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adobe-outdesign · 2 years

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Could you talk about the Bisharp line? Is one of my favorites, a Pawn that evolves into a Bishop with Samurai-esque features. It's edgy but its the good kind of edgy.

The overall concept for this line is pretty interesting. The blade theme is obvious, but they're also kaijin, IE humanoid monsters. In other words, Pawniard are the mooks that the Power Rangers cut down effortlessly while Bisharp is the cool evil general. The line certainly does a good job at looking like a tokusatsu villain (and I mean that in the best way possible, because I do love me some tokusatsu villians), and I'm always a big fan of abstract monsters to begin with.

(Shoutout to the translators: this wouldn't have made sense to a Western audience, so they chose to name them after pawns and bishops, which reflects their kaijin nature in a way audiences would understand (pawns gather together, bishops lead, etc.). Also, why haven't we gotten a chess-themed Pokemon yet?)

There's also some neat lore in here about how they hunt in packs and fight over sharpening stones. Humanoid Pokemon occasionally suffer from lack of lore about how they behave in the wild, so this is refreshing.

However, while I like this line overall, I do feel like Pawniard suffers from lack of a unique identity. There are a few elements specific to it that look better than on Bisharp, which I'll get into in a moment, but otherwise it's just a smaller Bisharp. Sometimes this can be excusable if it has different lore or behaves differently from its evolution, but it doesn't really have that. There's maybe a bit of progression with the kaijin thing, but it's subtle.

With that said, I do really like the face on Pawniard, moreso than Bisharp. Those yellow eyes pop really nicely, and the sunken-in look makes it look especially ruthless, which is also emphasized by the lack of a mouth. The colors are also simpler, which is good. So it's not bad as-is; it just isn't bringing much new to the table.

While the face is a downgrade, I'd otherwise say I like Bisharp more than Pawniard; the elements feel more purposeful here, even if it's a bit overworked in some areas. Like I said, I love the kaijin look and it works perfectly here, with a slick samurai helmet and plenty of blades. Those almost ungulate-like blade hooves are also perfect.

However, Bisharp does feel like it needed a round or two more of refinement before being finalized (some of this applies to Pawniard as well).

In particular, I don't like those two blades on the stomach, for a few reasons. First, the design flows downward, so suddenly having the vertical stripes cut off by horizontal elements feels off. Secondly, they don't add much to the design. And thirdly, how is it supposed to function with those things? If it puts its arms down or tries to lie down on its side its arms will be cut. The torso could also afford to be a bit shorter.

Secondly, I preferred Pawniard's color use, with the yellow used to make the eye pop and the rest of the blade elements being white. The yellow doesn't add much here and only serves to clutter the design.

And thirdly, the arm blades are odd; it looks like it's wearing oven mitts with blades on the backs. Something more similar to the feet would've worked better, and would've visually established a pattern with the limbs.

Finally, this is very minor, but it drives me nuts how the helmet blade just barely extends down onto the face. Either exaggerate it more or have it line up, I don't care, but it's just creating tension as-is, especially with the mouth. Also, I could've done without the random black around the chin/jaw.

I did a very sloppy edit in like 5 minutes, just removing the first blade and adjusting the colors (and torso length). The design feels a lot more coherent to me this way without really changing it all that much (the hands could also use changed but once again, quick edit).

But as a whole, I do really enjoy this line; it looks cool, the blade theme works, and I'm just a sucker for these kind of kaijin designs. I just feel like Pawniard's too similar to its evo, while Bisharp could've been refined a bit more. It's edgy, sure, but in a good (and punny) way.

#pawniard #bisharp #pokemon #pokemon reviews #outdesign attempts to edit

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novemberhope · 2 months

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Calla (Pokemon Galar Project)

Do they consider laws flexible, or immovable? flexible

Do they swear? Sometimes

Where in the world does your OC feel most at home? With her group of friends, the other gym leaders

What color do they look best in? black, yellow, orange

Who are this characters friends and found family? the Galar gym leaders, her found family

Do they have any piercings or tattoos? no

Do they actively seek romance, or do they wait for it to fall into their lap? She usually waits until someone else takes the initiative

What is their phone background/lock screen? A picture of Nezz

How competent would your oc be in a survival situation? Would they be better off on their own or in a group? As competent as the next person I guess… but better in a group setting

What inspired you to create them? I wanted a more grown up OC this time, different in looks as well…

Are they messy, or do they clean up? Not messy but not overly tidy either, just normal I guess

How much thought does your oc put into what they wear/look like? Some thought, sure, but she does not spend hours in front of a mirror. But for certain events and such she does put more effort in.

Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look? No, she's been consistent from the start

What is their favorite pokemon? Zapdos, the legendary electric bird

How well would your oc handle being placed in a leadership position? Not great. Too much pressure!

What is your character’s favourite season? fall, spring

What was the first element of your OC that you remember considering (name, appearance, backstory, etc.)? Probably her name… I remember that took ages… no wait I knew first that she was to be the eletric type gym leader

Did you design them with any other characters/OCs from their universe in mind? She had to fit in with all the other gym leader characters for sure

How did you choose their name? We decided on flower names this time. It took me ages to find a name I like. Eventually, I decided on Calla even though I wasn't entirely sure. I still wasn't for a long time but the name grew on me.

https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test Personality type: Defender ISFJ-T Defenders are very dedicated and warm protectors, always ready to defend their loved ones.

Phlegmatic individuals tend to be content with themselves and are generally kind and considerate. They are often perceived as the type of people who go with the flow, displaying patience and a relaxed demeanor. They are more introspective and inward-focused than the other temperaments, and may require more time to process their thoughts and feelings.

This personality type is characterized by a profound sense of empathy and understanding of others' feelings. They are often diplomatic, able to mediate disputes and bring about peaceful resolutions. Despite their laid-back exterior, Phlegmatics possess a deep, inner desire for a peaceful coexistence and generally avoid conflict whenever possible.

Phlegmatic individuals can be quite reliable and trustful. They tend to respect the status quo and maintain routines, offering consistency and stability. However, this can sometimes come across as a lack of ambition or drive, as they tend not to seek out new experiences or challenges.

The Phlegmatic personality type can also be reserved and introverted. They are usually quiet and may not share their thoughts and feelings unless asked. They appreciate time alone or with a close group of friends, preferring intimate gatherings over large, loud social events.

Phlegmatics can sometimes be perceived as passive or indifferent because they don't often show strong emotional reactions. Yet, this same characteristic also makes them calm under pressure and composed during stressful situations. They are known for their rational, objective, and systematic approach to problems, which makes them excellent in roles that require steady, consistent work and careful planning.

Despite their many strengths, Phlegmatics may struggle with complacency and procrastination. They may also find it challenging to express their thoughts and feelings openly, leading others to perceive them as detached or disinterested. However, with their inherent ability to foster cooperation and harmony, Phlegmatic individuals are a crucial component in any diverse group or team.

Neutral Good- A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment when it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.

#oc #my ocs #pokemon oc #oc creator #pokemon trainer oc #pokemon gym leader oc #electric type gym leader #gym leader oc #calla #oc: calla #project: pokemon galar #galar region #pokemon galar

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soulerflaire · 1 year

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So I’ve beaten the new gen of Pokemon (Scarlet and Violet). Spoilers under the cut.

I want to start off with the things I didn’t like. First and most glaring, the graphics. The game is not pretty. Textures are flat, there’s pixel-y static around the edges of everything, treetops are just made up of bunches of 2D green blobs...it’s not good. There are PS2 games with better graphics (FFXII leaps to mind). The pokemon themselves look great, but that just makes the environment look even worse.

And despite this, the game chugs pretty often. I don’t know if it’s lack of power from the Switch, or poor optimization from the game, but there’s frame drops and slowdown everywhere. There was one section of the game that ran at like half speed during pokemon battles unless I pointed the camera straight at the ground.

Also, the environment is pretty sparse most of the time. Cities are the same 15-20 buildings copy/pasted over and over, with the same 15-20 NPCs walking around. Outside of cities, areas tend to be empty grassland dotted by a few trees, empty desert dotted by a few boulders, or empty snowfields dotted by a few trees. Not everything is that way, but a sizeable chunk of the game is.

These three issues are all very common in open-world games, though. They’re the hallmark of a company’s first attempt at an open-world game, and I would expect improvements if they decide to keep making open-world Pokemon.

However, there’s some things that can’t be explained that way. For one, the gyms are all the same boring grey office building. Literally copy/pasted 8 times. You go in to a lobby, talk to the receptionist, then leave to do your gym trial. You don’t even fight the gym leader in the gym, you fight them in a tennis court arena outside. Why bother having a gym building if you’re not even gonna be doing anything in it? It strikes me as a placeholder that they ran out of time to replace.

The Team Star camps suffer from the same problem; there is no visual difference between any of them. Just plain white tents everywhere, and a stage (why is there a stage? You don’t even fight the leader there). I would have liked to at least see red tents for the fire camp, purple tents for the poison, etc.

The music is very hit or miss in the game for me, with the worst offender being the elite four theme. This is supposed to be the culmination of your journey as a trainer, and the theme feels like the kind of music you get before the boss fight starts. Its like the part of a song before the drop, except it never drops. Just repeats the same 20-30 second loop. It’s anticipation music, not fighting music. Once again, it feels like a placeholder, and they ran out of time.

“For crying out loud, Flaire, you’re just complaining about everything! Was there anything you did like about the game?”

Why, yes. I did like something about the game.

Everything else.

The gameplay, mechanics, characters, and story of this game are amazing. Open-world is exactly the kind of game Pokemon needs to be, and if they give up on open-world Pokemon after this game, I will be devastated. Just like with Pokemon Legends: Arceus, running around and seeing pokemon in the environment, choosing to initiate battles or dodging them and running away, it’s just so much fun. I am sad that you can’t catch pokemon without starting a battle, but tbh that would be a pretty huge change from standard pokemon, and is a bit too big of a leap for the core series games right now. Maybe we’ll see it if they make another Legends game and it’s successful.

I love the designs of a lot of the new pokemon. Orthworm, Tinkaton, and Glimmora are some of my favorites. I loved the alternate environment versions of Diglett and Tentacool, I thought they were clever and well done (though I don’t understand why they weren’t regional variants). I didn’t like Koraidon (I played Scarlet) at first, but I warmed up to it as I played; they just gave it so much personality that I couldn’t help loving it.

