Reviewing 5E D&D Monsters - Mordenkainen's Fiendish Folio

It's time to do a rewrite for this little mini-bestiary! I do lament the fact that we never quite got newer editions of these with a dozen or so wacky monsters, or updates of not-so-marketable classics from older editions. This would be like the old-school 'Monstrous Compendium Appendix' books for 2nd Edition!

Mordenkainen's Fiendish Folio Volume 1 is just a bunch of brand-new stats. A group of random monsters that are vaguely tied together by the logic of 'some of them appeared in the first edition Fiend Folio', plus a boss in the Slaad Lord Ygorl... but as much as it is a welcome piece of supplementary bestiary for me, it also reeks of a minimum-viable-product to test-drive demand. 

And it really shows. I do appreciate that it's at least done in the style of trying to match the style of the older classic books, but the black-and-white artwork in this time and age and the lack of unifying theme (beyond a nice expansion to the then-lacking fey options) or story really did hurt this book. Despite the title of 'Volume 1', at the time of writing we never really did get a second volume to this. That's a shame! Again, while it does make my job a bit easier, it really is one of my biggest gripes about 5th Edition that monster lore is so far spread out across many random splatbooks and very rarely treated as the focus. 

Still, we do have a half-dozen weirdoes to talk about here, and we shall!

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[Mordenkainen's Fiendish Folio originally reviewed in July 2020; Revised in 2026]

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Assassin Bug

• Medium Monstrosity; Neutral; CR 3

First up we're going to talk about the Assassin Bug. Originally depicted as a simply fly-man in the 1st Edition artwork, 5E's Assassin Bug has the same concept but with essentially more 'realistic' insectoid legs. Assassin Bugs have nothing to do with the real-world insects of the same name, rather being humanoid-looking bluebottle flies. The fly-ness of the design is a lot more explicit in the 1st Edition artwork, while the 5E design is a lot sleeker and smoother and could easily be mistaken for being based on a more threatening insect like a wasp or an ant. 

An Assassin Bug's gimmick is relatively simple, it attempts to paralyze its prey with its venom. After the victim is paralyzed, the Assassin Bug then tries to vomit out its larvae that try to bury into the flesh of its living victims. The afflicted have around a turn to burn off the maggots, otherwise they burrow into the body and require more magical means of disease-curing to purge them. Essentially, it's the Rot Grubs from the Monster Manual as an attack. Are these the originator or the fabled 'adult form' of the Rot Bugs? No D&D material has ever connected the two together, but we've only got two sources where the Assassin Bugs ever show up anyway. 

5E gives us an interesting potential backstory, and I do love the Fiendish Folio for doing that. Assassin Bugs are rumoured to be created by an ancient sect of druids (which may have 'self-sacrificed' to create the creatures), but the motivations are unknown -- whether these were intentionally created to be malicious monsters to wipe out humanoids, or that they were originally more benign and were intended as a way to escalate the decomposition of monster corpses. 

The flavour text nicely describes frontier settlements that have been wiped out by plagues of Assassin Bugs, and how these creatures can very quickly overwhelm an unprepared village and expand their numbers. It's another reason for village guards to carry torches, and I like the harrowing description of 'wild creatures are observed running headfirst into wildfires, in an instinctive effort to rid themselves of this scourge'. As a final little detail, hardier monsters like catoblepas and gorgons actually can survive the process with little more than warts; hags breed the things for food, and trolls allow Assassin Bugs to lay eggs in their own flesh because they can just regenerate the damage... and the maggots are snacks. That's horrid!

I do feel like 5th Edition has had a bunch of more interesting Alien-style parasitic monsters. Without even counting something like the Carrion Stalker from Ravenloft, the base Monster Manual already has the Slaad Tadpole and the Illithid Ceremorphs. It does really put Assassin Bugs in a bit of a less interesting position than those other creatures that have a lot of lore attached to them, but I do still like them as a more unique threat for a low-level party. 

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Blindheim

• Medium Humanoid (Blindheim); Chaotic Neutral; CR 2

Another frog-people! I think I've done enough 'how many frog people do we need' rant in this review series. The Blindheim, at least, has a bit of a gimmick -- their eyes that unleashes conical beams of radiant light. And if the Blindheim chooses to focus these beams of light, it's bright enough to 'sear flesh and bone'. Or, well, cause radiant damage instead of confusing and causing disadvantage. That's more or less it, and the Blindheim ends up being a bit of a rare low-CR monster that uses radiant damage, something that might be a bit of a novelty towards parties made up of races that have sunlight sensitivity. 

The Blindheim dwell in the fringes of the Underdark, and are ambushers that blast other Underdark species with bright explosions of light to stagger them. I do like the idea that there are so much species in the Underdark that have the 'sunlight sensitivity' trait that another species like the Blindheim has evolved to specifically abuse that. 

Depicted as being barely better than animals in their 1E debut, the Blindheim of 5E are a bit smarter, being noted to be 'opportunistic mercenaries' that can be swayed into service with food, weapons... or tales of things from the surface world. They try and make their service in their croaking dialect of Undercommon, and I assume that they would offer their services not just to fight, but to be a source of light in the Underdark. Not a lot of adventures really care about these more environmental effects, but I do like the Blindheim as a bit of a world-building aspect where they are well-suited to interact with surface-dwellers without blindvision. Just, uh, watch your back since the frog-people may betray you. 

Lastly, 5E also gives the Blindheim a fun little potential myth and backstory. Blindheims speak of an ancient era where they used to live on the surface, but their ancestors stole and ate a piece of the sun and fled underground, which granted their power. This has led the descendants to be fearful of the sun and the potential 'revenge' of the sun, and the Blindheim will get offended at attempts to speak logic to them (because how dare they suggest the sun forgot their 'great and infamous theft'). 

5E does make its version of the Blindheim a bit more monstrous, hunched-over with an engorged throat and a set of sharp fangs inside of its maw -- looking more 'frog-like' instead of just 'humanoid frog'. It's not really enough to set it apart visually, but I do like the idea of these mercantile living torches in the Underdark. 

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Crab Folk

• Large Giant; Neutral; CR 3

Probably one of the more major reinventions are the Crab Folk, ostensibly an update to the 'Crabmen' of the original 1E Fiend Folio. Having appeared in various manuals and in completely different interpretations over the first three editions, 5th Edition continues the tradition by taking their completely different spin on the 'Crab Folk'. The original 1E design wasn't even particularly crab-like, being chitin-covered humanoids with claws... and beaks for some reason. 2E and 3E went for varying degrees of crabbiness that I really like, with 3E's incarnation being a bit more abstract but still recognizable as a 'crab'. Their lore have been quite simple prior to this, being xenophobic sea-dwellers that are often hunted by other beings like Sahuagin because they are tasty.

The 5E visual redesign is cool, but perhaps a bit 'too' cool. It's kind of what you expect from a muscular crab-man. 

In 5E, the Crab Folk have a more specific origin story that I'm not the biggest fan of -- mostly because 'cursed into crustacean' is something we already saw elsewhere in 5E with the Aldani lobster-people. These Crab Folk are created by the curse of a green hag (not a sea hag?) that transformed her ogre minions that failed them one too many into more useful forms. They kept drowning, so she gave them the form of crabs. They kept missing the treasures she wanted, so she gave them crab claws to grasp onto chests and a compulsion to always hoard silver. 

