Regarding Generation VII

It's that time again. A new generation is upon us... and I have a bunch of work to do around here Game Freak whyyyyyy ;-;

There will be some spoilery information addressed below. The games are out in a good chunk of the world as I post this update, but if you're still in an area that hasn't had its release yet, or if you're going into the games unspoiled, be forewarned that I talk about a lot of new stuff here!

First off, a quick apology for the lack of updates around here. I've been busy with other projects and had a lot on my mind, and thus new fakemon art and other miscellaneous Phoenixdex things have fallen by the wayside. (That and, well, with Sun and Moon on the horizon, I figured it would be a good idea to wait until everything was revealed before taking the time to come up with anything new!) Activity's not going to pick up immediately, either, as I'm currently in the middle of NaNoWriMo, but hopefully things will get back on track again soon. I have made a few other small tweaks and do have one fakemon that's almost finished, although they won't be announced in this update; I'm hoping to have a few other things ready to go along with them (namely, at least a head start on some of the stuff below).

With that out of the way, there's the matter of the elephant in the room. Let me preempt some likely questions with some answers, in the hopes that I can avoid the inevitable flood of "hey Phoenix, did you know about X new thing in Sun and Moon?" emails:

Hey Phoenix, did you know about X new thing in Sun and Moon?

Yes. I know about all of the new things in Sun and Moon. I follow the major Pokémon news sites just like everyone else, and yes, I've even been following some of the leaks and datamined information. I know what all the new Pokémon/Ultra Beasts/Alolan forms are, I know where to find lists of all of the moves and abilities, I know some older Pokémon have had their stats changed, I know that HMs have been removed, etc., etc.. I appreciate your willingness to help, but I'm well aware of all this stuff and don't really need you to tell me, thanks!

Are you going to add any canon Gen VII Pokémon to the Phoenixdex?

Probably. Eventually. I can say that I'm 99% sure Drampa will be added to Faelan, and there are a few (but only a few) others that I'm considering adding there, or maybe subbing in over some existing ones. I will not be adding any Gen VII Pokémon to New Logora's pokédex as it stands, although considering I've wanted to revamp that region for a while I will probably add some at that time. Accolanto and Calivera are never going to include any canon Pokémon from any generation. As for future regions, it's certainly possible. It all depends on whether there are any that fit what I'm trying to do. I'm not thinking that far ahead right now.

As for evolutions/forms/megas for Gen VII Pokémon: It's always a possibility, but I'd need to have an idea that interested me first. I do not currently have any such ideas and am in no hurry to force any out just for the sake of "having Gen VII things". They'll happen if and when they happen.

Are you going to add Alolan forms or create your own regional variants?

I will not be adding any existing Alolan forms to any of my regions, because they're Alolan forms and none of my regions are Alola. (I may do an Alolan Mega Ninetales and add it to Extra Fakemon just for fun, though.) I won't rule out creating my own regional variants of other canon Pokémon, or even of my own fakemon, but I have no specific plans at this time.

What about Ultra Beasts?

While I do know what all of the Ultra Beasts are and know their stats, types, etc., I actually haven't spoiled myself on their in-story information and so don't know much about them at this time. All I really wanted to know when I went digging a while back was whether or not they counted as actual Pokémon, and as I've found that information I'm done reading spoilers for now. As such, I can't say whether I will be including or creating any of these until I've finished the game and really know what their deal is. My gut feeling is that I probably won't bother, though. Maybe a few fake Ultra Beasts for fun, maybe, eventually, but I suspect that would be the extent of it, if anything at all.

(Please do not contact me to tell me what the Ultra Beasts' full role in the story is or anything like that. I'm going to play the game and find out for myself. If I change my mind and do want to know the answer ahead of time, I'm perfectly capable of finding the information on my own, thanks.)

EDIT: Having progressed far enough into the story to understand more about them, I can say that no, I will not be including any canon Ultra Beasts in any of my projects, and any fake ones will probably be extras just for fun.

Are you going to add all the new moves and abilities?

Yes, and I will be going through all of my existing fakemon to determine whether any should have new Gen VII moves/abilities added or subbed in. It's going to be a while before this is done, though!

And Z-Moves?

Yes, eventually. It'll take time. I need to figure out how I want to handle displaying them on the site and how much detail I want to go into. And before you ask, I don't know whether I'm going to add any fake Z-Moves of my own. There's no real need to add any generic Z-Moves since there's already one for every type and they can be either physical or special as needed, so it would mostly be signature Z-Moves like Pikachu's Catastropika. I'll need solid ideas for those before I worry about committing to them, so don't hold your breath; as with everything else, they'll happen if and when they happen.

EDIT: Again, having played more of the game for myself now, I'm actually going to change this answer to a maybe rather than a solid "yes". Z-Moves may be enough of an Alola-specific thing (although I'm sure they'll appear in whatever the next game/set of games in Gen VII will be) that it may not actually make a ton of sense for them to be prominent anywhere else. I won't rule the idea out completely—after all, I did include mega evolutions, and mega evolutions have continued to appear even if they're being deemphasized outside of Kalos—but I'll need to think about it some more. Either way, due to the logistical issues mentioned above, this will take a while and is not a high priority.

Are you going to update the TM list and/or remove the HMs?

No. It's too much work for too little gain, and anyway the primary in-world reason for the removal of HMs is because Alola has Poké Ride Pokémon to take their place. My regions don't have a Poké Ride service, so HMs still serve a purpose there.

That said, I will be taking the three TMs that teach Gen VII moves and the other "new" TMs (e.g., like Leech Life) and turning them into tutorable moves instead, so Phoenixdex Pokémon will still be able to learn them.

This thing you made has the same name/effect/concept/etc. as a new thing introduced in Sun and Moon!

I'm aware, and I will be adjusting names/effects/concepts/etc. accordingly to remove the clash. (Except for Onzarudo and Belmarine being similar in concept to Incineroar and Araquanid. Those stay as-is. Bite me, Game Freak.)

I think that covers most of the major questions and potential upcoming changes around here. If you do have a question that's not addressed by the above, feel free to contact me and ask. I'll keep making small adjustments when I have the time, and then when NaNo is done and things have settled down I can make the more extensive changes and get back to adding new stuff.

Enjoy your new journey into Alola!