#anipoke sawyer

[xxinkyshadowxx]

its always the fucking green haired ash's throw away rivals that i get attached to WHY i know im never gonna see them in anything again why do i do this to myself

[sinnohanvulpix]

Hey everyone! Over this past year, I've been working on a fanfic about Goh and Sawyer ending up in Hisui and becoming close friends as they try to find a way back home. I'm so excited to say that it's finally complete! Please check it out if you're interested. Any and all support would be much appreciated ❤️💚

[lem4dead]

um heh oops forgot to post these here two years ago

[dailaz]

Ash's rivals.

[kooldewd123]

Back in August, we had the anniversary of Ash’s famous Kalos League loss. It's a battle you see talked about time and time again. It's often held up by fans as the one big stain on XY, a disgraceful way for the writers to end Ash’s Kalos journey.

I beg to differ.

I want to offer a different perspective on this loss, because I don't really agree with most of the criticisms levied against it. I don't think it portrays Ash in a negative light, or goes against his development, or anything like that. In fact, I think it’s quite the opposite. I planned to make a post talking about why I feel the loss fits Ash’s character arc back when I started seeing posts commemorating its anniversary, but I had so much to say about Ash’s characterization in this series that it took me until now to write it all down (also i procrastinated).

First of all, I want to address one of the most common critiques of the loss, since it leads nicely into the main point I want to make. This take essentially boils down to "XY had an Ash that was stronger than ever before. Losing goes against that." It's not a wrong reading of the series per se, but it does feel a bit… reductive to me. Yes, XY is about Ash getting stronger. But so are DP, SM, BW, and all the others. Ash becoming stronger over the course of the series is just something we can expect by default. A good Ash story needs to do something else on top of that, and XY especially needed to find an extra angle to his character since he starts the series already near the top of his game. It's actually a similar situation to DP: he came into that series fresh off his victories in the Battle Frontier, and so rather than simply coasting with a story about how strong he is, the writers brought in Paul to challenge him not just in battle, but in terms of philosophy as well.

So with all that said, what is Ash's story in XY actually about, then? Well, the comparison is often made that Ash is the "Brock" of the XY gang, and it's not an unfounded one. He's the most experienced member of the group, as well as the most well put together. The others look to him for leadership, guidance, and inspiration even more than Ash ever did for Brock. More than in any other series, XY Ash is defined by the way he interacts with his friends, and the reverse is also true for them. Let's take a detour and try to quickly run down their character arcs so you can really see what I mean:

Serena starts the series aimless. She’s discontent with her life, wanting something more. Recognizing Ash on TV and remembering his words to "never give up" is what gives her the push to finally take the first steps of her own story. However, those first steps are all she takes. She wants to get away from her mother, but is once again adrift as soon as she meets Ash. She bounces from activity to activity for a while, only deciding to become a Performer after meeting Shauna and having the sudden realization that she doesn't have a long-term goal like Ash. Wanting to be as determined as Ash is, she finally has something to actively work for and even confronts her mother with her newfound passion. She thinks of Ash to give her strength as she starts her first Showcase, and after she messes up, she remembers his advice to "never give up" and continues onward, even incorporating a ribbon she had received from Ash into her outfit to signify her resolve. Ash is at the center of every stage of Serena's journey. Nearly everything she does can be somehow traced back to Ash in one way or another.

That's all well and good, but it's just one example, and Serena's a bit of an extreme case, anyway. For more evidence, let's look at Clemont. The first time he meets Ash, Ash gets thrown out of Prism Tower, immediately brushes himself off and challenges Clemont to a battle, fights off a group of Pokemon thieves (which is apparently a regular occurrence for him), goes after a rampaging Garchomp with his bare hands, and ends the day off by jumping off the top of the fucking Prism Tower with literally zero hesitation. Following that buck wild first impression, Clemont harbors an immense amount of both admiration and intellectual curiosity for Ash. He constantly praises Ash for his unique battle style, and wants to study it so he can become an even better Gym Leader. He begins taking cues from Ash's style as early as his confrontation with Clembot, as he has to think of unorthodox ways to outsmart the robot programmed to act like him. Following this battle, he and Ash agree to have their Gym battle once Ash has obtained his fourth badge. Ash becomes Clemont's goalpost: having seen what Ash is capable of, he wants to be a Gym Leader worthy of fighting him. And when we finally reach this battle, he proves that he has absolutely succeeded, incorporating everything he's learned from Ash and more into their climactic showdown. 

