Sunday, January 11, 2026

The Year of Plush?

It has come to my attention that Pokémon is also wanting to try out a little something new for this year, much like as they did last year with the "Year of Eevee". This time, though, it seems to be more specifically focused on a particular area of Pokémon, being merchandise: according to Pokémon Center, this will be the "Year of Plush", which could mean a lot of things given that the subset of Pokémon merchandise (and itself as an area of merchandise) can be broader than one might think it is. That's the reason for the added question mark in the title, which also becomes the prompt for further exploration of the topic in a post.

The announcement should also have come to the attention of a great deal of fans, since those who subscribe to the e-mail newsletters for all things Pokémon (which includes the one for Pokémon Center) should have received an edition of the newsletter containing that very announcement. Something prominent within this edition, one that comes up when one opens it, is the illustration containing a number of Pikachu and Ditto prominently along with a few other Pokémon in different moods and situations. For those who don't subscribe, the same illustration may be found on different social media accounts for Pokémon.

As far as merchandise content goes, the e-mail newsletter edition suggests that in fact Ditto and Pikachu will figure in prominently, given the associated promotion for Pokémon Natures plush featuring the two Pokémon species, including how they appear in the illustration. Then there's the new entry of a Pokédex Plush for Mimikyu, which of course means a life-size edition of this niche but highly appreciated Pokémon species (ahem) for fans to appreciate as well. The present offerings are quite fascinating and are surely to be accompanied by others throughout the year, given that the announcement is for that very period.

Plush dolls for Pokémon are pretty common by now, so technically there doesn't need to be a full, entire year for celebrating them. Still, the upcoming Pokémon anniversary of this year, as I've already hinted about in my actual "yearly theme" post, actually has something special going for it, so it seems to be quite pertinent to celebrate that alongside even the most common matters for Pokémon... which include plush dolls. With that, the "Year of Plush" can be construed to be a totally ambitious premise of a common matter that is made even more special by all kinds of circumstances for Pokémon and all its fans.

Six years ago: Faults in Some Stars
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Saturday, January 10, 2026

On Timelines That Float

Certain universes have what's called "floating timelines", where the characters in said universes don't change in age and/or appearance even though they progress just as the world around them does, which includes the coming and going of other characters. The "timeline" thus "floats" because the characters progress on their own, like they are on a vessel floating upon the "sea of time". It becomes clear that some perspective shift is involved here.

Now, if this sounds like something that does occur in Pokémon, that's because it does (or did): the anime is said to do this when Ash was still around. The change in the regions and the addition of more Pokémon species were indications that the Pokémon world continued to progress, despite that Ash and other people in connection remained pretty much the same. Their progressions "float" and "cruise" upon that of the world itself.

The "floating timeline" aspect in turn contributes or gives rise to a "relevance" aspect, by which the stories and adventures remain pertinent to both old and new fans. This has obviously worked quite well for the Pokémon anime during the time it had Ash - perhaps a bit too well, since he is still quite cemented to the anime even well after his departure. It only means that the connection to the character and related adventures is extremely established.

Speaking of all this matter about time(lines) and how they float, it is also known that time itself may be the only thing that can provide answers to its progressions. That's the essence behind a certain popular song by one of my favorite artists (nonetheless), which I also thought about as I examined the matter about "floating timelines". With that, the discussion becomes the perfect entry point for finally mentioning the song on this blog:

Who can say if your love grows
As your heart chose?
Only time
And who can say where the road goes?
Where the day flows?
Only time
Who knows? Only time
Who knows? Only time
-- "Only Time", Enya 

Just like how time may hold all the answers to life - and possibly the universe and everything - the progression of people in that life and characters in adventures and stories may have all the answers for all kinds of people who enjoy them, regardless of what time they are living in. That becomes something that "floating timelines" enable, for even without apparent change, there is still something to be gained where they are of concern, for Pokémon or otherwise.

Seven years ago: Custom Pokémon Merchandise
Eight years ago: A Pokémon-Pikachu Balloon
Nine years ago: Where It All Started
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Friday, January 9, 2026

Triangulation in Pokémon Terms

The term I mention in the title of this post - "triangulation" - might only be heard in certain advanced contexts, ones that also likely don't or won't involve Pokémon. Yet I also feel that Pokémon can somehow be involved in demonstrating how the term can manifest itself in those contexts and furthermore beyond. It's also a bit of a mental exercise for me as a blogger to try and do that, certainly then to present the results here in a post all its own. 

Basically, the term involves ascertaining things. For a possibly half-realistic and half-Pokémon example, to determine where a disturbance in the ground may be coming from, two Diglett can be employed to sense the vibrations. Where their vibrations intersect with that from the ground, that would be where the disturbance is, and that's what "triangulation" is. The realistic part of this is certainly not having to use Diglett to accomplish the objective.

Meanwhile, I myself benefit from the "triangulation" process for this blog. I'm effectively doing that when I'm gathering information for a post, like from the separate infographics for certain Pokémon Go events as well as from the official web site and from the experiences of others and my own. In doing so, I'm able to write up something with a certain weight to it, and others can benefit from the information contained in that writeup.

