rate my planned team

which social medias would (some of) the pokemon bw/bw2 characters use

cheren: linkedin and facebook. Please hire him bianca: pinterest. she just takes a ton of pictures of her munna. she wants to dig no deeper into the grand net and who can blame her hugh: roblox. he plays rainbow friends and gets mad when his teammates screw him over. that teammate is usually benga cress+chili+cilan: also roblox as well as tiktok. they spend all their time sending each other bad videos and saying the other brothers are the most obnoxious parts of them (chili especially gets and receives this most) lenora: runs an educational youtube channel where she excitedly infodumps about fossils for an hour while her husband follows her across the whole museum burgh: has an account on every art website you can think of. usually quiet before suddenly bursting into random rants and deleting them five hours later. probably also had vine for the short time it was alive but is too stubborn to move to tiktok elesa: big tiktok and instagram star and mutuals with iono and raihan. those two are constantly vaguing each other. she will not break mutuals with either. posts her fashion tips but has a personal side tiktok where she makes dumb memes and skits clay: facebook dad energy. is he even a dad? i don't know but that's all i have to say for you all to know exactly what he posts and with what frequency skyla: also on tiktok but only so elesa can send her videos. she doesn't use social media otherwise she's too busy PILOTING PLANES!!! brycen: his manager told him he should make a youtube channel to promote himself. he has one but all that's on it is one video of him glaring down the camera like it insulted his mother drayden: another facebook dad. a bit quieter than clay though iris: the rare google+ kid. also has facebook. thinks grumpy cat is the funniest thing on the planet. who are we to break her happy place roxie: soundcloud. actually successful though but she still posts exclusively there. you won't make her move to spotify or youtube. won't do it marlon: has an instagram where all he posts to it are inspirational quotes laid over images of the beach. just that. for like a thousand posts. godspeed alder: facebook Again. also has a twitter he doesn't know how to use because benga made him make one benga: twitter and tiktok fan. also roblox player. has a sockpuppet account for trolling on twitter but everyone knows it's him ingo: pinterest. he has no interest in the greater internet. it scares him emmet: tumblr fan. sends ingo memes with 5 layers of context needed just to see his face when he asks what this all is supposed to mean colress: also a twitter troll. unlike benga he's actually subtle about it. all his rants about ghetsis are on a locked side only he has access to ghetsis: only posts insane "THE END IS NIGH" type conspiracy ramblings onto his facebook account he has three friends on (they're all the shadow triad). except for one blurry picture of his hydreigon trying to bite him n: the only one free from the internet's cruel grasp. be free my child

I would love to hear about any head canons you have for the two not so very great dads :3 💖

I HATE THEM!!! 😡😤 (proceeds to make art, stories, and headcanons of them as they occupy my mind space for how many months already) (slight suggestive warning for some of these HCs)

I like to think they dated way before the present time (they dated in college, this hc is long so i'm not adding it here rn). So in the present games where they meet again (USUM's RR and Masters) Ghetsis slowly starts to develop romantic feelings for Giovanni (again). This bothers him to no end, especially since he suspects that Gio knows. Mafia man does figure out and secretly uses it to his advantage in their rivalry. Overtime though, Gio starts to feel mutual (again). This leads to him subtly flirting with Lettuce causing the latter to grow even more frustrated with his romantic man crush. He shouldn't fall in love with his enemy for world domination yet he did and he suspects that the other likes him too so now he's even more infuriated.

The jist of their dynamic pre-relationship is just Ghetsis being a tsundere who is also obsessed with the don bastardo (which he tells himself is hatred) and Gio being a smug flirt that takes any chance he gets to infuriate lettuce priest more.

They're very professional, most people wouldn't even notice that there's something going on between these two since they act all curt and business like everywhere. But if one stops and observes them, they'd notice how there is a minuscule hint of fondness in the way they speak to each other and how they have their own code in saying their affections. Also, look closely and you'll realize the glances they share have a deeper meaning than just mere looks. To put it short, they have a lot of eye sex, it's subtle but once you notice it, it becomes clear as day. Their grunts feel awkward whenever they end up noticing; it feels like they're intruding on private matters though they're not sure what.

Ghetsis has mobility issues, particularly his BW2 rendition, and he can't really walk and run for long distances anymore. Good thing he has a strong, beefy stud of a boyfriend to carry him around. Whenever Gio does that, Ghet becomes extremely flustered but doesn't stop him. While he does prefer dealing with his own problems and issues himself with the stubborness and persistence of a lone wolf, he's still a sucker for being treated and pampered like royalty. (After all, he is from a royal lineage and a pompous fuck)(expect a comic based on this soon)

In most other ships that involve Gio, he tends to subtly tune down his cruel, aggressive, and domineering traits for his partner and tries to be more considerate, slow and careful (still keeps the charming mafia godfather vibe tho). In this case, he doesn't. Being that they're both old and shitty bastards, Gio doesn't feel the need to adjust himself much for Ghet since he doesn't play nice either. If anything, he can be as blunt and straightforward as he wants to be. He won't hesitate to just slam the green-haired maniac down his office desk, rip apart his robes and have his way with him until sunrise.

Ghetsis likes to ramble and rant about whatever, whenever convenient. Gio doesn't mind this and lets him go on about whatever topic his partner wants to talk about. Usually he'd also return a comment if the other inquires on what he thinks or when he so chooses but in some instances, Gio just gets lost in the sound of Ghetsis voice, how he would be so full of emotion and conviction in the way he speaks and just the sound of it all can be what he considers music to him. You can tell he's not really paying attention to what Ghetsis says and is just enjoying the sound of his voice when he looks at him utterly lovestruck (well, as lovestruck as how a hardened mafia boss can be)

There are only a handful of people Ghetsis would allow to touch his hair; his hair care routine takes a long time to do and anyone that messes with it is basically asking for death. Gio is one of those few people. This pretty much means that he trusts him enough now to let him touch his hair and boy, he made a pretty good decision. Feeling his hand comb through his locks feels soothing and well, he does like how he pulls his hair from behind whenever they fck.

Gio most definitely had a long list of past lovers and even now that he's seeing someone, he still has many others clamoring to be with him. Ghetsis does not like this one bit. Whenever he's with Gio and someone tries to get too close to Gio, he just shoots them a scowl that can make milk sour up immediately and sticks closer to Gio. Gio does tell him to calm down about it and that he's a grown ass man who can make his own decisions but he does find it endearing seeing how much Ghetsis is in love with him.... even if it is going full possesive, but he can deal with that. (expect a comic on this too)

Curse that one deactivated blog for giving Gio a thing for Ghet's legs because now, I actually like the idea of it. Gio simply loves his tall, GNC, gossip girl, murderous megalomaniac boyfriend and his long ass legs.

There's something so funny about them getting married and Gio going like "Now that we're married, it's only fair that I give you something that you've always wanted." And straight up presents Ghet with a gun and says, "Let's shoot up a police station as part of our honeymoon, amore mio Harmonia." And Ghet is all sparkly eyed and delighted and goes "You know me so well, Sakaki dear." And their children are just screaming in horror in the background, "DON'T MAKE HIM MORE OF A THREAT THAN HE ALREADY IS!!!!"

and yeah that's it for now, this is getting too long lol

OK BUT RE: POKEMON BDSP YOU'RE LITERALLY SO RIGHT? i had my team sharply overleveled for literally everything just because i was enjoying running around and catching things/casually grinding, but when i hit the elite four, despite feeling like i got a really solid team together, i got wiped over and over again until i had to eventually cheese it with max revives and full restores. it was genuinely not fun at all, nor was it really all that satisfying to finally beat after nearly putting down the game for good after it. it burned me out, and kept me from picking it back up in favor of other games. :/ i'm still pro difficulty-settings so that the people begging for competitive battles can get them, while us out here who are just in it for a good time can not deal with an absolute slog of a "challenge" out of nowhere 😔

YEAH YOU GET IT, IT'S LIKE. I don't mind Pokemon having instances of allowing itself to be harder, the E4 especially but THE BDSP E4 IS TAKING IT A LOT TOO FAR. I agree with all of this Anon, with how tiresome it is to those that really wanted to just play 4th gen again and then get to this and they're just... it's bad man. It's bad for casual play, this game is so casual until this. If I may ramble (Rant, and I mean really really rant) again...

