(Little) Things that annoy you in Pokémon

I don't know if I'm the odd one out but I always found the regi's quest's very annoying. Needing random pokemon and hm's and walking in convoluted patterns isn't really fun. Coming from someone who played Emerald back in the day when they didn't have internet, I would never have found the regi's period.
 
So the other thread was talking about pokemon design generally being pretty dang good and, for the most part, I agree! Even ones I dony really care for tend to win me over and I can see their charm points even if I personally would not love them. Like Eiscue is...something, alright, but over time it's weirdness has really won me over, for example. Or Jynx, which has....myriad issues, but once it got Purple I think there's some interesting things about it just because of how different from other pokemon it is. I've got issues with Cobalion, it feels a little underdesigned, but I adore the head and honestly the booties are funny enough to keep me on board.




Except Kubfu. This might be the one design I just straight up hate and seeing it in motion in the latest direct did nothing to help. We're on month 3 of this and the love is not happening. The design just feels like...it needs something else. Anything else.


I hate how it looks like it might have a snout but actually does not
I hate the facial expressions
I hate how it tries to have something like a head band but does not commit to just having a headband
I despise the proportions.
I hate the weird white pattern on its chest. What is that supposed to imply? Everything else is an awful solid block of gray.

It feels engineered to be cute and fails for me. Which sounds ridiculous because that's most pokemon, many of them are not just accidentally cute. But this goes beyond that and it does not work for me.

I think something that'd go a long way for me is if it had some sort of Gi pattern. Since it's meant to be a trainee pokemon and all, you know? Or a belt.

Thankfully Urshifu is a real slam dunk of a design in my book but it makes Kubfu even worse.

I like how it breaks up the design with a bunch of different simple colors, the "fur clothes" are very charming and fit the theme without standing out too much, the headband naturally fits into its design, it has an actual snout, those knuckle dusters are a nice design flourish, etc.
 
I hate the weird white pattern on its chest. What is that supposed to imply?
I don't think it's supposed to imply anything. It's just a marking that a lot of real-world bears have (specifically the Asiatic black bear, the sloth bear, and the sun bear, all of which are native to Asia). Have a look for yourself.
Asiatic Black
asiatic_bear_04.jpg


Sloth
sloth_bear_03.jpg


Sun
sun_bear_standing.jpg


I think something that'd go a long way for me is if it had some sort of Gi pattern.
Yeah, that would have been nice. It doesn't even take that much effort to give it one, so I'm surprised Game Freak passed it by.
Kubfu with gi.png
 
I don't think it's supposed to imply anything. It's just a marking that a lot of real-world bears have (specifically the Asiatic black bear, the sloth bear, and the sun bear, all of which are native to Asia). Have a look for yourself.
Ok seeing it like this, that makese sense. But I dunno it still needs...something better. I think they wanted it to be a a marking similar to this, but look like a "cute" bow?
Yeah, that would have been nice. It doesn't even take that much effort to give it one, so I'm surprised Game Freak passed it by.
View attachment 231632
This does help, a lot, but still want a little more. I made this mock up a while ago because this has been bugging me for weeks now.


I used a stark color just ot have it stand out and I'm not married to the idea, but I think an actual "gi" color marking would help a lot for me. Maybe make it a black gi instead of a red one, just so it flows better into urshifu.
I'd still have issues with its proportions and snout and expression but it'd break up the expanse of gray a lot better.
 

Jerry the great

Banned deucer.
So the other thread was talking about pokemon design generally being pretty dang good and, for the most part, I agree! Even ones I dony really care for tend to win me over and I can see their charm points even if I personally would not love them. Like Eiscue is...something, alright, but over time it's weirdness has really won me over, for example. Or Jynx, which has....myriad issues, but once it got Purple I think there's some interesting things about it just because of how different from other pokemon it is. I've got issues with Cobalion, it feels a little underdesigned, but I adore the head and honestly the booties are funny enough to keep me on board.




Except Kubfu. This might be the one design I just straight up hate and seeing it in motion in the latest direct did nothing to help. We're on month 3 of this and the love is not happening. The design just feels like...it needs something else. Anything else.


I hate how it looks like it might have a snout but actually does not
I hate the facial expressions
I hate how it tries to have something like a head band but does not commit to just having a headband
I despise the proportions.
I hate the weird white pattern on its chest. What is that supposed to imply? Everything else is an awful solid block of gray.

It feels engineered to be cute and fails for me. Which sounds ridiculous because that's most pokemon, many of them are not just accidentally cute. But this goes beyond that and it does not work for me.

I think something that'd go a long way for me is if it had some sort of Gi pattern. Since it's meant to be a trainee pokemon and all, you know? Or a belt.

Thankfully Urshifu is a real slam dunk of a design in my book but it makes Kubfu even worse.

