Liаm

I love Shona's storyline, I think it's accurate in that her personality has changed because of the amnesia because she's reverted back to before the street, she's undone all the hard work she put into herself to better herself, because a lot of it came from her standing in the street, her family with David, her friendships. That's why I liked Shona and why she was a relatable and likeable character, we saw her really grow and overcome what had held her back in life and made her defensive and on edge. Naturally when amnesia sets back her memories, it sets back that progress so it would make no sense if she didn't revert more to being her old character.

I also LOVE Nina so so much but the best of the young cast rn is Asha, she is turning into an incredible actress!

I feel like they ONLY cast Derrick for what a mess she'll be for the presumably very short time she'll be there :lol:

Perhaps something similar to Aja? I can't see her going far unless the glow up is big due to how strong most of the other queens are though!

Aja was SO robbed and that's on that, I think that might be about right though! A decent start and a couple of strong showings but falling behind the stars of the season

+20 Lady Gaga – Bad Romance

+19 Lady Gaga – Poker Face

+18 Agnes – Release Me

+17 The Veronicas - Untouched

+16 Taylor Swift – Love Story

+15 Lady Gaga ft. Colby O’Donis – Just Dance

+14 Lady Gaga – Paparazzi

+13 Kelly Clarkson – My Life Would Suck Without You

+12 David Guetta ft. Kelly Rowland – When Love Takes Over

+11 Miley Cyrus – The Climb

+10 Alexandra Burke ft. Flo Rida – Bad Boys

+9 Cheryl – Fight For This Love

+8 Cascada – Evacuate The Dancefloor

+7 Lily Allen – The Fear

+6 Little Boots – Remedy

+5 Alesha Dixon – Breathe Slow

+4 Beyonce – Halo

+3 Kesha – Tik Tok

+2 Rihanna – Russian Roulette

+1 Ciara ft. Justin Timberlake – Love Sex Magic

Gen 4

My favourite generation so this is gonna be a top 20, and I still could have done more :wub:

20) Staraptor

Normal/Flying

A predictable choice for any Sinnoh team, but a choice that would excel again and again so you couldn’t help but use it. It’s fairly standard as a regional bird design, but the fact it was banned from lower tiers in every generation since its debut for the potential to utterly dominate says everything you need to know about its power!

19) Weavile

Dark/Ice

Sneasel was always a cool Pokemon with a lot of unfulfilled potential, so giving it an evolution allowed Gen 4 to fulfil that, with a starring role on Cyrus’ team. This fast hard-hitting Pokemon has the same great but simple design as its pre-evolution, with extra fire-power to make its relative frailty and bad defensive typing not too bad as it can potentially blitz through a lot of what faces it anyway.

18) Chimchar

Fire

The first starter to appear is Gen 4’s fire starter, the cheeky chimp that was owned by Ash in the Sinnoh anime after cruelly being shunned by his rival Paul (Charmander parallels there). I chose this last of the 3 starters when I first played Pearl a few times, but he’s so adorable <3

17) Froslass

Ice/Ghost

This QUEEN loves to trap handsome men and loves nothing more than feasting on their frozen souls, you go girl xx It always kinda f***ed me up then you essentially kill Snorunt by using the Dawn Stone on it and that’s why Froslass is a Ghost type. I wish she had better stats, and whilst I get that Glalie was a Gen 3 Pokemon and Froslass wasn’t, it seemed odd that Glalie got a Mega and Froslass didn’t when both a Snorunt evo.

16) Tangrowth

Grass

Similar to what I said about Weavile, this was the extra push a neglected Pokemon needed as an evolution to Tangela. With a similar simple but effective evolution, extra bulk and more offensive presence, this pushed Tangela to new heights, I’m excited to use it competitively as it is confirmed to be back in the Sword and Shield expansion *.*

15) Infernape

Fire/Fighting

I know this is not the fault of Infernape, but I feel like I’d love it even more if Blaziken wasn’t the exact same typing, with a similar spread of stats :lol: I love the design and I’m always here for a fast offensive Pokemon but we’d seen it at this point. It does speak for Infernape though that I love it regardless.

