Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
that super nerf in Gen VI
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RTTP: The Pokemon. All 721 of them, and counting.
- Thread starter Watch Da Birdie
- Start date
Benzychenz
Member
I've always preferred Politoed to Poliwrath, never much cared for the line in gen 1.
At least he's still pretty popular and useful unlike Ninetales. Choice Specs Surf really hurts in the rain.
Seven Force
Banned
Oh wow, I remember those KFC plushies. I got Zubat, sister got Vulpix.
Always found it weird Poliwhirl was one of the ones offered. I think the other one was Seel?
Always found it weird Poliwhirl was one of the ones offered. I think the other one was Seel?
Since I have (not yet) used the poli-line in Gen 6 I was sure Amie would show where the mouth is supposed to be, but nope. Youtubed it because I was curious how it looked and they simply don't have mouths. I guess their tummys just absorb the food? 
I really liked that they made Politoed but I can't remember ever using the line at all. I know they are quite "easy" to get in some nuzlockes so I'm gonna aim for that! I wanna try them out.
The split evo with different stats thing is a really nice thing btw. I would love to have more. Getting an Adamant Sp.A-mon wouldn't be as horrible if it had an Attack based split evo to aim for!
I really liked that they made Politoed but I can't remember ever using the line at all. I know they are quite "easy" to get in some nuzlockes so I'm gonna aim for that! I wanna try them out.
The split evo with different stats thing is a really nice thing btw. I would love to have more. Getting an Adamant Sp.A-mon wouldn't be as horrible if it had an Attack based split evo to aim for!
Benzychenz
Member
I like split evolution lines. They should really do a lot more of them.
I want a more serpent like evolution for Dragonair.
I want a more serpent like evolution for Dragonair.
unknownstranger
Member
I think I've only used the Poliwag line once. Used it once in Crystal since you could get one really early. Didn't evolve it into Poliwrath until the mid 40's just before the elite 4.
I love Politoed, I caught a shiny one in X and I used it quite a lot. I loved it ever since it was introduced but never really got chance to use one (due to me usually playing the games alone and not getting chance to trade)
Poliwrath is just lol though, a disappointing and crappy design even when I was a child, it's just so lazy.
Designs like Poliwrath, Voltorb, Electrode, Grimer, Muk ect are always what comes to mind when I hear people say Gen 1 was amazing and all the designs after that sucked, or that pokemon like Klefki are unimaginative. It's like lolwut, Gen 1 had some massive duds.
Poliwrath is just lol though, a disappointing and crappy design even when I was a child, it's just so lazy.
Designs like Poliwrath, Voltorb, Electrode, Grimer, Muk ect are always what comes to mind when I hear people say Gen 1 was amazing and all the designs after that sucked, or that pokemon like Klefki are unimaginative. It's like lolwut, Gen 1 had some massive duds.
Amoonguss is actually really good competitively unlike Elecshit tho, so design redeemed. Also I think the Foonguss line is cute.
I remember during Gen IV I used to play random WiFi battles in Pokémon Battle Revolution quite often. I created quite a few monotype teams for that and ran amok with em. Poliwrath was probably on my best monotype team, my fighting type team. While he certainly wasn't the best Pokémon of that team, I remember he defeated an Uber team once all by himself.
So I certainly have fond memories of Poliwrath. The little tadpole that could. That guy probably didn't expect to get his shit kicked in by a Poliwrath of all things haha.
So I certainly have fond memories of Poliwrath. The little tadpole that could. That guy probably didn't expect to get his shit kicked in by a Poliwrath of all things haha.
I didn't expect it either tbh
I'll give Voltorb a pass, but Electrode is another story. I think there's a place for 2 mimic Pokémon. The Volt line fits inside buildings, and Fungus line fits outside.