I like how it breaks up the design with a bunch of different simple colors, the "fur clothes" are very charming and fit the theme without standing out too much, the headband naturally fits into its design, it has an actual snout, those knuckle dusters are a nice design flourish, etc.
Yeah I agree. Although I'll admit, I don't particularly care for the designs of Galar Pokemon in general (as I revealed once before in the past), there are some I care for, but because they're bad, not good. Kubfu is one of the definitive examples of this. Like you already said, that facial expression is just stupid. It makes it ugly, and I hate ugly Pokemon designs. This is coming from a guy who can accept the likes of Electrode's, Muk's, Garbodor's, and Vanniluxe's designs! They get spat upon as "ugly" but I find them just fine. But this? No. It's a horribly designed Pokemon. The proportions and stuff also make it badly designed, I agree. Also like you said, it's even worse that it's pre-evolution actually has a solid design! So that clearly shows Game Freak still has the ability to make good designs! So yeah, why did they mess this up so badly? Heck, they made good baby bear Pokemon in the past too, like Pancham and Cubchoo for example!
 
I used a stark color just ot have it stand out and I'm not married to the idea, but I think an actual "gi" color marking would help a lot for me.
Ehhhhh, different strokes for different folks, I guess, but I much prefer when a Pokemon evokes the feeling of clothes without it looking too much like they're actually wearing clothes. Compare Gardevoir and Gothitelle with Jynx. Gard and Goth have dress-like features that blend into their bodies, while Jynx looks like she's actually wearing a dress.


Same reason I also disagree with your headband take.
 
Ehhhhh, different strokes for different folks, I guess, but I much prefer when a Pokemon evokes the feeling of clothes without it looking too much like they're actually wearing clothes. Compare Gardevoir and Gothitelle with Jynx. Gard and Goth have dress-like features that blend into their bodies, while Jynx looks like she's actually wearing a dress.


Same reason I also disagree with your headband take.
They also have something to help break it up, though. Ruffles in the "clothing", segmentation, the weird heart thing, multiple colors to break it up, etc
I dont mind something that implies clothing without "being" clothing by any means, but I don't think Kubfu does enough to do it, even in your pretty nice edit.
Like gothitelle implies hair and kind of an antennae (its like a radio tower gothic lolita) and I think it works pretty well. It's distinctive and it manages to get both points across. Kubfu's "headband" just looks like a blob of white to me and then it has 2 completely unrelated tassles hanging from the end. There's a disconnect there I dont think works.
And my gi idea, i think could still work just...tweaked so its not a rush job in paint. Or at least give it faux-wrist bands. Or more "fur" texture markings scattered around like Beartic has.
 
They also have something to help break it up, though. Ruffles in the "clothing", segmentation, the weird heart thing, multiple colors to break it up, etc
I dont mind something that implies clothing without "being" clothing by any means, but I don't think Kubfu does enough to do it, even in your pretty nice edit.
Like gothitelle implies hair and kind of an antennae (its like a radio tower gothic lolita) and I think it works pretty well. It's distinctive and it manages to get both points across. Kubfu's "headband" just looks like a blob of white to me and then it has 2 completely unrelated tassles hanging from the end. There's a disconnect there I dont think works.
And my gi idea, i think could still work just...tweaked so its not a rush job in paint. Or at least give it faux-wrist bands. Or more "fur" texture markings scattered around like Beartic has.
Hmm, I think I'm seeing it now. Bands around its wrists and ankles would also help suggest the ends of sleeves. Something like this perhaps?
kubfu with better gi.png


As for the headband, I gave Kubfu extra fur on the back of its head to make it look less a tuft and tassels and more like a continuous band that's partly obscured by fur.
kubfu with hair.png
 
Hmm, I think I'm seeing it now. Bands around its wrists and ankles would also help suggest the ends of sleeves. Something like this perhaps?
View attachment 231646

As for the headband, I gave Kubfu extra fur on the back of its head to make it look less a tuft and tassels and more like a continuous band that's partly obscured by fur.
View attachment 231647
Yeah that's already loads better in breaking up the space.

IU see the intent of the headband but to me it will always read like a big disconnected tuft [a million yards of gray fur] tassles on the back to me, its too disconnected for my liking. This will probably be my biggest peeve with it.
god seeing it from the side like that just accentuates everything i hate about tis horrible flat face. I think the thing that gets me the most about it is we've already gone down this road before and its name is Teddiura which does not flip any alarms on me

Kubfu makes you want to think there is a snout. That there's depth here. It has a small colored patch and the extreme frowny face resembles a snout from the front, but there's no depth. Then you look from the side and sure enough its just a big ball head.
Teddiursa goes for a more classic teddy bear look, with a big marking for its mouth. You look at that and know it's not a "real" snout, its just a marking on its face.
It also has nicer proportions but that's a different issue.
 
I just weawized that Wittwewoot Town has 3 buiwdings: The pwayew's, Bwendan/May's and Pwofessow Biwch's wab. Despite this, thewe awe anyothew NPCs hanging awound outside.

So uh...

