#where Moon is way more interested in how Pokemon just exist

[underhanded-lamb]

More Pokemon Prototype AU brainrot ✨this has nothing to do with me starting a new Soul Silver game shssssss

[kob131]

Okay, I know this sounds like it comes out of nowhere but-

My opinion of older Pokemon games, despite having started with Gen 1, has kind of soured a bit. I'm not saying I hate them- I played Pokemon Red somewhat recently and I thought it was okay. But good lord I have had no interest in completing outside of 8Fing my glitched Mew.

I think part of it is that the writing is just so barebones in the early games. Blue is...okay for a rival you want to beat. ... But he has to lose so often that his smugness just comes across as annoying. He gets better yeah but he's no longer a rival by then.

May and Brendan are...there. They exist. Gonna be honest, Wally shows up three times and he carries the rival position better than them.

Barry is where rivals started getting good as they get their own character arcs. Or at least, more consistently.

Silver actually has a fairly good arc. He starts off stealing a Starter from Professor Elm, is constantly criticized for his harsh treatment of his Pokemon, he's also arrogant but he also reacts to how the player always beats him and when he gets thrashed by Lance and you again, he starts to learn the error of his ways. That maybe he should be a kinder Trainer. And it shows in his team- between his pre-Elite Four fight with you and his Kanto fight, after he shows that he understands his flaws, his Kadabra and Haunter evolve into Alakazam and Gengar. Pokemon that can only evolve through trading, which means he learned his lesson enough to have someone help him. Further emphasized by his final match, where his Golbat evolves into Crobat. Showing he has come around because Golbat only evolves with high friendship.

You can see the DNA of Silver's arc in the more modern Pokemon rivals, who have kind of surpassed their older counterparts. Silver can be considered the standard by which to judge a good rival character.

... Kind of. That bit about his Kanto fight? You can complete the game without ever seeing it. Yeah, the big turnaround that makes his character work so well? Can be skipped. Very easily.

How easily? I had been playing Pokemon for...16 years until I heard about the end of his arc. From a fucking Youtube video. Because they shoved him in MT. MOON of all places!

All that great writing and symbolism. Can just be missed if you decide 'Oh Mt. Moon. I don't want to deal with that.' Fucking hell. I am STILL pissed about that two years later.

[banette-appreciation]

What does Banette think of the different ghost type specialists from each region? (Ryme, Agatha, allister, acerola, etc)

Depends the Banette! Here is my personal ghost specialist opinions though: Agatha is THE og ghost lady so gotta have respect for her, although as someone who is personally a huge pokedex enthusiast her dislike of them is ehh to me. Although to be fair, with Hisui showing written pokedex existed before her and she's just solely being bitter from Oak not battling her anymore adds interesting context.

Morty I also have respect for being the first ghost type gym! I like him more than Agatha because in Pokemon Masters EX he has a mega Banette so it shows he has very good taste in pokemon and his gym was just limited by there only being few ghost types in gen 2. His personal style though really throws me for a loop. Never understood why he always had that headband as i'd associate that more with fighting types. His gen 2 sprites and remake sprites give him great style, but his Stadium 2 and Anime looks... no. Come on, let him keep black shirt and the coolest scarf ever, there's no need to change that classic spooky vibe. Phoebe confused me as a kid because I expected her to be a water type trainer with her outfit looking like a hula danger, and didn't know of how she's more likely based on Polynesian/South East Asian spirit channelers or Shaman. The difference between what I expected from her and what her team ended up being though ended up being so freaking cool to me, just being so cheerful and fun-loving as one who ended up communing with ghost types compared to other channelers and ghost type trainers of previous generations was just so neat. Just getting to break from the stereotype, and I like that.

Fantina is okay, never really left a big impression on me. Like I just had Phoebe already break sterotypes so her being this glamourous contest girl just was okay? I get her hair is like the x mouth of a drifblim, but it just looks kind of silly to me. Plus her gym is just simple math questions, why? Like I get it's good to help educate kids and such but for a ghost type gym challenge it feels so random, that's the kind of thing i'd give to a normal gym or something maybe. I heard platinum's was better but since I've never gotten to experience it that's where my bias is coming from. She's had Banette in a few of her teams so I can respect that, and it's a very interesting choice how all of her pokemon are female no matter the team. Just a very feminine girl never stood out to me as a kid, someone who was very tomboyish.

Shauntal is so very cute, I love her! May have been a fictional crush for a while as a young teen. Besides the large black collar in her outfit, everything else about her is such good aesthetic to me! And she's literally a Ghost Writer, I love it so so much! Also another ghost girl using all female pokemon, very interesting. Plus the fact she's very much left handed is such a cool detail about her.

Acerola is adorable, just so sweet and playful. Loved how she helped Lillie in the games. And even though I prefer the original sun and moon to the ultra games I am glad the ultra games gave her banette. Also the Mimikyu asthetic in her looks is so peak. There isn't an outfit of hers that i've seen that I dislike, she's just so adorable. Would adopt her as my own child haha.

Speaking of children I would adopt in a heartbeat, there's Allister! I want to give him a hug, precious little thing. I actually got pokemon Shield specifically so I could battle and encounter him.

Last but not least Ryme is THE COOLEST. Like from her hair resembling a skeletal arm down to her cool shoes, she is such a boss! I wish we could actually hear her rapping in the games, her representing rap culture in such a cool way makes me very happy. And like in the academy's library, a book says that a childhood pokemon of hers passed away. She brought all her grief into a song which resulted in her pokemon being reborn as a ghost type, how freaking cool is that? Just the feeling of love and mourning being so powerful, resonates with me. Plus her doing double battles! And even starting with Banettes! Always gonna love and remember my banette vs hers in my playthrough, it was so cool.

[kafus]

i just got really focused on gaming while traveling south of veilstone and getting to pastoria and now i'm backed up with images and stuff to talk about so i may skim over the less interesting stuff LOL

okay 1. it's really lame that you never actually battle lucas during platinum despite being able to see he has a pokemon team during these tag team battles and 2. idk lucas maybe that's cause they literally do, they bought a massive building to the north of the city and seem to have their hands in the local casino DSFKFSDK

AND SIR YOU DRAG A CHILD INTO INVESTIGATING CRIME!!! (lighthearted) but like guys chill i'm just a 10 year old girl with some funny magical creatures. worth the trip though because i got the fly HM in there. which i am not teaching to murkrow because she already has drill peck and i don't want basically duplicate moves but one is worse. i will simply bike around or use a staravia in my box to fly LOL (funny that i finally have a team with a bird that can use fly and i don't even want to use it for that...)

panini evolved into his final form pretty soon after starting to clear out trainers below veilstone!! feels good to have something evolve, i have so many weird evos on the team that it just hasn't happened in a while despite being in the part of the game where evos should happen the most lol

once again WE DO A LITTLE DEX COMPLETION... since i already caught all the unown i was able to go all the way into the back of the maniac tunnel and grab the ! and ? unown. it was honestly pretty funny walking in there and having the tunnel already completed, i don't think i've ever done that in a sinnoh game before lmao.

i really like how the resort area namedrops every region that existed at the time (other than sinnoh obviously) throughout its npcs. the one guy mentioning tin tower (he also mentions whirl islands) and mt moon is neat too, feels like HGSS foreshadowing specifically in a way that the girl giving you the white flute does not. he's alluding to specific locations and pokemon (he vagues ho-oh and lugia)

and last but not least out of everything i feel like mentioning...

PEPPER?? SHOULD I BE CONCERNED?? GIRL ARE YOU SURE YOU'RE JOKING?? SDFKSDFJKS this really took me offguard, i know some of these footprint ribbon dialogues are silly but i'm unsure if i've checked a pokemon with this specific dialogue before so i was like HUH??? i like to imagine that despite this sounding really edgy cause she's a dark type or whatever that pepper just has a habit of love biting. she nibbles u to show she cares

my scyther and finneon aren't eligible for the ribbon yet but i did end up getting it on pepper obviously, and panini (luxray) and waffle (clefairy) yeehaw :] i'll come back to get it on the others. my ribbon obsessed brain needs more ribbons

anyway i have the GREAT MARSH now and the BINOCULARS told me that i have CARNIVINE today so i gotta go do that since that's a daily pokemon exclusive

[pmd-travail]

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Travail

Prologue - A Favour

AO3 | Next>>

Raiyne the Meowscarada visits her hometown, where she decides to catch up with an old friend of theirs, not expecting to become entangled in a mystery.

It had been a while since she had last visited Cerise Town, perhaps a year or so; the Meowscarada wasn’t entirely sure herself. Had it really been that long since they last visited? With all her work and responsibilities the thought of visiting her quaint hometown was the furthest thing from her mind. Regardless, they were here now, and they intended to make the most of their precious day off.

Despite everything, Cerise Town was just as they remembered it. It was comforting. The world had changed so much within the past year, the grounded sense of familiarity put her racing mind at ease. She recognised every twist and turn in the streets, every crack in the cobbled pathway and every building that stood proudly under the azure sky. Even the pokemon who lined the streets felt the same; the Meowscarada could vividly picture her younger-self racing and weaving through the crowds to go see her friends. That thought made her smile to herself, it had been too long after all, maybe she should pay her old friends a visit.

A quiet murmur disturbed her from her reminiscence. “-speaking of which, have you heard the rumour?”

Rumour? Now that sounded interesting. They were fully aware of how rude it is to eavesdrop, of course, but it’s not like that’s ever stopped them before. Her dark ears pointed up in attentive intrigue.

The little Hoppip glanced around before continuing their sentence, conscious of any eyes drawn to them, and whispered, “They say that it’s humans- that they’re the ones causing the natural disasters!”

Their Pansage companion threw them a sceptical stare, “Come on, you know all that human stuff is a bunch of legends, right?”

“But there’s a group of ‘mons looking for them, really scary guys too! They really seem to believe it!” the Hoppip exclaimed with a glint of excitement in their voice.

Oh. She had heard of them before, a group of thugs going around scaring pokemon, these trying times had created a wave of paranoia amongst some pokemon. When things go wrong it’s natural to look for something or someone to blame. The Meowscarada wasn’t a firm believer in humans herself, they were just fiction from grand tales of days long gone by. However there was a part of her that wanted to believe in those old fantastical tales, yet the rational part of her brain disregarded those notions. She decided to pay the trivial rumours and gossip no more heed, and continued her way through memory lane.

Besides, even if humans did exist, they couldn’t possibly be responsible for the natural disasters that plagued the Moon Continent. At least that’s what she told herself.

A pleasant aroma began to fill the air, stirring her from her thoughts. It was just as she recalled, The Sugar Swirl Cafe. They could feel their heart begin to flicker with excitement as they pushed on the carved wooden door, their arrival announced by the gentle chime of a bell. They were quickly enveloped by a wave of warm nostalgia that painted their face with a wide smile. A colourful Alcremie twirled around at the sound of the chime and greeted them in a cheery voice, “Well hello! And welcome to-” she gasped, her face lighting up, “Oh my goodness! Raiyne! It’s so lovely to see you again!”

“Jubilee! It’s been too long!”

