#pokemon starter trivia week

[daily-pokemon-trivia]

modern starters (gen 5 onward) are based on different themes. This is the second part of a 6 day series about starter trio’s.

Gen 5 is based on different cultures, though many specify it down to “royalty/empires”. Note that some things are based on truth and some on speculations, but I make sure to say things like “may be based on” when it’s not a 100% confirmed thing. 

Serperior is based on western culture. Although it is based on this, the design takes inspiration from a manga from the 70’s by the name “The Rose of Versailles”. It’s a historical drama set in the years before the French Revolution. It follows the story of 2 women, the queen of France Marie Antoinette and the made up Oscar François de Jarjayes who is the royal guard. Serperior’s royal aesthetic probably means it’s based on the manga’s version of Marie. Here’s a fun extra fact, the manga did a lot for the future of Shojo manga, and although it has heterosexual romance, sexuality is a theme in the manga and people consider it partially as yuri.

Serperior is based on a ‘yuri’ manga about the queen of France x an oc.

Emboar is based on Chinese culture. It’s specifically based on Zhang Fei, an ancient military officer. He ended up meeting his demise by the hands of a subordinate, who cut off his head. You can see this back in Emboar with his head and body being sort of “separated” by a fire ring. 

Samurott is based on Japanese culture, being designed to look like a samurai (it’s name is most likely even a combination of samurai and otter). It’s based on the lifespan of a samurai with its line. Oshawott is a child, Dewott is a young samurai and Samurott is a military officer. 

Ontop of this, (this is speculation) Hisuian Samurott could be based on a rōnin. Basically a Samurai without a lord or master, this was considered dishonorable so many became mercenaries (which could be why it’s a dark type) 

#pokemon #pokemon trivia #pokemon starters #pokemon gen 5 #pokemon starter trivia week #pokemon serperior #serperior #pokemon emboar #emboar #pokemon samurott #samurott

[ghostmartyr]

Pokémon SoulSilver Randomized Nuzlocke [Part 2]

Standard Nuzlocke rules apply

Non-standard rule of only being allowed to catch something if it has a Type in common with the most recent thing you caught applies

Randomizer only touches wild pokemon; everything NPCs have remains the same.

So far, we have the first badge, and just caught our first official teammate for our starter. He is Fludd the Whiscash, to accompany Chance the Dewgong. Next pokemon has to be Water or Ground.

May I have the good fortune of finding one.

Fludd is Gentle and alert to sounds. He doesn’t have much in the ways of experience or moves yet, but we will soon see to changing that.

Route 33 has Shuckle! Adorable!

Fludd’s only offensive move being Mud-Slap is proving a trial of patience.

Wild Bastiodon appears. This is the route of tanks.

We’ve talked to Kurt, kicking off the Rocket plot of this section, and I think once Fludd is 10 or 11 we’ll continue down the Slowpoke Well. Where there will be non-Slowpoke things waiting for us.

I really just want Fludd to know something better than Mud-Slap.

..Water Gun is not terrible. Helps that the route I have chosen for training is beset by constant rain. Every single Shuckle having Berry Juice is not on the list of things that help anything except Shuckle delaying the inevitable.

I lied. Fludd is 13 before we start thinking about other things.

My current other thing is going to be Ilex Forest instead of the Rocket plot.

For reasons of pretty.

We find a Charizard!

That is very much not Water or Ground.

Cyndaquil is not Water or Ground either.

Hey, Fludd learned Mud Bomb. Yay.

Okay, fine. I guess we can save the Slowpokes if we really have to.

I love how as technology advances, video games get to be prettier. It makes me happy in my feelings places.

I also love how Kurt really doesn’t do anything. He tries. Then he falls and can’t get up. Then we go in and do the job he wanted to do.

Mawile is down here. Nothing I can do there.

The Grunts go down like Grunts, and then it’s Proton time!

Proton!

That guy!

He’s got... aquamarine hair! That’s like a personality!

Fludd beats him down, too. Party as it stands is Fludd at 16, Chance at 20, and Sleet and Cloud at 5. With only Fludd and Chance really counting as full party members. That will change slightly when I need something to Cut stuff.

Which will be right after we deal with this Gym.

-many weeks later-

-cough-

Anyway, Gym!

This will mostly be Fludd’s show, since he could use the levels. If anything happens to know Absorb, we’re bailing, but he should mostly be okay.

Upgraded Gym aesthetics are always good.

Almost as good as playing a Pokemon game without feeling compelled to give every single fight full play-by-play detail. Assume if I magically teleport through the plot that I did everything perfectly and expertly. All a result of my personal talent, not overleveling my precious pokemon in hopes of keeping them from dying from my stupidity.

