Chase

Story Best: A Mother's Sacrifice, A [Player's] Purpose. What? You mean, the Blacksteeple Castle is actually where you would argue the best part of the game is? Yes - because of the implications. Despite being inspired by Reborn, Jan breaks from Ame's abrupt introduction of a family-less player character with no/yet-revealed background thrust into a situation beyond their control and opts to provide the character a mother who is easily recognizable, and then follow up by building said character into a progressed parent who sheds her meekness she had as a child in order to protect their kid. This mother ultimately isn't killed however, and is seen again as a slave for Team Xen that has the particular interest of some high ranking Xen officials. When the player finds themselves reunited with their mother, they are able to liberate her and make a serious effort in escape - in search of the unity and clean slate for their trip to Aevium. Unfortunately, an even higher force among Xen runs through Mom in a lunge for the player's life - and she dies in the only way that would be acceptable. She then reappears twice, as the guise of an imposter and as a shade, to prod the player on their quest through Aevium, never really letting them forget where they came from -and what they fight for. "Rejuvenation" provides -US- with more importance beyond that which we give ourselves than "Reborn" does, and it's one of the game's strongest story implications as a result. Jan wants us to know - "we matter too." Outside of our own spheres, the Blacksteeple Sacrifice also leads to positive character worth to NPCs such as Tesla, who searches for Nancy at the beginning of the game on your behalf and offers you a permanent residence and her motherly love after Nancy's death. Worst: "Pokémon: High School" - Shofu This segment of the game could alternatively be called "Finding Amber", and it's essentially supposed to be a light hearted nod to childish characters like Venam and flesh out her incident with "Dogars!" that Amber requests you find before she can even entertain the thought of battling you - which she never does. It instead turns into "Mommy Issues: the Movie" and ends with Team Xen swiping a dejected daughter away from her mother - the same person who in this mess of a goose chase offers YOU motherhood as well. This whole incident is completely contrived to set up the Valor Mountain arc even more than it already needed to be (because the player already needed to save Nim) and it ends up HARMING characters like Venam and Tesla (who serves as a petty antagonist that drives Amber's blood pressure up/damages Tesla's motherly ability she tries to offer you by having Amber undercut said motherhood viciously and then having Tesla fail to protect her daughter from Xen in negligence.) On top of this, Venam, Melia, and Saki are all aware Amber's childish behavior is roadblocking your need for a gym badge, and they all agree to sate Amber's lust for "humiliation" so the plot can progress. When VENAM is giving off "lets just get this over with" vibes - you are a terrible character and the plot isn't getting helped much. Map Design Best: Routes - literally all of them. The most seamless reminder Rejuvenation is a Pokémon game is the beautiful routes Aevium has. Golden leaves, Flora's multi-colored trees, beaches, jungles, deserts, forests. Oh my goodness. Jan, you took the most boring areas in a Pokémon game and made them worth visiting. Kudos. Gearen and Grand Dream City deserve honorable mentions as massive metropolises. I love urban areas and I like seeing them in Pokémon games. Worst: Any area with entrances and exits that don't seem very clear. Sometimes, it's hard to know where to go next, even within the boundaries of a specific room or map. The Church of Theolia seems pretty straightforward - but it's only an honorable mention because the Angie stained glass and the throwback to Virbank City's Pokémon Gym are great map areas within it. Characters: Best: Nancy (a.k.a. Mom) This is probably a little biased, but if you have played through the Yancy/Curtis sidequest in Black2/White2 you might remember "Yancy" as the incognito young girl whose X-transceiver you find in Nimbasa City if you played as the male protagonist. Yancy is incredibly shy, probably due to having to keep her secret - that she's actually the female Unovan Idol - Nancy (which is where the name comes in) and that she can't be out too long because she's always busy with work. Yancy's meekness in Black and White 2 contrasts very nicely with the quiet confidence exhibited by Rejuvenation Nancy. She's grown - she's got good Pokémon, and she's got tangible reasoning to fight and to do whatever she can for. She shows a degree of growth from between the two games you wouldn't pick up if you never played BW2 or if you never did the sidequest. If you played as Rosa instead of Nate in BW2, you get a similar character in Curtis, who is one of the BEST candidates for the role of the player's unknown father in Rejuvenation. Where Nancy's looks are clearly bestowed to Aevia, Aevis rocks a green highlighted dark set of clothing similar to Curtis' same exact fashion sense. She clearly is "Nancy" in these games - as your mother is identified by various other NPCs as "the famous superstar" that was aboard the S.S. Oceana. It's another striking display of growth, as Nancy would call herself "Yancy" to hide that fact in plain sight beforehand. Finally, she serves her purpose in the most heart-tugging way anyone in the story can - and your character stews on the fact for three days aboard Madame X's ship afterwards alone. Hallmark character in this game. Easily. Worst: Melia Melia is a horse long beaten at this point - and many of her detractors have solid points that I'm not going to repeat here - but I do think she will grow out of her "Mary Sue" nature in future episodes. She does have strong character points due to exposure being frequent, such as having a short temper and having a genuine relationship with Venam that supercedes being perfect and having powers. Venam's demise at the end of the current episode will put all of Melia's flaws on display as a formerly faultless character utterly broken - and thus - she just might become the tragic epic hero that people come to respect. On her most common "negatives" - she may have some hope at the end of the tunnel. My issue with Melia, is that she's a spotlight hog. Xen seems to think Melia is more important than you are. Venam might think you are less important than Melia even though it's you who happens to save her life multiple times. Ren is pushed over the ledge of the player's good graces by the player, while Melia's being alive or not seems to matter in whether he stays with the "good guys". Melia is the person who ends up saving the slaves at Blacksteeple, while her late entrance costs the player their own mother's life and robs their family of the credit they probably deserved in part. It's not unusual for a Pokémon game to feature another character as the protagonist -as Sun and Moon provide us with Lillie. However, Lillie is a weak character who needs the player character to prop them up until it's time for her to grow. Melia starts off without any faults, and while the player character may still prop her up, she doesn't have much to really break her early on. If it weren't for Melia seeing your value as an ally and constantly trying to get you the TMs and badges you need to help her, she would serve as a direct opponent fighting you for your title as the protagonist. Side-quests: Best so far: The Hidden Library series This series features characters ranging from Karrina to Karen, and is one of the most visually pleasing group of Help Center quests in the game. It provides access to Elgym, the Ancient Book (which provides the player with more goodies) super early, the Good Rod, and some fantastic dialogue that establishes a character that may be really important down the road. Worst: The Kecleon Shop Heist This is a trap quest - and it's reward of a Blue Moon Ice Cream is significant to Rebornians because that Ice Cream is particularly rare and helpful in the players' experience. On top of that, it's a nice reference to Pokémon: Mystery Dungeon, in which stealing from Kecleon is usually not a good idea. The reason this quest is bad is that it could cost the player some serious money if they try to do the quest early and fail repeatedly. It almost punishes players who acknowledge the Help Center's existence and try to complete every mission as they find it - which often results in the quest getting skipped. Kecleon also doesn't actually take the money they request you pay for it out of good faith - which actually feels really bad if the player tries to do the quest, and opts to wait until they can pay up. It's unfortunate.

