The Well #62 - Theorymon

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Theorymon

Have a wonderful day, wahoo!
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"A stranger is being shown around a village that he has just become part of. He is shown a well and his guide says "On any day except Tuesday, you can shout any question down that well and you'll be told the answer." The man seems pretty impressed, and so he shouts down, "Why not on Tuesday?" A voice from in the well shouts back, "Because on Tuesday, it's your day in the well."

OK so before we get on with our scheduled programing, I have an important PSA for anyone who is at least 18 years old and lives in the United States...

VOTE MOTHERFUCKERS!

Seriously, I've done almost nothing but sit on my ass and play Mario and Pokemon since the pandemic started, and I STILL voted early! If I can vote, you can vote too. What happens today is way more important than this thread!

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programing.

Just to warn you, as you may expect from me... this post is fucking massive, which wasn't my intention but this is what happens when I work on something for an hour uninhibited lol. You don't have to read all this stuff if you want, but I'd at least suggest going to the bottom to see a really dumb "animated" Mario sprite I made for this thread, it even has something to do with an actual well! If you do read it though, you may or may not find out some interesting stuff about me!

About Me (Smogon)


i've been here since January 14th, 2009. Damn, that's actually a long time, even if I never really considered myself "ancient" by Smogon standards! Being here for 12 yearrs means I got a TON of stories I can tell about Smogon.

I actually first started looking into competitive Pokemon in about 2005 however, and almost joined this site when I was 13 under the name "Mewrio', because I like Mario and Mewtwo! Even though I ended up never joining, I still lurked a lot.

Fast foward to 2007. I get bored of playing Pokemon the normal way, and decide I want to get into competitive Pokemon! I do this by banging my head against the RNG by doing stuff like soft reseting for a Palkia for a week (I settled on a Hasty one with a Defense IV of 15 or so lol), giving up on Giratina because I find a shiny one, and am like "yeah fuck this", and get back to my usual Mario shenigans.

Now with late 2008, when Pokemon Platiunum came out in Japan, I ended up importing it because somehow, the hype of Bullet Punch Scizor and everything getting Outrage and Heat Wave sucked me back in. I ended up breeding Garchomp, Wobbuffet Scizor, Kingdra, and a TON of Focus Sash ready mons (aka I only need two 31 IVs in my 16 year old mind), transfer them back to Pearl, and start strolling along with them online in Pokemon Battle Revolution of all things (sidenote: I also destroyed everyone in my high school with Wobbuffet + SD Garchomp lol). I actually wanted to use a ton of Ubers like say, two Palkias, but I was a goody twoshoes and refused to hack, so I'd get into situations like putting 1000 Gible eggs onto Pokemon Ranch.

Seriously, I have the images in these hide tags below of 1000 Gible eggs, and 1000 Gibles afer they hatched. Only one of them was good, and anoher was shiny, the rest were nuked with the Pokemon Ranch savefile. Now you know why I hate breeding!

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Fun fact: I also battled Jibaku here before I even JOINED Smogon! I recall the match going something along the lines of "switching out Honchkrow from Giratina, Encoring Giratina with Wobbuffet, smashing stuff with SD Garchomp, taking down Groudon with Custap Wobbuffet Destiny Bond". I don't know why I still remember this battle lol.

OK time to cut things short cuz I realize this is growing giganatic. I joined in 2009, focused on Ubers, and talked way too much about Wobbuffet. This wasn't just because it was successful for me on the Shoddy Battle ladder and made me a sorta notorious player, but because I liked the sadistic feeling of removing choices from my opponent (which to this day, I do enjoy to an extent lol). Around this time, I also found Smogon's IRC (an ancient internet chat program we used before Discord) around this time, and stayed throughout the various incarnations of the competitive Pokemon channels (#biuret, #stark, #dreamworld, and #pokemon). I chatted a shit ton in most of these, there's a bazillion stories you'll probably mine up if you ask me questions about this lol.

I also became notorious in 2009 for my Pokemon analyses. See, I've always had a problem with writing too much (like in this post lmao), so when the addition of Team Options to analyses in 2009, all gen 4 analyses needed new additions, and I was heavily involved with the Uberrs part. In fact, as Colonel M can tell you, it became such a problem that an ENTIRE temporarly section called the "concison project" needed to happen!

While I mostly stuck to Ubers (besides that fliration with Glitchmons in gen 5 lol), I eventully transitioned to Battle Spot Singles starting in 2013, when Pokemon XY brought forth an actual functional ladder on cart. Since then, I've mainly focused on that, even to this day. Probably my proudest achievement of this era so far is winning the Ultra Final Competiton, which was the final online competiton Gamefreak hosted for Ultra Sun and Moon!

About Me (outside of Pokemon)

I'm a 28 year old guy who lives in Ithaca, New York (aka the place with Cornell University). My biggest passion is science, specfically astronomy and astrophysics. As a child, my life goal was to explore the Milky Way in search of other intelligent life. When I was 8 years old, a combination of finding contradictions in the Bible (yes seriously), realizing the full nature of mortality, and realizing the vast, ever expanding nature of the universe, crushed those dreams, and led to a severe mental breakdown that took a long time to recover from.

I should probably address something I'm sorta well known for: yes I had very severe health issues when I joined Smogon. Due to severe asthma and allergies that took some pretty exceptional treatment to finally put under control, I was bedridden for a lot of my teenage years, and had to drop out of high school. That's actually why I was so active in my early days of Smogon, I didn't have much else to do! I've since entered college, but haven't completed it yet partially to do some real life issues, and especially Covid-19. So I'm currently at a frusterating stand-still this year education wise, but I plan on using online education among other things to get back on track next year. It's never too late for education!

On a much more positive note, besides LOVING stuff about space, I actually have a wider scope of interests than you may expect! I LOVE hiking and camping, and one of my fondest memories was camping outside in the Adirondacks as a final exam for a camping biology class for 8 days straight! I honestly would have gone longer if I was allowed, I love outdoorsy stuff, climbing, hiking, etc, especially since i didn't get to do that stuff often as a teenager due to health issues. Similarly, I like fishing when I get the chance (though I'm no expert lol), its a nice, quiet activity that gives me time to think, with some excitement too!

On the more nerdy side of things, I like to read books a lot, particularly hard scifi that deals with the fermi paradox. I ocasionally read manga too, though I usually focus on series that have finished already (big exception being One Piece, which you Smogon nerds got me hooked in like a decade ago lol), I've loved Godzilla related things since I was a child (except the 1998 American movie, that shit is blasphemous!), and I play a shit ton of video games. To be specfic, I casually collect video game consoles. I have about... 70-80 different video game consoles now? A lot of them are obscure and many were made before I was even born, but I'm really into video games!

And finally... yeah speaking of video games, there's one last elephant in the room to address... Mario. I'm an MASSIVE MARIO MANIC! Seriously, I don't think it's an understatement to say I'm at least the biggest Mario fan on Smogon. Specfically, I play through the mainline platformers at least once a year since 2010, which started as a way to celebrate the 25th anniversary... but then I never stopped! A lot of my love for Mario may be attributed to how I was introduced to it: I was given hand-me down NES when I was 2-3 years old. During that time, I was nearly deaf, but wouldn't be strong enough for surgery to fix that until I was 4 years old, so my parents would crank up the TV volume insanely loud so I could hear it.

The first video game I ever played was the original Super Mario Bros. Being able to hear what I was doing, my own ACTIONS, had a really profound impact on me as a kid. The controls of Mario felt extremely natural, and I was hooked already! While Super Mario Bros is not actually my favorite Mario game ever made, it's easily the one I've played the most. To this day, I always find good excuses out of nowhere to go "hmm I should play Super Mario Bros", its basically digital comfort food for me!

OK I've rambled long enough. Here's that stupid "well" sprite I promised. Feel free to ask me anything. I don't care how many questions you have or how complicated they are, I'll answer them if you want them answered!

Sadako Well Mario.gif
 

Sijih

game show genius
is a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributor
Moderator
On another pokemon website there's a ban on something called "Theorymonning", which means don't discuss what the meta would be like if x pokemon got y change or whatever. If this rule was instead referring to you, then what would the "Theorymonning" ban entail?

What the hell is this site? You've got a quote or two on there.

