(Little) Things that annoy you in Pokémon

I have no problem with the legends not having better AI intuitively than other wild Pokemon, they’re basically (with a few notable exceptions) wild beasts just lashing out. I don’t mind the current situation, I’d like to see them perhaps alter their level up movesets a bit more to correspond with a difficult fight at the level they appear in the wild, though this has been much less of an issue recently than in the past. I’d also prefer not to have the current generation legendaries or mythicals in a raid format (or as few as possible) due to a 100% capture rate and the ease of online play - and the ease of finding an ideal strategy. (Its fine to put older Legends etc. in these type of battles imo but the new current Gen should be finding more *normal* ways to encounter and battle them) That said I didn’t mind having WW/IL through the raids as it makes perfect sense canonically
 
I don't like raids as a boss concept, primarily because I really like using passive damage in my playthroughs. At least when chucking balls there's a clear reason to use another major status and something like poison is allowed but awkward. The raid boss style, since it's fundamentally one health bar, ends up needing to have clunky methods to prevent all the cool tricks I could have access to but are balanced around a boss trainer with multiple mons.

There's a part of me that blames the lack of Toxic or another universal equivalent on the changes to ingame boss designs as much as, if not more than, on competitive considerations.
 
This has probably been asked a billion times before, but was there really any reason for Mega Evolution to be removed from the series?
  • Without it, there is absolutely no reason to have shitmons like Sableye and Mawile in the games, which is even further emphasized by the fact Butterfree got a GMax form in SW/SH and Beedrill got banished to the Distortion World (AND STILL HASN'T RETURNED).
  • The meta wasn't as f_cked as people say it was, if you saw someone running, say, a Beedrill and a Charizard, there is an approximately guaranteed chance the Beedrill is going to Mega instead of the Charizard due to the fact that normal Beedrill is unfathomably bad compared to normal Charizard, hence you could plan around it.
  • I just really want Mega Beedrill back.
 
This has probably been asked a billion times before, but was there really any reason for Mega Evolution to be removed from the series?
Actually, you're asking the wrong question.

Was there any reason for Mega Evolution *to stay* in the series?

From what we know, mega evolution wasn't even going to be included early in SM, it was only added later as post-game only thing.

Considering all "regional gimmicks" are, well, strictly tied to a region, it was likely already the plan to not go forward carrying them over, just due to the popularity they opted to keep them in. Which in hindsight was a terrible idea, because it created the expectation that mechanics would carry over, and when they and Z-moves didn't show up in gen 8 games, people felt betrayed by a promise that was never made in first place.
(Ironically, same as movesets "not carrying over", despite movesets haven't actually been carried over for 4 generations now but artifically been carried over by transfers)

Without it, there is absolutely no reason to have shitmons like Sableye and Mawile in the games, which is even further emphasized by the fact Butterfree got a GMax form in SW/SH and Beedrill got banished to the Distortion World (AND STILL HASN'T RETURNED).
This is irrelevant, because you're just replacing a mon with another mon. Besides, it didn't *really* help that many mons anyway, because due to the opportunity cost of using a megastone, ultimately only the top X megas saw play, everything else still got abandoned. Shotout to CHALK definitely making any mega not called Charizard, Metagross or Kangaskhan see play.

The meta wasn't as f_cked as people say it was, if you saw someone running, say, a Beedrill and a Charizard, there is an approximately guaranteed chance the Beedrill is going to Mega instead of the Charizard due to the fact that normal Beedrill is unfathomably bad compared to normal Charizard, hence you could plan around it.
Same as above, people consider the mega as it's "i'm playing the shit pokemon", but no, you're not playing "charizard", you're not playing "sableye". You're playing Mega Sableye. They're not different from alternate forms at all, expecially as except extremely fringe cases to swap in a immunity before changing type or keeping the baseline ability for the free turn you get by swapping in, you'd always mega evolve istantly as soon as the pokemon hit the field, so you shouldn't illude yourself that "Beedrill saw play", because it didn't, Mega Beedrill saw play, Beedrill was still as useless as it always was.

