#good pokemon games are so peak

[smanfa]

pokemon trainer smanfa

[thehappiestgolucky]

Assortment of easy violet doodles i managed because i care them but drawing is hard

[tokagrem]

Aphelios and alune playing kirbys return to dreamland except alune sits on his head the entire time and tells him what to do is this anything

[quietwingsinthesky]

my opinions on the eeveelutions are greatly affected by how goddamn hard those little bastards were to catch while playing pokepark.

[darkdragon768]

I'm so afraid of gen 5 remakes.

At this point I'd just prefer ports over remakes.

[apollo-just-ice]

Been replaying pokémon mystery dungeon explorers lately and it’s been on my mind sm,,, my childhood game of all time it’s still so good??? Mannnnn <333

[psikind]

I beat pokemon scarlet today hi for the love of god hello

[dragonridernoobie]

I am back>:D if you have watched Jazmin hotel or seen TikTok’s of it, then you should understand what I mean when I say NIFTY READER! A reader who is like Nifty>:D

If you have not seen videos of nifty, here is one to help you:>

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRT9usnT/

For bayverse Optimus, TFP Shockwave, TFP Soundwave, and TFP Ratchet>:3

Thank you! Make sure to take care of yourself

Yes, I've seen it, who hasn't? IL 100% do this, hope you like it! Sorry it took a bit, been shiny hunting on pokemon.

TransformersXNiftyReader

Optimus prime (bayverse)

When optimus met reader, it was when the decepticons destroyed part of the city.

He was trying to get thru the city to get to the decepticons who were somewhere in the city.

While he drives thru the city, he came across reader who was running around, cleaning.

He tried to tell them that this place was not safe but quickly can see the this human...was diffrent.

Reader was running around, giggling, cleaning and actally dusting off broken prices of the building.

Reader noticed optimus and somehow got on his shoulder without noticing him.

Reader asked alot of questions like "new you the bad guy?" And "are you a girl robot?" And "how can you die?"

(Comome, have you seen the bayverse optimus? He got some good as tits)

Optimus told them to go to safety but nifty said no.

2 weeks later, optimus now has a little, word, and Violent. Friend.

Ratchet TFP

When ratchet met reader when they arrived at base with the kids.

He was amazed how fast reader was and how......weird reader was.

Though, he won't say he liked reader more then the other kids but you can tell.

He liked reader since she actally helps and keeps the base clean...a little to clean.

I think ratchrt had a mini spark attack when reader came to him, covered in energon, and holding a now dead spark.

Yyyaaaaaaaa, she killed the decepticon who hurt him.

Let's say ratchet now was scared of reader.

Ratchet made sure to set some ground rules on what to do and what not to do.

Reader dident like them but understand.

Ratchet usually was alone at base so he was kinda happy reader was there to talk tohim.

Even if reader was chasing after the cockroach.

Soundwave TFP

When Soundwave met reader, is when he gets a notification that there's a breach on the ship.

When he went to go look for the intruder, he wasn't expecting to find a human, stabbing a now dead trone, yelling, "STAB! STAB! STAB! STAB!"

Soundwave used his tentacles to grab ahold of reader, but failed since reader was just to quick.

Que, reader hiding on the ship.

Reader hid in the wall and vents.

Only coming out to attack any unexpecting victims.

Soundwave was actally enjoying himself with reader, since he actally had somome and something that can give him a run for his money.

So, he left food and water out.

Gave up trying to catch reader but doesn't hurt to try once in a while.

Megatron dosent need to know.

Shockwave TFP

When Shockwave met reader, it was when Soundwave cought them (form his story) and brought them to him.

Soundwave showed the recording of reader killing one of the drones.

This peaked Shockwaves intrest.

So Shockwave starts to try and experiment on reader.

It fails.

Reader keeps escaping the holding container and dosent run away

Oh, no, no no no

Reader becomes the most annoying shit ever

They start to distroy his lab.

Anything that can be pushed off, destroyed by water, anything.

This pissed off Shockwave so bad.

At the end, he just threw reader out of the air lock to get rid of them.

Que, reader runturning. 😈😈😈

My shiny end-game team!

[weirdmageddon]

ive finaly managed to lay it out my major interests. i dont know what took me so long to be able to do that. i posted it to bluesky but i’ll do it here too. i need a new pinned post anyway.

