Anipoke doodles part 2 💖💕

Looks like Ash will be continuing his Pokémon Journey to Paldea after-all….

Unfortunately, Goh will not be joining him for whatever reason and is not happy about it.

Next weeks episode’s gonna be a tearjerker.

Cuties <3

Preview del episodio 123 de Pokémon

Las Semifinales II: "Ilusión"

How are u dealing with the end of pokemon how we knew it

I've lost track of how many times I've cried

it hasn't settled in yet i think

i cried during those initial previews when journeys ended and then the first episode of the new series when they played mezase pokemon master. once it's actually over i don't think i will stop crying

ok ok didn’t know there was a new smtv rising revengeance preview so i decided to check it out and here are my thoughts

everything’s below the cut so if you don’t want spoilers at all skip this :)

first off MY WISH CAME TRUE!!!

your partners can summon demons!!!! i mean i don’t really know how to feel about partners taking up party slots but

hey they brought back a cool thing from 4a and i’m here for it look at the silly bird and dazai channeling his inner pokemon trainer

then of course there’s the new drip and imma be real (and this is not the last time imma bitch) this uh. doesn’t vibe with me. i mean it’s fine??? i guess??? the new move looks cool but something about the design doesn’t really fit the serenity of the nahobino’s design. i really liked not having some completely edgy vibe especially since it contrasted with the other nahos so well. feels like its being taken away. though this may be more aogami dominant or something idk. i like a lot of 5’s demon designs so this was a bit of a letdown.

side note i like how the protag and aogami sitting on a bench are included in a lot of press release screenshots it’s just. really funny to me.

now here’s a really hot hot hot take

i hate this. i hate that they brought mastema back the way they seem to be doing. hear me out for a moment—

it has a lot to do with the law bias megaten has. i like mastema in strange journey but god they fumbled him in the chaos route by turning him into another angel who openly admits they just want complete control and i’m really fucking tired of it. he was basically a drug dealer in 4 and did like. absolutely nothing and was a whiny bitch. i wouldn’t mind him returning as a strictly summonable demon, but due to his framing in the trailer, he’s either going to be a part of the main plot or part of a sidequest.

the problem is that due to how much megaten pushes “law bad” it requires butchering characters. a lot of it definitely has to do with japan’s history with christianity and whatnot which is 100% valid. i don’t think i need to explain how abrahamic religions have impacted the world pretty negatively due to the evangelicals, but the fundamentals of religion are actually well intended. what matters is who preaches them. how it is often portrayed in megaten is controlling and sacrificing individuality when law as a concept is a lot broader and also comes with other downsides often overlooked and also often depicted as being almost downright exclusive to abrahamic religions when that couldn’t be further from the truth. heck japanese society is conservative af and punishes “underperforming.” so basic capitalism. as such, many of the angels in smt are also often depicted as slaves to god’s system or wanting something to be gained, and a lot of law reps are either depicted as being blindly complicit with things they were shown to be against or be made just as mindless.

law has been done well before. getting amane’s ending not only makes a lot of thematic sense but leads to one of the best written scenarios in the franchise along with one of my favorite exchanges in gaming. dsrk2 handles law stuff in a completely unique way that asks a lot more questions than any mainline game has ever done. it’s just a shame that status quo tends to be kept.

i’m not entirely worried since there’s a chance he could be handled well. abdiel is still the best written angel of them all because she wasn’t looking for control, rather approval, even if it meant committing a taboo/tearing herself apart to please god, which is a perfect commentary in it of itself and fits her namesake. law in 5 was actually pretty tame and not nearly as extreme as it usually is. though, considering how mastema’s character has been reduced to being an untrustworthy ass as opposed to just being relatively hands off when it came to pushing the good word of the lord, i don’t think that’ll change anytime soon. again have to stress i don’t dislike his inclusion because i don’t like him as a demon (i really do), i’m skeptical about his inclusion because of his character being assassinated in the name of the generic law bad thing and he clearly is going to be given a role outside of possibly usable demon.

to end on a good note tho

the ability to play as nahobeeho is very welcome in every reality

and though i already made a post on them gonna show them again

I LOVE AMABIE!!!!

hey sarurun

been a fan for a while and i was wondering if you could give advice on your pixel art journey

Hello!

First of all, thank you for following and supporting me! It means a lot!

Advice, hmm, I'm not really a good teacher or anything but I'll try to give you a sense of how I got to where I am now.

I grew up with old SNES-era games; think Yoshi's Island, Link to the Past, etc, and eventually got a DS where I mainly played Pokemon, and developed a fondness for the sprite-art, especially the animated ones featured in the fifth generation.

