#(He has..... feelings on Ghetsis after his time in RR)

[chekensheppppp]

I would love to hear about any head canons you have for the two not so very great dads :3 💖

I HATE THEM!!! 😡😤 (proceeds to make art, stories, and headcanons of them as they occupy my mind space for how many months already) (slight suggestive warning for some of these HCs)

I like to think they dated way before the present time (they dated in college, this hc is long so i'm not adding it here rn). So in the present games where they meet again (USUM's RR and Masters) Ghetsis slowly starts to develop romantic feelings for Giovanni (again). This bothers him to no end, especially since he suspects that Gio knows. Mafia man does figure out and secretly uses it to his advantage in their rivalry. Overtime though, Gio starts to feel mutual (again). This leads to him subtly flirting with Lettuce causing the latter to grow even more frustrated with his romantic man crush. He shouldn't fall in love with his enemy for world domination yet he did and he suspects that the other likes him too so now he's even more infuriated.

The jist of their dynamic pre-relationship is just Ghetsis being a tsundere who is also obsessed with the don bastardo (which he tells himself is hatred) and Gio being a smug flirt that takes any chance he gets to infuriate lettuce priest more.

They're very professional, most people wouldn't even notice that there's something going on between these two since they act all curt and business like everywhere. But if one stops and observes them, they'd notice how there is a minuscule hint of fondness in the way they speak to each other and how they have their own code in saying their affections. Also, look closely and you'll realize the glances they share have a deeper meaning than just mere looks. To put it short, they have a lot of eye sex, it's subtle but once you notice it, it becomes clear as day. Their grunts feel awkward whenever they end up noticing; it feels like they're intruding on private matters though they're not sure what.

Ghetsis has mobility issues, particularly his BW2 rendition, and he can't really walk and run for long distances anymore. Good thing he has a strong, beefy stud of a boyfriend to carry him around. Whenever Gio does that, Ghet becomes extremely flustered but doesn't stop him. While he does prefer dealing with his own problems and issues himself with the stubborness and persistence of a lone wolf, he's still a sucker for being treated and pampered like royalty. (After all, he is from a royal lineage and a pompous fuck)(expect a comic based on this soon)

In most other ships that involve Gio, he tends to subtly tune down his cruel, aggressive, and domineering traits for his partner and tries to be more considerate, slow and careful (still keeps the charming mafia godfather vibe tho). In this case, he doesn't. Being that they're both old and shitty bastards, Gio doesn't feel the need to adjust himself much for Ghet since he doesn't play nice either. If anything, he can be as blunt and straightforward as he wants to be. He won't hesitate to just slam the green-haired maniac down his office desk, rip apart his robes and have his way with him until sunrise.

Ghetsis likes to ramble and rant about whatever, whenever convenient. Gio doesn't mind this and lets him go on about whatever topic his partner wants to talk about. Usually he'd also return a comment if the other inquires on what he thinks or when he so chooses but in some instances, Gio just gets lost in the sound of Ghetsis voice, how he would be so full of emotion and conviction in the way he speaks and just the sound of it all can be what he considers music to him. You can tell he's not really paying attention to what Ghetsis says and is just enjoying the sound of his voice when he looks at him utterly lovestruck (well, as lovestruck as how a hardened mafia boss can be)

There are only a handful of people Ghetsis would allow to touch his hair; his hair care routine takes a long time to do and anyone that messes with it is basically asking for death. Gio is one of those few people. This pretty much means that he trusts him enough now to let him touch his hair and boy, he made a pretty good decision. Feeling his hand comb through his locks feels soothing and well, he does like how he pulls his hair from behind whenever they fck.

Gio most definitely had a long list of past lovers and even now that he's seeing someone, he still has many others clamoring to be with him. Ghetsis does not like this one bit. Whenever he's with Gio and someone tries to get too close to Gio, he just shoots them a scowl that can make milk sour up immediately and sticks closer to Gio. Gio does tell him to calm down about it and that he's a grown ass man who can make his own decisions but he does find it endearing seeing how much Ghetsis is in love with him.... even if it is going full possesive, but he can deal with that. (expect a comic on this too)

Curse that one deactivated blog for giving Gio a thing for Ghet's legs because now, I actually like the idea of it. Gio simply loves his tall, GNC, gossip girl, murderous megalomaniac boyfriend and his long ass legs.

There's something so funny about them getting married and Gio going like "Now that we're married, it's only fair that I give you something that you've always wanted." And straight up presents Ghet with a gun and says, "Let's shoot up a police station as part of our honeymoon, amore mio Harmonia." And Ghet is all sparkly eyed and delighted and goes "You know me so well, Sakaki dear." And their children are just screaming in horror in the background, "DON'T MAKE HIM MORE OF A THREAT THAN HE ALREADY IS!!!!"

and yeah that's it for now, this is getting too long lol

[kalosinflames]

“You have all of reality at your fingertips - an entire cosmos to correct for a perfect tomorrow - but you choose to side with a man such as Ghetsis? Someone who exemplifies the most disgusting and selfish traits of mankind, fit for only eradication by the Ultimate Weapon?”

[ourobororos]

RAINBOW ROCKET: RETRIBUTION AU

it has occured to me that i havent really explained my whole au well enough like in a contained post SORRY IF THINGS ARE CONFUSING! i talk about it a lot. this post will serve as a summary of everything with some links lol ill try to organize things better one day

Rainbow Rocket: Retribution (RR Retribution for short. RRR?) is a rainbow rocket au i made in which most of the bosses have been basically supernaturally or cosmically Fucked Up and cursed for their hubris! giovanni and ghetsis have joined to form rainbow rocket in secrecy after the failure of both of their previous missions, and with assistance from colress and the aether foundation they have used wormhole technology to locate timelines containing the leaders of other (once) powerful criminal organizations- with unusual supernatural power sources! if a new team is formed uniting all these evil guys with cool powers, they can take over the world easy peasy! right? well everyone sucks and is a loser and they all hate each other so no. it sure is funny though

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF EACH BOSS BELOW THE CUT !! this might be a long ass post ill try to keep it brief

