I'm pretty sure that its from something buried in the original mythology. The other dream-eating Tapir mon we have (the Munna line) also has a pretty strong association with gas/fog/mist.
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Pokémon Movepool Oddities & Explanations
- Thread starter Kurona
- Start date
Hmm, just noticed that Mandibuzz learns Incinerate after one used it against me in the Battle Subway. That's... an interesting choice. It gets Heat Wave, like nearly every other bird, but Incinerate seems unusual. It doesn't get any other Fire moves (excepting Sunny Day but that doesn't count, everything gets weather moves). I could actually picture an angry vulture Pokemon using Flamethrower, so I don't think it'd have been a stretch to give it more of them.
Looking at the learnset for Incinerate, by levelup it's fairly standard (everything that learns it naturally is a Fire-type, or evolves into one). By TM there's a few less conventional picks, though they're mainly you might expect: Nidos, Clefable, Slowbro, Dragonite, Dunsparce, Kecleon, Salamence, Gourgeist, Goodra. Most are those which learn Fire attacks with by TM or tutoring.
There are still a few odd ones, though: Machamp, Marowak, Sableye, Mawile, Scrafty, Tornadus, Thundurus. Part of me wonders if Incinerate's initially garbage base power made Game Freak quite liberal with who could learn it.
Looking at the learnset for Incinerate, by levelup it's fairly standard (everything that learns it naturally is a Fire-type, or evolves into one). By TM there's a few less conventional picks, though they're mainly you might expect: Nidos, Clefable, Slowbro, Dragonite, Dunsparce, Kecleon, Salamence, Gourgeist, Goodra. Most are those which learn Fire attacks with by TM or tutoring.
There are still a few odd ones, though: Machamp, Marowak, Sableye, Mawile, Scrafty, Tornadus, Thundurus. Part of me wonders if Incinerate's initially garbage base power made Game Freak quite liberal with who could learn it.
A good few of those can use TMs for Special Fire Moves (Flamethrower for Marowak, Machamp, Mawile, Willowisp is status but i'd consider it as counting, and Tornadus learns Heat Wave in later gens). Scrafty seems out there though, but it does get Fire Punch ig
Scrafty is also a punk, so burning things up does feel somewhat relevant to it.
Magical Leaf, Icy Wind, Shock Wave, and Water Pulse have a bunch of odd stuff that can learn them. Seems to be a trend with 55-60 base power elemental moves.
Also BubbleBeam and Water Gun in RBY. Though, I always saw the three water moves being justified as anything that could theoretically spray a bunch of water out of its mouth after a drink.
I didn't bring those two up mostly because they are exclusivley available as TMs to Gen I Pokemon, and quite a lot Gen I Pokemon have very expansive special movepools, even if they are physically inclined. Correction, ESPECIALLY if they are physically inclined.
You have to judge a lot of Gen 1 TM learnsets on a curve because they're working in a way more "gamey" way than moves usually (not always, but usually) are later in the series.
Water Gun & Bubble Beam, and its ilk, are probably there more from a perspective of "you can teach this to a bunch of non-water pokemon to help you on your quest for type coverage, early i nthe game!" and "but watch out, you only get one!"
Water Gun & Bubble Beam, and its ilk, are probably there more from a perspective of "you can teach this to a bunch of non-water pokemon to help you on your quest for type coverage, early i nthe game!" and "but watch out, you only get one!"
The weird thing is that a lot of the Physical TMs were significantly more restricted overall. For example, many Gen I Pokemon didn't get Earthquake or Rock Slide until Gen III, even some where it was a STAB move.
This even carried into a Gen II a bit. like how there there were many Poison types that couldn't learn Sludge Bomb until Ruby and Sapphire. Shadow Ball could be learned by all Ghosts, but there were also a lot of Gen I and II Pokemon that suddenly received it in Gen III. While both are special now, they were both not originally designed to be.
