Unpopular opinions

The Pokemon Chronicles show had the potential to be better than the mainline Pokemon show but never got to realize it. It was a great idea, I just think they decentralized it just a little too much. I'm imagining a show that, instead of random one-off stories of old friends, seasonally follows a couple fan favorites inside the regions' infrastructures (research and lecturing academics/ gym leaders, nurses, officers) to build toward a collective season-long narrative. The traveling trainer is great to discover new worlds, but let's take a beat and actually live in those worlds for a bit.
Pokemon Chronicles wasn't even a thing in Japan. 4kids just compiled a bunch of standalone OVA episodes together (one from the GSC era of the anime and the rest from the RSE era) and gave them all a collective name.
 
I dont really see the appeal of melanistic and albino pokemon. I see this proposal every once in a while as a rare option for shinies (taking the old 1/8k rate) but having this rare special mon just look the same as every other mon seems... boring? black and white colors lose a lot of their appeal when theyre everywhere for every mon
 
I dont really see the appeal of melanistic and albino pokemon. I see this proposal every once in a while as a rare option for shinies (taking the old 1/8k rate) but having this rare special mon just look the same as every other mon seems... boring? black and white colors lose a lot of their appeal when theyre everywhere for every mon
Albino doesn't necessarily mean white. Most reptiles turn yellow, and albinism doesn't affect red or blue pigments at all.
 
I dont really see the appeal of melanistic and albino pokemon.
This is just my guess, but I imagine the desire largely comes from people who feel like Shinies have become too common or easily obtained in recent generations, and now want something more elusive to hunt or brag about. Following on from that, albino / monochrome Pokémon is just a fairly straightforward, universally applicable, and visually distinct concept for what a “rarer” version of Shinies could look like.
 

Samtendo09

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I dont really see the appeal of melanistic and albino pokemon. I see this proposal every once in a while as a rare option for shinies (taking the old 1/8k rate) but having this rare special mon just look the same as every other mon seems... boring? black and white colors lose a lot of their appeal when theyre everywhere for every mon
I'm aware that albinism shows differently depending on the species (ive had albino herps), but most people want albino pokemon because they want pure white red eye shinies for every mon LOL
This is just my guess, but I imagine the desire largely comes from people who feel like Shinies have become too common or easily obtained in recent generations, and now want something more elusive to hunt or brag about. Following on from that, albino / monochrome Pokémon is just a fairly straightforward, universally applicable, and visually distinct concept for what a “rarer” version of Shinies could look like.
Yeah but it becomes an issue if the “new rarer recolor” is only available in white or black, which can become uninspiring at best. Monochrome can work, though only if it is different color of both the standard and Shiny coloring.

And looking that both Gen 8 and Gen 9 introduces a lot of shinies that barely changes from the original, I rather not that they go for introducing a rarer-than-Shiny variant, thank you.
 
This is just my guess, but I imagine the desire largely comes from people who feel like Shinies have become too common or easily obtained in recent generations, and now want something more elusive to hunt or brag about. Following on from that, albino / monochrome Pokémon is just a fairly straightforward, universally applicable, and visually distinct concept for what a “rarer” version of Shinies could look like.
The big issue is that you make a rarer version of something thats meant to be rare, the less rare thing will lose its value even faster than before because of the grind. Lets say you're doing a hunt where a shiny is a 1/500 and an albino is a 1/2000. You'll probably find quite a few shinies before finding a single albino, and this will make shinies even less appealing than they are now.

This happened in a much bigger scale on a pokemon clicker site im in. It's more drastic, but there to get a melanistic pokemon, it needs to roll a shiny and an albino roll at the same time. This means a lot of people who are hunting for those melanistic mons have multiple boxes filled with shinies and albinos, which makes them lose their luster Real Fast. Obviously those odds are too much, and come from the nature of the game just being a clicker pet sim, but it's not unheard in other games.

The game does make it so albinos and melans arent just pure black/white which makes them more interesting, but the pop culture of albino being pure white with red eyes is very present in peoples ideas and what they want.

Look at my albino shiinotic btw. i put him in the sludge
1700516573764.png


I think if there were to be a "rarer shiny" i'd prefer if they just made a new shiny in general instead of following an albino/melanistic pattern. Normal shiny pika is orange, epic ultra rare star pikachu is blue, something like that. Even then, the same issue as above persists and getting the wrong shiny would be an awful experience
 
The big issue is that you make a rarer version of something thats meant to be rare, the less rare thing will lose its value even faster than before because of the grind. Lets say you're doing a hunt where a shiny is a 1/500 and an albino is a 1/2000. You'll probably find quite a few shinies before finding a single albino, and this will make shinies even less appealing than they are now.
Heh, this reminds me of a friend of mine who has done a Shiny Authentic Sinistea hunt in gen 8.