Speaking of, the characters in the game are fantastic. Nemona is probably my favorite rival ever, I thought Clavell was great comic relief (and was touched by how much he wanted to do right by Team Star), all of Team Star was great. The whole Team Star storyline, culminating in a battle against Penny I didn’t really want to win but knew i had to, was just amazing. I didn’t like Arven, but that’s not because he was badly written; it’s because they did a good job writing an immature, cocky jerk. You’re supposed to warm up to him as the game goes on, but every time he called me “little buddy” I wanted to knock him over and leave.

My favorite part was when the player, Nemona, Penny, and Arven journey to the bottom of Area Zero together. I loved seeing them run around along with me, occasionally conversing. I desperately want to have companions like that as an option in future pokemon games, especially if it lets me do double battles. Those were sorely lacking in this game; I think the only double battle was against MC Ryme? Anyway, the crater section was my favorite part, and I honestly didn’t want it to end. Also I greatly enjoyed the entire sequence with the AI Professor, how they wanted to stop the machine bringing in the paradox pokemon, but were literally programmed to stop anyone who tried to turn it off. And as much as I dislike Arven, I was still glad to see him finally get some parental affection, even if it was from an AI instead of the original. They were a copy of the professor, and that means they shared the professor’s love for Arven too.

I mentioned the music was hit or miss for me, and that’s true, but the hits were very good. I think Penny’s battle theme might be my favorite battle theme of any pokemon game ever, and the Professor battle theme was pretty damn good too. Nemona’s theme is very appropriate, it’s happy and fun, because that’s how she views battling. Man, it was always so much fun to battle her. Such a breath of fresh air after Sword and Shield, where I just felt more and more guilty every time I beat Hop. Nemona wants you to win, she wants you to beat her, so that she’ll finally have someone to compete with (and who won’t forfeit any challenge immediately).

All in all, fantastic game, and I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone. If you’ve never played a pokemon game before, this is a good one to try. If you’re a longtime fan of pokemon, I think you’ll enjoy it too.

#there's a lot I didn't touch on #but overall thumbs up #good job nintendo now please learn from this #and don't regress #also give your employees more time #I would have happily waited another year if it meant fixing some of those problems

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prof-peach · 4 years

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Hello, I've been wondering for a while but, when Pokemon take jobs what can they expect as compensation bot with their trainers/partners or without them? I know you're more concentrated on breeding but I was wondering if you could help shed some light on pokemon in commerce. i.e. Chansey at Pokemon centres etc. I think I've seen a Bellossom working in fashion design before but can't remember where. Thanks!

Well actually while I breed a lot of grass types, we also train Pokemon and rehabilitate them to return to a normal life, or at least one they could enjoy. There is a Pokemon quality of life and wellbeing council, and the Pokemon Employment Department, both of these governing bodies make sure workplaces have the appropriate paperwork in pace, provide adequate care and safety precautions in the work place, and ensure both Pokemon and humans are trained well, and suited to their work. This is an umbrella company that oversees every Pokemon you see in an actual retail or work environment. Kind of like a division of the government or something.

These groups also negotiate what is the minimum payment to a Pokemon who works a job, regardless of trainer. The employer must provide a minimum amount of holiday based on the species, as some need to migrate, mate, and raise offspring, along side their work, to maintain health, social interactions, and of course this keeps them sane. No one can work all the time! Along with that it’s usually the done thing to feed the Pokemon employees, it’s not law but most businesses do try to provide snacks and eats where they can. Hungry Pokemon can be grouchy, we have all been hangry before. With breaks and snacks they can stay energised and focused. This is only not a legality because some Pokemon have trainers who feed them, others do not.

If you take in a wild Pokemon to work with you, and it shows an aptitude and enjoyment of this work, then you must register them as an employee for insurance purposes, the wild Pokemon will not be registered to you as such, but you are responsible for its actions while it is in your place of business. Pretty standard for humans too, boss has to make sure things go to plan.

There’s obviously a disclaimer makin sure you are aware that a Pokemon is in no way a human, and if they are to not show up to work, and just leave, it’s not something that can be compensated for should workflow be interrupted by this. They are still wild, they are still Pokemon, they are untaught and have very different lives to us, they have to do whatever it is that they have to do. Those who truly enjoy their work don’t tend to up and leave, and like to settle into a routine of working along side others, learning and developing their skills.

There’s obviously allowences for sickness, Pokemon centre trips are advised for the wild ones at least once a month, some don’t battle much and stay pretty healthy via berries and various natural remedies. This goes without saying, but this is an important thing for Pokemon working in the food, care or medical profession especially. They must be well, or they could get others sick with whatever they might have.

Payment as such is usually a negotiation. Some Pokemon actively want money. Meowth and Golette have been known to ask for actual cash as payment, so they can go use shops. They’re smart enough to have figured that out fast. There are many other species who understand that money pays for goods and services and can go try to buy food from local vendors, and items for their dens. Some want to just be fed, in areas where a Pokemon’s natural food source is scarce, it’s been observed that they will approach humans to exchange work for food to make up for the lack of it, but beware, not all Pokemon have good intentions and might double cross you if you’re not fair to them or observant enough to catch them in the act. There are Pokemon who want shelter. Skitty and houndour are known for this, liking to stay dry, thus drifting to human constructions that do well to keep the rain and wind off them.

Each job is to submit their payment plan for evaluation to the governing bodies, and so long as both parties have signed, and it’s safe and legal, then its usually approved. The Pokemon gets what they want, the human gets help, and also usually charming company, and everyone’s usually happy.

There’s sometimes folks who don’t treat their Pokemon staff fairly, and that’s when authorities step in and take a closer look at the business and how it’s being run. Unfair treatment of Pokemon is serious taboo and you can be shut down for it, and slapped with a heavy fine. This isn’t all as common as you’d think, because let’s face it, who wants to cross a Pokemon who could just burn your business down, or use its abilities to haunt you and make life a living hell? It’s just unwise to do it, Pokemon will usually come at you with some serious shade if you treat them badly.

Chances as you mentioned are usually paired with a nurse, but if they aren’t they usually are offered residence in the centre, bed and board in exchange for their work, and 2-4 days off in the week, it’s rather flexible depending on the individual in question. They tend to be a pillar in the community that everyone sees, and so they are usually treated with great respect and love, we don’t see neglect cases for them often at all.

As for the belossom, it’d fit the Pokemon to work in the fashion industry, they can be really stylish and creative Pokemon, Levanny is also one that does well in this line of work. I expect they’d be given payment of some kind, chances to learn more, money, food, whatever it may be.

I may be a gardener but I have to sub in to do routine checkups of local workplaces with Pokemon staff, professors get wrapped up in weird odd jobs from time to time.

#pokemon #prof.peach #peach talks

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slowpokesami · 5 years

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My opinion about pokémon games 1- Kanto (Red and Blue)

Hello darlings!

In these reviews I will write about what I think is good and bad about different Pokémon videogames. I will talk (at least by the moment) about the principal games and I will go generation through generation. So yes, Kanto will be the first. Oh, and even I say bad things about some generation, I still LOVE all the games :)

Red and Blue were the first Pokémon games, created by Game Freak, and that’s why I think this was the scheme for all the games that came later. It was simple and well planned, and it introduced the first generation of pokefans to the game. There wasn’t much to do apart of completing your pokedex and fighting the gym leaders, team rocket and the league, and that’s why I think it gets kind of boring when you have played all the games. But I think it was a good plan to begin with. All the ideas of what the game consists on are there, easily explained and without much details.

About the world: I think the villages are quite boring in general, as they get kind of repetitive. I know they couldn’t do much more with it as the first game boy wasn’t prepared for details but anyways there’s something I like, and it’s that they, intentionally or not, added some background that made them more interesting. Apart from the dark touch we all know they added in Lavender Town, there are some things… how could I explain it? Really, really dark about these games. I mean, for example, have you thought about all the stuff about safari zone in Fuchsia City? It’s not just the fact that you go in a wild zone with rare and very dangerous Pokémon on it, meaning that there is people using it to attract people and make money from them, which is kind of cruel but also happens in other games; it’s also the way they are exposed in this city, just in front of the Safari, there are Pokémon exposed to the public kept in small spaces like: see this!! We’ve got weird Pokémon here!! Come on catch them all!! This gives me some cringe honestly.

About the villains: Team rocket is an interesting team, as they are inspired in a mafia, which makes a lot of sense to me. A mafia would be really interested in such powerful and dangerous creatures if they were real, and of course using them for their own benefit is something they would totally do. I really think they already have control over Kanto. It makes sense if we link it to the dark vibes I was talking about before. For example with the casino, I think it is clear that it is no coincidence their secret base is located in there; they own the casino. Why? Because in real life there’s a lot of casinos ruled by the mafia. They already own Silph S.A. (I mean that they invaded it, not that Giovanni is the director of it, I remember the man who gives us the master ball) and the Pokémon lab in Cinnabar Island. They own everything that gives them enough power or money to rule the region, and don’t forget two of the gym leaders are or have been part of team rocket too (Giovanni and Blaine); in the manga even Sabrina is part of Team Rocket!

That makes me think the real game was really criticizing how the ones who really rule the world are evil; the world is ruled by the mafias and some powerful people after all, using capitalism (casinos, companies, etc) and all tools they can to oppress the others and make them do everything they want in their own favor. So the real plot of the games would be about a guy fighting against the system to make Kanto a better place for both humans and Pokémon, being the main character more or less aware of it.

Other stuff I personally see dark about these games are all the glitches and the fact that’s it’s an old game per se. I sometimes doubt that those glitches were all errors and not something Game Freak added on purpose to make the games more interesting. For example, I think the Mew glitch is kind of weird. I have no idea on how programming or videogames work, honestly, but I think it wouldn’t be strange that the glitch was only a way to hide mew, making him a really weird pokemon that only could be owned by those who discovered the glitch by error (or of course the official events were they were distributed), but that are only conjectures. All the Missigno stuff also gave the gamers a lot to talk about. I’m not saying it was like that for sure, but I have reasons to believe it could be more planned than it seems. Anyways, being it planned or not, in the end these are facts that give the original games all the mysterious and punk feels they have.

The Pokemon designs: These are the original designs that made the game famous so, how could I hate them? I love 90’s manga and anime style, so old-school and not that much digitalized as nowadays. I have not much to say, they are cute. Maybe they are not as original and extravagant as in the second generation (Gold and Sylver), which are my favorites, but they have that wild touch that matched the game feels so much. There’s a great variety of designs too, so I think everyone can have some favorites there (I love slowpoke, for example); from the classical “cool shonen” Pokémon like Charizard and Dragonite, going through cuties like cleffairy or meowth, beauties like Ninetails and Lapras to freak dangerous monsters like muk or magneton. The legendaries all look stunning and intimidating so I think they are very good too. In fact, they are all very different, and I think the game freak team worked hard on it because they knew they would be the key to Pokémon’s fame; and they were.

