Did she not design much past Gen 1? If so it's very cool they brought back Charizard's original designer for one of its new forms
-
Welcome to Smogon! Take a moment to read the Introduction to Smogon for a run-down on everything Smogon, and make sure you take some time to read the global rules.
Little things you like about Pokémon
- Thread starter Kurona
- Start date
non Eeveelutions she’s confirmed to have designed beyond Gen 1: Kricketot, Munna, Musharna, Cottonee, Whimsicott, Petilil, Lilligant, Zorua, Zoroark, Minccino, Cinccino, Karrablast, Mega Charizard X, Alolan Raichu, Alcremie, Hisuian Zorua, Hisuian Zoroark.
There are likely more.
She’s also the only person to have been credited as a Pokemon designer in all 9 Generations so far.
holy shif half of these mons are some of my favorites
Oh that's an incredible repertoire! Interesting to see she does keep coming back to new forms of Pokémon she designed; Charizard, Raichu, Zoroark etc. I wonder if there's design elements in those new forms she wanted to do or at one point considered for the originals?
Talking about SWSH's DLC in the other thread reminded me of a couple mons.
First, Regieleki. I have probably mentioned it before, but I love the dex entry that would basically drive Rose mad. I would love to know how they thought about that, because there is no way they were not aware of it. It's hilarious.
While on the topic of designs, while I would say it's a hard cry from the mentioned Nishida's, I want to give a shoutout to Eternatus (and say for the billionth time that is fucking hard to draw). I think while it isn't the best third legendary -then again hard to compete with grey Kyurem, Zygarde and others- it actually gets the point across pretty well. Like, it's memorable, stands out from most Pokemon, and really seems like an alien dragon thing. I feel like the reason it doesn't impact as it should to most people is because of the context ir was released. Had it happened say, a couple gens earlier, it would have been better, but after the UBs, it just didn't feel as shocking. But in a vacuum, I think it's actually pretty cool? I admit my first impression of it, because of SWSH memes, was that it looked unfinished (nor incomplete like Kyurem) but I have come to appreciate it. It's a shame the more unique Eternamax is locked in gimmick jail.
Speaking of gimmick forms, I do wonder how they decide who gets to design them. I would be under an insane amount of pressure if I was tasked with designing a new form for a popular mon. Can you imagine being asked to design Mega Mewtwo Y back then? Kitakaze nailed it if you ask me, but then again I love most of his designs.
First, Regieleki. I have probably mentioned it before, but I love the dex entry that would basically drive Rose mad. I would love to know how they thought about that, because there is no way they were not aware of it. It's hilarious.
While on the topic of designs, while I would say it's a hard cry from the mentioned Nishida's, I want to give a shoutout to Eternatus (and say for the billionth time that is fucking hard to draw). I think while it isn't the best third legendary -then again hard to compete with grey Kyurem, Zygarde and others- it actually gets the point across pretty well. Like, it's memorable, stands out from most Pokemon, and really seems like an alien dragon thing. I feel like the reason it doesn't impact as it should to most people is because of the context ir was released. Had it happened say, a couple gens earlier, it would have been better, but after the UBs, it just didn't feel as shocking. But in a vacuum, I think it's actually pretty cool? I admit my first impression of it, because of SWSH memes, was that it looked unfinished (nor incomplete like Kyurem) but I have come to appreciate it. It's a shame the more unique Eternamax is locked in gimmick jail.
Speaking of gimmick forms, I do wonder how they decide who gets to design them. I would be under an insane amount of pressure if I was tasked with designing a new form for a popular mon. Can you imagine being asked to design Mega Mewtwo Y back then? Kitakaze nailed it if you ask me, but then again I love most of his designs.
I think Eternatus benefits from the UBs happening first. UBs already had people act weird about their designs, so having a bunch all at once helps ease in Eternatus and I'd also argue it goes weird & alien in a different way. Its regular form is a strange, angular giant skeleton whose ribcage is a gun and whose reality destroying super form is a giant hand with finger tips that look like open dragon maws, that's still pretty nutty even compared to something like Necrozma, Blacephalon or Xurkitree.
I really love the striking shade of purple in particular.
I'm definitely picking up the sitting cutie whenever it comes out.
I do agree reaction was muted because of its circumstances but I think that is less the timing of its release and more it released on SWSH so everyone is on Maximum Frustration.
