#BEEDRILL NUMBER ONE !!!

[rangersveppir]

A history of Ranger Capture Stylers (from the view of the various models)

Howdy! This is a post I have been meaning to make for a while, this is essentially a list of every (publicly known) Capture Styler, not all of these will have photos but I have done by best none the less. Now first as many people know Hastings was originally going to call the device we know as a Styler "The Capture Loopy-Looper" and this is where some weird naming nonsense comes into play. So the first ever "Styler" was the Proto-Styler.

Proto-Styler.

Or as it is labeled the S.T.Y.L.E.R. (Spin-Tuned Yoked Link for Emotional Regulation), this was the first ever styler, its a bulky machine about the old style Poke-Center healers they used in Kalos, or for a less specific example about the size of two Metagross staked ontop one another. This big ol' boy had a small screen and a keyboard used to direct the Capture Disc. The capture disk for this original was about a foot across and weighed about 10 lbs. The machine itself required a constant power supply to run and was basically stationary so it wasn't very useful. Not to mention you had to do the calculations for how far the disc had to move yourself before typing in those numbers in on the keypad. It gets its mention here for being the first device to do basically what the modern Styler does today. Now onto the weird naming, so the Ranger Union and Hastings himself refer to this device as either a "Proto-styler" "The Prototype Styler" or "The Looper" however Hastings' documentation and patents call it the acronym I listed at the start of this section. From what I was able to find by looking through old interviews with Hastings it looks like the "The Capture Loopy-Looper" name was played around with because he feared the S.T.Y.L.E.R. acronym would be too weird for most people to understand and it wasn't until he noticed that his assistants were calling the new portable model they were working on a "Styler" to avoid saying the long official name did he decide to change it to the "Capture Styler" we know today.

Styler MK. 1

This is the first version of the Capture Styler and the first one I ever used, when I joined the rangers these guys were in their prime so its what I am most comfortable with even if that is kind of crazy. So the MK. 1 has a hand held section that's similar in design to the the fine styler but has an antenna like the MK 2 with the MK 1's antenna being about as long as the device itself. You hold it like you would hold a TV remote and make gestures to guide the Capture disk, the disk itself is released from a launcher on the bottom end of the handheld. The handheld is connected by a wire to a large battery pack. The larger ones could be worn as backpacks with the smaller ones hanging from your hip. These bad boys had enough power to keep the Styler charged for a whole three capture (six with the backpack sized pack). And if the disk was hit by a pokemon that would essentially knock you down a capture. It was not the best but it did its job, though I will never be as fit as I was back then lugging a 40 lbs. Battery pack to base so I could swap it out with a fresh one and continue work after capturing a beedrill. The one upside of the MK. 1 is the capture effect tended to be much stronger than with the modern stylers, as such if a capture with a MK. 1 would take 3 loops it might take a modern Styler 7 or 8 loops. But for most people that doesn't make up for the downsides, it cant use Pokemon Assist, it cannot be charged using pokemon and power cable on the handheld is damaged or severed its down for the count. The disks themselves were rather large not as big as those for "The Looper" but they still weighed a whole 3 lbs. and really hurt if you didn't seat them properly into the launcher, I am getting phantom toe pain just thinking about it.

Styler MK. 2 The second version of the Styler was a massive upgrade, it first introduced an internal battery, the disk was more durable so instead of losing a third of your charge from any contact the disk itself loses charge, pokemon can now recharge the styler.

The MK. 2 is one of those stylers most people think of when the imagine a pokemon ranger the hand-held device with the top and the pointing. It is the first Styler to be able to use Pokemon Assists. Styler MK. 3

Now we get to the not-so-fun part of this history, now if you look at the MK. 2 you will notice they were manufactured by "Mill Bros. Electronics" who used to be a large electronics manufacturing company in the Fiore region, though they had factories in many places. For the MK. 2 they had been hired to mass produce the stylers, and they were also tasked with the same for the MK. 3 however by this time Mill bros. was doing pretty poorly, they had just lost their factory in Fall City, which was one of their largest and had also lost contracts with a few other companies they had been producing products for, so with money tight they decided to cut some corners, specifically with the battery, the batteries planned for the MK 3 were heavy duty numbers designed to take a beating and handle electric type attacks like a champ, instead Mill Bros. used a weaker and cheaper battery and hoped no-one would notice, and probably they would have gotten away with it, except these batteries had a tendency to explode rather violently often injuring the rangers using them with nearly 300 injuries related to it in the first year (most were minor, just mild burns, others not so much) needless to say Mill Bros. does not exist anymore and the ranger union has their own manufacturing company now. As for the MK. 3 Itself it looks like a MK. 4 (what most people associate with a student styler) just slightly larger, with a longer handle, the handle was deigned to stick out of the hip-holster designed for it, so it could be pulled out at a moment's notice. You can tell a MK. 3 from a MK. 3.5 or 4 by looking for the Mill Bros. logo on the bottom of the device near the charging port (there will also be the model number MB30141). If you find you have been issued a MK. 3 or fine one in like a drawer or something you can turn it in to the ranger union for ₽2500, or 1 years worth of credit at the Ranger Union HQ cafeteria. Styler MK. 3.5 A rapid follow up to disaster of the MK 3. was the 3. 5 they look almost identical to the MK 3 but use a smaller more stable batter and tend to be slighter smaller over all. Not much to say it is just the MK 3 but does not explode.

Styler MK. 4

This is the styler most rangers reading this have use or have used, if you have been to any ranger academy you have used a modified MK. 4

Small compact with the disc being released from the yellow launcher seen on the head of the device. These guys are still in wide use today and are designed to be semi-disposable, if it is damaged just turn it back in for repair or replacement.

Fine Styler (MK. 5)

The Fine Styler aka the MK. 5 is a more powerful version of the MK. 4. It is strapped to the wrist instead of held in the hand and require a lot more training to use.

Super Styler (MK. 5.?)

Not much is known about this one so I wont be covering it, but I know if I did not list it I would have to deal with the tsunami of people saying I forgot it.

Styler MK. 7

The most recently released styler, its designed to be worn on the wrist similar to a watch and is similar in power and features to the Fine Styler in a much smaller package. It also has a built in AI that can help keep the ranger informed. These came out last year and I have yet to see one in person so I can say too much on how effective they are but the Union seems proud of them.

So yeah, thats all the publicly available styler models, for those interested I use a modified MK 1. (the union let me keep it after I retired, an antique for an antique I guess haha) I modified it to use a MK 2. Capture Disk so its a lot more useful. It's not winning any awards for looks though.

Anyway hope I was able to teach you something, stay safe out there.

[jupiterswasphouse]

WASP REVIEW - VESPIQUEN LINE (POKÉMON)

[Image ID: An official render of Vespiquen from Pokémon /End IDs.]

Buzz buzz buzz, hey howdy everyone and a very merry Wasp Wednesday to those who celebrate! This time around, we return to the old Pokémon well with one from back in Generation 4. A fascinating design, truly, with multiple possible origins, but how does it compare to the real thing?

Starting out, as usual, with its appearance; We can see that Vespiquen has the correct number of wings, keeping up the wing count streak from Beedrill! Unfortunately it only has one pair of legs, and I don't see any of the requisite 3 ocelli on its head. Interestingly, in place of these ocelli is what appears to be a jewel? This is a part of a structure on its head that either is or heavily resembles a piece of old high-class headwear (with Bulbapedia specifically comparing it to an escoffion). Whether or not they are wearing this or if it is part of their body is unclear, as tends to be the case in the Pokémon franchise given their wishiwashi- err- Excuse me. Their wishy-washy history, or lack-thereof, of explaining Pokémon pseudo-clothing.

The eyes that are there are way too small if we assume a Vespid or Apid inspiration, and they honestly appear more vertebrate-like in structure, although I can't honestly tell whether the white part is supposed to be a reflection or a pupil. Furthermore, we can see that Vespiquen has no antennae, which is quite strange for an insect; Perhaps it has another, similar adaptation? The antennae could've even morphed into the horn-like shape of the "crown" during the evolutionary process. The mouthparts, meanwhile, equally appear to fall into this particular trap, as it seems to have no mouth at all, but its headgear has a structure that sort of resembles the missing mandibles.

[Image Source: Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Salvador Vitanza | Image ID: A photo of the head of a yellowjacket species, Vespula pensylvanica, a social Vespid /End IDs.]

Moving onto the body, and the whole deal of pseudo-clothing comes back again, although, this time its connection to the body is more clear. Vespiquen is seen with an umbrella-shaped nest, looking like a dress or gown, wrapped around a more standard Hymenopteran body shape, with the Pokédex entry in Pokémon Diamond stating: "Its abdomen is a honeycomb for grubs". Now, the connection to honey bees is clear, however, I would much sooner compare her main body shape to that of Polybia paper wasps or Sphex thread-waisted wasps, and the shape of her built in nest to that of Polistes paper wasps.

