#pokemon chattering

[cyberdragoninfinity]

shout out to this apparently official lucario art that exists just to haunt me specifically a little i guess

[cyberdragoninfinity]

absolute top legendary mercari jpn finds for me is this bizarre lucario photocard holder i snagged (from a chinese merch line??) (i guess to display one (1) pokemon card???) (the waves???) (lucario (lucario))

[cyberdragoninfinity]

I really truly still can't get over the Legends Z-A announcement. Everything about it. ULTIMATE Crazy ass moments in Pokemon history. We had Unova game vs. Johto game rumors and theories flying around for half a goddamn YEAR. People were pointing out paintings of Lugia and Ho-oh in Detective Pikachu 2, Kitakami's dex full of Johto 'mons, Indigo Disk's 32847872 Unova references, the Paradox Legendary Johto AND Unova Trios. The OFFICIAL POKEMON TWITTER was posting cryptic gifs of Reshiram and Zekrom in the weeks leading up to Pokemon Day. The day before the stream people were waving around 4chan "leaks" of Legends Celebi, ILCA BW remakes, Black & White 3. None of us went into that direct knowing what we were gonna get.

And then it was Pokemon Day and the Pokemon Presents premieres and it's start to finish full of Johto nods, Unowns bouncing around and Raikou in Pkmn Sleep and Silver in Masters. They slap THIS FUCKER up there seconds before the final teaser trailer of the stream.

And then we get that teaser.

And then we get hit with "Lumiose City"

And then It's not Johto. It's not Unova. It's the region we haven't seen in an actual literal decade.

And then a single letter changes everything.

AND THEN THE HITS JUST KEEP COMING ONE AFTER ANOTHER. Legends "Z-A." The A looks like the Ultimate Weapon. Releasing 2025. Not this year. For once in so, so long a Pokemon mainline game isn't coming this year. It's like exhaling a breath I didn't know I was holding. The screen goes black and every expectation we could have possible have has been flung out a Kalos-shaped window.

And then they give us one last little treat for the road

Just an absolutely unbelievable presentation. They played us like complete fiddles. They're sending our asses to FRANCE. And I can't help but smile so big just thinkin about it!! This is the first Pokemon announcement I've seen in YEARS where the majority of folks have been not just surprised but this joyful, EXHILARATED surprised, just absolutely going nuts over 10 years of memes and jokes and game wishes that are finally getting their due. And it's just infectious. There's something really magical in the comradery and shared excitement and I'm never gonna forget it. I love Pokemon. Welcome back and welcome home, Zygarde.

[cyberdragoninfinity]

Hiya Dana, hope you're doing well!

Now that Legends ZA has been out for a while, I'd love to hear your thoughts on Pokemon's rival characters! I've been replaying Shield recently and they're all so fun and charming and it makes me sad when I see people having downright awful takes about them online

AH, THE POKEMON RIVAL ARCHETYPE. A CLASSIC i feel like for whatever reason for a long time I never got crazy into Pokemon's rivals the way a lot of pkmn fans do...maybe it's because i was a gen 3 kiddo and hoenn's rival situation is............................ Lacking. Or just part of my continued lack of kanto/johto nostalgia lol. Regardless, I feel like Pokemon rivals are only getting better and better with each generation and I'm SUPER excited to see who fills that 'role' in Winds and Waves (especially since pokemon characters are, like, Well Written pretty consistently now)

ANYWAY lemme take it gen by gen with some individual Dana Thoughts™ I'm using Bulbapedia's roster of "Rivals" so if I miss any APOLOGIES. TAKE IT UP WITH BULBAPEDIA.

GEN 1: Blue: see this is what I mean, on the whole I don't really feel too strongly about Blue, even having read the RBY manga. He's iconic, I like when's popped up in later games, but he nothing about him really shakes my brain around. Average Kanto Experience. He's fine. He's Blue!

GEN 2: Silver: Silver doesn't make me Crazy crazy the way he does for some folks, but I do like him. His dynamic with Giovanni was and is crazy and I like his team a lot. Also just an iconic design, the posterchild of "edgy mean rival" (though it kind of pisses me off that it feels like people STILL want every rival to be Just Silver Again. IM SORRY SOMETIMES THE RIVAL IS NICE. YOU NEED TO WORK THROUGH THAT.)

