#been playing a lot of legends arceus..... i get it now

[sea-beam]

i've seen this before⚫⚪

#been playing a lot of legends arceus..... i get it now #art #fanart #lineless art #pokemon #pokemon legends arceus #warden ingo #ingo #submas #oshawott #pokemon bw #pkmn #pkmn fanart

[patriamrealm]

So I've been playing the update for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet with the Blueberry Academy and some of the pokemon within the game have been giving me thoughts.

So we know that hisuian specific pokemon are supposed to be extinct. that was a whole thing yet you can find hisuian variants of pokemon within the terrarium of the BB academy. How would they be extinct if you can still find them?

So there's two types of extinct, there's extinct in the way you usually think of it where an animal or plant just no longer exists at all. There's no going back and in the pokemon world the only way to sort of get them back is through fossil restoration.

But there's also another type of extinct that is called "functional extinction." This is where the animals, or in this case pokemon, cannot contribute to the ecosystem due to population decrease or disruption in the gene flow.

My theory is that Hisuian pokemon are functionally extinct. In talking to Perrin she has a hisuian growlith and is looking for an ursaluna, but besides this very old Ursaluna you never actually see hisuian pokemon in the wild wild. The terrarium of BB academy is not the wilderness and they are not found anywhere in the wild in BD and SP either. This suggests that while still around they cannot survive in the wild alone anymore and instead those that remain are all in the care of humans in some shape or form. (I am not counting raid battles, those are more event type things and I do not think they should count)

Likely the clans of hisui are still around in some way, be it combined, split, or otherwise they likely are the ones that care for these hisuian pokemon most because something has changed drastically in the enviroment that makes it hostile to the continued survival of them.

For pokemon like oh, hisuian sneasle and sneasler that was likely the introduction of jotoan sneasle and wevile out competing their solitary counterparts. Same with a vast majority of the hisuan pokemon. They were likely out competed.

Now with pokemon such as wyrdeer and kleavor who have more specific evolutions you can likely find hisuian stantler and syther in the wild present day, but the methods of their evolution have been disturpted. Now Stantler needs to know physheild bash, master it, and use it agile style again and again to evolve. You could argue that with the loss of agile and strong style battle that explains why they can't evolve.

Except you can find fully evolved Wyrdeer in the wild in legends arceus. This suggests there was some other thing that was also disrupted in the enviroment that made it so they couldn't evolve. This could be a lack of specific nutrients, migratory paths disrupted, or any other number of things. While kleavor needs a specific ore. With a finite resource that likely wound up being over mined leaving little to none left.

Long story short it kind of bothered me that hisuian pokemon were considered extinct yet in later games you can still get them. But with what I've seen thus far it actually makes a lot of sense if rather than being extinct extinct they are instead functionally extinct. Thus have the capability to return to the wild down the line with extensive conservation efforts.

#pokemon #pokemon legends arceus #pokemon perrin #pokemon scarlet and violet #hisuian pokemon #Oh wow this was a rant and a half #way longer than anticipated #sorry about that.

[yanderes-galore]

hi, sorry if i'm too early to the rq period, but can i ask for a concept with pla ingo and a reader who was the unova champion and also knew him before being sent to hisui?

Sure! It's been a long time since I've played Pokemon Legends: Arceus so this is based on memory.

Yandere! PL:A! Ingo with Unova Champion! Darling

Pairing: Romantic/Platonic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Clingy behavior, Amnesia, Overprotective behavior, Selfish behavior, Manipulation, Jealousy, Dubious relationship/companionship.

It's no wonder Arceus saw you fit for the task it has chosen for you.

Who better to try and stop Volo than a Champion?

As a result you, former Unova champion, are sent to Hisui.

Ingo doesn't really remember you at first due to his memory loss.

When you do meet him in Coronet Highlands he can tell there's something about you.

You recognize Ingo as... well... Ingo somewhat, but are perplexed by his amnesia.

Ingo finds himself strangely drawn to you when he sees you.

Even fighting you feels familiar, yet something seems missing.

He isn't sure what.

By the end of his first battle with you he isn't really sure if he wants to part from you.

You know Ingo well as Champion.

To pass time you would challenge him and Emmet all the time.

You had grown close to the two brothers, becoming friends.

Maybe Ingo just saw you as a friend... or maybe he saw you as something more and never bothered to admit it.

Either way said feelings keep bubbling within him even now despite his memory loss.

Even your name echoes in his mind as familiar... he knows at some point he's heard it...

At some point he's cherished it.

Hearing you talk to him makes his heart flutter just a bit.

He tries his hardest to figure out why you're so familiar.

However... eventually you yourself end up bringing it up.

You say you used to be a Champion for a place called Unova.

More bells ring in his mind... he looks shocked but he listens to you.

You tell him you used to challenge him and his brother often.

You admit you considered him a close friend.

Yet now... now you're stuck here to fulfill some prophecy.

Ingo takes some time to digest the information but he begins to look at you fondly afterwards.

He admits the memories are vague but he does remember you.

No wonder he feels such a strange connection to you.

Ever since then you two often are around one another.

After all, you have the strongest connection out of anyone here.

Ingo starts to act differently around you too.

You notice he hovers around often and even asks to train you more.

He gets worried when you're on expeditions.

His behavior is somewhat understanding.

You are the only connection he has to his old life.

Not only that but you invoke such strong emotions within him.

Having battles with you seems... normal.

He misses it, actually.

You both may not have your usual teams but the skill is still there.

Others expected you two to get along due to both being from the Time Rift.

Although they didn't know you knew each other so well.

I expect there's moments where Ingo gets... sentimental.

Especially as he remembers you more and more.

There's times Ingo will break his more stoic behavior to hug you.

It brings back memories for you too...

Oh Arceus, you worry for Emmet....

You even bring up his brother at times, hoping to jog his memory.

Ingo is upset that he can't see his brother whom he barely remembers... but he feels comforted that you're here.

Especially as his obsession gets more intense.

His depression with his memories and feelings are what drives him to you.

Soon he asks you not to leave so often.

He wants to talk to you, battle with you, feel your warmth....

It may be selfish but Ingo and you have been through a lot, right?

So... he deserves to be around you the most, right?

You no doubt try to jog his memory... but he begins to wonder what the point is.

What if you both never go home?

The thought plagues him often, even Sneasler can tell something's wrong.

Maybe he'll never even see Unova again....

Then his thought flick back to you.

... so what if he doesn't?

Ingo has you, doesn't he?

No one else can compare to you and him.

No one else deserves you.

Aren't you meant to be?

As long as he has you... maybe he can be happy.

A little slice of home...

Maybe it won't be so bad to be stuck here as long as he has you... forever... his dearest champion.

#yandere pokemon trainer #yandere pokemon #yandere ingo #yandere pla ingo

[violet-fire-cat]

Week 2 of @shepscapades Hermit design event! I went with the video game swap 'cos I thought it'd be fun. I wanted to do something Pokemon related but just giving a Hermit a new outfit and a couple pokeballs felt too easy. Then I remembered I'd been playing Legends Arceus again a few weeks ago and came up with this instead!

So! Here we have Etho and Bdubs as members of Hisui's Diamond and Pearl clans! This was super fun and I had a great time drawing them in these outfits!

But now if you've played Legends Arceus you're probably thinking. 'Hey Violet, a major point of that game is that the two clans don't like each other, why are they holding hands?' Well my friend, let me explain (under the read more, I wrote a lot whoops)!

Whilst out exploring Etho is attacked and knocked unconcious by wild pokemon. He's found and brought to safety by Bdubs, who patches him up the best he can. When he wakes up Etho is a little alarmed that he was found by someone from the Diamond Clan, but Bdubs is friendly and not trying to hurt him further. They are a little uneasy around each other at first, but slowly start to relax whilst Etho recovers from his injuries.

The attack damaged Etho's left eye and Bdubs wasn't able to save it, leaving him mostly blind in one eye now, but Etho is nothing if not adaptable. Once he's well enough he thanks Bdubs and makes his way home, neither of them expect to see each other again.

It doesn't last though. They cross paths again a few times whilst out and about and gradually they become friends. They get along well, Etho likes to study pokemon (from afar, preferably) and talks to Bdubs about the things he's seen. Whilst Bdubs teaches him what herbs and plants can be used for medicine in any given area. Slowly that friendship becomes a little more... Forbidden love between two rival clans. They can't tell anyone and have to keep their meet-ups secret, but it's fine! They can manage!