I just really want Mega Beedrill back.
This i can respect, but hey, you can always hope to see them again whenever gen 6 remakes happen. In like 50 years.
 
It's really a simple matter of Game Freak never really committing to consistency and wanting to constantly try out ideas they think would be interesting each generation without expanding on them long term, and in general it's a matter of them having a current philosophy of constantly creating new super mechanics each and every generation that get rotated in and out every time. As much as I love Megas in this case it boils down to their philosophy with super mechanics in battle.

Ever since Gen 7 they've introduced a new super mechanic that gets immediately thrown out the next generation, Z-Moves, Dynamax, and Terastal all falling into that category, each one having only been in its debut region (Alola, Galar, and Paldea respectively) and deeply entrenched in said region's lore. Megas were rotated out of Gen 8 and Gen 9 simply because they would likely compete with Dynamax and Terastal which they wanted to give central attention, if not overshadow them outright as in-battle power-ups, and they wanted to try out those new super mechanics for competitive attention to keep the VGC scene "interesting" while preventing super mechanic bloat by having multiple super mechanics usable in a single game which would be more of the actual issue. The concept of using say, *both* Megas and Terastallization in a single match for instance is probably something they feel is a bit of a concern for the competitive scene but in general as far as attention to super mechanics go, they would be competing for general attention among fans as well.

While it sucks that Megas are gone and I still miss them, I also kind of think of it as an extension of Dexit as well which as we all know is clearly the new norm going forward. Mega Evolutions themselves are indeed basically honorary new Pokemon in their own right and as we know now, it's now the norm in these games that not every Pokemon will be usable in every game, and that's the permanent way things will be from here on out. Even Legends: Arceus, which is a strictly single player experience, completely excluded many regional forms as well as the original forms of the regional forms it introduced itself. It's clear that many Pokemon will be rendered unusable in certain games from here on and Megas being gone are a part of that really.
 
I will point out that out of all of the generational gimmicks, Megas are referenced or brought back more often. Both Pokemon GO and Pokemon Masters have Mega Evolution even after they weren't brought back in Sw/Sh. Moveset changes that were made with Megas in mind are still present, with Loaded Dice letting Heracross gain back its Mega in a way. The fact that Roaring Moon is explicitly based on Mega Salamence and smaller stuff like G-Max Shiny Gengar keeping Mega Gengar's coloration tells me Mega Evolution still holds sway to this day, more so than Z-moves and Dynamaxing. Beside Clangorous Soul, I can't think of any new moves inspired by Z-moves, and unless DLC changes it, no G-Max forms are referenced with Paradox Pokemon.
 
I will point out that out of all of the generational gimmicks, Megas are referenced or brought back more often. Both Pokemon GO and Pokemon Masters have Mega Evolution even after they weren't brought back in Sw/Sh. Moveset changes that were made with Megas in mind are still present, with Loaded Dice letting Heracross gain back its Mega in a way. The fact that Roaring Moon is explicitly based on Mega Salamence and smaller stuff like G-Max Shiny Gengar keeping Mega Gengar's coloration tells me Mega Evolution still holds sway to this day, more so than Z-moves and Dynamaxing. Beside Clangorous Soul, I can't think of any new moves inspired by Z-moves, and unless DLC changes it, no G-Max forms are referenced with Paradox Pokemon.
You're not fully wrong, but I think that's more because Megas are an easy thing to reference in spinoffs. They're just a super mode and unlike Gigantamax it doesn't have to deal with extra logistics like "big". I imagine Masters is the only spinoff to get G-Maxing (it also has z-moves and i think just regular dynamaxing) because we dont get normal spinoffs anymore of that. Probably won't see a new (or old) PMD bring it in, you know?

