Talk:Castform (Pokémon)

Marking Solarbeam as a STAB move

In most pages, Solarbeam isn't marked as a STAB move for Fire pokémon, since it usually isn't Fire type. However, in the case of Castform, any time that Castform is Fire, so is Solarbeam. Because of this, I marked Solarbeam as a STAB move for Castform's Fire type form. User142 (Talk) 10:11, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

Your logic is flawed for two reasons: one is quite simply that Solarboam is not powered up during strong sunlight (but rather becomes a one-turn move), the other is that whatever the case, STAB refers only to boosts due to type. This means that even if you were correct about Solarbeam's boost, it would still not be called STAB. If to elaborate, during strong sunlight or rain, not only does Castform type change (hence STAB), but Fire or Water-type moves receive an equivalent boost to that of STAB. It is necessary to distinguish between the two effects, if only for the fact that they can be combined into a 2.25 boost when a Fire or Water-type Pokémon (or Castform) is involved. Treating them as one effectively disregards that advantage - a vital one in Castform's case.

As a rule, the different terminology are best left separate. This also applies to base stats and type effectiveness - factoring Defense and Special Defense into the latter results in meaningless statistics. Simply put, the damage formula is not in direct proportion to the defense stat, unlike your assumption in computing the numbers. I will be glad to explain the formula at length if you are not convinced, as I hope to recruit you to revert your many edits pertaining to type effectiveness. --Unown Lord

Reading your sentence again, it seems that I was confused as to the source of your misconception. I imagined you had thought Solarbeam was powered up under strong sunlight in addition to Fire-type moves, which I could understand, but you actually seem to have thought its type changed. Either way, it is a mistake.

I will say that in Castform's case, weather effects deserve to be taken into account when computing type effectiveness in the same way Ninetales' Flash Fire ability is factorized. However, you considered weather effects as doubling or halving, when it is, in fact, a 1.5 or 0.66 multiplier. --Unown Lord

There are only THREE moves that change their type at all: Hidden Power (varies between each individual Pokémon), Weather Ball (changes type depending on the weather), and Judgment (changes type to match the Plate held by the user; Normal-type if it's not holding a Plate). Solarbeam is ALWAYS a Grass-type attack, no matter who uses it. Diachronos 17:27, 15 September 2008 (UTC)

Sand Form

Castform has a sand form, correct? If so, some should get a pic up. - unsigned comment from Bryce739 (talk • contribs)

No it doesn't. --Shiny Noctowl 12:15, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Custom Forms

Can somoene like, make their own custom sandform sprites: I want to see what people think sandstorm castform, night time castform, fog castform, the magical glitter thing that happens in snowpoint and their shiny sprites would look like!!!!!!!--1i2h3c4c5e6 05:09, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

Uh, no, this isn't a fake sprite request page. Also, the Castform forms don't have different shiny sprites, just the normal form does. TTEchidnaFire echy 05:55, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

Yea, we're an informitive wiki, not a fan site. --Theryguy512 13:39, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

Castform being a non-artificial pokemon

I don't think Castform should be marked as an artificial pokémon because a) it cn be found in the wild b) you can breed it and c) Mewtwo is a one-off genetically mutated pokémon therefore it is an artificial pokemo because there is only one of it and it was manmade. Also all porygon are manmade and cannot breed and therefore the species should be marked as an artificial pokemon. Finally as an ending note Castform are said to prefer grass lands in the wild which goes to support point A showng it not to be an artificial pokémon. Hence I would like to change the information about Castform being an artficial pokemon --Wikid

Porygon can be found in the wild, too. Same place as Castform, in fact! And let's not forget, Porygon can breed. Get a Ditto, put it in the daycare with Porygon or any of its evolutions. Pow. Egg.

