#pokemon theorycrafting

[crystalelemental]

To give more of an idea on this tactics in Pokemon stuff, I’m gonna give some generalized examples I’ve kicked around for months, but never really drafted up a full, cohesive explanation to.  Hopefully it helps articulate my thoughts.

One thing Pokemon does well is the idea of type matchups, and presenting something just before a gym that’s designed to handle it.  Think way back to Gen 1: Misty is answered by Bellsprout and Oddish, Surge by Diglett, Blaine by the Water-types along the water routes you travel, etc.  This has been a pretty consistent thing with tons of examples, and thankfully, just as many examples of counterplay to those obvious counters.  The easiest one to point to is Elesa: you get Sandile in the route before Nimbasa, only for her lead to be Emolga, who answers you just as well.  I think that’s a good give and take.  Produce something that’s good against the gym’s central typing, but let the gym have particular counterplay against those would-be answers.

But this should be the early-game stuff, not the entire game.  It’s the basics.  Having an early gym that’s, say, Ground-type, with your early-game bird as a reasonable solution, is a good way to establish.  But you can also start establishing other mechanics like abilities, by having their team include something with Water Absorb, or a secondary typing like Bug to negate a Grass weakness and prevent sweeps.  Things that go beyond one-to-one matchups.  I think those need to be taught early, and sometimes they’re not taught at all.  Not to blast Gen 8, but it’s not until Opal, the fifth gym, that we have a team that can respond to their weaknesses in Mawile.  Structure early fights along these lines, but mid-game fights around more in-depth strategies.

For instance, one idea I’d love to see against a Bug-type leader is playing the status game.  Have them apply Toxic with something bulky that can heal.  Have them sleep with something that can boost.  Have them paralyze with a Flying-type that knows Air Slash.  Get nasty.  Teach how devastating application of status can really be, and make players want to experience it.

Then you pivot into them using that status against something else that’s a problem, like the Cofagrigus example.  Opponent mains a super bulky threat that can boost, and is nigh-unbreakable from an offensive perspective?  Status it.  Time for you to use your own Toxic.  This doesn’t work as well when your opponent can spam Full Restores, but I’m kinda in favor of removing those as it is.

To teach about field effects, have an Electric-type gym leader that can set Rain on entry, with their team packing Thunder, and their Rain setter with Volt Switch.  Their setter keeps leaving, coming back to re-apply as needed, but if you stay on top of adjusting the weather, especially with a Sunny Day TM found just before, you can make Thunder horribly inaccurate and clutch out an easier win.

Teach about entry hazards with a Dark-type opponent that can set up Spikes or Stealth Rock, maybe both, and have a super-powerful attacker like Bisharp with Sucker Punch to capitalize on weakened opponents.

I think there are a lot of methods to demonstrate these strategies, while also forcing players to approach things a bit more technically.  If your opponent is constantly throwing out status, maybe Safeguard is a good skill to have.  Maybe you do want Heal Bell somewhere.  If your opponent’s super bulky and boosts, maybe you do want Toxic or Leech Seed for passive damage.  If your foe thrives under weather, maybe you do want to be able to change it.  If hazards weaken you, and Sucker Punch punishes raw offense, maybe it’s worth having something like Substitute to block a hit, or Defog to remove those hazards.  Just...options that put pressure on players to engage with the systems and mechanics in play.

And a part of that is good dual-typing.  Crasher Wake’s a good example of how little it really needs to be: Gyarados and Quagsire cover the typical Grass and Electric weaknesses of the core type.  Very little to nothing can sweep his team offensively.  If he’d produced a gimmick that made his team more threatening, like boosting via Dragon Dance or Curse, he may have been able to seriously threaten a team that just relied on outspeeding and super-effective attacks.

[pepperochau]

hello everyone and good afternoon, my name is pepperochau and i am here to talk to you today about the one, the only, the futher mucker itself: dudunsparce. this will be a bit of the read, so follow the cut to see the rest!

majestic, is it not? personally i was not the biggest fan when it was revealed, but it has grown on me since then.

now, there is at current a very strong, loud refrain in the pokemon fandom that dudunsparce is a joke, and was always meant to be a joke. they say "people have wanted an epic dragon evolution for twenty years, and gamefreak has trolled them"; "dudunsparce is supposed to be a bad/lame/dumb design because it's a joke".

however! i disagree. i have been a lifelong fan of dunsparce, ever since i was a young malformed guttersnipe who thought it was a mythical pokemon, and i can safely say i've never wanted it to become a dragon. however, i also have never viewed it as a joke pokemon. so to hear people write off the design of dudunsparce as simply "a joke" has frustrated me to no end. so to you, reader, i would like to provide an explanation for why dudunsparce is what it is—a mess.

so, let's start at the beginning of the line with dunsparce.

many people will look at dunsparce's name and their mind immediately goes to dunce, sparce. and, fair enough, as it does look a bit dopey doesn't it? Other languages also give it names meaning "dumb" or "oafish" like the German Dummisel and the French Isolourdo respectively. now, I cant speak on how strong brand consistency was back in Gen 2, so maybe they were just aping off the same perception most English speakers had of the name. or it is possible that TPCi had always intended this interpretation. who is to say.

but there is a more obvious, widely overlooked aspect of its name: Dun. as in a subadult version of an insect, traditionally used when describing mayflies.

IN FACT this is such an underacknowledged aspect of its name that even on Bulbapedia, one of the most important secondary sources of information on pokemon next to serebii, i was hard pressed to find any mention of it at any point earlier than 2022, in an article revision that SIMILARLY went unnoted and uncommented on.

future editions of this article maintain both definitions of the word "dun".

but with this aspect of its name in mind, you'll notice that the rather un-tsuchinoko-like aspects of its design become more coherent, like its near-useless bug wings and stripey back. because its not just a snake with a fat tummy, but a fat bumblebee as well! wow!!! so cool!!!!!

now that this preamble is out of the way, we can finally move onto the mon of the hour: dudunsparce

pokedex entries for dudunsparce's 3-segment form mention that "the number of segments a Dudunsparce’s body has is determined by the Pokémon’s genes." at first glance it feels like a bit of a lore cop out for a formchange with no effect on gameplay. but remember how dunsparce has some partial insect inspiration? with this in mind, dudunsparce reveals itself to be, first and foremost, a reference to the Drosophila fruit fly's bithorax mutation:

as you can see, sometimes the genes for the termination of the thorax are copied accidentally, resulting in a copied thorax in the afflicted insect! and with "dun" meaning a subadult insect, we can reconceptualize dudunsparce from a simple joke, to a pokemon species whose inherent genetic mutations have kept it from reaching its true adult form! it even has the stripey butt that a fruit fly has!! so cool!!! a bit sad though, don't you think?

but there are still yet unexplored depths to the design of dudunsparce. for example: why does dudunsparce have a two-layered drill tail? why is there a random spiral on its first segment? well, allow me to introduce you to yet another muckerfuther: the cuélebre.

now i know what you may be thinking: this looks nothing like dudunsparce. and certainly, the resemblance is minimal. but allow me to share with you some mythological information about the cuélebre:

The cuélebre is a multi-winged serpent from Cantabrian and Asturian folklore, both of which are regions of modern-day spain.

