism! You know why Ponyta got that treatment? Because it's not an evo of a Kanto mon, it's an alternate form of a Kanto mon. KANTOOO

 

[Yung Dramps]

To be honest, I'd be happy with Psychic Ponyta. We've already had 3 Fairies shown so far, one of which is in itself a Kanto Galarian form of Weezing. Meanwhile, not a single new Psychic type has been shown off yet. It's certainly unexpected!

Looking at the image, while the text is blurry, the border coloring definitely seems to me like the deeper shade of pink used for the Psychic type compared to the pastel pink used for Fairies. Speaking of pastel, that ability seems... ...kinda eh to me if I'm being honest. I doubt Rapidash will have the bulk or support movepool to work in Doubles, and it Singles it just seems like a worse Magic Guard.

But maybe I'm biased because this is just Ponyta and we have yet to see Rapidash. Gimme that Psychic/Flying Alicorn, pls.

 

[Volt-Ikazuchi]

Both Psycic types and Fairy types are both "Magic.tm" types. Celebi is an onion pixie yet is psychic. The lake trio are all still psychics. Whats Fairy magic and whats Psychic magic is hardly defined.

That and Rapidash could be Fairy/Psychic.

The problem is that Game Freak was really conservative with retypes when it introduced new types. Not just Fairy, this also happened in GSC with Dark and Steel.

Celebi has no business not being a Grass/Fairy type.

 

[The Shadow Knight]

To be honest, I'd be happy with Psychic Ponyta. We've already had 3 Fairies shown so far, one of which is in itself a Kanto Galarian form of Weezing. Meanwhile, not a single new Psychic type has been shown off yet. It's certainly unexpected!

Looking at the image, while the text is blurry, the border coloring definitely seems to me like the deeper shade of pink used for the Psychic type compared to the pastel pink used for Fairies. Speaking of pastel, that ability seems... ...kinda eh to me if I'm being honest. I doubt Rapidash will have the bulk or support movepool to work in Doubles, and it Singles it just seems like a worse Magic Guard.

But maybe I'm biased because this is just Ponyta and we have yet to see Rapidash. Gimme that Psychic/Flying Alicorn, pls.

The colors seems way oversaturated for the typing labels. Look at Sirfetch'd Fighting label being orange.

 

[Siggu]

Celebi has no business not being a Grass/Fairy type.

Well, Celebi is a Mythical Pokémon so I can understand why they were not willing to retype it.

 

[BlueRay]

To be honest, I'd be happy with Psychic Ponyta. We've already had 3 Fairies shown so far, one of which is in itself a Kanto Galarian form of Weezing. Meanwhile, not a single new Psychic type has been shown off yet. It's certainly unexpected!

Looking at the image, while the text is blurry, the border coloring definitely seems to me like the deeper shade of pink used for the Psychic type compared to the pastel pink used for Fairies. Speaking of pastel, that ability seems... ...kinda eh to me if I'm being honest. I doubt Rapidash will have the bulk or support movepool to work in Doubles, and it Singles it just seems like a worse Magic Guard.

But maybe I'm biased because this is just Ponyta and we have yet to see Rapidash. Gimme that Psychic/Flying Alicorn, pls.

Me too. Its new ability appears so underwhelming. Is our dear pony supposed to be a Poison's nightmare? Being able to hurt it effectively and not being affected by poison? I might as well use a Steel Pkm such as Excadrill who's just better at it.
But, maybe, we are a bit too quick about Galarian Ponyta? We still don't know anything about Galarian Rapidash, and we still don't know all Pkm in the Galar dex. It's possible we might get some troublesome Poison Pkm - the likes of Toxaped or Alolan Muk - who will impact battles, but this time with a focus on Doubles. A useful Poison Pkm able to set up Toxic Spikes just by entering the battlefield? That might be quite useful, especially against dynamaxed monsters that are likely hard to take down, and you need all the chip damage to remove it from the field.
Anyway, if Galarian Rapidash does get the additional Fairy type, it would be, hopefully, different from Gardevoir and Tapu Lele by its physical nature. Same applies to Psychic/Flying.

 

[Sirya]

Yes, we need more Psychic types. In fact, if they made another pair or legends + mythicals Psychic it would be great too.

Thinking about it, Zacian and Zamacenta look Steel + something. Hmmm, Psychic is the something-type by default, i won't be surprised if they end up that way.

 

[Yung Dramps]

Me too. Its new ability appears so underwhelming. Is our dear pony supposed to be a Poison's nightmare? Being able to hurt it effectively and not being affected by poison? I might as well use a Steel Pkm such as Excadrill who's just better at it.
But, maybe, we are a bit too quick about Galarian Ponyta? We still don't know anything about Galarian Rapidash, and we still don't know all Pkm in the Galar dex. It's possible we might get some troublesome Poison Pkm - the likes of Toxaped or Alolan Muk - who will impact battles, but this time with a focus on Doubles. A useful Poison Pkm able to set up Toxic Spikes just by entering the battlefield? That might be quite useful, especially against dynamaxed monsters that are likely hard to take down, and you need all the chip damage to remove it from the field.
Anyway, if Galarian Rapidash does get the additional Fairy type, it would be, hopefully, different from Gardevoir and Tapu Lele by its physical nature. Same applies to Psychic/Flying.

True! Besides, the signature ability doesn't have to be the only one. My best-case scenario is Psychic/Flying with Magic Guard for recoil-free Brave Birds and Wild Charges

The colors seems way oversaturated for the typing labels. Look at Sirfetch'd Fighting label being orange.