While Ash’s companions in other series generally have stories that run parallel to his, XY stands out by placing Ash right at the center of both Serena and Clemont’s personal journeys. Ash permeates XY in a deeper way than any series before or since. This might be a weird thing to say, but XY isn't really about Ash per se. It's about the idea of Ash. To Serena, Ash is the representation of all the personal qualities she desires, yet lacks. To Clemont, Ash is a new way of battling, something that can help him improve his own abilities even further. So then, what is Ash… to Ash?

I know I just set that up as a big question, but the answer’s actually fairly simple. It's pretty clear that Ash recognizes the effect he has on his friends, and so he leans into it for their benefit. He's constantly trying to improve both himself and Clemont for their eventual battle, and is incredibly encouraging towards Serena every time she takes another step towards her goal (in fact, Serena is possibly the female companion that Ash is least sassy towards, although he’s also just less sassy than usual in this series anyway). Even with his Pokemon, this trait shines through. Froakie was a trouble child for every Trainer that Sycamore had given it to before, yet it respects Ash nearly instantly after seeing him in action. Ash’s encouragement and support is what gives Goomy the strength to grow and take back its home. He acts more parental towards Noibat than any baby Pokemon he had before, but also steps back enough to let Hawlucha take the lead raising it since he sees how strongly the two of them bond.

So here in XY we have a strong, self-assured, mature Ash who takes on a leadership role among the main cast. It’s an Ash that truly feels like he’s been through years of journeys and growth. But if he starts out the series so well-developed, where can his character arc take him?

Enter Sawyer. Not long after Ash has his battle with Clemont, he’s introduced to Sawyer, a rookie Trainer who had lost to Clemont shortly before. On the surface, this doesn’t immediately seem like the makings of a particularly compelling rivalry: an experienced veteran Ash versus a novice with only a single Gym badge to his name. Ash is undeniably the superior one in this dynamic. But once the two of them begin interacting, it becomes immediately clear how much heart there is to their relationship. Ash, ever the older brother figure, sees how much potential Sawyer has and wants to watch him unlock it. Sawyer, the analytical battler, takes notes from Ash’s battles and studies him in a manner not unlike Clemont to learn how to improve himself. Sawyer’s notes pay off in a big way, as he improves at an astronomical pace, winning four more badges in the time it takes Ash to earn just one, and even reaching his eighth before Ash does. Ash and Sawyer have one last battle before Ash heads to win his eight Gym badge, but for the first time, Sawyer manages to surpass and beat Ash. Although he’s glad to have won, his victory shakes both of them. Although they don’t say it directly, they can tell that something’s wrong. Sawyer decides to follow Ash to Snowbelle City to watch him beat Wulfric, but again, Ash loses. Between these two losses, as well as his struggle to master the Bond phenomenon, Ash begins to spiral, and it’s the first time we truly see him grapple with self-doubt in this series. Sawyer looks up to Ash, yet he had failed to live up to Sawyer’s vision of him. And if he’s failed Sawyer, who else has he failed? His companions? His Pokemon? With the image of himself as a mentor and an inspiration thrown into jeopardy, he begins to act uncharacteristically, running off into the woods alone and lashing out at Serena when she tries to help him. After cooling off a bit, he helps some Spewpa trapped in a tree and is saved by Greninja when the branch breaks. One of the Spewpa is blown off a nearby cliff, and when Ash and Greninja both jump into action to save it, they perfect the Ash-Greninja form for the very first time. The entire experience causes Ash to realize that the image of himself as someone everyone could count on had been weighing down on him much more heavily than he had thought. Because of it, he had been placing too much responsibility on himself. He needed to master the Bond phenomenon to become stronger for his team. He needed to beat Wulfric to prove himself to Sawyer. But in the end, he couldn’t do it alone, and ultimately ended up caving under the pressure without even realizing it. It’s only with the help of his friends and Pokemon that he’ll be able to move forward and actually accomplish what he’s set out to do. With that in mind, he’s finally able to reach synchronicity with Greninja, beat Wulfric, and make his way to the Kalos League.