Whewe do they wive????
The same could be said on a larger scale of just about any settlement in Pokémon until arguably SwSh. I've always just assumed that the Pokémon world the games are set in is a 'scaled down' version of what the world actually looks like, and the actual size of the places and the amount of people/houses/etc in them are more like their anime counterparts.
 

Yung Dramps

awesome gaming
The same could be said on a larger scale of just about any settlement in Pokémon until arguably SwSh. I've always just assumed that the Pokémon world the games are set in is a 'scaled down' version of what the world actually looks like, and the actual size of the places and the amount of people/houses/etc in them are more like their anime counterparts.
I get what you're saying, but like

1585336447848.png

Take Twinleaf Town from DPP for instance. You got you and Barry's house, but two other homes as well, showing where the other handful of randos in the town likely live. Littleroot has nothing of the sort! But now that you mention it, Pallet Town has the same issue, not New Bark tho. So uhhh... w/e
 
I get what you're saying, but like

View attachment 231665
Take Twinleaf Town from DPP for instance. You got you and Barry's house, but two other homes as well, showing where the other handful of randos in the town likely live. Littleroot has nothing of the sort! But now that you mention it, Pallet Town has the same issue, not New Bark tho. So uhhh... w/e
Oh if it's a matter of it not being convincing enough to suspend belief, that's fair. I'd agree on that count
 

Jerry the great

Banned deucer.
I just realized that Littleroot Town has 3 buildings: The player's, Brendan/May's and Professor Birch's lab. Despite this, there are another NPCs hanging around outside.

So uh...

Where do they live????
My guess is that they are from some other place in the region and are visiting these towns you begin in (like Littleroot for example), and just don't say it because you're a total stranger to them.
 

Codraroll

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Despite being a master over ice, clay, and magma, Regigigas seems to be particularly fond of ice, as each of its appearances place it in a frosty location. In Sinnoh, it's found at the bottom of Snowpoint Temple in the middle of a sliding ice puzzle. In Unova, it's resting just one room over from the Ice Rock in Twist Mountain. And in Hoenn, not only does it share a tomb with Regice, but Regice is much more involved in its puzzle that Regirock or Registeel. Speaking of which...
All of this just makes one aspect of Regigigas seem even weirder: With its location always being an icy cave, where it's dark and freezing, why is it partially covered in moss?
 

Celever

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I think one of the main issues with Kubfu (besides what was already mentioned) is that there's very little to distinguish it from similar Pokémon, and it therefore has very little personality. Especially considering the fact it's an ursine, and there are already many fan-favourite ursines in the series, even only in their base forms.

Teddiursa has plushie attributes (a button nose) and has personality in that it kind of acts like a traditional kid's media bear, with its affinity for honey. It also has the moon connection, and I think is widely considered the cutest ursine in the franchise. Munchlax is teeming with personality, taking advantage of the fact that bears hibernate to have its personality of eating everything and sleeping all the time. Cubchoo is a polar bear, giving it Ice-Type, and has clothing-like patterns to make it look like a baby right alongside its snot-drop that in anime often designates babies or sleeping. Pancham has a rough and tough attitude where it believes it's more intimidating than it is, keeping a leaf in its mouth to seem all gangster, though its attempts to look tough just make it cuter. And Stufful is possibly the most unique ursine, because it's literally an animated stuffed toy complete with a label and extremely disproportionate, fluffy limbs.

What does Kubfu have in comparison? It uh, practises kung fu, I guess. It has personality in that it's a trainee or student that looks up to its evolved form as a "teacher" or "master" of sorts, but the issue is that that isn't evident in its design, and you can't tell that from a glance. Upon first appearance, it really looks like nothing more than a bear that knows martial arts, and Pancham already did a regular Fighting-Type bear better, with more personality outright. I think a large part of the disinterest the community feels towards it is simply that it's overshadowed by the other ursines that offer more to the table, and if they had selected a more interesting or unique base animal they could have gotten away with its only personality trait being kung fu.

However, there are loads of ways they could have distinguished Kubfu. They could have Urshifu give Kubfu robes with a white belt made out of some sort of material that it wears all the time in honour of its master -- we already have an example of this where Leavanny crafts "clothing" out of leaves for Swadloon, and Urshifu's design creates the impression of a black belt with how its darker, black fur hangs down around its generally grey body. They could have had Kubfu be a Dark/Water-Type Pokémon, with the focus of its design being on the two types of energy it will later choose between to harness as an Urshifu, but that are both dormant within it in its base form. It would even go a long way to have Kubfu holding the traditional fist-held-in-open-palm stance that students use to show respect to their teachers in martial arts in its official artwork or perhaps even idle pose in-battle.

