#have some oddish’s i drew :)

[smallsafespace]

Oddish! 🫐🌱

[frankhightower]

Thoughts on the 150 pokémon

I recently drew the 150 pokémon in commemoration for reaching 150 followers on twitter… after 11 years. I want to share some of the thoughts I had during the process, some of which I shared on twitter as I was doing it, others which didn’t fit in the character limit. Thought this might be a fun read for some of you. 003: The Bulbasaur line is a lot more turtle-like than I’d previously thought. 004: I hadn’t realized the Charmander line doesn’t have any ears, it has horns. 006: Do you remember that in Gen I, Charizard can’t use fly? So many jokes were lost when they “fixed” that… 007: Although I’m trying to not draw the Pokémon from the Anime, it’s hard to give a Squirtle glasses and not make him look like one of the Squirtle squad, but I figured out a way. 008: I can fully see the argument on Wartortle being based on an axolotl now. 009: Blastoise was the first Pokémon that was hard to draw: it just has so many elements: the shell, the ears, the cannons… I have a lot more respect for Mr. Sugimori now. 012: Remember the fan theory that Butterfree was supposed to be Venomoth and vice-versa? It’s actually a good mnemonic for how to draw them! 016: Pidgey gave me a hard time with, unexpectedly, the dark spots behind its eyes, but it just wouldn’t be Pidgey without them 017: Made the hard decision of making Pidgeotto’s crest be a crown of several feathers rather than just a handful of very long feathers, mostly because I just wasn’t good at drawing feathers. 025: I hadn’t really noticed before that the Pokémon are numbered in groups approximating the areas they appear in the game 028: Any doubt I had Sandslash was based on a hedgehog has been dispelled with this drawing 029: How is Nidoran, literally one of the most generic pokémon, one of the hardest to draw?! 031: Nidoqueen always looks so imposing in the anime, but that's because all the characters are children. Canonically, she's only 4 ft tall! 032: I hadn’t noticed Nidorino’s spots until I had to add more indications that this was a Nidorino 035: I'm glad Detective Pikachu came out, because now it's cannon that Clefairy’s swirl is just fluff. 036: as it turns out, Clefable has REALLY short arms! 039: Jigglypuff’s huge eyes have an incredible potential for exaggerating its expressions. You’d think there was no way you could draw them “too big”, yet I somehow managed. I also discovered how imperfect scaling in Gimp is this way when I tried to use it to fix it. Luckily my expression is “excited” so blurred eyes don’t look wrong. 041: Question: are those two things sticking out the bottom supposed to be Zubat's feet or a forked tail? I never could figure it out! I originally wanted to do another "carrying it away in his talons" drawing but this question made me rethink the whole thing! 042: Golbat is the stuff of nightmares. We know it is able to close its mouth but looks horrible doing it! And how many toes is it supposed to have? Why do its ears shrink when it evolves? 043: Wait a minute, Oddish has no arms! And are those shoes on his feet? 046: one, two three… wait, Paras only has six appendages? If it looks like an arachnid, crawls like an arachnid and has fangs like an arachnid… it’s an insect!? 047: Parasect has a pattern on its mushroom? It’s not just random dots? 048: Venonat’s arms are ridiculously short! Surely it still has elbows and knees, they’re just hidden under its fur… right? It’s always bothered me that Venonat is #048 when Oddish is #043! You exit Mt. Moon having caught Venonat and you think you missed something, so you go back and… there’s nothing there! 049: ah yes the old “what’s under Diglett” joke, which was canonized in the first Pokémon Mystery Dungeon. 050: I have no idea what those noses would translate to in real life 051: I realize now how intentionally ridiculous Meowth's design is: no shoulders, no nose, skinny little legs, semibipedal…no wonder any costume he wears looks silly! (and yes, he was semibipedal even before the anime, I checked) 054: Spent way too long thinking about how feather fingers work on this one 055: What's the deal with Golduck anyway? weird beak, head spikes…toes?! 056: despite desperately not wanting to draw the Pokémon from the anime, it’s hard to think of Mankey behaving as anything other than the iconic one from the anime 059: There was an old rumor that Arcanine was meant to be the legendary fire dog (which eventually became Entei). I can totally see the parallels between Arcanine and Entei now. People often say arcanine is too floofy. I don't have a problem with that, but you know what did affect me? Too stripey! Oh well, at least it's not leopard spots again 060: Polwag is freaking huge, have you noticed? Not tadpole size! 062: I realize now Poliwrath’s "gloves" are webbing 063: Interestingly, I've always thought of Abra as an insectoid pokémon, but the more I read about it as I searched for a good reference picture, the more it became clear it's just a cat! But cats don't have those weird shoulder plates. You know what animal does? Rhinos. That's right: Abra is part rhinoceros! 066: What animal is Machop supposed to be? Bulbapedia implies it’s some sort of frog, but I've come to a stunning conclusion: it's a hippo. Think about it! No toes, smooth skin, big snout... 068: Sometimes when drawing characters, I wish they had two sets of arms so they could properly express the emotion I’m trying to convey, but always when I end up getting one that actually does, I have a hard time deciding what the second set of arms is supposed to do. I don’t think the anime ever had that problem / took advantage of that. 069: I always seem to misremember Bellsprout as more detailed 070: Weepingbell is another pokémon that freaks me out, like, is that a tongue or just the inside of its "cheek"? And what's with the little stalk tail? And the name! 071: Also let me add that the whole Bellsprout line is another one that's friggin' huge. We're used to their sizes because they appear so often in the anime but, come on, a flower shouldn't be bigger than a bouquet! 072: Tentacool’s head is scarily human-like in a Megamind-sort of way. I mean, why does it need a nose? Or those gem-like things? Why can’t it just be a jellyfish-octopus? 073: Tentacruel’s canon height is 5 ft (1.6 m) but that scene with the kaiju from the anime is the one that always come to mind when thinking about Tentacruel’s size, which is interesting because Tentacruel is a pretty common Pokémon that has been in a lot more episodes than that. The Episode, I feel, did not deliver on the hype created by showing it in the intro: the amount of kaiju-ing was remarkably unsatisfactory. (Yes, I watched it... that one time it aired on public TV... Turns out it’s supposed to be an environmental message) 074: Geodude is indelibly associated in my mind with his “coming out of the pokéball” animation from Pokémon Stadium 2, which attempts to explain his pokédex pose as flexing his muscles, but to me it always looked like he was saying "you called me out... for this?!" 076: While the anime will show us even the most ferocious Pokémon happy, they rarely show them just being kind 077: I have no idea how Ponyta's fire works. I get that it’s supposed to replace its mane, but then again, I have no idea how horse manes work either. Ponyta's pokédex size is friggin tiny, only 3 ft tall! We see kids riding them in the anime but that doesn't check out at all! 080: Slowbro is another freakishly huge Pokémon (5 – 6 ft / 1.5 – 2 m), especially considering it’s supposed to be “just” a slowpoke (3 ft / 1 m) that got its tail stuck in a Shellder’s mouth 081: Can steel type Pokémon sweat? Anime physics let them get “anxiety” sweat drops, but would they be physically able to produce them? 082: Magneton has to be the pokémon I most severely underestimated the difficulty of. I mean, who cares if each individual magnet is not in perspective? Me! And it's still not right! 083: I usually don't think of Farfetch'd, the wild duck Pokémon, as a duck, isn't that funny? 085: Dodrio's design always bothered me: It's all about the rule of three: 3 heads, 3 tail feathers, 3 front-facing toes (which is weird because Doduo has 4) ...Then why are there only TWO big plume feathers atop each head?! 086: Real seals always have a slight glowyness on their back from having fur so short and oily be so wet. It’s interesting that the anime has never tried to portray that with Seel 088: I’d never thought about it before, but Grimer has no actual feet! If it stands on a grate (or indeed, a tightrope) it would pass right through! 089: I had to pass by Alolan Muk when looking for references and oh my god it's horrifying! WHY do you people want more regional forms?! 090: TV tropes says when you don’t know how an animal would behave, make them behave like a dog or a cat. Is that what the anime does? Is that how Pokémon are supposed to behave? Is that what makes them so endearingly pet-like? 091: Why does Shellder’s face move to its pearl when it evolves into Cloyster? What happens if someone tries to pluck its pearl? Why is its pearl black!? Why are we doing water route Pokémon when we’re still not done with the Safari Zone??? 092: I couldn't figure out what cursed lavalamp-fire-smoke Ghastly is supposed to be giving off, but I’m more than a little disturbed by the realization that … it has wrinkles! … I can’t spell Gastly 095: Onix's rocks have a very specific order, did you know? I always thought they were a string of identical rocks, so identical it didn’t matter if you took one out, but no: specifically 15 rocks, specifically (starting after the head) oval, circle, flat, octagon, hexagon, square, 3 big, 6 small 096: Drawing Pokémon for so long is making me ask stupid questions like “how many toes does a cat have?” 097: People always make fun of Hypno for its nose, but it’s the evolution of a tapir! How can it not have a big nose? It’s the feet that bother me! 098: I figured out what's so hard about bug pokémon: on any other, lines just... end. With anthropods, it's like drawing bones! They curve, they bend back, there's nothing to cover them! 099: I honestly thought the "running" part was going to be the hardest thing to portray here. But no, you know what was? The butt! Kingler’s butt Is not shell-like, it’s roach-like! 100: Voltorb is interesting because it basically exists to be the pokémon world's mimic chest, yet still packs a personality. The anime turned this into the best running gag ever with Team Rocket constantly picking up sleeping Voltorbs from piles of pokéballs all through the Celadon City arc. And it's #100! How cool is that? 103: I previously joked Goldbat is the stuff of nightmares but that pales in comparison to Exeggutor's pokédex: The heads fall off as Exeggutor ages and become Exeggcute?! And they don't grow back?! So each head is potentially hundreds of years old?! 104: The hardest question here was how many fingers does Cubone have? It seems no one knows! 105: Marowak is never shown in a calm pose …but what are those lines on its stomach? Bulbapedia says they're reptilian… would that make the Kangaskhan theory wrong? I won't believe it! 106: Can we talk about how ridiculous Hitmonlee's design is? He has no mouth to roar with …and what's with those Big Bird legs?? 107: I hadn't realized how bony Hitmochan is until now. He's practically a skeleton with clothes! Also, I spent the whole time here thinking how pokémon clothes work. Does Tyrogue just tug on its trainer one day and say "Master, I'm about to evolve, so I need you to buy me a skirt and shoes" "You don't need boxing gloves?" "What gloves? Those are my hands!" I know Tyrogue is Gen 2 but still! 108: I had a lot of trouble drawing Lickitung’s head because I’m not sur what Lickitung is supposed to be! An otter? A bear? A frog? Some kind of dinosaur? 111: Several things tripped me up about Rhyhorn: The fact that its ears are basically built into its horns, that each plate has spikes, that you can’t see its shoulders, that it looks steel-like… 112: It was fun drawing Rhydon happy, but hard to make him not look like Nidoking. 113: I have unilaterally decided Chansey is an axolotl. Chansey is another pokémon with ridiculously short arms which seem to bend somewhere under its body fat. 114: Tangela is supposed to be a ball of yarn of sorts made up of vines, but in my mind, I’ve always conceived them as tentacles. I don’t know why. Also how is there only one trainer in the entire game that has Tangela? It's a picnicker East of Fuchsia city which I remember vividly because I had to battle her six frigging times! How did we not get “don’t mess with shuckle, er, tangela” jokes in Gen 1? 115: My apologies to Mr. Sugimori, but he really can't draw Kangaroos. Kanghaskhan really looks more like a Rhydon with a pouch 117: Why is Seadra’s mouth triangular? Horsea’s is nice and round! 120: Staryu always freaked me out. As a starfish, Staryu's mouth should be where the gem is, but then watergun comes out of its "arm"? 122: Few people realize Mr. Mime's whole point is "have you noticed how human frog hands look?" 123: Scyther is, for me, the emblematic bug-type Pokémon. 124: Much has been said of Jynx's face, but I want to ask: what's the deal with her ARMS? 127: …what do you mean Pinsir doesn’t have a neck?! 128: Tauros is a weird pokémon, seemingly representing the entire bovine family. It’s a bison but also a buffalo but also a bull but also… 129: There is an episode in the anime where we actually see how to use a Magikarp that only knows Splash in battle: you throw it at your opponent! 131: Lapras is often described as the water transport pokémon. Yet when the anime tried to actually use one for this, we see how hard it is to fit everyone on its shell, what with its spikes and the fact that Lapras just aren’t that big! Misty constantly rides on its tail! 132: It was once widely accepted as Fanon that every Ditto start out unable to Transform their face, like the one in Ditto's Mysterious Mansion. When Duplica (its trainer) showed up in Goldenrod City (Johto) with another Ditto that couldn’t change its size, fans quickly amended this to “every Ditto has some aspect of transforming that it have trouble mastering”. It turns out picking aspects is remarkably hard (Ditto OCs disappeared within a matter of weeks), so Ditto instead became the butt of all the breeding jokes. 135: Electric-type Pokémon that seem to have quills instead of regular fur have always bothered me. Yes, I’m talking about Jolteon. 137: Sugimori also obviously knew nothing about 3D modeling when he designed Porygon: the top half of the side of its face has a notch for the eye! That’s a big no-no, all polygons must be convex and preferably have no more than 4 sides or the renderer will get confused! Porygon’s eye must constantly be clipping through it! Plus, if Porygon was made with 1995 technology, its eyesight must suck since computer vision was horrible at the time! 138: Omanyte has 10 tentacles. Ten! No wonder it almost never gets animated! 139: Why is Omastar the only Pokémon that gets a proper octopus beak? 140: There is actually two designs for Kabuto’s back: one that is beetle-like and the other that has a false face at the top, both trying to interpret the dome fossil. I tried combining them and I’m not sure if the effect works. 142: Aerodactyl has actual fingers! They’re not bat-like! I’d never noticed that! 143: People sometimes forget that Snorlax is quite a capable fighter, quite capable of standing up 146: As a kid, I always thought Motres was supposed to be a heat mirage, but successive generations have revealed that it's just the shape of its feathers! People's favorite piece of useless trivia here is "the legendary birds are name uno dos tres!" but I have a more useful one: Moltres is so-named because it's MOLTING! 147: I couldn't decide if Dratini is supposed to have scales or fur 149: Dragonite is the only Pokémon that is always portrayed smiling or waving. Look Game Freak, we already like Dragonite! You don’t need to make it more likable! 150: Canonically, there is only one Mewtwo, and we got a whole movie dedicated to his personality. I’m not sure, then, if it would react how I’ve shown him. 151: Mew is so distractable, but then again, it literally knows nothing of social norms. I do love how Mew’s design gives you a sense of closure, of peace, just by looking at it.

