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Little things you like about Pokémon

Now of course, the obvious retort to all this is that this wasn't the original intent. Pretty much everything I mentioned here from U-Turn to Technician to Dual Wingbeat, Bullet Punch and even Aerial Ace didn't exist in Gen 1 or with the advent of Scizor in Gen 2. On the other hand the stat distributions and the roles they suggested which I mentioned at the very beginning of this post have stayed true since the second generation. In my view what has happened is that from the beginning this family was always visualized as representing different forms of offense, one more fast and furious and the other more bulky and methodical, and throughout the years all these tools have been introduced to directly and indirectly expand and further distinguish the two bug brothers, all the way up to the modern day with Dual Wingbeat and Heavy Duty Boots letting Scyther fly higher and strike harder. And that's extremely cool.
That's one of the things I like the best about Pokémon, actually. The way Pokémon can fundamentally change between generations as they get access to new tools or new mechanics. Scizor was a bit of a dud until halfway through Gen IV, when it finally received that awesome Bullet Punch in Platinum. Until then, it had been cool-looking, but a little disappointing battle-wise. Good stats, sure, but few moves to use it with. Smogon's sets for Gen III has it rely on Silver Wind and Hidden Power to do any damage. But Gen IV brought it a great new ability and finally a high-power move to use with it, and Scizor soared to stardom.

I'm a little unsure if such a feat can be repeated nowadays, as most Pokémon now have a huge movepool right out of the gate, get all Ability slots filled from day one, and tend to be designed with a competitive niche in mind from the outset. Great improvements seem to come from entirely new moves and new mechanics, and the ones that excel with those tended to be pretty solid already. But there are still a few past-gen crapmons waiting in the wings for their chance to shine. If the designers ever put their mind to it, I bet they could give the likes of Delibird, Volbeat, or Mothim some time in the spotlight.
 
It is nice how they decided to lean into these 2 basically being their own Pokemon, considering the BST thing.


But at the same time I just keep thinking "why did they design a pokemon like this to begin with". It's so odd, even for its era which was more "here's this split evolution with mixed around stats". Had Scizor been made later it likely would have just been a form change or would have gotten some spare BST they found in the couches. Like How Porygon-Z is so obviously a mixed up Porygon 2....but they gave it +20 BST (wowee!) on top of that.
Any time they've been handing out extra BST I wonder if they considered giving Scizor some but decided they liked this weird quasi-form-change more as a shtick
 
This is a little detail I like that I'm having difficulty finding the words to explain well so apologies in advance if I sound like I have brain damage

As some of you might be aware, I really, really like regional variants. One of the things I like the most about them is how... ...I'll say "integrated" into the region they are. Unlike the menagerie of alternate forms out there, regional variants are not really considered "special". You don't get high praise for getting one, you don't talk to special NPCs to figure out their true power, they aren't even really noted much more than native Pokemon. They're just like everything else in the region. That may sound like a criticism, but that's a complement, it gives the vibe they are essentially a part of the region despite being a refurbished version of a pre-established Pokemon. When you find an Alolan Geodude or Exeggutor in the wild or fight Alolan Marowak or Ninetales in the Battle Tree somewhere, it doesn't say "You found an Alolan Geodude!" or give a special message or whatever, it's just called Geodude, or Marowak, or Ninetales in battle messages and the menus. I really, really like that, and with Galar giving us overworld encounters it'll be awesome seeing these guys wandering around with the unaltered old mons and the brand new stuff, as if they are a part of the Galar crew.
In addition to what you said about Regional Variants, here is another thing I really appreciate about; Regional Evolutions.

Although they are essentially regional variant-locked evolutions, just the fact that some Regional Variants can evolve further (or evolve into a different one, i.e. Galarian Meowth evolves into Perrserker) was definitely something people didn't asked for, but nonetheless helped expend on the Regional Variant concept in a way that feels organic.

And I figured out why; although the concept of cross-generational evolutionary additions were dropped since the last time they were added in Gen 4, and only came back in Gen 6 in the form of Sylveon and nothing else, and although not all of them are winners in term of design or competitive scene, most of them helps the pre-evolution gain an edge in-game.