22 neurodivergent ass autistic goth nerd and other-proclaimed “wizard”

things i’m interested in:

science: ALL natural science, esp. neuroscience, neuropsychology, psychology (the mind), biology, anatomy & physiology, ecosystems

other realms: philosophy, sociology, anthropology, human ethology, personality differences

natural noumena: patterns in nature, emergence, self-organization / spontaneous order, chaos theory and fractals

tropes / archetypes

analytical psychology / jungian analysis (not in association to jordan peterson, whom i think is a chode. this is significant to me, because i feel like i share the phenomenological reality with jung that formed the basis of his ideas. many of these forces i’ve noticed on my own, separate from him, before i knew him. so seeing his ideas i was like “oh he put it into words. glad to know someone else has a keen sense for these phenomena”)

socionics model A

other typological systems: enneagram, mbti (not 16personalities), etc. (quizzes are lazy minded, reading the theoretical foundations helps it feel much more significant)

eclectic alternative music subcultures + history: esp. 70s-80s, experimental, psychedelic rock, punk, new wave, post-punk, goth rock, industrial

the venture bros. (bonus points if you understand most of the references because this show is like my personal catnip)

jhonen vasquez: jthm, squee, i feel sick, invader zim (decade+ old fan)

david lynch: twin peaks, eraserhead, blue velvet, mulholland drive, etc

jon bois: pretty good, 17776/20020, chart party, team history documentaries, etc

blaseball

vinesauce

pokemon: in general, but esp. game mechanics

gravity falls (decade old fan)

homestuck (decade old fan)

mother series

star trek* (*slowly immersing myself)

lots of more stuff i probably missed

typology type profile: LII-Ne IN(T) INFJ 5w4 so/sp 514 |R|COAI

random things i want to say:

given enough time i think i could probably explain anything

i live in a very isolated pocket of my own taste in art/music where im not really aware of what everyone else is listening to because it just…doesnt really cross my mind ever? i found out brian eno said something similar, “If I tried to make a commercial album, it would be a complete flop. I have no idea what the world at large likes.” i told my friend the other day i feel like i understand my self through music and art, because of the accumulation of my taste i can actually experience my unconscious preference and know what i feel my own experiences reflected in

im best at self-reflection and observations of own my own mental processes

if i were forced to kin a homestuck character it would be aradia megido. we’re very close in spirit

i have similar mannerisms to dipper pines. first time i saw a cartoon character and felt represented

another brian eno quote i strongly relate to: “Sometimes you recognize that there is a category of human experience that has not been identified but everyone knows about it. That is when I find a term to describe it.”

[official-nina-hopkins]

I have been drawing so much this week for no reason i can tell, so here's some of the things i have drawn! also its a lot so i am putting the rest under the read more + commentary.

WARNING: I yap a lot.

Okay the first Silver of the page was drawn randomly, inspired by fnf Lullaby pretty sure, not much to say.

NOW ELIAS- Honestly i have been obsessed with the guy since i read Your Friend Silver some weeks ago at the dead of night. due to the wifi acting up the first image did not load, now image how freaked out i was and i see that image of Elias when i was just about to go lie down and sleep. honestly i next thing i should draw should be my own designs for him and Max. love those two. Hydrogen Bomb and Coughing Baby duo <3 /j

Honestly? ambivalent towards Journey's End. i like it as a concept, idk its execution. i will keep drawing this guy tho for sure.

POKEMON RUST MY BELOVED!!! I am the only person in the whole world that gives a shit about it i know. honestly its a bad story. like bad to the point i am sure the author became aware of it and just went ham near the end. but there's compelling stuff in it imo, like how Rust interacts with the player. i should make Rust my oc imo /j. also in my au i should totally connect it to Grey's cartridge, i have a vision.

3 and 4 are for Blue Tears. in my opinion its peak pokepasta, being balanced in giving the narrator an actual character and the game itself being intriguing/unsettling.

FOND FORGOTTEN!!!! Its so good!, honestly this is not how i picture John really, but thats okay, i can just draw him again.

Just a test in how i should draw normal Steven, i like giving him curly hair like his dad but i am thinking in giving it less volume next time i try to design him.

[pokemoncenter]

On battling as media

What many do not understand is that like most professional sports, the rules of League-sanctioned Pokemon battling are often changed for the benefit of the spectators, not the participants. The essence of the sports often change to become good television, if there is a dominant strategy that is boring to watch.

