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talenlee · 1 month ago

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September 2024 Wrapup!

There’s often a joke about ‘wake me up when September ends.’ It’s a reference to a song, a good song I like a lot that’s about a meaningful emotional thing from a queer artist. Thing is, this September, nah, I didn’t want to sleep through any of it.

This September, I wanted to remember every night of it.

(Especially the 21st night of it.)

This month’s Game Pile articles were:

Apiary, a Stonemeier game of bees! in! space! that I found extremely good in all the ways that Stonemeier games tend to be good.

Infidel, and Circling to Failure, a classic infocom text adventure about how the game frames you as a crappy dude. The unreliable narrator and the failure end point has not been revolutionary for a long time.

Kentucky Route Zero and the Three Games About America, a video about finally putting to the page an incident that I think is hilariously awful and reflects the parochial vision of American centrism that defines games culture.

Pine Shallows, a really cool adventurey TTRPG!

Over in the Story Pile, we got

Girls Band Cry, a revolutionary 3d anime in that it’s not revolutionary just in that it looks really, really cool!

Manhunter, a live action movie about this ‘Hannyball Lecktor’ guy, and the way that, turns out, serial killers aren’t amazing superminds?

Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable, a tourism brochure for Hokkaido, a part of Japan defined, thanks to this series, by snow and massive tits.

Hoot, a Jimmy Buffett movie which of course I’m going to wind up watching because I am such a sap for Jimmy Buffett’s work, and the resultant movie kinda belongs in a sort of Pride Month closet key collection.

Then There Were Five, which goes up tomorrow and you’ll get to enjoy as I grapple with a classic novel from my childhood that set up a status quo and didn’t deliver on it.

If you come to this blog for worldbuilding, fantasy, and generic tabletop kinds of conversations? Well, I covered the Inevitables and Modrons from 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons, the thing we call a ‘druid’ and where that fits in and out of character fantasy, and the way that convenient magic creates an everyday industry. I talked about how in Cobrin’Seil, the Ogre represents not a species but a choice, and player options for if you want to play a bird person, in the form of the Aarakocra and Harpies and how they fit into Cobrin’Seil.

In other articles, I talked about the fantastic event called ‘the miracle of the brick,’ some great anime OPs that outweigh the anime that they present, the criminality of Pokemon in the vibes they project, and some good, old fashioned complaining about a badly made ASMR video by a media mill called Chefclub. And, not related to that particular waft of internet fartings, I talked about why I am resistant to calling my own work content these days.

I also designed a set of shirts inspired by Animorphs:

a black shirt with white text reading ‘Jake & Cassie & Marco & Rachel & Tobias & Ax’

a white shirt with black text reading ‘Jake & Cassie & Marco & Rachel & Tobias & Ax’

a black shirt with white text reading ‘Jake & Cassie & Marco & & Tobias & Ax’

a white shirt with black text reading ‘Jake & Cassie & Marco & Rachel & Tobias & Ax’

a black shirt with white text reading ‘tiger & wolf & gorilla & bear & hawk & ax”

a white shirt with black text reading ‘tiger & wolf & gorilla & bear & hawk & ax’

There are more designs, which are present as a collection over on my Redbubble.

What happened in September? Work was work — fully online classes mean I spend lots of time inside and don’t have the time to get up to things between classes. That’s an interesting challenge in my day to day life that means I’m just not leaving the house a lot, something that’s bothering me a little. Walking the dog, enjoying the weather as best I can in the late hours I walk him – because the dog’s got anxiety – that’s something that puts me out in the air, in a space where I can breath cool air.

What else, what else…

Oh yeah!

When this post goes up, Cohost is two days away from being put into Read-Only mode, and it will be closed and deleted at the end of the year. If you weren’t on it, and didn’t care about it, Cohost was essentially a type of social media website that didn’t work the way any of the other ones worked.

There’s a lot of talk about Cohost that wants to compare it to platforms like Tumblr or Twitter or Bluesky or Mastodon but none of them were really like it. It’s much easier, for me, to tell you what Cohost did: It let you post some pictures, it let you post text, it let you use some CSS or HTML to do things that I understand were pretty fun. To me what Cohost presented as a platform where I could draft articles in public, where there was a commentary culture, and where people would use tags and spoilers to control and present what you were writing or making.

It was also, to me, most importantly, a place where a bunch of my friends were hanging out. Not all of them — it sure seems to be a place biased towards white folks — but it was a place where what they offered was a meaningful chunk of my friend group.

Cohost was a place where the kind of people I like to show things to, the people whose input matters to me, felt okay talking about things. I could get feedback and responses and interest (even modestly) and people weren’t afraid that William Rando Hurst was going to wander into the conversation and accuse them of hating waffles. I have a very small fund of money I think of as my ‘spend on the internet’ kind of money. One of the only places I spent that money was on Cohost Plus, which gave me access to, as far as I know, nothing. I paid for Cohost because I wanted Cohost to succeed, and I wanted people who couldn’t afford to pay for Cohost to not feel they had to shoulder a burden.

And it’s going away.

I loved Cohost, and I’m going to miss Cohost. I get to do that. I’m so glad I get to miss Cohost. I’m glad I get to think about the things that Cohost taught me about how to be a person on the internet and I’m happy of that. It showed me ways the people around me are creative and how they are sad and how they are willing to be when they don’t feel like they’re in risk of being threatened for existing.

I’m gunna miss you, Cohost.

Keep on eggbugging.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

#Diary

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bahamutgames · 1 year ago

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AFTERTHOUGHTS : Emerald Version

Game: Pokemon Emerald Version (September 16, 2004)

Console: Gameboy Advance (Via emulation)

Fellas! It's time for me to talk more about Pokemon! Isn't that always the best time in the world? While I'm trying to take my in-order playthroughs of these big RPG series slowly, I couldn't help myself and just HAD to play Pokemon Emerald. Seriously, I was losing my mind I seriously COULD NOT stop thinking about how bad I wanted to play it. So here we are! And now I'll tell you what I think about this game!

As always, this is NOT a review! Just me spitting up my thoughts so I can get them out of my brain and have room for more thoughts on more games! Don't take anything I say as definitive criticism, and always play ANYTHING I talk about if it seems interesting to you!

POKEMON EMERALD SPOILERS AHEAD, BE WARNED!

Opening

So, you might be surprised to learn considering how much I love Pokemon, but I've actually NEVER beaten any of the games past the first 2 generations! For a variety of reasons. Not least of all was money, I think by the time I finally got a GBA the DS may have been on its way around. And when I got it, I went for Firered cause... Charizard lol. God, I remember looking at Nintendo.com for screenshots of the GBA Pokemon games to decide which region I liked more for when my mom and brother were gonna buy me a GBA haha. Regardless, yeah! Hoenn is the region I grew up around so I have a lot of nostalgia for it. I didn't play the game and I didn't have cable to watch the anime. But this is my era of Pokemon card collecting! Delta Species! E-Reader! My first Pokemon Card ever was Spheal! ANYWAY, we're not here to talk about my Pokemon Nostalgia, we're here to talk about my brand new Pokemon Experiences! So lets get a move on and talk about Emerald!

Stuff I liked

Where to begin? As I'm sure you're aware, I'm a MASSIVE sucker for the GBA. It's an important console to me so the sprites and music from it are some of my all time favorites. And this is seriously some cream of the crop GBA content right here. Easily the best sprite work I've seen in the series in my current playthrough so far, and the music is absolutely lovely. I know the trumpets are a meme but this is great! I'm a little biased though, Firered was my childhood game so getting to see this graphic style, this soundfont, and even some straight up reused sound effects made me so nostalgic! This game just feels so safe and cozy in a way I haven't really experienced in a while.

The story and set up this game is great too! It's a bit of a departure from the previous 2. Where RBY focuses a bit on man-made monstrosities, GSC focuses on mysticism and culture, RSE focuses on prehistory and nature (which I'm obsessed with right now)! It's a great theme and I thought the idea of Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza being ancient beasts that helped shape the planet was cool. But they were particularly cool because they were SO old no one remembered what they were! People knew about Mew, but no one knew about these things? That's nuts! That's neat! Also, the evil teams, while insane, were also cool and I LOVED that there's 2 of them! Like the part where you climb up the volcano and the 2 teams are fighting was SUPER cool!

And overall the game is just filled with very unique concepts like that that really differentiate it from the first 2 games. Your dad is a Gym Leader! Cool! Double Battles (the coolest part probably) COOL! There's a town built on logs in the water, a treehouse town, a volcano town, cool cool cool! There's Pokemon that can only be caught by having a free party slot when you evolve another one. That's cool! Pokemon is always trying cool and interesting stuff with technology (the fascination with interesting technology is one of the games highlights) and I really feel like this one takes a lot of advantage of the new tech like clock based events and more storage space on the cartridge for crazier things. This game is just very different from the first 2 in all the best ways!

And where that shines the best is, no questions asked. In the Pokedex. If you'll recall, my biggest complaint about Crystal is that there are NO new Pokemon in it. Johto has one of the best Pokedex's ever imo but none of those Pokemon are actually easily available in the game. I'm happy to say Hoenn doesn't have that issue at all! There ARE Pokemon from previous generations, but they're few and far in between compared to all the wonderful new species there is to find and catch! I was encountering new things left and right! It was able to keep the excitement going just like RBY did! And likewise, the Gyms all used new Pokemon too! And Hoenn really does have a lovely Pokedex filled some REALLY stellar designs. I struggled to figure out who my final teammate should be for a long time before settling on Flygon. Tropius? Banette? Torkoal? There were SO many good ones! For anyone curious, my favorite Hoenn Pokemon is Swampert!

Stuff I didn't like

Thankfully I feel like this section isn't massive. Really there isn't much I can complain about with Emerald. But there are SOME things to point out. First off, and this isn't EXACTLY the game's fault. But not having access to time based events was a headache. Obviously that's not the game's fault cause how could they know that would become an issue later, but it is still a nitpick I had to mention lol. It does tie into a bigger problem though, held items are SO hard to get in this one. I feel like I was scraping the bottom of the barrel for some of these held items just cause so many I wanted were locked into shoal cave or whatever which you need the clock to use. Or were locked behind one dickhead dragon trainer who never wants to rematch you and you have to battle a million times to get his stupid Pokemon. But again I guess that's a nitpick.

A slightly larger issue is the water. UGH. I love that this game's region is a series of islands, that does rule. But I feel like as a consequence of that, you have to surf SO much. When IGN said there was too much water they were not lying! You surf SO MUCH which sounds cool, but it's so hard to figure out where on earth you're meant to go in those ocean sections. And then Dive just muddies the paths even more. And there are some sections where they don't even tell you where to go so you're really lost just trying to navigate massive ocean. It was a bit much.

But my biggest issue, was without a doubt. The storylines' conclusion. It all felt a little. Eh? Like it didn't live up properly to what was being built up? Before I watch the Ruby and Sapphire endings I'll write my complaints: So first off: the evil team story ending kinda sucks! The cutscenes of the beasts fighting was SO awesome but it's basically the only cool part. It's just Rayquaza showing up, and then everyone fucks off. I feel like there was a better way to handle this ending that would have made it way cooler, and I actually wrote it up back in July:

tldr, double battles are awesome and should have been more prevalent. It's a crime there's only 1 fight in the game that gives you a teammate. The evil team storyline should have ended with your team teaming up with Rayquaza to fight Groudon + Kyogre. Oh well.

Similarly, I also thought the Champion battle was oddly underwhelming. Wallace is... neat. But I was SO certain it was gonna be Steven! The whole game seems to imply as much! But then it's this dude you met for like... 2 seconds earlier rather than the bad ass you met over and over. Kinda underwhelming. But now let me watch the RS endings really quick to see how they compare.

Yeah I'm done and I gotta say, RS actually handle this way better. It feels like Groudon's power is actually contributing with the intense sunlight, you actually HAVE to battle Groudon or Kyogre to fix the problem, and I was was right, Steven is the final boss. This all makes SO much more sense and I don't really understand why they couldn't combine these elements a little nicer into emerald or why they changed the Champion at all. Regardless though, I still think Emerald was cool and I'm still happy I played the green one lol.

Final Thoughts

Yeah this game rules! I'm so glad I finally got to play the game that was around when I was a kid and really experience it for the first time! I had a blast with this one and really really enjoyed getting to see what Hoenn was all about in addition to seeing all the new and gimmicky stuff they tried and how the new technology lead to new weird things for this entry! The whole game feels so nostalgic to me even though I've never played it, and while that's a bit biased, it's the truth! The story was great, the layout was great, the game felt perfect to play, there was so much new stuff to discover and do that hadn't been done in the last 2 games. And the Pokemon distribution was GREAT! With tons of new faces to find and catch! I loved Pokemon Emerald and I totally understand why so many people speak so highly of it!

Let's roll out the tier list!

No questions asked, Emerald is my favorite of what I've played through so far! It manages to keep up the excitement of RBY with a big new world to discover that still manages to build up mystery, have new and exciting experiences, and a wonderful slew of new Pokemon that are EASY to find. While also continuing what GSC did right in terms of massively improving the last game's graphics and music and general game feel WITHOUT sacrificing good Pokemon distribution. It's the best of both worlds while still massively improving on everything! I think with a little more consideration for what made the finale of RS so good, Emerald could have been absolutely perfect. Even though this region certainly has some Pokemon designs I'm not super fond of, the ones I dislike are still cute enough and they're certainly the minority of the Pokedex. Emerald Rules!

Also, you'll notice I removed the remakes from the list. Unlike Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, whose entries I played just as early as Highschool. The Pokemon Remakes are games I played all the way back in Elementary/Middle School. AGES ago. So I don't feel like it's fair to compare them to the other games when I mostly just prefer them based on nostalgia and the benefit they have from being remakes (especially since I won't be playing any other remakes.) So going forward this tier list is just based on the original versions.

===

Thanks for reading! I'm really trying to clear out my to-do list so I can just relax when my Birthday comes up. So I'm hoping to finish my write ups on thoughts of games I played recently soon. Only one game left too! So that's nice!

