I'm not a huge fan of how the main arms connect to the body. I can see where they're coming from with it, it looks enough like a supervillain outfit and all, but it comes off way too much as having a defined shoulder joint. Not only is that awkward for a cephalopod, it also breaks the idea of Malamar being upside-down.
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Pokémon Presents - Pokémon Day 2025 - Pokemon ZA Info & Pokemon Champions Announced
- Thread starter DHR-107
- Start date
I assure you my eyes work just fine. And I am Totally Not Under Hypnosis.
In all seriousness, I'm allowed to like the design. If you don't, that's fine, but don't rain on others' parade.
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Really happy with Mega Malamar’s design! I think Dragonite is still my favorite of what we’ve seen so far, but I really like all four designs and I’m feeling super optimistic about the direction of the rest that we haven’t seen yet.
Please GF I am begging on hands and knees for drowsy (and frostbite, but we haven’t seen any proof of that yet) to get into the main series after this. After two different Legends games to break in the concept, I think it’s long past time we got rid of sleep and frozen.
frostbite sucks and i dont want to see it in the main games. drowsy i feel mixed feelings on: sleep is broken, but drowsy feels a bit lazy since its just paralysis with a different stat cut. I think itd be more interesting if they just tweaked sleep to give a stat BUFF when its applied/heal the pokemon every turn its asleep, but i dont want to break the forum rules of no wishlisting lol
the leak descriptions failed to mention how much it looks like an evil scientist or space alien for whatever reason, lmao
I hope Heracross is featured again in the next Mega reveal. After two rounds of getting picked on by these new Megas (while we don't see Heracross get inconvenienced in this trailer, Malamar forced its trainer to replace it), it's had enough, Mega Evolves into Mega Heracross...and still loses to the featured Mega.
I've got to wonder ... seeing as Abilities are not a thing in this game, and some Mega Evolutions absolutely rely on Abilities to escape utter mediocrity due to base stats that are lower than many regular Pokémon, if there will be some other way for Megas to distinguish themselves in battle. Mega Sableye and Mega Mawile have the same BST as such titanic Pokémon as Glalie, Whimsicott, and Slurpuff (albeit with a slightly more optimized stat distribution). Mega Medicham has lower base stats than Weavile in every stat except SpA. Somehow, I doubt they are going to perform at that level in LZA, when Mega Evolution is such a hyped mechanic.
I suspect that for in-game purposes, Megas will straight up be better than regular 'mons through some innate stat boosts or power mechanics, so that no matter what Mega you pick, it will be better than having no Megas at all. And conversely, that non-Megas have no chance against Megas in battle, practically requring players to find and use one as soon as possible.
I suspect that for in-game purposes, Megas will straight up be better than regular 'mons through some innate stat boosts or power mechanics, so that no matter what Mega you pick, it will be better than having no Megas at all. And conversely, that non-Megas have no chance against Megas in battle, practically requring players to find and use one as soon as possible.
Legends Arceus had "abilities" for certain Pokemon, like Cherrim changing forms when the sun is up, Arceus changing types when it uses Judgment, and Regigigas having Slow Start mechanics. I wonder if Megas might utilize a similar mechanic depending on the Mega.
there was a loading screen tooltip in the demo footage that said the following
"Plus Moves of Mega-Evolved Pokemon"
"Mega-Evolved Pokemon use moves as Plus Moves by default -- even ones they haven't yet mastered."
we've seen the Plus icon next to moves in a lot of the trailers with no explanation for what those meant, and "Move Mastery" was a mechanic in the previous legends game, so it does seem like Megas just straight up get more powerful moves by default. I imagine they might get other buffs too like faster cooldowns or something.
More than that. It gives off real supervillain/70's vibes to it. It's just so fun to look at. Even better in motion with the waving arms and the rainbow body.
this nintendo direct on friday is as long as the nintendo switch 2 big announcement direct in April was at 60 minutes. also the first general direct on a friday in over a decade?
also, the director of legends za quote tweeted the announcement with "I see" and a cat emoji
there's also been a rumor from some leakers that there's going to be a new pokemon spinoff title announced this week, these leakers aren't the most reliable ones around so who knows if it's true but it would be cool to get something, either a brand new spinoff or a followup title to some dead series.
also, the director of legends za quote tweeted the announcement with "I see" and a cat emoji
there's also been a rumor from some leakers that there's going to be a new pokemon spinoff title announced this week, these leakers aren't the most reliable ones around so who knows if it's true but it would be cool to get something, either a brand new spinoff or a followup title to some dead series.