What do you think the most underrated mario game is and why? For me it has to be sunshine. It's ridiculously fun and the movement mechanics are so fresh but for a while the popular opinion was that it was the worst game in the franchise.

Can you really leave us hanging on your console collection? What are some of the notable ones that you feel like mentioning? And do you have one of those old consoles that can only play tetris? Those are cool.

Favorite trail?

Have you ever done anything really stupid while hiking (Like going off trail for no reason and nearly getting lost, or not bringing enough water for a really long hike), or are you a model hiker?

Pick a best WWE wrestler
 
you were well-known for your love of unusual strategies in dpp ubers - not just spamming wobbuffet as a facilitator of others (jumpluff, early use of lucario) but really wacky non-uber pokemon. it got to the point where the smogon tabloids were astonished to see you using actual non-wobb uber pokemon (though that team also had a toxicroak). what were your favorites? what were the wackiest? no limit, of course. also, were toxicroak's kyogre- and tspikes-soaking abilities worth it?

funniest #stark moment?

favorite smogon drama?

what are the best scifi movies?
 

BIG ASHLEY

ashley
is a Community Contributor
in your opinion, how does the ds version of mario 64 stack up to the original? how about the switch re-release?

you seem to be quite well-known for posting about your dreams - what's the weirdest/wackiest dream you can remember?
 

phoopes

I did it again
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
I'll probably think of some questions later, but just wanted to post now to commend you on sharing your story a bit about health issues/education. Sometimes life feels difficult because I've needed to take time off from college for health issues. Mostly all of my friends my age have graduated and I haven't which sucks (and I'm only 23). So hearing you talk about it a little bit was nice, especially the "never too late for education" part. I appreciate that.

sorry to make a "me" post in someone else's well but yeah just wanted to say thanks
 

biggie

champ
is a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
what is your favorite pastry/baked good?

do you think it's a good thing that Nintendo's been branching out and getting their IPs into previously unseen mediums (Lego Mario, mobile games, etc.) and if so, which is your favorite?

favorite puerto rican food?

are you and the mIRC logo still dating?

if you could be 100% completely healthy but had to sacrifice your passion for science, would you?
 

Theorymon

Have a wonderful day, wahoo!
is a Site Content Manageris a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Pokemon Researcheris a Top Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a CAP Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
Oh man my response is getting gigantic (what a surprise), I think Im gonna break this up into a few posts in fear of making this really unreadable lol. I'll get to the 2nd post right after I get done with these two responses, not like I have much else to distract me from the election at the moment!

Oh god we're surprisingly similar

Favourite Godzilla movie?
Funniest story from the IRC days?
Opinions on Bugmaniacbob's notorious DPP Claydol analysis?
What would you say is your best written Smogon contribution?
Most interesting game console you've collected?
Favorite Godzilla film

Sterotypically, I'm gonna say the first Godzilla film is the one I like the most. It's the only one that really treats Godzilla as a legitimate disaster, and a failing of humanity's hubris with atomic weapons. Godzilla films are known for being at least somewhat cheesy and campy, so the first one tends to surprise people with its very somber tone. I actually like both the Japanese and English versions, and think both are worth watching. I like in particular how the dub almost treats the Godzilla fiasco like its from the viewpoint of an international reporter, its like seeing a different side of the same movie!

That being said, I gotta give a shoutout to Destroy All Monsters, which was absoloutly my favorite Godzilla film as a kid, it was basically the avengers level thing for me to see all the monsters interact and kick King Ghidora's ass! Of course, that movie came out way before I was born, so I watched it on cable, where I used to find Godzilla marathons (thats how I watched most of these as a kid). Because of that, I sorta have a Showa-era bias for Godzilla, as I also love Mechagodzilla just because the sheer insanity of a giant mechanical Godzilla with eye lasers is just TOO COOL for me. I wonder if this is why I loved Power Rangers as a kid lol...

I also have to give a shoutout to Godzilla 2000, which washed away the stink of the 1998 American film for me as a kid, I actually saw both of those in theaters!

Funniest IRC Story

Oh man that's the toughest question by far! I think most people are gonna assume its the "the dream where the mIRC logo raped you" thing that went viral on Smogon because I got drunk on IRC like 7 years ago or so, but tons of people know that one already, and there's one moment that isn't that well known that I STILL laugh about to this day.

So back in the early 2010s (before Black and White came out), I'd often get random PMs on IRC asking me for advice on Ubers related topics. So one day, this user PMs me asking "What do you think about Latias?" Naturally, I go off listing why its a good Pokemon, stuff like "it's a decent Kyogre check thatt has recovery, can sweep with Calm Mind, etc. But watch out for Tyranitar, it doesn't revenge suff as well as Scarf Palkia".

Then... I get his response

Latias is a nice bet for a good fuck

Yep turns out, I was talking to a dude who had a Latias fetish. Wasn't the first time this happened on IRC (I recall an incident where a dude was banned because he was talking about his elaborate fantasies with a Togekiss he bred.

Another funny story in a similar vein was how we even got the #Pokemon name. Before that, we had #dreamworld, but we were having an issue: we'd get random people coming in asking for cyber sex! At first it seemed like some sort of cordinated form of trolling, but it just went on forever. However, one of the ones that got banned evtenually PMed a mod (was it you Steamroll ? I can't remember lol), and it turned out, there was a good reason: There was a blackberry Cybersex app that just assumed we were a cybersex channel because of the word "Dream" in our name. So yeah, people were coming into a competitive Pokemon channel assuming they were gonna get their rocks off...

After that, I managed to register the name #Pokemon as the clan that had been using it FINALLY dropped off, and that was the last incarnation of our competitive Pokemon channels!

Opinions on Bugmaniacbob's notorious DPP Claydol analysis?

Before I answer this, I should probably link to the infamous analysis for those of you that aren't aware. https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/claydol-ou-analysis.68333/

Oh man, that analysis... no disrespect to Bugmaniacbob, but that Claydol analysis has always felt like it was an analysis that was bloated for the sake of tryng to set some sort of record, rather than be helpful to a player. For example, a lot of informaton is repeated stuff like "Claydol is weak to dark moves" or "it's a good rapid spinner" and stuff like that. Also, the Samuel Johnson quote has always rubbed me the wrong way, feels ratherr pretentious for a Pokemon analysis!

However since I of all people am commenting on this analysis... yeah I'm really throwing stones from a glass house here aren't I? I'll admit, while my long analyses weren't USUALLY intended to be long (I usually keep a mental checklist of what I want to include in posts), that doesn't change the fact that a lot of my gen 4 stuff was way too fucking long lol. In fact, there's an aborted analysis of mine that, if completed, would have been just as bad as that infamous Claydol analysis.

I have this unfinished analysis in an ancient conversation from August, 2009. I PMed it because I was looking for grammar checks (This is an analysis so large, that I never finished it. So absurd, I don't even talk about the last move until 5 massive paragraphs in...

WELCOME TO THE HORROR OF UBERS FORRETRESS

[SET]
name: Uber Support
move 1: Toxic Spikes / Spikes
move 2: Rapid Spin
move 3: Payback
move 4: Spikes / Light Screen / Explosion
item: Leftovers
nature: Careful
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Despite being an OU Pokemon, Forretress is such an important member of Uber stall that in conjunction with Blissey, they form the very foundation on which Uber stall teams are built upon. The reason Forretress is such a key player for Uber stall is due to a combination of its move pool and typing. No other Pokemon in the Uber metagame can use Toxic Spikes and Rapid Spin as well as Forretress. Forretress's Steel-typing is also very helpful in a metagame infested with such a high number of Dragon-type and Ice-type attacks.</p>

<p>Toxic Spikes and Spikes are among the biggest selling points of using Forretress in Ubers. This is because many prominent threats in the Uber tier (such as Kyogre, Darkrai, Groudon, Palkia and Mewtwo) are crippled by it. With two layers of Toxic Spikes, these threats become much easier to out stall. Toxic Spikes can also make Wobbuffet much easier to deal with, which is important because Wobbuffet can be a huge problem for many stall teams. Spikes on the other hand, will punish opponents for being forced to switch by damaging them, thus quickly wearing down most offensive Uber teams. Note that when using teams that are not stall-based or do not take advantage of Toxic Spikes, it is best to use Spikes in place of Toxic Spikes. This way, the last move slot can be occupied by another attack or support move for Forretress.</p>

