pop-goes-the-sneasel

[pop-goes-the-sneasel]

Regirock for Pokémon review please? *sickly Victorian schoolboy requests this….as a last request*

Regirock!!!! The Rock Peak Pokemon!

Regirock is a Rock-type Legendary pokemon, and alongside Regice and Registeel, is one of the original three members of the Legendary Titans. Or Legendary Giants. Or Legendary Golems, which is probably the most accurate term, but that name is never actually officially used – presumably to avoid confusion with the pokemon that’s literally named Golem. Just “the Regis” seem most common though. Each member of the Regis was constructed from a specific material, supposedly by Regigigas, who made the Regis in its own image. Regirock, being made of rocks and clay, is probably the most straightforward of the group – rock is a simple and readily available material that translates easily to creature designs.

As a group, the Regis are probably some of the most intriguing pokemon in existence. Although abiological organisms aren’t actually that uncommon amongst pokemon species, the Regis stand out because of their entirely inorganic appearance. They have no true “face”, instead each having an arrangement of seven “eyes” and few other identifiable features. In the case of Regirock, scientists analyzed its internal structure and discovered it has no organs of any kind, not even a heart or brain, and it can be presumed the same applies to the rest of the group. The rocks that make up its body can also be replaced, and most of them come from wildly different locations. And as with most Legendary pokemon, it’s unknown how or even if they reproduce.

Further emphasizing the peculiar nature of these Legendaries, the original trio was sealed away in three caves in Hoenn. However, before these caves could even be entered, you first needed to access a place called the Sealed Chamber, which could only be found through thorough underwater exploration. Inside, there were several mounds, each inscribed with letters of the alphabet and the corresponding letters in braille. If you were a kid during Gen III and couldn’t easily just look up a braille chart and didn’t think to save the little sheet that came in the game box, you would need to write down each of these letters, which you would then use to translate the braille elsewhere in the chamber. This would reveal a message telling you to place Relicanth at the front of your party and Wailord at the back, which would cause an earthquake and unlock the other three caves of Hoenn. Inside each of these caves would be more braille, revealing a puzzle unique to each Regi; Regirock’s required a specific walk sequence followed by the use of Strength in Ruby and Sapphire or Rock Smash in Emerald (both appropriate, due to the association with rocks). This would unseal the cave’s chamber, allowing you to finally face the Regi.

It goes without saying that this is all incredibly cool, even if a bit convoluted. It really makes the Regis feel legitimately legendary, far better than a bunch of spoken dialogue about how mySteRiOus and pOwerFuL they are would’ve done. The actual relationship between the Regis, Relicanth, Wailord, and braille is never really explained, with the only common thread being “having dots”, but that’s part of the beauty of it. These things are utterly inscrutable – sealed away by a fearful ancient civilization that we never learn anything more of. The Regis obviously got expanded upon in later gens, with Diamond and Pearl introducing Regigigas and Sword and Shield’s Crown Tundra DLC bringing with it two additional new Regis, but the magic of the original trio was never quite captured again.

As for Regirock itself? It’s pretty lovely, as all the Regis are, but it admittedly kinda underwhelms in comparison to the others. I’m not a big fan of rock monsters to begin with, and the straightforwardness makes it come across as a little less interesting compared to its more outlandish contemporaries. It’s also got a much more humanoid body plan, which while not necessarily bad, does feel a little blander for a rock monster. However, I can’t help but adore it nonetheless – I consider a rock golem to be pretty much legally obligated to exist in a group of elemental golems, and Regirock is quite solid in that role. There are certainly aspects I’d tweak if I could – a less-defined “head” would be nice, as would a cooler color scheme – but nothing earth-shattering. Thinking more, it’s probably one of my favorite Rock-types, even if it ranks low within the Regi group as a whole. It also looks absolutely impeccable in the right lighting, where its eyes and silhouette get emphasized.

Shiny Regirock does improve upon that color scheme I didn’t like, feeling a lot earthier with its deep, rich brown. The darker base color results in a design that looks a lot more slick and stylish, with the brighter orange now acting as a much nicer accent color. Most the other Regis get pretty mediocre shinies, so it’s nice that Regirock has such a pleasant one, if not the best of all of them.

Even if I perhaps don’t love Regirock quite as much as its contemporaries, it works perfectly in the context of its associated trio, and said trio is probably the best-executed legendary trio in the franchise. The original Regis are undeniably fantastic, and they wouldn’t be complete without Regirock providing such a strong, simple foundation for the concept.

Rock solid/10.

#first review since my return!!!! #took awhile lmao #regirock #rock type #legendary titans #regice #registeel #pokemon sv #sv #hoenn #gen 3 #rse

[pop-goes-the-sneasel]

Was reading your Raichu post, which prompted this giant message.

There actually is some evidence that regular animals still exist in the Pokemon world, just not as prominently. There's actually promo material of Pikachu and Ash walking past a lady walking her dog, for example. This suggest that, originally, regular animals and Pokemon were supposed to coexist.

One possible explanation for why we don't see them is that they're less popular than owning Pokemon, and since wild animals generally avoid humans, trainers wouldn't encounter them, much.

Takashi Shudo, on the other hand, claims all real-world animals went extinct and were replaced by Pokemon (presumably by evolving into them...hopefully) but this seems to contradict all the stories of "Ancient" Pokemon, unless the series is thousands of years in the future, making us the Ancient Ones.

I actually dislike this explanation, because he also claims all the real-world animals that appeared were simply "animation mistakes" which makes zero sense in the case of the Ghastly turning into a mongoose, which was very obviously deliberately done, not a "mistake" like he claims.

There also was a Pokemon book called "Bulbasaur's Trouble" where Bulbasaur had to find a frog to settle a dispute between two children...the frog was a main part of the plot, and thus can't be written off as a "mistake."

Furthermore, the inclusion of Pokemon like Arceus, who supposedly created the world, would imply that Pokemon have been around since the beginning...unless he either wasn't originally a Pokemon, or recreated the world after it was destroyed.

Takashi Shudo's word should also be taken with a grain of salt since he didn't create the series, he was mainly the chief writer for the anime adaptation, so while he was very influential and created Lugia, his word isn't exactly final, it's just one opinion that many of the other writers for the series may disagree with for all we know. As a matter of fact, as far as I can find, he's the ONLY one who spoke on the matter, so we don't know the other writer's opinion on the matter. Raichu's entries continuing to reference Indian Elephants could be a sign that others working on the games disagree with his interpretation. We still don't have Satoshi Tajiri's word on the matter, either.

Furthermore, while it is more common in Gen 1, you can still see real-world aquatic animals in the Sun and Moon anime such as starfish and various shellfish, all the anime features coral, barnacles are sometimes seen, and in the Black and White manga they ask if someone was scared by a spider...a regular spider.

If you want to look more into it, Bulbapedia has an entire article listing all the times normal animals appeared in the franchise.

