#abra line

[greens-multiverse]

Friends, fellow-fandomers, random tumblrite passers-by, I have completed my first nuzlocke!

Yes, despite being in the fandom for just over a decade now, and hanging out in exactly the kind of places you tend to find nuzlockers, I'd somehow never completed the challenge before. I had planned to, I'd even given it a try - I've had a way-too-ambitious idea for a series taking up space in the back of my head for far too long - and I rapidly came to the conclusion that before I went all in on a long series of pseudo-hardcore, gift-and-trade-pokémon-only, fully-written-out nuzlockes, I should probably get myself used to the challenge with something simpler first. So for now I'm playing through the games I skipped past during my catchup playthroughs ten years ago (Yellow, Crystal, Sapphire, and Pearl) with the basic nuzlocke rules and a few personal additions:

Dupes clause - except it only applies to the specific pokémon I encounter, not their entire evolutionary line. If it has a ball next to its name, I can't catch it!

The run's not over until I've beaten everyone I can without connecting to another game or entering a battle facility, postgame trainers and legendaries included.

Before I start each game, I make a list of the lowest-levelled pokémon of each gym leader, the champion, and any really important postgame trainers (I call that last part the 'Red clause.') Aside from that, and a list of when wild pokémon learn exploding moves I made a while ago, I'm not allowed to look anything up!

With those rules in mind, after... way too long honestly my habit of playing a dozen pokémon games at once obviously had nothing to do with it I've finally finished Yellow! The challenge wasn't as hard for me as I know it's been for some people, I made it out with 51 pokémon caught and six deaths, three of which really hurt. I've been through Kanto enough times there weren't any big surprises, though seeing the little changes made to the region was always fun. With that, it's time to put on the RBY Hall of Fame music, and introduce you all to the boys!

MNS, short for Massive Nidoking Superiority, caught as a Nidoran♂ on Route 22. His original nickname was Pachy, but I changed it to MNS after I got into the habit of writing 'massive nidoking superiority' in my journal whenever he came in clutch. He proved to be quite versatile with the power to back it up, especially in mid-game, and while later on he got a little outclassed by the more specialist members of the party, when they needed to step out of a fight he was always there to jump in and clean up.

Ogrei-T, initially just Ogrei, caught as a spearow on Route 3. Out of all the pokémon I could have gotten on that route, a spearow was easily the least interesting, so I thought 'oh great,' named him Ogrei, and threw him in a box as soon as I caught something with better type coverage. There he stayed until Rock Tunnel, when the pokémon I was planning to make my flyer, Evenstar the charmeleon, got blown up by a graveler after a mistimed dig. He was the best option I had to replace her, so I pulled him out, and when I discovered he really was pretty great I added a T to the end of his name. He was very good at what he did, and that thing was using drill peck on bugs, plants, and muscly dudes. For a pokémon I expected to fill up space in my boxes the whole game, he acquitted himself really well.

Trevor, alias Trevs, alias the gift bulbasaur from Cerulean City. Him and Dest fulfilled pretty much the same role on the battlefield, taking out ground and rock types, tanking explosions, performing HM duties (though Trevs had cut instead of surf.) Dest was a bit better at those jobs by the end, but they never lost that bash-brother synergy, and I could always rely on both of them to protect the rest of the boys... until, in Cerulean Cave, I suddenly couldn't. I sent Trevor out against a graveler when he was around half health, and it crit explosion. The only member of my final team who didn't make it to the end of the run, I left his spot in the party open as a memorial - for him, and for everyone else we'd lost.

Guildern, caught as an abra on Route 6. I hate to say it, but while all the boys are great, Guildern was certainly the least... versatile. He could rain psychic death on our opponents, no problem, but thanks to a paucity of TMs he could learn, that was the only thing he could do, and since I didn't realise that until I'd overwritten psybeam with psychic, he could only do it ten times before he ran out of PP. Still, he was very, very good at his one trick, and though he didn't see as much battle as the others, when I needed something psychic'ed, he did a great job of it.

Dest-da-best, the gift squirtle from Vermilion City. My initial plan for my team was to build it around the Starters Three, and Dest was the only one of them to make it to the very end of the run. He was an amazing surfer, brilliant at bomb disposal, could take out anything weak to water or ice in, like, two hits max, and had enough bulk to overwhelm basically anything else. The blastoise line has always been my favourite of the Kanto starters, and Dest did his kinsfolk proud, time and time again. If I had to pick a run MVP, it'd be him, if only for all those explosions he tanked during grinding.

And finally, Halcha, formerly the eevee from Celadon City, who's not actually a boy but is nevertheless one of the boys. I wanted to beat the game with my starter pikachu, of course, but Jumps got multi-hit-crit to death on the routes north of Cerulean, and I figured my best back-up option was a jolteon - with pin missile, possibly the best anti-psychic build in Gen 1. Halcha did okay at that, but they were much better at electrocuting things, and though they weren't great at taking hits, half the time they zapped the other guy out of the way too fast for it to matter. In the deepest depths of Cerulean Cave, I fed them seven rare candies and set them on Mewtwo - and they actually did pretty well, handily outspeeding, paralysing, and whittling them down with thunderbolts. After everything I've heard about RBY Mewtwo, I'm taking this as proof that Halcha is something special.