Z-Moves beyond Kommo-o weren't referenced directly....but also Dynamax moves (& to an extent, G-Max moves) are basically also still Z Moves anyway. The damage modifier isn't as deep but they're still a salvo of nukes but also they do extra things like the z-move variants of status moves would do or what the super z-moves would do.
Terablast also kind of has shades of Z-Move in them, personally.

Meanwhile movesets changed to account for them are retained, but most moves once added are retained; honestly for all the huff about cuts those are usually (not always, but usually) do to shuffling of TMs/TRs/Tutors and most movesets in general remain fairly static even between multiple generations.


This isn't to say Megas aren't on their mind, but the context and age of them does kind of make some of it a smidge meaningless in the grand scheme.
 
One thing I want to add to the "Megas still come up in spin-offs" topic is the fact that in Go, the Mega system seems to be encompassing a lot of "Super Mechanics" that give Pokemon "Battle Forms"; besides the Megas themselves, the system is used for the Primals which are aesthetically similar but function differently in game, including being usable alongside said Megas in MSG while mutually exclusive in Go (where you get one "super" for 8 hours at a time, and Mega-ing something else will cancel the first one early and put it on cooldown).

This is pending how far Go manages to get with things (given its recent controversies may slow down production even if the game ain't dying for it because Pokemon Money), but the big test for me it seeing something like Gignatamax (which might just be alt Megas for things like Machamp to add more diversity to the "Super" options), which they will probably use a similar "get energy -> Go Super -> Get Benefit time -> Go on Cooldown" approach, especially since Dyna/Gigantamax is already built on that idea in lore. This also putting aside that several other "Super Form" Pokemon have yet to be addressed despite being well into Gen 7 Content now (Zygarde and Necrozma, much less their alt/super forms like 10% or DM/DW, are absent, alongside ? for things like Ash-Greninja or Kyurem-B/W and the long-off matter of Rider Calyrex).

I know the franchise doesn't want to drop these considering the fused Necrozmas returned for Gen 8 when those were tied to Ultra Burst alongside Necrozium-Z (Dawn and Dusk obviously have stat differences over the originals but I doubt GF considers them so different that they wouldn't tell DM teams to use Solgaleo instead), and Go's nature means once mechanics are implemented they can't be phased out like the main series does from entry to entry; even things like moveset changes via Legacy moves (most famously Mewtwo's Shadow Ball and several Legendaries only get Signatures on newer raids rather than old ones having them) have ways to keep them accessible via the rare Elite TM items rather than completely denying access.
 
On the topic of Zygarde, considering the removal of Ash-Greninja, do you guys think GF might do the same to Zygarde-Complete?
 
On the topic of Zygarde, considering the removal of Ash-Greninja, do you guys think GF might do the same to Zygarde-Complete?
Doubt it, roundabout way of being introduced aside, Zygarde-Complete feels much more purposefully Zygarde-associated rather than anime associated, if that makes sense. Being just plainly available, rather than tied to a specific event or requiring a specific extra mechanic, probably helps

Honestly who knows why Ash-Greninja got the boot, even the anime was weird about this with the final flashback retconning it away but then the next op had what I believe was new animation with it.
 
On the topic of Zygarde, considering the removal of Ash-Greninja, do you guys think GF might do the same to Zygarde-Complete?
To add to what R_N said, there's a significant difference between Ash Greninja and Zygarde.

Zygarde Complete isn't a different pokemon. It's a regular pokemon with a transformation, and it has two regular abilities (that require a item to swap).

Ash Greninja however is a completely separate entity from Greninja, mainly created as reference to the megas, and if it ever returned people would basically go "why this and not megas".
It's also a logistical annoyance since it can't be bred and the only legitimate way to obtain it is to transfer the old event one from gen 7, whereas Zygarde complete has been available in 3 games now, and doesn't require much thought to re-add other than just having the key item be buyable from the auctioneer like all the other ones.

In fact I'm surprised they even bothered coding it into SV. They probably figured that it'd be weird if you could transfer regular greninja but Ash-greninja was forever stuck in Home prison.
 
To add to what R_N said, there's a significant difference between Ash Greninja and Zygarde.