The one thing they don't agree on is almighty Sinnoh but perhaps that's to be expected. Etho will occasionally bring up the subject though, simply because listening to Bdubs rant about how almighty Sinnoh is absolutely a god of time, Etho, not space!, is incredibly entertaining, even if he is wrong.

#hermitcraft #ethoslab #bdoubleo100 #ethubs #hermitblr #mcyt #mcytblr #hermitshipping #digital art #violetattemptsart #I wrote a lot here I apologise pffft

[mayorofcattown]

Natsume week, day 6: Travel

Pokemon AU, specifically a Hisui one, cause I've had this in my wips for ages and the story of legends arceus definitely fits the 'travel' prompt. I've had the idea for a pokemon AU for ages but could never figure out a good pokemon to represent madara, until I played legends arceus and saw Hisuian Zoroark, and immediately I knew I had to make a Hisui AU. The more historical setting and the 'wilder' pokemon fits the vibe of natsuyuu better too tbh

I also posted a timelapse of this to my patreon if ppl are interested!

Story wise, Natsume would probably be the grandson of the first person to fall through the rift several decades ago, and has drifted from town to town after his parents died due to people's scepticism of Reiko and their families' stronger connection to pokemon. Eventually he ends up in yatsuhara tho and gets taken in by the Fujiwaras, and ends up joining the survey corps with Taki and Tanuma to learn more about pokemon. Taki's grandfather started the survey corps, but passed away recently so now Taki is carrying in his footsteps. Tanuma wants to learn more about pokemon but doesn't have a lot of experience with them, the only one he's been able to tame is a single magikarp.

Natori and Matoba would be the Diamond and Pearl clans obviously but I haven't figured out what pokemon they'd have so I didn't draw them lol

ID's copied from alt text under the cut:

ID, image 1: Natsuyuu and Pokemon Legends Arceus crossover fan art. Natsume wears the survey corps kimono uniform from the game with a tan scarf. He glances towards a Hisuian Zoroark drawn with the facial markings of Madara's youkai form.

ID, image 2: Natsuyuu and Pokemon Legends Arceus crossover fan art. Taki and Tanuma are both wearing the survey corps kimono uniform from the game and shown with pokemon. Tanuma has a magikarp next to him and Taki is hugging a skitty, with an O form unown behind her.

#did I make a pokemon au solely so I could make a joke abt tanuma having a magikarp? perhaps #considered making it that reiko was the one to open the rift? but idk. it works either way #natsume yuujinchou #natsume week #fan art #art #pokemon legends arceus

[pokemon-npcs]

Do you have any thoughts on how Pokemon NPC dialogue has evolved over the generations? Are there any in particular you've found that surprised you?

Hmm....Good question.

I mainly view it from the perspective of how easy it is to find dialogue that fits well on this blog...

Gen 1 probably has the least amount of quirky/fun npc dialogue, with the following games getting more and more fun NPCs.

I personally feel like the dialogue really hit its stride in gen 5-6. And the Team Aqua/Magma/Galactic grunts - for instance - were often great in gen 3-4.

Then there's gen 7...there are a lot of really kooky NPCs in Alola...but for some reason they quite often give me this almost unsettling feeling. And at least sometimes it feel like it is unsettling on purpose. There's also the fact that there were a lot of long scenes with NPCs in those games, which mostly is a hassle for the sake of this blog lol (longer cutscenes with smiling and unblinking characters may be a reason that I feel unsettled now that I think about it). The lengthy scenes is an issue of mine with Pokémon Legends: Arceus for the same reason. I guess it is kind of nice to get these mini-stories, though.

Gen 8-9 have been fine. I'm kind of glad that they've reigned in the long cutscenes. I do feel like gen 9 has had a bit too many NPCs that mainly are used for exposition (like telling you about a game feature or commenting on a nearby landmark), much like the early gens. And I feel like the various grunts have had less fun dialogue in gen 8-9 too.

As for something that has surprised me...well, I've been playing/replaying various Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games recently, and they have quite a lot of fun/charming dialogue. Often in the shape of short comments that throughout the game(s) create a narrative.

Maybe even more surprising is that there sometimes are gems from the Detective Pikachu games too...though almost exclusively from the pokémon rather than the trainers in those ones.

And of course, I have to mention that the trainer dialogue from various battle facilities in most games are generally top tier!

What are your thoughts?

#pokemon npcs #ask #peccaberry #pmd #ursaring #teddiursa #pokémon mystery dungeon: explorers of sky

[ifbench]

Pokemon Emerald Retrospective, from the perspective of a first-time mainline Pokemon player

To preface this, before playing Emerald, I had very, very scarcely played mainline Pokemon. I played about 40 minutes of Soulsilver back in 2013, and played Legends Arceus and Violet to the credits in 2022, but not much else.

My passion lies with Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. I played Rescue Team DX, Explorers of Sky, Gates to Infinity, and Super all in a row back in late 2020, and I've been obsessed with them ever since. You can find my retrospectives on those if you look back on my blog.

So why play mainline?

To put it simply, some of my friends were doing it, and I wanted to do it.

A friend of mine boldly proclaimed that they would play every single mainline Pokemon game without reusing any Pokemon species. I decided to challenge myself to do a less strenuous challenge: play one mainline game for every mainline Pokemon region, but I can't use a guide. If I get stuck, I have to ask my friends for advice.

And so, I started Emerald. Why start with Emerald and not Firered? I don't quite remember. But it's where I started.

My first impressions were...rough.

It was slow, clunky, and a lot of stuff I was accustomed to through PMD, Legends Arceus, and Violet, simply weren't there.

Then I got the running shoes, and stuff began to pick up.

I picked Treecko, and named him Apoyime after my PMD Explorers protagonist. With his help, I was able to defeat Roxanne in one fell swoop, thanks to rock's grass weakness.

I caught two more Pokemon on the way there, a Zigzagoon I named Mavy, after the character from Quenched Torch, written by my best friend Sudmensch, and a Tailow I named Tilio.

With them, I made it through Granite Cave, and managed to do it without Flash! I also caught an Aron and named her Serald.

Brawly was more difficult than Roxanne, but thanks to Tilio, I managed to defeat him too.

Then there was Wattson.

Wattson was brutally difficult. I could often get to his Magneton, but every time I did, my team got curbstomped.

It was here that I started seeing the cracks in Emerald again.

You see, Emerald's EXP Share is extremely easy to miss, and doesn't apply EXP to the whole party. Instead, it just splits it between the Pokemon that participated...and one, single other Pokemon, that has to have the EXP Share as a held item.

I really, really hate grinding in games.

So, I visited the Game Corner, and tried to gamble my way to a Flamethrower TM for Mavy.

Even with using savestates for this specific occasion, though, it was a bust. The roulette tables were far too slow, and the slot machines were rigged.

So, I sighed, and decided to ride back and forth on my bike in front of the daycare in order to make number go up.

After hours of this, I managed to get my team up to a large enough level that I could finally, finally beat Wattson.

I decided to take a break for a few months after that ordeal, and resumed my playthrough in January.

And then, there were the HMs.

Before this, I didn't understand why everyone hates HMs so much. Now, I very much do understand why.

HMs force you to reserve either a party member slot for a Pokemon exclusively dedicated to HMs, or to use up move slots on your Pokemon on these moves that are often completely useless in battle.

I sighed, caught a Poochyena for Rock Smash, and named her Hiova.

I pressed onwards, fighting Team Magma atop Mount Chimney, then fighting Flannery in Lavaridge.

Flannery was also very difficult. I had to grind a bit more in order to defeat her, and at this point my patience was wearing thin. I was considering abandoning the marathon at this point.

Not helping this was the fact that the game was very unclear about where to go next. I thought I had to travel through the Route 111, but it was a dead end with nothing but the Mirage Tower.

I did catch a Trapinch here, though, and named her Raga after the Flygon from Tetra's fic Home is Where the Hoenn Is.

Eventually, a friend informed me that I should head back to Petalburg to face Norman, but that he'd be the biggest difficulty spike yet.

And so, I gave up. I turned on a cheat that gave me infinite rare candies, and leveled up my Pokemon that were lagging behind Apoyime.

And so, I took on Norman. It took two tries, but I managed to win!

I had already taught Strength and Shock Wave to Mavy, and decided to teach him Surf as well, making him the jack of all trades of my team.

Thinking it was the next objective, I explored the Abandoned Ship. It was fun, but I got little out of it.

