Why does Bruno have Onix in almost all of his teams? AFAIK his FRLG and HGSS rematch teams are the only ones where he doesn't use at least 1, and in the former it's only because they both evolved. It's neither good nor Fighting type and it's not like Kanto doesn't have other fighting types for him to use.
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SPOILERS! Mysteries and Conspiracies of Pokemon
- Thread starter stage7_4
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Was a theory I read ages ago that Bruno was originally going to be the first gym leader but looked too tough or strong so they made Brock as a mini Bruno and they kept Bruno having an Onix
Not the theory I've seen, which was that Onix was meant to be better but then they realised Brock didn't have a big boss so they repurposed Onix for that and then just didn't change Bruno's team.
QuentinQuonce
formerly green_typhlosion
More generally none of the Kanto Elite Four are truly single-typed. Lorelei uses as many Water-types as Ice, Agatha is as much a Poison trainer as a Ghost one, and Lance uses Flying-types. Bruno uses Rock as well as Fighting, I guess to give him a similar element of type diversity? He could have had a Poliwrath but I wonder if the reason he didn't was because they felt it'd be redundant right after Lorelei (plus it doesn't really aesthetically match his other squad members).
Why specifically Onix is questionable though. He has a Sandslash in the anime iirc, or at least befriends one, and no-one else uses Golem. The theories above are as plausible to me as any. Interestingly Brock idolises Bruno in the anime, much as Misty is said to worship Lorelei in the games.
Why specifically Onix is questionable though. He has a Sandslash in the anime iirc, or at least befriends one, and no-one else uses Golem. The theories above are as plausible to me as any. Interestingly Brock idolises Bruno in the anime, much as Misty is said to worship Lorelei in the games.
I’ve seen a theory that onix was originally designed to be a powerful, late game alternative to rhydon and golem, especially given it’s imposing design, but was later nerfed when they needed an intimidating but not overly powerful ace for Brock.
It’s possible that they gave onix to Bruno while it was stronger, but forgot to change it after nerfing it and giving it to Brock, or maybe they just wanted him to have a pokemon that looked strong.
Alternatively, they could’ve just not wanted to use rhydon since the rival had it and forgot about golem. It’s all speculation
It’s possible that they gave onix to Bruno while it was stronger, but forgot to change it after nerfing it and giving it to Brock, or maybe they just wanted him to have a pokemon that looked strong.
Alternatively, they could’ve just not wanted to use rhydon since the rival had it and forgot about golem. It’s all speculation
They needed more Pokemon to round out his team and Onix are big rough & tough looking so the yfit his shirtless muscle man ryu aesthetic. They probably liked how more imposing they were compared to the other rock types; though by Let's Go they let him have Alolan Golem in his rematch team [he also got a Poliwrath to replace the other Onix in his default team). They probably keep at least one Onix on all but one of his teams (HGSS rematch) just to carry that gen 1 torch
Now the real mystery to me is why his FRLG Rematch team just evolved them and called it a day. The other 3 all swapped out one of their Pokemon for a new gen 2 pokemon in addition to any Evolution they might have had (ie: Agatha's golbat evolve and swapped the Haunter for Misdreavus) and Hitmontop is right there (Heracross is owned by Rematch Blue so I assume they wanted to avoid overlap).
Now the real mystery to me is why his FRLG Rematch team just evolved them and called it a day. The other 3 all swapped out one of their Pokemon for a new gen 2 pokemon in addition to any Evolution they might have had (ie: Agatha's golbat evolve and swapped the Haunter for Misdreavus) and Hitmontop is right there (Heracross is owned by Rematch Blue so I assume they wanted to avoid overlap).
I really don't think they "forgot" about Golem despite the fact that it is strangely not at all used by anyone in the game, and the only one of the original trade four who wasn't the ace of any major boss Trainer at any point.
