Sword & Shield **Official news only** DLC Crown Tundra 22nd October

It's actually different. The mechanic is "changes every turn".

That said, being a pikaclone, I wouldn't really expect competitive stats on it, and most likely will just be a fun in-game gimmick / low tier pokemon at best.
Then let us hope they try to make the new pika clone somewhat useful as has been done so with Togedemaru in VGC. Given the ability's description "triggers more aggressive and volatile behaviour ", Morpeko might have an increased attack stat or something like a Hustle effect in its dark form. Otherwise, having an ability only for the sake of a new signature move would be kinda lame.
 
Hooligan evil team. And they don't have posters, they got Towels. Looks like they'll get clowned like Team Skull, not that I had a problem with that.

Here's the thing tho. Between them and Zigzagoon getting pretty much the same deal Rattata got but with an added evo, it kinda feels like an uninspired remix of some of the most well received Gen 7 ideas. They could at least have changed the general theme.

Regional variants are cool tho. Not sure why purifying pollution qualifies Weezing-G for a Fairy-type, but more power to it.

Speaking of fairies, can we please have a physical Fairy move that *isn't* Play Rough this gen?
 
After months of rumors I’m glad Galarian forms have finally been confirmed. Even more happy to see that they’re not limited to Kanto, and that there will be potentially more with new evolutions. And Weezing has one of the five or so top new typings I’ve been hoping for in this game, even though the Fairy part makes little sense. Guess that he’ll be the Alolan Muk this generation competitively.
 
I don't think it's been mentioned here yet, but it looks like there might be a new Pokemon hidden in the corner of one of the screenshots.
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I can't say I'm 100% convinced - the shape could just be part of the new Pokemon center decor. At the very least, the new Pokemon centers look cool. I wonder if the berry machine has any in-game use or if it's just for show.
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I know we're all hyping about the possibility of Galarian Linoone and Obstagoon being Extreme Speed sweepers, but we have to remember that it isn't confirmed to get it just yet. It's likely considering regular Zigzagoon finally received it as an Egg move in USUM and the two parent Pokemon that learn it via level up - Arcanine and Lucario - are confirmed to be in Sword and Shield, but if the Alolan forms that have similar typings to their Kantonian counterparts (examples being Kantonian Rattata vs Alolan Rattata or Kantonian Geodude vs Alolan Geodude) are an indicator of anything, it's that the Alolan variants didn't receive every egg move that the Kantonian versions got. Let's use Kantonian/Alolan Rattata as an example since they're very similar to the Ziggy line:

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As you can see, Screech, Flame Wheel, and Bite (this one's admittedly weird because Alolan Rattata can learn it via level up, but whatever Gamefreak lmao) can be passed down to baby Kantonian Rattata, but not to their Alolan cousins.

All I'm saying is to keep your hype levels in check because you'll be sorely disappointed if they end up not having Extreme Speed, but obviously, it's still ok to speculate the possibilities of it having the move.
 
I'm excited about the new Weezing. Dragon immunity is really nice. If they give it a bit more hp, maybe a recovery move that isn't pain split, it might do quite well. Though something tells me that to make it something other than Weezing 2.0, they'll make it more specially focused, which means it can't make use of will-o-wisp quite as well (or maybe it can with predictions).

I was hoping for poison/dark though, though I can certainly understand them not wanting a wall with no weakness, 2 type immunities and immunity to toxic.
 

Yung Dramps

awesome gaming
I'm excited about the new Weezing. Dragon immunity is really nice. If they give it a bit more hp, maybe a recovery move that isn't pain split, it might do quite well. Though something tells me that to make it something other than Weezing 2.0, they'll make it more specially focused, which means it can't make use of will-o-wisp quite as well.

I was hoping for poison/dark though.
Eh, nah. Poison/Dark has already been used quite a bit (including by the Alolan variant of Weezing's counterpart Muk), whereas Poison/Fairy is totally new and harkens back to Weezing's glory days as a premier fighting check.
 
