i do genuinely hesitate to ask, as i am sure i will find out more than i meant to in time, but atm my various feeds and an uninformed google are not telling me what most recently exploded about the british government, so if you have the time and the inclination i'm agog for your summary/take
HOO BOY. It has been a Things Exploding In the British Government day to the extent that in the hour-odd between my previous post and this one, I had to go back and check if anything ELSE had exploded while I wasn't looking. Everything that they are currently denying will probably be confirmed within the next 12 hours or less, though, so nobody get too comfortable.
Anyway, we all remember how Liz Truss succeeded Boris Johnson as Prime Minister, met the Queen, the Queen immediately fucking croaked which honestly was the funniest time she could possibly have done it, the country ground to a total halt for ten days, and then when it got going again, Truss and her chancellor (aka finance minister, for those of you happily ignorant of British politics), Kwasi Kwarteng, proposed a Thatcherite wet-dream economic plan of unfunded massive tax cuts for rich people, because something something Stimulate Growth. We are also generally aware that this crashed the pound through the floor, blew up people's mortgages and other mildly important bills, and did nothing to deal with the actual energy bills/cost of living crisis currently engulfing the UK. Oops.
After absolutely everybody, including the commie socialists at the Bank of England, screamed OH MY GOD WHAT ARE YOU MORONS DOING???, and the day after Kwarteng insisted he would absolutely remain in post and he had 100% confidence in the Plan, he... got sacked for creating this, the Plan that Truss had asked him to deliver and which had won her the Tory party members' election. This made him officially the second-shortest serving chancellor in UK history aside from the guy who literally died in office. Womp womp. That will be a pub quiz answer for you. You're welcome.
Having spent all this time hiding from the press, then giving eight-minute press conferences during which you could literally track the pound crashing in real time, and performing more U-turns than a dancing dashboard hood ornament, Liz Truss took a break from her busy schedule of conducting the Economic Disaster Waltz in the key of B Fucked to appoint Jeremy Hunt as the new chancellor. Jeremy Hunt is mostly notable for being a Tory who can put his pants on without assistance and being a genteel failure at all the previous cabinet posts he's held, which is why he is now regarded as a "safe pair of hands" in a party that has dissolved into a lot of shit-flinging coked-up gibbons who can only scream BREXIT BREXIT BREXIT and IMMIGRATION IS BAD!!! (Side note: they recently had to cancel a festival designed to "celebrate the freedoms of Brexit" due to logistics issues associated with, you guessed it, Brexit. That is not directly relevant to the current clusterfuck, but it is too funny not to include.)
To nobody's surprise, Jeremy Hunt then ripped up the entire economic plan and offered a new one, which was not measurably better than the last one but at least reversed some of the most egregious cuts, and which made everyone ask if Liz Truss had been tied up and duct-taped in the boot of a Range Rover and/or if Hunt had secretly staged a coup with the help of Larry the Downing Street Cat and taken over the government. Probably nobody in the Tory party would mind very much if he had, because they were all busy either planning how to oust Truss or publicly denying that they were indeed planning to oust Truss. One of the popular names for her successor? Boris Johnson! No, I am not making this up. Maybe this has all been a horrible dream and we're going to wake up and find that BoZo is back in charge, after massive public scandal for being a serial liar, which he had been from Day 1, finally made him resign. I repeat, what even the hell is going on here. Nobody knows. Meanwhile, Hunt is warning about even more budget austerity and "eye-watering" cuts to public services that can least afford it, because the last decade didn't result in quite enough preventable deaths for the Tories' tastes, and because they have been forced into this by a car crash completely of their own making.
....anyway. This brings us, more or less, to today. Yesterday, Truss refused to commit to protecting something called the pensions triple lock, which guarantees that old-age pensions (the UK form of social security) will rise in line with inflation, costs, or earnings. A) Inflation in the UK is now at a whopping 10.1%, and B) given as old people are literally the only demographic still willing to vote for the Tories, this miiiiiight seem like an even more unnecessarily stupid and self-sabotaging idea. Sure enough, U-Turn Number Eight Million was duly performed this morning, and Truss insisted she had always intended for the triple lock to be protected. But would Universal Credit and other welfare/benefits programs also be adjusted upward for inflation? HELL NAH! THOSE ARE FOR POOR PEOPLE! GROSS!
