#this could be a redemption arc for giovanni?

[alolanrain]

i'm probably going to get yelled at by a bunch of people... but thoughts on kukui/giovanni?

[mewtwoandme]

Oh yeah, didn't you (or TC, I can't remember) talk about Giovanni getting a redemption arc, or at least some final words to Mewtwo before he passes?

I've talked about a redemption arc for him yeah. Though some people apparently didn't like that idea very much and had a few choice words to say to me about it. Regardless, if it's something I end up doing, they don't have to read it.

It's canon to my lore that Giovanni and Jericho are related by blood, but Jericho doesn't know for sure who his dna doner was. I have thought many times about making this relevant story-wise sometime later down the road, where Jeo gets some closure and talks to Giovanni, who would be a retired old man at that point. I honestly still might do this, it's just a matter of when and where I could fit it into the timeline. With all the other upcoming important story events I have planned after the baby arc, a Giovanni redemption arc is an idea being left on the backburner for now

[hwpn-gurire]

i'm really happy that people want to hear the Rocket AU headcanons so here's my ramblings out of order, time to yap!!

before I start I want to thank all of you fic writers who write heart wrenching fanfics where Professor Oak is an absolute shithole for the brain inspirations, you're the real goats

After losing the championship to Red, Green gets into a bad physical fight with his grandfather who 'lectures' him and yells at him for having brought disgrace to the Oak name with his behaviour

Green manages to run away, but gets chased by the professor

At some point due to the panic Green slips and ends up falling down a cliff

He survives albeit heavily injured and is found by Giovanni

Giovanni who experiences a lot of conflicting emotions upon his discovery ends up saving Green

Green gets treated by the best doctors Giovanni could assemble, but despite their efforts they aren't able to save one of Green's eyes so loses his eyesight on it after the accident

Green spends a long time in the hospital in Team Rockets care and he's super hostile and suspicious in the beginning, not eating anything

Cue to Proton playing the royal taster to show Green that they mean no harm and didn't poison his food HAHAH

After some while Green actually warms up and accepts the fact that Giovanni had some kind of change of heart

After building trust with Green, Giovanni asks him about the accident and what happened that day

Green actually opens up and ends up letting everything out as he cries

And that's basically the moment where Giovanni's like "I'm going to adopt that boy and ruin Professor Oak"

Baby Silver's super excited to have a big brother!!! Silver and Green become super close

Ariana becomes like Green's mum figure

Green grows up to become the new head of Team Rocket and restructures Team Rocket with Silver's help into a successfull business of some kind (basically TR redemption arc, they take over the business world HAHAH)

Green seems like he's super evil and could probably destroy you (and he probably could), but also he's still the same machineguntalking dork

Green's also a successful model and has insane beef rivalry with Elesa

He's absolute besties with Iono and they trade all sorts of tea with eachother (also imagine him on Iono's livestreams wearing the cutest eyepatches imagineable...)

Green spoils all his Pokemon so much, but especially Eevee!!! No matter the AU, she's always his little princess

Red quits being a champion in this AU too and oneday reconnects with Green whom he thought had died

It's very emotional

At some point Red ends up becoming Green's secretary (very important point, they make out in Green's office!!!)

[ceruledgelord]

I don't know man, but I just LOVE Giovanni's character in frlg. The way he's determined to find his son (and eventually risks his own life, without a second thought, to save him). The way he faces Red, 5 years after their battle at the Viridian Gym, with the "I'm the guy who lost last time, so you should be looking down at me" attitude. In general his whole attitude while battling Red and Mewtwo. I feel like Giovanni's character just shines here. It's not a redemption arc, but in a way he feels... more respectable lmao? And a lot more human and nuanced, even with his many faults. I could honestly go on a tangent about him.

[novaheart8]

Thinking about the Paulo Interlude again. I want N to kill Ghetsis so bad. Like. Imagine N, who loves all Pokémon and is dedicating his life to strengthening the bonds between people and Pokémon, finding out the man he considered his father killed a Pokémon?? I mean, I assume Ghetsis probably had before, as he did abuse Pokémon, but N didn't know about it (otherwise he wouldn't have ever referred to Ghetsis as his father). I want to see N finally get justice for himself and all those Pokémon and people Ghetsis hurt/killed. N would never let Ghetsis live after finding out he killed Rockruff!! Go white boy go!!! Get his ass!!!

I know that wouldn't realistically happen, because this is a Pokémon game and the target demographic is all audiences, but like. Rockruff was killed. You can do the same for Ghetsis.