[Image Sources: iNaturalist, limarrudandre; iNaturalist, Larry Clarfeld; Wikimedia Commons, Bob Peterson | Image IDs: Three photos, one of an individual of the species Polybia sericea visiting a green plant, another of a Great Black Digger Wasp, Sphex pensylvanicus, visiting some yellow flowers, and another of the nest of a colony of Horse Paper Wasps, Polistes major major, showing its umbrella-like shape /End IDs.]

Thankfully, this design has a clearly three-segmented body, with its head, mesosoma (functional thorax; thorax and propodeum), and metasoma (functional abdomen; petiole and gaster) all seeming fairly distinct from each other. Proportionally, the head is a bit small in comparison to the body, and the same, in my opinion, is true for the wings. The legs, as few as they are, are an alright size, but aren't properly segmented.

[Image Source: bugguide.net | Image ID: An illustrated diagram showing the legs of three Hymenopterans, the first two being of other wasps, while the last one is of a bee, with each segment labeled. Coxa, trochanter, femur, tibia, and tarsus, with metatarsus on the bee. /End IDs.]

Back to its "dress" before I move on; I'm very curious as to what sort of texture it has and what material structure it's made out of. In the Pokémon universe, the answer could really be anything, but the real world equivalents of Vespiquen would either have nests made of wax (honey bees) or nests made of paper (the aforementioned paper wasps, as well as members of Vespinae, such as yellowjackets and hornets). Perhaps it could be one of these materials, or maybe it's a thin layer of chitin, as a more direct part of its exoskeleton?

But if Vespiquen is both the queen and the nest itself, then what about the colony? Well, this Pokémon evolves directly from Combee, specifically a female Combee exclusively!

[Image ID: An official render of a female Combee /End IDs.]

I won't spend too much time on this particular design, but, from what I've already said, you can likely tell this is much less accurate. In exchange, the design is that much more fantastical in nature. Here we see three individuals connected to each other by combs made of either wax or, again, chitin; Each of the upper two bees has a singular antenna and wing, though they don't seem to have a full body. The one on the bottom, however, has a body, but the segmentation is unclear and it still does not have any legs. If it's female, this one also has a red patch on its forehead, while the males do not have this at all. Finally, all of them have two, far too small eyes, and strangely mammalian mouths.

Well? What of the behavior of this colony then? Well, as we already know, Vespiquen is the queen of the hive, as well as being the hive itself. However, the system of their sociality is quite unique from that of honey bees or even of Vespid wasps. Each colony might contain hundreds of Combee, however, these Combee aren't necessarily the offspring of the Vespiquen, as its Pokédex entry from Pokémon Shield states: "Vespiquen that give off more pheromones have larger swarms of Combee attendants". This implies that some Combee might be summoned into the colony, rather than being born into it.

Furthermore, the Pokédex entries from Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum read as follows: "Its abdomen is a honeycomb for grubs. It raises its grubs on honey collected by Combee"; "When endangered, grubs from its six-cell honeycomb strike back. There is only one in a colony"; "It releases various pheromones to make the grubs in its body do its bidding while fighting foes". These entries confirm that, for one, the Combee will collect/produce honey, thus also providing the ecosystem service of pollinating, while also confirming Vespiquen also produces at least some of the offspring of the colony. However, the fact that they specifically state that the grubs "strike back" or "do its bidding" is highly confusing. In the real world, larvae of social wasps such as paper wasps, yellowjackets, hornets, and honey bees (among multiple other examples) are wingless, stingless, and barely move.

[Image Source: Wikimedia Commons, Waugsberg | Image ID: A photo showing eight bee larvae arranged in order of age as they mature and harden into their pupae /End IDs.]

It implies that their young have some form of defensive abilities. But not only that, it implies that these Pokémon should have an additional life stage, possibly even two additional life stages, as the larvae reasonably should hatch from eggs (as Pokémon are known to do), live as larvae for a while, and then form pupae, before developing into adults. This part is made even more strange by the fact that fully formed, adult Combee can be hatched from an egg—Which brings me to my next point of discussion, that being, both male and female Combee are fertile, and do not need a Vespiquen, nor even another Combee for that matter, to produce offspring. This is strange, seeing as drone bees (as in; Male bees), as is true for male wasps in general, are fertile, while worker caste female bees are not fertile, with the males requiring a queen in order to mate.

Interestingly, regardless of level or sex, Combee cannot learn Poison Sting, which implies that even female Combee do not have a stinger until they evolve into Vespiquen. It makes sense for male Combee to be incapable of learning the move, as drones do not possess the ovipositor necessary to deliver a sting; However, if a Combee is a fully formed adult, as it appears to be, a female should be perfectly capable of performing this move. This could help explain why they join together with Vespiquen, it provides extra protection, as it can learn Poison Sting, and would be able to sting repeatedly in the real world even if it were a honey bee, as a queen is capable of delivering multiple stings due to having a stinger that is far less prone to getting caught on skin.

Well, at least that's all of the confusion somewhat settled when it comes to the social structure of these colonies, right? Right? WRONG. Because if we have Vespiquen, male and female Combee, and the as of yet unseen "grubs", then what, might I ask, are these?

[Image ID: A screenshot of a Pokémon battle, in which a swarm of non-Combee bees has surrounded the opponent due to Vespiquen using the move Attack Order /End IDs.]

"Oh, but Miss Jupiter, this is just the visual effect associated with some random Pokémon move, surely it doesn't mean anything about Vespiquen specifically!" is something you might say, and normally I would be inclined to agree with you, if not for the fact that this is one of Vespiquen's signature moves. Literally no other Pokémon in the games, barring maybe another Pokémon using something like Mirror Move or Mimic, can actually learn Attack Order—Only Vespiquen can ever learn this move naturally. The implications of this are fascinating, given that these bees CANNOT be fully formed Combee, as there's only one of them, but they also can't be the aforementioned "grubs" given the fact that said larvae shouldn't have wings or that distinctly adult body. So then, this species has four or even five distinct castes (depending on the possible sexes of these bees)? Why are these not their own Pokémon as well? Are these all Vespiquen's offspring, as they should be, or are they also attracted to its nest via pheromones? Are these just separated Combee?

This strikes me with another question too; What happens to the other two bees when a Combee evolves into a Vespiquen? Perhaps they separate and the other two become dedicated workers, part of this swarm, or maybe they outright fuse together into one, singularly thinking organism. Regardless, I'm... Confused.

In the end, I suppose that things could be worse, but it's just not very good, to be honest. It's as fascinating as it is confusing, which is to say, very. Of course, this is honestly fine, given that it's Pokémon and it's really not meant to be accurate, but it's a bit disappointing even compared to Beedrill. So, my rating would have to be...

-

Overall: 3/10

-

Leave your wasp review suggestion in the replies, tags, or askbox!

[smexychip5]

As I should have expected, my brain is going autistic mode over Pokémon thanks to the Legends ZA trailer, and is likely going to be like this for the next two months. Legit, i’m so hyper fixating on it that I made a list of Pokémon that likely be in the game’s dex. I was thinking of saving my “notes” for a video idea since I’ve been thinking about doing YouTube videos to just share my random thoughts, but since I don’t have the best technology, don’t have a lot of free time, and likely by the time I would be able to finish it, it would probably be close to the release date. So I guess enjoy my unorganized thoughts.

I think like Legends Arceus, there will be Pokémon from the original X & Y Dex that will not be added in Legends ZA. In terms of how many, well, if we multiply the number of registered Pokémon in the Kalos Dex (457) by the amount of Pokémon removed from the Sinnoh Dex in Arceus (22), and divide by the number of registered Pokémon in the original Sinnoh Dex (210), that gives us roughly 46 Pokémon that will be removed or only roughly 411 of the Kalos Dex Pokémon will be back for Legends ZA. Right off the bat, like how every Pokémon introduced in Gen 4 appeared in Legends Arceus due to it being a game focusing on that specific gen, all of the 72 Pokémon introduced in Gen 6 will definitely return for ZA due to it being a game focusing on Gen 6.

