#rockets postgame

[leavingautumn13]

Name: Darksun

Age: adult(tm)

Meaning behind tumblr url: Ghost faced bats are my favorite animal in a "he's so ugly, i love him!" kinda way

Hobbies/Interests: Uhh mostly drawing and writing! I also love playing video games (like fallout and pokemon which initially drew me to your account LOL)

Why you follow me: I love your art SO MUCH! Goals really

Random fact about yourself: biggest OC hoarder in the west. currently working on my sci-fi setting's story!

Question for me: What's your favorite moment/scene in pokemon emerald and why?

[introduce yourself!]

thank you for sharing about bats; i love learning about new animals! they are cute in an ugly sort of way. i love them.

and i love your art too!! streamer courtney is based, and i know nothing about fnaf but your art for it is so cool. if you ever post about your sci-fi setting, i'd love to know more about it!

as for my favorite scene in emerald, i gotta say i'm a groudon fan so groudon waking up is up there for sure. also the fact that this happens like halfway into the story and then nothing comes of it until the end. what was groudon doing for that time? where were they?? i'm so curious. i'm definitely getting into this in a fic don't worry

that being said, shoutout for introducing multi battles by teaming up with steven at the mossdeep space center, but also i'd like to know why we can't do this with other trainers throughout the game. let me team up with archie to fight maxie and tabitha at mt chimney. let me team up with maxie to fight archie and shelly at seafloor cavern. that would have been so cool. 3/10 missed opportunity

[kagooleo]

so with confidence I present my rarepair...fluffyriceshipping!

they were originally a joke ship (which was my last chance to get out) but they grew on me more and more throughout last year, and months later they've become my favorite pair to draw! their name was the funniest thing to make of them because i got to joke around with their jpn names

the tl:dr of them is that there's a lot of good drama to make of thirty-somethings with the weight of responsibility of their respective cultures on their shoulders, as well as their personal thoughts of the trainers of their respective regions, all this culminating together to be really compelling for me to develop, so I'll ramble a Whole lot more under the cut about them :D!!

~

ok now that the people that wanted to see more about what i'm crazy about when i'm not online are here you guys better prepare for the worddump lmao

before they meet its postgame and they’re both in their thirties (early to mid), lance post gsc/hgss still upholds his champion position and managing the dragon's den alongside any g-man/undercover rocket work on the side (in workaholic mode), riley post dppt is occasionally battling at the battleground but also holing himself up with patrols on iron island and doing egg research and training his aura (Also in workaholic mode)

i'd say all the work makes byron and roark try to get him a break from all that, convincing him at some point to take a vacation! see the sights my guy you've been workin yourself to the bone

it's canonically shown in hgss that riley does appear as a partner for the battle tower, so at some point he is in johto! the region resonates with his cultural sensibilities so maybe he revisits it again to instead actually relax there.

lance would probably catch his hat flying away when he's visiting elm's lab (a fellow egg researcher) in new bark and riley would have absolutely fell first for him (and i'm a sucker for meet-cutes,,,)

and from there they hit it off! being both skilled trainers in their own right they battle and go out to eat after and talk about their family (clair and the elders, for riley's case his family friends byron and roark), their culture (dragon clans and aura guardians), and then when they talk about their respective trainer kiddos (silver and dawn) something clicks between them (it’s a Really rough snippet but hopefully it’s decent)-

"Do you have any kids? I know the news loves to make up some kind of story about secret love affairs with a random person." the guardian says, awkwardly.

Lance smiles, "Oh, yeah! I have one but he's technically not mine." Riley chokes on his iced tea.

"I'm sorry?" A million thoughts roll through his mind as he processes his words said so matter-of-factly.

"Haha, sorry, sorry, I'm only partly joking."

"E-Elaborate..."

The champion explains the general gist of things as he's met him, Silver, his kid-by-odd-circumstance, was homeless for a while, but was training alongside some other up and coming trainers. Uncovering some Rocket related files, he learns he's the son of the boss of the entire organization, and after some on and off meetings he eventually got him a place to stay at the Dragon's Den, and soon after began living with him at his place when he warmed up to the idea of adoption.

There are times he gets overwhelmed with all that he's been through, and some nights its all too much. But Lance was there with him, stayed with him every step of the way, unlike the one who gave him that abandonment anxiety in the first place.

"He's my kid, not by blood, and maybe not by his family, either. But instead, by his own decision he chose to stay with me. I'd want him to keep the freedom he has now." Lance states, firmly. "And now he's grown up as strong as I believed he could. I'm proud of him, as much as he tends to deny that." Riley senses his draconic aura swell with pride, mixed with a humbling sincerity in his words.

"What about you? Any kids of your own?" the sudden flip of the question surprises the guardian briefly.

