One thing about my worldbuilding that isn't really important, I just think it's cute: the Pokemon anime is a TV show within the main gameverse and it's meant to educate kids about certain Pokemon while telling it's own story that's very, very, verrry loosely based on Red's journey.

Campaign idea I've LONG had but would require a fair bit of setup: time loop adventure. The party is having dinner at the tavern, when a rumbling rocks the foundations of the earth. Everything explodes in a wave color, sound, and immense pressure, but it parts around them the crest of a wave to a ship's bow. That bow being a small imp-like creature, screeching with the effort to maintain whatever shield is keeping the wave at bay. As quickly as it began, it ends, the world outside the bubble going greyscale. "Noble heroes," the creature pants, slowly turning. "The world hangs a second from death, I'm afraid I have to break my oath and call upon you once...Who the fuck are you!?" It collapses to its knees as it sees its intended targets, one table over. Epic heroes with legendary kit. Despite trying to maintain a low profile the party might even recognize them, or at least the gear spilling out of their robes. Most seem to be shrinking into their armor, though the gnome's just turning green. The whole bar is doing the same, come to think of it. "HOW. HOW DID I MISS. I- ok, ok. I can work with this. That's fine. they used to be chumps too, we just had more time to work back then. Hi. Welcome to the end of the world. If you want to roll it back, we can talk." The paladin's all for it. The rest of the party is conflicted, but they eventually decide they've got nothing else to do. First thing though, who is this? "Got a lot of names, been around for a while. Maintain time, maybe you've seen my work? Yeah, not gonna have it undone by a punk with a wish. One that wished for more wish granting items, and again with with all of those, until eventually they had enough for thier whole tribe of hundreds. and the tribe had one wish, a wish with enough power to bind even the gods." "They wished for 'Goblin'. And with neither the world or the goblins themselves having any idea what that's supposed to mean, creation answered with 'Yes.' There's not a thing under the sun that's not becoming goblin. Or over the sun. The sun's not outta the question eith- look, it's everything, ok? I don't know the reach, I don't want to either, I just know we can't stop that blast." The party grumbles. how do they save things if the gods themselves are bound? "I can chuck you back in time. Only about a day, I had to snap most of myself off when the corruption started. We can do this for a while, but we have to do this. Find out where they are. Figure out how to get to them. and somehow stop them. Can't be that hard, right? they're just goblins, right?" One way to find out. Basically this would start out consequence free. The world is set up, and full of FAR stronger creatures...at first. If they die they lose thier gear, but NOT thier info, the day just resets. Milestone experience, the players will slowly level up as they discover things. Discover how to get what they need more efficiently, skip parts, etc. I said 'at first.' Once they've gotten far enough, gotten their bearings, etc...they notice something's slightly different. Someone's slightly greener and nobody notices. A butterfly is a little goblin with goblin-patterned wings. something slightly changes in thier loop. next loop the little time gremlin's got a green ear. maybe they notice the bubble's slightly smaller. You've learned how things work, now execute. Whether you progress toward a failstate by amount of deaths/loops, or just give the illusion by going off progress, the pressure ramps up. The dragon they have to convince? goblin dragon. The city? slowly becoming goblins. Wild magic starts effecting party members, as even the concepts of reality start becoming goblin, under a sun that's starting to tint green. The bright side is you could do a bunch of the prep right at the start, and have far less to do as things progress. That's also the downside however, and the reason I haven't done it yet.

I've been thinking why the Arven Storyline is so good, and I think it's about pacing and delivery.

Pokémon SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also recalling this from memory so might be some inconsistencies but the spirit is there :) .

There's this mild mystery about this guy at the start, apparently he knows your Legendary Lizard and is responsible of it. He also seems that he'd rather not deal with said lizard, foreshadowing or a more classy term, setup. We also end up realising he is the son of the Professor with very little to go on of what this relationship is.

It is implied in NPC dialog that the Professor has been away from the public from a long time, but being the owner of the lizard that you own now he/she actually shows him/herself to you. He/She calls you by student ID, weird. And requests you sometime travel to Area Zero, the forbidden area, where he/she presumably has taken residence.

When you meet with Arven on the lunchroom he proposes that you embark on a quest for, ... Herbs? Herba Mystica that seem to have some weird healthy properties. It is known that he likes cooking but didn't think he was a healthy foods enthusiast, a healthy lifestyle guru. Anyway you consider it.

Later he gets into a fight with Nemona into who's path you should follow. He seems really aggro on keeping you to his mission. Weird.

First mission, after the fight, you find the Herb, ok seems more than just curative bogus, he cooks ya a sandwitch and Koraidon goes ahead and asks for yours. Arven seems apprehensive but you eventually give it to the bikemon and whoa! It got its powers back. So maybe Arven is helping his parent out? Or was this not planned? Wait "you can come out now"? What pokemon did he send and why was it kept a secret? Weird.

Now, for the first "delivery" on all these "setups" this guy's not just a crazy cook in search for the ultimate ingredients, the setup at the cafeteria has its answer in Mabosstiff, the pokemon he secretly sent out last scene. It is stricken with a weakening health condition and the reason his owner is gathering all these ingredients is to cure him before it's too late. This is great for two reasons: 1. We know there is a ghost dog Pokémon with a similar build to it's preevolution and it can evolve so the dog could indeed die and turn into that. Also we now have a reason why he's been so jumpy, he doesn't want you to help him, he needs you to help him. If you ignored him and went with Nemona or that wacky Hacker, He'd be all on his own, and may not make it.

After some more adventures, smth smth setup for weird futuristic/ancient form of Donphan he recognises. Mabosstiff... Is cured! The relief on his face and the tension of the story is relieved as the dog wears again its toothy grin. This sort of thing is actual good storytelling methinks. Simple but effective. What a great... Wait it's not over.

Apparently it is revealed that you must finally go to Area Zero, together with the other cast, it's exciting because there's been so much build up to it, mystery and weird new pokemon. However it is also revealed that, one of the strongest deliveries in the story, Arven has an absentee parent, which made him be on his own... With only Mabosstiff as his family. This is potent. Of course this makes you want to meet this prick, see what kind of character does such a thing, but more importantly, it gives weight to Mabosstiff's recovery, together you saved not a dog, but the only family left by his side.

After you completed all three routes, he shows you the way to area zero. Which you discover about the place and the Professor, fellow of science, too absorbed in it, made a time machine oh so that was the deal with that donphan, oh cool there's more where it came from. There's also some very cool banter with the three coprotags, specially love the one about parents, this stuff is more direct than even Sun and Moon sometimes.

The Professor is acting odd though. Arven is suspecting something's off but doesn't really like the implication. You get swarmed, paradox pokes at all flanks. Another Lizard. Arven also reveals that he was envious and blamed Mirai/Koraidon for his parent's absence as there seems some unknown trust finally building up between them at the end of the scene. You enter the lab and finally get to meet...

Oh.

AI Sada/Turo. The professor died in an accident, standing in their place is an imperfect cold and robotic replica of the deadbeat progenitor. This "delivery" if you didn't have it spoiled just, hits way different that all others, the person who you probably hate by now, is long gone, no happy or cathartic reunion, no Arven giving a piece of his mind. If he wasn't by now, your friend is now officially an orphan. This copy seems to garner regret from its actions, its work is too dangerous and wants you to destroy it. The one thing that came over its family, its true passion, it is at least able to do away with it. However, you have to battle it as the defence system overrides its AI with this... well, it's pretty much the part of it you hate, obsessed, distant(literally lol it's like a good story above you up there). You beat it as your friends and Arven come to see the machine terastalize its insides or smth and it blocks your pokeballs and send the aggresive Legendary agaisnt you, completely unarmed you try to do something but your Sandwitch friend the MotoLizard achieves his battle mode. This makes things even, however you tetastalize him into even more of a dragon and oneshot him.

Last scene, AI is defeated, however for the machine to be over, "it" has to be over too. Arven pleads for it to stay, but it decides to go to its paradise, its life work and creation takes it to a different time in a final act both selfish and selfless sacrifice, In front of its son. Finally, "the climax".

You see, this all lead up to this, every setup and every delivery. Arven has finally faced the memory of his Father/Mother and it, in consecuence, has faced him. A bit of a somber note, but hey this is a treasure hunt, what about his treasure. I can't believe I'm saying this but this is one of the best implementations of "The friends we made along the way" trope I've seen. You see Arven has this factor of "afraid of ending all alone" that is implied a bit through the game, he is a bit abrasive but has a good heart. The last scene(Not the Ed Sheeran one) shows him on a understandable horrid mood when suddenly both Penny and Nemona suggest to go to eat, he is hard to get at first but this sense of now, connection to these people, propels him to join (Also Lizard nudge).

This is actually, even if way more contained, a bit on par with explorers of sky for best writing pokemon ever had. At least in my view on the matter what do you think?

RINGPOPS!?!

ring pops aren't just a sweet treat; they have enchanting effects on pop trolls. Consuming one of these luminous candies could send them into a euphoric high, their colors glowing intensely as they bask in unparalleled joy and vivacity. However, this delight comes with a catch - their perception becomes skewed, their laughter a little too loud, and their dance moves a bit too erratic, leaving them in a blissfully dazed state.

As Floyd descended the stairs, he was met with the surreal sight of Carol indulging in a ring pop, her expression bordering on euphoria. Yet, what struck him even more was the nonchalant attitude of his companions; Barb and Riff were engrossed in their own discussion, seemingly unfazed by Carol's sugary treat.

"So, like, Dad's being totally unfair," Barb complained, her voice laced with frustration as she leaned against the kitchen counter.

Riff, ever the laid-back presence, shrugged in response. "What's the deal with the bat thing anyway?"

Barb sighed dramatically, her annoyance palpable. "I've been dropping hints left and right about wanting a pet bat, you know? But every time I bring it up, Dad shuts it down. It's like he's allergic to fun or something."

Riff chuckled, his eyes hidden beneath the brim of his beanie. "Maybe he's just not a fan of nocturnal roommates."

Barb rolled her eyes, her tone dripping with sarcasm. "Yeah, because a king of the rock trolls can't handle a little winged friend. Please."

Rebel, who had been quietly observing the exchange, chimed in with her signature deadpan delivery. "Maybe he's worried you'll name it something ridiculous."

