#I definitely like Mew’s appearance more but I like Mewtwo so much as a character

[parabiont]

I’m a vulture culture geek, so I like Mew because it is reminiscent of an embryo (it’s also nostalgic— it was perhaps my favorite when I was a kid!).

While looking for fanart of retro Mew— the rendition I love most, these days— I found people pointing out more clever details I had never considered! In Pokémon Yellow, its Pokédex entry says, “When viewed through a microscope, this Pokémon's short, fine, delicate hair can be seen,” which may represent lanugo— “the first hair to be produced by the fetal hair follicles… It is normally shed before birth.” Mew’s iconic, protective bubble symbolizes the placenta, which protects the embryo. Looking at its Red/Green sprite, it is easy to see why some think its tail looks like an umbilical cord.

^ Me trying to get back in the womb. I’ve had enough of this place!

I like the thought put into this Pokémon. Its Crystal Pokédex entry says that scientists hypothesize that it is the universal common ancestor of all Pokémon, which is a topic of interest in the real world, too. While the real world universal ancestor is probably unicellular and microscopic, an embryo is similarly rudimentary and ambiguous enough to develop into all sorts of things!

Originally, Mew wasn’t going to appear in the game (COULD YOU IMAGINE?!?!?!). Shigeki Morimoto was instructed not to include Mew but did so secretly because, after all was said and done, there was still room for one more Pokémon in the code. It couldn’t be accessed through normal gameplay, though— only through bugs. "Unless we could think about any good opportunity to do so, the existence of Mew wouldn’t have been revealed to the public. It was left in there in case it was suitable for some post-launch activity,” Morimoto said. Red and Blue initially didn’t do as well as expected. But after players accidentally discovered Mew, Nintendo launched an event for twenty people to have Mew added to their game. Over 78,000 people participated, which helped Red and Green to become best-sellers. Pokémon may not be what it is today without Mew!

Mew is very cute, but it is so much more than its appearance! It has rich history and symbolism which makes it an excellent representative for this era of Pokémon! :^)

Sources:

https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemonconspiracies/comments/502657/mew_is_a_genetically_modified_embryo/ <— Love this! Short read! It talks about Mewtwo perhaps being influenced by Giygas, which makes me like Mewtwo— another one of my favs— even more!

On the Origin of Species: Mew by Xan Hutcheon on Bulbanews

Mew’s Bulbapedia page

The fascinating story of how Mew saved Pokemon Red and Blue by Paul Cot on Dexerto

[terrific-togekiss]

What if Pokémon Legends went on to other Regions?

This has been a topic of the Pokémon fandom for awhile. With the announcement of Pokémon Legends: Arceus not too long ago, many fans are anticipating and speculating the future of this ambitious side series.

Being able to not only witness, learn and partake in the legends that shape both the regions and Legendary Pokémon, leaves much room for creativity.

This is all merely speculation.

Here's my take for how any future Pokémon Legends games could play out.

Pokémon Legends: Mew

Set about roughly 20 years before the events of Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow, the elusive Mew makes an appearance in the Kanto Region.

This prompts many scientists to want to study and catch the original Pokémon, foreshadowing the creation of Mewtwo and the Ditto.

You, the player, are taken under the wing of a much younger Professor Oak, with the Gen 1 Gym Leaders also showing up to lend a hand.

As the plot focuses on you tracking down Mew before various criminals and an older Team Rocket, try to for their own nefarious purposes. Helping Professor Oak invent the Pokédex and with his research.

Gene splicing and gene testing on Pokémon grew after the War LT. Surge fought in, with an older Team Rocket using it to their advantage.

This Team Rocket being a much bigger criminal organization, before the player took them down and a smaller one appeared in Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow.

A younger Giovanni is also present, as the player gets to know the man that would go on to lead present day Team Rocket. He's a friend to the player... for now, giving some insight on who he was beforehand and show how he took over the criminal organization, setting up the events Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow.

Mew's appearance in the Kanto region, inspires him to the point of illegal gene testing on Pokémon.

As a nod to Pokémon first debuting in 1996, the game takes on a more of a late 60s to mid 70s aesthetic, so it feels like the player is shaping the legends that set up Gen 1 of Pokémon.

Plus Kanto in the Legends artstyle would be mindblowing. And take inspiration from 60s to 70s Japan.

In addition, to avoid looking too similar to Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Being more of a modern era Japan region, than a Meiji period Japan inspired region. While following in said game's footsteps, by focusing on the secondary legendary than the main one (Mewtwo).

The starters would be Chikorita (Gen 1 is about Nature vs Technology), Torchic (Peace and War aesthetic) and Popplio (60s to 70s definitely saw a rise in many famous and popular musicians).

Pokémon Legends: Celebi

Ever wonder the origins of the Legendary Beasts: Raikou, Suicine and Entei?

What they were before they were killed in Brass Tower revived by Ho-Oh? How Ho-Oh came down and choose them, saving their lives? The sea Lugia stays in the deep for? The early days of Johto? The ruins of Alpha in the past? The early days of the Kimino Girls?

Well now you, the player, do now! ...sort of. As the title of the game implies, the player meets and befriends Celebi and gets to see many of these events via time travel.

Not only would this include a huge mechanic separate from other Legends games, but it would be the most unique in how it could be approached. As Nintendo is no stranger to time travel games (e.g. Majora's Mask) that impact both the plot and gameplay.

Time travel tends to create stories that are very confusing or very heartwrenching. Or both. But I have no doubt it would be the latter.

It also leaves room for many side quests.

Starters would be Bulbasaur (Time is all about growth), Scorbunny (Bunny Rabbits are not only a common symbol in the older days of Japan, but of Spring much like Ho-Oh) and Froakie (ninjas were more prevalent during this time period, as they slowly faded out).

Pokémon Legends: Jirachi

1000 years before the events of Pokémon Emerald, (Omega) Ruby and (Alpha) Sapphire, chaos raged across the ancient Hoenn Region, between two legendary Pokémon: Groudon and Kyogre. The Draconid people hope and pray for the arrival of Rayquaza to save the Hoenn Region itself.

This is where the player steps in: in order for all this chaos to end, the wishes of the people must be heard. And the only Pokémon capable of that is Jirachi.

The player would go around helping wishes be granted, traveling and training Pokémon along the way.

An ancestor of Zinnia also makes an appearance as a friend and rival of the player.

To maintain the wishes and stars aesthetic, Deoxys also makes an appearance with its origin being explored. Being able to explore space itself, meeting Pokémon said to have an "alien" origin, like Elgyem and Beheeyem.

Latios and Latias can also be caught, flying on them just like in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.

The meteor that would hit the future Sootopolis is what awakened Groudon and Kyogre, said Meteor containing Deoxys. Setting up the game's plot.

Since it's roughly 1000 years before the Gen 3 Pokémon games, Hoenn resembles and takes inspiration from Japan during the Heian period.

The starters would be Turtwig (Theme of continents being at stake), Chimchar (Japanese and Chinese relations) and Totodile (sea monster symbolism, which is often associated with crocodiles and related animals).

Pokémon Legends: The Dragon

Two Princes, of Galar origin, known as the "Twin Heroes" share the power of an unimaginable Legendary Dragon. Bringing Truth and Ideals to the people of Unova. They live and lead from Relic Castle.

You, the player, are a friend of the princes and over the course of the game, your alliance with them changes. Struggling to choose between Truth or Ideals. Serving as a major story mechanic.

A feud and disagreement between the Princes happen, with the player being caught in the middle and to try to quell the anger of the Dragon.

In addition to finally seeing Reshiram and Zekrom before they split, Victini is also present with the Swords of Justice Pokémon (Cobalion, Virizion, and Terrakion), the Forces of Nature (Tornadus, Thundurus, and Landorus) and even Meloetta tries to raise people's spirits.

Team Plasma's origins are alluded to, with the army of the Princes baring an odd resemblance to the future evil team.

The game has more of a wild western aesthetic since Unova is based on New York. Think late 18th century America. With horseback riding on Pokémon like Zebstrika and Rapidash, bandits and criminals that try to steal your Pokémon and being able to explore Unova in its entirety.

Or perhaps roaring 20s to 30s America. If that setting sounds more vibrant and close to the Unova of Gen 5. This is all still speculation.

You even get to ride Keldeo in a later part of the game.

The starters would be Chespin (Chesnaught is based on a Glyptodon; fossils were found in South America), Litten (Wrestling is popular in New York) and Mudkip (mudpuppies are found in Lake Michigan).

Pokémon Legends: Diancie

Set after the Kalos War, you the player are caught in the middle of it going off to fight with your Pokémon. Hoping to make a difference as the Professor (ancestor of Professor Sycamore) takes you under his wing. And hoping to help the war turned world that is Kalos.

Yveltal and Xernas have both gone into slumber, with Zygarde needing to be restored to at least 50% (player can go to 100%), so the world of Kalos can be healed from this war.

The main game focuses on Diancie: since Diancie is the Pokémon of diamonds, the war has forced soldiers and leaders to exhaust the many resources of the Kalos region. Particularly precious stones and diamonds.

The player befriends Diancie later in the game as the two work together to bring an end the greedy hearts of those involved.

The game resembles France during the 100 Years War, with the player character even having armor as part of their attire. Due to Kalos being based off of France, roughly Middle Ages or Medieval France in this game's case.

AZ also makes a few appearances in the game, racked with grief over firing the Ultimate Weapon, mostly keeping to himself over the game's plot.

As a new gameplay mechanic, the player can befriend other trainers to amass armies to overcome many challenges, like beating other armies and crossing obstacles.

Volcanion and Hoopa are also present in the game and can be caught.

The origins of Mega Evolutions are expanded on, with the player getting their hands on some Mega Stones. Due to the energy of the Ultimate Weapon.

The starters would be Snivy (said Pokémon is based on French nobility), Piplup (Empoleon is based off of Emperors and can be a nod to Napoleon) and Charmander (Charizard is based off of European Dragons).

Pokémon Legends: Marshadow

Set in the ancient Aloha region, when Tribes followed the Tapu Pokémon, you the player find yourself stranded in this intriguing region.

Ultra space wormholes begin opening across the region and its up to the player to figure out why and how to stop them. Even being able to traverse the Ultra Megalopolis in its entirety.

Necrozma is up to it and the player must learn why. With Marshadow playing a bigger role, since most of its origin is shrouded in mystery, so this would be a great opportunity to explore those origins.

Along with the origins of the Z-Crystals.

The game has more of an ancient Polynesian world, seeing as how Aloha is based of Hawaii. Being able to sail to smaller islands and even catch Pokémon while doing so.

The starters would be Grookey (drums are a popular musical instrument in the tropics), Sobble (chameleons are native to Hawaii) and Tepig (pigs have been brought to Polynesian Islands in the past).

Pokémon Legends: Zarude

3000 years, before the events of Pokémon Sword and Shield, a black storm covers the very region itself. This black storm causes Pokémon to randomly Dynamax and Gigantamax. Many live in fear of what the next day brings, as hope of a better day seems like only a naive dream.

The player joins with many Pokémon researchers (some being ancestors of familiar faces in Pokémon Sword and Shield), in order to track down the source of this chaos.

Zarude comes in as he helps providing with resources from various forests, so less Pokémon and people are harmed. Or worse.

The player believes tracking down Zarude, will lead them to stopping this madness (Eternatus).

The game looks much like 13th to 14th century Britain, in much of the fashion of characters and even dealing with the equivalent of a plague. Ironically enough.

The starters are Treecko (Forest theme and light in the dark theme in contrast to the Darkest Days), Fenniken (Magicians are a common Middle Ages motif) and Squirtle (Cannons were first invented in Europe, around this time period).

[punz4lyfe]

I think Pokemon Journeys has too much happening. Along with the possiblity that they're too dedicated to certain things.

The show seems determined to focus on Goh, but because of his goal, most of his Pokemon are a basic "Caught and Forgot". They don't have personalities and are disregarded.