Tajiri actually answers that question in an interview in a Game Center CX episode:
060 - Poliwag
Water
It's time for another episode of "Pokemon Myth Busters", today's topic---Satoshi Tajiri's favorite Pokemon. It's been claimed that either Poliwag, or sometimes Poliwhirl, is his favorite Pokemon, but I've never seen a source on this. In fact, it seems to have come from an interview with TIME back during the initial Pokemon hype, in which he simply brought up Poliwag as one Pokemon who was based on childhood memories, but never explicitly implied he liked it more than any other Pokemon. The Poliwag/Poliwhirl confusion stems from the fact that Tajiri used Poliwag's Japanese name, but TIME erroneously gave its name as "Poliwhorl". Furthermore, Poliwhirl was prominently featured on the cover of that issue, likely furthering the confusion. But all in all, I don't believe Poliwag is actually Tajiri's favorite Pokemon, and I'm going to assume people simply saw he mentioned Poliwag in the TIME article and missed the context it was mentioned in.
So it's not a myth.
You can see the episode here:
https://youtu.be/zonX3IUXXdY?t=1h3m20s
I don't want them to go anywhere near the "All new Pokemon" concept ever again. There was a lot of cool designs in Gen V but the fact that we got so many new Pokemon that were just "<insert Gen I Pokemon> AGAIN/BUT BETTER" really annoyed me.
Watch Da Birdie
I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
Tajiri actually answers that question in an interview in a Game Center CX episode:
So it's not a myth.
You can see the episode here:
https://youtu.be/zonX3IUXXdY?t=1h3m20s
Ah, interesting. So it wasn't people just looking at that TIME interview and jumping to conclusions.
balladofwindfishes
Member
Ah yea, Poliwhirl merchandise
I had this. I remember for some reason it was way off color. It makes Poliwhirl purple, rather than deep blue. As a kid this kind of bothered me.
That's my extent of Poliwhirl. Never really used his line at all in any game they've been in. My go-to surfer in the first gen was Golduck and the second gen was Lantern. So the Polis never really had their place on any of my teams.
Despite Poliwag, Whirl and Toad all being sky blue when shiny, for whatever reason, Poliwrath turns a sea green. I guess it's supposed to make him look more frog like.
I had this. I remember for some reason it was way off color. It makes Poliwhirl purple, rather than deep blue. As a kid this kind of bothered me.
That's my extent of Poliwhirl. Never really used his line at all in any game they've been in. My go-to surfer in the first gen was Golduck and the second gen was Lantern. So the Polis never really had their place on any of my teams.
Despite Poliwag, Whirl and Toad all being sky blue when shiny, for whatever reason, Poliwrath turns a sea green. I guess it's supposed to make him look more frog like.
Take that back! I don't wanna live in a world where I'm forced to use Parasect for Spore/Rage Powder shenanigans.
Dr. Feel Good
Banned
I liked Poliwrath in the first and second generation. Water types started to become overwhelming and the mixed dual type of fighting was a nice addition. There weren't a lot of solid fighters in RBY days outside of Machamp and the Hitmon line. Submission on a Poliwrath could wreck Snorlax back in the day (but that recoil!).
I liked the idea of Gen V having only new Pokémon but I agree it was a lame call to make it so similar to Gen I. It'd be cool if they created another region with many new Pokémon but instead of trying to fill the usual archetypes just created things that fit the region.
Regarding Politoed, I agree it's a better looking evolution than Poliwrath. However, trade evolutions are so lame, especially when they require an item. It doesn't help that many awesome Pokémon have to be obtained that way (Scizor and Steelix come to mind).
Regarding Politoed, I agree it's a better looking evolution than Poliwrath. However, trade evolutions are so lame, especially when they require an item. It doesn't help that many awesome Pokémon have to be obtained that way (Scizor and Steelix come to mind).
Nocturnowl
Member
Ah yea, Poliwhirl merchandise
I had this. I remember for some reason it was way off color. It makes Poliwhirl purple, rather than deep blue. As a kid this kind of bothered me.
That's my extent of Poliwhirl. Never really used his line at all in any game they've been in. My go-to surfer in the first gen was Golduck and the second gen was Lantern. So the Polis never really had their place on any of my teams.