The cuélebre's impervious scales grow thicker with age

The cuelebre's only weak spot is its throat

The cuelebre lives in deep caves

The cuelebre retreats to Mar Cuajada in old age, a place with diamonds covering the bottom

sound familiar? it should, because you will notice that dudunsparce mirrors all of these traits almost to a T:

Paldea is based on Spain, and Dudunsparce is a fat snake with multiple wings; or, a winged serpent.

Dudunsparce has much bulkier defensive stats than its preevolution Dunsparce (125/80/75 compared to 100/70/65), and has an extra hard "cap" layer on its tail

There is a seemingly random spiral pattern on the underside of Dudunsparce's first segment, or on its throat, regardless of form

Dudunsparce is mentioned by the pokedex to make sprawling nests in the bedrock, and is only find in the wild in Area Zero

The lowest point of Area Zero is covered in large, diamantine crystals

and for the people who still want dudunsparce to be a "joke": the cuélebre isn't even a very impressive dragon in itself: it hoards treasure and fairy women, and if you encounter it on the night of Midsummer, then you can kill it by tricking it into eating a bread or cake that's full of pins or hot irons. the worst thing it does in folklore that i can find is that it floods a town once because they weren't able to give it its daily cow head. the cuélebre is a nuisance first, and a (sort of) dragon second.

now, i don't want to be raining on people's fun, so i'll take a moment to take my lumps: i wasn't able to find very much information on the cuélebre, so there's a strong chance i am misrepresenting the creature here. aso, people are allowed to view dudunsparce as just a joke pokemon, and to like it as sich, and that's fine! i'm not here to tell you how to engage with your hobbies!

but, when i see that being the only reason that people give for liking the design? when i see that being given as the only reason given for why it looks the way it does? when i see pokemon videos on youtube that quickly bring up and then dismiss dudunsparce as a joke as if that was the only reason behind its design at all, without any kind of additional explanation or exploration of the design? it gets a bit frustrating, and tiresome. i mean hell, i maybe spent about three hours total in researching for this post, and i can confidently say that's far more time than all poketubers have spent on it combined.

the short of it os, that there is always more to be uncovered with fictional material. even with something so seemingly simple as a fat, goofy snake.

[rimeiii]

Using What in "Hell" is Bad as an excuse to talk about video game mechanics (pt. 1)

And honestly, not just as an excuse - but also as a way to voice out my concerns for the gameplay.

Because I've been thinking about the game mechanics in What in "Hell" is Bad, specifically the damage instance miss as shown in the gameplay trailer of WHB and how it's something that I personally am not a fan of (as the bitch who cares more about the gameplay than anything else), and I think it all boils down to game design. There's several points to it that I hope I can get through eloquently, but it all does boil down to one key issue:

Consistency.

Now, what do I mean by that?

(more under the cut!)

Also, a disclaimer: ALL of the situations below are based on my thought processes, as someone who likes a challenge in gaming. I play Nuzlockes, I like mainline SMT, I do high Surging in IS3 (currently attempting 11), I play hard Pokémon romhacks, and more. Not everyone will think like I do, and that's fine.

And even though the opening statement is for WHB, at the end of the day I end up talking extensively about my thought processes in building a team for hard Pokémon romhacks, specifically Radical Red, so. Just a heads-up!

Consistency, in this case, is basically a measure of how often a skill/strategy is able to have an effect. The less RNG is required for a skill/strategy to work, the more consistent it is. It's the usual Fire Blast vs Flamethrower debate - would you risk the 85% accuracy for a 120 (gen 1-5)/110 (gen 6 onward) base power attack in Fire Blast, or take the guaranteed hit with a lower base power of 95 (gen 1-5)/90 (gen 6 onward) in Flamethrower? Some would take the Fire Blast, others would prefer the Flamethrower.

Consistency issues usually don't tend to be a thing in most tower defense games, in my experience. Most if not all damage instances are sure hits (unless the enemy has some sort of immunity), and RNG factors are minimal when it comes to inflicting damage. That isn't to say RNG is completely gone from tower defense games - the easiest examples being the butter from Kernelpults in Plants vs Zombies and certain Operator Talents like Mountain's 15% physical dodge or Lin's 50% chance of SP recovery on hit in Arknights. These RNG factors are balanced in a sense that they either have a decent chance for a completely broken effect (butter stopping a zombie completely for several seconds), are ultimately nice bonuses for an already strong base kit (how I feel the dodge on Mountain's Talent is), or works well in accordance to their archetype (how I feel Lin's Talent is, which is boosted heavily and turns her into a stellar unit with her Module, increasing the SP regen chance from 50% to a more consistent 75%).

As a result, having an attack from a ranged unit miss in WHB's trailer, while understandable due to attacking from a distance, is another source of RNG - and while it may be a breath of fresh air in tower defense, as a mechanic I can see it inciting rage. In what way, however?

For me, it's easiest to explain in a Pokémon setting. As a side note, all the screenshots used are from the Radical Red romhack, a romhack of FireRed that has all Pokémon and moves introduced in Generation 9 while including all of the updated game mechanics (minus Terastalization) and being a generally hard game - even with both minimal grinding and Easy mode on.

(OP is trying to catch and evolve all possible Pokémon while leaving all the mind-bending team building in Run & Bun, so she chose those settings)

This is Regieleki's moveset upon capture within the Power Plant Raid Den in Radical Red. Zap Cannon is a supremely strong move that guarantees Paralysis on the opposing Pokémon if it hits, but it only hits 50% of the time. Yet in most situations, you never see this thing run Zap Cannon - despite its side effect and damage. You want to know why?

Its ability, Transistor.

Transistor plus the same type attack bonus (STAB) makes Regieleki deal absolutely ludicrous amounts of damage with its Electric type attacks. A weaker but more accurate Thunderbolt (95/90 base power depending on the generation with a chance to paralyze, but has 100 accuracy) is more than enough for damage because of its damage multipliers, without the chance of it missing. Of course, you could always use a move like Lock On or other ways to boost your Zap Cannon's accuracy, but you're putting yourself in danger because you'll be wasting a turn you can use to potentially pick up a KO while leaving it susceptible to getting KO'd itself.

So, it all comes down to risk vs reward: do you take the risk of a miss/KO to deal insane amounts of damage AND a status effect, or do you take the weaker guaranteed hit that might not inflict the status effect?

Back to WHB - it would seem like ranged units are the ones with a chance to miss, while the melee units all have guaranteed hits. And judging from the footage, it would seem that Paimon is the unit that did most if not all of the missed attacks, which leads me to hypothesize:

The miss might be due to Paimon's passive skill.

Miss chance might be based on unit rarity - because I don't recall seeing Gabriel and Satan miss anything, and they both are of higher rarity than Paimon.

