#but theres so much that could be improved under SM

[chaelinsbitch]

Someone gives you a billion pounds and tells you you're in charge of any Kpop management company for a year. What are you gonna do?🤔

YG has bee in hellfire for ages so idc for them anymore so instead I'M TAKING OVER SM!!!!! I'm SO OVER them 😭 they will come up w these great project ideas and then never actually follow through ?? Like ?! But anyways! I'm gonna restructure the whole company lmao. Idk how it is now but I think each group/unit/solo should get a designated art and production team to work together on concepts and then implement the promotion cycle where there's always a few artists promoting but there's no overlap between units/solos etc (ex the 3 ppl in NCT who are in every unit in existence finally get a break) and everyone who's promoting should get a fair amount of promo instead of only ever favouring and priotizing the new group... Idk give the less popular ppl a smaller budget if that's an issue but at least give them a chance instead of wasting them away? And give the idols a chance to work on artistry of their own desire rather than what's given to them ie the way Shinee are more hands on w their own work than other groups, so they have a chance to nurture their own careers as artists instead of just being SM promotional dolls. I also want to put an emphasis on live perfs cuz god the shit SM has been giving us these past few years has been so incredibly dissapointing lmao. I want drama I want flair I want LIVE SINGING!!! I want them to make me shake in my boots!!! I want them to perform!!! More theatric stuff like stuff taemin comes up with or the stuff that we've been seeing from groups like skz/the Boyz/itzy/ateez w stages instead of just oversized lackluster mcountdown stages !!!!! Aespa has this entire lore and we haven't seen ANY of it on their stages! Imagine if they were fighting/dancing against their whatever monster during end of year shows? Like there's so much that they could do. Also I will give seulgi the ultimate solo album she deserves

[makiswirl]

Question for the q&a: Do you have any authors that have influenced your writing?

oh god DEFINITELY. there's some specific ones out there where i've looked at their writing and went "wow, i'm taking your writing style" but it's mostly published book authors? there are obvi some fma fic authors that've inspired me tho! putting this under a read more for yalls sanity

1. definitely stephen king! i mentioned it in the notes for chapter 14 of hölle but around that time i read the shining and i was in LOVE. there were specific things you could probably nitpick and go "wow that seems kind of new" at in that chapter and that would be because i pretty much.. looked at the writing in there and got Super Inspired.

when i was writing hölle it was my first Big Fic (patent pending) and i did NOT have a consistent writing style. like. at all. 90% of it was me improving my writing skills as i went and actually getting used to writing fics??? hence a lot of.. hiatus time and...... not very good scheduling or drafting.......... ...

so when i read the shining i went (!!!) BECAUSE I WAS FIXATING ON IT SUPER HARD like. watching the obscure MINI-SERIES hard. i still kind of am but i specifically noticed the way king seemed to exaggerate thoughts in a very specific way

and i RAN with that. this specifically shows in holes and i thought it worked pretty well for the genre

at the time??? also especially apt because i like. literally just reread the shining. like i finished the day i wrote holes chapter 3 and that's why it was more heavy theme-wise i think???? BUT EITHER WAY stephen king's writing (particularly in the shining) inspired me a hell of a lot!

2. john boyne! i reread the boy in the striped pajamas recently and. BOY i am so sad still. definitely wasn't as influential writing-wise but theres small influences here and there? specifically in the way i structure sentences i think & GOD how i love the ending of that book. like. it drives me to tears every time

whenever i reread the ending of the book i think of how STRONGLY it was written? like. the words were really impressing and strong and i kind of wanted to mimic that in my writing whenever the mood fit and i can really only think of the time being where i utilized that being the ending of holes? i don't really like the ending sentences of the fic itself but i remember thinking about skimming over the epilogue again when it came to writing the last bit