In soccer, the ball was made to be black and white in the shape it is known so that it would show better on televisions. In basketball, the shot clock was added to prevent boring games where the ball was held defensively. And in Pokemon battles, the "Trainer Pivot" was banned for similar reasons.

The Trainer Pivot was a technique that rose into popularity after its use in televised Galarian match by the battler Odd Kardos in the Galarian league championship of 1987. At the time, it was considered almost a heretical technique, the peak of unsportsmanlike behavior, and many called for its banning immediately. However, the strict nature of the Galar league had just as many arguing to keep it, to spite the League.

The technique is simple- By recalling a Pokemon and releasing it again on the other side of the field, you could reposition your Pokemon to evade attacks or set up for an advantageous attack. A quick Trainer could use this to engage in sneak attacks as often as they liked.

However, despite the popularity Odd Kardos enjoyed with the general public, there was a simple problem. The cameras that recorded the battle for broadcast would often have immense trouble keeping up with such tricky plays. And when it became the dominant strategy, battles became a long use of people simply recalling and sending out their Pokemon, over and over, while the cameras tried and failed to keep up.

It was bad television, in other words, and so the Trainer Pivot was formally banned in all regions. The rule now states that if a Pokemon is withdrawn, a different Pokemon must be sent out. This still allows some tactical use of the Trainer's switch-ins, but it makes for more interesting watching.

After Spikes was formally legalized by the League in 1998, there was some thought to unbanning the Trainer Pivot, as Spikes would greatly diminish its usage. However, it was deemed that it would make things boring again, as Spikes would then become mandatory for any team wishing to truly challenge the greatest Trainers.

The problems with the Trainer Pivot had nothing to do with the sport, nor anyone participating. But it was still banned, because it was boring for the viewers to watch. Pokemon battling under League rules is for the viewers at home, more than even the Trainers involved.

[chilopodacrudus]

Monster Raising Genre Takes

Did you guys know that Dragon Quest V was cited as being an inspiration for Pokemon and not the other way around. Did you guys know that Digimon was created by Bandai to go hand and hand with their Tamagotchi line as a 'Tamagotchi for boys'. Pokemon didn't invent the genre.

There are so many monster raising games that came before and after Pokemon that are on par or even better but the one we choose to support is Palworld and I'm very very very amused by that. I don't care if you play or enjoy Palworld I just think it's very funny.

When genre fans like me were like 'hey you should try out this or this it's super good' and then people in the West pissed themselves saying 'omg Pokemon clone' but now PALWORLD is the one that people changed their minds about. Actual peak comedy.

If you want some good Monster raising genre recommendations: Dragon Quest Monsters is incredible; all of the games are fun in some way. Fossil Fighters; Monster Rancher, Digimon World Dawn/Dusk and the Cyber Sleuth series, Monster Crown, Monster Sanctuary, Cassette beasts, etc.

NOT TO FORGET! One of my absolute favorites if not my favorite; Demi Kids. It's a more 'kid friendly' SMT spin off and it deserves the world. SMT in general came out way before Pokemon so ya know lol.

Also Ultraman had Capsule Monsters waaaay before Pokemon was even a glimmer in anyone's eyes. DBZ also had capsule based stuff very similar to Ultraman. If this is what makes people realize that Pokemon didn't invent monster battling then I guess that's okay lol.

Okay I'm done lol.

[ihaveatheoryonthat]

Code of Conductors

Like many, I've found myself enthralled with @critterbitter's recent comics. While this is 100% based on trends I noticed in the story, I'll admit that the tone is something of a departure, so if you're looking for comedy, this might not be the fic for you.

(As a disclaimer, I wrote the bulk of this before the most recent arc began, so it might stray a bit into that territory, as well.)

If you'd prefer AO3 over tumblr's formatting, it's also up over there.

---

Having a starter Pokemon… wasn’t going the way Ingo might have hoped, so far.

He’d tried to temper his expectations-- not everyone could have the storybook encounter that Emmet and Tynamo found-- but he couldn’t help but feel disappointed by the reality that met him. He’d wished to Zekrom for a partner whose ideals would align with his own, and while he understood that it didn’t mean he and this hypothetical Pokemon would see eye to eye on everything, his thoughts had been that they could at least find an accord.

He’d longed to meet someone who might accept him for his imperfections-- for his inability to emote the way other humans expected, for the peaks of volume he couldn’t always control, for the creeping doubt that he was too much and not enough, all at the once. He wanted so badly to work with Litwick, but even though her telepathy made it possible for them to communicate more clearly, his misgivings only grew stronger with every passing day.

