#marnie is Generally the same but I changed some bits of her character so she has more actual story relevance

[rivalkieran]

tell me about solisverse galar!!! (bats my eyes at you)

OK SO LIKE. Im gonna talk about the main cast because thats the group Im insane crazy about. the defining motif for galar is worthiness! as I mentioned earlier. this manifests in different ways for everyone

for example hop is mainly worried about being worthy enough to live up to his brothers name, marnie wants to prove her worth enough that spikemuth stops getting overlooked, bede attempts to prove her worth to chairman rose so he knows he didnt make a mistake choosing to sponsor her for the gym challenge

and for gloria she already thinks shes "worthy" of the champion title and all the praise that comes with it (spoilers. no shes not) and victor... well. he's actually the opposite to everyone else in the way that he is kind of Aware he's supposed to be the Worthy, chosen hero but he is trying VERY hard to avoid that destiny

[poxy-domain]

big fat May post, my main sve farmer!!! art is May over the years, ive talked about her here before briefly but not much

rest of the post under the cut is essentially her backstory, it ended up being WAY longer than i thought it would be though so be warned lol

basic run down of her life pre-farm, is she was average in every sense of the word essentially. she basically had nothing exceptional going for her. she lived in the suburbs outside of zuzu city for a majority of her childhood before going to a cheap 2 year college and eventually working at joja. however, she knew nobody at zuzu city nor was she good at socializing at all. it basically caused her to become a hermit, she would hardly ever go outside aside to go to work and she had a terrible sleep schedule as well as diet, she was overworked and underpaid at joja so she couldn't afford much good or healthy food (she also picks up sign language as a way to avoid social interaction after a while). after basically 4 years of this, she decides to read her grandpa's letter and boom!!! stardew plot happens

she started off kinda terrible at farming ngl, like may legit grew up in peak urban area and she saw barely any plant life, now you expect bro to be a farmer?? LMFAO funny joke bro. having a hard time breaking out of her former hermit lifestyle, she barely talks to anyone outside of small talk with lewis, marnie, pierre, and robin, and those 4 are only because its essential for her job, and lewis is because he knew her grandfather. yippie!!! she went out to the country to start a new life and it really isn't that different from her lonely, sad, former one!!!! may was initially hoping this move would be a cure for all her problems, but seeing that she's still the same person as before, and doesn't have a magical effortless personality glow up does go thru a sort of arc of resenting herself. other villagers try to talk to her but she doesn't really try to manage anything further than small talk. She does have a sort of mutual understanding with sebastian because of both of their introverted natures, as well as geeky interests that may especially got into over her years of being a social recluse. 

This all changes when she gets into the adventurers guild, and i mean actually get into it, when marlon first offered for her to adventure into the caves full of monsters, she initially brushed it off thinking he was exaggerating. “monsters were just some made up story that only existed years and years ago, they’re practically extinct now!” which was basically may’s thought process, as the city intentionally covers up any news coverage related to any magical or monster related topics. may learns this is very much not the truth the hard way. rip bozo, deserved tbh. After this encounter, she starts frequenting the caves much more often for the adrenaline rush, a way to escape the thoughts plaguing her that she really needed to fix herself, not just her environment. She frequents the guild for more supplies and ends up talking (generous term for her nods and hm’s) more to marlon and gil. At first the two of them do wonder about her quietness, but they’re both used to eccentric characters from other guilds so they’re not too bothered by it. marlon even picks up on some sign language for her to use with him when she doesn’t want to talk. The wizard also becomes quite used to her behavior, being even more accustomed to unconventional characters, he even knows sign language so she primarily uses it to talk to him!! may finally finds people more like her in the form of adventurers and mages, it sort of clicks in her head when she starts to learn a bit of magic with rasmodius. her love for the adrenaline rush of adventuring turns to a genuine love of adventuring itself. She also meets krobus and IMMEDIATELY clicks with him, and spends a dubious amount of time in the sewers because of it (the villagers start giving her weird looks for going into the sewers so much so she starts going in through the forest entrance). bro smells terrible. by her second year in stardew, krobus and may end up becoming roommates. he doesn’t mind her silence, though she does become comfortable talking to him more often. 

Also i wanted to show in the art of her getting progressively more muscular from her work as well as tanner, if any y’all notice her scars forming over the years kudos to u lol. She also cuts her hair year 4 but decides to grow it out again by year 7.. i should also prooooobably address her relationship with lance, considering she does get married to him later on. but i kiiinnddaaa wanna write a small fic about that ngl. i will work up to it or write another post on this later lol. but this is getting too long so i’ll end it at year 3. also she totally fucks with isaac. she may be quiet and socially inept but she fucks with people sooo much. devious in nature

[sevarix-blogs]

trying to make my new playthrough a little more interesting. i changed up the classes a bit.

as you know i have a tendency to make everyone a griffin rider. so far alear (who i named BepisBoy), kagetsu, and jade are all griffin riders. plus zelestia is a flier in her default class. so when i got ivy i changed her into a sage bc i had too many fliers and bows were just destroying us LOL

i also turned griss gregory into a high priest instead of a sage. just for some variety. kept marnie madeline as a general bc she is incredible as a general. nel i kept the same, she does great with her dragonstones. her bro seemed redundant and i don't really like him so i decided to make him a cannon mage before benching him LOL (idk i just don't really like mage cannon that much??)

also made diamant a warrior (yes he has That Outfit now). might eventually change alfie to a different class. alcryst will stay the same bc i can't see him as anything but his unique class

but anyway. so far the dlc characters are doing great. esp madeline and zelestia. as much as i wanna change zelestia's class so she can get a more reasonable outfit, her default class is just sooo good for her i can't justify changing it lol

[crystalelemental]

Pokemon Masters - Character Teams

With the upcoming update in December, you’ll be able to use multiple alts of the same character in a team.  This is...fine.  Honestly.  I have minimal opinions about it.  I never really cared that you couldn’t combine your options, but apparently some consider it a big deal.  The only question on my mind is, for characters with 3+ alts...can any of them make an actually good team?

New Dynamics Let’s start with a general change.  Some units who previously suffered from lack of their own support have access to their support now.  The big winners here are Volkner and Skyla, who previously couldn’t get their damage dealing seasonal alts to access the field multiplier they provided in their other forms.  This was...less than ideal.  So now that they have access, is it good?

Well, sorta.  NY!Volkner having access to Volkner means that it’s finally able to have permanent access.  Unfortunately, both of them are not self-sufficient at all when it comes to buffing, resulting in the need for a third supporter who desperately, desperately needs to bring their A-game.  Mixed offense buffers are rare and usually slow, so you’re kinda working with Falkner.  You could, however, go with special attack boosting support instead, and let NY!Volkner handle the speed/crit buffing.  This is a bit more sane, but still runs into my main issue with the guy: his sync isn’t very good.  So I feel you’d want an EX Support capable of handling special attack, like Sabrina or someone.  SS Kris bears special mention, thanks to Rain making Thunder perfect accuracy, and effectively removing all his buffing needs.

Skyla...has her own issues as well. She’s in an identical situation to Volkner, where the Flying Zone helps, but you really want a support to be ready to go.  However, unlike Volkner, both Tornadus and Togekiss are specially offensive, meaning any special attack buffer gets the job done.  So Skyla’s in a great position, really just needing that special attack, but can ideally gel with any special attack/crit buffer.  Thanks to Tornadus, she doesn’t even encounter gauge issues, so this is a pretty significant win for Togekiss.

To my recollection, no one else has been hit with the issue of not having access to their field multiplier.  Everyone else is in a good spot.  So with that, let’s talk the big question.

Perfect Teambuilding Let’s start by listing out characters with three or more alts: Misty, Erika, Kris, Rosa, Skyla, Iris, Blue, Lyra, Hilbert, Hilda, Elesa, Grimsley, Giovanni, Cynthia, Steven, Red, Dawn, Serena, Morty, Lillie, Gloria, N, May, Leon, Marnie, and Raihan.  I’ll take a look at each, what options they have, and whether a good team of three can be produced.

Misty No.  Starmie and Psyduck are decent supports, but they do nothing to salvage Vaporeon’s lack of offensive buffing.  Misty has to work with others.

Erika I’d say it’s possible, but not necessarily good.  NY!Erika can tank and heal, although not particularly well.  SS Erika is self-sufficient, setting her own sun and being able to buff reliably, while BP Erika can supply supplemental damage in trap.  She probably works out, though if NY!Erika ever gets a grid expansion, this will be a lot more solid.

Kris I’m going to say yes, but it’s not pretty.  SS Kris hard carries.  Base Kris has the option to sync a stage under Rain for like...a billion damage once set up, but her setup is notably slow.  Jolteon benefits tremendously from SS Kris’ buffing, and has electric terrain built-in to handle stages.  I feel like Kris does a good job covering Water and Electric, although how well she does it remains to be seen.  Because we know I’m testing this.

Rosa Honestly, it’s not pretty, but you can probably make it work.  SC Rosa is just that good.  I’d say the play is to go Serperior, Shaymin, and non-Hail Delibird.  Gauges shouldn’t be an issue, Serperior can top off Shaymin, and provided a stage is special, Shaymin should be able to handle it well enough.  But Serperior is 100% the weak link.  Rosa needs a grid expansion and by god I hope she gets it.  Then again, given Glacia...it won’t be pretty.

Skyla As alluded to above, Tornadus/Togekiss is a solid combo.  Swanna, however, does not help.  It can’t facilitate the needed offensive buffs of its partners, so this is a situation where the team doesn’t want to be all Skyla.

Iris Not a chance.  No tanks, poor synergy, bad all around.

Blue Blue’s in a good spot, but solely due to Aerodactyl.  SS Blue’s tanking abilities are all well and good, but Aerodactyl is the only one whose offensive buffing is reasonable.  Pidgeot needs accuracy that only it can provide, Arcanine is slow, and Exeggutor has trouble because none of Blue’s team skews physical (No Aerodactyl does not, hush).  I’d say it’s possible, but realistically only for Rock damage.  Maybe Fire.  Maybe.  It’s just a big question of who the third is, and it’s probably Pidgeot for Air Slash.

Lyra Look, this is kind of unfair, because Celebi’s here to flinch lock every stage to death.  Like, just try losing with that.  Her base form being able to buff all offensive stats means you really don’t want for anything at all.  And now Vaporeon is coming in with debuffs to facilitate Power Play sync on SS Lyra?  I feel like Lyra’s like...grand champion of this.  Could probably make a good case for Summer Lyra doing alright with these comps too, just given how hard they disrupt.

Hilbert Hilbert’s...not in a bad position, actually.  Samurott is just such a good support.  H!Hilbert gets Dark under control, while SS Hilbert covers five types for super-effective damage.  I feel like Hilbert’s in a fantastic position as well, having rapid boosting, speed control, and good damage against six types.

Hilda Summer Hilda and SS Hilda alone are enough to win, but honestly the fact that the other two have speed buffs as part of their kit to help ease gauge control?  Emboar in particular kicks off theme skills for Victini, so this is a pretty strong one.  And Victini’s strong enough to handle off-type, so Hilda’s another reasonable grand champion.

Elesa With the inclusion of Lodge Elesa, there is at least some mild possibility of success via Emolga’s sync nuke.  SS Elesa’s fast-ramping could be the difference between success and failure.  The main trouble is that Lodge Elesa is frail, and Emolga is slow to work, so while the potential is there, I expect practical application will not be kind.

Grimsley No support, dead in the water.  Though he could legitimately maybe handle Steel-weak stages with enough luck on evasion, using Liepard as the support.

Giovanni While Mewtwo is strong and Persian is a good buff bot, Persian is super RNG reliant to cap Mewtwo out, and there is nowhere near the gauge control needed to make Nidoking work.  And much like Lodge Elesa, Classic Giovanni is frail.  Meaning you’re unlikely to survive to sync in the first place.  But if he does, Psychic and Ground-weak stages are handled.

Cynthia Astonishingly...Cynthia’s not in the best position.  She can’t reasonably cap any of her offensive units’ stats, she can’t get Sandstorm going for Garchomp; it’s a problem.  What may carry Cynthia is Ghost-type, where Renegade Cynthia can nuke like crazy with defensive support from Aura Cynthia.  I feel like she can probably handle Ground, Dragon, and Ghost, just based on the defensive power of Lucario, but it’s not exactly clean.

Steven I go back and forth on this one.  On the one hand, Deoxys-Defense does serve as a support, and can get his allies going.  But only Anni Steven can cap crit rate reliably.  So I guess he’s got Flying and maybe Dragon?  Ice and Steel are highly unlikely without some very specific shenanigans.  Metagross is probably the better third, just because of the high flinch rate.

Red Hate this guy.  Hate him so much.  SST Red already solos the game, this is a moot point, but sure let’s slap Supereffective Up Next applications repeatedly into the mix.  Why not?  God forbid the game doesn’t cater to Red.

Dawn Hilariously, this is the opposite problem of most: her team’s too passive.  Torterra can probably clear Grass-weak stages, with Alcremie debuffing attack and Cresselia buffing crit.  But Torterra’s also the one taking hits so Power Siphon can buff its attack stat.  It’s slow going and none too pretty, but honestly they can probably make it work, entirely based on Cresselia not taking direct hits and being able to heal up Torterra on sync as needed.

Serena No tank, unlikely, but can probably handle Dragon stages just by using Hypnosis to set up Zygarde’s sync nuke clear.

Morty Morty has Ho-oh, I feel like he can’t possibly lose.  His offensive alts can handle their offensive needs, while Ho-oh keeps the team alive fantastically.  I don’t think he can reasonably fail against Ghost-weak stages, but off-type...I’m not as convinced, given his alts don’t get the best damage.

Lillie Actually, I feel like this one’s a hard no.  Ghost-type stages can go down to Anni Lillie, and Lodge Lillie might, MIGHT, be able to handle Fairy.  But beyond that?  I’m just not convinced.  Anni Lillie’s damage output is otherwise just sad, and Lodge Lillie isn’t exactly winning awards either, to say nothing of her slow setup no one else can help with.  Lillie’s not atrocious, but she’s not exactly great either.

Gloria No support, no chance.  Urshifu can clear some Gauntlet stages solo just based on how fast it operates, but beyond that it’s a mess.

N No support, no chance.  While he has Hypnosis, this is insufficient without Go Viral.  While Reshiram can debuff offenses, none of his team can heal.  They need something more than what they have.  And no, SS N does not help.

May How do you have five alts and no supports?  How has this happened twice?  In any case, the usual problems endure.  Worse, May’s alts are all tech, so they really can’t explode a CS stage either.

Leon All Strikers, none of them have a history of solo-ing content, it’s a bad team.

Marnie Palentine’s Marnie is glue.  The debuff potential means she has at least a shot against physical stages, thanks to Growl, and the fact that Morpeko and Grimmsnarl are physical.  Lodge Marnie is the third to whatever team exists, based on Mud Slap Ripple Effect to hopefully cheese a bit with Mawile.

Raihan Legitimately great synergy that just barely misses the mark.  The main problem is lack of capped crit on either Duraludon or Flygon.  Now, that said, you can try without the crit.  Steel in particular feels possible with the grid expansion.  The good news is he sets Sandstorm two different ways, and caps offenses with Gigalith, but in general I feel like his team is strong but not quite at the ideal.

Final Verdict There are a few units who can make a full team work.  I’d say Hilda, Lyra, and Red are the top three.  Victini’s actually that ridiculous, and Celebi’s lockdown makes almost any team invincible to begin with, while Red’s hard-carried by Pikachu.  Hilbert and Kris are really close too, though, with Hilbert having a lot of good super-effective matchups in his arsenal, and Kris having great synergy for either Feraligatr’s CS explosion sync, or Jolteon’s offensive potential.  Though admittedly, Kris feels a bit further behind because of gauge issues, while Hilbert’s held back by frailty.  I’ll be interesting to play around with the possibilities, and I, for one, hope we see Jasmine and Caitlin enter the three-alt club for these shenanigans.

[phytocondria]

Luau Meltdown

Seeing as it's about Summer Solstice time, I thought it might be nice to do a Luau story. Many characters were harmed in the making of this fic. I'm sorry, but I hope it makes you guys laugh. (Also double's as a story prompt @purpleandgreen13 thought of where Gus has a bad day, and he definitely didn't have a fun time here. Sorry Gus, I love you really.) Word Count: 1,362 Summary: Sometimes legacies shouldn't continue or the one where the farmer's grandpa really should have added a warning to those pepper seeds. Gus, being the only professional chef in the area, he was responsible for catering nearly every town festival that included food. Food and cooking for people was a joy for him, but he would be lying if it wasn’t more than just a little stressful for him to manage to cook a town's worth of food damn near single-handedly at least once or twice a season. Every year. Without fail. So, it was a bit of a relief, that despite being a food-centric celebration, he only had to prepare a few, simple sides and even had the luxury to try out and test the waters on a new, potential addition to the Saloon by the time summer and the Luau came around.

Plus it really didn’t make sense for Gus to be in charge of the soup. After all, the whole point of the Luau was a pseudo representation of the whole community working together and harmonizing into a generally pleasant goulash-esce dish. And every time someone moved to town, the complexity grew. When Jodi and her family joined the community, Gus noticed a few hardier vegetables found their way into the communal dish. A little bit of a kick when Marnie’s nephew joined her at the ranch, some earthiness from the freshly foraged mushrooms Leah had collected, even a bit of surprising decadence to the broth from the doctor’s doing. For the most part it worked. Everyone fell into a groove, bringing the same things they did every year. Gus at least was excited to see if he could notice any subtle changes in the soup every year. It normally wasn’t a lot, but seeing as there was a new farmer that had moved into the valley, Gus wondered how the stew would change this year.

