Tuesday, October 14, 2025

The Future of the Legends Series

As I've stated, the future of the Legends series may make for a good discussion, and that's what I've chosen to take up as the next topic in this "Legends: Z-A week". Granted, it's a topic that's a bit "far out" as topics go since only the next member in the series, the one that makes it as such, is just being released. Yet there seems to be no harm in trying to establish what the future might hold for this new (and newly established) series of Pokémon games.

The first consideration would certainly involve the region. Two regions have already gotten the treatment (Sinnoh as Hisui and Kalos), and there's still a lot of potential out there. Given the strong Legendary connections, Alola could make a perfect target for an in-the-past approach like the first game, while Hoenn does so likewise for in-the-future like the second game. Other regions may also be possible with surprising developments.

Included Pokémon would certainly be a given. The featured region would certainly have to have its characteristic species, but beyond that, considerations might just go any which way. Species appearing in a region from a later generation retroactively appearing is always an interesting prospect, especially how to make them work as special features. As for older species, they're a natural, but they can also have finer points and surprises too.

Finally, timing is a major consideration as well. The current Legends game is actually being released at a point closer to a momentous time, and the current time may be considered an inter-period between major milestones. If another Legends game is in the works, it would have to be situated between other major Pokémon milestones and take advantage of that so that fans can in turn take advantage of the new game for their needs.

Considering the above, the future looks to be promising for another iteration of the Legends series, but the content and timeframe could be anyone's guess - though certainly at least a few years in the future, likely to continue drumming up Pokémon interest while being in the "doldrums". That may be a future worth waiting for, and while waiting for that, there's always the current iterations of the Legends series for planning out that future.

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Monday, October 13, 2025

How to Regard the Legends Games

I have to be up front and say that this week, the long-awaited Legends: Z-A game will be released - specifically in three days' time. As such, I thought it would be a good idea to take this month's "gimme five" and discuss its eventual release and topics surrounding the game, including Mega Evolution as something touted of the game and its featured region (Kalos). For that, the first topic concerns the game together with the previous one (Legends: Arceus), considering both as a (sub-)series now established by the new and upcoming game.

That first topic in particular concerns how to regard this newly formed Pokémon game series. I had earlier characterized the previous game on its launch as a "spinoff", but considering what has been presented, that might seem "improper". Sure, the game has different mechanisms for battles with wild Pokémon and others, but many things line up with the main series games, like the selection of starters (first partners) and other battle aspects. A Legendary Pokémon is also featured much like the main series games from the second generation onwards.

Furthermore, in the earlier game, Pokémon are kept in "pastures", which are essentially boxes under another name. Meanwhile, the new game will have a form of ranked battling and other online conveniences similar to the most recent main series games of Scarlet and Violet - but this will be further allocated in different posts over this week. And then, there is the highly evident inclusion of Mega Evolution, a revival of a past main series mechanism and with many new entries included, likely alongside the old ones as well within the game.

Based on the points presented above, it can be regarded that the Legends games are most like the main series games with a number of "riffs" or changes. As such, they can then be most aptly considered as "main series alternates", not unlike a "third game" (something that has been long absent) yet also so far removed from the concept - which may be why it could have been so hard to see it all this time. This too opens up a myriad of implications that may be better reserved for later discussions alongside the links to the main series.

Although possible future installments of the Legends games - something that's definitely up for a later discussion - may further tie into the idea above yet separate from its predecessors, including the original main series games they are (or will be) based on, considering the new game series as "alternates" still very much makes sense. That "making sense" will need to be carried over if and when more games of the new series are planned, and of course for the next new game that won't be long now before it's finally released.

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Sunday, October 12, 2025

Pokémon Go Community Day, 10/12/2025

If there is the indication that Pokémon in many ways resemble many animal (and partially plant) species of the real world, they're likely to be structured and made up of the same stuff, which biologically would be cells. Cells are literal powerhouses, for those who know their biology, and their micro scale power is just as great as the organisms that they make up on the macro scale. Coincidentally - or not - a particular Pokémon species family exemplifies their power like a big cell (or a mass of them for the evolved versions), and they're the subject of this month's edition of Community Day in Pokémon Go.

That species family would be that of Solossis, the literal Cell Pokémon, which evolves into Duosion (Mitosis) and then Reuniclus (Multiplying). In this edition, the last of these gets the special move of Charm, a familiar Fast move common to many Pokémon that now becomes available for the Pokémon in question; it's known for certain PvP plays, possibly making it helpful there. This gets complemented by the main bonus of triple Stardust from captures, always a lucratively useful one. Due to the incoming level cap increase, a double XP bonus from captures is also in play along with the current efforts to obtain more of that.

As usual, there are other applicable bonuses or aspects. They would be double Candy catch and Candy XL chance, extended Incense and Lure Modules, an extra Special Trade and discounted trades, and photo bombs. Then, there is also the paid Special Research - this time titled "Solossis Cell-ebration" - and Pokémon with the seasonal special background, which are now also available from random captures in the wild. Tasks in the paid Special Research have also been rearranged and slightly simplified for more convenient progression, and regular Lure Modules that are still active or activated after the main event can still lead to encounters.