Oh heck, whoops. One of the pre-Leader battles is a double.

Sleet is in the second slot.

Let’s not.

Good news! Sleet is still level 5. She still appears to be a casual passerby of this party, not an official member. This matters.

Bugsy looks so happy. Good for him.

(Unlike some Johto Gym Leaders.)

This will be more entertaining later in the game, but I think Pikasprey has brought up how this region’s Gym Leaders really are the most irresponsible about their job title.

Ultimately, Chance will take out Bugsy’s Scyther. Because it’s level 17. Like Fludd. And U-turn apparently really, really hurts.

No, Chance, you may not learn Rest. You’re a starting party member. That means you have nothing but attacks, and we compensate for our lack of strategy with levels.

Badge get!

But suddenly....!

-zooms through the battle at the speed of sound-

Good job, team!

Now we get to do a Farfetch’d puzzle that I am absolutely not terrible at.

Glory to Cut. Which we will be unceremoniously dumping on Cloud. Hi Cloud. This is your team. This is your role in it. Thank you for your contribution.

Oh.

Huh.

You’re part Water, aren’t you?

tfw I can actually catch something in Ilex Forest. Maybe I even will.

CAUGHT!

New member of the team, your name is now Downpour! Downpour is Quirky and highly curious, and we already love him. Even with the inevitable switch training about to go down.

We’re all just so happy that this place has been given level 6 Charizard to mine.

The truly nice part about being such a disaster in playing this part consistently is that Kurt gives me free balls. What, you forgot to play for a month? Your reward is not knowing what’s going on! Also free catching tools! You Win!

I also think that me being aware of EVs is the worst thing that ever happened to my enjoyment of pokemon playthroughs. I’m just left looking at wild level 6 Charizards with Sp. Atk signs in my eyes. What do those look like? The world may never know, but they are now part of my balanced breakfast.

Also, Nature Power becomes Rock Slide in Ilex Forest.

Downpour is going to be the most overhyped Special Attacker of its kind.

Assuming I ever find a Water Stone.

This is one of those changes from the originals that I’ve never fully understood or cared for. Except at the end of the day, I am a complete sucker for people you’ve helped along your journey all reuniting and recalling what you’ve done for them.

I just really miss the Eeveelution coolness of their dance hall.

And I don’t know why this one needed any help at all. Is that a lore thing? Are all your interactions with them just secret character tests?

Downpour is 19, which feels like good enough for venturing into Goldenrod. I really shouldn’t be living the life of mindlessly murdering wild Charizard for EVs for hours on end. Let’s just try to put a cap on it.

Forbidden Day-Care lore.

Lyra’s grandmother ships us. Awk.

I’m accepting everyone’s number in this. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned that before, but unlike in the originals, I don’t think there’s a limit on numbers on your phone, so might as well hoard them up.

Geez I feel old.

Vote now on which NPC pokemon person gets to stay in your phonebook. Maybe if you’re lucky you won’t abandon the one who hands out random evolution stones. :)

Oh, hello. I can catch you.

Do I want to? I’d be back to Water/Ice, and right now I have the option of picking up a Grass thing somewhere along the way... hm.

On the other hand.

Cloyster is cool.

POKE BALL, GO!

Damn it, poke ball.

Heavy Ball?

Damn it, Heavy Ball.

And now I am out of Great Balls.

Poke Ball. How do you feel about a redemption arc.

The Poke Ball declines. I have one Fast Ball, and one Heavy Ball. The odds of me getting a new friend out of this are dwindling. The route’s death appears to be at hand.

One Fast Ball.

Yeah, it breaks out.

Okay, Downpour. Kill the non-friend.

With Chance’s help, because the non-friend knew Supersonic.

Bye, Route 34. You’re dead now, and I need to buy catching tools before I forget and meeting my next friend turns awkward.

Whatever. I have a bike now.

Failing basic trivia is my favorite part of each Pokemon game.

PSYCH I WON.

My prize is a Radio Card, but the real prize is getting Whitney back inside her Gym. Where I can now battle her if I so choose. If I want to progress in the game. Her Miltank is waiting.

So we’re just going to do literally everything else we can, except not literally; these games have too many things, and I’m not getting distracted by Voltorb Flip.

...What does Nature Power actually do? Because Downpour has been spotted using Rock Slide, Earthquake, and now Tri Attack through it. It’s becoming a staple of his kit. I don’t think I’ve ever bothered using it before. I was under the impression is was always Swift?

Or is that Nature’s Gift? That’s a thing, right?

Bleh. Fighting first, looking up vitally helpful information later.

The grass has Hitmontop. Not Grass or Water, so it must die.

Wait what the heck. I was out innocently Headbutting trees, why are you here?