[prof-peach]

Hey, I just wanted to say you're hella creative. I love the lore/stories you write and the gorgeous art you make! Can I ask what's your favorite thing you wrote and art you've made? :o

Always nice to hear people are enjoying the content, its a lot of work to make but surely worth it if it can bring some joy to peoples days!

Hm, the artists true challenge, picking something they made that they like. I guess i like bits of what i do but never the final project so often. I drew a cute oddish one time I still quite like. And I guess I enjoy taking photos and adding stuff in.

My current tiny joy is this background

I hate drawing non-organic junk so much, so the fact I saw this through to the end is in itself a miracle. Sadly that image is a side project that wont see the light of day haha, but aspects of it bring me great joy, its a good stress relief comic i do between work. Must say i cant think of any piece of writing i'm happy with. Spelling errors, hasty wording, sentence structure is a mess normally. I see a lot of faults with the written side, but I have settled in knowing that at least I try to get the point across, sometimes I muddle up, sometimes i don't haha!

[indrawzcord]

The first one is 2 weeks old but the other two are just from today :) I drew Harrison, Mao Mao, Oddish, Fluttershy, Needle and Freddy just by memory (these are my first time drawing some of these characters and im surprised). and i made up designs for Crowfeather and Twigbranch.

i am aware the names changed for the signatures, i changed my yt name from Cherri to Aicha even though my tumblr isn’t even named after my channel.