"N-Nothing adoptive but…I suppose it's similar, in a way to meeting them as you have."

The guardian's turn, now. Dawn was someone he met when he was training on Iron Island, and also served as a guide to get her through the caverns. When he felt something off in the aura surrounding the area, he eventually learned of Galactic causing the pokemon on the island to feel restless and agitated. With her, they were able to clear the island of their antics and even gifted her a Riolu egg on her journey. From there, he was impressed with how strong she was, and did hear from Cynthia that she raised his present up to evolving her into a Lucario. He couldn't have been happier.

That was the case, until he caught the aftermath of the events of Mt. Coronet.

What Cyrus did, the lengths he'd go to, and dragging the both of them into a mess that could have torn the world apart.

After that, Dawn stayed home for a while. Cynthia put him as a contact for her mom, who was really worried for her. With his aura and her friends, Lucas and Barry, they were a big help for her recovery. And eventually, after a lot of time and work, she became the region's champion. She messages every now and then to him, as processing any trauma is never an easy road, but he realized how lucky she was to have the people she'd met to keep her steady, and knew she'll be alright.

"I...still wish I could've done more for her," Riley says, quieter. "Cynthia told me about what happened in that other world, and it...it was a lot for Dawn, a lot of emotions to help her figure out." he finishes, sheepish.

"…I don't blame you for feeling that way, I wouldn't know what to do in a scenario like that, either." the champion says, unsure too.

"It's amazing, in a way. All these kids going through so much on their own. I'd be proud were it not so scary, realizing how young they are to go through what they have been through."

"There's only so much you really can do, as an adult. I've realized that fact a long time ago." Lance's aura felt oddly melancholic, as bright and pretty as it may appear. "It's either immediate or slow when things change for them, and sometimes you'll have to make a choice on the spot when the time comes for them to decide what they want to do." It sounds like he’s speaking from experience, but the melancholy makes it appear that he's had some regrets.

“I trust in them to find their own path, eventually. When they’re together, those kids are gonna be alright on their own.”

His reassurance helped, even if only by a small amount.

-

I should make some kind of master post about them at some point but WAH god I’m so happy I can actually put them together in pokemon masters, they’ve really grown on me and I’ve developed a lot for the both of them in my free time, but yeah this is the rarepair that’s been on my brain for ages now, a gaze into my goo brain 🤪

[revletter]

In the SMRPG remake, Geno is still around for the postgame fights. Here's a simple and awesome way they could explain that.

(I SO hope they do something even loosely resembling this. I have so many feelings, I made gifs about it.)

Up to this point, we know that there'll be post-game content where you get to fight bosses over again. And look, our blue guy, there he still is!

From this, it's safe to assume that in the remake, after Geno leaves to repair the Star Road, he turns right around and comes back.

Which is KIND OF A BIG DEAL. Because in the original game, it's heavily implied that for all practical purposes, he's certain this goodbye will be forever.

(😭)

For some time, I've had a little theory. I kind of desperately hope for some version of it to be part of the remake. Here it is:

Due to the events of SMRPG, ♡♪!? gets a merit promotion. Maybe, at the beginning of the story, he's not a full-blown Star Spirit (or whatever verbiage). But - as the one little star guardian valiant and capable enough to go down to the world to help save the entire Star Road - now he's become one!

And that comes with more freedom. Just imagine him crashing back down to Earth like "Yo GUESS WHAT PEOPLE, now I'm a STAR SPIRIT (or etc.) and I set my own schedule!" He can go back and see his friends! It's amazing!

And it fits exactly! With not a single caveat I can think of!

IN FACT, you might even say it's supported by a little discrepancy in some 27-year-old pixel art:

Remember the difference between Geno's first appearance and his last? He goes from this tiny lil twinkle guy... to a much bigger 5-pointed star. This is never explained....

((( Read on for my rationale, more gifs, and even more feelings )))

(the doll being bigger is not explained either, but humor me)

(and yes that IS him lighting things up like the Main Street Electrical Parade. I noticed that almost exactly a year ago and it rocketed this fandom back to the front of my So Cal Disney Kid brain so hard that I can't believe it took me so long to make this blog)

(only fitting that he would also usher in the remake reveal after an end like this. :'''D)

... But to me, it seems plausible that the little star's gotten stronger and grown! 💙

In the remake trailer, because I'm the kind of dweeb who does this, I went frame by frame trying to spot any telling differences -

(^ the scene where he's possessing the doll - this could just be a homage to the little twinkle he looks like in the original. even if that's all, I love the devs for it)

(more five-pointy? maybe? rev, did you just superimpose all the frames where Geno looks most five-pointy just so you could not quite prove anything? ABSOLUTELY)

Make of that what you will; all I can say so far is that we only see him kind of blobby. But what I'm secretly hoping is, maybe that's on purpose, so they can make it clearer in the game for the purpose of some big reveal like this. 😀

Anyway...

