#gettings legends arceus inspired me

[misfortunetasteslikehoney]

He’s just a little hater.

[rylxdreams]

I still can't get the unused concept art of Wish out of my head so I've been reading a lot of rewrites and looking at a lot of Wish redesigns...

So... I got inspired. I'm currently conceptualizing my own Wish "rewrite/redesigns", but with a twist. It's gonna be a spiritual "prequel", cuz idk I feel like being meta since we'll be using the original concepts before the final concepts/decisions made for the final movie XD

Many of my "prequel" characters will be stand-ins for the canon characters! So "Asha" will be renamed "Amala", "Magnifico" will be called "Mamoun", and so on. Think of Pokemon Legends: Arceus regarding the relations of these "OCs" with the canon characters.

Anyway, here are the designs I have so far! I only have the designs for Amala and the Star for now. Hopefully, I can get to draw the other characters soon, especially Mamoun and his wife.

The story will be called "Once Upon a Wish"

Here's an overview of what I have so far... Some details may change if I feel like my other choices serve the story better. (Also, small disclaimer, this is just a veryyy self-indulgent AU made by yours truly, so some details may not be accurate with the canon lore present in Wish)

The story takes place on the same island of Rosas, but from many years ago. If my research is right, canon Wish takes place in the 1200s, so maybe my "prequel" can take place in around the 900s-1000s. Rosas definitely wasn't called Rosas back then, but I'm still figuring out what to call it so I'm just gonna refer to it as "an island".

Amala is a shy, meek, but hardworking apprentice of the island's head sorcerer Mamoun (hence, her color palette looks similar to Mickey's outfit from The Sorcerer's Apprentice). Despite all her hard work in her magic studies, she doesn't really excel at using magic, making a lot of accidents during training. If there's anything she really excels at, it's the act of storytelling (She can draw/animate, sing, and write stories like fairy tales).

Amala also has a little sister Ayah, who I can imagine is the Lilo/Anna to Amala's Nani/Elsa. Ayah is spunky and cheerful, but she has an illness that makes her disabled. The sisters are orphans, but they live under an old family friend they affectionately call Grandpa Dabir. Dabir is a retired bard turned doctor who was part of a troupe with 6 other former bards, all of whom he and the sisters still interact.

That's all I can share for now. Feel free to ask me any questions about stuff about this AU!

[hollowgears]

Feelings and pokemon

Hey y'all! I've been in a real rut recently, not feeling inspired by anything, perfectionism ruining the fun of drawing in general

So as I usually do when nothing seems to be going right, I played pokemon! Going through legends Arceus currently, found a little Zubat that I caught without much thought

But as it usually happens every time I get one of those little bats into my team, I can never let go of them, I've had a crobat in so many of my teams by now it's tradition! And the moment I saw that big purple ball of joy again I knew this would be another one of those times

It's sappy how comforting it feels, like seeing an old friend again, it's also funny how stupidly big this pokemon is, they're massive! It genuinely made me fall in love with the Zubat line

I guess what I'm trying to say it's...hey! I'm still here! Trying to draw everyday until I'm able to feel happy doing so again, going back to old comfort media to find what made me like drawing in the first place, and this one doodle definitely fits that, just how seeing my favorite little critter in game made me remember why I love pokemon, drawing something more warm and soft reminded me why I love art, if only a little bit. But oh well, I'm just rambling!

[cecilioque]

VOLO’S OUTFIT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE BAD. And here is why I think so...

To begin, we are not talking about the Ginko guild design, we are talking about the “final boss” fit. We all know that Volo’s outfit is dumb, but I’m mad because it  was actually thought out and VERY symbolic in the sense that it essentially represented things Volo said/wanted.

I, like everyone else looked at this outfit and went “wow, that is dumb” and then hated on it.  Although it is not the most appealing or cool outfit, there was actually a lot of thought that went into it. I could be really over analyzing this, but here is my interpretation.

To begin with, the concept art is a lot more revealing about the intention of the design then the actual game play.  On a surface level we see Volo in what I can only assume is a Arceus gijinka cosplay.  So the hair, the stars, and color scheme are all elements of Arceu’s  design.  Cool. Good job especially since Volo had in fact never seen Arceus before.

To fully understand this outfit we have to go back to Hisui and the remains of this so called “ancient civilization”. In the Pokemon world, there is this general idea that the ancient culture was either Roman or Greek inspired. We see evidence in Legends of Arceus by the obvious column heavy architecture and use of Greek Doric columns ( one of the earliest styles of columns used for temples) and in the ruins and temple. 

The Temple of Sinnoh is obviously based off of the Parthenon. It’s funny because game freak went as far as to even mimic both Ionic and Doric styles in the Temple of Sinnoh just like the Parthenon. I will go as far to add that the Sinnoh temple is much simpler than the Parthenon due to the fact that it was not embellished with an elaborately carved frieze or any decoration on the exterior for the most part.  Bizarre when even the broken ruins have evidence of some sort of ornamentation. It makes complete sense why the game developers chose this style seeing how is is know for being very simplistic.  But it also dates it in context.  It makes the Temple of Sinnoh the first temple that was build and the others that followed were build as the civilization grew ( thus more elaborate but we can only see the crumbled remains).

I will be ignoring the Snowpoint temple because it is a weird combination of styles and almost seems alien and out of place which very much fits the Regi theme.  It is also based on the early game design which was limited and blocky for game space sake.

Ok, heavy Greek and Roman influence. Back to Volo and his obviously Greek and Roman fit.  Volo’s name itself means “I wish”  in latin and could possibly be a reference to the phrase “volō, ergo sum” (I wish, therefore I am). Very in character since it is the wish for more” and he did everything he could to achieve that.

The actual influence for the design is more Roman in nature. This bothered me because we can see that research and thought went into it, but they just simplified it. And this actually has a point.

To begin with the obvious stuff, we see that volo’s shirt is definitely toga like. It even goes so far to be decorated with a Fibula (brooch)in a way that indicates a higher rank or status.  Cool Volo, we get that you think highly of yourself. Color choice is also same as Arceus, but we also know that white togas were also used by senators and high political officers.

Next , the shoes.  These are just the basic stereotypical Spirit Halloween Greek god/goddess type of sandals you can get at your local costume shop.  This was actually the most disappointing part of the outfit for me. But it makes sense they went with the most simplified and recognizable style.  They wanted us to look at this outfit and go “ Wow, Volo has been studying his myths and recreated an outfit”. This is what you could expect someone to create with just a written description of the clothing used during that time.

The necklace is interesting because it stands out so much compared to the gold colors. I am no sure what they were going for here by making it so prominent, but it brings us to an interesting thought.  If they necklace does have meaning, it is related directly to the design/shape.  The waterdrop could be the Greek symbolism for "tears of grace” or in a sense “gods grace”. The idea that the tears of god water the harvest and provide life. Alternate interpretations could simply be water as a source of life, or a symbol or sadness a mourning.  If it is a symbol of of mourning, this might be a clue to why Volo might desire to rewrite the world so much.

Last but not least, the pants. I think we can all decide this is one of the worst parts of the outfit, and to me it is just straight up confusing for two main reasons.  For starters, the color green is so prominent when green is an accent color on Arceus.  So maybe the color has meaning itself.  But if you look at the image above, the color mainly refers to life and “the harvest” (possibly like the necklace).  It has a weird connections to life and creation itself, which probably is why it was included in Arceus’ design and makes sense as Volo essentially wants to become the creator of life in a new world.

But this isn’t the part that gets me the most. The second thing that confuses me is the fact that the Greeks and Romans did not use pants.  This was because pants were associated with non-Roman/Greek cultures (the Germanic tribes and Vikings) who they looked down upon. On top of that, the Greeks thought pants were feminine and silly.  This could also just simply be a design choice because they didn’t wanna draw Volo in a full toga and accidently make him look like Christ. But this leads to my final point of the physical outfit itself.

VOLO’S OUTFIT WASN’T SUPPOSED TO BE GOOD. IT’S SUPPOSED TO LOOK DORKY AND BAD BECAUSE IT WAS FLAWED! This is based on the real world cultures it was based on. And although Volo may have done a lot of research, he still didn’t completely understand ancient culture.  It’s bad because Volo made it himself. His outfit was flawed just like his ideology. It is his own interpretation of a culture that he had idolized without truly understanding that this great and ancient culture crumbled. And based off of the architecture of the ruins and temples, it never even reached a prime before it fell.

But Volo thinks its correct/cool/accurate. He is being a fool about it because he didn’t understand the bigger picture and had become consumed with this desire for power and control.  This as an idea is really cool and I find it funny that you can also wear the outfit. Its essentially mocking him. If we look at the outfit in this light, the design was a success in getting us to dislike it and evoke this distaste. We didn’t know why, but this is why.

SO IN SUMMARY, OUTFIT WAS BAD ON PURPOSE. It wasn’t thoughtless, in fact there was a lot of research behind it and yet that seems to be thrown out to simplify the design in a way that looks like someone hand made it based off of what they had put together themselves.

But this isn’t my favorite part  of the concept art.  My favorite part is the hands.

Look at his hands. Why are they in those positions? Wouldn’t it have been easier to create more standard poses?  To me the hand gestures here are just too specific. So I started digging around for what they could be on a Art history level.  I looked at Non Christian art first and then Christian symbolism within their mosaics, illuminated manuscripts, and paintings. And I found some verrrry interesting similarities.  I am not trying to make this religious. I just found some interesting similarities between old Christian art and Volo’s design.  Which makes sense if we go back to this Greek/Roman influence because these cultures eventually converted to Christianity.  And Arceus is kind of a weird goat god Jesus.

