#team rocket representative

[twdgs]

a hard part abt accepting being autistic and stuff is that its . just a fact that my brain works differently and i experience enjoyment more irregularly than other people might idk

[yamujiburo]

Pallet Town Pride Parade but it's just Delia the two ex-Team Rockets and their plethora of pokemon . Delia is dressed in lesbian Pride flag colors, Jessie with a huge the bi flag as a cape and meanwhile James is dressed in every other pride flag so they can be represented on the parade too

James in every pride flag makes too much sense

[mysecretlittlelibrary]

I Love You When You Don't Love Yourself

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Word Count: 2.3k

Warnings: Self deprication??? People talking shit I dunno

Genre: fluff and maybe angst

Summary: Bucky let's the opinions of random people get in his head a little too much on a night out

***

You take one last look at your makeup in the mirror before deciding you're satisfied with the look.

"You almost ready to go doll?" Bucky asks, leaning against the doorframe.

"Perfect timing. Yeah, I just need to put my heels on." You say standing up and walking over to your shoes which you'd left by your closet. Bucky meets you by them and leans down to slip your heels onto your foot. Oh, how he treats you like a princess.

"You look amazing." He tells you as he stands back up, kissing your temple softly.

"Thank you, so do you." You say. Bucky's hand settles against your back as it always does when you're walking.

"Alright let's get on with this." Bucky says as you leave the tower.

"Do you think everyone's already there?"

"Steve definitely is, Nat probably isn't yet, Tony definitely isn't, Wanda and Vis I'd guess yes. Everyone else is up in the air but everyone's left here."

"Last to go-"

"We won't be the last to leave. Telling you now." He tells you.

"I know." You laugh. "Trust me I have no desire to stay the latest."

The Avengers team has been invited to a charity gala which normally nobody would even think about going to, but after the last several months, you definitely think the team could use the positive press so a number of you are going, to represent the team. It takes you and Bucky 20 minutes to get to the venue and Bucky groans when he sees the red carpet lined with photographers.

"No way there's a red carpet here." He rolls his eyes.

"Of course there is. These galas are a gold mine for PR brownie points." You say. "Just smile baby, if they ask us anything worth answering I can do the talking."

"Works for me." Bucky says leaning over the center console to kiss you quickly before getting out of the car. Bucky hands the keys to the valet as he walks around the front before opening your door. He holds out a hand to help you out and then shifts that hand to your lower back, leading you down the red carpet. You can hear a cluster of voices shouting both of your names behind the disorienting flashes but it's hard to make anything out specifically. That is until you catch one voice above the rest.

"Y/n! What's it like dating the Winter Soldier!?"

You can feel Bucky tense a bit beside you though he tries not to let it show on his face. You flash a bright smile at the sea of photographers and slip your hand behind you to quickly squeeze Bucky's.

"Oh well I wouldn't know, the Winter Soldier doesn't exist anymore." You say easily.

"Are you saying you don't think your boyfriend is dangerous!?" Another voice.

"Not any more than any other avenger. I honestly think that the most volatile of us is Tony! But- for some reason, nobody's worried about the guy who can fit rocket blasters into a briefcase- just the... guy who can punch really hard." You let out a half laugh to lighten the severity of your words but you know you've done what you were trying to do when Bucky pulls you closer subtly and the questions stop. "Ciao!" You add with a light wave. You and Bucky walk the remainder of the carpet, posing every so often until you make it inside.

"The guy who can punch really hard?" He quirks an eyebrow at you once you're inside.

"Well yeah. Don't get me wrong you're plenty dangerous- but we have a god that can summon lightening, a witch that can completely warp reality, a kid who has the strength to throw an entire airplane- and I mean Tony's just some guy comparatively however- that suit of his has military grade weapons and he could at one point carry in a briefcase, I feel like you are not the biggest threat to humanity even in this room."

"You make us all sound dangerous."

"You are. We are. Honestly, the world is just lucky Tony thinks that being a hero comes with more glory than being a villain, and the rest of us have decent moral compasses. The line between hero and villain is pretty thin and when you have abilities people don't understand you are always walking that line. They could turn us into fugitives tomorrow. That's why we do things like charity galas so that's less likely to happen."

"You know we are so lucky you're around because I don't think anyone else would care to protect us in this way." Bucky slings his arm across your shoulders, pulling you closer to him.

"True but I suppose that's the good thing about a team, everyone offers a different skill set." You shrug with a chuckle.

"You're so amazing." He says kissing your temple.

"Well I have to be, my boyfriend's pretty cool you know." You smile.

"Oh, is he?"

"Yeah, the coolest." You nod.

"He's a lucky man." Bucky chuckles. 

"Sure is. But I think I'm luckier."

I think he'd disagree."

"I'm sure. Let's go find our seats."

"I'll get us drinks first and find you at our table after." Bucky says removing his arm from your shoulder but kissing your hand before he lets you go.

"You sure?"

"I could track you down in a sea of thousands doll, go. I'll see you in a few." He says.

"Something fruity please." You tell him.

"I know what to do." He winks and walks off. You pivot towards the tables to search the name cards for your and Bucky's seats.

"Y/n, hi I'm Noah, I just wanted to say that I'm a huge fan of yours." The man, Noah, appeared pretty much out of nowhere.

"Hi Noah, thank you. Just- trying to do what's right." You smile. You'll admit you've not had many adults come up to you and say they're fans?? It's usually kids so you're not sure what's the best approach here.

"Oh you don't have to be so modest! You're a hero! You've earned every right to brag."

"I'm not really the bragging type is all." You chuckle.

"That's so honorable." He nods. You hum in response.

"I'm gonna go find my seat, but it was nice to meet you!"

"Oh did you come alone? Is someone waiting for you?" He asks.

"What?" You blink at him.

"Well just that you're usually always with the one with the arm- the soldier."

"Bucky." You say.

"Right him. I'm just surprised to see you without him." Noah shrugs.

"Oh, he's here. He went to get us drinks."

"Interesting. I'm surprised."

"By what? Like you said we're always together." You shrug.

"Yeah, right, I know I guess I just thought by now you'd wake up."

"Excuse you?" You scoff.

"Oh come on darling, you and I both know you can do way better than that killer you're with now." He smirks placing a hand on your arm.

"If you want to keep that hand I suggest you keep it to yourself because if you touch me again you won't have to worry about 'that killer I'm with' I'll end you myself." You smile back at him.

"Fiesty."

"Yes, I tend to be when you insult my loved ones. Go figure. I'm going to go find my seat now before you dig yourself a hole too deep to climb out of, enjoy your evening." You say before walking away. Perhaps you should've mitigated that without threatening him, if it reflects badly on the team you could be undoing the very thing you came here for and that's usually Tony's area of expertise, oh there's your name but I mean that guy totally had it coming he was being an absolute jerk. How dare he say-

"Found ya." Bucky kisses your cheek as he sits beside you, cutting your train of thought.

"Hey." You smile giving him a peck on the lips. "What'd you get me?"

"I forget the name but it's a vodka cran with peach and lime basically, something from their specialty menu. I thought you'd like it." He shrugs.

"I'm sure it's lovely, thank you." You tell him taking a sip. It is pretty good. "What'd you get yourself?"

"Just a whiskey." He says. "Anything fun happen while I was away?"

"Nope, I ran into some guy before I found our seats but, that's an interaction barely worth mentioning." You roll your eyes.

"Uh oh, what'd he do?"

"Doesn't matter." You say with a kiss. "Have you seen anyone else yet? It looks like none of us are at the same tables." You point out.

"I saw Tony and Pepper's place cards but they're not sitting if they're already here."

"Oh, what table are they at?" You ask.

"It's over there, and don't worry I already told the bartender that Tony is only allowed one drink." Bucky says making you giggle.

"Well, that's a relief. Let's hope he didn't prepare for that restriction." You hum.

"I think Pepper keeps him on a pretty tight leash so it shouldn't be a problem. I just figured you'd rather be safe than sorry."

"When it comes to Tony's alcohol consumption absolutely." You nod.

"Oh my god is that the winter soldier?" You hear a voice whisper next to you.

"I can't believe they let him in here." Another hushed voice responds, making your jaw clench.

"Well I'm not about to sit next to him." Voice one scoffs.

"I'm sure we can get someone to switch with us it's fine. Come on." Voice two says and the two scuttle off.

"Fucking idiots." You roll your eyes. Bucky clears his throat and takes a sip of his whiskey.

"Oh look there's Vis." Bucky points out the red synthezoid at a table a few rows away from you.

"Okay so we're here, Pepper and Tony should be, Vision and Wanda are there, isn't Steve coming? I wonder where he'll be sitting." You hum.

"I bet he's already in his seat. Look for a bunch of giggling women hovering at a table and we'll probably find him at the center."

"I wonder why they sat us all apart."

"I imagine to promote mingling. All the Avengers at one table would be rather intimidating for the rest of the gala I think. No one would approach us." He shrugs.

"Oh maybe." You hum. You pick up the program sitting on the table to get an idea of how the evening is meant to play out. They'll start with an opening address, then serve dinner, then do the auction items, and the rest of the night will be dancing and mingling. You and Bucky entertain each other at the table until someone begins the night's todos with the opening address. The speech is about five minutes long, thanking guests and talking about the importance of the cause. Dinner orders from the preselected menu are taken quickly and food is brought out within 15 minutes.

"See I told you it was him." You hear a hushed conversation, not at your table but close. Bucky's hand hovers over the fork that he had been reaching for.

"My goodness you were right. That's scary."

"And to think he has a girlfriend walking around like that." That's the line. Bucky stands from your table abruptly and storms off. You hurriedly gather your purse to follow after him but you stop at the table you'd heard the voices coming from.

"If you guys are so bored with your lives that you have nothing better to do than gossip the least you could do is keep your pathetic opinions to yourself." You scoff before walking off to track down your boyfriend.

"Bucky wait." You call when you catch up to him just outside the venue.

"I want to leave." He says.

"It's barely been an hour-"

"And in that time there have been four separate instances of people talking about me like some zoo animal who can't fucking hear them."

"Four?"

"I heard that guy telling you that you can do so much better than the 'killer you're with now', so yeah. Four."

"We'll leave." You nod. Bucky hands his ticket to the valet and it takes almost no time at all for them to bring your car around to the front.

Your drive home is silent, though you rest a comforting hand on Bucky's thigh as he drives. Back in your room at the tower is where the quiet is finally broken.

"I'm sorry." Bucky frowns.

"What on earth for?" You shake your head at him

"I totally ruined the evening. I know this was- important to you that we go." He sighs.

"Don't be ridiculous. There are enough Avengers there to represent the whole team Bucky we didn't have to go, we didn't have to stay. Plus I never want you to be somewhere you don't feel comfortable. The gala is not nearly as important to me as your feelings." You tell him.

"Everything would be so much easier if it wasn't so-"

"Bucky don't. That's a dangerous path to start down. There is nothing wrong with you."

