Book Launch Announcement (Times Two)

Hello. Yes, I know this is a non-Monday post. I have something to say.

*clears throat*

KOTOV SYNDROME WILL BE RELEASING ON JANUARY 23, 2021!

Announcement – Part 1

Oh. Hi. If you can still hear over the sound of my all caps shouting, I have some things to tell you about.

I’ve been talking about my work in progress book, Kotov Syndrome, for nearly three years now. I recently shared that I have a fancy awesome cover created by the talented Lauren Restivo. Since that point, I’ve reviewed three proof copies of my book, done a few rounds of editing, and gotten very angry KDP’s inability to handle the italic version of Helvetica1Seriously. This was the weirdest thing. There’s no good explanation for it anywhere in KDP’s documentation. The only thing I can figure is that Word technically classifies Helvetica’s italic version as an oblique font rather than true italics. But still. It’s fucking Helvetica. It’s been around since 1957!. That said, I think I’m finally done with editing (aside from one last grammar and style check). That means I can finally submit my manuscript to various platforms and setup pre-order. That, in turn, means I have a release date.

As of today, you can pre-order Kotov Syndrome as an ebook and paperback through various channels. I’ll be linking to some places where you can buy at the bottom of the post. While I encourage you to pre-order via whatever channels you enjoy the most, if you don’t care, I would recommend pre-ordering the ebook through Amazon or Apple Books. The more pre-orders I can get for an e-book, the better. As for paperback, feel free to request through your own local book store or your shop of preference. I personally adore Barnes & Noble, but I know that’s a me thing. And hey…while you’re at it, you should totally request my book through your local public library. Because that’d be the coolest thing of all.

I do not intend to do a hardcover version of the book at this time. While I’d personally love a hardcover of the book, there wasn’t a ton of interest in it outside of myself — especially not at the price point I’d have to put it at in order to even break even on a hardcover. If there’s enough pre-order interest in my book, I might change my mind. Additionally, if I can get enough support on Patreon to be able to fund some advertising for the book, that would potentially change this as well. So, if you’re not a patron and wish to help put me in a position where I can do hardcovers, go support me on Patreon. Please 😀

One other quick note I want to throw out there. This book deals a lot with mental health issues, as you’ll see in the synopsis. For every book I sell (pre-order or otherwise), a portion of the money I make will to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. I don’t know an exact amount yet, as there are still storefronts working on being setup. That said, I’m leaning towards something like 15% of the proceeds I’d make for a book.

Synopsis

So what’s this book about? You know, since I’m encouraging you to buy it and stuff.

Kotov Syndrome Cover

Kotov Syndrome focuses on a young woman, Erika Edens, who is struggling with life. She’s stuck in a dead-end job, suffers from mental illness and recurring nightmares, is estranged from her family, and is unlucky with love. Out of the blue, Erika’s ex-girlfriend and only previous long-term relationship, Abby Lin, contacts her out of the blue. There’s just one small problem.

Abby is a computer simulation. And she needs Erika to save her.

The story follows Abby as she adjusts to living life as a computer simulation in an android body in a world increasingly hostile to this technology. Meanwhile, Erika finally has her long-lost love back in her life. But can she put her demons aside long enough to co-exist with Abby as a roommate?

Trigger Warnings: Alcoholism, anxiety, bigotry, car accident, death, hate crimes, homophobia, intrusive thoughts, mental illness, racism, sexism, strong language, trauma/PTSD, violence

Feedback on Kotov Syndrome

While Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) of Kotov Syndrome are not yet available — more to come on that — I wanted to share some feedback I received from beta readers on the book. These pieces of feedback have been shared with the consent of the beta readers in question. While they did review a working version of the book, I feel like their feedback is worth sharing, hence asking them and then doing so. Quotes may be shortened for clarity, but are otherwise unaltered.

It’s an easy read. Like not in a childish way, but some books just seem heavy and need breaks. I didn’t want to stop reading yours. – K.N.

I read through it in 2 days on the first reading on my phone, so it is definitely not boring. – T.

Abby and Erika feel very real and they both feel very…whole. It’s absolutely like getting a glimpse of full, real people with rich histories that, even if I don’t know them, they’re there. – E.J.

The entirety of what I have written for Chapter 22 is “That… was terrifying”. SO. MANY. FEELINGS. – S.S.

I do really like Erika’s character though. She seems very real, and very flawed, which is nice. Not a heroine, yet relatable. – T.W.

Announcement – Part 2

Wait, you say, confused why I’m speaking for you in the middle of a blog post that you’re reading inside your own head. There’s a part 2 to this announcement? Yes, there is.

On the same day that Kotov Syndrome is releasing, author duo Jacob Crawford will be releasing the second book in the Dark Sentinels series, this one being called The Assassin.

For those unaware, Jacob Crawford is a mother-daughter author duo comprised of P.E. Crawford and E.V. Jacob. E.V. is a dear friend of mine and I could not be more excited than I am to be launching our books on the same date. I’m also the editor for The Assassin and believe me when I say that I am hyped as fuck for this book. While The Assassin is not available for pre-order at this time, you should consider picking up the first book in the series, The Shadows, to have something to read while you wait on our books to come out.

