#But it feels like they and other original variants of pokemon are being left in the dust a bit

[hyperfixatinator]

Regional variants of pokemon are really cool, but I can't help thinking of how people native to the newer region would react to the "original" variants of them.

Like imagine someone from Galar visiting Hoenn and seeing a Hoenn Zigzagoon for the first time.

Galar Trainer: What a charming little fella! Did it become a normal type to ward off ghost type predators? ...Oh, ghost types are fairly rare around here?

Well, there's nothing wrong with simplicity! Being a normal type probably gave it a wider range of coverage moves compared to our– oh their movesets aren't actually that different...belly drum's pretty cool...

And I mean, we're just talking about zigzagoons here. The Hoenn version of obstagoon's bound to have–

...why are you looking at me like that?

[adobe-outdesign]

would definitely love to hear ur thoughts on the cufant line!

Maybe I'm just biased because this was my second shiny in SV, but I rather like Cufant. It's cute—I like the almost cat-smile effect it has with the trunk and the shape of the eye—and I think the idea of a mining theme that focuses more on the element being mined (in this case, copper) than the equipment is a neat angle to go at it from.

Visually, using green areas to represent oxidization (patina) makes sense and creates a good light/dark contrast with the orange body. The design is ornate enough but not overly busy due to most of the body being left clear, and the little shovel trunk is a nice touch.

That said though, there are a few small things that bug me. Like, I'm not big on the "hat"—it feels very out-of-place, and the shape isn't reflected anywhere in the design. Likewise, it's bothersome that it uses the lighter underbelly color when it the similar-looking trunk and toenails both use white (either the hat should be white or the other accents the light orange, but keep it consistent).

Also, the markings feel a bit random. The ones on the trunk, hat, and toenails are very angular, while the rest of them are more ornate and round. Neither option is bad, but some visual consistency would be appreciated. Other than that, though, it's a fine little design.

Also, side note: it was probably just GameFreak trying to give a good reason for an Indian Elephant to be in Poke-England, but the whole "They came over from another region long ago and worked together with humans" thing combined with the mining accidentally makes this into the British Imperialism Pokemon, which is a big 'ol yikes from me. They definitely should've saved this one for a different region entirely.

Copperajah has something interesting going for it with the patterning on its body, which is very reminiscent of copper deposits. I think these spots look best in areas like the toenail accents, the ears, and the eyes—areas where the placement feels purposeful.

In areas where the placement is less purposeful, however, the body starts to get a bit messy. The swirls on the body pop nicely but feel very random in shape and placement. And then there's the lighter green, which makes the colors a bit garish and adds nothing to the design. I would've dropped the underbelly completely, then made the light green areas on the trunk and tail orange instead.

The boxy look also isn't my favorite. It's probably supposed to look chunky, like copper ore, but it instead it just comes across as inorganic and stuff. Likewise, the random ore chunks on top of the head are a weird shape. It's got the right idea and a neat aesthetic to it, but it could've used a bit of refinement and simplification.

And honestly, I think g-max Copperajah is one of my least favorite g-maxes—which is saying a lot, because I don't like a lot of them to begin with. The body shape is just so freaking bizzare and so ugly—the boxy look was one of my least favorite things about Copperajah, so seeing it emphasized here with a weird upright design just makes it look completely unlike a living creature.

And so much of this design just feels random. Emphasizing the digging trunk is fine enough, but why the speckled underbelly? Why are the legs so much bigger than the upper legs? Why do the toenails go under the foot??? It's just a mess all around.

If GameFreak decides to give this line some other forms in the future that aren't quite as aimless as the g-max, I wouldn't mind seeing a regional variant. It's said to be imported to Galar, so giving it a regional that was what it looked like originally would be a nice bit of world-building.

Anyway, overall: Copperajah has a nice design as a whole and an interesting theme with the copper concept. Copperajah has the right idea, but the design needed cleaned up and simplified a bit. And we don't talk about the g-max.

[randomkposts]

Would a female mafia boss mello be more unhinged, crazy, cautious, warry, and have power over the fake ID industry? Like, she would have a lot of escape plans in case she's 'caught'

E:-Lmao like we haven't searched up how to get rid of bodies before.Bold to not assume Mello don't have at least one escape option

K:-I don't know if you can graduate whammies without having an escape option.Near went with Money, Mello broke out and pursued crime, and L committed identity theft. 

E:-Doesn't another DN world story implied a bunch of them go military at some point??

K:-I never read that

E:-And a lot of them are familiar with weapons. No doubt thanks to Roger and Watari. So there is another series of the books with a different version of how L dies. It talks about some other alphabet prodigies who have died in action or got killed.

K:-I wonder if it counts as more of An AU spinoff like hopes, or is a different world variant like birthright vs conquest?

E:-It is seeing their L died a different way compared to the manga/anime.

K:-So more like birthright vs conquest?

E:-Though I can still see Roger being hard to please grandparents. He doesn't like you but cares enough to make sure you stay alive.

K:-Except the divergent point is the Death Note was never dropped?

E:-Yeah Birthright vs Conquest

Or Pokemon Emerald/Sapphire/Ruby

No its always dropped. Just outcome is different how L dies or Lives.

In one case Watari died but L faked his death and made it back to Whammies.

K:-How do you successfully fake your death when someone has shinigami eyes?

E:-I got no freaking clue. Which feels inconsistent.Or was it Watari who lived and L died. Either way DN shrugs and goes "I dunno."

K:-Like the shinigami eyes are so broken, that I'm pretty sure even if L poured Acid in Misas eyes she could still see.

E:-Taking Justice being blind to a whole new level.

K:-Neither Mikami nor Soichiro showed signs of having trouble seeing with their glasses on, despite the fact the prescription would make what they saw blurry and distorted with their improved vision.

E:-Interesting#

K:-OK, maybe not quite, but Misa made the end deal at least twice. And so if L theoretically Blinded Misa she could make the eye deal again, as 

"Regardless of their original eyesight, those with the eyes gain a visual acuity of over 3.6 (about 72/20)."

Giving up half your life span can give you vision to rival eagle vision.OK, not quite. But like, 72/20 vision  is broken, and how do you fake your death to someone who can see your lifespan?

Maybe Watari lived?

But I still don't see how they could successfully fake your death.

I wonder what gaining shinigami eyes does to your cones and rods.OK well probably a lot to your cones. But I have to wonder if night vision improved too. 

The simplified form of 72/20 is 18/5 which is slightly lower then Eagles 20/5 vision. Eagles can see stuff like an ant crawling on the ground from the top of a ten story building.  

Eagles Retinas are deeply covered with cones enhancing their power to resolve fine details. They also have a deeper fovea then humans. "

Our fovea is a little shell or bowl, while in hawk or eagle it's a convex pit. Some investigators think this deep fovea allows their eyes to act like a telephoto lens, giving them extra magnification in the center of their field of view," 

Misa could have been big brother!

E:-Omg. Jesus imagine she did the eye deal thrice.

K:-Mello is already unhinged regardless of gender, as Mello left Whammies school of crime fighting for orphans and proceeded to take over the American mafia. Somehow... 

We the viewer, are never shown how. Just that he destroyed a mob boss not even Kira could find. Then successfully held it for anywhere from 1-3 years.   Whatever Mello did, would have had to have been crazy,  cautious, wary, and unhinged. 

He pulls a kidnapping to get his hands on a Death Note. And not only that, he kidnapping the person who he thought was Kira's sister to pull it off.

He blows up the warehouse to escape capture. 

He  tried to blackmail the president of the United States. 

Do we need to Amp up any of the mentioned qualities? Admitibly Female Mello is going to act more dangerously anyways, as what's unsafe for Male Mello, is even more unsafe for a female, but there's already nothing safe about a teenager running the American Mafia, so boy or girl, Mello is setting a reputation as someone not to cross, but the girl has to play even harder hardball, due to gender reasons. 

More escape plans? Maybe. If it suits as foil to Light. 

Personally  I like to think Matt is her forger, and one of the reasons Matt was brought. Forger Matt!

If I could somehow get the eye deal from a shinigami without running the risk that they would kill me if bored enough (not Ryuk) and I was asked if I would want the shinigami eye deal for half my life span, it would be a hard question for me to answer

If I could somehow get the eye deal from a shinigami without running the risk that they would kill me if bored enough (not Ryuk) and I was asked if I would want the shinigami eye deal for half my life span, it would be a hard question for me to answer. 

A vision  just below eagle.As usual, Misa and her abilities is overlooked in death note.Mello went to  kidnapping a Kira. It was Takada (who in the movie the last  made the eye deal).

E:-Jokingly I want to add in Wearing leather in what looks like the desert.Very underused of the eyes. How many times that girl is gonna sacrifice her life for Light 😭😭😭.

K:-All 9 of them.At least in canon

E:-He doesn't even have RIZZ.He ain't got the charm charm.

K:-The shinigami eyes as superior eyes should be used.I wonder what the above means for the bearers of eagle vision in AC.

[prof-peach]

Hello professor, ive been looking into taking on a sawsbuck as a business companion, i make tea from certain grass type’s shed dry leaves and flowers, and i was wondering a few things. Where does sawsbuck lie in the grass type classification? Are they normal type pokemon with a parasitic feature like parasect? Are they normal grass hybrids that feature both the animal and plants as one being like tortera? Or are they full on grass pokemon that evolved to look like normal types like nuzleaf? Also the only species ive seen are the cherry blossom verity, what other kinds of floral species can i look into?

Sawsbuck is an interesting one, technically they're more like a Torterra in that their body is host to a tree, the seed of which is lodged in their brain upon birth/hatchig. Some actually do not receive a seed, and are pure normal types! but it is quite unusual a defect in the species. The seed once the pokemon evolves, sends its roots far down into the brain and through the spinal column, right to the tip of their tails. They do not need to root like an average grass type, as they already are constantly rooted into the pokemon's body itself. If its host is healthy, exercised, and fed well, so are the plants that adorn its head. The foliage is a good signal that you have a strong partner, if they're full and healthy in colour, and quick to adapt to each changing season, then odds are they're ok. You could call it parasitic, but your information on Parasect is off a touch, they're technically Symbiotic. The fungi that hosts within that pokemon aids it, and keeps it healthy and hardy, giving back sugars and nutrients the original pokemon needs but cannot produce without its mushroom infested bod. Just like Parasect, Sawsbuck needs its tree core partially for camouflage, but also to photosynthesise when they have a lack of solid foods available. When Sawsbuck fall on hard times, their foliage will provide them with energy, and in extreme conditions, they shed and consume their own antlers, to survive terrible conditions. It is unusual for a grass type to not need to root, and thats why it's primarily a normal type, capable of surviving fine without its tree, without the grass aspect, and without its antlers. We occasionally see members of the species who's trees have rotted and died out, and should they survive this process, they go on to live just fine so long as they have enough food and water. Normal type pokemon are notoriously adaptive, its why Sawsbuck are classified as Normal firstly in their type hierarchy. Their classification is actually debated quite a lot, they do not produce seeds like most grass types can, and cannot reproduce this way, and they do not root, and yet they synthesise and benefit from their host plant matter, and often survive thanks to the trees they sprout when left alone in the wild. I suppose it's a topic to question but regardless of how we categorise them, it doesn't really matter. They're good partners, and can provide a whole host of useful medicine from their variants. A pure breed Sawsbuck however isn't all that good for tea brewing. If you want a strong packmule/mount with tasty tealeaves, I'd suggest a Gogoat. They are very durable, and have great empathy for peoples needs. in regards to Variants of Sawsbuck that may suit your needs, search for a 'Camellia sinensis' Variant, a species of tree that is good for tea, or perhaps an Eastern white pine variant, not known for its flowers, but certainly can brew a good cup or two! Theres Sassafras variants too, but they're a bit more uncommon to find. I suppose you could look for a Willow variant or two, the bark they shed can be treated so you can use it as a drink but BOY, it's a bit of a longwinded process. Hope you feel a bit more informed, theres plenty of others but they're uncommon to find, let alone tame. Some variants are more fiery than others.