GIOVANNI: there he is theres our guy <3 a year or so prior to the formation of RR, team rocket had recaptured mewtwo and was being used in experiments to calculate its psychic power and to possibly extract it and transfer it to other organisms- giovanni wanted that power for himself, to see if it was possible to make himself as strong as mewtwo, so after lots of tests his brain was connected to mewtwo and the experiment went underway- it also went really badly. mewtwo overworked the circuitry and broke free, escaping the hidden rocket facility and blowing a lot of it up in the process! gio survived but was in a brief coma he was preddy badly injured by the shrapnel and like. the psychic powers. hes fine though AND he has some of those abilities himself now! some of his motor abilities were impaired and getting around is harder so he uses a cane, but now he has telekinesis and other cool psychic powers- he has his limits though, and gets killer migraines... and his lifespan was halved. oops

MAXIE: in another timeline, maxie had woken groudon with the red orb and it underwent primal reversion- however it refused to listen to his commands and went berserk, causing mt. chimney to erupt and the cavern to be destroyed and flooded with lava- killing maxie and anyone else in the vicinity. groudon was eventually quelled by may ofc, but maxie’s body fused with the red orb and came back to ‘life’, fully powered by the orb’s essence and essentially undead. his body temperature is hundreds of degrees and rises with his temper, and he can raise the temperature of things in his vicinity at will- he’s potentially very dangerous. he spent months in hiding, frustrated and regretful of everything that happened- and later when hes dragged into a wormhole and into rr headquarters, it does not get any better.

ARCHIE: in a different timeline, but coincidentally the same situation as maxie wow! kyogre was woken with the blue orb, went primal and flooded/destroyed the seafloor cavern and everything around it in a horrible storm, flooding sootopolis. archie and others present were swept up and killed in the waves, but archie’s body fused with the blue orb and he woke up in the aftermath undead and able to breathe underwater. he can manipulate water around him and even make its temperature drop to a freezing point, and can swim crazy fast. if he goes too long without swimming or being in water, he dries out a little! for some time he was hiding in the seas of hoenn, feeling so much guilt and grief for the destruction and deaths he caused- but like maxie, hes then dragged into another timeline with a bunch of other insane ppl lol

CYRUS: after the events of platinum, cyrus was trapped in the distortion world for years on end and essentially lost his mind, giratina saved his life and decided to make a deal with him- giratina would send cyrus back to his world, but essentially taking giratina along with him in his body and serving as a vessel for this god to reside in (giratina can’t have a physical form in the main reality unless it has the griseous orb, in which it becomes the altered forme- its goal is to make cyrus search for said orb so it can exist on this plane and not rely on cyrus as a host anymore) cyrus returns to his normal timeline for a while post spear pillar, exhausted trying to readjust to gravity and time flow AND housing a powerful god in his mortal body as they are bound together by the red chain. cyrus himself has no powers, but when in sync with giratina it can use its abilities through him- phasing through objects and walls, phasing into shadows and reflections to hide for brief periods, distorting reality around him... it takes a lot out of cyrus though, the intense pressure and presence of an incomprehensible god makes his eyes and nose bleed and wipes him out quickly. after a year of searching alone for the griseous orb, he is taken into the RR timeline with the other bosses... unfortunately.

GHETSIS: ghetsis is... actually the only one with no powers LOL he and giovanni are also the only ones from the base timeline! after losing to 10 year olds twice in unova, ghetsis is on his own with no team ... and travels to johto to find team rocket and strike a deal with giovanni to unite and form a bigger, better team (and to eventually take it over himself and control everything and take over the world bc its ghetsis) giovanni does agree so he works as the second in command and oversees a lot of the process of bringing all the bosses over and all that other stuff... also hes got a whole new team of rlly strong pokemon AND ALSO he trained a lot on his own to be a really good swordsman. dont fuck with ghetsis if you value your life

LYSANDRE: lysandre comes from a timeline of the events of x, where the ultimate weapon is powered by xerneas’ life essence and ends up destroying both itself and the entire flare hq. not many in the hq were able to escape in time, and most were killed by the crushing debris- lysandre himself as well, but due to being directly connected to the ultimate weapon and xerneas’ powers of life, it revived him to a state of not-quite-living but not-quite-dead. he now has the ability to harness the life energy of other organisms, mostly effective on other people, and can sap their energy to refuel himself. he can do it in concentrated powerful bursts and wipe out multiple people, but even in a relaxed state he is constantly slowly siphoning life force from those around him. as the only ‘survivor’ of the flare hq incident, and seeing so much death and destruction by his own hand, he strongly regrets his actions and wandered the empty corpse of the flare hq like a ghost... before being taken to the RR timeline with the others eventually </3

COLRESS: colress is an honorary member, not quite a boss but the lead scientist- hes in charge of testing all the bosses and putting them through experimental procedures (which most of them hate bc they are Not Fun) but its for science!! its fine... pushing them to their physical and mental limits is fine its finding their true power!! its fine

there is a general plot that happens, involving several of the members secretly working against RR with outside help to take the operation down from the inside. it is not easy though. lots of funny and fucked up things ensue but the main thing is everyone fighting all the time LOL hope all of this makes sense *bows*

[themattress]

I Grade: Lusamine

The first female Big Bad of a Pokemon generation...what the Hell went so wrong here!?

Games: In Sun/Moon, Lusamine is the Big Bad. There is no question about it, there is no adversary higher on the totem pole. And not only that, she is one of, if not the most terrifying villains the franchise has ever presented. Completely out of her mind and detached from reality, self-absorbed to the extreme, prone to raging mood swings, devoid of morality, and worst of all a textbook abusive, narcissistic parent to her children Lillie and Gladion, the president of the Aether Foundation is very easy to fear and loathe. And refreshingly for the franchise at this point, Lusamine doesn’t actually have a huge, destructive, high-stakes goal in mind. There’s a chance for mass destruction in Alola because of what she pulls, but that’s not actually the point. With her, it’s more personal: she wants to enter a world where she can be with what she loves most, the Ultra Beast Nihilego (which her twisted mind deems to be perfect, “beautiful” children that need her as a loving mother), even if it means abandoning her mistreated actual children and hurting or killing the Pokemon closest to them to do it. Clearly, this bitch is another Ghetsis: excessively vile and wholly irredeemable. Right?

......RIGHT?

