Alternate Pokemon Typings

Pikachu6319

Pikachu6319

Scooby
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Primal Clash has shown us that for the first time in Pokemon TCG history we are to get a Tentacool (and hopefully a Tentacruel) that is not a water type. Considering the poison type was a grass type until DP where it was switched into poison type where it remains to this day, and Tentacool is a first generation Pokemon yet it's taken this long (like fifteen years at least and many MANY expansions) for this alternate typing to happen that's a long time for it to happen.

That being said, I got to thinking about what other alternate types might be cool to see. I myself have always wanted a poison purple Venusaur line. I also think it would be cool to see a Pignite/Emboar in the fighting line, as well as a Garchomp line in fighting (ground brown). I have long hoped for Latios/Latias as psychic types but that has only been done once in Japan and never here in English. I also wish they would finish up the Vileplume line as Oddish and Gloom were made purple poison versions in Great Encounters but they never made the Vileplume itself that way. What alternate card typings would you like to see that aren't currently around?
 
I don't know why there hasn't been a Scraggy/Scrafty Fighting type line. There have already been 7 Scraggy/Scrafty cards and they've all been Dark. Pangoro gets a Fighting type card right off the bat when it's added to the TCG!
 
I find that most often a Pokemon is represented in the TCG with the Type it is more easily associated with. Scrafty, even though it IS a Fighting Type, it looks a lot more like a Dark Type at face value. The same applies for the following:

-Tentacool looks moreso like a Water creature, even though the Psychic Type does match it pretty well.
-Aegislash looks more like a Sword than a Ghost, which is why it's only been Metal Type in the TCG.
-Venusaur is more identifiable as a Grass type than a Poison/Psychic Type.
 
Would be cool to see Delta Species return. For those of you who aren't familiar with that, Delta Species were Pokemon that had been modified in-universe and had types other than their normal ones, like a Psychic Typhlosion. It would be nice to see this mechanic return.

Anyway, I'd want to see a Fighting Chesnaught and a Psychic Delphox to go along with the Dark Greninja. I was actually surprised so see that the Trevenant-EX from the upcoming set was Grass. It looks like Pokemon is more willing to explore the "alternate" types than they have been in recent years. Going back to having naturally dual-typed cards would also be nice.
 
Yeah Little Keldeo, I was hoping for fighting Chestnaught and psychic Delphox since the Dark Greninja was revealed in Japan. So far no such luck :(. I would love to see the return of Delta Species, especially now that they have fairy and dragon to add to those delta choices. A Pikachu/Raichu dragon type would be hilarious. I was surprised to see that Trevenant EX being grass type too, I hope we get Phantump and regular Trevnant in grass sometime soon too.

PsychidelicBreakfast Pangoro only got a fighting version in Japan. In America we have yet to see this card. This is one of my hopes for Primal Clash. A more accurate comparison here would be Victini, where they released two fire types in Noble Victories as well as the (only English one to date) psychic type Victini. That being said I completely agree with wanting a Scraggy/Scrafty fighting line at least once.

They can apply face value to cards all they want but really there is only so many times they should do those Pokemon as one type if they have other options. The Tentacool in Primal Clash is a good example, they eventually chose the other type to do at least once, like the aforementioned purple poison versions of Oddish and Gloom in Great Encounters. This is also a matter of perception. I don't see Scrafty/Scraggy as dark type at face value, I see fighting type. Though I see the Venusaur line more as a grass type and Tentacruel line as a water type though. In some ways I wonder if this falls more under a color perception than anything else. Still this also gives players more options for building decks and that is never a bad thing.
 
It's funny, we did in fact get Poison-type Bulbasaur and Ivysaur cards, but no Venusaur. (But this was before Diamond/Pearl, so they were still Grass, the only difference was a Psychic weakness.) We got those in POP 2.

There are some cards of specific types I'm surprised haven't happened yet, though. Plenty of Pokemon show traits of both their types pretty equally, and some have only had one of them utilized. Beedrill has had a lot of cards, for instance, but only ever depicting its Bug typing, never Poison. Same with Ground-Type Steelix, Bug-Type Armaldo, Ghost Froslass, Steel Excadrill, Ground Seismitoad, Bug Scolipede, Normal Sawsbuck, Ghost Jellicent and Grass Ferrothorn. Oh, and let's not forget Reshiram and Zekrom, the only Dragons without a Dragon-Type card. (Ignoring Zygarde and Arceus.)
 
Psychic encompasses three types, Poison, Ghost and Psychic. This is why Pokemon like Zubat and Gourgeist get Psychic-type cards.

