#probably helps that both of those are some of my favorite pokemon in general but yknow

[harvestmoth]

hi spoiler embargo ended. get rejuv blasted

[adobe-outdesign]

Randomly generated Pokemon: Onix

(I don't have any review requests right now, so I'm just going to use a generator to pick a random line I haven't done yet until more come in.)

Onix has a nice presence to it, mostly on account of being Freaking Huge (ironically, it's not even that strong of a 'mon). The idea of a big rock snake that tunnels through the the earth is solid and works well enough for what it is, though granted, the design always felt slightly lacking to me.

My favorite part of Onix is the head. I really like that it has a "muzzle" of sorts, and the horn helps separate the head segment from the rest of the body. However, the body itself is pretty plain, just a bunch of boulders in a line (how are those things connected, anyway)? I kind of wish there was more viration—some could be significantly bigger or smaller, they could be alternating lighter and darker colors, etc. Just something subtle to break things up a bit.

Onix evolves into Steelix here, and the idea of regular rock becoming metal as it evolves is a solid concept. There are a few changes to the design here that I like as well—the red eye adds a minor touch of color and pops nicely, the oversized head is pretty neat, and I really find myself liking those spikes stiking out of the body. They help break things up a bit, and feel like a natural extension of Onix's head spike. The pointed tail is also a nice touch.

If I have one problem with it (outside of the somewhat odd inclusion of teeth—I liked Onix's toothless maw better), it's that it never really looked much like steel. I get that they were going for an iron ore kind of thing, but it doesn't come across well, not helped by the lack of metallic textures in the games. It's still just as jagged and rugged as Onix is, and while I really like that aesthetic, it does make it harder to tell that it's metal now. Otherwise, it's a solid evolution and probably my favorite out of the line.

And mega Steelix is... a bit of a hot mess, unfortunately.

I say unfortunately because I really, really like the basic concept here. Steelix becomes harder and adds a bunch of spikes when it evolves, so this mega reveals that the spikes are actually crystals, which break out of the metal ore when it evolves. That's actually REALLY cool. It's also very nice because it adds some lovely pastel rainbow colors to the plain grey palette, breaking it up a bit without being overbearing. I also like that the segments go from small to large now, creating a pattern and adding some additional variation to the body.

The problem comes in with everything else. Those blue rings are downright garish, clashing with and taking away from the pastel colors added by the crystals. I don't even get what they're supposed to be anyway, and they don't seem to tie back into the crystal idea. They could've easily made those segments crystalline as well, or even just made them plain gray.

While less of a problem, I also think that those floating shards of metal are overkill. It's weird that they're floating (I've heard people argue magnetism, but that would make the shards stick to it rather than float around it), and I don't think you need them to convey the idea of the crystals breaking out of the metal shell. They're not terrible, but they're just cluttering an already cluttered design. (The excavator jaw is also a bit odd and doesn't quite fit with the crystal thing, but it's not that big of a deal in and of itself.)

Anyway, overall: Onix is fine, but the body's a bit plain. Steelix is a pretty solid evolution in both concept and design. Mega Steelix is way too cluttered for its own good, with a great concept buried under weird jarring visuals. Still, some pretty decent rock snakes all around.

[thegothgainer]

A couple of my favorite things from each Pokemon generation

I have a lot of negative things to say about recent Pokemon, but I kinda want to offset that with a list of some of my actual favorite things. There are a lot, so I'm going to try and list just one from each gen.

Gen 1

Probably the hardest to come up with, since later games mostly improved upon the formula. I could just say "it's the first Pokemon game" but that feels like a cop-out. So, instead, I'll say it's the sort of mystery it had. You'd find new things out from being told by friends. There were rumors about how to catch the mythical Mew. There was the superstition that holding down certain buttons would help catch Pokemon. It may have just been a thing of its time, given the state of the internet back then. But there's something about getting information from guides and friends instead of an ad-ridden barf of a website that made Pokemon feel really personal.

Actually, I just remembered one more positive in me. Gary being an absolute asshole. I love being able to take my rival down a notch. I don't want to feel bad I destroyed my rival because they're a great person. I want to rub it in Gary's dumb face.

Gen 2

The phone system. Being able to get calls from trainers, asking for a rematch was the coolest thing. It made the world feel so alive. Like there were things going on while you were training to become a champion.

I'm surprised we don't have anything like this in modern Pokemon games. A fake social media network would be sooooo cool to see within Pokemon. Gen 7 kinda had this with the photos, but the responses weren't from NPCs you've met. It felt kind of flat to me. But if Youngster Joey followed me and commented on every picture of a Ratata I posted, I'd be stoked. If my rival sent pics of their travels while I did mine, it would make me want to go out and find those places and show them up. I think there is a lot of potential to make the Pokemon world feel more lived-in in the games.

Gen 3

So, Gen 3 is two things, but both because of the same reason: Puzzles and Exploration.

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald had a lot of depth to the maps. You could climb your bike up the side of a mountain and drive over a bridge from where you were just standing. The sense of exploration was strong too. You could dive underwater and see the depths. Too much water, my ass.

Exploration felt worth it too. Especially the Regi trio. Three legendary Pokemon you get just by wandering around and hearing myths and solving puzzles. None of it is part of the main story. You feel rewarded for exploration. We got a whole open world in Gen 9, but none of the exploration really feels as worth it as it did in Gen 3.

And the puzzles were really fun too. They had a slight challenge to them as a kid. In the newer games, the gym challenges feel a little more like filler than a challenge. The themed puzzles were almost a staple of Pokemon gameplay at this point, from spinning tiles, to cracking ice blocks to pushing boulders around. It was a part of Pokemon's DNA, and honestly, I miss it.

I put these in the same category because of the Regi trio. They are the result of exploration and puzzles, and I really feel like they highlight everything that was great about Gen 3 gameplay.

Gen 4

The best thing I remember about Gen 4 was the lore. And it had to be in Gen 4! This was the game where the creation trio was introduced. But seeing all this lore really helped to flesh out the world a lot. I really want to see more story outside of the main storyline and Pokedex entries. I want to know about the wars that happened long ago. I want to know the myths that the mythicals were involved in. I want to know more about this world that GameFreak has created. We do see a little bit of that in Legends: Arceus. And I love it for it.

Gen 5

Sprites.

I never had the opportunity to play the Gen 5 games until after I completed Gen 7. But I do remember that I was blown away by the personality that the sprites brought. Every single one was animated in such a way that really highlighted that Pokemon's personality. The idle animations in modern games can feel a little bland and stiff. But just look at this! Wings flapping, mouth chomping, this guy feels alive. This kind of personality really helped the Black and White games feel so organic.

Gen 6

Pokemon Amie.

It's one thing to select an item, click use, and then just heal your Pokemon up. But, I'm playing Pokemon because I love my partners in crime. I want to give them the praise they deserve, not just run to a salon and select the option to groom them. And feed them. It was like a dumbed-down Nintendogs, and I would love for there to be more Pokemon games that expand on this idea. Or even just bring it back in full in a new game.

Honestly, the whole online capability of the game was great, that whole section on the lower part of the 3DS. It was really easy to find trades, battles, etc, something that I think the new games lack for some reason.

Oh, and Megas were also really cool. Probably the best "Gimmick".

Gen 7

Gen 7 was in a kind of transition period, but honestly, it had one of my favorite stories. A lot was going on, and it was great. Runaway hooligans, interdimensional travel, mind control... this game had it all. The characters are fun, especially Guzma (what a name, by the way). And from what I remember, post game for Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon were really cool for having all of the big bosses from previous games show up and say what happened in the worlds in which they won.

Runner up is wild double-battles (SOS battles). I miss in-game double battles...

Gen 8

This one is a tough one. Not that I particularly hated Gen 8, no. It's just that it was in a sort of experimental period that Gen 9 greatly improved upon. It was the first attempt at a semi-open world, and it was pretty cool, but underwhelming. But, it definitely opened up my mind to what Pokemon could be. They were finally trying new things that strayed from the original formula. Raid Dens were a neat concept, but just didn't feel like it had the epicness it was going for. The Wild Area was cool, but not as explorable as I hoped. But, at the very least, it let me know that Pokemon didn't have to be just the same linear path every generation. Maybe in the future we can finally get back to the exploration and collection that made Pokemon so enjoyable. Which led to...

Gen 9

Everything that Gen 8 was trying to do, Gen 9 improved. Not perfected. Far from it. But it started getting closer to what I imagine to be my perfect Pokemon game. I'm not going to explain my perfect Pokemon game here, but I will highlight a few things about Gen 9.

First, of course, is open-world exploration. I remember taking on the challenge of doing the gyms in reverse order. And while I would have loved some better scaling, it was just really cool to be able to do the gyms and story in my own way. I really hope they fix it up a bit and continue it.

Then, there's the story itself. The game went real. A little darker than some of the previous games, but not edgy dark. No spoilers, of course, but it was good to see characters get plenty of character growth and screentime. It was cute. It was sad. It was fun.

Raids were also improved. It still has its connection problems. But the biweekly 7-stars feel more of a challenge. I don't like that it's built around FOMO and I feel it should rotate. And when they drop support for the game, there will no longer be 7-stars. Maybe they'll patch something in, but I'm doubtful. Still. I do enjoy it better at least than previous raids.

If I could, I would also add in some of the side games to this list as well, but this is already a long post, so maybe in another.

Anyways, I'd love to hear what all other people enjoyed about these games. I know there's a lot of hate for these games every gen, and I know I've rambled about things that I would have liked to see done better. But there's also plenty to love about this franchise.

