The trailer for the new Pokémon movie, Everyone’s Story, was released on Pokémon Day 2018 and got fans all over the world talking.
Although the trailer doesn’t reveal a lot, it seems to follow on from Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You, which was released last year and retold some of the original story from the anime. The central focus on Lugia, in particular, suggests that this movie could return to the themes of Pokémon: The Movie 2000, which also featured Lugia as its signature legendary.
The trailer shows a lot of familiar Pokémon, exclusively from the first and second generation. Even the cluster of baby Pokémon toddling around includes a Marill rather than its baby form Azurill, which wasn’t introduced until Generation III.
Given the focus on early generation Pokémon, it doesn’t seem likely that new abilities or evolutions will be introduced yet. But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t potential for development in Generation VIII.
At the end of the trailer, Ash and Pikachu rush to the edge of a cliff to watch Lugia soar away over the water. They are surrounded by new people and familiar Pokémon.
This leaves fans with a lot of scope to speculate how these particular Pokémon might grow in new generations. Everyone’s Story will likely do a lot to develop the lore of the Pokémon world. But it could have effects that extend to the games and to competitive play.
Lugia
Since its introduction in Generation II, Lugia has been a popular tanky legendary. Its high HP, Defense and Special Defense stats, plus fair Speed, give it a reasonable foundation for competitive battling. For a long time, it had a solid reputation as a stall Pokémon.
But its Psychic/Flying typing makes it weak to a lot of popular types: Rock, Ghost, Electric, Ice and Dark. While its high Special Defense stat is a nice buffer, it isn’t enough to cancel out these exploitable vulnerabilities.
Lugia has some solid move sets available to it, but not a lot of STAB moves. It was definitely good for its generation, but it has since been outclassed.
Lugia is unlikely to get an evolution. If Everyone’s Story takes a lot of inspiration from old films, it may draw on that famous image of a Lugia with its baby.
If a baby Pokémon isn’t on the cards, a Mega-Evolution could be. Lugia could join the likes of Mewtwo and Rayquaza as a legendary Mega. This could offer it an opportunity to make a truly powerful return to competitive play.
Eevee
More than any other Pokémon, Eevee is known for the new attributes it gains with each new generation. At first, it followed a fairly standard pattern. Two new evolutions, usually of complementary types, were introduced from Generation II onward.
This was until Sylveon disrupted the pattern in Generation VI. Instead of two new Eeveelutions, Gen VI saw the introduction of a type instead of another Pokémon. In Generation VII, Eevee gained a Z move, but no new evolution.
This leaves us in a position where it’s difficult to guess what will happen next. There are plenty of existing types that don’t yet have an Eeveelution. None of the current Eeveelutions yet have a Mega-Evolution. So there is definitely scope to continue in this direction. This could mean any number of things for Eevee’s role in the game and in competitive battling.
But following the groundbreaking introduction of Sylveon, it would feel like a step back to return to the old pattern.
There are lots of possibilities left with Eevee. Its appearance in Everyone’s Story could be heavily loaded with clues. Conversely, it could reacquaint us with Eevee in its Normal, unevolved form. It could be nostalgic in a way that heralds an end to new things for Eevee.
Sudowoodo
The combination of a recurring role in the anime and an unmissable cameo in the games has sealed Sudowoodo’s reputation. But despite this, and decent base stats, Sudowoodo hasn’t often been used in competitive play. Its base 100 Attack and 115 Defense certainly aren’t bad.
It is let down a little by poor Speed, but this can be worked around by a good strategy. Its main weakness is its typing. As purely Rock, it has a lot of common weaknesses. It doesn’t help that there are plenty of Rock types that outclass it.
However, it does have a lot of high base power moves that take advantage of that good Attack stat. The not uncommon Rock Head ability means it can even prevent recoil damage. Sudowoodo doesn’t have much versatility, but it does have the potential to deal a lot of damage.
An evolution for Sudowoodo would be incredible to see. A souped-up Groot-like Rock type would be a beast of a Pokémon. Hanging onto moves like Wood Hammer and Stone Edge while boosting stats would make for a brilliant competitive asset.
So far, Sudowoodo is largely overlooked. But Everyone’s Story is offering a chance to access Sudowoodo’s untapped potential.
Chansey
Despite its sweet demeanor, Chansey has been an epic tank from the very beginning. Its incredible move pool could deal serious damage to almost any Pokémon. Its signature move Softboiled kept its health up even if its high HP was dented. This made it a formidable foe and popular addition to competitive teams.
It is still popular, despite having an evolution. A Chansey holding an Eviolite can outclass Blissey and both are popular in the competitive sphere. A tanky build and the option of healing not only itself but other members of the team are very valuable assets.
The popularity of Fighting and Psychic types offer opponents a chance to exploit Chansey’s main weaknesses. It also suffers from the use of moves like Knock Off, which removes the boost it gets from Eviolite.
Despite these threats, it’s still one of the most popular tanks in the game. So it probably doesn’t need any more of a boost. It already has an evolution and a baby. This limits any developments that could be introduced following Everyone’s Story. However, it would be interesting to see a Z-move for Chansey, or a Mega-Evolution for Blissey in Generation VIII.
The baby Pokemon
Baby Pokémon haven’t typically been a huge part of the Pokémon narrative. But they do have an important role in the extended universe. Aside from being cute, they contribute to world-building through stories outside of the competitive aspect of the game.
The trailer for Everyone’s Story has a whole host of baby Pokémon that follow an old lady around. Her little party includes Marill, Totodile, Smoochum and Togepi. All of these Pokemon already have fairly well developed evolutionary lines. It would certainly be cool to see Mega-Evolutions for all of their final evolutions.
The baby Pokémon themselves are traditionally not used in competitive battles. They have the lowest stats in the game and their move pools aren’t always great. But they do have the capacity to impact competitive teams.
Being part of the Undiscovered egg group means that, when they’re found in the wild, they have at least three IVs. Some of them also come with rare moves. This means that you can find some of the key ingredients for your competitive team ready made through wild baby Pokémon.
The inclusion of so many baby Pokémon in Everyone’s Story could be a precursor to the introduction of new ones in Generation VIII. Although their earliest evolution won’t be the main component to any competitive team, they could be crucial to building it.
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Images from Bulbapedia, Youtube and Newsweek.