#is that as funny as JaidenAnimation's XD video was

[ravinoforre]

So I saw an opinion on a character that I, respectfully, don't agree with at all, and it isn't the first time I've come across this particular take either. I don't like nor want fandom discourse, making counter points to arguments in general make me nervous, but as someone particularly attached to them and their related characters, I have a lot of thoughts I want to get out there in the hopes that maybe they can be seen from a more positive perspective. So um, here they are. Get comfortable, this is gonna be a long one. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In Defense of Lily (Pokémon XD).

Those of you who've played this might already know what I'm referring to, so I'm just going to rip off the proverbial band-aid. Right at the start of the game, as you, the player, are being introduced to her, one of the first things she says is;

...and ok yeah, I admit. This is kind of a weird thing for her to say (in front of her son too, oops). This is usually one of two instances that people latch onto to prove she's an awful mother, but there is, at least in my opinion, some hidden context to her words. First of all, she's not wrong; the whole lab does in fact constantly sing their praises and fawn over both these kids (which is adorable tbh). Secondly, it's not unreasonable for her to believe that lots of inflated praise on a child, no matter how well meaning, may have negative consequences on their development. A kid receiving a constant stream of "you're so cool/special/talented" may end up with an inflated ego and become depressed, or even lash out in anger, if that praise either stops or something comes along to disprove it (like failing a test or making a mistake).

(Side note, I came across some partially related studies (x), (x) and an article from a parental psychologist (x) that go into different types of praise given to children; person, or ability praise ("you're so clever") vs process, or effort praise ("you worked really hard"), their effect on self esteem, personal growth, and performance, and how ability praise actually negatively effects a child's sense of worth compared to effort praise or even no praise at all. It's a lot to go through right now and this post is already going to be super long, but I mention them here because I'll go into something later that you may find rather interesting. I know I do. They're fascinating reads, too, I would recommend!)

Now listen up! Lily, contrary to the belief that she's a cold-hearted mother who shuns her offspring, actually does praise and engage with her children! Throughout the story, she'll talk to Michael and say some interesting and wonderful things as his adventure continues! The problem is that unfortunately, a lot of this proof is hidden throughout each story beat in a section of the lab that is no longer required to enter to progress (and most people won't bother to go back and speak to their own mother who apparently "hates" them). Off to find Jovi:

🥹 baby... Before saving Phenac City:

🥺😭euuhhbbebeh father mentioned During the Phenac City hostage situation:

After the Phenac stuff:

"I'm proud of you." You literally cannot get a more explicit form of praise than I'm proud of you. Hell, I can't even recall a time my own mother told me that. Fucking hell. Also. Pampered?! You hear that? She's practically contradicting those accursed two lines! By her own admission, the kids are pampered babies! Her concern isn't that people will spoil them—because they're already spoiled!

(Jovi is a pampered baby princess). I think Lily's worry in her comment is that may roll too far; it's like she says—spoiled rotten.

Ok one more example for this section:

(disclaimer: these screenshots are from the romhack XG which is why her name isn't in all caps; trust me, this same line is in base XD too) Remember the types of praise I mentioned earlier? Ability (person) praise and effort (process) praise? And how the former could be damaging to a child's self esteem? Do you notice anything particular about the way she speaks to Michael and praises him? "You've become an outstanding trainer in your own right." Not "You're so strong." "You're doing so much for the good of others." "Your courage will save the Shadow Pokémon." Not "You're so brave." "You did it all by yourself without anyone's help." She's praising his actionable efforts! She's applying process praise! (Pleeease read those studies and article, at least the first study I linked, it's genuinely insightful and fascinating, and it's even more amazing that an example of it is featured in a video game by a character most people won't interact with beyond necessity! I love this game! So! Fuckinhg!! Much!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

Ahem. She's also not saying that people shouldn't praise her kids either; only that she wishes it wasn't gushing praise all the time. Too much of a good thing could be harmful, after all. Let's see...

Sounds reasonable so far, right?

...Galactic peace?! My brother in Arceus, all he did was beat you in a friendly Pokémon battle—a battle that Michael's already been led to believe he'd win anyway thanks to that previous comment from his coach (those screen caps are in chronological order)! Even without the fact that by this point he's midway through a dangerous fight against a criminal organization, it's probably not a good idea to give a developing young teen a literal God complex; what if he gets so full of himself he genuinely believes he's unbeatable... and then loses? That child's mental state is going to plummet. So even if you don't agree with Lily's praise comments, you might at least better understand where her concerns are coming from if this is potentially the kind of thing that's being told to her kids regularly.

Moving on, try putting yourself in her shoes a moment. She's a working, grieving, single mother of two who, according to an NPC in the lab "has an exceptionally high sense of responsibility".