I'm really trying to not bumrush this series but honestly I'm really enjoying it so I'm already kinda itching to continue. But I'm not gonna play it until later in the year at the earliest. Next stop is Platinum!

If you wanna see my beautiful team you can right here! And you can get a more in depth look at their stats here!

As always you're welcome to follow me on twitter to see what I'm up to! That's all I have for you today! Go out and play something from your childhood!

#2023 #Thoughts

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peribirb · 1 year ago

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hi maeveee thanks maeveeee yeah i've had a few blorbos in my time

Peridot (Steven Universe) - this one is a massive shock to everybody :O

Nine (17776) - I really related with Nine throughout a lot of the story, especially in 20020 where their Gender Stuff was made a bit more canon. Jon Bois i am begging you to release 20021 i am starving for my space probes

Strong Bad (Homestar Runner) - okay we're getting into weird ones but basically every character from HSR is some kinda comfort character. the series played such a huge part of my adolescence and whenever somebody posts about them they have my FULL attention i love to see what they're up to in the minds of the Tumblr Queers

The Original Six Toa (Bionicle) - again, HUGE part of my childhood, and the continued love i see for that franchise makes me really happy, and again seeing modern interpretations of the characters and fanart fills my heart with joy.

Snoopy (Peanuts) - Snoopy :)

Honorable Mentions: Rotom (Pokemon), GLaDOS (Portal)

i haven't done one of these things in so long uhhhhh no pressure at all but how's about @heliogoodbye @peri @vegathelich @archeogeist @pactwraith

five comfort characters, five tags

thank you for the tag @grayeyedandroid!!

leonard "bones" mccoy (star trek: tos)

benji dunn (mission impossible)

benedick (much ado about nothing)

harold finch (person of interest)

john constantine (hellblazer)

no pressure tags: @queerfables @thevelvetarchive @smeerp @saint-starflicker @argylepiratewd

#sometimes it's hard to choose between Comfort Character and Character I Just Think Is Cool #there is a fine but distinct line #to All The Tagged: feel free to ignore this you won't break my heart 👍#THANKS MAEVE 💚#btw hmu with good sidon/yona/link stuff 👀#i really gotta play totk but i'm very down with taking my Sidon/Link energy in a more poly direction

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byakuyasdarling · 3 years ago

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Ah yes, Pokémon rivals; my favourite topic

Warning: this list is massively biased. I (kinda jokingly) rag on every ‘Awful’ tier rival, so if you don’t want to here that, feel free to skip that explanation. I am pretty harsh with Marnie, I know a lot of people like her, so if you do like her PLEASE don’t read her section because I do not want to upset anyone.

Also, I do ramble a bit how I like SWSH but they are my personal least favourite games (which is a hot take, I know), so if that would upset you please skip. Take care of yourselves <33

I created the politically correct ranking of Pokémon rivals (/j)

Anyway, epic explanation under the cut:

*if N was on this list he would fall under “Amazing”. Breath-taking story, breath-taking development, great theme songs, awesome character, fantastic team.

Why Blue is in S rank (very long explanation compared to the rest)

You cannot tell me Blue (or Green, or Gary, whatever you want to call the main Kanto rival) isn’t THE BEST RIVAL EVER. They got it SO RIGHT. He inspires hatred, AND sympathy. Literally, his grandad, the only living relative aside from his sister we even know about, loves you (the player) more than him and it’s kind of sad.

Blue is great, he has a crappy pronunciation of ‘Bonjour’ (see Pokémon Masters), he says ‘smell ya later!’ he has class, swag, and is by no doubt the most challenging rival character. He is the only rival I never swept on a normal run. He is always demeaning you; he is always one step ahead all the way up until the champion battle where you finally beat him. AND HIS CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT OMG.

He still is arrogant and prideful, but respects people and wants to guide people to be better at Pokémon battling and thrives when he sees others succeeding - he doesn’t mind being ‘a former champion’. HECK HE’S SO COOL AND AMAZING.

Also he has the best champion theme and encounter theme ever. Yes, he was a previous F/O so I am super biased; but so were 3 others on this list.

Silver and Gladion

These two were my F/Os when I was much younger (around 12). They are great rivals with great development and story arcs. Plus, they have bopper encounter themes and battle themes. Gladion was my real introduction to the oc x canon community and inspired me to take drawing on as a hobby (as well as Lillie but I did not end up drawing her as much).

Brendan, Cheren, Hugh, and Barry

When I was 10 playing Omega Ruby, I liked Brendan a lot (so... another past F/O... he’s the final one though). I dunno, he genuinely had a good friendship with that extra spice of rivalry with our character, May. I do not like friendly rivals (if my listing wasn’t obvious), but Brendan did it right. There was a lot of touching scenes with him and May *cough*cough* Delta Chapter *cough*cough* which really made me connect with him when I was 10. Now, Brendan and May are interchangeable depending on which one of them you pick to play as, so why have I ranked Bredan far above May? Better encounter and battle theme (yes, they have different instrumentation) and he gets the childhood crush pass.

Cheren is cool, I just really like his character and his attempts to create a good strategy. He is really dedicated to what he loves and becomes a gym leader (like BLUE DID. Blue has it all, really). Plus, glasses are cute :) (he is the same age as me, I can legally say that even though that was an obvious nod to Byakuya but you never know what people will take out of context).

Hugh is cool becomes he somewhat feels like an asshole rival, but at the same time, has a really soft side. Like, his whole motivation to be a good trainer is to save his sister’s Purrloin that was stolen by Team Plasma. He is a hero y’all. Also GREAT encounter and battle theme; huge thumbs up.

Barry! My man! Overall, cool rival with a great team. He is the second hardest rival to me (but Blue is harder than him by a landslide still). He is really funny in both the games and the anime and despite being a bit more friendly, he still sparks a lot of rivalry with you. Plus, his dad is battle frontier brain Palmer! How awesome! He was also my first rival, so that’s something special to me too.

Average Tier

I like Hau as a character, he feels like a genuine friend and how he develops with the main character and Lillie is really wholesome. It’s just - I dislike him as a rival, a lot. Easy fights, not the best encounter theme... just kind of there. I get why people consider Gladion as ‘the true rival’ of S and M because he really is. Hau is also a rival that chooses the starter WEAK to your starter like the gen 6 rivals (who I hate with my entire being).

Wally had a bad-ass final battle theme song and moment. That’s literally the only reason he makes the average tier. If this was a ranking disregarding ORAS he is easily down in the ‘Awful’ tier.

I like Pokémon Sword and Shield... except I just don’t like them as much as every other game (yes. I did play Pokémon Yellow and enjoyed it more, thank you). I know you all HATE that, but that is just my opinion - I think I have earned the right to say that after my almost 12 years of playing these games and being a VGC player for a few years. It has good characters and some cool Pokémon and yeah... gameplay? Lacklustre. I really do not know what went wrong outside of story. Somehow the competitive battle scene is not the fun it used to be. Dynamax bugs me, the lack of megas bugs me, the dex cut REALLY bugs me. I know I am not the only one who thought this game lacked the charm other Pokemon games have. Graphically though, it’s very nice for the most part.

I have gone way off-topic, but anyway, yeah. SWSH rivals make average because I like their characters (especially Hop’s development). Outside of that, not the best rivals.

May is cool for a lot of the reasons I discussed with Brendan.

Lacking Tier

I like Bianca’s whole deal with her dad and how Elesa has a nice moment to shine too - and that’s it. I know the whole theme of her team is friendship but I die inside every time I watch a Chandelure uses RETURN. It was cool she returned in BW2 I guess? I like how her battle theme matches her personality, but it isn’t anything to write home about.

I like Calem a bit more than Serena but I do not want to pull another Brendan and May (even though I had some good reason to do that) and I’m going to put them here. Bad teams and not memorable in the slightest, Calem and Serena belong in this tier.

Awful Tier

X and Y rivals amirite??? They just suck. They are annoying and they suck. They have 3 Pokémon in all final fights, really? At least Shauna is likeable in the anime.

I hate Trace. But, he has one funny memory I have with my dad that makes him slightly better. We both named him ‘Blue’ since Blue is the actual Kanto rival, but then Blue showed up in LGPE... And then the two ‘Blues’ talked to each other and it was mildly amusing at the time. Anyway, he didn’t deserve Blue’s champion theme (which is even used for Blue in later games outside of his champion battle (BW2), THAT IS NOT TRACE’S THEME. Anyway, he is the gross friendly rival that attempted to fulfil the best rival’s shoes. Sorry Trace, bad luck my dude.

I just never attached to Marnie I suppose, but I can understand that she is important to those who are invested in her. I am about to fully rag on Marnie, so please skip if that makes you upset.

I am going to hurt a lot of people when I said I never liked Marnie. She was always just... like why do people like her so much?? I feel like most people like her because she is ‘funny haha goth gf’ which, fair I suppose. I just think she is super lacking as a rival, she makes no real impression as an actual character, and I think if you removed her from the game it wouldn’t make a difference. Don’t want to be that guy, but I AM that guy right now. I suppose she has a cute design?? and that’s it. Again, I am really biased when it comes to SWSH and rivals, so I suppose she really got the short end of the stick with me.

#I am very big on Pokémon rivals — y’know — Pokémon being my favourite thing and all (and Byakuya <3)#but yeah #former VGC player here?? 12 years of experience! (which is nothing compared to others but y’know — I have a lot of biases since I’ve been-#-playing since I was 4.

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emile-hides · 2 years ago

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🧡 🍀 🦚

🧡 - How has the way you presented yourself (ex. Clothing, hairstyle, etc.) changed since you realized you were queer?

I feel like I can't claim the way I look by the Queer part because I've just. Always been like this. I always wanted my hair short because it's thick and annoying. I never liked tight clothes or dresses because they're so itchy. I've always liked bow ties and waistcoats and shoes tied just loose enough to slip them off.

The most is now I wear pride flags every chance I get, and dream of wearing dresses in a masculine way some day.

🍀 - What thoughts or emotions that didn’t make sense to your past self make sense now that you know you’re queer?

So. I've always been a self-shipper, it's a huge part of my childhood, and so is Pokemon. As a kid, I could tell James Team Rocket liked Guys and not girls. Like this man is gay. I knew that. And I remember thinking yeah, he likes guys, and he likes me, as a guy.

There's a lot of situations like that were I was CONSTANTLY saying how much I hated being a girl, wish I was born a boy, etc. And now I'm transgender.

🦚 - Are there any queer books/shows/etc. that you would suggest?

I'm a big fan of causal queerness in media. Like yes they gay but there is plot happening unrelated, so I gotta call out Good Omens, The Owl House, She-Ra, and Steven Universe for doing that for me, people gay and that's not the actual story. Love that.

But I also have to give BIG pointed fingers to my favorite book series: Hell's Library. MASSIVE, HUGE pointing red flashing arrows at this book series but I DESPERATELY need other people to read it.

The Library of the Unwritten is first, it's about a Library in Hell that has every book never written stored within, sleeping and breathing and so desperate to be read they may spit out a character from their pages to go find themselves a reader.

But more importantly it's about Claire Juniper Hadley, POC Pansexual British woman from the 1970's falling 3 books slowly in love with her found family and spitting sass and bullying the entire way.

It's my number one recommendation for anything ever I cannot suggest the series enough, it's so good and the queer rep is beautiful.

#Thankyou for asking #Read Hell's Library Read Hell's Library please god READ HELL'S LIBRARY #PLEASE #I cannot express to you how AMAZING the series is and how broad the Queer rep is LIKE #I can't I can't it's spoilers spoilers #Just read read please read it it's so good bestie

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yamithediaperdork · 4 years ago

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A wild baby appears! (pokemon)

Gary Oak signed in annoyance as he wanted in the woods. here he was, the mother fucking best trainer the world had ever seen (at least in his own mind) and he was waiting after midnight for a meet up just outside of viridian city. Normally he wouldn't of been caught dead outside this late at night, not with the league coming up and having put himself on a strict regiment of exercise, training and sleep, but he'd received a note from a secret admirer who had promised to make it worth his while if he met them at this time, in the woods. and now whoever the fuck it was suppose to be was running late. "I swear to god, if I wasn't so blue balled.." He muttered to himself, keeping his light up watch again and giving it anther five minutes TOPS before he took off. "M-maybe I can help with that.." Came a voice. Gary turned to face the voice, already recognizing it as belonging to ash ketchum, his wanna be rival. The dork was in the shadows so Gary couldn't make him out, but he still gave a grunt of annoyance. "Ok dork, whatever. I don't really swing that way but glad to have it confirmed you've been hanging off of..of.." Gary said but then ash stepped into the moonlight. He heard what ash was wearing before he saw it, and couldn't believe his ears at first but then as Ash was illuminated in the pale moonlight his eyes confirmed it. Ash was dressed in massive diapers, to the point the boy was waddling like a baby learning to walk and was bare foot (which explained WHY it had taken him a bit longer then expected to make it to the meet up.) The diapered were pikachu yellow for the most part, with orangeish red tapes and as to be expected little chibi pikachu's running around and playing for the designs on the padding. aside from the diapers, the only other thing that Ash had worn out to the woods was a massive pikachu print yellow bonnet, with a ribbon under it tied in a cute bow. Looking at the way ash was dressed, one would of expected for Gary to burst out laughing and start mocking the other trainer, but the thing of it all was Gary had a deep down fetish for diaper wearing beta boys. and Ash was checking off all his wants and more. "S-So what do you think? A-Am I cute?" Ash coo'ed, wiggling his hips and crinkling loudly, and the tip of his right index finger on his bottom lip. "I..I Uh..I.." Gary said, blushing and in the moon light Ash could make it out and smiled. "hehehe I knew it!" Ash giggled and clapped his hands and switched to a seductive smile, then kissed his right palm and blew a kiss over to Gary and winked. "Mwah~" Much like a pokemon being hit with attract, the effect was instant and super effective as Gary got little hearts in his eyes. Still this was ASH, his rival and childhood friend and not one of those random twinks he'd meet on the road and have some fun with. shaking his head Gary tried to find the willpower to resist. "Hehehe I can see your trying to fight it, but it's no use daddy~" Ash said and waddled over, a huge predators grin on his face. "I've got you locked in my sights and your NOT getting free! We both know despite your earlier claim your barn door at least swings both ways, though from what Daisy told me it really prefers cute widdle guys like meeee~" Gary gulped and squirmed, frozen in place as Ash came in close and then put his arms on Gary's shoulders and around his neck, then licked his cheek. 'I should of NEVER told Daisy about this!' Gary whimpered mentally, while at the same time also thinking. 'But hot damn, If she's the one who filled in ash I owe her a huge thank you gift.' "A-Ash..I..Look.." Gary said, willing himself to come under control and taking a firm hold on ash's arms. "yes daddy?" ash asked. "I..I need to know if you actually like..um..dressing up like this or if your just doing it because you like me." Gary said. As cute as ash was, he wasn't gonna make anyone dress up JUST for him, he had standards after all. "pfft, silly daddy. I'm a total diaper wearing beta dork. Sooo even if you don't wanna play with the baby, I'll still be rocking huggies." Ash giggled and then darted in, smooching Gary's cheek. "That said..Richie is too vanilla for this, Brock is too big brother and won't play fun games, and Snap just wants to take pictures. I never even thought you'd of been into this till Daisy caught me in my diapies and spilled the beans on you. I've always like liked you~" "..W-Well I mean..I've always kinda liked you too, but your always so stubborn and stuff..I never even thought you'd of um.." "turned out to be a bigggg baby just waiting for the perfect daddy to keep me small and helpless forever?" ash giggled and kissed Gary's other cheek. "Yeah..that. heh.. You know if we do this..I'm gonna wanna keep you with me.. we can still travel around and challenge gyms but you'll always be in diapers and always be daddies little boy right?" Gary said, pulling ash into a hug now and kissing his forehead. "Ehehehe threaten ME with a good time." Ash coo'ed and winked. and so the battle was over so to speak. a wild baby had appeared in the woods and to this day it's hard to argue exactly who captured who. Gary would be a loving and dotting daddy to his widdle ashy but wasn't scared to lay down the law when needed, but on the other hand Ash had Gary wrapped around his little finger.