The left hand is where the biggest symbolism is.  Basically, this hand gesture has been used to indicate “the hand of god” or the “hand of justice”.  Christ sometimes is draw with a similar hand position and could be a sign of the cross, but this would also refer to some sort of divinity.  I will also note that Volo is in no way making the classic “blessing” hand gesture.

As for the right hand he is making what I assume is a Greek/Roman orator (speaker) gesture. This would mean that Volo is calling for attention. Note, that I didn't’ compare this to prophets. That’s because orators speak for themselves and prophets for god.  And Volo thinks he is god.

Under this context, in the concept art Volo is essentially saying “I am God”.  If we add the symbolism of his outfit, it only further solidifies this idea.  Volo’s outfit/concept comes together and screams “behold, I am god , the hand of justice. I will be the creator or the new world”. Which is so freaking clever because that’s literally what he tells you. 

Sure his hands are switched and lowered compared to actual real world art examples (thank you Game freak for not throwing in actual religious symbols/gestures), but I think the intention is still there.  It’s so good that I am mad.  So as much as I hate this dumb outfit, I cannot deny that it was well thought out, that the character was well thought out.

To conclude, these are my assumptions. I am not an expert on art history or religion.  If you have further insights on this feel free to share. I’d be interested with what others had to add.  I the end this could all be wrong and just crazy for overthinking the designs of a pokemon character, but it just seems too intentional to be carelessly thrown together. This is just one possible interpretation.

Though its just more evidence in my mind that a lot of love and care went into developing Legends of Arceus. Despite their limitations and resources.

[found-family-tournament]

Best Found Family Tournament

Submissions are closed.

Give me as much propaganda and images as possible. It gives your fams a higher chance of winning.

Every piece of propaganda and every picture or gif I get. In the submissions and in my asks will be added to the poll post every round.

Please inform me if any of the images or information are wrong. Or if you have a better image that I could use.

If there are any questions or requests of any sort. Askbox.

I try to reblog all the propaganda I get in my reblogs, but if you want to make sure I don't accidentally overlook yours, please tag me.

Inspired by other cool blogs like @bluehairandpronouns-tournament @gender-swag-bracket @bestsiblingstournament @musicalcharactertournament @dead-character-showdown @t4tswagbracket @thegreatbigdetectivepolll @trafficlighttriobracket @thebestcartoontournament @noncanongayestbitchestournament @animatedfightthrowdown @bestcharacterwithfirepowers

Links under the cut

Round 1:

Part 1:

The Runaways (Marvel's Runaways) vs The Knights of Camelot (BBC Merlin)

The Wayward Children (The Wayward Children / Every Heart a Doorway) vs Gekkagumi (A3!)

The Faraway Friends (OMORI) vs The Spring Troupe (A3!)

Bee Happy (Matilda) vs The Night at the Museum Gang (Night at the Museum)

Winter Troupe (A3!) vs Gwendolyn, The Will, Lying Cat and Sophie (Saga (Comic))

Part 2:

The SHIELD Team (Agents of SHIELD) vs Hershel Layton, Luke Triton & Flora Reinhold (Professor Layton Games)

The Band of Boobs (Not Another D&D Podcast) vs Saiki and his friends (The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.)

The Third Mates/The Choo Choo Crew (Not Another D&D Podcast) vs The Crystal Gems (Steven Universe)

Team Dark (Sonic the Hedgehog) vs Kipo & Wolf (Kipo)

Dethklok (Metalocalypse) vs The Robinsons (Meet the Robinsons)

Part 3:

Interview with the Vampire Vampires (Interview with the Vampire) vs The Forgers (Spy x Family)

The Mechanisms (The Mechanisms) vs The Scooby Gang (Scooby Doo)

Izumi & Sig Curtis & Edward & Alphonse Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist) vs The Clump (Don't Hug Me I'm Scared)

The Hamato Clan/Mad Dogz (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (rottmnt)) vs Team Victor (Vicious)

The Black Bulls (Black Clover) vs The Leverage Crew (Leverage)

Part 4:

MASH team (M*A*S*H) vs The Behavioural Analysis Unit (Criminal Minds)

Spider Crew (So I'm A Spider So What?) vs The Joestar Group (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure)

RTDL Quarted (Kirby) vs The Avengers (MCU Fanfiction)

Brave Vesperia (Tales of Vesperia) vs The Animorphs (Animorphs)

The Dolls (The Sandman) vs Team Rocket (Pokémon)

Part 5:

The Love Trio (Welcome to Demon School Iruma-Kun) vs Maka, Soul, Tsubaki, Black Star, Death the Kid, Crona, Patty, Liz (Soul Eater)

The Gaang (Avatar the Last Airbender) vs Die Wilden Kerle (Die Wilden Kerle)

Alex & Jonas (Oxenfree) vs The Gluttony Crew (The Evillious Chronicles)

Watari & L Lawliet (Death Note) vs The Cat's Whiskers (Paradox Live)

The Rowdy 3 (Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency) vs Mae, Greg, Angus & Bea (Night in the Woods)

Part 6:

The Crew of the Serenity (Firefly & Serenity) vs The Crew of the Iris (The Strange Case of Starship Iris)

Lucifam (Lucifer) vs Team Bleck/Bleck Squad (Super Paper Mario)

The Ericson Kids (The Walking Dead Game) vs Accelerator, Last Order, Aiho Yomikawa, Kikyou Yoshikawa & Misaka Worst (A Certain Magical Index)

Squad 312 (the Aurora Cycle series) vs The Fatui Harbingers (Genshin Impact)

13 and the Gang (Doctor Who) vs Franchouchou (Zombie Land Saga)

Part 7:

Dadvid & Momgwen (Camp Camp) vs Bucci Gang/Team Bucciarati (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure)

Akanyatsura (Paradox Live) vs 11s Fam (Doctor Who)

Team Red (Carmen Sandiego) vs The Ghosts (BBC Ghosts)

Firefam (9-1-1) vs Murder Family (Hannibal)

The Golden Deer (Fire Emblem) vs Mikazuki Villa (Magia Record)

Part 8:

NYPD Major Crimes (Prodigal Son) vs Diasomnia Fam (Twisted Wonderland)

Warden Ingo, Akari, Rei & Professor Laventon (Pokemon Legends Arceus) vs New Who Crew (Doctor Who)

Nahida & Scaramouche/Wanderer (Genshin Impact) vs The Circle Kids (Tamora Pierce's Emelan Universe (The Circle of Magic Quartet))

The Shazamily (Shazam!) vs The Clawthorne-Nocedas (The Owl House)

The Losers Club (It) vs The Mondstadt Crew (Genshin Impact)

Part 9:

The Entire Your Turn to Die Cast (Your Turn to Die) vs Funn Funerals & Eric (Wooden Overcoats)

Because You Made Me Smile (or Extended Tenma Household) (Project SEKAI) vs The Aurinko Crime Family (The Penumbra Podcast (Juno Steel))

Silco & Jinx (Arcane) vs The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (& Associates) (GLOW)

Dark Dragon and the Happy Hungry Bunch (Akatsuki no Yona/Yona of the Dawn) vs MSR (The X-Files)

Ash & Pikachu (Pokémon) vs The Thief Gang/House of Orphans (The Thief Lord)

Part 10:

Powder, Vi, Vander, Mylo & Claggor (Arcane) vs Space Runaways (Saga (Comic))

The Victors of District 12 (The Hunger Games) vs The Killjoys (Killjoys)

The St Cassians Chamber Choir (Ride The Cyclone) vs Six of Crows/The Crows (Six of Crows)

The Gangsey (The Raven Cycle) vs Paper Girls (Paper Girls)

The Bad Kids (Dimension 20 - Fantasy High) vs The Drawtectives (Drawtectives (Drawfee))

Part 11:

Team Natsu (Fairy Tail) vs Yutaka, Minoru & Tane (Our Dining Table)

The Scions of the Seventh Dawn (Final Fantasy XIV) vs Neal Caffrey, Peter & Elizabeth Burke & Mozzie (White Collar)

Scoobies (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) vs Sypha Belnades, Trevor Belmont & Alucard (Castlevania)

I.M.P. (Helluva Boss) vs The New Mutants (X-Men Comics)

The Bad Batch (The Bad Batch) vs Leorio, Kurapika, Gon & Killua (Hunter X Hunter)

Part 12:

Date-Sagan Family (AI: The Somnium Files) vs God Kids (Trials of Apollo)

Crew of the Per Aspera (Rolling with Difficulty) vs Reyna Ramirez & Nico Di Angelo (Riordanverse)

The Crew of the Revenge (Our Flag Means Death) vs The Crisis Management Team (Tomorrow)

Joel Miller & Ellie Williams (The Last of Us) vs Hotel OJ (Inanimate Insanity)

Wangxian + Junior Quartet (Mo Dao Zu Shi/Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation/The Untamed) vs Phoenix (MacGyver)

Part 13:

Nightchord25 (Project SEKAI) vs The Wayfarer's Crew (The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet)

Jessica, Aaron & Erica Slaughter (Something Is Killing the Children) vs Color Gang (Animation vs Minecraft/Animator vs Animation)

Sk8 Fam (Sk8 the Infinity) vs The Pilot Program (Misfits and Magic (Dimension 20))

