Sijih 's post in "Thread for Did you knows" was inspiring: we should all explain jokes so that people who may not be as knowledgeable about our community can understand. i'll go first:
Pokemon is a turn-based RPG where the goal is to command your creatures to attack your opponents' and reduce their HP stats to 0. The player taking this screenshot, radstads, won by the resignation of their opponent, MillyWilly, with a very absurd strategy.
In the first turn of the battle, radstads commands their Regieleki to use Agility. This move increases the user's Speed stat, the stat that determines turn order. It is worth noting that Regieleki already has the highest Speed stat of any species of Pokemon in the game, so increasing its Speed even more would serve only to become faster than opponents that already have some sort of Speed modifier in play. The opposing Aerodactyl uses Stealth Rock, a staple move in competitive play that damages Pokemon that switch in on the opposing side based on their elemental type.
In turn 2, MillyWilly opts to switch out their Aerodactyl for their Rotom. radstads' Regieleki once again uses Agility. It's worth noting that each use of Agility increases the stat by 2 "levels" (adding +50% to the stat for each level), and the maximum stat level that can achieved is +6. Agility will only have an effect for one more use, and at this point no practical effect, for as mentioned before, Regieleki is already the fastest species of Pokemon.
Come turn 3, Regieleki uses Agility a final time. Rotom uses Trick, a move that exchanges the held items of the user and its target. This reveals that both Regieleki and Rotom were each holding a Choice Scarf. This is an item that only allows the holder to use one of its moves, but in exchange gives a 50% boost to Speed. As one might expect it is mostly given to all-out attackers to quickly overtake opponents, but another strategy exists in using Trick to force it upon opponents and lock them into an undesirable move. This was the strategy MillyWilly was attempting.
Now, the punchline. Regieleki was itself holding a Choice Scarf, which would provide no benefit to using Agility, as it will only increase Speed with no damage done to the opponent. This doubled with the fact that Regieleki is already the fastest Pokemon makes this an extremely absurd strategy. (The Regieleki is fittingly named "Lightning McQueen," after the race car protagonist of Pixar's Cars (2006), known in-universe for being especially fast.) Ironically, MillyWilly wanted to force Regieleki to perpetually use Agilitiy, but this was already Regieleki's course of action. In fact, in using Trick, Rotom had only locked itself into perpetually using Trick, as exchanging one Scarf for another maintains the move lock. MillyWilly, flustered, forfeits the match.
Now, one might ask, what reason would there be to forfeit this position? At present, both sides are forced into using only useless moves. However, each side may simply switch to a different Pokemon to remove the lock. What's more, radstads' side of the field is laced with Stealth Rock, giving them a disadvantage in switching. The irony of MillyWilly forfeiting from an advantageous position only adds to the absurdity of this scenario, while also being potentially relatable to readers who have themselves at one point given up something good out of confusion or astonishment.
p.s. do NOT post copy pastes of already existing detailed joke explanations like the one about the spoonful vine. this will result in you being BLOCKED and REPORTED.
Pokemon is a turn-based RPG where the goal is to command your creatures to attack your opponents' and reduce their HP stats to 0. The player taking this screenshot, radstads, won by the resignation of their opponent, MillyWilly, with a very absurd strategy.
In the first turn of the battle, radstads commands their Regieleki to use Agility. This move increases the user's Speed stat, the stat that determines turn order. It is worth noting that Regieleki already has the highest Speed stat of any species of Pokemon in the game, so increasing its Speed even more would serve only to become faster than opponents that already have some sort of Speed modifier in play. The opposing Aerodactyl uses Stealth Rock, a staple move in competitive play that damages Pokemon that switch in on the opposing side based on their elemental type.
In turn 2, MillyWilly opts to switch out their Aerodactyl for their Rotom. radstads' Regieleki once again uses Agility. It's worth noting that each use of Agility increases the stat by 2 "levels" (adding +50% to the stat for each level), and the maximum stat level that can achieved is +6. Agility will only have an effect for one more use, and at this point no practical effect, for as mentioned before, Regieleki is already the fastest species of Pokemon.
Come turn 3, Regieleki uses Agility a final time. Rotom uses Trick, a move that exchanges the held items of the user and its target. This reveals that both Regieleki and Rotom were each holding a Choice Scarf. This is an item that only allows the holder to use one of its moves, but in exchange gives a 50% boost to Speed. As one might expect it is mostly given to all-out attackers to quickly overtake opponents, but another strategy exists in using Trick to force it upon opponents and lock them into an undesirable move. This was the strategy MillyWilly was attempting.
Now, the punchline. Regieleki was itself holding a Choice Scarf, which would provide no benefit to using Agility, as it will only increase Speed with no damage done to the opponent. This doubled with the fact that Regieleki is already the fastest Pokemon makes this an extremely absurd strategy. (The Regieleki is fittingly named "Lightning McQueen," after the race car protagonist of Pixar's Cars (2006), known in-universe for being especially fast.) Ironically, MillyWilly wanted to force Regieleki to perpetually use Agilitiy, but this was already Regieleki's course of action. In fact, in using Trick, Rotom had only locked itself into perpetually using Trick, as exchanging one Scarf for another maintains the move lock. MillyWilly, flustered, forfeits the match.
Now, one might ask, what reason would there be to forfeit this position? At present, both sides are forced into using only useless moves. However, each side may simply switch to a different Pokemon to remove the lock. What's more, radstads' side of the field is laced with Stealth Rock, giving them a disadvantage in switching. The irony of MillyWilly forfeiting from an advantageous position only adds to the absurdity of this scenario, while also being potentially relatable to readers who have themselves at one point given up something good out of confusion or astonishment.
p.s. do NOT post copy pastes of already existing detailed joke explanations like the one about the spoonful vine. this will result in you being BLOCKED and REPORTED.