Where You Can Pre-Order Books

If you’re interested in pre-ordering either Kotov Syndrome, I’ve put plenty of links below to help you do so. As we get closer to the release date for these books, if there’s anything you can do — or would like to do — to help spread the word about said books, we’d love your help. More info on that to come in the near future. If/once The Assassin is available for pre-order, information for that will be posted here as well.

Kotov Syndrome Pre-Order Links

NOTE: Pre-order links will be posted beginning September 22nd as they go live on retailer sites. I’ll add more links as they become available, though that may not necessarily be on the 22nd, as I’m running into some delays with pre-order links going live. While you’re waiting on the pre-order links to go live, you should add the book to your Goodreads shelf.

Ebook

Paperback
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My 10 Favorite Pokemon of Each Type

So um…yeah. That whole My Pokemon Gym series that’s given me content for the past 17 months1The original post was a one-off I did nearly a half year before the rest of the posts.? It’s over now. And because this blog is a video game and writing blog, I feel like I should write more video game things. Thing is, I’m writing this in the early summer of 2020. And let me be clear — I’m mentally exhausted right now.

As such, I’m stealing an idea from Lola over at That Little Lola…kind of. She does posts going through her favorite Pokemon of each type. Which is awesome and is the concept that inspired this post. That said, I don’t feel like writing another 18 month long series. That sounds exhausting. So I’m going to write two really LONG Pokemon posts. This will be the first one, while the second will be about shiny Pokemon. I also won’t be sharing thoughts on every single Pokemon on the list, because I don’t feel like writing a 10,000-word post that isn’t fiction or about Fire Emblem. I will give a quick wrap up of each type at the end of the type, however.

That all said, here are the rules.

  • Pokemon may appear in multiple typing lists (so if Pidgey were one of my favorite Normal and Flying types, it could appear in both lists).
  • All Pokemon may appear in the list, including legendaries, regional variants, and various Pokemon forms.
  • Pokemon whose type can be modified with items (Genesect, Silvally, Rotom, etc) will appear in whatever their base type is. For Pokemon that have different variations present in the wild (Oricorio), I’ll consider them in all types they’re available in.
  • A Pokemon’s evolution line may only appear once per type. For example, if both Pidgey and Pidgeot were in my top 10 normal types, whichever one is ranked lower would be removed from the list. Exceptions: The Nidoran lines remain split because of how they appeared in Gen I. Same with the evolutions of Tyrogue for the same reason.
  • This list may not be 100% consistent with previous top Pokemon lists I’ve made. This is partly because a new generation has come out since then, but also because opinions change, man.
  • As I’ve done before, I’m going to be using Dragonfly Cave’s favorite picker tool to help me make these lists.

Here we go.

Normal

10. Lickitung
9. Porygon-Z
8. Swellow
7. Eevee
6. Fearow
5. Furret
4. Jigglypuff
3. Delcatty
2. Dodrio
1. Rattata

With apologies to Bidoof, my favorite first route Normal type and my original childhood favorite Pokemon tops the Normal type list. Normal’s frequent crossover with Flying means there are a lot of birds on this list. The most surprising Pokemon on this list were Furret — who I’ve grown to love over the past few years — and Lickitung (who was an afterthought until I played Let’s Go Eevee).

Fire

10. Magmar
9. Cinderace
8. Centiscorch
7. Incineroar
6. Flareon
5. Magcargo
4. Chandelure
3. Oricorio (Baile Form)
2. Delphox
1. Vulpix

If I didn’t limit each Pokemon evolution chain to one appearance per type, this list would primarily be just the Vulpix, Fennekin, and Litwick evolution lines. That’s the thing about Fire types. I either adore them or I hate them. Really once you get past Flareon on this list, it’s a lot of ‘yeah…I guess that’s fine’ options. Shoutout to Oricorio Baile Form for being the lynchpin of my Gen VII doubles teams.

Fighting

10. Heracross
9. Kommo-o
8. Hawlucha
7. Breloom
6. Hitmonlee
5. Crabominable
4. Poliwrath
3. Marshadow
2. Pheramosa
1. Hitmonchan

Hello. It’s me. The only Crabominable fan in existence. Alola had some awesome Fighting types. So much so that three Pokemon I love using in games — Bewear, Falinks, and Gallade — all miss the cut for this list. Hitmonchan and Pheramosa were and easy one and two on this list. That said, everything from third through I’d estimate fifteenth or so is a tough debate. There are a ton of Fighting types I feel freely similarly about.