May as well list the other groupings as well:

Fighting contains Fighting, Rock and Ground.
Grass contains Bug and Grass. (And before Generation 4, Poison.)
Water contains Water and Ice.
Colorless contains Normal and Flying. (And before Dragons Exalted, Dragon.)
Fire, Lightning, Darkness, Metal, Dragon and Fairy only cover their namesake types.

This is usually only made clear through their Weaknesses and Resistances. (Ice-Type cards typically have a Metal weakness, for instance, rather than the Grass or Lightning weakness of Water-Types, and Flying-Types typically have a Fighting resistance due to their Ground immunity.) Occasionally, though, we'll get cards that reference them in clever ways. Dragons Exalted Rufflet is a great example of this. Its Chirp attack searches for Pokemon with a Fighting resistance, which at the time only Flying-types had. (Well, Ghosts used to as well, but not in the Black/White era.)


To be clear, these are their types in the Video Games, and they typically have no bearing on the TCG beyond Weakness/Resistance. No card will ever specifically support Flying-Type Pokemon, because they don't actually exist in the TCG. And even though Zubat is a Poison-Type in the games, and this is why it's Psychic-Type in the TCG, it's still a Psychic-Type card.
 
Rivershock, Oddish and Gloom got purple bordered (poison) cards in Great Encounters but we never got a Vileplume that way. That always annoyed me a little bit.

Yeah, that's one thing that always got me. Before DP the Venusaur/Vileplume/Victreebel/Beedrill lines were 'covered' as all of their types fell into the grass category. They all lost that 'coverage' post DP. Crystal Guardians also had a Bulbasaur/Ivysaur with psychic weakenss, but I think if the only way to tell the difference is with weakness it's not very effective. I personally prefer the difference being in the full border colors.

Deerling/Sawsbuck not only have the whole normal part to think about but the forms as well. We only have two of the four total season forms of these Pokemon. That's another thing altogether.

You know ever since Dragons Exalted and Dragons Vault they've been working to make all the dragon options actually dragon, except two to date: Reshiram and Zekrom have no dragon versions. I really want that one to change.
 
Expedition Vileplume was a poison-type. It was before poison was converted to psychic, but it has the weakness.
 
True enough, as I said Vileplume line, Venusaur line, Victreebel line, and Beedrill line were considered poison as well pre DP. That would be anything from Base Set all the way until the last EX set Power Keepers. But those coverages were arguably slipped up when the poison transition in DP happened.

But I personally don't want to have to look at the weaknesses of a card to know what kind of a type it should be if there are other alternatives, like making an actual purple colored Vileplume. I think this one is especially important since they already made Oddish and Gloom this way (though I stand corrected, the set in question was not Great Encounters it was Legends Awakened):

http://pokebeach.com/scans/legends-awakened/112-oddish.jpg
http://pokebeach.com/scans/legends-awakened/97-gloom.jpg

The Legends Awakened Vileplume http://pokebeach.com/scans/legends-awakened/45-vileplume.jpg also has the weakness indicating it as a poison Pokemon but its type, its border, is green. They should have just taken that one extra step and made this card a purple bordered card I think.

I know in a way it's being kind of picky, but honestly I picked up the card game before I picked up the video game so these little things can make a huge difference in some peoples understanding.
 
I think everyone is forgetting that Charizard has never been printed as Colorless because it would look really awkward and lame. Actually was the Crystal Charizard Colorless? I'm thinking it was Fire but it keeps flashing in my head as a white card.
 
How would be a metal lucario? I know there is a card that lets him be both metal and fighting type but i really never understood what that affected.
 
rauber, there was a metal Lucario that was released in Platinum (http://pokebeach.com/scans/platinum/53-lucario.jpg ) though that is the only one in English. Japan had a few others released during the Lucario and the Mystery of Mew movie but we of course never got them here. As for the Lucario that can be both, the only thing I can think of right off hand that helps it would be the ability to use both the special fighting energy and special metal energy.

Carpey, Charizard was released in Skyridge (http://pokebeach.com/scans/skyridge/146-charizard.jpg ) white bordered, but it was a Crystal Pokemom so people (such as myself) can argue that hardly counts. But it seems that out of the dual types that can be done this way, colorless Pokemon are the least likely to have one because as you said it could be seen as akward and/or lame. This includes Charizard as flying, Butterfree as flying, Litleo/Pyroar as normal, Deerling/Sawsbuck as normal, and Helioptile/Heliolisk as normal to name a few.
 
yeah but i was kinda of wondering if new metal lucario would appear a playable one, i imagine using it along with metagross and galade. Is there a fighting galade?
 
