Pokemon Sun and Moon Ultra Beasts Reveal Trailer, My Thoughts

Another day, another Pokémon Sun and Moon reveal trailer! This one is a rather short one, focused on two more of the Ultra Beasts.

The first one is called UB-02 Absorption. It essentially looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger was transformed into a bug monster by Phil Brundle's teleportation pod. Based on its name, I'm guessing this Ultra Beast has the ability to absorb energy.

The second one is called Beauty. Interestingly, it is also given the serial code UB-02. I'm not sure what ability this one may have, but it looks rather...humanoid, much like Absorption. Humanoid-looking Pokémon aren't that unusual, one could go back to Jynx from Gen 1.

Luckily, the official Pokémon site has more information on the Ultra Beasts. Evidently, they aren't Pokémon. So, that shoots down my theory on the Ultra Beasts being artificial Pokémon. It has been said that the Aether Foundation is studying these Beasts, which makes me wonder one thing: Why? What's Aether's interest in these Beasts? Is it purely out of innocent curiosity, or is there something more sinister going on? It's something to ponder.

The site also seems to reveal that these two Beasts are version-exclusives, which makes me think they may somehow be catchable. I can't imagine why they'd do that if they weren't. Although if they're not Pokémon and they are catchable...what will the player use to catch them? And why would they be catchable? What's the point?

This little teaser has left a lot to think about for me. A lot of unanswered questions. Looks like for the 20th Anniversary, the Pokémon Company and Game Freak are really shaking things up! Can't wait!

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Pokemon Sun and Moon Version-Exclusive Reveal Trailer, My Thoughts

Another day, another Pokémon Sun and Moon reveal trailer! Let's take a look at it!

The first new Pokémon revealed is a Fighting-type called Passimian. Its stance, the makeshift helmet, and the way it holds that...melon? It makes me think of an American football player. The Receiver ability is appropriate for it.

The next Pokémon is a Normal/Psychic-type called Oranguru. I think it may be modeled after a mix of a gorilla and an orangutan. I don't have a lot to say about this particular Pokémon, looks-wise. I think the leaf fan is funny, but I have nothing against it. There's been a history of Pokémon using objects since Farfetch'd's leek and Cubone's bone, and it's nice to see that tradition continue.

Passimian and Oranguru's abilities seem very useful for double battles. I do think Oranguru's, Instruct, is interesting in theory. Basically, Oranguru tells its partner in battle which move to use. Yeah, I can see the good in it, but I worry it'll result in a wasted move, preventing the trainer's ability to do more damage to the opponent's Pokémon.

The trailer next reveals that the Pokémon Rockruff has a rather...unique way of evolving. Turns out it evolves into a different Pokémon based on the version it's in. In Sun, it evolves into the Rock-type Lycanroc's midday form. It looks like a big wolf. And its really cool. In Moon, it becomes Lycanroc's midnight form, which is essentially a werewolf. It's got a really awesome "bring-it-on" stance. It's also rather appropriate that Rockruff's night evolution is based on a werewolf.

I like the music that was used in the background of the Pokémon reveals. It was really funky.

Hey, look at that. The trainer customization is back! And it appears it's a bit deeper than in X and Y, as it not only allows a trainer to change their hair color, but their eye color and hairstyle, too. Nice. You now have more control than ever on how to make your trainer avatar look. Hope there's a nice variety of styles for both genders hair-wise.

The trailer also reveals a new feature called Pokémon Refresh, in which you essentially get to clean up your Pokémon and make them look nice. You can even give them what appear to be special treats. Now I will admit, I'm not one who really uses these kind of extra features, but I will admit, I just may give it a try for this game. I would like it if regularly grooming your Pokémon gave them special bonuses, like improved chances of critical hits or reduced chance of being given a status change like Sleep or Paralysis. Would be a great incentive to get people to use this feature.

The final thing these trailers reveal are that Pikachu and Eevee get special Z-Moves of their own. Pikachu's is called Catasropika. Basically, the trainer throws Pikachu into the air, and Pikachu becomes this electic meteor of death, coming right down on top of its opponents' head. It's pretty awesome.

