Tinkaton vs Erza

[Imaginym]

I don’t deny Alakazam has stuff that matters, just pointing out that 5,000 IQ means nothing without feats. Example would be Brainstorm’s 1 nonillion IQ. Who cares when his actual application of such brainpower in combat is basic ass precog?

Incorrect about Precog being its only application.
For one, it calculates many things to gain every edge in battle.
& even besides that, why do you think it doesn't use that knowledge & skill? Such as remembering everything it learns & having a thorough memory of what has occurred in the world.
Do you not think calculating, planning, & remembering everything isn't applying knowledge?
Or it heightening all of its other senses by closing its eyes?
Also, it's MEGA Alakazam that has Precognition, unless you mean Future Sight, which is just a move involving foreseeing its own attack.

The important thing to consider is if a wild Tinkaton can actually do anything to Alakazam or replicate the feats of Pokémon who can? If so, someone needs to post that. If not, Alakazam is irrelevant to the discussion.

By the only metric we have currently, which is gameplay, yes.

Tinkaton has LITERALLY not appeared in any medium except the games yet, INCLUDING the Anime.

Because it’s not irl? We can only take what’s actually in the verse and not just assume.

What's wrong with seeing a martial art with the same name as an IRL martial art & assuming it functions similarly to the real world equivalent?
Are there other verses where we reject such an approach?

To quote Bruce Lee, “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.

The problem with this is that Machop is the one who TRAINED in all of them.
Machamp has this:

Ultra Moon	With four arms, it can attack and defend simultaneously. It's said to have mastered every martial art in the world.

& being 2 evolutionary stages higher, you know it should be superior.

If I were to compare with your analogy, the difference between Machop & Machamp is like practicing 10,000 kicks once & practicing every kick 10,000 times.
Mastery means

1. The position or authority of a master; dominion; command; supremacy; superiority. quotations ▼
2. Superiority in war or competition; victory; triumph; preeminence.

Among other things.

Because martial arts are used for specific things and weapons are a force amplifier that, by and large, also grant a large range advantage. You can have mastered every martial art in the world but if I have a weapon like a sword and you don’t, the odds of me landing a single hit before you can bring any of your skill to bear is really high.

Unless they mastered a martial art that trains in defending against weapons.
A weapon's better range & force can't necessarily compensate for someone more skilled & knowledgeable.

I’ll probably see stuff at some point since I plan on rewatching all of Pokémon for nostalgia soon (I hope)

But currently there are no other things for Tinkaton other than gameplay.

Tinkaton (Pokémon) - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net

In the anime​

Major appearances​

Minor appearances​

In the manga​

Asking for scans from the anime or such is unreasonable when they don't exist & the amount of Gen 9 anime episodes can be counted on 1 hand.

Fighting groups is actually good scaling no matter how trash the individual is in terms of skill. Issue arises when you take into account that Tuff is a stage above the Pawniards which is a pretty big gap between them and basically only makes the Bisharp relevant in the fight.

It could be argued that Pawniard's non-attacking moves are influential, but I do agree that that's a concern with evolutionary stage scaling.

This just means they take care of their weapons … which also give an advantage of mons without weapons.

I'd say it means Pawniard train regularly, don't flee from powerful foes, will attack despite being damaged, & take their blade-fighting seriously enough to die if they suffer battle damage.

I’d argue this entry is worse for the skill argument as it’s just an army of mons tiring out their prey before Bisharp actually goes in for the kill. Essentially, Bisharp only fights super nerfed Pokémon for the most part.

You JUST claimed that the stage gap makes only Bisharp relevant. (Unless non-attacking moves are taken into account.)
& I would say it could be argued that Bisharp has minions fiercely loyal through fear, & given its described as pitiless, unchanging in expression & willing to do anything to win, means it'll employ pragmatic & dirty tactics, in addition to taking faltering enough to be damaged in a fight grounds for retirement from a position they fight their peers to achieve.