Wouldn't this be such a fitting and meaningful thing for Geno's character arc? I know one of the complaints among people who consider Geno overrated is that he doesn't really have an arc. Of course, his fans (myself included) either aren't bothered by that, or straight-up disagree, since he's central to the entire plot and goal of the game, and also literally the Mario universe equivalent of an angel, and maybe he was so reserved because he was trying so hard not to get attached even though we all know he totally did,

and also if he got an arc anywhere near Mallow's he'd be so compelling that he'd basically be the main character and they'd have to call it Super Geno RPG BUT ANYWAY,

I can't fully express, no matter how long I make this post, how much I hope they take a narrative route like this. It would be the actual best. My nerdy little heart would never be the same.

[jadeazora]

As a fellow cat person, 100% Nanu. (Plus, his background history with Guzzlord and Looker was honestly why I prefer the postgame of SM to Rainbow Rocket in USUM.)

[melonthesprigatito]

I always thought that the Ultra Recon Squad vanishing from the plot in USUM after the Team Rainbow Rocket postgame arc happens was a little weird and super noticeable.

Surely for a squad dedicated to exploring and studying alternate dimensions, a guy with his own pocket portal opener stealing villains from across the multiverse, (villains that ACCOMPLISHED THEIR GOALS and caused apocalypses in their home dimensions by the way!) in order to create a team with the goal of conquering the multiverse, that sort of thing is right up their alley and they could have easily intervened by having their Solgaleo and Lunala yeet them back to where they came from.

But then I figured, the reason why the Ultra Recon Squad sat this one out is because Team Rainbow Rocket decided to attack Aether Paradise, aka the organisation ran by Lusamine.

You know, Lusamine, the woman who promised them that she'd help them save their home dimension and stop Necrozma from destroying both Ultra Megalopolis and Alola. The same Lusamine that thoroughly BETRAYED THEM and Leeroy Jenkins-ed herself into the portal without telling them and fucked up so badly that she put potentially billions of lives at risk and nearly destroyed two entire civilisations.

To be fair, Rainbow Rocket was attacking Miss "I sure do like endangering your entire alien culture" Lusamine and her secret evil island lair, so I think the Ultra Recon Squad would be forgiven for not feeling overly encouraged to go help.

The second reason is because the URS saw that the Protagonist was on his/her way to help, the one who defeated their god with a magic singing fairy seal, and probably thought "Yeah, he/she's got this covered."

[pkmndaisuki]

so i'm seeing today's the 15th anniversary of hgss' release and i have... complicated feelings on it.

first off, i did get them both day one and i have the statuettes of lugia and ho-oh to prove it. i adored gen 2 as a kid so i was excited to revisit johto. what details of it trickled through corocoro scans and serebii thrilled me, and when i heard the leaked rival battle theme on youtube i cried. it sounded amazing and i was really hyped.

and i did just about everything you could do in heartgold, including the events back in the day (spiky-eared pichu, celebi, sinjoh ruins with arceus), and really liked the team i made. and i've tried to replay soulsilver (keeping my original save on hg) a few times.

operative word being "tried".

there's a lot that hgss changed that just sour the experience for me. for one, the new neighbor kid (the character you didn't pick). they make the once-skippable capture tutorial mandatory, they show up intermittently and only for things that weren't wholly necessary, and the bit at the day care where you're a) forced inside and b) the day care lady (who is neighbor kid's grandma) thinks you and their grandchild are dating? weird. we're 10 what the hell, lady.

it seems like game freak tried to repeat what they did with dawn/lucas in dppt, but at least dawn/lucas actually have plot relevance. ethan/lyra do nothing. they feel incredibly shoehorned in and you can't not interact with them as they pop up.

speaking of things you can't skip, the sequence where you have to dress as a rocket grunt to enter goldenrod radio tower. it would've been cool... if silver didn't bust your disguise as soon as you enter and then just go through the tower as in gen 2. there was 0 point to that. it was just an unnecessary time waster and i don't know why they bothered.

yes, it's neat going through a region with abilities and the physical/special split and modern moves that didn't exist before. it does make for a new challenge. but new doesn't always equal cool.

and my god the localization is just awkward. for one, 90% of the script was just lifted from gsc, games with much smaller resolution and textboxes than on a ds. for two, the new stuff doesn't gel well with the old writing-wise. for three, i don't think they even credited the guy whose translations they used wholecloth throughout the game and practically carried the first four gens of english pokemon games on his back: nob ogasawara.

i also don't think they credit him in other remakes that use his translations either. oras, bdsp and pmddx are all remakes of games he translated solo. check the credits of those next time you play them.

like the least they could've done was a "based on the original translation by" line or something. i mean, he's the one who wrote iconic lines like "I like shorts! They're comfy and easy to wear!" that are referenced in the english games to this day.

but i digress. the games themselves may have added a ton of new postgame content that's neat, i have 0 desire to go through the main game to get there anymore. i'd rather just play gen 2.

