“That One Pokémon You Just Have Beef With”

[Yung Dramps]

I don’t like this guy, it should have been a literal train. The only good thing this did was inspire my own region and dex in a word document

Coalossal could've still been a humanoid btw. All they had to do was do the train idea for base like everyone has harped on and then make the GMax Might Gaine

 

[Lontra Assassina]

Now, I actually LOVE Hydrapple, it's such a fun idea and an elegant design that could have easily turned out a mess.
What I don't love is that it's part of the most convoluted evolution line in history!

So we got the Applin line in Gen 8, with a split evolution based on which version you own. Fair enough.
Then, one generation later, we've got Dipplin... which changes so little from Applin that it makes you wonder why they've made it an evolution instead of a regional form.
And then in the same generation, Dipplin gets ANOTHER evolution, via a new move introduced in the Indigo Disk!

Not only I think this is a really messy way to handle cross-gen evolutions, it actively makes the previous members of the line completely obsolete, since Hydrapple is much stronger than Flapple and Appletun stat-wise, instead of being a fun, alternate path.

 

[Omastar68]

View attachment 789395

Now, I actually LOVE Hydrapple, it's such a fun idea and an elegant design that could have easily turned out a mess.
What I don't love is that it's part of the most convoluted evolution line in history!

So we got the Applin line in Gen 8, with a split evolution based on which version you own. Fair enough.
Then, one generation later, we've got Dipplin... which changes so little from Applin that it makes you wonder why they've made it an evolution instead of a regional form.
And then in the same generation, Dipplin gets ANOTHER evolution, via a new move introduced in the Indigo Disk!

Not only I think this is a really messy way to handle cross-gen evolutions, it actively makes the previous members of the line completely obsolete, since Hydrapple is much stronger than Flapple and Appletun stat-wise, instead of being a fun, alternate path.

I found the Evo line messy too. Interesting but yea weird. That said, while flapple is a fail, I'm not 100% sure appletun has become worthless. Thick fat for the 4x, that means running a STAB boost tera gives ice "neutral." Also, I got talked out of dipplin use, but it might see use places with evillite and sticky hold, idk.

 

[Lumen_Light]

Castform, specifically the shiny form:

You probably know where I'm going with this; I actually have a personal history with this one as my first shiny. Some years ago, I was using my sister's DSi to hunt for a shuppet in Platinum (a classmate told me they appeared in the Trophy Garden, which, LIAR), so I kept going back day after day after day... I think I must've spent a week (?) searching after school

Somehow, I ended up catching a purple castform. I had to look up what the sparkles meant; I was over the moon because, apparently, I'd been super lucky to find one. My sister said it was ugly and to keep looking, but I remember catching it because "no, no, this one changes forms too! Castform is normally white, all the forms will be different now!"

They were NOT different. The emotional rollercoaster of not finding a shuppet, then "but I found a shiny!!" followed by the realisation that its forms (its whole mechanic!) aren't shiny, my god, what a letdown (I've always been a bit dramatic). And now that Home actually has shiny forms for it, we don't know what my sister did with the game, I've never been able to find it or the castform.

TLDR: It was my first shiny and I was so disappointed its forms didn't change colours back then.

 

[Castersvarog]

Coalossal could've still been a humanoid btw. All they had to do was do the train idea for base like everyone has harped on and then make the GMax Might Gaine

Ngl that is the coolest thing i've seen all week

I think PLZA turned my apathy for Pyroar into outright dislike?

View attachment 788763

Like before PLZA, these two were just really unremarkable. Besides the gender dimorphism, these two are just nothing 'mons, with a bland color palette, mediocre stats, bad abilities, and a profound midgame energy through-and-through - the kind of guy you keep on your team out of obligation and sunken cost fallacy until something better pops up in a later route. The only thing setting them apart from actual lions is male Pyroar's mane resembling a shield or the daimonji, but that just makes things even worse for female Pyroar, who is a lion with dyed hair. Really, I think it's a commendable feat of design that GF and TPC somehow managed to find a way to make lions lame - if I didn't know better, I'd say it was deliberate thanks to their Normal typing. How do you make lions boring?!

But surely Pyroar could get something in the future, right? An evolution, a regional variant, a BST increase to its Spd, a change from Moxie to a Special equivalent ala Empoleon, maybe some kind of movepool buff... dare I say a Mega?

PLZA spoilers

View attachment 788764

...So, how about that special Moxie equivalent?

This shit is ass. That is not exactly a hot take, I think the near-universal reaction to this Mega is that it looks terrible. In a game full of charming comedic megas like Starmie, this feels like a cheap shot; it's like the difference between your friend giving you shit for something stupid you did back in high school and a stranger insulting you for no reason. I mentioned earlier that the gender dimorphism is pretty much the only visually interesting part of Pyroar, but also makes female Pyroar look even less interesting by contrast to male Pyroar. GF's answer to this was to remove the gender dimorphism outright and mash the two manes together and make them bigger. Oh, and take +20 in each stat, I guess?