Anyway, I honestly don't know who marked Castform as artificial, though I initially thought it may have been created due to its home of the Weather Institute. Who freaking knows, anyway. TTEchidna 01:10, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Well yeah but almost anything can breed with ditto and besides castform can actually have genders and breed with other pokemon besies ditto. Also, who's t say that those porygon aren't imported to the trophy garden (the only actual place to find "wild" porygon)?

Also porygon is JUST programming, nothing else and Mewtwo is basically just a pimped up version of Mew. Castform isn't from any template like programming or another pokemon, its a pokeon in its own right, therefore it should be marked as one and not artificial.--Wikid

Well if you wanted to change it you're free to. I wouldn't have noticed otherwise, actually. TTEchidna 01:24, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

Teruteru bozu

Isn't Castform based on this guy? --Kaoz 13:29, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Seems very likely. Why not add it to the article? Flicky1991 18:16, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

Can this be made a bit clearer?

The article says that Castform will not transform in fog or a sandstorm. Does that mean it stays fire-form if it goes from sunny to sandstorm? If it changes to normal-form, it should say that. Flicky1991 18:24, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

Silhouette

The orange colored silhouette featured on the Platinum hand-out leaflet looks similar to Castform. It may in fact be either a fog or sandstorm form for Castform. Anyone else's thoughts? --Wikifixer 17:35, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Those are all alternate forms of Rotom. The silhouettes are just another continuation of Game Freak's "Alternate Form" obsession they seem to have now. Diachronos 16:16, 12 September 2008 (UTC)

Obsession or not, I really like the idea of alternate forms. Flicky1991 18:25, 15 September 2008 (UTC)

Spritebox

Shouldn't we change them so it shows all the forms (but not shiny of course) I made templates for it but they don't work. Here they are: Template:Sprite/4/4formes/1shiny and Template:Sprite/3/4formes/1shiny. Does any one else theink that this should be changed?--MisterE13 16:02, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

Of course they don't work. They aren't integrated into the main template. I'll get to work doing so. TTEchidna 00:01, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

I had an idea for Pokémon with completly different types between their forms (like Castform and Wormadam). I copied my GenIII Castform Spritebox as an example and posted it in the sandbox. If an admin could take a look at it and give it the thumbs up/down then change the templates if necessary they could then remove it from the Sandbox.

P.S. the lines seperating the boxes could still be the primary type of the Normal form.--MisterE13 22:24, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

About the whole Sun/Rain/Hail forme-thing

Currently, this article labeled it's forms as Sun/Rain/Hail. However, according to the TCG, it's cards referred it's formes as: Sunny/Rain/Snow-cloud respectively.

Assuming that the TCG's the "official" thing (seeing as they did the same thing for the upcoming Rotom-formes cards), shouldn't we rename it's other formes, then? Just asking for some confirmation. InfinityByZero 23:27, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

Ithink it already said that but someone changed it. It was probably right before.--MisterE13 04:20, 23 November 2008 (UTC)

The TCG's classifications were superseded by a guidebook. TTEchidna 00:00, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Type

Isn't Castform a Normal-type? It says Normal-type in the first statement but it has Water marked as its type. It also has blue everywhere. Did it change types in Platinum? shanegon34 22:33, 5 April 2009 (UTC)Shanegon34

Yeah, it's normal but the page is set up to show a type randomly. You ended up seeing the water one, but over time the Fire and Ice will show also. — THE TROM — 22:54, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

It changes with the seasons: Spring's Water, Summer's Fire, Fall's Normal and Winter's Ice. It's mostly aesthetic anyways, most people know that Castform can change types and it says so in the article, the colours just make the article pretty anyways and I should hope people can figure out STAB for the four types. - unsigned comment from MisterE13 (talk • contribs)

A WHOLE SEASON before it changes again??? That's 3 MONTHS!!! That time has to be shortened to like a day, at most. --Theryguy512 01:46, 6 April 2009 (UTC)

