#they do in the main... but instead of swords its pokemon

[wistrea]

woe, pokemon kira be upon ye

[quillpokebiology]

You mentioned a couple of times Bisharp and Gallade pair well, do you have any facts or pic on this crossbreed? :0

Yup! Here is one with a Bisharp father!

Pokemon Crossbreeds: Knight

Knight is the name for members of the Gardevoir line whose father's were members of the Bisharp line. The breed was named after their more armored and knight-like appearance. They've been bred by humans for a long time, as both Bisharp and Gardevoir have been by humans for centuries.

Ralts

Knight Ralts gain larger and sharper horns, a split-colored head that has a slightly metallic texture, and a mark on their chest that resembles a chest-plate. Due to the larger and sharper horn, these ralts are able to pick up on emotions easier, which can be overwhelming for them. These ralts are more defensive and aggressive than standard ralts.

Kirlia

Knight Kirlia no longer have flaps of skin resembling a skirt, instead, having fat wrap around their legs which look like pants. They have broader shoulders, sharper horns, and a darker stomach resembling a chestplate. It still follows the defensiveness and aggression of Bisharp, and they are often seen leading packs of Knight Ralts.

Gardevoir

My personal favorite of this line. Knight Gardevoir gain a sharp horn on their head, a green top, green gloves, and a bit longer hair. Knight Gardevoir have been loved for centuries for their mastery over battle and their more serious and knowing disposition. They lead groups of Knight Ralts and Kirlia. Some ancient kings in Galar had a Knight Gardevoir. Mega Knight Gardevoir gain long hair and longer ears, resembling Kingambit more than regular Knight Gardevoir.

Gallade

Knight Gallade gain the crest of Bisharp, border shoulders, extra blades on their arms, and larger hips. Not much changes behaviour wise, as Gallade are already aggressive and noble pokemon, but many battlers love this breed for their extra blades and extra defense. Mega Knight Gallade gain longer ears and a black cape, resembling the hair of Kingambit.

//My designs can be used by anyone if you credit me! Talking about designs under the cut

I had the idea for this crossbreed but I put it in the back of my mind bcuz there was always something new ig.

Ralts was pretty easy to design. It's hair already looks like a helmet, so I just made it look more like Pawniard's helmet. Was gonna leave the helmet primary colored, but then I went hack and gave it two color to match Pawniard's more.

Kirlia was more difficult bcuz it and Bisharp don't have much in common, so I instead just made it more serious looking and gave it the traits I could; like feet, hands, shoulders, and a chestplate.

I traced an old Gardevoir crossbreed I made bcuz I prefer the one I made over the canon one (for tracing at least. Also, its called Chantelaines Gardevoir!). But my main goal was to make it look a bit like those Warrior queens you see. For both Gardevoir and Gallade, I primarily used Bisharp as inspo because it felt right, but I did put Kingambit in there top (the sword mustache becoming long ears, the triangle shaped shoulders, and the markings on the shoulders).

I gave Mega Gardevoir longer hair to match Kingambit's. I also traced an older piece, which was traced from canon, but I just used it for the small edits I made when I made it.

Gallade was nice, and lowkey inspired by Roman Gladiators. Random fact, but did you know gladiators rarely ever killed? It was like wrestling back then, so it would be expensive to have them die, and extreme violence in Gladiator fights was frowned on. There were some cases where murder in gladiator fights were encouraged, but not as many as you'd think. Anyways! I was so happy to fix Gallade's hip wheel bcuz while Gallade may be one of my fav pokemon and I think the hip wheel is a furled up dress, I can still find it weird.

Not much changes with mega gallade, and I kept the OG color scheme. Though, the cap was hard to color since I kept swapping from blue to green to black. Eventually I decided on black to match with Kingambit's hair since it already didn't have a lot of Kingambit traits.

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Pokemon Card of the Day #3197: Eevee & Snorlax-GX (Team Up)

Eevee and Snorlax-GX, while a somewhat odd combination of Pokemon that would become rather typical of the era, had some interesting attacks. It was good at punishing anything that evolved and had a GX attack that could get a huge hand refreshment. These attacks required a ton of Energy, so you had to accelerate to it. The nature of this meant that you had to pair this with something that was going to have said acceleration quickly, had a Pokemon that could attack well on its own but would like the backup, and something that could sometimes run lower on cards to maximize a potential draw at the right time. This typically meant running this in a Fire deck, and only in SUM-On because that was where a good amount of Evolved Pokemon at under 240 HP were still common.

270 HP was where you'd want a Tag Team to be at, and that was a lot of bulk to get through. Its main job was to be a huge pain to things like Zoroark-GX, which couldn't even KO it in 2 hits without some help. The Fighting Weakness could potentially come into play a little, as while the type had fallen off quite a bit, Lycanroc-GX was a Stage 1 that could actually hit really hard. The Retreat Cost here was 4, meaning you did have to be careful here. Getting ahead on Prizes meant an unprepared Eevee & Snorlax-GX was easy bait for anything like a Counter Catcher, or at any point a Custom Catcher.

Cheer Up was an attack that did no damage for a Colorless Energy, but it did let you attach an Energy card from your hand to 1 of your Pokemon. You could use this if you didn't have anything better to do, but you'd normally want something else up front if you didn't get stuck starting with this. It was, at least, better than nothing on turn 1 if you were going second.

Dump Truck Press started at 120 damage, but it cost 4 Energy. The price was too steep unless you had the second effect. That effect involved doing 120 more damage if the opponent's Active Pokemon was an Evolution Pokemon. This meant a KO on the top choices out of those in the SUM-On format, including Zoroark-GX and Persian-GX. The issue was that any Basic Pokemon, including Tag Teams, were taking a lot less, so it was a huge match-up play. In the right match-up, it was great, but it was kind of stuck in one format.

Megaton Friends GX had some good moments. It was costly, as 4 Colorless Energy meant you were still leaning on Welder a lot here, and it was your one GX attack. That being said, you did 210 damage which was usually enough for the role being played here, and you also drew cards until you had 10 in your hand. This set you up nicely for your next turn as well as long as you didn't immediately get hit by a Judge. Usually you'd be okay though, and even if not it tended to force that play instead of a different Supporter.

Eevee & Snorlax-GX was a backup option in Reshiram & Charizard decks for the most part. Reshiram & Charizard-GX performed rather well against a lot of things, but Eevee & Snorlax-GX cleaned up Stage 1 Pokemon so well that it was often brought along too. Having a copy or two was reasonably common until the game shifted almost entirely to Tag Teams, and while a few Evolved Pokemon came back later in the Sword & Shield era it never found a great home partly due to higher HP numbers. It sure had a few good months, though, at least in that one deck.

[starabsol]

contestshipping shinies

i am a mad contestshipping fanatic, i am sure i've mentioned so before. and one of my main hobbies is shiny hunting. since last year when i got my switch i've been shiny hunting left n right! and since i love contestshipping as much as i do, i went ahead and caught quite a few shinies who are contestshipping related!! ^^ i like showing stuff so heres a whole dump of shinies who r contestshipping related hehe. i dont have them all yet, im also busy w other stuff so

MAY'S POKEMON

blaziken (violet/sword)

and here some funny backstory on how i got these two!

violet blaziken i actually found on accident. since the scvi dlc came out i really wanted to get torchic so i could evolve it into blaziken. however i saw they didnt spawn in the location they were supposed to, so i popped an encounter power lvl 2 sandwich, and, crazily, a shiny torchic appeared right there. i named her ikaika! :3

sword blaziken i purposefully hatched out of an egg. surprisingly it was within 100 eggs or so, so I was very lucky there x3

2. glaceon (violet/sword)

and here some info on how i got them:

in violet i really wanted some shiny eeveelutions, since i was an eevee kid back in the day, so i got to a mass outbreak of it and managed to get like three shiny eevees within 30 minutes of a sandwich! which i evolved into leafeon, glaceon, and left the last eevee as it was. i named glaceon lazuli, based on lazuli from the eeveelution squad!

in sword i again, purposefully masuda hunted it. though it was much longer and more dreadful than the torchic hunt i did XD

3. venasaur (violet)

how i got it:

how i got this guy was surprisingly similar to how i found my shiny torchic in violet. i originally wanted to get a regular bulbasaur, but when i found four or five bulbasaur covered in some tall grass, and noticed one was different from the others, i knew i'd found a shiny! XD

4. beautifly (shining pearl)

how i got it:

let me tell you, getting this thing was painful; in the bdsp games you ARE able to find silcoon and cascoon; except there's a problem. i have shining pearl, and silcoon was exclusive to brilliant diamond (as cascoon is exclusive to shining pearl, which i had). so, i had to chainhunt wurmple. and it's very painful considering my chain broke several times. but that isn't even the main issue! wurmple can evolve into cascoon, too, which means i also had a big chance of getting cascoon instead of silcoon. and that's what happened when i got my first wurmple.. it evolved into a cascoon. i evolved it into a dustox anyway, and after more fighting i managed to get the shiny wurmple that evolved into beautifly. <3