[themattress]

Pokémemories: Pokémon Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon

In 2017, the franchise brought back the updated special edition for the first time since Platinum...but with a twist: this time it was two separate copies ala Black 2/White 2. Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon told the same basic narrative as Sun/Moon, but with a different core threat: instead of one woman's madness, it's a coalition of people taking it upon themselves to suppress the dangerous Necrozma as it's slowly gaining power to escape its confinement, with evil methods that only end up causing Necrozma to be unleashed upon Alola instead.

As interesting as that is, it's really all the postgame material that makes Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon stand out. There are more features, more tournaments, the ability to travel to other dimensions populated by Ultra Beasts, the chance to catch every Legendary Pokémon in the series to date, and Episode RR, a story where alternate reality versions of all the major Pokémon villains take over the Aether Foundation as the base for their newly minted organization of Team Rainbow Rocket. All of this was done because Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon were to be the last mainline Pokémon games released for a handheld console. It was celebrating the end of an era. From the Game Boy to the 3DS, it had been one heck of a run.

[spyres]

Sending my evil influence to give you the floor to say why you hate USUM

okay so i do want to give a disclaimer that i haven't beaten either sm or usum since they released. i feel like my memory on them is still good enough to say my piece but just keep in mind that i may be wrong about some details and i can own up to that if i am.

since we're talking about sm and usum cw for parental abuse towards children

okay i will say upfront that i do think in terms of gameplay i fully admit that usum is superior. a lot of the stuff it added doesn't really apply to me (i only use pokemon that were introduced in that generation so usum's expanded pokedex is for the most part meaningless to me, and it kinda annoyed me how i was forced to play mantine surf to get to akala when i just wanted to get there immediately). the options are still nice to have, they just didn't add much to my personal experience, which is why i'm mostly coming at this from a story perspective. the ultra wormhole stuff was fucking awesome though i loved that.

so: sm. while i wouldn't say its depiction of abuse was perfect (lusamine was forgiven way too easily imo) i still appreciate the way it came at it. the nihilego poison was a reason behind lusamine's actions, but it didn't excuse them. lillie still got to give her amazing speech to her mother about how children aren't just dolls and gladion is a little more on the fence about it iirc, so there were at least still some repercussions for lusamine in that regard. it's a story that hit very hard at the time of release because while my mom isn't abusive, our relationship was very rocky when i was 16, so sm was very cathartic for me. i'd imagine it'd still resonate deeply with me to this day if i were to replay it even though our relationship has improved since then.

so the tldr of that is that sm had a slightly flawed but still brilliant portrayal of familial abuse that blended in very well with the overall theme of different family dynamics (also shown through guzma/team skull in general, hau and his grandfather, etc.)

so usum just completely shat all over that with how they handled the aether family.

it's like genuinely pretty offensive to me with how lusamine's abuse was portrayed here. she's not under any sort of influence because of nihilego here, she's just naturally very nasty and cruel to her children. lillie doesn't get to give her her speech and gladion literally says something along the lines of "she's not so bad because she's our mother." LIKE WHAT!!!!!! you take away the understandable (but not justifiable) reasoning as to why she was cruel in sm so that she's just always horrible and then take away the few repercussions she faces to have her be excused entirely??? this just feels like abuse apologism. it leaves such an icky taste in my mouth. and derailing into the anime for a quick second here, that also had a weird portrayal of lusamine too. i wouldn't say it was as bad as it is in usum, since it did ultimately stick closer to sm, but it was just sort of weird with them making lusamine's main issue be that she's just sort of overbearing and making faba into the real villain (who also gets let off with a slap on the wrist despite being responsible for the trauma lillie held on to for years).

like that's the main reason why i can't go back to usum over sm. i just feel gross playing it.

and to be fair, this game did do guzma and hau better in terms of writing, but why did it have to portray the aether family in that way as well. i don't even really remember what they did with hau aside from making him the final battle (and tbh i felt like kukui was still a better final boss. i like hau, but the "rival as a champion" thing was done much more effectively in the kanto games imo.)

also rainbow rocket was dumb and cringe and i never even bothered finishing it. to this day (aside from bdsp because i didn't play that) it's the only postgame pokemon story i haven't beaten. i tolerated fucking sordward and sheilbert but not this. also i heard that ghetsis physically shoves lillie to the ground in his section and i genuinely need him to die for it. and worst of all they took hot archie away from us 😔

like i won't deny that usum added a lot of neat features and sidequests that made alola feel more alive (and i already loved alola in sm) but i cannot for the life of me get past how gross the story makes me feel.

