#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 🤪

[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."

[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.

[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.

[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.)

[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

[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.

[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.

[stardusttshowers]

*heelys in a few days late with a smoothie* hi can i get uhhhh 6, 25, and 13 specifically abt dim (dunk him into a lake do it do it >:3)

heck yeah!!! >:3 never too late for salt!!

6. Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?

OH this is a good one!! going into the spm fandom for this one but i can name one pairing i think!! that pairing is d*mentio/nastasia!

i didn’t used to like it before because i had no idea how they would work out and the portrayals i saw felt out of character compared to their game selves; but my spm fandom friends changed that!!

while that pairing isn’t one i tend to ship myself, seeing my friends in the spm fandom explore their dynamic in a “rivals and lovers” way made it all the more interesting and absolutely delicious; and now i enjoy seeing the d*mentio/nastasia ship! and thinking about their potential sometimes >:3

25. How would you end XXX/Would you change the ending of XXX?

this question made me think a lot!!

there is one ending to a certain show i watched that infuriates me really bad; but it’s mainly because I watched it for specific themes and things it pitched… that didn’t come through in the final execution? i really dont want to invite its fans to my post so i shan’t say what it is but that ending was really unsatisfying and frustrating to me and not for ship-related reasons, and id definitely change that!! the main character got the short end of the stick and I really don’t like that :(

I guess an ending that also infuriates me really bad that I can talk about is the ending to pokem*n ultra sun/ultra moon!! ive never played this iteration (only played the originals) so shoutout to my friend luke for giving me the gist but i would change SO much about it!!

they did lillie’s whole story so dirty here!! and instead of having her go off to kanto like the originals did, they made gladion leave for kanto!! they made her mother lusam*ne, who in the originals was an amazing villain and awful mother; into an anti-hero and the people in the games called her a great person - and SHE STILL HAD THE FROZEN POKEMON RIGHT THERE!!

the ultra games had cool fun concepts with necrozema and rainbow rocket, but yet they shafted lillie’s whole arc and story, something that gave the originals heart and warmth for these concepts they put in the ultra games. i guess id say keep lillie’s story like it was in the originals but find some way to integrate all that stuff into the postgame or in a way that doesn’t interfere with her story

13. Unpopular opinion about XXX character?

HEHEHEHEH TIME TO DIMMADUNK >:3

i have so many unpopular opinions on this clown and i’ll try to keep them concise because this post is getting Long as im full of salt today but here’s my top three!

- regarding the popularly theorized backstory: if you agree with this theory and have it as your d*mentio’s backstory that is okay, the different takes are interesting!! but my unpopular opinion is that.. to me; he’s literally just some dude. i never really connected the dots to that master magician story being d*mentio’s backstory in the game; and ended up making my own for my headcanons!! he is just some dude who happens to be a magician to me

- regarding d*mentio hurting nastasia at the end of the game: idk how common this opinion is but ive seen it around a few times where people have said that he hurt nassy intentionally and they think that’s why a ship with them together would be considered bad. my unpopular opinion is that he didn’t intentionally hurt nassy and make her fall unconscious! he aimed that bullet for the count, but nastasia took it.

yes, he hurt her and laughed at her “adorably hopeless gesture”!!! but it wasn’t his intention! it was meant for the count!! now what was intentional was d*mentio putting a floro sprout in o’chunks and luigi’s minds.

- ships with d*mentio: my unpopular opinions are that i don’t think that all ships involving d*mentio are bad!! i feel like he should be able to love somebody like everyone else can. but they’ve really gotta be written right to really hit with me i think, and a lot of the more wholesomely written d*mentio ships don’t really do it?? like.. he’s a messy person and does some deranged stuff; I feel like those ships can get messy and interesting if done right; which there’s a lack of that I think.

also this post got long, but I still wanted to link this!! salt ask meme here if you want to hear more salt!

[trans-clown-catgirl]

pokemon community hot take; i don't think Ghetsis and Colress had a power imbalance or that their relationship was abusive at all. more detail underneath the Read More because this came out longer than i had anticipated.

i don't think the abusive dynamic many people portray is exactly accurate, i get that ghetsis IS abusive and a total piece of shit, undeniably, but i don't think Colress was subject to that. i think that yes he was taken advantage of, yes he was manipulated, but i think to a degree, Colress knew that. after you beat him in the postgame, Colress tells you that he hated Ghetsis from the very beginning- ''For one thing, I detested Ghetsis from the start!", he makes it very clear that the only reason he cooperated was for his own benefit, to further his own research. the idea that Ghetsis abused Colress holds no ground in my personal opinion, Colress shows a lot of autonomy and ability to act on his own, namely, he sabotages Neo Team Plasma by giving you a device specifically intented to remove the Crustle barricade at Seaside Cave guarding the Plasma Frigate. you can't just say that it was on accident, because it would be a cosmically impossible coincidence for him to give you not only a device meant to energize Pokemon, after he had already shown you it can be used to move Crustle, but also have it break after a single use. if he wanted you to just have a silly little device to energize pokemon for your own personal use, why would he not just give you the colress machine he used back at Castelia City? he ALLOWED you to go into the Plasma Frigate and intervene, he willingly sabotaged them with seemingly no hesitation, and his confidence never once falters during the whole ordeal, not from the moment to met him to the moment you battle him.

