Mega Tatsugiri tagging

Posted under General

Mega Tatsugiri is notable for being one of two Mega Pokémon whose appearance changes based on which form it is before it Mega Evolves. The only other example is Mega Magearna, whose differences are so minor that they're probably not worth tagging. As for Tatsugiri, you can easily tell what its base form is by looking at its Mega. When it Mega Evolves, Tatsugiri creates two copies of itself, and the order they're in varies depending on its base form:

  • Curly Form: Stretchy on the left, Curly in the center, Droopy on the right
  • Droopy Form: Curly on the left, Droopy in the center, Stretchy on the right
  • Stretchy Form: Droopy on the left, Stretchy in the center, Curly on the right

This makes me unsure of how exactly it should be tagged. The way I see it, there are five possible options.

1. It is simply tagged as Mega Tatsugiri, without tagging any specific base form(s).

2. Both its Mega form and its specific base form are tagged. As an example, its official art (post #10602618) would be tagged like this:

3. Separate tags are made for each of its three Mega forms, with the general Mega tag being nuked. This is similar to what happened with Gigantamax Urshifu, and would look something like this:

4. Separate tags are made for each of its three Mega forms, but the general Mega tag is not nuked. In my opinion, this is the least ideal option, as the implications would be a mess.

5. No new tags are created, and any art of Mega Tatsugiri will use the Mega tag and the tags for each of its regular forms, since all three are technically present in the Mega's design. This is another one I'm not personally a fan of, though I have seen other users tag it that way. For instance, post #10462741 is tagged like this:

I genuinely do not know what the best approach for tagging this thing is. While there are some options I prefer way more than others, I could see an argument being made for any of them.

I like option one and five best since I don't think the differences are large enough to create individual tags based on who's in the middle.

I am more of a tagging minimalist so of the two I prefer option one but considering it is just the three base forms combined into one I can see why five might be the more "correct" choice.

I agree that option one or five are probably best in this situation. In my opinion since all three forms of Tatsugiri are technically present in the mega evolution's design, it's should be an all or nothing scenario when it comes to tagging the individual forms. I can see the argument for option one, where for the sake of simplicity it is easiest to just tag Tatsugiri and Mega Tatsugiri and none of the specific base forms. On the other side of the spectrum and what I have personally been doing, since all three base forms are technically present in the mega's design I think may as well tag all of the base forms for the sake of being as thorough as possible. From that reasoning I personally don't think option two makes a lot of sense since it feels like a kind of half measure just tagging the base form and ignoring the other two forms which are also technically present.

Personally I don't think the order of the Tatsugiri being switched is a major enough difference in appearance to warrant the creation of individual tags. However if people disagree and we go down the road of creating individual tags between option three and four, I prefer option three since there is the precedent with Gigantamax Urshifu being split and the general tag being nuked. I agree that option four is definitely the worst option and would just create a bigger mess.

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