My first computer wasn't too powerful and I couldn't play too many games, so I settled for a few sprite-based flash games that had small communities online. After a while I saw others editing the sprites to 'customize' their characters further, and I gave a shot at it myself to try to trick my friends into thinking I had cool items that didn't actually exist in the game (it didn't work, but I found myself having fun doing it), but this was probably my first real experience with the medium.

After that I mainly focused on non-pixel art for a while, really trying to get better at anatomy and rendering.

In 2018 I realized I had to get serious with my art. I'm a really scattered person and bouncing between illustration, painting, 3d stuff and other mediums wasn't helping so I decided I have to choose one thing to really go all-in on, for some reason that was pixel art.

Though before then I didn't really look up any tutorials or actually read anything about pixel art, so I was somewhat new to all the concepts and techniques. I started with a free browser editor called Piskel and started to do mainly small avatars and sprites in it. It's a very limited program but was a good starting point to see if I really wanted to commit to it.

At some point I got sick of Piskel always crashing on me, caved and bought Aesprite, at that point there was no turning back and I decided to go a bit further and also buy a book called 'Pixel Logic' (there's a free preview of it here), I read through it and honestly learning about pixel art, and seeing examples of terms and such really helped me understand what makes pixel art... pixel art. (There's a bunch of free tutorials out there if the book isn't for you, and for Youtube tutorials I'd suggest Brandon James Greer and AdamCYounis )

From there it was really a lot of experimentation and trial and error of what worked and what didn't, and believe me there was a lot that didn't. (Pixel Daily prompts really helped me in keeping a somewhat consistent practice going).

If you're just starting out, don't be afraid to make mistakes and don't save cool concepts for 'when you'll get better'. That time will never come as, while you're getting better, you'll always want to get *even better* and the goalposts will just keep moving. Just do what you want now, have fun and experiment with it.

You don't need fancy programs or equipment to make pixel art either, as long as you've got a mouse, a basic image editor, paint, piskel, librepsrite, etc, and the will to go through with it, you can make it happen. It will just take time.

Good luck on your journey!

Puts on my tinfoil hat. These are just some miscellaneous thoughts on what I'd like to see happen in HZ023. Seeing that there's sparkles around this week's episode, I'm assuming that something big or significant will happen / be revealed.

I would love to see Friede and Amethio temporarily calling a truce, or briefly working together while they're trapped with Galarian Moltres. Personally I'd love to see them get affected by that stamina sapping aura (mostly cause I wanna see them both vulnerable on the ground) but generally seeing them having to work together would make me happy.

The kids alerting the rest of the RVT on what happened. I want to see them coming up with something that allowed them to head back inside the mine. I imagine the kids found a separate entrance, or Friede and Amethio busted their way out.

Friede revealing a third Pokemon. Seeing the recent release of Ceruledge and Armorouge in anime style, it would be fun if it was revealed that he had an Armorouge to be rivals with Amethio's Ceruledge. I'd prefer him to have more type diversity than another Fire-type but it'd be neat to see him have one. The last time they had the sparkles around the date was when they revealed Friede's Charizard to have Tera Dark, a week before the release of the new TCG deck + they gave us a Charizard a gift in game. I think they have the opportunity to release Armorouge as a gift too to tie it together.

Liko finding a way to calm down the Galarian Moltres. Seeing that there was a scene of Sprigatito on Charizard's head in the mines, I think those two would work together to come in close with the Moltres. Sprigatito knows how to utilize its Leafage depending on the situation (reminiscent of Agile and Strong Style from LA). We know that the scent it releases can make those around it relax or outright knocking a Pokemon to sleep. What I'm thinking is that Sprigatito would infuse its Leafage with that scent before firing it towards Moltres in the hopes of calming the Legendary down.

They have another scene with Lucius. Like how it was with Arboliva, the kids catch another glimpse of Lucius through Liko's pendant resonating with Moltres's Ancient Pokeball.

Moltres won't stay captured but it would come to their aid if needed. It'd be pretty fast paced if they already two of the six Heroes with them, even more so when one of them is a Legendary.

Sprigatito learns a new move or the kids' Pokemon evolve into either Floragato or Crocalor. We're 20+ episodes in so it won't be surprising if an evolution happens seeing that Goh's Scorbunny evolved into Raboot only after 13 episodes back in Journeys.

The other Explorers finding out about Amethio's insubordination. That, or Amethio skulks back into the shadows, considering his next move. Some kind of consequence for going against Gibeon's wishes would be interesting to see, or we get glimpses of the other Explorers again.

Getting a glimpse of Diana's look in the preview for HZ024.