=======================

Raiyne found herself gazing out the window, transfixed on the rolling green hills that encased her hometown, a sight that she rarely got to view. It had been a few hours since she had arrived in town, the blue sky that had greeted her arrival had now faded into a brilliant orange. Today had flown by so quickly, she almost didn't want it to end, but she was content to spend her final hours of freedom here. All this reminiscence began to make her feel old. A gentle clatter of crockery caused Raiyne to stir from their thoughts once again. It was Jubilee.

“Would you mind if I sat here? I brought you something, on the house of course~” The rainbow Alcremie smiled, bearing a small tray of arranged sweets and cakes. Rayine bowed her head in reply, eager to catch up with her old friend.

“It was such a lovely surprise to see you again! Goodness it must have been a year by now?” Jubilee spoke with a warm tone, “I’m sure you’ve been busy haven’t you? Being the Guildmaster must be tough!”

Raiyne laughed in response, “Sure is! If we weren’t so busy all the time you’d be seeing a lot more of me around! You’d get sick of me!”

“Oh? Let me know when you’re free, we’ll slap you in an apron and put you to work!” she retorted jokingly.

Jubilee was a good friend to them. She was one of the few pokemon she could relax her guard around. Being a Guildmaster, Raiyne had to keep up appearances, leaving little room for goofing off or vulnerability. Being back home felt like a weight had been lifted from her chest. She wasn’t the Guildmaster here, she was simply Raiyne, simply herself.

“How are things on your end? Oh! How’s Velvet doing?” The Meowscarada continued.

Jubilee smiled widely at the mention of her beloved Slurpuff partner, “Vel is great! The cafe has gotten more popular, we’ve had a hands full, but this was always our dream! I don’t know what I’d do without her. I’m so lucky…” her smile wavered slightly as she continued, losing herself in thought.

The yellow Alcremie looked sheepishly downwards, almost embarrassed, “Actually, there’s also something else too…and I was wondering if you’d help us with it.”

Raiyne peered at Jubilee inquisitively with her violet eyes. Jubilee never liked asking for help, but even so, the Alcremie looked so uncertain in her request. Was it something to be embarrassed over? Or did she simply think that they wouldn’t help her?

A small sigh escaped from the Alcremie’s lips as she tightened her grip on her teacup, “You see, a few months ago we found a lost child.” She paused, as if to choose her next words delicately, “Her situation is a bit…unique…and we’re concerned that we won’t be able to keep her safe here.”

“So, I have a very important favour to ask you-”

[pokemonlunarregion]

Goldeen and Seaking, top normal bottom shiny.

How to evolve: Goldeen to Seaking level up to level 33.

Region: A region of eternal night as scientists created plants that could grow in moonlight, though there is some places that try to create artificial lights for the plants that couldn't grow in the moonlight. The moon still changing to different fullness percents with times there is no moon visible.

Region name: Lunar region.

Type: Water Poison.

Ability: Goldeen: Water veil. Seaking: Drizzle.

Description: These pokemon enjoy swimming in small lakes with the main lake they love being located in a small town that is known as a joke to the rest of the region. They are usually simple minded creatures living day by day as if having forgotten the day before. However they do pose a risk to swimmers as these pokemon will only dive down to half way below the surface, usually preferring to swim just a bit under the surface, so anyone who gets pricked by the horn of one of these pokemon has to go for poison treatment at once. Its horn is its main defense line against predators that may want it for dinner. These pokemon don't seem to make a place to call home preferring to swim around all day and float to sleep in the water when tired.

Goldeen is usually viewed as the smarter of these two pokemon and can also be rarely found in a small lake in a route past the joke town. This pokemon is able to hide better from predators that if it sees one coming it will duck down flashing its tail and float like a flower in the water, momentarily confusing the predator in the hopes that it will leave. It is loved by some who like beauty simply for the design on its tail, though most of the time it will be on display in a tank being well taken care of and used for display purposes only. At least some take it to an extreme to give it special diets and pampering in order to try to make the tail pattern look the best. It is not a part of an official competition though some have fun trying to get their Goldeen to be the prettier one usually against friends. It doesn't see much battle due to most who own one keeping it in display tanks, save for some people within the joke town where its evolution can be found.

Seaking is the main one out of the two to be associated with the joke town of the region. Despite this pokemon, fully evolved, being only found in the lake in that town it is still regarded as a joke. It is the small town of Seaking town's mascot which is a very tiny town. It sadly helped the town be seen as a joke for having a dumb fish as a mascot that no gyms have been set up there as gym leaders refuse to do so. It is known to be not very intelligent though is usually easier to make obey a trainers command and be able to build a friendship with. Due to its pretty simple mind that can hardly focus on much and can't think as complex as other pokemon can. It at least is beloved by a few tank holders that like weird looking fish to display, thinking of it as a conversation starter. It did see some battle when a trainer from Seaking town tried to battle the gyms only to end that journey halfway through... Having lost to the fifth gym leader over and over again until giving up. It was not really picked up by other people as a pokemon that can be used well for pokemon battles. So it just spends its existence floating mindlessly in a tank or floating mindlessly in a single river at Seaking town. It has toxin on its horn as usually its small mind doesn't register a predator until its too late, which if the predator runs off for whatever reason Seaking will be confused before just continuing to just enjoy the water again.

Lore:

Goldeen at first brought people to Seaking town growing it with those wanting to get their hands on one in order to produce more for lots of money. However after the mascot was revealed people began taking less interest in the town and even breeders left the town leaving a small town left with plenty of vacant homes still standing. It is said that its tail can mesmerize those who stare at it too long, making whoever stares at it fall in love with it, and that is how people had gotten so worked up over it in the first place. It even got a legend that if one stares at the tail pattern long enough that they will drown themselves to admire it closer... Though most take it more as a joke than a reality kind of legend as only one known case of it happening is of a fashion designer who wanted inspiration then got a bit too into it. It has gone on to inspire a few clothes though not as much as other pokemon.

Seaking wasn't viewed too badly other than for being pretty dumb. It being the main pokemon found in the town said town was named after it which people could forgive, the reveal of a mascot statue of this pokemon sealed the towns fate as a joke with people even saying that they go too far for a dumb fish. It tends to not understand the hate towards it being the mascot as whenever it is told it tends to forget it pretty quickly. It does have a slight hand in some arts as some artists base stoners faces in paintings or drawings on this pokemons face, though most who do just try to make it different enough that no one will notice especially to not be identified as such. It is believed by some that the reason that it is so dumb is because its poison from its horn leaks down into its brain, with it actually being immune to its own poison so it only makes the brain dumb instead of making this pokemon sick. It is at least still beloved by the residents that decided to stay in Seaking town, with rumors of some saying that it is the only ones who can love such a pokemon causing anyone else who likes it to stay quiet.

Design inspiration: Lotus flower, fish that have this mind blank expression on their faces, fish that are patterned like with spots or stripes, and unicorn horns.

Lunar region is a region that I have thought about making. I will be making more Pokémon and variants for this region.

[talenlee]

Paradox Pokemon (But Just the Dinosaurs)

I think it’s fair to say that at this point in my life I have fallen out of interest in actually playing Pokemon games. The last one I finished was Pokemon Sun & Moon, which I thought was excellent! I didn’t finish Sword & Shield, and I think that’s mostly because the game is full of guardrails and reminders that are designed to keep the game playable for a four year old who may be learning to read, and in the process plays very slowly compared to how I want to play games. I do know enough about the game to think that most of the criticism of Pokemon as a franchise is at the very least, weird, if not outright bad faith nonsense.

Despite all this though, I love looking at Pokemon. I love watching streamers play it, and I love watching strategy reports from the real competitive scene. I am, for lack of a better word, a spectator. A fan.

This last generation of Scarlet & Violet, has brought with it something that I’ve wanted for so long, and never really formally been able to express. Thanks to time travel shenanigans – oh, spoilers, I guess? – this is the generation where we get to see Pokemon’s dinosaurs.

Pokemon has had ‘dinosaur Pokemon’ before, of course. I don’t just mean the perhaps-famous seeming dinosaur Pokemon like Tyranitar and Tyrantrum (as if Tyrantrum is famous to anyone who isn’t extremely into this franchise). I mean that back in G1, we had four pokemon in the Pokedex that represented prehistoric Pokemon, Pokemon from a bygone era and the ways they existed differentiated them from the rest of the Pokedex. As with many things in G1 — like gender and forking development — this involved a cool idea executed on roughly, that didn’t get expanded on until later.

Much later in this case.

Fossil Pokemon aren’t the same as the Paradox Pokemon. The Fossil Pokemon are unified by how you get them; you find an object in the game (usually only one of a set) and then you later on share it with a scientist who brings it back to life and now you have that in your team. The Fossil Pokemon are definitely designed to invoke ancient animals – Kabutops and Omastar are both trying to look like animals from our own ancient history, like the trilobite and prehistoric giant nautiluses.

Paradox Pokemon have a unified mechanical framework. They all have the ability Protosynthesis, which is an interesting thing (because Protosynthesis is pretty strong), and a really annoying thing (because it’s a lot more like the Paradox Pokemon don’t have any abilities at all, and therefore look like they’re not Pokemon any more).

It does create a coherent worldbuilding note; not one I have dug into at length, but which implies that the world they’re from is unified in the way that Pokemon in it relate. It’s probably a time when the biology of Pokemon and – oh no I’m doing it, aren’t I? I’m doing that thing where I imagine that Pokemon, which aren’t animals – follow the rules of animals!

Anyway, so right, Pokemon Dinosaurs. They are Dinosaurs to Pokemon; they are prehistoric, they are rudimentary, rougher and somehow unnatural and strange compared to the ones you’re familiar with. They get to show you the way that some Pokemon lineages have changed over time; Jigglypuff and Scream Tail are both related by a thread of music and sound powers, but Scream Tail is really fast, compared to Jigglypuff’s middling stats.

What’s even stranger there is that Wigglytuff is only evolved with a stone from the moon.

I think these Pokemon are cool. I think that dinosaurs are cool. And while Pokemon aren’t animals and don’t follow those rules for evolution and genetic distribution, they are absolutely an interesting thread for these things to walk down. Originally, I was pretty distmissive of the entire genre, because they were just, y’know, high-end, high-power, hard-to-acquire Pokemon for the competitive scene with high stats that weren’t going to be useful to the gameplay experience I wound up at.

Gouging Fire here is the one that tipped me over though. It’s a tiger. It’s a styracosaurus. It’s a fire elemental. It’s got the jaw of a bug and its’s got the face of a kamen rider. It is an absolutely amazing mix of components, a beast the likes of which any Pokemon could already be, but which here, contrasts itself with Entei (a Pokemon for whom I have no strong feelings), and the other Paradox Pokemon!

A brachiosaur! A therapsid!

The names are out-of-type too. They have names that read like, well, to be nice about it, someone translated their names into modern words, rather than tried to prononuce the word. It’s the way you’d hear Native Americans being named ‘translation of the actual sounds of your name’ and that’s why these days people think that Native Americans have names that are English.

Slither Wing, too! Slither Wing is a Pokemon that is derived from – but implied to be the progenitor too, but, y’know, the games were made in real world time scale, don’t worry about it – a flying bug, Volcarona. The way that it represents what starts as a flying bug and turns into a grounded bug is a pretty cool way to represent the way that traits evolved over time in the –

Wait, no, now I’m doing it again! They’re not animals!

But they feel like they’re evolving.