Kubfu is just a lot of missed opportunities, and feels like a fairly personality-less bare minimum design. It's strange, because it's a reversion back to the Gen I style designs of "it's a seal called Seel" or "it's a rat called Rattata", and even they had something distinguishing about them such as Seel's tail that's reminiscent of a fountain/water spout and Rattata's oversized buckteeth and interesting colouring. I wonder if its personality is just lost in translation and that practising kung fu is enough to be a distinguishing personality in Japanese culture, whereas because it's not such a big part of Western culture we just care less about it. After all, we've had other Pokémon before Kubfu whose personalities are primarily based on their martial arts of choice -- Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, Throh, and Sawk -- though admittedly these designs all had other interesting aspects to them that also allowed them to appeal to a Western audience. When it comes down to it, Kubfu really is just a bear, and its markings are such that they're not clearly something other than a regular bear -- we have bears with the same sorts of patterns on the chest, and whether it's real or not I can picture a real bear with the same white half-band on its forehead. It's just not that cartoony or exaggerated in any way.
 
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Calyrex

On the topic of why Kubfu, its not very interesting, I'd like to point out why it fails as legendary Pokemon is that its just given to you- no challenge or anything. Sheesh, for such a rare Pokemon its quite surprising that its just conveniently given to a stranger you just met. I don't think its as bad Calyrex though.

When you first look at this thing, what is supposed to be ? A hare? A bud? An Anthropomorphic Deer? Lot of its design is unclear. Look at those skinny legs? How is it supposed carry that huge-thing-a-bob on its head? Speaking of the head, it's apparently supposed to be a crown and brain cross, but this is poorly executed. The head doesn't have crown colors or traditions ( gold and jewelry potentially ) and it doesn't have any markings to suggest that its a brain at all. The beads have the Hōjō clan symbol, but that's a Japanese thing so most foreigners would not pick up on that. It looks like an oversized bulb, which might explain the grass type, but where does the Psychic type come from again? A simple Calyrex levitate instead of having legs- that would make the bulb more look like a brain. And give the brain more the details, like some swirls for the brain reference and some brighter colors to indicate a crown. An ornament on the top wouldn't hurt either. Its highly intelligent? So is Alakazam, Deoxys, Eon Duo, Lapras, and Dragonite. It's a King? So is Zacian/Zamazenta as well as Reshiram/Zekrom/Kyurem.

I also agree that Calyrex has little to separate it from previous Pokemon. Typing wise, its another Psychic Legendary, which already has the: Mew Duo, Lugia, Celebi, Eon Duo, Dexoxys, Jirachi, Lake Guardians, Cresselia, Victini, Meloetta, Hoopa, Tapu Lele, and the Light Trio. Celebi is particularly stiff competition- They have the same typing, but Celebi incorporates it much better. Celebi is green pixie that can fly through time with wings- it head reassembles a plant and is much more likable than to cute eyes. Even Calyrex's ability to see into the future is done by Celebi, who can travel in time, a much more powerful way of seeing into the future. Though even " just seeing into the future " is done by Xatu, who literally stands still dedicating itself for seeing the future and present. Xatu's design reflects that too, being a Totem pole, who just stands there all through eternity.
 

earl

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Calyrex

A simple Calyrex levitate instead of having legs- that would make the bulb more look like a brain.
I'm pretty sure it is levitating. The limp, skinny legs gives off the impression at least, and so does the top-heavy design paired with a psychic typing (see Beheeyem). At least I always saw it as levitating, that would be horrific if it's somehow standing in that pose.
 
Calyrex's big huge giant brain that looks like a flower's bud (the japanese name is literally Bud Rex and its english name comes from the latin word for bud) lets it levitate because big brain = big psychic power, the extremely slim legs imply they are near vestigal (because of the brain) and adds a sense of grace to its movements and its unsettling gaze implies its weird psychic powers like probably mindreading and seeing the future and junk.
It gives off the sense that its a big brain because its literally a giant bulbous growth on top of this eerie floating things tiny head & body. The microsecond it hit I saw like a hundred brain-based memes so I don't think there's any real confusion here.

The giant beads & tiny cape also give a sense of importance and regalness so it fits the king's theme, as does its demeanor.

I see that design and I see 0 confusion as to why it's a Psychic & Grass type.


Also we see it levitating when its unveiled, the website says its levitating and there's even artwork of it floating around


honestly? one of my favorite lgendary designs, i love it.
 
The Ability "Sap Sipper" being so named in English localizations. The original name of "Herbivorous" fits better for the Pokemon with this Ability, like Bouffalant and Goodra.

If someone said, "But kids wouldn't understand that", a) you're underestimating kids' intelligence, and b) if it had to be changed even something like "Plant Eater" would be fine. "Sap Sipper" makes me think of beetles, not large animals like Bouffalant.
 
The Ability "Sap Sipper" being so named in English localizations. The original name of "Herbivorous" fits better for the Pokemon with this Ability, like Bouffalant and Goodra.