This, however, was only the beginning of the unpeeling of the latest idiot banana. Keir Starmer, riding high on the back of recent polls that have given Labour a 36-point lead and predicted that the Tories could be left with as few as 22 seats in Parliament if a general election was called tomorrow (leaving the SNP as the official opposition), appeared at Prime Minister's Questions and got to shoot fish in a barrel. Truss did not dissolve into a pile of goo on the floor and/or have a bucket of water thrown on her and melt into Margaret Thatcher, so that was taken as a win. Well, at least for two hours or so. Then Suella Braverman, the ex-Attorney General who had briefly run for the leadership when BoZo resigned, and who exists along with Priti Patel in order to prove that in the modern Tory party, women of color can heroically be just as much as awful xenophobic monsters as crusty old white dudes, resigned as Home Secretary. Did you even know she was Home Secretary? Neither did she. She took over Patel's job in a bid to apparently make Patel look cute and cuddly by comparison, as she is even more determined to do horrible things to migrants as much as possible. The official reason given for her resignation was that she sent an official document from her personal email account, and this had something to do with immigration and/or the Office of Budget Responsibility forecast that the Tories have, in the valiant spirit of freedom, resisted actually publishing for any of their current economic plans. CONSERVATIVES ARE GOOD FOR THE ECONOMY!! yell people on both sides of the Atlantic. Oh-kay.
Anyway, Braverman used her resignation letter to blast Truss for pretending that everything was fine and dandy, which means the BUT HER EEEEEEMAILS was absolutely just an excuse and even she wanted off this sinking ship as fast as possible. Grant Shapps is now the Home Secretary. It's not important. The point is, if more ministers start resigning, the government will probably implode just as it did when they deserted BoZo en masse. What the hell happens then? Fuck if anyone knows. Since they will, as noted, get absolutely cosmically annihilated if they call a General Election, the Tories will resist doing that with all their might (the next one isn't due until 2024, which is about 1004329 years away at the current rate that time is passing here). Truss was already elected by a tiny minority of the country (about 160,000 Tory party members). STICK RISHI SUNAK IN THERE AND CHANGE THE RULES AGAIN?? HECK, SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN! KEEP THOSE MUSICAL CHAIRS COMING, CHAPS!
(Also: we will recall the Daily Star's Lettuce Cam, where a picture of Liz Truss has been placed next to a head of lettuce to see if she is kicked out of office before it rots away. It now has a special companion, Tofu. This is because Braverman, just yesterday, gave a speech attacking the latest round of climate protesters as being spurred on by Labour, the Lib Dems, and the "Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati," which she doubtless thought was a very clever line at the time. Because British Twitter is British Twitter, the Tofu: 1, Braverman: 0 jokes have been rife.)
And since we are still not done: tonight, Labour forced a vote on a fracking ban which was being treated as a de facto confidence vote in the government. Aka if the Tories voted for it, they would be considered to be defying the government. Because Britain is a cartoon country run by clowns, the method of Parliamentary voting literally involves walking through Door A for Aye and Door B for Nay. The "whips," or the people whose job it is to assure that party members vote according to the government's position, have thus been known to physically stuff recalcitrant MPs through these doors, because Hail Britannia, or something. So we soon had reports that the anti-fracking vote was, dare I say it, a total clusterfrack, and the Tory whips were literally throwing crying Tory MPs through the Nay door so they would Vote To Support The Government. This sounds like a beginning to a Monty Python sketch, but it is just another ordinary evening in British politics in 2022! (Did Truss herself vote? Or BoZo, Patel, or any of the other Tory big beasts? Nope. Evidently she was "too distracted" with all the other crises going on, which probably means she just didn't want to show her face or she might get killed. Hard to blame her.)
So: the fracking ban was defeated, Labour MPs were like "oh my god the sheer clownery," even Tory MPs were spitting mad, we soon had more rumors that both the Tory chief whip and the deputy chief whip had resigned (currently in the Official Denial stage, so yeah, that will be confirmed before tomorrow morning), and I haven't even mentioned the part where one of Liz Truss's press aides admitted that they used to lie about various relatives of hers having just died so Truss didn't have to do interviews (actual quote: "just aunts and cousins, not any major relatives!"). We all wondered if that wasn't actually a lie but the minor members of the Truss family had voluntarily decided to die rather than have anyone know that they were related to her. Either that or she just sent MI6 after them. It's entirely possible.