The character’s design: They also have this old school touch, which I like, but I think that other generations have more diversity. I mean, a thing I love about Pokémon is that everyone can feel minimally represented by some of their characters; Let’s be clear about it, while in the other games some characters look androgynous or simply not white, this first games still didn’t include these marginalized social groups (well, I suppose that they were all japanase, but that doesn’t look that inclusive thinking that the game comes from japan). But that doesn’t mean the characters were bad, just that the game lacked representation for those who don’t have that much of it, thing that is sadly normal, as it’s an old game… Apart of this, I think they are all worked too. Their designs are original; there’s a character I personally hate, and that’s why I think it’s good. Lt. Surge. Yes, this fucking war soldier; this guy gets on my nerves BUT that is cool, because people like that exists too, and Pokémon don’t represent him neither as good or bad; you just can judge by yourself liking it or not. In the other hand I love Erika and Sabrina, for example. Another thing I love about Pokémon is that the characters are so worked they let you think about what kind of people they are, why are them like that, how do they live… For example, why Erika just allows women in their gym? Is it because she was a victim of sexism? Is she a lesbian forming her harem? Ha, ha! you know, it’s not just like in most of Hollywood films or commercial manga where they only represent very beautiful people without defects and looking all the same. No; all Pokémon characters are individuals with their own personality, not demonized nor glorified, and I love it.

A thing I hate about Kanto is all the remakes and glorification there is about it. I understand it, because it’s the first game and it brings nostalgia to most of the older players, but I don’t share it. For me, Kanto was just the first Game Freak experiment and the introduction for us in the Pokémon game, and there are more complete and interesting games that came after it. Also, in my opinion, making remakes doesn’t make much sense because the funny thing about Blue and Red is how they get older, and as they get older they get darker, don’t ask me why because that is some personal feelings about it. That doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the remakes, they sure are funny and enjoyable too, as they give a new point of view to the old region, but I think Game Freak could spend their time in making their new games more complete, remaking other games (like Diamond and Pearl; what happened with them? Ha, ha!)

Let’s be honest, to me these games are boring compared to others, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t good games and all the dark feels are what I love about them. And... I also think I might have just got bored of them because I played them too many times! ha, ha!

Sami Luu~

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inikavulpixelreviews · 4 years

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New Game Special: Let’s Talk About Pokemon - Sword and Shield

Just as a warning, this thinkpiece WILL contain minor to major spoilers of the newest games.

So. Sword and Shield, huh?

While the Pokemon reviews themselves might not be starting for a while just yet, I think these games and the little discourse that comes with them warrants a little “introductory” thinkpiece to drop my thoughts and hot takes out there. I've played all the way through Sword, beaten its postgame epilogue, and am currently working on a Living Galardex.

Honestly? As flawed as it is, this is the most fun I've had with Pokemon since Black and White. No way I would call it better than BW, or even my second-favorite game HGSS. But it was far more engaging than the Gen 6 games and its ideas felt like a far better way to “revitalize what is familiar” than Sun and Moon did. The Wild Area is a wonderful addition I want to see expanded on tremendously in future games. And I mean like. Almost every route should be a miniature Wild Area in and of itself.

So yeah, I've had a lot of fun with it. It's not entirely scratched the itch that I've been feeling about the Pokemon series taking a serious overhaul to its mechanics (more on that in a bit). And like I said, its flaws are very apparent. Graphically it's still not caught up to modern games, and it's still very much a Pokemon game anchored down by conventions that have been with the series since the very start. And online interactions leave a lot to be desired. The story is back to a much more simple structure, which is a shame since there's a handful of really good characters present between Bede, Hop, and even the game’s main villains that all had a lot of potential. I would love to see them in a story that was handled with the same finesse as Black and White.

But in the end? I did enjoy it quite a bit. A solid 7/10 from me. But with the little micro-review done and over with, we're gonna move onto the two bigger points I'd like to drop my thoughts on.

The Pokemon Themselves:

I mean, what else would it have been?

While Gen 8 is one I wouldn't say is in my top two favorites or anything, it's still very solid and has a lot of fun Pokemon within it. Without giving a ton away, and since I've posted this publicly already, here's a first brush tier list of what I think of em. Though Gigantamax form are missing obviously, and some Pokemon are just not here. For some reason, it's hard to find one of these tier lists with all the new Pokemon on it. Just know that Skwovet and Greedent are around C-range and Galarian Stunfisk, Darumaka, and Darmanitan would be in A.

These can change with time of course, there's quite a few Pokemon that my opinion has changed on once I've examined their design more closely. Yeah, leaning a lot more into the positive! I think Gen 7 edges out just BAAARELY ahead, but 3rd place behind the greatness of Gens 5 and 7 is not bad at all! All that really holds it back are some lackluster cover-legendaries and, tragically, the lack of any new Ultra Beasts.

Figuring out an order to cover these in is gonna be a thing. I'd rather cover new the lines in their entirety, but because some new Regional Variants evolve into entirely new Pokemon, it's puzzling to figure out where they aughta go! In the end, I might go in the order of covering Regionals with no relation to new Pokemon first, then Gigantamax forms, then go through the 810 to 890 in order, plus whatever Galarian forms are related to new Pokemon when they come around.

I’d still say reviews will likely not start until 2020. I’d obviously wanna wait until the official artwork of all the Pokemon in a decent resolution would be available, plus I’d like to put a bit of extra oomph into these reviews. I’ll save what exactly I mean by that for when I start the Gen 8 reviews proper.

But of course, Sword and Shield isn't all sunshine and rainbows. As I'm sure any Pokemon fan has heard, in the middle of this very year, Junichi Masuda himself came out on E3 with the very unfortunate announcement that Sword and Shield will be the first games in the series' long run to not feature every single Pokemon. And indeed, that this will very likely be the standard for all Pokemon games going forward, electing to chose different Pokemon that are best suited to the theme of the region, and all others will be completely incompatible. Fans didn't take this news lightly, to say the least.

And I've thought about it long and hard on my own time, occasionally listening to what others had to say about the matter. Which of course, brings me, the person who mind you hasn't bothered trading their team to the most recent games in a LONG time BUT also had their top favorite Pokemon of all time axed from the Galardex, to my own hot take, gulp:

How badly do we really need the National Dex?

Okay, before I get into it any further than that, I wanna preface this by saying if you're one of the people that are genuinely upset about the National Dex cut, I understand. If you don't think Sword and Shield are worth buying because of the National Dex cut, it's your money to do with what you please. If you think Pokemon from this point forward won't be worth playing anymore due to the possibility that it will never feature every single Pokemon ever again, I totally get it. I'd be a fool to deny that there's a lot to be upset with Gamefreak with at the moment. But I will rather boldly make the statement that, after all the consideration I've done over the last few months, the Nation Dex has been a long-running mistake that should've never happened and the very concept of having every single Pokemon in every single game should've died when Gen 2 ended.

While I have taken its presence much for granted over the years, since it had been such a matter-of-fact thing. Of course every Pokemon would be in every game, why wouldn't they be? Turns out, Gamefreak's insistence on making sure all Pokemon are present for every game could very well be a root for a good chunk of the series' problems, both in the long run and recent.

Implementing the entire Pokedex, for one, is a huge waste of resources and time. People have already proven that putting in the Pokemon themselves doesn't take too long; modders have already stuck their favorites not in SwSh into the games and they are more or less fully functioning (albeit with the need to program your own moves and stats onto them). But to take that as evidence that maintaining the Nat. Dex shouldn't be a problem would be fairly disingenuous. For every single Pokemon, form, ability, move, and whatnot that they add to the game adds to an ever-inflating problem in terms of Pokemon's scope. With how many combinations of Pokemon, moves, abilities, and held items there are, I can only imagine that making sure no catastrophic game-breaking bug is going to happen in-battle due to an extremely and stupidly specific interaction is a QA nightmare that eats up far more of the work force’s time and energy that could be better spent... literally anywhere else.

And all this for what? So that a small and ever-shrinking minority of the fanbase can fulfill the increasingly difficult if not outright impossible dream of catching them all. Especially given how many of said Pokemon are only obtainable during a limited time. Not to mention how you are required to own multiple games to catch them all at this point. And there's obviously FAR too many to reasonably pile into a single region. The other side of that particular coin is the opposite; the people that usually only bring over anywhere between 2-16 favorites. Even that, as much as it is understandable to be upset that Cacturne's biggest fan won't be able to have their favorite Pokemon in the newest game at all, is so much commitment to a relatively tiny part of the game.

...Which is a real shame, since the very existence of the Nat. Dex has only encouraged the deep rut of series stagnation the franchise has suffered. Most if not all other major RPG franchises have had the room to experiment and do major mechanical overhauls because they never have to worry about whether or not the most recent title is reliably compatible with previous entries in their respective series. Because Gamefreak has been so insistent that every Pokemon, move, ability, and item has to be present in all future games, it's lead to a bigger issue in ensuring that everything functions the same way it did in previous games (barring tiny changes made to numbers more than anything). Meaning even the most recent games in the series have been bound to game design decisions made in 1996 on the goddamn Gameboy. Because of Gamefreak adamantly making sure EVERYTHING can function in future games now and forever, the franchise has not been given the room it needs to properly evolve or have a major update to its battle mechanics. For every new major mechanic that's added to the game, they would have to go back and ensure that it works with EVERY Pokemon, their alternate forms, and whatever moves they all may learn. And all the other major mechanical features in the battles. Is it any wonder that it was only twice that an entirely new feature was added that drastically changed the way battles played out? Only twice! Once when Held Items were introduced in Gen 2 and again when Abilities were introduced in Gen 3. There's been other, comparatively tiny updates here and there (The physical/special split in Gen 4, The streamlining of the battle system and the Pokemon themselves finally being animated in Gen 5, etc.) Is it any wonder Mega Evolution only effected a select handful of Pokemon? Or that Z-moves were a feature that affected moves more than they did the Pokemon themselves?