[rayveewrites]

pokemon and hermitcraft are my hyper fixsations, and i love love love the ather foundation, could you give more info about that au you mentioned? -arrow

Arrow, I don't think you realize what you're about to unleash.

Premise:

The Hermit Pokémon AU is... complicated. Basically, while Lusamine was going off the rails, she hit on the utterly fantastic idea of fusing humans with various pokemon to... make them more beautiful. Or something. Nobody's really sure.

The project was top-secret- Faba was aware of it, but Wicke was completely in the dark. The few scientists that were involved were strictly monitored 24/7, and were originally chosen for their extreme loyalty to the foundation. The project was dubbed Project Hermit, so even if it was heard of in passing, any outsider would be aware as to what was truly going on.

The thing was, they needed test subjects. And after some initial tests and a lot of theory, they came to the conclusion that the ideal subjects would have to be fairly malleable. Like young children.

Their first subjects are actually bought and paid for from their parents, who were either desperate or just didn't care. Of those subjects, only one was successful- a young boy who was successfully fused with a Larvitar, although he did lose both an arm, and half his face in the process.

Then one of the scientists with poor morals got a Hypno and they realized they didn't need to buy all these children! They could just kidnap them instead! Yes, this is very messed up. Thanks for noticing.

As time wore on, they managed to make the effects subtler, better controlled, although there were a few cases where there were no visible changes (XB, Mumbo), and a few where they were more drastic than expected (Iskall, Joe).

After the events of Pokemon Moon (we're going with Moon), Gladion took over the Aether Foundation. The second he found out about Project Hermit, he freaked, shut it down, and tracked down their parents to return the poor kids. He apologised personally, and made sure they had all the support they needed for their experimented-on children. Because Gladion is a half-decent human being who feels an ounce of sympathy.

-

Additional notes:

Their pokemon halves are capable of evolving! When and how this happens depends on the hermit, the circumstances, and how said pokemon evolves.

The relationships between the hermits are... complicated. They went through hell together as young kids, and forged a special kind of bond as a result- they only had each other for a long time. Some have tried to move on and forget, others are fine with their inhuman features and made peace with what happened.

The only one not sent back to his family was, of course, Doc, who was actually bought by the Aether Foundation for the sake of the experiments. Gladion didn't exactly want to send him back, because there was no way that would end well, but fortunately Professors Kukui and Burnet were willing to take him in and give him a loving home. And an arm. And Kukui's fashion sense.

Cleo was originally sent to live with her parents, but they clearly either didn't know or didn't care what to do with a half-pokemon daughter. So she did the obvious thing and basically moved in with Joe and his parents instead. They've unofficially adopted her now.

A handful of them are shinies! And by a handful I mean three. Which is frankly a lot, considering the odds.

Doc wasn't the only one left scarred by the experiments! Scar was pretty heavily injured in the process (though he didn't lose any limbs, thankfully), TFC lost a leg, Iskall lost an eye (just the one), and Xisuma was branded on the face to send a message to the other kids. X wears a helmet to hide his mutilations.

Evil X, Helsknight, and Pungence are all here! EX is Xisuma's twin, Pungence is Bdubs' younger brother, and Hels is Wels' really weird cousin.

All of them, regardless of physical appearance, are capable of learning pokemon moves. Whether or not they actually use them depends on the individual.

-

The List:

Bdubs: Tangela-> Tangrowth

Cub: Unovan Yamask -> Cofagrigus

Doc: Larvitar -> Pupitar -> Tyranitar

Etho: Froakie-> Frogadier -> Greninja

False: Honedge -> Doublade-> Aegislash

Gem: Deerling -> Sawsbuck

Scar: Skitty -> Delcatty

Grian: Rufflet-> Braviary

Hypno: Drowzee -> Hypno (low-hanging fruit, I know)

Jevin: Shiny Ditto

Impulse: Rotom

Iskall: Pawniard -> Bisharp

Joe: Mimikyu

Keralis: Stakataka

Mumbo: Nosepass -> Probopass

Pearl: Swablu -> Altaria

Ren: Rockruff -> Midday Lycanroc

Stress: Oddish-> Gloom -> Bellossom

Tango: Kantonian Ponyta -> Rapidash

TFC: Drillbur -> Excadrill

Beef: Elgyem -> Beheeyem

Wels: Shiny Rookidee -> Corvisquire -> Corviknight

XB: Lillipup -> Herdier -> Stoutland (tenuous, so if anyone has any better ideas please share; I'm genuinely not sure what to do with XB)

Xisuma: Type: Null -> Silvally

Zedaph: Mareep -> Flaaffy -> Ampharos

Cleo: Shiny Cubone -> Alolan/Kantonian Marowak (A mix of the two; physically takes after the Kantonian shiny, but abilities are closer to the Alolan variant).

[warriordreamer95]

RWBY Volume 7 Crew Commentary Notes!

All credit goes to Sweetfable over on Reddit! Sweet, if you’re on Tumblr and have already posted this or want to, let me know and I’ll take this down!

Chapter 1

Featuring Kerry Shawcross and  Miles Luna.

Miles says he was hoping people didn’t figure out Atlas was a floating city in the sky before they got there. Even in World of Remnant, they were very careful with how they worded things to avoid spoiling this fact.

A large portion of ep 1 was intended to be in V6

Originally it was going to end with Penny being revealed, dealing with the Grimm, and ending on “Salutations”

Almost everything up until the Penny moment was how it was going to be in V6. For production and story reasons they decided to end V6 with just seeing Atlas.

Mantle is a little more Blade Runner and utilitarian looking, while Atlas was made to look like it was created by Apple. Two different futuristic looks.

When making the four kingdoms, they compared it to parts of the real world. Atlas and Mantle were two different versions of America

The drunk guy (Drunk Mann) we see insulting Blake is based off of Joel Mann and the other is Dustin Matthew (Grape-kun).

We saw Pietro (his hand) for the first time in Volume 3. They didn’t want to make him too similar to Dr. Weller from gen:LOCK, and so they made him to be like a ‘big’ kid. It’s where Penny gets a lot of her attitude from.

Kerry wants to do a show with all the old RWBY characters

V8 was harder to write than V7

It was a challenge in this episode to make it clear that Atlas is a new place for some characters, but a familiar one for several others, but that the Atlas in V7 is a different one than what they remember.

They try to theme the grimm to the location. So Grimm from Atlas are those that are from the Ice Age.

Miles compare Grimm to Pokemon. Some will pop up in every region, while others are region specific.

They had a lot of discussion surrounding what they wanted Penny 2.0 to look like. They considered giving her a conflict of her being a clone or not having her memories, but ultimately with the amount of stuff that needed to happen this volume they felt that it wouldn’t have been able to be done well.

Chapter 2

Featuring Kerry, Conner (director), and Kiersi

Forest became a fan-favorite

This episode was tricky to write because it was getting close to being an exposition dump

They had to balance movement and how much the characters can emote (especially when characters lie this episode)

Ironwood’s office shifting to present his plan was a cool idea + it was another way to stay in the room without having things get boring

Really wanted team RWBY to feel like they were on the right path and had something to follow. Establishing the trust theme early on.

Qrow and Ironwood’s relationship is super interesting to Kerry, and he wishes they could have explored it more. Conner pushed for Qrow’s hand to be lower in the hug scene (lol)

Conner jokes that he also proposed Ironwood should propose to Oscar when kneeling

Ironwood giving the relic back was his biggest sign of trust

They comment about how positively Penny states ‘it’ll be just like Beacon again!’ when she got destroyed there in V3

Kerry calls Watts ‘Daddy Long Legs’

Chapter 3

Featuring Kerry and Miles

They were confused when they saw people on Reddit and Tumblr think that this volume would have a shopping montage

Team RWBY jumping out of a plane is a callback to landing strategies and to see how far they have come since V1

The crew thought everyone would love Jaune’s new haircut, and was shocked when everyone immediately hated it. Miles wanted to see Jaune grow up a bit, so he liked the change.

They wanted team RWBY to start acting like and learning from professional huntsman

Miles wanted Atlas to feel like the Beacon days at first, and first came up with the idea that some Atlas academy professors would teach them. But that evolved into mentors, which eventually became Atlas’s best of the best.

The Ace-Ops are not only fun characters, but also foils to some of our main characters to help move their stories along

The Ace-Ops having five members + a team name not based on a color was very intentional. It was to show that Ironwood doesn’t care about Oz’s rules and would rather have an efficient team.

Eddy came up with the name Ace-Ops. Each member is based off an Aesop fable.

The mine scene has us seeing the SDC logo everywhere. Adam, as a terrible of a person as he was, when he was younger, was arguing with someone at a SDC place and the other person grabbed a brand and gave him his scar. So seeing the logo all over the mine was very intentional to put that in the forefront of Blake’s mind, and Yang notices

The fight with the Centinel grimm was originally supposed to be a bit longer and there was going to be an alpha variant of the centinel (which they imply we will see in the future)

Some characters got more upgrades than others. Weiss is already perfect, so she didn’t need any changes. Miles was excited that they were able to give Ren heavy rounds to shoot with. Ren has his father’s dagger on his arm

Many things that seem like retcons are actually not, and instead is just Kerry and Miles learning how to tell a story while simultaneously telling a story. So things were not always explained well early on.

Qrow and Clover were an interesting couple of characters, Miles says. For a long time Qrow was the guy that worked best alone (compared to Shadow the Hedgehog) and wanted him to interact with people that aren't his nieces and their friends. Clover was made to be a total bro and like Captain America- who always makes luck puns. He constantly feels like he is in an action movie because things always go right for him, so he doesn’t need to look where he’s about the jump. Which ultimately leads to someone who relies too much on their semblance. He rides the line of confidence vs arrogance. Clover is kind of person that Qrow always wanted to be. At the beginning of their friendship, Qrow doesn’t really like Clover and finds him irritating. But eventually it evolved into friendship, and later tragedy.

They left RWBY out of the battle of the Ace Ops vs the Geist to showcase how they didn’t need RWBY to get things done. It was their moment to shine

Wanted to give a sense in these first few episodes that, maybe everything will work out okay

Spoiler alert: It won’t

Chapter 4

Featuring Paula (co-director), Dustin (co-director), Eddy Rivas, Kerry Shawcross

Wanted a chance for the characters to breathe a bit before bigger things went down

Kerry loves the lighting in the first scene. They referenced how lighting looks in the tundra

The first draft of the scene where Ironwood is giving orders originally happened in his office

From V5 they learned it’s great to be efficient with sets but they can fatigue the audience and the crew

Originally the celebration wasn’t going to be in Amity, and instead it was going to be in Atlas’s version of an auditorium.

The ship Jacques arrives in is the same one Winter arrives from in V3. It’s a Schnee company ship

Paula thought it was important that Blake hold Weiss’s hand and be the first to stand by her side when Jaques is yelling at Weiss since Blake knows what it is like to be in an abusive relationship. Ruby and Yang didn’t even really know a father would talk like that to his daughter.

They were excited to write Penny and Winter’s ‘mirror-destiny’, which they laid some of the foundation for this episode

Qrow talking to Ruby was barely on the outline for the episode, but it was on their wish list if they had time to get it in.

Dustin says ‘fatherly’ when describing the moment and Kerry is like, ‘you just opened up a whole can of worms’

Eddy loves the ‘Jim’ gag when referring to Jaune.

Watt’s entrance was a difficult shot to execute properly because of the door.