"Stop, y/n. Stop pretending that you don't hate it. If I could still have my normal arm I-"

"Well you don't." You snap, cutting him off.

"What?" He blinks at you.

"You don't have your 'normal arm' Buck, and I didn't even know you when you did. I fell in love with you with the metal one attached to your body, and it's the only you I've ever known. How could you possibly think I hate it?"

"You heard what people were saying tonight-"

"I'm not dating any of them or their opinions. And neither are you. Who gives a fuck what they have to say about it? Don't let them decide what parts of you are worth loving." You say grabbing his face.

"Don't you get tired?"

"No. I'd happily spend the rest of my life clapping back at people's ignorant comments if it meant always coming home to you. I've fought evils those peabrains couldn't even comprehend if they tried, their narrowminded drivel means nothing to me. They're like walking talking gossip rags. Who pays those any attention?" You roll your eyes.

"I love you."

"I love you too. All of you. Even with your metal arm and your chaotic history. Don't you dare let random noise make you forget that." You poke his chest.

"Alright alright." He laughs pulling you against his chest into a hug.

***

[fromgoy2joy]

To all my fellow people converting- this is a Call-in post

We are going to be a part of this community, as dictated by Jewish law, once we enter the water of the Mikveh, it will be as if we were Jewish all our lives.

That doesn’t erase the fact that we come from different backgrounds. Most of us didn’t have our grandmother escape genocidal countries. We didn’t grow up around the dinner table hearing holocaust stories about family and friends. The legacy of our families was not split between two choices of what opened up first for amnesty- Israel or the United States.

Our love for Judaism originates from studying theology, culture, and warm moments in the community- not clinging onto it in a generational storm where at any moment you can be expected to run.

Israel has been there for the Jewish people demonstrably, in a world where a Jewish child is taken aside at a young age and told “one day, they could come after you”.

In response, Israel has said “and we will be there to catch you.” This has rung true for the Jewish exile out of Middle Eastern countries, the fleeing from the USSR, and yes- Ethiopia.

Mistakes were made along the way. Tribalism between Jewish religious and geographical sects came up. Refugee camps in the newly established country were a mess- with high rates of death from sickness occurred in the Mizrahi resettlement. Where Ethiopian Jewish women’s translation failed as they were told they were being out on temporary birth control as to not overcrowd struggling camps.

But you don’t get to shake this in their faces. Not when the descendants of those Jewish people know Israel to be what saved them. What gave them life. And what has been threatened everyday by rockets in the sky and terrorist organizations on every side that promises for the painful death of them and their families.

You are under no obligation to support the actions of the Israeli government. But you have to understand why the country was founded, and especially why it was set up in 1948 after the largest slaughter of Jewish people had just ended, where it wasn’t clear if this could happen again the very next year.

You have to see the connection to the land, where Hebrew coins get dug up from thousands of years ago on a daily basis. Even if that’s not apart of your personal practices, you must learn of the background to many of our stories. What Jewish people longed for as they were ostracized and humiliated globally.

This doesn’t come at the price of not sympathizing with the Palestinians. Just as you can hold Jewish pain close to your chest, so can you the pain of Palestinians. The good news is, life isn’t a sports game with your team and their team. The bad news is, that makes it a whole heck of a lot harder.

That being said, we do have the extra responsibility of accurately representing the people we will hopefully call our own one day, BH.

Edit-born Jewish people, if this post speaks to you on any level, feel free to reblog. Your family histories deserve to be represented in our community.

[alasoi]

TF2 x JP/JW

Team Fortress 2 x Jurassic Park/World AU (DINO version) Pt.3

Gravel Wars turn into… Dino wars, two teams fighting in enclosed areas for human entertainment - and Especially for scientists to analyze the behaviors and strengths of the ancient beasts.

"Welcome to Mercenary Park!"

what each class represents (but not necessarily limited to):

Sniper : Spinosauridae / Australovenator

Heavy : big dino  

Engineer : Ceratopsidae 

Pyro : Any dino/hybrid that can wear a mask

Scout : FAST AS FOK 

Soldier : Pachycephalosauridae

Demoman : armored  

Medic : Therizinosaurus… Idk   

Spy : fancy looking dino / Iguanodon / Deinocheirus

alternate glasses, Spy mask & skin + Demo's eyes:

RED and BLU teams have different dinos – e.g. RED Scout is Gallimimus and BLU Scout is Velociraptor (Except both Medics are Therizinosauruses but they do look different).

Initial idea was that the RED team's counterparts (BLU) were scientifically accurate dinosaurs. I'm leaning more towards to the idea that all mercs can be drawn to look more scientifically accurate if wanted. But whatever, it's not serious stuff: it's all about bone headed Sollys rocket jumping into the moon to capture the flag.

main references: Jurassic World Evolution games & JW:Dominion

[andreabandrea]

I absolutely don't mean this in a bad way, but I think a lot about how Pokemon is a power fantasy for kids. And I know this is obvious because it's a game for children, but let me ramble.

Think about it: you can go wherever you want, knowing you're safe because your Pokemon will protect you. In the later games, you can dress however you want and express yourself freely. You can connect with nature and communities of friendly kids and adults around you. You can make a meaningful, positive impact on the world. You can stand toe-to-toe with adults who, in real life, would ignore or even belittle you because you're just a kid. (And, of course, you have superpowered pets that love you.)

I think about how in the original games, Brock and Misty are presented as kids/young teens and become friends with Ash. But, Lt. Surge presents a difficulty spike-- if you chose Bulbasaur, you can easily sweep the first two gyms with it, but now you don't have a supereffective match up unless you plan more. I think it's meaningful, then, that Lt. Surge is portrayed a big, scary adult man and military to boot. In the anime, he's presented as being condescending and intimidating toward Ash. But, you as the player are able to overcome this intimidating man through the power of your Pokemon. The same can be said for people like Team Rocket and Giovanni-- Giovanni's original sprite in Red & Blue makes it look like he's looming over you, sneering at you.

It can easily be forgotten by adult fans, but you're seeing this world through the perspective of a child. Giovanni looming over you represents how it feels to be a child, powerless, and face an adult who's cruel to you. But you defeat him at every match up.

Satoshi Tajiri would go on to say that Pokemon was inspired by his childhood, in which he'd go out and collect bugs. Miyamoto would say that the first Zelda game was inspired by his childhood in which he'd explore the local area and caves and so on.

It makes me sad to think that, as the world becomes more modern, more urbanized, and (as parents tend to see it, at least) more unsafe, this childhood that inspired these classic games become further out of reach for kids. When I was growing up, I lived in a suburb full of concrete. I couldn't walk anywhere, and even if I could, my mother was too anxious to let me just go around unsupervised.

This is why getting the bike is such a big moment in Pokemon-- you can go so much farther as a kid on a bike! But, I also could only ride my bike up and down my boring street before running into a major street full of cars going 50 MPH that would have murdered me instantly.

This isn't a doom post. I still believe that we can repair the damage that capitalism and cars have done to the world. But, I think that in times like this, it's more important than ever for kids to have access to these power fantasies, these escapes from a world that they have no ability to fix, but still suffer from regardless.

Ironically, I think that when I play Pokemon now, I play it to feel smaller rather than to feel bigger, the opposite of how I played it as a kid. Now, it's comforting to escape from work and stress into a world in which your only concerns are walking to the next town, catching a new Pokemon, and maybe fighting a gym leader. The same can be said of any piece of media that someone is nostalgic for, but I think Pokemon feeds into it well because its design is so baked in the experience of being a child.

When I'm playing Pokemon, especially when replaying an old game, I still remember things like only saving in Pokemon centers so that my character could sleep there in a nice building, or imagining them setting up camp if I had to save and quit on a route. If I had time, I would feed my Pokemon some Pokeblocks or etc. at my little 'camp' so they wouldn't be hungry (which is why I felt like the cooking and camping systems from SwSh were so real for me, haha).

I don't think that there's a 'wrong' way to play Pokemon-- I know people enjoy competitive Pokemon, and strict challenge runs, and stuff. And I can enjoy that, too! But, for me, Pokemon is about childhood, you know?

[banananutsmuthie]

The Inaugural Writer's Meow Meow Mock Draft

Ok so I had a fun hypothetical with some fellow writers. The premise being: if there was a fantasy draft of girl group idols where each pick represents who you get to call your "Meow Meow" in the writer's discord and no one else can call them that, what would be your draft strategy? Would there be a lot of biases picked first? 3rd gen? 4th gen?

One of these idols went first in the draft. Can you guess who?

So I had a handful of writers who volunteered to be a part of a mock draft. A handful of other writers opted to watch. Seems like everyone had fun, which may lead to more of these.

Here are the rules: 7-team snake draft, 10 total rounds. Any 18+ GG idol.

The draft order (randomized):

@banananutsmuthie

@usedpidemo

@sinswithpleasure

@passingnotions

@chunksworld

@capslocked

@ggidolsmuts

The draft took a little longer than 2 hours. Hit that "Keep Reading" to see the final results. Comment who's team you liked most, the biggest surprises, what other writers you'd like to see in the next one, and who you thought should've been drafted!

Team BNS

Arin [OH MY GIRL] (1st overall)

Isa [STAYC] (14)

Tzuyu [Twice] (15)

Sullyoon [NMIXX] (28)

Mina [TWICE] (29)

Somi (42)

Gaeul [IVE] (43)

Ningning [aespa] (56)

Yeri [Red Velvet] (57)

Shuhua [(G)I-DLE] (70)

Team Pi

Yujin [IVE] (2)

Wonyoung [IVE] (13)

Yunjin [LSF] (16)

Minnie [(G)I-DLE] (27)

Eunbi (30)

Jihyo [TWICE] (41)

Xiaoting [Kep1er] (44)

Rei [IVE] (55)

Seola [WJSN] (58)

Wendy [Red Velvet] (69)

Team Sins

Winter [aespa] (3)

Nayeon [TWICE] (12)

Yuna [ITZY] (17)

Yena (26)

IU (31)

Jiheon [fromis_9] (40)

Hyunjin [LOONA] (45)

Choerry [LOONA OEC] (54)

Hyeju [LOONA] (59)

Jisun [fromis_9] (68)

Team Notions

Dahyun [TWICE] (4)

Yeoreum [WJSN] (11)

Jisoo [Blackpink] (18)

Jo Yuri (25)

Chaeryeong [ITZY] (32)

Sieun [STAYC] (39)

Yuqi [(G)I-DLE] (46)

Yeojin [LOONA] (53)

Chaeyoung [fromis_9] (60)

Chaeyoung [TWICE] (67)

Team Chunk

Hanni [NewJeans] (5)

Minji [NewJeans] (10)

Miyeon [(G)I-DLE] (19)

Chaewon [LSF] (24)

Kazuha [LSF] (33)

Seoyeon [fromis_9] (38)

Ryujin [ITZY] (47)

Chaehyun [Kep1er] (52)

Eunseo [WJSN] (61)

Dayeon [Kep1er] (66)

Team Caps

Sana [TWICE] (6)

Heejin [LOONA] (9)

Sakura [LSF] (20)

Yeji [ITZY] (23)

Minju (34)

Jinsoul [LOONA OEC] (37)

Saerom [fromis_9] (48)

Irene [Red Velvet] (51)

Luda [WJSN] (62)

Taeyeon [Girl's Generation] (65)

Team ddeun

Yubin [OH MY GIRL] (7)

Seulgi [Red Velvet] (8)

Nagyung [fromis_9] (21)

Nana [woo!ah!] (22)

Youngeun [Kep1er] (35)

Sohyun [tripleS] (36)

Karina [aespa] (49)

SinB [Viviz] (50)

Yeonhee [Rocket Punch] (63)

Yein (64)

[kob131]

Pokemon Team Symbolism in Pokemon

You would think a series that emphasizes a colorful cast of creatures would try to use them to symbolize a character and their journey.