TTE likes all the changers to be different among the evolution families. I thought that seasons worked: There's the right number (4), like Castform, they are greatly associated with nature and each one has a "signature" weather condition associated with it which all fit with Castform (spring has rain, summer has sun, winter has snow and fall has no real weather (barring perhaps fog which keeps Castform Normal anyways)). Feel free to respond on my talk page, I've pretty much made it my personnal mission to perfect the display of all alternate forms on this site.--MisterE13 02:19, 6 April 2009 (UTC)

I like them to be different, yes, but a whole year for the cycle?! That's just gonna confuse the hell out of people, especially since it's only in its base form in fall, and there's no note unlike what Arceus has. TTEchidna 06:47, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

I'd like to weigh in here. In my opinion, we should only have #switch changes when the Pokémon in question can maintain that form outside of battle. It makes logical sense to me, especially since these are the Pokémon that generally different???? movesets for each form. Because, really, the point of this was to not only show off fancy artwork and coding, but to identify the differences between the two (or more) forms. Nothing about Castform changes, except the picture and a few STABs. As MisterE13 said, people should be clever enough to figure out how that changes for every form it has. It really is confusing, especially since hardly anything changes, and it changes very rarely. — THE TROM — 08:12, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

It's just the type colours and STAB that change. Not eve artwork. I'll soon whip up a notice for Pokémon with different forms anyways.--MisterE13 20:36, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Well if there's no artwork, why do we bother? There is nothing wrong with Castform being displayed as a normal type, like it is, say, in the party (unlike Arceus). — THE TROM — 21:13, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

It started being with show/hiding the type effectiveness. But then, I thought it might look better if, like Arceus, the effectiveness shown corresponded to the type. I'm about to make a notice template for them all. It will be great.--MisterE13 01:08, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

I guess I wasn't the only person who thought this was a bad idea. That is way to long for a cycle. ^Maverick_Nate 01:56, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

Evobox

Colors should be fixed to match up with the rest of the page. ^ht14 16:08, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

I just made some modifications yesterday. I just need to tell an admin so it can be changed. I also made one for Shaymin.--MisterE13 16:15, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

Italics indicate an evolution of this Pokémon

Water, Ice, and Fire-type attacks are listed in italics as getting stab for an evolution of this Pokémon. That's all fine and good, but Castform doesn't have an evolution. Or a pre evolution. At least, not at the time being.

Anyways, I understand that this is part of the template with all Pokémon, but is can't this be an exception? If not, can the italics be removed? I don't think it belongs here. - unsigned comment from Skaiisdead (talk • contribs)

Evo/prevo/alternate forms... They're all the same. I've made a note on the template. — THE TROM — 23:43, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

Cheap?

Doesn't the SRE and the DPPt and the HGSS sprites for the other forms look a bit too similar? If so, shouldn't something like this be in the trivia section?

"In Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Heartgold, and Soulsilver, the weather sprites for Castform are just recolored sprites from Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald."

--PKFL 531 03:12, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

They aren't even recolored (except for maybe the white), the only change is a smile added to the Hail form. R S E FR LG 18:03, 26 December 2009 (UTC)

Just an Idea

why don't we have something like we do on the arceus page, the rotom page, and a lot of other pages which has a "rotator", so different formes can be shown. Just an idea. If you tell me how i'll gladly help you do it. SpecialK Leiks Lucario and The Celebi Glitch 10:40, 13 February 2010 (UTC)

well? SpecialK Leiks Lucario and The Celebi Glitch 13:46, 13 February 2010 (UTC)

Arcues and Rotom are different from Castform, as they can be kept in their form outside of battle, while Castform can only change during weather. So, no. --Mr.lol 15:02, 13 February 2010 (UTC)

Small issue with that. Cherrim gets a rotator, despite not keeping its form outside of battle --Icalasari 07:14, 15 February 2010 (UTC)

Agreed. I'll try and make one... SpecialK Leiks Lucario and The Celebi Glitch 19:25, 15 February 2010 (UTC)