Killing School Trip Survivors (Danganronpa 2) vs Sea Salt Family (Kingdom Hearts)

The Ten Companions of the Dragonmark (How To Train Your Dragon (Books)) vs Cohen-Atwood Family (The OC)

Part 14:

Arya Stark, Gendry Waters, Hot Pie (& Lommy Greenhands & Jaqen H'Gar) (A Song of Ice & Fire/Game of Thrones) vs Old World Group (Everworld)

Lightning Thief Trio (Percy Jackson and the Olympians) vs California Bureau of Investigation (The Mentalist)

Adora, Glimmer & Bow (She-Ra) vs Disaster Trio/The Clone Wars Trio (Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008))

Kim Dokja's Company (Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint) vs 13 Flame Chasers (Honkai Impact 3rd)

Ren Amamiya, Futaba Sakura & Sojiro Sakura (Persona 5) vs Batfam (Batman Media (Wayne Family Adventures))

Part 15:

The Soul Squad (The Good Place) vs The Paladins of Voltron (Voltron: Legendary Defenders)

Inheritance Gang (Eragon/the Inheritance Cycle) vs Strawhat Pirates (One Piece)

10's Crew (Doctor Who) vs Clementine & Lee Everett (The Walking Dead Game)

Wendy, Soos, Stanford, Stanley, Dipper, Mabel & Waddles (Gravity Falls) vs The Local Group (Rain World)

Five Eccentrics/Five Oddballs (Ensemble Stars) vs The Luminary, Erik, Serena, Veronica, Sylvando, Jade, Rab & Hendrik (Dragon Quest XI)

Part 16:

The Meta Knights (Kirby) vs The Queens from the Musical Six (Six)

Shroud Bros (Twisted Wonderland) vs Natsume's Protection Squad (Natsume's Book of Friends)

The Long Island Vampires & Guillermo (What We Do In The Shadows) vs The Octotrio (Twisted Wonderland)

The Lupin Gang (Lupin III) vs The Fellowship of the Ring (Lord of the Rings)

The Gang (It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia) vs Regina Mills, Emma Swan & Henry Mills (Once Upon a Time)

Part 17:

Torchwood Team (Torchwood) vs MANKAI Company (A3!)

Julie and the Phantoms (Julie and the Phantoms) vs Yeo Joon, Kim So-Bin & Nam Soo-Hyun (At a Distance Spring is Green)

Second Nonary Game Group (Zero Escape: 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors) vs Chosen Siblings (Pokespe/Pokemon Adventures)

The Seven Birds/IPRE/Starblaster Crew (The Adventure Zone: Balance) vs Boys from the Dwarf (Red Dwarf)

The Tiny Giant Duo (The BFG) vs The Greendale 7/The Study Group (Community)

[doubleddenden]

Today's beta content was heavy on the scrapped pokemon content for XY with some from BW and RS scratch pads.

However, the XY ones are astounding. I think anyone that's seen them on Twitter and keeps up with the beta content like I have will agree that these are literally the highest quality scrapped pokemon we've ever seen. Fully drawn and detailed- dunno about 3d models yet, there's still a lot left to find, but still- there's only a small handful, but they're all of incredible quality. Even concept art of Noibat is easy enough to see repurposed as a Future Paradox, I think.

Literally looking at some of them and all the other scrapped content for XY (they actually planned a rhyhorn racing mini game for example), and looking at how little we actually get for new pokedexes or what came after- we were robbed. Actually robbed.

Like yall there's a flamingo that serves cunt there. I think it's supposed to be beta Aromatise but it can be its own thing- it's what you think of when you think of an actual flamingo Pokemon. In gen 6. And look at fucking Flamigo in gen 9. Flamigo feels like a slap in the face looking at what we almost had. Like there's a downgrade and then there's THIS, man.

The others, especially the cassowary looking guy and peanut dinosaur guy, I need them so bad. Those are friends trapped in an alternative timeline.

Otherwise there's concept art for beta megas of the Kanto starters and Mewtwo. This was probably when they were getting a feel for what Mega Evolution was, during a time when they were considering it just a normal Evolution. Still, they look so ALIEN in such a cool and distinct way. Charizard Y has a gigachad chin, really pronounced bones and a tail that kinda has a furnace inside- it looked bulky, but the tail was sort of a thruster and it was almost more of a wyvern in some art. Venusaur ACTUALLY ALMOST LOOKED LIKE A FROG. Or toad. Whatever, the animal inspiration was actually clear. Blastoise is remarkably the least changed, but it's still a more bad ass take with a mustache sometimes. All 3 kind of resemble elders kf their species or mutations binded with something alien. I like the final results mind you, but god damn this is such a waste that we didn't get these somehow as Paradoxes or Bloodmoon type pokemon yknow? Like yeah Kanto pandering, but still, that's how cool they look to me.

The Mega Mewtwo concept is also really cool and I get why they're referred to as Mewthree and Mewfour in concept. One looks so fucking cool, like Mewtwo as a Xenomorph. The other is much closer go Y. Looking at this, I can certainly see how the alien plot theory could have happened and it would have made sense that Mewtwo went further because of it- yet there's no evidence of any alien plot line like that one theory posted way back. Not yet anyway. Mewtwo X is such a let down in comparison to Xenomorph Mewtwo imo.

Interestingly there does not seem to be any scrapped megas so far other than one who I won't say on the off chance it's added to ZA. Even in ORAS beta. Flygon isn't mentioned at all, which probably means it never even left the drawing table (or GF lied and it was simply never planned). God damn, art block hits like a bitch.

Regardless, this art is really incredible and I love the art style. I know Sugimori art is the series staple, but it would have been neat to try this for a bit imo.

I hope maybe more come up, but they've also started on Switch games, with Legends Arceus concept art and prototypes. For some reason Brock was their beta model, and there's concept art of Rei and Akari with slightly different hats and a slightly different Jubilife village. Otherwise there's not any Hisuian pokemon variants at this point, and it may have been planned to have the DP starters instead. Some pages seem like a pitch for it, and Legends Arceus is now a game far more important than most realize.

LA was pitched from the get go and it seems like they wanted to forgo DP remakes all together. The game was meant to be a foundation for how all future games in the franchise would grow and be a testing ground for a lot of new ideas to implement later on in the series, and to purposely draw in a different crowd than usual. I think that they accomplished that anyway, even if it's a bit unpolished graphics wise. Still, concept art for it's wilderness is incredibly detailed and gorgeous.

It'd be neat to find scrapped Pokemon for it, but I think there might not be much for it considering the type of game it is. There's a few fun mockup doodles of the Hisuian starters that make me laugh- literally ms paint type drawings of an angry bird, sassy hisuian Typhlosion, and an angry quadruped animal. Maybe they did want Hisuian starters, but concepts weren't made until they had a feel for the setting- which was originally envisioned 150 years ago instead of the proposed 200 fans made. Still, very close.

These betas keep giving, man. I don't even want ZA or Gen 10 leaks, I just wanna see more of this behind the scenes stuff. For concepts it's higher quality than most finalized artwork, and there's clearly a lot of detail that we don't ever get to see. It really puts into perspective how much effort goes into world building and Pokemon design behind the scene, and what's dumbed down for marketing.

[klonoadreams]

Aammh… Klonoa?

Now that there was all this pokemon leak, and taking into account zoroark and Punch baby Akari, and all that… well… will they find out somehow about the original sin, Typhlosion, rapidash, slaking? . . . or you don't think to touch that, or it's not part of your pokemon stories…

will anyone think that way about her? or will some internet hater say that to Brie? (this last one because there are always haters and galar on very social media) or about anyone really, you specialize a lot in feral children

typhlosion is my favorite "cry" . has they gone from ghost type to fire type like that???

Alright I finally have enough time to actually reply to this, I was out and about with friends for a week before I came across the leaks.

And since then, more time has passed for more accurate translations that are not machine translated to pop up.

Regardless, I will say that all of these mythology stories actually made me happy from a worldbuilding standpoint. They're still noncanon because that's what happens to scrapped ideas, but I love it all anyways because there is so much to take from these tales.

And I mean this from a nuanced side that, unfortunately, gets thrown aside by people memeing and vieweing it as black and white.

Every tale is something I've seen in myths beforr. It is dark, but also a cautionary tale, like for one, the woman and her friends who harmed and killed Slakoth. Only for her to be cursed with the true pain of knowing what such actions have caused by losing her own child to her friends.

The Typhlosion and maiden who lived for years before a child is born, where the maiden's father kills his daughter's husband because of a break in a clear ritual. The real true villains in this mess are the villagers who rejected the maiden and her child, forcing them into the forest as Typhlosion, for a fate they had no control over. Probably where the inspiration for Hisuian Typhlosion came from.

Anyways you might get some haters for Brie who take the more "moral high ground" and it's just jealousy about uncivilized children running amock without a care for proper manners and all that jazz.

Brie gets judged already for talking to Pokemon, as it's seen as something only children do, whether or not people believe that children can communicate with them (they actually can). People want her to grow up, to be more "proper", to "fit in", because of jealousy and hate for what she can do, and others can't.

But she'll be okay despite it all, cuz she is not alone.

And fun fact, the mythology shared here, actually ties into some worldbuilding and headcanons that were already making use of the canon Canalave Myth that got censored overseas about Pokemon Marriage.

I am of the belief that humans and Pokemon are one in the same, that's how we get humans with various eye and hair colors. And how some can tap more into aura or their psychic abilities.

In each family tree, some families are more likely to have Pokemon in their bloodlines at some point.