A lot.

It was a lot apparently.

Gus would have given his left arm, right leg, and half his sense of smell to have taken over stirring the Luau soup from Marnie this year. Tradition and community be damned, this was Gus’ profession, his passion. He should have been in charge, no he should have just made the bloody soup himself. If Lewis really had issues with it or wanted to keep up a charade for the governor, everyone could pick a bowl of pre-chopped ingredients and come up to dump it in the cauldron whenever he beckoned someone over.If he had, maybe he would have been able to stop the pandemonium before him.

If Shane had added a smidge of heat, the new farmer had added a yoba-damned supernova. Leah is breathing loudly, tongue out and fanning herself like mad. The Governor has disappeared, his cry the first alarm at the tragedy that would unfold. Lewis is doubled over by the pot of soup, possibly crying, from shame or pain, Gus isn’t sure, but Marnie seems to be doing her best to soothe him as she rubs his back and looks about frantically. Emily is making a noise only really audible to animals between hiccups and glasses of punch her sister is trying to shove at her. Elliot had fully given up on dignity, half drowning himself as he shoves his head under the ocean waves in some desperate attempt at relief. Gus is transfixed for a moment as he watches Sam, practically dripping in snot and a stream of tears, run towards the refreshment table and in what is either a stroke of brilliance or delirium begins squeezing an entire bottle of ranch into his mouth. As disgusting as it is, the fat and traces of dairy will actually, probably help ease his suffering.

Help, right, that’s what Gus should be doing. The town doctor is sweating buckets and is as ruby red as the cursed pepper that started this culinary calamity, but he and Maru are doing their best to triage and get as many people to sit still long enough to help them. Gus yanks Harvey by the sleeve in a surprisingly forceful demand of his attention. “You and Maru need to grab the bread from the sub sandwich and anything Evelyn may have brought and start handing it out. Bread, dairy, and fat should help with the spice.” Gus explained as quietly into Harvey’s ear as to prevent any new hysteria that might arise if someone overheard and hoarded the edible solution.

Gus rushed over to the most likely culprit, the new farmer, their face pale and wide-eyed, their own bowl of soup fallen into the sand as they watched the destruction on the beach. Gus was normally a sweet, jovial older gentleman. He had the recipe of the entire town’s favorite foods with all major and minor tweaks memorized to heart. He was livid. The new farmer was the first person in decades to earn the compassionate cook's ire. Eventually, Gus would forgive the new farmer, but today...Today the look of abject horror and panic as Gus questioned them was the only thing that kept him lucid. Turns out that the pepper the farmer had carefully grown, harvested, and added to the soup had not been bought from Pierre’s or Jojo’s, in fact, it hadn’t been bought anywhere. Strike one. Apparently, they had found an envelope with a faded drawing of chili pepper and handwritten instructions on how to grow them. For reasons Gus couldn’t fathom, the new farmer decided to try and plant the mystery seeds, and unfortunately, not all of them were complete duds. Strike two. Then, the dear, sweet naive farmer, so excited that the plants had begun their first yield recently, decided they would debut their heirloom crop today… without taste testing them first… strike f**king three.

“Find Alex, get him to help you bring over anything and everything from the ice cream stand.” Gus hissed between gritted teeth. The farmer squeaked out a yes sir and ran a few dozen yards away before running off with the town's grid ball fanatic. Alex has thankfully saved his grandmother from the capsaicin catastrophe but wasn't able to spare George, who was doing his damndest to be as tough of a sonova as he’d been known for in his youth. If Evelyn’s fussing hadn’t made Gus notice how Geroge was white-knuckling the armrest of his chair, Gus would almost believe he was one of the few that was okay. “Ah, Evelyn, wait.” Gus called out jogging over. George was shooting him daggers, his hand still open expectantly to his wife, but Evylen waited for Gus to continue. “If that’s a mint, please don’t. The menthol will only make it worse.” he begged and at that, Evelyn flopped into relief and dropped the candy into her husband’s hand.

“It’s a caramel” Evelyn explained as George tore open and shoved the sweet into his mouth. Gus sighed in relief, settling beside Evelyn and letting her lean against him in a moment of respite. “Goodness gracious, how in heaven’s name did this happen?” she asked, partially to Gus, but mostly to herself as she looked on at half the town sweating and in pain as they shoved bread into their mouths.

“The new farmer found their gramps' old Lava Lurk seeds.” Gus grumbled bitterly. Evelyn uttered a soft gasp while George cursed under his breath. Gus and the elder Mulner’s were one of the few people that still remembered that particular agricultural abomination.Born supposedly out of some stupid rivalry with another farmer from Castle City on who could grow the spiciest, pepper. Well in the same breath the old Pelicanian had been declared the victor, he had been forbidden from ever-growing another one of those yoba forsaken things or else he’d be charged with cruelty against the town and crimes against humanity. Seems like the old man couldn’t bear to actually destroy the horticultural horror.

Despite the disastrous dilemma, the young farmer had unleashed onto the townspeople, their and Alex’s quick return and distribution of ice cream cones and popsicles earned them at least a morsel of forgiveness. At least one thing was certain, the new farmer’s first Luau would be a story, and eventually, one day, a funny one the resident’s of Pelican would mention with a hearty laugh.

[gaycey-sketchit]

(Part 2) I think part of it might be Galar introducing the least amount of Pokemon; not counting Galarian forms, to date. But it's not even just that, besides Bea and Raihan, we haven't seen much the gym leaders or rivals either. (Right now, it's a game of who gets to keep Grookey. And depending on how that goes could be a sign or relief or a big meltdown) Yeah, not help by TR's appearances mostly being tied to the machine, the randomness causing no actual bonding with their Pokemon.

(Part 3) The general prediction seems to be that Iris will stay for a bit; maybe meet Raihan and Leon, then take her leave. While Gary feels like he'll be a recurring character for different reasons, as he showcases G-Blastoise and possibly something else. (Since Ash's future after Journeys seems uncertain, there's a lot of loose ties that will feel unfinished if this series doesn't wrap them up properly. Speedrunning it might leave a poor taste though, since we probably have 2 years left)

Looks like the first part of this didn’t go through (ugh, Tumblr) but I can at least answer these parts.

Yeah, it’s kind of a bummer seeing so little of the Galar characters. Hop, Bede, and Marnie are such good rivals and characters, it would’ve been nice to see them.

I’ve never understood why some people get so heated about which character gets which Pokemon, but I’m dreading that because no matter what happens I feel like there’s people who aren’t going to like it. It’ll at least be a relief to get it over with.

I think the one thing just about everyone in this fandom agrees on is the gacha machine is Bad. Like, a big part of why people like the TRio is that even though they’re villains, they forge these great bonds with their Pokemon, and the gacha machine just about completely removed that.

Moving on! Yeah, that seems pretty likely! I feel like it’d be a missed opportunity for her to not meet Raihan, a fellow Dragon-type specialist (and possibly fellow gym leader depending on what she’s been up to over the years). And the more I think about it the more fond I am of the idea of Gary maybe working at the Cerise lab for a while.

As for Ash’s future, that’s something I’m really concerned about. I’ve seen speculation about him potentially being replaced as the series protagonist and I... don’t want that to happen. I’d miss him. But at the same time, if the writers are lost for what to do with his character now that he’s become a champion and all... it might be for the best to let him end on the most positive note Journeys can give him. Still, being autistic I’ve always had trouble coping with change, and Ash is my boy--I’d miss him so much if he was cast to the side. I was honestly nervous about that happening as soon as I heard Journeys was going to spend time in all the regions because to me, the idea of that felt like a goodbye.

But that aside. Yeah, it’s hard to say what Journeys is going to end up doing. A lot of things feel uncertain right now.

[jaybug-jabbers]

Pokemon Sword/Shield: A review of my experience

So, I’ve rung in the new year in style with a bad cold. Fortunately, I received a new Switch Lite for Christmas and a copy of Pokemon Sword, so at least I’ve had something to do while sitting about feeling miserble. I beat the game last night, and I figured I’d say a few words about what I thought of it. There are major spoilers ahead!

Graphics & Music

First of all, it looks absolutely beautiful. I’m used to using my 2DS, so the upgrade to the Switch Lite was quite the jump. When compared to previous Pokemon titles, the game is absolutely stunning to gaze upon. What’s more, the environments are varied, creative, colorful, and just lovely. They were such a delight that when I first started the game and had control of my character, the first thing I did was simply stand there for a solid five minutes just gazing on the dynamic, gorgeous countryside, butterfree flapping in the distance, Wooloo rolling around, people going about their day. It helps that I do love the UK and I’ve visited it in the past, and I have to say they did an excellent job evoking the feel of those landscapes. Exploring the towns and the environments was always a joy. Their layouts were natural, intuitive, and walking around or biking around was easy and fun. I was eager to explore every nook and cranny. Accompanying the environments was excellent music. All of the tracks were on-point. They set the feel of the location and they were all great to listen to.

UI & Battle Mechanics

Another thing you notice right away is the UI has been beautifully updated. It’s logically and appealingly organized, it’s very speedy, and there are a lot of quality-of-life tweaks and updates– such as accessing your pokemon PC from just about anywhere. (or easy access to Flying from the regular Map menu!) These tweaks have really helped smooth and streamline things and make for a better experience. It took some getting used to some of the tweaks, such as a forced Experience Share for the entire pokemon party. I’m still not sure what I think of that, but I kept reminding myself that full-party experience is standard in other RPGs, so it’s not so huge a jump for Pokemon to adopt it as well.

Characters

The game is also populated by many characters that I enjoyed. The character designs were well thought-out and appealing, and the characters themselves were fun. Hop may have a bit of a doofy haircut and be a bit of a dork, but he’s still an enjoyable rival. Professor Magnolia seems cool, as does her daughter Sonia. As we meet each of the gym leaders in turn, I generally liked them, as well. They did a good job adding little bits of personality to each of them. And yes, I even liked Leon, the over-the-top and bizarrely-dressed Champion. He was hammy and I think it worked well for him.

The Sport of Pokemon & Dynamaxing

Something else I found myself really enjoying was how much the game was emphasizing the sport aspect to Pokemon battling in the Galar region. This is something the game has always had to a certain extent, but never to the degree it has here. Pokemon battling was a huge spectacle here in Galar, done in massive statiums to huge, roaring crowds. This is a world of difference when compared to the solemn, trial-like, solitary experience of the Elite Four. It just brings and entirely different energy to the experience. And I found I really liked that. During the first few gym battles, I wasn’t entirely into it at first, largely because the first few gym fights were incredibly easy. But after they got a little harder, I started to get into the feel of things.

Naturally, the whole huge emphasis on the electric thrill of competition and of huge, bombastic spectacle was tied into the gimmick of this particular game: Dynamaxing. And as lukewarm as I was about Dynamaxing when I first heard it announced (I’m pretty tired of these gimmicks– Z-Moves, Mega Evolutions and the likes), I have to give credit where credit’s due: it was at least tied very thoroughly into the plot and into the fabric of the game. It didn’t feel tacked on, and I wasn’t resentful about actually using Dynamaxing. It may have been a silly gimmick, but it was still enjoyable to use, because it made sense to help entertain the crowds with oversized spectacle, and because there was a certain amount of enjoyment in the added strategy it required. I’m glad I was able to get into it.

I think the highest point for me about the gym challenge experience was when I was facing off Raihan. Here’s the chap they’ve been hyping for a while about facing up against, because he’s the last gym leader standing before you move onto the Semi Finals and the Finals. When you walk through the dark corridor out into the pitch, you can feel the electric atmosphere; you can hear people cheering your name as their new favorite trainer hopeful; and then, Raihan, the man who always acted so casual and smooth and cool, suddenly shows his intense side on the field of battle. He flings out two pokeballs and brags about mixing things up for you with a doubles format and with the weather, and dares you to step up for the challenge.

My two front pokemon come out– Snowdrop, my Frosmoth, and Bazz, my Grapploct. After all that weather bragging, I decide to show him, and have my Frosmoth flip his sandstorm weather over to Hail. Surprised, my opponent acknowledges that was a pretty nice move on my part. I then Blizzard and Superpower his first pair of pokemon out of the picture.

I’m feeling pretty good, and then he sends out his second pair of pokemon. I have no idea what the heck the Duraludon is supposed to be. Then he Dynamaxes it, which takes me a little off guard, as I had expected it later, but of course this is doubles so there is no later. I stall for a little bit, trying to decide what to hit the Duraludon with, and my first few pokemon go down, and the sandstorm kicks back in.

I decide to send out my Corviknight out for Dynamaxing. But I’m still floundering over the best tactic for this unfamiliar pokemon. I try Max Airstream to see how much it does, but it’s not a very impressive chunk. Then his Sandaconda gets a Glare off on my Corviknight, which is a pain. I waste one of my Dynamax turns getting paralyzed. I’ve fainted several other pokemon in the process of things. I start to think I’m toast and I’ll need to replay the match. Then I realize this stupid-looking Duraludon is, of course, a Steel type. I’d just recently put Body Press onto my Corviknight for some move variety. On my final Dynamax turn, I use it. It utterly destroys the Duraludon, which had just lost its Dynamax.

My own Corviknight falls back down into its normal state. There’s only one pokemon left on either one of our teams; his damned Sandaconda and my half-health Corviknight. The sand is still up, but my Corviknight didn’t mind that at all. It did, however, mind the paralysis and the Fire Fang the snake kept using. Fortunately, Corviknight is still a tanky beast, and I blasted away with Drill Pecks. It was tense, really down to the wire. Would Corviknight tank enough hits to make it? Would he get paralyzed at an inopportune moment?

Fortunately, he makes it, finishing off Sandaconda and taking the match. As I cheer at the victory, my pokemon cheers too, amongst all the swirling sand. The crowd roars, and I feel a genuine respect for my opponent’s skill. It was a good fight. Afterwards, when I returned to the lobby, people were congratulating me on my victory, and it felt truly nice.

Moments like these are not common in pokemon games. At least, they aren’t for me. I had felt everything during that match– the magnificent spectacle of the dynamaxing, the tricks my opponent pulled, his keen desire to win, the crowd’s thirst for a good match, my desire to pull through somehow. As it turned out, after that, I didn’t have battle quite as good. The Semi-Finals and the Finals were a cakewalk for me. Even the Raihan rematch was ridiculously easy. He changed up his team and made it much worse, so that he had different weather-setters for each poke, lacking any team synergey at all. It was a shame. Perhaps the only reason that match was so close was because I had been briefly intimidated over the doubles format and confused over the  Duraludon, but I do wish those magical experiences happened more often.

Indeed, even my final battle with the Champion was a woeful disappointment. I got off one Dragon Dance with Dragapult and swept the whole team cleanly. That brings up another point, though: the difficulty level of this game. It is … well, not very high. It’s a shame. I realize it’s a tricky balance, since this game is aimed at a variety of age levels, and they don’t want it too difficult for the younger audience. Still, it would be nice for Pokemon to implement a ‘hard mode’ to help deal with this issue. Perhaps if they did, we could have more magical moments like the one I had with Raihan.

Character Development & Plot

The low difficulty wasn’t the only thing about Pokemon Sword/Shield that sometimes brought disappointment. At the end of the game, I also found the plot sort of ended up in a no-man’s land. Almost all of the plotlines felt unfinished. Marnie looked like a really cool character full of potential, but then nothing ever really happened with her character. Team Yell ended up being very different from all the other ‘teams’ of the pokemon universe, in that they were just very vocal and sometimes excessively involved fans of Marnie. I actually liked the idea of the ‘team’ not being a group of organized villians up to no good, but Team Yell’s plot ultimately petered out into nothing. The same could be said for other characters. Sonia was a cool-looking character design and again seemed to have a lot of potential as a character, but I never quite understood the point of her plot. She was … uninterested in research, maybe, but became interested? Or was overwhelemed with the work? Or … what, exactly? When she “earned” the lab coat, it didn’t feel like an accomplishment. There was no weight or clarity to her character arc in the slightest. She didn’t even ultimately contribute all that much, because she failed to even be the one to discover the Sword and Shield artifacts.

Again, we find this trend with others, such as Hop’s development. Hop is a cocky, confidant young lad who idolizes his older brother. Eventually he runs into a trainer who throws off his groove, gets into his head with some comments, claiming that he’s dragging his older brother’s name through the mud by being shite at pokemon battling. Then he starts to doubt and second-guess himself, reshuffle his team and his strategies endlessly, and so forth. Eventually, he seems to ‘get over it’ and gets his groove back, but we never are given a really firm reason as to why he gets his groove back. What brought about this change? We need to see why he’s learned and grown. And really, even when he does pull his shit together again, has he really learned much from the experience? I assumed his ultimate lesson would be to see his brother more as an equal, not as someone to idolize; as a human who can self-doubt and make mistakes just like him. But the writers passed up the opportunity to go that way with the plot. They just sort of … gave up halfway.

The most of a glimpse we get from that is something given to us from the animation itself, not the writers. Out on the pitch, during the final battle against Leon, when he’s just about to toss his pokemon out, there’s a moment when he pauses and taps both hands against his face. It’s a subtle little gesture, as if he’s trying to shake off any gnawing self-doubts and get his head into the game, and it echoes his younger brother, who we’ve seen do the same thing. It’s such a lovely little touch, such a human moment, and to me shows that both brothers have been vulnerable to self-doubt despite their swagger, but in the end can overcome it. I only wish the idea were explored further in the actual plot.

