#Galarian star tournament

[justyeghost]

Just one more Pokemon Thing... (a Pokemon/Variety stream?)

Since I wasn't able to really start the Galarian Star Tournament, I kinda wanna do that today (making it the true finale Pokemon Sword vid). If I have time after, I'll turn on the Sims 4 with Life Tragedies Mod installed for a bit of chaos.

Catch the stream on my VStream Channel or by clicking on the neat promo image I put up top...

#pokemon sword #galarian star tournament #sims 4 #alien vtuber #vtuber uprising #vtubers of tumblr #vtubers are live #vstream

[galarfiend]

i love in the star tournament when you fight piers and when everybody gets into position and readies their pokeballs, piers whips a mic stand OUT OF NOWHERE 

and the only reasonable inference i can make is that he had it disassembled and hiding in his hair and then pulled it out and put it back together as fast as he could for the dramatic effect

#pokemon piers #galarian star tournament #pokemon swsh postgame #in his gym battle you can assume it was behind him and one of his bandmates/fans passed it to him or something but here theres no excuse #and in the sordward and shielbert arc you dont see him walk in and he just already has it so

[veresiine]

A while back, I threw together a spreadsheet comparing everyone's Galarian Star Tournament teams. The colored cells are conditionally formatted, with red being "worst among competitors" and blue being "best among competitors". There are a few caveats, noted on the chart by asterisks:

Mustard: We're assuming the player character chose the Tower of Waters, for my sanity. I've omitted type coverage calculations for Hop and Milo because of how much their teams vary (note that here by type coverage I mean the individual pokemon having moves to counter the types they are weak to).

Melony: I used the average of the base stat totals for the two forms of Darmanitan

Piers: As we know, Piers does not Dynamax. This has some effect on team strength that doesn't factor into my calculations.

My commentary:

There was another section of the spreadsheet that had to do with move and role coverage, but as I'm pretty strictly a PvE player and only wander into battle facilities long enough to get ribbons for my favorite pokemon, and don't want to be corrected at every turn on how things ACTUALLY work in competitive, I've opted to omit that section. The TL;DR is that Sordward and Shielbert suck and everyone else has varied roles and effects, and some (namely Gordie) are smart with setting up hazards.

Obviously, there's more to team strength than the values listed here. But as far as raw levels go, we see that Leon and Mustard are on another level from the other competitors. Raihan pulls ahead of Peony in both level and base stat totals, further cementing the whole 'Raihan would be Champion-level in another region, it's just that Leon (and later the player) are on another level' thing.

Note that I'm *only* comparing levels *within* the Galarian Star Tournament because pokemon levels are more of a mechanic to shape the player's gameplay experience than a real metric for comparing power, lore-wise. Here, however, we're at the same point in time in the game and in the player's progression through the story, so it seems more fair to compare characters.

Bede is doing a labor of love with his Mawile there; imagine how strong he'd be if we had mega evolution in addition to dynamax?

#pokemon #galar #galarian star tournament #pokemon swsh

[boyfrillish]

Also remembered how me playing the start of violet had been me just thinking of Hop at multiple points lmao

most notably when Nemona gives the TM for Swift but not limited to that

#frillishtxt #I had only /just/ played the inaugural galarian star tournament a couple of days before I started violet so :'') #I was still very much on the height of swsh. still am which is. yeah. I probably should've given myself more time before starting violet #that is the downside of being so late to the party with swsh it is not relevant anymore but it is what gives my brain the serotonin #SV being also enjoyable but yeah afgadgadgfdh it is just my unfortunate timing making me pine over swsh all the time #then there's BD which I started the other weekend but I only just left Jubilife and stopped after battling Barry dgasddg #haven't played it since but I have played diamond and platinum back in the day so there's that #(I have let's go eevee and legends on my shelf but I am keeping those on the backburner for an uncertain amount of time)

[skippygiraffee]

Leon Pokemon Analysis

These are probably things that have been said already/a post that's been done before, but that's never stopped me from both thinking about it nor posting it online. Certainly not the way it's been floating around in my head recently. Regardless, I've been thinking quite a bit about the Pokemon Leon uses, why, and what it says about him. Namely that his staple team is:

· Aegislash

· Dragapult

· Haxorus

· Charizard

All of which I feel like say something unique about his character, preferences, and add to the symbolism of his character as a whole. Leon himself is cloaked in knight imagery (as well as Prince locked in a tower energy, but for this especially I'm going knight), and I think it's telling one of his Pokemon is a literal sword and shield, and two are Dragon Types, while Charizard is always seen as a dragon. This image of a knight with a team of dragons (when he should be slaying them, and is narratively set up to do so and fails) is one of the more interesting subersions of Leon's character in my opinion. Dragon tamer vs dragon slayer, I guess.

And also, two of his main Pokemon are Ghost Types. To me, I always think of Ghost Types and Ghost trainers holding onto this enternal youth in a way, because they are stuck in time (as a generalization of those trainers, since there are outliers of notoriety). For Leon, as it's often talked about, he was sort of forced to be stuck in time as Champion, both growing up and also made too retain his youthful visage to be marketable and appealing on a larger scale (in my opinion anyway). Aegislash and Dragapult are also two of the three he takes into the Galarian Stars tournament, and that's post game, post Eternatus, and I think too it sort of leans into that feeling that he's haunted by the events of the Darkest Day and his own loss there. Though, I have a lot of thoughts on Leon and his Ghost Type affinity that I'll save from derailing this post

Charizard is always the one that gets me, because I really do think it embodies the vision of "small kid becoming a big hero," both within Pokemon and in the real world. Charizard just is that Pokemon. Leon is that kid picking a starter and becoming Champion, and what better Pokemon to represent that? But I think having it be this stereotypically overhyped and overused Pokemon works well for him, how Leon is built up in the story to be undefeated/unbeatable, and there's Charizard right there. In a way, to a player outside of the in game universe, it's a true motivator to come and get him. Inside the game's story, I just think Charizard is this Pokemon that looks bigger and badder than he actually is, and that's how Leon is too. They're both just bigger and more grown up versions of their smaller selves, where are changed, more mature, but still carry remnants of who they once were.

This is likely more a rambling post than anything, but I really do have Leon on the brain and enjoy posting about him akfjsksksl. So I offer the analysis of his team that's been floating around in my brain

#long post #understand I'm aware this is my pepe sylvia ramblings but like #Leon is always on my brain i cannot stop thinking of him #champion leon #pokemon swsh

[jadeazora]

Y'all know how you could team up with most of the SwSh cast for the Galarian Star Tournament? I hope the Indigo Disk gets a multibattle mode like that too, with more character interactions between duos and seeing your rivals team up to beat you.

Headcanon that post-2nd storyline Kieran is still capable of giving off one hell of a soul-evicting glare when things get particularly intense in battle... but doesn't always realize he's doing it. (I hope he doesn't quite return to how he was earlier in the Teal Mask, just that wholesome little guy again. I do think him and the player will be friends again after everything is said and done, but I still like my rivals with a bit of spice.)

So basically this is what you would be facing (could alternate Nemona with the player being like "😀" if you choose to team up with him):

#pokemon sword and shield #pokemon scarlet and violet #the indigo disk #rival kieran #pokemon kieran #rival nemona #pokemon nemona #pokemon sv dlc #pokemon swsh #the contrast between “hey guys isn't this battle so much fun?” and *might be trying to burn a hole thru you with sheer force of glare* #would be hilarious imo

[yeehawbvby]

Arven x Reader

Hi! I wanted to ask if you could make an Arven x reader story. Basically the readers reveals their original partner died and Arven comforts them. Feel free to change the details to whatever suits you, I just put some examples in there cause that’s how think I it would go down. Thank you

Short: Takes place after path of legends, arven asks the reader why they helped him and then confessed about their dead Pokémon partner

Long (and a bit specific) : A bit after Mabosstiff recovered, Arven asks the reader why they helped him. The reader opens up confess that they actually used to be a champion from the ____ (ex. Unova) region. They had a partner Pokémon ____(ex. Hydreigon) and had to give up the title after being unable to move on from their death because of an unfortunate battle accident (ex. Killed by rockslide). Reveals that they moved to Paldea trying to move on, and didn’t want to see the same thing happen to him. Reader reminisce and eventually breaks down about their dead partner, with Arven (and Mabosstiff!) to comfort them.

Whoa, I appreciate you adding all those extra details!! Really helps me get a better idea of what you want ^^ I hope you enjoy the outcome x

Loved and Lost (Arven x GN!Galarian!Reader)

Rating: G ? (Pokémon death) | WC: 1,362

“Why’d you do it?” 

You lift your view towards the curious voice. Arven’s face, riddled with mild concern, is beautifully lit by the campfire a few feet in front of him; his Mabosstiff snuggled up at his side, the Pokémon’s head consuming your friend’s lap.

“Do what?”

“Help us." He sighs, taking his eyes off you and focusing on the flames. 

It’s been weeks since you and Arven defeated the last of the Titan Pokémon together, thus saving his partner from the brink of death. You’re surprised that it’s been brought back up, honestly. You didn’t think it would still be on his mind.

“We’re best friends now, but back then… I was just some guy shoving my problems onto you.” Arven’s turquoise eyes raise back to yours, and he continues, “Why risk your life to help a complete stranger?”

It’s your turn to sigh. Your eyes scan his face as you realize it’s time to give him your own story. It feels like a Bind strangling your heart every time you recall it, but Arven deserves to know.

“I don’t tell a lot of people this,” you begin, your voice soft. “But before I came here, I was already the Champion in Galar.”

“Y-you– What? Seriously?”

You nod. “It’s not all it’s cracked up to be… Too much spotlight, too many people to please, too many expectations set on you to always give training and battling your absolute 100%. It makes sense on the surface, for a Champion to have a drive like that… but it was too much.

I had been having a rough time for months. Leon, the former Champion and my new boss, would’ve probably been more than willing to accommodate me had I needed a break, but I didn’t want to let him down. He and his little brother were my closest buds over there, we practically grew up together.”

A shaky breath racks you as you truck on. “But then, I let my partner down.” 

Tears well in your eyes as you peer at Arven, who’s lightly urging Mabosstiff off of his lap. The instant your friend noticed you beginning to cry, he wanted to be by your side to provide you solace. Your gaze follows him as he stands up, just to settle back down at your right, his large left hand brushing against your back for comfort.

“What do you mean?” he mutters, his irises locked onto yours. 

From the corner of your eye, you see a figure move. Mabosstiff rises from his spot, stretches, and settles to your left, now using your thighs as a pillow. You laugh beneath watery tear ducts as you begin to pet the giant dog Pokémon. 

Your view is still on Mabosstiff as you keep going. “My Cinderace – the first Pokémon I ever caught – died in battle.” You exhale, then describe how it happened. 

“It was during this tournament Leon hosted after he became Chairman of the League: The Galarian Star Tournament. It was a bracket-style thing, with double battles between Gym Leaders and Champions, current and former. Most of us were friends, so it was a fun change of pace from our usual League duties together.

I was paired up with Piers, another one of my closest buddies over there, who was the Dark-type Gym Leader. That title goes to his sister Marnie now. We were battling against Mustard, a Fighting-type specialist and former Champion, and Peony, another former Champion, who’s keen with Steel-type Pokémon.” 

A smile creeps up on you through your sniffles as you recall the beginning of the battle, lifting your face to see Arven’s. He’s still intently watching you as you recall that day. 

“Cinderace and I freakin’ destroyed Peony, right off the bat – type-matchups, and all.”

Arven grins too. “Hell yeah, Little Buddy.” He holds up a fist for you to bump, so you meet it with yours.

Dropping the hand back to Mabosstiff’s fluffy head, you get back to your spiel. “Piers was holding up well against Mustard in the meantime, surprisingly enough. I still wonder to this day if Mustard was going easy on him, since Piers doesn’t Dyna- or Gigantamax. Either way, it was practically a side-by-side single battle, up until Piers’ Obstagoon was downed.” 

“Then, it was my Dynamaxed Cinderace versus Mustard’s Gigantamaxed Water/Fighting Urshifu.” Getting to the hard part, your body begins to quiver and your voice cracks. “Urshifu used G-Max Rapid Flow, which is strong enough that it doesn’t need to hit to do monstrous amounts of damage… but I guess his paws slipped, or something.” Finally, a sob bubbles in your throat, and you break. “It hit Cinderace face-first.”

Arven wraps his arms around you, and you bury yourself in his chest. After whispering your name, he offers, “I’m so, so sorry.” 

You simply shake your head. You chose to recollect the story for him. It’s something you want Arven, and only Arven, to know about. 

Nemona would freak out over having befriended a Galarian Champion, as Galar’s League is seen as one of the most prestigious in the world. Definitely would’ve felt bad about Cinderace, but she’d probably had overdone it in trying to distract you from the situation, thus stressing you out more. You’d never be allowed to forget about it. She’d never let it go.

Penny, on the other hand, would probably be uncomfy, had she known so many details about your epic-to-tragic backstory. You’re close with her, but not that close.

And if word got out to the rest of Paldea… chances are, the Galarian League would creep its way back into your life. You plan to eventually take that beast on someday, but it’s far too soon.

As you soak your friend’s shirt, you start to wrap things up. “I know neither Mustard nor Urshifu meant for it to happen. They were at Cinderace’s side just as quickly as I was, checking to see if he was okay… but he’d never felt so cold, Arven.” 

You take a second to breathe before getting to your point. Basking in the soothing way he’s rubbing your back while pressing kisses against the crown of your head. Makes your heart flutter. You’re unsure if they’re platonic or romantic pecks, but you only have a split second to contemplate it before dread consumes you again.

“If I’d quit sooner, I probably wouldn’t have been in that tournament, and that wouldn’t have happened. So, I resigned as soon as I saw Leon again, and fled from Galar the following week, not even saying ‘goodbye’ to anyone. I was too terrified that they’d convince me to stay, and I’d be haunted by what happened there for good.” 

You pull away to see Arven’s face. He offers you his hands, and you take them. 

“Then, I met you. I-I’m not gonna lie to you, dude, but at first, you were a distraction,” you bashfully smile through the pain. He laughs, luckily. 

“But then, you introduced me to Mabosstiff, and I saw his tired eyes and weak breaths, and…” You release a palm from Arven’s and stroke the Pokémon’s fur. “A-and I knew I needed to keep helping you two. It didn’t matter what it took. It didn’t even matter that I barely knew you, at that point. All that mattered was that Mabosstiff would be okay, and that you would be okay. That you wouldn’t need to go through what I did.”

“That’s… wow,” Arven quietly replies. He leans his forehead to yours and closes his eyes. “I’ve thanked you plenty already…” his eyes flutter open, and he grins. “But seriously. Thank you. I don’t think I’ll ever really be able to repay you–”

“You already did,” you smile as his thumb strokes some tears from your face. Placing your hand on top of his, you explain, “Helping you two has helped me move on, in a way. It still hurts, and I don’t think I’ll ever truly be over what happened, but it feels like making sure you two are alive and well gave me some of the closure I needed.” 

You sigh, then slip out, “Plus, I got you out of it.”

#trainer arven #rival arven #arven pokemon #arven #arven x reader #gn! reader #any gender reader #canon x reader #no use of y/n #arven x nb reader #pokemon arven x reader #pokemon arven #pepper pokemon #pepper x reader #arven x female reader #arven x male reader #hurt/comfort #angst/comfort #fluff #angst/fluff #hurt/fluff #comfort #crisask #request #pokemon fanfic #pokemon scvi #pokemon scarlet #pokemon violet #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon sv

[punk-rock-lover]

My Sword and Shield Discord server made me realize that Gordie and Piers have no dialogue together in the Galarian Star Tournament, so Veer came up with some dialogue for them, and I decided to draw it!!

I’m very happy with this, especially with how pretty Gordie turned out 🥰

#pokemon gordie #sword and shield #pokemon sword and shield #gym leader gordie #pokemon swsh #pokémon #pokemon sword #pokémon gordie #pokemon piers #my art #gym leaders piers #punkrockshipping #pokémon trainer gordie #gordie x piers

[cacophony-questing]

Okay, I’m back.

I… may have not quite realized how much work planning a small battle tournament was… Leon sure made it look easy with Galarian Star. I did have a good time though! Each trainer had to spin the Delibird wheel and we came up with all sorts of fun winter and holiday themed rules for the battle based on what it landed on! (Including making it hail. The wheel landed on that a lot. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many hail battles in a row before. Weather strategies really are interesting, but my team’s way too varied in type to pull them off.)

And then I spent the beginning of January dealing with a lot of busywork. Oh, and I’ve also been crying over the ending of that anime I was watching, because I finished it, and… yeah. I’ll admit I was not expecting things to get that intense. Next time someone tells me something is happy I’ll be much more on my guard!

Now, let’s see what’s been going on here on the mildly concerning distsite…

#pokeblogging #rotomblr #//they're back! #//tbh I also got overwhelmed with holiday stuff #//but now I'm excited to start pokeblogging again!

[cryptidanathema]

So I've been mentally poking at Raihan's Masters and Galarian Star Tournament lines and it sorta hit me that he kinda sees Piers as a threat, which considering the kind of person he is and how intense he gets about his ""rivalries"" is one of the highest compliments he can give and yet another reason to ship them

#KBNZ #eboyshipping #Shipping #piers x raihan #Raihan x Piers

[reides]

leaving alola behind him, reides the kingdra headed for generation 8 of the pokemon games in his quest for more ribbons! gen8 of these games feature the galar region (via pokemon sword and shield) as well as the sinnoh region (via pokemon brilliant diamond and shining pearl)! this leap to gen8 was super alarming, as my beloved kingdra moved from the 3ds to the current nintendo console - namely, the nintendo switch! it's crazy to think about how this whole journey began on my copy of emerald version, slotted into my pleasantly clunky brick of a grey ds.

reides' journey through the generations has been filled with its highs and its lows, but once he arrived safely in pokemon home, it meant that i could be a bit flexible with my approach to the ribbons available in swsh and bdsp! (it also meant bidding farewell to my shoddy photos of my (3)ds screen for these posts... they will be missed...)

anyway, before i get into the story of reides' gen8 journey, i gotta do my customary shoutout to all the other parts of his ribbon master quest. it's really easy this time around, as i finally put together an index for these posts on my personal site! you can find it here! that page also has a lot of information about the challenge itself, along with some helpful resources if you'd like to take it on. as always, you can also peek in my ribbon master tag on this blog, too.

if you're all caught up with the story so far, it's time to get started on a brand new chapter.

transferring reides into my copy of pokemon shield was a really emotional experience. kingdra looks absolutely gorgeous on the switch, and i was blown away by how awesome the shiny form looks, too. this moment on the beach at sunset - with a galarian slowpoke and a kingler lurking close by - felt pretty cinematic. it was also really nice to see my trainer character again! i absolutely love all of the different fashion items available in swsh. immediately, i knew that i had to make my ribbon mastery team a big ol' pot of curry for all of their hard work thus far.

we also played together while we camped out. i was really glad that i was already in shield's post-game, as it saved a whole lot of time on this ribbon master journey AND meant that i'd have tons of toys for my pokemon at my disposal.

after goofing around for hours, i finally decided to take on the first ribbon available in galar. this ribbon was the galar champion ribbon, which your pokemon receive upon entering the galarian hall of fame. i ended up needing to play through the galarian star tournament first, though, as i had procrastinated on doing that for the longest time... so reides ended up taking part in a few more battles than one would think!

it was absolutely awesome to see dynamax in action with reides! it made me wish that kingdra got a gigantamax form, but i guess that would be a bit too amazing for anyone to handle, huh? while taking on this ribbon, i also realized just how much i missed the vibes of the gym challenge in the galar region. the wide stadiums, the cheering crowds, the MUSIC... all of it is so incredibly top-tier and it really got me pumped up! not to mention seeing the absolutely INCREDIBLE cast in action. shoutout to everyone but especially piers. all hail the reigning king of the pokemon punks.

anyway, reides was eventually able to sweep his way to victory in both the galarian star tournament as well as the league battles. he joined the hall of fame and got the galar champion ribbon!

with that handled, it was time to take on galar's battle tower. according to most, this battle tower is an absolute cake-walk, as you can dynamax while most of your opponents (barring leon) can't. it was just a matter of buckling down and spending the time required to amass your wins. as a result, i ended up abandoning the tried and true durant strat and instead took the og trio of albatross, origin and reides, himself, along for the ride.

hilariously enough, i ran into ONE road-block in this tower in the form of a shedinja which i could literally not attack. i had NO moves that could get past its guard... sobs. but another nice thing about the galarian battle tower is that it isn't streak-dependent, instead swapping over to a system relying on ranking up or ranking down. so i brushed off this shedinja encounter without letting it get to me all that much, haha! i also taught albatross shadow ball... just in case.

ribbons also got a bit of an upgrade in the switch games of pokemon. no longer limited to just being pretty graphics on the ribbon screen, you can now equip one ribbon on your pokemon and give it a little title every time you send it out in battle. i equipped the ribbon that reides got for mastering all of the contests in omega ruby, which granted him the title of 'shining star'!

it was so nice to see it every time i sent him out, but i can definitely see myself swapping between all the various titles at reides' disposal!

my climb to the master ball rank was fairy uneventful, though i really understood this child's plight. it's how i felt many times while in various battle towers during this ribbon master journey.

eventually, i made it through the rank itself and got to the final battle against leon. though i had faced him at the end of each rank prior to this moment, it still felt very intense to encounter him knowing that this was my very last battle tower match for the forseeable future. also, his battle tower outfit is SO DRIPPY. love him so much.

not gonna lie, it was pretty funny seeing him say something so inspiring while looking so sad (and the snowscape from one of dynamax-form reides' attacks really added to it). leon is an absolutely amazing character and one of my fav champions ever, though, so i was thrilled that he got to be the final match in my battle tower saga!

even though the swsh battle tower was WAY easier than the others that i faced, i was still so happy to be done with it. my goodness. i really went from ignoring the battle towers in the series to gaining streaks of ~50 in each and every one... it's kind of unreal. reides truly earned the title of 'tower master'!

upon getting the tower master ribbon, we were done with galar. i was sure to make my pokemon team some more curry before they set off for sinnoh! but i honestly wasn't too torn up about leaving galar, as pokemon home lets us shift pokemon between the switch games however we'd like. after so many one-way transfers out of prior generations, it felt kind of surreal - and was also a huge relief.

this cute curry wasn't the only treat that got eaten, either! i made some pokemon cookies in Real Life to celebrate, as well. i used cookie cutters from the official pokemon store to make these pikachu and munchlax cookies!

i then set my sights on the remake of diamond version... pokemon: brilliant diamond!

the last time reides visited sinnoh, he did so via my childhood copy of diamond version. as i wrote in my post about the gen4 part of reides' journey, this copy of the game was already in the post-game, so i didn't have to play through any of diamond's plot whatsoever when he arrived. however... for this sinnoh visit, i actually didn't have a post-game available! despite owning brilliant diamond since the day it released, i had barely played it. (fun fact: in my first run of the game, i ran into a shiny bidoof on my very first night playing it. i ended up transferring all of the pokemon in it - bidoof included - to pokemon home and restarting it, though, as i was toying with the idea of doing a shiny starter hunt... and then i simply never touched it. so i guess restarting it was actually a waste of time. weeps.) i knew that i'd need to play through its plot to get the ribbon that reides needed, so... you know what that meant.

it was time for a whole other adventure to begin.

i decided to keep reides in the pc for the storyline part of this playthrough. i wanted to raise a team of pokemon from the sinnoh region, and i knew that reides' status as a fully ev and iv trained pokemon at level 100 meant that he would absolutely STEAMROLL the plot. we still went on walks together very often though, and he had his pal hammer the garchomp in the pc for company! (i usually raise a garchomp for my sinnoh teams, as it's one of my fav pokemon in the sinnoh region, but i decided to try to resist this time around and limit myself to pokemon that i had never raised before!)

i absolutely loved my brilliant diamond playthrough. the art direction is a point of contention in the pokemon fandom, but i'm a big fan of it! it seems like people either love it or hate it, and, thankfully, i'm definitely in the 'love' camp! the chibi style is endlessly charming, and the environments were just gorgeous. something about the lighting in brilliant diamond is just SUPER pleasing to me, and re-visiting sinnoh like this allowed me to really appreciate it. since my diamond file was in the post-game, i guess needing to play through this one in its entirety actually kinda worked out in my favour, huh?

i was super delighted to see that the ribbons screen is absolutely gorgeous in this game, too! i really like the status screen featured in bdsp. it's so nice and colourful.

this simple little screenshot is also really important to me. you see, when i was a kid, i got diamond version as a gift from a family friend. he'd gone abroad and generously brought back it back as a present for me. back then, the country that i live in didn't get pokemon games in a timely manner at all (we'd get them in video game stores months after they released in the u.s.), and i actually had no idea that diamond version even existed. (not knowing that a new pkmn generation dropped was a recurring experience in my childhood, LOL.) so playing this game for the first time made for a really magical experience. i have a very, very clear memory of playing it for hours and hours on the night that i started it up... until i could barely keep my eyes open. i trained my team a whole lot and was exploring this route right outside of jubilife, and i thought that the small island on the water was very pretty. i saved there for the night, imagining my trainer setting up a little camp for herself and her pokemon... and now, every time i'm on that route, i can't help but smile at the memory. so you can imagine just how happy i was to take a photo with reides there, with the updated graphics and everything!

furthermore, on the course of my sinnoh journey, i ran into lots of old friends... including none other than riley!

thanks to the way he helped me out in the gen4 battle tower, riley is a really special character to me now. so i was really happy to see him and play through iron island with him! after thwarting team galactic, he surprised me with a little gift.

i actually wasn't planning on raising a riolu - much less a lucario - on my main team AT ALL... but, upon receiving this egg from riley, i knew i had to. as silly as it may sound, i thought it would be a great nod to our time in the battle tower all those generations ago! and so, on that note, here is the storyline team that i journeyed through sinnoh with, and who helped reides get to where he needed to be:

as you can see, there's a bit of a theme going on with their nicknames! i decided to name each member of my brilliant diamond team after in-universe berries. i thought it'd be cute!

anyway, the berry bunch and i had a fantastic time exploring sinnoh. days passed, and, eventually, we faced what i believe to be the most difficult league in any of the pokemon games... including the most daunting champion battle ever.

cynthia lived up to her status as the most skilled champion in the pkmn franchise thus far. we had a battle for the ages, knocking 5 of each other's pokemon out. i actually almost lost to her - she had me completely backed into a corner. but my team pulled through, as kelpsy the glaceon MIRACULOUSLY toughed out an attack that should have knocked him out (via the affection system - namely, if your pokemon really loves you, they can occasionally 'survive' attacks that'd knock them out with 1hp instead) and managed to land a single ice beam on her garchomp. this clutched out the win, and my team was added to the sinnoh hall of fame.

now that i had access to the post-game, i could focus on reides once more. to get his ribbon in brilliant diamond, we'd have to foray into the brilliant contest scene.

brilliant contests are a calibre above the typical condition contests and are linked to all of your contest stats rather than just one. you actually don't gain access to this category unless you've achieved a master rank win in all of the solo-stat categories. luckily, ribbons from oras are recognized in bdsp, so reides didn't have to prove his worth to the judges and could instead get right to competing in the brilliant contests.

in addition to this category, bdsp also introduced some new contest mechanics, too. your final contest score can be split into three parts: 'visual', 'dance', and 'move'. these all seem pretty self-explanatory; the visual part is linked to your pokemon's contest condition/sheen, the dance part is linked to how well you perform in the rhythm game, and the move is linked to your timing in executing the one contest move that you're allowed to take in with you during the contests. but the visual part actually has an element of added complexity in bdsp, as it also involves a new mechanic of placing stickers on your pokemon's pokeball so that cool effects play when you send them out. (this feature was also in the gen4 sinnoh games, albeit not incorporated into those games' contests.)

the effects which these stickers play have a direct impact on your pokemon's visual score. however, for brilliant contests, normal stickers don't really cut it. instead, people recommend grinding out champion stickers (from taking on cynthia's rematch team post-heatran plotline) and showstopper stickers (from beating the other master rank contests) in order to get a decent appeal score. since reides didn't need to take on the master rank contests, i didn't have any of those - and i wasn't all too interested in grinding for more. i figured that grinding out champion stickers would work out better, since they give more points in the visual portion of the contest, anyway.

before starting that grind, i decided to give the brilliant master contest a try with nothing but the base-game stickers. given reides' perfect contest stats from omega ruby, i wondered if his contest skills would be enough to scrape through and secure a win.

as it turned out...

...they were not. people are NOT exaggerating when they talk about the difficulty of the brilliant master rank contest!! i was pretty shocked that my lovely kingdra was getting absolutely terrible visual ratings. (LIKE, LOOK AT HIM!! LOOK AT HIM!!!!!!! HE'S SO CUTE!!!!!!! AND PERFECT!!! AND SWEET, TOO!!!!!!!!) anyway, my outrage aside, it turns out that using those two types of stickers to boost your pokemon's visual rating is pretty much a necessity. the rhythm game portion of it is also not to be underestimated and typically requires a bit of practice. luckily, i'm fairly decent at rhythm games, but i knew that i would have to get those stickers from cynthia after all. i played through the pre-requisite bit of the post-game - catching heatran in a premier ball! - and made my way back to the league. with my storyline team vibing in the pc and my ribbon mastery team ready to FIGHT, i got settled and began grinding out the battles.

initially, i intended to get 20 champion stickers on the ball so as to fill it up entirely with them. after getting 8 stickers in one night, though, i was kind of worn down and decided to give the contest another try. i also taught giga impact to reides, as it's SUPER good in the bdsp contests (your pokemon gains a big boost to its score when you use it while you have a positive 'jam' score in the dance game) and can be easily bought in the veilstone department store. i was delighted to see that my protag's mother - johanna - was there for this contest, as well as gym leader fantina. both johanna and fantina are great at contests in-universe, so i was excited at the prospect of at least succeeding on this contest round, even if reides didn't manage to clutch out the win.

...however, by some miracle, reides managed to do just that!! not only did i finally manage to succeed in the brilliant master rank contest, but reides also secured the win. at this point, it was, like, 4 in the morning for me. i was absolutely astounded; i actually wondered if i was somehow hallucinating. the twinkling star ribbon was the one and only ribbon that i needed in brilliant diamond, and after so much work to get to this point...

...it was finally granted to reides!!!

upon recieving this ribbon, reides acquired all of the ribbons that he needs in order to be a ribbon master... save for ONE. one (1) single ribbon stands in his way... and that ribbon is the one that's granted to a pokemon for emerging victorious in a master ball ranked online battle. now, i can technically get this ribbon by putting reides back in pokemon shield and trying to climb the ladder in gen8... but, as you likely know, the current gen (as of me writing this post) is gen9. that means that the gen8 battle servers are... well...

empty.

okay, no. they're not entirely empty. but people have stories of waiting for hours to get into one single match, and i'm not sure if i want to put myself through that unless i absolutely must. and i might just have to, as kingdra hasn't been officially announced as part of the generation 9 pokedex... however, with indigo disk on the horizon (3 more days!!!), i figured i'd wait to see if kingdra would be included in its national dex before subjecting myself to gen8's very delayed match-making times. if it isn't, i'll just devote another post to my competitive climb in lieu of a gen9 one. (tbh, i'm considering making a totally seperate blog post for my very first foray in the vgc realm regardless - but we'll see how it goes!)

either way, i really, really enjoyed my time with reides in gen8. it has been so awesome to see him in games that i can play with the most up-to-date nintendo console, and kingdra's models across the switch games have just been so incredibly snazzy. i said this at the start of the post, but it truly is crazy to see just how far my little shiny horsea from emerald version has journeyed. i love reides so very much and i couldn't possibly be more proud of him!!!

so let's keep our fingers crossed that reides will be allowed into gen9 so that he can explore the paldea, kitakami, and unova regions! thanks again for cheering him on, and i'm looking forward to writing another update soon!!! that update may very well include reides finally achieving full ribbon master status at long last, so i'm already excited for it! :D

#jamietxt #ribbon master #pokemon #reides the kingdra

[dollyprincessollie]

please tell us about avery pokemon i don't know much about him but you post about him a lot

HI UR ENABLING MY TENDENCIES. I LOVE MY LITTLE VIDEO GAME BOYFRIEND

but ask amd u shall receive. i will now be listing off every piece of canon information abt him i can think of. HERE GOES

Avery is a tall, skinny (but he has, and i usually dont like these words together, thick thighs) white guy with long blond hair and like. those creepy kinda icy blue eyes 👁👁

He's a psychic type trainer and minor-division gym leader!!! he's also an ACTUAL psychic, hailing from a long lineage of psychics, and has telekinetic abilities :3 however, telekinesis is the only psychic ability he has, so he's kind of the black sheep of his family

because his family thought of him as a disappointment, he developed a like. superiority complex to compensate for his simultaneous inferiority complex. he's very prideful and even would go so far as to LITERALLY LEVITATE PEOPLE if they won against him in battles. he basically covers up his feelings of inadequacy by flaunting his good qualities, though he's prone to exaggerating them as well. he literally straight up pretends to have psychic visions and literally goes "AVERY TELEPORT" when leaving the area

he initially arrived at the dojo in the isle of armor due to being kicked out of the league as a gym trainer for levitating people 💀 he was kind of an asshole at first but since mustard and honey were so nice to him, he kinda chilled out too. HOWEVER when he met the player character, his Superiority-Inferiority complex kind of came back in full swing. he saw that they were better than them and literally LIED to them to keep them away from the dojo. when they make their way to the dojo, he basically fought tooth and nail to make sure he bested them in all of the trials, going so far as to even cheat during the battle by setting up psychic terrain, giving himself an advantage 😭

after he's beaten, he basically goes tsundere mode and is like. "If Only I Was As Strong As . . . BAH FORGET IT ." and after the player beats mustard, avery like. kind of realizes that he wants to be acknowledged by them. he literally trains alone in the dam desert like "OH SLOWPOKE WE'RE REALLY IN IT NOW .... OH TO BE RECOGNIZED BY YOU-KNOW-WHO...." and from then on u can battle him every day :3

after all this, he becomes the minor-division psychic leader 🫡 hard work DOES PAY OFF

AND NOW FOR SOME MISCELLANEOUS but still canon facts

avery's final team is galarian slowbro, galarian rapidash, swoobat (she's the only girl in his team btw :3), alakazam, and galarian slowking! in the galarian star tournament, he only uses his slowbro, alakazam, and slowking :3

avery (and klara, by extension) has a chance of fighting alongside u in a raid battle on the isle of armor! idk what the exact likelihood is though but they Definitely don't show up with each one but. he still oulls up on occasion o7

in the galarian star tournament, he has special dialogue with mustard, bede, fucking SHIELBERT, marnie, and melony!

it's implied that he's afraid of dark types, considering said special dialogue with marnie is like "🥲 I Do Not Wish To Be On The Field With A Dark Type Trainer, But At Least We Are On The Same Side." becaude of this, it could ALSO be implied that he's afraid of ghost types and bug types, considering that dark, ghost, and bug are all strong against psychic types

according to the manga, he's a little weak and tires easily due to his reliance on his telekinesis

...HOWEVER, his second league card shows him.doing pushups with a whole ass galarian slowbro on his back WITHOUT telekinesis, so despite his low stamina, he can lift at least 155.4 lb

due to his speech patterns, avery seems to have a pretty keen ability to associate things with psychic types, or pokemon in general. he often incorporates different psychic type moves in his speech and talks about people (or, the player, specifically) as if they have like. pokemon natures (bold, quirky, hasty, etc.)

avery strongly values elegance and tries to conduct himself in a very gentlemanly way <3 however, he's not immune to being sassy and definitely will be snooty to someone's face

besides the psychic type uniform, avery's clothing is definitely 19th-century inspired! his hat, cravat, shoes, and socks are definitely inspired by victorian dandyism imo. even his glasses are very victorian

THIS IS ALL I HAVE FOR RIGHT NOW.... this is (almost) every piece of canon info i have abt my sweet booboo bear avery *kisses him*... i can also delve into headcanons but. i thought i would delve into the actual factual stuff

#anon #answered #pkmn #avery pokemon #f/o tag #ult cc tag #avery tag

[kazumahashimoto]

boy oh boy i love the galarian star tournament for no reason in particular

#raihan is sooooooooo cuuuuteewssss oTL #swsh is good sometimes #hh art #raihan #pokemon #gymsona #like. i guess so! it's me 👍

[bellafragolina]

Mmm. How about kid fan reader for some of the Galar Gym Leaders? (Milo, Kabu, Allister) Probably from a different region and became a fan from watching their battles. Kid finally gets the chance to meet their idols so they show the gym leaders their ace partner. Sceptile for Milo, Heatmor for Kabu, and Alolan Marowak for Allister. Maybe the fan even asks for a battle?

(Dunno if you do requests for Milo and Allister, I’m kinda new to your tumblr. If not that’s fine. Could you please do Kabu at least?)

awww, cute little kiddo fans!!! the best kind of fans!!!

🍓🍓🍓

Milo:

All your life, you had wanted to meet Milo. After seeing videos of the various Galar gym leaders on the internet, you and your Sceptile, then a Treeko, were both hooked. You liked Milo from the get go, as he specialized in grass types, like your favorite ace at your side. He inspired you both to do your best, despite grass types having so many type disadvantages. You become stronger together, and for your birthday, your parents surprise you with tickets to Galar to witness the Galarian Star Tournament

You fly to Galar with Sceptile and your parents, and attend the tournament together. It's incredible, everything you wanted it to be. You have a blast cheering Milo on, even if he doesn't win the tournament. And as you're winding down from the excitement, your parents surprise you yet again with VIP tickets to actually meet Milo. And you nearly faint.

Milo, honestly, is a tad surprised by how wound up you are by meeting him. Your eyes shine with stars as you shake his hands, shyly introducing yourself and your Sceptile before falling into a rambling mess of telling him how he's your hero. Milo laughs, touched and endeared by your cute adoration, and lifts you up onto his arm for a picture. You look so happy, and you hug his neck so tight, giving Milo a high to ride for the next month. He loves meeting little fans like you

Kabu:

Kabu has always been your favorite gym leader, ever since you understood what a gym leader was. You saw how cool and calm and confident he was, despite being older than most everyone that took on the Galar gym challenge, and you wanted to be just like him as an adult. And now, as you nervously wait for the chance to meet the man himself, you worry about annoying him by being too enthusiastic or annoying. Heatmor is the only one keeping you from folding under the anticipation of meeting your hero

As Kabu approaches the small crowd of people waiting to meet and take pictures, he notices you cower behind your guardian, your Heatmor trying to soothe you. He goes through the other people there first, waiting to see if you'll approach on your own, but you only seem to grow more shy. So, once you become the last to remain, Kabu approaches you himself

He introduces himself, and you quietly do the same, telling Kabu that you and your Heatmor really look up to Kabu and his skills. Kabu kneels before you, and asks if you want to battle him, one v one. The shock on your face is cute, but you sheepishly agree as Heatmor shoots a burst of fire in excitement. The battle is intense, and you nearly explode from the joy and giddiness, racing to hug Kabu in the rush of your emotions. And Kabu cradles the back of your head, smiling down at you, glad he got the chance to meet you

Allister:

You've admired Allister since he became a gym leader not too long ago. He's your age, and he's a gym leader! You think he's super cool, as does your partner Pokémon, Marowak. You both are desperate to meet Allister, battle him and get ideas on how to become stronger yourselves. So when your parents reveal that your next vacation will be to Galar, you and Marowak have a celebration, planning on how to meet Allister

You meet him unintentionally. Marowak wants to visit the nearby graveyard to dance beneath the moonlight and mourn the fallen comrades he knew before he met and joined you. But as you approach, you see various Gastly and Haunters floating about, snickering. The closer you get, the more evident it gets that they're surrounding a person. Allister.

You're both surprised to see the other, but you take advantage of the happy accident. Allister jolts from your excited introduction, flustered by your endless stream of praise and admiration. He's meek at first, but your Marowak intrigues him. So with the encouragement of his ghost Pokémon, he sits with you and shyly talks with you, so overwhelmed by the fact he has a fan, and one his age! Maybe you both could be. . . friends?

🍓🍓🍓

ta da! i hope i did your request justice!!

have a great night!!

~Renee

#milo x reader #kabu x reader #allister x reader #child reader #pokemon x reader #pokemon imagines

[boyfrillish]

guess who ended up not sleeping till like, after 4am? yeah :”D I’m running on 3-4 hours of sleep and made of some kinds of regret

a yearning-mood for HopVic again though so maybe I’ll try to write or just scroll around again or idk, we’ll see what happens

#frillishtxt #who knows maybe i'll look for some fanfics if my brain decides rather be reading something that isn't from my own brain #or play galarian star tournament (or the regular tournament bc I miss hop's corviknight lol) w hop if i'm not too sleepdeprived for that #I just got up a bit ago so I have no clue hahahahaha my mood could be anything it's a whole bag of surprise rn

[swagtastic-bougie-pompadour]

Alcremie?

What about it? Always makes me a bit hungry whenever I watch it Gigantamax during the Galarian Star tournaments...

#pkmn irl #pokeblogging #ask clive