<p>Rapid Spin is another huge plus for Forretress, as it is one of the only viable users of it in Ubers. Rapid Spin’s main purpose is to spin away entry hazards such as Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes. This is a vital asset on Uber stall teams, as this allows them to switch in and out of threats with no punishment from entry hazards, thus expanding the life span of the entire team. Even when using Forretress on more balanced or offensive teams, Rapid Spin should still almost always be used. This is because many offensive Uber teams rely on the extra damage Stealth Rock and Spikes provide to gain crucial KOs, thus Rapid Spin can ruin their plans. Some teams will carry Ghost-type Pokemon for the specific purpose of blocking Rapid Spin’s entry hazard removing effects, thus it is a good idea to pair Forretress up with Pokemon that can either eliminate or take advantage of the Rapid Spin blockers of Ubers. Giratina-O is the most common Rapid Spin blocker that will be encountered on offensive Uber teams, and can threaten to 2HKO Forretress with Thunder after one use of Calm Mind, while Forretress will be unable to 3HKO Giratina-O in time with Payback due to Giratina-O switching into Rapid Spin. Although not nearly as common as Giratina-O. Gengar can switch into Forretress's Rapid Spin, and threaten to OHKO Forretress with Hidden Power Fire (assuming that the weather is sunny). Finally, Giratina is a fairly common Rapid Spin blocker on stall and balanced teams, and will usually either run a physically defensive set featuring Will-O-Wisp, or an extremely bulky Calm Mind set. A Choice Band Tyranitar with a Careful nature and an EV spread of 252 HP / 56 Atk / 200 SpD (this lets Tyranitar survive even a Choice Specs Aura Sphere from Mewtwo in the sand storm). Choice Band Tyranitar is one of the most reliable counters to Calm Mind Giratina-O, due to Tyranitar's access to Crunch and Pursuit. If Tyranitar uses Crunch, Giratina-O will take such a heavy amount of damage that it will be weakened to the point of near death, while Pursuit can punish its attempts to switch, meaning that Giratina will fall to both the damage from Stealth Rock and the sand storm the next time it switches in (assuming that Giratina-O is using 86 HP evs). Gengar will be OHKOed by Tyranitar's Pursuit regardless of whether or not it switches. Be warned though, Gengar will be able to OHKO Tyranitar with Focus Blast if it is carrying Choice Specs or Life Orb. A less risky alternitve of dealing with Gengar is to attempt to wall it with Ice Beam Blissey, who will only lose to Gengar if it is carrying Trick, Focus Punch or Explosion. Finally, Choice Scarf users such as Kyogre, Garchomp, Palkia, and Dialga will be able to switch into Gengar's Hidden Power Fire, and threaten to OHKO it with their STAB attacks. A Jolly Dragon Dance Tyranitar with Taunt can easily set up on Giratina (as long as it avoids Will-O-Wisp or is holding a Lum Berry), and attempt to sweep the opposition. In a Similar manner, Calm Mind Mewtwo can set up on Giratina by using Taunt, while Darkrai can set up Nasty Plots after putting Giratina to sleep with Dark Void. Bulk Up Dialga can easily set up on most Giratina, and can even use Rest and Sleep Talk to make sure that Giratina's attempts to cripple Dialga with a burn are futile. Choice Specs Dialga is also capable of defeating both Giratina and Giratina-O.</p>

<p>Forretress's main offensive move in Ubers should always be Payback for numerous reasons. At first glance, Payback may seem like a poor choice, as it is a mere 50 base power attack that lacks STAB. However, Payback's secondary effect is to double in base power if either the user moves after the opponent moves, or if the opponent switches out as the user uses Payback. Forretress's base 40 Speed makes it one of the slowest Pokemon in Ubers, so much so that the only slower Pokemon in Ubers that are seen are Wobbuffet and Brongzong, meaning that Forretress's Payback will almost always be a 100 base power attack. The biggest selling point of Payback is that it hits Ghost-type Pokemon super effectively thanks to it being a Dark-type attack, thus pairing up well with Rapid Spin. For example, Payback will deal 76% - 90% to Gengar, a gurenteed 2HKO. The standard Giratina-O with 86 HP EVs has a 97% chance of being 3HKOed by Payback after taking Stealth Rock damage. With Giratina-O's lack of recovery beyond Rest, it will be quickly worn down by Forretress's Paybacks as it switches in. Do not attempt to use Payback on Giratina though, as its high Defense stat will scoff at it. Payback also has the bonus of being super effective against the many Psychic types in Ubers. For example, Forretress's Payback will do 41%-48% to Mewtwo, meaning that it can not set up on Forretress. Latios is also 2HKOed by Payback, while it easily OHKOs Deoxys-A.</p>

<p>The last move slot is best chosen based on your team's needs. Spikes are often the best choice, because Spikes are another rare utility in the Uber metagame that Forretress has acsess to. If your team already has a Spikes user, or is using Spikes over Toxic Spikes, Light Screen is an excellent choice. With Light Screen, Forretress is able to beat Giratina-O one on one as long as Giratina-O does not have Rest. Since Forretress often attracts many strong Special Attackers such as Kyogre, Light Screen will also allow you to have an easier time switching into these powerful Special Attackers. Explosion can make a fine choice for the last move slot, as it can allow Forretress to OHKO Pokemon such as Garchomp (after Stealth Rock damage) in emergencies. Finally, if your team lacks a user of Stealth Rock, Forretress is most certainly capable of setting it up.</p>

<p>While Forretress may seem like a poor lead, Forretress can in fact work well as a lead due to the prominence of Deoxys-S leads. When facing a Deoxys-S lead, it is often best to use Payback. The reason for this is because if the offensive team has Ghost-type to block Rapid Spin. (such as Giratina-O), you can damage them while they switch into Forretress. If the Deoxys-S stays in on Forretress, you can freely Rapid Spin it, as then the offensive team is likely to lack a Rapid Spin blocker. Forretress will also only 2HKOed around 7% of the time by Deoxys-A’s Thunder when factoring in Leftovers recovery, allowing Forretress to destroy Deoxys-A with two uses of Payback.. Be warned, some Deoxys-A leads will use Hidden Power Fire (which will always OHKO Forretress) or Fire Punch (which will OHKO Forretress around 28% of the time when Deoxys-A is neutral natured). If Groudon is not carrying Fire Punch, Forretress will only be 3HKOed by Earthquakes from Support Groudon, allowing Forretress to lay down at least 2 layers of Toxic Spikes. When using Forretress as a lead, there are several other leads that should be prepared for, as they can beat Forretress. Kyogre is easily able to 2HKO Forretress with Surf, or can even OHKO Forretress with Water Spout. Most lead Dialga carry Flamethrower, which will easily OHKO Forretress. Although Darkrai can not OHKO Forretress, it can put Forretress to sleep with Dark Void, or cripple Forretress by Tricking a Choice Scarf. Blissey is a great teammate for lead Forretress, because it has no problems walling Kyogre and Dialga leads. A Giratina-O with Rest + Sleep Talk is another great choice for a lead Forretress teammate. Giratina-O can switch into Choice Scarf Darkrai’s Focus Blasts, Tricks (due to Giratina-O’s Trick immunity), and Dark Void (due to Sleep Talk); all of which are the attacks Darkrai will likely aim at Forretress. If you are worried about the possibility of Groudon using Fire Punch, you can also use Rest + Sleep Talk Giratina-O to switch into Fire Punch. Giratina-O can then set up Calm Mind on Groudon, and use Rest when needed, as none of lead Groudon’s attacks can 2HKO a Giratina-O with 200 HP EVs and 46 Defense EVs. If Deoxys-A lacks Ice Beam and / or Shadow Ball, Giratina-O can also effectively handle it. Bulk Up Dialga can easily set up on most lead Kyogre, while a specially defensive Palkia can take on both Kyogre and Deoxys-A leads. An extra specially defensive Latias can beat Deoxys-A leads one on one, and can also use Refresh can defeat Kyogre leads that carry Thunder Wave. A specially defensive Groudon can force lead Dialga to switch, while a Garchomp equipped with either Life Orb or Choice Band can switch into Dialga’s Flamethrower, and threaten to OHKO it with Earthquake. Finally, a physically defensive Kyogre can switch into lead Groudon, and threaten to smash it with Surf.</p>

