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an-apocalypse-of-magpies · 5 months

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I genuinely think it is a rite of passage for a Pokemon fan to champion a Pokemon that is unpopular, uncool, or 'weak'.

For some, it comes quickly. A child sees Gulpin and thinks it's the funniest thing ever. For some, it's trying something new. The competitive battler who just starts messing around, picks up a Pachirisu, and leads it to victory against impossible stakes. For some, it's an accident. The Nuzlocker who got way too attached to an early game friend who refused to die, and grieved for their friend and comrade when their time came. For some, it's defiance. The person who kinda likes Raichu and will defend it from the slings and arrows of all others. For some, it's just comfortably growing up and realising you don't have to justify liking something, just that it makes you happy.

It's easy to be drawn to the crowd favourites. And why not? They can be powerful fighters, cute merch, fanart-bait, they have a je ne sais quoi that draws the eye. And that's still fine! I'm not going to tell anyone they're a bad person for liking Charizard, or Mewtwo, or Gengar, or Pikachu. They're popular for a reason. But there is a kind of zen, a state of enlightenment of sorts, in finding a funky little guy who isn't very good and isn't very popular but makes you smile, and you go out of your way to find them and raise them and maybe even never evolve them, despite them being a damp squib in actual battles.

One of my favourite Pokemon ever is Swinub. Swinub is not a strong Pokemon. In fact, statistically, it's one of the weakest. Swinub has 5 weaknesses, including all 3 starter types. It doesn't learn many coverage moves, and it's abilities are not very exciting either. But I love this little piglet. It's round and soft! It digs up hot springs with its nose! You never see its eyes! I just think it's neat.

It's an important thing, I think, to find a Pokemon you like just for you. Not because it makes you better than 'the normies', but because it makes you appreciate the Pokemon you do meet, not for their battling prowess, but for how much you just want to be around them. When I see @good-pokemon-center-reviews frankly doing the lord's work in sharing people who are just so happy to have their little guys, I see starry-eyed children relishing in the wonder the Pokemon world is meant to bring. Genuine, earnest joy at a plushy Croagunk will always be more real to me that any Smogon tier chart. That guy gets it. The guy being a dick on Pokemon showdown with a team of 5 Zacians and a Mega Rayquaza for spice does not.

#pokemon #feel free to tag this with your unpopular faves #here are some to get you going #swinub #castform #spinda #mawile #sigilyph #venonat #dunsparce

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toadandtails · 2 years

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looking for mareanie merch is like looking for a needle in a haystack man

#GIVE HER MORE ATTENTION!!#if you search mareanie on the pokemon center TWO things come up #and one of them is just a pack of alola cards #the other is a poison type poster with HORRIBLE reviews #toad croaks #complaining #pkmn #pokemon #mareanie

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bulbagarden · 5 months

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lisia here, i've been shopping for more plushies recently!

@good-pokemon-center-reviews you might like this...?

#sadly that maractus is sold out.....#autocorrect produced something really funny and i felt like i should show the world LOL -lisia #lisiaposting for queue #bulbalisia #pokemon #gaming #bulbagarden #maractus #pokemon center

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adobe-outdesign · 18 days

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have you reviewed the meditite line?

Meditite is one of my favorite types of Pokemon, that being the weird creature that's vaguely humanoid but in a way that makes it really hard to describe easily. In this case, it's an onion-headed creature that has meditation as a theme, with two swirls on the sides of its head and a primarily blue body.

As a whole, while I like Medicham more, this design is pretty good. I like the shape of the head, especially with how perfectly the eyes interlock with it. Speaking of eyes, they have a very distinct look to them, as does the mouth.

My only real issue with Meditite is that the white around the waist looks a bit weird—maybe if the white just extended down the leg a bit more. Also, I do wish it resembled its evo more. There are a few small similarities—gray skin, flat doll-like eyes, weird head structure—but I feel like the resemblance could've been better. I think this mostly could've been fixed by just swapping out the blue for Medicham's pink.