Meanwhile, there are a few other changes, not all of which may be favorable. Due to the special background now being available in the wild, the week-long Timed Research becomes redundant and has been eliminated. Some Field Research tasks for the special backgrounds are also modified to be less "collaborative" - though certain other tasks are (and have been since the last Community Day), but this last bit is for a discussion outside of the scope of this post. Finally, the evolution move window is also restored to just within the day up to 9 PM, also partly the consequence of the elimination of the Timed Research as above.

For my own experiences, I thought about taking things somewhat farther away, but then I opted out of the plan due to other needs. Instead, I chose to meet a local friend to deal with the "collaborative" tasks after meeting other friends for other purposes, while the rest of the day was spent by myself - not exactly "community" in one sense but it still is in other senses. I obtained a good haul, including one with the best possible stats and a Shiny with a special background, both of which anyone could be proud of.

Of the featured Pokémon in the current "transformative" season, the one for this month may be considered its "highlight" in a way, as a rather big cellular wonder that can undergo two transformations to become something more than itself. It may also be a testament to the powerhouse wonder that cells are, whether they're ones that make up real-life organisms or possibly make up Pokémon species. Psychic powers may or may not be involved (being the type of the pertinent species family), but biological powers still certainly are in some ways.

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Saturday, October 11, 2025

Performance Critique: Nihon Carnival Cosplay Walk

After a long time of making performance critiques for musical performances, I have a chance to make a critique for a cosplay performance again, being the original intent of this series of posts. Unusually, it's also for a cosplay walk, which I refer to in my in-character discussions as a "character parade" and something I rarely (OK, pretty much never) can get ahold footage of. But as I've discussed, if it happens that I can obtain the footage, then it can almost be assured that I will make the critique somehow.

The source of the footage for this critique is a video on social media, specifically a Reel on Instagram. The Reel comes at the perfect time for me to use it to make it into a critique... as well as at an absolutely critical time since its creator is currently embroiled in a controversy unrelated to the competition. Therefore, it is imperative that I grab the footage just in case it disappears and then be able to make the critique any time - but preferably close to the moment rather than farther away from it.

The "confidence" shot.

For this walk, I chose to start off Ash with what I call the "confidence" motion. This seemed to work great, except that I did have to scuffle a bit for the ball to extract it. As such, there is a bit of a technical factor that affected this motion. I will likely have to make sure that the ball can be extracted more cleanly next time I perform the motion, since it's such an important first impression - and I already have certain plans for that.

The "throw" shot.

Next, I also chose to throw the ball. This is the plastic ball I've used for quite some time now, and I chose to throw it rather gently to keep its condition. Unfortunately, it also gained momentum and rolled off the stage. It's also not the first time that has happened. For a future performance, it seems I will need to bring along an old fabric ball in case I want to try this rather "daring" motion again.

The "wonder" shot.

Closing off this walk were a couple of motions I call "wonder" and "run". The former is slightly designed to "fill time" slightly, and the latter is intended to be an alternative and creative ending compared to how I've done walks in the past. Both of these definitely work this time, though some of the judges may also have been left "wondering", in particular for the former. Whether these had any bearing on the final evaluation is unknown to me.

The "run" shot.

Overall, the walk is approximately 40 seconds in length, though the footage I got appeared to be trimmed (particularly at the "wonder" motion), so including the intro and the trim, it may be closer to 45 seconds. This seems fine for this competition - they were expecting walks of up to a minute in length - though for this and competition with similar demands, I could have slowed down my movements a bit to fill even more time. For ones that demand shorter lengths, then a cutting of the movements is in order.

In any case, this particular walk has been satisfying to perform and can be satisfactorily adapted according to the demands of other competitions. It also has finally allowed me to fulfill what I had really intended this series of posts to be, to deal with cosplay performances and review my efforts in them. Yet since then, it also has been evident that performances with Pokémon can come in any form, so this post series can and still will deal with all of them.

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Friday, October 10, 2025

Poké-Cartomancy?

Cartomancy is the act of divining fates from cards - in other words, fortune-telling using those cards. In the world, the most common cards that are used for this purpose are tarot cards containing some novel cards that complement that very purpose, although regular playing card decks can also be used with particular methods. This then leads to the pondering that other cards could be used to do so, and within the scope of this blog, that would mean the cards of the Pokémon TCG.

What would be conceivable is that a player who possesses the usual 60-card deck used for TCG matches would go to a "cartomancer" who can also deal with Pokémon cards as well as the usual purposed cards. The deck would be shuffled and cards would be drawn from it, and then divinations would be made according to the cards that are turned up, much like the process with the other purposed cards. Something that would also be conceivable is that the elements on the cards - like the moves on Pokémon cards or the descriptions of Trainer cards - would be part of the divinations, with other elements possibly contributing to them.

