Why are Alolan variants so popular?

>Any related with 151 Originals = Instant Win

what's the problem
the pokemon has a chance to get a shiny new coat of paint, and the old design is still available to use. it's win-win. they can't ruin hitmonlee by making some abysmal fairy type one, hitmonlee is still fine.

File: 1409727483376.png (121KB, 250x418px) Image search: [Google]

121KB, 250x418px

If I like a Pokemon, I like seeing more of that Pokemon. It's really that simple. The concept hasn't had the greatest execution thus far, but with some refinement I think adding variations/subspecies of existing Pokemon has a lot of potential.

>>27728817
Its popular because its fucking dope. you are in a extreme minority of the pokemon fanbase caring about competitive viability over everything else. at best were getting dope variations of pokemon we already love.

>>27728817
People just like it because they're disgusted by both megas and cross-gen evos at this point and it means their precious favorite can get acknowledgement without it being permanently retconned

I'm sure people will eventually become disgusted by variant forms and crave some new gimmick all over again

>>27728817
It should be obvious why they're popular. It's exciting to see a remixed type on an old pokemon you like. It also adds more to the world building, which is fun.

However,

>Seriously though, why would I want a Water-typed Arcanine? I like my fire Arcanine, and want IT to be better. This new regional variant thing doesn't offer that.

I do agree with this. In some cases, like with Marowak, it being Ground type is more or less irrelevant to why I liked it to begin with. But sometimes the typing is just as important to the identity of the pokemon.

I dont mind these new forms, but I do hope that it isnt a lame excuse not to pay any attention to their base form.

>>27728817
>Some of the redesigns are admittedly rather nice, but I'm amazed at how popular the general concept is


Variants/Sub-species have been a thing people have wanted since the original pokemon series showed us the orange islands and all the cool little local deviations of pokemon.

It's just a really easy and satisfying addition to the game that adds more world-building-context and makes the whole place feel more alive: There's VARIANTS, there's SUB-SPECIES of pokemon.

They live, they eat, they have predators, they react to the natural world.
This is shit we haven't gotten in such high quantity since the 2nd generation.

>>27728817
I don't get it either. Aside from the fact that it sucks they're limited to Kanto mons, I don't see the point in getting excited about palette swaps. Raichu is one of my absolute favorite mons but I don't care for its Alola form. Honestly would have preferred it getting a Mega with a more creative design.

>Competitive viability is all that matters
fuck off

>>27728817
then you could have a fire arcanine and a water arcanine. Being able to have two of your favorite pokemon with different base stats and types and moves and abilities is cool.

>>27728928
Lol so basically you wanted a Raichu with spikes all over it instead of a Raichu that surfes on its tail using psychic powers. Totally not creative in the slightest.

>>27728817
>Put my favourite pokemon in ou
How many times are we gonna have this thread

>>27728928
literally only one of them so far has been a palette swap you dissonant retard

>>27728964
Even then it got new animations, along with the obvious type change and probably movepool

>>27728897
>I dont mind these new forms, but I do hope that it isnt a lame excuse not to pay any attention to their base form.

Not OP, but this is the exact reason why variants bother me. I was talking to a friend, and my exact words were "It's a good idea, they look great, and I hate it" because I fear they'll completely ignore the base forms. Raichu and Exeggcutor, for example, don't bother me because at least they maintain their main type, so it's sort of like mega evolving in that way. But Arcanine's my favorite as is; I want them to improve it, not turn it into a new pokemon.

>>27728817
I like that the designs are showing creativity while simultaneously keeping with the themes of the pokemon, which is the opposite of what mega evolutions did. This isn't universal of course but it seems to be the case more often than not. The only negative is that the original designs won't be present in a normal playthrough.

>>27729017
By doing what exactly?

>>27728817
It refreshes some older designs
It gives the Pokemon more flexibility
It doesn't necessarily render the original form obsolete, because the Alolan form will most likely occupy a different role
If you like the designs, this can add a fun twist on it

Scizor should be reclassified as an Alolan Scyther, but that will never happen

>>27729017
Yeah, yeah I feel you there.