Anyways BYE. Have a good day/night everyone.

[soyouareandrewdobson]

Alex ze Pirate Mini Review 2: Underappreciated and how Sam should deal with an abuser.

Last time I gave a general overview of how Sam is treated by his “friends”. Now I want to give a more specific example, that will also show how Dobson’s storytelling abilities are not really all that good, particularly when it comes to pacing or building up any sort of conflict.

You see, for the most part Alex ze Pirate is just a collection of stupid artwork (not even concept art, just random artwork Dobson makes of his characters dressed as something random) and one page strips with a stupid punchline, with Sam most of the time being the receiving punching bag.

There have however been a few individual, short stories over time. And when I say short stories, I mean short. As in 15 pages for a very cheap set up, a few jokes and a punchline. Those include stories such as All that Glitters (where everyone except Alex breaks into a fortress to steal something), The Wish Fish (the only halfway okay story of them all because it is just meant to be comedic) and Best Laid Plans. However, near the end of the initial run of AzP, Dobson did a three part story (partly) focused on Sam in that format, which started off with the chapter I want to talk in this post: “Underappreciated”.

As you can see, the chapter starts off following some basic rules of storytelling in comics. Two establishing panels for the location at which the story takes place initially and showing what Sam’s duties are. Nothing really bad yet. The only thing that sticks out being just the fact that a) Sam does not have his own bedroom and has to sleep in a useless outlook and b) he sleeps in his regular clothes. But hey, nothing to get upset about initially, perhaps he just prefers it like this at the moment. But with the next two pages…

The problems start to show. Page three establishing that Atea herself is just a cunt who can’t even have the basic decency of wishing her “friend” a good morning or giving him a thank you for bringing a morning beverage as she has other selfish priorities on her mind. Like wanting to lick the shower water of Alex’s skin.

Also, go fuck yourself Uncle Peggy. As in, get both your arms ripped off, shoved up your butthole with those hooks and then get hanged on those stomps like a chandelier. I wouldn’t even mind the fact here that Peggy left a mess, if the face he makes in the last panel was not obvious of the fact he left the bathroom like this on purpose and that he is rather happy of making Sam’s day extra miserable by the fecal matter he left behind. Combined with any previous strip of the comic showing that Peggy for no reason likes to get the boy in trouble and even wants to see him die, this just shows once more of how much of an asshole he is. If the last panel just showed him with a groogy hangover look, obviously unaware of how much discomfort he brings unintentionally to Sam, that would be one thing. But intentionally making Sam’s day miserable despite the obvious fact the boy is the first one to do anything around here, while making one of the worst drawn “HAHA, I am such a rascal faces” I have ever seen (and I have seen shitty anime en mass) makes me hate the character more than Dobson intented.

And then there is page 5…

And it is in my opinion the saddest page in the entire comic arc, even compared to the “heartbreaking” stuff Dobson wants to pull up in the last third of it. Because though it is meant as a joke, the general execution is too cruel, crossing into “dude, not funny” territory and showing just how little the crew cares for Sam. Talus, Sam’s “best friend” not even aware he is around, everyone stealing Sam’s food with that stupid “Yoink” sound (seriously, I wish the characters would get punched in the vaginas each time they make this sound in any of Dobson’s strips) and then leaving Sam behind with smug faces, ready to do whatever they want to do, while he, likely stinking of feces and not even having showered properly, has also to clean up after those pigs, who can’t even eat in a proper manner ( hey Atea, use a fork instead of holding the bowl) and silently. I mean, they are pretty much pigs when the noises they make are loud enough, they make the font of the writing change randomly into whatever Dobson has on his computer with every sound. Not to forget the mess they leave behind. And they call Sam the Slob?

Anyway, on to the next page…

And who the heck left their Hello Kitty toy in the bathtub? Also, I hate the way Alex’s face is drawn in the lower left corner. Something about the eyes in relation to the shit eating grin just looks off. Less “smug” and gleefully awaiting whatever she plans next and looking more like Dobson when someone tells him his opinion and reasoning for it is bad, but he can’t yell back at them because they are part of a minority and so he has make a “good face” to a bad situation, while internally he is already imagining how to strawman them in some fake news worthy facebook post.

And then we get to page 7. Which features the WORST addition to the “Alex ze Pirate” canon Dobson has ever thought up. An embodiment of what is wrong with Dobson when it comes to inserting internet culture related stuff into his own work. Ladies and gentlemen… the lolcat pirates

Yeah, those Hello Kitty rejects who ironically look still more like a proper cat than Spot in Danny and Spot, are essentially one of the worst jokes Dobson has ever created. Because they are a joke without a punchline. See, all there is to them is that they are sentient cats, that speak in a manner associated with lolcat posting. And that is the “joke”. Their speech pattern being based on a dumb internet meme that was popular at the time Dobson drew this page. It is like if you portray an Asian by making them talk with a shitty racist accent and that supposedly counts already as comedy. It is not funny, because there is nothing really done with it in context of the story. Like no one addresses the weird way they talk. Also, with the font Dobson uses, it is just an eyesore to any reader and the text gets aggravating the more the captain of the cats talks. It shows why lolcat pictures only had very short sentences accompanying the pics, cause reading more than 8 words written in this manner tingles a part of your brain that makes you want to shout “English motherfucker, do you speak it”?

Don’t get me even started on how the joke would get lost to anyone unaware of lolcats and how dated the joke already was back when the page was posted, which is one of many reasons why comic artists should just in general avoid memes in their work, if they hope for it to pass the test of time. Instead let me just point out the fact that though Alex said “All hands prepared for casting off” on the previous page (which is also a very unnatural way to give the order “Everyone get ready! Take off in 10 minutes”) not all hands are on board, seeing how Uncle Peggy is missing on this page (and spoilers) many pages of this afterwards. Weird. I thought he would be onboard the moment Alex mentioned they are going to hijack a ship full of pussy. Lastly, this is Alex being a “badass”? Taking over a ship full of little furballs you can defeat with a laserpointer, a squeaky toy and catnip? Sam, this is not just “almost” embarrassingly easy, this is literally on a level similar to stealing candy from a baby. That is mentally handicapped. And without supervision. In a candy story.

At least it turns out there is genuinely something worth stealing on this ship. Otherwise all Alex would have accomplished on that very day would have been animal abuse for the sake of entertainment. Though now it also gets me thinking: A place called Katsville, the revelation that the captain is supposedly the child of a high ranking military feline within the sea force of an entire species of sentient cats… how exactly does the world of Alex ze Pirate function? Look, I do not want to get into too much detail about this point here yet, because it is a bigger issue with the worldbuilding (or rather lack thereof) of this series in general, but what is the “consistency” when it comes to races and species in this world? See, One Piece for example is overall a very “cartoonish” and fantastic world (more cartoonish than what Dobson creates on average) when you think of the fact there are fish men, giant seacows and seamonsters, sentient furry creatures, islands in the sky, sentient weather phenomenons etc next to humans. And while Oda does not really spend time elaborating in very high detail how his world works, the sheer abundance of those elements and how they were established pretty early on in the story and are revisited constanly, with the cartoonish flavor and humor of One Piece on top of it, makes those oddities feel organic and a part of the world.

Not so much in AzP. Here over 90% of the time any character not related to the crew is some generically drawn human, in a very generically human setting with jokes just not cartoonish enough. So the world of AzP feels more “realistic” and less oddish, making then things like Talus, the lolcat pirates and once a giant sea dragon that looked like Elliot’s rejected cousin

Stand out like a sour thumb that looks like this

But I digress. Lets see what makes Sam, who just seems bored and wants to end his miserable life/drink his sorrows away, throw the cat captain against the wall.

Okay. Sam’s overall reaction makes it clear, the locket is important. So “kudos” for establishing this and in doing so also create within a moment a bit of intrigue for the reader. After all, why does this locket get such a reaction out of Sam, who we know so far as more happy go lucky or deadpan in parts, instead of looking genuinely distraught. Heck, the fact he even tells Alex to shut up when she commands him around should highlight how out of character finding this locket truly makes Sam.