If someone said, "But kids wouldn't understand that", a) you're underestimating kids' intelligence, and b) if it had to be changed even something like "Plant Eater" would be fine. "Sap Sipper" makes me think of beetles, not large animals like Bouffalant.
As much as i love them, and am generally pro-localization having fun with names, "Sap Sipper" and "Big Pecks" both stick out among the ability names. They're so goofy compared to everything else, even within gen 5.
 
Some other thoughts on Calyrex:

I've been told that its "brain" came from something interesting on a conceptual level; it's supposed to be a play on the word "calyx" as both part of a brain and part of a plant (that's the origin of both of its types as well as its name).
This is actually really, really superficial, though - Calyrex's calyx doesn't appear to correspond to the calyx of a brain at all (from what I can tell, the only "calyx" in the brain is just a particuarly large nerve ending that's part of the auditory system?). It's not even a clever or innovative association, either, because the calyx of the brain was named after the calyx of a flower - I would at least give them points for creativity if it was an unexpected pun of some kind, but there really isn't anything but the most basic word association going on here.
The worst part is that the calyx-brain is the only part of the design that does combine all four of its bases in a remotely elegant manner (plant bud + brain + antlers for its apparent wolpertinger basis + crown for its king basis), while the rest of its body seemingly can't keep up, only ever representing one or two of them at a time and looking disjointed as heck whenever it does. I dunno, I feel like there's a point where it's worth considering that maybe these four inspirations don't go together that well in the first place? They're clearly in competition more than cooperation everywhere but this one focal point.

The knowledge that the triangle motif on its beads is based on the Hōjō clan symbol actually makes me like Calyrex even less, honestly... Just throwing symbols onto a design in a way that doesn't convey anything in-world and doesn't communicate anything to the viewer without background knowledge is a really sloppy practice that Game Freak has very successfully avoided elsewhere. Even basically the most direct equivalent to this - Serperior, the other Grass-type that uses a culturally specific symbol of royalty into its design - uses the fleur-de-lys, which is already directly inspired by a plant, visually relates to the rest of its design (it's already the same shape as its other leaves, for example) and captures a sense of fluidity and elegance even without the actual context of its use as a royal symbol. The symbol on Calyrex's beads and eyes only relates to one facet of its design, and it just looks out of place without context.
I see what they were trying to do, at least - the use of that pattern of lines arguably makes the beads look more like the layers of a bud - but I'm positive that there are more natural ways to integrate that and to communicate the same intention.

For that matter, the beads themselves fail to relate to the majority of its concept. Even assuming the symbol is actually recognizable to the audience, they connect only two of its aforementioned four inspirations: royalty and buds. On the other hand, they have nothing to do with the brain and nothing to do with its apparent animal basis. The worst part of it is that Calyrex, by virtue of being a wolpertinger, actually has a tail... in exactly the same (spherical) shape as the beads... that isn't made into this design; that would honestly have been a much cleaner way of making the very same element into a triple-meaning (buds + royal symbol + wolpertinger tail), but instead they're put around its neck for no reason. In fact, even if the ones around its neck were retained, they would still look more natural if the same motif had been integrated elsewhere in the design like this. But the tail is just an unrelated white ball instead?
The same problem applies to its tights. This is the kind of clothing-as-decoration that doesn't really attempt to pass as anything else - it's just there to look like something a king would wear. For comparison, other designs like the Swords of Justice combine the appearance of hooves with the appearance of boots, adding more depth and detail to their legs without intruding on the visual basis of ungulates; instead of doing something like this, the socks on Calyrex seem to come at the expense of making its legs look like either a deer or a hare, and they contribute a great deal to the design's lack of cohesion. I would argue that even just giving the legs joints in such a way as to resemble those of a hare as well as giving it the sock marks would have helped to connect the two; looking in shape like a hare and in texture like a king is at least a step closer to an elegant resolution of the two concepts, but instead, it has a single-entendre in the form of totally limp legs in tights that can only be read as relating to the king part of its appearance.

In any Pokémon design that's actually good, Game Freak doesn't just take the physical basis as a canvas and put meaningful decorations onto it - every part of the design is integrated as seamlessly as possible into the basis, and it's this kind of thing that creates visual puns naturally. Something like Clawitzer, for example, isn't a pistol shrimp and a cannon - it's a pistol shrimp that's been made into a cannon, and the cannon is both inspired by and in the place of something a pistol shrimp already has (its claw). I think, more than anything, that Calyrex is an example of a design that loses sight of this - other than its antlers, no part of its design actually takes advantage of any part of a wolpertinger, so what justification is there for it to be one in the first place? It could be anything else with antlers to create exactly the same head - or it could just be totally plant-based, even, since it already has enough going on without having all of its elements tacked onto an animal that they clearly don't fit.

Re: levitation - it definitely levitates, as both the trailer and the aforementioned piece of artwork show. For what it's worth, Darkrai's legs there are firmer than Calyrex's, and the rest of its body has much better proportions for a pose like that; it's also seen levitating in other cases, so it's easier to suspend disbelief and assume it's not being fully affected by gravity anyway, haha.
 