<p>The key to mastering the use of Forretress in Ubers is knowing when to lay down Toxic Spikes or other entry hazards. The best tactic to do so is to lure in opponents that Forretress can easily set up on. A good Pokemon to lure in is Lugia. Unless Lugia is carrying Calm Mind, Lugia is unable to do much to Forretress beyond doing a pitiful amount of damage to it with Ice Beam, while Forretress will be able to set up at least one layer of Toxic Spikes before being Whirlwinded away. In a similar manner, most Skarmory can be set up on, as most lack an attacking move and must resort to using Taunt (which is rare) to prevent Forretress from gaining one free turn to set up entry hazards. Blissey is unable to do much to Forretress beyond hitting it with Seismic Toss, allowing Forretress to set up entry hazards as it switches out. Be warned, some Blissey carry Flamethrower, which will destroy Forretress in the sun. Since most Scizor in Ubers lack Swords Dance, Forretress has no problems setting up entry hazards as Scizor either switches out or scouts by using U-turn. Metagross is easily set up on by Forretress, especially if it is locked into a Choice Banded Bullet Punch or Choice Scarfed Ice Punch. Although Choice Band Tyranitar will do a massive amount of damage to Forretress with Stone Edge, Forretress can easily use a Choice Band Tyranitar that is locked into Crunch or Pursuit as time to set up entry hazards. While Forretress is normally a terrible switch-in to Kyogre, you can switch Forretress into a Choice Specs or Choice Scarf Kyogre’s Ice Beams to set up entry hazards with ease. Thanks to Forretress’s wonderful Steel / Bug typing, it is one of the few Pokemon in Ubers that resists Dragon-type attacks; a quality that pairs up well with Forretress’s goal of setting up Toxic Spikes and Spikes. Garchomp is a particulary vulnerable target to aim for if it is carrying a Choice item, as Forretress can switch into most of its STAB Dragon-type attacks (be warned, a Choice Band Garchomp’s Outrage can 3HKO Forretress after it takes Stealth Rock damage) and use the time to set up entry hazards. This is particulary useful if a Choice Scarf Garchomp is locked into Outrage, as this traps it for 2-3 turns. Due to Garchomp being trapped by its own Outrage as Forretress switches in, Forretress is almost gurranteed to set up at least 2 layers of Toxic Spikes. Dialga’s, Palkia’s, and Giratina-O’s Outrages are also just as easy to set up entry hazards on in most cases. Due to the heavy amount of Special Defense investment this Forretress has, it can also set up entry hazards on Choice Scarf Palkia’s and Choice Scarf Dialga’s Special Dragon type attacks. Although Giratina is often switched into Forretress to block Rapid Spin, Forretress can actually use Giratina as time to set up entry hazards as long as Giratina lacks Calm Mind, as being burned by Will-O-Wisp is a small price to pay for setting up multiple layers of Spikes and Toxic Spikes. Latias makes a superb lure for many of these Pokemon. Due to Latias’s high Special Attack (thanks to Soul Dew), Blissey is one of the most common answers to Latias, while Latias’s high Speed will often lure in Choice Scarf Dragon-types such as Garchomp to revenge kill Latias with Outrage. If you are using a Pokemon that is weak to Pursuit, and know that your opponent is carrying Scizor, you can switch to Forretress as your opponent switches in Scizor, thus allowing Forretress to set up entry hazards before Scizor can U-Turn away. Blissey is another superb lure for many of these Pokemon. Palkia and Dialga will often carry Outrage just to beat Blissey, meaning that Forretress can easily take advantage of mixed Dialga and Palkia that attempt to defeat Blissey. Blissey will also lure in Choice Band Metagross and Choice Band Tyranitar, thus Blissey can scout with Protect, and then switch out of Meteor Mash (from Metagross) or Crunch (from Tyranitar). Due to Palkia being most commonly seen with a Choice Scarf, it will often lure in Choice Scarf Garchomp in a attempt to revenge kill it, while Scizor and Blissey will often switch in to sponge Palkia’s Special Rends. Many other powerful Special Attackers such as Choice Specs Dialga and Mewtwo will also lure in Blissey. A non-Choice Scarfed Garchomp and Rayquaza work well with Forretress, as they will not only lure in Skarmory (only in Garchomp’s case) and Lugia, but will also attract Choice Scarfed Dragon-types such as Palkia and and Choice Scarfed Steel-types such as Metagross. Groudon can also lure in Lugia and Skarmory for the same reasons Garchomp and Rayquaza do. Other powerful physical attackers such as Scizor will often lure in Lugia, Giratina, and Skarmory for Forretress. Giratina-O will often lure in powerful Dragon-type Pokemon such as Garchomp to OHKO it with Outrage before it can set up a sweep, allowing Forretress to freely come in and set up Spikes and/or Toxic Spikes. Finally, you can pair up a Kyogre that is vulnerable to Blissey to help Forretress lay out its entry hazards.</p>

<p>When using Forretress, it is often a good idea to have strategies around Pokemon that are not effected by Toxic Spikes. Pokemon that are not effected by Toxic Spikes in Ubers include Dialga, Rayquaza, Lugia, Skarmory, Scizor, Metagross, Forretress, Giratina-O, Latias, Shaymin-S, and Lucario. Kyogre and Giratina that have Rest and Sleep Talk will also rid them selves of Toxic Spikes’s deadly grip. A Lugia of your own can be a fantastic teammate. Not only can Lugia take advantage of Forretress’s entry hazards by using Whirlwind, but it can also help out Forretress by eliminating some of the Pokemon that are immune to For example, Lugia can destroy most Rayquaza with Ice Beam after Stealth Rock, and can use enough Speed evs (248 with a Bold nature) to outspeed even mixed Rayquaza. Be warned though, Dragon Dance Rayquaza can do a serious amount of damage to Lugia. Thanks to Reflect, Lugia can wall Lucario, Scizor, and Metagross, and then Whirlwind them away. As long as Lugia is healthy and Shaymin-S does not get too many flinches or Special Defense drops, Lugia’s Ice Beam will OHKO it after Stealth Rock damage. If Shaymin-S attempts to use Substitute and Leech Seed, it is best to use Whirlwind. As usual, Blissey will defeat Lugia, Latias (as long as they lack Refresh or Safeguard), Shaymin-S that lack Leech Seed or Choice Specs (only with a Modest nature) and purely Special Attack oriented Dialga.

[Other Options]
<h4>Ubers</h4>

[EVs]
<h4>Ubers</h4>

[Team Options]
<h4>Ubers</h4>

[Opinion]
<h4>Ubers</h4>

[Counters]

Yeah this is a real thing that almost happened, I never posted it due to it getting way to huge plus me starting to go through some serious health issues at the time. If I'm going to be fair to myself, I was attempting to sorta lay out an early Ubers stall guide, since Forretress was a pretty core part of it back in 2009 era gen 4 Ubers stall, but that doesn't excuse these horrifying walls of text! It's funny, I feel like I have the total opposite approach to analyses these days, but it's important to remember your past, even when its embaressing!

What would you say is your best written Smogon contribution?

That's a good question! I actually don't have an answer off the top of my head since I've done a lot of stuff that I probably don't even fully remember, but there is two particular (and similar) articles I'm very proud of.

Pikachu Cup

Rotations Retrospective: A Look At The Lost Metagame Of Battle Spot!

I actually did quite a few metagame overview articles back in gen 6, but they were extremely difficult to write on my own due to to size and timing (some of these like Pikachu Cup were heavily based on PS usage before the actual tournaments went up on cart), and there hasn't really been enough interest to do group work versions in the modern day, so I do miss these a bit. Still, for Pikachu Cup in particular, I basically wrote mini analyses for almost every single Electric-type you could use, whch was a LOT of work and writing! It was also fun to write something a lot less serious sounding than usual, which fit the weird nature of Pikachu Cup.

For the Rotations one: That one was supposed to be out much earlier, but due to real life issues, it ended up getting changed into a retrospective article instead, which I actually liked in the end. Rotations was an extremely weird metagame most people didn't play, so I'm really happy I got to document that metagame somehow. If I were to ever do massive, metagame analyses like this again, I'd probably go for the retrospective route because those are actually possible lol.

