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airyairyaucontraire · 1 year

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Afterthoughts about the main story of Pokémon Scarlet (spoilers obviously):

At various points in the game I felt that things had been half-assed, probably due to time crunch and insufficient staffing, like the lack of fun NPC interactions, poor town planning and shopping options. The plot which culminates in “The Way Home,” however, my word, they whole-assed that. This was my best experience yet in terms of feeling like I got to be in the anime, either the climax of a season or one of the movies, and that was super cool and satisfying.

I know now why I love Arven so much, he’s a blend of the grumpy but caring big brother (eg Piers) and the traumatised character you are there to help heal through your journey together (eg Lillie). I like this SO much better than a rivals plotline where you’re supposed to crush some other kid’s dreams to achieve yours (eg Hau, Hop). They even addressed this with Nemona, the most conventional rival, by having Paldea’s Pokémon League structured differently so that Champion is a rank multiple people can hold at the same time. You don’t have to knock Nemona off her perch to succeed and she’s just absolutely thrilled to have you rise to join her.

Is Penny so sarcastic and unpleasant because she was bullied and it’s made her defensive, or did people take against her because she’s sarcastic and unpleasant? No kid deserves to be bullied but some kids are disliked for a reason. Anyway Penny, you have cool hair and a cosy hoodie but you’re coming off as a bit of a dick, maybe work on that.

Nemona, you are one of nature’s sunbeams and if I shook you I would hear your brain cell rattling around like a bead. I loved it when Koraidon was nervous and she petted its nose.

The dynamic in the crater of everyone wanting to claim me as their BFF was pretty amusing. For the record, Arven is my bestie (we shared a life-changing field trip after all), I like Nemona very much and I am taking care of Penny because Clavell asked me to.

The team-getting-to-know-each-other dialogue text as we moved down through the crater went by a bit too quickly and without pausing to let me press A when I was ready to advance, which was strange.

Also strange was the apparent last-minute attempt to give Nemona some backstory. She’s… posh. Well shit, I’ve seen her house, I could have told you that - and it has no bearing on what she wants or how she behaves at all. Not even “I want to earn my own achievements and not be treated differently based on my family’s status.”

While I thought that the storyline about Arven and his parent (mother in Scarlet, father in Violet) was really good emotional stuff, I was struck by how - well, S/V are interesting with regards to gender. There’s been a deliberate if flawed attempt to make the player character customisation gender-neutral (but in the “unisex means everyone wears boys’ clothes” way rather than providing a skirt version of the uniforms that anyone could wear - at least they didn’t limit the hairstyles) and there are characters who are distinctly unconventional in their gender presentation - Rika with her dapper butch style, Grusha who many people mistook at first sight for a pretty girl, Mr Saguaro in general (although he seems a bit more like the incongruous comedy option). You can also see the two professors option as an effort at balance, but it has the side effect that while both characters are neglectful parents to Arven, a neglectful mother tends to be perceived more harshly than a neglectful father, particularly if she prioritises a high-powered career over her child. I may have missed something but I caught only a glancing reference to who Arven’s other parent might be and Arven makes no reference to feeling let down by that person. Thus, playing Scarlet, I sometimes felt a bit uncomfortable about the impression a child who only played Scarlet and didn’t know about Violet would be getting.

It’s interesting to look at Sada alongside Lusamine. We get a much clearer impression in S/M that Lusamine is narcissistic - that she’s built up this idea of how great she is being so loving and caring to all those rescued Pokémon, and she thinks of her love as this fabulous blessing and gift, rather than something Lillie and Gladion should be able to expect. (I won’t say “take for granted” because children should appreciate their parents’ love and care, but not with a sense of obligation or unworthiness for it.) Sada doesn’t really have the same kind of dialogue getting that point across, although you can infer she’s a similar kind of person. I appreciated the exchange between AI Sada and Arven when she speaks to him apparently from the real Sada’s memories and emotions, and apologises and Arven says that she can’t just say something like that now. It doesn’t really make things better for him and it would take more time and effort than a few loving words, however sincere, to make the necessary difference.

Of course, then she almost immediately peaces out to go back to the Stone Age rather than stick around to try to make it up to him. (Complicated, to be sure, by the fact she isn’t his actual mother, she’s a robot who’s kind of trashed and riddled with weird crystals and frankly probably won’t survive long where she’s going, but still, she chooses to leave him.)

I was a bit saddened by the fact that part of Arven’s acceptance of what happened seems to be a belief that it was understandable for his mother to be more interested in a time machine than in him. No it wasn’t! You’re a good boy! Evidently his little buddy is going to have to stick close and encourage him to think better of himself. And maybe we can go on an Adventour with Peony, I think that would really cheer him up.