Water

10. Cramorant
9. Simipour
8. Lapras
7. Kabutops
6. Toxapex
5. Poliwrath
4. Vaporeon
3. Tapu Fini
2. Quagsire
1. Shellder

Hey! We have our first crossover Pokemon between lists. I’d say I’m surprised it didn’t come sooner, but then I look at the types above and realize it makes sense this hasn’t happened before now. Inteleon and Omastar were the most difficult cuts from this list, while the debate between Quagsire and Shellder was tough at the top of the list. Excluding every Water starter was rough, as I’m always Mr. Use A Water Starter in my games. That said, Pokemon has never been lacking for likeable Water types.

Flying

10. Xatu
9. Swellow
8. Drifblim
7. Crobat
6. Fearow
5. Sigilyph
4. Oricorio Baile Form
3. Murkrow
2. Dodrio
1. Articuno

Arguably the easiest top three to pick thus far, I could have told you that this list would be Articuno, Dodrio, and Murkow in that order even without the picker tool. That said, I find that I do have a fondness for the Psychic/Flying typing, with both Sigilyph and Xatu making the list. If only I liked Lugia more.

Grass

10. Tangrowth
9. Cacturne
8. Decidueye
7. Pansage
6. Kartana
5. Bellsprout
4. Tsareena
3. Leavanny
2. Parasect
1. Oddish

It took a tiny bulb Pokemon to keep the Bug/Grass representatives from sweeping the top spots on this list. As you might be able to tell, my Grass type Pokemon likes are either cute, tiny things, or horrifying monstrosities. There isn’t really an in-between here.

Poison

10. Salazzle
9. Tentacruel
8. Ekans
7. Beedrill
6. Ariados
5. Toxapex
4. Crobat
3. Bellspout
2. Venomoth
1. Oddish

More than any other generation on this entire list, Poison type has a very strong Gen I bias. Thing is, I really don’t like a ton of Poison types in general and especially not Gen I Poisons. Of all post-Gen I poison types, the only ones I’ve ever used on my end of game teams are Toxapex (which I’ve used very heavily) and Eternatus (which…meh?). There’ll be some variation soon though.

Electric

10. Vikavolt
9. Emolga
8. Magnezone
7. Pachirisu
6. Jolteon
5. Tapu Koko
4. Xurkitree
3. Stunfisk
2. Zebstrika
1. Galvantula

Gen I’s reign of terror at the top of the type list ends in an abrupt way, as there are zero Gen I Pokemon in my top five Electric types. Thing is, both Galar (Pinchurchin, Toxtricity) and Kanto (Electrode, Raichu) had Pokemon just missing out on the top ten.

Ground

10. Dugtrio
9. Mudsdale
8. Vibrava
7. Sandaconda
6. Sandslash
5. Stunfisk
4. Palossand
3. Whiscash
2. Krookodile
1. Quagsire

Alright, let’s get this out of the way. LOOK AT THAT FACE! LOOK AT IT! That said, shout out to Vibrava for being one of the few middle stage evolutions that I like better than either the form bigger or smaller than it.

Psychic

10. Lunala
9. Alakazam
8. Xatu
7. Meloetta (Aria Forme)
6. Sigilyph
5. Espeon
4. Delphox
3. Gardevoir
2. Jynx
1. Hypno

Hypno carried me through my very first run of Pokemon Blue ever (at age 11 or so), meaning I have a soft spot for this incredibly creepy Pokemon. This is in spite of other Psychics in the top ten being my one of my favorite shinies (Espeon), the lone mythical I REALLY want (Meloetta), two of my favorite VGC Pokemon (Gardevoir, Alakazam), and one of my favorite Pokemon to annoy others with (Jynx). Also, let this list serve as your daily reminder that Noctowl is not a Psychic type.

Rock

10. Carracosta
9. Aurorus
8. Nihilego
7. Onix
6. Solrock
5. Magcargo
4. Omastar
3. Shuckle
2. Kabutops
1. Sudowoodo

Rock type is filled with Pokemon I’m indifferent about. Even the bottom parts of this top ten show this. I mean, Solrock and Nihilego are fine Pokemon — they’re just better than a bunch of other Pokemon I also don’t care much about. The top four of Rock are amazing and fifth isn’t too bad either. But after that, there’s a steep dropoff.

Ice

10. Glaceon
9. Crabominable
8. Jynx
7. Dewgong
6. Cloyster
5. Frosmoth
4. Lapras
3. Froslass
2. Ninetales (Alolan Forme)
1. Articuno

Yes, my favorite Ice type is a legendary. No, I do not care.

Bug

10. Wurmple
9. Shuckle
8. Galvantula
7. Ariados
6. Scizor
5. Venomoth
4. Pheramosa
3. Leavanny
2. Frosmoth
1. Parasect

Remember how I said Rock sucked because nothing after 5th was anything I cared about? Bug was the opposite of that. Two Pokemon I’ve used regularly in battle — Heracross and Butterfree — didn’t even sniff the top ten. Galvantula was my top Electric type Pokemon and it’s EIGHTH on this list. There’s another type further down this list that made that type’s top five and it didn’t make the top ten here. Bug type’s brutal, yo.

