Pokemon Sun and Moon Evolutions Trailer, My Thoughts

Yup, another trailer has been released for Pokémon Sun and Moon! And this one focuses on Pokémon Evolutions! Let's take a look at it!

First if all, I have to say I eally loved the music for this trailer. It's so funky.

The first evolution revealed is for the chimera-like Pokémon known as Type: Null. The evolution is called Sivally, and it looks pretty cool. It has an ability called the RKS System, which makes it change its type based on what item it holds. This has led many to theorize that this Pokémon may have a relation with Arceus, as it looks similar to Arceus, and has a similar ability.

I have heard the theory that this Pokémon may have been an artificial creation, muck like Mewtwo was. I think that theory may make some sense. After all, people have tried to create Pokémon before. And it would be a great way to pay a nod to the original Red and Blue. Which leaves a couple questions. If Type: Null is an artificial Pokémon...who created it? And why? The Aether Foundation may likely have the resources to create this Pokémon, but if it was them, why?

Next, we reveal the evolutions of the Pokémon known as Jangmo-o (How is that pronounced? I normally go with "Jangmo-Oh"), Hakamo-o, and then Kommo-o. If there's a theme to the name, I'm not seeing it. They are bizarre-looking Pokémon. They kind of look like mutated dragons with gold coins attached to them. I can imagine hearing lots of clinking and clacking when they move around. And they are Dragon/Fighting. Interesting combination, indeed. In fact, Kommo-o has a unique signature move called Clanging Scales. Ha.

Next, we meet Bounsweet's evolutions: The Grass-type Steenee, then the Grass-type Tsareena. Steenee is cute, and Tsareena looks rather...regal. Which works, considering where her name comes from. Although, I think this is the third plant-like Pokémon to have a final evolution that looks humanoid. I'm going to guess the designers have a theme going, one plant girl per generation. She has an ability called Queenly Majesty, which I'm guessing always gives her the first strike. She also ha her own signature move: Trop Kick. The effect is really neat.

Next is revealed an evolution for Cutiefly, called Ribombee. It's a cute little Pokémon. Makes me think of Tinker Bell for some reason.

New Alola forms! This time, the Grimer line has alternate forms. Their Alolan variants are actually a mix of Poison and Dark type, and They have funky forms. Alolan Grimer is green with what looks like yellow lipstick. And it has teeth! Well, from what I understand, the "teeth" are crystallized poisons. Can that happen? Maybe it's caused by impurities in the sludge that makes up Grimer? I don't know.

Alolan Muk looks...like a head trip. Seriously! It's a neon head trip! And the colors move! They move! That, I admit, is pretty cool. That's an amazing effect. Really shows how the technology has grown over the years. You'd never see something like this twenty years ago! It's amazing. It also seems to be able to learn Bite, based on the footage. Makes sense, with its crystal "teeth".

New trainers introduced! The first one revealed is Olivia, the Kahuna of Akala Island. She uses Rock pokemon, according to her dialogue. It's nice to see the game makers are diversifying the Kahunas a bit. based on this, I think we can safely assume that the Kahunas are the Gym Leaders of Alola. It's a nice change-up of a classic mechanic if that's the case.

The next one revealed is Ilima, a trail captain specializing in Normal-type Pokémon. Yeah, these Trail Captains are the new gym leaders. Ilima is...rather androgynous-looking to me. Is Ilima male or female? Well, maybe we'll find out on release.

Can't wait for these games! I will download the demo!

Power Rangers Trailer, My Thoughts.

The Power Rangers are returning to the silver screen with a bang! A reboot of the franchise is coming in 2017, and the trailer is here!

Like many kids growing up in the 1990s, I loved Power Rangers. It always got me hyped as a kid. I remember wanting the original Megazord and Dragonzord toys, but they were always sold out. Literally, they were impossible to get. The toy stores were always sold out. That was how crazy Power Rangers-mania was in the 1990s. The shortages made the news.

The franchise has continued on in various incarnations over the last 20 years, some seasons were good, and some were bad. If you want some great stuff on the history of the franchise, I recommend Linkara's History of Power Rangers series. Great videos, very informative and entertaining.

The trailer seems to hit that this version of Jason is may be a bit of a troublemaker, based on the ankle bracelet, but he may have a bit of a heroic heart in him, as showing of his fighting off some bullies. And speaking of bullies, I think we may show that the new Kimberly and Trini may be the victims of bullying themselves. We also see the new Billy getting picked on, too. This and the various scenes we have seen in this trailer with the future Rangers have gotten me very interested. The film does seem interested in portraying these characters as more realistic teenagers, instead of the admittedly rather one-dimensional goody-goody paragons of the original series.

I have heard this film being compared to The Breakfast Club, and I certainly can see why. It does have that vibe slightly. Helps that one could argue the Rangers can fit into the archetypes a but , with Billy the Brain, Jason the Criminal, Kimberly the Princess...wait, what does that make Zack and Trini? Which one's the Basket Case and the Jock?

We do see hints that our heroes get civilian powers of sorts, and I have no real issue with this, considering what the powers are. I watched Linkara's look at SPD, and it made me scratch my head. The powers they had were incredibly neat and useful, but they only used them when unmorphed. You'd think those additional powers would be useful in combat in their Ranger forms, but nope! They never use them in their Ranger forms? What's the explanation in-universe? Did the Ranger forms somehow shut off those powers? Ah, the limitations of editing around Sentai footage.