DREW'S POKEMON:

roselia & roserade (shining pearl)

i know you see a roselia/roserade in sword there, but i actually caught it in shining pearl! since its in bdsp and i was able to chainhunt it, i actually managed to get three shiny budews within that chain without it breaking. one i kept as a budew, the other two i evolved into roselia, and eventually one of them into roserade! so i have the entire line, basically. however i like the shaders n lining in swsh a lot more so i decided to transfer them to sword <3

2. masquerain (violet/ultra sun)

how i got them:

in violet masquerain was a shiny i obtained really early as soon as i got my shiny charm! considering it's drews only pokemon that (before the dlc came) was in the games i wanted to hunt masquerain. and i know a lot of people shit on green shinies, but i love shiny masquerain.

in ultra sun i got it through the SOS method, and it went surprisingly fast. i dont think i spent that much time on it at all XD

3. flygon (violet/usum/shining pearl)

im not gonna explain what's going on here...

how i got them:

in violet as soon as the dlc came out and i had completed it i immediately rushed to shiny hunt it (trapinch) in the dlc. and i got it relatively fast, i got two even. not long after i bumped into a shiny flygon in the wild, and... like that, it continued... the first shiny i got though was named sapphire!

just like roselia/roserades case, the shiny i got was originally from shining pearl n transferred it over to sword. however, how i found this thing is WEIRD. so fucking WEIRD until this day i still dont get it. basically i was shiny hunting vibrava in the desert area of shining pearl as soon as i got the national dex. i was chainhunting, as usual. thing is, you just normally encounter pokemon, so if it's a shiny you should be able to see that it's shiny and the little sparkle effect, right? well, in this case not, apparently. because i was casually catching vibravas to keep the chain going. when you catch a pokemon you temporarily she the sprite of the pokemon you caught; but when i thought i'd caught a regular vibrava (i didnt see it to be shiny, and i saw no sparkle effect) i see a quick flash of the shiny sprite. at first i thought i was hallucinating, so i went to go check, but it was a shiny. i still dont get it. HELP. (ill put a video below LOL)

on usum i got it by doing the SOS method! that one i also found surprisingly fast.

4. absol (ultra sun/shining pearl)

shining pearl absol has, just like roselia and flygon, the same origin. it's from shining pearl. however, i instead shiny hunted absol via the mesuda method, considering the shiny charm is fucked up in bdsp and getting a shiny via the grand underground (the only spot where u can find absol in the games) is pretty much impossible. named him sol!

usum absol which i got via the mesuda method also. i originally wanted to SOS hunt it, but absol rarely ever calls for help, even on 1HP+adrenaline orb. it took awhile to get it, but when i got it i was filled with joy lol.

5. butterfree (usum)

i got this baby from the SOS method. and let me tell you, it was fucking fast. like.. like literally so fast i got it within an hour or so, maybe even less! i named him andrew >;3

HARLEY'S POKEMON

cacturne (violet)

i just got this guy from a mass outbreak! it's really cute because one of cacneas idle animations is them waving, so when i found the shiny cacnea it was just waving at me >o< i named her mayley, by the way!

2. banette (violet)

this one i also got out of a mass outbreak ^o^ if anything i managed to get two shiny shuppet, so one i evolved into banette n the other remained a shuppet! i named shuppet spooks and banette shooks! :3

3. ariados (violet)

this dude was SUCH a pain to get. first i had tried to catch it via spinarak mass outbreaks, but after 2-3 hours of running around i was fed up and decided to try an ariados outbreak instead. eventually i got it, though in my opinion, it took way too long. i named him kumo, which means spider in japanese!

and last but not least, arcanine. he's connected to contestshipping in a way, you know? so i had to hunt it >:D

how i got this baby was via mass outbreaks. i actually caught two shiny growlithe, so i evolved one and kept the other as is. arcanine i named summer, and growlithe i called lente, which means spring in dutch!! i love these babies!!

thanks for listening to me ramble. XD also, if you're a (crazy) contestshipper, PLEASE be my friend. I'm desperate. if u guys wanna see some screenshots of may n drews pkmn interacting let me know!

[rassicas]

Hey, tried to reach you on CuriousCat but didn't hear back. Saw your work on the wiki with regards to Splatoon alphabets - we're dealing with a very similar problem with the uppercase 'Galarian' alphabet in Pokemon Sword/Shield/Scarlet Violet. Lots of gibberish, no 'valid' translations that we can see, lots of letter inconsistency (the F of GAME FREAK is an R for GALAR, fun stuff like that). Any advice on getting the 'true' alphabet out of this mess? Tried a bunch of stuff, but it doesn't seem to be working. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tz06e1q9dnXo29q9SpxELO_eDGEd6S08iA3NbkNHb8g/edit?usp=sharing https://www.pokemonaaah.net/research/galarian/galarwords/ ^our work so far, plus a decent chunk of the in-game body of text

Yeah my curiouscat is just about abandoned, this is a better place to contact me. Funny thing, I am aware with your guy's deciphering work of the Galarian (on the second website linked)! I remember it coming up in conversation some time ago while working on the deciphering of Splatoon's scripts. But the doc is new for me, and looking through that...i mean this with as much praise and respect as possible, you guys are insane. in the trenches over here. my god. I see some the progress on the lowercase, we used similar methods in solving some parts of the inkling languages too. for the uppercase...Going through and seeing real world decoding techniques applied... for a fictional script that likely was implemented for the sake of design rather than as a thing with secret meaning/consistency, you guys already figured it out, but it doesn't work. My two cents is that Galarian could be something like Splatoon's "Bold Script". this script has many letters that kind of look like latin script, and is often used to write things in game that look like real english words. when trying to decipher it however, there was a similar problem to Galarian: same symbols would be used to mimic different letters, just too much inconsistency. For years, it and the Inkling language as a whole was assumed to be totally indecipherable.

(TOWER RECORDS HICOLOR) But then the "true" alphabet that the splatoon team was using internally was solved for, and...

most of these don't resemble their latin letter counterparts at all, and then a few seemingly random repeats. There's also some glyphs we've found that looked like they'd be part of the deciphered form of the script, but only appeared in limited contexts and ended up not being a part of the alphabet. I think those extra letters were arbitrarily assigned to symbol keys, but its kind of impossible to know which. (those rare letters, like the G in game freak/galar could fall under that category of being an "extra" letter in the font and not part of the main alphabet?)

The "true" alphabet of Galarian may be something like this: comprised of many letters that resemble the latin alphabet that in font form, are assigned seemingly arbitrarily across the alphabet. And then to make something readable to the viewers, those letters are hand picked or modified to mimic words. Why go through all the effort to do that instead of doing a simpler decode-able thing? no idea other than "looks cool" "don't want people to solve it too easily" or "conveys information to the player". The splatoon team does both in the same games in the same writing systems. One key difference between Galarian and Splatoon's scripts is that splatoon has multiple scripts used within the same game, vs SWSH sticking with the one script. a lot of the deciphering work for Splatoon has involved comparing matching lines of text between a solved and unsolved script. If you're interested in the history of the deciphering of the Inkling language... there's a video for that ;) Without such points of comparison, and if the only way the script is used is to mimic words and doesn't exist in large bodies of text, the "true" alphabet of uppercase Galarian may be just about impossible to solve. (this is the case for a couple Splatoon scripts, like the Deepsea scripts)

ofc i'm not the one that's combed through Galarian so i'm not gonna claim to be an expert on it, but that's my two cents as someone who has extensively rotted their brain deciphering fake video game writing.

[thetabbybadger]

So even though I’m in the height of my mtg mood right now, my brain has starting thinking about pokemon again (not that it ever really stops, it’s always there…. lurking….)

ANYWAY, I’m just thinking about whatever the new main-gen game will be and what would be my ideal version. (I feel like I made a post like this once but I couldn’t find it so HA I get to make it again >:3c (or for the first time who knows, not be and certainly not tumblr))

So I do really love the open world we’ve been getting, but I do miss the classic pokemon feel of set paths etc. I think I’d like to see a return to what sword/shield did but just a bit…. better 😅 I’d love to see much of the game be set paths like old pokemon games. I really like the bike in swsh and how it upgraded to have your “HMs”. I wanna go back to needing like Cut and Surf and Strength, but I do NOT want to go back to needing an HM work-horse. I think a mixture of bike upgrades, and Pokédex upgrades that can be used to power up your pokemon to perform feats would be my favorite. The system in Sun/Moon wasn’t bad, but I like the self-sufficiency and plus, in obscure places or weird times it feels weird flavorfully that ride pokemon would just be available at your constant beck and call (it’s a game mechanic, not meant to be looked into too much but I am Looking).

Anyway, with this we could bring back exploring random out of the way spots that maybe you almost miss cause you didn’t cut a little tree and explore. We could get back strength puzzles. I wouldn’t mind bringing back gen 3 bike mechanics as well (although I think we should be able to just switch gears and not have to swap out the whole-ass bike). Bring back flash and defog for certain areas.

