#if you haven't seen the tcg news yet

[convexicalcrow]

Everything Beef just said vanished from her mind as she looked at the TCG card he'd just handed her. It was-

"M-you knew about her?" False said quietly. "I didn't tell anyone about her."

"I heard tales about her, and well, what other alter ego would you have wanted?" Beef said.

"Well, see, she's n- I mean, she is me, but she's- we're sisters, that's all," False said, trying to decide how much of the story to tell.

"Oh, I see. Still, who else would I have picked? I felt she deserved to be here, given what happened with the Rift," Beef said.

"No, no, I see that, I see why you picked her. I just- how did you know? You weren't there, right? You never met her," False said.

"Are you so sure about that?" Beef said.

His words sent a shiver down her spine. Suddenly the- well. Perhaps a lot of things started making sense.

"I-I gotta go, sorry, I'll - thanks for the cards, hey? I'll see you round," False said, tucking the cards into her pocket before flying off.

-

She didn't stop until she was a thousand blocks away. She buried herself into the side of a hill, set down a torch, and took out her card again. She-

She thought back to Demise. Thought about how the season started with death. Of joint caving adventures, of Demise turning the early game into a death game, how she somehow triumphed over everyone else and won, securing her joker permit that she hadn't used yet.

It's not that the energy felt weird this season, it's more- She was sure she'd left behind all of that stuff. All of her. Trapped in that world on her own, unable to get out. To find her again. Except.

Perhaps she'd seen some signs. Maybe she'd heard whispering about murder, maybe her dreams had been awful lately. Maybe- maybe it wasn't just because the rivers were haunted. Maybe she'd found her.

-

False avoided her base for days, thrown right back into the paranoia that engulfed her during Demise. She saw threats everywhere. Even Gem had noticed how jumpy she was whenever she stopped by her base. But that was the thing, she couldn't stay still, but she couldn't return. Who knew what she was seeing over there? What if she had a base there that False hadn't found yet. Maybe she was hiding out, preparing to take her revenge for trapping her in an empty world, for rejecting her so harshly and wiping her meories that she still found it hard to accept she'd done that.

But she'd had to! She was too dangerous! She'd kill all the other Hermits if she was left in contact with them.

"Are you so sure about that?"

Beef's words haunted her. She buried her head in her arms and hoped this nightmare would end.

She saw something moving at her base when she finally needed to return. Something under the big base, a shadowy figuer walking around between the pillars. False didn't dare approach. She busied herself with restocking her food and rockets, hoping to be out before she noticed.

False's problem was she was too anxious about the wrong thing. So as she shoved some golden carrots into her bag, she froze as she heard a door open behind her, and looked to see who had come in.

"Yep, I knew you'd come back eventually, you coward," her sister said. She drew her sword and walked towards her. "No chance of escaping me now."

False backed up. "No, no, look, I'm sorry, I-"

-

False sat on the bank of the river going by her house, washing her sword in the water. It was turning red and the salmon swiming there fled, leaving the water emty and barren. The rivers slooshed in her briefcase. She felt-

She didnt know how to feel, not really. Too many things at once, as might be expected when you come face to face witn your sister. Her memory's a bit off. It all felt like such a blur. The shouting, the running, the killing, the-

False concentrated on washing the sword, staring anywhere than at her own reflection. They reallly had looked so very alike, no wonder people got them confused. Not anymore, though. There was only one sister, only one False. No one would ever know the awful truth, or they'd kick her out as quick as they'd invited her. She sighed. The moon was bright tonight, reflecting on the water.

"The sky looks different tonight. I wonder why."

[yumeka-sxf]

It's time for another merch post, my biggest one yet since I went kind of crazy for merch in Dec/Jan...my wallet is still recovering 😵‍💫 (also, I made scans of some of this merch in a previous post here if you haven't already seen).

First is one of two Mercari orders. I only intended to get the movie booklet (which I've posted about previously) but added some more stuff to make the shipping worthwhile!

I got the towel with the cruise arc outfits that's part of the merch line for the Tokai Steamship collab. It's a bit small, but I still love it!