Since then, the Crab Folk have scattered all over the realms, being mostly peaceful... but sometimes the remnants of the magic of the hag cause them to lash out in fearsome raids. This 'trigger' is actually the sounds of seagulls, which are a remnant of how the green hag had a seagull familiar to command the ancient Crab Folk. They rampage for six days, gathering all the treasures they have won and placing them on the foot of an effigy of their long-gone hag mistress. 

It's an interesting enough backstory, but I kind of feel like it's a bit too specific and there are some holes to poke in that story as well. The idea of a cursed race with a 'pre-programmed' instinct is interesting enough, but beyond the vague mention of the effigy it really isn't explored enough what the Crab Folk themselves think of this. Their abilities are also extremely simple, being very simple grappling attacks with claws, which I thought was quite boring. 

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Dire Corby

• Medium Humanoid (Dire Corby); Neutral Evil; CR 1/2

I've always thought that the Dire Corby were a lot more threatening than they actually are, due to their flavour text. The Dire Corby is a mere CR 1/2 monster with simple melee attacks and the ability to stun and prevent adventurers from taking actions when they hear the Dire Corby's cacophony. 

The Dire Corby is as essentially the locust plague of the Underdark in 5E. 'Heralded by the ominous, deep rumbling of their strange song, great packs of dire corbies range across the Underdark, stripping the tunnels and caverns they traverse of all living things. Even the mightiest creatures of the Underdark hide within fortified lairs or step aside from a dire corby flock.' That sounds so cool, doesn't it? I get the mental image of battalions of Drow and Duergar pausing their war because the gigantic living cloud made up of these raven-men are squawking into the massive cavern they are fighting for. Of Umber Hulks retreating to their caverns, of Myconids cowering under giant mushrooms, of savage Troglodytes and Grimlocks fleeing for their lives. Such a cool mental image. 

The Dire Corbies unleash a maddening cacophony that stuns the mind, and even causes spellcasters to be unable to unleash all but the simplest of spells. Their design is... not the most interesting. 4E and 5E do make it more threatening, but essentially it's just a dude with talons and a raven head. I almost wish they made the newer Dire Corby a lot creepier just to differentiate it from a particularly lanky Aarakocra or Kenku. 

Dire Corbies move through the complex tunnels of the Underdark in a strange but predictable pattern of movement that is compared to migrating birds. Like locusts, they strip whatever they pass bare of lichen, fungus and vermin. Adventurers and intelligent people of the Underdark actually chart the movement of the Dire Corbies, since that guarantees monsters being chased away of these particular tunnels. And some even crazier adventurers plug up their ears, mimic Dire Corby sounds, just to be accepted as part of the pack. That's such a nice little detail to surviving in the Underdark beyond just labyrinthine tunnels and a couple of Drow and Illithid cities! It's derivative of some real-world animals, sure, but that's such a cool description. 

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Eye of Fear and Flame

• Medium Undead; Chaotic Evil; CR 9

I've always had a soft spot for the Eye of Fear and Flame, one of the many 'intelligent undead skeleton' variants that have shown up over the years in D&D. I think it's just because of how over-the-top long its name is. The Eye of Fear and Flame's description in 5E is remarkably faithful to its original flavour text, noting that it stalks individuals and commands/tempts them to perform evil deeds. If they refuse, the Eye of Fear and Flame throws back its magical hood (which otherwise renders its head as an opaque void), revealing its skull with two gemstones in its eye sockets. 

No prizes for guessing what the eye-gems do... one shoots fire, one causes fear. Who would've thunk!

In addition to its eye powers, Eyes of Fear and Flame have access to a couple of minor spells, like True Seeing, Detect Good and Evil, and Detect Thoughts. It really wants to corrupt people and to do its little game. They are noted to appear during times of uncertainty, such as after a group's disastrous defeat, or during moments of powerful choice. They want to corrupt and shake moral foundations, and can even make semi-reasonable arguments. They don't even care about the evil act succeeding, merely that whoever they corrupt does it or not.

Eyes of Fear and Flame are noted to be created by chaotic gods to torment and destroy the lawfulness of other creatures, but other legends speak of Eyes of Fear and Flame being created by the lawful gods as tests. This, as well as a note that there are unconfirmed rumours of only 20 of these strange undead existing, are all taken from 1E. 

It's a cute enough twist for sure. With corruptive deals being so much within the monopoly of devils and fey in Dungeons & Dragons, it's neat that there are some weird undead that go around doing it. The mystery on what creates the Eyes of Fear and Flame is an odd one, but one that gives these strange things a mysterious origin without making its entire bio all about it like the Crab Folk! 

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Forlarren

• Medium Fey; Chaotic Neutral; CR 3

The Forlarren in the original 1E Fiend Folio were half-fiend, half-fey creatures that were created from... unfortunate circumstances, and vacillate between being driven by their fey empathy and their evil fiendish natures, a little bit like a Jekyll-and-Hyde thing. Their 5E counterpart still has the fiend/fey dichotomy, but revises the origin to be just a simple corruption -- satyrs that are corrupted by infernal power. There's also an addition of not just the good-and-evil split, but also an internal turmoil between the lawful rigidity of devils, and the chaotic impulses of the fey. It's an interesting update, and one that helps to preserve the concept of the monster without broaching more sensitive topics. 

The design of the Forlarren isn't the most interesting visually, merely being a more scraggly, more ragged-looking satyr -- which is true in both its 1E and 5E art. I get that satyrs have some of the goat-based physical attributes that are often associated with classical pop culture devils, but it's also not particularly visually memorable here. Their stat block is also nothing to write home about, just being a typical spellcsater -- it's their story that's interesting. 

5E describes the Forlarren as constantly in struggle with their bifurcated souls, going from being a friendly guide to trying to destroy everything in their path. The two halves bleed into each other, so during its 'diabolical aspect', the Forlarren's natural fey charm can seep through, and during its 'fey aspect', the Forlarren's hedonism is marred by self-destructiveness. It's actually a trope in Feywild ballads of valiant Forlarren who try so hard to be heroic, and to have their diabolic nature emerge and have them betray their cause and companions at the end of a journey. 

It's a tragic, sad existence and there's not much in the flavour text that tells us of ways to help them from their fate... save from transforming them back to satyrs, I suppose. It is something that I wished we had just a bit more -- the idea of these monsters that are unwilling and actually loathe the curse placed upon them is great, and it's far better than the Crab Folk above! I really could see some great stories laid out with this concept. 

The Forlarren, by the way, are not to be confused with Queen Forlarren from the Forgotten Realms setting. That is just the title of the archdevil Fierna, who was the fiend responsible for the corruption of the fey and the creation of the Forlarren. It is quite odd, I feel, that the new Forgotten Realms sourcebook has a statblock for Queen Forlarren but did not reprint this one!

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Fog Giant

• Huge Giant; Neutral Evil; CR 11 

The 5E's team's love of giants and the ordning really did show up a lot in the early material, and we get a giant variant here. To be fair, the Fog Giants have shown up quite a bit in previous editions, and the idea of giants that stealthily move through thick sleets of fog is quite a cool one found in many mythology. 