[kaiasky]

my dream mc modpack is i think

create and tinkers. disable slime islands.

massively nerf storage. the player's inventory and backpacks stay the same, but otherwise 1 m^2 is a max of 10 item types and 64 items total.

in exchange for that, it's easy to make multi block storage or to unify multiple storage blocks into one interface like ae2. By the early midgame "ah, I need more cobblestone, let me add another cobblestone warehouse" is easy.

you CANNOT void items. If an item would despawn, it places itself on the ground if it can. If it's not a block, it places a "refuse layer" that stack up and form piles. and if it can't find a valid placement location then the chunk starts dealing damage ticks to you because fuck you! don't try and cheat my system

whenever possible, gathering items should impact the world. mining requires leaving mines and spoil tips, forestry and farming require space, industrial processes are larger and get larger the higher tech they are. Solar power takes up actual space, no "tier 5 draconic solar panel" shit. (When possible this isn't just "10x10x10 multiblock" it's a series of machines that need to work together.)

uneven resource distribution, you have to go different places for different ores, i love when modpacks do this

There's an early item called the drafting table that lets you enter into spectator mode with copy/paste and worldedit features within a range around the drafting table. Inventories linked to the drafting table get used by construction bots to construct and deconstruct. Expanding the range and capabilities of your drafting table is an important part of the mod. To get you started it has an inventory the size of 10 double chests, but you can't place two drafting tables within range of one another.

Construction bots can mine natural blocks but they can't collect them, to 1) encourage actual mining solutions and 2) let you build underground bases without creating tons of spoil.

Chisel mod but more. Most decorative blocks are unified into 20 'structural base' blocks that can be stonecuttered into a variety of decorative blocks. So e.g. you automate 'wooden structure block' which can be stonecut (in the drafting table ui this is a radial menu or something) into logs, stripped, planks, slabs, various 'chisel' textures all at a 1-1 ratio. When mined, they drop as 'x structure block', preventing you from needing to micromanage which building blocks you have enough of. eg you don't say 'shit i need more mossy bricks', you say 'i need more stone structural blocks' which means bigger factory, not crafting montage.

easy and convenient wireless redstone and wireless storage info, but no ender chest stuff. data is easy to get from a to b, and materials require infrastructure.

thermal dynamics viaducts are the primary player transportation thing, bc i think they rule extremely hard. lategame transportation is the jump clone ichun mod. and/or getting fired out of artillery. you gotta water bucket clutch tho

none of that 'oh the endgame is making creative items with omega crafting' shit. you launch a rocket into the sun (the joke is that this is the only way to truly void items, so it is the Ultimate Tech) and the credits play. there can be 'postgame' stuff but i hate a modpack that overstays its welcome and makes 100%ing it the only 'winning'.

[veryimportantsparkles]

I'm still figuring out what Daniel's going to end up like. For most of my world sacrifices (the last Pokemon left in the file before you reset the game), they remember dying and then being brought back when you recapture them. On my Soul Silver team, Daniel is still figuring it out. I realized that, because I caught him in the Slowpoke Well, he's been personally victimized by Team Rocket (in both game files), and I think he's more aware of that than he is of the entire world getting reset. We just finished up Team Rocket's siege of Goldenrod City, and that means we had the second battle with Proton, the Rocket Executive who was down there in the well cutting off tails. Daniel recognized him, and that was the most alert I think the kid's ever been. So that's why I decided he has the little growing-back tail nub. He feels pain on a delay but that doesn't mean he doesn't remember it. Some time soon I'll have to talk to him about how he experienced the file reset.

I included a little drawing of Daniel with Danson, a Bayleef, the starter from the original file. Daniel is named after that file's OT, and that file's Pokemon (there are only five of them) think of him as being their responsibility to protect. Those Pokemon are sitting in my Platinum cartridge until we beat the E4, and in the meanwhile, my current Soul Silver team thinks of Daniel as being their kid to raise. He has two families in two worlds who care about him. Maybe I'll transfer them back in so that Daniel can explore postgame Kanto with them?

(Side note, the starter from Edmond's original file is a Swampert named Edson, and the two don't really know how to feel about each other. That Emerald file was complete, as opposed to Daniel's Soul Silver which was abandoned after one badge. Edson's bond with his original trainer would be much stronger than anything he could form with some new legacy character I offer to him. Edmond doesn't like to think about it, and avoids being around Edson.)

[evil-robot-cat]

I'm a little torn. I like that they retconned the kidnapping thing. At first I simply liked it because it meant Cait Sith wasn't in the Temple of the Ancients and was therefore safe. (Twist that knife, SE. Twist it real hard. 😐) But that's not what I'm talking about at this moment.

No, I've got my mind on Cid and Shera. Will they retcon him being a dick to her?