Ingo thought he understood. He wasn’t her first pick by any stretch of the imagination; if she’d had her way, she’d have left Emmet as a disoriented heap on the floor and faded into the background, never to be noticed. Instead, he’d caught onto her game, and then caught her. He knew it wasn’t a terribly uncommon phenomenon, and that good trainers could work with even the most reluctant Pokemon, but nothing he’d attempted was working. He’d tried letting her feed from his soul, and while it eliminated the language barrier between them, functionally speaking, it only meant that he could understand her malcontent in her own words. He’d tried compromise, to meet her on her level, but hearing how bland he was-- how utterly lacking-- became difficult to take day after day. He’d even overheard Emmet trying to bribe her into cooperating with him, and it was humiliating. He knew his brother wasn’t blind to how he was struggling, but to have her ambivalence spelled out so plainly made his doubts resurface, tenfold.

He’d waited this long for a Pokemon to show interest in being his partner, so he could wait a little longer. If Litwick truly wasn’t happy-- if he really was dragging her down, as she seemed to imply-- it was only right to let go. The situation in the Celestial Tower had meant that he couldn’t give her a choice back then, but he could now.

It might delay their outset, but maybe a minor miracle would happen, and he’d find a Pokemon that wanted to be his friend-- or was at least open to the possibility-- within the span of two weeks. They hadn’t tried the Desert Resort, yet. Even if he was incompatible with ghosts, maybe a Sandile or Dwebble would suit him.

...and if he couldn’t make the turnaround, he could try to ensure that he’d be the only one inconvenienced; he didn’t have any earthly idea how he’d convince Emmet to go ahead with their plans on his own, but surely being left behind by choice would feel better than holding his loved ones back.

In a roundabout way, that included Litwick.

Ingo had already talked himself out of and back into this course of action multiple times, so he knew how difficult it would be to stick to his convictions-- the last thing he wanted was an audience to convince, too. That was why he waited until it was time for Tynamo’s daily charging session, took Litwick’s pokeball, and sneaked out to the shallow portion of the greenbelt nearby. It wasn’t where Litwick had come from, but everyone had heard stories about forests infested with will-o-wisps ready to lead an unsuspecting hiker off the beaten path, so he could do worse. He walked far enough that the waning daylight dimmed even further, but not so far that he was left without any trace of natural light to lead him home.

He turned the pokeball over in his hands, practicing the words in his head one more time, then drew a bracing breath and released its occupant.

“Alright, sock Grookey, what’s going through that fluff-filled head this time?”

He looked away, keeping Litwick in his periphery, but unable to look her in the face. “You can go, if you would prefer.”

“...what?”

“You can leave. I don’t want to keep you confined if I’m only making you miserable; it’s not fair to you.” The pokeball had automatically clicked shut again, but he toyed with the latch, popping it open for when he’d need it.

He heard Litwick scoff, “Oh great, you’ve hit your emo phase, huh? Nothing like a soggy cracker to snack on.”

“Then you can find someone else.” He said, keeping his eyes trained on the lowest limb of a nearby tree, imagining how its rough bark would feel if he were to reach out and touch it. Cold. Hard. A far cry from malleable wax. “No one’s stopping you any longer.”

He could only imagine that she was rolling her eyes-- maybe her flame flickered in irritation. They may not have spent long enough together to become friends, but he’d learned to read her, and he wasn’t sure he’d lose that knowledge once it became irrelevant.

“Yeah, yeah, read it a hundred times.” She drawled, rolling her eyes. Her nubby little arms raised into the air, waving in an exaggerated shooing motion, “’Get out of here, I don’t want you anymore!’ Have anything more original?”

Of course. Of course Emmet got the fairy tale meeting, and now he was living out some novel fishing for a Clawitzer Prize. He swallowed hard, trying to banish the thought; it wasn’t about him-- none of it was. He could be jealous of his brother and Tynamo, and he could be upset about how badly his short-lived partnership with Litwick had gone, but for their sake, he should keep it to himself. His feelings weren't their responsibility, only his own.

Any and all of the words he’d practiced failed, and all he could do was wave a hand, certain that if he spoke up now, his voice would betray him.

“Are you serious?” Litwick asked, surprise quickly morphing into anger, “Well screw you, too, muppet boy! Do you really think you can do any better? Good luck!”