3. william shakespeare is super fucking funny to put on here but like. i'm currently taking pre-college classes and we reread romeo and juliet and some other sonnets that he wrote and ive like. never recovered since lmao

i can't state THAT much that i drew from him because i have brainfog from the entire past year but i remember the class heavily focused on refreshing us on poetry? like. we went over the old freshman year poets (edgar allen poe was also pretty "!!! urge to write !!! but wow hes kinda fucked up!!!!!!!!" tho specifically /w the raven and annabel lee when it came to me writing) and despite how incoherent that sentence sounds idk there was just SOMETHING abt that entire course that made me want to start writing a lot the professor was just super good i loved her come home 💔

4. OKAY SO FOR FMA FIC AUTHORS. i've read a LOT of fics (like ive been through the entire parental roy and edling tags consecutively) so it's.. very hard to keep track... ... there're a few that definitely stand out tho!

* alightintheshadows i remember specifically being like. one of the first fma fic authors i read from and their stuff is GREAT. someone please tell me if they have a tumblr because i want to gush about their content so bad it's so good but like. i think they're what got me INTO writing fma fics in the first place? especially horror/plot-heavy stuff like that? i first read the cult on ff.net and i would NOT shut up about it for like. a week. i got super excited when their fics came over to ao3 and im pretty sure you can still see them quite a bit in my rec bookmarks

* DEFINITELY @liathgray i love cece so much they're so nice and i'm glad i've gotten to talk to them it's unreal !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i think they're one of the authors who actually made me actually go "oh. wow the fandom is still alive!!!" when i was going thru ao3 after i watched both fmas last summer because i'm.. pretty sure giants in the forest was still going on iirc? that fic's definitely what dragged me into the hyperfixation and interacting /w the fandom super hard lol

also i just REALLY like blackwell springs????? can we talk about blackwell springs because blackwell springs is my SHIT.

like i get that these r all probably common picks for author inspos but i remember also being around for it when it first came out -> the end and i loved it sm and i got so excited EVERY time it updated. like i would liveblog it to my boyfriend or read it really fast half-asleep before driving to class and i'd shove it into his FACE. 90% sure that fic's what either struck me to write hölle or keep writing it (i can't remember when it originally came out???) but i really need to get on reading whatever series capra's part of even tho i don't particularly like crossover stuff bc i see it Everywhere and it looks so good

i think that's all??? there's definitely a lot of other authors that i've looked at and went "!!!" but my brain is.. so empty from dumping all of this.. hope this answers ur question tho!!!! ignore any typos i just feel very strongly ok but in like the best way possible ♥

[blu-eh]

peter parker’s field trip to stark industries fic rec list

someone asked me to do a fic rec for the “peter goes on a field trip to stark industries” and i am happy to oblige because i have read way too many of them and wrote one myself So. anyways these are all COMPLETE. im aiming to get some unique/newer ones in here but yknow

read more as alwayyys

like a bad biography by poisedwalrus

“Wait.” Peter looks up. “What?”

“We’re going to Avengers Compound,” Ned repeats dutifully.

Yeah.

That’s what Peter thought he said.

“Nope.” Peter drops his book onto the table. It shudders. “I’m not going. I’m not— I’m gonna call in sick. I’m gonna call in dead.”

In which Midtown’s Academic Decathlon team inadvertently ends Spider-Man’s whole career.

(Set between “hungry for a poke” and “to win this fight, side by side”)

starting this out with my absolute favorite spiderman series like. oh my god ive read this series several times and it hurts in so many ways but its so funny & well written and i just. ugh. love it. HOWEVER this story is part 8/8 of the series so like....u should read...the entire series first. i literally cannot tell u how good this series is. i have 244 bookmarks on ao3 but only 21 recs and this is still one of my favorites. please!! read it!!! im literally re-reading this series again rn bc im talking about it again

Disaster Field Trip by malynaa

“Please, remain calm,” said FRIDAY. Which was useless, because no one he could see was anything akin to ‘calm’. “The city is under attack from an unidentified threat. According to the law, no one is to leave the safety. Please, stay where you are, the threat is being taken care of. The building is in a lockdown for the time being.”