Pikachu315111

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Speaking of evil teams with stupid plants, the Aether Foundation also struck me as kind of odd. While they get involved in the Ultra Beast plot, it doesn't seem as if that was their goal from the outset. Only a handful of scientists were ever involved in the experiments on Type:Null and Cosmog, suggesting that most of the organization isn't actually evil, but as idealistic as they make themselves out to be. Most of the foundation, all the way up to Lusamine, actually seems devoted to their primary purpose of rescuing and sheltering Pokémon.

...so what the heck are they doing in Alola? It's a region with few cities, literally zero polluting industry, and one entire island is already a dedicated Pokémon sanctuary with extremely little human activity - which arguably is the case for most of the land on two of the other islands as well. Only Melemele Island has human settlements all over the island, but even that one has its fair share of natural habitats. Both Akala and Ula'ula sport large swathes of untouched nature where Pokémon are free to roam away from human influence. To top it off, all the islands already have legendary Pokémon guarding their nature and wildlife. The Aether Foundation may have a noble purpose, but the demand for their presence isn't very big. Alola seems to be a natural paradise already without their help.
Well I thought they were in Alola because that's where the Ultra Wormholes were appearing and at the very least Lusamine has a interest in them.

Outside of Lusamine's ambitions, I don't think they setup in Alola because it needed help but rather it was an ideal location for injured Pokemon to be sent to recover. It's on an isolated island which gets plenty of sunshine so Pokemon in the conservation area (they also can probably power the entire facility through both hydro and solar power). Also, since it's so isolated, the shady experiments they do can be better kept in check or at the very least not be unleashed upon a (highly) populated area. Also easy to get rid of the bodies of the less desirable.

That said, since the Aether Foundation seems like it would be a worldwide organization, would like to see at least Aether Labs start appearing in other games. At the very least it would have given SwSh a better way to give out a Type: Null!

And to top it off, we don't even see them putting in a protest when Professor Kukui turns the sacred, untouched, natural mountaintop of Lanakila into a construction site. If there was one time Alola needed some natural protection, this would be it. The Elite Four doesn't need to build entirely new digs from scratch in a nature reserve when there's a ton of unused and abandoned real estate in Po Town. The Aether Foundation both seems committed to a job nobody needs them to do, and also not being very effective in actually doing the job.

Hm, come to think of it, that might actually be some sort of commentary. Doubt it's intentional, though.
And considering the Pokemon League is on Ula'ula Island which deity is Tapu Bulu, you know, the Pokemon which went on a rampage and wrecked Tapu Village because they built a shopping mart on a sacred black sand beach, it's a big question how Kukui was allowed to do that on Lanakila which was probably even more sacred. Could it be because Kukui is an Alola native and his intention was more pure while the supermarket was from a foreign business which goal was just to make money? Kukui may have also known/followed some traditions to appease Tapu Bulu to allow the construction to happen. Also Kukui would have to get the approval from the Kahuna to also do this. Finally, while it's called Victory Road, for the most part Mount Lanakila looks untouched until you get to the peak, so there could also have been some conservation guidelines Kukui had to follow to not interfere with the home dwellings of the Pokemon that live on the mountain (the peak probably had no Pokemon living there).

As for Po Town, at the time that was where they were keeping Team Skull. I imagine the Kahuna plus other Island Challenge Champions could have easily overthrown Team Skull and kick them out of Po Town... but all that would do is have Team Skull probably spread out to all the other islands and cause a lot more trouble. Nah, just easier to keep all the societal rejects in one location we know where the majority of them are most of the time and work away from it. They had Nanu right there also keeping an eye on them. Though now that Team Skull is no more it would be interesting to know what will happen to Po Town. Are they just going to leave it abandoned? Are they going to rebuild it and let normal civilians move back in?

Also remember that Lusamine had secretly recruited Team Skull, or rather Guzma, so Aether Foundation wasn't going to do anything about Team Skull aside chasing off some grunts causing unneeded trouble to keep up appearances.

I think another big sticking point is the Tapus. They're held up as both the embodiments of nature and (within Alolan culture) as beings worthy of respect, despite the fact that they clearly aren't the latter. This really casts doubt on the truthfullness of the "nature" aspect as well. All this talk of adapting to new envrionments, but the old guard sure seems violently resistant to any change that's a loss of power for them. I look at them and I see cruel beings ruling by fear, yet for some reason we're supossed to stop them being attacked instead of rallying the lost and the bullied to finally end "nature's" madness.
I do think they play a vital role in the "health" of Alola. They all probably have some role to play in keeping Alola the tropical paradise that everyone knows it to be, some more obvious than others (they're also based off Hawaii's four major gods). They're more forces of nature you got to live with rather then being actively worshiped, like their shrines are all in out of the way places because they don't want to be disturbed. This is also why each Tapu has a chosen Kahuna to represent them, humans should deal with their human problems while also making sure not to harm where they live.

