u/silverdragonwolf

Given that the only current confirmed Shark Pokémon are Sharpedo and the Garchomp line (which are Landsharks), Winds and Waves are a chance to introduce one or more new Shark Pokémon. And there are quite a few choices to choose from.

There are 3 species of Reef sharks in Indonesia: The Blacktip Reef Shark, the Whitetip Reef Shark, and the Gray Reef Shark.

There is also the Indonesian Whaler Shark- which actually doesn't seem to hunt whales and is more akin to a whale shark, because it is a species of shark called a Requiem shark

There are also a few unique reef-dwelling shark species to tap into:

The Bamboo Sharks- bottom-dwelling sharks that hunt for crustaceans and small fish in the sand on the floor of the reef

Wobbegong Sharks- which are a type of Carpet Shark, which means they have very flat bodies they use to aid in camouflaging themselves in the environment on the floor of the reef

Walking Sharks- a type of shark that uses its fins to "walk" along the reef's floor and coral flats

Any one of these families of sharks could make for some interesting new Pokémon to meet in the new region.

Since we saw Krabby in the reveal trailer but not Kingler, that could mean a few things. First, Kingler may have a regional form; second, Krabby may have a new regional evolution that looks noticeably different from Kingler and has its own distinct name; and third, it may be somewhere in between. Also, the line could go from two stages to three. Personally, I like the idea that Kingler is just getting a regional variant and a new evolution.

It could also be interesting, and a little fun, for the Kingler line to be a convergent line as well. Indonesia is home to one of the highest diversities of Squat Lobsters, which are Crab Mimics that inhabit coral reefs; their closest living relatives are Hermit Crabs and Mole Crabs. Hermit Crabs and Mole Crabs are actually classified as False Crabs; they don't belong to the same family as True Crabs.

So, I was on a bit of a very specific kick regarding potential new Pokemon in Winds and Waves, and someone on one of the Discord servers I'm part of pointed out something that completely slipped my notice. What am I talking about? For the past few days, I've been obsessing about the idea of Peafowl Pokémon. For those who are a bit lost, the Peafowl is the proper name of the species; the male is called a Peacock and the female is called a Peahen (random side note here: the chicks/young peafowl are called Peachicks). I suppose some of you have pieced together that, with Browt's designation as the "Chickpea Pokémon," it would feel almost like a missed opportunity not to go all in when there is a bird that literally has the word pea in its name.

But here's the thing: Peafowl are sexually dimorphic; the males have bright, loud colors and showy personalities, and the females have a much more muted color palette (Dull, ghostly browns, whites, and blacks are basically their entire color identity); it helps them blend into the environment. And personally, I think a Pokémon based on the peafowl should reflect this, with the males being this bright and loud dual-typed Psychic. Before it was pointed out to me that this could be a potential final stage for Browt, I thought it could be fun to see as a Flying/Psychic type for the male, but as a Browt evolution, this would make it a Grass/Psycic instead; as for the female, my intial thought were she could be a Flying/Dark or Flying/Ghost to reference how how she blends into the environment and doesn't have that loud colorationo or personality (I'm preferential to the Flying/Ghost typing, personally) but as a browt evolution it could be a Grass/Ghost instead (and I'm aware that it's basically mirroring typing of the Alola Grass starter if it does that, but at least we have a few generations between the two so it's less of an issue than going back to back with the same typing).

And you'll notice I am basically advocating for starters getting split evolutions based on their gender, and yes, I am aware I made the female have a type advantage over the male; that was intentional for the case of this bird, since it's the female Peafowl that decides which male will be her partner, so she has an advantage in the mating game, by making the female have a type adantage to the male, it acts as a subtle referenc to this. I used this bird as an example, but not all pairings need to be that way. That said, if they are sexually dimorphic in the form of split evolutions, they will have to reflect this a bit more overtly, with the middle stage having elements of both sides of the evolution.

If Browt were to have its final stage be a Peafowl, which I have yet to see anyone do with their Fakemon final stages, it is my hope that they do make it a split evolution; it would be a fun extra surprise for everyone to see the starters with split evolutions as a way of celebrating the 10th generation and its region. Also, to my understanding, none of the starters before now were species that are sexually dimorphic. And while the dog that Pombom seems to draw its primary inspiration from is not notably sexually dimorphic, some species of Gecko are sexually dimorphic (so there's some hope for Gecqua).

So, assuming Browt will evolve into a Peafowl Pokémon and has a split evolution going one way for the male and one way for the female, what are some of the split evolutions you think would happen with Gecqua and Pombom for their final stages? How would the two divergences pair up in their type matches with each other? Feel free to explain it in as much detail as you would like or feel comfortable with.