This is intensely awkward. My usual mode with these things is that something only fits the requirement of my Nuzlocke team if it’s been Randomized, and for whatever reason, the randomness doesn’t touch Headbutt encounters. Exeggcute is part Grass, but it is not Randomized. Sleet and Cloud are more proper team candidates.

I’m just going to say that Headbutting doesn’t count for a route’s encounter. This run isn’t intended to be overly difficult (this is not the grindlocke); the aim is fun, and I have more fun not using the standard encounters for the game.

What I’m saying is the Exeggcute dies.

(I’m just never going to be able to get a Psychic Type in this.)

My thing at the moment is beating up pokemon in the wild because I’m not sure how to deal with Whitney. Stress-grinding. Chance can’t fight the Miltank. Rollout against Ice sounds like a nightmare. But Chance is also the only female on the team, and my teams have terrible luck in love, which Whitney like exploiting.

Fludd doesn’t really have moves. Water Pulse is nice, but Mud Slap is his only other attack. Downpour is theoretically a cool option, but I don’t know what Nature Power does in the Gym. These kiddos do not have movesets that play well together. Tickle spam would be ideal, but Fludd doesn’t have a physical attack. Only Chance does, and there we have the Rollout problem.

This team could have some nice synergy (for once I almost think I might want to have someone with Rain Dance), but right now they just don’t know enough, and I do not like heading into Whitney this way.

So let us continue to explore the countryside in hopes that a solution is found.

Yanmega is not Grass or Water. Neither is Pikachu.

RIOLU.

You’re not, either.

Neither is the Zubat in the next route. Bonsly looks like it should be, and yet. Volbeat is a nope.

You, on the other hand.

Okay okay okay. Downpour. Do not ruin this for us. I know you want to kill it. We can feel it in your heart. However, we could use a friend. We could use another link in our chain.

...Actually, Fludd, how about you lend a hand with this.

SHARPEDO GET!

I dub thee Hurricane. Hurricane is Modest (dang it) and alert to sounds.

To use, or not to use. That is the question. Physical attacker? Good. Yet another pokemon with a generic shrug at the difference between physical and special? Hm.

I think Hurricane is a reserve. If we’re leveling you, little guy, it’ll be a bit later. We’re happy to have you, but you don’t fix anything well enough that I think I want to train you up just yet.

On to the park. Where the Dunsparce lurk. More Smoochum. Zubat.

I found a Dig TM. That might go to Fludd. ..Or is Fludd going to learn Dig naturally? Fludd will learn Magnitude in a few. I can wait. I don’t remember if this gen allows multiple uses of TMs or not. I could look that up, but effort.

Er. On that subject, though... internet, where can has Water Stone?

“ Johto: National Park (Come 1st in Bug Catching Contest), Route 42 (PokéGear Phonecall) “

Uh.

Oh no?

Wait!

“ Johto: Pokeathlon Dome“

Hope.

Yikes. I wanted to avoid that, having no touch screen, but Downpour, I’m not abandoning you so easily. We’re a team, man. A team. We’ll get you your usefulness.

Welp, I’ve defeated all the trainers I can.

I guess.

It’s time.

Downpour is level 24, Chance is 25, and Fludd is 23. Fludd’s going to be taking the early parts in the interest of balance. For Whitney herself... I really don’t know. I’ll play it by feel. I do want to make sure Downpour uses Nature Power before that fight, though. I don’t want to go in without knowing what it does.

It does Tri Attack in here.

...Yeah, I’m looking it up. What the heck does Nature Power actually do? Besides use moves that are strongly connected with things occurring in nature?

Finding the gen four version is too much trouble. Let’s just proceed knowing limited amounts. Yay for Tri Attack.

-makes an unhappy face best represented by toddlers-

One Clefairy and one Miltank.

This is not a scary thing.

See? Fludd already massacred the Clefairy.

This is fine. It will be fine.

Fludd stop flinching.

Aaaaaand there’s the Attract. The Miltank’s been using Stomp only, so it should be safe for Chance to go in and get a few hits. Fludd used Tickle a few times to counteract the Stomp being annoying.

Chance. Sweetie.

Stop. fucking. flinching.

FUCK YOU AND YOUR SUPER POTIONS, WHITNEY.

YES. IT’S DEAD.

YOU ARE NOT THE ONE WHO SHOULD BE CRYING HERE. MY SOUL IS IN DESPAIR, WHITNEY. YOU AND YOUR STUPID MILTANK. EVEN WHEN IT ISN’T USING ROLLOUT.

I sort of ship the flunky that tells you not to worry, Whitney will give you your badge after she stops crying--with Whitney. Just because. I spend a great deal of time in my Pokemon playing shipping random NPCs.