You sent this a year ago, and I’m just now publishing it because I’m only now deciding to finally return to this blog! In the year since you sent this in, though, a fascinating thing happened: Raichu’s dex entry in Legends Arceus seemingly retconned the old Indian elephant into Copperajah. Or, alternatively, an Indian elephant is just as easily knocked out by Raichu as Copperajah is, and Copperajah is simply a more useful barometer for Professor Laventon to use :U I think my stance at this point is that it’s undeniable that, early in the franchise, real animals were 100% intended to exist in the pokemon world, even in modern times. This tracks with early promotional material you showed above, and also the supplementary Gen 1 Pokedex book translated by Dr. Lava just a couple years ago, which not only includes references to real-life animals, but also theorizes that stuff like Vulpix are related to real-life foxes. Most outlandishly, Kabuto is claimed to be a common ancestor of hermit crabs and *turtles*. It’s a fascinating read and I highly recommend it! Link here: https://lavacutcontent.com/1996-creatures-pokedex-translation-1/ As for nowadays, though, I think it’s kept purposefully vague. Stuff like starfish are still shown, as are coral and some small insects, but most things that people will readily identify as a traditional “animal” are very strongly avoided. I suspect there’s not really an internal statement whether real-life animals do or don’t exist -- there’s just general orders not to show them, regardless of if they do or not. And invertebrates are just the best at slipping through the cracks. For myself, though, I agree with you -- if non-pokemon plants and fungi and rocks can exist, why not non-pokemon animals too? Anyways, with SV having recently unveiled its official artwork for its new pokemon, now’s as good as time as any to resume the reviews c:

#not a review #sorry i didn't reply to this earlier tho lol #i read it when u first sent it too i just didn't say anything!

[pop-goes-the-sneasel]

eh. Raremon?

Raremon!!!!

In the original Digimon virtual pets, you would traditionally begin with a small “Baby I” digimon, which would soon after evolve into a “Baby II” digimon. From there, it would typically branch into one of two Child-level digimon, which is the usual default stage of most partner digimon and the most recognizable mascots of the franchise. The way virtual pets work is that, depending on the way you care for your digimon, you could influence the outcome of its evolution. The next stage, the Adult-level, is where the original line of virtual pets had the widest span of possibilities. You could influence the resulting evolution depending on factors such as how much training you do with your digimon, how much food you give it, and how often you disturb its sleep. If you fail to meet the requirements for any other evolution, typically through too many care mistakes due to overfeeding, underfeeding, or not letting your digimon get sufficient sleep, your digimon will commonly evolve into what’s known as a “failure evolution” for its Adult stage.

Failure evolutions, as the term implies, tend to be relatively weak and unsightly. They’re typically associated with sludge or garbage, and were a recurring trend of all of the virtual pets in the early years of Digimon. Raremon is one such example. Most failure evolutions tend to be rather small and goofy, but Raremon notably averts this trend, appearing as a massive rotting monstrosity. Raremon essentially represents the attempt of a dying, poorly-treated digimon to extend its own life through mechanization, but in the process it destabilized its form and corrupted its data. Its mental faculties have been rendered nonexistent and it continues to decay indefinitely, but thanks to the machines incorporated into its body, it is unable to actually die.

Needless to say, this is an absolutely marvelous concept for a Digimon. Raremon is simultaneously horrifying and pathetic; a perfect balance of repulsive and pitiable. Its design reflects this superb balance quite well, with a ghastly visage of viscous, rotten slime permeated by wires and metal cords. Its asymmetrical eyes bulge out of metal-plated orifices, and its gaping maw is lined with horrible talon-like teeth. What appears to be a ribcage can be seen peeking from its side, and its back is lined with markings reminiscent of a circuitboard. All of these elements would be quite good individually, but together they make for a truly stunning entity. Appropriate for such a wretched being, its primary method of attack is the expulsion of rancid breath and acid from its mouth, though few beings can tolerate the foul stench it emanates long enough to fight it in the first place.

Raremon is almost entirely antithetical to what is traditionally considered marketable. It’s not cute, badass, or even silly. It’s just a putrid affront to nature that absolutely should not exist. This is the beauty of Raremon: it commits to its concept perfectly and whole-heartedly, making no sacrifice for the sake of toning itself down in the name of commercial appeal. And for a long time – more than 20 years – it would remain the only digimon to really capture such a excellent aesthetic. As of 2021 though, we’ve finally been blessed with a direct evolution that directly carries on Raremon’s theme: Rare Raremon. And with that, it feels like this fetid fiend is finally getting some of the respect it rightfully deserves.

Cute/10

#digimon #digimon reviews #raremon #rareraremon #rare raremon #adult level #virus attribute #undead type #nightmare soldiers #metal empire #digimon introduced in 1998

[pop-goes-the-sneasel]

Shuppet?

Shuppet!!!! The Puppet Pokemon!

Shuppet’s a simple and straightforward Ghost-type that closely resembles a traditional sheet ghost, albeit with wonderfully psychedelic eyes and a single horn. Its appearance is directly based on a teru teru bozu, a type of handmade doll popular in Japan. Children often make these dolls out of paper, and hang them in the eaves of houses to bring good weather the next day. These dolls also directly inspired Castform, which retains the weather motif and cheery demeanor; Shuppet, however, mainly draws inspiration from their ghost-like appearance.

Shuppet tends to gather under the eaves of houses, particularly swarming where vengeful and vindictive people live, feeding off their negative emotions with its horn. Negative emotions form Shuppet’s primary diet – it uses its horn to “catch” people’s emotions, consuming their feelings of jealousy, malice, and resentment. Because of this, people are often wary of houses where Shuppet tend to congregate. Shuppet does have a positive reputation as well, helping to soften negative emotions by eating them.

Aesthetically, Shuppet’s pretty great. It’s very simple, but its use of color is excellent, and it incorporates a surprising amount of personality into such an unassuming design. Its eyes are some of the most beautiful of any pokemon, and feel incredibly otherworldly. For an additional splash of color, Shuppet also often reveals its large, pink tongue. Ironically, it can’t actually learn Lick, and despite Lick being a Ghost-type move, the Gastly line isthe only Ghost-types capable of learning it. Shuppet also has a relatively high attack stat, befitting a physical move like Lick, and making its inability to access the move doubly weird.

Assuming it’s not just an arbitrary moveset decision, one reason Shuppet doesn’t learn Lick may be specifically to prevent its evolution, Banette, from accessing the move. Banette, which I’ve also reviewed, is essentially a doll haunted by resentment toward the owner who discarded it, with a zipper mouth that seals its cursed energy inside. The fact a teru teru bozu evolves into a specific haunted doll is kinda weird, and raises the question of if Shuppet is the initial form of the discarded doll, or if the discarded doll turns directly into Banette and then simply produces Shuppet eggs. The localizers gave Shuppet and Banette a handpuppet and marionette theme, which does connect them a bit more directly, but isn’t really represented in their designs or abilities.

Shiny Shuppet is a minty teal, which is pretty pleasant. It’s not quite as cohesive with the eyes, but I do generally like it when shinies are a bit more garish than the base form.

Overall, Shuppet’s a lovely pokemon with a great concept. Its relationship with Banette is a bit funky, though; I honestly didn’t even realize Shuppet evolved into Banette back in Gen III. Thinking more about it, their unifying concept is vengeance – Shuppet seeks vengeful people and feeds on their emotions, while Banette is a being explicitly created by vengeance. Perhaps the catalyst for Shuppet’s evolution into Banette is actually the accumulation of vengeful emotions in its body, creating the same conditions in Shuppet that would cause a discarded doll to turn into Banette. Hm.

Revenge is a dish best served to Shuppet/10

#pokemon #pokemon reviews #pkmn #swsh #shuppet #banette #ghost type #gen 3 #hoenn

[pop-goes-the-sneasel]

The one the only: Bidoof or Bibarel!

Bidoof!!!! The Plump Mouse Pokemon! Even though it’s absolutely not a mouse! Just like many other “Mouse Pokemon”!

