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^Never used one myself, but the only thing you gotta watch out for there is its glaring double-weakness to Fighting (4x damage, before anyone misunderstands me, lol). Well, okay, it's weak to Bug and Fairy, too, but considering it's also immune to Psychic attacks and only resists Dark, idk, there's gotta be tradeoffs SOMEwhere, right? Although, a double weakness doesn't necessarily make a Pokemon terrible... I agree with you on paper, at least!

Also huh, I'm surprised it doesn't get Sucker Punch... Wonder why that is?

[Pepper]

Some old Trainer OCs I had an idea for a long time ago. Dusted them off with a fresh coat of paint, but I'm sure they're still room for improvement, lol

Anyway, the girl's name is Pepper and the guy's name is Oni. They work for a pizza joint called Rapidash Pizza, from a made-up region I never got around to fully fleshing out (though the two of them might originally be from Sinnoh. Haven't decided yet). Pepper has a Ponyta (later a Rapidash), and Oni has a Numel (later a Camerupt).

I'd say more about these two, but I figured I'd keep it brief. If anyone has any questions, I'll answer 'em!

It's been discussed before, but I'm curious what the general consensus is on Normal-type Pokemon these days especially. Honestly, I used to be kinda neutral to Normal (there's a joke there somewhere, probably), but over time they've crept into my top... 6? favorite types? Maybe? Can't think of my top five types off the bat, but anyway, I think it's mostly the designs for a lot of them, for me, anyway. Off the top of my head, Bouffalant's one of my favorites, and you gotta love Meowth! Oh, and it'd be remiss of me to not mention Drampa dethroned Shelgon as my favorite Dragon-type... which I only mention because it is, in fact, part Normal. Also it inspired my username, but that's neither here nor there, haha.

Mechanically speaking? Ghost-type immunity is always nice, and only having one weakness, even if it IS Fighting, is also nice, but it's not winning any favors offensively (outside of Inverse Battles, anyway. Remember Inverse Battles? No one remembers Inverse Battles ;_; ) and, well, it doesn't really resist much, either, which is for better or worse, I suppose!

As for flavor, i.e. "What IS Normal-type?", I always kinda saw it as the "Every type AND No type" type. Of course, this is contingent on the Pokemon itself, but the TCG seems to toy with that idea... when Dragon isn't lumped in, anyway! I also remember it being said Normal exists because it was "before Game Freak knew what they were doing", (if they ever figured it out, haha) and I'm inclined to believe that's true at this point, too, lol

Anyway, what do you think? Got any favorites? Any Normal-types you wanna see in the future? Is it silly they do dual-type Normals when it makes little sense sometimes? Well, yes, but... Anyway, DISCUSS.

^Personally, I'm getting tired of middle evos for starters being awkward. I don't think we've had a good mid-stage Water starter (in terms of design and also my humble opinion) since... Well, Gen 5 if I'm being generous and Gen 2 if I'm being cynical. (Sorry, Marshtomp! Prinplup's okay I guess) Overall, I don't think mid-starters got worse than in Gen 8, but I suppose it remains to be seen how bad they CAN get, huh?

Sorry for the tangent, I just think it's easy for people to go "First stage so cute!!" or "Final Stage So Awesome!!" to a point where Game Freak feels they can go on the cheap for mid-stage starters' designs because, statistically, most people don't care about them as much. I guess I'm waiting for another starter line that really draws me in with every stage, but other than Blastoise and Decidueye... not so much!

More or less agree with your assessment on Browt, Pombon and Gecqua, though.

I'm sure they're all fine, I'm just old.

At this point, I'm pretty sure it's a bit from Column A ("We're just old") and a little from Column B ("It's not JUST Nostalgia!!"). I don't consider myself difficult to please-- even if I'm a little (nit)picky here and there-- I just think Game Freak have shifted gears over the years, for better or worse... and I'm not sure which of their decisions is which sometimes, haha.