The following Pokémon are registered in at least one of the dexs in Scarlet & Violet and were also registered in the Kalos Pokédex. So there’s a good chance they’ll show up in Legends ZA:

Pichu

Pikachu

Raichu

Dunsparce

Azurill

Marill

Azumarill

Surskit

Masquerain

Magikarp

Gyarados

Corphish

Crawdaunt

Psyduck

Golduck

Riolu

Lucario

Ralts

Kirlia

Gardevoir

Gallade

Combee

Vespiquen

Bulbasaur

Ivysaur

Venusaur

Charmander

Charmeleon

Charizard

Squirtle

Wartortle

Blastoise

Doduo

Dodrio

Plusle

Minun

Gulpin

Swalot

Scraggy

Scrafty

Oddish

Gloom

Vileplume

Bellossom

Sentret

Furret

Smeargle

Croagunk

Toxicroak

Ducklett

Swanna

Volbeat

Illumise

Hoppip

Skiploom

Jumpluff

Munchlax

Snorlax

Meditite

Medicham

Axew

Fraxure

Haxorus

Drifloon

Drifblim

Mienfoo

Mienshao

Zangoose

Seviper

Spoink

Grumpig

Bagon

Shelgon

Salamence

Wingull

Pelipper

Tentacool

Tentacruel

Luvdisc

Shellder

Cloyster

Qwilfish

Horsea

Seadra

Kingdra

Sandile

Krokorok

Krookodile

Hippopotas

Hippowdon

Rhyhorn

Rhydon

Rhyperior

Snubbull

Granbull

Houndour

Houndoom

Eevee

Vaporeon

Jolteon

Flareon

Espeon

Umbreon

Leafeon

Glaceon

Yanma

Yanmega

Golett

Golurk

Nosepass

Probopass

Makuhita

Hariyama

Starly

Staravia

Staraptor

Stunky

Skuntank

Chingling

Chimecho

Solosis

Duosion

Reuniclus

Sableye

Tauros

Mareep

Flaaffy

Ampharos

Heracross

Pachirisu

Slowpoke

Slowbro

Slowking

Exeggcute

Exeggutor

Chinchou

Lanturn

Alomomola

Lapras

Diglett

Dugtrio

Trapinch

Vibrava

Flygon

Gible

Gabite

Garchomp

Geodude

Graveler

Golem

Slugma

Magcargo

Wooper

Quagsire

Bellsprout

Weepinbell

Victreebel

Gastly

Haunter

Gengar

Poliwag

Poliwhirl

Poliwrath

Politoed

Ekans

Arbok

Barboach

Whiscash

Poochyena

Mightyena

Pawniard

Bisharp

Murkrow

Honchkrow

Foongus

Amoonguss

Lotad

Lombre

Ludicolo

Buizel

Floatzel

Basculin

Litwick

Lampent

Chandelure

Rotom

Magnemite

Magneton

Magnezone

Voltorb

Electrode

Swinub

Piloswine

Mamoswine

Cubchoo

Beartic

Snover

Abomasnow

Delibird

Sneasel

Weavile

Timburr

Gurdurr

Conkeldurr

Torkoal

Sandshrew

Sandslash

Larvitar

Pupitar

Tyranitar

Spinarak

Ariados

Cryogonal

Skarmory

Gligar

Gliscor

Hoothoot

Noctowl

Igglybuff

Jigglypuff

Wigglytuff

Shuppet

Banette

Zorua

Zoroark

Gothita

Gothorita

Gothitelle

Bonsly

Sudowoodo

Teddiursa

Ursaring

Scyther

Scizor

Ditto

Swablu

Altaria

Deino

Zweilous

Hydreigon

Dratini

Dragonair

Dragonite

In total, that’s 243. 96 left to go

Since Megas are obviously coming back, the following are likely to be back too:

Pidgey

Pidgeotto

Pidgeot

Weedle

Kakuna

Beedrill

Carvanha

Sharpedo

Abra

Kadabra

Alakazam

Audino

Absol

Onix

Steelix

Kangaskhan

Mawile

Aerodactyl

Electrike

Manectric

Pinsir

Aron

Lairon

Aggron

Mewtwo

In total, that’s 25. 71 left to go

While they’re not registered on any of the Pokédexs in Scarlet & Violet, the Legendary Birds are catchable, so there is a chance they could be back. The Legendary Bird members of course include:

Articuno

Zapdos

Moltres

68 left to go

So far, there have been some other Old Gen Pokémon that have actually been confirmed to be returning. Those being:

Budew

Roselia

Roserade

Staryu

Starmie

Emolga

Stunfisk

Patrat

Watchog

Trubbish

Garbodor

In total, that’s 11. 57 left to go

Besides Scarlet & Violet, the most recent Pokémon game is of course Legends Arceus, so chances are that the following Pokémon could return:

Bidoof

Bibarel

Burmy

Wormadam

Mothim

Zubat

Golbat

Crobat

Machop

Machoke

Machamp

Mime Jr.

Mr. Mime

Chatot

Mantyke

Mantine

Remoraid

Octillery

Skorupi

Drapion

Carnivine

Lickitung

Lickilicky

In total, that’s 23. 34 left to go

Next up, Sword & Shield. Since there is a lack of Electric, Poison, Ground, Ice, Bug, Fighting, Steel, Rock, and Ghost types in both Gen 6 and Gen 9, the following Pokémon that are registered in at least one of the dexs in Sword & Shield and are also registered in the Kalos Pokédex prioritize that fact:

Caterpie

Metapod

Butterfree

Nidoran♀

Nidorina

Nidoqueen

Nidoran♂

Nidorino

Nidoking

Cubone

Marowak

Jynx

Shuckle

Corsola

Smoochum

Nincada

Ninjask

Shedinja

Lunatone

Solrock

Relicanth

Roggenrola

Boldore

Gigalith

Throh

Sawk

Venipede

Whirlipede

Scolipede

Dwebble

Crustle

Vanillite

Vanillish

Vanilluxe

Thus concludes all of the 411 returning Pokémon. But like Legends Arceus, there will be Pokémon that replace the removed from the original X & Y Dex in Legends ZA. Both old Gen Pokemon that were not originally available in X & Y, and brand new Pokémon. In terms of how many, if we multiply the number of registered Pokémon in the Hisui Dex (242) by the number of registered Pokémon in the Kalos Dex, and divide by the number of registered Pokémon in the original Sinnoh Dex, that gives us roughly 526 Pokémon that will be available in ZA or only roughly 115 Pokémon will replace the removed Pokémon from the original X & Y Dex in Legends ZA.

Like Legends Arceus and Scarlet & Violet, some of the Pokémon added will be regional forms but judging off of Scarlet & Violet, there will be more convergent forms or maybe it will just be convergent forms and regional forms will be obsolete. In terms of how many, if we multiply the 526 Pokémon by the number of regional “form” Pokémon in Scarlet & Violet (10), and divide by the number of registered Pokémon in Scarlet & Violet (677), that gives us roughly 7 regional “form” Pokémon in ZA.

If we multiply the 7 regional “form” Pokémon in ZA by the number of convergent form Pokémon in Scarlet & Violet (6), and divide by the number of regional “form” Pokémon in Scarlet & Violet, that gives us roughly 4 of those regional “form” Pokémon being convergent forms in ZA.

If we multiply the 7 regional “form” Pokémon in ZA by the number of regional form Pokémon in Scarlet & Violet (3), and divide by the number of regional “form” Pokémon in Scarlet & Violet, that gives us roughly 2 of those regional “form” Pokémon actually being regional forms in ZA.

Which leaves room for one Pokémon either being a regional evolution, another regional form, another convergent form, or a convergent evolution which would be interesting.

Like Legends Arceus and Scarlet & Violet, we will likely get cross Gen evolutions. If we multiply the 526 Pokémon by the number of cross Gen evolutions in Scarlet & Violet (7), and divide by the number of registered Pokémon in Scarlet & Violet , that gives us roughly 5 cross Gen evolutions in ZA.

Now to figure out who the remaining 103 Pokémon to be added to ZA are.

The following Pokémon are Gen 9 cross Gen evolutions, so there’s a good chance they’ll show up in Legends ZA:

Dudunsparce

Kingambit

101 left to go.

Since the Tentacool line and Diglett line are likely to be added, it would make sense that their Convergent forms would show up. Those Pokémon of course being:

Toedscool

Toedscruel

Wiglett

Wugtrio

97 left to go.

All of the Hisuian forms will most likely not come back for ZA, and by extension, includes Sneasler due to the fact that lore wise, they are extinct, and in Sneasler’s case it’s a Regional Hisui evolution. The only possible contradictions to that statement is Hisuian Growlithe/Arcanine showing up in The Teal Mask, and Hisuian Qwilfish/Overqwil showing up in The Indigo Disk. However, the logical explanation for why they exist in modern times is due to captive breeding, so unless there’s a character/characters in Legends ZA that owns those species, the Hisuian Forms will not return. White-Striped Basculin, and by extension Basculegion are exceptions due to the inconsistency of it being a regional form or not. Plus White-Striped Basculin are catchable in Kitakami.