Ultra Megopolis is actually a city. Whoa. "Adhesive" not only is a smol, it's also the first UB to be monotype. Mind Blown is a silly name for a move. I love it.

What. A hype. Trailer. Theme: Light vs. Dark The emphasis on "Light" here is interesting. In the maiden voyage through Alola, we saw Solgaleo and Lunala juxtapose Light and Dark through the classic celestial body imagery that corresponded to the title of the game you played. Here, Solgaleo and Lunala BOTH represent light - literally as those celestial bodies. Both potential evolutions for Nebby are opposed to Necrozma. The Japanese seems to indicate that Necrozma absorbs light - and that this spacesuit crew wants to take away the light of Alola. Dynamic Kahunas: We see Hala reprise his role as Koko's assistant against the Ultra Beasts - but we also see Nanu find himself face to face with Guzzlord in an cutscene not previously seen. Those of you that played through the UB missions know that Nanu once was on the UB task force and has history with Guzzlord - so this cutscene - even if it happens during Lusamine's forcing Nebby to open the Ultra Wormholes - appears to be an Easter egg to the first game. It also would prepare the player for the post game. Speculation: The New UBs land on Akala Island. Continuing the theme of more involved Kahunas would be to involve the lone remaining one (at that point in the story!) in Olivia. The location Assembly and the disco ball thing land in is sunny and green, which seems more lush than Poni would be. There also isn't a Kahuna on Poni when the Ultra Wormholes are opened, leaving Tapu Fini to either join Nanu and Bulu or without aid in that case. Here, Olivia and Tapu Lele could be the bookend to that cutscene. Drawn: There is FINALLY an evil team in Alola. One that appears to genuinely WANT to cause destruction unlike Aether and Skull. One that SPECIFICALLY wants the light to disappear. They dress in spacesuits. Their skin is very pale. They will survive an earth's demise. Not everyone else. And Necrozma makes the perfect tool to shut the earth down. Flip the Script: Guzma seems to be carrying Lusamine away in the trailer, perhaps indicating that Skull has a different or competing benefactor this time around. Gladion: "If Mom dies as well" Gladion particularly has a disconnect from Lusamine in Sun and Moon. Here, he refers to her as Mom. Also. DEATH? Speculation: Skull betrays Aether and kidnaps Lusamine. Skull is being footed by Team Spacesuit. Location: Mount Lanakila Pokemon League. The League's champion room seems to be housing Dusk Mane Necrozma. Gameplay: Travelling through Ultra Space Perhaps the legendaries allow us to drive stick in pursuit of Team Spacesuit. They seen to be opposite of Nebby, who gets captured by Necrozma. MAYBE it's a post game feature that allows us visit "mirage spots" where non Alolan legendaries are located. New: Kukui and Alola's darkness

Here's my things with the desert argument. 1. People are (perhaps) assuming Gible/Gabite will a wild encounter. For a Pokemon like Garchomp to be prevalent in the wild over being an event Pokemon it would have to break with the norm with Amethyst making good Pokemon obtainable by Event. Because of Garchomp's popularity - I can't see the devs passing up an obscure quest chance here. If it's an event though - why does the desert setting matter? 2. Garchomp's popularity also comes at odds with one the reasons Ame axes Pokemon. Many people assume it's a matter of balance. At this point, with levels getting very high, Garchomp's axing would be to encourage the player to use another lesser used Pokemon. She has stated previously in the past that she makes certain decisions to give other Pokemon some love. 3. It just seems way too obvious. Where's the fun in running into a Gabite in the desert? It SHOULD be an ordeal to catch one. It's a psuedo legendary!

I am a huge fan of leitmotifs, or certain musical phrases that are found in the entire score, so if we were to have multiple themes it should be with the caveat that a leitmotif is present in every one. Gym Leader themes unify a diverse cast. And there's something about that that pleases my ears. You know? Caveat in consideration, a cinematic rock theme for Titania would be sick. And I liked Shade's distorted Johto Boss Theme back in the day. Count me in.

Chrom - Random Village Maiden This is really good because it doesn't make Lucina as broken as she would be with a mother who is in the army and essentially just makes her a Chrom clone. If ye want a challenge, look here. Chrolivia 1. Sumia can have her pies...and eat them herself. 2. I like the support because it's just silly. 3. Inigo being in the Exalted Bloodline is neat, and he even gets the brand in the eye opposite of the one Lucia has hers in. Rightful King Inigo. You know you want it. Virion - Cordelia 1. Hatsune Miku is your child. Literally. 2. Virion is one of Cordelia's better support partners and allows her to walljump, whereas sticking her with say, Frederick, leaves the love pairing feeling disjointed due to both of them loving Chrom. Gregor - Tharja 1. One of those supports that doesn't make Tharja look like an evil fetish based character and actually displays the kind of person she really is. 2. Armsthrift is good for Sorceress!Noire Male Robin - Lissa Canon "eventual Odin Dark" Owain, who makes several allusions in Fates to Grima by using the word "Fell" a lot. I would love to have a spouse that tries to pull fast ones on me all the time. Cute support. Female Robin - Lon'qu The only support other than Olivia that I feel is natural for Lon'qu. Female Robin -in character- enraptures Lon'qu brilliantly. It's a very good support.

Kommo-o? I mean. It's basically a slower Garchomp who trades in a 4x Ice weakness for a 4x Fairy weakness. Both Sinnoh -and- Alola's dragons cause problems for Saphira, Titania, and Hardy, although Kommo-o's Alolan speed curse gives Saphira more chances to knock it out. Then again, Kommo-o does get Dragon Dance by level up to patch up that speed. I think being a weather setter is the tipping point for Tyranitar. I also feel like out of these two, Ame isn't giving you Garchomp. That would spread like wildfire.