Barb shot her a mock-offended look. "Hey, I have excellent pet-naming skills, thank you very much."

Floyd watched the banter unfold with a mixture of amusement and bewilderment, wondering how he had stumbled into such an eccentric household.

Carol zoomed over to Floyd's side with the agility of a caffeine-fueled squirrel, her eyes twinkling with a mixture of mischief and concern. "Hey there, Pinkie! You're looking all sorts of twisted up. Did you tangle with nightmares, accidentally nudge the doomsday button, or come to the stark realization that our existence is a cosmic joke with the punchline missing?" Her words tumbled out in a rapid-fire stream, leaving Floyd blinking in bewildered silence.

In response, Floyd, still trying to acclimate to Carol's whirlwind presence, simply gestured towards the ring pop she was fervently enjoying. This prompted a pause from Carol, her head tilting in confusion. "The... candy?" she echoed, clearly missing the point of his concern.

Gathering his thoughts, Floyd ventured a question, tinged with apprehension. "Carol... just how old are you?"

Carol struck a dramatic pose, as if she were about to announce the secret to the universe. "Ah, the mystery of my age! Let's just say, I've been around the block fifteen times, but in rock troll years, I'm practically a legendary artifact. Behold, the eternal teenager!"

"YOU'RE FIFTEEN!? AND ON RING POPS!?" Floyd couldn't mask his horror, his voice echoing his shock.

The rest of the group turned to look at him, their expressions a mix of amusement and confusion, as if Floyd had just revealed he believed in mythical creatures.

Rebel, who had been observing the exchange with her usual reserved and unflappable demeanor, finally spoke up. Her voice was calm, almost a whisper, but it cut through the confusion with ease. "What's wrong, Floyd?"

Floyd turned to her, the shock still evident in his voice. "It's... the ring pops. In the Pop Village, they're not just candy. They... they're like, really intense. They make you brighter, happier, but also kind of out of it. It's like being on a constant sugar high but magnified. We're told to stay away from them unless it's a special occasion."

Rebel nodded, her face betraying nothing of her thoughts on the matter. The room fell into a curious silence as everyone processed Floyd's explanation, the seriousness of his tone contrasting sharply with the laid-back vibe of the moment.

Carol chimed in, her laughter echoing through the room like a mischievous melody. "Ring pops are like cocaine for you guys!"

Floyd's eyebrows shot up in confusion. "What's cocaine?"

Carol's eyes widened in mock surprise. "You don't know what cocaine is?" She turned to the others, her expression incredulous. "Guys, we've got some educating to do!"

Riff leaned forward, his eyes twinkling with amusement. "Cocaine is a drug, Floyd. It's like... super intense. It makes you feel really energetic and happy, but it's super dangerous. It can mess you up bad if you're not careful."

Barb nodded solemnly, her eyes wide with seriousness. "Yeah, it's not something you want to mess with. Like, at all."

Rebel, as usual, remained quiet but observant, her gaze shifting between the others as they explained. Finally, she spoke up in her calm, measured tone. "So, just stay away from cocaine and ring pops. Got it, Floyd?"

Riff, popping his back with a series of satisfying cracks, casually dropped a bombshell into the conversation. "The only people I know who mess with that stuff are total party animals. You know, like Sid... and Carol here."

Rebel's face instantly shifted, her usually stoic expression melting into one of disbelief, almost as if she'd just witnessed a confession to a high crime. She turned slowly, her gaze fixing on Carol with an intensity that could cut glass. "Explain yourself," she demanded, her voice calm but carrying an edge sharper than any blade.

Without missing a beat, Carol burst into a fit of laughter, her voice filling the room with its wild, untamed timbre. With a flick of her wrist, she tossed a bag of ring pops towards Rebel, the colorful candies flying through the air like a rainbow scattering in the wind. "Catch me if you can!" she taunted, bolting out of the house with the speed of a cheetah.

Rebel, momentarily stunned by the sudden shower of ring pops, quickly recovered her senses. Her eyes narrowed, a determined glint sparking within them as she dashed off in hot pursuit of Carol, leaving the others alone.

Barb, circling back to the conversation that had been so abruptly cut off the night before, turned to Floyd with a mix of curiosity and determination in her eyes. "So, about my question from last night... are you gay?"

Floyd, maintaining his composed demeanor, offered a thoughtful reply. "I really don't care what anyone is. I only care who they are," he said, emphasizing the importance of character over labels.

Barb, undeterred and possibly missing the point, leaned in closer, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "So like... ultra gay?"

At this, Riff couldn't help but interject, an eyebrow arching in amusement and confusion. "Why are you so interested in this stuff, Barb? I mean, last week you asked me a similar question because of my bandana."

Caught off guard and visibly flustered by Riff's question, Barb's cool façade crumbled. She started to sweat, her eyes darting around as if looking for an escape route. Without another word, she bolted upstairs, the sound of her footsteps thundering across the floorboards. The slam of her bedroom door echoed through the house as she yelled back down, her voice muffled by the distance, "I'LL NEVER TELL!"

Floyd and Riff exchanged bewildered looks, a moment of silence hanging between them as they processed the sudden outburst. "Well... that was weird," they both agreed, the understatement hanging in the air, filled with unspoken questions and a shared sense of bemusement at Barb's mysterious behavior.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This has been my shortest chapter, but i promise its important to the lore of the story for later on!

finished the teal mask and oh boy do i have thoughts…

(SPOILERS FOR THE NEW DLC IF YOU DONT WANT SPOILERS PLS DO NOT READ)

god. kieran. kieran is so refreshing from a character perspective. kieran is like the anti-hop. it kind of feels like he’s the protagonist and we’re the classic jerk rival, doesn’t it? this guy clearly has Issues and i really like that, im enjoying this sort of “why can’t i beat you” rival trope that gamefreak’s been doing lately. they nearly did it with hop but with kieran they’re really going full in. the character arc that kieran went through in this dlc was actually difficult for me to watch, seeing this poor boy destroy himself mentally. the first time i battled him for the final time i actually lost, and i was hoping that he would get to keep ogerpon because altho shes cute and i adore her, i felt so bad. but ofc thats not the way the cookie crumbles. kieran is socially awkward, he doesn’t know how to communicate, and he’s never had a true friend. then florian/juliana comes along and suddenly there’s someone who seems to genuinely enjoy hanging out with him that isn’t, yknow, related to him. but then that person that he was so eager to trust goes along and begins befriending and helping a pokemon that hes adored all your life behind his back. i relate to kieran a lot and ofc yknow the absolute maniac arc hes about to go through is probably not healthy but i rlly hope this ends up being good for him. he idolized ogerpon because of how he related to her story, not because of the actual living creature she is. i wouldnt be surprised if it turns out he doesnt value his pokemon as actual living creatures either. i could see him being like a reverse silver, as he grows colder growing to not even care about his pokemon.

on the other hand, carmine! carmine was such a delight, i was genuinely not expecting to enjoy her as much as i did. sure, she also has Issues and has probably been a negative effect on her brother, but at the end of the day she is also just a kid. she probably has no idea what shes doing, and i dont think shed ever hurt kieran. she went through a lot of growth in the dlc and i can see her trying to become a better person with the help of florian/juliana and repairing her odd relationship with kieran.

also, it seems like she kind of has to play a parental role for kieran, as its implied that their parents arent around. thats another thing that separates kieran and carmine from siblings like hop and leon (and oh my god im just realizing all the parallels between hop and leon and kieran and carmine). its implied that the galar bros had a good childhood, and hops Issues dont start until hes set off on his journey and leon is a full adult with an actual life. with the kitakami siblings, if you read between the lines you can tell that theyve had a harder time growing up. with carmines comments on tourism and how it’s negatively effected their town and give her Trust Issues, that obviously fucked them both up a little, seeing that people only valued their hometown as an attraction, and that they themselves were a part of that attraction. and of course we dont know what the issue was with their parents. also, why are they going to school in unova? (side not oh my god it is so obvious that we’re going to get bw remakes in gen 9 or a legends unova game)

kitakami is such an interesting region. obviously its tiny, it has one town and then everything else is just untamed land. i feel like something Else is going on here. or maybe its just small idk

i love ogerpon a lot i think shes adorable and i love that we got to run around with her before she joined our team and it makes the whole “ten year old catches legendary thing” feel more realistic

also why are ogerpon and the loyal three legendaries i feel like they should be mythicals them being legendary feels Wrong

anyways these were my silly thoughts on the dlc and i hope kieran turns out to be the bb leagues champion (pulling a blue) and also i dont trust briar now time to finish my pokedex and talk to legends arceus pandering i mean perrin and if i see anyone call carmine a terrible person i will trade away your ev trained competitive team ok bye

(also this scene made me emotional)

Cooking Headcanons for all of the Emperors:

Good cooks but only by some very specific standards:

Scott: He's good but only when it comes to baking and generally wheat-based products. He knows everything there is to know about wheat! Grows it himself, turns it into flour himself, and turns it into delicious fresh bread! Anything else though? Yeah no. He paints it to look good, but dyes don't taste as good as they look.

FWhip: By goblin standards, he's an amazing cook! He grills pork with a speed few others can achieve and the particular flavor cave mold adds to it is addictive. The only small side effect of it is that it could turn you green if you're a non-goblin and you eat it... well, the ranks of the Goblin Empire need growing so maybe it's not so bad?

Gem: The cakes from the Sun Empire are legendary! The honey from their well-taken-care-of bees is hard to surpass. When you pass in front of Gem's home in the morning the sweet smell is almost irresistible. What was that? You want something that isn't sweet? *points bee gun at you* yeah, I didn't think so.

Pirate Joe: Fish. There's a lot of fish in the sea and he knows how to cook all of it. You can be certain that he has invited Katherine to a romantic fish dinner before. Multiple times. She'll accept one day. He can also prepare seaweed surprisingly well. And he knows how to steal everything else really well too!

Katherine: Much like her, her cooking has two sides, either it looks fantastic but tastes like death itself had a party on top of it and then left it in the sewers to marinate a bit too long, or it looks like it just crawled out from the ground and it still hasn't freed itself from any of the mud and bugs that come with it but tastes fantastic. Which one you're getting is determined by which part of the castle she slept in, but refusing either is extremely impolite and will bring the wrath of Pirate Joe on you. So... good luck.