I then saw Wattson wandering around in Mauville, and decided to talk to him, which granted me access to New Mauville.

Gotta say, it's a lot different in the game than it was in the Adventures manga, but it was still cool and fun, and the music gave me lots of inspiration.

Next up, I made my way to Fortree, and was stumped by the invisible blockade in front of the gym until a friend told me to go further, into Route 120.

After giggling a bit and making a bunch of PMD references from the invisible blockades being Kecleons, with the Devon Scope in hand, I returned to Fortree and took down Winona.

Next was Route 120 proper, which was a surreal experience. I had researched it a bit for my fic In Tandem, but playing through it was something else entirely. It was like childhood wonder.

Mount Pyre was really neat. Same music as New Mauville on the inside, which paired with the graves created a very eerie atmosphere.

But outside, there was a fast-paced track that got me feeling ready to take on both Team Aqua and Team Magma.

Then I made my way to Lilycove, where I decided to try a contest with Apoyime.

I failed miserably, getting last place.

And then Emerald stumped me with the most baffling detour yet.

The Aqua hideout was blocked, the ocean routes were blocked, it seemed like I had nowhere to go.

I wandered around for quite a while, until a friend told me that I had to go back to Mount Chimney of all places, and examine a random rock, now that I had the Magma emblem.

This was probably the point where I was angriest with Emerald. More than Wattson's difficulty spike. More than HMs. More than the lackluster EXP Share. More than having to grind.

But I took a deep breath, and pressed onwards.

The Magma Hideout was nothing special, but it got the plotline rolling! Seeing Groudon become active was so cool to see.

And from there, it was a straightforward trip back to Lilycove to infiltrate the Team Aqua hideout.

The Aqua hideout was some of the most fun I had in the game so far. The maze of warp tiles, combined with the great music, and even being able to find a master ball tucked away past a tricky set of warp panels, it all came together to form something very fun!

Then it was a simple surf to Mossdeep, and I battled the Magma grunts there.

After the battle alongside Steven, though, tragedy struck: Hiova turned into a Bad Egg, and I saved before I noticed.

I have no idea why this happened, but Hiova was gone.

After taking a moment of silence to both calm down and to grieve, I looked up what to do in the case of a bad egg.

I deposited the bad egg into the PC, turned off the infinite rare candy code, and went to Route 120 to fetch a new HM buddy, a Marill.

After that, I went back to Mossdeep, and defeated Tate and Liza.

Next up, I began searching for the Deepsea Cave. It was a difficult search, and I managed to find Sootopolis City first, but eventually, I made it inside, and faced off against the evil teams of Hoenn one last time.

With Groudon and Kyogre both awake and both fighting, and after consulting Wallace, I made my way to Sky Pillar.

And...Rayquaza flew out without me fighting it at all. I was honestly kinda disappointed.

After making my way back to Sootopolis, Rayquaza stopped Kyogre and Groudon's warring in a really cool cutscene, and the main plot of the game was over.

But mainline Pokemon is weird. Unlike PMD, the game doesn't end when the plot ends. Instead, there's still the gym, Elite Four, and champion to go.

And so, I battled Juan, and won.

Next up was Ever Grande City, which, side note, really didn't live up to expectations. I was expecting a city as grand as the name implied, but all it was was a Pokemon Center, Victory Road, and the Pokemon League.

Speaking of Victory Road, it was a nightmare to navigate, especially with no Flash and no guide. It took me quite a while to get through it, but eventually, I made it to the Pokemon League.

It felt so tense going inside. I was about to face a gauntlet of the five toughest trainers in the main game, with no Pokemon Centers in between. This was it, my sea of time in Hoenn.

Sidney was relatively easy, but that relatively is doing a lot of work. He still nearly took down Raga and Serald, but I managed.

Phoebe was tough. Her Banette's Curse took down Raga, and she left most of the rest of my team with low health, but I won. Using a revive on Raga, and restoring everyone's HP, I pressed on.

Glacia was easier, about the same level as Sidney, but still nearly took down Serald, and dealt a hefty blow to Mavy as well. But I won.

I just had two trainers left, and this would be my toughest challenge yet.

Drake was brutal, as much as Wattson was. But I had come a long way since then. I just barely scraped by, with Mavy and Apoyime being the only members of my team not fainted when I took him down.

And then, after healing up my team, it was time for my final challenge.

Wallace was very difficult. Almost all his Pokemon were of higher level than most of mine, with his Milotic matching Apoyime's level. And with the move Recover? That Milotic was very, very difficult to defeat.

But I pulled through. I won. I made it into the Hall of Fame.

I consider that one of my greatest accomplishments I've ever done in a video game, up there with beating Champion's Road from Super Mario 3D World solo.

It was tricky. It was brutal. But I did it.

Maybe I'm just bad at mainline Pokemon, but I'm proud.

Emerald, while not my favorite, was mostly a great experience to play through for the first time.

However, it had its flaws. HMs, lack of directions, and grinding made some parts of it a slog.

Overall, though, I enjoyed it, and it was a fantastic start to my mainline Pokemon marathon.

Hoenn is now one of my favorite Pokemon regions.

#pokemon #retrospective #hoenn #pokemon emerald #pokemon retrospective

[esprei]

VOLO TIME *cue piano* OK SO... I’ve been meaning to write this up for a while now - my thoughts, observations and general musings on Volo (and maybe a headcanon or two?) (please keep in mind this will be very jumbled - literally just me trying to talk about why this character has grown on me and why I love him so much now so without further ado, let’s go! also, big shoutout to @sunnyluma for helping grab most of these screenshots tyyyyyy ;-;)

((under a cut because this will be loooong))

Ah, Volo... where do I even start?  I was pretty indifferent towards him at first and the same can be said as I played through the game. I honestly thought that he was just a Legends Arceus version of Cynthia, nothing more nothing less (since, y’know he had similar looks, mannerisms and things, not to mention the whole various characters as ancestors bit). For some reason gen 4 is the gen that resonates with me the least (I’ve uh... never actually finished a gen 4 game or fought Cynthia 😬), and while I do think Cynthia is a really cool champion and character in general, I definitely don’t feel a lot of the same hype for her that others do. So that, in turn, applied to Volo for me as well. It was like a... he’s just there kind of situation. But fast forward from finishing the game to hyperfixation on submas to maybe... two months ago? Three now? I dunno, can’t remember the timeline, but what I DO remember is looking at Volo one day and being like... wow. He’s cool. I like him. More specifically, I was looking at his character design sheet at the time. And in that moment it really sank in that, wow this guy is freaking tall. 190cm? equivalent to 6′3″? What in the world. And just... something about that cocky smirk of his in his artwork, coupled with the fact that it’s right next to his goofy Arceus cosplay with that hair... He hooked me. Seriously. Look at him:

(This outfit has also grown on me btw I unironically love it because look at him he’s in his Arceus cosplay and he confidently rocks it like i can’t-) Anyway part of it is probably because I love characters who have crazy or sinister expressions. They can be fun! So then I rewatched the cutscene that happens after you win against him and Giratina because I couldn’t quite recall the sequence of events that happened there and I was curious. And MAN I was shocked... I did not really remember ANY of this?? Seriously, there’s so much packed into these last few lines before he walks away (forever... sobs...). I feel like I really see a glimpse into Volo’s complexity during this whole cutscene. Or, at the very least, his insecurities. Just take the following for example:

HE LOOKS SO SAD... SERIOUSLY, this particular little scene always gets to me. Like... ok. Yeah, he not too long before this ordered Giratina to strike you down to get the plates because he said he wasn’t above using force to get them from you, but it’s here where I really see a guy who’s questioning himself in this moment. It’s like he’s putting so much worth into Arceus’s view of him, he’s so convinced that he’s the chosen one because of his bloodline that when Arceus doesn’t choose him he’s lost. Confused. Surprised Pikachu face even. 

I dunno... we unfortunately don’t have a lot of backstory on him, but I feel like this guy has (or feels like he has) a lot of pressure on his shoulders due to the nature of belonging to a bloodline that has pretty much since died out, save for himself and Cogita. Or maybe even that he put that pressure on himself? Which brings me to this... a scene that REALLY caught my attention when watched it again because I actually read what he says???

If you follow me over on twitter, you might have seen me talk about this scene a while back - more specifically what he says in the first two screenshots. It’s honestly one of the ones that led me to look into Volo even more because seriously... Volo. Who or what hurt you. What happened. Talk to me. PLEASE...

