#but for people who want to see beloved old pokemon again

[friskibitz]

you ever think about how the pokemon company fucked up the one shot at real sinnoh remakes

[the-s1lly-corner]

okay here we go (I added in images to characters you might not know)

Mild crushes:

Brassius (left) and Hassel (right)

Larry

Lord Milori (still kinda like him)

Sir Pentious and Lucifer

Used to take over my life:

Grillby

Gaster

Brett Hand

Lukas

Mordecai Heller

Kinger

Adam (most recent)

ALREADY HAS ME DEAD DJJSKX:

Clopin

I used to like him before back in January, but after listening to the soundtrack of this movie again, I frickin fell in LOVE

The obsession got so bad that I’m now researching Romani history and culture, watching those “the making of (movie name)” videos, interviews (which there are SO FEW OF) of the VAs or Alan Menken, the composer of the soundtrack

I want to know everything when I like a character lol

I actually have more, but it already feels weirdly personal to confess some of them so thank god that this is the silly corner :]

SCARED TO SEND IN BUT HERE WE GO

Mo need to fear this is a no judgement zone! Also I lost my right to judge people when I wrote mpreg a few weeks ago/lh

Rubs hands

The first two!! Obligatory "I've never gotten too deep into pokemon and the only game I've played start to finish is shield, and I'm like. Partway through brilliant diamond" soooooo! I know nothing about the personalities of these two so we're going off of looks!! And I say!

Valid!

Brassius gives off either old and exhausted punk or old exhausted gay artist but those two can overlap!

Hassel Looks yummy I love me a good longhaired blonde man AND he looks a little on the older side? YUMMY!!! He looks like he'd either he a grade A douchebag rich guy or a total sweetheart

Larry! Hey I know you I saw your dick on Twitter!!!/ref mo but real talk I can get the appeal! I already know that's hes a tired working man but that's about all I know!! Hes valid, I'd give him a big ol kith

Milori looks interesting! I don't know wheres hes from so once more we rely off of looks! He looks vaguely like a broken man . I can fix him. Valid!!!

Pentious is valid but I'm biased because I also had a crush on the character!! Pathetic men are just so silly!! Probably also has my favorite design of the entire show!!

Lucifer is also valid I can see the vision!! Caring but mentally I'll man who distances himself for one reason or another despite deeply wanting a connection my BELOVED

Grillby also had a choke hold on me when I was into undertale!! I'm so sad that there werent many grillby x reader fics out there- if I was still balls deep into undertale and deltarune like I used to be I'd 100% give writing the characters a shot but unfortunately I doubt I ever will <\3 unrelated theres a surprising amount of buff bara art of him

Gaster!! I can also get behind!! Mysterious creature that hardly has any lore iirc, fandom either portrayed him as a mad evil scientist or a loving father to sans and papyrus, at least with my experience with the fandom.. valid!!

I never watched inside job but I've heard good things about it! Brett looks like a sweetie, so I can understand the appeal! He looks so silly.. just a guy.. valid

Lukas!! It's been so long since I've heard someone talk about MCSM! Obligatory I dont remember much of Lukas, just that he was kind of an ass in the beginning I think.. but I can see the appeal! I was more of a ivor girlie

Surprisingly I have not seen lackadaisy yet! Surprising I know, since I'm huge fans of other indie animations on youtube!! Going off looks I can see the appeal, he gives old grumpy grandpa vibes but I could be totally off! I like his eyebrows :3

Kinger is another valid but again I might be biased because hes my baby girl- cant wait to see more of him in future episodes especially since hes hardly had any screen time so far <\3 he seems so sweet :(

Adam!! I can see the appeal again but his personality isnt really for me <\3 hes valid though!!

AND CLOPIN! It's been so so so long since I've seen the movies but omfg I remember I loved him a lot! Yummy design as well as a nice personality I wish we got more of him <\3 VALID VALID VALID

[derpyfangirl]

Another Pokemon Scarlet/Violet AU thought dump

Inspired by @k-chips and @ameftowriter and I’s discussion on this post,here’s another dive into a Pokemon Scarlet/Violet AU.

To start, I have a theory regarding the professor that’s not present- Turo in Scarlet, Sada in Violet- that was partially inspired by the idea of villain!Clavell.

Now, I might be incorrect as I can’t find any quotes or maybe I imagined it, but I’m pretty sure AISada and AITuro mention that people can’t survive entering the time machine. Thing is, how would they know this unless it happened before?

Also, isn’t it strange that the other professor would just walk out on what can be assumed to be a happy family following Arven’s birth? Yeah, could be nerves, could be cold feet, could be a difference in opinion- but here’s the thing: they had already successfully brought something through the machine. Koraidon/Miraidon are noted as having come through PRIOR to Arven’s birth. So, what gives? If they also wanted to bring Pokemon from the past/future here, why leave when you got the machine finally working? This is where shit gets dark.

Continues under the read more.

My theory is, what if the other professor died testing if people could travel through the machine? Or fell into it?

As per usual, this analysis takes place in the Scarlet timeline, but can apply to Violet as well.

We know that by the time she writes in the journal that she needs more help and that “that man walked out shortly after the boy was born”, Sada is likely so obsessed that the other researchers- Clavell and Jacq included- have left. She could seen her husband dying as ‘walking away’. What if Turo was killed when he walked into the activated machine, getting sucked in and, unable to cope with the idea her dream has killed her beloved spouse and the father of her son, Sada instead chose to believe he walked out on her and Arven.

In regards to the AU discussed in the linked post, Clavell is a skilled manipulator and liar. What I see happening shortly after Arven being born is this:

Sada and Turo, having worked hard on their dream for so long, now have a newborn baby. They agree that work on the machine will need to slow down so they can spend time with their son and raise him together. One night while Sada is still in the hospital following Arven’s birth, Turo is in Area Zero finishing some calibrations on the machine and talking to Clavell, who came to visit and check in on the status of their research. When he’s told that the professors plan to delay their research for a few years, Clavell argues that they can’t, it won’t do, what about their momentum so far?

Turo, not as obsessed with the project as his wife and has noticed their old friend and mentor’s interest in Koraidon and the potential Paradox Pokemon, confronts Clavell, demanding to know why he’s so intent on them essentially pushing their son to the side and focusing solely on their research. Turo realizes that Clavell has been using them and goes to shut it all down, stating once he tells Sada what’s happening she’ll agree with his actions. Clavell won’t let his dream be destroyed when its only just began, and the pair fight.

At one point, the machine is activated and Turo is shoved away from Clavell, and to both their horrors is dragged into it and killed. With the danger to his dreams eliminated, Clavell decides to use this to his advantage and creates a goodbye letter from Turo, stating he’s not ready for all this and that Sada and their son will only hold him back. He tells Sada when he went to see Turo in the lab he found the letter and tricks her into thinking her husband walked out on their family and, in her anger and despair, falls further into her research, not once questioning Clavell until she realizes she too is being used. By this point, Clavell has been actively using Arven as a bargaining chip- the faster she creates paradise, the faster she gets to see him again. Communication between her and Arven have been cut off to prevent Sada from reaching out to her son and telling him what’s happening, so Arven ventures into Area Zero before she’s killed, hoping to find his mom. He and Mabosstiff are attacked by a Roaring Moon, escaping with their lives, but Mabosstiff is still badly injured. Clavell uses this to his advantage.

“Now Sada, Arven has already almost died after being attacked by a Paradox Pokemon because he misses you. It would be a shame if he was “accidentally” injured by another “monster” attack, but this time without Mabosstiff to save him, hmm? We don’t want him to die like Turo did.”

“What do you mean, like Turo did?!”

This is when she finds out the truth- that her husband didn’t abandon her and Arven, he was killed.

The AU continues as described in the original post, but with the added bit that Arven gets some sort of closure that the parent he thought left him and Sada actually loved him very much and wanted to be with them.

Again, thank you to @k-chips and @ameftowriter for inspiring this long ass post lol

[trainingdummyrabbit]

Woe

9, 14, 27

uouoauhg... explodes of Quemstions(tm)

9- tell a story about your childhood this one is . really funny actually bc i thought abt several stories and Most of them revolve around pokemon in one way or another .. there Have been several different times i was directly responsible for a boom in pkmn card popularity in my school, subsequently causing them to get banned. one of those times, there was a kid who just. he just fucking sucked man. id bring stacks of my cards in my backpack bc i loved sharing and trading them, and he just. apparently snuck in and stole like half of them? at some point? and i Knew, because my favorite card was one of em, and it had been out of print for Years at that point, and when i confronted him, he said he 'got it at walmart.' which was obviously fucking bullshit but i was too much of a pansy to confront him about it. iwas still solidly in the Polite School Kid thing, yknow? and at some point one of my friends from a lower grade went 'hey. check this out.' and pulls out a fucking wad of cards he stole back from the guy??? INCLUDING all of my missing favorites. im honestly still kinda baffled to this day about it, but it doesnt matter bc my beloved is safe at home with me even to this day and i wouldnt trade her for the world. <33 (if youre curious. 2006 salamence ex delta species. her name is sally :])

14- what’s something you’ve always wanted to do but maybe been to scared to do? roleplay. i used to spend hours and hours and Hours rping literally everywhere at any chance i got, and for some reason i just... stopped? ive tried again a few times, but its never really managed t pick itself back up again... ''> > im. unfortunately Very picky about my own writing, and even more picky than that about the way im perceived, which doesnt really mix well... and then theres the active rping communities which are so alien and... weirdly strict? i always end up pushing myself too hard and exploding about it. metaphorically. outwardly its more like i just fucken disappear off th face of the earth KJNGKJD;; itried picking up an old forum acc i had about two or three weeks ago, and um. well... bbbbad timing on my part iguess... = = storytelling is still one of my biggest loves though, and i know im still deeply passionate about it, its just. ouhhhhh the struggles. oh and also cosplaying in public. id love to do that too one day, if i manage to find some friends willing within a country's radius maybe. i used to Love videos of people hanging out semi-incharacter in cosplay and just being dorks... idont really see those too often lately though :< sad..