Honorable mention to the only fucker who can actually cook:

Sausage: Eddie raised that boy right. He's well-rounded when it comes to house chores. He can cook, clean, and mend clothes just as well as he can create weapons and armor. There's a reason why he was the first to get the idea of making a tavern, you know?

Now to the 'can make instant ramen and cook an egg and little else' bunch:

False: Listen, she doesn't have time with cooking. Paranoia is extremely energy draining and she needs to focus on survival and going back home as much as possible. She can manage well enough, but, you know?

Pix: He lives inside the catacombs. Most of his time is spent studying and presiding over a court of law. You can't convince me that he isn't living like a college student every day of his life. He has about 4 different types of instant ramen in his cupboard and regularly rotates between them, that's it.

Jimmy: In his defense, very little grows in Tumble Town. There was no way for him to learn to cook anything complex. He still can make a mean scrambled egg and... yeah... maybe he'll learn something from FWhip eventually. Hopefully without the quirkier side of it.

???

Shubble: Shubble, please. Frog eggs are not what you make scrambled eggs with! And tree bark isn't as edible as it looks. If it looks like chocolate and smells like chocolate it's probably tree bark in the Evermoore. If you still manage to swallow it then congratulations! Your ears are bigger now! Oh? You want them back to your original size? Well, don't worry, a tree root soup will do just- aaaaand they're bigger now. Shop's closed, good luck with the fog on your way out.

Joel: He's a god. He only eats gold. The good news here is that gold is an edible metal for mortals as well. It definitely depends on how much of it you have to eat though... he's a tall guy, don't expect regularly sized portions from him. And you don't want to offend a god, do you? Last guy who did is a toy now.

Lizzie: Raw fish be upon you weary traveler. The highest of honors.

Hlvrai x Pokémon Stuff?

Mainly just thoughts on what each type or special gimmick each character would use.

Gordon: Steel, Normal, or Ground

When I think of pre-handless gordon I think Normal but when I think of gun-hand I think Steel. I’m biased on Ground bc I think it would be very cool if Gordon had a Mudsdale. THEY EVEN HAVE THE SAME COLORS GOING ON AND JOSH WOULD LOVE IT-

On terms of a game gimmick I don’t see him using anything except maybe z-moves? He’d likely just brute everything though bc he doesn’t think he needs the “extra help” 🙄

-

Tommy: Electric

Fast and Yellow 👍 I wish I could give him more but it’s the most fitting for him next to possibly fairy.

From what I recall from Pokémon lore is that mega evolution is formed from strong bonds so I find it most fitting for him. (I think the mega stone would be on his hat or something skfhajajkakaka) I could also see him having one pseudo legendary on his team 🤷‍♀️ just one. Not a real legendary.

-

Dr. Coomer: Fighting!

Very fitting for the violent old guy! and there is a boxing Pokémon already so it feels like it’s meant to be. A possible second contender is Steel to go with the whole fact that most of his body is replaced by robotic parts but otherwise I feel fighting is most appropriate.

Z-Moves power up a Pokémon and that’s what I feel he would do just before fighting a strong opponent (similarly to how he becomes super beefy before fighting ben in the last act.)

-

Bubby: Fire AND Psychic

Mainly this has to do with his canonical pyrokinesis, but also with the “brain & brawn” double battle trainers (*cough cough* psychic and fighting = BOOMER)

He’d have psychic Pokémon with Fire-tera typing or the other way around. Double perks. Also maybe some man made Pokémon like Porygon.

-

Forzen: Dragon or Ghost

Dragon (bc he thinks they look cool) or Ghost (bc they help with quick getaways) either way he probably thinks they both look cool.

No gimmick but I’d see him using moves like protect a lot to piss ppl off.

-

Darnold: Fairy, Poison, or Flying

When I think of Darnold I think of powerful whimsy that isn’t taken seriously and to that I think Fairy. Poison is more so to the not-so-pleasant side effects of his potions. Flying is just for the gag of him rocketing the hell out of there. Otherwise I think Fairy is the most fitting.

Once again no gimmick bc he’s more like Arven where he wants to make fun things for his Pokémon than actually battling.

-

Benrey: Dark, Ghost, or Bug

I think you can all guess why Dark (ha ha dark=bad, evil, and everything awful ha ha haaaaa) but more so to the perception bc he has dark Pokémon makes ppl (specifically Gordon) perceive him as so. Ghost is more to the whole clipping and not-being-able-to-die-normally thing as well as the fact he’d definitely favor Gengar come on. Bug is bc I think he’d like bugs. Little creachers >:))

Gigantamax is so definitely his favorite (giant strong and a great cool- like him in the last act!) but I also think he’d pull a second team of ultra-beasts in a last ditch attempt bc, like him “not being human” ultra beasts aren’t really Pokémon. Some deep relatability.

-

G-Man: Psychic or Dark:

Once again that thing about perception. Maybe also ice? Cold exterior and all that.

Only character to whisk out actual mythical or legendary Pokémon for battle. How did he get them? Dw they’re good friends stop asking so many questions.

-

As for an extra Josh would only have baby Pokémon. Like- three bc technically they’re Gordon’s Pokémon and also he doesn’t want Josh running around with a whole team. (Maybe Rock types to match with Gordon if he has ground but I’d see him with Bug types too.)

If there’s anything anyone wants to add just throw it in my inbox bc Pokémon is my secondary focus in my brain for the month.

The Ghost and Molly McGee Fanfic

Summary:

Ollie wants to prove to Molly that ghosts are evil. Molly wants to prove that things aren't so black and white. Scratch just wants to be left out of it.

Chapter 1: The Plan

Ollie was NOT stalking Molly. 

He was, however, stalking the ghost that was constantly at her side. 

Now that he knew what to look for, and used his ghoul goggles and other ghost sensing equipment, he could tell that the ghost was almost always by her side. When she was eating lunch at the cafeteria, the ghost was stealing food from the lunch counter. When she was walking home from school, it was floating lazily above her. Even when she was up in her bedroom, it moved around her room, talking animatedly to her. Yes, he knew it was creepy to currently be hiding in the bushes in an attempt to get a peek into Molly’s room, but again, he was spying on the ghost, not Molly! 

Okay, maybe this was taking things a little too far. His face began to heat up at the implications. He wanted to protect Molly, but even though he had noble intentions, invading the privacy of her bedroom was not okay. 

He was about to pack up his ghost detecting equipment and head home when his machinery went off in a series of loud beeps. He immediately turned the equipment sound down so it wouldn’t give away his position. He turned his goggled-face back to the attic room. Molly was no longer in her room, but his goggles still registered the presence of the ghost. A large spike of ecto-energy shot off the scale as his goggles flashed danger warnings at him. He caught a glimpse of something round, black and swirling. 

Was that a portal? 

His heart pounded hard against his chest. What was that ghost doing in Molly’s room? 

He gasped as his goggles registered four other ghosts emerging from the portal. He sat there, stunned, watching the ghosts float around the room for a few seconds before he realized they were talking to each other. He brought out his listening device and pointed it towards the window.

“This is your responsibility, Scratch.”

“Ugh, don’t use that word!” The ghost haunting Molly said with a shudder.

“Responsibility-phobic or not, you are the Chairman,” a female ghost said. “It’s your job to give a ruling when two ghosts have a territory dispute.” 

The Chairman? Ollie had heard that title before. Wasn’t the chairman some kind of evil leader of the ghost world? Just how powerful was this ghost?  

“You’re not going to leave me alone until I do something about this, are you?” the Chairman asked. Their looks must have been his answer because he sighed dramatically. “Fine, let’s just get this over with.”

Another portal opened and all the ghosts disappeared through it. Immediately, Ollie’s equipment went silent as the ghostly energy vanished.

The ghost that was haunting Molly was also the legendary Chairman? This revelation caused Ollie’s stomach to twist with fear. He was way in over his head. He had to get more answers and Ollie knew just who to ask.

Ollie packed up his equipment and snuck away from the house as inconspicuous as he could. He crossed the street into his own front yard and unlocked the door to his house. When he entered his house, he found his father at his desk looking through old footage they shot last week. His mother did the video effects, but his dad spent a lot of time cutting down the footage to the most usable clips.

“Dad?” Ollie asked.

“Yeah?” His dad continued to click through the footage, not taking his eyes off the screen.

“Can I ask you a question?”

There must have been something in Ollie’s voice because his dad immediately stopped what he was doing and turned to him.

“Of course. Is everything okay?”

Ollie nodded. “I just wanted to ask… Do you know anything about the ghost that’s called the Chairman?”

His father froze, his eyes widening. “Ollie,” he said carefully. “Please tell me you haven’t been trying to hunt that ghost.”

He shook his head. “No, I just heard the name and I was curious.”

“Where did you hear this name?”

Ollie bit his lip. “Just on the ghost hunter forums.” It wasn’t a complete lie. He had heard about the Chairman from the ghost hunter forums, which is where professional ghost hunters shared information about ghosts they have seen and advice on ghost hunting techniques.

His father seemed to relax.

“Why? Who is the Chairman?” Ollie asked, the dread in his stomach climbing up to constrict his heart

“As far as any ghost hunter can tell, the Chairman is a powerful evil spirit that rules the Ghost World. He feeds off negative human emotion, even more than most ghosts do. Some reports say that he is the embodiment of pure misery and his sole purpose is to inject more misery into the world so that he can be sustained.”

Ollie swallowed and realized his throat had gone dry. This was even worse than he suspected. “So it’s a really dangerous ghost?”

“Probably the most dangerous ghost of all time. Unfortunately, there is no recorded evidence of this creature so we don’t know what it looks like. We have some sound recordings of ghosts talking about the Chairman, but that’s about it. Even regular ghosts seem to be afraid of this creature.”

Ollie nodded numbly. Like he predicted, Molly had no idea about what kind of monster she was hanging around with. But one thought still confused him. If the Chairman fed on misery, then why was it hanging around Molly? Molly was the most joy-filled girl he knew. He had seen with his own eyes Molly and the Chairman together laughing and playing. He knew all ghosts were evil, but in watching them in that moment, the ghost hadn’t seemed like it wanted to hurt her.

“What if… hypothetically, there was a ghost that made friends with a human,” Ollie asked. “What if they spent all their time together and the ghost wasn’t making the human miserable.”

His dad raised an eyebrow at him. “You know that’s not possible, son.”