Speaking of puzzles, I think caves having weird layouts and things like rock puzzles and ice floor puzzles would be neat to have back. I was so mad at them at the time, but there is something classic about them. Maybe even buildings with good ol’fashioned teleport puzzles.

Back to my original point, yes set paths BUT I do like the open areas. I like how swsh had The Wild Area. I would like a new game to do a similar thing with set paths but also a similar concept to a wild area, ideally at least a few. Along with that, flavor-wise I liked camping better than just picnics. Though I think you should be able to switch pov, I liked that in camps you could play with pokemon and talk with them individually. But I liked in picnics being able to run around and pose with my pokemon and also bath them. Keep the baths! I would also like the return of individual playing and some kind of Pokemon Amie equivalent.

I also want each town to be on its own, um load screen I guess? I think the fact that there weren’t barriers in scarvi was one of it’s biggest stability issues. It also I think contributed to the different cities/towns not really feeling different from each other (some were really unique, but, to me at least, a lot felt like they just blended together because i could just run in and out and it wasn’t too different from their surroundings. Which is a shame because i think a lot had neat potential. I love the snow town, that one felt unique with spooky candles and ice, and the town with the fountain by the desert and the elevator was kinda cool. But nothing hits quite like that mushroom fairy town in swsh. Or even the cool steam-punk big city! Also being on their own loading screen lets them have passive pokemon doing cute things in the city instead of random wild ones that you can maybe encounter or maybe not or maybe they’ll just despawn if they take 2 steps in the wrong direction.

Also not having to go into a store for the poke center was convenient but I miss going inside. Maybe road-side ones can be like the ones in scarvi but I want full pokemon centers in the cities/towns. Same with other stores. Ultimately it doesn’t reeeeeally matter, but it felt more immersive to go into shops and buildings. I don’t mind some stands here and there, but LEMME IN LEMME IN!

ALSO! Just make all the clothing/accessories in one store pleeeeease. Each town can have its own store that sells different stuff, but I don’t want to have hunt down like the sock store and the glasses store separately.

I would love to see contests come back and they also make a bigger plot point. In fact it would be kinda cool if at the start of the game you could pick which route you’re more interested in and maybe whichever you pick is what your main plot is based on. Or barring that, just at least having its own relevant story plot, even if you do it after the main gym story.

Also just leaning more into the rpg aspect. Maybe some more side-quests. I loved the school system and like bonding with the teachers in scarvi, that was so cool. I’d love to see it go further and get cutscenes or plot points if you befriend people. I also loved how fleshed out the rivals(?) were and how they were full characters. I would love to see your dialogue options having even slight impact on the game, even if it’s just how other characters react to you. (I would super love a full pokemon rpg but I could settle on at least being able to treat my character as a character and it affect interactions at least a little bit).

Speaking of side-quests more just little things. I liked working with the photographer lady in the DLC. Also, maybe making photography another side-quest-plot thing you can do. Maybe a part-time job working for like a magazine and they want certain pictures. Idk I just like the idea.

I’d love to bring back the old way of breeding. Or maybe just make both ways available.

I love the exp. share but I know some people don’t so I think it would be nice if it was toggle-able.

I want to be able to have a room/home base that I can CUSTOMIZE AND DECORATE!!! We had dorms in scarvi, why couldn’t we at least hang up a poster or pick our bedding color?? Dx Heck, even if it’s the room in our house or something.

I looooved that they added custom ball-throwing animations. I think they should start with a few you can choose from at the beginning and add more as you go. It should also be free and something you can do at any point. Maybe see the animation when you pick it.

Also I loooooove that customizing your appearance was free and available at any time, keep that. Also make more hair work with more hats. That was the biggest bummer for me. Lots of cool hair options, lots of cool hats, no way to have them both T-T

I am mixed on how I want wild pokemon. Overworld is soooooo much more convenient, but there’s something classic about tall grass. I think I wouldn’t mind if it was a mix like swsh did but I would change it up a bit. More like scarvi where they don’t despawn if you move away from the area (unless you go to new loading screen). Unlike swsh though I wouldn’t want any pokemon to be exclusive to tall grass, maybe more common, but not exclusive. That was very frustrating to me.

Ahhhh I probably have more but I’m getting sleepy. Maybe I’ll add more tomorrow, but it was just on my mind. I can already think of a coupple tidings I wanna add 👀

[koffing-time]

I will gladly interact with you! Send an ask! @ me! I would love to RP with you. I will do an (IC) promo if you ask (assuming i'm popular enough for that lmao)!

Hello Hello ~

My name is Tix (they/them, occasionally it/its), and welcome to my rotomblr blog! I'm 23, I'm from Unova and i have a small café on Route 3 right outside Striaton City. If you don't find it, just look for the Daycare on the hill, walk up that hill and look for the building at the foot of the hill! And now come in and get a cupcake, you earned it!

Don't be alarmed by the poison types around here! Most of them are registered to me and are completely harmless unless you touch them. They are also friendly, so if you wanna pet them, ask me! I'll gladly provide handling advice.

I also have an employee, Olivia. I might occasionally mention him. Maybe she'll also make a few post here and there.

There is also Brandy, my Rotom. Let's hope they can behave!

As for my Pokémon, there are a few! [Complete list of Pokémon including retcons at the end in the ooc section]

My Koffing, Coffee! The shop's named after him! Look at his FABULOUS moustache!

Bienenstich the Scolipede, she's very good with kids. If you need someone to look after your toddler, she's the gal! (i am so not kidding)

Cream the Haunter. No, your drink isn't haunted, she just helps me out a bit.

Muffin the Roselia, he's the primary gardener. I would do more around there but he doesn't let me.

Poppy the Toxicroak, he's a cool guy. He also makes music with me.

Basil the Toxtricity. Best bassist i've ever met (sorry Roxie).

Carrot Cake the Clodsire. He doesn't do much, but that's okay.

Rhubarb the Ekans. Little rascal. Don't trip over him.

Eggplant the Skorupi. He's new, still getting to know him myself!

Soup the Grimer is also quite new. I hatched him from a strange egg.

Also here's three pics of me. (//i forgor what the picrew were. if anyone knows, let me know)

//Pelipper Mail is on

//I will draw your OCs badly

OOC below the cut:

// Hi, hello. I run this blog as a side blog, so I'll like and follow from my main @fire-water-grass-core. If you need to address me (the player/mun), I'm okay with any pronouns, and if you need a name you can call me Kama, Nox or Cheese. I also run:

@zekrom-sword where i explore some darker themes (ig?) regarding pokémon hunting. This blog is less focused on blogging though and goes more into headcanon/fanfic territory. I'm happy to RP with Felix (muse over there) though!

@fire-water-grass-core is the main, as mentioned. Originally it was planned for that one to be a personal blog for Olivia, Tix' employee, but i didn't really get into it. I mostly use it for OOC stuff regarding rotomblr ig?

@kamataros is my general, non-pkmn-irl blog. idk what you would want there? but feel free to check it out. I post a lot of shit and a lot of it is untagged.

NOW for the rules ig?

ZERO: don't be a dick. easy, right? right. This is the important part :)

First: blanket #unreality warning. I will tag posts usually as pokemon irl, #pkmn irl or #pokeblogging. The actual unreality tag is reserved that genuinely blends reality and fiction (such as talking about animals in the context of the pokemon world.)

Second: i went on a BIG hiatus for like 6 months. I've retconned a few things, but i didn't want to actually go through the blog and delete stuff. Instead, i tagged all old posts as #Koffing-Time-1.0. Everything with this tag is not neccesarily canon anymore. case-to-case basis i guess.

Third: If anything comes up, I'll try to put a warning tag. I'll keep it to one format: #cw [trigger]. I will probably still use them sparingly, since i'm personally okay with most things. Please tell me if i should tag something.

Fourth: I won't participate in high stakes a lot and probably never in ultra stakes. Everything will be appropriately tagged #high stakes pokereality on the off chance that i do join. I don't think i will be getting into details like "low stakes" and "medium stakes" for tagging.

Fifth: Regarding sentient/sapient pokémon: they are allowed. I might ignore them if i ever do any story-arcs or so, but go ahead! (this was different for 1.0)

Sixth: Ask games will be tagged with #ask game. Once i reblog them, they are open indefinitely, including old ones from #Koffing-Time-1.0. The tag will be for the initial meme only, not the answers to make it possible to find them. Generally, please put the question for the meme into your ask, especially if it's an older ask game. (Feel free to ask Brandy or Olivia as well, but if not specified it will be Tix answering)

Seventh: DMs are an OOC zone :)

OTHER TAGS:

I'm trying to use a funny tagging system for blogs i "frequently" interact with (as in.. i am not chronically on tumblr so "frequently" is a bit much to say)

Out of Character posts will be tagged with #ooc . This goes only for posts where a significant portion is ooc.

Out of Character answers to asks will be tagged #cheesy answers

Out of Character notes will be marked as // or //ooc (including tags)

I might reblog art or even posts that tix isn't involved in. these will be tagged #//reblog

Posts involving details about certain headcanons will be tagged #headcanon

Image descriptions or Video description will be in [brackets] .