27- any nicknames? a couple! most of them are variants of my normal name, like pika or piko or pikkles or smthn. nobodys called me those in a long time though.. my names already short n shrimple, so there hasnt rly been much need for it isuppose. a personal favorite of mine is 19, though. i used t be in a discord server w a loooot of people, and we started a joke of a 'number cult,' in which we would all call each other by numbers and kept a list of who claimed what. mine was 19 :] (since 9 was taken already.) that... lasted well over a year actually, im still 19 to a lot of people out there ithink. kind of a comforting thought.

[sharpscion]

TOA anniversary munday!

Celebrating TOA and the people who contribute to make our group what it is. Repost, don't reblog. Only fill in what you feel comfortable sharing! Happy anniversary, TOA! Here's to many more years spent together.

Name: Cody

Pronouns: he/him

Birthday (no year): October 16th

Where are you from? What is your time zone? CST

Roleplay experience: Ugh idk man like 6 years or something now

Got any pets? A cat named Laurie

Favorite time of year: Fall because it's cold but not like you're gonna die cold

Some interests and things you like: I love to sit and listen to a vinyl while reading some kind of book or manga. I also like to screech in my car to songs that I like a lot!

Some fun facts & trivia about you: I'll listen to one song over and over again for like 5 months until I get bored of it. I have an odd amount of knowledge about old music and WILL share it with you without hesitation. I'm also a crazy TOA prophet because whoever I tweet about ends up joining TOA like a week after.

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? I play a lot of Final Fantasy games and also League of Legends. I've played SO many games though, it's hard to keep count.

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: I really like grass and psychic types! My favorite pokemon is Musharna and it has been since N gave her to me back in black and white!

How did you get into Fire Emblem? I got the game for my birthday along with a gameboy way back when I was about 7-8 years old. That game was Binding Blade and I've been riding that wave ever since.

What Fire Emblem games have you played? I have played through almost all of them excluding ALL of fates and the tellius games.

First Fire Emblem game: Binding Blade

Favorite Fire Emblem game: Genealogy of the Holy War

Any Fire Emblem crushes? AUGH MAN- L'arachel honestly...

If you’ve played the following games, who was your first S support? Miss Olivia von Fire Emblem

Favorite Fire Emblem class: AUGH PALADIN!!!

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class? Sage honestly

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? Golden Deer, easily!

If you were an Engage character, which Emblem would you Engage with? Eirika and Ephraim this was not even a question I had to think about

How did you find TOA? Well it was first mentioned to me by N a year or so before I actually joined! I was really wanting to get back into the FE scene and so I thought this might be a good start.

Current TOA muses: Scáthach, Ephraim, Eliwood

Who was your first TOA muse? If you don’t have them anymore, could you see yourself picking them up again? Male Robin! It's probably unlikely... I love him to death but he's easily my oldest fire emblem muse and he is VERY tired.

Have you had any other TOA muses? Quanathan my beloved

Do you think you have a type of character you gravitate towards? I KNOW I HAVE A TYPE I GRAVITATE TO! I never really knew this about myself until TOA, but I seem to gravitate towards knights the most. There is just something about the kind of devotion a knight feels, and how that alters their entire existence.

What do you believe you enjoy writing the most? I typically really enjoy getting into the gritty of things while I'm writing. Explaining emotion and action, why a character is the way they are. I find this most fun with another muse who has close connections to mine.

Favorite TOA-related memory: I think my favorite moment might be when Soji and I reconnected after 10 minutes of me being in this server. We had interacted one time in indie but she had always been on my mind because of how exceptional her writing is. Turns out she remembered me too, and now we're besties and going to cons together!

How do you pronounce TOA?: I usually just say the letters themselves because I'm extra like that.

Got any delusions that didn’t see the light of day in TOA that you’d like to share? WELL LET'S SEE ahem Astram, Noah, Finn, Sonya, Sain, and so so so so so many more that I can't even think about right at this moment.

[darkmatter-nebula]

"Ghostboy in Hisui" AU drabble ahead. Basically, Dawn came back from Hisui as well and visits Allister. The shy ghostboy is very happy to see his friend again. Let's go, my dear fellas. 😊

Drabble: The Ghostboy And The Champion Of Sinnoh

It was a quiet afternoon in Stow-On-Side. Allister sat in the kitchen and drank some tea. Bea glanced affectionately at her beloved little brother. She didn't fail to notice the peaceful smile on Allister's adorable face.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. What the siblings didn't suspect was, that a certain someone wanted to pay Allister a visit. As Bea opened the door, she was face to face with Dawn, the Champion from Sinnoh. "Hi! I'm Dawn! Is Allister home?"

"I'm his big sister. My name is Bea. Yes, he is home." The fighter, who couldn't believe her eyes, answered. "Can I come in, please?" "Sure!" As soon as Dawn was inside, she immediately noticed her favorite ghostboy.

Allister recognized Dawn's voice and didn't hesitate to rush to her. "There you are, Al!" Dawn wrapped her arms around Allister. To Bea's surprise, her shy little brother cuddled close to Dawn. "I promised that I would visit you. Here I am, Al." Dawn smiled.

"Do you want some tea?" Allister spoke up, a kind smile on his maskless face. Soon, Dawn and the siblings were in the kitchen. "It's so nice to meet you, Bea! Allister talked a lot about you at our time in Hisui." "Nice to meet you too, Dawn."

After a moment of silence... "Dawn?" "Yes, Bea?" "Thank you for taking care of him back then. I'm glad that he gained you as a big sister figure." The Fighting Type Gym Leader couldn't be more grateful that Allister was in good hands back then.

Dawn couldn't help but smile as she heard Bea's kind words. "I was very surprised as he was sent back in time, not unlike I was. We had a lot of missions together. Allister always did very good! Every single time, I was proud of him. I still am!" Dawn explained.

"She always protected me, Bea. Soothing the frenzied Noble Pokemon was our most important task, aside from studying wild Pokemon. Lord Avalugg was the hardest battle." Allister chimed in. Bea took softly his small hand.

Allister clearly remembered as one of Lord Avalugg's icy projectiles hit his head. This was the exact moment Zoey evolved into a Zoroark. Her protectiveness towards Allister triggered her evolution. She used her new strength to kick Lord Avalugg's ass.

Bea already knew about the incident with Lord Avalugg. She glanced at the tiny, barely visible, scar on Allister's forehead. Bea also knew about Allister and Dawn's banishment. She was still mad about the fact that her eight years old little brother was blamed for something he didn't do.

Allister noticed Bea's expression. The small boy intertwined his fingers with Bea's. "It's ok, big sister. I'm alright. And the people from Hisui properly apologized after everything was over." "I know, Alli. It's just so unfair that they blamed you for something that wasn't your fault to begin with." Bea sighed.

Seeing Allister and Bea being so sweet to each other definitely warmed Dawn's heart. The Ghost Type Gym Leader and the Fighting Type Gym Leader truly loved one another. "You two are so cute!" Dawn said softly. She spend many hours with the Gym Leader siblings.

As she had to go, Dawn promised to visit Allister every once in a while. He wasn't only her dear friend, he also was her little brother figure. It was quite obvious that Allister and Dawn were very happy to see each other again soon.

The End

[popgoesthesneaselreturns]

Dancing With The Devil

Music

"So, back here again are you? Are you ready to accept me yet?"

Sal said nothing to Salvador as the two Sneasels were dancing in one another's arms. It was an odd dream not so much a nightmare like the others. As there were other people and pokemon dancing around with the pair. Salvador still wearing the fancy clothes Equinox made him wear. His teacher always grew enraged if Sal set one foot out of line when it came to dancing. He had to be perfect as he danced. He was the symbol of Equinox, anything less that peftection wasn't allowed. Sal himself was wearing a contrasting outfit to Salvador. Salvador wore blue while Sal wore red the same color as Mirage's red.

"Why do you keep doing this to me? I never asked for this!"

Dancing was one of the few things Sal had loved about his old life back then and now it felt like Salvador was trying to trample on that. He suspected he knew what the reflection of his past self would do. Make him purposefully fail so he would see everyone look at him. The social pressure was something Sal had hated with all of his being.

"Oh? What are you afraid of? Was there something about the parties that you are trying to forget? Was it simply dancing? Was it simply talking? Was it simply spying? You know what you did!"

The music playing too felt like it was laughing at Sal. A perfect song of a villain that lurked in the shadows speaking falsehoods to make others suffer. That was was what Equinox was! The most evil of beings! And this other him was just the same! An evil being!

"You remember the steps don't you? Remember them so well that you could do it in your sleep. What makes you think you aren't dancing still even now? Dancing to the tune of our beloved master. Come on, really think about it. Remember how much you wanted them to love you, and what you were willing to do to make that love show itself. The people in the parties were never your friends. They were pawns the same as you. Playing the parts given to them like you. You go on and on about how terrible your life was. But, what about the other pokemon you danced with in those parties? Did you ever see them as real? Or did you cut yourself off so much they were simply window dressing? Did you not see their suffering??"

Sal shut his eyes, he could tell what game Salvador was playing now. He wasn't going to fall for it! He didn't need to see! He knew what to do, the poses, the dips, all in time with the song he could do it.