Silvally is a very interesting Pokemon. Sun and Moon make distinct decisions with how it is obtained by the player - and its significance. 1. Silvally is the evolved form of Type:Null. This point is important because if all Pokemon are going to be obtainable - you will likely need to evolve Null to get Silvally. 2. Silvally is not one-of-a-kind, but is by no means abundant. The first prototype of Type:Null was known as Type:Full. Gladion's Silvally is either the first Type:Full that lost control of its energy and was surpressed to become Null, or is a second Type:Null. The player is gifted either a second or third Type:Null in the Sun/Moon post game. That means it can be feasibly replicated, but not feasibly available in the wild. 3. Silvally is known as a "synthetic" Pokemon. This means that the Pokemon is man-made, such as Mewtwo or Genesect, and "potentially" Ditto, who are rumored to be failed clones of Mew and are found only in the Pokemon Mansion and Cerulean Cave (a research lab for Mew and cavern home to Mewtwo respectively) in Pokemon Yellow. It's worth noting that Mew can learn any move, Genesect can multi-drive different attacking types, Ditto can turn into other Pokemon, and Silvally can change it's type. Humans seem to be fascinated with creating Pokemon with similar "infinity" properties to Mew and Arceus. My verdict? I could easily see Silvally available as an event Pokemon in E17 related to other "legendary" Pokemon - such as the Ultra Beasts. There's a tweet from Ame out there where a player is encountering Type: Null. While I don't see it as a wild encounter- it's more likely to be found in the wild than given "legendary" status.

GS Ball, let me cover a few things right now. Do mind that I will be speaking from a Christian perch and not of those of other faith here - because I don't have the experience to argue as much from those other vantage points. Faith In Emerging Information Just yesterday, this happened to me! I am currently taking a class about the first century Christian Church, which happened to be stationed within the Roman Empire - meaning that Roman background is going to be very pervasive in the language used in Paul's letters, the Acts of the Apostles, and even the Gospels themselves. One of those gospels where there is a seemingly extraordinarily pervasive Roman theme is Mark - the point blank gospel known for documenting the miraculous happenings that were caused by Jesus before he was crucified. Applying the Roman Empire's widespread political ideology (Which, to keep brief, is simply that Romans respected Emperors who were selfless and respected the values instilled by being a Republican government for 500 years prior to the age of Roman imperialism, more than they did Emperors who deified themselves and operated tyrannically.) to the Markan Jesus reveals a significant comparison of Jesus to the likes of Emperor Vespasian (the Emperor responsible for quelling the Jewish Revolt in Palestine and destroying the Second Temple in Jerusalem.) Furthermore, John Mark seems to address Jesus in the opening of his Gospel as "Son of God" - which is exactly what people referred to Emperor Augustus and his successors as. There is historical accounts of Emperor Vespasian healing a man by spitting into his eyes, as well as being the head of a legion of Roman soldiers represented by the crest of a boar in a specific region in Palestine known as Gerasa. Mark reads in two halves. First, the Markan Jesus is presented as a God-Man that can perform all of these miraculous deeds, in SPECIFIC driving a demon called "Legion" out of a man known as the "Gerasene Demoniac" and into a herd of pigs, and healing a blind man by spitting into his eyes... - and secondly, Jesus is crucified. This mirrors Jesus as an answer of sorts to the Roman Emperors, who not only defeated the Judeo-Christian God's people and destroyed their temple, but also performed many of the same feats as Jesus. Mark does make the point to expand upon the ideals of his seemingly more Gentile, Greco-Roman audience to ensure Jesus is a "better" result. Jesus has the power to drive away the "Legion". Jesus makes the ultimate service and sacrifice for his people on the Cross. Jesus is just simply better at embodying the ideals you have, Romans. The Temple? That didn't matter to the Roman people at all, except it might if the Romans had made the point to illustrate the importance of it's destruction. It was depicted on coins and hailed as a triumph - and the Roman mind would say "yeah man, our imperial god is stronger than that Jewish/Christian one. Look what happened to the Temple. Booyah." Mark's gospel has a profound beginning-to-end focus on propping up Jesus to a people that may be facing extreme pressure from their government and their neighbors. If I were a skeptic, I would be perfectly content with pegging Jesus as remarkable as a Roman Emperor. Those guys were human. There is nothing supernatural about that. Do you see where this could cause a believer to reconcile? I had to last night. I disagree with the notion that people should leave faith for those gifted for it because in my faith specifically, it's encouraged that faith be tested. If you aren't learning about what you believe, then you probably shouldn't be believing it - or at least you don't have the grounds to barring the possibility of the personal experience with the divine. The Fallibility of Humanity Yes, you're correct in that people will be demanding of tangible results from their belief in the supernatural. Heck, there are some "Christians" that have birthed entire denominations and followings on the so called "prosperity gospel!" (If you believe, it shall be given - very much in the literal sense.) Good critical scholarship demands respect of all possible revelations. For a believing scholar - it's leaving the door open for say, the body of Jesus Christ being discovered and having Paul's damning verse of "if the Resurrection didn't occur, our faith is in vain." come to fruition. For a skeptic, it's not imposing what you want to come to light as the end-all-be-all and actually following what is and isn't in front of you regardless of how you feel about the evidence. This goes beyond the supernatural and applies to science and history. Humans are indeed not very responsible at times. There are universities that offer so-called "liberal arts" education without teaching from multiple angles and instead crown one as ironclad - on both sides of the issue at hand and in others. That doesn't make the flaws of humans greater than the God that created humans, right? God wants a relationship with -all- of his creation, and gave said creation the choice in reciprocating. They aren't overstepping by taking their own path, even if that path will ultimately lead somewhere utterly different than what God intended. I also believe it's fair for people to demand things of God, with the caveat that the expectations be tempered by God's will potentially being different from our own. Merely demanding the divine bends their ears to us and works on our behalf is part of communicating with God. Faith's "difficulty level" It absolutely is a daunting decision because it does potentially affect the rest of your life - in both years and in different areas. However, faith being hard isn't a barrier so much as it is the crossbar one pole vaults over in the Olympic Games. You can fail to get over the bar at times - but if you keep at it, you will eventually get better. God also isn't demanding perfection from us - so we end up taking home the gold even if we don't make it over the bar anyway. -- Eviora, thank you for kindly allowing this to be freelance research at my own pace. I will get you a response! Also, L is dope. I legitimately had trouble deciding which I wanted to prevail in their struggle. ...uh.....should I see the tv drama? I've heard it's awful...but I don't know if you have an opinion on it.