There's a certain taboo to it now, but like, if you look further in, you will see those who take it seriously, because the point of it all, is that humans and Pokemon aren't that much different. They are both sentient beings, and each one has the capacity to give their consent over being caught in a Poke Ball and also whether they wish to stay or go. And a human is supposed to respect this, because Pokemon are creatures with abilities that can harm them.

Living together and battling, it's not that simple. And that's what makes Pokemon so fascinating.

Also, canonically, we had the human in Legends Arceus who married a Froslass. It has happened in canon too, and that Froslass did have children that turned out human.

So Punch Baby Akari finding this out may not be too strange for her, but it will be for Rei cuz he's all "oh fuck, so it wasn't just myths."

"Some myths are based on actual truths. Like the dangers of those that are all around us."

"Please don't be so ominous when I'm getting mindblown."

[kob131]

So heard of the Teraleaks for Pokemon? NGL Feel really bad about that employee that got phished to have this released. The leak itself was whatever but the hacker outright doxxing them was shitty.

On another note, highlights include Cyrus of Team Galactic being confirmed autistic in his character bio (IIRC they flat out use that exact word too), Beta Lickylicky's full design finally being uncovered, a TON of unreleased Pokemon lore and background being unearthed especially around Arceus, scrapped GameFreak games, and possibly leaks for Pokemon Legends ZA

Also, apparently there's some Pokemon Concept art that's drawn in a very different style than what we know, a lot darker and realistic looking imo. It looks like Gen 3 or 4 was gonna have a different vibe than what we got initially it looks like.

I saw this in passing, let's actually delve into this.-

-Hulk Hogan is partially the inspiration for Drayden

... Not since James being a partial reference point for Homer Simpson have I ever taken such psychic damage in this manner.

-Huh, so Cyrus just might be autistic. Maybe. There seems to have been a community note but it got removed. I dunno. Assuming he is-

I'll take it. He's not a fucking moron like Archie/Maxie, he's not contradictory and boring like Lysandre and he's got some level of depth unlike Giovanni. And yeah, I get it. The conflict of thinking in an excessively logical way but feeling such intense emotions. This is a win.

-I guess those Fakemon designs aren't that bad, considering so many just look like Beta Pokemon.

-That uh...that creation myth was something. Someone in Game Freak is a HUGE mythology nerd cuz that whole thing had the same feeling as learning about the creation myth of Chaos. ALso somewhat implies the pseudo-Legendaries ARE in fact 'pseudo-Legendaries'

Though note- No Giritina mentioned. So this likely isn't canon.

-Yeah, those are some realistic looking concepts. Especially that beta Cacturne. Kinda glad they didn't go this route because A. looks good but doesn't fit Pokemon's style. B. The style we did get was far more cohesive with older Pokemon. And C. Would work better as an independent monster collector built around this concept. As in- Pokemon did NOT need to dominant ANOTHER aspect of monster collecting.

Also not surprising- Gen 4 had a lot of sharper, more adult-like designs like Gallade or Electrivire.

-'A game about raising and fighting bugs. You can also fuse them' Cool concept, Game Freak. If you do this, please do it without using Pokemon. Again, we don't need Pokemon consuming MORE of it's genre. ... Look, I value the distinction between Pokemon and SMT VERY heavily.

-So looks like Pokemon has been eyeing cutting the Pokedex since Gen 3. Reminds me of the Foxacade video where he said something similar (that their best bet to do this was back in Gen 3). Also shows ideas for what would become Mega Evolution, Dynamax and Gholdengo back in 2000.

P.S. 'They tried to make a game simple but included the REGIS?!' Dude, we went from themes of letting go of past glory and moving on to two dunderheads who failed fourth grade biology.

-So they knew people were gonna go crazy for Skyla. Always thought she was...specially made. Also explains why I keep seeing Shadow in my research.

-... And yet these stories are still better implementation of adult themes than Palworld.

On a serious note- What is up with that fucking Slaking story?

-I don't see any ZA info other than some passing info on Gen 10. Which really sucks for the developers- they're likely getting crunched still and now their hard work that they could deliver with maximum impact using good marketing is now just laid bare for everyone to mock them over.

-Lastly: It's not bad enough some poor grunt accidentally leaked a massive amount of info, likely getting him blacklisted from Japan's video gaming industry but they also had to get their info released so they can get blacklisted everywhere else AND mocked for it?

I don't care much for or against leaks but come on, have some decorum.

[toshio]

Favorite Pokémon? 👀

omg i was thinking about this lately, i've been revisiting nostalgia from pokemon. there's too many designs/concepts i like!

i'll give you a really vague answer though because i'm a bit too indecisive, my favorite type hands down is probably ghost type, so naturally anything spooky and cute like gengar is a 10/10 for me. the old games like pkmn red/blue + crystal are super nostalgic so i tend to gravitate towards some old designs. but usually for pkmn starters i would choose water types, so stuff like totodile, mudkip, piplup are always the cutest. i remember growing up and having plush toys of all of them. water type has to be one of my favorites as well~

there's a lot of clever ghost pkmn designs. i love reading the spooky pokedex entries. i'm a fan of horror films and scary things in general. but i specifically really liked the concept of froslass from gen IV, she's a humanoid ghost/ice type that resembles a woman in a kimono, based on japanese folklore. (i remember it evolving from snorunt when exposed to a dawn stone in diamond/pearl/platinum)

anyway what makes this design one of my favorites...

froslass is clearly inspired by yuki-onna, which translates into snow woman (雪女). in japanese folklore these ghosts prey on travelers that get lost in blizzards and snowstorms near mountains. does that not sound spooky and cool as hell? anyway here's the pokemon legends: arceus pokedex entry. we have no choice but to stan froslass...

[starrysilvalley]

🌟Spectrum Book 1: Onward🌟

✨Chapter 1 | Familiar (Full Text Below Line)✨

Word Count: 2,553

As said previously, I’ll try and post the chapters on both Tumblr and Ao3. On Ao3 the story is restricted to members only as of right now, but I may open it to all as time goes on. I try to update on Ao3 on Wednesdays, and I will post on Tumblr sometime afterwards (I currently have no specified date for Tumblr releases, so times may vary).

Series Note: This series was planned and written in the summer of 2024 based on the context of the Pokémon In-Game Universe at the time. This series includes spoilers for Pokémon games including Black & White, Black & White II, Legends Arceus, and Scarlet & Violet. Any changes to the overarching storyline or characters that occur within any following Pokémon game releases (i.e. Pokémon Legends ZA and beyond) are considered non-canon within the context of this series.

This series was written out of my love for Generation V and as if it is its game plot, but with a few small twists. I wanted to simply try and write my own alternative storyline for a hypothetical Unova Legends game. My attempt at a Legends plotline became a passion project I wanted to share with those who may be interested in such a story. While it is written to have a darker tone due to its inspirations, I try to keep the series at a PG13 rating for fantasy violence. There is no sexual or NSFW content. Pokémon was ultimately made for young viewers, and I wish to carry on a similar openness in my writing.

After around seven years of being dragged along by Fajra, Emmet learned two big don’ts— don’t let Fajra drive and don’t let Fajra handle negotiations solo as people. It wasn't like he did much better when it came to socializing. Most often a discussion would— unintentionally — end with a passive-aggressive remark. His blunt remarks weren’t good for business. Yet it was one thing for Emmet to provoke their clients, it was another for the clients to provoke Fajra. 

“You know the drill, just let me do the talkin’ here,” Fajra reminded her partner while her hand rested on the old battered door handle. “No weird greetings, don't point out whatever weird lil’ tattoo or mark you see on the guys’ face, or the ugly picture that's probably his mam or someon’— better yet, how about say nothin’ at all?”

She had shot him a look as if inviting him to protest, but instead he simply replied with a sly smile, “As you wish.”

“Nuh-uh, don’t smile like that. I’m serious, Em. We have an agreement, but you…”

Fajra held up her hand to Emmet’s face as if trying to grasp something with all her might before spitting out, “Keep your inside thoughts inside, that’s all I’m saying.”

That was all well and good— if only Fajra could do the same. Fajra excelled at misdirecting from her motives, but misdirecting her feelings was another. Now as the two stood before the grizzled manager of the dimly lit antique store, Emmet could already see Fajra’s facade slipping away as she tapped her fingers with great annoyance on the countertop. The manager glanced at her every so often as he inspected the items presented, but didn’t break under her pressure.    

“I’ll give ya… about a thousand for this one.”

The store manager tapped one of the TMs, only for Fajra to scoff and push Emmet aside from the counter. She slammed both hands on the table as she leered at the manager, “A thousand? Don’ get smart with me, I know you sold this for five thousand last week! At least pretend to play fair. Suppose you’ll say these ones are worth even less now?”

Fajra gestured to the other TMs they managed to collect. They weren’t exactly mint condition. Dusty and scratched, he suspected they hadn’t been touched in many decades. 

“We tested these ourselves,” Emmet offered, placing a firm hand on Fajra’s shoulder as if to pull her back. “They still work, if that’s your concern. They may not have the aesthetic appeal, but ultimately it's about their function.” 

The manager still had a frown on his face. His eyes seemed to linger around the old store filled with second-hand items. It was a dark and dreary store, as if all the memories that the items once left held haunted the place with a gloomy presence. Emmet noted that his gaze steadied on an only television set placed toward the door. 