Regardless of what happens, I'm just excited to see the end of this arc and see a preview of the next one. Where will they go next after coming across Diana?

PREVIEW - Trouble Will Find Me

Work on all of my fics has been happening simultaneously recently. Edits on the Exile//Vilify physical release, a return to my Pokemon series, and others. I've been sitting on this one for a while, and so I finally wanted to share with you some bits that have been in my works folders.

This is a preview to Trouble Will Find Me, the prequel to Exile//Vilify that details the life of Thelem and his journey that eventually led him to become the head of the Order of the Seers, up to his eventual meeting with Astor, the boy from Hateno Village. It also features more lore/details about the inner workings and lifestyle of the Order of the Seers, and bits of Azelphir's story as well, and the relationship he forges with Thelem.

Trouble Will Find Me - Preview (link to AO3): https://archiveofourown.org/works/49385443/chapters/124626607

They called themselves the Broken Arrows, and they considered themselves both the town’s plague and protectors.  Their sign was an arrow with two diagonal slashes through it, easily carved into trees or buildings to brand the places they’d been.  They’d stalk and keep watch over the town from their secret hideout somewhere to the east, fending off “intruders,” (criminal competition), and the occasional monster.  The stuff they took was just tax for their services, you see. The adults and storekeepers of the town hated them, of course, but to the children and especially the young women of Deya Village, they were something of local legends.  Especially because their leader was really quite dreamy.  A few of the girls even spread rumors of steamy encounters they’d had with the mysterious rogue--with him sneaking in through their bedroom windows for a midnight romp or catching them unawares for a sweet kiss under the lantern light.  

They’d even have arguments about the specifics of such encounters.  His hands are rough.  His hands are smooth.  He’s clean shaven and soft, he has prickly stubble and tasteful chest hair.  He kisses you slowly and sings you sweet nothings all night long.  He likes it quick and rough and then he uses you up and never speaks to you again.  ‘He’s actually been seeing me for months,” a particularly bold one would say.  ‘He smells of caramel and cigarettes.’  ‘NO,’ a particularly defensive one would reply.  ‘He smells like vanilla and cinnamon sugar.’  

But what he probably actually smelled like was sweat, because they didn’t go out to bathe that frequently.

Nobody believed any of them, of course, even those who swore on their lives it had actually occurred.  But even those who didn’t believe them were jealous of the prospect and wished they had the guts to spread identical lies. Thomasin just wanted to see them.

**Reminder that you must now be a registered AO3 user to view my work. If you try to follow the link while not signed in, it will say 0 works by silverjirachi. AO3 accounts are free, anonymous, and easy to make with an email address. Thank you for understanding.**

👀 Reference to Twilight Wings ep.3, where Wooloo imitates Charizard?

[[Source: Anime Engsub HD, Youtube.]]

How did each person react to akair's immortal boon?

Sooo for most of them, that's actually a huge spoiler and has a GIANT effect on the plot but... here's a preview of one of them learning that is plot relevant, but not a spoiler ;)c

Content warning for referenced blood and gore - its not explicit, and is only referred to vaguely in the past tense, but still

He'd failed.

Oh great Sinnoh, he'd failed and it was horrifying

Sure, she was alive, again - but, he couldn't even let his mind wander there.

The Luxray had come from nowhere on their journey to Lake Valor. She'd attempted to talk to it using one of those gifts- that boon from a mysterious Pokemon whom she didn't even know the name of.

She had failed, the Pokemon's teeth had sunk into her

It was only Ingo's quick thinking that got her out of it's jaws

Adaman had stood there like a damned fool. Eyes wide, stomach in knots.

Ingo - despite his own perturbed horror, despite seeing her wide, blinking eyes and the dim glowing of her face, had told him to wait.

And, all at once, she startled into breathing, and the wounds from her near mauling had all but healed.

Ingo hadn't let her walk until a safe camp was set up, the young surveyor now on Adaman's back as Ingo lead them to safety. Her grip on him was firm. He could feel her exhausted breath on the back of his neck.

Good. Good. She was alive.

But she had been dead. She had been dead and he had watched, unable to do much more other than that.

Her boon had saved her life- revived it, time had reversed for just her body.

When he got her back on hr feet, the first thing he did was hold her tightly in a hug.

"... I'm sorry you saw that" she'd whimpered

He pulled away from her, and held her face

"Never. Never apologize for being alive." He sternly told her with misty eyes. "I don't care. You're alive. That is more important than my discomfort"

Her eyes searched his, and she hugged him again.

As the warden set up the camp, Adaman stood there with her, holding her.

He only hoped it could be a security for her, a safe place to rest.

