#Shadow Mewtwo Darkness

[jeremys-blogs]

There is no way that I'm the only one who sees this comparison, right? A brooding genetically-engineered character, created to be some superior form of life, who was made in secret and who was deeply affected by the loss of a young girl they were best friends with who was related to their creator. Now, I'm not saying Nintendo or Sega copied one another's homework, but I kinda can't avoid seeing it now ^^;

[cotton-kiwi-smoothie]

Post Convention loot drop

I love supporting small artists. Just wish they were more accessible without having to go out of town and paying a ton just to get in...

[foxune]

[solosergiohd]

DARKNESS AND DEMONS CONQUERS ALL WORLDS!!!!!

[briar-craft]

One of my favorite series is Pokemon, and my favorite spin off is Colosseum and Gale of Darkness.

It shows no gyms, no gym badges to collect. Sure, they're very restrictive of the pokemon you can catch in game, and the plot is very linear, but the fact of the matter is that pokemon are living creatures. They can be influenced just like anything else.

I'm very doubtful any continuation of the series will come, or even remakes sadly, but if there was a new game, I would hope they somehow bring Mewtwo into the mix. Not on the bad side, but ours because it could sense that all we really want is to help the pokemon.

Plus, imagine if someone from the team managed to escape, and knew of Professor Krane's programs that allowed pokemon to be purified through the pc and found a way to do the reverse, since it works one way it makes sense that someone could find a way to make it do the opposite.

[burningcheese-merchant]

If the Beasts/Ancients had signature pokémon (or were pokémon themselves) what do you think they would be? I just know White Lily needs to be a fairy type

Do you have the slightest idea how happy I am to have gotten this ask

Time to flex my encyclopedic knowledge + almost 20 years of playing Pokémon

(Note: gonna stick to just assigning types to them, if that's ok)

A N C I E N T S

Pure Vanilla as a Pokemon: Normal/Psychic (thought of Normal/Fairy, but I thought Psychic may suit him better bc of his magic + the Light of Truth + the association with intelligence/knowledge the Psychic type has always had)

Pure Vanilla as a trainer: The very first Pokemon that came to my mind was Audino. Something about Vanilla says he'd be an Audino guy. I'm not even sure what it is, Blissey would probably be slightly more fitting, but I keep imagining him being besties with an Audino and it's adorable to me

Hollyberry as a Pokemon: Normal/Fighting, I think (or perhaps Fairy/Fighting, because of Fairy's power over and invulnerability towards Dragon)

Hollyberry as a trainer: Hmm... Bastiodon kind of feels like the easy way out tbh. Tinkaton would be funny (but suits Princess a lot better imo). Chesnaught reflects her fighting style and personality pretty well... Chesnaught it is

Dark Cacao as a Pokemon: Dark/Fighting for sure (I considered Dark/Ice as well, but I just can't ignore the Fighting type for him. I feel like I'd be committing a crime if I did. Also, I don't think he's actually from the Great Icing Ridge? It's not super clear, but Might of the Ancients made it seem like he was a traveler from somewhere else. That could perhaps be used as justification for shelving the Ice type for him. (Also also you don't NEED to be Ice-type to live in cold places, plenty of other types seen in snowy biomes in Pokemon)

Dark Cacao as a trainer: Man would be rocking a Kingambit, change my mind

Golden Cheese as a Pokemon: Ground/Flying, duh. (Or maybe Rock/Flying? Ground seems better idk)

Golden Cheese as a trainer: It's hard. There are so many Pokemon that would suit her imo. Sableye. Diancie. Persian (Kantonian or Alolan, doesn't matter). Unfezant (female, the Pokedex repeatedly lists them as superior fliers). But... keeping with the lore of both CRK and Pokemon... I think, after she wakes up and reenters the world, all Golden should have is the one Sigilyph left in the entire desert, who chose to be loyal to her and the kingdom to the very end and beyond

Just want to note that Golden Cheese would be besties with Olivia and you cannot change my mind on that

White Lily as a Pokemon: Grass/Fairy with some Dark-type moves available in her movepool as a nod to her being Dark Enchantress, change my mind

White Lily as a trainer: FLORGES! WHITE FLOWER FORM! RAAAAHHHHHHH

B E A S T S

Shadow Milk as a Pokemon: Dark/Psychic, duh

Shadow Milk as a trainer: this one is tough tbh. Malamar? Banette? Zoroark (Unovan)? Probably Malamar due to its natural malevolence and hypnotism powers tbh (but the other two are so compelling... why did I limit myself to an ace for each of them...). Also, I think he would've had a Slowking as a hero

Eternal Sugar as a Pokemon: leaning towards Fairy/Poison, latter because I've already been imagining her as a succubus of some sort and Poison suits that better (yes I know she has wings, Flying is a basic bitch answer and not all winged Pokemon are classified as Flying-types)

Eternal Sugar as a trainer: Komala is right there... but so is Musharna :/ (lots of "dream eater" Pokemon would suit her probably. Which is funny bc most of those are Ghost-types lol)

Mystic Flour as a Pokemon: Psychic at the very least. Not sure about a second type though... (or just make her Mewtwo from the anime/movies, they've got the same genocidal emo attitude lol)

Mystic Flour as a trainer: Girlie gets an Espeon, the end. (Maybe she knew Jirachi once upon a time)

Burning Spice as a Pokemon: Fire/Fighting (thought of Fire/Dark too, but... same deal as with Cacao, if I didn't add Fighting I'd probably go to jail)

Burning Spice as a trainer: Incineroar Incineroar Incineroar Incineroar Incineroar Incineroar Incineroar- (he'd suck ass as a trainer though, just because I know he'd treat his Pokemon terribly, the same way he mistreats the Wild Spices...)