it's also worth noting- Colress is an exceptionally strong trainer, much better than Ghetsis. he's shown to have a lot of battle experience, and his postgame team is incredibly competent, possessing Pokemon with full item builds, an eviolite Magneton, a pseudo legendary in Metagross, the single best Rotom form in Rotom-Wash, and a Magnezone which is a Pokemon with a LOT of amazing traits, and one he uses in your third battle with him, at the Frigate.

you could say it's just this good because it's a postgame team, because it's simple game design, but in his Frigate battle he still has a Metang, the eviolite Magneton, Magnezone, and an Air Balloon Klinklang (which is unusually clever item usage for an NPC, getting rid of Steel's Ground weakness). he's a smart, competent trainer, as opposed to Ghetsis who is incredibly impulsive and driven by anger. not to mention, Colress knows how to operate the Frigate in detail, which Ghetsis is never shown to do. so by all means, if facing aggression from Ghetsis, Colress can put him in his place and remind him he holds no power over him, that their relationship is one of mutual benefit, and that he's not going to be ordered around, he's not subject to Ghetsis' whims. he's a better trainer so his pokemon are more than apt enough at providing self defense, he's smarter than Ghetsis, he knows the inner functionings of the very ship they're on better than Ghetsis does, and overall he holds every advantage possible he could against Ghetsis. and his lack of hesitation to sabotage Ghetsis, how openly he states his hatred for that man, the way he later intervenes in the Rainbow Rocket episode of USUM simply out of sheer hatred for Ghetsis more than any affiliation to the Aether Foundation, even going so far as to steal the Master Ball that Ghetsis had stored away after his defeat at the end of BW2, despite knowing damn well the Shadow Triad still follows Ghetsis and acts in his steed, Colress was never powerless against Ghetsis.

he didn't just grow a backbone later, he's always been like this. he's not a victim, he was just as guilty of the things that happened in BW2 as Ghetsis was. he's morally gray, that's the point of his character- being a Chaotic Neutral who can be either a great asset or great threat depending on who makes the most compelling argument to him as to how he should go about things, how to conduct his research. Ghetsis convinced him one way, then the player convinced him the other way, and he's stayed on that path since, purely because no one has really made a good enough argument for him to do anything as reprehensible as the things he did in BW2. he's not iron-clad, obviously! in USUM, he develops the N-Solarizer and N-Lunarizer, used to fuse Solgaleo and Lunala, with no concern as to how ethical the procedure may be, even stating he has experience with Pokemon fusion, showing that if he does regret what he did, it's clearly not to a strong emotional level. he wasn't forced to do what he did, there wasn't a power imbalance, and while i do respect the narrative weight of how some people portray his relationship with Ghetsis, i think that as far as the game goes, it's very unsupported and it shouldn't be stated as fact, like some people say it is.

tl;dr: Colress is not a victim, and i personally think people who argue as such completely miss the point of his morally gray nature and ability to be swayed into doing horrible things by anyone who makes a compelling enough argument and gives him the resources he needs. Ghetsis is still a scumbag, he still absolutely abused N and did horrible things, he has victims, but Colress is NOT one of them.

[crystalelemental]

“books-are-my-life-stuff: Oh, you reminded me. Alola was actually my second favorite region after finishing Pokemon Moon for the first time. Despite the unfair difficulty of Totem fights, I enjoyed the environment, lore, legendaries, and especially characters of Alola. They were great, they felt welcoming, the characters felt very close to me, I love the tradition, and I felt "at home" in Alola.“

That’s fair, I won’t really argue that.  I do like the legends and the UBs, and I can get that someone might enjoy it.

“However, Alola now falls to fourth place after playing Ultra Moon only in span of a month after Moon. It's probably my fault, I should have given more time between the two games, but back then I didn't expect 80% of USUM as just rehash of Pokemon Moon, and the changes that USUM made, some are great (the QoL improvements, Hau being more awesome) but some are...not as much personally (Lusamine's character, the Rainbow Rocket postgame).

After some time, the flaws of Alola games for me start to show as I slowly get over the hype. I think it has similar problems as with every games in later gens: they leave other characters severely underdeveloped. Sure, it's not like Kalos where every single character is underdeveloped, but characters that aren't the Aether family are very much overlooked. SwSh fixed that a little bit but Marnie is still underdeveloped compared to Bede and Hop.

As a result, fans tend to focus solely on the developed characters: the Aether family, especially Lillie. Alola characters that aren't Aether family tend to be great as groups but as individuals they don't have much, there are obviously some exceptions like Hau, Kukui, Guzma, but even then they're still underdeveloped compared to Aether family. And the manga of Alola generation doesn't fix this at all, even though the XY version of the manga was great.”