I like Paradox Pokemon. I wish they were a little more varied with their abilities. I wish they could show up in the normal timeline of the game instead of being a late-game thing for post-game material. If you could run around with these things early on I bet I’d be more interested in playing through the game and playing around with these cool little dinosaur gremlin monsters. I was always going to be a mark for ‘Pokemon explores prehistoric Pokemon’ but I wasn’t expecting them to take a big swing, and give me so many at once.

Oh there are also Pokemon from the future but I think most of them are boring and suck.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[horizonboundtrainer]

May laughs at that. Yeah, her mother loves those too. Natsuhi love all the cliche romance films where everyone lives happily ever after, soulmates are always popping out of the grass, and every billionaire's a troubled twat with daddy issues. Fantasies are just fantasies after all. The real deal ought to be drop kicked into the ocean the moment they confess to stalking you.

"What, that ain't the norm here? How do y'all usually handle a succession in Alola? Most leagues out there choose their gym leaders by local election or internal committee."

She looks up from the grill, raising an eyebrow at Hau. The old trainer never took him as someone with an active interest in politics, in all the internal jockeying for positions of power. It isn't unheard of for a Gym Leader to be succeeded by a relative but even they would have spent many years being groomed for the position. She assumes the Tapus are involved, given the spiritual role Kahunas seem to serve.

"You want a bit of advice, kid? Always keep a little to yourself. Get used to telling people to fuck off, 'cause nothing you do'll satisfy everyone. Not for long anyways—The media'll pick your soul apart like a starving Mandibuzz if they could."

Unlike Hau, she'd been following in Steven footsteps for years. And even before that, she'd been hounded by cameras since the moment she first set foot in Dewford's gym. Nothing sobers you up quite like a bunch of grown men trying to corner you in a Contest Hall dressing room at the age of thirteen. Privacy, as she's learned, is something to be guarded zealously if you want to survive. She'll have to send Hau a few flash drives and disguise kits afterwards.

"Yeah, something like that. Mossdeep's been sending out rovers to Saturn's moons for the past few years. Most of 'em are just collecting rock samples and and the like but the Titan and Enceladus ones were special. Those were there to search for life. And we found it—well we found something under that ice. I'd show you the footage if I could but that shit's classified for now."

She hums thoughtfully, recalling the odd undulating tendrils rendered in grainy footage. Their probe began to failed less than an hour after reaching the subsurface sea but what it'd captured in it's final moment had been fascinating. A massive creature with undulating through the frigid waters with a set of ink-black tentacles extending from a disk like body. It had seemed curious by the way it turned the probe over in its tendrils, prodding and rolling it about in the water column like a Toxapex playing with a new toy.

What did it make of the machine intuding upon its home? Did it have any understanding of life beyond it's aquatic existence?, May wonders. All she could do is hope that humanity treats this newly discovered Pokemon more kindly than she'd done to Deoxys.

"I think you'll live to see it in person someday."

Hau ain't the kind of person who dies violently at 45, thankfully.

"I get it. Shit happens but make sure to cherish what you have now, alright? That Skull kid gonna need someone to pull their ass out of whatever Ariados nest they've stumbled into."

Neither truly understand the power within their grasp. The two will need any trustworthy friends they can find in the years to come. She doesn't blame Ree for their wariness with how many vultures there are in the professional circuit.

"Heh, at least Hala ain't trying to show you the joys of trashy reality TV 'cause my mum's addicted to those Nimbasa socialite ones. I think he'll calm down once he's had time to adjust. After all, you did take his title recently."

Most of the retirees she's met tend to be quite confounded by the sudden loss of identity their profession once gave them. She rarely keeps in touch but most seemed to find some kind of purpose eventually. She doesn't know enough about Hala to say much more than that though. The former Kahuna never struck her as someone interested in golf or newspaper kakuro. Wood carving seems more his alley.

May flips the sausages, slathering Mago chutney on each as she considers her answer. She doubts Hau wants to hear about the nitty gritty of corruption cases and Shadow Pokemon trafficking, the kind of shit that never makes it into the public eye. The kind of banal evil that'd destroy Hau's faith in humanity. No, the Kahuna needs something a bit more inspiring than that.

"You ever hear about Mossdeep's Enceladus projects? I'll let you in on a little secret: the theories were true. There's life on there and I got to see it."

[adobe-outdesign]

Reviews of All Scrapped Spaceword Betas

Exactly what it says in the title. This is also for my reference, as I might redesign some of these later for funsies. 

I’m only including Pokemon that were 100% scrapped (we’re not here to argue what might have become what) and aren’t evos/pre-evos of existing Pokemon. Also, I’m using the English fan-translations for the names because I don’t speak Japanese.

Flambear/Volbear/Dynabear

Our original fire starter, and yeah, I can see why this was scrapped. For starters (heh), it looks more like a rodent that evolves into a lion than anything resembling a bear. And secondly... it doesn’t really have a clear focus, nor a memorable design. It’s just kind of a rodent-bear thing with flames tacked onto it. 

The best Pokes usually have a "catch” to them, and these guys lack that. For example, this got replaced by Cyndaquil, which has the concept of flaming spikes that form out of its back. That’s memorable. This, well, isn’t.

Possible reason for being scrapped: Lack of focus/interesting design

Pokes to fill the void: Teddiursa and Ursaring are probably the closest in terms of being bears. Something about it also reminds me of Growlithe/Arcanine, probably because it’s a fluffy fire thing that evolves into a bigger fluffy fire thing with a mane and black markings.

Cruz/Aqua/Aquaria

This has the same problem as the Flambear line, just less extreme. It’s okay, being a little plesiosaur that evolves into a bigger plesiosaur, but it also lacks an interesting catch to it. The pearls are maybe something, but they’re not really emphasized, just kind of tacked on. Plus Dragonair kind of has the crystal neck ornaments on lock. And the horn. And the underbelly. And the water theme...

Whoops.

I definitely wouldn’t be opposed to a plesiosaur water starter in the future, but it would probably have to be completely redesigned.

Possible reason for being scrapped: Lack of focus/interesting design; too similar to Dragonair

Pokes to fill the void: Dragonair, as mentioned above. If you want a plesiosaur, Lapras is always a thing.

Putting the rest under the cut for length.

Sunmola1/Anchorage/Grotess

This is one of the most chaotic beta evolutions out there, aside from beta Girafarig. I can see the resemblance between Sunmola1 and Anchorage to some extent--counter-shaded blue fish with two fins and a short body--but the anchor part of the evolution comes out of nowhere. Then it sporadically turns into a gulper eel, which has nothing to do with the previous two evolutions at all.

I’ve heard some people suggest that Sunmola1 basically gets dragged into the depths and turns into a deep-sea creature due to its anchor, which is a fantastic idea. However, if that’s what they were going for here it’s not really clear, and I think it could be executed much better.

Individually, Sumola1 is a little plain. Not terrible, but I think they could do something more interesting with the little head thing. Anchorage is memorable, but there’s something very un-Pokemonish about it. I think it’s just the fact that it’s basically cut in half--I keep expecting the backsprite to show its organs or something. Grotess is also a bit too plain.

It’s also worth noting that at some point, this was the evolutionary line, which is more consistent but much less interesting (save for the middle evo’s eyes, which are pretty great).

Possible reason for being scrapped: Lack of evolutionary consistency; some designs plain or not very fitting for Pokemon

Pokes to fill the void: Alomomola is a sunfish Pokemon. Sharpedo is a shark crossed with an object, and Grotess almost certainly became Huntail and Gorebyss.

Rinring/Bellboyant

These two... are pretty good. They have a simple catch--black cats with bells--and the designs are nicely executed and memorable.

If I had one complaint, it’s that they maybe seems a tad unfocused in the backend of things. They’re dark types, but have a bunch of “cutesy” moves, and it’s not clear why’d they be dark apart from being black cats. They seem to have a magical girl vibe (Bellboyant looks a bit like Luna from Sailor Moon, which is probably not a coincidence), which also has nothing to do with the bells or the dark theme. I do think that the designs themselves are fine though, and that if you just focused on the sound concept a hair more you’d have a pretty great Pokemon.

Possible reason for being scrapped: Not entirely sure, these definitely would’ve been popular. Might’ve just been a balancing thing, or it lost the dev popularity contest. 

Pokes to fill the void: Skitty kind of has the same vibe as Rinring. They also remind me a bit of the Meowth line, being cat Pokemon with metal attached to them. The Purrloin line takes over the “dark-type cat” aspect.

Bomseel

I’m torn on this one. On the one hand, it’s a very plain looking Pokemon. The idea of it balancing a fireball/bomb on its nose instead of a ball is clever and memorable enough... except that it’s dependent on it being on that pose. It can’t balance that 24/7, and once it stops all you’re left with is a plain sea lion with dark points.

However, it’s fire/water. The only fire/water we have right now is a legendary, so it would be sweet to have one that’s just a regular poke. So it’s not that the concept itself is bad, using a water-based animal and adding a fire type; it’s just more that the execution is lackluster. Give this guy a hook not related to the fireball and make the seal itself more interesting and I think you’d have something here.

Possible reason for being scrapped: Lack of interesting design

Pokes to fill the void: Volcanion is our only fire/water Pokemon for now. In terms of seals/sea lions with a circus theme, Popplio is a decent enough match.

Tigrette/Electiger

Someone at Gamefreak hates tigerballs, because this line was planned for Gen 1, scrapped, then planned for Gen 2 and scrapped again. Which is strange, because while it’s not the best design it’s not bad either. It’s very very cute, and could definitely find an audience.

However, I’m not really sure what the premise is here. If it’s based on tiger clay bells, then it doesn’t really play into the bell theme much at all. And if it’s not... why is it so round? It’s not that the roundness is bad, but it would usually form the hook for this Pokemon, like it collects static electricity in its fur that makes it puff out or something. Maybe some dex descriptions would’ve made this clearer, who knows.

Also, Electiger is literally the exact same design as Tigrette, just bigger. It would either need a completely new final evolution or would need to show up as a single evo. 

While that sounds harsh, I do really like this design. Fix the evo, figure out/build on the hook of it being round or bell like, and maybe refine the markings a touch and it would be pretty perfect.

Possible reason for being scrapped: Not sure. Might’ve been too similar to Pikachu (both being yellow round electric type Pokemon with zig-zag tails, and og fat Pikachu was also very round). The need to rework the evolution also might’ve turned GameFreak off of it.

Pokes to fill the void: Spheal and Rowlet are both pleasantly round. Pikachu is cute and electric themed in a similar way. In terms of tigers, Raikou is also electric-type. The exact way the stripes are done here is also very similar to Litten.

Kurstraw/Pangshi

GameFreak. GameFreak, you are telling me that we almost had a voodoo-doll Pokemon based off of Ushi-no-Toki-Mairi that evolves into a fucking jiangshi panda?? You are killing me here.

A few interesting things to note here:

Kurstraw evolves at level 1. How? Why? No idea. It could just be a placeholder, but...

The fact that Kurstraw was set to have Curse as its signature move (then called “nail”) and that it only learned this move at level 100 makes it evolving at level 1 seem intentional.