Having a Water type Arcanine is fine and dandy, bring it on. But at least give standard Arcanine something too. Even if its not a perfect balance attempt, just something to help out is good enough in my eyes.

>>27729058
Not sure. Moves? Abilities? Possibly a stat change, but I don't think Arcanine needs it. But that's not the point. The point is if they're going to change it at all, I don't want them to turn it into something that's essentially a new pokemon.

>>27729067
Exactly this, man. Water Arcanine is neat in concept, but not if it completely overshadows or replaces the regular one.

>>27728817
>malnourished Marowak

>>27728956
I like most Megas, sure some are boring or outright ugly, but most are decent to great designs. A few are even better than the originals.

>>27729128
But if it's essentially a new pokemon then this is just the same as the last 5 gens

This thread is just people who want their favourite pokemon to be the new meta, be thankful you don't have carbink as a favourite

>competitive pokemon
Hahaha

> why would i want water type arcanine...

Maybe you dont. But there are people (me) who do not like arcanine. And dont really care for fire type pokemon at all to begin with.

Seeing Arcanine as a water type appeals a lot more to me than a fire type, visually.

The one thing im excited for with these new region pokemon is seeing if they can make some changed to pokemon I havent previously liked and make their designs more interesting to me.

Its not always about reskinning a pokemon you already like to get a second one. It can also be to give a fresh take on a pokemon you may have never given a chance before.

>>27728817
>why is new pokemon info so popular
>why do people discus these new developments upon their announcements

Gotta talk about something

>>27728857
Pretty much this.

I like Tentacruel, give me a different way to see Tentacruel. I like Drifblim, give me another kind of Drifblim. I just want my favorite pokemon to get more attention and a new spin on it is the best way to do it.

I've liked every Alolamon so far, with Meowth being the least interesting and Sandslash being the most. The only thing that limits the possibilities is the designer's imagination.

Not a huge portion of the fan base plays competitively, shit like this is more for the casual players i feel

>>27729160
You're still missing the point. I guess Arcanine's a bad example because it doesn't need any help and is very unlikely to be overshadowed. A better way to showcase this is comparing Ninetails to Marowak. Regular Ninetails will still have its place because of drought, so Alolan Ninetails doesn't bother me at all. Regular Marowak doesn't have a niche as is, and the Alolan version might be enough of an excuse for them not to give it one. I really want to like the variations, but I can't if they give Gamefreak more of an excuse to ignore pokemon they already have.

>>27730024
Dude, get over "muh competitive viability". If you are trying to play competitively you shouldn't even try to use things you like. Isn't the point to win? To use the best Pokémon available? Chances are, your favorite will be outclasse by something.

Either appreciate the Alola Forms from a world-building / lore / biology perspective, or appreciate the new competitive niches and strategies it will bring. It's futile to get worked up about them "ignoring" and "overshadowing" the Pokémon you like.

You will forever be disappointed if you expect Pokémon to ever be balanced or tying to make all Pokémon somewhat viable.

Literally "get over it". I'm not using it as a catchphrase, you need to get over balance and unfairness in Pokémon.

>>27728842

>Hitmonlee is still fine

m8 I don't think Hitmonlee was ever fine.

The great majority of Megas improve a pokemon's competitive viability. His argument is that an Alola forme isn't guaranteed (or even likely) to give a pokemon that needs it a very noteworthy viability buff.

Regular Kanto Hitmonlee is still the same, which basically means it still sucks asshole.

Fans have been wanting delta species in the games for literally over ten years

Just wait until there's 1000+ pokemon with 4 or more regional variants each

>>27728817
Have you really never wanted a new evolution for one of your favorite Pokemon or a mega?

It's not like Mawile or Kangaskhan themselves are the good things now. 99% of the time you see them, they're going to be in mega form. I wanted an Electabuzz evolution to make him better, I got that, but now I rarely ever see Electabuzz in any form. That's been a thing since like Gen 3. How does it just suddenly not make sense to you now?

>>27730267
See, the mistake here is thinking that Alola forms are supposed to "fix" a Pokémon or make it viable. It's literally biology/immersion/realism and a cool thing that fans have wanted for years.

