Bill, The True-Blue Pokémaniac, Entry: Genius extraordinaire and renowned Pokémon expert who wishes to share his wisdom with the internet. (Ask box: Open! Asks to be answered sporadically.)
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{Chat with the Mun (opens in Discord)}
I'm sure we'll all well aware of the current event surrounding a certain Unovan(?) entrepreneur who stylizes himself as a genius. It is therefore unnecessary to show me news about his latest "innovative endeavors" for the express purpose of "watching [me], an inventor, age about ten years every time."
So to get it out of the way for the thirteenth and hopefully final time:
Yes, I'm aware.
No, I don't know how he got a stainless steel tank, a rocket cobbled together from spare parts, a self-driving car that occasionally ignites into a ball of flames while trapping its driver in thanks to multiple design flaws, or the brain chip past an ethics committee.
Yes, I am "salty" that I made one mistake with one of my inventions, and now I'm constantly scrutinized by the Pokémon Cutting-Edge Technology Research Institute's ethics committee.
No, I do not want the brain chip.
Yes, I want to study the brain chip.
The fifth point is out of morbid curiosity as to how it got past an ethics committee, not respect.
Hopefully, this clears things up.
Best,
Bill
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{From the Mun:
I found this in the drafts, and I thought it would be hilarious to bring this out and tack on an update post while I'm at it.
But the biggest thing is, I'm . . . actually leaving Tumblr. Now, the main reason for that is my main got super borked up. I've been told by my followers over there it's not shadowbanning, but I'm pretty sure it's random-ass shadowbanning. I cannot receive asks, I can't tag people, I don't have DMs, and I don't show up in notes. As for why, I can't fathom. For the most part, I've kept my nose pretty clean on that account, other than that one time somebody in the writeblr community kinda lost it and tried to use a bunch of random people as a scapegoat for drama reasons. Yeah, idk.
Anyway, the point is, I've submitted a ticket a few months ago and then . . . never heard back. And honestly, for personal reasons, I'm not really inclined on remaking.
Personal reasons being I'm gunning for writing an actual book, as you might know from my last-ish post? Like, non-Pokémon book. Though I'll admit some bits might be familiar to those of you who've hung around the blog for a while. Here's a hint: take powerverse, gender swap it, role swap it, and then stick it into FFXIV and add more steampunk. It's been cooking for the past year you haven't seen me, and I'm aiming to start pitching it to agents by the end of the year. If you'd like to follow along, if you're also a writer who would like to make more writing friends, or if you just like my writing for some reason and want to keep up with me, you can find me at jaxwolffwrites on both Bluesky and Twitter. Bsky moreso, but you'll get progress on this project on either of those other platforms.
Now, I will say this: just to be fair, I'm doing three things:
Closing the askbox. Admittedly, if you've been sending me asks for the past three months, I haven't seen them anyway. Sooooo I probably should've done that ages ago. Sorry about that.
Answering any ask I've saved to the drafts. Any ask. Please note that I don't know if the borking I've described above extends to this blog as well, so Bill won't be replying to replies or reblogs/tags. Apologies for that in advance. There are 49 posts in the drafts, and these will come out fairly slowly as I continue to keep up with my writing schedule on the other project.
Leaving this blog up as an archive. Assuming Tumblr doesn't nuke the main and the backup account that was created in an effort to avoid total nuking, and assuming Tumblr doesn't nuke this blog itself, I really want to leave this up so you can enjoy this pretty much forever onward. You all are the reason why this blog has gone on for so long, and I want to preserve this blog as a thank you for following me for so long.
So yes, after I clear the drafts, you'll likely see one last farewell from Bill and Lanette, and then that will be that. To everyone who's followed, thank you so much for following and supporting this blog over the years. As many ups and downs as running this had, I still look back on every moment as one fun adventure.
Bill, what’s it like living with Spectrier and Calyrex? Are you planning on tracking down Glastrier?
Oh, Lanette found Glastrier shortly before we'd wrapped up our Crown Tundra adventure. Frankly, I'm a little tempted to give her Spectrier, given how quickly horse pokémon in general seem to take to her.
As for what it's like living with Calyrex . . .
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[BEGIN TRANSMISSION]
[Webcam footage of BILL at his desk, with CALYREX floating back and forth through his lab, arms flailing. BILL looks mildly annoyed as he continues to work on something at his workstation, apparently ignoring the commotion behind him. CALYREX'S speech has been translated from pokémon tongue below.]
CALYREX: Today is the day, Hero of Galar! You have ignored your training for nearly four years! Do you realize how much we must catch up on? Come! Out of that chair! Take up arms and show me what you're worth!
[CALYREX floats out of view. BILL groans and buries his face in his hands. A book flies at his head a split second before the video cuts.]
Hi uh so I have a question. I've heard of people Galar and Hoenn giving their crushes a luvdisc or applin. What Pokemon are a sign of love in other regions?
Any pokémon can be a sign of affection if you're trying hard enough and you have good taste.
Edit: According to Lanette, this is not a proper answer, and I need to address this appropriately and with the disclaimer that your crush may or very likely may not take receiving a grimer as a compliment, even if your crush has excellent taste and appreciates the subtle beauty of a grimer's scent.
In any case, flowers tend to be a common symbol of love around the world, with members of the roselia line being of particular romantic importance in Sinnoh. You would think Hoenn as well, given that this is where roselia are also common, but in actuality, besides luvdisc, the second most common symbol of love would be volbeat and illumise. This is especially true in northern Hoenn, where towns and villages hold festivals during both pokémon's shared mating season.