[wigglepiggle]

wait did you finish the scarvi storyline how you feeling about it how do you feel about my special little guy how do you feel

(I'm normal about scarvi I swear)

I HAAAAAVE

I'm normal about him and the game too dw <- me when I lying me when I'm fibbing me when im

the game in general was really awesome!!! I loved it even if I had some wackyness (glitches but they were mostly funny and not game destroying) I'm surprised people hated it I was expecting it to be a buggy mess with an awful story tbh but it wasn't (but also I didn't play it at launch so they probably fixed some things)

way WAY better than sword and shield those games made me genuinely angry at the time and it was kind of sad I opened shield to play with giratina the other day and it was jarring

and iI'm assuming your special guy is arven you like him iirc

and this is how I feel about him. I'm insane oh my hod he needs HELP and both of his parents are now ais (well I guess. not at the same time???? I don't know) AND his lifelong friend almost died in the place where is mom died that's fucking rough man

i saw the turo ai thing before and I was like "well that goes with the future theme so I guess sada wouldn't be like that too" WRONG!!!!!!! and him reaching out to ai sada made me incredibly sad i. I may have whimpered a little I'm a weak bitch sorry I was already kind of attached ok

yeah he is now probably my favorite human pokemon character. like ever (sorry volo. actually no I'm not fuck you volo)

[whatifyoulivelikethat]

Oddly, not here about your fics...or even to scream over a certain 7 men. I...I...need your help with Pokemon, wiyllt. The Metacritic/user score for Scarlet/Violet is supposedly extra low? It is on my kid's (and husband's!) holiday list. Still worth it? Ignore the haters and still go catch 'em all? 💢 Ah, ty!

lmao, who cares about those dumbass reviewers, buy the game! It's great for both new and older players. The storyline is better than Galar (Gen 8, the previous generation). You can choose your own adventure and explore all you want (well, you might hit a roadblock if the Pokémon are too high level but you live and learn and can always go back to beat 'em up later hehe). The raids are fun, especially if your kid and husband are tackling them together. It's cute, it's bright, it's cheesy, and it reminds / teaches people an important lesson.

Find something you treasure and hold onto it closely. :)

I like Pokémon games because you can make them as difficult or as easy as you want. You get to decide the difficulty. You can think deeply about Pokémon types, movesets, team building, even calculate the math of how much damage you'll do in a particular matchup - or not, just overlevel the crap outta your partners and wreck everybody LOL

Pokémon games shouldn't be taken too seriously in terms of graphics. I've seen people complain about the coding mishaps and, while the lag / odd positioning errors is true, a child is only going to think lag is funny as hell. Adults who complain about lag... go work for Game Freak and code it yourself. XD I thought phasing through walls and poor Pokémon getting trapped in fences was hilarious but maybe that means I'm childish, oop

to adults who say Pokémon is "too easy"... yeah, bro, it's for KIDS, you have to do some thinking to make it fun for yourself, duh *rolls eyes*

I would even go so far to say that this is my second favorite generation of Pokémon (my favorite is Gen 5, Black+White, that storyline is unmatched). They combine the 3 storylines at the end and you go towards the climax of the story with the friends you made along the way (aww I mean, ew, gross (-ㅅ-)! ).

I even ended up liking a character I really hated at first lol

I think the biggest letdown is that your "rival" is kind of... boring? Two-dimensional? The Champion is also not that interesting or strong (in my opinion). I like the other characters a lot more. As an adult, when you read the dialogue of the Gym Leaders and other adult characters, you'll realize "I know someone irl just like that", Pokémon's subtle nod to realizing their fanbase is growing up, which is pretty cool.

I was about to go into a rant analyzing the Pokédex of this generation but then I realized you probably haven't played every generation like my psychopathic self so I'll just say there's a good mix of cute / cool / visually pleasing / hilarious and statistically good Pokémon. :D Get the double pack. The Pokémon on the cover is the one you'll be travelling on, so have your kid and husband fight about which is cooler hehe

also Scarlet+VIolet sold 10 million units in the first 3 days of release, I think these reviewers are just haters :P

I could rant about Pokemon for hours so I'll stop here to spare you... until someone gets me started again lol

[beardedhandstoadshark]

Managed to get the og Etrian Odyssey running again after my card broke a few years ago <3 And was instantly smacked with the memory they still translated the first 2 games. So because of that, here‘s some German translation and localization fun-facts (?)

For example, official releases are usually translated directly from Japanese to German instead of using English as a jumping-off point. I can’t actually tell you why, since speaking English as a second language is really common nowadays, but because of this (and probably ridiculous love for accuracy in general), they usually end up being more accurate (or if not, then at least more fitting) than the English ones in meaning but also tone, which tend to be more lean regarding certain pieces of dialogue.

This sometimes ends up in weird shenanigans like various eastereggs across the Zelda franchise being either NA or German PAL only, or Emmet and Ingo from Pokemon being called "Hin und (and) Her“, which literally just means "back and forth“,to keep the pun in, even though those aren’t actually names and their English ones work perfectly fine in German otherwise.

Speaking or Etrian Odyssey, a few lines in you’re greeted by this:

"Euch“ right here means you. But not just you, not even the polite you, no no. That’s the noble you. The type of you you‘d youse for royals…or to show something plays in medieval times.

(They’re also both plural versions of the regular plural you, but not the singular one liked used here.)

The "Jungs und Mädels“ basically translates to "guys and gals“, I wonder if he says it like this in English too? In any case, it helps making his dialogue more causal and pushes that royal You more towards general fantasy instead of high noble speak. (By playing further it becomes obvious they’re doing it for the fantasy setting)

And this. THIS. It translates to "is this Guildname comfortable/pleasant/agreeable/… ?“ But the thing is, that word, "genehm“, according to The German Dictionary ever, Duden, that one’s old. It’s never used by people nowadays (having in fact changed to "angenehm“ as a normal word) and is so rarely seen it’s fancy even for fancy royal speak. Words like these are the German equivalent of dropping Shakespearean English.

…but it does work perfectly fine for a high-fantasy medieval setting. :)

However, my absolute favorite thing has to be something like this. The photo here is from Mario & Luigi Dream Team (Bros)

"Do you dare having the rules explained to you?“

"No!Fear!“ "Let’s hear (it)!“

So "wagt“, or "wagen“ in it’s neutral form, means "to dare“, however it’s specifically a kinda old-fashioned word. Definitely still somewhat used and you won’t really be looked at weirdly, but it’s rather uncommon and primarily used in media for the dialogue of nobles or to show someone’s, well, old-fashioned. For example, ghosts! And look at that, the dialogue is being said by a spooky ghost flame.

Idk if "No! Fear!“ is also a thing in any other versions but it sure is funny

And then there’s "Lass hören“. I’ve put "it“ in the translation in brackets because it kinda needs to be there to make sense in English, but in German, there is no object in this sentence. Word for word this actually translates to "Let hear“. And even though this also doesn’t make any sense in German, not even qualifying as a proper sentence, it still kinda does, and is perfectly understandable. As total slang.

"Lass hören“ isn’t just a casual way to say "Lass es uns hören“ (Let us hear it), it’s the most casual of causal you could potentially go of any of the many ways you could say this sentence, which is just so immensely fitting for a character whose job is being a plumber. And it’s not even the only instance. Any time you get speech bubbles like these, the answers Mario gives will always be in the lowest possible way of talking casual German. This even includes simple Yes/No questions, which Mario will always answer with a variation of "Yea!“/More casual version of"Nah“. (I swear at one point the no option is "Lass ma‘ “ y’all it’s so casual)

And it is always Mario, because the one time you have to play Solo as Luigi in Superstar Saga?

The answers become normal in tone. :)

Translation and Localization done with care my beloved.

[celebrity-conductor-asks]

Hey Ingo and Emmet what was the most chaotic event that ever happened in Gear Station? Also my brother and I made you both an ice cream cake that you can share with everyone as thanks for the fight in the super multi train battle! We put both of your favorite ice cream flavors in there as well!

🔼: Ah! Thank you both! We enjoyed our battle we had on the Super Multi Train! But… I suppose it depends on what you consider “the most chaotic event”, whether it’s a good, funny way or a bad, terrible way.

🔽: There’s a lot of chaotic moments, it’s hard to pick which topped everything. It’s basically anything you can imagine on the top of your head, no matter how far-fetched or impossible it is, it probably happened here once.

⚔️: Hm… What about a water-slide accident that caused a flood here? While the place was on fire because someone was cooking food in the middle of the train while a wild dynamax Pokemon was on the loose all at the same time? And magically, no one got injured in the slightest and there was a book on the bathroom floor about how to speak in French that was left completely intact.

🔽: Yeah, that happened twice.

⚔️: What the… I just came up with all that a few seconds ago. I highly doubt that even happened.

🔽: Hey, it is what it is. You’d believe me if you were there.

🔼: Hm… I can only say that SOME of those things happen. And that be floods or fires, separately.

🛡️: Oh my. What happened?

🔼: … Well, I can't say any specific stories. But the flood can be caused by a storm or hurricane. It doesn’t help that this is an underground train, so it’s susceptible to floods. And fires are caused by… Well, some other party or by an electrical fire.

🔽: But those are considered “bad chaotic events”. If you want funny ones, we have a lot of stories to tell.

🔼: Hm. Like this one time, a passenger decided to use a fire extinguisher as some sort of way to fly like a rocket. Like, they were sitting on the fire extinguisher itself like a saddle, aiming the nozzle right behind them while using the dry powder inside, just to fly for a few seconds before landing on the floor abruptly. While there were other passengers around.

🔽: And this other time when a passenger got their leg stuck in between the cross line and the subway. A lot of people came by and pushed the train just enough for the person to free their leg. Although… I think that’s more wholesome than chaotic, if anything.