Dragon

10. Goodra
9. Eternatus
8. Drampa
7. Zygarde
6. Vibrava
5. Altaria
4. Exeggutor (Alolan Forme)
3. Kommo-o
2. Dragonaire
1. Kingdra

The entire Dratini line could have made this list, but my self-imposed one Pokemon per evolution line limit prevents that. Alolan Exeggutor might be the funniest thing I’ve seen in a Pokemon game, even now that we’re a few years after it came out. Do I use it? Nah. Do I laugh every time I see it? Yes.

Ghost

10. Banette
9. Lunala
8. Mimikyu
7. Palossand
6. Marshadow
5. Decidueye
4. Drifblim
3. Mismagius
2. Chandelure
1. Froslass

The top two spots here might have been the hardest choice on any of these lists, especially since both of them feature on my current Shield singles team. Froslass gets the edge if only because of my love for Ice types. You may notice the is the second list Palossand has shown up on. I’d argue it’s one of the most underrated Pokemon to come out of Alola.

Dark

10. Houndoom
9. Muk (Alolan Forme)
8. Absol
7. Incineroar
6. Shiftry
5. Krookodile
4. Liepard
3. Cacturne
2. Umbreon
1. Murkrow

Dark, like Rock, is kind of top-heavy. It’s not to the same extent, as there are quite a few Dark types I love. But I almost put Guzzlord in the top 10. And Guzzlord is just fever dream Muk. Speaking of Muk, I completely forgot about its existence until shortly before publishing this list, meaning Weavile got bumped at the last second. I feel like I should do a gym theme post wherein my theme is Pokemon I love that everyone else seems to hate. It can be Cacturne, Crabominable, and four other Pokemon that I’ll figure out when I’m not sleepy.

Steel

10. Copperajah
9. Ferrothorn
8. Skarmory
7. Kartana
6. Corviknight
5. Meltan
4. Empoleon
3. Scizor
2. Magnezone
1. Mawile

Oh look. Another type filled with cute things or horrifying monstrosities. Or, in Mawile’s case, both.

Fairy

10. Tapu Koko
9. Mimikyu
8. Clefairy
7. Primarina
6. Sylveon
5. Ribombee
4. Gardevoir
3. Mawile
2. Tapu Fini
1. Jigglypuff

The fact that Ribombee couldn’t crack the top 10 Bug types should tell you something about how deep Bug is in my mind. That said, once this list got past Clefairy, I was really struggling not to pick things in the evolutionary line of stuff I’d already picked. Apologies to the Milcery line, whose entire evolution gimmick is a big reason why I don’t like it as much as I should.

Some Fiction For Your Weekend

Hi all. You’ve likely noticed that the blog has been pretty quiet lately. There are a number of reasons for that, including the world still imploding, my life being significantly more stressful as of late, the fact that I’m doing a lot of backend work on the blog that’ll go live in the coming months, and the fact I’m working on planning out some stuff that I’ll be announcing on the blog in the short to mid-term future.

That said, until the blog changes and said announcements happen, I really don’t have a ton of posts that’ll be going up here. There are two Pokemon posts I have planned at this point. One will go live the first week of September and one will go up the first week of October1Both dates are tentative.. But for the reasons I mentioned above, that’s all I have directly planned that I’m ready to talk about at this time. I know that unfortunate, as there are a number of you who were reading regularly, but it’s just the reality of where I’m at.

One thing I haven’t posted a ton of recently is fiction work on this blog. I have a few things I’m working on, most of which are not online. That said, I do have three fiction works that I’ve put up on Wattpad that I’d encourage you to give a read to if you have some time. If you’re a Wattpad user, I would also ask that you vote for the story parts, add them to your reading lists, and comment on them, if you’d be so kind.

Project Tasman

 

To read Project Tasman, click here.

Earlier this year, I took some time on this blog to talk about my experience writing a choose your own adventure novel over Twitter. Said novel, Project Tasman, is currently in its next to last chapter on Twitter. The first 11 chapters of the story are up on Wattpad, meaning you have a story that’s almost a full-length novel if you have a ton of time to kill this weekend. This story has been incredibly fun to write and has been very well received on Twitter, so I’d encourage you to give it a read if you enjoy the synopsis below.

Synopsis: Alana Quevedo finds herself caught in a sadistic experiment where she must choose to kill another participant of the experiment and doom a second to going through it again. Who will she save? Will it be her fiancee with a dark, secretive past? Her whiz kid younger half-sister who may never come out of a coma? Her half-brother who controls their sister’s medical care? Her abusive ex-boyfriend? Or will Alana choose to give mercy to an alluring and seductive stranger who never seems to tell the full truth?

Meeting Charlie Madagan

 

To read Meeting Charlie Madagan, click here.

Those of you who are regular readers of the blog might recognize the name of this story, as I trialed the story here late last year. This is a story I’ve been wanting to tell since 2011 or so, but haven’t felt confident enough in my writing until recently to feel like I could do the larger story justice. This story is currently on chapter 4 of what will likely be a 40-50 chapter story, so this is a great time to get in and follow along while the story is still in its infancy.