Yeah, wrong. Bizarrely, Game Freak didn’t seem to actually realize just how badly they were portraying Lusamine, as it wasn’t their intention. In their minds, Lusamine was a tragic villain: a woman broken by the loss of her husband to an Ultra Wormhole experiment gone wrong, becoming possessive over her children in a misguided effort to not lose them too, and then getting addicted to Nihilego toxin while trying to find a way to get her husband back. The toxin messed with her mind, amplified all of her negative qualities such as her possessiveness toward her children to the extreme, and gradually shifted them to be directed solely toward the source of the toxin itself: Nihilego. This is why by the end of the story, Lusamine is treated as redeemable, with Lillie making strides in reconciling with her offscreen and even traveling away from her found family in Alola to go find Lusamine special medical help in Kanto.

But this just failed to come off to the majority of players. Not only is most of the necessary backstory spoken of above buried within the postgame and relayed by sources other than Lusamine herself, but all of the actual scenes in the game with Lusamine do way too good a job hitting close to home for players that have either had or known people who’ve had abusive, narcissistic parents. The child abuse angle is portrayed so strongly that any nuance gets lost in the shuffle. An astonishing number of players don’t even appear to remember Lillie reconciling with and going to help Lusamine at the end, their memory selectively stops at the powerfully-delivered speech from Lillie: “Children are not just THINGS that belong to their parents! We're not made for you to just discard when you get bored with us! That is terrible, Mother! You are terrible!"  The idea of Lusamine being redeemed and reconciled with her children is not a happy one to them, and so they ignore it and continue hating her.

This backlash clearly caught Game Freak off guard, and they made an effort to rectify it. In Ultra Sun / Ultra Moon, Lusamine’s trajectory is changed. No longer falling prey to Nihilego toxin, she is still a highly flawed and arguably abusive parent and still commits morally reprehensible acts, but now it’s for the greater good: she wants to stop the looming threat of Necrozma from destroying Alola. Her backstory is mentioned by her in the story, and it becomes clear that she’s truly motivated by her foolish pride, feeling as if defeating Necrozma will validate her self-absorbed self-image of a savior and make up for the fact that she couldn’t save her husband and drove her children away in becoming too protective of them. When she is thrashed by Necrozma and causes it to get loose and create the very threat to Alola she was hoping to prevent, Lusamine undergoes some serious self-reflection and character development for the rest of the game: reconciling with her children, making peace with the fact that she’s never getting her husband back, fixing the harm she had the Aether Foundation cause, and overall having a clear and efficient on-screen redemption.

BUT, unlike with Cyrus in Platinum where issues he had as both a character and as a villain were corrected, here Game Freak was so concerned with correcting Lusamine’s character that they neglected how she was as a villain. Since they removed the main factors that made Lusamine such a memorably terrifying villain in S/M, she now comes off as a retread of Zinnia, the antagonist of OR/AS’s postgame Delta Episode. This in itself still might have not been too bad since she still plays this antagonistic role quite well, but then the game goes and has Lusamine made to look like a putz compared to other villains not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES. First she’s beat down by Necrozma, then she’s sold out by her own underling Faba, and finally she’s held hostage by Giovanni. None of the Big Bads of the previous gens have been treated this way, as is reinforced in Episode RR where they all get to shine, so it happening to the first ever female Big Bad kind of feels like a slap in the face for many. 

The IOS game Pokemon Masters continues Game Freak’s course correction by showing us S/M’s Lusamine after she has recovered from Nihilego’s toxin, and we actually get to see her redemption process onscreen as she struggles to be a better, more selfless mother to her children and move beyond the immense guilt she feels for hurting them so badly in the past. Much like in US/UM, she still has her moments of shallowness and narcissism, but the fact that she’s aware of these flaws and is working on self-improvement makes them forgivable.  

Lusamine, when taken as a villain in S/M, is great. Lusamine, when taken as a villainous character in US/UM, is great. The problem lies in the fact that there is almost nothing in common between the two depictions of her, which while having an explanation behind it (one is juiced up on Nihilego toxin and the other is not), it still doesn’t change how jarring it feels. On the whole, the score for Lusamine in the core game series is dead middle. A good villain, but she could’ve been so much better if she was properly thought through from the beginning.

Score = 3

Anime: OK, I probably should be angry at how Lusamine is portrayed in the Sun & Moon anime series. She’s a silly, zany, energetic womanchild as opposed to a refined, graceful professional, she isn’t a villain at all since her evildoing in the anime’s Nebby arc is given to Faba and she only becomes an antagonistic Ultra Beast hybrid against her will, and furthermore she is the furthest thing from a depiction of the Gen VII Big Bad in that she is actually a Big Good: as the commander of the Ultra Guardians, she is who Ash and his friends take their orders from in their missions to defend the peace in Alola. I imagine that many people who were fans of Lusamine as a villain took this as an egregious betrayal.

But with that said, I just fucking love her! Because she appears so regularly and has interactions with so many different characters, this is the most fleshed out Lusamine in the franchise, the most real and human-feeling in spite of how comically she often behaves. The tragedy of the loss of her husband and the troubled relationship with her children manages to be kept in tact even without making her a villain, and she naturally has the happiest resolution out of all versions of the character. So despite not being evil, she’s still a fabulous Lusamine.

Score = 3.5

Manga: The chief human antagonist in the Sun/Moon Chapter, Lusamine is very well-portrayed here....for the most part, anyway. She starts off as mostly an adaptation of the S/M games’ version, but Yamamoto takes great pains to draw her a certain way - ridiculously widened eyes and a near perpetual smile on her face - to make it abundantly clear to readers that something is wrong with her, that this isn’t her normal state of mind and she is clearly badly drugged up on something (Nihilego toxin). It’s similar to this manga’s N, except...good. Because the manga can go darker than the games, we actually get to see flashbacks that show her emotional abuse of Lillie under this state, and they are extremely unsettling.

She reaches her peak when her insane goal is revealed: rather than want to go to the world of Nihilego, she’s been so intoxicated that her “love” has spread to all Ultra Beats and she wants to bring them all to Alola in order to make a paradise for them where she can be their mother. And she succeeds, too! But even that isn’t enough for her, and so she sets out to capture fucking Necrozma because she feels like only then will her paradise be complete! This leads to the highlight of her role in this arc: “Mother Beast” Lusamine vs. Necrozma! Seeing the Big Bad of S/M and the Big Bad of US/UM go at it is exhilarating to witness.