Then there is Alex’s reaction to being told to shut up, which she takes with as much dignity as someone telling Dobson to just stop fawning about underaged lesbians in a toddler show.

Jesus Christ, she faces being told she looks like a guy with more grace than that. I mean, isn’t she used to being told to shut her trap? Cause if I were her parents, I would have told this entitled redheaded whinner a few times over the course of her childhood to shut up.

Scum sucking cabin boy… said by a butt ugly whore who would genuinely suck scum off if it means she can finally get laid instead of being mistaken for a man. By the way, with that angry face she makes in the first panel, I can totally see why others would mistake her for a dude. She just looks unpleasant and not in a funny way like that red panda girl from Aggretsuko. See, when she gets angry, it looks hilarious and cute because of the contrast to how the character looks ordinarily. This is just Alex looking even more unpleasant as usual.

Now, before I continue with the next pages, I like to point out the face Sam makes in the upper panel and Sam’s overall body language in the last one.

It is obvious that Sam is meant to be in a state of mind where he knows for what he is getting yelled at and where he genuinely reacts in a hurt manner. His body shaking, his head tilted down, not saying even a word. You would expect that the next page of this comic would be a follow up. Seeing Sam, who is pent up, lashing out in some way. Either for example by justifying why he said it, getting sad, angry, perhaps even violent in that situation. After all, so far the way this story has been structured, a lot of emphasize was put on the fact that Sam is treated not well and that finding this locket actually has an uncommon effect on him. Heck, even the title of this chapter hints on the idea, that we should get some sort of huge reaction out of Sam now on the next page, as this is supposed to be Sam’s story.

Instead it is just Alex grumbling and grinding her teeth, unable to comprehend that someone finally told her something every reader with more than 20 braincells said when reading this comic series. And this in my opinion is from a structural point, one of the biggest missteps in this story. Obviously, this is supposed to be a comic about Sam, based on title and him being the one character in it with the most emotional aspects so far. And it is also obvious that this is not just meant to be a silly gag comic but supposedly one with emotional weight. So, where is that weight so far, aside from the panels showing Sam being miserable because he gets the short end of the stick by his friends? Sorry to hijack this thing here now with my own ideas, but if I had writen this story, page 12 and 13 would have actually been an immense turning point for me in the dynamic so far. Why I would have let Alex shout at Sam for insubordination, I would have made it more than one panel of Alex calling him scum and also end likely with Sam, who obviously reaches a limit the longer she goes on about it, end punching her in the face, perhaps even knock out. Show truly just how far Sam is pushed emotionally at this moment, keeping it however ambiguous if he hit her because of her words hurting or because of something else, in doing so focusing also the attention to the reader back on the locket.

As an aftermath of this, Alex would (if not knocked out) hit Sam back, much to Atea’s and Talus horror, later implying additionally that Sam left because of being hit by whom he thinks is not just his captain but a “friend” (oh yes spoiler, Sam is gone in the next chapter)   or the next page would be of Alex waking up back in her hideout from having been knocked out. Atea and Talus informing her what happened, her deciding to deal with Sam later on after recovering (who accompanied everyone back on the island temporarily) only for the last page showing Sam deciding that he is leaving the island, ending the chapter on Sam in a small boat slowly drifting away from the island. You know, something to give the chapter the feeling that the “shut up” moment is an emotional turning point in this story and that there might be something bigger going on that resulted in Sam deciding to leave, without having him however go full Meg Griffin as in the Family Guy episode “Seashell Seahorse Party”, chewing Alex and the others out for the way they treat him. Cause honestly, as much as I like for Alex, Atea and Talus to be chewed out and face consequences for their actions, doing so would likely just be (like in that Family guy episode)  a pointless fillerbuster in the bigger picture of things, as no real consequences would come out of it.

Well that and just like the writers of Family Guy, Dobson is just equally loathsome and thinks he can write whatever sick joke he wants and can on his characters, basic decency or consistency in writing be damned.

But back to the comic, where things just “end” as shown here instead of any real emotions boiling up and a cliffhanger that may genuinely beg the question what is going to happen next to anyone involved in this thing.

 Cause really, by the time it is night and Sam says it is time to go, you are not surprised he wants to go, even if he did not have a genuine emotional outburst within this chapter. After all, who wants to stay with “friends” like this, with Talus and Atea not even trying to cheer him up and instead ignoring his obvious need for comfort in this uncomfortable way, as if they are a bunch of racists trying to look away as someone beats a black person in front of them into a pulp. The only question you may ask yourself by the time the last page is hit, is who that generic looking girl is, whose picture has been photoshopped into the locket.

 Something we may not find out by the time the next chapter and part of this review hits, but will get to eventually. Until then guys, in order to end on something happier, funnier and just genuinely more pleasant than what this story presented to us so far, have something silly and Super Sentai related here for the sake of childish entertainment.

[musashi]

hey jess would it be possible to get a picture of your pokemon collection without the blue lights? the colored lights make it difficult for me to distinguish which pokemon you have ^^; my brain just registers shelves upon shelves of wobbuffet lol

YEAH sfdghfd i got lighting because my bookshelves are so dark its impossible to see the pokemon otherwise haha, they cycle thru the colour spectrum i just had em on blue in that shot. hopefully white lights are okee?

had to take pics of jessie & james’s shelves together cause the little water bottle cover wobbuffet hangs down to james’s shelf sdfgsgf. the second wobbuffet directly above jessie is a special one of a kind friend that @patheticnyas stitched me himself ;o; hes fulla beans and my pal and i periodically take him off the shelf to snuggle him

james’ shelf is kinda misc hence bewear and stufful but its mostly pokemon he has. the z ring on the bigger mareanie’s head is a reference to the end of the sm anime and i also keep my spare pair of glasses on her because she’s lovecore just like me. whenever i find bottlecaps lying around i wash them off and stack them on/around james like some kind of voodoo doll situation except i only do nice stuff to him so every james in the world always feels happy and serene. if you ever feel a wave of calm wash over you thats cause i put another bottlecap on ur voodoo chokkorisan. the oddish was a gift from @jessicarocket and the heal ball was a gift from @happylilraichu!!! both of them are a DTE reference from two of my biggest and sweetest fans :’3

meowth shelf is meowth. the meowth in the back w the curly whiskers is the oldest pokemon plush i own that i’ve had the longest. it was my first ever pokemon plush and i got it when i was 4 or 5 at a toys r us i would later work at and eventually close down. baby jessie kinnie me would carry meowth everywhere and talk to meowth constantly he was my best friend ever growing up.

oh and my essential pokemon book of joy! its a book TPCI released of inspirational pokeani quotes. when cons come back i really want to ask michele to sign its sfdgsdf

arbok o clok!!!!!! heres my snakes. i bought most of this collection from someone on pkmncollectors who was selling the whole thing for 70 fucking dollars it was a steal. that chubby lookin arbok in the back was a MAJOR steal, its a burger king plush from the late 90s that usually goes for about 50 bucks but i swiped it for 10-15 on ebay. some mom cleaning her kid’s closet BIN’d it at that price and i went ape.

mimikyu party! u cant entirely tell but the sideways dude in the back is shiny. 

various jessiemons!!!!!!! i just realized woobat is covering lickitung in this pic oops. theres a lickitung back there fdghfsgh

may monsssss. i keep the bandana from the cosplay over here too, it was a gift from my friend ash who’s url is escaping me at the moment dsgffsdg sorry ash OTL the rose was given to me by a random waluigi on sunday of con while i was in full may cosplay. i heard drew audibly screaming in my head the whole time it happened.

harleymons!!!!!!!!!!! cacturne is a bootie because there’s no fucking plush of cacturne and i was tired of not having a cacturne. contest fam buttons by @pocketvoyage @pokettoby who u should give all ur money to. the glittery rose was from @patheticnyas so i put it with his pokemon so they could be together in spirit :’3

i also collect contest fam mons in figure form! i need more solidad in my life seghfsgh i feel bad for not giving her pokes more attention. theres also some randos in here like the pika funko haha i had to swipe that cause it was a highly sought after work exclusive and i have a lot of funny stories about it.

