theSLAYER's thoughts and ramblingshttps://projectpokemon.org/home/blogs/blog/19-theslayers-thoughts-and-ramblings/ A sanctuary for my random inner monologues...

]]>enThe relationship between Shiny Pokemon and their TCG variations.https://projectpokemon.org/home/blogs/entry/36-the-relationship-between-shiny-pokemon-and-their-tcg-variations/ Author's Note: This is just a fun opinion piece, with very little facts substantiating my claims. More of a 'speaking from my experience' type of thing.

Back when Neo Destiny was first up for purchase on my sunny little island, I was excited. Finally, the return of the Dark Pokémon, and also the introduction of Light Pokémon!
Unbeknownst to me at that time, Shining Pokémon was also a secret part of the expansion. When I pulled my first Shining Celebi from a booster pack, I was thrilled to bits!
But something felt pretty off to me: why does this card even exist?

shining celebi card.PNG
Image source. Chose this image, cause it shows the glittering effect.

Shining Gyarados was in Neo Revelation possibly due to it's prominent role in the story of Gold, Silver & Crystal at the Lake of Rage. Heck, Neo Revelation's expansion symbol, booster artwork, and also card artworks heavily features the Legendary Beasts roaming throughout Johto (which potentially shows that the TCG was following the games or anime lore closely).
All the other shinies in Neo Destiny can be encountered in-game (plus Shining Noctowl was also possibly referencing Ash's Shiny Noctowl in the anime), so why does the Shining Celebi card even exist, given it couldn't be encountered in-game?

Of course, since I was then only exposed to the English/International versions of both the TCG and Pokémon Crystal, it was natural that this question weighed on my mind, as the card's existence was lacking context. Context that could have been much more clearer to me if I was living in Japan.


Pokémon Crystal in Japan has connectivity to the now defunct Mobile System GB service, which updates an in-game message board every month.
Between the months of April and May of 2001, the message on the news machine will be updated to show something that translates to "The present which exceeds time" 1.
It was only for that period, that players will receive the GS Ball, and that can only occur after you beat some mini-game and quiz, which was only possible with a game save that has all 16 badges.
Now, Neo Destiny was released in Japan in March 2001 2. In this timeline underlined, this card could have easily been foreshadowing the fact that players have a chance to get Shining Celebi in Ilex Forest via the event.

And before anyone points out to that "Hey, the expansion before it, Neo Revelations, already had Celebi in it", I will like to in turn point out other key date's along our timeline:
1. Players in Japan could first receive Celebi on their copies of Gold and Silver at a real life event in August of 2000 3.
2. Neo Revelation in Japan was released in November 2000 4.
Given how these events typically goes, the DVs are likely fixed, hence said previous event would have yielded only non-shiny Celebi.
timeline.png

Hence based on the timeline above, players likely already knew of the existence of Celebi, but probably never seen a Shining Celebi (without hacking), not until that Shining card was first released.

At this point, some of you may be thinking "So what?". To answer that, here is a currently unavailable Shining Pokémon that was showcased officially by the TCG before it was released to the games.

shining volcanion.PNG
Image source. Once again, I chose this image, cause it shows the glittering effect.

The expansion Shining Legends was released July 2017 in Japan 5, and it was the first time in years they brought back the "Shining" prefix to the TCG series.
Curious enough, Shining Volcanion was given a card when a distribution for it's equivalent in the core series games have yet to be done.
And as of the date January 2018, players have yet to receive a Shining Volcanion in-game, to go with the card.

In recent years, it is not uncommon to have a "Shiny lock" broken for the game, and be commemorated by a close release of the TCG equivalent:
1. Shining Tapu Koko event was first released to Japan in March 2017, with the card equivalent (GX and standard) available concurrently
2. Shining Xerneas and Shining Yveltal common serial code event ran unceremoniously in October 2016, and the cards was obtainable in July 2016
(international versions got the Shiny Kalos Tins and the game variants pretty much concurrently, I may add.)
3. Shining Genesect event released in Japan July 2013 to promote the movie, and the promo cards was released concurrently.

Additionally, such types of TCG and event gift tie-ins have been occurring for other shinies as well:
1. Shiny Silvally Event being Sep 2017 in Japan, and it's card released in the same month (GX and standard)
2. Shiny Rayquaza Corocoro Event and the TCG campaign running concurrently in March 2015.