Yet challenges are certainly abound. A big and obvious one is that there are many, many more Pokémon cards than there are for the other purposed cards, and more and more of the former are being made all the time, as veteran players can attest. The divinations may have to have (or be based on) certain ground rules that pertain to most of these cards, and perhaps more importantly can be proactively applied to cards that will be developed in the future. In that respect, card descriptions are consistent (and standard) in this regard even if the cards themselves are different, and like the purposed cards, they'll have certain interpretations.

Divining fates or the future, with cartomancy as the specific form based on cards of some kind, is an activity that may only be loosely grounded by what's on the cards, but could still be thought of as a fun interpretative exercise. The cards of the Pokémon TCG would be an unusual basis for performing the activity in comparison to the purposed cards that are more established, but then that may go back to the "fun" part, and the rest of that future may be determined through other means.

Two years ago: Kecleon Role Wonders
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Thursday, October 9, 2025

Café Remix Event Structure, Revisited

It was only about a year ago that I discussed the newly reworked (at that time) structure of in-game events for Café Remix, which in a way was to (somewhat) alleviate the malady of efforts that had been previously needed for them. Since then, further changes have been made for it, rendering my earlier post obsolete. Given what has transpired, I've decided to take out a post to revisit the topic, review the changes, and extract its implications.

The first change to that structure was having just either one of the mini-events with Audino or Eevee as previously discussed, which was then followed by a longer event in individual or team formats, featuring an old Pokémon that revisits the café. These would remain concurrent with a prime event with the usual given formats plus the Cook and Collect event with Gholdengo and Gimmighoul, and of course Mission Bingo with all that it offers.

Eventually, the old mini-events were retired, the prime events were slightly reduced in length, and the only concurrent ones were the longer "return" event to the end of the prime event as well as Cook and Collect. A further recent change removed the event play requirement for Cook and Collect, and the Gimmighoul Coins can be obtained by regular stage play instead. Then there was the addition of Café Pop-Up, for which less is better said.

With these changes, there is admittedly a process of implementing simplification and added workability to the events. The "return" event in particular brings hope to all players to get the Pokémon they may have missed before or to augment their outfit grade if they already did. On the other hand, shorter prime events will mean more of them and more work to do for them, so that may be the most dire consequence of this arrangement.

Of course, there is always the potential for the event structure to change further since the game is continuously updated, but the changes over time since that specific discussion on the topic merits to be discussed as well. The most puzzling thing about Café Remix, aside from its stage play, may just be structuring the events for the best form, and its current form with the changes may be the best one yet, if not at least for the current time.

Three years ago: Cosplay: Utsuru (for KJR)
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Wednesday, October 8, 2025

TCGP: Luxuriously Deluxe (...Pack ex)

A little less than a month ago, I noted about "pack fatigue" in Pokémon TCGP, its implications, and what could be done about the situation. It seems the developers of the game may have listened and have now brought forth a somewhat unique solution for that situation. That solution could be said to be a new expansion - slightly ironically - but in some respects it may not qualify to be called that, and it further offers a bit of a "luxury" for the same efforts of opening packs to collect the cards that are contained within them.

The (not-)expansion is called the "Deluxe Pack ex", and its packs work a bit differently than those of prior expansions. Only four cards (instead of the usual five) are contained within each pack, but at least one of the cards will have a rarity of four Diamonds or higher. What makes it a "not-expansion" is that most of the cards in the packs are ones that have been featured in prior expansions, so it affords a good deal of "second chances" to collect them, especially the rare cards. In that case, the cards will be indexed in both the earlier expansion and this new one, even if the expansion may not be as such.

Because of the pack structure, a few things related to it work a little differently. One of them is Wonder Picks: by nature, they always cost three Wonder Stamina (at least), and they have an additional two Pack Hourglasses to make up for the missing card... which some might stumble upon if they're really unlucky. Furthermore, the (not-)expansion and its packs will only be available for a limited time, which would be the span of this month, after which things might just return to regularity. Speaking of regularity, even with fewer cards but a guaranteed higher-rarity card, the packs of this (not-)expansion still cost the regular 12 Pack Hourglass if more are desired to be opened beyond the limits of free openings.

For the cards that are unique to the expansion, a number of Pokémon have received cards with different art on them - including quite a few with full art - and some Legendary Pokémon also have their Shiny cards here as well. Several old cards also have new art that are of the Crown rarity, which are obviously even harder to get due to the massive number of cards in the numbered section here (over 350). Like previous expansions, there is a new three-Star card of the "immersive" variety, and it celebrates the first and all previous expansions with its art. At least in this respect, it really is one.

If the contents of this "not-expansion" are to be considered, the potential for catching up is quite high, but then there is also a good possibility of getting the extras that are included with it. As a solution to the "pack fatigue", it may very well be imperfect (including by its limited availability timeframe and other associated quirks), but it can still make for some headway while being entertained alongside the new content. That in itself could be said to be the "luxury" that is afforded by continuing to deal with this and other aspects of the game.

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