Watch Da Birdie
I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
Today's entry is a bit dull---it's powder time!
Poison Powder - Poison [Status]
35PP/75%
The user scatters a cloud of poisonous dust that poisons the target.
If powered up by a Poisonium Z into Z-Poison Powder, the user's Defense stat raises one stage.
Poison Powder is our first "dust/spore" move, another subset of moves that consist of Status moves that cause the target to suffer different status effects, and though originally this connection was merely superficial much like Sound-based moves this has become a mechanically distinct category of moves as they are unable to effect Grass-type Pokemon, Pokemon with Overcoat, and those holding the Safety Goggles as of Generation VI. In addition like other moves that cause poison, Poison Powder has no effect on Poison or Steel-type Pokemon, as well as those with the Immunity Ability. Though it will always cause poison if it hits it isn't super reliable due to the low accuracy of the attack itself, and all the examples who currently resist it has reduced its usefulness over the years. This isn't necessarily Poison Powder's fault, rather the fact that Toxic is clearly superior to any move that simply poisons and is learnable by virtually every Pokemon of note.
Though it's a Poison-type attack, it's mainly associated with Grass and Bug-type Pokemon, meant to be irritant "dust" that plants and certain bugs give off such as moths? I don't think every Grass or Bug Pokemon that learns it is based off a poisonous variant, really anything that could irritate you---I don't think cotton is poisonous, but Cottonee learns it I guess because cotton makes some people itch and such? Actually every Pokemon who learns it is one of those two Types, and there's no pure Poison-type Pokemon who learns it. Once more it's another example of "organic" poison, as none of the pollutant/mutated Poison Pokemon pick it up.
Stun Spore - Grass [Status]
30PP/75%
The user scatters a cloud of numbing powder that paralyzes the target.
If powered up by a Grassium Z into Z-Stun Spore, the user's Special Defense stat raises one stage.
Stun Spore (or "Numbing Powder" in Japan, it seems the localization can't agree on which to use at times between spore and powder) is basically Poison Powder, except it causes paralysis. And that reminds me, we haven't talked about paralysis in-depth---the only move I think we talked about was Thunder Punch and Body Slam, but I skipped it then. So, let's talk about paralysis.
Paralysis' biggest use is lowering the opponent's Speed, cutting it down 75% until Sun and Moon which nerfed it to 50%---this surprised me because every time I've been paralyzed I've always moved second, so I assumed paralysis caused you to always go last unless both Pokemon was paralyzed, in which Speed would determine order once more. I was wrong. Well, with your Pokemon's Speed dropping that low in the older games you usually would end up slower unless there was a huge difference in Speed beforehand. Paralysis also has a 25% of making you unable to act, so it can get pretty annoying if your luck is bad. It's a useful status effect to nerf fast and powerful foes, though not all that effective on Pokemon who are already slow and defensive except for the chance of taking a turn away from them, but they're usually the ones ready to hit you with status effects too. While poison, burn, and freeze have traditionally mainly been associated with their corresponding Types---Poison, Fire, and Ice---Paralysis has somewhat been seen as the Electric-type status effect, but even from the beginning you have moves of other Types capable of causing it and currently ten different Types have a paralysis-inducing move. As of Generation VI Electric has "reclaimed" of sorts as they are naturally immune to the status effect, even when it's paralysis caused by a move like Body Slam as opposed to an electrical shock. Limber also prevents Paralysis, and now this makes Stunfisk having it redundant as it already cannot be paralyzed as an Electric-type, though as part Ground it has always been immune to many Electric-type paralysis attacks so it seems this was always kind of a joke Ability for it.
Anyway, with so many moves of different Types causing paralysis Stun Spore is useful to the Pokemon who learn it and can't gain access to the other moves---there are better paralysis moves out there, but you don't always have a choice. So if you want to paralyze the opponent, this might be your best or only choice. However it's gotten hit a lot over the years, as Grass, Electric, and Overcoat/Limber users or those holding Safety Goggles are completely immune to its effects. Like the other spore moves it's learned basically exclusively by Grass and Bug Pokemon, once more operating on I guess the idea of irritants being spread through the air, and many of the same ones at that.
Sleep Powder - Grass [Status]
15PP/75%
The user scatters a big cloud of sleep-inducing dust around the target.
If powered up by a Grassium Z into Z-Sleep Powder, the user's Speed stat raises one stage.
We actually have one more spore/powder move coming up in Generation I later on, but these three are grouped together internally and mechanically due to having the same accuracy, and being learnt by many of the same Pokemon---Butterfree, and a few others, also learn them close together, with Butterfree in Red and Blue learning all three at Levels 15, 16, and 17 in this exact order respectively. As you can guess it can cause sleep, but is overshadowed by our last Generation I "spore", though this attack has the benefit of being learned by a wide array of Pokemon while the latter has been very limited in its run. Though Pokemon with resistance to powder/spore moves aren't effected by it, unlike the other two its status effect isn't resisted by any Type specifically---though there are Pokemon with Abilities that protect them from sleep.