In all seriousness though, the lack of backstory kills me because I like to imagine something tragic happened to him in the past for him to have this viewpoint. And to not only have this viewpoint but to be driven enough to make a change in the world... err... rather, just make a new one!

But. Back to the lines after you defeat him and Giratina... what stands out to me here as well is Volo’s admission and acceptance of defeat. Watching it back the first time I was honestly a little caught off guard. He really kinda humbles himself and gives you the last plate, the Spooky Plate, admitting that his journey ended when lost to you. I don’t really focus too much on the other Pokemon villains admittedly so I’m not sure if others did this, but this sequence just stuck out to me because he gives it up after being so aggressive right before this. Like before he was confident, smug, hellbent on doing everything that he could to get you out of his way, you outsider, then when he Giratina ran off he was at first angry, then confused, questioning Arceus about it all, left with burning questions that he can’t bear not knowing the answer to... It’s like this man goes through the five stages in grief all in the span of like... 30 seconds.

Seriously, this man looks tired here. Done. Defeated. He knows it’s over.

He accepts it all, even if it’s just for a moment. ...Then right after that the Azure Flute forms for you and he’s right back to being an angry, petulant brat about it all... But that’s why I love him! He’s morally gray. He fights with himself, he fights with the internal emotional turmoil that he’s feeling about you being the one Arceus wants to see rather than him, about him not being good enough for Arceus to spare him even a second of its time, him thinking that he was doing something that needed to be done, rebuilding a new world free from pain and strife and other horrible things he’s had to experience, that others have no doubt experienced... (at least, this is what I see asfkldfj) And all of that, at least to me, makes him more interesting than the Volo I had first impressions of. Makes him feel more human to me. More than just “oh shoot, he’s the Cynthia ancestor who’s actually the villain instead of Cyllene!” Like... yeah. He made bad choices. He tried to use Giratina to strike you down. He wanted to subjugate Arceus and force it to create a brand new world, erasing the current one. Not a good look. I’m not trying to excuse any of that, and I’m not the best at organizing these thoughts probably, and I will admit that I also saw Volo as the manipulative, conniving guy early on because for me it was such a twist that he was the villain, so that’s what I focused on. And why he was such a great twist villain for me was because of the setup. By that, I mean you already had a well established character in Cynthia right - an all good, helpful, friendly and strong person - then you apply that to Volo and... boom. HE’S NOT THAT?? I was thinking at a certain point it was just going to be Kamado as the big bad because of the events that unfold, which is why with Volo it was EVEN BETTER because you had that sort of fake out I guess (for lack of a better term)? Kamado banishes you from Jubilife, Volo finds you in Obsidian Fieldlands and helps you, takes you to Cogita to help with the lake spirits and the Red Chain and all, you eventually hear that Kamado is going up to the temple to deal with the rift, then after those events Volo gets kinda sus at the Giratina statue riiiiight before you go up to the temple and then when you get up there... JACKET COMES OFF, OUTFIT CHANGE, etc etc. And like... I get why some people just do not like Volo and never will. I respect that. Trust me, I did NOT like Melli during the main game at all, I’ll tell you what. The little bit of background we get on him in the daybreak update was what changed my view on him, though. And for me what changed my general view on Volo were these scenes. I dunno, maybe I’m a broken record at this point, and maybe I’m a little biased now because I adore him, but I now see him as someone who maybe in the beginnings had noble intentions and just ended up going down the wrong path unfortunately.

Like... look. Right after he questions Arceus about what he’s lacking he asks this:

To me, he’s doubting it all now. And like the moments I mentioned above, him questioning the grand ol’ creator what it is he’s lacking, what makes him not good enough, we see a bit of his human side. Scenes like these and scenes like when he gives you the Spooky Plate lead me to think he has a lot of insecurities hidden underneath that confident (and other times cheery and playful) demeanor. Whether it’s a burden, an expectation, his own self-imposed pressures... there’s just a smidge that we can see and so much more that could be possible if he had more story elements focused on him. (WHICH IS WHY I WANT PLA DLC SO BAD I KNOW IT’S WISHFUL THINKING BUT PLEASE) I’d also like to mention that I think it’s very very interesting that his trainer class for his last battle is “Pokemon Wielder” rather than the “Ginkgo Guild Member” class he has for his other battles. I don’t feel like “Pokemon Wielder” is negative in its connotation - rather, I’d like to think that it derives from his bloodline, the Celestica people, and the thought that perhaps they were the first tamers of Pokemon in the land of Hisui. This thought is due to the fact that he’s excited to see another person (you) who uses Pokeballs for their Pokemon (rather than the Diamond and Pearl clans whose leaders and wardens do not use Pokeballs at all - with Ingo being the (other) exception to that rule of course). That coupled with the fact that he looks genuinely disappointed that more people don’t use them (this line here):

And, of course, how can I fail to mention his Pokemon team itself? Look. Really. If you know anything about me lately it is that I ADORE the idea of Volo adoring his Togepi. Which then would evolve into a Togetic through high friendship. And then into a Togekiss through use of Shiny Stone, but you get my point right? Budew into Roselia, Riolu into Lucario... Yes, I know, I know, Volo is Hisuian Cynthia so the team matches for the most part outside of H. Arcanine, and the joke about him gaslighting his Pokemon into evolving is funny on the surface, but in reality I think he genuinely loves his Pokemon. For goodness sake, there’s a photo of him and Togepi outside of the photo booth! And and and the standee that was recently announced as merch?!

LOOK AT HOW HE HOLDS LITTLE TOGEPI. YOU CANNOT TELL ME THIS MAN DOESN’T LOVE HIS EGG. LOOK AT HOW HE HOLDS EGG. EGG DAD. ...Sorry. Got a little carried away there. But yes! I think he loves his Pokemon, genuinely. Which is why it kills me when he says this:

Like bro. Your Pokemon were right there in that battle. VOLO PLEASE- (ALSO JUST A QUICK MENTION ABOUT THIS LINE, it also leads me to think that he’s kinda... always been alone for the most part, outside of his Pokemon team maybe 🥺 probably more of a headcanon than anything but that’s just how I feel sdflkjsdlfkj) Alright... I think I’ve said enough at this point and it’s a mess and I’m not too sure I can ever put quite how I feel about Volo into proper words because I’m not the best at this kind of thing but... I just want to say that he’s a character that I have accelerated in love and appreciation for because he’s just... I dunno, he’s got a lot going on. And I think maybe some of that gets missed because of his ties to Cynthia and his betrayal. But I’m reaaaaaally hoping to see him again in the near future. A random house in one of the cities either in the new region or in Unova (if we get B/W remakes) will suffice 🥲 So uh... YEAH. tl;dr I think Volo is a great character with a little more under the surface than just the villain reveal twist at the end of the game and I’m rooting for him all the way. Him and Togepi (Togekiss?). 

Alright. That’s all I got! Byeeeee y’all 👋

#pokemon volo #volo #ginkgo guild volo #sorry i tried my best to make this.... sorta organized #and i did my best to get the sequence right so apologies if i missed anything #i prrrrrobably forgot something #but that's ok! ;w; #anyway yeah this man ruined my marriage my life he toOK EVERYTHING FROM ME #he lives in my head rent free #send help please

[drkineildwicks]

Okay so let’s talk about Palworld

Because I really do gotta talk about it this thing blew up

Apparently the guys who made it were expecting to sell like 300K the first week and ended up selling two million

They’re having to run damage control on the servers because the servers legit cannot handle the traffic

Last time I saw a game look like this it was Temtem on its first days

Because literally everybody underestimated how much game freak ticked off its fanbase

Which brings us to the Donphan in the room

Pokémon VS Palworld

Look we all knew going in that this was going to be a meme factory, whenever we talked about it the game is Pokémon: Gun

But it was also one of those games that popped up when GF started its stunts with dexit, reused assets, releasing half-baked games, etc.

People made fun of it and it’s stayed off the radar until this year, when it released

And yes caution should be exercised because this developer’s other game is still in early access so people are on the lookout for a scam

Not to mention the whole thing about using Pokémon assets, apparently aping Legends’ UI, the AI stuff, NFTs, a ton of other stuff

There’s apparently a whole thread on Twitter comparing and contrasting Pokémon designs with Pal designs and you can easily pick apart where assets were, if not outright stolen, were closely copied

So going in there’s a lot of weighing of pros and cons and some actual moral dilemmas as opposed to the whole fabricated BS of Hogwarts Legacy

Yes it was terrible that Rowling said *checks notes* that biological women exist and that victimized women should be allowed to dictate who is allowed in their safe spaces, these are obviously reasons to cancel somebody please don’t slip on the sarcasm there

But I’ve been watching streams of Palworld and…I want to play it???