What will most likely happen is that the villain team leaders who had redemption arcs/character development/dislike Giovanni will team up with the MC against Giovanni, Ghetsis, Rose, and Paulo (as Giovanni will fail to recreate Team Rainbow Rocket, and the only followers he really has are Grunts/his Executives besides Ghetsis and Rose, and Paulo wants every villain eradicated, which like, good for him, but also, that means Cyrus and Guzma and Maxie and Archie, and I will Not let them be destroyed). There'll be a series of battles and whatnot as the MC attempts to prove to Paulo that people change and not everyone who was once evil or considered as such will stay that way, but some do, and we're on the same page about wanting to punish those people, etc.

Gotta be honest during Paulo's monologue after Rockruff died and he talked about eradicating the world of evil people like Ghetsis, including Ghetsis, it was like,,, let him cook!! Tina was in denial that Rockruff was dead, so she was trying to calm Paulo down and tell him they could look for Rockruff (Rockruff technically disappeared since death can't be shown in Pokémon but there ain't no way that Pokémon isn't dead and it'd be anticlimactic if it wasn't. Sorry Rockruff but this is a powerful plot device and we need it to remain intact), but like?? Girl let him get rid of Ghetsis!! What makes anyone think Ghetsis can have a redemption and therefore shouldn't face the consequences of his actions?? He already got away from them for long enough it's about high time we saw some justice around here!! Good riddance old man!!! Paulo ATE with his monologue and I want to see the end of Ghetsis and Giovanni. Rose too but he's not a major plot device for this storyline so. Just toss him in a prison cell for life or something idrc. The other two though? Straight to Hell

[geddy-leesbian]

the "Giovanni is not a bad parent" post I promised

The only (parenting) wrong we know without a doubt that Giovanni is guilty of is abandoning Silver. It seems like it's really the sole issue with the relationship and that, regardless of the evils him/his organization was inflicting on the world, he was a perfectly good father up until that point.

Now, I know what you're thinking, because it's what I thought when I first started thinking about this: "Abandoning your child is completely irredeemable and makes him a garbage parent, even if he was perfect before that." But here me out on this, was his abandonment of Silver actually that wrong?

Don't get me wrong here, it's terrible. But he was in between a rock and a hard place. Going into hiding definitely meant isolation to some degree, and most likely he moved around often to stay one step ahead of investigators. While he's fine with pokemon being used as tools, he's not a total sociopath, unlike some other pokemon villains. I imagine he would have been lonely, and would have loved more than anything to have Silver with him. But that's absolutely not a healthy situation to raise a child in. No matter what, the kid was going to have some amount of trauma. Leaving him behind at least gave him a chance at something resembling a normal upbringing.

Even if you're with me so far and agree that Giovanni leaving Silver was the right choice, you're probably thinking that he still went about it the wrong way and should have made arrangements to ensure Silver had someone to take care of him. But honestly . . . we really don't know for sure that he didn't. I think there's at least a couple possibilities where Giovanni still isn't terrible.

My first headcanon when I was first coming up with this was that Giovanni did leave him with someone he trusted, be it Silver's mother or just some other rando he knew, but that trust was misplaced and whoever it was bailed on Silver.

The headcanon I'm leaning more towards now is that Silver simply ran away from the person caring for him. With all his angst over wanting to be strong all on his own, it would make sense for him to reject them, no matter how hard they tried. (And because this person was chosen by Giovanni, it's not unlikely Silver would have resented them for the same reasons.)

I also think another potential criticism of Giovanni would be him not trying harder to calm Silver down while leaving or not explaining things better, but watching that scene again . . . Silver was a very (understandably) upset kid, and upset kids are not known for their open mindedness and logic. I really don't know that there's anything he could have said that would have made Silver feel better in that moment.

And I feel like I'm forgetting one other point, but can't figure out anything else so I'll just try to wrap this up now. Giovanni loving Silver and acting in his best interests absolutely does not mean they have a decent foundation for a healthy relationship. It feels within the realm of possibility, but would still take a lot of time and effort to work things out. It's a "this could potentially be resolved with a shit ton of family therapy" as opposed to a "holy shit, this child needs a shit ton of therapy and also to never see their parent again." (And would require something of a redemption arc with Giovanni. But again, he's not a total sociopath so it doesn't feel completely outside the realm of possibility.)