With Ash, his team is becoming a bunch of fan favorites, which I'd probably enjoy if they got some extra focus. Other than Lucario, nobody seems to have deep personalities.

I think Journeys changed the fomula, by giving us characters that we see consistently. Before, we only saw the core group and Team Rocket each time. Everyone else was recurring, so we were only expected to get so attached. The sbow doesn't know how to develop characters outside of the "Heroes" that you see almost every single time.

Plus, I'm a little disappointed we haven't seen a lot of Galar, since it might be my favorite Region.

(Sorry for the Rant)

Your rant is totally fine and you are 100% entitled to your opinion! No worries at all!

You do make a great about Journeys' excess of plot points. Like when it first began, it seemed to promise what was exactly in the title: a big grand journey across the entire world of Pokemon. (which was fitting for Ash, as that was what he said he wanted to do at the end of Sun and Moon) When the show began, while he got the established goals for Ash and Goh, we didn't really a great, big journey, as the two and Chloe mostly stay stagnated at Vermillion City and usually only go to other regions when Cerise tells them to. Then we were promised a see a bunch of cool legendaries, but only got like a few Galar ones, Mewtwo, and Suicine, and then suddenly we're now focusing on Project Mew. It definitely feels rushed and a bit unfocused, like if the writers themselves can't decide what to focus on in Journeys.

While I don't mind Goh's goal as a whole, you're also right in that it's played out to be a little too basic. It really is just a catch-and-go sort of thing and only a few of his mons actually have personalities. And even then, episodes featuring them are a dime in a dozen. Plus, little thing, but I'm gonna be super pissed if we somehow go through the rest of Journeys without Cinderace and Inteleon interacting once.

Ash's own team also needs improvements. Dragonite now only appears for big intense battles, Gengar is basically Baraka and Weiss Schnee levels of jobber tier, Lucario needs an actual personality, we need more demonstrations of Sirfetch'd's character, and Dracovish is almost completely forgettable. And they need to interact with each other more, something that's been a staple for Ash's teams since the beginning! There's nothing that's even close to a semblance of friendships similar to Bulbasaur and Squirtle's, Oshawott and Pignite's, Hawlucha and Noivern's, or Lycanroc and Incineroar's, which considering Ash's current mons, is a huge missed opportunity. It would just be perfect if Dragonite hugged everyone who joined or if Lucario and Sirfetch'd were intense sparring partners... something promised in the last intro sequence.

It is a shame how shafted Team Rocket feels this series, especially since they're stuck with one of the worst characters in Pokemon Anime history: Gaslighter Morpeko.

For the series sake, I'm hoping there will be more Galar focused episodes from here on out, as there are still plenty of landscapes from the games to explore (and that involves DLC as well mind you) and many new mons and Gym Leaders as well.

[wiseabsol]

20 Mewtwo Fanfics Recs

Since I’ve been getting more Mewtwo asks recently, I thought I would make a post to promote some of the Mewtwo fics that have caught my eye over the years. Here is a round-up of the ones that were the most memorable and influential to me when I was growing up, as well as some that look promising for other fans to check out!

MEMORABLE FICS:

1. Damaged by Cheshire Kat24

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8906040/1/Damaged

Summary: Living life to its fullest is never easy. A lesson Mewtwo learns the hard way after sustaining an injury that even his abilities cannot heal without help. With his new friends, he embarks on a journey that will define not only his place in the world, but that of his entire species.

My thoughts: While I never managed to read the entire story, this is a classic and was probably the first long, multi-chapter story with Mewtwo as the lead.

2. Shadows Like You by cosmicmewtwo

Link: Not available, though you can hit her up on Tumblr for the file.

Summary: Driven by his hunger for power, Giovanni creates three new Mewtwos. The clones seem to be under control...but for how long? And how will Mewtwo himself be affected?

My thoughts: This was incredibly influential to my writing, being a huge part of the inspiration behind “TPRS.” The Mewthrees introduced here were great and I checked every day for updates until this fic was complete. As a humorous aside, when I was a wee lass with barely any fic to my name, I sent cosmicmewtwo a message asking if I could use Mewthree characters in my own story, without realizing that cosmicmewtwo didn’t own that concept. She, bless her heart, confusedly told me to go ahead with my story and supported some of my earliest fics.

3. Anomaly by Dark Magician Girl Aeris

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3173119/1/Anomaly

Summary: When Mewtwo erased his memory from the minds of Team Rocket, he overlooked the computers they used in studying him. Now a second member of the race has been created by even more unorthodox means than the first. And boy, is she mad!

My thoughts: Aeris is excellent at writing Mewtwo, to the point where this is probably the most canon-compliant depiction of him that I’ve come across. This adventure story is also well-written and has a lot of feel-good moments. I wish that she’d managed to finish it, but what she has, along with the connected one-shots, is worth digging into.

4. The Sword and Shield Series by Kayasuri-n

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3535877/1/Sword-and-Shield

Summary: Detective Brenda Johnson was looking for something suspicious when she entered the lab, not a connection between Team Rocket and gym leader Giovanni Rocketto. She certainly wasn’t expecting Mewtwo. Rated M for Murder and other subjects.

My thoughts: So if you’re looking for a super fun murder mystery ride, this one is for you! I still desperately want to see what the remake would look like. That said, there are several entries in the old series, all of which are great.

5. More Than Just Shadow by Kirlien

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3602934/1/More-Than-Just-Shadow

Summary: Amy was sitting quietly on the doublebed, watching over the wounded Pokémon. “Mewtwo…What are you?…Who are you?” she whispered faintly, her fingers brushing against his cheek slightly in a soothing motion.

My thoughts: I remember this fic for how it captured the golden feeling of innocence in the Pokemon franchise. While dark things were happening in this story, there was a sense of warmth and compassion that I’ve always admired. This is another one that I wish had been finished, but what is here is worth digging into.

6. Between Two Worlds by Leonardo Mystic

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/505048/1/Between-Two-Worlds

Summary: Ki is a teenage girl with special powers. Who one day accidentally discovers the Team Rocket project of Mewtwo. 

My thoughts: This was one of the first Mewtwo fics I ever read and was the most memorable in the romance category. I’d call it one of the classics and an interesting rewrite of the original movie. 

7. Forgotten by Melora Maxwell

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/926885/1/Forgotten

Summary: The humans have a most strange saying. Curiosity killed the cat. I suppose in my case, it would be curiosity killed the clone. For it is what I am.

My thoughts: This one was responsible for the genesis of “Angelic Shadows.” It’s angsty and, despite being lean in the way of descriptions, it has a strong emotional impact. It’s a shame that it never got an ending, because it seems like it was within a few chapters of being complete. Even so, if you like gritty, this is a good one to look into.  

8. Eclipsed by Meriah

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4468231/1/Eclipsed

Summary: A young woman named Sutichay carries Arei, a miraculous child, whose birth will bring about a religious conflict. Later in the chaos, Arei is made the priestess of Mewtwo, and her growing attraction to him stirs the anger of Sabrina, his wife.

My thoughts: While this fic only has a few chapters, the premise is imagination, the writing is lovely, and it deserved more attention than it received. This was also the inspiration for my story “Hollow.” When Meriah discarded the original prologue for “Eclipsed,” she allowed me to use it—and the character Arei—as a jumping off point for my own story. The result was two very different tales with similar thematic cores.

9. The Incomplete Soul Saga by Miyuutsuu

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/888889/Miyuutsuu

Summary: What is my true purpose in life?

My thoughts: If you’re looking for more grit, we have this odd series by Miyuutsuu, who wrote his stories with the Rule of Cool. Want Mewtwo to have a sword? An angsty romance with a gym leader? Possibly some loss of limbs? Then here you go! It’s a dark action/adventure story with a different flavor than anything else on this list.

10. Of Moonlight Shadows and Echoes Past by ZeoViolet

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/620186/1/Of-Moonlight-Shadows-and-Echoes-Past

Summary: A Psychic teenager named Sharie, daughter of one of Mewtwo’s creators, finds a baby Mewtwo Giovanni forgot about…and eventually, runs into Mewtwo himself.

My thoughts: This was my favorite Mewtwo fic and one that I still think of fondly. The writing is lush, the premise is solid, and I definitely wanted to see where it would have gone. It’s another classic of the fandom.  

11. If You Let Me by Byoshi

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4129309/1/If-You-Let-Me

Summary: Every Pokemon Smasher must have a master, and the rule is no different for Mewtwo. A tug-of-war begins between Peach and Ganondorf, conflicted but united in their attempt to use Mewtwo to overthrow Master Hand.

My thoughts: I don’t have much to say about this one, other than I really enjoyed it, found the premise intriguing, and wished I could have seen more of the central relationship in it. Sadly, like many of these entries, it was discontinued.

PROMISING FICS:

These are fics that I haven’t actually read, but appear to have pull in the fandom and have definitely had a lot of hard work put into them.

12. Mute, Too by FalconPain

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3931388/1/Mute-Too

Summary: After losing a battle to the dark Pokémon Darkrai, Mewtwo awakens to find that he no longer has his psychic abilities. No longer able to float, read minds, or even talk to humans or Pokémon, he must rebuild his life. But how much of this can he take?

13. Forsaken by lilpurplebird

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5842142/1/Forsaken

Summary: Being a Legendary isn’t always a good thing—they realized that too late when the world came to an end. Mercifully, they were given another chance, but at a cost: They had agreed in a previous life to become mortal should they have failed to uphold their duties. Unbeknownst to them, however, there is a dark power lying in wait, targeting Mew and Mewtwo to do its dirty work…

14. Crossing of the Paths by MMMAJ Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/1252581/1/Crossing-of-the-Paths

Summary: Mewtwo can no longer stand living with humans, so he creates a dimensional portal and randomly wanders the web of infinite universes. This is the tale of the places he sees and the people he meets. 

15. Lines in the Sand by Shinymonkey8

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6847646/1/Lines-in-the-Sand

Summary: After finally escaping from Giovanni, Mewtwo has a chance to live his life free, and sadly alone… But when fate leads him to something he would have never expected, a female of his own species, his life is turned upside-down…. 

16. Human, Monster, Hybrid Series by TheFrogFromHell

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3082844/1/Human

Summary: When Mewtwo lured six trainers into his trap on New Island, he’d planned to begin his reign of terror on the human world. He hadn’t planned on being nearly destroyed by the battle that ensued, or on being nursed back to health by a human—a member of the species he’d despised enough to want to eradicate from the earth. Now, Mewtwo is torn between his hatred for his creators, and the new, mysterious emotions he feels for Misty, the human that saved his life. One again, his true purpose is in question: will he still choose to destroy the world, or will these unfamiliar insights change the way Mewtwo views humans, pokémon, and even himself. 

17. From Dark To Light by Whozawhatcha

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7659746/1/From-Dark-To-Light

Summary: Mewtwo falls for a Gardevoir, but hesitates to reveal any of his past to her, considering the circumstances. However, his past and Team Rocket do catch up to him, and how will they manage? And with strife with this Gardevoir’s mother, how will they continue to be together? What are her true motives for keeping her daughter from this mysterious pokemon?

18. The Mewblade Series by Vaporeon Lugia Krabby

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2967855/1/Her-Beginning

Summary: Welcome to the real complexity of the Pokemon World. Here we experience the full extent of this world alongside Mewblade, a Mewthree. This prologue introduces Mewblade, following the beginnings of Mewtwo. This opens a larger plot, full of depth and death.

Note: While this isn’t a Mewtwo-centric fic, it has been a prominent work in the fandom for ages.

SOME CAUTIOUS SMUT RECS:

So looking up Mewtwo smut can be dicey, since many of the writers of said smut tend to prefer dub-con or non-con scenes, with Mewtwo being a dominant alpha male/sexually-aggressive character. This can be triggering for some readers. The following two stories are not exactly exceptions to that pattern (well, “The Mewtwo File” is, but I have different qualms about it), but the romance in them helps to mellow them out.

