I'm not as harsh as LonelyNess in his criticism of flavor, but I agree that flavor really needs to take a back seat here. You people are acting like these pokemon are going to appear in the anime or something. They are not. They are going to be implemented on a Battle Simulator for the sole purpose of
experimenting with the competitive metagame.
How can we possibly experiment with Tailwind, if we don't give it to this guy? We will NEVER get another chance to see if Tailwind can work in the metagame, if we pass on the opportunity here. Why? Because, without Persistent -- Tailwind is worthless. Three turns is just too little. What is the likelihood that we will make another pokemon in the future that has the typing, stats, purpose, Persistent ability, AND has the elusive "flavor" to justify Tailwind? It will NEVER EVER HAPPEN.
Considering how important speed is in competitive play, you have to be brain dead if you haven't salivated at the possibility of using one pokemon to boost the entire team's speed. Hell, look at all the wacky team builds that attempt to Baton Pass speed from Agility, Speed Boost, and Salac. None of those strategies are used much in the upper echelons of competitive play. If we implement Persistent Tailwind, we can genuinely experiment with team speed.
But, we can't do it if the flavor-junkies shoot it down.
I care about flavor somewhat. But not enough to pass up on a golden opportunity to learn something new about competitive play. If we don't give this pokemon Tailwind, I will be very disappointed in this project's ability to stay focused on competitive battling goals. Flavor is completely secondary to the project. It's not totally irrelevant, but it is a secondary concern. Read the
Project Mission Statement, if you haven't done so already.
If flavor is such a massive sticking point for people, I think X-Presumptuous gives a fantastic explanation. It's not a stretch at all, IMO:
The flavour for Tailwind can make sense if we use the phenomenon of ballooning in baby spiders for a pre-evo for it. This actually fits in with the explanation for other users such as Pidgeot and Pelipper, that wind from the behind aids in flight ( wind from the behind is necessary for ballooning ).
I don't think any of the flavor-junkies are stupid or anything. I just don't think they are thinking about the tangible effect of this pokemon after the creation process is over. It will be used as a component in the competitive battling metagame. A lot of you that post a million times in these creation threads and argue long and loud about these pokemon -- I never see you on the server actually battling with CAP pokemon. And for the people that ACTUALLY USE these pokemon on a regular basis -- I see very few of them bitching about "flavor".
If you don't like Tailwind because you think it will be broken, or if you just don't think this pokemon could actually use it effectively, then that's a valid argument. But, to argue about flavor -- for a move that could be so impactful on the metagame -- is just silly in my opinion.
Imagine if we were arguing about the ability Wonder Guard on this pokemon. If that were up for discussion, would flavor matter at all? Hell no. The competitive implications of that ability are so significant that flavor arguments about it would only come from idiot fanboys.
Idiot Fanboy said:
"Hey guys, I heard you are thinking about Wonder Guard, which I love because it has the coolest sounding name of all pokemon abilities. But, I'm not going to vote for Wonder Guard because it just doesn't seem to "fit" with a pokemon that has purple in its color scheme. Next time we want to make a Wonder Guard pokemon, we'll have to give it red or blue coloring. If you do that, then I'm all for it."
Do you see how silly it seems to consider flavor when the competitive implications are so high? Well, that's what we have here with Tailwind. Not that Tailwind is as powerful as Wonder Guard, but you know what I mean. We have a move that is never used at all in the metagame. It affects a game mechanic that is arguably the most important battle mechanic of all -- speed. If we don't give it to this pokemon, we will never see what kind of impact Tailwind could have on the metagame.
And you guys are talking about flavor? Come on....
