Is mentioning how each Pokemon performs a move necessary?

[Sketch]

On a lot of attack articles, sections pop up about how that attack looks when performed by a Pokemon...is this REALLY necessary? Is someone really going to look through an article to see how Chimchar uses Flamethrower?

 

[Tina]

I think we should tone down the picture use, too. I mean, if basically all the Pokémon that use Psychic have glowing red eyes and the opponent gets lifted up, why do we need like, five pictures showing the same thing?

 

[Sketch]

I don't think it needs mentioned. Get rid of it all.

 

[Theryguy512]

What??????????????????????????????

 

[Sketch]

Give me a valid reason as to why it's necessary.

 

[Tina]

One is when I'm drawing Pokémon, since I like to draw attacks and stuff it's kind of nice, but hell, I could watch an episode part instead..

 

[Sketch]

Right...besides, continuing the Flamethrower example...do you REALLY need to see Houndoom, Cyndaquil, Chimchar shooting a stream of fire out of their mouth?

 

[Argy]

Unless an attack varies a lot from Pokémon to Pokémon, we only need one image to represent it. So, the answer to Sketch's question is most definitely "no."

I would love to have these images be animated gifs, but that would obviously be difficult.

 

[Perxio]

About moves that vary between pokemon- I do a lot of fanart and sometimes I don't catch how certain moves look because I can rarely watch the show, and I've found the descriptions and pictures extremely helpful. So I hope those are kept at least.

Just my two cents..

 

[Sketch]

I don't think fan-art justifies this...really, I don't think that's a valid excuse. Serebii has a boatload of screenshots.

 

[Argy]

Keep the images in the Archives (maybe categorize by move) and link to them in the article. It is a hassle to have to dig through screenshots of individual episodes.

 

[kelvSYC]

The only reason why different pictures are needed is if renditions have changed either between Pokémon or over time. For example, Ash's Pikachu has performed Thunder in at least three different ways (in early Kanto it called out and let a thunderbolt hit it, in late Johto it was more closer to Thunderbolt, and in early Hoenn it was closer to that of Volt Tackle), while how Squirtle performs Hydro Pump is different from that of Blastoise (closer to Hydro Cannon) or Azumarill (closer to Water Gun).

I'd prefer a standard version of a move, and perhaps how it evolved over time or various exceptional cases. Furthermore, different attacks have been similarly depicted (note, for example, the similarities between Wing Attack, Steel Wing, and some versions of Aerial Ace, or between Roar and Hyper Voice, or even Aura Sphere, Shadow Ball, and to a lesser extent Dragon Rage).