Artwork

Where is the artwork for the other three Castform formes? (The same problem arises with Unown.) Megadog 19:36, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

There is none unfortunately.--MisterE13 21:42, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

darn, oh well. at least not having a rotator makes sence then... Megadog 03:46, 9 May 2010 (UTC)

Sprite

Why is the Shiny sprite from Emerald so small? - unsigned comment from Flyingtypefan (talk • contribs)

It's a server sync issue. It's displaying the properly sized image at the size of the cropped down image, making it appear smaller. It should fix itself given time. Werdnae (talk) 03:41, 27 January 2011 (UTC)

Switchy thing

We need one. No excuses. Can someone add one to the page? If no-one gets round to it I can do it, though I won't be able to start until 10:00pm. I've made one for this talk page, which can be added once the main page is done.

Due to special coding in place in the article to illustrate Castform's forms, certain displays will change showing Castform as though it were in either it's Normal, Sunny, Rainy or Snowy forms. However, this cannot be accurately reproduced here. This will only affect the type-themed color displays, the type effectiveness entry which is unhidden, the anime image shown, and the moves noted as STAB for this Pokémon. This changes every hour, so when the time comes, click here to return to the page and change the display.

XVuvuzela2010X 17:20, 14 May 2011 (UTC)

The switches on this page were removed last year as Castform cannot hold its alternate forms outside of battle. —darklordtrom 04:08, 16 May 2011 (UTC)

Darmanitan (which unlike Castform, does not have any alternate form artwork) and Cherrim have switches, even though they cannot keep their forms outside of battle. XVuvuzela2010X 20:53, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

I think Darmanitan can retain its alternate form outside of battle if its HP is still lower than 50%. If Cherrim has a switch function, however, then there's no reason why Castform shouldn't have one. --Andy^P_K^M_N (talk) 22:18, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

We do overdo the switches. Also, Darmanitan cannot hold its form outside of battle. This is more of a case of Cherrim and Darmanitan's switches being potentially removed than Castform's being added (kept). --SnorlaxMonster 09:06, 18 May 2011 (UTC)

Menu Sprite

Just below the sprit template, there is the For other sprites and images, please see Castform images on Bulbagarden Archives., however, only one of Castform's menu sprites is shown, unlike other Pokemon with form differences. Could someone add the rest? (I've tried, but I dont know how) XVuvuzela2010X 14:16, 15 May 2011 (UTC)

Well that's from when there was only one menusprite... And since the main sprite template is protected and is being remade it might just have to wait.--MisterE13 19:49, 15 May 2011 (UTC)

Does it have multiple menu sprites? Because it doesn't in Generation IV. --SnorlaxMonster 08:39, 16 May 2011 (UTC)

HGSS's PokéDex Forme option added them. Same as Cherrim.--MisterE13 11:24, 16 May 2011 (UTC)

Type effectiveness

Skimmed the trivia and type charts. The main page doesn't seem to note that Sunny Castform will for most of the time not take 2× damage from Water attacks due to harsh sunlight, nor that Rainy Castform will for most of the time take less than ½× damage from Fire attacks due to heavy rain. This kind of note would be redundant for any pokemon that doesn't have Forecast, but Castform does have Forecast. PLA 08:54, 24 May 2011 (UTC)

True, but those do not change type matchups. If you use a Water-type attack on Castform while it's sunny, it will still say "it's super effective". The weather activates separately. --SnorlaxMonster 09:04, 24 May 2011 (UTC)

Of course, it's still super effective, which I imagine would still have an important effect under some circumstances. But the damage results are affected in a noteworthy way. PLA 09:09, 24 May 2011 (UTC)

Japanese Name Inaccuracies

The katakana and romaji of Castform's name are conflicting. While the katakana says "ポワルン", or, "Powarun", the translation says "Powaren". Either the katakana or the romaji is incorrect. I don't know how his name is supposed to sound, so I can't say which. --Bjk55123 02:20, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

