992: Iron Hands

The next freak from the future is a Hariyama. I'm already very ambivalent to Hariyama, and sure, Iron Hands here makes some very funny improvements, considering I thought some features on present-day Hariyama were a mess, namely the skirt and the whole of its head. Features that feel a bit better when given a bit of that future-Paradox smoothness and intended artificiality.

Its main gimmick is its hands that are padded with what look like electric gel pads, giving it its Fighting/Electric typing. These hands are free-floating beside it, because robot. And, sure. It's a feature alright. Iron Hands may improve Hariyama a bit for me, but not by a ton.

I guess I'll take the moment to talk about the Future Paradox naming scheme: It's a little lame that they ALL have the "Iron" part of their name. It makes them feel a little more uniform, which seems fitting since they all seem to come from the same manufacturer, whatever mega corporation has replaced our beloved Pokemon with robot versions in the distant future. But I think they still could've been given more unique names. Like, why not call it "Hydro Bundle", or "Shock Hands" or something.

But, just as the other robot forms have silly tin foil hat theories about them, Iron Hands here is said to be the cyborg modified from the form of an athlete. Which, IS that a reference to Victor Stone? Of DC fame? Maybe? Not that it super matters to me beyond an affinity for the old Teen Titans show, but I just notice the specifics of "athlete turned cyborg" and it turns on the pattern recognition part of the brain.