“I know! How can I possibly miss it when every Pokemon whose path I cross turns up its nose?” On some level, Ingo was mortified that his restraint had failed him, but he was too distraught to let higher thought dictate his feelings. What was it they could all sense that chased them away? What was the deficiency in the core of his being? What was so terrible that no one could look past it? He was so afraid that he was going to be left alone someday, unwanted by anyone new and cast aside by those who had no choice but to tolerate him. In spite of his brother’s reassurances, he felt certain there would come a day where he’d reach out to find that no one was there.

He couldn’t think of anything else to follow that, and Litwick was still simmering in outrage. Dashing a hand across his eyes, Ingo returned his attention to the pokeball and inverted it, holding it by either side to bend its hinge backwards, past the point of repair.

“Wait.” Litwick said, and he felt his own frustration bubble up.

“Why can’t you make one thing easy?” He demanded, a sob working its way into being. He was trying to live up to his own ideals with all of his might-- to ensure that Litwick was able to find her highest state of self, even if this was the only way he could help-- but it was so much harder than everyone made it out to be. Was that the problem? His ideals were so flimsy, so hard for the person who held them to maintain, that no one could align with them?

Ingo didn’t know what he expected anymore. He’d thought Emmet would tell him he was being ridiculous when they'd had their heart to heart, but he hadn’t-- in this situation, though, he couldn’t imagine that Litwick would turn around with an apology, and he wasn’t even sure that he’d be able to believe it was genuine, that she wasn’t saying it to shut him up.

“I don’t get you.” She said, and he could have tossed his hands up in dismay. If nothing else, he supposed they’d come to the understanding that they didn’t understand one another-- and just in time.

As she continued on, however, he went very still, listening carefully.

“It feels like you should be something else, but I can’t tell what. Why are you only half baked?” She asked. It was weaker than it would normally be-- a light fizzling instead of a pointed burn.

That felt like it should have hurt more; it was practically confirmation that he was lacking something intrinsic to the human condition, but Litwick’s bafflement made it fumble the landing. Maybe… maybe it was normal? He’d watched Emmet mature a great deal in the time since partnering up with Tynamo, so there could still be hope for him-- though it did seem like something of a Pokemon-or-the-egg situation. He needed a partner to help him grow, but he needed to grow if he was going to find a partner.

Ingo didn’t realize it in the moment, but his hands relaxed a bit, and one fell to his side, abandoning the pokeball all together; some of Litwick’s tension eased, unnoticed, and she molded back into her preferred shape.

“Maybe... we can make a deal, eh? Mutual aid or whatever you want to call it; we, uh-- we try to train each other.”

For the first time since they’d started this conversation, he looked at her in full. Her flames were low, but still spitting, and he’d never seen that combination before; the dim fire meant that she was upset, and the sputtering was indicative of agitation. Something in the recesses of his mind-- the part that wrung its hands, so utterly convinced that he was a terrible brother and friend-- whispered ‘guilt’, but he wasn’t about to go making any decisive statements. That seemed presumptuous at best.

He took a moment to think her words over, and realized that he couldn’t argue with that. Wasn’t it precisely what he’d wanted, all along? To help Litwick evolve into the best version of herself, and to grow as a person?

Was this what it meant to find someone whose ideals matched his own?

Slowly, he inclined his head, and used both hands to fold the pokeball back together.

---

Litwick never could have imagined that she’d find herself in this situation.

She didn’t see herself as a Pokemon who would ever take a trainer. Something deep inside of her rankled at the indignity of being captured, and so she’d taken it… poorly when she wound up stuck inside a pokeball. She was a literal free spirit, unable to be contained, and not some everyday Pokemon who would allow themselves to be domesticated.

And-- and if she had deigned to attach herself to a human, it would be someone she’d deemed worthy: a savant, someone who understood their partners and knew exactly the footing they stood on together. She wouldn’t tolerate any incompetence, any disrespect; she knew her worth and she wouldn’t compromise.

Muppet kid was… a kid. He’d slapped her in the face with the realization that she wasn’t the heavyweight she’d believed herself to be, and so he’d needed to be taken down several pegs, too. She saw how he looked at his brother and the flying fish that chased after his heels like a needy Lillipup, and being turned into that was an insult she wouldn’t suffer. She hated that he tried to humor her-- that he thought her so far beneath him that she could be humored-- and so she’d lashed out.

She’d never thought she’d be someone’s partner.

