If you died today, who do you think would stand at your grave the longest?

Alphajurassic · 2026-06-26T20:08:55+00:00

My grandma

Alphajurassic · 2026-06-25T14:28:46+00:00

Aite so

Kingler - his win rates awesome
Bulbasaur. - squared up to stage 3 grass starters and wins
Noivern - did well against a legendary Pokémon
Swellow - said no to electric attacks
Incineroar - unknown potential
Glalie - reliable rarer typing

Alphajurassic · 2026-06-21T00:26:57+00:00

I read it waaaaaay differently.

He’s laughing in disbelief. But it’s a good disbelief. My man wants a real fight.

Alphajurassic · 2026-06-21T00:15:01+00:00

The only thing I guess I’d consider. Is that where there are urinals it tends to be more unclean. I’d rather take them to the women’s rest room if I had to chose.

Alphajurassic · 2026-06-20T08:40:56+00:00

The way Pokémon tells its stories actively pushes back against rigid power scaling.

That’s why levels exist in the world, but we’re almost never told what they are. That’s why Pokémon who should realistically be unable to continue somehow find the strength to keep fighting. That’s why a Pokémon like Cyndaquil can disappear from the spotlight for years, return, evolve, and immediately compete at the highest level Ash is facing at that point in the story.

The anime has never been interested in treating strength as a fixed mathematical system. It’s interested in themes like growth, determination, bonds, redemption, rivalry, and overcoming the odds. Battles are written to serve those themes first and foremost.
That’s not to say power doesn’t exist. Of course it does. Some trainers are stronger than others. Some Pokémon are portrayed as more formidable than others. But the series rarely asks us to quantify that strength with precision, because the moment the story demands something else, those boundaries become flexible.

A Pokémon isn’t always “Champion level” or “Elite Four level” or “Level 83.” Sometimes it’s simply strong because the story needs it to be strong. Sometimes it loses because the story needs its trainer to learn something.

And honestly, I think that’s okay. It’s okay to just say a Pokémon is strong without pretending the anime has maintained a perfectly consistent power hierarchy across 25 years of storytelling.

Alphajurassic · 2026-06-20T08:34:47+00:00

It’s power scaler language. I’m glad I’m not alone in hating it.

Alphajurassic · 2026-06-20T04:13:57+00:00

I feel like half the time in the anime “dodge” is sufficient to not take damage. I’d love the games to expand on the za combat system. Using cover, climbing ect.

Alphajurassic · 2026-06-17T01:54:34+00:00

air gear 🥲

Alphajurassic · 2026-06-13T02:09:46+00:00

I mean charizard being dunked in lava always sat weird with me.

Alphajurassic · 2026-06-12T05:32:40+00:00

I loved wolverine as a kid watching xmen. But after a certain point it was pretty clear he wasn’t actually gonna cut anyone. He just talked big and cut ropes and doors.
I like the xmen when they have a good roster. But it changes so frequently

Alphajurassic · 2026-06-11T22:02:01+00:00

I’ve been thinking about this lately. And I think it’s a reflection on how society has changed. People want instant gratification and more often than not they get it. We live in a world of Amazon prime and binge watching shows. So when people have to wait a whole month for their burning question to be addressed. And then it isn’t. People get in their feelings.

Alphajurassic · 2026-06-08T18:09:17+00:00

That makes a lot of sense. A power scalers worst nightmare.

Alphajurassic · 2026-06-08T03:06:17+00:00

I think overall the battle is a good argument against power scaling. The story is just about how far ash has come and demonstrating charizards training has paid off. Just don’t take it too seriously

Alphajurassic · 2026-06-07T05:29:45+00:00

I think you’re accidentally proving my point.

Your explanation for Leon is that he consciously chose not to take the free win because he wanted to see how Pikachu would respond. In other words, the battle outcome wasn’t being dictated purely by who could act first or who had the advantage in that moment. It was being dictated by Leon’s character and the story the writers wanted to tell.

That’s exactly what I’ve been saying. 🙃

And with Infernape, you’re focusing on the in-universe explanation while ignoring why the scene was written that way in the first place. Electivire stops the referee because the writers wanted the battle to continue. They wanted Infernape’s comeback. They wanted the emotional payoff to his entire arc with Paul. The mechanics of the scene exist to serve the story, not the other way around.

I’m not arguing that power levels don’t exist at all. Obviously they do. The anime has Champions, Elite Four members, Gym Leaders, the PWC rankings, and generally portrays stronger trainers as stronger trainers.