Bidoof is a Normal-type that most resembles a gopher, though in the context of its evolution Bibarel, it’s also kind of a tailless beaver. Like the numerous other early-game Normal-types throughout the franchise, it’s a pretty regular-looking rodent, with no real notable abilities or anything. That said, it does have teeth that grow at a very fast rate, said to grow as fast as Rattata’s. In order to manage those constantly-growing teeth, it chews on logs, trees, and boulders. This leads well into its more beaver-based evolution, and is a very solid concept for such a “normal” animal.

Unfortunately, Bidoof was pretty widely disliked back in Gen IV. This may seem odd – it’s just a little rodent thing – but people just really hated designs that weren’t actively cute or badass back then. Bidoof just has a low-key silliness to it, and combined with its very high spawn rate across numerous routes of Sinnoh, it was easy for people to get annoyed by it. Like many once-disliked pokemon though, time has been kind to Bidoof, and it’s far more popular now than it was then. It’s a notably popular pokemon to photograph in New Pokemon Snap, appearing early on in the game and being highly photogenic.

Last month, on July 1, there was even a franchise-wide “Bidoof Day” event: this involved a stream of Bidoof-containing episodes of the anime on Twitch, Bidoof-related content in the online TCG app and Pokemon Masters EX, the announcement of a limited Bidoof promo card, an extremely high spawn rate of Bidoof in Pokemon Go, and a line of Bidoof-themed merchandise at the US-based Pokemon Center store. All complete with an announcement video parodying Never Gonna Give You Up, which was originally posted on April Fool’s as part of a Bidoof takeover thing and they just kinda. Reused it.

Even before this year, Bidoof was getting some positive attention. This mostly stemmed from its appearance in the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Darkness. You and your partner are the most-recent recruits to the Wigglytuff Guild, with Bidoof as your immediate senior. He’s portrayed as bumbling and inexperienced but very well-meaning, with a friendly and positive attitude, and provides optimistic commentary throughout the game in his personal journal. In the expanded version, Explorers of Sky, Bidoof is even playable in a prequel side story called “Bidoof’s Wish”, in which Bidoof goes exploring and meets the wish-granting Jirachi. Rather than wishing to become a great explorer, he simply wishes for a friend or two, which leads to him meeting the player and their partner when the game’s main story begins.

Bidoof unfortunately has a rather boring shiny, though it’s not unpleasant. Its body is a bit brighter, and its snout has a subtle burgundy tinge to it; I think I like it a bit more than the base form even if it’s not that different. Still, a more drastic change would be appreciated.

Bidoof has had quite a lot of history despite its status as a simple early-game rodent. In fact, I think the qualities that made it so unpopular during Gen IV are the exact same qualities that make it well-liked now. Bidoof isn’t powerful or majestic; it’s just simple, warm, and wholesome. It isn’t going to win many battles, but it’ll always be there for you. I’m quite fond of it, yup yup.

Friend-shaped/10.

#pokemon #pokemon reviews #pkmn #swsh #bidoof #bibarel #normal type #sinnoh #gen 4

[pop-goes-the-sneasel]

If you haven't reviewed it already, how about Altaria?

Altaria!!!!! The Humming Pokemon!

Altaria’s a wonderfully cute bird pokemon, and the evolved form of Swablu. Despite its avian appearance, it notably gains a Dragon typing upon evolution, transitioning from the pedestrian Normal/Flying combination to a more-unique Dragon/Flying. A pokemon changing its primary type (that is, the type that is listed first) is uncommon, and almost exclusively happens with Flying-types because Flying was always a secondary type until Gen 6. If they were going to introduce primary-Flying pokemon, this line seems like it would’ve been the time to do it: a bird with wings made of clouds is incredibly Flying-themed. All the primary-Flying pokemon produced now just feel arbitrary in comparison.

Appropriate for its species title, Altaria’s most notable behavior is its tendency to hum and sing. Said to sing in a “beautiful soprano” with a crystal-clear voice, Altaria captivates all who hear it. Ironically, it doesn’t learn many sound-based moves, though it is one of a small handful of pokemon with access to my absolute favorite move, Perish Song. This makes for some great flavor – Altaria’s singing is apparently so beautiful that it can cause all who hear it to lose consciousness, including Altaria itself. Of course, it is still a dragon: its Emerald dex entry mentions it can launch intensely hot fireballs from its mouth, and its Shield dex entry describes how it will attack those who provoke it without mercy.

As a design, Altaria is absolutely lovely. Its blue coloration paired with its cloud-like wings are certainly fantastical, yet also make a lot of evolutionary sense as camouflage for something that spends most its time in the sky. The cloud wings are a fantastic design quirk in general, and it’s surprising clouds haven’t been incorporated in pokemon designs more extensively. Clouds are logically to Flying what flaming appendages are to Fire, after all. In fact, I would argue that Altaria is the single best representation of the Flying-type, representing Flying as both an ability and an elemental affinity. Which again, is despite its Dragon-type being listed first! Beyond the wings, Altaria’s face is remarkably adorable, with its puffy white cheeks and short beak complementing each other wonderfully. The two streaming feathers on its head give it an excellent silhouette, and its tail feathers round out the design nicely.

Altaria is such excellent Flying representation that it makes its Mega Evolution just a little bit awkward, since it actually drops its Flying-type in favor of a Dragon/Fairy combination. I understand the mentality behind this – while Dragon is a rare typing overall, Dragon/Flying is one of its more common dual type pairs. Dragon/Fairy, meanwhile, is entirely unique to Mega Altaria and gives the concept a lot more oomph. It also gains the ability Pixilate, which converts all Normal-type attacks it uses into Fairy-type attacks in addition to giving them a power boost. While Altaria only learned Hyper Voice through tutors and breeding, Pixilate notably gave that a boost in power, which does show off its singing theme a bit more. As a design, Mega Altaria is pleasant – I greatly prefer the soft pastel blue and long flowing tail. The huge cloudy bits, while excessive, feel appropriate for a Mega. That said, why did it get a colonial pirate hat??????? does the hat represent its increase in authority

Shiny Altaria is yellow. I like it a whoooole lot! c:

Overall, Altaria is truly superb. The fact that this elegant puffy-cheeked cloud birb is a Dragon-type makes it all the better, and as such it’s easily one of my absolute favorite Dragons in the series. Of course, it’s a favorite on the Flying side as well, and far more thematically deserving of a primary-Flying typing than species like Noivern, Corviknight, and Cramorant. Oh yeah, and this is what it looks like wet:

cheak boid/10.

#pokemon #pokemon reviews #pkmn #swsh #altaria #swablu #dragon type #flying type #hoenn #gen 3 #gen 6 #mega evolution #mega altaria #fairy type

[pop-goes-the-sneasel]

hi! may i ask what your blog header is from? i can't seem to find it on bulbapedia...

it's from the pokemon center's "winter hide-and-seek" promotion back in 2017!

documentation of pokemon center promotional artwork is unfortunately rly not gr8, even on sites actually dedicated to merch, but the artwork is usually amazing and typically produced by actual pokemon designers and tcg artists! p sure this one's by hyogonosuke, judging by the style c:

[pop-goes-the-sneasel]

Do you have a moment to talk about our lord and savior Arceus?

Arceus!!!! The Original One!

Arceus is a pretty big deal. According to legends – or at least the legends of Sinnoh – Arceus is responsible for the creation of the entire pokemon world, and potentially the entire universe. Mythology was a heavy theme of the Sinnoh games, as was the continual conceptual power creep of Legendary pokemon. The version mascots of Diamond and Pearl – Dialga and Palkia – respectively represent time and space with reality-warping powers to match. Arceus, in turn, is essentially the ultimate culmination of this power creep – an almighty creator god hatched in a void before the universe existed. Again, just according to legend.