The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero establishes that the cross Gen evolutions from Arceus do still exist in modern times, but are very rare. That would leave them with the possibility of being in ZA, but the methods of evolving them might prevent them from returning though. Stantler evolves into Wyrdeer after using Psyshield Bash in the agile style at least 20 times. Therein lies the problem. Agile style/Strong style moves have only been a mechanic in Legends Arceus, and is most likely not going to be used in any other game. Judging by the trailer for Legends ZA, that seems to be still the case. So Wyrdeer is out for the count.

Kleavor surprisingly does have a chance. Despite requiring an item that’s only available in Arceus, Kleavor is catchable in Blueberry Academy. So it’s not out of the realm of possibility for Kleavor to return, but it means like Scarlet/Violet, the only way to evolve Scyther into Kleavor is in Arceus. Ursaluna is similar to Kleavor, except while technically Ursaluna is catchable in Kitakami, it was a different unique form of Ursaluna. So that means that Ursaluna has a slim chance to be added.

In short, that leaves the following Pokémon to be likely added.

Kleavor

Ursaluna

Basculegion

94 left to go.

Of course, can’t forget the Legends ZA starters that have finally been revealed (though, I’m going to skip mentioning the final evolutions since it’s has not been confirmed if they’re going to regions forms for the starters like in Arceus or Megas since they’re back, or best of both worlds, regional Megas. Now that would be DOPE!):

Chikorita

Bayleef

Totodile

Croconaw

Tepig

Pignite

88 left to go.

Like how Legends Arceus added a brand new Pokémon in the form of Enamorus, Legends ZA will likely add new Pokémon that are neither regional forms nor cross Gen evolutions. If we multiply the 526 Pokémon in ZA by the number of new Pokémon in Legends Arceus (1), and divide by the number of registered Pokémon in the Hisui Dex , that gives us roughly 2 new Pokémon that are neither regional forms nor cross Gen evolutions in ZA. Whether they also will be legendaries or not, who knows.

86 left to go.

While the following Pokémon are technically not available in Kalos, like the Growlithe line, Vulpix line, and Teddiursa line, they have the chance to be added now. To start off, applying the same situation with the Sword & Shield Pokémon, gives us the following:

Paras

Parasect

Venonat

Venomoth

Mankey

Primeape

Annihilape

Seel

Dewgong

Grimer

Muk

Tyrogue

Hitmonlee

Hitmonchan

Hitmontop

Elekid

Electabuzz

Electivire

Pineco

Forretress

Phanpy

Donphan

Wurmple

Silcoon

Beautifly

Cascoon

Dustox

Shroomish

Breloom

Numel

Camerupt

Duskull

Dusclops

Dusknoir

Snorunt

Glalie

Froslass

Spheal

Sealeo

Walrein

Beldum

Metang

Metagross

Shinx

Luxio

Luxray

Shellos

Gastrodon

Bronzor

Bronzong

Spiritomb

Blitzle

Zebstrika

Drilbur

Excadrill

Tympole

Palpitoad

Seismitoad

Sewaddle

Swadloon

Leavanny

Joltik

Galvantula

Klink

Klang

Klinklang

Larvesta

Volcarona

18 left to go, and those being the following:

Cleffa

Clefairy

Clefable

Vulpix

Ninetales

Growlithe

Arcanine

Drowzee

Hypno

Happiny

Chansey

Blissey

Magby

Magmar

Magmortar

Aipom

Ambipom

Zeraora (If you’re wondering why they’re here, it’s because like Stunfisk, the were leaked to be in the game)

And there you have it. My predictions for what Pokémon will show up in Legends ZA.

My only other “solid” prediction is the starter types for the final evolutions. Regardless of whether they have regional forms or not, I think Meganium will get the Fairy type, Feraligatr will take Emboar’s Fighting type (in a similar fashion to how Hisuian Typhlosion took Decidueye’s Ghost type), and Emboar’s new secondary type will be Steel.

Alright, I’m done yapping now lmao

[amplexadversary]

I slipped up and started thinking about assigning Pokemon to a "The Character" again.

I'm not *done* with the books, and given the way the internet is, this kind of speculation might as well be inviting spoilers from anyone wanting to correct me (I am a good halfway through Rogue Protocol and trying to take my time so as to not run out of book in three days)(to be clear, if you're going to reply, keep it to a tease, something like "[pokemon] would make sense because of something [we learn/that happens] in [book]," or "[pokemon] is fitting for reasons you don't know yet," or "[pokemon] would trivialize a later problem so probably not that one," or something.)

So. Murderbot. Used to working security, using drones, with the cheapest equipment its owners could justify. Tells me early series it would have some route-1 tier pokemon - while an Absol or a Growlithe might be fitting or even desirable, I don't think Murderbot would have access to one. (let's ignore the fact that in a crossover with a pokemon setting Murderbot would be more likely to be some kind of mass-produced pokemon, that could be a different exercise. Same with the fact that the presence of Pokemon would change the setting- especially in how many major characters might treat bots and constructs if they were used to pokemon; this is more an exercise in themes.)

I think it has a Mightyena. Useful enough in a fight and something that most people do not want to fuck with it, but still kind of on the cheap side with associated risks to match, aligns with the company's approach to the SecUnits themselves. I imagine the Pokemon would have been bred in captivity and kept mostly around constructs and human trainers before being assigned to a SecUnit.

I could see it having picked up a Porygon and hidden it from the company via hacking, so that seems like a solid maybe.

For reasons I'm about to explain, I think the Mightyena, and the Porygon if Murderbot has one, are the only pokemon that it's able to keep between the first book and the second

The drones Murderbot uses in book 1 could translate to a lot of different pokemon; Pidgeotto, Spearow, Starly, Noctowl Tranquill, or Zubat. Beautifly/Dustox, Ledyba, Yanma, Venomoth, Butterfree, Masquerain, and Beedrill would also be fitting. Maybe Magnemite on some assignments. I'd imagine they wouldn't be pokemon permanently assigned to any given SecUnit, but assigned and collected each assignment. (I rule out pokemon like Fletchinder, which would likely be difficult to train to work in a swarm, Natu/Xatu, which take a lot of investment to get to a point where they're effective, or are otherwise strong-willed, too cute to be intimidating, evolve relatively late, or similar. Ninjask/Shedinja are a *maybe* as well, because while the two-for-one evo might be appealing to the company. However, Ninjask is temperamental, and Nincada evolves really late for a bug type pokemon, so Nincada seems like something that would be more fitting for Murderbot to pick up later.)

After the events of the first book I could see it picking up something small and cute to keep. A Hoppip might especially appeal given that it would likely also be reminiscent of the "drones" Murderbot is used to working with, but something relatively helpless like an Azurill might fit that theme better. A Cleffa would also be really funny, I think, for it to find in book 2, because the irony of Murderbot taking something with it from RavHyral (and of *finding* something as valuable as a rare pokemon there that its client missed) is just too delicious, and it coincides with Murderbot's budding habit of claiming humans as "its" humans that it is responsible for.

ART would give Murderbot a classic starter pokemon, either around the same time it convinces Murderbot to let it alter its configuration, or at the end of book 2 . ART is a research transport, that's basically the sci-fi equivalent of a pokemon lab, it would have them. It gave Murderbot it's phone number, basically, and crew uniform, Murderbot is *getting* a pokemon from ART if we're pouring Pokemon into the setting. A Froakie, Sobble, or Rowlet might appeal for their final forms' potential for ranged or air support. Piplup I could see of Empoleon's tank potential, and I can maybe see Torchic, Treecko, Totodile, or Cyndaquil if we assume ART had one specific set available. I feel like Gen 1, 5, and 9's starters would all be a little awkward for Murderbot to work with, because they're more all-rounders, not sprint-y enough to keep up, not purely tank enough to plop in front of a human (though Rillaboom, Emboar and Venusaur all look the part; those type weaknesses though...), and not providing scouting, ranged, or air support.

Depending on how common Mightyena is for SecUnits to keep, on the way to RavHyral, ART might also persuade Murderbot to trade its Mightyena to ART (or one of ART's crew, in their absence) in exchange for a pokemon that a researcher would be more likely to keep - right now I'm leaning Aipom, Sandslash, Kadabra, Duosion, Machoke, Eevee's overdone but it *does* fit, Ampharos, Beldum, Ralts would be funny, Magnemite/ton, Vikavolt, probably just about any electric or psychic type pokemon that doesn't seem too much of a stretch, and probably a fair few grass water or fossil pokemon as well. That list is probably going to narrow when I get to the point where we find out what ART's deal is.

