What Happens When You Trade Away Your Sparkling Shiny Pokémon?

As a hardcore Pokémon Go trainer with a towering stack of shinies, you may have faced the question – should I trade my extra shinies away? And what actually happens when you hand over that special colorful Pokémon to a lucky friend? Well, dear reader, you‘ve come to the right place.

Here‘s the Sparknotes:

When you trade away a shiny Pokémon in Pokémon Go, the Pokémon retains its shiny variant colors and sparkling animation for the recipient of the trade. So if you trade your shiny Machop to your best friend, they will receive a just as vibrant shiny Machop while yours disappears from your collection. Pretty sweet deal for them!

The Allure and Desirability of Shinies

Now, before we dive deeper, let‘s appreciate why shiny Pokémon are so highly coveted. As a fellow shiny hunter and connoisseur, I understand the thrill of that exhilarating moment when a shiny finally appears.

The chances of encountering a shiny Pokémon are generally 1 in 450, which makes each one a special prize to add to any trainer‘s lineup. And they simply look incredibly cool! The popularity of shinies has only grown over the years, with enthusiasts hosting giveaways and contests to show off their rarest finds.

As a content creator myself, I love the reactions from fans when I reveal my latest shiny catch during a stream or video. The hype is real, people!

Trading Away Your Dupes – Pros and Cons

So if you, like me, have managed to accumulate some duplicate shinies from intense hunting sessions or community days, trading them away can be a win-win.

Pros

• Make your friends ecstatic with a new shiny addition
• Clear up space in your storage for new shinies
• Reroll for better IVs if the Pokémon has lackluster stats
• Luckies have a high chance of becoming Lucky Pokémon with discounted power-up costs

Cons

• Can only do 1 special trade per day, shiny counts as special
• Costs a huge amount of stardust if low friendship level
• Say goodbye to that shiny you worked hard to get!

So in summary, trading extras can net you new shinies in return and make your friends‘ day. But the limitations mean you have to be selective in choosing which to part with.

Next, let‘s break down those fiendish trade costs…

Stardust and Friendship – What You Need for a Shiny Trade

Trading shiny and legendary Pokémon requires investing precious stardust and having increased friendship levels to reduce the steep costs.

Here‘s a quick summary:

As you can see, only Best Friends get a discount for unowned shiny trades compared to lower friendship tiers. So make sure to send gifts daily and do raids together to build up that friendship before shuffling your shinies!

Now, if your Best Buddy already owns the shiny you want to trade them, the cost is only 800 stardust. A total steal!

So patience and friendship-building are key to affordable shiny trades. Speaking of patience…let‘s move onto to shiny hunting strategies!

Shiny Hunting – Events, Odds, and Prime Locations

While randomly encountering a shiny can happen at any time (I met a shiny Abra after waking up one morning!), there are some events and locations that give increased chances.

If you haven‘t already, be sure attend:

• Community Days: These monthly events dramatically boost shiny odds of the featured Pokémon spawns for a few hours. Odds up to 1 in 25 chance!
• Raid Days: Similar to Community Days but for Legendary Pokémon like Mewtwo or the Legendary Beasts. Shiny chance around 1 in 10 to 1 in 20.
• Nest Migrations: Keep an eye out for nests featuring Pokémon with released shinies. Each spawn point has a chance to be shiny.
• Safari Zone Events: Special globally available events that vastly increase certain shiny eligible Pokémon spawns for ticket holders.

Beyond special events, I‘ve had tremendous luck finding shinies in locations with enormous numbers of PokéStops and spawn points clustered together, such as giant malls, parks, and tourist areas. Areas with map overlays showing hundreds of reported wild Pokémon are prime real estate for shiny checking marathons. Pack your power banks and get to trekking, trainers!

If you still need that sparkly white whale like Miltank or Gible after these strategies, trading is a solid option if you have the dust savings. Just know what you are giving up!

Why I Can‘t Bring Myself to Part with My Fabled Shiny Mew…

As an avid gamer and content creator, my shiny collection is incredibly dear to me. Those shinies represent hours upon hours of dedicated hunting, evolved friendship levels, and event attendance accrued since 2016. While the stats may not be 100%, the memories are priceless and irreplaceable.

For me, parting with most shinies, especially my solo catches, is just too difficult no matter how alluring the trade offers are. Call me sentimental, but I‘ve become attached to even my silliest Spinda finds!

However, no matter how rare, I simply can‘t place a parity between regular shinies and the terrifyingly exclusive Shiny Mew from the recent global Masterwork event. As the saying goes, "Not all shinies are created equal!"

The reality is unless Niantic decides to re-release it (please no!), Shiny Mew‘s value will only amplify over time. And even the most robust shiny collection pales in comparison to possessing a legitimate Mythical shiny. For that reason alone I must hold onto my precious pink pal.

So in conclusion, while trading duplicate shinies can be worthwhile for veteran collectors, parting with one‘s most meaningful catches is an incredibly difficult choice. If you have that special shiny you simply can‘t part with like me, just cherish it as a reminder of all the adventures along the way in the world of Pokémon GO!

And to all you fabulous trainers and traders, may your shiny journeys stay sparkly as ever!