On one hand, I hope they will remove it. I want to see the Cid and Shera of postgame, completely devoted to each other, with Cid ready to fight God (and drag all of Rocket Town to fight alongside him) if it will help even slightly ease Shera's suffering. I want to see him dote on her so much that he names airships after her, and all the crew can talk about how is how much those two love each other. Having seen Rebirth Cid reflect on his teenage crush on Ifalna, I want to see Cid absolutely simp for Shera.

...on the other hand, I love Cid's moment of realization. When he suddenly snaps to what a jerk he's been, and how Shera endured it the whole time, when it would have been perfectly acceptable for her to break his teapot collection and leave his ass forever. And the huge change in him after - when you can tell (and later see) that he's going to spend the rest of his life showing his love and gratitude.

I'm kind of relieved that decision isn't in my hands, and so, so impatient to see what they will do in the next game.

[nelvana]

Back at it again with another pokemon playthrough, this time going all the way back to gen 1 and playing yellow! I had been playing this on and off again for a few years now, but finally wrapped things up a couple months ago. Those old sprites are fascinating. Similarly, I thought it would be fun to shake up the usual team drawing doing this in the original Game Boy colors!

Team stats and general gameplay info under the cut:

"Sunnie", Pikachu, Thunderbolt - Quick Attack - Double Team - Body Slam

"Frumky", Primeape, Strength - Dig - Low Kick - Rock Slide

"Spesk", Parasect, Slash - Mega Drain - Leech Life - Spore

"Memoire", Mew, Earthquake - Metronome - Surf - Psychic

"Beast", Flareon, Fire Blast - Sand-Attack - Smog - Quick Attack

"Leece", Dewgong, Headbutt - Surf - Rest - Ice Beam

General Playthrough Notes:

Gameplay total settled at nearly 20 hours! One of the shorter ones, I'd say; though, then again, there isn't really much to do in this game aside from the gyms and Team Rocket stuff.

We went in to the E4 with the whole team at level 45! Something that didn't go well in my old LeafGreen playthrough, but was perfectly fine here. The E4 wasn't that bad at all, honestly.

Kanto is not nearly good enough to deserve all the times I've played through it. I am so tired of Kanto and I'm not even done with it yet (I'm midway through a SoulSilver randomized apocalocke which, of course, has Kanto in the postgame, and I'm doing another LeafGreen run for some reason).

Okay okay so look you can see the mew on my team, I thought it'd be fun to have a mew! I missed the spots you're ideally supposed to perform the glitch in. I had just finished Cerulean City and then realized that the trainers I needed for the glitch were in that city! And I had already beaten them! I ended up using a dugtrio in diglett cave instead. It wasn't very consistent, took me a few tries, but eventually I got it.

Fun fact! At one point I was going to do a yellow nuzlocke! I ended up getting bored and realized I just wanted to play through yellow regularly, so here we are. In that run I caught Frumky though, which is actually what won me over enough to want to use her again in my actual yellow playthrough. It was actually that save where I traded with myself to get an alakazam back in my gold playthrough.

Gen 1 is so funny with how broken it is. I got so much joy in describing to my roommate all the fucked up things that were happening in-game.

Hey. Come here. Listen closely: I don't think parasect is as bad as everyone says it is. Even with the multiple x4 weaknesses in gen 1. Spesk was the mvp in a lot of fights, they packed a punch. Lovely little critter.

...Wish I could speak high praises for gen 1 flareon though. I enjoyed using Beast! But they really just don't get access to a lot of good moves. Beast had their moments, but ultimately didn't get as much screen time as I had hoped.

Similarly, dewgong? Not as good as I hoped. It really isn't quite as beefy as I had in mind. Poor thing. Again, still had fun with them on the team!

Having pikachu following me around and checking in with them whenever will never not be cute. We've been robbed of quality following pokemon in the modern games.

[salon-maiden-anabel]

Hypothetical Pokemon Chronicles 2 episodes and murmurs

Goh and the Symbol of Knowledge! Under recommendation of Professor Cerise, Goh travels to Cerulean City in the Kanto region to study under somebody who’s knowledgeable in various Pokemon. Much to his surprise that somebody turns out to be one of the Kanto Frontier Brains, Noland! What can Goh learn from him when it comes to high intensity battles where you don’t get to choose your own Pokemon? And what’s with that chill in the air?

-Goh meets up with Noland, after all his specialty is battling with numerous different species of Pokemon.

-Probably some lesson to do with Noland and Articuno, about non-caught Pokemon having just as much of a connection as caught ones!

-I think it’d be neat if they had a non-official battle y'know

A Battle Between Contest Royalty!

