#outlet yaps

[a-power-outlet]

laughing at this bc i saw a few miscellaneous comments abt how claudia is norm's height but no. he's just on a curb.

[definitely-not-outlet]

corbeau's team is so interesting thematically oh my God. i need to interpret them RIGHT NOW. so, here's:

corbeau's team analysis

by outlet

full (6 pokemon) team and character spoilers under the cut! you have been warned!

i'll be going in the order he uses them, for context, so the first one up is...

arbok! yay!

so arbok has the scary face on it's stomach, said to scare away enemies. this best correlates to corbeau's own imposing demeanor, since plenty of people seem scared or intimidated by him. i mean, i would be too, since his entire organization is said to exploit people for work. and he's a loan shark. like when he drops the aloof act he's just serious and intimidating about everything.

therefore: arbok relates to his intimidating demeanor. not a crazy stretch there. but his next pokemon.... is so goddamn random.

barbaracle? really? he has a barbaracle? that's not a poison type at all!

correct! however it is a snake. corbeau is a snake type specialist.

ok. serious time. in all seriousness, corbeau has a barbaracle because it represents the rust syndicate. barbaracle's XY dex entry says they (being the amalgam of binacle that make barbaracle) fight with the power of seven binacle, and that they all follow the head's orders despite each "limb" having a mind of it's own. this is repeated in the PLZA dex!

fascinating, right? the rust syndicate is like the different arms and legs and. shoulder appendages? each grunt has a mind of their own, works independently, but corbeau is the head who directs them. and, they follow his order, doing as he says.

i'll admit this mon really threw me for a loop at first because it breaks the idea that he's a poison 'specialist'. he does teach this thing poison jab though for what it's worth LMAO. it also really varies up his team which i think is fascinating because he's clearly a super competent trainer, just not able to attain or pursue that sort of hobby in his current position.

alright. next mon!

roserade. his gap moe pokemon.

roserade does have the dex entries about basically constricting its prey, which does fall in line for the typical corbeau snakemon aesthetic. however this is definitely not a snake by the standard definition of snake, no matter how much i want to make that joke.

no, i think this moreso calls back to his caped crusader, vigilante justice vibe. corbeau is not a good person, at least in my understanding of him. i know the game kinda forces you into being like "you're a good guy!" but remember this is a man that has started many illegal businesses and currently runs a business where he extorts people. even if it's for a good end goal, clearing the city of dirt and rust, he's still doing something morally wrong in forcing them to do this via extortion. i don't think that's too, too controversial to say, hopefully.

even still, he does retain some sort of antihero / morally grey presence. and roserade, to me, represents this. the masquerade aesthetic... it calls to him.

i also think there's something to be said about him luring people in, based on the dex entries, but that's more of a stretch to me.

next pokemon!

A SNAKE!

ok. calm, outlet. calm. did anyone else get really goddamn confused when he pulled this out in battle? i'll admit, in my first run, i died so fast because i had my emboar out, and this thing tore it apart and i scrambled. that gave him enough time to basically sweep the rest of my team. anyways.

alas. the pokemon that was once a 'useless' nothing, and, through care and dedication, became a 'dragon'. while also representing his possible heritage (from one of the japanese regions, which I inclined to say is sinnoh based on the hisuian decor in his office), gyarados represents the struggle corbeau went through to become who he is today.

corbeau had nothing as a kid, he says it himself. he managed to convince lysandre that his projects were worthwhile, and, if we look at philippe's dialogue, a lot of these projects didn't take off. many were even illegal. but he eventually triumphed (and seems to use a lot of his previous experience in running the syndicate, which has its hands in so many business sectors at once). he too was once 'useless', but he became a dragon.

next mon!

see, garbodor has long limbs. they look like snakes.

behold, the trash pokemon. the epitome of what corbeau wishes to eradicate from the city. well, this can be something as simple as that. by training the garbage pokemon, he has captured and removed some garbage from the streets. but i think there's another layer to it.

firstly, garbodor quite literally eats trash, which is helpful when you're trying to clean up a city.

secondly, it's often a disliked pokemon. trubbish is said to be smelly, and people tend to dislike having it around. another reference to him wanting to care for those who don't have a place?

to be honest, my interpretation for this one is somewhat weak, since he does seem to have a disdain for the invading pokemon (re: having the player chase away the gengar), but he does also seem to take pity on those who have no place, so i think this could swing that way. and because it's funny to have the guy who hates trash and needs order have a trash pokemon.