Beneath the cut I break the Paldean map into segments and analyse what can be seen as well as compare the notable landmarks to the trailers. There is some speculation here which may be debunked as we learn more.
All analysis is based on officially revealed information. Please do not mention any leaks in the comments.
Unfortunately Tumblr has killed the quality of the images...
Part 1: The Beginning
The beginning of the map feels pretty linear, likely as an early tutorial.
The player character starts from the house with the orange roof. The violet roofed house is possibly where the professors live, or where we meet Nemona. From the trailer this appears to be where we meet our starter as all three can be seen with the grounds in the background. There is a battle arena on the beach behind the house for what I would assume is the first rival battle.
After that the route runs past the red southern lighthouse. There are four of these in total marking the four cardinal directions, although their significance is not yet known. Possibly they relate to the treasure hunt quest, or for yet-to-be-seen legendary/mythical pokemon.
The first settlement with yellow roofs has the first pokemon centre and appears to be where we are introduced to the multiplayer features.
There is a grassy segment with ponds to the right where some early pokemon can likely be caught.
From there it’s onto the main city to the north.
Part 2: Mesagoza
Mesagoza appears to be the central hub of the region. This is where we find the trainer school (the cathedral-like building to the north) which will likely kick off the start of the true open world aspect of the game. It looks like this is also when we will be introduced to the terastal mechanic, as the central plaza decoration appears to relate to it.
There is a cave to the top left of the city which leads out to a large white building. I think this is probably the League, which the PC will come back to after completing the 8 gyms, and possibly after facing assessments at the trainer school, but this is all still to be confirmed.
From there it is possible for the player to take a bridge out to the east or the west depending on their choice. It’s unclear whether we will have access to the surf equivalent at this point but I think it’s probably a bit early for that yet.
Part 3: The Grasslands
Assuming the PC goes clockwise and takes the western bridge, this leads out into a dry grassland area with what appears to be sections of olive groves.
There is a small settlement in the middle with a gym (the white tower building to the south). Most notable is the outdoor area which is coloured green, and given the surroundings, I feel pretty confident in saying this is a grass gym. The gym leader may even use the evolution of Smoliv as a signature pokemon. I could see them being linked to olive production in some way, but that’s only a guess.
From the trailer Fidough is also found here.
There is a natural bridge that allows the player to cross down into the grassy segment with ponds to the south where there is likely to be various pokemon to catch.
There are two towers in this section, marked with a white triangle, and fifteen in total across the map by my count. It’s unclear whether these will function like BOTW to allow for expanding the PC’s knowledge of the map, or whether these are storyline related. There might possibly be a past/future mechanic given that some Hisuian pokemon will be returning to this game. Or they could be linked to the treasure quest that Clavell sends you on, which would be my guess at this stage.
Part 4: Ghost Town
From the grass gym the PC can take the path to the NW, across the bridge that’s slightly out of frame, and then to a fork which turns right/north to the windmills of the first trailer, or left/south to this isolated desert-looking town on the cliffs.
If following this route this is the second gym. The arena is under a tower structure and is coloured purple, and given the isolated feel of this town, I’m going to assume this is a ghost gym.
To the left of the town is a cave. It’s unclear whether this leads further down the cliffs, or whether this is simply another habitat to catch pokemon.
There is also another tower which appears to be within a small section of water.
Part 5: Windmills
There’s not a lot to say about this segment. It was shown during the first trailer, bearing many of Paldea’s signature windmills. It appears these can be climbed, so they may relate to the treasure hunt, or simply be places to glide from.
There is an interesting structure to the north, with a sandy path leading up to it. It looks as if a cave has been blocked off by a large rock. If I had to speculate I would guess this is the dwelling of a high level legendary similar to Mewtwo in Cerulean Cave, but it might not be a cave at all.
Part 6: Villainous Team?
There’s quite a lot of significance here.