In fairness, a lot of the “third” games tend to just be...mostly the same exact game, so I don’t think that’s what hindered it.  Almost the opposite; what they did change just wasn’t changed for the better, like the adjustment to Lusamine or the inclusion of Rainbow Rocket.  Other characters have always been fairly under-developed, but I think the problem is that as the games became more story-centric, it starts to hit a little worse.  When the games were mostly just straight gameplay with very few stops, it didn’t matter that gym leaders and the like weren’t that well developed.  You get a little bit, and you develop from there.  But in games where every goddamned route is at least one cutscene, sometimes multiple, it starts to hurt that you don’t actually know much about them.  It always especially bothered me in Gen 7 that you don’t actually battle the trial captains.  They may as well not even be there.  I know there’s supposed to be some what to face off against them, but for the life of me I don’t think I ever figured out how to do it.  So I don’t blame anyone for latching on to the few that did get that focus.

Also I’m kinda surprised the manga doesn’t do more.  I figured that was one thing I could count on with it.  I think the anime involved a lot of the trial captains.  I guess if you want character, that’s what you have to go with.

“I dunno, maybe I'm just holding an unreasonably high standard for modern Pokemon games in terms of story and characterization after Unova, which I still consider as the best, but Unova really did a great job in making a lot of characters memorable and relevant to the plot somehow, modern Pokemon games tried but kept failing to do so. If only the focus weren't too much on the Aether family and more balanced, the Alola characters would probably be stronger.

I still like Hau the most among all Alola characters though, despite him being underdeveloped and the manga proves that he still can be sidelined even further than the main games.”

No, I think that’s fair.  Considering they did do a good job with the development of a cast with Unova, I think it’s reasonable to expect a bit more from the later games as well.  There shouldn’t be any reason for the reduction in quality of what’s produced, and personally I’ll go to my grave blaming the decision to move to 3D models without extending the development cycle.  I feel like it’s super easy to track that as soon as they made that shift, things started falling apart in terms of content being cut or not fully fleshed out or recently just kinda not looking great.  It’s messy.

[monarchisms]

Oh yeah I think that that post about the Pokemon world mentioned it too. The remakes are, canonically, different universes than their original games. So characters who look differently (like Archie, in this case) exist in both forms, in separate universes. Generally the Pokemon canon refers to whichever appearance came most recently (hence why most stuff uses his less pale appearance), but sometimes they sidestep it (like in this case, where the winning Archie came from an RSE-adjecent universe, and thus had that appearance). But yeah it's kind of a clusterfuck, especially if you're not a huge Pokemon nerd like myself, haha. USUM's postgame with Team Rainbow Rocket really was Such a move.

yeah, that might as well happen

[barilleon]

Leon I haven't had friends who're super in to pokemon before, but I want to play in the Rockets Underground you're setting up in the shitpit. I've played through a few of the games before but not much outside of that, what would you recommend reading/watching/playing to get a better understanding?

OH MAN Dig are you ready for the Team Rocket Primer?

Games

Kanto - FireRed/LeafGreen has the most Team Rocket content, including a postgame encounter that leads directly into Gen II. If you don't want to deal with that, though, Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee is super fun too!

Johto - HeartGold/SoulSilver is the king here. It fleshes out the Rocket admins more. There was also a special cutscene that you could only experience if you had an event celebi that is important to watch.

Anime

Pokemon the First Movie - This movie fucking slaps, it's very important to the Pokemon canon. IMO the quintessential watchable Pokemon experience.

Pokemon Generations - This whole miniseries is on YouTube and is a game-accurate series. For maximum Team Rocket content, you'll want to watch The Chase, Lake of Rage, and The Legacy.

Pokemon Origins - This is a four-part miniseries about Red's journey. Episodes 3 and 4 are maximum Team Rocket, but episode 1 is great just because it includes the most traumatizing pokemon battle scene in canon. You can find it on Hulu or iTunes I think.

PokeAni - The anime canon (which is the same canon as the movie) is VERY different from the games canon, and Team Rocket's tone is totally silly. But two good episodes are 015 (Battle Aboard the St. Anne) and HS12 ("Training Daze"). Later seasons of the anime introduce more upper-level Rockets like Matori, but I really haven't watched a lot of it and couldn't give you episode recs.

Manga

Pokemon Special - This manga series spans every generation of Pokemon, and it's VERY good. Satoshi Tajiri once said that it's the media that matches the Pokemon world in his head. The Red/Blue/Yellow series is a must. The Gold/Silver/Crystal arc is great too, but goes WAY off the rails. The other Team Rocket arcs are the FireRed/LeafGreen arc (my favorite) and the HeartGold/SoulSilver arc.

There's some other manga too with Rocket content, but they're harder to find and it's been a while since I've read them, and they're also super fringe.

Musicals

I just like to remind people that Pokemon Live! the Musical exists. Giovanni is played by Darren Dunstan. And James is played by Andrew fucking Rannels. A lot of the songs are actually really fun, but the best one for the Rocket Primer is It Will All Be Mine.