#gen it makes me so sad because like. ive never seen a game that actually depicts an asian character as like.... asian

[senvurii]

dishwashing

[hualian-blessing]

why mcyttwt does not think some (if not most) of the time when it comes to mcc

if i post this in twitter, i’d surely get hated upon but someones gotta have to say this one day. also this does not target to mcytblr!!! this rant is more of towards mcyttwt!!!

remember how mcyt was so chill before all of this shit? how we would watch our favorite minecraters when the community was so small? or how mcc was an event that both ccs and fans can have some fun and entertainment once per month? and that was only last year too. now look at the new generation of mcyt fans and see why some of the old fans dont really associate the new ones.

as a fan of the old gen mcytbers like DanTDM, SkyDoesMinecraft, Aphmau and CaptainSparklez. heck im a fan of pewds’ minecraft series before dream or tommy or ranboo or the new gen of mcyt ccs blew up (a year before them if im correct), and we dont see drama or bad shit all the time when it comes to their content.

now compare that to the new gen where every single fucking day, a bored fan or anti would post shit drama in twitter where some of the people from twitter moved to tumblr just to not get a headache from the batshit craziness mcyttwt brought forth. and it just snapped more when the mccp21 rolled in.

heres some of my takes about the mccp21 issue:

1) “there’s a lack of representation of lgbtq+ in the teams!!!”

heres something to tell yall about that. scott doesnt have a fucking choice. scott smajor has told time and time again, WEEKS before the announcement of teams, that there are certain requirements and limitations to mccp21 thus there will be difficulty in choosing whos entering or whos not. limitations and requirements such as it will be streamed on youtube or how streamers with twitch contracts aren’t allowed to stream or (god bless scott’s good heart) scott not allowing some of the lgbtq+ streamers in joining the special event due to wanting them to have a chance to stream and experience their first mcc (so to those who said that ranboo should have been in mccp21, shut up ‘cuz scott wanted genderman to have fun streaming his first mcc but cant due to ranboo being a well-known twitch streamer). to those who complained that ant and velvet should be in the mcc, stop being selfish and do some actual research on why scott didn’t include them. a simple question to those two’s fans would answer that they can’t make it due to them camping for a week which within those days is the mccp21. they’re having time to themselves, not wasting it on a minecraft championship. 

take in the consideration that, oh i dont know, not a lot of lgbtq+ ccs applied to the event? its not a free invite championship (in fact, mcc has always been like that), it’s an applied with the sufficient and correct requirements kind of event. the artist who created the icons from the previous mcc for the teams said that scott let in some of the new ccs in last minutes due to lack of applicants not meeting the requirements thus not having custom artworks for the teams if they want to announce the teams in time.

2.) “there’s no lesbians or trans in the teams >:(((”

sadly enough, there’s not much of the players from the lgbtq+ community but to say there’s no trans people in mccp21 is utterly false. by definition, trans mean  denoting or relating to a person whose sense of personal identity and gender does not correspond with their birth sex. other genders such as non-binary, genderfluid, androgyne, bigender, gender expansive all fall under trans. you define yourself with the gender you personally chose and comfy with from you birth gender. so saying there’s no trans in the teams when there are players from the event like eret or sqaishey who are nb and genderfluid respectively are there to also represent not only the sexuality but also the gender identity of others??? like c’mon, please make sense mcyttwt. 

also, while its sad to not see lesbians, please know that lgbtq+ doesn’t strictly be defined by lesbians. ffs, lgbtq+ literally means Lesbians Gays Bisexuals Transgenders and Questioning (or Queer but im not too sure about that one) which means that there are still other representatives for the community in the event.

3) “technoblade is in the event?!!! WHAT THE FUCK, HES A HOMOPHOBE/LESBIPHOBE-”

utter clowns, toxic twitter users are. do you really think that scott smajor, an openly gay man, would let a supposed “homophobe/lesbiphobe” in an event that focuses in supporting the lgbtq+ community? do you hear yourself? do you even do research where the joke he made was when he was the same age as me and it was based on a historical article back in WW2? or how he passionately supports the community especially the lesbians because a lesbian couple complimented him to which kickstart his confidence? the man willingly went to this mcc event despite being flamed a lot in twitter because he (and everyone) knows that his chat, his fans and supporters, are literal millionaires. if you saw a stream from foolish where he auctioned canonical characters for funs, a techno fan donated thousand of dollars to get technoblade, and that’s only one fan, now imagine a hundreds of thousands of them.

like it or not, technoblade has always been open about his support to the community, especially that majority of his fanbase are from the same community that mcyttwt allegedly swore that technoblade hates.

4) “since this mccp21 is pointless because theres no dteam, quackity, punz or (insert cc name), let’s have a watch party of the previous mccs to spite mccp21!!!” “let’s hope (insert cc name) stream on the 26th so mccp21 doesnt have the same amount of viewership like before!!!” “where are (insert cc name)??? gosh, this mcc is so boring without them!!!”

shut up shut up shut up shut up shut the actual fuck up. are you really seriously hearing yourself? are you willing and proudly boycotting a once in a year special event that is seriously needed by the lgbtq+ community? are you that cruel and selfish to sacrifice a project that helped tons of people just for your sick entertainment and desires? are you that evil to stop others from enjoying and donating to the trevor project? are you that inconsiderate of other ccs that aren’t part of dsmp and calling them boring? and for what? because your favorite cishet streamer isn’t there? oh booofuckinghoo! you’re so fucking petty to even post about this kind of tweets in public.

(edit: did yall honestly thought that without your favorite streamers that the mcc is not worth watching because they aren't there? well let me tell you, im a ranboo fan. ive watched him when he first entered the dsmp and watched him spinning in his unicorn chair for 5 minutes. the boo community waited for so many months for genderman to join mcc yet we didn't even do that kind of disgusting action and behavior every time he isn't in mcc. 8 months. that's how long ive watched him. ive waited 8 months for him to be in the event yet i still watch other povs like tommy's, puffy's, wilbur's, and etc., because it's fun and entertaining to watch them despite the beloved not participating in the games.

if you're that spoiled to not even watch mcc because (insert cc whose not part of mccp21 name here) isn't part of the roster then you most likely have a one dimensional humor because there will always be someone more funny and entertaining than them. i like dsmp don't get me wrong, but i found parrot's school smp funnier than dsmp yet you don't see me insulting both series, do you? learn to keep yourself if you're calling ccs as boring or dull or not entertaining enough due to not having the same big platform as the dsmp members.)

you don’t deserve to call yourself a fan if you’re doing this kinds of actions. in fact, people like you should be kicked out from the mcyt community because your kind of people are the reason why we look so bad from the outside. your toxic and self-entitled to these content creators are the reason why famous ccs like sbi, purpled, tubbo and almost ranboo left twitter/implied strict rules to their subtwts. you drove out an entire friend group that tons of fans found comfort in from the platform and you still have the audacity to this kind of shit? honestly, just leave before you give me a headache.

what im sayin’ is that mcyttwt is one of the worst, if not THE worst, subtwts out of the other subtwts in twitter. having no actual research or evidences or spreading false information is common in twitter where you would have to take what they said with a micro size grain of salt. mcyttwt already ruined the fun and spirit of mcc during its comeback in mcc14 due to the glitch and beta testing shit (ey i still stand for the ranboo beta testing but i know that will be worthless since theres hints of him joining soon in mcc15). if you’re still in mcyttwt, i suggest to get out of there while you still can. we’ll never know if there’s a bigger shitstorm than this in the mcyttwt that may happen in the future.

edit! hi bella again, ive been told by a polite and cool user that not all people from mcyttwt are toxic and/or cruel. im going to clear something up here. ive written this during the heat of the announcement of mccp21 teams. so there's a lot of complains and/or entitled people in the app (you can even see it in my previous post too if you want evidences!) that gave off mostly negative vibes towards the event.

ive seen the cool ones who actually took the consideration for scott's side and the criticism of the lack of representation of other communities within the lgbtq+ umbrella (ive even share some parts of it above so im also a bit upset to the lack of numbers in the community). and some of them are correct about recruiting lgbtq+ creators in youtube but! like i said, it's an applied event and not invitational one, so its up to that content creator if they want to join or not. the amount of cishet in the roster are just those who want to support the cause and/or backups/stand-ins in case scott and noxcrew can't find enough ccs in time!

just wanna clear this up because mcyttwt these days are covered by really cringe fans (ive noticed a pattern of them mostly new ones but there are still awesome new fans (like my irl friend who just joined this year) within the community) that covered the good ones where they enjoy, have fun and share some neat ideas and thoughts to the community within the platform!

when i said to get out of the mcyttwt while you still can, i meant to get out of there to avoid drama (that is really small contrast those who really need to address the issue) and take a break from it. it's still your choice if you want to be surround by it or not or if you want to come back to the app. all im saying is to buckle up for the shitstorm cuz this is not the last time that the twitter side of mcyt will cause negativity to the community.

[pop-goes-the-sneasel]

misdreavus?

YESSSSSSSS MISDREAVUS!!!!!