I always liked the art for the Tower Records collab, so I got a poster! (the seller also included stickers and postcards).

I also like the art for the Cruise Buffet collab, so I got a paper placemat which makes a great poster! The seller shipped it in this nice plastic cover, so I decided to keep that on to protect it (they included a postcard too, which will be part of my next miscellaneous scans post 😁)

The below acrylic stands were recently released as part of the movie merch line (sold at theaters I believe). Anya had a couple different designs, including one where she's in a director's chair and one where she has 3D glasses. But I picked the one where she's eating popcorn since Bond is with her (gotta always get the whole family when I can!)

A couple weeks ago I took a trip to Animate, where they just happened to be having a SxF promotion where you'd get postcards of the new camping designs if you spent a certain amount on SxF merchandise. I bought the four camping acrylics, which was more than enough to get all the postcards 😊

Also picked up these two magazines, since a Kinokuniya store was at that mall as well (scans of these coming soon!)

Below is the second Mercari order!

I absolutely love these painting acrylics! They're definitely one of my favorite sets ❤️

Some acrylics from the movie! The big one in the middle is really cool, the background is reflective but transparent too.

I love the Waku Waku Park designs, but was only able to find acrylics of Anya & Bond. Hope to add Loid and Yor to the collection one day. So I just got a clear file in the meantime, lol.

Couldn't resist this adorable CODE: White overnight bag! I decided to use it to hold my many TCG decks 😅

And lastly (kinda of) was my usual Amiami preoder!

The "Anya helping with chores" designs are so cute, I got them as both acrylic stands (from Amiami) and reusable bags (from the aforementioned Mercari order).

I got more acrylics and postcards of the lovely kimono designs ❤️ (postcards scans coming soon!)

As I posted about previously, I got the Operation Diary video game along with these nice goodies that came with the preorder! (that keychain is rare official Twiyor merch 👀)

And I got even more TCG accessories! (another set of sleeves, a few deck boxes, a card box, and card holder).

The reason I've been getting so much TCG stuff, as well as why I said the Amiami order was only "sort of" the last of my merch from the past couple months, is because I had also preordered a case of SxF Weiss Schwarz cards! I preordered it back in August, and the set officially released in English last week...but that will be covered in another post, so stay tuned~

[enbypotat53]

For the hermit ask: 🧥🌻 🪻

"Who’s new skin is your favourite? "

I'll be honest - I haven't seen many of the new skins yet, but I really love Scar and Keralis's skins! I honestly kinda want the Zookeeper outfit myself, and something about Keralis's silly little floral shirt just does it for me 💙

"Which POVs will you be watching the most this season?"

Planning to watch Tango, Xisuma, and Joel mostly, maybe Grian and Mumbo? Depending on free time (exams, bleckh!) and interest in storylines/builds/etc I might watch some more (Doc's villain arc seems fun, and it's great to see Iskall and Stress back on the server, too!), but I want to branch out!

S6 and S7 I only watched Grian (old comfort and all since I watched him before HC and discovered the series from him), S8 I watched Grian, Mumbo, Iskall, Scar, and Xisuma (ended up burning myself out trying to catch up on so many episodes, though), and S9 I watched Grian and Mumbo, so this time I want to watch some new people!

I wanna catch up on Tango's S9 episodes and all of the DO streams, too! (Still haven't seen the DO crossover stream due to lack of time to do so, but I really wanna!) I sorta have a newfound interest in Tango's videos - he always seemed like a really fun guy to watch but I never really took much interest until Double Life and his dynamic with Jimmy. I watched his Secret Life POV and he's honestly amazing!

I'm planning to watch some Hermits that I don't typically watch, but still stay inside my comfort zone, y'know? I've been watching Joel for YEARS before Hermitcraft, ALLLL the way back to Crazy Craft videos (maybe earlier?), Xisuma's season 8 was super fun to watch despite burnout, and Tango's sparky personality and amazing build ideas always keep me entertained! I think it's gonna be a great season overall! (This turned into a really long answer, oops! I'm just super passionate about HC!)

"What are some things you hope to see this season?"