Also, unbelievably awful that Sada or Turo made him responsible for Koraidon or Miraidon when he was just a kid, gave him no help to look after a Pokémon no one alive has any experience with, and made him feel like it was his fault when he lost control of the situation. What bloody useless parents. No wonder Arven resents Koraidon or Miraidon, and it’s a sign of his good character that despite feeling that way he’s still basically kind to it.

Anyway, I’m glad we healed his dog.

And all that said, “the Professor is the Big Bad” was a really fun twist and also kind of economical character-wise. Chairman Rose was an absolute dud of a Big Bad, particularly after a batshit powerhouse like Lusamine, so I was pleased to see he was an anomaly rather than typical for the games going forward.

#pokemon sv #long post #spoilers

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wolfsgravity · 3 years

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I can’t sleep so I’m just thinkin’ about my range of Pokémon romantic F/Os. This series has meant so much to me for so long, and I know F/Os from that source make up a decent portion of my list. I’d feel more embarrassed about it if I didn’t make it abundantly clear that Pokémon is one of the most pervasive influences in my life from an exceedingly young age.

I just. I dunno. I find my collection of Pokémon series F/Os so interesting.

I’m just gonna ramble a bit.

I’m going to talk in Generational order, because my 1am brain couldn’t decipher a more cohesive timeline if it tried.

Giovanni is a funny one. As a kid, his character in the show intimidated me a little. But I really loved Team Rocket on some level. They were my first Pokémon villain organization, and with the Gen III games having Aqua and Magma, I decided pretty early that Team Rocket was my team. I had a stint in Magma since when I was young, I thought I’d specialize in Fire types, but eh it didn’t stick. No team really stuck nearly as much until Team Skull! So I had a lot of time for my intimidation from Giovanni to evolve into a fearful respect, to a mild devotion… by the time I played Let’s Go! and Ultra Moon, I was more than a little excited to see him in game. As in, I would quietly cheer when he appeared on my screen, in some weird giddy manner. It was only a matter of time before I realized I was crushing hard.

Steven Stone (he has a full name so more often than not I use it when referring to him) probably didn’t make the biggest impact on me in the original Gen III games? Hoenn was my favorite region for a while (in part due to pre- “Hoenn confirmed” hype), but he didn’t have a huge role in Ruby/Sapphire. Maybe I noticed him first in Emerald? I wish I could remember my real first inkling of crush on him, because I just remember when I played Omega Ruby… I was already obsessed with him. He showed up for the first time in game and I squealed. I spent the whole game seeking him out and already making romantic passes at him in my around-19-year-old head.

I am counting Grovyle for this, but it bears repeating that my S/I for the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games is a Pokémon too. Those Mystery Dungeon games enamored me as a teen! I got to BE! A POKEMON!! So I probably got Explorers of Time/Darkness for DS not long after it released in 2008. I was so excited to have Gen IV Pokémon to be and battle and recruit, ugh, this game meant so much to me. I will always remember being part of Wigglytuff’s Guild super fondly. And like, as I am super susceptible to mental role play, putting myself in my characters shoes (or lil toe beans I guess) has always been second nature for me. So a dashing Grovyle just jumped into my silly life and was the most honorable and misunderstood character and I am not even joking when I say I fell for him in my first playthrough. And I’ve played through it a lot. I was always jealous of Celebi. I hate every Dusknoir I see to this day. *chefs kiss* Good game.

Gen V is “oops all F/Os” Gen, where to even start..

Just kidding, N is the obvious choice to start for me. He was love at first sight. He just, ugh, he cares about Pokémon SO MUCH. I literally don’t know how to even expand on this. He literally rode the Ferris Wheel with the player character in the game, and I WASNT supposed to interpret that as a date? Wack. It was a date. I love him so damn much. Next question

Elesa comes next because I’ve always thought she was stunning. I mean, duh I guess, she’s canonically a model. Also, Electric types are in my top 3, behind Fairy and somewhat tied with Fire, so she was a woman after my own heart. Her Emolga kinda wrecked my team and I respect that. Also, she loves puns. So again. Woman after my own heart. The only reason she’s still listed as Crush and not as Dating is because she intimidates me. She’s out of my league and I worry she’d only see me as a friend. Well, not “only”, her and Skyla are bffs and that also looks fun. I just. Can’t imagine her romantically being interested in me sometimes. Heh.

Grimsley was a crush that came on yeeeaaaars after his Gen, and it hit me like a freight train. I swear, he made very little impression on me in B/W, because I was young and I was just excited to possibly see N again as champion. I was a little shit, okay. I also never played B2/W2 all the way through, which is a huge stain on my Pokémon record. Anyways. When he showed up in Sun/Moon, I gasped. I was like, that’s a familiar face. Why is he hot now? (The answer is we was always hot, and I just had a few years to grow between games). But like, I kind of tamped it back down? I think I legit tried to tell myself around Sun/Moon era that I can’t keep finding Pokémon characters hot, because I was drooling over another one in Moon. Anywho. Grimsley kept popping up as fanart on my Tumblr dash for a while and by the time I pulled him in Pokémon Masters, I slipped into love. Whoops.