The shiny basically does this, and it works perfectly (though I would still keep the skin the neutral gray).

Medicham is such a weird looking 'mon, but I've always found myself really liking it. Something about those giant-ass legs and skinny body just gives it a really neat shape, and it's the right combo of strange and elegant. The baggy "pants" have just the right amount of gold accents and markings on them, which are accented by the same colors and shapes being used on the head.

My one complaint here is that the head thing doesn't go around the back of the head, so it's just kind of stuck in the front.

The 3D model up top actually makes this worse, as the pink used to extend down the head to a degree back when sprites were being used. I guess they changed it to be more accurate to the official art, but frankly I'd rather it not line up one-to-one if the overall model looks better.

And Mega Medicham's also really good; by far my favorite of the line. A lot of megas struggle with just being the originals with Stuff(TM) added to their designs without rhyme or reason, but Mega Medicham's got a very clear theme with the addition of psychic arms, which are vaguely Buddist/Hindu-esq and also make sense for a partial fighting-type.

But the other thing that works about it is that it feels like it improves and expands upon Medicham's base design in just the right way without going overboard. The somewhat awkward head piece has been replaced with a more turban-like design, and the arms have gained two golden bands, which carry the color through the design better than the original. The sheer size of the legs has been reduced down without loosing their visual punch, and they've been given a more natural shape as well. A few extra layers of gold bands have been added above the "pants" along with a row of blue beads, which accent its new blue eyes. It's better balanced in both color and form.

Another little detail I like about it is that it also makes the entire line look better by harkening back to Meditite—note how the blue accents are the same color as Meditite's body, or how the white hat matches its head better, or how the gold bands on the arms are placed similarly to Meditiate's white stripes. Good stuff.

My only little nitpick is that the pink plume on the top of the head looks a bit odd. It's meant to match the three plumes on the base design, but I feel like you could've extended the middle piece above the gold center, then made that and the two on the sides pink to achieve a similar effect. That's minor, though.

Overall, I like this one a lot. Meditite's got a few coherency issues with the rest of the line but still manages to have a unique design that continues into Medicham. Mega Medicham expands on the theme and improves the overall design in a meaningful way. Good stuff all around.

#meditite #medicham #mega medicham #pokemon #pokemon reviews

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good-pokemon-center-reviews · 4 months

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#hello #pokemon #stuffed animals #toycore #plush #sprigatito #pokemon center reviews

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 3 months

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Psycho Analysis: Seto Kaiba

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

Every good anime revolving around a game, sport, or competition needs a great rival to antagonize the main character. A rival is a character who helps push the protagonist to their limits, and forces them to apply what they’ve learned in order to beat them. Now, a rival like that typically isn’t someone who is going to get a Psycho Analysis, as most rivals are just garden-variety jerks at worst. For instance, Gary Oak is a bit of a snot, but he’s literally a child and he turns things around and becomes a decent guy relatively quick. Or hell, look at Miles Edgeworth; he spends most of the first Ace Attorney butting heads with Phoenix Wright in court, but he’s pretty quickly shown to be far more concerned with finding the absolute truth than any truly nefarious purpose. Ultimately, most rivals end up being genuinely decent people who just take competition a little too seriously and eventually develop into staunch friends and allies.

But imagine a rival who never changes. A rival dead set on being the most antagonistic douchebag possible, one who is driven solely by the sheer spite and hatred they feel at being second banana to someone else, someone who can’t bear that their massive ego is even slightly bruised. A rival who may help when the chips are on the table, but who is only doing so for their own selfish and self-centered reasons. That’s a character I could reasonably review on Psycho Analysis! And if ever there was a character who fits that bill, it’s Seto freaking Kaiba.

Now, to be clear here, Kaiba isn’t a villain. He’s an antagonist, he’s an anti-hero, but for about 99% of his screentime he’s not technically a villain. But just because the series is called Psycho Analysis doesn’t mean I’m literally only reviewng psychos, and it’s about time I broke out a bit and experimented in this new year by looking at characters who aren’t totally evil, but maybe are a little bit. And as you’ll soon see, no one is a better choice to break the mold than the second best duelist in Domino City.