🔼: There would even be people who open the door too early when the train nearly made its destination. The train would still be moving and you'd see people opening the door and jumping out, while also falling on their ass. There’s even people outside the subway that would grab and be on the closed door when the train is about to depart. Like, they missed the train so logically they think grabbing a hold on something outside the train to get “on board” is a perfect idea.

🔽: People even carry very big or long stuff. Like, someone brought a long ass stick into the subway for some reason. And it couldn’t go through the door. Like, there’s even people who would do ANYTHING for attention. We may have mentioned this before in a previous ask, but those who play loud music, break dance, start fights, wear a penguin or a rat costume, or actually bring a portable toilet to shit in it. Those kinds of people. Hell, sometimes there’s a lot of people in the subway that we have to push them in just so the door can close.

🔼: Erm. I think you get our point. I'm not sure if this answers your question, but a lot of bizarre things happen on the subway in general. I think it’s just worse here since it’s Unova.

🔽: This one time, all the boys were in the bathroom stall for the sole purpose of all walking out and making everyone confused and afraid.

🔼: Emmet, I think we get it-

🛡️: … All that sounds frightening to witness.

🔼: Eh. You’re kinda used to it once you live here for a while. And again, this is Unova. So anything goes.

[depressedhatakekakashi]

hi! i've been following you for awhile and I was wondering if I could ask you a a question about your and your husband! I love seeing the way you talk about him and the stories you share. Was he as interested in what you enjoy or does he have his own interests that align with yours? Sorry if it's too personal! I'm 28f and feel shy/embarrassed in expressing my interests in the shows I watch/books I read when dating because I'd say they are probably along the lines of 'special interests' and I get really into them, write FF, etc. And I've not gotten great responses to those hobbies lol - if you don't feel comfy sharing, you can totally ignore this !

My husband and I share almost zero interests tbh. Like we share the most basic beliefs and interests (equality, fair treatment, helping people) which we both consider deal breakers

But when it comes to actual special interests, we couldn’t be more different tbh. Even down to the way we dress it’s very different.

My husband’s favorite music is 80’s stuff, with a special love for The Beatles and Pink Floyd. I actually hate the Beatles but have come to just tune it out rather than complain when he wants to play it. On the other hand, i was raised on Country music and while i have a more diverse taste in music these day’s i still play my fav country station in the car everyday.

His favorite show is House, and he actually enjoys watching TV when he has time. We both like Doctor who so that’s something we watch together, but most things he likes he watches alone or with friends. I like Naruto, Star Trek, Stargate and things along those lines. He has never enjoyed Stargate or Naruto (or Anime in general tbh) but he totally accepts my love for them and we buy each other things for our interests (example: i bought him a yellow submarine pillow for christmas and pink floyd Pj bottoms)

Things we do share an interest in amount to: Pokemon, Doctor Who, Listening to all types of music, having music playing pretty much 24/7.

We’ve also made compromises in some areas. Like decorating he hates clutter and i hate blank spaces, so he let’s me out a lot of things on designated walls but i ask him to hang them cuz he gets annoyed if they’re off centre and i don’t measure shit XD

Basically, a relationship worth having is one where you just understand and accept each other. My husband knows i write and makes time for me to go write because we both agree it’s a better outlet for me than other things i could be doing (drinking, getting high, etc). Someone who’s going to react negatively to what you enjoy isn’t worth your time. They don’t have to understand or even like what you like, but the beauty in human’s is our differences and insulting those differences is childish. The world would be so boring if we all liked the exact same things.

[noodles24601]

Whats your ranking for all the pokemon generations (remakes and legends excluded)

I haven't played gen 9 or the second half of gen 5, but that being said here it is:

8: Gen 1- a very good start to the series, where I got my personal start too, and if I was ranking based on how influential each gen was this would be much higher, but ultimately every future generation has improved on the formula in some way, and even though I have my issues with some of them I'd still say they're an upgrade overall.

7: Gen 2- a generation I have a lot of nostalgia for, and while Johto is definitely one of my favorite regions, when considering the game as a whole it runs into the same problem Gen 1 does where it innovated greatly on the formula but almost entirely in ways that were polished and improved upon in later gens. Like they had held items, but we don't get most of the one's we're familiar with until later. It does have one of the biggest post-games, one that I really love, but when you consider density too its not exactly unrivaled by its successors like gens 4 and 9.

6: Gen 6- Gen 6 is really a land of extremes. Visually its stunning, but the map still lacks a sort of coherence others have. It's got some really fun game mechanics like mega-evolution, but it's also one of the easiest pokemon games to date. It's got some characters I really like (like the friend/rival group, fight me on it), but it also has some of the weakest villains in the series and an almost nonexistant champion. Ultimately I do love the game, getting to play dress up with my 3d character as a freshly cracked egg and skate around the beautiful scenery of Kalos is something I'll never forget, but I just can't in good conscience put it much higher than this on the list.

5: Gen 3- Probably the oldest games I would say still visually hold up, especially with the diverse weather and environments, Hoenn is atmospheric in a very strong way. It's also pretty well balanced from what I remember, and had a pretty epic feel to it that landed well for me. It also gave us contests, something that's honestly sorely missing from the modern games, and I'm not sure if any of the future games did them better (maybe the Pokeathalon, but thats not quite the same thing). That being said, while plenty of the characters have good vibes to them, and that gives good flavor to a lot of the minor character (supplementing the improved visuals), there are only a few I'd say are actually "good characters". On the mechanical side of things, it again innovated a lot with abilities especially, but it wouldn't be for another generation that we'd get the physical/special split that I would say completes the core of pokemon's mechanics, and you can really feel it on replays.

4: Gen 9- Probably higher than most people would put it if I had to guess, but despite its problems I really loved Galar. I still haven't actually finished the Crown Tundra, but it was kinda neat getting expansions instead of a slightly upgraded version of the original games again and I had a lot of fun with Isle of Armor. As for the base game, there are the problems of dexit and not being able to turn the exp share off, but really as far as I'm concerned those are really the only two big "problems". I've got some minor nitpicks like thinking dynamax should've been introduced with the first gym battle rather than via max raids first, but like I said that's pretty minor. As for what the games did right? I was honestly surprised with how much I started caring about and liking these characters. One of the best rival rosters in the series tbh, and I know he gets memed but it was really cool getting to see Leon be an actual character and actually help with problems around the region. Everything feels very coherent, both geographically and narratively, and there was a lot of really good character development. Rose wasn't one of the strongest villains out there, but with how strong the rest of the cast is, along with there being more interesting parts to the story than his role in it, it almost doesn't matter. Seeing the pokemon walking around in the wild took getting used to, but it makes finding specific ones a lot easier and makes the world feel more alive. I could say more I'm sure but this section is getting quite long, so time to move on.

3: Gen 4- I may just have played in Sinnoh more than any other region. I had all 3 games growing up and played all of them multiple times. As I alluded to in my Gen 3 section, to me this is where the pokemon series really matured mechanically. There would be things added in gens to come, but not much with the staying power and core influence of the physical/special split and past innovations. It has really good balance, with whats often considered one of the hardest champion battles around. The region itself fits together really nicely in my opinion, with great and coherent subdivisions. It's characters aren't quiiiite as strong as the others in this top 4, but they still manage to delight and work with the story. Also I said before, the post-game is really good, plenty of new places to explore, new pokemon to catch, and new challenges to face. While Team Galactic is pretty solidly on the higher end of middle of the road for me as far as villain teams go, they work well with the lore, which is some of the best in the series, culmiating in an epic showdown at Spear Pillar. To me Gen 4 is classic pokemon at its best.

2: Gen 7- I really can't overstate my love of this gen tbh. Some of the best writing in the series, some of the best characters, some of the best villains, it just really doesn't miss. It's got an actual intimidating, hateable villain with Lusamine, and a really cool villain with Guzma, both of whom have good connections to other parts of the story. Really my main criticism is just that in usum Guzma is done a bit better than the originals, while in the originals it's Lusamine (and by extension Lillie and Gladion) that's done better. Pretty sure they could've done all the cool extra ultra-space stuff without having her do an very sudden heel-face turn for essentially no reason. The way the story was originally told actually left me feeling somber and reflective in a way you just don't expect from a pokemon game. Like there were actual strong themes! In any case that's really both a plus and a minus, since both games do exist in the gen. I absolutely love the region. Having islands is a great ways to divide the game into sections and give a good sense of progression, and allows for really diverse environments in a way that feels great. And the gameplay, the gameplay is easily the most unique of any mainline game and it really knocks it out of the park in my opinion. Again I could go on much longer about the battle tree or the Kahunas or Kukui, but I do have other things to do today, so let's move on.

1: Gen 5- Probably not a super hot take tbh. And to be fair part of my placing this 1st is giving b2w2 the benefit of the doubt. Even having not played it though, having a direct sequel in the same gen is really really cool, and is something they should do again. To be honest gen 5 took a bit of warming up to for me, I had a tough time feeling like I was playing a pokemon game when none of them were familiar to me, but once i got past that it was just so charming having all the new pokemon there. And of course the story is just incredible. Team Plasma is probably either my first or second favorite evil team in the series depending on how I'm feeling about Team Skull that day. And Ghetsis and N are super super good characters, in fact N may be my favorite character in the series full stop. I actually cried when I saw his room for the first time. I don't think a pokemon game had actually moved me to tears before that! The region itself has a really good sense of progression with the way its shaped, but manages it in a way that feels like it makes sense. It has a good sense of difficulty, and paces itself really well. Assuming b2w2 live up to the standard of bw even a little, there's no question Gen 5 has to be number 1.