Regardless, I like these kinds of articles of mine the most because they cover weird, exotic Pokemon metagame information that isn't really brought up these days.

Most interesting game console you've collected?

There's a lot of contenders for this... but I'd probably say the NEC PC Engine, better known as the Turbo Grafix 16 in the US. The TG16 was a massive bomb here, but its Japanese counterpart flourished to the point where it was Nintendo's major competiton for almost a decade instead of the Sega Genesis / Megadrive in Japan! So as a result, its a joy to collect for the PC Engine because a lot of its best games never came out here, so collecting for it has led to a lot of new experiences for me. It's well known as a haven for shootemups, which is true, but there's a lot of really wild stuff on the console outside of that, such as excellent Bomberman games, an incredible remake of Gradius, one of the best pinball games ever made (Devil's Crush), and one of the best Castlevania games ever made (Rondo of Blood). Playing these on the real console is a treat! Also, it has a shockingly good port of Street Figther 2 my brother bought.

The console itself is REALLY tiny too. It's about on par with other 16 bit consoles of its era (though weaker because it came out in like 1987), but seriously, look at this thing!



And yes, the games came on cards, so theres also handheld varients such as the PC Engine GT and the PC Engine LT that are very unique (and powerful!) for their time, and CD attachments / varients too.

I personally have a modified PC Engine (for AV output), two different duos, a GT, and a LT. This is mostly thanks to my litttle brother, who was the one who actually got into this little gem of a console. It's a fascinating example of how console markets are often totally different stories accross the pond!

So this post is becoming massive, gonna split them up a bit so they're actually readable lmao. Don't worry though, after I get done with addressing these two posts full of questions, I'm going straight to the next post, not like I have that much to do beyond Pokemon stuff that sucks for distracting myself from the election lol

On another pokemon website there's a ban on something called "Theorymonning", which means don't discuss what the meta would be like if x pokemon got y change or whatever. If this rule was instead referring to you, then what would the "Theorymonning" ban entail?

What the hell is this site? You've got a quote or two on there.

What do you think the most underrated mario game is and why? For me it has to be sunshine. It's ridiculously fun and the movement mechanics are so fresh but for a while the popular opinion was that it was the worst game in the franchise.

Can you really leave us hanging on your console collection? What are some of the notable ones that you feel like mentioning? And do you have one of those old consoles that can only play tetris? Those are cool.

Favorite trail?

Have you ever done anything really stupid while hiking (Like going off trail for no reason and nearly getting lost, or not bringing enough water for a really long hike), or are you a model hiker?

Pick a best WWE wrestler
Theorymoning

Hmm... probably a ban on really long, rambling posts, and probably no talk about strange dreams, Pokemon strategies, or Mario!

The QDB Site

Ah, that seems to be some sort of archive of old, funny IRC logs! Probably the later part in some cases. We actually used to hoste them onsite, but due to some crazy drama where a staff member went rouge, it was taken down and put onsite insead. Considering the age of the IRC submissions, that site was made during the twilight of Smogon's IRC days.

Underrated Mario Game

Oh boy, this might be one of my hottest Mario takes... but it's probably gonna go to Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels, also known as Super Mario Bros 2 in Japan!

The game has a reputation for being a stupidly hard troll game that didn't add anything to the series, and was too much like the original. I actually beg to differ! I will agree however, that there is one stupid troll in the game: Backwards Warp Zones, there's no excuse for those since they just punish exploration lol.

Otherwise, I'll address some of the common criticisms. While Lost Levels is a very hard game by Mario standards, it actually does something level design wise that no other Mario game does: It assumes you've beaten and mastered the last game. See, this game was made in about 4 months or so to promote the Famicom Disk System, so Tezuka and his team (Miyamoto was busy with Zelda at the time) decided a logical approach for a sequel would be to make levels that challenged even themselves!

Funnily enough, there's some carry over in Lost Level's design that assumes you've beaten Super Mario Bros. For example, the infamous hidden blocks in Lost Levels are usually very clearly telegraphed: there's an area or pipe you can't reach, so you'll have to uncover hidden blocks to reach them. This is an expansion on how Super Mario Bros dealed with hidden blocks. Outside of 1-ups, they were usually required to reach secret coin bricks, 4-2's REAL warp zone, and most of all, required to find the real exit in Bowser's final castle! For many players, these moments are jarring, but for anyone familiar with late game Super Mario Brothers, it feels like an expansion of what they've already seen.

That reminds me: while it's clear that Lost Levels is very similar to Super Mario Bros in many respects, this doesn't mean it didn't introduce some very important aspects to the series!

* It's where the entire concept of post game levels comes from for this series! Miyamoto mentioned in an interview (you can find a piece of this in "Legends of Localization, written by the dude who did the Mother 3 fantranslation!)

* This is where Luigi jump physics came from

* This is where the quirk of getting massive boosts off of jumping enemies came from. In fact, Lost Levels requires it at various points, and tries to teach you that any time a red koopa is flying in the air, you need to use it as a platform! There's a particularly cruel use of this where the game gives you a star, only to test you on the red koopa: jump on it with a star, and you die!

* Belelive it or not, the full "Peach gets recused theme" actually came from Lost Levels! See, Koji Kondo (composer of these games) ran out of space on the original game to fit the full theme, so here it is in all its glory in the sequel!


So yeah, I understand why Lost Levels has a bad reputation: it's a really brutally difficult game. But, as a Mario enthusiast, I actually like that about it, and I always enjoy playing through the game a couple of times each year!

Weird Consoles

So beyond the PC Engine, theres plenty of other weird stuff to talk about! Probably not gonna talk about everything (there's a thread's worth of stuff to talk about rofl), but here are some highlights!

* The Sharp Twin Famicom. This is a Japanese NES with the Famicom Disk System built in, so it's become my ideal way to play hard copies of NES stuff. As a bonus, here's a picture of mine! To explain the odd Mario moment: The Famicom Disk System version of Super Mario Bros has a TOTALLY different, weird minus world with floating Peaches in an underwater 1-3! Yeah, pretty creepy!

IMG_0174.JPG


* I have the Magnavox Odyssey somewhere in storage. This is actually the first video game console ever made, so I'm pretty proud to have it! It actually isn't that fun to play, with its version of Pong (well ok it predates Pong lol) feeling very primitive compared to most Pong consoles, the Farechild Channel F, and the Atari 2600's Video Olympics / Pong Sports game, but its still a cool curiosity regardless!

* I have a Game Boy Light, which is a Japanese only Game Boy Pocket model that had a backlit screen. It's a gaudy gold color too! It's become my ideal way to play retro Game Boy stuff lately, with my Super Mario Land 1 and 2 runs this year being done on it! Here's a picture of it next to a blue PSP-3000 from Japan!

IMG_4274.JPG


* My brother and I got a Neo Geo CD Z a while back! It's pretty cool for playing arcade games from SNK, and MAN those clicking stick Dpads are incredible! Someone needs to bring those back...

* I have a 3DO. I actually don't like it too much, but it argubly has one of the best Street Fighter 2 and Wolfenstein 3D ports, so its still got good stuff!

* Finally: I have a Game & Watch game, Bombsweeper, from the UK. Long story short, I bought something from eBay without checking the region as a kid, and it cost a lot of money in shipping. Still neat though!

My favorite hiking place

That's probably Buttermilk Falls State Park, because I live within walking distance of it, and its a nice hike down and up a trail with a TON of waterfalls! Seriously, here's a few pictures I've taken in the past!

IMG_1543.JPG


IMG_1539.JPG


IMG_2377.JPG


Buttermilk Falls State Park also has a bit of a tragic history behind it, as there's a memorial to a policeman who drowned trying to save some college kids. Oddly enough, his memorial is a gym in Pokemon Go that I often drop stuff off at lol.

Stupid stuff you've done hiking

Oh man I've done plenty of stupid things as a kid (a bad example was forgetting to bring water on a hiking trip in Arizona, my dad had to give me his till w delayed it to get more water lol), but the one dumb thing I did as an adult is a good story!

When I camped in the Adirondacks for 8 days, there was one day where we camped out by the lake. I had to take a poop, but one issue: someone else was using the hand shovel cuz they ALSO had to go, and the only toilet (which was made out of a home depot bucket, seriously) was on another trail. It was getting late, but I said fuck it, and took a flashlight and my whistle. When I get there, I make a fatal misake...