[skambane]

you’re so right that sebas is like diego!! i mean the equivalents are so obvious in the main six (mia/jana, lupita/mj, roberta/andi, miguel/esteban, dixon/giovanni, diego/luka, it’s not even subtle lol) that i hadn’t thought of sebas as diego (i’ve seen him compared to pilar??) and i do think there’s gonna be a redemption arc for him. we saw a glimpse into his family life at the finale and it gave me major bustamante vibes. i’m interested in knowing more about his relationship with his mum

yeeeees! i do think he can have a great redemption arc too. i do think that the tried to give us some parallels between the new characters and the originals but and some of this parallels are pretty obvious like estaban = miguel and dixon = giovanni but (to me) i feel like the rest of them it’s a bit of a mix and match.

to me both luka and jana have parallels to mia, jana had the whole “perfect life” situation like mia but she also have the pressuring mother like diego had his dad. luka has the absent father that shower him with money, like mia.

mj started as a clear parallel to lupita because of how religious she is but i feel like she’s not gonna fit entirely in that spot. endi came as a parallel to roberta with the conflicting relationship with her mother but honestly i think i need more from her to truly place her in that parallel.

sebas as a direct parallel to diego was almost instantly in my mind (probably bc i got attached to the character in a good way even though he was acting like an idiot… just like i was with diego back when I first watched the original). he has the absent parents but focusing on his mother (with diego was his father). his mother is a politician just like diego’s father and she wants for their reputation to be perfect. she doesn’t appear interested in sebas musical life (as we can see in the last ep, like she was on her phone during the whole performance)… so i feel like maybe sebas did the things he did cause he was feeling like it was his last chance to show his mother that he could make it in music and his last chance to make her proud. and idk about you but when it comes to mj i truly think he likes her, maybe not for sure in a romantic way yet but i think he was honest with her when they talked in the cafeteria… and I truly think they have the potential to be a great ship.

anywaaaaaaay I talk so much more a this ahahaah would be ranting for days… i typed so much that i don’t even know if i made any sense

[chaserainbows]

my take on evil team leaders is

giovanni: stop trying to make giovanni happen he’s not going to happen archer: he’s ok i guess but by design he fails to stand on his own maxie and archie: they really went from go girl give us nothing in gen 3 to go girl give us everything in gen 6 the updated characterizations in the remakes made them a LOT more enjoyable cyrus: my beloved (but 90% of the time when i see fandom cyrus i’m like stop trying to make him bland and easy to digest that redemption arc is nowhere near as interesting as you think it is) ghetsis: goddamn i love this dude like the way he says things that are technically true but intentionally misleading to convince people that his worldview is correct (chef’s kiss) lysandre: i love lysandre for what he COULD be but admittedly he lacks screentime (also stop trying to make perfectworldshipping happen it’s not going to happen) lusamine: ROBBED ROBBED ROBBED ROBBED ROBBED ROBBED WHY DID THEY GIVE US A RAW ASS ANTAGONIST IN SUMO ONLY TO SPEND THE NEXT 3 YEARS TRYING TO TURN HER INTO A WAIFU guzma: he’s cool i wish the fandom didn’t drop him like a hot potato when gen 7 ended rose: i find him a little boring as a villain but i will protect him from all harm because the fandom’s treatment of him in 2020 was abysmal

[shellys-apprentice]

If you could include Silver at any point in the mainstream pokemon anime, how would you go about it?

My ideal would have been him as an antagonist during the HGSS promo episodes with Lyra. I like the idea of him tagging along like just another cameo trainer, hanging out with the group until they stumble across a lab or something with *something* for him to be after. He's just going to subtly swipe it while everyone else is looking around, but gets exposed when Jessie James and Meowth show up, resulting in a fight where he gets away.

It would also be set up for the Meloetta stuff in Unova, with it ending with him reporting back to Gio with whatever he grabbed, and an implication that it'll be important later.

I suspect a large part of why he's not in the anime is the fact that there's no real reason for him to not be in Team Rocket. It never disbands, and while Gio gets hurt a few times he never goes away permanently, and Silver's redemption arc is tied into him being on his own. In a world where Gio and Team Rocket have plot armor and can't go away, he's probably going to be indifferent to it at best and working for it at worst. And I doubt that would fly with Pokemon given that he's one of the good guys in everything else.

That said, I don't think Ash knows who Giovanni is in cannon. So an episode where Ash and co. run into Gio and Silver on vacation somewhere is technically possible. And while it would never happen, the idea is very funny to me.

[messbianarts]

How I would handle a Chairman Rose Redemption in Masters

So we know from the Lusamine deal that Masters is not opposed to redeeming villains. And honestly, if Lusamine wasn’t who she was in Sun and Moon, it would have worked.

And in this case, Rose is a MUCH less shitty human being, so its very doable. In fact, I’d say it’d be HARDER to make him a villain on Pasio than redeem him. His motivations are based around the Galar- so he wouldn’t really have much in character reason to do anything in Pasio.