To make things more confusing, it almost seems like (and this is speculation on my part) GameFreak’s intention was to encourage players to not evolve this thing. Stats are comparable, Kurstraw only gets its signature move if you level it up to where it can’t evolve, and Kurstraw has the better moveset (getting frigging destiny bond at lv. 16, while Pangshi gets... splash (which. makes more sense when you consider it’s called “hop” in Japan but it’s still useless). If that was what they were aiming for, then that’s a really unique mechanic that would really make this poke stand out.

Design wise, Kurstraw is... well, it’s a doll with a nail rammed through it. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s not very Pokemon-ish. Meanwhile, Pangshi is maybe a little too much like a Jianshi rather than being reminiscent of one, right down to the little hat. The pose, fangs, and panda colors (which resemble Jiangshi mandarin robes) are more than enough to get the hook across.

What I really love about these two are the expressions. They are just like, so dissonantly happy. Kurstraw is literally like

and Pangshi has the dead-eyed thousand-yard stare of Espurr, except unlike Espurr it looks completely and utter deranged. It looks like if this Pokemon ended up in Mystery Dungeon, it would respond to every question with “my favorite color is blood”. Amazing.

Possible reason for being scrapped: I think these two might’ve been scrapped just because they were too scary. I mean, it’s a voodoo doll impaled on a giant nail that evolves into a literal actual corpse. The implied violence was probably just a bit much for GameFreak.

The reason I think this is, beside the fact that they have fairly solid designs, good hooks, and all of their stats and moves in place, most beta Pokemon have had their premises revisited at some point. But we’ve really never gotten a voodoo doll Pokemon since this, and we definitely haven’t gotten any jiangshi Pokemon either, which suggests the problem lied in the very concept rather than the execution.

Pokes to fill the void: People say that Kurstraw was reworked into Banette, but if anyone Pokemon resembles it to be, it would actually be Mimikyu. They both have cloth bodies with drawn-on smiley faces that resemble something cuter than them and they both want to curse you for existing.

For Pangshi... well, there’s Pancham if you’re looking for tiny pandas. If you’re after a jiangshi though, you’re out of luck.

Wolfman/Warwolf

This Pokemon has a great hook. I mean, a Pokemon that wears a pelt that transforms it into a werewolf? Hell yeah. Not to mention it might be a reference to an obscure Nordic tale about people donning wolf pelts to turn into wolves for ten days.

Design wise, it... well, Wolfman looks almost exactly like Venonat. I’m not the only one who sees this, right?

That aside, I think the idea could be played up a little more. Wolfman is fine, save for its Venonat-ishness, but Warwolf doesn’t do much for me, basically just being a larger version with claws and fangs. If the idea is that it turns into a werewolf by wearing the pelt, what if its evolution looked somewhat like a wolf? Or better yet, the actually body of the thing changes to fill the wolf skin more, so it looks like its a part of it? That would really elevate this Pokemon to a new level.

Possible reason for being scrapped: I’d guess that it’s the same problem as Kurstraw and Pangshi--too scary. I mean, that is a dead pelt of some kind, which means that it killed and skinned some kind of Pokemon, and that’s not getting into questions of what Pokemon they got that from.

It’s also worth noting that when we did finally get a werewolf Pokemon via Lycanroc, it was minus the pelt concept.

Pokes to fill the void: Lycanroc as our werewolf Pokemon. In terms of design, Venonat is very similar as noted above. And something about it really reminds me of Snorunt, being little critters with glowing eyes that wear a cloak of some kind and live in the cold (this line was ice-type).

[findmeinthefallair]

for the late night train ask game~: 2, 12, 15, 17, 18, 19, 28, 30, 32, 39, 43, 51, 62, 68, 75, 76, 77, 86, 88, 90, 95

2. What kind of emotions do the stars evoke for you, if any? The ocean, the sky, the moon? Serenity or awe, depending on how they look on the day.

12. What’s your most controversial opinion? Would you state it publicly? What’s the most controversial opinion that you would publicly support, if it’s different? I live in a collectivistic culture (Asian country) where the majority of people in my generation still think they should refrain from direct confrontation with elders, even if they have a fair point to make, because it would be seen as disrespectful. I disagree and would speak my mind, though I do so in a calm manner that I hope would invite a discussion. Having a "discussion" is still weird for many here because people seem quite used to being told how things must/should be and just rolling with it.

15. Is there a song, book, movie, or other piece of media that has drastically altered your life? What was it, are there multiple? Pokemon has been the most consistent media I've enjoyed. It is usually my #1 safe place to escape to since I got my first game in 1999. Few experiences are more sacred for me than choosing my starter Pokemon for each generation. It's a special "Here, this little buddy is yours and you chose him/her by yourself" moment each time.

17. What’s the most interesting coincidence you’ve had happen to you (or someone you know)? So I'm into The Owl House, right? I found a literal owl feather (based on comparisons with online pictures of local owls) on my porch just the other month. I have never once seen an owl in the suburbs where I live.

18. You’re offered a one-way ticket to any place and time in history you want. You cannot return. You can’t exist at the same time as your current self. You won’t carry any diseases, nor will you be infected by others, you have enough money to survive (if relevant). You can speak the local language(s). You still look like yourself and have all your memories. Do you take this offer? Why or why not? Where do you go? What do you do? Does your answer change depending on whether you can alter the future or not? I want to go to my life 10-15 years in the future, where the worst of the adulthood learning curve is over. Where I hopefully have saved up a good enough amount of $.

19. In general, is there any historical event you desperately want to witness? Nope.

28. What has influenced your taste in music? The need/yearning for agency from my mid to late teens. I guess that's why I'm most into rock/heavy metal/progressive metal/alternative.

30. If you don’t have tattoos, and had to get one, what would you get tattooed on you? Is getting tattooed a big deal to you? If you are tattooed, do you regret any? Not a big deal at all for me to get one. Maybe a Zoroark design on my wrist.

32. What’s a common thing that you think shouldn’t exist (if any)? Inefficiency :S

39. What taboo do you think should be discussed more, if any? Alternatively, do you think a topic that isn’t taboo should be? Honestly, death/suicide imo. Normalizing it might make it easier for people to grieve or to express ugly emotions.

43. How do you express affection? How do you like to receive affection? Quality time and acts of service are my love languages. I almost always never show physical affection unless it's needed to make a distressed person feel better, and I'd only do hugs with a romantic partner.

51. What can make you dislike someone very quickly? If the person interrupts me in the conversation, especially if I haven't finished my reply yet and they're already saying their next thing.

62. What topic(s) have you drastically changed your opinion on? As an ex-Christian and as someone who discovered I'm not straight, LGBTQ+ is the most major topic. I was always pro-choice even in the church days.

68. What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given? That your "best" can look different from day to day.

75. What is your favourite fairytale? Beauty and The Beast because I've always been drawn to the dark side.

76. What do you label yourself as, if anything? What subcultures do you identify with, if any? None that I can think of, unless there's a name for dressing in colours that aren't light or bright.

77. How long can you go without socialising? Perhaps a week. If I have brainrot about something it could become 2-3 weeks.

86. What could you talk about for hours? The Owl House, Voltron, the MBTI, or the counselling/therapy process.

88. What’s an unusual but useful trait or talent you have? Trait: synaesthesia (where two or more of your five senses overlap). I hear colours, and associate the sounds of certain words with certain flavours.

90. What surname would you choose for yourself? Hm, no clue.

95. Where do you wish you had grown up? Do you think your childhood’s natural landscape had a role in the person you are today? There's a particular row of houses I saw when taking the train not too long ago. It's in a neighbourhood not far from the most major train station in the capital here, which also connects to the airport. Would've been nice coz it'd make it easier to take time away from family. Yes I believe the landscape would play a part in shaping the person. I've been in an apartment at the edge of the city and then the suburbs.

[ganymedesclock]

You know, I've joined the Pokemon fandom only recently and I've noticed that some people in the fandom think it's kind of unethical that Pokemon are captured in balls and then "forced to fight" in Pokemon battles. You seem to like Pokemon, so I was wondering what your thoughts on that are.

I certainly don’t have my finger to the pulse of new content, but, several things of note.

Literally the first episode of the anime, as well as many others since then, have demonstrated if a pokemon doesn’t want to go into a ball they will fight it, and continue to fight it after “being tamed”. Pikachu was given to Ash “already tamed” but utterly refuses a pokeball, constantly. This is not considered abnormal, baffling, or concerning. Even the games, which simplify this for the sake of mechanics, mention at different times that legendary pokemon will challenge you specifically because they are interested in seeing you prove your worth.

In Pokemon Colosseum and XD: Gale of Darkness, both games feature an enemy organization that manipulates pokemon into a “shadow” state that is described as shutting them down emotionally. A big thrust of the game is capturing and healing those pokemon, so it features relationship values and things that will help them heal- being sent into battle is something that help abused pokemon heal. So exceptionally vulnerable pokemon- who can be pretty much triggered and act violently or aggressively- enjoy battle.

Very much, the narrative presented by pokemon fairly consistently is a bond of souls, of person with partner, and they are working together to overcome adversity. 

I think personally, thinking of pokemon battles as like cockfighting is not really accurate- it’s worth noting that pokemon are really a lot less like animals and a lot more like alternatively sapient people. They are fully self-aware, and in the anime more than the games, you see this big time, but even in the games, friendship values are mechanically a thing! In later generations, pokemon will resist harder attacks, and hit harder themselves, because they enjoy and value the relationship they have with you.

We see pokemon can refuse to evolve, refuse pokeballs, and push their limits in many ways by extent of willpower. People who are abusive or controlling towards pokemon are characterized as worse than filth, and abused pokemon exist, (see: Ash’s charmander being left in a situation that is dangerous for it by its abusive owner before it came to Ash’s possession, and him being unbelievably pissed at its former master) and are met with compassion.

Likewise- pokemon can outright refuse to respect their trainers! In more recent anime, Ash picked up a Gengar that was abandoned by its trainer and, when realizing this, actually attacked that person, and is still rowdy and argumentative with him / lashes out if it feels it was accused of something it didn’t do. In the sun/moon series, the bewear that takes a shine to Team Rocket makes it abundantly clear she has no intention of ever being captured (by intercepting and crushing a pokeball between her paws). 

So basically, if you see pokemon battling, it’s an exercise of informed consent. In less dangerous situations, it can be thought of like a dog competition where a dog genuinely enjoys competing because the physical and mental challenge is stimulating, or even (as pokemon, as noted before, are pretty sapient) more like two people participating in a competition together as a team. 

Look how many fighting types are described as putting independent effort towards training and evolving, and how many pokemon of all types are described as territorial, aggressive, or generally willing to throw hands! Wild pokemon attack you and try to kick your ass! In the wild areas in Sword and Shield, pokemon actively chase you down trying to pick a fight. While we do see pokemon knocked out, stunned or weakened and then pokeballed, you can think of it like two shounen protagonists who only bond after beating the stuffing out of each other to reach an emotional bond- because, given the above factors, if they weren’t like “yes, I respect your power, I think we’re cool now” they could express their ill will or discomfort many ways.

And in another sense, you can look towards other installments of the “mon” genre- the idea of characters bonding with their partners, sometimes literally fusing or teaming together to do a move, is huge in this genre.

Could someone still abuse a pokemon? Yes- again, both anime and games make it clear this is something that happens, it is socially stigmatized by humans and pokemon alike (there’s an entire movie where Mewtwo is fucking pissed at having been made as a living weapon and his anger is depicted as pretty justified even if he needs to not take it out on people who weren’t his creators) and it would leave a mark, and does.