Chapter 5

Featuring Conner, Eddy, and Kerry

They originally weren’t sure about having a montage in this episode

The penguins we see for a moment were possibly going to be grimm penguins

Kerry wants RT to sell the cards Clover has, and Eddy thinks it’s funny he would have cards with him emblem on them.

They liked having the moment of Clover and Qrow in the middle of this episode to show that Qrow is now becoming a mentee of sorts.

Adding in the Robin encounter was a late addition to the outline. She wasn’t going to be introduced until Chapter 6 during her rally

But they wanted to put the two factions head to head earlier on.

It was also the first moment of Clover being a bit duplicitous.

The plot line of tying the supplies through Robin’s storyline was a late addition while writing

Weiss vs Winter with summoning is a callback to V3C4 with them training together

Weiss being able to sit on hard-light (a block) is something Kerry was unsure about at first

Originally Weiss and Winter going to see Fria was going to be Winter getting an alert from Ironwood and having to leave, and Weiss following her suspiciously. But it worked better as Winter revealing a secret while Weiss was still keeping one

Chapter 6

Featuring Paula, Kiersi, Miles, Eddy, and Kerry

Eddy is the one who came up with the idea for the middle part of the season while he had a really bad fever

Originally Tyrian was going to make it look like a bunch of Atlas soldiers fired on civilians in Mantle. Then Eddie thought it should frame RWBY, but ultimately they went with framing Penny.

Nobody has ever offered Penny a fist bump before, so she wanted to do it perfectly

An old draft had the team and Ironwood doing an investigation at this warehouse post-massacre

There was also no montage in C5, just them sitting around a table talking about what they did

Miles also mentions there was going to be a scene in C3 with Marrow trying to bond with Blake about being a Faunus, and also about him specifically being a Faunus in Atlas who is a part of Atlas’s military team. But that episode was so packed they wanted to move it to C6, but then that episode also became too packed. But they plan to get to it in future volumes

They wanted to show how much the Happy Huntresses care about each other and about Mantle

They also originally did not want to have anything political in this season. But the more iterations they did, they felt it was the best course of action to do that with the story.

They wanted to give the heroes a high personal moment with Renora kissing right before things went down

Penny was not used to fighting sneaky enemies, so that is how Tyrian got the upper hand

While they don’t usually check back up on extras, things turned out that we kept seeing Drunk Mann and Grape-kun throughout the season to represent the city of Mantle

Chapter 7

Featuring Conner, Kiersi, Miles, Eddy, and Kerry

Fiona’s semblance was originally going to be Torchwick’s semblance, and it was called Deep Pockets. But they never found a moment for him to use it. So they decided he could be a great example of how some people don’t unlock their semblances

Originally some of C7 was meant for C4 where they found out earlier that Tyrian was involved with things

Miles wrote the description we got of Tyrian’s past (Salem first contacting Tyrian), and it was one of his favorite things to write.

Qrow looking at Clover when he is willing to go with Ironwood’s plan was meant to show some distance growing between the two

We were going to get more of Ren explaining why he was feeling the way he was and agreeing with Ironwood, but ultimately they are pushing it to next volume

Originally Blake and Yang were going to directly reference Adam when they had their talk, but they later figured out how to reference him indirectly

The arm robot Pietro has in his office was originally going to have more of a character like the robotic arm Tony Stark has

They tried hard to get Maria more scenes, but there was often no room for it

Miles realizes he was dumb to suggest that Pietro cover Watt’s face with his thumb while looking at a picture since they already did that with Raven in V3

The lady in the photograph with black hair is not Cinder’s mom (which was apparently a fan theory)

Robin encountering the Bees was a late edition to the outline. But it gave every member of RWBY a moment

They wanted the vault in the Academy to feel similar to the one in Haven but not a direct copy

Miles believes that if Ironwood would allow himself to be more vulnerable more often things would’ve gone differently

The invitation to the Schnee manor was originally going to be to a news conference

Chapter 8

Featuring Dustin, Miles, and Kerry

They didn’t specify what the hood ornament on the car would be, so Dustin was happy when it came back as a velociraptor, which references a raptor Monty Oum would put in photos with RWBY characters

Fans have guessed what direction they are going with Whitley. He starts off as a jerk, but Miles implies that is going to change. It is also an easy way to remind the audience of how the elite act

At the table, Jacques’s chair is bigger than everyone else's

Miles wrote the gag of JNR sabotaging Whitley’s conversation with Weiss and expected it to take only a few seconds, but as more people worked on it the longer it got

The stack of food was taller than Dustin expected it to be, and they even had to scale it back because it was going to be even taller

Another power move of Jacques is to only give a few people wine, as well as not giving Penny any food

Willow was originally going to be in the intro

A joke was made about Salem being Jaune’s sister in the V6 intro before everyone knew who she was

None of the writers expected Penny and Winter to have such a bond this volume initially

Miles wanted to portray when Weiss is talking to Willow that she doesn’t really know how to act around an adult with such an adult issue. Since Weiss is quite young (Miles compared it to him having to help an adult with an adult issue when he was 13)

Chapter 9

Featuring Paula (director), Kiersi, Eddy, and Kerry

It was difficult to keep the shots interesting in the dining room

We see Grape-kun and Drunk Mann again this episode

In earlier chapters they made sure to have an orange glow to represent the heating in Mantle since they knew it would be turned off in chapter 8

They wanted to showcase that Ironwood was starting to have doubts, which would later be clearly seen in episode 11

The foot soldiers (AKs) that the Grimm are able to overwhelm in only a few seconds were meant to represent that Atlas wouldn’t provide them with much defense against Grimm because they don’t care enough

Every storyline was coming together in this episode, and it’s tricky to make a setup episode like this not seem like filler

Ruby and Oscar’s awkward interaction came from them both ‘riding the high’ of the moment where it seems like they each have great plans that will go well.

Oscar is starting to tap into some of Ozpin’s memories, as alluded to when he mentions how Atlas is held to a higher standard

Terry the grimm being hit by a fireball (part of a plane I believe) was a call back to Jurassic Park

They struggled a long time with where to put the Neo reveal

Chapter 10

Featuring Conner, Dustin, Kiersi, and Kerry

They felt that if they showed a lot in the first scene of the episode, they wouldn’t have to saturate the background with other fires and crowds.

The shot of Weiss’s knight being summoned and overshadowing Marrow is setting up their fight in C12

When seeing the shots of the enemies infiltrating the kingdom, they didn’t know if they wanted to show Neo and Cinder or Tyrian and Watts first. But they went with Neo and Cinder because it would show that they thought their cover was blown, when it would really be about the other two.

The place Neo and Cinder are staying at is an Atlas ‘high-life’ apartment

They always knew Elm would have a rocket launcher/bazooka, but never got the time needed to show it until now

They had to restructure Mantle a bit to allow the huge elephant to fit in the streets

The main characters working with the Ace Ops in this episode was to make it so things hurt so much more after events in the following one

All the background characters apparently have little backstories as they made sure they didn’t appear in two places at the same time

Ironwood jumps down a ridiculous number of feet to meet Watts. They had to cheat to not make that so obvious as well as say this is animation logic so people working on the shot would stop questioning how he could possibly make it.

Chapter 11

Featuring Kerry, Paula, and Miles

Originally a gravity biome in Amity was going to appear in V3C5. It was going to be Sun and Neptune vs Pyrrha and Nora. It was written, boarded, and ready to go but they realized there wasn’t time for it

This was a hard episode to write. A lot of stuff that needed to happen, and happen in a specific way

Watt’s gun was inspired a 20-shot revolver Kerry saw on Reddit

Ironwood losing another hand represents him losing another part of his humanity (possibly confirming he lost his one organic arm)

The first cut of this episode was 23 minutes and was deemed too long so they had to scale back, but they still felt they kept in everything that was needed to make the episode great

Initially the Tyrian vs Qrow, Robyn, and Clover fight was going to be a chase that turns into a fight that turns into another chase. And Qrow is the only one that could keep up with Tyrian since he can transform into a bird. Qrow would land in front of Tyrian and say ‘that’s enough’ and Tyrian would ask, ‘are you able to talk when you’re a bird or do you have to wait until you’re a person to throw your one-liners?’ (Tyrian asking the real questions here) Tyrian’s lack of self-preservation would be shown even more. He would have run down an alley packed with Grimm and would just trust that he could’ve made it through

The fight with Tyrian was initially going to be more of a Tyrian vs Qrow fight, but Miles loves that they made it a 3 v 1 so it could show off Tyrian’s exceptional skill

The fight was also a callback to the first Tyrian vs Qrow fight, where Ruby tried to be good back up for Qrow but was ineffective. But instead this time have Robyn and Clover be effective and more experienced teammates

Clover is defense, Qrow is offense, and Robyn is picking away at Tyrian with her long-ranged weapon

There was going to be more discussion of where Oscar was at the end of the episode, as well as a whole bit where the Ace Ops and the kids land and they get a hand-written note saying they’ve been compromised instead of getting it via scroll, but it turned out to be too much

The scene of Ironwood talking to RWBY and his turn to being against them was the most important scene in the episode, and something everything in the season had to build up to

Miles said it was about time the two sides met face to face with RWBY meeting Salem

They wanted to make Ironwood’s progression into villainy subtle and make sense

Salem made things personal for Ironwood, so he felt like he had to come up with a solution

They wanted more Cinder and Neo in the volume but had to cut back. But to compensate they had to be instrumental to the collapse of Ironwood (Miles first said collapse of Atlas so wonder if he slipped up)

Chapter 12

Featuring Dustin, Conner, Kiersi, Eddy, and Kerry

They wanted to have a false sense of resolution in the previous episode just to blow everything up here

Eddy handled the Ace Ops vs RWBY and Winter scenes while Kiersi handled the rest

Kerry learned from V5 that having everyone in one room for a fight doesn’t work well

Eddy is a big Weiss stan

Clover has no idea who he’s up against with Tyrian, and thinks of Qrow as the big threat, as well as Tyrian manipulating Qrow

Clover saw both Qrow and Tyrian on the wrong side of the law, so he felt like he had to fight both of them no matter what

They made sure team RWBY can’t just stomp on the Ace Ops, but still show their teamwork. Plus the lack of Clover being there didn’t allow for the team to have a ‘cheat code’

This is another episode they had to trim down in length

Cinder was always going to lay waste to the medical facility and attack Winter

They also wanted to do a Qrow vs Tyrian reprisal

Kerry said he loves Clover

It was crazy for Qrow to meet someone that was a genuinely good person

Chapter 13

Featuring Miles, Kerry, and Eddy

The Neo vs ORNJ fight could have been shorter

At one point they wanted to show Cinder using maiden magic to bring some dead AKs (Atlesian-Knight) back to life to fight Penny (was going to be some sort of puppet joke).

But Miles realized that Cinder could just blow up the room and bust through the walls

Ren is struggling with some heavy emotional stuff that is not resolved at all this volume, but it is hinted there will be a lot more for him next volume.

The writers knew a lot of people wouldn’t be happy with Ren’s attitude this volume. But he still cares about Nora, even if he doesn’t always communicate it well

Miles cried during the voice over session of Fria’s scenes for this episode

They had a lot of talks about how the maiden power would be transferred. They debated if Penny would have to kill Fria.

Originally one pod was going to be broken, with the one with Fria being in tact. But because Penny is a robot, she could ‘remote-interface in’ and get the powers. But that still felt like stealing, and they didn’t want to go that route.

Oscar has matured so much in his role (joking call him Farm Man)

Ironwood is still expecting Oz to show up. He still really wants that guidance

Ironwood arguing with Oscar was the finale scene they wrote this episode

Ironwood feels that he is backed into a corner and is doing the only sensible thing.