First of all, what Pokemon would he have?

In my opinion, not Eternatus.

Rose is one of the few villains to have actively learned his lesson- and I imagine “don’t fuck with legendary Pokemon” would be one of them. I really doubt he would want to be near Eternatus, yet alone have it as his partner. Not to mention, all the villains have legendaries. Giovanni and Mewtwo, Archie and Kyogre, Ghetisis and Kyurem, Lysandre and Yvetal, etc. Breaking the pattern of villains would be a neat choice for a character that did the same.

Okay, so what Pokemon should he have?

Cufant. A cufant with an evolution quest, to be exact.

Not only is a Cufant the first Pokemon we see him with, having one that can evolve would represent a new, positive change that would come with a redemption arc. Rose’s Copperajah, as little as we saw her, was sort of a symbol of things going downhill with the destruction of the mural. So a new leaf, a less destructive path can be represented through a cufant.

Plus, you can’t look me in the eye and tell me a little Cufant wandering around Pasio with its trainer wouldn’t be adorable.

How would Rose’s arc even be structured?

First of all- I hope that he’s added with Oleana and Peony at the same time, like how Lusamine was with Gladion and Lillie. Not only so we can see their interactions, which we really don’t get enough of in game, but to provide a sort of voice of reason. (And to DRAIN me of my gems)

Now the general story, its a little loose, but its just an idea.

Put Rose up with the geniune villains. Ghetisis, Giovanni, Lysandre, etc. The ones without remorse, the ones that aren’t afraid to hurt people. Bc contrast babie!!!

Rose is well aware of his mistakes, judging by how he immediately turned himself in (lets say his sentence is up and hes trying to sort of lay low on Pasio). Its likely a sore subject, and these people trying to get him to join them would sort of send him the message of “you’re on the same level as these people.”

Theres a lot of stuff you could do with this! Would he swing the other way and try to make things right with his brother, or think on it and wonder if he even deserves a second chance. Either way it goes- I think his potential could be amazingly explored, as well as his relationships/dynamics with Oleana and Peony. Especially Oleana- there’s clearly a substantial amount of mutual care for each other, and they’re not often apart.

Or they could just pull a Journeys and throw all of his potential out the window and do a “suit man bad”. trying not to get my hopes up too much lmao.

[bubblytarts]

How do you think the Pokemon Team bosses would interact with each other in the Rainbow Rocket Au? Because I think Archie and Maxie might know themselves but not anybody else.

MWAHAHAHA YOU’VE GIVEN ME AN EXCUSE TO TALK ABOUT THE AU AGAIN!!!

In my au, most of the bosses actually don’t know each other when they form Rainbow Rocket. You are correct that Archie and Maxie do know each other for obvious reasons, and Colress and Ghetsis know each other, but they both joined RR independently. It was a shock for both of them to see the other at base. 

The bosses joining RR are Giovanni, Archie, Maxie, Cyrus, Ghetsis, Colress, Lysandre, and Lusamine. Guzma isn’t offered a position, and Rose turns their offer down.

However, that doesn’t mean that the bosses all willingly joined. As a matter of fact, most of them are blackmailed into being on the team. Only Giovanni, Ghetsis, and Lusamine join with the intention of revenge and power. Colress joins for his own personal reasons, and all the others are blackmailed or forced in some way or the other. 

But they all do interact. I’ll start out vague, and if people are curious then I’ll keep adding more details (or if I ever actually finish the fic version). 

Archie and Maxie used to be Rocket grunts. It was actually Red, Blue, and Green defeating them that allowed Archie and Maxie to escape Team Rocket. Giovanni never really met them, but after going into hiding and hearing about Aqua and Magma, he can’t help but wonder why their methods seem so familiar...

Colress hates Ghetsis. So. Much. Ghetsis, of course, is unaware of this, and continues to treat Colress like his henchman, even though Colress technically outranks him in Rainbow Rocket. Colress lets him get away with it. For now. 

As for little interactions as a team, I can say that Giovanni doesn’t trust any of them. It’s a very unstable team, and Giovanni’s the only one keeping the team together. But he’s ready to bolt the second he loses control. He really only respects Colress.

Lusamine knows better than to cause in-fighting. The team is already on the brink of failing. She’s just willing to harass and capture Guzma like Giovanni wants, and that’ll cause enough chaos for her. That, and she was promised a Nihilego.