“I know… but if a ghost was acting friendly with a human, what would that mean?”

“Well…” his father said slowly. “This ghost obviously has some sort of plan. Ghosts want to create the most misery possible, so the ghost must be planning a way to make the human more miserable in the future. If this ghost is acting friendly now, then perhaps it hopes that by luring the human into a false sense of security, it will generate more misery when it betrays the human later.”

“That’s awful!”

“All ghosts are awful, son. Some are just more devious than others.” His father put his fingers to his chin in thought. “But ghosts don't usually have complex plans like that. It’s more likely that if you heard of someone befriending a “friendly” ghost that they are just lying for attention. It’s probably nothing to worry about.”

At that moment, Ollie almost told his father everything. He couldn’t handle this on his own. Molly was in danger, but she would barely look at him these days. The right thing to do would be to tell his family about the ghost so they could all get rid of it together.

However… if they destroyed the ghost, Molly would hate him. The ghost had probably already convinced her to stop talking to him, and who knows what other lies the ghost had told Molly about him and his family? She would never believe destroying the ghost was in her best interest without proof. 

That was it. 

He had to show her. He had to prove to her that ghosts were bad. Once he showed her the truth, she would want nothing more to do with ghosts. She would even be grateful when his family finally destroyed that ghost once and for all. 

Thoughts on Mass Effect 1

Similar to what I did for Dragon Age, I wanted to summarize my thoughts on another Bioware Trilogy as I completed each game. I just finished the original Mass Effect as part of the legendary edition, so here we are.

The Shepard that I'm dedicating to for this trilogy is Shiv Shepard, a colonist Sole Survivor. She's a sentinel and, over the course of the game (playing as a commander with survivor's guilt and a vow to save as many lives as possible under her command), maxed out the Paragon meter.

(As you can see I had a little fun with Photo Mode lol)

Major decisions include: sparing the Rachni Queen, sparing the colonists on Feros, sacrificing Ashley, romancing Kaidan, saving the Council, and promoting Captain Anderson as the human councilman. Besides Ashley, all squadmates were recruited and lived.

Full thoughts in a list of pros and cons under the cut:

The Good:

Graphics: Perhaps because this is legendary edition, the graphics were much better than I was expecting, and I could tell it was made on an upgraded engine than Dragon Age Origins. The characters emoted well, or at least the human and asari ones did.

Ammo: One thing I dislike about shooters is ammo management. Having unlimited ammo was nice for a change, and let me free up my attention to learning the abilities instead.

Voice Acting: Jennifer Hale absolutely carries Female Shepard, she makes the character for me. Other voice actors did great as well.

Interplanetary Politics: It did take me some time to get acquainted with the political structure of the game, but once I did I was intrigued by the unique role humans played in it all as relative newbies to the game, and how differently the drive to prove their species worthy to the alien council manifests in different human characters.

Environments: Besides the side mission planets (I'll get into that), the main story locations like the Citadel were beautifully designed, if a little difficult to navigate at first.

The Bad:

Repetitive Side Missions: MY GOD. I wish I could say these didn't ruin the game for me but they kind of ruined the game for me. I didn't mind the side missions on locations like the Citadel or the main story planets, but every other side quest was basically: land on a remote planet that's a copy of every other planet but with different textures. Get your car stuck in some rocks. Find a base. Clear out enemies in the main room. Find an important file/hostage in the back room. Rinse and repeat. After like 30 of those I wanted to pull my hair out. I get that maybe I didn't have to do all of them, but I also didn't want to be wrong and find out later that sidequests would have saved lives or something.

No Party Banter: Hello? Even Dragon Age Origins had this, and honestly, party banter was at least half the reason why I fell in love with those characters. These characters don't talk to each other except when in an elevator, and that makes them all feel rather hollow. None of them seemed to have a relationship/opinion with other characters, or if they did, it was lukewarm at best. I was disappointed.

Romance: The options are limited, for one. I think I would have chosen Kaidan anyway, but I wish Garrus and/or Tali were available. I didn't choose Liara because I wasn't vibing with it, what with feeling like a research subject more than a love interest to her. I figured Kaidan had some great potential in the beginning, but that was squandered when I continued 90% through the game without so much as a flirtatious line. Come on man. I understand this is a military setting and there are regulations but I need that YEARNING you know. That pining and devotion. I need Roy/Riza 2.0 is what I'm saying. I didn't get even a fraction of that and I'm sad about it.

Talk No Jutsuu: Sorry but even with the maxed-out Charm skill and Paragon dialogue options I don't think Shepard would have so easily talked down some of these people. I get that RPGs take liberties with this, hell Dragon Age does it too, but it seems much more glaring an issue in this game. I'll be talking to a homicidal cult leader and because I say "don't do this, this isn't in your heart uwu" he's like oh shit you're right I'll turn myself in. I don't buy it and it takes me out of it.

Glitches: More than even Dragon Age, I ran into a lot of glitches that would make sections nearly unplayable and I would have to restart from a long-past save, which was incredibly frustrating.

The Squad:

Kaidan: I've read that people think Kaidan is boring but I don't think he is. I actually really like that he's a good-natured well-adjusted guy that doesn't have any drama surrounding him, despite the trauma he suffered in his past. He's got layers, and it makes him feel more real to talk to than some of the other teammates, which is why I guess I gravitated to him as a romantic interest. Still would have liked some more romantic lines though.

Ashley: I was not a fan of hers, in the beginning, what with her automatic distrust of all the alien crew. After talking to her some more about her family and motivations, she did start to grow on me, but it wasn't enough to keep me from sacrificing her on Virmire.

Garrus: I can see why he's so popular, he's fun and a good-hearted renegade. With Kaidan, he became my most used teammate simply because I liked his commentary on things. We'll see if I ever decide to romance him though since he felt less like a love interest to me and more like a wily little brother I had to reel in sometimes lol

Tali: Tali my beloved. I love her, she's so sweet and I loved her excitement around technology. I would have romanced her if I could. I don't have much more to say besides I'm excited to see her in future games.

Liara: I am completely neutral on Liara. I liked her well enough but she referred to everything with such a sterile scientific lens that it was hard for me to care about her deeper than that. I'm curious where her character will go though, I know she's important to the franchise overall.

Wrex: I was also rather neutral about Wrex, though I liked his determination to overcome the Krogan disease affecting his people. I just never felt like I had a great reason to bring him along.

Overall I thought Mass Effect was just okay. The villain was serviceable, the plot was followable, and the missions were engaging enough to keep me playing. I'd say the only reason why I stuck it out though was to get to Mass Effect 2, which I hear is much better, and I really hope that's true.

Overall Score: 6/10

Ooh I’ve been absent in the fandom for a while (so my everything is rusty), I didn’t realise that ppl would criticise the game cause we don’t know the continent name? In terms of lore I don’t think its that important to develop, instead I want to focus on the lands of Nohr and Hoshido.

For me whenever I read leokumi there’s a focus on strengthening relationships between the two nations, and whilst I love love love that the main focus is Leo and Takumi, I’ve read so many that I want a plot that includes their relationship whilst not glossing over trying to establish the peace between the two nations, especially because they seem to have a history of war (I think). Normally I would just write it but then I realised that there’s so many missing details and so that’s where my idea came from to flesh it out.

I absolutely agree on what you’re saying since establishing random facts like ancestry etc is not what interests me, UNLESS that ancestor idk was responsible for establishing like a mage school which has a knock on effect in the present game (because like the Nohrians are known for their dark mages. I swear I heard there was a school there, and its curious that dark mages aren’t as feared compared to their counterparts in other games and genres. Perhaps another point towards the desperation of Nohr? Or perhaps they are less fearful of the unknown? Or maybe willing to experiment, one could say innovative? [Stuff like this I wanna build on]). Oh plus also the relations with the smaller nations/towns (?) like Nestra, Mokushu etc (I’ve still to research on this part so maybe I’m wrong)

Funny you should mention the concubine wars. I was going through the Fates Drama and like I would love if the concubine wars were mentioned more. Fans seem to know that some of their siblings died during disputes between the concubines but also some were executed, died in battle, taken by Hoshido and I feel like that offers already so many questions to expand on. But also begs the question on really how many children were there in total. A fanfic set where Corrin or Azura has to navigate the court or even Takumi navigating the court would be super interesting.

But yes, deffo that point. One that I struggle on is the establishing of peace between Nohr and Hoshido. I want to know why its difficult. Like ofc we have the villages and ppl affected, but how far does it go back? Realistically there would be resistance groups, perhaps from both sides? Why wasn’t trade the first thought? Or did it start with trade and escalate? How much of it was Garon or was Hoshido being difficult etc.

I didn’t think about the farming techniques but that’s something I want to explore as well. I think during peace times it would make sense for Leo to use Brynhildr to try and heal the land. I want the legendary weapons to be used more if that makes sense. Like the two swords on both sides make sense for defending the country but a magical tome has so much more potential, especially on the agriculture and perhaps terraforming with gravity. Fujin Yumi wise, I’d have to do more research but it would be poetic if the second sons of both nations were in charge of making sure the nations thrived from within whilst the elder brothers defend it.

Omg I’m so sorry I didn’t mean for it to be so long. It’s just really nice to ramble to someone who knows what I’m talking about and that cares ^^’ If AO3 allows such a thing then I might start planning, I’ve already got 2 sheets of notes from the audio Drama :D

Thank you for listening again!

-N

Oh also I just read my ask you answered and by no means did I mean to trash fates. I love the game but I just have issues with the plot. It makes me sad at all the potential lost since I love the game and it's cast. But yeah its not to say that the history and world building we got was bad, I just as a lore nerd crave more. I really hope we can get a remake, maybe on switch but at this rate I think it's copium. I read the wikipedia and apparently one of the writers wrote enough for 2 books worth in terms of plot and just aaa I wonder how they must feel about the game

-N

Oh, let me be clear I didn't think you were trashing Fates with your first ask! Don't worry about that anon. Also, I would DIE if they gave us a switch release of Fates, especially if they re-localized it to make it more accurate. Like honestly I'd be so over the moon. But I'd also accept just a port, I mean it's kind of necessary since I believe Rev is now no longer available on the eshop as of this month and the rest of the eshop is shutting down soon?

