#pokemon liveblog

[the-evil-pizza]

Got celebi immersive happy new year to me

[tobiasdrake]

Fun fact: Whining over Ash and Misty's occasional "Will They or Won't They" ship tease sort of gave us official ages for Team Rocket.

In the Japanese version of Lugia's Explosive Birth, Fleura/Melody needles Misty a lot over whether or not she and Ash are a romantic thing. At one point, Team Rocket is nearby to overhear this.

The Rockets are immediately grossed out by shipping discourse for ten-year-olds. (A reasonable response.) Jessie snaps that Ash and Misty are "ten years too young" for that sort of thing. James, in his usual clueless fashion, follows up that he and Jessie, meanwhile, are "about five years too old" for it.

If you put those remarks together, Jessie and James are 15 years older than Ash and Misty. So, 25.

(Though they might also be 30. James's "five years too old" remark is kind of ambiguous and doesn't necessarily refer to the exact same age that Jessie's "ten years too young" remark does. In Japan, 25 is sort of the cut off point where it's considered weird to still be single. So if Jessie and James are "five years too old" to start dating, then they could be five years past 25.)

[pkmn-researcher-izzy]

Is there any research on whether Pokémon prefer a specific type of ball over another? I really want to make sure that I give Hecate a preferred habitat when I can't have her out of her ball...

[deerdeardarling]

Blue. Waiting for Red at the Veridian city sign.

I know why you are

[thee-radio-host-is-a-kookaburra]

i hope all carbink die and go to hell no matter what

[pkmn-researcher-izzy]

Congratulations!!

Sending all the best from Lilycove!!! <3

SO I HAVE AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

Dave and I have decided to actually get married, like legally. And soon like, next week maybe. Next Friday?

Not sure on the details exactly yet but anyone who can get to unova in a week is invited to whatever the hell we manage to put together!!!!!

[bulbagarden]

would you accept gas station pikachu.. .

[verdantmeadows]

Giacomo, Ortega, and Atticus (at least only because we've seen him without the mask before this) are all pretty recognizable for the most part, but God, ERI????? MELA?? Mela looks like she's TWELVE without her usual outfit and makeup and Eri is just, like, well. Unrecognizable. Although I'm so glad to see how they all look when not dressed up!

(And for those worried, no, this isn't permanent, it's because they're studying/doing makeup tests since they missed a lot of school as Team Star and Eri specifically wanted them to be in their uniforms since it's easier.)

[james-p-sullivan]

ive never been more suspicious of a man in my entire life

[v4mp-gabbi]

hey!! look at my mha oc!!

Gabi toshero,

her quirk is Basic but it’s voodoo!! she can control the bodies of a person as long as she has a piece of their dna attached to/ touching her somehow, the controlled person can however think freely, think of it as their the toys in dressrosa from one piece. the more dna touching her, longer she can control them for. Her quirk has major drawbacks tho, she can become immobile if she controls too many/for too long. and it can give her headaches and motion sickness so she only uses her quirk when absolutely needed, she relies mostly on her physical strength💪

S/O- bakugou, yes it’s unoriginal stfu. they have an enemies to friends to lovers arc.

[lucky-clover-gazette]

woman whose favorite video game of all time is breath of the wild: there’s just something about pokemon legends arceus that feels right

[the-evil-pizza]

Somehow menaged to get a repeat on the very first pack 😩

[tobiasdrake]

Team Rocket's catch phrases in the dub are sadly less dynamic.

The english startup to their slogan is, "Prepare for trouble/And make it double." This is fine. It opens up a lot of variations throughout the episodes. But it doesn't segue out of current events the way the Japanese slogan does.

In Japanese, their startup line is, "If you ask us anything/Our answer is the world's mercy." To be honest, I'm not actually sure what that means. The English slogan is much less cryptic, so that's a point in its favor.

But the point is, the slogan is actually an uncontrollable tic for Team Rocket. They literally mean it. They can't bear to have questions asked in their vicinity without it provoking them to reveal themselves and fire off into their slogan.

This happens in a lot of episodes. They'll be hiding in the bushes or something, and the protagonists are running around trying to find their stolen Pokemon. And someone will be like, "Where did they take my Oddish!?"

And then we see the Rockets in the bushes struggling to resist. Fighting with themselves. And then they fail. They explode from the bushes screaming, "If you ask where your Oddish was taken/ Our answer is the world's mercy!" And then they fire off into their bit.

Similarly, their departure bit, "Blasting off again", is fine. It opens up a lot of variations for the bit based on how they're blasting off. But it doesn't account for a number of bad situations they find themselves in where they don't get launched into the sky.

The Japanese line, "Ya na kanji!" or "This feels bad!" wouldn't be as catchy in English with a literal translation. It's pretty tame compared to "Blasting off!" However, it incorporates a wide swathe of negative outcomes. Several episodes feature a "Ya na kanji!" with no "Blasting off!" counterpart for this reason.

It also has a pair phrase. Sometimes when things are going their way, Team Rocket will announce, "Ii kanji!" or "This feels good!" This sets them up for their inevitable fall and "Ya na kanji!" exit. There is no positive version of "Blasting off" that they can use when things seem to be going their way.

I do think the dub did well enough for what it had. This was a children's show in the 90's, after all. The English script wasn't meant to be comparable to the Japanese; It was just meant to entertain American children, and it did its job at that.

But for me, having to adjust to the English voices after going through Kanto in Japanese, it's hard not to feel like something's missing. Ash asks Jessie and James what they're fleeing from and they go into their slogan instead. And I can feel, "If you ask us what we're fleeing from/ Our answer is the world's mercy!" in my gut, even if I can't hear the words.

[lycankeyy]

BTW today I learned that if you walk around with your pokewalker with no Pokémon inside (I was doing this while going out to get the battery replaced), sometimes a wild Pokémon will just? Join you? And you can basically "catch" it for free. It's insane how I've been playing HGSS on and off since release and there's still stuff I'm only just finding out LMAO

[deerdeardarling]

Blue is both gay and a little bitch

[unnecessary-feelings]

who up poking they mon