Winter was waiting to be the Winter Maiden her whole life, but in a split second she gives it all up

There was one line in Oz’s monologue they were struggling with for a whole day

They loved the idea of ending the volume on almost an identical shot from where they started

Neo’s look after Cinder takes the relic and doesn’t thank Neo for getting it is setting up some things for V8 (probably a betrayal)

Oz came back at that moment because he heard what Oscar said to Ironwood and that made him brave enough to return

Miles reveals that the Grimm whale is based on Monstro from Pinocchio

It is once again said that Volume 8 is the hardest one they had to write so far. Miles seems super excited about it

Volume 8 was made with some fan-input in mind (since it was still being written by the time V7 ended), but Volume 9 will be the first one written in a vacuum

[twotwinks]

hop from pokemon 👀

HECK YEAH MY SON thank you for sending roch ilu

Sexuality Headcanon: He's not really sure about all that yet because he's still pretty young but I do headcanon him as biromantic. He also falls in love incredibly easily, like someone in his age group could say one (1) nice thing to him and suddenly he'll catch himself daydreaming about holding their hand. (He also holds hands with all of his friends though so sometimes it turns out to just be a platonic desire, listen he's just very touchy-feely and maybe a lil platoniromantic as well but I'm probably just projecting.)

Gender Headcanon: Trans boy! Although I also really love him as nonbinary too.

A ship I have with said character: Not really any, but if I were to be talked into any of them it would be trainshipping (Victor).

A BROTP I have with said character: Gloria! The two of them are constantly getting into trouble together and if there are shenanigans going down in Galar there's a 95% chance they're involved and a 75% chance they caused it. They share a singular braincell and it's not a particularly good one fdhjkfhjk

A NOTP I have with said character: Cheeryfairyshipping (Bede). While I understand everybody on this godforsaken website goes feral for the enemies to lovers trope there are just some situations where the negative feelings can't be overcome and this is one of them. Bede said some genuinely horrible things to Hop and while both have moved past it and become better people the fact of the matter is that any potential romantic attraction Hop could have felt for Bede was shot dead the moment Bede decided to be mean. It goes hand in hand with my earlier headcanon — if Hop immediately falls for people who are nice to him, he in turn immediately loses all interest in people who are cruel to him. Not to say that he doesn't think people can change, and he's (mostly) forgiven Bede for what happened, but he's just got a You Get One Chance type of heart, y'know? Anyway I've yelled about this enough I'm just EUGH over this ship

A random headcanon: I could go on a whole rant about how I claim him as autistic and all the headcanons that go with that (and if anyone wants me to hmu) but this specifically said "random" and let's be real autistic headcanons are pretty par for the course for me. So instead I will leave you with this. Even though Sonia puts him to work helping her research Dynamaxing, what he's really interested in are regional variants of Pokémon and what causes them, as while there are theories about the variants in Alola, the origins of a lot of the Galarian forms are still shrouded in mystery. He's hoping Sonia lets him focus on researching it more as he gets older, and he'd especially like to be able to travel to other regions for studying too. (This is an important Plot Point in the story that lives in my head featuring my trainer Aden.)

General Opinion over said character: Well, just in case you can't tell, he's my son and I love him. He's one of my top two favorite rivals, the other being Barry, and he's tied with Hau for the Goodest Boy Award. Hop is genuinely what made me fall in love with Sword/Shield and he made my experience with the game an absolute treasure. It really felt like going on an adventure alongside your best friend who's known you since forever and understands you like no one else does, an experience I've often craved as someone who grew up feeling very isolated. People can whine and complain about friendly rivals being Bad Actually all they want but the fact of the matter is I probably wouldn't have enjoyed this game if I was left with just Bede and Marnie as my rivals. Friends are good things, and Hop is a very good friend!

Send me a character and I'll do this!

[funhaversclub]

HELLO HELLO! long time no see :)

I was going to post about all the new information we got from the Pokemon Sword and Shield expansion video but that's already been done. Instead I've decided to post about something much more dear to my heart. The teaser of the Galarian Slowbro and Slowking! BUT Not only that! This post evolved into basically an appreciation of my favorite Pokemon family. I know some of you may not think Shellder and Cloyster belong in this family but technically Slowpoke couldn’t grow without them. On that note let's get into it.

GALARIAN SLOWKING!

The first Pokemon addressed above is the Galarian Slowking... or Slowqueen?... Based on the information we were shown I think what happens to this iteration of Slowking is the Shellder crown, instead of just sitting on Slowpoke's head, swallows the head almost completely. You can see this in what looks like the Shellder Shell's eye in the left side of the scribbled out head. In doing this the Shellder becomes the pilot in this symbiotic relationship. Not only that but the Poison of Shellder seeps through Slowpoke's body even more than in the original Slowking making this version a Poison/Psychic type! I designed the shell to resemble Cloyster's spikes more than the original look. Another neat aspect could be seeing the powerful Poison/Physic energy flowing through causing a smoky aura to leak out through cracks in the crown as pictured below. As for how it evolves I'm not really sure. Maybe instead of a King's Rock it could be the Queen's Ore that you find in the Crown Tundra!

Some people seem to think Slowking could be a ghost or dark type this time around. With the Shellder possibly breaking, maybe the spirit inhabits or possesses Slowking? I like the idea of the crown breaking so I sketched this up!

GALARIAN SLOWBRO!

Secondly we have the Galarian Slowbro. The first thing to mention about the information we've been given is that this iteration of Slowbro has no Shellder on it's tail! This is odd because originally it was said that in order for Slowbro to even stand it needed the counterweight of the Shellder to lift it. I figured that meant this time around Slowbro is stronger on it's own. Hence the flex pose I gave it :) In the bottom left of the leaked imagery above we even see what looks like Slowpoke possibly learning to stand by itself? We also see a sketch of the Slowpoke fishing so where does the Shellder go? In that leak image, top left, it looks like the tail is possibly flinging the Shellder up. This, combined with the Pokemon website talking about Galarian Slowpoke's body changing through seeds it eats might mean that the Shellder doesn't hold on the same way? Maybe the tail has become bitter and Shellder no longer likes the taste? So Possibly when Shellder is "reeled" in it releases itself BUT lands on the Slowpoke's head instead of staying on the tail. This theory comes from another small glimpse we get in the teaser. A small image of Slowbro's purple head. We don't see Slowbro's ears so I took it upon myself to unwind them. Along with that, I took the purple forehead as more of the Shellder shell than just color. We do also see an image of the trainer Avery with what looks like a royal looking Slowbro complete with a tiny hat/shell and a frilly garment BUUUUT I kind of feel like this is an artsy picture of a Slowpoke dressed up. I could be wrong though so I added the features in the image below. Anyways, with the Shellder on it's head instead of tail, it doesn't change shape the same way. With no delicious tail to munch on the Shellder finds no reason to "evolve" itself. The Shellder's poison begins to seep through Slowbro but not in the same way as Slowking. It pushes poison through Slowbro's body giving him strength to stand as well as making it's hands and tail a purple color. I think this version of Slowbro would also be Psychic/Poison. Who knows how it will evolve. Possibly fishing the same way Slowbro’s lore has always been but as for in game it could be an item or it could be leveling up. We will have to find out in the Isle of Armor.

I don’t really think the frilled chested Slowbro is going to be part of the evolution but some people seem to think it could because of a new Galarian Shellder. I’ll admit when I first saw the image I thought maybe it could be something but the fabric around the neck made me think it was just clothes of some sort. That plus are they really going to also add a Shellder regional variant on top of the three new Slows? BUT for the sake of artistic fun I thought what if a Galarian Shellder had parts that looked like a neck tie? and I’m pretty sure a frilled clam shell is a thing…  So I whipped up the pearl cheeked, smooched lipped Galarian Shellder you see below! I realize that this type of shell is basically what Clampearl is based on and it very well could just be that that helps the evolution. Really, it could be a number of older gen sea dwellers that could contribute. Only time will tell.  

There’s a theory floating around that’s pretty interesting. The same way that I made Galar Slowbro have a Shellder helmet because we can’t see the top of it’s head in the teaser, people are saying because we can’t see it’s left hand maybe something happens to it? One of those somethings could be that Slowpoke fishes out a Shellder with it’s hand instead of it’s tail. This could result in some sort of powerful shell fist? or a rocket arm shell? who knows? When I was drawing this it reminded me of a arm cannon so I added the same “smoke/aura” I used on my Galarian Slowking (or Queen?) 

I’m REALLY hoping on top of all the cool new Slow-ness we also get Gigantamax forms of both these majestic beasts! Maybe something like a Slowpoke surrounded by a giant Shellder coral reef? Maybe because the Corsola of Galar are dying it could look like dying angry coral reef? Here’s a sketch up of the idea I had.

...Well that's about all I have to say about our new Galar Slow family. Seeing as how this has become a Slow Family appreciation post I'll continue with the odd looking Shellders.

Johto Shellder & Johto Cloysters!

Using very old concept art for variations on the Shellder shells attached to Slowbro's tail, I came up with the art for this Shellder trio. Not to mention in the Beta for Pokemon Gold and Silver it was revealed that this Shellder was going to be a stand alone Pokemon! Because of that Beta I'll be referring to them as Johto Shellder and Johto Cloysters.

It's said that when Shellder attaches to Slowpoke not only does it's shape change to become more defensive but also to get as much flavor out of the tail as possible. I thought a neat way to acquire this Johto Shellder would be to "evolve" a Slowbro at a high level holding an item and an open slot in your party I was thinking you could give Slowbro some sort of berry that fills up a Pokemon for a very long time with a single bite. Leveling up a Slowbro holding this berry causes an abundance of nutrients to flow to the Johto Shellder. Being full, it lets go of the tail but retains its form. This leaves the trainer with a Slowpoke in the empty slot and a brand new Johto Shellder in it's place! From Here I figured you could evolve the Johto Shellder in two ways. A higher defense stat would result in the small but thick Johto Cloyster and with a higher attack stat it would evolve into the soft but super spiky Johto Cloyster! woo! I Haven't really decided the typing of these Pokemon yet. 

The Johto Shellders I drew originally came from an older project I was working on. If you want to check out "Capsule Monsters 0 & 1" you can follow this link:

https://funhaversclub.tumblr.com/post/49391556862/just-like-before-with-every-picture-ive-added

Finally we have this Slowpoke with it’s little white belly exposed. This was a sprite used in the Japanese version of Pokemon Gold and Silver before being changed when it was released everywhere else. I thought this could be seen as a rarer type of Slowpoke that is VERY hard to find BUT has much higher stats. Kind of like a unique shiny. That OR it could be the Slowpoke that you get after evolving a Johto Shellder. 

Speaking of Shiny. This entire family of Slows and Shells have some unique shiny forms. We have yet to see Galarian evos Shinys but maybe I'll update this post with an interpretations of what I think they could look like later? for now here are all the shiny versions we currently have!

Since the Galarian Slowpoke has been implemented into Pokemon Sword and Shield we know what the Shiny Galarian Slowpoke looks like. Based on that, I’ve “Shiny-fied” my predictions of the Galarian Slowbro and Slowking.

I can’t wait to see what these guys actually turn out to look like! :)

I've taken some artistic liberties above but for a complete fan fic Slowbro evolution check out this idea on what other shells Slowbro could acquire:

https://funhaversclub.tumblr.com/post/115033630741/a-new-pokemon-fan-trend-going-around-its-drawing

Welp thank you for coming to my Slow Family ted talk. I'll leave you with a picture of a Slowpoke I found down by the beach near my house :) What a cutie.

[inikavulpixelreviews]

Let’s Talk About Pokemon - Gen 8 Retrospective

This Generational recap itself might be a bit on the shorter side, since I already said my peace on the games themselves and their less than stellar impact on the fandom before I even started them. (Not that there isn’t a lot I’m talking about here today though, hoo boy.) Though just know between a repeat playthrough and my opinion on the Pokemon dropping as I've analyzed them more, I'd say my final verdict is that they're a decent enough swan song to the way Pokemon games used to be that made Gym battles feel special again but lacked in a lot of other areas. 6/10 overall.