I have seen some interesting insight into Mega Pyroar's design in that it now resembles a kabuki dancer, which is why its Mega transformation animation is flailing the mane around; this also tracks with the appearance of makeup around its eyes. I think this is a fine concept; lions being a part of medieval heraldry is already a cultural fusion of Africa and Europe, so why not include more Japanese influence and have it be this cultural mishmash of ideas? It's a natural expansion of male Pyroar's main resembling a kanji. You could even tie it into Griselle's lack of identity that she now experiences, having to hide both her affiliation with Team Flare and her abrasive personality to survive as a barista. (I acknowledge that I'm really reaching here, but I'm trying to give Mega Pyroar some credit here, ok?) The problem is just that not nearly enough is done with this concept, so it's completely flaccid and pointless. It looks bad and it should feel bad for even trying. An all-time fumble of a nifty idea, somehow making a lion even more lame than it was already. Go girl, give us nothing. Griselle should have just used Mega Charizard Y.

I really do hate how much online Pokemon discourse hinges around people calling GF lazy; it's reductive and obnoxious. It's for that reason that I will refrain from calling this design lazy, but I will certainly say that it feels forced. I get the sense that there was some sense of obligation to give Team Flare Nouveau a new mega, and because Pyroar is associated with Lysandre, it had to be Pyroar; so this design was cobbled together and had raw BST thrown at it to get it over with. Pyroar needed something to make it stand out, and what it got was... Earth Power. This doesn't count.

Oh and fuck the pride of Pyroar in Wild Zone 17, dude. That area really is just the culmination of all of PLZA's worst design decisions, so I can't blame Pyroar too much, but it's so annoying. Tiny, cramped spaces with no room for manueverability while you just get rawdogged by orbital Earth Power blasts. If you do any amount of shiny hunting, you're going to be drowning in Pyroar, too - good luck getting that Skarmory to shine. If nothing else, at least I can't say Pyroar is forgettable anymore? It's just memorable for the wrong reasons now, which is arguably worse.

I dunno why, Pyroar just never looked very good to me. Maybe it's how its hair looks like a different asset unrelated to it, how there's so little going on besides the big mane, or how genuinely bad it is gameplay wise. The best part is the gender differences because that is what Lions are so famous for, but then do nothing with it despite Meowstic being from the same game and doing something with it. Like Male Pyrorars could have been Special attacks while Females are Physical with the right stats to match up.
Meanwhile Mega Pyroar just doesn't do that much to really improve it in any way, heck it reverses in all the wrong ways I find. Like despite my own dislike of them at least mega Starmie and mega Feraligatr have something even if I don't like em. But Pyroar is just taking the Fire Kanji and going 'Bigger Fire Kanji!' and creating something that's gonna fall onto its face it's so front heavy.
And they got rid of the Gender changes! That's like the one thing that was done right with the line and they removed it.

 

[pika pal]

View attachment 789395

Now, I actually LOVE Hydrapple, it's such a fun idea and an elegant design that could have easily turned out a mess.
What I don't love is that it's part of the most convoluted evolution line in history!

So we got the Applin line in Gen 8, with a split evolution based on which version you own. Fair enough.
Then, one generation later, we've got Dipplin... which changes so little from Applin that it makes you wonder why they've made it an evolution instead of a regional form.
And then in the same generation, Dipplin gets ANOTHER evolution, via a new move introduced in the Indigo Disk!

Not only I think this is a really messy way to handle cross-gen evolutions, it actively makes the previous members of the line completely obsolete, since Hydrapple is much stronger than Flapple and Appletun stat-wise, instead of being a fun, alternate path.

I am of the opinion they allow all 3 evolutions to become Hydrapple as a 3rd stage, but with mild movepool variations based on the 2nd stage it evolved from (stat and abilities could be neat but that's assuming forms are on the table ala Lycanroc or OT Rockruff).

Like, Hydrapple in Singles gets a lot of use as a slow bulky Wallbreaker, but imagine a more mixed version based on Flapple's distribution (plus DD to benefit from more-useable speed), or more Bulky utility options like Appletun's access to Leech Seed or Flapple's U-Turn for Regen Pivoting. Hydrapple's evolution from Dipplin is predicated on multiple "Worms" in a single Apple rather than just the apple itself to limit the evolution, and Appletun/Flapple already have a precedent of sharing a G-Max form design if they want to just reuse Hydrapple (while Duraludon answers the G-Max factor vs Evolution thing for a later evo).