As a scientist with the necessary expertise, she has the heavy task of helping realise a sensitive project—sensitive not just in terms of urgency (as Krane predicts Cipher is going to be a threat again), but also in terms of emotional weight; this project was something her late [husband] poured everything into until his death, so both her and Krane continued on with it; by the time the game starts, they're agonisingly close to completion. And time is of the essence. Quick tangent: watch the cut scene post Krane kidnap again. The camera rests on Lily an awfully long time. The father of her children died before this project was finished, and now Krane, a close friend of both of theirs, has been taken away by force. Both her children have witnessed something traumatic. Her daughter is sobbing. She's literally being told the situation is "hopeless" by a colleague. Imagine the sheer anguish this woman must be going through before having to push through all of it and take complete charge for the sake of finishing the project. For the morale of the entire lab staff. For the sake of keeping her kids calm. For the fate of the region itself. Anyway, because of this project, and how close they are to finishing, she isn't able to afford much, if any, time off to spend with her kids "this instant". It's probably why the lab staff have pitched in to help look after them (which must make her feel pretty damn guilty with that high sense of responsibility of hers). It's why she asks her son to go find his little sister in her stead.

And this brings me to point number two that I've seen used countless times to slander her:

She just lets Jovi run off on her own, and doesn't care what her kids are up to.

Which... no, sorry, hang on here. Lily isn't letting Jovi run off on her own. For starters, both her and Krane believe she's in or somewhere outside the lab grounds, playing hide and seek with the caretaker, Adon.

A game of hide and seek (particularly if they're taking turns hiding) is likely why nobody's seen her since lunch, by the way, and not Lily not giving a damn about the whereabouts of her child. And when she's found and brought home again, Lily says this;

This implies she's spoken to her daughter about running off on her own before, and we do later get to know that Jovi has a habit of running off ahead; she runs off down the steps in Gateon ahead of her brother, she rushes off to deliver the machine part by herself to the chamber, and even though Michael is the one asked, she runs off to go see Datan—despite Lily telling her she doesn't need to do that. This means if Jovi gets invested in something, it's apparently hard to stop her. Visiting Kaminko's is a recent fixation of hers, and if Adon is already aware of where else she might have gone off to if she's nowhere on lab grounds, it might mean she's been there before (that, or Adon was the one who caved and told Jovi where to find the place). I might even speculate and say Lily has specifically told Jovi before about not running off to the manor. Anyway, check out what she says when you find the little runaway but come back empty handed.

The heart-sinking realisation and disappointment in that "...Oh" alone....

So no, Lily isn't letting her young child run off on her own—Jovi is disobeying her mother. She's either used the game of hide and seek as an excuse to dip (and then forgot about Adon entirely), or she got bored midway through and decided to head to her new place of interest despite any of her mother's previous objections. (And before anyone says anything, no, that doesn't mean Jovi is a bad kid, either. She's, what, around 7 yrs old? She is doing typical little kid things, emulating her older brother, and discovering and pushing her boundaries as she grows up. I have seen some putrid, abysmal hate for her over the years too. She is a child, leave her alone.) Onto the second half of the above statement; she doesn't care what her kids are doing. As in, Michael is on a treacherous journey against a dangerous group of people and she's totally ok with letting her kid do that (as if that isn't the case with practically every mainline entry protag mother but alright, I'll bite).

Introducing one of my favourite exchanges with her in the game. During this time, the purify chamber still isn't complete, and they'll need to use an alternate way of purifying Shadow Pokémon until then—the Relic Stone in Agate Village.

oh it worries her, does it? You know what happens when No is selected?

And then she drops the conversation. There's no endless loop to get him to go, which would have been the more convenient thing for the devs to implement. But this was a very deliberate choice that tells me more about a character than I've seen done in a video game before. She's respecting her son's decision to stay home. She is not forcing him to do something he isn't comfortable with. Of course, as a video game, the purpose is to progress to the next story beat. So he has to go. Better talk to her again.

I don't even think I need to add any extra commentary, this should really speak for itself at this point.

I've also reached the image limit on this post so it's probably time I wrapped this up, so in conclusion; is Lily a bad mother, as I've seen people claim? No, and I believe I've showcased plenty to prove she isn't. She's not perfect, no parent is, but she's a damn sight more involved in her children's lives than the mainline moms, who are often nothing more than out of the way Pokémon Centers that don't acknowledge their child's journey in any meaningful way. So then, was she in the right for saying what she did at the start of the game, right after Krane praises her son, who is in earshot of this conversation? Well... also no. She could have picked a better time and place to bring it up, honestly. But God forbid a woman make a mistake or voice a concern, lest her be mischaracterized and demonized forever by two unfortunately worded lines of dialogue.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Michael, you're finally going off to the ultimate battle, aren't you? You've really grown in stature. As your mother, it makes me feel conflicted. I'm happy and proud on one hand, but I'm also a little sad. Go and get rid of Cipher, and make it quick! And come home safely."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you've managed to reach the end of my ramblings, I'd like to say thank you. Hopefully I've given you some food for thought. Maybe I've even changed your mind about her. And even if I haven't, I appreciate you taking the time to read this regardless.

