#scarlet and violet has been GREAT

[front-facing-pokemon]

[funkyjeans]

your papá dresses you up like he's colorblind, doesn't he?

[goldensunset]

I forgot how much of a banger the vs Sada/Turo theme is. prefect music to star at the window and vividly daydream to.

song of Punch Me Repeatedly In The Chest

[stiltonbasket]

what happened when wwx went to gusu summer school in the wrh raises wwx au?

"Thank the heavens," Lan Xichen laughs, when Lan Wangji presents himself at the Hanshi after returning from his latest monthlong night-hunting tour in Huai'an. "Shufu has been at his wits' end in your absence, didi."

Lan Wangji lifts an eyebrow and begins to unpack the basket of tribute gifts he received from the Huai'an magistrate. "Why? My duties were to be delegated to Changyi-tangxiong while I was away; and whatever Shufu might find wanting in his temperament, I have never known him to be anything but diligent."

"No one has dared replace you as head of discipline," his brother says wryly. "And according to Shufu, this batch of guest disciples has worse manners than most."

"Shufu rarely has trouble with the guest disciples," Lan Wangji points out, frowning. The lone exception to this rule was Nie Huaisang; but no one in the Cloud Recesses has ever bothered disciplining Nie Huaisang, even before his older brother was betrothed to Xiongzhang. "Who does he wish me to discipline this time?"

Inexplicably, Lan Xichen only grins at him and scoops a handful of icy-red lychees out of the tribute basket.

"Go to tomorrow's lecture in the Lanshi," he teases, "and perhaps you shall see."

Lan Wangji could not see the sense in this. If one of the guest scholars was being impudent in the Lanshi, Shufu ought to have sent them to the Pavilion of Discipline to receive punishment instead of waiting for him to settle matters; for as Head of Discipline, Lan Wangji's main duties consisted of revising the codex of appropriate punishments and patrolling the Cloud Recesses after hai shi on alternate fortnights.

But the next day, he made his way to the Lanshi as bidden—and the moment he crossed the threshold, he understood exactly who had been making trouble for his uncle, and why he had been left for Wangji to handle.

As ever, all four of the other Great Clans were represented among the guest disciples: Yunmeng Jiang disciples in violet and jade-green, the Jin in cream and gold, Nie Huaisang and his shixiongdi in their familiar black and silver-gray—and by the window, the fiery scarlet and gold of Wen Ruohan's delegation, dressed in silks so fine that they would not have looked out of place upon an imperial concubine.

Lan Wangji narrows his eyes at them. Each one is haughtier than the next, though not quite brazen enough for Shufu to blink at; but then his gaze moves to the disciple sitting at the front, and freezes as the boy rolls his shoulders and turns around to greet Wangji with an insolent, lazy smile.

This is the one, he realizes, as the disciple flutters painted—painted?—lashes at him before turning back to look at Shufu. He is the one Uncle wants me to discipline.

"Wangji," Shufu says, with such open relief that Lan Wangji looks away from the Wen disciple in surprise. "At last. Have you come to attend lessons with the guest disciples?"

Wangji puts his hands together and bows. "Yes, Uncle."

"Excellent. But before you sit down, go take Wei Wuxian to the dormitories, and see that he washes his face and removes those ornaments from his hair."

Lan Wangji nods and takes three great strides towards the Wen disciple. "You heard your laoshi," he says. "Come."

The disciple—Wei Wuxian—gives no reply; but luckily, he rises from his chair and follows Lan Wangji out of the Lanshi without protest. As soon as the doors to the lecture hall fall closed behind them, Lan Wangji opens his mouth to deliver a short lecture on the virtues of modesty and simplicity in dress—only to snap it closed again in shock, for he has never seen a man who painted his face like this outside the theater troupes Xichen used to visit with him when they were children.

Wei Wuxian's lips are a wet, shining crimson, as if he had dipped them in blood before arriving at the Lanshi; and his eyes are lined with fine black paint and red rouge mixed with some kind of bright, sparkling dust. Worse yet, he had even painted his eyelashes, to make them seem twice as long and dark as any man's lashes ought to be—and as if all of that were not enough, the heavy locks of his hair are fastened with chains made of solid gold.

"Why are you looking at me, Lan-er-gongzi?" Wei Wuxian asks. He puts his head to one side, and despite himself, Lan Wangji hears music; for someone had woven small golden bells into Wei Wuxian's braided hair.

"Enough talk," Lan Wangji says flatly. "Follow me back to the dormitories so you can wash and brush out your hair."

To his astonishment, Wei Wuxian does not object. He keeps pace with Lan Wangji all the way to the compound reserved for the Wen disciples; and then, without another word, he vanishes into his lodgings and leaves Lan Wangji behind to wait for him on the porch.

Puzzled, Lan Wangji seats himself on a convenient stool and wonders why Wei Wuxian had obeyed him so easily. It was only too clear that Shufu first tried to teach him the virtues of simple adornments at least a month ago, if not longer; so why had he flouted Uncle's wishes and honored Lan Wangji's?

Perhaps he is being too obedient, says a small voice in the back of Lan Wangji's mind. Perhaps he has run out through the back of the house, and gone off to frolic in Caiyi.

Lan Wangji frowns more deeply than ever and raps on the door with his knuckles. "Wei-gongzi? Are you finished?"

"Nearly," Wei Wuxian calls. "You can come in, if you'd like."

Wangji highly doubts that Wei Wuxian is really making himself presentable (or at least, not as he ought to be doing) so he enters the house and finds his charge wiping his face with a damp towel.