She definitely hadn’t thought she’d be someone’s failed partner.

Before she’d migrated to the Celestial Tower, Litwick had spent some time in a nice library; there had been a woman who’d frequented it, reading aloud for the empty archive, and it had sparked a curiosity in her. She’d mostly read cheesy romances because they were hilarious, but there had been a few instances where she’d branched out-- and one of those times, it had been to browse through a book on literary criticism. At the time, she’d thought it encompassed her own snarky commentary, and finding that it was something else entirely had turned her off of it, but it came to mind now.

The exact words escaped her, but it had stated that if criticism caused a writer to give up their craft, then it had failed at its job; the worst thing a critic could do was snuff the desire to create.

Litwick was beginning to realize that she’d done just that, metaphorically speaking, at least.

Even if she didn’t like how he went about it, the ki... Ingo had been trying, and in recent weeks, she’d taken that for granted. She hadn’t given it a second thought when he stopped refuting her mild insults or answering her sass with a subtle sarcasm of his own.

He thought she truly didn’t like him-- and she’d thought she didn’t like him, but now, faced with the prospect of being released into the wild, she had to reevaluate her feelings.

She guessed he was… sweet, but dull, in the way of someone who hadn’t figured out who they were, yet. Somehow, she just expected more from him, and she wasn’t sure why-- there was a smokiness he lacked, the steel of willpower honed to a razor’s edge, and of burning want, the drive to reach an undefined goal. It was frustrating to know it should have been there, but just wasn’t for some reason.

His soul was flatter than ever, now, albeit with a melancholic tinge that felt more like what she’d expected. Litwick realized she didn’t like it any better and-- worse-- that there was no one but herself to blame for its current state.

As things stood, she had been a bad partner. In those daydreams where she allowed herself to have a trainer, they were a master of their craft, someone whose orders in battle were confident and without flaw, who saw her worth and respected her for her power and wit-- but Litwick… had to be able to prove herself worth that ideal, in turn. That was why she’d been so mad at Ingo at first; he’d unwittingly shown that she wasn’t that noble and mighty Pokemon who wouldn’t settle. She’d been captured by a shocked 12 year old whose first instinct had been to catch the ghost snacking on his brother.

If trainers shared their ideals with the Pokemon they trained, using those ambitions to help them grow bigger and better, then couldn’t it go both ways? She already knew what she thought her kid was capable of-- all she had to do was train him back, help in grow into it.

“Maybe... we can make a deal, eh? Mutual aid or whatever you want to call it; we, uh-- we try to train each other.”

Finally, Ingo looked at her, and she hadn’t realized until that moment just how much his refusal to do so had grated on her-- not in the sense that it was disrespectful, which she might have guessed even five minutes ago, but because he couldn’t look her in the eye. For the first time since her spike of white-hot realization, Litwick considered what he’d been trying to do here. He was offering to let her go, yes, but only ever on her terms: ‘you can go if you would prefer,’ ‘it’s not fair to you,’ ‘no one’s stopping you.’ Not once had he implied that this was something he’d wanted and, in fact, the miserable allegation that she was only making things harder on him suggested the opposite

The internal tension holding her wax firm ebbed as he lowered his head into a tiny nod, sealing the deal by tucking her pokeball back into its intended shape. More than anything that came before it, that was the moment Litwick realized that she was at peace with this decision; if she so chose, she could move in another direction with her life, but she would always wonder what might have been.

“That’s an acceptable course of action.” Ingo said, voice hushed in a way she vaguely remembered hadn’t heard before.

“Deal’s a deal, then.” She said, and inched forward, waiting to see if he was about to recall her. He didn’t, and she moved closer, until she was standing just a foot away.

As she moved nearer, he knelt down onto her level, and considered her as she came to a complete stop. After a moment’s deliberation, he held a hand out so she could use it to get up. “You’re welcome to board as our conductor.”

Her first instinct was to brush his comment off with a snide remark, but after the conversation they’d just had, deliberately softened it. Now that they’d reached a new understanding, she thought they could go back to roasting one another within the week, but it would be kind to give it a grace period for the evening.

She took the offer. His hands were gentle as he lifted her, putting her in the mind of rough but discerning fingers running across a chin she didn’t have, and pleasant though it was, she cut it short by climbing onto his shoulder.

“Sounds good. Where’s this train headed, anyway?”