Pretty much the same deal as the previous two moves when it comes to which Pokemon can learn it, exclusively Grass and Bug-type Pokemon and basically the same ones. I guess they were supposed to be the status dealers in Generation I, but that didn't work out so well when quite a few of them were pretty fragile and could get taken out before really having a chance to utilize the status moves.
The PP distribution is different between the three, and in Generation I from my understanding this relates to the effectiveness of each status effect with higher PP inversely related to usefulness---poison was considered to protect you from the worse status effects, paralysis was good but not destructive, and sleep could offset the opponent's strategy. Y'know, I'm surprised we don't have one of these moves that cause Burn but, um, maybe that's a good thing after Scald.
Petal Dance - Grass [Physical]
120/10PP/100%
The user attacks the target by scattering petals for two to three turns. The user then becomes confused.
Petal Dance was probably the strongest Grass-type move in Generation I with 70 power, lacking the charge-up time of Solar Beam, but you were probably better off using Razor Leaf and its increased critical hit ratio as Petal Dance worked like Thrash did, forcing you to continuously use it until your Pokemon ends up confusing itself. Like Thrash it's kept this basic ability but has been powered up, the amount it lasts going down by average while its base power received a high boost, but getting stuck in using the same attack over and over, especially a Grass-type with its seven resistances, isn't recommended. Plus, you know, that confusion at the end wasn't helpful either.
Its status as the "strongest" Grass-type move really didn't matter in Generation I, as the Oddish line was the only Pokemon capable of learning it. It's since been expanded to more Pokemon, such as Venusaur, but it's not super common. And besides for Flabebe and Comfey once again, our "pseudo-Grass Pokemon", it's exclusive to Grass-type Pokemon. Well, that's technically not true, there have been some Event Pokemon over the years who have gotten attacks that break these patterns (such as Psyduck and Meowth with Petal Dance) but most of these are fairly obscure and it's doubtful anyone has held on to them beyond novelties, so it's not worth mentioning. Like with Own Tempo Thrash Spinda the "niche" user of Petal Dance is Own Tempo Lilligant. Unlike Spinda it can actually be a fairly good Pokemon, but nobody bothers with Petal Dance because Lilligant has far better options and forcing a Grass-type Pokemon to end up stuck in possibly three turns of using an easily countered Grass-type move well, yeah, that's not a good strategy. Useful maybe in the main game where the CPU rarely switches to counter you though.
String Shot - Bug [Status]
40PP/95%
The opposing Pokémon are bound with silk blown from the user's mouth that harshly lowers the Speed stat.
If powered up by a Buginium Z into Z-String Shot, the user's Speed stat raises one stage.
When it was introduced String Shot only reduced the opponent's Speed by 1 stage, and it was basically a joke move---Caterpie and Weedle learned it, but couldn't make any real use of it because even if they lowered the opponent's Speed they were still easy to kill. The CPU would use this to, well, "bug" you, but for years it remained an early-game move for weak Bug-type Pokemon who couldn't use it effectively. Then Generation VI surprisingly buffed it, now lowering the opponent's Speed by 2 stages ("harshly" indicates this), and by this point you had some actual Bug-type Pokemon with some power behind them such as Galvantula and Volcarona. But, well, Generation VI introduced a more useful Speed-lowering Bug-type attack that serves as an entry hazard so String Shot still didn't catch on, though I think it occasionally sees some use in Double Battle formats since it effects both of the opponent's Pokemon. It's kind of nice that Game Freak remembered it, but it's hard to tell if this was wanting them to legit improve it or just going "hey let's boost this old-school shitty move for a laugh!".
Naturally, this move is limited to Bug-type Pokemon---but actually a small minority of them. For example, only two Generation I lines get it (Caterpie and Weedle), only one Generation II and Generation III lines get it (Spinarak and Wumrple), and nobody is Generation IV gets it. Generation V was at its most common, despite taking place before the boost. Oh, and for some reason HGSS made it a Move Tutor. Why? I'm not sure, this was before the boost too so it almost feels like a joke, or Game Freak overestimating its usefulness. As a Move Tutor it mainly gives more Bug-type Pokemon the chance to learn it, and note once more this was before Bug-type Pokemon really started to come into their own, and a few surprising learners such as Venusaur and Mantine. Perhaps one of the Move Tutor Pokemon learning it in Generation IV gave them a niche with the boosted String Shot in modern games, but I'm not sure. I think I saw mention of a Venusaur String Shot set?
