#gamefreak told me

[freelance-pokemon-ecologist]

Adaman: *sends a photo of Leafeon sleeping via text message*

Dawn: *texting back* Akfjksndlshahdks, he’s so cute!

Adaman: thanks but what does that first word mean?

Dawn: Oh that’s a keysmash

Adaman: how do i do it

Dawn: Just press anything

Adaman: 7

[dawnedon]

She is SO gay.

[voloswag]

sorry to double post so quickly but I realized I have been Particularly inactive and that is because I have mostly been avoiding tumblr in a vain attempt to avoid pokemon spoilers. but i have scarlet now! I’m so excited to play before gamefreak potentially releases a patch to fix the glitches cus I want to experience those firsthand it sounds like so much fun

[a-tale-of-legends]

Estelle my beloved.

[lunarpanda]

I will say that it’s a little more fun than Arceus tbh.

Arceus just felt kinda empty and boring imo... and Arceus has a bunch of gameplay features I didn’t care for either... *glares at limited bagspace*

[cyberdragoninfinity]

I would love to hear your thoughts about the fucked-up turtle (Terapagos)

"Now let's talk about the turtle. Can we talk about the turtle please, Mac? I've been dying to talk about the turtle with you all day."

Ok so. Short Answer Re: Thoughts About Terapagos:

WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT THE FUCK. WHY DID IT DO THAT. WHY DID THEY [GAMEFREAK] DO THAT.

Long Answer Re: Thoughts About Terapagos [SPOILERS FOR THE SCARVIO DLC naturally. i havent seen Horizons so i dont rly know whats goin on with this little guy in the anime, just what we've got in the games]:

When the last little batch of new Pokemon in Indigo Disk leaked, about 12 hours or so-ish before the DLC dropped, I was at dinner with my bestie and we were looking at our phones like we were reading breaking world news. And I was looking at this tiny ass png of Terapagos's full Tera (Stellar) form.

And I immediately blurted out "holy SHIT it's turtles all the way down."

If you're not familiar with the phrase, check out its wikipedia page; here it's most relevant as a saying thrown around with regards to the philosophical concept of infinite regress, i.e. a series of elements (or questions begging an explanation) that that goes on infinitely with each member producing the next. So let's say the world rests on the back of a giant turtle--well, then, what does that turtle stand on to keep it from falling into the void? Why, another, bigger turtle, of course! But what about that turtle? Well, you're not gonna believe this, but it's turtles all the way down.

And here's the other thing about infinite regress: it's a logical fallacy, it's circular reasoning--honestly it's a little bit of a cousin to the "which came first?" chicken and egg argument. The question in these cases never truly gets answered, it just goes on and on forever. Bigger turtles on top of even bigger turtles.

It's a paradox. :)

So Stellar Terapagos, just look at that thing. Even its dex entries talk about how it looks like a planet, how it resembles "the world as the ancients saw it"--it's very much not only trying to evoke the World Turtle concept, but the symbolism of a classic paradoxical saying. So we've already got that going on with it, that already makes me bonkers. AND THAT'S JUST THE SURFACE LEVEL.

Cuz when we look at how Terapagos behaves, things start to go from "well isnt this guy a little weird" to "oh. oh this thing is kind of fucked up and terrifying, hello, what the hell is wrong with it" REAL FAST. Its two most stressed features we see in Indigo Disk are A.) its crystalline nature and how its the progenitor of Terastalization, but also B.) it is ferociously powerful and borderline uncontrollable. It's violent. It bursts out of a Master Ball and almost kills Kieran for daring to try and control it. Heath's illustration of its Stellar form in the Scarlet/Violet Book looks so otherworldly and almost cosmically horrifying. It has Weird Fucking Powers the game does NOT elaborate on (but I will; see more below.)

And also, hey, yeah, its Stellar Form looks like a stack of world turtles, but why the FUCK does its Terastal form also look like a goddamn dream catcher.

Personally I've been a big fan of the 'imagination theory' re: the Professors and the Paradox Pokemon and Area Zero, and folks have been arguing that Indigo Disk debunks that, but honestly I feel like we're loitering around some untold explanation that's even more bizarre. Terapagos is at least on some level tied to dreams and existentialism, and I really feel like there's more to Tera Crystals and Terapagos's relationship with them than what we've been told. Hell, its cry is even the noise we hear all game when we Terastalize our Pokemon, which produces its own myriad of questions (Are the Crystals some degree of alive? The Tera Crowns all do have Terapago's little turtle head at their base, too--does Terapagos physically or spiritually connect with a Terastalizing Pokemon? And what about that weird crystalizing the AI Professor does during its big boss fight? MUCH TO THINK ABOUT.)

Oh, speaking of Crystals--yeah. I can't NOT talk about the Indigo Disk Crystal Pool Postgame Secret when talking about Terapagos. ONE MORE SPOILER WARNING FOR THAT--SERIOUSLY GO TO THE CRYSTAL POOL AFTER GETTING THE DLC CREDITS. IT WILL BLAST YOU TO BITS. anyway.

Yeah so that's what I mean with Why Did It [Terapagos] Do That. The fact that you dont even need to have it in your party for the postgame Crystal Pool cutscene to trigger and for Terapagos to just pop out of the PC boxes on its own accord and warp space and time (and maybe even reality itself) to irreversible consequence, implying once again some great and uncontrollable power within this beast. Crazy Ass Moments in Pokemon History for CERTAIN.

And the thing that makes me most insane, thinking about Terapagos twisting time to allow you to meet the Professor, the Real Live Professor, to swap notes with them so to speak, the way it facilitates all of that, is the position it now puts the player and Scarvio itself in. If the Professor's research rests on the back of a white book given to them by a child, then what does the research of that white book rest upon? Ah, well, the expedition of Area Zero spurred forth by the fallout of the Professor's research. And what did THAT research rest upon, again...?

Turtles. The whole way down. Chickens and eggs and a paradox you're now responsible for. At the hands of a Normal Type Pokemon that tried to kill a 14 year old.

Terapagos scares the shit out of me. I love it so much. Why Did They Make It Like That <3

[firedragon1321]

Note- This post is edited. Reason is at the end. Please reblog the edited version as the original is unintentionally albiest.