So Gyro Ball is a bit of a weird move, in the sense that it kinda has two different flavors: spinning (gyro) and rolling (ball). As such, it's learned mostly by round Pokemon but also some Pokemon known for spinning, with a lot of overlap with moves like Defense Curl, Rollout, and Rapid Spin. And there are a few Pokemon like Steelix where it doesn't really look like they should learn it (and they usually look real dumb when using it in-game) but they're close enough to the flavor (and are usually one of the earth types) so it's fine.
And then there's Spritzee and Aromatisse.
What?
And then there's Spritzee and Aromatisse.
What?
So Gyro Ball is a bit of a weird move, in the sense that it kinda has two different flavors: spinning (gyro) and rolling (ball). As such, it's learned mostly by round Pokemon but also some Pokemon known for spinning, with a lot of overlap with moves like Defense Curl, Rollout, and Rapid Spin. And there are a few Pokemon like Steelix where it doesn't really look like they should learn it (and they usually look real dumb when using it in-game) but they're close enough to the flavor (and are usually one of the earth types) so it's fine.
And then there's Spritzee and Aromatisse.
What?
I could imagine Aromatisse since it looks like a dancer, but that's as far as my hypothesis goes.
They're slow, vaguely orblike and aromatisse does indeed do little piourettes.
It's probably in the same "round enough" camp like Gourgeist/Pumpkaboo and Guzzlord.
Buzzwole, on the other hand, is kind of a brow raiser. It's not vaguely round, it's not made of a metal material (the proboscis doesnt get a note about being metal either), mosquitos dont really roll around, it's slow but not SO slow where it'd be given gyro ball to match stats, it doesnt fire projectiles...is it supposed to be like a shot put? Because it's a beefy guy?? Can't even lean on Darkest Lariat, it got Gyro Ball in gen 7!
It's probably in the same "round enough" camp like Gourgeist/Pumpkaboo and Guzzlord.
Buzzwole, on the other hand, is kind of a brow raiser. It's not vaguely round, it's not made of a metal material (the proboscis doesnt get a note about being metal either), mosquitos dont really roll around, it's slow but not SO slow where it'd be given gyro ball to match stats, it doesnt fire projectiles...is it supposed to be like a shot put? Because it's a beefy guy?? Can't even lean on Darkest Lariat, it got Gyro Ball in gen 7!
Huh. Buzzwole gets Gyro Ball, and yet it's counterpart, Pheromosa, which learns several* spin moves because it's a dancer, does not. I mean, it's not like Pheromosa would be a GOOD user, but that's never stopped them before.
*Rapid Spin, Triple Kick, Drill Run, Triple Axel, none of which Buzzwole learns.
*Rapid Spin, Triple Kick, Drill Run, Triple Axel, none of which Buzzwole learns.
That's probably because Gyro ball assumes the pokemon basically curls in a ball and uses the momentum gained by rolling in order to smack the enemy.
This relies on the pokemon rolling being heavy and Pheromosa like Kartana is probably the diametral oppose of "heavy".
So my assumpion is it doesn't get Gyro Ball because Pheromosa is literally too light to hurt anything by rolling into them.
So Gyro Ball is a bit of a weird move, in the sense that it kinda has two different flavors: spinning (gyro) and rolling (ball). As such, it's learned mostly by round Pokemon but also some Pokemon known for spinning, with a lot of overlap with moves like Defense Curl, Rollout, and Rapid Spin. And there are a few Pokemon like Steelix where it doesn't really look like they should learn it (and they usually look real dumb when using it in-game) but they're close enough to the flavor (and are usually one of the earth types) so it's fine.
And then there's Spritzee and Aromatisse.
What?
As others have said, it's slow and round, and Aromatisse is based on a can-can dancer so twirls and spins. The animation in ORAS, at least, has the Pokemon spinning like a top rather than turning into a ball as I'd have expected. I noticed this particularly because a Koffing used one against me - and Koffing/Weezing seem a slightly odd choice to learn them too since most of the Pokemon which learn it are on the heavier side. Sure, they're slow, but they're full of a lighter-than-air gas, so they can't be that heavy. One can't imagine Gyro Ball being that effective of an attack when used by them as opposed to say, Golem or something.