This, imo, is what we need difficulty settings for, the fact that Pokemon is so against a difficulty setting outside BW2 (where it didn't even matter anymore???) makes the instances where they DO put difficulty in the game so shocking and unfair. The fact that it was THIS where the game devs have decided "Ya know what? Fuck Faithfulness" is what's frustrating because once you actually see how rough it is compared to the rest of the game, it makes you wanna go "But why NOW??!!" in a way. They decided to be UNfaithful in the wrong spots, and the E4 is the biggest offender to it all.

AND ALSO TO ADD, The E4 is supposed to be hard yes, people keep saying this in defense of this E4. But it's not supposed to be so much to the point it literally spits on everything that the Pokemon games have stood for the whole time, you know?

All the other E4s in Pokemon games up to this point were doable WITH your ingame team. And NEVER inforced shucking your ingame team for a more competetively built one to try and match up or otherwise "lol fucking pleb, struggle". I've not played below Gen5 in terms of official games, so Imma list those I did play. Note, yes I play the easy way with healing items and Switch mode in-battle, and I will not speak about Post-game rematches:

BW2: My first E4 + Champion. There was a difficulty spike, but not too much that is unbearable. The E4 is rough, and strong, with good movesets, but I could beat it with my Ingame team. The champion was hard, I actually came very very VERY close to losing once, but it wasn't because of Perfect EVs/IVs and Competitive held items. It was just difficult. Especially since imo Dragons are really good in this game. I won it.

This E4 + Champion: No perfect EVs/IVs, No held items outside Aces (Excluding Iris's Druddigon, but that is it as an only exceptional other), Movesets/Abilities were built with what the Pokemon could get ingame, no hidden abilities. Only Champion has 3 full restores. Held items for every team member are only acquired in Challenge Mode post-game

XY: The easiest E4, we know that, partial to both the EXP share allowing us to easily make our way to a bearable level, but also the teams were easy to counter, as we had a great roster to choose from. The Champion was also very easy. But it imo is the most beautiful E4, so there's some props somewhere. Beatable with an Ingame team, you can barely struggle.

This E4 + Champion: No perfect EVs/IVs, No held items outside the Champion's Ace vio Powerup, Movesets/Abilities were built with what the Pokemon could get ingame, no hidden abilities.

ORAS: This was MY game for Hoenn. I never played OG Hoenn and after this I never want to. I can't remember much from this one unfortunately as it's been a while since I've played, but I DO know it wasn't too painful either, very strong, no huge spike, you can beat it with an Ingame team.

This E4 + Champion: No perfect EVs/IVs, No held items outside the Champion's Megastone, Movesets/Abilities were built with what the Pokemon could get ingame, no hidden abilities.

SM/USUM: Not AS easy as XY and USUM actually let itself get stronger. And by that, it brought in a slightly better AI, but not overtly so to where it could overpredict you, and even then you could predict it back. But outside that, again, both beatable with Ingame teams, a slight step up from XY, with USUM even moreso. If the rest of the E4s could be like this, I would not ask for more.

This E4 + Champion: No perfect EVs/IVs (There are DEFINITELY some applied though, especially in USUM, but not to where they're requiring you to think hard on how to beat them or overgrind), No held items outside Aces ala a Mega Move being Z-Move, Movesets/Abilities were built with what the Pokemon could get ingame, no hidden abilities.

SwSh: Aka "The Champion Cup Finals". Basically merging Victory Road and the E4 into one spot until you get to the finals which is actually the E4 but not without the Semis to add. Mega/Gigantamax actually allowed some of these to be hard, but even then outside that it isn't super easy either, I had to overlevel a little, but all and all it is a VERY fun battle and you're riled up with the setting to push you through and see the stakes. But it is beatable with some hunches, such as Leon being pretty difficult, especially his Charizard, which had me coming in clutch a few times. Hooooooowever. It is beatable with an ingame team (btw, sensing a pattern here?), and a lot of Pokemon have such great movesets in this game you can build around that difficulty with your own firepower. My Cinderace was MY Ace because of that versatility. Believe me when I say this is a fun one and imo my most fun final ring of Battles in a Pokemon game to date.

The Champion Cup: No perfect EVs/IVs (There are proooobably definitely some applied though, but not to where they're requiring you to think hard on how to beat them or overgrind), No held items outside Aces ala Gigantamax (Excluding Hop), Movesets/Abilities were built with what the Pokemon could get ingame, no hidden abilities.

AND NOW BDSP'S E4.

With how fucking sadistic this shit is the closeness to its acronym being BDSM is actually really fucking accurate actually, because you cannot get through this final hurdle without being a fucking masochist. HERE WE GO.

I'm gonna skip the bullshit because you guys have seen it already. Reminder, this E4 is in a game where, outside the very basic standard tutorial: Does not prepare you for competitive battle, does not tell you battle strategies outside "switch your Pokemon in if types don't match up", AI is very weak and very predictable up to this point and otherwise is standard until this wall, does NOT teach you OR THE CHILDREN PROBABLY PLAYING THIS FOR THE FIRST TIME about EVs, IVs, and how they work, where oh my god Imma say rn kids have CRIED playing this shitty E4, they do NOT think about EVs/IVs and shouldn't! Anyways... Game does NOT speak about how the E4 has upped their game, not even a little hint, there's no talk about say, trainers never getting to beat it by the time they got there because their teams were not up to snuff. No hints, nothing. You are NOT PREPARED for this, the game actually plays AS USUAL UNTIL you get to the E4, where everything just flips itself right sight fuckways and all that casual play you've been doing is fucked in the ass.

I will list everything the E4 + Champion has, and compared to the last couple I listed, pay attention. This E4 + Champion:

Has 300+ EVs in all their stats for the E4, near perfect in their best stat and spread across the board in the others. The champion has PERFECT EVs in EVERY POKEMON and very likely IVs as well. You KNOW that Garchomp is perfect EVs, IVs in everything except Sp. Atk, and Jolly nature which is what Smogon teams use over Adamant because Speed is key in competitive.

EVERY POKEMON has a held item that is COMPETITIVELY FITTING or fitting for their movesets. Aaron? Watch out for that fucking GUTS FACADE FLAME ORB HERACROSS. That Drapion Ace he got? It Has Scope Lens AND Nightslash, an already high critting move that will likely do so almost every time with that thing. Ol' Bertha? Leftovers on her Quagsire to stall you. Resto Chesto Ace in her Hippowdon. Who the fuck puts Leftovers on a Lopunny? Flint, because he needs just one last bit of health to get a third HJK in to fuck you incase he misses. His is so bad. He has a Steelix with LIFE ORB to come with its HIDDEN ability I'll get to later. Rapidash has a WIDE LENS for that Hypnosis. AND THAT FOCUS SASH INFERNAPE which fucks you in the ass if you're not A: Getting rid of the fucking Driftblim fast enough, and 2, Got a way to slow it down or get rid of it. Lucian? Screener Mr. Mime with Light Clay. Girafarig has a Mental Herb so that you can't taunt it from Trick Rooming before Bronzong can, Medicham has a MUSCLE BAND with its ability Pure Power. Life Orb Alakazam. Cynthia? Expert Belt to make super effective moves on her Roserade hurt more. Flame orb for her Milotic's ability to kick start Marvel Scale unless you override it in that same turn. Wise Glasses so that her Special Lucario can hit 10% harder. Yache Berry for her Garchomp so that you don't 4x effect it with Ice.

Holy FUCKING shit and we're not even done.

Movesets are COMPETITIVELY built to match their held items AND Abilities, and are in like to what Competitive team builders create. I mentioned the Night Slash and Resto Chesto. I mentioned the Screener Mr. Mime. Drapion has Sniper to add to its bullshit crit. Steelix's moves all have a secondary effect. You know the Trick Room tactic. Infernape's less powerful moves are all Punch moves to coincide its ability. MAY I REPEAT THAT THAT DRIFBLIM'S MOVESET IS LITERALLY BANNED FROM SMOGON FOR HOW BROKEN IT IS???? The AI is SMARTER to add as well with these movesets, it predicts you when you're trying to SE move their 'mons and will switch accordingly. Beginners and Kids cannot predict this AI, as it was shitty before, and now it's ramped up at the last second. This AI is just below a competitive battlers AI, excluding the constant switching outs and predictions, it's still close. Oh yeah and to add, no, a lot of these abilities you can't just have ingame without work, because FUCKING HIDDEN ABILITIES WHERE IT HURTS:

Flame Body Rapidash, SHEER FORCE STEELIX, IRON FIST INFERNAPE, Sap Sipper Girafarig, Magic Guard Alakazam so that it can Future Sight your ass, I'm amazed Bronzong didn't have Heavy Metal for that Gyroball because why not screw us over even more??? Rough Skin Garchomp juuuuust incase you decide to physically attack it while you're barely living on that one last mon. :DDDD /s Holy helling shit this is MORE HAs IN AN INGAME TEAM EVER. And this is the first the E4 has ever had them in their teams as well I believe.