Fog Giants are actually a subspecies of Cloud Giants in its 5E incarnation. Cloud Giant position is dictated by wealth, and those who have all their treasure plundered are turned into outcasts -- Fog Giants, who now wander around as raiders and plunderers desperate to regain their hoard. They are still refined, though, and they aren't satisfied with mere coins and gems -- they want the good stuff. Sculptures, artwork, jewelry. Despite being an outcast, these Fog Giants get power over various fog spells, and are actually classified as being a bit stronger than the base Cloud Giants -- if not the many variants. 

Fog Giants, being more solo operators, often rely on threats of intimidation to try and get what they want. They either command groups of bandits (but only from 'civilized' people, like humans, elves and dwarves) and do raids on castles and merchants, with the express intent on forcing a surrender and parley for treasure. Fog Giants favour servants that can mingle upon the rich and refined, and would love nothing better than to have them sneak and gather information on pieces of precious art. The idea that these Fog Giants would eventually transform into bandit lords with information networks so wide that other bandits are ignorant of their leader's true nature is fun. 

There is a bit of a plot hole, though, since a Fog Giant that has developed its little criminal empire so far that it's become a full crime syndicate surely would've accumulated more wealth? Wouldn't it then want to return to the 'status' of a Cloud Giant? 

Regardless, I think I would've appreciated a lot of the other 'bonus' giant statblocks that we keep getting in Volo's and Bigby's if the variants would have incorporated other, older D&D subtypes the way that Death and Fog Giants do. 

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Jermlaine

• Tiny Humanoid - Jermlaine; Neutral Evil; CR 1/8

Sometimes classified as a type of 'gremlin' in older editions (and it's surprising that the term 'gremlin' is not more widely used as a monster in D&D post-2E), the Jermlaine are tiny little jerks. Despite what the artworks imply, Jermlaines are not actually classified as fey, and are just... really small humanoids. They are about a foot tall, and lurk alongside the shadows, tunnels and caverns of larger folk. They are so good at this that they are actually invisible to Darkvision (flavoured as being a byproduct of its stone-like skin), and being tiny little fellows that hide in the Underdark, they lay ambushes for stronger, larger beings like Drow or Duergar.

Why do they do this? Well, because they hate all taller people. Being so small means that the Jermlaine often become prey or victim to many other Underdark monsters, so their culture is a massive boiling pot of anger and resentment against any taller creatures that enter their domain.The fact that the Jermlaines are hunted for their prized stone-like skin also probably enters into the equation beyond 'tall folk mean!' Ironically, while their skin confers the Jermlaines themselves that darkvision invisibility, they are actually useless in actual alchemical experiments. 

An individual Jermlaine is weak (a CR 1/8!) but they make use of their stealth and their magical resistance to gather their entire tribe. They watch the tall people that enter their territory from their small tunnel bases. When time comes to attack, the Jermlaine rely on an overwhelming rush as they attack and overwhelm larger beings. It is odd, mechanically speaking, that they didn't provide us a 'Swarm of Jermlaines' statblock which you'd think would be the easiest way to represent it, but Mordenkainen's Fiendish Folio was released relatively early in 5th Edition's lifespan. 

In an interesting little gimmick, Jermlaines are able to also speak and command rats. The flavour text notes that rats are a bit rarer in the Underdark since they are creatures of the surface world (something that other sources disagree with, but it's up to the DM) and signs of a particularly large rat infestation might be a sigh of a Jermlaine colony. As a little easter egg, Mordenkainen notes in this book that a particularly funny interaction is to cast the 'Enlarge' spell on a Jermlaine -- which would cause the entire colony to ignore you and turn on the new 'size traitor'. That's ridiculous but fun!

This is one that I've gained a bit of an appreciation for, after dismissing it as 'boring small-people' in my initial review. I do really appreciate the writeup detailing their adaptation to the Underdark ecology in a way that's really evocative of older bestiaries that spend time trying to craft how these creatures interact with the world around them -- and as fascinating as backstories are, it's these aspects that really make me associate Jermlaines and Dire Corbies and Blindheims with the Underdark!

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Khargra

• Small Elemental; Neutral; CR 1/8

The artwork is cool for the 5E Khargra for sure, depicting a Xorn-like creature that's a massive petal-mouthed creature with multiple eyes and at least three scuttling legs... but I feel it misses the ridiculousness and surrealness of the original 1E (and 2E) artwork of the Khargra -- it originally had wings. Wings that look like fins, and the claws were like, these recessed retractable cylinders on the side of its entirely cylindrical mouth. I get that the 5E Khargra is a bit cooler, but this is a monster that was meant to be as weird as possible, I think. It also looks a bit too much like a Xorn, which doesn't really help. I do like the idea that 'naturally evolving' elementals that take certain specific shapes sometimes default to radial symmetry, which reminds me of how Lovecraft describes his alien races like the Elder Things.

The Khargra is described as a flying (even in 5E!) type of Earth Elemental that has a fondness of devouring metal, and often gets mistakenly summoned into the Material Plane by piggybacking on larger Earth Elementals. These guys are also small, and the 'small' size block tends to imply the rough size of a dog, so they fly around and try to latch onto adventurers. Of course, the Khargra finds refined and crafted metals to be a delicacy. Of course they do! Wouldn't be a dungeon denizen without a desire to consume an adventurer's gear. One small piece of mercy is that Khargra hate gold and find it 'flavourless gruel', and organic matter and gemstones are 'repugnant' and causes indigestion. 

And that last bit is important -- Khargra don't want to kill you. You taste bad! It's the metal you carry that the Khargra want. And it's at least smart enough to not risk their lives needlessly, only attacking creatures when driven by hunger. That's cute. I like that these aren't just treated as instantly hostile, but as really weird elemental wildlife.

In addition to being just a fun random encounter in general, the Khargra is described to be used as couriers -- like really weird underground messenger pigeons -- by dwarves and duergar. They make use of the Khargra's ability to fly and phase through rocks, delivering messages on scrolls sprinkled with iron dust, and training the Khargra only to vomit it out at its destination. That's cute! Disgusting, but cute!

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Killmoulis

• Tiny Fey; Neutral; CR 0

I love this guy! The Killmoulis is a tiny little guy with the snout of an aardvark or something, and it's essentially taking the space of a creature like a Brownie that acts as a 'karma fey'. A Killmoulis would manifest spontaneously in the Feywild when an act of charity is performed, and it will go around seeking for travelers to follow. Depending on how it is treated, the Killmoulis will either do boons and help to fix armour or collect herbs. If it is mistreated, however, the Killmoulis's curse and vengeance will cause expeditions to be more tired and dispirited. In-game, this interacts with the Killmoulis either blessing or cursing the party's long rests... hurt this cute little guy, and your next long rest won't even work. 

It's a fun little flavour encounter, really, and I always appreciate Fey who are created to be more social interactions. A Killmoulis enjoys travelers, and they like to listen about stories of travelers from places it doesn't know about, and all travelers have something interesting to offer a Killmoulis. It's also a living creature, so it will also happily take payments in candy, fruit and snacks. Sometimes, it doesn't even make itself known -- it just sneaks in, sucks up a day's worth of fruits and snacks, but blesses the party. 

