#i just got my w2 and was surprised at how much I made considering how tight finances were this last year

[famewolf]

man ... I remember when I used to think that if I made 35k a year then I would have 'made it'. I could be comfortable and save money and not worry about bills and things would be great financially lmao

[blueeyeswhitegarden]

🔥 Pokemon anime 🔥 Pokemon games 🔥 Pokemon Manga

Sorry for not responding sooner. I was a bit too tired to do this last night.

🔥: This might be kind of moot at this point, but I didn’t really have a problem with Misty and Brock not being in the recent movie. I understand why there was a backlash when they revealed new characters instead. There was a lot of episode one nostalgia with the trailers and promotional artwork, so people assumed that Misty and Brock would be there too. I think a lot of fans assumed that they wouldn’t bring back old characters in the show anymore after Iris didn’t appear in XY. Plus, the idea of seeing old favorite characters in a new adventure on the big screen probably sounded really appealing to a lot of new and old fans alike.

That being said, I didn’t really mind not including them for the movie. As much as I liked the episode one nostalgia, I was just happy to have some new information for the movie at the time. I wanted to see what else the movie had to offer and where it would differ from episode one. Plus, more movie quality pictures of Lucario, my favorite Pokemon, is always fantastic as far as I’m concerned. I can still understand why fans wanted Misty and Brock in the movie, but since the premise of the movie was all about Ash and Pikachu’s beginning, it might have been for the best that they weren’t in the movie in a way. I haven’t read spoilers for the movie, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Misty and Brock would have faded into the background while the focus was on Ash. Most fans probably wouldn’t mind that considering how long Misty and Brock were gone from the show, but saving them for those two SM episodes might have been the better option. I can’t say for sure since I haven’t seen those episodes either. I still wait for the dub episodes to air just because I’m sentimental like that, but getting to see what both Misty and Brock have been doing in the actual continuity of the anime sounds better than appearing in an alternate retelling of Ash’s beginning journey.

🔥: I never understood the hype for Pokemon Z. I remember people referring to Zygarde as the Z Legendary Pokemon during the midnight release for X/Y, but it just confused me. People assumed that we’d get Gray after Black and White, but we got B2/W2 instead. That should have proved that third version games aren’t guaranteed anymore, but I saw fans acting like the game was already confirmed for years and expecting an announcement to hit any day. I can understand wanting to visit an updated Kalos. As much as I love the fifth generation games, Unova as a region felt more fleshed out to me with the upgrades in B2/W2. Kalos could have used some new areas to flesh it out, but I didn’t think that the story left room open enough for a sequel like B/W did and I thought that going back to traditional third versions would be a step backwards after getting sequels. Unlike a lot of fans, I didn’t think that they left a lot of dangling plot threads or too many unanswered questions within the storyline for X/Y, so I didn’t think a continuation was completely necessary. I would have bought it if they did make it simply because I love Pokemon, but I don’t think it was necessary, a guarantee and given the timing, it made much more sense for them to go for a new generation instead to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the franchise. Sun/Moon had much more new content than a hypothetical Z version could have simply due to containing new characters, new Pokemon and a new region to explore.

Granted, this might sound kind of weird to say in a way due to how Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon sound like the return of traditional third versions based on the promotional information we have gotten. I still wish we had gotten proper sequels instead, but I’m also still hoping that these won’t be just traditional third version games. The fact that there are brand new Ultra Beasts that weren’t in the data for Sun/Moon does give me hope that the characters and storylines aren’t just largely the same with a few new bells and whistles. Even so, I don’t think that we needed Pokemon Z and I’m glad that we got Sun/Moon when we did instead.

🔥: I’m not sure if this is an unpopular opinion, but I still feel like the Pokemon Adventures series gets too much praise for being dark when I really don’t think it is. It is more intense than the anime is, but that’s not really the same thing as being dark. The series is still largely aimed at children, just like the anime is, but they’re able to go in different directions than the anime for various reasons. It is still a good series and I could see most fans of the games or anime enjoying reading through most of the arcs, but I don’t think that it’s as dark or as violent as fans hype it out to be.

Thank you for asking. ^_^

[crystalized-dreams]

I originally was just going to keep it to my small thoughts on Twitter, but I got a few questions about it so I wanted to write something in… more detail and after thinking about it, I guess I have a bit more to say.