The miss chance is necessary to balance the subclass Paimon is part of.

On paper, this sounds fine - a fresh way to implement a risk vs reward mechanic in team-building, encouraging varied team compositions to maximize damage. However, there's a reason why I placed emphasis on the fact it's on paper, because the implementations as seen in the preview itself is...less than ideal.

See, when someone thinks of risk vs reward, the risk you're taking must be directly proportional to the perceived reward for it to be a viable choice for the player. Otherwise, what is intended to be a high-risk-high-reward move that has some viability will be perceived as high-risk-mediocre-reward without any viability. In other words, if the reward obtained is not worth the risk taken, then the player most likely won't take the risk, and you're not doing this entire "risk vs reward" thing right.

As an example, let's take a look at Unburden Sneasler in Radical Red, in the context of building a team to go against Lorelei of the Elite Four.

Unburden Sneasler by principle is a relatively frail physical sweeper. With Unburden it becomes one of the fastest Pokemon in the entire game provided it loses its held item as its already high base speed is doubled with Unburden. There are several ways it can lose a held item - consuming a one-time use item (so stuff like Berries, Focus Sash, Herbs, and Gems) or using Fling.

So, the question becomes this:

Would you take the chance of Sneasler taking huge damage and/or dying on turn one to be able to strike first and deal immense damage on the enemy in the following turns?

Because Sneasler, despite its weaker defensive stats, has a typing that gives it 6 resistances with only 3 weaknesses (with only one of them being a quad weakness - Psychic). And you're definitely looking for ways to lose your item ASAP to activate Unburden. If you can, for example, knock out Lorelei's Alolan Ninetales on her Hail team before it can set up Aurora Veil (increases the party's defensive stats for 8 turns, as it's holding the Light Clay, increasing the length of these buffs), then you're in a much better position for the rest of the fight, right?

For context, let's theorycraft and look at these Pokémon in a vacuum for a bit. Lorelei's Hail team leads with Alolan Ninetales and Glaceon. Ninetales starts up Hail with its ability Snow Warning, allowing it to use Aurora Veil (which only works in Hail). Her Glaceon has Slush Rush, doubling its Speed in Hail - and outspeeding Sneasler. Sneasler will still outspeed Ninetales, but the Glaceon will likely aim to Earth Power the Sneasler, seeing as it'll deal more damage - especially with the Choice Specs (increases special attack by 50% but locks the Pokemon into the first move it used).

If Sneasler is holding the Shuca Berry (reduces the first Ground damage instance by 50%), there's a chance it's going to survive, while Unburden is activated. You take out the Ninetales turn one with both of your Pokemon (this means you'll also need a Pokemon faster than Ninetales as your other lead), and you can then Close Combat the next turn to deal immense damage and hopefully pick up another KO with your speedy Sneasler. Hell, if the Calyrex-Ice comes in, you might want to double into that slot to get rid of it before it can start stacking boosts!

However, there is still a source of inconsistency in the form of a critical hit. Critical hits deal 50% more damage and happens at a 1/24 chance (starting generation 7). Assuming Shuca Berry with a critical? Even the Sneasler might not be strong enough to tank the Earth Power, with both the Choice Specs boost and Glaceon's high base Special Attack.

But back again to WHB. So, what about this risk vs reward concept in terms of Paimon? Well, based on what we're seeing in the trailer, I don't think the risk of his attacks missing is worth the reward of his utility.

Several things to note. First of all, his regular attacks don't seem to inflict any sort of ailment. His slow seems to be only on skill proc, and unless my eyes deceived me then the damage instance on the skill also missed. Thankfully, the slow is still inflicted on the opponent, but...man. Too many of Paimon's attacks missed (misses were a majority!) - and those that hit aren't even as strong as other units like Eligos (192 damage/hit) and Satan (166 damage/hit). The Pokémon equivalent of this is having Hustle (increases Attack by 50% for a 20% drop in accuracy for Physical attacks), but even then Paimon's accuracy is arguably much worse.

Why would you use Paimon if you have much more consistent DPS options, and if you don't find his slow particularly useful or impactful? As far as DPS goes, he's outpaced by everyone else, at 115 damage/hit. A slot that you could've used for another, more impactful unit, is used on a unit that doesn't seem to be bringing that much value into the team.

Perhaps there may be fringe cases where his kit is useful. Or there's a chance his current level as shown on the trailer presents him not at his full potential. Maybe down the line Paimon's archetype might be more usable as the game evolves, too! But as we see him right now, he isn't quite worth the opportunity cost of having another, more impactful unit on the squad, assuming you have alternatives.

Actually, let's talk about opportunity cost. It's a concept that talks about what opportunities are lost when not taking a specific option. Any character, any build, any strategy - basically anything I don't use represents an opportunity cost.

As an example, let's take a look at my current Regieleki build.

With Regieleki's stat spread and moveset, there are several main "modes" this Pokémon can run. It can utilize its speed for a full support build, with the ability to set up Reflect (increases party Defense for 5 turns) and Light Screen (increases party Special Defense for 5 turns) before its opponents while still having a speed control option with Electroweb (hits both enemies in a double battle, weak damage while dropping enemy speed). It can also utilize its Transistor ability to function as a speedy special sweeper, running stronger Electric moves like Thunderbolt (base power 95 with 100 accuracy) or Thunder (base power 110 with 85 accuracy, 100 accuracy in rain). The held items and specific stat builds will differ depending on the mode - support Regieleki would run an HP boosting nature to help with its bulk somewhat, while the special sweeper build would run a Special Attack boosting nature, for example.

Both builds are good, but we're playing a hard romhack here. Realistically I can only bring one Regieleki, because having more than one means I'll be gimping my team in terms of type coverage and resistances. And even then there are other support units that might be worth looking into - an example being the standard Grimmsnarl support build with the Prankster ability (status moves gain +1 priority, helping them proc first, but doesn't affect Dark type Pokémon) and the aforementioned Light Clay, running Reflect and Light Screen (both moves increasing the duration to 8 turns as well due to the Light Clay and are also affected by Prankster) but also bringing additional utility in Spirit Break (damage on a single enemy while reducing their Special Attack) and Parting Shot (reduces a foe's attacking stats and makes Grimmsnarl switch out, also affected by Prankster). Me bringing a support Regieleki as my choice of support means I'll be losing out on both the utility of the special sweeper Regieleki build and the Prankster Grimmsnarl, among other things. They become the opportunity cost of bringing the support Regieleki.

My train of thought, therefore, boils down to this: which option would lead to more consistency and a much easier time in the Elite Four, considering the fact that all the Elite Four members in Radical Red have two potential teams? This will require more theorycrafting, as well as building a team suited for both situations to not get blindsided by any team. I personally am thinking of bringing the support Regieleki build, and I will have to build the rest of my team to capitalize off that - including potentially changing that Volt Switch to Protect.

