I was going to make a long-ish post detailing my logic as to why I don't think this new game is gen 5, but after you mentioned the blog, I'll hold off on that for now.

Two days ago a friend and I had a long discussion as to whether or not we thought it could be gen 5, and I eventually came to the standpoint that it wasn't, but... we'll see. There's a lot of conflicting "evidence" so to speak.

There are going to be a lot of unhappy people if this isn't gen 5. The way Masuda worded it in his blog didn't leave much room to the imagination, but every other logical argument pointed to a 2012-13 release on the next handheld. The mere fact that it's a Gamefreak RPG ought to weigh heavily in the balance, though.

Part 18: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln33YHlX_vY&fmt=18

Edit: Part 19 now up as well!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Xk4WdOx1R0&fmt=18

Edit 2: Let's play Fake Or Real! With every generation, there are all kinds of pictures that may be fake that pop up. Here's the first, before there's any announcement, even:

A little too expected and a little too serious (the farfetch'd at least) to entertain the idea of being legit.

That said, I'm going to be slightly less eager to call bullshit this time around, as I did so for the sprites of Leafeon, Glaceon, Porygon-Z, Magnezone and maybe some others, and I was wrong on all counts. In my defense, the sprites were presented in a collage of photos in varying degrees of horrible quality, like most fakes, so... c'mon, how could I not pass them off as fake?

I note with mild interest that the guy you told DRINK MY TASTY LIQUID OOZE to then remarked on your bond with Kirlia, the evolution of which BY FAR (well as far as I know; I wouldn't dare investigate it further than what I've seen against my own will) the most commonly Rule 34'd poke.

Turns out it's fake. There's a bit of the bottom of the page missing, and it's the mandatory copyright stuff, except it says Pokomon, Nintondo, Greatures and Gamefleak. Boo, I say!

Sadface, I was all excited for useful evolutions...

They can still have evolved forms, and you'd be a fool not to expect at least a couple evolutions to older, shittier pokes. Just... if we do get Farfetch'd and Delibird evos, it won't be those. =P

Besides, if I were designing a sprite for Delibird I'd go less wingspan and more girth. I'd also have HP be one of its higher base stats, if not its highest.

NONONONONO. Didn't Articuno teach us anything? An Ice/Flying Pokémon should do anything BUT defend.

Numerous pokes have great offense on top of high HP. I didn't mean make it into a red Articuno, just a portly bird with similarly portly HP. I'd personally also give it SpAtt of no less than 120.

Also, with Scizor and Stealth Rock around, any ice type is already going to be gimped regardless of what they do to its stats. I'll take what I can get so long as it's an improvement. I've learned not to judge based on how something looks as a potential contender for OU.

Yeah, it's not like Roserade and Tentacruel looked that good on paper. And I take it you'd give it a stat spread more or less similar to that of Honchkrow? High HP and offense, less in the others? Personally I would've liked more speed instead of more HP in Honchkrow's case. Especially since Murkrow's faster...

Personally, I'd give a Delibird evo this:

85 HP, 95 Atk, 70 Def, 115 SA, 70 SD, 105 Spd

So it could be effective on both ends of the spectrum... let's not forget about Hustle. Aerial Ace would really hurt coming from that thing. Of course, Air Slash would be a must.

If I had done Honchkrow I'd have favored one offense over the other, so the speed wouldn't have to suffer so much.

I'd probably do the same for Delibird, though given how freaking good the Ice type is, it'd probably get away with 115...

Yeah, but when it comes to Delibird it'd be a difficult choice because of Hustle. Togekiss can be nice for the WTF factor, but I'd like something to actually hurt stuff with Hustle Aerial Ace.

Part 20: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThpIIrK4_cI&fmt=18

Well, you can always have one of those Rhydon-Rhyperior things where an ability is dumped and replaced by something arguably better.

Honestly, I'd even take Snow Cloak over Hustle. Something new and cool would be even better, and with enough time I could think of some creative and useful stuff. I'd focus more on stuff dealing with the present(as in gift) theme, such as a 10 or 20% offense boost on that turn if they're attacked first, or allowing it to use its attack right before fainting if it's KOed under a special circumstance, like 1HP or with 50% or more remaining. I'd call these abilities Punish and Last Breath respectively.

The kneejerk reaction to the latter would probably be that it's cheap, but it's no different than the way Destiny Bond screws over Sucker Punch users, the exception being the guy on the receiving end isn't guaranteed to die.

Good point, but I'd rather have existing stuff made usable as well.

Part 21: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COQTq5bjSNg&fmt=18

And as a bonus, guess who graduated top of his class at friendship?

http://i48.tinypic.com/30ua5oo.png

Certainly not this guy!

Hhahahahhahahahahah! Is that one of the guys you called out as an idiot for playing FIRSTS or something?

I don't think so.

Anyway, anyone seen the monthly stats for January? What in holy hell happened with Uxie? It's just one rank below Cresselia now!

Edit: A new era begins!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r94XbKjX0FY&fmt=18

So, there's the announcement. I'm looking forward to it, after the general success of Generation IV. The 21st should be a good day for Pokemon fans.

Actually it'll be the 20th, because of the 14-hour difference between here and Japan.

And here come the Auraholics. Jesus Christ, IT CAN'T BE A LUCARIO EVO. GET OVER IT.

It doesn't even look to me like it could possibly come from a Lucario in the first place.

Having said that, this thing definitely looks like an evolved form of something, and I would COMPARE it to Lucario in this context-

Usually when we get these glimpses of new pokes they fall under one of four categories:

-Token shitty infant and/or cutie, such as Pachirisu, Munchlax, etc
-Expected evolution of poke that's been around, such as Weavile
-Evolved form of poke that they think is exciting enough to actually star in something, which won't be your bread and butter ground, bug or water type
-Legend and/or uber, however the latter lately have been more of a pairs thing and I find this unlikely as they won't be revealed without their counterparts. The Soul Dew twins, the weather and dimension guys, etc.

So, yeah. I think this is a new guy, evolved from a new guy, that isn't a run-of-the-mill monster. It'll have an odd type combination and/or features that can drive a plot. That said I've never seen even one movie and so I dunno if Lucario had such a dominant role, but I kinda figured he did since he was touted around a lot in the beginning.

Edit: I was spot on with the Rotom appliances if you recall, even getting some of the forms correct, but I'm not confident enough to peg this one. Actually, I'm confident enough to call it a fighting type, based solely on the fact that the body is obviously very hairy with part of it in a ponytail. The shape of the legs also leads me to believe this.

Legend and/or uber, however the latter lately have been more of a pairs thing and I find this unlikely as they won't be revealed without their counterparts. The Soul Dew twins, the weather and dimension guys, etc.

As I said, what about Manaphy? It had its own movie BEFORE the DPP uber trio and event Pokémon.

And for kicks, let's see what a Ghost/Fighting would do:

Immune to Normal and Fighting, resists Poison and Rock, 4x resists Bug, weak to Flying, Psychic and Ghost. Not too bad.

Well, I did say latter, and to me, Manaphy meets the criteria of legend and not uber (I also would never refer to Wobbuffet as uber in the previous context, or Garchomp.)

Also they've had a trend spanning four games now of making these movie-centric pokes that fulfill the same role in the pokedex small and cute. Mew, Celebi, Jirachi, Manaphy; all designed with some sort of emphasis on looking nonthreatening.

Needless to say the silhouette doesn't fit that description.