Oh yeah and I forgot to mention they ALL ABUSE FULL RESTORES. Fucking OVERKILL much???

And you know what makes me sour about all of this?

This is the result of people keeping pushing for harder and harder and harder E4s. People don't specify what they mean by this. Higher levels are not what it is as it just means more grinding, but it's became so clear to me now that those that praise this E4 did not mean smarter AI, or higher levels. USUM had smarter AI, and it was still not enough.

No, They wanted a fucking competitive E4. An E4 that would NOT be beatable with an Ingame team. I cannot beat this fucking thing with an ingame team without pain, kids and beginners and casuals cannot beat this fucking thing with an ingame team without struggling their asses off and abusing the affection. I'm gonna have to box my fucking team that I grew attached to this whole game, and make a whole special team SPECIFICALLY FOR BATTLING THE E4, and then box that team when I'm done with that shit just so that I can get on with my fucking life. That Empoleon, who I might add, I named after a best friend of mine with the intent on taking him to the endgame, with the intent on seeing that final CONGRATS screen with Empoleon so that I can screencap and go to that friend and shout "LOOK YOU HELPED ME WIN! :DDD", I'm not gonna be able to do that unless I overlevel like hell, and that is only gonna burn me out and hate this fucking E4 even more than I already did. That affection system, you're gonna wish you never hated before because you NEED to abuse it to win this otherwise. I love the affection system, I love when it procs, but I shouldn't need it THIS BADLY. It is REQUIRED to win at this rate. I know damn well if I beat the E4 now, I won't be happy, I will just be glad the hell is fucking over. It drains you and leaves you empty if this is not something you're actually used to, and reminder, competitive teams Vs ingame teams ALWAYS lean towards the former's favor. I've played Wifi battles with an ingame team once in XY, I know my shit in that regard. I've tapped into the competitive battling market for this franchise for a few years before going back to casual. Been at this for years, Casual, then competitive, then quick retirement back to casual.

This is why I laugh when people say that this E4 is StIlL ToO EaSy (Which by the way SHUT THE HELL UP!!!!) because they're either competitive battlers so this is just a standard to them, or they're fucking lying through their fucking teeth. Ya'll telling me you actually LIKE being this burnt out???? KIDS AND CASUALS AND BEGINNERS play this game too. Do you think a Child is gonna find this easy? No, this E4 is traumatizing, not just Cynthia, the whole thing. I got so angry at this E4 I literally got ill and had one of the worst migraines ever and had to force myself to put this game down and I officially quit. I NEVER get this sick/pained playing a Pokemon game, E4s I've had some hiccups with a few times but they never made me sweat or burn up from how tense I get, they never made me furrow my brow so hard to where my face hurt, they never made my eye strain faster than now, they never gave me terrible headaches, they never made me get to the point I literally had to put the game down because I was getting severely ill from stress. This may sound exaggerated and dramatic, but I do not do good in immense stress, I literally get sick for months with a bad stomach and have had risks of getting ulcers and needed to get the f away from the source to get better and get on pills for months. This is reminding me of that. I stay the fuck away from WiFi competitive battling BECAUSE of this. And hell, I'll even go as far as to say that WiFi competitive battles are FUNNER than this!

This E4 does nothing but appease competitive battlers who forgot that the main demographic of this game is not for them, it never WAS for them. It's supposed to be doable to kids, and still be friendly to beginners getting into the games and casuals who still play. But this E4 has made BDSP officially Beginner/Casual/Kid unfriendly. There's this person on YT (You probably know who if you look up "BDSP Rant" or similar) who listed all the things wrong with Pokemon, and he put E4 last/at the top because he knew everyone and their mother that likes this would disagree. When he talked about the E4 he showed a screenshot of a child BREAKING DOWN after battling the BDSP E4+Cynthia. That sounds... harrowing. Especially since this is WORSE than OG DP's E4 for kids. People joke that Cynthia was traumatic for them in their childhood. Well I hope they know that this entire E4 will be traumatic for children getting into 4th Gen today. I'm dead serious. I hate Gen 4 now because of BDSP because I don't want to go through this shit again. This is horrible, kids should not get this stressed out over a video game that is supposed to be fun for them. Give them some challenge, sure, but not... this.

I hope to Arceus and all the demi-pokegods in the world that Scarlet and Violet don't take a page out of this game with its E4. I hope they keep this game Kid/Casual friendly. That doesn't mean make it easy that babies can do it, nobody says this when they complain about the E4. I want a game I can play without losing my shit this hard. They want this shit? Beg for a difficulty mode to be a standard FIRST so that they can put this shit behind the hardest mode.

To cap this off:

If I want WiFi battle hard, I'd go play Smogon where I can choose to do so, and where I know from the damn start that it is meant for more competitive players, and isn't forcing me to do it. But keep it out of the fucking Pokemon games Storymode!

Ah yes, Pokémon rivals; my favourite topic

Warning: this list is massively biased. I (kinda jokingly) rag on every ‘Awful’ tier rival, so if you don’t want to here that, feel free to skip that explanation. I am pretty harsh with Marnie, I know a lot of people like her, so if you do like her PLEASE don’t read her section because I do not want to upset anyone. 

Also, I do ramble a bit how I like SWSH but they are my personal least favourite games (which is a hot take, I know), so if that would upset you please skip. Take care of yourselves <33

I created the politically correct ranking of Pokémon rivals (/j)

Anyway, epic explanation under the cut:

*if N was on this list he would fall under “Amazing”. Breath-taking story, breath-taking development, great theme songs, awesome character, fantastic team.

Why Blue is in S rank (very long explanation compared to the rest)

You cannot tell me Blue (or Green, or Gary, whatever you want to call the main Kanto rival) isn’t THE BEST RIVAL EVER. They got it SO RIGHT. He inspires hatred, AND sympathy. Literally, his grandad, the only living relative aside from his sister we even know about, loves you (the player) more than him and it’s kind of sad. 

Blue is great, he has a crappy pronunciation of ‘Bonjour’ (see Pokémon Masters), he says ‘smell ya later!’ he has class, swag, and is by no doubt the most challenging rival character. He is the only rival I never swept on a normal run. He is always demeaning you; he is always one step ahead all the way up until the champion battle where you finally beat him. AND HIS CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT OMG.

He still is arrogant and prideful, but respects people and wants to guide people to be better at Pokémon battling and thrives when he sees others succeeding - he doesn’t mind being ‘a former champion’. HECK HE’S SO COOL AND AMAZING. 

Also he has the best champion theme and encounter theme ever. Yes, he was a previous F/O so I am super biased; but so were 3 others on this list. 

Silver and Gladion

These two were my F/Os when I was much younger (around 12). They are great rivals with great development and story arcs. Plus, they have bopper encounter themes and battle themes. Gladion was my real introduction to the oc x canon community and inspired me to take drawing on as a hobby (as well as Lillie but I did not end up drawing her as much). 

Brendan, Cheren, Hugh, and Barry

When I was 10 playing Omega Ruby, I liked Brendan a lot (so... another past F/O... he’s the final one though). I dunno, he genuinely had a good friendship with that extra spice of rivalry with our character, May. I do not like friendly rivals (if my listing wasn’t obvious), but Brendan did it right. There was a lot of touching scenes with him and May *cough*cough* Delta Chapter *cough*cough* which really made me connect with him when I was 10. Now, Brendan and May are interchangeable depending on which one of them you pick to play as, so why have I ranked Bredan far above May? Better encounter and battle theme (yes, they have different instrumentation) and he gets the childhood crush pass.

Cheren is cool, I just really like his character and his attempts to create a good strategy. He is really dedicated to what he loves and becomes a gym leader (like BLUE DID. Blue has it all, really). Plus, glasses are cute :) (he is the same age as me, I can legally say that even though that was an obvious nod to Byakuya but you never know what people will take out of context). 