“Tonight, we’re returning to home station.” He said, and then gave her a subtle look, inclining his head, “But tomorrow… we’ll start to run toward our next highest state, together.”

[kafus]

okay i just talked to every NPC in veilstone because it's been a long time and man sinnoh's NPCs are peak, at least out of the 2D games i feel like they provide the most humor and the most random lore tidbits and stuff. i love this region. i'm going to talk about it

first off sinnoh is full of little things like this. random dialogue/flavor text that ties back to the mythos of the region. i love how widespread the sinnoh myths are

i'm also obsessed with when there's two NPCs that link together like this. you talk to one and you move on and then you talk to another and you're like oh! lmao. by the way the rage candy bars being here is cool because sinnoh is canonically connected to johto through the sinjoh ruins and the rage candy bars are from johto, which means they're imported and sold here. in general i'm obsessed with the locations in pokemon that have special treats associated with them, like the pewter crunchies of pewter city in kanto, or the lava cookies from lavaridge in hoenn. iconic

btw don't worry lady literally everyone sucks at making poffins. unless you have four players it's pretty much impossible to make poffins that are better than the storebought ones. good luck getting four people with rare berries who are good at the minigame to play with you, ESPECIALLY in 2023 jesus christ. the basement poffins are OPTIMAL

anyway in speaking of linking NPCs, these two - i wonder if the dialogue in the french version of this game is turned into english? they did that for lt. surge's french pikachu trade, the french versions of HGSS make the pikachu english instead lol. but anyway as usual it's very fascinating to me how much pokemon loves to drop foreign language in its titles, and fittingly i know a lot of people with english as their second language got interested in learning english from a young age due to wanting to play pokemon. how many kids do you think got interested in french because of dialogue like this. the girl even implies what the meaning of his words is

veilstone isn't short on game hints either, useless to me now as an adult longterm pokemon player who knows all this stuff already but still really cool to see. if sinnoh is your first time playing pokemon, those hints on trade evos and stuff are always appreciated.

of course, funny dialogue too that got a wheeze out of my nose, not uncommon for pokemon NPC dialogue SDKFSFDK some of this shit takes me so offguard it's like extra funny

like GIRL ISN'T THAT WHAT A PARASOL IS FOR????

edit: my DUMB ASS (lighthearted) has been reminded that parasols are for the sun and are NOT an umbrella equivalent. okay she makes more sense now LOOL

also LOOKER JUSTIFYING HIS GAMBLING :skull emoji: this shit is taking me out. see this is useful because it's like oh galactic is really all over this city huh. not only their massive building but they have their logo in the fucking slot machines, they probably have some amount of ownership over this place like team rocket did over the celadon game corner. but also it's funny because SDFSDFK

OH AND MAYLENE'S DAD IS JUST... HERE? generic NPC. generic sprite. no name. he's just here. maylene's dad. you know, one of the gym leaders. help girl

anyways i'm aware i basically just posted most of the dialogue in veilstone city verbatim but I JUST THINK IT'S INTERESTING! I MISS WHEN POKEMON GAMES WERE FULL OF DIALOGUE LIKE THIS AHHHH i have more to say about the galactic lore but i'm running out of image space and i need to use the bathroom and get some food so i'll post about that a little later

[pinkhairandpokemon]

Blueberry Academy Annual Summer Camp

Every late summer here at BBA, when most students are approaching the end of their break, we hold an event to offer anyone who might've struggled last year with grades a chance to catch up and prepare for the upcoming new year, or newbies that are seeking to get a head start. It's also a good opportunity for any parents considering BBA for their child!

This camp began as a student-lead idea to help their friends who were struggling to keep up, and in the last few years has become a BBA tradition. Along with tutoring, we also realize attending requires most students to stay in dorm rooms for the duration of the camp- so we also offer fun activities and games in between lessons! These activities can range anywhere from arts and crafts, general hangouts, nature walks or hikes to different parts of the Terarium, or even battling!

You aren't required to show up to any specific lesson- whatever works with your schedule, and whatever subject you need help studying for! Most of our tutoring sessions are held in groups, but we also provide private individual lessons for anyone who think their kids would benefit more from that. Our sessions our typically held by volunteers, teachers, and even some students!

The event organizers this year is our newest champion of the BBL and Naranja Academy exchange student, Florence Ramirez, and our Steel-type BBL Elite Four Member, Amarys Martin. If you have any questions, direct them to Florence at @scarlet-rider!