In the semifinals, Ash finally comes face-to-face with Sawyer once again. As the two of them clash, Sawyer recognizes Ash once again. The cloud that had covered him in Snowbelle is gone, and the two of them can have a proper battle. Sawyer can truly show Ash just how far he’s come (and maybe even surpass him for real), and Ash can prove that he won’t falter again. That he really is the person everyone thinks he is. And with Ash-Greninja’s final Water Shuriken, Ash does just that. This battle, not the finals match against Alain, is the conclusion of Ash’s arc in XY. The Trainer that everyone looks up buckling under the weight of those expectations, and yet still managing to prove them right by coming out the other side stronger. I feel it can often get sadly overlooked in favor of the finals, but it’s a satisfying way to encapsulate what XY Ash is all about.

So what’s the deal with the finals, then? Why go through all of this just to have him lose in the end? Doesn’t that undermine the whole message? Well, no, actually. In a vacuum, it might seem that way, but I feel that removing it from the context surrounding it (as you often see in discourse about it) is doing it a disservice. The most important thing about the finals match is that it isn’t really Ash’s battle in the way the semifinals were. Ash’s arc is finished. This is Alain’s battle. Alain’s arc throughout the series effectively boils down to the idea that he wants to gain power in order to protect the people he cares about, first to defend Professor Sycamore’s research, and later to heal Chespie. He’s drawn to the Kalos League by the promise of many strong opponents to train himself against, Ash chief among them. This relentless drive for power, while good-intentioned, leads him to work for Lysandre, blinded to his true motivations. Alain’s victory in the Kalos League is the tipping point of his arc. He’s won the League, proving himself to be among the strongest Trainers in the entire region. And yet, at his moment of victory, when he’s achieved the strength he desired, Team Flare attacks, threatening the entire region. Key to Team Flare’s plans are Z2, whom Alain had helped capture, and the Mega Evolution energy he had helped them study. I often see people upset about Ash’s League loss trying to spin it into a story about Ash learning that winning isn’t everything, but it’s actually the opposite. Alain is the one learning that winning isn’t everything. In his quest for power, he had inadvertently brought danger to the very people he was trying to protect, with Sycamore and Chespie both being directly in Lysandre’s crosshairs.

And all of this eventually leads us to a scene where Lysandre, Alain, and Ash are on Prism Tower together. Alain is paralyzed by his emotions, distraught at what he had unwittingly brought about. Lysandre imprisons Ash and tries to force him to work for him like Alain had, but Ash refuses and breaks free using the Bond phenomenon. And for one final time, we see Ash inspiring people to be better. Seeing Ash act without hesitation, never for a second even considering forsaking his morals and working with Lysandre the way he did, Alain snaps out of his stupor and finally confronts Lysandre. Alain may be the stronger Trainer, but Ash is the better Trainer. Captured, outmatched, and weary from the League, Ash still chose to fight. Win or lose, Ash is still the best, like no one ever was.

[thena0315]

Champion Mentors

[missashketchum]

pppssstttt lol a follow up to my previous ask, lol alain and ash's other xy rival sawyer ends up being isekai'ed to ramshackle, and because I also crave chaos, aegislash and sir'fetch actually approve of these rivals for ash because it's obvious they drink respect women juice plus they have a lot of non tsundere chemistry with her lolol

sawyer and alain drink their respect women juice on the daily

while I’ve never really shipped ash and alain, I do believe that they have amazing chemistry, sawyer and ash as well

aegislash and sirfetch’d approve 👍👍

[red-rose-corner]