Silent Salt as a Pokemon: Dark/Steel. Like. Come on lol

Silent Salt as a trainer: Something else that would land me in prison is not giving Salt an Aegislash lol. Or maybe a Bisharp. And a Corviknight. (Perhaps he would have met Cobalion while he was still a hero)

I'M STARTING TO IMAGINE A POKEMON AU NOW. LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO ME. I'VE GOT, LIKE, EIGHT OTHER AUs I'M JUGGLING IN MY HEAD ALREADY. NOW I WANT TO MAKE UP ANGST FOR GOLDIE AND THAT SIGILYPH. WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS

(you can atone for your sins by asking me for full teams for each of these good-for-nothing short stacks)

[pokemon-ash-aus]

What would happen if a fully patterned mew or mewtwo got stabbed with a synergy stone? Would they go full black/dark grey or would the pattern still kinda be there?

They're pattern will still be there but mixed up in a way to showcase that. Usually the Orange doesnt mix in very well and they end up getting rid of some prominent features.

You see the middle gray line? That would disappear entirely on Prismarine if she ever got Shadow Stoned!

Her lighter gray fur will also darken considerably.

If she was ever healed (not possible), he pattern would perma change to get rid of the inbetween line and her pinker fur will darken to accomodate.

[inkdemonapologist]

My BatDR Take That Used To Be Hot But I Left It Out On The Windowsill To Cool So You Should Be Able to Eat It Now Without Burning Your Tongue

its not actually that hot, is what im saying

Anyway my BatDR hot take is that BatDR's story is not fundamentally worse than BatIM with one exception; an exception that, for BatIM, covers a multitude of sins:

BatIM has a theme.

I can't presume the intentions of the creators, but if I had to write an essay on the themes in BatIM, it wouldn't be hard to pick one out: the cost of obsession, or even just, the ruin Joey brought on the studio. In the very first chapter, Henry asks "Joey, what were you doing?" and every single thing in the rest of the game revolves around that central question: what WAS Joey doing? Each audiolog is a snippet of the studio's path to this messed up state; each character you meet is someone ruined by Joey. The major antagonists echo Joey's flaws -- obsession with Bendy as more than a cartoon, obsession with perfection, obsession with fame and greatness and legacy -- but even without that, they're also each a picture of how the lives of people caught in the path of Joey's dream were ruined by it. Bertrum, for example, doesn't match the concept of rubberhose cartoons, but as yet another person screwed over by Joey, he fits the central question of the story, so he feels like he belongs here. Ultimately, in a narrative sense, the Ink Demon isn't the story's monster -- Joey is; the Ink Demon is just the consequence of his reckless ambition.

But what's the theme or central question of BatDR?

You can... try to pick out a theme. There's some promising options, because it feels like the story WANTED a theme, stating its emotional intentions more overtly -- "there's always a choice" to leave the darkness and chose hope; family and the struggle of living in a heavy legacy's shadow; or even just good old mewtwo-brand The Circumstance's Of One's Birth Are Irrelevant, It Is What You Do With The Gift Of Life That Determines Who You Are.

I think, even WITH the clumsy execution of Joey's "arc" and Audrey's lack of real choices, any of those could work about as well as BatIM. But unlike BatIM, the majority of the game doesn't tie in. Joey's tour can be considered relevant -- a picture of the family legacy and the "darkness" that Audrey doesn't yet know she's inheriting -- but like, the audiologs and hints and environment of BatDR are mostly teasing the question of What Is Gent Up To, and the takeover of Gent is detached from Audrey's choices, her family, her legacy, and Gent never really becomes a relevant threat to those things in this game. The Cult of Amok and the Ghost Train have nothing to do with any of these ideas. It might've been neat if Audrey had ever considered, "Did my father really drive all these people insane?", a hint of actually having to wonder about the darkness in her past. Even Wilson only barely brushes against these concepts; he doesn't like Joey and he also is trying to escape his family's heavy legacy, but it doesn't really reflect on his actions and we don't find that last part out until he's about to be dead.

