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punz4lyfe · 4 years ago

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Now you've been asked what you do like about him what about the opposite what don't you like about goh?

Aw man, this is gonna hurt.

TL;DR - Goh’s a completely lovable character, but I have three particular issues with him that I feel could become worse if not taken care of properly.

First off, DISCLAIMERS!! To all my fellow Goh fans, please know that writing this, I do not mean any hatred to Goh in anyway. I LOVE Goh, and if you’ve seen literally ANY of my past anipoke posts, you would already know that. These are just issues I find with his character that I want to be changed for the best.

Now with that outta the way, here’s what I don’t like about Goh:

1. His iffy character development. While he’s doing fine in becoming more open to people and more willing to help Pokemon, his fighting skills are what I have trouble with it. Let’s go back to his first ever official battle.

It was at Hoenn’s Frontier Cup where he used Scorbunny and Scyther against a trainer’s Mightyena. Despite having a type advantage with Scyther, he lost horribly, which is completely understandable. He’s a beginner and doesn’t possess the same kind of street smarts and experience Ash and many other trainers have. Alright then, so maybe this will lead to a change in character of wanting to become better in battles by getting some training with Ash, who made quick work of that Mightyena trainer. Surely we’ll get some development over this topic after this episode!

He beats Saffron City’s Karate Master and scores a free Hitmonchan.

...Okaaaay, I mean, we’ve never seen the Karate Master in battle before, so perhaps it was just another fodder trainer the anime is filled of. I sure we’ll get some more Goh development after thi-

He easily defeats and captures a powerful Flygon.

.....Alright, alright, it was only a wild Pokemon. Everyone can beat those, right? Heck, in the next episode, he technically suffers a curbstomp loss against Kiawe and admits he only battles Ash every so often. Perhaps this loss will encourage Goh to train more with Ash so he could become a stronger trainer. I mean, despite his good luck with Pokeballs, he’s gonna need to be as strong as he can be for tougher mons, like Legendaries. I’m 100% sure we’ll get something out of thi-

He takes down a wild Zapdos and NEARLY captures it.

.........Uh, okie dokes, it wasn’t a successful capture, and who knows? Even though we have not seen him battle/train that much on-screen, maybe he just got a little lucky. Even in the games, it happens to the best of us. Perhaps this barely missed victory will finally give Goh the time to actually development more on-screen so that he could have a better chance agai-

He defeats Oleana’s Milotic, using his fire-type Raboot who only wanted to use a weak fire-type move.

..............Allllriiiiight, maybe Oleana just got a little cocky later on. Plus, Raboot finished Milotic by evolving in Cinderace and finishing it off with Pyro Ball. With this powerful evolution in hand, maybe Goh will finally realize that, in order for Cinderace to reach its greatest potential, he must start training for once and obtain some proper development for a chance against stronger threa-

Cinderace fights decently well against Mewtwo, even lasting longer than Pikachu and being on-par with the more trained Lucario.

....................At this point, I’m all out of excuses for him. Overall, Goh’s development as a trainer is very rushed to the point seeing him achieve numerous victories despite all odds being against his favor to be iffy.

2. Slightly touchy topic, but there are some negatives with his whole catching all Pokemon goal. So Goh wants to catch every single mon he can in order to reach up to Mew, as he said to Mewtwo in episode 46. And yes, this includes Legendaries as well. Unfortunately, this is where my issues with his goal starts. First off, where in the world will Goh keep any Legendary he encounters? Cerise’s glorified garden dome? Yeah, keep Dialga and Palkia, literal beings of space and time, inside a glass dome with a bunch of weaker mons. And speaking of which, wouldn’t catching mons like the Creation Trio or the Island Guardians cause quite the upset in, well, y’know, the natural balance of things? Sure, Goh technically hasn’t caught a single Legendary yet (Eternatus doesn’t count because it had to be sealed away), with how the anime is playing out, issues like this will surely rise throughout the series.

And yes, the anime is playing it out for Goh to indeed catch every single mon before reaching Mew. If you pay attention to the openings as well as many of Goh’s own character moments, such as episode 46, then you can easily see the signs telling us that Goh is bound to catch them all, just as Ash is bound on defeating Leon. In the past, pretty much all of Ash’s traveling companions had their own goals as well, but it’s usually because of those goals is why they leave Ash by the end of their journeys, like May and Dawn pursuing contests in other regions, Brock wanting to become a doctor, Iris wanting to find more Dragon types, Kiawe wanting to become an Island Kahuna etc. Because of that, it becomes up to the audience’s interpretation (and fanfics) on how they achieve their dreams and what challenges they could face throughout the way. With Goh, there will a lot more focus and emphasis placed on his goal, and while this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s too bad there aren’t really any stakes or obstacles in Goh’s journey!

Really now, another glaring issue with Goh’s goal is that he has NO trouble going through with it at all. From his very first fodder capture, all he has to do is get a good throw and then PING! Pokemon caught. Guess the thing of having to weaken a Pokemon first before capturing it has been retconned out of the anime forever. With that said, there’s absolutely no struggle for Goh to overcome in his journey, which kinda makes things boring. Where’s the challenge? Where are his rivals? Are there any doubts? Does he have any issue of having to catch and connect every single mon in existence? No, well then good for him I guess! Sad thing too is that he catches so many Pokemon with so much potential, but they then disappear completely after their debut.

Remember that free Hitmonchan he scored from Saffron’s Fighting Dojo who seemed completely willing to train with Riolu and Farfetch’d? Never seen again. That female Raichu who loves giving berries? Completely forgotten about. That Aerodactyl Goh resurrected and bonded with before catching? Thanos snapped. The Heracross Goh obtained from a trade at the cost of a second Pinsir he worked hard to find? Literally who?

3. And my biggest issue with Goh. The fact he’s somehow on the same scale as Ash.

Don’t believe me? Well, let’s go back to the ending of episode 46. After Mewtwo teleported him, Ash, Pikachu, Lucario, and Cinderace back home, Goh said this: “We’ve still got a long way to go.”

Excuse me, but WHAT?!?!?!

You BOTH got a long way to go, even though you both suffered a complete curbstomp from a mon that would probably even make the likes of Lance, Cynthia, and Leon comparable to Youngster Joey?!?! What the Distortion World?!?! Why is Goh and, by extension, the writers implying he and Ash are on even terms when it comes to being a trainer? Goh, as a reminder, you literally only began your trainer career 45 episodes ago!!

Alright, let’s talk about Ash for a second and what he’s been through since he started his trainer career. Ash started in Kanto, and while he really only fairly achieved three out of his eight badges (Brock and Misty’s were givens, Erika’s was a thank-you gift, Sabrina’s was all Haunter’s doing, and Jessie and James are complete jokes that no one should take seriously), he still partook in as many battles as he could against tough trainers while getting some pointers from the much more experienced Misty and Brock. After that, he went on to become a much more impressive trainer in later journeys. Instead of a full recap, I’ll just list two impressive things Ash has done in each region he’s journeyed through after losing in the Kanto League.

Orange Islands: Won his first official double battle with Pikachu and Charizard despite neither initially getting along at first and then defeated the Orange League champ, Drake.

Johto: Survived an entire forest of bloodthirsty Ursaring with his friends and defeated Gary’s Blastoise with his Charizard.

Hoenn: Helped stopped both Team Magma and Team Aqua’s elemental threats and reached Top 8 in the Hoenn League despite only two of his mons being fully evolved with one being a glass cannon bird.

Kanto again: Conquered the Battle Frontier and tied with May in his first ever contest.

Sinnoh: Helped protect a Riolu from the famed Hunter J and knocked out two of Tobias’ Legendary Pokemon.

Unova: Defeated Iris’ Dragonite twice (Charizard pretty much had the high ground in their fight) and helped protect Meloetta.

Kalos: Defeated four Mega Evolutions (Lucario, Abomasnow, Absol, and Sceptile) and was one of the main heroes against Lysandre.

Alola: Became an Ultra Guardian and conquered the Alola League.

And right now as of Journeys: Defeated Korinna’s Mienfoo and Mega Lucario with only Dragonite right after the two curbstomped Gengar and defeated Chairman Rose.

And this isn’t even scratching the surface, and yet, somehow, Ash is still on the same scale of Goh. This doesn’t make any logical sense, it completely negates Ash’s experience while over-wanking Goh’s, and it ruins any semblance of power scaling between the two. Logically, Ash should be leagues above Goh and the latter should always confide to Ash whenever he needs assistance or pointers, not “Oh, we both lost to a powerful legendary, guess that means we both have stuff to learn and we’re both beginners lul”. It’s like Deku and All Might both losing a villain that’s beyond both of their capabilities, and then Deku saying that they BOTH have much to learn afterwards! Does it make sense? HECK NO.

If they had to have Goh comment about their loss, why couldn’t he say something that would’ve made more sense? Maybe say something like “Wow, I can’t believe I lasted that long, honestly.” And then Ash would say, “Hey, you’re only getting better. And me and my team will always be there in case you need more training.” Have the two acknowledge the fact that even trainers like Leon wouldn’t fare any better than them against Mewtwo. Just absolutely anything that doesn’t completely ruin what we know of these characters to the point the two are considered equals, despite all the evidence saying otherwise.

I’m getting a little exhausted now, so I’m done, but thanks for asking, anon!

And for anyone reading, please feel free to agree or disagree. I’m completely acceptable to anyone else’s thoughts/opinions over Goh and would love to hear them.

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l-ion-heart · 4 years ago

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Pokemon Go Exp Guide! - The Race to 40 and Beyond

I know some friends who are trying to make the final push to level 40 in PoGo before the legacy event ends so I whipped up a doc with all the methods I use to grind experience! It’s not exhaustive but it’s pretty dang in-depth. You can just read the bolded sections if it’s too long XD

Feel free to share, with credit of course! Let’s get as many trainers to forty as we can!

Pokémon Go: Exp Tips for the Sprint to Lvl 40 (and beyond)!

by: bottsy ( fc: 759850632021 ) Discord: botts_y#0909

Overview:

Events - Double Catch Experience!

Friendship - Lucky Egg those Friendship Statuses!

Mass Evolution - The Rewards of Candy Accounting!

Dailies - Streaking, the Hottest Exp Grind!

Research - Hoarding Isn’t Just for Stardust

PokeCoins - Buying Your Way to Legacy

The Legacy Challenge: Leaving Dec. 31st

Postscript

Events:

Always keep an eye out for current and upcoming events, especially those that boost experience (although nowadays they are rare). Even if the event isn’t explicitly related to an experience boost, it might still present a more efficient chance to gain experience. For example, they just boosted incense spawns again so incense is now a great tool to supplement catching a ton of Pokémon quickly when you can’t be out and about or nothing is spawning nearby.

Current Event: Thanks to the 2x catch experience bonus until the end of the year and the rework on catch experience, catching Pokémon is the best way to grind exp on your own - especially if you can get some excellent throws (they now net you 2k exp on catch). With a lucky egg, you can also turn that 2x bonus into a 4x bonus and rocket up to 40.

So, catch as much as you can between now and the end of the year, and when you can’t play, plan ahead by thinking about how upcoming events or bonuses could be most efficiently used.

Friendship:

Even with a double catch exp event, friendship bonuses remain the largest source of experience: 100k for best friend, and 50k for ultra. By coordinating with a friend if you can communicate, or by planning ahead if you cannot, you can use a lucky egg before acquiring these bonuses and walk away with a giant lump sum of experience. 

The safest way to do this (even with someone with whom you can communicate) is to ensure that when you are 1 day from your bonus, you have a gift from them and they do NOT have a gift from you. This means that you will be in control of when the friendship bonus pops because it will not do so until you open your gift from them. This is how you set up multiple bonuses for a single lucky egg - pop the egg and then open all the relevant gifts. If you are able to communicate with the person, it is good practice to give them notice and plan together when you will do the bonus so that they can lucky egg as well.

*In the weeds: little details, with big impact*

Setting up so that you have one day left before bonus and only you have a gift means that 2 days away from bonus you are HIGHLY reliant on the other person to open one of your gifts and send (or have already sent) you a gift. Sometimes people aren’t very engaged in gift giving or have other friendships they are already working on, and may not send you the gift you need. At that point you have to weigh the risk of not getting the friendship bonus in time (if they never send you the gift) versus the loss of exp you may face if you aren’t in charge of when the bonus happens and as a result cannot use lucky egg. Just something to be aware of! Also beware that when in a shared PoGo community, if you raid or trade with that person, it will progress your friendship. It’s a good idea to keep a list of who you have bonuses ready for so that you can avoid these interactions until you are ready to activate bonus.

So, right now it would be a good idea to look through your friends list and make note of any friends you have that have ultra/best friend bonuses attainable by the end of the year. You can mark them with a specific nickname so that they are easy to sort and identify over the next month as you prioritize getting and sending gifts to them. If you can communicate with them, reach out so that you can prioritize leveling the friendship together and make plans for using lucky egg on the bonus. If not, do your best and try to take control of when the bonus happens to ensure you get lucky egg bonus.

Mass Evolution:

A popular and effective, but intensive, strategy is mass evolution. Evolving a Pokémon earns 500 exp (and a bonus 500 exp if it is a new dex entry). As a result, you can pop a lucky egg and then evolve as many Pokémon as possible within the half hour to net 1k per evolution and as much as 50-70k+ total experience, depending on the speed of the phone and player. The effectiveness of this method is that it makes consistent, predictable use of a lucky egg and only requires unwanted Pokémon and candy - making it popular with free-to-play players. The drawback of this method is that it is intensive in terms of planning time and storage space required. 

In advance of a mass evolution you need to have 60-some(+) Pokémon ready to evolve and you need to know which Pokémon they are so that you can efficiently move from one to the other when evolving. For those unconcerned about PvP options, maintaining a living dex, etc. simply searching “evolve” is enough prep, but those more concerned about PvE and PvP relevance or keeping a living dex will need to go through and determine for which species they are comfortable burning candy and which specimens of that species they are going to evolve. That’s up to your own priorities and discretion, but it would help to mark those Pokémon or make a list for reference. Nothing is worse than trying to mass evolve and then losing time because you didn’t mark which weedle you were saving to max and mega evolve or which eevee was going to be your great league umbreon.

Between mass evolutions you need to acquire the candy and Pokémon necessary for the next set of evolutions. The best Pokémon to mass evolve are always where the candy cost is lowest - ie, the lowest evolution stage of a species with naturally low evolution cost and little use in your relevant metas (Raids, Gyms, Rocket, PvP, etc.). Examples of this are the birds, bugs and normal types of most generations like pidgey, wurmple, and patrat. Still, these aren’t the only Pokémon worth mass evolving. Any Pokémon for which you have the extra candies to evolve is worth doing, but the Pokémon discussed above are worth prioritizing catching in the wild (or even pinapping) for the purpose of evolving. It is a good idea when clearing out unwanted Pokémon to do a quick accounting of how many evolutions of that Pokémon you could do based on how many candies you have. Then, hold onto enough individuals of the species to do that many evolutions. 

We still haven’t discussed when is the best time to mega evolve, and as always it depends on events. Right now, because of the double catch exp event, your lucky eggs would likely be better spent on catching if you have the balls and Pokémon storage. If not, it might be time to clear space with some sorting and evolving! HOWEVER, on Dec. 29th between 6 and 7pm local time the bonus hour will feature  double evolution experience! So if you did mass evolution during that hour, for the whole hour, with 2 lucky eggs you could easily get 200k+ exp. That would be an exceptional time for mass evolution.

This also highlights events that don’t give bonus experience but can still play a role in efficient leveling: the two prior bonus hours on Dec. 15th and Dec. 22nd grant double catch candy and double transfer candy respectively. You can use these prior bonus hours to prepare for the big event on Dec. 29th by getting more candy for evolutions!

That’s A LOT to take in, so let’s break the whole process down by examining a single, relevant species. In the Northern Hemisphere, the Season of Celebration brought along boosted snover spawns so we are seeing a lot more of our frosty tree friend. He has niche use in both great and ultra league, and a brand new mega evolution, so you might want to hang on to one for great league and one to max for both ultra league and mega evolving. Beyond that he isn’t a raid showstopper so you won’t be making a team of abomasnow like you might mamoswine. Any candy and specimens you acquire beyond the needs of those two snover would be perfect for mega evolving. So, you mark your useful snover (maybe even favorite so they don’t accidentally get shipped off) and start tracking your snover candy. Let’s say you have 125 candy: snover’s evolution cost is 50 candy so you would save 2 additional snover to evolve down the line. The rest you would transfer once an appropriate time arrives - like the event on the 22nd. If you are out of space, transfer right away because you’ll make more candy getting out there and catching than you will sitting around for an event. Once you acquire 150 snover candies, you would save 3 snover and so on as your candies increase. Then when it’s time to sort and mega evolve your snover will be ready to go! That’s the mindset to adopt if you want to mass evolve efficiently!

The Mega Evolution Process Summarized:

Identify good fodder species (low evolution cost and low use).

Acquire candies by catching and transferring while saving enough individuals for the number of evolutions you are able to do.

Before a mass evolution, identify and mark or make a list of all the Pokémon you intend to evolve.

Pop a lucky egg and do the evolutions as fast as possible, preferably during an event that boosts evolution exp like the bonus hour on Dec. 29th.

Dailies:

No mobile game is complete without dailies, and PoGo’s recently got a boost! Back in March daily bonuses for first catch of the day were tripled, meaning now for days 1-6 of a streak trainers get 1500 exp and 500 exp for first catch and first stop spun respectively. Then on day 7 trainers get a whopping 6k exp for first catch and 2.5k for first stop. That’s 20.5k exp a week just for popping in to catch one Pokémon and spin a stop each day!

Now don’t forget events! The daily bonuses for first catch also get doubled meaning that until the end of the year you’ll get 39k a week for daily bonuses. On day 7 alone the catch bonus becomes 12k and combined with the spin bonus and a lucky egg, on the last day of your streak you could earn 36k in just a moment! Save your mass evolutions, friendship bonuses or even just some pokeballs for catching till then and you can follow that massive burst of exp with your usual grinding methods!