My Favorite Anipoke Pairings

PokéShipping (Ash/Misty) MorpheusShipping (Ash/Angie) AureliaShipping (Ash/Lillie) DiodeShipping (Ash/Clemont) MouseShipping (Ash/Ritchie) ChampsElyseeShipping (Misty/Serena) WaterWarriorShipping (Misty/Lana) MizuchiShipping (Misty/Iris) LuckShipping (Brock/Lucy) TeenCareShipping (Brock/Holly) UltramarineShipping (Brock/Lizabeth) MonolithShipping (Brock/Olivia) HandymanShipping (Tracey/Daisy) CrimsonVelvetShipping (May/Serena) ContestShipping (Drew/May) SapphirePearlShipping (May/Dawn) SmartKidShipping (Max/Molly) FancyFashionShipping (Dawn/Serena) AppealShipping (Zoey/Dawn) MoonlightBlossomShipping (Dawn/Chloe) DragonvilleShipping (Iris/Shannon) BoutiqueShipping (Serena/Shauna) FondantShipping (Miette/Serena) RingletShipping (Aria/Serena) BloomAmourShipping (Serena/Chloe) DreamGirlShipping (Serena/Lisia) GeekChicShipping (Clemont/Serena) ScientificJournalShipping (Clemont/Sawyer) KiloudeShipping (Clemont/Yvonne) *Canon/FC* WaitingForYouShipping (Emilio/Bonnie) JellowShipping (Mallow/Lillie) BlueLilyShipping (Lana/Lillie) FirstFriendShipping (Goh/Ash) TimelessPromiseShipping (Goh/Horace) ClegohShipping (Goh/Clemont) IceBloomShipping (Regina/Chloe) HanaMusaShipping (Delia/Jessie) GrassShipping (James/Gardenia) CavalierShipping (Gary/Dawn) BlackenedEdgeShipping (Gladion/Kiawe) QuestShipping (Jimmy/Marina) CurtainShipping (Reggie/Maylene) PhaesporiaShipping (Cynthia/Diantha) WhiteCarnationShipping (Bea/Korrina) EternalHoneymoonShipping (Kukui/Burnet)

All of these were found here.

[mixtercandy]

are your requests still open? and also do you have any fandoms/characters you REFUSE to draw?

don’t want to ask for things your uncomfortable with drawing, yk?

For the first part:

My requests r usually always open! it just takes time to get to some asks so its not like im never not taking rqs!

as for fandoms i refuse to draw-

•both of v*vzipop's shows r huge no-nos for me personally

•genshin is iffy for requests (unless its a comm or a close friend) so probably not

•i dont need to say anything abt terf-wizard-books or h*talia of course, i wouldnt touch that stuff

•most adult shows (i like bops burgrs tho) cus i know some of them have fandoms (wont name names)

and for characters

•william afton (cus he's like an old guy n i cant draw those, also can't vibe)

•most anipoke original characters cus im more attached to game characters n i dont vibe wit ash... (but i do vibe wit sawyer, horace & mairin tho!)

•like 2-3 of the girl pokemon protags cus i dont trust some of their fans (im so sorry girlies)

•h*soka

ty for the ask anon!! hapy to know theres ppl like u that ask abt boundaries & what stuff to avoid when rqs'n!!

[lazloorpington]

anipoke rant time: Hau deserved so much better

i may be biased because hau is one of my favourite pokémon rivals for sure, but hear me out here okay (obviously major pokémon sun & moon anime spoilers up ahead of you haven't watched it already)

hau is a pretty important rival for ash, since of course, they battle in the alola league. it's a tough battle too, since rowlet is going to be at a noticeable disadvantage to decidueye. hau's also really enthusiastic about battling and is really energetic, just like ash! so surely, they'd have multiple encounters and get along super well, right?

well... no! not really!

first of all, i think hau was introduced WAY too late into the season. like, ultra legends?! that is the last part of the season, god damn it! considering that, in the games, hau is (afaik) one of the first characters you encounter, i find it crazy that he's introduced so late! i mean sure, ash is spending a lot of time at the pokemon school, so the likelihood of them interacting was kinda low, but still... i feel like his introduction should've been way earlier.

