I'll give you my Heatran. I need to get off work first though.

Oh I know, I wasn't asking for someone's Heatran, I was just saying I can get the one in my game, it'll just be a big pain in the rear is all. (For example, one fight ended because I had him down to one bar and paralyzed but he ran out all his moves and used Struggle. :><: ) Torchik still looks good to me, doesn't matter if you find a low-level one. I could trade you my Kadabra for it to make him evolve to Alakazam; you looking for anything in return for Ala, something you want to evolve by trade, maybe?

On a random note, anyone getting doing that Darkrai Mystery Gift Event at Toys R Us?

Woohoo, caught Heatran! I had a pretty lucky break, I think; only used around 9 or 10 Ultra Balls. Rapidash actually made a decent "tank", despite being only 57.

EDIT:
Nah, you don't have to do that. But I do appreciate the offer!

I don't really have any more pokemon I need to collect, but thank you. Just bring me a Bidoof or whatever to complete the trade.

What I do need, though, is for someone to help trade-evolve my Magmar. The problem is that it's shiny, so I'd have to have major cajones to do this with a complete stranger on GameFAQs. This isn't something I need done in the near future, though.

I could do that for you. It's the least I could do for what you're doing for me.
But not tonight, I'm feeling pretty tired. Just post your FC and I'll post when I'm around or something.

EDIT: I'll be around for a few hours this afternoon if anyone's up for trading and whatnot.

A little bump here, but I also had a question or two and was hoping to get some more trading going as I'm giving some more thought on a team. Which brings up a question: is there really any downside to training a Pokemon you didn't catch/hatch, aside from "Oh, it's not originally yours"?

Anywho, I know I don't have a whole lot to offer but I'd greatly appreciate if someone would be willing to help.

If I could get a Beldum, that'd be fabulous. (Metagross sounds like he hits like a truck. :o_O: ) And if anyone wants to trade Gibles (for the sake of being able to level one more quickly), I'm down with that too.

The only differences that a traded Pokemon has from an original trainer's Pokemon are the 50% extra experience points and the nickname assigned to it (you can't change a Pokemon's nickname if it isn't yours). The technical stuff like IV's, EV's, etc. shouldn't be affected. If somebody knows of something else that is affected, feel free to correct me.

The stats should be lower, they were in previous versions. You're best off hatching your own egg like I did for mine.

"Lowered stats" is a myth. The only disadvantage is the inability to change names.

I guess I lucked out, Beldum was the swarm Pokemon of the day for me, so I got two. But looking at this one raises another question: there's one base ability, Magnet Rise, that it doesn't have as Beldum, but does as Metang or Metagross. Since it doesn't seem possible to encounter a wild Metang/Metagross (or hatch one, but correct me if I'm wrong on either), does this mean I can't get one with this move? Or maybe that only in-game trainers with Metang/Metagross are the ones that have it?

Just going from memory here~ but Beldum can't learn Magnet Rise until it evolves (at level 20 I think.) Once it does you can take it to the move tutor and learn Magnet Rise that way.

Awesome, you were right, thanks.

It technically isn't a myth. They level faster while getting EVs at the same rate, so their stats look lower until that balances out.

That's not lowered stats though, that's just leveling outpacing EV gains.

Anyway, I did some shiny trading last night (first time in ages), and I was able to trade my Magby and Shinx for a Riolu and Gastly. Pretty good deal.

I've been getting more into the breeding aspect of the game now, so...anybody want a Skarmory? I had to breed a freakin' army of them before I got one with the desired nature. It felt like it took an age, even with a Slugma in the party. Anyways, if anyone wants one with Drill Peck I've plenty to trade. Shinx is the next one for the "assembly line", if anyone's interested.

I've been hearing a lot of people talk about shiny pokemon pretty often. Are they somehow easier to obtain or something?

you can get them a lot easier if you chain them

What exactly would chaining be?

Shiny Pokemon are quite rare. They occur randomly, but the chances of finding one are extremely slim. Being able to capture it on the spot is trickier still.

It's been said that using the Poke Radar tool can increase your chances of finding a Shiny. You have to be patient and observant though. If you consistently fight only in the grassy spaces that shake when the radar goes off, the story goes that eventually you'll see a patch that sparkles as it shakes. In there, should be a Shiny Pokemon. But it takes a ton of patience and battling, I hear.

I've never tried it out, honestly. Shiny Pokemon look cool but aren't very good in fights. What makes them shiny is that all of their Individual Values (IVs) are set to 10. When you consider that each IV can reach a maximum of 31, 10 just isn't very desirable. A level 100 Shiny Pokemon will often be much weaker than its normally colored counterpart.

So they're cool to look at but that's about it. I've got two: a Zangoose and a Cacturne. I admit, they both look really sweet.

Actually, shiny pokemon have completely random IVs, just like any other pokemon in the wild. I know this because my IV calculator tells me that my shiny Furret has something like a 29 in Attack IVs and a 27 in Speed.

Wait wait, timeout. You have a shiny Zangoose and a shiny Cacturne? ...And you never told me?

You, uh, interested in trading either of those puppies?

if you've got shiny pokemon with a 10 iv for every category it's almost certainly hacked

Obviously, they don't know how to hack Pokemon then. :|

I haven't caught any shiny Pokemon since Gold, which was a Nidoran (F) that I evolved to a Nidoqueen since then. It really pisses me off though that my luck really runs that short.

And I've tried to chain Pokemon using the radar. I've gotten to a 30 chain, but no luck on my part. I've seen people get 3 chains and suddenly get a shiny afterwards. :(

WHERE THE HELL IS MY LUCK? I'm gonna go play my Pearl game and work with my team.

The last one I bought was FireRed, which was a few weeks ago. There should be a 3rd Pokemon game coming out, that's the "special" of Diamond and Pearl, right? If that happens, I'll probably buy that and look for some shiny pokemon to trade. A shiny Gastly is something I've wanted. That or a shiny Abra.

The most recent incarnation is Explorers of Time/Darkness, which (correct me if I'm wrong) only just came out like a week or so ago. They're a bit different from D/P and I don't know if and how they might interact with D/P.