Synopsis: Kyler Stone must interview reclusive billionaire Charlie Madagan for a college writing class. The interview — and the subsequent lessons Charlie teaches him — will change the lives of Kyler and those closest to him more than he could possibly imagine.

Fostoria

 

To read Fostoria, click here.

One of the biggest recurring features of this blog used to be my various short stories I wrote, either as responses to writing prompts or as concepts I decided I wanted to write about. Fostoria harkens back to that time, as this story was inspired by a series of tweets discussing how the only way to get one of my friends to visit a cold climate would be one a rescue mission. This is what came out of it. It’s a short read, but if you’re wanting to be able to read a full story this weekend without having to wait for any follow-up, start with this one.

Synopsis: Corri is on a rescue mission to save her boyfriend, Rian. But Rian doesn’t know he’s in danger.

My Pokemon Gym: Water

Welcome to the eighteenth iteration of the My Pokemon Gym series.

Wait. Pause. Eighteenth. There’s only eighteen Pokemon types. This means I’m finally done. Holy shit.

If you’re new to this series, I take a Pokemon type then build out my team of six Pokemon of that type as if I were the gym leader. Here are the rules:

  1. I can’t use legendary/mythical Pokemon
  2. I can’t reuse Pokemon I’ve used in previous gyms in this series.
  3. Forms of the same Pokémon can be reused, provided they have different typing. For example, if I used Rattata in a Normal gym team, I could use Alolan Rattata in a Dark gym team.

Want to read my other My Pokemon Gym posts? Go read the Fighting, Ice, Psychic, Grass, Dragon, Fairy, Electric, Bug, Fire, Flying, Normal, Ghost, Dark, Rock, Steel, Ground, and Poison type posts when you’re done here. All images courtesy pokemondb.net unless otherwise stated.

Vaporeon

Since the Water team is my last team, this team is going to be one that is filled with Pokemon running sets nostalgic to me or that I find to be hilarious when battling. Vaporeon was almost always my Eeveelution of choice in Gen I, usually running it with Surf, Ice Beam/Aurora Beam, Blizzard, and Quick Attack. While that set isn’t particularly viable now, I’ve decided to play off of that a little bit with this Hydration set. Scald replaces Surf as this is a singles gym, and Shadow Ball replaces Blizzard’s horrid post-Gen I accuracy. That said, I quite like this set for my team’s primary rain setter.

Ability: Hydration
Item: Damp Rock
Moves: Aurora Beam, Shadow Ball, Scald, Rain Dance

Lumineon

Lumineon has a weird move pool. You’d think it’d be a special attacker, but it’s actually a bit more useful as a physical attacker. I debated throwing Silver Wind on it anyway for the lulz, but parafusion is a much more lethal combination, especially with Lumineon stealing Attack boosts via Psych Up.

Ability: Swift Swim
Item: Power Herb
Moves: Waterfall, Bounce, Swagger, Psych Up

Simipour

I love Water types, meaning they’re scattered all over my other teams I’ve done in this series. Simipour wouldn’t have made this list if I was just picking my six favorite Water types, but because Water came last on the list, it gets the nod over Pokemon like Primarina, Toxapex, Lapras, Kindra, Empoleon, and Poliwrath that I used on other teams. This entire set is built around Simipour being able to use Fling, Acrobatics, or Covet repeatedly. Because of course I built a trolling elemental monkey set.

Ability: Gluttony
Item: Light Ball
Moves: Acrobatics, Dig, Fling, Covet

Dewgong

Hello, Lapras Lite. How are you?

Ability: Thick Fat
Item: Assault Vest
Moves: Horn Drill, Sheer Cold, Skull Bash, Fake Out

Inteleon

Now that hidden abilities are out, it seems like Inteleon may well be the weakest of the Galar starters. Which sounds awfully familiar for reasons we’ll get to in just a moment. That said, if we’re going to build around Inteleon’s hidden ability, Sniper, let’s go all in, shall we? Scope Lens to boost crit rate. Focus Energy to boost it. Snipe Shot’s already increased critical hit chance. It’s great. Oh, and Hyper Beam. Because why not?

Ability: Sniper
Item: Scope Lens
Moves: Focus Energy, Snipe Shot, Dark Pulse, Hyper Beam

Blastoise

Speaking of starters that got overlooked compared to others in their generation, Squirtle was once the king of the Kanto starters. That said, since Mega Venusaur became god-tier and since Game Freak keeps feeding Charizard buffs like it’s a main character, Blastoise is a distant third place. But it’s still one of my favorite end-stage starters ever. As a kid, I tended to run Surf, Strength, Earthquake, and Bite on my Blastoise. Screw that though. We’re going full Revenge of the Blastoise and giving it a bulky, trapping Yawn set.