They have. Just not as often as you would think. It's damn good when they do though.

What Symbolism?

The symbolism I am talking about is using a Trainer's Pokemon to demonstrate aspects of the Trainer's personality and/or journey. For example, a Pokemon evolving after the Trainer has reached a turning point in their story or a Pokemon's move or Ability to demonstrate a personality trait that isn't so obvious.

Gen 1

Now normally I would begin off by talking about how a Pokemon represents a character and how they change alongside the Trainer...but Gen 1 doesn't really...have this.

This isn't an insult or anything- Gen 1 simply doesn't have the variety to pull this off. For example, what Pokemon can you use to represent Misty within Gen 1? Maybe Seaking or Gyardos but there's a reason why, in her Heartgold/Soulsilver rematch, she uses a Milotic due to it's heavy association with the fluidity and grace of water alongside being a counterpart to perhaps Gen 1's most famous Water-Gyardos. It's because no other Water type can really symbolize who Misty is, especially since there are no rematches to give her a more expansive team. And Misty's one of the EASIER people to make a more symbolic team with.

I guess of particular note is Blaine's use of Arcanine as his ace, due to how supplementary material implies he helped make Mewtwo and how Arcanine is referred to as the 'Legendary' Pokemon. Or Alakazam's immense power and almost alien appearence fitting with Sabrina's creepy vibe. And Giovanni using Nidoking and Nidoqueen, Ground/Poison types, can symbolize his leadership of Team Rocket and his status as the Ground Gym Leader. It's all cool... But not really anything special.

Gen 2

Ah here's the good shit.

This is where Game Freak started experimenting with more...expressive uses of Pokemon. Before we get to the big example, I want to try and talk about some of the other trainers.

In particular, I want to make a special mention of Clair and Lance's teams. With Clair, her team consists of three Dragonairs and a Kingdra. Now this doesn't look all that special aside from the Dragon-Type's status as being uber powerful in earlier gens but it does gain quite a bit of significance if you consider her relationship with Lance (him being her stronger and older cousin that she's implied to feel inferior to) and his own team. Namely that her Dragonairs all only have one move seperating them (Surf/Thunderbolt/Ice Beam) which is very similar to three Pokemon from Lance's team...except that the moves chosen (Thunder/Blizzard/Fire Blast) all have higher BP and the Pokemon in question are his Dragonites, the fnal stage of Dragonair. Meaning that Lance's team is basically an upgraded version of Clair's, showing why she feels so inferior to him.

And this chink in her armor is further emphasized through her ace, Kingdra. Kingdra's typing of Water/Dragon actually removes the signature Ice weakness that Dragons have (as well as giving it a STAB against the Swinub line the player will likely try to use against her) but it leaves it weak to Dragon-Types still. Meaning Lance's mastery will lead to Clair facing a harder battle. And for extra points- Lance's Gen 3 rematch team even gives him a Kingdra, further connecting them.

Now to move on- Silver.

I've come to the realization that Silver might be one of the most important characters in Pokemon. Not story wise mind you- he basically falls off outside of his Gen and it's remakes. But rather, in his writing. Because Silver's team actually includes the first notable use of Evolution to symbolize a Trainer's personal development. In his own story, Silver begins as your average edgy teen with an obsession with power and being a badass, even though you keep whooping his ass. However unlike Blue, Silver actually reacts to being beaten by you as he grows more and more frustrated. This coincideces with everyone he fights telling about how cruel and abusive he is acting towards his Pokemon. And by the time you beat him in Victory Road- he accepts what he did wrong and works to improve himself, not just his Pokemon. And this is shown as his Mt. Moon fight (...Really Game Freak?), his Kadabra and Haunter have evolved, meaning that Silver had to have become more personable to get someone to trade with him and his Golbat evolves in Crobat in his finale fight, a friendship based evolution. (Bonus points- Zubat/Golbat are commonly used by Team Rocket members, with Giovanni their leader being Silver's dad.)

This really shows how a Trainer's team can be used to symbolize their growth as a person. I can't wait to see what the next Gen accompli-

Gen 3

... God damn it.

So Gen 3 kind of falls back a bit in turns of using Pokemon teams for characterization. You have the usual basic symbology- like Brawly the martial artist using martial arts focused Fighting types, Norman being an everyman and a mundane but everpresent presence in your life being the master of powerful Normal types and the sea surrounded Sootopolius having a Water Gym. But nothing like the interplay between Lance and Clair or the subtly of Silver.

Best I have is the quite and sensitive Wally using the sensitive and shy Ralts evolving into the powerful Gardevoir/Gallade. But poor Walley doesn't get much time. The rivals...aren't really characters in Gen 3 and I've never played the Gen 6 remakes. For fuck's sake- they didn't even fully evolve her starter in the original games!

At least the Gym Leader aces do a better job of portraying them. Like Tate and Liza's Double Battle makes them like souped-up versions of the twins you've encountered in the game, their teamwork is shown through their Claydol always having access to Earthquake while their other Pokemon have some way of mitigating its team hitting function. Steven's love of rare stones and minerals is shown through him using the fossil Pokemon and Metagross. Or Winnoa's love of the sky being shown through her cloud-shaped Altaria. And Wallace's love of elegance being echoed in Milotic.

... Let's move on.

Gen 4

Okay, we're getting better.

Specifically, I'm talking about Barry. Specifically, his second to and last fights alongside his general team composition.

In his second to last fight, Barry fights you in Calvacade City, right before the sixth. By this point, most players will have evolved their starter. After all, Byron's team is edging Level 40 and the starter's evolve at Level 36 (Infernape/Empoleon) or 32 (Torterra). This is because Barry hasn't hit his turning point yet, in his loss to Jupiter at Lake Acuity which results in Uxie's capture. This causes Barry to become more serious and focused in his later appearances, as shown by his team battle with the player and his final fight at the Pokemon League having his starter fully evolved.

There's also the fact that Barry's team is actually rather well balanced, better than even Blue's team. As it turns out, Barry's family has a history of being tough trainers as his Dad, Palmer, is a Battle Frontier member. The Battle Tower, in fact. Which is basically the Pokemon location for 'ultra tough battles.'

Of course, there's also Cynthia. Her team is where Game Freak really go out of their way to try and capture the feeling of a 'Pokemon Master'. She begins with Spiritomb, a VERY rare Pokemon that the player likely knows nothing about. She also wields Milotic, a former Champion's ACE; Lucario, another rare Pokemon that you can only get from being gifted an Egg; Togekiss, a Pokemon that involves evolution through friendship and a Gen 4 stone; Roserade, a similar Pokemon to Togekiss through it's evolution line as well as being Gardena's ace and Garchomp, a Pokemon that takes advantage of Gen 4's more varied BST distribution to be a kind of Master of All pseudo-legendary. All of this together showcases Cynthia's power as a Champion- the varied methods of evolution display her wide range, the rarity of her Pokemon show her extensive travels, her use of former aces show her higher rank and her own ace being almost specifically stated to take advantage of every single advantage possible show her sheer strength.

Of smaller note is also Volkner and Flint, friends as shown in game, having similar kinds of teams whose aces are Electrivire/Magmortar, two evolutions of Gen 1 counterparts Electibuzz/Magmar with Gen 2 baby pre-evolutions. And Rorak and Byron's Aces, being Ramphardos and Bastidon, showing them to both be miners and having Byron be a Steel Gym Leader, when Steel is essentially an upgraded version of Rock, to show them being father and son.

Gen 5

Oh this is the good shit.

Gen 5 is famous for the MASSIVE leap in story quality and it really shows. Ignoring the two green elephants in the room for right now, let's start with the rivals.

With Bianca, her story is all about wanting to go out into the world with her childhood friends to live out her dreams, like them. However, she comes to learn that she might not be suited for being a Trainer since even with her strong resistance to her father's demands- she can't really keep up with the other two. And this shows in her battles- Namely that she fights you less frequently than Cheren (five vs. his seven) and with Cheren having better strategies.

Speaking of, Cheren is someone heavily focused on becoming a stronger Trainer and being determined to overcome the Player, which is reflected in his team. He not only fights you more often but his team is at a higher level before the post game than Bianca and he's one of the Trainers in the series to use extensive use of held items. It also demonstrates a knowledge of Pokemon battling than most Trainers in the series, showing why he'd qualify for being a Gym Leader in the sequels.

Then we have perhaps the two who stand as the standards, if not pinnacles for great team symbolism- N and Ghetsis. With N, it's already noted that for each battle he partakes in, he catches nearby Pokemon and uses them for his battles. And it's already said that he does this because he thinks capturing Pokemon is wrong and that humans and Pokemon can't coexist. But the interesting thing comes from his teams in the original games and the sequels.

In the first game, N is unique in that he sends out his ace, Zekrom/Reshiram, first. While on a gameplay level it makes sense as your own dragon will be sent to the first slot, it works on a story level too as N sees this fight as the big, determining battle to see whose side is right with your dragons representing your sides of the conflict. I even think N will always start the fight with the Fusion attack of his dragon, showcasing how you have affected him and his view of Pokemon and humans. You also have his other Pokemon- like how he has Carracosta and Archeops, the fossil Pokemon, and Klinklang and Vanillux, a futuristic Pokemon and a Pokemon inspired by a modern beverage, showcasing Black and White's duality and focus on the past and future while also showing N's deep connection to Pokemon old and new. And finally we have his Zoroark, a Pokemon shown in the opening of the game as a Zoura to have been with him his whole life, likely feeding into his beliefs through its experiences...and how said beliefs were based on lies.

Then we have his sequel teams, themed after each different type of weather for each season (Rain for Spring, Sun for Summer, Sand for Autumn and Hail for Winter)- implying that not only is N such a masterful trainer that he has mastered multiple kinds of teams but also showing that he's unwilling to force himself onto nature and Pokemon, instead working with them to achieve the best they can.