It is possible for me to list non-shiny examples, to show other tied releases between TCG and events (Zoroark for EX Breakpoint, Lycanroc for Guardians Rising, Salazzle for Burning Shadows), but a bulk of these are non-Japanese, so I am not sure how relevant it would be to refer to it, when typically Japanese events breaks the shiny lock first.

But of course, with any opinion piece, lies examples that tears through the flawed logic.
For example, TCG alternate colored cards that did not get a game gift mirroring it's release in close proximity (random shinies like Blastoise from BW era, or Shining Arceus from the same Shining Legends expansion mentioned above, or even the limited edition Corocoro Shining Mew card from Neo Destiny era, Red Gyarados in EX Breakpoint).
Or perhaps core series Shiny events that did not get a corresponding card mirroring it (Shiny Arceus's first release in Japan, Shiny Diancie in Japan, Shiny Jirachi event in Japan etc)

In any case, as flawed as my logic may be, it still seems rather odd that in this era that games and cards are intimately mixing, that a card would break the shiny lock,
but not have a corresponding event following it closely. I certainly do hope that an event for it is coming soon, as unlikely as that may be.
So what do you think? Do leave your comments below!

In any case, it may not be possible to get a Shining Volcanion any time soon, but if you want to obtain your very own Shining Celebi, it may be possible to get one with the upcoming Virtual Console release of Pokémon Crystal! Grab a copy on January 26, 2018!
 

Text Sources:
1. Regarding Celebi GS Ball Event dates. (link)
2. Regarding Neo Destiny's Japanese name and launch dates. (link)
3. First known Celebi event in Japan (link)
4. Neo Revelation launch date (link)
5. Shining Legends launch date (link)

]]>36Sat, 15 Jan 2022 06:15:36 +0000Useless sketches of beta/unused/prototype/placeholder Pokemonhttps://projectpokemon.org/home/blogs/entry/171-useless-sketches-of-betaunusedprototypeplaceholder-pokemon/ They are (arguably) Pokémon that I use or have used in my Twitter banner. Will edit any other used images into this entry.
They've been down-scaled to save space and file size.

image.png

Kotora

An unused design that ended up being cut for 2 Generations.

This design was first seen by players in the Gold/Silver '97 Spaceworld Demo.

It was later discovered to also be cut from the prototype versions of Generation 1, and never made it into the final games.


Its Japanese name can be seen as small tiger or tiger cub.

image.png

Mitei 12

Appears to be a prototype Celebi.

This design was first seen by players in the Gold/Silver '99 Spaceworld Demo.
Though I believe they did not get to see it in the demo itself, but rather via the leaked game.

The name basically means 12th placeholder.

image.png

Okutank

It has the same Japanese name as Octillery, so it is almost evident that this is a beta Octillery.

This design was found in the data for the Gold/Silver Spaceworld '97 Demo.

Its Japanese name could be a reference to Octopus and Tank.
The tank-like elements are more apparent in this design than that final design.

image.png

Poponeko

Based on various similarities between its family in the demo and in the final games, it appears to a beta Skiploom.

This design was found in the data for the Gold/Silver Spaceworld '97 Demo.

Its Japanese name appears to be a reference to dandelion (popo from tanpopo) and cat (neko).
The cat-like elements are more apparent in this design than that of the final design.

Presumably the cat-like element was cut for the final games, hence why it looks less like a cat in the final build,
and it was subsequently renamed in the final build.

image.png

Marill

Evidently a beta Marill.

This design was found in the data for the Gold/Silver Spaceworld '97 Demo.

The only thing notable about it, besides it being a rough look different from the final design,
is that it apparently has no evolution at that point in development.

image.png

Pii

Evidently a beta Cleffa.

This design was found in the data for the Gold/Silver Spaceworld '97 Demo.

The only thing notable about it, besides it being a rough look different from the final design,
is that it evolves at level 12, instead of being evolution via happiness.

image.png

Nyorotono

Evidently a beta Politoed.

This design was found in the data for the Gold/Silver Spaceworld '97 Demo.

image.png

Akueria

This design was found in the data for the Gold/Silver Spaceworld '97 Demo.
It is meant to be the final evolution of the water starter received in the demo. It shall be noted that Totodile is not the water starter for this demo.

image.png

Taaban

This design was found in the data for the Gold/Silver Spaceworld '97 Demo.
It looks like it was meant to be the Shellder that got detached from a Slowbro/Slowking.