The same concept applies when selecting your team for a tower defense stage. WHB places a limit of 6 units on the field, and your team composition must be good enough to deal with the enemies with your limited deployment slots. If you let a unit go down, you'll be down one member for the entirety of the stage. In the same vein, if a member doesn't seem to be doing much in your composition, then you'd more than likely consider changing them for another member who can support your current composition better.

All so you can have a consistent composition to clear a stage.

So, I guess why the miss indication in particular is so much of a dealbreaker for me is the utter inconsistency it brings to the table. As much as possible, I don't want to rely on a coin flip to determine if my party lives or dies. Some challenge due to inconsistency is fine - the entire concept of critical hits in Pokemon makes things just that more challenging and thrilling, especially because you can play around the critical hits due to it not having such a large chance overall (and those that do are usually guaranteed critical hits anyways, so you're already looking for contingency plans for those).

This is why I feel having a miss chance as large as Paimon for a character like him is such a bad idea. It doesn't capitalize on risk vs reward well, and in the long run he might just end up being not that good of a character.

And, well...

A challenge based solely on inconsistencies and such huge RNG factors simply isn't a fun or fair challenge at all.

[thereturningdemise]

Gen 9 Anime Theory

Hear me out.

Ash isn't done and he has one major thing left to do that's extremely important...

Stopping Giovanni.

We've seen Giovanni built up in the background over the different seasons, especially in Sun and Moon. I think we will get to the breaking point soon, where at the very least, Team Rocket will be a more serious threat.

Of course, when I say "Team Rocket", I am not referring to Jessie and James. In fact, I think they would probably end up betraying Giovanni in the end, as they've done before like in the end of Sun and Moon where they "lose" their Pokemon in order to prevent them from being taken by the rest of Team Rocket.

What do you guys think? I also think it could be cool if we just saw Ash defending his championship title, or if we had some sort of new character to look up to.

[saintjosie]

I think calling you two a tiktok couple is on the wall, too, but I'm not sure what would be worse

we’ve been called a tiktok couple, then an instagram couple, and now a tumblr couple

we are just a coupla huge fuckin nerds tbh

we spend hours theorycrafting competitive pokemon teams

we spend hours designing pinball tables

we spend hours watching movies that filmbros hate and then dissect why they’re actually amazing and just not made for men

we spend hours playing the final fantasy 13 trilogy back to back to back and crying

and sometimes we post on social media

[elbdot]

I AM PREPARING TO TAKE ON DUSK!!!!! ...If my experiences of taking on special-attacking Aegislash on Battle Spot (and my Ghost-type specialist OC from my X file using a physical attacking one) are of any indication.

And my theorycrafting for how to counter Golisopod and Galvantula's potential shenanigans has reminded me how much of a thorn Bug-types can be. Nonetheless, I have prepared "the classic" that worked excellently against Guzma's Golisopod. Just need to work around Galvantula.

Anyway, will the online battles vs Dusk and co. have everyone set to level 50 or no restrictions on the level (as in anything that's level 100 will be fought as level 100)?

OH BOY I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO SEE YOU JOIN THE CHALLENGE (pls let me know who u are when you join us on Discord, everybody has different usernames both on tumblr, Patreon AND Discord and it's SUPER CONFUSING GJFDJGFGJF)

And to answer your question, all Pokemon will be set to Level 50! We're going by classic rules, no double items, no double Pokemon, our only CUSTOM rules are only one Legendary Pokemon per team (This includes UBs and Mythicals!) AND only ONE special gimmick used during a battle, so either choose a Z-Move or Mega-evolution, you can't use both!

That's all you need to know I think :D Looking forward to see you on the server!!

[radlymona]

You must intensely psychologically damaged to willingly partake in competitive Pokemon. Theorycrafting any sort of team is sadist behaviour

[lunerians]

would YOU like to hear some fun kieran and florian facts from my apple of my eye series? here you go.

regarding sweet foods and sweets, kieran has a preference for fruit-flavored stuff, but not the artificial ones! I feel like he'd also like tanghulu as well as other candied fruits.

kieran used to drink energy drinks almost daily pre-indigo disk, but he doesn't drink them as much anymore.

florian's choice of caffiene is tea! mainly because it's a common staple from galar. they like to put sugar and creamer in their teas, and have a preference for black teas. early grey is probably his favorite tea, though he loves trying out all sorts of teas.

since moving to paldea, though, florian's more open to drinking coffee; kieran, on the other hand, despises coffee because it tastes bitter.

florian also usually carries a big thermos of hot tea since it can get really cold in the early mornings and at night.

even though they both run a little hot, they actually love wearing each other's outerwear (jackets, sweatshirts, sweaters, etc.) are they both dying in the heat? yes. are they going to take off their jacket? no. after all, it's their favorite person's clothes :)

florian probably smells really clean, like laundry detergent or the outdoors, whereas kieran always smells like candied apples. his hydrapple loves getting pets and playing around with him, so its supersweet syrup ability kinda just. rubbed off on him. permanently.

so florian's obviously from galar, right? but did you know that he's actually cousins with elio (protag from pkmn sun in alola)? both of his alolan regional forms (ninetails and raichu) were caught there when their family went to visit a few years back

also their raichu is shiny. because I have a shiny raichu named hersey.

florian is also very well known as like. That Guy that shows up whenever and usually in the weirdest places. they spend most of their time in the wild shiny hunting for pokemon (and he has a tendency to just. not check his phone at all for hours) so ppl just cannot get a hold of him unless he’s like. in the same physical space as them.

kieran's the sole exception (plus his mother) of ppl florian actually responds to on time. they’re also probably the only ppl in his favorite contacts, just so that he still gets their notifs when he’s on dnd (which is. all the time. shiny hunting requires a lot of focus!!)

on the topic of phones. kieran gets one. its a plot reason but he gets one eventually. he really wanted to wait until he saw florian again so he could have them as the first person in his contacts but carmine wouldnt let him (he has to contact his family somehow! kieran was kinda miffed about it)

kieran’s sooo a default texter. like normal caps and autocorrect. he still spells a few things wrong but he fixed it in another msg if he can. he also doesn't msg as often since he’s not used to having a phone and generally uses it to keep in touch with his friends and family.

if kieran has any social media its def to just research the trends in the competitive scene (and most of his posts are reddit style where he does intense theorycrafting with other competitve nerds)

florian's also like. ghost level texter. they will leave you on read (not actually, they turned that off so penny would stop getting mad at him for not replying for days.) he’s definitely very casual regarding tone and doesn’t talk much via text. he is, however, a big fan of calls! especially calling kieran (to no one’s surprise)

kieran's also the only one that florian actually texts to in a somewhat expressive manner. when kieran shows his texts with florian to the others theyre all like. are we talking about the same person. are you sure that’s florian and not an imposter.