Though obviously Gen 8 isn't done yet. Since DLC is on the way, as I've said several times already. My general thoughts on the concept of Pokemon DLC replacing the traditional “Third Version” is good. For one thing I'd much rather pay $30 for access to new content immediately over paying another $60 for a “Pokemon Armor” version that had most of its new content back-loaded in the postgame. $30 is still steep... but it's better. And of course, the prospect of releasing more new Pokemon via DLC is a good one too. Hopefully releasing DLC rather than a full game every year will relinquish some of the workload off Gamefreak... so perhaps we can get smaller batches of new Pokemon released mid-generation to help mitigate just how many Pokemon felt like they didn't get finished in time. But also hopefully it'll mean Gen 9 will be all the better when we get there... Gamefreak has stated they're really challenging themselves with the next major Pokemon games so hopefully they're taking the more level-headed criticism to heart and it's not all talk but we'll have to see.

Yeah, that's about all I have to say about the state of Pokemon as of right now, neverminding my multiple rants and tangents since I've already gone to great lengths to state that Gen 8 isn't as good as I might've initially thought. I still like it overall, and it's probably still not my least favorite Gen... but it's very much like Gen 4 with an EXTREMELY mixed bag. Certainly felt like for every excellently designed Pokemon they had below-average flunky that feels like it should've gone back to the drawing board once or twice. But even all that aside, one of my more annoying sticking points with Gen 8 is the severe lack of new animals.

So in place of my usual ramblings on my thoughts on a generation as a whole, let's do a little Compare and Contrast. Let's look at the past few Generations and see just how noticeable this flood of species redo's is. Green checks are significantly new enough animals, Red crosses are for animal origins that have been done before, Yellow slashes for Pokemon with vague or heavily mixed taxonomic origins, and Grey circles for Pokemon that are disqualified for being Objectmon, since we've yet to get repeats of those. (Also disqualifying Gen 8's regional evos other than Obstagoon since it's not necessarily their fault that they're repeats.)

Are there arbitration in places? Probably. But I feel like the point still stands that Gen 8 was waaaaay too reliant on touching up on animals already covered in Pokemon before. Especially when there's still so many animals that have yet to get a Pokemon to their name. The one plus Gen 8 does have in this regard is that it has a few more “taxonomically vague” Pokemon than usual. But repeating animals in and of itself isn't all that bad, if you make the repeat different enough to be interesting in its own right. The one thing you could do wrong in that regard is to just make your monster notably more “normal” compared to the Pokemon it's repeating. So how does that hold up?

As much as I've established that one's a crow and the other's a raven, the two animals are still very much similar creatures. But I do feel like Murkrow and Corviknight are differentiated enough while both still being a “fantasy” creature in their own way. Murkrow is very much a gangly, cartoony crow while Corviknight covers the more majestic side of corvids.

Another one that's pretty blatant is that we now have two regions with a Ladybird as the common bug. Orbeetle does however get to be more accurate to the Ladybird life cycle, starting out with a larvae and ending with the beetle. Again, Ledian and Orbeetle are very different flavors of the same creature, Orbeetle not skimping out on any outlandish elements. In fact, it's more visibly outlandish than Ledian was.

This is where things start to get hazy. I've stated that Nickit and Thievul are sadly my least favorite fox Pokemon to date, simply because it has the least to offer imaginatively than all the other foxes that accompany it. Ninetales has the kitsune thing going on, while its Alolan variant covers Arctic Foxes. Zorua is a fantastical take on the tricky nature of foxes by combining aspects of shapeshifting kitsunes or tanookies while throwing in a bit of Kabuki. And Fennekin grows up to be more of a wizard. Thievul is very much a stereotypical red fox while having the trickster nature of foxes that's not only been done by Zorua before, but also in a much more stereotypical thieving way like a Swiper the Fox sort of thing.

Wooloo always struck me as odd ever since it turned out it wasn't the region's common Normal-type. I can excuse plainness in the common woodland animal since they're rather uniformly not terribly interesting (and arguably are like that by design). So it turns out it's more of a common early-game fodder just like Mareep is, but Mareep is just a smidge more interesting by being elemental, and also it turns into Ampharos, a weird little bipedal lamb with little flippers for some reason. Which is reasonably more imaginative than a Pokemon that's mostly just a sheep.

Sandaconda is another one that feels significantly fantastical and unique compared to its previous serpentine cousins. The only snake Pokemon beforehand that was hugely different from the template of what a snake usually is was Snivy. Sandaconda is even unique as far as cobra monsters go, with its “hood” being a big ol' sac that it keeps its projectile Anakin-repelent in.

Centiskorch is a little iffy. It's cool that they turned a real centipede's grappling maneuver and turned it into an even more effective weapon via its heat spots. But in terms of body shape it's significantly more normal looking for a centipede than Scolipede's almost horse-like proportions, isn't it?

Another iffy comparison since they're both fairly “regular” looking Octopus monsters. But even so, I'd count it as a point against Gen 8 since there's been more than plenty of time to come up with a cool and unique body type for an octopus.

That's better! Eiscue, while normal-looking if you only count the penguin body, is still a funny and imaginative take on a penguin monster that is a completely different flavor from Empoleon's stern look to boot.

Another dodgy one to justify. There's neat theming in there, but there's hardly any denying that an elephant that rolls up into a wheel and rolls around is notably a much weirder take on an elephant that Copperajah going by an elephant's body shape to a T.

Had they gone for a look more purposefully weirdly geometric like they SEEM to be going for, I probably would've given it a hand-wave, but even with that in mind, Copperajah is pretty vanilla in terms of Elephant monsters. Especially compared to Donphan.

...So even then, it's pretty mixed in that regard. Some Pokemon feel like worthwhile additions to the biodiversity, but others I can't help but wonder what the point was. Did Wooloo really need to exist in a series that already had Mareep? Couldn't they push Copperajah's concept further to better contrast with Donphan? Having repeats isn’t BAD, pretty sure every Gen past the 2nd has done them. But it’s hard to find sticking points on Gen 6 and 7′s repeats. Aurorus is totally different from Meganium. Vikavolt, while being much more close to realism in body structure compared to Pinsir, is still a vastly different fantasy creature just on account of having a gun for a face. And the whole Goomy line is almost nothing like Magcargo. And all that is WHILE still bringing in plenty of new animals to play with.

So yeah, I hope all that can help with understanding why I was a little harsh on Gen 8. It's still not my least favorite, cause we still got a ton of good out of it, and I would much rather have a mixed Gen of “Some Really Good, Some Not So Great” over Gen 2 and 4's “Some are good but the rest are really plain and boring.” But of course, as per usual, we gotta do the lists...

Top 10 Favorites of Gen 8:

Like I said, the new Pokemon that are good are REALLY good. Still struggled to make a Top 10, for good reason!

Top 10 Favorites Overall:

That said, there wasn’t a ton of impact on my Top 10. Top 50 maybe, but not here.

Bottom 10 Least Favorites of Gen 8:

Sadly there was plenty I was just plain not a fan of. Has there ever been a Gen where I just straight up dislike the whole Bottom 10? Hmm...

Bottom 10 Least Favorites Overall:

And tragically, this Gen did make a pretty deep cut into my least favorites, oof. It is an unholy image to not see Gallade be all the way to the left up there.

The Cutest:

The Coolest:

The Prettiest:

Corviknight and Eternatus aren’t just there because I ran out of traditionally pretty ones, just so you know. There’s something about a sleek, nearly all-black design that is genuinely gorgeous-looking to me.

The Spookiest:

Most Creative:

Weirdest/Most Unique:

Most Forgettable:

Most Personality:

At least there were still plenty of personality-driven designs! Look at all these adorable little charmers and smug little shits.

Most Under-Appreciated:

Best Regional Variants:

I’ve probably said it already but I am legitimately ecstatic with Regional Variation being a mainstay feature now. There is INFINITE potential with the concept and totally didn’t deserve to get ditched after a single use just in Alola. In fact I think it’d be rad if they do any more remakes they retroactively made “Sinnohan” or “Hoenn” forms of Pokemon. I thought they might’ve made some “Kantonian” forms for Pokemon in Let’s Go and redesigned a few modern Pokemon to look a bit like they were designed back in the 90s... but sadly that didn’t happen. Despite how cool it would’ve been. But Kanto is sacred ground that cannot ever be changed, I guess...

Best Ultra Beasts: (????????????????)

h

Best G-Maxes:

I still love the concept of G-Maxes, and we’ll probably get a few more before Gen 8 is done entirely. But it does stink that the concept in the end felt a little half-baked. Speaking of which...

Pokemon That SHOULD'VE Gotten G-Maxes:

Because G-Maxes wound up being locked to only be for Gen 1 or 8 Pokemon, with only a handful of exceptions. MAYBE they’ll stretch into other Gens in the DLC, but until then lemme just make a personal wishlist of SQUANDERED potential. Though I’ll limit myself to Pokemon that are only in the current Galardex as to not be here all day.

I’m sure if you pay attention to the Fakemon scene at all, you’ve already seen a few G-Max Dhelmises where the seaweed has grown so massive that it’s now able to possess an entire haunted ship. And they are CORRECT to make such a thing because GOD what were they thinking NOT doing that?!? It’s right there under your noses!!!

Still bummed there was never a Mega Vanilluxe... but this could easily make up for it! A towering snowing mountain of ice cream is a super cool idea for a kaiju-size ice cream monster, maybe even ditching the icicle shaped cone in favor of having it rest in a “bowl” of ice!

Like??? Hello????? Are you telling me you’re making Kaijumon over here and you’re NOT gonna make a giant mecha?????????????????

Because a giant living beehive deploying swarms upon swarms of Combee is a badass concept just by itself.

Like c’mon this one was REALLY staring you in the face. A region set in Poke-England and you’re not gonna make a funny giant Zeppelin?

Just trying to imagine a colossal haunted chandelier is giving me chills by itself. Especially if you were to make it look elaborately regal and all that.

I’ve not got a specific idea, you’d just think they’d compensate for the lack of a Mega form.

G-Max Rillaboom has me feeling like this one’s likely to not happen, since I imagined a cool idea for a G-Max Trevenant was to make it a giant Deku-Tree looking haunted tree with a colossal trunk and even bigger canopy.

I guess Butterfree already had the spot taken for “Mothra stand-in”, but I feel like Frosmoth has just as much cool potential for a G-Max form as Butterfree did. Especially with the powdery snow scales it has.

Perfect opportunity to give Goodra a giant, more monstrous slug-like form. But no dice there either. Maybe next form gimmick...

Okay, C’MON. We KNOW they weren’t that bothered about giving G-Max forms out to Pokemon that already had Megas. This is the most obvious one of all! ESPECIALLY since its defacto-Mecha Godzilla got a G-Max but it didn’t.

Most “Unfinished” Feeling:

Since “least favorite” doesn't necessarily meant “unfinished.” (As much as I dislike Toxel, it doesn't really strike me as “not done.”) Not that I have clairvoyance on Gamefreak's internal workings, but some of these Pokemon definitely feel like they're not up to scratch with the series's usual quality standard.

My Disappointment is Immeasurable and My Day is Ruined:

To pick on Gen 8 one last time... and since it was a running gag anyway, here's the Pokemon that just crush my dreams the most. Except Appletun, mostly. It's good enough to be let off the hook. The rest? They were things that were on my wishlist of things and animals I would've LOVED to see get turned into Pokemon, only for my hopes and dreams to sink faster than the Titanic. Considering a majority of concepts within Pokemon don't come back, if not for a very long time, these Pokemon mean that I have to reluctantly strike a cake monster, a snowman, a coal monster, a train monster, a sea urchin, a pie monster, and some fresh Lapras attention off my wishlist. Sigh.