Pokeathlon opened, time to. grind for the Water Stone.

If my memory of this is correct, before you beat the Elite Four, there’s a different evolution stone available for purchase each day. Today’s is a Moon Stone.

Oh, this is going to be hell!

tfw you remember the Jump course being the kindest so pick it but none of your team is actually good at jumping so you’ve got to bring in the reserves.

Hurricane, Cloud, Sleet? Your time is now.

...

..

.

These games are not meant to be played on a touchpad.

Yikes.

Oh my fucking gosh this is hell do not want.

Well.

I lost.

Yay for 325 points.

LET’S KEEP GOING, SHALL WE????

Where’s my mouse...

Let’s try Power on for size. Chance, Downpour, Fludd, go for it.

Oh look I lost.

Downpour, you better appreciate how much I love you.

LOOK WE WON THE STAMINA ONE.

I’m not documenting this further. Know that I am miserable, and this is not meant, in any way, to be played with a mouse. The levels of unfortunate are everlasting and I am sad.

-the next day-

I have to wait another day for a Water Stone, but I have enough for it, so now we can move on to fun things. Like the game. The game. Which is fun.

tfw Jirachi is secretly an odd tree.

Route 37, have ye any Water or Dark?

Chimchar, you are found lacking.

Ah crud.

Totodile is not lacking, but I really don’t think catching it is a good idea. Pure Water locks me into Water. We might end up there anyway, but I’m not in such a hurry to commit just yet. I can kill a route to keep some variety alive.

Sorry, Totodile. :(

Ecruteak means Bill, which means I could go back to Goldenrod and find out what his Eevee has become. Let’s do that before we think about anything fancy like plot progression.

Sleet, into the box with you. Maybe you’ll come back if I don’t like whatever Bill’s offering.

Carnivine. Interesting. Uh. How about... Drizzle? Drizzle. Cool. And. Uh. Sleet. You’re staying in the box. Sorry, but level 5 things that are filling out party count are really just going to end up as very sad sacrifices. We’re avoiding that for now.

-another day passes-

(without me getting balls from Kurt, whoops)

WE DID IT.

Now to find out that Downpour’s spending another twenty levels not needing it because moves matter more than stats. To the internet.

...Oh.

Oh, Downpour.

Oh, no.

You, uh.

Kiddo, you’re going to be needing some help as we move forward.

But the good news is that means we’re evolving you now! Yay! Power boost! You go, you funky little duck frog thing.

Maximum cuteness achieved.

That’s a good stopping point for this round, I think.

#Pokemon #Nuzlocke #Nuzlocke Challenge #playthrough

[puclpodcast]

Pokemon Catch-Up: “Pokémon: The First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back” Part II

Welcome to Pokemon Catch-Up! Today, we’re covering the second part of Pokemon: The First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back. The movie itself is a little too long for a single article so I decided to split it into three parts. Last time, we left our heroes in the large hall on Mewtwo’s island where trainers were just getting situated after braving the storm that Mewtwo summoned.

If you didn’t know, PUCL has a movie club that already covered this movie. Unlike this article which servers as a synopsis, the movie club dives into the quality of the movie, the plot, and so on.

As a quick note, I apologize about how long this article took to come up. A few personal things coupled with the dense story of the movie (in comparison to an episode of the show) caused me to be very VERY behind. Part III of the series should take much less time.

Today’s Movie: Pokémon: The First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back

Synopsis

We’re right about half an hour into the movie. Ash, Misty, and Brock have entered the mansion on the “Master’s” island and the lady (who looks suspiciously like the missing Nurse Joy) lead them to the three other trainers that have made the journey. The woman then prompts them to release their Pokemon from the Pokeballs. The door closes and the shot zooms out to show Team Rocket climbing up the side of the building.

They are discussing entering the mansion via a sewer lower down. Mew joins them unbeknownst to the team. Jessie senses its presence but when she turns around, nothing is there.

Meanwhile, our heroes let all of their Pokemon out and they join the other trainers. There’s a trainer who flew there with his Pidgeotto. There’s Fergus who used his Gyarados and rode over on its back. Lastly, there’s another trainer who presumably used her Dewgong.

The light go out and a column of light appears in the middle of a spiral staircase. The hypnotized Nurse Joy announces her master’s arrival.

It’s, of course, Mewtwo.

We cut back to Team Rocket who is making their way through a tunnel. Mew follows them but disappears any time one of the team members look back to find it. They arrive at a ladder.

Back to Mewtwo who finally arrives. The lady announces that Mewtwo is not only the greatest Pokemon trainer, he’s the greatest Pokemon. Fergus immediately protests. A Pokemon cannot be a Pokemon master! Mewtwo uses his powers to lift Fergus high up into the air and then throws him in a nearby pool of water.