The ‘evil plot’ of this particular game also feels only half-baked and incomplete. The motivation behind Rose’s actions feels entirely absent to me, as does any logic whatsoever. What’s worse, the game leaves behind so many lingering questions. OK, so this slumbering Eternatus is the source of all Dynamax power, and he’s discovered the energy will run out in a thousand years or so. How is waking up Eternatus by feeding it Wishing Stars (which, as Magnolia later reports, are bits of Eternatus itself– so, what, feeding  Eternatus pieces of itself?) going to help with that? Will it produce more energy once awake? So he planned on capturing it and … sending it out whenever they needed more energy? Or just keeping it around as a power-giving pet of some sort? But at the end of the game, the player keeps Eternatus for themselves, so doesn’t that mean Galar is sort of screwed now? How can the power plant continue to function (and Dynamaxing) if the source of that power is now inside my pokeball? Also, how exactly did Rose wake up Eternatus to begin with/bring about the Darkest Day? Just release all the energy he had at once? There’s so much that’s confusing and unclear. Basically, the plotline felt very half-baked. I had the sense the writing for this game was frankly very rushed.

It doesn’t stop there. Oleana, the whole thing with Bede, and other characters are left with tons of lingering questions and unfinished plotthreads as well. I suspect the devs simply ran out of time. It’s a huge shame, because I enjoyed all of these characters and felt there was so much potential there, but that potential was never really realized.

Pokemon

This generation has a relatively low number of new pokemon, and you do feel that a little bit as you’re going along. The older pokemon that are mixed in were chosen well, in that they blend naturally with the environments they were placed in, and they’re spaced out nicely, so you encounter a mix of new and old at a nice clip, so they have that going for themselves. But even still, yes, you do start to wish there were a few more surprising faces. Still, there’s definitely fun to be had with new pokemon, especially for some of the cooler Galar regional variants. (I fully support regional variants and am happy they made a comeback in this generation.)

As you’ve no doubt heard by now, there’s also only a very limited set of old pokemon this game has access to. Any species not listed in the Galar dex simply cannot be transferred over. This has upset many people, but when I played the game, it did not feel lacking for that reason. The sheer number of pokemon in the overall franchise is now staggering. It makes complete sense to not include every species in every game now. They intend to include old pokemon on rotation in future games, and that seems like a fair compromise to me. Am I bummed that my favorite Parasect can’t be transferred to Galar? Of course. But I’m not too worked up over the fact. He’ll see another region someday.

To finish this section off, I’m going to do a rapid-fire list of my top 5 and bottom 5 of the new pokemon.

Top 5

Corviknight: An absolutely gorgeous design and easily the MPV of my team.

Wooloo/Dubwool: It’s an adorable ball sheep/ram. You simply can’t go wrong with that. One of the first to be revealed of the new pokes, but I can never get bored with it.

Dragapult: A very creative, lizardy Dragon/Ghost creature that adorably shoots its own babies as ammo. I love it.

Grappaloct: So beautiful. Love its design, its stance, the way one tentacle is a belt, love its colors and pattern, its eyes, its cry, everything. Such a badass and I love octopi in general, so a real winner. This is the octopus we’ve needed for a while.

Snom/Frosmoth: I mean, in some ways its design isn’t revolutionary, since we already have many moth pokemon. However, Snom is still adorable and Frosmoth is still beautiful, something you cannot deny. And it’s been long overdue to get an Ice/Bug. What’s more, Snom is based off real caterpillars (jewel caterpillars), which is wonderful.

Bottom 5

Inteleon: A very distinctive design style that doesn’t look like it belongs anywhere near a Pokemon game. Just feels very mismatched to me.

Alcremie: I hate sentient food. A massive pet peeve of mine.

Applin: See above.

Duraludon: Sorry, but I still think its design is ugly. I can’t get used to it.

Mr. Mime (Galar Variant): No. Mr. Mime is always horrible. Stay away from me. Keep your creepy variant, too.

The Wilds Area

Of course, a review of the game would be incomplete if I didn’t mention the Wild Area. This section of the game was really very lovely. I enjoyed exploring what was essentially Breath of the Wild: Pokemon, and I think it’s a wonderful direction for the game to take. Wandering around, finding goodies, rare pokemon, Dynamax dens and all the rest is very entertaining and it’s just beautiful. Really makes you feel like you’re out in nature exploring, and really encountering pokemon in their natural environment. I’ve read people predicting that Game Freak is using the Wild Area in this game as a test, and something they will probably expand upon in later games. If that’s what they are indeed doing, then I welcome the change. I can’t say I am super interested in fighting wild Dynamax pokemon with my friends, but I did enjoy everything else.

Summary

So, would I recommend this game to others? It would depend on who you are. If you’re a big pokemon fan, then yes, of course. You’ll enjoy the beautiful locations to explore, the new pokemon, and the excitement of the Galar sports arenas, as well as some colorful characters. However, you are going to find some flaws. The plot and character arcs are going to eventually end up a little lacking, and you’ll find there’s not as much new content as you’d have preferred. While some aspects of this game are very well polished and complete, others feel rushed. Overall, it’s going to be a mixed experience, but I think that if you like pokemon, you will still enjoy it.

This is a repost on a new blog. The original post was on Jan 1, 2020.

[sdv-hiddenfarm]

Thank you so much, @runawayface! I was crying before I even read the story...thank you for the kind words on the Stories series. I appreciate them, and they inspire me!

Readers, this is very much like the Stories series. It’s mostly focused on the villagers, all in-character and full of charm. It’s a longer fic, 12 pages/4500+ words, and it is 100% worth reading.

To: girljen/sdv-hiddenfarm

From: runawayface

Title: New Farmer Stories

Word Count: 4,537

Summary: It’s not every day that a new resident is coming to Pelican Town, so when a notice appears on the town bulletin board to announce the arrival of a new farmer, the villagers all have a wide range of reactions to such momentous news.  Most are excited, others are not, but there is no escaping the hysteria that takes over the town at the prospect of someone new.

Notes: I’m inspired by the Stories collection on AO3, they are each a true masterpiece.  The way each character is fully fleshed out and written with a personality that both nods to canon as well as being given their own unique twist… it’s masterful.  I hope that I can do justice to your work, it is nothing short of awe-inspiring how fluidly you are able to weave so many wonderful and unique characters together in your stories.  Thank you for what you bring to the community.

*Please look for accompanying artwork for this piece from @coindraws, we collaborated for fic/artwork for you!

ATTN: RESIDENTS OF PELICAN TOWN

As Mayor of Pelican Town, I am happy to announce that a new resident will be joining our community next week!  Her name is Michele (granddaughter of Duncan, for those who remember him) and she will be moving into the old farmhouse at Hidden Farm.  Please make her feel welcome in our community and help her adjust to life in Pelican Town.

-Mayor Lewis

The notice had been tacked onto the community bulletin board on a large, bright purple piece of paper during the middle of the night.  Pierre was the first to notice this large announcement when he awoke on this cold winter morning and shuffled outdoors to brush the snow from his doorstep.  Announcements on large, bright purple paper were usually from Mayor Lewis himself and it almost always meant that something important was happening in Pelican Town.  When Pierre noticed this new announcement, he very quickly ran indoors to grab Caroline and Abigail who were in the kitchen enjoying their breakfast from the warmth of the family’s kitchen.  The three of them rushed outside and read the notice together, their jaws collectively agape as they processed the news that they had just read… someone new was coming to Pelican Town.

It didn’t take long for such momentous news to spread through the town like wildfire, especially with Caroline on the case.  Calls were made all across town and within the hour, the town square was packed as the residents all shuffled out of their homes to see the announcement for themselves.  It wasn’t every day that a new resident was coming to town and all the villagers of Pelican Town couldn’t wait to start speculating about the new farmer and how this new addition could drastically shift the town dynamic.  In such a small town, even one person could easily change the entire dynamic of the town for better or for worse.

“A new resident, I can’t believe it!” Caroline gushed excitedly to Marnie and Jodi.  The three ladies had excused themselves to a corner of town square to start chatting about the new farmer almost immediately.

“Thanks so much for calling us,” Jodi said to Caroline, looking appreciative.

“You were my first phone call, Jodi,” Caroline answered with a wink.  Then she turned to Marnie.  “And of course, you were my second.”

“This is so exciting,” Marnie went on, trying very hard to subdue the anxious, giddy grin on her face.  “Hidden Farm has been abandoned for so long, it’ll be nice to have someone finally breathe life into it.”

“I remember Duncan, he was such a kind man,” Jodi said fondly.  “I hope this new farmer is kind as well, we could use more nice people here in town.  If she’s his granddaughter, I would hope she’d have the same values as Duncan.”

While Jodi, Caroline, and Marnie were huddled together, trying to talk quietly about the new farmer; Pierre, Gus, and Lewis were standing right outside of Pierre’s General Store having the same conversation, however Pierre was making no attempt to keep his voice down and in fact was speaking a bit louder than perhaps he needed to.

“You know, Mayor, I was the first to notice your announcement,” Pierre bragged with a smug grin on his face.

“That stands to reason, as it was posted outside of your door,” Lewis replied matter-of-factly, as Pierre’s smug smirk faded.

“I always love new residents!” Gus exclaimed jovially, looking positively thrilled.  “It always shakes the town up a bit, changes things around.  It keeps things interesting.”

“Good for business,” Pierre went on, causing Gus to roll his eyes slightly.  That wasn’t quite what Gus meant, but leave it to Pierre to interpret it as such.  “I’ll definitely have to get in touch with my suppliers to let them know I’ll be needing to stock greater quantities of seeds.  I’m sure this new farmer and I will get to know each other very well once they start needing to purchase seeds for the farm.”

“Unless they get them from JojaMart,” Lewis commented with a frown, causing Pierre to lose a bit of color in his face.

Next to Pierre’s shop, Doctor Harvey was craning his neck over Pierre’s shoulder to see the announcement better, he was one of the last to be called about this new development and was still trying to figure out exactly what was going on throughout the commotion.  When Maru spotted Harvey trying to read the note, she quickly rushed over to him.

“Doctor!” Maru called out to him from across the crowd.  She gently excused her way through the crowd until she had reached the clinic, followed closely by her mother and father.

“Ah, Maru!” Harvey said cordially, giving her a small wave.  “Robin and Demetrius as well, nice to see you all this morning.”

“Crazy stuff about the new farmer, right?” Maru asked excitedly, nearly bouncing on the tips of her toes in excitement.

“I’ve only just heard about it,” Harvey replied, still glancing at the notice on the bulletin board.  “I stepped out the clinic door to find a mass of people outside, for a moment I thought there was a community event I’d forgotten about!”

“Nope, just everyone losing their minds over some fresh blood!” Robin commented with a smirk.

“I try to avoid anything that leads to fresh blood,” Harvey replied with a deadpan expression, though Demetrius burst out laughing.

“Good one, Doctor!” Demetrius howled, slapping his knee in amusement.

From across the town square, Maru spotted Penny sitting under a tree with Vincent and Jas, speaking excitedly to the both of them.

“I’ll be right back, okay?” Maru said distractedly, still staring across the square at Penny.

“But you only just got here!” Harvey commented to the back of Maru’s head, she was already crossing town square to join Penny and the children.

“Hey!” Maru said excitedly, taking a seat on the grass next to Penny.

“Oh!” Penny squealed, jumping in surprise at Maru’s sudden appearance.  “You scared me!”

“I’m sorry,” Maru replied, biting her bottom lip apologetically.

“That’s okay,” Penny said sweetly.  “I was just talking to Vincent and Jas about the new farmer.  Sometimes it can be exciting when someone new joins a community, but it can also be an overwhelming or even scary time.”

“I’m not scared!” Vincent chimed in, putting on his bravest face, though all he was really doing was just clenching his teeth awkwardly.

“And there’s no reason to be,” Penny said gently to Vincent.  Then she turned her attention to Jas.  “But it’s also perfectly okay to be a little nervous.”

“I… I just hope she’s nice,” Jas said quietly.

“I’m sure she will be,” Penny said reassuringly.  “I’ll tell you what, why don’t we make some welcome cards for the new farmer this afternoon!  We can use leaves and flowers to glue to the front of our card to welcome Ms. Michele to our community!”

“Such a smart idea,” Maru commented with an affectionate smile at Penny.  “I’m free all day if you guys want some help.”

“That would be wonderful, thank you Maru,” Penny replied with a warm smile.

Near the tree where Maru, Penny, Vincent, and Jas sat making plans for their card, Elliot and Leah had stepped aside from the crowd to stand together near the river.  Elliot was staring out across the river absentmindedly, he appeared very deep in thought, which wasn’t necessarily unusual for him.

“What’s going on in that brain of yours?” Leah asked with a chuckle.  If allowed to, Elliot could easily spend an entire afternoon staring thoughtfully across the river.  Leah would give anything for just a glimpse into his mind.

“Just pondering over how the town dynamic is drastically going to be changed with the arrival of this new farmer, and how their presence here will mold and change our everyday life in possibly new and exciting ways, the prospect of it is rather exhilarating,” Elliot mused.

“Yup… a new person in town will do that,” Leah commented with a shrug.  She winced slightly at such a simple answer, she couldn’t help but feel slightly intimidated sometimes when holding a conversation with Elliot.

“Michele…” Elliot suddenly said, the name escaping his lips slowly and delicately as though he were uttering a forbidden secret.

“Huh?” Leah asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Michele,” Elliot repeated thoughtfully.  “Quite a lovely name, though I’m kicking myself for not remembering its origin.”

“I guess it’s a pretty name,” Leah replied quietly, trying to hold back the bitter scowl on her face.  She tried to turn her attention elsewhere as Elliot continued to stare thoughtfully across the river.

Just North of the river, Abigail, Sam, and Sebastian were huddled together against the wall of the saloon.  They, too, were speculating about the new addition to town.

“I can’t believe there’s gonna be a new chick!” Sam exclaimed to Sebastian and Abigail.  “I hope she’s a babe!”

“Sam, don’t be gross,” Abigail moaned, tilting her head at Sam.

“What?!  Is it wrong to hope that the new chick who’s moving to town is a hottie?” Sam asked, sounding genuinely confused.

“Yes!” Abigail replied with an exasperated sigh.  “Sebastian, help me out here.”

“Huh?” Sebastian answered, snapping to attention at the mention of his name.  He hadn’t been paying any attention to the conversation up to this point.

“Nevermind, you’re useless,” Abigail said with a huff before rounding back to Sam.  “And you’re insensitive.”

“I’m sorry if I said something to make you mad,” Sam said honestly, seeing the pout on Abigail’s face.  “I really didn’t mean to.”

“It’s fine,” Abigail sighed, her harsh expression softening.  “Just try to play it cool, okay?  She’s a person, not a piece of meat.”

“What kind of meat?” Sam asked thoughtfully, his tongue sticking slightly out of his mouth as his brain reeled.  “Salami?  Nah, not salami, I just had that last week… Ooh, pepperoni!  On a pizza!”  Sam looked delighted at the sudden prospect of pepperoni pizza, causing Abigail and Sebastian to shake their heads.  Sam was quite easily derailed.

On the other side of the saloon, Alex and Haley were standing together near Dusty’s enclosure, trying to distance themselves from the overexcited crowd.

“I just don’t see what the fuss is all about,” Haley said with a small huff.  “Everyone’s losing their minds over someone we haven’t even met yet.”

“I don’t know, I think I get it,” Alex said thoughtfully.  “Not a lot happens here, at least this is something that can shake things up.”

“I guess,” Haley sighed, folding her arms.  “Could be interesting to have someone new here, at least maybe the town won’t be so boring for a few weeks.”

Alex nodded in agreement, anything that could breathe some life into this dull town was always welcome.  He looked up and noticed that his grandparents were right outside of the house and he grinned when he noticed that his grandmother looked positively elated.

“Oh, George, there’s going to be someone new in town, isn’t that wonderful?” Evelyn asked, clapping her hands excitedly in front of her.

“Great, another new face around this town, just what we need,” George replied sarcastically.

“It’s exactly what we need,” Evelyn replied with a nod, glossing over her husband’s sarcasm.

“There’s enough daggum people in this town, we don’t need another one,” George spat. 

“I think having a new face in town will be wonderful,” Evelyn went on positively.  “Plus, it’s Duncan’s granddaughter, I’m sure she’ll be a delight.  That old farm has been abandoned for some time now, it’s a shame to see Duncan’s legacy wither away like that.”

George’s harsh expression softened at the mention of Duncan, he had always held a great amount of respect for Duncan and even George couldn’t deny that it would be nice to see Hidden Farm returned to its former glory.  Of course, he couldn’t express such a sudden change of heart in front of Evelyn, so he simply scowled and changed the subject.

“Let’s get back in the house, it’s freezing out here, Evie,” George complained, folding his arms across his chest for warmth.

Evelyn smiled knowingly at George as she wheeled him back inside the house.  She knew George well enough to know that sudden changes in conversation were his way of agreeing with her without actually saying so.