Very much unlike his father, Ghetsis. With him, he starts with the defensive and stalling Cofagrigus which uses Toxic and Protect to slowly whittle away at the player with his Mummy ability representing the way he infected and controlled N; Boffluant with Reckless demonstrating his wild emotions and how he views his Pokemon as expendable; Seismitoad and its sweeping power to demonstrate his threat; Bisharp with Defiant to show his status as the final boss as well as how he truly commands Team Plasma much like how a Bisharp commands Pawniards; Eelktross and it's almost leech like appearence to show how he used N and his Hydrigeon, Gen 5's Pseudo-Legendary and known for its violent disposition to show what Ghetsis is really like.

This gets especially blatant with his sequel team, which is far less effective with his Sesimitoad losing Swift Swim for Poison Touch, losing his Bisharp and Boffulant for Draipon and Toxicroak and finally his Hydriegon losing its Special set for an inferior Physical set (the only upside being a maxed out Frustration. Which...yeah, three guesses why). All to show how far he has fallen, how he has lost his ability to lead by this point, how corroded his mind actually is now and how he's lost his effectiveness.

We even have some interesting symbolism in the Gym Leaders, like with Clay's ace, Excadrill, not only being based on a mining tool but also seems to be perfectly designed to defeat the ore-based Roggnerola line (with Ground/Steel attacks to it's Rock, Mold Breaker to ignore Sturdy and Sand Rush/Sand Force to take advantage of the line's future Sand Stream ability). Things are looking up once aga-

Gen 6

... I need to stop pissing in the face of fate.

So...Gen 6, probably the worst Generation of Pokemon, has next to no interesting Pokemon symbolism. Cool, the dancing rival has Pokemon that use dance moves. ... That's it. Trevor wants to travel Kalos because his parents left him behind but his team is a Raichu, a Aerodyctal and a Florges. Shanua is aimless and has a crush on the player character, gets the type-weak starter and fights you twice. Calem and Serena are the kids of famous Pokemon battlers...but their teams aren't very well put together.

The Gym Leaders have nothing. Best is Wulfric, a bulky guy, uses the iceberg Pokemon Avalugg.

The villain leader Lysander does use a Pyroar in his matches, matching team Flare's colors and showing their obssession with beauty. And Malva also uses a Pyroar to show she was a supporter of Team Flare.

That's it.

.... Moving on.

Gen 7

Getting back on track. Again.

First up is Hau. In the Sun and Moon games, Hau is a very laid back and generally easy going guy who doesn't put much stock into the battles he gets into. While this would normally be seen as a good thing, a few characters call him out for his easy going attitude which ends up affecting his performance in battle. The culminates in his loss in Aether House, hammering home that he cannot continue this path. And so, he works harder to become stronger for the sake of his friends. It's around this time the games visibly have his starter, previous stuck in its middle or 'teen' evolution, grow into it's final stage. There's also quite a bit of Fighting Type hate in his team, from his Pichu knowing Charm and it evolving into a part Psychic type, his Eeveeloution also having Charm and Baby-Doll Eyes as well as having a Noivern on his team. Showing that he's still focused on beating his grandpa, Hala. And yet, he's still proud of his heritage, as shown with his Tauros (commonly found on Melemene island as a Ride Pokemon) and his Crabmomible (the ace of his grandpa).

Things don't end there, since there's also Gladion and his ace, Type: Null. Gladion is a runaway young team having recently lost his dad and basically his mom (since she goes either coocoo from neurotoxins in the original games or goes all Count of Monte Cristo on aliens in the Ultra games). Much like his ace, Gladion is bound and chained by his past, driven to either stop his mother or protect who he has left but can't really take advantage of his strengths because of it too. So instead he's kind of stuck seeking power even when we know he's way in over his head. That is until he meets the player and Hau, whom he learns to trust and put his faith into. And by the end- he's free as his family is safe and he can pursue the life he wants. A story neatly packed into Type: Null's own evolution, going from a rampaging beast bound and restricted to a freed and kinder creature. For bonus points, out of Gladion's other six Pokemon- three of them are friendship evolutions with one being a Lucario, a Pokemon that only follows those who have justice in their hearts.

Oh and you get a nice dose of N with his Zororark imitating his Silvally, showing that his threatening demeanor is just a really complicated version of teen angst and coping.

Speaking of coping- Guzma. A tough looking leader of Team Skull...whose actually a man who grew up abused by his dad before beating him up and running away, took up the Island Challenge and is now a washed up leader of bitter people desperately trying to make something of themselves. And wouldn't you know it- He uses the Bug Type, a type that gets shit on both in universe and out for its weak members and generally being outclassed. This shows Guzma's inner weakness and connection to the weak and discarded Team Skull. They're also some of the more threatening Bug Types, including his rather strong ace Golisopod. This Pokemon in particular represents Guzma, as it begins as a weak and scared Wimpod before evolving after a lot of hard work into the threatening and determined Golisopod. Rather fitting for a man who once jumped into an interdimensional portal to fight aliens and also got involved in the downfall of the Super Interdimensional Gay Mafia. Awesome.

Moving back to the blondes- Lusamine. Said mother who went coocoo over her husbands death. A woman obsessed with the beauty of Pokemon, herself deceptively beautiful for a violent and destructive person. Her team consists of Pokemon commonly considered beautiful or cute...while also being rather strong. Those being- Clefairy, a kind hearted and helpful Pokemon showing her loving nature that is either hidden or wrecked; Lilligant, a Pokemon heavily associated with beauty and grace that requires skillful care to ensure its flower blossoms to show her geniune love for Pokemon; Lopunny, a cautious and active Pokemon that also displays Lusamine's kinder side; Mismagius, an eerie witch-like Pokemon known for its cries harming but sometimes helping others, showing Lusamine's violent mood in the earlier games before being switched with the kinder Lopunny; Milotic...we've already talked about it and Bewear, a giant fluffy Pokemon that loves to give hugs...that smooths and crushes those it hugs due to not understanding its own strength. ... Take a guess as to what this Pokemon represents.

And finally we have Lillie. A girl who starts off scared, indecisive and unable to do anything until events force her to help out or lose everything. WIth the likes of Hop and the player's actions, she's inspired to take a more proactive role in battles...while still not being the best and acting as support. As shown with her team being support based Fairy types. A type that just so happens to be heavily connected to feminine beauty. And her signature Pokemon is a Friend Guard Clefairy. ... Did I mention Lusamine's first Pokemon in all her fights is an offensive Magic Guard Clefable?

Sadly can't say too much about the Kahunas- they aren't really focused on. It's more the Totem Pokemon...and those aren't teams. So...moving on.

Gen 8

Okay, get a snack and a drink. We're going to be here for a while.

Let's try something simple- Marnie. One of the more static trainers, this isn't to say she doesn't have any symbolism on her team. It kind of seems odd for someone like Marnie, who isn't even really aggressive in her rivalry with the player, to be using a Dark type team, since Dark types are known for their underhanded tactics and propensity for malicious behavior. But it does make sense when you see that she hails from Spikemuth, which is the hometown of Team Yell. Said team is, in actuality, her brother's Gym Trainers having gone off to support her. This is shown by her team being made up, while perhaps not fully moral Pokemon, are the more beign Pokemon of their types. Like her Liepard, Morpeko and Grimmsnarl are all more akin to tricksters rather than the malicious Pokemon usually associated with the Dark Type. Even her Poison type is a Toxicroak, a Pokemon known for its toxicity but not for any underhanded tactics. This is also a Pokemon that appears frequently on villain teams, hinting at her connection to Team Yell. Further connecting her to them is Scrafty, a Dark/Fighting type she shares with her brother Piers. Over half her team also has a type ADVANTAGE over Team Yell, indicating how she not only controls them but also takes over for her brother in the end.

Yeah, that was one of the more...easy examples. Bede is a bit more complex. He starts off as your typical example of a 'jackass rival', being smug and condescending to you and your friend Hop. As he seems to be a call back to the likes of Blue, Bede uses the Psychic type, which was infamously overpowered in Gen 1. However, Bede is..not good. His team entirely consists of Psychic, Normal and Fairy attacks which sounds good...until you remember that A. this leaves Bede with no means of answering Steel types which resist Psychic, Normal and Fairy and B. Half his moves use his Pokemon's inferior attacking stats (like Gothorilla used Rock Tomb and Galarian Pontya uses Special moves). These kind of leave him as an ill fitting opponent despite his arrogance. And that weakness to Steel types likely isn't a coincidence- his benefactor is Chairman Rose, a Steel type specialist who helped Bede become a Gym Challenger before revoking his right later. Around this time, the Fairy Gym Leader Opal takes a liking to him and proceeds to drag him off. Next time he appears, he shows up as Opal's apprentice and successor, becoming a Fairy type trainer. From here, we see that he has learned a bit of humility and understanding on where he went wrong. This nicely coinsides with his team having far more diverse type coverage, being fully evolved and even having a coverage move against Steels. Coolest part is that Bede retains half his team, with his formerly pure Psychic Ponyta and Hattrem evolving into Psychic/Fairy Rapidash and Hattrene, which is now able to stand against Rose. Even so, he still cares for him, as shown by his Mawille, a Steel/Fairy Pokemon, being his lead. It's part Steel typing and Intimidate ability summing up Bede before his encounter with Opal and displaying Rose's permanent impact in his life.

And yet they both pale in comparison to your main rival- Hop. Hop is the childhood friend of the player character and brother to the current Champion, Leon. An energetic boy with high hopes for his travels, he starts his adventure with his Wooloo (this game's first Normal type) and the starter weak to yours. SO naturally you beat the crap out of him. Simple as always. .... Except. Hop...doesn't just take it. When you beat him after obtaining your first badge, he briefy bemoans how he's weaker than you before admitting he need sto keep his guard up. And this isn't a one and done deal. He later loses to Bede who proceeds to insult him, telling him that he's dragging his brother's name through the mud. Which he later admits to really affecting him. And so...Hop does something that no other trainer in the series has ever done. He does a near full revamp of his old team. He benches his Wooloo and Corvisquare he had been using up until then for various different Pokemon in not just his next fight but the one after that. And after each loss, Hops becomes more and more despondent. After all, if he can't beat you even after overhauling his team twice then does he really stand a chance of beating his brother? However, upon hearing about the Galar legend about the Darkest Day, Hop resolves himself to stop doubting himself and simply focus on getting better, as shown by him returning his old Pokemon (now fully evolved), including a Pinurchin and adding the Snorlax he had been using before. So alls well that ends well.

Until you beat Hop in the semifinals before proceeding to beat his brother, the so-called unbeatable Champion. The man whom he looked up to. The man he dreamed about beating and surpassing. The man YOU just beat after beating him multiple times. ... Yeah. After the credits roll, you and him are called back to the resting place of the Legendaries where Hop asks to fight you once again. And here's the return of one the Pokemon from his 'doubt' period. And once again, Hop loses to an asshole insulting him (Sorward or Shieldbert) and even run off with the Legendaries' items, causing a huge hit to his confidence. It even makes him question whether or not he can even help you as you try to catch the brothers, even though Hop had done as much in the plot as you had. Even though he kept one of the items the Legendaries used to fight Eternatus. Even though he helped you BEAT Eternatus. Which is far more than can be said of most rivals. But Hop proves himself once more- he helps quell the raging Dynamax Pokemon, helps defend you as you chase after the brothers and even risks his life to go quell one of the Legendaries as it runs wild. All culminating in an honor that no other rival in the series has gotten: Hop catches the opposing Legendary and adds it to his team. Proof that he is just as much a hero as you are.

