Pokémon Movepool Oddities & Explanations

Because Roselia got Grass Whistle and it was basically its signature move in gen 3


Aipom & Lickitung, though....is this a joke? Like Aipom's got a horrifying smile & tail, Lickitung could have like...fear of getting eaten or something?

Spinda gets it but that honestly feels like it should be giving itself a nightmare, not other people
 
Well.... have you seen the fan arts of "realistic lickitung" °_____°
I don't need to. I watched Detective Pikachu.

Same thing really, they hired an artist who's most notable online for drawing Pokemon as realistic creature. :bloblul:

Looking through the list here are the ones I would consider the oddest to learn it:

From TM (Gen II only, which is on the edge of Pokemon early days so could be overlooked as just early installment weirdness):
  • Meowth family
  • Lickitung
  • Lapras
  • Porygon family
  • Aipom
  • Dunsparce
  • Tyranitar
Pokemon XD Move Tutor Additions:
  • Roselia
  • Gulpin family
 
Lapras does learn Perish Song and Sing, so I think that if it's capable to putting you to sleep and literally make you die, it can probably also just cause you nightmares.
Plus quoting from Bulbapedia
" In the anime it was shown that Lapras is able to develop psychic abilities such as telepathy. "
so if Lapras is able to interfere with human mind, I find plausible that it can induce nightmares as well.
 
Lapras having Sing in general is probably the important bit. In gen 1 & 2 in particular, it had very low distirbution. Chansey line, Jigglypuff line, Clefable line and Smoochum line (Gen 2 only), and then Lapras.

And oh hey, all of these lines get Nightmare. e: Except Chansey/Blissey but I think that makes more sense from a flavor perspective
 
Um...Milotic, A-Ninetales, Glaceon, and Frosmoth get Triple Axel. No.

The description: A consecutive three-kick attack that becomes more powerful with each successful hit.

The animation shows the Pokémon going up in the air with a whirling animation around them, likely to allude to what a Triple Axel is: a jump in figure skating, For humans at least, you need speed and to get high off the ground...and you need to be able to do something with your entry to enable yourself to get a fast enough rotation.

Pokémon have every right to defy logic to SOME extent and it's not unfair to take some creative liberties which lead to departures from the original source of inspiration...but I think that there should be a limit - like, why allude to something if you're going to make something that, without the name, you'd have no idea what the reference is? Make something new or reference something more direct!

With this in mind, even though it'd be hard for a Pokémon like Sandslash, they're at least bipedal; let's give it to 'em. I'm not sure if the Primarina line should really get them, either - their back fins aren't really legs, are they? If you take "kick" to swimming, we can say their fins work, since they kick with their hind fin to swim. With this in mind, I'd say that between their front and back fins, they could somewhat make Triple Axel work in a way that Hitmontop would - the kicking limbs going on top, doing a more Capoeira-type Move. What are Frosmoth and Milotic kicking with, though? MILOTIC HAS NO LIMBS! Frosmoth's legs are TINY. Glaceon and A-Ninetales? Might be able to argue for them, but being quadrupedal with legs that go straight down from their body, it doesn't seem to fit very well.

I don't see the gameplay benefit of any of these Pokémon learning the Move, either - they're all Special Attackers and it's a Physical Move. Making a bit of a stretch logic-wise to make certain Pokémon better would make sense to me. I just don't see why any of these Pokémon would learn it, either from a gameplay perspective OR a logic perspective based on the Move description and inspiration. Froslass might benefit from it? But looking at them now, I'm not seeing any legs, so this also seems like a strange choice...but Froslass has equal Atk and SpA, so I guess this gives Froslass more of a STAB offence option?