The thing is, not every adventurer might appreciate having their food stolen, especially not without their knowledge. Trying to track or attack the Killmoulis (and some people will do that anyway even without reason) and the Killmoulis will curse the travelers. Their rations taste like ash, camping spots are infested with lice, and rocks end up under their bedrolls. Only a sincere apology and an offering of food can soothe the angry Killmoulis. 

Lastly, I would note that it's based from a mythological fae from the Anglo-Scottish culture, where the kilmoulis is an ugly brownie that haunts mills -- and sucks up food with its nose because it has no mouth. In their original 1E writeup, their version of the Killmoulis actually references this myth a bit more strongly, noting that they often appear around places like industry (which includes mills). 

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Mite

• Small Fey; Lawful Evil; CR 1/4

We've got another Fey, and this one is a bit more 'traditional goblin'-y, being a small brutish cave-man with long arms, pointed ears and a snarling face. The artwork have all been black-and-white, although their original 1E incarnation describes them as having violet or light-gray skin. 2E has Mites be classified as a type of 'Gremlin' alongside the Jermlaine. Mites in 5E are described as being annoying fey creatures that like to cause havoc and do horrible pranks. 

All Fey in 5E are themed around some kind of emotion, and the Mite is themed around frustration. They are born out of strong emotions of irritation -- specifically ones that causes people to lash out in violence. These frustrated people in the Feywild will sleepwalk into the nearest plant, dig a hole, scream into the hole... and refill it. That person will be relieved of all of his or her anger, but at the next new moon, that hole will birth a horde of Mites. That is fun, and really feels like a very 'fae'-like origin that incorporates a mundane thing that some kids are taught to do to control or sublimate their anger. 

Mites mostly live underground in warrens and dungeons, creating hidden burrows similar to Jermlaines that wrap around existing passages and chambers. They set traps to vex travelers, and they just generally sneak in and out and cause as much annoyance as possible. They will jam locks with debris, set up tripwires, and steal away tiny treasures. They don't aim to kill, but to annoy and frustrate as much as possible.

They also have an aura to cause creatures to be more easily irritable and more frustrated -- something that is not demonstrated particularly well by the statblock (which just goes for dexterity disadvantage) but is definitely a fun little roleplaying exercise. That does differentiate them from fellow 'tiny creatures living in the cracks of walls and dungeons', the Jermlaine. 

'Mite' is such a fun word to use for the tiny little bastards. It's just a bit of a shame that there's a fair amount of overlap with the Jermlaine. I actually do wish they brought back the old 'Gremlin' monster group for these tiny little jerks to be classified under!

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Needle Spawn

• Medium Plant; Chaotic Evil; CR 1/2 (Needle Spawn)
• Large Plant; Chaotic Evil; CR 3 (Needle Lord)

This monster is based on the 'Needleman' in the original 1E Fiend Folio, which is a creature that looks like a zombie but is actually a plant-man that shoots needles. 3.5E would have the Needlefolk show up in 3.5E, still a plant-monster but given a rather cool redesign that resembles a mantis-man made up of cactus parts. 5E's Needle Spawn redesign goes for more 'cool' than 'weird', looking more like Swamp Thing/Man-Thing made up of spiny plant matter. I really wished they had kept a bit more of the 3.5E design since it looked so unique. 

5E's Needle Spawn is noted to be creations of the more powerful Needle Lords. Needle Lords are living plants from the Feywild, created out of plants affected by the thirst of violence that suffuses the land. Needle Lords creates seed-pods that embed themselves into corpses, and then grows around it with ropey vines covered with needles. These are the Needle Spawn, which fit with the 'looks like a zombie but is not' gimmick from 1E while also giving it a proper explanation. 

The Needle Lord is noted to be driven by a desire to conquer like a general, and views the creation of Needle Spawn to be a creation of vassals. It is implacable, wants to conquer the forests it finds itself in, and often times conflicts against the Needle Lords leads to a 'fight for the forest's soul'. It's not super-fresh, but it's a bit more depth than the original writeup of it hating elves and masquerading as zombies with no real reason. 

I do still find the design and monster concept as overlapping a lot with Blights and even other plant monsters like Shambling Mounds, as shooting needles doesn't exactly set you apart from other plant monsters. The motivations are cute enough, and I feel like it's a nice way to give the Needlefolk some much-needed reinvention and depth without mocking the original idea of the concept.

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Norker

• Small Humanoid (Goblinoid); Chaotic Evil; CR 1/2 (regular), 3 (War Leader)

The Norkers were described in 1E's Fiend Folio as being essentially just distant relatives of Hobgoblins, but with extra tusks. While the Norkers have appeared in minor supplements in 2E and 3E (mostly described as just being brutish hobgoblin variants), 4th Edition had the Norkers appear in a major book, the Monster Manual III, and characterized them as goblins that have been mutated after being exposed to energies of Elemental Earth. It's a simple but nice little twist beyond just the tusks. 

5E Norkers are described as cruel, vicious and lazy even for goblinoids. They share their 4th Edition affiliation with being found deep within the earth. Tying to the 'Maglubiyet conquers the other goblinoid gods' plotline from Volo's Guide to Monsters, the Norkers' unnamed god seemed to be one of Maglubiyet's first conquests -- something that the Hobgoblins are loath to admit. They have thus placed the Norkers at the absolute bottom of the goblinoid hierarchy, giving them the absolute menial of labour, even below regular Goblins, out of spite. It's an interesting bit where the Hobgoblins detest the Norkers, but are not allowed by their god to hunt them down. 

The Norkers themselves are fierce and tough enough to fight back against their bullies, however, and are noted to be quite likely to betray and fight back against the more traditional goblinoids. They worship Maglubiyet in their own way, believing that life revolves around the survival of the fittest, and that only those who can endure will be shepherded away to paradise.

It is a bit of a more interesting twist than their original concept, but it really depends on how much you care about the 'hobgoblin conquering host' narrative for all the goblinoid races. I feel like without the slight bits of intrigue from the Norker interaction with the wider Hobgoblin society they end up not having much. It's neat to have more goblinoids, but I really wish that there was a bit more of a twist. 

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Screaming Devilkin

• Small Fey; Lawful Evil; CR 1

This guy is a weirdo! 'Screaming Devilkin' implies, you know, a devil. Or the kin of a devil. And its appearance is a pretty basic devilish archetype. Bat wings, beastly face, horns, tusks, claws, and a pointy tail. It's just missing a pitchfork and facial hair to be a classic cartoon imp or devil. 

The huge plot twist? The Screaming Devilkin are fey. This subversion is true to its original design as well -- even if 'fey' isn't quite codified, the whole point was that this isn't a devil or demon or anything from the Lower Planes. 

They are spawned by moments of panic within the Feywild, which ends up creating the image of a devil due to the 'primal fear' inspired by fiendish creatures. Born out of these moments of intense panic, Screaming Devilkins spread fear and confusion, gathering in small flocks to swoop down upon travelers and unleash loud screams that overwhelm a creature's senses. Their screams cause a 'combination of panic, confusion and sensory overload'. They don't actually attack to kill, however, because they want to cause more insidious fear. They'll steal resources, bloody their victims, taunt them... and wait for nature to finish them off. 