This was meant to be more of a shitpost/response to the Malamar hate thread in Smogoff, but I actually had more to argue about than I expected, so I guess I'll also repost my relevant opinions on those descriptions here. Not that I really expect most people to feel as strongly about the writing style of the meme of the month and its fancy new design but I figured it's different enough of a talking point.
tl;dr: After all that buildup with the meme of making friends and all, I don't actually see what makes Mega Malamar so different from base Malamar in ability and personality. Then again I don't know if I'm taking this more or less seriously than Malamar fans that just want to be friends with Malamar.
oh that's why that guy wanted to abolish everything but taxis
I don't think you know what a uterus looks like, cause it's not any more uterine in shape than regular Malamar.
I also think Mega Evolutions should have some kind of advantage. Maybe it's not just a stat boost, but some new game mechanic that's only available to them.
maan I'm sorry your opinion is your opinion I shouldn't have been rude
Yeah it was pretty rude, actually. Thanks for taking accountability.
I've given it some time and I still feel like my main issue with this Mega Malamar teaser is that the Mega Evolution aspect was essentially irrelevant to the plot. The exact same incidents in the videos could have been caused by base Malamar. In fact, the whole campaign was just about shoving base Malamar's design everywhere, because Malamar hypnotizing people is already an established aspect to be in on the joke about. But there's no mystery beyond that and so the punchline is just revealing how Mega Malamar looks different while it doesn't actually do anything new*.
This isn't even against Malamar itself, it would be a fine teaser for Malamar alone, but it doesn't really show the point of its mega evolution to me.
Compared to the past two teasers, I think they made a more unique showing of how mega evolution would affect their design changes/stat boosts and the bond between trainer and pokemon.
Victreebel's teaser involves a trainer being responsible for it by training in an isolated location because it's so dangerous with how it can barely keep its own poison contained as the video shows. This demonstrates how Mega Victreebel's design drastically changes how it physically moves and exists, and it even detransforms at the end to highlight it. Mega Victreebel does things that Victreebel can't do.
Hawlucha's teaser is all about training together with a trainer to win battles, and directly shows the difference between base Hawlucha and Mega Hawlucha before and after, using it as a comeback power boost against Machamp that lets it shrug off the same attack that downed it before to pull out the win. Mega Hawlucha does something that Hawlucha can't do even if the design change isn't as drastic.
Malamar's teaser is about it hypnotizing people and probably even its own trainer. So much for the power of bonds and trust. I don't know what Mega Malamar adds that Malamar couldn't do before other than being told it's more powerful by a biased source. The news broadcasters not knowing Mega Malamar exists makes the public just seem ignorant to boot.
*I did also find this description of its animation which I thought was just there to be weird, but if it's a self-hypnosis aspect like Psych Up I guess that is something new that Mega Malamar does. So I will give Mega Malamar this one thing if nothing else, it can actually affect the brain with stimulants. Better hope it doesn't get a concussion though.
https://legends.pokemon.com/en-us/news/mega-malamar
"It can stick its tentacles into its head and stimulate its brain for a rapid boost of psychic power."
This isn't even against Malamar itself, it would be a fine teaser for Malamar alone, but it doesn't really show the point of its mega evolution to me.
Compared to the past two teasers, I think they made a more unique showing of how mega evolution would affect their design changes/stat boosts and the bond between trainer and pokemon.
Victreebel's teaser involves a trainer being responsible for it by training in an isolated location because it's so dangerous with how it can barely keep its own poison contained as the video shows. This demonstrates how Mega Victreebel's design drastically changes how it physically moves and exists, and it even detransforms at the end to highlight it. Mega Victreebel does things that Victreebel can't do.
Hawlucha's teaser is all about training together with a trainer to win battles, and directly shows the difference between base Hawlucha and Mega Hawlucha before and after, using it as a comeback power boost against Machamp that lets it shrug off the same attack that downed it before to pull out the win. Mega Hawlucha does something that Hawlucha can't do even if the design change isn't as drastic.
Malamar's teaser is about it hypnotizing people and probably even its own trainer. So much for the power of bonds and trust. I don't know what Mega Malamar adds that Malamar couldn't do before other than being told it's more powerful by a biased source. The news broadcasters not knowing Mega Malamar exists makes the public just seem ignorant to boot.
*I did also find this description of its animation which I thought was just there to be weird, but if it's a self-hypnosis aspect like Psych Up I guess that is something new that Mega Malamar does. So I will give Mega Malamar this one thing if nothing else, it can actually affect the brain with stimulants. Better hope it doesn't get a concussion though.
https://legends.pokemon.com/en-us/news/mega-malamar
"It can stick its tentacles into its head and stimulate its brain for a rapid boost of psychic power."
The point was that, unlike regular Malamar who has to actively keep brainwashing its targets, Mega Malamar can quickly and seemingly permanently overwrite a person without even needing to stick around as the changes will persistent indefinitely even after de-Mega Evolving.
I mean, it’s great we can see another Kalos Pokemon get a Mega Evolution, but, IMO, Dragonite is still the best one so far, and it’s the one I am looking forward to most.