And he deserved it.

But this section is going on long enough by this point so we really need to move on. Because Hop sets a standard for the next Gen of Pokemon.

Gen 9

We're FINALLY at the last Gen as of this post's making (Gen 9 Teal Mask DLC). And...fuck my arm is tired.

So, let's try to get the Gym Leaders out of the way quick. Because yes- The Gym Leaders all have some kind of symbolism, rivaling their Gen 5 counterparts. Like Katy bemoaning that she's forced to go easy on Trainers is neatly symbolized by her cute ace Teddiursa becoming the fierce and violent Ursaring; Brassius' signature artwork being a stone statue of a Grass Type with his ace being a Tera Grass Sudowoodo, a Rock Type that emulates a tree; Kofu being a seafood chief using a team themed around seafood (including the self fillieting Veneluza); Larry's ordinary profession belying effectiveness shown through his Tera Pokemon sharing it's type with it meaning it gets extra damage; Rhyme being a rap artist connected with the dead through her Tera Ghost Low Key Toxicricity ect. I can't speak too much about them cuz shit's gonna be long.

Let's start with Arven. A boy who isn't much of Trainer, closed off and hostile because of his parent(s?)'s neglect- Arven doesn't really have any Pokemon to speak of at the beginning. He has a Skwot...and that's it. He even admits he just caught the damn thing. But as he travels with the player, slowly opening up to them and becoming friend with them, he catches nearby Pokemon and uses them to fight off the Titans. And he does a pretty damn good job- His Pokemon will always have a type advantage to be advantageous and each are fairly decent Pokemon in their own right (Cloyster, Scovillain, Garganacl and Toedscruel) along with his previously caught Greedent and his old friend Mabosstiff, an intimidating but loving and loyal Pokemon. Much like Arven. And like Mabosstiff, Arven gains friends and allies in his efforts through his adventure with the player.

One of said allies is Penny. An unassuming girl who the player saves from being harrassed by a group of deliquents called Team Star...who ends up being a skilled hacker and also the LEADER of Team Star under the pseudonym of 'Cassiopea'. And Penny's team is...entirely standardized with six Eeveelutions that share the moves Baby-Doll Eyes, Quick-Attack, a STAB move and a single coverage moves. A rather...underwhelming team of Pokemon, especially for the climax of a storyline. ... But that's intentional. Penny maybe the leader of Team Star but, as you could probably guess, no one had ever even SEEN Penny face to face before. While Team Star have formidable Trainers in their upper ranks, Penny never took to the battlefield personally. Penny is not a fighter and her team reflects this. Her Eeveelutions are not specially trained Pokemon- they're effectively pets. This is why they all have low-level moves in their movesets: they're hold overs from when they were Eevees that were never removed because Penny never had a reason for it. In fact, Quick Attack and Baby Doll Eyes arguable work better for a pet (being able to zoom around quickly to release energy and beg for food) than a battler. Hell, her Pokemon all provide some kind of utility and two of which are friendship evolutions- they really ARE pets.

Next we have Nemona, the rival character of the game. Unlike the other rivals, Nemona is in fact a more accomplished trainer than the player at first. In fact, she's so strong that this combined with her obssession lead her to becoming isolated from her peers. And for a peak at her strength: she beat the Top Champion of Paldea while still holding back. And it shows in the contrast between her fights with the player throughout the Victory Road story. She constantly talks about holding back, carefully considering her team to match what you should be at that point. And her teams are, consequently, nothing special. Just some basic level up moves. Right up until the very last fight of the storyline. Nemona, having changed her class from 'Pokemon Trainer' to 'Champion', is not only using a full team but is now packing STAB for each of her Pokemon AND coverage moves to smack your Pokemon hard no matter the matchup. Even with her choosing the starter weak to yours- her team is made up of rare and powerful Pokemon like a Goodra (pseudo-Legendary), Orthworm (a Pokemon previously fought as a TITAN), Lycanrock (a speedy Rock type), Pawimot (a Pokemon with the rare Electric/Fighting type) and a three segment Dundunsparce (a bulk and strong Normal Type that's also a 1/100 evolution, showing her sheer talent). Unless you overlevel your team, Nemona will be knocking out some of your team. As befitting a Champion. Moreso than fucking Geeta...

And if that's not enough, we also have the Professor stand in- Director Clavell. Introduced as the well meaning, attentive, kind and reasonable principal of the Academy, you would be forgiven for thinking that he might just be okay fight. ... He has more strategy to his team than 90% of Trainers in the series. No really.

He starts with an Oragnuru, a Pokemon noted for its intelligence and ability to use tools. FIttingly, it's a support Pokemon that lacks the usual weakness to Ghost types that Psychics have (important as SV is lousy with absurdly strong Ghosts), Oranguru will debilitate your team with Yawn to smack you with Dream Eater, Foul Play any cheeky Physical Attackers and use Reflect to shore up his team's Physical weakness. He then uses an Abomasnow, which sets up snow to further boost its defense. He then uses it to smack your team hard with STAB, perfect accuracy Blizzards, Wood Hammers and priority Ice Shard. And you want to kill it quick because it setting up snow means it can use Auorua Veil, effectively Reflect AND Light Screen in one. Which is bad because his next Pokemon is a Shell Smash using Poltigeust that spams Shadow Ball for STAB and Sucker Punch to punish priority and revenge killers. And it ALSO has Will-O-Wisp to weaken Physical attackers, which is bad because one of his next two Pokemon can be a Hex-spamming Amoongus which also has the lovely combination of Toxic and Spore to fuck with your team. And it has Giga Drain for recovery. Literally the only thing separating this Pokemon from its competitive counterpart is lacking Regenerator and Leftovers. He can also have a Gyardos, an almost evergreen Water type with a ton of coverage. Telling that his easiest Pokemon is a possible Houndoom. Oh and he uses the starter not picked in the beginning. The one strongest against you.

Really goes to show that Clavell really did earn his spot as the Director.

And if this was just about the base game, I could end it here. But even with all this and more- this wasn't what inspired me to make this post.

No, that would be the Teal Mask DLC and its two key players- Carmine and Kieran.

Starting with Carmine, a basic overview of her story here- she's a dickhead who has a more caring side but is basically covered by her being utterly awful at expressing herself and not being the best sister. She doesn't like outsiders due to people treating her hometown of Kitakami as a tourist trap but grows more open as she befriends the player. Why am I saying all this?

Because her team is a perfect representation of this.

She will always start her fights with a Poocheyna that evolves into Mightynea. A threatening Dark type that excels in pack tactics and is known to follow strong Trainers. Showcasing that despite Carmine's dickish attitude- she's most certainly a skilled trainer while also demonstrating how she bosses around her little brother.

Next is her Morpeko. An Electric/Dark type that wildly switches mood based on hunger, from friendly to aggressive. This duality is a summation of Carmine's character- how she switches from arrogant and standoffish to kinder and sweeter.

Then comes her Swadloon that evolves into Leavanny, a kind and nuturing Pokemon known for taking care of small Pokemon by weaving clothes for them. This showcases Carmine's real feelings for Kieran as despite acting like a bully towards Kieran- she geniunely loves and treasures him. Hell, the Pokedex in Scarlet even deviates a bit from its usual depiction of Leavanny to mention its protective instincts, similar to Carmine's own protectiveness.

Next comes her Ninetails, a Pokemon based off a kitsune and known for its mystical power but vengeful nature. A rather apt summation of how Carmine usually acts- a strong trainer but very easy to set off.

Finally comes her Poltchageist that evolves into Sinistcha- a Pokemon exclusive to her hometown of Kitakami, a Grass/Ghost type that tries to trick people into drinking it in order to drain them of their lifeforce...but failing most of the time. Whereas Morpeko is an overview of Carmine and Ninetails is the usual side of her, Sinistcha is what Carmine really is at the end of the day- a harmless fool. While she can burn people much like her Sinistcha can through its signature move and Scald, she means no ill will and can't do much to hurt anyone. And she can help as much as she can harm, just like how Sinistcha can aid others through its ability, Hospitality.

And what makes this interesting is the effectiveness of the team. As her Mightyena has one of the most useful lead abilities in Pokemon along with Howl to boost it's Sucker Punch and Play Rough; her Morpeko taking advantage of Aura Wheel's Speed boost through a held Focus Slash; Leavanny being a setup sweep through Swords Dance and Fell Stinger; Ninetails supporting the team through Disable and Will-o-Wisp and Sinistcha negating Grass' Fire Weakness through a Berry- it communicates that Carmine is an effective trainer. Fitting as her school is said to be specifically focused on Poke Battles.

But even this pales in comparison to her brother, Kieran. A shy boy who starts out looking up to and befriending the player character, neatly shown through his first two fights being simple 2-3 Pokemon fights. And as the story progresses, we learn a bit about him. That he expresses an admiration for the ogre in the village myth, having defeated three strong Pokemon by itself. He admires that strength and the seeming independence it has, since he himself wants to be strong and relied on due to his sister's unwitting damage to his ego through taking over his tasks. He even comes across having a crush on the player character to add to his likeability.

Then you meet the mascot of the Teal Mask DLC and the ogre from the legend, Ogerpon. Through a series of events involving Carmine making you swear not to tell Kieran about this to preserve his feelings and Kieran evasdropping- he learns that we met Ogerpon and we unknowingly keep lying to him. Which, considering we met the Pokemon he had been admiring for so long and being his first friend...he takes it hard. Things spiral out of control as his mental state burrows down, with him lashing out at the player character and Carmine for percieved injustices, eventually resulting in Kieran challenging the player for the right to be Ogerpon's partner...even though she had already chosen the player character. Even Kieran admits this is selfish but still pushes for it.

It's around this time that his team starts changing for real. Before his team consisted of a Yanma, Furret and Poliwhirl; all with unremarkable moves. Now his Yanma is a dedicated Special Attacker, his Furret is a setup Pokemon using a breeding move to clean hazards and get a Dragon Dance boost; his Poliwhirl evolves into Poliwrath with Haze to clear boosts and he adds a Applin evolution, Dipplin, based off of the candy apples he likes. His next battle has him shelve the Furret for a Cramorant, he adds a Gilgar to his team and his Yanma has evolved into a Tinted Lens Yanmega. ANd then there's his final team.

