Pokémon Movepool Oddities & Explanations

CTNC said:
I'm starting to think you can explain any move on any Pokemon with real life trivia. Want to point out any other moves that don't make sense at first glance?
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CTNC said:
There's still a few odd ones like Dubwool, Shiftry, Absol, Zoroark, and Stunfisk. Even with the Splash+ theory, I refuse to believe Stunfisk, and is Dubwool's wool really as bouncy as the Pokedex says? I'd also like to point out Galvantula also learns Bounce. I'm not asking why it gets Bounce because of logic because I can see that. I'm questioning why because it wasn't be terrifying in real life already.

By the way there's a few Pokemon that can learn Splash but not Bounce. I'm not questioning some of them because I can think of good reasons, like Wobbuffet not getting any Non-Counter Attacks. Mimikyu can learn Splash but can't learn Bounce. A small hop would let others see what's under the rag, but jumping high enough would terrify its now former friends. Also, Cosmog learns Splash but its evolutions can't learn Bounce. I'm not questioning that. I'm just pointing out the mental image of Solgaleo using Bounce is funny and explains enough.

I'm stumped on explaining why Feebas doesn't get it though when so many other fish do and why is Politoad the only one in Poliwag's evolution chain that can learn Bounce?
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  • Dubwool: Dex description says its wool is very bouncy. This is probably because the pattern on its wool is supposed to resemble a soccer ball.
  • Shiftry: Based on the mythical Tengu who has magical fans which let them control the wind.
  • Absol: Is feline in shape so could be its way of pouncing?
  • Zoroark: Another pouncer (fox's pounce, right?)?
  • Stunfisk: As you said, it's odd its here. There logic is likely "fish flop around" but the type of fish that Stunfisk is based on, the flounder, is better known for laying flat on the ocean floor. They have shown at least in the anime that Stunfisk, if made airborn, can use its flatness and rapidly flapping its flippers can remain airborn for a bit, so maybe that's what they're thinking?
  • Feebas: Feebas doesn't quiet have the "jumping high up" connection as Magikarp does. Magikarp is based on the Dragon Gate legend of a carp jumping over it to turn into a dragon; Feebas is more of fish version of the "Ugly Duckling" tale.
  • Politoad But Not Others: Politoad is a fully developed frog and able to jump around. Poliwag & Poliwhirl are still in their tadpole stage. Poliwrath remains in its more tadpole-like shape so it could become a strong swimmer.
 
CTNC said:
I'd also like to point out Galvantula also learns Bounce. I'm not asking why it gets Bounce because of logic because I can see that. I'm questioning why because it wasn't be terrifying in real life already.
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Joltik and Galvantula learning Bounce is likely a reference to the jumping spider, which especially Joltik bears a striking resemblance to: tiny, fluffy, big forward-facing eyes, and just generally the cutest damn spiders you've ever seen.

cw: arachnophobia, but it might still be fine because they look like puppies.
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Worldie said:
I thought Magikarp evolving into Gyarados was basically a big joke, and now you come and tell me it has a legendary root?

My childhood was a lie. I hate you.
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Really? You didn't know? Well, let me ruin your childhood even more: You probably heard Farfetch'd is based on an old Asian legend about a duck with a sprig of onion offering itself up to a desperately hungry person, right? Well, that's wrong, or at least not very accurate. Farfetch'd is actually based on a saying that translates to "a duck comes bearing bunching onions". While one interpretation means something that is surprising convenient (to the person who now plans on eating the duck, it came with its own seasoning), another interpretation is one setting up for their own misfortune (by carrying around onions, the duck is attracting someone to eat it).