Ah, so you want something that can be believed logically as a supernatural "truth" found via a mutually respected process? I think I may have something - but I want a day or two to collect my thoughts and present it with evidence that isn't mine along with various methods used to deem this something as logically verifiable. If I am asking people to do their homework - I should do mine as well. Is Friday or Saturday a fair due date for you? In the mean time - if you still think I'm misunderstanding you - feel free to correct me. I want to make sure we're on the same page. Also - I like Light Yagami the regular human being a lot, and I understand his rational for acting as Kira initially. I feel superimposing Christological or anti-self-deification positions is ignorant to the presented "reality" of Shinto/Buddhism through the shinigami set in the anime. Death Note's universe lacks the rational for other worldviews. Is it safe to assume the use of the honorific makes you a fan as well? Or am I mistaken? --- GS Ball, that's quite a lot to sort through, but I promise I'll get back to you as well with some dilegence in my response. There's a few premises of yours that I think are particularly interesting.

"Forgiveness is easier to ask for than permission." - inspired by Grace Hopper.

@Eviora Yeah. I should provide the video for reference in the op. It's a classic. What constitutes effective searching for one person is probably not assuredly effective for another person. The relativity here isn't because the truths being searched for not objective, mind, but that people are interested by different aspects and thus have different levels and angles of interest throughout the idea of supernaturalism. There are also different worldviews to sift through depending on which ideas are being presented. (I.E. is the Christian "God" as attractive as the Hindu pantheon to research? Or more or less so?) The simple answer here is that I don't know what would strike your fancy in particular and I wouldn't be certain if my response would cut it. And that's perfectly okay because missing the mark happens. I guess I can try to take a stab at sharing examples if you give my research a focus. What would you like to know in particular? (I understand your question to be looking for a process in research. I'll be sure to mind that!) @GS BALL You at the very least suggest the existence of "agnostic" people in the world (People who affirm inability to know if the supernatural is affirmable or not or people who simply roll with not knowing.) I don't think those people don't exist - but I wouldn't consider them "Honey Badgers" unless there was a blatant apathy behind their not knowing. Why do you believe not everyone can hold to a faith? And what do you mean that the supernatural should be left undispurbed? Those are interesting statements and I'm not sure I know why you've made them. I disagree on both - but you may have something I need to look to there.

It's been a while since I delved into the realm of apologetics here, and some of those threads are my favorites on this board because the discussion is mostly pleasant (even though there is a clear perception of implications that may cause reality defining and therefore emotional reactions are normal.) --- The purpose of this thread is to discuss the roadblocks potentially faced by what I call "honey badger" skeptics when it comes to the concept of a supreme being. This type of skeptic is similar to the mammal it's name draws from in that they are people that doubt the existence of a god(s) and other divine beings and concepts but simply do not have the desire to do their own research either way. These skeptics are not necessarily "atheist" (a believer in the concept that there is no supreme being.), and are usually very openly "willing" to accept any worldview, even theistic ones, as the truth if only it were made totally clear to them by others. Characteristics of such skeptics are: 1. Honey Badgers are undecideds that are looking for others to prove the existence or non existence of gods. 2. Honey Badgers are quick to assert how open-minded they are to the idea of theistic reality or lack thereof as a form of avoiding a position -or- because they are in fact undecided. Honey Badgers will remind you of such open-mindedness often. 3. Honey Badgers genuinely haven't done much of any personal seeking on the topic -or- are not being honest when claiming they have done research. 4. Honey Badgers often view personal seeking as a waste of time. 5. Honey Badgers are often "searching for divine billboards" that provide definitive truth in an instant, and are adverse to the idea of "sampling" faiths, beliefs, and schools of thought. 6. Honey Badgers are often unusually focused on rejecting evidences and arguments from others, despite not holding a position and being open-minded. --- Why does this matter? The Honey Badger isn't devoid of emotions and doesn't live outside of time. Eventually, they will die, like any other human would, and the question of what life looks like afterwards, if it looks like anything, is still present. The question of where meaning is applicable in their lives is still present. These people still hurt and have to reconcile themselves with the world they live in. These people still have to decide SOMETHING is important to them. Life requires action, even from those who don't care. For the atheistic organizer, the Honey Badger skeptic matters because they will provide push back on your argument through apathy. They will often used detached tones when talking about theists' beliefs and practices by saying "This doesn't bother me or affect my life, why are they wrong? Why are you right? and ultimately "Why should I care that God doesn't exist?" For the evangelist, the Honey Badger skeptic matters because they are part of the nations you are called to minister to. Their apathy is a genuine struggle between them and salvation. They won't care to seek God, so they will ultimately fail to know Him. If they fail to know Him, they are separated from Him for eternity. (or they don't reach enlightenment, don't become good beings, don't get reincarnated favorably, depending on faith being evangelized.) For the Honey Badger, it renders bad "scholarship" when they are involved in theological or atheological discussion - because they are inherently passive and would fail to contribute any relevant information to discuss. When assessing anything as an evidence they are quick to reject the ideas presented before positing any information of their own to back up the alternative hypothesis or idea. If the Honey Badger skeptic genuinely DOES care about their wellbeing beyond death or has concerns with the reality of the universe, they are their own stumbling block when it comes to determining answers. Honey Badgering with regards to existence and reality may cause a lack of drive to care about other things in a sort of bleed-over effect. In other words, to be a Honey Badger in general is to allow yourself the risks involved with a making decisions without putting weight on them. --- This thread was inspired by the multiple encounters I've had with this specific type of skeptic and have been questioned by them about my buying into the Christian worldview. At the times prior to hearing several common lack of positions and prideful avoidance of having the other person present and defend their own positions, I've come to the conclusion that a fair response to those people is simply that "You have to care enough to learn for yourself before you can argue with others." With Christianity in particular, you don't need to become a Christian to determine if it is the true "way" or not. It only took me a week of contemplation personally to decide God -WAS- real, after all! You do have to, however, do your own research. Why is it people are able to have faith in something? Is there something about those people that I want? Is there something about those people that was similar to how I feel now? What do I agree and disagree with them on? Why is that or isn't that? This isn't a one person answer. It's the same with other "truths" - you have to look at the matter from multiple angles and determine based off the evidence what you have.

Metagross is a very missable Pokemon. I think this forum forgets that a lot. Yeah. It's great. It's also a roller coaster ride to obtain and one who isn't asking around ain't using Metagross. Solaris may get MegaChomp, but it would be at a disservice to Mega Evolution's lore in the main series games unless Solaris shows more redeemable character traits. That Garchomp is responsible for killing and injuring human beings at the request of its trainer. It appears to be nothing but a tool for Solaris and thus the bond isn't there for Chomp to go Mega. Then, Sun and Moon gave Mega Pokemon their own Dex entries that widely indicate Mega Evolving to be a very painful experience. If Garchomp doesn't have a bond with Solaris, would it go through extreme pain for him? Hydreigon has already been datamined in E16 as an event Pokemon relative to the Dark Matter quests. Ferrothorn doesn't necessarily have to be available before Amaria and could be hidden like Metagross is to where it's not a staple in order to beat her. It's a fairly passive Pokemon and Iron Barbs isn't going to be detrimental to special attackers it runs into. On top of that, Amaria could run things like Fire Blast Slowbro or Octillery in restructured teams to blow it out of the water. I don't see it being that scary at this point. I forgot Gyarados got Moxie. That. That's something to consider.