There's also the question Wilson poses of "real" people versus ink creations, and what counts as valid "life." It would be an interesting theme with a lot to build off of in this setting, it ties into Wilson more as Wilson seems to represent the opinion that Inky Things Aren't Really Alive, which could've tied to Audrey (as an ink-person who has yet to accept that part of herself) and maybe given Wilson a reason to think it's fine to sacrifice her, it could've even tied to Gent (who don't even seem to value human life) -- but after Wilson asks the question, it doesn't tie into the direction things go. He smooshes a little Bendy, we see hints of his disregard for Betty, and then everyone continues with their plan to destroy the Ink Demon without any further moral quandaries about inky life.

The thing is, when you compare an element like, say, audiologs, there's a lot of differences you can point to -- but I don't actually think Lacie Benton's audiolog is notably better, taken on its own, than Grace Conway's or Kitty Thompson's, and yet tons of people were intrigued enough to flesh out Lacie. None of them are big plot points or compelling characters on their own; Lacie and Grace both give us a little note on what it's like working in the Studio, and Kitty shares a little bit on how Gent's expansion is affecting people. But when Lacie talks about Bertrum trying to make a creepy animatronic, that ties back into Joey's ill-fated schemes that are the point of the whole story. The question we're asking through the whole game is "what happened here?" so the fandom is interested in who Lacie is and what her life was like and extrapolates a whole person out of a couple sentences. But that's not the question in BatDR -- what has Wilson done to the Cycle and the Demon? Why? Who is Audrey really, and why is she here? Telling us new things about the Studio's fate seems strangely irrelevant to those questions, just an attempt to create a Mystery To Speculate On like the previous game did... but what question you're asking and how it fits into your story's main theme, like, matters. I absolutely believe that one clock animator guy would've been in EVERYONE'S crew if he'd been introduced in BatIM, but the context makes a difference; fleshing him out feels less relevant here.

The explanations of how and why Wilson did everything he did are baffling and handwavey, but in and of itself that's not a worse problem than anything else in the franchise -- I STILL don't understand why the Ink Machine needs pipes in the walls or even how it works, there's no good reason for Sammy to believe the Ink Demon will "set him free," most of Alice's motives don't make sense, etc etc etc. But the thing is that in BatDR, the wibbly bit is the closest thing to a central question we have! Wilson, what were you doing? The theme doesn't really explore or connect to that question, so the explanations that are finally tossed our way feel lacking in a way that BatIM's handwaved elements don't. There's a lot about Joey's motivation in BatIM that we can't know, but the heart of it resonates -- Joey wanted something, he was willing to exploit people to get it, and he became obsessed and prioritised that dream at any cost. We'll weather a thousand logistical inconsistencies if it's got heart.

But all of that said.... to be honest, I don't think Lacie overtly fits that theme anyway. Even, like, Sammy is iffy -- we don't really know what happened to him, only that he didn't used to be made of ink and worship Bendy, and now he does. We assume Joey's nonsense had something to do with what happened to him (though the books later assert his influence was indirect at best), because when there's a pattern, we can fill in the blank. So many fan creators found a place for Lacie, Grant, and Shawn in the cycle as butcher clones or lost ones, so many people imagined that Wally must be the Boris we meet, because that would've fit the pattern, the idea that the point of what we're seeing is the downfall of the studio. It's not actually that BatIM did a great job tying everything together -- it's that BatIM gave us a compelling idea and that was all it took to make everything else SEEM like it could find a place to fit. This is what I mean when I say BatIM's theme covers a multitude of sins. There's a LOT of characters in BatIM that don't make sense. There's a lot of inconsistencies and things that just sort of happen without any real reason. Characters don't really have "arcs" so much as different states they happen to be in at different times. But because there's a central question and the story doesn't wander away from it, our pattern-loving human brains will slot in all the pieces and do all the work to make the story feel at least somewhat coherent.

The things that happened in BatDR aren't a whole lot less coherent than BatIM imo, they just don't tie into a bigger theme or any of the questions the story's asking, making "how do they fit into all this" feel irrelevant, making it easier to forget entire sections and harder to get invested in audiolog characters. I think a lot of the other criticisms people have for BatDR's story are very valid, but I also suspect that if BatDR had a more successful theme/central question, then a lot of its flaws would be easier to overlook -- just like BatIM.

[emblemxeno]

I made a bigger version of what I'd like in a Smash 6 roster this time because in retrospect I think Ultimate made enough money to have more people on a hypothetical dev team, so in theory they'd keep more.

Newcomers (15) : Dixie Kong, Tetra, Midna, Ghirahim, Raven Beak, Sylux, Octoling, Alear, Bandana Dee, new Pokemon, Rex, Mio, Elma, Alucard, Chun-Li, Shadow

For echoes, I'd just put them back as regular character alts, though that may cause issues with Lucina and Ken players, so idk about those two specifically. Regardless, Dark Pit fits fine, and Alph I guess works too, though idk how Pikmin fans feel about his inclusion. I'm also iffy on Dark Samus just because, though I haven't played Metroid Prime myself, I know how different she is from Samus so ehhh.