Funny that, I can see the same poliwhirl trapped behind a few other trinkets and alongside a plush Blue Pikmin on one of my shelves and I'm not exactly sure why I have it either now I think about it seeing that Poliwhirl is a pokemon I've never used in all my years of playing the series.
Actually I think it was the result of parental present purchasing, grab whatever pokemon were available and hope for the best, my brother got a snorlax one if I recall.
Gen 1 Pokemon merchandise, ah those were the days.
All this talk about Poliwhirl and Poliwrath and not a single mention of Red's Poli from Pokémon Adventure.
Funfact: Politoed was originally planned to be in gen 1 but got cut.
Also Growlithe is my second favourite fire type Pokémon after Charmander and honestly speaking he could have taken Charmander spot on my team and in my head story.
Luckily for Charmander he's a fire lizard so he hit that sweet spot for me.
Yeah that was one of the thing I wanted to see in gen 6 but alas it didn't happen, I just hope that Game Freak isn't doing away with new evolution or split evolution for past gen Pokémon.
I had to trade mine into gen 1 just to get it to evolve, getting the elemental stone in gen 2 is so annoying to get.
Funfact: Politoed was originally planned to be in gen 1 but got cut.
Also Growlithe is my second favourite fire type Pokémon after Charmander and honestly speaking he could have taken Charmander spot on my team and in my head story.
Luckily for Charmander he's a fire lizard so he hit that sweet spot for me.
Yeah that was one of the thing I wanted to see in gen 6 but alas it didn't happen, I just hope that Game Freak isn't doing away with new evolution or split evolution for past gen Pokémon.
I had to trade mine into gen 1 just to get it to evolve, getting the elemental stone in gen 2 is so annoying to get.
balladofwindfishes
Member
This is exactly how I got it. From this I also got an Ivysaur plush, which is a strange Pokemon to have a plushie, and I don't believe they even made a Wartortle or Charmeleon toy to go with it.
I got Snorlax, Koffing and Clefairy that way too, but they were used for stuffed animal Smash Bros, as both were in Smash 64.
Also extended family found out I liked Psyduck, so one year I ended up getting 4 of the same Psyduck plushie! That was kind of funny.
I'll probably do this for the other gens soon, but this is the main reason why I really disliked Unova.
I'm even being generous with some of those in the 'like' section. With Chandelure I like the concept more than the actual Pokemon.
Bah! Garbodor is awesome and how can you possibly dislike Bouffalant?
I'll probably do this for the other gens soon, but this is the main reason why I really disliked Unova.
I'm even being generous with some of those in the 'like' section. With Chandelure I like the concept more than the actual Pokemon.
Oshawott, Liepard, Bisharp, and Hydreigon on the dislike list
Maybe you just have bad taste in things >.>
Dandy Crocodile
Member
I was gonna pick one up but they were gone from NA Pokémon Center when I checked last week. :'(
I hope they come back closer to Halloween or something.
I'm positive that isn't the reason.
Benzychenz
Member
I'll probably do this for the other gens soon, but this is the main reason why I really disliked Unova.
I'm even being generous with some of those in the 'like' section. With Chandelure I like the concept more than the actual Pokemon.
I'm the same when it comes to gen 5 designs, but not liking Oshawott and Dewott is some fucked up shit.
Since everyone said those people were dumb.
Benzychenz
Member
I don't watch the anime. I just like his design and picked him as my starter.
I'm mostly indifferent to it, but when the Unova starters were revealed the initial reaction towards Oshawott was mostly negative. Snivy was instantly accepted by the fanbase but his fandom seems to have tapered off over time.
Smugleaf is great, but the reaction to Serperior wasn't anywhere near as positive, which is likely why their popularity died down.
Edit: Comparatively, here's the Kalos edition.
Template here if anyone is interested. Minisprites can be found with a google search.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Do not use the internet as a sole gauge for mon popularity. Oshawott is big in Japan.
