Welcome to Skygate Aquarium!

Hi there! I'm Rainier Shine (any/all pronouns) and I work with pokémon sometimes. Feel free to ask me any questions you might have about pokémon behavior, biology, etc.!

[castformation]

About Me!

Hi, I'm Rainier Shine (any/all pronouns)! I'm a public educator employed by Skygate City's Haus Aquarium here in the Oniata region. I lead many of our tours, and serve as a host for our shows and exhibition battles! I know a lot about local ecology and our aquatic and semi-aquatic mons, but I love all pokémon and would be happy to answer questions about them, or even just chat! :o) Feel free to send inquiries, comments, concerns, etc.

In my spare time I volunteer helping with habitat restoration, leading group paddles, and caring for some of our ambassador mons behind the scenes at the Haus. I'm also an amateur coordinator, and would love to connect with other coordinators! Aside from that, I like Dungeons & Dragonites, disco music, and a good romance novel. I'm happily married to Mark Darkly (who does not have a rotomblr account), and live with him and a great many pokémon.

My current team

♀ Doppler: Standard castform. Hardy nature. Acquired through a work event, serves as a work pokémon for informal engagements around the aquarium! Also my partner mon for contests.

♀ Baby Blue: Standard swablu. Careful nature. Oldest current pokémon; sole offspring of my starter mon.

♂ Birdie: Prairie comfey. Quiet nature. Caught locally.

♂ Theodore: Banded pachirisu. Quirky nature. Adopted from a local shelter. Has cerebellar hypoplasia-induced brain damage.

♂ Hector: Standard drampa. Gentle nature. Inherited from my great grandmother. Ride pokémon.

My husband also has a gengar, impidimp, sneasel, and a work-issue rotom-- as you can imagine, our house, and our care schedules, are pretty packed, especially since we have a broad variety of mons with different care needs. :'o)

[!!OOC!!]

About the mod. Hi, I'm Blue or Ozone (she/they)! I'm 25. I work at an aquarium irl, and am reviving this blog because the hyperfixation compels me to do so!

Notes/Ground Rules

This blog follows game continuity for the most part, but may borrow worldbuilding aspects and locations from the anime and manga! Oniata is a homebrew region based on the great lakes region in the US, and Skygate City is based on Chicago in particular. Feel free to ask me about it, or use it in your own stuff if you want to for whatever reason.

Aside from the non-canon geography, I'd like to keep things somewhat canon-adjacent, so for rp reasons Rainier probably won't respond to interactions from sentient pokémon, and things like pelipper mail and magic!anons will similarly not be accepted-- sorry!

I will not answer something if it surrounds a topic that is especially heavy (like sexual assault) or bizarre/taboo (like human/pokémon relationships).

This blog is heavily inspired by the likes of @prof-peach, @bills-pokedex, @ranger-rai, and @nerdpokemonheadcanons, so please check them out and give them a follow if you haven't already (which if you're here, you almost certainly have)!

[colorfuldragons]

sapphire / mulberry / sunset

[catboybiologist]

My Pokemon head canon is that if you were holding an Aron and she wanted to go down she would do the little cat thing where they wiggle until they leap out of your arms gracefully except Aron is made mostly out of solid steel and would land with the impact tungsten cube, dent the floor, cause permanent structural damage to the foundation, and then stand up and happily trot along like she didn't do anything

[gumi-megpoidd]

i really wanted to sketch this quickly

[loullipopx]

My Pokémon ❤️💙

[uncle-dusknoir]

pelper Mouth perfec t size for put pakige in to de\liver! inside very Soft and Comfort package deliver safely put package in Pelipper Mouth. Put Package In Pelipper Mouth. no problems ever in pelliper mouth because good Shape and Support for pakige fragile weak of cardboard breakable contents. Apelipper Mouth yes a place for a mail put mail in pelipper mouth can trust pelipper for giveing good deliver to mail. friend pelipper

// original post

[castformation]

Question for my Pokémon IRL/Rotomblr peers as I consider rebooting this blog in the wake of Pokémon Hyperfixation(tm)

where does your pkmn irl/rotomblr character, muse, etc live?

in a region canon to the mainline games (hoenn, paldea, etc)

in a region canon to a spinoff (orange islands, orre, etc)

in a non-canon region

Voting ended onMay 8, 2024

Bonus points for elaborating as to whether another user's in-character location influences how you interact with them! Do you find it harder to interact with users from or based in non-canon regions, or do you find it fun?