Zygarde Complete isn't a different pokemon. It's a regular pokemon with a transformation, and it has two regular abilities (that require a item to swap).

Ash Greninja however is a completely separate entity from Greninja, mainly created as reference to the megas, and if it ever returned people would basically go "why this and not megas".
It's also a logistical annoyance since it can't be bred and the only legitimate way to obtain it is to transfer the old event one from gen 7, whereas Zygarde complete has been available in 3 games now, and doesn't require much thought to re-add other than just having the key item be buyable from the auctioneer like all the other ones.

In fact I'm surprised they even bothered coding it into SV. They probably figured that it'd be weird if you could transfer regular greninja but Ash-greninja was forever stuck in Home prison.
My counter argument to Ash-Greninja is that it's only a reference to the Megas insofar as being a way to give Ash a Mega without actually giving him one in his Kalos team (it's the same Stat buff but mechanically it's more dissimilar than the Primals which share a dictated item slot and unconditional activation). The question already comes up by virtue of keeping Battle Bond but not the actual transformation it derives from, when GF has no qualms about keeping in-battle form Changers both old (Cherrim, Darmanitan, Aegislash) and new (Cramorant, Palafin) as a concept going.

And if we want to talk about logistical annoyances, that's just their own fault for not including a way to obtain Battle Bond Greninja since that old Demo event rather than include something like a training site, a gift Greninja, or simply adding it as an alternate Ability Slot on Greninja (the alternate Form thing seems mostly a holdover from trying to keep it event exclusive in Gen 7 from "normal" ones). It's cyclical to say "they can't bring back Ash-Greninja because they never make Battle Bond Greninja available again" if the availability nightmare is a reason for its absence in turn.

Frankly, if you ask me, the nonsense with Dusk form Lycanroc is even stupider now that Rockruff can simply have it as a mundane encounter, and the ability really doesn't make any sense to me (having not read Pokedex entries) as to how it even relates to the special evolution (also given to Ash for a unique specimen in one season). At least Battle Bond is a unique ability whose name relates to what it does (i.e. battling in sync triggers the super mode). Heck, the Own Tempo form has an oversight with not displaying its Pokedex number in SV, something that doesn't happen for any other "Shared Dex" form like Vivillon, which I'm confused at the ability to miss since it has to be coded separately short of forgetting it's a form and not just "Rockruff with one of its abilities" (as it probably should be coded anyway)
 
Also kidn of funny to list mega-adjacent as a reason against having it when this generation we have Roaring "Mega Salamence" Moon and Iron "Mega Gardevoir and Gallade" Valiant

Frankly, if you ask me, the nonsense with Dusk form Lycanroc is even stupider now that Rockruff can simply have it as a mundane encounter, and the ability really doesn't make any sense to me (having not read Pokedex entries) as to how it even relates to the special evolution (also given to Ash for a unique specimen in one season). At least Battle Bond is a unique ability whose name relates to what it does (i.e. battling in sync triggers the super mode). Heck, the Own Tempo form has an oversight with not displaying its Pokedex number in SV, something that doesn't happen for any other "Shared Dex" form like Vivillon, which I'm confused at the ability to miss since it has to be coded separately short of forgetting it's a form and not just "Rockruff with one of its abilities" (as it probably should be coded anyway)
Own Tempo is definitely more meant as a, like, joke I guess. Rather than go one way or the other, [Ash's] Rockruff went at its own pace aka Own Tempo and landed on Dusk Lycanroc.

Incidentally it can't be coded as Rockruff with one of its abilities because Rockruff already had 3 to begin with and the games aren't currently set to allow 4. Own Tempo was their "solution", presumably so Ash's rockruff didn't need anything special like an item or w/e, and obviously they need to explain why Rockruff can do it in USUM but not SM (ignore that from SWSH-on Rockruff doesnt evolve by version anyway).
 