Misdreavus is an absolute favourite of mine, and the pre-evolution of my current #1 favourite pokemon overall. It’s a pokemon I’ve got a long history of adoring at this point, and is also the first Ghost-type I’m reviewing, which happens to be my favourite type as well. I wasn’t actually all that fond of it as a child, though, because child me had trash taste, but it’s not atypical for kids to have trash taste so whatever. I love it now and that’s what matters!!! This cute lil spookster is gonna be gettin’ pure praise from me! It’s got a great colour scheme, great hair, and an expression that exudes the sort of chill-yet-mischievous vibes I love most in a pokemon.

Basis-wise, Misdreavus is probably the most “traditional” ghost, albeit with a bit of banshee mixed in with its title of Screech Pokemon and its propensity for startling people. It has a clear resemblance to a floating disembodied head as well, perhaps indicating an additional basis in the youkai nukekubi, a human-like being whose head can detach and fly around at night. It uses its necklace-like red orbs to absorb fearful emotions from people, which it converts into nourishment, effectively eating fear. Eating fear is a concept I’m sure I’ve seen before, but it’s a great concept for a ghost especially, since it provides an incentive for scaring people and justifies so much otherwise-baseless ghostly behaviour! Like, of course a ghost would be scary, if that’s how it eats!

The scariest thing Misdreavus can do, though, is my absolute favourite attack! Perish Song is a move that makes it so both the user and all pokemon present to hear it will spontaneously faint in three turns. The only way to avoid it is by switching out, which led to it being paired with a move that prevents switching, Mean Look. This strategy, known as Perish Trapping, was somewhat notorious in Gen II’s competitive scene and has occasionally seen fringe use since, with Misdreavus being the strategy’s best user when the technique first emerged.

As marvelous as Misdreavus is, though, its design actually took a fair bit of time to actually finalize. We know from the GS beta releases that Misdreavus was a very late addition to the games, absent from the 1997 beta and then added to the 1999 version in Norowara’s slot (a creepy doll made of straw). Its sprite was also somewhat unfinished-feeling even in the final game, with very inaccurate indigo and magenta colors. What’s really interesting, though, is that its original artwork seems intended to communicate something entirely different from what we ended up with: iridescence. Notice here how the pink bits aren’t uniformly distributed at the hair tips; they’re placed seemingly randomly. The anime was quick to simplify this to just the tips, but Stadium 2 actually left its hair a solid teal color and then gave the entirety of its body a unique pink shine effect. It’s sad that such a unique design feature ended up getting dropped when the designs got more standardized in Gen IV; I suppose consistency with the anime was just higher priority. Beyond the color, its hair also used to be much less defined, just sort of being a wavy amorphous mass. This would get toned down in XY, though, with its hair becoming a consistent seven tendrils once 3D models became a focus.

Regardless, Misdreavus is pretty much perfect, but there is a major criticism to be had: its distribution in its original appearance. I talked about this with Zorua, but one key to a pokemon’s popularity is actually being able to USE it, and nobody could have conceivably used Misdreavus in the Gen II games because it never appears until Mt. Silver, the VERY final area in the games. Sneasel was in a similar predicament in GS, but that got fixed in Crystal by moving it to Ice Path, whereas poor Misdreavus never got a proper playable role in Gen II at all. This did get fixed with Cliff Cave in HGSS two generations later (which messed up Sneasel again!!!), but by then Misdreavus had already gotten eclipsed in popularity by its evolution.

Unfortunately, Misdreavus is also one of those pokemon cursed by a pukey green shiny, but it’s not like it was gonna improve upon such a fantastic base colour scheme anyway. Teal with pink is just too good to beat, y’know? It was more of a chartreuse in past generations, having some bright citrus vibes, which I think was superior even if less ghostly. Wish XY didn’t arbitrarily decide to make some shinies worse.

But yeah, I absolutely love Misdreavus. I vibe with its nefarious trickster demeanour more than nearly any other pokemon, and whilst it’s kinda been usurped by its evolution as my #1 favourite for awhile, it’ll always hold a special place in my heart. There’s really no improving upon this precious perish baby uwu

You fainted/10.

[jejesart]

Hi, I’m a new follower and I love your art. Could you say who your favourite Fire Emblem pairings are, plus any other pairings from other series?

awwww thank you!!!!! ho boy this is gonna be LONG ill put it under read more you better be prepared HAHA

ok so for fire emblem first!!!!! i’ll go per series (the ones ive played) to limit them lmao and also because im gonna ramble (im sorry i dont even know if you play all of them but im feeling talkative today just ignore the ones you dont know lol)

fe sov: berkut/rinea. the way he loves her…. and wants her to smile…….. and shes happy simply just being with him………. at least im thankful for feh since theyre together happily there. watch me as i +10 rinea!!!!

fe4 holy war: finn/lachesis. ok i only play fe4 halfway the first gen so i cant say much but i read the manga and it makes me ship finnchesis so much!!! he fills the hole left by eldigans death in her heart…….. and she enjoys his company so much he becomes someone very important to her i love slow-building love

fe6: roy/lilina. i havent finished this im stuck at one chapter and i dont feel playing it lmao but im weak for childhood friends!!!

fe7: imma cheat on this one THE FIRST ONE IS ELIWOOD/NINIAN THEY HAVE MY HEART AND SOUL. hes super gentle to her and theyre completely lovestruck with each other throughout the game i just…… cannot not ship them………….. the second one is kent/lyn because liege/knight pairing is my other weakness lmao. and their support!!!! lyn wants to be more than just his lady ugh their a support is so good

fe8: joshua/natasha. not much to elaborate here really but its love at first sight for him you cant change my mind

fea: HENRY/OLIVIA IS JUST. SO. GOOD. he shows his real emotions because of her!!!! without realising he falls so hard for her!!!! ALSO INIGO BEING HENRYS SON FITS SO MUCH not to mention hes the only one who looks good with white hair among the fea kids lol

fef: m!corrin/azura, since they share somewhat same backstories i think they find consoles in each other’s company. also idk if you play feh but theres this one version of corrin that shows up in young azura’s dream world, and his dialogues are very azura-centered, much more than his female counterpart, and they all say he just wants her to be happy im crying (esp remembering her fate in birthright and conquest :v)

fe3h: felix/annete theyre just!!! so cute!!!! felix cant stop thinking of her???? and super soft to her unlike to the others????? she unknowingly makes her way into his heart ughhhh. i also like cyril/lysithea a lot, i really cant choose between them.

feh: not a main game but alfonse has all my uwus so i have to say this…… i love alfonse/summoner!!!! alfonse refusing to get close to any hero but ending up getting super close to the summoner……… he trusts them so much!!!! seriously like 80% of alfonses dialogues are related to the summoner and lemme tell you i squeal every time he talks about them lol

moving on for other series i’ll do another list for the series that are on top of my mind!!!

kny: (you must have seen this coming) GIYUU/SHINOBU OH MY GOD I LOVE THEM SO MUCH I JUST WANT THEM TO BE HAPPY. for shinobu, since she always dons kanae’s smiling mask, i think shinobu finds comfort in teasing giyuu since she can be a little bit like herself when doing that, like a small breather. for giyuu, since he isnt close with other pillars, i think he appreciates shinobu’s company, even though she keeps teasing him. THEY ALSO HAVE PARALLELS they lose their sisters and they hate their own circumstances (giyuu with him passing the final selection without doing anything and shinobu with her physique). and his shocked face when she [redacted]????? man i will forever be sad about that. and a side note i like tanjirou/kanao a lot! kanao defends aoi and the girls because she remembers tanjirous words. she legit cries because shes relieved tanjirou is alive. she even raises her voice to keep others quiet because she worries about him. tanjirou is a changing force in her life!!!!

gbf: gran/lyria. their lives are intertwined………… they literally cant live without each other………. and gran is so protective to lyria ugh i love that!!!! ALSO THE ANIME!!!!!!!! theres one original story episode about lyria almost dies because she hates her existence so much she wants to disappear but gran brings her back……………. not by his own actually but like he promises to always be there for her or something like that theyre just so cute. additionally i love lucio/djeeta a lot because lucio is sexy af HAHAHA BUT!!! you also have to look at this before you judge me

fairy tail: natsu/lucy. theyre my comfort otp i think??? like i still lurk in their tags and search for their fanfics til now. i also sometimes reread their moments in manga because i love them that much. SHES HIS HOME GDI and natsu legit doesnt join a fight because hes super worried about lucy after her fathers death oh my god. my favourite moment is when natsu uses lucy fire its just so funny but describes their relationship so well!!!

ok i better stop here or else the post will never end HAHAHAHA its so long already im sorry if you read all of that

[ghostmartyr]

Pokémon White Randomized Nuzlocke Run [Part 1]

This is going to be a first in many ways for me. I’ve never done a proper Nuzlocke, I’ve never played any of these on a PC before, and my only previous experience with liveblogging belongs to things I’ve watched.

For people who aren’t familiar with Nuzlocke, here are the basic rules copied from Bulbapedia:

    Any Pokémon that faints is considered dead, and must be released or put in the Pokémon Storage System permanently.

    The player may only catch the first Pokémon encountered in each area, and none else.

Other rules that I’ll be using:

Each pokemon must be nicknamed.