Regional Evolutions have something that the new evolutions don't; GF can recycle old evolution methods on most of them, thus aside of Runerigus and to an extent Sirfetch'd, the Galarian form of Mr. Mime, Linoone and Corsola can evolve further into Mr. Rime, Obstagoon and Cursola respectively by simply reaching a high enough level (though in Linoone's case, it had to be done at night). None also runs risk of being spectacularly broken unlike what happened to a few Mega Evolution... unless you go as far as what happened to Galarian Darmanitan, but that didn't happened to any of the Regional Evolutions, thankfully.

Regional Evolution can help expand a Regional Variant's concept even further, and help reduce fear that the weak single-staged Pokémon like Farfetch'd and Corsola would end up getting one and still gets overlooked.

While I do wish regular cross-generational pre-evolutions and evolutions concept should fully return, I am very on-board to see more Regional Variants in future mainline games (or at least the new Generation games), as personally, they are far better executed than the likes of Mega Evolution. Partly because how organic and natural it feels, and partly because it helped otherwise overshadowed Pokémon to shine, while also giving some popular Pokémon like Ninetales giving a new perspective.
 
That's one of the things I like the best about Pokémon, actually. The way Pokémon can fundamentally change between generations as they get access to new tools or new mechanics. Scizor was a bit of a dud until halfway through Gen IV, when it finally received that awesome Bullet Punch in Platinum. Until then, it had been cool-looking, but a little disappointing battle-wise. Good stats, sure, but few moves to use it with. Smogon's sets for Gen III has it rely on Silver Wind and Hidden Power to do any damage. But Gen IV brought it a great new ability and finally a high-power move to use with it, and Scizor soared to stardom.

I'm a little unsure if such a feat can be repeated nowadays, as most Pokémon now have a huge movepool right out of the gate, get all Ability slots filled from day one, and tend to be designed with a competitive niche in mind from the outset. Great improvements seem to come from entirely new moves and new mechanics, and the ones that excel with those tended to be pretty solid already. But there are still a few past-gen crapmons waiting in the wings for their chance to shine. If the designers ever put their mind to it, I bet they could give the likes of Delibird, Volbeat, or Mothim some time in the spotlight.

It is entirely conceivable even if the ability slots are filled for Game Freak to change a Pokemon's abilities if they so wish in later generations. We've seen this happen several times, actually. Scolipede for example had its Hidden Ability changed to Speed Boost in Gen 6, and it soared in viability to the point where it went from being a decent lower-tier Pokemon into a deadly speedy sweeper that has been consistently axed from UU. Gigalith and Vanilluxe gained Sand Stream and Snow Warning respectively, in Gen 7, and this gave them newfound viability as the former is now a good sand summoner and tank with the added SpD from sand, and the latter is now a formidable lower tier Blizzard spamming wallbreaker. Torkoal and Pelipper also gained weather abilities that allowed them to soar in viability, Pelipper is now a premier competitive Pokemon staple as it is the best rain setter in competitive standard. There's nothing saying they cannot change a Pokemon's abilities, and there's plenty of room for them to do it again with other Pokemon in the future.

Gen 8 also expanded a lot of Pokemon's movepools through the expanded TM/TR pool and the new set of moves in Isle of Armor which brought a lot of Pokemon new tools, even formerly decent Pokemon now becoming great Pokemon in higher tiers and even stuff like Hydreigon making a resurgence in competitive standard because it has Nasty Plot now. Point being, even though a lot of newer Pokemon are already solid off the bat, there's plenty of doors open to change things up for them in the future. Gen 8 especially has shaken things up a lot for a lot of Pokemon, like with many physical Ghost-types like Dusknoir who badly needed a good Ghost STAB finally getting one in the form of Poltergeist, and as mentioned, Scyther getting Dual Wingbeat this gen (also I eagerly await Dragonite and Salamence in Crown Tundra as they will be very happy to have Dual Wingbeat in their arsenal), and Body Press also being a popular move for old defensive Pokemon. Not to mention some items, namely Heavy-Duty Boots (!!!), allowing some Pokemon to perform better in the face of Stealth Rock's omnipresence in Smogon competitive (Relevant to Scyther especially).

I'm rambling at this point, but even then I'm sure they can find some ways for Pokemon we don't expect to change in future generations as time goes on: especially with Abilities where they have shown a willingness to change some Pokemon's abilities which fundamentally changes their viability. Just wanted to point that out, even though I do see what you're getting at overall.
 