Eevee's is called Extreme Evoboost. It seems to basically call upon the power of all its evolutions to sharply raise all of its stats. The animation is incredibly impressive, so I can't help but feel a little let down by what the Z-Move actually does. I'm also worried that no new Eeveelutions will be introduced in this Gen. If that's the case, that's a shame. There are quite a few elements that have no Eeveelutions to represent them. Rock, Steel, Dragon, Ground, Ghost, Flying, and Dragon are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. I want them to get Eeveelutions. If Eevee is the Evolution Pokémon, then it should be able to have a form for all of the Pokémon Types. Sun and Moon have a chance to give more types some love in the form of more Eeveelutions. I hope we see more of them.

This is a nice little reveal, but as I said last time, I'm worried that Game Freak isn't going to have no surprises left for when Sun and Moon actually come out. I'm also worried that the hype for these two games will be so high that the finished product won't be able to live up to it, no matter how good these games most likely will be.

Shadow Warrior 2 Trailer, My Thoughts

Duke Nukem is not the only old-school video game character returning to action, although this one is coming back with a brand new game. The character: one Lo Wang. The game: Shadow Warrior 2.

I have to admit, I was surprised by how the trailer started. Lo Wang seems to be a bit more...bitter in this game. At least, that's what it sounded like to me. Seems like he paid a terrible price for saving the world five years ago in the last Shadow Warrior game (The 2013 reboot game. I really got to play that). He's driving his car down a road until...

...something awesome happens. A giant samurai comes down with this big double-bladed naginata-like weapon and just smashes it into the ground, and uses it to cut Lo Wang's car in half while he is driving it. It is so COOL! And even funnier, Lo Wang just looks so non-plussed about it. It's like, "Hey go ahead man, cut my car in half, I got like ten more of these cars."

Man, samurai guy looks awesome. He looks really intimidating, helped by that armor and his size. However, to Lo Wang, he's nothing. Shot, then sliced in half.

Then, Lo Wang visits an old guy, who injects something into his neck, and turns into a monster in front of Lo Wang. Wang then reveals he brought a couple friends with him that I do not recognize. The trailer ends with them facing off against the monster, with Lo Wang asking, "WHO WANTS SOME WANG?!"

I have to admit, this trailer looked really cool. It didn't show any gameplay footage, but I doubt they will do anything radical with it. If this trailer was being made using the assets, then at least this game will look spectacular.

You know, if this game does well, you think they'll give the original 1997 Shadow Warrior game the treatment Duke Nukem 3D did for its own 20th Anniversary? It IS coming up next year...

Duke Nukem 3D 20th Anniversary Trailer, My Thoughts

Duke Nukem is back! Well, sort of. It's the 20th Anniversary of the game that put the alien-killing stripper-tipping beer-drinking steroid-taking machine of a man on the map: Duke Nukem 3D! While not the first game he appeared in (3D was the third game of his series), 3D is regarded as the very best, and most loved of the Duke games. And they released a trailer for it.

Yup, it's not simply going to be a port for modern consoles and PCs. It's got some new stuff in it, according to the trailer. It'll have a special new fifth episode featuring designs by one of the game's original creators, and the levels will be designed by "Levelord", who was described as a "legendary level designer." At first I thought this "Levelord" must've been a modder who made levels that became rather famous among the community, but it turns out that "Levelord" was a nickname for Richard Gray, one of the original designers of DN3D. Huh. That's neat.

The trailer also states that Jon St. John would provide new Duke Talk for the game. And Lee Jackson, the game's original composer, will provide new music for the episode, too. It's really cool that they're bringing back all these original people to be involved in this new episode. It really shows the lengths they are going to please fans and make it feel like something right out of 1996.

According to the Duke Nukem website, the new episode will involve Duke going around the world to fight aliens. His World Tour will be hitting several major locations, like Hollywood, London, and Paris. Personally, I would've also loved to have seen duke hit Tokyo, Beijing, Johannesburg, and Sydney, too. Japan would've given Duke the opportunity to fight a giant kaiju-esque alien, maybe with a DukeMech. And as for China, who would not want to see Duke fight a dragon? And the latter two, because Duke's World Tour should give Africa and Australia some love.

As for the trailer, it looks fantastic. It felt like a political ad. Appropriate, considering we are in an election year. The gameplay footage shown looked really good. It's bright and clear, and it was great to watch. I'm glad they didn't upgrade it to be dark and gritty-looking like the stereotypical modern shooter.

I have to admit, I...never played this game back in the day. Never had the chance to. Did play Doom, though. I enjoyed Doom. I wish the new Doom game was on X-Box 360.