If the first pokemon in an area is a species I’ve already caught, the first one that isn’t will become the catch option.

The catch rules start applying once I have the option of catching things.

No looking anything up on guides.

Team wipe means continuing on using whatever I have in the PC.

For added fun, all starters and wild pokemon are random. The rest of the game is as it is normally (or should be if I did this right), but considering how many years it’s been since I’ve played this version, that means very little to me except that gyms are going to have consistent typing, probably.

I think that’s it, so awaaaaay we go!

I neglected to screencap the dear professor because of course I did, but this generation’s tree name is Juniper. Hi Professor Juniper.

Thank you, I chose it partially myself.

See that? Two best friends I don’t know and didn’t bother taking screenshots of.

I don’t think I’m going to do a whole lot of commentary on things that aren’t related to the pokemon I get. I’m always pretty bad about paying attention to the plot of these games, which means maybe I should have picked a different gen for this, but yeah. I am here for the critters. The humans are boring.

(Cheren and Bianca are pretty nice, actually. I like how as the games go on they seem more and more interested in giving you good friends.)

So, the time has come for the randomizer’s first spin!

Let’s see what we’ve got...

That one’s out. Where’s the fun in picking a starter for a randomized run? Plus it’s already evolved. Part of the enjoyment is watching these things grow.

I’m going to go with probably not.

...

I think so.

I’m going to eat you alive.

That’s what I thought, anyway.

This is where, despite just starting, I got myself into trouble and had to start over. By which I means Psywave’s irregular damage meant that the Patrat murdered me. Legendary starter vs. Route 1 HM slave. The outcome could not be more obvious.

I’ve made the snap judgment that the catching rules might not be in effect yet, but the fainting rules are, so I restarted.

Then I realized that oh, because of how I’ve set things up, yes, it’s randomized from the original choices, but the same starters are still available. I also realized that I am far too interested in playing to really care that I’ve already botched this run, so whatever. Onward! Together we shall defeat the wretched Patrat and save the day!

Cue Psywave doing even less damage than last time.

While the Patrat just spams Leer.

All it needed to do was select Tackle once, and I could say goodbye to Latios, but thankfully, it did not do that, so we get to move forward a single step!

I appreciate I’m doing this the day after my dog got ink all over my carpet.

Next fight... go!

I can’t remember if Meganium has Poison typing to go with Grass. I’m leaning towards no, but hoping for yes, because I don’t really want to restart again. That would mean having to deal with figuring out the right randomizer settings, and please consider that I do not want to. We’ve got to pull through on this.

That’s... a good start?

I believe in you, currently unnamed Latios.

I can’t wait to find out if this is one of the versions that has you take poison damage outside of battle or not. I don’t think I will enjoy that. Watch, the first pokemon I catch will die because I have no antidotes and am too many steps away from a center.

Victory against Cheren achieved! With another nonexistent screencap because I am unprofessional as all heck. Yay for gratuitous amounts of exp because Meganium isn’t something level 5s usually fight!

It’s nice that my mother in this game is so understanding.

I see, so if they can’t stop you from going out in the wild grass, they’ll just inject plot to keep you from immediately running out the door. Geez I hope I get running shoes soon. I feel so slow.

I can’t remember what kind of jerk dad Bianca’s father is, but I do remember not liking him and very much liking the Electric gym leader.

It’s true, in an alternate universe that never happened she and her Patrat beat me up and I was very sad.

Loudly. Do not like.

Hi fellow kids.

The time to receive our permission to leave the town (aka pokedex) has come, but more importantly, it’s time for Latios to get his very own nickname! That’s how you know the difference between this one and the exact copy that died to a Patrat!

In the spirit of being uncreative, Latios’ new name is Boeing. Long may the two be attached to each other.

Every Pokemon game ever, until the end of time.

Bianca you are so cute. I sure hope nothing bad or inconvenient ever happens to you during the plot. Can you imagine how sad that would be for you and your bloodthirsty Patrat.

If I could have three wishes, one of them would be to skip the tutorial section in all of these games. Please just let me catch things and try not to kill them.

It begins.

You know, one of the problems with having Boeing only knowing Psywave for damage is that predicting what he’s going to do to the creatures I try to catch is going to be an entertaining mess. I predict whatever I catch first is going to be significantly more helpful in the process than he currently is.

(Don’t worry, Boeing. I am still obligated to love you until death.)

I really need to be better about screencapping things, but I don’t think I will.

Bianca starts a pokemon-catching competition between the three of us, and unless there are more routes than I think between where I am and where the three of us are going to meet up, I think I lose that by default.

What route is this?

Alrighty then. Let’s go forth and find out who our next partner is! Forward, Boeing!

You know. I wonder if I have made mistakes with my preferences for the randomizing here.

Okay Boeing. You and me. Trying not to die. If possible, trying to include catching our new friend in that mission plan.

Boeing, two misses in a row is not how we do that.

...Make that three.

He did dodge the Supersonic after he finally hit it. There’s hope here.

What’s a Seismitoad’s catch rate? I have my suspicions and they are not good, but...

Who thought this was a good idea.

Gasp.

Am I allowed to be disappointed that it’s already in its final form, or is that considered rude to my new friend?

I dub thee... Frogger.

I should probably run back and go heal before I get one of these overpowered little guys killed.

I can’t remember if you being Modest is a good thing or a bad thing, but you’ll hopefully be alive long enough for me to teach you Surf, so in theory it’s a good thing. Poison Touch is the good ability I think (thank you luck for not having Boeing know any physical attacks that could have gotten him poisoned). Frogger’s also “proud of its power,” which I think means might have max IVs in the category his nature isn’t good for.

What’s Boeing like?

He’s also Relaxed and loves to eat. I grant him the secondary nickname of Good Boy. Speed being lowered is probably the most neutral I could ask for that isn’t actually neutral, and I am not going to say no (like I have a choice) to having his Defense raised for a Nuzlocke.

Okay guys, it’s time to go grind and be sad about the things we could’ve caught. ...No offense, Frogger.

...

This run is going to be fun. I can tell.

I am not confused, and yet I still managed to hurt myself.

I think some people might have some rules where you can catch your first encounter for grass and your first encounter for water, but this one is just going to be straight-up, one pokemon per route. Hopefully I’m better at keeping track of that than I feel like I will be.

I imagine I will have much reason to appreciate the kindness of strangers in this game. I usually end up grabbing every single item I can, but out of me being a completionist, not necessity.

Every Shaymin I find during this grind session is mocking me.

I continue to be really slow about screencapping, and really fast about button mashing to speed through every solitary bit of text, so not pictured here is me and my two besties being happy about how all three of us have two pokemon each. Shaymin not included.

I can’t remember anything about these video chats. I hope they aren’t important enough that I feel the need to cap them.

Accumula Town. Pokemon seen here: None yet. I can’t remember if I can even get anything here. I remember so little about this generation. N’s entire existence was practically blotted out before I watched the intro cinematic.

When do I get my running shoes. I feel so slow.

Wait, is this the generation where the Marts and Pokemon Center get combined? Yessss. I have made one (1) good decision in my choices here.

Look, more names I don’t remember.

Hm. I am not used to having to do stuff with my money in these games. I just pick whatever up, heal at the centers, and maybe buy some healing items for the Elite Four. I’m not sure what the protocol is when you have to worry about your beloved partners actually dying.

Potions and Poke Balls. The two things I can buy here, and the two things I will probably need fairly quickly. Pokemon Go’s spoiled me with how easy things are to catch. This is going to be a rough awakening.

Current bag stock: 4 Potions, 1 Premier Ball, 13 Poke Balls. Plus Key Items.

I’m really starting to understand why most people just do these things in a video format. This has its limitations as a medium when I have my limitations as a competent host.

I put Boeing back in front so that he can maybe get enough exp to know something that isn’t Psywave, but I think that doesn’t currently matter because the plot has arrived.

Hi Team Plasma. Leave me alone, please. I am not here for plot. I am here for fun times and accidental murder.

This is sort of an unfortunate generation to Nuzlocke when it’s all about treating pokemon better. “Pokemon are my precious partners! Battling is a way to bond! Oh whoops Frogger’s dead.”

This is N. He hears pokemon. He also does what he can to speak for pokemon. He is a good egg, if memory serves. He also has a cooler outfit than I do, and that makes me sad.

Try... I don’t know, how many routes are there? Yell at Cheren and Bianca, not me. I’m going to be a very irresponsible pokedex filler.

Wait, this is a battle? Already?

Guess who thought, “I can’t remember if this is Dark or Normal. If it’s Dark Boeing is the least helpful thing I could use. It’s probably Normal until it evolves, it’s early in the game, right?“

Frogger, maim.

Frogger’s going to win and I’m not going to think any other way, but this would be a really sad way to go. Purrloin just murdering me because of critical hits and Boeing’s inability to hurt it.

Prediction proven correct. We win, Boeing gains a level, and yet again, no one is dead. Yay.

We blink the same way. That’s where you can really see the family resemblance.

Wait.

Is it...?

YES! Movement achieved! Best mom is best!