He lowers the towel at the sound of Lan Wangji's footsteps, and then:

"You were not meant to paint yourself in a different fashion," he says, incensed. "Wash your face properly at once."

Wei Wuxian blinks at him in confusion.

"I have washed it off," he says. "Look."

And then he leans forward and grabs Lan Wangji's hand, drawing it up to the damp skin of his face before Lan Wangji can turn tail and flee. He drags Lan Wangji's fingertips over the smooth bones of his cheeks and forehead, and across the bronzen skin circling his eyes—tanned and not painted, Lan Wangji realizes—and presses his full lips to the heart of Lan Wangji's palm, so forcefully that any traces of rouge left upon them would have been imprinted on Wangji's skin.

"There!" Wei Wuxian says, beaming—and completely unaware that Lan Wangji is very near to bursting out of sheer fury. "I'm as clean as a new jian."

"Your hair," Lan Wangji croaks; for if he dared raise his voice any further, he would scream, and then he would be the one submitting himself for punishment at the discipline pavilion. "Comb it."

Wei Wuxian nods and unravels his braids. Rather than undoing them one by one, he merely snaps his fingers and lets out a burst of spiritual energy; and immediately, the gold fastenings fall loose and clatter onto his dressing-table, leaving the glittering mass of his hair to slide down his broad back like a waterfall coursing down the face of a mountain.

Suddenly, Lan Wangji finds himself unable to breathe.

He flings himself out of the guest house and up the hill towards the Jingshi, where he spends an hour meditating in complete silence before he can bring himself to set foot out of doors again.

"Brother," he says, when he finally works up the courage to return to the Hanshi two days later. "I fear that I may be unable to take over the duty of disciplining Wei Wuxian. He made me angrier than I have ever been in my life."

Lan Xichen—who had heretofore shown no signs of being anything other than a kind, understanding brother—only stares at him, and bursts into laughter.

[parasolladyansy]

DxP Ask - Mizumi & Time Travel

NOTE: this has minor spoilers about one of the main characters of DxP REWRITE if you haven’t read up to the most recent comic - if you’re caught up (or don’t care lol), go on ahead!

bca_private from Instagram asked:

Something I’ve been wondering about Mizumi: I understand that she’s Ansy’s ancestor, but she was also from the future and brought to Hisui by Arceus, right? From when is she? Was she born in the same era as Ansy (making it a paradox), or was she from an earlier time regardless?

Mizumi was a modern girl from Sinnoh - just a normal 15-year-old girl who went to a certain school in Jubilife City until a fateful trip up Mt. Coronet, where she got isekai’ed to Hisui about 150 years in the past. Legends Arceus happens, & eventually she restarts her family line to become Ansy’s great-great-grandmother.

She was born when Ansy was about 19 & living in Unova (while the rest of her family lived either in Kanto, Unova, & Alola). Meanwhile, Ansy’s paternal side of the family is living in Kalos around the time of Legends Arceus (already planning for Legends ZA lol) before they immigrated to Unova. All to say that no one in Ansy’s family apart from Mizumi & her family live/lived in Sinnoh.

So yeah - not a grandfather paradox (none of that), but still paradoxical as Ansy was technically born before her ancestor was.

However, two rules of time travel that exist in at least Ansy’s tiny corner of the Pokéverse are this: self-repairing timeline & multiverse theory. I imagine one of Dialga’s roles as the deity of time is sorting through time paradoxes: seeing which ones are “canon” with Arceus, correcting the flow of time to accommodate it, & for the ones that aren’t, create another spacetime together with Palkia for it (like we saw in Scarlet x Violet, & a few of the games themselves)

As I’d recently added to Ansy’s profile page, apart from me just wanting to play as Ansy’s maternal ancestor, it actually does seem to be the canon that isekai’ed Rei / Akari IS Lucas / Dawn’s ancestor. My biggest evidence for this is if you have a completed save in Legends Arceus (aka you befriended Arceus), & then start a save in BDSP, you’ll find the Azure Flute in your room at the very beginning of the game, like it’s a family heirloom that’s made it’s way down to you.

In the SxV Epilogue leading into DxP REWRITE, Mizumi passed the Azure Flute down to Ansy in a slightly different way lol, but same principle.

One last little note to wrap this all up: as of the events of Paldea (the first time either of them really encountered space-time travel), Ansy & Ikrit have shared notes about the rules that exist for them. Ikrit, being a student of Professor Cozmo & astrophysics, goes more in depth while Ansy can follow well enough when numbers aren’t involved lol.

So far their notes include: AU’s (multiverse theory), self-repairing timelines, converging timelines (& memory correction), & what I’m just gonna call “uninterrupted time” because I can’t find an official name of this theory / principle anywhere lol (time moves in either points of the timeline at the same pace since the time traveler left the present - Mizumi spent 2 years in Hisui, 2 years have gone by in the present, same for Ingo’s 7 years).