Completing a research task each day can be harder, but will earn you 3k exp on your seventh completion (doesn’t need to be a steak). Raids are a valuable source of exp as well if you can pull daily tier 5’s at 10k each. But even if not, it’s worth it to raid something daily because if you don’t, that daily free pass is gone. Remember you can pair your raids if doing them at once is more convenient - ie. by saving your free pass from the day before you can complete a raid, pick up your new free pass and complete a second raid all in one day. Do what fits your schedule!

So, make sure to play at least for a moment each day to catch one Pokémon and spin one stop. You’ll secure 36k exp each week for minimal effort - and gain much more if you lucky egg your final bonus on day 7 (just make sure to make good use of the egg afterwards)! Otherwise just research and raid when you can.

Research:

Speaking of daily research, there is a whole other set of research you should be a little more patient and deliberate in completing: special and timed research. These are the multi-step, 3-piece bundles of research tasks that give a nice little set of rewards after each step. If you can stand it, save completed sets of research that reward experience until you are using a lucky egg for another activity. Then at the start of the egg you can quickly tap through your rewards and enjoy the double bonus. This is especially powerful when you are on the next to last step of a research. In most cases the final step is autocompleted, meaning you can get double experience for both steps at once! This strategy is a little harder to pull off with timed research due so be a little more lax in saving those - after all, double rewards on one step is rarely worth abandoning the entire rest of the research. In that case move fast and if there final two steps give experience, consider saving them for an egg once you’ve secured task completion.

So, don’t forget to make progress on your special and timed research tasks and save collecting steps that reward experience for when you are planning on using a lucky egg! Then burn through your research with time to spare for your usual experience grinding!

The Legacy Challenge

Even if you reach level 40 before the end of the 31st the race isn’t done! You’ll earn your Legacy 40 medal but you still won’t acquire the exclusive avatar item, Gyarados Hat, along with some choice item and Pokémon encounter rewards. To get those rewards you need to finish the timed research Legacy 40 Challenge which also expires after the 31st! The steps are below, and include catching at minimum 30 Pokemon and doing 3 raids, so if you’re pushing though to 40 in the final days or hours, know that you’ll need to grid through these steps fast if you want to get the rewards in time.

Step 1 of 4

Power up Pokémon 10 times

Catch 15 Pokémon

Make 5 Nice Throws

Step 2 of 4

Catch 15 different species of Pokémon

Transfer 10 Pokémon

Use 15 Pinap Berries while catching Pokémon

Step 3 of 4

Make 3 Great Curevball Throws Stardust

Win 3 Raids

Give your Buddy 10 treats

Step 4 of 4

Autocompleted!

The fight doesn’t stop at 40! Be prepared to rush through these steps before the new year if you want to get the last bit of bling that shows off your legacy achievement!

Postscript:

Thank you so much if you took the time to read all this! It was a ton of info and will take time to digest and put into practice, so be kind on yourself if you find yourself revisiting for a refresher. I hope it helps you and brings more joy, excitement, and success to your gameplay! If you enjoyed a peek into the nitty gritty fun of min-maxing and meta in PoGo try checking out these resources I use to stay informed:

Leek Duck - Great graphics and up to date event info!

Gamepress - Analysis and meta discussion on the existing dex and everything on the horizons!

And don’t forget to get involved with your local community through social media and especially discord! At Silph Road you can find any local discord groups or even get to work on starting your own if there aren’t any yet.

Good luck and stay safe, fellow trainers!

- Bottsy

#Pokemon Go #PoGo #legacy level 40 #exp grind #mobile gaming #nintendo #niantic

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theloverofdragons · 4 years ago

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Return to Ravenloss

It’s ironic, the Hero thought to themselves, that while the towns on the surface seemed darker, the one below the ground was bursting with colour.

Where before they had been frozen, Ravenloss had been abandoned aside from the half-spider Chaosweavers, it was now teaming with life from all across Greenguard; humans, elves, minotaurs, even a few Atelans. The lights on the streets and from the now occupied and decorated houses and shops reflected off the underground flora, and the stalls in the market sold all kinds of items, from food to clothing to weapons; a far cry from the last time they had visited.

However, despite Ravenloss’ newfound colour and beauty, there was a sense of fear in the air that became clearer as the Hero approached the Equilibrium Gate and saw the strange purple magic of the Void leaking through, turning the path leading up to it almost incorporeal and corrupting and moving the houses, bushes and rocks around it.

Sa’vaya said that Tomix was in Pellow Village so that would be their first stop, they decided, nodding to Dorian as he warned them to be careful. It had been far too long since they had seen him, not since before they had to go to Willowshire to deal with Gorgok before the whole Earth Orb saga (and oh so much had happened since then; the Ultimate Orb and the Super Mega Ultra Darkness Dracolich, the Wrath of Wargoth and then being frozen by Jaania for five years and emerging into a world that was familiar and yet so different…).

The Hero had missed him, and the two of them had much catching up to do (hopefully his hunt for Lust had gone well); after all, he was the first person outside of Oaklore and Falconreach that they were visiting since they had thawed.

Despite the growing corruption of Ravenloss, Pellow Village looked much the same as they remembered as they emerged from the Equilibrium Gate with the market to their left, the grove to their right and the statue of Pandora in front of them. Speaking of Pandora, they hadn’t had a chance to reunite with her yet – aside from feeling an intense surge of joy when they thawed – as she evidently wanted them to get their bearings first (after all, it wouldn’t do for them to be disorientated from newly thawing and run the risk of making it worse if Pandora materialised), but hopefully they could have their reunion soon.

Very soon, it turned out, as once they had entered the grove where the Glow Tree was, a familiar flash of light emanated from the cube by their side.

The Hero turned with a smile. “Hi Pandora.”

Their SoulAlly returned the smile. “I missed you, Hero. How are you?”

“I missed you too,” the Hero replied softly. “I’m…okay. As okay as I can be, I think. But you know me, Pandora; I keep going no matter what! How are you? Were you okay while I was frozen? I know my dragon had Serenity and others in Falconreach to look after them.”

Pandora gave a tinkling laugh. “I know you do, Hero. I look forward to being able to weave by your side once more. It was hard, but I had Aegis and Tomix visit to keep me company.”

“I’m glad you had them,” the Hero’s smile widened. “And me too; I can’t wait to weave with you again. Maybe Tomix will have some new tricks to teach us.”

“It’s possible,” Pandora agreed before a block of ice materialised and shrunk away, revealing a familiar light blue spirit.

“Pandora? What are you doing in Pellow-oh,” a smile slowly spread over Aegis’ face when he noticed the Hero. “That makes sense. Hello, Hero. It is good to see you again.”

“Hey Aegis,” the Hero waved before cocking their head to one side. “Good to see you too. You look…different from what I remember.”

“Ah yes,” Aegis looked down at his shield. “While you were frozen, on Pandora’s request, I attempted to melt the ice crystal but the magic was too powerful. I am attuned with the element of Ice so the magic was able to change my appearance.”

“I see,” the Hero nodded. “Well thanks for trying, Aegis.”

“You are most welcome,” Aegis grinned. “By the way, Tomix is just to the right of the grove, at the edge of Pellow Village.”

“Thanks, Aegis!” the Hero grinned back. “Hopefully we’ll be able to have a proper catch up later, and with you Pandora back home where we don’t have to worry about something exploding.”

“I look forward to it,” Aegis laughed as Pandora – who had been gazing at the Hero with a look of maternal affection – smiled and vanished back into the cube, before disappearing himself in another flash of ice.

The Hero glanced down at the floor, their cheeks beginning to hurt from smiling so much; after so long frozen, it was good to see some close friends again. And now to see one who they regarded as one of the closest of them all. They rounded the corner to the edge of Pellow Village where a wooden structure that looked like the beginning of a ship was moored, with a familiar white haired figure standing in front of it.

“Tomix!”

The Soulweaver turned and his eyes lit up. “Hero? So it is true, you are alive and well! These past few years have been really tough for all of us. I believe we have a lot catching up to do.”

“We absolutely do,” the Hero grinned, darting over and enveloping Tomix in a hug before he could protest. “How are you? What’s happening with Ravenloss?”

Tomix made a show of dusting himself off once the Hero had released him before returning the grin. “It seems the Equilibrium Gate cannot be closed, and the Void is bleeding through it. Unfortunately, I can't find a way to stop it. The area around the gate is off-limits, for the safety of people living in the city.”

“I see,” the Hero nodded. “What about Riadne and Izaac? Are they still here?”

“They are,” Tomix lifted his hand to point back towards the Equilibrium Gate. “Riadne is currently helping in the Ravenloss Orphanage. She will be joining me, once this ship is ready. When the Chaosweavers were driven out of Ravenloss, she turned her attention to help rebuild it. As for Izaac, he has been studying Pellow Village... for all these years apparently. Do me a favour and don't raise your voice while talking with him. He's gone a little cuckoo. It seems the void has a strong influence on the weak-minded. You should be careful.”

The Hero blinked. “Hey! You were never joking before! What happened?”

Tomix smirked. “You are only young once, but you can be immature forever.”

“I…think I’ve read that somewhere before,” the Hero mused, stroking their chin.

“Quite possibly,” Tomix nodded sagely.

“So I never got the chance to ask after we banished Greed, but what exactly happened to your hands? Are they alright?”

“Ah, yes...” Tomix gave a wry grin. “You see, SpiritLooms are not supposed to break. The ones I had were already damaged because of what was sealed within them. The weaving accident I had as a kid must have damaged them even more. They... they also fused with my arms... I couldn't replace them neither repair them. Once they broke, it felt...it...let's just say it wasn't a pleasant feeling... Eh, cutting to the chase, I lost my hands. My physical, material hands. What you are seeing here, is my soul. I shaped a part of it to look like hands. I can't touch nor grab anything physical. I still can fight though, so don't think I'm useless...”

“You’re definitely not useless, Tomix,” the Hero declared. “It’s always an honour to fight by your side, and you’re an amazing teacher as well! What about your hunt for the corrupted spirits? Did you banish Lust?”

Tomix’s grin faltered and he sighed shakily. “Before banishing Lust, she revealed to me, that Aspar is Envy. I did not believe it at first, why would I? Aspar was my best friend... He vanished a few months after I banished Lust. I thought he'd come back, like he did before when we were hunting Wrath. But he hasn't. I'm still feeling the bond, but it's become corrupted. I'm trying really hard not to believe that Aspar is Envy, but all the evidence is telling... I have really good memories of our journeys, and I hate to think he's been Envy this whole time. Fooling me. Using me... Using me for his own plans...or something. I don't know. But I do know where he is now. He's heading into the Ynnungaap. I'm not really sure why though. To get there, I need a ship, a flying ship. A ship strong enough to reach Ynnungaap. I need all the help I can get, you are welcome to join me Hero, if you wish. You are one of those who I can still consider a friend...”

“Oh…” the Hero covered their mouth with their hand. “Oh Tomix, I’m so sorry. Of course I’ll come with you to stop him. What’s the Ynnungaap?”

“Thank you, Hero,” Tomix replied. “Ynnungaap is a location beyond the void, also known as Deep Void. It is where the void core is located. I'm guessing this might be Asp-I'm sorry, Envy's point of destination. But why? What could he accomplish with the void core? I thought I knew him well...”

“We’ll find out what he’s planning, Tomix,” the Hero vowed. “And we’ll stop him! What about your SoulWeaving though?”

“I had to form a bond with a different elemental spirit, I couldn't weave without Aspar by my side. I visited the plane of elemental spirits and came across a familiar figure; Aegis. We travelled to visit Pandora, and discussed my quest as we did so, and so became SoulAllies.”

“Oh wow!” the Hero jabbed their finger behind them in the direction of the grove. “We just saw Aegis. That explains why he’s in Pellow Village if he’s your SoulAlly! I’m so happy for you two. So where do we start on our mission to stop Envy?”

“Straight back into it, huh Hero?” Tomix laughed. “Well we need people to help us build the ship. I think the first step would be visiting Edelia, the school of Soulweaving. The Headmaster can give us supplies and people for the ship. On our way there, you can show me some Soulweaving so I know you’re not too rusty! And who knows, maybe I’ll have time to teach you some advanced techniques and can call you ‘Master Soulweaver’ soon.”

“Looking forward to it, Tomix! Let’s get going!” the Hero grinned, turning and running back towards the Equilibrium Gate.

Tomix watched them go, shaking his head fondly before following at a more leisurely pace. No matter how much things had changed, they were still raring to go on an adventure. And he had to admit, he was looking forward to showing them Edelia…

The Soulweaver stopped suddenly, his eyes widening with realisation. Hopefully while they were meeting the headmaster, the topic of which elemental spirit the Hero was bonded to wouldn’t come up. Headmaster Zellaraneish and the Hero. Baltael and Pandora.

An impromptu family reunion may not go too well.

****

Disclaimer: DragonFable is owned by Artix Entertainment. Dialogue taken from talking to Tomix in Book Three Falconreach before Ravenloss was open, and then in Pellow Village.

Also on FFN and AO3

#dragonfable #reverse soulallies au #the hero #pandora #aegis #tomix #my writing

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danni-dollarsign · 4 years ago

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A Critical Look at “Pokemon: Sword and Shield” From a Casual’s Perspective...

A/N: Hey! if you’re reading this, then thank you! I don’t know why, but I thought to myself, “Hey, wouldn’t it be cool to write a pointless essay about a Pokemon game?” And then I realized today was the 1YR anniversary of SWSH, so I figured I might as well just do it! So even though I’m late and probably nobody will really care to read all this nonsense, I wrote it! If you’re interested in all the analyses of PKMN SWSH, but aren’t too invested in the technical mumbo-jumbo used by the more hardcore fans, then maybe you’ll enjoy this.

Also, it’s worth mentioning that I’m literally just some rando on the internet saying my opinion. None of this should really be taken SUPER seriously - it’s mainly designed to provoke thought rather than try to argue any specific idea. So if I say something that you don’t agree with, you got two options: 1) Draft a constructive comment or DM to me and we can discuss calmly like adults, 2) shake your idea and ignore this. There’s really no need to get heated up over a video game essay, of all things, so let’s not do that lol.

But other than that, yeah! If you’re interested in more stuff like this from me (in-depth analyses of Pokemon games from the perspective of a low-key casual), lemme know! I’d love to chat with anyone about this awesome series.

So, without any further ado, let’s get into the essay (warning: it’s like ~8k words).

Introduction...

Welcome to the wonderful world of Pokemon! Love it or hate it, Pokemon has had a huge impact on popular culture in countless countries in a number of different ways, sparking memes, dreams, and happiness everywhere! It holds a very special place in my heart - Pokemon was a game that I got to share with my two older siblings, was one of the first fandoms I got into, and was a big reason as to why I grew to love creative writing so much after writing a couple fanfictions for the games. I’ve been playing Pokemon ever since my brother gave me a copy of Pokemon: Ruby and have been a devoted fan ever since. While I may not be super into the strategy and damn near mathematical aspects of gameplay, I’d like to consider myself a relatively knowledgeable fan with enough extra knowledge to give a look at one of these games from a casual, yet analytical view. So what game other than the newest title, Pokemon: Sword and Shield, with its release anniversary being today? In this casual online essay, I hope to describe all my thoughts of Sword and Shield (which I’ll shorten down to just “SWSH”) from the perspective of the everyday Pokemon fan.

General Gameplay...

Many top-title games of Nintendo are best known for their simplicity: in Super Mario Bros, you’re a mustachioed red guy jumping on monsters to try and save some random princess (who may or may not be in this castle); in The Legend of Zelda, you’re a green elf-looking guy slashing wildly at monsters with a sword given to you by some old guy in hopes of defeating some ultimate bad guy; and in Pokemon, you’re a child wandering around the region catching monsters who also accidentally saves the world before becoming the very best (like no-one ever was). And while the games themselves have grown from that initial stylistic simplicity, some have lost that creative in-depthness in favor of being playable for children. This is probably the biggest issue with the newer Pokemon games as of late.

Regardless, let’s look into the playability of SWSH.

It’s played like your regular Pokemon game; you’re a kid who journeys to become the Champion of Pokemon Battling with your friend, catching monsters known as “Pokemon” with pocket-sized balls dubbed “Pokeballs.” But I’m sure you’re all aware of that information, and are instead asking “Well, what’s the deeper plot?” Yeah, no, that’s it. You’re a kid catching Pokemon to become champion - oh, and you also accidentally save the world from a power-hungry businessman - but that’s neither here nor there.

Plot aside, the game is a bit barebones. It’s pretty linear gameplay (literally linear - the map of the Galar region is almost exactly a straight-line waltz from Postwick to Wyndon, which is a bit weird after dealing with the giant, sprawling maps of earlier generations) where you travel from place to place, beating gyms and catching ‘mons, before getting into a couple scuffles and becoming champion. For an RPG-styled game, it comes off as much too simplistic for older fans (I’d even reason that it’s too simplistic for younger players, as well). While I will say, I don’t exactly miss the days of hopelessly wandering around a pixel city, trying desperately to figure out how to move on to the next town because the answer to the puzzle is hidden in this giant area that my little peanut-brain couldn’t figure out at the time. But it is a bit demeaning to get “Hey, do you know where to go?” and “Hey, follow me so you don’t get lost!” and “Oh, yeah, want another tutorial on how to easily catch Pokemon for the fourth time in a row?” every two seconds in a city where there’s only two places to check out.

But we can’t really discuss the gameplay of Pokemon without discussing the highlights of the region. Ever since the transition from 2D to 3D, Pokemon games have begun a trend of gimmicks - which I like to call “battle enhancers” - that they use to add uniqueness to their games. X&Y had Mega Evolution, Sun and Moon (and USUM) had Z-Moves, and now we have Dynamax! As we all know, battle enhancers are the strategy by which the player uses some extraterrestrial/magic stone to physically enhance one pokemon at a time for a certain period of time - in the case of Dynamax, the pokemon either grows in size or changes in form, gaining the ability to use special type-based attacks for a duration of three turns.

Honestly, I think it’s a pretty fun mechanic! Dynamax combines the good components of both Z-Moves and Mega Evolution - new forms, awesome moves, and a ticking clock. It adds a bit more strategy to the battle enhancer, where the player actually has to plan out who and when to Dynamax (though it’s really not that hard - most everyone will save it for their ace or the pokemon with the type advantage at the very end of the battle, because that’s what you do). But it’s fun and creative, making the battle a bit more exciting when you see your beloved ace become gargantuan on a field while the audience chants in excitement. Initially, I was skeptical of the battle enhancer, but once I threw myself into the game and really got into it, I felt it was fun and cool for the region. My feelings were further improved when I learned that Dynamax was inspired by the idea that the Nintendo Switch had the potential to be played on the TV as well as in a hand-held mode. The idea of turning pokemon “big” on a “big-screen” is really just so cute to me, really. Overall, it’s a fitting concept that is paired well to the game when everything is considered.