That said it does seem odd no one does seem to have a problem with the Tapu. Like Bulu destroyed an entire village yet everyone seems to have shrugged it off like it was a natural disaster. And while I did mention the Tapu were like a force of nature, well, there would be at least one or two people who would want to probably go after it for a misguided attempt at revenge. I always felt that this was maybe going to be Plumeria's backstory.
It's known that the rampage Bulu went on was caused by the previous Ula'ula Kahuna before Nanu allowing a foreign company to build a supermarket on sacred ground. But they don't really go that much more into it. Then in the post game you see that Plumeria and a few grunts are living in Tapu Village, possibly hinting they lived there originally. What if Plumeria was one of the followers of the original Kahuna, maybe even one of his Captains? The Kahuna was just trying to help his people by allowing a small supermarket to be setup so they could get supplies easier but unfortunately Tapu Bulu took it as an offense to it and it flew off the handle. Out of shame the Kahuna probably renounced their title and left leaving Plumeria bitter towards not only the Alolan culture but also the Tapus, specifically Bulu. She trains Poison-types and her signature Pokemon is a Poison/Fire, that seems like the best Pokemon to use if you're going after a Fairy/Grass-type.


Back at it again with another animation gripe: multihit moves. Because each hit has its own animation, the moves feel incredibly stilted. It's especially bad with moves like Bullet Seed or Double Iron Bash, whose animations already show multiple "hits" for each hit. It would look so much better if all the hits happened in a single animation.
One way to speed things up is having the HP deplete while the animation is going on instead of waiting for the animation to end; this wouldn't just speed up multi-hit moves but ALL moves in general. As for multi-hit moves specifically, they could also have a small message box detailing the usual information also happening at the same time (if a move was super effective, resisted, did a critical hit, etc.). Needing to wait for the game to load up each step separately is an archaic design they could have easily done away with by now.

As for a Pokemon fainting in mid-multi move hits or breaking a substitute, we're also at a point where as soon as everyone has chosen what move they wanted to do the game should have calculated exactly how the turn was going to go in a microsecond if not less. So if a Pokemon faints/Substitute breaks/item or ability activates mid-multi move hit than the game already has the needed instances queued up in order of execution. Heck, they could even then add a skip button that'll take the players to the next instance the game requires the player to make an input with all damage & effects of that turn shown to be done.

something that will always annoy me is pokemon being unable to use moves like recover and heal bell outside of battle.

if the pokemon is so good at healing its wounds even when under attack by enemies, it should have no problem doing the same thing in a peaceful area, right?
Here's an idea I had written down:
  • Healing/Curing Outside of Battle:
    • Moves: (Each use of a Move removes 1 PP from that Move)
      • Heal Order/Moonlight/Synthesis/Shore Up/Milk Drink/Morning Sun/Recover/Slack Off/Soft-Boiled: Heals user 50% of max HP.
      • Floral Healing/Wish/Heal Pulse: Heals a selected Pokemon 50% of their max HP.
      • Refresh: Cures user of Status Ailments.
      • Aromatherapy/Heal Bell: Cures selected Pokemon of Status Ailments.
      • Rest: Fully heals & cures Status Ailments of user. User is now Asleep.
      • Purify: Cures selected Pokemon of Status Ailments, if it does it'll also heal user 50% of their max HP.
      • Healing Wish/Lunar Dance: Faints user but fully heals & cures Status Ailments of a selected Pokemon.
      • Psycho Shift: User gives its Status Ailments to a selected Pokemon.
      • Pain Split: Averages user and selected Pokemon's HP.
      • Aqua Ring: User heals 1 HP per step until entering a battle or next area.
    • Abilities:
      • Cheeck Pouch: If this Pokemon is holding a HP healing berry it'll heal 1 HP every step it takes, if holding a status healing berry it'll cure that status if afflicted after 50 steps; it doesn't lose its Berry doing this.
      • Dry Skin/Rain Dish: If raining this Pokemon heals 1 HP with every step.
      • Hydration: If raining this Pokemon is cured of any status ailment.
      • Early Bird: This Pokemon awakens from Sleep at the end of battle.
      • Healer: Will cure this Pokemon of any status ailment at the end of battle. If another Pokemon in the party has a status ailment this Pokemon will help cure it after 50 steps (if there's more then one it'll cure one at a time following party order).
      • Ice Body: If hailing/snowing this Pokemon heals 1 HP with every step.
      • Natural Cure: This Pokemon cures itself of all status ailments at the end of battle.
      • Poison Heal: If this Pokemon is poisoned it'll heal 1 HP with every step.
      • Regenerator: This Pokemon heals 1 HP with every step.
      • Shed Skin: This Pokemon cures itself of all status ailments at the end of battle.
      • Volt Absorb: This Pokemon heals 1 HP with every step for each Electric-type in the party.
      • Water Absorb: This Pokemon heals 1 HP with every step for each Water-type in the party.
I also imagine items like Leftovers or Shell Bell would also casually cure/heal outside of battle.