Despite its apparently likeness, in the game's data, it has no evolutionary relationship to both the Slowpoke and Shellder lines.

image.png

Bangirasu

Apparently a beta Tyranitar.

First seen on the cover of the April 1997 issue of MicroGroup Game Review. The Spaceworld '99 sprite matches the final build.
The primary differences would be the change of the sprite's color, as well as the cubital fossa area being indented. This can actually be observed on the final sprite for Pokémon Gold, if that area was colored similarly to the belly area.

image.png

Lizardon

The beta of a female Charizard.

First seen (in terms of game data) in one of the earliest prototype builds of Diamond and Pearl. It appears to be an attempt to add several early official artwork that depicts Charizard having only a single horn to the official canon.

It only has one horn instead of two horns. This gender difference was never implemented into the final builds of Diamond and Pearl. There is no clue why this gender difference was avoided.

image.png
image.png

Aruseus

A beta version of Arceus.

First seen from the June 30th Prototype Build of Diamond and Pearl. This version of Arceus already has Multitype as an ability.

The default color of grey changes when it becomes other types.
 

image.png

Karanakushi

Reimagining based on leftover back sprite of Shellos from the final builds of Diamond and Pearl.

Looking at the prototype build, this ambiguous back sprite was used, while it already uses the standard West/East sprite for the front sprites. The back sprite's color changes depending on the form. The same phenomenon was observed for Gastrodon.

At this stage, it is not certain whether a single unified Shellos & Gastrodon existed before they were split to West/East variation, or this back sprite was simply meant to be used for testing purposes.

image.png

Nicknamed by fans Latiken

A prototype Pokémon that likely spawned the designs of Latias and Blaziken.

This design was first seen in a pre-alpha sketch. After the pre-alpha sketch, official artwork was released that appears to match a similar style of the pre-alpha sketch.

image.png

F-00

Unused shiny coloration for the Pokestar Studio opponent.

First seen in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2's data.

image.png

Eternal Flower Floette

A 6th form of Floette, never released to players.

This Floette was first seen as a Pokémon owned by AZ in the games Pokémon X&Y.

This Floette cannot evolve, and be evolved into. It has 1 less base stat than the base stat total of Florges.
It also has a signature Light of Ruin, that cannot be learned by any other Pokémon (besides Smeargle using Sketch on it).

As of time of writing, this Pokémon was never released to players, despite the full data being in XY, ORAS, SM, USUM.
The personalinfo is technically in LGPE, despite the model not being programmed into those games.

image.png

Gogoat

An unused shiny form of Gogoat.

This unused shiny variant was first shown in an official Pokémon X&Y pre-release footage. Its shiny variation was changed upon the release of the final build.

It is important to note that the non-shiny variant of Gogoat has been revealed prior to this, and in other parts of the video itself one can see regular Gogoat. Hence why this variant is believed to be the shiny variant, and not a recoloring of the regular variant.

image.png

Ash Greninja

An unused shiny variant of Ash Greninja.

At this point in time, Ash Greninja was never made available as being shiny to players.

image.png

Ghost

Ghost of the Mother Marowak. The model is cool, but not obtainable by the player.

A story element from the Generation 1 games that gained a 3D model. Like the Generation 1 games, this creature was not meant to be owned by players.

image.png

Eternatus

An Eternatus model from the prototype builds of Sword & Shield.

This may not have been an intended design of Eternatus, but rather a bare-boned model for testing the script and story functions of the game.

betacynd1.png
Gen 2 Cyndaquil Coloration

betacynd2.png
Larvitar Coloration
 

Beta Cyndaquil (Probably)

Info I have about this is a lil' sketch. If I'm not mistaken, it was found within a leak containing various GS betas.
It wasn't found in one of the games, but instead within a backup of sprites found within the source code for Korean localization process.
Additionally, a palette file was found alongside it. The data was apparently found in a spot that would have been reserved for Larvitar.
As such, the palette appears to be belonging to Larvitar, hence why the color is all messed up.
It is not known whether it was intended to have that particular coloration, or Gen 2 Cyndaquil's coloration, or neither.

It appears these backups are from the time period where GS betas were still using the Gen 1 engine (think: Spaceworld '97).