Not seeing where the coordinated part comes from. Based on the entries you provided, Pawniards follow Bisharps who are considerably stronger than them and are only used to chase down other Pokémon until they are tired which only the Bisharp actually confronts.

To be a bit metaphorical, do you not consider a pack of wolves coordinated? A pack of wolves have a leader, & use endurance predation & group tactics to chase down & exhaust foes.
Co-ordinated because they're groups with a leader & system of tactics that's fiercely obeyed.
Not to mention the Pawniard DO confront them. Did you not read the parts about them not fleeing from stronger foes, attacking despite their own injuries, & as a desperation move, piling onto foes to impale them?

Bisharp is not the only one in the group that confronts, just the one that deals the finishing blow, which implies Pawniard actually contribute to the damage.

This Erza while super tired similarly bullies an entire guild of Dark Mages (dozens of guys who specialise in killing with a lot of weapon users among them), and scales far above Gray who can spend the day beating up entire Dark Guilds and with Lyon’s help (Gray’s equal) can defeat Racer (who blitzes Gray and Lyon twice over and is stated to stomp an entire guild). Gray is someone who is Natsu equal throughout X784 and can consistently tag him without using spells even though Natsu is a hth specialist able to predict and counter a blitz from his sense of smell alone.

Just by being an S-Class Mage, Erza takes missions where slipping up for even the briefest moment signs your death warrant like when Mira dropped her guard and got the shit beat out of her so bad she wasn’t able to even attempt stopping an out of control Elfman.

Good to know.

Looked into the Corviknight stuff a bit myself and while it is praised for its intelligence, the only real examples of such intelligence is Corvisquire wielding random debris in its beak and talons to either drop on the enemy or tying them up with rope … which is rather basic.

You missed this, for its 1st evolution, Rookidee:

Shield	Jumping nimbly about, this small-bodied Pokémon takes advantage of even the slightest opportunity to disorient larger opponents.

But I do agree that often, what the Pokedex calls "intelligent" often isn't that impressive.

These aren’t really skill feats.

The point is Tinkaton has the skill to be able to do a variety of things. Yeah, yeah, 10,000 kicks practiced once, but that's more skilled than practicing only 100 kicks once.

Skilling? Or just overpowering? Because stages make for a pretty big difference in power between them and you’d have to prove they outskill the lower stages by default.

Confident that most Pokemon are more intelligent, skilled or able than their previous stages.


Also, there's the arguable case that the Pokemon of species that can appear as Tera Raid Pokemon, since 5 Star ones are considered too dangerous to fight until after beating the game (Meaning 3 campaigns, including beating a Champion & an AI Level trainer.) & 6 Star ones are similarly considered too dangerous until the player clears the Academy Ace Tournament, a tournament after all those Campaigns & such.
Tera Raid Boss Pokemon are Terastallized & fight against 4 Pokemon at once.

So this could be interpreted as an implication of power &/or skill level for Pokemon can that be Tera Raid Pokemon, since they can fight 1vs4 against Champion Rank & higher trainers' Pokemon.
But that may not be relevant for Skill as much as power, IDK, & also, this Tinkaton probably isn't Terastallized, let alone a Tera Raid Tinkaton.

 

[AnonymousBlank]

Aight, so I dunno if it was my wording or smth but you are misunderstanding a lot of what I am saying.

Incorrect about Precog being its only application.
For one, it calculates many things to gain every edge in battle.
& even besides that, why do you think it doesn't use that knowledge & skill? Such as remembering everything it learns & having a thorough memory of what has occurred in the world.
Do you not think calculating, planning, & remembering everything isn't applying knowledge?
Or it heightening all of its other senses by closing its eyes?
Also, it's MEGA Alakazam that has Precognition, unless you mean Future Sight, which is just a move involving foreseeing its own attack.