"Oh yes, do what you always do! Shut your eyes! Bury your head the sand! Pretend everything was a bright wonderful fairytale! You know what happened at these parties! You know! It wasn't simply a pride project for our master. Oh, that was part of it...people did so love our beloved master's works. They were out of this world! A perfect blend of beauty and ugly as all things should be! But, there was more! You know there was more! Something else you never told anyone! You are no pure kind person! You are just as vile! You are just as evil as our master was! How can you bare living in such lies?"

"Stop it! I don't need you to say it like this! I know ok?! You don't need to frame it like this! I wasn't blind to it! Of course I knew! But, what could I say?! How could I ever say this?! What could I have done?!"

Sal started daggers at his other half, Salvador relished in this despair. He loved it! He loved every moment of it! A smile so alike to the person who turned them into this. It was like looking into a dark mirror, this was what his master had likely always wanted him to become. This person, embodied all of his teacher's lessons to their core. Beauty and ugly perfectly in balance, a true expression of art. The perfection that sounded like a madman's desire. Something no sane person would ever understand in a million years.

"The pokemon they were offerings! The monsters who acted as humans were there to buy and sell them with the party as a backdrop! They were being tested! Compared! Valued! Put on display! And if they weren't good enough they were thrown away! You could see their terror, you could see their misery, and you couldn't bare it. You turned a blind eye to it! You pretended it wasn't happening! How would your beloved Mirage see you now if he knew that about you? Knew you hid such a terrible truth? You never told him that did you?! Because you were disgusted with yourself! You hated yourself for doing nothing for them! You still do now!"

The dance stopped now as Salvador held Sal in a tight grip. The dancers still went on like they saw nothing but Salvador's voice grew more filled with malice the more he talked. Each word growing it.

"They say those who do nothing in the face of evil are themselves evil too! Or are they worse? Because they see something and know its evil yet do nothing! How much did you refuse to look at? We know you did that enough to yourself already. You blocked out your own suffering, what makes you think you didn't block out more? Well, I will do as Mirage did...I will force you to see it all...then you will accept me! Accept what you truly are! Accept that you are me! That you were always me! That I was always you! I won't let you turn a blind eye to your crimes any longer...""

Salvador then went back to the dance saying nothing more. His eyes bore deep into Sal's and Sal never looked away from Salvador. Despite it all, Sal couldn't deny there was some truth to Salvador's words. He realised now he had done more than simply lie to himself. He had willfully looked away from other pokemon's suffering too. All to save his own psyche from becoming worse. He wouldn't let Salvador label him as evil though, he wasn't and he knew it. Mirage held secrets from him too, despite how well you come to know someone there can still be something more to hide.

So, Sal intended to play Salvador's game. He would dance with his own devil for as long as it took to defeat him for good.

[maeve-is-annoying-about-books]

I'm just starting to bite into a new story but... It's a lazy, breezy day here. It reminds me very much of how I used to pass afternoons like this, playing with little collectibles and watching Hobby Shounen. I still have a bit of a guilty pleasure for it, sometimes I'll look through old trading cards and imagine little stories about who would have such a deck. Or lose time playing Custom Robo. So I wanna talk about my passion in passing a bit.

Hobby Shounen. I don't think anyone but me uses the term but I'm pretty sure everyone knows it. It's Yu-Gi-Oh. It's ostensibly Pokemon, definitely early Digimon. It's Battle Network and the aforementioned Custom Robo. Also LBX if you're particularly after little fighting robots. We also know the ridiculous conceit where it seems like the entire world is built around this strange children's hobby and no one bats an eye at it.

It's a very pure sort of world, I guess a part of me still appreciates it all. After all, what is more innocent than a child who believes they can change the world with their favorite toy? It's a little delightful like, of course the bad guys run away when you beat up their little toys. That's how the world works for the wee ones. It's a setting where their most beloved hobby is respected and their practice pays off with real standing and mutual respect with their peers.

I guess what I'm saying is that I don't really see Hobby Shounen as a soulless way to sell to children, not when it expends so much effort making the kinds of worlds many kids dream of. I mean, yes, above the writers is a soulless, capitalistic mega-giant that pumps out figures and grabs up money everywhere it can. And sells the accessories separately, of course. But when you look at the writing itself it's almost against the entire institution. Take my hand, lemme show you what I mean.

In Hobby Shounen, the main character usually isn't well-off, all of their love for... (I don't know, "Tiny Fighters" to make up a name for an example series) is in how it brings people together or the skill of the pilots. Their Tiny Fighter is usually special, customized or made by a loving parent who enjoys their child's pastime as much as they do. It's the exact opposite of the mass-marketed best models. It's special, personal. In fact, there is usually a rich kid somewhere in the series who will pontificate endlessly about the power of money. And they never win, not for long anyway. Their Tiny Fighters are good but their own love of the game is rotted through. Seems like you would want the rich kid to be an almost-insurmountable threat you can only overcome with the latest hot piece of gear.

Inevitably, I guess this wins out. The hero's Tiny Fighter must evolve and look ever-cooler. The soulless puppeteers from on-high demand it, but contextualized in the story, the best Hobby Shounen use new forms as signs of development. Their old Tiny Fighter is destroyed and they must rebuild from the ground up and it serves as a metaphor for winning back their own fighting spirit to try again. Cross-techniques with friends and rivals are common because it shows how much these fellow hobbyists mean to one another. And I'm just a sucker for it.

I think, by-and-large, I just enjoy my visits away from... how would you call it? The more adult stories, I suppose. I get a ton of enjoyment out of them, just look at my livereads where I literally cannot help but gush about what I've read. But every so often I think I appreciate something so... genuinely and unapologetically silly. Like yeah, sure, let's save the world with our toy robot for an afternoon. Sometimes I forget how to and need a reminder.

[leggerefiore]

Lost

words: 1531

summary: Ingo's son gets lost in the station. He panics, naturally.

Ingo watched as the small boy marched behind him. His grey coat was a mock version of the Subway Boss's own, with a matching hat on his head. The shirt was a plain white t-shirt because they had been able to find a child sized button-down that was a comfortable fabric for him, but he did have a pair of grey slacks on. His shoes were slip-ons, however. Erin trailed behind his with big, steely eyes. A slow pace was kept to allow the boy to keep up with him. 

Sporadically, Ingo would ask his son was certain that he did not want to be carried through the station. Erin always shook his head and attempted to mimic how the older man walked. The older twin was no stranger to imitation, he and his brother often doing so unintentionally, but Erin's desperate tries made his heart swell with warm emotion. If it were his day off, Ingo would have happily continued to play along with the boy. It was not, however. His partner was waiting to pick him up at the entrance. 

Erin had wanted to come in and see the trains for a while. There was nothing wrong with that, as most of Ingo's morning work related more so to paperwork, as Emmet preferred to do safety checks and walk around's. He would drive a line later that day, but not that early. People buzzed around the two as they continued their walk. Crowds were not uncommon in the station, so he did not think much of it. 

Well… Until he turned around to check on Erin again. He stopped dead in his tracks when he failed to locate the five-year-old. Terror wrecked his system immediately. “Erin!” he called out, the sheer volume of his voice making people stop to state him. They seemed distressed by the wide eyes of the usually stoic Subway Boss. His eyes moved around the crowd frantically. When no little boy with silver locks came forth crying for his dad, Ingo realised his son was truly lost. 

What if someone had taken him? He was an adorable child, certainly, but he had issues that would lead to problems if not taken care of properly. Quickly, he called in for his child over the radio. Replies were immediate, as depot agents agreed to start searching if they were not already busy with something else. Emmet even responded that he was going to help. Ingo carefully waded through the crowd to look around. His heart raced at the thought of never seeing his son again. He could not take that pain. 

The small boy was someone he adored more than even his pokemon and trains. Erin's small voice quietly chatting with him about different types of locomotives and wanting to know all about his work had become an important part of his days. The cries of his son as an infant were loud in his ears, as he remembered the way he seemed to crave constant attention. His crib had to be placed in the bedroom with them, as he was unable to sleep without one of his parents in the room with him. Ingo had felt his life complete after having the boy. A lifelong dream of becoming a father, finally accomplished with such a sweet boy. 

He did not have it in him to look his partner in the eye and admit that he had lost their beloved child by his own carelessness. Frantically, he searched more aggressively. His heart raced. What if he wandered on to the tracks and down into the tunnels? He could be hit or never be found and die. Ingo could never live with the fact he failed so terribly as a father. His breaths became harsh and short, while tears burned his eyes. His emotional suppression was never going to win out against his paternal feelings. 

A sob escaped him as he felt someone grasp on to him and lead him from the crowd. The white coat told him exactly who it was. Emmet rubbed his brother's shoulder while taking him to the office area of the station. He had recalled many parents in the very situation he was in currently, just as panicked as he was. There was always sympathy toward them, but his heart felt much too heavy about all of this. Emmet left him with an older depot agent, while he promised to be back soon. Ingo immediately tried to wander off, a need to find his son still remaining, but the depot agent grabbed him and shook his head. 

“Boss, I'm sorry, but as you know, it's best if the parent stays in one location,” he scolded. Ingo stared at him with harsh eyes. He knew that was best for people who were not as familiar with the station as he was. This place was pure muscle memory to Ingo most days, so he could not understand why Emmet had him stuck here while anything and everything could be happening to his son. It was obvious the depot agent was not going to budge. Frustration was the next emotion that joined the poisonous concoction surrounding his mind. 

Time passed too fast yet too slow. Every second felt like an eternity and fleeting at the same time. The anticipation and unknowing nature of this entire situation left him with a headache. He had been considering buying Erin a mode train set, like he had. The boy's eyes lit up every time he saw the one in his home office, standing on his tip-toes in an attempt to peer over the table. Ingo often picked him up to let him see it from a proper height. The way his eyes lit up made him feel proud. His son truly shared his love. 