The end

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surveys-at-your-service · 3 years ago

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Surveys #431-432

two biggins’ in one, beware the long post.

Do you own any Funko Pop! figurines? No. How many cats and dogs have you had as pets in your lifetime? I couldn't possibly count the cats. A lot. We've had I wanna say eight dogs through my entire life. Can your mom and/or dad play any instruments, or how about anyone else in your family? No. My older sister played the clarinet in school, though. Have you ever colored in an adult coloring book as a stress reliever? I have, but they don't really affect my stress level. Can you crack crab legs without a tool? UGH EW I hate crab legs. So mushy and just... ew. I don't think I've tried to without a tool. How many light sources are in the room you’re in? Excluding the natural light out my windows, three. What’s your favorite thing to put on bagels? Just your usual cream cheese. Who’s your favorite director? Tim Burton. I love his style. Bats: cute or gross? Bats are SO goddamn cute. What was the last really intense pain you felt? I had a sudden pain in my chest the other day that scared me quite a bit. Would you rather vacation by a beach or a lake? A lake, for sure. How would you feel about traveling abroad alone? I'd be way too lonely. What is your father's middle name? John. Where did your last kiss take place? The airport. Which movie villain do you find the most terrifying? Probably Jason. A masked guy just casually pursuing you with a knife is horrifying to me. If you married your favorite celebrity what would your last name be? Fischbach alskdfla;wer;lkwera;wle Do you stick your tongue out often in pictures? No. Which one of your family members are you closest to? My ma. Would you rather have name brand shoes or name brand clothes? Shoes. It's very important for them to be comfy for me. Are you a good liar? Yes. :x Are you proud of your parents? Yeah. If you could get backstage tickets to ANY concert - which would you pick? If Mom was with me, Metallica. She would actually fucking die if she met them. Like she cried and laughed with joy when she found out about the concert in Raleigh some years ago, and we thought we were going to go, but yeah, money. Which is better: orange or grape soda? Orange cream soda. Grape soda is so gross. Was the last thing you ate hot or cold? It was room temperature. Who was the last person in your house who isn’t family? Our landlord/family friend. I think. What color was the last swimsuit you wore? Black. Can you remember the last song you listened to? I'm listening to "Thoughts & Prayers" by Motionless In White right now. Have you ever been dumped really harshly? Ha, that is a colossal understatement... Can you do a back flip, or anything else of that sort? Definitely not. I couldn't even do stuff like that as a kid. Do you have any exes you can’t stand anymore? No. What happened to cause you to feel that way about them? ^ Are you more of a phone or a computer person? Computer, for sure. Do you have a job, and if so, where do you work? No. If not, do you want one? Not right now. I want to focus on the gym and getting in shape. Do any medical afflictions run in your family? A whole lot. What’s your favorite Mexican dish? Shrimp quesadillas. Or rice with cheese sauce. Have you ever been to a professional sports game? Yeah, hockey and baseball. Do you prefer pads, tampons or something else? I'm actually conflicted on this right now. I use tampons, but there are reasons I don't really like them and am considering something else. Have you ever ordered a specially made cake from a cake shop? Not me myself, but Mom has. What months were you and your siblings born in? My two immediate sisters were born in April and June. What did you have for dinner last night? Uhhhhh... I want to say I had a chicken pesto bowl? Have you ever had sex in/on a vehicle? No, that sounds so uncomfortable. Do you do anything to groom your eyebrows? No. I don't care about that anymore. Has your town ever flooded? Oh, for sure. Hurricane Floyd from when I was... I wanna say two or three WRECKED my area. Have you ever played at the McDonald’s play place? Yeah. That was a blast as a kiddo. Have you ever taken a picture of snow? Yeah. Do you cry easily? Very. Are you happy with where you live? No. The suburbs suck. I miss living in the country so much. Do people ever mistake you for being a different race? No. Do you hate the last person you kissed? No, she's my best friend in the whole world. What genre is your favorite movie? I actually don't know what it's considered? It's a kids movie, though. Who was the last person you were in a car with? My mom. Do you like the picture on your license/I.D. card? My permit picture is fucking hideous. When was the last time somebody hit on you? *shrug* Was the last person you met a male or female? A guy - my personal trainer. What brand is your underwear? I'm in my pjs, and only a madman would wear underwear to bed. What’s your favorite Thanksgiving food? Just the rolls, really, lol. I'm not a big fan of Thanksgiving foods at all. Do you have a TV in your room? No, because I don't watch TV. Are any of your electronics charging right now? My laptop always is, though I know you shouldn't do that. I need to charge my phone, too. What was the last video game you played? Video game, not computer, I want to say uh... The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon? What’s the biggest promise someone’s ever made to you? Did they keep it? To never leave me. He didn't. Google, Bing, or Yahoo? Google. What was the last song you had on repeat? The song I mentioned earlier. Who is your favorite person to watch on YouTube? Markiplier. :') How many college degrees do you want? It'd be nice to have a Bachelor's in SOMETHING, but I'm not returning to school. Three tries was enough money down the drain. Can you wink? Yeah. Do you own any jerseys? No. Have you ever tried to snort Pixie Stix as a child, or even an adult? Uh, no. Do you like going to baby showers? Do you go only for the cake? No. The last time Jason and I hung out in any capacity was his brother's wife's baby shower, and it's a bad memory. As well, it just reminds me of what I once wanted with him. I'll go to them and be okay, but definitely not thrilled. Has there ever been a time in your life, you felt sexually undecided? Yes, especially in the I want to say 8th grade. I had an inescapable crisis that literally lasted a whole week (or maybe more) forcing myself to believe I was straight, despite already showing but denying bisexual attractions. I was religious back then, so believed if I wasn't straight, I'd go to Hell. Then I came out as bisexual in uhhhh... 2018 I wanna say, and that was a long examination of my feelings. It felt like a massive weight off my shoulders when I accepted it. I felt legit happy. Do you think tattoos and piercings are sexy on the opposite sex? ugggghhhhh yes Do people ever ask you to do things they’re too short to accomplish? No. What color are the headphones you have at this moment in time? My earbuds are pink and white. Ever choked severely on something during lunch at your school? No. Do you eat more vegetables or fruits? What’s your favorite fruit/veggie? Fruits, for sure. My fave is strawberries. What would you say is the color of your favorite bra? I have a pink and black lacy one that is super cute, but it's too small for me right now. It just stays in my drawer. Is anyone in your family a firefighter? Who is it anyway? No. What do you usually buy when you go to the dollar store? If I'm stopping there for a snack (which is usually the only time we stop by one), I tend to get a honeybun. Ever peed in the pool? Be honest! No, that is so gross. When you’re older, what kind of house do you want to live in? I want a medium-sized house that's semi-isolated in the woods. I'd love a nice path to walk down and take photos, a catio for Roman or whatever cat I may have in the future... stuff like that. I need lots of nature. Where do you want to get married? In some sort of gothic building, though I'm sure that would be a WILDLY expensive venue, so I doubt that'll happen. Realistically, either in the woods or even a massive flower garden. Do you plan on having both your parents at your wedding? Yes. What is your favorite childhood TV show? Pokemon. Honestly, do you like school? No, I didn't. Last thing that made you cry? PTSD. Honestly, are you keeping a big secret right now? No big secrets, no. Last person you took a walk with? Sara, years ago. Have you ever liked someone who didn’t like you back? Oh, have I... Who was the last person to actually pick you up in the air? Probably Jason, honestly. Does any part of your body hurt? My non-existent abs are killing me from exercising yesterday. If you had to choose between a million bucks or to be able to change a regret what would you do? While it's tempting, hand me the cash. Can you keep a secret? Absolutely. You tell me a secret, you can guarantee I'll be keeping it between you and me. Your favorite romantic movie? The Notebook. How do you feel about Valentine’s Day? I honestly like it. I love the aesthetic of it, and I know people say "well you should celebrate love every day," and while that's right, what's so wrong about nationally designating a specific day to appreciate it? I think it's a very cute holiday. Who was the last person you took a picture with? My sister Katie. Do your jeans have rips, tears, and holes in them? I haven't worn jeans in yeeeeaaaarrrrssss. When I did though, I loved jeans like that, especially for skinny jeans. Do you celebrate 420?No. Have you ever kicked a vending machine? No. How do you eat Oreos? I prefer to just dip them in milk. If that's unavailable, I separate the two parts, eat the cream, and then the two cookies. Do you wear your shoes in the house? No. Would you survive in prison? Absofuckinglutely not. It's dark, but just to be entirely honest, I'd probably find a way to kill myself. Ever been to Georgia? I've been through it. Do you get your hair cut every month? Not every month, no. It needs a trim right now badly, though.