This will be fun. I hope I can get this game on my laptop.

A Better Way to handle the Mutant/Inhuman Conflict

We can rebuild them. We have the ideas. We can make them better than they were. Better, more developed, more intruging. And kudos to one of my online friends for the intro.

At least, that's the credo Marvel should be having when it comes to handling the two races of superhuman beings running around the Marvel Universe right now, mutants and Inhumans. And with this coming up, I think this blog entry would be appropriate.

Yup. This is a thing that is going to happen. The X-Men and Inhumans are going to war. Yup. Joy.

Anyway, reading about the status quo Marvel has created for the mutants and Inhumans, I ended up realizing something. Marvel is taking the easy way out. They are taking the lazy way out with this.

Instead of telling stories that really examine what it is to be a mutant or an Inhuman in the Marvel Universe, they are simply just going with an extinction plot (AGAIN) and an upcoming war between the two species.

Since I'm on the internet, I thought I'd express my idea of how Marvel should handle the status quo between the two groups of superpowered people in the Marvel Universe after Secret Wars:

1) No M-Pox

Let's face it. Having the X-Men deal with fighting off extinction again so soon after just dealing with Decimation just seems...like a rather lazy move. Some would argue that the X-Men are at their best when they are fighting for survival and they have their backs to the wall. The problem with that is, if you constantly have the X-Men in extinction crisis after extinction crisis, it gets BORING. Especially since we know that mutants are really not going to go extinct. It just gets tiring.

So, no M-Pox. If it were up to me, I would keep the Terrigen Cloud floating around, it just wouldn't hurt mutants. It'd just be floating around creating Inhumans. Gotta keep the origin of Kamala Khan somehow. Because Kamala is awesome. And I would also keep the Skyspear thing, as a threat to the Inhumans could be used as an excuse for Medusa and Crystal to travel the world gathering as many Inhumans as they can find. That can also be used to give them a simmering threat in the background. Also, I would keep Medusa establishing New Attilan as a haven for her people. That would also be great idea fodder.

Instead of having the X-Men having to fight off potential extinction AGAIN (Because let's be honest, Marvel will never actually pull the trigger on killing them off unless it's a What If tale. Mutants = Money), we can do something else with them instead.

2) The deconstruction and reconstruction of the X-Men

The X-Men do admittedly have a reduced profile in the Marvel Universe these days. Many have held up the conspiracy theory that Marvel not having the film rights having something to do with it, but I think it's silly. Marvel must be getting a cut of the money from the films' box office. After all, Fox just can make movies with them, they don't own the X-Men. And honestly, I think many X-Fans are just mad that Marvel has finally remembered that there are other characters in their universe besides the X-Men and are finally giving the non-mutant heroes some love.

The reduced profile to me is something I actually consider an opportunity to do something I think the X-Men need: an examination of the X-Men as a concept. We can take it apart, then rebuild and update it. Make the X-Men better.

To me, this biggest problem with the X-Men as a concept is...for a group that was all about promoting human/mutant peace...they don't seem to do that much actual promotion of it. Yeah, they do help save the world and protect people from evil mutants, and that's perfectly fine. That's not the problem. The problem is...we never see these guys using that momentum to promote their cause. We never see them using the media.

We don't see the X-Men talking to reporters much, except for soundbites. We don't see them go on talk shows and talk about being mutants and what life is like for them. And guess what? We live in the age of social media. I'd love to see the X-Men have a website, have blogs and Twitter and Facebook and the like. Using social media to promote their message would be a great step towards showing the X-Men actually working at creating human-mutant peace.

Such a thing would allow the X-Men to interact with humans and build up popularity and create one thing they really need right now: human allies. Rogue once claimed the Avengers only fought for the status quo while the X-Men tried to make it better. In response, the Avengers should have asked Rogue how exactly the X-Men had actually made things better.

Some would argue that the X-Men being open would ultimately make things much more dangerous for mutants, citing Stryker's attack on the Mansion. However, this can be used to show that the X-Men need to find a balance between being open and being private. After all, they also went the other extreme once, with Utopia. To me, Utopia seemed to be showing that the X-Men had lost their way, and forgotten why they had supposedly been formed in the first place.