You can look at it and 100% name that Pokémon and go okay they got THAT idea from THIS game (watching it I can list BotW, Sunkenland, and a couple others) apparently it’s the Pokémon ripoff version of Once Human

Which also ticks me off because after watching videos of that one I want to play that one too

And originally the big reason for looking more seriously at Palworld is…game freak needs to suffer

They’ve been releasing trash games for years now, the only good Pokémon game as of late is Legends Arceus and do not get me STARTED on the state that ScarVi released in

And then them having the gall to charge the price of a full game for DLC

So in order to play the ‘full game,’ you have to pay for BotW, TotK, and possibly a Mario game on top of it

Ain’t nobody got funds for that

Also the shills

I was telling Mom about all this earlier and when it came to discussing Pokémon games, even comparing them to previous Pokémon games, discussions online go like this anymore: “Well it’s not MADE for you!  It’s for kids!  Go find something else to do and quit picking on the poor multibillion dollar franchise! uwu”

And thus the people who grew up with Pokémon move on to other games, like Nexomon, Temtem, Cassette Beasts, Kindred Fates, Coromon, Palworld, etc.

Shills: “Wait no that’s illegal”

Honestly it’s like the YouTube vs Rumble or Twitter/Tumblr vs Conservative/right-wing websites thing—if you chase them off, what did you think they were going to do?

And then the design thing…a big fat part of me does not feel sorry about that

Because every single other game I listed?  The shills will look at those designs and go “what ripoffs they’re obviously Pokémon but not friend-shaped so ugly!”

So basically anything’s a ripoff, you might as well go full ripoff because the ‘fans’ are going to hate on it anyway

Also if anything even remotely shaped like a Pokémon is a ripoff, then Flamigo angers me even more because that is such a lazy design yes I’m still mad

Most of Gen IX legit looks like they asked an AI to spit out some Pokémon-shaped stuff and called it a day maybe a quarter of the ‘dex is salvageable and that’s being generous

And having spent the past year or so designing ‘mons for the DA group I help mod…three people doing designs have no problem filling a ‘dex out, the most time-consuming part of creating new Pokémon ought to be modeling the thing and once that’s down you’re good

Which means that Pokémon…has honestly asked for Palworld

Because let me tell you something—when I look at this ripoff of a game, this scam game that comes from people who think that NFTs and AI scraping and plagiarism is a good thing, that claims that every Pal that escapes from a ball had parents that never married, and I STILL want to play it over Pokémon?  When the scam game released in a better state than ScarVi?????

Pokémon drove every single customer to Palworld and because of it Palworld deserves every single one of those two million purchases

#palworld #pokemon criticism #pokemon salt #part of me really hates how good this game looks and how bad Pokemon has been #the other half wants game freak to suffer dearly for their sins #like yes palworld deserves some critiquing #because yeah these are obvious pokemon assets being used #but you can't also in the same breath be defending a company that has been releasing pre-alpha garbage and calling it a game for years now #game freak does not care for you #I'd rather be playing a ripoff game that I actually have fun with than being dragged along on yet another 'consoom product' game

[dogtoling]

F.A.Q.

Something to link on my blog because I keep having people ask me the same stuff like, every week. So here's a summary of the blog and stuff

Q: What is this blog? A: Hi, I'm Dodo! And this is my Splatoon blog. This is primarily an art blog but somewhere along the way this has become a speculative biology blog and headcanon space. Put simply, it's "trying to turn Splatoon real".

Q: What do you post here? A: Mostly my Splatoon OCs. Occasionally, I post five mile long rant posts and essays about Splatoon, or Inkling biology, or my headcanons in educational comic form. If you've seen the Kraken Post or Inklings and Color or whatever I called that, those are mine.

Q: Why do your Inklings look like that? A: I approach Inklings from the angle of them being squids that evolved to be bipedal, rather than "human with some squid traits" as they're often depicted. Within the community, this is often referred to as "xeno inklings", which just means Inklings with animal traits. I don't really tag my art as such, but contextually it's the same thing. If that kind of thing makes you mad for some reason just don't follow.

Q: Your [insert headcanon here] is not canon compliant. A: Right, disclaimer now: a lot of the things here are NOT canon compliant. I try to keep most stuff canon compliant, but sometimes things are stupid or make no sense and that's when we build around it.

Q: Can I use your headcanons/inkfish designs? A: This is a question I get regularly. Feel free to use my headcanons and inkfish designs! You can also build upon them or use them as inspiration for your own headcanons. All I ask is not to copy my OC designs.

Q: Where can I see/read your headcanons? A: My headcanon tag is #squidthoughts.

Q: Where can I see your art/OCs? A: On the blog, my art tag is #dodo art, you can also see comics at #dodo comics (and here is a masterpost of links to the bigger ones). If you want to see profiles for my OCs and more comprehensive art galleries, see my toyhouse)

Q: What program do you use to draw? A: Clip Studio Paint, mostly keep it simple with one brush lol. I doubt anyone was going to ask about brushes anyway because I literally just use one with pretty much no line variation.

Q: Do you do requests/commissions/art trades? A: None of these... sorry!

Q: Do you have Art Fight? A: Yes! I usually go hard on the event (my final tally for 2023 was 69 attacks). My page.

Q: Can I send an ask? A: Yeah, but keep in mind I sometimes take a while to answer. Also, if you're just going to send your own headcanons, consider just publishing them to your own blog (it gets frustrating getting "asks" where there's not actually anything to answer). Also if you're going to send something mean because you don't like something, just leave instead and go send something nice to someone you like.

Q: Can I ask about your OCs? A: I accept asks for and about my OCs with open arms. In fact, you can send asks directed to my OCs in my ask box and I'll draw a response in most cases. (Tag for these: #ask oc)

Q: When did you start playing Splatoon? A: I started in late 2015, with Splatoon 1. But I started this blog around 2018, I think? If you play Splatoon, you might've seen me (sticky boy). I mostly play Salmon Run.

Q: What's your main weapon? A: I've grown as a person and am no longer an E-Liter 4K main. However, I don't really have a main. I like variety in games and my goal has been 3-starring every weapon in the game... so eh. I like Chargers, Rollers and Splatlings the best. Also if I get annoyed enough I revert back to being an E-Liter main. Sorry

Q: Do you play other games? A: Before Splatoon, Zelda was my main fandom alongside Pokemon. My favorite games are Pokemon Legends Arceus, Zelda: Twilight Princess, Splatoon, Night in the Woods and Minecraft. Other than Splatoon and Minecraft though I barely ever play anything else. Q: Are you American? A: Despite the fact that I'm always posting shit at US afternoon times, I am in fact from northern Europe. My sleep schedule is just all over the place and I get productive at 11pm onward. lol. (Guess what time it is right now!!??!?)

Q: What if a question I was going to ask wasn't here? A: My ask box is open. Just send it there and if it's a common enough question, it'll probably pop up in this list later.

-

Mandatory addition: I also run @splatreference. If you're an artist or writer, the blog has pose references for every weapon in the game, and references for stages and in-game areas.

yup thats the FAQ thanks for reading

#faq

[sincerely-sofie]

Hey Sophie ! I saw you accepted giftfics as well, so here is my attempt at it. This happens way after Opal first enters the picture. Here goes !

***

The night was well underway, and while a desperate Dusknoir was (fruitlessly) trying to stop Celebi from cooking her ‘world-famous mudpie’…

‘Celebi !’ he shouted, ‘Dead leaves do *not* a topping make !’

‘Why don’t you trust me for once, Dusknoir ?’ replied the Legendary. ‘I swear, you are no fun at all !’

Grovyle and Twig were busy cleaning the dishes, the two siblings-in-all-but-blood bantering all the while.

This left Kip with not a lot to do, other than twiddle his paws. Twig had told him that him bringing the main course was more than enough help, and that he was banned from doing so much as lifting a finger for the evening.

‘Here’ said Ark, suddenly appearing at his side, a steaming cup in hand. Kip was used to the Legend’s antics now, so he didn’t even flinch. ‘Cinnamon and mint infusion.’

‘Experimenting, are we ?’ said Kip, grateful for the cup and the conversation partner.