While May, Max, Serena, and Lisia travel around Hoenn together they have a surprise encounter while signing up for the next big contest: one of the Top Coordinators, Marina, is rumoured to be participating too! Will this be an exciting time to show off their skills, or will their nerves get to them? One thing’s for sure, this will be a contest to write down in history!

-GEN ¾ STYLE CONTESTS. Both battle and appeal sections. -I think May is the one to get to fight Marina in the final round, surpassing Lisia and Serena! May deserves to win <3

-Get to check in with Marina other than a cameo after all these years! See how her Pokemon have trained and see if she has any new team members!

-Have a scene of their companions/friends/rivals from their travels watching on the tv <3 [put Chaz in the anime watching Lisia’s section with Wallace, maybe cameo Brendan too he hasn't been seen since late gen4, idk abt Serena but may has drew Harley and Solidad! Maybe Norman and Caroline cameo. VINCENT AND JIMMY FOR MARINA!!!!!!!]

A Lumiose Mystery! Looker gets reports of a mysterious person stealing other civilian’s Pokemon at night across Lumiose City, deciding to investigate the happenings right outside the Looker Bureau! But just why does his young assistant Emma disappear at night, leaving behind her trusted partner Pokemon around the same time? Are they connected? Just what does this Essentia person have planned? And why does Mimi seem so determined to investigate?

-Emma and Mimi the Espurr debut! Loosely just the Essentia postgame X/Y plot in an episode

-That's mostly it if you know the plot You Know

Fight to the finish!

During his travels in the Sinnoh Region, Jimmy has to wait out before the next big tournament battle opens up. He decides to take his time sizing up the competition, little does he know Team Rocket is on the hunt for an elusive Pokemon nearby. Without his travelling companions by his side, he has to get help from some newfound friends to win! Can he, Lucas, and Brendan win against a returning and more powerful Atilla and Hun? Or will they be unable to stop their capture of the legendary Pokemon Enamorus?

-Some of the main characters we’ve seen have their own journeys in the movies and such! Return of Hun and Attila post-Ranger: Manaphy!

-Debut of Enamorus

A Time Space Conundrum! 

While enjoying some down time, Dawn and Zoey spend some catching up time together… But when a strange crack in the sky forms, can they work together to fight back the Pokemon that seemed to be summoned by the storm? And just what’s with these giant red eyed Pokemon?

-Get put into a space-time distortion in modern Sinnoh IDIOTS

-Quilava evolves into a Hisuian Typhlosion

-Would be interesting if Zoey also catches some sort of Hisuian ‘mon! Not certain on which tho

Tracey Sketches It All!

Tracey takes advantage of a much needed vacation, choosing to get a ticket for the Magnet Train to see the sights of Johto! While travelling, just what rare pokemon will he see? Thankfully, he started the journey with an empty sketchbook, so let's see what on the horizon he sets his eyes on!

-SLICE OF LIFE TRACEY EP!

-Travelling around Central Johto mainly! Taking some time to hang out and sketch both Pokemon and landmarks!

-Sketching lots of gen 1 through 4 mon!

-Later part of the episode has him encounter Celebi, who's happily snacking on some berries. 

-Gets a sketch of it done! With Celebi coming over to see it when it's done and trilling in excitement! It’s the final sketch in the book he brought, and he leaves with a big smile

Make Haste, to The Battle Zone!

Paul decides to head to Sinnoh’s Battle Zone to train himself before entertaining the offer of becoming one of Sinnoh’s many Gym Leaders. While lost on his way to the Survival Area he encounters a certain kid and his Pikachu among the mountains of route 225. Can they overcome their differences and make it to the Survival Area in one piece, or will they get turned around… Yet again!?

-Paul comedy of errors episode. Some scooby doo logic

-Ritchie and Paul get trapped in the mountains: the episode

-Reminiscent of DP046! Buck jumpscare near the later half though

The Knight and The Dragon!

Getting word of Iris’ rise to the champion title, Georgia takes it upon herself to train her team and challenge Iris to another battle. But this proves one hurdle; Her newly caught Doublade just doesn’t seem to want to evolve! Will some reluctant offered aid from Burgundy help, or is this a lost cause?

-Burgundy and Georgia weirdgirl rival-friends-would bite each other for a single chip-ness adventures (in unova)

-Reveal Georgia has since caught a Duoblade

-Evolve Doublade into an aegislash! The issue was…… Poor thing had an everstone stuck in its sheath it just couldn't get out.

some episode ideas post-journeys for a hypothetical Chronicles 2! Admittedly im not well versed on gen 6 or 7 anipoke charas at all so i cant really focus on them >_> anyways sillies

[definitelynotplanetfall]

I hate dealing with pipe throughput but it does give a role to fluid wagons, and a world where fluid wagons are replaced with low-profile infinite-throughput pipelines is a dimmer and less animated one. The new implementation will make them fully obsolete on Nauvis, and elsewhere once you get the fancy space landfill.