Hugh is cool becomes he somewhat feels like an asshole rival, but at the same time, has a really soft side. Like, his whole motivation to be a good trainer is to save his sister’s Purrloin that was stolen by Team Plasma. He is a hero y’all. Also GREAT encounter and battle theme; huge thumbs up. 

Barry! My man! Overall, cool rival with a great team. He is the second hardest rival to me (but Blue is harder than him by a landslide still). He is really funny in both the games and the anime and despite being a bit more friendly, he still sparks a lot of rivalry with you. Plus, his dad is battle frontier brain Palmer! How awesome! He was also my first rival, so that’s something special to me too. 

Average Tier

I like Hau as a character, he feels like a genuine friend and how he develops with the main character and Lillie is really wholesome. It’s just - I dislike him as a rival, a lot. Easy fights, not the best encounter theme... just kind of there. I get why people consider Gladion as ‘the true rival’ of S and M because he really is. Hau is also a rival that chooses the starter WEAK to your starter like the gen 6 rivals (who I hate with my entire being). 

Wally had a bad-ass final battle theme song and moment. That’s literally the only reason he makes the average tier. If this was a ranking disregarding ORAS he is easily down in the ‘Awful’ tier. 

I like Pokémon Sword and Shield... except I just don’t like them as much as every other game (yes. I did play Pokémon Yellow and enjoyed it more, thank you). I know you all HATE that, but that is just my opinion - I think I have earned the right to say that after my almost 12 years of playing these games and being a VGC player for a few years. It has good characters and some cool Pokémon and yeah... gameplay? Lacklustre. I really do not know what went wrong outside of story. Somehow the competitive battle scene is not the fun it used to be. Dynamax bugs me, the lack of megas bugs me, the dex cut REALLY bugs me. I know I am not the only one who thought this game lacked the charm other Pokemon games have. Graphically though, it’s very nice for the most part.

I have gone way off-topic, but anyway, yeah. SWSH rivals make average because I like their characters (especially Hop’s development). Outside of that, not the best rivals.

May is cool for a lot of the reasons I discussed with Brendan.

Lacking Tier

I like Bianca’s whole deal with her dad and how Elesa has a nice moment to shine too - and that’s it. I know the whole theme of her team is friendship but I die inside every time I watch a Chandelure uses RETURN. It was cool she returned in BW2 I guess? I like how her battle theme matches her personality, but it isn’t anything to write home about. 

I like Calem a bit more than Serena but I do not want to pull another Brendan and May (even though I had some good reason to do that) and I’m going to put them here. Bad teams and not memorable in the slightest, Calem and Serena belong in this tier. 

Awful Tier

X and Y rivals amirite??? They just suck. They are annoying and they suck. They have 3 Pokémon in all final fights, really? At least Shauna is likeable in the anime. 

I hate Trace. But, he has one funny memory I have with my dad that makes him slightly better. We both named him ‘Blue’ since Blue is the actual Kanto rival, but then Blue showed up in LGPE... And then the two ‘Blues’ talked to each other and it was mildly amusing at the time. Anyway, he didn’t deserve Blue’s champion theme (which is even used for Blue in later games outside of his champion battle (BW2), THAT IS NOT TRACE’S THEME. Anyway, he is the gross friendly rival that attempted to fulfil the best rival’s shoes. Sorry Trace, bad luck my dude. 

I just never attached to Marnie I suppose, but I can understand that she is important to those who are invested in her. I am about to fully rag on Marnie, so please skip if that makes you upset. 

 I am going to hurt a lot of people when I said I never liked Marnie. She was always just... like why do people like her so much?? I feel like most people like her because she is ‘funny haha goth gf’ which, fair I suppose. I just think she is super lacking as a rival, she makes no real impression as an actual character, and I think if you removed her from the game it wouldn’t make a difference. Don’t want to be that guy, but I AM that guy right now. I suppose she has a cute design?? and that’s it. Again, I am really biased when it comes to SWSH and rivals, so I suppose she really got the short end of the stick with me.

Who's your favorite gym leaders of each region?

Oooo, This is a great great question!! I'm probably gonna ramble, so I'll put this under a cut:

I think for Kanto, I have to go with Koga. I'm a massive sucker for Poison Types, and he's just so fun, I love the ninja concept. Love his daughter too! If I have to choose another though, it's Surge, 1000%. There's a reason he's a mainstay on my Masters EX Team (and totally not because of meme reasons sdfsdfsdf)

Johto is one of my favorite regions, so choosing a favorite Gym Leader is gonna be rough... But I think it's a tie between Jasmine and Morty. Again, conceptually, they're so fun. I love their styles, and their type choice is phenomenal.

Hoenn... I think I can single out a favorite here in Flannery. I love that she's a rookie just like you are, and she's really just trying her best. She's kinda like the Anti-Falkner, where instead of being worried about what her superior will think, she's more worried about setting up a good battle. I love it, and I love that even in losing, she's a good sport.

Sinnoh has to be Crasher Wake. I love him so much and I really don't think I have to explain why. Plus, I have really good memories of watching an old, old "abridged" series of the Pokémon Diamond and Pearl anime and Wake gave out the Dasani Badge instead of the Fen Badge, and honestly that fits... way more than it should sdfsdfsdfsd--

Unova has two sets to chose from, so I'm gonna just say outright now: BW1 gave me Lenora, Burgh, and Elesa, and BW2 gave me Roxie. All of them are so good in their own right, and I'm so glad that they actually do things in the story.

Kalos didn't really... give me much to work with sdfsdfsdf, so I'm really gonna stick with the safe choice and go Clemont. Black and White is really where I fell off of the anime, but what I saw of X&Y, I really loved Clemont, even if his inventions weren't always helpful.

ALOLA I GET TO SCREAAAAM ABOUT TRIAL CAPTAINS AND KAHUNAS LETS GO. I absolutely adore every single one of them, but stand out favorites are Kiawe, Acerola, Molayne, Olivia, and Nanu. If I went into every single reason I loved all of them, I'd run out of space in a text post!

And we've reached Galar... Hoooo boy, I have words about Galar's Gym Leaders. And they're all Positive, I have the same issue here as I did in Alola-- Again, stand out picks include Kabu, Allister, Melony, and Piers. If I went into detail, again, we'd be here all day.

talky talky time

the first thing youre probably wondering is why i included bw2 stuff when it was only the anniversary for the first games. and the answer to that is because im a madman. juhgtjhg ok but for real, i just did it bc i wanted to. i wanted celebrate the entire generation as a whole and thats pretty much it! what does that mean for bw2s 10th anniversary? i have no idea. i could revisit the piece and finish the shading and maybe do colored line art and have more backgrounds. because tbh, its looking a little unfinished. mainly due to running out of time aka procrastinating til the last second. i could have probably at least shaded it if i hadnt done that. but really it is what it is. i got done what i wanted to get done and thats it. i procrastinated mostly on the sketch because the planning and stuff was the most stressful part. the line art is a breeze and actually pretty fun, coloring is slow and tedious and shading would have been a nightmare lol. so data!! there are 176 pokemon in the image + 55 characters bringing the total number to 231. meaning i literally couldnt even tag all the characters like i usually do because of the tag limit. i also apologize for cutting it up into parts, tumblr does not like tall canvases :). i did not record how many layers there were because a lot get combined together through the process. my program is saying 474 but thats inaccurate. i also didnt record how much time it took, but i spent around 12 hours each day in the last 5 days which was my crunch time schedule in order to get it out today. some random stuff i wanna mention: the entire reason i got all my unova refs out this year was specifically for this image. i had the idea but didnt have all the refs done and was like welp. better get cracking. i didnt do the moms bc.. idk i thought it would be weird to just have blacks mom and then nates or rosas mom (i havent even decided yet god) in the image but not the other parents?? like whites parents?? and that would be even weirder if i did include them because they arent canon. so i just left them out completely, rip lol. there are some references to stuff in there, like the e4 is a reference to some art from the manga, and the part with bianca and cheren was made with a specific fic in mind.  now, heres some original line art that got kind of obscured in the final image to end off my rambles, ya know, for fun

fun fact: this is what the original sketch for the bottom looked like

i did pretty much all of them by memory so they look really funny. cofagrigus doing the awesome face is my favorite jnhgf. i then realized this kind of cop out was just not gonna cut it, so i decided to redo it.

and finally, one last thing. i said id go back to regular posting after the hiatus. but honestly i dont feel like drawing for another 100 years HGVYUBJHYG

i'm about to ramble about some dumb bullshit nobody cares about but truly... hilbert/hilda and nate/rosa play the same role in gen 5 that red and ethan/kris/lyra did in their games respectively.

