Pokémon (Not-So) Griefing Thread - Scarlet and Violet Released with 10 Million Copies in First 3 Days in Buggy States

[SnowBall]

Sometimes I wonder why genwunners memory hole the 90’s Pokemon craze. There is this mentality that the first two generations were soulful and not corporate despite the massive commercialization and the sheer grip Pokemon had on media back at its height of popularity, People give Taijiri way too much credit. Besides he still works on the games anyways so this narrative is weak.

 

[UntimelyDhelmise]

Sometimes I wonder why genwunners memory hole the 90’s Pokemon craze. There is this mentality that the first two generations were soulful and not corporate despite the massive commercialization and the sheer grip Pokemon had on media back at its height of popularity, People give Taijiri way too much credit. Besides he still works on the games anyways so this narrative is weak.

Nostalgia is a stupidly strong blinker (those leather squares you see around the eyes of racing and drafting horses). You only focus on the good things of the past and ignore the negatives that surrounded them.

 

[SteelPlatedHeart]

Sometimes I wonder why genwunners memory hole the 90’s Pokemon craze. There is this mentality that the first two generations were soulful and not corporate despite the massive commercialization and the sheer grip Pokemon had on media back at its height of popularity, People give Taijiri way too much credit. Besides he still works on the games anyways so this narrative is weak.

You don’t get it, man! Pokémon designs use to make sense and were thought out! Now they’re just lazy and uninspired! Blah blah blah...

I think my favorite moment of that sort of thing was a group of Youtubers playing that Pixelmon game and someone came across a Solosis for the first time and said something to the effect of “what the hell? It’s just a ball?” to whichhis friend immediately responded with “Oh, you mean like Voltorb?”, who is the first guy’s favorite Pokémon. Everyone got a good laugh out of it.

 

[Unyielding Stupidity]

You don’t get it, man! Pokémon designs use to make sense and were thought out! Now they’re just lazy and uninspired! Blah blah blah...

I think my favorite moment of that sort of thing was a group of Youtubers playing that Pixelmon game and someone came across a Solosis for the first time and said something to the effect of “what the hell? It’s just a ball?” to whichhis friend immediately responded with “Oh, you mean like Voltorb?”, who is the first guy’s favorite Pokémon. Everyone got a good laugh out of it.

I don't think there are many people that won't agree that Gen I had some pretty bad designs (Like Voltorb, Muk and Lickitung), but I will say I'm a sucker for the general aesthetic that Gen I and Gen II designs had. It just feels like there's something lacking in the designs in Gen VI onwards - there's definitely some major differences in how newer Pokemon are designed, but I can't quite put my finger on what exactly it is.

 

[vertexwindi]

there's definitely some major differences in how newer Pokemon are designed, but I can't quite put my finger on what exactly it is.

Smoother textures, rounder shapes and more saturated colors.

 

[SnowBall]

I don't think there are many people that won't agree that Gen I had some pretty bad designs (Like Voltorb, Muk and Lickitung), but I will say I'm a sucker for the general aesthetic that Gen I and Gen II designs had. It just feels like there's something lacking in the designs in Gen VI onwards - there's definitely some major differences in how newer Pokemon are designed, but I can't quite put my finger on what exactly it is.

I think people don’t realize art styles inevitably change. Expecting an artist to draw the exact same way for decades is extremely unrealistic. Gen I and II are very much a product of the late 90’s/early 2000’s, with designs that were considered cool at the time. Same thing with all the other gens being based off trends of the years they came out. Kanto has the same good to shit ratio of designs as every other region, it just has the power of nostalgia to carry it. As I said earlier in this thread the Pokemon craze mostly died out by GSC, at least where I lived. Even Johto was shat on bad in the early days, with criticisms like the designs being babyish and too simplistic. Most kids were just too young or lost interest in the series to notice internet fandom discussions.

I know lots of people love the old school water color art, with me being one of them. I have seen people redraw newer Pokemon in this style and while they look awesome all it does is cover up the shittier designs, like spraying febreeze on a turd. Besides from what I remember most of the old school art was pretty much confined to the games, all other media used the simpler and cleaner anime art.

Yet again I am one of those rare few who actually like Gen V Pokemon. Sure many were ugly and weird but just like the unique style of the first two generations those designs had a certain charm to them. I liked the rough around the edges urban feel of BW and BW2.

 

[Nauseated Courgi]

Yet again I am one of those rare few who actually like Gen V Pokemon. Sure many were ugly and weird but just like the unique style of the first two generations those designs had a certain charm to them. I liked the rough around the edges urban feel of BW and BW2.

Same, The style really fits it best considering the region itself is based off of the US.

 

[ChucklesTheJester]

I think people don’t realize art styles inevitably change. Expecting an artist to draw the exact same way for decades is extremely unrealistic.