Now, those advanced contexts might involve research of some kind, and that definitely invokes the Pokémon Professors as something they'd do all the time, and might even require the help of aides, as Ash and Goh did for Professor Cerise. In fact, their efforts are essentially invoking the "triangulation" process, synthesizing all their data to something that would let them understand "the whole" of things, the point of the process in general.

Some terms like "triangulation" sound advanced, particularly in the contexts they're usually used in, but when they're considered to a certain depth as with that term above, they might not sound all that advanced and in fact turn out rather pedestrian and necessary for some everyday matters. Of course, a little bit of Pokémon might just help in that regard, and that can serve well for those whose dealings are always somehow linked with the franchise.

Three years ago: The Post URLs on This Blog
Seven years ago: Pokémon Ceramics
Eight years ago: Hitching a Raid Ride
Nine years ago: A Tale of Two Shirts
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Thursday, January 8, 2026

Ranked Play Updates in Pokémon Unite

Along with the update to how Unite Licenses are procured in Pokémon Unite a while back, its Ranked play mode also received a few updates, specifically to the all-important aspect of how players would progress in it. The updates are somewhat significant to both prospective ("new") players as well as existing ("old") players, so they've got to be discussed and explored for all their worth to all of those players, including what they can do with them.

First up, the system of match win medals and Performance Points is gone... or rather, the former is removed, and the latter is reworked into a new system, just called "Rank Points". In order to advance through the ranks, a player now has to purely earn points by winning the matches (and hopefully not lose), although bonus points are still awarded for certain achievements during a match, which are quite helpful in any case.

Then, there is the addition of a new rank. That new rank is the Legend rank, which is placed above the Master rank and is earned with extremely high ratings. Players of a certain "next-door" MOBA might recognize its similarity to that game's rank, and therefore this could be an incentive for them to try playing Pokémon Unite. Of course, they surely won't be able to get there immediately, but they can keep trying with great efforts.

Meanwhile, there is also a slight but significant change to the Theia Sky Ruins map: the central "Legend pit" now features Kyogre with similar effects to Groudon, with the rest of the map more or less the same as the previous update. This makes it a "deepwater" edition instead, and the variety that the map updates give seems to be rather welcoming, at the very least to keep the map from being perceived as boring and stagnant in a way.

Of these updates, the most intriguing one would have to be the rank update, again due to the semblance of "parity" that it gives with other similar games. There also may be concerns that the new progression system might make things slower and/or more boring than before, but it may have to be admitted that the new system is simpler in some respects. That may be the most important thing, given the state of the game today and to come.

If these changes - including the previous ones - are of any indication, it is that certain efforts still need to be made by players and the game alike to make them as best as they can be, and not to slip further into a "rut". The least that they can do right now is still to continue their efforts in Ranked play with whatever they can muster while awaiting further changes to make it and other parts of the game even more conducive to "united" efforts.

One year ago: The Year of Eevee
Six years ago: Locks on Shiny Forms
Eight years ago: The Three-Count
Nine years ago: On the Subject of Go
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Wednesday, January 7, 2026

The New Pokédex in Pokémon Go

As I had brought up in my annual "Hoppip Report" at the beginning of this year, I wanted to discuss the Pokédex in Pokémon Go, which has had a big change. That big change is actually quite old by now, being that I mentioned it close to a year prior when discussing gameplay vs. visual changes in the game. With that, it's got to be addressed, for it is actually a fascinating topic to make a discussion out of it, and I've chosen this very moment to do that. 

So, with the new Pokédex, when one opens it, one is presented with a list of regions for the origin of each species, as well as a selector at the bottom for the various kinds of forms that the new Pokédex keeps track of. Choosing one of these regions (which will have a silver border when "complete") jumps to the section for that region for the selected form index, for which the Pokémon are now listed by rows of four instead of five as in the previous version, due to the larger rectangles used to display the entries, a rather nice visual improvement.

When a Pokémon entry is selected, the caught forms for that Pokémon are displayed in a tab of their own, which as shown by the Hoppip entry, also contains the ones for 100%, Lucky, XXS, XXL, Shadow, and Purified. Of course, not all Pokémon will have these (specifically, ones that haven't become Shadow obviously can't become Purified either, and those that can't be traded can never become Lucky), so it depends on the species. The Info tab has the usual description and size stats, while the Battle tab has type matchup information and the list of moves (even special ones) that a given species can learn. It has become rather informative as a result.

The new changes absolutely invite Trainers to register as many forms as possible, and in fact that is what happens: capturing a new Shiny form and obtaining a "special" form (Mega Evolution, Max forms) will also bring up the form registration screen, which also now contains the numerical and regional indicator. As well, an alert can be set for a particular species through their entries, which will bring up notifications if that species happens to be present in the wild somewhere nearby. These extra changes are not only functional but also assistive.