Watch Da Birdie
I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
063 - Abra
Psychic
In Generation I, Psychic was king, there's no denying that fact, and the Abra line were the best example of how powerful and unstoppable they could be. Psychic Type's only weakness, Bug, had a huge flaw in that Bug-type Pokemon were rarely that powerful, and the few Bug-type moves were quite rare---except for Leech Life, the only other Bug-type attacks were Twineedle, exclusive to Beedrill, and Pin Missile, exclusive to Beedrill and Jolteon, and Beedrill's Poison typing and weak statistics meant he couldn't take advantage of these moves. There's evidence that Ghost was meant to serve as an equalizer against Psychic as well, but even if this had gone through, it wouldn't have changed much---the Ghost Pokemon were all part-Poison, and the only Ghost-type move that took Type Advantage into consideration was the relatively weak Lick. Thankfully, Generation II began to curb this trend with Dark-type and Steel-type Pokemon, as well as Ghost-type being made super effective against Psychic like it was probably always intended to be, and nowadays there are plenty of counters to the Psychic-type. Despite this, the Abra line still remain relatively powerful and useful due to their high Special Attack and Speed.
Despite evolving into one of the most powerful Psychic-type Pokemon, Abra might not give off that impression. Although it isn't as obvious as Magikarp, Abra follows the "Ugly Duckling" evolutionary pattern somewhat in that its first form seems quite pointless and ineffectual due to the fact the only move it naturally learns is Teleport. This also makes it a pain to catch, as Abra is quick enough to use Teleport before many Pokemon have a chance to act, yet fragile enough that attempts to weaken it will often simply faint it. Honestly, the best strategy for catching Abra is to not even bother with weakening it, and just throw a rarer PokeBall at the beginning of the fight and hope the RNGods are on your side. Once caught, Abra also may prove frustrating in that it has no moves other than Teleport until it evolves, although it can learn TMs unlike Magikarp, but at the beginning of the adventure when you catch an Abra, TMs are likely sparse at that point and usually tend to be Physical-type attacks, and furthermore the player might be nervous wasting their one-use TMs on a Pokemon who they really don't have an incentive to use yet if it's their first time playing and they don't know what the line is ultimately capable of. Thus, many players have to grind a bit if they want to use Abra for the long term, switching it out at the start of the battle to take advantage of leaked experience points. Savvy players, however, will notice Abra's high Special stat (in Gen I, remember Special was one stat), and combining that knowledge with how seemingly frustrating catching and leveling one up is, they'll realize that Abra is one of those hard work, high reward RPG characters.
What is Abra? Due to its tendency to constantly sleep all the time, as well as its long, slender tail, I used to think it was some sort of nocturnal marsupial creature, like an opossum perhaps. However, I now believe that the Abra line are actually intended to basically be another take on the idea of "mystical foxes" that are popular in Japanese lore, except a less realistic take compared to Vulpix and Ninetales. Abra's thin-eyes bring to mind the common depiction of foxes in Japanese media, for example, but of course its design takes many liberties when it comes to how one would expect a fox to look. Perhaps it may be better to simply say Abra is a hodgepodge of creatures? Abra also has a somewhat "futuristic" appearance to its design, although not immediately obvious, which seems to perhaps stem from how Psychics in popular media tend to dress funny such as ones you'd see in dystopian fiction---notice the way Abra's body is constructed, it almost looks like he's wearing shoulder-armor, gloves, and boots. It brings to mind the outfit Sabrina wears in her Kanto Sugimori Art in fact, which I guess is "psychic-wear".