[zeravmeta]

Potentially adding to your theorycrafting with some Gacha Spin-off Info, because for better or worse, Masters has lore

https://youtu.be/2Bn0R1aNs-w?si=Ngg5Spv_9Y9od8kU

^current in between story arcs intermission has A New Stone alongside some info of Masters' signature stone. New Stone is connected to Volo (Togepi cameos and Rei being like 'someone is watching me' two events in a row) and the space time rifts that popped up all over on villain arc

https://youtu.be/wkI2kXskoVY?si=i4Ese-CMSfdrDJlB

Sygna N (Kyurem Black) Sync Pair Stories aka The Gang Theorycrafts (all 3 Unova Arc Alts are about Squad Loreposting but this one is about Kyurem so specially relevant)

oooh gacha lore my specialty (not really)

yeah one of like, the rules of Pokemon is that the concept of energy and energy itself kind of works like DBZ in a weird way, where its like this tangible, transferrable and universally applicable source, with all Pokemon actually having and being composed of this energy and the Typings in and of themselves just being different applications of said energy. The type specifications come more from Arceus' plates representing those forces, but all Pokemon are made from this same energy.

once again,

zygarde voice we need to stop these fucking energy parasite dragons

[pheonyxian]

'Aight listen. I'm putting this one to bed for the kiddos. The war Lt. Surge fought in was the Vietnam war. Gen 1 Pokemon specifically takes place in the real world (Lt. Surge is the "Lightning American", Arcanine is revered in China, Mew was found in South America, Kanto is a real region in Japan) so it makes sense for Lt. Surge to fight in a real war. We don't know how old he is but if we assume he's around 45 and that Red/Green take place in the modern day (on release, 1996) then that puts him at the right age to be drafted into Vietnam.

Yes I know it's fun to theorycraft about some huge devastating war that left Kanto without its fighting aged men and infrastructure, despite the fact that neither of these statements are true if you think about it for 2 seconds, but honestly I think Pokemon Vietnam War is actually way more messed up then this hypothetical Kanto war. Like a war solely in the Pokemon world probably wouldn't have bothered to invent chemical weapons. I mean a lone Charizard could probably cause the deaths of hundreds all by itself but it just feels worse if he's also dropping white phosphorus.

[crystalelemental]

Guys.  Guys listen.  There’s a Poison-weak stage at the end of the month, it’s confirmed.  Nihilego’s real, I’ve confirmed it, my uncle works for Nintendo and

Neo Champion Lusamine I feel like there’s at least some odd potential for it.  Mostly in that...Lusamine does challenge you in USUM.  She is a contender for the Champion title.  Nihilego is the obvious pick because I have such a need.  The goal here was to give her a powerful Tech nuke as a Poison type, but also to provide options to support some archetypes.  Poison being the main one.  Application of Rebuff, as well as Zone on sync, sets up for Emma and H!Iris to just one-shot the sides.  On her own, there’s also the option of Blessings of Paradise giving +1 SMUN for each Poisoned/Paralyzed foe, up to +3, which can let Sludge Wave just blast apart sides after Rebuffs and Zone.  Her general rotation would be Toxic, two uses of Buddy move, someone else helps with crit as she syncs, or one use of Buddy then trainer move, and someone helps with special attack.  Or delay if needed.

Truth is, Poison is garbage in Gauntlet, and the initial passive is a means of circumventing that slightly by applying Paralysis when Poison isn’t an option.  Now Lusamine answers all the major status threats just fine.  The second condition is setting up her offenses and speed, as well as the Mind Games/Defense Crush options I’d put on a 3/5 grid to support the other Poison types.  The recovery angle is there to hopefully permit solos.  You need some kind of recovery, and in her case, Master Healer 2 with a 10% recovery off of Sludge Wave is bound to heal a decent bit.  The final passive is just to stack in more damage.  Poison types that aren’t her, Emma, and H!Iris suck.  Like, universally, they are awful.  The goal here is to provide so much in one spot that it pulls up even the worst of them to relevance, even 1/5.  Like all good Master Fairs should.

Some other traits I might put on grid:

MP Burst.  Recover that trainer move for another big special moves attack, and another Buddy move for Latias countering.

Discombobulate, just to fuck with things, but also to act as a potential Lusamine Only core by setting up Necrozma.

Toxic: Propulsion.  Just to offer a potential fast-ramping angle as needed on a move that can be hit right away.

Recuperation 2, again for solo purposes.

Lodge Lusamine Lilligant is the other ideal outcome, because it’s my favorite Pokemon and it is effectively Lusamine’s ace.  I struggled considerably with what to do here, and ultimately couldn’t accept a Striker with Petal Dance, because I really want that to be a 4-bar move.  So I went with this instead.  I’m not sure I love it.  But it’ll do.

Quiver Dance self boosts, into trainer move which can get you to +4 after three turns.  With the crit boosting angle, it’s also +2 crit (trainer move would exclude crit).  This is for her damage approach through Giga Drain, and a sync nuke that emphasizes speed.  Her alternate approach is Sleep Powder spam for the chain.  The goal of this is Viral Hustle 2.  Lucian is absolutely obscene with the guarantee, so I kept this low as a chance, but really want more speed control options.  Especially with sleep.  Listen, we desperately need a couple more sleep bots, just to mess with Azelf.  It’s currently the most annoying fight up right now.

I’m torn between “this is too good” because of the speed boosting, potential for self-setup, and damage potential, and “this isn’t very good” because she’d likely be relegated to a sleep bot because it’s not hard to outperform her damage.  It’s hard to balance Lodge units.  Anyway, some grid skills I’d consider:

Master Healer 1.  Bit more recovery off Giga Drain.

Grand Entry 2 and Sharp Entry.  Faster self-setup.

Speeding Sun 3, Charging Sun 3.  Sun association.  Gauge and damage.

Trainer Move: Super Preparation 9.  If Steven can get it so can she.

Inertia.  Obvious.

[spirit-02]

Everyone, prepare to be victim to my thoughts. Additionally, I both do and do not apologise for the sheer amount of special interest that I may have unleashed, upon you all.

So, Pokemon: Legends Z-A!

My thoughts include, but most definitely are not limited to:

-My impeccable theorycrafting suggests that this game takes place in the Pokémon universe equivalent of 1853-1870, as the trailer reveals that Lumiose City has plans or is undergoing a large-scale urban redevelopment plan. Some of us have made the connection between this and the redevelopment of Paris by Georges-Eugène Haussmann, former Prefect of Seine, in this timeframe.

You see, when you complete the Pokédex in Pokémon: Legends Arceus, the game states that you have completed the first-ever Pokédex, which in turn means that all subsequent Legends games should take place after this event in Hisui. Of course, this could be retconned, ignored, or explained away, but I do not see these as likely. PLA takes place roughly ~200 years in the past, or so I have heard, which means that PLZA (I love this new acronym) probably takes place approximately 30-50 years after PLA in time.

-I have heard talk that this game will take place entirely within Lumiose City (and most likely its surrounding areas), surely in no small part because of a tweet by Nintendo America. I would be…interested in how that would play out, and would much rather see the whole of Kalos included in this game. Having said that, the idea of one massive city receiving that much attention and detail-especially one of the most detailed cities in the franchise-is very, very interesting. Besides, I like the aesthetic.

