- Joined
- Oct 18, 2012
- Messages
- 8,022
- Reaction score
- 22,096
Overall I'm not really disappointed. Here are my thoughts, wrapped for size:
- 72 new Pokémon (again): I'm not going to say, "I told you so," because I was almost on the receiving end of that myself, but I do feel like this affirms my thinking about how new waves of Pokémon will be handled from here on out. For the most part. Maybe we'll get another 100+ wave at some point, but I think it would be an exception in that case. All of which I am perfectly fine with; obviously I'm a big proponent of these reduced counts. I think it's a frugal, prudent approach. However...
- Alola Forms: ... that belief comes with the caveat that they make up for the reduced number of Pokémon by recycling old ones in interesting ways. Mega Evolution was a decent starting point, and Alola Forms looked like an even better method, because they're more tangible, fundamental alterations. But if there's one part of this whole datamine that I am distinctly disappointed with, it's the Alola Forms. Only 10 evolutionary lines? And they seriously wasted time on something like Alolan Diglett/Dugtrio? Who thought that was in any way a good idea? Even if you limit things to Gen I, there are still a lot of Pokémon that can be changed in creative ways. But they missed out on so much potential here.
- Alolan Golem: "Let's stick a giant taser on it!" Um, okay? Like, a Rock/Electric type (that's what I suspect it is, at least) would be cool, but surely there was a more intuitive way of going about it? Artleaka's Alolan Golem was better than this, and much more subtle and logical for the setting, although granted, we currently lack the lore on this one.
- Alolan Persian: It's not in any way what I was expecting, but I actually don't hate this guy. It's kinda cute and doofy-looking. Standard Persian already has a malicious elegance to it, so I don't mind seeing a sillier version.
- Alolan Dugtrio: What is this, still? When it first came up, my girlfriend and I both just sort of stared at the screen perplexedly for a good few minutes. Why is this even here? I mean, I'm all for gag Pokémon. I love Alolan Exeggutor and Alolan Raichu. But Alolan Exeggutor had a point to it, and it fit the setting, and it was actually quite witty. Alolan Raichu is a fun bit of fluff for a Pokémon whose line has historically been used as gimmick/gag characters. But Alolan Dugtrio is, and I hate to say this, just totally lazy, and not even all that funny as a gag character. That's seriously the best they could come up with? I don't want to tag them in here in case they're not one for spoilers, but a while back, the user Synthaphone came up with an Alolan Diglett/Dugtrio concept that I thought was completely brilliant. Here's the post. The official Alolan Dugtrio isn't even in the same galaxy. Argh. Regional variants are one of their best concepts ever, and Game Freak completely dropped the ball.
- Ash-Pikachu: On a more positive note, I love Ash-Pikachu, probably more than I have any right to as somebody who has never really be interested in the anime outside of childhood and until recently. But giving it each of Ash's hats is very charming.
- Evolutions for known Pokémon: I'm probably not as surprised by these as some others are. I didn't think Pyukumuku would evolve, and I didn't expect Drampa or Turtonator to have any evolutionary relatives. And for the ones we did get, I really like Salandit's, Morelull's, and especially Wimpod's evolutions. I didn't necessarily want Pikipek to be the toucan, although I did think it was a plausible outcome. I was expecting something much thinner, and with a rapier-like beak, but you know, I'm warming up to this, and I do like the toucan. So it wasn't what I expected, but as has (generally) been the case with this generation, it wasn't in a bad way. It's a pleasant surprise. I can't really picture this guy being Steel/Flying, however, although I never thought Pikipek would be. Oh, and Yetibrawler is odd, but knowing the concept behind it makes it work. I will admit that Komala being a standalone was a curveball. I had a thought that Minior wouldn't evolve, although I'm a bit surprised that Comfey didn't.
- Newly-uncovered Pokémon: Crown-of-thorns starfish thing is cute, and then its evolution is neat. Looks defensive. Spider is weird, but I want to know more about it. Quite interested in the anchor. None of the Tapus are as cool as Koko, unfortunately, though I want to see them folded up before making a final judgment.
- Starter Evolutions: Well, I already loved them, and therefore, I personally had no desire for split-forms or anything like that. I sympathize with anybody who isn't keen on them and was hoping for split-forms, though. Better luck next time, eh?
- Solgaleo/Lunala pre-evolutions: Well firstly, are they actually pre-evolutions? Kaphotics called them that, but I don't know how specifically he was speaking. He did say that the red Magearna was its "Special Poké Ball form," though, so does that mean that evolutions and forms are listed differently in the data? Nevertheless, if they are pre-evolutions, then cool. I figured it'd happen eventually. They've been giving the mascots "sealed" forms for two generations now (with the Dragon Stones in Gen V, and then the tree/cocoon in Gen VI as well as Zygarde's Cores and Cells), so I wonder what made them want to work them in as actual, discreet Pokémon in their own right? Assuming that they are, anyway. If they're actual forms, then I wonder how that will work. I had a thought that maybe Solgaleo will revert to its "sealed" form at nighttime, and Lunala will do the same during daytime. Kind of like Shaymin. But who knows. In any case, I don't have much to say about the designs. They're odd, which isn't necessarily a problem, but there's also not a lot else to them.
- Marshadow: Pretty cute. Obviously it's asking to be given a form change of some kind. I can't really tell if it's meant to be connected to Solgaleo/Lunala, though.
- Ultra Beasts: These are all extremely cool-looking. Exactly what I was hoping to see from the Ultra Beasts. But I don't want them to be Pokémon. I don't even want to be able to catch/use them. But it seems as though we can. Oh well, they're too amazing for me to mind that a whole lot. UB-Guzma is just fantastic.
- Leak contradictions: The snowman was probably the yeti crab due to translation, and I'm guessing they mistook either Wishiwashi School Form or Brionne as a dolphin.
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