I joke and laugh about Leon Pokemon being a dummy idiot (affectionate). He can't even find his way to the largest building in a city without assistance. But. Like. I started thinking about all the ways Chairman Rose took advantage of that over the years. Telling Leon what to say. How to act. Who to be. To say nothing of the sponsors on his cape. How much power do they have over Leon's persona? Where does he end and they begin?

And THEN I thought about how the League works in Galar. It's just...a much bigger thing than elsewhere in the Pokemon world. Simple gym battles take place in massive stadiums. How many of these battles occur per week, let alone per day? They are part of every person's life, even if they are just a spectator. And the sponsors/League controls the entire circus. Rose's intentions weren't fantastic. You expect me to trust the nameless corporations?

Also, how many Pokemon were scooped out of the Wild Area to train for glory, for a sponsor, for money, for power? How many were thrown away, unable to measure up to the standards of an extraordinarily complicated and demanding League? How many Trainers only care about being as strong as Leon, not caring about the well-being of their Pokemon?

We saw Hop do this. Admittedly, he is not malicious and Bede was crawling under his skin. But there are malicious Trainers out there. If not for the fact you need a sponsorship to participate in the League- this bottlenecking how many Trainers can participate- Galar's ecosystem would be in fucking shambles.

And speaking of Bede, his entire identity revolved around victory and power thanks to- surprise surprise- Chairman Rose. Only when he met Opal did he finally reach his potential...and even that involved shifting from Psychic types to Fairy types. Meaning his Duosion and Gothorita had to be either released or retired.

And I didn't forget about Piers the Rat Man and Spikemuth. Rose told Piers to move to a far away location with a Power Spot to enable flashy Dynamax battles. Piers told him to fuck off. Thus his gym is in backwater nowhere where few Trainers dare to dread and the whole town has been swallowed by crime and poverty. Did I mention Piers blames himself for Spikemuth's current state? Meanwhile, this is- once again- Rose and the League/sponsors having more power than anyone has the right to possess.

Combining these factors, you get a society in which the Trainer and Pokemon- provided they are strong enough- are a product. A commodity. Something to wow audiences and nothing more. Trainers like Hop are left in the shadows of the greats. But the greats are decaying giants, dangling from slowly snapping puppet strings.

This system doesn't go away because Rose is gone. In fact, Leon takes over as League Chairman. But how much of the new leadership is really Leon? Outside of battle, the man has his struggles. I can see the Battle Tower and Galarian Star Tournament being his ideas. But there's more to running the League than that. How many people- including his sponsors- are vying for power in the background?

If I didn't sell you on Galar being a dystopian nightmare yet, there is so much pollution the local Corsola are effectively zombies. Much of it probably comes from the stadiums- powering the screens, keeping the lights on at night, possibly energy from Dynamaxing. Electric-type Pokemon could debatably cut down on the pollution but like- how many Pikachu do you need?

It's a shame there was so much sleeping on SwSh because there's so much insidiously good shit bubbling just under the surface. I think if it was canonically explored people would like Gen 8 more (even if it ended with a reinforcement of status quo like Gen 5). But GameFreak had been afraid to make digs at its own formula since Black and White. The League does exist in other regions, albeit it's not as secretly dark as this. Addressing the Galar League could put a foot in the door to question the entire series.

EDIT- It has been brought to my attention that Leon is smarter than he looks, refusing to cooperate with the Darkest Day plot. More importantly to this edit, he may also be interpreted as disabled, making parts of this post unintentionally come off as albiest. As an autistic person, I apologize for this. However- as it's been reblogged a few times and Leon having a disability is not proved by canon- I chose to leave the text as-is- save for eliminating one joke that went too far- and attached a tw for albiesm. I am deeply sorry.

[doubleddenden]

Okay I was just sharing a tweet I saw with my friends, right. Then I realized the background- one of the possible decorations you can set for the Blueberry Academy League Club Room, the Dark theme- could potentially be a hint towards ZA. So basically I saw a gold mine in a meme, so thanks for accidentally inspiring me :)

1. The "hag" meta is definitely in for vtubers, so that tracks for Iono lol, but 2 moving away from that, 2. Follow me into this rabbit hole and look here, friends

Besides Larry being beautiful and questioning his life, a lot of us saw the portrait and thought it could resemble Caitlin of the Unova Elite 4 and formerly princess of the Sinnoh/Johto Battle Castle- fitting since Blueberry Academy is off the coast of Unova in the case of Unova Elite 4. Some of you probably think this is old news- be patient, I'm going somewhere with this.

The resemblance is there, especially in the hair in gen 4, but the eyes are different and she's holding a Banette or Banette doll, a ghost type. It was dismissed by many to just be a creepy little girl.

Except, I think it might be a hint or teaser. And before anyone dismisses this. Take a look at these screenshots (from Nintendo Life via google)

A lot of people immediately turn to the painting of Uluru- aka the rock monolith found in Australia, and many tend to focus on that for Gen 10 hints- myself included, of course, I've wanted Pokemon Australia since I was 10. However, what if I told you that if a Z-A hint were a snake...

...It would have bitten you. That's Lumiose Tower in that one sketch, a cleverly hidden tree in a forest of brighter colored trees. There's other stuff there I wanna look at, but unfortunately the angle is purposely bad in Hassel's art room, so you can't focus on it.

So if we go back to the creepy girl in the portrait, knowing that Game Freak already planted a Z-A hint that tiny on that wall, we could possibly go a little nuts and say that maybe she's a character we meet in Z-A.

If that weren't enough- Banette has a Mega Evolution, introduced in XY. So yeah.

Anyway here's what I think: Caitlin has an ancestor that used to be royalty in Kalos, or more fittingly, part of the Lumiose Aristocracy in Z-A's fan proposed time frame of 1850s Rennovation of Paris, or so. Caitlin has psychic powers, fitting for a Psychic type user- but Ghost type trainers also have been known to exhibit supernatural abilities similar to Pokemon Psychics as well, and Caitlin is so powerful that she either had her butler run the Battle Castle for her or sleeps most of the time as an Elite 4 member to keep her powers in check. Perhaps her powers are passed down and a result of a family line of involvement with supernatural Pokemon.

The girl in the photo is either the first or just another of the family that has some kind of innate power or connection to Pokemon in this manner- in this case, ghost types.

