Welcome to a historic, momentous, and jubilant occasion: the 50th issue of Pokemusings! It's hard to believe that we've been talking to you about Pokemon for 50 weeks! It's been a fantastic ride and we're so thrilled that you joined us for the journey. To celebrate this occasion, we're going to take a look back at how Diamond/Pearl has changed since its release, hold a spectacular giveaway, and make a very important announcement. Let's get to it!

As with any new Pokemon release, people were excited by the potential of a new generation of Pokemon. New critters equal new battling possibilities, which make for a new kind of fun. Electivire and Weavile were early fan favorites - you couldn't go more than three (competitive) battles without seeing the pair on someone's roster. To a lesser extent, people were enamored with Ambipom, Lucario, Magmortar, Porygon-Z and Togekiss. After more than a year of figuring out optimal uses and strong counters, it seems only Porygon-Z and Weavile have maintained their MFP (most-favored Pokemon) status. We see Electivire, Lucario, and Togekiss pop up every now and then, but it has been a long time since we've seen Ambipom and Magmortar on anyone's competitive team (anyone that's halfway serious anyway).

Garchomp was probably the most anticipated fourth-gen Pokemon of them all. (So many trainers love their dragons.) While it's definitely a great Pokemon, tons of trainers were disappointed due to the excessive hype. The Garchomp backlash was pretty severe - lots of people tried it for a few weeks, decided it sucked, and went back to using Salamence. Thankfully, the anti-Garchomp movement has slowed down greatly and people are giving this mighty Pokemon its due.