He had also been debating breeding his Chandelure so that his son may share a starter with him when the time was right. If they could not find him, then all of those gentle moments were gone to the wind. He had begun to pace back and forth as his brain became more and more filled with horrible possibilities. Just as he was on the edge of finally breaking down, a cry rang out. 

“Daddy!” 

His head whipped in the direction of Emmet carrying Erin. The small boy's face was lit up as the twin set him down. Ingo rushed to meet him half way, kneeling down to hug the boy tightly to himself. A kiss was pressed to his temple, while scolds and reassurances poured from Ingo's mouth. He was never going to let his son go again. Erin was hoisted up by Ingo as he thanked Emmet for finding him. His twin just smiled brightly and shook his head. “I love my nephew verrrry much, brother,” he cooed at the small boy while waving bye at him, “Get him home safe! I'll handle your work while you're gone.” Ingo was grateful for his brother's kindness. 

Erin grasped on to Ingo as they walked through the station. The warmth of his son's body against his was a reassuring one that he was not gone nor would he disappear again. A relieved breath finally left him. “Why did you run off like that, Erin?” he asked the boy, “You know better than to do that. Please stay at my side when in public. I was worried about you.” Erin smiled sheepishly at him. His cheeks flushed, like Ingo's often became. It astounded him how much his son had taken from him, appearance wise. 

“I saw a hiring office! I wanted to work at the station with you, daddy! Then I could be with you and trains all day!” Erin babbled. Is that what he wanted, Ingo wondered. He had been busy as of late, but no more than Erin would be used to. Guilt spread through him. Of course, his son wanted his attention. His only friends were his cousins, who were a bit older than him. 

“I see…” Ingo explained, “You're much too young to work. I promise that you may one day, but for now, you must focus on growing and learning. You are starting school this year, you know?” Maybe he would make friends in school. Hopefully, he would not have the schooling experience that his brother and him had. They were outcasts and viewed as weird and possibly dangerous. Their reputation was not helped by Emmet's previous record of chasing other children with bugs and being extremely quiet. That quietness was shared with Erin. Ingo would be certain to reassure his son that he was fine the way he was. 

“I am?” the boy gasped with bright eyes, “I'll be like Emma and Inka?” Ingo nodded to him with a soft smile. Erin seemed even more excited by that. They finished their trek to the entrance where Erin was left with Ingo's spouse, who was giddy to see the boy again. They gave a quick wave with Erin and left the station while holding hands. Ingo watched as the boy chattered to his parent with a softened expression. 

He was going to by that train set when he got off that evening.

[acerace]

...you have opened my eyes to a vast universe of VintageBeef lore that I was unaware of. I knew about the New Hermit Order, of course, and the UHC invention, and I've watched a few of his CTM things but -- I will take all the info and lore you feel like giving out because Beef is amazing and my knowledge is so small.

Vintagebeef my beloved <3

So the thing is, right, until about 2016 I only watched two (2) youtubers- Vintagebeef for Minecraft and aDrive for Pokemon (and funnily enough both of them are named Dan irl). So I've watched most of Beef's videos over the years and have a general knowledge of most of his stuff, except because it's been like a decade I don't remember where most of the lore comes from XD

The thing with him is that he doesn't do Lore tm the way other mcyters often do lore- he doesn't have an extensive RP series to draw from like Grian, doesn't have a solo world with steadily increasing amounts of lore like Etho or Zisteau, and while he's played on SMPs and been involved in storylines before it's not really the focus of his episodes unlike with Evo or Legacy or Empires

So where does that leave us?

IRL, Beef always has multiple series running at the same time. Often he's playing on an smp while doing a singleplayer, often modded, series as well as a CTM or modpack with a group of friends. For example, right now he's playing on Hermitcraft, doing weekly Pixelmon and Building a Zoo episodes, and a CTM map with Slip. And to me, this translates to one thing: Beef is an adventurer. He travels frequently- he explores a world and when he decides he's done, he leaves for the next one. That's the basis of my personal interpretation of his series and his character for my writing.

Ok so reading this back, this got extremely long and didn't explain much in the way of lore, somehow? If anyone has any additions to add please do so, I am very definitely leaving out a lot and would love to see what other lore people remember and are using for Beef! I didn’t include the Hermitcraft stuff since my memory of season 4 is blurry (his base was themed after the Martian, that much I know, and he and Iskall were buddies :D) and most of the s5 NHO lore is best watched from Bdub’s perspective from what I remember, and the only s6 stuff is a single line in Hermitgang and then the Area 77 arc with its possibility of an NHO reunion which we did not get rip. And s7 of course had the cloning machine and also the Podzol Party as the main lore. So all the original rambling is still below the cut though it is very long, and I'm gonna bullet point the main stuff here instead:

Actual canonical things:

Invented UHC and was the only survivor of the first ever uhc (Mindcrack UHC s1)

Married to an ender dragon (one of the UHCs I think), later father to a different dragon (Mindcrack season 3? I think?)

Might not have legs if you choose to take that joke as canon (Mindcrack s2)

Was a wizard (RAD)

is a zookeeper (Building a Zoo) 

Had a wife and kids (Sims in Minecraft)

Part of the Trial of the B Team court case (Mindcrack)

NHO founder, founder of the Podzol Party (Hermitcraft)

Created a cloning machine that sort of works (Hermitcraft)

Played the Forest which is I believe the first time he and Keralis played together (look up the trigger warnings for this one, it's a horror game)

Was the creator/owner of Sourceblock SMP (featuring some familiar faces if you know Legacy, Empires, or MCC) and there is literal magic from a mysterious sourceblock of water that teleports people and summons mobs and probably more stuff that I haven't seen yet since I'm still watching it myself

Things you can infer:

Good with animals (Life in the Woods, Pixelmon, Ark)

Is a car nerd (irl and all of the car games he's played)

Is a highly experienced adventurer who has traveled through dozens of worlds both vanilla and modded, across multiple dimensions (Twilight Forest, the Aether, the Betweenlands, Limbo), completed dozens of monuments, fought in blood sports, survived apocalypse after apocalypse, tamed dinosaurs, and played a lot of prop hunt and golf with your friends

If you're looking for what to watch for lore purposes, I'd say the Mindcrack UHCs and Team Canada's RAD series are pretty good, definitely Sourceblock and HC s5, plus the Diversity CTM maps and Ruins of the Mindcrackers maybe? And Mindcrack Prank Wars for the chaos and the origin of Team Canada. And if you can handle horror than the Forest is fun and if you don't do horror you can watch the Pojkband play golf or prop hunt they're hilarious I love them sm I want a Pojkband reunion So Bad 

Beef's first series was a singleplayer series in beta 1.4_01 though he had played the game extensively before that, and was a big fan of Guude, having watched his own Minecraft videos. The series was functionally a hardcore one where if he died Beef would delete the world and start again! I haven't actually Watched this series so idk if he died or how often lmao. When Guude made Mindcrack, which was btw one of the very first Minecraft SMPs, he also hosted a competition for people to join, and Beef submitted a video (which is still viewable on his channel I believe!) and won, and was added to Mindcrack in season 2 :D (fun fact, Guude said that even if Beef hadn’t won he would have added him anyway) 

Two running jokes emerged from Mindcrack- pulling a Vintagebeef and Beef doesn't have legs. The first is a reference to Beef dying of fall damage (I believe the exact instance was him trying to jump into his swimming pool and failing spectacularly) and after the incident, every time someone died of fall damage they were pulling a Vintagebeef. The second joke comes from Guude, who joked that the reason Beef wasn't going to a convention was because he didn't have legs, and then he pranked Beef's base by building a giant pair of legs at the entrance to his castle so you had to walk between them to get into the base. This joke has long since died and both Beef and Guude feel pretty bad about it iirc because there were people who genuinely thought Beef was disabled and were emailing him supportive messages and stuff oops. So if you go looking on the Salad or find old Mindcrack fics, you might see references to Beef having prosthetic legs!

Mindcrack also brought about the creation of several Player groups- Team Nancy Drew, Team Canada, and GOB to name a few relevant to Beef. Team Nancy Drew consists of Beef, Pauseunpause, Guude, and Baj, who formed to investigate a prank on one of the members but I forget who. They're named Nancy Drew after the detective! Team Canada also formed in retaliation to pranks, with it consisting of Beef, Etho, and Pause, the three Canadian members on the server (not including Adlington who moved to Canada but never joined the group). There was also a Team America who pranked them with American flags everywhere. GOB is Guude, OMGChad, and Beef, who played stuff like the Ragecraft, Pantheon, and Monstrosity ctms together but that's way down the line lol

Team Nancy Drew is also notable for inventing UHC. It was Beef's brainchild but it was the four of them who first played it! The first UHC had the four of them working to kill the dragon with no natural regen, with everyone dying but Beef, who "won" the UHC. The second uhc was still dragon focused and iirc is where Beef married the dragon? Memories are hazy but they do kill the dragon in this one I think. UHC was then revamped as a pvp event and became a regular Mindcrack game every few months, featuring most of the Mindcrackers and several special guests, including Dinnerbone, who as we know Thanos-snapped Doc's arm out of existence as a result of Doc killing him in one of them

In one of the seasons of Mindcrack, Beef invited swedish Mindcracker and good friend Anderzel to go caving with him and invented ABBA Rules caving, where the winner takes it all. ABBA Rules is a game where each ore (and also dungeon loot like nametags) is assigned a point value and the person with the most points at the end wins and gets to keep all the stuff collected from the game.