That’s it for me geeking out about time travel for now. Later! 🌧️

[corgitation]

how to play pokemon games to study japanese

I just started playing pokemon omega ruby in japanese and have been having a great time with it! The language has been surprisingly simple so far, and I've found it a lot easier to get into than animal crossing. I used a few different resources, so here's a guide on how you can play pokemon in Japanese for language learning:

Choosing a pokemon game

I used this video from gamegengo to decide which game to play and ended up with omega ruby. The tldr of his video is choosing a game that you have access to (in Japanese), that's easy to read (graphics quality makes a huge difference for japanese characters), that's in level. He documented his findings here

Access: Emulators, especially on the PC, are great options for older games. This is especially true for games that are region-locked and need a specific Japanese version to play the game in Japanese. Multi-language support wasn't added until pokemon x/y, so anything older needs a JP version game

Readability: characters on switch games look great, 3DS is also very good. DS is good, anything older can be a bit of a challenge

Hiragana, Kanji, Furigana: prior to pokemon black and white, all text was in hiragana. This can be really challenging if you're used to seeing text with kanji, it can make words much harder to recognize. However, furigana has only been added in arceus and scarlet/violet

Level: All of the pokemon games rank between N3 to N2 except for arceus, which is N2 to N1. I am studying for N3 and am not having much trouble with omega ruby, although I am slow at reading and this is one of the easiest rated games. Someone who is a complete beginner would struggle a lot with these games depending on the amount of reading they intend to do (you don't really need to read to be able to play pokemon)

2. Game resources

There are a variety of resources to help make playing video games in japanese easier. Normally, I would like to just play the game and absorb the content without having to look up a lot of it. Unfortunately, since most pokemon games don't include furigana and aren't voice acted, there is no way to learn how to read a word with kanji you don't know other than to look it up.

Poke Corpus: amazing tool for querying text dumps from different pokemon games. Select the game you're playing and the language, and then write a query with some of the text from a sentence you want to look up. Works great, keep in mind the search is exact (including spacing). It also shows results from other languages, so in addition to pulling all the text for lookup you can see the english translation (which is localized, so is not always a direct translation)

Yomitan: a japanese pop-up dictionary browser extension. Very helpful if you ever read japanese on a computer. I used this video for getting it set up. Very customizable with different dictionaries

Game2Text (PC only): if you're playing a game on an emulator on your computer, this is a great tool for grabbing the text straight from the game. Additionally, since this works inside a browser, any browser extensions (like yomitan) work with this.

Google translate lens: I really don't like this, because it isn't going to be as accurate and it won't show you individual word translations, it will just blur out and translate the entire sentence. But works in a pinch

[pigdemonart]

So Scarlet and Violet's Indigo disk dlc has introduced Lacey (Beautiful perfect angel) and it's implied she is Clay's daughter

What do you there relationship is like? Do you think Clay whould be a good dad?

hahaha i have been tweeting about this actually. First link is a joke, but you should still click it lol

I always thought of Clay as an unofficial father of the region, so YEAH!! The news made perfect sense to me! I do believe its been confirmed also and it’s not just implied.

I ramble about clay for paragraphs:

I like to imagine Lacey and Clay have a good relationship. We can see from her design, she is wearing hair clips that match the gems Lian and Clay wear, which is super cute! Confirmed family tradition, like I theorized hehe!

Clay seems like the kind of dad that is blunt and straight to the point, but would spoil and support wholeheartedly! He’s a “down to earth” (haha) pragmatic kind of guy, telling everyone the hard truths when they need to hear it and not mincing words. Like you’re a kid when you meet him and he’s like whats up dummy, you fucked up. I imagine Lacey is fully used to this attitude and doesn’t get phased by it much. She probably tells people with a wave of a hand that her dad is actually quite nice, you just gotta cut through the hard exterior first.

I like to imagine Lacey got her drilbur (excadrill) from her dad (maybe a starter) but not just as a gift — she had to prove that she was ready to be a trainer! And she did, because she’s Clay’s daughter and Lian’s descendant so nice as she looks she must be headstrong as shit.

Like I can’t see Clay being a pushover dad, even if we imagine he calls Lacey petnames like “princess.” Personally, I always saw Clay as a little chivalrous with girls and femmes, in that Southern cowboy kind of way. I’m sure that comes through whenever he is decidedly softer with his own daughter.

Also Lacey lives in Nimbasa and uses fairy type, so she is clearly a kid that has her own ambitions and dreams. Which is why I imagine (if she has good relationship with her dad) that Clay must fully support it. Rocks and mining have been in the family since Lian’s time, so it’s possible she isn’t really interested in inheriting Clay’s business and has different goal for herself. Maybe there was some tension with this and maybe they butted heads, but I’m sure it could be worked out.

Would be cool to imagine her as the future Fairy type gym leader of Unova. That being said, I don’t think she’s against or ashamed of it. Her hair clips prove she’s proud of her origins after all!!

Also Clay sent his little girl to this new fancy shmancy school UNDER THE OCEAN, and sure its a little flashy, but he cares about her being educated and kicking other kids’ ass. Before she left he was probably like “give ‘em hell!” and she furrowed her bushy eyebrows like >:)))

Now ahem…obviously I still ship Clay x Drayden, this hasn’t really changed anything for me LOL in fact it makes it very interesting, because Drayden also has a confirmed grandson. Old man yaoi is still old man yaoi even if they’re bisexual, but also surrogates are a thing, not to mention divorce arc maybe??? All great, big fan. 👍

Tldr: YEa HE’S A COOL DAD.

[gmax-centiskorch]

Mainline Pokémon Games Based on How Buggy They Are: A Thread

Red, Blue, & Yellow

Pretty buggy. The Butterfree line set the stage for regional bugs and emotional trauma. Everybody loves Scyther. Inspired use of Cordyceps when designing the Parasect line. Kabuto and Kabutops should have been Bug to honor trilobites for founding Arthropoda. 8/10.

Gold, Silver, & Crystal

Yes, we had Scyther, but what about second Scyther? Scizor, Heracross, and Shuckle are legends. Game Freak decided to invite arachnids (Spinarak and Ariados) to the party, truly redefining what it means to be buggy. 9/10.