Professor Sycamore, probably not my proudest moment of fandom. He was another one I liked from the very introduction. I made fun of him in equal measure, but I affectionately referred to him as “Professor Hotdad” for an embarrassingly long amount of time. He’s not even the oldest of my Pokémon F/Os. One of my other Pokémon F/Os is canonically a father. But nope. Sycamore was Hotdad. That all said, he did make me smile like a crush-stricken schoolgirl when he talked in game so it wasn’t all just memey objectification. I do love him dearly.

Gen VII! Alola! Guzma! Oh man, like I’d stated earlier, Team Skull really nestled it’s way close to my heart the way no team had since Team Rocket. It wasn’t all because of Guzma, I really did like the group of ragtag misfits banding together and creating a family. Guzma was icing on the cake. Oh boy, he made my heart do funny little flips even when he was threatening me in game. I loved his design, I loved his character, the way he talked, I just. Ugh, I was down bad for ya boy in Moon and Ultra Moon. He’s actually the inspiration behind my main blog url: its-ya-boi-remington. The “Y’all are stupid!” line and face lives in my head rent free at all times. Guzma protection squad.

(Nanu isn’t a romantic so I won’t talk about him here, just know I’m not forgetting him!)

Leon was, believe it or not, my actual first Gen VIII crush. I saw that fashion disaster and felt a warm comfort from him. It didn’t help that I mentally read every character in Galar with some UK/British Isles accent, that sweetened the deal. I was actually gushing to a couple then-friends about Leon while we all played Sword/Shield together and they kind of mocked me about it. They chided me that Leon “doesn’t bat for my team” and said either of them would have a better chance with him if he were real. So I was a little downtrodden about Leon after that for quite a while. It wasn’t until a couple months ago when suddenly it hit me that A- He’s literally fictional and my version of him can like me regardless of what “team he bats for” and B- I’m nonbinary? So rules get thrown out the window, anyone who likes me is both a miracle and some kind of gay whatever way you spin it. So I let myself warm back up to him, though I’m still a little skittish from before.

Piers, I guess, as awful as it sounds, was initially a crush rebound. Like, don’t get me wrong, I’d have been attracted either way. He’s a musician, a SINGER no less, and has that emo/punk vibe. But he’s also gentle and kind. Swoon. But it helped that I had my crush-feelers out full-force for a cutie in game to obsess over since I was still butthurt about my “friends” killing my crush on Leon. Obsess I did, and continue to do. I could probably snap this man over my knee like firewood he’s so lanky, idk why I put that in here but it’s staying. Piers is the one I most imagine jamming out with on a regular basis, and it makes performing for no one a bit more fun 🥰

I’m finally getting tired, I feel like I’ve been typing this for an hour. I probably have been. Ah geez now I gotta tag all these F/Os lmao. Thanks for letting me ramble.

#all my Pokémon romantic ships ahoy #ship: darkpoppunk #ship: it’s ya bois #ship: despite being french #ship: natural number one #ship: da boss’s favorite #ship: she’s electrifyin #ship: taking a gamble on you #ship: I got lost in your eyes #ship: time stops for you

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alkenna · 5 years

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Happyhoganon: Are you a part of the Marvel and DC fandoms?

Well, hello.

So, this ask didn't appear on mobile... only saw it now because I had to use the browser version for once. Oops... 😅

To answer you're question, I'm not currently in either fandom. When I was, I wasn't very active either. Mainly that was during the time the first Avengers movie was out.

For some back story tho, I did grow up with DC then watched, especially the beginning of, the Marvel cinematic universe. I was a wee bab at the tail end of the 90's and early 2000's so I watched a lot of Kids WB mainly for my jam Pokémon, but also liked to watch Batman Beyond, Static Shock, and Justice League. I had v little exposure to any Marvel characters (sans Spiderman) until the movies were starting to hit it big in the mainstream. Like I mentioned, I watched those that led into the first Avengers movie, which was around the time I was in high school and just getting into Tumblr. My friends were into it too so I never had a reason, or felt compelled to seek out people online to talk too.

Because my dad was a geek in all the avenues imaginable, me and my bro would get to go see some of cheesier or edgier superhero movies that would come out before the MCU was established (like the Spiderman movies). I do remember tho seeing and, at the time, enjoying the Batman with Heath Ledger's Joker in it. Although, I remember people saying that "Marvel has the better movies but DC has the better shows" I just am not into watching live-action content that much, not without a really good hook for me... Which is probably a huge fault on my part.

Anyway that was probably more then you really wanted as an answer... 😅

TL;DR no not really either one, tho I like both, I just engage with them on a mainstream level and don't obsess over either franchise.

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