Archie hates Ghetsis. He goes against everything that Archie stands for. He’s cruel to his pokemon, he only cares about power, and he’s willing to hurt children (listen, he feels guilty about that time he tried to kill May). It comes to a head pretty early on. Archie would have left RR if it weren’t for Maxie, who’s too afraid of Giovanni to leave. 

Ghetsis hates Archie. It’s a mutual hatred, but neither of them realize it’s a growing hatred until they’re at each other’s throats. Afterwards, Ghetsis sets out to get revenge on Archie. He can get back to revenge on the twins, N, and Rosa later. Ghetsis forces Colress and Guzma to help him with a plan to get back at Archie. And what’s the best thing to use against Archie? Maxie, of course. 

Lysandre wants to kill Colress. Full stop. Giovanni dug him out of the rubble in Geosenge, and Colress brought him back from the brink of death. However, Colress using Lysandre’s own gear to always have the upper hand over him? Unacceptable. As soon as there’s an opening, Colress is as good as dead. 

Cyrus keeps to himself. Legitimately, he avoids all of them. 

And then there’s Guzma and Rose. Guzma gets captured and so hates all of them. Giovanni sends Maxie to ask Rose to join RR, and Rose gives him a “No, thank you. I’d rather stay in prison.”

This bad guy team is very functional, and very prepared to take on a bunch of grown-up protagonists and their extended friends and family. Nothing bad could possibly come of this. 

No redemption arcs here ;)

[markantonys]

What bothers you the most about the Medici (the series)?

HMMMM there’s no one big thing i can think of off the top of my head, so i’ll list a few little things that are more just pet peeves than actually anger-inducing lmao

inconsistency/lack of connection between seasons 2 and 3. given that they’re two halves of one story about lorenzo, i’d expected them to feel much more cohesive as a whole than they do. some things that were major parts of s2 (bianca, guglielmo, and their relationship, lorenzo and francesco’s relationship, basically everything pazzi-related) were completely ignored in s3, and some things that were major parts of s3 should have been set up in s2 but instead came out of the blue (giuliano and fioretta’s relationship, giovanni’s birth & him and piero growing up)

going off this, giuliano’s whole characterization and arc, as well as his relationship with simonetta and simonetta’s total lack of personality. i’ve spilled a lot of ink on all these things in the past so i won’t get into it yet again here haha

arranged marriages too heavily romanticized/idealized rather than being treated with the nuance i’d expect from a series based on real historical figures (mostly a problem with lorenzo/clarice in s2, they in s3 and cosimo/contessina in s1 are much more nuanced). don’t get me wrong, i’m all for period dramas that are 5% accurate 95% sexy and i’m not someone who gets fussed by historical inaccuracy in fictional adaptions of real history, but a little complexity is all i ask

lack of nuance in the medici-pazzi conflict in s2. i get that this season is supposed to be the happy naive idealism days before the fall, but goddamn would it have killed them to try harder than “lorenzo has always been good and kind to the pazzi but jacopo hates him for no concrete reason and dedicates his entire life to destroying him”? irl lorenzo did do the pazzi some concrete wrongs, so they should’ve included some of those. also when jacopo’s like “i don’t understand why the medici always throw money at the poor” it makes me insane because one of the specific things we know about historical jacopo is that he was known for being very charitable to the poor! again, i’m fine with foregoing historical accuracy for the sake of the story but not when it means turning a potentially complex character into a 2d villain (granted i think they did sacrifice jacopo’s complexity in favor of making francesco the complex antagonist, the darth vader to jacopo’s palpatine if you will, so i can forgive it a little)

lack of nuance with riario in s3 as well, he was evil just for the sake of it and didn’t have any motives besides unexplained all-consuming hatred of the medici

edit: HOW COULD I FORGET lorenzo got off way too easy at the end of s3 and his deathbed redemption didn’t feel at all earned to me, plus i hate bernardi being used as the scapegoat for lorenzo’s crimes (and i hate bernardi’s existence in general and think his screentime should’ve been given to the medici kids and/or bianca, but i’ve talked A Lot about that before lmao)

ok this looks like a lot haha but almost all of them boil down to “lack of nuance in various things that should’ve been written with more complexity”

[mewtwoandme]

Honestly, I'm all for a redemption arc for Giovanni. About time he had one.

I guess that one would make the most sense to be honest. Cause in my au, by now he'd likely be a retired 65 year old man (had to do the math lol). Some people do change when they reach those ages. Mostly cause the reality dawns on them that their bodies are failing or that they don't have that much time left so they try to make the best of their lives while they're still living and even atone for past mistakes by changing for the better...perhaps even someone like Giovanni could find redemption. And the first thing he'd better start with is making amends with Mewtwo.

