Goomy Community Day
Jeez, it was hot yesterday. It’s still really hot today. The middle of a heatwave. Which is why I played Goomy Community Day on my own. Most of it. I spent the last half an hour playing while also messaging my sister and letting her know that one of her favourite Pokemon was spawning right now. Not wanting to walk around in the sun and knowing that town hall, where I normally play, would be busy because of the elections, I decided to go to the mall, which does get a decent amount of spawns, and had three Pokestops and a gym.
This was a Community Day I didn’t really want to miss. Goomy is adorable, and Goodra is more tolerable than Dragonite is. The shiny is also really nice. Sure, shiny Goomy has actually been out for a while (it came out in Go Fest 2023 – I caught a shiny 69CP Goomy, much to my 69CP-collecting brother’s dismay) but Goomy hasn’t been common enough for you to be able to hunt for it. Plus, it’s a pure dragon type pseudo-legendary Pokemon with good bulk and some alright moves, making it great for PvP. On top of the x3 stardust, a chance to catch lots of dragons for the Evolve a Poipple task and me wanting to bang out the “catch 75 Pokemon in one day” task for the Third Master Ball, I wanted to do this one.
Not that I had much luck. Goomy is a pain to catch. Pokeballs were pretty much useless, even if I landed great or excellent throws, and Goomy is not an easy Pokemon to land an excellent throw on in the first place. It’s quite jumpy, its lower hitbox is finicky and Goomy’s attack animation is annoyingly long. Not that it really mattered, because most Goomies I caught would only remain caught in a Great Ball or better.
I also only managed to catch ONE 3* Goomy, despite playing for 2.5 hours AND doing several research tasks that rewarded Goomy. I ended up evolving a handful of 14/14/14 Goomies I already had. Didn’t evolve my 69PC shiny Goomy though, despite it being the best shiny Goomy I have. It is too pure.
On my little account though, I was fine. I played long enough to get my 20 dragons for my Poipole, caught 3 shinies (one being 3*), evolved the 3* shiny and was basically done with that account in 15 minutes.
As for Goodra’s special move? It’s Thunder Punch. It’s… nothing special.
Okay, I take that back. Thunder Punch is a useful charge attack for Goodra in Great League and maybe Ultra League. There, many of the common Pokemon running around are flying or water types, like Togekiss, Azumaril, Primarina and Tentacruel, all of whom take super effective damage from electric moves. Sure, Goodra doesn’t get STAB (same-type attack bonus) on Thunder Punch, but Goodra gets Dragon Breath as a fast move, which charges up Thunder Punch really fast, AND Thunder Punch doesn’t cost much energy, so you can somewhat spam it. However, in Master League, where Goodra does have the bulk to join in, there are less Pokemon that are affected by Thunder Punch. Really, it’s just Gyarados, Kyogre and Palkia (and even then, Palkia just takes neutral damage), and Thunder Punch is made even less effective by the constant presence of things like Groudon, Rhyperior and Dialga, which are everywhere.
Thing is, I wouldn’t mind a PvP-based move, if a bunch of other Pokemon hadn’t just been given Thunder Punch for free at the start of the season. And Goodra already has quite a wide range of moves, like the STAB nuke Draco Meteor, the spammy Aqua Tail and the odd-seeming Power Whip. I suppose I’m glad that a super powerful move hasn’t been locked away (the way Meteor Mash is on Metagross) but Thunder Punch seems too basic a move to require an Elite TM.
Still, it’s a nice shiny and a fun pseudo-legendary. I can still use it as a dragon type with Draco Meteor. And Goomy was a way, way better Community Day than what we’ve had so far this year. Looking at you, Bounsweet and Chansey.