It could also be that they are both correct - we use the romanisations trademarked by Nintendo/TPC/Game Freak, which often don't exactly match the katakana. They were both the same as they are currently when the article was first created, so I can't tell from the history whether that is the case or not. Werdnae (talk) 10:39, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

"Powalen" (note the l, not r) is the correct faux romanization. This is similar to, say, Zorua instead of ゾロア zoroa and this seemingly unsystematic style of transliteration is the Pokemon company's decision and cannot be argued. I do, however, have a question with its name origin. How does Powalen's name relate to 天気予報 (tenkiyohō) in any way? It doesn't, and if anything, it's related to ポワン (powan), a Japanese onomatopoeia that describes sudden transformation, similar to a "poof" in English. Thus I'm going to change it if no objections. HADAA 14:23, 31 August 2011 (UTC)

Shiny

Is Castform the only Pokémon without a shiny sprite(s) programmed? ^^I^ rides camels… | love 'em. (T^LK) 02:42, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

Castform has a shiny sprite.--ForceFire 03:11, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

Yes, I do believe that Castform's forms are the only post-Gen I sprites without Shiny versions (discounting literal ghost and the Fossil sprites). --SnorlaxMonster 12:34, 21 March 2012 (UTC)

Weather Ball in weather

Should we make a note on Weather Ball's power increase in the By leveling up? It's confusing that while Weather Ball is in weather, the power displays as 50 power. Although, we would then have to do it for Blizzard's and Thunder's accuracies as well, and we probably wouldn't do anything like that for Groudon or Kyogre. In any case, why does Generation IV Castform's form differ from the other Castform's? ~Enervation 18:15, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

Switches

According to other discussions on this page, the excessive switches for Castform's page were eventually removed due to Castform not being able to maintain its alternate forms outside of battle. However, it seems like at some point they were re-added to many elements of the page. Personally, I think that listing Castform as a Water-type by default (for example) potentially leads to more confusion than it's worth, but I'm open to learning why the decision was made to make it this way. VioletPumpkin (talk) 14:29, 31 July 2016 (UTC)

Unless I'm missing something, I don't think Castform is really "listed" anywhere or at any time as Water-type (or Fire or Ice). It's just a color. Which I wouldn't necessarily agree with switching; but it's also relatively benign. Tiddlywinks (talk) 14:49, 31 July 2016 (UTC)

It changes the type effectiveness table that's unhidden as well as the moves that have STAB, not just the colors. --Abcboy (talk) 15:06, 31 July 2016 (UTC)

I just removed the STAB bits. Type effectiveness I would rather default to Normal, but I can be ambivalent about it as well. Tiddlywinks (talk) 15:08, 31 July 2016 (UTC)

Leaving in some switches when the rest are gone will just confuse readers further. Therefore, I've been bold and removed all the switches, except the anime/manga images because I don't know the anime/manga people's policies on switches, and IIRC I seem to remember some switches somewhere in other anime/manga pages and/or sections? I'm not totally sure if my memory is correct, but it's a strong enough doubt that I didn't go ahead and remove those switches. Anyway, I hope I did everything correctly, but this is just barely within my knowledge of wikicode and previewing didn't help since it seemed to default everything to mod=0 (Normal) anyway, so please be understanding if I inadvertently messed something minor up. Pumpkinking0192 (talk) 16:58, 31 July 2016 (UTC)

I note that Force Fire has reverted the recent changes. Either way, when this is all sorted out, the notice at the top of this talk page will need to be edited. Currently, the moves noted as STAB are no longer in rotation (removed in Special:Diff/2479280). Chenzw (talk) 17:06, 31 July 2016 (UTC)

Shinies

Seems like Castform's forms have been given shinies in Pokemon HOME. Should this be noted anywhere on the page (eg. the trivia section) or should we wait for an appearance in a core series game? --celadonk (talk) 22:10, 17 February 2020 (UTC)