But there is one HUGE flaw holding this incarnation of Lusamine back from total greatness: it turns out that her losing her husband, getting hooked on Nihilego toxin, and everything bad that transpires with her...was facilitated by Faba. Lusamine’s personal agency that makes her story more tragic is neutered in favor of making some douchebag man responsible for it. Maybe Kusaka did this because he was worried about the readers being able to accept Lusamine’s redemption otherwise, given the reaction to her in the S/M games, but it was still the wrong call to make. He was doing so well with this Lusamine, combining the best from S/M and US/UM in her, and was building her up as the biggest human antagonist in the arc, the penultimate threat before Necrozma...and he blew it. Oh well, she is still effective in the role he has her play, and I consider this problem to be more of Faba’s than Lusamine’s.   

Score = 3.5

TCG: Lusamine debuts with the “Lusamine” card in the Crimson Invasion expansion, staged as the person who is responsible for unleashing Ultra Beasts into Alola. While not to the extent as Lysandre, Lusamine also proved to be troublesome to official tournaments and her card banned from any Expanded format games played in them. The same card was reprinted in the later Ultra Prism set, with Lusamine now being in her notorious Mother Beast form.  

In the Lost Thunder set, Lusamine and her Aether Foundation return to cause more trouble, with Lusamine getting a new “Lusamine” card. This time it was a rule on the card that you can only have one of it in your deck, and you can only play it under specific circumstances. 

Score = 3

Other: In the Pokemon Evolutions web series, Lusamine shows up in the 2nd episode “The Eclipse”, voiced to perfection by Dawn M. Bennett. She’s adapted from Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon here, abusively sneering at Lillie about how useless she is and how only she can be the savior that Alola needs. This makes it all the more satisfying when she’s reduced to a cowardly wreck following the beatdown Necrozma gives her, while Lillie is actually able to face her fears and stand up to the monster alongside Selene in order to rescue Nebby.

Score = 3

TOTAL FRANCHISE SCORE = 3 out of 5

Lusamine is a good villain in the franchise, but it will likely always be a point of frustration that she couldn’t become a great one. Everything about her on paper seems like it would make for one of the best antagonists we’ve had to date, but it just didn’t stack up that way in execution. Whatever the medium, Lusamine ended her run not looking like the Big Bad of Gen VII, with Necrozma, Giovanni, or even Faba upstaging her in that position. And that is extremely disappointing, given how many people had wanted a female Big Bad for years and were so excited that we finally seemed to have one. But hey, she tried. Kudos to her for that, at least.

BONUS: Which version is my personal favorite?

While on a strictly personal level I love the anime’s version best, when I have to choose which Lusamine works best in the villainous role she was created for then I’d have to go with US/UM’s version. While her constant getting nerfed annoys me, she still is effective as the source of all the conflict in the main story (even Necrozma would not have been the threat it is without Lusamine provoking it). And cutting down on all the craziness and child abuse, no matter how memorably terrifying that made her, did wonders for making her a nuanced foe. 

[gutsbutt]

So like... team rr hair hcs

Giovanni: Don't touch his hair. He spent like an hour getting it perfectly slicked back this morning. A long time partner who is detail oriented (*coughs* Cyrus *cough*) might do it for him some mornings. Can be persuaded to stay home by messing up his hair in the afternoon.

Maxie: Would put his hair in a ponytail if he didn't get awful comments on it, so the hair we see is his out in public style. Short hair has always looked bad on him so as soon as he got out of the house, he grew it out. Sprays his hair back into the severe mullet bc he doesn't like it sticking to his neck when working in heated surroundings like volcanoes.

Archie: under that bandana is a bunch of messy/curly/wavy hair. It's just a traditional men's style because he goes to a classic barber all the time, short sides/longer top. Will sometimes cut his own hair with an electric razor if his time is short since he has to keep his beard in check anyways.

Cyrus: Can't stand the feeling of hair on him. His style is a mixture of too little time for a haircut and a 5 second gel job in the mornings. He also keeps such length because it helps him look a little bit taller. Showers before bed so any visitors after that are promptly ignored. His hair down is a cryptid. The galactic grunts swear that there is a ghost in the building. We know who it is.

Ghetsis: is a mess. I have nothing. Wanted to be extra so he gave himself some natural look at me antennae. Those hairs are probably so damaged by heat/hairspray that they permenantly have a different texture and stick out from the rest.

Lysandre: Every. Single. Hair. Has. To. Be. Perfect. Prob gets up at 3 am to do all that.

[oppressiveliberator]

romance headcanons.

→  repost, do not reblog.

((FOREWARNING I do mention a protag ship as well as an incest ship, but aside one or two other implications it only comes up once I think. Also this is a fucking mess so it’s under a cut. Someday I’ll write concisely but today is not that day!))

name: Ghetsis Harmonia Gropius nickname:  Ghetsis; G-Cis; Lord Ghetsis; [Holy] Father gender: Male romantic orientation: Debateable. Gray-Aromantic? May not experience romantic attraction, but enjoys or will get into relationships to some degree. Will definitely indulge someone’s feelings for fun. preferred pet names: Lord. Master. Sir. Father. Basically, if it’s a dominance-expressing petname, he’s good with it. Depending on who it’s from something like ‘dear’ could also be acceptable.

relationship status: Single, but has or has had repeated partners and hookups. May be or have had been married in some verses? favorite canon ship(s): Canon as in officially shown or implied?  The closest we’d have is probably Ghetsis/Zinzolin lmao. . . . favorite non-canon ship(s) so far:  I mean I ship more or less anything as long as it’s interesting/has potential and my muse wants to roll with it but.  I fuckin love me some Ghetsis/Hilda. Ghetsis/Zinzolin, Giovanni/Ghetsis, Lysandre/Ghetsis, a hard to explain one but I like the concept of like Ghetsis/Reader, not in that I’m the ‘reader’ but that the reader is a ‘fan’, grunt, etc, so I guess Ghetsis/ghetsis fandom, and I have a real big ‘guilty’(read: i enjoy it and it’s harmless fiction so i don’t really feel that guilty, but people will definitely be real unhappy to hear it but fuck it it’s not like I’m forcing it on anybody) love for Ghetsis/N or other members of his family.  But Ghetsis goes well with like everybody tbh depending on what you’re after.  opinion on true love: Ghetsis finds that romantic feelings are, in general, for weaker persons.  True love is self-love, and letting yourself love or enjoy as many others as you’d like.  Of course, true love directed at him isn’t shameful or pathetic at all, and if he finds himself attached to somebody. . .well, he’ll admit to feeling weak for them, but it’s not something that makes him in any way less perfect.

