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Little things you like about Pokémon

Is it okay to double-post if the thread's been inactive for a few days? (I watched episode 7 of evolutions since then, and I liked it.)

Anyway, I just realised that Sneasel and Sneasler have the exact same naming pattern in Japanese as Sentret and Furret; the former are Nyula and Oonyula, and the latter are Otachi and Ootachi. Since Sneasel is a Gen 2 Pokémon, I wonder if that's an intentional call-back? (Then again, Taillow and Swellow also follow that pattern — Subame and Ohsubame.)
 
Is it okay to double-post if the thread's been inactive for a few days? (I watched episode 7 of evolutions since then, and I liked it.)

Anyway, I just realised that Sneasel and Sneasler have the exact same naming pattern in Japanese as Sentret and Furret; the former are Nyula and Oonyula, and the latter are Otachi and Ootachi. Since Sneasel is a Gen 2 Pokémon, I wonder if that's an intentional call-back? (Then again, Taillow and Swellow also follow that pattern — Subame and Ohsubame.)
it's probably just coincidental, yeah. Japanese names in particular like having [Base Name] then [basename, but with a prefix/suffix] naming conventions, so "big ____" is bound to come up a few times.

Weavile works similar, Nyula -> Ma[demon]nyula. Sneasler is more of a bigger sneasel than an eviler sneasel, so they just went with...big.
 
Okay, so I was going to make a post about how one of the most brutal depictions of Pokemon battling (an alternative version of Ash and Ritchie's league fight) was overlooked because it happed to be within the Electric Tale of Pikachu manga...
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but going through Bulbapedia archives made me realized that the manga has some of my favorite interpretations of Kanto mons...
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I think the alternate eye styles are what drew me in.
 
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I like the variety of little details that tend to come with Ho-oh and its appearances: typically it's holding a Sacred Ash, tying into the Phoenix motif along with Regenerator not only with the flavor imagery, but the revival of multiple Pokemon (as some depictions of the Phoenix evidently suggest the ashes can revive others beyond the creature itself). While Ho-oh has quite a few moves to restore itself, it does very little in the way of Team Support gameplay wise, which this themeing plays into: Ho-oh restoring others requires its ashes, which obviously it doesn't have consistent or ready access to, meaning it can at best use it for very dire or meaningful tragedies like the Burned Tower.

I also choose to believe this themeing is a major reason why Ho-oh, despite loosely being a counterpart to Lugia (Sea and Sky, Dragon and Phoenix), its stats aren't a direct mirror (i.e. having the same offense numbers where Lugia has defense and vice versa). Ho-oh's Physical Defense is tied for its lowest base stat (and one that sticks out more on a Legendary than Base 90 Speed), but its Special Defense is the highest even when it is an Offensive Pokemon. A creature like the Phoenix can be physically destroyed, but the spirit reincarnates and is much harder to extinguish; whatever awesome power the Phoenix displays as a living fire creature and a giant divine bird, its most famous trait is always its resilience against being truly destroyed.
 
I know I had the last post but in the vein of my Ho-oh stat post, I picked up something neat about Lugia's that may or may not have been intentional. For some context, Lugia is one of the few Pokemon that was definitively created outside of Gamefreak, being something Takeshi Shudo is credited for making for Pokemon: The Movie 2000 (which took place during the Gen 1-only Orange Islands), so its story role predates any role or design it has in the games proper.

In the film, Lugia is presented as the big-good Trio Master to fight the Legendary Bird trio on a rampage, but also explicitly stated not to be able to defeat them; rather its role is to keep them contained and focused on it so that they can be pacified before their battle spreads. Similarly, despite Pokedex entries alluding to immense battle power with things like a flap of its wings creating storms (flavor text not used as prominently for its more offensive counterpart in Ho-oh), Lugia's stats as the so-called "Great Wall" incline it to a similar role: Sponging hits from opponents so its teammates can take them down given the chance.

I expressed a degree of perplexion in the "Things that annoy you" thread for Cresselia and Darkrai having conflicting lore and gameplay style, so I do like to see when the flavor/story does align nicely with how the Pokemon's stats/gameplay style work out like that.
 