It took him over 20k encounters. 31 shinys. The 32th was authentic. He has a entire box of basically worthless shiny sinisteas that hold 0 value.
 
Heh, this reminds me of a friend of mine who has done a Shiny Authentic Sinistea hunt in gen 8.

It took him over 20k encounters. 31 shinys. The 32th was authentic. He has a entire box of basically worthless shiny sinisteas that hold 0 value.
There's someone else doing a male mini destiny bond oricorio hunt. they've fount 144 shiny oricorio by now, all of which have no value and will just be given away. Hunts like these are fringe and are an individual-level thing, but any "extra-rare" shiny mechanic will pretty much make thema default for many.

imo, if you are to introduce a new rare form, it should be separate from current shiny methods. If it really is albino/melanistic, make an albino/melan charm, if its a new shiny form make an alternative shiny charm or whatever.
 

Ransei

Garde Mystik
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Modern Pokémon did not begin with X and Y.

It began with Sword and Shield.

The 3DS games are OLD.

With Sword and Shield being the first major games with dexit, being on a brand new console, entering into a new transfer system, and removing many features previous entries, including the 3DS ones had all in one game, I don't see Gen 6 and 8 being in the same era. They look unrecognizable to one another. For example, Gen 6 brought a lot of megas that shines in the game and Gen 7 only added upon that. Gen 7 does not look very different from Gen 6, but rather like an expansion pack to it.

Gen 8 tried to push way as much as Gen 6 and 7 as possible. They got rid of megas, got rid of Z-Moves, got brought into a new transfer system the 3DS games could never reach, got rid of the Vs. Recorder, got rid of battle streak-based facilities, does not carry many references to previous gens (unlike Gen 7, in which final games in an era usually do carry a bunch of past Gen references), and is on a newer console altogether.

If that's still not enough to convince people, I don't think generations should be considered modern if the online for their console is shutting down in a couple months after over a decade of running.
 

QuentinQuonce

formerly green_typhlosion
Modern Pokémon did not begin with X and Y.

It began with Sword and Shield.

The 3DS games are OLD.

With Sword and Shield being the first major games with dexit, being on a brand new console, entering into a new transfer system, and removing many features previous entries, including the 3DS ones had all in one game, I don't see Gen 6 and 8 being in the same era. They look unrecognizable to one another. For example, Gen 6 brought a lot of megas that shines in the game and Gen 7 only added upon that. Gen 7 does not look very different from Gen 6, but rather like an expansion pack to it.

Gen 8 tried to push way as much as Gen 6 and 7 as possible. They got rid of megas, got rid of Z-Moves, got brought into a new transfer system the 3DS games could never reach, got rid of the Vs. Recorder, got rid of battle streak-based facilities, does not carry many references to previous gens (unlike Gen 7, in which final games in an era usually do carry a bunch of past Gen references), and is on a newer console altogether.

If that's still not enough to convince people, I don't think generations should be considered modern if the online for their console is shutting down in a couple months after over a decade of running.
Hugely agree with all of this
 
Bug Type pokemon are the best. I don't care that their stats suck, they are silly and I love them <3
Pokemon X and Y games were honestly mid, but the anime for X and Y was fire.
The green shinies are kinda cool actually!
Shinies in general are overrated
Pokemon GO! is boring
Generations 3, 5, and 7 are the best
Pixel sprites are better than 3d models or vector art in the main games....
There should be more games with Pokemon contests! I love battling but I think the performance part of pokemon is really interesting and fun!
 
Modern Pokémon did not begin with X and Y.

It began with Sword and Shield.

The 3DS games are OLD.

With Sword and Shield being the first major games with dexit, being on a brand new console, entering into a new transfer system, and removing many features previous entries, including the 3DS ones had all in one game, I don't see Gen 6 and 8 being in the same era. They look unrecognizable to one another. For example, Gen 6 brought a lot of megas that shines in the game and Gen 7 only added upon that. Gen 7 does not look very different from Gen 6, but rather like an expansion pack to it.

Gen 8 tried to push way as much as Gen 6 and 7 as possible. They got rid of megas, got rid of Z-Moves, got brought into a new transfer system the 3DS games could never reach, got rid of the Vs. Recorder, got rid of battle streak-based facilities, does not carry many references to previous gens (unlike Gen 7, in which final games in an era usually do carry a bunch of past Gen references), and is on a newer console altogether.

