"The case for a Porygon Community Day (or Raid Day)"

#PokemonGO: Porygon - the virtual Pokémon. Known for causing seizures and being a gigantic pain in the butt to collect and evolve, it certainly occupies a special place in Pokémon fans' hearts. And it would make a perfect candidate for a Community Day (or a Raid Day).Now that Swinub gets to be the star of the February 2019 CD, we know that Pokémon which require items to evolve are not forbidden from the starring role.So let's list out the interesting things about Porygon and its evolutionary line which make it a great candidate for a Community Day or Raid Day celebration:It hatches from 10km eggsIt is extremely rare to find in the wildIt has a three-stage evolutionary lineBoth evolutions require items (Up-Grade and Sinnoh Stone, respectively)It has been raidable as a tier 3 in the pastIt has the 17th-highest attack in the game (ahead of Dragonite, Garchomp, and Gengar)It has a pretty bad movepoolIt has a lot of interesting moves in the main-series game that could give it a cool nicheLOOK AT THESE AWESOME SHINIES: Porygon, Porygon2, Porygon-Z The problem with Porygon's line in the game now is that it isn't really relevant beyond being a trophy. It's a pain to collect all the items and candy needed to evolve it, and the payoff just isn't worth the hassle. If it had halfway decent moves, it could be a big threat in Raids or Battles, but the lackluster movepool it has now really limits its potential. No fast move with STAB is a non-starter for competing with Gengar in terms of DPS, and Porygon-Z's general glassiness means it won't survive long enough to really take advantage of the variety that Hidden Power allows it to have. A new and compelling move could really improve the virtual duck's lot in Pokémon GO.It's clear that Porygon-Z would take on relevance in the metagame if it were given some better moves to work with - these are the ones from its main-series movepool that stand out, and would make for excellent CD- or Raid Day-exclusive moves:(Signature) Conversion - Changes Porygon's type to that of its opponent(Signature) Conversion2 - Changes Porygon's type to resist the attack it was hit with lastTri Attack - Strong normal type move with burn/freeze/paralyze chance (perhaps adaptable to a high-DPS fast move like Gengar's Lick?)Sharpen - Boosts Porygon's attackRecover - Heals half of Porygon's HP Now, were we not in the era of two charge moves on single Pokémon, the only plausible attack out of those five would be Tri Attack. If given the right stats, Tri Attack could make Porygon-Z an offensive powerhouse similar in character to Gengar, except emphasizing Normal damage instead of Ghost damage. Tri Attack implemented like Gengar's Lick would make the Tri Attack/Hyper Beam set into extremely good general DPS, and would even create useful niches for Tri Attack/Solar Beam and Tri Attack/Zap Cannon sets for specific Raid bosses (looking at you, Kyogre & Groudon). Tri Attack as a fast move would be strong and would fit into established Pokémon GO patterns!But we're in the two charge move era - and there are a whole host of ways we could make Porygon WAY more interesting. What if we had support moves as charge moves? Now that we have two charge slots, having a support move isn't a death sentence for a Pokémon the way it would have been in the past.Conversion or Conversion2 could rectify the glassiness problem Porygon-Z faces - if it could convert itself to Ground type while fighting a Groudon, for instance, it could definitely get a Solar Beam off before dying - maybe even two. Type-changing with either of the Conversion moves could synergize with Hidden Power as well - imagine having an Ice-type Hidden Power Porygon-Z with Zap Cannon. It could Convert to get STAB on either of its moves. Conversion or Conversion2 as a charge move would be novel and would synergize with Hidden Power to make it a very flexible Pokémon!Recover could also address Porygon-Z's glassiness - since it's already pretty weak defensively, being able to choose between attacking with Hyper Beam or Recover-ing half your health could be a game-changer in Raids and in Trainer Battles. Should you fire off a powerful STAB attack, or should you heal and try to charge it up again? That versatility would certainly differentiate Porygon-Z from Gengar, and would also give Porygon-Z some utility defending Gyms. Recover as a charge move would be novel and would lead to interesting tactical battle decisions, while also not breaking the game because Porygon-Z is glassy!Sharpen could be interesting, if only because it would represent doubling-down on the glass cannon nature of Porygon-Z. As a secondary charge move, Sharpen would boost Porygon-Z's attack - making it into a terrifying monster of a creature in both Raids and Trainer Battles. The tactical gamble with using Sharpen would be making the bet that you'll be able to survive long enough to use your other charge move - it could make Porygon-Z into an undisputed king of DPS in certain situations. Sharpen as a charge move would be novel and would lead to interesting tactical battle decisions, while also making Porygon-Z the king of burst DPS, giving it a unique niche!  Hopefully you found this post interesting. Now that we're in the two charge move era, I think it's reasonable for support moves to enter the game as charged moves. Porygon would be a great candidate for that - and I'm sure Niantic would love another Stardust sink, as all of us addicts would happily spend dust to make our awesome virtual duck into a boss-slaying machine. Even if they don't go for the support-moves-as-charge-moves idea, Tri Attack Porygon-Z could become a great and versatile contributor to the metagame, providing an additional glass cannon DPS machine like Gengar and Weavile, but with a unique Normal-type twist.I don't want to see our awesome virtual ducks collect dust - it's time for Porygon to have its day in the sun! via /r/TheSilphRoad http://bit.ly/2sGuOL9