A couple of them actually.
http://pokebeach.com/scans/secret-wonders/6-gallade.jpg also a pop 7 one though of course has been rotated
http://pokebeach.com/scans/legendary-treasures/81-gallade.jpg this one is still in rotation though

You're right that Platinum and the metal Lucario has been rotated out. The thing with alternate Pokemon typings though are that they rarely repeat them more than once. Lucario is an example of that where, excluding the Japanese only ones that we never got, we've only had one metal Lucario out of thirteen excluding alternate arts of the same card and counting only English versions.

Another good example are the Sinnoh final evolution starters. They've had six versions except Empoleon at eight and only one of each of their versions cover their alternate typing. Odds of this happening again are pretty slim I think. Just getting one alternate for a Pokemon is pretty good considering.
 
Sorry for the double post, but thought as long as we have this conversation going this should be posted. As far as I know this is a full list of stuff that can, but does not, have an alternate typing in tcg. If I missed something feel free to mention it. This lists ignores the technically unrevealed Hoopa and Volcanion.

Venusaur line- purple psychic (poison)
Charizard/M Charizard Y- white colorless (flying)
Charizard X- fire red
Butterfree- white colorless (flying)
Beedrill line- purple psychic (poison)
M. Beedrill (mega not even out yet, will likely be grass)
Crobat line- white colorless (flying)
Vileplume- purple psychic (poison, Oddish and Gloom were made but are out of rotation)
Venomoth line-purple psychic (poison)
Victreebel- purple psychic (poison)
M. Pinsir- white colorless (flying, of course we don't have this mega at all yet)
Gyarados- white colorless (flying)
M. Gyarados-(of course we don't have this mega at all yet, water is more likely that dark imo.)
M. Aerodactyl- (no way to know which form this will come in actually. We got a colorless Aerodactyl ex but never a fighting one)
Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres- white colorless (flying)
M. Mewtwo X- (likely will be fighting type, which means we'd need psychic)
Ledian line- white colorless (flying)
Ariados line- purple psychic (poison)
Cleffa and Igglybuff- pink fairy (could happen but babies have been non existent since HGSS)
Xatu line- white colorless (flying)
M. Ampharos- electric
Jumpluff line- white colorless (flying)
Steelix- brown fighting (rock)
M. Steelix- (mega not out at all yet, I think will be steel though)
Qwilfish- purple psychic (poison)
M. Heracross- brown fighting
Sneasel- blue water (ice, oddly Weavile did get one of these, it is out of rotation though)
Corsola- brown fighting (rock)
Mantine- white colorless (flying, includes Mantyke but we've only had one of these in DP, no babies since HGSS anyway)
Skarmory- white colorless (flying in Roaring Skies)
M. Houndoom- (mega not even out at all yet, I suspect will be dark though)
Tyranitar- brown fighting (rock, only one of these was in TR called Dark Tyranitar, long out of rotation also personally would prefer a general over a dark classification)
M. Tyranitar brown fighting (rock, dark is in Ancient Origins)
M. Sceptile (mega not even out at all yet, it's anyones guess on whether it will be grass or dragon)
M. Blaziken (mega not even out at all yet, it's anyones guess on whether it will be fire or fighting. At least fire type confirmed.)
M. Swampert (mega not even out at all yet, it's anyones guess on whether it will be water or fighting. At least water type confirmed.)
Beautifly- white colorless (flying)
Gardevoir line- pink fairy (In Ancient Origins)
Masquerain- white colorless (flying)
Nincada- brown fighting (ground)
Ninjask- white colorless (flying)
M. Sableye (mega not even out yet, it's anyones guess on whether it will be psychic or dark)
Azurill- pink fairy (unknown if this will happen, no babies since HGSS)
Mawile- pink fairy (will likely happen, mentioned for completeness)
M. Mawile (mega not even out yet, it's anyones guess on whether it will be steel or fairy)
Aggron line- brown fighting (rock, there is a line in Aqua/Magma as steffenka reminded me, thanks for that :) but I would like a general line instead of a trainer line not to mention that this Aggron was fighting/dark which is as unofficial a typing as Delta Species pokemon. There is another Magma Aggron line expected in Double Crisis.)
M. Medicham- (mega not even out yet, it's anyones guess on whether it will be psychic or fighting)
