#They REALLY wanted it to become THE gen of all pokemon gens

[elbdot]

You've probably talked about it before, but what was your experience with swsh or scvi? (Positive or negative?)

Pokemon Scarlet I had a lot of fun playing! Like I mentioned in the previous ask, I thought Nemona was a really fun rival and like everyone else I bawled my eyes out at Arvens storyline. Penny I...did not really care for. I don't like her all that much, she annoyed me. Team Star has some really fun admins tho! Taking down the bases I really enjoyed, I wish they would have given you an option to replay those levels with the difficulty being highered in postgame. There were actually a LOT of minigames I wish you could play again. All in all I enjoyed my time with the game and it was definitely a HUGE improvement to the previous generation.

The Selfie-function DEFINITELY was one of my favorite features, LMAO

... I don't really have anything nice to say about Sword and Shield. I ranted about the game a lot in the past and my opinion on it still hasn't changed. The only new thing I've learned about the game a few months back is how unbelievably troubled its production actually was, which certainly does explain the mess we received. That sTILL doesn't milden my opinion on what we got tho. It is no doubt my least favorite Pokemon game. Positive things I CAN say is that the designs for the trainers are fantastic, I love Galarian Ponyta, Snom and Frosmoth and the music slaps hard. But THAT'S ABOUT IT FOR ME

[ot3]

top 10 pokemon that are girls

'gender'.... much like 'animals' this is a concept from our world that has made itself present in the pokemon franchise. all pokemon began having genders (except for the ones that don't) in the second generation of games, in order to facilitate the pokemon breeding mechanic which has become a staple of the main series

you may think this means the issue of which pokemon are girls and which ones aren't is already settled. but do we really trust game freak to be the deciding voices on this one? i certainly don't. so here's a nonexhaustive look at some pokemon that are doing their best to be role models for young women everywhere who have been picking up and enjoying these games for decades.

#10 - NIDORAN♀

Not only is Nidoran♀ canonically a girl, she is the first pokemon to be canonically a girl as the gender distinction between Nidoran types predates the introduction of gen 2's breeding system that gendered all pokemon. she broke the glass ceiling, and for this we salute her.

#9 - KANGASKHAN

Both culturally and in media single mothers are subject to a lot of scrutiny and scorn, but kangaskhan breaks the mold. powerful, responsible, yet loving and joy-filled. the look on her baby's face tells us all we need to know; she holds on tight to the pouch, clinging to the safety she knows her mother can give her, but gazes awestruck and wide-eyed at the world around her, knowing its wonders will be there waiting for her as soon as she feels ready for it.

#8 - CELESTEELA

Technically, celesteela's gender is 'unknown', but it's obvious that celesteela represents what life can look like for a woman who truly has it all. As one of the largest and heaviest pokemon ever discovered, she's not afraid to take up space. she doesn't feel the need to soften herself to be more accepted by the world around her, but she's also comfortable enough with her feminine side to let it shine through where and when she wants. nobody tells her how to live her life but her and also she has big lazers

#7 - MISMAGIUS

Well she's not called MISTER magius now, is she?

#6 - LYCANROC

Perfect embodiment of the wolfgirl you knew (or, perhaps were?) in middleschool. There are many doglike/canine pokemon in the dex, but something about lycanroc's exaggerated unkempt mane and lanky, awkward posture evokes the physicality of a teenager who exists as a beast beyond the boundaries of her own body.

#5 - CHIKORITA

This saultry little binch...

#4 - RAYQUAZA

It's an uncomfortable truth in life that many women find themselves in the position of needing to play the mediator in order to stop the people around them from acting in destructive or harmful ways. But just because mediating conflict can be a difficult and unfair position to be put into, that doesn't mean it's a bad thing. Rayquaza just goes to show us all everywhere how a real woman can still thrive under these circumstances, doing her best to build a more peaceful world while not letting that push her into the shadows or make her take a back seat in her own life. she is a community leader and an innovator.

#3 - SALAZZLE

She's the archetypal femme fatale. A dominatrix. A baddie. Does she make me uncomfortable? Yes, absolutely. But I'm not a furry so I'm not really the target audience of what's happening here.

#2 - SLAKING

I know so many butches who look exactly like her. you love to see it.

#1 - MEWTWO

as one feminist philosopher has said: "I see now that the circumstances of one's birth is irrelevant, it is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are."

I think any woman living in a patriarchal society can sympathize with mewtwo's story. enraged at being treated like the property of the people who created her rather than her own fully realized person, she goes on a rampage where it quickly becomes obvious that she is even more powerful than that what she was originally created in the image of. Although this takes her down a dark path, she eventually learns to self-actualize by working on herself rather than pointlessly lashing out at people who had nothing to do with hurting her. it's empowering stuff. doubly empowering because she killed all those clowns who DID hurt her

now, of course, there are plenty more pokemon that are girls than just what i've listed here today. but i hope youve learned a little something from this.

[goldenrodchef]

So, you're turning into a Pokemon

A guide by Gen Taranz

This is a guide for people who are turning into, are going to turn into, or have already turned into Pokemon. I'm of the third category, and I've been stuck like this for almost a year now. So, uh. I think I might be able to give some pretty good advice. The guide itself is below the cut.

This is part 1 of...I'm not sure yet. I currently have 10 sections planned, but I might add more if need be.

Section 1: How do I know it's happening to me?

Generally, if your skin suddenly starts turning an odd color like blue, you're feeling really itchy and fuzzy all over, or you're feeling odd bumps in weird places (like on your head or tailbone), I'm sorry to say, but you're probably turning into a Pokemon.

Now, that's not always going to be the case. But that's the best I got for if you're being turned into a Pokemon non-instantly, or sleebied.

You might not experience any of these. You might just go to bed one day, and wake up as a Pokemon. That's what happened for me, after all. If that's what happened, feel free to skip section 8 of this guide.

Section 2: Fur, scales, and feathers

These are not fun to have, in my experience. I only have fur and scales, but I'll do my best to talk about feathers too.

Fur is going to need to be groomed a lot. Your tongue might be your best bet here, many furry Pokemon have tongues built for grooming their fur. Of course, obviously you might not want to do that, so it's a good idea to invest in a good furbrush that you can hold, or ask a trusted person to hold.

Scales are less of a pain to take care of, and are the most like skin out of these three things, but are still very weird. My scales are a bit squishy, which is. Something.

We don't know of many feathered eebies yet, but from what I've heard, they're a pain to take care of. There's the whole preening process that you'll have to start doing, not to mention molting.

Speaking of, let's talk about shedding. For me, shedding happens once every two months or so, and involves my tail scales getting progressively itchier and itchier until they peel off and reveal a new layer. For others, it might involve your fur getting really itchy as your summer or winter coat grows in, or something similar happening with feathers.

For fur or feather shedding, having a rough surface to rub your body against helps a lot with helping get fur loose. If you have a scaly friend, ask them if you can rub against them to help shed your fur.

For scale shedding, rough surfaces also help, but warm baths also help in loosening that top layer of scales. They also feel really good if you're a water-type.

Section 3: Paws, wings, talons, and tails

I'm sorry to say this, but your hands are likely going to drastically change. You'll probably lose most of their dexterity, and it'll be much more difficult to do stuff with them.

If your hands are changing or have changed into paws...there's not much to do. You'll just have to find other ways to do things. My little brother, Cobalt the Giratina eeby, uses xyr tail to do most stuff now, which might be a viable option for those with flexible tails, but I'll get to those in a bit.

You might keep your thumbs, or you might not. I'm sorry. I wish I could help more. All I can really do is recommend using styluses, and looking into disability aids.

For those of you that are becoming avian Pokemon, you're likely going to have your hands become wings. And for those of you becoming dragon-types, you might grow wings from scratch.

These are definitely no replacement for hands, but you can fly now, at least?

What is a replacement for hands, though, is talons. Talons, at least from what I've heard, are pretty dexterous, allowing you to do most things you could previously do with your hands! Though this will likely be a balancing act, since you also use these to stand.

And now, tails. I...honestly don't really know what to say here, since Pokemon have so many different varieties of tails. My cousin, Jayden the Brionne eeby, has a tail instead of legs. My best friend, Lily the Buizel eeby, has two tails that she can spin. And myself, I have a Sobble tail that's prehensile. It really depends on what species you end up as.

One thing I've consistently noticed, though, is that tails are very easy to lose track of, especially if they're the waggy sort. It's extremely easy to knock stuff over with your tail if you're not paying close attention to it. So...pay attention to it.

Also try not to sit on your tail. That really hurts.

And that's part 1 of this! I hope that this helps any eebies and sleebies who are struggling with their bodies.

[peemanne]

ok. i'm sorry. i'm on that tomodachi grind right now. it just went down. i NEED to report this. truly historic moment in pee-land island just unfolded on my monitor

beautiful pee-land island right. nishiki's become a bit of a favorite for me. he was actually the first islander to reach level 20. he's kind of just been living the life so far on here. i sent the gallery awhile back. he's been doing real well for himself, between his massive closet, dyed hair, and living underwater because i got bored. he's one of the most popular islanders too, scoring an impressive top 2 on the popularity ranking, as well as getting along really well with a majority of the island

it's not all sunshine and rainbows for the island's #2 fish, though. he's been down on his luck in one specific aspect:

Romance.

in tomodachi life, your islanders can try to get two of their friends together. three (3) separate islanders have attempted to get nishiki together with cynthia (of pokemon gen 4 fame), but every time they walk away from it, still just friends.

(PICTURED ABOVE: Kazuma Kiryu attempts to get Nishiki and Cynthia together)

this would come to a head when nishiki eventually got the love icon. (pictured below is nishiki kicking his feet and giggling while love icons circle his head)

unfortunately he decided to confess his love with a really bad pickup line (sorry i don't remember the specifics but like. it was dire. i winced), and he ended up getting rejected.

(i had him change outfits)

however, in an utterly unprecedented event, nishiki turned his head right back up, and decided to have another go at it. i didn't even know this event could happen prior to this.

unfortunately, cynthia did not even show up to the second invitation. nishiki fell into a depression so i let him go to cambodia. as a treat. for morale.

but there were glimmers of hope. i noticed cynthia's opinion of nishiki only went up after all that happened. kiryu would again try to get them together to no avail, but after that, a prompt showed up for nishiki, going along the lines of "why would kiryu want us together? oh now i'm curious". she even returned to him his lost mug. and like, i don't know. i was feeling pretty optimistic after that. i was very much rooting for nishiki at this point. what can i say, it was really cute. it became my crackship. i wanted to see it happen. even took this picture in the photo studio cause i thought it'd be cute

how romantic. alright. now cut to last night. i boot up the game, get my fountain donations, yadda yadda it's cool. i check out the clothing shop for the daily rotation of outfits, and i spot this.

it looks exactly like the suit he wears in yakuza 1. and i'm like hell yeah. i've had him wear a bunch of outfits so it's nice to see one so accurate (I've been waiting for a suit for Kiryu since I've added him). i get excited and get him fitted.

(PICTURE ABOVE: Nishiki wearing a fish hat underwater as well as a dashing white suit)

i'm feeling pretty good after this. i go about doing the island rounds. eventually, cynthia's problem icon pops up and i go to see what's up. it wasn't just any problem icon though. it was the big heart

as i said before her opinion of nishiki was only getting better. and i'm like, oh my god. it's all coming together. it might be happening. i'm jumping up and down. then i open the door

KAZUMA KIRYU. SHE FELL FOR KAZUMA KIRYU

I CANNOT BELIEVE IT. TOMODACHI LIFE CRASHED MY CRACKSHIP. HOW COULD I LET THIS HAPPEN TO MYSELF

AND IT WENT REALLY WELL. THEY'RE OFFICIALLY DATING NOW. STILL HAPPY FOR THEM BUT THEY CRASHED MY CRACKSHIP. STOLE IT FROM ME. RIPPED IT FROM MY HANDS. THIS IS LITERALLY WHAT HAPPENS IN YAKUZA 1 TOO WITH YUMI. WHAT THE HELL

that suit is cursed. i'm sure of it now. i gotta dye his hair back and put kiryu in the jail room now. fate never rests for the brothers. what the hell.

pictured below is nishiki immediately after this Incident (he is joined by Hatsune Miku and Sin Kiske)

i then saved the game and NISHIKI JUMPSCARE HE'S HERE TOO

i was still reeling over it, then i got curious. i headed for the beach and started up judgment bay.

19:2 ratio. i'm crying. only kiryu himself (As well as competitive Pokemon staple and famed #girlboss Landorus-Therian, who is standing behind Kiryu's massive head) still see the good in him. i'm in shambles

whatever this island has in store for nishiki i just pray it goes well for him. he was living the life here, and the last thing i want to see is that being taken away from him. i hope this does not cascade to another shirtless fistfight on an observation deck.