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I see where you're coming from, but I would be more inclined to follow this angle if this supposed weakness of Malamar was mentioned or shown anywhere beforehand for comparison. As it is now we just have to assume Malamar actually isn't all that great in-universe (but also have to believe that the mega actually is that broken) despite its dex entries saying it has the most powerful hypnotic powers, which still doesn't really sell me on the mega.
On the other hand, Hawlucha has an established flaw of posing in past dex entries that it explicitly makes up for, so I can believe what it's going for with an actual challenge to overcome and showing that as an issue to grow from.
https://legends.pokemon.com/en-us/story-world/pokemon/mega-hawlucha
EDIT: Like if they made this same plot with base Malamar it would still be just as believable (if you believe in Mega Malamar being able to do this to begin with) and wouldn't contradict anything already established about it. The addition of a mega just serves as an artificial ceiling on base Malamar's power that we have to retroactively justify as being lesser than the mega now.
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Were that many people doing silly memes? I'm sure there was a few, I know Bulbapedia and Serebii did things, but otherwise I don't recall really anyone else, especially after the first day. And, no, things the Pokemon Company controls don't count. They were trying to do a viral marketing thing which has to be something that's spread by people outside of the owner's of the thing. The official Pokemon website, Youtube Channel, and Social Media Channel aren't part of the viral marketing, they're just part of the normal marketing.
From what I experienced, they did the initial "My Friend Malamar" video of the painter, we talked a bit about it on Smogon, and after that very little. Eventually they released another video with the cabby, I saw one or two references here, of course we had the fansites and official Pokemon store doing a little thing, but that's it until the official reveal.
Anyway, opinion on Mega Malamar:
Design: You know, I think I like it. On paper it sounds rather lazy, but I think they pulled off the effect they wanted with as minimal changes as possible. Malamar is based on a squid (specifically the deep ocean kind which invert themselves and glow, hence its evolution gimmick) with aspects of being a supervillain; Normal Malamar more leans on the squid aspect, so Mega Malamar leans into the supervillain via with the raised pointy shoulders/collar and the "big exposed brain" trope (which leads it to having a more alien design, which you could say fits with it being a deep ocean animal as that's as alien as you can get on Earth). Like many, I immediately thought of two characters: Megamind and the Mars Attack Aliens. Still, while that covered the big brain part, there was something else I felt I was missing. And so, the Lockstin video came out and reminded me what I was thinking of! He pointed out a possibly inspiration from Mindflayers/Illithids and Cthulhu (and that's when I remember... it for some reason reminded me of the Digimon Dragomon; I don't know either). Eitherway, a simple design change that I feel works, like the only thing I would maybe have also done would make the beak longer and bend downwards, sorta like Tentacruel's but not that long.
Lore: But this is where I have to agree with some of the issues that doipy hooves pointed out, and maybe also why I wasn't clicking with the viral marketing. Nothing really about Malamar's personality or behavior have changed, it just now has stronger psychic powers for what's that worth. Like I would think the next level to Malamar's power would be actually mentally possessing people & Pokemon, literally using them as puppets. OR maybe it would do the opposite of what the campaign suggest it would do, it would manipulate and implant subconscious suggestions into its target and then make you forget about it (aka the Silents from Dr. Who or a False Hydra thing). Or, to keep in theme of Mega Evolution being too much power for a Pokemon to contain, Mega Malamar has occasional "brain blasts" that accidentally overwrite nearby people's memories to ones about it which causes them to go crazy (like a CONTRARY version of themselves) as we saw in the teasers; Malamar wouldn't normally want people to act this way as it's counterproductive to its plan. Malamar would just see its Mega form as a means of raw power and potential mass hypnosis capability, but otherwise it would prefer to stay in its normal form until the right moment to strike.
In-Game Stat Predictions: Quickly talking about Abilities, I guess since nothing about Malamar has really changed there's no reason for it to not have Contrary. Though, it is big brained now, could be given Neuroforce. Psychic Surge (Japanese name "Psycho Maker") could also be a possibility. Then there's a possibility of a new one, maybe one that has to deal with inflicting Sleep more often/better?
I also wonder if maybe there's going to be a new Sleep-inducing Psychic attack? Wouldn't want it to be a Signature Move but also wouldn't be against it if that means its well balanced to be usable but not broken.
As for stats, that's a tough one. Because, remember, Malamar actually leans PHYSICAL. An increase to psychic power would suggest an increase to Special Attack (and a thinner body suggest a decrease in physical strength), which would flip (pun not intended) its role (if so, it would be one of those Mega where you plan on using it as a Mega from the start its moveset wouldn't be compatible between forms). Physical/Special Switch: 86/92/88/68/75/73//482 > 86/72/78/148/85/113//582. Another thing they could do is a mixed set, increase its offense & speed while lowing its defenses to squeeze some extra points: 86/92/88/68/75/73//482 > 86/122/68/128/65/113//582.