[jaybug-jabbers]

Top 3 Lists - Pokemon Scarlet

Hey, all. I figured it's about time to post another one of these! I really enjoyed Pokemon Scarlet, so I thought it would be fun to list off some of my favorites in a Top 3 post-- both pokemon and characters. The game certainly has plenty of both!

Top 3 Ancient Paradox Pokemon

First up, my favorite ancient pokemon. I feel as though these choices are pretty basic/what most people probably choose, but oh well, I can't really help they happen to be my favorites too. I would die for Koraidon, he is the bestest boy in the world and my precious son.

I've never been a huge fan of Mismagius (especially now knowing we could have had the infinitely more creepy Kurstraw/Pangshi), but I think Flutter Mane reboots the design in a wonderful way, which is surprising and refreshing. I've grown very fond of her.

To my amusement, I have the same feelings about Roaring Moon; I have always disliked Salamence's design, but Roaring Moon is a massive improvement on the design, which is so exciting to see. The colors are great, the feathers are an excellent addition, the long talons remind me of a bird of prey, and the whole thing has such a foreboding presence that normal Salamence's ugly shapes always lacked. The choice to lean into Mence's Mega design was smart, because they retained all the good of that design and discarded the rest. Plus, what a badass name.

I only just now noticed all my favorite choices here have feathers. Well, I suppose it makes sense, with our recent suspicion that many dinosaurs had feathers!

Top 3 Regional Form/New Evolutions/Convergent Species

I'm lumping all of these into the same category, since there isn't a huge number for any of those categories alone. When I first saw Toedscool out in the wild, I was deeply confused about what I was seeing, and when I poked it, it turned into a Ditto-- and somehow my brain concluded it must have been Ditto screwing up its attempt at imitating a Tentacool. 😂 But no, Toedscool is truly its own thing, as unsettling and strange as it is. I absolutely hated how it moved, it creeped me out. I've decided I like it for that reason. (Toedscruel is likewise unsettling and interesting, but it's not on my list because I hate TUBE MOUTHS argghh)

Farigiraf is definitely on my list. I have always loved Girafarig, and its evolution has been long, long overdue, so it's incredibly exciting to see it finally get the love it deserves. They did an excellent job with the evolution, too, it's fun and silly and cool all at once.

Finally, for my regional form choice, I'm definitely choosing Paldean Tauros. I know everyone is all excited about Wooper and Clodsire, but I was never a Wooper fan. (Sorry, Rika 💔) I'm just super excited that Tauros got such an awesome redesign, especially the Blaze breed. The changes are minor but so effective. Maybe I'm just a sucker for black-colored pokemon. This is like the shiny design Tauros always deserved and never had.

Top 3 New General Pokemon

This really is a tough choice to make, because Scar/Vio has a LOT of new pokemon to choose from. But I think I've finally narrowed it down to these lads. Klawf is the perfect example of a simple but elegant design. Sometimes "a big crab" is enough to be enjoyable because, well, I like crabs. What can I say, I know what I like.

Grafaiai is the very definition of "skrunkly," so there's no way I can resist putting him on the list. Aye-ayes are fascinating little freaks and it's great to have a pokemon based off them, put I enjoy the inspiration they also drew from lemurs. It's also great to have a poison pokemon taking up the traditional position of "early game normal-type rodent pokemon." Poison pokes are just cool. The association with spray paint and urban art is also really fun.

If any of you know me, you'll know I of course consider bug types to be my favorite pokemon type. But that doesn't automatically mean I'll put new bugs as my favorites. Rabsca really does deserve to be on the list, though; at least in terms of design. A dung-beetle pokemon has been long overdue, and the sacred associations with this species is lovingly referred to in this design. For those unaware, dung beetles are included in Egyptian mythology, and the beetle rolling a ball of dung was compared to their sun god rolling the sun along its path in the sky.

HMs

It's so tough to choose just three so I wanted to include a few Honorable Mentions here; I've loved Frigate birds since I was a wee lass so it's cool to see Kilowattrel; Charcadet's evolutions are badass (especially Ceruledge) and I am very fond of them despite the fact I typically don't like humanoid pokemon; and I'm very pleased that the very first Grass/Fire pokemon (finally!!) ended up really cool. (And that it ended up being a pepper, like so many of us guessed Grass/Fire would be)

Top Team Star Bosses

I'm not gonna to lie, I did not enjoy the Team Star storyline much in this game. I felt it was the weakest of the three main story threads. (I enjoyed the brief post-game storyline with Penny & Team Star more than the main part of their story, in fact) That said, these would be my favorites of the bunch. Ortega's design just looks delightful, such a snazzy dandy, and Atticus' devotion to The Bit is admirable (and tbh who doesn't love a D&D nerd?) Giacomo is forgettable and is there because I needed a third choice, lmao (sorry, didn't like the team star girls much)

Top 3 Gym Leaders

Grusha is definitely my top Gym Leader pick. His character is fascinating, especially the events the game only only hints at (it seems strongly implied he met with a nasty snowboarding accident and had to stop the sport, losing his dream and being stuck with just his gym leader job, which he seems rather bitter about). It's a shame they didn't pursue his character storyline further with one of the Academy side-stories (in the way they fleshed out Brassius more). I feel like he could have had a storyline with the nurse (Miriam), and that would have been much better then Miriam's actual side-story which felt rather randomly shoehorned in there (and fan pandering, to be entirely honest). Oh well. At any rate, I find Grusha the most interesting gym leader by far.

Larry is great. They had a clear idea in mind for his character and they executed it well. He apparently is a big hit with fans too. Good for him, he deserves it.

I chose Bassius as my third option because of his involvement in the side-storyline with him and Hassel. He's a rather forgettable character if you only know him from his gym, but his interactions with Hassel were great and fleshed him out a lot more-- made me actually care about him. Honestly I think it's great they let these two men have a strong bond with each other and Hassel even get choked up and cries about it. That's sending a very positive message about men letting themselves feel and express positive emotions! Yes, Hassel's crying is written slightly for comedy (haha look at this man cry), but I think it's also done with genuine affection (it's ok for guys to cry and love each other, even your professor does!). So that's really cool. (The exact nature of their relationship is something fans speculate on, but whether they are close friends or they're something romantic, I think it's cool regardless!)

Top 3 Elites/Champions

My bias here is going to be clear, but holy shit I love Rika and Nemona.

Rika, because . . . I mean, LOOK at her. She's hot, she's professional, but she's a total dork and a goober too. She's a sore loser but she's a total sweetheart to Poppy, and GAH, I love her so much. A lot of great details with her. She's by far my favorite Elite.

Nemona is literally my favorite rival charatcer of the entire franchise other than N. I could blather about her endlessly. Let's just say this bubbly, energetic, earnest, friendly, wonderful girl who hyperfixates on pokemon battling and sincerely wants to see you grow and thrive is perfect in every day. 🥺

Hassel is here too, lol. (In all seriousness he's great too, a wonderful mentor figure and a man of passion. Even if his haircut is a bit weird asfhjkl)

[noohpais]

what kind of gamers they’d be. — characters : mikey, draken, chifuyu, baji, mitsuya, ran, rindou, kokonoi, & sanzu , warnings/notes : cursing, mentions of toxic behavior

song playing : GAM3 BO1 by Seventeen

notes : first ever headcanon omfg. this was requested by a dear friend who i game with often, and i think i have enough gaming experience on my hands to write this lol. if you enjoyed this fic, consider tipping me on ko-fi :> reblogs are much appreciated!!

disclaimer : this is a work of fiction, made only for entertainment purposes and in no way or form should be taken seriously.

mikey —

he’s a cocky gamer, and he has the skills to back up his attitude. however, he never plays seriously and opts to just mess around most of the time. if they’re playing a shooting game, he’d do a friendly open fire for the funnies, just to tick his teammates off. never has his mic on and never plays unless the other toman members are playing with him. he typically prefers playing on a console rather than pc. likes to play brawling games like smash or tekken.

draken —

ken is good at a lot of things, and gaming is not one of them. the type to lean from side to side while playing mario kart because he thinks it’ll help with the controls. also the type to button smash and hope for the best. always the first to die, his kda stats are embarrassing and mikey makes fun of him for it all the time. if he had to choose, he’d prefer gaming on a console over a pc. he’s an inverted player (like me).

chifuyu —

into story telling games, or rpg like legend of zelda or final fantasy. probably has like 150 hours on ocarina of time after only one month of playing it. grinds like crazy, and does all of the side quests. has several timestamps cause he wants to go back and choose different routes. if a game has multiple endings, he can and will get all endings. prefers gaming on console, but will play pc games if he feels like it.

baji —

someone take the controller away from him. he’s moderately decent skill wise, but baji’s the type of gamer to rage; whether something goes wrong on his end or because of another teammate. almost threw his controller at the tv when mikey used his ult to blast him off the platform while playing smash. he yells a lot and sometimes makes his own sound effects. plays both pc and console. chifuyu made him play phasmophobia once in the dark, and it ended with chifuyu’s monitor getting a giant crack in it.

mitsuya —

he’s a handheld console gamer. plays stuff like super mario world or pokemon on his ds. likes the handheld consoles cause it’s convenient for his sisters to play their games on. however, out of all the toman members, i think he’d be the best at gaming in general. the one to carry the team during a 5v5. usually has to tell mikey and baji to shut up because they’re being too loud and no one can hear the game.

ran —

i’ve said it once and i’ll say it again, ran sucks at any and all video games, but for some reason, he still likes to play them. has died in creative mode several times. despite being absolutely trash at most games, he does have incredible luck at times. played genshin once and pulled a rare character without even realizing it (cause you know, not like he actually cares). there have been times while playing smash bros with rindou that he’s won, solely because rindou couldn’t make his character jump fast enough back onto the platform, so he died.

rindou —

idk why, but i think he’s a phone gamer lmao. likes to play candy crush and cookie run. likes to play genshin too, but usually gives up after fifteen minutes and opens up word search or something. gaming to him is something like a passtime more than something to do for leisure. not a great gamer, but he’s not terribly bad either. his favorite mobile game was flappy bird, and he was kinda sad it was taken off the app store. really good at those music rhythm games.

koko —

this man excels at games like animal crossing and stardew valley. knows how to make money in the game, and knows how to use it to upgrade his home and tools to the absolute best. his animal crossing world is amazing; probably has several characters on his island. doesn’t play for leisure, he just wants to know how much money he can get until he finally gets tired of the game.

sanzu —

the toxic gamer troll. goes on just to cause havoc and he thrives off of it. a league and valorant player because the community fits his energy. spam pings his teammates for no reason. likes to play on smurf accounts to appear low level so he can get matched up and win over lower level players. loves turning on his mic just to tell rindou that he sucks ass. has made a kid cry at one point.

additional notes : yeah all these games are cool and all, but nothing beats my otome games imo. if you enjoyed this fic, consider tipping me on ko-fi :> reblogs are much appreciated!!