Current relationship in detail. I'm single and should be. If you were kicked out of your house, who would you call/go to? My dad. List things you spend money on in an average week. Nothing. Rate each of your sexual partners (if any) from 1-10. He was honestly a 10 lmao like I don't have a lot of experience at all, but yeah. Post the last FB group/page that you joined. I actually don't remember because I've been on break from Facebook for around a month. Would you parents be mad if you were in a relationship? No... Think of the last person you had sex with. Do you think they’ve slept with anyone else since they last slept with you? I'm sure he has. He dated someone right after me for like... eight months or something? Is there someone that you believe you will always be attached to? I think that's very obvious by now. What board games are you good at? Idk, I don't really enjoy board games. Is there a sport/hobby you keep thinking about taking up, but that you’ve never quite gotten around to starting? Definitely no sports, but I've been wanting to get back into video editing. I just... haven't, even though I have the software. Do you think pranks like egging/toilet-papering someone's house are funny or immature? They're incredibly immature. I see zero humor in them. Do you think “sleeve tattoos” are a good idea? They're hot as fuck, man. Is there anything in particular that your parents argue about? What? I'll just say they're divorced for good reasons. Do you ever actually read the “Terms and Services” when you sign up for websites and such? No. If you have a handheld games console (a DS or GameBoy, for example), how often do you use it? Almost never. Your phone is ringing. It’s the person you fell hardest for, what do you say? Realistically, I wouldn't answer because I don't answer numbers I don't recognize. Hypothetically, if I knew it was him, I'd probably say something along the lines of, "Hey J, are you okay?", because something must be seriously wrong if he wants to talk to me of all people. If your best friend was kicked out, would your parents let him/her live with you? Mom absolutely would. Are you afraid of falling in love? I'm terrified of it. Is there anybody you wish you could be with right now? I wish I didn't. Have you ever kissed someone & wished you didn’t? Yes: Tyler. Did you get kissed last night? Haven't been kissed in years. Do you enjoy going through a carwash? Bring out the rainbow soap and it's hype lmao. How did you get most of your scars? My cat, ha ha. He sometimes plays way too rough, and I just scar very easily. Ever had to take an inkblot test? Yes, when I went to a psychologist. Have you ever been in trouble for something you honestly didn’t do? Maybe? Have you ever seriously slapped someone in anger? My sister as a kid on her arm. Safe to say I got in trouble for it. What/who woke you up this morning? Just my body. Who was the last person to be in your bedroom besides you? Mom. What’s one of your locked text messages? da;lsd;fakwer I have one locked from Sara that says something like, "You are so beautiful." I cried. Have you ever finished a game of Monopoly? I think? Jason and I used to play the digital one you could download on the PS3. Is there anyone you know who’s in any way paralyzed? No. I mean, I know of a girl who went to my school who was paralyzed from the waist down in an accident, but I didn't/don't know her personally. She was a MASSIVE deal in my education community. Like you would see "prayers for (name)" on school and church signs. The truth all comes out when someone is drunk, true? Usually true. I sometimes think back on the one time Jason was drunk, and he just told me in the most adoring voice, "I love you, Brittany." It's painful as fuck to remember. I really do wonder if he meant it, given this was in the later half of our relationship. When was the last time you felt disappointed in yourself? Constantly. How about feeling disappointed in someone else? I dunno. For you, do you commonly feel more jealousy or envy? I definitely experience envy more often. Do you rely on the heads/tails flipping of a coin sometimes for decisions? No. Do you have any specific chores you do around the house? I'm supposed to empty the dishwasher in particular. For you, does comfort or fashion come first in dressing? Comfort, 100%. Have you had two friends that absolutely hated each other? No. Do you like Laffy Taffy? I do. That sounds pretty good right about now. Do you prefer electric or manual pencil sharpeners? Electric. Are your biceps at all noticeable? Yeah, no. Have you ever seen a walrus? Yeah, at SeaWorld as a kid. Did you ever have one of those Easy Bake ovens as a kid? Yeah. My little sister in particular was obsessed. Does your bathroom have a theme to it? No. From inside of your house, how many doors lead outside? Two. Are there a lot of trees in your yard? No. :/ I miss that. Have you ever liked someone that treated you like crap? No. Have a best friend? Yeah. :') Does it bother you when your best friend does stuff without you? That is so childish. Everyone needs space sometimes. But to answer the question, considering she lives many states away from me, obviously not. Is there a secret you’ve never told your parents? Yes. Does anyone hate you? I wouldn't at all be surprised if Jason does. Colleen might, but I really don't give a shit if she does. What’s the one thing you regret more than anything? The way I spoke to Jason after the breakup. If only I could take those letters back. Do you remember important dates? I am VERY bad at dates, doesn't matter how important they are. What’s some lyrics from a song that means a lot to you? "For such a little thing, you sure are in your own way" from a Mother Mother song. Who gives the best advice? Sara. Who do you usually see in your dreams? :) Jason is nearly a permanent fixture. Jeez, I'm bringing him up a lot in this one. I'm surprised my PTSD isn't dragging me into a pit for it. What type of cake did you last eat? Uhhh I wanna say double chocolate? Mom got two slices from the store for me and herself a long time ago. How many of your friends are gay or bisexual? A large number. I don't feel like counting. What’s your favorite type of sandwich? Just your usual peanut butter and jelly. When was the last time someone asked you out? Did you accept or decline? Years ago by Girt. I accepted. Do you like The Offspring? Sure, I like a handful of their songs. One pillow or two? I sleep with two. Do you like Mad Libs? Sure, they can be funny. Are you suicidal? Well damn, just throw that in there. Anyway, no. I'll admit I've had very brief, passive thoughts very rarely as of the late, just wondering if there really is a point to me being here, but I'm not actively suicidal at all rn. Where do your grandparents live? They're dead. When alive though, they lived in Florida and Michigan. Do you cut yourself? And this one? No, I haven't in many years. What is your pet’s name? Roman and Venus. Have you ever been to Canada? No, but I'd love to visit. Aren’t babies overrated? "Overrated" is definitely the wrong word... I don't particularly find a lot of babies cute and I don't want my own, but they're not overrated. Have a built-in pool in your backyard? Never have. Ever won yourself a stuffed animal? Yeah. Ever had someone else win you a stuffed animal? Yes. Ever been to a circus? No. I wouldn't set foot into one. Ever shot animals? I never, ever could. Do you consider yourself intelligent? I USED to. I think I'm dumb as shit now. School knowledge did not latch onto me well, I guess. Have you ever run away from home? Yes. It was so overdramatic. I came back hours later because I had my phone and Mom texted me threatening to call the cops. Do you put family first, friends, relationships, school, or something else? I will never put my mental health behind anything/one again. What’s something you’ve stood up for in the past? When Colleen and I were friends in middle school, we both spoke before the class in absolute disgust at how our classmates were treating our poor substitute teacher. Colleen had AT them, while I was more tame about it but still wanted to bash into their heads that they were all being absolute trash to the poor man. What’s something you worked extremely hard to get? My mental wellbeing. Granted, I'm not exactly "well" now, but once upon a time I was living in the deepest ocean trench as far as depression goes. Are you satisfied with your body image? Hell no. I really, really, really hope loyally going to the gym will help me with that. Have you ever been labeled negatively or otherwise been called something extremely derogatory? Not that I know of. Have you ever seriously taken advantage of someone or been taken advantage of? No. Have you ever been seriously ill? Mentally, immensely. Physically, not really. I've had some nasty stomach bugs, but nothing truly severe. Have you ever befriended a former enemy? Ha, it's funny, I used to hate Jason's first ex/heartbreak for how badly she hurt him. Like she could've been falling off the face of the earth with only me to save her, and I'd let her keep falling. I hated her. Yet now we're Facebook friends and comment on each other's stuff like it's nothing, ha ha. She reached out to me a few years ago to apologize for high school stuff (she also hated me for Juan - her ex or something along those lines - being interested in me instead of her), we chatted a bit, and now I think she's great. If you’re not religious, would you ever pray as a last resort? If you are religious, do you often pray for other people? I don't pray anymore. That's all I'll say to keep this from becoming potentially very offensive. Have you ever dated someone, then after you dated they came out of the closet or switched (for lack of a better word) sexual orientation? I'm pretty sure my middle school boyfriend Aaron is gay, but I'm not certain. He vanished from Facebook a long time ago. Has a boy/girl ever walked a ridiculous distance just to see you? How about vice versa? I tried doing that the night of the breakup. By car, I know it was a seven-minute drive, but walking there, never mind at night, was ludicrous. I only didn't manage because after a few minutes, Mom came after me and kept cutting me off with the car. When was the last time you felt really uncomfortable? Right now. My abs REALLY hurt, and I'm also cramping like a motherfucker after not having a period for 3+ months because of TMS therapy. I'm still pissed about how it had a physical effect on me, but didn't mentally do what it was meant to. Is there anything that your mom is really known for as to how she is as a person? She is very, very loving and lives to help others. Who have you been talking to the most today? Nobody, really. I've spoken with Mom obviously, but for the most part, today's been quiet. Are you nosy? I can be pretty damn nosy, yes. What’s the meanest thing you have done to a friend? Consistently flirted with her boyfriend behind her back. I was 12, okay? If your ex called you crying, what would it most likely be about? THE ex, I have no idea. I don't know what's going on in his life, besides his mother dying quite a few months ago, but I don't see why he'd contact me about that. Who was the best kisser out of all the people you have kissed? Jason. Have you ever been told that you have an annoying laugh? No, but I think I do.

#survey #surveys #random questions

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stillchaoticlogic · 5 years ago

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Such a Tease: Chapter 1

Pairing: (Aged) Gary/Blue Oak x Reader

Summary: After a tragedy, you make the decision to quit your career as a trainer and focus on breeding Pokemon for the general population. You are one of the best in the region. You aren’t expecting the have to deal with your childhood rival and crush suddenly popping back into your life. After all, Gary Oak broke your heart and now you are determined to break his… or are you?

NOTES:*This is my very first pokemon story written many many years ago. I’ve decided to revamp it and see what happens! I hope you enjoy a little Gary / Blue love! I will kinda be combing the anime and game versions and I may or may not have just bought the manga to read… It will kinda be my take on these characters. Ash may become more like Red, but I haven’t really decided yet… I’m just having fun with this!*

Getting Started The alarm sounds much too soon for anyone’s liking and groggily you roll over and hit snooze. Too bad that doesn’t work. The annoying jingling in your ear continues much to your half-asleep dismay, finally opening your eyes you see the source of the noise at such a forsaken time of the morning it’s coming from Jingle Bells your Chimecho. You sigh in exasperation at her before hauling yourself up out of bed making her promptly stop. You roll your eyes as she merely floats in front of you staring up at you with devious innocence; you swear she has been hanging around Missy, your Mismagius for far too long. You yawn as you make your way past her into the bathroom to get ready for the day.

You had spent all of last night moving into your new center and you were dead. Jingle has been your faithful companion and alarm clock for years at this point, but perhaps she is a little overzealous at times. Especially when it’s five o’clock in the morning and the world isn’t even awake yet.

After you have prepared yourself for a day of decorating, arranging, unpacking and sorting, you head down the stairs to the oversized kitchen, which you soon realize has yet to be stocked. Upon this realization, your tummy comes to the conclusion that it needs something and now; so to alert you to such feelings it lets out a rather large growl. You sigh for the umpteenth time this morning and grab your purse and keys as you head out the door. Lady saunters after you, since she isn’t ever too far behind, taking her sweet time to meander out the door at her dignified pace. You merely chuckle at her and close the door behind her when she finally reaches the outside. As you begin your walk to the town she matches her pace with yours easily.

Looking down at her you say, “Alright Lady dear, how about we stop at that café I saw in town for breakfast then over to the store? We’ll do some shopping to get us in the mood for decorating!”

“Espi!” she exclaims in agreement as the two of you continue through the gardens toward the forest.

You love the location of your breeding center you must admit. It is rather beautiful and so private. A decent size of the forest had been cleared to make room for it, but you made sure that all the wood that was cleared went to building something. Even a natural spring ran through your property down to a pond that was surrounded by trees and flowers. Flower gardens add to the picturesque front of the house which is at least 3 stories high with a basement as well. Of course, your house will also be housing your staff and several of your Pokémon so you had to have a large house.

The back of the house wasn’t anything less breathtaking with herb and vegetable gardens for cooking purposes as well as medical. Off to the right side, a massive barn looking structure would be the home of the Pokémon that you would be breeding and training. The entire grounds were enclosed with a high-security system, invisible to the naked eye and impossible to enter or leave except at the designated locations. Oh yes, it is quite a sight to behold and it better be for what you have invested in it. This is your one shot at your dream. You hope that it works considering all of your earnings, winnings, and savings had gone into this sucker.

The sun played through the canopy of the trees as you and Lady make your way to town. Neither of you cares about the time or the distance, after all, the two of you have been travelers for so long that such things have merely become irrelevant. The relaxing silence is what you need considering the hustle and bustle of the past few days. Getting moved in has been an experience all in itself one you don’t need for quite some time.

The tunnel of trees ends and you are greeted with the sight of Route one and merely ten feet away, Viridian City. The city has grown since your departure several years prior and you rather like the changes made. You allow your memory to lead you to the café you saw while walking through town a few days ago. It’s a cozy place full of big comfy couches and armchairs as well as outdoor tables and chairs under a gazebo. The lighting was bright from the rays coming in through the various windows and skylights. You could see various plants and such growing in the flower beds that surround it giving it a cheery vibe. Upon entering you make your way up to the counter and begin to look up at the drinks posted up on the sign as well as the array of sweet cakes and such that line the pastry case before you.

“Hi! How are you today?” chirps the girl behind the counter, how she chirps at six in the morning you will never know, but appreciate the sentiment anyway.

“I’m good, thanks,” You answer with a pleasant smile.

“So, what can I get for you?”

After you have placed your order and gotten something for Lady as well you make your way over to a table in the corner by a window. You begin to people watch as you sit in a more or less daze just taking in the town.

“Are you new to town?” interrupts a voice beside you.

“Huh?” you question turning to see the girl from behind the counter cleaning a nearby table. She smiles pleasantly and repeats the question.

“Oh, I’m from Pallet town originally, but have been traveling for the past fifteen years. I’ve just recently decided to move back to start my own breeding center.”

“OH!!! So you’re the owner of that new breeding center on Route One! That is sooo cool!!! I’ve always wanted to be a Pokémon breeder just like my brother. And one day I will, but right now I don’t even have a Pokémon.” You frown at how her excitement became disappointment so quickly.

“Well, I do own a breeding center…. And I do need help… And I do have plenty of Pokémon….”

She turns to you her eyes getting very wide with each statement you make.

“Really!? Do you really mean what I think you mean?!?!”

“Well do you have any experience at all with Pokémon?”

“Yeah! My brother taught me a lot!! He’s a great breeder, but he has been traveling for a while trying to get more rare Pokémon to breed. So, I haven’t really got to see him a lot.”

“That’s ok, stop by sometime tomorrow and we’ll see about getting you a job. I’m going to see how you do with some of the Pokémon before I do though ok?”

“Ok!! That sounds great!! Oh! I need to get back to work. Bye, see you tomorrow!!”

You smile and nod at the enthusiastic girl as she runs off behind the counter to serve the next customer. You are a little surprised to find a guy already sitting on the other side of the café sipping his coffee and reading the morning paper with an Umbreon sitting to his right eyeing your Espeon with interest. Lady merely ignores him as she continues to eat the bit of pastry you had given her for breakfast.

“You’re such a heartbreaker Lady,” you chuckle as you glance back over to the Umbreon only to see who his trainer is.

One: Gary Oak.

At the mere sight of him, you are quite sure that every ounce of maturity, intelligence, grace, and confidence that you had collected over the past fifteen years dissolves in a vat of childish hopes and dreams that were crushed beneath his foot. You swallow hard at the feelings swirling around inside of you at the sight of him. Fighting hard against them, you make it a point to get up and leave, slipping your sunglasses on in the process to avoid any unnecessary conflict. Lady sensing your discomfort leaps upon your shoulder and glares both the male and his Umbreon down the whole way out the door. You sigh in relief, letting out the breath you didn’t know you were holding, the moment you are out of sight of the café, your shoulders relax allowing you to calm yourself down. Lady looks up at you questioningly, concern and confusion laced in the waves she is sending you. You look down and smile in reassurance at your best friend, knowing that no matter what happens she will always be there for you.

Shaking off the surprise from seeing the boy who broke your fifteen-year-old heart you continue your day as planned. Lady helps you pick out the decor, sheet sets, and curtains. Thankfully you have already picked out appliances and you don’t need to worry about them. You head to the store to stock up on groceries and giggle when Lady levitates snacks she likes into the cart. You roll your eyes at her antics but allow her to indulge all the same.

A very sincere part of you can’t get Gary out of your head though. You had adored him when you were younger, definitely against your better judgment. He was arrogant and stuck up, but he was smart, cool and confident as well. As he gained success as a trainer you had just fallen for him even more. Five years after setting out on your journey you ran into him at a competition and worked up the nerve to ask him out. Not only had he rejected you but he had laughed in your face. To this day you recall the embarrassment you felt as you ran from his jeers.

Despite the passage of time, you still felt like that fifteen-year-old today when you saw him in the cafe. You groan as you roll your eyes at yourself.

“What is wrong with you?! You went on to be one of the strongest trainers in the region! You are considered one of the best in the business. You don’t care about some stupid boy.”

