"Starter Pokemon"
I never really liked the starters...Or should I say, I don't like just being handed one of three Pokemon and that's that, I'm expected to have that in my team. No, I want to CATCH my first Pokemon. Even if they just gave me some Pokeballs and sent me out into the tall grass to just throw a ball at the first Pokemon I come across for a guaranteed catch, at least I would have caught my first Pokemon rather than being gifted it. I'm going to go and catch the first Pokemon I see anyway and replace my starter with it, so give me the option to do that from the start.
I think it always crossed my mind since Red and Blue. We had to have Charmander, Bulbasaur or Squirtle, but Ash got a Pikachu. Then there's all these other trainers, like the youngsters with a Ratatta or bug catchers with a Beedrill. Where they GIVEN a Weedle? Probably not, they got given the sense of accomplishment by actually catching their Pokemon.
As for the starters themselves, I don't mind them as Pokemon, but I would be far less put off by them if you could just find them wandering about somewhere instead, or as well as them being given to you. It would make far more sense for me to be given a Charmander if it was because they're bloody everywhere as opposed to being literally the only one in existence. By having them be given to you and be the only one attainable in game without breeding it simultaneously makes them super rare in game but (statistically speaking) a third of people are likely to have one, thus not actually all that special. Nah, I'll have a Pidgey thanks, nobody has Pidgey, I'll be a special snowflake.
- There was nothing wrong with Jynx being black.
Okay, so she resembled African people. Why would that be a bad thing? I don’t see CocaCola CEOs complaining about how much Delibird resembles their commercial image of Santa Claus. Did Native Americans/Native Polynesians feel offended by Xatu? Were Goths bothered by the Gothita line? Were construction workers insulted by the Timburr line? Or were Czech/Jews annoyed by the Golett line?
Just so you know, Animal Crossing did the same face-washing with the gorilla Jane, look it up.
Wow, okay, ooo...I'll risk it.
First, Santa and Goths aren't comparable to Jynx and black people. You're comparing a corporate mascot (or I guess general public holiday mascot these days) and a fashion style to an entire ethnic group. Construction workers? Geeze...Goths can add some colour to their wardrobe or "grow out of it", construction workers can take a new career path, Coca Cola can rebrand Santa (as they did in the first place, hence why he is red). Rhianna can't stop being black.
Jynx was altered because of blackface, which is an old timely form of entertainment based entirely on mocking black people (see 'minstrel shows' or half of all old Disney and Looney Tunes cartoons...Or how the villains of Noddy were originally two Gollywogs). Hence why it is offensive and will probably be 'off limits' for a LONG time until we've basically forgotten why it was off limits in the first place.
THAT SAID (and why I said "I'll risk it"), I personally never got that feeling from Jynx that it was supposed to intentionally resemble black face. I thought it was just a design choice because "it looked cool" or whatever reason they chose that design. Hell, it might have been intentional, but growing up with Pokemon when it first came out I still remember being a kid not understanding why people were calling it a racist through my innocent child eyes not seeing race in Jynx, I just saw a Pokemon...And I kinda still do.
Personally, origin of it out of the way, well, look at my avatar, it isn't too far removed from blackface, I quite like the simplicity of it. Unfortunately though, it has heavy racist connotations regardless of if it's intentionally offensive or not, so thanks to our ancestors the design is off limits...Which really, I understand and agree with, at least until racist connotations are basically removed through the passage of time (probably not in my lifetime).
- Why Parasect doesn’t have pupils?! Paras certainly has!
From what I remember reading (unsure if canon, but I recall the Pokedex entries back it up) it's because the mushrooms on Paras' back are parasitic, with Parasect the mushroom has 'taken over', thus why the eyes are blank. Paras at that point is basically a puppet for the mushroom.
- Mega-evolution. Yeah, throw me into the pyre if you want, but I hate the whole concept of it.
- First, you take already strong pkmn... and make them even stronger? What was even the point?
- Second, you also take pkmn that could certainly benefit from a second or third stage evolution... and instead take it away by making it temporary (like Houndoom, Banette or Audino).
- Third, half the designs look ridiculous to me. A few are utterly awful (mega-Manectric, really...).
- Fourth, it was never heard about before in any of the games nor even hinted at, either main or spin-offs, but apparently it’s been done since thousands of years ago? Yeah, please...
- Fifth, not all the pkmn can mega-evo. What do you mean, my beloved and long-time trusted friend Dewgong and I don’t have a strong enough bond?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I recall mega evolutions mostly being given to Pokemon that actually weren't that powerful and thus underused as a way to make them more 'competitive' beyond their third stage without adding a fourth evolution or changing their stats significantly (probably due to trading old Pokemon to newer games). Why they chose the Pokemon they did I don't know, probably popularity or something.
I agree that I don't see why they didn't just add a third evolution to Pokemon like Houndoom though. It's not like they haven't added new evolutions to old Pokemon before.