This relates to Farfetch'd original role in the game: you can only get it by trade and the person trading it is just asking for a simple Spearow. Seems like a pretty good trade at first, it's a rare Pokemon and it is stronger than Spearow. But the thing is, Farfetch'd can't evolve. It's stats are only good at THAT point in the game, but later on even after leveling up a bunch it won't be keeping up with the other Pokemon with higher BST. Meanwhile, have you trained a Spearow, eventually it would evolve into a Fearow which has a higher BST, notably in Attack and Speed, and serve you much better in battle. And thus, Farfetch'd embodies the two interpretations of the phrase its based off: at that moment in time it's surprisingly convenient, but not long after do you realize you had set yourself up for disappointment (not that you wouldn't at least have done the trade anyway, catching another Spearow is no problem and you don't have to train the Farfetch'd just need it for dex completion, but this more of a "first time playing" thing).
 
chuckeroo777 said:
What? Blastoise isn't a turtle. It is clearly the Shellfish Pokemon.
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Quoting Bulbapedia:
Blastoise's design appears to be a turtle mixed with aspects of a tank. Blastoise's cannons may have been derived from the functioning tubes found in mussels and some other shellfish, thus its category. Name origin. Blastoise is a combination of blast (referring to its cannons) and tortoise.
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You technically aren't wrong, because it does have some aspects of a shellfish, but it's still a turtle.
Please pray to god I don't get wooshed.
 
Currently going through the tedious process that is chain breeding in Gen II to obtain a Tangela with Amnesia and while looking at the Bulbapedia page for the move... Psyduck didn't get it as a level-up move until gen 4 (it does get it as an event move in Gen I by way of Pokemon Stadium, but this is likely less to do with flavour and more to do with Amnesia's incredible utility in that generation). Another case of the "Lickitung's Lick" issue from Gen I, methinks, given that Psyduck is always characterised as a vacant and forgetful Pokemon:

Pearl dex entry: It never remembers using its odd powers, so it always tilts its head in puzzlement.

Sapphire/Alpha Sapphire dex entry: If it uses its mysterious power, Psyduck can't remember having done so. It apparently can't form a memory of such an event because it goes into an altered state that is much like deep sleep.

___

Another curiosity I just noticed: Magearna, Xerneas, and Cresselia are the only species which are neither Water-type or Ice-type to learn Aurora Beam.

Why, exactly? Well, let's look to the move's description for some clues:

The target is hit with a rainbow-colored beam. This may also lower the target's Attack stat.

Ah, okay. Xerneas has that whole rainbow thing going on with its horns (and learns a grab bag of random moves like Outrage, Night Slash, and Close Combat anyway so it's not too surprising) and Cresselia learns a lot of moves associated with light, weather, and sky like Mist, Flash, Moonlight, etc so the aurora kind of matches that.

But I'm not seeing how exactly this relatively uncommon move suits Magearna's flavour. While it learns the range of elemental moves you'd expect a mythical Pokemon to learn, the vast majority of its level-up moves are Normal, Steel, or Fairy. Aurora Beam sticks out in its list of moves like a sore thumb.
 
green_typhlosion said:
But I'm not seeing how exactly this relatively uncommon move suits Magearna's flavour. While it learns the range of elemental moves you'd expect a mythical Pokemon to learn, the vast majority of its level-up moves are Normal, Steel, or Fairy. Aurora Beam sticks out in its list of moves like a sore thumb.
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Magearna can actually learn a variety of "Beam" moves - Psybeam, Aurora Beam (that you just mentioned,) Hyper Beam, Solar Beam, Ice Beam, Steel Beam, Charge Beam, and Signal Beam. I'm not sure why it learns them since I couldn't find any info on how Magearna actually uses them, bit it might be because of its animations?
 
SlowAndBruh said:
Magearna can actually learn a variety of "Beam" moves - Psybeam, Aurora Beam (that you just mentioned,) Hyper Beam, Solar Beam, Ice Beam, Steel Beam, Charge Beam, and Signal Beam. I'm not sure why it learns them since I couldn't find any info on how Magearna actually uses them, bit it might be because of its animations?
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That's as good an explanation as any - it just struck me as odd given the exclusivity of Aurora Beam (a move I had actually assumed more Pokemon learned).

spookysocialist said:
Magearna's arms are actually laser cannons.

View attachment 350361
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I... did not know this. Am I forgetting, or did the in-game animations in Gen VII not show that off at all?
 
green_typhlosion said:
That's as good an explanation as any - it just struck me as odd given the exclusivity of Aurora Beam (a move I had actually assumed more Pokemon learned).