[goldensunset]

for drawing requests, perhaps the khux gang with what pokemon they'd have? (or maybe just a few of them lol)

ok i would Love to actually draw this kinda thing someday but it would take more than i have in me atm so i will simply ramble about it. some of these are what i think they would realistically have in some sort of pokémon au and half of these are just like pokémon i think match their vibe

first off. the entire porygon line fits brain PERFECTLY. it’s like an artificial computer program thing (also its existence is meant to be an ironic fourth wall break lol). meant to be a helpful program that fights bugs and viruses in cyberspace. its final evolution porygon-z is where it gets interesting… it has grown in power, but it’s been corrupted by dubious data itself…….. as another option uhhhhh gallade. a very noble and mindful and steadfast soldier. i just love gallade. he also deserves a steel type. screw it klefki the literal key ring pokémon

lauriam was born to have a roserade let’s be so real it’s grass/poison… looks like a lovely bouquet of flowers but it can Kill you… plus it even has like the dapper cape thing. it’s a no brainer from me on this one. but i’ll give him a runner up or two. he deserves some ghost types too, becoming a shell of himself… i’m feeling poltchageist/sinistcha. grass/ghost types associated with like hospitality and seeming all proper but also it’s a ruse and they will kill you. cofagrigus is a consideration almost entirely only for its pokémon sword entry that says it ‘no longer remembers it was once human’ and also like grabbing and trapping the living. marluxia…

would it be funny to give strelitzia a grass/ghost type like phantump (dead child) or is that too sad. ok how about she gets lilligant. very beautiful elegant grass type with an orange flower. alternatively she gets floette- it’s not a grass type but like very clearly associated with flowers (and also. dying. if we’re taking gen 6 lore info account. and then being brought back to life but at devastating costs and turning the person who was desperate to do so into a monster)

skuld……… i’m really indecisive here. i think psychic and fire and steel are all good choices. first thoughts here it’s gotta be something to do with stars of course. y’know what? i think she deserves cosmog privileges. little star baby that can evolve into one of two legendary pokémon. she has that aura. (if i don’t just straight up give her necrozma lol). but also gothitelle is a really good pick for her bc it’s associated with both the stars and with seeing the future (although the emotional detachment and terror don’t fit that well). maybe delphox? but also she deserves a sword. honedge. screw it. zacian. skuld deserves a legendary

ventus….. if we’re talking khux era specifically my immediate thought was mimikyu. it’s Gotta be mimikyu. desperate for love and attention, taking the form of someone else and trying to fit in…. and zorua of course!!! i mean ig it’s more like zorua would be his darkness that shapeshifted to deceive him but like that works!! that works. the tricky fox pokémon… and because i’m not done being evil i want him to have a pokémon with the ability infiltrator. cute option is whimsicott. option relevant to vanitas’ later existence is ninjask (bc think about shedinja…) option relevant to him probably deserving a flying type is the hoppip line

elrena gets electric types obviously but she isn’t quite as vicious as larxene so she gets like. pachirisu. plus the color scheme works. or shinx

and last but not least ephemer the guy of all ever. this one is really hard….others have assigned him pokémon before that i agree with, such as rosie giving him arcanine (he deserves an Ouppy and it’s a noble majestic beast) and roadie giving him eldegoss (dandelion seeds….). it’s a wild thought but i also kind of think of mew… bc it’s said to be kinda like the genetic ancestor of all pokémon… the nexus from which all worlds spring… i think ephy deserves some sort of mythical or legendary. i’m feeling victini… he always wins somehow am i right… and he’s like sora’s good luck victory charm in kh3… but also i think he should have a water type. suicune privileges be upon ye. no yknow what he gets volcarona it has the fire type and it’s like worshipped as a sun deity for having saved the land. idk. half this post is me trying to justify giving my favs to my characters lol

oh and how could i forget the player… immediate thought is spinda. there are something like four billion different forms right. representing how player is a customizable avatar. for deeper lore reasons how about basculegion the ghost fish. ‘clads itself in the souls of comrades that perished before fulfilling their goals of journeying upstream’ those who didn’t make it out of the keyblade war or out of the fall of daybreak town etc still remain with them in spirit giving them strength, although they were the only one strong enough to survive…. (also it evolves by taking a ton of damage without dying. well it kinda does die but that’s beyond the point right)

i could probably say more and make this more coherent and provide better choices but unfortunately i think the sickness brain has finally caught up to me so i’m gonna finally hit post

[poisonousroxstar]

How about some yandere platonic mother Miriam from pokemon Scarlet/Violet, preferably with a son reader? If you haven't played gen 9 yet, then instead of Miriam it can be Nurse Joy :3

Imagine

Yan!Mum!Nurse Joy with a son

Plot Summery: Some platonic yandere headcanons for Nurse Joy with her son This Contains: Drug-related themes. Yandere themes. Unhealthy mindset. Maternal dependency. Note(s): wasn't sure if you wanted multiple ot just one, so I did one. Hope you like!

Nurse Joy is a generally kind and caring person, but this is especially true for her son. She absolutely loves you and is more then eager to pass on the family traditions of nursing and medicines to you!

She'll be a smothering mother, especially if you're eager to become a pokemon nurse. Seeing how much you learn from her and adopt similar mannerisms to her, have her heart soaring high. And she can't help but to give you a good hug and be so, so proud of her little boy! No doubt you'll also get your own healing-related pokemon too (likely a Blissy/Chancy you raised from an egg)

You're the apple of not only her eye, but all your other relatives as well. Your aunties, cousins, and nieces are all one big smothering and doting family; they always fret and dote on you, always making sure you're healthy and happy and always smothering you in presents and more. They can extremely overwhelming, and don't expect your mother to step in. No, she's joining in.

Wanting to become a pokemon trainer and/or traveling pokemon nurse will be very difficult to do with Yan!mom Joy down your neck. She's a huge worrywart, and is quick to remind you of the many dangers and threats that exist out there -- not just of pokemon, but of people too! She's not above guilt-tripping either; she'll remind you that she needs your help, here, at the pokemon center. She says she'll be extremely lonely without you, and how stressed being a nurse can be.

If she's really, really pushed, I could see her drugging you just to make sure you don't try and leave. Maybe even lock you up. It wouldn't last for too long, but she won't feel guilty for it. She's on the delusional spectrum somewhere, and genuinely believes that what she does is for your own benefit.

But if you do manage to her to let you go, then be prepared for the amount of guilt she's going to cause. On the day you're to leave, she's going to be holding you close, telling you to always call her and that if anything happens, you can always come home. She's doing everything she can to hold herself together as you leave. When you're gone, she does nothing but sob her eyes out. Yes, Nurse Joy is emotionally dependent on her baby, and she's a wreck for quite awhile.

Constant calls, regular updates. And for sure she's going to use her familial connections to all the other Joys throughout the region to keep tabs on you. It'll feel like she's always there, always lingering.

Overall, Nurse Joy is a an intense but loving mother, who wants only the best for you... even if it means she can't be with you all the time. But know that she will always miss you if you so leave her, always waiting for you to return to her.

Please.. please come back home soon.

[itsbenedict]

Zero has an edgy pokémon coma theory, and I kind of love it.

Obviously this is contradicted by a bunch of things, and presumably isn't secret lore the devs decided to include. But in the spirit of demonstrating how easy it is to develop a plausible conspiracy theory with sufficiently hyperactive pattern-matching, here's some "evidence" we found:

Apart from Wishiwashi, which might be a separate phenomenon (where do the extras even come from when it does Schooling?), no pokémon which is actually multiple pokémon exceeds a squad of six members. Falinks tops out at six, and Exeggcute has six but one of their heads exploded.

Random trainers around the map tend to only have two or three pokémon in their team. Game balance reasons? No! Only career trainers like the Elite Four or breeders bond with the maximum safe number of pokémon at once!

Gary/Blue has seven distinct pokémon, but only swaps one out when it- judging by its disappearance in the fight in Lavender Tower- literally dies.

The protagonist of gen 1, Red, shows up in the next game... totally nonverbal, hanging out at the top of a mountain, unable to interact except to battle. He's lost his mind to bonding with too many pokémon! The price of power!

Things this theory explains:

Multi-pokemon like Magneton- what makes Magneton a single pokémon, and not two or four Magnemite? Magneton is the configuration of Magnemite that's capable of bonding with a trainer as a single pokémon.

This is the function of pokéballs- they're a prosthesis for the organ pokémon have but humans don't that allows them to form psychic mind-meld links with other pokémon. It's not mind-control or convenient loyalty- you're in each other's heads now. Escape from a pokéball is rejection of the psychic link.

The original four trade evolutions- Gengar, Alakazam, Machamp, Golem- all become more humanlike on evolving. This is a side effect of trading a psychic bond with one human for another one, giving them more humanity to sample.

Things this theory makes way more sinister:

The pokédex quest is way spookier under this paradigm. The box system- if you can't catch more than six, why do boxes exist? Actually, it's weird that they exist at all, isn't it? Boxing the majority of your pokémon is a weird neglectful thing that the games just kind of pretend doesn't happen- trainers rarely if ever acknowledge its existence.

What if most trainers don't HAVE boxes? What if that's something you have, because the evil professor gave you a special pokédex that can access a private computer system belonging to a confederate? For example "Bill's PC" or "Lanette's PC", as opposed to "[playername]'s PC"? You don't normally keep pokémon in indefinite stasis in a computer system- this weird app just exists to allow you to complete the pokédex without your brain exploding!

In Red/Blue/Yellow, Oak gives Blue a pokédex, sure, but he clearly makes no attempt to fill it out. And... really, why would he? He didn't give his grandson the special pokédex that cares about whether you've caught pokémon. He just gave him the normal one! The one that's already filled out! Because of course a filled pokédex already exists! It's yours that records new information only when you catch stuff.

The implied endgame here is... the professor wants to create a pokémon-catcher capable of melding with a legendary pokémon, to interrogate it about the secrets of life.

There are so many levels on which this doesn't even kinda work, but it's extremely fun to occasionally cut loose and take a swim in some cool refreshing Edge.

[adobe-outdesign]

Is there a pokemon you haven't reviewed that you're really itching to? Maybe one that bothers you a lot? I'd love to hear about some of your least favorites

(I'm pretty sure I've reviewed all of the Pokemon that I don't care for already, and it's not that big of a list to begin with. That said, I'm doing the Grimer line for this one because I don't care for the originals that much, even if I love the Alolan forms.)

Grimer... is kind of boring, if I'm being honest. Slime monsters are a classic in fantasy and RPGs, and you can see a lot of different takes on them across the board. The beauty of a slime monster is that they don't have a solid body, so you can do whatever you want with the design.

Not only do we already have a slime monster in Gen 1 in the form of Ditto, but Grimer is pretty standard. It's a blob with arms, a wide open mouth, and big eyes. Color-wise, it's pure purple to represent its poison type with no details on its body. (For the record, I thought this line had stripes for years, which would've made them a bit more interesting, but the 3D models confirm that the stripes are shading.)

What I do like about Grimer is that A) the expression is kind of fun, especially in the earlier sprites, and B) it does have some great lore. I love details like how it dies if there's not enough trash and filth for it to eat, and how this has caused them to slowly become endangered because the Pokemon world has been cleaning up its pollution. It's good world building, and adds some much needed interest to the line.

Ultimately, while I find Grimer pretty bland, Muk is really what kills the line for me. There are so many things you can do with a pile of slime, and all the line does is... get bigger. It does change its eyes, gain a strand of slime over its mouth, and loose an arm (or rather, the other arm is merged with its body). The shape of it is kind of nice, and I like the mouth even if the eye is a bit of a downgrade, but overall it's about as uninteresting as an evo as you could get.

All that said, while the Kantonian version of these Pokemon don't do a lot for me, the Alolan regionals knock it out of the park. My main complaint was that the original line felt very standard, so Alolan Grimer imminently works on fixing this by making the body green (also clever as it's another toxic color, as well as a standard slime color) and giving it a blue tongue with a bright yellow mouth outline and two small teeth (actually crystals). Some black accents around the eyes help them pop a bit as well. This instantly makes it stand out a lot more.

The reason for this change is that the line now feeds primarily on chemical waste instead of regular waste, having been introduced to Alola to deal with their trash problems. Once again, great worldbuilding!

And if Alolan Grimer wasn't enough, Alolan Muk improves on the line even further by massively changing the design. What was one yellow line around the mouth is now four different colors, (yellow, green, blue, and pink), which are incredibly bright. Under normal circumstances they'd look clashy and garish, but they work perfectly when used to represent chemical poisons and the like. It's also nice that the line actually has stripes after all these years, and they ripple in its animations, which is even cooler! (The blue stripes don't move, which is odd, but I digress.)

And in addition to that, Alolan Muk expands on A. Grimer's little "teeth" by including more crystalized poisons all over its body, giving it a jaw full of jagged, uneven "teeth" and "claws". The line went from being way too similar and fairly standard to incredibly distinct and unique. It's basically a perfect example of how regionals can be used to improve on older, plainer designs.