[adobe-outdesign]

what are your thoughts on the cyndaquil line ? cyndaquils my all time favorite pokemon and id love to hear your thoughts on it hctsvkgxjg

There's a lot of debate over what Cyndaquil is supposed to be–mouse, echidnas, etc. For the record, I always saw them as a neat monster foremost, and a hedgehog/echida hybrid secondly.

Regardless of what it is/isn't supposed to be, I really like its design. First, it's adorable, especially with the perpetually closed eyes. It does a good job of being cute without being overly "cutesy" or baby-ish.

And secondly, the way it has the dark areas on the back to add contrast with both the cream underside but also the flames themselves, making them pop, is so good. Especially with how it runs down that distinctive face shape and stops just short of the tip.

Speaking of those flames, I know there's some controversy on the fact that they're actually retractable. Personally, I actually like this concept a lot; I feel like it's one of the more distinctive parts of the line, and even the red spots in the areas that the flames come from are a nice touch.

However, with that said, I agree that only having the flames out when attacking is terrible; it means that you barely see one of the main features of the design and doesn't make much in-universe sense. Instead, I like the way PLA does it; having the flames out for the entirely of a battle, and only having them out when otherwise outside of its Pokeball. It keeps the retractable idea will still having the flames out most of the time.

Quilava is a bit similar to the rest of the line, but I'll give it a pass because it does change as much as it can—flame placement, marking placement, and overall body structure.

This artwork actually isn't a good representation of Quilava as a whole, as it's actually quadrupedal and only stands on its hind legs like this on rare occasions. It's also obvious when it's on all fours that this thing is long, more of a weasel than a porcupine at this point. This gives it a considerably more unique look than the Typhlosion-esq official art.

And while I don't like it quite as much as Cyndaquil due to the body shape being less distinct/interesting, it keeps all the good elements, such as the retractable flames and countershading. So, overall, pretty solid.

I'm only now noticing that Typhlosion's dark blue is a completely different hue than its pre-evos. Weird.

Anyway, Typhlosion seems to be based on honey badgers, so it's appropriate that it looks so ferocious, as honey badgers Really Want To Kill You at all times. This also makes it feel appropriately powerful for a final evo, and it still retains all the good and unique elements of the line.

However, while Typhlosion is good overall, I do feel like it's probably the weakest of the group. For whatever reason, the flames reduce further and further as the line goes, so at this point there's not as much of the nifty fire porcupine element to it. This also makes the design feel pretty "bare" compared to its pre-evos, as it has more body but less fire proportionally despite that.

And secondly, the markings. They worked well on the pre-evos because they're primarily quadrupedal, so you see the top of their bodies most of the time. With Typhlosion, you see the underside most of the time; thus, it looks somewhat plain and empty. This is something I think the Hisuian form (which I reviewed over here) improves a bit, as it adds a simple black collar around the neck, which helps add contrast to the front of the body and breaks up the cream void a bit.

This is also why the line looks so "naked" without the flames on it. The flames are the only things adding visual interest due to the reduct markings and more generic body shape, so when you take the one point of color away there's not a whole lot left.

As a whole, however, I'd say the line is pretty solid. Cyndaquil has a pretty perfect design, Quilava does its best to be unique while still transition between the two, and while Typhlosion's design is the weakest, it makes up for it with sheer power. Overall, probably my favorite fire-type starter line thus far.

[jeminy3]

old archie x maxie (hardenshipping) doodles i never posted, from 2017 or 2018. they were related to some of the doodles in this post.

I have a lot of unpublished drawings of these guys, and i never did elaborate on my headcanons for them. The truth is, I was (and still kinda am) very anxious and embarrassed about this fixation, probably because it centers around villains and “woobifies” them, but also because after playing and researching more into ORAS, i discovered that my personal canon was contradicted by actual canon and i felt invalidated.

For the sake of posterity, I’ll summarize my old headcanons below. (It’s still pretty long, ugh)

A grunt in Team Magma’s hideout says that Archie and Maxie “used to be on the same team.” In canon, this probably implies that they worked together on New Mauville, Sea Mauville, or another unnamed project, depending on how old they are and how long ago those projects started and ended.

However, like many other fans, I thought this meant they used to be in Team Rocket together, and I elaborated an entire backstory based on that:

+ Maxie and Archie were part of a group of Rocket recruits attempting to start a branch of Team Rocket in the Hoenn Region. The project failed because soon after they arrived, Giovanni was defeated in Kanto and officially dissolved Team Rocket, causing a schism to form within the Hoenn team over whether to give up the project or not. This eventually lead to the team splintering into two factions, one lead by Maxie and the other lead by Archie, which eventually grew and rebranded themselves into Team Magma and Team Aqua.

-Maxie and Archie met and connected enough to start dating, though they were emotionally dysfunctional. As problems arose and the Team began to splinter, their relationship also broke down and their separation was very messy.

Maxie clung to the ambition of staying in Hoenn and building up the Team as a paragon of human industry, pushing away Archie and anyone else he deemed as “not useful.”

Archie also wanted to make the Team work, but not in the way Maxie and his side wanted, at the expense of nature. Archie felt hurt and betrayed as Maxie pushed him away and disagreed with him, making him contradict and lash out at Maxie even more.

This all culminated in a huge fight between Archie and Maxie and their respective sides, involving both Pokemon battling and actual fist-fighting. Local authorities were called in, causing the teams to scatter, but not before Archie and Maxie promised to face each other again, reforging themselves as bitter rivals.

-- Maxie

+ Maxie is (the pokemon equivalent of) German/Japanese, and was born on Cinnabar Island. His birth name was Maximillian Matsubasa Von Brandt, but he prefers simply “Maxie”. He IDs as bigender, asexual and demi-homoromantic.

His father is a Kanto businessman named Masaru Matsubasa. His mother is from somewhere in or near Kalos, named Melissa Von Brandt. They were both wealthy and successful business people who frequently left on business trips, Masaru travelling between Kanto and Johto and Melissa to her home country.

Maxie was often left alone or with a nanny at home. He was well-provided for and self-sufficient, but he was lonely and emotionally stunted. He had a passion for geology and engineering, and showed interest in contributing to helping Cinnabar’s local issues, which were often tense because of the limited land space. Homelessness and unemployment were high, and development plans to alleviate these were stymied by parties who lobbied for the preservation of the local Pokemon wildlife by any means.

Maxie’s parents were skeptical of his choice in career but still supported him, if only half-heartedly. This lead Maxie to study Cinnabar’s volcano, which he found to be very much active and possibly dangerous. He developed a plan to build in and around the volcano in such a way that it would utilize extra space inside the mountain for housing/businesses and its magma for natural energy to power the city, possibly circumventing its eventual eruption.

He presented this plan to Cinnabar’s city council, but was practically laughed out of the meeting for such an ambitious and dangerous idea, especially by the wildlife parties. This damaged his reputation and caused him to be fired/demoted from his job. His parents reprimanded him, regretting their decision to support him.

Lost and disgusted with his life, Maxie found recruitment with Team Rocket and left Cinnabar to join their efforts on the mainland. When he presented his research to their higher-ups, they were impressed enough to pass it along to Giovanni himself, and Maxie ended up contributing to the construction of some of their underground lairs, like in Celadon City.

This also made him a prime candidate for the Rocket Hoenn project as a lead engineer and scientist, and he joined the project with high hopes.

+ His interest in Pokemon was soured by his past and usually only extends are far as his ambitions, which means he views Pokemon only as things that can be useful to whatever projects he’s working on, otherwise they are a nuisance. After becoming the leader of Team Magma and having to train a personal team to defend himself with, he warms up to Pokemon a bit more.

+ Maxie plays up his confidence and genius, but does have moments of crippling self-doubt and anxiety. Deep down, he’s socially awkward and has trouble expressing his feelings, tending to bottle things up until they spill out in moments of anger.

+ Maxie used to be a semi-heavy smoker in his youth to cope with his anxiety. After becoming the leader of Team Magma, his health was suffering and his grunts were visibly uncomfortable around him, so for the sake of his own health and that of his team, he quit, with help and advice from Courtney and Tabitha.