[isnt-that-something]

I posted 9,630 times in 2021

146 posts created (2%)

9484 posts reblogged (98%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 65.0 posts.

I added 1,375 tags in 2021

#wheeze - 301 posts

#undertale - 291 posts

#anneimaginesundertale - 128 posts

#i think i'm funny - 121 posts

#yourdorkyskelly - 102 posts

#sans - 99 posts

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#undertale au - 80 posts

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Longest Tag: 139 characters

#skull: glowstick. powerful prey drive but a laser pointer can sometimes be too small to hold his attention. glowstick big and glow predty o

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

My Prism collection is hereee!~

@comyet

💚💜❤AHHHHH!!!!💙🧡💛

~💙🧡💛I LOVE IT!!!💚💜❤~

I adore all the little loving details you put into the packaging and the little bonuses you put in!

I love the little "To Remember" note on Inks palette on his keychain!!! So cute! I can't wait to decide where to put the stickers. Thank you so much and I'm so happy I splurged and bought this for myself for my birthday!

Individual close up pics under the cut to save people feeds.

No no. Thank you!

PS Love the custom stamps!!!

I can't get over the little note!~

Duality~ PS I was Pacafrisk alllll the way

STICKERSSSS~~~ I'm so excited about these!!! Yellow, Pink or Green one is going on my keyboard space as well as halo ink. Maybe the color wheel too. XD

The whole collection. My heart!~ The details on everything is just so awesome!!! Imma be finding hidden things on the top post for a while.

In short I LOVE IT!!!

99 notes • Posted 2021-07-13 21:38:29 GMT

#4

Pass the happy! 🧡 When you get this, reply with 5 things that make you happy and send this to the last 10 people in your notifications!

Daaaw! Thank you!

1. Creating and seeing art 2. My friends and family IRL 3. Anime 4. RPing 5. Music

I’m low on asks atm but I’ll tag the last 10 peeps instead! @drakaiyus @annegirl13 @insidiousclouds @smp1123 @pureangleda @saidebanks @autumnvicky @incognitanatura @galaxykrystal123 @raining-somewhere-else

106 notes • Posted 2021-04-10 17:55:17 GMT

#3

I was in a Picrew mood and found this adorable one!

Anyone else want to be a mermaid?

@unik-world​, @umlexis​, @trashybonecan​, @snowflakeimagines​, @keziha-chan​, @ask-basurtoj15​, @a-skeleton-in-disguise​ and anyone else that wants to!

(PS If you ever want me to not tag you in these please just let me know! :D)

107 notes • Posted 2021-06-26 17:16:06 GMT

#2

So I was very inspired by @lover-of-skellies post of a Beauty and the Beast Nightmare Crossover . I took some of my interpretations with @novetteus on it. Instead of a golden rose I decided to stick with a golden apple slowly getting consumed by the same goop that cursed the princes form. I have another digital piece that I'm posting separately. :3

You can see it here.

140 notes • Posted 2021-09-12 20:30:27 GMT

#1

HOLY. SHITTAKE. MUSHROOMS! 

I AM ABOUT TO GO FERAL OVER THIS!!!

Legit holy crap this is AMAZEBALLS! I’ve been watching all kinds of Youtubers get together to play Among Us, including the people in this video. 

The music? MWAH~*

The art? MWAH~*

The fact I can recognize points in said Youtubers gameplays?

F-ING MWAH~*

Chef’s kisses all the way around, 100 outta 10 way to go you funky little animator you!  JaidenAnimation, Pewdiepie, Jacksepticeye, CorpseHusband, Markiplier, Toast, Valkyrae, Pokimane, Crankgameplays, Sykkuno

176 notes • Posted 2021-01-06 06:44:20 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

Take two for posting this. XD

Boy it's been a heck of a year. I'm not surprised some of my top posts are chains but I'm super excited and happy to see one of my own art posts there! Goal for next year is to have at least 3!!!

Thanks to everyone for sticking around with my silliness.

Let's hope 2022 is a good year for everyone.

[nell-dino]

How do you animate it looks so cool.I tried to before.But eh.

C: someone teach me how to stream... Because I animated a lot of unfinished things.. And sometimes don't feel like posting.. And explaining is my worst enemy.. :'/ (plus I'm lazy.. Plsimpathetic)I'll give an advice.. The reason I started animating.. Was because of Pewdiepie in YouTube.. And I was determined to animate one of his video.. But I failed.. I gave up.. I realized it was hard.. I lost my confidence...(still have dat unfinished Pewdiepie video xD) But then.. I saw Theodd1sout, Jaidenanimations, TonyvToons and Domics.. I was very inspired after watching their funny videos.. They helped me continue..What I'm trying to say is.. I got inspired from them because they used an easy way to animate which gave me hope..Start from the easiest.. Then slowly learn.. And then do the hardest one slowly.. Animating memes is a good start honestly ^w^ so I hope this kind of.. Tip.. helps.. Hehe (imnotgoodatthis)