How? Idk but I have at least one idea I've been sitting on from awhile back, when I mentioned a possible Giovanni arc before that I can probably go with.

[jcmorrigan]

NINE FAVORITE TELEVISION SHOWS IN POSTERS

Got tagged by @gavillain​ again for favorite shows in posters, and this one, the challenge was narrowing them down. I can’t even name HMs because there are too fucking many but anyway, here’s a rundown

1. I think RWBY is my biggest consistent favorite. It grabbed my attention right away upon debut and is only growing stronger and stronger. Listen, if I don’t just throw a bitch tantrum and stop liking something the moment it kills off my favorite villain, you KNOW it’s good stuff, and my boi was dead five volumes ago. Anyway, if you’ll pardon me, I have to go sob in the corner over Qrow and Clover for another thirty minutes, THEY DESERVED SO MUCH BETTERRRRRRR

2. Big Hero 6 is the only other long-running current show that I can really say I’ve committed to whole hog. It’s EXACTLY my brand, which is weird in this day and age. It seems like as things shuffle the idea of “villain of the week” to the back, this is the one series that’s just like “No, let’s give our plucky heroes development by pitting them against a rotating deck of familiar foes.” But really, I can’t just say this without explaining that it feels like a revival of...

3. The more I go on, the more I realize that even if I don’t talk about it, Kim Possible changed me as a human being. My early relationship with villains was...weird. Too long of a story for here. But KP offered me a constant plate of fun baddies I could enjoy without strings. You can tell by now I’m also one for wacky comedy and bold young heroes learning about themselves as they save the world, and those can both be traced right back here.

4. The Huntsman put his blade to my throat and demanded I include American Dragon: Jake Long here. But no, as a young mythology buff, I was captivated by this show’s wide catalog of multicultural magical creatures and creative ways to implement fantasy elements and high stakes into yet another high school coming-of-age comedy.

5. Okay I’m CHEATING because Epithet Erased isn’t technically a show-show but I wanted to include it. Despite certain DRAMA I’VE HAD in this fandom (only ask if you REALLY want to know), I keep coming back to this cast and wanting to declare them all my children. Let Giovanni adopt Molly 2k21. Let Mera have a prison break 2k21. Let me marry Giovanni 2krightfuckingnow. Also this is the kind of off-the-wall humor that I can’t even deal with (”Please, call me Indus. Mr. Barrier is my Epithet!”).

6. BUT IF YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIPS - My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic took a huge dive after S4, and as for the fanbase...uh...we’ll just...we’ll just leave that one alone because it’s way too much to unpack. But even if I did go through several years’ worth of feeling sour on Discord because of That Redemption Arc, he still remains one of my ultimate favorite villains. The girls are a road map for how I want my perfect hero team. And the entire setting is just filled with so much magic and color.

7. Storm Hawks might be one of the fastest binges I’ve ever done in my life because I had to have more. This turned out to be a mistake because the ep “Payback” was extremely triggering and never fucking got followed up on and I just blazed through without processing, but I’ve since made my peace with it. It’s got more unconventional fantasy/sci-fi worldbuilding, and though every stock trope you can imagine is here, that’s what makes it a good comfort series. Sometimes you don’t have to reinvent the wheel; you just need to see the bumbling comedic egomaniac learn humility in a series of madcap shenanigans with pirates. Also: STORK, MY DUDES

8. Mozenrath. Mozenrath, Mozenrath. Mozenrath Mozenrath Mozenrath; Mozenrath. Ayam Aghoul.

9. I intentionally put Gotham last because I wanted you all to read through eight posters of brightly-colored animated series and then crash into it. But the thing is, and I wanna do a longer meta post on this someday, even though Gotham has a noir aesthetic and heavy subject matter, it’s a series for adults that doesn’t forget what we loved about superhero shows as kids. Flamboyant villains of the week, heroes who really try their best, a dash of zany character-driven humor, relationships filled with heart, epic villain team-ups, over-the-top climaxes. Even though this series had its weak points, such as the Galavan arc and all the stuff surrounding Ra’s (though that latter one is more of a matter of opinion), I feel like it ended so strong that it stands out almost as a perfect series to me. In a world where our favorite long-running series just seem to refuse to resolve in a satisfying manner, THIS IS THE ONE that ties up all the plots in the end - the will-they-or-won’t-they straight couple ties the knot, the gay villains go as gay as they can possibly be under contract and FINALLY make peace with each other, the character I thought was absolutely the weakest in S1 managed to loop from sucky hero to badass villain to sassy antihero, you get ONE OF *THOSE* ENDINGS WHERE THE MAIN HEROES AND MAIN VILLAINS TEAM UP TO HOLD THE LINE AGAINST A BIGGER THREAT, I just - I’m not over it and I won’t be. Though the fact that not a single S4 poster I found had the entire J-Squad on it? BOO, YOU WHORES

Tagging no one. Do if you want

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: Ghetsis Harmonia

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

There are villains in Pokemon. There are iconic, badass villains like Giovanni, there are stupid idiot villains like the original Maxie and Archie, and there are absolutely terrifying and complex villains like Cyrus.