Going eastwards first I have circled the first of the crossed flags as seen in the trailer. There are five of these on the map in the following colours: black, red (both seen in the 3rd trailer), pink, purple and yellow. I don’t know whether the colours have significance yet (possibly dark, fire, fairy, poison, electric/rock?) but I feel fairly confident that these relate to the ‘evil’ team. There’s been a lot of speculation that there will be a racing theme given the flame covered vehicle we saw in the trailer. Personally I think the compound structure behind the black flags looks like a racing circuit.
Could we have a racing mini game before we battle the villain team? It would certainly tie into the bike theme of the legendaries.
Immediately north of this is a vast desert area which feeds out into the sea. This area includes the subsided ruined tower from the trailer and a very curious stone circle reminiscent of the korok circles from BOTW.
To the east of the desert is an oasis town/city with the third gym and blue arena. I’m pretty confident this is a water gym.
Westwards, north of the desert, is a coastal settlement without a gym. There appears to be a harbour with boats so we may be able to take a boat to somewhere else on the map from here.
On the cliffs above is the yellow western lighthouse.
There are another three towers in this section and the beginnings of the vast body of water to the north.
Part 7: (Out of Ten)
We’ve seen multiple shots of this huge stretch of water (lake? inlet?). It looks like there might be things to explore on the islands in the middle once we have access to surf.
To the north is an autumn-y feeling section which reminds me of the Crimson Mirelands from Legends Arceus. Given that Deerling and Sawsbuck were shown in the trailer, I’m confident we’ll see the Autumn Form here.
The rock formation in the water to the west of this is particularly interesting but I’m not sure what it will be for yet.
Part 8: Heading North
South of the lake and immediately north of the crater is another settlement. There is a gym here but little indication of what type it could be. My guess is something like steel or normal, possibly electric, given that this looks like more of a working/research town to me.
The structure on the cliff of the crater looks like a research facility of some sort but someone can correct me if they know exactly what it is. I assume this place will have some storyline significance given that it’s on the huge crater taking up a significant chunk of the centre of the map.
Crossing the bridge and heading north leads to the snowy mountainous area.
I’m curious whether we will have a waterfall HM equivalent on our legendary mounts which will allow us to swim up to that icy pool at the top of the map, or whether we can only go down into the lake from there.
The green northern lighthouse can be seen in this section.
There is also another set of racing flags, pink in colour this time. Again, unsure if this relates to the fairy type, or if it is simply to distinguish the circuits.
Part 9: The Mountain
There are two gyms in this section, taking up 5th and 6th spots going clockwise.
The ice gym, shown in the trailer and known as Glaseado Gym, is the one isolated from everything else, as shown by the outdoor arena coloured the ice type teal shade. Grusha is the only gym leader to be revealed so far and is a former professional snowboarder.
Further north, between the peaks, is a small town with another gym. Now, I feel pretty confident about the ice gym and water gym locations, so I’m really not sure what this could be, and there is no outdoor arena I can see to give a hint. If I had to guess, I would say maybe flying since it’s so high up, or possibly dragon? At this stage it’s a bit early to tell.
There is a steep, winding path down towards a rockier section to the SE.
It is likely we can find Cetitan here.
Part 10: Victory Road?
This segment demonstrates the harshest terrain on the map with lots of craggy peaks leading into the clouds at the edge of the map. I think this could possibly be a Victory Road equivalent but I may be way off the mark. There is only 1 pokemon centre I can see however, so it feels like it will be a challenge to navigate.
There are yellow racing flags here as circled. I think this will be the most challenging racing circuit (if, indeed, these do denote racing tracks). If this is associated with a type, rock makes more sense to me than electric given the location but electric fits the vehicle theme.
If we follow the irl map, the clouds cover where Paldea connects to southern Kalos. I don’t think we’ll be going there, but a future DLC may take us to a connecting area with lots of Kalos pokemon? A poke-Andorra might be a cool option.
Part 11: Quarries and Bottlenecks
South of the rocky terrain is a small grassy segment which is surrounded by a ridge with purple flags blocking the bottleneck into the quarry section. It really looks to me like these flag sections will stop us from progressing to the next section of the map until we clear the challenge, but I could be wrong since they have emphasised that this game is open world.
If this is associated with a type my assumption is poison. Perhaps the villain team, if they are here, use Paldean Wooper’s evolution? It’s unclear whether we will get a Paldean Quagsire or a new evolution for this variant of Wooper.