In terms of new alt characters I'd like to see: Blood Falcon for Captain Falcon (not just a color scheme, with his evil mannerisms and personality too), Medusa for Palutena (this is bias for me personally, I want more evil women), Liquid Snake for Snake (if only so I can hear Cam Clarke ham it up in Smash), and maybe Jeanne for Bayonetta (I'm not studied up on Bayonetta lore so idk if they have similar enough abilities or not).

This is also totally recent Castlevania bias speaking here, but alongside Richter, I'd like to see other Belmonts/whip users also be alts for Simon. Maybe a Hero situation, where there's four characters with two colors each? In that case, maybe Simon, Richter, Trevor and either Julius Belmont or Jonathan Morris?

I was also debating having Soma be an alt for Alucard, mainly because they can both assume bat form and can function in a magic meter for gameplay, but they both have very unique abilities from each other too so I don't know if that would bode well with fans.

Finally, I don't advocate FR Shulk and Rex to be the default, but to be alts themselves. I used their FR forms to serve as basis for model/height differences and moveset stuff. Ideally, I'd want FC Shulk and Young Growth Spurt Rex from the infamous picture to be the default appearances.

Anyway, the following are what I think should be changed in terms of movesets. Characters with a question mark are ones I'm less sure of in terms of how they should change, if at all, so I'm willing to defer on them being in a different bracket.

Just Fine: Link?, Captain Falcon, Corrin, Meta Knight?, Fox, Wolf, Incineroar

EDIT: Corrin is really meant to represent 3DS FE as a whole, really he could be swapped with Robin and I'd have no issue

Adjustments Please: Samus, Pit, Villager?, Olimar (top priority), Inkling?, Marth, Ike, King Dedede, Shulk, Simon, Snake?, Mega Man, Bayonetta?

New Moves with Familiar Core: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Rosalina?, Bowser, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong?, Ness, Yoshi, Wario?, Ridley?, Palutena, Kirby, Pikachu?, Mewtwo?, Lucario, Greninja?, Ryu?, Sonic (top priority)

Overhaul: Daisy, Zelda (not chibi Zelda though, something like the Links Awakening Switch cutscene artstyle), Ganondorf

As always, please point and laugh

[cari-ad]

I've already faced conflict due to my beliefs regarding pokémon training, so allow me to explain myself in this post.

Pokémon training is immoral.

Strengthening pokémon is a terrible idea that needs to be stopped immediately.

Pokémon are strong enough as is. They do not need to get stronger.

Gym leaders, professors, trainers, champions, etc. will do most anything to discover the power of pokémon.

Examples are Professor Sycamore and his discoveries of mega evolution (which is immoral to use in of itself) and Professor Kukui's research on Z crystals.

Pokémon do not need accelerants to become stronger. They are far too strong and need to be stopped before they decide to overthrow humans.

---

There are already so many examples of humans losing their lives and being the victims of violence from pokémon. Some pokémon I'd like to prioritise the annihilation or captivation of are those I deem most dangerous to humans (especially children).

I'll list my examples (of which there are many).

Non-Legendary Examples.

Banette was previously a child's toy that was abandoned. It haunts dark alleyways, actively seeking the child who disowned it to enact revenge. It “generates energy for laying strong curses by sticking pins into its own body.” Its mouth is zipped up to keep all that cursed energy from escaping. That pokémon actively targets children to hurt them.

Another pokémon who actively targets children - Driftloon. Drifloon’s body is stuffed with the souls of the humans and Pokémon it is taking to the afterlife, even earning it the nickname “Signpost for Wandering Souls.” It usually targets children, tugging at their hands to try to drag them to the afterlife. Children who mistake this Pokémon for a balloon and hold its hand have been known to go missing and never be seen again.

When Froslass finds humans or Pokémon it likes, it freezes them and takes them to its den, where they become decorations. These things actually target humans.

Gengar poses as your shadow, then curses you and murders you. “Should you feel yourself attacked by a sudden chill, it is evidence of an approaching Gengar. There is no escaping it. Give up.” Delightful.

Or what about Gourgeist?? it chokes its prey while singing because it’s so overjoyed with the suffering inflicted on its victims.

Mimikyu. For one, no one knows what it looks like - its true form is so terrifying that anyone unfortunate enough to even catch a glimpse has met a swift death.

I think I've proven my point enough, but here's a list of pokémon who are also very dangerous that I can think of as I write this (though there are definitely more.)

Scyther.

Drowzee/Hypno.

Houndoom.

Tyranitar.

Kangaskhan.

Legendary Examples.

Mewtwo. Mewtwo holds the most hatred in its heart. It started a literal war. What's terrifying is that Mewtwo is still out there. Mewtwo has tried to kill humans previously, and is very capable of doing it.

Groudon/Kyogre. Both of them can cause cataclysmic chaos to the world (as we've seen). Devastating floods as well as drought could lead to the pain and suffering of humans and other pokémon. And as we've seen in the past, when and if humans acquire the red/blue orbs, their power is easily manipulated and can cause the end of humanity.

Giratina. “It was banished for its violence. It silently gazed upon the old world from the Distortion World.” Banished for violence is already terrifying enough. But if Giratina wanted to, it has the power to cause immense destruction.