14) Shinx

Electric

One of the most adorable Pokemon tbh, cute little lynx kitten <3 It’s one of the first Pokemon you’ll be able to catch in Sinnoh meaning I’m sure anyone who played through Sinnoh used it at least a bit.

13) Yanmega

Bug/Flying

Gen 4 REALLY came through with the sorely needed evolutions didn’t it?? Yanma was a useless Pokemon, but an evolution turned it into a dragonfly-esque threat with great speed and potentially devastating special attack, with great abilties. If it had a better typing (they should have given it Dragon over Flying), I could imagine this potentially having been a top threat competitively, at least until Fairy type came around.

12) Garchomp

Ground/Dragon

As Cynthia’s ace, this was probably the biggest challenge anyone playing through the SInnoh games faced, and the fact it was the Champion’s best Pokemon speaks for itself. Its all round stats mean it can hit hard, hit fast but also be hard to take down, other than exploiting its double Ice weakness. I’m lowkey dreading it coming back in SwSh’s expansion pass despite loving it and I feel like it’s going to take over online battles :lol:

11) Lucario

Fighting/Steel

I remember thinking Lucario was a legendary because it had its own movie :lol: It might not be, but it has become one of the most popular and ubiquitous Pokemon since, including branching out as a fighter in Smash Bros. Its adaptability means it can be used in many ways, a mixed attacker with Speed is always fun.

10) Piplup

Water

The Water starter of this gen was a star of the anime as Dawn’s starter, as he often stayed out of his Pokeball like Ash’s Pikachu. Who can resist a little penguin with a firey personality who’s as cute as this?

9) Empoleon

Water/Steel

From its cute roots, Piplup evolves into this fiercely majestic and uniquely typed threat. The Steel typing is of course amazing defensively, and I love that they added a unique type to a starter that makes it stand out a bit, Empoleon was always fun to use.

8) Torterra

Grass/Ground

The last starter to appear has a place in my heart as the first starter I used in my favourite generation! Its type might be as useful as Empoleon’s defensively, but I loooove its design and the fact you could cleave through a hell of a lot with powerful Wood Hammers and Earthquakes.

7) Vespiquen

Bug/Flying

Underrated QUEEN. I get that her typing is awful so holds it back competiviely, but I always loved using her in game – when you could get one! I never actually used her in Sinnoh as the honey tree mechanic made it nigh on impossible to get a female Combee, but I randomly came across a female Combee in Pokemon X and felt compelled to use her. It’s so satisfying finding a female as a rare find, and getting to use Vespiquen, what could be an annoying evolution mechanic is actually good imo and being rewarded with a Pokemon with such a great design and concept is amazing.

6) Leafeon

Grass

The ONLY Eeveelution I stan and that’s on that. I know it’s not a popular pick (but throughout this you’ll see I often don’t have a majority opinion :lol:) but I just love it, despite its bland typing and admittedly awful competitive standing, the concept of Eevee's cells morphing to be like a plants is interesting. I love using him in game, although Gen 4 was a slog when it learned its best physical Grass move at like level 72 or something equally ridiculous and it had average special attack :drama:

5) Gallade

Psychic/Fighting

Another evolution to an older Pokemon, and still there’s 3 more to come, this time a second evolution for Kirlia. I love that it’s almost an opposite to Gardevoir, going in a physically attacking direction with a focus on blade, cutting and slashing based moves. I love its design and concept just as much as Gardevoir, a rare time where with a branched evolution I have a hard time deciding which I want.

4) Munchlax

Normal

The pre-evolution to Snorlax was used by May in the anime and is as relatable as Snorlax tbh, who loves to eat and eat and hides food away for later. Despite being a Baby pokemon, he actually has a bit of usage in lower tiers competively, but I guess being the offspring of Snorlax is always going to rub off well.

3) Roserade

Grass/Poison

So we have a top 3 consisting of evolutions of prior existing Pokemon, and first is Roserade! This fierce queen serves looks like Roselia but it comes with even more toxic power *.* As Gardenia’s ace, we are faced with an early road block potentially in the second gym, and we immediately learn her power.

