Six Years & The Conferring of Statuses

As of today, it's been a grand six years in the making with this blog. It's been incredible to post about my Pokémon experiences (and those of others) all throughout and each and every day, through both incredible and not-so-incredible times. Just as incredible or not-so-incredible are the status conditions of Pokémon, which may be beneficial or detrimental depending on who might receive them, how they might be received, or what they might be. That becomes the Pokémon game mechanic and concept that I've elected to discuss in tandem for this year's summary post.

It is known that there are five basic (or common) status conditions - Poison, Paralysis, Burn, Sleep, and Freeze - that are mostly negative on the conferred end, but Sleep in particular may be conferred on oneself, through the Rest move, and this becomes beneficial. The events and conventions that are now occurring again this year and to where I brought my Pokémon cosplay may be said to have used the Rest move and put Sleep on oneself in the past couple of years, only waking up at this point in time. Burn and Poison notably can also be self-inflicted with certain risks but also certain advantages; the best example is for the new Scarlet and Violet games, which may be considered to have been released in a less-than-ideal state, but does further the continuation of the franchise. Such is the nature of these status conditions, which may be hard to deal with.

Then there are status conditions that are a step up in complexity, like confusion and Tailwind. The former is a status condition that often befalls opponents but also may befall oneself as a result of moves like Outrage. While there wasn't "bad" confusion, there was a good mix-up of participants and winners in the two tournaments held by my raid group this year, and that was quite pleasant. The other status condition is a truly beneficial status condition that doubles Speed of all Pokémon in a team (party) for a few turns. If anything, the local event that is going on where I am might serve as that "Tailwind", even if it's mostly for other things than the main series Pokémon games - though eventually it too might get involved in the future. Still, the good parts go on just like how the conditions play out.

It is also the case that there are conditions that are more complex, like different terrains and Trick Room. The former leads to the strengthening of different types and may even further lead to "terrain wars" with different Pokémon changing terrains at will, while the latter leads to extreme dimensional changes (mainly as inverting the Speed priority). The diverse editions of Community Day this year and the shifting formats of the Go Battle League - plus that of the Battlefields of Silph Arena Factions - could be considered a more lifelike version of changing Pokémon terrains. The changes that Trick Room make are wild, and so is the array of Pokémon merchandise that has been introduced in the past year, including some local ones. Likewise, it's the complexity of the happenings that reflects the complexity of the status conditions.

There are many more status conditions than what I've described above, but they are an affirmation of their diversity as well as that of Pokémon and the battles they are involved in. And so, some of them appear apt to be applied to what has happened during this year. No matter what goes on, they're still incredible, even if recent times have not been so. There is still something to be gained from all the status conditions in Pokémon and how their natures are reflected in the Pokémon happenings of this year as I close it up in this summary post.

(Also, one may have noticed that my recent posts might be different in style - even slightly - from the way that I've made them in previous years. But there's a good reason, and that's for later.)

Come the next year, there might be other Pokémon status conditions that might apply to Pokémon happenings as well as different outcomes that are expected from them.

Cheers to what might happen then. 💪

One year ago: Five Years - Extended Healing

Two years ago: Four Years, Taking Damage and Healing

Three years ago: Three Years: Making My Moves

Four years ago: Two Years of Evolution

Five years ago: One Year Full of Pokémon