If you chop down the number of Pokemon to say, 400 or so per game, it would be considerably more reasonable to experiment with each new title. It's disappointing that this couldn't be evident in SwSh itself (though I would attribute a lot of that game's problems to questionable mid-development decisions). I personally would just hope the backlash has them listening to the criticism but not take it so much to heart that they backpedal entirely. Otherwise we'll just wind up neck-deep in the first problem again. I really want them to commit to this because it feels like there's a golden opportunity to make a truly modernized Pokemon game.

(A bit of a side-note, but I’m also noticing that now that the Pokedex is down to a much more reasonable number, a lot of people, myself included, are actually attempting to complete Galar’s Pokedex.)

NOT TO MENTION that it'll free up opportunity to make more new Pokemon. A lot of the reason recent gens have slowed down in Pokemon numbers is simply because the the National Dex was getting too big. Now that there's no more National Dex, perhaps we can start having generations of 100+ Pokemon again? In fact, I think SwSh would've been all the better had they pulled another Gen 5 in conjunction with the natdex offing to say that Sword and Shield will ONLY have 200 or so ENTIRELY new Pokemon, and not a single returning one. Fans would've still gotten upset, but the prospect of a game with ONLY new ones in the form of a soft reboot would've gotten people excited to see a sizable generation again. It'd also have shown a bigger commitment to making up for the lack of a National Dex, even before large gameplay changes would be made. (Although again, who knows how plausible that would've been given the implications SwSh had a rocky development)

Could Gamefreak have handled this mess better? Absolutely. I love what y’all do but I’ll give brutal honesty when I feel it’s warranted; they have been ultra trash about communicating with the fans correctly. Between citing “to make high-quality animations” as a reason for the Dex cutting as if you wouldn’t have expected every single animation in the game to be under heavy scrutiny as soon as you said so. Plus rather tone-deaf responses to the backlash. Something that should’ve been communicated was a reaffirmation that this decision was made for the betterment of the series’ longevity, and that it’s a choice that would make the series better in the long run (Even then though, that sounds like admitting SwSh aren’t as good as they could’ve been. And I doubt PTC would ever let anyone at Gamefreak say anything like that.)

This next point is just a personal one more than anything, but it’s a lot better of a solution than the other thing I was fearful might happen at some point: a hard reboot on the National dex. As in, most if not ALL Pokemon get permanently booted from the series and they start over, only keeping a select few. At least with this, so long as they prioritize Pokemon that haven’t been featured in a regional dex in while, I’m all for it. Friggin CHARIZARD aside, the Galar Dex feels like it has a healthy balance of fan favorites and niche Pokemon as far as returning ones go, which is good.

And of course, the Nat Dex isn't the ONLY problems in the Pokemon franchise. For one thing, I'd love it if this annual release schedule just stopped right the hell now. It's hardly a secret that crunchtime because of Pokemon game development is a huge problem at Gamefreak, all because of decisions most likely made by Nintendo and The Pokemon Company, though I'm sure some blame can be shafted on GF upper management as well. It's literally as easy as making the supplemental media stop being so caught up in doing the exact same thing the main series is doing. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the recent anime arc being “Globetrotting with Ash” is a move to distance the anime away from the games so the two don't have to be so coincided at all times. Like, Pokemon can literally do anything and make money off it. Why arbitrarily chain down the main series to a tight one-generation-every-3-years deadline.

Also Gamefreak REALLY needs to expand its workforce. There's evidently only 150 or so employees who natively work for Gamefreak, in which they have to rely on a lot of freelance work. Even so, that's a tiny work force to be working on a game that should be, by all accounts, treated with Triple-A game quality.

And again, let me just say that as much as I genuinely believe that the removal of the National Dex will be better for the series in the long term, nobody is wrong for being upset about it, and nobody is wrong for deciding they don't see the games as worth buying anymore. It's not your fault that Gamefreak made a promise to all of its players that they wouldn't be able to keep forever. And it’s certainly understandable to be upset given the very marketing has trained us to get very emotionally invested in these fictional animals. Like, as much as I saw this day coming, my first gut reaction upon hearing the news was genuine shock. And a slight tinge of disgust that Zorua, my top favorite of all time, could very well not be in the first home console main Pokemon games. At least until I realized “oh wait, I limit myself to only using new Pokemon anyway.”

And obviously this is by no means a guarantee that Gen 9's games will feature massively sweeping changes that fix all the shortcomings of the battle mechanics and will feature the vast Breath of the Wild-esque open world experience that fans have been clamoring for and 250 new Pokemon (plus 75 regional variants!). Gamefreak has been conservative enough about Pokemon to have landed themselves in this problem in the first place. Just forgive me if I hold onto even just a little bit of cautious optimism for the next games.

#Pokemon #Pokemon Sword and Shield #Pokemon Reviews

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medea10 · 5 years

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My Review of Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku

#anime review #wotakoi #wotaku ni koi wa muzukashii #narumi momose #hirotaka nifuji #tarou kabakura #hanako koyanagi #naoya nifuji #kou sakuragi

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champiowned · 4 years

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[[stats]]

my leon is canon-divergent and has established relationships with a few other muses from the same universe. [no, i don’t play exclusives.] main differences between him and canon include: he was endorsed by kabu, met rose after he became champion, never took the position of league chairman, and has since sold the battle tower.

stats:

full name: leon tarak malik [middle name is not public knowledge] official title: Himbo Twunk Supreme duplicates nickname: pecha parents: tarak [father, deceased] and laleh [mum... she’s doing her best] race: pakistani, persian gender: cis male orientation: openly gay. queer kids need good role models. age: 24 birthday | sign: dec 4 | sagittarius height: 6’ weight: ~200lbs / ~90kg build: dorito with tiddy the man works out and has good muscle mass but he’s not exactly a bodybuilder. these guns are made for hugging. voice claim: here nature | characteristic: naive | likes to fight

personality n behavior stuff:

- full of himself, but not in an “i’m better than you” way. unless you’re raihan

- ALTERNATIVELY: he does experience self doubt, pretty frequently these days, he just tends not to show it.

- hyperaware of his public image. always well behaved, positive, and poised in the public eye.

- epitome of “how do i adult.” growing up a child celebrity, pretty much everything was done for him and his life was controlled by the league and later, rose.

--- he knows how to behave in public and on TV, how to entertain crowds, etc, but has almost no interpersonal social skills and knows next to nothing about how to take care of himself. can't cook. doesn't know how to file taxes or fucking dress himself. etc etc

- he knows his weaknesses. and he’s kind of jealous of people who have their shit together.

- still largely a kid at heart. he’s optimistic to the point of being rather gullible.

--- he genuinely believes that people have good intentions and that anyone can become strong if they try.

--- he’s also easily swayed, especially if someone is trying to convince him of the "right" thing to do. he’s a people pleaser with a heart of gold, so he’ll do the thing that sounds the most helpful!

- he’s taking his loss a lot harder than he lets on. but still acknowledges that it was one of the best things to ever happen to him. feelings are hard, man.

- in person, privately [as opposed to public appearances] he’s a little on the quiet side. comes across as an idiot often but really is just stuck in his head a lot.

--- he’s also the definition of a clown. acts dumber than he really is just to make people laugh. arceus, does he love to make people happy.

health:

- physically fit. physically fit. physically physically ph --

--- he has a weakened immune system. doesn’t really know it yet.

--- his body also heals at about half the pace it should, be it from injury, working out, etc... he has started noticing this but doesn’t understand why it’s happening.

--- he’s physically sensitive to poison types. he gets weak and sickly the longer he spends around them -- which he doesn’t usually, because he’s developing a phobia of them and tends to avoid them.

- diagnosed adhd

--- blame his lack of directional awareness on that shiny thing over there

--- ... and on his inability to tell left from right:

- diagnosed dyslexia

--- the advent of rotom phones was a godsend. speech to text is his best friend. so are audiobooks.

--- but he would rather die than read, write, or do physical paperwork.

- diagnosed depression

--- has tried to seek counseling at the request of his loved ones. tried and couldn’t go in galar, but he’s been talking to someone on call from another region.

- still mentally working out that he was manipulated by rose. doesn’t know how to feel about it. he has a lot of thoughts.

- has caffeine sensitivity. the best he can do is 1 cup of black tea a day, which is tragic, really.

important history bits:

age 7: hop was born! he’s baby!!!!!

10: gym challenge!! champion time, babey!!!!

--- he was endorsed by kabu and u can pry that out of my cold dead hands

--- also peony was the champion he dethroned

11-12: trained under mustard.

14: father died in an accident.

--- mother fell into a deep depression. hop came to live with leon in wyndon for a few months and their (paternal) grandparents moved into postwick.

16: came out as gay in a live interview. fired his manager for being pissed about it. hasn’t had one since.

17: a certain macro cosmos president started sponsoring him.

19: said president became chairman of the league.

20: rose brought him into the energy crisis plan.

--- with limited knowledge, leon started helping him gather wishing stars for the sake of clean energy.

22: game events!

23: post game.

current: raihan is the new champion after the protag forfeited. also leon is gay married to raihan and claude von riegan. no i do not accept criticism.

misc:

- he no likey poison types. poison Bad. no reason in particular! it’s fine!! hahahahaha!!!!

- despite being so confident, he’s easily flustered around crushes. lastbraincell.exe has stopped working

- he and sonia kissed once. and that was how they learned leon didn’t like kissing girls and sonia didn’t like kissing boys.

- had a postwick accent as a kid. spent so long in wyndon he adopted that accent. but some old dialect pokes through every so often.

- his verse’s champion is named wynne! they’re nonbinary and he loves and supports them very much!

- he’s big on charity, and not in a fake way. looking at rose. he donates money directly to those in need and regularly volunteers at or hosts things like food drives, pokemon foster care, children’s hospital visits, etc etc. he’ll buy groceries for everyone else at the store, tip 300% of his dinner bill, and help you move that couch.

- if you don’t drink your respect hop juice he will snap you over his knee.

#navi;#n;#s;#stats;#h;#headcanon;#hc;

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artpharos · 5 years

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I think there are several things that often gets my goat when people who don’t play competitive vgc comment about competitive vgc

1) ‘VGC HAS ALL SORTS OF HORRIBLE BAN LISTS MADE BY ELITISTS’

VGC’s rulesets are dictated not by the playerbase. Sure, their rulesets make no goddamn sense and have no sense of balance, but their rules are set by the goddamn Pokemon Company, who set rulesets based off very arbitrary factors like ‘MONS ONLY CAUGHT IN THIS REGION’, or ‘NO EVENT LEGENDARY POKEMON LOL’

If you do want to play a metagame where there is an emphasis on balance and overall skill rather than ‘shit that Snorlax set up to +6 again time to forfeit’, Smogon is the competitive community that everyone loves to hate, but champions a system where the top players decide what mons are completely destroying a metagame’s balance (making it unfun for people to play, making it more luck based rather than skill) and try to build a metagame where your skill level in the game will ultimately reward you for your efforts. They also have lots of tiers- OU for the overused mons, UU for the underused mons, RU for the rarely used, etc. That’s not to say that this is a tiering system; you’re completely welcome to use the ‘lower tiered’ pokemon in the higher ranks for example, but basically these ‘tiers’ exist so that all Pokemon are viable in a format where they can truly showcase their true strength. And yes, Little Cup probably exists too.