Here's a list of the subjects we plan to tackle and some of the events we have planned in the coming weeks:

Subjects (+ Instructors):

-Science (Florence Ramirez)

-Battle Study (Blake Lockhart)

-History (Ms. Briar)

-Mathematics (N Harmonia)

-Literature (Mrs. Ross)

-Foreign Language (Anita Brooks)

Week 1 Activities

Day 1- Introduction to the Terarium: This one was made specifically for new students, but anyone is allowed to attend! Director Cyrano and Florence will be providing a personal tour of the Terarium and its various different biomes.

Day 2- Group Training: Are you a trainer seeking to challenge the BBL this year? Our Battle Studies instructor Blake and a few of our League Club members themselves will be holding a series of training sessions for you and your Pokemon to hone their skills!

Day 3- Paper flowers: We try to have a different arts and crafts activity held by the Art Club for every week of the camp. This time, we'll be learning how to make paper flower displays!

Day 4- Lunch and Get Together: Just a small meet up we'll be holding in the Central Plaza to recap how our first week of camp has gone! A good opportunity to make some friends and get to know some of our instructors. We might also have some exhibition battles between BBL Elite Four members to enjoy!

Day 5- Polar Biome Hike: We'll be hiking to the peak of the Polar Biome's Mountain! Pack a lot of cold weather and camping gear for the journey.

Day 6- Karaoke Night: A laidback karaoke event that'll be held by the Music Club!

We'll be revealing Week 2 and Week 3 events later on into the camp! We'll provide more details for each event and tutoring session via handout pamphlets that all attendees will receive, such as times, what to expect, and what you'll be recommended to bring.

The camp will run for a duration of three weeks from July 25th to August 15th. We hope to see you there!

(( OOC Event info under cut ))

(( hi! the summer camp arc was something I've been plotting for a while, and decided hey maybe other people with BBA characters would like to participate in this!

it won't be anything too complex- you can just make posts about your character attending a tutoring session or one of the events listed above. you can even have them interact with N, Blake or Florence if ya want! Florence will be making an announcement post for each event on her blog.

like I said above , there will be week 2 and week 3 events, and those will be announced once week 1 wraps up :)

a pretty simple, low stakes event, I think that pretty much sums everything up. if you decide to participate i hope you'll have fun! lmk if you have any questions ))

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Pokemon Card of the Day #3251: Blacephalon (Unbroken Bonds)

Blacephalon was one of those Pokemon that could dish out absurd amounts of damage in the right situation. This situation didn't even need a coin flip this time, which made it something you could actually consider at its peak. The set-up did require quite a few things in place, but plenty of support existed to pull it off and being a single Prize Basic Pokemon did provide a bit of room for error at times. The number of things that needed to go well was going to be an issue, but if anything could pull off a combo like this multiple times a game, it was probably going to be built like this.

120 HP wasn't bad for a Basic Pokemon by any means, but when going up against the top decks of the time it wasn't going to be surviving hits either. Blacephalon was aiming for favorable Prize trades with things that gave up multiple, and with the power it had there would help it in this quest. The Water Weakness basically didn't mean anything due to the HP here, while a Retreat Cost of 2 was typical but something you'd probably get around since Switch was so good for any Pokemon trying to help Blacephalon set up.

Blazer needed just a Fire Energy, but only did 10 damage. You flipped one of your face-down Prize cards up, and if it was a Fire Energy card 50 was added, but this wasn't reliable and you weren't going for small damage with this.

Fireball Circus was the star here. The cost was 3 Fire Energy, which made Welder really important to get these off from multiple Blacephalon in a game. You then discarded any number of Fire Energy cards from your hand, and the attack did 50 damage for each card you discarded in that way. There was the potential to KO anything that existed with enough Energy, and you'd want to use cards like Fire Crystal, Fiery Flint, and Energy Retrieval alongside forms of card drawing to get this fueled up. The goal was to take out huge Pokemon, and that was the path to victory when using this deck because there was only so many Welders in a deck. Blacephalon was very capable of getting the huge attacks in when the cards fell right, and since it was a Fire-type it worked rather well.

Blacephalon was one of the decks everyone had to be aware of for most of the time when it was legal. It was the rare single Prize Basic Pokemon that could hit hard enough to scare even the bulkiest threats, though the number of cards needed to repeatedly pull it off was the main weakness. The cards to actually make it work were all available, and Blacephalon had quite a few notable tournament results to show for it.