Meganium · Mysterious Treasures (MT) #13

3 comments

1. 

   Ambassador

   (2 years ago)

   See also UD Houndoom, who also has the attack “Fire Counterattack”. Originally かじばのいちげき [𝐊𝐚𝐣𝐢𝐛𝐚 𝐧𝐨 𝐈𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐤𝐢], in both cases the attack does more damage when the Pokémon is up against a Pokémon the same type as their printed Weakness – “Fire” for かじば [𝐊𝐚𝐣𝐢𝐛𝐚] works for Meganium and its {R} Weakness, but not for Houndoom and its {F} Weakness.

   I’m not terrifically sure how to translate かじば [𝐊𝐚𝐣𝐢𝐛𝐚] myself. It’s not that “Fire” is wrong, but translating it as just Fire is.. well, a lot is getting lost in translation. The phrase 火事場の馬鹿力 [𝐊𝐚𝐣𝐢𝐛𝐚 𝐧𝐨 𝐁𝐚𝐤𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐤𝐚𝐫𝐚] is a phrase which could be literally translated as something “absurdly strong power in the case of a fire”. In some contexts, Google Translate was very liberally translating it as “last minute escape from the jaws of death” – which actually gets the jist of the idea. 𝐊𝐚𝐣𝐢𝐛𝐚 𝐧𝐨 𝐁𝐚𝐤𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐤𝐚𝐫𝐚 is talking about the burst of strength you get as part of the fight-or-flight response, where in this case it’d be a fire inspiring that panicked adrenaline-driven response.

   Now, bearing in mind we are talking about かじばのいちげき [𝐊𝐚𝐣𝐢𝐛𝐚 𝐧𝐨 𝐈𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐤𝐢] rather than 火事場の馬鹿力 [𝐊𝐚𝐣𝐢𝐛𝐚 𝐧𝐨 𝐁𝐚𝐤𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐤𝐚𝐫𝐚], I do think it’s the same situation – translating かじば [𝐊𝐚𝐣𝐢𝐛𝐚] as “Fire” is missing the point, and while it ends up working here, it will make less sense on UD Houndoom.

   Incidentally, the second part of the attack’s name – いちげき [𝐈𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐤𝐢], which is here idiosyncratically translated as “Counterattack” – is one that’s going to show up again and again in the TCG in a few years (see my comment on Giovanni’s Nidoran for some context on that) and made it a bit tricky to find any relevant related attacks. I don’t think there are any other directly-related attacks to かじばのいちげき [𝐊𝐚𝐣𝐢𝐛𝐚 𝐧𝐨 𝐈𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐤𝐢], but I could’ve missed some.

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   • 

     TwylisAmbassador

     (2 years ago)

     By sheer coincidence, I think it actually works alright with Houndoom — Meganium is counterattacking *against* fire, while Houndoom is counterattacking *with* fire (being a Fire-type). Still not a great attack name, though, partly due to missing its original connotation so thoroughly but also just from not sounding very good. I think “crisis” or “breaking point” would be a much better words to work with.

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2. 

   Derpinator

   (2 years ago)

   “Fire Counterattack” is bad news for Kecleon RR!

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