(Ghetsis, in BW2, notably, fights you with a pokemon who knows the move “Frustration” at full strength- the move “Frustration” specifically gains power the more the pokemon hates the trainer, so we can gather pretty clearly Ghetsis is not a nice trainer. Conversely, another “Team boss”, Cyrus, has a crobat, which only evolves from a golbat who has maximum friendship values- so whether or not Cyrus is a good person, his pokemon have a strong emotional relationship with him.)

And I really don’t wanna be the one to carelessly dismiss concerns, especially of depictions of animal abuse. You can raise questions if the pokemon series- in particular the games- are over-focused on battling to the point of depicting less about day to day social life with these guys- I personally really like to think about other elements of the pokemon world- but I also feel like a lot of “pokemon is literally just glorified fantasy dogfighting it’s awful and gross” takes are.... not made in good faith? not looking at the messages sent by the games in detail.

[beautifulterriblequeen]

B2:S - Chapter 3

Much of this series will be about the differences and additions in the novel version, and how they contribute to my understanding of story canon. But there will be character appreciation, the odd theory and headcanon, and suchlike as well.

Here be Lujanne, Callum, Rayla, Ezran, Bait, and Soren goodness!

Spoilers for Book Two: Sky below.

Lujanne having excellent fitness for all her walking around the Moon Nexus, and she's so energetic that Callum has trouble keeping up with her! She seems like those active grandmas who almost never stop moving, who have a lifelong supply of endless stamina. It makes me wonder if Lujanne will need that level of fitness for some upcoming conflict.

Callum feeling really hungry over not eating grubs and then still deciding he'd rather be hungry. It makes me wonder all over again how Lujanne got to the point where she eats grubs, considering that other Moonshadow elves we know of back in the Silvergrove don't. I still love my hc that the giant leech ate all of Lujanne's moonberry bushes and she's taking her revenge. Whatever's going on there, Callum is definitely not at that point yet.

When Lujanne asks Callum how he knows she's real, he thinks to himself that he'd put up with just about anything from someone who was going to teach him magic. That's a great parallel and foreshadowing for Viren's student/master relationship with Aaravos! And it's telling that neither student gets exactly what they hoped to get. Lujanne doesn't actively teach Callum any spells, because she believes he can't learn Moon magic at all. Aaravos does offer Viren power, but it takes him to some very dark places - literally and figuratively - and the cost is terribly high.

Callum sees a moon shape among the ruins, and Lujanne explains that the Moonhenge layout is an intricate rune that uses the structures themselves as part of its symbols and power. That's apparently a thing even with ordinary Moonshadow villages like Hollow Wood in the east, which is the coolest idea I've seen in a while: city planning as magic runes!

Yes, that's the same shape as the pendants Ethari made for himself and Runaan. Protection? Home? Feelsiness? A sense of safety and belongnig for all cycles and seasons?

Wonder what this Moonhenge rune stands for, then, and how much of this landscape is included in that rune. I bet it's more than we think!

But it makes sense now, how toppling the stone pillars would disable the spell the druids would cast to connect with the Moon Nexus lake. Breaking the infrastructure of the Moonhenge breaks the rune.

There's a physical sensation involved with the visuals that Historia Viventem brings up! When that one ghostly druid walked through Callum, he felt icy cold. Like in ghost stories. I really wonder about what exactly Historia Viventem is doing when it activates. It shows truth, "what really happened here?", so it must have some kind of time-related element, maybe tied to how the moon always repeats the same cycles or something. But it also seems to draw on the spirits of any living people involved in the flashback, because Callum could physically feel that wispy shape passing through him. So very interesting!

Orrr... is that all wrong, and there's something else at work with this spell than time? Maybe the world beyond life and death can act as an imprint of the things that have happened in the living world, and the spell that Lujanne (and later Callum) casts taps into that place, with perfect recall. I'm looking really hard at the sentence that says "dozens of translucent elf ghosts" and "phantom Moonhenge" and "lost in their own world" here.

Lujanne says more here than in the show about the world beyond life and death, being her mysterious Moonshadow-mage self. She says that "beyond" and "between" might both apply to where this other plane of existence is, and she doesn't much care which. With all the relativity swirling around this place, and not much in the way of empiricism, it's sounding like perhaps multiple conflicting ideas might actually coexist in such a place, allowing more ideas to fit there than we might normally believe is possible. Which is a fascinating bit of worldbuilding. Basically, every headcanon anyone has ever had about the Moon Nexus could all be true at the same time, for all we know.

Oh oh oh, Callum coming in soft with a secret wish! He takes one look at the Moonhenge and immediately thinks of finding a way to see his mom again! Poor boy, my heart! I'd say that could be another interesting parallel with Viren, but then, who wouldn't hold that sentiment?

Oh my, is this another breath of life into Ye Olde Ley Lines headcanon? Lujanne mentioning the Nexuses again, so soon after talking about the runic design of the entire Moonhenge, makes me wonder if the six nexuses are in fact giant runes. On Earth, the places where ley lines cross are called nexuses, and there are those who believe those points got marked with ancient structures, like Stonehenge and many many others. If Xadia were crossed with magical lines which naturally formed nexus points where they met, and if powerful magical runes were built across those entire areas, well. That would be cool beans, fams. Can I smack a map of Xadia and release a spell like Luz Noceda does? Because ngl that is my first instinct here.

Lujanne has got to be missing some grandkids to spoil, right? The way she's always whipping out cake and ice cream for Callum, and she's so grandma-ish about it. Headcanon about her being Runaan's mom aside, she is canonically lonely and she's very sweet to Allen and Ellis and I think she's missing whatever family she once had in the past. She may never get to have that family back, so she's finding a new one among the humans who live nearby, and I think that's sweet. Found family isn't just for the young.

But Ellis is straight up gonna be her fave, I bet, because she didn't turn up her nose at Lujanne's illusion food!

Ezran and Bait have a lot more to their relationship than was visible in the show, and I'm so excited by it! Ez can tell by looking at Bait's colors that he's not truly jealous of Zym, even if he's really grumpy about the dragonling taking up his favorite human's time.

And Ez thinking a lot about his dad and the things he's taught him. They're soft leadership material, and I love that so much! "Pick your battles" and the importance of encouragement. Ahh, my heart. Ezran, you're going to be such a good king.

But wait a second: both times that Bait gets extra grumpy in Zym's first training session, Ezran has just mentioned something about flying. Guys, I think Bait wishes he could fly, really badly. And that's his biggest problem with Zym, and with Ezran teaching Zym to fly, instead of Bait who doesn't have wings so. Bait is so old that his secrets have secrets, and I'm really curious how flying fits into them now!

Rayla, Dramatic Assassin: "I need to patrol for dark forces." That's what Lujanne called the source of the purple wisps that found them. I wonder if that's an official term all Moonshadows know, or if Rayla is just taking her cue from a veteran Moon mage. And I wonder how far Rayla is falling into the apparent pattern of "one mage, one assassin", since she does spend a lot of her time patrolling without being asked.

When Callum tells Lujanne that he was bad at prince stuff, and she asks if he didn't give up and got good at those things anyway, it's an opportunity for Callum to embrace subverting his parents' expectations in favor of seeking his own path, which is a primary theme of the show. But Lujanne is a couple generations older than Callum, at the very least, and I have to wonder what her upbringing was like. Is her version of success the one she took? Was she bad at magic once too, but she persisted? She is very soft and doesn't want to kill anyone.

Maybe Lujanne had dreams of doing something else with her life, but she felt she had to pursue the destiny that others handed to her, so she studied magic as hard as she could, and she did get good at it, but using it to defend Xadia from humans is not what she wanted to do with her life. Whether there's a parallel between her and Ethari on that point, there's one between Callum and Ethari, I think. How much of your life are you willing to let others direct for you?

LISTEN I WAS DYING AT THE EAR BREAD SCENE OKAY

This is my new favorite Soren and Claudia moment ever. Soren loves him his bread, okay. Even as earplugs for Claudia's sleep ocarina tune. The fact that it's "super effective" makes me think of a Pokemon defense. The fact that he learned it at camp, where he also learned about Moonshadow Madness, is hilarious. Later on, Corvus doesn't know Soren by name, but I still love the idea of Corvus being a kind of Strider-esque camp instructor, filling the ears of his young charges with all kinds of useful tactics like ear bread for magic spell songs (which actually seemed to work as intended), and warnings about the enemy elves' blood-themed tactics (which may or may not come back around in BH)

I thought they were gonna go in a kind of deep direction when Soren still wanted his ear bread back, but then he just. Eats them. Just noms them. I love this kid. Give Soren all the bread!

[centrally-unplanned]

Allocating Your Aesthetic Budget: Sailor Moon Edition

Sailor Moon is a show that undoubtedly built a powerhouse of a visual brand. Should I even bother posting a screenshot of the sailor scouts, given that I am 100% confident anyone reading this can recall them instantly? I guess it won’t hurt: 

Anime is often really good at creating iconic designs like this, through repetition of the visuals. It is awkward in live action shows if characters just wear the same outfit every scene (what, they only own one outfit? Are they homeless/work in the tech industry?), but animation gives us enough aesthetic “distance”, an awareness that this isn’t accurate to real life, that you can buy into the conceit. By wearing the same outfit every time, it just becomes the character. Not to mention a studio can really save quite a few bucks by streamlining production with neat tricks like having only one character design to animate - when you are on a shoe-string budget, like pretty much every anime in the 90’s was, every cut corner counts.

What is interesting about Sailor Moon is that most of the time it doesn’t really use this conceit at all.

-----------

Episode 15 of Sailor Moon’s first season has, in its opening act, this shot of all of the Senshi (at the time) talking to the plot-of-the-day character, who clearly trains rock Pokemon in 16-bit caves in his off hours:

If you knew nothing about these three characters, you could probably infer about 80% of their personality just from their outfits. Usagi (the blond one in the middle, if that's necessary) is wearing:

Light pastel colours, with pink on top of that: girly, feminine, bubbly and breezy

Short-but-not-too-short of a skirt, and red heels: cares about fashion, wants to project an image of being a woman with a romantic hint to it

Long-twin tails w/ buns: Contrasting the shoes, she is still immature and childish. It also means she is the protagonist of an anime 

Rei (far right) rocks a very different look:

T-shirt and jean shorts, shoes over heels: sensible, practical, a bit sporty

Very short shorts, long black hair: Confident, a bit aggressive, and suggestive of a more overt sexuality

Ami (far left) settles into a more restrained vibe with:

Full, long, but sleeveless dress, bob-cut hair: Chaste, more conservative, but not to the point of prudishness; particularly with the length (and the hand posture, shielding her body) probably a bit shy

Monochrome blue colour in outfit & hair: reserved, serene, possessing a calm demeanor

I know I have seen the show already, but really none of these details are a stretch - this is just the language of fashion. And all of these outfits are outfits that the characters have never (or rarely) worn before up until this point. The cast of Sailor Moon, far from that animation conceit of “standard outfits”, change clothes all…

the….

time.