Ruby, Sapphire, & Emerald

This generation is loaded with bugs! Game Freak realized their mistake in not giving the Kabutops line Bug typing, making up for it with Anorith and Armaldo (who are based on Anomalocaris). They fumble the recovery, however, in not only depriving the Flygon line of Bug typing, but forever making them second fiddle to the Salamence line. The Beautifly, Dustox, and Ninjask lines introduce some interesting approaches to Bug-type evolution. Volbeat and Illumise are there. 7.8/10.

Diamond, Pearl, & Platinum

DELELELELELEWHOOOOOOP! A smaller collection of bugs this gen, but a well-rounded one. Vespiquen slays. Scorpions get some love via Skorupi, Drapion, and Gliscor. Writing this post is making me realize that slugs, snails, and nudibranchs like the Magcargo and Gastrodon lines aren’t bugs. We grew up thinking snails were bugs, right? Anyway, Yanmega rules. 8/10.

Black, White, Black 2, White 2

Game Freak’s magna opera. Truly the buggiest games there are. While you have to wait until Pinwheel Forest to encounter your first bugs, you’re rewarded upon arrival with Sewaddle and Venipede, the larvae of the Leavanny and Scolipede lines. From there, you encounter the Crustle, Galvantula, and Volcarona lines. Game Freak has some more fun with Bug evolutions, having Karrablast steal Shelmet’s armor as they evolve into Escavalier and Accelgor (inspired by the real-world interactions between the ground beetle family Carabidae and the gastropods they feed on). Durant is our first proper ant, and we get our first (and only . . . ) legendary / mythical Bug in Genesect. These games made Bug my favorite type. 10/10.

X & Y

A big step down from the previous generation. This game hardly has any bugs. Do you like butterflies? You get a butterfly. Vivillon is a lovely butterfly that comes in all sorts of colors, but SURELY there are more bugs than that in France. 6/10.

Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun, Ultra Moon

Giant isopods! Diving bell spiders! Giraffe stag beetles! A true return to form. While the native bugs of Alola are great, we are also introduced to the ultra beasts, two of which (Buzzwole and Pheromosa) are really cool bugs. It seems they were going for wasps and bee flies when designing the Naganadel and Ribombee lines, but they don’t really work for me. Faint blemishes on an otherwise buggy generation. 8.5/10.

Sword & Shield

Centiskorch is the greatest Pokémon ever made. I have them tattooed on my arm. Blipbug is the worst Pokémon ever made. I see them in my nightmares. Interesting that they’re both Bug Pokémon, and that Game Freak really min-maxed with them. Fortunately, Blipbug evolves into Dottler and Orbeetle, who are great. Snom has a place in everyone’s heart, and Frosmoth is elegant as can be. 9.5/10.

Scarlet & Violet

I love Rellor and Rabsca! I . . . don’t really love the rest! Iron Moth and Slither Wing are great, but they’re nepo babies. Tarountula and Nymble are nice, but Spidops and Lokix leave something to be desired. Orthworm is a a big worm. At the end of the day, these games would be alright if they weren’t so wonkily coded and glitchy. Wish there was a better word for that. 7/10.

[pokemonshelterstories]

Out of curiosity (Read: for my own sanity.) are the videos you get from RM and IV only for researchers or are they open to the public? My 9 year old brother has developed an obsession with paradox Pokemon and I'm pretty sure those Blurry Mewtube people take every time one escapes Area Zero are currently the only thing keeping him from following the rangers around Everytime they get called out. (I'm like 80% sure that that's hyperbole) I'm making sure he knows how dangerous they are but this is the first time he's taken an interest in anything remotely academic and I don't want to discourage that.

If those videos aren't public domain do you have any suggestions on related stuff that I can show him? I'm planning on getting him copies of the Scarlet and Violet books for Christmas.

they're not open to the public yet, but the goal is to make them public within a couple of years. it's just a matter of getting all the tech set up and getting approval from the league, which takes a lot longer than you might think, but we're hoping that at least a couple of our camera streams will be opened up for public access before too long! RM and IV's cams don't take continuous video (they only take a minute at the start of every hour), but we've lately installed some static trail cams that run 24/7 that provide a lot more general footage of the wild pokemon in area zero. once we open up footage to the public, my team hopes to host weekly virtual chats on discord to discuss cam footage with the public and answer questions!

thankfully for your sanity, there hasn't been a breakout from the great crater in over a year, and the presence of researchers and rangers inside the crater means that it's fairly unlikely that we'll have more breakouts anytime soon. unfortunately, a lot of information coming out about paradox pokemon is really geared toward an academic audience. instead, i'd recommend looking into requesting a library card for the naranja-uva academy library! you'll probably have to pay if you're not enrolled in the academy, but a card will give you access to the academy's digital library archives, and there are some neat but not very well-known older texts about paradox pokemon in there. i've lately been reading the letters and journals of some of the other members of the team that accompanied heath to area zero, and that's been really fascinating to read about! just make sure you help him navigate through what sources he reads, because some of them get pretty intense.

[would-this-pokemon-be-a-friend]

hm... ribombee?

Gardeners rejoice! Ribombees would make great pets for anyone who has the means to provide them with the resources they need for their lifestyle.

It goes without saying, but ribombees are relatively itty bitty at only eight inches tall. Mobility won’t be an issue in even the smallest of homes, since these little pokémon spend most of the time flying around anyway. That doesn’t mean, however, that they don’t require a specialized sort of space to be happy and healthy.