So, while I knew they had a few in-game campsites with NPCs you can visit and make Curry with (and some had funny themes to their Pokemon), I didn't realize that all their Pokemon had nicknames (and random NPC who joins in when making Curry)! Not going to comment on all of their Pokemon, but want to mention on a few standouts to me:

Route 3's Becca: Her theme is generally cute Pokemon. MVP has to be her Wooloo named "Floof". And there's just something comically cruel naming a Bounsweet "Bonbon". Also a Yamper named "Corzee", nice reference to its real word inspiration.

Route 4's Molly: Has an interest in the Fairy and Psychic-types. "Saucery" had to be one of Milcery's suggested species names... and honestly I think its better. However MVP is the Woobat named "Woo Me", lol!
Also why does the Poke Kid girl have a Pikachu, shouldn't it either be a Poke Kid boy or an Eevee?

Route 5's Harrison: All his Pokemon a Babies, fitting for a Breeder. Wynaut either realizes it's in a computer simulation or is high on something, "Woah". Also kudos on naming the Pocket Monster Munchlax "Munster" which is also a kind of cheese.

Route 6's Cam: She's into the Fighting-types or physical labor Pokemon. First let's all bow down to his lordship, "Tyregent" the Tyrogue (I'm going to guess that's not the pun they were going for but I can't think of what else it can be). I also see her Hitmonlee is into football ("American Football or soccer"? Yes), her Hitmonchan doesn't chuckle as it rather flex its muscles, and sadly Hitmontop you're WAY too late with the Chuck Norris meme.
Also, shoutout to Hiker Jervis who named his Steelix "Cold Steel", that's an action star name right there!

Route 7's Renee: We can't have a Pokemon game without a crazy cat lady, right? All Galarian Meowth, and each one with a name related to vikings. "King Cnat" I'm guessing is a play on Cnut the Great, "Mrrrarald" is probably named after one of the many viking rulers and legendary figures named Harald (going to guess Fairhair), "Meo the Red" is probably the most recognizable reference, "Mragnar" is named after legendary figure Ragnar Lodbrok, and "Mjorn" is likely named after Bjorn Ironside.
Also I like how the additional Curry trainers bring a normal and Alolan Meowth with the Alolan Meowth named "Myalola" in case you couldn't tell it was an Alolan Meowth.

Route 8's Lisa: Obligatory Eeveelution trainer! Only one here to really note is her Umbreon named "Reaper", metal!
Also I think Lisa should have had a Sylveon instead of an Eevee as, along with the two trainers that join to make Curry, we would have then had all the Eeveelutions at this moment in time.

Route 9's Stephan: Probably the most memorable as he's the Police Officer with all the doggos... and a Gothitelle for some reason. MVP is his Arcanine which is just named "The Beast". Also GF, just cause you use another language word for "dog" doesn't make it any more clever (his Boltund's name "Hunden" is just the word for dog in many of the Germanic Languages).

Route 10's Tristan: Overall looks like he has a balanced battling team, shame we don't battle him. I like the name of all his Pokemon. Well sorta, I have no idea why his Falinks is named "Dee" (my best guess is maybe named it after the Kirby character Waddle Dee?). Mr. Rime "Rimemaster" is breaking them beats (and barriers) down, Morpeko "Moar" demands more with a roar, his Sirfetch'd is named "Excalibur" along with everyone else's, we all know Galarian Weezing looks like a "Lord Weezing", and finally Galarian Rapidash "Rapidazzle" is quite dazzling.

If I were to nitpick one thing is that Key Ingredient they use. It feels random when I feel some could have been used to fit their theme. With all his Baby Pokemon, Harrison could have used Coconut Milk, Cam's Fighting-types would probably like to carb up with Bread, Renee should know cat Pokemon would like Fresh Cream, Lisa's Eeveelutions would probably liked the Packaged Curry, and Stephan's dog Pokemon would love Brittle Bones. And thinking about it, this could have been a good spot to have one camp use Bob's Food Tin and another use Bach's Food Tin, that way you don't need to trade for them but instead have to just use the right Berries to get the flavors you want.

Speaking of which I'm sure they probably could have also used some Berries to match their theme but I'm not going over 60+ varieties of Berries.
 