Not really sure! I tend to enjoy things as they come along, and don't really have set expectations for new seasons. I suppose new dynamics are always fun, especially with Joel and Skizz on the server now, and I'm hoping to maybe see another war of some kind or the obligatory revival of tag, haha!

Maybe some more minigames? Obviously not necessarily as complex as DO/DO2 or the TCG, but it's always great to see Hermits having fun, and seeing the love, effort, and creativity is what makes this series worthwhile for me! 💙

[otakween]

Digimon Tamers - Episode 2

Lol immediate quality drop (animation-wise), but that's to be expected from this era of anime. There was some recycled animation from episode 1 too (the scientist people). Petty stuff aside, this was more of a build up/setting the scene episode. Kind of feels like nothing happened and a lot happened at the same time.

Notes:

Who the heck designed those awful title screens? ("Graphic design is my passion!") Also, this episode probably shouldn't have been called "Terriermon appears!" because he's in it for half a second.

Guilmon and Terriermon are both baby. Their voices are honestly so cute ;w; (Terriermon has the same VA as Edward from Cowboy Bebop in Japanese, but I watched the dub of Cowboy Bebop so this is a new voice for me lol).

Takato's parents are so well written so far. Mom runs the show for sure. I like the fiery mom, submissive dad dynamic haha (like in Turning Red).

I like how Takato's dad stuck his full head into his son's room yet somehow failed to see a giant dinosaur. He did smell him tho apparently...what does a Guilmon smell like? (For a second I was like...did he poop or something?)

Ruki is so extra for no reason. She puts on sunglasses (at night) only to immediately take them off again 2 seconds later. Are they like, Google glass or are they just regular sunglasses?

Okay so...they wanted to sell the TCG. I see how it is. Makes me think back to Digital Card Battle and what option cards exist. It will be interesting to see how they're utilized. (Also, does Ruki just buy them at the toy store? lol)

Pulling the fire alarm because you see a dinosaur is a hilarious concept. I mean...makes sense?

I noted that the girls in Takato's school are wearing bloomers for gym class. These were everywhere in anime back in the day (and still today for fetish reasons probably). I did a quick google and this style of gym uniform was phased out in the 1990s, but this came out in the early 2000s, so I guess it's still period accurate? (Wonder if this is censored in the dub at all...)

Terriermon just roasts Takato the minute they meet. Savage. Takato's cry face looks more like a fever/drunk face if you ask me. They overdid the flushed-ness.

A new direction for Digimon: tamers who battle for...competition? Fun? Training? I don't really know yet, but we haven't really seen this in the previous anime. In Adventure they only fought in self defense or to save the digital/real world.

Ruki is obviously going through something and being kind of mean to Renamon in the process. Looking forward to seeing how her character develops.

Just googled what "moumontai" means and Urban Dictionary literally cites this show haha https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Moumantai

[basedkikuenjoyer]

I didn't know about this! It was a message from Oda about the TCG's release. Mostly fluff, but it's cute he's acting like he thought the characters come out of the cards like Yugioh. We're five sets in now. Six really since it's out in Japan. OP is my fifth TCG I've taken an interest in. The very well-designed but short lived Yuyu Hakusho one was done by this point. Magic with six sets is unrecognizable compared to the game it is today, same with Yugioh and Pokemon. I think they've managed it well so far. Cards from set 01 are far from outclassed. Keeping things built around leader archetypes is great for balance. But we are starting to get more complex.

The game is very fun, it's held up ecause the core mechanics are sound. It has a nice back-and-forth. A lot of games are won or lost on decisions to press the attack or hang back and build up for a bigger strike. Damage translating into who received it gaining cards is smart design. Opposite of Pokemon, where prize cards snowball a player doing well. If you give up on the early game damage and lock everything down, you have to usually survive a turn after you had to give your opponent 3-4 extra cards. Aggro gets a boon from not caring about early damage. Even when you're tapped out of resources most decks can still inch closer to a win or do something by loading up their leader on don and dropping a big attack.