With a final nod of your head indicating that this internal conversation is over you focus on getting Gary Oak out of your head onto the task at hand. You have a lot to do and you don’t have time to worry about him.

Notes: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I’m pretty excited about revamping this story. Please like reblog and comment to show some love!

#pokemon #pokemon fanfiction #pokemon scenarios #pokemon imagines #blue oak #green oak #gary oak #gary oak x reader #blue oak x reader #blue oak x you #blue x you #blue x reader #green x reader #green oak x reader #green oak x you

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timegears-moved · 4 years ago

Note

☕️ mmmm pokemon games specifically (not including spinoffs)

sorry this is late im terrible with actually answering asks. ill do this generation by generation. also this ended up very long because i have a lot of thoughts about pkmn.

gen one: okay so right off the bat im gonna say that i have a massive soft spot for gen one, considering blue was the first game i ever played. i do have a degree of nostalgia towards it which is why i can never be truly be harsh on these games. i know they're a mess of glitches and mechanics that make no fucking sense (seriously FUCK psychic types and everything they stand for) but it has a certain charm to it.

but even as a "kanto apologist" (which damien calls me) i can absolutely agree that the pandering is fucking abysmal. they're trying cater to a demographic who hasn't cared about pokemon in years and aren't going to pick up a new game just because charizard is in it. by doing this it feels like they're alienating the people who actually care, like "yeah ur support is nice but we want the genwunners to like us more than anything.

also on the topic of pandering is that their pandering is so half-assed too. all of this gen one content and not one shred of love for my boys victreebel or cloyster? bro i hate it here.

gen two: i dont really have that much to say here tbh. i have no fond memories of it at all considering i only played through gold once right before hgss came out. i can say that i appreciate all of the bullshit from gen one that it fixed but i have issues with johto as a region that ill elaborate on when i talk about the remakes.

gen three: honestly i never cared much for this gen. i played it quite a bit growing up but it's always been whatever for me. a lot of it just feels kind of.....bland for me. i really don't know what to say because it leaves me feeling conflicted. there's nothing bad about these games that sticks out like a sore thumb but they just don't do it for me, ya know?

i do appreciate frlg for shedding a much better light on kanto though.

gen four: okay so i'll fully admit that the sinnoh games are my childhood faves and are still my faves now but im not letting nostalgia completely cloud my judgement on this.

honestly? i think pokemon peaked with platinum. dp had their problems for sure and some of those still carried over to platinum but the scale in which platinum told its story feels so much grander than any pokemon game that came before or after it. i absolute adore the sinnoh mythos and i only want dp remakes just so it can get expanded upon, i could care less about any actually gameplay from it. ive said this before but you cannot make the god of pokemon and not do anything with it.

as for hgss, i have very mixed feelings about this one but not in the same way gen 3 made me feel because i do have genuine problems here. ive talked before about them but i just cannot stress how bad the level and pokemon distributions are. how the fuck can you make brand new pokemon for your johto region and not put them in fucking johto?

like these games are fine ig. i never cared about the walking pokemon mechanic but it literally feels like people only praise this game as the best because of that one thing that has no bearing on the actual game itself. you can like these games all you want, i still enjoy parts of them myself, but calling them the best is a huge reach.

gen five: right off the bat im gonna say that i do love the gen five games so nobody thinks im being overly critical or anything. i love the aesthetic of these games, i ADORE the pokemon here and they're some of the most fun pokemon games to play through. it's the story and characters (with the exception of n i will absolutely give credit where it is die there) that throw me for a loop.

i feel like whenever i praise the story or characters im just following the crowd here. i don't know if im just very stupid (i definitely am very stupid) or what but none of it felt as powerful as people claim it is for me personally. maybe i should just pay more attention but i honestly don't know. im definitely not saying theyre bad or anything i just in all hobestly dont get the (very sudden) hype.

uhhh i can't say much about bw2 because i haven't beaten it since it came out but i remember liking hugh and it made iris a champion so i remember them being good on those two things alone.

gen six: hohohohoho here we go. tbh i don't even know what i can say about xy that hasn't already been said. like gen one might be a huge mess looking back on it but at least it had character. xy introduced a few pokemon that i really liked and some amazing shiny hunting methods that should definitely return but that's the most i can say in terms of praise.

i dont think pokemon has ever gotten this boring before, and that's speaking as someone who clocked over 300 hours into my x save file. nothing has life (which in hindsight is ironic considering xerneas is the god of life) and i hate the way mega evolution was handled so much. i really don't know what else to say because everyone has already said what i want to but i think this has been pokemon's lowest point so far.

oras once again made hoenn complicated for me. they made hoenn somewhat interesting for me in a way that didnt capture me in the originals. i don't think they're stellar but ive seen people call these the worst ones and....why. i get that the originals are special to a lot of people and that they feel like oras did them injustice but honestly i would oras over the originals because they're just more fun for me.

gen seven: it made popplio. 10/10.

okay so i can understand why the very slow start and unskippable long cutscenes threw a lot of people off but i just don't understand so much of the hate it around other things. again i see people proclaiming it as the worst and you can see it as that from a gameplay element, but the story fucking slapped ass and i don't think amybody can or should deny that. maybe i just feel very passionately about them because they're very personal for me in helping me through a rough time in my life but i just also dont see why everybody is so mad at these games sometimes.

the fact that sm mean so much to me makes usum's entire existence hurt so much more. like wow i love abuse apologism: the game thank you sooooo much gamefreak! /s

aside from ultra wormhole jumping, my baby dusk lycanroc and the new ultra beasts i dont care for anything new usum brought. it feels like it back peddled so much by completely ruining lillie's character by attempting to make lusamine likable when the damage from the first games was already done. i hate usum they're the only pokemon games i can state that i hate. i don't know how you can take sm's well-done albeit flawed blueprints, take out everything that was good and only leave stuff that either doesn't matter or is actively harmful.

also let's go pikachu and eevee exist too idrc

gen eight: ive already spoken my piece on swsh but im gonna be more clear here. i dont think swsh is inherently bad and i can still have fun with them. i dont think the issue here lies with the cut pokedex. i could honestly care less about that and i always figured we would get to this point. the issue lies with nintendo and tpci pushing for yearly releases, forcing the devs to make yearly subpar games. i can think of so many ways they can remedy this situation: taking longer times between releases, hiring more staff at gamefreak or even splitting developments for different projects between multiple different studios. i hope that the reported low moral at gamefreak at swsh's releases is enough of a wake up call for change but that could just be me being optimistic.

i am SO sorry this ended up as long as it is but i have a lot of opinions and not enpugh willpower to keep my mouth shut

#asks #ty for the ask!#jasper tag #long post #also im on mobile so i cant put a read more 😔

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solitaire-dreams · 6 years ago

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What’s Your Type? : Pokespe Fire/Water/Grass Dexholder Analysis

DISCLAIMER: Honestly, I've only read RGB, RS, DP, BW, and SM arcs in full; and parts of the Yellow and B2W2 arc. So, any information outside of these arcs is coming from Bulbapedia and is liable to be incorrect.

When it comes to the world of Pokespe, rather than the anime where we follow the never aging Ash Ketchum, we now total about 21 dexholders (our protagonists). Each dexholder is fairly unique from one another, yet one thing always tends to be in common between them. The same thing that's always common when we pick up our consoles to start a new Pokemon journey. Picking our starters.

In the world of Pokespe, the standard starters aren't guaranteed to be the first Pokemon they will receive—quite the opposite actually—yet they will always gain one of the traditional starters at some point of their evolutionary line on their journey. (The only two exceptions are Yellow who was created for the Yellow games where Pikachu was the starter, and Whi-two or Whitley because they ran out of Unovan starters). This often has us classify the dexholders into grass, fire, and water varieties. Though this categorization goes deeper than a Pokemon in their party, but plays a large role in their characterization.

Each of the dexholders in each category share a trait that connects all of them, and will provide useful for other predictions (skip to the end if you just want to know what the other prediction is). This post is focused on breaking them down one by one.

Note: Since I was tempted enough to reblog an incorrect pokespe quote where green was the name given to the male character, for the rest of this blog, Green is the male character and Blue is the female. Got it? Good.

First off, we'll start off with the fire type dexholders. Most of you might notice some obvious similarities:

Yet, there is also one very obvious exception:

Green here doesn't tend to shout, especially as much as the other fire type dexholders. So, then what is the factor connecting them? All of them still have a very fiery spirit, and more accurately, is their strong determination towards achieving whatever goal they have. They will pursue it no matter whatever or whoever lies in their way; often leading to causing chaos or bad relationships with other people in their wake.

Green is extremely focused on becoming a strong trainer. Upon his first appearance, he is battling Mew with Charmander to train it and shows no remorse when Red tries to battle it and his Pokemon faints; rather looking down on him for not “noticing anything” during the fight. This determination continues throughout the first arc, as further demonstrated when he tries to force his way into Saffron City after Team Rocket attacks Pallet Town and takes his grandfather.

Gold has the notable trait of having a one-track mind, where he focuses on something so much he will pursue that relentlessly, and ignoring anything else that doesn't pertain to that. Though, this trait manifests itself most when Gold pursues “pretty girls” such as the Kimono Girls, gym leader Jasmine, or even Crystal upon first discovering her.

Though it still can translate in the pursuit of Gold's goals, where he initially receives a Pokedex because he wanted to use it in battle, and urgently attempts to gain a unique specialty during the GSC arc.

Sapphire's dexholder title is specifically “The Conquer” in reference to her earning 8 gym badges in 80 days. She unrelentingly goes around the region to defeat the gym leaders—causing her to start off on the wrong foot with Ruby. And she turns it into a bet to reach their respective goals in 80 days all because it stemmed from a promise she made with her childhood friend to beat the record of Red when it came to the Pokemon League.

Pearl's title is the Determiner, one he received after bonding with Azelf—the lake guardian of Willpower. He managed to bond with Azelf because he completes whatever he starts; as clarified by Diamond in the arc. Determiner, willpower, completes whatever started...yeah, this screams dedication to a goal. Especially when you consider the focus Pearl gives to Dia's and his comedy routine.

For Black though, no matter how well I could paraphrase it, I will just quote this article (bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Black_(Adventures)): “Black is a young man who aspires to be the Champion of the Unova Pokémon League. He has been dreaming of this since childhood, nine years to be exact. However, these dreams fill his head to the point where he cannot think about anything else and any attempts to cause him to pass out from mental exhaustion...Due to his dreams causing him to forget about other things, Black has the tendency to do things without considering the consequences of his actions and their effects on other people.”

I think the above proves the point well enough.

Also, I would like to briefly mention Y. While Y isn't a fire type dexholder (she's a water type), since there is no fire type dexholder in Kalos (Malva doesn't really count), she is a kind of water/fire dual type with her personality. Y shouts more than most of the other water dexholders and exhibits a more solid determination to pursue her goal of becoming a Sky Trainer, even when this runs into direct opposition with her mother's ideas for her.

Lastly, we wrap up the fire dexholder with our latest protagonist, Sun. Sun has the goal of collecting 100 million yen. Acheiving this goal has been Sun's whole time in Alola in the making. He relentlessly pursues money, even prioritizing reaching his personal goal than helping the Alola region against the Ultra Beast invasion, leading him to get sucked into Ultra Space with Solgaleo.

Next up is the water type dexholders, which personally I found the revelation most interesting. It would be difficult to derive a personality solely from the type this time. Unlike fire which is associated with offensive battling, or grass which tends to be connected to defensive, water is viewed as the balance between the two. But, this doesn't really provide any clues into what is the common thread between all these dexholders. My findings, however, were that they all tend to be secretive.

Miss Con Artist (Blue), our first water type dexholder, is literally a con artist. Her whole livelihood is based of lying and keeping the truth about her real intentions to trick people into doing whatever she wants. Plus, she has her own secrets that only come to light much later into her appearance in the first arc and beyond. Her pathological fear of birds is only hinted at during the Team Rocket battle and confirmed during the Pokemon League when battle “Professor O”. Even more shocking was her childhood under the Masked Man, who trained her because of the promise she showed as a trainer.

This transitions nicely to our other dexholder who was raised under the Masked Man, Silver. And he so happens to be a water type dexholder as well. While Silver does not purposely keeping his life before the Masked Man close to his chest, it is revealed that Silver was the son of Giovanni, an insanely big secret that heavily impacted his character.

Ruby, in order to pursue his love of contests and oppose the beliefs of his father, refuses to battle at the beginning of the RS arc. This in turn hides his amazing battling skills (plus the fact he has a FREAKING CELEBI). Additionally, when it comes to the climax of the arc, he hides from Sapphire the plan he had to team up with Courtney to control Groudon and Kyogre. While still intended for her safety, it is still another massive lie and withholding of the truth on his part.

Platinum may not be thought of as being secretive, but the speech she makes after learning Dia and Pearl weren't her bodyguards begs to differ. Most of the lies she reveals in that speech were white lights told to make her not seem inferior and were obvious to the reader, but it still goes to show that she lied a fair amount. Her wealth and connection to the Berlitz family were also discovered rather than told by Platinum. And most obviously, she hid her real name of Platinum until this time! This whole journey, her companions didn't know what her true first name was!

Lack-two or Blake is another dexholder who has lying built into his occupation. Blake is with the International Police and working undercover during the B2W2 arc (Please give us some form of closure! #freeblack2k19). He literally has to keep his true intentions of hunting down the remnants of Team Plasma from his fellow classmates. Additionally, his true personality isn't shown to others either; he puts on a womanizing and flirtatious front when he truly an emotionless officer.

Y is honestly the least secretive out of the water dexholders, but that can also be attributed to her odd Volcanion (a fire-and-water type) fusion. It may not be obvious, or not in a way you expect, but Y does hide something—her feelings. Dealing with the human depression that is X and three of her other friends while trying to all live on their own and dealing with fallout from her mother on top of one of the most cruel evil teams yet? You think she would break down, or someone would help her; but none of the characters we follow demonstrate this concern! theviolenttomboy made a short post that summarizes all the sh*t Y goes through (theviolenttomboy.tumblr.com/post/146359425406/figured-out-why-i-cant-ship-y-with-absolutely), and how she has to deal with it all on her own. In order to keep the group alive, she has to hide her emotional distress. A problem not even resolved by the end of the arc.