Motivation/Goals: To put it simply, everything Kaiba does is motivated by his ego or by spite. This is a man who has done genuinely great things, from dismantling his father’s bloodthirsty legacy of profiting off of war to opening theme parks and creating new technology to make Duel Monsters more fun and engaging for all players. All of this on paper makes him look like the most ethical animated billionaire this side of Scrooge McDuck, but there’s one little issue: Nothing he does is out of the goodness of his heart.

Do you think Kaiba actually gives a shit about anyone affected by his father’s business? No, he just dismantled it out of sheer hatred for his adopted father who, to be fair, really was a massive cunt. Do you think he went through all the trouble to make massive strides in Duel Monsters technology just so people could have fun? No, he did it all so he could exploit it in some way to defeat Yugi once and for all.

And that’s one of the biggest things that drives Kaiba: His unquenchable desire to defeat Yugi and be crowned the true king of games. The thing is, every time they have a fair fight, Kaiba gets his ass handed to him; the one time he won was by essentially threatening Yugi with suicide. His sheer petty desire to one-up Yugi extends far into the future, where he names the loser dork house of the academy in GX after Yugi’s Egyptian God card Slifer, while the ultra-cool prestigious house is named after the God he got, Obelisk. And in one possible end of his story, he goes to the most insane and ultimate extreme to try and settle his grudge (but more on that shortly).

Performance: In English, there are two main voice actors of note who have portrayed Kaiba. The first is Eric Staurt, who outside of Kaiba is best known for his Pokemon roles of Brock and James. It leads to a bit of whiplash hearing someone who sounds so similar to the affable yet horny Brock be an absolute arrogant prick, but I definitely think Stuart is able to pull it off.

The other VA of note is Martin “Littlekuriboh” Billany, creator of Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series and the man who voices about 90% of that gag dub’s cast. His take on Kaiba is pretty much what happens if you cross Stuart’s performance with Solid Snake, and it works very well for a Kaiba who’s weirder and wackier yet somehow even more insanely egotistical.

Final Fate: Kaiba, seeing as he’s just a douchebag and not a truly evil person, doesn’t get any sort of major comeuppance save for constantly getting his ass handed to him by Yugi. There are really two possible endings for him, though if you want to be charitable they’re not necessarily mutually exclusive. The first ending is, of course, that he eventually goes on to found the Duel Academy, which means he helps kickstart the events of Yu-Gi-Oh GX in a way. Anyone even partly responsible for the rise of bisexual monsterfucker king Jaden Yuki is getting high marks in my book.

But the much more notable ending for Kaiba comes from Dark Side of Dimensions where, so consumed by his desire to duel Atem one more time despite the pharaoh finally being at rest, he leaves his company in the hands of Mokuba and goes to the fucking afterlife to challenge him. Whatever way you want to read it—that he actually used science to travel to the great beyond, that his tech killed him and he’s not coming back—Kaiba really cements his legacy as the most insane, obsessive rival ever created. If he still feels like he has something to prove by beating you, you ain’t getting your eternal rest; he will bust down the barriers of life and death to have a chance of whooping your ass. Absolute madman.

Evilness: So in this new segment, I’m going to establish how evil any given villain is and rate them on it, separate from how I rate them as a character overall. This score is basically just a reflection of how evil their actions are, with a 1 being “Barely a villain at all” and a 10 being a “Complete and utter monster.”

As we’ve already established a bit, Kaiba is more just an egotistical asshole than anything. In his early appearances in the manga you could definitely say Kaiba was a villain, and his first appearance as the starter villain of the anime definitely paint him as a dick… but after his mind crush, he definitely veers more into anti-hero territory for the rest of the series.

Normally, this would net him a solid 1, but that’s the thing. Despite the fact Kaiba frequently does genuinely good and helpful things and despite constantly aiding the heroes, he only ever does it because he feels like he has something to prove. For instance, look at his handling of the Big Five as he dismantled his father’s legacy; do you think he tore down the military dealings KaibaCorp dealt in out of the goodness of his heart? No, Kaiba did all that out of sheer hatred and spite, negative emotions that motivate just about everything he does no matter how nice it seems. Even if he isn’t actually evil by any stretch and even though he’s undoubtedly bettering the world with what he does, he’s doing it for impure reasons that mainly revolve around reasserting his own superiority. The only genuinely selfless things he does are for the benefit of his beloved brother Mokuba.

So for the first ever Evilness Score, I think Kaiba is going to score a 2/10, which denotes being a huge dick but not neccesarily evil. He’s not actually evil enough to warrant anything higher, but he’s too big of an asshole to get a 1.

Best Scene/Quote: Abridged!Kaiba gave the world “Screw the rules, I have money,” a line that perfectly summarizes a good chunk of Kaiba’s character in both the main and the abridged version of the show. But his best quote (and his very best scene) come during his duel with Ishizu in Battle City, where he decides to give fate the middle finger and beat Miss Ishtar despite her clairvoyance while giving her the following speech (in the dub):

“Hear me now! I won't be controlled! I decide my future! So now, I sacrifice my monsters! Obelisk and Gadget Solider, I send you to the card graveyard! You're so quiet, Ishizu. Where's your magic now? Or have you realized that there's no such thing as destiny? Now observe as I summon my Blue-Eyes! Show yourself!”

And more than anything, this sums up Kaiba: He has the most massive ego in history, the strength and cunning to back that ego up, and a steadfast and stubborn refusal of destiny. He plays by his own rules and follows his own path, and nothing will stand in his way. Not Egyptian gods, not prophecies, not magic or shadow games or what have you. He is unstoppable, implacable, and he won’t be denied that duel with Yugi no matter what anyone says. Not even the barrier of life and death can stop him.

Final Thoughts & Score: Unsurprisingly, as someone who grew up with Yu-Gi-Oh, I fucking love Kaiba.

Going into this, I knew he wasn’t going to be a straight example of a villain, because his evil is mostly relegated to the early parts of the manga and the start of the show, with his post-Mind Crush self being more of an anti-heroic jerkass with a heart of gold. But I think he’s just enough of an asshole to be worth talking about, and talking about antagonistic jerks opens the door to talk about characters like Toy Story’s Sid or the more hostile Pokemon rivals like Silver, Blue, and Bede here. It would have to be Kaiba blazing that trail, though; there’s no jerk more perfect to open the door to discussion of other jerks.

Kaiba is just genuinely fascinating in that, despite being incredibly static as a character, he never really feels shallow. Sure, he steadfastly refuses to change and never really becomes on the best terms with the Yugi squad, but his interactions with them are still fun to watch and he never gets flanderized to the point of being obnoxious. It’s honestly extremely impressive they were able to walk that tightrope of him never really progressing past being an asshole while still remaining a fun, likable character who it’s fun to see in action. I suppose it helps they gave him the most ludicrously badass backstory where he as a plucky little orphan boy manages to beat a businessman in chess to get adopted, fleeces him out of his entire fortune and company, and then dismantles said company’s military division to focus on gaming. And if that’s not enough, they have him do stuff like throw trading cards to jam guns!

Of course, his most appealing aspect is his single-minded obsession with defeating Yugi and proving himself as the superior duelist, a character trait for which there is quite simply no heterosexual explanation for (I’m half kidding). With most rivals, they don’t really get so consumed by their desire to defeat their opponent that they essentially kill themselves just to get another chance at beating them, but most rivals ain’t Kaiba! Really, I think the only rival I’ve seen who’s close to being on his level is Vegeta. Once again, they found a nice balance, keeping Kaiba from being too obnoxious even with his single-minded obsession with one-upping Yugi.

Kaiba is really a character who so easily could have been obnoxious or insufferable, but instead he quite honestly stole the show. Yes, Yugi and Atem’s trials and tribulations are crucial and all, but seeing the insane lengths Kaiba goes to ensure he gets another chance to summon his Blue-Eyes against Yugi’s Dark Magician is just a blast. You’re always wondering what insane rich guy nonsense the man is going to pull off next, and he rarely disappoints. Kaiba may not be evil, he may merely be an antagonistic rival, but I think he still deserves a 10/10 for being the egomaniacal asshole opponent every arch-rival should aspire to be.

#psycho analysis #Seto Kaiba #Eric Stuart #martin billany #littlekuriboh #yu-gi-oh

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theuniversedothprotest · 6 months

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Sometimes when I lose faith in humanity I go on the pokemon center website and read all the reviews for the JUMBO plushies where significant others dropped $$$ to surprise their partner with an enormous pokemon and the joy is tangible in every word of the review

#pokemon #plushies #pokemon center #pokemon plush #faith in humanity

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ecargmura · 8 months

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Pokemon Horizons Episode 18 Review - A Flashback Masterpiece

I’m sorry, Episode 16, you just got dethroned after two weeks of reign. Episode 18 is now the best episode of this anime by far. It’s just an origin story, but the animation and storytelling are so immaculate. It’s almost perfection in a way. It feels like a good closure to the first arc and the beginning to the next possible arc in the Rising Volt Tacklers’ journey.

Liko and Roy are curious about how Captain Pikachu is able to fly in the air, so they team up with Dot to ask Friede about Cap’s origins. He avoids the topic, but with the help of Orla meddling, Friede finally reveals his past with Cap. Once a promising Professor, Friede starts his story jobless and listless. He had no motivation and no drive to do anything after quitting; he spends his days fishing with Ludlow and that didn’t excite him either. One day, he gets a phone call from his old teacher, Lucca (Liko’s mother), who he hasn’t seen since his student days at the Kanto region. Lucca moved to Paldea from Kanto after getting married to Alex. She wonders why he quit his job at the lab. Friede says that he knows everything there is to know about Pokemon, but Lucca sees through his front and points out that he lost his drive. She then asks him to meet up with him the next day at dawn where he is introduced to the Pikachu that will one day become Captain Pikachu. At first, Friede didn’t want to bother with a Pikachu, but after seeing how Cap used Volt Tackle to make a vortex into the sky, he became interested in it. He spends his next days trying to observe and theorize Pikachu’s goals and actions. After befriending him, Friede and Pikachu become partners and the Rising Volt Tacklers came to be.

First off, this backstory was amazing. It played out like a movie! I do like how Friede quitting his job and losing his drive is parallel to a lot of adults trying to find their place in life in the real world. People say that Pokemon is childish or for a general children’s audience (which it is), but having Friede and the Rising Volt Tacklers be adults and have mature motives for their path in life shows that Pokemon isn’t afraid to bring in an older audience as well. It’s like Mollie’s backstory that was told in episode 11 where she quit her job at the Pokemon Center because working there wasn’t fulfilling for her. Friede quit his job because it wasn’t fulfilling for him. I’m sure there are a lot of adults who relate to this; I relate to this myself!

I like how Pikachu was very hostile towards Friede in the beginning of their encounter. It shows off how much of a wild Pokemon he was back then. He was annoyed with Friede and kept tackling him. I think my favorite part of this episode was Pikachu gathering berries and then rushing off to eat them. I think this is one of the rare moments we see Pikachu behave very animal-like. We never saw Ash’s Pikachu as a wild Pokemon as much since most of his screen time was being a captured Pokemon and a pet of sorts. Seeing how Pikachu respected Friede towards the end of the flashback felt realistic because Pikachu knew Friede was always there and it even saved him from falling. In turn, Friede finding drive in Pikachu was understandable. Life is always full of mysteries and finding that one fateful moment can lead to a myriad of opportunities. Pikachu was definitely Friede’s muse in a way.

The animation was very smooth. The scene where Friede and Charizard flew up to the skies next to Pikachu’s vortex flabbergasted me. I never knew OLM Studio could animate this beautifully. This definitely looks like something shown in a Pokemon film or in a smaller mini-series like Twilight Wings. The way everything kept moving throughout the scene, taking a break when they looked beyond the horizon, and then moving again once Pikachu fell was breathtaking. I may not be an animator, but I can see good animation quality!

I do like how Lucca was the reason why Pikachu and Friede got together. Lucca is also the reason why Liko met the Rising Volt Tacklers. The theme of connection is very prevalent for this anime as it is a bond that expands beyond horizons. I cooed over seeing baby Liko in the episode; she’s so cute. I deduce that the flashback might have occurred at least five or six years ago since Liko is most likely ten or eleven at most. The fact that a mere glimpse of seeing Friede over a video call was the stepping stone of her current life is pretty fascinating in itself.

I also liked learning more about the Rising Volt Tacklers. It turns out that Ludlow and Friede were already acquainted with each other. Orla and Friede are also childhood friends with them both being Kantonians but Orla moved to Hoenn. The fact that Friede was requesting Orla to build an airship from Ludlow’s ship meant that he and Ludlow sailed all the way to the Hoenn region from Paldea. That’s determination right there. The fact that Friede, Cap, Orla and Ludlow were the starting members of the Rising Volt Tacklers seems meaningful now.

I love the little cameo of Larry in the restaurant, showing the game canon of him being a regular at that restaurant. Since this was a few years back, I do wonder if Larry is still a Gym Leader five or six years later and still working overtime. Anyways, I do like that this episode had the opening song play towards the end, signifying the closure of one chapter and the start of a new one. There hasn’t been talks or announcements of a new opening or ending song, so I do wonder where the show will go from here. I think this episode was flawless, but what about you? What do you think about this episode?

#anipoke #pokemon #pokemon anime #pokemon horizons #friede #captain pikachu #charizard #larry #lucca #liko #roy #dot #review #anime #anime review #A perfect 10/10 episode for Horizons

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asinfullangel · 5 months

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- Red

Red is always a quiet trainer and hard to find whenever he isn’t with Blue (since someone always seems to do all the talking). At least the most likely place to find Red would be on mountain tops and preferably ones with snow… But it was not hard for Lance to find that flyby treat chilled to the touch or with Blue and ready to join him inside his gut. (Though since I’m using wormholes strangely for these mini stories, let's continue on with the concept). [insert finger snap here]

Red was where he is normally, up in those chilly mountains, in wait for the next challenger. Unphased by the weather he passes the time by texting Blue about any new trainers starting their adventure this season though the sound of heavy wind all round blocked out the sounds of someone’s arrival… Coming into view was himself yet pixel looking as if he came from an old game. Whatever the [baa] was happening here- [classic trainer Red challenge trainer Red]. Both Red(s) send out Charizard, then Blastoise, afterward Pikachu and [insert the rest here one by one order] till each trainer had one pokemon left on the field with low health. Classic Red with a Espeon and Red with a Lapras, both trainers had their next attack ready and… (give me a moment to calculate the chances, make a few rolls, carry the 1 and maybe review those rule books…)

[Classic trainer Red wins] We have our winner and look like he is celebrating (hopefully that isn’t his movement animation, otherwise someone needs to add more to his victory animation). Red was left with a fainted party and they are in need of reviving, down he goes. (Que in Lance right about-) Red a few blocks away from the closest pokemon-center before someone snatch him away from the path. All that was heard from the bushes were muffled yelling, wet gulps and pokeballs dropping to the ground to finish the orchestra with a ringing burp then wet splat by Red’s saliva covered hat. Lance made a snack out of Red and his clothing lay beside his pokeballs. Lance had a meal and luckily a nice spot to nap right where he sat. Belly exposed from his shirt to freely rub as Lance gets comfortable against a tree to nap away some time (and his snack). Red will just have to visit Lance later to pick up his Pokemon and spare him from having him join Lance for lunch or dinner.

Classic Red eventually was dragged back through a wormhole to his reality to his snow mountain.

#male vore #male pred #Lance’s menu #by me

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