In the West, Abra and his family are named after magical words---Abra, Kadabra, Alakazam! And according to early promotional material, Abra was possibly going to be named "Hocus" instead while Kadabra would be "Pocus". In Japan, the Abra line have a similar theme, but rather than being named after magical words, they are instead named after famous real-life mystics---in Abra's case, he's called Casey, and is named after Edgar Cayce. Edgar Cayce was one of the most important mystics of the modern age, and was known for his ability to go into deep trances in which he was able to provide his clients with spiritual advice, which brings to mind Abra's constant sleeping state. While naturally the authenticity of Cayce's powers were well-debated, he was still very popular among many high-society individuals such as Woodrow Wilson and Thomas Edison who took his readings to heart. Cayce didn't seem to be a bad guy, even if he was probably lying about his powers, as he encouraged his clients to think for themselves and not believe everything he said on faith alone, rather he encouraged them to merely take his suggestions as a way to improve their lives. Despite being a mystic, he was also a Christian, and it was said he read the entire Bible yearly in order to better understand his trances and put them into a Christian-based context.
Abra's role in the show was short, but memorable, appearing in Sabrina's first match with Ash only to quickly evolve into Kadabra and destroy Pikachu with ease. It's had a few appearances since then, but due to the fact it only learns Teleport (as the show tends to not focus too much on TM-learned moves usually except for the main character's Pokemon), there's not a lot the writers can do with the Pokemon, and the fact its evolution is "banned" from the show, as we'll learn next, probably doesn't help it get many appearances either.
064 - Kadabra
Psychic
Kadabra is the evolved from of Abra, and by this point the player has likely put in a lot of effort into raising Abra, so they're well rewarded with a very capable Psychic-type Pokemon who is useful throughout the rest of the adventure, even if the player never gets around to evolving it due to its potentially "impossible" evolution method which I'll talk more about in Alakazam's entry. Unless you kept Abra from evolving, which you likely have no reason to since it doesn't have any moves, Kadabra learns Confusion upon evolution, which with his Special stat is a powerful move in the original Red and Blue that very few Pokemon are able to resist. And as he levels up, he learns even stronger Psychic-type attacks.
Kadabra's physical appearance is similar to Abra, keeping the color-scheme and the "psychic armor" I mentioned, but looks far more intimidating as no longer are its eyes closed, but now they're open and looking right at the player. His tail has also grown, and out of all the Abra line Kadabra is the one who most resembles a fox I think. He also sports a mustache, likely a nod to the classic idea of the mustachioed magician, and there are red symbols on his body, a star and wavy lines, which are based upon the Zener Cards. You probably remember the Zener Cards from Ghostbusters where Venkman used them in order to test clairvoyant abilities, and that is how they're used in real-life. A lot of people apparently didn't watch Ghostbusters, though, as many early critics of Pokemon accused Kadabra of being satanic in part because of these markings, the star likely mistaken for a pentagram. The Zener Cards have long been disproven as a way to test for ESP abilities due to issues arising with methodology, and I wouldn't be surprised if the only reason Game Freak were familiar with them was through Ghostbusters like the rest of us.
Kadabra has other traits that are inspired by popular "psychic" abilities, such as his ability to manipulate and increase alpha brain waves. Not to pick on Game Freak, but I have a feeling they just saw the word "alpha brain wave" in a dictionary, and decided it sounded cool and something a Psychic-type Pokemon would utilize. Alpha brain waves are said to occur when an individual is in a relaxed state with their eyes closed, and there were experiments conducted in the 60s and 70s in which individuals were said to be able to recognize and increase the level of alpha brain waves they gave off. It's also said that people who are trained in the art of mediation are also able to give off more alpha brain waves, and there are a lot of claims about the positive attributes associated with them such as increasing creativity, reducing the rate of seizures, and other claims I found during a quick Google search that sounded somewhat dubious and pseudo scientific, so Game Freak had a lot of leeway when claiming Kadabra can manipulate his alpha brain waves when it comes to what exactly that means. While alpha waves are normally positive, Kadabra's are somewhat dangerous as they can cause intense headaches, as well as cause various machines to malfunction such as clocks to run backwards, or Kadabra's shadow to appear on television screens. So like I said, "alpha brain waves" basically means "can do a ton of creepy psychic shit".