Anyway I'm glad we're similarly minded with regard to establishing background facts that don't have much effect on the present, lol. As for the history of conflict, it's been a while since I've played, but IIRC there was always the implication that Anankos's influence was part of what's been driving conflict between the nations? I suppose if you were writing an AU that ignores Valla though (or wanted reasons beyond that) you could really go with anything. I think the game also implies that Hoshido is kind of isolationist and that combined with their bountiful lands kind of leads to Nohrians resenting them? Resources and lack thereof have always been a major driver of conflict historically.

All of the stuff you brought up does sound interesting! I'd especially like to see your take on the Nohr dark mages because you're right, it doesn't really seem all that strange there like it does in other places in the series.

Anyway no problem! Feel free to ramble or ask for opinions any time! I double checked AO3's ToS for you and yeah, I believe something like this would qualify as fannish meta so you should be good to post it there!

Avatar and Ableism

In addition to being colonizer propaganda, being directed by a dude who thought that Native Americans ‘should’ve fought better’, and just downright racist, Avatar is also ableist. It has a messed up attitude toward people in wheelchairs, and anyone who requires any kind of assistance to breathe.

Something I learned about Avatar recently is that there was absolutely no reason to hire an actor who could walk.

https://dsq-sds.org/article/view/1353/1473

“Compulsory able-bodiedness is not only central to the narrative of Avatar, but was also a key part of its production. Although there is not a single frame in which Jake Sully's human body walks, an ambulatory actor (Worthington) was nevertheless cast. To provide the appearance of a paraplegic's atrophied legs, director James Cameron commissioned the production of prosthetic legs for Worthington, and post-production, digitally edited out any trace of the actor's actual legs. The special effects team, Legendary Effects, created these prosthetic legs by casting the legs of an actual paraplegic man. This tortuous process of special effects and additional effort demonstrates quite dramatically the extent to which compulsory able-bodiedness is always defined by the presence of disability.”

It was literally more expensive for them to hire a walking actor than to hire one in a wheelchair, but they did it anyway.

"For the motion cap and interaction with the actors" is often the immediate reaction, and I would like to point out they didn't have a problem with James Earl Jones on Star Wars and chemistry with other actors. Nor did they have this problem in animation. Or anything in media that requires a voice, really.

https://collider.com/avatar-ableism/

“...by and large, within the disability community, there’s a greater emphasis on curing societal woes that make life difficult for disabled people rather than the physical disabilities themselves. The ending of Avatar would be more inspirational in depicting a society that’s accessible to all people rather than just erasing disability. “

We have the hero who has been all white savior and badass for so long, then at the climax of the movie, as the bad guy says "you need to wake up", and exposes him to the atmosphere, he is suddenly back in his human body. His love interest helps him and that's one moment I wish the movie had really explored better because they never actually saw each other like that until that point. Wouldn't it have been better if that "wake up" comment was in more ways than one? Like he has to finish this in his real body instead of the one In the dream so to speak? If his avatar is dead, kaput, and he still makes a relationship with the alien love interest in his normal human body, wheelchair and all? Here we have a moment where the hero is vulnerable, his disabilities are in full swing and actively hampering his ability to reach the gas mask and he has to be rescued by his love interest. If he had stayed in the human body, that might have had its own ableism problems, but wouldn't that have at least added some nuances? Accepting people for who they are and all that.

What If losing his legs again was the price of victory? What  if he feels it was worth it, or realizes that it's a part of him or something, or maybe this is a cause worth dying for as opposed to getting sniped on some middle eastern hill? This definitely might have some problematic thinking, I was wondering if it was weird that he wouldn't be at peace with it considering the film, but at the same time he does throw away his world for the chance to get legs again.

Avatar ableism not just restricted to wheelchairs, it’s also extended to oxygen masks.  One of the most disturbing things I remember about Avatar is this idea that there’s no way the two sides can co-exist, and that somehow needing a gas mask is some impossible obstacle that must be overcome. As I remember, the oxygen masks are depicted as an inconvenience, a hindrance, not an accommodation, but a shackle. I feel like there's a bunch of movies that do that, depicting something very unobtrusive like an air mask as some...big evil or something. Imagine if your inhaler was seen as one of those old cartoon Iron balls. Someone I know with asthma and a CPAP machine said that “I know some people view CPAP as awkward, but for me it's a gateway to far better sleep.“

The movie seems to view the oxygen mask as a hindrance, something to be shed. I mean it nearly kills the protagonist to not have one, and arguably, his need for the mask is depicted as bad. Some people seem to think that the only value of a space settlement is if you can breathe without requiring an enclosed environment. And it reminded me of how often in sci-fi we see that, an emphasis placed on worlds that are so earth like you can't see any sign of accommodation. I wonder what that says about how much people don't like to be reminded of disabilities.

The entire movie seems to revolve around the concept that there is no value in being disabled in any way. It’s almost got a...eugenicist view of things.

The entire reason why the good guy of the movie does what he does isn’t because he thinks its right, it’s because he personally approves of the natives. If they didn’t let him walk, he would’ve nuked the natives and walked away whistling. The sole reason he does anything is if he personally deems it important to him, not for any moral reasoning, but because he wanted to fulfill his own creepy fantasies.

“ Realizing the problems with approaching disabilities in ableism in Avatar shouldn't lead to people focusing their frustrations squarely on this movie, but using it as a ‘gateway drug’ into recognizing how rampant troublesome depictions of disabled people are in pop culture writ large.“

Admitting - Cal x f!Reader

You and Cal have been getting to know each other a little better across the race season, will this be the day that Cal finally admits those hidden feelings?

First xReader submission, I'm hoping to make more of these <3 However this is just some fluff to get started and stretch those writing muscles!

Tags/Genre: Fluff/Feelings / Soft

Pairing: Cal Weathers x f!Reader (female)

Words: 2,671

The air vibrated with the snarling and revving of engines, cars gunning their torque to the very max, moving and sliding around one another and their tires nothing but a blur as they sailed across the searing hot tarmac. The chorus and cheer of the crowd was loud and almost deafening, echoing across the stadium as the sun set, the orange hue settling upon the stadium like a warm blanket. The outside world didn't matter, it was almost as though all the elements had aligned only for this moment here, two cars struggling for leadership in the feat of speed and skill, a light blue faded stock car, and the blazing red of his opponent. It was the only things that the cameras trained on, the audience collectively seeming to hold it's breath as the cars moved at breakneck speed. The white flag flew, and the cheers and cries only became louder, the excitement raging through each and every car that was intended heavily for two contenders. The cars behind the leaders seemed to fall further and further behind, leaving to two racers in a world of their own, their concentrated frowns focusing on eating up the track in front of them.  Crew chief's were yelling to their racers through the mics, trying to put in one last effort to spur their charges on, desperate to at least get a few more points in the leadership, and set them up for the next set of races. Though it was mostly in vain, there were no real changes in position, and the racers all looked tired and mostly done. One such pit stop however wasn't exerting such effort to keep their racer going, the legendary Strip Weathers watching his nephew with pride as he slowly inched out in front of the famous Lightning McQueen, seeing the thrill on the young Dinoco sponsee's face, remembering when he too felt that rush. Beside him was a long time friend and inspiration, Doc Hudson, to watch and support Cal in his mid race season. On the other side of the 'Fabulous Hudson Hornet', was where you stood, a young avid car that could be arguably Cal's 'biggest fan'. You whistled and shouted along with the crowd as Cal soared closer and closer to the finishing line, leaping on the spot in triumph as the blue male practically ate the ground up, diving across the finishing line in a blaze of roars from the audience. You felt yourself leap up ecstatically, cheering out in victory and support, flashes of color and cheer echoing through the stadium with a deafening buzz. He instantly plunged himself into doing donuts upon the track, his tires squealing and engine revving, the friction causing white smoke to plume from the tarmac, his laughter being heard as he peeled away, taking a winning lap round the track at the cheer of his fans.  The feeling was indescribable, and he felt his mood soar higher than the stadium itself, the smile fixed permanently onto his face. Though despite this, he was all the more eager to get back to the pits... knowing full well who was there. He sped along to his stop, skidding to a halt as he glanced up to his uncle, who smiled down proudly to him.  "Real proud of ya' Cal" Strip beamed to his nephew, to which Cal only smiled wider.  "Thanks Uncle..." He started, hearing the congratulations come at him from all sides from his crew, Doc giving a small nod of congratulations, though ready to rib his own young racer for his loss. Cal graciously accepted the praise, though his eyes continued to search, one face on his mind, before he finally caught a glimpse of you, his mind instantly distracted. You moved under the barrier and approached him excitedly, your lights practically flickering in excitement as they did when you dealt with strong emotions.  "Cal! That was amazing! Congratulations!" You beamed, practically hopping on the spot. Despite his calm and friendly nature, you still felt the bubble of nervous emotion every time you uttered a word to the cerulean racer... there was something about him that made you feel lighter than air, and to say you were addicted to the feeling was an understatement. "Thank you... You know I really couldn't have-" He started, when

