Pokemon Sun & Moon: Arceus Lite, Kung Fu Dragons and Rainbow Goop

Bling Dragon

Oh hey look a new trailer! Pokemon Sun and Moon is coming out next month, holy shit, time flies so much! I really didn't realize that it's so soon. I'm not sure how I'll be covering Sun and Moon in this blog -- my old Let's Plays and Playthroughs generally don't seem to be that popular and it's a bit of a pain in the ass to talk about. We'll see. Maybe I'll just do a couple of posts that cover the plot and gameplay and stuff? Pokemon posts are very popular, and I absolutely love the franchise to death, so I will be talking about it, rest assured.

Now, new stuff! Coro-Coro magazine leaked on Thursday, and a trailer yesterday. We've got a couple of new characters -- who, at this point, I don't really care about. I'll reserve my judgment for them for when I actually meet them in the game. Have to say, though, that the graphics for their kahuna arenas or whatever look fancy as hell.

We get the evolution of Type: Null, which is... Silvally. Which is a very underwhelming name. I expected something more... technical, a name that sounds more like an evolution of an artificial Pokemon called Type: Null. Basically Type: Null breaks his mask when you impress him with the power of FRIENDSHIP and evolves into Silvally, revealing a cat-like sphinx head. Also its fur gets a slightly lighter shade. It's a bit of a small change, but apparently this allows him access to the RKS System ability (Ar-kay-es, y'know, Arceus? Guess we know the proper pronunciation of the name now) that, well, is basically Arceus Lite. He changes type depending on the held item, and he's even got a mini-Judgment move whose type is similar to the type he is at the moment. It's a cool concept, that's for sure. I personally always thought Arceus's gimmick is a bit underwhelming and thus I don't really care that much for Silvally, but I always like it when there's such a huge backstory surrounding a Pokemon. Design-wise it's this pretty neat-looking chimera. Not one of my favourites in Generation VII, but I'm sure he'll grow on me.

Jangmo-o, whose name I will never pronounce right, evolves into Hakamo-o and then into Kommo-o. The two evolutions are Dragon-Fighting, and practically everyone is calling this out as the Pseudo-Legendary. It sure looks the pattern, weak and cute-looking little dragon dude turns into a badass. Kommo-o looks very fancy and maybe the slightest bit overdesigned, but honestly it fits into the whole tribal warrior look they're going for him. The gray/white/yellow paint scheme works very well in highlighting enough details to make him look complex without making him overtly painful to look at. It's this race of dragons that want to protect the world from darkness -- a common theme in both Silvally's bio and Kommo-o's bio -- and a lot of emphasis is put on its powerful scales. A bit strange that it's not Dragon/Steel, which is my guess from what Jangmo-o looks like. It's Dragon/Fighting, which unless my brain is farting, is a brand-new type combination. Not my favourite design, but it looks cool for sure.

Cutiefly evolves into Ribombee, which is a cute little bug fairy. We've seen Ribombee before in previous trailers, but never its name. Cool to see her finally get a name. I find it cute, and a pretty fun addition to the game. I don't have much to say about this evolution line, but I like it! It's important to make feel expansive by having many evolutionary lines and Ribombee definitely is a nice addition. You see, Pokemon, I think, need a balance between four main design types: cool, cute, pretty and weird. And this particular batch certainly has all four, with Kommo'o and Silvally being cool, Ribombee being cute, Tsareena being pretty and Alolan Muk being freakin' weird.

Bounsweet evolves into Steenee and then into Tsareena, who are... okay, I guess? Steenee is adorable, this little cheery girl that's just happy and smiling with fruit-hair, but Tsareena looks weird. The absolutely tiny torso and the huge balloon waist and giant Mega Scizor legs makes it a bit of a strange design, and it just feels like a disproportionate version of Liligant. So I more or less like Bounsweet and Steenee, but Tsareena just looks weird. I think an opportunity is missed by not making it Grass/Fighting... her signature move is a kick! I dunno. Not to impressed with Tsareena, but again I don't really hate her.

Your poop after eating a
rainbow popsicle

And then Alolan Grimer and Muk. Grimer is green with yellow lipstick and two goofy teeth, but Muk is this hardcore thing with spikes and claws all over, and he looks like he's absorbed a rainbow-flavoured popsicle or a paint accident! His artwork just makes him look weird, but in-game? I really like how the colours actually pulsate and melt down his body. It probably wouldn't be how I design an alternate version of Muk, but both Grimer and Muk are Poison-Dark now... and I actually like Muk. I dunno, I think it's his weird claw spike things, and the fact that he looks like an oil spill, a clever (if weird) little design decision. Grimer looks way too goofy for me, though.

Overall, though, this batch is more 'hit' than 'miss' for me, and the existence of more evolutionary lines is a nice little bonus.