I don't see the issue of the Spritzee family getting Gryo Ball as I can see them curl up and roll/spin.
So with that said
So with that said
Pretty sure Stakataka has Gyro Ball for purely game mechanics reasons. It's a Steel type with 13 base speed and that learns Trick Room. Less sure about the othersI don't see the issue of the Spritzee family getting Gryo Ball as I can see them curl up and roll/spin.
So with that said
Yeah Stakataka absolutely gets it just because it's a slow steel type.
Duraludon & Volcanion...it's a little hard to describe but while they're not exactly round they're definitely sharing this kinda...wide, shonky, shape, i guess? Avalugg (though avalugg probably specifically gets it because of its terrible speed) falls in that camp too. Is pretty iffy, regardless, though I feel it tracks better than Buzzwole.
Duraludon & Volcanion...it's a little hard to describe but while they're not exactly round they're definitely sharing this kinda...wide, shonky, shape, i guess? Avalugg (though avalugg probably specifically gets it because of its terrible speed) falls in that camp too. Is pretty iffy, regardless, though I feel it tracks better than Buzzwole.
I don't see the issue of the Spritzee family getting Gryo Ball as I can see them curl up and roll/spin.
So with that said
Thing is, to go off the wording of the move:
The user tackles the target with a high-speed spin. The slower the user compared to the target, the greater the move's power.
Most things can spin, even if they aren't spherical - humans can spin, and we don't have to roll into a ball to do that. And the wording implies that it's the weight/size of the user's body that's used to deal damage, since it's a high-speed spin... but slower Pokemon do it better. Eh? That definitely suggests to me that it's more about having a heavy/bulky body (which almost always, in Pokemon at least, corresponds with being slow) hence my earlier quibble about Koffing/Weezing.
There's some two-way weirdness with the Fire coverage of these rodents.
So Ratatta is somewhat well-known for getting Flame Wheel as an egg move. It's one of only two non-Fire Pokemon to learn the move (the other being Galarian Darumaka whose connections to the Fire type should be obvious) and it's one of the most standout examples of breeding giving Pokemon access to weird moves they otherwise wouldn't learn, and I'm very here for it. Presumably, this is a reference to rats running in a wheel.
So many years pass and Game Freak introduces a rodent Pokemon who signature move is a direct reference to a rodent wheel: Morpeko. Despite this, it does not learn Flame Wheel, instead learning the far more predictable Fire Fang.
Which brings us back to Ratatta. Despite its prominent chompers granting it two of the earliest signature moves of the series (Super Fang and Hyper Fang) Ratatta can't learn Fire Fang, or any of the elemental fangs for that matter.
39 hours is long enough to warrant a double post.
Given one of copper's most defining features is its exceptional electrical conductivity (second only to silver) it's strange that Cufant and Copperajah get literally no Electric moves. Not even Thunder Fang. The mud/clay/rubber/whatever elephant is more electrically adept than the copper elephant.
Given one of copper's most defining features is its exceptional electrical conductivity (second only to silver) it's strange that Cufant and Copperajah get literally no Electric moves. Not even Thunder Fang. The mud/clay/rubber/whatever elephant is more electrically adept than the copper elephant.
I think it's probably cause there's no real fitting electric move for them... can't learn Thunder Punch cause no arms, can't learn Thunder Fang cause no fangs (ok tecnically they do since they're elephants but you can't exactly bite with these).
Maybe they should have got Wild Charge, i guess?
It would likely not be used competitively, but a neat nod to what Pumpkinz is talking about would be if they could learn Spark.
If Barboach can learn Spark, copper elephants certainly can.
The mud/clay/rubber elephant I was referring to is Donphan, who can learn Thunder Fang (and Fire Fang).