Given it was thought to be an Ice or Steel type, I came up with a coloration with those types in mind.

betacynd3.png   betacynback.png
My fan Ice or Steel coloration   Beta Cyndaquil Backsprite
]]>171Tue, 09 Mar 2021 06:02:49 +0000Meltan Teasehttps://projectpokemon.org/home/blogs/entry/169-meltan-tease/ IMG_0667.PNG

 

Right at the end of Chikorita Community Day (September 22nd, 2018), a never-before-seen Pokémon took over every spawn in Pokémon GO.

DnrUgO6UUAAtsB2.jpg

 

Since it was a mystery Pokémon being teased, the natural thing would be to try to encounter it!
DnrUgO5U4AApCIy.jpgMeltan_Community_Day.jpeg


However, it's name was not revealed to players, and upon capture, players find out that apparently it was a Ditto masquerading as the mystery Pokémon!

DnrUgO4VAAAvksZ.jpgDnrUgO6V4AAKqdN.jpg

 

During the Pokémon GO teaser event, it appears that the devs was lazy being innovative and temporarily used the then-unreleased Kecleon's slot to hold the data for Meltan.
If players were using tracking apps, this phenomenon would be evident, as trackers would show that Kecleon is the one that is in the wild.

image.png

I didn't take a screenshot of my tracker (I actually saw it first hand myself), however I found an image from a user who experienced the same thing.

However due to this temporary 3D model switch, and some users not having their games updated, it caused those players to instead encounter Kecleon.
(Which also transformed into Ditto; it was supposed to be Meltan's model transforming into Ditto after all)
n3CLyaR.pngCjW414h.pngWvuVZpP.pngh19vgIH.png

(source: reddit and imgur)

 

Another quirk of this event, was that Meltan-Kecleon (Ditto) actually replaced all existing spawns (they didn't despawn and spawn new mons),
so as a result, if there was a shiny Chikorita that players ignored, when the spawns changed, it would appear as a Shiny Meltan!
(though, when captured, it'll transform into a regular Ditto)

iocIEZn.jpgTNJvK8o.jpg

(source: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheSilphRoad/comments/9hyxt6/anyone_found_not_caught_ofc_a_shiny_nutto/)

 

In any case, this is the news report relating to it's official reveal.
And anyhow, here is a picture of the then-unreleased Meltan (Ditto) with my Beast Ball.
IMG_0660.PNG

]]>169Sun, 22 Sep 2019 13:50:56 +0000Short Break from Pokémon: Gundam Unicorn Perfectibilityhttps://projectpokemon.org/home/blogs/entry/165-short-break-from-pok%C3%A9mon-gundam-unicorn-perfectibility/ I've been an on and off fan of Gundam, but I've never really taken a step into their convoluted Universal Century, at least not until Unicorn Gundam came along.

It has a really interesting story, and the unit is equally amazing to me, especially with the potential to swap various pieces around.
(though arguably, Gundam Seed's Strike X-105 has more customization options, though that argument is for another day)

In any case, I usually like clear units, but I was really excited when this got announced.
Though the initial unit was released together as an RG unit with the Blu-ray release, and that was really expensive.
So I waited and waited patiently, for the HG unit that was released as a limited unit at the Gundam Base stores.
(note: I am buying it online off a reseller of sorts, so even when the unit was in stores, I had to wait for it to be resold.)

So here it is, the Gundam Unicorn Perfectibility (previously known as Gundam Unicorn Full Armor Plan B, though some argue it's a different unit.)

Spoiler

image.pngimage.pngimage.pngimage.png
images taken from my twitter page: https://twitter.com/PP_theSLAYER/status/1083948563032227840

 

So the reason why (with horrible spelling) it's called "Perfectibility", is because it combined elements from at least 3 basic units.

In the spoiler, shows the evolution of the basic units to get to this unit.
(and how much different items you're likely required to buy and paint over to get to this, before it got released as an official unit.)

Spoiler

perfect.png

In any case, as Bandai simply has to re-use the existing plastic molds for the existing units,
you also get fun extras that are unused, like the folded claw (Armed Armor VS), the chest plate and collar and v-fin for the Bansee etc.
image.png

image source: http://www.gunjap.net/site/?p=341736

In any event, I added the Rifle from Gundam Banshee Norn and the calf-side missiles Gundam Unicorn Full Armor for extra fun.
In any case, this was a fun unit, and I look forward to a clear unit being released (as unlikely as that is).

theSLAYER, signing off.

]]>165Sat, 12 Jan 2019 08:43:47 +0000