And then there is Ghetsis.

Ghetsis is, without a doubt, the most vile, unrepentantly evil monster in the entire Pokemon franchise. It’s not even up for debate; the guy not only tries to freeze the protagonist to death and spent decades psychologically torturing and warping N to be his tool, he tried to murder a girl with his bare hands. Ghetsis is an utterly twisted monster, and most importantly, he is a very engaging, well-written monster. In fact, as far as irredeemable main antagonists go, Ghetsis is the last great one in the franchise as of now.

Actor: Now normally with these I don’t mention the voice actors, since I mainly talk about the video game versions, and Pokemon does not use voice acting very often. But I think it is worth mentioning that in Pokemon Generations, a man well known for portraying another blonde sociopath with severe ego issues and a love of child murder voiced him: Patrick Seitz. KONO GHETSIS DA!

Motivation/Goals: Ghetsis seems pretty simple at first glance: he is a power-hungry psychopath who wishes to have total control over Unova and then, you guessed it, the world. And in the Rainbow Rocket quest in Gen VII, he expands that goal even further, wanting to conquer every world in every dimension. This is usually not the sign of an interesting or complex villain. What sets Ghetsis apart from other power-hungry villains is the writing and presentation and how he goes about achieving his plans.

The former two we’ll get into in a moment, but the latter is what’s relevant here. Ghetsis is a cunning manipulator, and to achieve his grand scheme he adopted N after finding him in the wild and proceeded to psychologically abuse and warp him for his entire life to transform him into the perfect tool to enact his plan. There is every implication that he would have disposed of N as soon as he was done using him for his own benefit, as well; considering his numerous other actions, I’d say it’s more than a safe bet N was on the fast track to being Hydreigon food before the player helps N see what a monster Ghetsis truly is.

Personality: As I mentioned, the writing and presentation of Ghetsis are what really set him apart from other villains of his ilk. Out of every antagonist in the entire series, Ghetsis has absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever. He lacks the grace of Giovanni, the affability of Archie and Maxie, the tragic background and well-intentioned extremism of Cyrus or Guzma or N, and he has absolutely no kind of positive background like Lusamine, Rose, or Lysandre. Ghetsis is just a vicious, monstrous man with a severe case of megalomania. There’s no rhyme or reason to his cruel and callous behavior; he does it because he wants to, and he loves every minute of it. From his frequent attempted murders of children to his verbal beatdowns of his adopted son to the fact he absolutely abuses his own Pokemon (that Frustration his Hydreigon uses hits pretty hard, after all), Ghetsis is a perfect hate sink.

Final Fate: He has an epic villainous breakdown in Black and White, but he ultimately avoids jail. In the sequels, he isn’t so lucky; with his plan yet again thwarted and his sanity already eroded magnificently by his first loss, Ghetsis is reduced to a non-functioning vegetable, completely and utterly catatonic from his numerous failures and his own mind snapping. A fitting end for a monster such as him.

Best Scene: In his original appearance, it’s most certainly his ridiculously difficult boss battle, which has an epic theme and an underleveled Hydreigon that will probably kill half your party. Come the sequels, he has the moment where he tries to use Kyurem’s Glaciate on the player in a scene that had many people convinced that in the original Japanese Ghetsis was outright stating he’d kill the player character (he didn’t, but frankly being frozen by a giant zombie dragon doesn’t exactly seem like something a child would make it out of in one piece).

And finally, Ghetsis confirms once and for all he is the most horrendous being in the entire Pokemon multiverse in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon’s Rainbow Rocket quest, when he takes Lillie hostage and unambiguously threatens to kill her with his bare hands. And keep in mind – this Ghetsis is from a world where he has already achieved victory. He did the same thing to N, so he is most definitely not messing around.

