Day 16: Cinderace
(BGM: Wyndon Stadium from Sword & Shield)
Living here in America, football is known as one of the most intense and brutal sports that you can play. It does involve muscular 200-300 lb meatheads tackling you at full force to the ground over that coveted pigskin, and players are given helmets and shoulder pads to try and minimize the chance of serious injury.
Not only is American Football brutal, it's also very iconic with all of the merchandise, movies about the sport, and the Super Bowl being among the most watched and celebrated television broadcasts each year.
American Football is so iconic that I honestly keep forgetting that football in most other parts of the world, or more specifically, and for the sake of using video game terms, anyone who lives in the 'PAL Regions' of the world, it's just soccer. That's it, football to the 'PAL Regions' is just soccer.
I'm not trying to diss the sport by saying that, as that game is quite popular as well. So popular in fact that when Sword & Shield, whose region is based on the U.K' a 'PAL Region', got announced, Game Freak had to base one of their new Pokemon on a player of this sport. And the Pokemon they chose to do that was the evolution of their fire rabbit starter…
Cinderace!
(Insert Cinderace cry here)
(BGM: Bede Battle Theme from Sword & Shield)
Never have I been more interested in soccer than when this gorgeous beast showed up!
Right off the bat, Cinderace's design screams 'all-star soccer player'. Not only does it have a rather tall and athletic build, but the colors of his fur as well as its patterns looks like a soccer player uniform, right down to how the black fur on his feet and legs looks like a soccer player's socks.
Game Freak really went all the way when tasked with making a 'soccer playing' Pokemon, and it shows how they're not short on ideas after all these years. I mean, you have to be some of the most creative minds on Earth to make a Pokemon based on Charlie Chaplin, A.K.A Mr. Rime, and have him be awesome.
As a Pokemon based on a soccer player, Cinderace's speed stat (119) and Physical Attack stat (116) are amazing! Because of that, Cinderace is one of the faster non-legendary Pokemon in the Galar Pokedex, and his signature move Pyro Ball, which already has an attack power of 120 and has a 10% chance of burning the opponent, hits like a damn truck!
On the subject of Pyro Ball, I really like the animation Cinderace does when using it. It's exactly how a soccer player would kick a soccer ball into the goal net. Like I said, Game Freak took the concept of a soccer player and went through the roof with it. Easily one of the best new moves in Generation 8.
If only there was a way for me to love Pyro Ball even more.
(Insert Gigantamax Cinderace here)
I fucking love you, Game Freak!
When the DLC for Sword & Shield came around, the magnificent bastards at Game Freak gave the final form starters their own Gigantamax form, with Cinderace getting skyscraper sized ears while standing atop his adorably badass flaming soccer ball. It even has an adorable little face, which will be the last thing your opponents see before the devastating G-Max Fireball reduces them to ash.
Not only does G-Max Fireball ignore the effects of the target's ability, but it also has a total power of 160!
You go, Cindy!
Now, let's talk about Cinderace's abilities…or rather, it's hidden ability. Yeah, a fire starter Pokemon with Blaze is par for the course, but his hidden ability is a different beast entirely.
Cinderace's hidden ability is Libero, which changes his type to that of a move that he just used. So, say for example you have Cinderace use Double Kick. Your cinderace is now a Fighting type. So, basically, with Libero, you pretty much always have STAB with your moves! How awesome is that?!
Speaking of moves, Cinderace learns all the moves a great soccer player should have. Naturally, it can learn the aforementioned Double Kick and Pyro Ball, as well as Flame Charge to potentially raise speed, Bounce, Double-Edge, Headbutt, Quick Attack, and Agility. And as for its other moves, it can learn High Jump Kick and Sucker Punch for some of his egg moves, and as far as TM/TR moves go it can learn U-Turn, Acrobatics, Fire Fang, Fire Punch, Flare Blitz, Electro Ball, Zen Headbutt, and Iron Head.
Not a bad movepool all things considered.
Me: I've pretty much said everything I could say about Galar's own Lionel Messi. His design is awesome, I love his Gigantamax form, his moves are excellent, and his hidden ability slaps. So, I think I'm going to close out this segment the only way I know how, ahem…GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-
Lyra: Shut up!
…
Me: -oal!