The flavour text also describes that Screaming Devilkins can appreciate cruelty done by greater villains, and are happy to be a 'horrid mascot' that caper around their new masters, like a twisted Disney villain minion.

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Xill

• Medium Monstrosity; Lawful Evil; CR 3

I love these guys! They showed up in the first, basic Monster Manual for 3.5E. They were originally four-armed humanoids with the most vague bug theme in the original 1E-2E, and 3E made them like, bug-devil-men, looking more 'man' than 'bug' compared to the Thri-kreen. 5E turned the Xill into far more monstrous beings, being hunched over with fearsome claws, a secondary small 'Alien Queen' arms, and in fact that whole monstrous alien head really does look like something you'd see on a Xenomorph or a Tyrannid, doesn't it? Cool artwork, even if I do miss the slight goofy charm of the original 3.5E Xill that I was introduced to. 

The Xill are more than just bug-people, though. The Xill are dimension-hopping bug-people. They are native to the Ethereal Plane in the original 1E, and coming from a particularly twisted demiplane in 5E. In 5E, Xill are created from a demiplane called Keraptis twisted by evil dreams, created to serve an ancient, long-gone master -- created for ancient tasks.

Xill emerge from the Ethereal Plane to attack prey. While they are fearsome and have a paralytic poison on their claws, they want to abduct their prey, grabbing their prey to abduct back to the demiplane. 5E remains ambiguous what the Xill do with the creatures they have stolen away, but 1E's Fiend Folio makes it clear that the Xill implant their young parasitically and use humanoids for such purposes. I guess it does overlap quite a bit with Assassin Bugs and a bunch of other parasites, and leaving the mystery more open-ended does make it a bit more interesting. A suggestion from the 5E flavour text (which also claims that it is a huge 'maybe') is that those abducted are brainwashed and turned into the forces of the demiplane. 

It's pretty cool regardless, being a planar-hopping bug-monster with a strange, mysterious backstory that may or may not be relevant. I do feel like there is a bit of an overlap and some of these lore entries are more about Keraptis or the Green Hag creator than the actual Xill or Crab Folk, which is a bit of a shame. Still, the Xill is pretty cool -- both in its original form and its redesign. Can't complain! 

Gotta Review 'Em All - Moves [Generation VII], Part 2

The second part of my coverage of Generation VII's moves! Again, there's a lot of new named moves here, even though a fair amount of them do just utilize similar animations with each other. As a refresher, this generation has a bunch of 'series' of moves, particularly the Z-Moves introduced in the Sun/Moon games -- each type has a Z-Move that corresponds whenever a Pokemon holding the requisite item decides to use a Z-Move to attack. There's also the partner Pikachu/Eevee moves, which are cute little special moves that's only given to the partnr Pikachu and Eevee in the Let's Go games, which admittedly does bloat up this list a fair bit.

Also at some point in this article I got a bit frustrated talking about a signature move followed by a signature Z-Move, and I kind of lump some of them together. 

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Dragon-type Moves:

• Devastating Drake (Arutimetto Doragon Ban/Ultimate Dragon Burn) After sitting out the previous generation and getting no new moves, Dragon returns with a vengeance! Which is... very interesting! Devastating Drake, or Ultimate Dragon Burn, is an interesting one. Dragon as a type has always been rather nebulous as far as being an 'element' or a type, but usually moves like Dragon Pulse or Dragon Claw can contend with just being purple-white glowing displays of power, draconic power. What is draconic power defined as, though? Well, the Generation VII team decides to literally make the beam created by the Dragon-type Z-move... as just pink-white energy in the form of a wyvern that swoops in and creates a big fuck-off anime explosion on the enemy! Pretty neat, it's been a while since we've seen a move that creates a construct that resembles a creature or something. 
• Dragon Hammer (Doragon Hamma/Dragon Hammer) This one is Alolan Exeggutor's signature move. The coconut tree that also happens to be a dragon. It's basically just Alolan Exeggutor using it's long-ass body as a makeshift warhammer, slamming down at the enemy and that's considered a hammer. Okay. Later generations give this move to Tropius of all Pokemon, which is not a dragon.
• Clanging Scales (Sukeru Noizu/Scale Noise) and Clangarous Soulblaze (Bureijingu Sorubito/Blazing Soulbeat) These are pseudo-legendary Kommo-o's signature move, as well as the associated Z-Move it transofrms into. Since Kommo-o is all about interlocking pieces of armour that clang around and make noises, his signature move is this, where it uses that noise to attack the enemy by rubbing his scales together. It has the bonus effect of lowering the enemy's Defense. The associated Z-Move, Clangarous Soulblaze, however, is a bit of a letdown compared to the base version of the move because... well, it's just exactly the same thing, but Kommo-o jumps into the air before unleashing the sonic boom. Not much to say here. 
• Core Enforcer (Koa Panissha/Core Punisher) Core Enforce is Zygarde's signature move, and... it's a beam! It's a multi-coloured beam, coming forth from the core of mighty Zygarde since it's Generation VII that finally gave Zygarde some attention and some brand-new forms. Because Zygarde has style, though, it carves a Z-shape on the ground with that beam. This alone is a pretty damn cool little detail that I do think separates it from the many, many 'legendary shoots a DBZ beam' attacks. 

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Poison-type Moves:

• Acid Downpour (Ashiddo Poizun Derito/Acid Poison Delete) Okay, 'Acid Downpour' is pretty cool sounding, but there's just something particularly badass about 'Acid Poison Delete'. No, the grammar syntax doesn't exactly work, but it's just one of those attack names that sound cool, y'know? It... it really does kind of feel very basic, though. It's basically what you'd expect from a Poison-type Z-move, and doesn't do anything particularly over-the-top with it. It's just a bunch of purple, noxious goop surrounding the terrain and then slamming onto the target. I really do like the Poison-type, so this one being kind of a letdown is, well, a bit disappointing. 
• Baneful Bunker (Tochika/Pillbox) Again, this is the generation of signature moves being basically tailor-made to certain Pokemon, and for Toxapex we've got Baneful Bunker, where Toxapex closes up its dome-like starfish hands and points all the spikes outwards. This essentially acts not just as a variation of the 'Protect' move, but also causes anyone that makes contact with Toxapex to suffer from the poisoned status, which is extremely flavourful for a dome/shield-based poisonous starfish Pokemon!
• Toxic Thread (Doku no Ito/Poison Thread) Of all Pokemon, Spinarak gets a signature move in Generation VII, and it is Toxic Thread. And at the time of writing, Spinarak and Ariados are still the only Pokemon able of using Toxic Thread! It's not the most novel move, basically reducing the enemy's speed and poisoning them, but I definitely appreciate it whenever an older Pokemon gets a brand-new signature ability or move! 
• Purify (Joka/Purify) Pyukumuku's signature move, and... this is an interesting one? It only works if the allied Pokemon has a status condition, but Pyukumuku will cure that condition and heal 50% of their HP. It's cute, but ultimately it's so situational even in double battle. I'm also not particularly sure what the idea of this attack is supposed to be, though. 

