#capitalism baby

[firedragon1321]

Note- This post is edited. Reason is at the end. Please reblog the edited version as the original is unintentionally albiest.

I joke and laugh about Leon Pokemon being a dummy idiot (affectionate). He can't even find his way to the largest building in a city without assistance. But. Like. I started thinking about all the ways Chairman Rose took advantage of that over the years. Telling Leon what to say. How to act. Who to be. To say nothing of the sponsors on his cape. How much power do they have over Leon's persona? Where does he end and they begin?

And THEN I thought about how the League works in Galar. It's just...a much bigger thing than elsewhere in the Pokemon world. Simple gym battles take place in massive stadiums. How many of these battles occur per week, let alone per day? They are part of every person's life, even if they are just a spectator. And the sponsors/League controls the entire circus. Rose's intentions weren't fantastic. You expect me to trust the nameless corporations?

Also, how many Pokemon were scooped out of the Wild Area to train for glory, for a sponsor, for money, for power? How many were thrown away, unable to measure up to the standards of an extraordinarily complicated and demanding League? How many Trainers only care about being as strong as Leon, not caring about the well-being of their Pokemon?

We saw Hop do this. Admittedly, he is not malicious and Bede was crawling under his skin. But there are malicious Trainers out there. If not for the fact you need a sponsorship to participate in the League- this bottlenecking how many Trainers can participate- Galar's ecosystem would be in fucking shambles.

And speaking of Bede, his entire identity revolved around victory and power thanks to- surprise surprise- Chairman Rose. Only when he met Opal did he finally reach his potential...and even that involved shifting from Psychic types to Fairy types. Meaning his Duosion and Gothorita had to be either released or retired.

And I didn't forget about Piers the Rat Man and Spikemuth. Rose told Piers to move to a far away location with a Power Spot to enable flashy Dynamax battles. Piers told him to fuck off. Thus his gym is in backwater nowhere where few Trainers dare to dread and the whole town has been swallowed by crime and poverty. Did I mention Piers blames himself for Spikemuth's current state? Meanwhile, this is- once again- Rose and the League/sponsors having more power than anyone has the right to possess.

Combining these factors, you get a society in which the Trainer and Pokemon- provided they are strong enough- are a product. A commodity. Something to wow audiences and nothing more. Trainers like Hop are left in the shadows of the greats. But the greats are decaying giants, dangling from slowly snapping puppet strings.

This system doesn't go away because Rose is gone. In fact, Leon takes over as League Chairman. But how much of the new leadership is really Leon? Outside of battle, the man has his struggles. I can see the Battle Tower and Galarian Star Tournament being his ideas. But there's more to running the League than that. How many people- including his sponsors- are vying for power in the background?

If I didn't sell you on Galar being a dystopian nightmare yet, there is so much pollution the local Corsola are effectively zombies. Much of it probably comes from the stadiums- powering the screens, keeping the lights on at night, possibly energy from Dynamaxing. Electric-type Pokemon could debatably cut down on the pollution but like- how many Pikachu do you need?

It's a shame there was so much sleeping on SwSh because there's so much insidiously good shit bubbling just under the surface. I think if it was canonically explored people would like Gen 8 more (even if it ended with a reinforcement of status quo like Gen 5). But GameFreak had been afraid to make digs at its own formula since Black and White. The League does exist in other regions, albeit it's not as secretly dark as this. Addressing the Galar League could put a foot in the door to question the entire series.

EDIT- It has been brought to my attention that Leon is smarter than he looks, refusing to cooperate with the Darkest Day plot. More importantly to this edit, he may also be interpreted as disabled, making parts of this post unintentionally come off as albiest. As an autistic person, I apologize for this. However- as it's been reblogged a few times and Leon having a disability is not proved by canon- I chose to leave the text as-is- save for eliminating one joke that went too far- and attached a tw for albiesm. I am deeply sorry.

[tendie-defender]

Non American minds cannot comprehend roadside flag salesmen.

[wanderingcas]

sold my house <3

[welcometololaland]

continuously confused as to why my brain is so geared towards shame when I'm not writing fast enough or the ideas aren't flowing. like, this is a hobby? why does it have to be productive? how dare capitalism ruin it for me?

[rambiing]

ive been feeling like this lately

[counterbury-tales]

Breadvertising #3

Slice #316

[cuprohastes]

So Brain-X

2026: First human trials of brain implants

2027: First patients that recover full mobility and at leat 80% functionality

2029: Class action lawsuit as first gen implants all disabled with no upgrade path.

2032: First apps that support Brain-X implants. Both cost $43 per month subscription. A s,all price to pay to be able to turn the light in your fridge on by thinking about it, or unlock your Tesla every time you masturbate.

2033: Brain-X class action lawsuit due to the the claim that the implants cause stress induced cannibalism.

[dreaminghour]

Omg I never thought about why Arizona tea is still 99¢

This like when the costco founder said he'd kill the cfo if he tried to raise the price of the hot dog

[the-isopodcalypse]

They've started hiding bandaids behind the customer service counter at kroger like they're fucking cigarettes because people keep shoplifting them so now instead of a billion dollar company just eating the miniscule cost, corporate expects me to tell the checkout person I want bandaids and somehow know the exact brand and type so they can tell the customer service person what to bring over like some idiot game of telephone. Surely this will not cause bandaid sales to plummet.

[opulence-is-decadence]

Gotta love how consumerism pushes fall and winter trends in a tropical country. There's like 2 weeks out of the entire year you *might* need a coat or heavy duty jacket. Why do people push them here? It gets like 15°C at the coldest.

[johannepetereric]

OG image text: “I hate to be the one to tell you this, kid—we all have PhDs in English Literature.” [everyone in the image are dishwashers and restaurant workers]

Saw this image in the reblogs of a post

And as a dishwasher and longtime restaurant worker I just needed to know what the original said so I reverse image searched it and immediately crumpled into the family guy death post on the floor right under my English degree

[mysharona1987]

[nerdyspies]

happy black friday to my beautiful capitalist whore wife

[nando161mando]

United Nations graph shows the ages of people killed by Israel in Gaza. The base of this pyramid of death are babies and toddlers

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

I love that not even Robin could resist (platonically, of course) Eddie's big brown doe eyes. Just imagine him waking up in the hospital. . .

Robin: *leaning over him* Aww! There they are!

Steve: He's not a baby, Robin! Although. . .they are pretty cute.

Robin: Look at those eyes! Clear confusion.

Steve: Yeah, he has no idea what the fuck's going on. Eddie, we won. Your name's been cleared, man.

Eddie: Where's the baby?

Steve: Uh. . .what baby?

Eddie: Our baby. . .my stomach hurts.

Robin: Oh my God! He thinks he gave birth to your baby!

Steve: Yeah, I'm literally right next to you.

Eddie: *bursts into tears* I lost the baby!

A little while later. . . In the maternity wing. . .

Robin: Excuse me, nurse, I would like one baby, please. Preferably one that's been abandoned.

Nurse: Uh. . .

Robin: Look, I'm not going back to Eddie Munson, look into his big brown doe eyes, and tell him that he's never been pregnant with my best friend's baby. I don't care how high he is!