Well Roaring Moon and Iron Valiant are more made in the images of Mega Salamence and Mega Gardevoir+Gallade, not actually being them themselves. And if we wanna go there they did go out of their way to have a painting in Nemona's house that references the Bond Phenomenon Greninja form's appearance even if they rendered the form unusable in-game.

I feel Game Freak tends to think about lore aspects more than actual mechanical technicalities a lot of the time in this regard. Battle Bond may be mechanically dissimilar to traditional Megas in terms of how it activates but lore wise it acts on the same principles (bond between Trainer and Pokemon) and is functionally an 100-ish stat increase, lore wise it was always rooted in the principle of bonds, and requiring a Trainer and Pokemon to be in sync to work, whereas other gimmicky/novelty mons like Palafin, Darmanitan, Cherrim, Aegislash, etc. are considered more intentionally gimmick/novelty mons by design with their in-battle transformations representing their in-universe behavior in the wild while making them eccentric in-battle in-game.

Them never making it obtainable past the one demo event in Gen 7 is probably because it was always a completely anime-original entity that was designed explicitly for the anime, and Ash's Greninja was eventually written out of the show in such a way that Ash was never going to be using it again for really anything outside of the one-time Journeys appearance it had where it was interacting with Lucario, not returning to Ash for use in battle. Canonically in the anime universe it was also a once-in-a-generation occurrence and something only Ash's Greninja had, no other Greninja that existed at the time had such a power. It is also implied Ash was one of the only few who could actually activate it. This is different from the likes of Own Tempo Rockruff where it's likely multiple Rockruff capable of becoming Duskanroc do exist in-universe but are just less common than the usual Rockruff that become Midday/Midnight Lycanroc, which is why they still show up in Raids in SwSh and rare wild encounters in SV.
 
bond between Trainer and Pokemon

This is another thing that makes me upset at the removal of Megas, how they went from 'a bond between trainer and pokémon strong enough to unlock their full potential, making them nearly unstoppable in battle' to 'oh yeah actually your dog is melting lmfao'. The mega dex entries in S/M/US/UM just feel like a really cheap way to give GF the justification to remove them, along with other reasons.
 
This is another thing that makes me upset at the removal of Megas, how they went from 'a bond between trainer and pokémon strong enough to unlock their full potential, making them nearly unstoppable in battle' to 'oh yeah actually your dog is melting lmfao'. The mega dex entries in S/M/US/UM just feel like a really cheap way to give GF the justification to remove them, along with other reasons.
Except that was also there before; that thing about Glalie breaking its Jaw was there in ORAS but only on the website.
Considering the anime also had them go crazy, it was definitely baked in from the start they were just bad about communicating it.
 
The way I have always seen it is that what SM describes is what happens when a Pokemon Mega Evolves in the wild or without the assistance of a bond between Trainer and Pokemon, and why Mega Evolution both cannot occur naturally in the wild and why even when a Pokemon Mega Evolves, it cannot stay in that form forever and will have to eventually revert back after a certain period of time.

The anime also showcased Korrina's Lucario going berserk and in the Volcanion movie the antagonists used a "Mega Wave" to force large numbers of Pokemon to Mega Evolve against their will and it clearly caused them immense pain in doing so.

Mega Evolution essentially requires a masterful bond between Pokemon and Trainer for it to fully work, and without such a bond a Trainer cannot control such a power, and the Pokemon will be unable to withstand the immense energy channeled through it if such energy is forced into it and suffer as a result. In a sense, it's an immense power that allows Pokemon capable of harnessing it to achieve their ultimate evolutionary form and the pinnacle of their power, but only if a Trainer and the Pokemon have such a strong bond and act in sync with one another can the Pokemon truly control the power it harnesses (whereas in the absence of said bond, the power would be controlling the Pokemon instead). Of course, even then, a Pokemon can only stay in its ultimate form and keep control over the power for so long at any given time, so in order to prevent fatigue it will eventually revert back to its original form to release the energy.