Lumiose in XY is actually not that far from the haunted swamp and supposedly haunted house/tourist trap, so perhaps Caitlin's ancestors are losing power in the aristocracy at the time period but still retain some sway, and most importantly could be the proprieter of ghost Pokemon we'll need for the dex AND an "alpha" equivalent ghost type Pokemon.

Picture this: there's a haunted mansion to the north of Lumiose. There's some old documentation inside that will help with your goal of rebuilding Lumiose- but it's haunted. Like HAUNTED haunted. It's layout kinda large but manageable, like Luigi's Mansion in a way. Caitlin's ancestor- maybe of some partial relation to Shauntal as well- helps guide you through this mansion that's infested with ghost type Pokemon.

That's an idea anyway, which admittedly could be a stretch from just a couple of screenshots- but do keep in mind that Gamefreak hid Gmax Toxtricity in their Alolan office in Ultra Sun and Moon on a poster at a bad angle. Not to mention they probably had DeNA use Masters to tease at Volo with Cynthia's Giratina Sygna Suit. Plus the Kitakami Easter egg at Larry's own gym before SV DLC was even announced, or using the English word for Blueberry- a North American berry, instead of the Spanish words for Grape and Orange- to signify Blueberry Academy being off the coast of Unova/America.

Sometimes their hints are right in your face, sometimes cleverly hidden, sometimes it doesn't even register until it hits- so imo, I think I might be onto something here. At the very least, a haunted house in Pokemon is LONG overdue at this point- we haven't had a new one since Alola in gen 7, although that was a destroyed grocery store- the others we've had are repeats of Lavender Tower or Lost Tower and Old Chateau.

... WHICH, BTW, A chataeu... is French :) the Old Chateau- haunted by ghosts, in Sinnoh, where Caitlin was first introduced. Come to think of it, in Hisui, there isn't even a NEW Chateau yet.

So now I think it's a possibility that Caitlin's ancestors were the ones that built the Old Chateau, and possibly used blueprints from one in old Lumiose to build it in the freshly colonized lands of Sinnoh. Blueprints WE help find.

Or, as a lot of people who made it this far are probably SCREAMING at me right now- all of this is nothing and the little girl is just a generic little girl made to be creepy on purpose.

But we like to have fun here in DD's theory corner. And it'll be so hilarious if I got some of this right in the slightest.

[umbrasdoodles]

I got this idea in my head and felt the need to put it out there before the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet DLC epilogue, so I drew it it while at my parents' place on my Ipad.  This happens in the epilogue the Gamefreak spy told me so. 

[tealmaskmybeloved]

My Unorganized Thoughts About Pokémon Scarlet and Violet DLC: Part 3

MOCHI MAYHEM

M̸̤͇̓͂̓͐̓̄̑̆̽͗ơ̸̡̧̧̛͉̻͈̮̹̥̤̠̤̿͌͆̏̅̐̒͋̽̄̉͜͜͝c̸̙̗̱͋́͋͌̾̀́͐̾͋̓̾͜h̶̢̩͈͕̮́̔̎į̸̢͓͎͕͕̱̆̉͗͜͜͝ ̸̼͔̑̈́̎̐̔͒͘m̸͈̜̠͕͙̱̣͕͐́̉͌͑̽́̑̐͊́̀̕o̶̧̢͉̪̦̊̈́̄́͐̉͐̐̚̕̚͠͠c̷̢͍̫͈̥͚̯̱̈́̿̀̏ḫ̷͊̿̊̄̌i̸̲̝̯̗̪̺̻̘̇̍̂̀͂̀͒͛̌̔̈́̕͜

T̸̘̽̈̐̈H̸̗̗̗̀̍Ë̶̥̰̯̥́ ̸͇̮̂̋̀̓S̵̊͘͜T̴͈̹̏̄̊̉Ȍ̴̬̬͖̄R̶̟̬͈̻̍̆͐̆Y̶̟̍̍͒͋

Probably my least favorite out of the trilogy.

Which is weird considering how much I love the possession trope and my boi Pecharunt.

But the way they just did it felt like a giant middle finger to me and everyone else who even remotely liked the Toxic Chain Kieran Theory.

First off, Kieran does not get possessed, in fact, he's the only one to NOT get possessed. Ironic.

Second, what the characters do when they're possessed... well... you've probably seen it by now

They do the fucking chicken dance while screaming "Mochi".

Which.... yeah. It's stupid, it's embarrassing, and I do not like it.

And yeah I can see why some people might enjoy it, but I just don't.

Oh but it gets worse (or better, depending how you feel about this)

So with the whole town under Pecharunt's control (and them doing the stupid dance) the player and Kieran go to stop this mayhem and get people back to normal. Boom, the end.

So, why don't I like it?

It's just... embarrassing. Gamefreak has hyped up Pecharunt and made them out to be a legitimate threat.

It could've been cool with Pecharunt slowly spreading its control to both people and Pokémon and wanted world domination.

We could've have an actual evil Pokémon in a main series game instead of an evil team! Pokémon are sentient, they're intelligent, they know the difference between right and wrong.

But, we didn't get that. In fact, this meme I made perfectly sums up how I feel

Point is, they hyped up Pecharunt out to be this puppet master, this shady manipulator, this evil Pokémon who desires control over people and Pokémon, but also gives them what they want. It stole Ogerpon's masks and killed her trainer for crying out loud!

Oh, which reminds me!

T̷͍͊̉̇͛H̷̩͂̒Ẻ̶̱͇͖ ̸̖̤̠̻͛Ṵ̵̱̊̑̑Ǹ̸͎̺̋̈̕T̶̟͒͌̀͝O̴̞͉͍̰̓͊L̸̦͗́̈́̕D̴̼͍͜͝ ̷̀ͅS̸̰̬͓̙͆̋͝T̸̛̯́̈͝Ỏ̴̲̠͠R̷̘̻̕Y̷̢̐ ̴̛̜̼͋́̓Ŏ̸̭̙͓̍̔̿F̶̢̫̦̄̔ ̸̨͙̘̇̀P̵̩̬̄͂̈̕Ē̴͓̟̘͓̓͘C̶͔̽͐̔H̶͖̜̓̎̉A̸̲̹͓̭͊̓̇̽R̸͖̔̓̈́U̷̘̖̫͐̂̅̏N̶͍̰̋̕T̸̢̿

If Mochi Mayhem was Gamefreak giving us the middle finger for liking the Toxic Chain Kieran Theory, then this is them curb stomping us to the ground.