opinion on love at first sight: You’ll love him at first sight. How weak do you have to be to just see somebody and be romantically infatuated with them?  You don’t even know anything about them.  Pathetic.  You’re going to get yourself into trouble, silly pet! 

how ‘romantic’ are they?: MMMMMMM Ghetsis is. . .willing to be romantic and would probably enjoy doing so because it makes him feel impressive.  Plus, pleasing a partner or object of affection increases the likelihood they’ll be attached to him, and thus he can benefit off of or use them for longer. . . .  So if you mean like in terms of reasoning, uh, he’s not super prone to thinking about other people more than himself at all. .. but in terms of actions and what he’ll be willing to do, he’s gonna be a big show-off and treat you real nice and spoil you.

ideal physical traits: Smaller and/or physically weaker than him. Feminine, especially with long hair, especially girls with long hair.  Shapely/curvy girls are good.  Healthy, strong, but weaker than him--strong enough to put up a fight, maybe. Expressive--shows a lot of emotion and reacts openly. Traditionally attractive, especially in a feminine way? I imagine he’s oddly attracted to people he can identify as having similar features to himself. . .not sure if that’s narcissism or something else entirely.   But, to be honest, he’s not too picky--he’ll act like he is, and he’ll certainly talk like he is, but. . .so far he isn’t. female: No specifics

male: No specifics ideal personality traits: Intelligent. Submissive.  Expressive.  Eager to please. Interesting. Fighty. Honestly, he’s attracted to people who’re either easy to use or hard to get.  Depends on how hard he wants to work for it.  To an extent, materialistic--being easily won over with expensive things and fancy dates.  Clingy. Loyal. Faithful. Lost. Exploitable.

unattractive physical traits: In general he’s more attracted to traditionally attractive people, so if you’re traditionally unattractive, he’s fairly likely to be offput by it? Unhealthy, unclean, generally not caring about your appearance at all? But he remains not too picky.  If you’re unattractive in some way, it just makes him look better--and gives him something to hold over you.  So he won’t be too bothered by it unless you’re, like, disgusting in some way he doesn’t want to put up with.

unattractive personality traits:  If you aren’t obedient, subservient, willing and/or wanting to see him as your superior, try and dominate him (and not have anything worth him letting you do so for,) etc. . .well, you’ll have lower chances.  Unintelligent(and yet, you’d be so much easier to mess with if you were. . .)  Gossipy, bad at keeping secrets(bragging is okay, telling the world his plans is not--it’s okay if you tell him about what other people do, though, that’s fine.)  Bossy, although he’s willing to put up with some of this. . .it’s hard to say, because he’s interested in people who’re subservient to him or express a lot of interest in him, but also in people he’d have to chase/who he’d have to struggle to have. . .but if you intend to get in the way of his plans or you’re uninteresting(and not physically appealing or you don’t have anything to offer/for him to gain, if you try and, like, overthrow him or take command of him without him seeing benefit to it(for example, RR!Giovanni is allowed to dominate and order him around because Ghetsis wants him to feel in charge to better take advantage of him) then you’re gonna have a harder time getting his interest.

ideal date: He loves to spoil a motherfucker.  Fancy restaurants, shows, trips, whatever you’d like as long as he won’t hate it himself.  Also, spending time at his castle, lavishing him--uh, you in attention and affection, parading you around, evangelizing and liberating Pokémon together, things that mean he gets to show off. . .he’d probably like an escape room if you were competent enough not to infuriate him through the whole process. Although, in his current, fragile, sickly, weakened state. . .the idea of something simple like a walk outside, going to a park, something lowkey seems especially nice. . .but also if you just stay in and hang out, that’s good too.  He’s not so open with it, but since he’s not in his usual position of power, he’s a lot happier than he lets on if you’re just. . .with him.

do they have a type?: Weak-willed men and spunky women.  Or something like that lol.  People he can gain something from. People he can’t have?  He may have incestuous personality disorder????  i have it in my head that he’s somewhat attracted to his own family due to having this understanding of historical royal families intermingling to keep their bloodlines ‘pure’.  But it’s not an active part of the blog character, like you’d probably never find out if I hadn’t said it just now, yeah?  

average relationship length: Until he gets bored or you outlive your usefulness or you break up with him when you realize he’s abusing you.  So, like, hookups are regular, but if they don’t count. . .a few months to a year.  But it’s probably not exclusive.  On his end.  If you’re fucking somebody else and finds out rather than you just telling him. . .he probably won’t be too pleased about it.

preferred non-sexual intimacy:  Worship him. Obey him. Being leaned against. Being held onto. Putting an arm around you or on your lower back or near your neck as if leading you or showing possessiveness of you. Being kissed.  Petting on the hair and back and so on.  Whispering. Leaving marks.  Things that make you respond, especially if they fluster you.

commitment level: You belong to him now. You are his until he's no longer interested.  It likely won’t be an exclusive ordeal, but you’re stuck with him until he decides otherwise.  Even if you leave him, expect him to pursue unless you have reason to believe he’s lost interest.  Then again, choosing to leave may spark his interest in chasing you. . . .

opinion of public affection: Public affection is an expression of his ownership of you and of your affection towards and desire of him.  It’s good shit.  He’s into it.  Expect surprise kisses, his arm around you, holding your hand if he’s able, close proximity and disregard of your personal space, pulling you into his lap, him openly referring to you as being his or with him. . . .

past relationships?: He’s definitely had plenty.  I say he and Zinzolin definitely had some kind of D/s shit going on.  I’m open to other preestablishments too, if they can be explained in some way.

tagged by: everybody’s doing it, so I stole it from everyone tagging: Do things I would do, like steal memes.  But not things that I would do like accidentally use the ‘post’ keyboard shortcut before you even finished clearing the formatting of the post.  Don’t do that.