In Mindcrack season 3?, Beef punched the ender dragon in an... awkward area, so when the dragon died and left the egg behind, Guude said Beef was the father of the egg XD I don't remember if I watched s3 so I have no idea if anything Happened with this concept but *history of the world voice* you could make lore out of this!

So Team Canada has played a Lot of CTM maps (which fun fact were pretty much invented by another Mindcrack member, Vechs, with his Super Hostile series! Super Hostile has a bunch of things called "Zistonian", which are references to another Mindcrack member Zisteau, who has a very wild singleplayer series with even wilder lore but I digress). In Ruins of the Mindcrackers, they had a running joke that Beef was Etho and Pause's mom, which is a joke we can leave in the past actually /lh. They also played all the Diversity maps, Sky Factory, Terra Restore, Uncharted Territory uhhh and a couple more ctms and adventure maps! Each map kinda has its own story so in Diversity 3 for example they were trapped in a simulation? I think? Team Canada also recently played the Roguelike Adventures and Dungeons modpack, aka RAD, in which Beef was a wizard with a magic staff that could do anything from summon lightning to control hostile mobs.

Sourceblock SMP is a vanilla survival 1.14 series that ran for one season and the series starts with each of the Players being drawn to a strange sparkling water source that, once they touch it, brings them to the Sourceblock world. It also summons a giant zombie at one point. There's probably more lore for this series but like I said I haven't watched it all the way through yet 

He has a Patreon server called VintageCraft and has done a series or two on there as well, and played a few UHCs with them, so lore that how you will! 

Beef also played a few popular mods, notably Pixelmon, Life in the Woods, and Feed the Beast, with LitW being singleplayer and the other multiplayer. He's also recently played the Zoo and Wild Animals mod a lot. He did a short series with the Minecraft Comes Alive mod where he married one of the villagers and had two children, so that's canon now :D he’s played a Lot of Pixelmon starting when the mod first came out iirc (he chose Turtwig in his first series and built a Grass gym, then made a Normal gym in another series in uhh 2016) and he still plays to this day. Quite a few Hermits played on his Pixelmon servers with him, like Wels, Etho, Iskall, Stress, Slip, Zueljin, and also Guude and Phedran (a Mindcrack adjacent player and creator of the LitW modpack) and a few Mindcrackers on the older servers 

Mindcrack and friends played a lot of other games too- 7 Days to Die, Ark Survival Evolved, Unturned, to name a few, so you can pull a lot of lore out of these as well. Speaking of friends and non-Minecraft games, Beef teamed up with Pause, Keralis, and Slip (a former Hermit) to play the horror game the Forest, which saw them stuck on an island trying to survive against terrifying mutated human... things. They played it a few times as the game updated but as afaik it's the first time Beef played with Keralis and possibly Slip and since the game starts with the Player's airplane crashing, that could totally be how Beef first met them in-universe 

I... think? that’s everything I mentioned in the tags? There is probably way more stuff I’ve forgotten that stems from inside jokes and things that happen within each series, but I hope that was a) helpful and b) at least somewhat comprehensible lmao 

[prof-peach]

Have you ever had a Pokémon that you rescued and planned to adopt out, but then you decided to keep it yourself?

Not unless they've expressed an interest in staying on the island. As a rule of thumb we allow anything to stay that is dead set on sticking about, luckily we have the space to allow for it most of the time.

The first was Booker. Dear beloved grouchy Teddiursa, he came to me in my ranger days, and I was tasked with rehabilitating the little dude at his young age after he lost most of the sight in one eye from an attack by poachers. We spent so long rehabbing together, we became inseparable. He was suppose to go, but it's been 12+ years together give or take, and i'd be totally lost without him.

Since then i've had the utter joy of being joined by a little Cyndaquil, named Propane, brought to me with a faulty flame, they've since healed up and seen me though some gym trials, they still knock about the island. There was a rather angry Tyranitar brought in with terrible rage. Turns out she was afflicted with dehydration, terrible skin cracks, bad teeth causing her a lot of pain, and a little bit of an upset tummy. She got fixed up and became the softest biggest gentle lady you could imagine, we called her Sugar, she's part of the crew here now, a great advocate for her species. the most recent thats chosen to stay with me of its own choice was a Cutifly with a torn wing, we named her Jewel, and she stuck with me of her free choice, usually hanging out in the gardens, keeping the peace. These were all a fair few years ago now, i try not to keep too many pokemon around, but there is a list here, should you want to know the full extent of my strange non-human family.

Recently we've been fortunate enough to find good homes for a lot of the pokemon who are ready to find their place, people are really into the idea of adopting these days! Its great for everyone really, we cant keep em all or there wont be room to help those who need it.

I must admit, when the individuals who stay with us for a long time, for treatment or general rehab, finally find a home? dude i miss them so much sometimes. We work really closely with a lot of individuals, and it's kind of like watching a loved one leave. Luckily once adopted, we get to see them again for checkups and that sometimes, some trainers like to send them back to us once or twice a year for a vacation, time with their own, which we encourage. Currently we've got a whole host of young and old pokemon ready to find a home, and its going to be tough to see them go this time. We've all bonded a lot.

[yamis-ramblings]

I would like to share my pokemon headcanons with you, tumblr. And I would like to do so for the Sinnoh characters with the order of who I have thought about the most over the last 13-14 years.

Let's start then, ans you'll see exactly how much this generation has haunted me since then instantly.

Cyrus (yup, that's how we're starting. This one isn't actually a headcanon, it's a full on theory I've had for YEARS, but it's slowly been and is being validated by pokemon itself. But here's the incredibly butchered summary version):

--- Cyrus' childhood wasn't easy. He was different from the other kids, likely neurodivergent imo.

--- his parents were neglectful, and he found comfort in space, robots, and tech, all info we get from his grandpa

--- Cyrus dealt with physical and emotional abuse, but eventually something would bring a light. He'd eventually meet a rotom, and they'd become fast friends.

---- Cyrus would later record the events with the rotom in an old journal you can find in the "rotom room" in platinum via an event exclusive key. This journal, Charon's notes, and the Rotom notes are all here. The journal is incredibly similar to Cyrus' way of speaking, and helps prove that he DOES have emotions, he simply surpresses them- likely out of truama. The journal states the writer and the rotom will be friends throughout their lives, but...

--- Something would happen between Cyrus and the rotom, and while I couldn't tell you what, it likely at least partially helped lead to how he became. Of course, his childhood definitely was a major factor, but I can't imagine all the poor man went through to get to where he is.

--- actually, I can. I relate. Scarily. Not these days, but, maybe that's why I can humanize him more than others.

Anyways. Enough rambling about my beloved depressed caffine addict. Let's get into what people really want. The fun stuff.

Riley:

--- Lucario and him have been together since they were children, as is tradition with Aura Guardians.

--- Riley is much better with aura than he wants you to believe, and he's not the last of his kind or anything like people used to theorize. He's no master, but he and his Lucario could do some insane stuff with aura alone.

---- Riley lost his first match against Cynthia because he was too busy crushing on her.

--- He's not Sir Aaron's descendant, infact Sir Aaron was never real. Rather, Sir Aaron is to Guardians what King Arthur is to us westerners. He' a legendary figure that their culture idolizes, but in Aaron's case he's not... genuienly a bad person sometimes.

--- As a child, Riley was Aaron's BIGGEST fan. He knew about all the legends, he could recite poems, myths, anything on the spot. It drove some guardians his age mad, but the elders found it endearing. His master, however, found it very notable.

--- And she should have, because Aaron's legends would inspire Riley as a guardian. He had an outfit custom made after his hero's, and his goal was to be as heroic as Sir Aaron, to inspire others and to protect those who couldn't fend for themselves. To be the embidiment of an aura guardian, and to do so proudly.

--- On the other hand when he first met Cheryl and the two had their first battle, he nearly lost because he was crushing hard. Before or after Cynthia, idk, but he's just a giant sofite. Little does he know this goes both ways sometimes...

---- Met Volkner and Flint a few years before his journey, and the three became fast friends. Their group chats are basically filled with Flint and Volkner being morons together while Riley laughs. First thing he did when arriving in Sinnoh was head to Sunnyshore to surprise them, before they flew him back to Oreburgh where he met Roark and Byron.

Cynthia:

---- Barely cleans her room because she's too hyperfixated on battles, mythology, and trying to figure out how to see Giritina again cause that shit was cool.

--- Because of this, Darach is always getting on her case but is barely ever heard. She drives him insane, yet Caitlin finds it endearing.

--- Drinks so much coffee in the morning that both Buck and Flint are convinced she's a zombie.

---- She's gone so often that functionally, Lucian is the champion when it comes to running everything. He doesn't mind too much, it lets him have *something* to do considering most challengers don't even make it to him league-wise, and outside of the league he's read eveything at the Canalave library like five times.

---- Officially meets Riley through Volkner and Flint, and they actually become good friends via a shared interest in history and legends. She then met Cheryl later via Dawn and Lukas, and they also become fast friends.

---- Actually an airhead and a dork, but you'd never know it.

---- Lost to Riley because he was "unfairly cute"

--- Cheryl got a "her hair is distractingly soft looking!"

Cheryl:

--- Poor girl prpbably asked 5 other travellers before Dawn/Lukas agreed to travel with her. She probably wasn't too confident in her new travelling companion at first, but she'd seen Mira absolutely demolish everything in the forest earlier so she knew better than to judge trainers by their age.

---- Gets asked if she's a grass specialist a lot. Gardenia asked it too, which made Cheryl question if she should change her style. She tried a more pink and pastel style for a day but felt horribly uncomfortable in anything but a cozy green and decided that dressing the same as a chosen type or pokemon is a worn out trope and she shouldn't have to conform with people's views. Gardenia just. Nodded along.