A Shiftry with a Focus Sash and the new Wind Rider ability with tailwind to boost Speed and Attack at once; the afromentioned Tinted Tens Yanmega so resistances are less effective than ever; Dipplin for more speed control and Leftovers for recovery; Probopass with Sturdy and pinch berry to become a cannon of a Special Attacker; Poliwhirl is now a Belly Drum-Sitrus Berry user to be a massive sweeper and now a fucking Yache Berry holding Gliscor. ... This is one of the most well put together teams in Pokemon history. Which, again, makes sense since Kieran is ALSO a student at Carmine's school. And not only that- he is actively trying to prove himself worthy of Ogerpon. He will obviously put out ALL the stops to beat you.

And the symbolism isn't just limited to movesets. Each Pokemon have...eerie undertones. Yanma, despite its looks, is a rather big Bug Type known for moving very fast and keeping a close eye on prey with Yanmega capable of crippling foes with its wingbeats and BITING the heads off prey. Shiftry can level houses and its Violet entry posits that it's based off a bird Pokemon that recieved divine punishment. Both representing Kierian's radical change. Poliwhirl goes from a dopy sleep inducing Pokemon to powerful swimmer, reflecting his desire for strength. Probopass manipulates the little mini-units to catch prey and Gliscor is a terrifyingly effective predator, reflecting Kierian's sheer hostility by this point. And Dipplin, the last remainder of the child-like innocence his team once had after Furret gets benched? Its apple is hollowed out and filled with two dragons, unlike Flapple and Appletun who coexist with the apple. Much like how Kieran's childlike demeanor has been hollowed out into a shell.

And just like how Kieran's story isn't done with the Teal Mask- datamines and experimentation with Eviolite has revealed Dipplin will be getting an evolution in the Indigo Disk.

Conclusion

You would think a series that has a core gameplay mechanic like Evolution, basically the symbolic progression from childhood to adulthood, would use these aspects for characterization more. But the history of this is rather bumpy, since the games have prioritized gameplay over story for so long. But good god damn, I would say that Pokemon beats out its contemporary in SMT for using its Mons cast for symbolism when it does.

I mean, you don't write an essay of THIS length over nothing. And I would like to remind people- I glossed over a few things. As in depth as this is: it's not all encompassing.

So I do think Game Freak deserves credit for this.

[emma-is-swaggy-and-epic]

A collection of some of my OCs as pokemon trainers :3

CHEAT SHEET/ EXPLANATION FOR EACH CHARACTERS' TEAMS UNDER THE CUT

Let's start with yuriko, her team consists of a gallade, a combee, a bisharp, a rookidee, a gothitelle and her beloved furfrou. Since chess is a BIG theme to yuriko's character, i wanted each pokemon to sorta reflect each piece in a game of chess (minus the king bc i ran out of room). Combee is the pawn because in chess: pawns are the weakest piece and are kinda there to protect the queen in a way, similarly to how worker bees in a beehive tend to do stuff for the queen (not to mention that pawns actually CAN become queens in a game of chess, similarly to how normal bee larvae can grow up to become a queen if fed enough). Bisharp and rookidee are the bishop and the rook for obvious reasons, gallade is the knight and gothitelle is the queen (though tbh i also partially chose those two bc in yuriko's usual form, she is a danganronpa fan character, specifically a celesgami fankid and i kinda associate those two characters with those pokemon...albeit with celeste it's more or less the gothitelle line IN GENERAL) lastly i chose a furfrou bc that's the closest i can get to yuriko's goofy ass dog, gambit.....there are no borzoi pokemon i'm afraid

Also ngl whenever i hear gothitelle's name, my mind immediantly goes to cottonelle and i can't help but think of emo toilet paper...

Next with makeighlyn: her team consists of a sylveon, a galarian ponyta, an indeedee, a porygon, a spiritomb and an absol. I imagine that since makeighlyn's whole lore is that she's a flash game mascot turned demon slayer, she was probably given a sylveon, ponyta and indeedee by her creators (the sylveon representing her pet cat, angie) but ended up finding and catching a porygon after she gained sentience; when she became a demon slayer, the souls of all the demons she killed formed into a spiritomb and she caught that too and lastly she caught an absol to sorta let the demons know she's coming since y'know.....absol is said to be a bad omen....also yes, makeighlyn IS wearing may's contest outfit, it was easier than just thinking up an original pokemon universe design for her

For myrtle: her team consists of a zorua, a cubone, a banette, jirachi, a duskull and a zubat. Tbh i didn't really put that much thought into her team, i just picked the edgiest pokemon i could find....though with cubone and banette i just picked them bc they're infamous for having really dark pokedex entries and are a common sight in the more horror-oriented side of the fandom, and also i picked zubat bc it's the first pokemon i think of when i think of team rocket (aside from meowth, obviously) typically i prefer not to include legendary/mythical pokemon whenever i give a character a pokemon team for the sake of believablity though i just couldn't resist giving myrtle jirachi considering how much it fits with her backstory (normally, myrtle's story is that she randomly discovered she had reality-bending powers one day and abused her power so much it caused a dimensional merge; though since this is pokemon and humans don't have powers, i feel it makes more sense if she caught jirachi and abused it's wish granting powers)

Lastly for renée: her team consists of an altaria, a castform, a smeargle, a snom, a munchlax and a bruxish. Tbh i only really gave her an altaria and a castform as a sort of callback to the fact that renée is a bird (though i had to make her human for the sake of this challenge), specifically a pigeon-cloud nymph hybrid; so i gave her a cloud bird and a weather creature! Since renée is more or less a 2014 tumblr-esque hipster (a bit millenialcore i daresay), i gave her a bruxish bc i've literally never seen a single person who likes bruxish (i personally don't really care for it either way but like....LOOK AT THIS THING!!! IT LOOKS LIKE IT SHOULD BE HANGING OUT WITH THE BEATLES IN PEPPERLAND OR SOME SHIT)

Anyway, i also gave renée a munchlax bc tbh that pokemon SCREAMS millenials in 2014 tbh (like....fr you'd be hard-pressed NOT to find a millenial on the internet from that era making jokes about how much pizza and avocado toast they eat) i also gave her a smeargle to reference renée's love for painting and a snom bc....tbh i think snom is kinda overrated and i feel like renée would be the type of person to make that damn thing her entire personality so yea (also renée likes bugs so i had in incorporate that SOMEHOW)

[prezs]

my piece for this year's special gala event :) the theme this year is five years. i took some inspiration from previous years' themes, and i also tried to convey growth over time... and a more literal past and present interpretation.

one sleeve of janine’s gown is similar to that of a kimono. this represents her father, and his influence on her. koga planned for janine to join team rocket, as per ninja tradition to find a master. however, that never happened, and janine was left aimless and alone. the rest of her outfit is modern. this is supposed to represent her newfound freedom. its colors represent that of a galaxy. away from team rocket, janine’s future is hers to make. this is a mirror to falkner, who janine is theming with and whose outfit is primarily traditional with a dash of modern.

this is to represent the two of them being kindred spirits in learning to live for themselves, not their fathers.

[angelcakes0109]

Angel and Shaun cosplaying as team rocket (i know original series had James only one holding red rose but since roses have diffrent meanings i put the color how they see and feel about one another)

I found yellow roses supposed to represent friendship so i went with that and gave red tips for Shaun since yellow rose with red tips supposed to represent falling in love and so far it seem Shaun in the game does like mc that way.

[yamujiburo]

Funny thing I noticed about all three of those ships is they can easily represent the past, present and future.

There is with Cassidy who is the past, a wild love but ultimately didn't work out.

Then there is with James who is the present, currently the person closest to Jessie and her partner both professionally and emotionally.

And finally there is Delia who represents the future, representing a stable domestic life and the ability to move on both from Team Rocket and her own emotional baggage.

YES! That's why I can't pick a favorite. They're all really good for such different reasons

[terminatorbuns]

The Deep Cut Deep Dive: Overthinking the Deep Cut Dynamic in Excruciating Detail (An essay by @TerminatorBuns)

This was originally posted on Reddit, but I want to share with Tumblr to see if Tumblr likes this format more. Also because I'm close to finishing a second essay about Deep Cut, focusing on Frye.

Deep Cut is great, I love them, and their relationship dynamic lives rent free in my head. The one thing Nintendo did for us this time is drop story mode lore for Deep Cut on Day 1, and it has fleshed out their relationship dynamic in IMMENSE detail, enough to rival what we know about Off the Hook. How much detail are we talking about, you might ask? A FUCKING LOT it turns out! We're talking about Tableturf secrets, we're talking about Frye's feet, we're talking about the implications of Big Man's breakfast on the course of his artistic development, this shit goes DEEP. I don't know who needs to hear this but Splatoon idol lore is the meatiest part of Splatoon world building and an absolutely BONKERS ride. I want to take you through that journey if you haven't been on it before, or just need more fuel for your lore headcanons.

I wish this was a bit more academic but I didn't have the time and patience to cite everything with game screenshots, so I'm assuming whoever is reading this has already played the story mode and has a rough idea of what I'm talking about. Spoilers obviously. At the very least I hope this will be an entertaining rant, feel free to yell at me in comments about stuff I got wrong, I welcome the discourse.

1. A Bunch of Theatre Nerds

Deep Cut primarily differs from Off the Hook in one way: they do not specialize in music, but in THEATRE. Each of the two humanoid idols are designed from the ground up to represent two different forms of traditional Japanese theatre, and it ties deeply into their dual roles in the game. The important takeaway is that each idol excels in one art, but struggles at the other, and we will explore what this means. Let's talk about Shiver and Frye; Big Man is a special case, we'll have to put a pin in him and come back to that.

2. Shiver is Rakugo

Shiver is a performer of Rakugo, or Japanese seated story telling. Deep Cut's day job as newscasters is represented as a Rakugo performance, and Shiver brings a fan and a little table to the job, both common props in Rakugo. Shiver exhibits all the qualities of a strong Rakugo artist, she sits in a Seiza kneeling position with excellent posture, and delivers the news with wit and poise. She has excellent, sharp facial expressions that she directs straight at the audience, she uses her fan to gesture in ways to attract attention, and she punctuates her delivery by tapping her fan against her table to create little sound cues for a listener. Her approach to drawing an audience to her words is multilayered and complex, and her vocal skills as a storyteller seems to parallel her strong vocals when singing (not that you can tell how good her diction is since she speaks in warbly Squid-Gibberish).

Frye is much less skilled by contrast, for a number of reasons. She doesn't even attempt to sit in a Seiza stance, and in fact can barely sit still without attempting to wiggle off her cushion. From a general speaking perspective, Frye fails to establish eye contact with the audience because she's always staring at the other two performers, whoever is speaking at the time. She also lacks all of Shiver's propwork and has no intentionality in her gestures. She compensates for her weak delivery with goofy, high energy antics that are charming in her own way, and this is what earned Frye a reputation as a fidgety gremlin baby compared to the cool, sophisticated Shiver. Before launch that was everyone's impression of Frye, but the arrival of story mode dropped a massive bomb on us that flips the dynamic COMPLETELY UPSIDE DOWN. Feet are involved, let's discuss.