But seriously Game Freak---still 95%? Would it hurt to add 5% to that?
Poison Powder - Poison [Status]
35PP/75%
The user scatters a cloud of poisonous dust that poisons the target.
If powered up by a Poisonium Z into Z-Poison Powder, the user's Defense stat raises one stage.
Poison Powder is our first "dust/spore" move, another subset of moves that consist of Status moves that cause the target to suffer different status effects, and though originally this connection was merely superficial much like Sound-based moves this has become a mechanically distinct category of moves as they are unable to effect Grass-type Pokemon, Pokemon with Overcoat, and those holding the Safety Goggles as of Generation VI. In addition like other moves that cause poison, Poison Powder has no effect on Poison or Steel-type Pokemon, as well as those with the Immunity Ability. Though it will always cause poison if it hits it isn't super reliable due to the low accuracy of the attack itself, and all the examples who currently resist it has reduced its usefulness over the years. This isn't necessarily Poison Powder's fault, rather the fact that Toxic is clearly superior to any move that simply poisons and is learnable by virtually every Pokemon of note.
Though it's a Poison-type attack, it's mainly associated with Grass and Bug-type Pokemon, meant to be irritant "dust" that plants and certain bugs give off such as moths? I don't think every Grass or Bug Pokemon that learns it is based off a poisonous variant, really anything that could irritate you---I don't think cotton is poisonous, but Cottonee learns it I guess because cotton makes some people itch and such? Actually every Pokemon who learns it is one of those two Types, and there's no pure Poison-type Pokemon who learns it. Once more it's another example of "organic" poison, as none of the pollutant/mutated Poison Pokemon pick it up.
Stun Spore - Grass [Status]
30PP/75%
The user scatters a cloud of numbing powder that paralyzes the target.
If powered up by a Grassium Z into Z-Stun Spore, the user's Special Defense stat raises one stage.
Stun Spore (or "Numbing Powder" in Japan, it seems the localization can't agree on which to use at times between spore and powder) is basically Poison Powder, except it causes paralysis. And that reminds me, we haven't talked about paralysis in-depth---the only move I think we talked about was Thunder Punch and Body Slam, but I skipped it then. So, let's talk about paralysis.
Paralysis' biggest use is lowering the opponent's Speed, cutting it down 75% until Sun and Moon which nerfed it to 50%---this surprised me because every time I've been paralyzed I've always moved second, so I assumed paralysis caused you to always go last unless both Pokemon was paralyzed, in which Speed would determine order once more. I was wrong. Well, with your Pokemon's Speed dropping that low in the older games you usually would end up slower unless there was a huge difference in Speed beforehand. Paralysis also has a 25% of making you unable to act, so it can get pretty annoying if your luck is bad. It's a useful status effect to nerf fast and powerful foes, though not all that effective on Pokemon who are already slow and defensive except for the chance of taking a turn away from them, but they're usually the ones ready to hit you with status effects too. While poison, burn, and freeze have traditionally mainly been associated with their corresponding Types---Poison, Fire, and Ice---Paralysis has somewhat been seen as the Electric-type status effect, but even from the beginning you have moves of other Types capable of causing it and currently ten different Types have a paralysis-inducing move. As of Generation VI Electric has "reclaimed" of sorts as they are naturally immune to the status effect, even when it's paralysis caused by a move like Body Slam as opposed to an electrical shock. Limber also prevents Paralysis, and now this makes Stunfisk having it redundant as it already cannot be paralyzed as an Electric-type, though as part Ground it has always been immune to many Electric-type paralysis attacks so it seems this was always kind of a joke Ability for it.
Anyway, with so many moves of different Types causing paralysis Stun Spore is useful to the Pokemon who learn it and can't gain access to the other moves---there are better paralysis moves out there, but you don't always have a choice. So if you want to paralyze the opponent, this might be your best or only choice. However it's gotten hit a lot over the years, as Grass, Electric, and Overcoat/Limber users or those holding Safety Goggles are completely immune to its effects. Like the other spore moves it's learned basically exclusively by Grass and Bug Pokemon, once more operating on I guess the idea of irritants being spread through the air, and many of the same ones at that.
Sleep Powder - Grass [Status]
15PP/75%
The user scatters a big cloud of sleep-inducing dust around the target.
If powered up by a Grassium Z into Z-Sleep Powder, the user's Speed stat raises one stage.
We actually have one more spore/powder move coming up in Generation I later on, but these three are grouped together internally and mechanically due to having the same accuracy, and being learnt by many of the same Pokemon---Butterfree, and a few others, also learn them close together, with Butterfree in Red and Blue learning all three at Levels 15, 16, and 17 in this exact order respectively. As you can guess it can cause sleep, but is overshadowed by our last Generation I "spore", though this attack has the benefit of being learned by a wide array of Pokemon while the latter has been very limited in its run. Though Pokemon with resistance to powder/spore moves aren't effected by it, unlike the other two its status effect isn't resisted by any Type specifically---though there are Pokemon with Abilities that protect them from sleep.