Camerupt line- brown fighting (ground)
M. Altaria- (mega not even out yet, it's anyones guess on whether it will be fairy or dragon)
Cradily line- brown fighting (rock)
Armaldo line- green grass (bug)
Tropius- white colorless (flying)
M. Latias (not out yet, dragon seems likely)
M Latios- purple psychic
Primal Groudon- red fire
M. Rayquaza- (both types surprisingly in Roaring Skies.)
Bastiodon line- brown fighting (rock)
Wormadon Rock/Steel- green grass (bug)
Mothim- white colorless (flying)
Vespequin line- white colorless (flying)
Gastrodon West- blue water
Gastrodon East- brown fighting (ground)
Drifblim line- white colorless (flying)
M. Lopunny (mega not even out yet, it's previous forms are colorless but this one is fighting as well, so who knows)
Skuntank line- purple psychic (poison, there was a Skuntank only as steffenka reminded me, and thanks again for that :) though I would prefer a general type as well as the fact that there is no Stunky as this was an SP pokemon.)
Mime Jr- pink fairy (no baby Pokemon since HGSS, so who knows if this will happen)
Garchomp line- brown fighting (ground)
M. Garchomp (mega not even out yet, I suspect will most likely be dragon)
M. Lucario- silver steel
Yanmega line- white colorless (flying)
Gliscor line- white colorless (flying)
Frosslass- purple psychic (ghost)
Rotom- purple psychic (ghost)
Heat Rotom- red fire
Wash Rotom- blue water
Frost Rotom- blue water (ice)
Fan Rotom- white colorless (flying)
Mow Rotom- green grass
Giratina altered form- gold dragon
Shaymin Sky form/Skymin ;) - white colorless (flying will be an EX in Roaring Skies, no regular one though)
Arceus- gold dragon and pink fairy (personally I think this will happen eventually)
Pignite/Emboar- brown fighting
Swoobat line- white colorless (flying)
M. Audino (mega not out yet, previously colorless but as a mega can be fairy, not sure what it will be)
Papitoad/Seismitoad- brown fighting (ground)
Scolipede line- grass green (bug)
Whimsicott line- pink fairy (In Ancient Origins)
Darmanitan Zen mode- red fire
Scrafty line- brown fighting
Siglilype- white colorless (flying)
Carracosta line- brown fighting (rock)
Archeops line- white colorless (flying)
Swanna line- white colorless (flying)
Sawsbuck line- white colorless (normal, also missing Fall and Winter season forms)
Emolga- white colorless (flying)
Escavalier- green grass (bug)
Amoongus line- purple psychic (poison)
Jellicent line- purple psychic (ghost)
Galvantula line- grass green (bug)
Ferrothorn line- grass green
Mandibuzz line- white colorless (flying)
Volcarona line- green grass (bug)
Cobalion- brown fighting
Virizion- brown fighting
Thundurus, both forms- white colorless (flying)
Black Kyurem- blue water (ice)
White Kyurem- blue water (ice)
Keldeo, both forms- brown fighting
Genesect- silver steel
Chestnaught- brown fighting
Delphox- purple psychic
Flechinder/Talonflame- white colorless (flying)
Vivillon- white colorless (flying, also missing multiple patterns that we'll likely never get)
Pyroar line- white colorless (normal)
Aegislash line- purple psychic (ghost, including blade and shield form)
Malamar line- purple psychic
Barbacle line- blue water
Skrelp- blue water
Dragalge- purple psychic (poison)
Heliolisk line- white colorless (normal)
Tyrantrum line- gold dragon (I think this will happen in time, EX promo to be released)
Aurorous line- brown fighting (rock)
Hawlucha- white colorless (flying)
Carbink- brown fighting (rock)
Trevnant line- green grass (granted we have Trevnant EX in Primal Clash, but no Phantump)
Pumpkaboo line- green grass
Noibat- gold dragon
Noivern- white colorless (flying)
Yveltal- white colorless (flying)
Diancie/M. Diancie- brown fighting (rock)
Zygarde (not in at all, mentioned because this annoys me and because it will only likley be dragon despite also being ground)
 
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I would love for some of those to be true, i love fighting support. But to be realistic mostly gen 3 mons will have new cards and maybe new type so lets get our hopes up for armaldo,camerupt and the rest.
 
Truth be told most of the Pokemon that have colorless subtypes are unlikely to be made, while those with dragon and fairy subtypes will most likely find themselves made at some point. The rest are highly debateable but in most cases probably never will be.
 
How about a psychic Froslass card? I feel like Froslass gets very little attention. Plus it'd be fun and cool to pull.
 
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