#i like pokemon a lot but I understand these are big companies and capitalism bad

[luckylunatix]

A decade+ ago: "If it has even the slightest similarity to Pokémon I don't want it!"

Now: "Yeah I know this game straight up plagiarized designs and stole assets from Pokémon, but Pokémon ain't what it used to be and this game has guns in it, so who cares? Fuck the actual creativity that went into those Pokémon designs, the artists that made them are clearly just as bad as the company higher-ups!"

[wildbootsappeared]

Continental Divides Chapter Discussion #7: The Prince of DevCo

Continental Divides isn’t exactly a feel-good story. I’m here because I have something to say about our world, and pokemon presents a lot of fun tools for unpacking current events in new ways. One of my big goals for the story is to humanize Archie and Maxie. I’m not out to make them look right, but I do want to present them as less obviously, stupidly wrong. The other side of that coin requires presenting a more tarnished version of Steven Stone than what we get in canon. Chapter 7: Stainless Steel is the first time DevCo shows its human face, but that’s not all there is to Steven Stone. Today I’m going to talk a little more about why I’ve chosen to represent him the way I do (and then recommend some more wholesome renditions of him as a palette-cleanser).

For me, most of the darkness in pokemon comes not from Edgy Teenage Boys and their Ash Betrayal fics but from canon, both what it does say and what it avoids saying. 

It’s clear to me that something is already awry in Hoenn--no one tries to summon a god to remake the world because everything is fine. Even if the Stones aren’t responsible for the current state of affairs, I’ve got some questions for Steven about power, privilege, and responsibility. And ORAS makes things worse.

I’m no canon purist--

--but for once I’m actually going to talk about what IS in the canon first, just a few things for your consideration:

Despite the emphasis on protecting the sanctity of nature (especially in Hoenn) and on renewables (like the wind turbines in HGSS’s Newbark and the solar pannels in Sunnyshore), the pokemon world also definitely has combustion engine vehicles, factories, refineries, and coal mines. (Not to mention at least 3 different evolutionary lines based on pollution.) Devon is canonically an energy company with a history of mining and resource extraction.

With all of that in combination, it didn’t feel like much of a stretch for me to rebrand DevCo as a fossil fuel company (especially given their links to literal fossils). 

I chose fossil fuels not because they’re maximum corporate evil and therefore maximum drama (though that’s also true!) but because I’m interpreting the Kyogre/Groudon clash as a climate change parable. Can’t talk about climate change without fossil fuels.

So where does that leave Steven?

He’s definitely a very nice and helpful guy. He gives the player character and the anime protagonists lots of cool swag, free pokemon, and occasional advice. He also doesn’t seem especially keen on following in his dad’s footsteps. (His dad can’t even get a letter to him without help from a passing traveler because Steven is hiding in a cave, goodbye. And in Emerald, a cave basically becomes his permanent residence!)

That’s all ... fine, but he’s also inarguably got access to a lot of money, social capital, and other resources. (I also thought I was joking when I gave Steven a shiny meta, but it turns out that’s canon, too.) So I’ve got some pointed questions for him about power and responsibility. In Emerald, he does step up to fight Magma with the player character, so he’s not just sitting on his hands. But the status quo doesn’t change. Whatever issues inspired Aqua and Magma are still there.

Some fic definitely depicts him stepping up to make a difference, even at his own expense. So other interpretations are totally possible. It wouldn’t be hard to write him as a rich kid trying to rebel against daddy and struggling figure out how to use his wealth and influence for good. But I’m most interested in a version of him that fails to unpack his privilege or put his money where his mouth is, because ... that’s the world I live in.

Two of my biggest sources of inspiration for writing Divides!Steven: 

1) This podcast about Don Trump Jr and his (surprise!) bad relationship with his dad. 

One thing that really struck me was how Donjr’s disinterest in business pushed him into outdoor hobbies like hunting (which reminds me of Steven’s spelunking, rock-collecting, and training). Like Steven has built a name for himself through the Elite Four, Donjr. leveraged his new hobbies to build political capital with conservatives. And, of course, the daddy issues here are horrifying and fascinating. Worth a listen if you can stomach hearing about Trump.

2) Gansey from The Raven Boys.

Gansey is as charming and generous as he is rich. He bemoans being reduced to his status, yet he can’t help being blinded by his own privilege, spending money without thought and repeatedly failing to consider how his words and actions might affect the characters who do worry about money. He tries, but he doesn’t always succeed in keeping his foot out of his mouth. He’s also hunting a kind of treasure, the tomb of an ancient king who may be magically alive after thousands of years. Oh, and he loves cars.

Here are a few tasty Gansey quotes from the series that I’ve been saving since last January (probably not quite exact quotes because I typed them on my phone while I read):

The world turns out its pockets for you.

Dizzyingly important to him in a way that he couldn’t begin to understand its shape. It was something more, something bigger, something that mattered. Something without a price tag. Something earned.

I am my money--it’s all anyone ever sees.

His feelings for [her] were an oil spill. He’d let them overflow and now there wasn’t a damn place in the ocean that wouldn’t catch fire if he dropped a match.

Divides is interested in what happens when that treasure-hunting has a political context. 

--

Alllllllllll that said, one of the fun things about fic is seeing lots of different interpretations of the same characters. For Steven Stans, I highly recommend Wolfyn. She’s great at writing this boy into peril. He’s not an idiot, but he sure does make some stupid decisions and then pay the price. “The Long Road” is an achnronological origin story, showing his journey from a smol kiddo to the champion we all know. “Final Gambit” explores what happens in a world where there’s no player character to save the day. And in “Deal with the Devil” ... Steven has a bad time, but you’ll have a good time reading it.

Some Chapter 7 music (links to Spotify):

- Easy by Son Lux

- Risingson by Massiveattack

- Currency by the Black Angels

- The Orb by Emile Mosseri