I DROPPED MY GOD DAMN WHISTLE IN THE TOILET AFTER I USED IT

Yeah fuck that I figure, I'll just use my flashlight to return back to camp. However, the sun set fast, and I soon found myself lost in the fucking dark. This is dangerous shit in the Adirondacks, so I have to start yelling to find... anyone! I start going around in circles, and I end up only getting found like 15 minutes after I got lost in the forest!

That was probably the most terrifying part of my trip, all because I was a dumbass and couldn't wait to take a shit. So remember kids: don't go to a far off trail at night!

Favorite WWE Wrestler

I don't really watch WWE, but I guess my pick would be "Macho Man" Randy Savage, dude's voice is instantly reconizable, and I always imagine it the rare time I eat a slim jim. May he rest in peace!
 

Theorymon

Have a wonderful day, wahoo!
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Thoughts on Paper Mario games?
Oooo this is gonna be a tasty can of worms to open! I don't have that consistent of a view on the Paper Mario games (probably because the franchise isn't that consistent lol), so here's my short thoughts on all of them!

* Paper Mario: I like this game a lot as an RPG, but I actually tend to prefer Super Mario RPG and Maro & Luigi 1 and 3 over this game. A major reason for this is because Paper Mario's pacing is a bit slow (especially the begining, seriously not being able to use action commands until Chapter 1 nearly starts, wtf?). However, the writing is funny (particulary the lines Goombario gives in the desert if you use tattle, dude starts hallucinating lmao), and all the chapters feel pretty unqiue. It's good stuff, even if there are Mario RPGs I like more!

* Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door: This might be my favorite Paper Mario, though like the previous game, the pacing issues sorta drive me nuts at times. However, the plot is WILD for a Mario game, especially since it's oddly one of the darkest games in the series! Also, I do wish the American version didn't censor Vivian, it's cool to have a positive transgender character in Mario besides Birdo!

* Super Paper Mario: I commend this game for having an even more off the wall plot than Thousand Year Door, but the gameplay didn't gel too much with me unfortunately. It feels odd for a 2D side scrolling Mario to have such medicore level design for platforming, even if its focuses are clearly elsewhere such as story and weird trollish scenarios. i actually think I'd like this game more if I gave it another try, but back when it launched in 2007, it was the wrong game at the wrong time for me, since I was starving for more 2D Mario!

* Paper Mario Sticker Star: OOF, I actually really detest this game! The battle system already isn't good, but that actually isn't what kills the game for me. It's the maddeningly obtuse puzzle design. See, I appreciate that it's almost like some sort of weird Mario adventure game, but a lot of the puzzle solutions don't make a whole lot of sense, and there's dumb hidden Things you need to actually progress too. There's also the unforgivable near lack of talking in the game. Hell, Bowser is a god damn mute in this! Throughoutly unenjoyable game all around for me, unfortunately!

* Paper Mario Color Splash: While this game shares a lot of issues with Sticker Star and even has an even more poorly organized battle system (seriously fuck those cards!), the puzzle design makes a lot more sense in this one, and there's even a toad that lives in a trash can that gives you hints, and a drug dealing toad that lets you buy the items if you need them again! Most importantly, the writing is a LOT better in Color Splash, even if its mostly snarky take thats at Mario as a franchise. I'm not sure if I'd call this game great or even good, but I think it's worth one play through at least.

* Mario and Luigi Paper Jam: OK this one techncally isn't a Paper Mario game, but I might as well give my 2 cents. The plot is weirdly bland for a Mario RPG, but the writing is fine and the battle mechanics are throughoutly entertaining as usual for the series. It's a pretty middle of the road Mario RPG over all, but I actually like it more than Dream Team just because the tutorials aren't nearly as annoying in this game lol.

* Paper Mario The Origami King: While this isn't the "return to form" a lot of people hoped, this is the most I've enjoyed Paper Mario in a long time. Like Color Splash, the writing is great, but it also isn't in total snark mode 100% of the time, this is the first time in a long time where there's legit emotional moments in a Mario RPG! While I wouldn't call the battle system amazing, it's also pretty quick and snappy which makes it a million times better than Color Splash's, and the bosses are neat puzzles. Overall, probably not my favorite Paper Mario, but I had a blast with it!

fmk peach rosalina pauline
Good question lol

Fuck: Pauline, because I find her the most attractive I guess? Not exactly a thought I have often!

Marry: Rosalina, because she's basically a space goddess. Like damn dude, she's rebooted the Mario universe AT LEAST once, seems to be immortal, and has a bunch of cute star babies living with her. Sounds like someone I'd like to live with as an astronomy nerd!

Kill: Peach. Look, at this point I'm wondering if Peach gets kidnapped on purpose by Bowser to plan some sort of neferious scheme, she's probably the least trustworthy of the lot!

you were well-known for your love of unusual strategies in dpp ubers - not just spamming wobbuffet as a facilitator of others (jumpluff, early use of lucario) but really wacky non-uber pokemon. it got to the point where the smogon tabloids were astonished to see you using actual non-wobb uber pokemon (though that team also had a toxicroak). what were your favorites? what were the wackiest? no limit, of course. also, were toxicroak's kyogre- and tspikes-soaking abilities worth it?

funniest #stark moment?

favorite smogon drama?

what are the best scifi movies?
DPP Ubers stuff

Ooooh this is gonna be a real fun one to answer!

So to start wth Toxicroak: despite that funny smog article (man I miss articles like that) being from gen 5, I actually tested Toxicroak back in early gen 4. In fact, I tried Toxcicroak BEFORE I tried that Jumpluff team! One of the goals was I wanted a Kyogre switch-in that Wobbuffet could do something with, but I was worried about Tyranitar for some reason so Latias wasn't gonna work. So, I used Sub-punch Toxicroak with Sucker Punch. If I'm being honest... it didn't preform thatt well. Sure, switching into Water Spout and blasting stuff with Subpunch WAS funny, but Groudon and Giratina laughed at it, and if Toxicroak switched into Thunder or Ice Beam it was screwed. Toxicroak's failure is actually what led me to make that Jumpluff team though...

Anyways, here's 5 favorites and 5 wackiest things I've tried in gen 4 Ubers to keep the size down a bit! Also, not gonna include Jumpluff and Lucario since those are obvious choices that those RMTs you linked to explain!

Favorites

Salamence
: I have a lot of fond memories with how testing this thing went. MoP suggested it to me on IRC in a pretty confident tone, so I tried it as a cleaner (or wall breaker odd as that sounds) to be paired with Rayquaza. This combination really convinved me that Dragon was an absoloutly busted type, since a lot of teams I faced on the ladder really were not equpied to handle "Rayquaza and mini-Rayquaza". In particular, I remember against Jibaku, I was getting a streak of wins due to Salamence and Rayquaza refusing to kill themselves in Outrage confusion (as his Heatran couldn't handle 1 and a half Rayquazas pretty much lol), and he threatened to use Cloyster to counter team me LOL. Also, winning speed ties with Scarf Palkia after a Dragon Dance really pissed some players off!

Tyranitar: OK I know Tyranitar in gen 4 Ubers isn't some strange thing, but I liked to use some real strange stuff on Tyranitar, like fast mixed sets with Ice Beam to deal unexpected damage to all the slow Groudons running around, or Dragon Dance Taunt to tell Giratina to screw off (thank goodness there was no Dragon Tail lol). Tyranitar was a consistently fun Pokemon to experiment with, because I'd often find it'd have some sort of strange tool that'd help me out!

Qwilfish: So as some of you old Ubers players may know, I HATED facing Toxic Spikes back then, and quite a few of my weird mons I tested were secretly schemes to destroy them somehow. Qwilfish worked better than expected for me on that front. i'm not gonna lie and say it compared to Kingdra as a swift swimmer, but the Toxic Spikes absorbption helped me a few times, I liked cheesy wins with Explosion / Destiny Bond, and I also used a weird anti-lead variation with Payback + Aqua Jet that did alright. The real reason Qwilfish is here though is how it preformed on the Pokemon Online Farceus metagame back in 2010. See, some of us split off to PO because we were pissed that Shoddy was never gonna implement Arceus, so there was some metagame development there! One that was particularly annoying to some of my teams was the rise of Grass Arceus, which people were using to mess with Palkia in the rain. Kingdra sucked against Grass Arceus, so I started using Swords Dance Poison Jab Qwilfish to bust through them!