That said, the only creation-y thing Arceus was ever shown to do was manifest an egg containing Dialga, Palkia, or Giratina in HGSS as part of a special event. This is probably the means it created the universe with – it just made Dialga and Palkia then they did all the actual creative stuff. This event was also accompanied by a very surreal cutscene featuring real-life photographs of space, landscapes, cities, and even blood cells, along with some arcane symbols. Frankly the sheer insanity of this cutscene is probably the strongest argument for Arceus being a legitimate godlike being. There has never been anything quite as jarringly strange in this franchise before or since.

Another question Arceus raises is how many are there, exactly? Legendary and Mythical pokemon are both established as incredibly rare, but not even the human-modified Mewtwo and Genesect are treated as truly one-of-a-kind. As such, I highly doubt Arceus has just one sole member of its species. The dex entries make reference to how it shaped the universe with its “1,000 arms”, which is obviously a peculiar statement given Arceus has no visible arms at all. My theory is that the term “arm” is being used metaphorically here – the universe was actually created by 1,000 different individual Arceus. Assuming it did create the universe, I mean. And of course, that might not be an exact number.

Anyway, as a Mythical pokemon, Arceus historically isn’t available through normal means, instead being distributed through special real-world events. Notably, it was one of several Mythical and Legendary pokemon of the era intended to be obtained through capture, with Arceus spawning in a special location atop Mt. Coronet known as the Hall of Origin. The Hall of Origin would be accessed using the Azure Flute (or Heaven Flute, in Japan) – an item distributed by the associated event. Unfortunately, though, the Azure Flute event never actually materialized, apparently because Game Freak believed it would be “too confusing” for players to use. Instead, Arceus was just given to the player directly without any special fanfare, and this became the norm for almost all Mythical pokemon thereafter. Still, the Azure Flute and Hall of Origin maintained a certain mystique, especially due to their lack of official use.

To represent Arceus’s omnipotent nature, it has an ability known as Multitype. Multitype allows Arceus to change its type based on what elemental Plate it holds, with one Plate for every type besides Normal (Arceus’s default type). The Plates bear engravings describing their legend, each supposedly being a shard of the universe left over from its creation. Each different type yields a slightly different appearance, usually changing the yellow components of Arceus’s design and sometimes the gray parts as well, generally corresponding to the main thematic color of each type. Dragon is a notable exception, as rather than using the usual color of indigo, Dragon Arceus uses a dark green and purple. Arceus also bears a signature move known as Judgement, which changes its type to match Arceus’s current form.

While the other forms are sometimes more aesthetically interesting, it’s the Normal-type Arceus that really best-captures the intended vibes of the pokemon. The yellow and white combo gives off a certain “holy” appearance. Paired with the moves “Judgement” and “Punishment”, Arceus seems to particularly allude to Abrahamic conceptions of God, though thankfully it does so in a decidedly unique way. Although the basic silhouette of Arceus is a rather “normal” animal, perhaps most resembling an alpaca, but its specific features remarkably uncanny. Its legs end in footless points, its stomach is oddly engorged, and its body is covered in peculiar points and knobs. Its face is also wholly unnatural, with no clearly defined features beyond its colorful eyes and green circles below them that almost evoke another pair of eyes. The ring around its body seems intended to represent a halo, but does so in a way I’ve never seen on anything else. Arceus definitely feels “godly”, whether it’s truly a god or not.

Appropriate for a god, Arceus has a history of breaking some established conventions of the TCG as well. Its original appearance in the eponymous Arceus set had an Arceus card corresponding to every type in the TCG, with a special Arceus-specific ruling that you can have as many Arceus cards in your deck as you want, rather than being limited to four. These cards weren’t actually that great, though. It wasn’t til relatively recently that Arceus got a card truly appropriate for a deity: a Tag Team card alongside Dialga and Palkia. Their GX attack, Altered Creation GX, allows them to do more damage to your opponent for the rest of the game in addition to taking an additional prize card for every pokemon you knock out. This is anunprecedented degree of power, and the ADP archetype has become a format-shaping force.

Arceus’s shiny is kinda mediocre. It replaces the white with a creamy yellow, clashing horribly with the yellow accents of its Normal form and generally being kinda hit-or-miss with the other forms. Shown here is the shiny variant of Arceus’s Fairy form, which I chose to showcase because the Fairy form isn’t shown above and because it’s probably my favorite of the bunch. It actually looks pretty alright with the yellow body, thankfully.

Overall, Arceus really isn’t my personal style, but I don’t dislike it. I don’t think the franchise really needed an all-powerful creator god, but I do think Arceus is a pretty cool one. Hopefully Legends: Arceus does something cool with it.

The number of footprints Arceus's 1,000 arms leave in the sand/10

#pokemon #pkmn #swsh #pokemon reviews #arceus #normal type #also the other types #mythical #legendary #sinnoh #gen 4

[pop-goes-the-sneasel]

Hi can u do Polteageist plz ( Polteageist is my favourite Pokémon )

Polteageist!!!! The Black Tea Pokemon!

Polteageist is a neat little purple ghost haunting a damaged teapot. This Ghost-type seems to have a highly viscous form, with hardly any definition to its simple body, so the ornate teapot provides the main aesthetic hook. The concept also seems quite appropriate for Galar given Britain’s association with tea. Britain’s fixation on tea is so severe that it has an issue known as “TV pickup”, caused by a significant portion its population simultaneously brewing tea in electric kettles during commercial breaks. The national power grid must accordingly keep track of major TV programs in order to predict when there’ll be a surge in power use and accommodate for it.

Although it isn’t visually apparent under typical circumstances, Polteageist notably has two different forms – a “Phony Form” and an “Antique Form”. The latter is signified by a small mark of authenticity on the bottom that the former lacks, and they each evolve from Sinistea through the use of different items. The Antique Form is noticeably rarer and it can’t be bred down. All Sinistea hatched from an egg, regardless of the parents’ authenticity, will always be a phony. This is a neat detail to implement with the line, even if it’s almost totally inconsequential. The inability to breed new instances of the Antique Form makes perfect sense, too – antiques are inherently old! You made these ones yourself! Just now!!!

The rest of the design is also quite interesting. Its spiral-shaped eyes are very unique, and its noodly arms give it a retro cartoon vibe. Polteageist seems able to contort its body to a significant degree, and its lower body seems to “fill” the entirety of the teapot. Its color scheme is incredibly pleasant, and it’s also an example of an interesting trend in Gen VIII to incorporate gradients in designs. Gradients are historically almost never used in pokemon designs, but Gen VIII gave us Dragapult’s tail, Hatterene’s hair, Appletun’s pie back, and Polteageist’s lower body. While I do think Polteageist’s design is quite solid overall, the fact the teapot is missing its entire bottom portion is a little odd. I also feel it’s not nearly as eerie as Sinistea. Sinistea foregoes a face entirely and instead just has a single spiral in its “tea”, with an additional face-like design on the teacup. Nonetheless, Polteageist is a very, very cool design regardless.

One way that Polteageist apparently reproduces is by pouring some of it itself into unattended black tea, which causes the tea to turn into yet another Polteageist. Moreover, it’s actually drinkable! Apparently it will allow trusted trainers to sample a little bit of it and experience its “distinctive flavor and aroma”. Which is a little weird, honestly; pouring a bit of something’s body into your mouth and swallowing it is just a bit unsavory. When angry, it will also purposefully launch its tea into the offender’s mouth, which causes chills if swallowed. So does its mood change the quality of the tea or does it always have that effect?? Is that why it only allows sampling a tiny bit???