So the question is if we’re going to fight trainers or catch something first. I think I’ll take the lead and just step in front of the girl to the left. Then I’ll find out she has a Purrloin and Boeing will be sad.

Oh. She’s not a trainer. Learning all over the place.

Hello! Well, isn’t that convenient. Let’s hopefully not murder you!

That’s stage one accomplished. Now for the less fun part. Let’s throw the Premier Ball for luck.

...Let’s be sad when that has no effect.

Whoever wrote the reactions to the pokemon breaking out of the balls had a great understanding of what torture their players would be going through.

Success! Something normal to play with!

Hm.

You shall be Timon. Please don’t die.

I love being able to run back to the Pokemon Center instead of needing to walk like a peasant.

Switching Timon into first place since he is the weakest in every possible way. Don’t worry though, buddy. If you live long enough, we will change that together.

Timon is a Bashful boy and likes to run. The first neutral nature of the group. I have no strong feelings on that one way or another, but I do know me, and knowing me, I will be most sad if the Bashful one dies. You protect the Bashful ones.

Time for our first battle against an NPC. I foresee this going well. Even though Youngster Jimmy is a bearer of the dread Patrat. It’s level 7, so Timon belongs nowhere near it, and it’s a Patrat, so Boeing needs to stay far away. Frogger, you’re up.

Two hits later, the Patrat is gone, Frogger is level 8, and Timon grows to level 5. Progress.

Me too, as long as I win.

The theme of this run will just be never using Boeing in a fight.

Victory achieved, and Timon has leveled up to 7 and learned Ember! A productive fight.

Are you kidding me.

Hm.

Okay it turns out it knows Bite, so Boeing this is yet another creature to stay away from, Frogger, if you don’t mind stepping back into the role of enforcer? Yeah it’s a fierce dragon, but it’s also level 4.

Good Frogger. And you even all get to share the exp together! A solid group experience that didn’t take any years off my life, no sir.

I should probably give up on screencapping every single encounter. It’s not exactly entertaining for anyone, and if the post doesn’t suddenly stop, the answer of what happens should be fairly obvious.

We’re going to let Timon try fighting for once instead of going pure switch training.

And now we’re going to let Boeing take over, because Lillipups are the terrifying puppies with STAB. Timon takes a level up, and Boeing takes the pride of actually being useful again.

My first experience with Randomizer should not have been wasted on a Nuzlocke. My only real complaint about Pokemon games is that I’d like more variety in the ones you find on early routes, and with that solved, it’s like being thrown into a candy store where everything is free.

Except I already caught something in this route, so sorry Yamask, time for you to go.

This thing knows Disable. I... think Psychic can hit Ghost, it’s just not very effective. It’s Dark it has a problem with, but we’re not going to find out this fight because Boeing missed and Yamask Disabled it.

Things like that are why early game variety isn’t a priority. Pokemon pick up their better moves as they advance, and that translates to a lot of early moves not hitting Ghosts.

A wild Salamence was found after I went back to go heal. It made Timon flinch twice in a row.

In some ways, this is exactly what I wanted, in others, mistakes have very much been made. There’s probably an option to keep all the evolutions found in the wild level appropriate.

If Boeing ever hits a Psywave, I might just die of shock. My poor useless Legendary. I’m going to let him try to kill a level 7 Tepig just so he can feel needed. Though he is a Relaxed guy, so his performance probably isn’t bothering him nearly as much as it bothers me.

Bianca, you and your terrifying Patrat should feel no obligation to fight me. You could just. Not. You also have a Lillipup now. I do not trust this encounter to go well, because I am a paranoid sort.

Then Timon’s Ember burns the Lillipup as I’m typing that, so fine, maybe not everything will be horribly dramatic all the time just because death is on the table.

Boeing, I know it’s scary, but I’m going to send you in to fight your rival. Don’t worry. In this universe, I have other things to switch to once it starts murdering you.

She used a Potion? Really?

Patrat please stop Leering at my Latios.

...Also please undo your knowledge of Bite. Boeing’s accuracy with Psywave is so bad I actually can’t guarantee that he’ll live long enough to strike the final blow, so once more... Frogger, time to pick up the slack. Sorry you are the most useful of the team when you are clearly the most unloved.

We win and arrive at Striaton, which I think I actually remember now that I’m walking around in it. It’s the one with the waiter Gym, I believe. And the Dreamyard’s next to it, where we will likely have our next friend.

This Gym changes based on who you picked as your starter... I wonder what Boeing replaced.

New location get. Oh wait... am I remembering wrong, or can I not access the grass without HMs? I’m pretty sure this is the area where you get the chimp pokemon, but that’s a letdown here since I don’t think I randomized gifts and the like. Maybe we are not meeting our new friend here yet.

As I’m going through the trainers here, Boeing is still level 8, Frogger is 10, and Timon is 11, so... sorry, buddy. You’re going to have to face down another Patrat. Maybe it’s a good thing I banned myself from looking things up, because I am guessing that however long it takes for Boeing to get a new move, it will be too long. His only other move is Heal Block, and that is only theoretically useful at this stage in the game.

Against any type, actually, but I guess that’s the answer to what Latios replaced among the starters. I now have a Panpour.

I didn’t really think much about what to do with gift pokemon... I think I’ll just add to my personal rules that using pokemon on my team that have not been randomized is a no-go. As a sign of its ineligibility, Panpour will receive no nickname. I’ll ditch it in the PC before the temptation to use it grows.

Yeah, the grass is currently beyond my reach... I guess we’re doing the first Gym with these three, then. After our obligatory journey to the Trainer School.

I don’t remember so many battles with non-NPCs in other games, but it’s also been quite some times since I’ve played. And I was tempted to go with a no-items rule for this run, but then I remembered I am a coward when it comes to small creatures under my care being in pain.

...Geez, I probably have to worry about what level the Gym Leader has... usually I grind the heck out of things by accident, so it never comes up, but there’s room enough for error here to concern me.

Cheren having a Meganium is going to surprise me for a while yet.

Boeing being pretty useless against it won’t surprise me anytime soon. I guess I’ll have my answer about how this generation deals with poison if I make it through this fight.

I apparently forgot to heal when I ditched Panpour. Whoops.

But Timon comes through!

Thank you my intrepid fire pig.

Hey, Boeing learned a move!

.

.

.

Helping Hand.

Latios replaced the Grass starter.

Isn’t that supposed to be easy mode.

Lucky me, this is one of the versions where poison doesn’t kill you outside of battle. That’s a relief; I never remember things like antidotes when I’m playing the games normally, so it was fully within the realm of possibility that my entire team would die just because I forgot about the rules.

...

I’m gonna yolo it.

Frogger, I believe in you. Murder the Fire pokemon with your mighty Bubble.

The first trainer has a level 11 Lillipup... I would probably be way more comfortable taking this gym after some grinding, but that’s hardly the point here. The point is for me to entertain myself and feel terrible when it all goes wrong.

It’s weird how little memory I have of this gym. I remember the final fight, but absolutely nothing else. I think that’s because Cheren takes over being the first Gym Leader in the sequels, and who ever remembers the peons anyway.

I can’t believe I’m switch training a Latios.

We’ve got a long way to go, Boeing.

This could go so badly so easily.

His name’s Chili? Really?

At least he only has two pokemon--

Lillipup with status boosting move and Bite, run Boeing.

Timon bravely holds the line, and... yeah, this is the gen where the amount of exp is determined in part by the difference between your level and your opponent’s, isn’t it? Because grinding needed an added complication, naturally.

Level 11 Frogger vs. level 14 Pansear.

This should be fine, but I am so used to being a higher level in gyms. Being a lower level while playing for keeps is making me twitchy.

Atta boy, Frogger!

And he learned BubbleBeam! That is so much better than Bubble!

One badge down.

...Does anything in my party learn Cut?

Okay, with the badge, that seems like a good stopping point for this post. I don’t know how these will end up going, since, in case it weren’t painfully obvious and you didn’t read some of my comments above, this is all brand new to me, but hopefully this proved at least a little fun on some kind of level.