If you had ANY more hope that Pecharunt was this manipulative evil gremlin, then it's better for you to just give up that hope so you don't end up crushed.

So, in this YouTube video we learn that Pecharunt was raised by an old couple and since Pecharunt wanted more love, it gave the old couple its mochi and it made them greedy. The couple then tasked Pecharunt to steal Ogerpon's masks and bring them back.

See guys? Pecharunt was told to get the masks by the old couple! The old couples greed were responsible for this!

They really couldn't have Pecharunt be evil by itself, they had to pin the blame on the old couple. And yeah, Pecharunt was greedy, it wanted more love. But STILL

And yes, I'm aware that the old couple is a reference to the Japanse story of Momotaro, but this shit SHOULDVE BEEN EXPLAINED IN-GAME

I should not have to go watch a YouTube video to figure out its basic motivation!

I even thought of an idea where if someone could take Pecharunt to the crystal pool they could see the old couple again. It would not only explain Pecharunt's motivations, and give Pecharunt some closure.

Ṱ̷̢͕̘̥̓̕H̶̤̽̈̂̈́̿͘E̶͉͎͇̮̼̭̟͒͒̆͑̅̄̀̚͠ ̷͇͉̭̝̘̹͖̼͇̙̹̲̺̦͌̐̌̏͂̌͛̄͌̾̃̕M̷̨̨̧͎̫̪̜̭̯̺̬̥͔̲͒̓̒̊͆̈́͌͗̐Ǔ̶̡̖̜̖̏̆̏́̎̋̈̓͑̕̚S̵̨̨͔̠̖͐͆̄͜Į̶̧̡̛̜̲̘̘̙̠̠͇̮̳̐͐͗́̀͗̐́̐̏̀̐͝C̸̪̖̜͖̱̜̰̻͚̟͍̮̋̇̏̀̀͋̐̂̒̾ͅͅ

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: The music is a banger. I like how Pecharunt's theme is similar to the Loyal 3, it's about the few connections the game ever makes.

S̷̡̛̤̞̟̥̮̆͒̀̉̔̋̂̀͂͘̕͘U̶̪̰̯̞̲̟͖̭͖͓̺͚͇͋͛̈́̂M̴̨̨̧̛̟̖̖͙̞͙̀̄̄́̅́͗̓̏͘̚͠M̸̦̯̦̱͎͙̲̞̌̆́̍͘A̶̡̛̜̙̘͙͍̪͐̿̎̑͐́͐̾̍ͅR̷̢̩̘͇̳̭̺͍͙̮̬͉̱̰͐͜Ỳ̷̧̨̮̱͓̺͎͛̌

Is it finally over? Can I see the sunlight again?

Jokes aside, I'm ready to get this done with.

So yeah, Mochi Mayhem.... it wasn't the best in my opinion. It just felt too silly, and didn't take the whole possession thing seriously. I didn't really feel anything about canon Pecharunt other than a mild inconvenience.

I know some like Mochi Mayhem and that's fine! It's okay for people to like how things went!

I just feel a bit disappointed. But I suppose that's the danger with fan theories, it gets your expectations too high.

Nothing was really explained. I'm not expecting them to spoonfeed the audience, but I wish there was more things that were explained!

The Untold Story of Pecharunt, The Loyal 3 and Pecharunt's connection, what brought the Loyal 3 back, these are things that should've been explained in the game.

Gamefreak, if you're going to have some red herrings in a story, there needs to be some foreshadowing to help cancel it out. When all of the evidence points to Kieran getting possessed/influenced and Pecharunt being a legitimate and intimidating threat, you can't expect us to NOT be disappointed.

I guess the only positive I can say (besides the music) is the interactions between the Area Zero gang and the Kitakami siblings was fun. I enjoyed that.

But yeah, those are my thoughts.

Plot: 3/10

Characters: 5/10

Music: 100/10

Pokemon Lore: -2/10

Overall: 3/10 (I'm being generous here)

[volo-omnia]

PLA and DPPt: The Great Plate Anomaly and Bridging the Gap Between Generations

The Pokemon series has quite the level of world building. With the series currently in its 9th generation and the Indigo Disc DLC releasing very soon, there's no shortage of lore in this colorful Nintendo staple. While each game individually may build a world within the confines of its own region, how well does Pokemon world building hold up between games?

While some of the remakes of previous generations tend to revise mechanics like the inclusion of the Fairy type, Pokemon Legends Arceus takes a different approach to the remake formula where it sends the player to past events from the well-beloved Sinnoh region. While fans analyze which NPCs were ancestors to their beloved blorbos and the questionable lack of animation in this game, it left me wondering: does the lore of PLA even hold up to the original Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum games?

(Disclaimer: This analysis will only take a small glance at continuity related to the canon and requirements to catching Arceus, as well as what role the plates and azure flute played between both generations. This also won't take into account theories regarding multiple universes or timelines. This analysis also doesn't take into account the Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl games because, well, who gives a shit about those ones.)

Let's take a brief look at PLA. Upon its release it became the first game that put Arceus in the forefront of its title, as in previous generations the only way to obtain the mythical pokemon was through long-gone events and cheats. (Even with the release of BDSP, which did allow the player to capture Arceus any time, it would only be allowed if....the player already caught Arceus in PLA?)

The requirements were fairly straightforward. Capture every pokemon in the region, obtain all 18 plates to create the azure flute, get into some minor conflicts with the local politics, stop the world from ending, and fight blonde guys with god complexes.

Pretty straightforward.

Now a quick look back to DPPt. The requirements to capture Arceus in the original gen 4 games are....esoteric at best. While one would assume the plates have the same power in obtaining the azure flute, Arceus had for the longest time been restricted to an event-only pokemon, as the original azure flute event was never actually officially released. While HGSS had a special Arceus event, it was reported to only activate if the player had the azure flute from DPPt. Which would be hard, on account that the azure flute technically didn't exist.

