Spoilers Official Let's Go Pikachu/Let's Go Eevee Discussion Thread

[Esserise]

@Plubio @Unown Seer

It's not properly sourced, but it seems relevant to mention that the trivia section of Flygon's Bulbapedia page claims that its Mega Evolution was intended for XY, not ORAS (much like Cosplay Pikachu).

 

[TechSkylander1518]

Maybe but Mega Raichu being Electric/Psychic with +100 stats would've been better than AR with the same BST

Higher stats are always an upgrade. You could just as easily argue Mega Raichu should look exactly the same as regular Raichu and have +100 stats-that'd still be a battle upgrade, but it wouldn't be a good design choice.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Maybe but Mega Raichu being Electric/Psychic with +100 stats would've been better than AR with the same BST

Higher stats are always an upgrade. You could just as easily argue Mega Raichu should look exactly the same as regular Raichu and have +100 stats-that'd still be a battle upgrade, but it wouldn't be a good design choice.

This. The pancake motif seems random even as a regional variant. It’ll be much more random for a Mega.

I feel possible directions for a Mega Raichu could be: Electric/Fighting with some kangaroo traits (its based on the kangaroo rat if I’m not mistaken), Electric/Dark or even Electric/Fire red-yellow colour scheme inspired by Gorochu if they’re willing to go bonkers. (The last one is pure wish fulfilment on my part since Raichu and Fire are my favourite Pokémon and type respectively).

 

[Alola]

"ALLZ RIGHT RAICHU! HIT DUH BABY WITH ANOTHA THUNDABOLT!"

 

[Silktree]

It's not properly sourced, but it seems relevant to mention that the trivia section of Flygon's Bulbapedia page claims that its Mega Evolution was intended for XY, not ORAS (much like Cosplay Pikachu).

The Cosplay Pikachu claim is weird, but here's the source for Flygon.

 

[Esserise]

The Cosplay Pikachu claim is weird, but here's the source for Flygon.

Weird indeed but quite true! They mentioned briefly it in the ORAS guidebook:

> Masuda: We had the idea of a Cosplay Pikachu as far back as during Pokémon X and Pokémon Y’s development, but it seemed perfect for the Pokémon Contest Spectaculars in these games, so we decided to include it in Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire. Many people told me that they were surprised, but my thinking was actually the opposite. Pikachu is a character known by people all around the world, and they would still recognize it as Pikachu even if it changed its appearance in different ways. I felt more secure about any chances that it might be misunderstood in some way than I would have it if were some new kind of Pokémon. I think that’s a strong point that only Pikachu could bring to this character.

 

[Silktree]

I guess it was supposed to be a customization tie-in at first much like LGPE's Pikachu.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Pikachu is a character known by people all around the world, and they would still recognize it as Pikachu even if it changed its appearance in different ways.

Is he calling people so dumb that they cannot recognise a Pokemon with changed clothes?

 

[Silktree]

Is he calling people so dumb that they cannot recognise a Pokemon with changed clothes?

Yes. Masuda knows best.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

At this point it feels like they want to convert the Pokémon franchise into a satire mocking the people who purchased Red/Blue/Green/Yellow due to Pokémania.

Seriously? It’s not as if they were giving the Cosplay Pokémon in question a complete makeover. It feels like an insult to anyone who plays Pokemon to imply that theu cannot differentiate between a regular and dressed up Pokémon unless it’s Pikachu.

They could’ve just said that Pikachu can portray a wide variety of characters easily, can handle the clothing better than other options and is the mascot.

 

[Esserise]

I guess it was supposed to be a customization tie-in at first much like LGPE's Pikachu.

For some reason I assumed it was maybe meant to tie in with PR Videos, but that works too.

Is he calling people so dumb that they cannot recognise a Pokemon with changed clothes?

I think you're probably reading too much into it there. Keep in mind you're reading only a (translated, to begin with) snippet without the initial question (something along the lines of, "Were you worried about changing the image of such an iconic character?") or the remainder of the answer from Ohmori where he says they did try it out with other Pokémon. I only posted the most relevant bit because it was 7 a.m., I was just recently woken up and I had other things to do besides transcribe full paragraph quotes from a Pokémon strategy guide. So before we go turning this into some full-blown scandal, I think he's mainly just saying that something like a dress-up gimmick works easiest with a figure as recognizable as Pikachu.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

I think he's mainly just saying that something like a dress-up gimmick works easiest with a figure as recognizable as Pikachu.

They could’ve worded it better...
This the reasoning I figured out was the most plausible.

 

[Silktree]

Masuda is not very good at PR. I think we should stop being alarmed by his poor word choices. And if the blame rests on the various translators over the years, whatever.

 

[Envoy]

This. The pancake motif seems random even as a regional variant. It’ll be much more random for a Mega.

I feel possible directions for a Mega Raichu could be: Electric/Fighting with some kangaroo traits (its based on the kangaroo rat if I’m not mistaken), Electric/Dark or even Electric/Fire red-yellow colour scheme inspired by Gorochu if they’re willing to go bonkers. (The last one is pure wish fulfilment on my part since Raichu and Fire are my favourite Pokémon and type respectively).

Or, alternatively, pure Electric. Because not everything needs to be or should be dual typed.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Or, alternatively, pure Electric. Because not everything needs to be or should be dual typed.

I certainly have no issues with that, but if the Mega wants to be any good in competitive a second Type would help, since pure electric has a lot of Pokémon- Luxray, Electrivire, Zeraora, Xurkitree and Manectric (which also competes for the Mega slot with Raichu).

 

[jonathan keller]

Do ya'll worry that if this is true giving Flareon, Jolteon, and Vaporeon mega evolutions is Game Freak's cop out instead of giving us a new eeveelution?

 

[Envoy]

Do ya'll worry that if this is true giving Flareon, Jolteon, and Vaporeon mega evolutions is Game Freak's cop out instead of giving us a new eeveelution?

Honestly, I think we have enough Eeveelutions. I really don’t need one for every type.

 

[jonathan keller]

Honestly, I think we have enough Eeveelutions. I really don’t need one for every type.

I guess. But honestly... I at least want a dragon type, flying type, steel type, and fighting type eevee. Then you can stop there.

And honestly, eeveelutions are basically what's keeping eevee relevant and making it super marketable. The majority of the pokemon fandom is curious to see what the next typing will be, what the design would look like, and on a less imprtant scale, what the name would be.

 

[Greninjaman]

If Eevee and Pikachu get new evolutions, then it would not make sense since the Starters can not evolve.

 

[jonathan keller]

If Eevee and Pikachu get new evolutions, then it would not make sense since the Starters can not evolve.

I meant in Gen 8. Game Freak may give the OG eeveelutions megas so they don't have to create another eeveelution. Don't we get a new eeveelution every other generation? We're about due for another. Or maybe Game Freak feels that we have too much eeveelutions already and decided to upgrade the ones we already have. Flareon and Jolteon are...sub-par. So this would be the perfect opportunity to make them more viable competitive wise.