This team didn't fully solidify until we picked up Halcha and Celadon, and it'd be wrong of me not to shout out a couple of mon who helped out a lot in getting to that point - Bert the butterfree, caught as a metapod in Viridian Forest, who handily took out Brock, and Sarno the dugtrio, caught as a diglett in Diglett's Cave, who dealt with Surge and filled Evenstar's spot on the team from her death until Halcha joined the party. There were several more pokémon who filled various spots on the team before the boys were assembled, but these two certainly did the most. Thanks, guys.

And, of course, it wouldn't be a nuzlocke writeup without a moment to honour the fallen. I've already mentioned Jumps the pikachu (Pallet Town to Route 25, levels 5-16, some asshole spearow got five critical fury attacks), Evenstar the charmeleon (Route 24 (as a gift charmander) to Rock Tunnel, levels 10-25, missed a dig under an exploding geodude at the worst possible moment), and Trevor the venusaur (Cerulean City (as a gift bulbasaur) to Cerulean Cave, levels 10-60, switched into a graveler at half health and it got a crit explosion), but we also lost Buivel the rattata (Route 2 to Nugget Bridge, levels 3-14, I forgot Nidoran♀ have double kick in this game), Mars the pidgey (Route 1 to Nugget Bridge (again), levels 4-15, some asshole mankey landed a critical low kick), and Duke the geodude (Mt. Moon to Route 24, levels 11-17, got outsped by a random wild oddish and crit absorb'd.) I really wasn't expecting the routes north of Cerulean to be such a meat-grinder, damn.

But even with those sacrifices, we've won the league, defeated Team Rocket, and explored every corner of Kanto. It's time for the surviving boys to get their well-deserved retirement, and for me to move on to Pokémon Crystal, where I hear I'll even get to pick a starter! It might take me a while to complete my research there, but whenever that is, I guarantee you guys are gonna hear about it. See you then!

[front-facing-pokemon]

[slutpoppers]

(063) Abra

(064) Kadabra

(065) Alakazam

Previous: Poliwag line

Next: Machop line

[spookywriters]

New avatar time hehe

[stressedjester]

My favorite pokemon is apparently so overlooked that I don't even see it in those "what your NICHE favorite pokemon says about you" posts

[echidnana]

ik we literally just spent our life savings on top surgery but we have just enough left over to buy a twilight masquerade booster box. we probably shouldn't. but also we want to so bad

[sniffanimal]

i made this sticker in 2016 in a graphic design class and cut it out in gold vinyl and to this day its still on the side of my water bottle (though some of the smaller elements have since fallen off, like the nails on kadabra). The abra line has always been my favorite line. due to litigation, theres virtually no official merch for them, so I have to do everything myself

[coconutcows]

Went to Tim Hortons with my mom, then a short drive and found these two in about ten minutes of each other

[freshthoughts2020]

[riddlegecko]

kinda wanna make a pmdsona, like separate from my other pmd ocs. just for fun ya know.

[otiksimr]

Poorly drawn Abra line [redo]

[platedelights]

MSLI adds two new 'Binibinis' to its fleet

Montenegro Shipping Lines Inc. just added two more vessels to its expanding fleet – 𝐁𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐛𝐫𝐚 𝐝𝐞 𝐈𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐬. This is also the first time the maritime giant breaks away from the traditional way how they name their vessels which usually starts with ‘Santa, ‘Reina’, and ‘Maria’. Is this the beginning of the ‘Binibini’ fleet series for MSLI? On its Facebook post, it’s not…

[puntomindoro]

MSLI adds two new 'Binibinis' to its fleet

Montenegro Shipping Lines Inc. just added two more vessels to its expanding fleet – 𝐁𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐛𝐫𝐚 𝐝𝐞 𝐈𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐬. This is also the first time the maritime giant breaks away from the traditional way how they name their vessels which usually starts with ‘Santa, ‘Reina’, and ‘Maria’. Is this the beginning of the ‘Binibini’ fleet series for MSLI? On its Facebook post, it’s not…

[spookywriters]

Disregard my previous post where I asked for help picking a pokemon for my pokesona. I'll be off apologizing to my favorite now lol

[sfznyxio]

-ˋˏ I CHOOSE YOU! ˎˊ

SYNOPSIS. new year, new you, new school. you’re determined to be the greatest trainer in history, and it starts at a pokemon academy. you hope to finish your studies free of drama, if you can ignore the noise of many battles within the student body to see who will come on top.

CHARACTERS. sakura haruka, suo hayato, nirei akihiko, umemiya hajime, hiragi toma, tsubakino tasuku, kaji ren, tomiyama choji, togame jo

CONTENT. gn!reader. pokemon au. comedy, fluff. 0.8k wc. inspired by pokemon scarlet and violet and its teal mask dlc. everyone goes to legit school here, whoa. reader sometimes ditches class to explore the wild. electrocution, one bad pun intended (kaji). they/them pronouns for tsubaki.