Some Pokedex entries themselves even further reinforce this idea: Mega Gyarados' dex entry in LGPE for instance notes that while it would usually be completely controlled by its destructive instinct when Mega Evolved, it can control its power and will without fail obey a Trainer it truly trusts, further reinforcing the idea of Mega Evolution requiring the power of a strong bond between Trainer and Pokemon to be completely effective for both.

Sun and Moon in general got into dark territory with its Pokedex entries, which it is well known for, even outside of the Megas' dex entries. Many of its Pokedex entries are sinister/insane and have darker implications. Some famous examples include Primeape's SM dex entries, which continue to highlight its perpetual rage and anger but go as far as to mention that some Primeape become so angry they die from their anger, and only truly look at peace when they're dead. Or how Froslass loves going after men who wander into the mountain and freezes them solid, making them into decorations at its home forever. Gengar's SM dex entries generally have a very threatening vibe to them as well. In general SM was just...crazy with its Pokedex entries, something that still stands out about it to this day.
 
The way I have always seen it is that what SM describes is what happens when a Pokemon Mega Evolves in the wild or without the assistance of a bond between Trainer and Pokemon, and why Mega Evolution both cannot occur naturally in the wild and why even when a Pokemon Mega Evolves, it cannot stay in that form forever and will have to eventually revert back after a certain period of time.

The anime also showcased Korrina's Lucario going berserk and in the Volcanion movie the antagonists used a "Mega Wave" to force large numbers of Pokemon to Mega Evolve against their will and it clearly caused them immense pain in doing so.

Mega Evolution essentially requires a masterful bond between Pokemon and Trainer for it to fully work, and without such a bond a Trainer cannot control such a power, and the Pokemon will be unable to withstand the immense energy channeled through it if such energy is forced into it and suffer as a result. In a sense, it's an immense power that allows Pokemon capable of harnessing it to achieve their ultimate evolutionary form and the pinnacle of their power, but only if a Trainer and the Pokemon have such a strong bond and act in sync with one another can the Pokemon truly control the power it harnesses (whereas in the absence of said bond, the power would be controlling the Pokemon instead). Of course, even then, a Pokemon can only stay in its ultimate form and keep control over the power for so long at any given time, so in order to prevent fatigue it will eventually revert back to its original form to release the energy.

Some Pokedex entries themselves even further reinforce this idea: Mega Gyarados' dex entry in LGPE for instance notes that while it would usually be completely controlled by its destructive instinct when Mega Evolved, it can control its power and will without fail obey a Trainer it truly trusts, further reinforcing the idea of Mega Evolution requiring the power of a strong bond between Trainer and Pokemon to be completely effective for both.

Sun and Moon in general got into dark territory with its Pokedex entries, which it is well known for, even outside of the Megas' dex entries. Many of its Pokedex entries are sinister/insane and have darker implications. Some famous examples include Primeape's SM dex entries, which continue to highlight its perpetual rage and anger but go as far as to mention that some Primeape become so angry they die from their anger, and only truly look at peace when they're dead. Or how Froslass loves going after men who wander into the mountain and freezes them solid, making them into decorations at its home forever. Gengar's SM dex entries generally have a very threatening vibe to them as well. In general SM was just...crazy with its Pokedex entries, something that still stands out about it to this day.
Another interesting note on Mega instability is in SMD. The game doesn't have bonded trainers by necessity, and uses Megas as a temporary state with even more power than usual but the player will lose control during the last turns of the effect. PMD DX doesn't follow through with this method, however.

I think that a similar idea can also be extended to Z-power/etc. in gen 7 as well. The totems are depicted as relatively cool-headed with yellow auras while the lost UBs are berserk with red auras, but the mechanical effect is the same. Most interesting is the Mother Beast fight in SM, since the enemy mons are using a UB-derived source for their power boost but have the yellow, more stable aura (even if they show angry faces). It then seems reasonable to suggest that most mons (UBs included) can't handle that energy on their own, and the ability to do so is what sets totem mons apart in addition to size.
 