Ribombees are pollinators who seek out flowers for their pollen, which they can use for numerous purposes (Sun). It is fairly likely that a ribombee, if prevented from taking part in this instinctual behavior, may develop behavioral or even health issues and lash out. Luckily, there’s two main ways to get around this as a pet owner. For one, if you have a green thumb, you could keep a flower garden at home for your ribombee to gather pollen from. Exactly how much pollen a single ribombee will need is unknown, so it’s possible that you may need a large and diverse garden, but that may not be an issue for people who already have an affinity for gardening. Alternatively, you could let your ribombee freely gather pollen from the wider area around your home. Like real-world bees, ribombees make home bases in which they can rest when the weather is bad and which they can return to after gathering pollen (Ultra Sun). Real-world bees sometimes travel far distances for pollen without getting lost from their home hive. The only concern with this would be your ribombee’s safety. While their free pollination may be great for the environment in the area where you live, they may be at risk of being snatched up by hungry flying pokémon. Ribombees can certainly protect themselves in some situations, as we’ll get into later, but you wouldn’t be able to guarantee their safety. All that being said, you do have options when it comes to providing ribombees with the pollen they need.

If you live somewhere where it rains a lot, I might reconsider adopting a ribombee. These pokémon hate the rain and are great at detecting when its on its way: when a ribombee detects that rain is coming based on the air’s moisture and direction, they will hide in a tree hollow or other home base until the skies have been cleared for days (Ultra Sun, Ultra Moon). In regions that get a lot more rain, like the Galar Region, wild ribombees are rarely seen (Shield).

On a brighter note, ribombees are exceptionally friendly. They are great judges of when someone is feeling down, with an uncanny ability to sense mood, and delight in cheering people up with their pollen puffs (Scarlet). Like I said earlier, ribombees’ pollen puffs serve multiple purposes. One purpose (and perhaps the primary one) is as food for themselves (Sun). The kind of pollen puffs they offer to humans as gifts are highly valuable as they not only help relieve fatigue: they’re highly nutritious (Moon, Violet). This indicates that ribombees may even make great service or emotional support pokémon for people who struggle with energy and mood.

Also like I said earlier, ribombees can protect themselves, to a certain extent. A third use of their pollen puffs is in combat (Sun). Ribombees can use specialized pollen puffs to paralyze with the move Stun Spore or damage them with concussive force using their signature move Pollen Puff. Ribombees can also make use of bug and fairy-type staples such as Bug Buzz and Draining Kiss to deal out damage to enemies. Luckily, this species does not appear to be particularly violent to humans. If their behavior is similar to real-world bees, you shouldn’t have an issue most of the time so long as you don’t mess with them or their home. Even in a bad situation, this species isn’t likely to be deadly anyways, with the exception of health conditions that could be exasperated by paralysis.

Overall, so long as you are able to allow your ribombee to engage in their pollinating instincts, they would make great and even beneficial pets.

[1863-project]

I love this game. It's so validating. Besides this there's Sidney talking about how he listens to Steven infodumping about rocks at him and loves his passion, and this conversation where Hilda talks about how festivals can be overstimulating for some people and that it's easier for them to enjoy it from a distance.

In a way, I think that's what felt so frustrating to me about Scarlet and Violet (besides the dev team being crushed and rushed by corporate, the glitches, and how the Tera Raids worked, obviously) - Pokemon has always felt deeply neurodivergent, and suddenly we go to Paldea and it feels too neurotypical, with Nemona, who would have been a run of the mill rival in any other region, sticking out like a sore thumb and being ostracized by her peers for her passion for battling. As an autistic person who's always taken comfort in this universe because it was a place where I'd be allowed to just exist as I was, that didn't exactly endear me to Paldea very much.

(As an addendum - Nemona is thriving in Masters, and she and Hilda have become great friends on Pasio. She's finding her people.)

[letoiusprime]

A Theory Regarding the Ultimate Weapon and Area Zero

(Apologies if this is a pre-existing theory, I'm not too active in the theory scene these days)

I'm sure everyone has heard the theory of the Great Crater of Paldea being the impact site of the Ultimate Weapon. This has been disproven, time and time again, with relative ease. The Great Crater is over a million years old, while the Ultimate Weapon being fired was only 3000 years ago. That does not mean there isn't any connection, however!

(Heavy Scarlet/Violet + DLC spoilers below)

Let's take a look at the the Ultimate Weapon: Constructed over three thousand years ago by AZ, it channels the life energy of Pokemon, which can be used either as a destructive weapon, or a tool to ressurect the dead and seemingly grant immortality. It is constructed of iridescent crystal.

Now, let's look at Area Zero. In a region that borders Kalos, Area Zero lies in the heart of Paldea. It has many myths and tales telling of a treasure that lies in its deepest depths, and was the focus of the Paldean Empire's later years. The efforts that went into exploring the crater eventually grew so expensive as to bankrupt the empire, playing a not insignificant role in its eventual collapse. It also happens to be full of iridescent crystals.

In Scarlet and Violet, we learn these crystals are a versatile material, critical in the construction of Sada/Turo's time machine, their AI replica, and Tera Orbs. They also seem to be 'pure' versions of the otherwise elementally-aspected crystals that make up the Tera Dens around the Paldea regions.

However, it isn't until the Indigo Disk DLC that we learn their origin. Terapagos, a mythical Pokemon deep beneath the crater. Not only is it the origin of the Terastal phenomenon, and by extension the Tera Crystals seen in the picture above, but its very shell, and perhaps body, are made of this same material.

