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Exploring the Spice Levels of Mustard Pokémon

is-mustard-spicy-pokemon

Mustard, a common kitchen and restaurant condiment that ranges from mild to almost inhumanly spicy. Known for delivering a tangy and biting punch to many different foods. However, few people realise that its unique taste is a result of a specific combination of natural ingredients and cooking techniques that are both simple and deeply interesting. But what if it wasn’t just a condiment? What if it was a Pokemon? And not any average Pokemon: what if a Mustard Pokemon existed in the Pokemon universe. A whole living world in which all manner of things including flowers, ice cream. Other inanimate objects are personified as creatures with specific hardwired skills and abilities? That is what this article attempts to find out.

Mustard and Spice

The spiciness, too, comes from the seeds, which contain glucosinolates. These compounds decompose into isothiocyanates. Which are producing when ground-up mustard is mixed with water. What goes into the mix will affect how zingy the mustard is: yellow, brown and black mustard seeds produce mustards with different degrees of heat, while the way the mustard is prepared will also affect its punch. My favourite, Dijon, is hotter than the yellow mustard used on American hot dogs.

In fact, mustard’s heat is often likened to other piquant ingredients such as horseradish or wasabi. Like the daikon radish used to make wasabi, and horseradish (where the name is deceiving – horseradish is in the mustard family!), the heat of mustard is spin-off from similar chemical reactions to what brings hot peppers their characteristic fire. The difference is that whereas capsaicin in chillies is an irritant that really cleanses the sinuses, mustard is significantly sharper, a literal brightness in the mouth, and without capsaicin’s dull after-burn.

Mustard in the Pokémon World

Now let’s give this both a name and a manifestation in the Pokémon world. Much like the real world, the Pokémon world is populated by plants, animals and more. Many ‘things’ can even become Pokémon. Mustard-inspired creatures, therefore, don’t seem out of place in the Pokémon world and can take on the colours and characteristics of mustard in a very literal sense. A Pokémon inspired by mustard could be given a palette of colours that matches the yellow of the mustard colour, with just a touch of brown and green to represent the seeds and brown note of the mustard leaf. Mustard flowers could provide inspiration for a floral design that aligns with its hot and spicy games.

is-mustard-spicy-pokemon

Its name could be Mustaflare or Condimentroar, partly because of its post-sting appearance and partially because its heat and spice remind us of mustard’s piquancy. Mustaflare might be dual-type, Fire/Grass, emblematic of its mustard beginnings (cos the whole plant is the fruit…) and the heat that’s mustard’s trademark. Mustaflare’s “armour” could have vine-like tendrils that evoke mustard plants. These tendrils could whisk, or tie-up opponents. Its fire aura might be golden-hot for the mellow mustard, or lip-tingling fire-orange for the peppers.

Possible Abilities and Moves

A mustard-themed Pokémon would probably feature a suite of abilities and moves that played to its own peppery strengths. We could see an ‘ability’ such as Spice Surge that raises the power of the Pokémon’s Fire-type moves while also lowering the accuracy (or ‘stat’) of opponents’ strikes, the way cutting edge often dulls other senses. Or we might see an inclusive mustardy ‘ability’ such as Mustard Mist that works like moves such as Smokescreen or Mist, a cloud of stinging mustard fog dampening opponents’ accuracy while heightening its own evasiveness.

Moves could be based on Grass and Fire-type attacks (which are adaptive to Mustaflare’s ingredients), including a signature move such as ‘Spicy Blast’, a Fire-type move that damages an opponent and has a chance to burn opponents, like how a spicy mustard can bring heat back on the palate. Other moves might include ‘Seed Shot’, a Grass-type move that ‘throws off mustard seeds at high speed, [and has a] chance of causing flinching and even paralysis’, like the kick that surprises you from a hit of mustard’s heat.

is-mustard-spicy-pokemon

Furthermore, Mustaflare might have access to status moves, for instance: ‘Condiment Cover’, which boosts both Defense and Special Defense, in a manner roughly analogous to how mustard acts against food, preserving it by altering its flavour; or perhaps ‘Spicy Shield’, a defensive move that launches a barrage of fiery mustard seeds, inflicting damage on Pokémon that come into contact with it and likely causing an application of burn damage in the process.

Impact on Battles

Mustaflare, captioned ‘Flame for 1?’ Pokémon would benefit greatly from the introduction of a mustard-type, such as Mustaflare. Its Grass/Fire dual-type would open up a lot of intriguing strategic possibilities in battle; Mustaflare would be both a versatile and an unpredictable Pokémon. First, a bit of context. The typings (post-types) of Pokémon affects their strength and weaknesses against other Pokémon. There are 18 different typings, divided among five elements, and for each type you add to your Pokémon (up to two types max), it gets stronger against that many more types, gaining significant new advantages and providing many more possible counters to other Pokémon. Type matching is at the core of all battles in the Pokémon series. For instance, the quirky Mustard Pokémon would be strong against Bug, Steel, Grass and Ice types (the Fire and Grass typings add only one new advantage each, but together they boost its strengths by two elements), while having weaknesses against Flying, Poison and Rock (the Fly, Poison and Rock typings deal a super effectiveness to your Mustard Pokémon once combined, boosting the number of types they are weak against by three).

With just one of its abilities, ‘Spicy Blast’, Mustaflare could potentially change a battle overnight. Fire-type moves are particularly notable for this Pokémon: if ‘Spicy Blast’ can cause a burn status condition on its opponent. It will drastically reduce the target’s Attack stat as well as damage it over time. Making it a powerful tool for wearing down opponents in the face of this steamy assailant. Poor enemy Pokémon will probably have the additional misfortune of being potentially victim to ‘Mustard Mist’ and being mildly confusing and annoying, thanks to its second potential targeting ability. The ‘Mustard Mist’ has the potential not only to bum out the rival with its tangy flavour, but also to cause a physical reaction that can negatively affect the target’s accuracy, giving them difficulty to land their shots.

Conclusion

The thought of pondering Mustaflare, a Mr Mime-esque Pokémon who took inspiration from mustard. Its spiciness as it beautifully battles its way through opponents. Takes me to a world where everyday breeds of Pokémon got a touch of culinary razzmatazz. How cool would it be to have a Pokémon that would not only look reasonable from an abstract, anthropomorphic creature point of view. But also ignite the senses and titillate taste buds? Imagine biting into a burger only to find Mustaflare at the centre. I can almost envision it blasting smoke from its mouth from its Magmar-like moves such as flamethrower. In isolation, mustard on your burger, sandwich or frankfurter probably doesn’t send shivers down your neck or make your skin prickle. But this is where exercising your imagination comes in to create a Poké-powered, sentient, and spicy mustard monster. And this is what makes the world of Pokémon so much fun, and why we, including me, as a former chef, continue to ponder how many Poké-foods the multiverse of Ash Ketchum could possibly conjure.

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