the-rainbow-mafia-blog - Tumblr blog

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// Yikes Pokemon fandom.. Yeah i’m deleting.. i don’t want anything to do with this. //

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// New hobby; drawing people based on their username / gamertag. I met a really nice person named ‘Zombie Queen’ so here they are!

Drop me your username or gamertag and I try//

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// Fun warm up doodle idea; Pick a character and dress them up in an outfit of the era you think they were born!

First warm up doodle (40 minutes start to finish); Faba from the 70s! //

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// 0 effort sketches bc I was bored in a meeting  and a family reunion. //

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// Take your medicine //

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// The Reaper //

As a child I really liked ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ for how great the story was, how endearing the characters and how Judge Doom struck fear into my heart and gave me nightmares for months.

As an adult I appreciate the world building and the top notch animation. Which made me thing about it some more, and then some more and then I got to talk with someone about it and it became an hyperfixation.

We learn that toons, under normal circumstances, cannot die. However, SOME of them do- so what happens to them? Is there some sort of afterlife.

This is my take on the head weasel; he probably became a reaper- one that collects dead toons. In my personal opinion (which I lend from Coco) once toons are forgotten, they also die forgot. It’s their main purpose to entertain so what if they can’t do that anymore? Then the Reaper comes for their souls.

Probably just as feisty and deranged as when he was alive, with a lot of anger and a thirst for revenge. 

Please let me talk about this movie loads more. Especially the toons. I didn’t forget his jewel, that plays an important part in another story I wrote.

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// My best friend has so much patience. I have nothing but deep rooted respect and admiration for them for dealing with me daily //

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// Ya got a lil’ somethin’ right there.. //

//WIP, Trying something new where I color and then fix my lineart. Is it supposed to be green? Is it something I do to avoid the censors? Who is he? Only time will tell  //

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// Sweet Bird Dad //

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Y don't u care abt UsUm?

// Short answer; because I feel Nintendo doesn’t either.

And now a long answer because I’ve been sitting on this rant for ages and I bothered the Discord server enough with it. I want to put foward first that the opinions expressed here are my own. I am a big fan of Nintendo and this is something that bothers me. This is no way shape or form an attack to people who love these games to bits. This is also not meant to hate on a franchise or a company. The purpose of this rant is to put some arguments behind my statements.

Sources are linked in the text. I used Nintendo but I always meant everyone involved in the making of these games.

The reason I feel comfortable sharing it now is because people have their, rightful, concerns about the upcoming games; Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield, releasing in a few short weeks for the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo’s newest and most succesful baby. 

Why doesn’t Nintendo care about Pokemon, according to you?

First we need to ask ourselves;

How much does Nintendo make on Pokemon?

While I do think they care in a sense the numbers won’t lie. Pokemon has made around $95 billion US dollars since the franchise came to life in 1996. To put it in a way bigger number; they make about 4130434782.61 US dollars PER YEAR on Pokemon. (This is my own math, I do not know the exact numbers per year. I divded their total by the amount of years Pokemon has been alive.) That’s a lot of money and it’s with right the most financially succesful franchise to date. 

Only a part is made by the video games $17.138 billion. It’s merchandise makes more; $64.1 billion.

I could not find a reliable source on how much it takes to make a Pokemon game in monetary value.  What I could find however is that Pokemon is making less and less per game they release. Without counting Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, Sun and Moon made LESS than X and Y.  

The only main series game that made less than Sun and Moon (again not counting UsUm) was Black/White.

Nintendo knows people will buy their games anyway;

Dropping sales or no, Pokemon still manages to fatten the piggy bank over at Nintendo because people will buy it anyway. The Pokemon craze of the 90′s should tell you that. People would buy it if it had Pokemon on it. Those people are now in an age group that has money to spend, hell some even have kids. So Nintendo is smart and releases commercials like this one or this one.  This marketing is beautiful (and no, not only Nintendo knows how to do this) because they play on your feelings. Who didn’ make a friend because you both liked Pokemon? And if you grew up with Pokemon like the person in the second commercial the whole feeling and setting is famillair to you, hell they could’ve casted you and it would’ve make sense.  They compare the whole bleakness of adult life, having to work to pay the bills, having less time for video games, to that warm familliar feeling of coming home and playing Pokemon. They feed on your nostalgia; your desire to relive those moments or if you have kids, to share the feeling those games gave you with your off spring. Or your younger siblings or other family memmbers.  I catch myself doing it! When a young one comes up to me, or I see a kid play the game on the bus I get that familiar feeling of ‘Hey I used to do that!’ It’s smart and it’s a thing Disney is good at too. It zooms in on what was precious to you and now resells that feeling to you. 