Not what I was saying at all. What I said was that X IQ means jackshit unless you have feats of its application. I already agreed that Alakazam has shit that matters but 5000 IQ is not it.

The precog was a part of the example involving Brainstorm. Wasn’t talking about Alakazam.

By the only metric we have currently, which is gameplay, yes.

Tinkaton has LITERALLY not appeared in any medium except the games yet, INCLUDING the Anime.

Let’s talk about how useful the gameplay is at representing these guys then and I’ll use Alakazam’s line as an example.

In gameplay, Abra’s first move is to dip from the fight with Teleport. No matter what, I can yeet a pokeball at the little bugger without fail. Alakazam remembers everything and can use all psychic moves or smth yet in Sword and Shield, you can catch them despite being able to teleport, possessing eyes and “using everything to their advantage” … but I can still catch him by tossing a bright red and white ball at his face?

Yeah nah. Gameplay showing these guys being able to do shit to each other means nothing aside from them being complete and utter morons if we take the entries as fact.

What's wrong with seeing a martial art with the same name as an IRL martial art & assuming it functions similarly to the real world equivalent?
Are there other verses where we reject such an approach?

Once again, not what I said. I said that we don’t assume that irl martial arts exist in fictional worlds by default. If a martial art is name dropped in a fictional world then of course we would assume it functions like irl, hence why I brought up boxing in the original post you responded to. My contention isn’t that no irl martial art exists in Pokémon or that they don’t function the same, it’s that all irl martial arts exist in Pokémon for Machamp to scale to despite not being shown.

The problem with this is that Machop is the one who TRAINED in all of them.
Machamp has this:

Ultra Moon	With four arms, it can attack and defend simultaneously. It's said to have mastered every martial art in the world.

& being 2 evolutionary stages higher, you know it should be superior.

If I were to compare with your analogy, the difference between Machop & Machamp is like practicing 10,000 kicks once & practicing every kick 10,000 times.
Mastery means

1. The position or authority of a master; dominion; command; supremacy; superiority. quotations ▼
2. Superiority in war or competition; victory; triumph; preeminence.

Among other things.

And my point on Machop is that being trained in it doesn’t really mean shit. I’m technically trained in 2 martial arts but that doesn’t mean much in actual combat besides knowing how to throw a punch/kick and dodge more efficiently.

I’m aware of what mastery means so I don’t see why you are posting a definition for it. I was questioning the point of you posting the Machop entry when it is functionally useless and Machamp’s is basically the same thing but actually useful as to determining his skill.

Unless they mastered a martial art that trains in defending against weapons.
A weapon's better range & force can't necessarily compensate for someone more skilled & knowledgeable.

It literally does and the difference is ******* enormous. There is a reason why people have used weapons to enforce their will upon others throughout history. Their very purpose is to make you better than your opponent if they don’t have one, a purpose they have performed very well for thousands of years. There is no barehanded martial art that can bridge the difference between you and an opponent armed with a sword short of said opponent having absolutely no idea how to even use their weapon.

But currently there are no other things for Tinkaton other than gameplay.

Tinkaton (Pokémon) - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net

In the anime​

Major appearances​

Minor appearances​

In the manga​

Asking for scans from the anime or such is unreasonable when they don't exist & the amount of Gen 9 anime episodes can be counted on 1 hand.

Bruh. I know. I’m about to watch all of Pokémon in order before moving to Gen 9, praying that it has something for Tinkaton by the time I get to it cuz if the Gen 9 anime hasn’t got a single showing of Tinkaton after I go through 20+ years of anime and movies, they just ain’t it.

It could be argued that Pawniard's non-attacking moves are influential, but I do agree that that's a concern with evolutionary stage scaling.

I'd say it means Pawniard train regularly, don't flee from powerful foes, will attack despite being damaged, & take their blade-fighting seriously enough to die if they suffer battle damage.