There's a very odd backstory concerning Kadabra that was mentioned in the original Red and Green PokeDex that claims a young boy with extrasensory powers woke up one morning as Kadabra. It's unclear what exactly this means---was the boy the first ever Kadabra to appear, leading to others mutating into Kadabra, or was Kadabra already known as a Pokemon? Who was this boy, and why did he transform into a Pokemon? The Emerald PokeDex also claims that the boy was taking part in research into extrasensory powers when this happened, which just leads to even more questions. We may never know! Given how Game Freak seems to like throwing in references to pop-culture, I wonder if this is meant to reference some film or book? It's just a really random PokeDex entry, and I'm surprised they brought it back for Pokemon Emerald instead of leaving it as a one-off oddity.
Now it's time to talk about the spoon bending, another popular paranormal ability that was in-vogue during the late 1900s. Basically, a popular display of psychic ability was the ability to bend tableware (seems kind of a weak way to show it off though), popularized by Uri Geller, and since Kadabra was already a hodgepodge of psychic abilities, they threw this in as well. Unlike regular psychics, who simply use the bending of a spoon to display their powers, it's implied Kadabra uses the spoon to amplify his power, and is actually weaker without it. This was represented starting in Gen II with the Twisted Spoon Item, which increases the power of Psychic-type moves by 20%. Speaking of Uri Geller, Kadabra takes his Japanese name from him as he's known as Yungeller over there.
It's probably not a good idea to name a character you plan to use for the foreseeable future after a living person, but Game Freak probably figured Uri Geller would never find out, but they were wrong. During a visit to Japan, Uri Geller grew quite upset when he saw his image used on a Pokemon card (it seems he also saw one of the "Dark Alakazam" cards from the Team Rocket expansion, which he calls "Dark Yungeller"), and said Pokemon also had symbols which he viewed as resembling Nazi symbolism, such as the SS insignia. As the story goes, Uri Geller sued Nintendo, but lost---the story of the lawsuit is well-known, but I couldn't find any information on exactly how the case ended up, and if Nintendo reached some sort of behind-the-scenes settlement with Mr. Geller. But it seems Nintendo is afraid of potential lawsuits, though, and Kadabra has become "soft-banned"---he's still allowed in the main games, but has had only two appearances in the show since the Orange Islands, both of which were minor cameos, and hasn't had a TCG card since Skyridge. Although he still appears on Alakazam cards as evolving into him, Abra cards released now are able to instantly evolve into Alakazam, and I recall PokeBeach even asked a representative about this who confirmed that Kadabra's appearance in the card game could lead to potential litigation. So, yeah, Kadabra is basically "soft-banned" from appearing outside of the main games.
I feel sorry for Uri Geller, because I've seen a lot of fans say he overreacted to this, when I think it's quite clear that Game Freak did in-fact base Kadabra on him. If they named a Pokemon after me, yeah, I'd want some of that money too! I recall a representative of Nintendo of Europe when the lawsuit first hit mocked Geller saying the Japanese wouldn't be familiar with him, but Geller was already known in Japan due to an earlier lawsuit (in which Japanese papers mistook a skeptic claiming Geller embarrassed his friend to the point he "shot himself" literally), and it's clear following the name scheme of the other members of the line that Kadabra's name was a pun on Geller's. On the other hand, looking through Wikipedia seems to be very litigious and a bit of a jerk for a proposed "psychic", so I don't feel too bad. Nowadays, though, some people would say it's the Pokemon Company who are becoming a bit too much like Geller...
Kadabra, before he was "banned", appeared as Sabrina's signature Pokemon and absolutely destroyed Pikachu through the power of a giant electric dragon---but ultimately lost to the power of Haunter's laughter. His last appearance (outside of appearing in one of those "World of Pokemon" segments with every other pre-Gen VI Pokemon during Best Wishes) was in one of the biggest cock-teases of the anime, "Fear Factor Phony". This episode is noticeable for being the first episode featuring the new voice actors post 4Kids, but the biggest issue I have with the episode is its original title is "Psychic vs. Ghost", and is set around Saffron City when they revisited Kanto during the Battle Frontier, yet it completely ignored anything that happened in the Sabrina Arc despite featuring the two types who were the central focus of those episodes! A ton of people when that title hit thought we'd see the return of Haunter, but nope, it's a pretty average filler. Kadabra is just one of the many Psychic Pokemon who appear here.