Right. The new law. In hopes of lowering casualties while the Avengers work, the new Accords included an alarm that immediately alerted all the public spaces, phones and accessible buildings about the threat. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket as the warning blare shot, and with his hearing, he could faintly hear the signal blasting on the streets. Which meant one thing.

Superheroes were needed in the city, pronto.

we! love ! competent peter parker! aka class gets locked down while a threat is happening and, well, peter isnt gonna let that slide despite the numerous protests he receives from his teachers.

The Ultimate Tour Guide by mauvera

Michelle was ready for the day to be over before it began. It was bad enough she had to be on a bus to go to Stark Tower, but now all her classmates were making dumb bets with each other and Peter wasn't even coming with them.

But then she saw just who their tour guide was.

Maybe the day wouldn't be quite as boring as she'd thought.

HOHOHOHHO peter parker is a tour guide in this one AND theres an identity reveal. bc i literally love identity reveals sm. i cannot tell how much i love this

Definitely Worth It by jennylarner

Peter doesn't want to go on a field trip to Stark Tower. It's a recipe for disaster. His class doesn't believe him, his teacher doesn't believe him. If he makes it through the entire day without being suspended, it'll be a miracle. Unfortunately for Peter, he's never much believed in miracles.

...

“This is a goddamn disaster.” Peter declared miserably. At least he hadn’t thrown up his food.

“Could be worse.” MJ said across from him. Peter lifted up his head.

“Oh yeah, how?”

MJ shrugged. “They could have expelled you instead.”

Peter gaped at her. “Thanks MJ, that’s really helpful. I feel so much better now.”

i very much love supportive/good teacher mr harrington but i ALSO love fics when the teachers dont believe peter. this is such a good fic & the author is rlly good about accumulating tension. very typical field trip fic but like. i love those. thats why were here

Of ID Badges and Artificial Intelligence by hblankm

On paper, Peter is, technically, a legitimate Stark Industries intern now. This whole visiting the tower every second weekend or so and actually getting to work with Tony Stark in his personal lab is a great improvement from being mostly-sort-of-ignored by Happy. And it’s not even all Spider-Man stuff! Which, okay, the Spider-Man stuff is definitely the coolest thing to tell Ned about and definitely the most important because it leads to him saving real, human lives - but this thing where Mr Stark seems willing (happy, even?) to just teach him about completely unrelated tech stuff? It makes it feel like Mr Stark isn’t just interested in spending time with Peter because he’s Spider-Man. Like he’s interested in spending time with Peter because he’s Peter. Which is honestly way more unbelievable and way more amazing than any of this superhero stuff.

But anyway, none of that is the point. The point is that Peter’s internship is 100% real.

AKA the standard Midtown goes on a field trip to Stark Industries fic.

very typical field trip fic but idk! i just like it. they do a rlly good job of getting to that low point--aka no one believes peter due to unfortunate circumstances--and then getting back up to the high.

Workplace Mixer by sameuspegasus

Ms Warren takes her class on a field trip to Stark Industries. The class all know that Peter interns at SI, but none of the Stark Industries employees do. Also, the Stark Industries tower in NYC is mostly just admin and everyone wishes they'd got to go on roller coasters like all the other physics classes.

Feat. tropes including Field Trip to Stark Industries, Peter has Weirdly High Clearance, Peter Doesn't Need ID, Peter is a Disaster Magnet, Haven't I Seen You Somewhere Before, Peter Parker's Unexpected Abs and many more.

Third in the Glowy Green Slime series. Contains major spoilers for Green Glowy Slime and Progress Report.

this one is also part of a series!! but it is a very good series so i recommend that as well. ft. competent teachers, realistic field trip, some tension w/ si not knowing peter but its all resolved very well & did i mention its realistic? bc i love that

[thicceon]

My Final Views on Pokémon Sword & Shield

There’s my Trainer! Isn’t she lovely? Anyways, this is a game I had so many strong feelings about, so I feel like jotting this down so I can give it a lil’ bit of closure.