VERA. yelling with @stunie about pokemon was really fun so why not combine the best of both worlds. for zevie, my fellow pokemon (mystery dungeon) enthusiast!

𝄞༉‧₊˚. SAKURA HARUKA

sakura wants to be the best in the world through unconventional means, to battle the strongest right away. you’ve seen how he fought off a group of students who were ridiculing you earlier, but there’s no way someone could become a trainer with punches and kicks and without a pokemon. by chance, a sprigatito steals the pastry he was holding to eat and sends him on a wild goose chase. those two are a lovely pair, when it’s time for it to stop eating his food and he stops yelling at it for being a “brat”.

𝄞༉‧₊˚. SUO HAYATO

if you need a teacher for your team on how to behave on the battlefield, suo is at the yard meditating with his mienfoo. it’s impressive how he’s by your stress filling their air like smokescreen. your pokemon partner suddenly stops listening to your commands, and now your wallet is dry. he says it's the rebellious teen phase, something he can easily deal with. whatever he did to make your pokemon shudder when he calls on it for lessons with mienfoo as his assistant, you dare not to pry.

𝄞༉‧₊˚. NIREI AKIHIKO

midterm season is around the corner, what you dread the most this year. luckily you have nirei, a walking encyclopedia that is very convenient to have as a study buddy and useful to a certain someone who skips classes to explore the wild. his abra will teleport you back on campus whenever you try to ditch. the one day you venture farther, a very strong pokemon has you running for your life. abra has the ability to sense danger so you manage to return safely, but not safe from his disappointment. 

𝄞༉‧₊˚. UMEMIYA HAJIME

major concerns of newbies are what type of supplies to stock up on and how to train pokemon teams efficiently. your problem is money, due to spending too much and losing too much against people. umemiya is an expert in said concerns, but his togekiss handles his budget to curb his spending impulses. for someone who advertised himself as dependable, you definitely can’t depend on him for monetary matters. even togekiss judges him for buying fake plants for his fake garden. 

𝄞༉‧₊˚. HIRAGI TOMA

the academy is a scary place. there are strong and promising trainers in the making, and a tournament is a great start to see what they’re worth. competition drives everyone nuts, tailing down anyone such as yourself in their line of sight to battle. hiragi shoos them away, swearing he’ll be like his annihilape if they keep this up. he mistakes you as one with the crowd because you’re staring at him for so long, his pokemon readies its rage fist to send you flying, stressing him out even more.

𝄞༉‧₊˚. TSUBAKINO TASUKU

as the end of the school term draws near, students become anxious. fear not, tsubaki knows how to turn the doom and gloom around - throwing a party. their checklist becomes so long they need a helping hand. their gardevoir chooses you through its future sight, determining that you’re good luck. while shopping with your upperclassman, there’s an ongoing sale for clothes they’ve been waiting for since forever. they’re so excited that they drag you along and practically buy out the whole boutique.

𝄞༉‧₊˚. KAJI REN

the stock of candies at the campus store is somehow almost empty every time you check it out. a salesclerk then tells you that they never heard of a luxio with a sweet tooth. the pokemon belongs to a student who wears headphones and a lollipop in his mouth, kaji. you and your partner look at each other with the same plan: ditch class to buy out the entire candy section before those two can. you and him grab a candy bag in sync, but luxio electrocutes you as he and your pokemon stare in shock.

𝄞༉‧₊˚. TOMIYAMA CHOJI

photography in the wilderness for a project is, in reality, easier said than done. your pictures come out blurry as many wild pokemon have tried to break your phone. just as things can’t get any worse, you get whacked by an ambipom from its double hit. your hands feel light, and you look at it with your device. its trainer tomiyama proposes to retake your photos as compensation. but instead of you in there, the entire gallery is full of his selfies. seems like this project will take forever to finish.

𝄞༉‧₊˚. TOGAME JO

you can’t afford to be late for school… again. rushing to campus on your bike, you almost crash into a dozing snorlax that is blocking your usual route. you and your pokemon have done what you can to wake it up, and it turns into a stream of light which went inside a pokeball belonging to an upperclassman. togame was napping at the side of the road, and now he is late going to school like you are. as he’s about to ask you for a ride, you completely vanish, pedaling furiously like your life depends on it.

[bogleech]

Mister Bog of Leech, I have a question. The 1996 Japan-exclusive book "Pokedex" clarifies that that one bizarre Pokedex entry of a boy waking up transformed into a Kadabra is meant to be a quote from an in-universe equivalent of Kafka's Metamorphosis. Do you think that means the characteristic joints of the Abra line are indeed meant to interpreted as insectoid? (Forgive me if I used the wrong term)

Yep despite not being given bug typing in the end, it's clearer now that they were conceived of like beetles or cockroaches with a "star shaped" spooky fox or jackal sort of head shape as part of their psychic theme, not just because they're literal "foxes" like every furry immediately chose to see. It's not far from whatever Scyther has going on