But when you look beyond the Dynamx experience to find more content in the game… there’s really not much else. Many people (including me) were ecstatic to hear about the free-roam areas in SWSH - the Wild Areas. Here, you can do all the fun grinding stuff that makes Pokemon games a bit more challenging and fun - hatching eggs, shiny-hunting, running around in circles, Dynamax dens, etc. But when looking at other Pokemon games, that’s really it. Let’s examine Pokemon: Sun and Moon, for example. This game really shines not just for its refreshing setting and compelling plot-line, but also for it’s amount of cute and quirky mini-games to be enjoyed for a good while outside of the main story. Pyukumuku Chucking, Mantine Surfing, the Alolan Photo Club, Ultra Warp Ride Travel - a good handful of mini-games that appeal to different kinds of people! All of these mini-games aren’t just tossed in there, either - they have a fitting place in the culture of the world and add to it, rather than just reiterating it. But when you look for mini-games in SWSH, you won’t really find anything aside from just battling. Sure, there’s the Battle Tower, as well, but I’ll personally say that I’ve never been a fan of the concept of post-game NPC battle buildings. For a hardcore player, they might be fun, but as a casual who can’t devote the time to really dig into understanding how IVs and competitive breeding works, they’re really no fun. Not to mention that nothing is really being added or developed with these battle buildings; they don’t add to lore, they don’t add to the culture of the region, you don’t even really gain anything from it - they’re pretty much just places to battle the occasional familiar face and that’s it. While I’m sure plenty of people adore these facilities in the games, I’ve never been too partial to them (I’d even prefer those god-forsaken casinos over another goddamn battle frontier).

But my biggest problem lies with the release of the DLC. While I’m not against the idea of DLC in general, both The Isle of Armour and The Crown Tundra left a bitter taste in my mouth when I started thinking about the issue of playability in SWSH.

I have always been more invested in the storyline of Pokemon games rather than the battling aspects. Usually I’ve always just gotten through the main story, then wandered around to find extra post-game content or mini-games, and then moved on to other games. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing - I just figure that the games have served their purpose for me upon completion, so rather than bore myself wandering around and doing things that don’t interest me, I go find another game that has more story-based content. That being said, I finished SWSH in less time than any other Pokemon game (I’d say somewhere around twenty hours, complete with me running around in circles like an idiot before rushing through content intermittently); as a result, I was no longer actively playing the game by the time the DLC was announced.

I’ll be honest and say that when I learned about all that was being offered in both sets of DLC, I felt a bit betrayed. I’m well-aware that Nintendo is a corporate business, and therefore will always prioritize financial gain over their fans’ lasting enjoyment of their titles - that’s just a fact of life. But I couldn’t help but feel like I paid a bunch of money for the bundled titles, only to play a game that hardly could be considered worthwhile or satisfying without added headcanons or fan-works, and then get told that extra content is available that may or may not add satisfaction to the experience that’s already long since ended for me. It was just a bit disappointing - and I’m not talking about the whole “Dexit” deal (I actually was on-board with the idea of having no real National Dex - I felt it added realism to the games and would force players to get to know the new Pokemon instead of just choosing the same team they always have since Gen 1 or whatever). My gripe is that I paid for a whole game, wasn’t satisfied with the result, only to hear later that the content that I might have been missing is available to pay for? That’s incredibly annoying. Not to mention that I was further disappointed after learning about the contents of the DLC, but we’ll get into that later.

Overall, the playability of SWSH is very basic, but can be enjoyable if you suspend belief and just enjoy it for what it is. When it comes to storyline, it’s not much of a game, and doesn’t sport much post-game content besides battling.

Immersion and Ambience...

Many of my friends can attest that I tend to like silly, fantastical concepts because I personally love to throw myself into the universe being offered to me. Pokemon is really no different - the games have always sported a very immersive experience for me thanks to the combination of interesting regions and evocative music (especially the music).

I think that most every Pokemon fan has a specific region, city, and music theme that sparks a plethora of nostalgic emotions to the point of near tears. For me, that’s always been Pokemon: Platinum, the Twinleaf Town theme - just staring into the rippling reflection of the pond by the player’s home, listening to that beautiful synth clarinet playing that nostalgic melody - it makes my heart beat with so much fervent passion that I hardly have the words to describe it! And I think that sense of nostalgia - regardless of whether or not those memories are old or new - has always been a strong-suit for Pokemon games. They always have the ability to inspire such deep emotions in me and other alike in a variety of ways, further adding to the ability to immerse us into the game’s world. And whether your favorite area is as simple as Twinleaf Town in the Sinnoh region, or as agonizing as Rock Tunnel in Kanto, it’s the spirit of certain cities/towns/routes that further add to the immersion of the world in question. But how well does SWSH hold those values? Spoiler Alert: Not very well.

SWSH, in the end, is still a Pokemon game - so the setting is very vibrant and colorful and everything that can hold my attention for long periods of time. But the problem arises when one begins to progress through the game and continuously forgets what’s where and where’s what. A lot of the map is painfully basic (again, due to the literal linear nature of the Galar region) and the cities themselves kind of lack their own real originality. There was an attempt at unique cities that’s become iconic of the Pokemon franchise, but it doesn’t really stick. I think most people would agree with me that the only real memorable areas in the main game were Slumbering Weald, Ballonlea, and Spikemuth, and each of these areas have their own set of problems that also make them a bit difficult to fully enjoy. At their core, most all Galarian cities have the same basic set-up: basic green plants (if plants are in that area at all), the same brick roads that lead either to the gym or to a route leading in/out of city to another city, and a giant gym/key building in the center of it all. And that’s really about it. No real interesting buildings except for gyms and Rose Tower (and I guess technically the hotels), no extraneous locations that aren’t directly related to the plot or to gimmicks - it’s very bare-bones and really can take you out of the experience.

In a hard contrast, I’ll give the example of Generation 1’s region set up - every city has its own personality that also matches the feel of the region as a whole. Every city is based on colors, and each city is themed after that, respectively (i.e. Vermillion City, the city of sunsets themed around the color orange, is home to the Pokemon Fan Club and the kick-ass electric-type gym that initiates feelings of excitement; Lavender Town, the noble town themed around the color purple, is home to the Pokemon Tower and spooky spirits that inspire feelings of somberness and reticence). Obviously, this isn’t very realistic, but the trick isn’t to replicate reality - it is to inspire reality. The Kanto region is incredibly creative, and therefore is easy to immerse oneself into the world because it’s become a world we are actively interested in. We know that it could never truly be real or plausible, but that hardly matters when we are so enthralled with the colors and set-up and feeling of the towns. We don’t really get much of that in Galar. It probably isn’t such a great idea for your final city - being Wyndon - to feel blank and lifeless when compared to minor cities in the region. And even when we find cities that hold that uniqueness we desire like in Spikemuth or Ballonlea, there’s really no other reason to be there longer than just beating the gym. It’s sad, really. Spikemuth is such a interesting, creative-looking town home to such cool characters, and yet there literally is only one path to get in and out of the town - the town isn’t even given small houses to investigate like literally every other city in the region. It’s a waste of potential! The fact that I can’t investigate such a promising setting that inspires me really takes me out of the world, reminding me that this is just a video game in which you move from Point A to Point B. It’s no longer a fantasy world for me to explore, but instead a line at the DMV to get my Drivers’ License. The only real good thing about this is that fanfiction writers get so much free-reign when it comes to writing about the city - the only thing we really learn about the city is that it’s underfunded and gloomy and that’s literally it. I would have really liked to see more inspired cities around the region where things outside of the main plot can be done, but hopefully this is just a problem we’ll see in this region.

Probably the most important aspect of immersion (in my opinion) is the music. With the potential to make or break a game for me, I hold a lot of expectations on the music found in video games (I’ve been classically trained in music since elementary school, and have always had a fondness for video game music). Pokemon music has always been some of the most inspiring pieces of art in my life - whether it be the kickass battle suite of Champion Cynthia, or the somber piano melody of Emma’s Theme, the music of Pokemon has always been the first thing I notice and analyze whenever playing the latest title. That all being said, I have quite a few notes to make in regards to the soundtrack of SWSH.

I’ll start with the pros, first. Generally, every main title has had its own feel when it comes to the soundtrack - DPP was jazzy and smooth, Sun and Moon was based on popular Hawaiian music meshed together with classic Pokemon synths, RSE was all about the horn section (trombones and french horns all the way!). SWSH, at the end of the day, isn’t much different. The region is inspired by the UK, so it’s no surprise to discover that the soundtrack was inspired by popular British Rock. As a result, a lot of themes went really hard, keeping a hint of individuality even when some battle themes hosted similar instruments. The biggest appeal of the soundtrack, I believe, was found in the little moments, namely the cheers of the gym battle themes. I think it’s safe to say that most people get super hyped when they hear those rhythmical chants coming to life whenever in the final leg of the battle, right when you begin to Dynamax. That’s amazingly exciting, never failing to suck me into that exact moment to gather the power of God and anime to defeat my opponent. While I wasn’t totally rocking out to every single song that came on, I was pretty satisfied with the music of SWSH, overall. It’s not too bad, and hosts a few bops that I still seek out to get my blood pumping.

But, as to be expected, there are plenty of cons when it comes to the soundtrack of SWSH. I could go over this for hours and hours, detailing complex definitions of music theory and basic song comprehension, but I’ll just make this nice and simple: it was really bland.

Note that I said “bland” and not “bad” - the music is fine in my opinion, I just wasn’t feeling the same feelings as I had in previous Pokemon titles. It all felt like Pokemon music, but not much else. It was like remembering hints of a memory long-lost, but you don’t really care about to dig deep into your mind for context. Towns had music, routes had music, pokemon and characters had battle themes, yada yada yada, nothing really to write home about. If I had to pick a song that honestly, truly invoked emotions beyond “Oh it’s battle time, now”, it would have to be the Battle Tower Theme, and that’s most likely because it was written by someone else entirely (Toby Fox, also known as the creator of Undertale and composer of super hard-hitting jams). And the worst part is that I never would have even been able to hear the Battle Tower theme because I hate battle buildings (which is more of a personal problem, I know, but still). Honestly, I would have preferred hearing that theme as compared to Champion Leon’s battle theme - I feel like his champion theme was very bland and lifeless, simply holding all the required elements of a Pokemon battle theme just because that’s what has to happen. It’s uninspired, faceless, and corporate, only to be completely foiled by the unique blast of energy found in the Battle Theme, which just screams “Prove that you’re the best!” over and over to me (also known as a big theme in the Pokemon games, especially in SWSH).

That’s not to say that every other theme in the game was terrible. I much enjoyed Marnie and Piers’ battle themes, but for a different reason. As we know, Piers and Marnie host a more “punk rock” style when compared to literally everyone else in-game, a trademark of Spikemuth citizens. With their occasionally cold and prickly (no pun intended) personalities, their themes go a bit harder into rock-land as compared to characters like Hop or Bede. There’s no conflict of style there - it’s “punk” with “rock”, loads of guitars and bass with a hint of synths to keep that Pokemon flare, and fits a bit better in the setting of the world. Mild conflict arises when we start looking at characters who aren’t rockstars or idols - let’s look at Bede’s theme, for example. While it really isn’t a bad theme (it’s actually, dare I say, a bop), I wouldn’t exactly say that the resulting pieces fit neatly together like they do for the Spikemuth duo. Bede’s theme requires a lot of synths to accentuate his more flamboyant and immature personality, but also holds ties with the rock guitars while also trying so desperately hard to sound like a Pokemon song. Now, I don’t think “Pop Synth Rock” is anything bad, per se; I just feel like the added rock elements didn’t do much to add to the musical representation of our cliche jerk-face “rival��. It feels like the rock elements were an after-thought rather than a planned layer of musicality. I could really say the same thing about Hop’s theme, but then I would have to re-listen to Hop’s theme because I always forget what it sounds like even after listening to it a second before.

A big problem is that not many of these themes hold lastingly memorable motifs/melodies, which is a personal pet-peeve of mine in games where the music is highly esteemed. In pretty much every battle theme (except the generic pokemon encounter theme, which is the same melody in every Pokemon game, only with variations added to fit the music theme of the region) is just an on-going strip of notes that sound nice when playing the game, but if you tried to pick out the specific melody-line of that character, it’s a bit of work to really find anything. Let’s look at a more concrete example: Lusamine’s battle theme from Pokemon: Sun and Moon is up on my list of most memorable battle themes, and will do well without the extra influence of young me’s nostalgia seeping in like it would with earlier generations’ battle themes. Lusamine, as we know, was the elite antagonist of the game, being the leader of this esteemed Pokemon protection group who later is revealed to be using Pokemon for her own demented goals of perfection. Almost immediately, the player hears the signature accents of the harpsichord playing the prime motif before the piece digs into a full orchestration. It doesn’t sacrifice anything for the sake of “sounding like a Pokemon song”, nor does it sacrifice anything for the sake of keeping with the musical inspiration. Instead, it focuses on being exactly what it needs to be - a musical representation of Lusamine, hosting orchestra-based instruments (piano, violas and cellos, horns, violins, light pad synths, etc…). Most anyone can pick out a handful of memorable motifs from her theme (the main horns melody line, the harpsichord melody line, the mid-section cello and piano melody line, etc…), and those remain in our unconscious. So, it’s no surprise that when she becomes the “Mother Beast” later on, when the player hears hints of those signature melody lines becoming distorted in the madness of the new battle theme, it invokes a particular emotion that fits elegantly with the subject matter of the plot right then. In short, it’s musical storytelling done right. In SWSH, we don’t have that extra omph of emotionally-nostalgic motifs; instead, we just get songs that play in the background of this video game, and that’s really it. If you don’t like the song, good news - you’ll probably only hear it once or twice, depending on who the NPC is. If you do, then you’re out of luck for the very same reasons. This game lacks a very basic hint of soul to its soundtrack, which is really such a jarring idea especially when you realize that they paired up with a composer who arguably has mastered the idea of musical motifs (Fox).

This really isn’t just SWSH’s problem, either. I also went through a similar heartbreak in S&M during the final stretch of the main game; after battling Lusamine and saving the region from the threat of Ultra Beasts (more or less, anyway), we the player go to challenge the champion, who is revealed to be Profession Kukui since there really is no true champion for the newly-made league. It’s hard to go from an exciting, powerful battle theme like Lusamine’s to some generic, cardboard-cut-out version of a champion battle theme for Kukui. It’s hard to invoke any sort of emotional appeal when there’s no real inspiration to be felt in the music; with no emotional connection, there is no emotion. It’s, once again, just music that plays in the background of a video game. A similar experience happens in SWSH with the player’s match against Champion Leon; though we have the potential to gain an emotional connection to a Leon Theme motif, we don’t get that. Instead, we just get music that is programmed to be exciting for our championship match that will undoubtedly change our lives forever. Bland, boring, anti-climatic - all for the sake of coloring in the lines. This has been an on-going problem in Pokemon games for years in which the Championship Battle Theme is less interesting than the Evil Team Battle Theme, which probably isn’t a good idea. It’s annoying when your villain has a better theme than the literal strongest trainer in the region - it ruins the chances of likability for the region’s “good guys” and overall is anti-climatic when it is finally time to become champion.

Overall, the ability to immerse someone like me in a game is very important when it comes to retaining players. While SWSH isn’t the worst Pokemon game when it comes to immersion (considering the fact that I actually beat the main game, which I can’t say for other main Pokemon titles…), Game Freak certainly could stand to learn from the game’s shortcomings.

Creature and Character Design...

The monster design is arguably one of the most controversial topics when it comes to any Pokemon game. Some people only care about the designs of Gen 1, others accept everything but Gen 5, and a select few could rant for hours on the stupidity of literally every Pokemon design in the franchise. Regardless, the design of the Pokemon native to the Galar region is an important topic of discussion when analysing the potential for enjoyment of the game. After all, I’m an artist who loves drawing all my favorite characters as well as my favorite Pokemon, so understanding the designs of these beloved figures is vital to understanding the game in general. For sanity’s sake, I’ll only be discussing new Pokemon introduced in this region, and will be ignoring all previous pokemon that aren’t regional variants.

Overall, the designs of the latest Pokemon are satisfactory. Because of my tendency to always suspend belief in fantasy works, I’ve very rarely had much to hate about Pokemon designs (not even in Gen 5, though I don’t particularly like any of them aside from the game cover legendaries). SWSH didn’t really bring much to the table when it comes to brand-new Pokemon, but the ones introduced are fitting and interesting: the Dragapult line, all three starters (even if I did laugh for literal hours at the discovery of Cinderace’s typing), Wooloo and Dubwool, Yamper and Boltund - just to name my top favorites. And I was totally invested in the designs of the game cover legendaries, Zamazenta and Zacian, since they held cultural relations with the region’s inspiration and therefore had actual meaning within the game besides just being cool mythical creatures. Nothing really outright bothered me with the designs or pokemon choices in this game; as I mentioned earlier, I was okay with the idea of no National Dex for this region, and that all the pokemon allowed in this game matched with the region well-enough.