last, but most certainly not least:

scolipeeeedeeee

bug types in general can be seen similar to the magikarp. weak at first, but when they evolve, they become BEASTS. well, especially in the case of scolipede, who becomes this wonderful horse creature. so even just in the typing there's a link to his story, a small nothing that became something (since, sorry corbeau, you are definitely cannot be considered big at your lovely height of 5'6")

and corbeau is definitely bonded with this thing. it's said that this is the mon he used (as a venipede) to keep fucking with philippe and his gang. he also constantly brags about it. this is his baby. or his closest friend. or both.

there also may be something to say about his relentlessness, much like scolipede's dex entries, but he is shown to have empathy, so i'm inclined to say that "relentless" doesn't fully describe him. he's cunning, and intelligent, and definitely doesn't back down easily, but he knows when to stop.

anyways, all this to say i enjoy corbeau a lot. this all may be complete bs so lmk what y'all think :3c

[a-power-outlet]

oh. ohhhh my god. i am normal. i am not staring. i am not.

[a-power-outlet]

i'm so happy norm's back. i hope he kills someone. i think he deserves it.

[a-power-outlet]

i'm going fuckign crazy

[definitely-not-outlet]

corbeau spoilers under the cut, with fresh theorizing about what we do have

so many thoughts. the fact that he's implied to have been poor and then was essentially given fun money (read; investments) by lysandre is such an interesting trait to me. and because philippe seemed to be raised by lysandre too. so, team flare? they were kids a part of team flare? perhaps an earlier version of it? lysandre wasn't always "let's kill everyone", but i'll have to refresh myself a bit on the lore tbh.

even still, corbeau is heavily implied to be poor as a kid, or at the very least an orphan with nowhere to go. lysandre gave him money to start his own businesses. and i think corbeau forever respects lysandre for that, especially since we can see:

in this line and the following one (where he says he wants to repay lysandre for everything he did for him) that corbeau feels indebted. and i think he uses the rust syndicate as a way to express that gratitude. helping out those who needed help, just like how lysandre did for him.

it's interesting that philippe and corbeau seem to have known each other as kids. like, philippe says that he and the other childhood delinquents (my own wording because i forget his) basically wanted to take down corbeau. but corbeau was too good overall, not just in battling. philippe seemed to be the one who formed the syndicate, but forced corbeau to be the boss.

or maybe i missed some dialogue. i've been rotating him in a microwave since i met him.

his interactions with the player are so interesting too. it seems he almost sees them as himself, in a way. he knows they have more choices than he does, and doesn't want them going down his path. admittedly i do use my own sona as the MC so my personal plot deviates, but the way he seems to... want to foster the player into their best self is soooo interesting.

he clearly has a soft spot for kids, imo. he doesn't want them roped into crime like he was. he gets team MZ out of debt because he knows philippe will keep asking and demanding more. he encourages the player a lot. and i think he is happy when they succeed, because they aren't stuck like he was.

he's still also not a great person imo. like, he's threatening children, even if the children are doing "good deeds". the yakuza have done good things, like helping after the earthquake, but they're still extorting people. i almost wonder what other businesses he's running, since philippe did mention a lot were not "above water".

i love him. he is morally grey and complex. and i want to inspect him under a comically large microscope.

[a-power-outlet]

my controversial fallout tv take is that hank does care about norm, norm just isn't currently being the problem child running around on the surface.

don't get me wrong, lucy is still the golden child. but i think hank also sees a lot of value in his son, lucy's just the one constantly applying herself. imo norm shirked this responsibility because he saw lucy constantly achieving greatness and getting pressured, and he didn't want that.

all in all, hank still cares about norm. he just doesn't have to worry about norm, because he doesn't know that norm is on the surface. to hank, norm is just safe in a little vault and everything's a-ok!

norm does read as a former problem child. one that's vanished into the shadows to escape all the pressure. but hank still loves him. did u see the little hair tussle he does to norm during the wedding. that's his son!!

[a-power-outlet]

find it so interesting that bud never called norm his actual name. bud always called him "son of hank". always relating him back to his dad, the executive assistant within bud's buds, the one bud actually cares about.

makes sense, given that norm is literally causing problems, but it's a detail i enjoy.