19. The Mewtwo File by Alisonven

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4200365/1/The-Mewtwo-File

Summary: This is the story of the young clone Mewtwo and Aiko, his only human friend, the daughter of his creator.

My thoughts: This is a well-written story and has some good Mewtwo/Ai content in it, albeit features an AU version of them. That said, I have qualms about the sex in here, thanks to the difference between Mewtwo’s and Aiko’s psychological maturities. Aiko is clearly an adult, while Mewtwo reads more like a teenager. Some readers were fine with that; I felt squicked. There is also a casual use of sexual assault in a later chapter, so be aware of that going into this.

20. Primial Instinct by Sonic Sunshine

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3486169/1/Primial-Instinct

Summary: Mewtwo tells us the story of how he found and nearly lost love through his eyes. His journey of discovery is one filled with dilemmas, and even the most powerful Pokemon is helpless to stop it. Mewtwo x Lucario.

My thoughts: There are also casual uses of sexual assault in this, including from Mewtwo, which I wasn’t keen on. That being said, this is well-written and the central relationship is interesting, so who knows, it might scratch the yaoi itch for those of you who love the genre.

[itsbenedict]

Okay, but what would the roster of that game look like? I... actually need to know this now. Let's break it down.

First: who in the cast does and does not have a mom?

First- characters who definitively do not have mothers who make any visual appearance in any Nintendo media:

Princess Peach (knows not of her past; adopted by Toads)

Donkey Kong (Wrinkly is his grandma, and we never learn who his confusingly-named father Donkey Kong Jr. sired him with.)

Captain Falcon (international man of mystery)

Falco Lombardi (intergalactic bird of mystery)

the Ice Climbers (we know nothing about their relationships, even with each other. official sources are inconsistent on whether they're related, romantically involved, or just good friends.)

Kirby (shaped like a friend)

Princess Zelda from Ocarina of Time (though we'll get into other Zeldas)

Link (and his younger self) from Ocarina of Time

Mr. Game and Watch (?????????????)

And special mention to Mewtwo, who wins the prize for being the least mom-having character in the entire game, being the only one to canonically, definitely not have a mom of any sort, being a clone of Mew created in a lab.

Next up: the characters who are basically just animals.

Yoshi is sometimes treated like a specific character, but there are hordes of technicolor Yoshis all over the place, many of whom fall tragically into pits. They give birth to eggs all the time, so a Yoshi is technically Yoshi's mom, unless of course you want to count Mama Luigi.

Likewise, Pikachu and Jigglypuff are species of pokémon capable of breeding and producing more of themselves as offspring. Due to the way egg groups work, any pokémon in the Field or Fairy egg groups is capable of being Pikachu or Jigglypuff's mom, respectively. Who's to say Pikachu's mom is not a Dunsparce? No one, that's who.

Notably, Pichu is the only one of these who cannot just continue to be in the game as its own mom. Baby pokémon cannot breed- so Pichu's mom could be in the game, but not Pichu itself.

It is time for legit mom-havers.

First, the Mario Brothers. It's a bit of a tricky situation, but... yes, they have a mom. The only appearance she ever makes in the games is in SMW2, Yoshi's Island, as presumably one of two pairs of hands:

Mama Mario does technically make an appearance in the Illumination movie, but for the purposes of this exercise we are not going to acknowledge that thing. Instead, we can go by the Super Mario Bros. Super Show, wherein she makes several appearances, played by Captain Lou Albano:

So that's definitely fair game.

Again diving into the Super Show well, Bowser has a mother- and she even shows up in at least one game! It's Mario's Time Machine, but I'll count it.

I'm sure she's very proud of her son. Much like Mama Mario, her moveset is probably pretty similar to that of her progeny.

Ganondorf is a bit of an edge case- his biological mother is never mentioned by name, and may or may not appear in-game. He was given up to and adopted by a pair of surrogate mothers:

Now, these two could be a duo character like the Ice Climbers, but luckily these two diminutive women with fire and ice themed powers with gems embedded in their bodies can magically fuse into a single very tall person, named Garnet:

Uh- wait, no, sorry, my mistake- named Twinrova:

Fox McCloud does have a mother with a name and confirmed appearance, very technically:

Vixy Reinard (presumably later McCloud, unless the leader of Star Fox was scandalously born out of wedlock or if she kept her name after marriage) was killed by Andross with a freaking car bomb, but presumably if she hadn't taken her husband's car to work that day she'd be just as proficient with a blaster and/or Arwing as her son.

Ness has a mom! She makes steak! And screw you if you don't like it, Pokey. She knows her way around a tenderizer! She has no need for psychic powers- she is going to beat the absolute stuffing out of everyone. And you might think, well, technically she doesn't have a name--

--the whole dang game is named after her, you fools!

Samus's mom, Virginia Aran, does technically have a name and face and appears in the games! She doesn't do a whole lot besides getting murdered by Ridley, which her daughter demonstrably does not do very often, so an argument could be made that the Metroid franchise has better options for mother representation. Mother Brain actually kind of is a mother figure to Samus in the manga backstory- and if you're willing to go along with Team Ninja's character assassination in Other M, Samus herself is kind of already a mom.

Now, Princess Zelda from Ocarina of Time doesn't have a mom, and in fact the only other viable moms among all Zeldas are the unnamed and unseen Queen of Hyrule in Breath of the Wild, and...

...this portrait of a woman seen on Tetra's pirate ship in Wind Waker. It's a sort of obvious implication, but there's technically nothing confirming it and she's never given a name.

That said, most Zeldas do in fact have an in-game mother figure, whose exact relationship to her varies but is usually explicitly Zelda's guardian and caretaker. Impa is a strong candidate for this game's roster, and depending on how you define your terms you could say she's Sheik's mom, too.

Marth has a mom. Her name is Liza, she's the queen of Altea, and she has no particular traits and gets killed offscreen by the badguy for fridge motivation reasons. Probably the most perfunctory appearance on this roster, but she does technically meet the requirements.

Roy is an interesting case. We know he has a mom, and we technically know her name and appearance, but we don't know who specifically she is. Eliwood, his dad, has three A-rank supports with women in the prequel/sequel Blazing Sword- with Lyn, Ninian, and Fiora.

Eliwood likes blue hair, apparently. Can't knock him for that. Apparently all three of these moms are potentially canon, but by far the most likely option (being sort of the central romance and Eliwood's main motivation for the latter half of the game) is Ninian. That said, we do have to consider this is a fighting game- Ninian is a noncombat dancer unit, and while we could hypothetically teach her some kung fu or let her do some Corrin-style partial dragon transformation attacks she never exhibits in-game, the others might make a little more sense. Lyn is an assist trophy already, so maybe Fiora is the best choice? A pegasus knight would be fun to play, probably. I dunno. Make up your mind, Eliwood!

(The Super Smash Mothers Ultibrate roster is out of the scope of this post, but would likely run into numerous complications of this nature:

The Roy situation would of course repeat itself due to Lucina's Schrodinger's parentage situation.

Diddy Kong also presents issues, as he may or may not actually be the nephew of Donkey Kong, whose sister is never shown and might not exist.

Which Piranha Plant had bone in it?

Bernadette Hedgehog apparently only existed in something called the "Pre-Super Genesis Wave Timeline", which was erased from existence (presumably by some sort of Super Genesis Wave, judging by the name), and the less I know about that, the better.

Bowser Jr. is in Ultimate, and the academic debate over his parentage could fill more than triple the length of this post alone.

The only thing I think we can definitely agree on is that 5-Volt, despite not being Wario's mom, needs to be on the roster somehow.)

Super Smash Mothers Brelee

[kokichi-and-co-imagine-blog]

To everyone: what would your Pokemon teams be and why?

Oh good god.

Well… this is going to get complicated. At least from me.

Let’s start with assuming no legendary Pokemon. Makes life a bit easier. Of course only a bit.

So… first off a lot of this depends on generation and limit. If you’re asking for a full team that I would have with rotations and stuff, we’re looking at… probably close to 10 full teams of 6, maybe even more.

In my defense, I’m a major Pokemon fan and I really really like a lot of them.

Of course, if we’re going to cut down the team to a more manageable six which can be from any region/gen, but only one from each region/gen to keep things interesting and varied… well, it would depend on a lot of things, including mood and such, so if one were to ask me this question again it would likely change. But, here would be, as I feel right now, the team I would use if I was limited to only six, one per region/gen.

1: Lucario. I’ve been a fan of this guy for so so long, ever since it was first introduced. I loved Lucario and the mystery of Mew as a kid (still kinda do). The whole concept behind aura is amazing. One’s spiritual energy/life force/ soul being utilized in combat? Being able to sense others and see without seeing? So awesome. Lucario is just SO. FREAKING. COOL. It’s design is wonderful as well. Jackel/Anubis? Yes please. Plus, I’ve been maining Lucario in Smash Bros. ever since Brawl. You better believe it’s making my team.

2: Tyranitar. Is it probably the weakest pseudo legendary when it comes to typing? Yes. Do I care? No. Tyranitar is BA. First, it’s one of the only two pseudo’s to not be a dragon. Yes, 8 regions, 9 pseudo’s, and only 2 are not dragons. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some dragons. But… variety would be nice, you know? But yeah, not a dragon, still awesome. It’s Godzilla for crying out loud! Plus, its design is just so good. It’s simple but perfect. It’s a giant Lizard creature that could fell mountains. It doesn’t need to be complicated, and is perfectly awe-inspiring and terrifying without being complicated. I also used a Tyranitar in my Ultra Sun playthrough, a male one named Typhon, Man was he fun to use.

3: Golisopod. Listen, if a Pokemon is good enough for YOUR BOI GUZMA to use it on his team, you know it’s a good pokemon. It’s the Alola take on Gyarados and Milotic (weak pathetic first stage with few moves  and while those two do have a slightly higher BST, that ain’t enough to keep my boy Golisopod down. Golisopod’s design is just so good. An Isopod mixed with a Samurai? Sign me right up thank you. It mixes the creepy crawly aesthetic of the bug type with the strong proud samurai perfectly and I love it. And yeah, sure Emergency Exit can be kind of annoying, but it allows you a second usage of First Impression. That is worth it. Also, it’s shiny is dope.

4: Toxtricity. Part of building a team means keeping in mind type composition. I love Grimmsnarl dearly and equally, if not more so, but I already have one Dark-type on the team, so Toxtricity manages to bag this spot. At least, for now considering my current mood. Ask me again tomorrow, or even in an hour, my answer may very well change. Anyway, Toxtricity itself. When I fist saw the design, I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt. It was… interesting to say the least, but I couldn’t figure out what I was looking at, or what it was supposed to be. But after some more time with it, learning more about it and using one I can say that Toxtricity is easily one of my new favorites. Quite possibly my absolute fave from Gen 8. A punk lizard that plays music? Rock/Metal? HECK. YES. The form change is also pretty nice. The stats don’t change between the two, but I honestly like it that way. Just the idea that more energetic natures would have an ‘Amped Up’ form based on an electric guitar while the more mellow natures would have a ‘Lowkey’ one based on a bass is ingenious. Same with the movepool changes. It makes sense that the different forms with their different music preference would have different moves. (My personal fave is the Amped Up, especially with its shiny colors.) Plus, an electric posion type? SO. COOL. Who cares about 4x weak to earthquake, this thing is boss! And Punk Rock is an amazing ability.