2) ‘EVERYONE JUST USES THE STANDARD META MONS AND NOTHING EVER CHANGES’

While there are always mons that are mainstays in a metagame simply because they’re easy to build around, the very nature of a metagame means that things are always changing. Within two weeks, people might be using Mandibuzz, and two weeks later, it completely drops off to be replaced by stuff like Alolan Persian. A metagame evolves because people know what are the strong mons, and they will build teams to stop said strong mons. And when people find unique mons that fill a niche that they need to stop the 'strong mon of the week’, they will use them, forcing said strong mon usage to drop off. With exceptions like mons that are super good (like Incineroar), usage stats can wax and wane, and especially in vgc, unique choices are hardly looked down upon- provided they work.

But then again, you’ll never hear of people celebrating that one guy that used Mega Medicham to take 2nd place at North American Regionals 2019 (Amadee Graham of Australia) because he’s not using some cute mascot Pokemon.

3) ‘KAREN SAYS YOU SHOULD USE THE POKEMON YOU LIKE BEST AND STRONG/WEAK POKEMON ARE DETERMINED ONLY BY SKILLESS TRAINERS’

Okay. First off. Many of my friends would probably disagree with me on this, but I actually agree with Karen.

To be completely honest, there are as many teams in VGC as there are Pokemon. There is never only one objectively ‘good’ team. How well you do in VGC is determined by a lot of things: Your team, sure, but how you play factors in as well, and how well you can read the metagame and change your team/plays accordingly. There are many, many debates within the vgc community on which team, which mon, is the strongest and which ones are bad. Sure, there are some that are objectively bad- teams that are poorly built, for example.

But if a team has a strong gameplan, good synergy, and works well in the hand of the player who uses them, doesn’t that make a good team? Of course, you could take the very same team and give them to someone else and they’d completely fail at it because that team just doesn’t synergise with their playstyle, but isn’t that the very definition of ‘choosing the pokemon you like best’?

And trust me, VGC players will take any excuse they can to use the mons they like best, be it an Ultra Necrozma, or a friggin Magikarp and Cosmog (both who have gained championship points by placing well in tournaments, by the way)

At the same time, some the very best VGC players have told me, “You can play literally anything in VGC.” The caveat, of course, is whether you can build a team to support it. So I always find it kinda baffling when people throw this argument at us as if we’re somehow guilty of only using some vaguely defined group of ‘strong’ pokemon.

Which also leads me to...

4) ‘YOU ONLY USE LEGENDARIES YOU CHEATERS’

ngl someone actually told me this to my face once

you wanna know what was the most popular pokemon in VGC 17 (Alola Dex only)?

Arcanine.

you wanna know what’s the one pokemon that has appeared in consistently more than 80% of all teams since VGC 18, lasting even into the current year when we have an Ubers metagame?

Incineroar

you also wanna know what is the most feared pokemon in the VGC community?

Smeargle.

Fact is, if you’re truly playing competitive pokemon- playing pokemon to compete with others, you want to use the best pokemon you can for whatever strategy you want to pull. Sure, legendaries have always been a mainstay in VGC simply because of their stats/typing/movepool/ability being good and very easy to fit into teams for specific niches (special callout to Landorus-Therian). But you’re just as likely to see all sorts of random Pokemon that you wouldn’t normally consider able to go toe to toe with Legendary pokemon if you view Legends simply as a tier.

For example, the lowly Amoonguss is commonly used to shut down Xerneas, of all things. Smeargle has spread terror through the VGC community for its ability to learn (almost) EVERY attack, making it unpredictable as hell and a dangerous foe especially when it can put your mons to sleep with Spore. Add that to its actual ability of sometimes boosting its Evasion and you’ve got a mon that can completely turn the tide of battle with a flip of a coin.

Incineroar, too, has become irreplaceable to many VGC players. Not because it hits hard, but because it’s typing and ability (Intimidate) allows it to sponge many attacks and provide useful utility to its team with support moves like Fake Out, Roar, Snarl, and Knock Off/U-turn (a bit sorta).

You know what Pokemon are rarely used?

Articuno. Moltres. Mewtwo. Zygarde. Mesprit. Azelf. Uxie.

Personally, I find that viewing legendary Pokemon solely as a tier higher than everything else, disregarding their actual function and use in a team and in a metagame is a completely nonsensical view when you’re talking about competitive Pokemon. Like sure, you can use Uxie, but that choice is no more different than if you were using Bronzong, factoring in the difference in ability, typing, movepool, etc. None of these pokemon will annihilate opposing teams; in fact, if you play long enough, you realize you can play around most (if not all) of them.

And before you dismiss this all as some deranged rambling from somebody who doesn’t know what they’re talking about, I’ll admit this: I may not know competitive pokemon as well as some of the pros, but I did well enough to qualify for the VGC World Championships 3 times, and got ranked in two of them. I was the first person in my region to qualify for Worlds, way back in 2013, through the Last Chance Qualifiers, a grueling 7-round, best-of-3-games, single-elimination tournament. So yeah. I think I’m. semi-qualified. to talk about this.

VGC is important to me. It’s been a part of my life that i can’t cut out even though I’ve tried. But it’s a part of my life that’s brought me great joy and helped me form friendships all across the world, that got me to travel for Pokemon before Pokemon Go. So it always pains me when people talk down on the thing I love like we’re the mindless masses who just want to ruin the game. We just have a different way of enjoying Pokemon, and you know what? That’s okay.

I wouldn’t begrudge you for liking Comfey, or Slurpuff, or hell, if you’re one of the few people in the world that remembers that Carnivine exists and love it to death. I also don’t care if you really want to make your Roserade a sweeper, but I do feel like it’s within your best interest for me to point out the fallacies of your strategy so that you can work around them.

But using the above arguments as a strawman to show how VGC players are bad is just a showcase of your lack of understanding for what you are actually decrying.

#pokemon #competitive #arty's vgc ramblings #long post #sorry this just #means a lot to me #*lies down*

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hollowsart · 5 years

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A list of dumb Pokemon Pet Peeves I have, cuz idk man why not:

When competitive battling is perceived as the only way to play.

It really bugs me that so many people complain over the “lack of “good” Pokemon”... like?? buddy?? There’s over 800 Pokemon?? And all of them are good regardless of abilities, stats, move pools, and natures??

If you’re tired of using Rotom Wash and whatever the heck else, Go use something else then!! Upset that you can’t use that one mega or legendary you really like?? JUST USE IT ANYWAY! Who the heck cares!!

The incessant need to say “I need to predict when they’ll predict my prediction of them predicting my prediction of them predicting--” Like?? Buddy?? It’s not that deep?? This isn’t an english/literature class my dude. Chill.

Honestly.. It’s really irritating and a big reason why I don’t watch videos of people battling other people. It’s confusing and really annoying.

If Pokemon was real, let’s be honest, if you tried to play competitive you’d probably get your butt beat into a hospital for the next week to come. :|

If you really want a challenge.. just try to beat the games with the “worst” Pokemon in them; Magikarp, Sunkern, Sunflora, Feebas, Zubat.. etc.

When people got mad at the “update” to the Exp.Share in XY.

Hey.. hey buddy.. I have some news for you.. back in your beloved Gen1.. The Exp.All is what it was originally called and guess what it did. Take a guess.

That’s right. It shared the Exp to ALL of the Pokemon in your team!! Not just one!! At!! A Time!! IT’S NOT A NEW MECHANIC. IT’S AN OLD ONE THAT THEY BROUGHT BACK. It’s actually a lot more useful!!! YOU DON’T NEED TO SPEND SO MANY HOURS GRINDING FOR LEVELS FOR YOUR WHOLE TEAM. It’s a life & time saver!! And I for one welcome it back with open arms!

People referring to the characters with their japanese names.

I get confused so badly when it happens cuz idk who anyone is with their Japanese names. it’d clear up a lot of confusion for people to just say “one of the upcoming pokemon episodes focuses on Sophocles and his Vikavolt!“ instead of “satoshi and hikari have to face off against akagi and the ginga bomb!“ you only just barely understand whatever the heck they’re trying to say.

one thing that is also a major confusion is the whole Blue/Green character confusion. I would love to see more people just refer to the male rival as Gary and the female trainer as Leaf instead of tagging both of them as Blue and Green cuz let’s face it, you’re just gonna find both when all you wanted was just one or the other. I know I have many times before.

When people beg for new games & things but then complain about the new games & things and insist that the series is dying.

Hey Princess. Be happy with what you got. It’s the flaws in the games that make the games what we like. If you’re not happy with a region then make your own and make it how you would want it!! Make a rom hack of the games and mess around with them to make them how you wanted them!!

Nintendo never thought the games would go beyond Gen2 but now we’re entering Gen8 and there’s likely going to be more Pokemon games coming out and more new Pokemon as well.

People who whine about the designs of Pokemon and say that they’re running out of ideas.

Ahem.

Much like the real world that we live in, there are many different living creatures, some of which that look virtually the same while at the same time being completely different species. As well, there are many lesser known animals that

However, Nintendo & Gamefreak are taking inspirations from more than just real animals. They are taking inspiration from Yokai and other myths and legends of people and creatures from various regions in the real world.

Therefore. That keychain fairy Pokemon? Klefki? It makes sense for existing, it’s based off a fairy that will steal or protect keys from people within their own homes. As well, Chandelure and Cofagrigus are based off their respective myths of the Pharaohs curse and Poltergeist (the movement of objects without any known cause, suspected to be caused by ghosts) or Will-O-Wisp (little spirit orbs that look like little floating lights).

Even the Pokemon you hate with a passion like Garbodor and Trubbish have their reasonable explanations for existing. The US has a bit of a problem with garbage and waste and having little place to dump it. With a lot of that building up, it would make sense that in a world like Pokemon, the waste would come to life and evolve into a new Pokemon. Yes, it may not be as cool as a lizard with wings and a flame on its tail, but it’s still really cool.