--- During her first battle with Riley, she lost because she was crushing hard.

---- lost to Cynthia because the same reason. These morons can'y help that they're bi as fuck.

---- Grew up with her Blissey, and knows how to treat most wounds. She's helped a lot of people on her travels, and talk about the "forest nurse" gets around.

---- she's not actually scared of ghosts, as shown by her Driftblim. She's more so scared of the dark and what could be lurking in it. Eterna forest is a rather dark and gloomy place, and the old chateau doesn't help. Her mind races when she's in places like this, and it gets the better of Cheryl.

Volkner:

--- Frontman for an indie punk band.

---- Can be quite cheery and upbeat, but gets bored and depressed easily. He wasn't bragging when he said he'd not had any fun, challenging battles in a long time; Volkner is infamous for being as strong as the E4 themselves. He could have easily had a spot, but turned it down in favour of the ability to continue working on Sunnyshore's tech.

---- He hates how Jubilife calls itself the most modern city in Sinnoh. He believes most of what Jubilife has is simply commercialized fluff. He's proud of Synnyshore, and it's completely justified. He's put in the work to make it such a great city.

--- but what truly annoys him is how despite Jubilife's claims, Sunnyshore is more advanced. He often will scoff when someone tells him how great Jubilife's tech is, and just state how Jubilife is simply contibuting to a worsening enviromental problem. Something he and Sunnyshore are actually striving to fix.

--- Despite his tone when this happens, most people will agree with him. You don't tell the guy who's brought a city into a new era, that his city is behind the times.

--- Volkner also likes to help local businesses over chains. He'll order out from small resteraunts, shop locally, etc.,

--- He is also a major nerd, btw.

Flint:

--- Flint is the drummer for the same indie punk band Volkner sings for.

---- Flint is a bit of a goofball, but he's pretty damn wise.

--- When Volkner's having a down day, it's often Flint that'll say something that manages to cheer him up.

--- Flint is also a big food guy. He's the other reason Volkner buys from local resteraunts, because he can't stand most chain food. But good local food, made from the heart? Flint loves it. Its so diverse, so unique, and he'll often go off on tangents about what makes up the food.

--- He also is an excellent cook himself. He dreams of opening a resteraunt of his own when he retires, and he swears he'll make the best food Sinnoh has ever seen.

Fantina:

---- Fantina didn't just move to Sinnoh for the contests originally. She was absolutely fascinated with the culture, architecture, history, and just everything.

--- While she may seem to scream "Kalosian", Fantinia actually has a collection of casual outfits that are very much sinnovian, and she has various sinnovian dresses and the like. She simply knows what people like from her as a leader and as a contest star, and that's her unique, fabulous way.

--- Fantina is also a medium, but this is little known. On top of that, she's a math prodigy but she never had the heart or passion for math. Her parents had sonewhat hoped she'd be a physicist, but they supported her on her career choice all the same.

---- Fantina may seem like the type to love to eat out fancy, and while she certainly enjoys it... she can't ignore the siren call of a simple fast food meal.

--- She also has a giant plushy collection, just so you know.

Barry:

--- This child has ADHD and you cannot change my mind.

---- Barry had an inferiority complex for a long time. Its why he'd go to any length to be stronger than Lucas and Dawn, it's why he wanted to get the journey started so quick, why he wanted to take Galactic on and for Rowan to shut up. He's lived in his father's shadow for so long, a shadow that was never even visible, let alone reachable.

--- His father wasn't exactly estranged. He was just... busy. He would come home as often as he could, but it was still hard for Barry. In truth, his goal of becoming stronger than his father wasn't to escape his shadow. It was to prove a point. It eas gettinf back at him.

--- Barry cried when he won against his father for the first time. Everything he felt for so long was just... released. He was in his later teens to mid 20's at this point, and had been training for so long. He and his dad had a moment together, and Barry finally began to move forward; while Palmer vowed to be there properly for him. After all, it was Barry's battle tower now.

--- the first time Barry's emotions spilled out like this was when Jupiter beat him. It's why he rushed off and was absent for so long. He had to deal with a lot. It was during this time that Wake properly took him in as student. Barry had asked one last time, and seeing him so distraught and knowing the effect his old friend had on the kid... he couldn't help it. Barry ended up venting to Wake, and the two went on to train as hard as possible before they heard about spear pillar, and Barry rushed to the side of his best friends.

---- Chose Chimchar as his starter.

Dawn:

--- Between her and Lucas, she's the menace. But not in an unhinged chaotic way, more in a subtle, calculated way. She's the type to absolutsly destroy a battlefield in a fight JUST to look cool. However she's also very polite and kind.

---- She's a poffin baking expert, but not so good at growing the berries. She gets Lucas's help for that.

---- Cynthia offered her the title of champion, but she turned it down. Howeved Cynthia clarified; she'd be Champion in title.only, as Cynthia couldn't just hand off an entire functioning region/league to a child. Dawn thought it over, and agreed. Litte did she know that as she got older she'd be helping wjth the legal stuff anyways.

--- Sassy, but in a fun way.

---- Chose Piplup as her starter.

Lucas:

--- The brains of the trio, and the strategist. However he also had a habit of overthinking everything. During the Galactic event he broke that, and showed how frightening his tactics can be.

--- The others.joke about him retiring as a kid due to how he's decided to live a laid back life. He's actually quite often helping professor Rowan with his research. Otherwise he's likely tending to his berry garden, or just vibing with his pokemon.

--- Chose Turtwig as a starter.

Rowan:

--- This man mentored basically every other professor. That's not a headcanon, I'm just stating an observation.

--- Old friends eith Magnolia. The two used to send letters to eachother for a while, but only because Rowan refused to get a phone. Eventually Lucas convinced him he needed one if the two were gonna do field research together, and he quickly got a hold of Magnolia's number.

--- He was surprised to learn Sonia took over for Magnolia, but pleased as well. Even more so when he heard of Sonia taking on a student. He promptly offered to mentor the two anytime, and Magnolia found that such a brilliant idea that she arranged a date for Sonia and Hop to visit Rowan's lab.

--- Probably like, 400 years old. Fairly confident he's an immortal being observing the human realm and making sure we come to understand the right knowledge.

---- Chief of the Council of Trees.

---- Takes on a grandparent role for every young menace he finds. Complains about it, but actually likes it. He knew the moment he saw Dawn, Lucas, and Barry that they were special. They had the same spark in their eyes that Cynthia had when she was a teenager who visited his lab.

--- Cynthia was the first to complete his pokedex. She did it before even becoming champion. Really its just a formality at this point, but Rowan knows there's always the chance to learn more.

--- Probably saw through Cyrus' facade immediately. He could tell Cyrus had a heart and cared, and was suffering. But he could also tell it was too late. He would later warn Sycamore to "pick Lysandre up before he falls too far into his own hell". Sycamore came to him to apologize for his failure, but Rowan made certain his student knew he did his best, and he was proud nonetheless, and heartbroken to see another brilliant mind gone.

Palmer:

--- Basically Ging from HxH

---- Great sense of humour, only person in the region who can beat Cynthia with relative ease more often than not.

---- He loves his son dearly, and hates himself for what his distance has caused.

---- Literally just goes to Snowpeak temple to "borrow" Regigigas. Candice hates it, but Palmer actually has a god listen to him and he's the strongest trainer in the region, so she can't exactly stop him.

---- No, he's not Minato Namikaze from Naruto. In pokemon, Minato Namikaze is designed after him.

Crasher Wake:

--- Palmer's childhood friend, and a purehearted man who strives to be the best he can

--- Much stronger than his gym placement would have you believe, but he prefers it that way.

--- Maylene's mentor, and she kicked the shit out of him enough for him to not want anything to do with Barry- not even considering what Barry's father means for Barry's potential

--- Saved his pokemon from water-based accidsnts, and has bonded with them greatly.

Mars:

--- Met Cyrus in high school/college

--- She also saw through Cyrus' facade, and genuinely thought he could get better. She still believes so, even after Galactic's collapse and recreation via Saturn as an energy company (canon btw). However she's accepted the truth, and she's moved on and reclaimed her life, feeling remorse for her actions. She now works as an indie fashion designer, while doing pokemon welfare work on the side.

--- She's gained quite a large following, and her identity is no secret. Many people despise her, but many more understand that she was also a victim, and that she's grown. In a world where Saturn has reworked Galactic's image, she's found a place to live a happy life.

Caitlin:

--- Didn't realize her spot in the frontier would be so much work, and that's why Darach does everything.

--- At this point in time she's much more childish, and doesn't understand the world as well. She was often secluded from the world, and part of that was the absolute exhaustion she felt all the time. She just never felt the energy to do anything.

--- She was only starting to realize that it had something to do with her slumbering (heh) psychic powers. In a sense, her powers had a lot to do with dreams. But she could do other things.

--- At this point in time however, Caitlin was effectively Cynthia's guest. Which she was mostly content with, but for a period of time she did end up participating in the Frontier herself, before the Unovan E4 came calling.

Lucian:

--- This man literally keeps everything running

--- The league would be in shambles if not for Lucian

--- Everyone else goes who the fuck knows where and Lucian is left to do everything while Bertha has a nap.

--- He also has style, and he knows it. And he deserves to, because this man is fucking beautiful.

-- But he is rather humble. He can come across as pretentious, but he doesn't mean to, he just speaks that way naturally.

--- He's really a kind person, and a little known fact? He's the pianist for Volkner and Flint's band.