But, of course, it’s not without faults. I found there to be a substantial lack of original legendaries in this game - we only have three real legendaries to catch in the main-game, four if you consider the DLC. We had a similar problem in Pokemon: Sun and Moon, but it was later amended with the introduction of Ultra Beasts (which can technically be regarded as legendary Pokemon, albeit from another dimension and not technically Pokemon). In SWSH, we are only given the option of catching more than two legendaries if we buy the DLC - this is remarkably disappointing for those who are interested in seeing new, unique Pokemon designs. I know many fans are constantly frustrated with Game Freak’s tendency to overuse Gen 1 Pokemon, but the fact that nobody is bothered by the running trend of being able to easily catch a bunch of previous games’ legendaries is beyond me. It’s essentially the same thing, overly relying on the fanbase’s sentimental nostalgia rather than moving forward to create new creature designs. I know for a fact that so many people would have been excited to catch Pokemon with cultural significance (maybe like elf Pokemon that resemble that of Seelie/Unseelie fairies, or more Pokemon that resemble chess pieces, or maybe more Pokemon that follow a theme of medieval artifacts - there are many possibilities), so the fact that they skimped out in favor of making people pay for nostalgia is ridiculous to me. This was a majority of the reason why I rejected buy any of the DLC content - why would I pay for Pokemon I’ve technically caught before? I mean, I guess it can be more for the kids who have never encountered the older legendaries, but then again, wouldn’t it be more beneficial for your game to have Pokemon that actually represent the new region? Instead of just stealing other games’ legendaries for the sake of saying that you have them, they could have just worked a little harder to design maybe three or six more cool legendary designs and centered those guys around the two DLC locations instead of just having Calyrex for The Crown Tundra. At the end of the day, it’s really just a cash-grab; the only reason I could ever see myself understandably buying the DLC for SWSH would be because I wanted to interact more with my favorite NPCs, but then again, I can just look at screenshots on Twitter and feel just as satisfied.

But not all is lost in terms of designs. Now let’s get into my favorite design portion of this segment and discuss the NPCs.

First, we’ll dig into the rivals. Personally, I really enjoyed the rivals of this game; while Pokemon is definitely running on a formula, I still was able to find enough about the three rival characters to genuinely enjoy their presence whenever they came on screen. I suppose we can expect to keep seeing this new Pokemon Trainer Rival Formula: Kind of Annoying but Too Sweet to Hate BFF Rival (Hop), 2 Edgy 5 U Rival (Bede), and Some Pedo’s Waifu Material Rival (Marnie).

Hop is arguably one of my favorite Pokemon rivals of all time (right up there with Gladion from S&M). He’s one of the only Pokemon characters to get a realistic character development over the course of the game’s playable story, which really humanizes him and makes up for his occasionally annoying personality. Over the course of the game, Hop goes from silently residing in his brother’s shadow to learning to stand on his own without needed any outside validation; much to my surprise, it’s not some half-hearted transition. Hop doubts himself during the challenge, as evidenced not just by his dialogue but in the way he actively changes his team to try and be more competitive like everybody else. I remember feeling so heartbroken in realization that Hop stopped using his beloved Wooloo, which is rightfully paired up with the excitable boy. The idea that Hop uses Wooloo, a normal-type cute Pokemon that generally wouldn’t be used in a competitive team, really adds more dimension to his character; when he learns to enjoy himself instead of letting his doubts overtake him, he returns to using Dubwool and his favorite team, demonstrating how he would prefer to have fun as himself than be someone he isn’t. I found that to be a really wholesome theme to his character, one that we haven’t really seen in a Pokemon game yet - it was a pleasant surprise! Hop is sweet and kind, always wanting to motivate the player even when he’s in his own internal turmoil. With all that added with his adorable babyface and goofy/awkward preteen disposition, he really makes for a likeable rival character.

The next rival to be introduced is none other than our classic Mean Boy rival, Bede. He’s a character the fanbase is a bit more accustomed to due to previous titles’ rivals (i.e. Green/Blue/Gary Oak from in R&G/B, Silver from SGC, technically also Gladion from S&M…), so are quite a few expectations placed on his character as a result. Also true to the typical Pokemon Jerk Rival, he has a complicated homelife (he comes from an orphanage, as we later learn) and has a similarly complicated parent-child relationship to the leading antagonist of the game (in this case, Chairman Rose). Bede constantly assumes himself to be better than he is and isn’t afraid to be a total prick about it, choosing to bully Hop upon winning battles against him to boost his own inflated ego (though there’s hints pointing to Bede actually having rather low self-esteem). All things considered, I liked Bede as a character about as much as one can like a mean rival archetype, but I was more than pleased to discover his transition to a more likably mean-spirited character when he later returns to the game to challenge the player after being disqualified from the challenge. While we’ve had a likeable mean rival before (namely Gladion), Bede is something of his own entity with how he actually has an attempt at character development that leads him to a mini-redemption near the end of the game. He’s really the first mean rival to have a transition from total jerk to slightly-peeved tsundere, which was probably a good idea on Game Freak’s part so that we wouldn’t be left with a character we downright hated after the way Bede quite literally destroys Hop’s confidence. It’s nowhere near as impressive as Hop’s character development (which isn’t super impressive to begin with, but let’s ignore that fact for a bit), but it’s still interesting to see in a monster-catching game about being the best you can be.

And then, of course, we get to the cute-girl rival, Marnie, also known as the place where I get a bit mad again. I’d like to say that I absolutely love Marnie; she has an adorable design and interesting personality that captures my attention whenever she has screen time. But she serves one purpose in this game, and one purpose alone - being the main cute girl rival of the game. Marnie has the potential to be a similarly interesting rival (cute design that meshes “punk” with “cute”, has a wholesome and fun dynamic with her gym leader older brother, uses a Pokemon that isn’t considered to be a “competitive” choice as her ace, has a cool/cute personality…), and yet we probably only talk to her about five times over the course of the main game. Little is done with her character - in fact, the only real thing she does in the game other than becoming the next dark-type gym leader is that she helps the player sneak into Spikemuth after the gates have been shut by the remarkably-harmless Team Yell. I don’t think I’m alone in saying that I would have loved to have seen more done with her character. With the boy rivals being more fleshed out than her, it leaves a sour taste in my mouth because the female rival is the one left with a blank personality (and I’m not just saying that because she hardly smiles - that’s really one of the only things we get about her that gives her an actual personality). My frustrations are further exacerbated because this has always been an issue in Pokemon games, in which the girl rivals are so barebones for seemingly the only purpose of serving as some neckbeard’s waifu that they can input a personality they desire despite the fact that she’s canonically a minor. Why put in the time to give dimension to Hop and Bede, but not Marnie? And we know for a fact that Game Freak has to recognize the lack of personality given to Marnie, especially since they had previously come out with Lillie’s wonderfully sweet character arch in S&M and USUM. Personally, I feel that it was because they didn’t feel like having a more punkish girl character who also had traditionally feminine-coded interests (she’s known to have been distracted during the gym challenge by the boutiques) and ultimately decided to just not give her any further personality other than that, perhaps fearing that it would dissuade the gross creeper fanbase from latching onto her. But that’s really just speculation, so don’t take any of my nonsense too seriously. Really, I’d just rather we had a girl rival with more personality to match the other two rivals so it wasn’t so annoyingly unbalanced.

Moving on from the rivals, we get into the designs of the League Staff of the game. In most other Pokemon games, I’d never really been too interested in the gym leaders; they had always been more of minor bosses, just faces that you saw for a couple of seconds before pummeling their ‘mons and moving to the next city. But in this game in particular, there was a sudden transition from simple puzzle master to a full-on celebrity figure. I really enjoyed this! It was so nice to actually have some information on the gym leaders other than what type they sported; suddenly, they have personalities and interests - they become real to the player. Not to mention that there really is a gym leader for everyone to enjoy, thanks to their unique personalities and styles.

I’ll be a bit honest and say that some of their clothing designs are remarkably stupid for even an anime-based RPG game (I mean, I know we joke about Leon’s terrible sense of fashion in the fanbase, but can we just pause and ponder what Piers’ wears? I mean, a leather jacket with spandex? Metal boots and a work-out tank??? What is he wearing?!), but it isn’t exactly distracting. In Western cultures in particular, we can see a trend towards the glamourization of the “athleisure” style, or athletic wear designed more for everyday use rather than just working out. It was kind of fitting to see this be the primary style for the gym leaders, who can basically be described as hierarchical sports stars. Weird? Sure. But in the context of the world, it all fits together, and once again adds to the immersion aspect of the game.

Looking at our main antagonists, they are designed quite well. Chairman Rose is designed to be quite easy and fun to hate (at least for me) - he’s an important-looking businessman who’s very impressed with himself, paired up with a beautiful yet terrifying subordinate woman who does most all the hardwork for him (...actually, they kind of remind me of an antagonistic Cl. Mustang and Lt. Hawkeye from Fullmetal Alchemist…). They also had noteworthy battle themes that popped a bit more than other battle themes in the game.

While they hardly count as antagonists, I’d like to also make a brief mention of Team Yell. They’re more annoying than anything, which is a trend that I’m not too sure how I feel about yet. It was definitely more likable coming from Team Skull, that’s for sure. I would have liked Team Yell doing a bit more damage, having them be a bit more unruly and controversial before evening them out with the whole emotional appeal of them cheering on for Marnie in hopes of saving their ruined town. But they weren’t too terrible in my opinion.

I could talk for hours on the champion of the region, too, Champion Leon. He’s a really fun and charming character overall, less of the supremely wise and powerful champion that we’ve seen in older gens and instead being a more quirky but worthwhile opponent on the path towards the crown. But I definitely preferred him more as a character than as a champion; even though his team changes depending on your starter, it’s not too challenging of a fight if you know what you’re doing, especially when you immediately know what his ace pokemon is (something we don’t really learn in other gens about the champions). While I’m sure the idea of a powerful but transparent champion can be done, Leon doesn’t really stand up as a powerful trainer when compared to other champions in the franchise. But he’s definitely still a fun, interesting character concept that I am grateful for in this particular game.

When it comes to the designs of the primary NPCs and Pokemon, SWSH continues to talk that line just above mediocrity. Not too bad, not all that great, but definitely not something to be forgotten. I’d reason that the primary strength of this generation lies within the characters that are introduced.

Uniqueness vs. Status as a Pokemon Game...

In regards to the uniqueness - how well this game stands on its own as an individual concept rather than just another Pokemon game - I’m a bit divided. On one hand, I’m a bit saddened by the watering down of content and constant reliance on concepts from older games. But I can also see that SWSH introduced a lot of interesting ideas that have inspired so many fans for this generation. And while yes, this gen didn’t have much to offer in terms of new Pokemon, new scenarios, or new lore, I do think that it does hold its own when compared to the other games in the main series. New characters are introduced to the player, all of which having good (and bad) traits that allow for lots of fan-created content with their essence; a new look into a brand-new battle enhancer that requires a different strategy than those of previous battle enhancers; a new culture found within the Galar region that can inspire many more thoughts and theories on the Pokemon world as a whole in a number of ways. We cannot pretend that SWSH isn’t an influential game just because it wasn’t ground-breaking; even with my extreme distaste for the Black and White games, I still admit that they led to important decisions and ideas that led to the creation of games I did enjoy. So, as its own entity, I think that Pokemon: Sword and Shield really has a lot of offer and would probably be an amazing game for a younger player who’s just getting into the Pokemon universe.

But I think that a lot of us long-time fans can agree that this game doesn’t quite match up with the others in terms of giving those real “Pokemon game” feelings. The problem with big-titles like this is that the company tends to lose sight of what really makes a franchise so influential isn’t the stuff found at face-value. It’s not the creatures or NPCs or game mechanics or design or any of that garbage - it’s the feelings we get when all of those things reach that perfect harmony. It’s the rumble in my chest whenever I listen to that famous intro-sequence of my old Pokemon: Ruby game; it’s the fire in my eyes when I went back to challenge Pokemon Trainer Red for the tenth time that night back in my old Pokemon: Heart Gold game; it’s the tears I cried when I watched the only interesting character, N, leave my playable character after his emotional spiel following the defeat of Ghetsis in my long-since abandoned copy of Pokemon: White. At the end of the day, Pokemon is more of an emotion I get rather than a game I play, and I think this is an idea that few people can recognize for themselves. And while I’m aware that I literally just spent several thousand words bagging and praising this game for all those face-value aspects, I also know that when you add that extra little bit of care to your work, go a little further with a character you know someone will adore, or try something new with that new battle theme, there comes a sensation that goes beyond that of love for a silly fantasy game. I’d like to think it’s something akin to inspiration.

Conclusion...

In conclusion, Pokemon: Sword and Shield is far from perfect. With a number of faults and disappointments, I can understand why a lot of fans were less than interested in giving this game the time of day. But I also want to say that this game deserves to be understood and appreciate for what it is, for what it’s done. Who knows what sort of new ideas this game has inspired? Whether it be in the name Pokemon game or someone else’s passion project, I am confident in the potential that this game has to bring someone’s dreams to fruition. It already has inspired so much amazing fan-content from the community; after so many years of being away from the fandom, SWSH was the game that drove me right back, giving me the drive to once again indulge in my middle-school days of sketching out my latest comfort character or writing out a million headcanons in a way-too plot-heavy story. Many fan-creators in this community feel the same as me, I’m sure, so it would be untrue of me to say that this game was anything less than what it was: a fun, simple game that prides itself in its characters and potential rather than complex combat mechanics or some corkboard-plot nightmare. It’s a game meant to be enjoyed, so we must remember to find our enjoyment wherever it can be found. For me, Pokemon can’t really do much wrong, but also is held up to a level of expectations that I can’t quite understand even for myself. This, at the end of the day, is a video game from my all-time favorite franchise; so long as I can find enjoyment there in it, then it’s worth it. In a world filled with nihilism and cynicism, it’s nice to visit a land where you’re wise to try and be the very best like no-one ever was, to be the next best Pokemon Master.

#pokemon #Pokemon Sword and shield #pokemon swsh #swsh #sword and shield #game review #game #analysis #review #post mortem #(does this count as post mortem???)#casual gamer #essay #video game #food for thought

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littlemisssquiggles · 5 years ago

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Oh gosh, I love your theory of Oscar getting his own companion chicken Billina! My only worry is that the show won’t have the time to let Oscar find a farm and thus a chicken to travel with. /remembers that there were penguins in V7E5/ Maybe he finds a penguin chick somewhere on the outskirts of Mantle/Solitas? I think that could be a fun option! Add in the black and white color combo to match with Zwei, and we would have two cute RWBY animal mascots.

Aye, thanks anon-chan. I’m happy you like the Pinehead headcanon.Well, in my opinion anon-chan, I actually don’t think the likelihood of Oscar stumbling upon on a farm in the outskirts of Mantle that unlikely. After all, our heroes did manage to coincidentally stumble upon Brunswick Farms in the middle of Northern Anima on their way to Argus back in V6. So perhaps Oscar might get lucky.

Besides, for me, Oscar doesn’t necessarily need to find a farm per say, just a chicken coop or just a small location where he could take shelter for a bit while discovering an unlikely ally in the process.Y’see my main rationale for Oscar gaining his own animal companion in the formof Billina the Chicken was in reference to the Oz character of the same name.

In the third instalment of the Oz series—Ozma of Oz, an adolescent Dorothy Gale was on her way to Australia with her Uncle Henry before winding up separated from her family yet again, shipwrecked during a storm with only a chicken coop to take refuge in. It is in this chicken coop where Dorothy meets Bill, a lone chicken who was on the same boat as Dorothy before ending up stranded with her. Billina then becomes Dorothy’s animal companion for that book in place of her dog, Toto.

Since we already have Zwei as RWBY’s version of Toto, this is something I’d love to see the CRWBY Writers possibly play homage to for V8 now that Oscar is on his own with Oz. It’s a chance for them to introduce more Oz inspired characters as part of Oscar’s shared story with Ozpin. Currently, much like Dorothy was, Oscar is separated from his family—meaning his team and his allies in need to return up to Atlas to help save the kingdom from Salem.

Perhaps…at some point, while out alone in Mantle, Oscar might end up needing to rest for a bit from the cold, deciding to take up shelter somewhere he pegged he might be the only resident. Judging from the end of V7, it appears that the place Oscar landed in looks like some abandoned mine next to a railway. I glimpsed what looked like old trains in the background behind Oscar. I found this small detail to be interesting since, if I recall correctly, a railway switchman was one of the people that the Little Prince met on his journey while on Earth. So I wonder if it’s no coincidence that Oscar landed near a place with trains. But then again, that’s only my opinion since I could be very much wrong in my observation.

Going back to Billina—perhaps Oscar decides to rest for a while in the place where he landed or maybe the story will resume with Oscar already on the move back to Atlas. Perhaps…at some point Oscar will be forced to stop and rest given his current dishevelled state. So the little prince stops and takes refuge in what appeared to be an abandoned cabin near the mines that he landed in. At first Oscar expected that he was the only thing there only to be met with a surprise when he finds an animal—a lonely baby chick who was also wading out the cold weather. Or something like that.

In the Oz books, Billina was already a full-grown hen when Dorothy first met her. However for Oscar’s Return to Atlas story, I was more sold on the concept of his Billina being a baby chick. Why? Because firstly, baby chicks are adorable so there’s that appeal and secondly, but most importantly, it creates an opportunity for an Oz reference.

In Ozma of Oz, Billina told Dorothy that her original alias was Bill because as a chick, her owners couldn’t tell if she’d become a rooster or a hen and because of this, Dorothy renames the chickens “Billina”.As a neat little parallel to that story, I dig the idea of Oscar meeting hisBillina as a chick; deciding to dub the little chicken as “Bill” because much like in her Oz counterpart’s story, Oscar couldn’t tell the correct sex of Bill since she was still a baby. So there’s that small joke.

To me, this squiggle meister fell in love with the idea of Oscar gaining an unlikely companion in a tiny golden feathered baby chick that kept following him all over Mantle on his return to Atlas. I notice that baby chicks have a small tendency tofollow their mother hens around where they go so I just love the thought ofthis tiny baby chick following Oscar because it low-key thinks he’s her parent that she imprinted on for warmth since I heard baby chicks bond to things that keep them warm or make them feel safe and protected.

Just picture it. Imagine a moment where an irritated Oscar is pacing on the spot; having a sort of mental discussion or argument with Oz regarding their next plan of action of reuniting with their friends—maybe that’s what the two souls were debating.

Let’s say…it’s a scenario where Oscar thinks the two should focus on finding a way back up to Atlas to stop Ironwood from condemning Mantle to death and making that their top priority while Oz thinks it’d be best that Oscar find their allies first despite not knowing where they might be since as far as Oscar is aware of, he knows that his friends probably made it out of Atlas but that doesn’t mean he knows their exact new location.It’s his best guess at that point versus Ozpin’s. So the entire time Oscar andOz are going back and forth which is reflected in Oscar pacing about, imagine little Baby Bill the Chick just following Oscar around with ever step he makes with Oscar almost stepping on his ‘surrogate child’ at some point.