It will also mean I have to rethink how Brimstuff chemical waste works, since "scaled-up postgame/sci-mult builds will need to think about how to deal with the waste instead of just hooking it up to a single base-wide pipe network like you did up to the first rocket/blue science" was the goal. If you can easily route significant amounts of waste to a central location without creating train congestion, the different tradeoffs for how to deal with it locally don't matter.

I could keep the current implementation because every byproduct-y fluid process now has this issue, including vanilla oil, therefore making it in some nebulous sense Not My Problem. But that feels unsatisfying.

[brendathedoodler]

*raises hand timidly* about that Hero Mr L AU, in your last answer you mentionned s post game part of that AU, so does Mr L ever regain his memories ?

(Haven't actually played SPM yet, so I don't know much about actual plot events outside of "Luigi gets brainwashed and adopted by the bad guys, Mr L happens and is a riot, and he almost causes the end of the world when he actually regains his memories')

Wonderful question!

I have two versions of the au’s postgame, and in one of them he absolutely does.

The end of the world is avoided, Count Bleck and Tippi have vanished but are living happily ever after, Dimentio is dead (supposedly), and the rest of the villains aren’t trying to destroy all worlds anymore.

However, Mr L is still Mr L. Just as the villains go to leave, Mario reaches out and grabs Nastasia by the arm.

“You were the one who brainwashed my brother. Can you fix him?”

Nastasia confirms that she can. It would be quite easy for her, in fact. She turns towards the heroes and her glasses meet Mr L’s white eyes.

He freezes in place. He’s always been afraid of her, though he’s never had a specific reason why. Staring her down, though, it doesn’t matter why. He can’t let her get rid of him.

Mr L has heard Mario talk about how different Luigi was. Bringing Luigi back would mean getting rid of Mr L.

He tries to flee with his rocket boosters, but Bowser saw it coming. He snatches Mr L right out of the air and holds him down.

Nastasia approaches and Mr L panics. He shouts, he cries out, and he calls for Mario specifically. Mario had said that even if he couldn’t be Luigi again, he’d still love him like his brother, right? Surely he’s not getting to just let her destroy him? Right?

Mario does one of the most difficult things he’s had to do this entire adventure.

He turns away.

In that momentary distraction, Nastasia hits Mr L with her abilities. Bowser lets go, and Mr L falls to his knees. He’s struggling against it at first, but then slumps over. The magic disperses, and he slowly opens his eyes.

They’re blue again, no longer Mr L’s unnatural white.

Mario rushes over, elated to see that little difference. He stops in his tracks when Luigi flinches back.

Luigi doesn’t remember a goddamn thing that happened while Mr L was active. Some leftover feelings still remain, though, and tensions were high in the moments before Luigi was returned.

Peach kneels down next to him, gently rubbing his back and assuring him that he doesn’t need to worry, he’s safe now. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

Luigi mentions crashing Bowser and Peach’s forced wedding (which Bowser mutters something about). He admits that he remembers ending up in some weird monochrome castle, but he doesn’t remember what happened there or how he ended up here.

It’s then that he realizes just how he looks. Weird clothes, weird bandana, weird mask- wait, when was the last time he shaved!?

Mario laughs at Luigi’s bewilderment. Yup, classic Luigi. He goes over to help him up, and he he’s almost lightheaded with relief when Luigi doesn’t hesitate to accept his help. He’s also relieved that Luigi doesn’t mind him taking the mask off (Mr L would’ve slaughtered him for it).

“So… What just happened? Something obviously happened,” Luigi asked, and he notices Mario and Peach both freeze in place. Oh boy, it’s something serious then.

Luigi decides that now is not the time. “Actually, I changed my mind. I don’t want to deal with this right now. I’m going to shovel a huge bowl of pasta in my face and take a nap, then I’ll deal with it,” he decides.

Mario takes his hand and leads him to the tower’s elevator, a relieved smile on his face and tears welling up in his eyes. He tells Luigi about this place that makes incredible pasta, and an inn with beds so soft you’d think they were meant for royalty.

Luigi is fine, and everything goes back to normal. The world is saved, and all is well.

(They explain what happened to him after. Luigi doesn’t remember any of it, but it is a little scary to think about the fact that he did all that. Mario does his best to assure him that it wasn’t him doing that, it was Mr L. Luigi appreciates it, but he doesn’t mention the strange remnants. He doesn’t talk about knowing things he shouldn’t (the names of Count Bleck’s minions, their habits, their likes and dislikes), he doesn’t talk about the strange dreams he’s been having (of being trapped in a monochrome fortress, of being flooded with indescribable power, of Mario turning his back on him). Perhaps it’s best if everything Mr L was is simply… Buried.)