Eh, nah. Poison/Dark has already been used quite a bit (including by the Alolan variant of Weezing's counterpart Muk), whereas Poison/Fairy is totally new and harkens back to Weezing's glory days as a premier fighting check.
That is true. I've always had a soft spot for Weezing. Actually used it quite a bit back in the early days of X and Y, to really good effect actually so I was hoping for perfect typing, but you're right, it's going to be an excellent fighting check. Many good mons like Garchomp and Landorus-T are going to absolutely hate this thing (at least with their current move sets. Maybe they can adapt).

I wonder if they'll make it more specially defensive this time around. Hoping not tbh, since it's typing is definitely better on a physical wall.
 
I'm not a fan of Team Yell. They look pretty much like Team Skull, and the person who their supporting just screams Gladion. I hope this isn't a Team Skull situation all over again. They just feel like cheap knockoffs.

Seeing Ostagoon finally makes me excited for new evolutions of Pokémon from previous games aren’t Eevee. I’m hoping for an evolved form of Rapidash that’s based on a Pegasus. I’m still shocked we haven’t had a Pegasus Pokemon yet.

BTW, that leak also said Galarian Farfetch’d Evolution is a thing. Looking forward to it!
 

G-Luke

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I'm not a fan of Team Yell. They look pretty much like Team Skull, and the person who their supporting just screams Gladion. I hope this isn't a Team Skull situation all over again. They just feel like cheap knockoffs.

Seeing Ostagoon finally makes me excited for new evolutions of Pokémon from previous games aren’t Eevee. I’m hoping for an evolved form of Rapidash that’s based on a Pegasus. I’m still shocked we haven’t had a Pegasus Pokemon yet.

BTW, that leak also said Galarian Farfetch’d Evolution is a thing. Looking forward to it!
I wouldnt be so quick to judge. Team Skull was simply a "Rowdy Boys" type of street gang. Team Yell on the other hand is a parady of toxic fandoms which are ever present in today's pop culture.
 

Yung Dramps

awesome gaming
That is true. I've always had a soft spot for Weezing. Actually used it quite a bit back in the early days of X and Y, to really good effect actually so I was hoping for perfect typing, but you're right, it's going to be an excellent fighting check. Many good mons like Garchomp and Landorus-T are going to absolutely hate this thing (at least with their current move sets. Maybe they can adapt).

I wonder if they'll make it more specially defensive this time around. Hoping not tbh, since it's typing is definitely better on a physical wall.
I'm sure it'll be solid! Judging by the current state of the speculatory meta, Weezing can be a great check to Fighting threats like Machamp and Hawlucha, as well as setting Toxic Spikes, hazing stat boosts and more. It does face stiff competition with Clefable as the bulky fairy of choice for a team, but it can set itself apart by stopping things it can't, such as Slurpuff, Dugtrio, even checking Diggersby and Gyarados better for instance thanks to Will-O-Wisp. Coupled with the aforementioned Tspikes thing, I could see it being a niche alternative to Clef on certain teams.
 
I wouldnt be so quick to judge. Team Skull was simply a "Rowdy Boys" type of street gang. Team Yell on the other hand is a parady of toxic fandoms which are ever present in today's pop culture.
I mean more like their designs. They look too similar to the point that if you showed them to someone who doesn’t know Pokémon they would think they are part of the same team.
 
I mean, even a combo of Flame Orb with STAB Facade would be devastating, and Ghosts wouldn’t be safe thanks to its Dark typing.

Of course, we still don’t know if it’ll reach OU status, but it has the potential to wreak havoc in the lower tiers.
It's very likely that Obstagoon will have its base stats close to 500 given Linoone's low base stats and being a second stage evolution. I think we can expect, at least, + 20 for its attack, + 30 if GF is generous, which is certainly possible if you look at Dusknoir or Mamoswine.

Now, if GF really wants to make Obstagoon as good as possible, + 40 would be definitely cool, which they've already done so with Yanmega and Porygon-Z.
The rest will probably go to HP, D, SpA, and SpD, each one of them having at least + 10. As for its speed, it doesn't look like as if it could outspeed Linoone, and it's not unusual for a Pkm to not gain more speed when it evolves, like Yanmega for example.