When People cry about not all Pokemon having good moves or stats and that some Pokemon are forgettable because they are “useless” and “pointless” for existing at all.

...And once more, but with feeling; AHEM.

Much like our world, the real world, there are many objects and animals that have virtually no real reason for existing, yet they still do.

Mosquitoes don’t really serve much purpose other than to be food for other animals like fish or frogs or spiders or other insects, but even then that, too, is a reason. So just because they may not have a “good enough” reason for being, doesn’t mean they are bad and should be removed.

Just cuz you have no reason to use it doesn’t mean that no one out there would have a reason to use a fork or spoon that helps to lessen the shaking of their hands and bodies so that they may be able to eat easier.

Please leave the Pokemon alone.

And finally: When people complain about the story and incessant “hand-holding” throughout the beginning of or the whole game.

Well, at the end of the day, little kids are still the base demographic that Nintendo is marketing to. Not to mention that there’s still people joining the series every year and need to know the basics of how to play the games and what to do and where to go.

Yes, it may be nice for the “veterans” of the series, but to have that be a thing implemented into the games would be pretty ridiculous. To have the option to skip or turn it off.. You’d get confused and lost at some point and wouldn’t know that you’d need to backtrack to a previous location to do something there to unlock a way to get to the next place you couldn’t get to before, or to the place you didn’t even know you had to go to next because you assumed it was like a straight line, a straight path up, down, left, right to your destination.

With the newer games becoming less grid based and less limited to a labyrinth puzzle for kids, it’s become like a necessity to have people give you hints and other things to help you get through the games without getting lost. Have you ever tried to get somewhere by foot or bike, or maybe even by car that was really far or was someplace new? You can lose track easily of where you are and what direction you’re facing, and for some people this also affects them even in certain video games.

It’s not a bad thing to talk to an npc or look at your map once in awhile in game to help you figure out where to go next. It’s also only polite to help out your friends if they’re lost or need help in general to get somewhere!

#Ghostie mumbles

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heartbxnd-blog · 5 years

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@mercenaryrocket has sent: 4. What are some things you are tired of seeing in the RPing community? / 11. Have you ever received anon hate?

Lets get some NaCl-y on Munday a Thursday night! [Not Accepting]

Read more bc of the length!

4. What are some things you are tired of seeing in the RPing community?

// Oh boy okay so...

Senselless violence bc PsYcHo UWU EdGyNeSS my muse likes to hurt others bc uwu: IDK man, I am not saying violence is the problem here- violence if used correctly can be a nice compliment to a muse. However, I am so tired of muses just taking these actions- out of nowhere- man it is difficult to explain it. But to me personally- these extra edgy all about that violence muses, don’t quite fit in well with the pokemon setting??? AGAIN I am not saying that violence is the problem here- just look at my Lance (which I SERIOUSLY hope this isn’t what people get while reading my take on him), but I feel like I would appreciate more if violence actually complimented the character- instead of it being like ‘Look at my muse attacking other ppl bc uwu’ to me it just makes them look flat and childish.

OH YES UH- full grown adult muses, behaving and acting just like children: ??? Yeah it- it doesn’t sit well....

I’m tired of people failing to understand that muse and mun are two complete different things: I HOPE THAT EVERYONE WHO FOLLOWS ME, IS WELL AWARE THAT I AM NOT MORTY/LANCE/ETC. this is why I really try to distance myself as much as possible from muses I rp, I don’t want to self insert into them.

It is 2019, why do people still think that muses difficult to ship with = THE MOST DEVELOPPED AND WELL WRITTEN CHARACTER IN THE COMMUNITY: Calm down dude, chill- take ur coolaid juice fam. Full kudos and my love as well as support for muns who aren’t keen on it, who don’t want that- etc. But don’t come shitting on my fun, for thinking that somehow my muse lacks development because I like to ship my muses with other people’s??? What kind of assinide logic is this???

‘u CaN’t PiCk tHaT fC fOr Ur MuSe BC...’: Dude it is a fictional character... That’s their blog....Being made for Rp fun, ain’t nobody got time to appease to your wepwesentation campaign(tm). I guess you can fucking arrest me then Tumblr police.

Also I’m really tired of these “callouts” that could have been solved by simply talking/some kind of communication had happened: Sorry but those screenshots of Discord DMs taken out of context only serves to prove how low some people are willing to go. Honestly, this only instigates mob mentality and bullying.

I guess these are the biggest ones??? That came to my mind??

11. Have you ever received anon hate?

// Oh yeah!! A few times!!! Luckily they didn’t last much, and were just people being really dumb.

From being called a racist and toxic person, because I refused to tag my posts in my mother language after an anon came to me like ‘Yeah when I see languages IDK it triggers my anxiety uwu’. Imagine if I were writing some arabic dialect or japanese- wouldn’t that be funny?

To the less harmful ‘You’re transphobic for writing genderbend Aus’ in my sideblog... Dedicated to it- that I rarely if ever bring it up...And the person had to likely dig through my blog to find a link to it in the first placr....

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ It is like some jokes just write by themselves...

#would you like some salt in your tea?#ooc /#long post #mercenaryrocket #thank you for the ask!#Simone out here forcing me to open the gates of saltiness

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novemberhope · 2 months

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Skye (Pokemon Trian Project)

Do they consider laws flexible, or immovable? Immovable

Do they swear? No

Where in the world does your OC feel most at home? With her family

What color do they look best in? Light blue and yellow, pastels

Who are this characters friends and found family? Mainly her cousin/best friend Indigo but later also God and MJ

Do they have any piercings or tattoos? no

Do they actively seek romance, or do they wait for it to fall into their lap? she basically waits

What is their phone background/lock screen? a cute couple picture of her and God with their main pokemon

How competent would your oc be in a survival situation? Would they be better off on their own or in a group? Not overly competent but she would definitely be better off in a group

What inspired you to create them? I wanted do try the ultra feminine good girl, but not someone similar to Princess… I guess she mostly turned out the way she did by accident, I don't remember planning that much?

Are they messy, or do they clean up? Very clean

How much thought does your oc put into what they wear/look like? Quite some thoughts actually, she likes to look pretty and wear nice clothes

Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look? I think she more or less always looked the same

What is their favorite pokemon? Dedenne, as it was her starter pokemon.

How well would your oc handle being placed in a leadership position? She wouldn't do very well. She would try to accomedate everyone's wishes and that would not go down very well. Also, she can't handle people being angry at her.

What is your character’s favourite season? Spring

What was the first element of your OC that you remember considering (name, appearance, backstory, etc.)? I think her name was the first thing I had down

Did you design them with any other characters/OCs from their universe in mind? She had to fit with God and had therefore be the more feminine type but I also wanted her to differ from Princess in looks and personality

How did you choose their name? We decided to go for color names this time and Skye felt like a "real name" and yet it had a connection to the color of the sky/to nature and also to her sky blue eyes

https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test Personality Type:

Defender ISFJ-T Defenders are very dedicated and warm protectors, always ready to defend their loved ones.

Temperament: Phlegmatic

http://easydamus.com/alignmenttest.html Lawful Good- A lawful good character acts as a good person is expected or required to act. He combines a commitment to oppose evil with the discipline to fight relentlessly. He tells the truth, keeps his word, helps those in need, and speaks out against injustice. A lawful good character hates to see the guilty go unpunished. Lawful good is the best alignment you can be because it combines honor and compassion. However, lawful good can be a dangerous alignment when it restricts freedom and criminalizes self-interest.

#oc #oc creator #pokemon oc #pokemon trainer oc #skye #oc: skye #project: pokemon trian #pokemon trian #trian region #oc pokemon region #my oc

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aeolian-mode · 6 years

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aeo’s guide to RP

Hey guys!

I’ve been roleplaying for the better half of my life, and I had the thought today, ‘you know what? It could be cool to make a thing about RPing that may help new RPers or young people learn more about it.’ So I made this. Read if you feel like it ^^ (FYI, this is all for text-based online RP things. Tabletop RPs are not part of this article.)

So, what is RP? I’ve always defined roleplay as ‘collaborative storytelling.’ You take control of a character that you invent, and write what your character will do in a situation with another individual.

Writing a book by yourself is sometimes difficult, because you have to rely solely on yourself, your own life experience, and your own resources. When you write a book with others, it’s a lot different. Your RP partners bring in their own interests and experiences. There is also the layer of mystery- you can’t predict what they will write next, which makes waiting for the next post exciting.

So if you have an original character you want to introduce to the world, RP is a great way to stretch your creative muscles and become a better writer before you try to tackle writing novels or making comics.

How do you RP? There are many ways to find a community of like-minded storytellers. First, you have to figure out what kind of RP you want to do. There are RP groups for fandoms, furries, original universes, and more! If you’re really interested in something, chances are, there is an RP community out there somewhere. This is the most important thing to understand: you should try to interact with others first rather than expecting them to find you. Most people are always extremely grateful and excited for the attention, and they will very likely return the favor. If you have anxiety, that’s ok- TONS of RPers struggle with anxiety, and I haven’t met a single person who has ever been upset or displeased to be approached by someone for RP. You will delight them, they will feel good to be included! 1. You can join an instant messaging RP such as a Discord group. (It’s sometimes more difficult to find these unless you already follow a lot of RP groups and have a lot of friends interested in RP. Post about it on your blog, see if anyone in your friend group is in one!) 2. You can create an RP blog on Tumblr. In order to find people to interact with, you will probably have to interact with other RP blogs first. The way I did it on my TF2 RP blog is to send messages to other blogs, draw the characters of every person that followed me or interacted with me, and tag my RP posts #tf2 rp. People LOVE drawings and direct interactions. 3. You can search for an RP forum to join. One of my go-to places is the RPG Directory: http://rpg-directory.com/ Sometimes, simply googling for something like “pokemon forum RP” helps, too!

4. You can join a MMORPG RP community. Most big-name MMOs have dedicated RP groups on their RP servers. For example, if you wanted to join ESO’s RP scene, check out the ESO RP forum to make connections before you jump into the game. People are usually very friendly and helpful for new RPers and will help you settle in to the community. Here’s some things to help you pick the game that’s right for you (from the list of games I have personally experienced RP): FFXIV ($15 Monthly Sub): https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/ WoW ($15 Monthly Sub): https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/1182815/ ESO (Pay Once, Play Forever): https://www.eso-rp.com/ LotrO (Free to Play!): https://www.lotro.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?539-Laurelin-EN-RP Wildstar (Free to Play!): https://www.wildstar-roleplay.com/

(As a note, Free to Play RP servers tend to be a bit more come-and-go; the subscription-based games tend to have more player retention. If you want to make long term connections, be sure to get friend requests from people you’ve enjoyed writing with, as they might not stick around forever!)