[theicombaticon]

At last, I'm finally done. I'm actually happily surprised I was able to make it to the end, even with all my problems I had. (Well, actually, this is super late, but screw it, I wanted to tell this story the best way I could, and that required a little more time.) Because now, after all the hinting and sequel-baiting I kept doing throughout the month, I finally get to tell you the story of the most fun I had with a Pokemon game, why the Emerald protagonist is my hero, and how Emerald became my favorite game. Period. Buckle up, because this is a long story

THE "HOME GAME" -Around this time, my name for this character had shifted to "Sherloc" for some reason (and no, I've never watched the BBC show, and I never want to; I just thought the name was nifty), with no "k" at the end due to space limitations. ---- -Also, I won't be using all the original names for my 'mons due to changes in naming taste (also at least one of the names has gained really horrible connotations since then) -NOW ON TO THE STORY: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~     For at long while, my Emerald cartridge had been missing, which was just a little distressing for me. A lot of the other games I'd been playing at the time hadn't been as fun for me as they should be, and I had really enjoyed what I had played of the game so far. Keep in mind, this was also during one of, if not the worst time periods of my life, and this made it all the more relieving when I finally found the cartridge during a long (and I mean like 8-9 hour long) drive.                Instead of directly continuing my old file, though, I decided to start anew. My old file wasn't complete, but I had stalled at one part where I needed to do some more level grinding, and goddammit I didn't want to start off with any of that garbage, I wanted to GO ON AN ADVENTURE.                And thus the tale of my young detective began, alongside the Mudkip I had decided to go with this time around (who I will refer to as Stormer for the rest of this story). We just zoomed along at a reasonable quick pace all things considered. I wanted to have an adventure, yes, but I also wanted to quickly catch up to where my original file had left off (which was right before the second Maxie battle). As a result, I didn't train a full party as one would more likely do in the games. Instead, for the longest time, all I had was Stormer, and the Tailow I had caught and named Zephyr (I liked Tailow and Swellow, and have almost always used them in my play-throughs). I didn't want to lose time level grinding, and they seemed fit to wipe the floor with whatever threat would cross our young hero for a long while.                Gyms whizzed past Sherloc, one by one. Roxanne a cakewalk. Brawly went by so quickly I forgot once again that he even existed. Wattson, who gave many a challenge trouble, was a push-over. Flannery went by without much issue, while Norman gave just a bit more of a problem. After defeating him and getting to visit the region's great desert, a new team member was found: Spiker the Cacnea (I thought it would be safer having an extra teammate, especially with its type coverage)                All through this, I repeatedly encountered trusted friends like May and Wally, mysterious wanderers like Scott and Steven (who even after all these years I swear is going to be in that final room for the final battle one of these play-throughs even if I have to code him in there), and even got entangled in some gang warfare. On one side, Magma's Maxie seemed ironically cold and detached from those around him, Tabitha looked like the actual devil, and Courtney...didn't seem to exist. And on the other, Matt and Shelly...at least existed, while Archie seemed...oddly welcoming of our young hero and their team as they both formed an uneasy alliance against their fiery enemies. Sure, Archie and his team we just as terroristic as Magma, but when Sherloc would send Magma packing, Archie would give them a pat on the back and that was fine with me.               Winona's gym now passed. I always thought Fortree City and its neighboring grasslands were pretty cool. As those passed, Sherlocc continued outwards to the east, with the endless ocean beginning to make them wonder if land would ever come. And then it did. As did those Magma goons, who were swiftly sent packing thanks to the double team of our hero and the mysterious Steven. After that, the seventh gym came and...was not as easy to defeat as the others before it had. Whatever, I thought, I'm finally at the sections I never reached previously; I can excuse this.                But here was, in fact, where Sherloc's challenges really began. For you see, for all the support they had each had to give one another to stop the nefarious Maxie from overhauling Hoenn, our hero now had to do the same to Archie and his plans. As Archie's patience with our hero finally snapped, there was a sense on both sides of betrayal and disappointment. Both sides held their ground more than the other had anticipated, but the final results meant nothing as Archie eventually got his wish...and then wished he hadn't.                Archie and Maxie's plans to revive the great titans of old now left Hoenn in chaos as nature itself seemed to internally rebel against its very being (purple prose purple prose purple prose). As truces were stuck up once again, the three side traversed to Sootopolis to seek wisdom from Steven and his friend Wallace. Their plan was clear: if they were to stop the madness, they would need to locate the Sky Tower and awaken the great Rayquasa.              ...And this is where the complete blind-run nature of this had to end, as I actually needed a guide to find the damn tower (I know it's supposed to be hidden, but for f****s sake). To make a long story short (too late) Rayquasa was found, peace was restored, and an eighth gym badge was obtained after the single most boring gym battle I've ever experienced (freakin Kingdra, man). Mission accomplished!                Victory Road came as a minor inconvenience, but not one without fruits. You see, midway through the area, a challenger arose, and after a long drawn out duel, changed into a teammate, as  Leon the Aggron (at the time of capture a Lairon) rounded out the...square team. Hrm. Sure, for the final challenges I added a random Hariyama from Victory Road and an Electrike used as an HM slave, but they were for stalling terns while I heald the real teammates. We were in this together, dammit. It didn't even matter how big the gaps in introduction to the team were, we were one. Besides, we had decent type coverage among us. What could give us trouble now?                A lot of things actually. But mainly Glacia's stupid Walrein. Which is sad because I like Walrein. But I don't like Glacia. She can die in a fire.                But see, one thing I liked about Emerald is that it doesn't make you feel bad when you lose (partially thanks to the mostly upbeat music, but also because it doesn't take money away from you when you white out), so Sherloc and co wa free to keep rebattling the elite 4 over and over with the occasonal actual grinding. And this was how it went on for a year as in real life, I repeatedly had to deal with change after change (some of them not so good). But while being stuck at Glacia was frustrating, I wasn't too upset. For all the trouble I was having, at least it was consistent. For all the chaos in my life at that time, Emerald still felt the way it had from day one. It some days felt more home-like than my actual home. It was somewhere wher I could feel comfortable in where I was. And this was how it was as my life spiraled, but then started to reform itself again.               And just like that, as everything seemed to ready itself for where my life was going to go (towards a better future, luckily), Glacia sudenly became easier. And then we beat her. And then Drake went down on the first try. It was shocking. Were my pixel protagonists going to finally become the legends I always knew they were? Or was this just a fluke and they were going to get sent back to the beginning of this elite challenge again like the other times? Either way, Wallace now stood between Sherloc, ther 'mons, and glory.               And wow I don't think I've ever seen a battle that could be both tense and utter monotonous at the same time. Why hadn't we prepared for that f***ing Gyarados (aside from the fact we knew little to nothing going into that fight and I just answered my own question). Did you know that Wallace apparently has 5+ Full Restores? Because he managed to use EVERY SING ONE OF THEM FOR THAT GYARADOS. After a while, it just felt like we were being taunted. Like this lone 'mon managed to represent everything hurting me and holding me back, and if we could JUST knock it out, anything could be possible. To make an incredibly long story short (WAY too late), a half hour after the fight began (and after at least one reset I think after whiting out), it finally went down. It was over. We had won. Sherloc, Stormer, Zeyphr, Spiker, and Leon were champions. And seeing those end credits roll felt amazing.         ...Cut to a year or two ago, when I decided to revisit my game and enjoy some post-game content, I was greeted with a warning saying the cartridge's internal battery had dried out. I had been at the Battle Frontier for only a single session before I ended up saving and shutting the game off to do...something or another, I don't remember.               I haven't touched the game since. I'm too scared to do it. I worried I'm going to find everything gone. Sure, I could try to transfer everything up to a Gen IV game, but what if when I try, nothing will be there? I didn't have access to the Palpark in my Diamond for years and years (and my regular DS went missing during the bunches of moves I did over the last few years, only to turn up last year. I'm just too scared of the possibility that my friends are gone forever, forever lost.        And yes, I don't care if they e=were pixels or not, that lot were my friends. I've gained and lost so many and real life over that period of time (hell, it's STILL happening). But THEM. They stayed always. I could just boot up the game, and there they would be. Without them, I would never have gotten to go on the magnificent, albeit definitely not flawless adventure through the Hoenn region. They helped get me through one of if not the most turbulent, uncertain, and painful time of my entire life. There will be NO Pokemon game that is ever going to compare to the one I had gone through with Sherloc, Stormer, Zeyphr, Spiker, and Leon. No other game would ever make me feel as at home as that one did. Nothing would ever compare to "the home game." NOTHING. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you kept with this story all the way, thank you. This went on for FAR longer than I anticipated it would (the fact of how late this is should tell you something), but this was a story very important to me that I've been waiting for the ultimate excuse to tell, and celebrating Pokemon's big anniversary seemed like the best excuse imaginable. Happy 20 years, you great series, and here's to another 20. You helped ease the pain of the last few years. .....and I am utterly spent with this challenge.

See it and other art pieces on this deviantART that happens to be mine

[throwingideasatthewall]

Clone Wars    Kidnapped

Also, yeah how do you   follow up an episode like that?

    Also isn’t this like the     second kidnapped episode?

Oh

You know we actually needed the levity so that I am completely OK with the saving a   thing plot,

  Gives time to breathe-

Ho-nest,      This place looks pretty     neat,

[Though they still knowingly enabled     Tox be    hav-ior]

This is the equivalent of someone ditch    -ing productivity,      And att      -em       pt       Ing          To     Go     Straight         To     creat-iv-ity        Before      anything’s       set up,]

And I should really be careful   not   to get distracted by the pretty lights,

Wa-     rr    ior-

Well least      tox

  Whe         lp,       In-        Sti        gators       ,    Fe      ck,      -      Oh hey that   war we enabl     -ed

 Whelp

Okay, seriously who is that guy?         (Normally I wouldn’t be so nervous        (but the last few episodes                 Not Krell          The under water                   One)       Introduced a guy of a   random species that we have never heard or seen of    and he died before we ever did,

            So,

             I’m                   a                  Little                Nervous                    ,     (I like different   species,)

His design       seems      nice          ...    Neu       tral.