It's been a year since the aforementioned changes to the Pokémon Go Pokédex, and it may be safe to say that the quality of the feature has improved overall and somewhat helped Trainers out, even me. While much can still stand to be improved in other gameplay areas for this game, some of the improvement may be (or have been) helped by the new improvements to the Pokédex, and they might just bring on other improvements in gameplay.

One year ago: Give Me Five
Four years ago: A Movie-Watching Dream
Five years ago: Previous Plus One
Seven years ago: Family Affairs
Eight years ago: Rethinking Salt
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Tuesday, January 6, 2026

Stop Killing (Pokémon) Games

Besides playing games, gamers (and other people beyond the realm) also have the interest of preserving games so that other gamers can play them as well. That becomes the key rationale behind the somewhat recent movement of "Stop Killing Games", which has the aim of ensuring the playability of games, specifically ones that require an Internet connection to play and the players spend good money on in order to play. It's a movement with some good ideals to be sure, but it can also be considered that for Pokémon, the key idea can be interpreted in a different way yet has some alignment to the original intent.

The movement itself started close to two years ago after a certain game that required online connectivity though mostly played by one got shut down, and it has gained a lot of traction since, with support from various gamers. The movement also has had some results - though perhaps of the unexpected kind - so it merits consideration in this day and age where many games are played online and many require it as such. It too has some applicability to Pokémon... including for that different interpretation I mentioned.

What I'm getting at is not "killing games" by ending their services, but by killing off their player bases by making things less accessible for new and old players alike. The recent change to way of getting Unite Licenses in Pokémon Unite is a rather potential "killer" in this regard, while event content in Pokémon Go is a minor or "shadowy" one. If the responses to these are not good enough, then their player bases will definitely be killed, which would make it easy to justify killing the games entirely - and no player really wants this to happen.

Meanwhile, the original spirit of the movement is applicable to some current Pokémon games. Unite does have an offline mode, but it's rudimentary in a way and can stand to be improved if the inevitable happens. Café Remix is currently all online - perhaps given its save data and event features - and it might be hard to translate that to an offline mode, although if it can be willed, then a way might just exist for that purpose. Yet other Pokémon games (like Pokémon Go) are not really meant for or easily translatable to offline play, posing challenges.

Games can conceivably die for certain reasons on both sides of the developmental divide, and in this day and age, online games are especially vulnerable due to the dynamics in those sides. With the given movement as above and the current state of some online Pokémon games, there is a significant imperative to make sure current games can stay as lively as possible among their players while dying games can at least have a chance at a "second life" of sorts.

One year ago: There Is a Place...
Three years ago: The Embers of a New Season
Five years ago: No Scans for You
Six years ago: Pokémon Statues
Eight years ago: More Odd Poké-Pika Things
Nine years ago: A 3DS Story
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Monday, January 5, 2026

Six Senses

Before getting anything else going on this Pokémon blog, I'd like to discuss "yearly themes" as I've done in the past (this one being last year's) - but of course, bring things back to Pokémon somehow. For this year, I thought that it might be just as well for the numerical suggestions from the past to continue into this year, and with that, I settled for theme of "Six Senses" since last year was "five" and "six" certainly follows that. Of course, the other half of that theme is just as significant and it's the part that may be telling of Pokémon things to come.

Now, the choice of "senses" alludes to the traditional perception that there are five of them. But "five" was last year, so the "six" this year must allude to the perception that there may be an extra one of these senses. One of these could be the often-discussed ESP that forms the basis of the regard for psychic people, which further alludes to the Pokémon species of this type (Psychic) and especially one called Espeon, whose name practically includes the term in question. Thus, the theme for this year suggests a fair bit of "extra".

For that, this year's Pokémon anniversary is already a spiffy "extra" in itself, and it doesn't take a sixth sense or ESP to see that. What might need just that is the ways to determine what the anniversary will hold this year - as usual, in about one and a half months - in actuality rather than by purported information that also as usual has a way of manifesting itself around this time. If that holds "spiffy extras" as well, then it also doesn't take a sixth sense to determine that Pokémon is going to be over the top ("extra") for its next offerings.

Still, the rest of the world today (and even my own state of affairs) aren't exactly telling of "extras", and if they are telling of anything, then it could be that they might make dealing with Pokémon things more difficult. In that way, the "extras" might be telling of certain "burdens", whether they are Pokémon in origin or not. This also suggests that Pokémon affairs might have to try to reduce the burdens that they might put on for those who enjoy them, in order that fans can still enjoy them even with what could be difficult times ahead.

The big thing about senses is that they are important in and for perceiving everything about life, including all things Pokémon. It takes all five of the common ones to do just that, but sometimes for both explicable and inexplicable reasons, some help from a sixth one in some form might just be helpful. So it is that for this year, all the senses - and then some - will likely be needed to make sense (ahem) of the (Pokémon) world, and after everything has gone on, they'll still be needed for taking all that in to enjoy and survive in it.

Three years ago: Kids in Cosplay?
Six years ago: Jelly-Filled Doughnuts
Seven years ago: Cosplay: Bunkasai XXI
Eight years ago: The Music of Go
Nine years ago: Alt+0233 and Its Kin
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