That's a very fair point, it really could have gone the other way and have people dismiss it as being too alien-like without previous versions of the concept, specially when the closest thing, Deoxys, is a lot tamer. I guess I'm just surprised it doesn't seem to come up in discussions frequently.
Man...I wish Europe had a Pokemon Center so I could order the sitting plushies without inflated payment. Then again most of my absolute favourites have yet to come out (just realizing they are gimmick forms or regionals...but like Grovyle and Cyndaquil would be cool too). But I disgress.
I absolute love the colour pallete too. I think they did a great job with, even with the shiny one. I guess it was bound to be somehow red giving its nature as the origin of GMax, but the mentioned bluish purple and crystaline head are great.
Also want to laud the ID for a bit, because it actually has a good scope for a Pokemon expansion, whether you're in it for competitive/mechanical reasons or Story/Main game ones.
"Casually" speaking, it has a nice size for the additional areas in the Terrarium, a cast of characters that get to interact in a very entertaining manner (narrative depth is nice with stuff like Kieran, but also just the Club Room chats for a little more personality to chew on), tells a straightforward and cohesive story in 2 parts, and livens things up with changing the battle formula in general.
On the more "hardcore" side of things, the Double Battles actually employ tactics beyond a Slugfest tradeoff (Crispin has Sun, Lacey's ace compliments her type plus utilizing Buffers like Whimsicott/Alcremie, Amarys has Passive Damage and Trick Room, and Drayton caps off a series of Tailwind Beaters with a Rain Kingdra + AV Archaludon). Combined with things like the Double Battles removing "Shift" as an option, there's not only a much more challenging experience than the main game, but a playable stretch of content that is actually based around the Doubles format Pokemon uses for its higher level tournament play and by extension a chance to use all the tools they designed specifically for it.
I tried to play the DLC with a policy of only using Healing Items I procured in the Terrarium or otherwise on even terms with minimal consumable usage in-battle. Having to actually consider my resources in battle gave me a much greater appreciation for things like Hitmontop, which I ran for Fake Out, Intimidate, and Wide Guard as much as Close Combat/Triple Axel damage to compliment my Excadrill (eased SD set-up and Wide Guard protected from Earthquake on top of opposing spread attacks) and would never have gotten appreciable value out of in the Singles design.
"Casually" speaking, it has a nice size for the additional areas in the Terrarium, a cast of characters that get to interact in a very entertaining manner (narrative depth is nice with stuff like Kieran, but also just the Club Room chats for a little more personality to chew on), tells a straightforward and cohesive story in 2 parts, and livens things up with changing the battle formula in general.
On the more "hardcore" side of things, the Double Battles actually employ tactics beyond a Slugfest tradeoff (Crispin has Sun, Lacey's ace compliments her type plus utilizing Buffers like Whimsicott/Alcremie, Amarys has Passive Damage and Trick Room, and Drayton caps off a series of Tailwind Beaters with a Rain Kingdra + AV Archaludon). Combined with things like the Double Battles removing "Shift" as an option, there's not only a much more challenging experience than the main game, but a playable stretch of content that is actually based around the Doubles format Pokemon uses for its higher level tournament play and by extension a chance to use all the tools they designed specifically for it.
I tried to play the DLC with a policy of only using Healing Items I procured in the Terrarium or otherwise on even terms with minimal consumable usage in-battle. Having to actually consider my resources in battle gave me a much greater appreciation for things like Hitmontop, which I ran for Fake Out, Intimidate, and Wide Guard as much as Close Combat/Triple Axel damage to compliment my Excadrill (eased SD set-up and Wide Guard protected from Earthquake on top of opposing spread attacks) and would never have gotten appreciable value out of in the Singles design.
Oh while we are talking about ID and self-imposed challenges I tried to complete both it and TM using only natives to the Terrarium/Kitakami. So when the Drayton trial came up I was very amused.
I also like he even acknowledges in-universe that you can just force your way through it anyways if you really want.
I also like he even acknowledges in-universe that you can just force your way through it anyways if you really want.
XY Furious Fists. The TCG set.
I've been a lot more interested in the TCG over the past few months, both with just my interest returning naturally, and TCG Pocket sparking a bit extra, but this was the first set that I ever really played with, and it is still probably my favorite.