+ Maxie hates his parents and hasn’t contacted them since he left Cinnabar, which was over ten years ago by the end of ORAS events. He avoids them to the point that he uses a forged identity in Hoenn, named “Maxie Stormfront.” ‘Stormfront’ is a reference from one of his favorite metal bands, the Doom Hounds, because he is a nerd.

+ Years later, Cinnabar’s volcano did erupt and destroy the town, displacing its human population. Maxie has mixed feelings about this – he’s not sure if it’s righteous karma for the City Council rejecting his plans, or a sign that his old plans were doomed to failure and he was better off leaving Cinnabar after all.

-- Archie

+ Archie is (the pokemon equivalent of) Black/Hispanic and a Hoenn native. His birth name is Archibald Rodriguez. He IDs as a cis man (or trans?), pansexual and panromantic.

He was born to his father, Alexander Rodriguez and his mother, Alicia Fuentes (Rodriguez after marriage) in a small fishing town on one of Hoenn’s coasts, with its fishery being its only major industry. Most of its residents are middle-class or poor, and few members pursue an education after high school, usually joining the local fishing industry.

In his youth, Archie didn’t care much for school or work, preferring to spend his days playing with the local water Pokemon and his friends, Matt and Shelly. However, this exposed him to the effects that overfishing and pollution had on the local wildlife, and he eventually grew to want to pursue a career as a Veterinarian, specifically for water pokemon.

His parents didn’t believe he would be successful and his town had few resources to help him. The most he could do was research at the local library and a then-primitive internet.

Worse, his town was outright apathetic to the damage their industry was causing to the local wildlife because they depended on its capital to survive.

+A possible traumatic memory involves a young Archie nursing a sick Magikarp back to health for weeks, only to later discover it trapped in the nets of the fishery his father worked at, doomed to become food/products. When he attempted to cut the nets and save the Magikarp, his father restrained him and reprimanded him, claiming “it’s just a fish, boy! They’re all just stupid fish!”

Eventually, Archie was a depressed drifter in his 20s, unable to hold onto work and unable to afford to leave to a larger city. He often fought with his abrasive father and his mother was coddling, but unsupportive. This made Archie a prime candidate for Team Rocket recruiters as they arrived on Hoenn, promising a way out of his backwater town, decent pay, and a career where he’d be appreciated and be able to work with Pokemon to change the world.  He joined as a lowly Grunt, but was talented and well-respected within the Team.

-Archie has limited contact with his parents since he left home, only calling them once a year or so.

-Archie doesn’t like being referred to as his full name, it feels pretentious and brings back uncomfortable memories of his family.

+I used to headcanon Archie and Matt as biological brothers because of the “bro” thing, but I’m not sure about keeping that. If so, Matt’s name would be short for Matthias Rodriguez, because their parents liked pretentious names.

-Like some of his dialog implies, Archie is kind of depressed, pessimistic and cynical deep down, but hides it behind his boisterous, reckless attitude. At his worst, he’s downright bitter, uncaring of his own life or the lives of humanity in general, in favor of Pokemon.

[epicspheal]

Heya! I hope your doing well!

Ever since swsh gave the rivals something to do after the fact( something that I believe only happened to Blue), I can't help but think of the rivals prior who haven't. What do you think they end up doing? I know that Blue ends up becoming a gym leader, but would still be interesting what you plan for him too! :3

Hi there @ihopethisendswell! So actually, it's the norm typically for the rivals to have something to do, even if it's just continuing being a roaming trainers. Being a roaming trainer is still just as valid of a career path as other routes given the way the Pokemon world works, it's just not as solid of a career path as say gym leader or research assistant. Pokemon Sword and Shield is one of the only main games that really puts emphasis on the rivals' alternate careers paths as part of the plot outside of the gen 5 games. So like you have Blue who becomes gym leader and also helps his grandpa with his research by still be a roaming trainer (much to the frustration of anyone trying to challenge his gym). By the time of Sun and Moon/USUM he has ditched the gym to become battle facility which ultimately given his status as a former champion ends up being a much more fitting role. Granted he needed that time as a gym leader as long standing humbling exercise so it wasn't a bad call at all. Then we have Silver, who remains a roaming trainer, though he kind of mainly sticks around the Dragon's Den because he really wants to avenge that loss to Lance and show how much he has changed. Then we have Brendan/May (when not the protagonist) who end up going back to being full time assistants professor Birch. Wally on the other hand, is much like Silver in that he continue to be a roaming trainer, with him staying around the Battle Resort in ORAS with him eventually going to the Battle Tree by the time the SM/USUM events occur.

Barry also follows the roaming trainer route with him staying Stark Mountain in Diamond/Pearl and with Platinum he hangs around the Survival area.

Gen 5 is where the rival's future goals get the most attention, and was the best well done (SwSh in my opinion failed hard on the rival's goals bar Klara and Avery's). Bianca is still my favorite "how to do a future career path" ending in the entirety of series which is she really doesn't know. She ends up taking up a position as Professor's Juniper's assistant. However it's this linefrom Bianca in Pokemon Black 2/White 2 that I really enjoyed:

"Actually, I'm not sure being a professor's assistant is really what I want to do... But when I do the work, I have lots and lots of fun!" I really appreciated that they allowed Bianca to have doubts that this is her final career path. She's still a child and I can remember when I was her age (God, I sound so old) how many career paths I thought about in that time frame...and only one of those comes even remotely close to what I'm attempting to go back to school for. I liked how she's just trying to things and aiming for experiences while not trying to commit herself to one specific path. Now obviously this could theoretically be true for any number of the rivals as with the exception of Blue (and Wally although for some odd reason they didn't give him an aged up model considering he'd be just as old as Red and Blue are) we don't see them as adults and their ambitions could very well have indeed changed over the years. Then you have Cheren who after that scolding from Alder really begins to question his pursuit of strength and what he really wants to do. Cue 2 years later in BW2 where we see him as the Aspertia City gym leader as well a lecturer at the trainer's school. Fitting as it shows his desire and capabilities as a trainer but also allowing a more concrete goal than just pursuing strength but actually overseeing the future generations. And Hugh, another one of my favorite characters, concludes his story arc on forgiveness (since he had absolutely none for Team Plasma at the beginning of the story) ends up a roaming trainer but also helping the good side Team Plasma in Driftveil City reunite Pokemon that were stolen during the events of Black/White to their original trainers. So he has a goal and really touching one I might add, one of the few that doesn't revolve around battling or researching.

Then there's the XY rivals who were admittedly the most shafted. They all pretty much end up as roaming trainers except for Trevor who already had the aim of completing the Pokedex for Professor Sycamore and he continues to do so.

The no specific aim works the best, in my opinion, for Shauna as she really didn't have much of a goal to begin with outside of travelling/making memories, and much like I said with Bianca, it's okay for characters to not have a specific end game (although I personally see Bianca's route as better as although she isn't quite sure what she wants to do, she does take initiative and actively pursue a goal to gain experience and see if it's for her).

Serena/Calem (again when not the protag) having no set aim also works because they were most competitive of the group and continuing to be a trainer makes sense, but since they get hardly any development it just feels hollow and not satisfying. At least with characters like Wally, Silver and Barry who are roaming they all went through some major development. Lack of major development plus no end game just makes Serena and Calem unfortunately just not stand out.

Then Tierno...poor Tierno. He's my favorite XY character and I hate that screwed over so poorly. He actually a goal but the game doesn't allow us to see how a dance team would work. Kalos really could've benefitted from a Pokemon Contest/Musical like sidequest where Tierno shines in. So him being a roaming trainer is just...meh.

Now moving on to Gen 7 and best boy Hau (Hau's up there with Blue and Leon as one of my favorite Pokemon characters PERIOD). In both Sun and Moon and USUM he's a roaming trainer but I argue that Sun and Moon actually wrapped up his character better, despite USUM giving him much more in the way of development. By that I mean he explicitly mentions to the player that he wants become strong enough to find his father who fled Alola because the pressure of being the Kahuna's son was too much. So yeah he is still just a regular trainer, but he does have an explicit goal that goes beyond just trying to continue to measure up to the player. He also helps to train the reforming Team Skull grunts in the art of Alolan SuMo. In USUM this is erased for a more generic roaming trainer scenario unfortunately. Gladion's fate also changes depending on what version of the Gen 7 games you play. With Sun and Moon he ends up taking over as Aether's president but also still trains on the side as he is one of the challengers that can come for your title in the post game. In Ultra Sun and Moon he actually takes the "I'm going to Kanto" route instead of Lillie although he actually back and is essentially a roaming trainer since Lusamine's villainy was nerfed and therefore allowed to stay as Aether's president

Then there's Trace who ends up champion then loses it, but keeps on going in this endless circle of trying to reclaim it from the player. And then finally the Gen 8 rivals where we have Bede, Marnie, Klara and Avery all become gym leaders and Hop is a professor. Despite this cast having the most focus on their future paths since the gen 5 rivals I don't think they were done that well. Like Klara and Avery's worked, really well and they're probably the only rivals bar Trace and Blue who actually their goals (with them actually maintaining there dream status because their goal didn't involve becoming champion).

I've talked about Hop's on this post before but the lack of genuine foreshadowing just made his sudden declaration of wanting to be a Pokemon Professor just come out of nowhere. And honestly considering the fact that he had just come out of a depressive stage and still hadn't quite addressed his idolization issues I think he would've been served better with the Bianca route where yes he becomes Sonia's assistant, but it's clear that he's still trying to find his new path and that he's just open to trying out research rather than making a rather bold claim that this was his new career path. Either that or do better in the foreshadowing where he shows he has a much clearer interest in academia but feels like he needs to be a champion like his brother.

