Pokémon Go Community Day, 5/15/2021

After one month - and a restful one month at that, at least for a certain group of people - Pokémon Go Community Day is back in action. It almost feels like that restful one month has put everyone on the ground, and now everyone is ready to take to the skies, which is more than apropos for this current edition. And those who participate will really need to "take to the skies" for this edition in order to get the most out of it.

This month, the featured Pokémon is Swablu. It might seem like an odd choice, until it is considered that some parallels can be drawn with Magikarp, which has had its Community Day last year. For now, though, there are the standard particulars or "bones". Evolving it to Altaria (or catching Altaria directly) allows it to possess the Charged Move of Moonblast. The bonus is reduced Egg distance, which ought to help with 2 km Eggs that may have Swablu in them. The paid Special Research is titled "Cotton-Winged Bird" owing to the appearance of the species family. And because current conditions have not resolved themselves, those particulars (extended Incense and so on) continue to apply.

Now it's time for those parallels. Swablu, like Magikarp, needs an immense 400 Candies to evolve; the paid Special Research provides 300 of those, not counting ones begotten from the included Swablu encounters. In Pokémon Go, Swablu has also had its Shiny form released previously, but like Magikarp, only certain Trainers - a good number, but still relatively not many - possess the Shiny form. For at least one of my friends, it was therefore an opportunity to obtain this "cotton bird" in golden form, which also becomes a golden Altaria. Lastly, while the Swablu family only has two species, its evolution Altaria does possess a Mega Evolution, and this becomes key now that Mega Evolution is somewhat established in Pokémon Go.

For the matter of Mega Evolution, that becomes something unto itself. If one had the opportunity to go around PokéStops, one may have found ones with "catch-3" Field Research tasks rewarding 20 Altaria Mega Energy. After the period of Swablu appearances end at 5 PM local time, Mega Altaria then appears in Mega Raid boss eggs that appear onwards, making this essentially its debut. Those who have obtained enough Mega Energy for a Mega Evolution from the Field Research tasks may not have to raid, but everyone else will likely have to, in order to gain what's needed. In any case, this is a completely new approach to Community Day that factors in Mega Evolution.

Today, I had the opportunity to go out and do a couple of errands, which I also did to take advantage to scout out a few PokéStops and go through Community in almost live fashion. I did not meet people I was expecting to meet, however, but that afforded me the opportunity to go home early and take care of the rest of what I needed to or can do at home. After the appearances ended, I evolved the best Swablu I had, the best Shiny I had, and one that could be useful in PvP affairs. Not to forget, I also got involved in a couple of Mega Raids for Mega Altaria and earned just enough Mega Energy for the Mega Evolution, which could be useful at some point and nicely caps off the day.

For a Pokémon like Swablu and Altaria, it's only appropriate that Trainers "take to the skies" with it, especially for the purpose of Mega Altaria. The Community Day for Pokémon Go also has something good going for all three with a novel approach that may stand to be repeated for other species families with Mega Evolution. After that, it may just be possible for one to go wherever they want to go, maybe even on the wings of a cotton bird and beyond.

One year ago: Coming Full Circle

Two years ago: Everything Old Is New Again

Three years ago: 15 Minutes of Fame

Four years ago: Adventuresome Pikachu