he saw the media spilling onto pit row, to which he shot you an apologetic smile. Although he wasn't sure what could truly come of it, he didn't want you in the media... he didn't know how that could effect you, and didn't want to put you in that position. You weren't a racer, and he was aware of that. "I'm sorry Miss (y/n)... I won't be long" He promised you, his voice gentle as you also spotted the cameras on their way, your face falling for just a millisecond, knowing he would be torn away yet again. "Oh! No, no take your time, you deserve it!" You said now, covering the slight disappointment you held, and getting hurriedly out the way, just in time for the cameras to focus on him, the interviewer Shannon Spokes beginning to congratulate him herself. It was always this way between you two... just snippets of time together, before his busy life would separate you again. You were pleased for him.. of course you were. And proud! But these small interactions didn't sate the longing that was in your heart.. You of course were too embarrassed to admit the crush you held for the racer, and getting to know him over the race season was always the highlight of your week. You had both hit it off almost immediately at a pre-warming party held by the Piston Cup organizers in order to let the racers mingle, and to bring everyone together before the big season. You had merely gone purely on a whim with a friend that knew one of the racers rather well, and you were now glad that you did. Very glad. The desire to have more than just tiny moments that you could lock in your memories was always there, and in the mean time, all you could do was just hope and wish. You moved over to where the pit box stood, carefully watching Cal with a gentle smile, your heart racing just a little. You couldn't quite hear what was being said, though you blinked as you saw his tires suddenly balloon, Guido racing out from behind the Dinoco racer, and his calls after the cackling racers. You giggled at the sight, feeling just a little sorry for him, before you heard another voice pry you from your thoughts.  "We'll meet him up by the victory podiums. You can tear your eyes away from the love of your life in order to do that, can't you?" Your friend parked at your side, and you raised a brow, scoffing. "Pff, you wish, you'd just looooove to be the matchmaker right now wouldn't you" you mused, before feeling a tire kick your side in play. "I'm better at it than you!" She teased, causing you to turn slightly. "Yeah?" You rebutted, playfully tackling your friend as you had when you were kids, leaping off and trying to evade the revenge attack that would no doubt come your way, move giggles erupting from the pair of you. Little to either of your knowledge, Cal watched with a soft smile on his face, his gaze following you as you left.  -- The confetti reigned free as it exploded high above the podiums, twirling down and settling upon the ground, flashes everywhere as photos were being taken, and more chants and cries could be heard as fans were desperate for their favorite racer to notice them. The audience seemed to settle as a microphone was hitched near Cal, and he began to give his winning speech to them all, smiling gently as his gaze moved through the crowd. "Thank you all! It's such an honor to race, as it always is, and I couldn't do it without the love and support of all you guys out there!" He started, hearing the cheers rising.  "I hope to only bring more wins to the season, and bag another one for Team Dinoco!" He added, waving his tire out to the fans, before his eyes rested upon a certain car in particular, and a tender smile came to his face.  "But lastly... I wanna dedicate this win to Miss (y/n)... she's been a real inspiration to me lately... I owe her" He said now, continuing to watch you as he spied the blush creep across your hood, you gaze falling as the embarrassed smile appeared. He.. he said that? He really said your name on stage.. in front of everyone! He laughed gently, not paying attention to the next speech from

Lightning, only persisting in gazing to you in the crowd. To him... there was no one else in the area, and he could only see you. Suddenly he didn't want to be on the podium, finally twisting his gaze away from you to look to the track, the last of the sunlight glinting against the tarmac, to which he smiled, an idea forming.  By the time the speeches and congratulations were done, the stadium was clearing out, and Cal made his way through the crowd to watch you make your way back to the pits, presumably to help clear up as you always did. You didn't like being swallowed by the crowd and being caught in the rush... besides, any extra time you got to maybe watch Cal wind down on the track or just have any moment with him, was worth the late nights. He revved his engine a little louder as he approached, in order to let you know he was there, seeing your brake lights shine and your gaze rest on your mirror. The blush was back instantly, but you tried to push it down and resume some soft of confidence... even if it left the moment he appeared, as always. "Well hello stranger..." You half teased, before you chuckled. "I see... now that you've grown bored of the screaming and adoring fans, all chanting and desperate for your attention, you've come to me" You mused, giving him a smirk.  "Well... only so much I can take being yelled at, ya'know?" He smiled in return, before he looked to the track again. You had paused, though had started to turn away, and he reached out with a tire to stop you, causing you to pause.  "You ok?" You asked in concern, and a smile flashed out on his face.  "Couldn't be better... but I want you to come with me" He said now, nodding toward the track. You glanced over, unsure, seeing the vast tarmac stretch before you two, your heart thumping a little harder. "You want me to...?" You started, waving your tire to get him to carry on the sentence.  "Just come with me" He smiled, leading the way toward the gate that led to the track. He weaved through, and finally his tires gradually touched the track, his gaze following the loop round, glancing back to see you hesitating.  "It's ok" He assured the you, holding out a tire for you. You gently moved out onto the track, your tires meeting with the smooth surface, keeping yourself low upon the ground. You could feel the heat radiating off it, and you fancied you could almost hear the many years of racing engines and cheering crowds, their chanting and excitement being sucked into the very foundations. You watched as the track shone in the sun, following the smooth lines as it slipped to the side.  "It's... bigger than I thought" You said quietly, moving up to him.  "They don't quite capture the size on tv, do they?" He asked with a smile, to which you shook your hood. He watched you for a moment, keeping you pinned to the spot with his eyes, before he smiled again. "You wanna go for a lap?" "Really?" You asked, your tone questioning, but your eyes danced with the excitement that he loved. With little warning, his engine growled, wheels spinning, before he shot off like an arrow, sailing once more around the track. A deeper blush seemed to fix itself permanently to your hood, his engine sounded tantalizing after all, but you couldn't help but let that smile slip over your features. "Oho, no you don't" You smirked, your own engine thrown into gear as you gunned it, dashing off after the racer. You felt the ground only pass by faster and faster as you started to push yourself onward, settling into a rhythm, despite how scary the track was up close, closing in on the blue car. He moved up a little, laughing out loud as you pulled up beside him, seeing the joy on your face as you raced on, raising your brow a couple times at him, your engine snarling as you pushed ahead, taking the lead. He laughed again, and began to pursue you, spurring the you on, though not overtaking you. Instead he watched you with a gentle gaze, seeing you thoroughly enjoying your experience was giving him a rather nice flutter to his heart.  You sailed across the finish

line, before you half spun, facing him as he crossed it too.  "Congratulations, now you've won too!" He said, before he chuckled lightly.  "Hm, maybe I should be the one to race for Dinoco" You teased, before you saw Cal's expression turn serious.  "I mean... I could go talk to Tex..." He started, before you laughed.  "No! No, no I don't... No!" You said between laughter, which was only echoing his own.  "Well... you're pretty fast... perhaps you would do better than me" He said now, snickering lightly, the sparkle in his eyes brighter than ever as he got to hear your laughter over and over. "Does someone want to retire early? That's the sense I'm getting right now" You giggled, to which he raised a brow.  "Honestly, if it meant I got to spend more time with you, I'd do it" He said without thinking, causing you both to look to each other in surprise. You felt your hood warm again, lowering your gaze as Cal seemed to grimace, before deciding that he was already down the rabbit hole, he may as well finish.  "Miss (y/n)..." He started, to which you gazed up softly.  "I've told you... I'm not Miss (y/n), just call me (y/n)" You breathed, to which he chuckled lightly.  "You know I need my manners" He responded, before you smiled gently to him. "Anyway... I... I wanted to ask something" He said now, looking to the track, his tire twisting in what appeared like nerves.  "I was hoping that you'd... maybe like to consider.... the thing is we've gotten to know each other and... I really... I wanted to..." He started, before he squeezed his eyes shut. "Dammit" He could only mutter, before he glanced up, seeing you having tilted your hood, but you felt like you knew what he was going to say. "Cal... it's ok...." You started, before he breathed in.  "Miss (y/n), I'd be honored if you... would consider perhaps allowing me to... Miss (y/n), do you wanna... go out to dinner... or something at some point...?" He seemed to deflate just a little, though your kind expression never left his.  "I'd love nothing more" You said tenderly, to which you saw the joy dance in his eyes. He gave you a grateful smile, gently moving forward to nuzzle your fender, though ready to leap back if you became alarmed. Though, as he half suspected, you embraced it, nuzzling him in return as he stay close, the contact feeling almost like electricity. Cal breathed out slowly as he nosed his hood to yours, only focusing on the feeling it gave you both, paying no heed to what happened around you. The affection was slow and deliberate, easing into it, before Cal bit his lip a little, pulling back, and kissing your cheek gently.  "We should head back" He said now, before you gazed over to where the trailers were.  "Ah yes... your adoring public awaits" You whispered quietly, before he nudged you. You chuckled weakly, and you began to slowly move across the track again, slowly getting closer to each other, before your sides rubbed, and your gazes flicked away from one another, with embarrassed smiles.

Guys so I finished The Untamed last night and I am IN MY FEELINGS. SO IN MY FEELINGS. I can't believe it's over, I feel like I spent a lifetime with these characters.

There's something I want to touch on here though. First let me say that I loved this show from beginning to end, I loved it hard, even throughout its horrifically bad "special" effects (they were very special), ridiculous sword-flying greenscreen CGI, and umm, even the way characters would straight up lose an entire limb during battle scenes and other characters would be like "It's okay let's just put a lil QuikStop on it you'll be fine" and then they hang around not even bleeding, still soliloquizing, but looking like they put on ten pounds on one side of their torso. Yes, even that. (I mean they went through the trouble to greenscreen other shots, FFS greenscreen their arms out, I've seen youtubers do it, it can't be that hard.)

And the ending was MOSTLY satisfying (though I really wanted to see some indication of Lan Xichen's potential for IDK happiness? Peace?)

But I also couldn't get over the fact that the ending seemed choppy? I was confused. They're together Yay! Look how happy they are! But then they're leaving each other - wtf. After all this, Wei Ying is leaving. BUT! Then they're still together, he just said "I'm gonna peace out for a while and Wander The Earth" but in the next scene they're still chilling together. Then they're playing music together (playing music together is the censorship shorthand for "they're banging at the moment" you really can't convince me otherwise, at least in the present timeline arc. "Duet" means "doing it.") So they're banging on the mountainside, the music is playing literally the ending theme and the camera pans out to their surroundings and this is seriously the ending shot right here guys, they just banged and now they're standing happily together at their home.

And then Nie Huaisang comes back and we get the whole Sherlock Holmes explanation which is great, I love Chessmaster!Huaisang (and I'll tell you something else, NHS was well within his rights to do most of what he did. Was it cruel to use LXC, yes it was, and that was too far, but everything else? NHS isn't a fighter, he is a cupcake - how else was he supposed to get revenge, which is genuinely his in-context, story-logic right to do?)

So they have sex, we get the ending shot, they talk to NHS and we wrap that up and then they're STILL together and we find out the whole FAMILY IS REUNITED and they are DADS TOGETHER. Actual dads with their baby ducklings and I'm crying because this right here is the most important relationship in the story I think, parent and child. So maybe WWX already left and then came back?

OH NO he's actually leaving again. Shouldn't this have happened AFTER all the reunions and mastermind reveals? Wouldn't that have made more sense?

So he leaves and then time... passes? I guess? Though he appears to be still in the same spot? And then Lan Zhan shows up again to take him back home I guess and yes, for sure! that closing scene was super poignant and happy! Wei Ying. Xiao Zhan's absolutely legendary smile.

I'm just confused by how choppy it was with the ending in the middle, then wrapping the story up, then another ending like wtf?