Fergus beckons his Gyarados to attack with a Hyperbeam. Mewtwo stops the blast mid air and sends it back to Gyarados who flies back and faints. Mewtwo dehypnotizes the lady and it’s finally, officially, revealed that she’s Nurse Joy.

Mewtwo explains how he hypnotized Nurse Joy and then calls himself a ruler of the world.

Back to Team Rocket. This scene switching is exhausting!

Team Rocket stumbles on some kind of laboratory where a Blastoise, Venosaur, and Charizard are resting in a liquid-filled sack. They bear markings on their bodies that are usually not seen on those Pokemon out in the wild. Jessie walks over to a computer and accidentally turns it on. The computer activates a machine that clones Pokemon. The machine grabs Meowth and removes a sample of its hair.

A projector shows the analysis of the hair and then a brand new Meowth exits the machine into its own liquid-filled sack where it could rest as well.

The computer continues to play back a recording of a scientist. The scientist explains how they found the remains of Mew.

The scientist explains how they replicated Pokemon but made them stronger in the process. Then he goes on to talk about the laboratory’s destruction at the hands of Mewtwo.

Meanwhile, Mewtwo is giving the trainers a little speech. He talks about his imprisonment and his “storm” that will effectively destroy the world and help Mewtwo create his own world. The Pokemon also clarifies when asked that Pokemon will not be spared since they have aligned themselves with humans. Pikachu jumps from Ash’s shoulder and tries to argue.

Mewtwo flings it in the air with this psychic powers and Ash catches and falls with it. A trainer tries to attack Mewtwo with his Rhyhorn in an attempt to catch him but Mewtwo lifts the Rhyhorn off the floor with his mind.

Ash challenges Mewtwo to a match and the Pokemon reponds by waking up the tube Pokemon from the laboratory.

The trio of starter evolutions leave the laboratory. They reappear in the grand hall where Mewtwo continues his story. He cloned the starters to make them more powerful. A window behind Mewtwo disappears to reveal a large Pokemon stadium. The lights turn on.

The other trainers call on their own starter evolutions and Ash summons his Charizard who immediately attacks Mewtwo with a fire attack that the Pokemon effortlessly blocks.

The Pokemon and their trainers relocate to the stadium where Mewtwo stands on one side while Ash and the other trainers stand on the other.

Venosaur steps forward for the first battle and the cloned Venosaur meets it in the field. The cloned Venosaur blocks a Razor Leaf and then lifts up its enemy to throw it out of bounds. The pair of Blastoise are next. The regular Blastoise fires off a Hydro Pump but the clone retreats into its shell, spins, and deflects the attack. The spinning shell hits the real Blastoise and knocks it out of the field.

Misty prompts Ash to forfeit since the clones are too powerful. But Ash isn’t giving up. Finally, Charizard vs. Charizard. Ash tells it to use its speed rather than power. Both Charizard take off.

They trade punches and circle each other in the air, flying above the clouds into the moonlit night. The clone grabs Charizard and slams it into the ground. The real Charizard gets up but falls over.

Mewtwo declares himself the victor and claims his prize by using strange black Pokeballs that have one big eye on it. The Pokeballs float through the air and attempt to capture all of the Pokemon. One by one, the Pokemon are captured despite their efforts to fight, and their trainers’ efforts to shield them. Ash recalls his Pokemon in an attempt to save them but the black Pokeballs capture those as well.

Finally, Pikachu is the last Pokemon on the run. Pikachu uses its speed to dodge the Pokeballs. When the black Pokeballs gain on it, it uses an electric attack to stun them but more follow. Ash runs after it up a staircase that leads to the top of the mansion. He nearly falls to his death but recovers. Meanwhile, Pikachu is exhausted and falls off the staircase. The black Pokeball catch it before it hits the pool below.

The Pokeballs disappear into large openings in the floor that immediately close; however, not before Ash makes it through as well.

In the laboratory, Team Rocket watches as the black Pokeballs are scanned, naming off all the Pokemon that show up on the screen. The scanned Pokemon are cloned and end up in the same fluid-filled sacs as the starter evolutions earlier in the movie.

Ash comes out on a conveyor belt and cuts off Team Rocket before they can say their motto, “I don’t have time for your dumb motto today!”. He jumps after Pikachu’s Pokeball, trying to wrangle it away from robotic arms.

The computer scans Pikachu but Ash’s efforts to destroy the mechanical arms causes some kind of a shortage in the computer. Pikachu escapes the Pokeball and the computer nearly sets on fire. The clones come out in increasing numbers and immediately “hatch”. They exit the lab. The computer finally explodes and lets loose the originals. Bulbasaur and Squirtle run up to Ash happy to be free.