Haven't been keeping up with outside opinions/discourse on the starters since they were announced, but I guess now's as good a time to ask: Anyone else getting worried about the lack of announcements? I know it's probably not coming out until late 2027, but I'm impressed there hasn't been any major leaks or such since. Good on Game Freak, etc. for keeping their cards close, and if I'm optimistic, they're hiding some big things, but... Well, I was hoping to see some basic regional Pokemon by now. I guess compared to previous gens, it's better than just Announcing Everything Outright, but I dunno what to make of it. I mean, I'm just guessing there's a new gimmick, but what else can surprise at this point? New types? Whether we need more of those or not is up for debate, but place ya bets, I guess!

Anyway, more directly on topic, I've since decided I might want to do a mono-Water run (It's my favorite type and I've never done that before), so I feel like starting with Gecqua only makes sense. Since Pelipper is in, might as well do a rain team. Haven't done that since *squint* the X and Y days, I think.

I know I was gonna hold off on theorizing on their evos, but I hope Gecqua is Water/Poison. Already seems halfway there, honestly. Pombon... idk, as long as it doesn't stay pure Fire for no good reason, I'm not picky. I think it'd be cool if Browt's final evo was some sort of bean-based owlbear-type thing, but we already have TWO (2) Decidueye forms, probably don't wanna triple up there, lest I give Game Freak ideas, lol. As for typing... I honestly dunno, but I hope it's cool, too.

Oh dang, Iceduck! Haven't heard from you in years! I think we only interacted like, twice, but I remember you being a chill guy. It's good to hear you and the others are doing well and pursuing cool things! I had no idea anyone from here was actually doing stuff for The Pokemon Company itself-- that's kinda huge! And so is the fact you won an award!!

...and not to get too mushy or anything, but generally speaking, if I haven't said it elsewhere on here: I remember PUK being especially welcoming for me when I first joined, compared to other sites' forums which were a little... well, typical 2000s Internet-y, in retrospect (and those sites were that way for better or worse, lol). I don't wanna ramble TOO much on the topic, but... Thank you. Joeno, Iceduck, and whichever mods/admins happen to see this. I'm glad the forum's still around-- it means more to me than I think even I understand sometimes!

All those MSN Messenger meetings about handling issues! Balancing how users liked to use the site with our desire to curate a space with a particular ethos.

Imagine if people applied that kind of thinking to modern social media ...

Confession time: I tried to get back into social media despite swearing it off for five years and, after about a year back in, have come to the conclusion I need a minimum of at least a month away from it again. Been not-logged-in for about two days and am already feeling the detox, lol

Not for nothing, but I'm not seeing any pictures here... Not just me, right?

Ampharos is one of my faves, though, so I'd like to see that one, at least!

^Thank you! Yeah, "cute" seems to be my default, for better or worse, haha. Would like to share "cool" stuff in the future, though!

And yeah, it does kinda lend itself to one of those! Glad you liked it!

...No, but seriously, I was curious if anyone still collects them. I heard they doubled in price since the last time I checked, or was it just those Kirby Air Riders ones?

I feel kind of bad some of mine are gathering dust (literally or otherwise), but it's not like a lot of games use ALL of them for anything special. I mean, outside maybe Smash Bros. I don't regret buying the Shovel Knight one; that'd be cool for me to have even if it was just a regular figurine, haha. But yeah, in most cases, if your amiibo isn't from the Mario series or such, it's probably not getting a lot of special use. I got Ness out of obligation to Me Liking Earthbound, but I'm not under any impression it'll work outside of the Smash series, unless Mr. Itoi decides, "Yeah, you know what? Mother 4 and/or Earthbound Remake!!" Which probably won't happen any time soon!

Anyway, I thought of this in the first place because I was recalling the amiibo x One Piece collab. I know One Piece is a giga-popular anime/manga franchise, but think about it: that collaboration made history and it feels like hardly anyone cares. So much untapped potential for amiibo, that's all I'm saying... Or, well, I guess there's only so much "statues unlocking costumes, etc." can do in the first place. But still! Maybe they didn't do it for DBZ because then people would be all "GOKU FOR SMASH!!" harder than they already do, lol

So... Good, bad, or ugly, how's YOUR amiibo journey been, if you have one at all? I have more than I've admitted to having here, but I'm not really "Gotta Catch 'em All!" about it... Or, if at some point I was, not so much these days...

I like how this came out, so I thought I'd share!