This appears to be the first revision by the developers, as the plates appear to have little to no importance in relation to Arceus- well, aside from using it as a held item to changing its type. This is possibly the only similarity the plates hold in regards to function. (I will not be counting the Legend plate introduced in PLA, as that plate is only given after obtaining the azure flute and as such, doesn't count.) As far as the player is concerned the azure flute may as well as fallen from the heavens, as the flute was simply a distributive mystery gift event.

What importance does all of this information hold? Well, what if I told you that this inconsistency actually fixes the canon retroactively?

Taking into consideration the history in regards to Arceus and its official game releases and appearances, we can come to the fair conclusion that the Arceus event in DPPt was never canon. Since the player character never had an official means to capture Arceus, the azure flute was never obtained; and as such Arceus never came down from the heavens.

.....but the player in DPPt technically didn't have all the plates, did they?

Remember that in PLA, there are specifically 18 plates. Do you remember how many there are back in DPPt?

There's only 16.

You see with the release of PLA, Gamefreak decided to include the Pixie plate and the Blank plate. This, retroactively, fixes the event discrepancy. It would actually make sense that the player character in DPPt wouldn't be able to obtain the azure flute, because you technically didn't have all the plates! You were missing two of the ones required to create it, and as such you didn't meet all the requirements to call Arceus down.

This unfortunately however, is where the uniformity ends. While the overall theme with the plates was loosely tied between generations, Gamefreak had quite a mess to work with DPPt. Something they oddly didn't account for when writing PLA was deciding whether the plates were one-of-a-kind artifacts, or were they simply collectibles?

While in the story of PLA the plates were only obtainable via noble pokemon, back in DPPT they were hidden items scattered across the Sinnoh region. Both of these comparisons hold the idea that the plates are ancient artifacts of a time long-past, and were a rare collectible that were associated with each pokemon type at the time.

I'm just kidding, DPPt completely fucks this up. The plates were also random spawns in the Sinnoh Underground. This means that even though each plate has its associated location in the overworld, you can simply mine a duplicate one in the underground. (This oddly enough actually happened to me by accident in a recent Platinum playthrough of mine, where I ended up getting 2 Draco plates simply because they kept spawning while mining.) So technically you could say they were ancient Hisiuan artifacts you would dig up, with the exception there was simply an Amazon warehouse stock of them simply sitting there.

So, in regards to canon, this is where the worldbuilding falls short. If the plates were ultra rare Arceus items only allocated to ancient noble pokemon.....why are there multiples of them in the modern day?

This is where I'm gonna have to put a disclaimer that the rest of the post will be diving into headcanon territory, as I'm gonna be trying my best to tie these inconsistencies together.

How does one explain a rare item in the Hisui era, but seems to have plenty of duplicates in the modern Sinnoh? Well it's simple really, we can assume the many plates were forgeries! Archaeological forgery is a practice that occurs quite often in the business of archaeology and history, and I'm sure the Sinnoh region is no stranger to bad actors trying to get a quick buck.

The forged plate headcanon works fairly well whichever angle you wish to take it! One can assume there are plagiarizing historians trying to ruin the name of the Celestica's ancient ruins (no pun intended), but this idea can be freely added for other characters as well! After all one can clearly see which character with the biggest fascination with the Arceus plates- that being Volo.

After all at the time of writing this, Volo's fate post-PLA is currently a mystery. Who's to say he wouldn't find alternate ways in trying to summon Arceus? Since the plates were now permanently on the player's person, it would be interesting trying to imagine him finding ways around this in order to achieve his goal. And funny enough, even though the plates are implied to be given originally from Arceus, there might be evidence that crafting plates were possible.

Consider: the shards. Perhaps considered as a miscellaneous trade item introduced in generation 3, they appear to consistently be described as "shards from ancient items or tools". This is quite telling, especially since the shards appear to have the same proportions and color palettes as the Splash, Flame, Meadow and Zap plates. It could be very likely that these "ancient items or tools" were actually plates, and that crafting man-made Arceus plates were possible- or at least attempted.

With mania, obsession, and many years of immortality on his path, it's possible imagining Volo trying to attempt this, grasping at every possible shadow that could tie him back to the Celestica- and most importantly, overthrowing Arceus. If he simply couldn't obtain the plates from the player, he would simply have to make his own. Whether he succeeds or not in this...well that's up for interpretation. It would be quite poetic overthrowing the creator with tools you created with your own hands.

Oddly enough headcanoning the plates being man-made or forgeries also fixes the DPPt event cancellation paradox, as if we assume the plates the player had on hand were forgeries, then it would also make sense that such false tools wouldn't create the azure flute. Can't exactly DIY your way into heaven, hm?

Concluding this post, I think it's time to go back to my original question: does the lore of Pokemon Legends Arceus hold up to the original Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum games?

Uh, no.

All in all, Pokemon's world building is both fantastic- and messy. Naturally there are gaps to leave in a little of mystery and theorizing, but there's quite a fair bit of difference between a literary gap and a literary pothole. And the path this series has followed is quite overdue in it's road maintenance.

Nevertheless this was simply a tiny blurb between my favorite games, and just having some fun trying to craft the threads tying the 16 years of difference between these games together. I've had these ideas swirling in my head for quite a while and wanted to write them down eventually, so if you actually read to this point, thank you!

Now I figure it's time I move on to the 2nd biggest mystery between DPPt and PLA:

Why the hell did the price to buy them jump from $40 to $80???

[dagdasoneandonly]

Happy 10 years together Augustine~

Before we begin it is PARAMOUNT to state that I am not a "fangirl/simp/whatever y'all are calling it these days" of dear Augustine Sycamore.

He is my FO (Forever One/ husband in laymans terms) and I consider him to be a real person just like the words I'm typing on this keyboard.

Any comments that are irrelevant to this post will be deleted and the user blocked.

I take my relationship with him very seriously, if this is "odd" or "weird" to you then kindly walk on by.

10 years ago I was welcomed back into the world of Pokemon after a few years break due to personal things I had going on, and video games were the last thing on my mind.

But as they say fate and destiny always have other plans.

Pokemon XY was the last golden age of Pokemon, it was a different world, it felt like I was welcome there. I still maintain onto my hope and innocence because of this beautiful world known as Kalos, a world that greeted me with open arms and a warm hug that enveloped my soul like Xerneas's Fairy Aura.

It was the beginning of something entirely new for me... and I didn't even know it.