He'd try harder, when the next opportunity came. And by Sinnoh, he'd get one.

Pokemon Journeys Episode 137 Review

Pokemon Journeys Episode 137. Let’s review:

I’m back, bitches.

Alright, so first episode of Ash’s final chapter run. How did things turn out?

Pretty great.

Just as the I Choose You-Ash displayed in Journeys Special, it was great seeing the canon Ash display his character development from the entire series by showing his more mature side while still being fun and playful. Seriously, I honestly don’t remember the last time I’ve seen Ash use bandaids and potions like characters such as Brock and Cilan, so that was a pretty amazing moment to see! His interactions with Latias and his current old mons were all great as well, not much to say on that.

But speaking of old mons, WOO YES. This is the kind of direction perfect for Ash’s final 11 episodes and for good reasons: Ash is able to interact with his old mons again in a more meaningful manner, they could get one final chance to shine before Ash’s time ends, and depending on who’s on what team, it lead to some fun interactions between the team. I am a bit miffed that Ash will only have 4 old mons per rotation instead of 5, as shown in this episode and the preview for the next one. I know they’re most likely keeping him up to 5 each episode because there’s a chance he might capture a new mon and encounter another old one, but c’mon, these chances haven’t stopped him from having a full team before. Just have him at 6 for episodes where he certainly won’t have capture another mon and 5 for the ones he does. I bring this up because, combining with what he has in Oak’s Lab and Kukui’s Home alone, Ash has a total of 45 reserves, 40 if Ash’s main Journeys captures don’t return (which would just be wasted potential due to the possible interactions they could have with old mons, like Lucario and Greninja), and even then, there’s also the fact many of Ash’s released/in-training/heavily befriended mons may return, as hinted in the Aim to be a Master’s promotional art, Pikachu’s vision during his fight against Leon, and Ash’s flashback in Episode 135, (which, discounting Butterfree due to his little return in Episode 136, is a total of 10) giving us even more Pokemon to worry for in getting a final chance to shine.

Oh well, guess it’ll be best to just wait and see what will happen. But anyways, it was awesome seeing Donphan, Sceptile, Buizel, and Noivern shine again. It was great seeing many of their personalities still intact and how they helped Ash in many of his problems, like saving Pikachu and keeping Ash’s camp guarded as he took care of Latias. And their intense glares towards Team Rocket after they captured Ash is just the icing on the cake.

(and Team Rocket doesn’t seem to have Morpeko anymore, so that’s a plus!)

I will give this episode a 10/10. A wonderful start to Ash’s final run.

GOTG Review: The Last Guardian

This is the second game in my Backlog Roulette series, where each month I spin a wheel to randomly select a game on my massive backlog that I must play (though not necessarily to completion). These wheel spins occur on the monthly preview episodes I co-host with my friends on The Casual Hour podcast.

I’m trying to remember the last time I felt genuine emotion for a character in a video game. Fire Emblem comes to mind. It is my favorite franchise after all. The idea of building up a roster of characters from zeroes to heroes. I celebrate their wins. I’m pained by their losses. But they don’t feel real. When one goes down, I mourn the loss of their utility more than I do the loss of their character.

I may not feel genuine emotion for Lapis as a character, but I sure do love when she does this.

Pokemon has a similar issue. I watch these monsters grow up and evolve over the course of my journey, my six faithful companions helping me take on the world. But the artifice never fully falls away. I see their “health points” and their mechanical abilities and am reminded these are still just bundles of data, and if I think about the numbers long enough, I can game them just right to always land in my favor. The closest I’ve felt to a critter in Pokemon is in the most recent entries, where Game Freak added in a chance to “hang on” with 1HP left after a devastating enemy move if your Pokemon’s friendship stat was high enough. It’s cool to see a Pokemon break the rules of the game through the power of love, but it also happens too often and too randomly for it to feel authentic.

Cliche as it might be, that last time that genuine feeling occurred might be Team Ico’s previous game, Shadow of the Colossus. Agro, your character’s horse was a constant and stalwart ally. Yes, it was mechanical in its own way, but in a game built around solitude, having this one thing on your side was a comfort, one that made the mostly empty world a little less lonely. And while Shadow of the Colossus plays on this attachment in a few key moments, Team Ico’s third game, The Last Guardian, is built entirely in service of this interaction. 

Reductively put, The Last Guardian is the video game embodiment of “a boy and his dog.” You control a nameless boy, waking up in a prison of a cave. But you are not alone. There is a creature locked in here with you — a massive griffin-like animal. Chained, injured and afraid, it lashes out whenever you come near. This is Trico, and while you might not know it yet, this monster is going to become your best friend. 