While they likely did consider Golem to be out of the question, I think it was more out of the question because it's a three-stage Pokemon, which at the time were a relatively rare tendency and for the most part, barring Butterfree and Beedrill for obvious reasons, were supposed to be among the stronger Pokemon in the game and thus a privilege to be used. The other three trade four are mainly used as the ace Pokemon of certain Trainers: Alakazam is Sabrina's ace, Machamp is incidentally the ace of Bruno himself (and thus the only three stage Pokemon he had the right to use), and Gengar is Agatha's ace who you face soon after.
The other cases were the stone evolutions, and the first time you see Vileplume and Victreebel are when Erika uses them in the mid-game as her dual aces, Poliwrath isn't used at all by any in-game Trainer, and the fully evolved Nidos are only really used by Giovanni and to an extent a few of his Gym Trainers as his most prominent Pokemon besides his Rhydon. Pidgeot only shows up as one of Blue's constant Pokemon.
And then there's Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise, who are supposed to be Blue's ace depending on your own starter at that point, and only start showing up around Victory Road in terms of NPC battles, and then Dragonite who is the pseudo-legendary (the strongest three-stage Pokemon of them all) and is the ace of Lance, the final Elite Four member.
You can see the underlying pattern but at the time they clearly treated certain three-stage Pokemon to be a bigger deal and wanted them to stand out more than the typical common two-stage or single-stage evolutionary lines, so they either showed up as someone's ace, or didn't get used by any major NPC at all. Golem never showed up because sadly Rhydon also took over many of its spots but it was a three stage Pokemon and thus clearly a privileged Pokemon, so making it a generic team member on an NPC team was likely not in the cards for the devs at the time.
While they likely did consider Golem to be out of the question, I think it was more out of the question because it's a three-stage Pokemon, which at the time were a relatively rare tendency and for the most part, barring Butterfree and Beedrill for obvious reasons, were supposed to be among the stronger Pokemon in the game and thus a privilege to be used. The other three trade four are mainly used as the ace Pokemon of certain Trainers: Alakazam is Sabrina's ace, Machamp is incidentally the ace of Bruno himself (and thus the only three stage Pokemon he had the right to use), and Gengar is Agatha's ace who you face soon after.
The other cases were the stone evolutions, and the first time you see Vileplume and Victreebel are when Erika uses them in the mid-game as her dual aces, Poliwrath isn't used at all by any in-game Trainer, and the fully evolved Nidos are only really used by Giovanni and to an extent a few of his Gym Trainers as his most prominent Pokemon besides his Rhydon. Pidgeot only shows up as one of Blue's constant Pokemon.
And then there's Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise, who are supposed to be Blue's ace depending on your own starter at that point, and only start showing up around Victory Road in terms of NPC battles, and then Dragonite who is the pseudo-legendary (the strongest three-stage Pokemon of them all) and is the ace of Lance, the final Elite Four member.
You can see the underlying pattern but at the time they clearly treated certain three-stage Pokemon to be a bigger deal and wanted them to stand out more than the typical common two-stage or single-stage evolutionary lines, so they either showed up as someone's ace, or didn't get used by any major NPC at all. Golem never showed up because sadly Rhydon also took over many of its spots but it was a three stage Pokemon and thus clearly a privileged Pokemon, so making it a generic team member on an NPC team was likely not in the cards for the devs at the time.
Yung Dramps
awesome gaming
for whatever it's worth i think either the anime or pokespe says that bruno uses the onix for training exercises due to their size and texture but that's probably a post-hoc explanation done on their end rather than lore straight from the developers' notes
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Was used very well in Adventures.
Sandslash? That even makes more sense. Bruno is Fighting-specialis; as in TCG's Fighting type, which lumped Rock and Ground types there. But this is also only a probable explanation
There's an early episode of the show where there's a tournament that only Fighting-types are allowed to enter (and they make it a point that only Fighting-type Pokemon are allowed to enter), and Brock is allowed to enter his Geodude. There's also some poster with the TCG type icons but maybe that was a localization thing.
The type icons are on that poster in Japan as well, but that poster is from an episode just talking about the Pokemon League so it as probably just some cross-branding while being shorthand for "wow, typings!"
Golden Duke
Banned deucer.