in other words, pokemon black and white are the red and blue of gen 5, and pokemon black 2 and white 2 are the gold, silver and crystal.

the gsc/hgss protagonists basically do almost the same things as red and experience almost the same things he did. they receive pokedexes from professor oak, they have a rival that's an asshole, they encounter team rocket along the way. they collect all 8 gym badges for their region. they take team rocket down. they become the new champion. and then they travel to another region (something red didn't do in his games) and collect those gym badges as well.

and then after the player ends up at the top of mt silver, face to face with red. the former champion. the kid who took down team rocket. the ultimate trainer. and with only the exchange of two eyes meeting, they fight.

the biggest difference here is that you never see the bw hero in black and white 2. you hear mentions of them, of course, from people like bianca, cheren, n, team plasma members and their mom, but you never get to see them for themself. their story is plain and simple—they were the hero that saved unova two years before plasma decided to strike again. they might have been champion, too, at some point, but that's more ambiguous. nate/rosa follow almost exactly the same path hilbert/hilda did on their journey, they just start in a different place and go through different obstacles. they both get a pokédex from juniper (technically bianca for the bw2 heroes), collect 8 gym badges, run into team plasma and n, and then they confront ghetsis at the climax of the main story and take team plasma down.

the parallels you can draw from these two different yet similar storylines don't just limit themselves to the player's journey. in hgss, blue says this to the player:

and, honestly? looking at ethan and lyra's designs, i can see it!

in bw2, a lot of people compare nate/rosa to the bw protag. most of them don't mean it like, physically, and more in how strong and determined they are, but how can you look at these designs and not think that someone could mistake them for older versions of hilbert and hilda?

one big difference between the bw and the bw2 protags is that the dragon they get is different. depending on the version, hilbert/hilda will get reshiram (black) or zekrom (white), while nate/rosa will get the dragon that n had in the postgame (zekrom for black 2, reshiram for white 2). this doesn't really add to the parallels, but i think it's fun how they can be seen as foils in that regard.

the rivals for red and the johto protagonists are very similar. as in they're both assholes who at first only want to get stronger, but then after getting beat repeatedly by the player they realize that they can't just rely on being strong. blue's change is evident from the three-year time gap between kanto's events and johto's events, while silver's spans from the main game to the postgame and some of pokemon masters (which is in a weird limbo of canon but I Think It Counts Because It's Important To Me). cheren is the blue to the bw protag's red, while hugh can be seen as the silver to the bw2 protag's ethan/kris/lyra. cheren and blue both have a huge final goal of becoming stronger and being the champion, while silver and hugh are extremely fixated on becoming stronger to crush their regions respective evil teams.

blue and cheren both become gym leaders in the next games they appear in and reference their journey/red or the bw protag a lot. blue talks about red beating him with a bitter fondness like they've known each other their entire lives, while cheren talks about his journey with hilbert/hilda and bianca on occasion and says that it changed him a lot and he's grateful for it and how it made him grow.

silver and hugh both want to take down the evil teams in their games for personal reasons. silver sees them as weak and bitterly resents them because his father, giovanni, was the leader of team rocket before abandoning his son after blue and red beat him, with red also taking down team rocket himself. team plasma stole the purrloin hugh's sister was gifted by their grandfather five years before bw2's events, and is desperate to try and take them down and save it. both of these goals cause them to get really bad tunnel vision, where silver loses it after lance defeats him and berates silver for not caring about his pokemon beyond their strength, and hugh doesn't know what to do with the stolen purrloin, now a liepard, glowering at him with hatred and no memory of who he is. the main differences between them are that hugh isn't as mean as silver can be and doesn't get physical with the player, as he and the player are childhood friends. he can still be harsh to some people though, mainly the ex members of team plasma.

the last parallel i'll draw between these games is the one between red's mother in gsc/hgss and hilbert/hilda's mom in bw2.

in the johto games, when the player visits her, red's mom says this:

"Hi! Red's been away. He hasn't called either, so I have no idea where he is or what he's been doing. They say no news is good news, but I do worry about him."

and in bw2, hilbert/hilda's mom says this:

"No news is good news they say. Being happy about something like that is a little difficult though. Being a parent is tough."

there are a lot of different ways you can compare these games, but these are by far the most important details that i felt had to be shared. if you got this far, thank you for reading this post!

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the ask box of the last 10 people who reblogged something from you (if you want !! 💛💖)

Wow I rambled a lot with this but i can't add cuts bc I'm on mobile rn DHSISHSJ sorry :"))))

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1. Ik Ik "haha how cringe are you" of me to say, but honestly? Homestuck. Homestuck helped me in a time of need and when i so desperately wanted something to latch onto. Finally, I caved into my friends telling me to read it-- and it's been a blast!! The epilogues / hs^2 make me feel kinda sad though, because so much of what I loved about the original was yeeted through the nine circles of hell and into the trash. I love Y/ffany's (I call her Yippi tho) design, the art is really pretty at times, Harry is a major dork, I LIVE for seeing Vrissy bc honestly?? Her design is 10/10, very early 2000s emo style and I also live for that. Tavros is cute and a nerd and I think that's swell!

But in terms of story and how any of this happens, it makes me sad to see it happen. If Vriska could return as Vrissy, why not OTHER beta trolls? Where's my Eridan fish man, writers?? Give me the boy or perish by my fury.

2. Also super "haha how cringe are you" but,,, murder cats (Warriors), esp the early 2005-2015 amvs and stuff. I remember watching Flightfootwarrior's "I Will Not Bow" Scourge amv for HOurs and having no clue what was happening, but all these edgy kitties were KITTIES! It's introduced me to a lot of music I still listen to to this very day (Imagine Dragons, Young/the entirety of Hollywood Undead, Breaking Benjamin). And yknow what?? This new arc is absolute chaos, but in the good way.

I'm an "OG Fan". I prefer the first arc, The Prophecies Begin, to almost any of the other arcs. I just could never get into the other arcs-- not to say I haven't read them, I HAVE and the Fire Scene was probably one of my favorite moments beside grumpy Jaypaw, god complex Lionblaze, and fear the gods Hollypaw. I thought the build-up for it was SUPER satisfying. Gray Wing is my baby and I fully embellish in the Gray Wing is Silverpelt theory.

This new arc is definitely something new for the universe. While I didn't read aVoS (but I may do that if i can find the files for it), and so I don't know the major events of it other than what I've seen M.A.P.'s (Multi-Animator Projects, for clarification,,, bc unfortunately that term is also something disgusting). There's fucking cat possession and all the Clans questioning their belief system, yo. Shit be on fire.

Also the Imposter is 100% Ashfur, that's canon now, yeah??? Also im sorry but fuck Root x Bristle that's the dumbest shit I have ever seen. Give me Root x Shadow or face the wrath of my dragon plushies.

RiverClan is my Clan and my gov assigned warrior name is Fireshell 🌟🌟

3. As much as I hate the author,,,,, Harry Potter. It's been a major part of my life for as long as I can remember. I can never really remember why, but I've always just loved it- the movies, the books, the extra little merch that would pop up in my local Walmart. Of course my favorite character is Draco Malfoy. I could go on and on and ON about how I think his character arc was SHIT and JKR didn't have the balls to make him a confident gay man that was always implied through the text (at least, my lesbian ass thought it was implied but i may just be projecting, idk). I could ramble about Draco for HOURS and what I think his character SHOULD have been and how his parents are horrible (more specifically, Lucius bc Narcissa [?] Actually showed a few good moments), and a child should never have to pay for their parents sins.

Oh noo, Draco's a villain because he's a victim of major abuse and peer pressure? He's a villain because a literal child can be horrible and they'll always always always stay as a horrible little fiend?? Fuck that. He's a child.

Unlike manchild grease pan Snape, who was a racist piece of shit and shouldn't have became a fucking school teacher but it's okay because he was ~~~in love~~~. No, fuck you, he was a creep. James Potter n Co may have been a little posh bitch to you, Snape, but that's no fucking excuse to continue to bluntly be a little cunt all the way into adulthood. You're an adult who flatly changed your PATRONUS to imitate Lily's. You have no excuse. And Harry went and named his child after you LIKE JESUS CHRIST, DID RON'S SISTER NOT HAVE A SAY IN THE NAMES TOO?????