Then there's Marnie who I've also stated was kind of screwed over. Because she made it rather clear to Piers she didn't want to be gym leader (which makes sense given that she saw how that position screwed over older brother that she admires). She's pretty much doing this because she still has the motivation to save her hometown which is extremely admirable and mature. But also it's sad, like if she didn't have to do this, would she honestly still be gym leader. I think not, at least not immediately. Considering that gym challengers can still compete on the big stage with the champion's cup rematches and some even can be invited to the Galarian Stars Tournament, I think if I had of written that I would've focused on how with Leon as the head of MC he's going to actually work with Spikemuth to revitalize without shouldering the responsibility on one single person, especially a minor. And let her be a roaming trainer and live for herself and not continue to be Spikemuth's martyr.

Then there's Bede who quite vocally states when crashing the Champion's Cup that he was ready to retire. Like poor boy goes from being used as Rose's wishing star collector and fall boy to Opal's reirement plan. Like yes it's great that Opal actually remembers his name and gives him a support system and teaches him some discipline. But still it's kind of sad as he was very much okay with retiring but more or less gets goaded into staying because of the stadium audience.

So this post got way longer than I what it was going to be but hey that happens. But yeah too long don't read, all of the rivals do have a goal, even if a lot of them end up as roaming trainers. If I'm honest in most cases (bar the gen 6 rivals because they lacked developent) the roaming trainer thing works. Because they're kids and they still have their whole lives ahead of them and they don't need to have concrete job just yet. Especially because in some cases the concrete plan just doesn't always fit the character. It works best when it feels like an organic part of the story and not just trying to wrap things up for the sake of wrapping things up.

Finally, to answer your question about how I deal with Blue. Well in my Pokeverse (dubbed cactusverse in case you see me refer to my AU as this), I tend to be fairly canon compliant to the games. So after he loses his champion title to Red he becomes Viridian gym leader, slightly patches things up with grandfather by helping with the research and eventuallya head of the Battle Tree as an adult once he gains the Battle Legend Status (which is an actual legitimate title in cactusverse held currently only by him, Red and Leaf, although one of my OCs gets this designation as well). So nothing that really deviates from canon except for some offscreen events. Basically the battle legend status is bestowed if a major event happens that is taken care of by an already established powerful trainer. So there's a rather major plot thing the Kanto Trio gets involved in that once they take care of gives them their status.

Also for cactusverse there's the whole issue of the Viridian City gym. So it eventually it gets passed down to Trace as Blue has shown that he's become a bit too powerful to be a gym leader. He was honestly when he first got it probably still a bit overkill for an 8th gym leader, but he also really needed an attitude adjustment. And with Lance being a far better father figure to him than Oak could ever dream of, with the help of Agatha tried to rein in his egotistical and self important ways by giving him the position. Which worked very well. Still in cactusverse there's rules on the win percentage a gym can have and that's determined by position. Win too many for your rank and you get moved, vice versa if you lose too many, and sometimes you might even lose your position. The first and last gym leaders are always the most at risk of losing their status. This actually happens to Wallace, Iris and eventually Raihan because they just end up exceeding the strength of most challengers who try to challenge them. Hence why all three of them end up champions at some point cactusverse (Raihan does not become Galar's champion, but Johto's champion since I really like the idea of him spreading his wings beyong Galar).

Blue between the time of BW2 and SM had ended up getting to a point that no one had gotten a gym badge off of him in a couple of years which is unacceptable by league standards and he would've gotten booted out sooner had Lance not personally asked my OC Terra to come kick his butt and get a badge off of him. And cue possibly the most iconic and brutal gym battles to have ever gone down in a region of outside of Galar because two heartbroken champion tier trainers, who broke each other's heart is a recipe for a frightening battle. Lance happened to referree that match and might be a little traumatized. Terra won and he was able to give out his last badge before Red came back from his latest global trip and said let's go to Alola.

[prof-peach]

Hello professor, I have a pretty heavy question I’m afraid, but I’m running out of people to ask, so I’ll try my best to keep it PG13.

It’s my Mienshao, Daisy. Up until recently, she and I were members of a police task force tasked with rooting out illegal Pokemon smuggling rings and underground high stakes tournaments. We’ve been partners for a long time, me and Daisy, we grew up together, and I dare say we made a great team. But then things went wrong.

For the sake of security I can’t go into too much detail, but we were participating in a raid when we got ambushed. Someone must have tipped the smugglers off, because they were waiting for us when we got there. During the firefight, there was an explosion, a gas tank got set on fire by a charizard, I believe, and Daisy and I happened to be close. She got out with a few minor burns and scrapes, I... Did not.

I’ll spare you the gory details, but I have been confined to a wheel chair ever since, and I am due to be fitted for a prosthetic leg next week.

I won’t lie, the transition has been hard for everybody, me, my friends, my family. My other Pokémon have been hovering around me like over protective nannies for weeks. But I think out of all of us, Daisy has been taking it the hardest. Half of the day she spends locked to my side like a bodyguard, threatening to punch anyone that gets too close into oblivion. And the other half, well...

She’s started putting herself through some kind of hellish self training routine. Doing katas until she all but collapses from exhaustion, running laps for hours, fighting every Pokemon she can convince to fight, wild or trained. Daisy’s always been tough, and she’s always loved training, but this... This isn’t training, it’s a death march. I’m getting extremely worried, and that’s not even everything!

She’s stopped eating her favorite foods, deliberately choosing ones I know she hates, she won’t let me pet her anymore, she just steps out of reach, trying not to look at me. But most worryingly, she’s started cutting off her whiskers. She’s always been so proud of her whiskers, she groomed them every day, always got grumpy when I teased her for having a big ol’ mustache. Now anytime they get longer than an inch, she slices them off with her claws and throws them in fireplace, like some kind ceromony.

I’m almost certain Daisy feels guilty for coming out mostly unscathed, when I didn’t. She’s always been a bit protective, even before we joined the police, and she’s saved my life multiple times out in the field, but now she feels like she’s failed me, I think. I’ve tried to convince her that it wasn’t her fault, but that only seems to redouble her efforts. I’m terrified she’s going to burn herself out if she keeps going like this, and I don’t know what to do.

I know this is a pretty heavy question, but I I’m not sure who else to ask. Is there anything I can do to convince her that she doesn’t need to hurt herself like this? Or, something? Just anything to help! Losing my leg was jarring, but losing Daisy would be unbearable!... I just... I just want my best friend to be okay.

I am sorry for what you’ve been through, I cannot begin to understand what it’s like to be in your shoes, but like all recovery, physical or mental, this will take a fair bit of time to get past, you both may never fully return to how things were, but it can get better and you can both return to a full life together with work and dedication.

I’ve certainly seen Pokemon go to extreme lengths after dangerous incidents to protect their loved ones or themselves, in this case it would be wise to assume your pokemons suffering with a hefty bill of PTSD, and needs some actual therapy to handle the feelings and thoughts they’re having. We have facilities to accommodate that if you’re local to Johto, but most Pokemon centres will be able to put you in contact with reliable and certified practices to begin unravelling the issues that now plague Daisy.

That she considers herself to have come away reasonably unscathed is not true, yes your life has physically changed, but she needs to step back and take a look at her life too. Everything’s different now, and more specifically how she’s treating herself and handling her feelings. If that’s not trauma and injury, I don’t know what else it could be. You both came away with damage that day, physical or not. The first step is to help her see that, and to begin to understand that despite this all, you can both continue to move forward together if you can overcome the injury together, it is an event you shared, and you two can aid each others recovery with time and care.

There’s some seriously gifted therapists out there, those who study for years and can help far more than me, they’ll take time to break down the events, and start to really get into the feelings that your partner is going through. The cycle for Daisy right now comes around to self-punishment, and seems to be stuck on a loop. She needs time and space to process her feelings of guilt, grief, fear and loss, facing them instead of burying herself in her rigorous training. While it is difficult to discuss, you two have a strong bond that means you could talk with her. Try to remind her who’s truly responsible, she may be blaming herself, which is pretty common in these situations, but at the root of it, you were doing your routine job, and the bad guys, the Pokemon smugglers and goons are to blame. THEY caused the issue, not her, and while it may not sink in right away it’s worth saying, and sticking to. You said you told her that it wasn’t her fault, which is the gut reaction, perhaps giving her a logical target instead of herself will work better for now. Reiterating the true issue, and taking the heat off of her may help with other tasks such as self care, later down the recovery road.

Her guilt will feel terrible, but it kind of works as a protector, keeping her distanced from the worse, more overwhelming feelings of helplessness and powerlessness. In fact the guilt that masks this all will slowly make things worse over time. That underlying intense emotion below the guilt is what you both need to work through, but more than anything, she needs to face it, in her own time, come to terms with it, and eventually (hopefully) come to an understanding that life is an endless cycle of events, things will happen, but you have to pick yourself up and turn the lemons into lemonade. She could have lost you that day, that you came away with your life is a miracle, and now you two get more time together because of that. Luck isn’t something that runs out, it’s not like there’s only so much of it to go around, it is like wining the lottery. Sometimes 20 people win, other times no one does. It’s hard to accept, but there’s no greater order to stuff that happens, but when we can come to this conclusion, it’s oddly freeing. I’ve seen a fair few Pokemon in a symilar state who can move on when they realise there’s an odd randomness to the world and everything that goes on.