That said, I feel like it's really fitting for Tsareena, given her theme of THE POWER OF GAMS; I think it's cool that she gets it. Weak to Flying and having excellent Atk, I think it could be useful to try out in competition, too. I'm happy about Hitmontop getting it, since their use of it would be pretty acrobatic and look super-cool. It fits with the Capoeira theme in my mind's eye, even though the Move's execution by a Hitmontop would be entirely different from how a figure skater would do it. Also weak to Flying, so being able to hit back is good here, like with Tsareena! Cinccino seems kinda random, but someone who's really cute and could totally skate seems appropriate. Technician (which Hitmontop also has) gives it some competitive potential as well, which I also like.
 
This one has always kind of bugged me both for flavor and competitive reasons.
First, a sampling of some Druddigon's Pokedex entries:

Pokemon White, X and Omega Ruby:
It races through narrow caves, using its sharp claws to catch prey. The skin on its face is harder than a rock.

Ultra Sun:
The red skin on its face is harder than rock. In narrow caves, it squares off against its enemies and charges face-first right into them.

Clearly that's the description of a dragon that may want to "rush" into its foes.
Yet it doesn't get the move Dragon Rush.

Dragon Rush is a weirdly situated Dragon-type move that has 100 power but is 75% accurate with a 20% chance to cause flinching.
Most sets opt for 100% accurate moves like Outrage or Dragon Claw despite their negative side-effects or lower power.

The only Dragon that would ever consider using Dragon Rush is Druddigon because of Sheer Force.
Yet it doesn't get it despite the flavor making it totally reasonable.
Even if we argue that the Japanese implies more of a "dive", Silicobra and Aron getting it shows that it just doesn't make any sense, lol.
 
This one has always kind of bugged me both for flavor and competitive reasons.
First, a sampling of some Druddigon's Pokedex entries:



Clearly that's the description of a dragon that may want to "rush" into its foes.
Yet it doesn't get the move Dragon Rush.

Dragon Rush is a weirdly situated Dragon-type move that has 100 power but is 75% accurate with a 20% chance to cause flinching.
Most sets opt for 100% accurate moves like Outrage or Dragon Claw despite their negative side-effects or lower power.

The only Dragon that would ever consider using Dragon Rush is Druddigon because of Sheer Force.
Yet it doesn't get it despite the flavor making it totally reasonable.
Even if we argue that the Japanese implies more of a "dive", Silicobra and Aron getting it shows that it just doesn't make any sense, lol.

Other Dragon-types who don't learn Dragon Rush but probably could use it are also Rayquaza, Axew family, Zekrom, Jangmo-o family, Zygarde, and Tyrunt family. And if we expand it to the Dragon Egg group I'd also add Gyarados and the Scraggy family. Heck let's also throw in Aerodactyl, Cranidos family, and Archen family in there too (surprised some of them aren't in the Dragon Egg group).
 
necrozma.gif

>Psychic type
>Entire concept is based around light
>Alt form is giant dragon composed of light
>Doesn't learn Dazzling Gleam
 
>Psychic type
>Entire concept is based around light
>Alt form is giant dragon composed of light
>Doesn't learn Dazzling Gleam
Solgaleo also doesnt get it (Lunala does) and...

Zamazenta gets it?Zamazenta?But NOT Zacian??
Sometimes I do wonder if it's something with the japanese name, maybe it doesn't actually mean dazzling light but something else...

Edit: meanwhile, judging by its description
" The user damages opposing Pokémon by emitting a powerful flash. "

I suppose this means they have to be able to emit a flash of light... I can see Zamazenta using his shield to reflect light and daze the enemy, as well as probably Lunala being... a literal moon?
 
Sometimes I do wonder if it's something with the japanese name, maybe it doesn't actually mean dazzling light but something else...