Also here is a (not complete) list of a few headcanons that i use.

I'll update and edit this post as well as reblog it if something changes.

Lastly

I, Cheese, Mun will use pink coloured text in addition to the //

Tix will be writing/talking in colourless text

Olivia will be writing/talking in blue text

Brandy will be writing/talking in red text

otherwise, i won't use much colours in posts. this intro blog stuff will be the exception to make it easier to read (i hope)

That being said: feel free to interact, feel free to send a DM, feel free to send asks, I'm happy to do offscreen posts and RP and whatnot, I won't bite and i won't poison you. Probably.

PS: little thing about reblog chains (i guess?)

Now, that was a long one. If you read it all, congratulations, have a cookie. Or a coffee. And most importantly: have fun!

PPS: Here's a list of Tix'Pokémon:

Coffee the Koffing

Muffin the Roselia

Bienenstich the Scolipede

Cream the Haunter

Poppy the Toxicroak

Basil the Toxtricity

Cracker the Murkrow (retconned) [it hurt me to do this but there are so many already] (never fucking mind i love them too much i can't delete them)

Cheese the (shiny) Crobat (retconned) [it hurt me to do this but there are so many already] (never fucking mind i love them too much i can't delete them)

Rhubarb the Ekans

Chocco the Salandit (retconned)

Carrot Cake the Clodsire

Pumpkin the Bellsprout (retconned)

Loaf the Trubbish (retconned)

Yoghurt the Yveltal (retconned)

Bun the (ultra domesticated) Trubbish (retconned)

Roll the (ultra domesticated) Tubbish (retconned)

Appleslice the (ultra domesticated) Mareanie (reconned)

Bacon the (ultra domesticated) Mareanie (retconned)

Lettuce the (ultra domesticated) Mareanie (retconned)

Tomato the (ultra domesticated) Mareanie (retconned)

Caramel the Beedrill (retconned)

Tofu the Sliggoo (retconned)

Annie Stonefruit the (albino) Cranidos (retconned)

Jack the Pumpkaboo (retconned)

Brandy the Rotom

Eggplant the Skorupi

Leonard the bed-sized Clodsire Plush

Soup the Baby-Grimer

If all of Tix team appear in a post (i doubt) it'll be tagged with #tix band

Also a list of Olivias Pokémon

Hans the Lotad

Grill the Darmanitan

Marbles the Alolan Exeggutor (tagged with just #marbles the exeggutor )

The Kalosian the Escavalier (tagged with just #kalosian the escavalier)

Beach Ball the Gible

Gregor the Gimmighoul

If all of Olivias Team appear in a post, it'll be tagged #olivias gang

[wrightfamilyagency]

I got asked about my old Pokemon AU I briefly posted about a long time ago, and I've been going back to that on and off over the years, so why not post a little more about what it looks like now, ha. And, of course, once I started writing it down I couldn't stop and now there's way too much for one post sooooo Part 1 I guess???

I think I'll start on the world-building stuff, since that got completely overhauled after the last posts, especially as Sword and Shield came out and gave us a canonical UK region so I had to throw out what little I'd already done and start over with the Layton side of things anyway, lol. I'll get back to how Galar works down-page a bit, though.

On the Ace Attorney side of things, I ended up completely revamping the 'region' of California in the end. I'd actually started out really flailing on what to do with it - the nearest regions were Alola/Hawai'i and Unova/New York, both of which are quite a distance away - but after last posting about it, I suddenly realised I had an excellent starting point right there: Orre! I played both Colosseum and XD: Gale of Darkness back in the day and they remain my favourite Pokemon spin-offs, to the point I fully believe they deserve to be counted as mainline, made by Game Freak or not. The point here is, Orre was based on Arizona and parts of northwest Mexico, so it's right next door to California and it would totally make sense if Pkmn-California worked a lot like Orre does. So, there aren't any gyms here, just a handful of colosseums - one of them being Sunshine Coliseum, that tied in really well - where there are regular tournaments held, though I did keep the idea of an Elite 4 who were the highest ranked battlers of the region, but they only battle in 'invitational' tournaments of the next so-many highest ranks. I also put a new coliseum (both spellings are technically correct, so I stuck to the one used in AA for Sunshine Coliseum) in the Nine Tails Vale/Tenma Town area, called the MissingNo Coliseum. The two towns either side are Ninetales Vale and Tauros Town, by the way; Though the monster is only known as MissingNo, it is pictured much like a Paldean Tauros (Blaze breed) as that pokemon shares the parallels of multiple tails and fire-type with Kantonian Ninetales and both the black colour and the name 'Tauros' are close to the original 'Tenma Taro' too.

The second interesting thing about Orre I decided to bring over is the idea of wild pokemon being almost non-existent, and only just starting to reappear when the story starts (2002-ish, about the time I headcanon XD:GoD as being set), which ties in to the story of how Phoenix gets his Magikarp: That determination despite "everyone knowing" there are no wild pokemon in the region is such a Phoenix thing to do, especially when he succeeds regardless! Before the wild population builds up, all the pokemon in this region are imported, either individually with their trainer or by a bulk-importer to be sold on.

Oh, and the final Orre trait I brought over? Double battles are the norm here. Most people buy have at least two pokemon specifically because that's just how its done in Orre and Pkmn-California.

On the Layton/Galar side of things, well, obviously anything located or happening in London is instead in Wyndon here. Sword/Shield says something about Chairman Rose designing and building "this booming metropolis", but I'm going to pretend they don't mean the city literally didn't exist until recently and that they actually mean Rose just made an existing ancient town really fancy and a prime destination for tourists by putting up a lot of big buildings, towers, and a stadium... especially since we have no indication as to when Sword/Shield takes place, so all this might be before Rose's company starts building stadiums and stuff. I also ended up merging Monte D'or with Stow-on-Side, as they are both in a desert/desert-like setting, surrounded by cliffs, and known for ancient architecture nearby. The main difference is that, instead of the 'round' area being a lake with a stadium in the middle and the actual town being down the cliffside a little, the lake is a massive hole in the ground in which the town is located, possibly containing a stadium. The mural is still way above them on the cliffside, being unrelated to the Azran stuff beneath the new settlement.

As for the rest of them...

[Image description: The official artwork of the Galar region from Pokemon Sword and Shield. A compass rose indicates North is downward. From north to south, the towns of Wedgehurst, Motostoke, Turffield, Stow-on-Side, Hammerlocke, and Wyndon have been labelled, as has Route 10 north of Wyndon. Various areas, detailed below, have been circled in red and labelled "St Mystere?", "Misthallery?", "Stansbury?", "Labyrinthia?", and "Folsense & Dropstone?"]

Stansbury is somewhere green and open, not too far from Monte D'or, close to an ancient wall, so I placed it somewhere between Stow-on-Side and Turffield. Labyrinthia is an island, so I placed that one at random off the coast, somewhere to the south as I figure it can't be that far from London/Wyndon (not that we get a very good view of the southern coastline in this image, but still). Folsense is hidden in mountains, only accessible by train from London, and Dropstone isn't far away, so those two I ended up placing semi-randomly in the mountains off Route 10, as that's the southern extent of the trainline in Galar. Misthallery's major feature is the big dam/lake and the multiple rivers, so I kinda threw it in around the lake-filled section of the Wild Area, between Motostoke and Wedgehurst. St Mystere I really just picked a location for at random, in the mountains near Wedgehurst, off the Wild Area... but on second thought it might actually fit better as being hidden in the Glimwood Tangle (the thick forest that surrounds Ballonlea), south of Stow-on-Side.

Obviously, unlike the California region, people in Galar will generally catch a pokemon from the wild when they want one, and most people have at least one. Double battles are actually pretty rare in Galar, though it is known to be used occasionally in the professional circuits. The first thing I did after retooling this AU for Sword/Shield was to make sure certain characters' teams were made up of pokemon actually available in those games... or, I did my best to ensure that. There's one major exception I will go into later. xD

At some point I'll do a part 2, and talk about the plot or about pokemon teams for various characters or something. Send me an ask if you have a preference, I guess?

[noveratus]

Alright, so after finishing playing through the pokemon DLC, here are my thoughts:

For the good parts: the DLC is fun to play and pleasantly challenging, which is new for a pokemon game. It feels great to just walk around catching pokemon to fill the pokedex. The characters are a mix bag with Kieran and Drayton being the highlights but still not quite meeting the greatness of Nemona and some of the Gym trainers. The other ones just disappear in the back as nothing but obstacles. I think that they lack a bit of the soul the gym trainers have even with less screen time. I also found Nemona to be a far more interesting rival than Kieran since you always get this sense she is better than you, even though you beat her. It feels like an older sibling letting their younger sib play with them and getting down on their level. Kieran is still pretty good and quite a plot twist considering the leaks and trailers. He never goes full villain, just kind of an ass out of jealousy, which I think is a pretty interesting concept. Kieran feels like what Hop should have been in Sword and Shield.