That’s actually not what it says. The whole thing about a chip in the blade being fatal is that a chip lowers the effectiveness of said blade, something that can prove fatal in a fight since your weapon is not at its best.

There is no mention of training regularly from what you posted and the rest of it is common sense.

• Don’t run away from stronger foes? Because getting routed just means you open your back to someone stronger than you.
• Will attack despite being damaged? You’re already damaged which hurts your prospects of escaping and not fighting back just guarantees you will die.

You JUST claimed that the stage gap makes only Bisharp relevant. (Unless non-attacking moves are taken into account.)
& I would say it could be argued that Bisharp has minions fiercely loyal through fear, & given its described as pitiless, unchanging in expression & willing to do anything to win, means it'll employ pragmatic & dirty tactics, in addition to taking faltering enough to be damaged in a fight grounds for retirement from a position they fight their peers to achieve.

The point
Your head

I’m not saying the Pawniards are relevant, I’m pointing out that Bisharp is fighting an exhausted Pokémon.

Bisharp ruling through fear is perfectly fine and makes perfect sense considering he is in charge because he is the strongest. Anyone who isn’t scared of their boss to some degree is dumb.

To be a bit metaphorical, do you not consider a pack of wolves coordinated? A pack of wolves have a leader, & use endurance predation & group tactics to chase down & exhaust foes.
Co-ordinated because they're groups with a leader & system of tactics that's fiercely obeyed.

That’s coordinated hunting, not coordinated fighting. Two entirely different things. Any beginner fighter knows that a bunch of people will get in the way of each other and fail to actually make use of their numbers in a straight fight.

Not to mention the Pawniard DO confront them. Did you not read the parts about them not fleeing from stronger foes, attacking despite their own injuries, & as a desperation move, piling onto foes to impale them?

That’s talking about Pawniards and is contradicted by the Bisharp entry.

Bisharp is not the only one in the group that confronts, just the one that deals the finishing blow, which implies Pawniard actually contribute to the damage.

The entry you posted for Bisharp disagrees.

“Bisharp & its Pawniard pursue prey, hounding the prey into immobility, then Bisharp moves in to finishes off the prey.”

It specifically says that Bisharp and only they move in to finish their prey despite expressly pointing out that both Bisharp and their gang chased down the prey.

Good to know.

You missed this, for its 1st evolution, Rookidee:

Shield	Jumping nimbly about, this small-bodied Pokémon takes advantage of even the slightest opportunity to disorient larger opponents.

But I do agree that often, what the Pokedex calls "intelligent" often isn't that impressive.

The point is Tinkaton has the skill to be able to do a variety of things. Yeah, yeah, 10,000 kicks practiced once, but that's more skilled than practicing only 100 kicks once.

Confident that most Pokemon are more intelligent, skilled or able than their previous stages.

Than their previous stage? Sure, they would have to be by default. Might have misread your words cuz I took your claim to mean any Stage 2 > any Stage 1 even if they are from a different evolutionary line.

Also, there's the arguable case that the Pokemon of species that can appear as Tera Raid Pokemon, since 5 Star ones are considered too dangerous to fight until after beating the game (Meaning 3 campaigns, including beating a Champion & an AI Level trainer.) & 6 Star ones are similarly considered too dangerous until the player clears the Academy Ace Tournament, a tournament after all those Campaigns & such.
Tera Raid Boss Pokemon are Terastallized & fight against 4 Pokemon at once.

So this could be interpreted as an implication of power &/or skill level for Pokemon can that be Tera Raid Pokemon, since they can fight 1vs4 against Champion Rank & higher trainers' Pokemon.
But that may not be relevant for Skill as much as power, IDK, & also, this Tinkaton probably isn't Terastallized, let alone a Tera Raid Tinkaton.

I mean, I would have absolutely no clue on that stuff regardless so

 

[Imaginym]

There is no mention of training regularly from what you posted and the rest of it is common sense.

