SPOILERS! Pokemon Sword & Shield Pre-Release SPOILERS - Check Post 2!

This doesn't pertain to anything recent, but I noticed something about Giga Lapras. Its shell looks a bit like a cruise ship.



Do you see it? The tiered stripes on Lapras's shell look like the rows of windows on the sides of the ship, and the spikes on the top of Lapras's shell look like the structures jutting out of the top of the ship.
so it's a cruise ship that crushes all its passengers to death before reaching its destination

it's tempting, but I'll pass, I can probably find a better deal elsewhere
 
The third Legend having another form already, a story spoiler I don't want to point out without spoiler tags, and now Gym Leader rematches? We're so not getting a third version. The only reason I haven't preordered Shield yet is because everything still isn't technically confirmed. It could still be an insanely good hoax, which you'd have to be paranoid to consider, but better paranoid than sorry. Data miners have to know some corrupt guy at Gamestop! They have to have a way to get it early!


To say that isn't Gigantamax Gengar isn't the best Pokemon is an understatement, (even from the meme standpoint) but I don't hate it and I and I like to drink tears, so here's a reminder for everyone that hates it. Gigantamax Pokemon may have a stat boost. (But it's not confirmed, so maybe not.) What we do know is Max Haunt lowers Defense, which is useless for Gengar, so if its G Move is a Ghost Type and does something useful, like oh let's say... literally anything else, then you'll have to look at Gigantamax Gengar in competitive battles!

I know we're probably going to call Gigantamax Gengar G-Gengar, but its mouth looks like Guzzlord's, so can we call it Genlord? What about Guzgar? Hm... I might use Guzgar as a nickname...
You say that but Sun and Moon ended with Lillie leaving the region on a ship and the entire plot wrapped up nicely with a bow... And then we got Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.

That said, maybe Gen 4 remakes will take the place of a "third game" and we won't have another USUM situation if the story really does wrap itself up like SuMo did.
 
You say that but Sun and Moon ended with Lillie leaving the region on a ship and the entire plot wrapped up nicely with a bow... And then we got Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.

That said, maybe Gen 4 remakes will take the place of a "third game" and we won't have another USUM situation if the story really does wrap itself up like SuMo did.
Or: A Black 2/White 2 situation with Kalos ;)
 
Or: A Black 2/White 2 situation with Kalos ;)
As long as they never give us another rival as terribly written as Hugh. The Rivals in XY and Gen 3 aren't even as bad as him because they would have to have a personality to be annoying. Hugh is just a flat character, one shrill note repeated over and over the course of the game, never changing until the very end when his plot gets resolved and he has nothing left. And it was such a letdown too after Bianca and Cheren being pretty well fleshed out characters with nice character arcs that show them actually growing over the course of the game.

weird that i seem to be in the minority about him though.
 

Yung Dramps

awesome gaming
So, I thought of something concerning Technical Records.

You know how Darkest Lariat is a TR now? Well, that could possibly mean the other Alola starters could have their signature moves endure via this mechanic. Which means...

SPIRIT SHACKLE TR?? MORE WIDELY DISTRIBUTED, ACTUALLY POWERFUL PHYSICAL GHOST STAB?!???
 
So, I thought of something concerning Technical Records.

You know how Darkest Lariat is a TR now? Well, that could possibly mean the other Alola starters could have their signature moves endure via this mechanic. Which means...

SPIRIT SHACKLE TR?? MORE WIDELY DISTRIBUTED, ACTUALLY POWERFUL PHYSICAL GHOST STAB?!???
Sadly, if it exists then Dragapult probably won't get it, else they would surely have put it on the Battle Tower set.

Then again, they sometimes have... questionable ideas of what is an optimal set.
 
Sadly, if it exists then Dragapult probably won't get it, else they would surely have put it on the Battle Tower set.

Then again, they sometimes have... questionable ideas of what is an optimal set.
At times, I actually doubt they aim for optimal set, to control the meta.

Remember, they have locked Contrary Serperior for a long time and even then its movepool is too barren to really make use of it. There's Contrary Lurantis, which is well....
Minor example would be Koko having higher Atk, yet people have to use its SpA more because of how its Atk options are devoid of Fairy.

