Pokémon Movepool Oddities & Explanations

At least in Let's Go, Marowak can learn two of the elemental punches, missing only Ice Punch. Sounds reasonable, right? Well, yes but no, as Marowak can learn Ice Beam and Blizzard. What.
I don't think that's what they thought, considering how meaningless the distribution of TMs in Pokemon from gen1 is, but I thought of an explanation, at least a little decent, for that. If he were to use Ice Punch, the ice would accumulate directly in his hand, probably causing great pain. However, with Ice Beam and Blizzard, the ice is generated at a distance from it, so at most it gets cold and a little pain.
 

ScraftyIsTheBest

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I believe that this is the best place to post this, as I don't think there is a version of this thread but for abilities. But what makes it so Toxapex does not have Poison Point as its ability. Like, look at it's name - Toxa = Poisonous, Toxic - Pex = Apex, or Point. Just look at it even.
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Yet it has Limber over Poison Point.
I think it's important to remember that Pokemon is primarily Japan-centered and the Japanese names come first for the most part. Toxapex's Japanese name is Dohidoide ( ドヒドイデ ), which is more in line with the phrase "very cruel sea star". This is also likely why one of its abilities is "Merciless" - its name and flavor dex entries define it as being downright cruel.

The English name likely does not take priority when they decide things. Although to be fair, Toxapex does have the move Baneful Bunker which draws a little from Poison Point (poisoning those who make contact with Toxapex when it uses it).
 

Celever

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Even if the Japanese name took priority, what makes it have Limber over Poison Point? Using the power of google, "Starfish do not attack humans, but can inflict painful stings with the release of venom, when they are accidently stepped upon or handled."
Because Limber also fits and there's not much point having it have Poison Point when it has Baneful Bunker already, like ScraftyIsTheBest says.

Abilities are much less open to the scrutiny of "this Pokémon should have this" because each one can only have 3 at most. Many Pokémon could believably have 15-20 abilities, so what abilities end up being chosen are ultimately for gameplay and mechanics purposes.
 
I never understood why Trapinch has a full set of 3 abilities but only has 1 ability when it's a Vibrava/Flygon, I understand Levitate's uses competitively, I just wish it had more options for abilities. I simply don't understand why the only pokemon to have levitate alongside other abilities is Koffing line, Bronzor line, and Duskull.

Interesting Fact: Arctozolt can learn Mega Punch and Thunder Punch but not Ice Punch (even though it's Electric/Ice)
 

CTNC

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Altaria's Hidden Ability is Cloud Nine. Either you already know why that's weird or you're thinking, "Altaria is a fluffy cloud dragon. Why wouldn't it get Cloud Nine?" The thing is Hidden Abilities were introduced in Gen 5 and Altaria is from Gen 3. I was going to say that and leave it at that, but I saw on Bulbapedia when checking who else got it that Cloud Nine is called No Weather in Japanese. (and it sounds like care free, which helps explain everyone else that gets it... I think... It's still kind of weird.) The English translation raising that question is why Altaria gained it when they added Hidden Abilities.
 
Altaria's Hidden Ability is Cloud Nine. Either you already know why that's weird or you're thinking, "Altaria is a fluffy cloud dragon. Why wouldn't it get Cloud Nine?" The thing is Hidden Abilities were introduced in Gen 5 and Altaria is from Gen 3. I was going to say that and leave it at that, but I saw on Bulbapedia when checking who else got it that Cloud Nine is called No Weather in Japanese. (and it sounds like care free, which helps explain everyone else that gets it... I think... It's still kind of weird.) The English translation raising that question is why Altaria gained it when they added Hidden Abilities.
Possibly because the dex entries are almost entirely focused on how Altaria spends most of its time singing, so it's kind of carefree. The Sword dex entry could even be used to stress this point:

"As it flies in a calm and relaxed manner, Altaria performs a humming song that would enrapture any audience."

(Oddly, some of Swablu's entries state that it can't relax in certain situations, such as when it's dirty)
 
I never understood why Trapinch has a full set of 3 abilities but only has 1 ability when it's a Vibrava/Flygon, I understand Levitate's uses competitively, I just wish it had more options for abilities. I simply don't understand why the only pokemon to have levitate alongside other abilities is Koffing line, Bronzor line, and Duskull.