Overall, the original line is harmless but pretty par for the course. The Alolan versions are a big improvement all-around and a much appreciated addition to the line.

[front-facing-pokemon]

thank you so much, I use this blog to help me draw pokemon faces all the time

this is something i've heard before that was an unexpected but welcome benefit of the blog! i have to say, i have no clue what i'm going to do once i get past silicobra—now that we're getting into newer generations (the queue is already into gen 8), my typical sources of models are starting to become more and more unreliable and there are some pokémon that i just can't find anywhere on the internet. not sure exactly what i'm gonna do if i can't find them, to be honest, and the current state of the blog has already been getting rougher around the edges behind the scenes anyway. i've been told to just go on indefinite hiatus until some more models are ripped, but i don't really want to do that. comments like these are really why i don't want to, even if the blog isn't exactly conducive to my mental health—y'know. it's been on a consistent schedule for this long, and at least two people are waiting for these every day so. i can't just give up. but i still don't really know what i'm going to do. it's a little scary, looking into the future, but i just hope i can keep providing in the same way y'all have come to expect from me. not many of you are here for me and a good majority are obviously here for what i call Regularly Scheduled Programming, and since asks usually only get around 20 notes max, i doubt a majority of those folks will even see this—and that's fine; they're here for silly front-facing pokémon and i'm doing my best to oblige. but the problem with that is that i know how the tumblr userbase can be, and i'm slightly afraid of what would happen if i did go on a random hiatus. who would even read the post saying why? the dedicated ones, sure; the ones that enjoy my commentary, sure. but i already said i don't want to go on hiatus, so i suppose i'll have to find a way. i don't know what that way may be, and i imagine that way is only going to make this harder on me

there is more that i could say here, but it may get a little too personal for hijacking your ask to talk about it, anon. my apologies! very long story made short, i hope there won't be any turbulence and that the general followerbase (that's you) won't notice anything, but don't be surprised if there is and you do. now take some nose ratings

[jiracheer]

Heyy! If you write for raihan (idk if u do I’m sorry) but may I req a raihan x reader (fem if u want with a overprotective Glaceon they grew up with?

authors note ; i do write for raihan <3 i love the idea of this omg thank u sm for sending in a request!! <3 i hope ur okay that i did hcs since i was havin a bit of a hard time writing what i wanted to put down </3

new year, new layout. hopefully y'all like it >:)

tags ; gender neutral reader / established pkmn (glaceon) / gen n humor / no beta we die like men

wc ; 948

❄️you've had your glaceon since it was an egg. it was gifted to you on your 5th birthday with the promise of it being your life-long partner

❄️so once you were old enough to explore the world, your now newly hatched eevee was by your side through thick and thin. you both participated in whatever tournaments were happening, and even went as far as to challenge the champion at the time

❄️of course, you lost, which was a bit hard to take at the time, but that leon kid showed a lot of potential- and it helped that he quickly befriended you afterward. your eevee was rather fond of him and his team, and so were you

❄️so when leon introduced you to his other friends; sonia and raihan, you were ecstatic. you really felt like you were part of something! and your sweet eevee was able to befriend their pokemon, and of course, them as well in the process

❄️there was just... one thing that was a bit off. when eevee was ready to evolve, and you gave it the choice to evolve, it chose to become a glaceon. which you were thrilled about! raihan though? not so much

❄️he wasn't as dramatic as other dragon-type trainers who despise ice types, no it wasn't that

❄️he was upset that your glaceon basically was copying him

❄️it didn't take long for you to notice how similar his headband was to glaceon's fringe. it honestly made you laugh for a good 5 minutes

❄️and when raihan, jokingly, snapped at you for laughing at his demise? that's when your glaceon really came into touch with her cold nature

❄️it was quick to nip at his ankle with a pretty cold ice fang, causing him to jolt and shriek at the touch

❄️and from there on out, your glaceon was pretty guarded with raihan, especially when he was around you

❄️you knew that raihan didn't mean to lash out like that, it was all in fun and games- and you knew he wasn't actually upset

❄️it's just.... your glaceon didn't understand

❄️and it got worse overtime

❄️anytime raihan would get near you, glaceon would snap it's teeth at him or hit him with one of it's attacks to get him as far away from you as possible

❄️but when it came to the others; leon, kabu, gordie, hop, and whatever other male. glaceon seemed fine

❄️it just had a problem with him

❄️and it only got worse when the two of you started dating, and it especially became a problem when you moved into raihan's apartment many years later

❄️"we need to figure out this... problem. with your glaceon." raihan seemed serious, which was rare to see

❄️"maybe you two just need to bond. see where it goes from there, rai." a simple kiss to his cheek made him sigh, but he knew he had to make an effort

❄️because you were really trying your best! you've spoken to your glaceon, sought out help from sonia and professor magnolia

❄️now he had to step up to the plate

❄️so for months would raihan try to hand feed glaceon treats, only to be swiped at, or risk the possibility of getting frostbite

❄️he'd take over it's daily walks only to be dragging it around the neighborhood

❄️social media really had a blast with that one

❄️he'd take it to all of it's appointments, he'd even go as far as to try to bathe it

❄️which he'll never do again

❄️this goes on for what feels like forever, and raihan simply... gives up

❄️he flops onto you, head nestled against your stomach with his arms wrapped around your waist

❄️"I think your glaceon hates me."

❄️a soft coo sounded from you, your hand found his back and rubbed it. "you're making progress babe... you are."

❄️all he could do is sigh and express his woes to you, confessing to you that he wants to get along with your glaceon for the sake of your relationship. he loves you, and he loves you deeply, and he can't imagine anyone else that he'd rather spend his life with

❄️his words warm your heart and makes you kiss him, bringing him closer to you if possible

❄️raihan leans into your touch and sighs, mumbling how maybe he can ask his fans for advice- but he shudders at the idea. yeah no, he isn't doing that. that'll ruin his reputation

❄️just as he's about to push himself off of you, he feels pressure on his back. he thinks it's your hand but he holds his breath when he feels a familiar brush of cold air against the back of his neck

❄️you're just as quiet, also holding in your breath as you witness your glaceon pad over raihan's back to prop itself on his head to look at you, a soft cry sounding from it

❄️it was hungry

❄️you and raihan exchanged looks before you questioned your partner pokemon

❄️"are you... hungry?"

❄️a sound of agreement

❄️"then let's go eat dinner." raihan is who speaks next and he half expects a sound of disagreement from the ice type, but it never comes. instead, it jumps off of him to patiently sit on the floor, tail waving in the air

❄️you're just sitting there, baffled. raihan can't help but be just as surprised

❄️"see? I told you you're making progress."

❄️a sigh rings deep from dragon-type leader's chest, but a toothy smile appears on his face. you were right. he was making progress, and hopefully soon it'll blossom into a good relationship with the pokemon

❄️because he wanted to take your relationship to the next level, and he wanted glaceon's approval

[sambuuck]

beta submas team headcanons

@enhancedpartytime 's latest find in the debug mines got me cooking beta submas thoughts. there is a bug where every battle subway pokémon appeared as the pokémon prior to it in the dex

the first thought was that the boys had not fully evolved pokemon on the team. which is a cool idea! eviolite + a bulky second evolution mon like klang or eelektrik can give you some good bulky pivots or setup sweepers

the second thought was that not every pokemon on the boys' ingame teams has a pre-evolution like this. emmet's durant is a single evo pokemon, and if afflicted with the bug it would become heatmor. in bw2 emmet also battles with a timburr, which under the bug would become audino.

and with the prior bug that kept giving them scolipede/togekiss/krookodile when only chandelure was coded... well, you've got the beginning of a team.

team building time! 🔨

(disclaimer: i am not a competitive pokemon battler and i have no idea if these are viable sets, i'm out here having fun. movesets and abilities are from all gens and are based on what smogon tells me is possible. feel free to recommend your own movesets!)

Emmet's team

i designed this team around beta emmet being quite a laidback older brother. he has the confidence that everything will turn out his way in the end, so why worry? why rush things? his team is designed around trick room and switching, and his pokemon all run on the slower side. chillax, dude...

audino is emmet's special little girl, and he loves fussing over her, and consequently she's a little spoiled. audino is his trick room setter and status spreader, and her massive special defence and wish/regenerator keeps her coming back into battle when you really, really just want the battle to end

emmet's ace, temperament similar to luisa from encanto. krookodile is one of two powerhouses in the team. swords dance lets her dance on front of her opponents, and high horsepower over earthquake keeps her teammates safe in doubles, although if emmet borrows ingo's togekiss she may run eq instead for more oomph. when the battle gets tight and audino is down, krookodile can also fling the iron ball to become a potent threat outside of trick room.

(edit: did this entry used to have electro ball? yes! did i forget that trick room does not affect the power of electro ball? also yes! it got replaced with thunderbolt 😂)

bulky pivot eelektrik is a problem solver and a counterpart to audino. (these two are besties!) thunderbolt deals good damage while giga drain keeps it healthy. light screen is useful for support, before eelektrik volt switches* into someone else

*(u-turn would perhaps be more viable here, but i wanted to respect g!emmets ballsy choice of an eelektross with three electric moves and gastro acid.)

heatmor is emmet's cramky old man and his other sweeper, and the mixed attacking style punches holes in their opponents' sides, either as a lead or as a late stage sweeper. heatmor is very definitely a glass cannon and has a specific goal of doing as much damage as possible before being taken out.

Ingo's team

i headcanon beta ingo as being a bit of an anxious bean. where emmet is laidback because of his confidence, ingo gets his confidence from being well-prepared and having plan a, b and c all lined up and ready to go. his team is designed around setup sweepers, pokemon that need some time to get going but can easily run away with the battle if not kept in check. while emmet's team is flexible and uses switches to gain momentum, ingo's is designed to stay put, set up and sweep.

ingo's ace, also known (by emmet) as Worlds Most Annoying Bird. temperament of an orange cat. togekiss' serene grace flinches and burns from air slash and flamethrower are a battler's worst nightmare, and with roost and its natural bulk togekiss will happily sit on any pokemon, nasty plot up, then flinch them to death.

(when battling emmet, ingo is also known to use a variant where roost and nasty plot are replaced with rest and snore. there is nothing funnier than watching his brother struggle to take down the blimp, only for the bird to not only rest it's hp back, but also start blasting his pokemon with a 60% flinch rate on serene grace boosted snores)

very demure, very calm mindful, bit of a bitch for the meme. chandelure sets up calm mind on pokemon on the switch and punches holes through teams not well prepared. burning jealousy over flamethrower for vibes and to catch other setup sweepers on the fly, shadow ball's spd drops make her all the more powerful, while energy ball checks water and ground types that might try to stop her sweep.

they're just a cheerful little guy! eviolite klang is bulky enough to get a few shift gears in before picking off threats with gear grind and return. volt switch lets then pivot out if the battle goes south.

speed boost scolipede is an excitable critter that likes to go fast and climb up the walls. protect lets it get at least one speed boost off, before it starts ripping through teams with life orb boosted poison jabs, aqua tail and earthquakes. no hp recovery here, given time scolipede is going to be much faster than whatever's hitting it, and when played late she can pick off weakened opponents to cinch the win.

[puella-1n-somn10]

⚔️Puella Magi Madoka Magica x Pokemon Sword/Shield: Hop and his Witch Form⚔️

Word count w/o intro: 11,703

Look, I know that the Traveler from Genshin won that poll, but...if I may be honest, I am not ready for what concept I had for them to completely topple apart all thanks to a single shred of lore being aimed at my head at mach speed. Trust me, fellas, I saw the roller coaster that is the Fontaine chapter; if shit is that crazy while we are halfway through the main story, then I dread the revelations that will befall us all when SNEZHNAYA rolls around-!

With all that being said...welcome back, ladies, gents, and those who have casted the dreaded concept of gender out of their lives! For those who are unaware, we are here today to witness what would happen if I were to take the worldbuilding of Puella Magi Madoka Magica and apply them to other media. Today's unfortunate guest for today is none other than the goat himself, Hop!

...Not funny? Ah, alright-

Yes, I am aware that Hop's reputation amongst the fanbase is...controversial at best. Generally speaking, I've noticed that the negative image of this character was formed by the fans prematurely judging him based on his initial lines of dialogue, passionate (which is often mischaracterized as cheerful) attitude, and, I shit you all not, animations (which is more of a fault caused by tight release schedules and the developers being rushed than that of the character himself). From these alone, he tends to be placed on tiers lower than the fucking Gen 6 rivals (no hate towards them, promise, I just wish they were fleshed out more)- which proves to me that not only are those types of Pokemon fans purely visual beings, but that media literacy is dead, rotting, and its tombstone has been Hyper Beamed to Hell and back-

BUT we're not here to rant now, aren't we? My...personal, burning distaste towards those who call him a Hau clone aside, we are here to dissect his character- in more literal ways than one! If I may be honest, this analysis post thinly disguised as a silly, crossover ficlet was created as a thought and writing exercise for myself, and it was quite fun, if I must admit! So I hope from the bottom of my heart that you guys find as much joy in Hop's pain and suffering as I did while writing it!