I also fully adore the idea that Muggles can run into Hogwarts and their patronus can 100% be a made up, fantasy creature. Imagine you learn the patronus spell and suddenly fucking ARCEUS comes from your wand. Imagine learning the spell and CHTULU (i did not spell that right but im so tired) comes from your wand-- an entire ass fucking Lovecraftian, Eldrith horror is just the embodiment of you. What if it was a fucking Homestuck character like Vriska? How fucking METAL would that be?? Hskajssowjjsjs get on it fandom.

4. Hee hee very evident by my url but Pokemon is another major thing of mine. While vespiquen isn't my favorite (that title goes to Hydreigon), it is definitely up there!

I've ALWAYS enjoyed the idea of Pokemon. You run around, training up these fight monsters and collecting them. I remember playing my sister's Ruby version on her flip-up Gameboy. I couldn't even read but I ran around catching god only knows how many of the same pokemon wherever she was. Apparently, I had fought for hours in the same area and leveled her Blaziken up to lvl 50 something and left her lvl 30s in the dust LMAO.

I got my first game when it was Pearl/Diamond. It was Pearl, and it still holds a very fond place in my heart. I could barely read, I could barely write-- I had named my Turtwig something along the lines of "MmorpHy" and my player boy "ZbsibJ". Yes I remember the names slightly. I really didn't get far-- I barely got to the first gym but I was just so happy to play it.

I eventually lost the game, as a 5 year old would do, but I can still vividly remember what was happening when the game arrived. I had just came back from the dentist and was quite tired from fighting the dentist bc I was super scared. Mom suddenly handed me a box and said it was mine-- my overseas (at that time) dad had bought me Pearl and my sister Diamond, because I lost my shit about it when he visited one time.

Well, tdlr, I played it for about five minutes while struggling to stay awake against the loopy gas they made me take. I fell asleep listening to Twinleaf Town's soundtrack. Every time I play a rom of Pearl and I get to where the player's house fades in and I hear that first tune of the song, I get a huge smile on my face and cry-- as.. Weird as it sounds.

A few years later, I had gotten Pokemon Black bc I liked Reshiram on the cover. Now, this one I could actually READ when playing, but I don't remember a lot of things about it. I probably lost this one too, as a 8/9 year old would do. I DO remember, I chose Snivy and my sister chose Tepig (hrmm there's a theme here of grass/fire goin on......) and vibing to the music. I was so amazed by the sprites moving, I just kept getting into encounters to see the sprites move (oh boy, no one tell younger 7-9 y/o me about Zelda......oh wait....)

Playing Pokemon NOW, as a 17 year old """gifted""" chick, I stil have very fond memories. I recently beat Pokemon Black again and GOD the OTS SLAPS. I fucking adore the soundtrack-- the track that plays when you battle a trainer, the low health dings being turned into a legit song that also slaps, the battle! gym leader themes-- and oh my gOd, the legendary theme is amazing? It really tells you just how glorious these pokemon are supposed to be. It's not intimidating like Groudon/Kyroge/Rayquaza's themes. It's not action packed like Palkia/Dialga's is, it's not filled with tension like Giratina/Arceus's is-- but it radiates the GLORY that the beasts portray. And I live for that. (Also, Kyurem's version is my favorite because it glitches in the beginning and that's rly cool)

P/D/P and BW/BW2's stories, imo, are some of the greatest ones. Yeahhh, US/USUM's is cool and I haven't played XY nor SwSh-- but the ones I can find memorable are PDP and BW/BW2. I love N. I love Barry. They're my sons. Ghetsis is fucking terrifying, Cyrus needs a hug. Giratina scared the piss out of me when I was younger, which was NOT helped by Giratina and The Sky Warrior.

I think my favorite movies are the gen 4 ones. The Rise of Darkrai having a tear-jerking theme for such a mysterious pokemon (i still tear up when i hear Ocarion), Giratina being spiteful is a mood and Shaymin was cute, Arceus being angry is also a mood. Yeah, Pokemon 4Ever made me cry my eyes out over Celebi, Mewtwo Returns made me again cry because Mewtwo accepting who he is, I remember how vastly different the BW movies are-

I just. I have a lot of memories with the series, even if Gamefreak and Nintendo kinda do the series dirty a lot (your top-grossing thing and you made That monstrosity for the Switch? How dare you.). It's comforting to be stressed and pull up my roms for the games and to play them. Mystery Dungeon is incredibly fun to play, Pokemon Ranger is really fun with the concept (Shadows of Almia continues to kick my ass to this very day and FUCK the Jungle Relic, I hate the Water Challenge fucking gyarados bullshit). I remember the pokemon I got for MD (I got Time, my sis got Darkness) was Mudkip, if that is any help.

I love my little fictional pixel monsters.

5. Yup, someone told tiny 7-9 y/o me about console games. The legend of Zelda. My first Zelda game was Twilight Princess on the Wii and BOY did I play the fucking SHIT out of that game.

Honestly, looking back and looking at playthroughs now-- I still love TP. Twilight Princess is still one of my top favorite Zelda games-- yes, even after playing OoT, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, Skyward Sword, the anniversary four swords edition for the DS where you could play by yourself (Nintendo pls bring that back, I don't have friends to play it with ;-;), Phantom Hourglass- ect.

Something about Twilight Princess grabbed me by the head and yeeted me into the world. I can remember playing it for hours with little to no breaks. I, a tiny 9 y/o, had gotten the hang of the controllers and managed to get past the tutorial quite easily. And then, I was launched into the game and I wasn't stopping for NOTHING. Mom and Dad would have to force me to save and get off to go and eat dinner. THAT sucked.

I had done everything on my own up until the first temple, the forest temple. Not where/when you saved the dumb kid, but when you were saving the spirit's light. Theeeeeeennn I got stuck on the fucking Forest Temple for deadass six months straight. I'd play for hours, running around in circles, unable to figure out where to go, and because I didn't grasp the temple's purpose of being that way- I'd get angry and get off. It wasn't until dad looked up a walkthrough and talked me through what I was supposed to do that I learned how to get through temples.

I had gotten to the last little fight with Ganondorf before the Wii broke and i could no longer play. Despite the Wii being broke and we got rid of it, I was ADAMANT on keeping the game, and I kept that game for YEARS. It was an original copy out of a sealed box, and I eventually lost it when I left it accidentally at my now ex-friend's house.

She had a Wii and I went "hey I have a Wii game!" And I brought my Zelda over. Worst fucking choice of my goddamn life. Mom called me to come home and said I couldn't sleep over like the original plan was, and that was it. My ex-friend stashed my Zelda and I never saw it again. And, even if I wanted to-- I couldn't get it back, which makes me upset. We had a BAD falling out. She likely doesn't even remember it's there, or sold it to the local game junkie kid who buys ALL games.

But I still love the game. Midna was amazing, and I loved how snarky she was and she has a very cute design! The game's OST is fucking phenomenal. Midna's Desperate Hour makes me cry bc goddamn it really sells how serious that situation is. I love Hyrule Field's theme in this game. I love the Twilight Realm's song. Zant was fucking hilariously scary. Ganondorf's design in this game scared the piss out of me when I was younger.

Midna and this game's Link and Zelda are def my favorites. Yeah yeah, Sheik is cool and all I Guess but dhsushwishs Midna holds the special place in my heart. She was totally my gay awakening BUT

For other game antagonists, I adore Ghirahim-- let's go you funky little queer-coded villain. Skull Kid was great, I love the entire dynamic of him. Prankster lost soul stumbles upon Majora's Mask and the mask makes him act out due to powers-- which, I actually took very heavy inspiration from for one of my OCs. The moon falling to Hyrule was a fucking terrifying looming threat.

But the game series holds a place, and I've yet to be able to play BoTW-- although, I'm fairly certain I'll like it. The playthroughs I've watched of it are all fairly decent! I just. Gotta save up enough money to buy it haha.

Dang guess I gotta go watch a Twilight Princess playthrough again.

Honorable Mentions:

Avatar: the Last Airbender, specifically Book 3

my OCs definitely make me happy, they're my children and I'd ramble A LOT longer if given the chance WHEEZE

My friends, but I didn't add them here bc it's more fictional stuff, I presume

Baking. I love to bake cupcakes.

Painting is fun. I'm an artist and goddammit im going to use painting as an excuse to make a mess.

Fire. I rly like fire, down to a pyromaniac level. However, i hate the fires that happened to my home town, the Great Smokey Fires of 2016-- THAT pissed me off. How dare you burn mountain landscapes to the ground. Perish.

