Gotta Review 'Em All - Abilities [Generation VIII]

Even more abilities!

Generation VIII... isn't the biggest generation in introducing brand-new Pokemon, thanks to the whole "we're moving to Switch (and abandoning part of the National Dex lol)" deal. And since most new abilities are tied to signature gimmicks of brand-new Pokemon, it also means that we've got much less abilities from now on, and... I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing, honestly, since it also allows some older abilities to shine in new Pokemon.

It does mean that my 'reviewing Abilities' series is probably going to finish relatively quickly, especially compared to 'reviewing Moves', but I'm not entirely certain these will be particularly entertaining. Oh well, on to the review:

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• Intrepid Sword (Futo no Ken/Sword of Tenacity) and Dauntless Shield (Fukutsu no Tate/Shield of Fortitude) These two are, respectively, the signature abilities of the poster children of this generation Zacian and Zamazenta. Intrepid Sword boosts attack when entering battle, and Dauntless Shield boosts defense. Pretty simple and effective, but... kinda boring. It's one of those 'legendary Pokemon does legendary things'. 
• Gulp Missile (U no Misairu/Gulp Missile) This is the whole reason why Cramorant exists! Whenever Cramorant uses an attack like Surf or Dive, it "changes forms" thanks to Gulp Missile, coming up with either an Arrokuda or Pikachu in its mouth. And when the Cramorant gets hit by an attack, it spits up the Pokemon it's caught, dealing damage and an additional effect (defense drop for Arrokuda, paralysis for Pikachu). I really can't complain about a Pokemon that's designed so wholly around a silly gimmick like this!

• Ball Fetch (Tama Hiroi/Ball Fetch) This is Yamper's signature ability, and only Yamper -- not its evolved form. It's kind of a little gag ability, allowing Yamper to fetch any failed Pokeballs you threw in the battle. Kinda useless, but kinda adorable as well. 
• Mirror Armor (Mira Ama/Mirror Armor) This is Corviknight's signature hidden ability. It's kind of like Magic Bounce, reflecting status moves, but Mirror Armor specifically reflects only the status-lowering effects, allowing everything else to pass. It feels a bit too specific, but it thematically fits with an all-metal gleaming bird, so I can't really complain. 
• Cotton Down (Watage/Cotton Down) A pretty fun ability, this is the signature ability of Gossifleur and Eldegoss. Whenever they're hit by an attack, their cotton falls off and essentially casts the attack Cotton Spore, lowering the Speed of all the Pokemon around them. Kinda creative thanks to the connection to an older attack for sure! 

• Steam Engine (Jokikikan/Steam Engine) This one is exclusive to the Rolycoly evolutionary line, and I remembered being bamboozled by this ability in the games... and then trying to get a Rolycoly with Steam Engine. The idea is that because Rolycoly -- and especially its two evolutions Carkol and Coalossal -- are based on coal and coal engines, being hit with Fire and Water ends up powering them up, increasing its speed. Steam Engine also shares the 'incubates egg faster' effect that Flame Body and Magma Armour have. Not game-breaking, but I really do like these kinds of unexpected immunities towards a Coalossal's usual 4x-weakness of water. 
• Punk Rock (Panku Rokku/Punk Rock) This one is exclusive to Toxtricity, and it brings back a move category that's been kind of neglected since Generation III or something -- sound-based moves! Come on, Pokemon, don't be cowards and make sound a full-on proper mechanic instead of just these edge cases. Toxtricity's Punk Rock both boosts outgoing sound-based moves and reduces incoming sound-based moves. Pretty neat!

• Wandering Spirit (Samayou Tamashi/Wandering Spirit) A fun variation of the original Yamask's "Mummy", Galarian Yamask and Runerigus is a bit more sneaky with it, with Wandering Spirit not quite 'infecting' another Pokemon with the useless Mummy ability, but actively switching abilities with the enemy anytime a contact move is made. The flavour is some kind of body-hopping ghost or curse that moves from one hapless fool to the next, while Runerigus presumably profits the most from it.
• Perish Body (Horobi no Bodi/Body of Annihilation) This one is really cool and kinda creepy! This is Cursola's signature ability. And any move that makes contact with Cursola starts off the three-count of the iconic Generation II move Perish Song, which kills everyone in the battlefield as it counts down. In addition to the obvious 'spooky ghost does spooky things', I also like the more subtle theming of "destroy the corals and eventually the entire world's ecosystems will be fucked".
• Pastel Veil (Pasuteru Beru/Pastel Veil) The latest in the Fairy-types' "Veil" abilities is the signature ability of the Galarian Ponyta line, which protects them and their allies from being poisoned. Kinda boring, but I do appreciate having some new abilities that are just kinda there, y'know?

