Messages

I figured they looked like some kind of generic, ice elemental. Kind of like the Ice Wraiths in Skyrim but less terrifying maybe:



Just some kind of sentient lump of ice and snow with no definite form, but Ice and snow are pretty easy to mould or melt and reform, so it could have taken a variety of forms before finding that for some reason, the ice cream cone look worked.

Just off the top of my head

This was originally posted on my Tumblr, slightly edited it and posting it here, I'd love to get people's opinions

So, the Vanillite line, also known as Vanillite, Vanillish and Vanilluxe, also known as these adorable scamps:



So yeah. A trio of new pure Ice types introduced in Gen 5, evolving at surprisingly high levels, with a look that we haven't seen before in the games. OK, they're a bit wacky looking, but so is a lot of other stuff in Pokémon.

Of course the fan reaction looked a bit like this:



And I'm not sure I understand why these Pokémon are seen as deserving of a reaction like this. I see them constantly topping 'Worst Pokémon Ever" lists, along with its fellow Gen 5 whipping-boys the Klink line, and I think that's a gross overreaction.

The main argument is that it doesn't make sense that they would look like inanimate objects, and that there is no reason for something biological to exist that looks exactly like an ice cream cone.

Let me offer a defense of the Vanillite line, with a little headcanon I built up:

So, the Pokémon world is a dangerous, terrifying place, right?



Monsters hide anywhere they can, ready to leap out and attack with a whole array of elemental and physical powers. These are creatures that can melt rocks, swim across the ocean in minutes, eat your dreams and so many more horrifying and terrifying things.

And it's been established that wild Pokémon do hunt and eat each other, so it's just as, if not more, dangerous to be a Pokémon in this world than it is a human.

Captured Pokémon, on the other hand, generally have very safe lives. Free healthcare in the form of Pokémon centres, love and care from their owners. They're fed, they're sheltered.



So why wouldn't some Pokémon WANT to get caught?

It makes perfect sense to me that a lot of these Pokémon have adapted very quickly to the world they live in and have managed to survive by taking forms that they have worked out are appealing to humans.

Of course, this is a lot harder for the animal based Pokémon, because we can assume that they abide by similar rules of adaptation as real world animals, i.e. it takes a hell of a long time to change form to fit your surroundings. *(side note- I'm not talking about Pokémon 'evolution', which is essentially just growing up, not breeding down traits that could help survival)

But for sentient blocks of ice like Vanillite, there's no reason they couldn't enact that change a little faster. So, they've seen that there's another ice based entity that humans seem to be drawn to, one that always brings a smile to their face when they get their hands on it, and that's ice cream. Thus, they gradually, as a species start shifting towards an ice-cream form, in the hopes that the humans will look at them the same way and want to take them away from all the nasty fire types who want to melt them down to nothing.



The same could be said of mechanical based Pokémon like Voltorb. As a strange, mechanical based life form, it has adapted relatively quickly to a world where humans will pick up interesting things off the ground, particularly things that look like Pokéballs. So they've adapted to look like Pokéballs themselves in the hope that a kindly human will pick them up too.



Of course, ghost types that look like real things can be explained much more simply: They are possessed. We have seen this in action with Rotom, and it has been spelled out as much for Pokémon like Honedge.

But, to me at least, this seems to explain every other Pokémon that lives in the form of an every day object. They have adapted to the world they live in, and have done so with the express reason of appealing to trainers.

So leave Vanillite alone, ok guys? Its doing this for you. It just wants to be loved!



Do you agree? Reckon this makes sense? Or still think Vanillite is the worst?

Well, isn't half of the fun of a Nuzlocke that you kinda don't get to choose your team? It's just what happens to be the first Pokémon in an area?

Good luck with it anyway, they've never gone well for me.

Sadly, from experience, there is no equivalent version of MS Paint for Mac.

Luckily, I have a copy of Photoshop, which is pretty great for spriting. I've heard great things about GIMP, so that might be worth trying to find your way around if you're on Mac.

Managed to get an interview for the first job I interviewed for in my new city.

It's tomorrow at 10:30, fingers crossed it goes well!

Hi there!

Just to let you know, we don't like people posting twice in a row, especially when it'd all fit in one!

You seem pretty new, so why not give the Rules another read quickly.

Also, I'll go ahead and move this to the Forum Games board!

Ooh thought of another one.

A HGSS style menu on the touch screen. That game had the most effective and efficient use of the touch screen of any of the DS Pokémon games

Froakie looks like Water/Ground too.. actually.. I'm not that fond of Froakie actually so I'm not too fussed what he turns out to be..

I think you're the first person I've seen who hasn't fallen instantly in love with Froakie. I thought it was the out and out most popular starter this gen.

I think the starters are likely gonna be pure typed this gen. I mean, I can't spot any obvious second type hints from the first form. I doubt Grass/Ground for Chespin, despite its colouring. I'm actually tempted to say it'll develop Normal as a second type, if anything.

I heard rumours that Froakie's line would be 'wizard' based, so Water/Psychic?

[massive]

I am a massive sucker for character customisation. If I can make my trainer look like me, I will be in love with it forever.

Bringing back partner Pokémon would be fantastic, I loved having them follow me, and in theory, now that its 3D you could just use the same models scaled down. They'd need some new animations though. The only downside is my girlfriend would go mad for it so I might end up having to buy 2 3DSs lol

I'd like the region to have a bunch of new Pokémon, but also feature some less common Pokémon from the previous games in higher numbers. I liked how they did this in B2W2, and loads of people were running things like Weezing on their main team, which would usually never happen.

And I'd like the story to happen in between the gyms, not nearly all shoved at the end like it was in B2W2.

Wolf-Man Mightyena

Take my money now!

Can we give Banette an evo? Duskull got one!

[why]

raquaza

Hey RedPikachu, I know you're new, but I just wanted to let you know that we have a 3 word rule in effect here at PKMN.NET. Any posts shorter than 3 words long are breaking the rules, so why not tell us why Rayquaza is your favourite?

Oh and for me, its Shroomish/Breloom

I've got a friend who does book and videogame reviews and pointed him towards TAR too, hopefully he will submit some stuff soon

Pokémon White 2 mostly.

I bought Dishonored on the same day, but I promised my girlfriend I'd play it while I was with her. I've played the first mission, but I'm waiting and I'm gonna start over when I get to spend any decent length of time with her.

Other than that, before Pokémon came out I was playing a hell of a lot of WWE 12. I am a sucker for character creation systems and you can customise EVERYTHING in wrestling games. It pleases me

Signed on up! Lets see if I can think of some work to submit. Do you have problem with me submitting some older articles of mine that would fit to fill out the site along with the new stuff?

How about Zero everybody 0.0