History. I'm a history nerd.

I'm also a science nerd.

But fuck math, I cannot comprehend math to save my life.

For some reason, I rly like learning how the human body works??? like did you know, organs are actually sticky when touched by a bare hand?? Did you?? How fucking cool is that.

Bakugan. I love Bakugan, esp the DS game. I love my Darkus Leonidas. Give me back the online world, you peasants-- I want my Darkus Dragonoid. (Also fuck all my friends from when I was in kindergarten- my theory that Alice was Masquerade was somewhat correct.)

Shadow triad analysis ramble

Requested by @plasmagruntcalvin!

Basic analysis rules:

-only covers game triad

-these are just my thoughts but feel free to give your thoughts below!

Let's begin.

One thing I would like to cover first is the straiton trio = shadow triad theory. As fascinating and interesting as that would be (seriously the drama and narrative potential and the impact on the unovan league system is a gift that keeps on giving-) it's been disproved by the memory link showing the trio fighting the triad and losing.

Next point is their loyalty to the Plasma leaders.

In dialogue it is stated that that Ghetsis saved their lives. Saved their lives from what is not known or stated. Or whether it was a literal saving or metaphorical. (More on that later)

Either way. They seem utterly devoted to Ghetsis. Even after his defeat in bw2 they battle you in order to 'regain his lost heart'.

The amount of loyalty they show to Ghetsis does seem to match up to (what I know about) what is known about Ninjas. Historically during the Sengoku period of Japenese history. Which, is what they are. From their design to how they refer to themselves as 'Shadows'.

In fact, I would argue that they have no loyalty to Plasma, but to only Ghetsis himself.

After all they were 'sworn loyal to Ghetsis'. They even call themselves the 'loyal servants of Ghetsis' in bw. Not Plasma.

Yet, they still have some belief in pokemon liberation. It is not a strong belief like N had in bw or that most of the grunts in bw had. Yet to say they do not hold the belief of pokemon liberation would be incorrect.

In bw2 one of the triad says this:

"Ah... I feel sorry for Pokémon. They're ruled by Poké Balls and the whims of their Trainers... Lord Ghetsis spoke of Pokémon liberation two years ago simply for his own ambitions, but... If his plans had succeeded, many Pokémon would have been saved."

(Copied from bulbapedia)

While they were aware of Ghetsis's selfish goal, they still hold that belief that pokemon should be separated. While knowing that Ghetsis's motives for liberation are selfish they still believe it.

But their view and use of treatment of pokemon do not differ much from Ghetsis. Stating in bw2 that is doesn't bother them if the stolen pokemon scream or beg. Lovely.

In relation to N. The triad have an interesting relation to him. Consistently every time they mention him, he is always referred to as 'Lord N'. Not even Ghetsis, whom they are devoted to is consistently called 'Lord Ghetsis'.

The triad have an interesting relation to N. I would even argue they have strong affection to N.

As I mentioned before N is always referred to them as 'Lord N' and he is the only member of team Plasma that we know off who gives orders to the triad that they obey other then Ghetsis.

From my knowledge not even Colress is able to give them orders that they obey.

This could be possibly because he is Ghetsis's son but I would argue that even so they should obey Colress who was personally appointed by Ghetsis to lead team Plasma.

In bw they tell the protag that is 'Lord N's wish' that they go to the center of N's castle. The fact that they state it was N's wish not Ghetsis's implies some level of devotion to N that isn't shown to Colress.

For a final point, I'll admit it's very much a theory, but one I'd figured I'd mention.

In BW the shadow triad are shown fighting the striaton trio. Whom they call weak and win against. Leading to the straiton trio making the decision to leave and become stronger.

I would like to propose that the shadow triad are what the striaton trio could have become.

What do I mean by this? Quite simply, Ghetsis didn't literally save their lives. Instead. Ghetsis found the trio at their lowest. Suffering a similar devastating defeat as the straiton trio had. They had lost all purpose to their lives.

He promised them strength. He promised to make them stronger if they swore themselves to him.

To which they did. Ghetsis fulfilled his side of the bargain by making the trio utterly devoted to him and only him. He gave them purpose.

They are a more unfortunate ending to the tale of the trio.

Aaaaand that's all my points. Hope this was interesting for you all! ^-^

If you have anymore suggestions or have your own views send them in!

(Also I would recommend checking out @ask-sanyou-trio which I am a mun on and @askburningemmet which I run by myself!)

Have a good day! ^-^

i want to unlock the type expert thing in pwt and im going to make myself a full flying type team

i am a flying type specialist. i have always been a flying type specialist. i self assigned this to me the moment i thought “huh what type would i have if a was a gym leader?” flying. flying all the way.

(hey i spam this tag a lot but i,,,,, wrote some nonplot fluff?? this takes place after bw2 btw)

(ao3 upload here)

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It’s four in the morning, and they’re still awake, because of course they are, of course the two youngest ever Champions of Kanto both happen to have insomnia. It’s four in the morning when Green makes his request out of nowhere, during a lull in his endless slew of rambling about research and silly things Eevee did that day.

“You wanna get food somewhere?” 

And initially, Red answers as he always has.

“No.”

It’s always no with him, because he hates being in public, he doesn’t remember a day he hasn’t had a social phobia, he hasn’t been to a restaurant since he was a kid, and he hasn’t “outgrown” his childhood fears. He barely managed his appearance at the Pokémon World Tournament in Unova; that’s enough time out for a lifetime. He’s content to hole himself up in the apartment, the Kantonian wilderness, and maybe Viridian City’s gym, if he’s feeling brave.

“You sure?” Green presses. It’s a gentle nudge more than a proper shove, but it’s still more pressure than he’s put on Red since they came back to Kanto. He’s carefully casting his lure, he’s baiting Red, and Red can clearly see the hook and the line through the water. “We can just go somewhere fast. All the sit-down places are closed, anyway.”

He knows Green is trying to reel him in, and yet, Red bites. 

“Why do you ask?”

“I dunno, I’m hungry?” It sounds like more of a question than an answer, a subconscious mimicry of Red’s tone. “I wanna get like, Pancham Express or something. I want food, but I don’t have enough energy to actually cook something here.”

“Isn’t going out just as much energy?”

“Nah.” It’s easy for any normal person, anyone who isn’t Red, but Green understates that. “Not for me, anyway, y’know how I am. I’d rather walk like, ten minutes down the road than have to actually get the kitchen re-organized.”

“Mm.”

Green waits, but Red doesn’t answer; he’s considering it, though, he’s bouncing from it isn’t safe to go out there, people will find you and people will follow you and you’re going to get hurt, then back to if Green is with you it’s going to be okay, it’s the middle of the night anyway, we haven’t eaten since six in the evening so maybe -

“What do you think?”

“...lemme get my hat.”

Red notices the excitement in Green’s eyes, and he pretends not to notice it, because he knows Green will worry if Red knows that he’s getting his hopes up. It’s a feedback loop they have that they always get sucked into. It starts with Green and his I want you to see you get better but I don’t want to draw attention to it because I don’t want you to get scared, and Red’s rebuttal is something along the lines of I don’t want to get your hopes up because I’m still a mess but I want you to be proud of me, so they both just pretend that they don’t see the oddities in each other, they pretend everything is normal, and that seems to work out for them. 

They pretend everything is normal, but Red still takes note of the way Green chats with the night shift’s cashier. Green is apparently used to late-night runs here, from years of staying up way too late to keep his mind off his missing rival, so he’s familiar with the older woman behind the counter. Red overhears her whisper something about how Green looks happier nowadays to the chef in the back, and he pretends not to become vividly aware of the glow in Green’s eyes and how he never had that gleam about him when he visited on Mount Silver. Red pretends it’s the lights playing tricks on him.

They opt to eat outside; the night air is cool, the full moon is soft, and it’s quiet enough that they (Red, mostly) can be at ease. It’s not the light playing tricks, Red realizes now, Green is just aglow, and Red lets him talk and laugh and talk, he listens and signs back, he finishes his food half an hour before Green does, because Green doesn’t know when to shut up and Red doesn’t know when to stop listening. It’s a feedback loop they have, wherein Green gets on a tangent, and Red signs his questions when Green takes a moment to eat, and then Green is babbling away again. 

It’s a loop that starts with Red, because he needs to hear Green’s voice.