I want to see the X-Men evolve into something more than just another group of superheroes. I want to see the X-Men evolve into essentially the mutant version of the NAACP. I want to see them acting like a group that fights for civil rights. I want to see them not just fighting evil mutants. I want to see them making human allies. I want to see them using the media. I want to see them calling for boycotts of businesses that refuse to serve mutants. I want to see them testifying before Congress about mutant equality. I want to see them organizing mutant pride marches. I want to see them on talk shows, I want to see them be the subject of documentaries. The X-Men should be more than just another superhero team. They were created to be a metaphor for anyone who was different, so let's start seeing them actually fighting prejudice and bigotry as well as supervillains.

Another aspect for stories with the X-Men that should be explored is that...the X-Men are born with superpowers. Think about it. Cyclops can literally blast the face off of anyone he looks at. Storm could easily fry someone with a lightning bolt or freeze someone to death with a blizzard (She actually did use this tactic to slow down Sebastian Shaw during the Dark Phoenix Saga). There would be people who would legitimately fear people who could do that. That fear is understandable, especially since many comics have shown there are mutants out there who would not care if people get hurt when they use their powers. The fear of mutants is understandable based on this, and as a result, it makes it harder for the X-Men to achieve their goal as they can be seen as living, breathing WMDs.

Based on this, I would love if X-Men stories also did deal with themes of power and its effects on people. The fact that many mutants are born with powers, some with potentially devastating effects, and that anyone could be a mutant, that is...that's pretty scary when you think about it. Look at Magneto. Or Sabertooth, until Axis magically transformed him into a superhero.

On one of his videos, Linkara of Atop the Fourth Wall, Linkara pointed out that to him, the big problem of the X-Men was that people like the Fantastic Four got treated like celebrities because of their powers, the X-Men were feared and reviled. As much as I love the guy, I think he missed something. The Fantastic Four's identities and origins are known to the public. Ben Grimm was looked at as a monster in his early days as the Thing. But now, he's a celebrity, the 'Idol o' Millions', one of the most respected heroes in the Marvel Universe.

With the X-Men...what does the public know about them? They don't do interviews on talk shows, they don't use social media...all the public in the Marvel Universe really know about the X-Men are what they learn from the media, and considering the media can sensationalize things, and the X-Men seemingly make no effort to change that...

In essence, the FF won people over, and the X-Men have not. Part of making the kind of change that the X-Men want to make is that they should be interacting with humans, making allies, winning over hearts and minds. In all the X-Men stories I have read, I really haven't seen the X-Men doing that. And that's the kind of thing the X-Men should be doing. The X-Men had their biggest opportunity to improve mutant/human relations when the Beast joined the Avengers. One of their own! The X-Men could have capitalized on that! But they didn't! And Hank McCoy himself sure as hell didn't capitalize on it during his time with Earth's Mightiest Heroes!

Honestly, if I were a mutant in the Marvel Universe, I would find the X-Men an embarrassment to my species.

Instead of forming their own Utopia and hiding out in Magik's Limbo, I want to see the the X-Men dealing with the outside world and politics. Speaking of politics...

3) Show the Inhumans are better politicians

This ties in to the deconstruction of the X-Men. Medusa is the current leader of the Inhumans. She is the queen of Attilan. She was also a member of the Fantastic Four and Frightful Four (albeit she was amnesiac then). This is a woman who has spent quite a bit of time amongst humanity. She knows how humans think.

She's also someone, as a queen of the Inhumans, has had to deal with Inhuman politics and PR. This is something that gives the Inhumans an advantage over the X-Men, at least at first. Medusa knows how to deal with public opinion. As such, she can handle dealing with politics and weaving her way through places of power.

Some good stories can come from this. For example, I'd love to see a story where New Attilan tried to join the United Nations. That would be a neat story if done well.

If you want tension between the X-Men and Inhumans, maybe it can be shown that some X-Men are somewhat resentful that Medusa is able to win over hearts and minds by simply being more media-savvy and being better able to deal with people in power than they can, and perhaps some other mutants calling them out over their failure to really make things any better for mutants could help push along the X-Men's deconstruction and inspire the X-Men to rethink the way they have fought for their cause.

4) Use the All-New Inhumans to explore Inhuman society

Many new Inhuman characters have arisen from the floating Terrigen cloud, like Flint, Naja, and most famously, the current Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan. These characters can be used to help be a reader's introduction to the Inhumans' society.