Ability: Rain Dish
Item: Leftovers
Moves: Yawn, Iron Defense, Body Press, Whirlpool

Theorycrafting Unique Type Pokemon (Part 2)

One of the more fun, yet challenging, post types I’ve written for this blog are my Pokemon theorycrafting posts. I’ve done a pair of them now, wherein I (along with some help) took some unused type combinations and used them to create new concept Pokemon. It’s an exercise that requires more thought than I’m willing to admit, if only because I do try to make an effort to think about the kinds of Pokemon I’d want to see in a game, how they’d balance, and what fits the world of a game I’ve been playing off and on since I was 12.

One of my fellow Pokemon bloggers, Lola from That Little Lola, presented me with an idea that we decided to turn into a collaboration. In the Pokemon games, there are currently — as of May 11th, 2020 — 54 Pokemon evolution lines or individual Pokemon that have unique typing combinations. An example of this would be Empoleon. Empoleon has a typing of Water/Steel, making it the only Pokemon with that typing. Similarly, there are two Water/Ghost Pokemon, however they are both within the Frillish evolution line. Both of these situations are considered to be unique type Pokemon for our lists.

Lola and I have divided these 54 Pokemon between us. From there, we’ll both be doing our list in two parts. You can check out the posts at the links below.

Lola’s posts – Part 1 | Part 2
My posts – Part 1 | Part 2

For my list, I’m limiting myself to no more than two regional variations per list. I think there were some missed opportunities in the regional variations, but I don’t want to do a whole list based off of them. Similarly, I’m also limiting myself to no more than two evolutionary line additions/splits per post.

1. Ice/Ghost

What’s the current Pokemon with this type? Froslass

Our new Pokemon is? It’s interesting that Froslass is the current Ice/Ghost Pokemon, because I’d love to see a regional variation of it — one that we’ll get to a bit later in this post. That said, I’m thinking this Pokemon is one based on the Aurora Borealis, if only because of the mystic nature it has.

Abilities? Not every ability is good. Illuminate is a terrible ability. But it does make sense for this Pokemon. As for a hidden ability, I’d like to think a Pokemon based off of pastel lights would have Pastel Veil as a hidden ability. It just makes sense.

Learn Set? Astonish (Learned at level 1), Gust (1), Flash (6), Poison Gas (13), Icy Wind (19), Confuse Ray (25), Aurora Beam (29), Ominous Wind (33), Whirlwind (39), Hail (43), Safeguard (50), Freeze-Dry (57), Tailwind (62), Blizzard (69), Destiny Bond (77)

2. Grass/Ground

What’s the current Pokemon with this type? Torterra

Our new Pokemon is? Literally any plant Pokemon could be Grass/Ground. How is Torterra the only one? What the hell? I’ve got this. Let’s cross over the Piranha Plant from Mario. Sure, you could argue it should be Grass/Poison. But it’s a potted plant. We’ll give it some Poison moves.

Abilities? Since there’s an argument that can be made for the Piranha Plant to be Poison type, we’ll give it Poison Touch for one of its abilities. I feel like Chlorophyll makes a ton of sense for a secondary ability, considering how prevelant is it on Grass types as a whole. As for a hidden ability, why not Grass Surge? A crossover appearance would likely generate something being overpowered about the Piranha Plant, so why not that?

Learn Set? Wrap (Learned at level 1), Withdraw (1), Acid (4), Growl (8), Vine Whip (12), Growth (16), Flame Burst (20), Ice Ball (24), Dig (28), Slam (32), Razor Leaf (36), Slam (40), Earth Power (44), Power Whip (48), Sludge Bomb (52), Solar Blade (56), Earthquake (60), Wood Hammer (64)

3. Fighting/Ice

What’s the current Pokemon with this type? Crabominable

Our new Pokemon is? If you haven’t watched this Pokemon theory talking about how Snorunt is actually just a failed Falinks, you should. It’s really good. That said, we now have a missed opportunity here — Galarian Froslass as a dual Fighting and Ice type.

Abilities? Since this is still Froslass, it’ll retain the Snow Cloak ability. And because we’re playing off of the above mentioned theory, the hidden ability for our Galarian Froslass will be Defiant, the hidden ability of Falinks.

Learn Set? Tackle (Learned at level 1), Rock Smash (1), Protect (1), Endure (1), Ice Fang (1), Headbutt (1), Crunch (1), Powder Snow (1), Leer (1), Double Team (1), Focus Energy (15), Ice Shard (20), Icy Wind (25), Frost Breath (30), Seismic Toss (35), Hail (40), Focus Blast (47), Aurora Veil (54), Final Gambit (61), Blizzard (68), No Retreat (on evolution)

4. Poison/Fire

What’s the current Pokemon with this type? The Salandit line.

Our new Pokemon is? I originally had a really boring idea, but then something hit me — Greek Fire. Which leads me to an interesting idea. What if Karrablast had a separate evolution — say when it’s traded while holding a Flame Orb or a Toxic Orb? We’ll call it Karratine, which is a play on Karrablast’s name, as well as the Byzantine Empire, which used Greek Fire to great effect.