I was merely spitballing as to what -could- be the held out Pokemon. I would love to be able to get Kommo-o. Silvally for example, is a Pokemon that is known to be the "Beast Killer." That makes for a potential story arc with the Ultra Beasts and those are odd Pokemon that may share similar values with say, the Tapu - Pokemon that will be legendary and thus may NOT be available in 17. If I were the developer, I would be quite respectful of Type:Null's canon purpose and tie it to the UB quest. If Ame were to think as I do, we don't know if that quest would be in this episode or a later one. Nothing to do with being hyperviable. Everything to do with being a lore heavy Pokemon that may need some space to find its role in Reborn. --- Gengar no longer gets Levitate. It's in late. Toxapex is a fair guess because Merciless is a scary good offensive ability for an AI that may not have the trigger finger to swap out poisoned Pokemon. Ferro is in. I have a hunch. Marowak-Alola is in. It's too slow to be gamebreaking and Ame can always move the Thick Club off of Cubone if it gets problematic (and make it a hidden item) My money is on Mimikyu.

Well @Eagleby18, do we even know what the Big Wave Beach is? That could also be a post game area that is completely on a sand bar or not on the Alolan isles proper (like the Battle Resort in ORAS). The only things -I- know about the BWB are that it's a new location and Mantine is docked there. The "surfer" seems like a new trainer class in this game, as well. I think the expectation that the post game facilities are going to be grandiose each generation is a sure way to set yourself up for disappointment. The competitive scene has taken the center stage for elite battling as it's been made much easier each game release to get into. Things like the Maison/Tree make it easy to get the items you need to battle competitively without taking up too much map space and dev time. I feel like that leaves certain "Frontier" formats, such as the Factory, rather niche now that the items are easier to obtain. I'm with you though, I'd love to see an area that gives 1. Inverse Battles 2. Rotation Battles 3. Doubles 4. Battle Royals 5. Factory some love. All the same. I also just want some move tutors.

@walpurgis Your list is about 6/7. That's what I'm thinking too for the most part. Ferrothorn is a defensively oriented Pokemon, and while it's a very good one - tanks are not nearly as troublesome in game breaking as wallbreakers and sweepers in the game (from my experience). It's also not a fan of Fire, a common coverage move type. It's speed should hamper it enough for it to be fielded in this episode. --- guesses on Ferro's replacement on your list for me are Kommo-o: a conservative guess based solely on Kommo-o's psuedolegend status, which it shares with 5 of the Pokemon on your list. Mimikyu: Disguise plus things like sub and set up may be harmful. Great typing. Silvally: This thing may not be super powerful, but it shares the same vein as Arceus and Genesect in that lots of various items are required to make decent use of it. As the alleged "beast killer" Pokemon, it would not surprise me if this Pokemon has a story implication later on. I will say that I think at this point, Scyther and Scizor are likely to be available. Great Pokemon each, but not justifiably axed in 17.

I remember a certain debate about Talonflame's effectiveness a ....(has it been at least a year, geez, I'm old.)....while back.... Talonflame is a pretty good example of some mons that have been horrifically nerfed that should probably be easily available somewhat early in the game at this point due to Gen 7 mechanics. Talonflame's biggest niche back then was going for priority Acrobatics (a very strong move when not holding an item) and Roost (healing) all the time with Gale Wings in Gen 6. In Gen 7, Talonflame can only get help from Gale Wings if it's at full HP. As it has happened in the meta game, Talonflame now can't roost up with priority because if it needs to roost it assuredly is NOT at full HP. Acrobatics can still work, but it will need to OHKO everything you use it on or you will likely lose the ability with the AI's retaliation. Not only have several Pokemon been nerfed. We've reached the total level threshold where Gym Leaders are starting to become unable to hold an inherit advantage over challengers based on Pokemon availability. Pokemon like Magikarp easily can be argued to be released somewhere in the later-mid game because it would officially become a slight hassle to train them if made available at a low level and require some serious backtracking - and it also would find adversarial match-up issues with Electric type coverage. Yes, Gyarados breaks the early game and remains a fantastic sweeper with Dragon Dance, but it's reverence is literally overblown by this point in the story. I think everything that isn't a psuedo legendary (i.e. supposed to be hard to find even in the main series games to some extent) is fair game. Amethyst will need to release Pokemon (in my humble opinion) based on sensible habitats and themes as opposed to protecting the difficulty of her upcoming benchmark trainers. The challenge is still going to be there based on fields anyway, and like I said, the level cap is officially so high that it is starting not to matter.

I would be a Meteor grunt. I would have a crobat and a chesnaught and a gallade and my token rock type pokemon for the team representation would be carracosta. I could easily see "me" as a reluctant orderly working for Dr. Connell. I personally think the orphanage is the closest "known" childcare provider and that's where most of my real world experience lies. The other thing would be one of the more insignificant roles at the Onyx Trainer's School. Which works for me, because if my boss was Florinia I would be employee of the month all year.

Alright. My parameters and then my ranks. Fun thread. Red doesn't count because Ethan/Kris battling Red isn't actually canon. If it was, Red wouldn't live up to his status as a legendary trainer and we'd have had Brenden battling Ethan in Gen 3 and have a silly protagonist v former protagonist precedent. Kukui doesn't count - and he's not even a representation of Alolan power. Kukui's battle with you is explicitly stated as an honor of your journey and celebratory. It also sets you up for title defense. Consider the Prof your first challenger, Champ! Lol Oak doesn't count. Alder loses his title as Champion to N..if I recall... even if not. He's not on my list. I could be wrong here. 1. IRIS This is the Lance champion echo done right. Credit Gen 5 for using various Dragons. Play the gen 5 sequels again. Haters. 2. Cynthia Cynthia has a reasonable shot at number one, and I might have a significant crush on her. But the real reason she's below Iris is because I've never battled Cynthia in Sinnoh. That's how impressive she is. Placing without even a personal experience. 3. Steven Great build up. Steel and Rock types are a bit easy to KO if Fighting is your favorite type, but I love Hoenn. 4. Diantha I think people really forget how intimidating having someone go mega against you without warning was. Her team wasn't too difficult, but it was arguably more diverse than Steven's. 5. Asshat Blue beating me up the league was cool, but I'd seen his team in pieces before.