065 - Alakazam
Psychic
Alakazam is the first "Link Evolution", a group of four three-stage Pokemon families introduced in Generation I who evolve into their final form by trading them with another player. This idea sounds good on paper, encouraging trading with friends and taking advantage of the unique and innovative Link Cable, but in reality it has its issues. First, the idea you have to trade your Pokemon to someone else to evolve it, and then they have to trade it back to you---during the early days when everyone played Pokemon, this was easily done, but during Gen II and Gen III when the hype had died down, it became a harder prospect, and there are some friendless folks who likely never got their own Alakazam because of this. Second, there's the trust issue---trading with a person right next to you is usually safe enough, if they try and take the Pokemon you can probably fight to get it back, but imagine trying to explain to your parents that a friend stole your Pokemon. Most parents probably didn't understand during those days how data could be stolen, and convincing them to force a kid to give you back a non-physical object could be quite difficult. And with the advent of WiFi, the chances of someone just absconding with your well-trained Pokemon after it evolves is quite high. Despite all this, the Link Evolution families are very cool Pokemon, and have constantly appeared in almost every Regional Dex due to their popularity, so it seems we're stuck with this rather awkward evolution method for the rest of time, and we've gotten even more Pokemon who evolve this way. Incidentally, out of the three-stage Link Evolution Pokemon, I like the middle forms the best.
How Link Evolution works exactly has never been explained, and it's a very tongue-in-cheek mechanic as in many games you literally see NPCs with their own Game Boys trading Pokemon just like we do. A later duo of Pokemon who evolve by being traded for one another, however, perhaps hints that the evolution is brought about by "electrical energy" that occurs during the trading process, and the resulting evolutions are unnatural forms that don't exist in nature otherwise, but rather are mutations caused by radiation. This however might not be true, though, as we've seen such Pokemon appear in the wild in later games, but perhaps it could be said that eventually wild Pokemon "evolved" to keep up with the Pokemon owned by Trainers? Unlike Stone Evolutions, which lose the ability to learn certain moves, the Link Evolution Pokemon tend to have the exact same moveset as their pre-evolution, and learn their moves at the same level, so there's no big downside to Link Evolution except its possible difficulty and risk. There are sometimes differences though...for example, Kadabra now learns Role Play at Level 42 while Alakazam learns Calm Mind at Level 42 instead.
Link Evolutions tend to be evolutions that look fairly similar to their prior form, since they learn mostly the same moves this makes sense, yet also look fairly more powerful---perhaps the simplest representation of how evolution works in a simplistic view, creatures becoming more powerful, can be seen with Link Evolutions. Alakazam reminds me a bit of the relationship between Wartortle and Blastoise, though, as elements that Kadabra gained when evolving from Abra, its markings and more importantly its long tail, completely disappear and Alakazam almost looks simpler than Kadabra in a way. But perhaps this was done on purpose, as Alakazam's body seems to have atrophied due to its powers and is said to be somewhat physically weak, although it looks just as intimidating than Kadabra, and is a fairly large Pokemon. It's also extremely fast, presumably because it can teleport around the battlefield and predict the foe's next attack. While Kadabra had one spoon, Alakazam has two spoons, and the more spoons you have, the more powerful your Psychic abilities are.