“Look, I’ll shoot straight with ya,” the manager began at last with a heavy sigh, “One of my other suppliers brought me TMs and it turned out they were stolen from private League property. The authorities came knocking and I'm fortunate they didn't shut my whole business down. Haven’t seen the guy since then. I can give you a little money for the trouble, but unless you can prove these were legally acquired, I’m just going to treat them as damaged goods.” 

Before Fajra opened her mouth, Emmet quickly intervened, “Understandable— we’ll need a minute to discuss. Apologies for the delay.”

“It’s a load of Bouffalant crap!” Fajra spat immediately once Emmet pulled her away from the counter. “He’s trying to cheat us out of our items! I’ve seen it before, you can’t possibly think—“

“I can’t take that track with you, Fajra. What if he’s telling the truth? You and I both knowwhere those TMs came from. You know full well if we get caught, we will be in serious trouble. Una and I would be in serious trouble. Take the hush money.” 

He knew he screwed up when Fajra’s face became about as red as her flame colored hair. “I am not leaving with a measly thousand. Those blasted discs took too long to get to have such little reward! We need the money to fix that stupid handcar we busted just getting the loot here!”

“You busted the handcar. I’m a lot of things, but I’m at least a good driver.”

The front door jingled as someone entered the store, and both Emmet and Fajra immediately fell quiet. A young man and woman strided inside and their own eyes landed on the two other customers before heading to the counter. Their clothes were relatively ordinary of the scrawny Pokémon trainers in the area, although he noted that each wore a gold band around one of their ankles. Emmet tipped his head a little farther down over his face while Fajra shot a nasty glare back at the newcomers before whispering underneath her breath, “Great, just what we needed, an audience.” 

The store manager pushed aside the TMs and other trinkets Fajra provided while greeting the couple with a weary smile. “Ah, come to collect your purchase, I see? I’ve been holding it for some time—“

“Yes, yes,” the man began with a wave of his hand. “We appreciate you holding onto it. Mr. Stotle would’ve come to take it himself, but he couldn’t find the time.”

Something bumped against Emmet’s leg, and upon peering down he found Liepard brushing up beside him. Liepard often wandered around the establishment while Emmet and Fajra conducted business, watching for any signs of a threat. Her glowing eyes were now fixed on the woman, who immediately turned her stare away upon Liepard’s appearance. A light growl began to vibrate from the Pokémon’s throat.

“Fajra, I don't think you can win this,” Emmet whispered while placing a hand on Liepard’s head. “We’ll find another buyer, please—”

His voice was drowned as the store manager pulled out a small box and opened it for the couple while saying skeptically, “Here you are! Hopefully this will be sufficient for Mr. Sto—“

“It’s perfectly fine, sir,” the man interrupted as the manager hurriedly closed the box and pushed it under the counter. He was not fast enough, for Emmet caught a glimpse of a polished, spherical stone the color of obsidian. He managed to see the three indents pressed in the shape of a triangle before the box clamped shut. 

He couldn’t quite explain what happened next. His heart began to hammer against his chest at the sight of it. His surroundings became blurred, but his eyes could only focus on the stone. A numbing sensation of white noise engulfed his ears, leaving a ringing echoing to his very soul. Something stirred within him, dislodging images that had long since passed and buried. One stood out among the rest— a man adorning a black coat so similar to his own, his back facing Emmet. It wasn’t until the man turned that Emmet felt an ice pick stick through his heart. 

The man had his face. 

Before he could even begin to comprehend the sight, it was as if the world zoomed in beyond the man in black, revealing nothing but void— lonely and abyssal. Yet from the darkness shone two red lights, slowly dimming before a flash of electric blue light burst like a dying star.

“Em!”

A punch to the arm swiftly broke through his thoughts, causing him to recoil and jerk his hand to the spot Fajra hit. While Fajra still had her eyes narrowed in frustration, her lips formed a frown he had not seen in awhile. 

“You… you alrigh?” Fajra asked, the usual sharp edge in her voice dulled. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Are you sick or… somethin’?”

His heart beat rapidly against his chest before turning swiftly to Fajra and whispering, “What I’m about to ask you is a one time occurrence. No questions asked— not until afterwards.”

Fajra’s eyes widened, but her disapproving frown churned upward into a sly smile. “Consider my interest piqued.”

“I want to initiate Protocol Thirty-Eight.”

Any frustration Fajra had with her partner seemed to vanish, replaced with an unnatural grittiness. Her smile broadened as told Emmet with a slight flick of his shoulder, “Protocol thirty-eight? The Protocol Thirty-Eight? Does this, perhaps, mean that you’ve changed your mind about… unlawful acquisition?”

“No, but—“

“Never mind— you can spill the deets later. Let’s get the wheels moving.”

Fajra didn't miss a beat as she strolled back to the counter, a disapproving scowl reappearing on her face as she laid eyes on the manager. The pair with the stone had opened up a case to hold the box securely when Fajra spoke loudly, “You know what? Fine. We won't be doing business with you today. We’ll take our goods elsewhere. It's about time, really— you hike up your prices just so you can get rid of the crappy rip-offs for some sort of profit.”

She then turned to the woman and remarked snidely, “Might want to rethink shopping here. The guy will do anything to make a quick buck.”

The manager’s face grew red at Fajra’s words, giving the other customers a quick glance before remarking hurriedly, “Ma’am, I know you're frustrated and I hear ya, but—”

Fajra had already done her part. The seeds of doubt sank into their targets as the woman glanced down at the box within the case. Her partner didn’t seem as convinced by Fajra’s claims, but merely stopped to watch the spectacle. 

Emmet made a quick gesture to Liepard with his hands, signing to her in motions that only she would understand. Liepard gave a curt nod before brushing past her trainer and dipping behind the counter while the owner was distracted. 

Seizing his chance, Emmet moved to the side of the other customers and remarked in a cheery air, “She is right— best be careful what you get from the Thievul’s hole.”

He leaned in a little closer to the man and continued in a low voice, “Ever think where he gets these items? Just last week one of his sellers was arrested for selling League property. I would be verrrry cautious with your purchase.”

His eyes met with the man’s, and he seemed to falter under Emmet’s knowing smile. He could almost see the gears in his head turning while his gaze narrowed suspiciously. It didn't last as the manager slammed his hands on the counter and retorted with frustration. “That’s enough! Get out of my shop before I call security! And don't bother coming back here, you scavengers!”

Neither of them needed to be told a second time. Fajra exchanged a dirty look with the manager as she threw her arms around their items before storming to the door with an obnoxious whip of her fiery orange hair. Emmet waited for Liepard to slink back into view, brushing against his side with a low purr. 

The manager’s apologies were cut off as the door swung shut behind the two. Neither looked back as they were greeted by the streets of New Straiton City. There was no dark corner as the streets were ambushed with light from every screen, window, and billboard. It was late in the afternoon, and now the streets were swarming with men and women returning from work. 

“Sooo, don’ hold out on me,” Fajra began as Emmet withdrew the small withered box from his coat pocket. “What is it that made you throw away seven years worth of integrity?”

Emmet glanced around to make sure none of the passer-by or the kiosks’s Minccino mascot was within listening range, he opened it enough for Fajra to peer inside. The obsidian sphere that lay within proved true to Liepard’s skills at thievery. His heart began to pound faster at the sight of it and his hand shook as he took a hand and pressed his finger to one of the indents. He didn't have the same visions as before, but his body trembled now that he was so close.

“This better be some rock because if we just lost revenue for a cheap— Em?”

Fajra’s criticism faltered as she noticed his shaking hand. She snatched his hand away from the rock, and without warning, jerked his glove off. Her eyes widened at the touch.

“You really are sick, aren't you?” She questioned, but her voice turned soft and concerned. “How long have you felt off? My gosh, what if this is radioactive—”

“Get back!” Emmet snapped as Fajra reached out to take the box away. She immediately recoiled, but a new expression replaced her concern. He had never seen her look at him with such fear. Even Liepard backed up, pushing against Fajra as if trying to shield her from him. Even now, the trembling ceased as soon as she clamped the box shut. All his symptoms, even his rage, had snapped away like the stone from his sight.

Emmet stepped back, still gripping the box in his hand as if it were his lifeline. 

“I… am sorry,” he spoke earnestly. “I don't… I don't know why I did that. I don't know how to explain it…”

Fajra didn't speak. Her shoulders relaxed slightly as she took a step closer to Emmet. “Em, did you remember something?”

The question hadn’t been asked in years. Life had simply gone on, but now that his friend watched him with worry, he realized he had returned to the horrible darkness he had found himself in years before. Only this time, he had something to lose. 

“This may sound silly,” he admitted truthfully. “But… I know this stone. When I'm around it, I realize there has been something missing. A part of me that's gone… and with this stone, it’s in reach, but I can't…”

His words faltered as Fajra reached to take his hand again. She kept him in between hers and told him with a small, but truly genuine smile, “You, my friend, are silly… but just because you're silly doesn't mean your feelings are too. Your situation is odd, and I understand that.”

He looked back at Fajra. “Thank you… I just can’t let him be separated from me again.”

Him. Even Emmet couldn't quite understand why he chose to include that one simple word. Fajra’s eyebrow raised skeptically at the inclusion of the pronoun. It didn't seem to matter though as she pried her gaze from his to glance around at their surroundings. It was getting busier, and based on the overhead announcements flooding the street, a celebration was about to take place. 

“We can talk more later,” Fajra insisted, now pushing his hand back to his side. “Better to talk this out in a place that lacks a lotta ears. If you won't let me take the box, at least don’t open it again… for now. Whatever the rock is, your body is reacting to it, and I'm not ruling out radiation.”