ANNNND the rest of my rocket collection! plus some groudon over there cause me maxie. a LOT of these figures were gifts fgsfgfd. the figures in the back r stupid expensive and fully articulated and the best gift ever from jessica, so naturally i made them dab. the framed white pics are kinda hard to see but they’re animation cels (sketches, i cant fucking afford colours lmao, for pokeani they go for like 1k+) of team rocket from episode 14 of OS! the funky lookin pikachu in both these photos in the top right of this one was a glass sculpture my grandparents bought from a street seller in budapest and its very special to me because my family outside of my sisters rarely pays attention to me or acknowledges my interests. the other framed print is rachael lillis’s autograph!

i have michele’s too but im waitin on my paycheck to hit tonight to buy frames sdfgsgfd. if i can manage hayashibara’s i’ll have every jessie i’ve ever watched dfgfsgd.

i also have some misc plush chillin in a corner i always forget to take pics of! mostly gifts haha. but ive also got chokkorisan plush of the OG golden trio. i put the lil croagunk pin michele sent me on brock x3

[cosmomoore]

I drew this back before I commissioned @rumwik for a Bellossom Ko-Fi drawing (which I love by the way 😊) and also before I started experimenting with my style again.

I debated posting it at all, but when I was cleaning up Procreate, I figured since she was done I might as well post her.

I will definitely revisit Bellossom again (I currently have an unfinished sketch I had been working on). I think once I get my next tattoo (which is this weekend 🤗), Bellossom may be next. I typically like to wait a year before I commit to a tattoo, so I will probably contemplate and design some more in the meantime. I may even commission some more artists to see what they come up with. I have always loved Bellossom and Pokemon brings me a joy similar to what Sailor Moon brings me, so I figure I may as well get a Pokemon tattoo (or two or three) as well.

Anyways, I hope my little Bellossom brings you joy. Fingers crossed the Oddish family makes it into the Sword and Shield Pokedex. 🤞

[askingdiabolikbois]

S&M bro's Pokemon

AShu: 

I think Shu would like a loyal dog Pokemon that can be his silent partner. Having this Pokemon would help him feel less alone and it would be a comfort for him. Given this I think a Growlithe would be good for him! She is too lazy to train one, but maybe if he’s had it since he was a child the Pokemon would get to know his nature, and know that Shu needs someone by his side. The Pokemon wouldn’t be walked very much by Shu, if at all, so he roams the mansions gardens and forrest alone but always returns to his trainer. Growlithes are known for being incredibly loyal, and thats something Shu really needs.

I also think Shu would be good with a Snorlax, they are fairly easy to handle as they mainly eat and sleep and dont require much attention, however Snorlax’s need to consume 400 kg of food whenever hungry is a hassle. She tends to let it raid the kitchen whenever it wants, which lands them both in trouble with Reiji.

Reiji:

A poison type Pokemon like Arbok would be most useful to Reiji because he can extract some of it’s deadly poison to use in his potion and teas. He also likes how it’s long tail can be used to tangle victims who try to run away, before using the long tail as a whip, keeping them trapped until Reiji is able to fetch his own whip to really start the punishment.

For some reason I can also imagine Reiji with an Oricorio (sensu style), it’s elegant appearance is what drew him in. It was on a ‘business trip’ he was required to attend for his father that he spotted the Pokemon. The beauty of the bird made him want to catch it, so he did using a luxury ball. With it’s Japanese style markings, and graceful etiquette it became a good companion for Reiji. It took a liking to tea ceremonies, and enjoys helping it’s trainer polish his tableware collection. When Reiji found out it was a ghost type as well as flying he was initially fearful, however after knowing his partner for quite some time he adjusted to this after a little apprehension. He even considered having it drink a coloured nectar to change it’s typing, but he deemed the other various forms to lack the elegance the Sensu style did. To this day his Oricorio is the only ghost type he can tolerate.

Ayato:

Ayato dreamed of becoming a trainer ever since he was a small child, he dreamed of travelling the world and playing with his Pokemon. Cordelia would never allow that, so even on his 10th birthday he wasn’t allowed to start his journey. He was so disappointed as he was hoping to receive a Charmander and become the best trainer ever. As soon as his mother was dead he went out to get a Pokemon, skipping the starters because there ‘generic’, and wanting a super cool and powerful pokemon straight away. He now has a Pyroar, and is training it to be the best. He is a terrible trainer and can’t think up good battle strategies thus he doesn’t have any gym badges, he uses brute strength and doesn’t focus on battle plans.

Kanato:

Kanato would need a submissive Pokemon who was small and cute, and didn’t bother him too much. A Teddiursa would be good for him, it reminded him of Teddy which is why he took a liking to it. As long as it was pre-trained and knew not to annoy its trainer it may have a good relationship with it’s trainer. Kanato treats his Pokemon like familiar, making it his slave and doing tasks for him. He would treat his Teddiursa to tea parties and dress it up in cute outfits. As long as it doesn’t upset him or Teddy, or evolve into an Ursaring, then it may survive.

Laito:

Laito likes Pokemon because there friendly and cute, and can be submissive. They won’t leave or hurt you, and there good attracting girls/boys too! Laito is a Pokemon coordinator alongside his Serperior. He started out as a fun way to meet cute girls & boys, but he became pretty good at them and has won several ribbons. He likes the overall look of Serperior and likes seeing it’s long body have a helpless bitch entangled in it’s grip, watching them thrash about with no success, slowly being strangled by the serpents strong grip, seeing them shake in fear at the mean glare in the Pokemon’s eye and the deceitful, lustful gaze from Laito’s…that really gets him going.

He also has a ‘cute’ Pokemon for the appeal, he has this signature move when he’s flirting, where he lifts his fedora and a cute little Vulpix pops out, playing it’s role perfectly so it’s trainer can obtain their newest flirtation for the night.

Subaru:

Subaru has a Mightyena, it started following him around as a Poochyenna when he saved it from a pack of Houndoom in the forrest one night. He got annoyed at the Pokemon for following him, but eventually came to not mind it. He decided to catch the Poochyenna because he was sick of it trampling his rose gardens, and scratching his coffin lid in search of him.

Ruki:

His partner is a Xatu, houses it to predict the future so he can ensure he and his brothers safety, and also their plans for completing Karlheinz’s tasks are going to plan. 

He also has a Noctowl whom he uses as a familiar, because of Noctowls silent flying, exceptional hearing and eyesight, and it’s wise nature it makes the perfect spy when need be. A Noctowl never lets it’s pray escape, which is something Ruki shared in common with it, it watches over anyone Ruki wishes to remain in the mansion, and ensures they are where needed to be when Ruki is busy and cannot himself. Noctowls are also known to peck people who harass it, so Azusa is constantly bothering it in order to be pecked.

Kou:

Kou has a Skitty! Ruki wasn’t pleased about it but as long as it’s kept in it’s Pokeball outside of Kou’s room, and around Ruki he allows it. It took a lot of convincing but Kou insisted the cuteness of the Pokemon alongside his good looks would draw in many people and his idol career would improve! Kou spoils his Pokemon and is always buying it cute little bows and his social media is full of cute pictures of them both!

Yuma:

Yuma has several Pokemon that he’s caught to help him with his garden, he found his first Pokemon, an Oddish, when he was pulling leaves in his garden and it started streaking horribly. Yuma was going to silence it, but it wriggled away so he let it go. Yuma noticed the soil was looking glossier, and healthier in patches of the garden. New flowers were blooming too, one’s he hadn’t planted, he soon realised it was the work of Oddish, and caught it and trained it to help his plants grow. 

His second Pokemon is Chesnaught, he found it as a Chespin that has wondered through to his garden, and he was furious to see it had eaten some of his berries it had grown. It ran off before Yuma could harm it, he found it the next day raking the soil, attempting to cover berry seeds in the ground. Yuma saw it was trying to apologise and decided to raise it, and teach it how to garden. Once it evolved into a Chesnaught, and gained the fighting typing, Yuma used it as a sparring partner as well. After a hard day of gardening the two would blow of steam by having a ‘mock battle’ with each other.

His last Pokemon is a Mudsdale, he received it in a trade for a random Pokemon he found in the forrest. Mudsdale was excellent at plowing the fields and helping to carry the harvests, and other heavy objects. The Pokemon became very useful to Yuma and it’s docile nature lead it to become Yuma’s most trusted companion.