That said, if Obstagoon really were to have access to Belly Drum and Extreme Speed and hopefully Sucker Punch, it could pull off this combo more reliably than its pre-evolution due to better bulk. It would definitely be a devastating sweeper, especially in a limited metagame where you probably won't have to face Tapu Lele/Psychic Terrain. I could even see Obstagoon being an effective revenger in Monotype where not every team has access to defensive titans such as Porygon2 or Toxapex.

I really think that all three sets (Belly Drum, Choice Band, Guts) are more or less equally good and maybe enough in a limited OU environment. However, if we were to include all Pkm in OU such as Kartana, Mega Mawile or Magearna, then Obstagoon will likely have a very hard time to sweep due to their high defense stats.
 
I know we're all hyping about the possibility of Galarian Linoone and Obstagoon being Extreme Speed sweepers, but we have to remember that it isn't confirmed to get it just yet.
It'd make sense to do something new (regional locked evolutions) in order to justify not giving either BD or Extreme Speed.
 

Pikachu315111

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GF, Pokemon Company, come on, do these Friday...

Anyway a lot of information, right now going to focus on the ones which would affect the story of Sword & Shield first:

CHARACTERS (New Rivals & "Villain" Team):
Bede:
EVIL... okay, I already did that joke two times (though he does have a connection with Chairman Rose). Actually, that is sort of an interesting connection. With Leon's younger brother Hop also participating in the Galar League to become Champion, does it seem a bit strange that, instead of supporting Leon's sponsoring his brother, Rose his sponsoring his own up-and-coming trainer? Like, it feels like Rose has picked a replacement for Leon. If true, then what does this mean for Leon? Is it that Leon may not be involved with whatever Chairman Rose is up to? That Leon maybe knows this so is trying to counter Rose by sponsoring Hop (and the player since we're Hop's new friend)? Or could Leon be with Rose's plan and maybe just humoring his brother and brother's new friend thinking they'll probably not get far enough to get in the way of Rose's plan.

Though not to take things completely away from Bede, it says he has objectives of his own. Are these objectives the same as Rose's or is Bede involved with something else maybe far greater than anyone expects (considering the sinister glare he gives you during battles with him, maybe he's part of another group, the REAL villain team).

Marnie: Now honestly the thing interesting, at the moment, about Marnie are her followers. Like I guess she looks alright, but like with most other characters they're keeping her motives for competing vague thus telling us nothing to be excited about interacting with this character. Like, how did she get to many of her fans/how do her fans know about her? What does she think about her rabid fanbase? She's not bothered having them around yet we see whenever she enters a room they immediately stop being rowdy which would hint she doesn't like that (which if that's the case why does she let them be around her or why do they act like this if they know their idol hate it?).

Maybe her choice of partner is a hint? It's the recently revealed Morpeko which is a Pokemon that has two sides: a cute & lovable side and a dark and ferocious side. Maybe this is also the case with Marnie? At the current moment we're seeing her in her "normal" state, but she has a secret identity where she's just as mean and rowdy as her followers thus explaining why she's accepting of them while normally seeming disapproving of their actions: she actually doesn't, but they're being too "open". Calling it now, if Team Yell has a female admin/leader it's probably Marnie in her alternate personality.

Team Yell:
We've had face an organized criminal organization, environmental terrorists, a space cult, animal rights Knights Templar, military pirates, 1 percent supremacists, and a street gang (being controlled by a corrupt humanitarian organization). But now we face the fiercest villain team yet: FANBOYS!