let me demonstrate my point with another green-haired rival: sawyer! throughout the second and third parts of xy, ash and sawyer interacted pretty frequently. a lot of them were meaningful too, not just "hey, let's battle!"... and again, sawyer becomes important because of the kalos pokemon league! and, just like hau, sawyer is a tough opponent for ash! but it feels more meaningful when ash wins because we watched sawyer get to develop his skills by battling and analysing ash's skills, by watching their battles you could tell that sawyer was getting much stronger, even stronger than ash! it was great to watch that development, leading up to that big moment; their battle at the pokemon league!

i know hau and sawyer are very different, but my point still stands, right? after hau's introductory episode, he did NOT appear again until it was time for the pokemon league, where it was all "aha oh yeah dartrix evolved and we're like way stronger" like it's great! but it would've been so much better to watch that development happen the same way we watched it happen with sawyer! if ash and hau had more of a time to build their rivalry (and friendship!), i think that battle would've been so much more meaningful! and it's not to say it wasn't, since rowlet and decidueye were established rivals already, but still... i wish his character could've been explored and developed more.

but i'm not done. i haven't talked about journeys yet!

now, granted, i haven't finished journeys yet. but i'm at the masters 8 tournament. so i'm pretty close to the end. now guess, how much screentime has hau had this entire season?

if you guessed less than 5 seconds, you'd be correct!

seriously though?! in the last s&m episode, hau was shown battling nanu. we can assume that he completed all of the island challenges by the time ash came back to alola, right? so... why did they never get to have a second battle? or... even interact at all??? it's genuinely so sad because with two kids eager to battle with passion, you'd think they'd be shown interacting and battling way more! but they don't!!!! hau hardly got ANYTHING throughout both seasons. fuck- he got basically NOTHING in journeys! honestly, the 5- no, it's closer to 3 - seconds he appears in journeys almost feels like a slap on the face for anyone who EVER wanted to see ash and hau interact again.

i mean i could say similar things about a lot of the rivals in journeys, mind you. but at least in the seasons they were introduced they were treated WELL. hau just. wasn't. which makes me so sad...

sorry for the long ass rant i just felt sad about one of my favourite pokemon characters and i hope others feel the same

[xxinkyshadowxx]

i gave him a blunt my life purpose is fulfilled

[sinnohanvulpix]

Sawyer is neurodivergent and you can't change my mind

Last year for Autism Acceptance Day, my good friend @pikatrainer99 and I did a collab post about Goh and our headcanon of being him autistic. Here's a link to that post if you'd like to check it out:

Today, we'd like to talk about Sawyer from Pokemon XY, another character who we both headcanon as autistic, and who means the world to me.

Let's start with his special interest, Pokemon battles. In all of Sawyer's appearances, we can clearly see his desire to learn as much as he can about battling and to grow stronger. He greatly admires strong trainers like Steven Stone and Ash. I mean, just look at how excited he gets when he hears that Ash had won five badges!

And that's exactly what he does for the rest of the series. He spends so much time studying and training that he manages to catch up to Ash within a just season's worth of episodes! But we'll get to that later.

Before going into detail about his most obvious traits, let's go over some of the traits that we only see for brief moments, starting with his sensory sensitivities. In episode 73, we see him getting visibly overwhelmed when the crowd around him, Ash, and Clemont suddenly starts cheering. We also see him shielding his eyes from Spritzee's Dazzling Gleam attack during his battle with Valerie. Note that he's the only one to react this way to both situations. I don't know about you, but I have yet to meet a single autistic person without some kind of hypersensitivity to noise, bright light, smell, texture, etcetera.

We also see in the following episode that he sometimes unintentionally gets too close to people when he's excited, not noticing their discomfort. We see this after Ash wins his gym battle with Valerie, and Sawyer is so beyond amazed and eager to learn from him that he momentarily forgets how to act "socially appropriately". Ash and his friends are visibly uncomfortable, but of course, because they're all so kind and supportive, they don't judge him for this 🥺

We also see in the first episode of XYZ that he's an amazing artist. And I mean, AMAZING! He can literally draw Squishy the Zygarde Core exactly how it looks in its official artwork, despite only having seen it for the first time that day! While not every autistic person has to have a talent like this, it's definitely not uncommon. Growing up, Pika and I both used to draw a lot, and our drawing skills were one of the few things we took pride in because of how much praise we got for it.