RP flows differently depending on your medium. Instant messaging generally tends to be more fast paced, but results in shorter posts with less descriptions and exposition. Forum RP tends to be much slower paced, but posts are more detailed and lengthy with lots of exposition. MMO RP tends to be incredibly fast paced, but with very little exposition and description, focusing almost entirely on character actions and dialogue (as the video game environment already provides the visual, reducing the need for description). Pick a pacing that is right for you! For me, forums are currently easiest, because my life is busy and I don’t have to be online all the time to have a good story. What are the rules of RP?

A lot of people will say, “the 3 main things you need to avoid are ‘godmoding’, ‘powerplaying’, and ‘metagaming.’ “Godmoding” is taking control of someone else’s character without their consent. In RP, it’s important to write only your own character during interactions. “Powerplaying” is bending the story around your own will. Such as: writing your character as if they are impervious and can easily take over the world with their unlimited power. (For example, your partner’s character is angry with your character and throws a punch at them. Your character avoids the punch effortlessly, grabs the attacker’s hand, breaks it, then tosses them through a window.) “Metagaming” is giving your character knowledge that you have, but your character does not have. (For example, someone told you about the contents of their character’s secret journal out of character, but your character did not read that journal, you should not assume your character knows that information.)

However, I would say these are only symptoms of one simple issue: lack of consent.

Before doing something that could change the story in a significant way, simply ask the people you are RPing with if it is OK with them.

So, I would boil down the ‘most important RP rule’ as simply one rule: the Rule of Consent. It doesn’t just apply to mature topics. It applies to everything.

Communication is key! Chances are, people will be OK with accommodating your vision for the story, or helping you come up with a way to make it work. Before doing something extreme like instigating violence, coming across sensitive information, or introducing a significant conflict, simply communicate your ideas out-of-character to your partners before pursuing it. You will have a much better experience if you simply communicate!

Are there RP taboos I should avoid? How do I stay safe if I want to RP but I’m a minor?

This is a bit of a touchier topic, but the rule of thumb is: If it’s gonna be weird and hard to talk about in person, in real life, and out-of-character, chances are, it’s going to be weird and hard to approach in an RP context. Many people RP as an escape from real-world drama and difficulties; don’t bog down their fantasy with the sorts of things they may be trying to avoid. Go back to the Rule of RP: Consent. Make sure your partner will be comfortable with exploring heavier, taboo topics in their fiction and storytelling. TL;DR- Some people don’t like Game of Thrones. Some people don’t want their RP environment to turn into Game of Thrones. Some people enjoy writing about heavier, ‘adult’ material, but don’t assume everyone does. Try to assume your partner is a minor unless they tell you otherwise. (Obvious exception being, if you explicitly joined an 18+ forum, community, guild, etc. The admins of said community should be doing their best to enforce that everyone joining is 18+.)

Don’t be creepy. RP is a hobby, community storytelling, and should be fun for everyone.

If it stops being fun for you, tell your partner it is not fun. You are not obligated to RP with someone who makes you unhappy or uncomfortable. It is a hobby. If you’re worried that they won’t be your friend anymore if you stop RPing with them, ask yourself if that is because they are manipulating you. A real friend will not make you feel trapped.

And if you are a minor, make sure that you stay safe. Don’t join an 18+ community. Don’t ever give someone your personal information, even if they seem like your friend. It’s very easy to get emotionally invested in the stories you tell through RP, but predators are very good at manipulation. View RP as a creative outlet. Look for an RP community that is right for you, and surround yourself with like-minded people.

Practice emotionally distancing yourself from the content of your stories. It’s good and fun to get invested, but don’t become so invested in the story that it induces anxiety, stress, or makes it hard for you to focus on your real life responsibilities. If something is causing you anxiety, panic episodes, or difficulty sleeping and focusing, listen to your body. It’s telling you something isn’t right. Talk about it with someone you trust, and start distancing yourself from the RP.

RP is for fun! Always remember that. Everyone you RP with should respect that it is for fun, and not something to lose sleep over!

I’m having trouble finding RP partners, getting people to stay interested in my story, or staying interested in it myself. What do I do?

I’ve found that the best way to stay invested and get people interested in your story is to give your character a very strong, attainable goal. Here is an example of a “difficult to RP” character concept. Tim the Traveller is mute. He goes around the world looking for people to help, because he’s a very powerful magic healer. He has no family and no home. People have trouble communicating with him because he can’t talk. But he does his best to help. This character is difficult to RP with because he places the onus of every interaction on the other person. He is involving himself in their stories, but he has no personal goals or challenges to explore, himself. Plus, being mute, it makes it more difficult for him to carry on lengthy conversations with the people he encounters. This character concept can be done in a fun and effective way, but I’d say it is a challenge for someone who is just starting out. Let’s see what we can do to make Tim the Traveller a bit easier to RP with. Tim the Traveller suffered severe burns all over him from an incident when he was a child: a criminal set fire to his parent’s house, killing his father. He is searching the world for where the arsonist fled to. He only has a loose trail of breadcrumbs to follow in his quest for revenge and must constantly search for more information and change trajectories. He attempts to help those he comes across during his travels, but always takes his opportunity to press people for more information, describing the arsonist and praying desperately that he will find a trace of the man that killed his father. This sort of idea of a plot allows you to communicate to your RP partners OOC what your character’s goals are, give them information that they might help your character continue his quest, and in turn, your character also has opportunities to help them with their own goals at the same time. One RP I’ve done in the past that was fun was a case of a grave robber. My character was an incredibly poor street rat-turned-detective, and he was approached with an unusual case: a grave was dug up by a necromancer, the body tampered with, but it was placed back in the grave and the perpetrator was nowhere to be seen. My character was strongly motivated to find the perpetrator because he needed the reward money to take care of his adopted son. With limited information concerning the plot, my character travelled all over the city asking everyone he encountered for whatever information they might have regarding the tampered grave. This allowed me to involve a lot of people in the community and allowed my GM to construct opportunities for those involved to find more evidence, and developed into a very rich and interesting story.

A passive character is harder to RP with. An active character makes things happen.

A wallflower RP character can be fun to play in some circumstances, but without an attainable goal, involving others in your story will be harder. Give them goals and motivations, communicate with your RP partners, and see what sorts of stories can be told!

My RP never goes anywhere. I write starters/approach people, but every interaction I have with people doesn’t ever result in anything. What am I doing wrong? I have found, in my RP experience, your connections will feel more in-depth and your RP more rewarding if you try and see how your character and your friend’s character can develop and change over time. This requires some thinking, plotting, and openness to new ideas. It also requires challenging yourself to write lengthier posts for your partner.

For interesting interactions that go deeper than simple introductions and “how’s the weather” RP, it is beneficial to try and include a few things in your starter post or scene. For me, I like to come up with 3 things to include for every starter I write.

1. A clearly defined setting. Like, what’s the time of day? Is it indoors or outdoors? In a city? Somewhere private? Etc.

2. A motive. Why is your character doing what he’s doing right now? What does he want in the scene right now? If he’s just standing around doing nothing, your RP partner has nothing to latch on to. In some way, what he’s doing should tie back to a goal.

3. A connection to your RP partner’s character in some way. Why is their character, specifically, involved in the scene? Know your partner, and try to learn about your partner’s character’s goals. See if both of your characters’ goals can converge.

If you have trouble coming up with an idea for your RP partner, it’s always nice to message them OOC see what you can plot together. If you approach, rather than be approached, and ask questions and try to plot, you will find you have a much easier time easing into RP with them, and you might make a new friend too!

And that’s it for now! The TL;DR to all this is: 1. Follow the Rule of Consent! 2. Give your character goals and motivations! 3. Learn about your partner’s character and actively involve them! If you have additional questions or want to know where I RP at, feel free to send me a message :D

#advice #roleplaying #rp guide #how to rp

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citrusdragonart · 6 years

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Backstory time

A few people seem interested, so I’ll tell about how I got back into drawing as an adult ^^

I loved drawing in elementary school and a bit in middle school, but then i just...stopped. I don’t remember why. That was around 2005.

Fast forward to my first year of college in 2011. That’s when I got into deviantArt, zelda ask accounts there, and my first online friends due to that community. I was really lonely being away at college, so talking to these other kids felt so nice especially since my two roommates were awful to me.

Like I mentioned, I LOVED the zelda ask accounts. I’d just gotten into the game series that year, so it felt like I was talking to celebrities when I’d ask them questions. It was all in good fun, ofc. Then, in December, the girl who ran the ask accounts for both Blue Link and Dark Link decided to quit and pass on the accounts to someone else. Out of the blue, she asked me to be the new Dark Link. (This is where my online nickname comes from.)

I hadn’t drawn in years, yet she trusted me to take good care of her accounts. I was incredibly flattered, especially since she was very picky and we didn’t talk much. Others weren’t too happy only because another girl was supposed to be Dark Link. It was okay though; she took over the Blue Link account; she and I met that way, and we’re still friends to this day <3

Now, running an ask account for a character did a lot to change my life. It got me back into drawing, really pushed my roleplaying (which is now my favorite hobby), found me new friends, etc. But I’m only here to talk about the art aspect.

So...I didn’t know what to do! I hadn’t drawn in six years! So I grabbed a pencil and some paper and made a sample Dark Link before I began answering questions (Dec 2011):

y i k e s

Oddly, my second attempt looked very different, and i used it for my first answer (Dec 2011):

All i had at the time were mechanical pencils (which i pressed into the paper too hard), some crayola colored pencils, a sharpie for line work, and computer paper (since it was easiest for me to place onto our computer scanner). I looked up references like crazy, and I’d flip over my paper and hold it up to the light to check for mistakes. After I’d scan in the drawing, I’d use a simple photo software that was already on the computer to make the background pure white, and then it’s use MS Paint to fix any line art blemishes I could.

People liked me and I got closer to the friends I’d made, so i had the confidence to keep going! Also, it was a goal of mine to answer more questions than the previous account holder had.

It took until my 13th answer for me to try a 3/4 view rather than straight on (June 2012):

And I felt so proud of myself!

