Leaks/Rumors Discussion Thread

[clbgolden]

You're dismissing arguments out of hand for really arbitrary reasons, as well as utilizing appeals to tradition.

"It's only a season and not an entire series" - so what? I don't understand how you think a team of salaried, professional writers experienced in churning out hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of episodes with unique elements for nearly 20 years is incapable of going on with the anime simply because there are no gyms in the games. In fact, I think the anime might be more interesting if it were changed from "spend 20 filler episodes to get from gym A to gym B" because the vast majority of the anime episodes are already not about the gyms or gym leaders.

Not to mention, I would argue that a very small fraction of the game playing audience actually regularly follows the anime, and it would deeply upset a lot of people to discard new and interesting game mechanics simply because of the anime.

"Colosseum/XD are spinoffs" - again, so what? They are relevant to this discussion because unlike the vast majority of other spinoffs, they are mutually compatible with main series games and the core gameplay is an RPG in a similar vein to the main series games, minus Pokemon acquisition and the gyms. They still managed to make an incredibly unique and compelling game that in my opinion should have some elements carried over to the main series games.

My main point is that everything will be fine if there aren't gyms. We not only have small precedents but you are doing a ton of game developers and professional anime screenwriters a disservice by assuming they can't do their jobs. The series keeps evolving, in fact many less hardcore fans have complained that the 8 gym-E4-champion format has gotten stale, and I wouldn't disagree with them as the past couple of generations have been fairly linear and with decreasing difficulty. So for those reasons, I strongly support the idea of more freeform gameplay and "well they haven't done it before" is a rather poor excuse imho.

You are entitled to your opinion - if you love the gyms, great! Different strokes for different folks. But I strongly disagree with your reasonings for it.

You make a good point with Colosseum/XD thing, but I still don't see how the anime could carry on without badges. What would be the goal of Ash's adventure? Just walking around Alola doing stuff? With the gyms you at least have a point of Ash's journey, but without them I just can't see how they could make it work.

Also, I still don't see how I "ignored" the points. I may have used not so good counters, but I still addressed them.

 

[clbgolden]

I don't see why we're using youtubers to strengthen our points. I see them as one person just like everyone else; they aren't representative of an entire group's opinion. Just because they fall into one demographic doesn't make them any more unique than anyone else, really.

That being said, the reason why some (speaking for myself primarily, here) seem to not mind this change, if it's true, is because it would actually change the linearity of the Pokemon games to something that I'd say most players that have been with the series since the start would actually enjoy. No longer would you have to go through the same arduous grind over and over before you face Gym Leader quest and kick the evil team's butt on the side each and every single generation. In my opinion, it's boring, some deviation from that is hardly going to be bad; the games can easily put more emphasis on the plot rather than beating the Gym Leaders themselves which is perfectly possible.

Wait, who has used YouTubers for their points here? I don't recall anyone.

 

[Palamon]

It's 4chan, so I'm gonna just think this is fake, tbh.

 

[clbgolden]

The Fire/Poison lizard thing does give it some weight, but it's a pretty broad description so I can't say it adds TOO much. If anything else is confirmed real for this I'll probably start leaning more towards real.

(Still hoping it's fake, tho.)

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

I'm thinking that the starter concepts might actually be real, but everything else will turn out fake for the most part, both for the smogon and the 4chan rumors.

 

[Hikamaru]

I was reading through the thread on Smogon and the same leaker behind the leak I shared in the OP has now dropped this:

Spoiler:

Notice the small picture there? It seems to be another artwork of the starter final evos from those concept art pieces, and he also mentioned three more island guardians.

The other island guardians mentioned:
- Tapu Hee, a Water/Fairy-type who summons rain, so likely to have the Drizzle ability
- Tapu Lono, a Grass/Fairy-type who automatically summons Grassy Terrain
- Tapu Lele, a Fairy/Flying-type who automatically summons Misty Terrain

Tapu Hee and Tapu Lono seem likely to mainly be blue and green respectively, but then there's Tapu Lele who should be red but since the Fairy-type's main color is pink it might actually be pink-colored instead.

He also mentions Magearna was found in another region by the main villain and is trying to use it to fuse the island guardians together. He even said this interesting blurb "Just believe me or not, you'll see it next week" which implies this could be revealed in the trailer or CoroCoro next week.