Also, shoutout to Hiker Jervis who named his Steelix "Cold Steel", that's an action star name right there!

Man, Coldsteel the Hedgeheg really let himself go

Route 10's Tristan: Overall looks like he has a balanced battling team, shame we don't battle him. I like the name of all his Pokemon. Well sorta, I have no idea why his Falinks is named "Dee" (my best guess is maybe named it after the Kirby character Waddle Dee?). Mr. Rime "Rimemaster" is breaking them beats (and barriers) down, Morpeko "Moar" demands more with a roar, his Sirfetch'd is named "Excalibur" along with everyone else's, we all know Galarian Weezing looks like a "Lord Weezing", and finally Galarian Rapidash "Rapidazzle" is quite dazzling.

Wait a minute... His name is Tristan... He has a surprisingly powerful and well-rounded team... He even prominently features Galarian forms...

YOUNGSTER TRISTAN?! IS THAT YOU?!
 
Tamashii Hiroka recently published her retro review on Ruby and Sapphire, and it definitely provides a new look into RS, specifically onto the conflict of Ruby and Sapphire. Maxie and Archie have been butt of many jokes, with people citing that they are the worst villains in the series. But Tamashii looks into what was happening in the world when RS were being made. There were huge debates on whether Japan should focus on environment preservation or focus on developing society and man's priorities. AKA Team Aqua and Magma. It definitely opened a way to appreciate RS than I did previously.


Have you guys ever wanted voice acting in Pokemon? Specifically, SwSh? Well your in luck, because Joe Zieja got you covered! For that don't know Joe Zieja is a VA who also does You Tube, with his most notable role being Claude Von Riegan from Fire Emblem: 3 Houses. You may also know him as the voice of Silver in Pokemon Masters. Anyway, Joe Zieja voices the entire game up to Kabu's Gym. Its really funny and shows off Joe's talent as a VA. My only really complaint is that I'm not a fan of Sonia's Scottish accent, but I love how he gave the Ball Guy the voice of certain Fire Emblem character. The only warning I'd give is that Joe is not a huge fan of Hop, so sorry Hop fans.

 
Tamashii Hiroka recently published her retro review on Ruby and Sapphire, and it definitely provides a new look into RS, specifically onto the conflict of Ruby and Sapphire. Maxie and Archie have been butt of many jokes, with people citing that they are the worst villains in the series. But Tamashii looks into what was happening in the world when RS were being made. There were huge debates on whether Japan should focus on environment preservation or focus on developing society and man's priorities. AKA Team Aqua and Magma. It definitely opened a way to appreciate RS than I did previously.

Wow, so Gen III's story did have a politcal charge to it... albeit dumbed down. And unfortunetly I think maybe for that reason it didn't resonate as they wanted to. Because it ended up resulting both sides of the arguement looking absolutely ridiculous while burying what GF was trying to say... actually, what was GF trying to say? The message you get from the game you shouldn't mess with nature, thus wouldn't that mean GF was siding with the sailors who didn't want the bay drained (not that I can blame them, the Japanese "nature would make a bay somewhere else" response was so stupid)?

Back on point, from what I'm hearing both Magma and Aqua missed the point of what each side was saying. The government and farmers weren't making more land because they think humanity needed more room to advance, they were desperate to make farmland to feed it's growing population. And the sailors didn't want to expand the seas because that's where life came from, they wanted to preserve a major bay & its ecosystem so they could keep their livelihoods. The interests and actions of both sides make sense, and honestly probably would have made a more interesting story.

Imagine this: the Hoenn region would look as it does now except where some of its water routes are there's manmade islands/extensions being made. The projects are being done by the Hoenn government, however they're currently on hold because activists are saying they're built over too much water routes and its causing problems with the water ecosystem. That's where Magma & Aqua comes in. Magma wants to continue the land expansions because Hoenn's population keeps growing and they're running out of room for housing and growing food. Aqua however are sailors who lives were destroyed by the current overreach and not only wish to preserve what water sources they still have but take back what was taken from them. Both can still seek out the Legendary and wish to use them as tools, only to discover they can't control them and they're causing destruction all over the region (Groudon drying out lakes, rivers and ponds; Kyogre flooding land above the sea level). It would make for a much more interesting narrative and the message would be clearer both what each side is representing and not trying to control forces beyond their power.

