Tomas Elliot

A couple of thoughts concerning last night's RAW (I thought I'd watch it to get an idea of the aftermath of RR): 1) I am appalled at how the "Total Divas" divas look unimportant compared to the Sasha-Becky-Charlotte trio. What is Alicia's gimmick? Why were Natalya and Paige teaming up? I personally have no answers to these questions. Before watching the Rumble I had never seen Charlotte, Becky or Sasha in a main roster match, but all it took was a quick glance at the build-up to RR's title match and I instantly knew who these ladies were, what they wanted to achieve, why they had issues with one another and so on. These other ladies I have been used to seeing for a while now, and yet I feel like I know nothing about them. Worse yet, I feel like I am given no reason for wanting to care. So yeah, I find it baffling that there would be such a massive difference in booking between the 3 top ladies and everyone else. 2) They made an overly long gag reel with The Rock, which was funny anf all but... Its ultimate goal was apparently to get the Usos over. It felt like a massive waste of time honestly. I mean ok, The Rock is great and the New Day are great, but the Usos are still stale. No matter what amazing promo wars go down between The Rock and the New Day, the bottom line is that the Usos will stay faces and challenge for the title. IMO, this is not the best for them, because they have already given all they had as a babyface team. They need to go in new directions to stay interesting, The Rock is not some kind of miraculous medicine you can throw around to solve all issues. 3) I am intrigued by how they are teasing and teasing and teasing AJ hitting the Styles Clash, without actually having him perform it. If he finally does hit it on PPV and scores a big win with it, it will feel like a huge deal. They are really pushing the move as a killer finisher, which in turn makes the guy using it look like a star, which is exactly what needs to be done with AJ. So far so good for the phenomenal one. I particularly enjoyed how JBL talked up the similarities between and Jericho. 4) Ambrose once again was made to look incredibly strong. He kept selling his injuries from the previous night, played Ricky Morton to perfection, still pulled off his crazy antics (even being decisive in the finish), and the announcers put him over for it, with even JBL (supposedly the heel commentator) praising him. Just what are they planning for him? I would be inclined to assume he is not winning at Fastlane, so why are they booking him so strongly? Not that I mind of course, I am just worried that, if Brock really does get removed from the match at the hands of Bray and his goons, Ambrose will end up taking the pin for Reigns, and will then be shuffled back in the midcard... And all this strong booking will have been in vain.

My very first one was Blue back when it first came out in Italy and, since then, I can proudly say that I have played them all up untill X and Y (included)! Then stuff happened, so ORAS broke the streak ;-;

I take offense to the "flinch inducing" part <.< And while I liked the John Lennon reference in your reply to my earlier questions, YOU DID NOT ADDRESS THE 3 MOST IMPORTANT ONES.

This still alive? Good. Allow me to share my impressions of what was the first WWE show I have watched in a while. 1) Ambrose vs KO: solid match if I ever saw one. It is always difficult to tell a convincing story when working with a stipulation that is traditionally overloaded with crazy spots, but the guys managed to get the job done perfectly (it was really evident that they were used to this kind of stuff back in their indy days). The match didn't have a single flaw from any possible point of view, it was great to watch and I applaud both Ambrose and KO for it. A side note concerning Ambrose: is it just me, or the guy was booked to look stronger than just about anybody esle on the show? He survived a grueling LMS, then had a good showing in the Rumble, and actually managed to be the runner up, coming within inches of winning the whole thing (love how they teased an offset to get the crowd to boo HHH, who was cheered moments earlier for elminating Reigns). It really makes me wonder about their future plans for Ambrose: if they want him to be JUST a midcard champion, why booking him so strongly in a PPV as important as this one? Could this be a sign of better things to come for him? 2) New Day vs Usos: it was a fun, fast-paced match, however I am kinda worried about the Usos. When you are the face team in a bout, and the trombone played by the manager of the heel team gets a bigger pop than your hot tag does, you know that you are utterly failing at connecting with the crowd. They used to be a hot and very over team, but I am afraid they are starting to become stale. Maybe a heel turn and a fresh new feud with some other face team would benefit them. 3) Kalisto vs AdR: an embarrassing botch (in what was already a rather silly-looking spot, so both guys ended up looking like idiots for trying it in the first place) ruined what was otherwise on its way of being a solid match. As mentioned, I have not been following WWE's product lately, so I cannot comment on the accusations many critics have made to this match of having a "contradictory booking". 4) Charlotte vs Becky Lynch: fun match, ruined by an ending that made Becky look almost as dumb as Sting in his WCW glory days. I really appreciate how both ladies looked like professional athletes and not like inflatable dolls, which is a serious step up compared to a lot of their collegues we have seen in the past 15 years. I am impressed by the pop Sasha Banks got upon attacking both competitors after the match: she looks to be the most over woman in wrestling right now, I hope WWE can capitalize on this with solid matches at Fastlane and, most importantly, at Wrestlemania. Incidentally, everytime I see Sasha Banks I wonder: wasn't there a pornstar of the same name a while back? This is a serious question. 5) Royal Rumble match: AJ's debut got an incredible pop, I am so happy for the guy. Here's hoping he'll be threated like a high-profile star by the company, because he surely deserves it. Intriguing storyline building between Brock and Bray, although I am kinda appalled that the beast incarnate did not seek vengeance after being unfairly eliminated. KO looked to ignite rivalries with 3 different people throughout the match, I wonder what Wrestlemania matches will come out of this. And of course, last word goes to the winner: while I don't mind HHH winning per se (although someone should remind the man that we are in 2016 and not in 2003), I am worried about Wrestlemania. I mean, they seem to be enacting a storyline similar to the Stone Cold vs Vince feud in 1999, but there is a problem: HHH is well past his prime and looks to be really short on stamina, and Roman is (in)famous for having a rather limited moveset. I am therefore worried that a WM main event between the two could get rather boring, and well, considering that nothing Roman has tried so far has managed to get him over with the fans, are we sure that a boring WM main event would help salvage him as a top babyface?