Yveltal. When this legendary Pokémon’s wings and tail feathers spread wide and red, it absorbs the life force of living creatures surrounding it. And when its life comes to an end, it absorbs the life energy of every living thing and turns into a cocoon, resurrecting itself to eventually end all life again.

Darkrai. If you come into contact with this pokémon, you'll be met with unending nightmares that only stop with interference from Cresselia (which is incredibly difficult and rare to have happen).

Ultra Beasts.

Nihilego is the best example I can think of. Nihilego's most distinctive feature is its parasitic capability. When Nihilego latches on to a host's head, it awakens the host's own capabilities and boosts them to an extreme extent in order to protect itself.

It injects the host with a neurotoxin, this neurotoxin of Nihilego's is incredibly stimulating and inspires feelings of extreme excitement and a lack of inhibition in its host. Anything or anyone that Nihilego latches on to will have its skills forcibly activated to their fullest extent and will then act as it “naturally desires” to. Its venom turns their negative emotions into happiness and pleasure. It's also said that Nihilego mostly feed on those who feel intense worry or anxiety.

It sounds somewhat good initially, but it's not safe or good whatsoever. It makes the host act against their own will and lose control, it is also incredibly traumatising to the victim, who is often already insanely stressed and traumatised. The toxins also remain within the victim's body long after Nihilego leaves, leaving them sick for an unspecified amount of time (President Lusamine’s experience is incredibly interesting, I recommend looking into it).

Guzzlord is essentially a black hole. It'll eat and eat without stopping, never feeling fulfilled. These monsters can eat entire mountains, castles, skyscrapers, etc.

Buzzwole. The extent of its strength is unknown. Its entire body is covered with bulging muscles filled with red liquid that is said to be the blood it has drained from its victims. The full force of a punch powered by its muscles is able to pulverize a truck with a single punch. Its proboscis is said to be harder than diamonds, which it uses to violently and furiously stab and eliminate its victims.

Kartana. It was observed furiously cutting down a gigantic steel tower with one stroke of its blade, without any reason or provocation. Every edge of its body is fatally sharp, making it able to cut almost everything to shreds. An attack from this UB would result in being cut fatally.

Celesteela's most distinctive feature is its gas it stores within its arms. It acts destructive, burning down a forest by expelling its highly flammable gas from its two arms, for unknown reasons, without any provocation. It is stated that this fatally dangerous flammable gas could burn and melt anything.

Conclusion?

Pokémon are unsafe.

Maybe not all of them, but it's not worth the risk.

I am not an evil or sadistic person by any means. I'm not like any evil team leader, nor do I align with them whatsoever.

I believe this for the victims, for the parents who have lost their children to these dangerous beasts.

I cannot believe that people keep and strengthen pokémon for leagues and such for entertainment and fun, is it really worth the lives ruined?

I beg the people who read this to at least think about it.

The existence of evil teams should be evidence enough that pokémon training is inherently evil and is doing bad for the world.

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you have a wonderful day. Stay safe.

[tokyoteddywolf]

CONTENT WARNING: Graphic blood, body horror, violent injuries, internal organs, implied offscreen death, parasitism, one really fucked up Pokémon. You have been warned.

Contains lore and worldbuilding content for The Obsidian Mew AU.

(I did say this was a horror au, yanno. Oh and have some Music to go with this, for flavor :D)

In which I take the Shadow Stone parasitism and ramp it up.

There are five stages to Corruption into a Shadow Pokémon; Early Stage, Middle Stage, Late Stage, "Too Late" Stage, and Crystallized Decomp.

This specimen is in the "Too Late" Stage of possession by Shadow Stones. There is no saving it. There is no purifying it. It's simply too far gone, too badly damaged. In this stage, multiple vital organs and bones have been literally replaced by growing Shadow Stones.

Ones like these know only a neverending hunger, but no matter how much they consume, it's not enough. Anything with Gaia Energy, they'll go after, driving even calm herbivores to violent prey hunting methods. Oh they can last a bit longer with food, but death is inevitable. Without Obsidian to do her job, Pokémon like this Wyrdeer have fallen prey to infection from the Shadow Stones.

And Obsidian has not been doing her job.

Before Anne and Mewtwo were even born, there was a time aptly named "The Era of Darkness". Arceus had to beg Obsidian to return to her duties.

I'll let you guess what happened.