5: Flygon. Man oh man was Flygon treated poorly. Added in Gen 3 as a solid pokemon, but with a better attack stat than a special attack one. True, not bad in it of itself but before the Special/Physical split, ALL Dragon-type moves were special. Meaning Dragon Claw, a solid dragon type move back in Gen 3, wasn’t yet a physical move. And Outrage wasn’t even something Flygon could learn yet (it wouldn’t be until Gen 7 that it became a TM). Then came gen 4. Now, I love gen 4. I truly do. It is by far my favorite Gen. And it did do something very good for Flygon. It gave the special/physical split, allowing some Dragon type moves to now be physical as well. But you know what else came along? Garchomp. Honestly, I like Garchomp, I do. But suddenly here we are with a new Dragon/Ground type that is a pseudo-legendary? My poor poor Flygon. And it didn’t get any better. I mean seriously, give Mewtwo and Charizard two megas but none to Flygon? WHILE GIVING ONE TO GARCHOMP WHO DIDN’T NEED IT AND WAS ITS BIGGEST COMPETITION?! Why Game Freak? Why?Anyway, mini-rant aside, I love Flygon. The design is incredible. The line is based on an antlion and is so cool. That sweet green design and the little lenses over the eyes? Perfect, just perfect. Plus, it has some sweet lore. Appearing in sandstorms with haunting music coming from its wings? Yes please. Beautiful pokemon that was done such disservices. It’s a shame really. With Megas gone, Flygon will likely never get that final boost it needs. Though considering it is in Galar while Garchomp isn’t… maybe Flygon will have a chance to shine again. (A shame though that it will never get to have a type change to Bug Dragon. Would be sick.) Regardless of the future though, Flygon will always have a place in my heart, and in my team. 

6: Zoroark. Yeah, I know what I said about team composition above with Toxtricity and Grimmsnarl. But  I also pointed out mood has a lot to do with it. Anyway, for Zoroark itself. Like Lucario, I’veb een a fan for so long, ever since it was first introduced. It’s kinda funny in a way. Zoroark acts as the perfect yin to Lucario’s yang. Lucario uses aura to sense things and to see, Zoroark is the maser of illusions. In it of itself, this illusion business is awesome, but add in how it counters Lucario and it works just so well. Typing as well, Lucario is a fighting steel, the type you’d think of for a chivalrous paladin of justice and truth, while Zoroark is dark (evil type in Japan), perfect for a sly illusion master. Of course, it’s not just dualism with Lucario. The line is just so amazing itself. Clearly drawing from Kitsune, Zoroark is a sly fox that is able to not just use illusions, but masters them to the point of being able to create solid constructs out of them (see the anime). It is just so cool, how can I not love it? Also, like Tyranitar before it, I used a female one named Vixen in my Ultra Sun playthrough and it was a delight. 

Anyway, that would be my team. You know, assuming all the limitations I put on myself and my mood at this moment. But if you guys enjoyed this and want to know more about my favorite pokemon, please let me know. I’m always happy and excited to talk about Pokemon.

Anyway, going to hand this over to the other mods. I’ve been monopolizing this ask for too long.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ooo!! This’ll be fun to answer! Cause, well, I love Pokémon!!!

But, forgive me for this; I haven’t played any of the games.

So im just saying my favorite characters!!!

1: Glacieon, I really, really like glacieons and have always loved ice type Pokémon. Mainly because I really like the cold. Like; really, really, like the cold. I also really like her attacks, their cool!!! (Pun intended)

2: Furret. Absolutely furret, I never knew why I liked furret, but. I’m just gonna blame it on me really liking Ferrets and cause I honestly have really liked normal types for some reason.

3: Vulpix (either one), I really like any fire type Pokémon mainly because I’ve always just had a very weird interest in fire and because vulpix can be either a fire or ice Pokémon I love that about them. And they remind me of a bunch of irl animals that I love!!

4: Smom , I LOVE THOSE LIL ICE BABEYS SO MUCH!?!? They are so cute-!? I JUST LOVE THEM SO MUCH???! They are all my children and I want to adopt them all, and I will. No one can stop me………except maybe the other mods-

5: Sylveon, absolutely. I always have such an attachment even with digital animals, so I absolutely would give my eevee enough attention and love for them to evolve into sylveon. Honestly, it’d end up be accidental, but, I still really love Sylveon, and wouldn’t care if I got more than one of them-

6: Flareon, listen- I just love eevees okay-? I love them all so so much, and would lay down my life for each and every one of them. Just 💞💞💕💖💓💖💝💞💖💕💝💓💕💞💖💞💖💝💘💖💕💕💞

——————————————————————————

Ah, I bet you missed hearing from me! No worries, I’ll tell you my pokemon team, even if it’s not particularly exciting.

First off, a Pachirisu is a must for my team. I’ve always loved how hyper it can be and the mishaps it would cause. Plus, c’mon- who doesn’t like its color scheme?

I’d also incorporate Chimchar to my team. I’ve always had a soft spot for Chimchar, since it was my first ever starter and I leveled mine all the way up to 100 in my Pokemon Platinum playthrough.

Yamper definitely had my heart the moment I saw it! I have a really strong love for dogs, and its addition to the game got me so excited!! Kirigiri can vouch for me on that one.

Growlithe is also integral to me. When my dog was a puppy, I used to jokingly call her a growlithe. I don’t think I still have pictures, but I even got her a floof for halloween once so she could be in a costume with me. Also... Arcanine is seriously badass.

Wooloo is super cute too! I love that it rolls away from its problems, and I, too, wish to do that. Plus the braids immediately reminded me of Peko, so I was super soft for it the moment it was revealed.

Finally, I’ll add my favorite Eeveelution to the team: Glaceon! Something about its sleek design always made me happy, and the way its fur sharpens as defense is super interesting!

(If legendaries were allowed on the team, I would’ve added either Giratina or Shaymin. They’re my favorites.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Michael in the Mainstream: Pokemon Generation I & II

Pokemon is one of the biggest media franchises on the planet since 1996, and while it’s never exactly hit the same highs as it did back in the 90s, the franchise has been going strong for over two decades regardless. So, in honor of the latest entries in the franchise, I decided to take a look back at the old generations and look at what worked and what didn’t about them, though obviously in my own style. And what better place to start than the original two generations, Generations I and II?

Let’s start with Generation I, which includes the three games that started it all – Red, Blue, and Yellow, though back in the franchise’s homeland of Japan they had Green instead of Blue (hence why we got FireRed and LeafGreen, but no WaterBlue). These are the games that launched the franchise into the stratosphere of popularity, and for a long time they were held up as the gold standard of Pokemon games, attracting a die-hard base of “fans” known as Genwunners, who would bash anything outside of the first 151 Pokemon. Lately that sort of opinion has declined, though you still get the odd person here and there whining about how newer Pokemon designs look like Digimon, which indicates that the person saying that is unfamiliar with either franchise.

But what of the games themselves? What are they like? I have long expressed distaste for the Gen I games, mostly because of my hatred of Genwunners, but ultimately my opinions on the games are a lot more mixed. I do believe that Yellow is a genuinely good game and probably how the first generation should be experienced if you really want to go back to the old games, but my opinions on Red and Blue are a bit more mixed – but, shockingly, mostly positive.

You see, here’s the thing with Pokemon games – even at their worst, they’re still fun, and Red and Blue prove that. These are impressive games for their time that had the misfortune of aging far worse than a lot of their contemporaries, mostly due to the nature of the games themselves – any sort of franchise based on collecting and battling among groups of friends is going to need a lot of polish between releases, which will inevitably leave older games in the dust, especially when each generation after would add more and more Pokemon with each new generation. But even if they haven’t aged all too well, there’s still plenty of fun to be had here, though a lot of it is not in ways the creators intended.

Let’s get the bad stuff out of the way first – the balance in this game is absolutely atrocious. There are some types that are just objectively better than others, some types are so scarce as to be utterly useless, some moves don’t work like they’re supposed to, some of the computers use moves they shouldn’t know… the game is a hot mess, to put it lightly. At points the games feel frustratingly unplayable, especially when you come up against Sabrina, the gym leader wielding the all-powerful type of Gen I, Psychic.

The more mixed parts of the game are the story and the beloved, exploitable glitches. The story here… well, there isn’t one. There’s sort of an excuse plot in place - you have to beat all the gyms, challenge the Elite Four, and battle your rival (who you can name whatever, but I’ll be referring to him by his canon name, Blue). Other than that, though? There’s not really any sort of overarching plot. You kind of just wander into situation after situation on your way to the next gym. Even the whole Team Rocket plot here is mostly just you beating them up because they prove to slightly inconvenience you at every turn. Unlike in later entries, where the player is roped into saving the world from destruction at the hands of all-powerful PokeGods. Here the plot is basically “Young boy accidentally foils the Mafia while on a walk with their pet.” It’s so hilariously simple it’s hard to totally hate it, and to be perfectly fair a lot of early RPGs had rather simplistic plots, and this was one of the first handheld RPGs, so I cut them a bit of slack here, especially seeing as we at least got Giovanni out of this.

The glitches are infamous and iconic, but even them I’m a bit mixed on. Like, I love Missingno as much as everyone else, but I think tat if you need to break a game this hard to have fun, it kind of ruins things. I feel the same way about the glitches as I do the Crissaegrim in Symphony of the Night sure, they’re cool, flashy, and powerful, but they make the game so pathetically easy from that point onwards it just isn’t that entertaining anymore.

Still, this game does excel in one area: character. There are a lot of great characters in this game, human and Pokemon. A lot of the gym leaders are absolutely iconic, and the Elite Four is mostly interesting, though I will say that they lack a lot of character compared to later Elite Fours (though he Gen III remakes ameliorated this problem). It’s pretty impressive how so much character was able to be crammed into these characters even though they are ostensibly just roadblocks on your way to the next gym.

Then there are the Pokemon. The designs in this generation are pretty simple, occasionally to a fault, but there is a reason for this: a lot of Pokemon are based on yokai or tsukumogami, both of which are pretty essential in Japanese folklore. Tsukumogami in particular are something the franchise seems to absolutely love, with the Voltorb and Magnemite lines being notable examples from this generation. Other Japanese folklore represented in this Generation include kitsune, which the Vulpix line is explicitly based on, kappas, which Golduck is inspired by, baku, which the Drowzee line represents, and so in. In fact, the entire concept of Pokemon is so entrenched in the concepts of yokai and Japanese spirits that it is endlessly amusing to see Westerners nitpicking the designs, ignoring the cultural meaning behind them. Pokemon have a variety of inspirations obviously, but the weirder you think a design is the more likely it is to have been based off of some sort of yokai.

I think the definitive Gen I experience is Yellow, which is inspired by the anime. You start off with Pikachu who follows behind you at all times, you can acquire all of the starters, the game overall feels more polished (but not overly so), and you get to fight Jessie and James. It’s a lot of fun, and it doesn’t heavily alter the story, instead adding a few neat little additions, something that would become common with third versions in the franchise. The Kanto games are a solid start to a franchise, but they definitely could have used a bit more work…

That’s where Generation II comes in.

Generation II honestly feels like what Generation I should have been like, leaving Red and Blue as the unpolished alpha, Yellow as the beta, and Gold and Silver as the full release. In fact, it kind of leaves the  second gen feeling a lot more like an expansion pack than anything else, but not in an obnoxious or bad way like a certain other game (COUGHOverwatch 2COUGH). These games are so much better in just about every conceivable way, it’s not even funny.

A lot of important series mainstays made their debut here. The biggest and best is probably the introduction of the Dark and Steel types, the latter of which really feels like it should have been in Generation 1 to begin with. Steel quickly established itself as a very defensive type, and Pokemon of that type are just naturally tough due to Steel resisting nearly every other type in the game, with it only being nerfed slightly once the games jumped to 3D. Dark on the other hand was extremely cool in concept, but a lot of the Pokemon of the type were not able to properly utilize their impressive movepools due to Dark being classified as a Special type and a lot of early Dark-types running with high physical stats.