As I see it now, Dragapult borders on too good to be true. This thing is really an Arceus-sent with its Speed, so I won't be surprised if GF realised how they have made it too dangerously strong and trimmed its movepool a bit.
 

Yung Dramps

awesome gaming
Sadly, if it exists then Dragapult probably won't get it, else they would surely have put it on the Battle Tower set.

Then again, they sometimes have... questionable ideas of what is an optimal set.
That, and also the fact that Spirit Shackle might not be considered a good fit for Dragapult and it might not learn it for others do. Perhaps something more "ominous" like Dusknoir
 
As long as they never give us another rival as terribly written as Hugh. The Rivals in XY and Gen 3 aren't even as bad as him because they would have to have a personality to be annoying. Hugh is just a flat character, one shrill note repeated over and over the course of the game, never changing until the very end when his plot gets resolved and he has nothing left. And it was such a letdown too after Bianca and Cheren being pretty well fleshed out characters with nice character arcs that show them actually growing over the course of the game.

weird that i seem to be in the minority about him though.
Hugh is by far my favourite rival in the Pokémon series and that's precisely what I like about him and what makes the character real, he "never changes". Knows what he wants and goes for it until the very end. I think the "evolution" or development in fiction is done wrong most of the time; someone doesn't change from black to white in the curse of an adventure.
 
You know which TM or TR might be interesting? Avalanch! It's been so long since we had it; some Pkm need their movepool to get updated as has been already done so with Defog. It's very hard to get Avalanch Rhyperior, for example. So, this might be a good opportunity to solve this issue.
Also, I'd like to see Avalanch Gigalith; it would certainly make sense and provide it with a nice coverage; it's slow, so the negative priority doesn't matter much.
 
I think the "evolution" or development in fiction is done wrong most of the time; someone doesn't change from black to white in the curse of an adventure.
As with everything else, it's possible to do character development badly, but I don't think it's as bad as you make it sound. Compare Bianca and Cheren with Hugh.

Bianca is going on a Pokemon journey to find her independence as a person. She and Elesa confront her father (who may merely be overprotective or outright emotionally abusive; both interpretations are possible, and you can form your own opinion) but through her interactions with you and Cheren she comes to terms with the fact that the path you seem to be pursuing isn't hers, ending up assisting the professor with research since that's what she finds rewarding.

Cheren's goal is to become the Champion. His use of held items rather than Potions conveys his strategic nature and lends a sense that he has the makings of a strong trainer in him, but when Alder asks what he plans to do after he's on top of the world he has no response. Being the League Champion in Unova isn't like climbing Everest, where "because it's there" is a valid reason to do it; it's a role with a significant amount of influence, and Cheren has no idea what he'd do with that even if he did get it. In the end, N explicitly chooses you as his counterpart over Cheren, who bows out with grace (but still succeeds at fighting his way through the Elite Four, as if just to prove to himself that he was at least in with a shot) and becomes a Gym Leader, using his expertise and wisdom to assist his fellow Trainers.

Hugh is a kid who wants to get his sister's Purrloin back. He shouts a lot at people wearing Team Plasma uniforms, ignoring any nuance in the scenario (like the former Team Plasma members wearing their old uniforms as a symbol of contrition and loyalty to N); he cares about Pokemon, and thinks that things like stealing them and making them sad is bad in the abstract, but he only actually cares about his sister's Purrloin. Eventually he gets back the Purrloin, and he crashes to a halt as a character. The battle in Victory Road is a formality - previous Pokemon games have a rival fight in the run-up to the Pokemon League, so here's Hugh again.
 