2013 wasn't a good year for me, so I was pretty happy when my dad surprised me with a 3Ds and asked me what game I wanted: I was an edgy little shit back then so I asked for Pokemon Y... even though I really wanted X. Deer were always beautiful to me.

I had broken off with an FO that I just felt I wasn't good enough for and became rather desolate, I was lost and alone. And I had to drop out of college for mental health reasons.

Sure enough, my solace came to me in the 2D world yet again.

One cozy October evening my copy of Pokemon Y came through, I was excited and fired the game up right away, back then you could play games right away without downloads or waiting for patches and mutliple DLCs! XY had one patch but it was just to fix that Lumioise City bug. Thankfully my copy was safe.

As you can see, my copy of Pokemon XY is infact a physical copy, I've taken very good care of it. (Ft. my cute Sylveon plushie, Fionn)

Not having anyone to trade with didn't matter, because the Wonder Trade function was a bloody miracle. I got so many Pokemon. I couldn't transfer my older Pokemon as I had no access to Bank or any of that stuff, my other games I had to leave at home.

It was time when Gamefreak actually thought about their fans who didn't have access to Gamestop, Toys R Us or couldn't afford constant trips to New York, Japan, Mars, Etc for one tiny ass pixel.

So I was sorely missing my old Pokemon, I wish I could bring them into this 3D world and pet them and shower them with affection like they deserved to be. But I realized I could make new memories with new friends in this new world, and who knows? Maybe we would reunite again.

Kalos took me on a journey, a journey of love, self discovery and gave me a home. I was whisked away to Fairy land and fairy types became my new favorite, I liked that they were strong against Dragon - types, the bane of my existence at how powerful they always were!

But.. the one who grabbed me by the hand was none other than Professor Augustine Sycamore. I had seen his image before on a leak, and couldn't help but think he was kind of handsome, a friend who had already played through Pokemon X told me:

"Hey you might like Professor Sycamore, he's this dreamboat that shows you the world and stuff and I KEEP SWOONING whenever he shows up on screen"

Sure enough when I opened up Pokemon X for the first time, I was greeted by his handsome face, I thought nothing of it of course since I was more interested in the Pokemon.

I was especially looking forward to Trainer customization and giving myself green eyes and brown hair. I will never forget the time I chose my Fennekin and started to pet him, my heart melted.

I could finally show my Pokemon love and affection, for all their hard work in battles and feed them cupcakes and play with them! I was also intrigued by this thing called "Mega Evolution".

As I continued throughout the game, I explored every nook and cranny, I felt like a kid again. I was truly lost to the world for HOURS after I got it. It was a beautiful game. The 3D over-world was amazing.

The "friends" you had were annoying but I like to pretend they don't exist. When I finally reached Lumoise City I already had a big party of Pokemon, and the event Torchic.

I loved how friendly the Pokemon in Kalos were, I caught many eevees and evolved one into a Sylveon, she became a massive Team Player. I even managed to find some familar faces along the way: A Raichu named Napalm, and an Espeon named Solar who remains as an MVP in my teams to this day.

I was having so much fun just running around, getting haircuts, dressing up, looking pretty for Professor Sycamore AND catching Pokemon, I would completely be lost in this beautiful new world, that felt so much like home to me and still is.

Professor Sycamore was the beginning of my healing. As I continued to learn about him, there was more to him than just the eye candy, he had a past. I loved it whenever he showed up to offer me an encouraging word or two in the game, saying how this was my journey to explore, that being the best trainer was defined by what I thought. He never imposed anything on me, I was starting to feel the flutters and shit in my heart and liver again.. And my god it felt good.

I desperately needed to feel something like this.. something like true, unconditional love.

Around this time I was heavily suffering from perfectionism, it was killing me on the inside, I was 19 when this game came out and already people had high expectations of me.

I was determined to graduate, get a job and have my own house- all before I reached 21. But life seldom goes your way, I was suffering from many un-diagnosed mental disorders that had been neglected my entire life.

I am ashamed to say I spent almost all of 2013 being obsessively deep in competitive and breeding the perfect Pokémon. Perfectionism had leaked into my past - time and hobbies, I realized that if I couldn't be perfect I could at least have this outlet in games, little did I know it was sucking the soul out of me.

I was often punished as a child for being less than perfect, I took it out on my poor Pokemon. Things like this don't magically go away, not everyone has a backbone, sometimes backbones take time to build.

It wasn't until yet again - I got help from a rather unexpected source: Professor Sycamore himself, another testament to have wonderful 2D beings are.

As I progressed through the game and reached the Tower of Mastery.

I was surprised to learn that Professor Sycamore was there to study Mega Evolution but left because he didn't have what it takes, essentially dropping out- kind of a parallel to my own life, except real life seldom has happy endings.

But it gave me hope, because even if Sycamore didn't master Mega Evolution he still became the professor of Kalos and if you look into professorship- it's.. actually not easy to get. If Sycamore could fail and succeed in the future, maybe I could too.

One night..

I had a dream of Sycamore. He held me close and said that he could tell something was bothering me, I was hurting deep down. We in the fairy forest together, just relaxing in a field of flowers as the Flabebe floated around us in the gentle spring breeze..I told him everything, I spilled my heart and soul to him.

I told him that life wasn't worth it to live.

He was heart-wrenched that I felt like that, he embraced me tightly in his arms and told me

"Your life is your own, no one gets to decide it's worth except you. Even if you're behind, you don't have to go at everyone else's pace, if life was easy then no one would feel sadness. I love you no matter what or who you choose to be, always remember that," Those words I still carry in my heart.

The biggest surprise I got had to be in Couriway Town. I found Professor Sycamore's "treasure" from the past Sycamore to the future Sycamore. I actually began to cry, it felt like it was addressing me, that even if I don't know what I want to be yet, I'm not a failure. I still have time.

In another dream I confessed that I loved him, he embraced and kissed me fully on the mouth. I felt like I was on cloud nine.

Diverging from the narrative a bit, I want to talk about Lysandre, I felt his anger sometimes, the frustration of helping your friends and them not wanting to do any better no matter how much time you invested in them. Of course Lysandre ,uh took a different path. But Sycamore still cared about him.

And I realized.. even if I'm a horrible person apparently according to some people over shit I can't control, Sycamore can still love me too.