-Kalos ancestors Kalos Ancestors KALOS ANCESTORS

-Serena is back in the spotlight, isn’t she..? Well, I must say that I am happy for that. And everything about this.

-The “3,000 years” meme has absolutely overtaken everything, it just fits so well, and I honestly feel a little like AZ right now…(The “Why are you crying” meme is similar in all of these regards. Plus, it has a meta-level of humour with the quote being from XY.)

I will be preparing this game the moment I can, and watching with anticipation as more information is released. I now have the personal goal of reaching a competence with my drawing skills, so that I can create everything that I want by the time the game releases ! Thank you all for listening :)

[scorchrend]

part 1

part 2

pokemon x dragalia lost taking over my brain

in game kits (for Ingo, Emmet, Elesa, Thorton) theorycraft under cut shoutouts to twitter user zappypants for helping

Ingo (Flame Short Range Manacaster) 

TOTAL MAX HP 754

TOTAL MAX STR 505

Special Force Strike: 

3 seconds to charge.

3 hits 452%

SP GAIN PER HIT 600

S1 Trailblazer

Fires 3 shots in a straight line.

SP COST 1800

1 hit 500%

Inflicts Stun 110% rate

5-6 seconds

1 hit 600%

Inflicts Burn 120% rate

12 seconds

Damage every 3.9 seconds 97%

1 hit 700%

Inflicts Scorchrend 120% rate

21 seconds

Damage every 2.9 seconds 41.6%

Defense Amp (Limit Team Defense Amp 2)

The user's next force strike will dispel. 

S2 "Full Speed Ahead!" 

SP COST 5400

Applies "Steadfast" to the user for 10 seconds. 

Attack rate of all adventurers behind the user increases by 30% for 10 seconds. 

Steadfast

Immune to CoN

Force strike charge rate increases by 35%

Knockback immunity

Co-Ability

Gauge Accelerator +20%

Chain Co-Ability

(Flame) HP Below 40 = Shield

A1 Focused Captaining

The adventurer receives a divergent shield that nullifies up to 40% of their HP when they receive a defense amp. Also, dispelling a buff with a force strike will grant a Team Strength Amp (Limit Team Strength Amp 2) once per force strike. 

A2 Stun Res +100%

A3 Overdrive Punisher +15%

Emmet (Light Long Range Manacaster)

TOTAL MAX HP 758

TOTAL MAX STR 502

Special Standard Combo (Dualie Mode):

6 hits 67%

SP GAIN 654

8 hits 67%

SP GAIN 872

Special Force Strike (Buff): 

Regular charge time. 

2 hits 180%

Dispels 1 time per hit.

Reduces paralysis resistance by 9% per hit for 20 seconds.

S1

Normal: Breakneck Barrage

SP COST 3060

20 hits 125%

Each hit reduces paralysis resistance by 1% for 20 seconds.

User enters Dualie Form. 

Immediately fills this skill's SP. 

Dualie Mode: "Check for safety!" 

SP COST 3060 (irrelevant) 

Restores HP to the user and all adventurers in front of the user.

Healing Potency 80%

Team Critical Damage Amp (Limit Team Critical Damage Amp 2)

Ends Dualie Mode. 

S2 

Normal: "All Aboard!" 

SP COST 6120

1 hit 2064%

Inflicts Paralysis 120% rate

13 seconds

Damage every 3.9 seconds 80.3%

Critical Damage Amp

Dualie Mode: Electro Express

SP COST 1526

1 hit 2564%

Inflicts Paralysis 120% rate

13 seconds

Damage every 3.9 seconds 80.3%

If there are no adventurers close to the user, paralysis infliction rate is raised by 10%. If the user has any amps, paralysis infliction rate is raised by 5%. 

Critical Damage Amp

Co-Ability

Paralysis Boost

Paralysis infliction chance and duration are raised by 20%.

Chain Co-Ability

(Light) Paralysis = User Critical Rate +13%

A1 Blitz Caster

When the adventurer uses "Breakneck Barrage," they enter Dualie Mode. Dualie Form gives them a special standard combo and 1 special force strike buff (replenished every 50 hits). Dualie Mode ends when the user's combo ends.

A2 Poison Res +100%

A3 Paralyzed Punisher +30%

Elesa (Light Rapid-fire Manacaster)

TOTAL MAX HP 838

TOTAL MAX STR 454

S1 Volt Switch

User deals 1 hit before retreating (kind of like Lapis S1) and fires another hit.

SP COST 4050

1 hit 800%

1 hit 1000%

Grants a single-use shield that nullifies up to 40% of the user’s HP.

Applies “Lighting Manazine” to the user for 20 seconds.

Lightning Manazine

Immune to CoN

SP Gain +40%

Critical Rate +15%

Cannot stack

S2 Electroweb

Creates a debuff zone at the target’s location that lasts for 10 seconds.

SP COST 11340

SHARED SP COST 17014

Attack -15%

Defense -15%

Inflicts Flashburn 120%

21 seconds

Damage every 2.9 seconds 41.6%

Co-Ability

Gauge Accelerator +20%

Chain Co-Ability

(Light) Combo = Critical Rate V

A1 Technician

Shared skills with cost under 6 will have their animations sped up by 20%.

A2 Poison Res 100%

A3 Electrifying Caster Master

Every 250 hits will grant the adventurer a Strength Amp (Limit Team Strength Amp 1) Defense Amp (Limit Team Defense Amp 2), an HP Regen 1% for every 3.9 seconds for 10 seconds, and an Energy stack.

Thorton (Water Bow) 

TOTAL MAX HP 966

TOTAL MAX STR 562

S1 Calculated Tactics

Grants the party different buffs if target is in front of the user or behind. 

SP COST 2047

If the target is in front:

Strength +30%

15 seconds

Attack Rate +7%

15 seconds

If the target is behind:

Applies "Bracing Maneuver" 

Regardless of target location, this skill will add a Cookie stack to the user (Limit 3) and a Strength Amp (Limit Team Strength Amp 2)

Bracing Maneuver

Immune to CoN

Defense +50%

10 seconds

Skill Damage +10%

10 seconds

Cannot stack

S2 

This skill becomes available for use if the user has at least 1 Cookie stack. 

Less than 3 Cookies: RNG Cannon

9 hits 90%

1 hit 990%

An effect is randomly chosen from the list below. 

——

Strength Amp to adventurer

HP Regen to party

10 seconds

Regen tick every 3.9 seconds 1%

Inflicts Frostbite Res -20% to target for 20 seconds. 

——

Uses 1 Cookie stack. 

When the user has 3 Cookie stacks, this skill turns into "RNG Manipulation." 

3 Cookies: RNG Manipulation

Effects take place in an animation that plays before a hit. 

Team Strength Amp

HP Regen to party

10 seconds

Regen tick every 3.9 seconds 1%

Inflicts Frostbite Res -20% and Bog Res -10% to target for 20 seconds. 