Yet we won’t assume the amount of   accoun-   tability necessary to     enforce it       Don’t get      me wrong;     I don’t want an  infinity war

  But if you enable, be prepared for the consequences and/or to push it back, (what      ever        You       Left,)         Whenever        it comes for your life,         For the rest of it,  (Or until you snap and       hold it accountable,)

      Pro-tection

Usual spiel    but it works.

You know that would’ve worked really well with overinvolved     positivity,

  Though at this point it’s pretty clear they are going for the clear-cut        Jedi- are      Posit         Ive          Ly         Over-          Involv        e               -d-            (Sith - negative)

  And more so         general   “everyone is a     shithead,”         Kinda         Vibe.

   Which is perfectly fine,

    Why?

   That’s a lot

 [also never mind with the     - warning - or get into lines,]

  Obi-Wan looks really young-er      in the scene for some reason

     -His face

         -it’s too smooth

           - and are his eyes a bit bigger?

  10

  Also yeah they specifically told us not to get involved and that they were going to do it on their own       I-n.       Ia        tiv        e

   But screw that

  “Let’s   escalate the situation!”

   Despite that being literally what the dude       fears and probably        his nightmares

                              [screw respecting other adult’(s) initia     tive]

    I know Dooku is implied to be really feckin tox also

   But talk means nothing

   Dude has to have the actions       Attempt it on himself and decide what to do for        himself,

     He’s decided to enable,          Ain’t nothing       that can be done         about that,

[What    was that look?

   [also did Obi-Wan not ask what happened               down there?]

               Great

                Time for   warfare

                 For the Jedi that can’t take a   “no,”             For an   an   -swer

 Gr      -e         a-t        -       ?       Voice    -act         -ing       -       People        Shield             -               What,          I’ve-         Watch          -ed             The     Watton           Boar         -         Arc-           -      -Battle

   Yeah but it’s      -also      pretty     bullshit          - (when have the separatist ever respected the Gen       eva convention?)

    Rex-        Has a           Feck’in            Point

   I

(Also that doesn’t tell them anything this could be    basic    clankers    when no   in fact they are commando droids              )

Ana       Kin’s         Voice      De-eper?

Com       -man                  do-

       [I have a feeling they’re really trying to contest           the we have no fig           -h-ters)

         Lin                  e-             -             A-g                  ain-

        O-h                           Sir,           Oh,           ,           Also, how?

     But also         ok that            guy,

               Surprisingly,     calm        ly      spoken-

    So this could make a great scene    contrasting Obi- won’s I believe   moral nature,       With another strategist that seems to be believing some kind of     chivalry

   [Also, OH SHIT,   is that where they’re keeping the     pris    oners,

  Whelp

   Anakin is a         dick to        holograms,

Seriously      you could’ve      just turned it off,

     [if you had news       or opinion to share        ?)- 

Ok, where the    fuck?

    [Don’t, get me wrong I know Anakin,         was an ex slave,           Everything else             is new..  .  

 Including his    rage towards it,

      Me,

 Hey, they’re being smart    about this,         -                        Up-   s-   et-

Yes,   thank you,   did I miss     something?

P-ast

Doesn’t     justify any of this     bullshit. .

I     mean,

Literally no one     is smarter   than anyone else

 So       Ana        Kin,      ,      OK but that’s a whole different species     and/or a group - -           this is not “past”    this is I just hate feck     -ing    sl-av        er s              -                       And possibly un-vented            anger at trauma-         -                          Either way pretty damn           va                 -lid                  -                         Dis-              trust                 -              Whe-  

Oka-y         ,          I don’t- 

  Also is that an animal or     sentient?            - A game      I find myself playing           to no         One         ‘s      Cha        -grin-         -,         Oh

    Arro         gan      -c-          e

    Ah- tak        e?          ,            Also he has a    non-evil       pet           -            That’s kinda          cute

       But also kinda sad,            Hint,ing          at the fact              Dude was probably intended to be some kind of   animal      focus        (Someone who works around or just generally likes animals - special             ity)

       Before he went     corrupt

            (Showing some    interest in keeping them out of the battlefield,                    And                  Fond-ness)

       Or this could just be a short han     d-e        d symbolism                 For              slavery          and   grooming          -          Both    -work           -             Do        -Tell           -          [oh yeah         dude totally gave away his plan,]

     Despite Obi-Wan almost clearly not being          in earshot

     Nice interaction         * introduction

   Also     ,doesn’t he         already know,            Holo-gra       -m    -         Formal     in-         tro         duc-          tions            -                Are           Nice,             -              Er-

    Seriously what is up with         these two            people?

     Also why did dude           growl?

    For people that look like cats      they sure act like dogs              (Bor- d       -er)        (Nothing wrong with that-        just-         curious-             “      -i

    How?

    Also they’re just really shout-ing their      plans out here      aren’t they?

    S-u        -rr          en-          der-            -           Obi- won    still playing        along..     ——           W-help            -           He       gave        him            a         chance             -         Whelp-

    O-k

  Honestly he’s acting pretty calm and      diff-erent-ly characterized,             The Kenobi we know wouldn’t raise             a hand to help even himself                   (In ani.)             Also            I’m surprised Aniken hasn’t stumbled across anything by           now,

       Thought that would be the        crutch            of the narr-ative tension in the          office,

       But          Aight           ,         Calling the chips early is completely fine I will never have an issue with chara-     ter     -(s-     acting slightly smarter than expected,

Though wish Anakin had shown some kind of      initia-       tive-

 Like the stories telling us that he’s really      pumped up   “about      the     whole      slave      thing,”          . . .         But has just found          nada when it comes down to      rescuing the slaves,         Or just finding any hints about this    oper     -ation      in general,

To summarize;     What the heck has Aniken been doing the last minute      and a half             ~              ?            No-thing

[like if everyone had told him to chill due to his       clear aggression     believe he caused some harm      in his rage,

   And sent         Ahsoka         in-stead

         That would make a lot    more sense,

  [and make up Obi- wan look like less of a              Irrational Dick        By sh(ar-ing) Anakin‘s backstory         without any permission       or reason,

    While there    he might have to explain to       Ahsoka    why he’s sending her      and not Anakin,]

  Just-        Writer       Th-       ough   -t-         -      Treat-        ment          -    “ You have broken        through my         defenses,”

   Emotionally             or            ...      physically?             . .           Never           mind-

        Would’ve              been nice      if someone actually took him up on that          offer               -              (Like some villain(/enabler) is like you know what my job sucks,    my boss sucks, I could really use an       nap...

    Sure]     ..     They were just standing there          ...      doing nothing,

     Like,      Dude literally just said       there were bombs planted all over the city,

  And, no one’s in a ru-sh            to fix that-

       Or use them to find the           kidnapped people..

[I   mean      fair       ...    but      geez.

   Colo      -nists,

     Again,      where are they?            . . .             You supposedly sent Anakin to find       - them but we haven’t seen anything           -               Also yeah the dude is totally going to give up    his only bargaining     chip         . . .           After being          out gunn        -ed-            -            Well             -           Also you have one button that only activate(s     one mine?

          Like did you, set that up just for the purpose of    in-timi     dating people

   Also congrats    you likely threw away    your only bargaining chip                 -      because from his point of view     the explosion already went off-                        -       And he doesn’t know that you had one     specific button just for that      one mine-             -      (Like it   doesn’t sound that loud but he could’ve gotten     hear-ing probl-em (s-) from the      near- by      explosions,     )

  We-         ll-

   “Col-on-ists,”

  Oh     good thing you told him after you destroy-ed the       thing-

   And he didn’t go into attack mode and you have a light saber press-ed to your throat-

   dumb

I’m sorry but that’s just so adorable

   Look         at            it;

   Man like(s soft squishy things and    he doesn’t seem to be      hurt          ing-           -it,

      Like,           How               ?

        Also, did       no one check               for               that               shit?

Like,      No-

Me-      dic

 Wh-       el        p-

  Bo-

 Several people      -just died           And he         comforts the    robot.. .

   Dick

Also, Maybe       It’s be       cause         Cody         is     Obi-Wan’s        Gen.       (Generation          or      General)            Doesn’t     make much         of a        dif-ference?            -         That          this        flies?      (I mean I can        understand him not giving       too much of a heck,       Due to this being a war      caused by this guys’             Gen,         But     seriously,)

     Also yeah            kinda          ,dick             ,          Screw         medical     attention,

      Well,

     That’s a lot of faith          for a whole              lot a          nothing,

     Also let’s go do the thing       we were supposed to be doing            this entire time,

   (I think)

  My brain started going numb and I half paid    attention            -         Oh, wait 

now we’re getting into the back      story?

 After they’re on the planet

  Without any       pre-emption?

 -Er

My brain      cells      are    asleep,        -        Al        -ive         -           Seriously, what is up with the   -bird     thing,

   (I really hope     it factors into his character)

   Or is brought up

  Frust-      trat-      Ion

“Zy,”

  Dude they’re slave traders    I really don’t think     you want to do that          (Just           a       thought)

Also maybe     suggest     trading        him some       exotic animals,

   Dude seems to have a pen      -chant

   And he seems to treat them    re-     lati       vely       well,

   (There   are some in cages but that just seems to be for      transport,                         ) -  no I thought you should ever take animals        out of a pre-         ferr              ed         Safe  climate

       But he could have one set up            abet a smaller one,

        Wha?             (The      voice acting           there           was         weird,)

       Also, really?