Abilities? We’ll let Karratine retain one of Escavilier’s two main abilities, as Shell Armor seems like a good choice here. We’ll also give it Flash Fire, considering the effectiveness of the Greek Fire concept. I had to think for a bit for a hidden ability, but Bulletproof seems like the right call here, if only as a nod to the armor of its Steel type roots.

Learn Set? Peck (Learned at level 1), Leer (1), Acid (1), Fury Cutter (5), Endure (9), Acid Spray (12), Powder (17), Flame Charge (22), Fire Punch (27), Poison Jab (27), Cross Poison (32), Swords Dance (37), Fiery Dance (41), Flamethrower (46), Trick (51), Gunk Shot (56), Flare Blitz (63)

5. Electric/Fire

What’s the current Pokemon with this type? Uh…Rotom Heat? If it’s not Rotom Wash, I don’t use it. So I tend to forget about the Rotoms.

Our new Pokemon is? The Brave Little Toaster, only it’s on fire. We’ll call it Cronchy.

Abilities? Cronchy gets one ability, and it’s an exclusive one — Toast. The Toast ability causes the first Fire attack it hits an opponent with to do 1.5x damage, at the expense of all future Fire attacks that Cronchy uses on that Pokemon doing .5x damage. This penalty persists even if Cronchy or the opposing Pokemon switch out. Its signature move — Toast Shuriken — is a Fire-type version of Water Shuriken.

Learn Set? Thundershock (Learned at level 1), Tail Whip (1), Ember (5), Charge (10), Tail Slap (15), Discharge (20), Double Hit (25), Incinerate (30), Spark (35), Iron Defense (40), Toast Shuriken (45), Volt Switch (50), Fire Lash (55), Heat Crash (60), Memento (65)

6. Rock/Electric

What’s the current Pokemon with this type? The Alolan Golem line.

Our new Pokemon is? This Pokemon is based off of the Baghdad Battery. It’s an early galvanic cell (in theory), so I think it’s kind of a cool thing to base a Pokemon off of. When Mythbusters tested this, it only produced a weak electrical current…but what if it didn’t? We’ll even give it a cool name like Ohmphrates or something.

Abilities? It’s a galvanic cell. Clearly our primary ability is Battery, right? And our hidden ability is Galvanize. This was easy.

Learn Set? Tackle (Learned at level 1), Sand-Attack (1), Thundershock (5), Thunder Wave (9), Rollout (12), Bide (17), Rock Tomb (22), Thunderbolt (26), Helping Hand (30), Acid Armor (34), Chip Away (38), Power Gem (43), Thunder (47), Shell Smash (55), Explosion (62)

7. Dragon/Ice

What’s the current Pokemon with this type? Kyruem

Our new Pokemon is? Licensing rights fees won’t let us get a Game of Thrones crossover here, so we’re just going to go with a generic ice-breathing dragon. It can breed with Mudbray. I don’t have a name for it.

Abilities? I feel like the obvious answer here is Refrigerate, so let’s not go that route. Instead, we’ll give our dragon the primary ability Cute Charm, because dragons need love too. There won’t be a secondary ability for this Pokemon, but we will have a hidden ability. The logical answer to me here is Slush Rush, as we’ll be taking advantage of the speed in the hail to dish out some powerful moves.

Learn Set? Quick Attack (Learned at level 1), Sand-Attack (1), Ice Ball (5), Ember (9), Dragon Rage (12), Ice Fang (17), Wing Attack (22), Howl (26), Dragon Claw (30), Avalanche (34), Ice Punch (38), Dragon Dance (43), Dragon Tail (47), Hurricane (55), Outrage (62)

8. Normal/Grass

What’s the current Pokemon with this type? Deerling and Sawsbuck.

Our new Pokemon is? You know how everyone and their mother considers having a lawn normal? I hate lawns. They’re the biggest waste of time, energy, and water possible in suburbia. So our Normal/Grass type will be called Lawna. It will get only four moves. It can pass none of them via Baton Pass. It is literally just there to drink water and be a waste of space.

Abilities? It’s a sentient lawn. It just wastes water. Its primary ability will be Water Absorb while its hidden ability will be Storm Drain.

Learn Set? Splash (1), Growth (15), Grass Whistle (30), Curse (50)

9. Fire/Normal

What’s the current Pokemon with this type? Litleo and Pyroar.

Our new Pokemon is? What exactly is a normal fire? Is it a wildfire? Is it a fireplace? Is it a sentient piece of flame that helps you cook eggs? I’m going to go with a fire ant, if only because having a tiny ant breathe fire in Pokemon amuses me.

Abilities? Our tiny ant will have the Guts ability as its primary ability, along with the Quick Feet ability as a secondary ability. As for a hidden ability, we’re going to go with Immunity. Basically the entire goal of our fire ant friend is to beg to be hit by a status condition.