The National Dex

This was perhaps the game’s greatest controversy leading up to release, so I want to give my thoughts on this first. I don’t mind the absence of the National Dex as long as it improves the game all around. I think it’s an okay decision moving forward. However, in these games you can tell half the existing Pokémon were cut just to save time in order to meet a holiday release, not to actually improve the game.

Presentation

The game makes a powerful first impression. The campaign’s strongest moments are probably the first couple hours. The narrative really caught my attention in the beginning and I felt SUPER hyped for my first few gym battles. The story’s climax is also pretty exciting. Game Freak did step up to the plate where it counted most, fortunately. 

Gameplay

The game is bare, short, and vapid. Halfway through it’s REALLY apparent how rushed the game is. You end up zooming through tiny routes that feel more like hallways than anything, and only have a couple Trainers in them. Most “cities” are smaller than the ones in Red & Blue. There is a town that’s literally just a corridor with a Pokémon Center and outdoor gym. This is also one of the coolest cities in the game, so seeing that wasted potential is very frustrating. 

The NPCs feel lifeless and have nothing interesting to say. I don’t see anyone else talking about this! The NPCs in BW, XY, and SM actually had some very entertaining dialogue once the tutorial stuff was out of the way, whether it was hilarious, straight-up weird, or genuinely thought-provoking and insightful. Everyone feels so...boring.

The Wild Area is...rough. It looks horrid. However, it’s still where I had the most fun in the game. It’s a great concept and I think Game Freak had a decent first go at creating an open world Pokémon experience. It wasn’t a particularly fun place to explore per se, but it was enthralling just to be able to control the camera and go where I please. Being able to see glimpses of other players here is also a wonderful addition, and something I’ve wanted from the series for a while. All in all, this area has a delightful MMO feel to it. Raids are also very fun! It’s great to have a co-op feature to play with friends, and the rewards and rarity of Gigantamax forms gives you a good reason to do them!

There are many wonderful QoL features in this game. Pokémon’s UI experience has never been smoother. There's one rather large caveat though, which is the online experience. It’s nonsensical not to include a friends list for easy trading and battling with your pals, and most of the time the stamp system just doesn’t work. It’s extremely frustrating, but sigh it’s workable.

I also must say that I hate the Exp. All being baked into the game. The feature itself is not the problem, it’s the fact that I have literally no way of turning it off, despite previous games allowing you to. This was borderline game ruining for me, as it killed any sense of satisfaction I felt leveling my Pokémon. It genuinely felt like the game was raising my Pokémon for me. Yeah, not for me.

The post-game is practically non-existent. There’s a lifeless husk that qualifies as a Battle Tower of sorts, but that’s all you’ll find, Champ. But of course, this has become standard for modern Pokémon games.

Graphics 

The Wild Area looks very shoddy, however, the rest of the game looks genuinely beautiful! The overworld textures are poor, and this is not a high-fidelity game by any means, but the general art direction and colors are gorgeous. The new Pokémon have nice models, and the older ones have greatly improved textures. The cities all look distinct and lovely. However, the pop-in of NPCs is very apparent and feels jarring. I can tolerate a little pop-in, but this draw distance is short enough where I will just about hit NPCs that appear before my eyes while biking.

Pokémon still lack battle animations that are even comparable to the Stadium games. _That’s _the type of stuff that should be improved by cutting Pokémon.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack is decent and has its own flare. There are a few standout tracks, my favorite being the Slumbering Weald at the beginning. Gym battles have a great chanting effect that really adds to the atmosphere. My biggest complaints are that a few of the city themes are weak, and theres a real lack of route themes. 

Story

It feels rushed and empty, like everything else in the game. Conceptually I think it’s pretty strong, and as I said before, the climax is great. However, the story beats leading up to the climax are hilariously rushed and character’s actions begin to make zero sense. You also visit areas that were so obviously meant to be dungeons, but were condensed into single rooms. One significant scene didn’t even get a proper cutscene and was instead told via a slideshow that looked like screenshots of the models painted over. 

