We don't know wether Pokémon Legends Z-A will be set in the ancient past or recent past, but regardless, I would like some more context for these things specifically (I am a sucker for lore):

These are specific details I remember from when I played X, so it's an assortment of notes I remember/checked in with Wikidex and Bulbapedia.

From here on I will theorize a whole bunch and expand on these topics so, um. History and imaginings ahead. All the information is from Wikipedia.

Firstly, we can safely assume that Lumiose City (the city that is the focus of the trailer) is heavily inspired by Paris, France. The city of Paris is really fucking old: according to Wikipedia, the Parisii (a Gallic tribe) settled around the river Seine between 250 and 225 BC, and the Romans colonized them in 52 BC. All of this to say it's OLD. But I doubt Pokémon Legends Z-A will thrust us into old Roman times, for one specific reason: the Eiffel Tower, or its Pokémon equivalent, Prism Tower.

The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 World's Fair, so it's fairly modern. If we were to take into account this, we can deduce the setting for Pokémon Legends Z-A could be set around late 19th century France. This is NOT "3,000 years old war AZ and Floette stuff."

If you wanted to have a game centered around that event, you would have to set the game's history period even before the Parisii. It could be that Lumiose City was built after the 3,000 years old war, and they're electing to stretch the time periods and architecture to fit it, but I sincerely doubt it. Prism Tower looks too futuristic for that.

My bet, then, is in late 19th century. The World's Fair concept could work here, and instead of building the one tower they could build the entire city.

Enough Paris talk, let's move to Versailles, or its Pokémon equivalent, the Parfum Palace.

The Palace of Versailles was turned into the official seat of the monarchy in 1682. This would mean that, if we were to follow my theory, Parfum Palace could be older than Lumiose City. There's also a mention of a war "300" years ago. This could be a reference to the French Revolution of 1789-1799. Was there a similar war in Kalos? Was AZ, who is said to resemble a king's portrait in the Palace, have been involved? It could also explain why Parfum Palace is a museum in present-day Kalos, after the monarchs were driven out. This could mean that Pokémon Legends Z-A could be set a century after the Kalos Revolution.

Now, onto pure speculation: I would set Victory Road and the Pokémon League to have been built during the Medieval Ages. The simple architectural style of the ruins reminds me of very simple fortresses and castles, and the Romanesque architectural style (10th-13th century European style) or maybe older than that, pre-romanesque? The Franks and Carolingian architecture? As for the Pokémon League architecure, I would situate it as a Gothic Cathedral. The Gothic style of architecture evolved from the Romanesque (which means late 12th-16th century), and they're known for their high towers, intricate detail, and big-ass coloured glass windows. Also, the armed woman statues inside the League could be a reference to Joan of Arc, who lived in the 15th century. Was the Pokémon League constructed to honour a similar historical figure, a heroine from the Pokémon wars?

And as for Shabboneau Castle and the sun clock from Anistar City, for the former it's just a countryside castle/manor (I wouldn't say it's 100% medieval, but that's just me), of which there are a lot in Europe, and for the latter I have no fucking idea. What the fuck is that.

advocatus diaboli

Inspired by these comics by @zivazivc and this comic by @chongotheartist

This has been chilling in my mind since I first saw ZivaZivcs comic and I finally got the energy to make it XD

I totally get why the arc wasn't longer with this shortened season but! Something I really loved about today's storyline with Hen (and most of her storylines tbh) and hope continues with all the characters was showing how multiple things can be true at once.

Chimney did say that he should administer care, and the guy did refuse care. Hen did clock pretty immediately that he was drunk/high, but he also very much was obviously not in his right mind and didn't understand what he was refusing - and yes, he was being a dick, but yes, it's also concerning for first responders to immediately write someone off, and you deserve full and proper care regardless of who you are or if you're in the wrong. Reviews are needed to determine what happened, and the guys should be allowed to be honest, but there is a different level of scrutiny tossed at her as a Black woman in this situation that Bobby wouldn't get, and she's fair in feeling like they were throwing her under the bus. Hen was correct in her assessment of him and she did get defensive very quickly, and she recognizes both.

All of these things can be true at once (and expanding it into fandom even - we can love Hen and be happy she was right but also have critique about what happened and point out issues with care in the same way that we point out incompetent policing in the show!) and I wish it was longer to really delve into it, but I love that we got to see that a bit, and Aisha especially plays those nuances so well.

thought too hard; crashed

if you noticed the lack of miserable pokemon lately; I've recently experienced the wonders of ibuprofen

I wonder if people can see the sadness that consumes me through my eyes.

Like people in books claim they can.

If so, do they just choose to ignore it?