1 hit 3000%

Inflicts Frostbite 120%

21 seconds

Damage every 2.9 seconds 41%

Uses all Cookie stacks. 

Co-Ability

Debuff Skill Time +15%

Debuffing skills will have their debuffs extended by 15%. This does not apply to debuff zones. 

Chain Co-Ability

(Water) HP +10%

A1 Numbers Advantage

Raises the adventurer's movement speed by 5% and skill damage by 25% when all party members are alive. 

A2 Stun Res +100%

A3 Amped Up

For every unique amp the adventurer has, increases attack rate by 5%.

[stainedglassthreads]

I think a story’s themes sometimes get downplayed in theorycrafting. And that can occasionally lead to theories that clash with the source material, whether the theory supporters realize it or not.

For a very ridiculous example that few people probably take seriously, let’s begin with the Coma Theory from the Pokemon anime. The theory is an old one, and basically states that Ash is a boy from our world, who after being electrocuted fell into a coma where he dreamed the entirety of his Pokemon adventure. The presence of real-world animals from our world appearing in early seasons, but slowly being phased out for a world inhabited solely by Pokemon, is attributed to the deterioration of his brain, as is the fact he never appears to age.

I don’t believe anyone takes this theory completely seriously or claims it to be definitive canon, though some may appreciate its creepypasta style. For one, it reduces a story to an ‘all just a dream’ narrative, which is hard to do well and easy to make feel cheap and cliched. But I’ll also point out that it’s very at-odds with the themes of the Pokemon anime. Pokemon has always had strong themes of friendship, empathy, and compassion from episode one, and claiming that all the friends who Ash meets on his journey are mere figments of his imagination feels like the exact opposite to that. As such, even though the world of Pokemon is no stranger to dark subjects such as child death, this specific theory doesn’t feel like it belongs.

For a slightly more recent, but still not especially popular, theory, there is the theory that Gaster is responsible for the Determination experiments, amalgamates, and Flowey. While there is some theory Gaster may have dabbled in dt himself a little (the two strongest pieces of evidence being the DT Extractor’s design and the mention of vague ‘blueprints’, as well as some people noticing that Mystery Man looks melted.), in-game evidence in this video by Dorked proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Alphys was the one responsible for the Amalgamates and Flowey. Even before I saw this video, though, I thought the theory was full of crap. Why?

Well, because it would render Alphys’ arc in the game entirely moot. Her arc was about the lies she had told covering up her own mistakes, and gaining the courage to tell the truth and fix things for the amalgamates. If it were abruptly revealed that, whoopsy doopsy, it wasn’t her mistake and had instead been the mistake of some mysterious figure who everyone just so happened to forget, conveniently lifting responsibility for the initial mistakes from her shoulders and removing the origin of the guilt that prompted her lies... it would abruptly become a much, much, much weaker arc. For both Alphys and Gaster. Alphys loses much of the power behind her eventually coming forwards, while Gaster’s arc, presently left largely in the background, is dragged into the forefront to be blasted with a glaring spotlight, highlighting the lack of closure and unsatisfaction. What lessons does Gaster learn? ‘Maybe if you blow yourself into non-existence, someone else will come along, be tortured by your mistakes to the point of suicidal depression, and then eventually fix your fuck-ups’?

This isn’t exactly a widely-popular theory, though, so let’s go for a more recent and more popular one. Such as, Chara being ‘pure evil’ and responsible for the No Mercy route. A major theme in Undertale is the effects of your choices on others, how any has the choice to be a good or bad person, and how all the monsters you encounter have much deeper and more complex lives than you initially anticipate. Chara is almost certainly not a saint, but to declare that they’re pure evil with no depth, no motivation, no trauma, and no chance of redemption, who also allows the player a convenient escape from blame, is to refute basically every moral that Undertale tries to convey. Chara’s depth and complexity may not be as explicit as, say, Flowey/Asriel. But by paying attention to themes and parallels, (such as how MK’s admitting that Undyne isn’t the best person, followed by them immediately shifting idolization to Papyrus, is paralleled by Asriel, Chara, and Frisk, or Asgore remarking that Frisk reminds him of Chara only in a True Pacifist run but not mentioning humans or Chara at all in No Mercy.), one can assume that Chara was, at the very least, neither pure evil nor exclusively motivated by power when they began their plan.

I do admit, sometimes a theme can be introduced early on, only for the story to viciously tear it apart and show how it’s a deeply flawed belief. Undertale initially introduces ‘kill or be killed’, only to show two different ways that it’s a very flawed belief: in No Mercy, it shows that this belief can only end in self-destruction, while in True Pacifist the saying’s most ardent supporter is forced to acknowledge it was a flawed ideology fueled by his trauma and hurt. But the point remains.

[cosmermaid]

So I think it might be a little while before I get back into Cosmere posting. I can't bring myself to focus on Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, and my fixation on Kelsier and the Ghostbloods has been soured, which killed my enthusiasm for greater cosmere theorycrafting. I can barely remember what happened in the Lost Metal. I'm still looking forward to Stormlight 5 though, so maybe that will end up bringing the Cosmere back into focus near when that comes out.

I've been holding back on just how full my head has been of Pokemon lately, because I don't want to bother anyone with it. I'm not sure why I'm putting in that kind of effort though, since this blog was always meant to be my outlet.

Anyways, I apologize to anyone who is following me for cosmere content. I'm changing the channel for a little while.

[bluerosesburnblue]

1. I don't know if you're keeping up with FFVII Rebirth stuff, since I know you haven't played FFVII Remake (though I know you at least kept up with the general idea of what happened with FFVII Remake). But have you noticed how divided some of the fandom is with what's going on with it? Like, how some people think there are multiple timelines going on (which I definitely think is the case. And I think SE just confirmed that). Whereas some think there are only one.

2. And not even just with the timeline thing (though that's certainly part of it), people are just so adamant that everything they think about how FFVII Rebirth is going to go is absolutely right. And I'm just... worried that people are going to be wrong in some areas. And are building it up in their heads too much, and are going to be disappointed in the end. I feel like I learned my lesson some with Game of Thrones and KHIII, but this recent fandom trend (not just with FFVII oc) concerns me. 3. And I guess I'm wondering if you've also noticed that kind of thing in other fandoms, or feel the same way. I'm sure we could name other fandoms that are doing that (KH very much still is). And I also feel like FNAF definitely does that: like in "I've solved the story of FNAF (or this part of the story of it), and everyone else is wrong." And it feels like, at least in some ways, people are in danger of making their own stories of the stories they say they love, and not loving the real thing. 4. I'm hoping that the FFVII Rebirth thing will be SLIGHTLY better, now that SE has confirmed that it's multiple timelines. But a part of me is still kind of biting my lip, because it still feels like at least parts of the fandom are like, "FFVII Rebirth is going to open like X, and then do this thing, and then this is going to happen, and end like this." And I'm kind of like... why? ...Not that I want to put bad thoughts about FFVIIR out there now, when there's so many reasons to be hyped atm.