Green’s words don’t quite echo, but he’s practically singing, his voice is warm, it makes Red feel dizzy in the most pleasant way. His voice lingers in Red’s mind, it makes something swell in his heart, it makes him forget that they’re outside and that he managed to go out in public and it almost makes him forget that he was ever afraid of anything at all.

“So that’s the short explanation of Blastoise’s mega evolution,” Green concludes, looking down at his phone, “almost... uh, thirty minutes later. You could’ve stopped me whenever, y’know.”

Red just shrugs and signs back. (I like listening to you.) 

“I’m glad someone does,” he jokes, laughs through his words, even though there’s a hint of actual insecurity there. “I still talk too much.”

(I love that about you,) Then, signed under such dim moonlight that only Green could ever see, (and I love you.)

Then, hummed so softly that only Red could ever hear, “I love you too. Don’t ever doubt that.”

And he doesn’t, Red doesn’t doubt it from the moment they walk home under the yellow street lights to the moment they fall asleep under the blankets and the glow of a distant sunrise. He doesn’t doubt it from the moment the same sun wakes them up to the moment the same sun sets over their Alolan honeymoon. He doesn’t ever doubt it.

Why Colress and Lusamine SHOULD be related.

Hey! Mind if I ramble on about character relationships that nobody else cares for? Okay, thanks.

Basically I’ve. Had a thing for Colress since BW2 was released. He’s a genuinely interesting character that I feel is often pushed onto a back burner while other characters get their “arcs” and such.

But Colress seems to have more than one character arc, at least with sun, moon, and USUM.

Colress is consistently seen inside, working with, or near the aether foundations. In the sun and moon games, he is seen in an aether foundation base, doing research. In the manga, he directly delivers beast balls to Lusamine. In USUM, he works with the aether foundation somewhat. So like, why?

How did this ex war criminal get off clean after working for team plasma, freezing over an entire city, and still be able to continue his research?

The answer would be really simple if made canon: he is the brother of Lusamine.

It’s hard to ignore the physical appearance of both of these characters and how similar they are in terms of height, body type, hair and eye color, ect. Both are also seen to be somewhat morally grey, or for lack of better word, have fucking awful morals.

How would Colress be able to work with the aether foundation but still ignore Lusamine almost entirely? If he was her brother, that would make more sense. Lusamine would have no need to monitor him, as she would already know him well enough to know his motivations, ect.

And why would Colress want to work for the aesther foundation in the first place? He expressed his hatred of team plasma after leaving it, so why join another group he knew was practicing unethical work? Well, if it was run by his sister, why would he really care? If he knew who ran it personally, there would be no need for him to worry about ethics of the group. He would already know, and it may or may not bother him.

If they were confirmed siblings, this would also show us something deeper about Colress and Lusamine - perhaps their actions weren’t completely without reason. If they were raised in a strict, unloving household, it could explain why they’re both such... assholes.

It would also show us, if they were related, another dark side to colress’s character - he would already know that Lillie and Gladion were abused, and that the foundation was harming Pokémon, but he had chose to look the other way and ignore it. It’s not really out of the realm of possibility given his past actions, and to be fair, it would really remind us that he isn’t morally clean after the plasma incident, and that he’s still kinda a huge douchebag.

Anyways. Sorry for the long post oof-

top 5 games

1. Sonic Generations

2. DMC5

3. Smash Bros. Ultimate

4. Kingdom Hearts 2

5. Pokemon Black & White 2

I got a little rambly under the cut, because I’m still really passionate about #5. Thank you to anyone who reads the full thing.

Sonic Generations - I am a simple man; I like to run too fast for heterosexuality to catch me. Good graphics, the peak of boost formula, great mods, classic sonic is babey even if I don’t like playing him here.

DMC 5 - I’m a newcomer to the series; I watched a lot of 3′s cutscenes and I know the general story. I like combo videos, and they were a lot of the reason I wanted to play. I am only on Human difficulty because I don’t know many of the systems and Dante looked like he required 3.5 galaxy brains to play. This may shift on the list as I progress further and possibly replay, but reaching multiple SS combos and beating Cavileer Angelo solidified its spot on the list. I am big gay for Dante and Nero.

SSB Ultimate - I am prone to gamer rage on online, but getting Kirby in Elite Smash has been so fun. I have half of a v3.0 combo video edited together, but school and computer issues have held me back.

KH2 - When I get my hands on 3 it might climb this list. Playing it as a “character action game” on level 1 critical is an experience that I enjoyed but will definitely dial back on next playthrough. I can’t believe that didn’t unlock lingering will but whatever. I see action and fighting games as two sides of the same coin with transferable skills. I wish air magic didn’t lead you to a helpless freefall and limit form had a limit that could be activated in the air like the already airborne Ragnarok, but these are concerns 3 addresses.

PKMN BW2 - While my nostalgia of this being the first pokemon game I owned is an influencing factor, no recent game in the series has hit my aesthetic and my preferences this well. I love 2.5d pixel art and the animations are impressive, taking advantage of multiple rotating sprites per pokemon, rotation, and nearest-neighbor interpolation. The original black and white will always have the soft reboot appeal and a better story, but the wider pokedex means you get to better appreciate the work made to adapt every pokemon to the new style and it does not push questions it doesn’t try to answer.

X and Y’s level design and aesthetic came off lazy too me because it usually operated on a 2D square grid even though there is a z-axis for everything, and cell shading and pokemon animations were lifeless and dull. I think if they tried to make a game with similar shaders and animation style to Guilty Gear with the mostly fixed camera that makes it work, they’d do a lot better. Pokken might have burned a bridge for an official collaboration.

23, 55, and 59?

Hellooooo!! Sorry, just getting into asks now~

This is long AF as well, please excuse my ramble-mess!!

23: What’s your favourite thing to do on lazy days where you have 0 obligations?

A lazy day for me is staying in bed, scrolling throught tumblr, playing Pokemon or any multiplayer game against a few mates. Miiight pop out for food. (These are few and far between now, however!!)

55: What’s the most dramatic thing you’ve ever done to prove a point?

Okay, I’m not one to goad and say “I told you so!” - people make mistakes and *ahem* choices. It happens. However, if someone is being ignorant, closed-minded or an overall stubborn prick - they have their own sorrow to deal with, it’s not worth the energy.

BUT I can think of one instance where I sort of proved a point (not really?) It wasn’t exactly dramatic either but I found it funny.

Happened a few years ago, I was staying over at my friend’s house, she suggested we do a nuzlocke run of Pokemon BW2 - a really, really bad idea.

1) we both have competitive streaks, 2) our battle styles are very different, and 3) out of everyone in our group US TWO ARE THE BIGGEST ASSHOLES WHO WILL STOP AT NOTHING TO DICK ANOTHER TEAM-MATE OVER.

Everything was also made worse by the fact that we were in the middle of a skype session with aforementioned group.

It took ages, tempers were running high, the crowd on skype were shit-stirring. But we manage to get to the first gym (somehow) and make it up to Cheren. 

Cue battle music, things go downhill real quick. “Work-up” wrecked our team, but by some stroke of luck we get him down to his last Poke with only one poke left ourselves.

With only a wee bit of HP left she suggests we use Leer to bring defense down before the final blow. I called BS and said we should just attack, we have nothing left. She said F-you, I said fine. We get hit down to 1HP and she goes “see? SEE? IT’S DESTINY!” Sure - but BW2 has always been a beech to play. I get my phone ready.

Her final attack misses, Cheren critial hits us.

Immediately I push play on my phone: “Ave Maria” starts playing as we white-out.

The crowd on skype lost it and my friend just really slowly turned her head around and I swear I saw my life flash before my eyes. 

59: What’s your favourite myth?

In celtic mythology there is a magical fish called the “Salmon of knowledge” and if you catch it and eat it it will grant you untold wisdom (- all from the Omega-3 oils ;).

Recently though someone added to the tale saying there was also the “Trout of No Craic” (pronounced “crack”, meaning fun or good-time) which if you catch instead will doom you to an eternity of no fun, misery and having to be a care-taker for an annoying old fish.

So that’s nice.

___

Thanks again for the ask. It got waaay too long there but it did bring up some funny memories for me. Made my day! Hope you’re having a good one!!

(before i get more into replies on all my blogs i should also mention (if i haven’t already) that i never played bw2 but will be playing it in the near future, and i’m already coming up with a personality and name for the protag.)

(i may just make a blog solely for test-running muses and seeing if they click? anyway i’m done rambling, ahaha.)