Thanks for your input! Feel free to reblog for a larger sample size etc etc :D

[dunnedsparce]

Absolutely MASSIVE Avalugg headed to the shore last night when I was getting groceries

[realpokemon]

Hey like every week a group of unown show up and spell out “fuck you” before leaving. Do they hate me??

homie what did you do to the ancient ruins population

[castformation]

Hey anon! I'm no unown expert but to our current understanding, unown aren't actually capable of grasping human speech to the extent that they would be able to pull off something like this. They can supposedly pick up stray thoughts from humans and spell them out without fully comprehending the meaning behind what they're spelling, but given the regularity of this I would argue that you probably just really pissed someone off. Or, alternatively, they've learned that gathering in this formation nets them a reaction from people and this is a form of enrichment for them.

[2500dollarmagikarp]

top five best places to visit alone at night no really trust me its fine

#1 Lavender Town, Kanto #2 Glimwood Tangle, Galar #3 The Giant Castle Around Unova’s League that Team Plasma kind of Just Left There and the government Never Did Anything About it like seriously whats that about ??? , Unova #4 Relic Castle, Unova #5 actually that’s all of the definitely super haunted places I can think of that aren’t just straight up cemeteries or memorials sorry

[pokescribe]

Allow me to add some places I researched for my books! (Also yes, Glimwood is 100% scary even in the day).

#6 ‘The Old Chateau’ , Eterna Forest, Sinnoh

#7 ‘Strange House’, base of Reversal Mountain, Unova - the same spirit which appears here also appears occasionally on Marvelous Bridge.

#8 Route 14, Kalos, there’s a man who lives there and tells scary stories but these are kid friendly and not really for serious ghost hunters/lovers and fright chasers. Although some report a ghost in one of the buildings in Luminose City too.

#9 The trainer school in Alola is super haunted, there’s also an abandoned Megamart in Alola.

#10 Solaceon Ruins, east of Solaceon Town, Sinnoh

#11 Ruins of Alph, southwest of Violet City between routes 36 & 32, Johto

Happy hauntings!

[ranger-katie]

If you're another Pokeblog, could you reblog this? I wanna spread out a bit more and follow some new folks!

[everydaylouie]

ah my favorite exhibit, the wiglett tank

[theblackeday]

@is-the-pokemon-video-cute these wigletts doing alright?

[is-the-pokemon-video-cute]

Rating: Not Cute

Wiglett are a very skittish pokemon, and are frightened by the presence of other mon. To keep them in a tank with other mon like this is likely a huge stressor for them.

Now of course, I don't know how these mon were socialized or introduced, so it might be alright, but at a glance this is not a good idea.

[castformation]

Hi! While I don't work with wigletts specifically at my place of employment, I do have some familiarity with them. You're absolutely right that wigletts are very skittish! However, this doesn't mean that they need to be kept without any tank mates whatsoever-- their trainer or keeper simply needs to be mindful about which mons are selected.

Large pokémon, even non-aggressive ones, frighten wigletts and can cause them to stay in their burrows without eating. This causes stress and can eventually lead to malnutrition or even starvation if the living situation is not rectified. Because of this, pokémon over a certain size threshold should be avoided. Additionally, overly aggressive or territorial species should be avoided due to their timid nature.

Lastly, other mons that burrow in the sand, such as certain varieties of the clauncher line, compete for space with wiglett and should be avoided as well.

Shellder is actually an excellent tankmate for a group of wigletts. As sand-dwelling (but not burrowing) invertebrates, they'll eat the wigletts' leftovers and keep the sand nice and clean. However, Corphish are notoriously territorial and aggressive towards weaker tankmates. Much like you, I don't want to make assumptions about the situation-- but unless this is a special circumstance, this is an unhealthy living situation for not just the wigletts, but the shellder as well. I could be wrong, so if anyone has additional information feel free to chip in!

[castformation]

(Hello just found and love this blog)

Do you have any facts on galarian ponyta/rapidash? Also! Have you seen any news past & present about young trainers supposedly "saving the region", I am just very curious on your insight/opinions :3c

Thank you!

((Thank you so much!! That means a lot ;w; I've been very busy lately, but I'm hoping to stay active as much as possible, lol.))