This was originally going to be a more full-body-ish drawing, but unfortunately, the rest of it didn't come out as well, so I had to scrap it. Next time, I suppose!

Okay, so First Impressions, now that I've played five or six battles: It's fun enough so far, but it feels like every time I try to go up a rank, I get someone who's Actually Into Competitive and, well, they clearly have the advantage at that point, lol. I needed a break after the third time it happened.

Also, I have yet to make use out of Rental stuff outside of the freebies they give you to get you started, but I've been using *sigh* HALF of my Sandstorm team (Not Actually A Dealbreaker, but it's funny to me they didn't at least allow Ludicolo or Sandslash... Hardly surprised Magcargo isn't exactly in yet, though) Wish they could Terastalize, but I suppose "that comes later"... along with the rest of my team. Hopefully. Maybe. Might be a hot minute before they add Z-Moves, too, come to think of it... if they do at all. They might sooner add Winds & Waves' gimmick!

Oh, forgot to add: the game is generous enough to give you rewards just by *mock shock* playing the game! VP added up for me pretty quickly, among other gifts, haha.

^Yeah, that's what I was thinking too, that they'd add it in post. Also now that you mention the "Gym" thing, it does ring a bell. I thought I read somewhere it was to help that old guy make a new gym, and it would be cool to be a "Gym Leader" of sorts yourself, but yeah, it could also just be an encore for the tutorial. Too soon to say!

I guess it depends on how much VP you earn per match on average, but yeah, fair enough. And yeah, I feel you on the team-planning part. If I wanted to try some of the rentals (and I just might, because Why Not?™ ) it might open some possibilities I wouldn't have thought of on my own...

Being battle-worthy actually barely matters, because you can just do it all in Champions, after all. there are no IVs (everything is just set as if they were max), all moves are available, and natures and EVs can just be set. the only issue you might have is the VP cost, but it sounds like we're gonna have enough to make at least one team.

Oh, good point. I just meant most of my other Pokemon don't have as much team synergy as the Sandstorm team I made. Should have clarified, lol

I think it got confirmed there's no single player content outside of the opening tutorials though, which basically amount to "this is what a super effective move is! this is what terrain is! this is how mega evolution works!" etc.

Kind of a bummer if so, but that's just me. Not a deal-breaker or anything, but I guess times have changed since *squint* Battle Revolution?* Most people that into Pokemon battles would rather cut out the middle-man, I suppose. I think it's annoying you need VP to customize your character(s), too, but at least the option's there! (I assume there might be some free customization options, but eh, arguably more important features to worry about anyway)

*Never played it, but if I had, I'd have had my character(s) say stuff like [Pokemon], assume battle mode!" or [Pokemon], I release thee." when sending them out. Not expecting full text customization for Champions anyhow, but we'll see?

You know, the game that comes out in a couple weeks for Switch, Switch 2, and... phones, I think? Anyway, the 8th of April is the exact date of release.

I'm not super into competitive, but I still have fun with online battles under the right circumstances, so I might try it. Something happened to my previous SD Card which (as far as I know) made me unable to play Pokemon Scarlet (and Legends: Arceus, but yeah) and I found out YEARS LATER Pokemon Home gives you at least one box for free (Paid obviously gives more storage options, among other perks...), so it'd be a waste to not use my beloved Sandstorm team after figuring out that's all it took to recover it. Question is, how many Pokemon will be available at launch? Because it might throw a wrench in my plans if I can't use all six. Most of my other 'mons on Home aren't battle-worthy, lol

(Yeah I know they'll "add more" down the road, but speaking as a customer, I'm not sure if this is just how developers have to do it to ease their workload anymore, or if it's just Game Freak being weird)

So, uh... Anyone else at least curious about the game like I am? I hope there's a single-player mode, too, just to help refresh my battle skills before I try and go online to do everything. But then I saw some of the character designs and they were cool enough to have me invested to learn more about them. Also why haven't they been prominently featured in Western news stuff that's really bizarre to me

^Yeah, their respective stats are a letdown even in-game, and like you said, getting one to work would be more difficult than just having something on your team that does her job better. But yeah, the gimmick IS cool, haha.