The environments are also really great and fun to explore, I love how much personality different pokemon have. I also prefer double battles over single battles as I found out. They do require more strategy.

The story also fits with the story of a DLC, that being you, the player, meet this shy kid who becomes filled with jealousy and tries to become the best by making things very unfun for everyone else only to be demonlished by the player. His desperation leads to him seeking an even more powerful pokemon that ends up being a threat and has to team up with the player to stop them (the pokemon should have been peacharunt, but alas.)

Now for the bad

While teal disk is really, really good, it also increases my disappointment when it comes to the actual main game.

Let's start with the features. Why is flying locked behind a pay wall? It doesn't even make any sense when you take into consideration the story of the game. One of the main missions is all about making the cover legendary better until it reaches its maximum power, and yet there it is, gaining another 'form.' The return of throwing balls and even BBQs are things that I think should have been in the base game. Also, couldn't they have added at least a few more clothing options to the main game?

I can understand the legendaries being behind the pay wall, that's fine. The new areas, new pokemon, all of that is alright. That is what you put in a DLC, but a whole mechanical gimmick in the form of the stellar type, it only goes to show just how unfinished the core games were at launch. At this point, it feels less like the DLCs are extra content and more so that they are what the actual game was meant to be, but due to time constraints, they were half assed and, instead, if you want to play the actual game you have to pay another 30 bucks on top of the 60 that you paid for the unfinished, unpolished mess of a half game that was the core games. Ironically, this almost makes me miss the 3rd games in the franchise because, if you waited a year, you could just pay for the game once.

The last hour of the DLC feels like it was the hour that was missing from the central story of the game. Just replace Kieran with Arven being upset that his parents cared more about the pokemon than him, replace Briar with Nemona, and be excited to meet a new pokemon and Carmine with Penny and you can have the exact same story. Hell, it would make more sense for Geeta to trust the player and trainers from paldea with the investigation of the crystals instead of complete strangers. What was Nemona up to in Indigo Disco anyway? Are you telling me that Geeta would ask for the help of Carmine instead of Nemona? Nemona, whose original team we have yet to see? Don't get me wrong, I like the plotline in the DLC. I just don't think that that last part deserves to be DLC. It simply feels incredibly unfair and greedy. The least you can do is put out one complete main story instead of half assing 3 of them.

That's my rant, anyway. Expect a rewrite of these games soon. For the record, I really, really like the dlc. I would give it a solid 8.5/10. However, seeing it and what the base game could have been makes the core games drop down quite a bit, from a 6.5/10 to a 4/10.

[pokemonconsequencesmybeloved]

Pokemon Consequences Progress Update

Post No. 2: Rival(?) Battle and Early Route Encounters

Hello! I've been working on the project for a bit now and since my last post I've gotten two major things done.

1) I've created the first iteration of the first battle against Kieran! Kieran isn't technically a rival to the player character but you will battle him multiple times as the story progresses, so he fills that role. I say first iteration because I am not much of a teambuilder as evidenced by the fact someone reblogged my previous Dokukieran team and made it much better, so this team will most likely be reworked multiple times.

2) I created the encounter table for the early routes of the game. I have an encounter table for two reasons, a) it's much easier to create on Google Sheets, and b) the game is going to be 2d because I cannot create a 3d one.

Kieran Battle:

(remember, everything is subject to change!)

Firstly, I read through the first two chapters of the Toxic Consequences AU fanfic again and determined that the player would have their first battle with Kieran as he leaves Loyalty Plaza after losing to Florian and Juliana, so it takes place after he meets Dokutaro but before he gets chained. This means I had to create a worse version of the team he uses at Loyalty Plaza. I based my version of the team off of the one you would fight if you hadn't beaten the story of main SV because even if you had access to a couple routes by now and had beaten a couple trainers, this is still an early game boss fight.

The first step to do that was to get rid of his Cramorant. I think the fight would be easier and better if he only had four Pokemon, and as far as I'm aware he only uses the Cramorant in this fight and no others.

Another thing you may notice about his team is that all of their natures are neutral. I'm not naturing or IV-ing or EV-ing a fight this early in the game because, once again, it's an early-game boss fight.

First up, his Gligar. It has Arial Ace and Sand Tomb for S.T.A.B. (yes I know Sand Tomb is a bad move but that's the point!), and Swords Dance to get some attack boosts. That coupled with its ability Hyper Cutter, which prevents you from lowering its attack, means that if you leave it alone for long enough it can become a real threat (even if that is unlikely to happen). It has no held item (in fact, Dipplin is the only pokemon to have one) because, again, this is an early-game fight and I don't want the game to be too difficult... yet. :)

Next, Poliwhirl. I gave it Low Kick for coverage, and for it's water move I chose to give it Weather Ball. Okay hear me out on this one- the attack uses Poliwhirl's special attack stat which is pretty bad in comparison to it's physical attack. The point of this move, though, is that it pairs well with Rain Dance. When rain is active, Weather Ball becomes a water-type move and doubles to 100 base power. Because of the rain, water-type attacks get boosted AND Poliwhirl gets water S.T.A.B., which when combined with Poliwhirl's ability Swift Swim doubling its speed in rain should make it output decent damage for this point in the game... hopefully.

Then, Yanma. As opposed to Kieran's first two Pokemon which have three moves, Yanma and Dipplin both get four. I first gave it Struggle Bug and Air Cutter for S.T.A.B., and I then gave it U-Turn as a pivot. You may be thinking, "What's the point if Yanma is sent out second-to-last?" The point is that Yanma won't always be sent second to last. How this game will work is that trainers will ALWAYS send out their lead first and ALWAYS send out their ace last, but what comes in-between is determined by which Pokemon is best against your current Pokemon, and U-turn allows Yanma to switch into Poliwhirl to take an attack that Yanma could not. Finally, I gave it Tailwind to make the team faster, which it kind of needs, especially Dipplin.

Speaking of Dipplin, that's the last member of his team! I decided to make Dipplin Kieran's ace instead of Poliwhirl because it's always bothered me that it's not his ace in a couple of battles despite Hydrapple becoming his ace in the Indigo Disk. (I don't know, I just like things to be consistent.) First off, I gave it Syrup Bomb and Dragon Breath for S.T.A.B., then Bug Bite for coverage. Finally, I gave it Recover. The interesting part is Dipplin's ability. Kieran's Dipplin usually has Supersweet Syrup, but I decided to give it Gluttony. This is because of Dipplin's item, the Pataya berry, which normally increases your special attack upon reaching 1/4 health. With Gluttony, however, this special attack boost instead occurs at 1/2 health, meaning if you don't take it out quickly because of Dipplin's high defense (did anyone else think the line's special defense would be higher? just me? okay), it gets a special attack boost and becomes the only real threat on the team.

Speaking of, should this game be double battles or single battles? Either way there will be a couple of the other option but which should be the prominent encounter type? I'm leaning towards double because I prefer it over singles and it gives me the opportunity to create more devious strategies, but what do you think? As always, your choice WILL influence the game.

Encounters:

The important thing I considered when creating the encounters here is getting through the harder members of Kieran's team, notably Poliwhirl and Dipplin. That being said, here are the encounters:

I've created the encounter tables for Kitakami Road, Apple Hills, and Reveler's Road. I've decided to do this because for progression reasons Kitakami hall will be the furthest in the game you can reach before defeating Kieran.

Kitakami Road

Just like in real SV, the only three encounters here are Wooper, Yanma, and Spinarak at night. (yes I know this has some differences to regular SV because Spinarak can be found during the day and other mons can spawn here rarely but for the first point it adds variety and for the second it makes it easier for me, okay?)

Apple Hills

This is where the encounter tables get interesting. Just like regular SV, you can find Applin here all the time and Starly during the day. (I know Starly only spawns during the day because I tried to shiny hunt it and it was a pain :[ ) You can also find Spinarak here at nighttime and Volbeat and Illumise rarely. Fun fact: Volbeat and Illumise can spawn in both versions, but Volbeat spawns more commonly in Scarlet and Illumise in Violet. They're like pseudo-version exclusives, which is what gave me the idea for the day-night exclusivity. The notable encounter here is Psyduck, whose Cloud Nine ability makes it a great counter to Poliwhirl. (I know Psyduck is not in the Kitakami dex but I'm adding it and multiple others because a) variety and b) Sneasler and Runerigus were both in the Dokukieran team so it's not off-limits.)

Reveler's Road

Firstly, Vulpix and Growlithe spawn here as day-night exclusives. Apparnently Growlithe doesn't actually spawn here but it's in the dex and I could have sworn it did so I'm keeping it. Toedscool and Poltchageist also spawn here just as they do in game, with Poltchageist appearing both at day and night because in regular SV Poltchageist does spawn at all times of day but more commonly at sunset and night. Noibat also appears as a rare spawn at night only because a) It has to be rare because Noivern is really good, and b) the Noibat line's whole thing is using echolocation to fly around in the dark so it's fitting as a night-only encounter. The notable encounter here, however, is Sneasel. It's a fast and decently-hard-hitting ice types making it practically the only good counter to Dipplin while also not being too good for this point in the game due to its BST. (I wanted the fight to be decently hard if you're not prepared but have good counters because I also want the game to be a hard nuzlocke because that's the only way I'm good at romhacking/making fangames /hj.)