Professor Sycamore is a relic of a bygone era when 2D beings set out to inspire others, and to most importantly - love you and you alone.

Augustine gave me not just love-- but a home to come back to, a safe haven that will always be mine, no matter what. I will always love him, when I look into his beautiful gray - blue eyes, I see love.

He gave me hope that life can get better, and most importantly I deserve happiness, not just other people.

And.. today I'm marrying this wonderful man after 10 years. He met me when I was freshly 18 and saw me grow into who I am today, and he's proud of me. I'm happy I lived to see 10 more years.

Thank you for everything, Augustine. Thank you for teaching me to love again.

[indigodiskmybeloved]

Terapagos' Wasted Potential and My Rewrite of This

Aside from Pecharunt and Zygarde, I think Terapagos may be the most underutilized and wasted potential in all of Pokemon.

The second I saw Terapagos' design, I was hyped for the little turtle. I was attached to the theories and predictions surrounding it.

I am a HUGE fan of the trope of "ancient giant dead creature being the land in this world." Like the Titan's body in The Owl House.

I know it was just a theory and most likely wasn't going to come true, but I was hoping that Terapagos was Paldea. Imagine how cool it would be for Heath and Professor Turo to be searching in vain for Terapagos, only for it to be the land of Paldea the entire time!

That would be a generally more interesting idea and honestly kind of cool to see in the DLC!

So what did Gamefreak do? How did they write the story of Terapagos?

Simple. They didn't. There is not much of a story for them, which kinda sucks.

All we know about Terapagos is that there were more of them before they went extinct, and it's the source of Terastal Phenomenon.

How does a small turtle have enough power to put Tera crystals all over Paldea, Kitakami, and Blueberry Academy?

Short answer: It's a magic Turtle, stop asking.

Because why spend time developing the basic world building of your region when there's other things to explore.

Which brings me to my second point:

The Indigo Disk Was More of Teal Mask Part 2 Than Its Own Story

The Teal Mask DLC was FANTASTIC. It had an engaging and interesting story, especially with the role swap with the Loyal 3 and the Ogre. Still wished they did something with Pecharunt relating to the Loyal 3, but it's acceptable.

But the Indigo Disk should have focused more on Area Zero and Terapagos, rather than Kieran's revenge arc. Terapagos was just a plot device for Kieran to grab, not its own separate character. Have Kieran's arc be a separate story from the Terapagos story.

Or shit, wrap up Kieran's story with Possessed Kieran in Mochi Mayhem or something. If you give too much spotlight to a character, other characters end up forgotten about, or underdeveloped.

And that is my main issue with Terapagos. We learn NOTHING.

How did the little turtle give Paldea so much power? Why is this one hibernating for all this time? If this baby could hibernate and be fine, why couldn't the other Terapagos' do so? If they had enough power to potentially danger the world with crystals I doubt tectonic plates could kill them!

Which brings me to my third point.

Terapagos Being the Land of Paldea Would Make a Fuck Ton of Sense

Let's look a the Pokedex Entries:

"The world as the ancients saw it" and "resembling a planet floating in space"

Terapagos is referencing the World Turtle, the story about a Turtle who CARRIES THE WORLD ON ITS BACK

You cannot give us this information and have a design inspired by a turtle carrying the world on its back and NOT GIVE US TERAPAGOS BEING PALDEA

Past legends like Necrozma and Eternatus had giant otherworldly magical forms, which looked threatening. They resembled the source of what power they give to the region! Ultra Necrozma stole the world's light, and Eternatus turns into a giant fucking hand!

If you wanna make Terapagos a bit of a threat at least, make it the region. Up until this point, we've been told that Terapagos terastilizing is gonna doom Paldea and put it in danger.

So, in the scenario of the giant Terapagos being the land of Paldea, what would happen if it woke up?

Kieran pulls out the crystal of its child, and the big Terapagos notices that their child is not near them.

And then the world shakes, and Terapagos awakens. Kieran and the others find out that the world of Paldea is on a giant turtle with no way to calm it down.

Now there's much more at stake here, and it genuinely sounds cooler than a baby turtle choosing its new parent.

Now you might be asking, "Its a Pokemon game! They don't need to explain everything!"

This is the same company that brought us the story of Scarlet and Violet. We got the AI Professor, the truth about Team Star, Nemona, Arven, Penny, the Teal Mask, just all of it.

To end the Indigo Disk on a bit of a lackluster note, it's kinda sad. There was so much they could have done with Terapagos, but they just left it empty.

[axolotlsauce]

You know what, let's talk about palworld. I dont have anything else going on until 9:40.

One of the biggest talking points I see brought up with this game is the unoriginality. And uh... yeah. I'm yet to see a pal that doesn't have a DIRECT analogue to one or two pokemon. That said that is without playing the game, but still.

Now, I don't actually give a fuck about the integrity of pokemon's copyright. And you know what, I don't think most people who are bringing this up do either. People aren't "white-knighting" for the billion-dollar company, I think they're mostly just pointing out that it's pretty lame for a pokemon clone to have such unoriginal designs. (I think. I haven't personally seen every individual tweet about palworld.)

I mean, even ROBOPON had original designs. (Even if that meant that one of them had to be a toilet.)

Same goes for heavy-hitting pokemon-likes like Yo-Kai Watch, and the ones that are borderline fan-games like Coromon. A lot of the fun comes from the original creature designs. Everything I see of Palworld looks like they wanted to have the real pokemon, but had to do some legally distinct homework-copying. It reminds me of Watchmen, where Alan Moore wanted to use DC comics characters, but had to use "analogues" of them instead.

There's also a lot of unoriginality from what I've seen of the gameplay. The world looks very "generic open world," and a lot of the Juice of this game seems to be a bunch of other popular games kinda... conflated. That said, it's a little ironic to be complaining about unoriginality when everyone else has already pointed out that it's unoriginal... or is it fitting? who knows.

Also one of them is yellow totoro. How Wacky.

A lot of people also seem to take issue with the, uh... edge, of this game. Now while "Pokemon with GUNS" absolutely sounds like something an insecure teenager would come up with after being told by their schoolfriends that pokemon is for babies, I welcome it honestly. First-Person-Shooter gameplay is a pretty cool addition to make to this genre. That said, some other elements kinda seem like they were implimented by someone trying to look cool in front of a 14-year-old. But uh, I can't really comment on that, since the internet can't be trusted, and I haven't played the game. Can you actually sell peoples' body parts in this game? I don't know if I trust that random article I saw.