She paused. “Do you need to go back to the handcar right away or—”

“No,” he replied promptly as he stuffed the box back in his pocket. “I’ll be fine. But I… I can acquire Una while you go on ahead. Where did you leave her again?”

[xxtc-96xx]

You have inspired me to name all of my pokémon after food

I do that with my starters XD

I made a new account to play legend Arceus from the start again and named Cyndaquil Frank redHot

(Dumb you can’t link your Nintendo account with that second one tho so I can’t get mystery gifts :V)

[seeker-for-arts]

Raincode Pokemon headcannons

Although I’d never thought I would return to writing for this fandom, I can’t say I didn’t enjoy writing this.

This is something that has been done for many fandoms, including Raincode, despite the smaller fanbase. It’s been a while since I had written anything for this game, but reading Raincode NG+ by MHJoker4Ever, which had recently been continued after a hiatus, quickly got me inspired. Their fic series expands on many minor characters and gives them more characterization, which you’ll see me adapting here. For each character, I have included a Pokedex entry that can best show why I chose those Pokemon for them. Some have an in character blurb showing how they coexist with their partner, and some others have a direct explanation from yours truly. Without further ado…

Nocturnal Detective Agency

Yuma - Reuniclus

“When Reuniclus shake hands, a network forms between their brains, increasing their psychic power.” - Reuniclus Black Pokedex entry

Halara - Hisuian Lilligant, Tsareena, Lucario

“I suspect that its well-developed legs are the result of a life spent on mountains covered in deep snow. The scent it exudes from its flower crown heartens those in proximity.” - Hisuian Lilligant Legends Arceus Pokedex entry

“A kick from the hardened tips of this Pokémon's legs leaves a wound in the opponent's body and soul that will never heal.” - Tsareena Shield Pokedex entry

“It can tell what people are thinking. Only Trainers who have justice in their hearts can earn this Pokémon's trust.” Lucario Shield Pokedex entry

A commonality amongst Halara’s Pokemon is their Fighting typing, and how they attack with kicks, much like themselves. Tsareena matches Halara’s disposition almost uncannily well, having become cold and merciless in order to protect itself, and draws a comparison between Halara and Fubuki, who is in possession of the more innocent and naive first form, Bounsweet. However, Halara still values justice and doesn’t tolerate wrongdoing, which was why Lucario found commonality with them and eventually pledged to stay by their side.

Desuhiko - Ditto, Zoroark

“When it spots an enemy, its body transfigures into an almost perfect copy of its opponent.” - Ditto Yellow Pokedex entry

“Each has the ability to fool a large group of people simultaneously. They protect their lair with illusory scenery.” - Zoroark White Pokedex entry

Sometimes, when extra hands are needed for an investigation, Ditto and Zoroark act as invaluable helpers for Desuhiko, also being able to disguise themselves. However, a limitation of their disguises that Desuhiko himself doesn’t have is their inability to mimic human speech. A person being strangely silent can be a giveaway to the superstar detective’s Pokemon mimicking someone.

Fubuki - Bounsweet, Gholdengo

“Because of its sweet, delicious aroma, bird Pokémon are always after it, but it's not intelligent enough to care.” - Bounsweet Ultra Sun Pokedex entry

“Its body seems to be made up of 1,000 coins. This Pokémon gets along well with others and is quick to make friends with anybody.” - Gholdengo Scarlet Pokedex entry

Bounsweet is immediately recognizable by the innocent and somewhat dimwitted smile on its face, which it maintains even in danger. It resembles its trainer more than the other detectives in the agency would like to admit, although they keep silent in order to spare Fubuki’s ego.

Gholdengo, on the other hand, was gifted to the young heiress by Mr. Clockford as her protection during her detective ventures. Its silly appearance and amiable personality belie a highly capable Pokemon in combat, much like the reality-bending time powers that Fubuki possesses by virtue of her bloodline, despite her childlike naivety.

Vivia - N/A

The near-death detective often looked like a pile of rotten food being swarmed by flies, only in this case, the flies were various Ghost type Pokemon lingering around him. With one foot already on the "other side", he couldn't blame these wayward souls for taking an interest in him, but as for claiming one of them for his own, Vivia did not have the energy. To him, a trainer's bond with their Pokemon was merely temporary, no matter how strong. However, he appreciated the Ghost types for not assaulting his every senses with wails and whispers of regrets, like the souls of humans did. He wanted nothing more than some peace and quiet, after all.

Yakou - Inteleon, Tandemaus

“It may present itself as being well-mannered, but deep down, it still has a lazy side. It will slack off when its Trainer isn’t looking.” - Inteleon Violet Pokedex entry

“The pair sticks together no matter what. They split any food they find exactly in half and then eat it together.” - Tandemaus Violet Pokedex entry

Although it is registered under Yakou’s name in present time, Tandemaus was not originally his; instead, it was his wife’s Pokemon, whom Yakou ended up taking in after her death. Sometimes, when he looks at it, bittersweet memories of his time with her rush back.

Inteleon was recruited by Yakou upon receiving orders to rendezvous with Master Detectives bound for Kanai Ward, but in truth, the Water type sniper was recruited to assist in brainstorming his revenge on Dr Huesca.

Chapter 0 Master Detectives

Zilch - Chandelure

“It absorbs a spirit, which it then burns. By waving the flames on its arms, it puts its foes into a hypnotic trance.” - Chandelure Black Pokedex entry

The old wives’ tales surrounding the Litwick line are embodied by this Chandelure, who acts as the assassin’s partner-in-crime and incinerates whatever - and whoever - its trainer commands it to. It especially loves to capture and burn the souls of its trainer’s targets to fuel its flame after a successful hit.

Melami - Hisuian Typhlosion

“Said to purify lost, forsaken souls with its flames and guide them to the afterlife. I believe its form has been influenced by the energy of the sacred mountain towering at Hisui's center.” - Hisuian Typhlosion Legends Arceus Pokedex entry

Having been with Melami since its formative years and exposed to her affinity with the realm of spirits, her Fire type partner grew up to have mastery over communing with wayward souls and seeing the life energies of those around it, much like its ancestors from an era of the past. Whenever Melami is channeling, Typhlosion keeps watch by her side to ensure that the soul is calm and does not lash out.

Aphex - Pangoro, Yungoos, Primeape

“Although it possesses a violent temperament, it won't put up with bullying. It uses the leaf in its mouth to sense the movements of its enemies.” - Pangoro X Pokedex entry

“It wanders around in a never-ending search for food. At dusk, it collapses from exhaustion and falls asleep on the spot.” - Yungoos Moon Pokedex entry

“It becomes wildly furious if it even senses someone looking at it. It chases anyone that meets its glare.” - Primeape Silver Pokedex entry

Despite his rough life, Aphex does not regret meeting his three partners. They protected him from the less savory residents of the slums he grew up in, and prove to be powerful comrades when he comes into scuffles with criminal brutes, but Aphex’s natural keenness for talking with his fists leads to him allowing his Pokemon to run wild and them going out of control at times.

Zange - Gumshoos, Annihilape

“Once it finds signs of prey, it will patiently stake out the location, waiting until the sun goes down.” - Gumshoos Scarlet Pokedex entry

“It imbues its fists with the power of the rage that it kept hidden in its heart. Opponents struck by these imbued fists will be shattered to their core.” - Annihilape Violet Pokedex entry

In contrast to the brash newbie Aphex, Zange has no tolerance for any lack of discipline, from the trainee detectives under him and from his Pokemon. Gumshoos commonly helps to stake out investigation suspects, and anyone who tries to flee from the veteran Master Detective rarely gets past Annihilape.

Pucci - Hatterene

“If you're too loud around it, you risk being torn apart by the claws on its tentacle. This Pokémon is also known as the Forest Witch.” - Hatterene Shield Pokedex entry

Aetheria Academy

Kurumi - Rowlet

“Flies noiselessly on delicate wings. It has mastered the art of deftly launching dagger-sharp feathers from those same wings.” - Rowlet Legends Arceus Pokedex entry

Ever since the unending rain in Kanai Ward began, Kurumi’s partner had been unable to fly much at first, but it eventually adapted, and found out that the pittering of the rain helps to silence its flight. This was useful for when Kurumi had to spy on her targets, but when spying on Peacekeepers, she kept Rowlet in its ball, no exceptions. With how trigger-happy the Peacekeepers were, Kurumi simply could not risk Rowlet being on the receiving end of their aggression.

Yoshiko - Leavanny, Ninetales

“This gentle Pokémon has strong protective instincts. The leaves on its arms are sharp enough to slice a thick tree in half with one stroke.” - Leavanny Scarlet Pokedex entry

“Very smart and very vengeful. Grabbing one of its many tails could result in a 1,000-year curse.” - Ninetales LeafGreen Pokedex entry

Even in the metal metropolis that was Kanai Ward, life finds a way. Yoshiko met her first partner when it was still a wee Sewaddle in one of the few spots of greenery amongst the high-rise apartments in the city. Although the unending rain that started after the Blank Week proved rather troublesome for a Grass-type who was used to bathing in the sunlight, nurturing still proved enough to raise the little bug into a mature Leavanny. The caring Pokemon was more than happy to help in its trainer's solo rehearsals by mimicking other actresses.