    That’s the     competition?

 (Is there ever a tradition..   

    That isn’t fighting?)

  Also, okay,

 but is it like some kind of style of fighting?

     (I swear he you challenges him to sword fighting.)

   Then again Zy-         ger-          Ian-       fighting-

  Dif-ferent rules   could be interesting

   Possibly establish           Obi-Wan                 as                a          well traveled              man,

                   (So long as he isn’t allowed to use his                         feck -in light saber,                             -) (Which     Anakin      hasn’t        been       doing         at all,

 Also lower      ed risks     are nice,

Again, not saying anything about     deactivating em,

Also what the fuck is with that guy’s facial   expressions,

  Like ever since that moment       it has gone     insane,       (As in I can’t for my life     read what they’re trying to express,       And that is the closest     translation;       I can come up with,

Never   mind      -   he’s an asshole      -    Even th-

  Screw         It

  (The       logic         is not on        the high setting           with this one.”

       Any way,              Per-

        That’s

         [do you know how back when I was revie-       wing the movie I thought about how the escalation one from         1 to 10 and the characterization switched on a dime?

               -Not to   insult,

    But this is starting to feel a lot like   that-

 My brain already very checked out at this   point-

Because I     really   don’t    need      it for     this-      -   W-

  Constant      Characteri-zation?!

   What-  

[Excuse me while I sit over here drinking my       ‘wtf just happened,’          juice

   You know      when I was reviewing (Earlier) scenes       like this;           I used to give it somewhat of a pass    saying;              (Some        thing       along           the          lines            of)

       Well people change on a dime,

  Which I’m starting to realize    getting further into this;        Is that you need some kind of sentiment       Or pre-       -empt         To        Connect          Those           Thoughts      -             The           eyes             need              to           narrow                 -               The             body          language            needs              to             change                 -      The     music       (perhaps)        a subtle       change in tone;         -        It can’t change on    that much of a dime        -

            I               don’t               need                   a                  lot;                 Just some kind of indication about what the      feck just happened,     -             Because otherwise it’s just    spaghetti      -         Like I’m sorry     but it’s true-              -      The expressions before were completely unreadable      and down          right-        unhuman,

      There was no word      ,cues to indicate anything

      And the music     which could’ve been a brief    Cue,        Of whether this is supposed to be        abrupt or         instigated,             Well I don’t,     think there is any,   

                        Fix scen;                                    e

                     This guy smirks, possibly chuckling, the bird leaving his           arm-, possibly pre-facing it with, “ well then,  let’s          be-gin,” or a body posture is simply leaning in before     pouncing,

      Telling me    this is part of the plan,

        And that’s Zygrians value a more wild style of fighting with the element of surprise      being      emphasiz       ed-

    Which makes sense considering what seems to be a      hunting         focus,

    With snark following up either confirming or     denying,  

    That as true           (Or          False)

     That his actions were        prec-        edent-        ed         or        not,

      As it stands,  

   There was no      Cue

    And I’m        completely          lost.              . . .           Whel            -p

                           Well that was a bunch of nothing                                                                                  .  .  .                               Which is a shame because it had a lot of good     subjects to focus on, Slavery, the difference between Wild and Order, tam-ing, groom-       Ing,      Cap-       tivity              -         The concept of an invasive species,

     Unfortunately the writing is so inconsistent,      And generally        poor,         That it can’t carry a beat for longer than a few     min-utes

        Well I’ve noticeably praised the attempt to take on a higher intensity material

         That doesn’t give an     excuse for the apparent drop in quality

          Often; i’ve said that            stupid villains are fine

        However       the thing that often irritates me         in those episodes;           Isn’t that the villain’s            Stupid   

          It’s the lack of          self-awareness             (Not in the poking            fun of one’s                 self                 way)

  Is that it isn’t        framed that way,

  (No snark,    very little realistic the consequences without drawing attention to it,        And very little change       except the     villain is now Stupider          Though it attempts to keep the same dramatic tension          and stakes)

   In sum        -mary:

    While I think this episode had a lot of interesting concepts to work with they will unfortunately             Wasted                   By the episode lack of commitment, consistency, and constant characterization,

      Most        notably;

     - Anakin’s resent             -ment                    Of          slavery             (His care of it turns off and on like a light switch and his intensity             varies)

         Functioning less like a Berzerk/.              accountability button                  (Mild               Responsibility)  

               And                 more                  like                   an                excuse            to have him             flip his lid,

             Make                   odd                 facial            expressions,  

             And generally put, shout  put emphasis In a nonsensical bordering on                  inhumane way

                What seems to be a disturbing trend (with the characters       ;)

               Specifically the                  Zygarian                     here

                 And                      Ani             

              -The                 difference               between            wild and tamed;                   Along with a constant theme of slavery,                  It’s paired with the constant imagery                 of animals in cages

             Which would be fine if it was actually presented as an               excessive detail,

             But the focus is put on it and nothing ever seems to come of it

            (Almost as if it’s expected that just by having      it there, the motif comes with it)

             Which no

             Animals in cages and...            What?

             Like, I have an idea         what they’re trying to hint at,

             But until           the story commits;

             “These animals           are very much like you,”

               Then it remains in                        limbo,

 As wasted time          And wasted     emphasis,            -

      The Zy-             Gar            Ian             (s)          backstory;           Note      this works off another point         about captivity,

        Now, from the little bits,  I could get from the conversation;

        The Republic                inter                   fer                  r                   e                  d,                   Note; this seems to be a pretty big deal

   The antagonist      esp          ecially             affec               t-                e-d

           By                  It,

  But we never learn much about it      or him        (How it affected)

    Yeah he re-peats           Some          po-ints;            But it’s never elaborate-         d on

         What exactly       hap-pened to him?

          What exactly       hap-pened with the conflict?

           How?

            To be more                  precise;                     This presents the idea of a rather fas-       cin-        at        ing      conflict about the over- involve-ment of an outside species into              a           Nother’s            Planet          -           And I don’t think it really       utilizes it

       Drop      ping it almost instantly,          For an almost emotion-    less        fi-        gh          t,        Where are dude repeats ‘they were happy,        And generally everything except “I”             (How he was affected)                 Or any authentic emotion

       Just unread         able        inhumane       expressions            . . .       Not much in the way of themes,        motifs,            Or anything of         real        sub-      stance-         -       Sub      Category;           The clones got injured in an            attack;             This is not treated with any sort of        heaviness              -             Or even note             (Nor to the status/            theme of captiv-               ity- or                Sta              Tus                In               The              Empire-)

            Or         represen-tation               of             order,

           (And is quite point blank pointless)

           Not to speak of the ending where the Anakin is         almost point-blank informed                  That the captives are being held on                    Ty-                    Ger                        ia/                        By the Ty-                       ger-ians

                Po-int being;                      This is pretty subst                  antless                          Sn                            -ack,                             That lacks any kind of consis          tence

       - And isn’t.          worth the                watch,

           (With             nothing              set up)

          (Might’ve wanted to go with an                 R2-D2/ (CpO?) episode)                   Work on that tone                first

               Before trying anything serious,                   With that robots scream of absolute terror                  upon its death..

[sassygaykuja]

just beat leon in swsh, heres some final thots: (spoilers and controversial onions ahoy, obvi)

-in terms of gameplay, i loved it. its pokemon, and plays like pokemon, so im going to love it as long as it does that.

-the pokedex was overall pretty good, and i really like some of the new editions, but feel kind of lackluster. the final starter evos dont really feel all that cool and important to me, tbh, but i think a lot of that feeling comes with how much i loved decidueye when i first saw it. it might just be this gen didnt tick as many boxes for me as gen 7 did, so its hard to judge on that merit.

-the point above but also eiscue is terrible and i hate it

-the first few gyms were very good and fun. i actually really enjoyed the gym puzzles. my favorite was opals because of what a troll she is. shes great

-the last two gyms were very disappointing. with how much i liked the gym puzzles the lack of them ruined a lot of the excitement. its the late game, these two should be the most fun and cool gyms. raihans is literally just an empty room. its this big castle in the center of the town which led me to think it would be really cool and big and exciting but... its a tiny enclosed dark room with a couple trainers in it.

-the semifinals were good

-i see a lot of people who dont like hop, and i was pretty meh about him until the semifinals when i started to really like him. his stepping up to the plate felt like more of a heel turn than a gradual transformation tho, i wish there had been at least one more section where you go through an area with him and heard him explore his self doubt

-above point leads into something ive seen a lot of people point out, but the story outside of the gym challenge is so disappointing. there arent really sections where you put your quest on hold to help people or stop some bad guys. people keep telling you to stay out of it. pokemon games usually make you feel like a hero, but swsh just makes me feel like a kid being told what to do a lot of the time.

-also exemplified in the boss fight with dynamax eternatus. zacian and zamazenta do most of the work, so like, why am i even here?? 

-its pretty clear that near the 2/3 point in the game some choices had to be made about what got fleshed out and what didnt. i understand why, and i wish the devs had more time and money and manpower and its not their fault. the things they did well they did *very* well, which makes the parts that had to be trimmed for time stick out more.