Could be a M-Lati situation, in that the split evos have the same G-max form.
It’ll be interesting to find out what the answer is. I just can’t see the two designs converging in a g-max form that looks so similar to their pre-evolution; why level up to something that is seemingly just a cooler version that looks like the Pokémon that it used to be, Applin? It just confuses me from a design standpoint. M-Latios and M-Latias looking similar in their mega evo makes sense not only thematically, but given the context of their relationship as a duo of two different but intrinsically interconnected Pokémon. Appletun and Flapple could fit that definition considering it’s a split evo, but it just seems like a sort of design cop-out to merge the Pokémon line back with a g-max form.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
 
There are 100 TMs and 100 TRs, the latter being a replacement for move tutor. You can purchase the latter but have to use the watt currency if I'm not mistaken.

Do we know how we go about acquiring watts in-game yet? Are they just from Max Raid battles? That ought to make things rather grindy
 
I am a fan of the TRs and TMs. Always liked the old TM system for ingame purposes and making choices more important, but when it comes to competitive I can see how limited important move sources could be a pain. The new TMs were convenient but I felt at the same time it was easy to put Return or whatever good TM you found to be optimal on everything, and end up with a lot of moveslots in common. Now you can have infinite of the standard variety moves, but the powerful/uncommon moves are limited. Makes sense to have these different power levels on different standards, and we're even seeing weird choices like signature moves thrown into the mix now.

Speaking of moves, the fact that Darkest Lariat is still in makes me think that they weren't too hasty to delete things, or at least reconsidered a use for them and there might probably be a fair share of unused moves in the data. I personally hope the legendary sig moves like Fusion Flare or Spacial Rend are in so Metronome can still call them.

All these TRs being rebuyable is nice too, so you don't have to start a new game or cheat to get something like Earthquake, and also for ingame if you're the type to worry about wasting a TM. Putting them in shops also makes them easy to find in a standard location, and not have to hunt around in the overworld for. You can do some window shopping, scan the selections before you buy, and set a goal for yourself. The balance might depend on how easy or grindable Watts will be, though I think availability will be a deiciding factor.
 
So, I thought of something concerning Technical Records.

You know how Darkest Lariat is a TR now? Well, that could possibly mean the other Alola starters could have their signature moves endure via this mechanic. Which means...

SPIRIT SHACKLE TR?? MORE WIDELY DISTRIBUTED, ACTUALLY POWERFUL PHYSICAL GHOST STAB?!???
With Mystical Fire also on the TM list, it seems they want much higher distribution of starter moves.

Here's some speculation of who might learn what.

Roselia
Snover (pine needles)
Ferroseed
Corsola
Maractus (already learns it)
Qwilfish
Maybe Mareanie?
Falinks
Turtonator
Togedemaru (already learns it)
Pincurchin

Vulpix
Natu
Ralts
Drifloon
Duskull
Gastly
Pumpkaboo
Litwick
Sinistea
Probably some other Fires and Ghosts

Sobble
Accelgor (already learns it)
Uhhh, nothing else really looks like it would throw ninja stars. It would be kinda cool if Cloyster got it, but I have a feeling this won't be a TM.

Other than maybe Dreepy, nothing in the dex looks like it might fire a ghostly arrow, or any arrow for that matter.

Obstagoon
Diggersby
Golett
Pancham
Machop
Timburr
Maybe Galarian Meowth?
Grimmsnarl
Croagunk
Throh
Sawk
Beartic
Hawlucha
Clobbopus
Grapploct
Passimian
Darumaka
Hakamo-o
Any other Pokemon that looks like it might throw down

Ludicolo
Tympole
Milotic
Wailmer (whale song)
Lapras
Probably some other Waters

Even if this doesn't actually become a TM, Lapras absolutely needs to get this move somehow.


The presence of Razor Shell also reminded me of Tepig's signature Heat Crash. Even if it isn't a TM, I am 95% certain that Coalossal will learn Heat Crash, and maybe even Carkoal too.
 
Putting them in shops also makes them easy to find in a standard location, and not have to hunt around in the overworld for.
Hopefully all of them are purchaseable, but I can already see a couple issues.

The first and recurring one is that some of them are on the post-game. The Battle Tower is selling them, and I hope there are some other ways to get them, because I think Dragon Dance was one of the TRs there.

The other is that the leaker already confirmed that some TRs can be found on the overworld. Whether or not you can rebuy them is unclear.
 

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