You know, funny enough, I was actually talking to a friend of mine yesterday about this exact same thing happening in the Pokemon fandom right now with regards to the ending of Pokemon Scarlet/Violet and how the fandom is completely split on what a certain device in the finale (not gonna spoil things since you did say you might be interested in the game) does. One side takes what the game says it is at face value, the other has a conspiracy theory that "fixes" certain plot holes that they're adamant is correct. And both arguments, to me, are kind of pointless since we already know that the upcoming second DLC this winter is going to cover it? They weren't even subtle about the fact that we're going to be getting more on it, with the DLC pack being called "The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero" (Area Zero being the location of the game's finale)

And you're right, it is a worrying trend across a lot of fandoms. There's this... I don't know, obsession, with the idea of being "the one who called it" amongst certain people. As someone who's been known to engage in theories myself, I don't think there's anything wrong with theorizing, necessarily, or with defending the merits of your arguments pre-release, but you also have to be open to being wrong and willing to look at your stuff before and after and realize that "being wrong" isn't always some sort of failing on your part (though some people are just wrong because their comprehension of established facts were wrong and that usually is their fault, that's only an issue if you stubbornly refuse to allow yourself to be wrong when presented with corrected information)

Like, you might remember some of my KHUx theorycrafting and the fact that I was half-right, half-wrong on some things. Like, I called the fact that Ephemer and Brain were going to split up with one going outside of the Datascape to try to save the others and one staying behind, and that the one who stayed behind would also get out of the Datascape after the others were gone. I was wrong about which was which. Looking back, I can look at my own reasoning and see where it was sound, and where I was just limited by the available information (IIRC I said all of this before Brain handed Master's Defender and the Book of Prophecies over to Ephemer, which would have certainly changed my reasoning). Not having all of the pieces because they hadn't been revealed yet isn't a failing on my part. A failing on my part would be seeing those pieces and how they contradict what I've come up with, and refusing to adjust my stance because I won't allow myself to be wrong

Being wrong isn't some horrible, life-ruining thing that a lot of people in fandoms make it out to be. More people should be open to being wrong, actually. Takes the fun out of things if you always know what's going to happen, and to me it also kind of belittles authors by assuming that you know their own work better than they do (which, again, sometimes warranted because some modern authors shun "predictability" and make nonsensical plots just to surprise *COUGH* GAME OF THRONES *COUGH*, but frequently not)

Actually, another example. I've mentioned that I'm a fan of the comic One Last God: Kubera. It's a really wonderful, intricately crafted narrative and part of that is due to the fact that the whole thing was written as a fully complete novel before the author decided to convert it to a comic. It isn't being written as it goes, but has been fully planned out from the very start of the comic. Now, up until one of the most recent updates, there were two big theories in the fandom that most people... just kind of assumed were probably going to be true. Without giving too much away, one of the theories was that a certain character who would frequently seem to have their motivations and what they know shift between scenes, was time-traveling (and we were sometimes seeing their present self, and sometimes their self from another time). Another theory was that two of the highest-level gods in the series (Primeval Gods) were actually split personalities of the same person. Now, the former theory had some merit to me, the second made no goddamned sense since we had seen the two interact with each other, they've always been depicted as separate, and there's at least one instance where one is in the room and gives the exact location of the other (which even people who believed the theory took as fact even though it being fact would contradict the theory?), but the people who believed that one were diehard about it. Couldn't go into a discussion about either character without it being brought up

Well, lo and behold, one of the latest updates from this past month revealed that, actually, there's a way for someone to impersonate a god and that's what's been happening, with this directly being the real answer for the first theory and having a strong implication to be the real answer behind the second theory. I'm loath to even call it a twist, since the mechanic behind it is just... something that we knew about from the very start of the series and just didn't realize the implications of until it was said outright. I sure as hell didn't think about it, but when I saw it my first thought was "oh, DUH." But I saw people genuinely upset about this reveal because it contradicted the theory, calling it "disappointing" because "it feels like the author thought about it at the last minute," and "the time travel theory made way more sense." When, no, it doesn't. The new update is literally just taking something we were told at the very start to its logical conclusion. And yet people were getting upset because they had completely sold themselves on the theory being the true answer and their belief in it being "right" to the point where they were blaming the author rather than their own guesswork. It's something I find infuriating

All this being a very long-winded way of saying that from my observation, there's an ever-growing intersection between fans who are entitled and fans who refuse to allow themselves to be wrong that's leading to an unfortunate trend of people desperately coming up with theories, then refusing to admit when they're wrong and counting their theories as "better" than the source material. And this, unfortunately, just makes fandoms a much more hostile place between people who actually do like the source material and are open to new experiences and these fans

And I do want to make it clear that there's a distinction between defending your theory and reasoning when you have confidence that you're correct, and outright refusing to accept contradictory information because you can't handle the idea of having a flaw. I would know, because I got accused of doing the latter constantly at my last job when I was doing the former. The difference is in being able to verify the evidence you're using to support your logic. Like, for fuck's sake, I'm not "being defensive" or "trying to get out of things" when I hand you the stats and say something doesn't look viable. Same stuff can apply to fan theories

Also, as if this wasn't long enough already, I just gotta add:

And it feels like, at least in some ways, people are in danger of making their own stories of the stories they say they love, and not loving the real thing.

I hate to say it, that's most of fandom culture these days and I hate it. Go into any given character tag on Tumblr and you'll see a million headcanons that directly contradict what's said in the source material at best and completely undermine the character's entire storyline at worst. You'd start to suspect that the people making these have no sense of reading comprehension and are only here for the aesthetics, but then scroll a bit and you'll see dozens of "redesigns" that "fix" the character by completely ignoring a ton of the cultural influences, small personality-defining hints in the look, or in-universe justifications for things. Want to find a fic of a certain character because you like their personality? How about a dozen where they're so wildly out of character that the only possible explanation is that the author just decided to write out an OC and slapped the character's name on because that's the kind of look they imagined their OC having, because there's no way they could've gotten that from the source material

There's a reason I started a Fandom Critical tag on here for this kind of stuff. It's so pervasive nowadays. Like, it kills any desire I once had to publish my own stuff because, well, fuck, no one's gonna care about what I actually have to say about my works, they'll just appropriate whatever little bits and pieces suit them

And I just genuinely don't get it. I don't get how we got to this point where people will go around praising a creator's works with one breath while showing no sign of understanding or even liking that work with the "fan" content they produce. And this is a separate, but related, issue to the theory stuff above because, like I said, it's possible to just guess wrong with theories and it's fine so long as you don't refuse to accept that you were wrong or get militant about it, but a lot of non-theory fanworks? Those just go beyond into sometimes ignorant, sometimes spiteful territory. You don't even want to see what my blacklist on here looks like just to try to get a handle on some of that stuff because at some point the lack of respect for the original works and their creators just really eats away at me