With two rounds of DLC coming, the main Pokemon review series probably won't be back until the tail end of this year shortly after Crowned Tundra is released. I am excited to get to talk about some of what they've shown so far, but I'd rather wait until the content is released and we know everything about the new Pokemon and Regionals. There will however be at least one more little bonus article about Gen 8 and the future of the series, but I wouldn't expect it to be out for a while. Before the DLC is out probably, but still a long ways off.

[Archive]

[gayden--yuki]

A big Yu-Gi-Oh Sevens post

New series! Awesome! The new art style will take some getting used to and Yuga’s hair isn’t nearly stupid enough but hey, it should be fun. I like that they’re not introducing a new summoning type as well since the game already had too much of that

This post is going to be mostly speculation about the series, along with just pointing out things that might be interesting

Okay so my first point is about the new art style. I know that it’s had mixed responses but hopefully it along with the simpler character designs means more interesting and dynamic movement. The previous series tended to lack that, and it was really obvious when you compare simpler looking characters like Ai’s movement to the human characters in that show. And hey, it worked for pokemon

The trailer doesn’t exactly show us much though. And hey, I’m just a person on the internet. Maybe I’m completely wrong

Anyway onto the characters. I’m gonna link to this webpage which does a better job summarising the characters than I can. But let’s look at Yuga

This is Yuga and he’s the new protagonist. He’s an inventor and the youngest protagonist yet at 11. But I want to draw your attention to this part of the above webpage’s summary of him

He thinks the Duels run by adults currently are overly rigid and super unfun, so he develops his own rule set that he dreams of entertaining the world with

He makes up his own rules instead of using the official ones. This is exactly how 11 year olds play this game and I love that

Also the entertainment thing reminds me of Yuya but I’ve only watched like 2 episodes of arc v so what do i know

I don’t have much to say about the other characters. If you want their names and appearances and even what their names mean check out the website I linked that’s where I’m getting all my info from. I’ll link it again here

Next up: the monsters

On the left is Sevens Road Magician, Yuga’s ace monster. On the right is Rush Dragon Dragears. Both are, perhaps unsurprisingly, level 7 monsters

Sevens Road Magician is a magician monster, which makes Yuga the third protagonist to use some variant of the magician archetype (fourth if you count Yusaku’s Cyberse Magician, but that was only one monster). It also has the dark magical circle in the background, which a quick google search tells me is a thing exclusive to Yugi’s magicians aka the dark magicians. This is extra interesting, considering blue eyes white dragon appears in the trailer

It also only has 2100 attack which is really low for a level 7 monster. It had better have a good effect to make up for this. Also, this is a deviation from the trend of ace monsters having 2500 attack which I know was technically broken first by vrains but decode talker’s effect lets it boost itself to 2500 and also Yusaku’s ace was supposed to be firewall dragon anyway before it was banished to the tcg and ocg banlist for being too overpowered. Flame wingman had 2100 attack, so maybe another ace is coming later on?

You know what does have 2500 attack? Rush Dragon Dragears, which is Luke’s (the blue haired guy) ace. It’s not clear if this guy is the rival or not, but if he is this is also a deviation from the norm since rival’s aces usually have 3000 attack. It could also be that the guy using blue eyes is the rival

The ‘rush’ in the monster’s name probably refers to the new rush duels, and ‘dragears’ is a portmanteau of dragon and gears. ‘Gears’ is notable because Yuga is the inventor, and it’s stated that machines tend to break around Luke

It’s also stated that Yuga calls his inventions ‘roads’ (which is a pun on his name, for anyone curious). My guess is that he somehow invented or at least named Sevens Road Magician, and possibly Rush Dragon Dragears too. It looks like he at least has a connection to the latter monster

The parallels to DM are also very apparent with these two monsters. One has obvious ties to the dark magician archetype and the other is a blue dragon, plus we have a dark spellcaster and a light dragon (or at least, I assume that’s their types. I can’t read Japanese). Needless to say I’m very excited to learn more about them.

Plus, the title king of duels which the characters are fighting for according to the brief plot summary sounds very similar to king of games. Take this with a grain of salt though since 5Ds had the king of riding duels title but was mostly divorced from DM

Now onto rush duels. They seem to be the new gimmick, and I can’t help but compare them to speed duels from vrains. There’ll probably be a mix of master and rush duels in sevens, like how vrains had a mix of speed and master duels. It’s also stated that Yuga is the inventor of rush duels, and their focus is on winning duels quickly. Looks like we’ve come a long way from the 6 episode long duels in DM. I don’t doubt that the length of duels will still be 1 or 2 episodes though

What are rush duels exactly? Basically they’re regular duels except you can normal summon as much as you want in your turn, and at the start of your turn you draw until you have 5 cards in your hand. Special cards with the new layout seen on the earlier cards will be used in this format, so it won’t break the game thank goodness

One of the reasons I liked vrains so much was because their archetypes were really good in the actual game. It’ll be weird going from that to cards that can’t even be used in the TCG unless they get reprinted in the original card format

I am very fond of Sevens Road Magician though. He looks like a very friendly guy

My final point is the the series is probably called sevens because it’s the seventh series. Also the duel disk is shaped like a 7 which is pretty neat

Anyway, that’s all I have to say about the new info we’ve gotten. I guess we’ll have to wait until April so see how much I got right

Feel free to add on anything else you’ve noticed

[godsmercie]

🌟: Has your character met any Legendary Pokémon before? If so, what were the encounters like? Do they have any Legendary Pokémon on their team? If not, do they believe in Legendary Pokémon?

(( ok so this is gonna be rly long but bear with me hdjask

So, Mercie has had interactions with a legendary- 2 legendaries, in fact! But, before i talk abt that, I want to talk about the Rafail Gem in the Pokeverse. (Read-more bc this is Long and theres like 4 minor spoilers)

So, the Rafail Gem here would consist of two main items of legend- a 3 inch fragment of one of Xerneas’s antlers, which still glows faintly with power, and a Cresselia feather, which are known as Lunar Wings, and be decorated by additional beads and stones that have no power to speak of. The reason I chose these even though the antler fragment doesn’t Actually exist in pokemon canon is bc the Lunar Wing is something that brings good dreams, that pulls people out of nightmares and endless sleep- it’s nearly a good luck charm but with power behind it, and it has the moon aesthetic of the original Rafail Gem from 3H. The antler fragment is so there’s an element of healing to the Gem- Xerneas is the pokemon of Life after all, and it heals the land and restores lost life, especially in death, which I feel is fitting for 3H parallels, so that’s why that’s there. Now, the Rafail Gem here works differently, of course- it’s not a defensive item, but instead a conduit for healing magic. Using the Rafail Gem while healing someone/a pokemon does significantly increase the amount you can heal, but that comes at the cost of physical strain or injury to the healer, variant on how much additional healing was done past the normal limits of the healer. The Rafail Gem is also commonly used on coma patients, where one will put the Gem around the patient’s neck to wake them up within the next 24 hours through the combined powers of both legendary items, but at the cost of high physical strain to the patient- and if someone has been in a coma for over a month, the possibility of the strain causing their death becomes exponentially high. But those are the main uses (and drawbacks) of the Pokeverse Rafail Gem.

Now, I went into So Much Detail on the Rafail Gem because it is directly related to Mercie’s first experience with a legendary pokemon- well, it’s technically not a legendary, but it’s clearly a legendary so,,, Anyways, when Maman Martritz scooped up Mercie and ran from House Bartels, Mercie was outraged and heartbroken, so on the way to the Faerghus church, she ran off on her own while wearing the Rafail Gem (well, she had her beloved Chuu with her, but she didn’t have an adult and she was 10) with the full intention of finding Emile and bringing him back with her, but she quickly got lost, and wandered into an abandoned village. In that village, when she was getting ready to curl up in a pile of leaves she and Chuu had assembled in the ruined old chapel, she heard a voice telling her to leave for her own good. She refused, and explained why she wasn’t leaving, but the voice insisted. So, she asked the voice about it’s story and why it felt it would hurt her, and it told her how the village fell to ruin when it came, how people would fall asleep and never wake up when they saw it, how that drove the town to madness and ruined families and relationships and how everyone fought and then die or left. Mercie was convinced it was the fault of someone else, but at the voice’s insistence, she argued that her necklace kept her safe from bad things, and that anything that could get past her necklace couldn’t get past Chuu, and the voice reluctantly revealed itself. Mercie found out she had wandered into the village that Darkrai had sequestered itself in, and she was determined to become the pokemon’s best friend- and with the help of the Lunar Wing on the Rafail Gem, she could! She stayed in that little ruined village with Darkrai for a week, playing with it, telling stories, and just. Having another friend for a bit. But after a week, Darkrai told her she had to leave to meet her mother, told her that her mother had been having nightmares all week about what might have happened to her, and she reluctantly went, but she didn’t want to leave Darkrai behind without a friend. But Darkrai made her leave and told her not to come back, just for her own safety, and for the safety of anyone who tried to follow her, and she again reluctantly agreed- but only after they traded keepsakes- Mercie gave Darkrai her favorite yellow hair ribbon, and Darkrai gave her a tiny black gemstone, so dark it looked like a ball of shadows condensed into a stone, and told her it was a piece of it- the stone had no power to it, but it was always cool to the touch, and she could remember Darkrai by it. Then Darkrai made her fall asleep, and she woke up outside the Faerghus church she’d spend her teenage years in. If it weren’t for the little gem and her mother’s concern and panic, she would have thought the week itself was a dream. (She made a little wire wrap to put around the gem so it wouldn’t get lost ever and she put it on a bow she puts in her hair at times, or around Chuu’s neck to add to their outfits. Chuu is always very excited when they get the ribbon with the stone,,,)

Her second encounter was on the battlefield, but this one made her heart ache- it was a pained creature being wielded against its will by a cruel sorcerer in dark robes she didn’t recognize, during the tragedy of Remire. It looked like no Pokemon she had ever seen, and the sorcerer called it Type: Null, and the poor thing was just… Howling with pain through the whole battle. She reluctantly killed her human(?) foe for fear of dying herself if she showed mercy, but she left the creature alone until after the battle, when everyone was searching for survivors amidst the ruins. She had heard the pained cries of the creature from under a burning house, and she rushed to its aid, carefully healing its wounds and gently pulling it from under the house with Chuu’s help. She brought it back with her to the monastery and nursed it to health, caring for it, showing it every kindness she could, socializing it with her other Pokemon and with her friends- She called it “Silvally” after Sylvain, because it just… It felt right. So she raised them- Silvally was a them, rather than an it after all, and helped them find peace and joy again.Which is why she was terrified the night she woke to Silvally screeching as they slammed their head into the stone walls over and over and over again, and she rushed over to try and help- but they just put their head, heavy with the weight of their helmet, in her outstretched hands, suddenly eerily silent. She carefully put her hands on the bolts that held the helmet on, and for the first time in all the months she had cared for Silvally, the bolts were loose. She unscrewed them, awed as the strange, rusted metal fell away, falling heavily onto the floor as Silvally whimpered softly. She carefully removed the rest of the metal, and the moment all of it was resting on the floor, Silvally for the first time since she had met them made a cry of joy as they pounced onto her and started licking her face. She had never been happier.

So yes, technically she has a legendary on her team even if it is an artificial legendary (in this case made by TTSITD rather than Aether Corp.), and, as someone who has met a mythical Pokemon, and as a devotee of the goddess, she 100% believes in just about every Pokemon under the sun, even those only spoken about in faerie tales! ))

[scruffynuzlockespokemon]

Scruffy is back, to take the Professor Oak challenge in Let’s Go, Pikachu!