Have you guys ever wanted voice acting in Pokemon? Specifically, SwSh? Well your in luck, because Joe Zieja got you covered! For that don't know Joe Zieja is a VA who also does You Tube, with his most notable role being Claude Von Riegan from Fire Emblem: 3 Houses. You may also know him as the voice of Silver in Pokemon Masters. Anyway, Joe Zieja voices the entire game up to Kabu's Gym. Its really funny and shows off Joe's talent as a VA. My only really complaint is that I'm not a fan of Sonia's Scottish accent, but I love how he gave the Ball Guy the voice of certain Fire Emblem character. The only warning I'd give is that Joe is not a huge fan of Hop, so sorry Hop fans.

Before giving my impressions I'll mention I am a bit bias toward the character's Twilight Wings representation. I feel that series hit the nail on the head for each character (and hopefully the anime uses the same cast when those characters appear in the anime). Anyway, onto my thoughts of a voice actor trying to give his take on the characters:
  • Raihan is alright.
  • Rose started alright but then he added the loudspeaker effect, which was alright for the stadium scene but why does he keep doing it for Rose outside the stadium?
  • Player's & Hop's Mum is eh though guessing he's probably not going to put that much effort into a supporting character not that involved with the story.
  • Hop also was alright... and then he started to make Hop sound more whiney starting with the cutscene where you get your Starter.
  • Leon sounds too old.
  • Charizard sounded WAY too weak! He gives Leon a booming voice but not Charizard? Come on now! :blobtriumph:
  • Yamper sounds about right.
  • Magnolia is alright.
  • Oh Arceus, make him stop with the accent for Sonia! She sounds like a cross between Lucky the Leprechaun and Scrooge McDuck.
  • Ball Guy is alright.
  • Yeah, Bede sounds exactly as you think he would.
  • Team Yell Male Grunt sounds like you think they would.
  • Marnie he's joking around with.
  • Oh sure, put effort into sounding like a Budew...
  • Milo's first attempt made him sound like a dumb brute, glad he changed it to a much more chipper attitude. Unfortunely he then did a third voice inside the Gym which I guess is a combination of the two and, nah, now Milo sounds like a better speaking Big the Cat.
  • Oleana I don't think matches well. She sounds like a snooty butler, which I get why he made her sound like that, I just envisioned her with a more monotone voice that doesn't put any additional emphasis on words.
  • Don't think any of Nessa's voices match, at the lighthouse he made her sound like a valley girl but then abandoned that for a really unmatching surfer dude.
  • Kabu is good.
  • Dan the Gym Guide he does a funny voice for.
 
Back on point, from what I'm hearing both Magma and Aqua missed the point of what each side was saying. The government and farmers weren't making more land because they think humanity needed more room to advance, they were desperate to make farmland to feed it's growing population. And the sailors didn't want to expand the seas because that's where life came from, they wanted to preserve a major bay & its ecosystem so they could keep their livelihoods. The interests and actions of both sides make sense, and honestly probably would have made a more interesting story.

Imagine this: the Hoenn region would look as it does now except where some of its water routes are there's manmade islands/extensions being made. The projects are being done by the Hoenn government, however they're currently on hold because activists are saying they're built over too much water routes and its causing problems with the water ecosystem. That's where Magma & Aqua comes in. Magma wants to continue the land expansions because Hoenn's population keeps growing and they're running out of room for housing and growing food. Aqua however are sailors who lives were destroyed by the current overreach and not only wish to preserve what water sources they still have but take back what was taken from them. Both can still seek out the Legendary and wish to use them as tools, only to discover they can't control them and they're causing destruction all over the region (Groudon drying out lakes, rivers and ponds; Kyogre flooding land above the sea level). It would make for a much more interesting narrative and the message would be clearer both what each side is representing and not trying to control forces beyond their power.
I really like the smaller and more personal stakes here. Not only does it make it easier to care about the struggle between these two sides, but I think it enhances the legendaries' role. In the Hoenn we got, Maxie and Archie want to control Groudon and Kyogre to achieve grand events, and Groudon and Kyogre deliver, just without the control. And it's kinda annoying, because you're like "you dumb fuck, this is exactly what you were trying to accomplish, how are just now realizing this was a bad idea?" In the Hoenn you've proposed, the moment where Maxie and Archie realize "oh shit, this is way out of hand, I done goobered it all up" feels more believable because they weren't trying to do anything even close to the scale at which Groudon and Kyogre ended up working at. They thought they could get the legendaries to fill a small-ish request, and didn't realize that for Groudon and Kyogre, it's go big or go home.
 