Edit: meanwhile, judging by its description
" The user damages opposing Pokémon by emitting a powerful flash. "

I suppose this means they have to be able to emit a flash of light... I can see Zamazenta using his shield to reflect light and daze the enemy, as well as probably Lunala being... a literal moon?
Dazzling Gleam ("Mysterious Shine") generally goes to Fairies, Fairy-adjacents (ie Jumpluff, Roselia), Psychics and then some flavor like they have a shiny coat or cause sparks

Zacian has a big shiny sword with which light can reflect off of it! And also, is a fairy type.
meanwhile Necrozma is a bunch of shiny prisms (normal) or a being literally made of light (ultra)
 
I always took Dazzling Gleam to be extremely unfocused, since it's a spread move and to distinguigh it from the gather/release flavour solarbeam and flash cannon have. Since necrozma's default state is about taking light in, it makes sense under this logic why it might not learn dazzling gleam. I have less of an idea for Zacian, though I note it's in the same position with respect to flash cannon.
 
Solgaleo also doesnt get it (Lunala does) and...

Zamazenta gets it?Zamazenta?But NOT Zacian??

To be fair, Solgaleo and Zacian wouldn't even use Dazzling Gleam if they got it because both are Physical attackers. Zacian would rather use Play Rough and Solgaleo would really only want a Fairy-type move to handle Dark (which it has a weakness to) or Dragon and it has other options for those: Close Combat for Dark and Outrage for Dragon.

Necrozma though is a Special Attacker (at least in its base form, Ultra has equal offense stats) so it is a mystery why it's missing out.
 
To be fair, Solgaleo and Zacian wouldn't even use Dazzling Gleam if they got it because both are Physical attackers. Zacian would rather use Play Rough and Solgaleo would really only want a Fairy-type move to handle Dark (which it has a weakness to) or Dragon and it has other options for those: Close Combat for Dark and Outrage for Dragon.

Necrozma though is a Special Attacker (at least in its base form, Ultra has equal offense stats) so it is a mystery why it's missing out.
I mean not wanting to use it doesn't mean that much, those are scattered all around the series.
To wit: Zacian, the fairy type, has the same special attack as Zamazenta, the fighting type

e: Zamazenta also gets Flash Cannon while Zacian doesnt...?
 
To be fair, Solgaleo and Zacian wouldn't even use Dazzling Gleam if they got it because both are Physical attackers. Zacian would rather use Play Rough
For that matter, Zacian is the only new Fairy-type in Gen VIII to receive Moonblast - even if it were a special attacker, it would rather use that in most cases.
It's a bizarre choice flavor-wise, but it's hardly missing out.
The one time Zamazenta gets something Zacian doesn't...
 
For that matter, Zacian is the only new Fairy-type in Gen VIII to receive Moonblast - even if it were a special attacker, it would rather use that in most cases.
It's a bizarre choice flavor-wise, but it's hardly missing out.
The one time Zamazenta gets something Zacian doesn't...
Not to mention that Zacian doesn't even learn a single Physical Fairy Type Move through Level Up- It learns only Play Rough through TR.
 
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Yes. It’s one of their last moves learned. Odd that Hatterene does not learn Moonblast though. Can’t think of any reason why.
I somewhat appreciate that the wolves' level-up movesets are basically identical, but it hurts Zamazenta more than anything. They'd probably get some other Fairy move, too, if Fairy moves weren't so scarce.

I don't really mind certain Pokémon not getting the "strongest" move of a particular STAB type sometimes; it helps create actual reasons to use certain Pokémon over others. It's part of the reason why I resent Kommo-o getting Close Combat in USUM (and CC becoming a general TR in SwSH).
 
I somewhat appreciate that the wolves' level-up movesets are basically identical, but it hurts Zamazenta more than anything. They'd probably get some other Fairy move, too, if Fairy moves weren't so scarce.

I don't really mind certain Pokémon not getting the "strongest" move of a particular STAB type sometimes; it helps create actual reasons to use certain Pokémon over others. It's part of the reason why I resent Kommo-o getting Close Combat in USUM (and CC becoming a general TR in SwSH).
Without Close Combat though, Kommo-o could not take advantage of Dragon Dance because it’s best fighting STAB was Sky Uppercut which is objectively weak. It was in RU prior to USUM.
 
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