I think that’s what I’ll call Oscar’s Billina from henceforth for future headcanons and musings—Baby Bill.

With that being said, I love the idea of Oscar being annoyed at Baby Bill following him at first until eventually the little prince’s heart softens when he soon realizes that, much like him, the little baby chick was all alone in the cold and just wanted someone to keep it safe and warm especially in a place like Solitas.

So eventually, Oscar goes from trying to avoid Baby Bill following diligently behind him to basically adopting the chick as his animalcompanion until he reunites with his friends. And this change isrepresented by Oscar carrying Baby Bill around as opposed to her chirping restlessly behind him in the snow.

Since another beloved Pinehead headcanon of mine is that Oscar will get a nice red scarf as part of his little prince journey for V8 (never gonna give you up) —to complement my new Oscar’s Little Chicken Pinehead headcanon, just picture Oscar sporting a scarf that he rocks as a hood to cover his face from the cold and tucked nice and snuggly in the fabric of his jacket collar is Baby Bill. Like for me, I love the idea of Oscar carrying Baby Bill around in the hood of his scarf when it’s not covering his face and when she’s not riding along in his scarf, one of Baby Bill’s favourite spots to perch is curled up comfortably in the space between Oscar’s jacket collar right next to his bandaged neck; taking full advantage of the warmth radiating from the little prince’s skin.

I dig this idea just as much as I dig the thought of Oscar being hasty to reunite with his friends and protect Atlas but still mindful of the ‘baby’ in his custody; careful not to move too fast to disturb Baby Bill.

So yeah. As you can tell, this squiggle meister is MORE leaning towards Oscar’s Billina being a baby chicken.

Don’t get me wrong—Baby Bill being a penguin chick isn’t a bad idea. On the contrary, I like it. I find it just as adorable as Baby Bill being a regular chicken. However…unless a known fact of Solitas culture is that you are more likely to find penguins in Mantle than chickens, for now I’m going to stick with Baby Bill being just like her Oz counterpart—a regular chicken because of the strongerreference to the Oz books. I’ll keep her being a penguin chick as a secondchoice though since baby penguins as super cute too.

But for now, my interpretation of Oscar’s Billina—Baby Bill will remain as a baby chicken. And much like her Oz counterpart, I dig the idea of Baby Bill being just as spunky and talkative.

I love the idea of Baby Bill being just like Zwei in the sense that she is surprisingly more resilient than she looks, proving herself to be ‘no ordinary chicken’ by bailing Oscar out of tricky scenarios when one wouldn’t expect a chicken of her stature and age to be helpful.

I also have this funny gag idea where, much like Zwei, Baby Bill is stronger than she appears too or rather, she’s very intimidating despite being only a baby. Y’know giving off that “Mega Ultra Chicken” vibes, if you catch the reference.

Basically I’m picturing Baby Bill as the token animal mascot of the OscarPine Protection Squad—none shall harm the precious freckled littleprince; not if this bite-sized golden chick has anything to say about it.

Besides, if I remember correctly, it was mentioned that in Ozma of Oz, Billina played a role in the defeat of the Nome king since it was said that chicken eggs were poisonous to nomes.

Who knows? The Little Prince met a king on his journey, right?

Perhaps…the King character Oscar might run into on his journey might be a RWBY version of the Nome King and its Baby Bill who ends up helping Oscar deal with the Nome King who has a fear of chickens. I dunno. Just gonna toss that one of the table XD

I’m not even sure if we’ll even get more Oz characters in RWBY, much less any more animal companions beyond Zwei. Nonetheless, if there is one animal character I can picture having the opportunity to come to RWBY, it’s definitely Billina. She was practically another Toto. We already have Zwei as RWBY’s version of Toto.

Where’s Billina CRWBY Writers?

Seriously, I would absolutely love it if Billina gets added to RWBY somehow. Even better if she’s Oscar’s animal companion to mirror Zwei as Ruby’s. But alas, only time and the future of RWBY V8 will tell.

But for now, I think I’ll stick with my Baby Bill concept for Oscar’s Billina. There’s something about Oscar being paired with an adorable baby chick that’s just as little and golden as he is that really warms my Pinehead heart.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2020)

#squiggles answers: rwby #oscar pine #rwby theories #rwby volume 8 theories #pinehead headcanons #squiggles pinehead headcanons #Anon-ninja #squiggles answers

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amosbrittany · 6 years ago

Text

Shattered Chapter 1

Disclaimer : I don’t own Transformers Animated or any characters for that matter.

Notes : I haven’t done fanfiction, let alone TF based, in ages. And never for TFA, So I don’t really know what the hell I’m doing but what the hell, I’m going for it. lol I took quite a few liberties, pulling bits from various continuities to build this sucker.

Warnings : I have a tendency to put characters through hell. Violence and character death this chapter. Eventual Optimus/Sentinel, Megatron/Ultra Magnus, Bumblebee/Blitzwing, Jazz/Prowl and Ratchet/Pharma.

Summary : The road to hell is paved with good intentions, but Sentinel’s latest stunt might just kill them all...or worse.

The Fringes had to be the worst possible place to put a space bridge. On the very edge of Autobot territory, it took a regular beating from the Decepticons and even anti-Cybertronian organics. Crews came and went during its construction and maintenance, at times never making it back to Cybertron at all. For the most part, the disappearances were blamed on the Cons. It was a dangerous assignment that wasn't helped in the slightest if the crew assigned were full of incompetent or delinquent workers, which was typically the case as no one with a whole procoessor would settle for the post.

Sentinel Prime knew Alpha Trion sent him out here in particular as punishment, pure and simple. After the unmitigated fiasco Megatron's trial had been, he'd not only lost his position as Magnus but as second-in-command as well. He was bumped all the way down to repair duty with a group of fools and sent off to the Fringes. Naturally, he was angry. He was angry with the Decepticons for living up to their cursed name, at Alpha Trion, and at Optimus for not only upstaging him with the Powermaster armor but for taking his job afterward. He was humiliated and bitter. His team didn't help make the situation much better.

There were four other bots on the large rockbound base with him. Broadside was one of few triple changers in their ranks who could turn into a plane and a sea craft...but he was deathly afraid of both heights and water. Sentinel had no idea how that was feasibly possible, but he imagined the bot would have a spark attack on Earth when the rain came. Second was Landfill, and despite being a decent soldier and overall nice guy, he lived up to his name. Quite literally. Sentinel had no idea where the stench was emanating from on the mech's person and it was almost insulting that the mech couldn't pick it up himself. The whole team kept a wide distance from him at all times. Sentinel knew he could be whiny at times himself, but Huffer took the oil cake. He took the oil cake and complained the whole time he ate it at that. He avoided literally everything difficult, whining about it for good measure and he was the most likely bot Sentinel was going to throttle one day.

The only member of the team worth anything was the medic and truth be told, Sentinel had major concerns about the mech. Dark rumors from Delphi on Messatine followed this bot after his experimental jet upgrades following the success of the twins. Pharma had apparently glitched in the processor and hard from the procedures, not only setting a plague loose on the facility, but sawing a Decepticon defector that recently joined their ranks in half. Length ways. After some orbital cycles under intensive therapy, the doctor was cleared for limited duty and shipped off with him out to the Fringes, away from the good people of Cybertron in case he lost it again. There were a few times the Prime caught his medic giggling in an alarming manner and even talking to himself, so Sentinel wasn't entirely comfortable with his presence. But Pharma was the best in the field, so he prayed it panned out well for them.

"Can you not figure out why Landfill stinks so bad? What kind of doctor are you?" Huffer whined, shaking Sentinel out of his thoughts rudely. They stood gathered at the base of the space bridge, surveying the damage recently wrought by an agitated Deception that had attacked in passing.

"Last time I checked, it was my job to make sure you don't offline and continue to function optimally...Not help you smell like fragging rosewood." Pharma hissed, brandishing an inactive saw in place of his left hand at the minibot. "And if you don't shut up, I will ram this up your tail pipe and turn it on!"

Sentinel snorted. At least he didn't have to babysit the doctor. He glanced up at the patchwork space bridge, the south pole smoking the hit and run. It happened frequently and it was damned annoying. "Could you all just pipe down so we can fix this and get it over with?" He scowled at the rest of the team.

"But...But that's so high up..." Broadside frowned.

"Oh for frag's sake..." Pharma rolled his optics, hands thrown in the air. "You have a plane alt-mode. What is your malfunction?!"

"At least it isn't as bad as yours-" Sentinel could appreciate Huffer's brave attempt at snark, but the screaming that followed it as the jet transformed and proceeded to run the minibot down in retaliation just ground further on his nerves.

Landfill called from a few yards away. "Permission to come closer?"

"Permission denied." Sentinel grumbled. "Go, I don't know...Scout the area or something, make sure the Cons don't set anything unwelcome up."

"SIR YES SIR!" Obviously happy to have his orders, the truck changed forms and drove off to scout around. The asteroid was sizable, so it would almost be a mega cycle before he swung back their way.

After knocking Huffer violently into a hole that would likely take him a few cycles to climb out of, Pharma returned to the pair, gracefully transforming as he dropped down. If the slagger wasn't so crazy, Sentinel would be tempted to talk him into a casual frag or two. He was quite the piece of optic candy, the only piece available really. But the jet prattled on in the worst way about Ratchet of all people, so he doubted he would have much luck. "Enjoy yourself? Because we have work to do." Sentinel grumbled.

"I'm a medic, not a mechanic." Pharma groused back, examining his fingertips.

"It's the same damn thing." The Prime held up his hand as his comment almost earned him a scathing lecture about the differences. "I don't want to hear it. Get this scaredy-bot up there somehow and take care of it while I get Huffer! And that's an order if you need clarification!"

He ignored as Pharma acted like he asked him to move the moon, turning away in favor of fishing Huffer out of his hole so they could get to work at the base of the structure. Beyond the upkeep of the space bridge, which would be their way home in case things went south where they were, he couldn't be bothered with improvements to the troops. They were good soldiers, for the most part, but personality flaws were a pain in the aft to try and work over. Besides, he didn't necessarily mind so long as the work got done, his mind was elsewhere anyway. All he could think about were his recent failures and how he was going to get back up in the ranks, at least enough to get positioned back on Cybertron. It was glaringly obvious Optimus would be following in Ultra Magnus's footsteps and he doubted the golden mech was going anywhere any time soon.

Sentinel sighed to himself, crouching at the edge of the hole for a moment. He was finding it hard to stay angry at Optimus, at least a little. Of course, the business with Elita-1 was always at the heart of his ire, but somehow seeing what she had become and the horrible things she was out there doing like what happened to Wasp had tempered it. When Optimus had taken Megatron down and brought the remaining Decepticons back to Cybertron, he had to admit his old friend looked like he had been dragged through the slag pits. He found it hard to imagine what it was like in that battle and he sometimes wondered if he would have had as much mettle to duke it out with the tyrant in the fragging air as he had. The disgraced Prime wasn't exactly a slouch in combat simulations, but he wasn't nearly as battle-hardened as Optimus. His optics flickered thoughtfully, coming out of his musings when he realized he wasn't absently listening to Huffer complain. "Huffer?"

The hole was empty. Turning on his headlights to examine the small pit better, it looked to turn into a tunnel that dipped down after a solid foothold. He could even see where Huffed had hit the edge and likely slid his way deeper into the asteroid. Sentinel let out a long, suffering sigh. Now he had to go searching for the little pest.

<Good job, Pharma. You knocked him Primus knows where.> Sentinel scowled as he climbed down into the hole.

<Well, I say good riddance.>

<That tower better be patched by the time I drag him out.> His threat was answered with some mild grumbling. After reaching the foothold, he slid down into the tunnel, sliding for several yards before he was struck by an odd sense of vertigo. His HUD exploded with warnings on a somewhat muffled and unknown energy reading that was turning his systems on their head. Sentinel grimaces, digging his fingers into the rock to stop himself. 'Woah, that's not right...' His knees shook as he tried to collect himself. He noticed there were spidery veins of glowing violet embers visible in the cracks and further down, there were large chunks of what reminded him of raw crystallized energon that grew in abundance deeper in. Tank churning, Sentinel hurriedly climbed his way back out, thankful that getting topside cleared up his readings.

"Ugh..." Sentinel shook his head, glancing back. <Pharma, what the hell is underground in this rock?>

<How am I supposed to know? I'm a doctor. DOC-TOR. Not a digger. Landfill is the geologist specialist. Why?> After Sentinel explained what he ran into, Pharma sounded far too fascinated for his taste. <Odd. I don't suppose you brought a sample back out with you, did you?>

<Frag no. You think I want to touch that stuff?> Sentinel made a face. Of course, now they had a new problem. <Huffer, come in.> There was silence from the minibot. <We can't leave him down there...Whatever is down there.>

<Well, I'm not going down there and getting my circuits fried. They're already bad enough as it is...>

The Prime ran a servo over his face, sighing. No, he didn't need Pharma going postal on them. Resting his elbow into his servo, he gently tapped the knuckles of his free servo against his chin as he considered what to do. There weren't many reports on the innards of the large asteroid they were on, the ones there were mostly belonged to the teams who never survived their assignment and even then, there wasn't much to them. The reports got progressively more erratic prior to their stopping completely. Given what he felt when he was down there, Sentinel mused whether the energy from the crystals had been a bigger problem than realized. It was a suspicion he was going to have to put in his report.

Pharma and Broadside returned to him. "...Well?" The medic crossed his arms, head tilted.

"...I guess we're leaving him down there." Sentinel frowned. It wasn't a great call, but he didn't want the whole team to be the next crew to go MIA. That wouldn't look good for him. "If he's all right, he'll find his way out."

"And if he's not...?" Broadside didn't look pleased.

"Then...we'll...send a report he went missing. If we find him, we find him...But I'm not sending anyone down there and don't even think about arguing with me about it. I don't know what the frag is down there and I don't really want to. It felt all kinds of wrong."

"But you're just going to leave Huffer down there?" The triple changer pressed before he glowered at Pharma. "And what about him? This psychopath was the one who knocked him in there in the first place!"

"In my defense, I thought it was a simple hole." Pharma sniffed.

Sentinel shook his head. "No one is going down there till we have more information, now let's deal with the rest of these repairs. And Primus willing, the Cons will let us call it a solar cycle."

~+~

Sentinel returned to the Axalon after sending Broadside and Pharma out to hunt for Landfill when the truck never returned to the post. They'd never had an issue with someone patrolling around alone until now. It left the Prime uncertain if it was at all connected with Huffer's disappearance...or those of past crews. It was possible the bot could have been picked off by the Decepticons, but then Sentinel was sure Landfill would have called for backup if that were the case. He went digging into the base's old files as he compiled his own report, pausing when it sounded like company had joined him. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Pharma.

And only Pharma.

"...Please tell me you didn't kill Broadside." Sentinel muttered flatly.

The medic gave him an offended look. "No. I did not. He ran off on his own, thank you very much."

"And why did you not stay with him?" He demanded in exasperation.

"Because the daft fragger decided to take a cave tunnel down to go look for that idiot Huffer. That's why." Pharma scowled back at him. "I started to follow him in, when I started to feel what you described and heard voices so I decided to backtrack and report in. This infernal rock is probably layered with particular metals and stone that keep the underground contained below because he wasn't responding to his infernal comm-link after I backed out of the cave."

Well, that explained why Huffer hadn't answered him. But something was bothering him about this situation. Something was putting a bad twist in his tank. "...Lock down the Axalon." Pharma gave him a perplexed look before he shrugged and the two of them set about doing so. Once the ship was sealed off, he felt only somewhat better.

"What is with you...?"

"Not sure...I just have this feeling there is something weird going on and it's bugging the hell out of me."

Pharma frowned, scratching his chin thoughtfully. He supposed his Prime had a point. There was something unsettling about their team's disappearances. He had a feeling even a brief exposure to whatever was below ground had helped unnerve them. "You know..." Pharma began thoughtfully, looking out the bridge window. "The Decepticons never really touch down here or properly engage. It's always passing aerial strikes. Do you suppose they are wary of the asteroid?"

Sentinel's optics flickered with surprise at how he had never considered that. "That...would make sense. I mean if anyone would know these parts...It would be the Decepticons. But..." He frowned. He didn't want to try and communicate with a Con again. It would look bad, especially after the last time he had struck a deal with one. Of course, losing three of his four team members was pretty bad too. But maybe he could get answers without completely damning himself. He pulled up the communications array and started to ring up Cybertron. Pharma gave him a curious look but stayed quiet as the line was opened with high command. Sentinel sighed as he found Optimus staring back at him.

"Sentinel...?" The SIC seemed a little surprised to be hearing from him since all of his reports were in file format and he generally let Pharma deal with the talking. It was hard enough just looking at him and seeing just a bit of the Elite Guard badge on his shoulder.

"I'm going to cut to the chase, Optimus." Sentinel completely skipped over pleasantries. He hadn't wanted to make this call but he had little choice. "Earlier this solar cycle, one of my men took a tumble down a tunnel. When I attempted to retrieve him, my systems were assaulted by a strange energy source, so the retrieval was aborted. Landfill who was sent out on a scouting assignment has not returned. I sent Broadside and Pharma to look for him, but they found nothing and Broadside decided to venture underground to find Huffer. Pharma attempted to go with him, but was assaulted by the same queer energy and reported back. We can't contact them and they've-"

"Oh look, there's Huffer!" Pharma piped up cheerfully.

"Uhh..." The Prime's faceplate heated up as he glowered at the jet, paying the amused look Optimus gave him no mind. He stood to look over the console, seeing the minibot. But his gait was...off and he had an odd, distinct violet glow emanating from his biolights. Pharma took his pedes off the console and leaned forward for a better look himself.

The SIC called to them. "Sentinel? Is it Huffer? Is he all right?"

"Well, he looks kind of funny-" Not that he wasn't built funny for a minibot to begin with but something was quite off now. But neither of the bots had much time to contemplate the differences as the short mech launched himself into the air and threw himself into the windshield. Pharma shrieked, falling back out of his seat and Sentinel staggered back in shock. Huffer's faceplate was twisted in a ghoulish visage of hateful rage as he proceeded to pound on the thick glass, quickly causing the material to crack under his blows. The Prime cursed as he accidentally dented his leg on his chair to get back, drawing his shield and lance out while engaging his face visor. "Pharma, behind me!"