The main thing about it is just the theming of the entire set, it's entirely self contained but there's a bunch of arts that tie into each other like in other sets, all working together to depict a full on tournament between all the pokemon
You have the listed brackets in the background of Machop's artwork, Machoke training under a waterfall to hone its strength, and finally Machamp joining the fray with a jumping slam, Magmortar and Electivire Tag Teaming against Slaking, Blaziken kicking Dragonite in the face, Beartic holding Golurk above its head about to slam it onto the ground, Hitmonlee landing a kick against what I think is Machamp, Hitmontop landing a blow against Electabuzz, Flygon dancing around Hariyama as it gets sent into a tree, Jynx seemingly tag teaming with Machamp, Lickilicky against what I think is a Scrafty, though it's hard to make out
Even some of the cards that aren't directly fighting another Pokemon get in on the action, Thundurus holding a car above its head, Landorus charging up to attack, Poliwrath in the center of the ring, Plusle and Minun watching the action and cheering everyone on, Golurk wrecking the arena, you even have some of the trainer cards getting in on the action with the Battle Reporter being the caster you'd see for any live sports match or the Fighting Stadium, Mountain Ring and Training Center stadium cards all being some of the arenas this is all taking place in
My absolute favorite part though, is how even the cards ATTACKS get in on the theming. You have some of the more obvious ones like Electivire and Magmortar's getting boosted if the other if also on your bench, but you also have things like Landorus, where one of its attacks builds up Energy to use the stronger one after enough time, while its art is also charging for an attack, Dragonite EX with its Bust In ability while the art shows it rushing in for a fight in a rare case of the Regular EX art not just being a generic action pose (though you could still class it as this), Golurk's Wreck attack discarding a Stadium in play while the art literally shows it destroying the Arena it's in, Hitmontop's Helicoptero attack showing that it's meant to be using a Hit and Run style of fighting by switching it to the bench after dealing damage, Beartic's Igloo Hold being shown in the art at its max strength by being used against a pokemon with a retreat cost of 4 naturally
Of course, not every card in the set has something to do with this, several of the cards are just more generic "standing in location" or "making a cool/cute pose" shots, but the fact that so much of this set has this much thought put into it, it truly is a thing of beauty, if you ask me
I've been a lot more interested in the TCG over the past few months, both with just my interest returning naturally, and TCG Pocket sparking a bit extra, but this was the first set that I ever really played with, and it is still probably my favorite.
The main thing about it is just the theming of the entire set, it's entirely self contained but there's a bunch of arts that tie into each other like in other sets, all working together to depict a full on tournament between all the pokemon
You have the listed brackets in the background of Machop's artwork, Machoke training under a waterfall to hone its strength, and finally Machamp joining the fray with a jumping slam, Magmortar and Electivire Tag Teaming against Slaking, Blaziken kicking Dragonite in the face, Beartic holding Golurk above its head about to slam it onto the ground, Hitmonlee landing a kick against what I think is Machamp, Hitmontop landing a blow against Electabuzz, Flygon dancing around Hariyama as it gets sent into a tree, Jynx seemingly tag teaming with Machamp, Lickilicky against what I think is a Scrafty, though it's hard to make out
Even some of the cards that aren't directly fighting another Pokemon get in on the action, Thundurus holding a car above its head, Landorus charging up to attack, Poliwrath in the center of the ring, Plusle and Minun watching the action and cheering everyone on, Golurk wrecking the arena, you even have some of the trainer cards getting in on the action with the Battle Reporter being the caster you'd see for any live sports match or the Fighting Stadium, Mountain Ring and Training Center stadium cards all being some of the arenas this is all taking place in
My absolute favorite part though, is how even the cards ATTACKS get in on the theming. You have some of the more obvious ones like Electivire and Magmortar's getting boosted if the other if also on your bench, but you also have things like Landorus, where one of its attacks builds up Energy to use the stronger one after enough time, while its art is also charging for an attack, Dragonite EX with its Bust In ability while the art shows it rushing in for a fight in a rare case of the Regular EX art not just being a generic action pose (though you could still class it as this), Golurk's Wreck attack discarding a Stadium in play while the art literally shows it destroying the Arena it's in, Hitmontop's Helicoptero attack showing that it's meant to be using a Hit and Run style of fighting by switching it to the bench after dealing damage, Beartic's Igloo Hold being shown in the art at its max strength by being used against a pokemon with a retreat cost of 4 naturally
Of course, not every card in the set has something to do with this, several of the cards are just more generic "standing in location" or "making a cool/cute pose" shots, but the fact that so much of this set has this much thought put into it, it truly is a thing of beauty, if you ask me
Against my better judgement I've been doing a load of random GTS trades on Pokemon Home lately to try and get that damn Meloetta and it's making me more than slightly obsessed with how Pokedex listings are constructed.