How do Alder or Iris embody the ideals of BW?
Hell, how does Diantha embody anything at all??? Does Kalos represent passivity? Or maybe halfheartedness or something?
Hmm, guess I could give a whack at it:

Alder represents BW: The major theme about BW is duology; Two parts of a whole. Throughout the games, especially if you play them side-by-side, you see how at points there are two parts which more often then not cause a conflict. Alder both represents this but also conflicts with it, a duology itself. With how Alder represents it, he is presented as the Champion and the strongest trainer in the region, however Alder himself doesn't feel like he is and only took on the responsibility as he was requested to; In TRUTH he is the Champion, but in his IDEAL he is not. How Alder conflicts with the theme is that, much like the player, he does his best to live with both truths and ideals. While he does not feel like the Champion, he took on the responsibility so he's going to try and be like one to the best of his abilities. So he still wonders around like a bum, but when duty calls he does not turn away. He knows who he is and doesn't hide it, but will take on a role that he isn't because he has to.

Iris represents BW2: The major theme of BW2 is progression. It's been two years since Team Plasma's attack on Unova and throughout the games we see how this has affected things. However, as the old saying goes, time waits for no one. While there are people still hurting, the region moves on and changes. In the original games, Iris was meant to be a counterpoint to Drayden to enforce the whole duology theme, but in BW2 she represents the newer generation taking over from the older. Alder is retired. Drayden is no longer the 8th Gym Leader but the 7th as the younger Marlon is now the 8th. We also learn that the reason Iris became Drayden's apprentice was because she wanted to become the Champion. She progressed from a little girl in a small village to a Gym Leader's apprentice of a big city and now she's Champion of an entire region and she's probably not even a teenager yet!

Diantha represents XY: The major theme of XY is preservation. The whole reason Lysandre is doing what he is doing is because he wants to preserve the beauty of the world; he's worried as population grows the resources to sustain it will decrease which will end in disaster. Diantha is a beautiful actress, at one point Lysandre even points out its sort of her job to keep her beauty preserved. However that's Lysandre's definition of preservation. Diantha sees things differently, she's been an actress since she was a child and has experienced different roles as she grew older. And she looks forward to keep on playing different roles as she grows older even when her youthful beauty fades, she's going to preserve herself and her job by accepting change. In doing so she's preserving the natural order of things and peace; Lysandre's single-minded goal of preservation is only going to cause mass devastation which was the exact thing he was trying to ignore.

i hate how you cant fly/taxi/etc from inside buildings, i know it makes perfect sense, but i consistently try to do so from a pokemon center and, well, it's just one of those little things that annoy me. it's my own fault i know. instead of being transported by a flying pokemon, they should have it so a psychic type just teleports you, then you can do it no matter where you are. also, i wish when you got an egg it showed you how many eggs you already have in your party. another minor inconvenience for those of us with limited gray matter.
I would prefer they have Teleport be used as a sort of field move to access an area you can see but normally can't get to.

As for Eggs, do you still need a free slot in your party to redeem an Egg? If so, come on GF, let us just deposit the Egg into the PC.

This isn't precisely an annoyance but it's something I've always wondered about - why are Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum so named?
In addition to the other answers given, would like to add my own twist on things which also includes that annoying Platinum that stumping all normal explanations:

IT CAME FROM SPACE:
Diamond
is made of carbon. Carbon is a very important element in space, it's a major building block be it a random space rocks to core of stars. Also, as far as we know, most living organisms are carbon-based.
Pearl is often associated with water. Water is made up of two hydrogen atoms and a binding oxygen atom. Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe with oxygen not so far behind in third. Water is also thought to be needed for their to be multi-cellular life.
Platinum is an element with their being on Earth and in space that has naturally sources of platinum. Infact the idea of meteor mining often cites platinum as a major element to be gained. Still, its a rare element. Platinum may not be vital for life but has notable medical uses as it makes for a potent catalyst (which also makes it useful for chemical reactions).

PLATINUM EXTRA:
History:
So, Platinum wasn't always considered valuable. Infact in some point of history it was considered an impurity. Platinum was often found alongside gold and the Spanish, who only cared about the gold, not only worked to remove the platinum from gold but threw it away & outlawed gold to be mixed with platinum.
Alchemy: The alchemy symbol for Platinum is a combination of the symbol for gold (a circle that represents the sun) and silver (a crescent that represents the moon). This is because it was thought that platinum was a combination of gold & silver. There's this kind of "inbetweeness" about platinum, or its a hidden element behind two more well known elements.

Highly valuable.
Space association.
Chemical catalyst.
Considered an impurity (to something valuable).
An "Inbetweeness" or "hidden element" of two more valuable considered elements.

I'm sure one or more of these factors may have contributed them to picking Platinum as the third version for Gen IV.

(I'll work on Page 238 & 239's responses later)
 

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