Polteageist is also part of a fun deck archetype in the TCG known as Mad Party. While not especially powerful, I feel it’s noteworthy for its thematic concept: it represents the Mad Hatter’s tea party in Alice in Wonderland! Mad Party is an attack that deals damage based on the number of other pokemon that know the attack in your discard pile, with the other pokemon with the attack being Bunnelby, Dedenne, and Mr. Rime. They represent the March Hare, the Dormouse, and the Mad Hatter himself! Polteageist, of course, represents the actual tea. I love when the TCG does cool concepts like this, and I also love allusions to Alice in Wonderland, so this is all-around great. It’s a pity the TCG team doesn’t typically like to make anything that isn’t an ultra shiny holographic full-art rare viable.

Oh yeah, and the shiny’s really pretty! Polteageist stays the same, but the teapot replaces the cyan with pink. Unfortunately it has a bit less contrast, but the heightened cohesion has its own appeal too. I like it quite a lot. Pink shinies are always good :3

My condolences to any of you who seek an Antique Form shiny, though.

And that’s the tea, sis/10

#pokemon #pokemon reviews #pkmn #swsh #polteageist #sinistea #ghost type #galar #gen 8

[pop-goes-the-sneasel]

How about my favorite Normal/Grass type Sawsbuck?

Sawsbuck!!!! The Season Pokemon!

I’m not surprised Sawsbuck is your favorite Normal/Grass-type pokemon, given that it’s currently the only Normal/Grass-type pokemon besides its pre-evolution Deerling. Game Freak used to be quite careful with how they applied the Normal-type, since it necessarily implies a sort of “non-elemental” aspect to a pokemon. For a while, Girafarig was the only dual-typed Normal-type that wasn’t also Flying-type, and this was intended to coincide with its peculiar bisected nature. In subsequent generations, the Normal-type as a secondary type was still applied sparingly, usually intended to communicate that the pokemon in question is just a bit “less” of its other type. In Sawsbuck’s case, it relates to how it’s more of a deer than a plant, and its plantlike qualities are limited to its ability to grow leaves and flowers from its antlers. That said, Game Freak’s gotten a lot less calculated with their use of the type these days.

The main draw to Sawsbuck is its unique season gimmick. Sawsbuck has a different form depending on the season it currently is – pink flowers on its antlers in Spring, green leaves in Summer, red leaves in Autumn, and white fur in Winter. That’s pretty rad!!! “But wait”, some of you may be thinking, “seasons”? The games know what season it is???? This is where this line gets a little awkward. See, one of the new mechanics introduced in Black and White was a season system – with the season changing in real-time every month (so three full cycles per year). Deerling and Sawsbuck were introduced to showcase this new feature, in much the same way that Espeon and Umbreon showcased day and night, and Castform showcased weather changes. The thing is…..X and Y got rid of seasons in the very next generation. And they never came back. Now, all wild Deerling and Sawsbuck in the main series are permanently stuck in their Spring form. The only way to obtain the others is by transferring them all the way from Gen V through Pokemon Bank, plus Pokemon Home for future games. Oof :/

Anyways, Sawsbuck’s design is pretty straightforward. Straightforward isn’t bad, though; it’s neat how pokemon can vary so vastly with how much they deviate from their real-world basis. Still, I think it would’ve been nice if it had a few more plant bits, and it could be a bit more elegant. Of the forms, I think the Winter form is probably my favorite due to how distinctive it is, and the white accents make for the prettiest color scheme. Oddly, Sawsbuck is also said to migrate according to season, but isn’t the purpose of migrating to move to places with warmer temperatures? Doesn’t that kinda defeat the point of growing more fur and stuff????

Sawsbuck’s shiny is….a bit underwhelming. It swaps the dark brown fur with a brighter, warmer brown for all of the forms. This makes the color a lot less cooperative with the Autumn form’s leaves and isn’t particularly pleasant regardless. The shiny works best for the Summer form here, but really should’ve just been what the Summer form naturally looked like. It would’ve made the form much more visually distinctive and been much more appropriate for the warm and sunny season than the darker brown.

Of course, unless Game Freak implements seasons again, the issue of how the three non-Spring forms look won’t come up for many people anyway. Sawsbuck is in a deeply unfortunate situation – its entire defining gimmick has been completely abandoned. Three of its four forms are locked behind a decade-old game, a prior console, and a paywall for an online service, and it hasn’t even appeared in the wild since Gen VI. Even if Game Freak doesn’t intend to bring back seasons, it shouldn’t be too hard to make Sawsbuck’s form change every month regardless. Even just having it vary at random would be preferable to the current “solution” of permanent Spring. Of course, with so many pokemon having lost access to their Mega Evolutions in Gen VIII, and a solid chunk of pokemon being unobtainable entirely, perhaps Game Freak views alternate forms as disposable at this point. It’s sad to see Sawsbuck get mistreated like this, but at least it gets proper representation in Pokemon Go.

Fall from grace/10

#pokemon #pokemon reviews #pkmn #swsh #sawsbuck #deerling #grass type #normal type #gen 5 #unova

[pop-goes-the-sneasel]

have you ever done Donphan?

Donphan!!!! The Armor Pokemon!

So, after all that weirdness with Raichu and Indian elephants, we come to our first actual elephant pokemon: Donphan! This fellow existed well before the Indian elephant dex entries were written, making the references to real-world elephants doubly weird, but Donphan is also a Ground-type so it would be immune to the high-voltage Electric attacks of Raichu.

One notable thing about Donphan is how it was one of the very first Gen II pokemon to be revealed – appearing in the opening scene of the first movie, Mewtwo Strikes Back. Although Ho-Oh had appeared in the anime’s first episode, and Togepi had already hatched under the care of Misty, Donphan felt very significant. Perhaps this was because it was the first Gen II pokemon to be seen engaging in a genuine battle. This battle also featured the debut of the Gen II attack Rollout, being one of Donphan’s most-associated moves. Rollout showcases Donphan’s primary gimmick: its ability to curlup into a tire-like ball, then roll into the opponent at high speeds. Donphan is said to have difficulty stopping, however, which is appropriate given how the move forces you to continue using it for several turns. The dex also makes numerous references to Donphan’s ability to destroy a house with a single Tackle, which is notable considering Tackle is one of the weakest attacking moves.

Despite being based on an elephant – the world’s largest living land animal – Donphan is a mere 3 feet and 7 inches tall (1.1 m). Also unlike an elephant, its ears are very long and thin, which makes sense given it likely needs thin ears to be aerodynamic when spinning. The rolling tire concept is of course the core theme here, and it’s one that’s obviously quite distinct. Usually such attack methods are given to armadillos and hedgehogs, so having an elephant instead is a unique spin. That said, it does kinda seem like the tusks would get in the way. Donphan’s gray color does unfortunately feel a bit flat – its body used to have a pleasant purple tint to it that gradually got abandoned.

Like numerous pokemon, Donphan’s shiny coloration got radically changed over time and it’s…..frankly kinda disgusting at this point. Originally, Donphan’s shiny was a modest brown color, which then got saturated into an odd orange-and-yellowy color for awhile, before XY darkened it into this gross sickly green and bronze. I really don’t understand why, given they were willing to edit shinies, they decided to make so many look worse. Like???? If you’re gonna change them shouldn’t they be made better????? This shiny is…..abominable. But at least it’s pretty distinctive, I guess.