As silly as having the player character Houdini their way back into the material world of Reborn City, it's certainly feasible. 1. @Commander is absolutely correct in asserting that the player's longevity is at least assured with regards to being able to have a somewhat normal Pokémon Post-game experience. In order to do that, we as players will likely have to survive/succeed in the League push, and there's a solid chance Meteor will stand in our way unless the game's Pokémon experience takes center stage from this point forward rather than the game's story. 2. If the prophecies are open-ended and there is meant to be time afterwards (and Commander asserting the player's need to exist in order to complete the PokeDex.) There isn't room for death or removal from the plane of existence to be temporary. The Gothitelle fortune very clearly is an open ended fortune, because she is only able to see you "joining the void" before her vision can provide any more details. It seems possible that people may be reading a bit too far into the Gothitelle fortune because the end may simply be the Pokémon version of the turn of phrase "after that, God knows what will happen..", however, it can't just mean that the player is gone for good, because there is indeed a planned post game at this point in time. The New Jasper Fortune Teller doesn't provide any direct insight about the player to definitively say they are the one wished for - but being summoned via a wish from Jirachi would give us the leeway we need to operate in the future Reborn City has and right the wrongs that have transpired since we disappeared. I picture it happening like this. The player gets hit by some sort of massive threat under Meteor's control. A "Pulse-Arceus" seems quite literal, but Pulse-powered Judgement sending us to some alternative dimension that represents Non-existence would fulfill the Gothitelle prophecy. It happens much in the way Harry Potter ends up in the Deathly Hollows, presumably defeated in the previous world. Arceus in the non-existence world - or Giratina - or something - is the only other thing in the plane besides the player, and after a long existential exposition dump or some sort of strange stumbling around in the dark sequence the wish takes place (either via a cutscene or something else) and we arrive back in a newly destroyed Reborn City alongside the person who called for us. I guess we should stop treating the theme of Rebirth as a joke. Right?? Ame leads the interest vote by 1....out of 1 votes.

Hey guys. I hope to make another series of discussions on this board throughout the coming weeks to talk about some of our favorite (or not) Reborn personalities. Before I get into the first one (or.....like...six...or like however many of us play this game) - I'd like to get a few things in the clear beforehand. I am aware that many of Reborn's personalities are inspired by the developer's past and personalities on the original "Reborn League." Don't waste a post explaining to everyone in the discussion things like "Corey is someone Amethyst knew that died in said manner", "Sigmund was like that in the League", or "Ame is Amethyst's self insert." - No duh, right? I humbly come before you all understanding that I don't know everything and verily state as such. The purpose of this thread is to exchange what we know and what is widely believed so that we can profile each character as thoroughly as possible and engage in thoughtful discussion. This series will not go EXACTLY in order of appearance, but the cast will be covered -roughly- as such. This is to allow newer players who may not have progressed as far to at least know who we're talking about. We square? Great. --- Today, we're going to talk about ourselves first, because interestingly enough, there's a few juicy tidbits about ...well.....us... enough to where we actually start such a series talking about the player character. --- Are you a boy? or are you a girl? (Or are you neither?) Pokemon Reborn starts off much like any other adventure in the world of Pokemon does, with someone who you just met providing expository information about why Pokemon is great...well, in Reborn's case, specifically the idea of challenging the Pokemon League. The player meets the mysterious "Ame", who seems like a League administrator in this opening character creation screen, hears about Reborn a bit, is asked if they would like to know how to be controlled (because that's normal.), and finally, is asked to state their gender identity. --- What are Saturdays for? THE BOYS! If the player selects 'BOY', they are given a choice between the sporty, pale, jet-black haired guy, and the guy with the white hair and threads wearing sunshades and holding claim to a darker skin complexion. The white guy is Vero - and his signature clothing is accented with a gold chain and some really sick fingerless gloves. Sunglasses McGee is known as Kuro - which I would have to assume means "black"...in like ...Japanese or something. Real on the nose, but it's a really cool name and rhymes with the white guys name, so it works in a side-by-side comparison. Vero and Kuro would make for a super neat buddy-cop movie. Selecting a male protagonist lends the player absolutely nothing....at least to my knowledge.... in the "relationship point" department. "Points" are earned and lost for making various choices/as consequence for certain actions. These points effect the ending of the completed game in some way. This will matter in the other two genders. --- Girls just want to have fun. If the player selects 'GIRL' they are given the choice between the beautiful Alice, a blonde who notably looks the most like a Pokemon Trainer out of all the protagonists. She reminds me of those "Cool Trainer" sprites from the older games.....and the lovely Lucia, who wins the award for 'best hair' in the protagonist department (in my opinion.) Alice serves as the lighter skinned protagonist choice while Lucia services those who are looking for more of an ebony skin color. If I were to think of a movie for Alice and Lucia, I would think the duo would fit best in a teen spy drama where one serves as an undercover spy/student and the other is her "BFF". Selecting a female protagonist lends the player with an easy relationship point with Samson, the replacement Fighting-type Gym Leader. Samson will start his gym battle with the courtly-courteous phrase "Ladies First." - at which point the player will (not) notice their relationship with Samson had improved. Samson will balance out his available relationship points by only offering the girl protag ONE point for beating Ciel (the flying gym leader) on their first try where he would award two to a male or nonbinary protagonist, making the count at this point in time, 2 points for everyone. --- Something something Apache Helicopter. if the player selects neither option, they are given the choice between Ari, a sporty type who has the punk rock hairdo and looks like someone you don't want to make angry, and Decibel, who looks like they are the flagship mascot character of this game with xyr's color scheme. The thing that comes to mind with these two in terms of media? Anime. For sure. Deci serves as the pale alternative to Ari, and Ari the tanned alternative to Deci. Selecting a non-binary protagonist lends the player a relationship point with Adrienn, the Fairy-type Gym Leader, who also identifies as non-binary. The identifier for this within the game is your rival, Cain, who will say something along the lines of "So that's why you're both so cute!" --- You either die a Hero... Starting with the positive opinion of the player, we have Anna, a young girl living in Reborn City's Orphanage with her twin brother Noel and who is in care of a Jirachi doll that apparently has the ability to communicate with her. The game seems to imply that Anna has the ability to "see" or "not see" things that are not there/there to others, usually seen through her brother's protesting. Regarding the player character, Anna claims that they appear to be "glowy". This is followed by a genuinely friendly reception of the protagonist following her first encounter with them. The expansive official League cast will regard the player with approval depending on the player's progress through the story. Being allowed to assist in the Obsidia Ward clean up, being called a wrecking ball, being told your perception of the Ditto Arceus was sharp, and so on and so forth generate various minor praise lines from allies in the fight against Team Meteor, the orderlies at the Orphanage, and the Arceus cult. At the end of the current episode (16 for past reference) Ame, the mysterious League official from the start of the game, is now dead. The player learns in quite possibly the last conversation they have with her that she was the Reborn League Champion, and her death has left the post vacant. Adrienn approaches you with a personal plan of xyr own for you - to have you earn Ame's former post. (because, you weren't here to do that anyway - but you know...details) Adrienn personally beseeching you to rise up to the challenge is positive praise. --- ...or live long enough to see yourself become the Villain. There are some pretty interesting contrasts to the high regard the player character has, or at least some very interesting observations. The most obvious is your ever deteriorating image according to your rival Fern. Fern grows to absolutely hate your guts as you progress through the story, eventually joining Team Meteor in opposition to you. Shade, the Ghost-type Gym Leader, and mysterious entity that doesn't even appear to be human in the slightest, utters a neutral quote to the player after being defeated and showing the player the Orphanage children being kidnapped through a TV screen. The quote insinuates that the souls in the video monitor (and possibly elsewhere in the region) are dying, and that those same souls hold the "keys" to the players' gain. He then admonishes the player to not let their inevitable deaths be in vain. It's a rather dark request, which doesn't paint the player character in the greatest light because it leaves open the possibility that we are shameless opportunists in a world that is struggling for survival. The Gothitelle residing in the Beryl Library can offer you a fortune sometime in the game. She will say that you will enter "the void"- followed by something like a turn of phrase equivalent to "God must not know" featuring Pokemon Creator God Arceus - which may or may not be important to the plot of the game. It reads - to me - simply like the player will cease to exist in the future. Spoilers! You die! And you thought you were special? However, a human fortune teller in New Jasper will give another fortune for the player character. This fortune however seems to be more concerned with Reborn City than it does with you, because again, you seem to be absent from the future. Here, the woman talks about a boy with a beaded tooth necklace, another with spiked braces, yet another with azure hair, and a girl with a sleeping star, and a woman in a red and black suit. The group seems to tackle the same tasks the player did, as the fortune teller mentions the plants yet again ravaging the area. The effort seems to falter, as the man with the bracelets falls into a fissure, the azure hair is RE-dyed red and the man is facing off against his kin, and the beaded necklace bearer "breaks apart". The fortune not only erases the player from it, but also indicates that Reborn City "lives up to it's name" through the destruction. Ultimately, these foresights by the Pokemon and the Seer lead us to believe we DON'T actually save the region. --- So. What do you guys think? What did I miss? Which thread would you guys like to see next? - The mysterious League official, Ame -OR- the spurned rival, Fern?