So why am I not bothered by THESE particular civilian powers? Because they seem like powers they will be using in their Ranger forms: Enhanced strength and durability. The Power Rangers are known for their skills at hand-to-hand combat, so these abilities make sense for them. The Rangers have to be able to take a beating and hand out one. And also, the bit with the bully getting knocked out by trying to headbutt Billy is pretty funny. Not to mention these are abilities they may actually USE as Rangers.

Rita saying she has killed Rangers before in the trailer does raise some interesting questions. Who were these previous Rangers? How did Rita kill them? And what were the circumstances of their battle with her that led to their deaths?

The teaser was also surprisingly colorful, which I liked. They're superheroes, the film should be colorful. I did like the Saban and Lionsgate logos showed the Power Ranger colors. Nice little touch there.

I do like this teaser. I felt it did its job as a teaser. We don't get any full-on reveals, just little tastes of who the new Rangers are, their powers, of Rita, and what they're up against. It has done its job very well, and I am interested in seeing this movie.

Pokemon Sun and Moon Starter Evolutions Trailer, My Thoughts

Yup, yet another Pokémon Sun and Moon reveal trailer. There's getting to be about a many of these as there are getting to be actual Pokémon in the games. Wow. Anyway, this one focuses on the Starter Pokémon's evolved forms. Let's take a look!

The first evolution revealed is Rowlet's evolution, Dartrix. I have to admit, I like the name. There's something kind of...cool about it. I do like that it does keep the leaf bow tie from the Rowlet stage, and the green fringe bangs make me chuckle. I wanted to make a joke about it being emo, but the default expression stopped that. It looks...cheerful and perky. Not bad at all. I had seen some fan designs for a Rowlet evolution that I thought were very nice, but this one is pretty good.

Next to be revealed is Litten's evolution, Torracat. This one is easily my favorite. It may not be the most imaginative, but I think it's a very sensical-looking evolution, if that makes sense. It reminds me of how the original starters looked when they evolved. It looked similar to the previous form, but it also has signs of being a bigger, stronger, better form. And it's also a big kitty, and I like kitties.

The third is Popplio's evolution, Brionne. I do get what they're going for with this design, trying to maintain the idea of the clown theme a little bit. Like Torracat, Brionne is keeping with the design tradition for starter evolutions, which I do like about the design. I think it looks really cute. Very nice.

Another new feature is revealed: The Festival Plaza! It looks like a gigantic theme park, where players can interact and earn coins by interaction. Said coins can be used to buy items at various shops and also pay for rides that help train your Pokémon and improve their stats. I think this is very clever. It's a great way to encourage people to go out and play together. The Pokémon series since Gen 1 have tried to encourage trainers to interact with each other, and I think this new feature will go great.

Another new feature! Poké Pelago! It's a special place for Pokémon that you store in your PC boxes! The various island in the Pelago allow Pokémon to lure wild ones to join you, search for rare items, and train them. I think this feature is absolutely brilliant!

It really is! It actually does allow the Pokémon you keep in your boxes to have a purpose besides sitting in them all day. Makes me wish they came up with this sooner...although to be fair, the tech to pull this off probably didn't exist until now. Still, Poké Pelago is an incredible feature! I imagine this one will be used heavily! I know I'll be using it heavily. I do feel kind of bad about the Pokémon sitting in boxes, never to be used. At least collecting them will have a real point now besides bragging rights.

Mega Evolution is making a comeback, baby! Yup, Mega Evolution will return in Sun and Moon! I hope there will be some new Megas! I wonder if any of the Alolan variants will be able to Mega Evolve? I highly doubt it, but it would be neat if there was at least one that could.

The last thing the trailer reveals is that ademo will be made available in a couple weeks, in which the player can use Ash-Greninja. Now, I know it's slightly different-looking from other Greninja, but why is it called Ash-Greninja? Is this a Pokémon Ash uses in the anime? I don't know. But you can transfer it to your copy of Sun or Moon, so that's nice.

This trailer is very nice. Revealed some awesome new features. Can't wait for these games! Now I have to get through Omega Ruby and Dragon Quest VII...

Let's Play Pokemon Insurgence Part 4: The First Cult Battle!

After so long, I finally got back to my Let's Play of the fan game Pokémon Insurgence!

The reason this one took so long was because of real life stuff, and I had done some grinding that was unrecorded because I wanted to prepare for what was going on ahead.

The funny thing about the Telnor Cave when I went through was that I found a whole bunch of Pokémon in it, but no Zubats. It's kind of funny to see a cave in a Pokémon game that isn't full of Zubats. Although to be fair, this is a fan game. And there was a nice variety of Pokémon in the cave, so I managed to increase my collection quite a bit.

I really like the idea of the hidden grottos. I just wish they spawned new stuff and Pokémon more often than 12 hours. Also, I wish they provided an item AND a Pokémon to catch. Would make it a little easier for a collector like me.

I also really like the idea of the Torren region being an area full of cults. It's a nice change from the usual criminal teams of the official games. I wonder what other interesting twists this game's story will take in the future, especially when this game is completely finished.

I had fun making this video, and I hope you enjoyed watching it!

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!

The

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...