Hi, everyone!

It’s been awhile since I last did any Pokemon blogging, and since then I’ve done two Avatar: The Last Air Bender challenges in the Unova Pokemon games: an Air Nomads challenge for Pokemon White, and a Fire Nation challenge for Pokemon White 2. After that I did another RPG (Random Pokemon Generator) challenge, this time for Pokemon X. 

With three months left to go until Pokemon Sword and Shield come out, I wanted to give another Pokemon challenge a try. But what should I do next? I didn’t really have the stomach to try and tackle another Nuzlocke – they’re just too stressful. But about a month ago, my friend Jay asked me if I’d ever thought about doing the “Professor Oak challenge”. I’d never heard of it, so he explained that the basic gimmick of the challenge is that you have to register all possible Pokemon in the Pokedex before battling each gym. Sounds easy enough, right? But then Jay pointed out that this also includes all possible Pokemon evolutions. I took a minute to process that, thinking about what that would mean just from playing the original Pokemon Red and Blue games. So you’d have to catch all the Pokemon on routes 1, 2, 3, and 22, as well as Viridian Forest, then evolve them all – including your starter Pokemon – with the highest level wild Pokemon available to get experience from probably being around level 6 or so. I told him, and I quote, “I don't think I would have the patience for that. Trying to raise multiple Pokemon to mid-30's levels, with only level 5 wild Pokemon as the maximum opponents to grind against? No thank you. :P”

…anyway, a month later and I’m eating my words. So thank you, Jay, thank you very much for the agony I’m about to put myself through at your suggestion. Remind me to mail you a thank-you bomb. xD

A lot of the credit also goes to John, whose YouTube videos detailing his progress doing the Professor Oak challenge through Pokemon Red, Pokemon Gold, and Pokemon Sapphire got me much more interested in the idea and got me to actually entertain the idea of trying it for myself. …but Jay is the one who linked me to those videos, so it’s still his fault. I highly recommend checking out John’s videos though, as I think they’re a really interesting watch.

Another link Jay was good enough to find for me was SingingShyGuy’s guide on the Professor Oak challenge subreddit. I’ve made my own checklist for each chapter of the challenge, but I will be using the guide to ensure I don’t miss anyone on my way through.

So, let’s have a look at what I need to do for this challenge.

Rule #1: Complete the Pokedex as much as you can before collecting a gym badge. As stated before, this includes evolutions of any Pokemon you get your hands on.

Rule #2: Only one game can be used. The Professor Oak challenge does not allow you to connect to, trade to or transfer from any other Pokemon game in the series. Because of this limitation, it will not be possible to get a full Kanto Pokedex.

There’s also an unspoken rule #3 stating that no glitches can be used, but considering that I will be doing this with the newest game in the series, Let’s Go Pikachu,there aren’t any glitches I know of that would have made this easier anyway. There’s certainly nothing like a Missingno glitch in this one.

There are 186 Pokemon you can have in the Let’s Go Pokedex, although the Pokedex will only technically list it as 153: - the original 151 Kanto Pokemon - 15 mega evolutions (yes, I’m including mega evolutions for this challenge) - 18 Alolan variants - and Meltan and Melmetal

Due to the second rule about not using any other games for this challenge, that immediately disqualifies several Pokemon from this challenge. I won’t be able to get the four Pokemon that evolve from trading, any Pokemon that are exclusive to the Let’s Go Eevee version of the game, any mega evolutions of Pokemon you need other games to get, or Meltan or Melmetal, since that would mean using Pokemon Go. I’m also not going to be catching Mew as part of this challenge, as that requires connecting to a Poke Ball Plus. I do have a Poke Ball Plus, but you can only get one Mew from it, and I sent him to my original file the day I first got Let’s Go Pikachu. So all of the following Pokemon will not be available for this challenge:

With 26 Pokemon eliminated, that leaves 160 for me to catch in this challenge. So tomorrow I’ll take the first step, beginning a new game in Pallet Town, and attempting to catch all of the following before I challenge Brock in Pewter City:

( Pokemon sprites credited to Ziella, on The Spriter’s Resource.)

I hope you enjoy this challenge, and feel free to give me any feedback along the way!

[marshmallowprotection]

Chasing the Sky

AO3 | FFN

Pairing: Choi Saeran/Reader

Description: You wanted to become the next Pokemon Showcase Queen, but something pipelined your quest! Actually, it was someone. It was this mysterious boy that you kept running into. His green eyes bore into your heart like nothing else, and his voice invaded your dreams every night. Who was he? Why did trouble follow him? All you knew was that you wanted to learn more about him. POKEMON AU!

Chapter Two | Chapter Three (Right Here!)

III

"Adventurers Unite."

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" the blond-haired boy apologized profusely after he offered you his hand.

You graciously took it and hopped back onto your feet, dusting off your pants. "That's perfectly alright! I wasn't looking where I was going either, don't worry about it!"

Today was really proving to be rightly a mess. You thought that you were going to be able to get everything back into order after you left Lake Verity behind, but you definitely been proven wrong. Your clumsy meter had been cranked up to ten thousand! The minute you got to Twinleaf Town you were rudely crashed into by a boy on a bike that seemed to be a hurry, and if nothing else, a bit terrified. He had blond hair that had been brushed out of his eyes and the cutest eyes you had ever seen. He looked to be around your age if not a just a little younger than you. It was possible that he was late to meet with someone or maybe he just always ran around like a Torchic with its head cut off!

You both started to walk up the path as you talked with one another about things.

"Why were you in such a hurry anyway?" You asked him.

He looked down at his feet as the smallest bit of red rushed to his cheeks. "Um... well, you see... I was on my way to get my first... Pokemon. I promised I wouldn't be late, but I kind of overslept."

Oh! That's why he looked a little embarrassed. Most people were already well into their journey by the time they were close to your age, even if they weren't all that successful at it. They still were out of their houses before they knew it. He was a late starter to the field, his parents must not have wanted to let him leave the house until he was a bit older than the usual starter age for Pokemon trainers.

"Wow, congratulations!" You told him with a grin. "I remember when I started my journey. You must be feeling really excited about it... everything changes and gets more exciting when you have a partner at your side!"

He looked back up at you and strained a smile. "If there's any Pokemon left by the time I get there... that is."

"Now, what kind of attitude is that? You can't let yourself get to feeling down like that! I'm sure there will be plenty of Pokemon left by the time you get there, Professors always stock up their starters for specific people. That's why there's always three! There's always going to be one left for you, or did you not know that?" You pursed your lips.

"...I did not know that." He mumbled, pitifully.

"Well who you otherwise?" You asked.

He rubbed the back of his head and admitted. "Well, this friend of mine told me that you have to get to the laboratory when the sun rises otherwise all the Pokemon leave."

"Well, somebody played a mean prank on you, I'm afraid. You'll be just fine!" You reassured him, patting his shoulder, "Today is a really special day for you, um... what's your name? Forgive me, I should have asked!"

"It's Yoosung," he said.

"Well, Yoosung, today's the day you meet your new best friend! I don't know which Pokemon you get to choose from here in Sinnoh but I bet they're pretty neat." You said.

He nodded his head. "I haven't made my mind up on who I want to pick yet, either. There's Piplup, Chimchar, and Turtwig... they all seem pretty great but I don't know which would be best for me. There are benefits to each of them! I guess since you don't know what the starters are... you aren't from Sinnoh, are you, um... what's your name?"

"It's (Y/N)! I'm from Kanto, originally, but I've been all the place since I was a kid. " You replied.

Yoosung's eye widened for a moment in surprise. "Oh, wow, you must have gotten to pick from Bulbasaur... um... I think it's a Squirtle and... uh... I forget the last one."

"It's Charmander! That's all of them, but I'll have to tell you and let you down, I didn't start out with what most trainers start out with. I met my first Pokemon on my own and he wouldn't take no for an answer," Tapping the Pokeball on your neck, you told him about your precious but oh-so-very mischevious partner. "You see, I met my partner one day when I was out playing in the forest. There had been a big storm the day before and I had hated being cooped up inside my house... so when I got the chance to play, I took it. It was really beautiful out that day but I stumbled into a hollow tree and found a very sick Eevee. I thought he must have gotten sick from being out in the storm... but it turns out he had been left behind by his friends because he was a little different from most Eevees."

"Different?" Yoosung stopped in his tracks. "What do you mean by different? I don't think I get why he would be left behind like that. Does he have a silly haircut or something?"

You laughed and shook your head. "No, no... it might be easier to show you, rather than tell you about him and his specialty." Clutching his Pokeball that you had returned him to, you let it rip and out sprang your Eevee. He blinked and looked at the newcomer with a bit of interest. "Yoosung, meet Eevee... Eevee, meet Yoosung."

Yoosung's eyes lit up and he dropped down to the ground to inspect the furry creature. It approached him and allowed himself to be pet. "I've only heard of these variants, I never thought I would see one in person! I thought they were a myth! He's totally all silver, instead of brown, wow, (Y/N), you must be some kind of lucky."

"I'm just lucky he likes me," You replied, politely. Eevee ducked past the blond boy and hopped back into your arms where he comfortably snuggled up. That was the benefit of his, being able to be carted around like a pampered baby just because he knew he could. Eevee knew what he was doing, always, and made a habit of getting his way.

"...I just hope my Pokemon likes me, like that." he ducked his head in embarrassment. "I've only ever been around a few that have liked me, you know? Ugh, what if I get an attack straight to the face?"

You laughed. "Even if they don't like you at first, it's not a bad thing. You learn to trust each other, and bond as you go along, of course! You shouldn't worry so hard, Yoosung, the world won't end if your partner sticks up his nose at you once. You wouldn't be the first guy to get a water gun to the face or a razor leaf to a knee! If you're that worried about, I can tag along with you to protect you from a mean ol' Pokemon."

"H-hey! I'm not scared!" he tried to say to rebuff, but you could tell he thought otherwise. "You don't have to tag along with me, (Y/N), you probably have better places to be."

You shook your head. "I don't, actually, the first Pokemon Showcase isn't going to be held for another week... I think it's in Jubilife City. Which is still a ways away from here, right?"

"Pokemon Showcase?" Yoosung echoed your words, an eyebrow raised. "What's that?"

"Oh, it's like... hm, Pokemon Contests, but it focuses more on the dynamic beauty and relationship with your Pokemon instead of showing off beauty and battle skills. They originated in the Kalos region but they recently started up the league here in Sinnoh for the first time, and I can't wait to get started! Eevee and I have been practicing for a while."

"Like a contest? I think I get what you're saying," Yoosung murmured. "Huh, I have a friend who is a coordinator and a performer, but I've never heard of something like before."

"It's new here, so of course you're out of the loop!" You replied, Eevee nodding his head in agreement with you. "Plus, it's always more fun to travel with a friend someplace instead of alone. If you don't mind Eevee and I tagging along, that is."

Yoosung shook his head. "Oh! I don't mind. I just... I just didn't expect anyone to want to come along with me."

"Are you kidding? You seem like a nice guy, you apologized for running into me! Usually, I'm the one that has to apologize to people for running into them. It's good luck on the start of a journey to fall flat on your face, that's what my Mom always says!" You grinned. Ahead of the both of you was the pathway that leads to the next town, where the Pokemon Professor was located. You couldn't help but be a little curious about what kind of Pokemon were given to trainers in this region, and any chance to meet somebody new was always fun.

"Well, okay! Let's go to Sandgem!"

"Together!"

[comradecorvus]

My thoughts on Pokemon Scarlet (and Violet)

So I just beat the main story of Scarlet the other day, and I think I’ll weigh in on it all. Obviously, spoilers below, so proceed with caution.