[auramgold]

pokémon mystery dungeon: victory fire is by far my favourite piece of pokémon media and as a fancomic it blends so much of the world together so brilliantly that i never can shut up about it

but it's so hard to recommend not only because it's been on eternal hiatus since the start of 2019 (;_;), but also because in order to understand it you need to have played/watched:

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team (any of them will do), including postgame plot

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky, including the entire postgame plot and multiple of the special side stories

Pokémon Colosseum

Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness

Pokémon Black/White (either will do)

Pokémon Black 2/White 2 (either will do, though probably the same as you did for the first ones)

Pokémon: The First Movie - Mewtwo Strikes Back, including the censored prologue The Uncut Story of Mewtwo's Origin

every one of those is essential to understanding what's actually going on with the plot and reading Victory Fire before them will spoil all of them. in addition to this, the comic also makes pretty clear reference to these, though they're less essential

Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia

the seventh pokémon movie Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys

the sixteenth pokémon movie Pokémon the Movie: Genesect and the Legend Awakened

and most people, fun fact, haven't been obsessive pokémon fans all their life so i can't share the beauty of it with everyone (even ignoring the eternal hiatus 😭)

[two-blue-mews]

Thought that it’d be fun to do this animation meme and draw what Bleu would look like if she were corrupted by a Shadow Synergy Stone!

Meme credit goes to TheFluffMother on Twitter

Design inspired by @pokemon-ash-aus King!

(Some headcanon rambling and full corrupted pic under the cut)

Bleu would’ve gotten corrupted after saving B-2 from getting corrupted herself

Typing is ice/dark

She could become uncorrupted without any synergy stone by cutting off her tail, but you’d have to be able to get to it first

Really, Shadow Bleu would be very protective of her tail

Her tail was already strong before, but now that things a fucking wrecking ball

It’d probably be easier to travel to the Ferrum Region yourself, get a synergy stone, and come back to uncorrupt her than just cutting her tail off

Can create synergy-infused ice structures

Prefers physical combat with her claws and tail to using actual moves

She’d still have the orange hue to her claws, tail, and neck tuft even after being cleansed

Probably would also have a scar on the end of her tail (if it isn’t removed entirely)

More strain is being put on her body compared to shadow Lugia or Mewtwo due to the fact that she’s a regular Pokemon

[xxtc-96xx]

Shadow the Hedgehog and Mewtwo trauma bonding not only over the dark entities that took over their body but also their dead friends

“Same story bro”

“Same story bro”

[h-worksrambles]

I haven’t really spoken much about Sonic x Shadow Generations here since it came out but I have to say, I absolutely loved it. It’s the most fun I’ve had with 3D Sonic since…well, the original Generations in 2011. It has brilliant levels, fixes most of my problems with Sonic Frontiers and was an all round delight of an experience. In addition, it’s the first time in a long time that a Sonic story has genuinely impressed me. In a series where the narratives tend to either be a hodgepodge of badly executed anime tropes (sometimes in campy charming ways and other times not) or barebones excuse plots, this one (especially factoring in Dark Beginnings) was focused, cohesive and well presented in a way Sonic stories rarely are. I don’t have to add any qualifiers like ‘it’s camp!’ or ‘it’s a good idea’ or ‘it’s got some good moments’. It’s just legitimately well done.

And a big part of that was how well the game captured the character of Shadow. So I thought it would be fun to look back at the turbulent history of this guy, why the concept of him getting his own game this year had me both excited yet worried, and why the result so pleasantly surprised me.

Shadow first debuts in Sonic Adventure 2 and he’s a really entertaining character, here. Aside from having an aesthetic and music presentation designed in a lab to be the coolest thing a 2000s kid will have ever seen. He’s just smug and confident enough to bounce off of Sonic in an amusing way, but he has enough pathos to his character and backstory to remain endearing. There’s a lot of surprisingly thoughtful concepts regarding identity, memory and revenge that his story touches on. Couple that with his backstory that gets into darker territory than anything in the series prior and he’s easily got the most going on of any Sonic character. The only real critique I have is his story feels like it tries to do too much in such a short game (with a wonky translation). It asks a lot of big questions about the nature of memory to an artificial life form but doesn’t have much in the way of answers. Plus, his heel turn to the heroes’ side definitely feels a bit rushed. It effectively comes down to his true memories coming back a narratively convenient moment, and doesn’t give him much agency to make his own decisions. Like, nothing Amy says to him really gets through to him, nothing in his experiences over the game prompts a change of heart. Amy conveniently just happens to say the right thing to jog his memory. Shadow starts the game wanting to honour Maria’s memory and dies the same way. He’s just remembered what she actually wanted now, But his death is still pretty effective in the moment.

Is he basically just Mewtwo from the first Pokémon movie with the serial numbers filed off? Yes, but he’s the perfect encapsulation of SA2’s appeal. It’s a game that is camp and brave enough to own it. Even at its clumsiest and most derivative it’s consistently charming, and plenty of moments of unironic sentimentality shine through.

Unfortunately, he got so damn popular that Sonic Team refused to let him rest, so the next game, Sonic Heroes, saw him immediately revived and given amnesia. Which is a huge shame, as there was a lot of potential in Shadow coming back, reflecting on his actions in SA2 and actually having to put the work in to redeem himself and find a new purpose after clinging to revenge for so long. But we skate over that with a lot of pretty undercooked intrigue about how he survived that goes nowhere til the next game. Partnering him up with Rouge and Omega to create Team Dark is a good idea, even if this game gives them very little to do. But it’s the next two games where Shadow’s prominence would really peak, and where I have the bulk of my criticisms.

Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic 06 are two of Shadow’s most prominent showings in the series and to their credit, they do in some ways rectify that lack of agency I mentioned in Adventure 2. Shadow’s own game is all about an amnesiac Shadow’s search for answers while everyone around him puts pressure on him to be where they want: be that a hero, a weapon, or the villain of their story. The game then ends with him renouncing the expectations everyone else has placed on him. Not just Black Doom but even Gerald and Maria, renouncing his past entirely and so forging his own path, which carries neatly into Sonic 06. As much as I find reviving him with amnesia to be a trite and frustrating direction for the character, this is probably the best thing you could do with that premise. Making the new Shadow distinct from the old Shadow and so, in a sense, keeping that character dead.

That being said, there’s a big issue Shadow runs into here: He starts to become really boring. Maybe it’s just being in two Sonic games with bad writing and voice direction but Shadow loses so much personality here. There’s none of that cocky charisma that made him such a good rival to Sonic. In his own game, his amnesia reduces him to a blank slate, whose demeanour and motivations change in a dime depending on the last person he talked to because of the game’s botched morality system. Meanwhile, in 06, he suffers the same character writing issues as everyone else, droning out the plot in flat monotone delivery. While he makes out a little better than most of the cast as he gets an actual villain to face off against and more meat to his story, the presentation really hurts it. 06 tries to confront Shadow with a character who wants to tempt him back to his old vengeful ways, in the form of Mephiles, thereby cementing how far Shadow has come. Unfortunately, that temptation was pretty much Black Doom’s deal in the last game, so once Shadow rejects Mephiles outright, there is no conflict. It’s a case of like…two good scenes amidst three hours of nothing. There’s a fine line between stoic and dull. As compeling as the idea of making post amnesia Shadow effectively his own character is, these games struggled to give him a personality distinct from his SA2 persona. Now his personality is just ‘does cool shit’. I think Takashi Iizuka and Shiro Maekawa both got a little too fond of Shadow, and he really started turning into a creator’s pet. Cartoonishly badass and hyper competent in a way that upstages every other character. Shadow basically dominates 06’s plot and upstages every other character, but so much of his charisma has been lost at this point that he still ends up feeling dull. It’s played so straight and framed as ‘sooooo cooool’ but is so overwrought that he already feels like a parody of himself (think Legolas in The Hobbit movies).

After that, Shadow took a huge backseat from the series for over 15 years. With his backstory put to rest and with the series skirting away from the kind of dramatic or complicated plots that would give a character like Shadow a meaningful role, he’s left to hang in the background. And as much as I love Sonic Unleashed, Colors and especially Generations, this didn’t really prove a long term solution. Execution has always been the Achilles heel of Sonic writing and switching from clunky melodrama to clunky jokes ended to just being a short term bandaid, that worked fine for a few games but led to diminishing returns in the long run. A lot of people criticise this period of Shadow being ‘written like Vegeta’ more concerned with his rivalry with Sonic than anything else, with no time given to the pathos and relationships with other characters that kept him relatable. But that’s a mostly a product of how minimal his role is here. In something like Sonic Generations, where Shadow’s role is to be a boss fight and his motivations have to be understandable in two lines tops, that flanderization is the unfortunate result. Aside from a decent showing in Sonic Forces, where he serves a simple but serviceable role, there’s not a lot to say in comparison to when he dominated the franchise. And while I think that overexposure was a problem, I never wanted him to go away. I just wanted something that reminded me why I liked him in Adventure 2 to begin with, where his edge and ‘badassery’ didn’t make him feel like a parody of himself.

Then comes Shadow Generations. Shadow Gens borrows from both aspects of him. It walks back on the idea of post-amnesia Shadow being wholly distinct from SA2 Shadow, which some might not like. But it’s worth it for the story it tells. Shadow’s rejection of his past is reframed as him effectively running away from the trauma of it all because it’s simply too painful, nearly demonstrated in the final scene of Dark Beginnings. Providing him with a chance to meet Maria and Gerald again draws out some vulnerability from him without being overdone or too cloying. There’s a nice arc about Shadow learning not to run away from his past, to accept the good parts while still renouncing his ties to Black Doom. The result is that it simultaneously feels Ike both a tribute to Shadow’s 2005 spin off and a do-over, revisiting those concepts with a clearer head and more time to cook. His overall characterisation is also closer to that stoic confidence mixed with pathos that made his SA2 self so likeable, especially when you factor in Dark Beginnings. Yes he’s framed as so cool that it starts to get a bit ridiculous, but it’d easier to embrace the campy fun of that when he’s also legitimately sympathetic. His arc feels more focused and tighter executed than past attempts to develop him, but it still builds on those older concepts despite their hit or miss execution. And it all builds to an ending that is just the right mix of earnestly sweet and restrained to end the whole game on a genuinely touching note.