Two things make this interesting. One, is that Terapagos' shell has the markings of every typing, seemingly proving the fact that the Area Zero Tera Crystals do, indeed, embody every typing. Two, is that its protective shell doesn't merely block incoming Pokemon Moves, but absorbs and channels them into Terapagos.

The last property we know of these crystals is dimensional crossing. It is thought that the way the Professor's Time Machine, as well as Terapagos' doing at the Kitikami pool, not only passed through time, but pulled from other dimensions.

So, to sum up these crystals: They are extremely versatile, good at chanelling the abilities of Pokemon, and are capable of altering time and reality. Now, let's look at AZ's Ultimate Weapon: Made of iridescent crystal, good at chanelling a Pokemon's power, and said to literally break the timeline in two.

My proposed theory is that in order to construct the Ultimate Weapon, AZ braved Area Zero to harvest its Tera Crystals, haul them back to Kalos, and use them to build the Ultimate Weapon. Not only would this explain how he was able to build something so advanced, but also explain where the myth of Area Zero's treasure came from.

AZ's greatest treasure was Floette, and Area Zero was his key to bringing her back. In a sense, his greatest treasure did lay within the crater.

[yanderes-galore]

Yandere Platonic Arven, please? He is one of my favorite characters in the game.

I love him too, Anon. Here you go :) Sorry it took months, it's been awhile since I've played Scarlet and Violet so I apologize if something is off.

Yandere! Platonic! Arven Concept

Pairing: Platonic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Jealousy, Social isolation, Manipulation, Overprotective behavior, Dubious companionship, Guilt tripping.

Arven would make a good yandere, in fact in canon he is shown to be jealous.

I say this because I think he shows he's jealous of the player having other friends than him in Area Zero within the game.

Arven would be an incredibly caring yandere despite his jealousy and clingy behavior.

He can already somewhat be seen as a platonic yandere.

Arven wants to be the only friend of his darling, or at the very least the most important.

His background gives him the potential of being a clingy yandere.

Think about it, he's mostly grown up alone all his life as his only parent was more focused on research.

His only friend has been Mabostiff and he nearly lost him, too.

Until you came alone and helped him out.

I feel in this concept at least his darling would most likely be the player character.

He's traveled alongside you in the past to tackle many Pokemon challenges and battles.

He isn't as obsessive about Pokemon battling as Nemona but he doesn't mind a few battles with your team.

As a platonic yandere I can see Arven being jealous over Nemona and Penny, your two other friends.

In fact when he first met them he felt jealousy burn within him.

Arven fears you'll pay other people more attention instead of him.

He'd probably never harm anyone physically but he does get moody.

I can see Arven being one to hurt the emotions of others, often causing verbal fights to keep you away from others.

Arven cares for you as your best friend but isn't above ruining your other relationships to keep that connection.

I can imagine him being volatile towards Nemona for dragging you off for battles or Penny for simply hanging out.

Your other friends are also targeted.

Arven feels he should scare any competition away so you only come to him for help.

Arven goes to great lengths for those he cherishes and loves.

Over time he'd probably isolate you in order to keep you to himself.

He's clingy, too.

Arven likes to hold you, affectionately calling you his "Buddy" before sighing in bliss.

He may struggle with physical contact at first but it soon becomes his favorite thing with his darling.

Asking for space from Arven is upsetting to him.

Why would you want space?

Best friends stick together, don't they?

... are you going to see Nemona or Penny behind his back?

Arven would be one to guilt trip.

He would play with your emotions to get you to stick around.

Would you really betray him by leaving?

Are you going to just abandon him?

But you're his little buddy....

There's a good chance with a quiver of the lip and some manipulation he'll drag you back to his side.

Especially if his darling is vulnerable to emotions, like someone who has a ton of empathy.

Arven does a lot for his buddy, which he can use against them if they try to leave.

He gives you gifts and makes you food... he's always there when you need him, even when you don't need him too.

Arven comes off as the perfect friend for you.

He listens to you vent, he rubs your back when you're worried, he's so caring.

He's your perfect friend... one who has been with you through thick and thin...

You wouldn't just turn your back on him for the attention of others, would you?

"Buddy... don't just ignore me! I'm your best friend... aren't I?"

[zeravmeta]

We are two days before the Pokemon DLC and although i will not buy it i also do enjoy the Pokemon worldbuilding/lore so my big hot theory on Terapagos is that it and the Tera Phenomenon specifically manifests dreams and turns them into reality.

We already have all the implications from the Paradox Pokemon being born from the professors dreams of an ancient/future world, but also I want to look at a bunch of the promo materials/events surrounding it: Gen 5 has been weirdly hinted at a bunch of times throughout Scarlet/Violets lifespan so far, with things like Ingo in Legends Arceus (as well as a bunch of the ancestors + the portrait of ancient Alder), the focus on the Tao Trio in the DLC trailer showing off past Legendaries & the DLC itself having us actually go to Unova, the introduction of the Treasures Of Ruin as the rivals to the Forces Of Nature genies, and the hinting of a new Pokemon mainline game coming in early 2024 (dear god Nintendo just let Gamefreak rest) supposedly being a Legends Unova game, there's been a whole bunch of Gen 5 hints scattered throughout.

The main story behind the Tao Trio is that there was once an Original Dragon who shared its power with two brothers, but when the two brothers clashed between their truth and ideals, the dragon could not decide and split itself in two, becoming Zekrom and Reshiram and leaving behind Kyurem as the empty husk that was once their body.