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Fighting-type Moves:

• All-Out Pummeling (Zenryoku Muso Gekiretsu Ken/Full Force Unrivaled Fierce Fist) Fighting only gets the single Z-Move, and after so many new Fighting-type moves in the past couple of generations, I do like it that it's taking a bit of a breather. All-Out Pummeling (or "FULL FORCE UNRIVALED FIERCE FIST") is probably one of my faovurite Z-Moves in just how over the top it is. They could've just settled with a big punch, or a simple ora-ora-ora animation... but no. The Pokemon punches/kicks so rapidly that a stream of giant palm thrusts, punches and kicks burst out of the force of their punches and slam onto the enemy like the bullets of a machinegun. Glorious. This is the Z-Move that you're likely to first experience, which I thought was particularly fun. 

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Fairy-type Moves:

• Twinkle Tackle (Raburi Suta Inpakuto/Lovely Star Impact) "Twinkle Tackle", or its funner Japanese name "Lovely Star Impact", isn't particularly impressive. The enemy is just tossed into a realm of weird gumball and cotton candy colours, and the Fairy-type just slams onto them and creates a whole lot of twinkle-twinkle little stars. Basically what you'd expect from a Fairy-type Z-Move, honestly, and while the animation is itself pretty, I don't find this particularly interesting.
  
• Let's Snuggle Forever (Poka-Boka Furendo Taimu/Bip-Bop Friend Time) Mimikyu gets a signature Z-move, and what a move! I recommend you guys check it out. First up, Mimikyu just... darts around in the landscape around the opponent, scaring the shit out of them... and then jumps up above them with the glowing eyes of its unknowable true form glowing creepily. This plays into Mimikyu's own lore as a creature with its original form unable to be comprehended by normal beings. Mimikyu then engulfs the enemy like a demonic blanket, actually becoming deformed and large... and then begins to beat the shit out of the enemy before spitting them out. Absolutely fun, and easily one of the best Z-Moves out there. It doesn't just have to be a beam, people!
• Floral Healing (Furawa Hiru/Flower Heal) Floral Healing is Comfey's signature move. It heals half of an ally's HP, and is increased if the terrain is Grass. Cute, and it fits with Comfey's whole "grass-themed healer that's not actually a grass-type", but otherwise not too unremarkable.
  

• Natrure's Madness (Shizen no Ikari/Nature's Wrath) This is the Tapu quartet's signature move, basically being the move Super Fang where the Tapus will cut down half of the enemy's current HP. It's animated as being... a bunch of purple light explosions? Boring, but then with the right item, you can upgrade it into:
  
• Guardian of Alola (Gadian De Arora/Guardian de Alola) Hell yeah. Another contender for the best Z-Move in the game, Guardian of Alola causes the Tapu to fold back into their 'mask' form... and then summon a gigantic humanoid construct of energy from the power of the earth. This is just so over-the-top, the Guardian of Alola is never really explained... and yet it really does fit them as being Tiki mask guardians that protect and reside over their island. You can just totally see the Tapus summon this gigantic body to fight against the Ultra Beast invasion, right? Very cool.
  
• Fleur Cannon (Fururu Kanon/Fleur Cannon) Speaking of being 'just a beam', Fleur Cannon is Magearna's signature move. It's a pink beam that decreases Magearna's Special Attack stat after being used. The idea is that it's a super-powerful cannon that can be fired once, I guess? Magearna has this whole vibe that it's a soul/death-powered wepaon, but while her ability Soul-Heart (buffs Sp. Atk when a Pokemon falls) and Fleur Cannon (a super-powerful weapon that cripples Magearna's Sp. Atk) on paper are flavourful, the way they're actually interact with each other with in-game mechanics isn't the best.
  
• Sparkly Swirl (Kirakira Sutom/Sparkle-Sparkle Storm) Let's Go Eevee's Sylveon-inspired move. It sure summons a pink tornado. I don't have anything else to say.
  

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Psychic-type Moves:

• Shattered Psyche (Makishimamu Sai-Bureika/Maximum Psy-Breaker) Oh, I actually really like Shattered Psyche (or Maximum Psy-breaker)! What initially just seems like a generic 'giant psychic field' attack has the user summon a giant psychic field, and then launch the opponent into the air, at which point they get tossed around like a pinball across a bunch of hexagonal invisible forcefields, and then they slam into the psychic background itself which shatters. Was it all a genjutsu all along? Pretty cool. 
• Glitzy Glow (Dobadoba Ora/Glitzy-Glitzy Aura) Right, the Let's Go Eevee move. This is sure an Espeon-inspired move with glowing purple Psychic effects. I don't have much to say here. 
• Psychic Terrain (Saiko Firudo/Psycho Field) All the other 'terrain' moves were introduced in the previous generation, and VII adds in Psychic Terrain... not much to say here. It increases Psychic-type damage and it disables priority moves. Never been the biggest fan of the Terrain moves, but Psychic Terrain felt one of the more forced ones. 
• Speed Swap (Supido Suwappu/Speed Swap) Tying up the trinity of moves with Power and Guard Swap, Speed Swap just swaps the speed stat with the target. I really don't have much to say here.

• Genesis Supernova (Orijinzu Supanova/Origins Supernova) Mew gets a signature Z-Move, which is meant to recall both its status as the 'original' primordial Pokemon and it using giant psychic bubble-shields in the first anime movie. Mew summons a bunch of bubbles, causes them to rise up in the form of a DNA double-helix, then combines it all into a gigantic psychic ball that it drops at the enemy. Pretty neat animation. 
• Psychic Fangs (Saiko Fangu/Psycho Fang) And this is just Fire Fang but Psychic. Yes, the act of biting someone with your fangs, a very physical attack... is psychic, which by definition is the act of using your mind over your body to do stuff. This one made sense in Generation VII where it's the signature move of the Water/Psychic biting fish Bruxish, but not so much when later generations made it much more available. I felt like, legendary signature moves aside, keeping Psychic as a mostly-Special-category type honestly works well. 
• Instruct (Saihai/Command) Instruct is Oranguru's signature move, where it uses the badass gravitas of a strategist or a guru or a teacher to force whoever it targets to use the move again. Okay. It's cute, and there are some niche uses for this one, I guess.

• Prismatic Laser (Purizumu Reza/Prism Laser) Necrozma gets three signature moves, thanks to being the star of the sequel games. The first of these is Necrozma's signature move in Sun and Moon, where it launches multi-coloured light by using its body as a giant prism, with a pretty badass animation. It's effectively a Psychic-type Hyper Beam, forcing Necrozma to recharge the next turn. 
• Photon Geyser (Foton Geiza/Photon Geyser) This one is available only in the Ultra games, where Necrozma or one of his forms creates what looks like a break in reality, and it becomes a ball of light that gets launched at the enemy. Not very impressive, if we're being honest... legendaries and Generation VII have so many giant balls of energy beams that this one really does fall by the wayside. 
• Light That Burns The Sky (Ten Kogasu Metsubo no Hikari/Heaven Scorching Light of Destruction) However, use Photon Geyser with the Necrozma from the Ultra games, in his full light-dragon mode, and it turns into "Light That Burns the Sky", which is the over-the-top final finisher move for Necrozma. It's basically a Spirit Bomb or something from Dragon Ball Z, where Necrozma gathers energy on the tip of his beak, with energy rising all over the surroundings of the battlefield... and then Necrozma creates an energy ball on the tip of his mouth. And as he points the energy ball upwards, it expands, doubles, triples, all done with sharp cuts that I felt was really damn cool! Again, while it's rather simple in the realm of anime over-the-top moves, the execution is cool enough and a boss fight against something like Ultra Necrozma does need a finisher like this. 