It’s also nice to see the Team Dark dynamic be used in a less…cursed game than 06 where it can shine a bit more. Rouge and Omega aren’t in the game a ton, but the optional conversations with them, and especially their role in Dark Beginnings, gets the to heart of what makes this found family of badass messy bitches so appealing. It takes a lot to draw any emotional frankness out of any of these three but it hits hard when they do finally open up to each other.

Shadow as a character is sort of a perfect encapsulation of the good and bad of Sonic storytelling. It’s admirable that the series tries to tell bigger stories, but the writing often isn’t strong enough to carry it. But walking back that scope and energy doesn’t really fix the issue, as it simply leaves the series feeling vanilla and only brings those fundamental issues of poorer execution into sharp focus. And Shadow Generations’ ability to recapture that energy while avoiding the common pitfalls is what makes it so refreshing.

The last few years have seen Sonic as a franchise experiment more with storytelling than they have in years and the results left me decidedly mixed. While Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog was a delightful reminder of just how charming these characters can be with good writing, Sonic Frontiers felt like a return of all the series’ bad writing habits. Overwrought, derivative, tonally dissonant trend chasing that reaches for big ideas that it can’t do justice, with poor presentation, rushed, forced execution and a general sense of thinking it’s way more profound than it actually is. It really felt like 2000s Sonic was back in the worst way, moments of promise amidst a hot mess that felt both over and undercooked.

But that just made Shadow Generations even more of a delight. It didn’t feel like it was intentional downplaying itself to avoid scrutiny like Sonic Forces or Lost World did, but not did it feel like it was constantly chasing after trends like Shadow the Hedgehog or copying frantically off its anime cheat sheet like 06 or Frontiers. It kept a clear consistent focus on exploring and celebrating Shadow’s character, with good pacing, a refreshing attention to continuity, solid emotional beats and well done cutscenes.

This feels like the sort of thing the Sonic series often wanted to be, but regularly fell short of. A campy, exciting action romp focused on its likeable characters. And it was the capstone on an already really fun campaign that made for a brilliant addition to what was already my favourite 3D Sonic game.

I’m delighted that Shadow Generations got me excited about Sonic again, but I’m just as happy that it made me excited about Shadow again.

[drmarioman]

Alright I'm cooking a Super Smash Bros. thing, rate the starting roster (italics are newcomers)

Super Smash Bros.: Sandbag

Super Mario Bros.: Mario, NES Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, Bowser, Petey Piranha, Goomba, Waluigi, Geno, Dr. Mario

Donkey Kong: Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong

The Legend of Zelda: Link, Zelda, Ganondorf, Dark Link, Young Link, Sheik, Tingle, Toon Link

Metroid: Samus Aran, Zero Suit Samus, Ridley

Yoshi: Yoshi

Kirby: Kirby, Meta Knight, Bandana Dee, Gooey

Star Fox: Fox McCloud, Falco Lombardi, Krystal

Pokémon: Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Vaporeon, Mewtwo, Pichu, Scizor, Heracross, Lucario, Snivy

EarthBound: Ness, Lucas, Porky Minch

F-Zero: Captain Falcon

Ice Climber: Ice Climbers

Fire Emblem: Marth, Roy, Ike

Game & Watch: Mr. Game & Watch

Kid Icarus: Pit

Wario: Wario, Ashley

Pikmin: Olimar

Robotic Operating Buddy: R.O.B.

Punch-Out!!: Little Mac

Xenoblade Chronicles: Shulk

Duck Hunt: Duck Hunt Dog

Balloon Fight: Balloon Fighter

Mach Rider: Mach Rider

Joy Mech Fight: Sukapon

Sin and Punishment: Saki Amamiya

Golden Sun: Isaac

Chibi-Robo!: Chibi-Robo

Metal Gear: Solid Snake

Castlevania: Simon Belmont

Bomberman: Bomberman

Sonic the Hedgehog: Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Sonic, Miles "Tails" Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, Shadow the Hedgehog, Dark Sonic

Ristar: Ristar

Mega Man: Mega Man, Mega Man X, Zero, Mega Man Zero, Vent

Street Fighter: Ryu, Chun-Li, Evil Ryu

Devil May Cry: Dante

Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright

Pac-Man: Pac-Man

Tales: Lloyd Irving, Kratos Aurion

Klonoa: Klonoa

Digimon: Agumon, Patamon

Final Fantasy: Black Mage, Cloud Strife, Sephiroth

Kingdom Hearts: Sora, Riku, Dark Riku

Chrono Trigger: Crono

Banjo-Kazooie: Banjo & Kazooie

Crash Bandicoot: Crash Bandicoot

Tetris: Tetromino

Rayman: Rayman

Team Fortress 2: The Demoman

Shantae: Shantae, Nega-Shantae

Dragon Ball: Son Goku, Vegeta

Naruto: Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Rock Lee

Bleach: Ichigo Kurosaki, Renji Abarai

One Piece: Monkey D. Luffy

Inuyasha: Inuyasha

The Incredibles: Mr. Incredible

McLeodGaming: Blade, Blue, Azrael, Spikeman, Robo Ninja

YouTube Poop: Weegee