Saturn:

--- Likely Cyrus' biggest threat other than himself. He was never informed about the true nature of Cyrus' plan, while Mars and Jupiter were (I believe this is canon)

--- That's because Saturn didn't fall for Cyrus' charm. Saturn was simply an observer, he was as close to a neutral party as you get in Galactic (look over his dialogue closesly. I used to think Saturn was a bastard but.... he's really not)

---- If Saturn knew about Cyrus' true plan, it's likely he would have tried to stop Cyrus. And Saturn would have been a threat in two ways: His strength and cunning, and his words. Cyrus knows deep down he has feelings, he knows he cares for his pokemon, and he knows he can be happy. But he's in denial he's traumatized. And Saturn's words could either cut through that, or use that fact. Point it out. Validate it. Make it clear it's not wrong to be traumatized, but this is too far.

--- After Cyrus' dissapearance and Charon's stupid ass bullshit, Saturn would go on to rework Galactic into a proper energy company like he believed it always should have been. He turns a new leaf, and starts over (talk to Saturn in the post game after everything at the Galactic HQ- I believe that's where he is- he states this is his plan, and he realizes what happened was wrong. How he was.basically just observing, but how Cyrus has so many people.fooled. Saturn may be morally grey, but he's surprisingly close to morally good.)

Looker:

--- Looker was actually a rather new agent in Sinnoh. That' why he told Lukas and Dawn everything, and why he seemed so incompotent.

--- He did not have the legal ability to arrest Charon, and was forced to release him (real interpol can't arrest people)

--- Fantinia taught him the Sinnovian he was missing after the events.

--- He had a rivalry with Saturn during the Galactic events

Gardenia:

---- Has contemplated blocking off the old chateau, but she knows the city would get on her case.

---- She loves the forest, but that damn building is awful to walk by on the way in and out

---- She tries to preserve as much of Eterna's history as possible. It's hard though, with all the old records missing.

--- She was about to storm Galactic's building herself when she heard it had already been done by Lukas and Dawn. She was more than excited to battle the trainers who kicked Galactic out.

Candice:

---- She has the best cold tolerance out of the league, aside from Cynthia. And that bothers her because it's as if Cynthia just doesn't care about temperature. She literally went to alola wearing a heavy winter coat and Candice just didn't understand.

---- She finds watching trainers struggle with her gym puzzle amusing

---- She's got a fashion rivalry with Mars.

[razieltwelve]

Prodigy (Final Rose x Pokemon)

♦Topic: Averia Yun-Farron In: Boards ► Trainers ► Upcoming Trainers  LightningSupremacist (Original Poster) (Lightning Groupie) Posted on August 14

Ever since Lightning Farron retired (undefeated, of course, because she’s awesome that way), I’ve been struggling to fill the pink-haired void in my life. Sure, she’ll slaughter her way through at least a couple of invitational leagues a year, but it’s just not the same.

I miss the days of bowing before our beloved tyrant. Don’t get me wrong, her successors haven’t been awful, but they just don’t have the same aura of invincibility. As a fan, I was beyond spoiled. I never had to worry about her losing because she, well, didn’t lose. Ever.

Now, after years of hoping she’d start battling in earnest again, we’ve got the next best thing: Averia Yun-Farron, her older daughter, has officially captured her first badge.

And, boy, oh boy, is the battle a doozy. You have got to see this to believe it. She’s a chip off the old block and then some.

Here’s the video.

Prodigy doesn’t being to cover it. That’s a gym leader’s full-strength team. Not the baby team they send out for people without a badge. No, that’s the team they send out against trainers who’re league level.

(Showing Page 1 of 1) ► LightningSupremacist (Original Poster) (Lightning Groupie) Replied on August 14 You’ll want to pay really close attention to her Blastoise. Yeah, a Blastoise. Apparently, she’s had that guy for years now, and it really shows. I’m pretty sure she could have swept the entire team with just her Blastoise. Instead, she took out the lead pokemon and then switched to the Torchic we know she caught last week because we’ve got it on film.

Ever seen a Torchic take out a Golem? Now, you have.

I didn’t even think that was possible. Just wait till that thing evolves. Arceus help us all.

► BattleJunkie (Lightning Groupie) Replied on August 14 Okay... that is terrifying.

I’ve been watching rookie trainers for years. Averia is no rookie. Just look at the way she controlled the battle from the start. She knew exactly how to deal with each of her opponent’s pokemon. I’m not talking about scouting either. I mean, yeah, everyone kind of knows how you’re supposed to deal with a Golem or a Steelix, but actually doing that is way harder, especially with a newly caught pokemon.

And that Blastoise? A monster.

Water pokemon spamming water everywhere is kind of what they do, but that guy has incredible aim, precision, and the sheer pressure on his attacks was insane. Slow down the footage when Steelix runs into Water Gun. You can actually see the water carving a furrow through Steelix’s armour. And that’s just a glancing hit. You can also see the exact moment the gym leader realises it too.

No wonder they called Steelix back. The whole point is that Steelix can tank almost anything. Up against a water type whose water pressure can literally carve through Steelix armour? Yeah. That’s a lost cause. ► FarronForever (Lightning Groupie) Replied on August 14 This is crazy! She walked into a gym with three pokemon, challenged the leader’s full strength team, and then walked out without losing a single pokemon. Are we sure Professor Dia hasn’t actually created some kind of tiny robot body for Lightning to operate remotely?

In all seriousness, though, who didn’t see this coming?

Lightning is the greatest champion we’ve ever had. There was no way one of her kids were going to be weak. I think the really scary thing is that Averia isn’t just copying her mother’s team or how her mother fights. No. She’s already got what looks like her own style, and it already looks extremely effective.

How long do you think it’ll be before she’s ready to challenge for a title? I mean... I’m not saying the world is a better place with a Farron as World Champion, but...

(End of Page 1 of 1)

...

(Showing Page 1007 of 1050)

► LightningSupremacist (Original Poster) (Lightning Groupie) Replied on July 21

Our girl is the champ!

Just under a year to pick up eight badges and win the league! If that isn’t impressive, I don’t know what is. And the scary thing is that she’s only going to get stronger. Sure, Blastoise has finished evolving, but the rest of her team hasn’t finished evolving yet. She literally took a team of half-evolved pokemon + Blastoise and won a league with it.

The grand finals were something else too. You could really see her command over the battle. Lightning has always fought like a chainsaw: she’d just rip through opposing teams like they weren’t there. Averia doesn’t have the raw power on her team for that just yet (except maybe Blastoise), so she had to be a bit cleverer.

And, damn, was she clever.

It’s like she planned the entire thing. It was all ‘And now you’ve fallen into my trap’ and ‘Did you realise that you’re only furthering my plans’ and ‘Did you know this obscure fact that is going to let me obliterate your team in precisely three seconds?’.

So damn cool.

Better still, now that Averia has won a league, we get official merchandise!

X     X     X

Author’s Notes

Just a bit of fluff.

In-universe, the pokemon world went ballistic when Averia not only began her journey but immediately showed she was every bit as impressive as anyone could have hoped. Lightning remains, to this day, the ‘people’s champ’, so for Averia to show up and start annihilating people was like a dream come true for many people.

At the start, of course, a lot of her fans were simply fans of Lightning, but as she continued to prove herself, she carved out a larger and larger fanbase of her own. This became especially apparent as the differences in fighting style became clearer.

You can only imagine how crazy the InfoNet went when it became apparent that Diana would be challenging Averia for the title of World Champion. It was the first time two siblings had ever faced each other for the title, and it became the highest (until that time) viewed championship bout.

Once Diana, Averia, and Taren had all retired (as world champions), the wait is on to see if any of their children decide to try for titles too. You can imagine how people react when Phoebe starts her journey. With Averia and Cynthia as parents, the expectations are sky high, and when she starts meeting them?

More insanity.

[yumeka36]

Frozen and the highest-grossing media franchises

This is a follow-up to a post I made nearly two years ago where I examined Frozen’s rank among the highest-grossing media franchises of all time based on this list from Wikipedia. I had written the original post as a response to the live-action Lion King dethroning Frozen as the highest-grossing animated movie of all time. That fact is irrelevant now though, as Wikipedia has since removed the live-action Lion King from the animated movies category, and both Frozen and Frozen 2 are sitting proudly on top of that list (and likely will be for a long time thanks to the impact the pandemic has had on box office earnings). So for this post, I’m going to see how Frozen 2 has impacted the franchise’s ranking among the highest-grossing media franchises.

Below are pictures of a spreadsheet I made based on the Wiki list. The full list has over 150 franchises on it, which I believe is more than when I wrote the original post back in August of 2019, but I’m only showing the top 50 for simplicity’s sake. Back then, before Frozen 2 was released, the Frozen franchise was ranked at 46. And now, I’m happy to report that it’s jumped up to 35!

(I also want to say how proud I am of my beloved Pokemon franchise still holding the no.1 position!)

Like I mentioned in the original post, what’s truly amazing about Frozen is its age compared to all the other franchises in the list. The average age of the top 50 franchises is the number highlighted in yellow in the screenshots, which is about 38 years. So in only 8 years (the numbers are rounded, so it’s really less than that) Frozen has managed to achieve revenue that most other franchises took decades to reach! It’s literally the only franchise in the top 50 with an age in the single digits. Not only that, but it managed to do so with relatively few outlets; while most franchises have multiple sources of revenue-earning content, like movies, long-running TV shows and comic series, lines of video games, trading cards, etc., Frozen basically just has two movies, a few short films, and a Broadway show…very little to work with compared to others. But in spite of this, the fact that Frozen was able to have such incredible earnings in just a mere 8 years is truly a testament to what a special franchise it is and how much it resonates with so many people.

And to end this post, let’s take a look in more detail at Frozen’s revenue now compared to when I did the previous post in August 2019 (the old information is on top and the new one is on the bottom).