Abomasnow: This one isn't THAT unusual if you think about it, but basically I used it mostly as a Subseeder with Groudon because I wanted an alternative Kyoge check that could change the weather, and also because I liked dual weather strats back then for the extra control it'd give me over some teams (or in Abomasnow's case, I sometimes used it with both Groudon AND Kyogre lol). Abomasnow certainly wasn't perfect: it did laughably bad against Steel and Fire-types unless I had Earthquake (not a terrible proposition when Heatran usage upticked), and its stats sorta sucked... but it was fun to use because a lot of players didn't realize I was using it as a Kyogre check, and would be surprised by how little damage Kyogre would often due thanks to Hail getting rid of the Rain!

Snorlax: So Snorlax is an interesting story, in that in my initial testing with it, I didn't like it too much. It always felt like it was on the CUSP of being viable, but it just wasn't quite bulky enough and powerful enough to get consistent wins for me, especially a shame when I realized it actually had physical bulk comparable to Kyogre! However, fast foward to 2010 with the Pokemon Online split in the Ubers playerbase, and PO had implemented Custap Berry, AT LONG LAST! I had been wanting to use that with Wobbuffet for ages, so I made a silly team that involved Custap Wobbuffet (with Destiny Bond), Custap Metagross with Explosion, and Custap Snorlax wth Selfdestruct. While the team was silly... good lord priority Snorlax booms were DEVESTATING, and stuff people wouldn't usually call! Few things were as satisfying as destroying Calm Mind Arceus sweeps because they didn't expect Snorlax to move first!

Wacky Stuff

Delibird:
This is probably one of the most notorious things I've tested. To explain it: I actually used to play with CAPs in Ubers sometimes (actually part of the thing that got me to join Smogon was I loved Create-A-Pokemon. Still do, I think its a cool way to explore metagame building!). I recall there were some obvious really good stuff in Ubers like Kitsunoh, but I also tested a Fidgit lead because a Rapid Spinner with Insomnia sounded like a neat thing for the Ubers lead metagame at the time. I liked it enough that I looked up real mons with that combination... and it was just Delibird LOL. So, I decided to do a joke test of Delibird, and it ended up catching a lot of people by surprise because... what the hell do you expect a Delibird to do? It was Focus Sash with Ice Beam, Rapid Spin, Signal Beam, and I THINK Ice Shard? Honestly if you knew what Delibird did, the leads it was supposed to "beat" would usually win anyways, but since most people didn't... there'd be hilarious situations like a Darkrai locked into Dark Void vs Delibird, or Deoxys-S losing hazards after 2 Signal Beams because of Rapid Spin, Groudons getting 2HKOed by Ice Beam, etc. Probably my proudest moment with it was beating Train Man with it once! Certainly not a GOOD Pokemon, but it was hilarious to test!

Smeargle: I'm not sure if I'd call Smeargle bad perse, but the reason it makes it here is because it was actually the first wacky thing I ever tested when I joined Smogon! I used a Belly Drum passing Smeargle with Wobbuffet to past Belly Drum to Rayquaza. This was an elaborate strategy that honestly wasn't that reliable, but it worked enough that some people took notice, and I got some PMs telling me there was some pact against using Pokemon like Wobbuffet and Baton Pass Mew... which just made me want to use those two even more! Matthew (who was called Gen Empoleon back then) was one of the people I actually played in that first laddering session too, back when he was using Parasect! It's a fond memory of mine, that day was my introduction to Smogon!

Dugtrio: This one wasn't actually too bad, but there's a funy story behind it: there was a troll (I think his name was Flying Solo 007?) who REALLY hated me because of the Wobbuffet spam on ladder, so he used to stalk me on shoddy and specfically run counter teams, which was a bit annoying! One of his schemes was to use Toxic Dugtrio, which would make Wobbuffet's life a living hell as it couldn't switch out or do ANYTHING to Dugtrio. Of course... this gave me the idea to pair Wobbuffet and Dugtrio together for some mischief! I would laugh in sadistic glee when I'd encore a status move, and then Toxic stall with Dugtrio of all things because of it. Also, it was fun for smacking opposing Wobbuffets too, not gonna lie!

Chansey: After the whole Salamence + Rayquaza bussiness, someone on IRC or something joked to me about doing a similar thing with Chansey + Blissey... so sure why not! Obviously this wasn't nearly as crazy as two broken dragons teaming up, but it was still pretty funny when I'd say, lose Blissey, then surprise my foe later with "HA I GOT ANOTHER ONE!" It was a bit dumb, but I loved the reactions when I pulled it off.

Flygon: This is here as one of the worst things I ever even somewhat seriously tested. To explain why I even tested Flygon: At some point in gen 4 Ubers, I had a literal dart board with Pokemon names and moves on it, and sometimes I'd throw a dart there and then test it! That's how I actually tested Snorlax actually... but one day Flygon comes up, and I refuse to test it at first. I mean come on... we got Garchomp! Eventully I give in with the idea of "well its got U-turn and Levitate those are cool..." and NOPE. Flygon was laughably weak and frail by Uber standards at the time. To give you an idea of how hard this thing failed: Outrage wasn't even a guranteed KO on Palkia if I remember correctly! A hilariously dismal failure for sure, but thats why I fondly remember it!

funniest #stark moment

This is another REALLY tough one, but I got one moment that was actually shared on the forums (I think in an ancient firebot thread somewhere), and may be a sorta controversial choice. See, #stark used to be hosted on Dejatoons instead of synIRC, and if I remember correctly, this incidient is part of why we switched IRC servers.

One day on IRC, we start getting a LOT of weird PMs. Stuff like bras for men, exploding cereal, etc. I don't remember the exact PMs, except that they were vaguely funny or sorta cringeworthy depending on what you got. Tons of us were getting spammed by these from totally unknown users at the time, so it caused a bit of a commotion on IRC, we were getting attacked by bots! The Dejatoon IRCops were totally useless, so some of us started an amataur "investigation" of sorts to find these bots. I could be wrong, but I think LonelyNess ended up finding the bot in a channel called #wafflehouse or something stupid like that, and we saw it change names in real time! I'm pretty sure the bot did get banned eventually, but it was just another reason to get the hell outta Dejatoons.

This may not be a story you think of as "laugh out loud", but the sheer absurdity and chaos those bots caused still gives me a chuckle to this day!

favorite smogon drama

This is going to seem so quaint by today's standards, especially since I wasn't even AROUND when this drama happened... but if I recall, Seth (the user) was involved with some shady alt account stuff, and this one almost derailed the offical Smogon Tournament in gen 4! Basically... someone either associated with Seth or who WAS Seth threw a game by using like 2 Mewtwos and 4 Magikarps or something... in an OU tournament obviously. I also remember this leading to some REALLY strange account sharing and ban situations, maybe associated with Slice 'N' Dice (not Dice, totally different person!) comitting account suicide by posting crazy shit all over the forums... Sorry that this is so vauge, I haven't looked into it for a while, but the situations involving Seth were a really bizzare set of drama. Jibaku probably knows more than me here, i'm probably mixing up a lot of details here!

what are the best scifi movies?

Oh man that's another tough one. I actually read more scifi than watch, but I think I've watched a decent amount to construct some kind of list of 10 movies I really like in no particular order, though don't expect too many exotic picks! Also note, I haven't seen a lot of these movies in a LONG time, so don't expect some high end movie analyses or something lol.

2001: A Space Odyssey: As a kid, I used to have this thing where I'd get somewhat upset of scifi tried to be realistic but clearly wasn't... so I liked this movie a LOT back then! Granted, the ending is umm... some weird drug fueld shit, but otherwise I like this movie's slow, methodical pace, and HAL is one of my favorite all time cinema villians. I still like it now, but funnily enough, I actually prefer the book series, which takes the complete opposite approach of the movie and explains EVERYTHING, to the point of even citing actual scientific papers at times, instead of leaving more up to the imagination. I wouldn't say the book is actually better though, with the book in fact being based off an earlier draft of the movie (both the book and move were developed at the same time, which is unique!), but its cool how the same basic plot is told so differently between the two mediums!

