Ironbound

Happy birthday, Kaito. Wishing you a great year ahead.

1. Ever been to a rainforest? 2. What do you think of elephants? 3. Do you like gardening or plants in general? What kind of plants, and any specific reason for your choice? 4. Coffee? 5. Crabhammer, Crabhammer or Crabhammer? Or are you one of those people who actually use Waterfall on their Crawdaunts!? 6. What would you say are your favourite and least favourite attributes about your culture and/or way of life? 7. Very important question: odd numbers or even? 8. On that note, do you have a preference for any number in particular, and if so, why?

I have begun to forget this game. You do get pickup via an event, not just as a starter, but I'm not entirely sure if it's before or after cal. Probably after. In any case, Aggron, Onix and Magnezone can all have Sturdy as an ability, and can use fairly powerful moves (though Onix is very weak) to hit cal. Magnezone is also able to use Thunder Wave. I'm not also sure if you can get Bronzor yet, bit if you can, it's worth a shot since it gets rain dance and heatproof. If you can revive fossils, getting Bastiodon is not a bad bet; it's basically a much weaker Aggron but with high mixed bulk. Sturdy + Metal Burst is also a good idea to nuke a threat. Keeping Onix unevolved is probably better for now, since you'll be in a grey area by using a mon that can be a future steel but currently is resistant to fire. Steel monoing is hardest against Cal, because ground and fighting are late enough in the game to get access to better steel types. I'm afraid all I can think of now is to use sturdy Pokémon and status ailments, preferably TWave.

No harm in wishing twice, as I always say. Have a great year ahead, Ody!

First up: Giratina is hardly 'chained down' in that manner. It has fantastic stats and movepool, great bulk and respectable power depending on the form, and an excellent ability in Levitate in the Origin Forme which you term as restraining. While it is true to an extent that it would like to have been able to hold a Scarf or Lefties like other Pokemon, Griseous Orb is by no means a shackle, since it makes its ghost and dragon moves quite seriously powerful even off a rather modest (by Ubers standards) 120 base attack or special attack. To answer you, however, I should say that while the Three Unfortunate Mascots of restriction do suffer (I allude to Defeatist Archeops, Slow Start Regigigas and Truant Slaking) due to a crippling ability, but for which these Pokémon would have been terrific beyond praise, I personally rue the fact that certain Pokemon do not get the moves that they should logically receive and which they could make extremely good use of. Imagine the awful splendour of Hydro Pump Manaphy, Tail Glow (Mega) Ampharos, Shift Gear (Mega) Metagross, Extreme Speed or Dragon Dance (or even Agility) Garchomp, Ice Beam Keldeo, Icicle Crash Kyurem (Black), Spiky Shield Ferrothorn, Focus Blast Latias/Latios and Roost Empoleon. GameFreak has not done them proper justice in denying them the chance to utilize their full potential. Though I do concede that these moves would make the respective Pokémon terrifying and very probably broken, that line of thought has nevertheless not deterred GameFreak from creating abominations like Hoopa-U, Volcanion, Greninja and Mega Salamence and other broken Pokémon with justified movepools.

He did a few times. Lugruf

What is a childhood? That's the way to save effort: answer a question with another question, thereby also continuing the sequence.

I just discovered this. What will you do about me?

Probably. Let me join in. It can be from any universe, right? ???? @ Sharp Beak Hasty Nature Ability: Hustle, Insomnia or Defiant - Brave BURD - Chatter - Confusion - [screeCh This should be easy enough.

I don't remember video game quotes. And saying that you don't like having dogs as a whole because of an accident with one is racist against dogs (kappa) What was the last item of (relative) value that you lost, mislaid or had stolen?

You'll find me seated in a Dialga-shaped chair, mounted on a Metagross, which, along with a Magnezone behind the chair's back, is levitating me and my seat off the ground as I enjoy coffee and Meteor Mash through ice types. Team? My dear chap, if it's not a steel type, what even is the point of it existing, if not for target practice? Heatran, burn the infidels. Good.