Conclusion:

Wow, that was a long progress update. Everything here is subject to change, so expect me to come back to this later, but for now, I'm pretty happy with how both of today's topics came out. These updates are probably going to be daily but I might miss a couple of days because I want to actually get something done inbetween updates. For now though,

Smoliv out.

[crystalelemental]

Pokemon Team Characterization - Janine

Ninja Dad is done, but now it is time for Ninja Daughter.  Janine’s cool, I like Janine.  Her whole thing is being new and relatively uncertain and is trying her best, which is exactly what Flannery does, but I’m cutting off this rant before I piss off the Flannery fans.

Janine’s intro team is really funny, because it sucks.  Confuse Ray and Supersonic on the same Pokemon?  Two Ariados with the same offensive overlap?  Her team is riddled with small oddities that suggest someone new who doesn’t quite know what she’s doing.  The only thing she has on lock is her Weezing.  She definitely learned her dad’s trade.

But that’s not what we’re interested in.

Janine’s Gen 4 rematch is where she establishes an identity.  It’s where she starts to really craft a careful team, but where she also starts to seriously break away from her dad’s style as a ninja and develops her own.

The Lead (Crobat) Crobat as a lead suggests a cautious approach on two levels.  The first is the clear “Avoid Ground.”  Poison has few weaknesses, and full immunity to one of them is a strong opener.  The other is U-Turn.  This is a similar “know when to fold em” mentality as her father, but she’s less...absolute.  More of a “put it down and come back later” compared to Explosion signifying abandonment of the plan.  I’d also note Confuse Ray, which has a lot less confidence than her father’s Swagger.  In the opening plays, she’s still uncertain and playing a bit closer to the vest.  She’s someone who takes an immediately cautious approach, and isn’t afraid to back down in a moment to regroup.

The Ace (Venomoth) Highest level.  Her ace is where we start to see a serious departure from her father’s tactics.  Sleep Powder.  Koga spams Toxic.  That’s his whole thing.  But Janine aims instead for Sleep, into Double Team for evasion.  It’s a more measured approach.  But this is then backed by Tinted Lens, which powers up her not very effective moves.  Psychic over a poison-type STAB is also interesting, and there’s more to it but that’ll come later.

The main thing to take away is that Janine likes consistency.  Koga’s willing to play fast and loose with evasion, then completely drop the plan if it starts going off the rails.  Janine doesn’t.  Janine likes to sustain, and likes to make sure what she’s doing will work.  Again, cautious and uncertain of success.

Tried and True (Weezing) Weezing keeps to Koga’s tactics.  Toxic, explode when needed.  What’s interesting is it doesn’t know Smokescreen.  Janine won’t play evasion games without some level of certainty, like Venomoth’s Sleep Powder.  She opts instead for Thunderbolt.  Odd coverage, but something she finds more consistent than the evasion.

Mind Games (Toxicroak, Ariados, Drapion) All three of her remaining Pokemon apply disruption in the form of confuse or attraction.  All three also have fall-back plans.  Toxicroak packs Substitute, Ariados has Bounce, and Drapion is just excellent defensive typing.  Ariados’ Night Shade is against a good indicator of her appreciation for consistency, given its flat damage, while Drapion’s Swords Dance indicates much the same, needing to ensure her damage is enough before swinging.  But Swords Dance is also taking calculated risk.  She only buffs on a defensive Pokemon, or something with good disruption in sleep.  In every other instance, she doesn’t try, and plays more cautiously.

Of particular note is how this differs from her father.  Koga’s approach is wholly Toxic.  It is his calling card, and the technique he applies in most situations.  Given its effects on the body, Koga is someone who operates on the physical level.  He’s surgical in his approach, and breaks the person down on that physical level.  By contrast, Janine’s psychological.  Confusion and attraction have little direct impact on breaking down the opponent, but they do have an effect that disrupts their ability to fight.  Koga aims to overwhelm.  Janine aims to disrupt.  Janine’s approach is overall cautious, but insidious.  She’s less likely to reveal up front what she’s doing, playing a bit more toward subtlety before a finishing strike.

I also like that it’s Ariados who has Swagger.  She’s not confident in the opener, but once she’s in the swing of things she starts to feel more confident.  I interpret this as an initial shyness, or lack of confidence.  She’ll go into something expecting little, but once she’s started eases into the process of something new.

Summation Janine is the psychological counterpart to her father’s physical approach.  While her father applies a direct Toxic and is very up front about his intent, Janine is more covert, able to get inside another person’s head.  She’s likely to more intuitively understand someone than her father, but is less likely to immediately jump into something.  She can, and she will, but she likes having a plan.  She’s also got a bit more stamina for things.  While her father drops a failed plan immediately in a “know when to fold ‘em” approach, Janine saves plans for later and never truly abandons a possible avenue.  Koga reacts, Janine plans.  She’ll start out uncertain and reserved, but opens up once she’s in the swing of a new situation.

If you have an alternate read on the teams, I’d love to hear it.  I do like Janine after all.  I admit, I know she’s Kantonian, but because she only shows in Gen 2 she’s like an honorary Johto character so I can appreciate her more.  And I think she nails the less confident newbie leader better than-[for legal reasons, the remainder of this rant has been removed]

[hamofjustice]

So, Tera Raids, huh? Those 4v1 big boss fights in Pokemon Scarlet/Violet against various mons Tera'd into other types? Hitting the random button on those, getting dropped into random lobbies, and getting three minutes to figure out what to counter whatever combination of opponent and new typing I rolled while fitting in with the teamcomp I found myself in… has somehow the main thing I'm hooked on doing in the game now. They're supposed to just be for resource farming, but I'm more interested in them than actually battling against people. Whoops! There's a lot of nuances about them that you are just straight up not told about because, y'know, game was forced out a year before it should've been, etc etc. Thankfully, most of those nuances are now documented on Bulbapedia, unlike the wild west days of months past:

I'm gonna skip pointing out the most useful information that's already on there, I don't really need to reinvent the wheel here. Instead, I'm gonna focus on how this mode encourages a different way of analyzing, choosing, and building your Pokemon, and recontextualized a bunch of stuff that was once irrelevant, and I'm gonna talk about it here on Tumblr, because Pokemon forums scare me! Here we go:

You choose your opponent (more or less), so you can specialize your builds as hard as you want. You're free to run a moveset of only Grass moves if you're up against something weak to Grass, just like being a character in Pokemon Masters. Having broad coverage doesn't really matter, unless you're on a budget and using the same Pokemon to take on a wide variety of stuff. You can also totally max out one defensive stat and ignore the other one if you only go up against physical or special attackers with that particular Pokemon. Overspecialized builds especially tend to come out for dealing with the 7-star raids, and it's fun to see the community eventually figure out and share a "solution" to the particularly hard ones. You could also just use Rage Fist Annihilape against everything, but that's not as fun.

Because the boss can't switch out, debuffs are better than buffs. When you lower the boss's stats, everyone benefits from it, including yourself (as long as you're not against something with Defiant or Competitive, oops). One Screech doubles EVERYONE's physical damage, providing far more value to your team than Swords Dance only doing that for yourself… IF the shield isn't up. Screech and Metal Sound can even be used for phase-skipping OHKO builds if your team all understands not to attack. Still, that big "if" leads into the next point:

Attacks with added effects can inflict them through shields, use them. You'll arguably get more mileage overall out of, say, Chilling Water instead of Charm, or Thunderous Kick instead of Screech, because even though it's only -1 instead of -2, you can keep doing it through the shield, and easily reapply it after the boss cleanses its debuffs rather than a tool being removed from your kit for most of the battle. Added effect attacks even count toward the attacks you need to hit the boss with before you can Terastallize, so you can deal big damage WHILE supporting your team, instead of having to choose between supporting OR Tera-ing like you do if you're just using Cheers or status moves to do everything.

Specific moves are really, really good. Or at least it's cute how much better they are than usual. Combining points 2 and 3, I basically decide what Pokemon I'm going to make a raid build for next based on if it learns the following:

Belly Drum, almost everybody has a Drain Punch Iron Hands or Shell Bell Azumarill as their first "raid mon," turns out quadrupling your Attack and using it to sustain yourself forever is pretty good actually

Attack moves guaranteed to lower a relevant stat or do something else useful (ACID SPRAY, Chilling Water, Snarl, Mud Slap, Nuzzle, etc, even Throat Chop sometimes) (bosses can't flinch though)

Life Dew, 25% heal for everyone and not limited to 3 times like the green healing Cheer, lets you save that for curing status, or use the red and blue Cheers more often, or just stick it out through a reallllly long one

Howl, +1 Attack for everyone, is mostly better than Helping Hand for physical attackers. Belly Drum users would rather have Helping Hand, defense drops, or a red offensive Cheer though, since their Attack is already maxed

Reflect and Light Screen halve damage for the whole team, they don't get cleansed when the boss removes your buffs either

Heal Pulse and Pollen Puff, unlimited single target 50% heal if someone's dying or needs to Belly Drum again. Can't self target though. Pollen Puff can heal through Good as Gold's status move immunity because it's technically an attack

Taunt, even though it's a bit hard to time and doesn't go through shield, can prevent a ton of big impact scripted moves from going off, like weather or stat buffs, or help with Yawn spammers

And then, y'know, other field effects like Safeguard, terrains, weather, etc can be good situationally

Abilities that protect the whole team like Sweet Veil can be strong counterpicks here also

In my next post, because this one's long enough already, I'm going to actually list some of the sets I run or would like to run soon.