The All-New Inhumans can be used in their series to give us a reader's eye view of Inhuman society and how it works. I want to see what the Inhumans who are not members of the Royal Family do in their daily lives. How do they live? Do they have sports? What are their favorite songs? What games to they play? The All-New Inhumans can explore that, taking the readers with them on their journey learning about life in New Attilan.

You could get some great drama and stories from the All-New Inhumans learning about life in New Attilan and the ancient, practically alien culture within. I can imagine some of them would be very uncomfortable with the idea of the Inhumans always having a place, and that social mobility is not allowed, leading to some maybe using their ear with Medusa to convince her to make some changes they feel Inhuman society needs.

 This can be used to tie in to my next thing that can be done.

5) The deconstruction and reconstruction of the Inhumans

Much like the X-Men, this whole mutant/Inhuman thing is also an opportunity to take apart and rebuild the Inhumans.

One thing that the Inhumans are known for having is a rigid caste system in their society. Everyone has a place, and you are expected to stay within that place. Even the Royal Family is not immune to this edict. They have a place, and are expected to stay in that place. This has been used by X-Men fans as an argument that Inhumans can't be used to replace mutants. The problem with that argument is that it only really applies to the Royal Family and the natives of Attilan. Right now in the Marvel Universe, there are activated Inhumans living all over the world, and you can bet that they aren't getting much more love from the public than mutants are right now in-universe.

As these new Inhumans are being brought to New Attilan, it can be shown that perhaps they find discomfort with the rigid society and caste system of the Inhumans. I can also imagine the Attilan natives also finding discomfort with the new ideas and thoughts these new Inhumans bring to the table. Remember, for much of Attilan and the Inhumans' existence, they were isolated from "normal" humanity. As a result, they have developed their own way of doing things, and new Inhumans coming in from the outside world can have an effect on that. There's drama in this conflict.

The Inhumans' caste system and selective breeding were created in the first place to mitigate the genetic damage caused by their people's early experimentation with the Terrigen Mist, not to mention help maintain their numbers. This could be used to help instigate change in Inhuman society. With the increased number of Inhumans, there won't be much more need of selective breeding. But I can imagine there are many Inhumans who think the old ways are perfectly fine, and these new Inhumans would wreck Inhuman society and create anarchy. Also, I can see some of these "natives" viewing these All-New Inhumans as "undesirables", being a metaphor for hostility towards immigrants.

One possible story is maybe some Inhumans don't like the idea of Medusa supporting and welcoming these new Inhumans, and considering that Medusa is also actively adventuring as a member of the all-female superteam A-Force, maybe they feel Medusa's loyalties to her people are wavering, and thus, new leadership that will put the Attilan Inhumans first is needed...

As for the reconstruction? Medusa could use this to make a change to Inhuman society, realizing that after millions of years of isolation, the society may be more technically advanced, but it has socially stagnated. It needs new ideas, a new way, and the All-New ones can help show the way. Will it be smooth? No, but it will show actual growth for the Inhumans as a people.

Some would argue that superhero stories shouldn't have those kind of stories, as they are not considered exciting enough. However, I would like to respond with the popularity of Game of Thrones and House of Cards, two series that deal with political machinations. They are considered two of the best series on television, and I think that the Inhuman books should have some of this in it, especially if they focus on the Royal Family.

6) Heavy is Medusa's head, for she wears the crown

Medusa is the current leader of her people, and she has a LOT on her plate right now. She is dealing with a massive influx of Inhumans coming to Attilan to seek asylum. She's dealing with the friction between Attilan natives and the All-New Inhumans, which may lead to further problems. She's also actively adventuring with A-Force. Not to mention the threat of the Skyspears. It'd be nice to see all that wearing on Medusa a little bit, and forcing her to lean more on her family members a bit.

It would be a great way to show that the Royal Family, despite their disagreements and dysfunction, truly do love and care about each other. Which can be used to help humanize the Royal Family.

Which is why I hate the way Medusa is being portrayed in current comics. In current comics, the X-Men go on about the Terrigen Mists killing them and Medusa does nothing about it, citing that the Mists are sacred. And some books show she fans the flames of anti-mutant hatred with mercenaries. WHY? Especially since they could find another way to remove the mists!

This is so stupid! Now, one could argue that fanning anti-mutant hatred is a political move on Medusa's part, an attempt to get in good with the humans and win them over. It'd be one heck of a stretch, though. Instead, why not show Medusa and the Inhumans in a more honorable, decent light? I'd think the smart thing for these writers to do is to make the Royal Family sympathetic and likeable.