As for the characters, I’m extremely disappointed with how underdeveloped the main villain was, despite him having an intriguing, and surprisingly contemporary motive. I was also bummed out that Marnie, a rival advertised as being significant, had practically no story relevance whatsoever. Team Yell also was very underutilized. 

Hop was okay; decently developed. Bede is probably my favorite rival in the series since Cheren. I’m one of those people that’s been complaining for a decade about how we haven’t had a jerkass rival since Johto, and I’m very pleased to finally have one again. His arc is also solid, though a bit under-explored.

Leon was good. It’s rare for the series to tell us who the Champion we’re fighting is before it’s time to tango with them. It was nice to see him have a presence throughout the entire game, and it was interesting to see the types of responsibilities a Champion has, such as protecting the region and...signing endorsement deals.

Closing

Yeah, the game is okay. It’s not a masterpiece. It’s not a train wreck. Just okay. It’s very apparent that it was meant to be so much more though, and that’s frustrating. It feels like even 6 more months could’ve made a world of a difference. I don’t believe Game Freak is lazy. I don’t believe they’re incompetent. However, I do think the yearly release schedule of Pokémon games really hampers the potential of not only the games, but the developers.

But perhaps that’s just what we have to accept from such a juggernaut IP. Sword & Shield is about the quality you’d expect from most MCU movies, or those live-action Disney remakes. It’s solid, and it’s the standard fun you’d expect from the property, but it lacks any depth. 

But I can’t really bring myself to call it a step back for the series. It does its fair share of things better than XY and SM, even if if those two games are much fuller experiences. Right, this is a decent first real entry for the main series into the home console market. However, it’s still nothing compared to the sheer breadth of content available in the GBA or DS games.

But this game signified to me that the “golden age” of Pokémon is really gone for good. Sword & Shield was never concerned about living up to those titles though. Gaming has changed. Gamers have changed. And thus, Pokémon has changed. Most games aren’t intended to last you the better part of a year now, unless they’re a live multiplayer service with consistent updates.

As a veteran superfan that's been absolutely enamored by the franchise since before I could even read, I’ll admit that I find it a bit of a challenge to judge Pokémon games on their own individual merit, rather than against the now substantial catalogue that makes up the legacy of the series. Sword & Shield isn’t worried about living up to the past, it’s a step towards the future, clumsy as it may be. However, that future is still going to need some more substance to it before I can consider it a bright one.

[deobis]

i'm not trying to clown you or anything, but i'm just genuinely curious as to why you bias sunwoo now? like what do you love about him and all? if i'm not mistaken, you used to be hyunjoon-biased correct?

hello! god bless this ask :’) i was waiting for someone to allow me to be absolutely gr0ss and gushy about my sunshine : (

and yes! you are correct :’) i used to be very hyunjoon biased! but if i were to make a comparison,,, hyunjoon was really just a crush but sunoo is the one i really fell for. anyways gush under cut cuz i doubt anyone cares

so if i have to be honest, i “fall in love at first sight” w groups. usually the person i notice first becomes my bias. theres always one defining feature i usually fall in love with. so usually i tend to bias dancers (ex. ten, taemin, chaeyeon, wooyoung, san, etc etc) but with tbz i had exposure to them since boy and had been following their music since debut, but not the group. 