This is a job for someone with far greater skills than I, but you must help her by also looking after yourself, laugh when you can, show her that your life is still very full, and that you have loved ones, and joy to share with others. You mentioned that you’re due a prosthetic, and though the transition will be long and no doubt a little difficult at first, getting yourself back on two feet (kind of) will show her, and your other Pokemon that you’re willing to move forward. I think there’s a lot to be said about talking during this all. She wants to fight, to be strong, if this is how she’s going to cope, fine. If she’s out training, sit with her, spend whatever time you can by her side, as she’s taking this the hardest. You don’t have to say a thing, just try to do your best, without putting yourself in too much discomfort or pain. Reminding her who would be devastated if it had been her who got hurt, if she was not around, may help ground her back in reality a bit. You both got granted a gift that day, you came away alive, if she works so hard she burns out, that gift was wasted. She can use her kindness, and strength to help you, she can pass her knowledge and skill forward, but it’s hard to help others, and do your best if you’re exhausted beyond reason. Kind of like trying to give people bread from a basket but the damn basket is empty yknow? You got to take time to refill so you can help those around you again, so you have some bread to give. I know, probably sounds a little dumb but it’s always been the way I remember it.

Another very useful thing I’ve found with trauma survivors would be meeting others who have been in the same position. There’s plenty of support groups for both people and Pokemon who have been through events that left them in a difficult situation, emotionally and physically. Even here at the lab we have many species who have been left without limbs, with life changing damage, and a lot of them also have the emotional trauma too. She would probably do well to spend time with them, you can send her to a resort to retreat and recoup erase, mix with others who were just as angry as she is now, or you can take time to go with her to groups to interact with others. It’s one thing to have humans help, but it’s a whole other level of connection when Pokemon can help their own. They bond quicker, trust faster, and generally are more open to listening when it’s coming from a place of mutual experience. If she had time to talk to pokemon who actually lost their trainers, or parts of themselves, she may find some peace, even if only temporarily.

Don’t mention the whiskers, and where possible don’t offer her foods she actively likes, but also not ones she actively dislikes. Just for now. Start the ball rolling with just plain simple things that are neither good or bad. Indifferent is better than bad right now, the punishment she’s inflicting on herself will need addressing further, so contact a therapist, they use Rotom or porygon to translate from poke-speech to human language, and the repair can begin with a registered professional. My advice is not sound proof, I certainly feel like I have missed something important, it’s a big response, but it’s a start in the right direction, and should you come up to any further issues, message back and update us with what’s going on. With work you two will be on track to recover. Remember, patience is the biggest thing here, you two have history, and a therapist will no doubt take the sessions as a pair, and work with you to help Daisy feel less guilty over time. I hope you both find peace, and that both of you repair in due time. Good luck with the new leg, a step towards recovery for sure.

[originalwinnercheesecake]

First Impressions and predictions based on the coven Leaders

After a full first season their fame adorning the banners and walls, who they are being hailed, yet they themselves being kept in the shadows we now get first looks (and throughout 2a will meet) the emperors top dogs: The coven leaders. I will not lie as a group... these guys dissappoint me. Making the majority of them very human in appearance for me is a big no. Compare this group to the many colorful and fantastical creatures that are shown teaching at hexside and the hexside teachers are far more creative, unique, and fun. Maybe the artists decided to make the coven leaders look more like normal people so the audience would have an easier time understanding their expressions and body language. Maybe the more humanoid whitches are a higher class and have a easier time climbing higher than the more beast and demon like residence.? We will have to wait and see. 

Seperate this group into individuals (like how we will hopefully meet them) and most of them become far more interesting, So below lets take a look at each coven leader individually, where the artists may have taken inspriation, and what  What kind of characters they could maybe turn out to be.

The Beast keeping coven Leader: One of the only two that are not humanoids. What type of animal is he? At first I was sure he was a hedgehog, but maybe he could also be like a chipmunk or a squirrel. I get the feeling he might be partially inspired by Sonic from Sega. I was really into Sonic back in middle school. I liked the cartoons and read through the archie’s old comic series. But I kinda out grew him since then. I know from helping to take care of kids though that he is still popular with the younger generation. That’s kinda how I thin the Beast Keeping Coven leader will be: less interesting for older viewers, but a real fun charcter for kids.

The Healing coven leader: Now this guy looks like fun villain all around. Is some kind of witch docotor? a Dark Priest? The size the purple Grin, he looks like the phantom boss from those horror films where you get trapped in nightmares. Tell me he has scary theme song music and talks in a very high pitched voice. I’ve heard some people wonder if he could be Selena (oracle girl from hexside)’s dad. I don’t thinks so, the macaroni crescent shape n his head looks more like a fancy cowl than part of his actual head. Also him having a daughter in Luz’s class could be used as a reason for him to change sides, I want this guy to stay as a villian/antagonist. We all know that with this size group some will stay with the emperor and some will defect to Luz’s side (possibility a couple will die, we haven’t seen yet just how dark Dana is willing to go). Personally my view with redemption arcs and if a character “deserves them” is it depends on what it will do for the story/character afterwards? IF redeeming them opens more doors for the characters and directions the story can take, do it. IF it closes doors leave them as they are. I absolutely hate when clever and well written bad guys get “redeemed” in to boring, plot useless, weebs. The only reason I could see having this guy change sides is for him to “cure” Eda and Lilith’s curse, and I would much rather see the two of them gain control over their forms than be “cured” of them.

The Illusion coven leader: Another fun looking antagonist. My third favorite of these nine. If the healer guy is horror movie based. This guy is Disney based all around. Looks like one of those Vegas suave showmen styled character. Love it. I guarantee you he does not actually look that young or slicked back, but is using illusion magic to make himself more pretty. Not sure if he will stay with the emperor or not. Illusion is Gus’s track and I could see Dana having the leaders of Luz’s friends tracks be the ones to stand by them. If so I am fine with that (in the case of the abomination leader I will beg for it). Gaining the respect of someone as high up as a coven leader could be really great for Gus’s character. Just as long as I get plenty of laughs from Gus and this guy both along the way.

The Potion coven leader: My second favorite and in my opinion the most creative idea of the whole bunch. A mosquito that works in potions! Does he suck them up with his nose and carry them in.. whatever it is mosquitos store blood in. Also he looks angry. Like everyone else is either amused or board. This guy is fed up and ready to do something about it. Not sure if it is the Emperor, the other leaders, or the owl gang he is mad at, but it should be a worthwhile show down.

The Abomination coven leader: Yes this is my favorite design. Yes it is because he is such a beautiful man. Would never have expected someone who creates mucks (the pokemon) with legs would be so fine. Its more than that though. He looks the most kind. Their is no malice or guise in his smile and his green eyes are bright and relaxed. I wondered what the purpose of the Abomination track was and why it had “more opportunity” all last season. Well slight spoilers if you haven’t seen episode 2x02 it is the industrialist field. When you learn about Industrialization usually the idea is that it is done to help the human race reach its full potential, and it is up to each individual to decide what to do with that potential. Whether you call that the passion of a creative mind or the carelessness of a fool would also be up to you. But I really don’t want this guy to be all bad. If for no other reason that more spoilers for episode 2 * with the interest/caution the emperor is showing the blights I expect this guy to show up to their house, probably meet Amity, and we really do not need another not so nice adult in her life. She has had enough.

The Oracle coven leader: What is this? He’s got nails/caws at the ends of dread thingys like Kikimore, so is this her father? Does he have anything to do with her being in the Emporor’s coven? But this is my least favorite. Like what was the inspiration behind this guy? With so many legendary oracles in mythology and we get this guy who mostly looks saggy, washed out, tierd, and just Blah. Hope thier is more to him, but here is one who I am not holding my breath for an episode on.

The Plant coven leader: based on her banner I was expecting something like the Swamp Giant from ALTA. Instead they went in the direction of a very traditional witch desgine: An old women with a wrinkled face and really messy hair, who probably lives alone in the woods, with maybe the exception of a cat, and dances around a fire at night. Okay. She is definitely going to become an ally of the owl gang. This is the only female of the group,and it is neither in Dana’s message nor would it be popular with her target audience to make a villain or even an antagonist out of a women who managed to climb the later into a male dominated success level. I am actually looking forward to seeing her, because it will probably be in a Willow based episode, and after 2x02 (which I personally feel should not have been a luminaty episode but rather a Willow and Amity one finishing up their reconciliation arc), Willow deserves an episode with potential centered around her. An episode where she goes against the Plant track Leader would be that. This witches Grin isn’t exactly friendly, but its more mischievous than wicked. She gives off vibes as one of those people who like to test the mains, and if you pass her tests than you earn her respect. I have no doubt Willow could win at her little games, and doing so would be a huge boost the confidence she has spent the show building.

The Construction coven leader: Oh joy here’s the other one I am unimpressed with. Unlike with the Oracle guy I know where they got his design. To everyone saying that we first saw him at the convention, your not backing far enough up. If you have ever seen any cartoon ever where the main character wanders past or onto a construction sight you have seen this man. Every trio of workers sitting on a iron frame eating from a lunchbox. Every pig that makes a catcall at a disgusted women. Every exhausted worker who watches as your slapstick mains chase each other past at quitting time... they all looked EXACTLY like this guy. This is really the character leading the track Dana herself has said she would pick to join? They could have done a Golem made of brick an stone that resembles a palace. They could have done some kind of humanoid ant with super strength. They could have done a wizard with shapes and mathematics on his robe who carried a scroll everywhere that he compulsively scribbled blueprints onto. But instead we get Mr. Generic here.

The Bard coven Leader: This is R, Eda’s old friend from her hexside days. Did I save R for last because of this connection? Partially. I am also unsure what R’s pronouns are. To me R looks physically male. I have seen other posters use “she” when posting about R. One person posted that Dana had confirmed R uses “they” and if so awesome, I would really like to see that tweet. What ever R’s pronouns though their appearance in the show will be tied with Eda, er past, and what she had to give up in order to live free. I look forward to this new insight onto her character