     I just randomly clicked on episodes to find these, it requires no hunting

And while it isn’t always as spot on as the top picture, they all in some way embody the language of visual design to speak to the personality of the characters. If you want to see more, check out one of the multiple tumblrs dedicated to the everyday clothing the Sailor Senshi wear, because of course those exist.

If this was a 2010’s Kyoto Animation show, pointing this out would be the end of it - every one of their shows has this level of impeccable detail. Sailor Moon is notable in that it is not at all that kind of show; the animation and designs in Sailor Moon take perpetual shortcuts to get the job done. I don’t think the transformation sequences need to be belabored - the way they permitted the team to recycle identical animation sequences, multiple times per episode, was surely a godsend to the production schedule. Yet not all of the budget limitations are so prettily masked:

     I’m sure they finished the background art in the...VHS release?

The show is filled with dirty animation, unfinished backgrounds, backgrounds that are a simple color gradient for no clear reason, and so on. It is clear that the Sailor Moon team did not have the resources for every detail - which is why the decision of what details they did choose to prioritize is so interesting.

----------

What is the point of Sailor Moon? I do believe that shows have “points”; and by that I don’t mean a message or theme but a core appeal to an audience, something specific that they will get out of the show. Almost every show appeals along multiple axes, and Sailor Moon is no exception, but I want to focus on one: aesthetic identification.

If you learn someone is a Sailor Moon fan, there is the obvious follow-up question you have to ask, namely “which Sailor Senshi are you?” It’s the which-Harry-Potter-house-are-you question of anime, a horoscope where you can choose your sign (in this case literally). The premise of this concept is not hard for media to execute on - it is just personality traits and aesthetics grouped together under a label, a basic building block of media and clickbait internet quizzes. Harry Potter, ironically, raised up its memetic question almost by accident, as its focus is so squarely on House Gryffindor that the others are almost forgotten; it was just so mind-bogglingly popular that it didn’t matter. 

Sailor Moon, however, takes this concept and allocates so much of its aesthetic budget into making it a centerpiece of the show. Sailor Moon herself is a klutzy, lazy romantic, Sailor Mercury is a shy, earnest bookworm, and so on, with none of them ever really becoming very complex characters. However, the show devotes itself to making you *feel* these archetypes as strongly and intricately as possible. All of those outfit changes are chosen because not only do real girls care about their outfits and can therefore identify more strongly with characters who do the same, but so they can constantly emulate their archetype in diverse, different ways. The show doesn't have the budget for intense action scenes, so after Sailor Moon engages in her hyper-serious transformation sequences, she proceeds to, nearly every time, bumble through the combat scenes like this:

Oh sure, the scenes are done this way because it is funny (and good comedy can be done on any budget - these shots are frequently still frames with motion lines!), but it is also done this way because Sailor Moon is a total screw-up, and if you identify with that it is validating to see someone “just like you” able to pull off wins despite it all. The transformation sequences are not only beautiful animation that showcases aspirational power, but are also crafted to highlight the personalities of the Senshi in question - unless you think aggressive, combative Rei got fire powers by coincidence. Half of the run-time of every episode is spent, not on the plot du-jour, but on light-hearted personal squabbles between the cast because those scenes are not just funny, but also allow for far more moments of character expression. 

All of that work pays off in building with the audience, not a connection with a character who reflects their identity in total, but a connection that reflects one aspect of their identity in an extremely deep (dare I say multifaceted?) way. I think if you were to describe Sailor Moon as a “shallow” show, you would actually be right to say so, in a sense. These characters will never have the true depth of personality, themes and so on of a more ‘adult’ show. But those adult shows have to spend their effort somewhere - for all that the themes of say Evangelion or Paranoia Agent are pristinely detailed and impactful, you aren’t ever going to be memorizing the moves of their transformation sequences. The way Sailor Moon committed so strongly to fleshing out the archetypes the Senshi stood for is, I think, one of the keys to how this cast of five became so iconic.

     Not even their school uniforms match! They had to spend time in-universe *justifying* this!

----------

A Final Note:

At least, everything I’ve said here applies to Sailor Moon at its peaks. The show, however, is not one without its stumbles, even in Season 1. This section doesn’t flow into the core essay too well, but I wanted to note it because if you were to watch Sailor Moon today, you might struggle to feel the dynamic outlined above. The biggest culprit here is the length - Season 1 is 46 episodes long, and sections of it most certainly drag. They also take a startlingly long time to introduce the cast - this choice builds tension around their arrival, but it also means the later Senshi get a lot less time to establish themselves. Sailor Venus in particular gets hamstrung by this - she is introduced and then immediately arc plot elements sweep the narrative, and so she is left as a hollow shell for some time. The pacing of the show is undoubtedly flawed.

I think Sailor Moon is a show that you do have to keep its time and place in mind for - namely, middle schoolers and anime nerds watching it on broadcast TV in the 90’s. As an adult you “get” the point of the show pretty quickly, and get satiated on it almost as fast. Watching it all in a few sittings only heightens this problem. For a younger audience, and one that is waiting for a week between episodes with no internet for plot reminders, all that extra time is needed to jog memories and build connections. And younger audiences just have that limitless commitment to the things they love! If you think no one could actually enjoy seeing the same transformation sequence for the 30th time, watch it with someone who would have died for this show when they were 10 and you will be disabused of that notion *very* quickly. 

Still, we can’t travel back in time - Sailor Moon is a show of its era. There are “filler-reduced” guides out there, though I caution that the plot of Sailor Moon is absolutely not the point of the show in comparison to the character dynamics, and so sometimes the filler is the best part (Cat-Rhett Butler is the best character in the show YOU KNOW I’M RIGHT). Certainly, however, some method must be used to cut down on its length. If you are going to be a first time viewer in adulthood, that reality should be kept in mind, and if you do accept it for what it is you can really appreciate its core appeal - and don’t forget to finish it off with a 1990′s era internet personality quiz to really wrap it up!

[darkdevasofdestruction]

Where they take you on vacation - 7 Brothers + Diavolo

Found out the edits are made by @devilgram​ who has such a beautiful blog and posts so many Obey Me! things that are so cool! You did a great job with all the edits! <3

LUCIFER

Lucifer would like to take you to Romania, mostly because of all the stories of the great Wallachian ruler Vlad Tepes/The Impaler and wants to find out more about his ruthless yet effective methods of insuring no crime happens in his country ( and hopes they will work on his brothers too ).

Apart from the gorgeous landscapes from the mountainside, the possibility to go to the seaside, or see the different types of regional architecture ( like the unique Black Church ) from different cities, he’d also like to get a full experience of the language, the music, the traditions ( customs, clothes, foo ) and feel for a day like a native from the old ages. 

Even more, he’d find it very nice if you were to try out one of the traditional outfits, and would take a picture of you at the mountains, on a nice field, and put the developed picture in his coat, looking at it whenever he is working and misses you.

He can get pretty salty about the fact that there are still people who believe the Bran castle is Dracula’s true castle, instead of the Poienari fortress and wouldn’t hesitate to express his displeasure, but would appreciate the castle and everything displayed there nonetheless.

Also, would be the first to go to the Horror house, holding your hand if you get scared, and would feel incredibly proud that you trust him and feel safe around him, but would get such a kick out of using his demon form while at it, to scare the actors there.

His whole aesthetic draws people near as if they would actually approach a vampire royalty, which allows him to puff his chest out in pride, so hey, you’re dating a vampire now!

Would take you out at the fanciest restaurant, just to feel how the life at this place is.

Would love to take long walks on the beach at the sea, your feet in the water, holding hands, and just admiring the moon and stars while waves are your music.

You’d mostly stay silent and enjoy the atmosphere, but sometimes you talk a few words, and that’s when Lucifer is the most relaxed, calm and tender.

He would saying that he loves you with such ease for the first time in so long, and the kiss on your forehead would be so soft that it brings you more butterflies than any kiss ever could.

Lucifer looks so ethereal in the light of the moon, it’s almost like he’s glowing, and when you tell him, he’d actually blush softly, before chuckling and stroking your hair, not denying, nor agreeing with your statement.

---

Mammon

Mammon loves to spend money and grab it, so what better place than Las Vegas?

He’d love for the two of you to dress super fancy and flashy, in matching colours if possible, go gambling, scam people and experience the luxury night lifestyle, go to clubs, loud music and expensive alcohol and all that.

But Mammon isn’t all about the flashy and exciting night time, instead, he would mostly love to just see the world with you by his side, and his goals is to make you happy, to he does everything he can to go sightseeing with you and reads in advance about whatever places you could visit and tells you some fun trivia about the place, he’s treating you to the fanciest food and drink places, and would spoil you rotten when going shopping, loving to see you do a little catwalk for him every time you get out of the changing booth.

He’d definitely insist on buying super cute animal Pyjamas.

He’s a huuuuuge fan of the “His Queen/Her King” trope and loves showing you off as much as possible, so get matching Tshirts or jackets and he would be SOOO proud and would laugh confidently and proud all the time, his arm around you, saying how cool you two are together and all that.

He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but he honestly doesn’t believe he’s good enough for you, but when he sees how your dazzling smile is always directed to him and you cling on his arm whenever you watch the Lights Show on the big buildings, see the beautiful fireworks or watch the impressive singing fountain...Well, he can’t help but blush and kiss your forehead, feeling butterflies in his stomach.

He’s the kind of guy who would spam his DevilGram with either couple pictures in different places you visit, or just cute pics of you or you two messing around, and his account is actually very popular for the #CoupleGoalz trend.

At night, he would like to either cuddle with you and watch a movie, or go drive through the city at night, watch the night lights, and go on a cliff, stargazing and chatting openly about everything, because honestly, this guy is always dismissed and insulted by his brothers, it’s always a relief and a fresh air when he can be himself and just...Talk with someone. 

---

Leviathan

Levi is the biggest weeb in the world, so the first place you’d visit together is Japan.

Anime conventions, wearing cute kimonos while going to festivals or roaming the streets of Kyoto or Akihabara, couple cosplay (Henry and the Lord of Shadows), buying merch of your favourite anime/manga/game, going to Vocaloid concerts, buying the newest Ruri-chan figurines, trying out new video games that just came out and so on.

Actually wants to go to a Pokemon cafe and fangirls SO much about all the cute pokemon themes there.

He would get you all the cutest Pokemon plushies, especially if you’re not all that into Pokemon but want to share that interest with him, so expect a Skitty, Vulpix, Shaymin, Eevee and all its Eeveelutions, Milotic plushie, while he would already be collecting plushies for the rarest Pokemons, but he’s incredibly happy that you want to do this with him.

He also gets an Ekans just for the Lolz and let’s out his tail, mostly for troll purposes, but it makes you laugh and he could swear his heart stopped beating and his cheeks were redder than ever.

He secretly got you a maid outfit and would love to see you wearing it, but he’s too embarrassed to actually say.

He would blush SO much seeing you in a kimono with a nice hair pin and a fan, while going to see the Sakura trees blossoming and you look like the Sengoku type of heroines from the dating sims he plays so much (to get experience and not fuck up with you), but somehow, you’re so much beautiful than any CG he’s every seen, no matter how gorgeous the art is.

He would get lots of packs of Pocky and despite not saying it out loud, would put a pocky in his mouth and you’d get the hint and munch on the other end of the pocky, in the end kissing him softly.

Levi.exe stopped working.