Perhaps I neglected to mention this part:

Shield	A pack of these Pokémon forms to serve a Bisharp boss. Each Pawniard trains diligently, dreaming of one day taking the lead.

I'd assume "diligent" training to be regular.

• Don’t run away from stronger foes? Because getting routed just means you open your back to someone stronger than you.

So you agree it's common sense & good tactics?

• Will attack despite being damaged? You’re already damaged which hurts your prospects of escaping and not fighting back just guarantees you will die.

Some would argue in favor of run away, live to fight another day.
Plus, there is such a thing as a pyrrhic victory, or a senseless sacrifice.
But you called it common sense, no?

The point
Your head

I’m not saying the Pawniards are relevant, I’m pointing out that Bisharp is fighting an exhausted Pokémon.

Your words were:
"Issue arises when you take into account that Tuff is a stage above the Pawniards which is a pretty big gap between them and basically only makes the Bisharp relevant in the fight."

If you're saying "basically only" the Bisharp is relevant, how are you NOT saying that the Pawniard aren't relevant?
Also, taking out something exhausted that's otherwise on par with one's self in a single hit doesn't necessarily mean lack of skill, since approach & such are part of things, & part of being able to one-shot something is power.

That’s coordinated hunting, not coordinated fighting. Two entirely different things. Any beginner fighter knows that a bunch of people will get in the way of each other and fail to actually make use of their numbers in a straight fight.

& yet both Pawniard & Bisharp have entries mentioning how they pursue prey, as if they're hunters.
& yet they fight in a group, ostensibly without getting in each other's way beyond clashes for rank if a Bisharp loses.

That’s talking about Pawniards and is contradicted by the Bisharp entry.

How so?
Perhaps using a desperation attack to damage the foe doesn't is to get the foe weak enough for Bisharp to finish it, or in the event the Bisharp is defeated.

Also, the pertinent entries for that tactic:

Black 2/White 2	Ignoring their injuries, groups attack by sinking the blades that cover their bodies into their prey.

Scarlet	Pawniard will fearlessly challenge even powerful foes. In a pinch, it will cling to opponents and pierce them with the blades all over its body.

The entry you posted for Bisharp disagrees.

“Bisharp & its Pawniard pursue prey, hounding the prey into immobility, then Bisharp moves in to finishes off the prey.”

It specifically says that Bisharp and only they move in to finish their prey despite expressly pointing out that both Bisharp and their gang chased down the prey.

How would Bisharp be dealing the finishing blow if the target hadn't been dealing damage already?
& if it moves in for the finishing blow, why would it have been doing the damaging before.

Than their previous stage? Sure, they would have to be by default. Might have misread your words cuz I took your claim to mean any Stage 2 > any Stage 1 even if they are from a different evolutionary line.

I find the idea dubious, but as is, a lot of Pokemon is scaled that way, AFAIK, especially if my memory of statistics justifications is accurate.

Pokémon

For detailed information about this series, visit Bulbapedia or the Pokémon Wiki. Pokémon is a video game franchise owned by Nintendo and developed by Game Freak that made its first release on the Game Boy and has turned into one of the most successful video-game media franchises ever made by...

vsbattles.fandom.com

• The Pokémon Profile Standardspage details how we treat several shared elements of our Pokémon profiles, such as typings, Stamina, Intelligence, Evolution and more. Please make sure to read this page in full before creating or making substantial edits to the profiles.
  • There is a page for New Pokemon Standards that should also be read before creating or modifying profiles, and should take precedent over the old in the case of a contradiction.