Looks like Frozen earned roughly another 3 billion since then, mostly thanks to Frozen 2, but also some additional Broadway tours (and I’m sure it would have earned more if the pandemic hadn’t wrecked many revenue outlets, like Disney Parks and more Broadway tours).

I have to wonder what Disney has in store for the franchise now that they can’t rely so much on box office earnings. Will they wait until the theater industry is somewhat normal again before they even consider Frozen 3? Will they release all future Frozen content on Disney+ until then? And who even knows when they’ll release new content or in what form it will be in (shorts, another movie, a series, etc). Disney has a gold mine of a franchise here…I hope their marketing analysts understand that and won’t let it stagnate for too long!

[hayleyb100]

The Ribbon, Part 1

Part 2

❗️ Notes

-TRIGGERS INCLUDED: SCHOOL BULLYING AND ANGST WITH FAMILY -This is a dedicated story of the swap version of my OC Richard(Father of Raihan) and his granddaughter, the shipchild of Leon and Raihan called Ari.  -The character Ari belongs to @weclownstoday​ . Huge appreciations for letting me add her to the story! -It’s been a while but good to be back with another story. Please enjoy!

Richard's whole life from his childhood was nothing but a battle to prove himself. His parents were overprotective people who didn't allow him to do anything. He was desperate to try out new things and explore despite his sick body, his parents always answered with a stern no. It wasn't like Richard didn't understand where they were coming from, but that gave an impression that his parents don't trust him.

That was the reason why he started his own Gym Challenge late, and it was a lonely journey all by himself since no one supported him. All his parents did was come to their son time and again to persuade him to go back home. No cheering or compliments whatsoever. This ended up making him reflected as a helpless boy who can't do anything without his parents, so others started picking on it. The more that happened, Richard wanted to prove them wrong and become someone who no one can dare to bully: A Gym Leader.

His tireless training and studies indeed allowed him to achieve his dream after many years, but his heart got frozen to no return. He forgot how to smile or open up to others since he is now so caught up with expressing his perfect self to keep those who humiliate him away. Even with all that efforts, people still distrusted him as a Gym Leader due to his fragile out appearance.

His short hair is a result of that too.

One day, during his dinner with other Gym Leaders, one of the sponsors sneered at him for his loss in the battle, saying he had time to grow his hair and look girlish while no time to train. With that, Richard grabbed the steak knife on the table to slash his hair off in one swipe. After that, everyone got overwhelmed by his charisma to stop bothering him but made his world more lonely. Nobody dared to make fun of him, but nobody dared to approach him either.

That is when a fair lady came by. She said she was captivated by Richard's attitude where he tirelessly pursues his dream despite his odds. She continuously tried to win his love despite his rejection, which wavered him. He was doubtful at her love but ended up accepting her heart.

They were married and blessed with a child who Richard named Raihan. For once, Richard truly felt the warmth in his heart upon seeing his son's smile. Richard was dreaming of moving back to Galar and excel in both his family life and as a Gym Leader. But that warmth is short-lived.

Aliyah's father, the billionaire from another region, didn't like his feeble-looking son-in-law. He didn't show his disgust at Richard's face, but Richard, who has dealt with bullies all his life, could already feel someone wasn't happy. As soon as Aliyah's father got what he wanted: the grandchild, who will become the heir for his company, he threatened Richard to divorce his daughter and leave. Richard obviously argued, especially since his father-in-law wanted him to leave Raihan behind. But the father-in-law didn't buy that. He threatened that he will have to get rid of Raihan if Richard doesn't leave so that Aliyah can start over with her marriage with someone else. Richard tried to sue him for threatening, but the father-in-law already bribed the police forces so no one helped him. Not even his own wife Aliyah. She didn't want to cause trouble with her father, as she was raised as an obedient lady her whole life.

Richard felt helpless. No one was willing to help him. He had no choice but to pull back his bitter tears and leave his beloved son behind, as he knows he cannot fight off the whole clan his father-in-law prepared to counter him. Plus, creating a fuss by fighting them off while majority of people are bribed around him would end up in a worse result, such as losing Raihan's custody for good. 

He could only wail his lungs out after arriving home. It was as if his heart is ripped out of his ribcage.

The time passed without him noticing, as he worked busily as a Gym Leader. But when he looked back on his life, there was nothing left. His whole life felt horribly futile. He lived his whole life to prove himself, but even after reaching the top tier as a Pokemon Trainer, he ended up with no one around him to recognize it.

__________________________________

He woke up from the short doze on the rocking chair and looked around a dark living room. It was as empty as usual. The long struggle of his life passed by in his vague dream. He unpleasantly frowned.

'Was it worth going through all the trouble?' he thought.

'Why was I trying so hard to become a Gym Leader when I could not keep my loved ones around me until I grow old like this?'

All he could do is sigh out his frustration. His whole life seemed like a waste. He acted stern and cold outside but it pained him more because his mind was in discordance with his actions.

Richard snapped out of his walking in memories, with Aiden, his Meowstic, hissed at the door.

"Aiden, what is the matter?"

Aiden didn't answer his master. Instead, he was transported near the door and started hissing more.

Upon his pokemon acting strange, Richard stood up from his couch and approached the door, and opened it to see if there's something outside...

Not realizing someone was waiting, who will turn his life around.

[hobbitsetal]

HOBBS I wanna hear your opinions on the entertainment debate pls

Ahahahaha this brings me joy because @throwaninkpot said the same thing! Ask and you shall receive ;)

So. The entertainment debate. Is it sinful for Christians to consume media, particularly media that is not Christian, or indeed contains offensive content? Harry Potter is a popular target. Pokemon and Dungeons and Dragons had their day in the cross-hairs.

What I’ve seen floating around on Tumblr leapfrogs from “this media contains something I think is antithetical to Biblical teaching” to “THIS IS NOT 500% GOD ALL THE TIME SO IT IS SINNNNN.”

As a writer of poetry and fantasy, I cannot convey to you how immature I find this view. As a Christian raised with a healthy understanding of Christian liberty, I cannot convey to you how disgustingly legalistic this view is. But I am absolutely going to try, because this is important and I have seen beloved friends badgered and bullied into questioning harmless pastimes by these anti-gospel gatekeepers.

First and most key, I do not care what you’re watching, your salvation is not contingent on nor indicated by your media consumption. Your salvation is contingent on the love of God and indicated by Christ’s redemptive work and the work of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 10:9-10 outlines the requirement for salvation nicely: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

There ya go. If you’re watching Game of Thrones, that doesn’t revoke your Christian card. It doesn’t un-sacrifice Christ.

But mentioning Game of Thrones does beg the question, are there things Christians should not watch? I say yes, and Ephesians and Philippians say yes!

“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

That’s a giant block of text, so let’s break it down a bit. Before we are saved, sin doesn’t bother us. Sexually explicit materials, foul language, violence, depravity of every kind--we might personally not love it, but there’s no deep-seated moral argument against it.

After we have been saved, the Holy Spirit convicts us and reveals to us through Scripture how God wants us to live. Sex is holy and should be treated as an important thing. Foul language doesn’t build others up, so we shouldn’t use it. Violence is not loving, so we should not be violent.

How does this relate to media?

I would argue that it relates differently for different people, but that the effect of the media you consume on your spiritual life and your relationships with others is your best gauge.

I knew a young man who was deeply affected by music, so he was careful to listen to Christian artists lest he be tempted into sin by immoral lyrics. I don’t have that problem. I can listen to a song and not think more deeply about it than whether it’s a fun beat.

What about books? I do need to be careful here. Some people can read books with suggestive content and skip past those scenes, without temptation or without their imaginations being led astray. I can’t. So I don’t read romance novels. I would not glorify God with this.

TV shows, art, and movies are all similar: how do they affect you personally? I stopped watching the Battlestar Galactica reboot because the language and sexual content convicted me. But I watched The Witcher with my husband--partly because I’m at a different stage in my life and what stumbled me as a single adult is no longer as problematic now that I’m married, and partly because the subtle pro-life themes and the themes of good and evil and objective right and wrong outweigh the objectionable content.

Romans 14, to me, speaks most clearly to this:

“One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.”

I would not watch certain movies with certain family members, but I would with others. This is not hypocrisy because I don’t pretend that I don’t watch those movies; I make a choice to respect my family’s consciences when they differ from mine.

Were some friends to express dismay that I play Dungeons and Dragons or read Harry Potter, I would explain to them why I’m comfortable with that media, but I wouldn’t shove it in their faces.

~~~

This is dreadfully long already, but I can’t just stop with explaining our liberty in Christ to enjoy media and art.

We are made in the image of God. God is the Great Artist, the Supreme Storyteller, the Maker of Music. We were made to create art, to tell stories, to make music! This is part of how we glorify God! This is what we will spend eternity doing! Do you think Tolkien has stopped writing because he’s in Heaven? or Lewis?

And what is the greatest joy of a creator but sharing? God created us to share Himself with us--not out of need, for He needs nothing, but out of joy and the fullness of His Divine nature! And we, who are needy and who are made to be social in reflection of the Trinity, how much more do we want to share and rejoice in sharing!

As a writer, I love having people read what I write. And conversely, I love hearing my friends’ music and seeing their art.

Those who consume media are taking their rightful place as Audience. Those who create media are taking their rightful place as Sub-Creator.

And those who claim that media is sinful are cramming God into a pitifully tiny box and trying to limit human experience to the blandest existence possible. God did not craft sunsets and constellations and the whole of human history for us to look at each other and say, “Better not enjoy this, it’s probably sinful.”

As Martin Luther allegedly said, “Beer is proof God loves us.”

Enjoy stories. It’s what God created us to do.