Donphan’s a pretty cool pokemon that, while a big deal for one brief moment in time, has unfortunately become pretty obscure. Even its status as the franchise’s only fully-evolved elephant was recently lost, with the introduction of the much more ostentatious Copperajah in Gen VIII. A pleasant pokemon nonetheless.

They see me rollin

They hatin/10

#pokemon #pokemon reviews #pkmn #swsh #donphan #phanpy #ground type #gen 2 #johto #johto region

[pop-goes-the-sneasel]

Could you talk about Raichu + Alolan Raichu? Fun fact: Alolan Raichu is the fastest Pokemon ever! Could you go into detail about that?

Raichu!!!! The Mouse Pokemon!!!

Okay, there’s a lot to cover here! First, the elephant in the room. Raichu is an Electric-type, and is most notable for being the final evolutionary stage of Gen II’s ever-popular Pichu. Unfortunately though, Raichu’s association with Pichu hasn’t earned it quite the same amount of limelight. The Pokemon Company’s preoccupation with Pichu even led to Raichu being overlooked as a potential Mega Evolution recipient in Gen VI, and a Gigantamax recipient in Gen VIII. When Raichu is acknowledged, it’s usually in the context of some kind of rivalry with another pokemon (it’s weirdly never Pichu), and is typically framed as a weaker alternative despite canonically being pretty strong. Still, that’s alright! Even if Raichu is a bit underappreciated, that’s part of its appeal!

Despite being a fully-evolved pokemon, Raichu retains most of the incredible cuteness of its predecessors, most notably its eye shape and electrical cheek spots. The main differences are the bulkier body, colors, ears, and tail, which all make for a radically different silhouette while still keeping the base appeal consistent. I wish more evolutions did this – so many pokemon completely abandon their core design sensibilities when they evolve, but Raichu stays a cute lightening mouse. Probably the most striking part of Raichu’s design is its lightening bolt-shaped tail. It's a fantastically creative way to visually incorporate a creature’s elemental affinity to its design.

Unfortunately, only half of all Raichu actually have that tail. Gen IV introduced “gender differences”, with many pokemon having visual distinctions determined by whether they’re male or female. In the majority of cases, these are subtle and often hard to notice. They’re usually either totally inconsequential or have one design being just slightly worse. Because society, it’s also usually female pokemon that get the worse design. I briefly mentioned this issue in Sneasel’s review, and while Sneasel’s situation is unarguably tragic, it almost feels worse in Raichu’s case. See, female Raichu just has a piece of its tail inexplicably sliced off. If the angle of the slice were parallel with the lightening bolt, this wouldn’t be as aesthetically disastrous, but as-is it just looks so bad. Even Game Freak seems to agree with me that this approach to gender differences is dumb, since they stopped doing new ones after Gen IV, reserving the concept for only the most extreme instances of sexual dimorphism like Meowstic and Frillish. But alas, the damage to our buddies Sneasel and Raichu has already been done :(

And now we arrive to the real elephant in the room: Indian elephants. The Pokemon franchise is generally very careful to avoid acknowledging real-world animals, with almost all references to them dating back to Gen I before the series had really established pokemon as the only noteworthy forms of life in the setting. One of Raichu’s dex entries mention how its electrical discharges are powerful enough to cause an Indian elephant to faint, which is something I had always dismissed as just another example of that Gen I weirdness. That dex entry is apparently from FireRed, which is a Gen I remake, so they probably just didn’t change it when they were touching up the text. Except….the original games never made any mention of Indian elephants. The FireRed writers actually added references to Indian elephants, not only to Raichu’s dex entry, but Gastly’s as well! That’s two acknowledgments of Indian elephants in a single game! Crazy!!!! But okay, let’s calm down. It’s just one game, right? A game from 2004, even. It’s been almost two decades now, so we can still safely say real animals don’t exist in the pokemon world, right?? But then Sun’s dex mentioned Raichu’s ability to knock out Indian elephants again, 12 years later, in 2016! That wasn’t even a full five years ago!!!! What’s going on????? Do Indian elephants exist in the pokemon world??? Or is the dex just written for us, the players, and is simply breaking the fourth wall???? Takeshi Shudo, the main writer of the original anime series, once claimed real animals once existed in the pokemon world but are now extinct – could the dex just be talking about Raichu’s ability to defeat an extinct animal??? But like, nobody else has ever made that claim, and apparently he’s dead now??????? aaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Alolan Raichu!!!! An Electric/Psychic-type, Alolan Raichu is the form Pikachu takes when you give it a Thunder Stone in Alola. Canonically, the reason Pikachu evolves into Alolan Raichu rather than Kantonian Raichu is because of all the pancakes it eats. The pancakes give it psychic powers. It uses the psychic powers to make its tail levitate so it can ride it like a surfboard. ....Neat! The surfing aspect does have a historic basis: a Pikachu knowing Surf was distributed as an event back in Gen I, complete with an associated minigame featuring a surfing Pikachu in Pokemon Yellow. Surfing Pikachu has had several event distributions since, alongside numerous other references in spinoff games, the anime, the manga, and the TCG. One particular surfing Pikachu in the anime, named Puka, may have directly influenced Alolan Raichu’s design, as both have very distinctive blue eyes.

Ironically though, Alolan Raichu couldn’t actually learn Surf in Gen VII. It can now, as of Sword and Shield, but so can the whole Pikachu line. I’m not sure why Alolan Raichu couldn’t use Surf to begin with, but apparently it is known as “Hodad” in Alola, which is apparently real-world slang for people who bring surfboards to the beach but don’t actually surf. Hilarious. Alolan Raichu isn’t quite the fastest pokemon, but with its base speed of 110 doubled by its signature ability Surge Surfer when Electric Terrain is active, it’s definitely pretty high up there. Anyway, its design is a lot softer and rounder than Kantonian Raichu, and it’s got a superb aesthetic.

Kantonian Raichu’s shiny is unfortunately pretty unremarkable – just a darker shade of orange – but Alolan Raichu’s shiny is this wonderfully rich, dark brown. It’s not a color you often see on pokemon, and it’s legitimately beautiful. It isn't a color scheme I’d expect to love, but I think it’s actually one of the prettiest shinies in the franchise. It’s generally a hard call whether I prefer Kantonian Raichu or Alolan Raichu, but once you factor the shinies in the Alolan form easily gets the edge. They’ve really gotten better at shinies in recent gens!

Anyway!!!!! Raichu’s great and I love it. I’m not sure if I like it more or less than its evolutionary relatives, but both its natural form and its psychic pancake form are superb designs. Alolan Raichu is incredibly creative, and once you consider the history of surfing Pikachu and its status as a unique form in a region based on Hawaii, it feels quite natural. Raichu also deserves praise for how well it builds upon Pikachu without dropping the qualities that make Pikachu great to begin with, and Pikachu really couldn’t have asked for a better evolution.

What did Raichu say to Pikachu?/10.

#Raichu. #pokemon #pokemon reviews #pkmn #raichu #pikachu #pichu #swsh #electric type #psychic type #regional form #kanto #alola #gen 1 #gen 7

[pop-goes-the-sneasel]

Because it looks like you *really* like honedge, could you please do a review on honedge? I’d like to know why you like honedge more than aegislash (don’t know if I spelled it right).

Honedge!!!! The Sword Pokemon!

Honedge is a peculiar Steel/Ghost-type pokemon, essentially representing a haunted sword. At first glance, it’s got a fairly complex design, with three eyes – two of which are closed – and a toothy mouth. The hilt of the sword ends with a tassel (with a hand-like fringe), which in the case of real-life swords is something often used to wrap around the hand of the wilder to ensure the sword isn’t lost if dropped. The scabbard is also quite detailed by pokemon standards, and the whole thing feels quite cohesive despite how ornate it is.