Trico is the whole reason The Last Guardian works. His appearance may be fantastical, but his movements, his mannerisms, his stubbornness — they are familiar. You look at Trico, and you know he’s made up of polygons and AI "if/then" statements, but that artifice just melts away, expertly hidden by characteristics that are innately animalistic. Trico barks at things he doesn’t understand. He looks at you in confusion as you try to coax him to move. He paws at his food. He stretches his legs after escaping cramped quarters. He shakes the water off him when he comes out of water and then he preens his feathers. It’s magic. And the developers are able to keep up this trick throughout the entire 12-hour experience. 

How could you not love this goofball?

The game around it however, can leave something to be desired: An awkward camera that’s both rigid and yet has a mind of its own, scenarios that go back to the well a few too many times (I can’t tell you how often my character blacked out due to story reasons, only to be woken up in a new area by a rescuing Trico) and world design that, while undeniably beautiful, is often confusing and repetitive. 

But while those things can (and will) frustrate you, they can’t stop the emotion you feel for Trico. Never have I spoken so much to a TV during a playthrough, using the same tone as I would with my own pet. “That’s right, just a bit further. You can do it.” “No, not that way, Trico.” “Oh, you’re hungry now?” “There, there, the bad guys are gone. Nothing to be afraid of.” I caught myself saying these little phrases often, then laughing at how the game had fooled me yet again that Trico was a living, breathing thing.  

The Last Guardian definitely has its moments of intentional heartstring-pulling — big set pieces and scripted events with you or Trico put in a tight spot just to miraculously have the other save them at the most critical of times. And those moments do often land with their intended impact. But it’s the quiet moments that give Trico, and The Last Guardian by extension, its heartbeat. 

I have played and will play hundreds of games that are “better” than The Last Guardian. Games with sharper controls, more layered stories, nicer graphics, smoother framerates and less obnoxious  puzzles. But few games will leave the impression The Last Guardian has. Because despite its flaws (and perhaps, even thanks to them), The Last Guardian made me feel something in a way that most games can't. 

So I got around to watching the Pokeani episode today. I was expecting some sort of segue into the new direction the anime is taking, or at least some sort of preview in the episode. I didn’t get either of those, but I did get a nice warm feeling from the episode. It’s kind of goofy and lighthearted, but that’s what this series has been about, largely. It’s the start of a nice wrap-up that I had a feeling was coming.

I’ll admit, I’m a big sucker for those scenes where they’re just panning across vistas and various habitats and showing off pokemon just living in the world. It really does make me appreciate the world of pokemon itself. It’s been a nice place to fall back into over the years time and time again, even as so much changes in my real life.

But now, according to numerous announcements and trailers, it seems like we’re getting a new pair of protagonists for the anime going forward. Whether they’ll stick around from region to region like Ash did for so many years, or if the show-runners will introduce new ones every series, is completely up in the air at this point as far as I know.

Ash has been with me since I was around 10 years old. He’s was a staple of my childhood, and after a pokemon-related drought in my teenage years, I reconnected with the franchise and his adventures as I forged my own path in the world. It’s definitely been a journey with its ups and downs, but I’ve stuck with it for all the joys and frustrations of it.

I said as much in my review of the maser’s eight tournament finals (and I’m flabbergasted I managed to call it), but this is as good a time as any for Ash to be retired as the protagonist. I don’t see how they could take him any higher (I’m still working through Scarlet, so maybe there’s something there, but I’ve not seen it yet).

In any case, our boy has made it, proven himself, and made waves in his world and ours. After 25 years or so, he’s earned his retirement (even if he’s not aged much in canon). Trying to push Ash further would probably only be detrimental to his character, and I think the introduction of some new protagonists is a great idea.

While I know we have some time left with Ol’ Ash Ketchum, this news is definitely making me reflect on everything he’s been through, and what I’ve been through in watching him. Even if he wasn’t always my favourite, he’s been a constant and great example of steadfast determination and the simplicity of joy.

My hat’s off to you, Ash! Maybe we’ll see you around in some other capacity some day after your proper sendoff. But until then, take a bow Ash Ketchum: Champion of Alola, the Orange League, and the Master’s Eight Tournament. You’ve done us proud!

[Image Description: a screenshot from the Pokemon Journeys preview of Professor Oak, Charizard, Infernape, Krookodile, Tracey and Delia looking intensely (or in Delia’s case worriedly) at the ensuing Masters 8 match] Honestly this was probably my favorite scene of the preview because we got to see TRACEY SKETCHIT again! With him being actually present with everyone. I don’t really talk about how much I adore Tracey’s character so I’m glad to see him finally returning in full