Why are your ideas so crazy I have to shoot down most of them? Why are you conspiring with Az behind my back? Why do you want to nerf Warcass? Why am I making a troll post in an AMA thread instead of finishing my project for uni, at half past eleven in the night? And as always, in the immortal words of Shurelia:

As an italian guy who grew up in the same region where Dante the poet was born (in fact, he stopped in my hometown for a while after being exiled from Florence), I would like to add to this that the "references" to the Divina Commedia are downright insulting to people like me, who know entire passages of the bookby heart (they have us memorize those in primary school, don't judge). Dante Alighieri is a national hero, for him to be going around beating people up in a friggin' action game is something that makes me sick to my stomach. How would you american people feel if George Washington was dressed up like some edgy anti-hero from the nineties and put in a fantasy environment? Exactly. I mean look at this picture: THIS is Dante. The big nose and red cap combo is so iconic in Italy, that wearing a gag nose and a replica cap is a popular dress up for kids on carnival. Seeing him wearing a helmet and a stripperrific armor, with a red cross painted on his bare chest and a friggin' SCYTHE in his hands fills me with fury. This game is a disgrace and whoever greenlighted it should be ashamed. With this being said, it's hard to make a submission of my own now. I mean, I'd have to think about a game I hate even more than that one, and I frankly cannot think of anything that... Oh. Oh God. Where do I even start. As most hardcore gamers would know, licensed games are usually bad. The mere idea of a movie/book/whatever being adapted to a format that makes it dependant on the player's choices is ludicrous, not to mention the fact that most of the budget usually goes into paying for the license, meaning that the developers more often than not end up rushing aspects like graphics and gameplay. You know, the most important things in a videogame (the plot is important too, but in a licensed game the plot is unoriginal by definition, because it is going to be what you saw in the movie in the best-case scenario, and a horrendously butchered, toned down version of what you saw in the movie in the worst-case scenario). What I just said applies to licensed games made out of good movies. But this is no such game. This is a licensed game made out of a serious contender for the title of worst movie of all times. Dragonball Evolution represented, for those foolish enough to watch it, the most painful 84 minutes of their entire life. If someone recorded the most humiliating moments I had to suffer at the hands of bullies in my childhood, and then hired the cast of Jersey Shore to act it out, I would find the end result to be marginally less awful than this insult to the intelligence of everyone who ever liked the work of Akira Toriyama. Between the bad acting, the poorly executed special effects, the badly choreographed fight, and the derailment of pretty much all characters involved (just an example: Mai, the forgettable minion of the equally forgettable early villain Pilaf, is now a ninja and the right-hand woman of Lord Piccolo), Dragonball Evolution was one of the lowest point in the history of cinema, and a pitch black spot in the already less-then-stellar curriculum of all actors involved. So now the question is: did this catastrophe really need a licensed game? Worse yet, did it need to sully forever the name of the Budokai series of Dragonball games by taking its battle system, dumbing it down, and filling it up with poorly done 3D models of the movie's cast? For having the audacity of asking people to actually pay for this debacle, Bandai Namco should be ashamed, and whoever thought publishing this game was a good idea should get on their knees and beg Dragonball fans all around the world for forgiveness. Hey Bryan, what rating does this game deserve in your opinion? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoJOSjzNi6w (Oh look, there's actually a Dragonball Evolution poster in the background image. Who would have thought)