*JoJoBA intentifies*


Anyway, pretty much just fans wanting things to never change, but also change at the same time.

I don't think there are many people that won't agree that Gen I had some pretty bad designs (Like Voltorb, Muk and Lickitung),

Voltorb is pure and perfect, I agree on muk and the touge fetish pokemon being bad.

 

[UntimelyDhelmise]

I'm mixed on the (pardon the pun here) design evolution over the years. Earlier creatures had a tendency to be a lot more abstract in their inspirations and truly felt like, well, monsters. The Nido line(s) are the apex example of this, where they don't seem to draw from any one particular source from a design perspective (ask anyone what they resemble and you're likely to get a laundry list of animals in response). That and the overall aesthetic was more overall simplified with some mons just being kinda, there (Seel is exactly what it says on the tin, Goldeen's just a goldfish, ect.) which some prefer over the more extravagant creatures that would appear later.

However, I do enjoy the more focused designs of newer generations, such as Toxapex not just being a generic starfish but more specifically a crown-of-thorns, and Aurorus' inspiration coming from the distinct Amargasaurus in lieu of a typical sauropod. That said, as most are fully aware, the newer gens also have an increasingly frequent problem with furry pandering where mons are becoming more and more like walking fursuits than at least somewhat believable creatures, with the Galar starters being the most egregious recent example where all 3 become bipedal (to a degree, Rillaboom could be considered semi-bipedal).

In the end though, all the qualities apply to every generation to some degree or another, like Sandslash and Hitmonchan in gen I (distinct non-generic species, anthro humanoid) to Barraskewda and Greedent in gen VIII (generic predatory fish, just a squirrel).

Only real differences are how the general "waves" of design philosophies change from one game to the next.

 

[ChucklesTheJester]

I'm mixed on the (pardon the pun here) design evolution over the years. Earlier creatures had a tendency to be a lot more abstract in their inspirations and truly felt like, well, monsters. The Nido line(s) are the apex example of this, where they don't seem to draw from any one particular source from a design perspective (ask anyone what they resemble and you're likely to get a laundry list of animals in response). That and the overall aesthetic was more overall simplified with some mons just being kinda, there (Seel is exactly what it says on the tin, Goldeen's just a goldfish, ect.) which some prefer over the more extravagant creatures that would appear later.

However, I do enjoy the more focused designs of newer generations, such as Toxapex not just being a generic starfish but more specifically a crown-of-thorns, and Aurorus' inspiration coming from the distinct Amargasaurus in lieu of a typical sauropod. That said, as most are fully aware, the newer gens also have an increasingly frequent problem with furry pandering where mons are becoming more and more like walking fursuits than at least somewhat believable creatures, with the Galar starters being the most egregious recent example where all 3 become bipedal (to a degree, Rillaboom could be considered semi-bipedal).

In the end though, all the qualities apply to every generation to some degree or another, like Sandslash and Hitmonchan in gen I (distinct non-generic species, anthro humanoid) to Barraskewda and Greedent in gen VIII (generic predatory fish, just a squirrel).

Only real differences are how the general "waves" of design philosophies change from one game to the next.

Hitmon line is just weird. We start with a child, and end with a headless ass kicker, Bootleg little mac, or the third one that might as well be gold owning string puller's toy.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

I think Pokemon designs just got cutesier. Older designs weren't afraid to make them look intimidating, pointy, or ugly--I think the knee-jerk reactions to Trubbish and Garbodor (although Trubbish is kinda cute as a rabbit) made Game Freak a bit more hesitant to want to go all-out like that. And hell, even some of the older designs got a cutesy upgrade overtime. Think it's telling that when Detective Pikachu was being made, The Pokemon Company said the designers had to make them cute somehow or another.

Sometimes I wonder why genwunners memory hole the 90’s Pokemon craze. There is this mentality that the first two generations were soulful and not corporate despite the massive commercialization and the sheer grip Pokemon had on media back at its height of popularity, People give Taijiri way too much credit. Besides he still works on the games anyways so this narrative is weak.

Pokemon was special to me as a kid, but in hindsight, I have to wonder just how and why it is Pokemon exploded the way it did, and the fact that we've never seen anything quite like that phenomenon ever again. I do think the first episode of the anime was really excellent in setting the tone of what the series was ultimately about, which is why it caught a lot of kids' imaginations and attention, but the parents were just as crazed about it as the kids since they were the ones buying all of the shit for us tykes--like were they really forced to do it? It wasn't like us kids held them at gunpoint for Pokemon. My mom said some years back that she and Dad bought the cards and some of the merch (especially the Burger King toys) because they thought Pokemon was nothing more than a fad. Even though she actually somewhat liked the show and still says to this day Psyduck's her favorite, she literally believed that once it went away, the toys would go up in value in the future so she could make bank off of them on eBay.