Finally, we arrive at the grass type dexholders. Honestly this was the most tricky for me to pin down. Mostly because we have dexholders like Dia and X who have personalities that couldn't seem more different. So, I had to take a look back, and that's when I realized something. Both of the previous characterizations centred around how they achieve their goals. Fire type dexholders barrel through whatever obstacles are in their way and water type dexholders hide information as they pursue their goals. This gave me the clue of what to analyze for the grass type dexholders and this is my conclusion:

The way grass dexholders approach their goals is the most “healthy”. They are able to self-intrinsically motivate themselves when life discourages their goals and try to achieve them in a way that doesn't tend to hurt others as much as the other two dexholder categories (most of the time).

Honestly, this probably reminds you of a generic shonen protagonist, so it is fitting that the dexholder who started this characterization was the most shonen like character of all: Red. Red is able to convince himself to keep working towards his goal of becoming the strongest trainer, despite the obstacles he faces in the form of Team Rocket or people like his rival discouraging him from developing into a stronger trainer. The way he aims to be the strongest also doesn't harm many people, if people are affected, it tends to be accidental.

Crystal manages to stay firm in her goal of catching all the Pokemon even if the other Johto dexholders just see her as a girl at first. She can motivate herself to keep working towards it, and with the caring and give-back nature of Crystal, she is certainly not harming anyone on her path to reaching her goal. Minus a few face kicks to Gold.

Emerald certainly faced a lot of adversity that pushed him down. Becoming an orphan at a young age and made fun of for his small height, initially actually causing him to go against the foundation of grass dexholders being able to motivates themselves by resulting in a dislike of Pokemon and his stature. However, he develops this grass mindset as the Emerald arc progresses, finding what he enjoys, what makes him unique, and cultivating the confidence needed to be himself—even if life is still against him. Plus, while I can't speak for much of his actions in the Emerald arc (because I haven't red FRLG yet, and I know the events are directly connected), his title of the Calmer which stems from his ability to help Pokemon feel relaxed means he is at least not harming Pokemon much during his adventure.

One of the biggest character moments for Diamond is him managing to self-intrinsically motivate himself to pursue a goal despite opposition. In this case, the goal being to stop Team Galactic and his opposition being his best friend Pearl. Regardless, he succeeds in standing up to him and working towards thwarting Team Galactic, with the worst harm caused probably being Pearl's shock at Dia standing up for himself.

White seems to exhibit a peaceful way of pursuing her goal surrounding her talent agency for Pokemon. When her goal switches after Gigi leaves her for a bit, White's new focus on getting stronger at battling is still approached in much the same way. One where she convinces herself to keep working towards improvement and does not negatively affect people along the way.

Then we have the enigma of X. X doesn't seem to follow things of “motivation” or not inadvertently bringing down others with him, but that's only when his goal isn't clear. When we start with X in the XY arc, his goal is to stay in his room; locked away from the outside world. In this context, he meets all the criteria: he ends up convincing himself to work towards his goal of staying a shut-in, despite all the pleas to change this from his friends; and most of his protest to stay inside is silent and doesn't directly or physically harm his friends.

Lastly, our final dexholder is Moon, who also conforms to this characterization fairly well. Moon is able to pursue whatever she considers a priority, unaffected by outside influences. Whether it be praise from her work early on in the SM arc, or not listening to reason before chasing after Sun in the wormholes when he is taken away; leaving Alola to face the Ultra Beasts alone.

tl; dr : Each dexholder approaches their goals differently based on the type of their starter. Fire dexholders have strong enough determination to barrel through all the obstacles to their goal, knocking down everything and everyone in their way. Water dexholders are secretive and hide important information as they work towards their goal. Grass dexholders have the “healthiest” way of reaching their goals, managing to motivate themselves to keep working towards it when life tells them otherwise.

This information may be touched on again in other posts I'm planning: a follow-up talking about the “Bronze-age” progression of dexholder characterization, one about predicting what the Gen 8 protagonists of Pokespe will be like, and another discussing trio characterization.

~Thanks for reading and I'll be back soon!

#pokemon #pokespe #original #analysis

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ghostmartyr · 5 years ago

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Pokémon FireRed Nuzlocke [Part 9]

Through the power of no grinding, we’ve earned all eight badges. All that’s left is Victory Road and the Elite Four.

Er.

Sort of.

My team might need some moveset adjustment.

I need my money for Full Restores.

So.

Let me just say, before all the fun is sucked out of me with this, that I love that Erika’s city has a gambling hall, a massive mall, and a Gym made of rainbows. Erika as a stoner lesbian with no fucks to give is the funniest headcanon I’ve had while playing these games, and I feel like there’s more evidence for than against.

-cue all the hidden Pokemon lore that says I am wrong-

-that I assume exists but refuse to look up-

I have fifty coins from talking to people and looking on the floor.

Five minutes later, I have fifty-two.

I miss Voltorb Flip.

...I’m switching machines. That always works, right?

Yaaaay.

4000 coins buys Thunderbolt. Shadow Ball is 4500. I had wanted that for Po. Seemed like a useful thing.

Sigh. Okay, let’s see the damage.

That’s.

Shit.

DON’T GAMBLE, KIDS.

Now we go back to Viridian and make our way to the Pokemon League.

With the unstoppable power of an Electrode who knows Thunderbolt.

Do you see this going well? Because I don’t.

Hey, the gate area is a new route. And it has grass.

But Serebii says I’ve caught everything I can here. Saddening.

Okay then. Now we get to the fun part. I think Sprinkle goes in front. Actually, no. Allenby goes in front. Sprinkle’s slow enough that running from wild pokemon will probably be an issue.

First Victory Road encounter! Something I can catch! It’s a Machop! Her name can be Mura.

Help, though. I don’t remember what this thing is or if it matters.

Oh! I think I know. It’s time for rock puzzles.

I Max Repelled a level 46 Onix into existence. This feels like a really helpful trick for this run. Noted for the future.

First fight of Victory Road! Cooltrainer Naomi! She opens with a level 42 Persian. Ponyta next. Sprinkle food. Rapidash. Similar. Vulpix. This is a good Sprinkle trainer. Ninetales. Fight won, exp for Sprinkle gained.

Oh, first/third gen.

Cooltrainer Rolando is up next. He has a level 42 Raticate. Oooh, a Charizard. Zaft or Sprinkle, Zaft or Sprinkle... Zaft. Sprinkle’s going to have a lot of things to eat. Zaft is more specialized. Sprinkle can have the Charmeleon, though. Ivysaur goes to Heero. Wartortle brings us back to Zaft. Win get.

Up a ladder, Black Belt Daisuke is waiting. He has a level 43 Machoke. Machop. Another Machoke, which Heero has to take for safety reasons. Won, and on we go.

Juggler Gregory only has one pokemon. It is a level 48 Mr. Mime. Po, could you just. Yeah, that.

I’m running around picking up all the items I can. I’m picking up TMs that I’ll probably never use, and TMs like Dragon Claw. That one, I can’t see not teaching something.

But something that keeps--I won’t say it’s distracting me, because I’ve spent this whole run very distracted by multitasking this with other stuff--occupying my thoughts is how much more of a climb this Victory Road feels.

Maybe it’s because this is the Victory Road of my childhood, and some impressions are glued in, but it’s all way more intimidating. It feels like an unknown, even though if you’ve played any of these games all the way through you know what’s coming.

I think even if part of it is just me being overly nostalgic, the way the technology’s evolved has something to do with it. This is a 2D experience, and with the sizing, everything feels way more open. One screencap shows you a lot more of the area than one would from later gens.

Only because it does that, the mazes and caves and such are designed with way more open space. When things are bigger, the paths can be more direct while taking the same amount of time to figure out. You see so much more in the early games, so it has to be less helpful. The result is that the world feels much larger and more uncertain. The world is a big place. It doesn’t feel designed for a person. It feels like you’ve been dropped into it.

It’s a nice feeling, and as much as I adore later gens, I don’t think any of them click with that on the same level.

Level 44 Persian opening things up. Allenby up front has been a good decision. Golduck next, so Zaft gets something to do. And that’s that.

Juggler Nelson. What’ve you got. A level 41 Drowzee. Po. Hypno. Kadabra, and I think I’ll send in Sprinkle for that. Same with the second one. Game over, Nelson.

Something I think would be cool is if trainers disappeared after you beat them. It would be a pain for people who use things like Vs. Seeker, but it would be a neat effect. We get magic teleportation powers when we lose, let the NPCs have a shot.

Cooltrainer George is guarding an item. He opens with an Exeggutor, so Heero swoops in to save Allenby. ... Heero suffers paralysis and a critical hit for her trouble, and frankly, ow. Electrode is next, so Po’s in. Sandslash means Sprinkle. Cloyster goes to Zaft. Arcanine, and we’re back to Sprinkle.

George was guarding a Max Revive. Ha.

This place is too big. If I have to bring the only boulder I’ve seen on this floor all the way over here, I riot.

Pokemaniac Dawson is our next opponent. He has a level 40 Charmeleon. As a side, Rock Slide hits enough when Allenby uses it to make me very wary of the future. My accuracy with that usually sucks. Lapras is next, so let’s give Zaft a crack. Zaft doesn’t quite one-shot it, but it uses Rain Dance, so all is forgiven. Lickitung brings Allenby back out. And we win. Yay.

Cooltrainer Alexa is up. I will try not to make jokes about your name. First out, a level 42 Clefairy. Tear it up, Allenby. Dewgong goes to Zaft. Jigglypuff brings Allenby back out. Persian. Chansey.

Sheesh. I think after this I need to go back to the Pokemon Center (walking, nothing in my party knows Fly) just so I get everything’s PP up. You do not waste PP items pre-Elite Four.

The boulder I said I’d riot over is a thing. I choose to peacefully restrain myself.

Ugh. And I can’t quite make myself go back to the Pokemon Center. Allenby might have to stop being in front, but that’s not too big a deal, and she doesn’t have to switch off yet.

Rude.

Cool Trainer Caroline. She starts with a level 42 Bellsprout, which makes me think Heero’s going to get a status debuff when she swaps in. But plot twist, Stun Spore misses. Good. Weepinbell. Victreebell. Parasect. Gotta say, the theme is really helping me here. Paras.

Good, you weren’t nice to me.

Cooltrainer Colby has slightly better manners. As well as a Kingler. Uh. Allenby deals with it because the things I can swap in make me anxious against a Kingler. For reasons of who knows why. Poliwhirl brings out Zaft. Zaft finally gets rid of Sonicboom because Swift can’t miss. Never mind that both things are useless for an Electrode.

Tentacruel comes out next, and you know what, that’s great for an Electrode. So is a Seadra. Blastoise.

Zaft is so overspecialized in Speed it makes me sad. I’m sorry, Zaft. I thought you learned Electro Ball. I thought it existed in this generation.

Back to boulder puzzles. Dropping rocks down holes.

It isn’t really a puzzle. It’s busywork. But it’s trying its best or something.

Oh. This might be not fun.

Allenby and Heero, you’re my dream team. Cool Couple Ray & Tyra with their level 45 Nidoqueen and Nidoking can’t possibly--okay you know what, Po and Sprinkle are coming out for this, sorry guys. The Leftovers duo has this.

...Don’t let Sprinkle’s paralysis confuse the issue.

...The important thing is that they won, let’s not talk about it further.

...Or how I wasted recovery items thinking the guy in front of the exit was another trainer.

WE MADE IT.

I have 41904 money stuff. Let’s see how many Full Restores that buys.

Thirteen.

But what if... I sold all my Revives and Rare Candy and Nuggets.

...Oh. I already sold the Nuggets.

Hey! Seven more Full Restores! I win!

And.

I guess that’s it, isn’t it? We’re out of things to do. Uh. But TMs. Po learns Earthquake at the expense of Snore. Heero trades Wing Attack for Aerial Ace because I’m shy of Fly and Aerial Ace doesn’t miss.

There are some other things I want to play with (Toxic, Dragon Claw, maybe Return), but those are for if we live through the first few fights. For now, we’re done. We’ve spent all the money we can.

Our team.

(Tarle, please do no ask why you’re there, you do not want to know, and more importantly, I do not want to tell you.)

Held items aren’t as common in this gen, so Po and Sprinkle have Leftovers, Zaft has a Sitrus Berry, and Heero and Allenby are given Orans. That division is because I think Heero and Allenby are more likely to meet up things that are close to being survivable with a nudge. Zaft is.

Zaft, try to live. I’ll understand if you can’t, but try.

-deep breath-

LET’S DO THIS.

The terror mounts.

As the music does.

(Lorelei, no spellchecker thinks your name is spelled weird, but I kind of do.)

A level 52 Dewgong is out first. In the interest of gulping and accepting the OHKO future I foresaw is probably not happening, Zaft is going to use Light Screen as a first move. The Dewgong uses Ice Beam, but Zaft is in the green. Zaft’s Thunderbolt does a perfect orange that should keep the Dewgong from being healed. It uses Safeguard. Zaft throws out another Thunderbolt, and...?

Lorelei’s out one Dewgong. Cloyster’s next, and Zaft stays in. Cloyster is level 51. Zaft downs it in one hit!

A level 52 Slowbro is next. It uses Amnesia after Zaft’s Thunderbolt takes out about 3/4 of health. And Light Screen wears off. Zaft uses Thunderbolt again because a super tanky Slowbro is not the ideal I want in my life, and Zaft manages the kill.

Lapras is up next. It’s level 54. Zaft needs to use Light Screen again in case Zaft is not enough for this, so we don’t have to immediately see evidence of the Lapras’ unbreachable bulk. It uses Surf.

Oh.

My heart places.

Allenby goes out. Uses Brick Break. It takes out half the Lapras’ health, and Lapras uses Confuse Ray. Allenby uses Cross Chop (through the confusion, good girl) because Lapras had a Sitrus Berry.

The Lapras falls, and a Jynx is next.

