#why was it not in xy (lore-wise)? Dormant

[agentc0rn]

 Níðhǫggr and Yggdrasil - ZA

Worked on this late last night lol…here’s my take on the A pokemon...I tried to mimic the logo style but it went a bit off than expected.

-> Arbordrasil (concept art, typing, formes, inspiration behind the design)

Disclaimer: this original pokemon was made simply for enjoyment in entertaining the idea of what legends z-a might be. Not meant to be "legitimate" or serious prediction.

Dark bg below:

[pikachic]

Saw your tags, shaking your hand so so so hard. As always your taste is immaculate and your brain is huge.

My inability to be normal about the Froakie line (going strong since I was 13 and and only observing the pokémon franchise from the sidelines*) aside, I'm so obsessed with the bond phenomenon as a gimmick because it gives you so many opportunities for tinkering with character design - who the hell wouldn't want to be matchy matchy with their pokémon buddy? Plus there's an angle which I like to explore in my silly little daydreams: how deep does it go? Is it like drifting in Pacific Rim? Can you get telepathy out of it? A bleed-over effect of habits, memories, mannerisms? I have a whole goddamn pokémon journey novelisation of my Y run in my head with the battle bond included because it's just such a fascinating gimmick to tinker with.

(*I watched some of the original anime as a kid, had a brief dalliance with gen 4 games and anime and pokémon ranger, before being grabbed by the fucking throat by a cute little blue bubble froggy in 2013 and gradually dragged into the franchise proper. I only got a 3ds last year (2013-18 were a bit of a wild time for me and 18-22 were uni hell) but I swear to god the moment I opened pokémon Y and found my Froakie buddy looking at me I was fucking done for. So yeah, the Froakie line is, in fact, responsible for me getting into pokémon properly. Late, maybe, but better late than never!)

Given the fact that mechanic-wise it's a third ability, it could be argued to be genetic on the frog's side, but more of a potential/compatibility thing on the human side. If it's genetic, is it a result of higher empathy? Of a slightly less stable genetic makeup or a glitch of the evolution mechanism? How common is it? For all we know it could be more common but dormant, lacking a suitable trainer. According to that one drawing from the anime (ninja village, lore drop about the bond phenomenon) bonded Gren just looks like that (in addition to the Ash-Gren sprite in Sun/Moon retaining these features even away from Ash), so from a Watsonian perspective it seems that anime Gren just happened to meet a kid whose aesthetic matches his bonded form. That said, why not tweak it a bit? Why not see if the phenomenon also manifests in other pokémon? I'm still baffled that there's so little art of bonded trainer and 'mon duo because of all the character customisation you can do. One would think it's a fun idea to make drawing challenges etc of, like designing megas for random pokémon.

Also Gren should've beaten Alain's Charizard but they were saving up Ash's league win for his pen/ultimate seasons and this is a hill I'm ready to kill on. My Gren absolutely demolished Olympia's gym while 10 levels underleveled with just a night slash (not my fault then gen 6 gym leaders are pushovers) so a bonded, sufficiently trained Gren with a (game mechanic) affection boost and buff to water shuriken, a super effective STAB move it has high stats for, should've Deus Ex(yz) Machina'd the lizard into the ground.

Oops, got yapping. Anyways, now you're legally obligated to ramble about your favourite pokémon to me because I like listening to people ramble about their favourite pokémon.

*shakes your hand equally as hard* YESSSSSSS

I have SUCH a massive soft spot for the Pokémon and especially the Pokémon anime

I got X for Christmas when I was like 8 and it was my very first Pokémon game, I knew next to nothing about the game’s mechanics (and embarrassingly didn’t realize that the blue symbol next to my fennekin’s name meant that he was male and not that he was weak to water LMFAO)

(I eventually got better at the game)

(Kind of XD)

I would watch the English dub of the anime on weekends with my younger sister, and we watched the first season or two of XY together

I already knew about Ash Greninja when I started watching XYZ in my first year of middle school, so I was SO INCREDIBLY EXCITED when he appeared for the first time in episode 7

Pokémon XYZ and Ash Greninja then proceeded to take over my life for the next three years

The lore was great the animation was pure action eye candy and I thought it was all so fucking cool

Like. That scene on top of Prism tower?! With Lysandre and the mind control? PURE CINEMA

The first fanfiction I ever wrote was a fic where Greninja returns in Pokémon sun and moon, it’s still out there on the internet somewhere and the writing sure is. Something.

I also revisited X and did a replay of the game with froakie as my starter - I loved him so much

Also YESSS I love thinking about further implications of the bond phenomenon, I was and still kind of am so fascinated by it - I’m a sucker for this sort of power up that’s reliant on two separate characters and their dynamic with each other because of the potential for fun character development and also cool power ups

I love the idea of Ash and Greninja being slightly linked at all times, like occasionally one will feel a slight pulse of emotion from the other or they’ll briefly glimpse what the other is seeing, I’ve seen some fics where they can activate the Bond Phenomenon at any time and anywhere, which oftentimes led to Ash confusing/scaring the shit out of his friends, I saw a tumblr post somewhere about how Ash and Greninja’s mannerisms might leak into each other when the Phenomenon is active, there’s just so much potential in this concept and is it any wonder I was obsessed with it as a kid

SHOOT I ACCIDENTALLY HIT POST LMFAO

But yea POKEMON IS AWESOME AND I’D BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO SCREAM ABOUT IT WITH YOU POSI XD

Uhhh favorite pokemon - its probably Ceruledge right now, Greninja’s obviously great, and as a kid I loved Pikachu - it’s why my username is what it is lol

Here are some frogs for the road