Roxanne actually seems, better than anybody else in Pokemon, to understand her proper role as a Gym Leader: A test. Not an insurmountable obstacle, but a demonstration of...basic competence, really, given she's the first one you face.

(Also: Alt timeline where Norman is Gym 1 and Roxanne's Nosepass is Whitney's Miltank-levels of infamous. It gets Thunder Wave at 13 and Rest at 16 in ORAS. Fun thing to think about.)
 
Roxanne actually seems, better than anybody else in Pokemon, to understand her proper role as a Gym Leader: A test. Not an insurmountable obstacle, but a demonstration of...basic competence, really, given she's the first one you face.

(Also: Alt timeline where Norman is Gym 1 and Roxanne's Nosepass is Whitney's Miltank-levels of infamous. It gets Thunder Wave at 13 and Rest at 16 in ORAS. Fun thing to think about.)
Thunder Wave & rest don't mean much when you're slow, have bad HP and any all the grass & water types you found (or moves you have access too) will be at a naturally higher level possibly having access to moves they didnt before. Or just slightly bulkier pokemon in general. Nosepass kind of works in the first boss because stats are likely still a little low and so high swings in stuff like defense stats can flex a little while lower stats can still hurt you decently. The moment you leave that zone and start wasting turns on things like Thunder Wave you're smoked.

Miltank is such a terror, if perhaps a little over exaggerated, because it's an over all strong pokemon with a move that can get out of control and your counters are more limited to "kind of geodude & machop, I guess" because probably most importantly of all it's a Normal type. If Miltank were the exact same but was a different type, it'd likely be a completely different story
 
Saw this on fb, something wholesome to brighten all your days.

People have driven Lapras almost to the point of extinction. In the evenings, this Pokémon is said to sing plaintively as it seeks what few others of its kind still remain. - R/S/E

These Pokémon were once near extinction due to poaching. Following protective regulations, there is now an overabundance of them. - Moon

Good job humans in the Pokeverse.
 
Saw this on fb, something wholesome to brighten all your days.

People have driven Lapras almost to the point of extinction. In the evenings, this Pokémon is said to sing plaintively as it seeks what few others of its kind still remain. - R/S/E

These Pokémon were once near extinction due to poaching. Following protective regulations, there is now an overabundance of them. - Moon

Good job humans in the Pokeverse.
I'm reminded of a meme where some guy commented about how he'd just breed and release Lapras as a kid because he read that entry
 
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Leave it to Rotom Dex to say that an endangered species making a come back is a bad thing for the environment.
I love gen 7's dark humor pokedex.

That said overpopulation of a species in an environment can be about as bad for the environment
It's why there's regulations on hunting instead of just bans; it can keep certain populations in check so they dont throw things out of whack
 
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I love gen 7's dark humor pokedex.

That said overpopulation of a species in an environment can be about as bad for the environment
It's why there's regulations on hunting instead of just bans; it can keep certain populations in check so they dont throw things out of whack
While that is true, most cases are that endangered animals restore ecologic balance. The North American wolf population increasing, for example, is curbing deer overpopulation. If there was a note about Lapras curbing an overpopulation of fish Pokemon, for example, it wouldn't bother me. However, the dex reads like a sick punchline to a previous cool example of a real world parallel to animal conservation. Tl;dr, Rotom Dex is the incarnation of this guy...
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My favourite thing about Gen 7 is that they finally wrote new entries for old Pokémon again.
I've actually been slowly compiling a bunch of information on dex entries for a future thread (off & on, it's a lot of stuff to check), and gen 6 is really the only outlier to that point (gen 8 is...different...). Strictly speaking Alola operates similar to Gen 5: If you're in the dex, you got a new entry. If you weren't you just reused a different entry. The primary (there's a few other odds & ends) difference being (1) BW1 obviously by default didn't have anyone but new Pokemon in its dex (2) it's not as noticable because there's just not a national dex any more

Meanwhile in gen 6 the only new entries are for the Gen 6 pokemon (and of those, Hoopa is the only one who got new entries in ORAS) and the Weather trio (since they got new lore they wanted to acknowledge)
 
It fills my heart with boundless joy that you can do the funny pose with Ingo in PLA's photo mode
now if only there were any pictures of this online to accentuate the point of my post
 
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