Still think the "metagame" doesn't represent the best decks you can actually build yet. Seen it before, the card pool is outstripping people's experience. Too much focus on evaluating the best cards in a vacuum and just shoehorning those in. The designers have really done a great job working in fun ideas around some of these leaders. If you look at the full card list on the website it usually isn't hard to figure out which leader some of these are intended to work with. Don't feel like you need to chase the new hotness every step, this is definitely the type of game that rewards taking the time to learn every synergy and line of play a deck bult around a strong theme can get.

Collecting is fun too. I haven't done that in years. Dangling alternate arts for people that will throw thousands to have whatever the rarest cards are is great for accessibility. But there are so many cool promos! And it's always great to get a nice artwork for a beloved character. Even if it's just a game I play every now and then with my sweetie, it's weird...I just like having a deck to tweak or flipping through a binder. It's soothing. I'm glad I picked this up, looks like we'll have a local store starting up tournaments soon.

[frozenflmes]

2, 3, and 5 for the headcanon game

//i'll answer 4 too since it's caught in the middle there.

//2: nah lmao. glitches and shit are fascinating and i actually stayed up all night reading about them and watching youtube videos about them (they've got arbitrary code execution in pokémon diamond and pearl now! have to use the japanese verion though), but it's not something i want to incorporate into my roleplay.

//3: from the anime, mostly the portrayal of pokémon coordinators is fun to mix in with game canon. colloseum and xd are fully canon, as is magikarp jump. pokémon go is canon to an extent (team mystic, team valor <- best, and team spark's one i forget the name all exist and are legitimate groups (what, you thought all teams were evil? there's a reason people in the games don't automatically categorize people as the villains the moment they put "team" in their name), and those team rocket characters probably exist or whatever. idk, haven't interacted with them much yet. hey you, pikachu! is canon. pokémon tcg (the video game) and its sequel are canon, but the odds of that coming up anywhere is very low bc the tcg islands keep to themselves. from the physical tcg, delta pokémon exist, dark pokémon exist, light pokémon do not because they make no sense. all of the mystery dungeon games are video games in-universe. pokémon pinball: ruby and sapphire is canon, but the original pokémon pinball is not. pokémon snap and its sequel are both canon. smash bros is canon but if you bring it up there'll be an awkward silence for a while before someone changes the subject. pokémon trozei! is canon. pokémon conquest is canon and in the past. the pokémon ranger games are all canon but don't tell me about them i don't know anything yet and i want to be able to play blind. the pokémon rumble and poképark games are in-universe video games. detective pikachu and its sequel are canon unless i play the sequel when it comes out and i don't like it. learn with pokémon: typing adventure is canon. pokémon art academy is canon and takes place in the tcg islands. the thieves and the 1000 pokémon is an in-universe game. pokkén tournament is canon. camp pokémon is an in-universe kids' app. pokémon duel is canon, and carmonte island is near the tcg islands. pokémon playhouse is an in-universe kids' app. pokémon battle revolution is canon. hayley and bridgette exist. dream radar scientist exists.

//pokémon masters ex is not canon bc i have no idea what the fuck is going on with it

//4: currently i don't. i'd be potentially open to incorporating some, but i am unfortunately a born little hater which makes me picky about which ones i like. genuinely this is a frustrating thing about myself, and i'm trying to work on better incorporating whimsy, but it's a process. i have designed fakemon/lines of my own in the past though and there are a bunch i've seen out there that i really liked.

//5: i've put more than enough text into this answer already. send a new ask.

[xoxo-ren-xoxo]

for the hermitcraft ask game: all of them. I literally cannot pick

LONG ASS POST AHEAD THANKS A LOT PANGO (AFFECTIONATE)

🐶 What hermits do you watch?

... god this list is gonna be long. Okay so, ripping from the hc member list here: Bdubs, Cub, Doc, False, Scar, Grian, Gem (sort of), Impulse, Joehills, Keralis, Mumbo, Pearl, Ren, Tango, xB, Xisuma, Zedaph, Cleo. I have dabbled in a couple of videos from the others.

🐱 Who was your first hermit?

Grian (it shows)

🐰 Who is your favourite hermit?

Can't choose just one. How dare you. Cub, Joe, Scar, Grian, Mumbo... the list goes on...