I think Terapagos is another fraction of this equation, specifically the dream of the Original Dragon itself to have truth and ideals (the two brothers) reconcile and coexist once more, because while truth and ideals are fundamentally incompatible, dreams can make the impossible happen. It can make a paradox exist. This would also work thematically: Zekrom and Reshiram, of course, represent the Yin and Yang, the literal black and white of their namesakes. Kyurem, however, isn't representative of the balance between the two, but actually gray, the concept of Wuji, which represents both infinity and nothingness, the absence of yin and yang and equally the limitless infinite potential born from it, the way that Kyurem is constantly freezing itself because its genetics are incredibly volatile and constantly evolving, especially when it absorbs one of its fragments. I think Terapagos is representative of Taiji, the idea of balance between Yin and Yang.

Yin and Yang originate from Wuji (infinite nothingness) and become Taiji (supreme ultimateness). So, Kyurem is the "nothing" left behind by the Original Dragon, which, when combined with Zekrom and Kyurem (Yin and Yang), would then achieve their supreme/original form, representative of Terapagos (ultimateness).

These Chinese inspirations would line up actually, since the Forces Of Nature and the Treasures Of Ruin are also references to Chinese mythology, specifically The Four Symbols and The Four Perils.

Terapagos and Kyurem also share a very weird similarity: they're both vessels for a greater power with the implication that they themselves are not truly alive (Terapagos' baby form enhanced by Terastalization + the Area 0 note and Kyurem being a literal frozen corpse, an empty shell of great potential for Zekrom/Reshiram's power).

There's also another dimension to this (literally): the fucked up crystal monsters from space and how they relate to the Pokemon world

The Original Dragon which split into Zekrom, Reshiram and Kyurem was also originally from a meteorite which came from space, so I believe that Terapagos, being part of it, was also from space (esp given its depiction in the Scarlet/Violet book as being among space and the stars).

Now you may be wondering "hey dude why is Zygarde up there, it isn't from space, what gives?" well I have an answer for that and why it's related.

Zygarde is the Pokemon planet's own natural born giant crystal guardian monster.

The same way that Necromza was once the god of Ultra Megalopolis and shared its light before being drained, Zygarde is a similar entity born on the Pokemon planet made to protect it. They're all, after all, composed of interlocking crystal parts and are essentially incomplete beings reshaping themselves when in their baser forms, with Terapagos also being composed of interlocking hexagonal parts in a similar manner as Zygarde.

Alright, so we've established a whole bunch of world building lore, but what's the big deal about it? Well, let's talk about Eternatus, The Darkest Day, and Infinity Energy next.

The Darkest Day is an event where Eternatus came to Galar from a meteorite in order to steal all of its energy. However, Zacian and Zamazenta appeared to protect Galar and were able to defeat it, sealing it away before Rose awakened it to try and bring about another Darkest Day to resolve Galar's future energy crisis. However, a key point to this is that the reason WHY Eternatus was stealing energy is because it was trying to keep itself alive after having LOST all of its energy, with its Eternamax form being closer to what Eternatus' actual form should be compared to the skeleton dragon we see.

And the Wishing Stones and Power Spots, which are what allow Pokemon to Dynamax, are incredibly similar to both the Mega Evolution stones and the Z-Crystals, which in themselves are fragments of The Ultimate Weapon and Ultra Necrozma respectively: Fragments of incredible power which are the building blocks to a space-originating Pokemon's original form. When Ultra Necrozma had its original light stolen by the ancestors of the Ultra Recon Squad, it shattered, opening Ultra Wormholes which spread the Z-Crystals (fragments of its original body) across Alola and allowing people to tap into Z-Power. Similarly, the Mega Stones were made after The Ultimate Weapon was fired and spread the life energy (Xernas/Yveltal/Zygardes powers) across Kalos, which mutated the landscape and developed Mega Stones. And in ORAS, The Devon Corporation specifically calls out this phenomenon from Kalos as the origin of Infinity Energy, the literal life energy of Pokemon.

Another key aspect to this is that this extreme level of energy, as well as Eternatus' own Pokedex entry, make note that this can even warp space-time as a consequence, which is likely why Ultra Wormholes are so common in Alola despite being a miracle occurrence: The fragments of Necrozma's body are constantly exuding this energy, which makes space-time unstable. It's also likely the reason as to why the Hoopa portals and Mirage Islands appear in ORAS, with Devon's use of Infinity Energy being the cause for these distortions to appear.

Alright, so what does any and all of this have to do with Terapagos?

Well, I think Terapagos is one of these crystal energy repository Pokemon, specifically the infinite energy source for the Original Dragon that all of these space crystal Pokemon also utilize. As well, the splitting of the Original Dragon caused the Terastal Phenomenon to occur, spreading across Paldea in the distant past as Terapagos laid dormant in the deepest recesses of Area 0. We know that Paldea is directly connected to Kalos, and us going to Unova likely means that it's close by as well, especially when Zekrom/Reshiram on their own are described to have enough power to cover the entire globe.

The Terastal Phenomenon wasn't really able to make the professor's time machine work, because while the high amounts of energy can warp spacetime, the professor misunderstood how to use it: Rather, because the professor dreamed of a world of ancient/future Pokemon, the Terastal Phenomenon made the Paradox Pokemon by channeling the energy into the professor's machine. As well, the Terastal Phenomenon works by manifesting dreams with the use of Tera Crystals, which envelop the Pokemon/Person who uses it, so a Pokemon, which is composed of Infinity Energy and controls the typing/energy of its moves, can alter their type in this way with an appropriate amount of Tera Shards of a different type.