Just a few quick warnings, this post will contain mentions of child neglect and favoritism, implications of social ostracization and public shaming, and, I cannot stress this enough, mentions of self destruction/S-H/su-c-de. If any of these themes are too triggering, especially that last one, please, please click away! I am being serious here- take the utmost care, and be safe!

Of course, spoilers for Madoka Magica, Magia Record (Anime ver.), and Pokemon SWSH are right up ahead! If I may be honest, I haven't touched upon the DLCs yet, so spoilers regarding them will be minimal at most. There will also be shades of PostwickShipping (Hop <3 Gloria) present, so if that isn't your cup of tea, I sincerely apologize.

It would also be fitting to play some Decretum on the side, too, especially when we get to the despair bit- God damn, he and Sayaka need to be buddies.

-The Wish, Possible Powers, and Soul Gem-

"Before we ever started out on this journey… I remember watching Lee on the telly. He was like a bright star, so strong I could hardly bear to look right at him. But now, I can tell just how strong he really is… And what he's got that I haven't…"

Now, I could go the easy way and say that he'd wish to be as great as Leon- to become as strong as the champion and equally undefeatable, but, honestly, not only does this feel cheap, it feels so...unlike Hop as a character. He doesn't just want to defeat Leon- he wants to prove his worth and make his mark as a trainer. Hop, like the rest of Galar, idolizes his brother- so much so that he copied his strategies and every move; a mistake that had gotten him to lose the fight in the Circhester stadium even after facing off against so many trials and tribulations-

After all, as Bede said it in his own...brutish way, if people looked down on Hop, they will do the same to Leon - the man who Hop looks up to as not just an older sibling, but as a symbol- as an unshakable LEGEND, and not just as a human being -. So if the perception of the man who Hop saw as a hero was to shake all thanks to him...it'd be quite devastating, to say the least. It was this possibility that hit him the most- where his worth and identity came into question.

Hop may dislike losing - a sentiment that grows stronger every time you defeat him -, but what he fears even more is disappointing others; lowering his and his brother's worth in their eyes. He wanted to be number #1 because it was expected of him to do so, by himself, by the public, and, when you think about it, even by his family - whether consciously or not -...

After all, just look at his home- do you see any pictures of Hop around? Left and right you find memorabilia and trophies belonging to Leon, but how much mementos of Hop can you find? Whether or not he was aware of it, Hop craved not just the glory of his brother, but also the validation and positive attention.

This was his path in life- no, this was his destiny, as he'd put it; to become as strong as his hero and receive that blazing torch after living in his shadow for so long. To live up to his splendor, to inspire others to get up and take a stance, and to make something out of himself. His brother was a hero- so it makes sense to imitate someone as amazing and strong as him.

So, after analyzing his character for a bit, his wish could go along the lines of wanting to be by his brother's side, or, more appropriately, to make an impact on the world and the lives of others like he did. After all, we are assuming that he made the contract a bit before his constant losses began to fuck with him; he had confidence in his abilities at least during the beginning, and was certain that he was going to emerge from the final battle victorious.

The powers resulting from this wish could go in a lot of different ways; after all, wishing to make an impact is quite abstract. It isn't like he wished for someone else to get healed or to win on a lottery; so trying to make powers based on that would be tricky. My best guess is that his powers are associated with memories and legacies, which, once more, also fits in really well with how he documented and tried to mimic Leon's strategies and actions.

Now, before we focus on his soul gem and witness it crumble along with his self-esteem, we're going to take a good look at his attire upon transformation into his Magical Boy form- an aspect that, regrettably, I've forgotten to cover back while I was analyzing Medic. Now, this part may be a little unclear to some upon first reviewing the designs present in PMMM, but a pattern is there- and one of the most common reasons behind a magi's design is the intent behind their wish and their desires before or after taking on the contract. In order to prove my point, I'm gonna list some examples:

Sayaka Miki is a knight in shining armor; she wanted to uphold the ideal of a magical girl and fight for what's right

Homura Akemi's outfit is rather...funerary, for lack of a better term; she made her wish as result of her losing Madoka, and had more or less doomed herself to watching the demise of her beloved over and over again

Nagisa's outfit looks like an everyday, ordinary outfit for someone her age; she craved a normal life where she was able to be just like the other kids around her- not having to worry about living in a dump and caring for an unstable parent

Iroha's design invokes the idea of a ranger or even a mercenary; she is dedicated to finding her sister at what cost, even if most of the evidence (or lack there-of) pointed towards Ui not existing in the first place

Being in the spotlight of someone else's life, looking up to his brother, and making said champion an example on how he should lead his life...I think a stereotypical, legendary hero might do it; the main protagonist of tales like Beowulf or even your everyday JRPGs. Hop often made references to him 'weaving his own legend', so this would make perfect sense!

Speaking of-

Regarding his soul gem's shape, simple- upon transformation, it would look just like a small flame placed on his solar plexus like a brooch or button. Comparisons to Leon's charizard aside, it is a simple and straightforward symbol representing his personality; passionate, competitive, hot-headed, and bright- but all flames are prone to dying out one way or another. Hop's association with fire is also presented to us in-canon in his second league card, with him pulling off Leon's signature pose as flames wildly danced around him.

This also brings the idea of him burning himself away to fit into his ideal of a champion to mind, or literally burning himself out. A raging fire ready to render all that is in its path into ash- including himself.

The emblem on the middle of its egg form is a little harder for me to interpret fully. I could go with the easy way and say that it's probably the same as its form upon his Puer Magi transformation, but we all know that my perfectionist ass would not just simply settle with that. The options on our hands are as follows;

The easy option, the Hop flower (symbolizing how becoming a professor is his true calling in life)

A coat of arms (royalty themes- also, a pun on Eternatus' eternamax form, coat of ARMS, heheh)

A spiral (symbol of futility, continuation, cycles, and a downward spiral)

A coat of arms WITH a spiral in the middle (look at the above two points)

A flag (him wishing to create his own legend, and how he was initially a foot ahead of us during the start of our journey together)

A windmill (...we'll get to that, but let's assume it's because of Postwick for now- I personally prefer this one)

A shield with two crossed swords (again, royalty and hero themes)

As for its color, here is where things get interesting; I already spoke about how most soul gems correspond with the eye color of their respective magi, since "eyes are the windows to a person's soul", so a brilliant gold would fit both with this unwritten rule and thematically. However, then I got thinking- Red is also an applicable color, right? It fits his personality, and would clash really well with the cool purples and blues...until I realized that not only is red already going to be present as a sort of secondary (if not primary) color to go along with the existing cool palette in mind, but the added gold highlights would embolden it and make sure this design really pops.

Besides, making red a central color for his magi outfit also adds in to the idea of him still mimicking Leon, whose associated colors are purple, gold, and, of course, the reds of his cape! We aren't completely sure as to how much control a magi has over the outfit they'll don upon transformation, but we do know that Madoka actually designed her own magical clothing, so some input from the magi themselves, whether consciously or not, does contribute to the matter. This would also make a cute little homage to his champion outfit in Pokemon Masters EX!

One last point before we get to the part you've all been waiting for, we have to look at his weapon; yes, his powers are probably associated with memories or even perception, but, according to my research, one's weapon doesn't necessarily have to be tied to the wish. As a matter of fact, aside from Mami's ribbons (symbolizing her being tied to the life of a magical girl and her capturing others in this web of malice whether consciously or not- a literal lifeline), most of the cast's weapons are unrelated to the wishes made, and, like the aforementioned outfits, are more tied to the magi's intents or even personalities;

Nagisa's is a trumpet that blows out bubbles. She wanted her mother to hear her, but she's only ever able to let out little squeaks; the dichotomy between her desire to be acknowledged and wanting to be a decent daughter to a horrible person like her mother.

Homura's is a shield; she wishes to protect Madoka, but a shield alone cannot deflect everything threatening her sweet rose. There's also the symbolism of her hiding behind a shield, both as Moemura (shy and reserved) and Cool Homu (covering her emotions with an aloof exterior); in both cases, she's hiding herself away from the world.

Sayaka's is a cutlass sword. Go figure.

I am not completely sure on Madoka's; she dislikes brutal fighting, so it would make sense for her to use a long-range weapon that she's able to use to snipe enemies from a safe-enough distance. I also heard that a bow and arrow have some sort of significance in Christian lore, but, to be frank, I am not completely sure about this; this section requires further study.

Again, I gotta thank @bluethepearldiver for saving my butt here and on the upcoming natures section! According to them, since I had already removed swords and shields from the equation in order to make space for both Gloria and Victor, a polearm type of weapon would fit him the most! In their own, brilliant words, it is "representing how unattainable his goal ultimately is", and, in my opinion, it is a mid-range weapon- when utilized correctly, Hop would be able to conquer battles that would require either long or short ranged attacks to clear! Also, personally, it brings the image of a sheep herder to mind.

As for the specific type of polearm, that one would require a lot more creativity, but, since Hop comes from Postwick, a weapon that originates from Europe would be fitting. After thinking about it, I believe his weapon is probably a Halberd, due to how it can pierce, chop, or slash depending on the situation. It would also symbolize poor, bright-eyed Hop constantly changing his strategies and teams in order to catch up to us- to finally match us in strength. Every time we met him, he would have different strategies, a different team, a different outlook- he tried every viable, effective strategy, tearing apart the aspects of himself that were deemed roadblocks, pushing himself until he was burning himself way too brightly for his own good, yet...

-Descent Into Despair-

He lost. He had lost yet again, hasn't he?

His grip on the pokeball was shaky. The eyes of the crowd fixated on him as the last of his pokemon fell to the ground. Frozen air filled his lungs; his eyes felt like they were turned to stone, as did the veins in his arms.

The whispers grew louder; the crowd's collective judgement was being passed from one attendant to another. His teeth were about to shatter from the pressure around him alone. Not even Melony's concerns were registered on his mind; all the words around him amalgamated into a brute cacophony that choked all the will and rationality out of him.

His heart was on fire. His lips were dried as he stared at the nothingness before him. It was so hard to continue standing up- fucking impossible to focus on anything but this blunder forged by his own hands- which he now sees as nothing but useless vestiges. His heart was a war drum in the midst of conflict; beating as though the drummer's life was on the line if they were to dare and drop the pace. How he wanted to gouge his own eyes out and rip those ears out...

"Pitiful."

What on Earth was he missing?

He tried to change his strategies, he really did. The sad look on his pokemon’s eyes broke him every time, but they just couldn’t be of good help…he had to be a better trainer.

That’s what good trainers do, right? They make sure their teams were optimal. After all, strategy came first; that was what he learned from all these battles that long moved his heart.

"Foolish."

Another loss.

He looked down at his final, fallen comrade, not taking his shaking hands into account. Was it the cold? The stress? The sheer disbelief of what was before him?

Or was it frustration? A poison seeping between his clenched teeth- ready to curse out himself and direct his anger to the world? Readying him to pound against the earth beneath him until his knuckles were mangled and bloody?

No...no, this can't be it. He had to push himself further- he had to be better. Not a single Pokemon of his would listen to someone as fragile as he was; he had to make an example out of himself if he had to be a strong leader- a hero to them...

"Hypocrite."

Wooloo...

You promised, didn't you?

He stifled his own sobs. Oh, how could you have done this to them, Hop? They were the closest thing you had to a childhood friend! They were right by your side to the very end! All you had to do was to keep their head up, tell them it wasn't their fault, and that you would still enter the league together if you both focused! All you had to do was stay strong-

But you couldn't. You just had to up and leave them; cast them to the dirt where you dragged his good name through.

In the end, he couldn't even uphold that.

"Pathetic."

Over and over...over and over, he had repeated this fruitless, pitiful endeavor- all to no avail.

Finding himself floating adrift, Hop feels as though his very existence was slowly slipping from his fingers; becoming one with the very void surrounding him. He couldn't even feel his limbs, much less his face.

No matter how much he had stretched himself so thin, it just wouldn't work. The evidence was there before him, for all of Galar to see- his true rival and his brother on that field together, the latter holding the other's hand and raising it up in the air...that no matter what he did, all the sacrifices he had made, it was all up there in the air like smoke. His dreams, hopes, and ambitions- gone with what shine in his eyes that were left.

Oh, little sheep...do you not realize that you have tangled yourself within this spider web- the very definition of insanity?

"Worthless."

He's tired.

With each loss, it got a lot harder for him to get up and walk away.

His legs were shaking, and not just due to the harsh winds around him. The winds were picking up their pace, but the eyes, the eyes, the eyes-

Why must you insist on further embarrassing yourself, young man? Can't you tell when it's the time for you to just drop everything and move on with something better for everyone else's sake?