🐼 Who is one hermit you haven't watched yet but want to?

Etho! I did binge a compilation of his decked out runs, which was fun.

🐸 What year did you start watching hermitcraft?

This year (2023) baybee

🐵 What season did you watch first?

Season 9!

🐧 What is your favourite season?

I have only watched season 8 and 9, so... 9 I suppose!

🐝 What is your favourite hermitcraft moment?

No idea! Probably the Empires crossover? Or possibly the tunnel bore incident. Also recently really enjoyed Cleo and Jevin's museum heist.

🦝 Do you watch any streams?

Not really. Sometimes I will catch a few minutes of Scar's, and I will stick around for Joehills streams on occasion.

🍂 How many hermits are you subscribed to on YouTube?

I am not counting just assume I remembered to sub to all the ones I listed in the first question.

🍄 Do you only watch hermitcraft content, or do you watch their other videos too?

I watch the life series stuff, Impulse's horror game streams (especially with GIGS), Xisuma's update + mythbusting videos, New Life stuff, and occasional bits and bobs that come up on their channels.

🌻 Are you also in the life series fandom?

Literally my introduction to the fandom, yeah.

🌕 What is your favourite hermitcraft build?

RAHHHH this is such a hard question. For season 9 I really love Cub's museum and Joe's pinball machine, but also False's base + elytra course and of course Decked Out 2. Anything Bdubs builds is genuinely beautiful. For season 8 I've only really seen the Boatem bases and those were all really cool.

🌗 Do you have a favourite quote/favourite quotes?

"You never know if you're gonna wake up in the morning :D" "Something WEIRD is happening at cheapslate!" (will not leave my brain)

🌑 Do you have a favourite shop?

Ren's new record shop/recording studio my beloved. Also the Entity. Because that thang has flesh.

🌙 If you could join hermitcraft, would you?

If I had a decent video-making setup, yeah. I think I'd manage to fit in, if I was about 8 years older than I am XD

🪐 If you joined hermitcraft, who would you team with?

[resisting the urge to say Grian] uh, Joe? He seems a little lonely this season.

💫 Have you met any hermits?

Nope, but I've chatted with Joe a couple times over stream chat- he is nice.

⭐️ If you could meet your favourite hermit, what would you say to them? / If you've met your favourite hermit, what did you say?

'Favourite hermit'. LOL. (I would likely be quite awkward as I have never met someone I consider a 'celebrity' before and I would not want to be weird. But I would be weird)

🌟 Have you been to any conventions?

No, my aunt goes to a lot of them and I wish I was available to go to them too! Curse education.

✨ Do you have any merch?

Nope, but just ordered some signed TCG cards for my beloved!

🌈 Are you immune to the good times? (no, no you are not)

No. The good times are not immune to me.

[tcgmarketinfo]

TCG Booster Box last sold prices ($USD) for these products on 05/11/2022. The purpose of this is to 1. Save you some time looking up the prices and 2. Keep a data point for everyone (myself included) to look back on when they want to. Some of the pre-release prices and also 1st edition WTR, ARC and CRU prices are based on LGS member deals or prices I've seen on Ebay or in facebook groups.

This is not financial advice. I am not a financial advisor.

MTG Streets of New Capenna Collector boxes moved down from $186.99 to $184.50 today. I think this is a good price to get this product at because I don't think it will go much lower. My reason for thinking this is because I haven't seen anyone complaining about the product yet. It doesn't look like a Crimson Vow 2.0 at the moment. MTG Kamigawa Neon Dynasty collector boxes sold today at about $290 on tcgplayer and supply for this product is smaller than ever.

Overall sale quantity for MTG and Flesh and Blood booster boxes on ebay and tcgplayer have certainly slowed down during this week. I'll keep you posted on this. The overall bearishness in the collectibles and stock markets are being felt here this week.

Pokemon Brilliant Stars and Astral Radiance on the other hand continue to sell tons of boxes every day! I heard the trainer gallery and some of the Vmax rainbow cards are just awesome and people love them. Pokemon TCG seems to be doing well right now.