• Hunger Switch (Harapeko Suicchi/Hungry Switch) This is Morpeko's entire gimmick of constantly switching from 'satiated' to 'hangry' mode, which doesn't really have much of an effect other than change the type of Morpeko's signture Aura Wheel move. I really am entirely indifferent to Morpeko's whole gimmick, so I just kind of shrug at this one. 
• Ripen (Jukusei/Ripen) Another berry-related ability, this one is exclusive to the original members of the Applin line. It 'ripens' and doubles the effect of all berries consumed. Which is honestly kind of cute, and fits the idea of a fruit-themed Pokemon. (All fruits are berries in the Poke-world).
• Transistor (Toranjisuta/Transistor) and Dragon's Maw (Ryu no Agito/Dragon's Jaw) I'm going to lump these two together. These are Regieleki and Regidrago's signature abilities respectively, and they give an extra bonus to Electric and Dragon type attacks. Which are all nice and well and good, but now I really wished that they had added extra equivalent abilities for the three other Generation III Regis! They need all the help they can get!
• Steely Spirit (Hagane no Seishin/Fighting Spirit of Steel) Not a whole ton to say about Steely Spirit either, this is Perrserker's signature ability and it powers up Steel-type moves of both Perrserker and its allies. 

• Sand Spit (Suna Haki/Sand Spit) Sand Spit is the signature ability of the Silicobra line, and I really love the flavour behind this one. Both Silicobra and Sandaconda store a whole ton of sand in their little puffy bits of anatomy. And when you hit them, they reflexively expel them and unleash an entire Sandstorm! That's hilarious, and very easy to imagine. I like this one. 
• Ice Face (Aisu Fesu/Ice Face) I don't like Eiscue, but I like his signature ability's implementation, at least. It's somewhat similar to Mimikyu's Disguise, with Eiscue's titular Ice Face shattering after a hit like a Substitute... but there's a little bonus in that Eiscue can restore his icy noggin if it hails or snows, which is a nice bit of fun thematic synergy with the weather effects. 
• Power Spot (Pawa Supotto/Power Spot) Stonjurner's signature ability, Power Spot, is based on the belief that certain locations has sacred power and oftentimes healing property. Being a walking Stonehenge, Stonjurner provides a similar service by powering up moves of any Pokemon around it, which I think is kinda simple but cute. 

• Propeller Tail (Sukuryu Obire/Screw Tailfin) This one is the Arrokuda line's signature hidden ability, and I find it to be kinda cute -- basically, they will ignore any 'redirecting' effects like Follow Me, and will hone in on its original target regardless of what happens. It fits with the design of a dart-fish that has a propeller on its back! I like this one. 
• Stalwart (Sujiganeiri/Staunch) This one does basically the same thing with Propeller Tail, but it's exclusive to the Duraludon line. I'm not entirely sold by the flavour of this, I'm afraid, because I'm sure there are a lot of other 'stalwart' Pokemon out there that are super-serious and super-focused on their mark. I guess I would've liked it better if they focused more on it as a laser-shooting mechanical monster? 
• Ice Scales (Kori no Rinpun/Ice Scales) This is the Snom line's signature ability. And, for something that has 'ice' in its name... it has nothing to do with the ice typing, or hail, or the frozen status. No, the titular ice scales... halves the damage from special moves? The effect's cool, but it's not particularly thematic. I don't really like it for that reason. 

• Chilling Neigh (Shiro no Inanaki/White Neigh) and Grim Neigh (Kuro no Inanaki/Black Neigh) Let's cover Glastrier and Spectrier's two signature abilities together. They both essentially do almost the same thing, increasing an offensive stat whenever the Pokemon knocks out an enemy. Glastrier's Chilling Neigh increases Attack, while Spectrier's Grim Neigh increases Special Attack. This almost 'reaper' like ability feels more thematic for Spectrier and not Glastrier, though. 
• As One (Jinba Ittai/Rider-Mount Unity) Since the whole point of Calyrex's 'combined' form is that it's just a Pokemon riding another Pokemon but they're treated as a single entity, 'As One' combines Calryex's base Unnerve ability with whichever horse's Neigh. It's... it's kind of silly that this is a whole thing on its own, particularly since Calyrex's base Unnerve ability is actually rather underwhelming. It's cute. I can't complain. 
• Unseen Fist (Fukashi no Kobushi/Invisible Fist) The other DLC legendary, Urshifu, has the rather badass-named ability of Unseen Fist, which essentially applies the 'Feint' attack on every single one of its punching moves, allowing them to break through the effects of Protect or Detect. It's boring but appropriate for a kung fu bear!