Right of the bat, the performance and graphics need to be addressed as the elephants in the room. I personally found that the performance was only really bad in specific areas, like that one bamboo forest area. The graphics varied from “meh” in some areas to completely hideous in others, with camera clipping and lighting flickering being very common, though ultimately these didn’t impact my enjoyment of the game too heavily.

Difficulty wise, I can say that it drops off pretty quickly, with it only becoming a challenge during boss battles, like with gym leaders, rivals, the elite four, etc. The lack of the ability to change your battle style to “set” along with most trainers and gym leaders having no more than three pokemon really doesn’t do much to help this. The Team Star bosses were some of the most difficult battles in my experience.

The world itself has some good bones to it, but sometimes it feels empty, especially in the towns, the one place you think shouldn’t be empty. The lack of interiors to buildings really hurts the game, as having the ability to explore every nook and cranny of the towns and cities in previous titles really made them special, and talking to every NPC as well. In SV, this is all pushed to the side, with many shops having only GUIs pop up once you enter the door, and almost all non-shop or plot important buildings being non-enterable. The most horrible example is the 5 skyscrapers in the electric type gym’s city. All are modeled, referenced in npc dialogue, and yet they don’t do anything other than to add something to the landscape.

The the new pokemon designs are some of the strongest ones I’ve seen in years. I adore the regional variants as well as the new pokemon (Clodsire, Lokix, and Maushold being some of my favorites.), though the starters I am 50/50 on. 

The designs for significant NPCs like the rivals, teachers, and gym leaders were all great, and the designs for non-significant npcs (like the various trainer classes) were also pretty good. I do like that they had some variations within the trainer classes in terms of hair color, skin tone, etc. Also there are more body types represented. Particularly a lot of muscular ones (I will not elaborate on how this makes me feel)

Now for the story (MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW)

The story itself seemed to start out fairly average for a pokemon title, but it quickly ramped up. The Path of Titans and Starfall Street arcs definitely gave this vibe off right away. Arven’s desire to make his Mabosstiff feel better again was really sweet, and seeing the motivations and drama behind the origins of team star and its bosses definitely made me sympathize with them. I quickly speculated the Cassiopeia was Penny, and by the time it was formally revealed in the plot, it was less of a “AHAH I KNEW IT! >:D” response and more of a “Oh.... I knew it... ;-;” one. Plus Penny turned out to be a literal cybercriminal who stole tens of thousands of dollars worth of league points from the pokemon league, which is kinda based ngl.

The main storyline following Korraidon and later Area Zero is what I consider to be the strongest story pokemon has told in years, especially in the final parts. Finding out why Professor Sada left Arven alone for all those years, the true nature and goals behind her research, and learning more about Arven, Nemona, and Penny whilst travelling through an extremely surreal area with an eerie soundtrack definitely struck me. but nothing could prepare me for that finale.

It turns out that Sada succeeding in making her time machine, but is now dead, she had thrown herself in front of Korraidon to protect it from another more aggressive one she had brought through the machine from the past. The Sada we were communicating with was actually an AI, a literal android. The pokemon that had been brought through the portal would innevitably ruin the ecosystem if they made it out onto the surface, but the original Sada insisted that she would make it work, to create a paradise. The AI even recognized that her ideas were flawed, but was programmed to prevent the machine from being shut down. Resulting in a battle between her and the player (with one of the most amazing battle songs that Pokemon has ever had), along with a second battle where only Korraidon had the ability to fight (leading it to break free of its fear and return to its battle form). only to realize that AI Sada is one of the failsafes for the machine, it would not deactivate with her still there. So after saying her goodbyes to the gang as well as telling Arven that she is proud of him, she goes through the machine, to the past (something that Sada originally desired), and being that she was no longer present, the machine was able to shut down.

If that doesn’t sound like it belongs in a Pokemon game, I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that, but I feel that it is one of the most emotional and somewhat dark stories pokemon has told, and I like that.

Now that spoilers are out of the way, I want to discuss the music briefly. Toby Fox seems to be becoming a regular part of Game Freak’s music team and I hope that it continues to be that way, his influence within much of the game’s soundtrack is obvious, especially the final battle against AI Sada. I look forward to seeing any future work he will do in possible SV DLC and future Pokemon titles.

My final rating is probably a 7 out of 10. The story, designs, and music were insanely good, but the lackluster graphics, absence of even the most basic difficulty options (like set battle style, level scaling, exp share, etc.), and the various performance issues and graphical bugs slightly impacted my experience negatively. Hopefully updates and patches will solve the bugs and performance issues, but I don’t have high hopes for the graphics or difficulty improving until the next titles.

[blueeyeswhitegarden]

So I'm gonna do something different and ask a Pokémon question, since I've been a longer fan of that series than Yu-Gi-Oh!. Do you think the current generations have gotten a bit too "innovative"? I ask this because after Gen 5, each of the generations had their own gimmick: Gen 6 has Mega Evolution, Gen 7 had the Z-Crystals and Z-Moves, Gen 8 has Gigantamax, and now Gen 9 has the Terastal Phenomenon. Personally, I don't really have a problem with this because I think they add a lot of variety-

and versatility to Pokémon and Pokémon Battles. Although I can understand why people would be apprehensive about it, mainly for two reasons: The idea itself not being any good debatably, or them automatically making a new gimmick while not expanding or bringing back a previous one (mainly Mega Evolution). What do you think?

No, I wouldn't say that they're too innovative. After the fourth or fifth generation, Game Freak arguably perfected the original Pokemon battle formula. Changes like abilities and altering the Special stat to Special Attack and Special Defense really made the battle system in those generations more effective. I could understand why after a few years the developers wanted to incorporate new battle mechanics. It gives both new and long time players something new to experience, it helps to make the new region/generation more marketable and it gives the developers something new to work on too. Admittedly, I don't think that the games necessarily need new battle gimmicks every generation mainly because just having new Pokemon is more than enough to get people to buy new Pokemon games. I was already sold on Scarlet/Violet just seeing the starters in the initial announcement trailer. But I think that there are plenty of pros with having these new mechanics.

I can understand why people get upset over how these new mechanics are only around for a generation. I remember fans wanting them to work more on perfecting Mega Evolution before Z-Moves were revealed for Sun/Moon. I can't really blame Game Freak for not wanting to include more than one mechanic. They are almost certainly overworked as it is, so I think bringing in multiple battle mechanics would be more of a hassle than worthwhile.

There is also the issue of the mechanic potentially not being good or interesting enough to keep players interested. They can't appeal to everyone, but I think it's at least worthwhile to experiment with the battles to give everyone something new to work with.

I really do think that the fanbase tends to put Mega Pokemon on a pedestal though. I can understand why when it was the first battle gimmick introduced, there were a lot of cool Mega Pokemon designs and it was their first attempt at making older Pokemon more marketing relevant again. The fact that it was focused just on older Pokemon was more of a problem in retrospect. You had to get specific Pokemon to use the new mechanic and the Kalos Pokemon were largely left out of the mechanic that represents their generation. I think that they recognized that since all of the other battle gimmicks thus far have been accessible for any Pokemon. They would have special Z-Moves or Gigatamax forms for certain Pokemon, but players can use any Pokemon in those games to try out the new mechanic and they had special moves/forms for new Pokemon too. Plus, I think regional variants are a much better way of making old Pokemon new again and I'm not surprised that they continued to keep that feature through multiple generations instead of Mega Pokemon.

Dynamax is currently my favorite battle mechanic thus far. I thought that it was a cool way to make battles in the game feel more intense, most of the Gigantamax forms are really cool and I love Max Raid Battles. Z-Moves were pretty cool finisher moves, but I wasn't really that into them by comparison. I think that the Terastal Phenomenon is potentially interesting. It could really throw some curve balls into battles if a Pokemon could change their type to protect themselves from attacks that they'd be weak against. I think that some of the reactions to it have been a bit harsh, although some of the jokes about the hats have been funny. I'm curious to see how it will play out in the games.

[gojira007]

Fandom Meme: Let's saaaay... Pokemon! (Any continuity)

The first character I first fell in love with: 

Squirtle was already my favorite Pokemon, you understand.  Literally from the very start, it had all the requirements: it was blue, it was like an animal I already loved, and it was cute as hell.  But Ash’s Squirtle specifically?  I mean...look at him.  Those shades, that attitude, the fact that he’s introduced with a pitch-perfect Redemption Arc?  It’s just too perfect.  So yeah, literally from the moment he was introduced, Ash’s Squirtle became my #1, and there he has remained to this day.

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:

On paper, I should hate Detective Pikachu.  I’m not an especially big fan of Pikachu in general, so the idea of making Yet Another Super Special Variant of him holds no natural appeal to me.  Nor for that matter does the idea of Ryan Reynolds Just Doing His “Deadpool” Schtick As A Pikachu feel naturally appealing; I like Reynolds as Deadpool a lot, but that sort of appeal definitely has its limits, and this seems like it ought to be one of them.  But impossibly, it wound up being so completely charming that I kind of really really love Detective Pikachu now. XD; 

The character everyone else loves that I don’t:

So I admittedly dunno that “everyone” loves Gary/Shigeru so much as they do his Game-verse equivalent Green?  But like a lot of Bad Boy Rivals, I do know he has a significant fan-base, and to be frank I am not now nor will I ever be part of it.  Like...if he’s a fave of yours, hey, more power to you, but to me he’s always just sort of been a shallow, mean, over-privileged blow-hard who lacks the depth of other Rival Characters (including Green, honestly), and I have yet to see or learn anything about him that really challenges that perception. The character I love that everyone else hates:

Poor Raichu in general gets overshadowed by the other ‘Chus (I don’t see Raichu becoming playable in “Super Smash Bros.” any time soon, do you?).  But Lt. Surge’s Raichu feels like she specifically gets a lot of Hate.  And I do get it; her one episode frames her and Surge both as apparent bullies, and we’re very much meant to root for Ash/Satoshi and his Pikachu to beat them.  But in the end, she and Surge do both prove themselves to have a real sense of Honor and Respect, and especially thanks to @bunnikkila​‘s interpretation of them, I’ve learned to really appreciate that about their characters more so than most.

The character I used to love but don’t any longer:

Look, fair’s fair, I dunno that I ever outright loved Ash/Satoshi?  At the very least, I was always very aware that his shortsightedness and Dumb Luck often made him very...frustrating...as an antagonist.  But I can at least remember a time when I liked him!  Heck, even now, I have enough of a soft spot that when the anime depicted his finally winning a Pokemon League back in 2018, I made a whole-ass picture about it to celebrate.  But it’s been a long time since my default feeling on the character was anything other than impatience; it just sort of feels like he barely exists as a meaningful character anymore, more like a placeholder to help keep Pikachu in the spot-light.

The character I would totally smooch:

On the forehead, like a kitty, basically every single time I interacted with them in any way whatsoever.

The character I’d want to be like:

Passionate, compassionate, dedicated, and willing to learn and grow even when doing so is incredibly challenging to the most fundamental parts of my self-image...I don’t know that I’d call N a role-model?  But there’s a lot about him that feels worth emulating.

The character I’d slap:

everybody basically knows why

A pairing that I love:

A pairing that I despise:

Honestly there aren’t a lot of Pokemon Ships left I feel especially passionate about one way or the other; I still have a nostalgic soft spot for The Original PokeShipping, but that’s as far as it goes, and likewise I ADORE Jessie and James together but I’m not entirely sure you’d call it a Ship in the usual sense?  But beyond that, the pairings I tend to think about most are ones that are implied more so than actually exist (Moon/Lillie comes to mind immediately).  Likewise, while there are Ships I’m not super-fond of (Ash/Serena is one of those weird ones where, like, I get it?  But it’s so obviously one-sided that it makes me a bit uncomfortable), I can’t readily think of any I outright despise.