Alakazam is said to have an IQ of 5,000, which is one of the best examples of Game Freak making an outrageous claim about a Pokemon through the use of an amazingly high statistic. But this is probably one of the dumbest when you break it down, since saying something has an IQ of 5,000 doesn't really mean much on its own. Even ignoring the fact the merits of IQ tests are highly debated, the number a person gets on an IQ test is relative to others and needs context to be appreciated, and I doubt we could even create an IQ test to measure intelligence that presumably is far beyond our own. If Alakazam is infinitely smarter than us, how do we exactly test that intelligence? Furthermore, Alakazam's head is said to be heavy due to its ever growing-brain, which is another dumb science moment that I don't think is biologically sound, although apparently recent studies do seem to indicate there is a slight truth to the idea that a person with a bigger brain may be more intelligent, but not by a significant amount necessarily. The idea that a creature's brain would grow too heavy for its head, on the other hand, doesn't sound accurate. It doesn't matter too much as Pokemon is primarily aimed for kids, and Game Freak just wanted to make an awesome Psychic-type Pokemon, and giving it a super-high IQ and unlimited memory was the best way to do so. They probably didn't consider little kids pondering the moral and philosophical questions inherent when it comes to why such an advanced being like Alakazam doesn't run the world, but is instead more or less someone's pet.
Who is Alakazam named after in Japan? His Japanese name is "Foodin", and it's usually believed to stem from Howard Houdini (Japan has no "hu" sound, but rather "fu" is used), since he's one of the most well-known magicians in history. However, some think it's from Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, a French Magician who is considered the father of conjuring. I sort of think Houdin might be more likely, as his style of magic is closer to the "paranormal" like Cayce and Geller, and befitting Alakazam, whereas Houdini's magic was much more grounded and based around physical feats rather than proposed magical capabilities. I feel like you could probably do a ton more with a Pokemon based around Houdini as well than simply a super-intelligent Pokemon like Alakazam, who really doesn't have anything in common with Houdini. Ultimately, this discussion might be pointless, as Houdini actually took the name "Houdini" because he was impressed with Houdin, and thus you could say Alakazam was named after both of them.
The first Alakazam we saw in the show was in the Ancient Puzzle of Pokemopolis, a gigantic Alakazam with strange markings who was said to be an ancient guadian spirit or something like that. You know, that was probably the weirdest episode of the original series, huh? Unlike Abra and Kadabra, Alakazam has appeared frequently throughout the show, such as under the command of Eusine, Salon Maiden Anabel, and once as a competitor in Pokemon Ping Pong. IQ of 5,000, huh?
M065 - Mega Alakazam
Psychic
Alakazam was already a very powerful Pokemon, and Mega Alakazam takes that to the next level with a large boost in Defense, Special Attack, and Speed! There's no downside to Mega Evolving Alakazam---fun fact, though, Mega Alakazam only gains 90 points in base stats, while every other Mega Evolution increases by 100. Base Alakazam gained 10 points in Sp. Def in Gen VI, so perhaps this was an oversight, Game Freak forgetting this change and working off the Base Stat Total of Gen I-V Alakazam? We'll see if Mega Alakazam gains those extra 10 points in Gen VII I guess...
Although Mega Alakazam's Defense increases, it's implied that its body has grown physically weaker due to focusing on its Psychic energy as it looks much more fragile, and is shorter as well. Its armor has grown into a robe-like outfit, and its stylish mustache has grown into a full-on hobo beard. And now it has five spoons! I actually think Mega Alakazam is one of the best Mega Evolutions, as it takes the base form, and adds to it in a way that feel like a natural evolution and not a bunch of random parts thrown together. Turning into a wizened wiseman feels like a logical change, and how I'd expect a normal evolution of Alakazam to look rather than a "form change" like some other Mega Evolutions feel like. Perhaps you could say that such a cool design being wasted on a Mega Evolution is a disappointment, but since Alakazam was already a three-stage line, we never would've seen an evolution like this otherwise, so it's not taking the place of a potential evolution like some other Mega Evolutions do.
Mega Alakazam has yet to appear in the show, but has a role in the upcoming Mega Evolution Special, but presumably a cameo. I imagine that the second part of the main XY Anime, XY & Z, will probably begin giving Mega Evolutions larger roles since there appearances have been quite sparse otherwise, so hopefully Mega Alakazam will get a Focus Episode.