Regarding news about young trainers “saving the region”, many of these supposed cases have actually never been officially verified-- but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were true! People can accomplish truly amazing things with the help of their pokémon, no matter their age. It’s no surprise that the majority of these confirmed heroes went on to hold the champion position for their region, though; the skill and bond that would be required to accomplish what they (allegedly) did would have to be pretty remarkable!

That said, it’s a shame that they felt like they had to step in in the first place-- tangling with terrorists should be left to adults! Or better yet, we should work to mitigate these kinds of situations before they become serious. I know that league officials worldwide have claimed to be stepping up ever since the disaster in Kalos some time back (which is probably why we haven’t seen a true “villainous team” openly organizing in years), but given what happened in Galar, it seems like these things can still slip under the radar, and can still culminate in life-threatening disasters. If you ask me-- considering how often these stunts are perpetrated by well-known public figures-- perhaps we should be subjecting our role models, and even our own league officials, to greater scrutiny, as clearly they’re not investigating themselves as thoroughly as they should be. But that’s just me! What do you think?

Also, I just posted some fun facts about the Galarian ponyta line! You can find those right here. They’re an interesting line, to be sure. Extremely popular in pop culture, but apparently very sensitive and often difficult to care for IRL due to being very high-maintenance and prone to behavioral issues if not raised well. I’ve had more run-ins with the Kantonian variety, so looking into these guys was very enlightening! I can see why they're so well-loved-- very enigmatic, but beautiful, too.

[castformation]

Galarian Ponyta/Rapidash Fun Facts

Though lone Galarian rapidashes will often flee when confronted by humans, they become extremely aggressive when their foals are involved, and are prone to lashing out in a very dangerous way. This behavior likely developed in response to the ancient practice of hunting Galarian ponytas for their horns, which were said to have magical healing properties. Though this practice has been outlawed for centuries and is no longer commonplace, Galarian rapidashes are still fiercely protective of ponytas; for this reason, visitors to the Glimwood Tangle that hope to catch a member of the line are encouraged to seek out solitary specimens rather than scouting for herds.

Galarian ponytas are both capable of sensing the intentions of humans, and very wary of approaching anyone that is actively seeking them out-- another result, most likely, of Galar’s ancient horn-hunting practice. Because of this, it’s often said that they, paradoxically, can only be found by those that aren’t looking for them.

Galarian ponytas or rapidashes with Kantonian ancestry display unique coloration, with coarse manes that take on hues ranging from sparkling orange to magenta. This “sunset mane” is considered highly desirable by some due to its unique beauty, and has resulted in several breeding operations with a focus on breeding between the two subspecies. However, these crossbred equines often seem to lack STAB for one or even both of their types (or any type, for that matter), a common issue faced when crossbreeding different varieties of the same species-- making them inferior battlers when compared to their standard Galarian or Kantonian counterparts.

Though Kantonian rapidashes are capable of reaching higher galloping speeds, Galarian rapidashes are much more prolific jumpers, and at times seem to “glide” short distances when jumping-- a feat no doubt aided by the Psychic energy stored in their hair and feathered fetlocks!

The hair of the Galarian ponyta line can glow for weeks or even months after falling out, depending on the psychic power of the specimen in question. It’s not uncommon for trainers to turn any discarded locks of hair into temporary keychains due to their colorful, sparkling qualities.

Due to their relatively small size, emotional intelligence, and their ability to easily understand the needs of their trainer, Galarian ponytas make for absolutely stellar service animals-- as would Galarian rapidashes, if not for their significantly larger stature.

Like many Fairy-types, the Galarian ponyta line possesses a powerful sweet tooth! Though feeding them exclusively sweet foods is certainly not recommended, an occasional snack of fruits, berries, or even sugar cubes will easily pacify most foals. They’re also very partial to mint.

Galarian ponytas and rapidashes are known to greatly enjoy soft music of the classical variety. One recent viral video features a small herd of them approaching a harp player in the woods, the latter of whom remained totally unaware of their equine audience for the entire duration of the herd’s stay-- the performer in question apparently only noticed their presence when editing the footage the next day.

[prismit]

[castformation]

My child has always been a bit of a roughhouser. I’ve been thinking of getting him a fighting type for his first pokemon so he’d have a training partner to let off his stress with. Do you have any advice as to what to get? If climate is an issue, we live in the suburbs of Nimbasa.