Interesting Fact: Arctozolt can learn Mega Punch and Thunder Punch but not Ice Punch (even though it's Electric/Ice)
Probably because GF really didn’t want to give Pokémon with Levitate HAs for whatever reason, maybe because they had planned Sky Battles in XY in advance and not having levitate would make it needlessly complex for non flying types. In BW, the Bronzong line got a HA, and they were the only line with levitate to have a HA, they were later joined by the Dusclops line in Gen 6, and the Weezing line in Gen 8 with the introduction of Neutrilizing Gas and Galarian Weezing. It’s such a weird double standard.
 
Probably because GF really didn’t want to give Pokémon with Levitate HAs for whatever reason, maybe because they had planned Sky Battles in XY in advance and not having levitate would make it needlessly complex for non flying types. In BW, the Bronzong line got a HA, and they were the only line with levitate to have a HA, they were later joined by the Dusclops line in Gen 6, and the Weezing line in Gen 8 with the introduction of Neutrilizing Gas and Galarian Weezing. It’s such a weird double standard.
Also worth noting is that Bronzor and Bronzong were also the only Pokemon with Levitate to have a second non-hidden ability until Koffing get Neutralizing Gas (which is also when Koffing line got their hidden abilities, Stench for the Kanto forms and Misty Surge for Gweezing)
 
Inspired by the discussion on Smart Strike Kartana, the fact that Blacephalon is the only non-box art Ultra Beast with a signature move strikes me as weird since Gen 7 really emphasized on giving Pokemon lines signature moves, from Starters to ordinary lines, to legendaries and mythicals. Ideas include giving Pheromosa a pheromone based move since it has absolutely no aroma or attraction based moves, Kartana (UB Slash) getting a slashing Steel move rather than having the stabbing Smart Strike be its only Physical Steel move, and Poipole and Naganadel getting their own version of Toxic Threads.
 
"Rather than rely on force, they master moves that utilize the centrifugal force of spinning concrete."

Its dex entry in BW2, Y, and Alpha Sapphire.

So basically it clears fog by spinning its pillars.
Even though I've known this for a while, the image of a Conkeldurr of clearing up fog by spinning around with a concrete pillar like a tornado never fails to amaze me.
 
My first thought when I found out around Black/White's release was it was because it's a pig, pork is used in hotdogs, and people sometimes boil hotdogs to cook them. My educated guess is that Scald was maybe going to be distributed to Fire types for coverage and to show off a new move to a variety of Pokemon. The idea being that Fire types would utilize steam vapors as a source of water. But the plan was scrapped, Emboar kept Scald, and Water types had a monoply on a move that often burned more times than most Fire type moves. Volcanion and the Coalossal line give me hope we'll see more Water/Fire interactions in later Pokemon concepts.
 
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Scald's distribution is really weird. It's learned by basically every water type*, as well as:
Castform (form change to water)
Emboar (already discussed)
Stunfisk / G-Stunfisk (I guess it's based on a fish, but this is still really odd)
Crabrawler (based on a crab, but that's even more of a stretch than Stunfisk)
Coalossal (Steam Engine, fine, makes sense)
Sizzlipede (wut)
Pincurchin (wut)
Dragapult (wut)

So it looks like in Gen 8, they decided to just make Scald a coverage move on the new mons. There's definitely no good reasoning for some of these choices though, at least not on such a rare coverage move.

Oh, there's one more non-water to get the move: Raikou. Which makes certain sense, it's based on a legend involving a rainstorm that started a fire, of course it gets the burning water move. You know what doesn't get Scald? ENTEI. The other part of that same legend, and the part explicitly based on the fire. No Scald.

*I can't find an easy way to check, but I know no water/ice types get it, which is a restriction that actually makes sense IMO.
 
*I can't find an easy way to check, but I know no water/ice types get it, which is a restriction that actually makes sense IMO.
So I used /ds scald, water and /ds water. It leads to me figuring out that 15 water pokemon do not have scald. Now, finding out which ones they are would be something I'd rather not do, but that's some info for you I guess.
 

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