I think Zinnia is the Pokémon equivalent of the Greek Goddess Artemis. Her complexion and her disposition strangely remind me of her.
Huh, never thought of that.
Well, one thing we need to keep in mind is, once again, Quaking Earth, who is a Titan Paradox Pokemon. So whatever reason Pokemon outside of Area Zero is becoming Titan Pokemon, it can't just be because the Area Zero Pokemon have just adapted to eating the flora within Area Zero.
Nothing suggests the scientists who re-planted the HM did anything to them genetically, so the only factor that seems to be at play here is the environment. Maybe, since HM are a species of plant which have been irradiated with Terastal radiation, planting it someplace lacking that radiation has caused a change in its chemical or energy makeup.
If I were to hypothesize (about this completely fictional plant & scenario which has no basis in reality), could be HM outside Area Zero have a large build-up of Terastal radiation within it than ones in Area Zero. While in Area Zero, since the entire environment is irradiated by the Terastal phenomenon, the radiation is "evenly" spread out so, for Pokemon who have adapted to living in that environment, it doesn't cause them to grow or more violent (though it could explain why they're high Leveled, afterall HM have powerful medicinal uses). But outside Area Zero the environment is unable to absorb Terastal radiation as readily, so all the Terastal radiation that HM create when it grows remain inside it. Could be why it and the moss surrounding it glows while flora in Area Zero don't, there's so much Terastal radiation built-up it's causing a release of energy wherever possible (such as generating light).
So, when a Pokemon eats this non-Area Zero HM, be them a normal Pokemon or a Paradox Pokemon who escaped Area Zero, the excess Terastal Energy causes a massive power increase within them. Luckily for them, instead of a myriad of painful ways of dying, their bodies quickly adapt by just growing bigger to contain the power (though they also become more vicious).
In addition with what everyone said above, I also like to think there was a sort of "bookend" thing going on.
Onix was meant to be the first "WOW" Pokemon the player would encounter. Up till then the most amazing Pokemon the player had encountered were the Starters because of their elemental attributes. All other Pokemon up till than were mainly just animals with some not-so farfetched elemental capabilities. Facing Brock, first first Pokemon is Geodude, a strange creature which is a living rock with huge arms. Interesting, but no more fantastical as your Starters, maybe a bit less so. Than, after defeating it, Brock sends in his ace: Onix, a giant rock snake. Despite how the battle goes it looks intimidating, and if you don't have anything super-effective against it or uses Special Moves may take you a while to whittle it down. It's pretty much the first "boss" of the game.
Jump to facing Bruno, the near end of the game in midst of the final boss rush. You've now seen most of the Dex, met many more of the fantastical Pokemon there are, made a whole team of them infact. First Pokemon that Bruno sends out? Onix. The first "boss" of the game, still a giant rock snake, but now looks less intimidating. Not only that, Bruno is revealed to have TWO Onix, and none of them is his ace! He just has two Onix on his team which are nothing more than fodder now. It just goes to show how both the player and the game has progressed since you started playing it. The single Onix some players may have struggled with at the beginning of the game is now just two Pokemon you easily can swipe aside, and the game recognizes that as they are just mooks to try and soften you up before Bruno sends out his actual Fighting-types. Oh, and Bruno isn't even the final boss! There's still Lance who commands legendary Dragon Pokemon and the surprise twist that your Rival, the first trainer you battled who started on the same day as you, is the Champion (another bookend itself). You've both come far from where you started, and now you're even going to surpass that.
QuentinQuonce
formerly green_typhlosion
Oh my god this just reminded me of the Prima Games guide for FRLG (seriously, I need to do a full post about this thing at some point, it's a work of art) which in its section on Bruno says "you've probably fought an Onix this 'powerful' in the field anyway, so thrash it and move on"
This is something i've thought about off and on: Does Pokerus count as a Pokemon in and of itself? There's nothing seemingly preventing a virus from being considered just by looking at Deoxys - Counting Deoxys as a "virus" in and of itself might be a bit of a stretch, though its entry specifically states how it originated
It's probably as much a Pokemon as any other virus or bacteria in the Pokemon world.
not every virus affects every animal the same, so name aside it's not that unusual for it to "just" be a virus that only (visibly) affects Pokemon. Deoxys clearly went to a different degree than your average virus.