In essence, I think the rising of the Inhumans can make for some very fascinating stories and great idea fodder, it's just shame that Marvel just seems to lack this vision and instead go for yet another extinction crisis for mutants so they can set up a mutant/Inhuman war. It's a real shame.

Now, what I've been saying is, admittedly some basic stuff. I'm sure someone a lot smarter than me can do something more with my ideas and suggestions. Marvel has always called itself the "House of Ideas", and I think if it went with the approach I wrote here, they could truly keep living up to that title. It certainly would be better than another silly war and extinction storyline.

Happy 50th Birthday, Star Trek!

One of my favorite franchises is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year! Happy Birthday, Star Trek!

I've been a big-time Trekkie since I was a little boy. I was way too young for the original series, as it came out twenty years before I was born. When I was growing up, Star Trek: The Next Generation was coming to an end, and Deep Space Nine and Voyager were going on. I watched the original films many times, and owned a few Star Trek novels. I really want to own the complete Genesis Wave saga. I own one of the novels, got to read another thanks to the library. I also watched the new Kelvin-verse films with my dad. We enjoyed them, and every time we go watch a movie and we end up enjoying them, he'll always say, "Not as good as Star Trek."

I got into it thanks to my dad, who was a Trekkie himself. My earliest memory of Star Trek was watching The Next Generation with him. The series ended when I was a boy, but I would get to watch it for many years thanks to syndication. It seemed to be that I never failed to find it on TV. I also did enjoy DS9 quite a bit. And thanks to Netflix, I can enjoy them again and again.

I have to admit, I was surprised when I found it that this Anniversary was coming. Has it been fifty years already? Wow. That's amazing. It really is incredible that this franchise has been going on for so long. So many incarnations. So many stories.

What do I love about the franchise? Well, mainly I always loved the sheer adventure of it. The Starship Enterprise traveling around the universe, encountering strange new worlds, seeking out new life and new civilizations, boldly going where no one has gone before. I loved seeing what the various crews would get up to, who they'd meet, the species they'd encounter and fight with, make peace with. Star Trek...was fun. That's what it was to me. A fun show.

As I have grown older, I became more aware of the message the late Gene Roddenberry was trying to send with Star Trek: That humanity could achieve great things, that if we overcame our differences, we could reach the stars, and create a better world. I really liked the generally positive vibe about Trek. That humanity was better than we think. That's what I love about Trek. It's cliché, but it's true. Star Trek represents a positive vision of the future, that humanity can overcome its problems and become great. And it manages to do it by telling fun stories in the process.

Happy Birthday, Star Trek. Your first 50 years were great, hope you get to enjoy another 50! Live Long and Prosper!

Aether Foundation Reveal Trailer, My Thoughts

The Pokémon Company are at it again! They have released another reveal trailer, showing off more Pokémon and a new organization that will be in Alola. Let's take a look!

The first new Pokémon revealed, a Normal type, is a rather...odd one. It's called Type: Null. Yup, that's its name. It's classified as a Synthetic Pokémon. The Pokémon itself looks...rather patchwork, with an axe blade on a metal head, a fish fin-like tail, and mismatched paws. Considering the name and that it's called a Synthetic Pokémon, I can't help but get the idea that this Pokémon is...well, a man-made Pokémon like Mewtwo was. It certainly would explain a lot about this Pokémon.

The next new Pokémon revealed is a Dragon-type called Jangmo-o. Huh. I wonder how you pronounce that? "Jang-moo"? "Yang-moo"? "Jang-mo-oh"? "Yang-mo-oh"? I hope that' revealed soon. Not much to say about this one, although the heart on the head is kind of funny.

As seen previously, The Alolan Rattata is a Dark-type and looks rather different. And it has an evolution. The Alolan Raticate made me chuckle a bit. Look at that thing's cheeks! It's like it's constantly carrying a pair of baseballs in its mouth! It looks like it ate too much and then someone painted it! Appropriate that Gluttony is one of its abilities.

We learn next that the events of Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon are set twelve hours apart, which means that the events of the games being slightly different has to do with the time frame. This is interesting to see. I wonder what impact this will have on the gameplay.