Ninetales, however, had a more complicated story. Yoshiko found the little critter hiding from the rain only a few weeks after the Blank Week, but for whatever reason, it was feral and shaky, nearly biting at the girl when she tried to approach it. Yoshiko thought that it might have been the wounds it bore, but even wild Vulpix were usually rather calm (as long as you didn't touch their tails), and to snap at a human like a feral animal was rather unexpected. Although it got comfortable with Yoshiko with time, she still had to warn others, even her close friends, to not surprise the fox, lest they suffer a nasty bite instead of a 1000-year curse.

OOC: While there were some shades of it when I wrote for the Chapter 0 Master Detectives, this section with the girls is where I’m going to be drawing heavily from their expanded characterizations in the fic I had linked.

The two Pokemon chosen by Yoshiko share a common theme: their elegant and benevolent looks belie a vicious side that surfaces when enraged. Leavanny shows no mercy to those that harm its kin, and Ninetales, the ethereal and elegant fox spirit, is known for bearing disproportionate grudges and imbuing curses on travelers over a slight.

Despite being the most outwardly friendly between the three of them, Yoshiko bears a deep darkness within her ever since they committed to their murder plan, which is seen in full force after the deed was done.

Waruna - Incineroar

“Incineroar's rough and aggressive behavior is its most notable trait, but the way it helps out small Pokémon shows that it has a kind side as well.” - Incineroar Shield Pokedex entry

OOC: Let’s talk about one of the most infamous starters of all time. Incineroar is explicitly designed after a heel wrestler; it’s big, muscular, and loves to brag and challenge other Pokemon, but despite its showboating and Dark typing, it actually has a kind heart, and adores the support shown to it.

This pairs amazingly well with Waruna herself, who genuinely cares for her friends despite presenting herself as a demanding, no-nonsense actress.

In addition, Incineroar’s personality is a stealthy reference to how most wrestling matches are scripted, aka kayfabe; there is no real tension between the face and the heel, despite their theatrics and showboating. While Waruna and her friends may keep up the act of a cutthroat rivalry between them, it is precisely that, an act; none of it is real, and they are secretly still friends.

(And no, I did not give her a feline Pokemon just because she likes cats.)

Kurane - Phantump, Poltchageist

“This Pokémon came to be when the spirit of a deceased child possessed a tree stump. It now wanders the forest searching for friends.” Phantump Violet Pokedex entry

“Supposedly, the regrets of a tea ceremony master who died before perfecting his craft lingered in some matcha and became a Pokémon.” - Poltchageist Scarlet Pokedex entry

OOC: A running gag in the game, and expanded in the fic I had linked, is Kurane's tendency to sink into the background, and then reappear when she wants to and scaring the daylights out of people who hadn't noticed her. As such, what better type to give her than Ghost types? Specifically, two Ghost types: Phantump reflects its trainer in being shy and reclusive, but still yearning for friends.

However, shy is only one half of Kurane; when she is on the stage and performing, the mask changes, displaying a surprisingly competitive streak in her, and a desire to give the best performance she can. This earns her the respect of Poltchageist, who was once a perfectionist tea ceremony master who desired to hone his craft until the very best.

[twisted-wonderland-but-gayer]

(This is mostly inspired by me playing Pokemon Legends Arceus and loving every second of it.)

So, Yuu was originally from somewhere in the Pokemon universe before getting yeeted into Hisui by Arceus. They quelled Nobles, fought literal gods, and eventually completed the Pokedex. Before Arceus could send them back home, something intervened and yeeted them into Twisted Wonderland with their main party, which consists of all three Hisuian starters (Typhlosion, Samurott, and Decidueye), Hisuian Goodra, Gliscor, and Sylveon.

This Yuu is just. So tired. They will personally fistfight every single Overblot if it means they can go home.

He have a pokemon crossover on here

But I'm just imagining a yuu that keeps getting isekaied before they can go home

Yuu getting the portal home after they became a devildom exchange student, saved the PokeVerse, defeated Ganondorf, slain Alduin, survived the backrooms, made it to the end of the Constant, killed several gods, and had harems of bitches across universes, just to wake up in a coffin in a completely different world:

It would be so funny if they sped through the storyline cause they're used to everything by now.

[thecurioustale]

My Incredible Expanding List of "High Priority" Creative Works to Read / Watch / Play / Etc. 😰

(No spoilers of any kind in this outburst.)

My To-Read / To-Watch / To-Listen list is where media go to die the long and quiet death of entropy and ice. 😓

Some people, it's like they can read a book a week, or watch a movie a day, or get through a whole TV series every month, or whatever. Not just for a short season, but regularly and indefinitely. It's an integrated part of their lifestyle.

Inconceivable!!

For me it is wildly hard to get around to starting media that I genuinely do want to get to. The reason why is a topic for another day, but I just want to marvel publicly with you at the absurdity of my Current Efforts. All of the following are assigned High Priority:

My sister got me a Nintendo Switch for my birthday this year, and included with it both of the new mainline Zelda games (Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom) as well as Pokémon Legends: Arceus. The Pokémon game is my latest Actually Doing It effort; I actually began playing it last week. I told myself that I would absolutely play at least one of these games because I can't have my sister getting me a present that expensive and then me not doing anything with it. And I will say that I am enjoying the game as much as I could have hoped! It's a very pleasant escapist fantasy with very low mental overhead, which my stressed-out, brain-fog-addled self sorely needs.

I would also like to replay the original Life Is Strange (Season 1) ahead of the upcoming sequel with Max Caulfield in it, as well as the prequel and the other two mainline Life Is Strange games. And I bought the entire Life Is Strange comic as it was coming out, and want to read it all the way through when the actual game is fresh in my memory.

Now that I have a Switch I want to get and play Metroid Dread, because I've been avoiding spoilers for it all this time and I would like to stop doing that, and I would also really like to have a new Metroid gameplay experience.

I asked my friend and number one fan Fip for a recommendation of suggested reading to learn more about Incan and pre-Incan Quechua-speaking peoples so that I could better characterize aspects of Cherry's character in Galaxy Federal. She recommended The Saga of the Borderlands. I've bought a used copy of the first book, The Days of the Deer, and it is literally the top book on my Pile of Books by my bed. I've even committed to trying to read the two other books in the trilogy in Spanish (since there is no English translation) if I enjoy the first one.

Fip herself has a number of works that I have been itching to read for quite some time, both out of artistic solidarity as a fellow artist and also because I'm just genuinely interested in what kinds of things a person who likes my work would create with their work.

I have long wanted to read Almost Nowhere ever since another online friend of mine, nostalgebraist, finished writing it, but I told myself that I would read his earlier work Floornight first and so they're both on my List. I'm actually kind of afraid to read these because his work The Northern Caves was heavily inspiring for me with regard to the Galaxy Federal Inaugural Novel and my fear is that I'm going to read these other works and discover heavy serendipitous overlap, just because I think he and I sometimes tend to have quite similar ideas (albeit thinking about them differently).

Another friend's mom recommended a book to me that my dad recommended like 20 years ago, The Map that Changed the World. This is another book that I've already bought, again used, and it is sitting right under The Days of the Deer in the Pile beside my bed. (And is the only other unread book in said Pile; the others are The Lord of the Rings, which I managed to finally reread a number of months ago, and my own book Tokens of Zeal: Words from a Vanished Age.) I am really looking forward to pleasantly surprising my friend's mom with word that I've read this book, and it would be a nice homage to Dad to finally read it as well.

I've been trying to complete my "Grand Tour of the Virus Comix Online Empire"—i.e., all the online works by Winston Rowntree—for like three years now. As part of this tour I've been sending him detailed notes, but it's been so long since my peopleWatching watchthrough that I'm going to have to rewatch it to compose notes. (I didn't think to start sending him notes until I got to the old Captain Estar webcomic.) I "rushed" my Captain Estar notes when I learned that he was doing a rebooted novelization of the same premise, which became Shirley Estar Goes to Heaven and which I highly recommend you read. There's a new peopleWatching season coming out in a year or two so now I want to expedite that, but I also have to go through all of Subnormality (the best webcomic of all time) and various other works of his.

This is all just the stuff at the highest level of priority for me to get to. There are, like, three more tiers below this—all of them longer. And I'm prolly gonna be playing Pokémon Arceus for months, because I am taking my sweet time with it. (I don't get to play video games nearly as often as I would like to, and this one is a really cathartic end-of-day treat, which is proving especially helpful because of the health problems that are making it difficult for me to get to sleep sometimes.) Oh lord and I haven't even touched on any YouTube videos or music works! 😰

And then, of course, there is my own creative work also pressing for my time.

I just find it maddening and ludicrous and comical and tragic all at once that I am so slow at both consuming and creating work.

I am molasses in January. 😭😭😭 How do y'all do it?!!

Actually, I don't know if I would truly want to consume a high amount of choice media on the regular. I know this sounds melodramatic, but, whenever some consumer activity competes for my extremely limited leisure time, I'm like "I have to finish writing as many of my books as possible before I die," and I really mean it. And I also have a kind of tainted image of people who spend all their time consuming media due to the fact that my abusive mom spent most of her time watching TV and reading books when I was a kid. That worked its way into me as a worldview that "You have to do more than just consume; you have to do something with the energy that comes from digesting the things you consume." Which I realize isn't objectively true...but it also kinda totally aesthetically is true, at least if you're an artist or have the soul of an artist, which I grant most people are not and do not.

[blueikeproductions]

So Pokémon Legends ZA was announced and it led me to wonder, what’s the anime gonna do. We got the Arceus Chronicles, but that was more of its own thing (semi disappointingly) than a true adaptation of the game.