While most of the villagers of Pelican Town spent their morning in town square, talking excitedly about the new farmer and already making speculations about what she might be like, others were not so enthusiastic to broach the subject.  Shane gave the memo a quick glance on his way to work that morning, giving nothing more than a grunt in acknowledgement before continuing on his way toward JojaMart for his morning shift.  Pam read the first half of the announcement and scoffed, rolling her eyes as she headed back home.  She hardly saw what the fuss was all about, a new villager in town wasn’t enough to lose your head about.  Willy and Clint had also seen the notice, but shrugged as they returned back to their work.  Perhaps they could discuss this new development over a drink at the saloon that evening, but unlike many of the villagers in town who could somehow find time away from their work, Clint and Willy felt that their time would be better spent returning to work rather than gossiping in the middle of town square.  Emily, sadly, had missed the announcement altogether.  She had stayed overnight with a friend in the Calico Desert and wasn’t due to arrive back home until later in the afternoon.  Emily would find out soon enough, most likely that night for her shift at the Stardrop Saloon.

~*~

“I can’t believe I missed such exciting news!” Emily moaned once she arrived at the saloon for her shift.  Gus had broken the news to her the moment she stepped through the doors, he was too excited about the prospect of a new member of the community to contain himself.

“Apparently her bus is scheduled to arrive late in the afternoon on the last day of winter,” Gus said excitedly.  “Mind helping me prepare a small gift basket for Farmer Michele?”

“Ooh, I’d love to!” Emily replied excitedly.  “I think I can real quick knit a scarf for her, plus I’m sure we can find some treats around the saloon!”

“I’ll also need you to hold down the fort in the saloon by yourself for a bit that day,” Gus went on.  “I’d like to deliver the basket personally, you know I can’t turn down the chance to welcome someone new.  Doesn’t happen every day.”

“Of course, Gus,” Emily answered immediately.  “I can handle things here, you got it.  You should be able to hand Farmer Michele the basket in person.”

From across the bar, Gus and Emily could hear a loud, annoyed groan.  They both turned to the source of the sound and saw Pam seated in her usual spot with a sour look on her face.

“If I hear the name ‘Farmer Michele’ one more time, I’m gonna throw this beer stein across the room,” Pam grumbled to Gus.

“Hey, c’mon, you can’t fault everyone else for being a little worked up, it’s an exciting time!” Gus said with a smile.

“They can be excited all they want, doesn’t mean I have to be,” Pam scowled.  Gus simply shrugged and turned his attention to the other side of the bar to Shane whose beer stein was almost empty.

“Ready for round two?” Gus asked Shane.

“You know I am,” Shane answered, downing the remaining contents of his beer stein as Gus poured another.

“So what do you think of all this news about Farmer Michele?” Gus asked curiously.  He swapped Shane’s empty tankard for the fresh one he had just poured.

Shane didn’t answer, he simply grunted and shrugged.

“Why am I not surprised that you and Pam are the ones turning your noses up to a new face around town,” Gus sighed, throwing his hands up in exasperation.

From across the saloon, Clint had his head perked up, unable to stop himself from overhearing Gus’ conversations with Pam and Shane.  He took a quick swig from his beer before turning his attention back to Willy who was clutching his mead.

“All this talk of the new farmer, can’t even escape it at the saloon,” Clint sighed.  He was taken aback when Willy’s face lit up in excitement.

“Always happy to have a new face in town,” Willy commented, looking pleased.  “Maybe the lass might be interested in learnin’ a thing or two about fishing from an ol’ fisherman like me.  Fishing’s becomin’ a dying art and-” Clint immediately let out a long sigh and shook his head, interrupting Willy.

“Oh, for Yoba’s sake, old man, nobody wants to learn how to fish, give it up!” Clint said loudly, clapping Willy hard on the back.  “You’ve asked the entire town if they want to learn how to fish, no one wants to.”  Clint started chuckling at Willy, but Willy just shrugged.

“You just never know,” Willy replied cryptically, taking a swig from his mead.  “Never hurts to ask.”

“Well you’ve asked everyone in Pelican Town at least a dozen times and been turned down, what’s one more?” Clint joked, elbowing Willy in the ribs.

Without missing a beat, Willy replied, “At least I’ve asked and been rejected, tell me now how things are working out with you and Emily?”

Clint’s face turned bright red and he mumbled a few curse words at Willy under his breath as he buried his face in his beer stein, leaving Willy laughing heartily.

Luckily for Shane and Pam, the remainder of that night was spent with very little mention of Farmer Michele.  However, with each day that passed, the town became more and more abuzz with excitement and anticipation for her arrival.  By the time the last day of winter arrived, it was almost impossible to escape the name ‘Farmer Michele’.

~*~

Robin arrived at the bus stop late in the afternoon on the last day of winter, ready to greet Farmer Michele when her bus was scheduled to arrive.  Mayor Lewis had entrusted her to meet the town’s newest arrival at the bus stop while he remained at the farmhouse, working on last minute details to turn the rundown old house into a proper home.  As Robin stood waiting at the bus stop, dancing anxiously on the tips of her toes, she could hear footsteps walking down the cobblestone path that led into town.  She looked up in surprise to see a small welcoming committee consisting of Gus, Jodi, and quite surprisingly, Sam.

“Hi there, Robin!” Gus called out, waving his hand jovially to her.  His other hand was clutching a large basket, filled to the brim with goodies from the valley.  Behind him, Jodi was walking with Sam close to her side, he was looking a bit awkward to be there.

“Hey there, gang!” Robin said excitedly as they approached her.  “What brings you all here?”

“Oh, you know I can’t resist the excitement of welcoming a new member to the community!” Gus said happily, his large, bushy mustache curling upward in his excitement.  “I prepared a welcome basket for Farmer Michele, just a few things to help her get settled in.”

Inside the basket was a bottle of wine, one of the pricier bottles that Gus had on hand at the saloon.  A few coupons were sticking out near the front, one for a free meal and one for a free drink at the Stardrop Saloon.  Also included was a colorful scarf that Emily had made, a freshly baked loaf of bread, a tin of Evelyn’s famous chocolate chip cookies, as well as a few non-perishable snacks and other goodies.  Gus couldn’t resist making a little extra effort to help the new farmer feel welcome, it was an exciting thing to welcome someone new into their tight-knit community.

“What about you, Jodi?” Robin asked curiously, turning her attention to Jodi and Sam.

“The kids made a beautiful card to give the new famer, but they couldn’t make it in person to greet her,” Jodi explained with a small frown.  “Penny has them on a field trip in the forest today so she asked if I could hand-deliver the card personally.”

“And you, Sam?” Robin asked, the most curious of all.  Sam did not look thrilled to be there and she had a feeling that he was here against his will.

“Mom dragged me along to help in case the new farmer had a lot of luggage to unload off of the bus,” Sam answered with a shrug.  “She figures if she had to come here, might as well bring some backup in case the farmer needs help.”

“Well, that’s very kind of you,” Robin began, then chuckled as she went on, “even if it’s against your will.”

For a few minutes, Gus, Robin, and Jodi began talking excitedly about the new farmer’s arrival, it seemed to be the only topic of conversation throughout town over the last week.  Now that her arrival was closer than ever, they could feel a palpable excitement in the air as they waited eagerly for her to arrive.  Sam spent his time at the bus stop kicking the stumps of trees out of boredom and chuckling in amusement as snow fell off of the trees and landed on the ground with a ‘thump’.  Winter was almost over and the layer of snow that had covered the town through most of the season was finally starting to disappear as the warm sun began to make itself known in preparation for spring.

All of a sudden, Robin jumped when she heard the sound of a large, rumbling bus engine headed down the highway right toward Pelican Town.  Robin, Gus, Jodi, and even Sam all snapped to attention and stared down the road.  The moment the bus became visible in the distance, Jodi danced on the tip of her toes in anticipation and Gus let out a loud whoop of excitement.  They all stood back as the bus approached, giving a considerable amount of space to allow the new farmer some room to disembark.  When the bus came to a complete stop, the doors slowly opened and out walked a charming young woman with shoulder-length dark brown hair, holding only a single suitcase.  She appeared slightly nervous, though anyone would be under these circumstances.  For a moment, everyone stared at each other awkwardly, poor Farmer Michele looked even more nervous as her welcoming committee simply stared at her.  Finally, Robin shook her head back and forth to snap herself out of it and gave Farmer Michele a proper greeting.

“Hello!  You must be Michele,” Robin said with a warm, welcoming smile.  “I’m Robin, the local carpenter.”

“H-hi there,” Michele stammered, timidly holding out a hand.  Robin took her hand and shook it rather enthusiastically.

“This here would be Gus, owner of the Stardrop Saloon,” Robin said, gesturing toward Gus who gave a small bow in greeting.

“On behalf of the residents of Pelican Town, I’m thrilled to welcome you to our community,” Gus said with a warm smile, handing Michele the gift basket.

“Thank you so much, that’s so thoughtful!” Michele said appreciatively, setting her suitcase down to take the basket from Gus.

“Over here we have Jodi,” Robin went on, signaling to Jodi who looked positively delighted.

“Such a pleasure to meet you,” Jodi giggled excitedly, extending a hand forward to shake Michele’s hand.

When Jodi released Michele’s hand, she reached into her purse and pulled out the card that Penny had made with Vincent and Jas.  Glued to the front cover of the card were a few twigs and flowers that they had found around the valley and inside, the children had scrawled ‘Welcome to Pelican Town, Farmer Michele’ with crayon.  Jodi hadn’t noticed until now that the ‘h’ in Michele had been written backwards, probably by Vincent.

“This is so sweet,” Michele commented with a smile.  Jodi noticed what appeared to be small tears in the corners of Michele’s eyes as she read over the card.

“My son, Vincent, and his friend Jas made that for you,” Jodi explained.  “They’re really the only children here in town, but they’re very excited to meet you.”

“I’m sure I’d love to meet them,” Michele said kindly, carefully stowing the card safely in the outside pocket of her suitcase.

“And lastly, this is Sam, Jodi’s other son,” Robin finished, gesturing to Sam.  “He’s here to help in case you need assistance getting all of your belongings to the farmhouse.”

No one had noticed until now, but Sam was staring at Michele in awe from the moment she had stepped off of the bus, there was something about her that simply entranced him.  When Robin gestured towards him, his cheeks flushed at the sudden attention on him, awkwardly waving a bit over-exaggerated as though he temporarily forgot how to wave.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Michele said politely, extending her hand once more.  Sam’s hand continued to wave for a few moments before he flinched, realizing that her hand had been waiting in front of him for a handshake.

“Oh, hey, sorry, mice to neat you!  I mean, nice to meet you!” Sam exclaimed, shaking her hand with as much enthusiasm as he had displayed when he waved to her, causing Michele to chuckle slightly.  “Need any help with your stuff?”

“I think I’ve got it,” Michele answered, looking back at her solitary suitcase.  “But I appreciate the offer.”  Sam looked slightly crestfallen as Michele turned back to Robin to collect her things.  She had her suitcase in one hand and cradled Gus’ gift basket in the other.

“We should probably get you on your way!” Robin said excitedly.  “Mayor Lewis sent me here to fetch you and show you the way to your new home.  He’s there right now, tidying things up for your arrival.  The farm’s right over here, if you’ll follow me.”

All at once Gus, Jodi, and Sam began bidding simultaneous ‘farewells’ to Farmer Michele, waving excitedly as she and Robin headed down the cobblestone path toward the farm.

“Nice to meet you!” Gus called out to her with a large wave.

“Welcome to Pelican Town!” Jodi hollered, clapping her hands excitedly.

“Bye!” Sam yelled, a bit louder than he had intended.

Michele turned around briefly to wave back to Gus, Jodi, and Sam, then continued on her way down the path to Hidden Farm.  As she and Robin left the path and stepped onto the soft dirt, Robin gestured toward the overgrown farmland and looked at Michele uncertainly, hoping the poor girl wouldn’t be overwhelmed by the sight of her farmland in such disrepair.

“This is Hidden Farm,” Robin announced in a slightly high-pitched voice, trying to sound as positive and upbeat as possible.  “Welcome home!”

Michele looked out at the field full of overgrowth and debris and a look of fierce determination spread across her face.

“I’m home,” Michele replied with a nod and a small smile.

[oswednesday]

given how they just, didnt get to making marnie a character with a storyline i guess it was kinda tricky to decide what to even do with her but i Think i got it

i went with a piers is old skool punk music and shes New school so like electric! and also a theme of like cute pkmn that evolve into gnarlier stuff, like a Character Arc

battle one

(ability: hunger switch, moves: super fang, parting shot, stockpile , swallow)

(dont mind me just treating this thing like a hamster )

(ability: rattled, moves: sand attack, tackle, tail whip, nuzzle)

(this move set is ASS compared to the lvl 5 beast it could be like flame charge? double-edge? fresh out of the egg? like omg, but marnie’s thing is being like an extra cute girl so her pkmn are like nerf’d by cute)

(this battle happens in motostoke with the other would be challengers! only 999 make it out of the whole region, marnie doesnt have a sponsor like a company but all her fans! she has like a pkmn version of a go fund me and runs like tons of social media stuff, shes like, an e-girl,a pkmn self made idol! sometimes people go easy on her just cause shes like, Cute but also like her rabid fanbase is scary! theres team yell stuff but thats a bit different)

(cheering and jeering are mechanics! ill figure it out 100% for l8rs but its like cheering  lets you endure strong attacks, heal from status effects faster and raises your stats i think like in order like your defense, your sp d, your speed,and then any boost after that raises your hp heals a bit, jeering increases your likely hood of having a critical hit, lowers your sp d, lowers your def but then raises your atk and then raises your sp attack,   it would totally effect return and frustration, like rages would be stronger in jeering, maybe jeering boosts dark moves and cheering boosts fighting moves, maybe they can all be split up like ghosts get boosts with jeering, fairys get boost with cheering, dragons with jeering and so On)

(but anyway so marnie gets like that cheer boost basically every time, she comes in fourth at the challenger tournament!)

---

battle two

(ability: hunger switch, moves: super fang, parting shot, stockpile , swallow)

(this things leveled up but is moves stay the same!)

(ability: rattled, moves: charm, tackle, tail whip, nuzzle)

(this pup is a higher level but its moves just get cuter! she doesnt evo it rn)

(ability: static, moves: lucky chant, sweet kiss, tail whip, thunder shock)

(she adds a kinda suped up pichu to her team! v cute! wow!)

(idk when this battle takes place, but out of the four of the Rivals, she uses water gun on the mudbray for each spots, i think hop uses it once but then is like oh no wait, bede doesnt and shield doesnt)

----

battle three

(no updates, just a higher level! i dont have exact places for marnie’s battles but gym wise, she sometimes passes hop, rarely passes bede and doesnt past shield)

(no change, just a higher level!)

(same as above!)

(ability: cute charm, moves: camouflage, string shot, absorb, spider web)

(i did NOT sit though years of misty being made fun of for being afraid of pokemon just to have this teeny tiny cutie have unnerve!! people in pkmn world canonically dont have the irrational fear of bugs! begone!)

------------

battle four

(there are no changes except level boosts for the hamster and yamper)

(ability: static, move: lucky chant, quick attack, sweet kiss, thunder bolt)

(she evos this one based on popular opinion)

(ability: adaptability, moves: swift, covet, fake tears, baby-doll eyes)

(wow another Cute Pokemon! this is plot relevent! )

(omg idk how much to talk about plotline ideas or like, anything cause thats like New and exciting, maybe im already sharing too much already? much this is also like showing my work, gotta keep this nuzlocke honest)

----

battle five

(no move updates for any of the others! a part of me wants to be like, give them one new aggressive move but i think that’ll take away the Effect)

(ability: punk rock, moves: disarming voice, rest, snore, tear-full look)

(im letting it have punk rock so crying moves do damage more haha baby joke)

(you see this pkmn a lot in the game, im not even sure if i like it but i want to use it again? baby yoda effect)

(she’ll have her team order a bit shuffled for this, with pikachu going last, she’ll get it to dynamax without a band! i want to play off some of the plot points from detective pikachu since spikemuth was obvi inspired by it or designed in tantum with it)

----

battle six

(moves update: super fang, aura wheel, stockpile, swallow)

(i have a general idea of what i want to do with marnie’s plot so the next time you see her all her pkmn are swole)

(ability: strong jaw, moves: thunder fang, crunch, pursuit, hyper voice)

(it should tech have the other ability but im going with whats cool also i cant wait to make this thing look more fucked up an not like, the vanilla of dog shapes)

(moves update: seismic toss, magnet rise, volt tackle, thunder punch)

(im surprised they didnt do a galarian raichu that was like gorochu? i love raichu so i might not do anything gorochu-ish but i do like how this gen was like early gen concepts into actual pkmn! so maybe?)

(ability: merciless, moves: lunge, poison fang,giga drain, bug buzz)

(i was going to give it unnerve but its kinda boring unless youre up against a shuckle)

(ability: volt absorb, moves: pin missile, thunder, double kick, skull bash)

(i love jolteon and the way it has moves that are like wild and will fukc you up)

(ability: punk rock, moves: overdrive, boomburst, shadow panic, venoshock)

(they put so much like work into making sounds more viable for attack then added like two sound attacks that deal damage instead of like, a bunch? so i took one from a spin off game, ill treat it as a dark move, but hopefully the sound theme reads throughout this line up)

 (its like the cup team she’ll have!)

(im worried that some of these teams im building feel samesy cause im like Sees Stats Change Ability “okay but what if it did damage instead” but i hope theyre coming across like a personality!)