• Quick Draw (Kuikku Doro/Quick Draw) Signature ability of Galarian Slowbro, and this one plays into the fact that Galarian Slowbro has a cannon shell-arm. And sometimes ol' Slowbro surprises you by being... Fastbro? He can quick-draw his gun and fire before others. It's essentially Quick Claw baked into an ability. It's cool. 
• Curious Medicine (Kimyou na Kusuri/Curious Medicine) Galarian Slowking, meanwhile, has a rather interesting ability where upon entering the battlefield, it secretes medicine from its shell that essentially casts a one-sided Haze, removing status changes from its allies. It's... it's okay? It is nicely flavourful with depictions of Galarian Slowking in media (like this TCG) showing it exuding chemicals from its crown-shell. I don't really have any strong feelings either way about this ability. 
• Gorilla Tactics (Gorimuchu/Gorilla Obssessed) This is a (non-Zen) Galarian Darmanitan's signature ability, which... is basically a built-in Focus Band. A boost of damage, but the Pokemon is locked in a single move. The best part, of course, is the pun game being used in multiple languages. In English, 'Gorilla Tactics' is a pun on guerilla tactics. But in Japanese, it's a pun on the common phrase of gorimuchu (meaning 'lost in a fog', maybe a reference to the ice associated with Galarian Darmanitan), but also a pun of gorira (gorilla) and muchu (to be obsessed). And an 'obsessed gorilla' is obsessed with just using that one move all the time! That's cute. 

• Libero (Ribero/Libero) I think I've gone on record on saying that Libero is my least favourite ability in all of Pokemon. It's the Scorbunny line's signature ability, and it's tied to soccer/football. That's cute! That's cool! And its effect? The same as Protean -- which, to give you guys a refresher, Protean was originally given to Greninja, allowing it to transform into any type of any attack it's using. It kinda made sense for Greninja, with the ninja theme (Naruto would still be big at the time of XY's development) as well as the fact that some reptiles and amphibians can change their skin to mimic their environment. Not perfect, no, but I can follow the thematic logic. Libero? Libero is given to a bunny footballer. And Cinderace can turn into whatever type he wants to as long as he kicks the ball, which... I really don't see the thematic tie-in to either the footballer thing, or the bunny thing. I'm sorry... I don't mind overpowered abilities if I can kind of make some sense of it, but this is just... something-something the libero position is flexible. Which I would find cool or creative if it allowed Cinderace to, like, switch between physical and special attack and defense stats or something. But to change types entirely? It feels like extremely arbitrary favouritism just to push this starter out of the three. I already don't like Cinderace, but giving him such an overpowered ability just makes me dislike it even further. If I'm allowed to completely revise an ability and retcon it in Pokemon, Libero will be it. (The fact that Rilaboom and Inteleon don't get their own fancy signature abilities in this generation is also another slight against the arbitrary Cinderace favouritism). 
• Mimicry (Gitai/Mimicry) A much better-flavoured ability belongs to Galarian Stunfisk, with Mimicry essentially being similar to the old moves like Nature Power or Camouflage; changing Stunfisk's type to match the terrain... and that's the specific 'terrain' move mechanic. Not the most exciting ability and frankly I don't even think it's particularly the most thematic, but at least there is some logic here with Galarian Stunfisk being a flatfish -- a creature already known for its camouflage abilities -- and it's also mimicking a bear trap.

• Neutralizing Gas (Kagaku Henka Gasu/Chemical Change Gas) Originally given to Galarian Weezing, and later generations giving it to Kantonian Koffing and Weezing as well, Neutralizing Gas is actually quite cool in that the gas that Weezing expels is so powerful (based on the Japanese name, it changes some chemicals!) that all abilities on the battlefield other than some that are tied to the Pokemon's functionality (Aegislash's Stance Change, Arceus's Multitype, Cramorant's Gulp Missile, among others) are all neutralized. It's pretty cool, and I love that this is given to a rather humble Pokemon like good ol' Weezing.
• Screen Cleaner (Baria Furi/Barrier-Free) And we end this with one of my favourite abilities, which belongs to Galarian Mr. Mime's line. The Japanese name, 'Barrier Free', is kind of descriptive of what it does -- the presence of the tap-dancers destroys all the effects of moves like Reflect and Light Screen, to the detriment of regular Kantonian Mr. Mime. But the fact that it's called "Screen Cleaner" is just cute! I wouldn't really think that tap-dancers are particularly against mimes, but apparently there's some subtle rivalry between the different Mr. Mime factions!