You're just embarrassing yourself at this point- nothing more than a clown attracting disrespect and shame like flies to a rotting carcass much like yourself.

...

Yeah...

What if...it was him?

He couldn't take the watchful gazes of the crowded streets anymore. Oh, how he wanted to hide away in the corners of the world- render his own face into nothing but a crimson pulp just so their judgemental glares, mocking smiles, and whispers would finally leave him alone and hollow.

His heart was racing- his veins were on fire, and his arms were about to burst.

It was too much... Upon stumbling upon a silent, empty, dirty alleyway, he slumped onto his knees as he shook from both the cold and pressure of all the bottled up frustrations in him. At long last, the waterworks finally broke out. Only the night sky and howling winds were his current company; doing little to distract him from his pained heartbeats and dried up throat.

He couldn't hold on to his victories, no matter how feeble or small. It didn't matter what he did or how much he tried, all that he's tried holding on to will just slip away from his fingers, like the breaths of fresh, cold air escaping him; inhaling just enough as to not allow him to pass out on the spot, but it was only that much.

The sound of metal clanging on the ground escaped his ears. It was only when he was finally slumped on the ground that he had noticed the fading luminescence just before his reach. Even as his body shook from the mental strain and the cold, he still recognized the jewel that was on the dirtied ground. Hands shaking, he slowly picked up the once brilliant object...

Through jittering teeth, he just couldn't help but sob whilst instinctively smiling; the sound coming out like a sort of soft giggle...

Hahahah...oh, don't tell him- don't tell him he couldn't...

What a mockery- look at him, everyone! Not only had he failed the challenges before him, but, oh, this poor damn pest- he couldn't even look after his own damn soul gem! The very thing he had traded away what was left of his identity outside of the league for- and even then, with his wish, it only made sure that his mistakes would return to him in even stronger, more merciless manners. Was it due to him being unable to focus on both perfecting his strategies and his duties as a puer magi?

For all Hop cared at that moment, it was just another sign of his pathetic, useless existence. Worthlessness- no, he was way beneath that; he had failed. He had failed, he had failed, he had failed, he lost, he had motherfucking lost.

Answer yourself this, Hop- Do tell how you expected to come so far like this! How you have managed to shamble and shuffle through the league challenge like the worm you are, with nothing but another's achievements to your name- and you couldn't even take good care of that!

"...Useless..."

Hop shakily breathed out.

"Hah...if only I wasn't born so useless..."

His grip on both sides of his head grew tighter. As he gritted his teeth and his eyes twitched, one last thought flashed in his mind-

"There's...nowhere left for me..."

"Everyone else is moving on without someone...some pest like I am..."

With all the air that was left in his lungs, Hop roared into the night and unleashed all the grief in his heart. His anguished wail was interrupted by a sudden crash, and all that was left were the howling, autumnal winds...

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Word of the contestants' escalating behaviors grew amongst the people of Galar.

At first, it manifested as deepened anxieties; competitors being so overwhelmed by the upcoming events that it caused them to hyperventilate, shake uncontrollably in between sobs and unintelligible screams, or, at worst, completely melt down; faces reddened by tears as they were unable to remove themselves from the ground due to the paralyzing nervousness and hysteria. Initially, these incidents were brushed off as being related to the individuals' worries over the nature of the Gym Challenge, on top of the resulting trauma caused by the Darkest Day; even after the region was granted another chance at seeing the bright, blue skies, tensions were still at an all-time high, so, at the time, this appeared to have been the most rational conclusion.

It was when they've descended into thrashing bitterness and violence, however, that concern was finally demanded and raised- and, along with them, a whole basket of questions that craved all the answers in the world; anything to make sense of what was unraveling. Many a stadium had to close down - some even in the midst of these breakouts - for investigation purposes in order to get to the bottom of this anomaly.

Before long, rumors began to spread amongst the Galarian public- both on the streets and on social media; ranging from a contamination of sorts, to possible side effects of the Darkest Day that the current chairman was uninformed of. In the end, one by one, the majority of the gym leaders had to step forward admit that they knew as much as the rest did regarding the matter, but that did little to help stop the creation and spread of conspiracy theories, and they soon devolved into a competition of its own; on whose hypothesis is the most click-worthy and attention-grabbing.

Nothing was stacking up; everything had been tested - the water, the air, the soil, and especially the power spots -, the stadiums were inspected from top to bottom, and even the gym leaders were interviewed; it all came back negative.

The chairman himself had gone dark.

In the midst of the mass hysteria, right everyone's noses, the range of whatever was influencing these stadiums, the...being that has sending all these people into these frenzies...was growing.

Violent breakouts and missing persons reports spiked without ever showing a sign of slowing down. Nay, not even the gym leaders were spared- with Bea finally coming to her senses while Allister tried to subdue her and not hurt the rest around her, and Milo's herd of Wooloo going completely berserk and in complete panic not unlike the contestants and their own pokemon.

It was at its assumed worst when it had finally reached Postwick Town. Most of Galar had succumbed to what was engulfing it with its malice and twisted hopes, and, according to theorists, they doubted it would stop there. The people residing in the Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra were given the order to lock down and cease all functions until further information's released, in the vain hopes of preventing the spread of its influence.

And then-

Silence.

Everything around them was completely dim, with nothing but small flickers of flame and their own eyes' adaptation to help traverse them through what became of the region; a dim, cold land with ashy skies overhead, overrun with scared wildlife and...monsters- beasts you have never seen the likes of before. Perhaps staying still while you're able to recognize Galar while you could would be the wisest choice; stray far enough, and the world around you will fade, shift, and turn, until you find yourself not outdoors anymore, but in a dingy, suffocating hallway filled with cracks and little to no light-

and, soon enough, you will realize that you are not alone.

To the most fortunate (or unlucky, depending on the perspective), the sight of the missing people was there for them to see; lined up for their next battles and subsequent executions. Days of being trapped, fought, beaten up, and isolated in pain did a number on their psyches, and that is without mentioning the existing effects that have already engulfed Galar; plunging them into insanity.

By the braver and most informed few, most of the missing people have currently been accounted for- most, had it not been for the unfortunate casualties resulting from...all that has been unfolding around them, whether they were still yet to be found, were done in by beasts swarming through these twisting tunnels, condemned by whatever's waiting for them at the center of this cursed maze, or...just couldn't take it anymore, is still up in the air. Those whose statuses have not yet been confirmed included the younger brother of the former champion himself- who, quite possibly, may have been one of the earliest victims, if the timeline was to serve them right-

Oh, but if only they knew better- that the bright-eyed, enthusiastic Hop was right back to where it all started; watching the competition from atop the stage, waiting for the next match to begin. The empty husk that was once "Hop" was silent; slumped to the back to his seat with his dull, milky eyes staring into the distance, as the crowds roared once the hero and his new challenger entered the fray.

Yes...yes! Cheer for him! ONLY HIM!

Shaking from the cold and the tension of her surroundings, Gloria's attention darted from the armored monstrosity to her unconscious rival amongst the masses. His colors all but completely desaturated- it was nothing short of a miracle seeing his body still somewhat intact, though his sunken face and sloughing skin - some even falling as soon as she grabbed on to him; revealing pale bone -...without thinking, the armored girl screamed.

Contrasting Gloria's priority shifting from grabbing on to Hop's corpse and make a break for it to taking down that thing who must have caused it, Leon was...silent. His heart sank as he fell on his knees- his eyes shook as he fixated on the monster before them. His blood ran ice cold; it was so hard to breathe without sobbing...

Gloria and the gym leaders who have finally located the arena - those who have and haven't contracted - deemed that being a monster- Hop's God damned murderer, but Leon knew better.

The gold hues that were pooling from what's assumed to be the monster's eyes were unmistakable.

His own little brother was right before him, waiting to fight him in the middle of this arena-

Just like how he had promised- like how he had always wished for...

-The Witch's Nature-

Ah, the most unpredictable section of this post- the one where yours truly is expected to agonize and sob over all the options before me. Character complexities are complex! Multiple reasons behind despair! Oh, how is your truly ever going to choose the perfect nature for a warlock that would not only encompass the magi's goals and history with only a few words, but one that would also feel fitting for a spooky being like a witch?!

Welp- once more, I have thank Blue for their brilliant input once more! They've decided that his nature would be Admiration, and, honestly, it's genius! It not only fits his overall character, goals, and what caused his sanity to go downhill with the brakes cut off, but it has the right amount of dissonance that the witches of PMMM are known for! Again, this has been your reminder to support them- c'mon, chop chop, that's an order.

Of course, nothing wrong with mentioning all the other, though scrapped, natures. Again, you're all free to reinterpret the warlock to your hearts' content, and if you do have any other suggestion that would fit, please let me know! I not only want to understand Hop's character better, but I do wish to improve my character-deciphering and writing skills. Once more, I encourage all sorts of fair criticism heading my way, and, with all that being said, here's the losers' club:

Reflective

Smitten

Idolizing/Idolization

Competitive (decided that this one might fit Nemona better if I ever got into ScaVio and made a witch for her. Later. Inshallah.)

Self-abandonment (look at the above, but with Bede instead)

Self-immolation

Guilty

To yearn/Yearning (again, Nemona)

-The Witch's Appearance-

"It's not enough! I've got to try harder! And harder and harder till no one's laughing!"

Alright, first thing's first, before we dive into ANYTHING, we need to touch upon Hop's self-image and how it transforms through the course of the game. From the beginning, he is just so confident in his abilities and goals; it wasn't just a desire, it's a goal- he will beat Leon! He will become champion! One day, he's going to be on that stage; he WILL fight Leon, and he WILL beat him- just we wait!

And 'wait' we didn't.

For all his talk about creating his own legend, of taking up the mantle, we have done nothing but drag his face through the dirt without failure.

The more we beat that poor fella up, the more...desperate he became, and it gets cranked up to 11 once Bede humiliated him; calling him a waste of space, and that all he is doing is tainting his brother's legacy by trying, so it would be best for all parties involved he should just stop that. If he just stopped trying at all. If he just gave up at once. He still tries to maintain the spirit of friendly competition between the main character and himself, but the constant humiliation has been getting to him, and the talons that are digging in to his mind are sharp.

It is then that we finally realize that the once-confident trainer who initially accompanied us is no more. This hatred towards himself only grew with time, and, even when he had reintegrated Wooloo/Dubwool into his team, his self-worth was still nigh-non existent; he dared not accompany us during even the post-game story, believing that he would just be slowing us all down, and how we would fare and be better without someone like him around.

In Hop's eyes, he was a burden; a waste of space, and, no matter how much he tried to fight it, those words would persistently repeat in his mind. His constant defeats didn't help, either, whether it was by our or any other trainer's hands-

Hell, it can be argued that Hop's earlier confidence and passion were nothing but "fronts"; he had always cheered Leon on and idealized (dare I say even worshiped) him to no end, but, aside from the promise that he would, one day, defeat his brother and become a champion, what other positive things did he say about himself? What other dreams did he hold? He owed so much of his own knowledge about Pokemon battles to Leon, after all. This can be seen in the third episode of Pokemon: Twilight Wings, if we choose to interpret Wooloo's actions as reflective of Hop's- trying to be something it is not, and, ultimately, causing it to stray far from "home".

He wanted to be the hero of his own story. That's all he wished for. Instead, we've shoved him into the sidelines- face first on the dirt, without even realizing our strengths.

History repeats once more- the tale of Leon and Sonia all over again.

The image of a knight, a warrior, a hero is definitely a strong base to start it all off. The ideal knight in shining armor, he who stands up for everything right- the unbeatable champion of the people. Not just a person to look up to, but a symbol- that's all he wanted to become; just like how he saw his brother.

When he realized that his current tactics didn't work, everything had to go out the window. We aren't saying this lightly- everything. His plans, his . He had to change everything about himself- until he realized that the problem weren't his teams or his plans...it was him. It has always been his fault- he was just weak, nothing more than a pathetic worm.

The armor is scraping every fiber of his being. No matter what, he still cannot attain the strength and glory of a champion- so he has to keep doing this; break and melt himself. It isn't right, it hurts, but he deserves that pain- he deserves the agony and so much worse for the sin of his existence.

But it's not enough. It's not enough, and it will never be enough. Flaming hot, red daggers will forever pierce through his flesh and skin; melting and reshaping him not necessarily just to fit his desired goal, but as punishment.

It doesn't matter, though. It doesn't change his sheer, fucking incompetence. He'd bash himself against the wall, turn his knuckles bloody, and have his howls of torment be drowned out by his observers' whispers and harsh judgements, but it doesn't change the fact that he deserved every second of it. He had to keep molding himself, he had to suffer, he had to pay for being such a pest to everyone's lives and for being so weak...

No matter how much he tried, it doesn't change the truth that he is no damn hero; he is here as a prisoner, present to repent for his crimes of his pathetic existence...