That all said, I don't see split evolutions for the starters in the foreseeable future; it diverges too much from the comfort level the Pokémon tries to cultivate with its audience, or at least that's my understanding of how the franchise owners likely see it. My best guess is we won't see starters get a split evolution any time before Gen 15, at the earliest.

So, yeah. My hot take on Pacific Rim Uprising is that it's not a sequel and was never a sequel. We're told it happens in the world of the original Pacific Rim, but almost nothing is done to show it; in fact, the Mech and Monster Designs run counter to the philosophy of the original, and none of the confirmed people doing the real work behind the scenes for Pacific Rim are ever confirmed for Uprising.

So, Pacific Rim Uprising is just Fanfiction with a Hollywood Budget.

So, I had thought recently, earlier this week, it popped into my head.

Here's how it's laying out so far, assuming the Blue AI C.A.I.N.E. removed from his matrix in the finale manages to find a way to grow and develop itself, there are a few ways it could go. The other AI learned from C.A.I.N.E. and has some unresolved aggression issues that it probably will need to sort out at some point. So, what if the Blue AI finally finds a way to build its own playground, and somehow manages to get a completely different cast of scanned human minds to play with?

Assuming the Blue AI keeps the same characters as Caine in its name but spells out a different acronym, which could be a fun little exercise for everyone working on new names for Caine's sibling that is the Blue AI, it would not want to recreate Caine's project. In other words, it would try to avoid making its own circus. That said, it could go for the circus's well-known, and less appreciated, cousin, the Carnival, same series acronym, slightly different actual name. It could be doing something similar to Caine, just leaning a bit more AM from I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream than Caine did at the start. The AI has to learn the same lesson Caine did, along with how to better work through and manage that anger it has been holding onto until we last saw it in the finale.

Now, the cast of this follow-up that takes place in an Amazing Digital Carnival is basically what Caine's "sibling" is doing with a whole new set of humans. The carnival setting also means the archetype groupings will be noticeably different from the circus that Caine put together. What form that could all take is still up to the imagination of everyone who wants to take part in this thought experiment.

So, what do you think the Amazing Digital Carnival will look like? What sort of characters do you think we would see? What sort of adventures/tasks/events do you think the AI will cook up for its captive audience/participants? How do you think the AI would introduce itself?

To be clear, nothing is confirmed regarding the future of TADC, and this is more of a framework for a working theory of what one follow-up to TADC involving the Blue AI. Personally, I think the Blue AI will use the same letters as Caine did for his name, seeing as his name is actually an acronym, but will have them mixed around to form a different name that is made from the same characters/letters. And I just like the idea of the Blue AI deciding to make things a Carnival instead of a Circus to differentiate itself from Caine. As for the brain scans of the cast, it could use the same ones Caine managed to access, or maybe it escaped to somewhere else in the bounds of the internet and found itself in an entirely new network with an entirely different set of brain scans to play with; either way, it make for some interesting story possibilities. If it's the prior, then we could hear some familiar voices with different looks and names in different sorts of interactions with each other, if it's the latter then we'll have a whole series of questions to deal with.

So, I had thought recently, earlier this week, it popped into my head.

Here's how it's laying out so far, assuming the Blue AI C.A.I.N.E. removed from his matrix in the finale manages to find a way to grow and develop itself, there are a few ways it could go. The other AI learned from C.A.I.N.E. and has some unresolved aggression issues that it probably will need to sort out at some point. So, what if the Blue AI finally finds a way to build its own playground, and somehow manages to get a completely different cast of scanned human minds to play with?

Assuming the Blue AI keeps the same characters as Caine in its name but spells out a different acronym, which could be a fun little exercise for everyone working on new names for Caine's sibling that is the Blue AI, it would not want to recreate Caine's project. In other words, it would try to avoid making its own circus. That said, it could go for the circus's well-known, and less appreciated, cousin, the Carnival, same series acronym, slightly different actual name. It could be doing something similar to Caine, just leaning a bit more AM from I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream than Caine did at the start. The AI has to learn the same lesson Caine did, along with how to better work through and manage that anger it has been holding onto until we last saw it in the finale.

Now, the cast of this follow-up that takes place in an Amazing Digital Carnival is basically what Caine's "sibling" is doing with a whole new set of humans. The carnival setting also means the archetype groupings will be noticeably different from the circus that Caine put together. What form that could all take is still up to the imagination of everyone who wants to take part in this thought experiment.

So, what do you think the Amazing Digital Carnival will look like? What sort of characters do you think we would see? What sort of adventures/tasks/events do you think the AI will cook up for its captive audience/participants? How do you think the AI would introduce itself?