Azusa:

Azusa has two Pokemon, his first is an Ageislash, he received it as a Honedge when he bought it in a store in the demon world,mistaking it for a knife. When he found out what it truly was he loved it even more. It’s the top ‘knife’ in his collection, and he really loves it. He had fun evolving it, and he enjoys it’s different forms and seeing how it can cut him in different ways depending on which form its taken.

His second Pokemon is a Pawniard, he read about this Pokemon in one of Ruki’s books, and went in search of one.He snuck it into the mansion and kept it hidden in his room for a while. Eventually he was caught and begged Ruki to let him keep it, after a lot of convincing and compromise he was allowed to keep it,with the rule it must wear an Everstone stone so it can’t evolve and become too dangerous for Azusa to own.

[ask-mirai-and-friends]

Happy 2nd Anniversary!

On 13th October 2017 this blog turned 2 years old, and as those who visited my anniversary stream on that day know, I started a group picture there:

This blogs OCs’ and their friends!

Thank you all for 2 years of loyality, support and over 500 followers!! You are absolutely amazing! <3

(and yes it took me until today to finish it)

Mentions and some other stuff below; if you spot your character here, please read it:

Mabel the Togekiss - @shiruba98 on twitter

You always helped me out on tumblr so much in your time here, you loved my father-child duo just as much as I do and always sent me asks or guest art when I needed it. Thank you for still showing up in my streams when you can and our great chats on your server buddy!

Arko the Ninetales - @arko-and-friend

I already told you a lot of what I want to say when we meet up (I mean you’re sitting right next to me right now) but still! You are one of my most precious friends and I hope this will last forever!!

DJ the Mew - @ask-dj-and-friends

I chose to draw DJs original design here, mostly because it’s how everything began. (plus I was afraid that you’d change the design before I finish - what you did xD) Back then you suddenly showed up and stayed at this blog, I’m so glad we became friends and have the chance to plot and plan and just have fun together! You are a really kind person and should never stop just being yourself!

Star the Shinx - @ryancorrsin

You’re such a lovely guy, always there for your friends, up for a talk or rp, and how you write your characters is absolutely adorable! I’m really glad Tara found her little brother in Star and I hope they’ll be able to have their adventures for a long time longer!

Allen the Umbreon - @asktoastythearcanine

We shipped our cuties for so long, they just fit each other well and I’m glad they stay in this relationship even after your reboot. I wish you the best for your blog, it’s one of the few where I patiently await every update to adore your characters, their relationships between each other and your clean traditional drawings!

Felix the Dewott-Espeon hybrid - @FelixRukai on twitter

I know we had our differences, but I’m glad to still call you my friend! Our rp times were a lot of fun and I’m happy to see your stuff and characters on twitter or Discord once in a while! I really hope you’ll have a lot of fun with your OCs in the future too!

Brandon the Feraligatr - @ask-brandon-the-feraligatr

YOU! You were my first friend in this community and you came so far!! Champ I’m so proud of you and thankful for you staying with me all this time! I can’t thank you enough and asure you that I’ll be with you in the future too. For whatever happens, brother!

Snow the Umbreon - @Grassnack on twitter

For the last year you’ve been my biggest supporter when it comes to art, not only because of the commissions I was allowed to draw for you! You showed around my art, motivated me to do stuff and get better, and your streams are so much fun every time! I can’t even express everything I would want to tell you, but the most important thing is: Even now that you left tumblr, let’s continue to be such good friends, chat a lot and motivate each other!!

Lisa the Nidoqueen - @ask-nido-royalty

I know we don’t chat or interact a lot, but when we used to chat more it was a lot of fun, plus you brought me some great ideas that time. And every time I see you posting or even liking stuff I just have to smile, happy to see you still being around!

Noir the Meloetta - @ask-the-melodic-squad

I really dunno what to say here. You’re amazing, as an artist and as a person, have been my (female) best friend for like 10 YEARS now??!? I just hope this’ll never change, you’re like a sister to me and I will never risk to loose you! You can’t escape me ;3c

SM the Fennekin - @tailsluigi

You’re that one person who shows up in every stream of mine and I enjoy that just as our relaxing chats once in a while. I also love our art trades, seeing your art in general! We have a lot of fun and I’m really happy about it!

Moonlight the Umbreon - @occasionallyshinyumbreon

Umbre! It’s always so much fun to chat, plan stuff for our blogs or just fangirl over small things! I enjoy your art and blogs a lot and kinda adopted your OC Lissa as my baby already?? How?? When??? I just hope this can continue on and that you’ll have a lot of fun and support on everything you do because daaamn you deserve it you wonderful gurl!!

Jaws the Mawile - @ask-the-ruby-wanderer

I remember you suddenly showing up at the stream and helping me out with how to draw Jaws for the first time in like forever. I enjoyed our interactions with her and Lilly a lot! You hopefully didn’t loose your fun with the rps on your blog after all that time and enjoy this little thank you!

Coriander the Delphox - @ask-stockholmsyndrome

I don’t know if you will see this when I send it to you, but I really have to thank you a lot! You were the first one to give me the honor of drawing a commission for and I often showed up in my askbox and feed. I loved your characters on both blogs and am sure you’ll have more free time in the future to be creative again! I wish you the best for prep school, be careful out there!

Jaden the Umbreon - @ask-the-feathered-legendaries

Sorry, I really have no clue if your Sona has a nickname or not...but hey, I’m here to thank you for your help over a long time here on tumblr! You helped me with plot, characters, species and my commission sheet. Yes you were on of the few people who believed in me and damn I’m so happy you did! I wish you, this caring and nice person, the best!!

Kyle the Meowstic - @ask-random-pokes

You too were one of the first people I befriended here and helped me out a lot with this blog! I enjoyed our collab lately and hope we’ll be able to work together again one day. I’m rooting for your commissions to go well, your drawing-style improved a lot and still stood unique! Good job!!

Claws the Zangoose - @Laguna on Discord

We didn’t talk a lot yet, but you’re really nice and supporting. I’m flustered by all the praise you give me for my art and hope we can continue chatting like this and get to know each other better!

Flamma the Ninetales - @the-banished-ninetales

Buddy I’ll make sure you see this because I want to show you that I didn’t forget Flamma yet!! I’m so happy we got to meet in person last year, I’ll never forget that day in Munich for sure! We definetly should talk more again, I miss our talks about..well anything! May it be Pokemon-related or not. I wish you the best!!

Schatz the Sylveon - @ask-intertwiningtime

I really don’t know if you’ll see this, but I really wanted to include Schatz here! I enjoyed your characters, plot and the ships in all the time I knew about them very much! Plus you were always there for a lil chat and helping me! I still honour the commission you drew me all that time ago and am very glad to have met a person like you!

My characters: Olivia the Altaria, Kais Mom the Liepard, Kai the Sylveon, Baako the Poochyena, Solan the Cherubi, Titus the Rowlet, Hak the Arcanine, Lilly the Oddish, Gracy the Shroomish, Imani the Skitty, Yabu the Trubbish, Baby Vulpix, Amily the Taillow, Zea the Taillow, Imgar the Feraligatr, Tara the Umbreon, Mod Calu the Eevee (my Modsona), Devin the Zorua, Emmett the Quilava, Linus the Luxio, Rachel the Glaceon, Archer the Grovyle, Aaron the Pidgeot.

[voluntaryreboot]

League Challenge Report - Portsmouth UK, February

Well I wanted a platform to ruminate on my TCG performances and report on tournaments which didn't necessarily make the cut for a Reddit post or whatever. I’m not sure what the community on Tumblr is like but it’ll be fun to find out. So let’s dive right on in.

The Deck & Preparations 

This was my first tournament after I won a League Cup with Buzzwole/Lycanroc. I really like that deck - and I’ve won 70CP with it - but I don’t enjoy how fragile it is and I don’t think it’s a great choice if you’re going to a BO1 tournament, because it can brick in the early game, you can run out of steam in the late game, or you can simply find yourself with a poor setup and being run over by a deck that’s teched well against you. Mew EX and Mewtwo EVO are the two biggest threats, but any player who knows what they’re doing can manoeuvre around you and make it very difficult. 