GEN 3: Brendan/May: MY GEN 3 ABSOLUTE NOTHING RIVALS....... i love May but that's the anime talking. Brendan is so especially giving not a goddamn thing I'm hardpressed to have any opinion on him, but looking at his old art gives me crazy nostalgia....I wish RSE let their starts fully evolve wouldnt that have been nice 💔 Wally: when i was a kid i fucking HATED wally for some reason??!??! I THINK I THOUGHT HE WAS A WIMP OR SOMETHING. AND I MEAN. HE IS. BUT. Wally's fine, his victory road fight still goes really hard and kicked my ASS when I was little. maybe thats why i didnt like him HJDFJGSJDF Mega Gallade in ORAS worked so well for him, excellent remake decision

GEN 4: Barry: I like Barry :) His personality is goofy and fun and I like the dynamic they were playing with re: his relationship with his Frontier Brain father. YAAAY POKEMON CHARACTERS WITH FAMILY COMPLEXESS <333 THUD!

GEN 5: Cheren and Bianca: UGH I LOVE THEMMMMM the cheren/bianca/hilda trio especially is just. The Pokemon Characters Ever for me. i love the development we get to see with them, I love how much there is to think about re: where theyve ended up in BW2. Bianca is so sweets and if I think about her too long i start getting sniffly. I am ruffling cheren's hair like a teasing big sister N: WHAT CAN YOU EVEN SAY. HE'S N.I actually dont have the Strongest feeling one way or another with him, but that's mostly just because I havent played BW in ages. I Know if/when I finally do a Black replay he and his evil cult leader dad might blow my brain clean into smithereens Hugh: I like Hugh a lot when I first played BW2 and I still like him, I love his element of being a big brother determined to get his sister's Pokemon back. His attitude is spunky and fun :D Also his sea urchin-ass hair is still really funny to this day to me.

GEN 6: Calem/Serena: GO BOY (OR GIRL) GIVE US NOTHINGGGGGGGG. GOD. XY RIVAL SITUATION IS A MESS. the most I can muster up feeling wise for these two is like. Vague empty disappointment. Pokemon really struggles when it makes its rival the opposite gender character it seems like :/Shauna, Tierno, and Trevor: damn fuckign crazy that X and Y have FIVE CLASSIFIED RIVALS and collectively theyre some of the most Nothing characters in all of pokemon for me. ARE TIERNO AND TREVOR REALLY EVEN RIVALS?????????? THEY DONT DO JACK SHIT. TIERNO IM SORRY BUT YOU HAVE NOTHING ON YOUR SISTER.

GEN 7: Hau: I LOVE HAUUUUU WAAUGHHH HAU GET BEHIND ME I WILL REPEL YOUR HATERS he is LITERALLY nice and just wants to battle and have fun an we should let him. There's such an earnestness to him I really enjoy and the way people are just so angry about him is so goddamn annoying. WE LITERALLY HAVE A MEAN RIVAL IN THE SAME DAMN GAME. CHILL OUT. Gladion: anyway ugh I love Gladion too, he has so much potential to be a crazy huge Dana Guy but for whatever reason he didnt grip my brain As Hard when I first played Moon (I think maybe my brain just wasnt wired for being Blorbo Insane back then) but he's still fantastic and his bond with Silvally is S-tier. Gladion and Lillie are so fucking good I miss them......

uhhh i guess also the kid from Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee. I didn't play those ones because I'm not 8 so I have strong feeling one way or another towards him. He ain't no Blue that's for sure LMAO

GEN 8: Hop: admittedly I'm not the biggest fan of swsh but god youre right people are fucking atrocious to these kids 😭 I LOVE HOP. HE'S A SWEETHEART. HE'S LIKE 11. HE MAKES ME A LITTLE BIT SAD. HIS BOND WITH ONE OF THE BOX LEGENDARIES IS REALLY COOL AND A HIGHLIGHT OF A KIND OF LACKLUSTER GAME FOR ME. and his dubwool is cute. sheep kiddo Bede: when I first played swsh i did Not like bede very much, but he's grown on me, I think he's funny as fuck. (And KINDA FUCKING SAD IF YOU THINK TOO HARD ABOUT HIM...) he's my friend's blorbo so I've got fondness there too. I really love his relationship with Opal, one of the best dynamics in swsh on the whole imo Marnie: I WISH I LIKED MARNIE MORE she doesnt really do much for me 😔 wish people would be fucking normal about her though!!! TALL ASK I GUESS!!!! her design Is very charming, she gets major points for that. i really woulda liked her when i was a kid Klara/Avery: Avery is hysterical but I played Sword so I only gaf about Klara sorry HFDHGDFH KLARAAAAA MY LOVE. WHERE WERE THE "I WANT RIVALS TO BE MEAN AGAIN >:(" COMPLAINERS WHEN THESE TWO ROLLED UP. Klara is SO fucking funny and her design reminds me of my OC and she really just was beefing with a child for meaningless reasons. I love you hot pink bitch named breakfast. You're an iconic rival to MEEEEE