True, but there are no other types that could be orange except for maybe Fire, which we obviously know Sirfetch'd isn't. Meanwhile, Psychic and Fairy are both represented a shade of pink, and Galarian Ponyta's type shown in the promo appears to be darker rather than lighter. Let's wait and see, we should be getting an English trailer very soon, right?

 

[Rarycaris]

Yes, we need more Psychic types. In fact, if they made another pair or legends + mythicals Psychic it would be great too.

Thinking about it, Zacian and Zamacenta look Steel + something. Hmmm, Psychic is the something-type by default, i won't be surprised if they end up that way.

It would be tremendously disappointing if four of the six most recent cover legendaries had identical typing.

(Might be missing sarcasm here.)

 

[The Shadow Knight]

True! Besides, the signature ability doesn't have to be the only one. My best-case scenario is Psychic/Flying with Magic Guard for recoil-free Brave Birds and Wild Charges


True, but there are no other types that could be orange except for maybe Fire, which we obviously know Sirfetch'd isn't. Meanwhile, Psychic and Fairy are both represented a shade of pink, and Galarian Ponyta's type shown in the promo appears to be darker rather than lighter. Let's wait and see, we should be getting an English trailer very soon, right?

Hopefully.
Psychic and Fairy are both good in my book. In either case I hope Rapidash-G keeps the Fire and Ground moves of its regular form.

 

[Yung Dramps]

Ok, y'know what? Upon inspecting the image further, it seems like the colored text for Ponyta is definitely more resembling a Fairy's pastel pink. I'm 50/50 split on either Psychic or Fairy rn

It's also quite curious how Ponyta and Sirfetch'd are version exclusive. This in particular supports two things:

• There is an unrevealed Galarian Farfetch'd that precedes Sirfetch'd. After all, in the image it doesn't show that it evolves from Kantonian Fetch'd.
• Base stat totals. Rapidash has 500 BST. If they are a duo, could Sirfetch'd also have 500 BST to match with its Shield counterpart?

Now, as for why they are version exclusive pairs instead of another shitty bird like Delibird or Chatot? Maybe I'm looking into this too deeply, but seeing as Sirfetch'd seems to be in particular based on a jouster, perhaps Ponyta is supposed to represent the jouster's trusty steed?

 

[Volt-Ikazuchi]

Yes, we need more Psychic types. In fact, if they made another pair or legends + mythicals Psychic it would be great too.

Thinking about it, Zacian and Zamacenta look Steel + something. Hmmm, Psychic is the something-type by default, i won't be surprised if they end up that way.

We could use more Psychics, yes.

Not in Ubers though!!!

 

[The Shadow Knight]

 

[Siggu]

It used Psybeam. Pretty much confirms it's Psychic-type.

 

[Kanburi]

JP page confirms that it is, indeed, psychic.

They also updated the live stream page with screenshots of Pokemon that were found as well as a message from Sonia, which is just a word of thanks. The only two pictures that don't have a close up of a Pokemon are:

Hopefully we get more info about those soon.

 

[Siggu]

JP page confirms that it is, indeed, psychic.

I wonder why they didn't say a single thing about its typing or ability in the english trailer...

What is so important to keep secret that the japanese clearly don't think the same?

(The english website was just updated. Ponyta's other ability is Run Away)

Also, Pastel Veil looks extremely situational to me. AFAIK, deliberately poisoning a foe is rare in Doubles.

 

[Codraroll]

JP page confirms that it is, indeed, psychic.

So does the English one, now. It also confirms its ability:

Galarian Ponyta’s Ability, Pastel Veil, is a new Ability introduced in these titles. This Ability prevents the Pokémon and its allies from becoming poisoned! It can even cure the poisoned status condition of its allies when this Pokémon enters the battlefield!

 

[Garuru]

is this finally the generation that they give Run Away pokemon the ability to switch out of trapping moves?

 

[Kanburi]

I wonder why they didn't say a single thing about its typing or ability in the english trailer...

What is so important to keep secret that the japanese clearly don't think the same?

(The english website was just updated. Ponyta's other ability is Run Away)

To be fair, the Japanese trailer didn't have its typing either. Just said that it's the unicorn Pokemon, いっかくポケモン.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1181917700072890368

Not sure if these are new, but Sirfetch'd and Galarian Weezing via Dynamax cam.

 

[Kurona]

Also of note, as Yung Dramps brought it up before: Galarian Ponyta is the first regional form to change its Pokédex classification -- instead of being the 'Fire Horse' Pokémon, it is now the 'Unique Horn' Pokémon.

 

[Cresselia92]

I’m half-hoping for Pastel Veil to be a combination between Immunity and Filter, where the Pokémon is immune to poison and heals allies, while also taking less damage from poison attacks / attacks that inflict poison. This would grant it a pseudo-resistance while also giving it a relatively good role in Doubles.

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

So Galarian Ponyta is indeed a Psychic type after all. I was expecting Fairy, but I guess Psychic is a very good typing to have in general, though I wonder how a Galarian Rapidash will be able to utilize such a typing effectively. Perhaps the door is still open for a dual Psychic/Fairy evolution into Rapidash, however, so we'll see.

Thinking about it though, it's seemingly the version exclusive counterpart to Sirfetch'd, who is Fighting-type, and the Psychic and Fighting types are antitheses to each other so that's probably part of why.

I'm loving Galarian Ponyta though, and with it I'm probably leaning towards Shield. Between this and Larvitar and Goomy being the Shield exclusives, I'll probably be leaning towards getting Shield xD. In any case, really excited for these games!!!

 

[Rechi]

RIP Impidimp, I guess