‘My usual chamomille stock, regrettably, is expired’ said Ark, shrugging. ‘And I didn’t have the time to go to the market today, alas.’

‘It’s all good’ soothed Kip. ‘I like it spicy, anyways.’

He took a sip, and was pleasantly surprised by how well the two flavours combined together, spicy but not too much so.

‘This is very good !’ he said emphatically. ‘You should keep this one !’

‘I am afraid Twig wouldn’t appreciate this particular blend’ replied Ark, his tone as even as always to someone who didn’t know him, but the hint of teasing was unmistakable to Kip’s trained mind.

‘She’s lucky to have you, looking out for her poor tongue like that’s teased Kip in return. However, unlike the agreement he expected to receive in return, Ark flinched at that, to Kip’s surprise. ‘Ark ? Did I… say anything wrong ?’ Anxiety was beginning its familiar build-up inside him.

‘No !’ hurriedly said Ark. ‘No, nothing wrong, I apologize, I was just…’ he paused for a moment, as if looking for the right words. ‘Do you… do you truly mean what you just said ?’ he settled on asking, hesitant, more withdrawn than Kip had ever seen him, and now, now he understood the problem.

‘Oh !’ he said. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t realize-I mean yes I… I meant what I said. You two are good for each other.’ He waited for an answer, but none came. Kip turned around to fully look at Ark, and the Legend was still, a rigid statue, his lone eye looking back at the Marshtomp with shock. ‘I mean-’ said Kip in a nervous laugh, ‘you’ve been together for, what, half a decade now ? And you still look at each other like the other is Arceus’ second coming on earth.’

‘Which is honestly adorable’ said Celebi in a giggle.

‘Ack !’ shouted Kip, still not used to Celebi’s feats of appearing and disappearing out of nowhere. ‘Could you please stop that !?’

‘Whatever are you talking about, dear ?’ she said, all innocent, blinking her eyes.

‘Please refrain from giving my guests cardiac arrest, Celebi’ said Ark in the world’s smallest disappointed sigh.

‘Oh, nobody is any fun tonight’ replied the pink fairy. ‘First Dusknoir kicking me out of the kitchen, now you. Honestly, I wish Opal and Lucky didn’t have their playdate, they would have been fun to be around.’ She raised her arms in the air, making a show of her frustration, while she drifted back towards the kitchen counter, hoping Twig would take pity on her and humour her, no doubt.

‘…Man, I don’t know how Grovyle and Dusknoir can keep up with her’ said Kip.

‘A mystery for the ages’ replied Ark, unwilling to disclose that Celebi told him she was playing up her attitude to push her two partners to get out of their shells. The two men looked at each other for a moment, then another, before Kip erupted in giggles.

‘Man’ he said between two fits. ‘I just realized two of my best friends are Legends, but they’re also complete goofs.’ A new holler. ‘Sandslash would lose her mind learning about this.

‘I resent that’ replied Ark without any bite. ‘I am a very serious individual.’ Then, a seconde later : ‘…Did you say best friend ?’

‘Ark’ said Kip, wiping a tear out of his eyes, ‘I spend more time with you all than with anyone else but Lucky, and perhaps Sen, and I live hours away from here. I wouldn’t do this for everyone, you know ?’

Ark didn’t reply, and Kip first thought that he was looking for an answer to give, but a quick glance at the Legend dispelled him of this illusion : Ark’s lone blue eye was shining wetly, as if on the verge of tears, and when next he spoke, it was with a very noticeable break in his voice.

‘Thank you’ he said, solemn and quiet, and Kip couldn’t help but scoot closer to him.

‘Hey, whatever for ?’ said Kip, now slightly uneasy. ‘If you cry, I’ll end up crying too’ he sais in a weak chuckle.

‘I’ll endeavor not to, then’ replied Ark in a surprised laugh. ‘I just… to hear you, of all people, acknowledging me as your friend, after all I did…’ another wet laugh. ‘It’s more than I deserve.’

‘Oh, no, no, no !’ said Kip, shaking his head. ‘We are done with this self-hate period of yours ! Do you want me to call Twig over ?’

‘It is not necessary, I assure you-‘ tried to say Ark, but it was too late : the Charmeleon had heard her name.

‘What’s up, dudes ?’ she said, turning around to face the pair, before she immediately frowned. ‘Ark ? You okay, hun ?’

‘He’s doing the *Twig Special*’ replied Kip with utmost seriousness.

‘Whaaaaat ?’ said the Charmeleon. ‘Oh hell no, this ends right now. Everyone !´ she shouted. ‘Group hug time !’

‘Finally, something exciting !’ said Celebi, her eyes shining in excitement.

‘You do not need bother’ said Ark, ‘It was just a momentary lapse-´

But a Charmeleon shaped missile barraged into the pair, followed by a pink fairy, then by Grovyle and Dusknoir following soon after (despite the latter’s protests). You *never* refused group hug time in Twig’s home or so help her.

***

Celebi let out a formidable yawn, as the Future Trio made their way back home.

‘I don’t know about you two, but I feel like I could drop dead tired.’

‘You didn’t do anything but eat, Celebi’ replied Grovyle, a slight smirk in his lips.

‘And that was really taxing for me, my dear Grovyle’ dramatically sighed Celebi. ‘If only a knight in shining armor could carry me home, I feel like I could faint.’

Wordlessly, with a sigh, Grovyle extended his arms. Celebi gladly took the invitation, nuzzling herself into her partner.

‘Oh, thank you, Grovyle’ she said, playing the part of damsel in distress very well. ‘You are the kindest in all the land.’

‘I feel like I’m intruding here’ dryly interrupted Dusknoir.

‘You could carry me’ laughed Grovyle.

‘Never’ replied Dusknoir. ‘I’d rather eat Celebi’s mud pie.’

Celebi huffed at that, but said nothing else.

‘Speaking of you’ continued Dusknoir, ‘do we have you to thank for Twig calling a group hug tonight ?’

‘It’s not my fault if Kip and Ark had a big heart to heart tonight’ primly replied Celebi from her seat in Grovyle’s arms.

‘I’m sure you didn’t pester me on purpose then’ replied Dusknoir, ‘to leave the both of them alone.’

‘No one will ever believe you’ replied Celebi, smug as one could be. Grovyle merely laughed.

‘Please never change Celebi.’

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH.

The entire intro scene is adorable and hilarious. And then there’s Celebi giving everyone heart attacks, Kip dropping the emotional bombshell of best friendship, the mandatory group hugs, the entire exchange between the future trio at the end, all of these little character interactions— I just—

hnghhghgfgffhh EMOTIONS. This is gold!!! Thank you for making it!!!!

#the present is a gift fanart #pmd celebi #pmd2 partner #pmd darkrai #pmd grovyle #pmd dusknoir #pmd future trio #future trio #pmd future crew #future crew #pokemon mystery dungeon #pokémon mystery dungeon #pmd explorers #pmd sky #pmd eos #pmd2 #pmd #swear warning #sofie answers asks

[ownerofthisaccount]

I have returned with more Fanart! Is it a surprise anymore?

Now what is surprising is that this isn’t towards the ChimeraEmmet Au by @raisans-art like I seem to have been doing a lot recently. I have other AUs I love and even some ideas of my own for the possible future. But just in case you thought I was over with that…

There are things possibly in the works towards that what if, though as I said in a previous post that’s gonna take at least a week if not more since I have multiple projects I’m working on(also before anyone ask, that and every project I do with the twins is PLATONIC. Even the chimeras that aren’t them anymore, the twins are still brothers. I will never ship them, it’s all platonic family stuff)

But with that out of the way, what this post is really about: the Submas Tournament! This been going on for a while now and we are officially in the final six(hopefully I counted correctly anyways). A lot of people joined in on this by submitting their own Au, making fanart, or just interacting with the posts and votings. The twins have brought us all together, whether we been in the fandom since they debuted in Gen 5, their appearances in the anime manga or masters, or recently with Ingo being a warden in Hisui where we either have him a happy ending or decided that wasn’t tragic enough. I myself joined after seeing Ingo in the Tumblr Sexyman bracket and being informed of his story as I hadn’t played Legends Arceus till recently. Yin Yang is my all time favorite symbol to use in writing and I am attached to stories that feature caring siblings due to my own siblings being such an important part of my life, so I gravitated to these two hard. Here’s hoping fir a BW3 with Emmet as a big focus point to give a true conclusion to the two’s story.