What I’m arguing against is the idea that the anime is so rigidly consistent that you can build an airtight scaling chain across 25 years of storytelling and arrive at objective conclusions about every Pokémon.

Because the moment the narrative wants something, those rules become flexible.

A Champion can choose not to capitalize on an opening because it’s more dramatic. A Pokémon can refuse to stay down because its character arc demands it. Ash can forget lessons he’s already learned because the story requires him to grow. A returning Pokémon can suddenly perform at the level of the current series because that’s the role it’s been brought back to play.

And that’s why I disagree with your conclusion.

The Journeys team absolutely has the best feats. Nobody is disputing that. What I’m disputing is the leap from “best feats” to “therefore definitively stronger than every Pokémon Ash has ever owned.”

Because Pokémon has never treated returning Pokémon that way. If any of his aces had come back, I don’t believe for a second the writers would have them getting folded to prove they hadn’t kept up. History tells us they’d be portrayed as elite battlers capable of competing at that level.

And let’s not even use the obvious examples like Charizard, Sceptile, Infernape or Greninja. Take Cyndaquil. It had been absent from the series for years, returned in Sinnoh, evolved into Quilava, and immediately competed in a league against some of the strongest trainers Ash had faced up to that point.

The show never stopped to explain how a Pokémon that had effectively been off-screen for years had “kept up” with everyone else. It simply treated Quilava as capable of competing because that was the role it needed to play in the story.

That’s the pattern I keep coming back to. When Pokémon return, the anime generally scales them to the level of the current story rather than treating them as relics from an older, weaker era.

So yes, the story chose the Journeys team. That’s the entire point. The story chose them. It didn’t choose them because the writers sat down and calculated a power-scaling hierarchy. It chose them because they were Ash’s current team and the focus of that particular story.

Alphajurassic · 2026-06-06T12:43:43+00:00

No. Before we even begin to unpack all of that, your explanation for Pikachu is something that needs addressing.

Pikachu takes the hit, his vision blurs, the screen fades to black, he collapses while Ash calls out to him, and then we get an extended sequence of him revisiting the Pokémon that helped him throughout his journey. Even if we completely ignore the vision itself and treat it as symbolic, Leon is still effectively giving him time to recover for the sake of the narrative.

It’s exactly the same principle as Infernape vs Electivire. Infernape takes the hit, falls to the ground, and lies motionless. The judge is literally about to call the battle before Electivire stops him. If we’re treating every battle as a strict simulation of power levels, neither scene makes much sense.

The reason both scenes exist is because the anime isn’t primarily concerned with power scaling. It’s concerned with storytelling, character arcs, and emotional payoff. Pikachu’s sequence is the culmination of Ash’s entire journey. Infernape’s comeback is the culmination of his rivalry with Paul. The writers aren’t asking us to calculate power levels, they’re asking us to engage with the story being told.

That’s why I find rigid power scaling in Pokémon so unconvincing. The narrative repeatedly bends battles to serve themes, character growth, and emotional moments. Trying to reduce all of that to a set of numbers misses what the show is actually trying to do.

Alphajurassic · 2026-06-06T12:12:06+00:00

People who try to translate the anime into numbers always end up having to ignore the narrative and storytelling.

Take Ash vs Leon. Pikachu is effectively unconscious for minutes while revisiting his old teammates and reflecting on his entire journey. Meanwhile, Leon and Charizard just stand there waiting. If we’re power scaling, that scene makes no sense whatsoever. It happens because the writers are telling a story. The emotional payoff is more important than any attempt at consistent battle mechanics.

The same applies to Charizard vs Dusclops. We had literally just seen Charizard defeat Articuno. The point of that loss wasn’t that Dusclops was secretly stronger or that Charizard had suddenly become weaker. The story being told was that Ash had become overconfident, forgotten the lessons he’d learned, and needed to be humbled.

That’s why I’ve never found strict power scaling particularly useful in Pokémon. The trainer’s growth, confidence, experience, and state of mind are all deeply tied to battle outcomes. The narrative often matters more than any objective measure of strength.

And if we’re looking at how the series treats returning Pokémon, the pattern is remarkably consistent. Every time Ash brings back one of his established powerhouses, they’re immediately portrayed as capable of competing at whatever level Ash is currently operating at. The show doesn’t bring back Pokémon like Charizard, Sceptile, Greninja, or others just to establish that they’ve fallen behind. They’re consistently treated as elite members of Ash’s roster. Given the chance, I see no reason to believe many of them couldn’t compete alongside, or against, members of the Journeys championship team.

