Sewaddle waddles into view! October Community Day!

Welcome back, Trainers! This month we’re going to be grabbing up those Bug Catcher nets and going after Sewaddle!

The date and time are Saturday, October the 5th, 2:00pm till 5:00pm local time. Bonuses you can expect are:

2X Catch Candy.

2X chance for Candy XL to be awarded during catches so long as you’re Level 31 or Higher.

1⁄4 Hatch distance when placing Eggs in Incubators during event hours

Incense and Lure Modules launched during event hours will last for 3 hours.

Photobombs. My guess is 5 as that’s the standard for Community Day Photobombs!

Evolve your Sewaddle or Swadloon into Leavanny for it to know the Community Day exclusive move, Shadow Claw.

Stickers available in all the usual ways will be Sewaddle-themed.

For $1 or your local equivalent, you can take part in a Special Research story (You can gift these passes to Good Friends or better for the same price.)

1 additional Special Trade may be performed. (2:00pm till 10:00pm)

Trades will cost 50% less Stardust. (2:00pm till 10:00pm)

4 Star Raids will appear after Community Day ends featuring Swadloon – beat these to have Sewaddle spawn within 300 meters of the Gym for 30 minutes with the same Shiny odds as during the event proper. (Saturday, October 5th, 2024, from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. local time)

So! With all the particulars taken care of, let’s see if this grub can worm its way into our hearts!

Spotlight on Sewaddle

Sewaddle is a cute little Generation 5 monster. It’s mostly sort of notable for showing up a little later in the game than most early route Bug Pokemon. It’s available in Pinwheel Forest which is a way into the game compared to say Viridian Forest in Kanto, or Santalune Forest in Kalos. In that same forest though, you can catch Venipede. So. I feel like Sewaddle is a bit overlooked by comparison.

The Pokedex tells us that the little bumps on its head are sensory organs it uses to help navigate the world. It cuts up leaves with its mouth and then sews them together to make new clothes for itself and it does this by producing silk. Most bug Pokemon produce silk, come to think of it. Anyway, this is obviously a reference to Leaf Cutter ants, which use their own grubs as living glue guns to amass a mess of leaves into an arboreal nest! Pretty cool!

Swadloon is just a grumpy gus. It hides in that same set of leaf clothing, bunching up and shrinking down until it’s hard to see.

Once your Swadloon evolves into Leavanny, though, that ant influence is all the more clear. It wears those leaves with a bit of panache as well! The Pokedex says that this critter has very strong parental instincts, extending out to any small or young Pokemon it finds! It will craft these small creatures a set of clothes out of leaves. It will also use the heat generated by rotting leaves to incubate its own eggs. Once the Sewaddle hatch, they are outfitted with a nice set of clothes made from even more leaves! Despite this gentle, nurturing nature, though, it can cut down trees with the blades on its arms and will be absolutely ruthless to opponents who bully the young!

But can it cut down its opponents in Pokemon GO?

With a Max CP of 2917, Attack of 205, Defense of 165 and Stamina of 181, it’s got a good chopping ability but it’s not going to survive being chopped at for long. It doesn’t help that out of 6 weaknesses, it has two that hit for extra super effective damage in Fire and Flying. It’s also weak to Ice, Rock, Bug (Because Bug doesn’t resist itself.) and Poison. It does have special resistance against two types as well in Ground and Grass, along with regular resistances to Electric, Water and Fighting.

In terms of moves, it’s ALL comin’ up STAB! Fast Attacks are Razor Leaf and Bug Bite. Charged Attacks, you’re looking at Leaf Blade, Leaf Storm, Silver Wind and X Scissor. All either Grass or Bug Type. The Community Day move of Shadow Claw, though? Well, it’s not exactly offering you much by way of coverage against the types you’re likely to see problems with… being a Ghost Type move, it’s really only effective against Ghosts and Psychics and that’s sort of it.

Your Shiny Sewaddle is honestly very underwhelming with a slightly cooler green to its leafy clothes. Swadloon’s color palette just mutes out a bit, dropping in saturation. Leavanny is barely distinguishable. Be careful when Shiny hunting! These guys are going to be easy to miss so be on the look out for those stars and the yellow name on the encounter screen!

Anyway, that’s all I have for you this time Trainers! Be safe, be kind, have fun and Catch ’em All! I wish you the best of luck!