ART also might upgrade Muderbot's Porygon, if we're assuming it has one.

I think a Nincada would round that off nicely; fully evolved, it would give Murderbot three floating scouts to work with if we assume it had the Hoppip or one of the relevant starters, it fits with what I'm pretty sure the writing on the wall is suggesting the theme is for Network Effect, and I think the sheer amount of difference between Shedinja and Ninjask is a neat parallel to Murderbot's arc question, because, Shedinja and Ninjask are the same Pokemon (individual), they are not the same Pokemon (kind of creature), which I think compliments Murderbot's relationship to humanity being a Person (sapient entity) that isn't a Human (kind of creature).

(Notably, that leaves Murderbot with either 5 or 6 pokemon, depending on if a couple of those get a yay or nay. So that potentially leaves on-hand space for it to pick up another that reflects events I haven't gotten to. Though I could also see ART offering Pokemon storage to Murderbot)

[gumy-shark]

mp100 pokemon au teams- the teens

MOB:

mob doesn’t like battling, and avoids it whenever possible. he can understand, heal, and empower pokemon, like yellow from the manga.

Espurr

Caterpie

Gengar (technically wild. this is Dimple)

thats it, that’s his team!

definitely no secret legendaries he accidentally caught as a kid, that he never uses because the last time it came out of its pokeball it caused a terrible accident. that would be absurd!

yeah no OBVIOUSLY this kid has a mew that he never uses for trauma reasons.

RITSU:

ritsu has the largest pc box out of the characters i’ve built teams for so far, and switches out his pokemon often. his starting/main team is:

buneary

psyduck (evolves into golduck at some point idk)

eevee (evolves into umbreon in big cleanup arc)

bagon (evolves into shelgon in world domination arc, and then into salamence in confession arc)

kadabra (will evolve at some point)

riolu (evolves in 7th division arc)

in the box: shuppet, cacturne, beedrill, scyther, venomoth

TERU:

teru’s fighting style involves copying his opponent’s techniques and improving them, making him a very versatile fighter. so i gave him a bunch of form changing pokemon. and wobbuffet

aegislash

oricorio

furfrou

rotom

castform

wobbuffet

in the box: roserade (just plain cool also teru swag)

SHOU:

shou is a very protagonist guy and as such he only has the most protagonist of pokemon (aka every one of his pokemon is one that ash ketchum used at some point). i’m not sure if i should give him viridian forest powers (aka what mob and yellow have going on) too- it fits thematically but also takes away from what mob has going on

greninja (battle bond)

rockruff (own tempo rockruff, will evolve into dusk form)

staraptor

aipom

gabite (might evo into garchomp? not sure)

charmeleon (evolves into charizard between world domination and confession arc)

shou is a very “power of friendship” and “there are no strong or weak pokemon- you can win with any team!” kind of guy. which is awesome but also ends with him going up against his dad (the champion or strongest elite 4 member, haven’t decided) with a half-evolved team with their levels in the thirties. at some point numbers DO matter.

[hanro50]

Captain log 1: Assembling a crew

Captain: Sylvic Sandra. (Human)

Well, it's been about 6 hours of sorting through applications. Still annoyed, I had to change the name of the ship from Star Stabber Star blast to the 'Normic H76' to even get enough applications for this voyage. None of this would have been a problem if half the bleeding sector hadn't gone to war over some meaningless shard again, but I digress I have to settle that getting a full human crew is impossible at this stage.

Looking through it, I think M1-3 would be a good fit as a navigation officer. It was not my first choice, but the dietary restrictions of the alternatives made them my only choice for this mission.

Ohh....a Beedrill. Never met one before, although looking at the applicants. Seems a number of them applied for the engineering position. Two engineers are always good to have. Aby and Lin are the picks for that spot.

Security....had only one applicant there. A varicose named Mark. Hopefully, he'll be comfortable with kinetic weaponry. Not that I have a choice, but retrofitting my ship is not on the charts.

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Pokemon Card of the Day Schedule: Team Up

Team Up was one of the more important sets the game had seen. It brought a new concept to the game: Pokemon that gave up 3 Prizes when Knocked Out. These new Pokemon were Tag Team Pokemon, which were always Basic Pokemon that had huge stats, strong attacks, and featured 2-3 Pokemon on the card. Despite giving up half a game worth of Prizes, Tag Team Pokemon immediately reached the top of the game, and became the focus of a large number of decks for a long time. One in this set, Pikachu & Zekrom-GX, was even good for quite a while after the next generation of cards came out. This was also the first set to be legal through the first half of 2021, so there was plenty of time to make an impact.

While the Tag Teams (mostly Pikachu & Zekrom-GX, though some like Eevee & Snorlax and Gengar & Mimikyu had roles as well) got the spotlight, the set was not lacking for other types of cards. Zapdos was the star of its own deck for a while despite being a single Prize Basic Pokemon, and Tapu Koko Prism star helped make this the second straight set to really boost Lightning as a type. Control decks found help with Pidgeotto and occasionally even Zebstrika, and Jirachi was one of the best set-up Pokemon the game had ever seen. There were also a few good Trainers in the mix, making Team Up a very notable set even beyond the new gimmick it brought to the game.

Celebi & Venusaur-GX Beedrill Shaymin Prism Star Charizard Ninetales Blastoise Gyarados Lapras Articuno Pikachu & Zekrom-GX Zapdos Ampharos-GX Zebstrika Emolga Tapu Koko Prism Star Gengar & Mimikyu-GX Mr. Mime Mr. Mime-GX Jynx Hitmonlee Hitmonchan Omastar Kabutops Lycanroc-GX Alolan Grimer Alolan Muk Absol Yveltal Hoopa-GX Incineroar-GX Skarmory Jirachi Bronzong Cobalion-GX Doublade Aegislash Alolan Ninetales Mimikyu Latias & Latios-GX Alolan Exeggutor #114 Alolan Exeggutor #115 Dragonite Eevee & Snorlax-GX Pidgeotto Pidgeot Persian Farfetch'd Aerodactyl Bill's Analysis Black Market Prism Star Brock's Grit Buff Padding Dangerous Drill Electrocharger Erika's Hospitality Fairy Charm UB Grass Memory (and Water Memory) Ingo & Emmet Judge Whistle Lavender Town Metal Goggles Morgan Nanu Pokemon Communication Viridian Forest Wondrous Labyrinth Prism Star

Promos 158-169

Magikarp & Wailord-GX #166

[flocessyranch]

-- RP: @skullboneandunown

skullboneandunown:

Wade gives Ashe a deadpan expression, and rolls his eyes. "Well, duh. Pretty sure her godfather wouldn't appreciate us tossing Willow at vampires, demons, or whatever the monster of the week is. As for you, Donnie shut down Strange for those exact reasons. I don't know what all you went through in your life, but this line of work would stress you out even more than you are." He scratches his chin. "Leon....nah. Don't know Kianga.... Don't know Night...Yeah, those guys are gonna probably be in the 'maybe' pile." "Ah...I uh, don't think it's a great idea to have your mom on the team. Donnie still is a bit on edge due to the 'Area Zero Incident' as he calls it. Won't tell us what happened specifically. And I ain't gonna ask. I've seen him pissed off, and I and gonna poke that beedrill hive." Comically, Wade puts on a pair of reading glasses and looks at the skate park on Ashe's RotomPhone. "Interesting. Interesting. While Ultron pretty much has the Sanctums security system in his head, an extra set of hands wouldn't hurt." He takes his glasses of and stores them... somewhere. They just disappeared like in a cartoon. "Is the team an organization? I don't think it counts. Maybe? Questions for later. Anywho, can I get his number?"

The look on her face could only be described as sour at the mention of Strange, but as Wade went on listing various people she had listed... well, she stopped at her Mother, gaze shifting to look at him, utterly clueless on what he meant. Her RotomPhone popped up a sly grin emoji as Ashe, calmly, asked Wade something; "Hold up. What's this about this 'Area Zero' incident?" Being Wade didn't seem to know anything else, her features became notably frustrated.

Even Lucky's fur was bristling, his eyes narrowing a bit.

"-- Grusha isn't apart of any organization. He simply lives there watching people do what he cared about doing once." There was a sigh from her as her RotomPhone popped up the number for Wade to write down. "... Listen, do me a solid when you get back, yeah? Tell Donovan I want to talk about this 'Area Zero Incident', and emphasize 'talk'. He'll get the gist of it."

Despite how calmly she presented herself, it was clear she was agitated by it all as was Lucky. 'I don't like this one bit. If it's a misunderstanding, let's hope it clears up fast.'

[stark-park]

If RWBY had Pokemon - Team RWBY

When choosing Pokemon I’ve gone off aesthetics, personality, lore, but most importantly: vibes. 