For Flesh and Blood, tcgplayer and Ebay sales have been very slow this week. One highlight is that two 1st Edition Crucible of War booster boxes sold today on Ebay for $500 and $600. Also, Flesh and Blood is having its first Pro Tour in New Jersey this weekend and I am very excited to hear about people's experiences there!

Thank you everybody.

[sage-nebula]

Five questions you want to answer but haven't been asked yet! ;D

99.) Pokemon Cards, Games, or Show?

Despite my unyielding, unending, unstoppable love for Alan, the games will always come first for me. (Of course, he’s had a shout-out in the games as well, so … ;D) The games are the entire reason why I was interested in watching the anime in the first place. The games are the reason why I was interested in the cards. As much as I love the anime and have a lot of opinions about it, the games always have and always will come first for me. The games are where it all started. Without the games, we wouldn’t have any of what we currently have. Without the games, the anime wouldn’t exist. Without the games, the hundreds of manga series (because there are a lot, which is why I get so aggravated when people talk about “the” manga when referencing PokéSpe) wouldn’t exist. The games started it all, the games are the source of everything. The games will always come first.

After the games, though, I do pick the anime. And then the cards, I guess, but I haven’t cared about the TCG in a very long time, outside of still being salty af that my biological mother threw out my card album (that had, among other things, my holographic first edition charizard card, and sentimental value aside, those still sell for upwards of $300 on eBay; I wouldn’t sell it, but damn, she threw away something so valuable out of pure spite and stupidity, I just). So for me it goes games, anime, and … everything else, haha.

98.) Pokemon main series games, pokemon ranger games, or pokemon mystery dungeon games?

The main series games come first, obviously, for all the reasons started above and more. I love the main series games. While of course I have some criticisms about some of them, and while of course there are some things that could be done better, I still adore the main series games and very likely always will. I love most everything about them and I can’t foresee that changing.

But that said, I also really, really, really love the Ranger games! Or at least, I really loved the one I played, which was Guardian Signs. The gameplay was a lot of fun, I love the concept of the Rangers and the Ranger Union, and how they differ from ordinary trainers but still do so much good in their own unique way. I love how they “capture” pokémon by not actually capturing them, per se, but rather by using their capture stylers to convey their feelings to the pokémon, calming them or soothing them and then asking for help from them. I also love the instances where this is done when rescuing pokémon from the poachers / villains. They send pokémon out to attack you, as any trainer would, but instead of battling and knocking their pokémon out, you use the capture styler to soothe and convince that pokémon to stop attacking. You, in essence, help that pokémon see that they don’t have to battle for this awful person! To be honest, having a device that can allow you to communicate with a trainer’s pokémon like that could be used for nefarious purposes, if put into the wrong hands, but capture styling is not as easy as it looks and I imagine that Rangers have to undergo tests and rigorous training to be certified. Regardless, I loved all these aspects, as well as the overall atmosphere, the story (even the silly bits!), and the characters … and I adored the Sign aspect of it, how you could draw, well, guardian signs with your styler in order to summon legendary pokémon. Did you know, Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs had Soaring long before ORAS! And you didn’t have to Soar on one of the Latis (though of course you could, and why wouldn’t you?), but rather, you could Soar on any flying-type pokémon you had bonded with during a “capture” session. It was great. And you could rampage across the countryside on Raikou, or Entei, or Suicune, just by summoning them with your styler. You didn’t own them, of course, they weren’t captured in a little monster ball, but you could summon them if you needed them for aid just by drawing their sign in the sky. (Or, er, if you wanted to get across Oblivia faster, but … >_>;; ) It was great, and that’s the kind of legendary pokémon partnership I’m okay with, rather than the utter nonsense of capturing one to use for battle.

Anyway, I really want to replay this game, and I might do that soon, but I really loved it! I wish we could get a new Ranger game sometime this century, but alas … T___T

(Meanwhile, I don’t see the appeal of the Mystery Dungeon games. At all. I never have. I tried to play the first one, I really did, but I was so bored I completely forgot I owned it after a little while. I’m glad people enjoy them, more power to them, but they’re not for me, and I wish we could chill out on getting new Mystery Dungeons to instead get at least one new Ranger game instead, but alas.)

