It came to my attention recently that back in January I had posted "hey my mental health is not super great" and then proceeded to (unintentionally) drop off the face of Tumblr. I just wanted to post something quick to address that so anyone who finds this blog in the future won't be concerned.
Long story short: I've been getting mental health treatment for the last two months or so, and I'm finally at the point where I feel more like myself again. Once I adjust to my normal routine again, I'm hoping to return to my hobbies, like running this blog. In the meantime, you'll probably still see me reblogging art and other posts.
(longer story under the cut)
The longer story: Depression was killing my motivation, I've been in a partial hospitalization program (PHP) since February, and my meds are finally working and I'm doing a lot better than I was back then.
That said, I don't know when I'll be back to reading PokeSpe and blogging about it again. Right now, I'm focusing on taking care of myself and getting ready to return to my job and "normal" routine. Once that happens, I'm hoping to get back into running this blog, along with my other hobbies.
I feel very fortunate that I had a lot of people to support me through those challenges, that I have an employer who worked with me to get me the time off I needed, and health insurance that will help cover my treatment.
And thank you do everyone who's read and enjoyed my posts during this hiatus! I look forward to sharing more thoughts with you in the future.
So Spe!Team Star started out the same way as in the games, but then actual bullies gradually slipped in. Penny's motivation here is likely fueled by guilt that the group she founded devolved into the very thing she was trying to protect others from.
Something I've always found kinda interesting about Red and Green in gameverse is how they turn some of the Stock Shōnen Protagonist/Rival tropes on their heads.
This is really long character analysis of these two and various media counterparts of theirs, so I'm gonna stick it under a cut.
In some ways they fit their roles quite well - aside from the obvious colour associations, you have Red as the hero whose sense of justice is stronger than his sense of self-preservation, and you have Green as the privileged rival who cares about beating Red above all else.
But, if you look at it another way - Green's got the light spiky hair, the hot-headed and boisterous personality, the drive to Get Better And Win. He's designed to read as really open and chipper, yet snarky. Sure, he isn't dumb, but he's arrogant, and he's got something of a one-track mind; the guy finds himself in the middle of a hostage situation because he's just that hellbent on fighting his rival, and does not seem to be thinking about anything else. He's also got a motivation - given how the Professor talks to him in the championship room and supplementary material like his Generations appearance, it's not a stretch to think the reason he's so driven to Get Better And Win is to prove himself to his grandfather. It's shown in later games and supplementary works that he's become somewhat of a mentor as he got older and wiser.
Red, on the other hand, is a quiet loner whose only motivation seems to be to get stronger for the sake of getting stronger. He's level-headed and dark haired, his cap rounding off his edges and obscuring his face. He's heroic, but not really sociable, as evidenced by the fact he spends the Johto games alone on a mountain without having told anyone where he went. He seems isolated in a way that later games' protagonists really don't. He may have always been a step behind Green, but he's always better.
Equally fascinating to me is how other adaptations have changed the base designs around and rewritten personalities to suit different purposes, while still being visually recognisable as counterparts to their game-selves.
For example: Red and Green's counterparts in Special slot WAY more neatly into their stock shōnen roles, with Red as the boisterous hero and Green as the broody rival, and it's reflected in their new designs.
Red's hair becomes spiky to reflect his more excitable nature. His hat, in turn, never obscures his face; it's always either tilted back to accommodate his fringe or turned backwards. Green's hair, on the other hand, is not quite as spiked upwards and instead falls into his face, frequently obscuring his far eye in the same way game!Red's hat does.
And then, of course, the anime balanced them in a totally different direction.
Instead of scrapping Green's personality wholecloth, it's become exaggerated in Gary. He's not the broody antihero rival, he's the arrogant, privileged, better-than-you rival. He's always ten steps ahead of Ash, always pisses him off, and is ALWAYS better until the end of his run. The anime also emphasises his intelligence far more, with him doing things like rattling off dex info and the speed of light in mph off the top of his head, to further contrast him with Ash.
Ash, who is of course THE shōnen protagonist. He's dumb, but determined, and always ready to help people in need. Unlike game!Red, the power of friendship (with more than just pokémon) is central to him; any given season of the show is defined as much if not moreso by his travelling companions and interpersonal relationships as it is by whatever he's actually doing.
It's funny to me, though, how most adaptations seem to find the fact that gameverse Red and Green have swapped some stock roles as something to fix. Even Origins, which is probably the closest a high-profile adaption has come to game-accurate, made its version of Red louder and more standard-hero-esque.
I'm not knocking any of these things, of course, just observing. I adore both Special and anipoke. I just think that the way the game characters are written could lead to some interesting dynamics were it to be explored more.
rgb trio through the years + my reference sheet for them if someone is interested
*used for red and greens oras designs their pokemon masters look, because i did not want to draw the same outfit twice. also i like their masters looks
**for greens gsc look took her jacket from the yellow arc. again did not want to draw two very similar outfits.