The fandom are incredibly creative with their depictions and AUs, whether it be set in universe, based on a different media, or a form of what if. Currently I myself am reading two AUs. The first is Masking, which was in the bracket but unfortunately got out in the first round. It’s about Ingo dying under mysterious circumstances and being reborn as the eldest son in a Zoroark Pack as he slowly regains his memories and practices illusions to try to get back the life he lost. That’s all I can say without giving spoilers but it’s an amazing story I highly recommend:

The second with I believe wasn’t in the bracket is an Au called Lay Your Ghosts to Rest. This is a dark and sad but really well written Au about Volo killing both Ingo and Akari in the past while cursing their souls to wander the earth forever while being unable to reunite. 150 years later Emmet learns about this on a ghost hunting show and decided to team up with Elesa to break the curse the two been suffering from and possibly find a way to prevent their deaths in the first place. Again, it’s all I can say with spoilers and both this and Masking are still ongoing but if you are able to handle some of the darker topics like trauma, anxiety attacks, and death than I 100% recommended it.

Yep

But now we only have six AUs left in the running for the crown of best Submas Au of 2023. All of them are beloved in the fandom and have a shot at taking home of the win, so let’s take a moment to highlight the ones that come this far and give them the praise they deserve(and of course, all the ones in this tournament and even the ones not nominated in deserve their attention as well. All of these stories were created with passion and heart)

Our lovely Au candidates!

Misfits Au by @hehe-hoho-ohno is a Toyland Au with our favorite conductors as toy soldiers that were created with small defects and were ostracized for it(sorry if I get any details wrong with this or any of these AUs. I’m a bad explainer) and Emmet as the current candidate for the Tournament. Admittedly and sadly I know the least about this Au as I haven’t had time to read it yet, though it is on my watchlist since from some the summary and a couple comics I’ve seen, it seems like something I will enjoy. But still, it’s an interesting concept with a nice design and one that still should get its attention. The competition is tough but Perhaps our littlest member got what it takes to win it all

Mechanical Errors Au by @marchy-emmet is about a world where Ghetsis succeeded in his eternal winter and the Subway is one of the only safe spots left. Elesa creates two robots in order to help out: one being a protection robot named Ingo designed to keep things safe and the one for the tournament, Emmet the entertainment robot designed to keep morale high. However the two start gaining sentience and emotions they were programmed with. I’ll keep all these descriptions brief since I want you all to give them a read yourself, but as someone who adores the concept of robots and the concept of how they react after gaining sentience I really enjoy the read. Also the design for robot Emmet is adorable. He may not be programmed for battles like this, but we will see if he can still pull it off.

Ghost Worm Au by @blaiddraws is the first Ingo entry I have mentioned and also the first Au I ever read going into the fandom. I’m obsessed with transformation stories and especially towards Ingo being a Pokémon since it feels fitting for him(he’s this incredibly talented trainer who forms such strong connections he didn’t even have to catch the alphas to convince them to join him in a battle and a couple of his lines in Arceus, especially towards electrode, could be seen as foreshadowing. Watch Ingo become our first rock/ghost Pokémon) to become one, so this story of him become this cool fanmade train worm before Orthworm even existed was such a fun concept. The design is perfect for the story, the comics are well drawn and still great to reread, and it feels almost like the grandpappy of the Submas AUs, at least to me. He may of died, but can he still show the fandom loves him even if he were a worm?

Under the City Street Lights/Over the Garden Wall Au by @coramatus is a perfect example of when the fandom stares at Ingo’s situation and goes “okay, but how can we make him suffer more?” A confession? I haven’t watched a full episode of Over the Garden Wall. I know it’s an amazing show and it’s only 10 episodes, but I’ve been procrastinating on it for years. I’ll hopefully watch it for Spooky Month. But even without knowing anything about the show that isn’t the Beast, this is a fantastic Au. It puts Ingo in the Woodsman shoes as he betrayed everyone to go around collecting oil to keep the lantern lit as the Beast convinced him that his brother’s soul is in there. Meanwhile the actual Emmet arrives and attempts to convince Ingo to come with him, but the latter believes he’s just a Zoroark and causes him to fall into a River. Emmet then teams you with Volo who’s now a tiny Starly to try to still save Ingo. There are written portions as well as a master post of comics depicting what happened in the story that I highly recommend. We love torturing Ingo and especially the Woodsman, so is that enough to make him win?

Team Conductors Au by @teamconductors is yet another media I’ve been putting off that still intrigued me enough to read it despite never playing a Mystery Dungeon Game. In this, Ingo is sent into the world of Mystery Dungeon as a Hisuian Sneasel with his brain somehow even more fried where he comes across Emmet as a regular Sneasel after sending out a distress call and almost dying day one of being a Pokémon. Together the two decide to form a team called Team Conductors while still wearing their now oversized jackets. This is a good read especially for those who are in the Mystery Dungeon fandom or like humans turned Pokémon stories. The Mystery Dungeon fandom is one of the strongest and more persistent fandoms ever, so is that power enough to win?

Placeholder Au by @blaiddraws again is another ongoing story narrative that definitely caught a lot of people’s eyes. It follows Emmet as he wakes up in Hisui without a clue how he got there or where Ingo is. Strange things pop up like evidence Ingo been there or everyone seeming to know Emmet despite him not knowing them. Throughout it mainly questions are popped up like what happened to Ingo, why does Emmet have these gaps in his memory, why do everyone seem to know him, and much more. I’m afraid this is all I can say without spoiling things but it is fun to try to decipher everything before the big reveal and the reveal is a satisfying payoff that leaves more questions than answers at the same time. I can’t recommend it enough and we will see how well Emmet(?) does.

Mine again, congratulations to everyone that made it this far in the competition and I wish you all the best of luck in the rest of the @ultimate-submas-tournament

[x-neurodivergent-reader]

Headcanons: Loki x Autistic Media Fan

Anon’s request: I was wondering if you could do maybe a headcannons of Loki with autistic reader who enjoys anime, manga and gaming (Pokemon, BNHA, Death Note, Etc) due to it's their coping mechanisms and comfort since their childhood they even help them to learn to mask but once you talk about their interest they become more open and cheerful

A/N: Wooooo one request done! This one was the easiest one for me once I got started, since video games are also a massive interest of mine (although I haven’t watched much anime for a while now… I should make time to get back into it once I finish the uni year). Enjoy!

The reader here is gender-neutral.

Content warnings: None!

Tag list: @agent-barnes40​

In all honesty, a lot of anime and games likely wouldn’t be to Loki’s tastes – though that doesn’t mean he would ever stop you from enjoying them, especially when they’re so important for you.

Although if he catches you watching/playing something, there are some rare occasions where he might find himself staring at the screen for a while, more engaged than he had expected to be. Death Note would possibly be one of the series that he’s curious about.

There’s also some anime/manga he might come across where he genuinely finds the art style beautiful. He may suggest it to you, and even either watch it with you, or look through it once you’re done with it, just to look at the art.

The same goes for games that happen to stick out to him – whether it’s a bigger game like Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or an indie game such as Gris, you may find yourself with the sudden feeling of your partner looking over your shoulder to admire the visuals.

If you’re playing/watching something with fighting, especially if it’s fantasy-related, you end up teasing him a little if he does stick around for a bit, because he can’t seem to stop himself from nit-picking the characters’ stances or moves.

A decent amount of your evenings are spent with him sitting on the couch, reading a book, while you’re leaning against him with your game console/controller or a manga volume, the two of you quietly enjoying your hobbies together for a while.

If he finds you playing/binging for too long, he’ll gently encourage you to take a break – especially if you’ve been looking at a screen for ages. He’ll offer to make you a drink of your choice, and let you talk to him about where you’re at in the media in question, so you can still enjoy it when you’re not consuming it.

In general, even though he has no clue what you’re talking about most of the time, he will listen to you rant about any big updates from a Pokémon Presents, or any other announcement streams. He likes seeing you so excited about the thing you love.

Will get you merch for your favourite media for your birthday/other celebrations. It doesn’t matter if that particular Nendoroid happens to ship from Japan and is incredibly expensive. He will find a way to get it to you.

He’s glad that you have something that brings you so much comfort, and will happily encourage you to indulge it. And if you find him low-key watching you play Pokémon Legends: Arceus, then that’s just a bonus!