“Hey buy our game to feel something again. The world sucks anyway but Bulbasaur is still cute!” This isn’t a bad thing! Nintendo is a company and at the end of the day they need to make money. That is fair and I am in no way bagging on them over that. But it’s my belief that Nintendo keeps making money on the Pokemon games this way. Which leads me to my next point;

The Pokemon games come across as lazy.

Again, opinion but it feels like that. Which is also why I don’t care for UsUm; it’s lazy.

I truly believe Pokemon has some decent writers who don’t get their chance to shine. The beginnings of great stories and characters are there but it feels unfinished. Like someone bought the ingredients to a delicious dish but forgot to make them. Over the years Pokemon has a colorful bunch of characters, and the ones that stand out the most are the baddies. They usually get the coolest designs, the sickest themes, one way or another they are present in the climax but again. It’s lazy. How many of them pretend to be good or have a high moral standing and then turn out to be absolute dickbags? Almost all of them. Then they have characters (Ghetsis, Lusamine and Faba come to mind first) do something horrible (abuse of minors and playing God) and they get away with it what is basically a slap on the wrist. 

And after you beat them… for me the story stops. Yes you can go and beat some very powerful trainers and claim your title as whatever the thing in this game is and yes often that unlocks some post credit content but it’s bare. The big threat is gone.

“But,” I hear you say “It’s a DS/3DS game. There is only so much you can do.” Disagree. Phoenix Wright, Ghost Trick, Professor Layton and The Legend of Zelda OoT 3DS and Majora’s Mask all released on the same consoles and have a much richer story and even more characters. All games keep their pacing and the story really feels like it ends when the credits role. 

Then there is the overal quality. The main characters in Sun/Moon looks like someone forgot to progamme their soul in: /Screenshot take from THIS video/

I, again, easily could compare this other games who have much more expressions but let’s take one of Nintendo’s own;

There is so much more emotion in the Legend of Zelda one.  It released a few years earlier than Pokemon Sun/Moon too.

Second the frame rate drops like a hat. While some framerate drop is expected this much is a little too glaring to ignore.  To compare it to BoTW or Red Dead Redemption on the PS4, who both also have some frame rate issues at times it only happens in certain locations, usually a spot with lots of effects of NPCs. In my opinion, Pokemon does not have the luxery of that excuse. It would random drop in almost every location i was in.

The story

Every Pokemon has a story and I get that it’s basic. It’s a game for all ages after all. I get it won’t have a deep story like other games have. The basic gist of the game is to still enjoy catching all these mon’s with occasional story woven into it. But here is the thing that irks me; The little sneak peaks of story that we do get.. it’s good. It’s just so unfinished. It’s like there is a constant battle in the developers room betweeing writing a deep and interesting story (I’m not counting Pokemon Lore, just the story given in a game) and focussing on just the gameplay. There are many examples of rich story games with little gameplay (Grim Fandango, The Walking Dead, Almost every Visual Novel ever, Detroit; Become Human, just to name a few.) There are games with lots of gameplay and little story (Mobile games for example) and there are games that mix story and gameplay perfectly (Red Dead Redemption, Left 4 Dead 2, Persona 5 to name just a FEW examples) 

I feel Pokeon TRIES to be all three of these styles of games but ends up failing at everything.

Storywise they lured peopel in with Team Rainbow Rocket, like mentioned before this is for most people the reason they get drawn in; seeing their old baddies return and getting to interact with them again. It’s the same reason for me. But it feels unpolished, same with The Ultra Recon Squad. They seem like GREAT characters but again, so little is done with them that I feel there could be so much more.

Don’t change a winning team. 

Pokemon has been selling the same game to us for years. Again, I don’t blame them. Why bother. People like it, why change it? They try new gimmicks now and again and I respect them for trying. I personally like the Let’s Go Eevee/Pikachu versions. While they were FAR from perfect I can at least applaud them for doing something new and interesting. While at the same time trying to lure people who only played the mobile app into the main series by remake the first game all over again. Again, I understand. I would too if I were them.