Not until no air dropped did i really begin to fall in love w them. I had a lot of trouble picking a bias w tbz, which is very rare for me but i also think its because i had a ton of exposure to them before. in the boy mv i think the ones that stood out to me were sunwoo hyunjoon and jacob. In giddy up i considered joining the fandom (bc legendary song omg) and the ones that stood out in that mv were sunwoo chanhee and changmin. unluckily for me, i didnt end up getting into the fandom until no air dropped and i spent over a week picking a bias between hyunjoon, sunwoo, changmin, and kevin (as u can see its not that surprising i fell for sunwoo lol,,, it was just a matter of time) anyways, it was a long week but hyunjoons smile really just,,,,,, sold me

like cmon are you kidding me look at that he has the prettiest smile on earth and i still stand by that opinion. and after really investing myself in tbz, i found myself loving his unique dance style. the way he presents himself is so genuine and different from what i usually prefer in dancers. My favorite dancer is by far Ten and my brain auto compares dancers to him but with hyunjoon,,, the style was just so different that it was impossible to compare the two. So yeah I still love hyunjoon a lot! its just,,,, i love sunoo more

tbh i have no idea when i started falling so hard for kim sunwoo. it really just came gradually,,, and thats super strange for my “love at first sight” aries venus :’) though i dont remember exactly what moment made me start swerving, i know his lyrics and rap style played a big part in me becoming the biggest sunoonator on this earth. His first verse in 4EVER is by far the best thing i have ever heard (and in an interview he also said those lines were some of his favorite lyrics hes written!!!

another thing that really swayed me was the bday prank. that clip made me pay so much more attention to him when before i was one track minded on hyunjoon. but seeing him just break down when he realized those he loved weren’t actually fighting showed me how genuine he was. by paying more attention to him, i really just,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, swooned for that dorky smile of his (example below bc i want to c’:)

and his overall quirkiness.

something ive also been loving and noticing recently is his absolute hatred for skinny jeans LOL and same. I literally wear joggers every single day bc i cant be bothered. Sunwoos fashion looks so comfortable and he pulls it off so well! its something i can appreciate and love

and the final thing. this is probably the biggest reason i absolutely love love love him! its the way he interacts and treats his fans. idk if you follow the fancafe but sunwoo updates the most out of all of the members. He basically writes in the fancafe every single day, even if its as simple as “deobis what are you doing?” and no matter what, hes always talking about deobis in his updates and almost always reminds us that he loves us! theres one fancafe letter he wrote that i have bookmarked and saved and its the one where he literally starts off by saying that hes awake at 5:20 am (iirc this was after TFMAs where they won the next leader award) bc he cant sleep and he just pours out his late night (or in this case early morning lol) thoughts and its just him talking about his career and how he is so honored to be able to perform on the same stage as his seniors. he also talks about how he is so grateful to deobis and begins explaining his thoughts about the relationship between artists and their fans and how beautiful he finds this relationship. and he continues to describe what kind of singer he wants to be: a loveable singer who can cheer others up. he said that deobis are the ones who helped him become the person he is today and how he always will be sincere to deobis that cheer for him :’(( this is a super dumbed down ver of his letter bc my korean isnt extremely good but he basically ends by saying he’ll continue to improve for deobis and that he really loves us :( this letter was then posted around an hour later at around 6 am :( so he basically spent an hour writing a letter to deobis at the crack of dawn just bc he wanted to tell us his thoughts,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, i rly,,,,,,,, im so sad hes the sweetest :( 

oh also special creds to @jushaknyeon (especially this hakkjae clown), @noairmv, and @hwqll for clowning me so hard into finally biasing him love u guys sm lol

this is probably way way way more than what you were expecting but i really needed to let it all out :’) i love him to the end of the universe and back! and im pretty sure this time hes just going to be stuck with me :’) (his loss lmao)

if you read all the way down to here im so sorry for wasting your time LOLOLOL here is a sunoo gif as an apology

[punnysher]

Just wanted to share a short story since Pokken has been rereleased. Its a little long but i think its fun. About a year ago when the first Pokken came out, an entertainment store held a tournament on Pokken, scheduled in about a week. I’m a fighting game fan so the challenge lured me in, but I never touched Pokken up to that point (it had been released for a little while by then). So a friend of mine let me borrow his copy and I started my vigorous training.