Learn Set? Ember (Learned at level 1), String Shot (1), Quick Attack (7), Leer (12), After You (16), Fire Fang (21), Facade (25), Follow Me (31), False Swipe (37), Work Up (42), Super Fang (47), Teeter Dance (53), Guillotine (58), Skull Bash (64), Metronome (72)

10. Ground/Electric

What’s the current Pokemon with this type? Stunfisk

Our new Pokemon is? Alright. Hear me out on this one. It’s a tree Pokemon. The idea is loosely based on power line poles. And it’s green. We’ll call it Limewire. Or something. That name doesn’t sound like it’d be used for anything else.

Abilities? Considering how often tall things get hit by electricity, our Pokemon’s primary ability here will be Lightning Rod. As for a hidden ability, I’m leaning something simple, yet powerful considering this type synergy. Maybe Adaptability. I struggled with the hidden ability here.

Learn Set? Bind (Learned at level 1), Growl (1), Thunder Wave(4), Screech (8), Mud-Slap (12), Spikes (16), Charge (20), Discharge (24), Slam (28), Sandstorm (32), Spark (36), Parabolic Charge (40), High Horsepower (44), Power Whip (48), Wild Charge (52), Earthquake (56)

11. Poison/Fighting

What’s the current Pokemon with this type? The Croagunk line.

Our new Pokemon is? I really wanted to make this an extension of an existing evolution line. My first thought was to build upon an existing Poison type, but that just led to a bunch of dead ends. Then it hit me — the power of puns will save us. Allow me to introduce you to the missing third form of Mankey…Grimeape. It evolves when you trade Primeape while it’s holding Black Sludge.

Abilities? We’re keeping Vital Spirit as a main ability and Defiant as a hidden ability from Primeape. That said, for our alternate main ability, we’ll be replacing Anger Point with Poison Touch. I went back and forth debating which ability to replace with Poison Touch, but in the end, I feel like giving Grimeape the option to have functional immunity to two different status conditions was too good to pass up.

Learn Set? Scratch (Learned at level 1), Encore (1), Counter (1), Leer (1), Focus Energy (5), Taunt (8), Karate Chop (13), Fury Swipes (16), Low Kick (21), Seismic Toss (24), Poison Tail (28), U-Turn (33), Cross Poison (36), Screech (40), Dual Chop (45), Thrash (49), Purify (53), Outrage (56), Close Combat (62), Gunk Shot (70), Rage (on evolution to Primeape), Poison Jab (on evolution to Grimeape)

12. Ghost/Poison

What’s the current Pokemon with this type? The Gastly line.

Our new Pokemon is? Something with ectoplasm. Seriously, how haven’t we gone that route yet? Let’s call it Ugg.

Abilities? Obviously Ugg’s primary ability would be Sticky Hold, what with the goo and all. Similarly, the Gooey ability makes for a good secondary ability for the same reason. As for a hidden ability, let’s give a nod to ghosts ability to disappear into their surroundings and give it the Color Change hidden ability.

Learn Set? Astonish (Learned at level 1), Screech (1), Smog (4), Icy Wind (8), Spore (12), Night Shade (16), Smokescreen (20), Sludge (24), Taunt (28), Ominous Wind (32), Toxic (36), Hex (40), Will O Wisp (44), Moonlight (48), Sludge Wave (52), Shadow Ball (56)

13. Electric/Normal

What’s the current Pokemon with this type? Heliolisk and Helioptile

Our new Pokemon is? It’s an electric sheep. We…wait. We have one of those. It’s the Ampharos line. Um…and I guess there’s Dubwool. Okay. But this one LOOKS robotic. Think like Porygon.

Abilities? With some level of inspiration coming from Porygon, we’ll be giving the Download ability as one of our sheep’s primary abilities. We’ll also be giving it Motor Drive based on its mechanical leanings. As for a hidden ability, we’ll go with Friend Guard, because I secretly hope robots/AI will save us from ourselves.

Learn Set? Tackle (Learned at level 1), Growl (1), Tail Whip (4), Bulk Up (8), Cotton Spore (12), Feint (16), Tail Slap (20), Thunder Fang (24), Cotton Guard (28), Rollout (32), Stomp (36), Gyro Ball (40), Zing Zap (44), Strength (48), Wild Charge (52), Last Resort (56)

14. Ice/Steel

What’s the current Pokemon with this type? The Alolan Sandshrew line.

Our new Pokemon is? I’ve been saving my second regional form for the end here because I had a really good idea for this typing. And frankly, we could have seen it in either Galar or Alola. So we’ll go with Galarian Aegislash.

Abilities? Even with the Ice/Steel typing, Galarian Aegislash would retain the Stance Change ability.

Learn Set?  Note: Aegislash only learns moves prior to evolving, so all moves are level 1 here. King’s Shield (Learned at level 1), Head Smash (1), Aerial Ace (1), Metal Sound (1), Slash (1), Night Slash (1), Avalanche (1), Submission (1), Iron Head (1), Swords Dance (1), Sheer Cold (1), Iron Defense (1), Power Trick (1), Liquidation (1), Sacred Sword (1), Fury Cutter (1), Psycho Cut (1), Autotomize (1)