2) Gliscor

Ground/Flying

Gligar was already a Pokemon I really liked, but it lacked power and presence until this awesome evolution with an amazing vampiric design and an incredible ability with Poison Heal *.* A great physical wall with decent attack and surprising versatility, this has been a consistent top tier Pokemon since the Sinnoh games and one look at it makes it easy to see why. I always loved using it in game and I hope it returns in the SwSh expansion so I can use it competitively as it’s sure to surge right back into the top tiers!

1) Togekiss

Fairy/Flying

You’re going to notice a lot of my faves are Fairy type, and whilst this was originally Normal until Gen 6, Togekiss is one of those! Togetic got some much needed love and extra power with this evolution. I always loved using this after you got the Togepi egg from Cynthia, but Sword and Shield pushed it right up to being one of my favourites as one of the absolute best Pokemon competitively in this current gen thanks to being a prime Dynamax sweeper. The Fairy typing as of Gen 6 really pushed this versatile Pokemon to new heights, and new love from me.

Oh 1000%, it's very convenient. We'll just have to use our voices even louder and drown that out, if anything if just highlights systematic and structural racism even more, of course the middle class white child is at the centre of the enduring case that gets £11m spent on it. Just look for example at the death of Shukri Abdi, the police basically did nothing and couldn't be arsed immediately yet 13 years later, they're looking for the middle class white girl because her parents are doctors and apparently she matters more.

What the f***. I hope you just stopped ringing their shit and told them to f*** off each time.

 

And OBVIOUSLY they would never say that to a person's face, just shows how utterly pathetic and cowardly racists are. Why do they think that saying these disgusting things to a white person is also okay? Do they expect approval?

Both times they said iit lke within earshot of me, I was doing stock counts with like a handheld system thing and honestly could have thrown it at them lmao, told them to go before they got to pay for their stuff and they both did pretty much. One hadn't got anything at that point and the other just slammed the basket down and stormed out, didn't argue but I'd have argued til I was red in the face if they wanted! I don't care about "customer service" at that point, they deserve less than nothing at that point. My boss was like let them complain and I'll tell them where to shove it, legend

I hope I don't sound tone deaf and I know few on here will agree with me but I feel uneasy about some of the protests taking place outside the US. I am completely with the protests in the US considering what they have had to deal with a heavy handed approach by authorities and of course the justified anger of people towards a racist killing happening again in their country. But the protests elsewhere risk too much a big spread and rise in coronavirus deaths happening, especially as few of them seem to be fully socially distanced. I am all for showing solidarity with the US protesters but surely there were better ways to do this in places outside the US than having these protests without social distancing. I am aware that some of the protests did have social distancing and I really applaud those who took part and organised those ones.

Not tone deaf but as Iz says it is very dangerous to assume the UK doesn't have the same issue.

This is anecdotal but just in the last couple of days at work I've heard people say "of course the monkey buys bananas" to a black man (wlel, not to ofc, after he had gone), and "they should just kill them all, that or they should be bloody thankful thye aren't slaves", both times ofc I told the miserable disgusting old farts they aren't welcome anymore. It's not just about the killings, of course they were a catalyst and we need justice, but they symbolise everyday racism that has driven the deep rooted and intrisic attidues that end up manifesting in such horrific and unspeakable ways. When we protest, when we educate, when we speak up, we're speaking up against all of that as well as the police brutality etc., and God knows we've got enough racist attitudes over here, and in a hell of a lot of othhr countries.

I suddenly realised my white privilege and how I was wrong to have said what I did about the violent protesting! I understand that I can never understand but I stand with them. It's actually really upset me and I apologise for my previous views, I've learnt more again.

One of the best things we can do as white people in this time is learn! I think because it's all some people have ever known, they don't even think about their prvielege and probably just can't get into the headspace which sadly can cause complete and utter ignorance, if people don't bother to seek things out and learn. That's why I think the blackout if used properly has had a real impact, we've been able to tune out the excess noise and try to amplify information (as well as ofc donation links) as much as we can so that people can find and learn, that in itself has so much power.