Primeape become so angry they die from their anger, and only truly look at peace when they're dead
Man this didn't age well at all

1686145834094.png


though, i suppose, Annihilape is tecnically *un*dead and not dead.
 
Man this didn't age well at all

View attachment 523805

though, i suppose, Annihilape is tecnically *un*dead and not dead.
I love how most fanmade Primeape evolutions after S/M went with a more sage-like role for Primeape, having it be enlightened and calm, only for Annihilape to get even angrier. Ironically, Annihilape is less haphazardly angry and more focused in its rage, as seen with Anger Point being replaced with Inner Focus on evolution.
 
The way I have always seen it is that what SM describes is what happens when a Pokemon Mega Evolves in the wild or without the assistance of a bond between Trainer and Pokemon, and why Mega Evolution both cannot occur naturally in the wild and why even when a Pokemon Mega Evolves, it cannot stay in that form forever and will have to eventually revert back after a certain period of time.
My issue with this justification is that these entries aren't restricted to mental or emotional instability of the Mega Evolved Pokemon, they describe active Physical harm coming to them simply as a result of taking the form. I will share some below, excluding any that are touted as speculation such as Moon for Mega Aerodactyl. (Note that some species like Audino and Gardevoir lack Mega Evolution Dex entries, also the ones that involve the least drastic Physical morphing hm suspicious)

Gyarados
Ultra Sun: Mega Evolution places a burden on its body. The stress causes it to become all the more ferocious.

Heracross
Ultra Moon: A tremendous influx of energy builds it up, but when Mega Evolution ends, Heracross is bothered by terrible soreness in its muscles.

Houndoom
Ultra Sun: Its red claws and the tips of its tail are melting from high internal temperatures that are painful to Houndoom itself.

Tyranitar
Ultra Sun: Due to the colossal power poured into it, this Pokémon's back split right open. Its destructive instincts are the only thing keeping it moving.

Garchomp
Sun: Excess energy melted its arms and wings, transforming them into giant scythes.

Sableye
Ultra Sun: Bathed in the energy of Mega Evolution, the gemstone on its chest expands, rips through its skin, and falls out.

Sharpedo
Ultra Sun: The yellow patterns it bears are old scars. The energy from Mega Evolution runs through them, causing it sharp pain and suffering.

Glalie
Sun: The excess energy from Mega Evolution spilled over from its mouth, breaking its jaw. It spews endless blizzards.
Moon: It envelops prey in its mouth, freezing them instantly. But its jaw is dislocated, so it's unable to eat them.
Ultra Moon: The power of Mega Evolution was so strong that it smashed Glalie's jaw. Its inability to eat very well leaves Glalie irritated.

Salamence
Ultra Sun: The stress of its two proud wings becoming misshapen and stuck together because of strong energy makes it go on a rampage.
So Gen 7 is clearly running with this idea that regardless of controlling it, the act of Mega Evolution is supposed to be extremely stressful or painful to the Pokemon on a Physical level. Not to mention several entries reference the Mega Pokemon turning on its trainer, which doesn't inspire confidence these are exclusive to unbonded Pokemon

Gengar
Ultra Sun: It tries to take the lives of anyone and everyone. It will even try to curse the Trainer who is its master!

Banette
Ultra Sun: Extraordinary energy amplifies its cursing power to such an extent that it can't help but curse its own Trainer.

Salamence
Moon: Mega Evolution fuels its brutality, and it may even turn on the Trainer who raised it. It's been dubbed "the blood-soaked crescent."

I'm not a conspiracy theorist to the extent of "they made Mega Evolution a bad thing so people would like the new gimmick," but it's moreso an extension of my dislike for Alola's Pokedex entries, which read more like something from an edgy "what if Pokemon but things die?!" fanficition than just a more brutal take on Pokedex entries: compare Goodra or Drampa, which bring up their dangerous strength but also make a clear distinction that it happens when they're actively wronged, rather than just existing or doing something they encouraged barely 3 years prior.
 
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