I feel kind of silly for having to ask this having been on the site for so many years and having a T10 battle pet, but... is there a way to actually decide which item of your opponent's you blast or steal? Because I've never been able to figure out why all of these written guides for battle opponents tell you which weapons you should be aiming for when to me, the entire process just seems random.

Either I'm missing something massive, or it's just the way they're phrasing the guide to where you have to HOPE you blast/freeze the right things.

Someone help settle it once and for all for me!

It is random unfortunately! So sometimes it'll take a handful of battles until luck is on your side with which weapons got blasted/stolen. For opponents where it matters a lot it's why it's often recommended to use double blasters like soma+recycle blaster combined because there's the extra chance to get rid of the right weapon.

That was what I was assuming! I just kept seeing it pop up everywhere in guides, and every time I did it made me go "hmm." If only it wasn't random and I was just blind, LOL! Thank you for clearing it up for me!