17th June release, lots of Pokemon shown as coming back plus we saw Galarian Slowbro which is Psychic/Poison, it's got the shell on its arm rather than its tail with purple markings on its arm and tail so it looks like it's been poisoned or something by being bitten by the Shellder for too long. Love the typing! It has a new move called Side Arm Smash that deals wither special or physical damage based on which one will do more damage to the opponent, love that concept!

From the trailer we know these will be back:

Shinx line

Absol

Tauros

Scyther line

Druddigon

Whismur line

Sandile line

Tangela line

Exeggecute line

Poliwag line

Kangaskhan

Bouffalant

Rockruff line

Emolga

Mienfoo line

Fletchling line

Skrelp line

Really excited to use Tangrowth competitvely!

Second half of the trailer was Crown Tundra stuff, with the following returning Pokemon:

The Regis, including a new Electric Regi and a new Dragon Regi

Absol

Cyrogonal

Swablu line !!! :wub:

They showed off legendary Dynamaxes so I think a lot of them will be obtainable like in USUM's wormhole thing

Galar Articuno is Psychic/Flying, Galar Zapdos is Fighting/Flying and Galar Moltres is Dark/Flying, I like that they have a type triangle as with starters!

Magmar, Kingdra, Aggron and Magnezone are shown in the championship too meaning they will come in one expansion pass or the other.

I used to think she wasn't as extreme as she said (I kind of liked her as a joke when she was known for the whole kids name stuff, as snobby as that was it was funny) but that YouTube prank shocked me, disgusting. She used to VERY OCCASIONALLY make a smidgeon of a point but she uses such hateful language and has gone full fash.

Me too, it was naivety really but part of me used to think that she was going to come out one day and be some kind of elaborate character but unfortunately there are people in the word who are that hateful and full on disgusting.

I would never wish death upon anybody

 

...but I genuinely wouldn’t give a flying toss if she was casually ejected into space

mooood

Re: the blackout "trend", I've seen so many people who haven't uttered a peep about this entire thing doing it and it's almost like it's for aesthetic - "look my black feed is so pretty <3" :drama:

I did it on Instagram but I posted a donation link, the whole point is to silence yourself from other things and amplify black voices so the important stuff comes through. If you're just filling the #blacklivesmatter hashtag with a black square as I've seen some people doing, you are doing nothing but stifling the actual stuff which is counter-productive.

08 Ghost

06 Hurricane

09 New Americana

10 Colors

06.5 Castle

07 Not Afraid Anymore

08 Now Or Never

11 Bad At Love

07 Alone (ft. Big Sean & Stefflon Don)

09 Strangers (ft. Lauren Jauregui)

10 Without Me

10 Nightmare

09.5 Graveyard

10 You Should Be Sad

09 Closer (w/ The Chainsmokers)

06 Him & I (w/ G-Eazy)

09 Eastside (w/ Benny Blanco & Khalid)

08 11 Minutes (w/ Yungblud & Travis Barker)

07.5 Boy With Luv (w/ BTS)

08.5 The Other Girl (w/ Kelsea Ballerini)

08 Be Kind (w/ Marshmello)

Oops I love Closer, tough call between Nightmare and Bad At Love for the 11 but the latter deserves more love than it ever gets!

Yeah I was super disappointed with Geraldine, I know we would have called it if she did end up double crossing Carolyn and being a baddie but it would have been much more interesting. I did really enjoy Carolyn's arc exploring her lack of emotions but to waste a potentially really good character on just being a plot device for that was disappointing for sure.

I do think Season 4 needs to be the end, I want a really dramatic ending for them too, I feel like they might have a small arc of them giving it a go then something will happen to tear them apart and I can so imagine Villanelle dying for Eve as the ending.

Omg I'm so excited, especially for being able to use all the new Pokemon online now that building competitive Pokemon is so easy! I just hope it doesn't change the meta too much, I'm worried about like Landorus and Garchomp as ik they are coming back, I use Morpeko a LOT and if there's gonna be two omnipresent Ground threats like that he could be harder to use :(

And just to be able to have more of the adventure to play as well *.*

Unpopular opinion but Ampharos is one of the most overrated Pokemon for me oops, it's not got a cute/cool design, its movepool is boring af etc. I just am not a fan, ik that's heresy to most

Ludicolo and Mudkip were on my Gen 3 shortlist I do love them both!