Oh, yeah. Futility is not just a present theme, but we are running to the HILLS with it.

Next up, we look at his actions- the "spice" and depth this brings to his warlock's design.

Let's retrace our steps a bit and look at Hop's character before and after the main story; as soon as we boot up the game for the first time, there we see Hop being so excited over his brother finally coming home- he was practically shaking and jumping by the news of it alone! He just couldn't wait to see him again, much less what he must have brought back with him- and, when he laid his eyes on the starters and chose his, he was over the moon and the sun; this was the beginning of his legacy! Ah, even his own mother said that he had to learn some patience.

Compare and contrast to his attitude in postgame- he's a lot more mellowed out, but that can be better described as him finally being burnt out. He had nowhere to go, no goal to attain, and not a single strength to his name. Bede and Marnie are training to become gym leaders, Leon's the new chairman of the Galar league, Sonia is on the way to become the new regional professor, but Hop? There was nothing left for him. There isn't anything he was able to do that others could do even better- all that was left for him was to rot in the fields, forgotten and cast away like the object of shame he was.

"I don't know how much I can really help... If I come along, I might just end up slowing the rest of you down..."

I've already established how the warlock might be imprisoned in a sense; all to symbolize how he must have felt during his downfall and the lengths he went through in order to become someone worthy of becoming champion- of sharing his brother's legacy, but we should also take how he first started off into account. We already have the pain, but where is the tragedy in it all? The downfall of his confidence? The fall of Hop, the once bright-eyed, confident, and proud young man? How could we symbolize the face that we have flicked his passion and convictions away with the push of our buttons?

Passion...glory...destruction...hotheadedness...Lee...Charizard...

"Fire- and lots of it!"

Yeah, this should not come off as a surprise - given how I have already mentioned it dozens of times already -, but, hey, if Ophelia has a lot of flames in her design to symbolize the tragic end of her family and her own hotheadedness, then I can't see why the same cannot be applicable to our uncrowned prince of Galar. Truth be told, I think the fire is burning at him to this day; as I already mentioned, he is in a constant state of melting down and reshaping himself to no end to fit an ideal that is so far away from him, and what better way to do so than by forcing himself to endure these flames to no end- not just to burn away all his mistakes, but to subject himself to what rage and disappointment he believes Leon must be feeling? You cannot ask for a more fitting punishment, no? Quite ironic as well, if you'd ask me.

Plus, as a warlock, he wants the people to cheer for him- only him! What better way is there to grab their attention and love than by becoming the brightest thing on the battlefield?! Yes, it's all worth it in the end, hearing the people of Galar scream just for him alone- oh, he couldn't be happier! That is all he desires! If we thought Oktavia craved attention, think again.

Speaking of lengths he went through to become someone he is not, let's talk about him changing his teams; this is his point of transformation as a character, where the cracks in his confidence begin to grow alongside his desperation. At this stage, Hop was willing to make any sacrifice necessary to meet that goal of his- if he fails, not only were his dreams on the line, but so was Leon's reputation. The only constant between these teams is the starter Leon gave him- with teary eyes and a regretful heart, he had damned the experiences and memories he shared with the 'mons he caught along the way, for all that mattered at that moment, all that was worth keeping, was the one thing that held any sort of direct connection to his future glory; the very gift his brother gave him. It should be worth it though, right? He's only becoming better, becoming stronger, becoming the best trainer he could be-

Isn't that right, Wooloo?

Oh, man, wooloo. What kind of Hop-centric design would this be if I didn't incorporate this cute little sheep in some form or another? If not the sheer GUILT he must be feeling? Since I already covered how the warlock would be forever unsatisfied with his form, let us talk about the promise he made with Wooloo, and how him breaking it must be haunting him. Just up and abandoning them, his lifelong partner pokemon must hate him for such a cowardly decision- it should hate him; he had backed out of such an important vow between them, and implied that it was their fault that he was unable to reach his goals. Ultimately, it is his guilt and self-hatred that got him here; whenever he wasn't melting down and reforging himself, he was always fighting for the audience's attention- a whole herd of sheep who constantly demand a spectacular show. It felt right for his first partner pokemon to judge him, after all- he must be condemned for his disloyalty...

Building upon the last point- since Wooloo, his very first pokemon, was also removed from the team, this would translate beautifully into him removing parts of himself to fit that perfect mold, and what better way than to add in sheep elements to his design? The warlock having hooves as dark as obsidian for feet? Broken horns that might be mistaken for parts of his armor? Heck, even the gnarly skeletal system resulting from us combining that of a human's and a sheep's? While I am not too sure about what exactly is going on underneath his helmet, I will just assume that at least its base form resembles a mutilated black sheep's face, because of, well, Hop seeing himself as the black sheep of the family. Combined with his halberd, which I am certain would carry on from his last form to this one, this would bring the idea of a twisted sheep herder of sorts, on top of the existing themes of sacrifice that are already associated with cattle in multiple religions.

Of course, we can't go wrong with referencing him copying Leon's tactics in battle and said worship! This, too, will be a source of pain to his warlock; not only does his armor resemble draconic scales (again, Charizard), but the base of his helmet would bear the shape of Leon's beard. This also ties in to the above point of him trying to reshape his form to that of the champion's in order to achieve prestige and victory by following in his hero's footsteps, but its ultimate purpose in the end is the further erasure his form and himself; all that made Hop 'Hop'. He is constantly slicing away at his being just to fit that mold....

Yes, he also gets to keep the cape; much like his halberd, I can't see why this element of his magical boy form would not get carried over here, as it also assists with establishing the theme and desire to be like a big shot like his brother. Its red coloring would also be of nice contrast to the ashen grey or deep darkness of his armor, although it is tattered and not as magnificent as it used to be in his eyes. The armor already boosts the idea of a hero, but, combined with all of the elements from above and Hop himself going down the slippery slope, this monster right here invokes the idea of a fallen hero; bright-eyed protagonists who have become jaded over the course of their journeys or have decided to outright give up on their ideals and goals- some even opting to join the opposing side of the narrative outright.

I should also mention his inability to look at Leon in the face and how he didn't want negative attention to be drawn towards him in spite of Hop's desire to face off against his brother- some eye trauma, maybe? Would the mementos of Leon in his barrier bring him pain? Or...would the warlock be unable to see past the "glory" of the champion and his dreams? How his mistakes are blinding him? Maybe what he saw was so bright, so brilliant, that it blinded him to everything else; turning his eyes into burning pools of blood resembling molten steel?

Now, we calculate his karmic potential, his emotional volatility, and how they contribute to his warlock's strength.

While I was first working on this post, I thought that maybe he would have cracked after he had lost against the gym leader of Circhester Stadium - Melony -; after all, he must have been devastated, with all these eyes watching him as his final pokemon fell, but then I remembered two key details-

His self-esteem did not get any better by the end of the game's main storyline. In fact, it was at its lowest during postgame- and he even brought a comically large shovel to dig wayyyyy deeper, courtesy of Sordward and Shielbert!

His karmic potential not only stems from him being the champion's little brother, but his role in stopping the second Darkest Day.

So, in a way, that loss would be considered to be more of a catalyst for his despair rather than the straw that broke the camel's back, not unlike Sayaka learning the truth behind the soul gems or Hitomi's confession to Kyosuke. He may have brought Dubwool back to his party, he may have appeared okay-ish after we've defeated him in the semi-finals, he may have helped us save the day, but his internal conflict didn't dissolve just like that- you cannot erase all these years of constant comparisons, long-standing dreams, horrible impostor syndrome, and such an inferiority complex just like that with the snap of one's fingers.

Truth be told, he was supposed to finally give in after said semi-finals, but, out of urgency, he held on just for a little while- for just enough time to assist us with finding Leon and stopping Rose's plans. Now that everything was said and done - now that everything was laid to rest -, the eyes just wouldn't stop staring at him, the whispers didn't cease, and Hop...he was tired- he was oh so tired. Falling on his shaky legs and the harsh thoughts in his heads still not slowing down, Hop had finally closed his eyes and gave out his final farewell...

Also, Sordward and Shielbert will die by my hands for making his self esteem go further down the toilet in postgame, I swear to Allah-

From all that, we can see that not only are legends, prophecies, and destinies HUGE themes for when it comes to the design of his barrier, but that his warlock is gonna be powerful. Now, I don't wanna be redundant by saying that he, too, would be as tough as Walpurgisnacht (we've already done that with Medic, though, after thinking about it, he'd be more comparable to Hyades Daybreak), but saving an entire region is, putting it lightly, a huge feat, and that's without us touching upon his supposed connection with the legendary pokemon, one of Galar's heroes of myth, Zacian. In between being tied to almost a hundred destinies (Madoka) and saving the entirety of France (Tart), putting an end to the apocalypse - The Darkest Day - has got to be up there.

I know this sounds like a sort of repetition on my end, but remember what Homura said back during episode 9; "from here on, for every person (one) has saved, (they) will curse another". So, while Medic got his powers thanks of a combination of his own karma and how he had fused 8 other souls into him, Hop's karma was all his. In short, by this logic, Galar is beyond fucked.

Oh, and, y'know, the whole deal with him being the champion's little brother and Gloria's childhood friend. With all that in mind, bro's warlock is not just stupidly powerful, but outright broken. Not at Ultimate!Kriemhild levels, but that's still not good news in of itself, isn't it?

In the end, whether he had completely given up after he had lost to Melony or during some time between the events of the main story and postgame is up to you and your interpretation of Hop as a character. For the sake of this segment alone, I will just go with the idea that, if he despairs before the climax of the main story, his warlock would be a formidable foe, but not yet a world-ending threat like either Walpurgisnacht or Crépuscule de La Reine.

For comparison's sake (and to paint a clearer picture), I'd say that he could be as powerful as Gisela, if not moreso. From the PSP games, we can see how resilient and tough that witch is - so much so that she is tied to both Mami's and Kyoko's backstories -, so surpassing her strength is still a commendable feat. Much like his depiction in the section above, the warlock would still be capable of cursing many stadiums at once and cause such intense panic in order to take the league challenge down with him by making the contestants to go completely berserk, and, if he so wishes, he could render an entire village into ash.

However, if you guys wouldn't mind, I'll still be running with the idea that, thanks to the player, Bede, Sordward, Shieldbert, his family, and Galar's corrupted celebrity culture, the entire region has yet another apocalyptic event to go through, and only Arceus could save them now- basically what happens during the above despair segment. Good job, everyone! Enjoy listening to Grass Skirt Chase while ya could! /j

Now that we got the basic picture of the warlock down, let's cut to the chase and dive in to his barrier. I've had a lot of fun with this one, so buckle up!

As I already mentioned in my previous Medic post, a witch's labyrinth is stated to be the "mental landscape of the magi before they turned into a witch". From analyzing the barriers of the Holy Quintet and the other existing witches from the original anime, I've already deduced that they must be tied to either core memories, coping mechanisms, or desires-

HOWEVER,

A more simplistic take on all that would be "a place that rubs salt on the magi's/witch's wounds"; makes more sense, no? Candeloro is forever alone in her little tea party, Charlotte is in a silent conversation with another doll- unable to speak about what's on her mind, and, for goodness' sake, Ophelia's barrier is underwater. It is just logical to see that a labyrinth is designed to keep the witch miserable; specifically made to remind them of their own shortcomings, mistakes, broken hopes and dreams, and all that they've lost by the act of contracting with an uncaring trickster like Kyubey.

Unsurprisingly, with this idea in mind, I think the barrier would be a twisted version of a stadium, lit up by raging fire. The audience is present; their eyes ever-staring at you as their yells echo throughout the arena. You just know that your actions and failures will be recorded for future generations to see, mock, and spit at- after all, you are now trapped in a legend that is yet to be completed! Yes, even the style of your surroundings looks like it could fit right in an old storybook or any of the murals present across the region. Not too far away from this labyrinth's center, you are able to find multiple cages housing the victims he had captured; fighters worthy enough for him to test his skills on or put on a spectacle for all the audience to see.

In the middle of the battlefield, in the shadow of a large statue behind him, lies the warlock; broken, battered, burnt, and practically melting, but his duty remains clear as daylight- bound to his punishment and his own selfish desires, it has become his goal to defeat you before the audience. It is his destiny to be bound to this stage, having to pay for the sin of his existence.

The trinkets of Leon - or a silhouette that resembles him - that surrounded him in his own house are also present; after all, they are tied to his motivation, admiration towards Lee, and his wish to become champion. Even until now, the warlock and his familiars take good care of them, though he despises the reflection cast by them.

I should also make a quiiiiiiick note Pokemon Masters EX; you see, upon activating a character's sync move, they are displayed in front of locations present in the canon of Pokemon known as their "mindscapes", and, fellas, upon finding out that said places are significant to each person's story and life one way or another, I've realized that I have stumbled upon a hail Mary for PMMM/Pokemon crossover fanatics out there, myself included. Of course, I wouldn't recommend using these mindscapes alone as a sort of easy way to make barriers, but they do act as nifty, optional blueprints or spices to make those labyrinths look more colorful or representative of these characters.