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A comment in this video pointed out that Rose's facial hair looks the Steel Type symbol. The Marco Cosmos symbol is a more likely origin, but considering they specialize in Steel types, both are possible. also looks like Snorlax
 
Sorry about the double post, but this is about a separate topic:

Something I appreciate what ORAS did was allowing all the cross-generational evolutions in the Pokedex, ranging from baby Pokemon like Chingling to Gallade. They even manage to update some teams like giving Glacia Froslass and Phoebe and Dusknoir. The other remakes have not been nearly good with their Cross-Gen evolutions.

FRLG: None were available prior to the post game. If Golbat and Chansey reached high friendship level, they'd do the evolution cutscene, but still fail to evolve. Every time you level it up. That's get annoying. Not to mention that Espeon and Umbreon are completely unavailable without trading. My big problem lies with the fact without cross-evolutions, there are no Dark types, and Magneton is the only option for Steel type prior to the Sevii Islands.

HGSS: Like FRLG, not all of them were available until post game. However, Pokemon that evolve via learning a move had their evolution added to the Pokedex. Odd, but I'm guessing that they did not want another Chansey/Blissey scenario in which the game arbitrarily stops them from evolving from meeting the requirements. Odd, but it did not bother me as FRLG because the Johto Dex is bigger, and HGSS definitely improved the type variety and availability compared to original GS. That being said, the lack of means to evolve Togetic, Misdreavus, and Murkrow since these Pokemon were available prior to Kanto in HGSS does hurt them, since their evolutionary lines redeemed them. Glaceon, Leafeon, and Magnezone being unavailable also dumb since they could have implemented location where they could have evolved in Ice Path, Ilex Forest, and Power Plant respectively. The only reason I can think why they did not implement the locations is because they wanted and excuse to trade with DP/Pt. And one very minor thing is that when you arrive in Kanto Erika, Blaine, and Blue use Tangela, Magmar, and Rhydon instead of their evolutions. There's no reason for them to use over their evolved form during this point of the stage since National Dex has been obtained. They do use them in the rematches, but its an odd design choice nonetheless.

Thankfully, ORAS included all the location based evolutions in the games.

LGPE: Worst offender so far. No cross-gens at all, making lines like Seadra, Porygon and Onix feel very incomplete. "Staying true to the Originals " makes zero sense when you have Megas and Regional forms.

So how did the remakes handle cross-evolutions: ORAS<HGSS<FRLG<LGPE. ORAS is the only one to date in which all Cross-Gens are in the regional Pokedex, as well as giving updates to existing teams. So whether you like ORAS or not, give them credit for that!

Speaking of Evolution, I wanna talk about Megas: I liked Mega Evolution. Yes, I know they had their problems, like giving Pokemon like Salamence, Blaziken, and Gengar Megas when they did not need it, or how the majority of them were locked behind the postgame until XY, and XY's postgame was really small to say the least. But they did breather new life into Pokemon- Mawile, Pidgeot, Beedrill, and Altaria were Pokemon who were doomed to be terrible for eternity finally got the buff they needed. Mega Altaria is one of my favorites- I took into the 1850 on the VGC 15 ladder. Even for Pokemon like Houndoom and Absol, both of which were considered "bad" Megas, it did prevent them from falling through power creep, something their base forms would have undeniably gone through. Its also great that all generations got at least one Mega, as Z-Moves and Gigantamax have all been the new region and Kanto only.
 
sb879 just finished their 1PP challenge run of Platinum (which you should totally read through if you haven't, and also follow any of their future challenge runs because they're super well done, alright I'm done plugging), and I noticed something really cool during the fight with Flint.


Magmortar's intro animation uses particle effects to represent a blast of fire! Does any other Pokemon do that?

That's due to a Ball Capsule and likely a Fire Seal B.
Volkner also uses a Ball Capsule for its Electivire, though his is I think Fire Seal D.
 
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