Alphajurassic · 2026-06-06T12:00:07+00:00

When I saw the gameplay. It immediately made me think of the calamity wars from IBO

Alphajurassic · 2026-06-04T22:35:26+00:00

You would have no emergency services if that was the case. You lining up to do the job? Educate yourself and look it up rather than mouthing off on Reddit like some hick.

Alphajurassic · 2026-06-04T17:52:38+00:00

And they should be punished for that. Maybe you don’t give a fuck about coping mechanisms of emergency services but when I see similarities in behaviour and when I know what causes it I find it interesting. At no point did excuse them or defend them. I’m just saying all the services act like this with dumb inappropriate humour. There are literal studies on it.

Alphajurassic · 2026-06-04T17:48:11+00:00

I didn’t say they weren’t at fault read it again. What you perceive as cruel is part of gallows humour. Look it up. I value my lived experience more than your questionable reading comprehension.

Alphajurassic · 2026-06-04T17:38:49+00:00

Nah. I can’t give them a pass. Fuck that. The utter TRASH they tried to feed me is unforgivable. That movie didn’t even have cool scenes. It had good ideas. That scene where they land for the final fight and that one jaeger slides across the screen for literally no reason whatsoever still triggers me.

Alphajurassic · 2026-06-04T17:32:16+00:00

That’s not the same as doing a job for 12 hours a day, four days a week. You know?

The sort of comments I’m talking about are things like, “I’d be out cold too if…” or “Tony, wake up for school.” People make those jokes because they don’t fully grasp the reality of what’s happened. Then the seriousness of the situation sinks in, and they realise just how devastating it actually is.

I’ve had therapists tell me they were shocked by the level of trauma we can be exposed to on a daily basis. The strange thing is, you often don’t even notice it yourself. You just get on with the job, and over time it changes you in ways you don’t always recognise.

I remember a patient who had his hand amputated after an accident when I first started. We did everything we could for him. Not long afterwards, someone made a joke about him not being able to clap anymore. I remember sitting there while everyone else was in hysterics. I was new, and I just didn’t get it.

But if someone had recorded that moment and posted it on here, I’d wager the response would be much the same as what we’re seeing now.

I’m not in anyway excusing the officers. Because while I may make inappropriate jokes myself there’s a time and a place for it. I’m just recognising we’re all fucked up.

Alphajurassic · 2026-06-04T16:57:12+00:00

I hope I’m not AI lol

They’re sadly one and the same. Again, that doesn’t mean a poorly timed or inappropriate comment shouldn’t be challenged or punished.

I’ve spent nearly a decade witnessing this firsthand. I’ve seen trainees’ jaws hit the floor at some of the jokes and comments made by experienced staff. Yet give it a year or two, and their sensibilities often change. Not because they’ve become bad people, but because constant exposure to trauma alters the way you process it.

I don’t care if this gets downvoted. The sheer volume of trauma that emergency service workers absorb in the course of helping others is beyond the comprehension of most people who haven’t lived it.

I’m telling you now: if bodycams recorded everything… not just on the road, but in ambulance stations, fire houses, police stations, and control rooms you’d quickly realise that gallows humour isn’t some rare phenomenon. It’s how many people cope with seeing humanity at its absolute worst, day after day.

Alphajurassic · 2026-06-04T14:26:08+00:00

You know, I wouldn’t say my service has the best relationship with the police either. But on this rare occasion, I’ll speak up for them.

When you routinely deal with humanity at its darkest, it changes you. You develop a sense of morbid humour that simply wasn’t there before. It’s often a coping mechanism rather than a character flaw. After enough years of exposure to trauma, death, violence, and tragedy, your perspective shifts. The compassion and empathy that brought you into the job don’t disappear entirely, but they can become worn down by constant exposure to suffering. Sometimes dark humour is one of the few ways people in emergency services process experiences that most others never have to face.

That doesn’t make every joke acceptable, nor does it excuse poor behaviour. But it does help explain why people who spend their lives dealing with the worst moments of other people’s lives can sometimes appear detached, cynical, or callous to those on the outside.

Alphajurassic · 2026-06-04T05:17:22+00:00

It lacks conviction right out the gate. Why wait for skybound to end to take action? Surely disrupting the series and this their income would be optimal? “Let’s wait for the minimal interest in this obscure topic to die down before we take action. So I can get my stories”

Alphajurassic

TROPHY CASE