Pretty much the same deal as the previous two moves when it comes to which Pokemon can learn it, exclusively Grass and Bug-type Pokemon and basically the same ones. I guess they were supposed to be the status dealers in Generation I, but that didn't work out so well when quite a few of them were pretty fragile and could get taken out before really having a chance to utilize the status moves.
The PP distribution is different between the three, and in Generation I from my understanding this relates to the effectiveness of each status effect with higher PP inversely related to usefulness---poison was considered to protect you from the worse status effects, paralysis was good but not destructive, and sleep could offset the opponent's strategy. Y'know, I'm surprised we don't have one of these moves that cause Burn but, um, maybe that's a good thing after Scald.
Petal Dance - Grass [Physical]
120/10PP/100%
The user attacks the target by scattering petals for two to three turns. The user then becomes confused.
Petal Dance was probably the strongest Grass-type move in Generation I with 70 power, lacking the charge-up time of Solar Beam, but you were probably better off using Razor Leaf and its increased critical hit ratio as Petal Dance worked like Thrash did, forcing you to continuously use it until your Pokemon ends up confusing itself. Like Thrash it's kept this basic ability but has been powered up, the amount it lasts going down by average while its base power received a high boost, but getting stuck in using the same attack over and over, especially a Grass-type with its seven resistances, isn't recommended. Plus, you know, that confusion at the end wasn't helpful either.
Its status as the "strongest" Grass-type move really didn't matter in Generation I, as the Oddish line was the only Pokemon capable of learning it. It's since been expanded to more Pokemon, such as Venusaur, but it's not super common. And besides for Flabebe and Comfey once again, our "pseudo-Grass Pokemon", it's exclusive to Grass-type Pokemon. Well, that's technically not true, there have been some Event Pokemon over the years who have gotten attacks that break these patterns (such as Psyduck and Meowth with Petal Dance) but most of these are fairly obscure and it's doubtful anyone has held on to them beyond novelties, so it's not worth mentioning. Like with Own Tempo Thrash Spinda the "niche" user of Petal Dance is Own Tempo Lilligant. Unlike Spinda it can actually be a fairly good Pokemon, but nobody bothers with Petal Dance because Lilligant has far better options and forcing a Grass-type Pokemon to end up stuck in possibly three turns of using an easily countered Grass-type move well, yeah, that's not a good strategy. Useful maybe in the main game where the CPU rarely switches to counter you though.
String Shot - Bug [Status]
40PP/95%
The opposing Pokémon are bound with silk blown from the user's mouth that harshly lowers the Speed stat.
If powered up by a Buginium Z into Z-String Shot, the user's Speed stat raises one stage.
When it was introduced String Shot only reduced the opponent's Speed by 1 stage, and it was basically a joke move---Caterpie and Weedle learned it, but couldn't make any real use of it because even if they lowered the opponent's Speed they were still easy to kill. The CPU would use this to, well, "bug" you, but for years it remained an early-game move for weak Bug-type Pokemon who couldn't use it effectively. Then Generation VI surprisingly buffed it, now lowering the opponent's Speed by 2 stages ("harshly" indicates this), and by this point you had some actual Bug-type Pokemon with some power behind them such as Galvantula and Volcarona. But, well, Generation VI introduced a more useful Speed-lowering Bug-type attack that serves as an entry hazard so String Shot still didn't catch on, though I think it occasionally sees some use in Double Battle formats since it effects both of the opponent's Pokemon. It's kind of nice that Game Freak remembered it, but it's hard to tell if this was wanting them to legit improve it or just going "hey let's boost this old-school shitty move for a laugh!".
Naturally, this move is limited to Bug-type Pokemon---but actually a small minority of them. For example, only two Generation I lines get it (Caterpie and Weedle), only one Generation II and Generation III lines get it (Spinarak and Wumrple), and nobody is Generation IV gets it. Generation V was at its most common, despite taking place before the boost. Oh, and for some reason HGSS made it a Move Tutor. Why? I'm not sure, this was before the boost too so it almost feels like a joke, or Game Freak overestimating its usefulness. As a Move Tutor it mainly gives more Bug-type Pokemon the chance to learn it, and note once more this was before Bug-type Pokemon really started to come into their own, and a few surprising learners such as Venusaur and Mantine. Perhaps one of the Move Tutor Pokemon learning it in Generation IV gave them a niche with the boosted String Shot in modern games, but I'm not sure. I think I saw mention of a Venusaur String Shot set?
But seriously Game Freak---still 95%? Would it hurt to add 5% to that?