Fast forward three years, and my 34th answer (thought not my 34th drawing for the account) was when I really felt like i’d finally gotten a handle on drawing DL (March 2015):

Plus, answering this asshole AS an asshole was entirely satisfying >>;;

A year later, a friend i met in the community gifted me her old tablet, so i was able to start drawing digitally for the first time! To celebrate, I drew OoT Link as my first drawing (Jan 2016):

It felt incredible seeing my colors look so smooth rather than grainy. Lining still looked grainy, though, and took a million times longer. Also, having a plethora of colors to choose from was pressuring. But overall, i enjoyed the luxuries of using Sai (which i still use) over using paper.

Back on my Dark Link account, it took until answer 38 for me to draw digitally. But before that, I had done two AU designs for Dark Link and my first collab! I was feeling like a real artist! On my main account, I drew some pokemon, which allowed me to practice both lining and shading. Mewtwo was my first digital shading attempt (Feb 2016):

Shading was kinda fun, but i was so obsessive over the line art, that it took me hoouurs. It was awful, and i felt like i’d never get faster, though my friend who had the Link ask account encouraged me and gave me advice. As you’ve seen, my line art got much smoother, and i eventually stopped shading unless i was really in the mood since i didn’t enjoy it enough to make it worth all the effort and time. And speaking of time, my friend was right; i’ve gotten much faster now. It may still take me a few hours to sketch a bust sometimes, but that’s better than, say, a few days instead.

I began drawing for other fandoms; just fanart of characters I liked ^^ And i got my first commission in May of 2016. It blew my mind!!

Okay this is a small break in flow, but here is one of my last drawings of Dark Link i did for that ask account to bookend my development in drawing him vuv (Oct 2016):

Handsome boy. I still drew perfectly round irises back then, I just noticed. ...And I never really ended up understanding how to draw his hair lol oh well.

Anyway, when Splatoon came out in 2015 (taking a step backwards in my timeline for a sec), my friends i played with turned the squids they regularly played as into OCs, and i did the same so i could join in. That was my very first OC. And because of this, because of having my own character to develop and love and share, i got insanely obsessed and drew more and more and more.

If you paid attention to my drawing dates up above, you’ll notice my OC creation began before I got my tablet. Boy was it rough figuring out how to draw inklings when you’re an amateur artist with only a pencil. I’d show my development in drawing inklings, but that’s pretty specific and in too tiny of a time frame. Buuuut I can at least share my first attempt, mimicking the game’s style (Dec 2015):

Cute!

Aaand my second attempt, using my own style (probably a few days later):

Not cute lmao

I almost quit bothering to draw inklings after that, but then I got the tablet! And that tablet made me feel like i could draw anything. Sometimes, it still does... I mean, look at what i’ve been accomplishing lately (Dec 2016; Sep 2016):

I’m sure you guys remember this comparison i posted last month, but come on.

Anyway, here’s where i am today! I guess what i was lacking as a kid was a real passion for a subject. Well, i had a CRAZY crush on Danny Phantom in elementary school(?), and I drew him a lot lol, but then I didn’t have anything after him. But once i found zelda and splatoon, i had reasons to draw again. Being able to bring my characters to life through my art is more satisfying than i can explain.

...And being spontaneously given a drawing account to keep up with is a fantastic shove in the right direction lmao

#i probably forgot some chunks but it's a miracle i even remember THIS much #i only had 4 hours of sleep so i hope this is an easy read #not art

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slowpokesami · 5 years

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My opinion about pokémon games 2- Johto (Silver, Gold and Crystal)

Hi! As I said in the last post, in these reviews I will write about what I think is good and bad about different Pokémon videogames. I will talk (at least by the moment) about the principal games and I will go generation through generation. So as last time I talked about Red and Blue here is the link if you missed it now I will write about Silver, Gold and Crystal. Now it’s been some time since I don’t play it so be free to correct me if I make any mistakes.

In general I think this game was more complete than the first one, it had more options, like the phone and the bright idea of Pokémon breeding, which I think is one of the most entertaining things in Pokémon. It also included the first battle tower in Chrystal. It’s kind of a magic game, as they gave it a softer (but not worse) touch that wasn’t in Kanto. In fact Crystal was the first Pokémon game I played and that’s why it makes me feel kind of nostalgic. Another thing that I find very important is the fact that they added the option of being a girl with my favorite protagonist, that girl with blue hair I call Crystal. That was one big step to make the feminine public more comfortable, cause that was basically telling them the game was also for them and that girls can also be heroes. If I am not wrong it was (if not the first) one of the first videogames that added the possibility to play as a woman, and I think this is a big step in such a sexist industry as the videogame’s is. About the world: now that was a real fantasy world! I liked the realistic touch in Kanto but I rather the dreamy Tradicional-Japan inspired Johto. I think it gave another look to the videogames, maybe more appealing to the young public, but also not forgetting the adult one; I love the changing from day to night they added to this second game; I think it’s the best idea they had in Pokémon. All the scenario changed from day to night: you were in the same place but everything was darker and some Pokémon changed. I loved walking through tall grass and finding all the hoot-hoots and spinaraks, I kind of rather playing this game by night; but then the day came again and it all got calm and dreamy again. Talking about the cities, they were all very different; I like every one of them too: the idea of the Sprout Tower in the violet city, together with all Ecruteack city gave it the mysterios and tradicional japanase touch, while Goldenrod and Olivine cities gave it the cute touch. Mahogany Town and Blackthorn city added what most of the audience look for in Pokémon and other videogames, the epic touch, and the lake of rage was also helping in that. But cool cities and towns wasn’t everything that Pokémon offered us; there were also very entertaining places where we could do other activities, like the Ruins of Alph were we tried to complete the Unown dex while solving mysteries and the National Park and it’s contests, I had a lot of fun trying to catch the strongest or weirdest bug! And if that wasn’t enough, we could also travel to Kanto! I honestly have nothing to object about this region, the only fact that can be discussed is the decision of the boring zubat caves again and having to go across the victory road again, UFF!!

The villains: we had Team Rocket again there, which maybe wasn’t necessary but it wasn’t either a bad option. In one hand it was cool they went on showing that, even in a pretty world like the Pokémon one, there was cruelty; I’m referring to things like, for example, the slowpoke’s tails creepy plot. When you’re a child you’re like: “okay, this is bad”. But when you grow up you are like: “wait, WHAT?” They literally cut their tails to sell them in a high price, as it seems they are tasty. But doesn’t that reflect how bad we are too for eating animals? I’m not vegan but that is an interesting fact to think about, how we are reflected in team Rocket actions. Anyways it could likely be more compared to the shark hunting on japan (or was it in China?), as their fins are used for making soups and other food. I’m not sure how it works but I know they kill the whole animal just for eating the fin; if killing an animal you’re going to eat entirely can be cruel for some of us, how is it to kill an animal just for a fin? To me it makes 100% logic these things happen in Pokémon, and it is very clear that it would be team rocket who would sell the Slowpoke tails. The only question I have about it is… what happens to the Slowpokes? Do they kill them? Or do they make them live suffering? I can’t imagine team Rocket healing Slowpoke butts, honestly – and that makes me sad as you know it is the Pokémon I feel more represented by ;_;

But team Rocket was not that powerful since Giovanni left it, and Game Freak made a good job showing the contrast. For example, in Red and Blue, Team Rocket is everywhere: in the powerful places like Silph S.A., in the casino, Giovanni is a Gym leader, etc. while in Gold, Sylver and Crystal they even have difficulties invading the Radio Tower… because when they do you immediately go and kick them out. Not to mention there is no sign of them in Kanto neither. And after this game, team Rocket disappears. I doubt if Game Freak intentions were to make us aware that team Rocket ended there, if they wanted to show how a big mafia ended up being a group of thugs with dark intentions or if they just didn’t know what to do about the villains and didn’t think about a new team as they did lately… I think I personally would have rathered a new team because it is kind of repetitive and boring fighting them again; maybe a team linked to the spiritual touch of Johto? A lot of ideas come to my head, but well, as they made it fit the game, the idea of team Rocket again didn’t end that bad.

About the Pokémon: All I have to say about them are good things; this is my favorite generation of Pokémon designs, they all look extravagant and at the same time they all have the old school touch Kanto also had. There’s a lot of Pokémon I love there: Smeargle, Jumpluff, Stantler, Ledyba, Hoot-Hoot, Misdreavus… Not to mention the legendaries were also stunning; I simply love Ho-oh and Suicune. They also included the shinys and the baby Pokémon in this game (you know, Cleffa, Pichu, Magby…) which also strengthen the cute touch I was talking about before. The pokemon they choosed of Kanto also fit the story and curiously had a big importance in it, like Bellsprout (in the sprout tower) or gastly and it’s evolutions (that were very important in the ghost gym and also helped strengthen the mysterious and dark touch I was talking about before) . I think it’s the only game I wouldn’t mind what starter to use and the eeveelution introduced are as good as the three originals or even better. As I said, nothing bad to write here.

The Character designs: In the last review I was complaining of the lack of representation of social minorities and well, they introduced the first androgynous looking boy of Pokémon, Bugsy! Not to mention that Will looks kind of androgynous too. They still lacked representation for people of color and androgynous woman (and I could talk about more minorities!) but again that was Japan in the late nineties, so let’s go step by step. Apart of that they are also good characters, but I would like to know more of them. It feels like the leaders in Kanto had a more important role than in Johto, as some of them are part of the story while we don’t get to know the Johto characters that much (maybe the only exception is Jasmine, as we help her with her ampharos). But there’s one character that amazes me and this is Whitney; she always makes me laugh as I think she’s got a strong character, she behaves like a little girl but she will destroy you with her miltank – she looks cute (and she knows it!) but will make you a drama if she doesn’t win. Honestly I can understand it if the other people find her annoying but for me she is so frinking funny. We may not get to know the new Johto characters that much but the good thing is we get to know the Kanto characters better, and I like the fact that the Johto and the Kanto league are the same and now Lance is the champion, and we also got the opportunity to fight together with him against team Rocket. We can also see how the people of Kanto is doing after the first games: I like the fact that Green is a Gym leader and you can also fight Red. I could spend hours talking about how amazing and interesting it got but I think I said everything I had to.

I can’t say I have many objections of this game. Now playing it is not as entertaining for me as playing the new games because they got more dynamic and entertaining but it is still one of my favorite games Thanks very much for reading and, if you liked it, please reblog it, like it or follow me, this blog is still new and I need your support to go on with it! J oh, and you can ask about my point of view of anything of the Pokémon world if you want, I’ll try to answer it! Sami Luu~

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