"SENTINEL! What's going on?!" Optimus looked alarmed, unable to see anything but their panicked faceplates and their defensive positioning.

Pharma scrambled to get behind him as he backed further along the bridge. The windshield gave out under the minibot's assault. Sentinel tensed as the small fragger charged them, faster than he thought Huffer capable, if that even was Huffer. As the minibot lunged at him, mouth open wide with gnarled denta, the Prime struck out, driving his lance straight in. The smaller bot went rigid and twitched, speared through on the energy lance, momentarily stunned. Sentinel relaxed slightly before tensing anew as Huffer tried to drag himself towards him along the lance, as if it was a mere inconvenience at worst. The roar of a chainsaw made him jump as Pharma darted forward and pressed the saw into the minibots's head, tearing the helm apart. Violet goo spattered everywhere as the body finally went still, limbs dropping. Sentinel threw his lance down, stepping back from the speared body in horror.

"Good lord..." The medic murmured, his plates shaking. He turned off the saw, shaking off the foreign fluids. They looked over at the communication array where Optimus was just gaping at them in shock. Pharma turned to Sentinel. "He broke through the bloody window..."

That blatant observation jarred him out of his stupified state. "YA THINK?!" Sentinel sqawked back at him.

"What the hell did I just see..." Optimus's optics flickered.

Pharma crouched by Huffer, nudging him onto his back for a better look. Shards of violet were embedded under several cables, his denta were shattered as if he had been chewing on something hard and volatile, and violet goo oozed from the wounds they had inflicted to his frame. He could, however faintly, pick up on that same wrong energy they had felt from the caverns below. That feel of unease returned anew. "I don't know, Optimus Prime...But I think you should send us back-up. Immediately. Because I have a feeling Broadside and Landfill might be returning much the same way very soon."

It looked for a moment that he had lost his ability to process let alone vocalize, but Optimus regained his wits as he nodded grimly. "Understood. We'll be there asap!"

#transformers #transformers animated #sentinel prime #pharma #AU #fanfiction #optimus prime #megatron #ultra magnus #bumblebee #blitzwing #prowl #jazz #ratchet

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manallion · 4 years ago

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skeweredplasmablade · 7 years ago

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Kokichi Appreciation Post / Why I Love Kokichi

Of course, there is mega, ultra spoilers for DRV3 here so I am going to put this under a break and tag it as best I can. This is a long post btw, brace yourself.

Okay so at the beginning of the game, I fucking hated Kokichi. I thought he was a total scumbag of a character, and overall just annoying and I wanted him to die. There were two (and a half) things that changed my mind.

The Free Time Events you get with Kokichi

His “big reveal” after the class sees what’s beyond the door in the sewer. (This is the “and a half” one)

The fifth trial.

Free Time Events

Over the course of the FTE’s (which I didn’t reach until post-game), Kokichi initially hassles the protag (whoever it is) by lying about everything, even minute things. But bits of his true nature begin to unfold when you start to understand the nature of his lies. As far as we know, the only thing Kokichi does not lie about during this time is his appreciation of your gifts.

If this was a lie, the friendship meter would not have gone up when you gave the right gift. This is a modest point, but it does show that he sincerely cares about expressing his gratitude towards you. You are, for what little evidence shows, the only person who takes the time to “enjoy” his company, and he shows his gratitude in the above point and in the playful banter.

He threatens to kill the protag with a smile on his face, snickering away at your confusion and distress, but as the FTE’s continue, he challenges you to certain duels “with your life on the line,” but purposefully sabotages the duels in your favor. This is explained in several ways:

The rock-paper-scissors matches - he states that life-or-death will just be determined by a game of chance, but they tie over and over again for the entirety of the hour you spend together.

He starts at first saying that there’s a technique to predict what the opponent will choose, but immediately calls himself out for lying, as he would have won on the first try if that were true, but it’s actually even less likely that he’s lying because the “100″ times they tied couldn’t be just dumb luck.

The knife game - he states that whoever cuts their hand first loses, immediately goes first, and speeds up until he hurts himself, then concedes to the protag saying they won by default

Then he continues on saying he already killed the protag, but in their mind, because the entire time they were talking about life-or-death, kokichi was on their mind, to the point where the protag even helped him when he hurt himself.

This goes on to support the idea throughout the game that Kokichi hates the idea of hurting people, even when he uses Gonta to do a certain thing. The Gonta situation is the main fucked-up thing Kokichi has done. The Gonta Situation/The “Big Reveal”

Before continuing, this point needs to be directly addressed, because while Kokichi certainly did something morally heinous, he did not act with ill intent. We know from the story that Kokichi wants to stop the killing game, even if it costs him his life. While he claims he wants to “win” the game, it is more true that he wants the killing games to end. Believing in the flashback light before the fourth trial, he schemes to trick monobear into giving him the same flashback light showing the outside world to use again. He persuades monobear by saying it would make the trial interesting, but he later confesses during the trial that he lied. He had ulterior motives.

It’s important to note that many of Kokichi’s lies have a shred of truth to them. his goal is to make the trial interesting not by letting his friends suffer, but by screwing over monobear.

Quick recap: 4th trial, Kokichi shows Gonta the outside world via the flashback light and believing in the credibility of the light, cooperates with Gonta to establish a murder that will result in everyone getting executed. Kokichi plays it off as the evil one of the group because he is playing a character, and further commits to portraying his character the more his psyche bends, until it finally breaks.

Kokichi’s purpose here is genuine, he really does believe that a mass mercy killing is better than the outside world, because the outside world brought so much despair “it made you want to die.” Dying ignorant is better, and this is reinforced in his free time events, where he talks about “lies being better than the truth sometimes.” He often lies to make things interesting or entertain, and upon completing his friend rating in the main game, the skill acquired is “Kind Lie.”

He claims to feel no guilt for what he did with Gonta, but immediately after the trial, his psyche finally starts to break, and begins overemphasizing his “evil” side. There’s two purposes to this: one, he finds comfort in the character he portrays, and two, he wants to take credit for being the mastermind to get back at them for doing this. This is part of his goal to sabotage the killing game, even though he hates it. He later confesses that he despises hurting people. More on this later.

Lastly, considering how fragile Kokichi’s mental state is compared to the other 15 students, we could possibly say that he isn’t in the right mind and operating under full mental control, but this doesn’t erase that what he did *was* wrong, even if he had good intentions.

The Fifth Trial

This is where Kokichi’s character really begins to shine. Once Maki poisons both Kokichi and also accidentally Kaito, Maki rushes an antidote to Kaito, and taking on his villain role, drinks the only antidote available, but he only pretends to drink it. This shows two things. One, he wishes to end the killing game by tricking monobear (by taking away his surveillance and creating an unsolvable case), and two, that he values the lives of others more than he values his own life. He’s far more interested in Maki surviving than himself, and no matter what, Maki and Kokichi, Kaito and Kokichi, or Maki and Kaito were going to die. By choosing to lose his own life, he picks the best utilitarian option based on his distorted view of his self-worth. Maki is not scarred (or dead) by killing Kaito, and Kaito doesn’t die by Maki’s hands, and gets to die on his own terms, since he didn’t have much time to live anyways. On the verge of death, where Kokichi no longer gains anything by lying, Kokichi explains his true feelings about how fun the killing game was. I’ll just post the log here so it speaks for itself.

Kokichi had the same idea in the fifth trial that Shuichi had in the 6th: sabotage the game by forcing monobear+the mastermind in a position where they forsake the integrity of the game and can no longer run it faithfully.

Further Points About Kokichi’s True Nature

This is the last section, because it is 3:30am and I’ve been typing this too long. Most of this is not revealed until after the fifth trial, when you see his ultimate lab.

All of his lab is full of cheaply made toys, with his “evil organization name” showing above his dorky throne. DICE is the name of his ragtag group of 10 misfit friends who replaced his family when they died, and by “evil acts” they were actually committing pranks and petty non-violent crimes, as evidence in his motive video.

Every aspect of his costume is to take on the role or fiction of someone genuinely evil, but based on his interactions with others, his actions regarding his life’s worth, and his view of the killing game, Kokichi is anything but evil.

Don’t get me wrong, Kokichi’s done some fucked up things. This is not a “Kokichi Did Nothing Wrong,” post, but this post is an effort to show that the fictional character Kokichi has character traits and a personality that is worth enjoying. He is quite literally, a delicate boy who cares more for romance and games than anything, and shows this even during times of crisis in order to give himself the will to survive, and is willing to martyr himself either in giving up his life or being the target of everyone’s hatred in order for other people to be happy.

#drv3 spoilers #drv3 #danganronpa #DR spoilers #danganronpa spoilers #ouma kokichi #kokichi ouma #oma kokichi #kokichi oma #danganronpa 3 spoilers

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thekaijudude · 7 years ago

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I wonder what kind of miracle Geed will pull off to defeat Atrocious. Zero Beyond is now useless against him since he got overpowered just by Chimeraberus. Would be nice if the Ultra brothers show up at the end to assist.

I wouldn’t say that Zero Beyond is weaker than Chimeraberus tho.

Apparently Zero ‘got caught off guard’ as he was (for some dumb reason) severely underestimating Chimeraberus. (Ik this sounds pretty dumb but sadly, there was textual evidence for it)

Also, Zero had to hold back his punches as we know from episode 16, that Geed was within Chimeraberus which held Zero Beyond from firing his bulky chorus.

So as far as concrete evidence goes, we can only conclude that Chimeraberus was able to stagger and knockback Zero Beyond, but we can’t say anything about their offensive capabilities.

(Also we saw Acro Smasher repel Chimeraberus’ Deathcium Flare and Solid Burning pushing back Chimeraberus with Strike Boost while firing his boosters just to add abit of inconsistencies and ambiguity there)

As for what would Geed pull off, I suspect that at the end of the day, Riku would acknowledge Belial as his dad and attempt to turn him back into a good guy by perhaps achieving his original form which will look similar to Belial in his early days.

But for that to happen, Atrocious might have to be more of a match than Royal Mega Master or the RMM form might have to be temporary out of reach as a catalyst.

As for the other ultra brothers appearing tho, if another ultra were to appear, I suspect it’ll definitely be Ultra Father himself as they were once best friends and attempt to bring him back to the good side.

#asks

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reidsnose · 4 years ago

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buggin

overview: reader enlists the help of her neighbor (who shes never met) to get rid of a gnarly bug in her apartment

genre: fluff

a/n: thought of this today after i moved the shower curtain, saw a centipede crawl out, and screamed for my dad to come help me. anywayyyss i thought its be cute so as always lmk what you guys think :)

masterlist

you walked into your bedroom, fumbling frantically with the buttons on your shirt as you raced to leave your house on time. hair brush hair brush hair brush. where was your hair brush? you knocked over countless items trying to find it but with no luck. bathroom! you quickly made your way to the bathroom, opening the door so fast that wind blew through your hair.

and then you saw it.

a gnarly, long, nasty, creepy crawly centipede.

you let out a loud shriek and promptly shut the door. if you didn't get to the interview one time, it would surely be a bad first impression. but then again so would showing up with a bird's nest of hair on your head. you tried who knows how many times to go back in and kill it or catch it in a cup but each time you saw its countless, spindly legs you backed out. you checked your watch, 10 minutes until you had to leave.

you walked out into the hallway of the apartment building, and in a frenzy, you bumped into a tall, handsome man leaving the apartment across from yours.

he chuckled an apology before looking to meet your eye, breath hitching in his throat as he did. you were arguably the most beautiful woman he had ever seen (despite a very questionable hairdo). and when a surge of desperation ran through your body you rambled an explanation to the stranger, telling him about your job interview and time crunch then promptly begging him to come inside and get rid of the centipede for you.

and something inside him couldn't say no. he wanted to, i mean when an objectively crazy looking person lures you into their home to catch a bug, generally one says no and goes on with their day. however, maybe it was his complete an immediate infatuation with you or maybe his empathy for your situation, he decided to quickly help you and then try and get to work as fast as he can.

he couldn't help but subtly and subconsciously profile you based on your home as soon as he stepped inside. he liked it. your decorations, the small mess that makes it feel lived in, the general 'vibe' as morgan would say was incredible.

you gave him a sheet of paper and a cup, per his request, and led him to the dreaded bug bathroom. you couldn't help but watch in awe as he walked in with no fear, explaining to you in great detail how this was only a house centipede and it only had 15 pairs of legs which kind of counters the name. and how it isn't poisonous to humans and infact eats other bugs. you loved his facts so much and you followed him all the way to the window where he let the bug out, listening intently to what he had to say and swatting away the apology that came after the ramble, insisting that you genuinely enjoyed it.

"thank you so much,.." you trailed off, not knowing his name.

"Spencer." he filled in, offering a tight lipped smile.

"Spencer! wonderful. well again thank you so much and i owe you once I'm back from this job interview!" you smiled as you both walked to the door.

"oh you don't have to-" he began.

"no i insist! just knock on my door when you can and ill take you out." you stated, causing his eyes to widen, " not with a gun! i meant like ill buy you coffee or something!"

"i didn't think you meant with a gun?!" he laughed, handing you the hairbrush this whole ordeal was about. you laughed along as you closed and locked your apartment.

"I'm sorry i'm like completely fazzled right now! i have to go or else i'm never gonna get this job ill just brush my hair in the car! ok bye Spencer!" you called as you jogged down the stairs.

"wait i don't know your name?" he called after you.

"ill tell you when i buy you a coffee!" your giggle echoed through the building followed by the loud shut of the downstairs door.

he smiled to himself, wondering if he should tell the team about his funky morning encounter. he smiled the whole train ride to work, and then the walk from the stop to the building and then the elevator trip up. he just couldn't stop smiling. he thought about you brushing your hair while you drove and even giggled to himself on the train causing a few strangers to toss him some concerned looks.

how could he be living next to such a beautiful stranger?

when he walked into the bullpen, he saw the. whole team huddled around a desk, staring quite obviously at hotch's office. a new curiosity piqued his interest though his thoughts of you continued to be front and center in his mind.

"whats going on?" he asked, joining the group and craning his neck to try and see into the office.

"new agent interview." jj whispered.

"really? since whe-"

"shh!" Garcia shushed.

"you cant even hear them!" Reid defended.

"quiet helps us read their lips." prentiss whispered.

Spencer continued to crane his neck, moving around yet only being able to see hotch, who was throwing his head back in laughter. hotch laughing? wow this new agent must be pretty cool!

"oh my god! i've never seen him laugh like that before!" Garcia squeaked.

"she has to get the job now," morgan added.

"ah we have to wait for the handshake, thats when we see if he really approves," Rossi countered, "if he double hands the shake then its a done deal."

they all watched excitedly, waiting impatiently for the end of the interview. after a few minutes they saw hotch stand up and shake the possible new agent's hand with his right, firmly clasping his left over the handshake.

"was that the double handed handshake?" Garcia asked excitedly.

"yup." Rossi replied, popping the p.

as soon as the door began to open, the team tried ever so gracelessly to disperse, bumping into one another and murmuring fake excuses. a familiar outfit caught Spencer's eye as the new agent left hotch's office and he dared sneak a glance.

no way. his mind raced, thoughts of this morning flooding it a mile a minute. could it really be the girl from this morning? he watched as you excitedly left the building, beaming far to much to notice any other people as you left.

"bug?!" was all he could muster. not even loud enough for you to hear. unfortunately, loud enough for the people around him to.

"theres a bug? where?" morgan asked, looking around.

"no um...bug-she..is bug- um. nothing." he stammered.

"did you nickname the new agent bug?" jj laughed.

"what? no! do not say that in front of her!!" Spencer stammered.

after a couple teasing remarks, to Spencer's relief, they seemed to have let it go. the day was case-less and flew by quickly, the most exciting part was the morning interview and hotch's announcement that there would be a new agent starting tomorrow.

you sat at home, beyond excited about your successful interview, all thanks to handsome neighbor Spencer. you couldn't help but feel extra indebted to him. you feared you may have scared him off when you offered to take him out but it was the best way you could think to say thank you. but your nerves had transferred mainly to the upcoming first day of work.

as he got hone he debated knocking on your door but decided against it, knowing you were probably busy preparing for tomorrow.

when you arrived tomorrow a series of seemingly unfamiliar faces sat in the conference room, awaiting you and hotch.

when you stepped inside your eyes scanned over each of them, all looking very excited to meet you.

and then you saw him.

handsome neighbor Spencer was sitting RIGHT THERE. the stars have aligned and finally life is in your favor. after a brief introduction the meeting began and you took the only seat open which happened to be next to Spencer.

you gave each other polite smiles though both of your cheeks glowing red told a different story than two people who had just met.

"wheels up in 20." hotch concluded.

you all walked out together, the team making sure you felt included.

"so hows the first day feeling, y/n? or should i be like my friend Dr. Reid here and call you bug?" morgan asked slightly amused.

"oh my god you told?!" you laughed, looking wide eyed at Spencer.

after a high pitched denial from Reid and tears of laughter from the team as you told them of the events of that morning, you already felt like you were a part of the team.

as you boarded the jet, you decided to sit next to Spencer.

"you know, i still owe you a coffee," you mentioned nonchalantly as you pulled a book from your go bag, trying as hard as you possibly could to not blush.

he smiled slyly, picking up his own book to hide the rouge that fell upon his cheeks, "and ill hold you to that, bug."

ultra mega super cool taglist:

@mac99martin @imhreid @spencersmagic @hollydaisy23 @raelady1184 @a-broken-pact @padfootswife @star-stuff-in-the-cosmos @hey-there-angels @sonnydoesrandomshit @averyhotchner @laurakirsten0502 @reidyoulikeabook @rem-ariiana @spencerreid9 @vampire-overlord @takeyourleap-of-faith @s1utformgg @violetspoetic @b-a-utiful @aperrywilliams @eevee0722

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marcoshassanlevy · 6 years ago

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Marcos Hassan

| 8 months ago

Psychedelic music has always been about bending elements to experience the world in a different way; it transforms everything, even reality. Santiago de Chile duo The Holydrug Couple’s very existence attests to this magic. It’s thanks to this quality that Ives Sepúlveda Minho and Manuel Parra found a long-lasting friendship, a door to explore different countries and psychic worlds, and a lifestyle.