Where is Goldeen tho?!

The bin where it belongs x

Gen 3

10) Aggron

Steel/Rock

One I never really use in-game enough but I just love the design, it's never really got its time to shine compettiviely and falls behind Metagross in terms of being a memorable Pokemon from Steven's team, but I really like it.

09) Blaziken

Fire/Fighting

The purveyor and trend setter of the now insanely boring Fire/Fighting starter typing, but the original is still the best. First time I used this as my starter, I remember I got stuck on Tate & Liza's Psychic gym and left it in the PC to build a better team and thought it was so shit, I didn't use it again for years until ORAS came around and I learned it was just me being shit at the game as a kid :lol: Interestingly I couldn't have been more wrong, as Blaziken was so good competitively in some generations that it can actually function very well in Ubers, a tier swamped with mostly legendaries,.

08) Breloom

Grass/Fighting

Whenever I don't choose Sceptile, this is always a go-to Hoenn grass type for me. The Fighting coverage is excellent and Breloom has a fantastic Attack stat that goes overlooked, which pairs really well with its access to various status moves so you can always be an annoying opponent.

07) Flygon

Ground/Dragon

The cool Dragon type that initially went overlooked for Salamance, but it now gets more attention due to the plethora of attention it gets for still not having a Mega, it's become a bit of a meme at this point :lol: I used this often, and it was always so satisfying when you finally got that Flygon at level 47 and reaped the rewards. A late enough evolution that it's like a reward, but not so late that it's too late to use in a playthrough like some other Dragon types.

06) Crawdaunt

Water/Dark

In Gen 3 this really wasn't that good due to the lack of physical/special split, but it came into its own in later gens. As a Water/Dark type I love this so much more than Sharpedo and I wish it was Crawdaunt who got the Mega and attention as Archie's ace Pokemon, it's just got such a cool aura to it.

05) Torchic

Fire

Cute starter is often the way to my heart, and while I like all 3 of them, Torchic is the only one here for Gen 3! Fried chicken precious bby x May's Torchic was of course a huge presence in the Hoenn anime, if only May wasn't so insufferable but that's another discussion x

04) Gardevoir

Psychic/Fairy

For the love of god remember to be careful googling this x The fave "waifu" Pokemon of.... a certain type of fan, this was Wally's ace and also had a resurgence in Gen 6 with its Mega Evolution and added Fairy typing (plus an outing as the Champion Dianthia's ace), both of which did it the world of good (although I prefer normal Gardevoir to Mega aesthetically). The extra resistances and STAB coverage to wall Dragon types makes it so much more appealing, plus she is always serving looks. I like having a male one and then naming it after a drag queen, my competitive one in Shield is called Jaida :lol:

03) Sceptile

Grass

This has place in my heart as my first ever starter, I smashed the game with this and put so many hours into postgame Battle Frontier with him too <3 It has my favourite design of the Gen 3 fully evolved starters too, simple but effective and just looks so cool.

02) Mawile

Steel/Fairy

Another fairy Mega! In and of itself Mawile is a wasted potetial kind of Pokemon, with one of my favourite designs but not a lot going for it, but the Mega grants it a ridiculously OP ability in Huge Power, giving it essentially the highest possible base Attack stat. The Mega has one of my favourite designs of any Pokemon, exaggerating even further its origins, based on the Futakuchi-onna - a yokai from Japanese legend which takes the form of a woman with a mouth in the back of her head.

01) Altaria

Dragon/Fairy

Another Fairy mega meaning that 3 of my fave "gen 3" Pokemon are really Gen 6 as Megas, although I do love all 3 regardless and prefer normal Gardevoir :lol: This Pokemon was gay rights before Galar Rapidash was even thought of, a literal poof x I always used Altaria in Gen 3 despite it not being the best (underrated tbh), and this Mega made me always use it in the remakes too.