Yang Xiao Long

Poliwrath - I imagine poliwag being her starter and it growing up to be a great puncher. Also, poliWRATH. Literally Yang is all about letting loose her wrath after so long.

Ursaring - I just think this Pokémon is perfect for Yang, probably the aesthetics. Also Yang's allusion is Goldilocks so I had to get some bear Pokémon!

Pancham - bear number 2 (I almost had Beartic as a third bear but it seemed like overkill). I love this lil bear's "fight me" vibe.

Rhyhorn - when it charges it sometimes forgets why and will just keep charging. Also would batter you.

Beedrill - her motorbike is called Bumblebee so story wise: perfect. Aesthetics wise: perfect.

Rapidash - she needed a fire type on her team, no question. I chose Rapidash mainly because it's a Pokémon Yang could ride, so again alludes to her motorbike, but also it's hair is not dissimilar to Yang's so it had the right aesthetics too.

I reckon if Yang nicknamed her Pokémon they would have names like Crusher, Bruiser, etc. and then of course she'd have one with a name that doesn't fit the theme, like Digby, Princess, or Bernard.

[psn-stalling]

Other letters not in THINK (and things you shouldn’t need to ask, usually.)

A - Axe. Does it involve using more axes than necessary to get your point across?

B - Beedrill. Is it going to result in me angering a swarm of Beedrill?

C - Clear. Will this result in a change in clarity to nearby glasses or glass panes?

D - Destroy. Will this result in Daybreak Town having all of its chainsaws cease to function?

E - Earache. Will this result in the entirety of The Voice fandom hating me?

F - Failure. Is this going to result in anyone failing the LSAT?

G - Gun. Is it going to attract more Octillary and Remorade than I want?

J - July. Is it going to result in the resurrection of Julius Ceaser?

L - Loose. Will this eventually result in packs of wild Pokemon escaping the nearest Safari Zone and doing a footloose?

M - Monopoly. Is it going to cause unwanted games of Monopoly to be played, especially in Volcanos?

O - Overhead. Am I sure this joke will be comedic and land airplanes?

P - Pool. Is it going to result in pool parties past 3:33 AM?

Q - Queen. Is it going to cause any female members of royalty to consider abdicating the throne to a Charmander?

R - RKO. Is it going to indirectly result in somebody receiving the wrestling move The RKO from seemingly nowhere?

S - Serious. Is it properly communicating wether you are serious about the project to construct the new bridge?

U - Underhanded. What is the probability that the person I’m speaking to throws an underhanded pitch compared to an overhanded one?

V - Violet. Is it going to result in a rival of mine receiving violets or violins?

W - Win. Will this result in me winning a board game?

X - X Gon Give it You. Is it going to change the amount of collaborations a band gets?

Y - Y? Why are you preforming this action, now in a speeding car jumping through a fire hoop?

Z - Zero. Is it going to result in somebody having to say an infinite number of zeros?

...That seems really overly complicated.

And half of it just. Won't happen to the average person.

[overfedvenison]

Playing Pokemon Red

Point by point so I recall later...

I started my pokemon journey, taking Squirtle as my starter. I named her Nine-Four, after the Type 94 Tankette, because she eventually becomes a tank and Pokemon Gen 1 does not allow you to use numbers

Going through the game, I fought the first rival battle after acquiring two Pokemon - Ratata (names GoForT.Eye) and Nidoran Female (Named Zaftig) I did not grind at all for the rival battle, and went in very underleveled. This meant that it was actually quite difficult. I had to use multiple debuffs and all my potions, but Go For The Eyes survived at critical HP and won.

I proceeded to the north through the forest, and to my surprise found a Pikachu among the like, 3 encounters I found. I was surprised; definitely going on my team.

Brock was no big issue with Squirtle, of course. But it's really interesting how he's played. This early, a player may not know types or anything - but this is the big introduction to it which is impossible to ignore. Brock teaches you that Physical and Special attacks are different, but also tests your intellect in other ways - His ace, Onyx, has ridiculous durability combined with Bide, Screech, and Tackle. Beyond type advantage, Bide is a move which reflects damage back on you. When I was a kid I absolutely just attacked through it, but the intent is clearly to make this telegraphed move where you should not be doing that. In every way, Brock is a puzzle boss made to get you to question the battle system and not just push Scratch again.

...I am rather impressed at how nonlinear and full of options this game has even right away. At this stage, pokemon tend to have a single attack move and a support move - but those support moves do different things. If you want to have a specific goal in your strategy, you can swap pokemon for that purpose. And this is actually rather notable and varied even this early on - when going through Viridian Forest, I set Zaftig as my lead. As a Nidoran, she is poison type - meaning the common Weedles there cannot poison her, and only damage her for 1-2 HP due to type resistances. And that's a really interesting option this early in the game. The pokemon are rather stratified in a way you don't really appreciate when looking at their stats alone, and so each pokemon exists in context. The most obvious example is Beedrill and Butterfree, three-stage evolutions you can reasonably get to within a single dungeon and which tutorialize evolution. But Nidoran is similar, in this regard, in that it is a very good choice for Viridian forest - this early, this rabbit is an incredibly potent tank just from situational resistance and being slightly more durable than Ratata and Pidgey.

I saw this more in Rock Tunnel, when Go For The Eyes learned Super Fang. Here's the thing - Ratata is not a powerful pokemon. Quite weak, overall, even this early. But he has a trick - Super Fang and Hyper Fang. Super Fang is an 80-power move you can acquire at a time when 40 power is still really impressive. It's the secret weapon of this little rat and, in context, makes him WILDLY powerful this early in the game. Rock Tunnel also grants you a Water Gun TM right near the entrance. I used it on Ratata, and it's... Crazy, actually. Ratata, notoriously weak Route 1 Rat, can now one-shot almost every random encounter in the entire cave with his superior speed. This is what I'm understanding - to really understand Pokemon Red, you have to look at the pokemon you encounter within context and find what emerges. Replaying was a good choice, and it's interesting to see what kind of Pokemon show their stuff.

Anyways, I acquired a second early-game nuke in the form of Zaftig - who is now level 16, and could then evolve to Nidorina, and then evolve immediately afterward to Nidoqueen. I taught her Bide, since she's a wall and her taking hits only to flip it back has a certain appeal.

...The game really encourages experimentation even this early, and it's easy to see how it caught on so hard.

[of-sand-and-leaf]

Pokemon verse

Background One world. Two timelines. One person. Five Pokémon. 

A planet where Pokemon and humans travelled freely without the fear of being hurt or punished. A place where there was no technology, no fighting, no evil. Humans lived in complete harmony with nature, surrounded by Pokémon both day and night. Legendaries were in peace with each-other and they didn’t need to hide. 

Back in these peaceful times, Pokemon and Humans could have relationships without the fear of get persecuted. It was often a common situation that Pokemon often found their lifetime partners in humans, so common that no one ever thought that it was wrong. There were never any children born from these unions until the night of the rarely seen Blood moon. 

With the birth of the newly born Dragon/human girl, the Legendaries started to hide for the peaceful times were nearly over. Humans started to build cities, destroying the environment around them. Pokemon fled in numbers from fear of their safety and the world split into regions. 

As the times changed around her, Ami remained at the place where she was born. Safety zones hidden within the mountains for the Pokemon and half-humans, persecuted by those they once called family and friends. Left behind in an increasingly violent world, only those with open minds and pure hearts were allowed to seek the forgotten people.

Ami is half human/half Pokemon and the daughter of the Hoenn Legendary, Rayquaza. She prefers being around Pokemon or with the few pure human friends that she does have, including Lance, Professor Oak and Ash Ketchum.She doesn’t like being the centre of attention and most of her past is shrouded in mystery or so people like to say. Ami looks 18 but is actually far older than that and her Rayquaza form is silver and black. She has a full team of Pokemon, most of whom are as old or nearly as old as she is. Although Ami rarely battles, she is regarded by the Champions like Lance and Red as being on their level. She is the owner and founder of Dranix International, a company who mostly deals with medical things and Pokemon Reserves. As well as being the Leader of the Poke-humans, who live in protected areas like Mt Silver to prevent people using them.