He would love taking pics of you alone, because you’re so beautiful, and would edit them to look as ethereal as possible, if you want, to even have fantastic backgrounds, and would take pride in how popular your DevilGram/InstaGram is.

He also changed his Lockscreen to have you with your hand in a half-heart gesture, while yours has him with the other half, so whenever he looks at the clock, or sees a new notif, he sees you smiling, with a cute kitten filter.

His Wallpaper is the two of you kissing, edited with a few hearts, sparkles and a little “I love you” written in cursive in a corner (you edited the pic and suggested you both use it, but he denied, so you changed it yourself for him too, while he was busy gaming, and he liked it so much that he couldn’t change it back to Ruri-chan.)

---

Satan

Satan would choose England first for so many reasons!

He’s such a perfect gentleman and seeing everyone so polite and chivalrous there makes his heart bloom and would up his gentleman shills even more, wanting to impress you and make your heart skip with everything he does.

Loves to take you to different castles, see in real life everything he read in books and saw in movies or TV series, and he’s so mesmerised by the beauty of everything that he forgets he promised to be your guide, but his bright smile and the way his eyes sparkle in curiosity and glee make up for everything.

Besides, he’d definitely go back to you and explain in very precise detail the reason for his fangirling.

He’s a little nerd so bookstore dates are a huge YES, and more - CAT CAFES where you can read at your heart’s content. HUGE YES.

You’d both get our of there with tons of books that you will read together, cuddled up under the blankets while enjoying an aromatic tea that Satan prepared for you, together with some nice scones.

He’d want to go with you to Shakespeare’s grave, Dicken’s house, would like to see anything involving the Romantics and so on, since he’s in love with British literature.

Satan wants to go see the Harry Potter theme park so much, and would buy tons of merch for the two of you, and wants to go in full Hogwarts robes and wand with you.

Would take a gazillion pics of you together, that only you can see since it may ruin his reputation with his brothers for geeking out, but he’d love it if the universe was actually real.

He’d also take you to King’s Cross to take pic near the wall where you get to the 9 3/4 Platform.

And no trip to England could exist without a visit to Sherlock’s house, pretending to be detectives, and at Madam Tussaud’s Wax Museum to admire all the figures and potentially take troll pics with them.

---

Asmodeus

Asmo wastes no time in taking you to Paris, of course!

And the first thing you do is have a coffee at the restaurant located on top of the Eiffel Tower.

He would, throughout all the trip, take tons of selfies EVERYWHERE, and aeshtetic pics of either you alone, him alone, or together.

He’s a Devilgram and Devilr celebrity, after all!

Loves going to all the little cafes and drink a hot beverage with you while looking and judging all the passer-bys, how they would never compare to how beautiful and fashionable you two are.

He takes you to the Versailles Palace while wearing the most glamorous outfits, and despite all the pics taken, he will tell you stories of when he visited the place long ago, and more, will tell you of the paintings displayed, since he’s rather knowledgeable.

Asmodeus will take you everywhere, but first, the Lafayette Galleries, all while streaming every second there, to shop everyone how amazing the place is.

Would pics the both of you sooo many pretty brand clothes, new skin care routine and make up products, that you almost wonder where he has all the money from, especially to pay someone to carry them back to your place.

Would take you to a lingerie shop where he’d make you try on all the cutest outfits and would buy them all, especially because he thinks they will make you more confident and wants to make sure you never thing bad of yourself, because if you’re dating him, then you’re obviously the most beautiful being he’s ever seen, inside and out. (he doesn’t count here, of course)

His wallpaper is a selfie of you two smiling and making a peace sign, from the top of the Eiffel Tower, seeing all Paris in the background, at evening, with the beautiful sky and the night lights all over.

Would take you on a cruise on Seine, serenading and drinking a glass of bubbly champagne, admiring all the buildings and the happy people sitting on the banks of the River, enjoying the scenery.

And of course, there’s no perfect trip to the City of  Love without some very tender and sensual love-making, with so many compliments, praises, soft touches and gentle kisses from Asmodeus, followed by a relaxing bath with milk, honey and rose petals, scented candles, bubbles and ambiental music, and of course, a lot of cuddling all night long.

---

Beelzebub

Beelzebub would want to go to Italy, since it’s the country with the best human food, and what better place to eat it them its home country?

Would actually love to go sightseeing with you and seeing all the pretty stuff there is.

He appreciates the architecture, statues and paintings of every historical place, loves to find out more about the country’s history and traditions and would like to take scenic pictures of all the places you visit...

And make a couple album where he puts pics with either you alone or together.

It’s his most treasured possession and nobody except Belphie knows about it, and while he is happy that his brother is happy, he would say it’s so cheesy.

Would have fun when doing the classic “Pushing the Pisa Tower” picture, would like to sing when you go on a Gondola ride in Venice, and pretend to be a gladiator at the Colosseum, while you’re his Caesar.

If you get him a necklace or a keychain, he’d never take it off and has it as his lucky charm, kissing it whenever he misses you or wants the day to go good.

After he understands how the food is made, he’d want to make it himself, so you cooking together would be so cute and fun, and the way you see the love and tenderness in his eyes as he looks at you laughing, while your face is covered in flour...

He’s such a precious and soft baby, and he loves you so much.

Also, he’d love to carry you around just for fun and because he loves holding you close to him, so either bridal style on on his shoulder, you say it, and he’s gonna do it.

Will also like to take lots of short videos with you two, just fooling around, giggling, laughing, making jokes, kissing, pretending to be kittens, having flour fights and all that, since they’re beautiful memories and whenever he’s sad, he watches them and he forgets the reason he was sad in the first place.

---

Belphegor

Belphegor would take you to New Zealand, because he saw how beautiful and green the landscape were, thanks to the Lord of the Rings movies, so he wanted to see what would be like stargazing on such a flowery field, or sleeping in a Hobbit hole.

He’s pretty sleepy all the time, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t take you to see the big cities as well, eat out, shop for souvenirs and so on, but his heart is taken by the simplicity and peace the countryside and forests hold.

Belphie would actually like to have his head on your lap as you stay at the bottom of a tree and read, much like Froddo Baggings would, waiting for Gandalf.

It’s a guilty pleasure of his, but he wants to see ‘Gandalf’s’ fireworks, and when a festival like that happens, he’d hold your hand tight, having a soft smile on his face and a tender look in his eyes.

Despite not saying it very often, he will confess his love for you.

It’s barely above a whispers, but it’s genuine.

It’s simple, small, but meaningful and beautiful nonetheless.

As you stargaze on the field, he’d tell you the names of all stars and constellations that you can see, and would tell you some trivia he knows about them.

Would take a few pics here and there, but his favourite one is one where you two are on the ground outside, both your heads on his favourite pillow, while looking at each other, both of you having such genuine and pure love in your expressions.

If he ever wakes up earlier than you, and likes to troll a bit, he’d get his tail out and tickle your noes, smirking at how cute your half-asleep reactions were, but would play innocent when you ask about it, only kissing your nose to make you forget and reassure you that it was only a dream (it wasn’t).

---

Diavolo

Diavolo is so easily excitable, despite his age and title for the next Devil Lord, but honestly, he wants to take you to Iceland to see the Northern Lights that you spoke so fondly about.

There are so many pretty things to see in the Devildom alright, but none of them quite as fascinating to him as how the sky lights up with so many different and beautiful shades of green, blue and pink, it’s almost unreal!

Who would have thought that the Human world could hold such natural wonders?

He could have sword you were a witch or something, and just wanted to impress him with your magic, as if charming him wasn’t enough, but this beauty makes him behave even more like a child, leaving him speechless and breathless.

Diavolo would kiss and hug you, spinning your around so many times, if you allow him, you forgot to count, which is his way of thanking you for showing him this place and he’s honestly just so happy that he can share this precious moment together with you.

You tell him some old stories about how they say the ancestors’ souls watch over everyone from up there, and that even the animals who died have their souls there, living in peace and quiet.

Despite knowing it’s obviously not true, the tales humans come up with are so creative and make so much sense to their beliefs, he’s genuinely fascinated by all these old stories and would like for you to tell him more.

Iceland’s landscapes are also to be taken into account, and Diavolo will take thousands of pics of you literally everywhere, just because you’re so cute and he’s so damn happy and wants many memories together.

Would like for you to take a selfie with his phone, while at the Northern Lights, and would make Lucifer frame it so he can have it on his desk whenever he’s working, and whenever he gets bored, tired, or just misses you, he’d gaze fondly at the picture and would occasionally kiss it.

[vulpesse-arc]

au verses added  /  updated  /  still in the work  !

♡     ⸻     𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐚𝐮:   a woman with neither past nor future,  she is lamentably part of an ancient lineage of servants and gisaengs who never bothered to fight for a better present,  for a brighter future.  even in the current day,  with naught but few houses still working in the business of entertainment,  that’s where she has grown up and that’s where she will die:  there is no need for humans in the chambers where she dances and sings and performs,  for humans break easily and can never be truly fixed  ;  what is needed is a doll,  one that can be torn apart just as many times as it is necessary to do so,  only to easily put her jagged pieces back together.  but what happens when the doll becomes a monster,  a half-monster  ?  ever since the entity took residence in the depth of her mind,  ahri understood that this was her one and only chance to be more than a fragile little woman wearing garments of silk and velvet:  this was her one and only chance to have others beg at her feet.  and thus,  with a subconscious much too twisted and fragmented to be wholly dominated by the entity,  ahri is slowly learning how to control her monstrous self,  her freshly birthed desires,  her vicinity to the freedom that she has dreamt of for the entirety of her life.     

***   [   i miss my sweet home oc a lot but i don’t think i have time to be on so many blogs at the same time so this felt like the best solution to my love & adoration for this media  !  obviously,  ahri’s monster form revolves around the features of the nine tailed fox:  when she is only partially transformed,  she will have a constantly changing amount of tails and only when she will be wholly transformed,  will she actually resemble the beast of the myths.   ]

♡     ⸻     𝐏𝐒𝐘𝐂𝐇𝐎-𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐒 𝐚𝐮:    a criminally asymptomatic woman,  who once foolishly dreamed of becoming a famous pop singer:  unfortunately,  due to the inability of the sibyl system to properly scan and categorize her value and thus decide on a path for her,  ahri soon became an achromatic ghost in a colorful society where everything was strictly and ultimately decided by the artificial mind & heart of the city.  thrown to the side and cruelly shunned by everyone around her,  ahri struggled for many years,  fighting against an impending sense of doom and drowning in an ever-haunting loneliness,  searching for a place in which she could finally be herself,  a place in which her colors could have shone as bright as those of anyone else.  in the end,  she found what she had been looking for in the illegal underground,  where anyone willing to oppose the dictatorship of sibyl gathered.  there,  she started performing for her “comrades”,  donning a fox mask in pursuance of concealing her real identity and focused on gathering as much information about the system as she could  ;  with her knowledge about technology and especially drones / bots,  she built herself a little family of artificial foxes that now serve as spies,  defenders and even hunting beasts.  although she does not have a real purpose in her life,  she is continuously searching for new stimuli and experiences,  intoxicated by the awareness that she can easily avoid the lethal shots of the dominators thanks to her curse,  thanks to her blessing. 