So do we have Liko and Terapagos meet AZ and his Florette because Turtles in Time shenanigans or do we get what fans have been begging for on top of Pokemon Z, the triumphant return of Ash-Greninja as he, Zygarde, Ash, Clement, Serena and Bonnie reunite to halt the resurrection of the ancient war machine used in Kalos’ distant past, and THEY meet AZ and Florette.

Personally, I say an Ash chapter and Liko chapter could be ideal to keep it fair and involve both. The Liko chapter is first as she consoles a grieving AZ via Terapagos shenanigans and reunites him with his Florette, and so inspired by the empathetic girl, AZ sets to make things right, helping Ash and his friends shut down the war machine from 3,000 years ago and battle Team Rocket and assorted Team Flare remnants who were poking around with the gizmo. In this scenario we’d see AZ use whatever potential new Mega Evolved Pokemon would appear in the game alongside Ash-Greninja.

[shinysamurott9]

2024 Games: Pokemon Sword

So this was a bit of a weird time. This is a pretty long read as after playing this game after so many years that, along with the borderline nuclear fallout that was the fandom reaction to it, was a major contributor to me kind of falling out of active interest in pokemon, my ultimate takeaway was that the game was actually not that bad. It was pretty fun, a little underrated even.

My history with this game starts around 2018ish. USUM had come out and I really liked that game. Gen 7 was an all around good time overall which I still appreciate today. The release that year was Let's Go, which I'll be real, I wasn't a fan of it in premise, I'm still not tbh. I could go into that but, in short, it was a game I had little to no interest in and I ultimately decided to skip it to see whatever was next. I bring this up because I think this was the start of me falling out of interest in pokemon, at least for a while. But while Let's Go may have planted the seed, SwSh was what solidified it.

Enter the announcement of Sword and Shield, my friends and I were pretty excited for it, the game looked pretty interesting, a region based on England? That's pretty neat. The new pokemon looked really cool too, we were genuinely excited about it. But if you're familiar with this game's history, you know exactly what happened. In the middle of the game’s hype cycle, GameFreak announced the titanically controversial decision to not include roughly half the existing pokedex in the game meaning that many pokemon would simply not exist in Pokemon SwSh. This was probably one of the biggest Internet shitstorms I've ever been witness to, and the whole thing, both the actual decision and visceral reaction, only made worse by bad actors in the community fanning the flame, just really turned me off SwSh and Pokemon as a whole in a way. In some ways it was a good thing, in the time I wasn't playing Pokemon I was exploring other series I was less familiar with like Devil May Cry, Zelda or Xenoblade or further exploring series I hadn't fully played yet like Metroid or Mega Man, most of which are series I absolutely adore today.

I still kept up with Pokemon to some extent, mostly playing the games while keeping my distance from the wider community. I played BDSP when it released and was not as disappointed as everyone else while still feeling fairly apathetic to it. Played Legends Arceus when it came out and genuinely loved it for it's fresh take on pokemon while also offering a ton of history and lore on Sinnoh that I really appreciated and I played Scarlet and dropped it a couple days in after discovering Pokeball warps and absolutely breaking the game letting me do a lap around the whole region and getting a lvl 40 starter before ever entering the school. Yhe vast majority of my time with pokemon was playing older games in Gen 3 or shiny hunting. That was til about 6 months ago. I had been playing Emerald and I wanted to take on the Battle Frontier and get the Gold Symbols. While I was prepping to do this I was watching a couple videos on the Ribbon Master Challenge and since I was already doing the Frontier and with the looming closure of Pokemon Bank, I thought that I wanted to take that on. And it's been something I've been working on the past few months. Massive shoutouts to CannedWolfMeat and SirToastyToes for their excellent videos that inspired me to do this. And now I'm here basically at the end,prepping to play through Scarlet for the the last few Ribbons in that game.

Of course though, In order to get the ribbons in Sword, I had to actually play through it for the first time. The playthrough, while really easy Leon and early Klara not withstanding, was extremely strong in terms of options for team members, especially with Isle of Armor options thrown in. I love pokemon games that offer a large variety of team members to use, it's a big reason I enjoy XY more than most. I found myself using 10 whole team members by the end of the playthrough. Would have had more but I literally never found Applin and Cursola is Shield exclusive. Many of these were new Galarian Pokemon which are for the most part fantastic. Galar imo has one of the strongest lineups of new pokemon in the series, though I feel Alola did regional forms better. Seriously though, I was using all these guys by the end.

Something thatvalso surprised me was the locations. While the Wild Area is a little boring, I found myself enjoying many of the locations. The two big cities, Hammerlocke and Motostoke are cool and feel very large, Ballonlea and the Glimwood Tangle are actually really great areas visually and Wyndon is imo, one of the best cities we've seen in a Pokemon Game in terms of both scale and looks. While I do like these areas, I will say progressing through them is extremely linear, it feels like there's very little opportunity to go off the beaten path. It's a pretty big shame when even more linear games like XY or Gen 7 had at least a couple of optional areas to explore.

I will say the main story isn’t great. I enjoyed some of the characters. Bede had a neat story with him basically trying to get validation from a father figure who doesn't seem to care much about him. Marnie was an all around good character with some fun interactions who genuinely is just doing her best for her home town and much of the dlc cast like Mustard, Klara and Peony were genuinely entertaining. I did enjoy some of the main game side characters too like Bea and Piers.

Where the plot falls is, well, the plot, not a lot really happens. The game does build up Rose's plan with Eternatus, but you're kept out of the action for most of the events leading up to it. The game basically doesn't have an antagonist until right at the end, where it just kinda feels forced. Everything with Macro Cosmos at Rose Tower only happens because Leon was meeting Rose and we didn't like that for some reason? And of course there's the climax with Eternatus, where as everyone and their mother has pointed out, Rose basically unleashes the apocalypse because he couldn't wait one day to solve a problem 1000 years away. I do like how nonchalant he is about it though, that's kind of funny and Eternatus is actually a pretty cool legendary, though there really isn't much on it storywise beyond the fact it crashed to Earth 3000 years ago and it is the source of Dynamax.

The DLCs though do have more interesting stories. With Isle of Armor focusing on Klara and her being humbled through the dojo and then bonding with Kubfu to raise him to his ultimate form. And Crown Tundra was actually really interesting as you have Calyrex be an actual character. The king of the land who lost his power over time, seemingly losing faith in himself and subsequently losing the people's worship and his steeds. Heck the fact that Calyrex properly talks to you really helps make him and his story stand out from other legendaries and is really neat I think.

I will say, there may be something to be said about how many of the best parts of this game are locked behind DLC. I don't think that's inherently a bad thing, the DLC itself definitely justifies its purchase, but I do agree that the main game is a little lacking in some areas that the DLC does help make up for but that of course has the price tag attached. I also have to say the way the DLC is designed is a liitle strange. While Isle of armor does a decent job being something you can do at any point. Having access to the Crown Tundra as early as the Wild Area is extremely weird. The levels don't scale like the Wild Area or Isle of Armor so no matter when you go there you'll be fighting stuff in the high 50s or low 60s. While this does mean you can't catch anything in the wild, there is absolutely nothing stopping you from doing the Dynamax adventures and catching not just a massive variety of overleveled fully evolved mons but basically any legendary from the previous generations. And with that stuff, it's not unreasonable to be able to do literally everything in the Tundra after that except for catching Calyrex. While I would agree this is a fair decision, when you're already handing me literally anything I could want to steamroll the game, blocking off Calyrex and only Calyrex just seems weird.

For some other Miscellaneous stuff. The Battle Tower: It's pathetically easy, especially by previous Tower standards. The NPCs are limited to the Pokedex available at launch and you have no restrictions on useable mons. I'm not really complaining about this as it felt good to have a Facility that was basically just a victory lap after doing every other Tower in the past 6 months or so, and it is very worthwhile to do for rewards like Bottle Caps, Candies and the Nature Mints. 50 BP for one mint sounds like a lot but it's really not as bad as it sounds. But it is slso incredibly funny that shit like this is allowed.

Speaking of, the Nature Mints, those are a genuinely fantastic addition to the series. I'm very happy to see how accessible optimising pokemon has become since Gen 7. Between Hyper Training, Very easy levelling with jow many candies you can get through Raids, Nature Mints, easily accessible EV Training through the dojo and items like the Ability Capsule and Patch (Even with how expensive the patch is in SwSh), you can make pretty much any pokemon perfectly optimised for competitive use with, for the most part, not much time investment, it's genuinely great.

One thing I have to say as someone who enjoys a bit of Shiny Hunting, SwSh are kind of a slap in tge face with how many mons are shiny locked. Stuff like Type Null which was huntable in Gen 7, the starters which are a cardinal sin to shiny lock imo, and Cosmog who has literally no practical reason to be shiny locked when you can get Solgaleo or Lunala from the Max Lair with massively boosted shiny odds. It only really reinforces how little reason there actually is to shiny lock stuff imo and SwSh has among the most in the series. It's extremely annoying. Doesn't help that the game’s shiny hunting method is kinda eh, and wasn't properly figured out til ages after it's release.

So overall, I do think SwSh is a pretty flawed game, but I feel like it has a lot of strong aspects that get overlooked due to how initial reactions colored people's opinion on the game. Is it the best pokemon game? Not by a long shot imo. Is it still good though? I would say so yeah. I'd put it around B Tier I think. It has made me pretty interested to get to SV, which I'll have to do soon for the last few ribbons.