Ami's Pokemon Team

Ivy | Dragonite | Female | Draco Meteor, Hurricane, Dragon Rush, Aqua Tail  Sasha | Milotic | Female | Dig, Psychic, Hydro Pump, Dragon Breath  Sal | Torterra | Male | Earthquake, Frenzy Plant, Dark Pulse, Nature Power  Misfit | Charizard | Male | Flamethrower, Steel Wing, Inferno, Dragon Pulse  Luc | Lucario | Male | Aura Sphere, Power Up Punch, Dragon Pulse, Extreme Speed  Shay | Shaymin | Female | Aromatherapy, Air Slash, Leaf Storm, Magical Leaf 

Trouble| Dratini | Female | Dragon Pulse, Dragon Rush, Extreme Speed, Tackle  Cel | Celebi | No gender | Psychic, Ancient Power, Magical Leaf, Psychic Shield 

Ami | Rayquaza | Female | Dragon Ascent, Dragon Claw, Thunder, Aura Punch

Protection layers around Dranix International

Flying - Noctowl | Dodrio Dark – Gliscor | Umbreon Psychic – Alakazam | Espeon Water – Gyarados | Swampert Grass – Tropius | Venusaur Fire – Charizard | Arcanine Electric – Rotom | Pikachu Bug – Butterfree | Armaldo Dragon – Salamence | Garchomp Fairy – Togekiss | Gardevoir Fighting – Hawlucha | Lucario Normal – Swellow | Snorlax Ground – Flygon | Torterra Rock – Aerodactyl | Golem Steel – Skarmory | Steelix Ghost – Drifblim | Dusknoir Poison – Beedrill | Arbok Ice – Glalie | Mamoswine

[kayzero]

Hello tumblr I am here to give you your weekly ZWG Foretold update:

100 words of one new scene!!!!! (i had a bad pain week and also i took up some work from my mom editing college essays and also also my littlest sister just left the state for college—i didn’t go and help her set up or anything but that was a thing that did happen)

In other news, I started to hardcore hyperfixate on a new story idea: a Pokémon OC Trainer story set in Kalos. Due to this hyperfixation I have been looking around the internet for new Mega Evolution ideas.

Did you know that not a SINGLE Bug Mega is special oriented? Beedrill, Pinsir, Heracross, and Scizor are all fucking physical!

Viola is an elegant lady who uses refined Bug Pokémon who dance like leaves in the wind and absolutely obliterate her opponents with special attacks. She has a Vikavolt who has gained her infractions for Spectator Endangerment on three separate occasions because its Bug Buzz, while boosting its Special Attack (not even maximizing, just a couple enhancements) shatters Psychic barriers. (She is on a list which numbers about a dozen who has a complex ban in Official League Tournaments: her Vikavolt is not allowed to use the move Charge Beam. She is the only League Official, that is, Gym Leader or Elite Four or Champion, in Kalos that currently has a complex ban.)

I’m giving her a Mega Butterfree, which is just a Gigantamax Butterfree scaled down to normal size. How does she deal with Rock types and Stealth Rocks with three confirmed Bug/Flying types on her competitive team? Her lead Masquerain, whose opening repertoire is Rain Dance, Quiver Dance, Hydro Pump, Defog. (She always loses to Grant, whose Pokémon all know Stealth Rock, including the Armaldo, Kabutops, and Carracosta that all know Swift Swim. But Grant is the second strongest trainer in all of Kalos, right behind Diantha herself, so the loss isn’t too terrible.)

…As you can see, I’ve been very distracted this week.

[gamingrambler]

Pokémon X living dex

Pokémon X holds a special place in my heart. It's not the first one I played, not by a long shot, that honour goes to Blue in the late 90s, but when I started I hadn't played one since Generation 3, the graphical leap was massive, as was the list of available mons.

Back in the day completing the pokedex seemed much more doable in terms of numbers, but the lack of a cable or any friends in possession of one made it almost impossible.

But the real reason Pokémon X holds such a special place is because it was the first one I completed the National Pokedex in thanks to the GTS and a series of direct trades with strangers. (it is also I believe the last generation it was possible to complete a National pokedex in at all due to its absence in subsequent generations).

After reaching the magical 721, I didn't think there would be much reason to go back, but recently, I decided to challenge myself to creating a complete living dex.

Like all good pokedexes, mine started at number 1 in generation 1 with a trip down to the nursery to get some bulbasaur charmander and squirtle eggs.

Weirdly enough I actually had a few venusaurs, charizard and blastoise, so I had obviously bred a few spares, then levelled them all the way up for some reason.

Then followed my first mistake, I bred my beedrill and butterfree too, rather than just heading out and catching new ones, which I soon realised was a much smarter option.

I caught nidorino, nidorina and one of the nidorans from a horde, but eventually decided to breed the other one since waiting for the hordes was quite tedious. I believe the same applied to the psyduck.

Abra are always pretty tough to catch due to knowing teleport, but catch it I did.

That Shellder I remember, because it might have been one of my last gen 1 pokemon. I thought I had bred for one until it didn't pop out of any eggs and I had to pop the cloyster back in the day care.

I've never understood why it is possible to breed ghost types. Aren't they literally dead pokemon? I can't remember if I bred for this one. I definitely bred the chansey though.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Hitmonchan / Hitmonlee here. Because these were my go to breeds when trading up for legendaries, I must have hatched and evolved hundreds of Tyrogue when trying to complete the dex back then. Fortunately I had kept at least one of each.

Kangaskhan took me a while here. It rurned out that I hadn't kept mine, so I had to catch a new one in the glittering cave, where they are a very rare spawn.

Reaching the last boxes of a generation would become a mixed blessing. Thankfully I still had at least one of every legendary and mythical pokemon, but as they say 'there be dragons' where levelling up just to the middle level was often quite a slog.

This one was fine though because Dragonair was available to be fished near the pokemon league.

It wasn't this one, but a Mew with false swipe did find it's way into my team for much of this challenge.

Togetic was the toughest in this box. I know it's all just pixels and code, but I always feel bad about evolving a friendship pokemon only to store it away. It evolved literally because it likes me now and... Great job, get in the box!

Here was the first point I needed to give myself a little outside help. Girafarig wasn't anywhere, clearly I had traded it away, someone must have traded something better for it because this was generation 6 and it didn't evolve.

Luckily, since this wasn't available at all, I was able to give myself the help, with my girlfriends 3ds and my copy of Omega Ruby, I could do some local trading. I didn't even need to catch one, it was tgere ready to be traded.

Over here was the first actually tricky one. Porygon2 apparently I hadn't kept any of the evolved porygons while filling the dex. Better offers must have come along, so again, my omega ruby came into play. But I also needed an up-grade to do it, so without even trying to think about the extra challenge next time this came along, I spent a good while at the battle maison trying to earn enough points just to get one.

As suspected, Pupitar took a while, forming part of my team for a long while while I levelled up several others. I also bred several Wurmple here because I didn't know how long it would take to get both of the cocoon stages. Not very long it turned out, so I had a big stock of spare Wurmple left over.

Shroomish has always been one of my favourites since using him in generation 3.

There's a lot of single evolutions in this box. A pain when first filling a pokedex, but something to be thankful for when completing a living dex, as they're all still there.

Milotic wwas another missing final evolution, so I went out and located a prism scale before booting omega ruby back up. Then it turned out feebas was already holding one.

These were tough to obtain using the gts as you couldn't ensure held items would be shared, so there were a lot where you have to trade for the evolved form. But trading with myself had its advantages.

And the dragon strikes again, with shellgon requiring a lot of levels.

I had to disappoint my friend Lucario recently in pokemon violet I recall. Luckily in pokemon X you are given a Lucario. I believe it stayed in my team for a while, but I didn't have to friend evolve this one.

Porygon-Z twice as hard as Porygon2, because not only did I need a Dubious disk, I needed another up-grade, because I still needed to keep the Porygon2.

I think that Darkrai is shiny, because it's just the one I got traded.

Some of the missing ones here were extra easy. I even had the right fossils to restore already.

Towards the end of Generation 5, there were a lot of surprisingly difficult ones.

Vanillish and Klinklang evolve at quite a high level.

Along with Elektrik. Axew was unsurprisingly tricky, and I was missing a Cryogonal, so lots of running around the snowy caves to find that one.

This dragon line was easy to complete in this box though, zweilous was right there in Victory road where I did most of my levelling anyway.

I remember Keldeo being quite hard to get back when I was filling the dex, no-one seemed to have it.

Most of Generation 6 completed itself, which makes sense since it was the new generation, so all were available.

I did stumble upon a shiny flabebe earlier in the challenge. Despite all of my hours in the game, I believe it is actually the only shiny I obtained in this game.

That Xerneas was my powerhouse while playing this game, so was actually my last one added as I finally removed it from my active team to take it's place in the lineup.

This box is fundamentally for the one remaining pokemon, but he is accompanied by some of the spare legendaries and a couple of those wurmple from earlier.

Not sure why I had so many Moltres.