Of course, as a sword, Honedge isn’t confined to just being in its scabbard – which is part of what makes its design so interesting. Although when sheathed, it gives the impression of a face, the actual blade simply has two lines going down the side. The decorative holes in the scabbard reveal these lines to create the image of two additional eyes and teeth, with only the uppermost eye actually being real. Having only a single eye does detract from Honedge’s personality, but it also gives it a much more otherworldly feel – appropriate for a haunted sword. This dichotomy of different “faces” is quite ingenious and brings a lot more to the concept than either face by itself would. It’s truly an impeccable design.

Like its evolution Aegislash, Hondege is far from benign. If anyone grabs its hilt, Honedge wraps its tassel around their arm and drains their life force. It’s likely just a feeding behavior, but it is unsettling nonetheless. One notable quirk is that petting its hilt will make it happy in Amie, up until you raise your friendship with it – it will gladly consume your soul until you’re friends. It’s also worth noting that Honedge is one of those Ghost pokemon that used to be human – specifically, the human killed by that sword. Moreover, only the eye is Honedge’s actual body.

Honedge has an absolutely phenomenal shiny, with a bright red blade, red tassel, and an indigo eye. This is much more dramatic than the base colors, and evokes a blade stained by blood. Rather gruesome imagery for this franchise, but I’m not complaining! Unfortunately, it does kinda detract from its sheathed face with the red teeth and eyelids not reading quite as well, but it’s usually unsheathed in battle anyway.

Honedge is fantastic, with a compelling concept and a brilliant execution. Although a sword would logically be pretty hard to give much personality to, the sheath-based design quirk manages to add a lot of character. While Honedge isn’t a particularly me pokemon, I do consider it one of the absolute best-designed pokemon in the franchise. Doublade and Aegislash are certainly respectable designs too, but Honedge does the haunted sword thing most elegantly. I think it definitely would’ve worked well as a non-evolving single-stage pokemon had Game Freak decided to go that route instead.

sord...../10.

#pokemon #pokemon reviews #pkmn #swsh #honedge #doublade #aegislash #ghost type #steel type #kalos #gen 6

[pop-goes-the-sneasel]

rerun again cos im rly busy :U have mew!!!!

mew review?

Mew!!!!!!

As the very first Mythical Pokemon, and the final pokemon of the original 151, the Psychic-type Mew has a very special place in the franchise. It’s the genetic source of its clone, the ever-popular Legendary Mewtwo (hence the names), and has always been hugely iconic. It leans into its Mythical status quite hard, and has historically been quite complicated to obtain as a result. With its simple pink design and cat-like face, it’s also super cute!!! :3

Despite Mew’s importance to the franchise, it almost didn’t exist as an actual pokemon at all! It was created and coded into the game by Shigeki Morimoto a mere two weeks before Red and Green’s development was complete using leftover space after the debug feature was removed, and Nintendo wasn’t even initially aware of it. It remained largely unknown in Japan upon release, and in the US, it spawned numerous rumours and theories on how to actually obtain it – most of which were baseless conjecture.

Most notably, it was associated with a particular truck that couldn’t be accessed through normal gameplay. Located near the S.S. Anne, it was speculated that using Strength on the truck would unearth either Mew or a Rocket Hideout leading to Mew. Naturally, if you managed to access the truck through hacking, using Strength would do nothing and there would be no Mew. But the rumour was pervasive enough for Game Freak to reference it with a nearby Lava Cookie in FireRed and LeafGreen.

To ACTUALLY obtain Mew, however, you would need to obtain it from special in-person events or performing glitches. The events were initially rather limited – the very first was a special CoroCoro magazine event in which players could send a postcard to the publication and 20 people would be selected, who would then need to mail their game cards to Game Freak and Morimoto would personally trade the Mew to them, then mail the cards back. Convoluted, but imagine being one of those first few people with Mew!

The point here is that Mew has always been INCREDIBLY elusive and mysterious, making it very difficult to legitimately obtain, which ties directly into series canon: it's so rare that its very existence is questioned, and its elusiveness is maintained further by its ability to turn invisible and transform into other pokemon. Rarity is a hallmark of all Mythicals, sure, but none so much as Mew. This rarity is also often core to its anime appearances, with catching Mew in particular being the primary goal of Goh, the deuteragonist of the latest series.

Speaking of the anime, Mew’s first proper appearance was the first Pokemon movie, Mewtwo Strikes Back. This movie set up Mewtwo as a villain seeking to prove the superiority of clones over their non-clone counterparts, with Mew later appearing and trying to reason with Mewtwo, leading to a violent confrontation between the two. They had a thematic dichotomy going on too, with Mewtwo jaded and distrusting of humans, whereas Mew seemed joyful and innocent. You can see this in their designs as well: the fierce, unnatural Mewtwo vs. the cute and simple Mew.

Another notable aspect of Mew is it actually contains the DNA for ALL other pokemon, somehow, as a shared ancestor. This role, coupled with its long, umbilical cord-like tail and pink colouration implies Mew is actually based on a fetus! Like, simultaneously a baby and everyone’s grandpa. Being a shared ancestor of everything is kind of a ludicrous concept but it does allow for Mew to canonically learn every attack (functionally every TM, HM, and TR), on top of likely being the source of its aforementioned transformation abilities. The move aspect of this is referenced in the TCG regularly, such as with Mew EX, whose Versatile ability allows it to use the attacks of any other pokemon in play.

Mew’s got a lovely blue shiny, which contrasts the pink form wonderfully, but I can’t help wishing it had pink eyes to complete the look. Blue fur with blue eyes just isn’t quite striking enough.

Mew’s a fantastic pokemon, and definitely one of my favourite Mythicals. It’s a funky little fetus cat and whilst that doesn’t SOUND inherently appealing, the result absolutely is. Normally pokemon not being available in-game bothers me, but it’s so thematically on-brand for Mew that I don’t even mind that aspect. The only thing I can criticise is that like with many other Gen I pokemon, the design can be a bit tricky to portray well, with its 3D model and some sprites being rather lacking despite a solid design overall.

[Mew voice]/10.

[pop-goes-the-sneasel]

Fanbeemon perhaps? I always imagined it would be my partner if I were a digidestined

Funbeemon!!!! Fanbeemon in the dub!

Funbeemon’s a Child-level insect digimon, and one of very few examples of such. There’s Tentomon, Kunemon, and Wormmon, and there’s also a robotic beetle called Kokuwamon, but insect digimon are unfortunately quite uncommon in general. They don’t even have their own dedicated “Field” category – they usually either get lumped in with the generic monsters and dinosaurs of the Nature Spirits, or with the plants of the Jungle Troopers. Funbeemon, interestingly, is neither – it’s a Wind Guardian, which is the classification primarily used for birds and other flying creatures. And also plants, sometimes. Digimon’s Field categories are wildly inconsistent and weird, hence why I’ve never actually mentioned them up until now.

But yeah, Funbeemon’s a splendid little bee! I’m not sure what makes it notably more “fun” than your typical bee, but yeah! It probably is fun!!! Normally I’m not fond of when insect creatures end up with generic anime eyes, but Funbeemon does look quite cute with them, and they’re complemented by three occeli! Occeli are small, simple eyes that many flying insects have, usually in sets of three just like with Funbeemon. Funbeemon’s actually quite a good representation of a bee in general, with a more muted color scheme than the typical black and yellow, and a subtle fluffiness that’s surprisingly rare among digimon. Anatomically, it’s actually similar to Tentomon. It has two limbs for standing and a set of four limbs for “arms” – a larger set ending in simple points, and a smaller set ending in more dexterous pincers. For a subtle Digimon-y twist, the stinger is serrated!