Like, Galar is the only location in which a starter trio gets split up (Charmander is in Galar proper while Bulbasaur/Squirtle are in the Isle of Armour dex) and it's weirdly fascinating to me to try to imagine in-universe justifications. Like idk, maybe the IoA's marshy ground and wet climate makes it a place the Charmander line fails to thrive. Which then equally makes you think that, logically, there's no reason that all three starters from a given set should be endemic to any place (unless they're imported/cultivated species, which tbf it's generally accepted by a lot of fans that starters are). But like, if wild Torchic existed in Sinnoh there's literally no reason Treecko and Mudkip should be found there also.
I also love how the IoA dex places Bulbasaur and Squirtle a little before the halfway point while the Blueberry dex just crams every starter line at the back of the listing. Literally no art or subtlety to it and the fact that they're all in National Dex order makes it all the more inelegant-looking. Like they could have sprinkled them throughout the listing (either in runs of three, grouped by type, or alone) but someone decided nah, just plop them all at the back together. It just looks so bizarrely unlike how I expect a Pokedex listing to look but I love the unconventionality.
Like, Galar is the only location in which a starter trio gets split up (Charmander is in Galar proper while Bulbasaur/Squirtle are in the Isle of Armour dex) and it's weirdly fascinating to me to try to imagine in-universe justifications. Like idk, maybe the IoA's marshy ground and wet climate makes it a place the Charmander line fails to thrive. Which then equally makes you think that, logically, there's no reason that all three starters from a given set should be endemic to any place (unless they're imported/cultivated species, which tbf it's generally accepted by a lot of fans that starters are). But like, if wild Torchic existed in Sinnoh there's literally no reason Treecko and Mudkip should be found there also.
I also love how the IoA dex places Bulbasaur and Squirtle a little before the halfway point while the Blueberry dex just crams every starter line at the back of the listing. Literally no art or subtlety to it and the fact that they're all in National Dex order makes it all the more inelegant-looking. Like they could have sprinkled them throughout the listing (either in runs of three, grouped by type, or alone) but someone decided nah, just plop them all at the back together. It just looks so bizarrely unlike how I expect a Pokedex listing to look but I love the unconventionality.
A lot of placements are from when they expect you to obtain them, so when starters aren't together or placed in an "odd" spot thats uusally why.
You get the starters fairly early on in IoA if you beeline for the dojo, but the area around is open and so most of the Pokemon before them are considered "available first".
The Blueberry starters are all "imported" additions, so rather than being integrated approximately where they show up in the dome, they just put them at the end after Hydrapple (which itself is after all the dome pokemon because you only see it with Kieren's team). if they did do it by where they are in the dome, it'd be even more split up actually, which is funny.
Of course even beyond that silliness the Blueberry Dex is by far the one dex in the series where the idea of how this works in-universe just falls apart. Like there's always some gameplay/story segregation like why does anyone know about Mewtwo, why do the to-this-point-unrevived-for-the-first-time fossils have dedicated placements, why are the opposite versoin's paradoxes there, etc.
Hydrapple is here alone because of Kieren, but none of his other non-Blueberry team is.
Dragonite is on both Keiren's and Dratyon's team and not in the dex at all.
The 6 Paradox Beasts and Terapagos are in it despite those being in Paldea
Pecharunt is in Kitakami
Which is all mostly fine (it's a video game and you need a monster tracker & updating the older dexes is probably seen as too awkward especially if you already completed them) but also SV is the one game where the diploma is given an in-universe explanation. It's all extremely goofy and the game just says "take it or leave it bud". i admire the chutzpah
Personally I just find funny that the only game where some starters have a pokedex location that actually means anything are Sun/Moon, USUM, Let's Go and Scarlet/Violet. Edit: and Legend Arceus, how did I forget!
That's cause those are the only games where you actually see them in the wild. Afaik we have no idea where/if they live in other regions or are just imported.
(Ironically, I believe Let's Go are the only mainline games where the starters actually can be found in the wild in their actual region)
That's cause those are the only games where you actually see them in the wild. Afaik we have no idea where/if they live in other regions or are just imported.