[1wngdngl]

Pokemon Shield playthrough

I’ve been playing this game a lot since last night, and I still haven’t gotten on the train yet ;) I like to take games slowly to make sure I notice and experience everything along the way. It looks like the best way to share my game progress is through screenshots, so that’s what I’ll do. Cut for length and spoilers - I’ve been trying to avoid spoilers and leaks for the past couple weeks, so if you want to be able to experience the games fresh yourself, now might be a good time to click away. [This post covers up thru getting the Dynamax band]

I went ahead with the “standard” female character, but you can bet I’ll be customizing her as soon as I can. What’s with that knock-kneed stance, anyway? Pokemon trainers should stand strong and confident!

Chairman Rose greets us. Everyone online was guessing he’ll turn out to be evil or something. He certainly looks suspicious, doesn’t he?

And here comes the first surprise of the LP - a brand-new Pokemon, not even seen in trailers! (except for that fuzzy 1-frame image from a while back.) Its trunk looks kinda like a soup ladle. Maybe it’s a play on a teacup/teapot elephant? I wonder if it evolves...

Here’s Leon fighting an unknown trainer - maybe a Gym leader?

I really like the art style of the map - it’s so whimsical :)

The map also shows current weather for all locations. Look at all the different stuff going on in the Wild Area at the same time! I’ve been to the real England, and I don’t remember it having such extreme weather...

The map also has a few useful features, like displaying your next objective, and showing the facilities in a town (but only once you’ve been there yourself). The towns and such all have really interesting names that emulate that old English sound.

First thing I do when I gain control in a new Pokemon game? Change the battle style to “Set”. It seems more fair, plus it helps make the game just a bit more challenging.

I’m a little sad that the old option to change menu/text box borders seems to be forever abandoned, though... >.>

My house. It’s a pretty decent-sized place. We have a pet Munchlax and a few Budew outside. My character practices her whistling.

My mom. Or “mum” as the game calls her. The dialog is noticeably slanted toward a more British dialect - I wonder how they handled the accent in other languages?

Speaking of my mom, she seems rather big compared to me, doesn’t she? Quite a bit taller. I’m guessing my character is around 12 - when I was that age, I was the same height as my mom and done growing. Maybe they think people won’t believe this character is the mom’s child if she’s too tall?

Also, my dream is to one day have a /dad/ in a Pokemon game. Seriously, why does every other house I visit have a husband and wife, and my character is always stuck being the only child of a single parent? What if in one of these games, my dad was the champion or the evil team leader - how fun would that be?

My bedroom. The pink clock on the wall reminds me of one from a previous Pokemon game - was it ORAS that had those round clocks on the wall that you could set?

My first step on my journey. Looks like my mom spends every minute gardening - I guess the Budew help her?

Ah yes, every Pokemon game needs a “power of science” guy :)

Here’s another surprise - how many Pokemon games give you a fishing rod right at the start?! Usually you have to track down three different fisherman to get the three versions of the fishing rod. I’m also happy to see that Pokeballs have their own pocket again :)

The handy map tells us where to go next, with even a little picture of our destination.

The champion of Galar, of course, has a huge house.

Wow, a Purrloin! I forgot that they stood on two legs. I like its little bed.

Also, Leon’s family decorate their house mainly in trophies.

I guess this is Hop’s room - I like his artwork. I know Leon has a Charizard - does he have these other two Pokemon too, and that’s why Hop has posters of them?

Leon’s room is mostly a shrine to hats.

Speaking of Leon, he really knows how to play to the crowd ;)

So, some people are wondering if /Leon/ will turn out to be evil in the story. I didn’t really get that vibe from him. He seems like a genuinely nice guy, but he does seem like he has some worries on his mind, like his cheer is sometimes forced?

Maybe he actually hates the limelight and gets uncomfortable with attention? Maybe he’s secretly terminally ill? Maybe there’s some massive threat about to attack the Galar region? He seems really concerned with making sure that Galar has lots of strong trainers. Maybe he knows something about the legendaries?

Alternately, some people were saying that maybe Leon isn’t actually a great champion, and his fights are rigged in his favor by the chairman. /If/ that were the case, I bet that Leon is actually unhappy with that situation and wants to make the tournament more fair.

Or maybe everything in the game is exactly as it seems ;)

Nothing important here, I just like this screenshot. I wonder if Fletchling are native to Galar too?

My first Pokemon! (in this game, at least...) I picked Sobble because he’s the most endearing.

My first battle! I like how the interface is laid out, and how detailed the background is beyond the fighters - you can even see Leon standing there.

My Pokemon's details. I don’t play competitively so I don’t know if it’s a particular “good” Sobble. It seems like this species is a fast special-attacker, so I’ll have to keep that in mind.

The Slumbering Weald (my spellchecker doesn’t even recognize that word :) ) It’s very spooky and seclusive - and it’s right next to the starter town too! You’d think if it was really that dangerous, people would put up more than a flimsy wooden gate to keep trespassers out...Hop, of course, is an idiot and runs right into it; and I, the spineless protagonist, have no option to say no. >.>

My first wild encounter! This starts the trend I noticed all during the opening hours of this game - most of the wild Pokemon are brand-new, totally-unrevealed species. Like this squirrel thing. (Although some people guessed we would get a new squirrel based on that shirt design). I wonder if it evolves?

This part was actually pretty scary, with the Pokemon (I can’t remember its name...) suddenly appearing out of the fog. The Pokemon acted almost like a hologram in battle though - my attacks couldn’t touch it.

What if the twist is that the legendary wolf Pokemon are just illusions, perhaps even man-made ones created to keep intruders from discovering some secret in the forest?

Anyway, we escape from the situation perfectly fine, because of course we do ;)

I noticed that this particular generation gives you quite of a bit of money at the start, but I guess that’s because you encounter the first boutique so early. There’s a fair number of affordable options too. Some of these Pokemon shirts I wish were /real/ shirts.

My new look :) Mostly I just ditched the dress for jeans. This looks like a comfortable outfit, although that knapsack is a bit unwieldy.

We visit the professor’s lab. She has a lot of books, plants, and a tea set. I wonder if she ever has problems with Polteageist?

The new Pokemon center design. I love that the move deleter/relearner and nickname functions are all in one place - I always hated flying around the map trying to remember where they were.

That Pokemon behind the counter is another totally new one. Could this be a Galarian Audino?

Using mystery gift, I was able to get this “Gigantamax” Meowth. However, due to my rule of only using Gen 8 Pokemon, it’s just gonna chill out in the box >.>

Leon is very generous with Pokeballs. Even the items you find on the ground are generous, often containing 2 or 3 “copies” of an item when you check it out. Is that a new thing for Pokemon?

Here I battle my first trainer that isn’t named Hop. He has that squirrel shirt and is a total pushover.

Just chilling by the professor’s house. It looks like maybe you can only fish in fishing spots (those darker circles on the water), but at least you get your fishing pole right away.

Also, I discovered that while I could not sit on beds or chairs inside, I am able to sit on this bench :)

The way the Pokemon mill about in the tall grass is very interesting. Some will try to avoid you, others like this Yamper will chase after you. It makes the routes feel a lot more populated.

I guess this is Sonia’s room. It’s very pink. I wonder if she even /wants/ to do Pokemon research, or if she’d rather be a fashion designer or something.

The in-game time of day doesn’t seem to match up with the Switch system clock, at least not from what I’ve seen so far. For example, suddenly it is sunset and I catch a falling star. (look how the reflection in the water changes :) )

I haven’t decided yet if I want to buy the Switch online service, but in the meantime I decided to at least pick my profile picture. The icons you can choose from actually reveal quite a lot about the trainer classes and gyms that are in the game. For the first time ever, we have a Dark-type gym! Their logo is a sideways version of Team Yell’s logo - does that mean that Team Yell or Marnie is the Dark gym leader?

I spent a while catching Pokemon around the professor’s house. I can’t tell if I got every possible species without looking online, but I did build up a good roster.

I found it really cool how many new, surprising Pokemon showed up this early in the game. There’s the fox one (which is a Dark type and reminds me of Zoroark), the turtle one (which has got to be a pre-evolution of Dreadnaw, probably the 1st of 3 stages), the bird one (based on the “Rook” in its name and the fact that it learns Dark-type moves early, I’m guessing it’s a pre-evolution of Corviknight), and the bug one (can’t wait to see what its final stage looks like).

I went through the party to find the best Pokemon that fit my self-imposed rules (only new, Gen 8 Pokemon, no overlap of types). I know that this means I won’t be able to use Galarian forms or Gigantamaxes of old Pokemon, but just because I’m not using them in my main playthrough doesn’t mean I can’t catch them :)

Next time: I step onto the train and leave my home behind.

[lord-rosenth0rne]

Pokemon Sword Review

Sorry, this took a little bit but there were some announcements that kind of changed my opinions toward the game in general and kind of opened my eyes to a couple of things. I’ll put everything under the cut so no spoilers for those who haven’t played it yet.

All in all, I adored the game despite the issues with it. The characters are great and well written. I did have an issue with the story, mainly Rose’s story for the fact it seemed a little out of place for him to do such a thing. However, once I thought more about it, I realized that I do know people who would make mountains out of molehills so it’s not all that Farfetch'd.

I do love watching Youtubers who play through just fall all over Sonia the moment she shows up. It’s absolutely adorable. Nessa and Bea weren’t far behind for them. My favorites were Kabu and Piers, Fire and Dark. I did like Raihan and Leon and still think Leon looks like a toddler who dressed himself for the first day of school. HOWEVER, in the battle tower, just- I want that outfit...

I did have a bit of an issue with Hop stopping me every time I took two steps and him commenting the same thing each time in battle (like the type advantage thing. Dude, I know. You’ve been saying that since the first battle. I KNOW about type advantages.) Past that, I find Hop charming and wanted to shove Bede into a locker for what he said to the boy halfway through the game. Speaking of Bede, I did like his development during the game. I just wish all that didn’t get washed away in the endgame when he insisted on you battling him when you had more pressing matters to deal with.  Bede was a pretty effective rival, one that gave me Silver vibes if Silver was adamant about being crammed up Giovanni’s butt (his father, for those who don’t know) like Bede was with Rose. Hey, at least Bede got his for making Hop feel bad. Marnie is now my baby and anyone who tries to hurt her will answer to me and Sword Doggo (who I named Skol. I will name the other one Hati when I get it.).

The handholding wasn’t all that bad in this game, not like how it was in Sun and Moon, but it could have been better. I felt like when you answered that you knew how something worked, they went ahead and told you anyway. It’s like your answer didn’t matter at all. I really wish they would bring back how Pokemon games used to be. There was the introduction and all, but once that was over, you were let loose and had to explore a bit. Sure, all Pokemon games are linear but when you’re being treated like an infant out of the gate and it’s constantly being beaten into your head that you’re ‘just a kid’, it loses its momentum for me. It takes me out of the story.

The story itself felt a bit touch and go in a couple of places as well. Like, we’d go a little without hearing anything before getting a slap in the face with a lot of information about the lore which seems will expand in the DLC. Won’t surprise me if a lot of things get either explained better or explored when they release. 

Speaking of the endgame, I wasn’t a fan. Don’t get me wrong, I ADORED seeing more of Piers and his personality and fighting alongside Kabu (they’re my faves from this region so far, though Kabu gets points from being from my all-time fav region), but the twins annoyed the living shit out of me. They reminded me of the twins from Super Jail if one got his head stuck in a vacuum cleaner and the other stood too long in front of an industrial-sized fan. They were excruciatingly annoying and really didn’t get what they deserved for nearly destroying the region. I hope that will change in the DLC or SOMETHING will be mentioned about it.

Okay. The DLC is something I wanted to talk about too. Before I had gotten my hands on the game and found out Absol wasn’t in either, I had a hunch that this generation was going to be treated differently than past generations, mainly for the fact that they cut down the Poke dex to 400. In hindsight, it was kind of obvious. The Switch is a new frontier for many games and it seems much more powerful than previous handhelds. Because the Switch is going to be sticking around much longer than the DS line, some developers are going to try to stretch the longevity of their games with DLCs. It might be extra money, but I see it as being better than buying a different rendition, such as how Sun and Moon had Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon that didn’t offer much more content for the money shelled out for it. Game Freak has had things planned out for years now and, though they’ve been under fire for a couple of things recently, I feel they know what they want and what they are doing. 

Of course, The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra have already been announced for June and November (like I said, game longevity) but I have seen rumors floating about for two more DLCs that, if not abandoned, should be announced later on and would possibly be released around the same times next year, after the remakes of Diamond and Pearl. And I am getting ALL OF IT. I’ll probably even reach out to anyone who didn’t want to get the expansions and send them the reintroduced pokemon or send them out in surprise trades. I know a lot of people don’t like this new system but I’m excited about it. I haven’t been excited about new games/DLCs in ages, actually. Not since the Hoenn remakes.

As for graphics, I don’t have much of an opinion. As long as it doesn’t affect my gameplay, I’m usually not bothered by it. With that said, this doesn’t make any complaints about the graphics by anyone else any less valid. 

One thing that has me pissed off is the Y-Comm. There is so much that should be done to it. The fact I can’t hide Link Code Trades or filter them out has me irritated to the point I have to take a step back and remind myself that the individual using LC is not the one at fault here. It’s Game Freak. I even use the LCs for trades with my friends but they take forever to load and connect. I have a very hard time connecting to Raid Battles when they aren’t linked and run into so many errors that I want to scream. I have to disconnect and reconnect constantly just to get it to show new Raid Battles and hope by the time I get to them, they’re still valid. Those RB cards don’t disappear soon enough. 

I really wish they would bring back the system they had for X and Y. I was in love with it and felt it was very well planned out with all considered. The Y-Comm is just one massive disappointment.

I think that’s it. I’m replaying it under a different user on my Red Rose (decaled) Switch Lite so I might notice more this time around. I already got a Shiny Wooloo within 30 minutes of starting my new journey so here’s hoping it’s a good one! I’m going to try to get to sleep but if you wanna talk about it, just either send me a message on here or DM me. I’d love to know what you guys thought of it.

[dwarveslikeshinythings]

Guys i saw beauty and the beast last night...

and i just... 

was kind of... baffled (?) by some of the choices? 

caution: spoilers/controversial opinions/randomy thought-vomity thoughts under the cut. I didn’t hate it as much as this makes it sound... I promise! 

*This got WAY too long, so I’m breaking it into sections. I’m so sorry to anyone that actually bothers to read this. It’s honestly just a reactionary stream of consciousness, for the most part. 

THE ACTING 

To set this up/disclaim: I adore Emma Watson as a human being. She is absolutely lovely, she IS and will always be Hermione Granger, and I’ve liked her in most of her other projects. That said, I found her COMPLETELY flat in this movie acting-wise (and don’t worry, I’ll get to her singing). I don’t think that Emma by nature is what I would describe as “feisty;” there’s a classy, sophisticated, “prim and proper-ness” to her that definitely has it’s place... but just not here. 

Belle needs to be fiery, empowered, passionate, and she just has to EXUDE that in everything she says or does. I think they did a lot in the script to empower Belle through the dialogue she was given, but Emma just doesn’t exude those things naturally with her acting, which I think is where the disconnect ultimately came from. 

So unfortunately, I was worried this would be a case of miscasting from the beginning, and I was sadly proven right. She looked absolutely stunning, but I personally never felt like I connected with Emma’s Belle, which KILLED me, because like so many other people that grew up with the movie, Belle was the character that no matter where I was in life, I always gravitated toward. 

Honestly, I just felt like I got more genuine emotion from 2 minutes of Human!Dan Stevens as the prince there at the end than I did from Emma the entire film.

THE SCRIPT 

I wouldn’t have thought this would be possible, given that the animated film script is pitch-perfect and even the Broadway show manages to be good (despite some completely worthless additions), but the script for this film was actually pretty bad. I’d give it 3.5/10. The pacing through the whole thing was... off, somehow. The relationship development between Belle and the Beast felt off-balance to me, and there were several scenes that I genuinely sat there going “well that was rushed.” (*cough* LIBRARY SCENE *cough*) 

Specifically: 

Why on EARTH would they have given the “I’ll show you to your room” scene to anyone BUT the Beast. It’s like, the entire tee-up to the Belle x Beast relationship???!? 

Also, they BOTCHED the whole “join me for dinner” bit, BECAUSE they gave the “i’ll show you to your room” scene to the objects. 

I was not a HUGE fan of the one-line backstory they gave the beast, something about “his father turned him into a monster” or something to that effect. To me, that “woobifies” the character in a way I’m not a fan of...  I always liked the Beast because it seemed to me that he had CHOSEN to be a bad person, he got his comeuppance when he was cursed, and he consciously had to decide to change his heart in order to break the spell. It took something away from the Belle x Beast arc to insert someone else in there to tell her “oh, he’s this way because X,” and for that to serve as a catalyst for her feelings softening.

Also, the whole Paris bit was super extra, and to me, a sign that the writers were like “oh crap, we haven’t done enough to build up Belle and the Beast, so uh, here, let’s have them bond over sadness.” Like... meh? (Sidebar: if you’re GONNA do the Paris thing and you’re GONNA have HUGE SHOT OF NOTRE DAME SMACK DAB IN THE MIDDLE OF EVERYTHING, I EXPECT A “HUNCHBACK” EASTER EGG. C’MON, DISNEY!) 