[pepperochau]

Ledian: A Modest Proposal

Oh, Ledian. Beloved bugge cherished by many and belothed by just as many. A controversial reception which is easily understood by looking at its design and stats:

dreadful, isn't it? And that's to say nothing of the near-useless abilities it has—Iron Fist can do nothing off of a paltry 35 Attack, and the mon is likely to faint before Swarm is able to take effect. A cute, yet dreadful mon, and its not an opinion I'm alone in. Pokemon romhacks take particular interest in Ledian whenever it appears, often adjusting stats to mold the beetle into something more viable:

Renegade Platinum adds 60 points to the BST to turn Ledian into a mid-speed physical attacker as seen here:

The Emerald hack Elite Redux takes an incredibly similar approach, adding 60 points and emphasizing the attack stat, but also making Ledian much faster:

This is a similar approach taken by the Photonic Sun hack, again adding 60 points and emphasizing attack and speed:

YouTuber LivSama, no doubt thinking along similar lines, also changes Ledian's typing to Bug/Fighting from Bug/Flying but goes above the modest 60pt buffs to a full 100 in a spread not too dissimilar Mega Beedrill:

YouTuber Zen Mode takes a radically different approach in their attempt to fix Ledian, utilizing a number of minor changes instead of stat redistribution (Bug/Fighting, a few changes to the learnset, and most notably swapping Iron Fist for Technician) to make Ledian a serviceable pokemon throughout all of HGSS. (great video btw)

And lastly, perhaps my favorite Ledian fix comes courtesy of the Crystal Legacy hack. I have nothing to say about this.

If you're smart, and I know you are, you may have noticed a bit of a pattern when it comes to how romhacks handle Ledian: High Attack, High Speed, lower Sp. Atk by 20 points. Why people love to drop Ledian's Sp.Atk is beyond me, but I can at least surmise a reason for the former buffs it receives, which is another fairly consistent pattern among the fixes: Iron Fist. Excepting our delightful ladybird, no fully-evolved pokemon with Iron Fist has an attack stat below 104, and of those 8 mons, 5 have an attack stat over 120. People see Ledian's abilities first, then its attack, and say "well that cant be wrong" and bludgeon the poor dear into the mold of its brethren. I could be callous and argue that this represents a lack of creativity on the part of most fans, an assertion that I would argue is backed up by Zen Mode being able to realize the potential of Ledian's original base stats, I must rather instead accept the reality that Ledian, as it is seen by fans, needs to be a powerful attacker in order to be good.

So, how would I fix Ledian? I would like to draw your attention to the pokemon that Ledian is within a few BST of:

As you can see, barring a few insectoid exceptions locking into their 3rd stage, the 380-395 is home primarily to NFE's. Because of this and examples prior, I argue that Ledian does not need to be fixed, but rather that Ledian needs an evolution. And this is where and how I would like to throw my hat into the ring. Behold Ledinizer name pending):

To start with, Ledinizer will be keeping the Bug/Flying type. Partly because I feel like Yanmega, Ninjask, and Vespiquen are incredible pokemon even with a 4x Rock weakness, but also in part because I personally don't see enough justification to make it into a Fighting type, or into any other type for that matter. "B-but the dex entries say it throws barrages of punches" yeah you know what else the dex entries say? The dex says Ledian is weak as fuck, that it uses starlight as energy, scatters lucky dust, and prefers lands with clean air, and yet no one talks about making Ledian Bug/Psychic or Bug/Fairy or Bug/Dark do they? In fact, take a break from this post right now and go tell your friend that they should've made Ledian a Fairy/Psychic/Dark type, then ask how they'd feel about it being part-Fighting. Go on. That said, I am still taking those dex entries into account with its abilities.

When it came to the stat distribution, I kind of felt like I was playing with fire. I wanted to avoid the trope of Iron Fist maximization, and Pokemon often change stat distributions as they evolve—Electavire and Magmortar are great examples of what I mean with this—, but Ledian comes from an era where stat distros tended to be linear improvements across evolutions, so with this in mind I wanted Ledinizer to maintain its Special orientation and focused on that, but also without giving Ledian an avenue for abusing eviolite. The decision to reduce the speed stat comes from similar turns in the series—Poliwrath, Octillery, and Ursaluna to name a few—but also stems from a conscious decision to avoid a cliche.

Iron Fist is, in my mind, the greatest limiter of Ledian's potential in the fandom. Zen Mode showed that Ledian can work wonders without it, and since this is all in good fun anyway, I did away with Iron Fist in order to give Ledinizer some potentially very broken, but I think very interesting, abilities. Will to Power's flavor text is as follows:

Drawing on the power of the stars, the pokemon’s Special Attack stat is used when calculating the damage of physical attacks.

While 90 attack isn't particularly worth writing home about, I would argue that having an effective BST of 534 lets Ledinizer slide very comfortably into the arena of fully-evolved pokemon. Now, how this abilitiy functions under the hood is: stat stages are still used normally when calculating damage; Atk for Physical, SpA for Special. What this means is that Calm Mind isn't going to let you do more damage with Drain Punch. There's also a number of other complicated interactions with this ability: while active, Physical moves count as Special for the purposes of Battery, Ice Scales, and other Abilities which modify Special damage; Cannot be copied, passed on, traced, or replaced by Wandering Spirit. When attacking a pokemon with Unaware, Mold Breaker, Teravolt, Turboblaze, or Mycelium Might, this ability will fail to activate. I took some heavy inspiration from Water Bubble for these interactions, and the intention for these interactions is to provide unique defensive utility for Mold Breaker type abilities, while also leaving open the option for offensive synergies. Moves like Simple Beam and abilities like Mummy and Neutralizing Gas, which simply overwrite the ability, still function as normal. There's probably some interactions in there that I'm not aware of though lol, but now onto my real favorite of the two, an ability I made specifically for Iron Fist fans, Force of Will, whose flavor text is as follows:

Drawing on the power of the stars, the pokemon increases its Attack stat as its HP lowers.

Force of Will, in essence, is an extreme version of abilities like Swarm. And similar to Water Bubble quietly boosting Water-type moves, this ability has the sneaky effect of, boosting the base power of moves by 10%. Seems small, but let's look at the how it boosts damage:

and lets not forget the host of other interactions: Cannot be copied, passed on, traced or replaced by Wandering Spirit. Suppressible. Affected by Foul Play. While this ability is active, Strength Sap will always work on this pokemon. The Strength Sap and Foul Play interactions are here basically entirely for the purposes of keeping Ledinizer from being banned at locals, lol. Now, I am very fond of this ability because I feel like it explores a niche that TPCi hasn't quite touched yet. Sure we have Zen Mode, Shields Down, and Schooling, but they aren't as dynamic as I'd like. I want to see HP management on razor thin margins, in a way not too dissimilar from how the Persona series uses HP to cast physical attacks, or Binding of Isaac's Eve, where more power comes at more cost. But because this is pokemon, and pokemon battles are not roguelites nor 4vX affairs, it takes advantage of Ledinizer's traditionally very weak type combo of Bug/Flying by turning that weakness into an avenue for strength. If you can't take it down in one or two hits then it will knock you out as thanks. You want a massive attack stat? Well you're going to have to play smart and earn it.

Anyway, I hope you found this to be an interesting little exercise. I would've included a photo of Ledinizer if I had the knack for character design, but for now just imagine a Ledian with Kamina glasses and Knuckles gloves. If I had to shoehorn a moral into this overlong post, I guess it would have to be: do what the fuck you want. Don't let yourself be constrained by what it currently is, throw it all out if you want and start over. And please be more creative than a flat +70 to Attack.

Tune in next time when I figure out how to fix carnivine.

[rlyehtaxidermist]

this is a cardinal case of "define victory and boundary conditions for the discussion to be meaningful".

like are we playing this like a real-time strategy game where your units just sort of move around a bounded inescapable area until their health bars vanish and they pop like balloons, without any concern for even immediate term logistics or the possibility of withdrawal? then yeah I could see the case for the lions, even discounting the various pokemon that are gods or whatever. a billion is a huge number of lions. people don't really understand how big a billion is. at a 1000000:1 numbers ratio at some point the pokemon just drown in lions like a bizarre parody of a grain silo accident.

with any consideration to real-world-adjacent limitations, though? the pokemon. a billion is a huge number of lions. like, 25000 times as many lions as there are on earth. that's not a sustainable population of lions. one billion lions need something on the order of five billion kilograms of food per day. for scale, that's roughly 80% of the mass of the great pyramid of giza. every day. those lions are killing and eating each other in less than a week. it's not worth the calories to chase down a stray beedrill or whatever, and the proportional casualties of the lions to starvation and infighting will rapidly outweigh the percentage of pokemon incapable of fucking off to somewhere with fewer lions.