Pokémon Profile Standards

There are currently over 1000 Pokémon, each part of the largest multimedia franchise in the entire world, spanning video games, comic books, TV shows, movies, and even trading cards. When dealing with a massive, ever-expanding verse of this magnitude, consistency is going to be vitally important...

vsbattles.fandom.com

"Intelligence and Stamina, like on any other profile, should be supported by feats and description. However, if a Pokémon lacks any significant showings or feats to either upgrade or downgrade them, then the following should be acceptable as a minimum Intelligence and Stamina description:

• Intelligence: Below Average normally (Capable of coherent speech between other Pokémon, a degree of understanding of commands and social situations, and can solve minor puzzles, though still mostly driven by instinct), Above Average in battle as [1ST & 2ND STAGE] (Pokémon are hard-wired for battle and even in the wild can master many moves and fight the likes of Machop which train in all martial arts), Gifted in battle as [3RD STAGE] (Should be superior to 1st and 2nd stage Pokémon and are able to consistently fight the likes of Machamp which have mastered all martial arts, as well as Alakazam)"

As I understand it, our standards for the 'verse have stock Intelligence & Stamina justifications & such for Pokemon, which involve scaling to things like Machamp & giving higher intelligence ratings based on evolutionary stage scaling.

If such info is outdated, then either that blog, or where it's presented on the Verse Page, need to be updated.

(& yes, there are some exceptions to which Evolutionary stages get which ratings, IIRC.)

I mean, I would have absolutely no clue on that stuff regardless so

Well, I hope that info is helpful, or at least interesting.

Sorry if I'm a bit impolite or not seeming fully composed; I haven't slept in a while & am to be up a while yet still.

I do apologize for any bother or such I've caused you in this debate.

 

[AnonymousBlank]

Perhaps I neglected to mention this part:

Shield	A pack of these Pokémon forms to serve a Bisharp boss. Each Pawniard trains diligently, dreaming of one day taking the lead.

I'd assume "diligent" training to be regular.

You did indeed but it doesn’t change much for my argument since it’s like saying “Chinaman trained for a bajillion years”. Means nothing since we can only judge based on the gains.

So you agree it's common sense & good tactics?

Uh … sure? On the good tactics anyway. Common sense? Not so much.

Some would argue in favor of run away, live to fight another day.

The fact that said person got put in such a situation and had their teeth kicked in, I very much doubt their capability to implement such a belief.

Plus, there is such a thing as a pyrrhic victory, or a senseless sacrifice.
But you called it common sense, no?

For someone who fights? Yeah it’s common sense. Not for non-fighters like the average civilian.

Your words were:
"Issue arises when you take into account that Tuff is a stage above the Pawniards which is a pretty big gap between them and basically only makes the Bisharp relevant in the fight."

If you're saying "basically only" the Bisharp is relevant, how are you NOT saying that the Pawniard aren't relevant?

I think you may have messed up with your words cuz the above is agreeing with me that the Pawniards are irrelevant. Unless you also think that in which case I’m confused why we are arguing about it.

Also, taking out something exhausted that's otherwise on par with one's self in a single hit doesn't necessarily mean lack of skill, since approach & such are part of things, & part of being able to one-shot something is power.

Exhausted means they can’t fight back as well as they would normally aka Bisharp can’t scale to whatever skill said mon has.

As for one shotting, the neck is an amazing target to do that. Like I ain’t one shotting another human comparable to me in a fight but if they are exhausted, you can bet your ass a kick to the throat is gonna one shot them.

& yet both Pawniard & Bisharp have entries mentioning how they pursue prey, as if they're hunters.
& yet they fight in a group, ostensibly without getting in each other's way beyond clashes for rank if a Bisharp loses.

Bisharp have Pawniard gangs, Pawniard gangs don’t necessarily have a Bisharp. Just because the Pawniard entries say they do X, it doesn’t mean they do that when following a Bisharp when the Bisharp entry disagrees and makes a distinction between what one does and what they all do.

How so?
Perhaps using a desperation attack to damage the foe doesn't is to get the foe weak enough for Bisharp to finish it, or in the event the Bisharp is defeated.

That would be headcanon. Desperation attacks in the event the Bisharp loses is valid since these guys don’t run away and do go for the dog pile but weakening the tired foe before the Bisharp goes for the finisher? Nah. Pokedex disagrees.