Let me clarify real quick: prior to Generation IV, the type of the move determined whether it ran off of Physical or Special Attack, no matter how ludicrous it seemed. That means Dark moves like Bite and Fire moves like Blaze Kick ran off of the Special Attack stat despite almost always appearing on Pokemon that had much higher Physical Attack, leaving a lot of Dark-types in the dust until the Sinnoh games rolled along and balanced things. Still, this bump in usability did not stop Dark-types from being popular and beloved, with Pokemon like Umbreon, Sneasel, and Houndoom all debuting here in the land of Johto.

Speaking of new Pokemon, fewer were added this time around, only about 100, sort of fitting in with this game feeling like an expansion pack. A lot of the new Pokemon are odd and gimmicky, with strange creatures like Unown, Delibird, and Shuckle making their debut here, as well as the almighty Dunsparce. While time would be kind to some of these (Dunsparce and Shuckle in particular have gained niche uses and cult fandoms), other gimmicky Pokemon got left in the dust. Still, I do think having weird, gimmicky Pokemon adds some flavor to the world. If there’s one thing I am upset about, it’s some of the Pokemon that were cut from the game, revealed to the world in the prototype version of Gold and Silver that leaked online. We almst got a new Shellder evo that looked like Slowbro’s tail, as well as Pokemon like Lickilicky debuting two generations earlier (and with a far better design). Still, what we got is pretty impressive, and though I find Johto a tad bit vanilla, there are a lot of Pokemon I love in this generation.

Another great addition to the franchise is lore behind the Legendary Pokemon. Gen I did have a bit of lore in regards to Mew and Mewtwo if you chose to read all of the journals in Cinnabar Mansion, but the bird trio got nothing and sort of just felt like random bonus bosses than Pokemon really deserving the title of legends. In this game, every legend introduced feels legendary. Entei, Raikou, Suicune, Ho-Oh, and Lugia all have fascinating lore behind them, and while they don’t play a major part in the story or factor in to Team Rocket’s plans (save for Suicune in Crystal, who has its own subplot), it showed that even this early on they were working on making the legendaries feel bigger and more impressive to the point they deserved their title as legends.

Then of course there are the new additions to gameplay and collecting that helped really make the franchise shine. The introduction of held items is one of the most significant; now there were even more ways to improve your standing in a battle! Give your mon a berry, they’ll eat it when their health gets low! This feature would be expanded on in later games, but its start here introduced a whole new world of possibilities. There was also the splitting of the Special stat into Special Attack and Special Defense a choice that helped balance the games and not completely overpower the Psychic type. And speaking of, Type distribution was quite a bit better in these games, though the new types Steel and Dark as well as Ghost and Dragon were still fairly underutilized and rare.

 Then there is the introduction of gender and breeding, which allowed players to get new Pokemon by leaving two Pokemon in the same egg group in a day care together. This not only allowed for the introduction of new baby Pokemon (which are largely useless and Pokedex filler if I’m being honest), but it gave the transforming blob of jello Ditto a new lease on life, as it could breed with absolutely ANYTHING, even some genderless Pokemon. Finally, we have the introduction of shiny Pokemon, Pokemon that had a different coloration than normal Pokemon and that almost surely existed to show off the power of the Game Boy Color. Back in Generation II, shinies were guaranteed to have perfect IVs of some sort or another to make their rarity more worthwhile, but this was scrapped after this gen. Still, there is nothing cooler than having that fabulous Pokemon with its incredible sparkle pop up while you’re roaming the wild, and nothing sadder than realizing you don’t have any balls to catch it.

The story here is also improved, which is a plus. A rarity for Pokemon games going forward, these games were true sequels to the originals, taking place a few years after the events of the Gen I games, and so the plot concerns the player getting roped in to not only stopping the remnants of Team Rocket trying to rise to power yet again, but also fighting off a mysterious rival named Silver, all while trying to complete the gym challenge. The stakes are a bit higher this time, but not overly so, and the plot definitely feels bigger and more important, with their being a sense of “I have to stop Team Rocket or something bad could happen” rather than “Ugh, these guys are blocking the way to the next gym, guess I better get rid of them.” And if that’s not enough, this has one of the more impressive post-games for the series… for its time. Much has been made of the late, great Satoru Iwata’s impressive cramming of the entirety of Kanto into the game, and you won’t hear me say that for the time these games came out what he did was impressive. 

The thing is, this accomplishment has aged about as well as the games the Kanto region debuted in. Gen II’s version of Kanto has a very poor level curve, meaning you can basically steamroll through most of the gyms, and a lot of areas are blocked off, gone, or cut down. While it is cool to see all these places two years after the original games, it’s not nearly as fun when you’re crushing underleveled Pokemon and you can’t access Cerulean Cave or the legendary birds. When you finally acquire all the badges though, you get to head to Mt. Silver and make your way up to one of the definitive bonus bosses of the franchise – Red, the player character of the original games. He’s a pretty tough opponent, and the game seems to lean towards making Yellow the true canon game as Red has all three starters plus Pikachu,

There’s not much else to say, as there isn’t too much negative to say about the Johto region or the games. The definitive version is, of course, Crystal, as it has a bit of extra story and polish to it and even let you play as a girl for the first time, and though there are aspects that the remakes of these games would improve on, the Generation II games are actually extremely solid and a lot of fun to play to this day, even if they haven’t yet achieved optimal balance for Pokemon. At the very least, they’re a lot more fun and playable than the Gen I games.

It’s pretty undeniable that the first two generations put Pokemon on a pretty solid path of progression and started the franchise off with a bang. There was really nowhere to go from here but up, and boy oh boy did they ever go up from here.

[groundramon]

i just watched detective pikachu too what are your thots on it!

I enjoyed it actually!!  More than I thought I would.  I’ll give my slightly more spoiler-ish review under the cut:

I’m not a big fan of adult humor shoved into movies just for the heck of it but I felt like the adult jokes in the movie were actually written with intention and care rather than “oh shit our script is bad…we need to make the adults laugh, let’s make a cocaine joke!”  Maybe part of it is that that’s exactly where my brain went too with that shit and it was humor based on important plot points, and the dialogue didnt feel awkward (well it did but it was supposed to because tim was in a tizzy).  Another part of it might be ryan renold’s just natural inclination towards those kinds of witty roles but tim’s actor (IDK HIS NAME SORRY) played off the same energy and made them flow okay too.  All in all, I can completely agree with the statement that Detective Pikachu is what hollywood video game-to-movie adaptations should be.  It feels very hollywood while also not being an insult to the Pokemon franchise, which is a very delicate balance although in retrospect it’s not that hard bc pokemon and hollywood both just want to make money.  I just have low expectations.

Seeing Braviary made me rlly rlly happy!! he looked so good!! I saw rufflet in the trailer ofc but I never saw Braviary and he looks super cool!  I really loved the treecko on the window at the apartment building as well.  The torterra were another cool surprise.  I can agree that most Pokemon in the movie are in at least one of the trailers in some form tho.  But seeing their full performance in the movie is much more fun imo!  Overall the CGI was really great, there was like…one scene or two scenes where I noticed slight awkwardness between Tim/Pikachu when they were interacting physically, but it was pretty minor (like when Pikachu was unconscious, Tim wasn’t cradling him as baby-like as I would, he seemed more tense and less careful than I’d expect).

The bulbasaurs made me cry and my mom liked the mr mime scene.  I saw that one post a lot and still didn’t believe it until I saw it.  He’s fucking dead now I guess.  ALSO I FEEL SO BAD FOR MEWTWO just let him be free and happy!!! he just wants to chill with the bulbasaur and the morelull!! goddamn!!! I wanna do that too, just fuck off to the woods and hang with some bulbasaur and morelull, tbh

Plot-wise I think the villain was the most relatable villain in the entire Pokemon franchise because I, too, would do anything to become a Pokemon.  Idk why he thought it was necessary to do that to other people tho.  Like he could just charge money to do that to people?  And he’d get paid AND not get arrested?  People would pay to do that.  I would pay to do that.  Is it ethical?  No.  I just thought his motivation for that part was kinda weak.  Typical weak hollywood twist villain tbh.  But god his actions were great, i wish I could copy paste his goal onto an actually good character.

Girl character is girl and romance is cliche.  Would’ve been more fun if she stayed a psyduck and Tim had an ethical dilemma as to whether or not it’s okay to fuck a psyduck with a human-level consciousness (a pussyduck, if you will).  And I hate it when fictional scenes make me think of the ethical-ness of inter-species breeding so that’s saying a lot.

The story’s main pull was the relationship between Tim, his father, and Pikachu, and the mystery they had to solve, and while the plot is kind of rough, the emotion behind it makes it all worth it imo.  It’s a typical hollywood film, I’m only 18 and barely watch any movies but I’ve literally seen this story done before.  But to do it with Pokemon, and to do it with actors who really seem to care…that’s what made it worth it.  You’ve seen the story before, but it’s still a cute film.  It’s not bad or obnoxious even though the story is pretty rough.  It can still make you emotional even though it’s kinda cliche.  It’s just…fun.  Turn off your brain because it’s Pokemon and Pokemon never has a good story, and you’ll just have a lot of fun.

I wish I was in rhyme city when that all happened so that I could ask mewtwo to keep me a pokemon

Oh I was also surprised by the amount of gen 5 Pokemon, although I was in the trailers too.  I’m gonna count up all the Pokemon I remember seeing now - I’ll probably forget a few gen 1 pokemon since it’s definitely gen 1 heavy and I was mostly looking for non-gen 1 pokemon, but hopefully I still got them all.

Gen 1: Bulbasaur, Charmander, Charizard, Squirtle, Blastoise, Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Growlithe, Arcanine, Machamp, Polywhirl/wrath…? (I think but I dont remember aaa), Gengar, Snorlax, Magikarp, Gyrados, Eevee, Flareon, Pidgeotto, Pidgeot, I think there were Pidgeys but I couldn’t really tell…, Mew (picture only), Mewtwo, Ditto, Psyduck (…duh), um…I think that’s it?TOTAL COUNT: 24+ (again I might’ve missed some)

Gen 2: Noctowl, Aipom, Snubbull, SneaselTOTAL COUNT: 4

Gen 3: Treecko, Ludicolo…I think that’s it…TOTAL COUNT: 2

Gen 4: Torterra, um…..?? seriously wait, is torterra the only one? I gotta google this hold on-

…i forgot lickitung, cubone, doduo, dodrio, and rattata in gen 1. and primeape. i also forgot togepi and actually a fuck ton more. i remember all of those tho not some of the other ones. f. i dont remember primeape tho and also i mostly remember doduo and dodrio from the trailer oops

I FORGOT MOTHER FUCKING MR MIME

this post is cancelled but looking on bulbapedia tells me that the totals for each gen pokemon (species, not how many appear) are:

Gen 1: 32

Gen 2: 7, but bulbapedia says 6, i saw several noctowl towards the beginning of the film tho and bulbapedia doesnt have noctowl listed

Gen 3: 4

Gen 4: 3 (lmao)

Gen 5: 8

Gen 6: 4

Gen 7: 2

Overall a kind of weird distribution imo.  I realize the first chapter of Detective Pikachu (the game) came out before gen 7, but still, it’s kinda weird to me personally.  Gen 5 only has a major lead compared to every gen except for gen 2 and gen 1, but still.  The fact that it’s the second most represented gen (more than gen 2, even!) is interesting to me.  Maybe cuz the film was made in the US? so Unova? //shrug emoji//

But anyways yeah, i thought it was good!

[terra-writes]

Mystic Messenger Pokémon AU

This wasn’t a request, but it’s something I’ve thought about off an on for almost a year and a half now. I might expand on this more one day but if any of you guys have suggestions about this feel free to send them in! Also I didn’t include MC in this because I left it open for you guys to interpret and determine how your own MC falls into this AU! Anyways I hope you enjoy! Also sorry to everyone wanting Vanderwood but I don’t feel comfortable writing for him as I don’t feel like there’s enough content with him in the game for me to get a handle on his character and do it confidently.