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Ground-type Moves:

• Tectonic Rage (Raijingu Rando Oba/Rising Land Over) The Z-Move for the Ground-type is Tectonic Rage, or "Rising Land Over". This is another one that I felt is particularly cool! The user splits the earth and drops the enemy into a gigantic fissure in the ground. That sounds like enough of an over-the-top move to count as a Z-Move... but then the user leaps up and charges in like a javelin, pushing the enemy so deep through the ground that they fall into a magma pocket, before a gigantic eruption appears. Very creative, and absolutely fun! I do really feel like half the fun of talking of Generation VII's moves is its insane Z-Moves. Man, I miss Gen VII. 
• High Horsepower (Juman Bariki/100,000 Horsepower) Despite its name, High Horsepower isn't actually the Mudbray line's signature move. It's given to a bunch of other Ground-types even in its debut generation, and it's been a recurring TM ever since. It's basically a physical category Ground-type move with no real secondary effect... and it's a bit special because it's so late into the franchise's life that we're getting such a vanilla move. I guess they wanted to give out a simple physical Ground-type single-target move that's not Dig? Eh. 
• Stomping Tantrum (Jidanda/Stomping Tantrum) Another basic single-target Ground-type move, this one has the flavour of the Pokemon stomping the ground in frustration... and we get the interesting flavour that the power doubles if the previous move failed. Cute effect, but I really don't see either 'High Horsepower' or 'Stomping Tantrum' being particularly flavoured as a Ground-type or involving anything with the earth or sand or mud. 
• Shore Up (Suna Atsume/Sand Gathering) Oh, this one is cool. This is the Sandygast line's signature move, where they heal by absorbing and gathering sand from their surroundings. It's a very 'elemental creature' thing, and I honestly am surprised that we haven't gotten something like this for other 'elemental'-esque like Grimer or Koffing... though I suppose Pokemon does actually shy away from straight up just making elementals? In a cute move, Shore Up heals even more HP if there's a Sandstorm brewing. 

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Steel-type Moves:

• Corkscrew Crash (Chozetsu Rasen Rengeki/Super Spiral Combo) The Z-move for Steel-types is "Corkscrew Crash", where the Steel-type will... spin around in place until it becomes a gigantic anime drill made up of nothing but force, and it just... zips towards the enemy and explodes. It sure is interesting, but not my favourite out of the generic Z-moves. 
• Sunsteel Strike (Meteo Doraibu/Meteor Drive) and Searing Sunraze Smash (Sanshain Sumassha/Sunshine Smasher) These are Solgaleo's signature move, as well as Dusk-Mane Necrozma. A lot of these legendary Z-Moves do more or less the same thing with their non-Z counterparts, so I'll really just lump them together. Sunsteel Strike or Meteor Drive is much cooler, I feel, with Solgaleo jumping into the sky, creating a miniature sun and then rushing down with the force of a fucking meteor that rams and explodes on the enemy. "Meteor Drive" indeed! Searing Sunraze Smash does the same thing but with a bit more fanfare. Solgaleo creates a portal into the Ultra Dimension, and instead of just charging down as a meteor, we get to see Solgaleo spin around into a ball (like Flame Wheel) before smashing into the enemy. Despite all of the fiery sun effects, however, this is still considered as a Steel-type move mostly for Solgaleo's STAB bonus, I guess.
  
• Smart Strike (Sumato Hon/Smart Horn) A bit of a random move that is originally TM-exclusive, Smart Strike (or "Smart Horn") is basically a Steel-type attack that never misses. I really do feel like they could've given this a much better or flavourful-sounding name like 'Heat-Seeking Strike' or 'Target-Hunting Strike' or something. As it is, it really does sound generic.
  

• Anchor Shot (Anka Shotto/Anchor Shot) This one is Dhelmise's signature move. Newer generations have changed the animation into a generic silvery, metally chain and anchor, but the original Generation VII animation includes a mossy-green chain and a golden anchor which fits with Dhelmise himself much better! In addition to the damage, Anchor Shot 'anchors' the enemy in place, preventing them to flee. Flavourful!
• Gear Up (Ashisuto Gia/Assist Gear) A rather bizarre move, this one is unique to Klinklang and Magearna. Man, they really like giving Klinklang gear-themed signature moves, huh? Gear Up increases the attacking stats of all Pokemon... with the Plus or Minus ability? Yeah. That's very niche, I'm not sure what having plus and minus have anything to do with gearing up, and honestly it really does feel redundant with Klinklang's other gear-themed moves.
  
• Double Iron Bash (Daburu Pantsa/Double Panzer) I like the Japanese name of 'Double Panzer', but it's basically just a multi-hit move. This is Melmetal's signature move, and it's... two punches? Really? That's honestly pretty disappointing. Melmetal is like this legendary Pokemon made up of liquid metal, comprised of several hundred Meltan melting into a single giant monstrosity, and its signature move is... punching the enemy twice? Really?
  

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Bug-type Moves:

• Savage Spin-Out (Zettai Hoshoku Kaitenzan/Absolute Predatory Spin-Out) This is another one that's a bit difficult to do, since there is such a wide variety of Bug-types in terms of how they look and how they attack, similiar to the dragons. So they decided to take one of the earliest and more iconic Bug-type moves, String Shot, and make it into an over-the-top attack. The Bug-type launches a whole lot of web that wraps the enemy up in a cocoon... and then spins around and slams it into the ground, does the titular 'spin-out' as they drag the cocoon across the terrain, before charging in and slashing the cocoon for one last move. Pretty cool, and it's a way that screams 'bug' while still looking relatively creative!
• There's also a running gag back in the day about Incineroar being able to use this move, and thanks to Incineroar's attack animation it looks like he's pelvic-thrusting and unleashing a gigantic white pillar from his crotch region. 
• Lunge (Tobikakaru/Lunge) A rather simple attack that feels is just added to pad out move variations, Lunge is a simple physical attack that has the chance to lower the enemy's Attack stat. I do feel like this does fit the Bug flavour in a way, since a lot of bugs either use jumping/lunging as a predatory or escape strategy. 
• First Impression (Deai Gashira/Head-On Collision) Originating as Golisopod's signature move, this would be given to a bunch of other Pokemon as well later on. I really do feel like this is a very flavourful move, though! Golisopod's whole deal is that it's a very imposing-looking giant isopod-monster that looks like it can tear you apart... which is its very powerful 'first impression'. This move is basically a more powerful Bug-type Fake Out, in that it can only be used in the first turn Golisopod enters the battlefield, but later on he'll have to rely on weaker Bug moves. 
• Pollen Puff (Kafun Dango/Pollen Ball) Originally Ribombee's signature move (and it's still the only Pokemon that learns this move naturally), this one is pretty simple and a typical usage of video-game healing mechanics. Pollen Puffs damages the enemy, but can heal the target. It really is similar to how in Pokemon you could handwave pollen or water or whatnot to heal or harm with the same breath, yeah? It's just how you flavour it.