The Holydrug Couple’s music tends to build worlds seldom heard anywhere else – luminous, chill, carefree yet intricate – there’s is a sound that has taken many forms and is still evolving. From their first explorations found in the Ancient Land EP to their debut album Noctuary, to the soundscapes conjured on their 2015 breakthrough Moonlust, the duo has played with a particular brand of minimalist sounds and melodies. Although associated with the Chilean psych movement of recent years spawned from the Blow Your Mind label, they have always walked their own path.

Hyper Mega Ultra represents another chapter for the band. Inspired by the “exhaustion” of overwrought modern life and culture, Sepúlveda and Parra deliver a collection of songs that inhabit a new melodic clarity as well as refined sound, becoming increasingly minimalistic as the track order progresses. It’s the culmination of 10 years together making their own kind of music, but it’s not just a summary of what they’ve done, it’s a nod toward new realms to inhabit.

We spoke to Ives Sepúlveda about this moment in The Holydrug Couple history, Latin American psych, and sensorial overload.

This interview was conducted in Spanish via Skype and translated by the author. The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and brevity.

Was there something in particular that inspired the songs?

The album is made of songs we wrote in the last two years. Moonlust was released in 2015 and afterward we toured in the US and Europe and elsewhere, it was a long tour. Once we came back, I gave myself time – like six or eight months – to not record anything, even though I always have ideas and I record them. Moonlusthas some better-defined concepts, more specific. But I didn’t have a specific idea this time, so I decided that would be the concept, try to find a space for all the different things I like. I thought about my influences from the last few years and everything started to fall into place.

What is the concept behind Hyper Mega Super?

The name of the album is kinda ironic. Why should everything be mega or super? It’s not necessary to take things to superlative extremes, you know? We can have things on a human scale. The lyrics are similar, about being bored with the digitalization of things, how we have lost human relationships, the cities, commerce, love relationships, your self-consciousness, I don’t know.

The first half of the record starts with a lot of different noises, a lot of sounds and then, as it progresses, it gets more simple until the last song which is a very slow ballad. It’s my response to this bombardment of excess. Music can be simple and spacious. There are a lot of worlds to explode within the music, away from hyper capitalization.

Do you think this kind of superlative-type thinking has affected your musical surroundings?

No, we’ve always worked independently, plus we deal with Sacred Bones and Holydrug was formed before that. BYM is just one part of what it is to be in a band in Santiago because there are more friends and people who are also involved in this. Santiago is a city that’s not that big compared with Buenos Aires or Mexico City, you pretty much know everybody who does music here. You run into everybody at the techno party or the experimental ambient show or to the piano concert. Inside this world, you enrich and expand on the experience, and you learn and talk about a different vision of music, and you support everybody, you give advice, you’re involved.

I don’t listen to modern psych bands, because most of those bands are all the same.

This year you celebrate ten years of Holydrug Couple. When you started, did you set out to tour the world and become a band beyond the Santiago scene?

No, not at all. When we started the band, there was no way we could have imagined that, because that didn’t exist. Nobody put out vinyl back then, and if your band was not from the U.S. or Europe or perhaps Mexico, bands didn’t go on international tours. Nobody earned their living playing music here in Chile unless you were Jorge González, you know? It was impossible to imagine this. When I started with Manu I told him “I want to start a band but I want it to be serious.” Do something the right way, that was the goal, everything that came after was impossible to foresee.

Looking back, what is something that made you proud about your trajectory?

The fact that we’re still together after ten years and that we’re still friends, I think that’s miraculous. Bands usually have infights or they distance themselves and it hasn’t happened to us and that’s something that impresses me a lot. What I enjoy most is being able to make music, since I can sell records and go on tour, I get money to buy myself instruments to make more music. To be able to dedicate myself to music, that’s the best, it’s not just a highlight. It’s the ultimate happiness.

Photo by Carolina Sandoval

There’s a new direction in Hyper Mega Super, do you feel like you’re starting a new phase for Holydrug Couple?

I think the record is like a closing chapter, at least it was planned like that. After it comes out and we come back from the tour, we can start a new phase, that’s what I want. I think we can have some clarity or a new perspective from this conclusion, I think.

You are an important band when it comes to psychedelic music from Chile and Latin America; how do you see this genre nowadays? There are a lot of bands doing exciting stuff, there are festivals in different countries. Do you think there’s a movement?

I don’t see it [chuckles]. I don’t really listen to psych…I mean, one of the biggest inspirations for this album was Screamadelica by Primal Scream. It’s one of my favorite albums, I listen to it every day, and to me it’s an album that’s related to different drugs, it’s related to psychedelia but it’s also related to dance music; it’s a collage of different scenes. I think that’s more interesting to me. People tag us as a psychedelic band but we don’t think about that. I don’t listen to modern psych bands, because most of those bands are all the same. You hear the Jazzmaster [guitar] with reverb in the intro and a Farfisa keyboard and that’s like the most boring thing in the world to me. I’m interested in more. I love the Beatles, the first Pink Floyd album, but I also love Madonna, Chemical Brothers, ABBA, Bowie, T-Rex, Lou Reed, I don’t know. It’s becoming a cliché and a commodity, so they can sell you a denim jacket with an eye stitched into it or hair dye.

Our aesthetic has never been like the traditional psychedelic thing. I think it’s better to be more difficult for the audience to grasp, that it takes a little effort to listen to the record or to get into the band because sometimes, those bands you have to invest yourself to like, you like them more than others, there’s something more to hold on to.

Tuesday, September 11, 2018 at 9:12 PM EDT

#the holydrug couple

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i-talk-to-my-dead-friends-skull · 4 years ago

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aaaaaaaaa okay character time

lets start with Damien, the focal character. at the start, he’s 16 by their time and considered an adult, and 19 by our time. by the end, he’s 21 by their time, and im too lazy to figure out how old he is by our time someone else do it each year has 400 days in it Damien is gay as hell, and has the most gargantuan crush on one of his friends he’s pale as fuck, he has black hair, one icy blue eye and one red one (which he hides with his hair), he wears a dark gray hoodie, denim jeans, and a pair of leather boots. He wears his mother’s pendant at all times, a golden triangle with a ruby at the center, and he has a pair of white gloves that he never takes off. later on, it changes; he’s still pale as fuck, but now he’s cut his hair and used magic to turn his red eye blue. he still always wears his mother’s pendant and his gloves, but now he wears a white tank top with his jeans. his preferred weapon is a one-handed sword, named for his mother, Rhylah. however, this, too, changes later on. instead he wields his mother’s old cane.

next up is Adam, a human who is a lot more than meets the eye. first of all, he’s the main love interest. this sneaky idiot is who Damien managed to fall in love with. at the start of the story he’s 15 by their time. im too lazy to figure it out beyond that. once again, if anyone wants to try, be my guest. here’s his design, strait from my notes (I felt too lazy to summarize) pale, blonde, brown eyes (because of a curse), regular rouge outfit, wears a red string bracelet that matches Alice’s. later on, it changes too. pale, blonde, green eyes, regular rouge outfit, wears a red string bracelet that matches Alice’s. also more shit from my notes bc im too lazy to try tbh Extra: he’s cursed so that he has nightmares almost every night (of course some forms of magic can override this), and there’s a very specific way to break the curse (which we’ll go into detail about during the book itself) also, extremely super very gay for Damien.

from Adam we transition into Alice! Adam’s twin sister! who’s also a trans girl!! and lesbian!!! you know what fuck it just take the damn notes on her what you really need to know about her is this: after Aaron committed suicide, she developed a need to keep Adam alive. She considers his life to be her responsibility. Because of this, every time Adam is in danger, she panics. She feels much better with him staying in the stealth area of things. A big part of her character development is learning that she isn’t responsible for Adam, that Aaron’s death wasn’t her fault, and that Adam can fend for himself. She also doesn’t trust Damien at all at first, because he reminds her of Orion, like he has a similar energy, and she’s afraid he’ll hurt Adam. She’s pretty much the overprotective sister. Mega ultra lesbian for Zuli. She has natural Pyrokinesis.

Adam and Alice used to have another brother!! they used to be triplets!! his name was Aaron, and he was the youngest. yes, he committed suicide, i’m not gonna go too far into it.

If i told you anything about Orion it would spoil half the story.

another pair of twins, this time way more minor. Zak and Zuli, who are the same age as Damien. all you need to know about them: Zak is demiro ace, Zuli is ultra bisexual.

Nathen Mau, also known as best boy. this character is my own emotional support character, he’s babi!!! he a cat boi and a war criminal and i love him.

okay i think im gonna stop with this story here. i still have more tho lmao

Oc’s and the stories they belong to. Now please. :)

oki doki! this is gonna be a few reblogs bc theres just so damn much to cover hang on

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duskfloret · 7 years ago

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「 ♔ 」 General reference post for speech patterns / quirks.

Ryoko!

Speaks in full sentences (doesn’t use fragments / cut off the subject of a sentence).

If not formal, her manner of speaking is certainly polite.

In English, she defaults to a standard American dialect. In Japanese, she defaults to Kyoto-ben even though she’s not from there. In general, she’s good at switching between various dialects when she feels the need.

She doesn’t use unnecessary qualifiers when she speaks; she only applies them when it adds value to what she’s saying.

She speaks the most casually around Shinji.

She says “yes” instead of “yeah” because she’s a proper lady. Same with “mother” and “father” instead of “mom” and “dad” and etc. etc. etc.

Sehn!

Along with “dude” and “bro,” she also likes the words “son,” “pal,” and “buddy.”

She also tends to add in qualifiers and intensifiers when she talks, “super,” “extra,” “mega,” and “ultra” being her favourites.

Generally rather informal.

Her voice has a neutral pitch, not particularly feminine nor masculine.

When naming anything, she’ll either use a clever reference to its main function (such as her alias “Sehn” being a reference to her ability) or pick a random household item (such as her favourite stuffed animal being named Bucket).

She refers to ordinary, completely normal, every day things as being witchcraft or as an ability. People can make friends? Witchcraft. Most people look both ways before walking across a street? Mega witchcraft.

When describing anything and/or telling a story, she tends to talk like she’s referring to a video game.

Izanami and Izumi!

They still use Japanese honorifics when speaking in English.

They seldom refer to anyone outside their family (whether by saying their name or, “Hey, you”).

They don’t know many big words in English, so they keep their speech simple.

When both are talking to someone, they’ll alternate speaking every sentence.

Yori!

“Miss” and “sir” sort of formality. Rarely uses people’s names.

He also says things like “oh dear” more than he should. It makes him sound like an old man.

His tone is often playful and/or sing-songy.

Katsuo!

He stutters a lot due to his nerves, but if he’s not nervous, he can usually manage to speak properly.

It’d be easy to assume that he has a speech impediment.

Somewhat formal, somewhat informal.

Kotone!

She speaks politely, adding to the “sheltered rich girl” vibe she gives off without realising. She picked up the habit from her mentor.

However, she becomes considerably less formal when food is mentioned. That’s when she perks up, isn’t as careful with her words, and generally sounds like a child.

Nona!

Her accent is a standard American one mixed with a slight southern drawl.

She tends to abbreviate words--’cause, y’know, y’all, wanna, etc.

She offers up the occasional “bless your heart” if she’s annoyed enough with someone being rude or disrespectful. She also swears in non-swears (i.e. stuff like “son of a dickens,” fiddlesticks, etc.).

Lane!

He has an English accent, but it’s not quite distinct enough to tell exactly where he’s from (on purpose, of course); there’s enough to gather that he’s from somewhere in the south, though.

He refers to people by nicknames rather than their actual names. Him calling someone by name is a sign that he feels particularly close to them.

If he doesn’t have a nickname for someone, “mate” is his go-to replacement.

British English.

When naming anything, he tends to either pick names that “sound dignified” (such as naming his orchid Jeremiah) or name it after historical figures. He’s the kind of person that thinks it’d be funny to name a cat Schrodinger.

Chinatsu!

She doesn’t pay much attention to how formal or informal her speech is, and she doesn’t really care either.

The more flustered she is, the less formal her speech gets.

Shinji!

He picks up after Ryoko in terms of formality, and he speaks more casually when talking to her.

Calla!

Her monotone voice, lack of contractions, and general formality make her sound more robotic than anything else.

While she knows how to speak normally, she chooses not to.

Saori!

Gets confused when anyone says “y’know” because she thinks they’re saying her (sur)name.

She does her best to be polite and respectful like a proper lady.

Jonah!

“Miss” and “mister” sort of formality. Rarely uses people’s names, and particularly important people will be referred to with a the (i.e. the mister, the miss).

Pretty informal otherwise.

Has a lazy manner of speaking, unless he’s excited or interested in something.

Kaeto!

Generally speaks in the dialect of the area he’s currently in.

If he gets flustered enough, his actual accent starts to show. Too bad it’s difficult to fluster him...

He leans towards being slightly informal in his speech.

He doesn’t capitalise letters when he types (unless it’s on a school assignment), but otherwise uses proper grammar.

Sera!

She has School House Rock songs stuck in her head constantly, and is liable to hum along to them while studying.

Says, “Get out of my house,” no matter where she is.

She makes way too many references to fights, fighting, etc.

Sanae!

She has difficulty pronouncing English words like “aluminum” or “anemone” and mixes up phrases, such as saying “flood ounces” instead of “fluid ounces.” English idioms are also beyond her.

However, she’s well-versed in Japanese idioms.

For the most part, she can speak English in a standard dialect, but if she’s just been speaking to someone in Japanese, her original accent will linger for a few minutes.

Tzan!

Very excited and it shows! Lot of exclamation points!

Her voice is very warm and friendly.

Eli!

He has a penchant for swearing and rarely goes more than a few sentences without including an expletive (even though I hardly ever write it into his dialogue...). He can tone it down when he needs to, such as around children or someone he doesn’t want to offend.

Generally informal, but knows how to be polite when the situation calls for it.

He opts to speak in a standard American dialect with some southeast English pronunciation thrown in. If he’s tired, his Russian accent will slip out without him meaning for it to.

Celyn!

Welsh dialect mixed with London / Cockney dialect.

British swears for days.

Oi.

“Mate” is a neutral term and not something he uses as a term of endearment.

#🐦「 ryoko ; about 」there’s a certain comfort in knowing the pain won’t leave ❞#「 ↹ i can’t wait to get away from this deadlock state of mind ❞ ilse / about. 」#「 ♪ stay and watch the stars come out ❞ izanami / about. 」#「 ✎ and then the sun as they all fade away ❞ izumi / about. 」#「 ✧ some nightmares don’t end when you open your eyes ❞ yori / about. 」#❀「 katsuo ; about 」when the truth is replaced by silence: the silence is a lie ❞#♫「 kotone ; about 」only starving souls know what it takes to survive ❞#❦「 nona ; about 」the most beautiful things are always those closest to you ❞#✗「 lane ; about 」there’s a lot of sharks that swim in these waters ❞#「 ☀ your fingerprints left scars ❞ chinatsu / about. 」#「 ☯ but i can’t tell you what i don’t know ❞ shinji / about. 」#「 🌺 they gave you the end but not where to start ❞ calla / about. 」#「神 the science of the heart is sometimes lost on me ❞ saori / about. 」#🐾「 jonah ; about 」i’ve felt all fortune’s favours and found its decay ❞#❂「 kaeto ; about 」your mind is killing you in ways no hands ever could ❞#「 ❅ i can’t tell you where i’m headed but i know i’m gone ❞ sera / about. 」#✽「 sanae ; about 」dance is the hidden language of the soul ❞#✠「 tzaphkiel ; about 」in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs ❞#✞「 eli ; about 」the truth was vodka was my only ally ❞#「 🍂 one more story without a happy ending ❞ celyn / about. 」

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pokemaniacal · 8 years ago

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Pokémon Moon, Episode 8: In Which I Am Given A Stern Talking-To By A Colourful Sisterly Figure

“So what you’re saying is, you almost killed my Totem Lurantis because your crazy great-grandmother would have wanted it that way?” Mallow folds her arms as she waits for an answer. “…she had a drinking problem. And a gambling problem. And… several legal problems. But she was pretty spry for 94.” “When did she…?” “Um… well, about eight years back, the law caught up with her, and she grabbed a shotgun, stole a motorbike, kidnapped the neighbours’ Heracross, and skipped town, laughing all the way. Honestly she’s, uh… probably still kicking. Somewhere out there.” I idly dunk a spoon in the half-finished pot of stew from Mallow’s trial and taste it. “Mmmmmmmm, that’s so f%&£ing good. Good call on the Revival Herb, by the way.” Mallow shudders. “Okay, well… I’m pretty sure you did technically pass my trial… somehow… so… take these, I guess.” She thrusts a sack of Nest Balls at me, then hands me her Z-Crystal, the Grassium-Z, and leaves me to explore the jungle on my own. Now that I can encounter and catch wild Pokémon there, I am rewarded with three new ones: Bounsweet, Comfey, and Oranguru. I’m not exactly inspired by these so far. Bounsweet is a round, pinkish-red fruit Pokémon that brings to mind the phrase “oh, look, it’s Cherubi,” but it does evolve into something that might not be Cherrim, so we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. Comfey is a Hawaiian lei Pokémon, one of those Flabébé-like Fairy-types that really looks as though it should be a Grass-type and has a bunch of stuff that supports Grass-types; it’s nice and thematically appropriate to the setting but doesn’t seem to evolve, and so far doesn’t really look like it’ll measure up to a fully-evolved Florges. The third Pokémon, Oranguru, is so far the most interesting-looking – a purple and white apelike Normal/Psychic Pokémon that fights from a cross-legged sitting position. It too shares a Pokédex page with something else, so there’s a good chance it will evolve.

When I leave the jungle, Professor Kukui turns up to congratulate me on passing all three of Akala Island’s trials, and remind me that I’m not off the hook yet: the next step is to face Kahuna Olivia in battle, to provide amusement for whatever primitive heathen deity rules this island. But first, he has a little diversion for me: he wants me to come and visit a facility known as the Dimensional Research Lab, back in Heahea City. “If this is your way of recruiting me to some wild goose chase of a research project that’s going to get me killed in a ridiculous sci-fi laser explosion, Kukui, I swear to Arceus…” “No, of course not!” he protests. “At the very worst you’ll be trapped in an alien nightmare dimension with no hope of ever returning home! It’ll be no worse than being hit simultaneously with Mean Look, Trick Room, Shadow Force, and Dark Void.” I stare at him in silence for a solid thirty seconds. “Eh. Good enough.”