Now let's talk about one of his most adorable traits, which is his habit of saying, "I've gained some EXP!" Clearly he's into video games and enjoys feeling like he's in one, because this is definitely not something you typically hear in real life. This kind of escapism is quite common in autistic people, Pika and I included. In a world that's not built for us, sometimes imagining ourselves in a fictional world that we love can be really comforting and even inspiring in some cases.

You've probably noticed that Sawyer is holding his notebook in all of the last three screenshots, which is also something I'd like to get into. Not only is his notebook a crucial part of his character, but it's also a security item. Pika and I both have security items of our own, namely our phones and our favourite Pokemon plushies, which helps bring us a lot of much-needed comfort. In episode 75, we see just how panicked Sawyer gets when he temporarily loses his notebook, which quickly leads to him becoming depressed.

We know that he values his notebook deeply because it contains all he's learned on his journey, as well as an autograph from Steven Stone. But if you look deeper, it becomes clear that it's even more to him than that. He holds his notebook close to his heart, both metaphorically and literally. He hugs it after receiving approval from Ash (which I'll also get to later) Heck, he even attached his Key Stone to it! He cherishes this notebook like it's his baby, and we find that so adorable and relatable!

Okay, now it's time to get into what's arguably the saddest part of his character: his constant need of approval from others. Pika and I, as well as countless other autistic people, are no strangers to self-doubt, especially in a world where we can't meet a lot of people's expectations. Sawyer likely grew up feeling this way too, which would explain why he's always seeking Ash's approval, since Ash is the one he looks up to the most. Throughout the series, Sawyer's constantly trying desperately to catch up to him. What's even more heartbreaking is that even after he beats Ash, he still needs reassurance from him that he's become strong 🥺

And to make matters worse, he's constantly masking his frustration whenever he fails to beat Ash. The autistic community is definitely no stranger to masking either.

It's not until the episode after his Kalos League battle with Ash when we finally see Sawyer breaking down. All those hours of training to catch up to Ash only led to him losing again in their most important battle yet. He was devastated, but he couldn't show that in front of Ash out of fear of being judged. Once he and Sceptile were alone, however, Sawyer was finally able to let out all the built-up frustration. And oh boy, was it emotional to watch...

But being the resilient trainer he is, Sawyer quickly dried off his tears and reaffirmed his desire to become stronger.

It takes a lot of strength to bounce back from something like this. I also went through a lot of inner turmoil around the time XYZ was airing. But seeing Sawyer bounce back like this inspired me to keep going, and make it through the rest of that year with Sawyer as my main source of comfort.

Needless to say, I see a lot of myself in Sawyer, and so does Pika. Not only is he relatable, but his story is also a great reminder that no matter how bad things feel in the moment, we can always make it out the other side. This is an important message for a lot of people, especially within the autistic community.

Even after all these years, I still find lots of comfort in Sawyer, and I know that'll last for many more years to come 💚

[smilingperformer]

I've always been a tad confused as to why Ash vs Paul, Kukui, Sawyer, and even Trip['s Snivy] made the Anipoke Selection; but vs Gary/Blastoise was omitted. (Especially when both OS fights got specifically referenced during the week of his JN return.) I wonder if that would've meant anything during JN; clearly not. xD (This is even including Goh.) But now I'm back to wondering if it'll mean something here. Especially when Gary is still MIA. Feels more than just the question is hidden.

Do you mean when they uploaded selected episodes from all seasons? I wouldn't consider it a hint of any kind. It was just to showcase what they'd assume as best episodes, I think :'D

[lem4dead]

i really enjoy drawing him. i think he replaces Steven Stone, angering thousands of Steven Stans.......the hate mail doesn’t bother him, cause he’s got the most experience in the whole world!

[jadeazora]

Never did I imagine we'd see the Raikou special characters again! Such a cool cameo! (Also nice to see Ritchie and the Kalos rivals again.)

[thena0315]

Is no one talking about how Sawyer watched his rival defeat his mentor?