Heero.

Heero uses Flamethrower, Jynx is in the red and her Lovely Kiss misses. Lorelei heals it up, Heero uses Flamethrower again, Light screen wears off, and next turn. Heero uses Flamethrower again.

Hm.

Sorry, Zaft.

Zaft’s Sitrus Berry goes to Allenby. And uh. Uh. We continue on.

Allenby, let’s make some noise.

Bruno sends out a level 51 Onix. Brick Break takes it to orange, and it uses Rock Tomb. It takes 10hp off Allenby, and her Speed falls. Another Brick Break, and Onix is down. The next Onix is level 54. For the heck of it, I see what Seismic Toss does.

Ah. But this Onix is faster, and uses Earthquake. Allenby at 81hp, still green. Onix uses Earthquake again, Allenby’s at 27hp, Allenby tries for Cross Chop and it misses, and she eats her Sitrus Berry.

Playing the odds, I set Allenby for another Cross Chop. The next Earthquake takes her down to 8hp, but this Cross Chop hits.

Hitmonchan is next, and Heero has to fight it.

This is where Fly would come in handy. I forgot the level differential. Oh well.

Heero uses Aerial Ace. Heero gets a critical hit, and Heero, I swear I could kiss you, you beautiful Charizard.

Machamp is next. All of my stress. I’m pretty damn sure it knows a Rock move, but the only thing in my party who wouldn’t have a problem with that is Allenby. With 8hp. We are not yet at the stage of using Tarle, so Heero stays in.

Level 56 Machamp. Level 49 Charizard.

Heero’s still faster, so Aerial Ace goes first.

Oh dear.

OH DEAR.

Po. Po. Po. I don’t think it can kill you in one hit.

Its Rock Tomb misses, so it probably has Vital Spirit, so I don’t want to waste a Yawn. Po, we’re using you to heal folks up. Hyper Potion used on Allenby. Machamp uses Cross Chop, but misses. Hyper Potion used on Heero. Next Cross Chop hits.

Okay, so I no longer have Po. New (probably bad) plan.

Sprinkle comes out.

Machamp uses Bulk Up, which feels unnecessary. Sprinkle uses Perish Song.

I’m about to lose, aren’t I?

Allenby goes out. Uses Seismic Toss.

Look, I genuinely wish I could feel bad about this, but it’s hard to when I think about what’s waiting for me after this comes to a close.

Heero’s last.

...Not actually, but basically.

Machamp is swapped out for Hitmonlee because Perish Song. Heero’s Aerial Ace takes it to orange. Then the Machamp is back. Aerial Ace puts it in red, and then Rock Tomb puts Heero dead.

Somehow, this feels more cruel than what Tarle was initially here for.

lol at Bruno using a Full Restore.

WHEN THINGS ARE EXCESSIVE.

Yeah.

Just say they’re dead.

Because they’re dead.

As dead as this run.

So, what did we learn?

Did we learn that Fly is a good thing to have? Did we learn that being overly paranoid about accuracy stats to the point that you limit your pokemon’s choices is a bad trait? Did we? Did we????/???

Did we learn anything?

Yes, actually.

We learned that me obsessively marking down every single fight in this game had good consequences for future me after all.

We also learned that Electro Ball does not exist in this gen.

We also learned that I have sincere difficulty getting choked up over things dying when it’s very obvious how it’s all about to go down.

We also learned that when using a Gundam theme for nicknames, it’s really frustrating to have a primarily female team.

So, uh.

MY TEAM AS WE GET READY FOR ROUND TWO.

Okay, no, no, that’s not how we’re doing this. It’s actually much, much worse. So much worse.

Before we get to that, a few words to commemorate the fallen.

You were all amazing, and in any regular run, I’d be proud to have any of you as an ace of the team. You brought us all the way to the Elite Four, and you shone while doing it. I am so proud. Zaft, you nearly took out an entire Elite Four member all by yourself. You did so good, even though I horrifically hampered your stats by focusing all your EVs on Speed for a move you could never have.

Po. Sprinkle. You’re the wonder children. I didn’t think I’d ever have the chance to have you.

Tarle.

I’m sorry for bringing you into the Elite Four with the intent of killing you off so that something else could get healing maybe. I feel slightly bad about it. Thank you for teaching me the wonderful HMs Krabby can learn.

Allenby. Heero.

You were the best.

And now...

Goodbye.

ROUND TWO, FUCKERS. LET’S GO.

This text is so slow, take me back.

In honor of the teammate who was left behind.

I get so tired of using “rival” instead of a name just so I’m sure it’s obvious who I’m talking about. I’m cutting that part out this time. Gary is Gary is Gary.

This time, my ID number says..... .

-war flashbacks-

Bulbapedia says 4-6 is Fire. Yoooo.

O-okay.

WOULD YOU THINK ABOUT HOW HARD ON QUATRE THIS IS FOR FIVE SECONDS.

Domon.

Welcome.

You beat up Gary’s Squirtle, so you get to stay.

Hardy is a good thing to be.

Yosh. Time to speed through the fetch quest, get poke balls, and find out if Domon is going to take on Brock all on his lonesome. Gooooood times.

I need to come up with a new naming theme for this run, possibly. That’s one of the problems with doing this. I will eventually run out of nicknames. Nicknames are not anything near a specialty of mine.

Poke Ball get. What could our first second pokemon be this time????

I can’t remember if this happened last time. I’m too lazy to search my blog and check. This one’s name is Neal.

Route 1: Neal (Rattata)

(The above is to try to make remembering what I caught where easier. Will it work? Unlikely)

Oh, before anything else, I’m going to buy Antidotes. I’ve learned from my first time trying this.

Now we face one of our worst challenges. Will Domon be making his way to Brock alone, or will he have help?

Level 2.

Hm.

Route 22: Trowa (Mankey)

Hm.

I vote I find out how bad this can be with just Domon at the helm. Do you know why?

Because I am stubborn and refuse to use the same team each time. There will be some similarities I’m sure, but Trowa’s level 2. no. give me something I can work with, then we’ll talk.

Route 2 doesn’t want me to be happy.

Route 2: Cashew (Caterpie)

Viridian Forest: Lima (Weedle)

Lima got a critical hit and poisoned Domon. Like a jerk. So off we walk to the Pokemon Center, after using an Antidote so we don’t die on the way. Classic pre-Brock.

Domon doesn’t even have Ember yet. This is going to be maybe not much fun. But I think finding out just where Charmander ends up with this kind of start with these rules could help in the future. Or lead to restarting sooner.

Oh good, Ember at 7. Yay.

I’m not going to be going nearly as indepth with what I’m doing this time around. If you’ve made it this far, you’ve read it before. I’ll note when something interesting happens, but we’re trying to make this fast. Elite Four is where the run falls apart. Everything else was pretty okay. The quicker we get back to the tension, the better.

The end of Viridian Forest reached, all trainers down. Domon is level 12.

Now we walk all the way back through the forest to go beat up (?) our rival.

So much walking. I long for my Running Shoes.

This. Might be over faster than I want.

Domon eats the Pidgey and hits level 13. And learns Metal Claw! There’s hope, folks! !!! The Squirtle isn’t using a Water move! More hope!!!!!!!!!

Victory!

Domon versus Brock, who will be the champion?!?!?!

Only I have to beat the light-year kid first.

Domon does! Good boy!

...This makes me miss Heero.

Domon is also now level 14 heading into Brock.

Let’s do this.

Level 12 Geodude? Deceased.

Level 14 Onix? Um.

-whispers- my son

I’m gonna go ahead and be a terrible person here. Trowa, buddy. Go in while we heal Domon.

Trowa dies. Oh well.

Cashew!

Cashew dies.

But Domon got healing.

So now we wait and hope that Ember burns, right? Right.

It does not.

Welp, Domon’s dead.

Neal follows his lead.

...

There’s no way, right?

Yep, Lima’s dead, too.

Quatre, stop defending corpses.

Okay, what did we learn this round?

We learned that unless I get lucky on the burn, I probably do not want my Charmander to be all alone against Brock.

Learning is magic.

But I feel like we’ve done enough learning for now, so we’re going to stop here, and the next part will, once again, begin with a new team! Are we excited????

No.

No, we are not. This was a terrible idea.

In conclusion, ban Rock Tomb.

#Pokemon #Nuzlocke #Nuzlocke Challenge #playthrough

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littlestartemis · 5 years ago

Text

I have nothing better to do so I’ve decided to ramble my opinions on all of the pokemon rivals in sequential order. Under the cut cause I intend to go into detail on these.

Blue

This kid is a mixed bag for me. Part of his problem is that he just suffers from being a generation 1 character, which means only having one character trait apparently. Yes, he’s a jerk, the first ever jerk rival, and people love that, but being a jerk without nuance just makes you... loathsome. Even some of the weaker rivals, I still had these surprised moments of joy when my gameplay was halted to duke it out with them. With Blue? He’s the only one I ever uttered a groan at. “Oh good, this fucker has to waste me time and make me backtrack to a pokemon center to patch myself up before moving on.” The most insufferable thing about him is that no matter what, no matter how many times you put him in the dirt, he’s always convinced he’s so much better than you...

Until later games. It’s never stated what happened. If he had some self reflection, if Oak sat him down and told him to grow the fuck up, or what. But the next time we see him in the generation 2 games and onward, he’s still got this aura of smug confidence about him, but he seems more matured despite it. Like yeah, he’s hot shit, but you can be too if you work hard enough, maybe even almost as good as him. And while I love all of that for his character, that all comes after the fact. So as it stands, the Rival Blue, is lackluster, annoying, a headache, and undeserving of such a good fucking champion theme. Also the bitch has no unique rival battle theme unlike literally anyone else.

I’m also going to go into their music, though not nearly as much as their character.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5s4VYC9xR4

There are so many official variations and remixes and retoolings of the Kanto Champion theme that picking the “Best One” would be a practice in futility I think, so I just picked one of the better ones. What I have to say applies to pretty much all of them. And goodness, while I think Blue is a lukewarm rival it’s no wonder why this track has stood the test of time. Normally champion themes are in one of two categories, at least for me. The buildup themes, or the 0-100 themes. Some of them take some time to get there, to make you sweat a little as you realize who you’re dealing with, and some of them just kick down the door and GO. Blue’s theme though is interesting in that it kind of does both. It’s powerful, it’s oppressive in its composition and instrumentation, but there is just the tiniest buildup right after the bombastic kick off. I love it, it’s a strong theme with no real weaknesses.

5/10 rival, 8/10 character and theme

Silver

I think there was a time where if you asked around communities who long time player’s favorite rival was, a good majority would probably say Silver, and for good reason. He was another jerk rival, but with that fun little word I used before; nuance. He was mean, but rather than very deliberately being rude to you, it seemed more like he had other plans that you just happened to keep standing in the way of. He had a goal and he was going to accomplish it. And what was that? Curb stomping anybody brave or stupid enough to traipse around in a black and red uniform. This kid had a clear cut vendetta against team rocket, but instead of making him your ally with a goal like that, it set you as his obstacle every victory for you was one less for him, one less distraught rocket face he would get to see. And we even find out later why, and it’s fascinating. Giovanni’s kid? That’s utterly unique, and it really puts his hatred of team rocket and the idea of finding strength in others into a perspective you can really understand. Not to mention, there’s a bit of storytelling through gameplay with Silver that I’m sure most veteran pokemon fans know. So, he gets a Zubat on his team. Cool, right, edgy bat fits with the edgy tween. But at the very end of the game, when he’s been beaten time and time again and forced to confront why he isn’t strong enough, he realizes it’s because he’s been thinking only of his own strength, and not how much stronger his pokemon could be if they had his genuine care and support. And lo and behold, in his postgame battles, he’s got a proud, fully evolved Crobat on his team, which can only evolve with strong friendship. That’s good shit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZAV8mJY_Qs

For some reason it was kinda tough finding a decent rip of his theme. Ah well, this is easily one of the coolest rival themes. Much like Blue’s champ theme, it has this sort of oppressive energy about it, as if Silver isn’t even looking down on you, he’s just waiting to crush you and be on his way. He’s a fucking bad dude, and he’ll snuff you out however he can if it means he can get his shit done.

9/10 rival and theme

Brendan and May

This pair of nerds. They’re... interesting. I do feel like they get a worse rap from folks since they were the first friendly rivals and the ones to start the trend, and truthfully I have nothing against the idea of having friendlier rivals. If every rival was an asshole it would get really stale really fast. These two though... Well, there’s just not much to them. In the rival role, they’re Professor Birch’s kid, which is basically their entire motivation for going on a pokemon journey to start with. A glorified favor/errand to fill out the dex cause they just happen to have easy access to one. Us being around is purely incidental, and I’m pretty sure the only reason they initially have an interest in us is because we’re Norman’s kid, a gym leader’s kid (dark shoutout to Brendan for throwing some nice 2002 sexism in his introduction with “Oh, you’re a girl? When I’d heard our neighbor was a gym leader’s kid, I was kind of hoping you’d be a boy.”) They get some extra significance in ORAS, which is much needed, having them around for a few Team Aqua/Magma encounters and even one last hurrah battle after you become champ to make up for throwing in the towel like a bitch after Lillycove. I don’t have much nice to say about them, but that’s mostly because I don’t have much to say about them, and what’s there is just... there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rP0OXxc-zk

I’m not sorry. So, with our first friendly rival is our first more chipper rival theme. And truthfully, I like it! It’s very high energy, and has this twinge of suspense partway through to remind you that they have a wailmer you son of a bitch and you will respect the shit out of it under the cycling road. It’s bouncy, it’s fun, and it still has just the edge it really needs to be a proper battle theme I think.