Just a heads up - I made this thread with REGIONS in mind, as opposed to GENERATIONS of the game. The reason for this is to offer Pokémon that would be FOUND in said region should someone who wants to restart their journey want to know what kinds of Pokémon their peers like and try to use them. While you can definitely use Mega Lopunny in the sixth generation (merely an example), you probably wont find Lopunny as readily available -and- it's Mega stone in Kalos. That being said, if you want to keep citing it by Generations (and if there isn't a thread for that) it's cool. I just wanted to help out those who might look to this thread for playthrough reference. --- Today I'm going to talk about my favorite Pokémon from the most underrated region of all time, Unova. The Unova region is based off of the metropolitan area of New York City, found in the United States. Many of the Pokémon are designed by this concept. Unova also is home to actual seasons, which impact which Pokémon appear during the time of year in game and the way some of the appear. 5. I used Beartic in my first White run because I thought Cubchoo was a very well designed Pokémon. It struggles due to being slow and having a poor defensive typing, but Swift Swim allows Beartic to fix such deficiency in the rain and allows it to take advantage of it's decent coverage. As of Generation 7, it also picked up Slush Rush, which increased its viability due to now being able to fit on more teams. On Rain teams you can use Beartic as a way to take out problematic Grass types. On Hail squads you can now use Beartic to sweep while opponents are taking passive damage Beartic is immune to. Once it gets going, it plays right into the way I like to play, hitting very hard and going very fast. Appearance-wise, Cubchoo's frozen snot works very well with it's name - and reminds me of the many many times I had the sniffles growing up. Beartic's icicle beard reminds me again, of me. This time adult me dealing with facial that feels as ridiculous as this icicle beard looks. 4. AMEERICAAAAA~ ....*ahem*. Yeah, Braviary. I intentionally suffered through training up Rufflet just to use this Pokémon on my team. It's a good Physical attacker that fits it's American-based setting on TWO aesthetic points. The Red-White-Blue appearance reflects the American flag, paying homage to Unova's New York roots. However, the headdress on it's head goes deeper than that, reflecting Native American culture. It's not only 'Murica bird. It's a Native 'Murican bird. Hail to the Chief. It gets two really neat non-hiddens in Defiant and Sheer Force. Defiant is the more commonly run competitive ability because it takes advantage of Intimidate users while Braviary will want to just click Brave Bird and Return over using secondary effect moves boosted by Sheer Force. 3. Serperior was simply the sleekest starter of the three, and one could argue that Grass (in my opinion) has been in contention for having the best designed starter from this generation on to Rowlett and Gen 7. The aesthetic for the Pokémon suits my attitude. See, Smugleaf here is a bit of a snob. It's hidden ability Contrary not only makes it incredibly scary after a couple of Leaf Storm clicks or opponent misplays, but that also suits me, an avid contrarian. It suffers a lot due to not being available to be starting out with Contrary in the main games, making Snivy much less able to deal with certain threats in game (Burgh) by itself. However, my first Gen 5 bounce-back memory was selecting this Pokémon after having been burned out by the franchise, and in a lot of ways, it's thanks to Serperior for pulling me back in. 2. The Sandile line has a particularly opportunistic placement in Unova. It can be found reliably often in the sandstorm desert routes just to the south of Nimbasa City, which plays host to the beautiful Elesa and her Electric type Gym. That probably means you might have chanced Sandile on your team to prepare for the battle ahead, particularly if you were one of the six people that picked Tepig as a starter (I was not.) Krookodile takes it's design from the crocodile, which is a common reptile in some areas of the United States, and a cartoon burglar. The more interesting Pokedex entries of this Pokémon state that it can see very far due to the lenses of it's eyes, which just makes me jealous having poor eyesight of my own. It's...it's got a great level up movepool and it's field abilities are better than it's hiddens. Intimidate is a good ability because it kneecaps the opponents attack on the switch in. Moxie is a good ability because it boosts Krookodile's attack every time it faints a Pokémon, which will be great for Elesa once you take out her pesky Emolga. 1. At the end of the day - sometimes the coolest Dragon type Pokémon isn't the Psuedo legendary. Druddigon is much inferior to Hydreigon, but it also takes a lot less effort to train up. My Unova team happened to consist of monsters that required a lot of effort (Chandelure, Beartic, Serperior, Krookodile, and Jellicent) and it needed something that was more plug and play. I was able to put some good TMs on this behemoth and get rolling. Finally, it was Druddigon that made me fall in love with the RarelyUsed competitive tier in Smogon, with it's access to Sheer Force as an ability, and things like Gunk Shot for dealing with Fairies coming in on the switch and Sucker Punch to nullify it's poor speed. It gets Fire Punch to deal with incoming Ice types, and does get Outrage by level up. Putting a Life Orb on this thing hurts. UNOVA LEGENDARY OF MERIT The Three Swordsman pretty much all could go here, but I can only pick one Pokémon. Virizion has my two favorite types all in one Pokémon, it looks fierce, it comes with my favorite battle theme for a non-box legendary ever, and you can run it special or physical. Not only can you use it both ways, but it gets both Calm Mind and Swords Dance access, meaning that you can set it up both ways to sweep. This thing is good. Honorable Mentions: Galvantula, Conkeldurr, Eelektross, Samurott, Unfeazant, Darmanitan