The last scene was incredible but like... is that it? :lol: The rest of the episode, not a lot happened and it was pretty slow, I feel like pretty much everything outside of the development for Eve and Villanelle was rushed, as if they rushed to tie up all the ends they'd spent all season skirting around before we move onto season 4.

It does set up Villanelle and Eve well for Season 4, in another direction we've not seen yet, but I was disappointed with everything else :(

+20 Leona Lewis – Run

+19 Katy Perry – Hot N Cold

+18 Alphabeat - Fascination

+17 Beyoncé – If I Were A Boy

+16 Alesha Dixon – The Boy Does Nothing

+15 Rihanna - Disturbia

+14 Duffy – Mercy

+13 Duffy – Warwick Avenue

+12 Girls Aloud – The Promise

+11 Sara Bareilles – Love Song

+10 The Saturdays – Up

+9 September – Cry For You

+8 Jordin Sparks ft. Chris Brown – No Air

+7 Alexandra Burke – Hallelujah

+6 Estelle ft. Kanye West – American Boy

+5 Pendulum – Propane Nightmares

+4 P!nk – So What

+3 Rihanna – Don’t Stop The Music

+2 Jennifer Hudson – Spotlight

+1 Kelly Rowland - Work

GEN 2

Let it be known I was kinda scraping here as gen 2 is by far my least fave :lol:

10) Octillery

Water

An underrated water type, I love diverse movepools and this cannon/tank based octopus can pack Electric, Grass and even Fire moves which is of course very unusual for a Water type! Its stats aren't the best but its fun to use and a cool design. I'd love to get a regional form or even evolution to pack some more power, and maybe get an interesting secondary typing, maybe Fire even?

9) Chikorita

Grass

An endlessly useless starter, almost unarguably the weakest of all gens not just competiviely (which doesn't matter) but in game too, but she is so chill and adorable so go Chikorita x I played a fanmade hack of ORAS that had a sad little Grass/Ghost Chikorita and it was such an amazing concept!

8) Heracross

Bug/Fighting

I have used this a lot on in-game teams, always a hard hitter with its brilliant Attack stat and decent movepool. It's one of those that just looks cool, but has the tricks to back it up, I hope it's added to SwSh in the update so I can get some competitive use out of it.

7) Larvitar

Rock/Ground

A moody rock dinosaur has no business being this cute. I don't think I've used one in-game as it evolves too late but I'll always have a soft spot for the little Larvitar Ash hatched in the anime.

6) Tyranitar

Rock/Dark

The final evoltuion of Larvitar and arguably this is the most consistently threatening competitive Pokemon, always being top tier no matter what changed from generation to generation (and ofc there is a LOT), despite some common weaknesses. A Godzilla like monster with a cool typing, a diverse movepool and everlasting presence always has to have respect on its name.

5) Feraligatr

Water

The final evolution of the only starter I'd ever use in Johto, I've always loved this beastly croc. Gen 4's Johto games made this much better than in Gen 2, as it got physical water moves as well as excellent coverage in Ice Fang, I just love its design too, it keeps the good of Totodile while standing out by itself.

4) Gligar

Ground/Flying

A really interesting typing, which mitigates one of its common weaknesses, but I've always loved this design. It's simple but it's cool, with a slightly goofy side due its tongue often hanging out on its sprites and models. It got even cooler with an evolution we'll get onto later...

3) Pichu

Electric

What's not to love about a smaller, even cuter Pikachu that isn't shoved down our throats to the same extent? It's laughably weak but as a baby Pokemon it's only job is to look cute x

2) Togepi

Fairy

Another weak but wholly adorable lil baby, this precious soul is just peeking out of its egg to get a look at the world. Misty's Togepi is one of the most iconic and memorable Pokemon in the anime too, being the first gen 2 Pokemon to appear during the original series (excluding a small Ho-Oh cameo as interestingly the first Pokemon seen in the anime altogether) after Misty and Ash fought over who could keep Togepi when it hatched.

1) Totodile

Water

Another water starter winning, but spoiler: this will be the last! Totodile is probably the most adorable Pokemon to me, mostly thanks to its anime appearance as one of Ash's team in the Johto arc, as he was always excitable, loud and jumping around, precious baby I would protect with all my heart x