[huggableduck]

FUCKK HOMIE MY FEELINGS !!!!!!! Idk how long this has even been in my inbox & I am so sorry but I could go off . mostly about terribledadshipping aha.

i feel like ghetsis would have heard so many stories about his descendance from royalty, and it shaped him as a person so much that he saw marriage as just something u do to like.. move up the social ladder or carry on your bloodline. & you know his parents would have encouraged this nonsense & tried to “help” him find a wife, but he never did bc hes antisocial and mean and looks like a sock.. and then after his parents died and he found N, he lost all interest in finding a wife because his heir was secured and he didn’t have to worry anymore.

This is just my sappy ass talking but if we’re on the subject of gio/ghetsis . I feel like in rr, when he tries to manipulate gio and use him for power, gio would take his fake friendly advances seriously and treat him like a friend would. which annoys ghetsis at first. but eventually he’d start noticing himself missing gio’s banter, actively seeking it out., starting to value gio’s prowess and character and wanting to co-rule with him instead of discarding him. and he’s like “lmao that’s ridiculous, like when I was little and dreamed about having a queen-“ and then it clicks like Oh. OH

(( I honestly feel like .. he really wouldn’t go through too much of a crisis when he realizes that he’s gay, its more upsetting to him that what he FEELS for gio is so much more real than anything else. he’s actually In Love with Gio. cus like .. hes never gotten to develop quite as deep of a bond like this before (missed out on ur chance with colress in ur old universe haha loser) and he has so little experience treating other people as people, so when he’s suddenly feeling like this for somebody else, especially someone who he’s supposed to be manipulating, it freaks him out & for the first time he has like literally no idea what to do . it sort of brings him back to reality, brings him out of his delusions of grandeur & reminds him that he’s just a human, and that there are some things he just can’t control which is a dose of reality his dumb ass needs SEVERELY

I also feel like .. since ghetsis doesnt have experience treating a lover respectfully he would get REALLY obsessive over his object of interest, like .. being really controlling, jealous of others, excessively clingy & starstruck, etc.. Gio is a particularly good match for this because like. he takes no shit. so he wouldn’t be nearly as susceptible to ghetsis’ manipulative behavior & wouldn’t be afraid to call him out on it. there aren’t many people who could naturally maintain an equal power dynamic with ghetsis , but GIO COULD! & that’s very important for a healthy relationship .. that basis helps both of them become more capable and understanding of each other in their own weird little ways, even if they both fundamentally suck. they can suck TOGETHER. these are a lot of the same reasons I love antigravityshipping too!!!!!!!

[renewablenergon-main]

I Don’t Think Colress Actually Hates Ghetsis

@icykalisartblog asked me to post another one of their analyses!

So… I might get a lot of hate for this post, but I’m really interested in Colress as a character and I’ve talked about some of these details before, so I feel like it’s worth talking about this in one place. I’ve been thinking about this a lot after USUM especially, since a lot of people were praising Colress for confronting Ghetsis in that game. Basically, this post will explain why I’m pretty sure Colress is lying when he talks about despising Ghetsis.

Colress is a Liar Colress lies often. He’s especially fond of minimizing the bad things he does and lying by omission. We can’t trust Colress when he states things because this has been shown multiple times.

In BW2, he says, "Those Crustle… Were they just lying here, out of energy, with their boulders on their backs?" on Route 4 when he uses his Colress Machine to reenergize the Crustle blocking the road. Later, he gives Nate/Rosa the device and says, "Here! This is from me! This is a prototype of my device that energizes Pokémon! It doesn't work on battling Pokémon, but you may find it useful for something! Well then, I wish you and your Pokémon a safe journey! Now that I think about it! In the Seaside Cave on Route 21, I saw something that reminded me of when we met on Route 4." In these lines, he implies that he stumbled upon the roadblocks. But we learn right after infiltrating the Plasma Frigate that Team Plasma set up the Crustle on purpose! This is Colress’s own team!

Also, note that the Colress Machine Colress gives out breaks after only one use, and that the roadblock was right by the Plasma Frigate. It’s almost certain that Colress was lying about not knowing what was up with those Crustle and set all this up to lead Nate/Rosa to the Frigate to test him/her--putting a child in danger! Later, when we find out that Colress is a member of Team Plasma, he says, “The reason I have been traveling all over Unova and battling many Pokémon Trainers is because I was testing the viability of this approach to bringing out the full strength of Pokémon. In that respect, you've done an amazing job,” another sign that he led the main character into danger just to test his/her strategy.

Even when it’s clear that Colress is part of Team Plasma, he doesn’t say anything about being the boss of it. He just says, "Welcome! I was asked by an acquaintance to help with his research.” But then later, Ghetsis says this:

So Colress was actually the boss the whole time, but never says so himself. He was minimizing his role in Team Plasma’s actions.

Earlier in the game, when the player defeats Zinzolin in Lacunosa Town, he says this:

Zinzolin is saying that Colress is the one who figured out that the DNA Splicers were held in Opelucid City. This detail combined with the fact that Colress’s room in the Plasma Frigate has all the controls to the ship indicates Colress is the one who froze Opelucid City… but he never apologizes for that or any of the other things he did in BW2 or USUM. His never mentioning this is another form of minimizing.

Also, in USUM, Colress alters the device the Ultra Recon Squad asked him to create without their knowledge:

After all of this, we can’t assume Colress always tells the truth. He often twists or hides the truth for his own purposes.

Signs Colress Doesn’t Hate Ghetsis

In USUM, the Ghetsis who’s part of Rainbow Rocket knows Colress well enough to make a call on his behavior ("Of course... The Colress of this world! But you should have no reason to meddle in my plans!”) even though this is a BW Ghetsis. This means he and Colress have known each other for years, which makes sense. Colress gives out the Genesect Drives in USUM, suggesting he had something to do with that, and Ghetsis wouldn’t have just chosen anybody to be the boss of his team. But, in BW2, Colress says, “For one thing, I detested Ghetsis from the start!" Why would Colress have such a longstanding relationship with somebody he hated from the beginning?