With regards to region - NO! - I wanted this thread to take off because...well, personally I like to be verbose. So, I am going to -personally- do one post for each region so I can share images and talk about each Pokémon without having to spoiler lock each and every generation and cause myself carpal tunnel writing more about Pokémon than what I -should- be writing essays over in one sitting. You can talk about any region you want, just so long as it's all Pokémon within one region - unless... --- With regards to formatting/template - NO! - you don't have to be like me. Some people know all of their favorite Pokémon in the franchise and can put it all into a nice succinct list by generation. You can do that if you want to. I thought I said you could do whatever you wanted here in the original post, but if I didn't - well, sorry about that! --- With regards to quotation marks, I quoted the word because there is already a "favorite pokemon" thread for general intents and purposes - and I don't want to step on THAT posters toes by having an incredibly similar thread without giving a distinct purpose. I also like to make fun of myself to break the ice, so I figured I would quote it as if it were to be read in a sarcastic manner. --- So, in order to make sure we're not just talking about Kanto, I'm going to draw a random region from the remaining list....and we're going to Kalos! 5. Avalugg is actually a Pokémon I haven't used in Generation 6 yet - but it always seems to be an incredibly memorable Pokémon to me. It's probably because Ice types are so rare in general that whenever you see them they actually stand out to one's eye. I think this Pokémon has a very neat and clean aesthetic. It sort of evokes that Mamoswine feeling of monstrously powerful, where the only other ice type to do so is Glalie. It may be slow, but it also has gargantuan defense -and- just enough raw attack power to not be pure set-up fodder for everything competitively (making it a very good Rapid Spin user on Ice monotypes.) It's only real problems are that it doesn't have the same bulk on the special side, and that Avalanche, a move that is dependent on taking damage in the turn, is it's best STAB move available to it. 4. Poison and Steel became the new ways to deal with the - as much as I really loathe saying - strongest type in the game offensively, and there are two of such Pokémon on this list. The first of which is Dragalge, which is one of the version exclusive Pokémon (I believe for Pokémon Y). Its a very unique Pokémon in that it's Dragon/Poison, meaning that it only takes Normal damage from the Fairy type while dishing out super effective moves in return. It's also extremely powerful in it's own right, with Adaptability and a great special attacking stat. Water coverage is available (thanks to it's habitat) to deal with problematic Ground types. It's just really cool. I like both this thing and Clawitzer a lot. 3. Heliolisk is a very cool Pokémon. I love that its literally what happens when a lizard and a solar panel have children. As a Pokémon, it has some pretty cool selling points. Dry Skin allows it to soak up water type attacks on the switch in, giving it an immunity and switch advantage when paired with it's own typing, while also being an interesting option on Rain teams because of it's passive healing in the rain while holding an item such as Life Orb or Choice Specs for the extra oomph. It's very fast, making Volt Switch a fantastic momentum option (that it gets by level up!), and it's also a Normal type, giving it another immunity, this time to Ghost. It gets access to Hyper Voice to accompany this type excellently. The only issue with Heliolisk is that if you want it to learn Thunderbolt you will need to train up a Helioptile to level 49 without evolving it. Hassle does end up paying off though. 2. Alright, I don't like that THIS thing is too good for the Overused tier and Greninja apparently isn't in Gen 7....but whatever. Aegislash is the other Fairyslayer in my list, giving it some pretty high regard. Running into this thing against Wikstrom....was awesome. It actually gave me some trouble with King's Shield, and I really, really, really wanted one in my next playthrough. It's a Pokémon that is good offensively -and- defensively, with the added effect of forcing your opponent to guess if you are switching stances or not. King's Shield effectively causes hesitance to attack it with contact moves such as Fire Fang, and even if you attack it, it being in shield forme would cause it to take very little damage, only for it to swap stances and hurt with Shadow Sneak. With moves like Autotomize and Sword's Dance, this thing can set up as well. It -is- very dangerous, and you probably shouldn't run down the hallway with one in your hands. 1. When the starters' images were released, I knew in my heart that I was probably picking Chespin. I did, and I was not disappointed. Grass and Fighting are my two favorite types in all of Pokémon. This Pokémon has the ability to be run defensively or offensively (mostly the former though.) and has a very cool RPG concept that it shares with the other two starter Pokémon in Kalos. Where Greninja is the speedy Rogue, and Delphox is the powerful Mage, Chesnaught represents the Armored Knight/Paladin. It's signature move is Spikey Shield, which causes some damage due to would-be contact attackers while preventing damage taken itself. It's hidden ability Bulletproof makes it actually win a few one-v-ones with Gengar (depending on if it's opting on Shadow Ball/Sludge Bomb for stabs or not and if Chesnaught has a coverage move to deal damage with.) Chesnaught is the only Pokémon in the franchise I have a set nickname for. It's Sloane - which means "strong protector." Kalos Legendary of Merit Zygarde was a very "meh" legendary in it's own generation - with it's need to set up and it's quad-weakness to Ice. However, In came Generation 7 and this thing has more functions than a Swiss Army knife. It also turns into a dog, a serpentine dragon, and a MegaZord. I love MegaZords! Honorable Mentions: Clawitzer, Pangoro, Delphox, Tyrantrum, Talonflame