In our hypothetical Legends Unova game, I bet that we'll see the Original Dragon, which wields so much energy that when it splits, it'll create the Tera Phenomenon. Given that the Treasures Of Ruin are not originally from Paldea (they may have been brought there by Volo, but all we know is that it was a travelling merchant), and that Paldea itself was under the control of the Paldean Empire (which is why it has that name in the modern day), it's even possible that the kingdom that Team Plasma tried to establish may have been inspired by/are the remnants of this original Paldean Kingdom, with N being the new modern day king chosen by Ghetsis, who was actually part of this ancient lineage. It's very likely that Terapagos is not originally from Paldea.

Paldea, connected to Kalos and Unova, could have even been the battleground of the two brothers when the Original Dragon split, creating the Great Crater and leaving Terapagos there, the remnants of the dream of the Original Dragon for the two brothers to reconcile.

I think a very interesting little promotion for the lead up to Part 2 of the DLC is that players, via Mystery Gift, were randomly given a Darkrai, a Pokemon meant to embody nightmares. I think that this is a little teaser hint to Terapagos, and the Terastal Phenomenon as a whole, being able to control and manifest dreams.

And that dreams coming true aren't always a good thing. They may even spell disaster if the infinite energy they possess goes out of control and envelopes the world. If Zekrom can envelop the world in an ultimate truth and Reshiram can envelop it with an ultimate ideal, both of them scorching it to ashes, then perhaps Terapagos can envelop it in an eternal dream, an eternally frozen crystal, similar to how Kyurem can cover an entire region and potentially the planet in an eternal blizzard.

So basically. This is what's going down in the grand scheme of things

[foxzutheone]

UHHHH KITAKAMI KITAPARK AU OR SOMETHING

very based on indigo park (more like indigo DISK /j)

Kitapark is an AU of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet DLC that is based on Kitapark (and game theory's one lore video but shhhh)

Kitapark was made by the Kitakami company which makes a mix of both movies and video games. They make an AI assistant called Kieran the Furret, who has been the pride and joy of the brand for over 100 years.

However, when the redesigns of the main cast (Ogrepon, Pecharunt, The Loyal Three, Carmine, and Kieran) eventually arrive, Carmine finds herself with such a well liked design that it overshadows the once great Kieran, turning him bitter towards her and her image.

There are secrets that the park holds, however.

Animal experiments meant to reshape normal animals into their mascots took place under the resort, twisting them into nightmare versions of the beloved characters to cut costs of the regular costumes.

However, they were vastly mistreated. Stuffed in cages and controlled by high-pitched sounds to make them do what the company wanted. One mascot in particular did NOT stand for this. That mascot was Pecharunt, who rises against the humans in "The Incident". All staff and guests who were present at the park died at day, with Kieran trying his best to help everyone escape. He got stuck at the entrance, unfortunately. The park was abandoned as a result, leaving Kieran tied to the gate all alone.

8 years later, the sister of the lead scientist Juliana, Florian, appears at the park to investigate what REALLY happened the day after he quit. Maybe Kieran holds the answers to the company's dark secrets, but first, Florian will have to help him rebuild the park!

--------

Each of the experiments came from regular animals (pokemon don't exist), and they are all organic creatures that were biologically mutated to conform to the mascot's image.

Mascot Carmine - Wolf. The original mascot Carmine is based off of a Mightyena, so a wolf would be the most sensible.

Mascot Kieran (not final and may be scrapped entirely) - Racoon.

Mascot Ogrepon - Parrot

Mascot Pecharunt - Peach fruit. The company wanted to test how effective plants would be as opposed to animals.

Mascot Okidogi - Black Akita

Mascot Munkidori - Japanese Macaque

Mascot Fezandipiti - Secretary Bird

Additional Info:

Carmine was also developed as an AI assistant before Kieran, but was never finalized; serving as the beta for Kieran's AI. However, due to her rapid success, they scrambled to finish the beta AI to replace Kieran.

However, the incident halted their progress before it could be released, and Carmine stood unfinished in the depths of the park in complete darkness.

[parasolladyansy]

DxP REWRITE - Ansy

Meet Ansy! She’d been traveling around the various regions of the Pokémon world since she was 15. Originally from Cerulean City in Kanto, she spent most of her life in Unova’s coastal towns when she’s not off in another region (see her full timeline here!). Now that she’s married, she’s been traveling with her husband, Ikrit.

While she reached Champion rank in a few regions now, she’s not the strongest battler (often just barely wins lol) & is a bit of a klutz, but cares a lot about her Pokemon. As she got older, her maternal instincts have gotten stronger, as she discovered in her most recent journey through Paldea lol.

Her great-great-grandmother, Mizumi recently gave her the storied Azure Flute & her Froslass, Yukina (as seen in the Scarlet x Violet Epilogue). This comes from the very neat fact that if you have a completed save of Legends Arceus (aka have befriended Arceus), & then make a save in BDSP, you will have the Azure Flute in your room, implying that it’s a family heirloom that has made its way down to you:

Also yes, in-game Ansy got to actually travel with Mizumi’s Froslass via Pokémon Home because I love immersive gameplay (seeing as I literally make these comics / drawings about my experience playing these games lol).

—

UPDATE: As you can see, I decided to update these character profiles with new art, & a cleaner design that allows for more info! If you want to compare / contrast, here’s the older version: