#ub-ouroboros

[ghostlight-express]

Y'ALL I JUST HAD AN EPIPHANY RE: GELIDIA AND THE TIME LOOP ULTRA BEAST THING

(And I'm kinda almost completely reworking their character as a result)

Okay so in trying to figure out UB-Ouroboros, even though time loops are a fairly recent trope/narrative device (at least according to the minor research I've done), there are examples of similar things in ancient stories. For example, Prometheus: as punishment for giving fire to human, Prometheus is bound to a rock, and an eagle is sent to eat his liver, which would grow back overnight only to be eaten again the next day. Prometheus is essentially stuck in a time loop!

So! Gelidia could be an analogue of Prometheus, and the UB could be a mix of Zeus and Aion (the latter being a god of time, particularly cycles).

So the UB could be electric/dragon type, and maybe Gelidia was a member of the Ultra Recon Squad but tried to capture this UB in the hopes that it could bring back light to their world. Unfortunately, an Ultra Wormhole opened up and took both of them to the pokemon world.

I kinda want to change what Gelidia's partner pokemon is to a fire type. As funny as it is to just have a shiny Mew, thematically, I think they should have a fire type.

And maybe instead of having landed in Kanto, they actually landed in Area Zero. Maybe to keep just a tinge of humor, their partner pokemon could be an Iron Moth they just kept following them around (which in canon, that pokemon is known to do).

UB-Ouroboros hates Gelidia for trying to capture it, as well as being caught by an Ultra Wormhole and taken to another world, so it puts Gelidia in time loops as an attempt to torture her. Unfortunately, they landed on opposite sides of the world, so it uses all it's energy just focusing on putting Gelidia in time loops and can't prevent Gelidia from breaking out of them. It is slowly but surely attempting to hunt her down to put her in a permanent loop.

Gelidia's short term memory still sucks, but I think I will have it that they do remember bits and pieces of their home world, so they are aware from the start that they're an alien.

They both possessive and generous at the same time. If they buy or are given something, they will despise anyone who tries to take it away; however, if asked for something, there's a good chance they'll let you borrow or keep it (depending on how attached they are to it).

Despite their very sensitive skin & being prone to heat sickness, Gelidia loves to spend time outside in the sun. While part of them yearns for the home they had before, they don't really want to leave this world.

They still enjoy reading romance novels and work as a cashier at Chansey Supply in Mesagoza, but figuring out how they ended up in this world is kinda on the back burner. They are just vibing. *cue that tweet that says "I was put on this earth to do one thing. Luckily I forgot what it was so I can do whatever I want"*

Edit: okay upon further research I may also try to sneak some references to Pandora in Gelidia as well since she was also part of the retribution for Prometheus stealing back fire for humanity (and Pandora is just one of those figures that I'm fond of). Might do this more with Gelidia's design, as Pandora was dressed in a silver gown and veil, although Hermes giving Pandora "lies and crafty speech" and a "deceitful nature" lends itself to Gelidia love for white lies. Plus if you look at pre-Hesiodic myth, Pandora was a giver of gifts, rather than the receiver she's shown as by Hesiod. This duality also lends itself to Gelidia being both possessive generous.

So Gelidia is both Prometheus (the thief who brought a gift to humanity & was punished for it) and Pandora (a controversial figure, known for bring evil to mankind but is not the villain she's often painted to be). Gelidia wished to help her people with a grand gift, only to fail and be sent to another world & punished. I could also put as, she sees herself as Prometheus (as hero unjustly punished) whereas UB-Ourboros sees her as Pandora (bringer of bad things).

Also, unrelated to all that, toying with the idea that rather than being half blind, Gelidia suffers from bouts of temporary blindness due to a rare disease but I'm not 100% sure yet. Idk how to justify it beyond "I felt like it", but the half blind thing also feels just tacked on (which it kinda is, to justify having her hair cover one eye).

[ghostlight-express]

Trying to come up with ideas for an Ultra Beast that would be responsible for the time loops Gelidia gets stuck in

So I thought maybe I could base it on an ouroboros and a clock, for obvious reasons (if not obvious: clock because time, ouroboros is a snake eating its own tail; representing a cycle of death & rebirth, as there aren't really any symbols specifically for time loops afaik).

I looked at the "ultra beast fakemon" tag here in the hopes I might get ideas, and someone mentioned a pokemon AI generator. As an artist I have... reservations about AI image generation, howeverI don't believe it to be the devil's work or whatever and the generator I found for this primarily uses official pokemon as the seed or data set or whatever.

I think the first image I got looks kinda cool? Not quite what I have in mind though.

Unfortunately, including "ouroboros" or "paradox" (and those words by themselves) mostly just got me the same basic form (a circular mechanical looking thing)

So I thought, what about using a fusion as a basis? Something that is visually a cross between Rayquaza and Klinklang.

I came across aegide's "infinite fusion generator", put those two in, & I REALLY like the one on the right

So! New drinking game: take a shot every time I say "so" or "also" in a ramble lol That's a decent base/reference, but I still need to make it mine.

First, I don't have a name name yet, but I figure it's UB designation could just be UB-Ouroboros. Typing... dragon steel? I was thinking the color palette could be more like Dialga.

Might add more to this later when I have more.