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Ghost-type Moves:

• Shadow Bone (Shado Bon/Shadow Bone) This one is Alolan Marowak's signature move. It sure is bashing your enemy with a bone empowered with ghostly powers! I really can't muster much excitement for this. Some of the signature moves can be really fun, but some is just basically repeating what the original concept of the pokemon already is.
  
• Never-Ending Nightmare (Mugen Anya e no Izanai/Invitation to the Endless Night) This is the base Ghost-type Z-Move, and it's a simple but cool one. The Pokemon creates an illusory field of a spooky forest or something, and a dozen purple-black tentacle-hands rise up from the ground and start enveloping the enemy. This becomes a dome that then explodes. Pretty fun, but... as you'll see from the moves below, there are a lot of Ghost-type Z-Moves that kind of play a lot more with the theme of 'ghostly super move'.
  
• Moongeist Beam (Shado Rei/Shadow Ray) and Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom (Munraito Burasuta/Moonlight Blaster) Let's start off with these two. These are the signature moves of Lunala and Dawn-Wings Necrozma, by extension. Moongeist Beam is pretty simple, Lunala creates a bunch of little pinpoints of light, which combines into a big glowing beam that unleashes moonlight down onto the enemy. Empowered with the Z-Move power, it becomes Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom (much cooler than "Moonlight Blaster"). Lunala summons an Ultra Dimension portal, knocks the enemy inside, then creates six beams that converge into one to blast them apart. I'm... I'm really not sure why these moon and dimension-themed attacks are 'Ghost' type other than to give Lunala STAB.
  

 

• Spectral Thief (Shado Suchiru/Shadow Steal) and Soul-Stealing 7-Star Strike (Shichisei Dakkontai/Seven Star Soul Stealing Kick) These are Marshadow's moves. Spectral Thief has a pretty cool animation where Marshadow punches the enemy and a bunch of ghosts rise up after the punch hits. The idea is that Marshadow hides in the shadow and steals the enemy's power, or rather, the buffs they have, before the attack lands. Z-Moved up, it becomes "Soul-Stealing 7-Star Strike", which... it's basically a Kamen Rider kick combined with a Rurouni Kenshin strike. Marshadow punches in quick succession to create a seven-pointed seal, then does a Kamen Rider kick, and lands away from the enemy. A couple seconds later, the seal explodes. Neat!
  
• Spirit Shackle (Kagenui/Shadow-Stitch) and Sinister Arrow Raid (Shado Arozu Sutoraiku/Shadow Arrows Strike) My favourite starter signature move is Spirit Shackle, Decidueye's signature move. As a ghostly archer, Decidueye shoots a ghostly arrow... at the opponent's shadow! This basically 'pins' the shadow to the ground, causing the effect of them not being able to escape or switch out, which is way move flavourful than many of the signature moves given out in Generations VI and VII. Naruto fans would even recognize the Japanese name as "kagenui", or shadow stitch, the Nara Clan's signature ability! Powered up by the Z-Moves, it becomes 'Sinister Arrow Raid' which is another one that really does feel like a fighting game finisher. Decidueye flies up, summons a fan of like 20 arrows, and then divebombs down while the arrows fly behind him. Decidueye pulls up, but the arrows just impale the enemy like a goddamn air raid. Pretty badass!

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Dark-type Moves:

• Black Hole Eclipse (Burakku Horu Ikuripusu/Black Hole Eclipse) And we close this Generation VII move coverage with the Dark-type. Other than a couple select moves like Dark Pulse, the Dark-type has never really been all about using the powers of darkness or shadows or whatever, and has mostly been about fighting dirty. But Black Hole Eclipse just has the Pokemon unleash their inner Blackbeard and summon a gigantic black hole that sucks in the enemy, which then proceeds to shrink into a much smaller size then explode. Pretty cool move, very anime-esque.
  
• Baddy Bad (Waruwaru Zon/Bad-Bad Zone) The last Let's Go move, this one represents the power of Umbreon. It is a bit more interesting than the others, creating a blast of light and then darkness, but I've really ran out of anything to say about these uncreative Let's Go signature moves.
  
• Power Trip (Tsukeagaru/Be Audacious) Krookodile of all Pokemon gets a signature move for just a single generation. Krookodile doesn't even do anything in Alola! Power Trip (which doesn't include actually tripping the opponent) has Krookodile deal even more damage based on how many stat increases he has. Pretty... interesting move! I do find that this is totally a 'Dark-type' thing to do, just to get all high and mighty thanks to all of the energy and stat increases that the Pokemon has.
  

 

• Throat Chop (Jigoku Zuki/Hell Thrust) Called "Hell Thrust" in Japanese, this move has, I think, shown up a lot in the post-Alola games in the learn-sets of a lot of Dark-type Pokemon. The English name is very descriptive, though. Throat Chop has the user, well, do a karate-chop onto the opponent's throat, which deals damage and prevents them from using voice-based attacks for 2 turns. It's rather fun flavour, and it totally does fit with the idea of Dark-types being pragmatic and hitting them where it hurts.
  
• Brutal Swing (Bunmawasu/Brutal Swing) This was a bit more generic, basically just swinging around your arms wildly regardless of who you hit. Brutal Swing also damages allies. I do like the name, but it's otherwise a pretty generic physical Dark-type move. I guess you can't just Bite and Crunch all the time, huh?
  
• Darkest Lariat (DD Rariatto/DD Lariat) And we'll close this off with one of the best moves out there. Incineroar's two signature moves. Darkest Lariat, or DD Lariat, seems to just be a generic lariat move. But no. Incineroar T-poses and then spins around like a goddamn Tazmanian Devil before slamming into the enemy! I really am slightly sad that in modern-day games Darkest Lariat is no longer exclusive to Incineroar, but it's also hilarious that a bunch more Pokemon apparently are now able to unleash their inner wrestler upon their foes.
  
• Malicious Moonsault (Haipa Daku Kurassha/Hyper Dark Crusher) And empowered by the Z-move, Darkest Lariat transforms into Malicious Moonsault or "Hyper Dark Crusher", where Incineroar... summons a fucking wrestling ring and does the awesome wrestling smackdown on the enemy. Every adaptation of this move has a bit of a field day with hamming this up. The Super Smash Bros version even has Incineroar pummel the enemy upwards and upwards before doing the meteoric smashdown. 

Pretty cool, and I love that they really do play into the Z-Moves being spectacular for... well, for at least Incineroar, Decidueye, Mimikyu and Primarina. Not all of the Z-Moves really work, though, and I am actually a bit flummoxed that there's very few signature moves given to the Ultra Beasts. Only Blancephalon and Necrozma has them! And... I can kind of understand why this generation did cause a bunch of the moves to be axed come Generation VIII, with the sheer amount of Z-Moves and Let's Go Eevee and Pikachu's nonsensical attacks. I still find that it's a huge loss, though, particularly with how well-crafted a lot of the Generation VI-onwards signature moves are, and how many of them are tied to the identities of these Pokemon.