Also big thanks to my friend Mary @maruthor for helping me out with this AU! And putting up with my shit but

Warning: Spoilers for character’s routes below, read at your own risk

Yoosung:

This boy

This sweet boy

Of course, he ends up running his own Pokémon clinic

It’s not a Pokémon Center, they’re weirdly ornery about having to have a Nurse Joy run those

But it’s a small clinic in a more remote area of the Kanto region and it suits him just fine

He probably ends up doubling it as a mini Pokémon daycare service after and incident with Seven’s ditto and two of his own Pokémon

And the fact that Seven gifted him a ditto of his own after said incident because he’s “just trying to help his friend continue to earn a living”

Yoosung doesn’t have a lot of Pokémon of his own, but he’s acquired a few that were given to him or left behind by patrons who couldn’t keep them anymore for whatever reason

Those Pokémon include: a Glameow from Jumin, Blissey, Noctowl, Pikachu, Glaceon, Lillipup and Rattata

The Blissey came from a Nurse Joy as a Happiny as a thank you for his help during an outbreak of a Pokémon illness that had shown up one day

His own personal partner for his clinic was an Audino from the Unova Region where he went to study Pokémon medicine and care

Occasionally he’s called out of the clinic to care for a sick or injured Pokémon

So he does travel some, but not as often as other members of the RFA

He’s the only one Jumin trusts to care after his many cat Pokémon and precious Elizabeth the 3rd

Not that he himself is too thrilled about that

He even takes the overflow from a nearby Pokémon Center occasionally and probably most often travels out there to help out when needed

Zen:

Zen is obviously still an actor

But instead of just doing musicals, he now does full-fledged Pokémon movie productions

He has two partner Pokémon he’s had since before his career that appear on stage with him

One is his Milotic, and the other is his dusk form Lycanroc

He’ll never forget the day his feebas evolved

He credits his Milotic as one of his biggest inspirations to keep going

Since it was his Feebas at the time that helped keep him positive during the time before and after he ran away from home

It was one of his days that he was feeing more down than usual

It was a complete accident that he had come across a prism scale

And at first he didn’t know what it was, let alone that his Feebas could even evolve

But he had thought it was pretty and wanted to give it to his friend as a thank you for being there for him

When his Feebas started to evolve to say he was surprised was an understatement and he was blown away by the sheer beauty of its evolved form

But seeing his now Milotic in front of him gave him a new sense of hope and self confidence

He didn’t meet his other partner until after he was running with the biker gangs

He had come across the little Rockruff at the time digging through some trash cans in an alley

Remembering the hard times he faced while still living on the streets, he decided to take the Pokémon home with him without a second thought

He was once again awestruck when his Rockruff evolved

He decided to do some research about his new friend, and so he was aware of the two evolutionary forms of Lycanroc, and the rarer third evolution form

He had been visiting his favorite spot up in the mountain with his two Pokémon

Trying to clear his head, and train his Rockruff to help it evolve

When it started to glow and change form, he thought it was going to be the Midday form, he didn’t realize how low the sun had gotten during the time he had been up there

When the evolution light faded and he saw the Dusk Form staring back at him

He was over the moon with excitement

Since that day he worked harder on his acting career, and with the three of them on stage he was quick to draw the eye of many fans across the regions

Occasionally he is propositioned to work with other Pokémon as is partners, but he always refuses

His dream was to preform yes, but he would never abandon his two closest friends who helped get him where he was today

Occasionally he takes his two partners to compete in Pokémon Showcases in and around the Region

It helps keep him and his team in top shape for the cameras, and it allows him to enjoy friendly competitions with his friends

Once he joined the RFA, Jumin had gifted him an Eevee for one of his birthdays

When it evolved into an Espeon, Zen was a mix of emotions

Even though he knew that Espeon was a fox Pokémon, the fact that it still vaguely looked like a cat was enough to set his allergies on edge

He refused to give it away though, he’d never abandon one of his Pokémon, but he swears that the trust fund kid planned it

And though Jumin would never admit it, in a way he knew that it was a likely outcome given Zen’s personality which was why he did it

Jaehee:

She currently runs a Pokémon Café in Lumiose City

She needed a break from all the stress working under Jumin brought to her life so one day she just turned in her resignation letter and opened up a café

With a little help from Jumin

He felt a little betrayed at first, but he got over it fast and offered to open it up under his company

As a parting gift he gave her a shiny Swirlix as well as it’s needed evolutionary item

Only after he tried to give her a cat Pokémon for the mascot on several occasions with which she had to put her foot down

Eventually she decided to use her Lucario as the café’s mascot, since it was with her since before her parents passed away

It took some time, but eventually she was able to make the business take off with the help of some of her Pokémon who also worked as staff

Some of her Pokémon include: Leafeon, Shuckle, Miltank, Mienshao, Stufful, Kirlia, Vespiquen, Chesnaught, and Lurantis

Jumin:

He’s the Ceo-in-line of his father’s company

Which produces a wide variety of Pokémon items as well as things for their trainers as well as regular citizens

C A T   D A D

He has so many cat Pokémon

It’s probably why Jaehee quit tbh

The main problem, is his Skitty, Elizabeth the 3rd who was gifted to him by none other that Jihyun one year after his Delcatty had an egg

Elizabeth is a hyperactive Pokémon with an eye for destruction whenever Jumin isn’t around

I like to think that his Skitty is like May’s from the anime

Other than Elizabeth, he has: Persian, Alolan Persian, Purugly, Liepard, Luxray, both genders of Pyroar and Meowstic, and Incineroar

He also has an Espeon which he adamantly refuses to admit looks a little like a cat to Zen in order to keep messing with him

And to further mess with Zen (partly) he has a statue of Elizabeth the 3rd on display in the park near C&R, which so happens to be a park Zen has to walk by every day to get to work

He also has a Dragonite, an Urasring and a Kindra for extra protection

Is habit of trying to make cat-related projects is still a big thing with him

He one day wants to open up an entire island just for cat Pokémon

Jaehee had been able to narrowly keep avoiding that disaster every single time, but his new assistant is going to have some work cut out for them

Probably inadvertently the reason Mewtwo exists

He heard Mew being described as “the pink cat Pokémon” and that was all it took

He often travels to watch Jihyun compete in contests when he can

Especially if he hears that he’ll be using his Delcatty

He’s also seen quite a few of Zen’s showcases but he’ll never say anything to him

Also keeps trying to use his position to get really rare Pokémon and Mega Stones/Z-Crysrals for the other members of the RFA because he knows he can be quite hard to get along with, but he does care about the other members whom he considers his friends and in some cases family

Saeyoung/707:

Since Saeyoung loves space so much, he works at an observatory or at the Space Center in Mossdeep City in Hoenn

His Pokémon have a lot to do with Space and technical work, so he ends up with an interesting mix of Pokémon

He used to work initially as a Professor’s assistant studying fossil pokemon, but the work proved too much for him

He left amicably to work at the space center, so he could still be involved with the RFA and his brother more

Still has an Aerodactyl and a Tyrantrum from that time whom he bonded with and was allowed to take with him

He was also gifted a Torchic from the professor when he first started working there

Also owns a Chatot for the sole purpose of playing pranks on his co-workers and the rest of the RFA much to their annoyance

His Pokémon include: Clefable, all 7 colored Minior plus a shiny Minior, Starmie, Lunatone and Solrock, Beheeyem, Porygon-Z, Reuniclus, Vikavolt, Ditto, Castform, and Rotom

Absolutely won’t stop asking Jihyun if he too could have a Skitty, to which Jihyun always finds a way to politely avoid answering the question and changing the topic

He also owns an Espeon, which is from his childhood and is part of a set of twin Eevee’s him and his brother had befriended before they were rescued from their home

It’s his ultimate goal to one day own a Deoxys and maybe a Jirachi

Ends up owning a Poipole for research after a trip to the Alolan Region to help investigate Ultra Wormholes ends up going haywire

Jihyun/V:

He definitely travels a lot across all the regions

He’s still an artist, so he often takes pictures to paint later on in his studio

He was a nature photographer, so his Pokémon are a lot of grass types supplemented by a few other types of Pokémon to even things out

His starter Pokémon was a Bulbasaur, and it’s his most trusted companion that he takes with him everywhere

He probably shed a few happy tears each time it evolved

The first thing he did when he learned about Mega Evolution was to get a Venasaurite for his most trusted companion

Jumin probably offered to acquire one for him, but Jihyun declined, wanting to make the journey himself

He also participates in Pokémon Contests

His Pokémon definitely reflect that artist side of him

Some of his Pokémon are: Florges, Delcatty, Beautifly, Bellossom, shiny Sylveon, Alolan Ninetails, Togekiss, Gallade, Altaria, Roserade, Cherrim, Gastrodon, Leavanny, Whimsicott, Lilliagnt, Cinccino, Sawsbuck, Volcarona, all patterns of Vivillion, Riombee, Smeargle and Bewear

Definitely has every single grass type starter

And probably a Primarina

Jumin does worry about him though, so he made sure to gift him some pseudo-legendary Pokémon for his own piece of mind over his friend’s safety

especially after hearing about some of the more dangerous areas Jihyun tends to end up in for the sake of his art

Not that he thinks Jihyun’s Pokémon are weak

So from Jumin, his Pokémon are Aggron, Tyrannitar, and Metagross

He was also gifted an Amaura from Jumin, who thought it would be enough to fit his aesthetic while still being a somewhat powerful Pokémon

And Jumin just likes spoiling his friend with cool Pokémon when he’s allowed to

Since Jihyun is rich, he definitely has a house with a lot of land around it so that he can keep so many Pokémon

They’re some of his biggest inspiration for his art, and he likes capturing them in their natural element when he’s not traveling or competing

Definitely has seen and befriended a Celebi on one of his trips and visits as often as he can

Seven also gifted him a Bruxish one year as a joke knowing it was an eyesore of a Pokémon

None of them were expecting Jihyun to absolutely fall in love with it and make it the subject of his art for the next 8 months

No one has the heart to tell him how they really feel about it

He’s just so happy to share everything about his splotchy fish someone please save him

Saeran:

He used to be an admin under Rika

But he ended up leaving

He was persuaded by Saeyoung to become the regional professor’s assistant

He was skeptical at first, but he found the job surprisingly rewarding and healing after everything he had been put through with Rika and his past

The Pokémon didn’t judge him for the deeds he had done, and it allowed him to work through his own issues as well as atone for all the misfortune he caused under Rika

While still pursuing a greater cause that would benefit everyone

Ends up as they kind of person who befriends Pokémon really easily, so he ends up with a lot more than he started out with

Which makes it even better that he works for a Pokémon Professor who is more than willing to help house and care for all his Pokémon

The Eevee he had from his childhood evolved into an Umbreon, which is the only reason Rika had allowed him to keep it

He also had befriended a Swirlix while he was working for Rika, but had to keep it a secret lest she think it made him “weak”

He was able to evolve it after joining the RFA with the help of Jumin and Jaehee

He absolutely adores his Slurpuff and will fight anyone who tries to talk shit about it

He has quite a few Pokémon from his time as Rika’s admin

Most of them were ones she gave him to make him look “strong” and keep him in the mindset of the Saeran she created

She wouldn’t tolerate him having any Pokémon she deemed “weak” that might bring out Ray

His Pokémon include: Shiny Charizard, Nidoking, Arcanine, Alolan Marowak, Rhypherior, Granbull, Weavile, Houndoom, Staraptor, Sharpedo, Krookodile, Bisharp, Braviary, Hydreigon, Pangoro, and Midnight Form Lycanroc

Has a Magikarp and a Wimpod he raised in secret because he related to how people perceived it as being weak and useless

He may have shed a few tears when they finally evolved into a Gyarados and a Golisopod respectively

Jihyun probably also gifted him another Eevee at some point to help him reconnect with his brother and he absolutely cried when it evolved into a Sylveon because that’s only possible if there’s a strong bond of love between trainer and Pokémon