97.) Gym Leader, Elite Four, or Champion?

I’m not entirely sure what this one is asking, if it’s asking which one I’d personally want to be, or which position I value more highly, or what. But either way, I guess my answer is Champion … but in the way I see it, rather than the way I think most people interpret it.

In all my years in this fandom / way of life, I’ve seen most people interpret “Champion” as simply “strongest trainer, gets lots of accolades, gets to sit on a throne and be cool all day”. And I can’t blame people for having that interpretation, because—in an effort to make this series accessible to kids, which is not something I am faulting—Pokémon has not delved very deeply into politics. Again, just to make it extra clear, that’s understandable; kids aren’t here to play a game that dives deep into policy and procedure, even though Gen V really toed that line and confirmed a lot of the beliefs and headcanons I already had, even without explicitly saying so. But either way, I refuse to buy into the idea that the Champion is just there to be strong and take challenges. A Champion is more than that. A Champion needs to be more than that. Setting aside that this world has to at least try to have some form of functioning government in some way, if someone is going to hold the position of Champion—if they are going to be the ones that people and pokémon look to in times of crisis—then they need to earn that. In my view, a Champion is someone who not only handles all the policy and procedure that comes across their desk as it comes across their desk (fulfilling the executive branch, as well as tapping into legislative and judicial when the time calls for it), but they’re also a protector. They’re the very tip of the spear that is used to protect their region and all of those within it. In How to Train Your Dragon 2, Hiccup says, “The alpha protects them all,” and that’s the Champion, in my eyes. If the Champion is the strongest trainer in the region—and that’s something that all Pokémon media seems to agree on—then it is the Champion’s duty—their obligation and responsibility—to use that strength that they have to protect all of those within their region who may not be able to protect themselves. Regardless of anything, regardless of the danger or crisis, regardless of whether the people and pokémon in that region love them or hate them, they have to protect them, it’s their job. “It’s not about what they deserve. It’s about what you believe,” Diana says in Wonder Woman, and that, too. That’s absolutely true of the Champion. The Champion, as the strongest there is, is the one who must put themselves between their region and any oncoming danger. They need to be the ones looking out for the people and pokémon. They need to be the ones fighting for them, both in terms of literal fights (battles) and metaphorical ones (legislation, politics, et cetera). That’s their duty, first and foremost, before anything else. They have to be ready, and willing, and able to do it.

So to try and sum this ramble up, in my eyes, being the Champion is completely empty, meaningless, and worthy of scorn of all it amounts to is praise for being The Very Best™ and adoration from fans. That’s not what it should be about. If the only point to being Champion is to sit on a throne and look pretty, then I’ll pass, thanks. Being the Champion should be about being the people’s and pokémon’s champion. It should mean protecting those who can’t protect themselves. It should mean fighting for those who can’t fight for themselves. It should mean standing up, saying “no” when someone threatens innocent lives, and doing what’s right even when everyone else just runs away. (Thanks for letting me paraphrase you, Rose Tyler.) It should mean taking that skill and that strength you have and putting it toward what’s right, even and especially when it’s difficult, even and especially when you might not get thanks or recognition afterward.

Being Champion is not about accolades. It’s work. It’s incredibly difficult work, available only to a select few, but that’s what makes it so important and meaningful. That’s why I hold that position in such esteem, and also why I’m so selective about which characters I think could potentially do it, and do it well. It’s not just winning badges and tournaments. It’s so much more than that. So, so much more.

84.) Drought, Drizzle, Sand Stream, or Snow Warning?

And now for a shorter, less intense answer—Drought! Specifically, the Drought ability on my ‘Zard Y, which I then use to immediately Solar Beam any foolish water-types that thought they could take my dragon down. ♥

76.) Reshiram, Zekrom, or Kyurem?

Reshiram! In pretty much every single way, haha. Superior typing (dragon/fire), superior design, and I also prefer what Reshiram stands for (truth) over the others. Reshiram is right alongside Victini in terms of favorite Gen V legendaries. ♥