>>27728817
Fuck off and die Smogon cultist

>>27730267
>competitive
>viability
>muh childrens game isnt balanced :'(

>>27729031

>I like that the designs are showing creativity while simultaneously keeping with the themes of the pokemon, which is the opposite of what mega evolutions did.

This is so wrong that I don't even think it can be considered an opinion. It's just factually incorrect. Megas are the ones that stay true to the pokemons' original themes while Alola formes give them completely revamped themes.

>Mega Blastoise
A stronger pure Water cannon turtle that gets an Ability that boosts its cannons' launch moves

>Alolan Ninetales
An Ice/Fairy fox creature that used to be a pure Fire sun setter with some elements of Psychic Type and above average amount of Ghost moves

See the difference?

>>27728817
i hate gen1 2.0
shitty idea, just pandering to try bring in some of the aging fanbase

they could try make the games at least marginally challenging instead, or add a postgame

>I want the original to be better not a new form!!

It gets new moves making the original better, Arcanine with aqua tail? Certainly makes people think about sending ground/rock types in to counter

>>27729059

See this kind of attitude is just disingenuous. We all know how Gamefreak operates. If something gets a major buff in some way (cross gen evo, Mega, new forme, etc.) they're not going to be getting any attention for a long time, if ever again.

When a pokemon gets a Mega, the majority of the time it's getting a huge buff in viability except a few unfortunate ones that GF dropped the ball on.

But with Alola formes there's no apparent guarantee that the pokemon are going to get better in any way. I have a hard time seeing how A-Sandslash could be good considering we know its typing and we know it gets slower. Stronger, STAB Gyro Ball? Big whoop. And if it sucks that's it for Sandslash. Kanto version sucks and Alola probably will too. Too bad for Sandslash.

At least with Megas, odds are the pokemon is going to be buffed. I'm sorry if your favorite pokemon was Banette or Audino but it's true.

Why is it only Gen 1? Beside the obvious, I mean. Gen 5 and 6 barely got any megas and the lack of megas in the advertising signals that they're either not introducing new ones or they're ditching the concept entirely.

>>27729017
>I fear they'll completely ignore the base forms
As opposed to what exactly? I don't know what series you've been playing, but GF hasn't re-tooled a single pokémon. They've updated them, given them abilities, redistributed new types, but that's it. What GF is doing with megas and new forms is the closest we've ever gotten to an overhaul.

And that's fine. Why would you want to change up hundreds of existing pokémon anyway? Game balance? This is a series aimed at literal children. The spirit of the game is to have fun and raise all kinds of pokémon, weak and strong. The competitive meta will never be what the diehards want it to be.

And on a personal note, I don't even enjoy competitive battles for a meta reason. You have to constantly be ready to switch out pokémon constantly, and it looks ridiculous. Imagine watching the anime but every time trainers battled, they constantly switched pokémon in and out. That wouldn't be exciting. That's musical chairs.

>>27728817
Seriously though, why would I want a marine iguana? I like my green iguana, and want IT to be better. This new regional variant thing doesn't offer that.

So it's shit. SHIIIIITTTTTT

I dont care about viability. Comp pokemon peaked during diamond and pearl and gen6 was an unbalanced, repetetive mess. Its taking some cool pokemon and mixong them up. Sandslash and marowak are my two big favorite pokemo

>>27730279

Fair point. Most of these gimmicks like Megas and cross gen evolutions usually make the pokemon a lot stronger, so it's almost natural to always analyze these things with a competitive approach.

I can see how people who simply look for immersion and world building in the games might be more prone to appreciating Alolan formes, or even just variations in general.

>>27730474

It offers new moves desu

File: f4Fpsu9.jpg (35KB, 480x270px) Image search: [Google]

35KB, 480x270px

>>27728817
>Seriously though, why would I want a Water-typed Arcanine?
TWO ARCANINES

>>27730267
>not liking based hitmonlee
go fuck yourself, kiddo

Only downside to variants is that pokemon with Megas wont get them. Since they are effectively "done" as a design in this game. So my favorite pokemon is out of luck.

I don't care about competitive. My problem with alola forms lies more on the concept side.