There are plenty of fighting-type pokémon that would make excellent companions for first-time trainers! For your purposes, I think you'll want to focus on pokémon that handle temperate climates well, aren’t too high maintenance, have a good temperament, and are high-energy enough to keep up with an active kid. A child's first fighting-type should also have a simple, easy-to-grasp fighting style, unless the kid in question has a background in sports or martial arts. Of course, your son should be allowed to make the final decision regarding what kind of pokémon he wants as a partner, but here are a couple options that might suit him well!

Scraggy is an admittedly unconventional starter choice-- especially considering what I just said about temperament-- but hear me out! Trainers able to work with scraggy's headstrong and at times standoffish attitude will find themselves with a loyal, energetic partner that’s full of personality and offbeat charm. They have an uncomplicated fighting style that I suspect would mesh well with your son’s roughhousing, are very easy to take care of, and, importantly, they’re native to the southern suburbs of Nimbasa, making them plentiful in your area-- you and your son could have pick of the litter from local breeders, or you could even catch one yourself, if you’re so inclined!

I will always advocate for heracross as excellent pokémon for first time trainers, and make for a great “baby’s first fighting-type”. They’re notoriously docile and good-natured, and are easy to provide for given their diet of nectars and honey. I actually did a short write-up of some heracross triva here if you’re looking for some more info on them! People generally advocate for trainers to have a pokémon with multiple stages as their starter so the pokémon will “grow with them,” but this is a matter of preference more than anything; there's nothing wrong with having a one-stage starter, so definitely keep them in mind.

Makuhitas are classic fighting-type starters for a reason! They’re easygoing, tenacious, and make for great first time fighting-types, but they still pack a real punch in battle, and love to spend lots of time training. They're also apparently quite physically affectionate, which is always a plus in my book. However, they eat quite a bit and have very particular dietary needs, requiring a high caloric intake, so if you intend on getting one for your son, be prepared for a substantial uptick in your grocery budget!

Tepig and chimchar aren’t technically fighting types, but their evolved forms are, and many display fighting-type traits early on! Both are high-energy and a bit scrappy, and as common starter choices they’re very easy to care for. Tepig in particular, as a staple starter in Unova, would be easily obtainable, and once more, you'd be spoiled for choice in terms of which one to take home.

Again, I definitely recommend that you have a sit-down with your son and discuss ahead of time what he's looking for in a partner pokémon, but I think any of these would make a fine companion for a rowdy, physically active young trainer! Please let me know if you have any follow-up questions or comments, and, if you'd like, an update on what kind of pokémon your child ends up being interested in!

[feyzichris]

[castformation]

Can you share some Impidimp info?

Absolutely! One of my husband's first pokémon was an impidimp, so I can tell you quite a bit off the cuff, but of course I did make sure to fact check all of this, too. Sorry if this is a bit on the longer side! I've got a lot to say about them, haha.

Impidimps are well-adapted to the darkness of the Glimwood Tangle, with large, sensitive eyes that have evolved to take in as much light as possible. Because of this, they tend to dislike strong light. It’s highly recommended that anyone who expects their impidimp to come into prolonged contact with daylight or other bright light sources should invest in a pair of special sunglasses or tinted goggles for their pokémon companion, so as to avoid discomfort in the short-term and damage to their eyesight in the long-term.

Impidimps are a common household infestation in rural homes. They tend to make their nests in walls, cupboards, and other dark, enclosed spaces. However, they’re easily lured out into the open with milk and honey left out overnight-- a favored treat of theirs!

There’s an old Galarian belief that impidimps are the troublesome children of changeling fey. While this may seem like nothing but a fairy tale, it actually holds an inkling of truth! The only pokémon species that is proven to be capable of producing impidimp offspring is ditto, which are, of course, very well-known for changing their form. (Many claim that the hattena line is capable of producing impidimp offspring when mating with a member of the impidimp line, but this has not been observed in the wild, nor has it been successfully replicated in captivity, so this remains an unsubstantiated rumor.)

Though impidimp manes are not sensitive or prehensile like those of their evolutions, they are nonetheless very peculiar about their signature lock of hair. If someone the impidimp does not trust or know well attempts to touch it, brush it, or arceus forbid, cut it, they can expect to get bitten...or worse yet, the impidimp will decide to make that individual a long-term target for future mischief out of spite.

They’re surprisingly prolific artists when given crayons, glitter, or other crafting materials. I strongly suggest, however, that you keep these items out of reach unless they’re under careful observation-- or you might wake up to one hell of a mess!