Maybe Colress hated Ghetsis’s methods and just stuck by him for all that time for resources… except, Colress is fine with being “merciless” as long as it brings out the full potential of pokemon. He says so back in BW2. Since he intentionally pit Nate/Rosa and Ghetsis against each other to see which of their approaches was more effective, do we really know Colress wouldn’t have told Ghetsis something like, “How fortunate that you defeated that trainer! I detested them from the beginning, but I had no choice but to test the viability of their approach,” if Ghetsis had won instead?

Colress tells Nate/Rosa at the end of BW2, "The things you and your Pokémon have seen and felt... Do they belong to you and you alone? If you would, please have another Pokémon battle with me. By facing you, I feel as if I can see what I should do from now on." In USUM, when he’s talking to himself in the Tide Song Hotel, he says, "If a Trainer trusts his or her Pokémon, even in the most extreme of situations, the Pokémon inevitably respond by unleashing their full power! Just like that Trainer I once met..." These quotes make it sound like Nate/Rosa taught him that treating pokemon with respect was the right method--it makes it sound like he learned his lesson. But in USUM, he keeps doing unethical and creepy things, like enabling Necrozma to forcefully fuse with Nebby, making them go out of control and putting them both in pain (so much for consent or “trust”). Also, if Colress hated Ghetsis and his methods, would he use the exact same moveset he did… and on Klinklang, his signature pokemon, no less?

Would Colress keep making his Metagross spam Explosion, a powerful move that hurts his pokemon, in the Battle Tree?

Would he decide to do something so similar to Ghetsis’s evil plan, hurting Nebby and Necrozma and betraying the Ultra Recon Squad in the process?

Would the designers have decided to mysteriously not show Colress’s face when he tells RR Ghetsis he despises him?

Would Colress have chosen to deal with RR Ghetsis in a way that did as little harm to him as possible?

Would Colress have creepily followed Moon/Sun and Lillie while invisible, letting them face off against dangerous adults? Also, consider that when Colress does finally reveal himself, it’s when Lillie and Moon aren’t in serious danger (they had conscious pokemon, unlike Ghetsis), and Colress chooses to play with Ghetsis by appearing and disappearing. Since Colress says he wants to study RR’s castle, it really seems more like he showed up to research everything and stopped Ghetsis because he was holding things up--not to help out at Wicke’s request. He even slips up and says, "This castle... Oh, of course! Necrozma's power to open Ultra Wormholes overflowed and resonated with intent of tremendous evil, twisting reality and causing this to appear! The vortex of power somehow...summoned the evil leaders, such as Ghetsis, from their worlds! It's all very interesting... Ah, I mean, quite a pain. I could put this power to much better use!" which is pretty disturbing considering he’s saying the power specifically drew in evil people.

Would Colress have explicitly stated that he hopes Ghetsis stays out of trouble in such a way that it’s possible he’s saying he hopes Ghetsis doesn’t get hurt himself?

Also, Colress names Ghetsis many times in quick succession here, even referring to RR as, “...the evil leaders, such as Ghetsis,” and mentioning that Ghetsis shouldn’t be taken lightly (even though he took him pretty lightly just then).

I think all of these details show that Colress’s attitude toward Ghetsis is ambiguous, and that his supposed hatred for him is probably not real. The question then becomes, “Why does he keep saying he hates him?” I think it’s because Colress misleads people to get what he wants. It’s another way of avoiding blame. Note that he always says he hates Ghetsis when the protagonists are there--it’s another form of misrepresenting things to make himself look helpful and nice.

Also, Ghetsis Definitely Doesn’t Hate Colress

It’s probably worth mentioning what Ghetsis thinks of Colress. I’ve seen some people saying he abused Colress or treated him badly, making Colress hate him, but… there isn’t any evidence for that. He gave Colress power and resources, and doesn’t appear to have restricted his freedom in any way--Colress got to travel all over Unova in BW2, and was able to easily undermine Team Plasma in the process.

As I stated before, Ghetsis knew Colress for a long time, and he wouldn’t have made just anybody the boss. Since Colress has a color name, he might have held a rank similar to the Seven Sages even though he kept himself scarce in BW. He berates Colress once he watches him betray Team Plasma: "That blasted Colress! The fool is far too committed to pure science. This is how he repays me for making him the boss of Team Plasma? How dare he put his personal intellectual curiosity before our ultimate mission of conquering Unova!" And then Ghetsis… does nothing. Normally, Ghetsis has no qualms with treating his enemies with brutality. But he just leaves Colress at the controls of the Plasma Frigate after this without punishing him whatsoever! Similarly, RR Ghetsis doesn’t try to do anything when Colress yells at him and says he despises him, though he does call Colress a “bastard” in versions of the game in other languages. So once again, he gets angry, but does nothing to hurt him. Speaking of other languages, in the Japanese version of the game, the way the dialogue is timed is a little different than the English version. So in that version, we get to see that Ghetsis actually smiles for a split-second when Colress shows up.

I really don’t think Ghetsis hates Colress at all, even though he does get mad at him. I can only theorize about this, but since Colress did locate the DNA Splicers and develop technology for Team Plasma and Ghetsis has known Colress for a long time, he probably figured working with him was worth it despite Colress being unpredictable. Ghetsis is really manipulative, so maybe Colress’s ambiguous attitude was even useful to him in some situations. In Conclusion

It’s not totally clear what Colress thinks of Ghetsis, but there’s a lot of evidence that he doesn’t truly hate him. I think the most likely possibility based on Colress’s phrasing and body language is that he respects Ghetsis, but also finds him amusing and uses him for his own ends. As for Ghetsis, he didn’t abuse Colress (just because he’s an abuser, that doesn’t mean he abused everyone he knew) and clearly doesn’t hate him, regardless of Colress’s opinion of him. I hope this was interesting to see!

[renewablenergon-main]

RR Episode: Colress’s Role

I’ve seen a lot of praise for Colress’s role in the RR Episode, particularly as some kind of savior who burns Ghetsis. While he undoubtedly burns Ghetsis, I’d like to say I think what is going on there is a little more complicated than the shallow hero, Colress, coming to save the day. I’d instead suggest that Colress was there as the former boss of Team Plasma, from which he has not reformed.