This is Team Yell, and first off let's put "villain" team in quotes. Yes, they're certainly antagonistic and are going to be a thorn in our side, yet at the same time they don't feel like a threat but just an annoyance. A lot of people are comparing them to Team Skull and, while I can see the comparisons, these guys got nothing on Team Skull. In fact the reasons why I consider Team Skull on the same level as a villain group such as Team Rocket are absent from Team Yell. For one thing, Team Skull was a threat. Yeah, they had silly grunts, but the thing is Team Skull were still causing trouble by messing with Trial sites. Plus with the very violent Guzma as their leader, if Gen VII played it straight with them being the main villains you could maybe have seen ways Team Skull would become a major threat (mostly by messing with forces they shouldn't have, either accidental or purposely). However Team Yell... are just rabid fans of Marnie. That's it. Sure they get in the way of other trainers competing in the Galar League, but I don't see them doing anything that criminal aside public disturbance. Which makes sense considering their goal is to help Marnie become Champion and her having a group of criminals supporting her wouldn't reflect well on her. They can make these guys look as "edgy" as they want, the fact they're fans of a seemingly non-antagonistic rival completely de-fangs them from being any serious threat more than an annoyance.

BUT that's not a bad thing. This new direction gives let's this villain team have more story involvement opportunities than previous teams. While past teams had to keep quiet as they were doing secret operations to further a grand plan, Team Yell can be pretty much anywhere as their goal is a personal one: they want to stop you and the other League trainers. Sure they believe Marnie will win with no problem, but why leave things to chance or make her tire herself out against anyone that isn't required for her becoming Champion? It's a chance for GF to experiment with a different type of villain team, ones where they're not criminals or planning to take over the world.

However, I do have one problem with them: the male grunt. And it's something which not only affected Team Yell but all other past villain teams, in fact it affects most other Trainer Classes as well. Focusing on Team Yell's male grunt first, my problem with them is that their big fat guys... which means ALL of them are going to be big fat guys. "But all Teams had their male and female grunts look the same". Exactly the problem. Now the past teams were able to get away with it because, while they all looked the same, at the same time you can say the grunts just looked like an average guy or girl. But now that they made the Team Yell male grunt an outliner, it's going to really standout now how the grunts are the same model over and over again. And this also applies to Trainer Classes. Why aren't the individual grunts and trainers given even the most limited amount of customization differences? Change their skin color, hair color, eye color, maybe even change up their hair styles and have slightly different body builds (maybe even make different style of clothings)! That was one thing which made the Colosseum games a bit more interesting, in those games they did vary up the appearances of the trainers you fought. As soon as the games moved to full 3D graphics in Gen VI they should have began working on ways to make individual trainers looking different from each other. In a sprite based game it's forgivable as each different appearance would be a different sprite. But in a 3D game it's just a character builder.

Anyway, while not threatening I do give GF points for getting across their annoying by giving the male grunts a two spout vuvuzela. Also, the female grunts with Marnie towels speaks for itself. Actually, why exactly the choice of clothing? I would have no idea these guys were supporters of Marnie as there's really nothing about their design which points in that direction aside some similar color palette (the only dark magenta in Manie's design are her highlights, otherwise she's in a light pink short dress).

Tomorrow I'll look at the new Poke Jobs mechanic, a closer look at the video, and some quick thoughts on the new Pokemon (yeah for the return of region variants!). And of course after that me going on a massive commenting spree (though I think maybe this time I won't be too drastic as a lot of things are being repeated).
 
Anyone thought about the competitive potential for Weezing-G? Physically bulky with immunity to ground Ground, resistance to key moves like Knock Off, U-Turn, Pursuit, etc. Only 2 weaknesses, neither of which are debilitating. Likely to have an extensive support movepool on top of this. Depending on what ends up in the game, could be good against Fairy, Grass & Fighting types.
 
Actually, why exactly the choice of clothing? I would have no idea these guys were supporters of Marnie as there's really nothing about their design which points in that direction aside some similar color palette (the only dark magenta in Manie's design are her highlights, otherwise she's in a light pink short dress).
They share the same punk style
except that Marnie, while mostly using punk clothes has plain pink dress and pigtails which softens her image and makes her look "cute" and "trendy" as opposed to the grunts which are straight up punk, a style that was made to be offending, it doesn't help them fact that they're ugly while Marnie is a standard japanese cartoon girl pretty
also Marnie's bored, aloof look is translated to japanese cartoons as "elegant" "cool" and also "aloof", but mostly "elegant" and "cool"
 

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