I wasn’t a fan of the roster, especially since I only played RBY and was a blastoise fan, so at first I started using Machamp SIMPLY because he had some Jojo Ora Ora attacks.... but hes not very viable...nor good >_>. I probably could’ve made him work but I would’ve needed more than a week to do so, so I picked up Gardevoir because she had some tricks under her sleeve. First I beat offline mode to get used to the controls, then I took it online. To my surprise, NOBODY knows how to fight Gardevoir (at the time at least), I actually won a ton of my matches because she has so many versatile techniques, almost one for every situation. Sure, a knowledgeable foe that knows her stuff can completely shut her down and theres not much she can do, but they were very few and inbetween. I even fought some Mirror matches against others but I was able to beat them because they tried using her in a cheesy way, so much so that they were predictable and I put a stop to them. I knew she was the right main for the tourney after that. I also used the default assists because I doubted they would have all of them unlocked (and they didn’t)

Come fight day, there were like around 30 college students there, me, who was just slightly older than them, and then one 12 year old kid, who is ideally the demo for this game >_>. Everybody brought their 3ds, tagged each other, were talkin Pokemon, etc. I’m not into pokemon anymore but I could appreciate the environment. You’d be surprised who is still a Pokemon fan

Once the tourney started, about 20 of them used Garchomp. The tournament was nothing but them spamming dig on each other. The kid actually used Lucha Pikachu. One guy was a Shadow mewtwo main but SM was banned because he had an infinite at the time and it was deemed unfair, he went to garchomp too. Garchomp has the dreaded dig attack, he goes underground, dodges all attacks, and automatically zooms in towards the opponent to delivery a devastating shouryuken attack.

And sure enough, people complained that their assist that they played with (mostly the later ones you unlock) were not there

Then come to my fight. Gardevoir has an attack where she forms a dome around herself, which acts as a shield, and sure enough, it was strong enough to tank dig attack. My first opponent was so stunned his usual strategy didn’t work that he KEPT USING DIG ATTACK thinking he could break my guard. The shield can burst into an offensive attack and I countered him every time. Did he stop?

Nope. I win. Next time I fought a Garchomp. HE DID THE SAME THING. Thats when it hit me. These dudebros just learned enough about the game to cheese their way to victory for the prize money. Granted, I sorta did the same thing, but at least Gardevoir requires some technique and finesse. These guys were just trying to strongarm their way to the top. Didn’t work.

I never lost a single round.

My final match was against the 12 year old kid! (See, he was gonna come into play afterall!) Pretty much teaching the lesson of never underestimating your opponent. Just like Gardevoir, nobody ever fought against Lucha Pika and his tricks.....including myself! I don’t recall fighting one online, only the regular Mishima Pikachu. He also didn’t know much about Gardevoir.

So this was gonna be a match to remember!

Unfortunately for the kid, his inexperience in gaming is what led to his downfall, I caught on to Lucha Pika’s tricks MUCH faster than he caught onto mine. But to his credit, HE STILL BEAT ME ONE ROUND. I ended up winning. We shook hands and smiled because as the oldest and youngest, we beat all of the people that were in their prime. I felt a little bad I beat a kid but he came here with his claws and fangs on full display, going for the jugular. He put up a fight.

The prize was a 100 dollar gift card, and the kid got a 50. I used it to buy Digimon on PS4 (THE IRONY) and a bunch of Jojo manga when a b1g1 deal hit on them

So I run a local game shop in town, and the next day when I opened, 10 of the same people that were in the tourney, some of which I fought, all unrelated to each other, were in line outside to sell the game to the shop. and at least 10 more came in throughout the day. Me and that kid stomped them so hard that we utterly defeated them and they completely gave up on the Pokken life afterwards instead of wanting to improve. I actually kept playing the game a few months afterwards, even though no 2nd tourney was announced.

Me and that kid were the only ones that had the real heart of a Pokemon trainer. and even though my days of RBY version are long gone, I STILL just then went on a Pokemon adventure that day. While I won’t be picking up this new version (Since I don’t have the system), it being on the switch is great, that means you can take your battles on the go and have your own adventures!

Everybody go have fun and be a Pokemon master!