Pokémon Go Community Day, 9/18/2022

I've just discussed about a facet of Community Day, and that's with good timing and reason, because this month, its edition comes (or came) today. And the previous discussion does have some bearing on the happenings of today with regard to time; aside from time, "effort" and "relations" may also be considered to have some bearing, especially in relation to the featured Pokémon. It also has a certain rocky quality that for the purpose of this edition might also be considered brightly appropriate for the current Season of Light.

Without further ado, this month's Community Day has the featured Pokémon of Roggenrola, a unique Rock-type Pokémon from the fifth generation. It evolves twice, to Boldore and then Gigalith, for which the latter today receives the move of Meteor Beam, a significantly powerful move with a guarantee of boosting Attack in PvP settings. Its Shiny form has been around for some time but is not (quite) common, so that becomes an additional incentive for taking part in the event today, which was from 2 PM to 5 PM, a notable time change to the afternoon.

Also, it has to be noted that evolving Boldore to Gigalith has a steep Candy requirement (the "effort") that fortunately can be obviated with a trade (the "relations"). For that reason, the discounted trade and extra Special Trade bonuses today (both of which remain) are especially important. The main bonus of quartered Egg hatch distance, for getting them hatched and out, and the additional double Candy and increased Candy XL chance for reaping them, are no less important for making great progress in things.

Then there are the standard extended Incense and Lure Modules, photo bombs, extra raid battles after 5 PM (for Boldore and more), commemorative stickers, and paid Special Research (this time called "Rock 'n' Roll" and features the return of Professor Willow exploring the species family with Trainers). There were no group play bonuses this time around, but that seems to not be that necessary - though a Boldore capture bonus as with Zweilous for Deino could have helped, it might also have gotten in the way more so than it helped.

Regular meetups continued to be the thing, and I and others participated as usual. This edition was rather sparse given the relative unpopularity of the featured Pokémon, but quite a few still managed to participate. There was the concern that things could get rained on given the time of the edition, but that fortunately didn't happen. We could freely walk around the park and capture as many Roggenrola as we possibly could for evolving them, and of course, there are the regular festivities.

The big group photo.

The little group photo.

For how I did today, I caught only six Shiny Roggenrola after having had none, one of which was put through a Lucky Trade with good results and was later on evolved fully. Aside from that, a few were also evolved for Great League and Ultra League purposes, even though their usage might be a little unclear at this time. Still, having six from none is a massive improvement, and it is sufficient for now. Even so, I didn't win the "most Shiny forms" contest due to the relative paucity, but all is still fine and may be better later on.

Some editions of Community Day are (or were) special in their own ways, and this one was just that. It had a Pokémon species family with a certain special evolutionary quirk, and it got a really special move to boot. The community meetup is by now a regular thing, but it always feels special somehow as well with the people I get to meet. And this time, they happened to exemplify "effort" and "relations" in some ways. I'd say that comes as a good time for spending a good afternoon with Pokémon and the community.

One year ago: To Care and To Protect

Two years ago: GOtcha Podcast Episode 1: Mega Evolution in Pokémon Go

Three years ago: Raid Failures

Four years ago: A Restarted Fever?

Five years ago: What I (Really) Like About You - Pokémon