Back at the Stadium, Mewtwo stands in front of his starter clones while staring down the trainers.

And that’s it for today!

This article took an absolutely astonishing amount of time to put together and we still have Part III to go where the epic showdown takes place. Look out for it a couple of weeks from now!

Trivia

When Team Rocket watches the cloning computer scan various Pokemon, they yell out “Who’s that Pokemon?” at the projector which shows a silhouette of the scan

When a silhouette of Scyther shows up, Team Rocket calls out “Alakazam”

from Pokemon Catch-Up: “Pokémon: The First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back” Part II

#pokemon #pucl #pokemon podcast #ORAS #nintendo #video games

[daily-pokemon-trivia]

modern starters (gen 5 onward) are based on different themes. This is the third part of a 6 day series about starter trio’s.

Gen 6 is commonly considered to be based on RPG classes, possibly D&D. Unlike gen 5, there’s less confirmed stuff and more like speculation.

Chesnaught is a knight and has inspiration taken from multiple types of body armor. The RPG part of it comes in possibly being based on a warrior class. This is why it has a lot of defense/attack and low special defense/special attack, warrior’s tend to be very bulky but lack magic.

Delphox is based on witches (possibly also kitsune’s). Its fire stick could represent wands that you see in European witchcraft. It could also be a fire-starter witch as a reference to the witch trials, where witches were burned. Its RPG class would be a mage, which is easy to see from its design. Typically they’re good with magic but not so good with brute force, which is why its special stats are high and its physical ones are low.

As you can tell from its name, Greninja is a ninja. Although I didn’t mention the animals the other 2 are based on, it should be noted that Greninja being a ninja frog is because of “The tale of the gallant jiraiya.” a Japanese folk story. Its RPG class would be a thief or rogue, This is why its speed is higher than anything else and its sp defense and normal defense are the lowest, this class is used to dodging attacks more than withstanding them.

#pokemon #pokemon trivia #pokemon starter trivia week #pokemon gen 6 #pokemon delphox #pokemon greninja #pokemon chesnaught #chesnaught #delphox #greninja

[daily-pokemon-trivia]

modern starters (gen 5 onward) are based on different themes, or believed to be. This is the fourth part of a 6 day series about starter trio’s.

Gen 7 does not have a clear or confirmed theme, please keep that in mind for this part! Most of this is speculation. There are 2 things people think the starters could be themed around, more D&D/RPG classes or "villain, hero, damsel."

Decidueye in this case is either an archer or hero. I don’t think I’d have to explain the archer thing, because it has an entire bow as a signature bit of its design. The hero part comes from it sharing similarities to Robin Hood, the classic English folk hero. 

Incineroar would be a warrior/brute or the villain. The warrior/brute comes from it being based off of wrestlers and being a hard hitter. Whereas the villain role comes from it being a wrestler and dark type. In Japanese, the name for dark type is actually evil type, which explains why this would make it the villain.

And then you have Primarine, our bard or damsel in distress. It’s based on opera singers with its signature Z-move being called “Oceanic Operetta.” So it wouldn’t be weird if it’s role in an RPG would be to be the bard. And the damsel part is based off of being a very effeminate pokemon. (Though Primarina can kick ass, we love a girlboss)

Now I didn’t mention it before but another pretty popular theory is that the starters are based on zodiac signs. Decidueye being a Saggitarius due to it being an archer, Incineroar being a Leo due to it being a cat-like animal with somewhat of a mane around it’s face and Primarina being an Aqaurius due to its water type and flowing hair. And another theory is that they are performers on a stage. There are a LOT of theories around their theme, and this isn't even all of them.

#pokemon #pokemon trivia #pokemon starter trivia week #pokemon gen 7 #pokemon primarina #pokemon decidueye #pokemon incineroar #primarina #decidueye #incineroar

[daily-pokemon-trivia]

modern starters (gen 5 onward) are based on different themes. This is the final part of a 6 day series about starter trio’s.

Gen 9 is another generation where the themes are left up to speculation. The common idea most people roll with is that they are performers. 

Meowscarada is a magician, with it literally being called the magician pokemon. And it's signature attack "flower trick" could be based off of the classic magician trick of making flowers appear.

Skeledirge is a singer. Like Meowscarada, its title is the singer pokemon to back this up. Although I feel like there's too much to say about Skeledirge in this post, there's a lot of possible inspiration for what type of singer it is. Such as possibly being an opera singer.

And then you have Quaqauval, just like the other two it's title is the same as its theme. The dancer pokemon. It seems to take inspiration from carnival performers and dancers from other cultures (it's not native to Paldea).

The starters actually have a lot of inspirations and different ideas on them, especially Skeledirge. But I sadly had to keep that short to keep it to the theme only. 

#pokemon #pokemon trivia #pokemon gen 9 #pokemon starter trivia week #pokemon meowscarada #pokemon quaqauval #pokemon skeledirge #skeledirge #meowscarada #quaqauval

[daily-pokemon-trivia]

modern starters (gen 5 onward) are based on different themes. This is the fifth part of a 6 day series about starter trio’s.

Gen 8 is based on typical British culture.

Rillaboom is rock music, due to its drums. And it's appearance seems to be taking inspiration from rock people too.

Cinderace is a sporty bunny, and wears a uniform. It's pretty obviously based off of footballers from its uniform to it using its feet to kick fireballs around. Football is pretty huge in Europe, and England loves the sport too.

And then Inteleon is a spy. If you're wondering what this has to do with British culture, it's because of James Bond. A well known British spy in pop culture. 

#pokemon #pokemon trivia #pokemon starter trivia week #pokemon gen 8 #pokemon rillaboom #pokemon cinderace #pokemon inteleon #inteleon #cinderace #rillaboom

[daily-pokemon-trivia]

For the next 6 days, the posts are gonna talk about starter trio’s! This is the first part

There’s a sort of musical starter trio, although they’re from different generations. Primarina as the water starter from gen 6, Rillaboom as the grass starter from gen 7 and Skeledirge as the fire starter from gen 8. All of them are based on music.

#pokemon #pokemon trivia #pokemon starter trivia week #pokemon starters #pokemon primarina #pokemon skeledirge #pokemon rillaboom #rillaboom #skeledirge #primarina

[puclpodcast]

S01E43 Pokemon Catch-Up: “The March of the Exeggutor Squad”

I’m not sure if we can top episode 35, the banned episode, but we will continue to carry on with our Pokemon Catch-Up! We will be, yet again, following the Pokemon Fast Track Viewing List, a list of only the most important Pokemon episodes. The episode number for this episode varies but generally speaking, it’s either episode 43 from the full list, or episode 40 in the US release (also Netflix).

This week, we get to witness something a little different than our last episodes. No new Pokemon will be caught, and Ash will earn no new badge. So why is this episode on the list? We’ll see!

Today’s Episode: Season 1 (Indigo League), Episode 43: “The March of the Exeggutor Squad”

Synopsis

The scene opens to Ash and his friends enjoying a carnival in some unnamed town.

Ash and Brock agree to “really party” and put on silly costumes whilst awkwardly dancing in the crowd. Misty decides to split from the group and ride on a Rapidash Merry-Go-Round. As she rounds a corner, she hears a woman demanding a man with exeggcute pay what he owes her. He pleads with her but she does not relent. In fact, she just gets angrier.

She hits him and the man falls flat on his back. Misty comes up to him and he asks her for help, well, kind of guilts her into it. He gets super-creepy and then he asks her to be his assistant to a magician named Melvin. He performs a few small tricks and shares his dream of having a Las Vegas show room. Misty reluctantly agrees and we’re carried off to see the Melvin’s show.

Misty, Exeggcute, and Melvin are in an auditorium and while Melvin is introducing his show, Brock and Ash spot their friend from the (mostly empty) seats. Pikachu is excited to be part of the show while Misty is embarassed to be on stage.

Melvin introduces Exeggcute and starts to Juggle the individual “heads”. The crowd starts to call out how boring that is and how they want to see magic. Melvin promises “real magic”. Pikachu electrifies Melvin’s staff and it shoots out flamethrower fire everywhere. The crowd is amazed, for sure, but he almost hits several of the audience members and then sets off the sprinklers. The crowd demands money back.

Outside of the tents, Melvin gets fired. Misty tries to comfort Melvin. When the magician talks about giving up on his dreams, Ash gives the man a pep talk. Even Misty agrees and commends Ash for giving the right advice.

Quick side note: I noticed that in this episode that the group’s dynamic is really starting to shine through. Maybe it was visible before but there is some great subtext here especially between Ash and Misty. You can really tell that the two care for each other but as far as I know, Pokemon never explores a possible romantic side of their relationship. We’ll, however, see hints of this possibility time and time again. She travels as part of the group until Johto and I’m sad to say that she hasn’t reappeared in the newer seasons. If you’re a fan of Doctor Who, this kind of thing will feel rather familiar.

Anyways, back to the show!

Jessie, James, and Meowth are floating on their Meowth balloon, surveying what the “twerps” are up to. Jessie and James are using the top of the balloon for tanning.

They quickly hint at a scheme and we get back to Melvin.

