We all here love pokemon, right? (If you don't, I think you might be in the wrong place). One of the best things of pokemon are the pokemon designs; I think we can agree on that, right? (If you don't, again, wrong place) but people often don't understand the designs, at all.
Over the years, we've been hearing a lot of "boo hoo, worst designs ever", , "what the hell is that supposed to be?" and the ubiquitous "those are not pokemon, first gen it's where it's at". And, as we know, people who don't understand something automatically think it's bad.
Well, no more. This thread can be a place to analyze, ask questions, get answers and understand pokemon designs.
So, with that out of the way, some required readings:
-The origins of pokemon red/blue
-design in gen V
-More gen V, this time here
-X and Y design process
Examples of good analysis:
-gen I
-gen II
-gen III
-gen IV
-gen V
Examples of bad analysis:
-someone doesn't like inanimate objets pokemon, apparently.
-dimwit thinks he's really smart and edgy.
I feel I should clarify in those cases: those are bad analysis because there is not much reaserch or thought involved it them, nor any amount of critical thinking, just hate and "personal opinions". Personal opinions are perfectly fine, you can certainly not like many, maaaany pokemon, but there is a difference between disliking and "this is crap because I don't like it". A bad design feature is that which cannot be explained by anything other than whims, which isn't supported by sensible, logical links, concepts or raw data (please don't mistake "whims" with "creativity").
Some final things: personal opinions (like, hate, etc) are ok, as long as they are supported by something, could be the concept, a design feature, anything that shows some thought put into the why you *insert verb here* that pokemon. And, above all, this thread is for understanding the pokemon, seeing if other people can make sense of something you don't understand, so, a humble mindset is required when asking questions, you must be willing to learn (humble mindset not required when answering, after all, we all like being smartasses every now and then).
You don't need to come out of here liking a specific pokemon, but you do need to come out of here not hating that pokemon, having learned why it is the way it is.
EDIT:
I think there's a misunderstanding here, guys, this is not a favorites thread, or a "X gen was the best" discussion, those get ignonimously dumped in other place, so if that were the intent of the thread, it would go there.
This thread is to dissect the designs we find particularly interesting or ask question about what we don't understand, in case someone can answer them, like how altaria is based on the peng, a chinese mythical creature, or how magikarp and gyarados are based on the carp that jumped over the dragon gate, became a dragon, did bad stuff and was stripped of it's dragon powers.
Lets do this, each week I'll post a pokemon, and people can come and give their (supported and/or well defended) opinions on that pokemon, requests are welcome, but only discuss pokemon other than the one being discussed at the moment if it's to compare or are related in some way (counterparts, evolution, etc).
Over the years, we've been hearing a lot of "boo hoo, worst designs ever", , "what the hell is that supposed to be?" and the ubiquitous "those are not pokemon, first gen it's where it's at". And, as we know, people who don't understand something automatically think it's bad.
Well, no more. This thread can be a place to analyze, ask questions, get answers and understand pokemon designs.
So, with that out of the way, some required readings:
-The origins of pokemon red/blue
-design in gen V
-More gen V, this time here
-X and Y design process
Examples of good analysis:
-gen I
-gen II
-gen III
-gen IV
-gen V
Examples of bad analysis:
-someone doesn't like inanimate objets pokemon, apparently.
-dimwit thinks he's really smart and edgy.
I feel I should clarify in those cases: those are bad analysis because there is not much reaserch or thought involved it them, nor any amount of critical thinking, just hate and "personal opinions". Personal opinions are perfectly fine, you can certainly not like many, maaaany pokemon, but there is a difference between disliking and "this is crap because I don't like it". A bad design feature is that which cannot be explained by anything other than whims, which isn't supported by sensible, logical links, concepts or raw data (please don't mistake "whims" with "creativity").
Some final things: personal opinions (like, hate, etc) are ok, as long as they are supported by something, could be the concept, a design feature, anything that shows some thought put into the why you *insert verb here* that pokemon. And, above all, this thread is for understanding the pokemon, seeing if other people can make sense of something you don't understand, so, a humble mindset is required when asking questions, you must be willing to learn (humble mindset not required when answering, after all, we all like being smartasses every now and then).
You don't need to come out of here liking a specific pokemon, but you do need to come out of here not hating that pokemon, having learned why it is the way it is.
EDIT:
I think there's a misunderstanding here, guys, this is not a favorites thread, or a "X gen was the best" discussion, those get ignonimously dumped in other place, so if that were the intent of the thread, it would go there.
This thread is to dissect the designs we find particularly interesting or ask question about what we don't understand, in case someone can answer them, like how altaria is based on the peng, a chinese mythical creature, or how magikarp and gyarados are based on the carp that jumped over the dragon gate, became a dragon, did bad stuff and was stripped of it's dragon powers.
Lets do this, each week I'll post a pokemon, and people can come and give their (supported and/or well defended) opinions on that pokemon, requests are welcome, but only discuss pokemon other than the one being discussed at the moment if it's to compare or are related in some way (counterparts, evolution, etc).
Ninjask, Crawdunt, Banette and Cacturn are some of my favorites from Gen 3.