Also, the pertinent entries for that tactic:

Black 2/White 2	Ignoring their injuries, groups attack by sinking the blades that cover their bodies into their prey.

Scarlet	Pawniard will fearlessly challenge even powerful foes. In a pinch, it will cling to opponents and pierce them with the blades all over its body.

How would Bisharp be dealing the finishing blow if the target hadn't been dealing damage already?
& if it moves in for the finishing blow, why would it have been doing the damaging before.

What damage? The entry says Bisharp and it’s gang exhaust the enemy before the Bisharp goes for the kill. There is no mention of any damage being done prior to the finishing blow.

I find the idea dubious, but as is, a lot of Pokemon is scaled that way, AFAIK, especially if my memory of statistics justifications is accurate.

Pokémon

For detailed information about this series, visit Bulbapedia or the Pokémon Wiki. Pokémon is a video game franchise owned by Nintendo and developed by Game Freak that made its first release on the Game Boy and has turned into one of the most successful video-game media franchises ever made by...

vsbattles.fandom.com

• The Pokémon Profile Standardspage details how we treat several shared elements of our Pokémon profiles, such as typings, Stamina, Intelligence, Evolution and more. Please make sure to read this page in full before creating or making substantial edits to the profiles.
  • There is a page for New Pokemon Standards that should also be read before creating or modifying profiles, and should take precedent over the old in the case of a contradiction.

Pokémon Profile Standards

There are currently over 1000 Pokémon, each part of the largest multimedia franchise in the entire world, spanning video games, comic books, TV shows, movies, and even trading cards. When dealing with a massive, ever-expanding verse of this magnitude, consistency is going to be vitally important...

vsbattles.fandom.com

"Intelligence and Stamina, like on any other profile, should be supported by feats and description. However, if a Pokémon lacks any significant showings or feats to either upgrade or downgrade them, then the following should be acceptable as a minimum Intelligence and Stamina description:

• Intelligence: Below Average normally (Capable of coherent speech between other Pokémon, a degree of understanding of commands and social situations, and can solve minor puzzles, though still mostly driven by instinct), Above Average in battle as [1ST & 2ND STAGE] (Pokémon are hard-wired for battle and even in the wild can master many moves and fight the likes of Machop which train in all martial arts), Gifted in battle as [3RD STAGE] (Should be superior to 1st and 2nd stage Pokémon and are able to consistently fight the likes of Machamp which have mastered all martial arts, as well as Alakazam)"

As I understand it, our standards for the 'verse have stock Intelligence & Stamina justifications & such for Pokemon, which involve scaling to things like Machamp & giving higher intelligence ratings based on evolutionary stage scaling.

If such info is outdated, then either that blog, or where it's presented on the Verse Page, need to be updated.

(& yes, there are some exceptions to which Evolutionary stages get which ratings, IIRC.)

That’s fine and doesn’t change anything I said since the Machop stuff doesn’t actually mean anything and the Machamp one depends entirely on their matchup since a Charizard can just fly out of range and flamethrower, Alakazam can use TK or whatever etc. Being able to beat someone who is skilled doesn’t necessarily make you as skilled.

Well, I hope that info is helpful, or at least interesting.

Raid stuff was definitely an interesting thing to hear about since I haven’t played a game with that in it (Gen 1-3 and a bit of 4 are my goats). Might have to cop an emulator for one of them just to see if I can beat a Tera Raid with just one mon.

Sorry if I'm a bit impolite or not seeming fully composed; I haven't slept in a while & am to be up a while yet still.

I do apologize for any bother or such I've caused you in this debate.

Lmao, you good dude. Currently in the process of finishing an all nighter myself cuz why not?

On the apologising, I may as well do so too just in case. Text doesn’t translate tone very well and my wording is usually abrasive af so if I seem like a douchebag it’s cuz I am, I don’t mean to come off that way.