I... did not know this. Am I forgetting, or did the in-game animations in Gen VII not show that off at all?
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It is a dedicated attack animation

e: Or at least, I thought it was. Maybe the move effects hide it.

e2: no i was right hte first time https://cdn2.bulbagarden.net/upload/6/69/Fleur_Cannon_VII.png
 
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green_typhlosion said:
Ah I've never really used Magearna in battles so no wonder I never saw it.
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iirc Magearna's ability to fold into a bal lshape is even in the game as its entrance animation, which is cute.

I think the only "transformation" quirks that a Pokemon is capable of in media but doesnt show in-game is Golurk (able to retract its limbs for both turning into a canon and to rocket around) and the Vanilluxe line (the snow-less version).
 
WOOT! I have just figured out why Blastoise is called the "Shellfish Pokemon"!

Okay, so, curious if it was a mistranslation, I checked what Blastoise's Japanese Category was. It was simply "Shell Pokemon". Okay, odd, why would the translators call it a shellfish then instead of just shell? Curious about the Japanese word itself, "こうら", I put it into Google and it gave me what it literally says in English, "kōra". I checked what the Japanese word for Shell and Shellfish was, and they were nowhere close to that word ("Sheru" for Shell, "Kai" for Shellfish). So, I typed in Google "what does kōra mean in Japanese" and got my answer:

It was indeed a mistranslation. While ONE definition of Kōra is indeed "shell", the other definition of Kōra: Carapace. Now it's not wrong to say turtles and tortoise have carapaces, "carapace" is the more scientific way of describing what we usually think of a shell being (a hardened section on the upper body). However, normally the term is mostly associated with arthropods and their exoskeleton, and that includes crustaceans like crabs, lobsters, and shrimp; also recognized as shellfish.

Still, unless the translation team didn't know what Blastoise looked like or was related to Squirtle and Wartortle (both called Turtle Pokemon), I still don't get why they went with "shellfish". Like, if they weren't sure what translation of "kōra" to go with, why not pick the more ambiguous "shell" or even "carapace"? Of course, I'm saying that 20 years after the fact where just Googling something is the norm, could be whatever the translation team was using to translate the words maybe listed kōra as shellfish or at least as one of its translations.

R_N said:
iirc Magearna's ability to fold into a bal lshape is even in the game as its entrance animation, which is cute.

I think the only "transformation" quirks that a Pokemon is capable of in media but doesnt show in-game is Golurk (able to retract its limbs for both turning into a canon and to rocket around) and the Vanilluxe line (the snow-less version).
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We never see a Burmy without its coat in the games though it has been shown in the anime and manga.
Burmy_no_cloak.png

"DON'T LOOK I'M NAKED!"
 
Worldie said:
*aggressive flailing*

You know those clips where a tall person holds a shorter one at arm's lenght and they flail their hands at them trying to punch? :blobuwu:
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Dire Dire Docks said:
From a game design perspective, this is probably to fit with the theme of draining the enemy's life force. From a biology perspective, I have no idea how they're punching anything with those stubby little arms.
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The Oddish Line life in a nutshell:

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PokemonCrusader said:
The Oddish Line life in a nutshell:

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Even though we can't actually see them. In fact, they don't even HAVE arms. But what's stuck out to me is this:

:ss/wooper:
Wooper can learn punching moves. Dynamic Punch, Ice Punch, and Power-Up Punch are those moves it can learn. It's actually been a meme for so long, like how does it even punch? With its tail or something? I have no clue.
 
SlowAndBruh said:
Even though we can't actually see them. In fact, they don't even HAVE arms. But what's stuck out to me is this:

:ss/wooper:
Wooper can learn punching moves. Dynamic Punch, Ice Punch, and Power-Up Punch are those moves it can learn. It's actually been a meme for so long, like how does it even punch? With its tail or something? I have no clue.
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It slams the enemy with its head and we all call it a punch because it's trying its best, okay?
 
SlowAndBruh said:
Even though we can't actually see them. In fact, they don't even HAVE arms. But what's stuck out to me is this:

:ss/wooper:
Wooper can learn punching moves. Dynamic Punch, Ice Punch, and Power-Up Punch are those moves it can learn. It's actually been a meme for so long, like how does it even punch? With its tail or something? I have no clue.
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Axolotls are capable of regenerating all sorts of body parts should they break off or get damaged. Perhaps Wooper temporarily grows an arm that falls off after the move is over because it doesn't have the energy to support the arm long-term.
 
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