#loki x reader #marvel loki x reader #loki imagine #loki imagines #marvel loki imagine #loki x y/n #loki x you #mcu imagine #mcu imagines #mcu x reader #marvel x reader #Marvel x Y/N #marvel x you #neurodivergent!reader #autistic!reader #My Imagines #I decided to check and uh. I think I've been gone so long that one of the other requesters actually unfollowed this blog #now I'm not sure what to do with their request. Like should I still do it or...? #if anyone reads these tags please tell me what the etiquette here is 'cos I genuinely don't know-

[fantomechat]

Final fest idea future-present-past

I know that a lot of people have said this already but this is what I think they will do/ what I would do.

Future/Present/Past

I know that it sounds backwards but Shiver is def more future and I would switch Frye and Big man but future/past/present sounds worse but that would be the ideal team for me.

Future- 1. next gen, like if the current idols were to have kids, it would be them, or at the very least kids their age. We could see adult donny and shelly, Harmony could be older, this is self indulgent but I would be down for a pearlina child (besides 8). I dont know what the story would be, maybe something to do with the zapfish again but someone new, it could be more about the metro, but idk how that would work exactly. It could also be virtual… idk. 2. Far into the future. Squid sisters, off the hook, deep cut, they are all legendary, but many many many idols have taken their role since then. Captain 3 is nearing the cuttlefish's age. Its a completely new cast with only mentions of long times ago when these idols were in their prime/alive. This woul dbe great for a new species, as octos have been basically fully integrated and not a new group is the minority(the cycle continues and such).

Present- 1. More of what we have. We see all the idols again, maybe not as big but they are all existing, doing something in the world. We would probably see the zapfish get taken again, similar formula but basically what theyve been doing, maybe we get 4 idols, new species maybe? Idk but you get the idea. 2. Same time period, different part of the world. We could have oth world tour mentioned, maybe instead of squids and octos, this city is a whole different species, like we could get sharks or vampire squids, probably in addition to the pre existing squids and octos though. But this would be a great opportunity for more species to be added without having to be like “oh they escaped/ are being integrated” again. The story could be basically anything, it could be something to go with the other species history, or maybe it can play into the second place, like if future wins then it is about planning, if its past then maybe more on the history, but it takes place right around now.

Past- 1. Octarian soldier. I would say squidbeak, but there is only so much you can do with Callie and Marie, you would need to retroactively add a whole agent… yeah. I think this could be sick, we could have to fight inklings, we can have Mariana come back, een some agent 8 references. I think that the goal would either be to get out of the octarian society or like be an elite. Maybe this is where they could make choices you make change the story… but that might be a bit ambitious for splatoon. I can still hope. 2. The past past. Like og squidbeak splatoon. You are in a war with the octarians, or inklings. Maybe we get 2 story modes. Who knows. But this takes place long before the squid sisters, gramps isnt even a father yet. We could see how they got to the separation, we would have skinny jude. The hud would be kind of bornign but I would king of pokemon legends arceus, we could wven have other characters ancestors show up and stuff. 3. Like before inklings and octolings were fully humanoid. Like this is crazy unrealistic and they would be starting from scratch but it would be sick for them to be like “ok we are going back to prehistoric times, no new hair styles, no current gear, you dont even have the news, you have to read everything on scrolls.” like that would probably sink the franchise but you have to admit, it they really went through with it that takes balls

#splatoon #splatoon 3 #marina ida #frye splatoon #shiver splatoon #big man

[foxgirltail]

Trying to articulate what I dislike about Pokemon: Legends Arceus (pla); and just keep coming back to "they forgot to put the fun in it". They changed up the gameplay formula so much that the only thing remaining from traditional Pokemon games is the Pokemon themselves, and while change isn't inherently bad, I don't find these changes enjoyable.

Progression is locked behind tasks; and while the tasks may be relatively simple [catch a pokemon, or observe it's behavior], you have to do a lot of them to progress, you need to do 50+ tasks to progress from the 1st area to the 2nd

Some of the tasks are based on random chance. "catch a large buizel", "catch a light-weight wurmple"; except you generally cannot tell the difference between specimens outside of the stat sheet, which you can only see after capture. I haven't found a consistent way to intentionally catch Pokemon of different sizes. Better catch em all and hope I get lucky! I now have 200 buizel and 6 are considered "large", to 100% this research task I need at least 10. Very cool. Sure you don't need to fully complete every research task for every pokemon, but the game certainly incentivizes you to. I'd probably feel differently about the game if, after you complete a dex entry, you cannot continue researching that pokemon; the research page just says "complete" and there aren't any remaining tasks that can be seen. This would require quite a few other changes, and I don't know all the ramifications of it, but that would certainly disincentivize completing every research task in the game

It just all feels very repetitive despite the appearance of a large and "open world" (you can't travel to different routes without traveling home/ending the day first lol) in a way that stops being entertaining very quickly.

Also I dislike that, in games prior to sw/sh, you could play almost the entirety of the game as slowly or as quickly as you liked and the experience you have with the game would not fundamentally change. Random battles are based entirely on your movement, trainer battles have some exceptions, but largely follow the same rule. Battles also do not progress while you don't input anything. A lot of "timers" in game are based on step count, rather than an actual time limit (although that may have been phased out for later entries in the series tbh). Someone playing the game at 1 button press per minute will still be playing the same game as someone who does 1 per second.

With the introduction of "wild areas" in sw/sh, and their expansion in pla/scarvio this is simply no longer the case. You have to intentionally approach or run from encounters, some Pokemon you can only catch if you don't get seen by it, Pokemon can attack you outside of a formal battle and you have to react quickly to dodge. Reaction time and inputs per minute change your experience with the game.

[v0jelly]

Akari and Her Team: Legends Arceus

Hisuian Decidueye, nicknamed Roothoot

Gardevoir, nicknamed Joan

Raichu, nicknamed Mjölna

Walrein, nicknamed Maru

Hisuian Arcanine, nicknamed Roscoe

Alpha Garchomp, nicknamed Hammerhead

I've been a fan of Pokémon all the way back since it first came to the US In that time, I've played every mainline series game that have come out over the years. My interest in the franchise has waxed and waned over the years, but it hasn't gone away completely.  Every so often, just when I feel like I've played my last Pokémon game or that I'm ready to move on, a new game will be released that will completely reinvigorate me and get me excited about Pokémon again. It happened not too long ago with the released of Sun and Moon back in 2016, and it happened again this year with the release of Legend Arceus.

If you're like me, you might not have been terribly excited by any of the entries in the series that have come out on the Switch. Let's Go was fine and Sword and Shield were ok, but I was incredibly disappointed in Brillant Diamond and Shining Peral and honestly think they are a strong contender for the title of Worst Games in the Series. So, after being let down by BDSP, I was not really looking forward to Legends Arceus. It was actually the first Pokémon game in years that I didn't pick up on its release day. It wasn't until a few weeks later that I started to tune into the buzz around the game and heard people talking about how fun it was. So, I decided to eventually give it a try and see if it lived up to the hype.

In the end, I put over 100 hours into it, so you can say that I enjoyed it. Is it a perfect game? No, far from it. There are so many issues with it, it makes it hard to believe this was released as a AAA game in 2022, made by a company that is part of the largest media franchise in the world.

Was it fun? I thought so. Sure, it might not have been the best game ever, but it really got me engaged and interested in the series again. After being satisfied with how much of the game's content I had completed, I knew I wanted to make something to commemorate my playthrough. I decided a portrait featuring my custom trainer and her team would be the most appropriate, though I wasn't sure on how to proceed. I considered just commissioning someone else to draw it for me. I follow a lot of talented artists and I know they could have delivered a final product that would have been leagues ahead of anything I could make. But, as good as those commissions could have been, they wouldn't have been personal, and that's what I really wanted.

So, I got to work. I planned out how I wanted each Pokémon to look, and I collected a lot of references to help me. I work incredibly slow, mainly since I draw everything with my mouse instead of a stylus, and since I have to spend my days at work where I can't draw, so it took me about two months to make my way through the team. Finally, though, I am happy to say that I finished up everything and put them all together. I am incredibly pleased with how it all turned out, and I'm now able to move on from this and get started on the next few projects I have lined up.

#pokemon #pokémon #pokemon legends arceus #legends arceus #Akari #pokemon akari #akari pokemon #pokemon legends akari #pokemonart #pokemonartwork #pokemonfanart #raichu #gardevoir #walrein #arcanie #garchomp #decidueye #hisuian form #hisuian pokémon #hisuian decidueye #hisuian arcanine #anime