The quarry section was seen in the trailer with the legendary mounts flying over. In the trailer a yellow truck could be seen, which is why I think these are quarries. The blue roofs may be construction buildings rather than a town, but we’ve only seen a very small glimpse of this area so it’s difficult to tell at this point.
Part 12: Coastal City
Going south from the quarry section leads to a short grassy segment before we reach a modern city built on top of the water. Going clockwise around the map, this city holds the 7th gym.
Now the middle circle looks yellow-ish to me, and the city has skyscrapers and a thriving Nimbasa/Sunnyshore feel to it, so my feeling is this is an electric gym.
To the east of the city is the blue lighthouse overlooking the water.
To the south of the city a path leading towards another grassy section and some beach areas.
Part 13: Coastal Section
There’s not a lot to note in this south east segment other than the tower, the beach and the island that we should be able to explore. This should be a good place to find water and coastal pokemon.
There may also be things hidden behind the cliffs that we can’t see from the map but this remains to be seen.
Part 14: Flower Town and Final Gym
Heading west of the coastal section takes us to another town which was seen in the trailer. This a very floral/garden heavy town with a hedge maze design to the north.
If travelling clockwise this town also contains the 8th and final gym. The outdoor arena is green, with reddish detailings. Since this can also be an early gym depending on player choice, my guess for this one is bug based on the flowers, but fairy might also be a possibility given that Flabébé was confirmed via the trailer.
West of this town is the red, rocky landscape where Luxray were seen in the trailer.
South of this, across a natural bridge just out of the frame, and down, is a muddy section next to the river where Paldean Wooper were seen in the trailer.
To the very south is a beach with a pokemon centre, meaing that there might be quite a long surf route here (possibly extending out to the east section of the map?)
Part 15: Seeing Red
At the bridge separating the grass segment from the red canyon is the last set of flags going clockwise. These were seen in the trailer, bearing the same star shaped logo we have seen multiple times, which I still think will be the logo of the evil team. Team Star? Team Speed? The middle shape resembles an S to me.
The red canyon area feeds into the eastern side of Mesagoza, meaning that if the player completes the map in a circle, they will be brought back to where they should face the championship challenge, either at the trainer school, or the building to the SW of the crater, the latter getting my vote.
Part 16: Vortex of Doom
At the centre of the map, at the cross section of the four cardinal lighthouses, is this huge crater obscured by fog. There is no doubt this place has huge story significance, but at this point it is difficult to say what that will be. It could connect to the legendaries, or there could be a whole area hidden beneath here. It may even connect to the past/future theme in some way.
This marks the last part of the map to be explored and the most mysterious by far. I doubt we will learn what lies below until we actually get to play the game which only makes it all the more intriguing.
“Now I think [Electra Heart] was a really cool, dark, subversive pop record that was using the American system to elevate myself as an artist. I wouldn’t do it again, but it kind of changed my life.”
10 YEARS OF ELECTRA HEART by MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS
RELEASED ON APRIL 27, 2012
So people was wondering if Oikawa meet Atsumu, will they be gang up and be ally or the exact opposite?
And IT IS CANON! if you put Oikawa Tooru and Miya Atsumu together, the two will rips each other throat. (But i believe Oikawa will cry first if this continue)
And do not worry, Iwaizumi can handle this perfectly.
okay. look at me. I am sitting you all down like it's a business meeting right now. I need you to understand that superwholockifying potc black sails and ofmd would be kinda funny and I think the only real shot we have at making potc somewhat socially relevant again HOWEVER what you all need to understand is that objectively we are the weak link. we are the lock of the equation. we are the only ones without real gay people and while that might have been able to fly in 2012 it is NOT going to fly in a post-she ra world. we need to proceed with caution and my first suggestion is to argue that pintel saying he used to date a eunuch in that one deleted scene is better queer rep than castiel from destiel because in that movie pintel is immortal, but I'm open to suggestions
Critical Role Gif Meme - [1/6] Scenes, Episode 56 - Hope
“This place is.. The human soul. This is what we have built with our tiny moments. To lose a place like this, we don’t feel it immediately but.. it would ruin everyone.”
origamiaround
andulkaphoto
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snowghoul
blakekathryn