I’ll start with Pokken Tournament DX just because I won’t have much to say about it. So it’s Pokken. With the added Arcade characters. And a few more things. And on the Switch. And well, I just don’t really care. I tried really hard to get into Pokken, but in the end just got… bored. Unless some of my favorite Pokemon end up on the roster (or heck, an Audino who’d Mega Evolve), I don’t think it’d ever really reel me in enough to care. I’m not surprised to see a bigger version brought to the Switch, but when it comes down to it, I think I’d rather see a new Pokemon Stadium title which had a side mode being what Pokken Tournament is along with other minigames. I think, in general, fighting games just aren’t as interesting to me anymore.

While I wasn’t pleased with the announcement, especially considering the slow build up on how the Nintendo Switch exists and having a game and it just being Pokken (even though I didn’t expect a main title on Switch yet, I just… constantly forget Pokken exists and it’s like the one thing I would’ve have wanted to see–I don’t even care for the Pokemon Ranger series and I would have taken that) was disappointing and that moment of suspense, despite how small it was, ended up being a big let-down for me. I did really like the trailer they played though and that was probably the highlight of the Pokken part of the Direct for me.

But I did feel it was a bit long. As someone who also really loved all the Pokemon Sun and Moon Shorts leading up to the game, I really wished they had just put the longer up after and had a shorter one to discuss other things. Whether it be more about Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, stuff about updates for mobile games, about WHERE THE HECK IS DEETCTIVE PIKACHU BECAUSE I WANT THAT GAME SO BADLY AND IT ENDED ON A CLIFFHANGER… ahem, or even other side games.

More than half of the 8 minutes was dedicated to just Pokken stuff though and that was really disappointing. There wasn’t really enough content for that to be it. I just hope maybe we’ll see more stuff on Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon at E3 as well. Unfortunately, they only confirmed hearing about Pokken for that too thus far

Before I get into my thoughts on Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, I want to briefly address the Switch rumor that accidentally broke out. I’ll admit, I generally don’t look at the Press Releases right away (I like to focus on everything shown first before really going through that) so just from the trailer alone, I didn’t even know there was any confusion. Ignoring people who had made the rumors for ages now, part of the incident was due to an accidental mention on the Press Release which got fixed about 90 minutes later:

We would like to address rumours based on a clerical error on the Pokémon press site; Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon are coming exclusively to Nintendo 3DS family of systems and are not due for release on Nintendo Switch. This listing on the Pokémon press site was made in error and is not indicative of future plans. Please refer to the Pokémon Direct for the full details of the game.

While I do think, before the Direct hit anyway, there were plenty of reasons to believe a game could be on the Switch, there was nothing that hinted to that during the Direct itself. Pokken Tournament on the Switch and the clear 3DS cartridges for Pokken Tournament guy’s nephews was shown in a clear divide and even when the logos showed up at the end, it was with just 3DS mentioned under them. To me, there was no point where it wasn’t the 3DS and while I think a Switch version still could have been cool, I’m not surprised. And considering this is an “Alternative Story” to Pokemon Sun and Moon, it makes sense they’d use the system they already have assets and things built for.

I think what I question the most right now is what “Alternative Story” really means. Is it a sequel? Is it a completely different plot/timeline (Sort of what they did with ORAS versus the original Gen 3 games)? They really didn’t expand on it. At most, we’ve seen what looks like some new totem Pokemon, some new areas: (This just makes me really want Pokemon stuff in Animal Crossing though)

And things like this where it looks like Solgaleo and Lunala get fused with Necrozma. And I wasn’t too fond of that in B2/W2 with Kyurem so not fond to see it back.

But in general, it does look like new areas and content, but without more information first, I’m not going to get my hopes too high just yet. #gallery-0-5 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-5 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-5 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-5 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

I am hoping for a sequel though. Find out what happened with Lillie and her mom, see the island grow, etc.

At the very least, it’s clear there’s some changes. Besides the new clothing, the room has gotten a make-over with the Nintendo Switch, painted walls, an autograph instead of the Pikachu plush, and even new curtains. Of course, who knows, it could be a new protagonist rather than just a continuation of our own Story. It could be a separate timeline thing. I just really want to know exactly what it is, at this point, before I get any hopes too hyped up.

I also hope maybe I’ll get to have a Ponytail this time because it was silly not to have one on a Tropical Island. It DOES look like at least one new hairstyle plus new clothes so fingers crossed on a customization update overall. And no colors locked by which game you have because that sucked. Also just… really want something like the Dex Nav back as that made Pokemon collecting so much more fun.

But yes, fingers crossed we hear more about the games soon. If only to expand upon the “Alternative Story”.

Just some Pokemon Direct thoughts I originally was just going to keep it to my small thoughts on Twitter, but I got a few questions about it so I wanted to write something in...