Go Onwards to Home

Something that fans of Pokémon who play Pokémon Go have waited a long time for is to be able to transfer some of their Pokémon to Pokémon Home, which had been promised when the latter was first released. A couple of weeks ago, this was realized with sufficient fanfare, and the link was established. The "sufficient fanfare" will be discussed at a later time, certainly; right now, the essentials of the matter are to be explained - as noted earlier - as well as my own experience with the feature to keep things in perspective and provide insights.

Firstly, one needs to have Pokémon Home installed on an Android device (of course) and a Nintendo Account. This last bit is crucial, because it is how Pokémon Home and Pokémon Go will link. Pokémon Home needs to be set up with the Nintendo Account, and then Pokémon Go needs to connect to that Nintendo Account (by way of the Settings menu and the Pokémon Home selection). Once set up, then one (or in some cases a few) Pokémon can be transferred to Pokémon Home by way of the "Send Pokémon" process. After initiating the transfer on Pokémon Go, the Pokémon need to be received in Pokémon Home to complete the transfer and allow more Pokémon to be sent later on. As a friendly reminder, the transfer is one-way, so one needs to be absolutely sure for the transfer process.

Secondly, the transfer consumes certain amounts of energy, called Go Transporter Energy. The system depends on the CP of the Pokémon as well as whether it's Shiny as well as Legendary or Mythical. Abstractly, most regular non-Shiny Pokémon with various CP should only deplete the energy by only small amounts, allowing a good number to be transferred at once. But for Legendary or Mythical Pokémon, only a few of them can be transferred at once. And if they're Shiny, effectively only a few Shiny regular Pokémon can be transferred, while only one Shiny Legendary or Mythical Pokémon can be transferred, instantly depleting all energy in this latter case. Some energy is recovered by the hour (which in the worst case might take a full week for full recovery), but coins can also be paid for instant recovery.

By executing the transfer, one certainly earns the Mystery Box (or allows it to be opened once more, if applicable) in Pokémon Go, and this can be used to obtain more of the Mythical Pokémon of Meltan and its Candy, just like a transfer to the LGPE games. If one doesn't have the games, then this works effectively. But if one has them, then it's worthwhile to transfer Generation 1 Pokémon to those games to avoid energy costs and/or save the energy for the purpose of transferring other Pokémon. Either way, they both have their uses.

Based on my own experience, the setup can be the most daunting part, especially if one doesn't have a Nintendo Account for any reason whatsoever (including that of not having a Switch), as I did when I set mine up. It became an opportunity to unify some of the services I have going that are related to Nintendo and/or Pokémon for this purpose and possible others, such as owning a Switch later on down the line. After that, the transfer should be rather straightforward and convenient as much as it allows. 

Now that Pokémon Go and Pokémon Home has had their link established, it becomes an inlet for wondrous Pokémon from the former into the latter. It takes a little bit of a setup, and there are a few small caveats, but on the whole, the link allows the process for bringing the greater bulk of Pokémon available through Pokémon Go for use in the greater Pokémon ecosystem. That's obviously something important for just about any fan whose desire is to see all the creatures unite at "Home" and wherever they venture away from that.

One year ago: Herding the Last: Wooloo Sticker

Two years ago: Poké-Pareidolia

Three years ago: The Pacing of Types