And it helped him prove that he was on the right track to healing all the lingering wounds from his past

After he joins the RFA, Jihyun probably gifts him several Flower Pokémon knowing how much he loves flowers

So he ends up with a Megainum, a Sunflora, a Florges, a Bellossom, a Roserade, and a Comfey

Eventually befriends a Zoroark on the professor’s grounds that he uses to get back at his brother and his Chatot

He eventually stumbles across a Mimikyu during one of his business trips to Alola

He absolutely falls in love with it and relates to it

Eventually with permission he grows a field of flowers that Shaymin need to switch forms and absolutely loves watching them all migrate, and that time is always one of his happiest

This boy just needs a lot of love in his life and he probably ends up with so many Pokémon because he can’t just abandon any Pokémon he finds that are hurt or struggling

Rika:

Founder and leader of Team Mint-Eye

Which also operates under the name “Magenta” in some instances to avoid authorities

This is still mostly the same Rika from the game that we see

Someone who wasn’t able to find a healthy way to cope with her past trauma and mental illness

And only got worse through the unhealthy relationship her and V had with one another

She uses Pokémon that she thinks represent the darkness and her “devil” within her and some that she uses to help control and manipulate her Believers and Admins

Her Pokémon include: Delphox, Gengar, Hypno, Honchkrow, Mismagius, Girafarig, Solrock & Lunatone, Sableye, Cacturne, Seviper, Banette, Dusknoir, Haxorus, Musharna, Cofagrigus, Gothitelle, Chandelure, Malamar, Dragalge, Trevenant, Salazzle, and Nihilego

Used to have a Darkrai and a Cresselia captured for her own use but Saeran ended up freeing them on his way out

Has plans to add more Ultra Beats to her lineup and the lineup of her Believers

She also has a Wigglytuff that Jihyun had given her when they were still together to try and help her stay on the right path but she doesn’t like using it and keeps it far away from her in the other end of her base

Not to say she’s abusing it, because despite everything Rika has done she’d never, but she just doesn’t like being reminded of that time

She operates largely out of the Alola Region but before she was in Sinnoh on account of Darkrai and Cresselia

[gaycey-sketchit]

(Gary anon) That's true, and this scenes could come back and play a big role later. Sometimes, things that you don't understand now can come to light later when you have more context. (Totally understand, I'm that way when it comes to certain characters too. Both videos more or less discussed what we just said about the episode and an outlook on Gary's character) Despite being things to think about when doing dubs, I think it's possible to still have honorifics be "present"

.

(Part 2) and give a general idea on how a character refers to oneself or others. You just have to pick the right words to get that across. (Like, Satoshi referring to himself as "a grown man"; grown enough to venture out and do stuff on his own, but you can still pick out he had a haughty, immature outlook on what that meant before mellowing out as the show goes on) I enjoyed the 4kids dub for what it was and its actors, but I do wish they didn't change so much of the context. (Jokes)

(Part 3) (and references that don't translate well into other languages is one thing; but there's a big difference between not giving a full status to Brock's parents whereabouts and flat-out saying they're dead; for it to get 'contradicted' later when it was never there in the first place) We're hitting endgame territory, so it shouldn't be too long. He's on pace to being beating his DP attendance record; and if Project Mew ends before PWC, hopefully he can stay to watch that. (He can still)

(Part 4) (travel; he would just have a physical title now. Blue had a habit of leaving his gym too for his own reasons. And had his own staff in HGSS; happen with Lt. Surge in JN) I believe I've heard of it; if not that, I do remember the discussions of the impact that Mewtwo left on Gary [and other trainers]. (A few of it even moved to Blue; around Origins' time) Now we have him wanting to study Mew. (If not him becoming Leader, him just coming back to it for closure and reflection would)

(Part 5) (be nice as a callback) Still a bit of Gen 8's roster left to show. Like Thievul, which is said to be a rival to Boltund. (I hope by the time we get word on Paul, people have their expectations reasonable with him. Highly doubt they'd make him a full-blown rival again; especially this late in JN. Gary was brought back earlier for a reason) Bracing for what endgame could be; because I can sense a very strong response that could put older series to shame based on what happens.

Yeah.

Yeah, it can be hard to not be defensive of something that’s important to you, especially if it’s something that gets a lot of ridicule from people who know of it but don’t really understand it.

True, there are definitely ways to carry the connotations over even if it's trickier sometimes. Back when gen 7 was pretty new I heard that in Japanese, Guzma calls himself ore-sama, which was of course localized into "your boy Guzma"--the self-aggrandizing aspect is kind of lost but it carries a similar sense of over-familiarity.

That's fair. I'm very charmed by the 4Kids dub, but I'll still acknowledge there were problems with it--4Kids dubs had a xenophobia problem early on (though they got better about that with time), and some of the other liberties they took... didn't always pan out. The thing with Brock's mom... whoops. Guess the translation team didn't expect her to come back. Makes it seem like she straight-up faked her death to get away from her family or something (which is almost funny in a "crosses the line twice" way).

How time flies! Journeys had a kind of slow start but the kids have come so far now! Yeah, if Gary's going to make more appearances they can't take long with how late into the series we are--I really hope he sticks around for the Ash vs Leon fight.

True! I'm sure it's common enough for gym leaders to roam a little and have a substitute take their place sometimes.

Yeah, they (alongside me) are one of the fic writers I've seen most willing to acknowledge Gary's Mewtwo Trauma--and they tend to write some heavy stuff relating to mental health so they went the whole nine yards there. It’s kind of surprising it doesn’t get touched on more in fic, I’ve only seen a few fic writers acknowledge it at all.

It would not surprise me if Origins!Blue also had Mewtwo trauma, considering how badly it injured him. I’d like to see a fic about that too. Also like, I wonder how he even got out of Cerulean Cave with multiple broken bones and his Pokemon probably not in the best condition either.

How far Gary has come! One way or another, I would be very pleasantly surprised if canon outright acknowledged how that incident affected him. There’s implications (the fact that his loss at the Indigo Plateau mirrors his battle at the Viridian Gym and his reaction looks legitimately pained; his Eevee evolving into, of the five options there were at the time, the one that isn’t affected by psychic attacks) but it’s hard to say if they’re intentional or not. I choose to believe so.

Ooh.

Yeah, I honestly don’t expect much with Paul. (But I also don’t want to see much of him; he is the exact opposite of a comfort character for me.)

Yeah, I have to say I’m a little nervous. Some of the speculation I’ve seen worries me enough without thinking of how the fandom will react depending on how things play out. Journeys has already been probably the most polarizing leg of the anime, and how it ends will probably be what really makes or breaks general perception of it.

[kikotsukino]

Pokemon: I choose you! *Warning this may contain spoilers!*

I have finally watched Pokemon: I choose you! (the Movie) and got to say, that movie was EPIC! <3

To be honest, before I watched the Movie, I really didn’t understand what the movie was going to be about? I mean, haven’t we already have a story of how Ash started his journey 20 years ago? But this movie have so many surprises, and they aren’t bad. For one, I’m glad they rectified the part how Charmander, after evolving, obeyed Ash and still carried that same personality when he was a Charmander i.e. loyal and loving towards Ash, because I have to be honest, I didn’t like how Charmander, after evolving in the original anime disobeyed Ash like that because that really did scarred me in a subconscious level >.< Like, every time his Pokemon evolved, I always worried that they will become like that, but I guess Charmander was a “special” case from the original writers... (One I didn’t appreciate though). I don’t like it when Pokemon disobey Ash, so how the Movie changed that, and have Charmeleon still obey Ash, I LOVE it!! <3 And as a bonus, we have Charmander running towards Ash after his victory against Jigglypuff, being so happy with the win:

And then, it evolves into Charmeleon! And just look at that smile(and happiness)! <3

And not just that, but we even get a hug between him and Ash! <3

Aww ~

Thanks, directors, writers to this Movie! Because you not only brought back the art-style I LOVE so much, but you also rectify something I didn’t like in the original story when Charmander evolved. Now I can finally say I like Ash’s Charmeleon XD

Aside from this part, I was actually surprised that Ash (in Kanto) gets to meet so many other region Pokemon, like Sinnoh, and Alola, I mean, Incineroar, Lycanroc in Kanto?! A Piplup, and Entei too?! Seriously?! But I guess this is where the surprises is because I wasn’t expecting that! <3

In this Movie, I have to say that I actually love this other trainer i.e. Sorrel (which I believe his Japanese name is Souji, though I watched the movie in English XD), because I love trainers that are serious, and despite his age, he’s actually pretty mature and dependable <3 I love how he actually have Lucario as his partner, because Lucario is actually among my favourite Pokemon! <3 And when Lucario appeared with Sorrel to battled against the Legendary ‘Entei’,

Even though it lost, but I still did fangirl when he used Aura Sphere! <3 That’s one of my favourite attacks (along with Bone Rush) coming from Lucario! <3 <3

And the part when Ash “died”, that whole scene was very emotional, I mean, I knew Ash won’t die, cuz he’s the main protagonist :P He can’t even grow old, so how can he die?! But I still did cry on my end in that scene, the whole part was an emotional moment, where Ash wanted to protect Pikachu:

Which he’ll use his body to block the incoming Pokemon’s attack to protect his Pikachu:

And how they were trying to reach each other:

Ash even asked Pikachu to get inside his Poke-ball so he can stay protected that way, even though, he understands clear well, Pikachu hates being inside his Pokeball, he still asked Pikachu to, because this is the only way he can stay protected:

I mean, Ash is, human afterall, there’s really so much attack he can take as a human before he “dies”, and him against all those Pokemon’s too:

Ash is so courageous and brave, and will risked his safety to save a Pokemon’s life, I mean, this isn’t the first time he did it, this type of behavior is what made me fell in love with his character. He’s selfless and cares for all Pokemon, and if a Pokemon needs saving, he would put in 100% of his heart in doing so, so ofcourse when it comes to his best buddy, Pikachu, this comes naturally for him. But Pikachu refuses to go inside his Pokeball no matter what, he even attempted to jump in to protect Ash against all those incoming attacks:

But ofcourse, Ash notices this, so

he grabbed onto Pikachu and shield the attack for Pikachu once again, and this attack, finally did it for him :(

Even when Ash asked Pikachu again why he doesn’t get inside his Pokeball, and Pikachu actually told him the reason, I was actually absorbed in this scene so much to actually laughed at the fact that Pikachu actually spoke ‘human language’ i.e. “It’s because.... I always wanted to be with you”, I decipher that Pikachu meant what he said, he didn’t just want to be in his Pokeball to be with Ash, he wanted to be physically, side by side with Ash without any object(Pokeball), no matter how dangerous the situation is, he wanted to always be with him, and I find that so sweet because it truly shows the the strong bond between Ash and Pikachu <3 I mean, in the original anime, you see the bond between them grow throughout the journey they’ve been on, but in this movie, you get that strong bond in that movie length! <3

But Ash still did it, in his last attempt to protect Pikachu, he sends him back into his Pokeball just in time so he won’t get caught in this attack.

And when Pikachu came back out of his Pokeball, he realized Ash was fading away, omg, the feels man!! T_T He no longer can hold onto Pikachu or the Pokeball T.T

I was seriously teary in this scene when Pikachu attempts to put the hat back on Ash’s head, but it didn’t work, because he’s fading/faded away :(

Pikachu didn’t want to accept the fact that Ash is gone forever, and his strong electrifying attack represents how much Agony/sorrow Pikachu feels at that moment (because Ash is gone)

He even holds onto Ash’s hat because that is something Ash left behind for him, something that still have Ash scent with Pikachu,

It was even enough to wipe away the darkness and the other Pokemon’s control, returning them back to normal where the darkness has lifted.