When it comes to Hop, his mindscape, unsurprisingly, depicts Postwick Town. The location doesn't change when he becomes a Neo Champion, with the only alterations made to the artwork is that it is now nighttime and the presence of small flickers of flames dancing around; burning as brightly as the stars above - one more point towards fire being a persistent theme here -. Perhaps if you've gained enough of an upper hand and luck in battle to grant you some time to look at the ground, you can see that there's specks of white paint that faded away with time; the surface still resembling that of a soccer field's to this day, not unlike the one in his backyard.

To reflect his mental state and emotions of worthlessness and futility prior to him crossing over the point of no return, well, here's where the fun and pain come in-

The halls of the labyrinth are...suffocating; as soon as you enter, you realize that the area is only wide enough for a single person to traverse through. It's so dark, too; only the oil lamps and unmaintained lanterns present provide any form of luminescence, and even then, you have to be careful; one small misstep, and it is you who will be up in flames.

You also get the sinking feeling that you are being watched through the cracks and holes of suffocating halls; a feeling exemplified by the sounds of rain and howling winds just outside. The oil lamps do nothing to alleviate the bone-biting cold around you- the warmth provided is minimal at best. Not too far away, peculiarly enough, you can hear what must sound like...a radio; the details of what is being said is unclear, but the language is actually understandable if you happen to know Arabic. Through static and compressed sounds, you can hear that the voice on the radio is...reciting a nasheed; one chanting about the light of honor, victory, and divine heroism in the face of adversity, with determination being a repeated theme peppered in. No matter which hallway you turn towards, you cannot seem to get any closer to the source of the sound.

As you make your way to the center of the barrier, in spite of the lack of windows present, you decide to be a little brave and take a peak through the torn cloth or any of the cracks on the wall; you find that not only are you not at all far away from the hallway you've already visited, but that you appear to be going down a spiral- but this can't be possible! It is like you've done nothing but repeating the same steps over and over, only for your determination and desires to bring you down...

The winds have gotten louder - clashing with the noise present in the halls -, and your legs feel so tired...

You cannot take it anymore. You finally deduce that, if you want to face off against the warlock right then and there, then you better take a nosedive; break through the halls and descend further and further until you reach the arena, and face off against a furious gladiator- angered and heartbroken by the prospect of you destroying these mementos. How could you?! Such an act is beyond heinous in his eyes! You are no honorable opponent like the rest of them- nay, he is here to strike you down, to restore and clear the champion's name...

To rub salt on his wound a little more, let's add in more references to the people who affected Hop's life- those who have sent him down a spiral, whether consciously or not.

At the end of some of these hallways, you can find shrines that are clearly meant for worship; moreso than the memorabilia that are already present. A large statue rests in the middle of it, surrounded by worn pictures depicting a silhouette of a man and damaged, worn-out books and scrolls. The scent of smoke is present, alongside ashes on the ground; the warlock or one of his familiars must have been near the shrine not too long ago.

Some parts of the halls, namely what items made of organic material like cloth, are clearly damaged- whether caused by burns, cuts, or, most strangely of all, moths. The bothersome nature of these little creatures not only represent Bede tearing apart at his self-worth, but also his reliance on Chairman Rose- such a depiction may symbolize his actions and words' effects on Hop's self-image and life, but it also acts as a subconscious, final "fuck you" to white-haired youth; at the end of the day, Bede is just an unwanted, insignificant insect who gravitates towards any source of light while causing great disaster to others, even at the detriment of his own life.

...but...isn't that what you have cursed yourself into, Hop? Having to prove yourself to someone who is so far away for all eternity? To mimic them? All for a part of their attention and approval- much less a sliver?

They have both locked themselves in a cycle of attempting to appease to someone in their lives at the detriment of their own health...

Upon his defeat, once the crowd cheers at his defeat, the walls will crumble, and the debris will crush and pierce the warlock - whether he was still alive or dead by then - as you finally get a look at the outside world... Rolling hills that span for miles greet your vision as the grey, rainy skies conceal the afternoon sunlight- but it still is brighter than the suffocating arena and its connected halls. Not too far away, you are able to spot a windmill, still going on for what seems like several vicious years, if its poor state was any sign. Ah, if not for the chaos around you, the flickering silhouettes of round sheep in the distance and the smell of grass and rain really makes it feel like you're right back home...back in Postwick...

To end all this on a high note, let's touch upon his witch's kiss/warlock's whisper/evil cutie mark. Thankfully, I got it as soon as I could; one of those old emblems that acted as tickets to a gladiator match depicting a simplified sheep's head! To add some freakiness, the sheep face is stripped to the bone on one half, and glaring right at the person looking at it on the other. A circle of hop flowers surround the disfigured head, and the emblem itself appears to be half-melting.

-Witch Card-

Sayf Al-Muharib. The Gladiator warlock, whose nature is admiration. The light of an old hero's glory - eternally out of his reach - had caused his sight to turn into searing, painful ichor; blinding him to all but his own failures and shortcomings. As penance for the sin of his existence and weakness, the warlock is in a constant state of breaking down, melting, and reforging himself whilst in preparation for his next battle in the hopes of searing away all the flaws in him - all that lead him to his incriminating mistakes - and achieve a perfect form. He is unable to recognize the being beneath his armor anymore, nor could he remember the vision he had prior to his entrancement.

The cries and cheers of his familiars herald another chance for the warlock to prove himself and absolve the legacy of his hero once and for all- but, no matter what, the crowd is never satisfied, and neither will he ever feel proud of himself for the victory. He will never be an inch closer to the light of legend he craves so badly. To emerge from the battlefield victorious, one must not lose sight of their promise in the midst of battle.

(His name is inspired by Sayf bin Omar/سيف بن عمر, a Muslim historian and compiler. It should also be of note that the reliability of Sayf's ahadeeth have been a point of controversy to this day. When translated, the warlock's full name means "The warrior's sword".)

(The fact that his first name literally means "sword" bears two meanings depending on the protagonist- if it's Gloria, then it reflects how he tags along with and respects her though he is seen as incomplete without her presence in the eyes of the rest; while if it's Victor, then it's the clash between their friendly rivalry and his growing respect towards him. Either way, it also symbolizes how the MC stole his spotlight and destiny, and how they broke him and his dream apart throughout their journey.)

(Also, Homura fits the criteria needed to defeat him, let's GOOOOOOO-)

-Familiars-

Batel (plural form: Abatil). The gladiator warlock's minion, whose duty is preservation. A scholar at heart, the warlock analyzes the actions of the hero of legend to learn from them for future endeavors. Prioritizing the opulence and safety of these treasures, these small followers of his are on constant lookout for anything that would posses a danger to these sacred masterpieces while archiving the feats of the champion for future re-readings.

Unfortunately, their master despises the reflection cast on the memorabilia; forever reminding him of what he will never become. He will hang his head down in their presence out of both respect and shame, lest the sight of the failure he had become shatter what was left of his original heart once more.

(Symbolizing Hop's knowledge of battling in general; jokes about type advantages aside, he was always analyzing Lee's battles and was eager to use his knowledge during battles. It's also one of the key reasons as to why he chose to become a professor in the end.)

(Yes, the warlock himself also does his job at chronicling the feats of Leon - even going as far as to imitate them to this day -, but not only are the Batels there to assist him (I mean, they are his familiars), but they also sort of symbolize how...exaggerated Leon's achievements can get, especially in the eyes of others- including Hop's.)

(Its name is a play on words in Arabic; "Batal/بطل" means "Hero", but "Batil/باطل" can either mean "of no good use" or "useless". Leon was the hero, his hero, his ideal- Hop, on the other hand, was just dead weight to him.)

(Another note to add is that Hop's uniform number is 189, which, when read in Japanese, can mean "Hiyaku"; leaping. While the warlock himself would be struggling to walk with these hooves of his and his mutilated form melting and meshing with the armor, I can also see that the Abatil's only way of moving around is through leaping, since they would probably have only one leg to stand on. Ah, I love the smell of symbolism in the morning.)

-

Al-Daja (plural form: Al-Dajij). The gladiator warlock's minion, whose duty is to uphold competition. Ever-so excited for the upcoming battle, the crowd will explode into applauds whenever a new victim enters the stadium and comes face-to-face with their master. Their never-ceasing cheers always demand for more, and, not wanting their wide, unblinking eyes to stare at all his faults and mistakes, the warlock complies.

The warlock will try and not show a sign of degradation to his opponent- he'll hold out until they sing songs of his glory and his story gets passed down from generation to generation. However, these minions will often times become so entranced with the relics and spectacle that they would forget the identity of their master altogether, and even start cheering for the new challenger once the warlock is thrown into a corner.

(Based on Hop's personal drive - to become as glorious and powerful as the unbeatable champion himself -, how the losses have been affecting him, and him not wanting what negative attention he garnered along the way to affect Leon directly. The audience can be quite the chatterboxes; all it takes is one small piece of gossip for everything to go out of control. Its name, ألضجة, means "The Noise".)

(They also symbolize how everyone else already act around him all thanks to his brother's legacy- looking down on him for every little mistake he makes, while each victory earns him another comparison to Leon. He doesn't want to disappoint them- not the crowds, not his friends, not his family, and not himself, so he carries on with his useless endeavor; constantly chasing after a dream that is so far from his reach. The fact that this familiar is prone to forgetting who they are serving exactly is indicative of Hop forgetting himself.)

-Inspirations-

In-canon:

Sacrificing aspects of himself just to come close to that aforementioned ideal; going as far as to remove his lifelong friend, Wooloo, from his team

Trophies and other memorabilia of his brother being found in their home- almost no mementos of Hop being found there

Corviknight, one of the 'mons he gigantamaxes upon the release of the DLCs (the other is his starter pokemon, which I will assume is Scorbunny)

The fact that he is evidently Arab/Muslim-coded, especially in the French translation of the games where his name is Nabil (fun fact, Raihan is also an already-Arab name)

The third episode of Pokemon: Twilight Wings

Dubwool being able to learn a fuck ton of self-destructive moves

The statue of the Hero of Galar in Wyndon (Motostoke in the anime)

Outside Influences:

The Sealed Vessel from Hollow Knight and their theme; actually, wanna bet that he is trapped in a similar manner as they were if we were to assume that his power is equal to Isabeau's? That he has been gathering power from the mass hysteria resulting from his influence over the stadiums?

How sheep, lambs, and goats are associated with sacrifice, slaughter, deceit, and rituals (to tie the aforementioned wooloo/dubwool and self-abandonment points mentioned earlier)

The golden calf

The fact that some gladiators were prisoners and had to fight and put on a spectacle in order to regain their freedom

nana825763's "My house walk-through"

That one segment from Valle Verde part 2 which starts at around the 3:58 mark

The Devil Within by Digital Daggers (not my dumb ass imagining an animatic in which Bede is this warlock's first victim)

Cause of my Death by Itoki Hana

Dolus Vel Pedica, Area Strigae, and Delusio Summa from the Madoka Magica PSP game

The concept of living armor, but with added body horror

-Closing Statements-

Phew! Well, thank GOD this didn't take as much time as Medic's warlock did! (unless if we count my sick days- then yeah, it took just as much) To say that this was a WILD ride would be the understatement of the century!

I wanted to nail the vibe the witches had before we, as the audience, learned the truth about their origins - that he must have been born out of competition and the impostor syndrome that comes with such high-stakes contests -, and the idea that he, Sayf, was vengeful not just towards the leagues and the people who had beaten Hop while he was down, but also towards himself. I am unsure of whether or not I've completely succeeded on that front, but, if you guys have better ideas and/or criticisms, please do let me know! I aim to improve my writing in general and my abilities to break down character motivations and symbolize their actions in more abstract manners.

Being Bede is suffering; his ass is getting haunted on one hand, and Leon is able to smell his fear from a mile away on the other. He's not fucking winning this, lads :'3

...With all that being said, there is one shred of information that I've been withholding until now- the final piece of the puzzle that, once we step back, paints a rather grim image of what would occur if we were to combine the worlds of Pokemon SWSH and PMMM...

Outside the league challenge, the story of SWSH tackles the eldritch origins of Dynamax/Gigantamax; that the very vessels that allowed the people of Galar to utilize it must come from the remains of the invading Pokemon, Eternatus. Its initial awakening from its 17,000 year slumber heralded the event known as the Darkest Day; in which it had absorbed so much of Galar's energy that it caused its form to change and a dark storm to envelope the region, causing the pokemon to dynamax/gigantamax and go berserk. With the emergence of said storm come what is now known as "Galar Particles"; other sources of energy that, after the defeat of this threat, were utilized by humans for generations to come; rebuilding Galar from the ground up to the region we know today.