3. Frye is Kabuki

Story mode showed us Deep Cut as a hilarious team rocket like villain team, but the bigger takeaway is that we finally see Frye in her preferred art form: Kabuki stage performance. Frye's entire villain persona is a stage act, she thrives as a stage villain and has the charisma and skills to back it up. I should note that Frye doesn't practice pure Kabuki with all of its strict discipline, but Frye isn't full, or even partially Japanese herself, since she's very much South East Asian in design. She has her own, maybe(?) SEA inspired take on stage performance, but some of her stances in the later sections of story mode are unmistakably Kabuki, it's clear where she draws inspiration for her style from.

Villain Frye is amazing, she's confident and charismatic, and genuinely menacing in demeanor before her fight. She has a professional code of conduct as a villain: she states her intentions clearly, paying respect to the player before her boss fight and offering to negotiate before fighting. She's the only one who correctly uses her smoke bomb correctly to make a dramatic exit, and she names all of her meticulously choreographed attack patterns like a proper anime villain.

Conversely, story mode is where we finally see Shiver struggle. Her villain performance is fun, yet inconsistent: she's unnecessarily melodramatic and overacts every scene, and she throws petty insults at you before breaking character to just try to run you over with a shark-bike. She fumbles her smoke bomb and becomes increasingly frustrated everytime you knock her down, unlike Frye who doesn't break character and recovers immediately after she is downed. Shiver still makes a fun, campy comedy relief villain, but she visibly loses the confidence and dignity she had as a Rakugo performer, highlighting how much she is out of her element. In Shiver's defense, she does manage to pull off that absurd sleight of hand in her intro where she switches her mask for her fan while delivering the spiciest piercing gaze, while Frye just chucks her mask off screen instead. Once again Shiver's dexterity in her face and her hands are her strongest tools.

4. Frye's feet

I feel like an absolute lunatic writing this section, but I assure you there is genuinely a need to discuss this topic in length. Forget Frye's forehead for a second, her FEET are easily her most important assets. Frye uniquely emotes with her feet more than any other idol the same way Shiver emotes with her hands, except Shiver's hands don't have enough lore significance to fill a whole section. Frye's feet DO. I would go so far as to say Frye's feet are one of the most SIGNIFICANT visual tools we have for contextualizing the difference between Frye and Shiver's entire professional art forms. Strap in.

For starters, Frye's footwork is MONSTROUSLY powerful. Take a look at her during her boss fight, she's playing an instrument, and hopping up and down on an Octostomp like it's a goddamn circus ball. It doesn't take a single eel hit to knock her off balance, you have to send her ENTIRE eel army at her before you can knock her down! I think the eels inside her Octostomp are moving it, so in theory she's not piloting it with pure foot power, but also she kicks it onto its side before she starts blowing into her flute?!! I have no idea, I can barely comprehend what is happening here.

At the same time, her feet fully solidifies her ties to Kabuki. Kabuki is an art form done without shoes, and since she performs her villain persona outdoors, she doesn't wear shoes anywhere. Kabuki is also a full body art form which requires precision footwork, and she has that in spades. This is in stark contrast to Shiver, whose seated Rakugo performance has no footwork whatsoever. Shiver's footwork is comparatively weak as a result.

Don't get me wrong, Shiver has enough footwork to dance in blocky Geisha shoes (I've been told they are Okobo shoes), but it's in a stage performance capacity where Shiver's footwork completely falls apart. Shiver doesn't know how to express body language through footwork, so she DOESN'T. Shiver stands completely in place during her villain performance and tries to compensate with her upper body expressions, but this lets Frye completely dominate her in stage presence. In most scenes with both idols, Frye physically takes up more of the screen through footwork: she positions herself one or more steps TOWARDS the audience and literally looks BIGGER as a result. Frye's full body poses are also wide and faces the audience/camera at an angle that maximizes her surface area to attract visual interest, which is a core Kabuki concept that, again, requires intentional footwork and positioning. Shiver poses with her feet together and her body turned to the side, so her screen presence is minimal every single time. In fact, she uses her feet so little in her villain performance that she's the one member of Deep Cut that fights on a vehicle and has no mobility of her own!

At the same time, Frye's feet are double edged swords and her greatest weaknesses. Take a look at Frye while she is newscasting, what is she doing in her default pose? Yeah that's right, HOLDING HER FEET. Her Kabuki background is so used to full body acting that she's restless sitting still, and she's holding down her feet because they literally want to EXIT THE PREMISES. Every once in a while she fails to contain herself and kicks off in every direction, threatening to kick a hole in Big Man's TV and boot Shiver's table off the stage. Frye's feet are a MENACE.

5. Big Man and Amateurism

Remember at the beginning we put a pin in Big Man? His arms are getting tired so we're letting him down from the wall now.

So how does Big Man fit into this dynamic? Nintendo confirmed that he is their composer, so he provides a music background to the team whereas the other two are theatre nerds. Big Man is unique in that his talents are largely background work, unlike our other two idols who specialize in stage work. However, that makes him a bit of an outlier in terms of theatrical performance. He follows Shiver and Frye around to both their performances but doesn't have much proficiency in either one. As a newscaster he stumbles over his words often, and his villain persona is just his regular persona but slightly angrier. He doesn't really dance and sing particularly well either, there's a sequence in the Anarchy Rainbow choreography where Big Man nearly smacks the other two idols out of clumsiness. Big Man is an odd duck in the Deep Cut trio, and yet, this is a central aspect of his design and his appeal, it's kind of the point.

The central theme of the Deep Cut dynamic is Amateurism, and this ties into Splatoon 3's core theme of Chaos. Each humanoid idol is a master at a specific performance art, and an amateur at the other art form, but the important part is that they show up anyways to clown around, and that in and of itself adds a distinct flavor to the performance despite their individual weaknesses. The chaos of Splatoon 3 is the contrast between a professional artist on a stage next to two absolute goobers, and the chaotic, yet dynamic performance that results from three artists of different skill levels colliding. In that sense, Big Man is the true amateur who shows up to everything in an effort to contribute, and his bumbling inexperience is extremely lovable. This is in direct contrast to the Off the Hook dynamic, as both members of Off the Hook are musically talented and completely aligned in their artistic interests, while the members of Deep Cut have differing interests but will always show up for each other, like absolute BROS.

The Big Man discussion does not end here, however. Big Man's sunken scroll depicts him as a member of the prestigious Manta Clan, with the fanciest dining set while the text describes the Manta Clan's meticulous breakfast habits. Shiver and Frye's sunken scrolls, in contrast, describe the ancient artistic history that both of them descend from. Jumping into story theories at this point, I would personally guess that Big Man comes from a different economic background than the other two. Splatsville appears to have the aesthetics of a rural city after a rapid expansion, many of the buildings are cluttered and old looking in contrast to some infrastructure that looks very new. If we assume that Shiver and Frye's families have lived in this area for quite some time, it would be quite likely that they were poor or middle class, partially explaining their concern for the underprivileged citizens of Splatsville. Big Man on the other hand looks like he comes from the richest, snobbiest kind of high society family. He's a fancy fancy boy.

The more important takeaway is this: Big Man seems to come from a family background that prioritizes formality and rules over personal expression. From this we can make an educated guess that Big Man started his theatrical journey LATER IN LIFE. Shiver and Frye could easily have been practicing stage performance from early childhood through their family history, but Big Man's family traditions doesn't lend itself well to open self expression, and whatever artistic ability he might have gained through his family does not translate well to the stage! Big Man's exposure to theatre would have happened outside of his family, possibly after he gained some amount of independence from them. I'd hazard a guess that his friendship with Frye and Shiver might even be the starting point of his stage career!

Shiver and Frye are letting Big Man, maybe even encouraging him, to perform with them on stage despite him being a relative newcomer to theatre. There's relatively little judgement, they too understand that all artists have been amateurs at some point in their journey, and continue to be amateurs at other art forms even after mastering their own. My boy is doing his absolute best to perform alongside his theatrical seniors and it's so precious. This dynamic is wholesome beyond my wildest expectations, I am HEALED.

6. Tableturf and Artistic Priorities

I added this section last because I only discovered this information after I had completed my original draft, and Nintendo is actively fucking with me at this point. Each of the three idols have personality traits that come through in their TABLETURF dialogue, of all places, and it's kind of the final piece that makes the Deep Cut dynamic click for me. Through their tableturf dialogue we learn a lot about each member's priorities as an artist, enough for us to explore in detail.

Shiver is an audience focused artist. Her focus in tableturf is centered on you, the opponent, and she makes it a matter of personal pride to compete against you and she takes her victories and losses very personally. No matter the outcome she requests a rematch, because her priority is the opponent's experience, as she seeks the approval of her audience. Her eye contact and graceful mannerisms are as sharp as ever up close as she is on stage. This plays well with the second aspect of her artistry, which is the fact that she has a Geisha aesthetic in addition to her Rakugo specialty. Hospitality and direct conversational interactions are a part of both jobs, even if she secretly has a bit of an ego and barely resists gloating if she wins.

Big man is a self-focused artist. He comes off as awkward and shy in a tableturf match, and we get to see a little bit of the bubbling insecurity behind Big Man's jolly smile. Big man's lack of stage performance abilities translates into his social interactions as well, and he uses self deprecation to downplay his abilities and expects to lose, being pleasantly surprised if he wins. What Big Man is primarily looking for is a kind of self-acceptance, as an amateur artist he wants to hone his abilities to a point that he can be confident in himself, and he shows the same anxiety in his social interactions and tableturf games. No matter if he wins or loses, his primary focus is on his own performance, and he mostly comments on whether or not he has met his own expectations. Every small victory seems to do great things for his self esteem and you just want this boy to be happy, let him win at card games.

Frye's tableturf mannerisms is the most interesting, as it turns out, and is actually the reason I even wrote this section (my Frye bias strikes again). The most important detail is that she fails to make eye contact with the player, AGAIN, just like when she's newscasting! At face value this is VERY strange: in the news room she is clearly staring at whoever's talking, but in a direct conversation with you, why does she still not look at you? I've also seen people complaining that she's one of the only players that insults the player after a win and makes no attempt to console the player, and that is completely true. What isn't very obvious is the additional layer of meaning in the same win dialogue that really clarifies her priorities in the moment, and this is a CRUCIAL piece of Frye's characterization. When she wins her first instinct is to tell SHIVER and BIG MAN about her victory.