The first thing I’d like to establish is that Colress showed up to “save” the protagonist and Lillie from a situation where they were not in danger. Unlike the events of BW2 where Ghetsis is able to prevent the protagonist from using their Poké Balls, the protagonist during the RR Episode can use their Pokémon. Not only that, but Ghetsis no longer has usable Pokémon after being defeated. All he is able to do is push Lillie in a sudden movement and stand over her. Even if the protagonist’s Pokémon were heavily weakened, they would likely easily overpower Ghetsis before any serious harm could befall Lillie. It is also worth noting that Lillie should also have her Pokémon on her to protect her.

Colress knows all of this. He has (creepily) been following you the entire time with the use of an invisibility device. We can note his presence when he sends Maxie and Archie home after they begin to argue with each other, and rather interestingly, not when they pose a serious threat to the protagonist. Colress’s primary objective is not to help you but to record information. After all, if Colress was there to help you as Wicke requested, he could have revealed himself when you were in a safe location with either Lillie or Guzma and then proceeded to help provide you with support like they do. Instead Colress stays hidden as the child protagonist faces off against extremely dangerous adults. 

So why then does Colress intervene when Ghetsis begins his mental breakdown? The likely answer is that Ghetsis began to present an annoyance to Colress’s research and was slowing down the progress of the protagonist who Colress is shadowing (and using) to do all the hard work for him. Colress proceeds to toy with Ghetsis by demonstrating his power as he disappears and reappears around the powerless (although undeniably manipulative and evil) Ghetsis. Colress almost seems to be nostalgic as greets Ghetsis with a neutral smile by saying,  "I see you are still dedicated to your own desires, Ghetsis... It has been a while."

Colress does not appear to be particularly upset by seeing Ghetsis or by the actions he has just witnessed. Instead he is interrupting Ghetsis’s usual tirade on being a perfect leader with what could almost be argued as the fondness one has for an old friend or rival whose idiosyncrasies you are overly familiar with. Ghetsis’s reaction also echoes their shared connection:

Ghetsis and Colress of course are known to have shared a connection during BW2. Ghetsis trusted Colress enough to have him act as the leader of Team Plasma, although he voiced frustrations over Colress’s agenda, which created difficulties for his own plans without being in outright opposition to them. RR Ghetsis never had to request for Colress to be the leader of Team Plasma, but regardless the two of them seem to have been familiar enough with each other during the events of BW that Ghetsis felt confident making a call on Colress’s behavior during the RR Episode. This speaks to these two having a relationship of some kind that has spanned years. Ghetsis does not treat Colress as a subordinate but instead does not see why Colress could possibly be bothered to interfere. Ghetsis’s expression also seems to betray the familiar annoyance that fueled his criticisms of Colress during BW2. Perhaps he knows Colress’s self-serving nature all to well and has realized that he has entered a situation where Colress is going to outmaneuver and undermine him but cannot yet see why he would be choosing to do so. 

Colress’s own reaction speaks to the casual nature of their relationship and seems to show that he thinks Ghetsis’s misguided expectations on any semblance of loyalty from Colress as being childish.

What follows in the next few seconds becomes more layered and complicated. Colress, standing in front of the protagonist and Lillie, makes the following bold statement:

On the surface, this appears to be an easy declaration of Colress’s hatred for Ghetsis and a sure sign that Colress is one of the good guys. However, there are a couple things off about this statement and some interesting choices in the set up of the scene that seem to be implying something else is going on here. 

First of all, as we have established, Colress and Ghetsis have a long lasting relationship. Colress used to work with Ghetsis, and when Ghetsis was defeated, Colress immediately flipflopped and claimed to have hated Ghetsis all along, despite being responsible for Team Plasma’s actions during BW2 and having agreed to work with (not for) Ghetsis. Secondly, Colress faces no consequences for his involvement with Team Plasma and suffered no hardship while acting as the leader of Team Plasma. There is no evidence that Ghetsis has done anything to harm Colress or to cause strong negative feelings towards him. If anything, Ghetsis has given him power and resources. Perhaps Colress might not have liked Ghetsis’s methods but he did not seem to be so uncomfortable with them that he was unwilling to enable Ghetsis carry out his wishes during BW2. In fact, Colress seems more than willing to use the same methods as Ghetsis as long as the methods work. 

As for the set up of the scene, this would have been an easy heroic moment for Colress where we see his angered face as he sends Ghetsis back to his world. He did just declare that he hates Ghetsis, so why not show the fire and give the player a cathartic moment to connect with Colress and beat Ghetsis again? Instead, Colress’s face is hidden at the exact moment that he declares that he “despises” Ghetsis. There is only one person who can see Colress’s face during this scene, and that is Ghetsis himself. Both Lillie and the protagonist remain behind Colress.  This presents Colress with the opportunity to silently communicate to Ghetsis what he is actually feeling and given their history, it would be reasonable to say that those feelings might amount to the smugness of someone who outmaneuvers their rival. Colress then quickly sends Ghetsis back to his world and we finally see his face again, back to the calm and neutral smile. Despite the apparent emotional charge of the exchange, Colress seems relatively unaffected. 

Ghetsis has no time to react to Colress’s words and is pulled back into his own world. Colress then explains his actions to the children and warns them that Ghetsis is not someone to be taken lightly, although Colress did start the encounter by toying with Ghetsis and did not intervene to assist the children when Ghetsis battled the protagonist. 

So, is that the end of what can be gleaned of Colress’s role during the RR Episode? No! Colress’s most revealing line can be read immediately after the encounter with Ghetsis. It reads as follows:

"This castle... Oh, of course! Necrozma's power to open Ultra Wormholes overflowed and resonated with intent of tremendous evil, twisting reality and causing this to appear! The vortex of power somehow...summoned the evil leaders, such as Ghetsis, from their worlds! It's all very interesting... Ah, I mean, quite a pain. I could put this power to much better use!"

By Colress’s own reasoning, “tremendous evil” was summoned to the castle where he himself appears. His supposedly noble intentions are betrayed by the interest that he shows in the events and he barely remembers to correct himself by saying the villains are a pain rather than interesting. Colress also cannot resist saying that he would harness this power that summons tremendous evil to better use! Throughout the RR Episode, the villains make statements on how they would realize their own goals with the opportunities the Ultra Wormholes gave them. Colress too appears to be following this pattern. Narratively, Colress matches the other villains but continues to avoid consequences by carefully positioning himself in situations by making sure there is a convenient scapegoat such as Ghetsis, and perhaps even Lusamine present.