But with Sword and Shield they are taking something away; Pokemon. And with that the whole thing comes undone. This is supposed to be THE Pokemon game, the big one, the game that will release on The Switch; home of BoTw and Mario Odyessy but also the upcoming Witcher 3, Skyrim. Games that are all much bigger than Pokemon and yet they took a vital part out of it.

The video is deleted now and I won’t link to the Chinese Bootleg game as it does steal user data, but the whole issue was the animations.  The animations in the bootleg were GOOD. And if we remember the amount of Pokemon makes per year they can afford themselves a team of good animators. This isn’t some indie studio who employs 20 people and have to live of Kickstarter donations, this is GAME FREAK, this is NINTENDO. And it’s not like they can’t, please remember Pokemon Stadium.  Look at the animation on that. Now remember that Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time, ALSO came out for the Nintendo 64 and got a beautiful update on the 3DS. If they can do that, surely they can port the animations.

And yes, I’m hearing you. You say that there are a lot of Pokemon.. but they’re taking a lot of them out of Sword and Shield. So there is no excuse for the battles to look like this. And remember this is the same console that has BoTW, one of the most applauded games in recent gaming history. A game with tons of content, tons of NPCs, tons of Items and has almost none of the issues Pokemon has.

I don’t care about USUM because it’s a lazy cash grab that adds nothing new to the table except some side story that doesn’t do anything to the main story. Play UsuM, Play SuMo, you’re basically getting the same game. Nintendo is smart and tries to sell you the same game twice due to a Pokemon being unique to a game. Meaning that if you want them all, you’re going to have to fork over 120 US dollars and guess what? That version is almost sold out where I live. So it’s working. And I don’t blame them. I am impressed.

Because I get the feeling that, with absolutely minimum effort they are forking in insane amounts of money.  Nintendo is a company. They need money. I don’t blame them for doing the things they do. I am however, entitled to my opinion and despite everything said above I will see myself getting a copy of Sword or Shield in the future. Because that is how it always is. Because I too, want to relive the moments of my youth when the biggest concern I had was chosing my starter.

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About; Faba’s Pokemon

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Slowbro

Faba’s oldest Pokemon from his Team Plasma days. While it isn’t a Pokemon he would choose if given a first pick it’s the pokemon he went with. The reason for which is that he really wanted to impress someone who adored the Pokemon but due circumstances couldn’t get one.  In a sense it’s their shared ‘mon but since that other person no longer is alive it’s Faba’s now. It used to be a Slowpoke and Faba and the other person raised it togetheter.

Bruxish:

Faba got this one after his most beloved got a bad news after bad news after bad news. The bright color and it’s quite silly expression made him laugh so he figured they would get a laugh out of it too. It worked. The mon became a way of cheering them both up when they were feeling down. Even now Faba can’t help but feel a little joy when he sees it.

Raichu:

After Faba and his beloved got the worst news they could get at the time he went out and caught a Pichu. The Pichu is now grown and a Raichu. Faba is most careful and proud of this one and serves as an emotional support mon. If he could avoid using it in battle he would. This Raichu is extremely spoiled but never got rotten because of it.

Alakazam:

He got this one much later in life when he was alone again for the first time in years. The Foundation had a Abra they didn’t know how to handle so Faba took it upon himself to care for it. He spend hours upon hours gaining it’s trust. They felt a common feeling of wanting to hide away in unknown situations. He managed to evolve it by trading it with an employee and trading it back right away. What started out as something to keep his mind of current thing ended up in a pure friendship.

Hypno:

While having no interest in the Pokemon itself at first Faba became very attached to it. He took one in to study the effects of certain moves on humans, specifically dream eater. He was having severe nightmares and it affected his sleep pattern. He barely slept and went to work exhausted Since he wasn’t in a position to slack off he went to extreme meassures to fall asleep again. Even though it works and his dreams are mostly empty right now he does feel a little sick waking up and blames his lose of hair and weight loss on the side effects of using dream eater so much.

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// Obviously I’m not good at this but this is what Faba’s apartment looks like.  It’s one floor with a yard and near the beach.