Oops, I'm silly. Didn't notice the trivia point when I checked there. Sorry! --celadonk (talk) 22:55, 17 February 2020 (UTC)

Shiny Castform

I'm confused the article says that "Prior to Generation VIII, unlike most Pokémon with form differences, Castform's alternate forms have no Shiny variations of their own, so only the Normal form of a Shiny Castform will look different" does this mean that castforms alternate forms got shiny variations or that a pokemon in gen 8 got alternate forms that have no shiny variations Wild Starfish (talk) 22:15, 17 February 2020 (UTC)

edit never mind didn't notice the newest thread Wild Starfish (talk) 22:17, 17 February 2020 (UTC)

Is "Normal" its actual form name.

Basically what the title says. Is there an original source for where its base form is called "Normal", or is that just how someone formatted the page years ago. TrainerX493 (talk) 07:55, 13 July 2020 (UTC)

I can't check the actual mainline games right now, but it is called Normal form in Pokemon Go. I think it's safe to assume that it gets that from the mainline Pokedex. Lanthanum (talk) 08:50, 13 July 2020 (UTC)

Checked Ultra Moon... the Pokedex indeed refers to base Castform as "Normal". --celadonk (talk) 16:43, 14 July 2020 (UTC)

Is Castform actually artificial?

None of its Pokedex entries imply as such, and when the scientist in RSE gives you one he says
"It might be an odd way of thanking you, but take this Pokémon. That POKéMON changes shape according to the weather conditions. There's plenty of them in the INSTITUTE--go ahead and take it."
In ORAS the NPC says
"I would still like to thank you somehow for your help. I hope you'll take this Pokémon for your team. Castform is a Pokémon that changes its form according to the current weather conditions. We have many Castform living here in the Institute with us. They help us with our research of weather phenomena."

Seems like someone may have just added their own interpretation or misremembered the dialogue and it's just been accepted by fans all these years. --Mr. Bonding (talk) 02:51, 7 February 2021 (UTC)

A Team Magma grunt in the Weather Institute says this:

"The INSTITUTE created a type of POKéMON that has something to do with the weather. We're here to take them!"

Another one says:

"If the POKéMON they made here can control the weather freely, then we of TEAM MAGMA definitely need it!"

--celadonk (talk) 15:25, 7 February 2021 (UTC)

Not sure how I missed that. Thank you! --Mr. Bonding (talk) 04:13, 8 February 2021 (UTC)

Of course! --celadonk (talk) 22:54, 8 February 2021 (UTC)

Other Appearances inaccuracy?

Under the "Other Appearances" heading, Castform making an appearance in Brawl's Jump Festa demo was mentioned. When I looked for something to back this up, all I could find was [this forum post](https://forums.superherohype.com/posts/13698807/) recapping a blatantly fake article. Should that section be removed or given a footnote like "[source?]"? --Ultimate chimera (talk) 18:00, 4 November 2021 (UTC)

I'd say it depends on how sure you are this never happened!? Nescientist (talk) 11:43, 7 November 2021 (UTC)

I mean did you read the forum post? The only accurate information in it had come from other sources. Like, clearly Duster was never in-development as an assist trophy, and if development on any of these Pokemon or Assist Trophies had reached a playable state, there'd be some evidence of it in the game files. Though, even if it *is* real, is there any proof of it? The article should only contain information that's verifiably true (in my opinion), and there's hardly any evidence of this demo even existing. As far as I'm concerned the info is someone's made-up "leak", and it should be treated as such. --Ultimate chimera (talk) 21:28, 10 November 2021 (UTC)

This tidbit was added to the article in January 2008 and has hardly been touched since. If I wasn't so scared to actually edit around here I'd get rid of it myself. --Ultimate chimera (talk) 21:49, 10 November 2021 (UTC)