I disagree with this. Even with the boost you suggest, the poor guy has so many weaknesses that for it, survivability is more or less an optional. Plus there is the fact that, as you said, it has "evolved into being the ninja of the jungle", so I think a +10 Spe would be much better both in terms of concept and in terms of competitive role. A Jolly base 102 Spe Pokemon is going to outspeed a lot of stuff if you give it a Choice Scarf (and scarves are typical of ninjas!) and, with Adaptability (which is a good idea, kudos for that), the guy would be able to dish out reasonable amounts of damage even without boosts to its output (Life Orb etc). Oh and speaking of Choice Scarf: U-TURN. Why in the green hell doesn't Leavanny get U-turn?

It's "Magic Mirror" in jap How about Sap Sipper? pigs are herbivores, aren't they?

Problem is, Eeveelutions have set stats. Like, they all have base 130 in something, base 95 in something, and so on so forth. So this is the one Pokemon you cannot mindlessly give a stat boost to I am afraid :/

Oh wait this is a hypothetical scenario. I thought Game Freak was really doing this for a moment o.O Very well, my pick is a Pokemon that has consistently held a position in my personal top 5 of fav Pokemon throughout the generations: Nidoking. A great Pokemon with a fantastic movepool and a unique typing, the bit guy has been given a lot of potential in Gen 5, with Sheer Force becoming its new HA... And then it has been prevented from making the most out of it. The main issue back in Gen 5 was that, while its best offensive stat was obviously Atk, all its best moves to abuse its ability made use of its mediocre SpAtk: so come Gen 6, Game Freak remedied to this by giving a 10 points boost to... ITS ATK? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Don't get me wrong, I do agree that Nidoking's original identity as physical attacker should be preserved, but I find it absolutely ridiculous that its Atk would be boosted without giving the guy some tools to make the most of it. Therefore, rather than suggesting a new ability, I will suggest 2 new moves and a stat boost. 1) GUNK SHOT. Seriously, a STAB Gunk Shot with the LO+Sheer Force boost would be NUCLEAR, and with the sheer amount of non-Poison physical attackers that get it (and even mixed ones like Greninja), I just fail to see why Nidoking would be left without it. The conspicuous lack of such an obvious move on a Pokemon like this is something that has always annoyed me, so my first order of action would be to remedy to it. 2) Waterfall: an interesting coverage option that should not be overlooked, although Ice Punch would probably be better. The guy already gets Surf AND Whirlpool, so why not Waterfall? 3) The stat boost goes to Spe. With base 95 Spe, it would be easier for it to revenge kill stuff and/or force switches, while still relying on Life Orb, which is without a doubt the best item for it.

Leaving aside considerations on possible switch-ins, the state of the current metagame and whatnot, I think that your main issue here is time. From the moment Charizard mega evolves, you have 5 turns of sun. Switch to Serperior and 4 are left. Use Leaf Storm (without a +2 under its belt, Serperior is NOT going to deal any significant damage to any relevant threat) and 3 are left. So yeah, even assuming that Serperior can indeed switch into something (which, unless the opponent is so stupid to istantly switch a Water-type Pokemon into Charizard, is not guaranteed), that leaves you a mere 3 turns to make the most of your strategy. So yeah, while I do approve of the general idea (it is pretty close to my own "double wallbreaker" concept, after all), I am not so sure that Solar Beam on Serperior could actually bring you any consistent benefits. So yeah, as you said using that move on that Pokemon is a challenge but... I personally would consider it a failed one. Pity, because with minor tweaks to Charizard's EVs (40 HP EVs, 216 Spe EVs and a Modest nature, so that it can afford running Flamethrower over Fire Blast) and a better coverage option over Solar Beam on Serperior, this would be a very effective team :/

The Reborn reference thing is, guess what, a reference. It was done on purpose. And yes the cancel bug is an issue with Essentials in general, so just don't do that.