I'm kinda skeptical, because it's usually not been tradition to reveal the starters' final stages before the middle stages. But then again, I recall Fletchling's final stage was revealed before its middle stage so anything can happen.

 

[Mana1]

All seems too obvious to me. 'Leaking' the guardians types is easy - most people came to the same conclusions including their abilities.

We'll see soon enough :).

 

[silverwind93]

I hope these are fake. Both Popplio and Litten's final evolutions seem very gender-specific, and it would be hard buying into a male version of Popplio's final evo, and vice versa for Litten's.

 

[WingsofBliss]

Speaking Magearna... I don't know about you guys, but design-wise I don't know why Game Freak did what they did for Magearna and Volcanion. To me, Volcanion's design and name makes me think of it being from Hawaii(Alola) and Magearna from France(Kalos) instead of the other way around. Like Volcanion should have belonged in Gen 7 and Magearna in Gen 6.

 

[Hikamaru]

I hope these are fake. Both Popplio and Litten's final evolutions seem very gender-specific, and it would be hard buying into a male version of Popplio's final evo, and vice versa for Litten's.

Remember there are some feminine-looking Pokemon that can be male, like Roserade, Lopunny, Gardevoir, Delphox and Gothitelle. And there's some masculine-looking Pokemon that can be female, like Machamp and Conkeldurr.

It's something we've all gotten used to, having a Pokemon that isn't the gender its design is meant to suggest. Even with a likely feminine-looking evolution for Popplio the Alola starters will always continue that 8 males to 1 female gender ratio pattern.

 

[blue]

Speaking Magearna... I don't know about you guys, but design-wise I don't know why Game Freak did what they did for Magearna and Volcanion. To me, Volcanion's design and name makes me think of it being from Hawaii(Alola) and Magearna from France(Kalos) instead of the other way around. Like Volcanion should have belonged in Gen 7 and Magearna in Gen 6.

That would make more sense.

We don't really know the full extent of either of these two Pokemon just yet so it could be possible that they are connected to both Regions. We know Magearna has the move Fleur Cannon which can be seen as similar to AZ's Floette having Light of Ruin, not to mention Fleur is French for Flower. It seems like Flower is a prevalent theme for Sun & Moon and perhaps it is what will connect X/Y to the games.

 

[blue]

Of all those three starter evolutions I think Popplio's looks the most.. creative? I can just imagine the uproar caused by yet another Fire/Fighting starter that to me closely resembles Emboar in many ways.

 

[Spinosaurus]

That Litten evo is fantastic in many ways and one big reason why is because it's clearly inspired by one of the greatest manga characters ever, Tiger Mask, except looking more like a heel wrestler. (So it might just end up fire/dark.) Masuda loves his wrestling, after all.

Really turned a starter that I was initially completely indifferent towards to one I adore. I LOVE Tiger Mask.

Archer Rowlet is dope as hell too.

 

[Rivvon]

I don't care about "gender-specific" looks or whatever, that stuff is silly to me. All I care about is if Litten stays on all fours please do not stand up you are not the real slim shady do nOT STAND UP ON TWO LEGS

I mean, if any, any of these leaks have any ounce of truth to them, I can't wrap my head around the idea that for the 20th anniversary titles they can make such a huge departure as removing Gyms entirely, but they still can't make a quadruped Fire starter.

 

[Perriechu]

No gyms? I don't know how to feel about that tbh; but as long as it's replaced by something as good (and hopefully as challenging) then I'm fine.

My little Popplio becoming a Water/Fairy siren tho.. MY HEART. And Rockruff becoming a Werewolf? Y E S.

 

[TheKojo]

The Chinese one is interesting. If something else comes out that matches the information I'll start considering it legitimate.

 

[Flower]

I was reading through the thread on Smogon and the same leaker behind the leak I shared in the OP has now dropped this:

Spoiler:

Notice the small picture there? It seems to be another artwork of the starter final evos from those concept art pieces, and he also mentioned three more island guardians.