Shifting gears, NGL, I missed Gaston’s ill-attempted “wooing” scene at the beginning of the movie. It almost seemed to me like they were intentionally trying to excise some of the blatant misogny from his character... but... like... he’s SUPPOSED to be the biggest fuckboi in town... he’s supposed to be the character that you really hate. He should be narcissistic, mysogynistic and generally disgusting. I remember even being a kid being thoroughly disgusted by Gaston, and feeling like he really got what he deserved when Belle chucked him out into the mud. And I just... didn’t get that from this film. I mean, he became hateable later with what he did to Maurice, but there was a lot missing from the propsal/rejection scene for me. (Also I would have DIED to hear Luke Evans sing “ME” from the Broadway show.)

ANOTHER THING: not enough of the Gaston fangirls! They could have had SUCH FUN with Lefou and the girls all mooning over Gaston... not a huge deal, just a missed character/comedy opportunity, IMO. 

OTHER MISSING CHARACTERS: WHERE TF WAS MONSIEUR D’ARQUE?!? He was positively creeptacular in the original/stage version, plus YOU CAST ADRIAN FUCKING SCHILLER, WHY WOULD YOU NOT USE HIM!?!? My boy got seriously shortchanged. 

Also, how TF did Belle manage to pull off that full costume change while galloping away on a horse??? 

Final random casting thing: the village library guy was pretty young and hot (not at all like the old guy from the movie). If I was Belle, I’d have been all over that! :P

THE MUSIC: 

OKAY SO THE MUSIC: 

First thing’s first: HOLLYWOOD. IF YOU’RE GOING TO CONTINUE RE-MAKING EVERY MUSICAL UNDER THE SUN AND INSIST ON CASTING ACTORS WHO CANNOT SING, WE HAVE GOT TO RE-EMBRACE THE CONCEPT OF DUBBING. BRING BACK THE MARNI NIXONS OF THE WORLD AND LET THEM SING. AUDREY HEPBURN WAS DUBBED. NATALIE WOOD WAS DUBBED. THIS DID NOT DETRACT FROM THE FACT THAT THEY WERE INCREDIBLE ACTRESSES. DUBBING IS AN ACCEPTABLE PRACTICE. LET’S BRING IT BACK. 

Seriously, I am so BEYOND done watching actors that cannot sing BUTCHER great scores. Emma was so autotuned, it was honestly cringeworthy-- wayyyyy too saccharine, way too overproduced. 

That said, Audra MacDonald was a VISION, as always, Josh Gad consistently impresses me as a vocalist/overall performer (and his upper register), Luke Evans was pitch-perfect and Emma Thompson’s rendition of “Beauty and the Beast” was absolutely everything it needed to be. Even Dan Stevens showed up with some vocal chops, but that brings me to another thing... 

COULD WE HAVE NOT JUST HAD HIM SING “IF I CAN’T LOVE HER” INSTEAD OF WHATEVER GODAWFUL POWER-BALLAD SOMEONE DECIDED WOULD BE A GREAT IDEA TO WRITE. 

Seriously... I had SUCH HIGH HOPES that they would at least carry over the Beast’s songs from the Broadway show, because of all the songs they added into the stage adaptation, I thought those added the most to the story and gave some much needed dimension to the Beast’s character, with some introspective moments that were missing from the original film. 

Instead (I’m assuming for the purpose of making people buy the new soundtrack), they wrote an utterly CRINGEWORTHY song that was musically cheap and lyrically terrible. I am getting so tired of saying this EVERY TIME a new movie musical adaptation comes out, but producers keep doing it and it irks me. So here (for the umpteenth time) is a PRO-TIP: When you have SO MUCH fantastic source material ALREADY out there, JUST USE IT. DON’T WRITE NEW STUFF. JUST USE WHAT’S ALREADY THERE. 

So in the meantime, I’ll just be over here cry/yelling in frustration about never getting to hear Dan Stevens sing “LET THE WORLD BE DONE WITH MEEEEEEEE!” 

They also lost WAY too much of the original scoring in favor of scoring that was just, well... BLAH. Really missed the original scoring during the scene in the West Wing when Belle finds the rose, in particular. [ALSO... they somehow managed to take like... ALL of the dramatic tension/sense of danger out of that scene. I don’t understand how that was possible, but they did it.]

HOWEVER, I was delightfully surprised to hear “Home” backing a few scenes throughout... I do like that song from the Broadway show, and while I had no desire whatsoever to hear Emma sing it, I’m happy that musical moment made it in somehow. 

FINALLY, whatever GOD-AWFUL song they had Celine Dion sing at the end just needs to never be heard by human ears again. But Ariana Grande and John Legend sounded pretty good. 

LAST THOUGHTS: 

Would never have thought I’d be attracted to Dan Stevens all dolled up in ostentatious French facepaint, but whoops, I was wrong. 

Shoutout to Hattie Morahan for being delightfully creepy and gorgeous as the Enchantress (also, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY FEELS with Edward/Elinor in the same frame!) 

To sum it up, though: Stanley Tucci remains one of my favorite things on God’s green earth, and I just want to be Emma Thompson when I grow up. 

[wbwest]

New Post has been published on WilliamBruceWest.com

New Post has been published on http://www.williambrucewest.com/2017/04/21/west-week-ever-pop-culture-review-42117/

West Week Ever: Pop Culture In Review - 4/21/17

Star Wars Celebration (I can’t say that without thinking of Dave Chappelle’s Rick James yelling “It’s a celebration, bitches!”) happened in Florida last weekend, and we got our first teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Folks seemed to like it alright. I’ve never claimed to be the biggest Star Wars fan, but nothing about this really gave me a Force Boner or anything. That’s probably because Rogue One left such a bad taste in my mouth. Anyway, I’m sure I’ll see it, but it’s not really on my radar.

In other movie “news”, we got the track listing for Awesome Mix Vol 2 from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2., which comes out today. Is it just me, or is it weird that Mama Quill gave Peter mixtapes of all the songs that played while she was banging dudes in Camaros? Come on – she was totally that chick! Anyway, there are no real surprises here, as it seems to be in-line thematically with the first volume. Personally, I’m ecstatic that “Come A Little Bit Closer” will be introduced to a new generation, as I’m a huge fan of Jay and the Americans (check out “Cara Mia” if you’ve never heard it).

This rumor came out a few weeks ago, but it kinda floated under my radar: apparently Warner Bros wants to release 4 Batman-centered films in 2019 to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Detective Comics. This slate would include Nightwing, Gotham City Sirens, the Joss Whedon Batgirl, and the oft-delayed The Batman. Nice idea, but there’s no way this happens. DC just doesn’t have its shit together enough to pull this off. Marvel could do it, but they would’ve been planning it since 2012. It’s already 2017 and they expect to crank out 4 movies in 2 years? Shit ain’t happening.

Bring on the teen angst train, as we’ve got two more comic-based series just dripping with it! First up is Cloak and Dagger on Freeform, which looks like the Freeformiest show that ever Freeformed. It’ll be right at home between the show about the deaf girl and the show about the foster kids. I’ve never been a huge Cloak and Dagger fan, but the series follows teen runaways Tandy Bowen and Tyrone Johnson, who were kidnapped and injected with an experimental drug. The drug left Tandy (Dagger) with “light daggers”, while Tyrone (Cloak) has a mystical cloak that transports people and things to a dark dimension. Oh, and there’s that sweet, sweet interracial love/Jungle Fever aspect to things. Based on the trailer, it’s gonna focus more on the love thing than the power thing, which is understandable since powers are expensive on a weekly TV budget. I haven’t heard if this is actually considered part of the MCU, but it’s nice to see the Roxxon sign at the end, so there are clear ties to the universe itself.

The angst doesn’t end there, though, kids! We also got a trailer for Syfy’s Krypton series (which has since been yanked down) – ya know, the one that nobody asked for. It’s hard for me to get excited about Krypton when very little about that planet has ever seemed appealing. It’s most recently been painted as a cold, stoic, science-based society. And since they don’t have our sun, it means they’re powerless. Here’s what I don’t get about the trailer: the show takes place approximately 200 years prior to Man of Steel (I guess making it the first series to be an official part of the DCEU), but the monologue is of Kal El’s grandfather leaving a message for him. Um, how does he KNOW his grandson’s name is Kal El if he hasn’t been born yet? Anyway, it’s about Grandpa El, who happens to be a sexy, CW-ish twenty something, trying to restore honor to the disgraced House of El. The effects look nice (AKA expensive), but nothing about this show makes me want to see it.

There’s some laughter coming from a different comic-based series, however, in the form of Freeform’s New Warriors. I mentioned it a few weeks ago, but it’s been confirmed that Kevin Biegel of Enlisted/Cougar Town will be the showrunner, and we got a confirmation of the roster. Led by Squirrel Girl (who has never been a New Warrior in the comics, but I won’t harp on that), the team is comprised of Speedball, Night Thrasher, Microbe, Mister Immortal, and Debrii. I’m familiar with career Warriors Speedball and Night Thrasher, but I don’t know anything about the others. Considering Mr. Immortal and Squirrel Girl are Great Lakes Avengers characters, this is something of a hybrid team.

I’m the furthest thing from a foodie, but I love a good dairy-based gimmick drink, and this week featured TWO of them! First up, I’d read online that Burger King had been testing a Froot Loops Shake at certain East Coast locations, with plans to roll it out nationally today. Well, I traveled around until I found one that had it early (well, I didn’t travel too far – it was down the street from my apartment), as I had to see what the fuss was all about. I had heard it described as made from vanilla soft serve, with Froot Loops pieces, topped off with a sweet, syrupy drizzle. Sounds exotic, right? WRONG. Whoever thought of this probably got a bonus for the idea, but it lacks in the execution. It’s basically a vanilla shake with edible confetti in it. From Loops don’t really have a strong fruity flavor to them, so it’s not like it’s rubbing off into the soft serve. And when you do get some Froot Loop chunks through the straw, they just taste like flavorless corn cereal. I didn’t taste any kind of drizzle, and I kept waiting for the WOW to kick in. It never did. I drank this so that you don’t have to and, trust me, you really don’t have to.

Next up was the Starbucks Unicorn Frappuccino. I hadn’t even heard of the thing until Wednesday morning, when everyone and their mom was talking about it. Looking at it, I was reminded of the Birthday Cake Frappuccino that comes out in March (I remember this because it was out at the time Evie was born). I LIVED on those things for the two weeks or so that they were in stores, so I was expecting this to be more of the same. I wasn’t sure what flavor this one was supposed to be, but there were certainly visual similarities. Anyway, after dinner Wednesday night, I snuck off to the corner Starbucks to try it out. You’ve heard of a Butterface, right? Well, this is a Buttertaste. It looks cool and everything, but the taste…THE TASTE! Its marketing emphasizes that it magically changes flavors while you drink it, but I could never really nail down what those flavors were supposed to be. There was a pervasive muskiness to it, making me feel like I’d basically sucked off a real unicorn. Of course, that would be silly – everyone knows you’ve got to buy a unicorn dinner before it lets you do that! Then, near the end, the muskiness gives way to a hyper berry taste, reminiscent of the Blue Raspberry that candy scientists seemed to have discovered in 1992. At no point in the drink was it what I would call “enjoyable”, and even the whipped cream on top was disappointing. As far as I’m concerned, this drink can fuck off back to Narnia where it came from.

Things You Might Have Missed This Week

Bill O’Reilly was fired from Fox News following sexual harassment allegations. See, if he’d told Billy Bush he only grabbed ‘em by the pussy, he’d be President by now!

Nintendo officially ended production on the NES Classic, followed by rumors that an SNES Classic is coming later this year

Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck were announced as the directors for Captain Marvel. I’ve never seen anything they’ve done (Half Nelson, episodes of Billions, and The Affair), so I’ve got no real opinion right now

Speaking of Marvel films, Black Panther wrapped production this week, as Hollywood braces for the return of every living Black actor

Will Smith is in talks to take on the classic Robin Williams role of The Genie in Guy Ritchie’s live action Aladdin adaptation. Obviously, Jaden Smith will probably get the role of Aladdin.

Stranger Things co-star Shannon Purser came out as bisexual on Twitter. Well, she’s bisexual in real life. She just used Twitter to announce it.

Director James Gunn announced that Guardians of the Galaxy 3 would be the final iteration of this lineup of the team

Black-ish was sold into off-network syndication, launching in Fall 2018

Jane The Virgin’s Gina Rodriguez will voice Carmen Sandiego in a new animated series coming to Netflix

Steve Harvey will host a revival of Showtime At the Apollo for Fox

Fate of the Furious debuted to $532 million internationally, beating the record-setting $529 million earned by Star Wars: The Force Awakens

With its original pilot rejected by Fox a few years ago, Joe Hill’s comic Locke & Key will have a new pilot filmed for Hulu

The X-Files has been renewed for a 10-episode 11th season. I couldn’t even make it through the last 6-episode batch they gave us, so I think this is a pass for me.

For the past 6 seasons, I have pretty much hate-watched HBO’s Girls. I hated Lena Dunham’s dumpy, Play-Doh body which was constantly on nude display. I hated all of her character Hannah’s “problems”. I hated her boyfriend Adam. I had convinced myself that I was really just watching, hoping that the characters would eventually be hit by a truck or something. Then, this season came along. Even through all my hate, I had to admit that this was a pretty strong season. From Hannah’s odd interaction with a bestselling author to Marnie finally realizing she sucks at life, there were some great episodes of television to be found in this season of the show. I was also forced to admit things about myself.

First off, I always knew I liked Shoshana because she had enough sense to know that she deserved better than the friends with which she’d found herself. And I definitely missed her once she decided to finally distance herself from them.  I also realized there was much more to the Ray character and, while they didn’t exactly put a bow on it, I’m glad they led us to believe that he had found a happy ending. Even a character as originally unlikable as Elijah had some strong development this season, and he was truly missed in the finale, even though this chapter of his story had come to a close. As I already admitted in my Get Out review, I had to come to terms with my crush on Allison Williams and, by extension, Marnie Michaels. Yeah, she sucked at life, but she seemed like the one out of the four who had Tony Starked her way into that situation; she was the cause of her own problems. Once she began to realize that, the character held more promise. And I realized I hated Jessa because she reminded me too much of girls I’d hooked up with in college: damaged, tattooed, pseudo-junkies who are lucky to still be alive. And I guess Hannah reminded me of girls I’d hooked up with post college. Yeah, I hated a lot about Girls because, I guess, I hated a lot about myself.

This Sunday saw the series finale of the show, and I wasn’t quite sure I was ready for it. After a season that had given us a pregnant Hannah, but also showcased the dissolution of the group’s friendship, I didn’t really know how they could “end” the story. I was further distraught when I read an article last week saying that Jessa and Shosh’s final appearances had been in the penultimate episode that had just aired. While I would miss them in the final half hour, I had to admit that their chapters had also come to a close.

When we get to the finale, there’s a five-month time jump, where Marnie and Hannah are living in a remote house upstate, raising Hannah’s baby, Grover. Yes, that’s what she named him. Anyway, it was 30 minutes about what it means to be happy, but also what it means to be an adult and a parent. I like to think that Hannah finally grew up once she realized that Grover wasn’t another problem that she could simply run away from. The entire episode, she’s freaking out because Grover won’t breastfeed, but in the final seconds he finally takes to her breast. The look on her face is a mix of relief and maturity. It was then that I realized the show had to end at that point, as Hannah was no longer a girl. The entire series had been about millennial drama, as they skirted adulthood, but those times were over. The title Girls no longer applied to Hannah because she was now a Woman, with all the responsibilities that entailed. I used to worry about Hannah, and I sure as Hell worried about Grover when we learned she was pregnant. After Sunday’s finale, though, I think they’re gonna be OK. It was a finale that I had to give some thought to, but it didn’t leave me unfulfilled like Don Draper creating a Coke jingle only to end up hocking tax prep software six months later. For this reason, Girls had the West Week Ever.

[athenasdragon]

15 for the characters of your choice :D

this is so long I’m sorry

“Was that supposed to hurt?” (15) for the Stardew Farmer and Harvey

aka someone ends their first Spirit’s Eve festival with a concussion but they earned it through valor

“Ah, the newfarmer! In need of some fresh equipment, are you?”

Kya swiped at thedirt caked to the knees of her jeans for the hundredth time that day. “I’vebeen in Pelican Town for eight months, Marlon. I’m not really new anymore.”

“Compared toeveryone else you are. Come come, Clint just sent up a batch of hammers. Whatare you interested in today?”

Stretching hersore neck, Kya stepped up the counter and surveyed the weapons Marlon waspulling out from underneath to display. “Well, this being the last day of thegrowing season, I figure I’ll have a lot more time on my hands during thewinter. I’ve been getting pretty deep down in the mines and I could usesomething that’ll do a little more damage.”

“A hammer will beperfect, then. This one here has a little more heft, but it may slow youdown—nice workmanship on the handle, there. This wooden one is nice and lightbut it won’t pack quite the same punch.”

“Hmm.” Kya ranher hand over the smooth grain of the second hammer Marlon had indicated. Whileshe examined her options, he looked up at her curiously.

“You’re notusually up here so late. What brings you to the Guild at this time of night?”

“I had to bringin the full harvest and turn over my field for the winter, and then I realizedI was scheduled to pick up a new calf from Marnie today. That thing dug itsheels in and I had to wrestle it all the way up to the barn.” Kya paused toblow a piece of hair out of her eyes. “Then I started a couple of rounds of jamand some cheese, cooked half a dozen plates of food to deliver to people intown, and hauled half a bushel of corn to the general store while I was at it.Picked up my new pick from Clint, brought Harvey coffee, and now I’m here.” Shegestured around at the cozy guild, warm and firelit to protect from the duskchill descending outside. “This is the first chance I got.”