You can probably handwave through explanations of how its all still "Zygarde" and maybe it only properly (or capable of it at all) battles when 10% or higher.
Honestly if the 10% didn't exist it probably would have been, but they wanted it as the collection mechanic that lead to 10%, 50% and Complete so no reason to add more complexity to it. Or maybe if it had been treated as a "pre-evolution" ala Cosmog/Cosmoem.
not every virus affects every animal the same, so name aside it's not that unusual for it to "just" be a virus that only (visibly) affects Pokemon. Deoxys clearly went to a different degree than your average virus.
I don't think the Zygarde cores were justified at all. The Cells at least just seem to be, like...not even sentient. They exist at beck & call of the cores.
You can probably handwave through explanations of how its all still "Zygarde" and maybe it only properly (or capable of it at all) battles when 10% or higher.
Honestly if the 10% didn't exist it probably would have been, but they wanted it as the collection mechanic that lead to 10%, 50% and Complete so no reason to add more complexity to it. Or maybe if it had been treated as a "pre-evolution" ala Cosmog/Cosmoem.
Well, for the Zygarde Cells and Cores, they're just not "complete". The Cells have no will of their own, readily obeying any Core that's near them, and a single one on its own can't do anything (only when there's many and a Core commanding them can they combine to form a functioning body; they're pretty much a colonial organism like the zooids of siphonophores). I guess the same sentiment can be also applied to the Cores, though they're essentially the brain (or, sticking with cell terms, the nucleus) with no power outside commanding Cells.
Cells = Not a Pokemon, essentially just tissue.
Core = Not a Pokemon, essentially a brain.
A Core with enough Cells to make a body = A Pokemon, just barely in 10%'s case.
As for Pokerus, what's probably stopping it from being fully considered a Pokemon is it's a parasite which cannot live on its own without a host. And when attached to a host, it does not affect them in any major way biologically that the Pokemon can be considered a different species. Like the Zygarde Cells, the Pokerus likely isn't sentient, it's just following its "programming" of attaching to a host for a few days, feeding off them, reproducing (& trying to spread), and finally dying. Very base instincts, barely defining as life, let alone as a full organism which Pokemon are.
Yes, Deoxys is a virus, but it mutated into something much more, able to replicate its own genes and survive without needing to be a parasite.
I should add that real world viruses are debated to whether they're living organisms, so Pokerus not being a Pokemon isn't unfounded. In the Pokemon Generations episode of the Delta Episode, Gabby was in disbelief that Deoxy was capturable and is a Pokemon, plus the general reaction of the Ultra Beasts and Paradox Pokemon implies there are in-universe preconceived notions of what a Pokemon is. If I had to guess, if it can be captured in a Pokeball in some way, it's a Pokemon.
For a long time now, I’ve thought it’d be cool if there was a game where the region itself turned out to be a Pokémon that people were living on the back of. Clearly I wasn’t dreaming big enough.
Prompted by some talk about Flying move distribution that annoyed people and I got to thinking.
Brave Bird's flavor text mentions to user tucking in its wings to fly low. So how does this work for Flightless birds like Dodrio, Quaquaval, or Espathra (as in what makes this different from Double Edge for them)?Bulbapedia said:
And that aside
Where do you see wings HERE? And this is a Level 1 move on only this stage, so not even the TM-weirdness excuse or carrying up from the more Bird-like Torchic.
Obviously its the head wings!
I think I've seen this one! :P
I thought the second* worst part of the Detective Pikachu movie was the reveal that the lab was on top of a bunch of giant torterra. I thought it was dumb and ridiculous (it looked like they were experimenting on torterra in the lab and then all of a sudden the lab is on top of the giant torterra??).
And then dynamax happened. At least with dynamax it's canonically some kind of projection.
*The worst part is the gas that magically allowed Mewtwo to psychically merge people with Pokemon.