Machop to kick off first Community Day event in 2021

The first Community Day of 2021 kicks off with Machop for the January event. The selection of the Superpower Pokemon echoes the selection process from last year.

One of the most circled monthly dates for Pokemon Go players always happens to be Community Day. The creators at Niantic have already decided that the first event of 2021 will feature Machop, the Superpower Pokemon. Community Day last year was decided by relying on the opinion of the Pokemon fan base by voting for what Pokemon they would like to see more frequently during the popular event. Machop happened to be one of these options that trainers had the opportunity to vote for, unfortunately was one of the Pokemon that was not selected all of last year. Could this mean that Niantic is scapegoating to code for Pokemon they already prepared for in order to focus on the anniversary of Pokemon and their app? There is more to dissect with this.

At the beginning of 2020, the world experienced a setback with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even the Pokemon world suffered a setback of their own with the events of the recent pandemic. March’s Community Day was canceled entirely during the peak of what was going on, additionally with other international events that were scheduled for players to participate as destination spots in Pokemon Go. Niantic took the time to cater and pamper their user base to make sure they can access the contents of Pokemon Go and their future endeavors. For the remainder of the year, events like Community Day and even Pokemon Go Fest were remote events that trainers could participate in within the comfort of their own home. These revolutionary concepts introduced even brought forth new ways to battle with friends in Remote Raids.

The setbacks for Niantic on focusing on these features meant a change of pace for what they had originally planned for Community Day throughout the year 2020. Unfortunately, fans and trainers will have no idea what these events were going to be due to the fact that the app company was working on the remote features for Pokemon Go. With preloaded code of past Pokemon already registered in the app, it made more sense for the company to recycle and exploit already designed Pokemon to be the option used for Community Day. This is even more so why Niantic brought the decision up for a vote and the players to decide.  For five separate occasions, twelve Pokemon were featured in order to be selected by trainers and be featured in Community Day.

One of those twelve Pokemon was Machop, and unfortunately, the Pokemon was not a voted selection for any of the Community Day events. Instead, Rhyhorn was the rivaled Pokemon that won the vote and was featured in the spotlight for Community Day in February of 2020. It has trainers wonder that the Pokemon that were not selected in the vote for Community Day last year will end up being selections for Community Day this year. With Niantic staying active with current events and the Pokemon anniversary, it would make sense that this is the direction that app developers take in order to focus on the celebration that trainers are looking forward to all year long. With Machop as one of the Pokemon that came up short in the voting selection process, the other Pokemon that were offered for voting will most likely be the Pokemon available for Community Day events in 2021.

Along with Machop, the other Pokemon that were not selected in the voting process include Vulpix, Dratini, Squirtle, Sandshrew, Caterpie, and Grimer. In addition to Vulpix, Sandshrew, and Grimer, those Pokemon also would have featured their Alolan forms during the hours of Community Day; which would have been a Community Day first. Even more so, trainers would have been more excited to collect shiny forms of those Alolan Pokemon because their rate of a chance of appearing in-game is significantly rare. Regardless of the outcome of the trainers, with that exact list of Pokemon, that hints at six different Pokemon for six different Community Day events. That would help Niantic preset the selected months that they would want to feature Pokemon while they are preoccupied preparing for special events for Pokemon’s anniversary.

Machop’s Community Day events will be on January 16, 2021, and will take place from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (to the standard local time when the trainer resides). Bonuses that will happen during the day of the event will allow incense to active for three hours and have three times the bonus of Stardust when catching Pokemon. The event will cost $1 (or whatever to the US equivalent) in order for trainers to participate in the event. For trainers that purchase the ticket for the Pokemon Go Tour: Kanto before the end of Wednesday, January 13, 2021, will have access free to the Machop Community Day event. Trainers that evolve their Machop all the way into Machamp have the opportunity to learn the charged-attack Payback during the hours of Community Day. Trainers will also have the chance to catch a shiny Machop, so be on the lookout for that special Pokemon!

The first Community Day event for trainers to take advantage of will definitely be a fun event to kick off the Pokemon celebration and their anniversary. Machop will definitely burst out onto the scene as the Fighting-type Pokemon in true punching form. Trainers will even look forward to adding a shiny version of this Pokemon to their collection, which is always the popular reason why to take advantage of Community Day every month. What will be the next event featured for the remainder of the year?