“Keeping busythen. Glad to hear it. Oh, yes, feel free to pick it up, see how it feels inyour hands—you know, you’ve changed quite a bit since you first arrived inStardew Valley. A few of us weren’t sure you’d be able to handle the farm’sworkload.”

Kya shrugged,hefting the wooden hammer to test its weight. “I don’t blame you. It’s been asteep learning curve. Someone more capable probably would have the wholeproperty cleared out and producing by now, but I’m getting by.” She picked upthe steel hammer and grimaced. “Yeah, maybe in another year I’ll have thestrength to do that one justice, but it’s gonna have to be the wood for rightnow.”

“Excellent.”Money changed hands and Kya slipped the hammer into her belt, where it restedat her side with a satisfying weight. “Will you be celebrating the end ofautumn at the festival tonight?”

“The what?”

“The Spirit’s Evefestival. Surely someone told you about it?”

Kya groaned andpinched the bridge of her nose. “Yes. Yes, they did. It starts in half an hour,doesn’t it.”

“Yes, in the townsquare.”

“All right.” Shesighed but squared her shoulders. “I’ll be there. I’m just gonna stop by thefarm first and drop off a few things.”

The night outsidewas crisp and cool. Kya shivered and pulled her jacket closer around her; overthe earthy scents of leaves and baked pumpkin wafting up from the town, thewind smelled like snow. She picked her way past the mine and down towards Robinand Demetrius’s house. If she walked briskly along the shortcut from theirproperty to her own, she could drop off her new hammer and make sure the doorto the chicken coop was shut and make it to town in time for the second half ofthe festival.

“Kya! Is thatyou?”

Kya jumped as adark figure came around the corner. “Robin? Sorry, yes, it’s me. I’m justcoming back from the guild.”

“Oh, fun! Lookingover Marlon’s ring selection?”

“Picking up a newweapon for the winter season, actually.”

Robin nodded andcrossed her arms. “Well, the four of us are just heading down to the festival.Why don’t you walk with us? There are spirits on the prowl tonight, I’d hatefor you to be stolen away in the woods.”

Both womenlaughed, but stopped abruptly when something unseen splashed in the dark watersof the river. Kya’s hand flew to the hammer at her hip before she caughtherself. Slowly, they turned back to look at each other. “You know, I mighttake you up on that.”

Robin laughednervously and gestured Kya around the corner. Demetrius, Maru, and Sebastianwaited in a group outside the front of their house.

“Are you sure youdon’t want a coat? It’s only going to get colder as the night—” Demetriusstopped mid-sentence and smiled when he saw Kya. “Ah, joining us for thefestival? Robin and I were just talking, we were worried that you’d be tooworn-out after the harvest.”

“I’m prettytired, but I think I still have a little party energy rattling around.” Kyashook out her arms for added effect, earning a laugh from Maru. “I probablywon’t stay too late but it will be nice to see everyone.”

The five of themwalked down together, Maru excitedly explaining the best toppings for caramelapples. They could smell the festival before they could see it: roastedvegetables, candy, woodsmoke, apple and blackberry and pumpkin pies. Purple andorange pennants were strung over the road at the entrance to the town square.

As soon as theymade their way down the staircase, Maru dashed off to the food table andSebastian wandered over to an enormous metal cage that stood in front of theclinic. Robin and Demetrius shared a fond look and waved goodbye to Kya asPierre beckoned them over to one of the tables.

Kya’s exhaustionlifted a little as she looked around. People were eating, talking, shiveringand holding their hands over decorative candles to warm them from the chill. Paperbats and pumpkins were stuck to every surface. Dry leaves skittered along thecobblestones as though hurrying home before the frost could catch up.

She was a littledisappointed not to see Harvey in any of the groups of people clustered aroundthe tables. Between the harvest and getting the barn set up she’d barely seenhim at all in the last week. He had been busy with a patient when she’d droppedoff his coffee that afternoon. The festival would be a good chance to talk fora while and catch up on both of their autumns—if she could find him.

“Kya! Planning totry your hand at the haunted maze?”

“Lewis! I don’tknow, is it difficult?”

The older manpressed a cup of what smelled like spiced apple cider into Kya’s hands and shecupped it gratefully. “Let’s just say the kids aren’t allowed in. Rasmodiusspent the whole day preparing it. It’s supposed to be pretty frightening.”

Kya thought backto the greenish spectral form she had hacked to pieces with her sword in themines the week before. “Yeah? Maybe I’ll give it a shot.”

Lewis beckonedher towards the path that led to the fountain and the playground. “It’s up thatway. And Kya? You’re a capable one. If you find anyone having a breakdown inthere, maybe you can escort them out.”

“I’ll do my best,Mr. Mayor.” She took sip of cider and coughed when it burned her throat goingdown. “Is—is there whiskey in this?”

Lewis winked.“Good luck!”

“…All right.Thanks.”

The haunted mazedidn’t look too threatening. Dark hedges stood about eight feet tall on eitherside, and Kya thought that they would at least block the wind a little. Shetook another long drink from her mug and stepped inside.

All of thefestival’s sound faded away in the space of a heartbeat. Thick silenceenveloped her; clammy white mist oozed along the ground and sent goosebumps upher legs.

“Rasmodius reallyoutdid himself on this one,” she muttered, and set off.

The maze was a crampedtangle of false openings and dead ends. Kya walked past the doorway she neededthree times before she even realized there was a place to go through the hedge.She passed unsettlingly-realistic rotted hands which protruded from the earthto grasp at her ankles and enormous hairy spiders, poised to strike. At the endof it all, she actually had to put her hands out in front of her and stepthrough what appeared to be solid greenery; it melted away from her fingertipsand she slipped through. She felt her way along a damp tunnel in the pitch darkand finally came to the chest which held the golden pumpkin.

She lifted thesolid metal trophy and slipped it into her backpack. Retracing her steps was alittle easier but still nerve-wracking, and she breathed a sigh of relief whenshe recognized the three-way fork that meant she was near the entrance.

“Ah!”

“Oh my—Harvey?”

The shape she hadbumped against turned around, but she didn’t need to see his face to recognize Harvey’sbottle-green coat. His glasses were slightly askew and he seemed to be shaking.“Oh, Kya! Sorry, I—I didn’t hear you coming.”

“Are you allright?” She put a hand on his arm and squeezed sympathetically. “Did you getlost in the maze? It’s pretty confusing.”

He flushed andlooked away and down. “No, um, I’ve actually been, uh, hiding. I got scared.”

“Oh!” Kya foughtback a smile. For someone who ran the clinic with ease and confidence, Harvey sometimeshad a tendency to get jumpy. Instead of sharing her amusement, however, Kyacrooked her arm and offered Harvey her elbow. “We’re near the entrance. Want togo back out to the festival?”

Harvey linked hisarm with hers and positioned himself next to her, relief evident on his face. “Please.”

Kya just nodded,temporarily taken aback by the force of her delight at feeling his warmthagainst her side and his arm twined around hers. He kept close while they walked,tucked slightly behind Kya’s shoulder, and she could tell his firm grip was tokeep his hand from shaking.

Left, left,right, and suddenly they were back out of the maze and the sounds of thefestival washed over them. They both relaxed their postures slightly. Kya feltvery aware of the heavy pumpkin trophy in her backpack and the soreness ofevery muscle after a day of hard work.

“Watch out!”

She stopped shortand looked around to see who had shouted. Marlon stood next to the large metalcage, a hand extended towards her, one of the bars behind him knocked out ofplace and resting on the ground. Several paces in front of him, and walkingright towards Kya, was a battered and chipped skeleton in rudimentary leatherarmor. As it walked its shuffling, loose-jointed walk, it reached up and priedout one of its ribs and lifted it above its head.

“Oh no!” Harvey exclaimed, loud enough tocover Kya’s expletive.

She tugged herarm out of his grasp and pushed him behind her, crouching a little out ofhabit. She’d only ever seen one walking skeleton, deep in the mines, and eventhen she’d only watched it from behind a boulder and then dashed to the ladderthat would take her down another level.

The handle of hernew hammer bounced against her legs as she crouched, and, suddenly rememberingits presence, she grabbed it in both hands and raised it over her shoulder,prepared to strike.

Every othercitizen of Pelican Town was still with shock as they watched the skeletonshamble towards its target. Even Marlon’s sword was still belted at his hip,useless as he gaped at his escaped specimen.

Kya waited untilthe skeleton was a few steps away and lunged toward it, swinging with her fullforce. The head of her hammer collided with the monster’s pelvis with enoughforce to knock it backwards a few feet. She gritted her teeth and steadiedherself, ready for it to approach again—when it drew back its hand and threwits rib with shocking accuracy.

It bounced offKya’s temple with an almost hollow sound, and as the impact reverberated throughher skull she could almost taste it. Someone gasped.

Kya’s armssagged, unbidden, but for the moment she was still upright. She took a steptowards the skeleton.

“Was thatsupposed to—”

“—hurt?” Sheblinked at the sudden change in light quality. Everything was white and verybright, and she seemed to be laying on her back. When she tried to look around,her head throbbed.

“Oh, no, don’tmove just yet.” A blurry figure appeared over her and then slowly materializedinto Harvey’s face. He had circles under his eyes and a concerned wrinklybetween his brows. “Kya? Do you know where you are?”

Kya smiledsweetly up at him. “I’m at the Spirit’s Eve festival, but it’s very bright now.Is it daytime?”

Harvey sighed andchecked his watch. “No, it’s—it’s 3:30 in the morning. Do you remember whathappened at the festival?”

“We were in themaze…”

“And after that?”

Kya frowned andtried to hold onto the memory. “Was… was there a skeleton? That seems wrong.”

“It does, doesn’tit? And yet here we are.” Harvey sighed again and pushed his hands up under hisglasses to rub his eyes. “Marlon brought a few skeletons up from the mines toshow off. One of them got loose and you tried to fight it. It knocked you outwith one of its ribs.”

“Oh.” Kya blinkedagainst the light that she now realized meant that she was in the back room ofthe clinic. It felt like it was piercing her eyes and scraping the inside ofher skull. “Is everyone okay?”

“Yes, Marlon tookcare of it after you went down.”

“Sorry, can we—canyou turn down the lights a little?”

Harveydisappeared from her field of view for a moment and half of the lights overheadswitched off. When he reappeared, Kya gave him a weak thumbs-up. “Thanks. Haveyou been up this whole time?”

“Yes.” Harvey’sshoulders sagged. “I wanted to make sure you were all right before I went tosleep. I may have, uh, dozed off for a little while there… but mostly yes.”

“You should go tobed.”

Harvey gave herhis best stern doctor look—not at its most imposing at this hour of night. “I’mnot just going to leave you alone down here.”

“Well, I don’tthink I’m up for walking home tonight…”

“Don’t beridiculous, I won’t send you home yet.” Kya rolled her head to the side andwatched him sit down on one of the other low cots against the wall of theclinic. “I’ll stay down here with you tonight. In case you need anything.”

Kya grinned, butstopped when it sent a pang from your head. “Thanks, that’s very sweet. I’msorry, this probably isn’t how you wanted to start your winter.”

Harvey smiledsoftly and then failed to stifle a yawn. “I don’t mind. Besides, you physicallyshielded me from a walking skeleton today.” He chuckled. “We’ll give you aconcussion evaluation in the morning, all right?”

“Sure.”

“All right.”Harvey leaned over and flipped a switch to dim all but the emergency lights,leaving the room dark enough to be comfortable for sleep. “Good night, Kya.”

“Good night.”

[ladala99]

Pokemon Sword/Shield Review - From a Dexit Critic

And no, I’m not here to trash the game.

So yeah, I noticed Sword and Shield went down in price a bit, considered how much that would make the Game+DLC, and decided it was worth a try. I was always intending on eventually getting the game for the purpose of having a primary source for Galar Pokemon for my collection, and the price drop was enough of an incentive to make it be now. Or, actually more like a month ago. I’ve let this sit before reviewing it.

Spoilers ahead!

What I Had Heard Before Going In

I had a very negative perception of the games due to pre-release info and the fanbase’s hate dump. These are the things I knew:

- Dexit - N64 Tree - Pokemon models and animations are the same as previous games, despite GameFreak saying they needed to be redone from scratch - Wild Area empty and uninteresting - No plot - Somehow there’s handholding despite the lack of plot - Game is too easy - Except Leon, maybe - Exp Share cannot be turned off - No one in the region will shut up about Leon - Hop will not shut up about type advantages - No exploration - There are two battle backgrounds - one for overworld that’s grassy and decent, and one for indoors that’s a white void.

The last one turned out to be objectively false - while certain indoor areas that have very few battles (like, 1 or 2 story ones) have the white void background, every route and major battling location has its own background, much like in Let’s Go, Pikachu and Eevee. And they look really good.

How I Decided to Play

Since I had heard that the Exp Share was stuck on and I had had really bad experience with that previously, I decided on a special ruleset. I would still use only 6 Pokemon on my team, but I would only ever have 3 Pokemon in my party at a time so they would level more individually.

I found that this ended up being just about the right difficulty. Lots of strategy, especially with the gimped team, lots of item usage, and lots of Pokemon Center visits. I did, however, end up having all 6 on me during Gym and Rival fights and the Champion Cup later in the game, though, as I noticed the difficulty ramping up.

I also decided not to get the DLC for my first playthrough. Part of what made me feel that the Game+DLC price was acceptable was the idea that I’d play the game once with just the base game, and then download the DLC and play it again as if it were a third version (on a second profile). And I decided that, after I finished the game the first time, I would set my calendar for three months afterwards to play again with the DLC. That time hasn’t come yet, so I still have only played the base game.

The Story

Now onto the actual review!

I seem to be in a minority, but I adore the plot of every Pokemon game Ohmori has directed, and Sword and Shield is no exception.

The story here revolves around the Champion Cup, which is pretty refreshing - the last game I’d say had the League as its primary plot (barring remakes) is Generation II.

And the story isn’t just about you - it’s about your rivals Hop, Bede, and Marnie. Each of the characters has a different reason to be pursuing the Champion Cup: Hop because he wants to be just like his big brother Leon, who is Champion; Bede because he’s an orphan adopted by President Rose, and he wants to live up to Rose’s expectations of him; Marnie because she comes from a small town barely holding onto Gym Town status since it doesn’t have a Power Spot, and she wants to make her town proud. As always, though, you don’t really have a story. You’re more of a force of nature that ruins everyone’s dreams.

Each of these characters has their own arc as well:

Hop goes from enthusiastic to realizing that he isn’t as strong as he wants to be when Bede (and you) beat him in battle. Bede, channeling Silver, taunts him for being weak and he takes it to heart, changing up his team completely for a while. Eventually, he realizes that using Pokemon he’s not close to isn’t working, and he returns to his original team. He gets really far in the Champion Cup, all the way until the challenger finals, but ultimately loses to you.

Bede desperately wants to be strong and make Rose proud. He collects Wishing Stones for Rose’s purposes while also crushing (most) battles in the Champion Cup. He has a drive to be the best, whatever it takes, and ends up destroying a mural for Wishing Stones. Rose finds out about the vandalism and disqualifies him from the Champion Cup, crushing his dreams. Opal, the Fairy-type Gym Leader, ends up deciding that he would be her successor, even though he didn’t want that role. Even though he couldn’t compete in the Champion Cup, he still challenges you to a rematch, disrupting the competition. Leon doesn’t mind and allows it.

Marnie doesn’t appear in your path too often, and her presence is mostly felt by the presence of Team Yell. Marnie just wants to compete fair and square, but Team Yell disrupt all of the other challengers for Marnie’s benefit, preventing them from moving on before Marnie finishes each Gym, and ultimately blocking the route to Spikemuth completely so no one else can compete. She tolerates her hometown fans up until they block everyone else, at which point she helps you out and scolds them. You face her first in the Champion Cup and I never felt more sorry for crushing her dreams because I felt for her trying to advance her town’s reputation.

The Legendary plot and the Villain plot do exist as well, and they feel pretty separate this time.

The Legendary plot primarily involves Sonia as she travels around the region learning about the Legendary Hero who turns out to be two heroes and two Pokemon. You accompany her to various statues, murals, and tapestries as she tries to piece the Legend together. Eventually, you realize the Pokemon depicted is the same one you and Hop saw at the very beginning of the game, traveling too far into the Slumbering Weald. You go back, find the Rusty Sword and Rusty Shield that the heroes wielded, and summon the Legendaries in the villain plot. In the post-game, as you and Hop return the relics, a couple of guys who claim to be royals and celebrities steal Hop’s relic and try to make that Legendary go wild. When they succeed, you battle that Legendary to calm it down, and your Legendary will appear to challenge you, at which point you can catch it. Hop then goes after his Legendary and befriends it offscreen.

The Villain plot is hinted at through Bede’s collection of the Wishing Stones, and there is a point where Dynamax Energy spikes where it shouldn’t be, but what’s going on isn’t apparent until the very end of the Champion Cup. Chairman Rose interrupts you right before the Champion match to awaken Eternatus in some vague hope to solve an energy crisis that wouldn’t happen for 1000 years.

How appropriate that this happens in a game where some Pokemon aren’t programmed in because “eventually there will be too many to fit" so they decided to stop well before there were too many to fit in the game. Because honestly: there’s room.