The other island guardians mentioned:
- Tapu Hee, a Water/Fairy-type who summons rain, so likely to have the Drizzle ability
- Tapu Lono, a Grass/Fairy-type who automatically summons Grassy Terrain
- Tapu Lele, a Fairy/Flying-type who automatically summons Misty Terrain

Tapu Hee and Tapu Lono seem likely to mainly be blue and green respectively, but then there's Tapu Lele who should be red but since the Fairy-type's main color is pink it might actually be pink-colored instead.

He also mentions Magearna was found in another region by the main villain and is trying to use it to fuse the island guardians together. He even said this interesting blurb "Just believe me or not, you'll see it next week" which implies this could be revealed in the trailer or CoroCoro next week.

I'm kinda skeptical, because it's usually not been tradition to reveal the starters' final stages before the middle stages. But then again, I recall Fletchling's final stage was revealed before its middle stage so anything can happen.

Wow that's lots of info. I'm skeptical myself as you said, though I do bet the things about the abilities are true. Would feel really.. out of place, to have one guardian instantly summon Electric Terrain and the others don't. I'll be hopeful about this one, more-so than the starter leaks (even if I hope those are real, I love all of the concepts for the starter final evos? I won't get my hopes up until July 16, the supposed next reveal date).
Looking forward to hear more about this, tbh. Especially more about Magearna and perhaps we'll get confirmation on that!

I hope these are fake. Both Popplio and Litten's final evolutions seem very gender-specific, and it would be hard buying into a male version of Popplio's final evo, and vice versa for Litten's.

Well I mean, we can get female Mr. Mimes, so just about anything can happen right? 8)

 

[WingsofBliss]

That would make more sense.

We don't really know the full extent of either of these two Pokemon just yet so it could be possible that they are connected to both Regions. We know Magearna has the move Fleur Cannon which can be seen as similar to AZ's Floette having Light of Ruin, not to mention Fleur is French for Flower. It seems like Flower is a prevalent theme for Sun & Moon and perhaps it is what will connect X/Y to the games.

What's funny is that "Fleur" is also in Lysandre's Japanese name, Fleur-de-lis.

Fleur-de-lis is also the French word for "lily".

Wait...

Lily.

Lillie.

*insert tin foil hat here*

Hypothetically, let's say those leaks are partially true. The one that talks about Lillie being the daughter of the evil team leader... what if she's actually Lysandre's daughter? Them saying she's Alola's evil Team Leader's daughter could be trying to throw us off, that's IF these "leaks" are meant to be even partially true. I've said a couple times before that Lillie's character design reminds me of European origin, specifically France. Her disliking towards Pokemon battles could even be partially inspired by Lysandre's view of wars and what he tried to do. There's the whole "flowers" hint we got last year too.

 

[MegaKuriboh]

No gyms? I don't know how to feel about that tbh; but as long as it's replaced by something as good (and hopefully as challenging) then I'm fine.

My little Popplio becoming a Water/Fairy siren tho.. MY HEART. And Rockruff becoming a Werewolf? Y E S.

There's something about Gyms that feels so important to me, so I'd be pretty upset about them being removed, but if it's replaced by a different type of important trainer you must defeat that could be interesting and bring some much needed challenge to the game as they are no longer restricted to types. Could be interesting.

And WOW that Popplio, I didn't like him, but if he evolved into that I might just pick him, such a great design.

These concept arts seem so detailed, if they are fake then the person who created these sure took a lot of time and effort to create them. There's even weird little small artworks in there like the sleeping Wrestler and it fighting other Pokemon.

 

[Hikamaru]

And WOW that Popplio, I didn't like him, but if he evolved into that I might just pick him, such a great design.

You know, Popplio seems to be reminding me of Oshawott in that they both take an unexpected path with their evolution lines. No one saw Oshawott becoming a samurai as it evolved, and there was nothing in Popplio's design that hinted towards a mermaid or siren, like its supposed final evolution is meant to indicate.

Samurott also became the most liked final evo of the Unova starters iirc (Serperior was mixed due to some thinking Snivy lost its arms, and Emboar's typing made him the most hated starter of all time) and the Popplio evo seems to be gaining a lot of love and generating some nice fanart, while Rowlet's seems to be getting more of a mixed reaction, and Litten's is the one that's being hated due to its design suggesting the well-hated Fire/Fighting typing.

So my prediction for the starter favoritism once final evos come out: Popplio > Rowlet > Litten.