I tried to use a marker to recreate that floorplan style. A real architect would probably scoff at it but I tried something different! Obviously this is not the real color of the furniture but a place holder. //

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Querencia: a place where you feel safe and at home.

// When your sweet husband lands you a job that will provide for you and your bundle of joy but it’s also his first day tomorrow and he’s extremely nervous so you go to the beach to calm him even though you’re 7 months pregnant. //

I wanted to draw something sweet. This is my version of a young Faba and his wife. [I know a canon version of Young Faba exists in the anime but A. I don’t want it. B. Though friends have showed me the picture I Marie Kondo’d it because it didn’t spark joy.

Everything is drawn even the moon and the galaxy. I’m still getting better at hands so.. they look a little weird.//

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// Our Branch Chief got demoted today. //

// Something very quick and silly before I go back to the main attraction. This is not at all meant to be serious nor did I spend a long time on it. I saw the picture and I thought it fit so. //

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Background piece for a bigger artwork. I never painted trees before so this is a first for sure.. I kinda liked it so here it is alone.//

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“I have never felt so much bliss” “How can you take pleasure in this?”

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Tempt

// It’s THIS story without the art attached to it. I’m still learning Tumblr etiquette and what you should and shouldn’t do so here it is without the image attached to it.  If you like this I have more writing from the same story posted HERE. //

You really think people are buying into this whole goody-twoshoes thing you got going on, huh?”  Faba couldn’t help but sneer at the man he thought he’d never see again.

“So far so good.” The other responded with a relaxed smile. ��Can’t say the same for you. You should hear people talk about you. Either you changed a lot.. or they don’t know you at all.”

Faba bit the inside of his cheek, why was he here? Why was he in his office. Didn’t he have anything better to do than to bother him at his place of work. The only place he knew he would be safe. Safe from his past,  a past he tried to desperately to forget but it somehow always caught up with him. It’s not like he didn’t try to better his life after the whole thing. It’s just that fate seemed to have other plans for him.  

“You’re working late by the way.” The other continued, filling the silence in the room. “Is she okay with that?”  That caused Faba took look up, his icy blue eyes meeting yellow ones. He stared daggers at him before looking away, his eyes lingering a moment to his desk, where he kept a picture of her hidden. “She’s gone.”

Perhaps Faba was seeing things but he could swear he could see the ghost of a satisfied grin on the other’s face when he looked up. “My condolences. But this explains so much..”  He put his hands on the desk, leaning down and looking at Faba. “The whole attitude, the fact that you took this job despite everything you said and promised yourself and her-.” The loud bang of Faba’s chair falling over as he stood up silenced the other. The burning feeling of grief and loss made him feel sick.

“I want to be you when I grow up.” Faba said, bitterly. He knew full well the man before him was close in age, he never bothered to ask and if he ever did he probably forgot about it by now. “Not caring about others, only doing stuff for others if helps your own selfish needs. I shoud’ve been a selfish asshole like you- it would have saved me so much trouble. You’re a grade A role model..”

“Well you always knew she was a liability.” The other said dryly.

The familiar taste of blood filled Faba’s mouth. He bit too hard on his cheek but he didn’t care. Instead he kept looking at the other, enraged.

“You are no better than I am. You come in here, with your holier than thou attitude. We were both there- We saw what he did. What they did and we did nothing.”

“We were young.” The other defended. It sounded rehearsed. It probably was.

“That’s not an excuse. It never was. I tried hiding behind it too but I couldn’t. I tried to make things better.” Years of pent up emotion came pouring out. Like someone had opened a valve. “I tried to use what I learned- what I saw- to help people. I didn’t do anything bad at first. But then she died and they offered me a chance to bring her back. They ask me to play God for them but I can’t bring myself to attempt it on people. It’s wrong and she’s insane. Her kids had every right in leaving her. And I thought- I thought that if I pretended to hate all of them... They would have no reason to come back here.” He sighed and realised he was shaking. “What I know, is going to die with me. I was blinded by grief when I first did what I did. I shouldn’t have done it and I know that now. I may be lonely but it’s better that way.”

He stood up straight. “This way I can’t be tempted in giving away what I know. Like Ghetsis tempted me... Like Lusamine tempted me and like you are trying to tempt me, Colress.”