Metropolis: This may actually be my favorite silent film ever made! I haven't watched it in over a decade, but the visual style is frankly, incredible for a 1927 film (and has been a huge infulence on cienmatic sci-fi in general). What sets the film apart in my eyes though, is the big ideas it had for such an early film. The focus on the toxic effects the rich class can have on the poor with its focus on "rich people live decedantly on top of the city, the poor workers suffer on the ground", while maybe a bit obvious now a days, certainly rings truer than ever in our times. The ambition of this film is outstanding, it's worth the long run time!

E.T.: I was obessed with this film as a kid. Despite me being very skeptical of the alien knowing English (a common childhood gripe of mine), the idea of a benevolant alien going on an adventure with a kid really spoke to 6 year old me! Considering my old dreams of exploring the universe, this was sorta a fantasy of sorts for me. Even to this day, the nostalgia with this one is powerful for me, even if I probably like a lot of other scifi films more now a days.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind: I actually watched this around the same time as E.T., and you know what's funny? Despite the tons of religious imagery, prophetic kind of stuff, etc... I was totally fine with that as a kid! As stupid as this sounds, it's probably because the aliens didn't speak English! However, even to this day as an adult, I like this film's hopeful message for not only humanity overcoming its differences (granted, how realisitc that is, is sorta in question these days sadly), but the sheer awe inspiring ending. Sorry if I spoil a film that came out in 1977, but I have to talk about it in spoiler tags!

The ending really spoke deeply to me for a long time. When Roy left for the alien mothership, I really desperately, DESPERATELY wanted to be him, espcially after my mental breakdown when I was 8 years old. I was sorta a loner before college due to my health issues and sorta aloof personality growing up, so the idea of just... abandoning the world with an alien civilization to explore the cosmos... was extremely appealing to me. This was basically my ideal vision of how an encounter with an alien civilzation would work.

Now a days, I'll admit I've actually grown a bit more distant to the ending personaly. For the movie, I think Roy leaving with the aliens is an incredible, awe inspiring ending that leaves a lot to the imagination still! However, I'm not sure I could make that kind of descion personally now, as I've grown a bit more attached to humanity than I was as a child!

The Day The Earth Stood Still: Silly fact: I really didn't like this film as a kid, because I though it was boring, and HATED that Klaatu the alien was just a white dude who spoke English. I'll admit the science nerd inside of me still doesn't actually like that aspect... but now a days, I really like what this film has to say. Klaatu is almost a Jesus Christ sort of figure, in that he's trying to lay down some truth bombs people don't really want to hear, in this case, about taking our violence to the stars. This is gonna sound maybe a bit corny, but more than anything these days, the message of "peace and understanding" really appeals to me, so I guess this movie is a new fantasy of mine!

District 9: I haven't watched this one in a LONG time, but I remember really liking its approach to how we'd deal with actual alien immigrants: treat them about as poorly as our own immigrants! I dug the alternate history stuff, though there was a plot point near the end (its a spoiler so I'm not gonna say it) that sorta buged me. If you've watched the movie, its a huge plot point in like the 2nd half that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me on a scientific level. Still, I remember thinking the concept was really cool, I feel like I need to rewatch this soon considering the current political climate!

Alien: OK this is one I watch a lot, and fucking love! The strange alien biology, the strange shit about the Space Jockies (lets ignore those lame prequels for now lol), and the sheer terror the humans experience with a smart, constnatly changing alien threat... it shook me to my core when I was a kid (this was also the 2nd R-rated film I ever watched, with Terminator 2 being the first). And yet, that's why its appealed to me ever since. If you've ever read stuff by Carl Sagan, I remember he used to hypothosize some radical approaches to potential life formes, such as creatures that take longer to converse than our life times. I'm not saying Alien is actually realistic (the androids always seem suspect to me lol), but the Xenomorph and its lore is JUST realisitic enough to send shivers down my spine! Also, more minor, but I love the interior design of the ships in this movie. The idea that they're a run down, ordinary "space freigther" of sorts is an appealing concept to me!

Oh also, I love Aliens as well, but it's less for the scifi elements and more because it's a really damn entertaining action film!

Blade Runner: Another Scifi classic most people like, that yeah I certainly agree with the acclaim! There's a bazillion different cuts of this movie that always mix me up, so I can't really give you my opinion on the best cut... but the set design is OUTSTANDING, and the whole drama over hunting the replicants and if they really count as "humanity" (not to mention the movie questioning if Deckard himself is a replicant) was my first real introduction to the idea of humanity in AI.

Wall-E: A Pixar film in this list? Yeah I realize that may seem odd, but I thought it was an interesting exploration of a "post humanity Earth" after we wrecked the fuck out of it. It was the perfect time frame where the planet hadn't quite recovered from the damage we did to it yet, but we were in space long enough where things have started to decay. It's also a shockingly optomistic view of our fuck ups, which is explored well in the 2nd half of the film with the fat humans. The little love story between Wall-E and that other Robot (forgot her name lol) was cute, and I appreciate that so much of the first half of the film lacks any talking. The depecition of humanity as obese, amorphous blobs that knew they fucked up the planet got a chuckle out of me too!

Europa Report: Oh hey, another alien slasher movie of sorts! Granted, this one is of a very different breed than Alien, with more of a focus on the uncharted "waters" of Europa, and the clasutphobia of a little ship on the Jovian moon being your only slice of "home" against a giganatic, hostile predator. I'd probably put it a peg lower than anything else on this list, so I'm not sure if I'd go as far as to call this one a "classic", but damn I've been obessed with Europa since I could read, and this film does a convincing enough job of showing how unwelcoming an alien ecosystem might be to us! Also, for some reason, I like how the ending is handled, that's probably how I'd react to such a situation in real life!


Would you fuck a ghost?
Hahaha, that's a good question! That will heavily depend on what being a ghost actually entails!

So what a ghost is in culture isn't very consistent... let's say its a weird, sentient projection of a human being that can "phase" through matter. Maybe its just me, but when I imagine that, I imagine neutrinos or light (aka photons). I have no idea what on earth vsible neutrinos would look like (or if that's even possible lmao), but I guess with photons it'd be like... sentient visible light? That raises even more questions... but I guess having sex with sentient visible light would be pretty harmless? So in that scenario, sure if I find the ghost attractive, I'm fine with some consensual sex!

Now lets examine what an invisible ghost entails... let's assume they're also some form of light. If it's invisible... nah I'm not taking that risk. What if ghosts are made of X-rays, or god forbid, gama rays? that shit sounds insanely dangerous and could kill me with cancer, I'm not risking that for some ghost sex!
 

Plague von Karma

Banned deucer.
What's your best Super Mario Bros. 35 war story?

2D or 3D Mario games: which do you prefer and why?

And a left-field question since I found a copy while on a game hoarding collecting expedition, do you know about this?
super-mario-all-stars-video.jpg

(image not mine)
 

Theorymon

Have a wonderful day, wahoo!
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I'm gonna be marathoning the hell outta these probably tomorrow and Saturday, so don't worry folks, I WILL get to your questions! Feel frere to ask more too, plenty of days before next Tuesday! However, there's a reason I haven't touched this thread since Tuesday and well... I'll answer that reason by answering one relevant question here!

Do you think it's fair that America went and had an election on the same week as your well?
Ha not gonna lie, I was sorta concerned that I finally got chosen for the well at this time! I figured that I'd either drown myself in joy or sorrow Tuesday night (which I sorta did), then use Wedensday to marathon these questions and keep myself sane.

Instead, Tuesday decided "fuck off, how about I last THREE FUCKING DAYS" as many of you know, and this election turned into a ride through hell I don't think any of us will ever forget! So yeah any of you who stick around dicord know me and my brother, Deadite , have spent pretty much every waking moment on the Smogon Discord's current events channel, paying attention to or chatting about the US election in some form.

So in a way, guess it wasn't fair huh? That's OK though, not like I can't make up for that, I got plenty of free time once this election settles tomorrow!

Oh, and I might as well mention it: FUCK DONALD TRUMP! As a dude with Peurto Rican history (on my mom's side, my Grandma grew up there and moved to mainland US when she became an adult), I have a pretty passionate amount of hate for the dude, which grew to star-hot levels after Hurricane Maria. I'm glad it seems like Biden is gonna kick his ass, even if I'm bitterly disapointed about how the Senate went!
 
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