Lillie is already at the lab when I get there, trying to teach Nebby to use Splash, of all things. I see right through her (admittedly clever) deception, of course. When your real goal is for your Pokémon to lay waste to a region with the most powerful move of all – Explosion – what better way of avoiding suspicion than by pretending to focus on the weakest move of all? I’m wise to your schemes, terrorist girl. I give her a suspicious leer, causing her to squeak in feigned shock, and we enter the lab together. The Dimensional Research Lab is run by one Professor Burnet, who happens to be Professor Kukui’s wife (GOD DAMN IT HE’S STRAIGHT). She is also a friend of Lillie, having… randomly discovered her and Nebby lying unconscious on a beach three months ago. This was apparently not a significant red flag to anyone involved. Lillie claims that she had been looking for Burnet anyway, and had simply “gotten lost” on the beach before collapsing from exhaustion. How convenient, that circumstances should align so neatly for her to gain the sympathy and enter the confidence of the very professors she had been seeking. I squint at Lillie again, mouth the words “I’m onto you,” and start scribbling in a notebook. She returns a look of utter bewilderment and pulls down the brim of her hat to cover her face. More importantly, returning to the conversation at hand, Burnet is a physicist who has dedicated much of her career to the study of strange phenomena designated “ultra wormholes.” These are, as far as I can glean, mysterious wibbly-wobbly spacey-wacey holes in reality that occasionally appear in the sky over Alola and randomly spit out powerful demon-Pokémon to terrorise the region.

…this, I point out to nobody in particular, is yet another thing that the tourism brochures mysteriously failed to mention.

Professor Burnet is evasive when I try to ask her whether she’s actually seen a wormhole, or one of these “ultra beasts,” but notes that several known Pokémon possess power over dimensions, and claims that the sensitive equipment in her lab should be able to detect the wormholes. She also explains that the four guardian deities of Alola fought against the demonic invaders in ancient times to protect their region… which suddenly makes me very nervous that Tapu Koko’s plans to ruin my holiday may go way beyond just making me fight Pokémon battles for its amusement.

Of course, the instant I leave the lab, a gigantic glowing rift in space appears briefly in the sky, as if to taunt me, before closing up a few moments later. I’m… totally going to get drafted into a war between dimensions, aren’t I?

Whatever. Not my problem. I’m just going to get on with this trial nonsense and pretend I didn’t see th- oh, gods, what if Nebby is the vanguard of the demonic invasion??? No! Nope. I’m not thinking about that. Just… go find Olivia.

Kahuna Olivia lives in Konikoni City, on Akala Island’s southwest coast. To get there, I have to travel through Alola’s take on the Diglett’s Cave, a tunnel system inhabited by Zubat and Alolan Steel Diglett. Olivia herself is actually there when I arrive, but is apparently too busy for me and requests that I meet her at her shop in Konikoni. What is she busy with? Well… apparently working with some of those Aether Foundation conservationists. The Foundation rents space in an office building in Heahea City, next to Professor Burnet’s lab (and right above Game Freak’s Alola branch), though as far as I can tell they don’t actually do anything there. Their presence in the tunnels is a response to some recent unusual Diglett activity that has been making the area dangerous for travellers and miners, which they blame on Team Skull’s shenanigans. Well, their story checks out – further into the caves, I encounter two Team Skull grunts I don’t recognise, and battle them in tandem with Hau, who is gradually becoming almost respectable as a trainer. That was simple enough… almost weirdly so. Team Skull are such buffoons, and I’m not even sure what they were trying to accomplish by disturbing the Diglett. Could there be some greater design behind their nonsense…?

…nah, I’m just being paranoid. Just because their name starts with “Team” doesn’t mean they’re going to open a dozen of these wormholes and bring about the apocalypse.

Once on the other side of the tunnel, I take a brief look around Konikoni City. It’s a colourful city with heavily Japanese-influenced architecture. Like most big Alolan cities, it’s a hub for tourism, with markets that sell rare incenses, TMs and clothing. Down by the cape, there’s a lighthouse, but I can’t access it (yet?), as well as a woman who not only offers to teach my Pikachu Volt Tackle, but even gives me a special Z-Crystal. I thought these things were sacred relics! The Pikanium-Z, when its power is unleashed by the absolute stupidest dance I have yet been taught, transforms Volt Tackle into a truly devastating super-move… Catastropika. Catastropika? Really? That’s the name we’re going with here, Alola? Not, like… Pikalamity, or Pikataclysm, or just Pi-Kaboom? Seriously, the translators dropped the ball on this $#!t. Whatever. Apparently the rules for Z-moves are a little different to what the previous crystals had led me to believe – some of them are related, like Mega Stones, to just one species, or even just one move used by that species. Then there’s Olivia’s own shop. Olivia, a Rock Pokémon specialist, sells evolutionary stones and fossils. Contrary to her earlier promise, she’s not there, but has left her Probopass to run the shop (because… why not?) and given it a message, telling me to join her at the nearby Ruins of Life, the home of the guardian Tapu Lele.

Ohhhhh no. No. I’ve already got one of these ‘guardians’ lording it over me and telling me what to do, just because it… like… I don’t know, saved my life or whatever. The last thing I need is Tapu Lele arbitrarily deciding to offer me “guidance,” or punish me for trespassing, or turn me into an attractive paperweight, or-

Ugggggggh, but on the other hand, I can totally see a couple of members of Team Skull heading for the Ruins of Life through that creepy cemetery outside town. If Olivia’s gone out there to fight them, or they’ve gone out there to attack her… well, then frankly that’s her problem, right? …right? “Zzzzzt! I dunno, boss!” the Rotomdex interjects. “Sure seemzzzz like it’d be a dick move not to at least go check it out!” “No one asked you, you cursed calculator-watch,” I mutter, but decide to go anyway. If Olivia… somehow can’t handle those idiots, it’s bound to be my fault, one way or another.

I do my best to pick my way respectfully through the cemetery on Memorial Hill, skirting carefully around each grave. As I reach the other side, I spot the two Team Skull grunts – it’s “B” again, with another of his idiot friends. But it’s not just them – there’s a Slowpoke with them, and they’re arguing with an Aether Foundation worker. Beside her is a green-haired man with huge yellow-green glasses and a white lab coat, regarding the situation with strange detachment. As I approach, I hear the Foundation worker shouting. “Team Skull! Give back that Pokémon!” The second grunt flicks a few random gang signs in her direction as he shouts his response. “Don’t give me trouble! I’ll reduce you to rubble!” “Mmm, trouble/rubble; there’s an original one,” I interrupt, sidling up between the Aether Foundation worker and the man in the glasses. “You know, I bet you’re the first in all the history of the English language to rhyme those two.” I shoot the young woman a glance, and stage-whisper to her “Sarcastic enough? D’you think they’ll get it?” She only stares at me, dumbfounded, so I shrug and turn back to the Team Skull grunts. “Sorry, am I interrupting something? You weren’t about to kidnap this Pokémon, were you?” I feign a wide-eyed gasp. “Tsk, tsk, tsk… You know, I really thought we were getting somewhere, boys, I honestly did.” The second grunt just looks bewildered (I’m not totally sure whether I’ve met him before), but B looks like smoke is about to start pouring out of his ears. I give him my most practiced look of sincere disappointment. “Come on; I thought we were moving past this. Can’t you let this one go? For me?” I smile at him. “But- wh- you- NO!” he splutters. “We’re gonna sell this Pokémon to get rich, and we won’t make no bones about it! If you want it back, y- you- you’re gonna have to take it!” I sigh and reach for a Pokéball… until the other grunt abruptly gets a look of comprehension and elbows B in the side. “Yo, homie?” he says quietly. “This ain’t…? Is it?” B turns to him and continues spluttering. “Wh-what you talkin’bout, dawg?” “Look, you don’t gotta let nobody step to you when your Team Skull brothers are around, ‘specially not this fool! Take a chill pill, homie; I got your back!” B’s gaze flicks back and forth between me and the other grunt for several seconds, then they both turn their backs to me and start arguing. The Aether Foundation woman gives me a quizzical look, as though to ask for an explanation. I shrug at her, but then inspiration strikes. I hold a finger to my lips to signal for quiet, then crouch low and try to make eye contact with the Slowpoke. It looks directly at me… then yawns and looks away. I snap my fingers, glancing at the grunts to make sure they haven’t noticed, and the Slowpoke – with all the urgency of cold treacle – turns its stupid dopey face towards me. I jab a finger at it and start beckoning it towards me. A full ten seconds later, it gives a decisive nod, turns around, and begins walking directly away from me. I roll my eyes, then glance around, grab a convenient rock, take careful aim, and throw it at the Slowpoke, striking it on the back of the head. It turns around to face me again. I jab my finger at it again, then point firmly at the ground beneath my feet and start beckoning once more. This time, the blasted thing apparently gets the message and starts crawling steadily towards me. I glance up again. The Team Skull grunts are still deep in an animated argument about… something. It’s definitely turning out worse for B, who is holding one hand to his face and cringing for some reason. About a minute later, the Slowpoke reaches me. I silently make a coo-ing face at it, and pat it gently on the head, giving a thumbs-up to the Aether Foundation girl with my other hand. “Sloooooooooooow…” the Slowpoke says, appreciatively. This, unfortunately, gets the attention of the grunts again, who spin around to face me. “Right!” I say decisively, standing up straight and clapping my hands together. “I’m sure we all have other business to attend to today, so why don’t we all just-” but the second grunt is having none of that. “You ready?” he yells at me, grabbing a Pokéball from his belt. “Cuz I was born ready, yo!” “Well…” I sigh, “worth a try.” I send out my own (infinitely more responsive) Slowpoke… which turns out to be a mistake when his Pokémon is revealed as a Dark Raticate, forcing a hasty switch to my Trumbeak. From there, though, Rock Smash makes short work of it. “That loss was pathetic! Your moves were so kinetic!” the grunt declares, stunned. B grumbles something under his breath, then shakes his head and shouts at me. “We don’t need that Pokémon anyway! Take it then! Good luck and good riddance!” Both of them flee the scene. The Aether Foundation worker breathes a sigh of relief and leans down to pat the Slowpoke. “Phew… thanks, kid. I could’ve been in real trouble there…” “Now, now,” her companion admonishes her, speaking for the first time, “stand firm! Think of what the president would say!” “That’s what you say, Chief! But you don’t lift a finger!” “Why, I am the Aether Foundation’s last line of defence!” I frown at this comment, carefully scrutinising for any signs of particular competence, but he doesn’t seem to notice. “What would become of the Foundation if something were to happen to me now?” He tut-tuts her, then turns to me. “You are a trial-goer aren’t you? You’re a splendid trainer! I’m deeply impressed! I’d like to reward you by showing you something truly astounding. Once you have finished your Grand Trial, come to Hano Grand Resort and I will take you to see a wondrous place.” I accept his invitation with a shrug. Can’t be any worse than whatever the Kahunas and the Guardians will want me to do next.

I continue along the path to the Ruins of Life, past a truly spectacular cliff side and up towards the ruins’ great stone gate. Someone is standing in the path… a young woman… but as I get close, it becomes obvious that it’s not Olivia. She has waist-length pink and yellow hair, black clothes, and… an unmistakeable Team Skull necklace, as well as the Team Skull logo tattooed in pink on her bare midriff. Looks like I’m starting to attract all the wrong kinds of attention from these guys. I briefly consider trying to avoid her, but she’s clearly seen me first, and looks like she was waiting for me. “So…” she says, confidently strolling up to me. “You’re the one Gladion was talking about? Hmph. You don’t look like anything special to me.” “Well… looks can be deceiving, right?” I try to flash a confident grin back, but there’s something a tad unsettling about her. “…uh… is this about the Slowpoke, or…?” She looks me sternly in the eye. “I’m Plumeria. I help keep Team Skull together. I’m like a big sister to all those numskulls.” Her expression softens a little. “Look… you have realised what idiots all these guys are, right?” she asks. “Um. I- I guess?” I reply. Obviously I have, but I’m a little taken aback by her frankness. “But… don’t you think some of those dummies are cute in their dumbness? You know what I mean… right?” Plumeria gives me a strange look that is somehow equal parts conspiratorial, teasing… and deadly threatening. “Um. No. No! I have no idea what you’re talking about! What are you even implying here? Who said anyone was cute? Not me, that’s for sure.” Plumeria glares at me coldly. “Is that so, punk? Well, I gotta tell you – you picking on my cute, dumb brothers and sisters is really annoying me!” She grabs a Pokéball and summons a Golbat. Oh, thank Arceus, a problem I know how to deal with! My Dartrix is a real champ in this fight, thanks to the affection bonuses we’re starting to accumulate; he dodges a Confuse Ray and an Air Cutter, and shakes off some nasty poison, to secure a win against the Golbat, and seriously injure the Salandit that Plumeria sends out in its place. Salandit finishes my Dartrix with Flame Burst, but its own weak physical defences leave it easy prey for my Trumbeak. Plumeria recalls her Pokémon, steps back, and looks me over for a second. Even though I just beat her, her gaze is… still kind of chilling. “Hmph. You’re pretty strong,” she says. “I’ll give you that. But mess with anyone in Team Skull again… in any way… and I’ll show you how serious I can get.” Without waiting for a response, she spins around on her heel and stalks off. “I’m not messing with anyone anywhere!” I call out after her. “It’s not like I have a… a… a stupid ‘thing’ for one of your dumb little brothers. Uh. Or sisters. Could be a sister; you don’t know me; you don’t know my life. I mean, it- it’s not, because it’s no one, but- but you don’t know!” Plumeria is long gone by this point, of course, but that’s no reason to let her get the last word.

Finally, I reach the entrance to the Ruins of Life, with Lillie suddenly right behind me, escorted by Professor Burnet. Lillie is apparently here at Nebby’s behest, and doesn’t know much more than that. Before I can interrogate either of them, though, Kahuna Olivia emerges from the ruins. She apologises for her earlier absence by explaining that Tapu Lele had summoned her to help “clean up” the ruins (wait… so the Kahunas have to do household chores for the guardian deities? Okay, maybe I’m not really getting the short end of the stick after all). With minimal preliminaries, Olivia accepts my challenge… and promptly wrecks my $#!t.

I never intended my current team to be in any sense permanent – Raticate’s going to go at some point, probably Trumbeak too once I’ve finished exploring its evolution, and I’m not 100% on Pikachu or Slowpoke either – but even so, I have to admit it was a slight oversight to have three Pokémon with Rock weaknesses and none with a Rock resistance.

My Dartrix takes out Olivia’s first Pokémon, a Nosepass, without immense difficulty (though, again, a few affection bonuses help to seal the deal). Then… in comes her partner Pokémon, Lycanroc, a creepy-looking red-and-white werewolf Pokémon that I can only assume is the evolved form of Rockruff. Its powerful Rock Throw attack immediately knocks out my Dartrix and my Salandit, then as soon as I try to bring its defences down with Trumbeak’s Rock Smash, Olivia unleashes its Z-move: Continental Crush, which as far as I can tell is a move that works by dropping Australia on you. My poor Slowpoke flinches under Lycanroc’s Bite and doesn’t even get a chance to hit back with Scald. Finally, my Raticate manages to bring it down with Crunch. Enduring what would have been a finishing blow from Olivia’s final Pokémon, a Boldore, Raticate manages to do just enough damage before fainting to bring it within striking distance for my last Pokémon, Pikachu, to finish it off.

Phew. Okay. Lesson learned. No more underestimating Rock-types. Especially weird, gangly werewolf Rock-types.

…what, you didn’t think I was actually going to lose that one, did you? Listen, “wrecks my $#!t” is very much a relative term here. Sure, it looked bad for a little while but I’m a former Champion (in multiple regions, if you count my… past lives, or… whatever… look, I try not to think about it too hard), and Olivia is, like, the head shaman of some backwards middle-of-nowhere hick island who does chores for a bird. Of course I beat her; I’m amazing. Give me some credit here.

Olivia rewards me with her Z-crystal – the Rockium-Z (did the Alolans listen to these names at all while they were picking them…?) – and sends me packing just as Hau arrives for his own Grand Trial. Hau has apparently received the same invitation from the Aether Foundation as I did, and is eager to get his trial out of the way so we can go and have a look. Lillie is decidedly less enthusiastic, presumably since she knows the Aether Foundation is hot on her trail, and makes a stammering excuse. Well, whatever. Sooner or later, Lillie… you can’t run forever.

Ridiculous quote log:

“Yo! I’m a herb seller! I’m self-taught, but I sell good quality herbs!” Why does everyone in this region try to get me to do f#$%ing drugs!?

“There’s a faint smell of spices, sauces, and other fragrant things…” …okay maybe this is the time to admit that I… kiiiiiiinda have a thing for smelling other people’s beds? Uh, I- I mean, it’s totally not a sex thing, not even a little bit; just, uh… if I come across someone’s bed, I like to… give it a good long sniff before I move past it. Lots of people do it, probably. It helps me feel closer to- wait, damn it, no, that still sounds weird. That is, uh… I mean, if they wanted to sniff my bed I would totally let them, and- okay that sounds even worse. Can we… just forget I said anything?

The team:

Tane the Dartrix Male, Timid nature, Overgrow ability Level 28 Tackle, Razor Leaf, Astonish, Pluck

Rhea the Trumbeak Female, Lax nature, Keen Eye ability Level 27 Pluck, Roost, Fury Attack, Rock Smash

Ashley the Pikachu Female, Timid nature, Static ability Level 27 Volt Tackle, Hidden Power (Ice), Nasty Plot, Thunder Wave

Hypatia the Slowpoke Female, Hardy nature, Own Tempo ability Level 27 Confusion, Yawn, Headbutt, Scald

Soot the Raticate Female, Hardy nature, Hustle ability Level 27 Crunch, Tail Whip, Hyper Fang, Focus Energy

Joanna the Salandit Female, Timid nature, Corrosion ability Level 27 Flame Burst, Sweet Scent, Dragon Rage, Smog

#pokemon moon playthrough #pokemon #alola #mallow #professor kukui #professor burnet #lillie #hau #olivia #bounsweet #comfey #oranguru #catastropika #team skull #plumeria #lycanroc #aether foundation

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