Now, a theme that both medias apparently share here from this fact alone is "energy". In a sense, you could say that Eternatus itself acts very much like a living grief seed; absorbing "impurities" in order for its true form to "hatch" and release boundless amounts of concentrated energy that can be used in a useful manner later down the line.

So....what gives? Why is Eternatus such a key element to this concept if the focus of this post is Hop? What does that creature beyond out comprehension have to do with the one we currently have in our hands right now?

See, not only does Hop's karmic potential stem from his destiny to stop the second Darkest Day alongside the main character, but his brother was also tasked by Chairman Rose with capturing the beast and delivering it to him; this was planned out in order to solve Galar's energy crisis that was going to unfold in the next several years or so, and, though it was a hard decision, the Chairman believed that now was a better time than never. The future of Galar, in his eyes, relied on him...

Obviously, Rose's entire plan fell flat on its face, so it was up to us, our bestie, and a very gud boi an' gorl (Pokedex entries confirm Zacian is Zamazenta's older sister) to save an entire region's ass from a wicked, unfathomable threat once more, but what if things went a little differently in this timeline? Obviously, one of the heroes who was supposed to assist/had assisted Gloria fell into despair and became the next world-ending threat she's going to have to put down, but what if this wasn't the only deviation from the norm here?

After all, Rose wasn't the only one who had sought out the means to prevent and remedy a sort of entropy issue at any cost necessary...

[year2000electronics]

You there! Pokeverse creator! explain the general plot of Pokemon Iridium and the major differences in a simplified way!

well sure! truth be told iridium is kinda just me going “here’s how i would change the plots of pokémon stories if i had creative control!” and being very self indulgent with it, so it’s not like it’s one big overarching story, but i’d say one of the major themes is definitely legendary pokémon and how they interact with the world! i treat them more like gods than really powerful pokémon (you know, how green myths will have stories of the gods screwing around and messing with mortals all the time) because i think legendary pokémon are so cool and i like them :]

i crammed all the protagonists together on this canvas so there they all are but i’ll try to summarize the different arcs as best as i can

RED AND BLUE (gen 1): team rocket has taken over kanto and johto and fused them into The Rocket Empire. giovanni has captured the legendary birds and keeps them as pets. red tries and fails to stop giovanni from using mewtwo to unlock travel to alternate dimensions. he gets so sad about this he goes to live alone on a mountain

GOLD AND GREEN (gen 2): green, red’s kid friend, wants to get red down from the mountain. gold, the heir to team rocket (he’s basically like if gold and silver fused) tries to stop her from messing with the rockets. archer, a former rocket leader who defected, befriends green because they both wanna take down the rockets. red comes down from mt silver at the end, revealing the legendary beasts were protecting him up there

EMERALD (gen 3): may and her family (norman and zinnia) are the last of the draconids. archie and maxie are trying to expand the land/expand the sea. near the end of their evil plans they get possessed by groudon and kyogre who are mad that nobody worships them anymore (because they’re jerks). may and rayquaza work together to beat them. maxie dies during a cave in at the cave of origin so archie puts on a magical suit of armour and hunts down jirachi at the battle frontier to try and get three wishes to revive him, with the help of frontier brain lucy who wants to retire in a big mansion full of hunky boys because she’s sick of being a frontier brain

DIAMOND AND PEARL (gen 4): dawn and lucas are the human disguises of dialga and palkia who get sent down to earth every time giratina gets incarnated into another human vessel that’s about to cause trouble (it’s a banishment thing). in the past they were sent to defeat volo (legends arceus) but now they’re sent to defeat cyrus. cyrus ends up breaking the cycle by going into the distortion world and living there happily

BLACK AND WHITE (gen 5): rosa is a plasma researcher and sees colress as a father figure. her and n take a journey across a slowly-freezing-over unova. ghetsis and colress are secretly behind it using kyurem’s ice powers, but they’re using panic and fearmongering about the great freeze to get people to release their pokémon. rosa has a crisis of faith about her mentor

X AND Y (gen 6): zeena (daughter of looker and anabel) is about to become a real interpol agent, she just needs to solve the mystery of team flare in kalos. it’s a bunch of rich kids who believe beauty is the only important thing and that the beautiful should be the judge, jury, and executioner since they’re the worthy ones. in a dramatic twist it’s revealed that professor sycamore was the leader of team flare all along. when he tries to use yveltal to construct the ultimate weapon, yveltal and xerneas get so mad at him that they curse him to be stuck in between life and death

SUN AND MOON (gen 7): moon is a rocket empire refugee that moved to alola. her and lillie have to stop an emotionally unstable guzma from teaming up with the great magician lusamine and basically hunting the ultra beasts for sport. alola’s tradition hangs in the balance as both outsiders and frustrated insiders attack it. poni island gets burnt down. episode rainbow rocket happens where giovanni finally returns from his multiversal travels, revealing successful versions of every team leader so far (and some guy named raihan) that he’s poisoned with nihilego toxins to get them to work for him. moon and a defector (named twozma) kick their butts so hard that giovanni retires and kanto and johto get to be individual regions again

SWORD AND SHIELD (gen 8): leon is of royal blood, having descended from leonidas, the first king of galar. through a series of events, eternatus (a lovecraftian cosmic horror) possesses leon to use as his vessel in his ultimate quest to take over galar and absorb all the power on the planet. raihan has daddy issues.

SCARLET AND VIOLET (gen 9): thanks to sada and turo, paldea gets shattered across dimensions, so now there exists two versions of it: one stuck in the past and one stuck in the future. the ai counterparts of sada and turo have to help two kids, marisol and pedro, fix it and turn paldea back to normal. champions are evil. blueberry academy is evil. kieran turns his enemies into cursed masks

[kimbapisnotsushi]

shiratorizawa/inarizaki headcanons bc i miss them and i love them and i crave yamagata and reon content so i have to be the change i want to see in the world. so let's go!!

reon, the love of my life

i actually think he really likes comforting cozy slice-of-life sim games, like stardew valley and animal crossing and such

okay this is the part where i retcon the entire haikyuu timeline bc i really like the idea of everyone piling into reon's and tendou's dorm and watching reon game on a switch

or just like. gathering in the common area and squishing onto the couch or whatever while reon roams his island collecting fruits and bugs or whatever

(these games are the only sense of peace and stability reon gets at this goddamn school)

anyways it's funny bc tendou screams every time reon runs into a wasp's nest and yells "RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN" until reon either gets stung or successfully evades them

admittedly i do think the ds and gameboy are sacred and, for the sake of nostalgia, are definitely used to play pokemon (of which everyone has a favorite gen and get into endless arguments about it)

tendou DOES teach goshiki how to pirate shit and get ROM hacks and emulators and such tho

reon and semi are the most popular members out of the third years btw

they're both polite and calm and generally nice and don't have an RBF that makes people nervous

too many people keep trying to fight yamagata just bc they think he's glaring at them and he is SO tired

yamagata (slightly inspired by my own recent purchase) decides to get a phone charm to see if it'll help him keep track of his phone btw

he mentions this idea to semi who mentions it to reon who mentions it to tendou who blabs to the whole team. and guess what? everyone gets the absolutely brilliant idea of gifting yamagata a phone charm!!!

so now he has like a dozen different ones. and he's STILL losing his goddamn phone, so now his convos are like "have you seen my phone? yeah right now it's got a little phone charm hanging off of it, so just keep an eye out for that. what does the charm look like? oh i meant it's a charm that is literally a phone. of course it was tendou, who else do you think it was"

tendou has also taken to putting stickers on yamagata in an attempt to make him "less scary". sometimes yamagata knows about it. sometimes he doesn't.

kawanishi: "yamagata-san, pardon me for asking, but why do you have one-punch man on your butt" yamagata: "i have what now"

tendou meets someone he can talk to manga about online in some fandom/community forum or whatever and he is absolutely BETRAYED to find out that it's akagi michinari of inarizaki

okay not really but he is SUPER dramatic about it and keeps going on and on to akagi about how he can't be caught fraternizing with the enemy

akagi is just like "yeah yeah now are we going to talk about the complexities of yoru being both a victim and a perpetrator and his inevitable redemption arc or what"

(GO READ GOKURAKUGAI I AM BEGGING)

aran is still scared of tendou btw. like he won't outright admit it but he's still not over the time tendou yelled that he was going to piss in his pants from all the way across the court.

when akagi tells him they've become friends aran is like "are you SURE about that"

also i know tendou gets pissed off at suna. but i think it'd be REALLY funny if suna got pissed off at kawanishi

something something "he should be more sure of himself, he'll never stop aran-san like that" something something "and i thought i was a sarcastic little bitch" something something "no i DON'T think he's cute what the fuck are you on about"

(i didn't mean for it to go that way when i started typing it but i DO think it'd be an absolutely hilarious development)

i htink kawanishi and shirabu go on a lot of study dates, holing up at coffeeshops and boba cafes with their backpacks and notebooks and spending hours on homework and studying

shirabu worked his ass off to get into shiratorizawa and he intends to keep it that way!! he's a model student. probably even the top of their year. everyone knows him as the high-achiever.

kawanishi is there to make sure shirabu doesn't get lost inside his head and gets him take breaks and makes sure he doesn't get sucked into the endless soulless spiral of academic rigor at an elite private high school

basically: shirabu's consistently on the path to burnout and kawanishi is there to keep the flames alive

(hey that would be a good fic summary)

maybe that's another thing, then, that helps kawanishi and suna become friends. because suna's been there. suna knows, sometimes, that feeling of imposter syndrome. feeling like you don't belong. feeling like you have to prove your worth, your entire existence, just to be able to stay in a place you love, even if that place might not love you back.

and kawanishi knows shirabu would rather shove a volleyball down his throat than open up about the bad days and the bad feelings, so he picks suna's brain instead to find out how he can help. what he can do. what shirabu might be thinking and how kawanishi can fix it

you can't, suna tells him, you can't fix something like this. he has to learn to live with it. to grow around it. to believe in something better until it's the only thing he believes in. but having people you care about care about you helps. it did for me.

and so kawanishi is there to draw the blanket around shirabu's shoulders, and he's there to put snacks on shirabu's desk, and he's there to flip shirabu's textbook close when the clock hits eleven they need to sleep, and he cares for shirabu in all the ways shirabu can't care for himself and hopes that it's enough

[u3pxx]

Pokemon black was my first (and only) pokemon game (i got bamboozled i wanted zekrom why was he in the white game) and its heartwarming to see someone else experience it and fall in love with the same pokemons i still love to this day. Gen 5 gets a lot of hate to this day (i think bc it was the start of the "object" mons and that is so hates for some reason) so it makes me happy seeing someone giving it love :)

ahhh such a sweet message!!! 😭💙 i'm so glad ur enjoying my little liveblogs :'^D katha (tumblr user taxkha) was the one who recommended that i play pkmn black (since it's their favorite too) when they gave me all the rooms lol and i've been having a lot of fun playing it! it really is something to see someone become enamored with the same things you love and i'm glad i could've shared it with you <3

[loupy-mongoose]

Hi, I've been really enjoying seeing your work and I really love the way you color your characters.

I've had a question though about Mew pattern shifting since Akoya changed hers, like, is there a limit to how far from a Mew's original birth patterns they can shift? Or could it be possible for Akoya to change her color to that of a normal Mew for brief periods of time, like the shapeshifting? Also, do the color differences carry over when the Mew's shapeshift? Are all of Akoya's forms shiny, or are they all just blue no matter what kind of Pokemon she looks like?

Thank you again for sharing all these adorable fuzzies on the internet, and I wanna say all of the Linden crew honestly look like they would make the most adorable plushies

I like to imagine there are limits, but it could also be that the limits change with the circumstances. Akoya’s more in tune with transforming in general, so she might be a bit less limited than other Mews. Randy, meanwhile...

I’ve stated before and stand by that she could turn into non-shiny versions of Pokemon. But it takes her more effort than doing shiny ones. That could just be a her thing—other shiny Mews could potentially find it easier to become non-shiny Pokemon, and vice-versa if I wanted to go that route. (I did that with Akoya as a nod to her coming from Gen 3, where shiny Pokémon do transform into the shiny variant of their opponent. Nowadays they match their opponents coloring.)

It’s also possible that limits change with gained experience. Now that Akoya has transformed as she did, maybe there’s more wiggle room for future transformations. As of now, that kind of change has to come from a deeply internal feeling or change of mentality. But if any individuals develop their skills enough, it could become an option rather than a reactional change.

As far as a shiny such as Akoya changing to be non-shiny... I think it could be possible, but it would be like becoming another Pokemon, and they'd feel the need to change back. But again, it could be up to the individual and their skill level or deepest desires.

I hope that was comprehensible enough. XD

TL;DR: It depends on the skill level/mental state of the individual lol.

Slowly amassing an army of Linden plushies~