So I decided to creep into my binder and revive an old friend. Ever since Burning Shadows I’ve been enamoured with Golisopod, and Tord’s list at London Internats with Zoroark was a real game changer. I played that deck a lot in the aftermath but never really took it to tournaments because it had an unfavourable Gardy matchup. Now that Gardy has been sidelined I think it’s the deck with the best matchups across the board, and some of the inclusions at Colinsville were reallly interesting. Not to mention the fact it broke into top 8 again, and in fact won the whole thing. I don’t like the Lurantis line (I think this misses the point of the deck - it isn’t a 1HKO list and if you’re playing it like that it feels like you’re sacrificing the versatility, not to mention the fact Golisopod is a secondary attacker and not the primary focus of the deck anyway) so I opted for something more akin to Russel LaPerre’s list, with a few changes. At this event I was really just here to play Zoroark again and have fun, with no expectations or aims other than getting another Magnezone (places 1-4 prize card). 

As often happens, I travelled to this with a fellow member of Team Oddish, Joe. Joe was running the Buzzwole/Lycanroc deck we both played to major success at the Southampton cup, and you can read about that here. We also met Shakil, who used to run Typlosion but is now taking the game seriously and travelling to other events. Great to see more people getting properly into the game. 

Round 1 - Zoroark/Garbodor vs Michael

Originally I had a bye but not long after there was a repair, so I got to actually play. This round was against one of the better players from Portsmouth, but he was running Zoroark with Garbodor and the balloons and stuff. I spent four months playing Garbodor decks and run three field blowers, so this match wasn’t a huge problem. I avoided trades of items and kept the count very low (it would take 11 items in discard for Trashalance to be a threat, but rather safe than sorry) until I knew I had game in hand. Michael later said he misplayed a lot but I didn’t really see it from his supporter choices and the moves he made. He did whiff the items for lock a couple of times or evolved into the wrong Garb but I don’t think it was relevant to the outcome of the match. 

1/0/0.

Round 2 - Alolan Ninetails / Zoroark vs Shakil 

I very quickly dispatched Shakil with the BuzzRoc deck at the League Cup and he held up this deck as his ‘other choice’ for the event. I told him he definitely made the wrong choice and this is why. Luminous Barrier is a tough one for this deck to work around. In the event however he benched both his Leles and got a Zoroark up which allowed me a route to 6 relatively easy prizes. We had plenty of time afterwards and went for a game 2 where he got the lock up with two loaded baby Ninetails and avoided benching anything else, which made my life significantly more difficult. We couldn’t finish that match but I think he was en route to win it. 

2/0/0

Round 3 - Empoleon / Zoroark vs Marcus 

Marcus is one of Po Town’s best players and he travels to a lot of events (I hung around with him at London Internationals a little) so this was a match that wasn’t to be taken lightly. However, Empoleon is a pretty tough deck to pilot because it depends on your opponent playing into it. It reminds me of Garbodor in that its main strength is when your opponent can’t exercise self restraint. This time it wasn’t a problem because I got a turn 1 parallel city up and kept my bench to a modest three, which meant even when he was hitting energy (he whiffed for several turns in the early game) he wasn’t able to take any big OHKOs. In the first turn he had to Lele for Brigette for 2 and struggled to get much going for him, so I was able to use Koko for Flying Flip and setup future First Impression plays. Empoleon having 160 can be an awkward number for this deck, so being able to do a couple of those really helped. He eventually drew into a field blower and tried to kick off a little but I had the second parallel in hand and consolidated the board for a win. 

3/0/0

Round 4 - Zygarde / Buzzwole / Zoroark vs John

This tournament was weird because I knew everyone I played against, which hasn’t happened before. It was also weird because every deck that I came up against had Zoroark. My opponent opened a Zygarde which was pleasing because it’s grass weak. I won the flip but opened with a Zorua and thought it was going poorly because he got a buzzwole turn 2 and had taken 3 prizes from Zorua very quickly. However, this was part of the strategy, because my opponent didn’t have a great setup and I had both wimpod on the bench. I think I N’d to 3 and proceeded to OHKO two Zygarde to even the score pretty quickly due to having both Golisopod in deck. He whiffed an Elixir or two which would have probably changed the balance a little but after being told he only had 7 fighting in the list it wasn’t a huge surprise (I hit it roughly 50% of the time with 9 in the list, and he had already played a couple down). There probably is scope for a Turbo Buzzwole/Zoroark deck but Zygarde is a massive liability and generally a bad card so it would have no place in it if I was building it. But I wasn’t, and it did, so I won. 

4/0/0

The Results and Coming Up

This was right down to the wire because after all rounds completed there were two players on 4/0/0. For reasons unknown, my resistance was better, so I ended up winning outright. The prizing for this challenge was awesome (as is the norm at Portsmouth) and I got a Guzzlord GX box and 2 packs of Ultra Prism, from which I pulled a M Audino GX and a Charizard GX. Can’t complain about that at all. 

Really I just wrote this post to get some #content on the blog, but I’ve got a League Cup next week and I think I’ll take this list to it. I’m also considering BuzzRoc but I think I enjoyed the Golisopod play style so much and the matchups are so strong across the board that it’s The Play for the weekend. 

[cgxsg-blog]

June 12-18 2017 [Week 5]

I can’t believe it’s been a month since I arrived in Singapore! The first two weeks went by slowly but the past few days whizzed by at lightning speed. Since the previous 2 interns left, I have been swamped with tasks. On Monday June 12, I completed a cBOT clustering and NextSeq run. Those two tasks took up most of my time, but I was faster at the sample preparation processes. By the time I went down for lunch, Mealbox was almost empty. I ordered the vegetarian meal with rice, tomato, and sweet potatoes since I was too tired to decide what I felt like eating. When I got home, I felt lethargic so I took it easy at the gym and cycled around 6km. 

Click ‘Text’ to read the rest of the post!

Monday’s lunch because I cannot stop getting vegetarian food.

Tuesday June 13 was another busy day at work. The morning consisted of all the HiSeq washes for 2 sequencers and another NextSeq run. All these tasks also resulted in a late lunch. I ordered fried fish bee hoon from Ban Mian which was a light but delicious lunch. It consisted of fried fish filets, bok choy, and shrimp flakes in a soup noodle. After lunch, I started 2 HiSeq runs. I felt familiar with the protocols, but still needed to practice in order to increase my efficiency. To make up for my lazy gym day yesterday, I killed the elliptical at the gym and did light weight-lifting. After the heavy workout, I overate during dinner, which caused me to have a stomachache in the evening. Lesson learned.

Tuesday’s lunch. Funny story: the server asked me if I wanted milk, to which I replied no because I thought she was asking if I wanted to drink milk. Little did I know she meant if I wanted milk in the soup. This is my cousin’s favourite meal of all time so naturally he laughed forever when I told him about my confusion.

I woke up during the morning of Wednesday June 14 feeling normal despite my stomachache last night. In the morning, I completed another cBOT clustering. I definitely sped up during the processes, although it still took the entire morning. At the same time, I also completed the HiSeq washes in order to use it for sequencing in the afternoon. For lunch, I ordered Yong Tau Foo. I picked a variety of seafood items with carrots and bok choy in dry ramen noodles. I planned on starting my HiSeq run immediately following lunch but was delayed because the clustering was not finished. Instead of going to the gym after work, I swam a few laps around the pool. My cousin tagged along but I focused on exercising. Later in the evening, my cousin and I drew and coloured Pokémon. He drew Electrode, Oddish, Wailmer, and Foongus while I drew Luvdisc and Wooper. 

Wednesday’s lunch. The light at the table where I sat was broken so this picture came out dark.

Thursday June 14 was a calm day at work. In the morning I started a NextSeq run and washed a HiSeq. I caved in and ordered vegetarian during lunch with the best combination of salad, Japanese dressing, rice, tofu, and corn. At the gym, I did light weight-training first then ran on the treadmill for 20 minutes. It was a moderate workout which made me hungry during dinner but I controlled my food intake this time.