Eternatus goes crazy and causes “the Darkest Day” which happened in the past and was what caused the Legendary Heroes to be heroes when they stopped it. You and Hop awaken the Legendaries and do a Raid Battle against Eternatus, ending with you capturing it. Also there are some shenanigans with evil League Staff known as Macro Cosmos and a long elevator ride on the way.

A lot of the Villain plot Leon handles, much like Sonia handles the Legendary plot, both up until you and Hop need to awaken the Legendaries. So most of it feels out-of-nowhere even if some of it was foreshadowed.

The energy crisis, though. There’s no indication of that at all in the game. No one ever says anything like “the rate we’re using energy, we’ll eventually run out. But it’ll be long after we’re dead so whatever.” If enough people had that attitude, I could see where Rose is coming from!

But instead Rose just brings it up at the very climax, and he doesn’t have a good reason why he couldn’t wait even one more day for the Championship Cup to finish. It’s 1000 years in the future - you have time! To find a less-destructive method, even! Like, I don’t think the problem was solved in the end because you captured Eternatus so it couldn’t provide energy.

And no one afterward mentioned the distant energy crisis. No “we’ll need to think of ways to conserve energy so no maniac tries something like that again,” nothing.

In conclusion: Villain plot sucked, Legendary plot was okay, and Championship Cup plot was really good.

Gyms, Battles and Difficulty

Due to how I played, I can’t fairly score this versus other games in the series. I will say that if you’re underleveled, the game is really fun. Every battle on every route is a challenge, and the Gym Battles test your strategies and resources. Especially Raihan.

The fact that the Exp. Share is always on is annoying and caused me to play oddly. I think next time I’ll do a team of 12 instead of a split team of 6, though. Not having the right type matchups ended up making me reset a couple of times as the battle was unwinnable at my level with what I had in the party. I just worry that I won’t feel as attached to the team if I have 12 of them.

Especially since there really aren’t that many overworld battles. It’s especially apparent since the previous games were Kanto remakes, which meant games that had those maze-like routes with a gauntlet of trainers. Now there’s about  3-5 trainers per route, and there aren’t that many routes in the game. At the end of each route you will find one of your rivals that sort-of acts as a boss, but even then that’s still a very low number of battles.

All Gyms have 3 Gym Trainers and the Gym Leader, but what’s interesting in the puzzles. Especially since they’re the only puzzles in the game. Each one is different, and they’re all pretty neat. Also interesting is that Gyms don’t let you leave and heal after every fight. At least, I don’t think they do. I never needed to.

Overworld Exploration

I mentioned it in the previous section, but it really lacks. Routes are mostly-straight lines with some side paths for items, usually really short ones. Even Gym puzzles are really linear.

I’d say there’s two places you can get lost at all - Glimwood Tangle and the water route between Circhester and Spikemuth.

Overworld puzzles are limited to “go on this optional path” and “realize you can go between these bushes/behind this building for an item.” You can feel the lack of field moves.

The Wild Area

Okay, the exception to the linear routes is the Wild Area. The base game essentially has two, but they’re connected and you can access both parts right away.

It’s big, things respawn, the weather and thus spawns change every day, and the Raid Battles scale to your level. It’s really fun, but it feels like a side mode. It feels like something you would access by going to a different option on the main menu rather than something that’s a part of the rest of the game world, especially since it has its own currency.

It reminds me of the Sinnoh Underground except without the Secret Base option. As in, it’s something fun to come back to often, but, again, it’s not really part of the main game.

Yes, it has N64 trees, yes the pop-in is noticeable, and yes the terrain feels unfinished. It has problems, but I find it pretty fun.

My only real issue with it is that you have to beat all of the existing Raid Battles before more will appear, and they stay the same rarity when the date changes. I’m in the postgame, and I’m having trouble soloing 5-star Raids and I’m also having a hard time finding people interested in my base-game 5-star Raids. So I’m basically throwing myself against the same raid over and over again because I have no other options (I’m saving my Wishing Pieces for when I need a specific Pokemon).

Dexit?

Still a thing, and still an issue. I am attempting to obtain every ribbon my Shiny Minun can get on, and Galar still won’t let her in. It also means that if I use RNG on the full Pokedex to choose a team, I’ll have to double-check that that Pokemon can actually be used in Galar. It sucks.

The game tries to make up for it with a huge Pokedex, but that just makes finishing the Regional Dex harder. I used to feel that catching 386 Pokemon to complete the Gen III National Dex was impossible, and Galar has a Regional Dex of 400 species! (As did Alola in the Ultra titles, but it was split into three sub-dexes)

I’ve been tackling the Pokedex using the suggested catches, and I’m about halfway through and bored. I’m determined to keep going until it stops suggesting things, but it feels like an endless climb at this point, since every time I finish collecting a group, another group shows up, and since I’m not going in order, I can’t look at the scroll bar and see “wow, look at how much I’ve done!” I started with this method, though, and I’m going to finish with it.

The National Dex was never my issue, and making the Regional Dex humongous doesn’t help its absence. Because I don’t miss the checklist - I miss being able to use any Pokemon of my choosing without double-checking that I actually can. I’m actually glad the National Dex is gone since it means getting the Shiny Charm is easier. But with the Regional Dexes bloating in size, it’s not helping.

Pokemon Camp

Just going to mention that it’s really cute, but really shallow. And there’s not a reliable enough way to get berries for me to feel comfortable using the rarer berries in making better Curry.

It also gives Exp just from interacting with your Pokemon, so I avoided using it when I played so I didn’t have a chance of getting overleveled. Which sucks because I tend to really like features like this.

I don’t know if I’m going to try to complete my Curry Dex. With version exclusive ingredients that can’t be traded over HOME’s GTS, and the fact that I’m pretty shy about asking the community for things, I don’t know if it’s possible for me. It’s a cute feature, though. I just wish it didn’t require trading.

So Those Flaws?

Let’s look at them again, shall we?

- Dexit Still an issue - N64 Tree Yep. Wild Area is unpolished. - Pokemon models and animations are the same as previous games, despite GameFreak saying they needed to be redone from scratch Yep. - Wild Area empty and uninteresting It’s unpolished, but not empty nor uninteresting imo. - No plot Yeah there is, it’s just focused on the Champion Cup - Somehow there’s handholding despite the lack of plot You know, I never saw Sun and Moon as handholdy. This game is even less-so. - Game is too easy If you use a 6-Pokemon team that you keep in your Party, it probably is. - Except Leon, maybe I did not find Leon any harder than other fights. He is higher level, though. - Exp Share cannot be turned off Indeed. You really need to work around this to have fun. At least, I assume. - No one in the region will shut up about Leon It happened a bit at the beginning, but it didn’t seem gratuitous. - Hop will not shut up about type advantages He mentions it once a battle. Or twice if he hits you with one. I missed mid-fight dialogue, so I didn’t mind. - No exploration Very little exploration, yes.

So many are valid, but some of them aren’t as bad as people made them out to be.

Conclusion

Sword and Shield are very flawed Pokemon games, but they’re still Pokemon games and still fun.

They certainly aren’t all bad, and even do a few things right, like how well-characterized the rivals are and the Wild Area concept in general. This isn’t even going into Competitive since I haven’t dipped my toes in there yet.

I had a good time with the base game, better than I thought I would. But I can safely say Diamond and Pearl are no longer my least-favorite Pokemon games. That title now belongs to Sword and Shield.

[destressjournal]

Ranking all (109?) DCOMS

Yes! It will be a challenge but I already ranked all 58 Disney animated movies, and once I complete more rankings, maybe I’ll start a blog/podcast about that. Who knows.

The easy part about ranking the Disney films was that each film was unique. The Disney channel films....many of them are pretty similar so I have to remember what each film was about. And this blog can be my way of writing those thoughts down!

So here are my rankings for the 10 first ever Disney channel films!

10. You Lucky Dog

I never heard of this film before i decided to watch all of these in order. And I think there’s a reason. It’s fucking weird. Someone must have been high or something when coming up for the premise of this movie. Like I thought it was supposed to be a movie like Beethoven or Air Bud, just a cute little dog movie about a wacky dog that turns a family up-side down. But no, it’s a dog...therapist??? That had the ability to channel a dog’s mind when he was 14, yet built an entire business based on that ability that he LOST and never got back....and people bought into it??? It’s just the weirdest movie and I really didn’t enjoy a grown man acting and talking like a dog throughout like half the movie. It was weird. I liked the dog. But the rest I didn’t like.

9. Genius

This movie was also weird....but it was better than You Lucky Dog. The logic and the plot points of the story just didn’t line up for me, and the main character was extremely cringey. I had to pause every 10-15 minutes because I literally couldn’t take it. His acting was great! But the lines he was given aren’t good. The story is also really weird, like he was lying about his identity, enrolled himself in middle school while being a college student, faking an entire personality and purposely failed most of his classes, tried everything he could to be in two places at once throughout the whole movie, almost killed everyone in the ice rink due to his negligence of his machine, all to impress some girl. None of the characters I thought were believable, not because of their acting but because of the dialogue and the story, it just doesnt make any sense. But at least it’s about a kid genius and NOT a dog therapist, lol.

8. Brink!

When I first saw this movie I thought it was fine, and then I sat with it for a bit and it got further down my list. There are parts of the story that don’t make sense to me, like don’t you have to compete in the invitational to compete in the championship? Cuz the main characters didn’t even show up and they’re still able to enroll their team in the finals?? And it’s supposed to be a national event of the best teams in the country, and these kids literally just stroll in out of nowhere with their dinky dog groomer shirts, can just sign up, and then beat all the professional sponsored teams?? So yeah, this movie loses points because the logic doesn’t line up. But I think the lesson is good, that who you are is different than what you do, and that your value shouldn’t be determined by how productive you are at something. The execution of that lesson is a little iffy though.

7. Under Wraps

The first ever DCOM and it shows. DCOMs will never be like this ever again! It was more mature and dark than anything we have today on Disney channel. That alone gives it some points. However, as a movie, it’s missing the connection you make with the characters. I just personally didn’t think any of them were interesting. The mummy was cute and funny at times, but sometimes the slapstick jokes and gags were a little over the top. Also, I just kept hearing Patrick from spongebob every time the mummy made any noise, and that ruined it a little for me. I know it’s the same voice actor lol. But I do like the touch that the main character’s mom’s bf are the same actor, making the connection between them a little easier. And at least the logic (pretty much) lined up for this movie. I might watch every Halloween, we’ll see.

6. Can of Worms

This movie was only SLIGHTLY better than Under Wraps. And that’s only because I felt a good connection with the main character, Mike. You can tell because I actually remembered his name. He’s a relatable character to me and his acting was very good. I have personally met people that talk and act exactly like Mike, and I honestly think his character represents someone on the autism spectrum very well (I’m autistic too so don’t get mad at me stereotyping). I’m not saying he represents everybody, or even me, just that I’ve met people like him before. His desire to fit in and be normal, and then later his desire to get off earth, was I think the most powerful part of the movie. He truly believed he was an alien from outer space because it made more sense in his mind than believing he was just different, because there was no possible way he could be the same species if everything he says and does is considered “weird”. I related SO hard to this, because it’s exactly what being autistic can be like. I was really into the first half of the movie, and then....the second half with the aliens was just dumb. It became a generic alien monster movie, with some tiny good parts sprinkled in. But the ending just didn’t make sense....mike still plays football at the end even though he’s not good and doesn’t like it....? Like he’s still trying to force it because he thinks “this is where he belongs”. Like you could have easily showed him building robots with new friends in robotics club (something that he’s good at and likes) and then hanging out with the rest of his friends after to send that message home. That you can usually find a place where you belong. So anyway, this movie is stuck in the middle for me.

5. Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century

Now we’re gonna get into the more popular ones. I think I would have enjoyed this so much more as a kid, but I didn’t grow up with it. This was my first ever viewing. The movie itself is pretty good, and it’s so interesting to see what people in the late 90’s thought about what the future would be like. Flying cars, computers you can hold in your hand, taking commercial flights to space, etc. but it was all still based on 90’s technology at the same time, it was really interesting. The biggest aspect of the movie that makes it lose points for me, is Zenon as a character. I like her, don’t get me wrong! But she hardly changes throughout the movie. Yes she learns to like earth but then at the end of the movie she’s happy to be back in space and that’s it. Now, I haven’t seen the sequels yet, but JUST based on this movie alone, I think it would have been more valuable to show her traveling back and forth, or say “Hey Greg, wanna see each other next week?” Just something to show that she likes earth now. But even then, that’s the only aspect of her that changed. All the antics she got in were justifiable, she was right the whole time. It was on everyone else to change to see her perspective. And I just don’t like when movies do this. I need characters to have reasonable flaws and learn to either accept them or change them depending on the situation. Also, this is just a little nit pick, but WOW that song at the end was so bad yet it’s STILL stuck in my head...they call this a rock and roll song yet I didn’t hear any guitar or bass. Even the drums were just kicks and pops made on the computer, that doesn’t sound like what an actual drum sounds like...It’s just a pop song. Call it for what it is people! The lyrics were good tho.

4. Halloweentown

I’ll probably get some hate for putting this at number 4, but when I was watching another review on a YouTube channel, they pointed out how annoying Marnie was, and now I see it. She’s not unbearably annoying, but enough to be like “wow, this kid is a bit of a brat. I would never talk to my mom like that.” On one hand, I see how she matured throughout the movie, so I think it makes sense for her to be a little obnoxious and naive, she’s just a kid. On the other hand, you’re supposed to like your main character and root for them, which doesn’t help if you think they’re a brat. I didn’t grow up with this movie either, so maybe that’s why I didnt immediately put it as number 1, cuz there’s no nostalgia factor. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t like it. It’s still a good movie that I will watch every halloween! I liked the characters and the story, and things seemed to flow together pretty well. The only reason it lost points for me, were the over-the-top gags. I get it, the movie is made for kids, and I always keep that in mind when I watch these, but sometimes it gets a little too silly for a movie about a dark overlord who wants to get rid of humans. Idk. Still like it though!

3. The Thirteenth Year

Okay, I admit it. This one is a guilty pleasure for me. I’m sorry. I feel like Halloweentown should be at 3 and this one at 4 if I want to be truly objective, but I have too many nostalgia feels for this movie. And I like that the tone is more serious and there aren’t any silly over-the-top gags. But that doesn’t mean this movie is perfect, it’s at number 3 for a reason. The last few times I watched this were when I was a kid in the early 2000’s, so as a kid I loved this movie. And I was also obsessed with mermaids and I wanted to be one so bad. This movie kind of fulfilled this dream for me, and other movies like Aquamarine and The Little mermaid. But anyway, after watching this as an adult, it doesn’t exactly hold up. Sam is kind of an annoying character who doesn’t add much to the movie. She’s just the popular girl, and another reason for Cody to stay with the popular crowd. She gives him a picture of herself as a birthday gift...? I think it would be an okay anniversary gift for adults who are dating, not kids. It just rubs me the wrong way. Also, the kid who plays Cody is not a very good actor...he’s just okay. Everything else about the movie, still love!!

2. Smart House

I grew up with this one too, and again, they try to imagine what a futuristic house would look like in the 90’s. And half that stuff actually came true with things like Siri and alexa, which is pretty neat to see almost 30 years after this movie came out. Still what kid wouldn’t want to have a giant screen on their wall showing something like a music video, the beach, or a basketball game. Every kid wanted to live in that smart house back then. The movie still holds up pretty well today, not because of the technology but because of the message and the characters. All of the actors and actresses were wonderful! The story is so sad but believable. I’ve never gone through a parent death, but I’ve had friends that have, and it’s such a weird dynamic when the other parent starts dating for the first time after. I can’t imagine what effect that can have on a young child. At least when my friends went through it they were at least in high school, if not, college. So they had a bit more understanding/maturity about it. But yeah, the kid who plays Ben rocked his part. Some tiny nitpicks include the house itself being somewhat outdated now, and the side characters presence in the film. They don’t have much significance, idk. The movie really tugs at your emotions, and is definitely the movie that got me closest to crying so far.

1. Johnny Tsunami

This was my first viewing, as I didn’t grow up with this one either. Compared to Smart House, which is honestly just an emotional roller coaster, this is just a good movie imo. It was more epic, it had more diversity, great acting, and a plot that made sense thematically. There wasn’t over-the-top slapstick gags, and I think it teaches good lessons about life. I honestly thought the grandpa was gonna die because that’s usually what happens to old wise mentors, but I’m glad it stayed away from that trope and actually brought him back for the end of the movie. I thought that was an interesting touch. Basically, while I was watching these I was thinking “okay this can be done better” “I don’t like this” “this feels too forced”, but with this one, I was just watching a movie most of the time. I honestly don’t know how it could be much better. It’s still not the best Disney channel movie ever (I’m guessing), and it still has some flaws. For example, the girl character was being such a flip flop throughout the whole movie and was being a little too mean to Johnny. Another tiny nitpick is when johnny’s parents are like “yeah we’re moving to Vermont” I was expecting a little more pushback from Johnny but he’s like “awww okay” and idk what to think about it because it could be considered out of character. Otherwise, this is a great unique movie that I will definitely rewatch in the future.

For every movie that I watch, I’m going to review it separately and that’s how I’ll keep track of my thoughts as I go through each film. But this is where I stand for the first 10 DCOMs. Unlike the Disney animated classics, I don’t know what my number one film is. Right now it’s Johnny Tsunami but that is definitely going to change. I can’t wait to see what my personal favorite will be! It may come down to several.