Or have I just gotten too good at hiding my pain? That even my eyes are like closed doors.

hello self shippers; friendly reminder that your f/os love you very much, even if you sometimes think otherwise. You’re never too much or too little for them, you’re just the right amount. They’ll never think you’re too annoying, or too embarrassing, or that you’re too different for them. They’ll never think that you’re too soft, or too emotional, or that you care too much. They’ll never think that you’re “too much” of anything. They love you for you, and they always will, regardless of whatever hardships you might be working through. They’ll always be there to help you when you’re struggling or having a difficult time, even if it seems like “too much”. You’re perfect for them <3

unbelievably late lmao but here’s my little hickey pinup for the Terror pinup calendar uhhhhhh three years ago!!!! but over here on MY blog it is always time for cornelius hickey

I feel bad sometimes reading zosan fanfic because they be like creating complex plots and schemes and thought processes. But then, I have to close the tab because Zoro and Sanji would NOT think that much. They are single cell organisms around each other. I physically cannot read fanfic where they think in each other's vicinity.

I don't have my GtN book to quote anything ( it's being borrowed) but I'm relistening to the audio book, and I can't stop thinking about how the second time "Dulcinea" talks to Gideon she sounds very similar to Mercymorn talking about the age gap of lyctors and regular humans (Phhaa! Babies! Yuck!). Just the way she says she feels old, she feels she has lived forever, how the 4th are babies compared to her. If I remember correctly, she refers to Gideon as a child, but in the context of knowing about Cytherea, my mind has gone crazy over the snippets where she talks to Gideon about how she describes how old she feels. Maybe the first time around reading or from Gideon's point, it was that deep feeling of sad words from a lady who was dying and every year of time draws on as she awaits death that makes her feel old. Really, it's just a Lyctor and their language to call non lyctor teenagers babies (?) and just feeling incredibly old as being lyctors compared to a regular human teen

I can't get over how I momentarily paused when I heard "dulcinea" call the 4th babies, and I'm just thinking how the Mercymorn is showing. How this interaction feels like foreshadowing now that I know what it all means to Cytherea more than the Dulcinea she pretended to be.

Or in reality, I'm looking WAY to deep into this (highly doubt for this book series), not lining up what I listened to properly, I potentially don't have the best memory to be writing this out, or this has probably already been mentioned by someone with more braincells than me before. And that's all dandy.

What can you do when you hate every word that comes out of your mouth with a burning passion? When nothing you say ever feels right? When all of your words feel like lies, even though they’re not?

Because they’re not, right? …right?

I was reading some research about split brain patients, or people who have had the connection of the brain hemispheres (or corpus callosum) severed, leaving the two halves unable to communicate. And of course I immediately thought of Jekyll and Hyde.

Now I am one to know very well that J&H are not split personalities nor "brain sides", but the similarities are so neat I don't see why I couldn't dive in a little deeper into representation. I know this has most likely been looked into before as them being the two brain sides, but I wonder if ever in a much more real life situation like in split brain patients, (their experiments are trippy, I recommend watching them), not just in a hypothetical sense.

As Hyde representing the right brain, it definitely works as a really good "villain origin story". Since that hemisphere does not have the ability to speak, when working and connected with the left brain it is forced to submit to the more "analytical and reasoning" side. When Hyde is set free, he now has a voice and a freedom in what to do, where now the left brain has to submit (hence Jekyll not being able to change back since reasoning isn't priority, only want). That feeling is intoxicating for one who's never known it.

The right brain is primarily used for senses, identification, etc., so Hyde only cares about chasing his desires. Now able to figure out things for himself, without having to do whatever the left brain says, anything is possible. That feeling of unexplainable actions is very obvious in split brain patients (the left hand, controlled by the right brain, draws something that the left brain doesn't know the reason for) where the horror of this story being a possibility is much more conceivable.

So, who really are you? Or was Stevenson right and you.. were always really two?

Shilo and grefgor have a lovely picnic with their lovely pheasant while they wait for emizel to wake up from being impaled by a nearby branch

I forgot to bring the pheasant back for the picnic, please forgive me

mike being book smart and a nerd but also so oblivious when it comes to human interaction and emotions is so real of him honestly

I feel like what hurts me most about Sparrow being all “I’m not proud of you” isn’t that he said it, cause I could already kinda guess that from the first scene.

It’s just that normal doesn’t seem to have had any inclination of it prior. Like, to him that’s just his dad being his dad. Not his dad trying to nudge him into being more normal.

And that’s exactly why Normal believes his dad hates him (at least in my mind). Cause as humans we are built to remember the bad as a way of survival, and normal probably can only think about the times he’s seen his dad cringe and how he’s so stupid for just thinking his dad was worried (even if he was worried and not in fact cringing.) like every memory gets corrupted with this new realization. When Teeny won the mascot contest was your dad actually smiling at how happy you were or was he just avoiding a scene, Did he actually enjoy watching those anime movies with you and hero when you were little or are you misremembering, was your uncle trying to warn you that you shouldn’t trust when your dad says he loves you, and so on and so on.