This trailer next introduces the Aether Foundation. They operate out of an artificial private island called Aether Paradise, and are led by its "glamorous President", Lusamine. Lusamine claims that the Foundation exists to protect Pokémon from harm and Team Skull. Lusamine herself remarks that even Pokémon from beyond Alola are worthy of her love. I wonder if this island is a way to trade with X/Y and Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, as well as the Virtual Console ports of the original Red/Blue/Yellow. It would make sense based on what Lusamine is saying. The AF's island may be the place you can go to breed Pokémon, too. Would make sense.

Honestly, I hope the Aether Foundation do turn out to be good guys. That would be nice to see.

We also meet Team Skull's Enforcer, Gladion. I'm guessing he's the man to do Team Skull's dirty work.

Hey, Sina and Dexio! Come to Alola to vacation, huh? I don't blame you, it looks like a beautiful vacation spot. They reveal that in this game, the player can collect the cores and cells of Zygarde. One could assume that this may be the way to unlock an opportunity to catch Zygarde.

Another new feature! The Poké Finder! I think this feature is a nod to Pokémon Snap. You take pictures of Pokémon. I do hope you get something nice for taking good pictures. But the footage did reveal something...the Pikachu of Alola may not have a variant form. Which makes sense. Pikachu needs Thunder Stones to evolve into Raichu. One could guess that the Thunder Stones of Alola may be different than standard, or that Pikachu here is a variant, it just doesn't appear until evolution. Hi, Dragonite!

Team Skull is not the only problem we have here on Alola. meet the Ultra Beasts! Well, one of them, a jellyfish-esque Pokémon called UB-01. It's possibly a Water/Psychic. Based on its name, this could be another artificial Pokémon. Would make sense considering the name. UB-01 sounds like the name of an experiment subject, think X-23. Maybe UB-01 is a codename, and its true name hasn't been revealed yet. What if it's connected to the Aether Foundation?

Anyway, this trailer has raised some interesting questions? What other secrets does Alola hold? I guess we'll have to wait and see...

Alola Rattata Reveal Trailer, My Thoughts

Man, ANOTHER reveal for Pokémon Sun and Moon! They really ARE churning these out! I don't think we'll have any surprises left for Sun and Moon's release! Anyway, they are revealing another Alola variant: Rattata, who is now Dark/Normal!

I have to admit, I do like the redesign. My favorite detail is that the new Dark-type Rattata appears to have a little moustache. It's kind of cute. If it was more of a Dali or Snidely Whiplash-esque moustache, I can see this little guy twirling it.

It does make me wonder, though. If Rattata in Alola looks like this...what will Raticate look like? I mean, based on the Alola variants of Sandslash and Ninetales, I think we can assume that Raticate will look different from the regular version due to the change in type, but I am curious to see what Alola Raticate will look like.

The trailer then reveals that certain Pokémon will have their own unique Z-Moves. Alola Raichu is one such Pokémon, with the Stoked Sparksurfer. I like the name. Speaking of Alola Raichu, what is Pikachu like in Alola? Is it part-Psychic, too? And do Alola Pikachus need Thunder Stones to evolve into Alola Raichus? That's something I'd like to know.

Anyway, the move looks so cool. Alola Raichu rides its tail, takes to the air, and SLAMS DOWN ON THE OPPONENT AS AN ELECTRIC METEOR. That is AWESOME! That is so cool! I would not be surprised if Charizard, Blastoise, and Venusaur also get their own unique Z-Moves. Charizard may get two. Why not? Charizard got two Mega Evolutions. Never understood why.

Finally, the reveal shows there's a little pre-order bonus for Sun and Moon. I also heard it's available as a Mystery Gift until next January. You get a Munchlax. But, once you raise it and it evolves into a Snorlax, you are provided a little item called Snorlium Z. I'm guessing this is the item that allows a Pokémon to do a Z-Move. Snorlax's Z-Move is called Pulverizing Pancake.

Now, keep in mind in the Pokémon universe, Snorlax was the heavyweight of Gen 1, standing at nearly 7 feet tall and weighing just over 1,000 pounds. That's half a ton. Now, imagine a Snorlax charging at you with incredible speed like someone made it drink an entire factory's worth of soda, all that Pokémon jumping into the air, and then coming down to sit on you. That's the Pulverizing Pancake. And when you think about it, it is terrifying.

It's a nice reveal, but I do hope they do take it easy with these reveals from now on. I do want to be surprised somewhat from the new games. I do get the reveals are to build up hype, I do understand. But I honestly do hope they keep some things close to the chest until release.