Best Quote: N tries to get Ghetsis to see reason. Ghetsis does not take it well: "Shut your mouth! Shut up! Shut up! Shut UP! Don't talk like a person, you freak! No real person could talk to Pokémon!" Ghetsis never shied away from calling N a freak previously of course, and thought nothing of insulting him viciously, but now with his sanity at its limit… this is just painful, especially since by this point N has established himself as a true hero and an absolute sweetheart. If, after this line, you don’t think Ghetsis deserved to enter a catatonic state from his mind breaking, I’m not sure what you think he deserved.

Final Thoughts & Score: Ghetsis is so utterly irredeemable and evil, and he’s just perfect. It’s so refreshing to see in a children’s RPG where it seems like friendship and teamwork always win out that there is a well-written villain who is just the antithesis to the morals of the entire franchise. He’s not a team player, he views people and Pokemon as means to an end, he abuses everyone around him, he literally cannot comprehend good to the point where it drives him insane… Ghetsis is a one-of-a-kind complete monster.

It’s frankly pretty impressive the sort of depraved things they get away with him. The attempt at outright murdering Lillie is one thing, but all of the horrible implications such as what he does to his own Pokemon and what he has done and would do to N are just chilling in a way that Cyrus and Giovanni could only ever hope to achieve. And the fact he has a clear character arc that the player gets to witness, with him first appearing as an affable, friendly spokesman for Team Plasma before the slow and steady buildup to the reveal of his horrendous actions and then from there his downward spiral into insanity all just makes him all the more memorable. And then there’s the fact that, even after everything, N still tried to offer him a chance at redemption. The man who abused him and tormented him his whole life, and N still wanted to try and save him, only to be rejected as Ghetsis fully and utterly snapped. His ultimate fate as a catatonic lump is perfectly warranted and deserved.

I think I have to give him a 10/10. I may really like Cyrus, but even I have to admit that the true mastermind of Team Plasma is just far more terrifying, especially since he’s a much more grounded villain despite all the fantasy trappings. It’s sort of like Mother Gothel from Tangled, sure, she’s an evil witch, real scary, but the reason she’s such a loathsome villain isn’t because she’s a witch and a kidnapper, it’s because she’s an abusive mother who gaslights her daughter. In the same regard, Ghetsis may be a powerful Pokemon trainer and at one point even a dimension-hopping megalomaniac, but ultimately what makes him such a memorable villain is the real and disturbing fact that he is an abusive guardian who treated his adoptive son like garbage, abused his pets, and tried to murder children.

In fact, the only mark against Ghetsis I can think of is the fact that while in Rainbow Rocket he actually believed he could overtake the team and become the puppet master pulling Giovanni’s strings. Yeah, good luck with that, buddy. See where that gets you.

[defeatedbyamerechild]

Who was the most easiest and hardest character to write in terms of personality and character development?

Hm... that’s kinda difficult to answer....

What’s funny about our character development process is that it’s usually a natural development, as we write the comics, we develop them the way we find fit. It’s not really planned in advance or anything... Except for some general lines, like “this character and this one will get closer” or whatever.

I think the easiest to me was Cyrus, because he’s my favorite so I’ve always had a lot in mind for him, even before starting the comics. But like, Archie and Maxie are also pretty easy because they won’t really change much. Maxie will have some important interactions with Cyrus, and he will have his “small dramas” like, arcs that focus on him and so on... But he and Archie don’t change much.

The most difficult character has gotta be Ghetsis, because even though we want him to have SOME development, we also don’t wanna “fix him” entirely, like, he is still the annoying mean jerk, he’ll always be like that, and he will do some REALLY mean stuff in future comics... So it’s pretty hard to develop him in a way that feels like a “redemption”. It’s more about showing other sides of him than actually redeeming him, in the end. And Lusamine plays a somewhat important role in that, since she’s the only one who likes him.

Also Lusamine was pretty hard to write at first because we hadn’t decided what her personality was gonna be like at first. We just went like “uhhh she talks nonsense” and that was it. But now we have a better idea of what else there is to her, how she can be helpful (or not) and how she can affect other characters.

Piers and Rose are really new and therefore are still unclear, by the way. I want to work on Rose’s helpful and charitable side to make him do some good in the future, this is definitely a side of him I would like to explore... as for Piers, I’m not sure what could be done to him yet. Probably should work on his self-depreciation habit, which is part of his character in my comics... but I’ll see about it.

In the end, the character that actually changes most, in terms of attitude, is Cyrus, I suppose. Giovanni will have some development too, like, he learns some lessons about his actions and so on. N has some development too... Actually, I don’t wanna spoil anything, but there is going to be a HUGE story arc with Cyrus, Ghetsis and N in it and the three of them will have some sort of development in it. But that’s still a long way to go before we get there.