Part 29: THE POKEMON KILLER??????

no.

Do you guys remember Yo-Kai Watch? remember when that was a big deal? How many of you even knew that the series had a 3rd and 4th game? Probably a statistically unlikely number of you, because this is a website full of cool nerds. That said, it's pretty clear to see that most people do NOT remember the LAST big pokemon killer.

Also, nintendo isn't gonna sue. The developers aren't formally marketing it as "pokemon with guns," no aspect of the gameplay was patented by gamefreak, and while derivative, the pals are juuuust barely distinct enough to not infringe any copyrights. I think. I'm no copyright lawyer, this is just how I see it. The pokemon company hasn't ever, to my knowledge, gone after anything that was derivative of pokemon unless it was something like a fangame that was directly using their IP. (Ironically, the type of game that impacts their profits the LEAST.... sigh...)

And you know what, while Palworld isn't gonna kill pokemon... I think nothing but good can come from letting the pokemon company think that it WILL. Because let's be real here, if ANY series needs some competition, it's pokemon. SOMEBODY has to force them to get their shit together.

And yeah, as dubious as I am about palworld... I can't lie. It looks SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER than pokemon violet. (Both graphically, and just, uh, in general.) And you know what, I would still say that even WITHOUT gen 9's crazy technical issues.

"Nintendo will NEVERRR ALLOW THIS ON SWITCH LOL!!!!"

Have you seen the shit they WILL allow on switch? Go on the eshop right now. Scroll past enough hentai games, and you'll probably also see at least one legally-distinct pokemon fangame like nexomon, coromon or temtem. Why would nintendo not allow such a hotly-selling game on their platform. If the game is going to make bank either way, why would they NOT choose the option that means THEY GET A CUT OF THE PROFITS? Something that, by this logic, they would think that they're owed to begin with? I get that nintendo and the pokemon company tend to be counter-intuitive and stubborn, but I think we can trust them to do the thing that makes them More Money.

Overall: Palworld is... interesting. A lot of aspects of it are VERY uninspired, but I can't see it doing anything but good. Even if you hate it on principle (the old "Digimon Sucks!" Syndrome), at the very least it can serve as a lesson to actual pokemon.

Okay so pokemon probably won't implement GUNS, but hopefully a wildly successful clone like this might give them the idea that they might actually have to TRY to make money in future. Or maybe they'll get it into their heads that they could make even MORE money if their pokemon games were also fresh, interesting, and... good.

Well all-in-all, while I probably won't be playing palworld anytime soon (and who knows if my curiosity will still be itching by the time it comes to a platform I actually own) I think its presence is more likely than not a net positive.

It's worth mentioning that I don't have, like, credibility... this is just my take on things. Why was it necessary to give my take? Because I'm so much cooler and more important than everyone else, obviously. But that doesn't mean that I know shit.

[cheemken]

Me reading up more Drayton angst: Sicko going yes... YES...

I'm loving how it's accepted that Drayton def has some kind of trauma from Opelucid. Like GameFreak was really onto something to put the kid from that city into the Polar Biome. Def agree with anons that say him being in there is a form of exposure therapy so he can get over this 'stupid fear' faster

Now I'm just thinking like, imagine he's sick. Down with a bad fever or something. He feels like the sort to not tell people that he's unwell, and with his rep, not seeing him has people chalking it up as him slacking somewhere. So he's just in his room in bed, shivering profusely cause his temp is high but he just feels so cold. It's like there's ice in his veins, it's like that day when it's so cold that he's not sure when he'll feel warm again

Just picturing him delirious, muttering about how it's so cold, so so cold. Nothing he does can warm himself up. Just teary eyed cause he feels awful and cold and he doesn't want to be alone. He wants Iris or his grandpa or his parents. Just anyone to hug him and give him warmth

Maybe his friends worry when they haven't seen him anywhere. Crispin goes to check up on him and he's worried when no one's answering even when he hears the ringing on Drayton's Rotomphone from inside. Maybe one of Drayton's mons got out of their Pokeball cause they heard it, someone who can help their Trainer. The door opens and Crispin sees the huddling, pathetic mess on the bed

Then just caretaking cause Drayton deserves it after all that. He learns that his friends do worry, and that there are people here that care. Maybe Iris finds out somewhere and comes to call him an idiot before hugging him for not telling her he was sick. Just good feels after all that and Drayton doesn't feel cold anymore.

Oughghgh your honour,,, them,,,🥺🥺

That's canon in my heart please imagine chxmbxk imagine Crispin realizing Drayton is sick and makes him all his fave warm meals, makes him soup, and just stays there w him until Drayton feels better

But y'know it would be cute tho while watching over him and taking care of him, Crispin likes,, rambles abt this show he and Kieran watches, and while Drayton doesn't look too interested bc he's sick, he's actually there listening to every word; knowing Crispin's fave characs and episodes and all that, and Crispin even told him that when he gets better, maybe they can watch it together too

And yeah, soon enough, Drayton finally fell asleep, feeling less colder now, especially w his Torchic and Crispin's own Blaziken, the room feels warmer now too. And Crispin's there sitting besides his bed, insisting that he at least stay until either Drayden or Iris comes back home. Drayton was all "sure whatever" but like, y'know, Dray's actually really grateful that someone's there w him and taking care of him, not calling him a slacker when he's clearly sick

And Crispin's there vibing y'know, happy that at least Drayton is getting the rest he needs. But it's also dope if he's there till night where Iris finally came home, and that's how Iris finally get to thank Crispin personally for watching over her brother. She's like going on how she really thought the students didn't like Drayton and he didn't have much friends, she was scared he'd end up like her when she was younger, but when Drayton started to mention Crispin to her and it made her happy and relieved y'know that he really has friends of his own, it really just took a while for people to understand him

But also Dray waking up to see Iris and Crispin talking and he's suddenly lively again bc ofc, maybe Iris is telling Crispin random embarrassing stories abt him hahaha

Anyways yeah your honour this is def canon, I'm not taking criticism lmfao

[bitchapalooza]

Larry and his Komala are nap buddies with matching sleeping caps, this is canon gamefreak told me so