(Ironically, I believe Let's Go are the only mainline games where the starters actually can be found in the wild in their actual region)
Don't forget the Sinnoh starters in Legends Arceus!
Good point, i completely forgot about those.
The easiest explanation for the starters is they are wild to their region we just dont' get to see them for gameplay purposes because it's more important to have them "special".
The idea that they keep importing them from random other regions -except for the terrarium where this is textually the case of everything in the terrarium- is one that was kind of cute at first but after all these years I think it's time to let it go.
The idea that they keep importing them from random other regions -except for the terrarium where this is textually the case of everything in the terrarium- is one that was kind of cute at first but after all these years I think it's time to let it go.
my favorite headcanon is that the starters are all just domestic breeds, which rely on humans and can't survive in the wild proper. Sounds silly as they all still have access to moves and attacks, and they don't seem to be written as weak, but I like to think that they are much more reliant on human commands to function and evolve
I could maybe see it at least to an extent, like comparing a Domesticated Stray Cat to a Cheetah or Lion or other wild cat. We do see things like Ash's Litten as a wild Pokemon for a while, albeit kind of leaning on Stoutland as a parental figure.
I like Hydrapple being in Blueberry dex because I can headcanon Kieran's was truly the first documented one. Like the guy managed to beat Drayton, gave Dragon Cheer to Dipplin, at that just happened to make it evolve. A bunch of amazing coincidences. It's hilarious and ironic for it to happen in Unova.
Of course, they never make a big deal out of it in-universe so it's obviously not that, but let me dream
Of course, they never make a big deal out of it in-universe so it's obviously not that, but let me dream
The ex generation starter decks coming out in Japan are having a variant of Professor's Research with each of the gen's respective professors (albeit with just Sada, since its a Koraidon deck), which is cute
But what I love is they're doing it with another supporter and for some reason they decided this would be the Black Belt.
https://www.pokebeach.com/2024/11/n...ed-for-ex-starter-deck-generations-new-promos
They're all fantastic, what a choice to make.
But what I love is they're doing it with another supporter and for some reason they decided this would be the Black Belt.
https://www.pokebeach.com/2024/11/n...ed-for-ex-starter-deck-generations-new-promos
They're all fantastic, what a choice to make.
Too much classism imo.
The name says they’re inplicitly better than any other trainer class.
I've been looking through rematch trainer rosters lately, and I always love trainers that kind of become pseudo-gym leaders
In FRLG there's this random Picnicker
with this team at base
Pidgey lv.24
Meowth lv.24
Rattata lv.24
Pikachu lv.24
Meowth lv.24
And over the course of 5 rematches and finishing the post game she gets to here
Pidgeot lv.52
Persian lv.52
Raticate lv.52
Raichu lv.52
Persian lv.52
A lot of rematch trainers don't get this high a level or evolve all their Pokemon, much less have a team of 5 to work with, so it's fun that she almost becomes equivalent to a gym leader rematch. If she just swapped her Raichu for something like Clefable, she'd be Whitney 2.0 (or...Proto-Whitney, timeline wise? Kanto Norman whatever this metaphor is getting away from me)
In FRLG there's this random Picnicker
with this team at base
Pidgey lv.24
Meowth lv.24
Rattata lv.24
Pikachu lv.24
Meowth lv.24
And over the course of 5 rematches and finishing the post game she gets to here
Pidgeot lv.52
Persian lv.52
Raticate lv.52
Raichu lv.52
Persian lv.52
A lot of rematch trainers don't get this high a level or evolve all their Pokemon, much less have a team of 5 to work with, so it's fun that she almost becomes equivalent to a gym leader rematch. If she just swapped her Raichu for something like Clefable, she'd be Whitney 2.0 (or...Proto-Whitney, timeline wise? Kanto Norman whatever this metaphor is getting away from me)
I've been creating a living dex in Gen 6 recently, so with a lack of Blissey Bases in a post-3DS Online world I've had to resort to rematch trainers in ORAS for the grinding and it's giving me very similar appreciations. Like, at some point they went out of their way to give some random route trainer a Chatot inspired specifically by his trainer class being a rocker, you know? And there's these two rich trainers on route 104 split by the forest, a lady and a rich boy who both had a Zigzagoon with a Full Restore since the originals -- and in their post-league rematches they both get a Pyroar, with the genders matching. And there's something really cool about acknowledging their being a duo in a way