Funbeemon is affiliated with something called the Royal Base, an “aerial, covert honey base”. The base is defended by Funbeemon’s most direct evolutions – Waspmon, Cannonbeemon, and Tiger Vespamon, which are all much more imposing than our little friend here. Funbeemon’s role is simply to gather data from flowers and vegetation, then bring them back to the base as raw materials. The exact use of these materials is framed as some huge mystery, but given it’s literally called a honey base and these are a bunch of bees I’m gonna go ahead and assume they’re making honey with it. Just a hunch. While Funbeemon mainly just gathers data, it does have offensive abilities as well – its stinger, for one, and it’s also capable of summoning allies with a technique called “88 Call”. 88 Call apparently being a bee pun – 88 is read as “hachi hachi”, with hachi being the Japanese word for bee!

As a relatively obscure digimon, Funbeemon has no other forms or recolors to speak of. What’s really unfortunate, though, is that it is already an X-Antibody digimon. Many digimon from this era were conceptualized as already possessing the X-Antibody mutation by default, with the unfortunate effect of never being able to receive a proper X-Antibody variation in the future. X-Antibody designs are historically rather hit-or-miss, but the more recent ones have often been pretty outstanding, so it’s a disappointment we likely won’t get another take on this lil bee.

Fortunately, Funbeemon’s pretty great as-is regardless. It would make an excellent partner :3

Dearly beeloved/10.

#digimon #digimon reviews #funbeemon #fanbeemon #child level #virus attribute #insect type #wind guardians #x-antibody digimon #digimon introduced in 2003

[pop-goes-the-sneasel]

trubbish rerun today! apparently i've only reviewed a small handful of poison-types, yall should request more :U

what are we thinking of precious trash baby Trubbish?

Trubbish!!!!!

We’re Trubbish stans here :U Trubbish is INCREDIBLY cute and represents how one can take a  disgusting concept – garbage – and still turn it into something objectively adorable. YES, objectively. The blank, staring eyes along with the spiky overbite are a match made in heaven, all on a lumpy garbage bag body oozing its arms out, then perfectly topped by the Pikachu-like ears evoking the knot of a tied garbage bag. It’s great!!!

According to the dex, this Poison-type’s origin is basically that a chemical reaction between garbage bags and industrial waste brought it to life, and they also belch horrifically toxic fumes, which is all pretty unsurprising for this sort of creature. And they’re preyed upon by Grimer and Muk apparently?????? That’s kinda horrifying! All we really need to know, though, is that Trubbish is good and cute and wholesome. Just look at it! A perfect little trash angel.

And yet, against all logic, Trubbish was for many years the “face” of Pokemon designs’ alleged aesthetic and conceptual downfall. The idea of a pokemon based on garbage was actively reviled by people, and its design was consequently regarded with the utmost disdain. It was frankly baffling – human waste isn’t even that weird of a thing to base a monster off of (things like Hedorah have been around for decades), and it’s super cute! Thankfully, most the fanbase seems to have come around on Trubbish in recent years, and I rarely see anything negative said about them at all anymore. That’s growth! Now that I think of it, people seem to resonate more with garbage-y stuff in general now, actually. You’ve got all that goblincore stuff and people self-identifying as garbage (positively, even!) and there’s just a way WAY wider appreciation for grody vibes than there used to be! That that would all coincide with Trubbish’s recent acceptance probably isn’t a coincidence!!!

Trubbish also has a lovely deep midnight blue shiny, which feels like a beautifully stylistic take on traditional black garbage bags. Absurdly dark colours just on the cusp of black tend to be gorgeous in general, and Trubbish is certainly a worthy recipient. The trash colours are also completely different, which is good as well.

Trubbish is splendid, and it’s been fantastic seeing how much it’s grown on everyone else over the years too. Even I myself wasn’t all that into it initially and mostly just liked it in reaction to the people who hated it, but at this point I can confidently say I’d love Trubbish regardless. It’s a genuinely great design and concept, and I would protect it with my life.

A good baby boy/10.

[pop-goes-the-sneasel]

drifblim? :0

Drifblim!!!!! The Blimp Pokemon!

Drifblim’s rad. It’s a Ghost/Flying-type, and it’s based on a hot air balloon! Its anatomy also somewhat brings to mind a jellyfish as well, though overall Drifblim is more or less a wholly original creature. Its pre-evolution Drifloon is often cited as one of the most disarmingly creepy pokemon, what with its apparent attempts to carry children to the afterlife. I’m pleased to note that Drifblim carries on that legacy of its child form.

Like the Portuguese man o' war, Drifblim apparently has no means to dictate the direction it moves, and is instead guided by the whims of the wind. Nonetheless, they invariably disappear from view at dusk, even when under careful observation. If you try hanging onto one – or if one happens to grab you – it will carry you off with no known destination and leave no trace. Rumors exist that it carries people to the afterlife, much like Drifloon is presumed to. However, it’s also known that the raw material for the gas in its body is souls. It particularly seems to carry off people and pokemon when it begins to deflate – perhaps indicating it’s some kind of feeding behavior.

Many evolved pokemon unfortunately abandon the aesthetic of their prior forms in favor of something more extravagant or intimidating. Drifblim, however,is a welcome case of a pokemon retaining its cute simplicity across all stages. This is in obvious contrast to its eerie concept, and I absolutely love that dichotomy. In particular, it retains Drifloon’s eye shape and cross-shaped facial marking, in addition to the “cloud” on its head. The cross-shaped marking also has a small mouth, which is odd but probably still the best mouth it could have. It does resemble a hot air balloon a bit less than Drifloon resembles a helium balloon, but this is ideal given how absurd hot air balloons typically look. Its abilities are very thematic with the hot air balloon motif, though: it has Aftermath, which deals damage to the opponent upon Drifblim fainting (like a balloon exploding or catching fire); Unburden, which doubles Drifblim’s speed after using a hold item (like how dropping weights from hot air balloons can quickly increase their elevation); and Flare Boost, which increases the power of Drifblim’s special moves when it’s burned (because fire would provide a hot air balloon with more hot air to fly with). It’s an incredibly well thought-out pokemon, both aesthetically and mechanically.

Shiny Drifblim is a dull yellow with cyan accents, plus mint eyes. It’s noticeably less spooky than before, but it's an excellent color scheme and it’s incredibly distinctive. I personally prefer the base color overall, but this is definitely an A+ shiny regardless. Though, I would probably prefer the shiny if it was cyan with yellow highlights instead!

This is more intense wording than I usually use, but honestly? Drifblim’s an absolute masterpiece of creature design. It references a real-world object without sacrificing believability, in addition to striking a perfect balance of eeriness and adorability. It loses nothing that made its pre-evolution so admirable, instead just building upon the initial concept, and the whole evolutionary line is practically without flaw. These are genuinely perfect pokemon, both in looks and in concept, and they’re also criminally underappreciated. Even I failed to realize how wonderful Drifblim is until just a few years ago! It all started with a Drifloon plush I bought on a whim in a Pokemon Center in Japan, and my love for the line has been steadily increasing ever since.

I'll be out of my mind, And you'll be out of ideas pretty soon. So let's spend the afternoon In a cold hot air balloon/10.

#pokemon #pokemon reviews #pkmn #swsh #drifblim #drifloon #ghost type #flying type #sinnoh #gen 4