I woke up on Friday June 15 by a visit from Mother Nature because it’s the time of the month. Nevertheless, I was excited because our whole family is going to D’Resort this weekend! In the morning, I did cBOT clustering and a NextSeq run. During lunch, I took the one-north rider shuttle bus with some other interns to Ghim Moh Market & Food Centre, a hawker center close to GIS. For the longest time, I thought the food stalls on the first floors of HDB buildings were hawker centers. However, hawker centers are huge open markets with shops that sell groceries, clothes, and food. At Ghim Moh, I ordered carrot cake from Ghim Moh Carrot Cake (surprise!), red bean pancake from Granny’s Pancake, and chwee kueh from Ghim Moh Chwee Kueh (today is full of surprises). The carrot cake was made of rice noodles, egg, and radish (I believe), not carrots. Chwee kueh is steamed rice cake with with salty preserved radish as a topping. My favourite was the red bean pancake. The perfect consistency along with my favourite topping made it the best pancake I’ve ever had, even better than the one at Bread Street Kitchen. Sorry, Gordon Ramsay. Lunch was satisfying and delicious. I will definitely return many times in the future to try all the authentic Singaporean food before going back to Vancouver. After work, I made a few stops to run some errands before heading off to D’Resort.

Chwee Kueh.

Carrot cake with absolutely no carrots.

It was a lengthy ride to Pasir Ris, the last stop on the East-West line. I met up with my aunt, uncle, and cousin at White Sands, the mall right beside the MRT station. We headed off to the food court for dinner. I ordered Yong Tau Foo, but this place was different from the one at Mealbox. It was a blend of tofu and fish balls in a gravy-like sauce with rice and soup on the side. I did not get to pick which toppings I wanted in the sauce. Nevertheless, everything was tasty which made sense since this place is famous for their Yong Tau Foo according to my aunt. We headed off to our hotel room shortly afterwards. We stayed at Beach Cove in last room before the elevators.

A different kind of Yong Tau Foo from the foodcourt at White Sands.

On Saturday June 16, I woke up at 7am from rooster calls. The circadian clocks of these animals were astonishing accurate, since sunrise was 6:58am according to the weather widget on the hotel room’s TV. I didn’t mind waking up early since the bed and pillow were comfortable so I had a good night’s rest. My aunt and uncle went for a morning bike ride so I stayed behind with my cousin and played some phone games. After their bike ride, we headed off to E!Hub, a shopping complex next to Beach Cove, for breakfast. My aunt and I ordered kaya toast from Heavenly Wang. She had Kopi, the traditional Singaporean coffee, while I drank honey lemon tea. My cousin and uncle had porridge from KFC. The concept of serving Asian cuisine in fast food restaurants here amuses me to this day.

The coziest morning.

My cousin and uncle went to my cousin’s tennis class after breakfast so my aunt and I rested in our hotel room. For lunch, we ate at The Basil Inn, a Thai restaurant. I ordered black cumin rice with floss, egg, cucumber, ginger, and onions on the side while my aunt ordered Pad Thai. We shared a broccoli and shrimp stir-fry. Everything tasted delicious. I cannot wait to visit Thailand! My uncle and cousin came back with my grandparents in the afternoon and I decided to move into their room in the Rainforest building because there were 3 single beds there. I had never seen a hotel room like that!

Thai lunch aesthetics.

Soon after, we prepared for the BBQ dinner. I attempted to prepare skewers but failed miserably. I decided it was best for me to be in charge of the food consumption instead of preparation. There were beef skewers, Taiwanese sausages, tofu skins, corn, spinach, and cucumbers at the BBQ. My favourite were the Taiwanese sausages since they were mildly sweet but delicious. My grandparents and I took an evening stroll in Pasir Ris park after dinner but it was dark so we couldn’t see the beach scenery. We decided to return the next morning. It was pleasant to spend quality time with my grandparents. This was undoubtedly one of the defining moments that will be imprinted in my collection of memories with them.

BBQing in the sunset.

I didn’t hear the rooster calls on the morning of Sunday June 17 from the Rainforest building. My grandma woke us up at 7:30am for the morning stroll. The scenery at Pasir Ris park was astounding. Towering palm trees lined the beaches. In the horizon, I could see Malaysia. The sun had just rose so there was a slight breeze in the air. I took advantage of this golden opportunity to take some beautiful iPhone and Polaroid photography since I left my camera at home. It was an extraordinary sight.

Pasir Ris park and beach. The land in the horizon is Malaysia!

My grandparents and I had breakfast at Ya Kun Kaya Toast. My grandma ordered Mee Siam, my grandpa ordered Laksa, and I ordered kaya butter steamed buns and kaya french toast with milk tea. I can’t comprehend how people eat a bowl of noodles for breakfast. It’s too savoury and heavy for my first meal of the day. We rushed back to our hotel room to finish packing to check out by 11am. We intended to leave D’Resort immediately after checking out but there was a sudden torrential downpour which lasted for a solid hour. When the rain finally eased, we loaded the baggage in the car. My aunt, cousin, and I took a GrabCar home since my uncle’s car didn’t fit us all inside. I fell asleep on the way back. 

Waiting for the rain to stop.

We had dumplings as a late lunch since we ate breakfast around 10am. I called my parents and wished my dad an early happy father’s day since it was Saturday in Vancouver. I spent the rest of the day resting so I can be refreshed for work next week. My week at work was productive as I gradually eased into the flow of my tasks. The weekend at D’Resort was relaxing and enjoyable. Looking forward to next week!

C.G.

[musashi]

Are there any specific pieces of pokemerch you're looking for right now? Do you have any favorite pieces of merch that you currently own? What merch do you wish they would make, like what characters or pokemon do you wish had more/any merch?

Are there any specific pieces of pokemerch you're looking for right now? 

I haven’t actually bought any since I moved because i’m feeling out living on my own and budgeting still, but my first REAL pandemic paycheck hit and my eyes are dollar signs so im fixing to do a big order soon >w>

i’m looking for a lot of stuff from the team rocket collab some store i dont know the name of in japan recently did... it was like. nothing but rocket merch. mostly acrylic keychains of their pokemon which is out of my wheelhouse but hey. rockets.

the mystery dungeon plush that just came out too!!! i really wanna get chikorita and torchic hehe. 

and i’m looking to fill out my drew & solidad shelves of my contest fam bookshelf cause so far its just may & harley. i have butterfree which was my biggest want! but i just need to rep my rivalsssss.

god we just got a new wobbuffet too, the ditto one... im still so bitter the english pokecenter just ignored it.

Do you have any favorite pieces of merch that you currently own? 

lottery wobbuffet is still the champ of my heart, and my arbok shirt was 100 us dollars well fucking spent. heres a picture of both of them

also some goddess, not sure how she got there.

my favourite piece of pokemerch of all is this san-ei oddish @jessicarocket gifted me.

it was her special way of telling me she was my dearest canonmate and she did it through a pokemon she raised in my canon, but not the public canon. my james had an oddish, so it was a very sweet way of saying “i’ve missed you.”

the heal ball beneath it is also very special & it’s a gift from @happylilraichu! i wrote those aforementioned canon memories into a fanfic called Denounce the Evils, and dean has been one of my loudest & kindest supporters from day one. a major plot point is a pair of oddish-line pokemon in heal balls, so when i opened his package and saw it i nearly cried and immediately seated the special baby sprout atop it.

hm... i also have some cels of team rocket from EP014 (sketches, i cant afford more than that xD) and an autograph from rachael lillis. she sent me stickers of arbok and pikachu, and while the idea of getting an arbok from fucking jessie sent me straight to cloud nine, i stuck the pikachu on the external harddrive i keep the entire pokeani on. so i really love that pikachu, telling you exactly whats on the harddrive xD

What merch do you wish they would make, like what characters or pokemon do you wish had more/any merch?

oh my god. seviper, dustox, MORE ARBOK, salazzle, salandit, cacturne, cacnea, octillery, ANYTHING I WANT PLUSH OF MORE POISON BABIES AND ROCKETMONS!!!! rocketmons esp jessiemons never get merch OTL only meowth and wobbuffet if that!!!!

figures are FINE but i want PLUSH i want to CUDDLE