[themattress]

Pokemon Adventures - 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 19, 22, 23, 25, 26

3. No, I have not. That's generally not something I do, with only rare exceptions.

4. I’m not sure how popular it is, but one of my big all-time NoTPs is Silver/Green. They’re siblings, people. Yes, not by blood, but siblings all the same. Also, Blue/Green is fairly popular and I get the appeal, but I just can’t get into it. I don’t feel as though the chemistry is there, especially when compared to Red/Blue (also, Green just....doesn’t strike me as straight.)

5. Nope. Canon kind of ruined Ruby/Sapphire for me, though!

6. Can’t say that it has; shipping isn’t that big a deal to me with this series.

7. Faba. I liked him when he first showed up and it looked like being the one who cheated Sun’s grandfather out of his island was the farthest he was going to go in terms of plot relevancy. But then Kusaka dumbfoundingly made him single-handedly responsible for the Aether family tragedy and had him usurp Lusamine’s rightful position as the arc’s main human villain. As far as I’m concerned, he can stay in Ultra Deep Sea; I don’t want him back!

9. On a moral level, Ghetsis and Lysandre. But on a character level: Emerald, Norman, Courtney (the original one), OG!Archie and Maxie, the aforementioned Faba, and Carr. Professors Juniper and Sycamore were also pretty bad until the last stretch of their arcs.

10. I’m perpetually torn between the Ruby/Sapphire arc or the Emerald arc. The former because it was going fairly well despite the inherently flawed set-up but then all went to absolute shit, and the latter because it, like its title character, just wasn’t very interesting.

11. Blake doesn’t seem all that well-liked from what I’ve seen, but I really appreciated his character. To have a straight-up sociopath as one of the lead characters and not in a villainous capacity is a unique creative choice that I can’t help but admire Kusaka for.

12. I’ve seen a lot of division in the fandom over the Sword/Shield arc, primarily due to Schilly seldom getting to battle on-panel due to her handicap of missing Pokemon and Soudo being considered not that interesting (at least, until that happened), but I really like it. To me, this is what the games’ story and depiction of the characters and setting should have been like.

15. The Ruby/Sapphire arc wasn’t good (a particularly unpopular opinion in Japan!)

16. I could change many things, but if I had to choose one, I’d change the whole Faba thing. Although if Kusaka doesn’t damn well rectify the lack of Moon/Lillie interactions in the volume releases, then I’d begrudgingly let Faba slide and choose more Moon/Lillie as my answer.

17. Instead of the infamous Celebi Ex Machina happening, I’d have Norman, Courtney and Steven remain dead, with only Steven later being resurrected via Infinity Energy in OR/AS.

19. I guess how much many of them take this manga for granted. It’s not perfect by any means, but for it to run for as long as it has and usually be of high quality is no easy feat.

22. I don’t hate Ruby, but I’ve never fully warmed up to him either.

23. Isn’t this just 11 all over again? But I’ll answer differently this time and say that Soudo is a good character and shouldn’t be shit on just because Schilly is understandably more popular.

25. Instead of Sird’s Darkrai clashing with Mewtwo causing five Dex Holders to become petrified, I’d....not do that. Then we could move on to a self-contained Emerald arc focusing on the Battle Frontier with Wally as the main character and no Guile Hideout shenanigans.

26. Green and Crystal, they both lend themselves well to a lot of different ships.

[approximateknowledge]

An only vaguely coherent rant/lamentation about an isekai from the mid-2010s

So, context: little egg me got into anime within the context of the isekai-boom of the first half of the 2010s, and the first anime I actually watched (that wasn't something like the Dutch tv dubs of beyblade and pokemon) was, in fact, an isekai; SAO, to be precise, and the reason was litterally just gender envy towards femme Kirito in the second series. This rant is not about SAO.

It's about No Game No Life. NGNL has, to put it lightly, issues. The biggest one by far being the creepy and very uncomfortable, uhmm, situation the 2 main characters have going on. It gets bad to the point of being unwatchable on multiple occasions and it's completely undefendable. I hate it.

The thing is, if it was just a crappy creepy isekai, I wouldn't care. But the issue is, the worldbuilding and concepts in this story are genuinely inspired. The fact the 10 Pledges are equivalent to Laws of physics in-context is such a great concept, expecially in how it interacts with all the different sentient species.

The weird symbiosis of the dhampir and sirens in a world where non-consensual violence is physically impossible, the double-edged sword of magic as a method of cheating, the way structural violence, all the way up to inheritable slavery, can still exist despite the pledges.

And my personal brainworm, the flügel. Immortal beings made for eternal war stuck in a world where war has become ontologically impossible. Living forces of destruction in a universe where all of that became meaningless. They're teleologically made to go apeshit and the fundamentally can't anymore. Beings without purpose, and with an eternity ahead of them. So what do they do? They gather knowledge and stories and whatever else just to not be bored. They become archivists and collectors and they learn all there is to lear nto fill the unfillable hole in their existence. They're escapists.

My younger self was positively obsessed with them. I unironically made a flügel-sona (her name was Ëzisheill). I still think the flügel are fascinating as a concept. Living weapons of a god long-rendered powerless, in a world were the concept of a weapon has been refuted by the very laws of physics. They deserved better. Most of the concepts did.

Even after almost a decade, I'm still so frustrated at how this thing manages to be so fascinating on a conceptual level and so utterly garbage in most aspects of its execution.

I don't recommend ngnl to anyone; it's creepy and horny in way too many places and all the wrong ways.

But I wish I could. I wish it was actually good instead of "like that".

Alas

(the Zero movie is actually good, but because it takes place *before* the Pledges it doesn't have the most interesting worldbuilding dynamics. I do recommend the movie though. Mainly because it isn't isekai at all and mainly just a somewhat post-apocalyptic dark fantasy/cosmic horror story for the most part. And the anime mcs aren't there, thank fuck, and the main couple of the movie actually works without being horrendously uncomfortable and disgusting.)

[libramonthlyhoroscope1]

Best pokemon games on

Ranking the best Pokemon games in the core series is no easy task. With so many memorable adventures spanning generations, deciding on what entry takes the top spot will always divide opinion. After all, we all have strong feelings about the particular Pokemon adventures - whether that be because we grew up playing it, or one holds a special place in our hearts. While we've seen a host of memorable experiences outside of the main series -with the likes of Pokemon Snap, Pokemon Go, Pokemon: Let's Go, and recent remakes like Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl - this list focuses solely on the core games that established each generation. 

Best pokemon games on

With the Pokemon series traditionally finding a happy home on Nintendo's handheld consoles, it's no wonder that so many entries have cemented their place among our top pick of games on particular machines - with Pokemon adventures among our selection of the best DS games, the best 3DS games, and the best GBA games of all time. 

With the upcoming release of Pokemom Scarlet and Violet later this year, there's never been a better time to look back on all the series has offered us. From the most recent additions like Pokemon Legends: Arceus and Pokemon Sword and Shield, to the series origins with Pokemon Red and Blue, here's our ranking of the best Pokemon games. Pokemon Sun and Moon is like going on a tropical Pokemon-themed holiday. It’s vibrant, bright, and offers a slightly different experience than you're used to. The Alola region was nice breath of fresh air for the series, since it really changed up the setting and reflected its theme in its unique Alolan Pokemon variants. But, isn't wasn't all sunshine and sand. Some of the Alolan designs are quite unforgettable, although we’re pretty sure everyone will remember the mighty Alolan Exeggutor for the rest of their days. 

The change from the typical gym battles was odd too, and made Sun and Moon felt a lot slower to get going than the earlier games. Plus, it's very light on the post-game content after you finish the main campaign. This doesn’t mean its a bad entry in the Pokemon series by any means, and it’s certainly more accessible for newcomers in certain respects - it just lacks the same feel. Pokemon Sun and Moon's lush world and interesting story are still worth working your way through, and it also has nice features that build on what was established in X and Y, including tons of character customisations options, and more of a social aspect.