Maybe I'm thinking too hard about this and I did only see it once, and honestly I was pretty much sobbing through the whole thing so I could be wide of the mark here.

Gimme some thoughts.

If you could cross over two of your favorite games, which would you choose? Please explain, why that crossover would be a good match.

Oh you’re going to regret asking this one, I’m bout to GET SERIOUS.

So Pokemon, obvs, I love the whole world it’s built in, but the games imo are REALLY boring, I haven’t enjoyed one a lot since gale of darkness, the main ones just are a little too linear obvious plots, pretty standard setups for story and style. Speaking of style, the games lack personality, the models aren’t animated well, moves have no dynamic energy or visual difference at times, and the turn based battle style just feels kind of, I don’t know, old? Slow? Just doesn’t suit what I enjoy personally, gives me a FInal Fantasy vibe and I just cannot stand the speed at which things happen in those games, plus not into 3rd person ‘let’s build a team of people’ much, but that’s a problem for another time. With this all in mind, the game I wish would happen is like gen20 Pokemon, far future sadly, I doubt I’d see it in my lifetime but god I’d be happy if I did!

Ok so take the newest Zelda graphics, the visual treat that was BOTW, open world, puzzles, not JUST combat, you got side missions, hunt the chickens, find missing pets, parcels, items, whatever. Love it! The horse taming?! Amazing you funky little game. Now take the bad guys and beasts from that. And put Pokemon in instead. Give them the diversity, the life and believable natures that BOTW gave the animals, I followed a frog in BOTW for 15 minutes, and it was a great experience, it felt like it was believable. Above world spawning, ACTUAL difficult gameplay, rare spawn rates, make dragons hard to get again, cmon, it’s too easy now, make it so we need a certain set of Pokemon for certain tasks. Water types big enough to carry you will be able to get you to new areas, rock types that can help you climb mountains faster, or break through blocking boulders. Actual towns with more than 4 houses in them, shops, barns, farms, homes. Like little link with the heat, maybe ice types would struggle in volcano areas, or bug Pokemon not be so comfortable in gale force winds. Give the weather more of an effect on your partners. Mounts, don’t even get me started that Pokemon Let’s go had you able to ride any of the larger species, but swsh did not???? Bitch please, give me my rideable Pokemon. The wild area too was far too closed, limited, online was laggy and a mess, camping is limited, let me do more with my team. Pokemon for me is all about the actual creatures, how they live with humans, and the many wonderful things they’re capable of. Yes of course it’s cool they can fight, but like what else you know?

I’d love a game that lets me buy a plot of land, maybe plant things, custom build things. I’m a sucker for the fallout4 settlement builds when they’re modded to hell and back, they’re fun! It can be a really calm and creative process. If I could do that and skip the main campaign and all the battles for a bit? Amazing, it sound perfect for me. I am that distracted hoe collecting flowers while the kingdom burns in the background. Side quests are everything to me. Let me give homeless people enough money to get them in a home? Let me adopt Pokemon that are stray around the town? Plz oh plz bring me a Pokemon game that allows me to work WITH my team to do more than KO other species. I want to save and buy a plow for my buddy gogoat, and grow amazing foods to sell to get currency to spend in decorations, to spoil my team. Give me actual game consequence, if I ignore that sick and injured Pokemon I find in the wild, later maybe it’s family don’t want to help me out with a different problem, too stricken from grief. I am all about the average bits, the old women who need help, the lost pets board in town, the general day to day stuff. Let me get cosmetic items for the Pokemon I keep, cute outfits, special gemstone items, let me actually live with them, or even feel remotely like they’re realistic.

Ok so in game, if it’s looking like BOTW it’s pretty beautiful but also stylised, I’d have it so you can send out a maximum of 3 Pokemon from your 6, using bumpers and such to throw them out. If you hit the trigger you switch from controlling the human trainer, to the Pokemon you’ve targeted with a standard lock on targeting system. You then can be the leader, but be the Pokemon. You could technically defeat the game without a human if you wanted, which incorporates the mystery dungeon games I think, and caters to that crowd. I’d love to see the use of attacks out of battle, things like using water gun to grow plants, using ember to start a campfire faster and stave off the cold. There’s no consequence to Pokemon anymore, and I think that’s where it’s lost me. I have to admit I miss the days of a poisoned pokemon fainting if you don’t heal them soon enough, I miss gym battles that were actually tough, damn, try picking charmander in red and beating brock without grinding in viridian forest first, it’s not easy. And I loved that. Yes it’s a child’s game, it will never be difficult again, but god it’d be nice to have a bit of a challenge, or maybe a difficulty setting, so some could play it with hostility turned off, great for kids, or you can be n adult like I know so many Pokemon fans are, and play it on expert mode and ACTUALLY have to work hard to beat the game. Alternate skill trees anyone? Train gun a fire type to ACUTALLy combat water moves?? Please! Cmon! It frustrated me that every challenger has pretty much a systematic set of moves to use to win. Grass opponent? Fire attack spam until you win. It’s dull, so at least with very difficult tricks to either find or learn in game would make it more achievable if you can send that fire type in and I don’t know, train them so much the heat evaporates the water mid-battle and you suddenly have a shot at winning. Pokemon has taught me that if you work hard enough you can achieve something, but the games just have such strict ways to win. Feels wrong.

In terms of battling, let us BE the Pokemon, let us learn to dodge, train our speed, train our defence, make a team of truly tough Pokemon instead of just, average? Some species have a cap on their skills, a squirtle has lower stat points than a Charizard, but you can’t ever change that? Let me choose the Pokemon I believe in, and let me work with them until they’re just as good, if not better than the game tanks. This would also make online battles more interesting. Everyone picks the top trio. Fairy, dragon, legendaries. And yknow what? It’s boring. That one IRL fight with the monster Pacharisu that won in the world tournament with follow me and the situs Berry? Unbelievable, I love that little rat so much because of this, so let us all have a chance to build a team that’s strategically viable, strong, and potentially a winner formula, even if they aren’t fully evolved, or the biggest Pokemon in the world. Yeah maybe you have to grind way harder with your unevolved Pokemon, but you get to the end game and win, because you put love and time into species that you enjoy, not just good fighters.

Unfortunately I am beholdent to Todd-idiot-Howard, and I love the Eldrescrolls and fallout games (before they got dumb, not that I don’t play the new ones. 76 I’m looking at you, you big asshole game.) honestly I hate online games, so none of that junk, just a good old fashioned open world sandbox game is plenty. Games for me are an escape from others, not an invitation to socialise. To each their own of course, and I do play online games sometimes, just pretty short lived ones, over watch and rdr2 for example. Would they be sometimes better on private servers? Yes of course, fallout76? Want to play with others? No. I do not. Please leave me alone. And if you buy a private server you’re feeding the monster that is Todd Howard, the man the myth the asshole, then we’ll get more bad games like 76. I just so desperately want the Pokemon company to see what a beautiful potential game they’ve got on their hands, that could be suitable for far greater audiences, but instead they’ve focused on the kids. It’s fine, it’s functional, but it’s lost to the fans from day 1, that are all 20+ years old now and want something meatier to play, something far more broad and inclusive. I also hate that there’s no wheelchair option in any Pokemon game. Like cmon, it’s not hard to include that.

In short, BOTW + Pokemon, with a sprinkle of open world sandbox to it, less fighting, more fun. Or, at least both options. Sure, go fight everything, great, but I want to farm carrots over here with 6sunflora, plz let me have some peace.

Edit: I forgot about harvest moon, chuck some of that in there too.

SECOND EDIT: someone in the comments mentioned to put this in Unova? Plz love yourselves, this game would be ALL MAPS. Stuff one singular location, this is the ideal game, put every map in it, join them, put islands in, make them more explorable, more detailed!

The other design decision in Mass Effect which sort of bugs me is that you're expected to get more loot by either taking it off the bodies of your dead enemies, or selling the stuff you've looted from their corpses and then buying more out of your own pocket.

I mean... Your character works for the military, you'd think Shepherd could, like, requisition something. Or like maybe they'd feel weird about scavenging from dead men.

It's just one of those mechanics that's there because that was the loot mechanism from original Dungeons and Dragons.

Actually, does Mass Effect even need loot?

The game starts off every character with a pistol, shotgun, assault rifle and sniper rifle, and instead of getting new kinds of weapons (outside of grenades with special debuffs) you seem to mainly just get the same weapon but with supposedly different stats. The game starts off every character with a pistol, shotgun, assault rifle and sniper rifle, and instead of getting new kinds of weapons (outside of grenades with special debuffs) you seem to mainly just get the same weapon but with supposedly different stats.

Except I'm not sure that matters. My character is an infiltrator, which means that they supposedly "specialize" in pistols and sniper rifles. I just did this one mission against biotic terrorists, and basically 3 of them would bum rush me and kill me... Until I switched from my pistol to my assault rifle.

Apparently it doesn't matter if you're "specialized" in assault rifles if you can point the barrel at the torso of a person who is three feet away from you.

Now, this might be specific to the Legendary edition, I know they made some quality of life tweaks. Like, for example, Shepherd can now look down the scope of a sniper rifle without swinging it wildly around like he's using his gun to conduct flight of the bumblebee.

But anyway, my broader point is, when I was a little kid I gravitated towards RPGs because I had trouble with hand eye coordination and split second decision-making, so I preferred games with turn based systems I could think about at my leisure.

I grew up in the 90s, but both computer RPGs and jRPGs at the time basically got their mechanics from Dungeons and Dragons.

So, D&D makes a lot of assumptions but like, the loot in that is just numbers. The game wants to know if you hit a guy with your broadsword and, if you do, how put out is he by the fact that you hit him.

So, to really oversimplify, you have a bunch of numbers that tell you all this, and some dice rolls which add in the randomness that comes from things like uneven terrain, fatigue, sudden unexpected moves by your opponents, your judgements and misjudgements of the situation, etc. etc.

And that's how it works in games like, say, Chrono Trigger or Fallout. The numbers tell you how good your character is at aiming a gun and then the computer essentially rolls a die to see which shots hit and which don't.

But for some annoying reason most RPGs nowadays love real time combat. And so, say, Mass Effect, unlike Dungeons and Dragons, can mimic the effects of terrain, and unexpected enemy movement, and better or worse hand eye coordination by kind of just… putting them in the game.

Like, it's weird that your accuracy with a gun in a lot of modern RPGs is some opaque combination of how well you can aim the mouse at the guys running around and some skill on your character sheet, like you can aim a shotgun point blank at an enemy's torso and some games might still decide you missed because your "shotgun accuracy" skill isn't high enough, but it's also not like you can be completely uncoordinated, you still have to be kind of good at aiming and shooting.

To me, it's kind of like the worst of both worlds, where you get the downsides of both approaches but the mechanics kind of cancel out the good sides.

But to go back to loot systems, the old Final Fantasy games on the SNES would just bury you in huge piles of loot that had slightly higher numbers than the last one, but at least there it mattered; you got a good opportunity to see, in numbers, exactly how many HPs a given sword took away from a given monster, how often they dodged, etc.

Modern games do the same thing but a lot of times it's hard to tell if that accomplishes anything; this new sniper rifle does six points more damage but is four points less accurate.

Okay, but like… Accuracy is also a function of how well I can aim at a moving enemy and I have two other companions also shooting at the same guy or dumping debuffs on him and his health is represented by a tiny bar that I ignore unless it seems like it's taking too long for him to fall over dead.

So what are these piles of guns you keep dumping on me doing for the actual gameplay?

Werewolves are still iffy in EDH

With the release of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, I’m sure many people myself included were hoping that the set’s Werewolf focus would solve some of the issues with the tribe in Commander. Having been a big fan of the creature type’s mechanics and design in Shadows block, and playing a lot of them in Limited and Standard formats, I was excited to see what MID would bring to the table.

Unfortunately, despite the shiny new commander the deck has, I’m not confident that the many, many issues that make Werewolves awkward in Commander have actually found an answer.

Issue 1: The cardpool

Werewolves are kind of in this awkward place where due to mechanically being tied to Innistrad and its double-faced-card Transform mechanic, there just aren’t very many of them, even though we’ve been to Innistrad 3 times now. As well, of the current 6 Innistrad-based sets, 2 of them (DKA and EMN) are small sets and 1 (AVR) doesn’t actually have any werewolves in them. The number of werewolves, therefore, is not particularly big- at time of writing, 83 cards exist with the word Werewolf or Werewolves, and of those 5 are explicit hate pieces. And one is Victim of Night, a removal spell that happens not to hit them. That leaves 78 cards to work with, outside of Changelings.

Frustratingly, WoTC has done very little to supplement this when visiting other planes. There exist exactly 6 Werewolf-related cards printed outside of Innistrad, with only 4 of those actually being Werewolves. I appreciate the slight bones being thrown in the form of WAR Arlinn, Nightpack Ambusher, and AFR’s own Werewolf Pack leader, but that’s about a card a year, which is not enough to support a tribe like this.

There’s also an issue where most of the Werewolf cards are pretty much just limited fodder. Of the 62 cards with the type Werewolf on them (again not including Changelings), I’d wager maybe 30 of them are playable in Commander, using an extremely loose definition of the word playable and with the understanding that this deck is going to be janky as hell. The tribe really suffers from its flavour-based limits, especially with the lack of non-Innistrad support, even though many of the game’s mechanics could be adapted to flavour of the Werewolf.

The final problem with the cardpool is the weak support cards. Werewolves have a fair few support cards, actually, but the issue is most of them are either not scaled for the format or only apply on one side of a 2-sided card. Many tribes in the middle-ground of card quality can get propped up by a handful of really good support cards- as an example, Treefolk have Timber Protector and Leaf-Crowned Elder, and Myr have Myr Galvaniser, Myr Turbine, and basically every Artifact support card ever to exist. Werewolves are stuck with, outside of one or two spicy new cards, mostly just +1/+1 anthems/counters and a handful of keywords, and also Immerwolf/Geier Reach Bandit (but the latter only half the time).

The result of this is that despite arguably being one of the better supported tribes as far as card numbers, Werewolves seriously pale in comparison to the majority of the field, especially compared to their Innistradi brethren- they look real awkward next to Humans, Zombies, Spirits, and Vampires.

Issue 2: The colours

Werewolves are pretty shoehorned into Gruul as far as the cards go. Both legendary Werewolves and the Werewolf Planeswalker are in the colour combination, as well as the vast majority of the tribe’s members. However, Midnight Hunt has added some other options in all 3 other colours, and there are reasons to run each anyway- mostly to do with, you know, that whole cardpool issue.

Because as good as Tovolar is, this tribe needs a little help from another colour, in my opinion.

White is the most commonly added colour to Werewolf decks, due to getting to play Rule of Law effects to stop your Werewolves from getting flipped back over. If I build Werewolves, it probably will be Naya, just because I already have two Gruul decks, but my issue is the lack of a clear Commander. Samut is clearly the best option, mostly on account of Flash and the deck likely being fairly aggressive, but I have an issue with commanders, particularly Tribal commanders, not accurately representing the deck. But then, what am I supposed to go with? Anara/Bruse Tarl? Gahiji? Rin and Seri kinda work flavourfully, if you squint, but they do nothing for the gameplay of the deck. I probably would have to just get over it and play Samut, and maybe you should too.

Midnight Hunt did also throw some Black Werewolves in, to go with the original 3 from back in the day (the utterly terrible Treacherous Werewolf, Lesser Werewolf, and Greater Werewolf), opening Jund as an option, kind of. My issue with this is that aside from just general good cards, Black doesn’t really add much to the deck’s likely plans, and only one of the new Black Werewolves, Graveyard Tresspasser, is really any good. I suppose this does mean you could run 4-colour with Saskia, but…eh…

This set also added a singular Blue werewolf in Suspicious Stowaway, which is actually kinda okay. And also Blue gets one extra Rule of Law effect in Arcane Laboratory. But I don’t think I’m going to see Temur Werewolves anytime soon. I guess you could run Surrak? Blue does notably also get you a bunch of the better Changelings, on account of their recent Kaldheim iterations being in Green-Blue.

There is always, of course, Morophon. But that fucker’s for cowards. The TL;DR is, that Werewolves’s best commanders don’t give you access to everything the deck needs.

 Issue 3: The tribes

This is somewhat of a more minor issue, but one worth bringing up. Many of the Werewolf matters cards are shared with Wolf matters cards, and so it’s likely worth bringing a few of the better Wolves into the mix. Sarulf, if you’re including Black, or one or both Tolsimir-s in White. Wolves are a tribe with many, many more members, especially adding in all the Wolf Token producing cards, though there are still fewer Wolf Matters cards than Werewolf Matters ones. Also, some of the Werewolf Matters cards are Wolves, like Nightpack Ambusher, Silverfur Partisan, and Immerwolf. So there’s probably a fair few worth throwing in.

As well, seeing as the vast majority of Werewolves have Human front faces, some Humans matter cards like Angel of Glory’s Rise or the new Katilda are worth a shout. There are very few of these that work unfortunately, seeing as you are actively trying to have your humans not be humans, but it’s potentially worth the look.

The reason I find this to be an issue is that you can only add in so many subthemes like this before the deck’s real synergies start to get too heavily diluted. Every Wolf you add makes your Werewolves worse, you know?

I dunno maybe this one was less an issue and more just a recommendation. And yes I know most of the non-Human Werewolves are in fact Eldrazi, but as much as I love those cards they’re both mostly bad and there’s not enough of them, so don’t bother putting Eldrazi cards in there. You have to dump a lot of mana to flip them anyway.

Issue 4: The gameplay

Werewolves as a tribe are extremely challenging from a gameplay perspective. You have to be paying close attention every turn, in order to make sure that you know when your Werewolves are transforming- and in a format like Commander, they are probably not spending nearly as much time with the back half as they are the front half.

While I appreciate Midnight Hunt’s design efforts to simplify this with the Daybound mechanic, in Commander this kinda just makes it worse. Daybound means you are having to track this mechanic at all times, even when you or nobody else has a Werewolf on the field, as long as you’ve played one of the new ones beforehand. As well, the older cards (which you will need some of) are completely unlinked to this day/night cycle, even though they technically use the same trigger, which can lead to some confusion- if, for example, Tovolar makes it Night on your Upkeep, playing a Duskwatch Recruiter is still going to leave you with a Duskwatch Recruiter, not a Krallenhorde Howler.

Considering Tovolar is likely the leader for most Werewolf decks going forward, I appreciate the effort to make him work with the Werewolves of the past, and that he tries to mitigate the tribe’s biggest issue. But there are a whole bunch of really finicky interactions that are both difficult to get your head around and difficult to explain to others when you pull them off. For example, if the player before you casts two spells on their turn, it becomes Day as the turn begins, meaning all your MID Werewolves will transform immediately, then Upkeep happens, and any of your non-MID Werewolves flip as well. Then Tovolar triggers, and you can transform as many of your Werewolves as you want- so if you stack the triggers right, then something like, say, Huntmaster of the Fells or Ulrich of the Krallenhorde will get to transform twice in the same step and get both of its “when ~ transforms” effects.

The other half of this is just the mental load on your opponents. You know what all your cards do, but your opponents aren’t going to! And this is a typical thing in EDH, the game requires either a massive knowledge of Magic, an ability to pick up on new cards and interactions quickly, or both, but it gets so much worse when each of your cards has two sides worth of text to read off whenever you play one. And people (particularly those with less-than-perfect threat assessment) are going to typically assume that the more words on your cards the better they are, so you might get targeted just based on that even though half the words aren’t relevant most of the time.

The long and short of Werewolves in EDH is this: They’re still awkward and janky. I think you can actually build a deck, but you could already do that technically, and I think the additions from MID aren’t quite enough to bump the tribe up to Actually Good. They are, though, about the level of Jank that I appreciate, so maybe I’ll still just build them anyway.

There is potential hope, though. Innistrad: Midnight Hunt is an Innistrad Werewolf Set that contains no less than 15 Vampires (one of my biggest issues with the set!), and the next set is Innistrad: Crimson Vow, the Innistrad Vampire Set. Due to the mechanical requirements, I can’t imagine we’re seeing 15 Werewolves in that one, but I’m hoping we do at least get a couple extras. And hey, maybe one of that one’s Commander decks will be Werewolves!

…The previous was written under the assumption that we didn’t know what the VOW Commander Decks were. As it turns out, we have the names. Neither of them are Werewolf themed.

God damn it, maybe next time we come back to Innistrad then. So, see you in 2026.