As a side point, cherrim also holds some importance in Sinnoh—specifically their petals, which they shed in the spring during their own mating season. It's a common romantic trope to confess one's love during showers of these petals, though cherrim itself is not as strong a romantic symbol as its more venomous grass-type cousin.
Meanwhile, in Alola, one may give their crush comfey, but minior are also common symbols of love (specifically, scaling a mountain to catch one for one's crush). Across the globe in Kalos, the flower of choice is of course a member of the flabébé line (preferably flabébé itself), though rumor has it that young Kalosean women really prefer spritzee or carbink these days, if you're going to be giving your crush anything at all. (Contrary to popular belief, meowstic is not a symbol of love. It is, however, common in romance movies because it actually symbolizes domestic bliss.)
You're pretty spot-on about the gift-of-choice being an applin in Galar, and meanwhile, in nearby(-ish) Paldea, most Paldeans actually don't gift pokémon to their crushes. However, it is a long-standing wedding tradition for a groom to present a bride with a gholdengo that he's thoroughly befriended. (As a note, this tradition can indeed be seen in various regions across the globe that had at one time or another been a colony under the Paldean crown, though it's of particular prevalence in Paldea itself.)
As for Kanto and Johto, in both regions, it's actually even less prevalent to gift one another pokémon than it is in Paldea. Rather, we typically give each other food—especially chocolate. As such, we don't consider any particular pokémon to be a symbol of love, but it's not uncommon to give someone your favorite pokémon along with your chocolate.
Is that why all of the eevee you give out are holding boxes of chocolates? —LH
To be clear, a box of chocolates and a pokémon is also a common gift combination to friends and coworkers in Johto. —Bill
Yes, but fancy chocolates? —LH
Fancy? He gave me a bag of Kit Kats. —Bebe
You guys are getting chocolate? —Celio
I got a rock. —Cassius
I'm changing the password on this blog again. —Bill
Say a Kadabra accidentally had it’s mustache shaved off when fighting something like a Bisharp. How long does it take to grow back? Asking for a friend.
About two weeks, which is one week and six days longer than that bisharp has, and I extend my condolences to it.
Please, Bill, I need help. My Ludicolo recently found a guitar and I've been forced to listen to nothing but Wonderwall since. How can I convince my dear friend to at least try playing something else for once?
A collection of proposed responses Lanette has rejected and subsequently requested I don't publish:
Teach them "Freebird."
You cannot. Embrace your fate.
Subject them to better music by way of playing a record of choice on repeat until they understand what it's like to hear the same song on repeat for days. This is technically torture and possibly a violation of the Geneva Convention, but I would argue that so is subjecting someone to a nonstop marathon of the worst Oasis song in existence.
Start an Oasis cover band and play a few concerts. This won't necessarily help you, but you'll at least earn money from it.
Hey Bill, since Arceus is said to have come from an egg, and then Arceus created everything else, what made the egg?
You've just hit on one of the biggest, most heated philosophical debates to ever keep philosophy undergraduates and seminary students up at night, and as a scientist and only informal hobbyist philosopher, I know better to go down this bunnelby hole.
Hey Bill, another ask from me. Is Blue legally allowed to use a team that isn't monotype? Because almost every other gym leader has a monotype team (except for Raihan who's more of a Sandstorm gym leader if anything).
Two points of technicalities worth considering here. First, Blue is technically considered to be a temporary gym leader, while Viridian continues to search for a more permanent resident after the mysterious disappearance of its previous leader. He's been offered a permanent position, and should he accept, the Association would likely ask him to develop a theme or plan of direction (basically, a document outlining his goals) for the gym. That's still in talks, though; the sudden disappearance of the previous leader really left our hands tied.
The second point is that technically, there's no hard-written rule that gyms have to adhere to a type—just a theme, preferably designed to test a trainer's capabilities. Obviously, "idk really strong pokémon" (as a certain temp gym leader's previous proposal put it) isn't exactly acceptable, but regions have indeed accepted such themes as item augmentation (Petalburg Gym, in addition to normal-type theming), double battles (Mossdeep Gym, in addition to psychic theming), type adaptation (Striaton Gym), general pokémon knowledge (Ballontea Stadium—yes, we're aware of reported oddities with that one), and yes, field effects and weather (Hammerlocke Stadium). Granted, Kanto tends to be very traditional and straightforward with its gym themes, so it's not entirely likely you'll see a Viridian Gym that breaks the norm. On the other hand, Blue is notoriously less-than-inclined to embrace conformity, so who knows?
Hey Bill, so I have a Vanillish named Stop (yes, I am planning on catching a Vanillite and Vanilluxe and naming them "Collaborate" and "Listen" ) and when battling a wild pokemon, I noticed that Stop knows the move Acid Armor (I didn't know this when I first caught him because I used a quick ball) so like, is it normal for Vanillish to produce toxins and use them for defense?
Oh, yes, dear reader!
This may sound a bit unusual, but it's theorized that the vanillite line developed this ability over eons of Darwinian evolution, as it would stand to reason that those who could generate the thin, poisonous slime coating Acid Armor produces survived longer than those who couldn't.
As for why, let's just say there's something about the shape of these pokémon that compels most living things to lick them.
Yes, that has been a fact since before ice cream cones were invented. Nature is very strange like that.