Lol. They've been rotting in a box for twenty years no reason except to sometimes be taken out to look through during nostalgia attacks. 'Til I "rescued" some of them to keep (plushies, mostly).

Actually, I think she might've been able to do it with the Pez dispensers had my brothers and I not eaten the PokeBall-shaped candy. Come on, look at these cute lil' fatties.

(These are actually my personal fav when it comes to Pokemon merch, but I like the Mew one more lol.)

 

[SteelPlatedHeart]

I remember when the first movie came out and you could get those golden Pokémon cards in a big metal Pokeball at Burger King that you could put on display and would open up when you pressed the button.
Easily the best “fast food merch” you could get at the time.

 

[vertexwindi]

My mom said some years back that she and Dad bought the cards and some of the merch (especially the Burger King toys) because they thought Pokemon was nothing more than a fad. Even though she actually somewhat liked the show and still says to this day Psyduck's her favorite, she literally believed that once it went away, the toys would go up in value in the future so she could make bank off of them on eBay.

Depending on how rare that shit is, she could probably make decent bank off it.

 

[Eto]

While we’re on the subject of merch, I actually have hundreds of cards in a binder, a few of them being my older sister’s small collection. A lot of holos and a few reverse holos, but the only notable cards that I have are a Kyogre gold star, and a Neo Genesis 17/111 Typhlosion. I also managed to pull out an Arceus, Dialga, and Palkia GX card a few weeks ago.

I also have a few plushies that I got cheap from when Toys’R’Us was doing their liquidation sales.

Spoiler: Cards

What kind of stuff do you guys have?

 

[Celebrate Nite]

What kind of stuff do you guys have?

Not much, but Poliwhirl is my #1 favorite Pokemon next to the dragon types

 

[ToroidalBoat]

Mount Pyre can get pretty sad.

"Memories of my darling Skitty... My eyes flood just thinking about it."

"Why is he so particular about [his grave]? Once you die, everything will be gone..."

Meanwhile a Hex Maniac and others hang around waiting for trainers to battle in a graveyard.

 

[UntimelyDhelmise]

Mount Pyre can get pretty sad.

"Memories of my darling Skitty... My eyes flood just thinking about it."

"Why is he so particular about [his grave]? Once you die, everything will be gone..."

Meanwhile a Hex Maniac and others hang around waiting for trainers to battle in a graveyard.

That's basically every region though. One NPC will be weeping about their dead first route rodent or whatever, then the very person you talk to is like "HEY WANNA BATTLE WHILE DANCING ON THE TOMBSTONES?!"

 

[Kari Kamiya]

Depending on how rare that shit is, she could probably make decent bank off it.

Well none of them are in mint condition thanks to us, so she's shit out of luck.

EDIT: Oh we're sharing merch now? Alrighty, I'll share my insanity.

Spoiler

Only thing missing are the DVDs of the first nine seasons, and the movies. Figured that's too obvious.

This Psyduck plush can't sit flat lol. I thought there's a Psyduck Sitting Cuties plush, but it wasn't on the Pokémon Center site? Anyhoo, manga:

I'm currently reading through those before I put them on the shelf with the other boxsets.

I'm not moving my weeb shrine around to take separate pics, so here's figurines (the games are there if you look closely):

More Sitting Cuties that can't sit up straight currently:

Detective Pikachu artbook:

More plushies that I can't fit anywhere else atm:

Clothing merch (not all of them, but these are my favs--that one's a Mew shirt btw. I think it's cool but it's hard to see in poor lighting tbh, though maybe that was the point of a mirage Pokémon):

Soundtracks plus bedsheet since I need to make my bed:

And the old shit in a box. Lil' Mew figurine peeking out :

The figurines I "swiped" to keep, I need to dust lol:

Bonus: an old tin of bubblegum I kept, and a video tape containing the world-premiere airing of "The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon" because I'm literally insane and I don't know if it even works still.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

"Over 28.8 billion Pokémon Trading Card Game cards have been produced worldwide" - Bulbapedia

That's the equivalent of about 4 cards for every person on Earth.

i played Pokemon Sapphire

That's a good place to start IMO. Without nostalgia glasses on, I think Gen 3 (with the remakes of Red and Green) was a good "reboot" of the series from the previous Gameboy games.

That's basically every region though.

Pokemon NPCs really are unique. In other RPGs, the NPCs talk about stuff normal people in such worlds would. But in Pokemon...

 

[Kari Kamiya]

Pokemon NPCs really are unique. In other RPGs, the NPCs talk about stuff normal people in such worlds would. But in Pokemon...

...they talk about normal stuff people in a Pokémon world would talk about lol. I've noticed in recent games they have some... really weird dialogue, though. I dunno what examples to give tbh, there's a lot of them--even older games had them like "I like shorts! They're comfy and easy to wear!" but current ones seem to be trying hard to be memetic, I guess.