♡     ⸻     𝐆𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄 𝐚𝐮:   a creature of old,  one that hauntingly lingers in the most ancient of legends and in the most gruesome of tales narrated to naughty children before their bedtime:  ahri is an ancient creature,  a fox who has lived long enough to accumulate an enormous amount of mystical power within herself and who is now capable of freely molding her physical self at will.  her little home,  situated in the heart of an “enchanted” forest,  is rarely treaded ‘pon,  for the inhabitants of the nearby villages have yet to forget and move on from the inhumane screams that sometimes echo throughout the entire land.  in order to earn her favor and hopefully soothe her childishly irritable disposition,  each month the villagers leave jewels and incenses and books and exquisite fabrics in the outskirts of the forest:  truth to be told,  she does appreciate these little offerings a lot.  believed to bring good luck to lovers and dismay to hunters,  it is not too unusual for desperate lovestruck souls to seek for her help,  for the miraculous love potions that she is said to be crafting...  unfortunately,  one may never know which side the fox will take,  nor whether she will be willing to help or not.  despite her desire not to engage with the power plays between the royals and the grisha,  she is not against the idea of lending a hand   /   for the right price,  of course. 

***   [   ahri is ancient and capricious,  someone who has observed the world change from the comfortable safety of her little forest.  despite her innate hostility towards humans,  she is easily intrigued by the desires and goals of others,  especially if they are harbored by peculiar hearts:  the only way not to be eaten by her is indeed this,  to pique her attention.  she could be a valuable ally,  but is it really a good idea to trust a fox  ?   ]

♡     ⸻     𝐈𝐍𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐂𝐘𝐂𝐋𝐄 𝐚𝐮:  tba,  because i’m really struggling with this.  on one side,  she could easily be a “werefox”  (  since we canonically have werecats in the novels  )  but i don’t know if this sounds interesting...  or,  maybe she could simply be a spirit who has taken on a humane physical appearance to mingle with mortals  ?  still thinking about this,  might even re-read the books to see if i get any sudden inspiration.  one thing that i might work with is the fact that in the first book,  it is said that “The Spine was one of the only places that King Galbatorix could not call his own. Stories were still told about how half his army disappeared after marching into its ancient forest. A cloud of misfortune and bad luck seemed to hang over it.” so maybe that’s where ahri resides  ?  far from everyone,  in her own little realm,  ready to eat anyone who dares interrupt her peace. 

♡     ⸻     𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐚𝐮:   an ancient and malicious sorcerus hailing from the forgotten kingdom of ashkahi,  ahri has sacrificed her humanity in the name of the moon and his cult in pursuance of earning the abilities to manipulate the hearts and souls of others.  once her beloved home was lamentably eradicated from existence by the falling of the deity’s skull,  she began traveling across the world,  earning riches and breaking hearts and painting her hands in red whenever the situation called for it  ;  left without a purpose and without a hearth to ever come back to,  the soulless woman began to ultimately lose herself,  becoming naught but the selfish and hollow ghost of who she once was.  things,  however,  changed once she was requested to become part of the red church.  even though she currently does not appreciate the ones who rule over the church,  she remains loyal to the murderous cult of the mother...  waiting for something to happen,  for a reason to finally breathe again.

♡     ⸻     𝐏𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐍 𝐚𝐮:   a coordinator with a dark past,  ahri is continuously struggling to find her place in the world.  after leaving floaroma town,  she and her vulpix were scouted by the team galactic with deceitful promises to create together a better future for everyone.  she fought hard and did her very best to blindly obey to every order that she was given but after the first real defeat of their leader,  she ended up abandoning the team out of all-devouring guilt.  in order to try and cleanse her hands from all the crimes that she had naively committed,  she started traveling from one region to the other,  capturing new friends,  strengthening her own mind and slowly growing interested in the world of contests:  rather than relying on violence,  these contests relied on beauty and grace and that felt like the fastest way to move away from all the pain and ache that she had previously caused.  currently, she is pursuing a career as a coordinator and is chasing the dream of spreading the traditions of the pokemon festivals across the other regions, as well  ;  her couple of ninetales has become two of the hardest foes to defeat in the field.

more tba. 

[askkrenko]

Krenko’s Guide to Pokemon: Porygon Product Line

So, who remembers Digimon?

DESIGN:

Porygon looks absolutely horrible, but in a way that’s intentional and supposed to have happened. Porygon is some sort of 16 bit, Super FX creature that looks vaguely like it could be a Pokemon but actually looked like garbage and only resembles a creature if you squint at it. But the thing is, it’s supposed to be, because it’s an artificially created digital monster created ‘20 years ago’ as of Sun and Moon.  It has two garish colors, plus a bit of white, and it has a vague duck-like appearance but of course it doesn’t actually look like anything specifically because it’s just five polygons.

That said, it doesn’t really explain how Porygon exists in the real world, but I imagine it’s some sort of inversion of the process by which we store Pokemon in the PCs. If you can convert a Pokemon to data for storage, you can take raw data and convert it into a Pokemon.

Porygon2 is a perfect name for Porygon’s evolution, because it’s just the next generation of program. Hell, if anything it should be Porygon 2.0 or something. The original was just given an upgrade by Silph Co. that brings its graphics to something more 64 bit, with actual curved shapes. It’s still obviously artificial, with no texturing and very basic shapes, but you can no longer count the edges. It’s more clearly some sort of bird, but it’s still just Porygon.

And then someone broke it.

Let me be very clear: Porygon-Z is not supposed to exist. While Porygon2 was a planned, developed update that was released to the public, Porygon-Z is the result of a hack. The disc used to upgrade Porygon 2 to Porgyon-Z is found first on the ground in the middle of nowhere, then in a Team Galactic base, then in a Team Plasma research facility. You can also get a copy from Faba, or make them with the Cram-O-Matic. If you turn your Porygon2 into Porygon-Z, your warranty is void. It will start acting oddly. There will be clipping issues. It’s also less stable, and has worse defenses than its pre-evolved form. That said, it’s faster and hits like a truck, because if you’re going to hack a Pokemon, you might as well hack it for more dakka.

Visually, Porygon-Z gets this across clearly. Whatever Porygon2 was supposed to be when completed, this isn’t it. This is some sort of powerful glitch, but as there’s no rules in-universe that says you can’t use a hacked Pokemon, might as well go for it. But on a personal level, don’t do this, because it messes with your Porygon’s brain. Programming. Mind?

Art by palahniuksin666

TYPING:

Porygon gets weird about typing, as though it’s Normal type by base, it can use Conversion or Conversion 2 to change its type. Normal on its own is a good defensive type, only weak to Fighting and immune to Ghost, and while Conversion is often not worth a move, Normalium Z turns it into a buff to all stats, allowing Porygon to play as any type it wants, usually Electric, Ice, or Psychic. Psychic resists Fighting, so sometimes that’s the right move.

Art by Cortoony

STATS:

While Porygon’s too small to pay attention to, Porygon2 and Porygon-Z are different enough that we really need to discuss both.

Porygon2 has relatively average stats for a fully-evolved Pokemon, with 105 Special Attack, 90 Physical Defense, and 95 Special Defense, but the fact is that it’s NOT a fully-evolved Pokemon. In fact, Porygon2 has one of the highest base stat totals of any Pokemon that isn’t fully evolved, making it a particularly good user of the Eviolite. In fact, in formats where Normalium Z isn’t available, Porygon2 is generally considered more powerful than its evolved form, as the stat increase from Eviolite dwarfs its evolutionary boost.

Porygon-Z isn’t actually a strict upgrade. Though it has a higher stat total overall, it's at the expense of defense. Porygon-Z is actually slightly frailer than Porgyon, but is significantly faster and has a huge 135 special attack, as high as Alakazam’s.

Art by gamefan5

ABILITIES:

Download is an interesting ability that raises Special Attack upon entering combat if the opponent has lower Special Defense than Defense. It raises Attack if the inverse is true, but Porygon doesn’t use physical attacks, so that’s not important. A free raise to Special Attack about half the time isn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination, but Porygon has better options.

Analytic increases the power of Porygon’s attacks by 30% when it goes second. This is a solid ability, better on Porygon2 than Porygon-Z, but both are in such middling speed tiers that you can’t ever really count on it. Further, Porygon-Z would rather be going first and is usually going to get built for speed. More power is always good, but there’s better options.

Porygon and Porygon2, but not Porygon-Z, can get Trace. Trace is a powerful ability that can be hard to use, granting Porygon2 the opponent’s ability when it enters a battle, minus the truly unique ones like Imposter or Stance Change and other abilities that copy abilities. When used properly, this can do something as simple as Intimidating an Intimidator or you could switch into a Vaporeon’s water attack and copy its Water Absorb. Sure, sometimes you Trace something like Iron Fist and effectively get nothing, but in a competitive battle, your opponents will have Pokemon with decent abilities.

Porygon-Z, on the other hand, gets Adaptability, which changes its STAB from 1.5x to 2x. This increases the power of its Normal moves at the start of combat, but if it uses Conversion, this then increases the power of its second type’s moves instead, allowing for truly devastating hits.

Art by Paleona

MOVES:

Signature move Conversion changes Porygon’s type to the type of its first move, so while it has to be set up ahead of time this basically means your Porygon is two types as you want it to be, Normal or the other thing. Picking Psychic allows it to turn the tables on Fighting types, but that’s not the only option, and the versatility can make it hard for an opponent to know what a Porygon will be.  With a Z crystal, Conversion also raises all of Porygon’s stats, making it a much more useful turn.

Porygon’s best Normal attack is generally Tri-Attack. Though it has a few that are stronger, Uproar and Hyper Beam both come with heavy drawbacks, and Tri-Attack’s random chance to inflict status effects is helpful. For other attacks, Psychic, Thunderbolt, and Ice Beam are its go-to options, but Shadow Ball, Dark Pulse, and Signal Beam are all on the table as well.

For aggressive, sweeping strategies with Porygon-Z, if Z-Conversion isn’t an option it can learn Nasty Plot and/or Agility to sharply raise the only two stats it really needs. For a defensive strategy, Recover is hard to top for raw survivability.

Like many good tanks, Porygon2 could learn Toxic in older generations, but it’s no longer available. Thunder Wave, also available to it, can seriously inhibit the opponent’s ability to kill it through Recover. 

That said: Conversion 2 is not good. Ignore Conversion 2.

Art by BlackPengu1n

OVERALL:

With solid stats, a great move pool, and multiple useful abilities, Porygon2 and Porygon-Z are both all around solid Pokemon. The lack of weaknesses as a Normal type coupled with the ability to use Conversion to turn into another type for offense makes them particularly interesting strategically. A Porygon could reasonably start battle spamming Tri-Attack, then switch types when something with Fighting attacks presented itself. 

I also just have to say I love Pokemon evolutions that aren’t cut and dry upgrades. Porygon-Z is different from Porygon2, with a much higher Special Attack, but that doesn’t necessarily make it better. Eviolite’s a huge boost and Porygon2’s defenses are better to begin with, allowing a Sweeper to evolve from a Tank. 

You know, I didn’t really appreciate Porygon before doing research for this article, but now I have to say I love it. Conversion’s really mechanically interesting, all its abilities are cool, and the dichotomy between the proper upgrade of Porygon2 and the obviously hacked Porygon-Z is just something you don’t often see in Pokemon Evolution, which is so normally focused on ‘final form is best form.’