Remember that Kabuki is a stage performance with multiple artists in multiple roles. Rakugo can be performed solo, and Big Man seems to compose solo as well, but Frye's Kabuki actively requires the participation of other artists, it is a collaborative performancr. This brings us to the realization that Frye is a uniquely TEAM focused artist amongst Deep Cut: her top priority is her bandmates, at all times! Frye NEEDS Deep Cut, her personal style of theatre doesn't even work without friends, and she's fixated on maintaining her friend group as a result. Frye is able to focus on an audience when she is actively doing her job as a Kabuki artist, but any other time she starts spacing out because she simply spends all her energy thinking about ways to impress her bandmates! She comes off as dismissive to the player, because her mind is literally wandering to her band friends, even when they are not around! Deep Cut means the world to Frye in a way that isn't as meaningful for her friends, and she's made herself into the glue that holds this friend group together; Frye is very much the heart of the Deep Cut trio. Frye's dedication to her friends is the actual CUTEST detail in this entire game, I CANNOT believe they hid this information in tableturf. Why is Nintendo like this?!!

7. Conclusion

Splatoon's world building is extremely art centric, and the lore they write for their fictional artists is some of their best, most detailed work. Looking at Splatoon lore through an artistic lens is extremely rewarding because there are secrets and details everywhere. I've obsessed over Off the Hook's similarly complicated character dynamic in the past, and Deep Cut is really making me relive those memories like that dude from Ratatouille, it's hitting me HARD.

In some ways even this write up is only a surface reading, I'm no expert on traditional Japanese theatre or SEA culture and I have no idea how many details can be uncovered by an actual expert. I also have no music background and the Splatoon team hides fricking lore in the fricking OST and I cannot begin to unpack any of that. I fully expect that there's more details I've missed or have gotten wrong, but I hope I've at least established how deep this rabbit hole goes, and how much fun it is to dig through Splatoon lore instead of getting enough sleep.

Anyways the next time someone asks me why Frye is best girl I'm gonna have 3000 words of documentation to show them.

8. Miscellaneous notes

- What is going on with Shiver's shoes, they don't have straps, how do they stay on? Are they glued to her socks? Does she have to take the sock part off to remove the shoe? She has to take her shoes off to perform on a tatami mat, but we can't see what's going on back there feet wise since she has a Rakugo table in front. Is her lower body even rendered back there? I draw fan art, I need to know this stuff.

- Shiver likes to take jabs at Big Man sometimes that he struggles to respond to, being a less experienced conversationalist and just socially awkward in general. It's not necessarily malicious, however, Shiver could just be giving him opportunities to practice his conversation skills and keep him in the discussion. Plus he's very cute when flustered, I dunno that Shiver can resist prodding him.

- Big man is differently abled in a very literal sense. He has no hands or feet with which to emote, he's trying his best to express himself with his flappy fins. He barely has functional vocal cords, just going AY and making warbling fish noises all the time. Big Man's body isn't great at singing or dancing, but it is very good at things that Manta Rays are traditionally good at. He mentions being able to filter feed, and his mobility is remarkably good in swim form. Big Man is also a pretty dangerous predator unless you have the sensor upgrade.

- Shiver's family situation is kind of a mystery, how do they have a tradition of Shark taming if Octarian society is a militaristic dictatorship run by DJ Octavio? I suspect that Shiver was never a part of his army and there are Octarians living outside of his rule. She's definitely a Splatlands native, members of Octavio's Octo Canyon army should have been able to identify Callie and Marie easily.

- Shiver's aesthetic shifts to a violent Bōsōzoku biker gang aesthetic when she boards Master Mega, since he's outfitted with motorcycle parts and wears those bad boy sunglasses. It's a sharp contrast to her polite Geisha presentation, and so is her entire villain persona. This is what I mean when I say Shiver's performance style is inconsistent, but Shiver's two-faced presentation is also super fun to watch and kind of her entire appeal. There's an aggressive pettiness underneath the polite outward presentation and the gap between her two personalities is peak comedy. - I only just recently realized that she's a Geisha with a shaved punk cut and that's amazing: https://www.reddit.com/r/splatoon/comments/xk5mtx/did_yall_notice_shivers_head_is_supposed_to_be/

[jane-john-doe-tournament]

Jane Doe (Team Fortress 2) Propaganda:

Soldier’s name, Jane Doe, emphasizes the core aspects of his character. We’re given sparse, mostly comedic, details about Soldier’s past, having been rejected from every branch of the U.S. Military. Soldier represents this parody of the idea of a U.S. Soldier. He’s taken every trope to heart and blown it up, but gotten it slightly off. Hence, his name is a reference to an unidentified person, someone without a real identity, but skewed slightly to the left from just being your standard John Doe.

Rejected from every branch of the military. Used sour-cream to found a racoon sanctuary in his ex-roommate's new castle. Has lead poisoning. Him and his fiancee are like if Gomez and Morticia Addams were meathead jocks. Strips naked and douses himself in honey in order to fight things like bears and killer robots. Collects severed heads. I love him.

I think he's cool

He's probably the only Doe in this tournament who can rocket jump, which grants him aerial superiority.

He’s the most commonly recommended beginner class, so he helped myself and many others learn and fall in love with TF2! The high skill ceiling means you can still pull off incredible things as him with enough talent! Also I love whatever he and Demo had going on in the War! update

Jane Doe (Buddy Simulator 1984) Propaganda:

Might work best as a team with her husband John Doe - A video game townsperson NPC; her only dialogue is "Wouldn't it be crazy if we just burst into flames right here and now? It's too bad DNA testing is just in its infancy. Bodies, records, and even straight evidence will be harder to find!" (referencing Jane Doe being used as a name for unidentifiable dead bodies).

[winguontheweb]

Will you ever do mascots of the minor league baseball teams? Plenty of furry potential there, Lehigh Valley IronPigs, Rome Emperors, Rocket City Trash Pandas, etc

maybe someday, but I don't wanna go down too much of a rabbit hole of minor league and college teams lkgfdjlkfg. I could support my local minor league team if I can think of a way to represent them :p

I'll tide you over with the only college team mascot I've done so far, Ms. Michigan Wolverine

[ywpd-translations]

Ride 724: After the qualifiers

Pag 1

1: Yeah

It suits you!

2: You knowk, a robbon with summer clothes...

Where should we go have lunch?

3: No, Naruko-san was like this, teh!

The way Imaizumi-san was swinging his bike was incredible too!!

4: He was so much faster than during practice! It felt like he was flexing and bending his huge body!!

5: Naruko-san's low posture and speed was like a rocket, teh!!

6: Ahhh... that race made me lose my mind

Yeah... it was super hard, but....

Pag 2

1: That was really....

Pag 4

1: Overwhelming, teh!!

Pag 5

1: Yeah!!

“The Inter High representative is decided”

“It's Sohoku high school....”

2: It was so cool, teh...!!

Yeah!! Yeah!!

But for a moment I thought Imaizumi-san would win

That's because Naruko-san was mere seconds behind Imaizumi-san and so he was protected from the wind and could rest his legs

Huh!? Really!? He did  sucha thing while running at that speed?

3: I don't really get it, but as expected from the winner of the first years' race!!

Well, yeah!! Yeah, I won

Pag 6

1: “You brokethrough the qualifiers, now next is the national competition”

“Congratulations, Roku-chan”....

“Amazing”....

2: I thought of calling out to him, but

It looks like he's getting along well with Kinaka

3: I kinda wanna jump in on their conversation

Yeah....

And the interview after that, too!

Yeah, but tyhe stage and thye mic...

5: We'll watch over him?

Yeah, alright

Pag 7

1: Roku-chan, who got there before us

….. yeah

4: The dream of participating in a national competition

5: Let's do it, somehow, in the next two years

…. yeah

Pag 8

1: Huuuh.. !?

A training camp!?

2: Starting from early next week

We asked you to come here during lunch break to prepare for that

On... what a fresh reaction!!

3: We have to load a lot of things in the car!

Ehhh.. isn't the training camp held here?

4: It's so fresh indeed, first years are so cute

It's a certain place

Where will we go? Yeah, where are we going, teh

5: And the practice menu is hell....

Pag 9

1: Nii-chan!! Nii-chan

Ah, you're right, you're right

2: I'oll tell the first years, so please don't tell them – they'll be like “huh- 1000km!?”

Every year, hearing the first years' reaction is the climax haha

Got it, got it- “every year”?

3: It's a secret

4: Ohhh... it's going to last four days?

It says we have to0 run 1000km

How much is 1000km?

5: Whose are those leaflets?

Ah... Onoda-san made them so it would be easy to understand... so he said

Ehhh

Sorry.... Kaburagi

Pag 10

1: Can you come to the training camp?

Danchiku

Pag 11

3: You've been following a different practice menu these days, and even though you say” I'm fine, it's nothing” when I ask you...

4: What are you talking about?

You didn't even come to the qualifiers

5: That's because I had to look after the other first years' practice...

It's been bothering me for a while

6: That.... that's just.... ah, in just a short while...

It's just muscular pain!! So I asked Onoda-san for a different practice menu

How long is a short while

Pag 12

2: “Since after last autumn's race on Minegayama”

“My joints have been hurting”

3: Well, you know... not that much

4: This is the price.... for sure

5: Even though I practiced

6: Because somehow I ended up winning

Pag 13

1: In a big tournament that attracts the attention of the prefecture!!

And moreover, against Hakogaku's Shinkai Yuuto....!!

2: But maybe it's going to heal soon

It'll heal heal soon

3: The pain is fading!!

Mybe it's going in a good direction!!

4: Danchiku.... that “muscular pain”

5: My bad feeling about it started last year

6: After the race on Minegayama

Issa!!

….!? Issa's intuition, more than anyone....!!

Pag 14

1: Onoda-san said that they'll choose the definitive team members at the training camp

If you don't come to the training camp you won't become a member for sure

3: If you come and don't run, it's the same

5: In Team SS... our “special strong” wqas aiming for results in the Inter High

Pag 15

1: Next yeaqr it'll be too late because I'pll become captain and be busy

Cap.....

He'll become captain?.... he alreqady decided.... on his own accord?

To run freely in the Inter High, it has to be this year!! As second years

It can only be this year!!

2: And also, I can't do it alone

6: The reason for you bad condition

Go to the hospital and get it checked

7: And come tell me the results right away!!

Pag 16

1: See ya

2: Issa!!

5: I'll come to the training camp!!

I'll stand on the start line and run together with you!! That's my intention!!

Pag 17

1: I'll do everything I can!!

No matter what the final result is!!

3: Thank you, Danchiku. I wanted to hear those words today

4: Do your best

7: Issa.... I.... I already went so many times to the hspital

Pag 18

1: But I was told that “it's nothing”

2: It should be nothing, but I feel so uncomfortable on my bike, and I don't have much time

My body, too

3: I feel a dull pain

4: So I feel helpless.....!!

Pag 19

2: On!! Teru- nii-chan!!

3: I don't really understand math, help me please

6: Pfui

7: 49.... 50....

Pag 20

1: Yeah, math? Alright, Sadatoki

The training camp is close, so....

2: With bikes, you have to hold the handles, so the strength in your upper body is also important

All skillful cyclists can use their upper body well

3: The team members will be chosen during training camp, so I have to do what I have to do

In order to become the sixth member

4: The sixth....!!

He's sweating so much.... on

5: I'll run with Imaizumi this year

It's the last Inter High after all