Pokemon Black and White is a little bit of an odd duck in the main series. It often gets overshadowed by other entries thanks to its less memorable Pokemon designs, but it’s maturer tone and interesting plot still help it stand out in the line-up. As the only game to get a direct sequel with Black and White 2, the fifth generation of Pokemon puts more of an emphasis on its storytelling, and plays around with the concept of right and wrong. The antagonists in this one aren’t so clearly as nefarious as Team Rocket always seem to be with their tail cutting habits and treatment of Pokemon. Instead, Black and White features Team Plasma, a group that believe Pokemon should be allowed to roam free and not be tied down by a trainer. It throws up quite a compelling dilemma with no obvious cut and dry answers. This version also has some graphical enchantments over Diamond and Pearl, with more appealing sprite animations in battle.When you compare them with the other games in the series, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl didn’t do anything too groundbreaking to really shake things up. One notable thing it did do, however, was bring Pokemon trading into the modern age. Instead of using a cable link, it made use of the Nintendo DS' WiFi connectivity to trade Pokemon with other players. While some new features did come into play too, most of them built on those that were already introduced in Ruby and Sapphire. Before the enhanced Platinum version came along, the animations had a habit of slowing down the battle sequences, which made the pacing feel a bit off. It does also deserve some credit for its story: the evil Team Galactic conduct science experiments to try and take control of the Legendaries in the Sinnoh region in some rather weird ways, but it’s not as gripping as other stories we get to experience.

Pokemon X and Y took Pokemon into the world of 3D on the Nintendo 3DS and let us experience its universe like never before. It was a significant change from the other titles that came before it, and felt like it truly marked the start of a new era for the long-running franchise. The charming sprites of yesteryear turned into gorgeous 3D models on the handheld, which elevated the battle sequences to new animated heights. The Pokemon-Amie system was also introduced for the first time, which lets you interact with your Pokemon companions and form bonds with them. It was a welcome touch that finally let you pet and play with your favourite battling buddies.

X and Y also brought in a lot more customisation, allowing you to change the look and style of your trainer. While it is only cosmetic, it added to the role-playing element of the experience in a fun way. X and Y propelled the series forward and laid down the groundwork for what was to come in Sun and Moon. It also introduced yet more interesting Pokemon, including the addition of the fairy-type, as well as new social features. While it isn't quite as good as some of the earlier games, it’s one of the best looking entries in the franchise so far, and will always be notable for transitioning the main Pokemon series into the realm of 3D.

The newest entry in the main Pokemon series is as close as the franchise has gotten to a reboot in its storied history. It's the first game that really opens up the world, giving you chance upon chance to run into Pokemon the wild - just like you would if we did live in a world populated by the little pocket monsters. With an incredible story (that takes you back to a time in the world of Pokemon we'eve never seen before) and new gameplay elements that give the series a bit of a refresh, Pokemon Legends Arceus is a fantastic addition to the franchise that takes the tried-and-true formula and expands it outwards. If you love Pokemon, you'll love this.

Pokemon Sword and Shield was one of the most anticipated games of 2019, and with good reason. As the first entry in the core Pokemon series to land on Nintendo's hybrid console, Sword and Shield opened us up to the world of Pokemon like never before. The Galar Region made for a delightful setting based on the UK, and it's easy to sink several hours in its expansive Wild Area catching all the roaming Pokemon and uncovering everything it has to offer. The Galarian form designs also nodded to aspects of the UK, and getting to bond with all the critters using the new camp feature was a welcome touch. In our review we said it's a "Pokemon game for a new generation," thanks to some of the more accessible features it introduced, allowing new players to ease into the formula we know and love. While it might be a touch easier than other entries in the series, Sword and Shield offers a fantastically memorable experience with a cast of colourful characters and Pokemon. And it's easily the best-looking Pokemon game to date. 

While a lot of formula remained unchanged, Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire took the series into a vibrant world of colour on the GameBoy Advance. The Pokemon sprites popped from screen like never before, and the magical start up screen is hard to forget. It was also the first Pokemon game to introduce a lot of elements and features that continued throughout the series. 2v2 double battles popped up for the first time, and Pokemon were also attributed with different Natures which affected their overall stats. 

An extensive list of new abilities were also first introduced in this entry, which were specific to different types - this really added more depth to the battles compared to the games that came before. Contests were also brought in to add new challenges to the gameplay. The Hoenn region was a great setting, and the Legendary Pokemon Groudon and Kyogre - who could summon a specific weather element into battle - were very memorable. Since Ruby and Sapphire built upon what Silver and Gold established without veering off into any drastic new direction, it didn’t feel quite as special. 

Several years after its release in 2003, an updated edition followed in the shape of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. 

Going back to where it all began, Pokemon Red and Blue set us on the path to be the very best, like no one ever was, and we haven’t looked back since. The world of Kanto still feels just as magical as it ever did, and the original 151 Pokemon are the most memorable in the franchise’s history for their wonderful designs. Who can forget the classic starter Pokemon, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander? The first games captured our imaginations and made us wish with every fibre of our being that we could really be trainers in the real world. Thankfully, Pokemon Go helped us get closer than ever to realising that dream, but you still can’t quite beat the classic Pokemon experience. The Gameboy graphics have a nostalgic charm you don’t quite get with the later entries, and it’s still very playable to this this day, which is a testament to just how good it is. While it established the long-running series we all know and love, it doesn’t quite make the top spot. 

The delightful Pikachu Edition Pokemon Yellow - that enhanced the classic games with everyone’s favourite electric mouse - was just the icing on the cake. 

After Pokemon Red and Blue put the world into a Pokemon frenzy, the sequel had some big shoes to fill. Fans everywhere for eager for more, and thankfully Silver and Gold delivered just that in the best way possible. Bigger and better than before, the second generation introduced 100 excellent and memorable additions to the Pokemon library, along with two new Pokemon types, and a whole host of new moves. It brought in some interesting new features that changed up the game in fun new ways. 

Introducing a day and night cycle added time-specific challenges, and brought in some Pokemon that could only be caught at certain times of day. Silver and Gold still had all the hallmarks that made the first games so enjoyable, but it expanded the experience to cement itself as the superior Pokemon game. And better yet, when you reach the end of the game, you get to unlock the Kanto region from Red and Blue which allows you to revisit all of the gyms and trainers. Silver and Gold was a giant leap forward for the franchise, and nothing has quite compared to it since.

Pokemon Crystal then came swooping in as a shiny enhanced remake of Silver and Gold, and it's especially notable since it was the first ever Pokemon title that let you decide whether you want to play as a boy or a girl. Thankfully this became a mainstay feature in every game that followed.

[tigressaofkanjis]

Pokemon Legends: The Next Exploration Title

In my opinion, I honestly think the Legends series (if it becomes that) has potential and it was quite a good change of mechanics for such a game instead of a ring of gyms and defeating certain bad groups. Catching freely and seeing what the Pokemon world was like before modernization was one of the best routes and a lot of its mechanics actually make sense for its time.

Shiny hunting? Easier. Why? Because there's more abundance of them and the critters aren't forced to hide in grass to be hunted like we do in the normal game series. It makes perfect sense why it wouldn't be a grind in comparison to a regular game. Alpha specimens? Makes sense because there was nothing hindering a larger growth ratio and since it's implied multiple times that a lot of Pokemon were modified or bred out of many traits in the regular games, it makes perfect sense why they would exist in the first place.

I think the next regions to explore in order in the Legends series should be:

Black and White - Let's face it, we can all agree we want to know how Kyurem, Reshiram, and Zekrom are able to fuse and form. That's a given top spot for sure.

Sun and Moon - Ultra Beasts are the main reason for this to be a top contender because it makes you wonder just what the wormholes lead to and if they arrived in the past, did they appear like distortions and there's completely alternate variants of Pokemon (or what they would be called there) in the other dimesions we never get to see?

X and Y - Mega Evolutions are the main drive for this because I do want to know how they began because we all know there was no way they were automatically perfect marbles a Pokemon could absorb to do so. There had to be another past method.

Sword and Shield - The story we got was through tapestries and although vague, we obviously knew what happened...but this is higher than Gen 2 and Gen 3 because I really want to see the whole knights and dragons tone it has going on in medieval times Galar. That would be awesome.

Gold and Silver - Exploring Ho-Oh and Lugia's relationship is key here but not as interesting as the later series in terms of plot. Still, I do want to see how these two were in the old days.

Ruby and Sapphire - The reason this is so low on the list isn't because of anything bad. I think it was explained already that there wasn't really any people in Hoenn dealing with Kyogre and Groudon's rule because they formed the land in that area so there isn't much to explore in terms of seeing the old times. It would be more like you being Tarzan in the midst of a lava/ground barren area and the ocean which would get you killed pretty fast.

Red and Blue - This one is probably the least interesting generation mainly because one legendary would rather just not be around humanity, one was created by humanity, and there's just three birds that do fuck all. Don't get me wrong, I love the original game and all its characters but in terms of exploring the past, there's definitely not much to know because the birds don't do anything other than appear and unless the plot revolves around Mew (which it would honestly have to to work) it's not as interesting.

I could be off but that's my understanding of the games and what I would like to see the order of which games gets a Legends treatment if at all. Let me know if you disagree with my list (nicely please) and make your own adjustments. I will listen.