But Poor Pikachu :(

I can say that this scene can be compared to the Mewtwo First Movie, when Ash was turned into a rock, and in Lucario & the Mystery of Mew, when Ash was gone, and Pikachu was crying, it’s a very emotional and powerful scene to show how much Ash means to Pikachu and I LOVE this! because I love seeing the strong bond between Ash and his Pokemon <3 <3

Well, I’m not going to go into any detail anymore, we all know Ash isn’t going to die, and he have returned by the Movie’s ending, but seriously, before watching the movie, I was like “What the heck?” at the part when Pikachu talked (lol), but when I watched the movie, and being so indulged in the Movie, I didn’t feel it was weird for that scene because it explains how Pikachu feels and why he doesn’t want to be inside his Pokeball is because he always wants to stay by Ash side, to be with him, and most of all to be able to see him. I can read subtle moments on my end, so whether Pikachu talked or not, it doesn’t matter, but honestly, I don’t mind that he did because I appreciate the unsubtle scene when he did because it was direct and left no doubt how Pikachu feels in that scene <3

But because I love Ash & Pikachu so much, I couldn’t end my post with a sad note, so I’ll end it when Ash returns to Pikachu, I mean, just look at them:

Just look at HOW HAPPY THEY ARE!!! <3

Go Ash & Pikachu!!! <3

There aren’t any negatives for me in this movie, but if I have to say if there’s something I don’t like, that would be Cross, Charmander’s original trainer that left it there in the rain like that! I mean, I never liked Damian (I believe that was his name in the original anime), but Cross, just ANNOYS me even more because of his arrogance! I got to say, he’s a little similar to Paul with his training method, and how he seeks the strong Pokemon.... And Charmander there, being similar to Chimchar? Wow! But at least Paul never do anything so stupid and selfish on his end like Cross did by taking Ash’s Rainbow Wing like that, because while I know this just adds more drama to the story, but I didn’t like Cross on my end... He did redeem himself in the end, but as far as my feelings for him goes, it’s neutral... 

But that’s the end of my review to this movie. I definitely will watch this Movie again on my end! <3 Definitely a fun Movie to watch! <3 And I find it shows a contrast because in Pokemon 2000, Ash is the chosen one, but in this Movie, where he meets Ho Oh, he’s the Rainbow Hero lol. Nice!

[rex-shadao]

‘Pokémon: I Choose You!’ Movie Review - Initial Impressions

Well, I've seen the movie (mainly to understand what's going on rather than reading the summary), and I will say it's the best Pokémon movie. But here's a distinction I'll make. It's not the best movie from the Pokémon franchise, but it's the movie that best represents the world of Pokémon. I'll say that the opening is a bit of mess, mainly rushing through the events of the first episode without giving it time to breathe, especially egregious since they cut out the nonessential parts like Gary and Misty. It's disappointing considering that I hailed "Pokémon - I Choose You!" to be the best episode of the Pokémon series. All it did was made me appreciate the original more. I really think they should have used the Gameboy intro just to really pump up the nostalgia. But I did like the various snippets of Ash and Pikachu's journey and where he's going. There's something about it that captures what it's like to be a regular Pokémon trainer. I especially like how the legendary Pokémon are portrayed. Not like deities that communicate with you telepathically or be a keystone to the balance of the world as seen in most Pokémon movies. The legendary Pokémon are essentially powerful and mythical creatures that trainers want to encounter and battle. It's much closer to how you encounter a legendary in the Gen I and II if that makes any sense. Cross is truly brutal as a trainer. Not deceptive abusive as Damien, since Cross is brutally honest with Charmander and does have Pokémon he genuinely cares about. But he's a hybrid of Paul and Gary, with Paul's cold-hearted nature and Gary's egotism. Really, he's the anime's closest answer to Silver AKA Giovanni's son and the rival from Gold and Silver. In fact, I wouldn't mind calling the G/S rival Cross from now on. The world without Pokémon dream sequence is surreal. So surreal it's nightmarish. Seeing Ash in what appears to be modern Japan taking classes and looking out towards the horizon doesn't feel right. Especially when it's completely devoid of Pokémon. The world, despite being full of humans, is lifeless and dull. This is something that Takeshi Shudō would have written, and I wouldn't be surprised if they took a page from him. In a way, it explains why Ash is eternally ten-years old. The Pokémon world is a childhood world, unmarred by reality. Ash does not belong in the real world and neither do the rest of the cast. And because of that, he will always remain a 10-year old child even if his physical features have aged. Of course, that's my impression from the movie. Speaking of Ash, this is really the story about the boy from Pallet Town. He's excitable, dumb, brave and has a big heart. Your typical Ash. I will say he's a lot adaptable in battles even without the Pokédex, Brock and Misty. Especially considering he has only two or three Pokémon with him and already has three badges. Pikachu is also a lot stronger here, given that he was able to flip a Snorlax with just Iron Tail when Snorlax attempts to do Body Slam. Despite their badass upgrade, both Ash and Pikachu are still recognizable and you get the feeling that they're a representation of everyday trainers rather than an exceptional skilled trainer right off the bat like in DP, XY and SM. Which makes sense considering that they are rookies in this movie. There's a lot more to talk about, but I wanted to get some of my initial thoughts out. Because it focuses on Ash and Pikachu's journey to find the legendary Ho-Oh, this movie captures what Pokémon is all about and what it means to be a master (they actually explain what Ash's definition of being a Pokémon Master is: It's striving to be the best and to make lots of new friends along the way). While movies like Mewtwo Strikes Back, Spell of the Unown and Lucario and the Mystery of Mew have exceptionally memorable characters and even intriguing plots, they have never captured that feeling I felt when I watched this movie. If people want to know what a featured-length live action movie of Pokémon would be like in terms of plot (and not the Detective Pikachu stuff), go watch this movie. It's not perfect; some of the plot points are a bit confusing and the pacing could use a lot of work. But it is the best movie about the Pokémon journey.

[punz4lyfe]

Pokemon Journeys Episode 45. Let’s review:

1. How are the news reporters not dead yet in that flimsy helicopter in the middle of this apocalyptic event?

2. The fact that Team Rocket were able to reach out to Gigantamax Meowth to have him control himself and try to take on Eternatus absolutely speaks grand possibilities for both funny and awesome Team Rocket moments in the future in the Galar region! That, and Meowth’s knowledge of G-Max Gold Rush, too! Hopefully, the writers won’t miss out on these blatant opportunities.

3. I swear Leon and Charizard cheated death like 4 to 5 times in this episode.

4. The Ash vs. Chairman Rose fight was really done, with Ash using Pikachu and Riolu’s speed to take advantage of Ferrothorn and Copperajah’s bulk and put them against each other. In addition to that, Rose shows how much of a villain he is by smiling throughout the beginning of the fight with sadistic intent, even going as so far to command his mons to attack Ash and Pikachu and crush Riolu. Great display of character, writers! And, of course, as we’ve all been waiting for, Riolu’s evolution into Lucario. Absolutely done well, with Riolu showing his strong friendship with Ash and Pikachu by defending them against Rose’s mons, despite all odds being against his favor due to the sheer size and weight difference. Absolutely perfect. And then Lucario used his aura to tell Ash “Screw Vacuum Wave, I got the Poke-Hadouken, now!”, which was a sweet callback to Ash and Riolu’s aura bond in the latter’s debut appearance. And once the battle was over, Rose showed concern for his Pokemon and not for his failing plans, showing that he’s still human on the inside and is really just in a lot of turmoil due to the trauma he experienced as a child at the mines. So yeah, great moment of the episode all around! On the other hand though..... ugh.....

5. Goh vs. Oleana. Like I said in my last review, I was not looking forward to how this would turn out due to Goh’s win being obvious, and.... yeah, there are some problems. Compared to Ash and Rose’s battle, the action in this one was a lot less impressive. At the start, it was mostly just Raboot using Ember, only to get countered and splooshed by Water Pulse every time. When it actually picked up with Goh using the environment, leading to Raboot’s own evolution into Cinderace to finish Milotic off with Pyro Ball, it was still not done well, as Milotic was knocked out by Pyro Ball and a few consecutive Embers beforehand, which should NOT be enough to make it faint. Look, when Ash fought Rose, it took Pikachu and Riolu a good number of hits to push back Ferrothorn and Copperajah before both were finished off by Aura Sphere, a super-effective move. In this case, Milotic was taken out solely by A FEW attacks its strong against. That shouldn’t have done it in, especially with how untrained Raboot is compared to Ash’s mons. Not to mention, it also kinda digs further a little problem there is with Goh and Cinderace almost always winning/achieving every little thing they do that I’ll go further in-depth with my future blog over them. And while I’m happy Cinderace is back to his enthusiastic self (with some of Raboot’s coolness still left in) and the moment where Goh communicated with Raboot to use the environment for his preferred Ember attack was a good character moment between the two, the cons of this part of the episode kinda outweigh the pros. Moving on, however.

6. Sonia x Raihan? That’s.... kinda cute honestly.

7. Seeing Ash run around with a Lucario at his side is probably bringing a lot of fanfics to life. That, or Lucario and the Mystery of Mew flashbacks. Man, that was a good movie, wasn’t it?

8. Ahh, look at those five dorks gawk over each other and fist bump. It’s stuff like this that makes 2020 better.

9. Remember that part in the original Final Fantasy VII where Sephiroth attacked the whole gang with shockwaves before the fight against Bizzaro Sephiroth? The scene with Eternatus escaping Leon’s Ultra Ball gave me flashbacks to that. And I don’t even know why lol.

10. Oh my Arceus! The up-close shot of Eternamax Eternatus was honestly a little frightening!

11. Chairman Rose...pl-please get away from the helicopter windshield.... That’s just.... creepy.

12. Eternatus’ onslaught of Screw-U laser beams. At this point, it’s natural for Ash and Pikachu to take this kind of stuff in the face everyday.

13. Becoming the Sword and Shield legend? Yeah, that was expected. Look, when it comes to stuff like this in the anime, it’s about as obvious and cliche as it can get to the point it’s really no longer a bother to long-standing anipoke fans. And Leon? Please, my boi, stand down. You just want all the credit to yourself. (I’m only joking please don’t attack me fellow Leon fans)

14. The whole final battle between the good guys and Eternatus was alright. It was really cool seeing the Sword and Shield doggos’ signature attacks in the anime, though, it would’ve been cool for Ash and Goh to actually command them a little just like in the games. (and Ash’s whole thing with Nebby should prove that you don’t necessarily have to own a Legendary to command it in a crisis) It also nice for Pikachu, Lucario, and Cinderace to give Eternatus another three-way combo so that the doggos could have their opening. How it ultimately ended though.... well....

15. GOH’s REGULAR Pokeball caught Eternatus. I repeat, a REGULAR Pokeball from GOH caught Eternatus. Yeah......

16. Legendaries doggos, come back! I wanna see our dorks scratch behind your ears! Ah well, it’s more than likely they’ll return in the anime, given usual tropes and cliches.

17. Chairman Rose and Oleana are also definitely gonna make a return someday, no doubt about that. We still gotta wrap up Rose’s whole character with his childhood and father!

18. PROFESSOR SONIA!!!!! I STAN THIS SO FREAKING MUCH!!!!!!

19. Oh, Goh. You and your love for catching. Unfortunately, as the whole thing with Eternatus kinda proved, the anime is willing to have you able to capture Legendaries. With a plain Pokeball no less. You’re lucky I love you, my boy.

At with that, we’re done with the Darkest Day Arc! Pretty dope arc, ngl! While there were some things I felt were missed out, like Pikachu Gigantamaxing or Goh using mons other then Raboot/Cinderace, given how the episode ended, I feel there will be more of that kind of stuff in future Galar episodes. So that’s worth looking forward to you!

For the overall episode alone.... it was okay. Again, there were some things that kinda made it avoid being perfect (which sadly all involved Goh), but what we got was still great. The visuals and music were all amazing, there were a ton of great character moments, and for the most part, the action was intense and awesome! I’d give this episode an 8/10!

Now, to end things off, who else is excited for Mewtwo next week?!?!