-i am not at all a fan of the entire dynamaxing gimmick. the only fun thing it really brought to the table was the raid battles in the wild area, which are fun and a cool way to get pokemon. (the togepi i got from one of the first ones i did stayed with me the whole game). the animation for it takes way too long, and i got through the whole ass game and only used it one time outside raids (to beat leons charizard since the only thing i had that could do anything to it was a togekiss with ancientpower)

-team yell was also very disappointing. they very much just felt like a diet team skull.

-rose and orleana were so, so disappointing as antagonists. the parts where you fight them and fight to get them are so short. what happened to frustratingly long buildings full of grunts, huh?? no teleport button puzzles or anything??? come on. a lot of bosses felt rewarding to get to and beat because of how many of their lackeys you had to go through to get to them or having to navigate their bases. roses motivation has a lot of potential to be interesting and cool but you hear about it so late in the game, with such a short conversation it makes the impact of it feel very lame.

-i did like looking for the guy with the key to the rose tower. that part was actually genuinely really charming and funny. like when you find him the second time and hes like ‘what, do you just talk to everyone you meet???’ made me laugh

-the game never really had a big test of endurance. even some of the easiest pokemon games had at least one long section with no healing other than items, and maybe one inconspicuous trainer somewhere who heals your pokemon.

-the wild area as a whole i really like.

-pokemon camp might be my least favorite of the affection minigames. its cute and fun and i do like the cooking minigame a lot. reminds me of making poffins. i wish there was an equivalent to the rainbow beans tho. idk, there might be some legendary recipe i dont know about or something. i also wish i could pet my friends :( overall i like it, but i like the other affection minigames more. even amie, which is grindy and tedious as shit

-wish i could get mimikyu :((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((

-1 like equals 1 sad for not having a mimikyu

-i hope the rest of the pokedex gets added, as so mega evos.

overall i did really enjoy the game but its very obvious it wasnt given the time and resources it needed and those parts of the game stick out a lot compared to the parts that are really good and charming. with both of those in mind id say it was probably not worth 60 dollars, but it is worth playing.

[redtutel]

Rewatching Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Or as Gen X calls it, Star Wars. But I was born in 1997, so it’s a New Hope to me.

I watched bits and pieces of the original trilogy on TV when I was a kid, but I never saw them all the way through until Middle School.

Can I even say anything about these movies that haven’t already been said? I’m not sure, but I’ll try.

Star Wars lore used to be as simple as Rebels good, Empire bad. And despite all the complexity that’s been added to it since, that’s still the core of this franchise, and I honestly think that’s for the best.

The opening action sequence is one of the greatest in film history. It does a fantastic job of establishing the stakes, as well as showing just how powerful the heroes are in comparison to the villains. Darth Vader looks awesome, and is a fantastic threat.

Rogue One is ending right now. That’s so crazy to think about. Since it’s not a part of the main Skywalker saga, I’m not revisiting it, but I might some other time.

Leia’s such a cool character. She gets captured sure, but she goes down swinging, and she’s just as capable a fighter as the others when she does get rescued. 

There are things that infamously don’t make sense with this movie, like “Why didn’t the Imperial Officers take droids into account” or  “Why is there a small hole that destroys the Death Star.” (although that last one was explained in Rogue One), or “How come nobody remembers the Jedi and the Force?” But back then, people understood that those little things don’t matter, or at the very least they didn't care. Why can’t nerd culture go back to those days?

I remember being so surprised that the Senate was in the original movie, although it was only mentioned and never seen. Same with the Clone Wars

The retconned in CGI is odd, but at the same time, I kind of understand where Lucas was coming from. He had a lot of ideas he wanted to use, but couldn’t because of the limitations at the time. And now with CGI, he can finally puts those ideas into the movie. Although it’s very anacronistic. I agree re-adding deleted scenes was a mistake. Delete scenes are cool, but a majority of them are not in the movie for a reason, or the final product made them redundant. 

17 minutes before we meet Luke. That’s a lot better than the hour spent to meet Anakin, and the events that happen beforehand are much more coherent as well. 

Did R2-D2 kill another droid for the sake of the rebellion. That’s...troubling.

Luke is a likable bright eyed dreamer that wants more out of life. There are many like them, but to be fair, he did inspire a lot of them. Leia being Luke’s sister is very, very clearly not the original plan.

The acting is a little hockey, although the Darth Vader and C-3PO’s acting is still fantastic. And its overall a lot better than the prequels.

It is troubling to see the continuity errors the prequels had. Owen and Buru only met Anakin once, so it’s a bit weird how they talk about him. Obi Wan and R2-D2 should remember each other, but don’t seem to know each other (although Obi-Wan could be faking it. He does tend to lie. Then again, there isn’t really  a reason for him to lie about R2). As well as Darth being a name and not a title.

The twin sun shot. It’s one of the greatest moments in film history. There’s a reason it’s refrecened again and again.

I never noticed how often Obi Wan says “Hello There.”

On the subject of Obi Wan, I love how well he conveys his friendship with Anakin with just he acting. Although he probably wasn’t indeed to be a liar, it's still really sad seeing him lie to Luke to spare his feelings. And he’s one of the definitive mentor characters for a reason.

Tarkin is a character I never thought much about, just another guy in an Imperial Officer's uniform. Which is odd seeing how he blew up a planet. Which is odd because technically, he has superiority over Darth Vader, and is the actual main villain of the movie. Although he was an amazing villain in the few episodes he was in in Rebels.

The Force was pretty simple early one. Fast reflexes and choking people, I guess they didn’t have the ability to do more advanced things with the force back then.

The fact that Owen and Buru were killed so brutally is seriously dark. Although they’re forgettable characters, I feel bad for Luke.

The interrogation machine is super creepy, especially since we don’t see how it actually works.

The brainwashing with the force scene is amusing to this day. Some other great jokes include “She’s Rich” (a favorite of my cousins'), Chewie scaring away the mouse droid and the scene where Han gives up bluffing and just shoots the communicator. Star Wars is allowed to be funny people.

I love all the alien spices in the cantina. It’s a great source of world building. I imagine it must’ve been very difficult, given the low budget of this first movie.

I saw a red eyed, blue skinned alien. Is Thrawn’s species in the first movie?

I do find it funny all of Han Solo’s big accomplishments happened in one day. It doesn’t bother me, though. Anyway, Han’s another good character. He’s your classic rouge archetype, and a good foil to naive farmboy Luke.

...I honestly don’t care who shot first. I’m watching the Blu Ray, so I didn't get to see “Marlarky.”

The movie has a ton of worldbuilding for something meant to be one stand alone story. That’s probably one of the best and worst things about it.

Although it’s definitely overused, the Death Star really is that good a concept. A space station the size of a moon, that can shoot a beam that can destroy a planet. It’s a very intimidating concept, and an excellent obstacle to overcome.

Although we never see Alderan, the fact Leia comes from there helps give the scene the emotional weight it needs. Obi Wan’s iconic line definitely helps as well.

I love how despite advancing technology, that chess game is always designed so that it move like stop motion. 

Of all the Star Wars protagonists, Luke is the weakest in the force at first. Part of me wonders if it’s because they were very limited in what they could show about the force back then. Although it mike be possible Uncle Owen prevented him from experimenting with it, while Anaking got to practice with Pod racing, and Rey got to practice with scavenging. 

The beginnings of the Leia/Han relationship. Two very strong willed people. It’s a good dynamic that only gets better in the next movie.

The trash compactor scene. Again, one of the greatest action scenes of all time. There’s a monster in the water and the walls are closing in. It’s a classic.

...you know if a character like Leia came out today, the dark side of geek culture would despise her for being an “SJW Mary Sue.” Screw those guys.

The bridge scene is another classic, although the rope swing kind of portrays Luke and Leia in a different light than the rest of the movie.

Darth Vader vs Obi Wan. As a child of the prequels I found this battle...underwhelming. I’m warmed up to it since, but I couldn’t help but miss the crazy choreography of the prequels. Later Star Wars works found the proper balance, thankfully. And I love how Obi Wan knows full well death won’t be the end for him.

Poor Luke lost his aunt and uncle and his mentor on the same day. That definitely gives him a reason to despite Darth Vader personally, especially seeing how Vader allegedly killed Luke’s father too.

“There wasn’t anything you could do.” I never noticed those arc words. Much like his father, Luke just keeps losing and losing family. But he also gains family during his adventure as well. I guess that’s one of the unifying themes of all three trilogies. Dealing with the loss of family, and learning to accept new family. 

Although he denies it, Han is torn between collecting the money and living another day, or staying and helping his new friends. And in the end, he chooses his friends. It’s a nice character arc.

Was Wedge in the original cut? I honestly don’t know. And there’s the Roge One “Woomp”

I know I’ve said this a million times, but the death star battle is another one of the greatest actions sequences of all time. I’ve heard that the ticking clock aspect was actually something George Lucus’s wife at the time, Marcia Lucas. So good on her for making this action sequence as great as it is.

Overall, this is one of the greatest movies of all time for a reason.