4/10 rivals, 6/10 theme

Wally

And possibly the reason Brendand and May are so Just There. Wally. Now, I’ll say up front, I have a massive Gardevoir/Gallade bias, they’re my absolute favorite pokemon of all time, so having a rival character themed entirely around the pokemon family? Yeah that gets some free points from me. But earnestly, even without that, for as little as he appears he really is the true rival of the game. It’s a short story, but one you can rally behind. This sickly kid who isn’t even capable of catching his first pokemon without supervision and has to move to a small town with clean air just to like, function properly. But with dreams of becoming a pokemon trainer. He has the knowhow, he downloads apps he can use and study, he’s done the research beforehand for what all he needs to know, and after we set him straight in Mauville, he goes on his own journey separate from our’s. And when we see him again... what a god damn transformation (how do you become a badass by just unbuttoning your shirt). He really did it, he worked his ass off, and he made it to the pokemon league, he got a fucking mega stone - two mega stones actually since he gives you one - and he isn’t that same weak kid from the start of the game. He’s your equal, and you will respect him, if not for his power, then by the effort he had to put in to get to where he is now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_CiTJJg5_s

Why is this song so short. Powerful, resolute, triumphant, and 40 seconds long what the fuck. Length aside, this is the song Wally absolutely deserves, without question. I can’t express it anymore than in those few words. It’s the theme of perseverance, and the strength you can attain by never giving up.

8/10 rival, 9/10 theme

Barry

What a perfect bundle of energy. Barry is another friendly rival, but not just because he’s nice or something. No, he’s your friend, your childhood friend, and he treats you like it. He’s nice and is clearly happy to go on this adventure with you, but he also slams into you without saying sorry or feeling like he really needs to, and threatens to fine you billions of dollars if you’re late for your super important meeting on the outskirts of town. He is fucking chaotic dumbass personified, with such brilliant strategies as “run through the grass so fast the wild pokemon can’t catch us”, “let’s say thanks to the professor for giving us these novice pokemon by catching a legendary pokemon”, and “here’s the perfect foolproof winning strategy: never miss and never get hit, you’ll win every battle gauranteed”. And god dammit if he isn’t endearing for it. He’s your best friend, and has your best interests at heart, going so far as to take the fall with Rowan when he thinks his dumbass plan might lose you both the chance to get your first pokemon. But, he also wants you to be damn sure that the next time you see him he will be stronger, and he will beat you, and he will be the champion first, and is that one of those walls you put your face in to take a funny picture holy shit check it out I’m a croagunk haha. If you don’t like Barry, you’re taking the games too seriously, and I suggest you get in touch with your inner child because they’re probably starved for fun characters in your media.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv8g5u55QFA

Did I say high energy because I meant high energy. A battle theme for the sugar high in all of us, he’s just so fucking excited to battle you again. Much like Brendan and May, there’s the tiniest hint of suspense later in the song, but it’s much shorter and less pronounced here. Because it’s not so much a battle with much at stake so much as two best friends having a good old fashioned round against one another for shits and giggles.

9/10 rival, 7/10 theme

Cheren and Bianca

If you had asked me a month ago what I thought of these two I don’t think I’d have had much good to say. Or... much to say at all, for that matter. For reasons that are very unclear to me now, generation 5 didn’t stick with me like others, and that’s actually kind of upsetting since I just recently finished playing through White version again. And boy, do these two have character in spades.

I’ll start with Cheren. Cheren is great, because he’s actually almost a jerk rival, and I get the feeling if you weren’t supposed to be prior long time friends he actually would be. He’s very cool and calculating, and not too shy about getting pissy with each loss. He’s happy to lend you a hand, giving you tips, items he’s found that might be helpful, and fighting beside you against Team Plasma at a few turns. Something that stuck out to me was how nearly every rival battle was punctuated by “We both have the same number of badges now, so we should be on equal footing. Let’s put that to the test.” And each time, he’s not just being mad that he lost and then storming off, he’s very outwardly trying to deconstruct why he’s losing. You could almost picture him with charts and tables out, nose buried in his X-Transceiver screen between destinations, absolutely sure he missed some key strategy you used or that he simply overlooked. He’s very much the “power for the sake of power” rival at the start of the game, until the champion and the events with Team Plasma force him to confront his own flawed, short sighted goals. He can’t just Be Strong, he needs a reason for that, and that reason is ultimately protecting not just people important to him, but everyone. And that is just. So god damn cool. It extends to his eventual teaching role. Not only will he get stronger on his own, but he’ll teach others to be stronger, and in turn they’ll protect others too, and so on. And I think that’s perfect character motivation through and through.

Now Bianca. Oh man, do I love Bianca. She’s somehow the living version of if you perfectly spliced an introvert and an extrovert. She’s charming, outgoing, friendly, encouraging, and... also very shy, humble, not one to speak up most of the time. At least at first. And it’s such a tiny, blink and you miss it character trait, but every time she looses she needs like a full five seconds to hide her face under her hat before speaking again. Losing to you time and again does get to her, but she’ll be damned if she lets that deter you and your progress. It’s not your fault she lost, it’s her’s for not being stronger, and she ultimately realizes it’s because while she’s enjoyed raising pokemon and going on this journey, battling just isn’t where her heart is. But she still went on the journey, and fought to go on it, arguing against her father’s wishes for her to return home, and fighting by your side however she can through the debacle spreading over the region. She learns to stand up for herself and what she wants when she actually wants it, and even though in the end she might have been good enough to challenge the league if she kept at it, she realized it wasn’t for her, and that’s still ok.

I don’t have much to add on regarding Cheren and Bianca’s roles in B2W2, beyond that it’s such a delight seeing them both realize their true purpose and being really happy with where they’ve wound up. Also I love their new looks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yr5Taoyalo

Their theme invokes the same sort of feeling as Barry’s in the sense that this is less about beating the other person and more about two friends having a good time with some friendly competition. Any sense of suspense is almost nonexistent, and the fun factor has been cranked up. It’s bubbly, it’s cheery, and it never really lets up, and while I do think that makes it kind of weak as a theme representing both of them, it makes for a fun song.

9/10 rivals, 6/10 theme

So like, I know BW/B2W2 are older games, but, spoilers for plot stuff.

I’ve heard a lot of arguments regarding whether N even counts as a rival instead of an antagonist outright, but I personally think he’s meant to be the rivalry edge to make up for Cheren and Bianca being so buddy buddy, like they were trying to address the friendly rival complaints after the last two games. And N is certainly a fascinating beast (hah), being very intentionally directly designed to be the dark antithesis to the standard pokemon protagonist character. The protagonist doesn’t speak at all, he speaks too quickly. The protagonist’s goal is very vague and broad, simply being “the best”, while N’s is powerfully stubborn and full of conviction. And of course it’s right there in the design, he’s even got the hat. N is also a very tragic character, intentionally raised and taught from childhood all for the purpose of being Ghetsis’ perfect tool towards world domination. He can literally speak with pokemon, he doesn’t get people, and interestingly up until the final battle in the game, he exclusively catches and uses local pokemon when you meet him, presumably releasing them once his friends have helped him test your own resolve. Team Plasma eventually splits into two factions in B2W2, those who truly believed in their ideals, that what they were trying to do was create a better world for people and pokemon alike, and those who were just using it as an excuse to be cruel dickbags and steal pokemon. If Ghetsis is the later, N is the former. This isn’t an evil plot for him, he isn’t some wicked mastermind working behind the shadows, he’s very clear cut and up front with you about what he’s doing, why he’s doing it, he even basically says “hey I could be wrong, I’m like 90% sure you’re also a hero so prove it and show me who’s intentions are more pure.” I love this guy, and I’m genuinely happy he ends up just living a happy life with his pet dragon wolf friend by the end of B2W2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0ajBL15Knk

N’s theme is a weird one for me. I genuinely don’t enjoy the composition, but I can’t deny that it’s pretty perfect for him. This intentionally twisted idealist seeking all of the best things in all the wrong ways. It’s dark, fast paced, foreboding, and the ticking clock in this final version really sells that he won’t back down on creating what he truly believes to be a perfect world if you don’t get him to listen to reason. In short, wonderfully thematic, just not for me.

9/10 rival 5/10 theme

Hugh

I’ll be up front, I’m very overdo for a replaying of B2W2, so my recollection of Hugh is a bit foggy. That said, I do recall liking him. He’s high energy, but he also has a better handle on knowing how to direct said energy. Much like Silver before him, he’s very goal oriented and with a vendetta to work through, but rather than seeing your presence as an obstacle, you��re a trusted friend and ally, anything to make stomping out Plasma that much easier, and what better way to fight crime than with a friend at your side. I recall he had a habit of lashing out at strangers for being inattentive of their pokemon since his little sister’s purrloin got stolen (irony) by Plasma, but it comes from a place of good, so you can kinda get it. He’s well meaning, head strong, and a bit of a hot head, and while I need to reacquaint myself with him, I remember liking him alright if nothing else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZDEr6_xzsM

Shockingly, his theme is a bit more subdued in terms of your average battle theme. It’s got a bit of an edge to it, and I love the shit out of those drums, but it still has that friendly ring to it. Oddly, it gives me more of a megaman vibe than anything pokemon. And trust me, that’s not a bad thing. Just a very strange song altogether though.

6/10 rival and theme, subject to change

Serena and Calem

I don’t recall how much of this is true for Serena, but I do seem to recall the two actually having somewhat different personalities. And Calem borrows a bit from what I liked about Cheren. He’s still being buddy buddy with you, but as each loss piles on, he starts to get more and more outwardly frustrated with himself over them. What’s he doing wrong? You’re supposed to be at the same level as one another, why can’t he pull out just one win? And he’s slightly less apologetic about it, so he is a bit of what I described with “what if Cheren was still your rival but not your childhood friend”. I want to say that Sarena is much the same, but it’s simply been far too long, and for what good points they’ve got even after two full playthroughs, they just... don’t bring much to the table, much like similar rivals before them Brendan and May. And man, speaking of not bringing much to the table...

The Friend Gang

Mmmm... let’s start with what I like about them. Because earnestly, there is an aspect about Tierno, Trevor, and Shauna (respectively) that I like. For all of our rivals up until now, you’ve had roughly the same goal. To conquer all 8 gyms, defeat the elite four and champion, become the champion yourself, and maybe save the world if you happen to be in the area at the time. And you know, world of pokemon, that makes sense it’s all well and good. But like, some people run businesses. Some people drive taxis, some are singers, some are artists, some are scientists, not everybody wants to be a world class ace trainer. And, neither do these three. Tierno is interested in dance, and seems to want to go out there just to see new moves and techniques to incorporate them into dance moves. Trevor is actually interested in and invested in filling out every shred of information in the pokedex, which is refreshing since you know, we usually get as far as like maybe 50 pokemon tops before just calling it quits. And Shauna, I’ll admit I don’t recall much of her, but I seem to remember her going out on her journey much for the same reason Bianca did. Do figure out what she actually wants to do in the first place. Unlike Bianca though, she never really finds it I don’t think. So, they’re trainers, but with their own unique goals in mind. That’s cool! ... and it’s also all there is to them. They’re extremely one note most of the time, and regrettably very forgettable. Calling them rivals at all honestly feels kinda generous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73UoF45hBVQ

Imma be real with you chiefs, I’ve been listening to like every other Gen 6 song except this one while writing this. This could have easily just been the generic trainer battle theme in any other region, which... after my analysis, I’ll admit, kinda makes sense. These aren’t ace trainers or anything, they’re just... some friendly peeps doing their own shit who happen to know how to battle too. But, thematics doesn’t save a song on it’s own.

3/10 rivals and song

Hau

Hau is just... god damned precious. He’s loose, he’s chill, he’s excitable, but not always excited, and happy to go with the flow on things. He’s not your childhood friend, but he acts like that just means he’s got lost time to make up for once he gets to know you, more than happy to offer you up snacks and whatnot. He’s a fast and loyal friend, and surprisingly one with his own goal in mind that actually kind of weighs on him in the background. He’s the grandson of the island Kahuna, Hala, which means he’s eventually supposed to take that role from the old man. And that’s a huge responsibility for a kid who just wants to enjoy the sun and malasadas. But, it’s one he wants to live up to earnestly, and he’s willing to work towards. He just has a little trouble working past that initial fear of “how can I possibly be as good a kahuna as my grandpa”. Plus, once he makes a friend, he’ll fight for em, eagerly and happily going along with you to the Aether Resort when he finds out Lillie’s in trouble. Rain or shine, Hau’s got your back, and is easily one of the best friendly rivals to date if you asked me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BYcMPXxJrg

This one reminds me a lot of Cheren and Bianca’s theme but this time it’s a lot more fitting. It’s a fun and silly time, whoever loses doesn’t matter, so long as everyone’s having a good time! A bit of a boring song, but perfectly befitting the character, so it gets a bit of a pass.

8/10 rival, 6/10 theme

Gladion

I would say “who hurt you”, but we have the answer to that question, and it really helps propel Gladion and indeed the entire Aether family to the heights of “well written pokemon characters”. But, we’ll stick with just Gladion here. When we first meet him he’s just another skull flunky, but even then not really. For as pathetic as the skull grunts are (I love all of you but you’re so bad), even they make fun of him. He’s a nothing to nobody who has nobody, nobody but him and his weird dog. He is so much the rebellious tween but dammit if he doesn’t have a good reason with how horrible and abusive Lusamine became after her awry experiments with ultra space. He took their experimental pokemon for his own, ran away, and never looked back, just trying to live a happy life as best he can with Type: Null. He’s very hardened, and clearly not looking to go make any relationships, but eventually he does warm up to you at minimum as someone he can trust in battle, and by the end of the game someone he can see as an equal and maybe even friend. Really, calling him a rival is a bit off. He has no real beef with you or your journey, most of the time it seems like he’s just fighting you because he’s in a bad mood. But he’s a young man who’s been hurt badly, and wants to keep others from feeling that same kind of hurt, and obviously if he’s nice and strong then nobody can ever stop him from keeping himself and the people he cares about safe. The friendliest of jerk rivals who deserves the utmost care and protection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDLj143lxVk

How to make a good battle theme: Step 1, slap bass. Step 2, there is no step 2. Jokes aside, I love this shit. It is utterly not in line with what you normally expect from a pokemon theme, and that kinda makes it work really well. It’s wild, it’s strong, and it denotes a kind of complexity to its energy. Not jaw dropping, but just a great slap.

8/10 rival and theme

#pokemon #rivals #mason says things #god that took longer than I thought I wish I knew when I started this

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