If that's still not enough to convince people, I don't think generations should be considered modern if the online for their console is shutting down in a couple months after over a decade of running.
I'd say Gens VI-VII are the "modern" era and VIII-present is the "postmodern" era
 
I don't see Gen 6 and 8 being in the same era. They look unrecognizable to one another.
i agree and also add that it's the clearest and most drastic era shift of the franchise, over even gen 2 to gen 3 - the release model changed from standalone games to a main game + DLC, it went to a home console which feels more meaningful than changing from a portable to another, and most importantly dexit and not coding every pokémon on every game changed the concept of what a generation even is. the "gen 8" games are not cohesive as a "generation" (or, indeed, even coded as a generation) the way games were before.

gen 6 is viewed as an era shift because of the graphics, but the move to not releasing a third version and to introducing gimmicky battle mechanics over a now-established and stable core had actually begun in gen 5 (which imo stands out as a transition generation in a way no other gen does). it just wasn't as drastic of a change as 2 to 3 or 7 to 8.
 
Generations are dumb.
Like, what makes a Generation? Starter Pokémon?
Okay, maybe Starter Pokémon that form the classic Grass/Fire/Water trio. For now...
But Generations aren't official, right? They don't exist in any official material.
And now that we have Pokémon added in the middle of a "Generation" and spin-off games that are part of multiple Generations, e.g., Pokémon Masters EX, I'm starting to question the idea of Generations as we Pokémon fans know...
 
Generations are dumb.
Like, what makes a Generation? Starter Pokémon?
Okay, maybe Starter Pokémon that form the classic Grass/Fire/Water trio. For now...
But Generations aren't official, right? They don't exist in any official material.
And now that we have Pokémon added in the middle of a "Generation" and spin-off games that are part of multiple Generations, e.g., Pokémon Masters EX, I'm starting to question the idea of Generations as we Pokémon fans know...
They're an official thing, sort-of.
There isn't really an official term, but stuff like Generations and various merch lines still define the Pokémon in groups based on the region of introduction.
 

ScraftyIsTheBest

On to new Horizons!
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Imo as far as "eras" are concerned, it would probably go:

Era 1: Gen 1 and Gen 2
Era 2: Gen 4 and Gen 5
Era 3: Gen 6 and Gen 7
Era 4: Gen 8 and Gen 9

Gen 3 being something of a "bridge era" between Gen 1+2 and Gen 4+5. In addition to being the only gen on the GBA it was a weird bridge between GB Pokemon and DS era Pokemon which began Pokemon as we know it now to an extent, yet still being somewhat like what came before while setting the blueprint for what came afterward. In terms of popular perception it also marked a notable dip in public interest in Pokemon which didn't pick back up until Diamond and Pearl with a new generation of kids (which I admit to being part of, one of the Gen 4 kids).

But each of the Game Boy era, DS era, 3DS era, and now Switch era imo are different "eras" of Pokemon that each brought in new waves of new generations of Pokemon fans, and gameplay+feature wise are similar to each other. RBY and GSC are alike, DPP+HGSS+BW1/2 are alike, XY+ORAS+SM/USUM are also alike with each other, and while a bit more deviant from each other than in previous eras SwSh, PLA, and SV do have commonalities between them as well. In other words, altogether all the games on one given platform have a distinct feel and identity as to what a Pokemon game at that time "is".

The Switch era as a whole definitely feels the most deviant from previous ones and is the biggest shift from previous ones. In addition to what was said about the massive changes in features and gameplay that SwSh, PLA, and SV have, lore wise the three have largely distanced themselves from past game references which Gens 4-7 were full of between each other. The anime also took a massive shift in direction this time around: Gen 6 and 7 still abided by the same loop as 3, 4, and 5 with the anime with the "classic Ashnime loop", but the anime moved towards not being named after the games and being multi-region world-tour with both Journeys and Horizons in Gen 8+9, and also marks a major transition era as Journeys wound up being the final season of Ash Ketchum with Horizons beginning the story of the first non-Ash protagonist in Liko, all the while the games get dedicated mini-web series focusing on Galar, Paldea, and Hisui instead, the anime no longer giving the flagship regions primary focus.

But all in all I would say that each platform marked a different "era" for Pokemon as a whole in terms of what it was and what the games were like at the time: Game Boy era, DS era, and 3DS era were all distinct eras before Gen 8 in my eyes, which together with Gen 9 forms the "Switch era".
 
I'd peg it as:
1&2
3, 4, 5, 6, 7
8&9

3 is the gen that broke tradebacks, introduced IVs, natures, double battles, basically reprogrammed everything from the ground up...just a huge shift in everything. I don't think you can talk about Pokemon over time without putting a clean break between 2 and 3.

And with that as the level of break we're talking about between eras, that makes 3-7 into one "era", with 1&2 as the "early-installment weirdness" options and 8&9 as the "reinvent the franchise" latecomers(there is an argument for 7 as a bridge). I don't think Hidden Abilities, team preview, or Megas are enough to define a major shift in design philosophy. The losing the grid in 6 was a big deal but not all that impactful, no actual gyms in Alola was a bold(but one-off) move, and Lets Go PE still produces debates about how to define a generation, but...I think the Switch swap is where we put the breakpoint, and that's officially Gen 8.
 

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