GEN 9: Nemona: 10/10. THE FUCKING BEST ugh i LOVE nemona, I love scarvio's cast, but the main friend trio are just so goddamn good. People are still so weird about Nemona too and it pisses me off, especially since if she was a boy you know people wouldnt be saying SHIT. SHES JUST AUTISTIC AND HER SPECIAL INTEREST IS BATTLING!! LEAVE HER ALONE!!! I LOVE YOU SCARVIO'S WONDERFULLY WEIRD WOMEN Arven: ALSO 10/10. I LOVE YOU ARVENNNN i dont really see him much has a rival but i guess he is, huh? His team is so delightful and his bond with Mabosstif makes me emo and his dynamic with his parents makes me Terminally Sick in the Fucking Head <-- -her favorite pokemon character is Professor Turo- also i guess Bulbapedia's list doesnt wanna class Penny as a rival and I get it but for the record: LOVE YOU PENNY!!!! S-TIER CHARACTER!!!!! Carmine and Kieran: LISTEN MAYBE IM JUST A GEN 9 GLAZER BUT I FUCKIN LOVE THESE KIDS Kieran also in the running for one of my favorite Pokemon characters of all time, his arc is so good and people treat him like the devil for the crime of being Like 13. I like him so much and his battle themes rule so hard. I would know that insane strings section and guitar shredding like my first born child. Terapogos tried to Fucking Kill Him. and also Carmine is fantastic, everybody wants mean rivals back and then half of yall cant even handle Carmine. I think her and Lacey should lez out. Urbain/Taunie: interesting case for me, since I don't really have much of any attachment to Taunie at all since i was playing the girl character and didnt get her in my game, but I see Urbain and I just crack up and smile. That's my doofus buddy Urbain!! I think the stuff they were trying to do with the PLZA rival is really interesting, especially the complicated family elements of it, but it feels like it needed just a little something... more, I guess. It takes So long in game to actually get any elaboration on what's going on with them so by the time you DO get to it it's almost a little "man, i really dont gaf about that rn, where was this five hours ago??" idk, PLZA's pacing is weird, not strictly the rival's cross to bear but you really see it with them HEY WHY DO THE NOTHINGBURGER XY COMPANIONS GET CLASSED AS RIVALS BUT NOT FUCKING LIDA AND NAVEEN???????? DONT PISS ME OFF BULBAPEDIA

Lida and Naveen: WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE WHEN POKEMON CHARACTERS ARE ALL SO GODDAMN SOLID i looooove Lida so much, her energy is infectious and I love her attitude, all of her animations and expressions are SO good. And Naveeeennn 🥺 KIDDOOOOO ive seen the absolute worst fandom takes about him and they make me want to start attacking people like a feral wolf HE'S AUTISTIC AND JUST LIKES TO SEW AND HE LIKES HIS FAV STREAMER GOOD FUCKING GOD, MAN. ugh. anyway I love Team MZ, pokemon games are getting so good at writing friend groups that you really feel an investment and sense of community with (far from our first venture to Kalos LMAO)

OK I THINK THATS EVERYONE

[cyberdragoninfinity]

beat the frlg.ips abyss route time to be driven to a state of madness over this rom's potential and what an absolutely exhausting, frustrating, occasionally genuinely fantastic experience its little weird route is for the rest of time. oh my godddddddddddddddd

[cyberdragoninfinity]

the problem is frlg.ips is conceptually really cool and fun and when it's good it's REALLY good, but it also makes me feel like im wading through molasses engineered to be frustrating and convoluted for no goddamn reason for about 90% of my time playing it. and im in the molasses for twenty thousand years

[cyberdragoninfinity]

NOT RIGHT NOW, MAN

[cyberdragoninfinity]

and we'll all be so cool about it