Melvin tries to show off a new trick but it quickly fails. He feels rather down but Ash promises to put on a magic show of his own. He puts on a costume and brings out a box. Apparently, he can make water, fire, or anything appear out of his box.

He taps a hole in the box and a column of flame shoots out at Melvin. While burnt to a crisp, he claps excitedly. Then water comes out. And we find out that Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur are inside of the box. All is fine until Charmander’s tail fire burns Squirtle who bumps his head on the top of the box. Charmander moves his tail and burns Bulbasaur. The three start to fight and all goes wrong.

The group cleans up from the mess. Ash remarks that Melvin only has Exeggcute and they can’t do anything. Except…they hypnotize Ash! Melvin notices it and tells Ash to run around in a circle and act like Bulbasaur.

Ash complies. Melvin uses Ash to pull his cart into a forest, using the hypnosis. Why Misty or Brock didn’t stop them is beyond me. Misty and Brock follow their tracks, unable to understand why Ash went with Melvin. They figure out that Ash was under hypnosis.

Meanwhile, Jessie and James follow the magician via their balloon.

Melvin uses Ash to tell him about Exeggcutor they find in the forest. He commands Ash to use his Pokemon to weaken Exeggcutor which Melvin then captures. In just a few minutes, Melvin fills up his cart with a herd of Exeggcutor.

Melvin releases all of them afterward and surveys them. He plans to put everyone in the carnival under Hypnosis and force them to go to his shows. But before he does anything, Team Rocket finally show up and they mean business. They’re dressed in show clothes and even Melvin is impressed.

Meowth rolls in a box that Jessie and James enter, he covers it with a sheet and when he takes the sheet off, the Team Rocket duo is gone, back to their balloon…Only to jump back down again. They immediately start putting Melvin down for his shoddy magician skills and start to make their claim over the Exeggcutor. Melvin’s Exeggcute jump to the rescue and evolve into Exeggcutor.

It uses Hypnosis and the other Exeggcutor do the same, putting Team Rocket into a trance. The Exeggcutor stampede off and nearly run Misty and Brock down. Team Rocket joins the forest of Exeggcutor.

Pikachu uses a Thundershock to wake Ash up from its Hypnosis.

It turns out, as Melvin explains, the Exeggcutor used Hypnosis not only on Team Rocket but on each other and now they’re headed for the carnival! On top of that, they’re beyond Melvin’s control!

The living forest enters the town and people run off screaming. The entire carnival is in ruins by the time Ash and his friends get there. Melvin’s former boss tells them to leave because he left a bomb under the field to blow them up. Like, wow. The Exeggcutor stampede through and turn back around to cause more devastation.

Ash is determined to stop them so he calls out all of his starters. Squirtle’s water attacks rejuvenate Exeggcutor while Bulbasaur’s Razor Leaf gives them a neat haircut. Ash calls them back. Charmander uses Flamethrower and burns the Exeggcutor and that wakes the Pokemon up from the Hypnosis.

Charmander uses a “rapid fire Flamethrower attack” which I can only surmise to be a Flamethrower done over and over again.

The Exeggcutor wake up one by one, slightly charred. Unfortunately, Charmander runs out of energy. Misty turns to Melvin and prompts him to use his magic to wake up the attacking Pokemon. He takes quite a bit of convincing but eventually, he agrees to do it.

He uses his staff and alongside Charmander, they hit every Exeggcutor in the group. The Exeggcutor wake up and turn back around to go home. All except one. Melvin’s Exeggcutor.

The bomb goes off just a few seconds later.

By now, you might be wondering, “Why is this episode on the Fast Track Viewing List?”. Well, it’s because of what happens next. Due to defeating so many Exeggcutor, Charmander gains enough experience to start glowing and evolve!

It evolved into Charmeleon! Ash congratulates. The group leaves Melvin behind and wish him good luck. And that’s it!

This episode wasn’t the best but it certainly wasn’t the worst. I’ll say that I was a little disappointed to see Charmander evolve at the end as if it was an afterthought rather than a major plot point in the series. We get a bit of a preview of how Charmeleon and Ash will get along when Ash hugs the Pokemon and gets a shot of Flamethrower to his ear.

I can’t wait for the next episode!

Trivia

A little light on trivia but nevertheless, here it is:

This is the first episode where a real life city is referenced (Las Vegas by Melvin)

Melvin keeps all of his Exeggcutors about him despite the 6 Pokemon limit

In the original, Melvin wanted to make it to Broadway, not Las Vegas

from S01E43 Pokemon Catch-Up: “The March of the Exeggutor Squad”

#pokemon #pucl #pokemon podcast #ORAS #nintendo #video games