"Moderation in everything, including in moderation" That's an old watchword of my father and his family, and I've seen that that statement generally applies to most media. Conserving certain traditions and cultural mores is certainly a good thing, in order to preserve a history or knowledge, or to inculcate a particular practice or attitude in successive generations. For instance, the tradition of offering food to the needy, of reading, or of performing yoga, or some such, are good to keep in particular cultures and stand to mark the civilisation. The trouble of course begins when moderation fails and conservationiam evolves into hidebound-ness and rigidity, intolerance and stagnation, resistance to change. Cultural traditions no longer remain traditions but become mere rituals or habits, shackling society from expansion. History has shown that such restraints are often more evil than good, and that the new wave of revolution sweeps them away all the more. Taking a different example, a society which is moderate and tolerant of external stimuli, and which keeps an open mind, is not only easier to adopt a new or improved way of life, but is also rather ironically better at retaining its own traditions for longer, as peaceful amalgamation does not call for a forceful revolution. I could here give the example of how the Indic civilisation has retained certain core cultural traditions over millennia, despite assaults from varied invaders such as the Greeks, Afghans, Mongols, and even the British and Portuguese (though that last is a matter for another time...) To put simply, conservation of a tradition is good as long as it serves the purpose of preserving culture. That same culture, however, can never grow and evolve if the so-called conservatives are never open to genuine change, if the new mode is a betterment of the old. Sticking to an older way of life purely because it is old, and refusing to accept a new thing simply because it is not what was done eaelier, is no longer logical and descends into stubbornness and reactionary consequences as history has doubtless shown. I am not very much aware of the term when applied in US polity, but in any regard, conservativeness and innovation must find a balance for any civilisation as a whole to progress in a healthy environment.

A field that amplifies Light-based attacks? Count me in, this could be marvelous. *Spams Flash Cannon and Meteor Mash*

Who are all these people? Micky, you're about the only beacon of consistency here. Reveal yourself.

I don't follow you exactly. What do you mean by whipping a problem? In the literal sense, I do not own a whip and do not whip things. Im fact, I have never even struck anyone or anything, for that matter. To me, if a problem comes along and there's something I can do to improve the situation, I do it, and if there is nothing that can be done, then it's not a problem by definition. Why do you not own a dog?

It's a kind of bright orange-red. I should hope to know that, because I consider myself an artist, and also because vermilion and grey is the colour of sacred ash that is commonly used in pujas. Just keep mum about my partial colourblindness, ok? Cool. Do you have a dog?

I'm filled with Rage at the thought that even to the bitter end, Atlantis pulls a nasty low trick and prevents Amazon from using Steel or Electric types in the semifinal type swap. A petty way to spite us, seeking to deny us the blessing of the Lord Magnezone! But we shall still prevail, mark my words! (Jk it was a goodish run for the most part, even though I was not an active member) What does any Atlantan present here say to justify this low trick!?

No steel types. FAILED

Do you remember your promise to me? In the event of Amazon winning Nations, that is.

Y'all evil. Denying us Steel and even Electric even to the bitter end. It is almost as if you try your utmost to prevent the usage of Lord Magnezone! I am filled with idk what, but it would be rage if I was still an active member of Amazon. (Just kidding, but go Amazon!)

No harm in wishing twice. Have a great year ahead, Simon!

Indeed. I could copy+paste my postulations from the philosophy thread here, but that's basically the conundrum that the Shakti concept seens to answer or at least attempt to answer.

I remember this sort of thing being initiated in the old Philly thread, but since that seems buried, lesnaught question it. Free will is about as illusory as individuality itself, when we take a moment to contemplate our own rather insignificant place in the world. I like drawing parallels between us and insects, for in a way their microcosm is as relative to us as ours is to the universe at large. An ant, for instance, can be said to have no will at all, since it is a minion in a larger set, a cog in a larger machine. It works only for the mutual benefit of the colony and the queen, not for itself. Indeed, one can say that ants do not even have a concept of individuality, they cannot identify as 'I', only as 'we.' Then again, even though they're the poster boys of Marxism, even the individual is guided by its own instincts: ants are too rudimentary to have intelligence, but they do have urges. The urge to eat or find food, the urge to avoid injury and defeat foes, the urge to mate, and so on. Of course, unlike ants, we humans are (usually) not subject to a hive mind which overrides our own impulses, and are intelligent enough to ponder outside the limits of our own ant-world. It is true that we know little of the brain and even less of our own mind. It is perhaps here that philosophy can aid us. As far as I believe, the power of the human mind is the greatest natural power on the planet that we know of, and there is such a thing as 'picking' the outcome on the bases of our will. I'll not elaborate more here, since what I'm about to say had already been discussed in the original philosophy thread, but the concept of Shakti can provide a clue here. Of course, ignorance is indeed bliss when it comes to philosophy, since an ant which does its job is placid and dies content. Some would indeed espouse such abstinence from mental intoxication, stating that it is not man's place to question workings beyond his control, as such worrying is fruitless, and they would be partially correct. However, curiosity is not a sin, and the closer we get to unlocking the secrets of our own mind, the closer we can get to evolution and enlightenment. Coincidentally, today is my country's 70th Independence Day. Now, if we didn't have a notion of Free Will, what would we be doing? Still toiling under British enslavement?

Happy birthday, Dobby, Simon! Wishing the both of you a great year ahead.