In my opinion it makes pokemon less unique and special by themselves, because with this mechanic any pokemon has the possibility to be anything.
While this is a neat idea for franchises that do not care that much about that, "unique" has always been an important core of the design in Pokemon. This devalues both the original pokemon and the possibility of getting a new pokemon with the form's theme or concept.
And please, don't get me wrong, I honestly love almost all of the designs for the forms, I just had preferred we got appearance-variants and side-evos.

I guess now someone is going to point out previous pokemon with forms and compare individual gimmicks with a mechanic that could affect the entire dex. Or maybe tell me how it makes sense for adaptation to be on Pokemon even though the evolution mechanic of the entire franchise already shows that and we even have different species based on environmental adaptations like Ursaring and Beartic.


I know I'm part of a huge minority that tends to use retarded arguments like "SANDslash" and I don't share those stupid views.
I'm just expressing my most sincere opinion. Have that in mind.

>>27730369
It's the 20 year anniversary. They were always going to do something within the games.

I love the concept, that's all. May be my favorite will remain shit, but the excitement for using your favorite in two different forms is interesting.

However, my favorite may never receive some love because is too hated and is not Gen I Pokémon. So, if your favorite has Alolan form, enjoy it.

>>27730815
But they did that with XY

>>27729200
>The one thing im excited for with these new region pokemon is seeing if they can make some changed to pokemon I havent previously liked and make their designs more interesting to me

THIS.

I want Alolan forms for Pokémon that I hate. This sounds ironically, but that makes sense precisely for the quoted reason.

>>27730226
>>27730465
So I'm not allowed to dislike features I think will make things worse because it already had bad features? To begin with, my issue isn't solely about competitive viability. Suppose it's my fault for using words that make it sound like I'm referring specifically to the competitive scene. My issue is Pokemon that are lackluster or overshadowed overall continuing to be lackluster or overshadowed because of what I fear is a bad attempt to make them less lackluster: burying it's original concept underneath a new one. I never held my breath on bad pokemon getting better, and I know a lot of gimmick pokemon will never end up better just because they're gimmick pokemon. I just don't want a pokemon's original core theme and concept overshadowed by new ones, and I fear any thought of making said pokemon less bland and forgettable will be abandoned because the new theme is more prominent (e.g., Alolan Sandslash's unique typing makes it very interesting if only because of its existence, but regular Sandslash is still generic ground type with nothing to set it apart from the other ones). If both concepts are developed alongside one another, then I'm totally fine with it. Hell, the reason I like mega evolutions is because they felt like an expansion of a pokemon's core concept rather than a replacement of it.

Granted, they likely weren't going to do anything with the bland ones to begin with, but with this, they can pretend like they did when they actually didn't. Fuck, that's what people in this very thread are doing. "It's cool lore and interesting additions, and I think that's good enough." For me, it's not good enough; it's a lazy fix by copy/pasting an old name onto a new pokemon.

I know it sounds like I'm moving the goalposts here, but I'm seriously not trying to. I'm just explaining why I wouldn't like it. By all means, enjoy the variants, I legitimately think it's a good idea. This is just my reason for not being able to enjoy them myself.

i like the concept for the following reasons:
>alola forms produces pokemon with some nice design
>the concept makes the world feel more connected and vivid
>alola forms do not overwrite existing pokemon; for example electabuzz gets powercreeped by its evolution and thus wont stay in your team realistically
>since alola forms are completely different pokemon, they do not influence the role of their classic forms, both in regular gameplay and in competitive

all in all an alolan form to me is just a new pokemon which has a significantly larger chance for an appealing design, often interesting typing and all that with the advantage that no more forgettable pokemon are introduced into the game. also again i think the pokemon universe profits from pokemon forms varying from region to region as it makes the world feel connected and not like every region is a completely new world.

File: pikipek.png (894KB, 1172x818px) Image search: [Google]

894KB, 1172x818px

Actually, there is few that i wait for evolutions of them. But for now, my team would be like this. I cant play without this poison/fire lizard and Awesome Marowak form so yeah, 2 fire types will be in my team for sure.