Pokémon In All Forms

I don't know what it is about Pokémon, okay, I will take that back. I know what it is about Pokémon that keeps me coming back for more. I collect Pokémon cards, and I play because it holds a special place in my heart, it is that safe place I go from my childhood. There are a lot of other TCGs out that you could collect instead. But, games like Magic and Yu-Gi-Oh! just seem so generic for me. Nor do the creatures do not mean anything to me.

They're less colorful, imaginative, and charming than Pokémon.

I like how smooth and quickly Pokémon flows.

I like how much access to your deck you have because of all the draw and search. I like how deck composition decisions play out so quickly in terms of performance. I like the basic mechanic of it being a battle between active Pokémon with a little bit of interaction from the bench.

It's simple enough that 10 year old me could pick it up and play a competitive game and yet it is deep enough for me to spend hours a day acting as a strategist now as an adult. There is far more decision making than one would be led to believe if you only looked at it in the context of a "kid's game." There are a lot of different ways/tactics to play which keeps it interesting. And now it is an activity Bae and I can enjoy as a couple.

I tried playing competitively, but ultimately got frustrated with it because of things like turbo Flareon/Empoleon, Toad, the coming Vileplume, Toad, LaserBank, Toad, the coming Giratina, Toad, crushing/enhanced hammers, Toad, etc.

I just walked away frustrated whenever I tried playing seriously.

I started playing rogue decks and it's fun because people are so focused on the meta that they don't expect rogue decks.

One thing that bothers me, and I'm sure that this is the same in other card games as well, is the insane amount of hype cards get while others are hated for no good reason.

Why did you start with Pokémon, and why do you stick with it?

Why physical cards instead of the online TCG?

I like online and the TCG. Which I like most goes up and down.

Online is so smooth with the setup and shuffling done automatically. But there is a wonderful tactile quality about drawing cards, about physically a Pokémon into the active, about revealing the card that will mess up your opponent.

And it's just fun to be physically opposite someone.

The Evolution of Trade – A Pokémon Quirk

Some players new to Pokémon wonder why certain features work the way that they do in the game. One of them is when you trade certain mons, this will cause them to evolve.

But why?

New experiences help us grow, and same goes with Pokémon. But not all experiences are good.

Haunter needs th despair and sadness it feels from being sent away by its trainer in order to evolve into Gengar.
Machoke needs grief mixed with loss of the trainer to achieve stronger willpower, this allows them to evolve into Machamp.
Kadabra gains depression by being traded, this leads to psychotic powers allowing it to evolve into Alakazam.
Graveler evolves into Golem but this can only happen through a trade when its heart is cracked and broken, causing immense stress.

There's only so much they can experience with one trainer, so by being traded away into the hands of another trainer, they learn a lot more, triggering their evolution. It could be the sadness of being traded away that contributes to this experience, it could be the ability to learn how to trust another trainer.

But this is all fine and good, a little on the sad side, and a little stupid in my opinion because it is basically on and off, you could have a bad trainer who treats them poorly and trade them to a nice trainer, this would be the opposite, and it wouldn't create the desired effect, yet, it does.

The real reason it to encourage players and kids to buy the link cable and trade with friends. So you have to trade them so that the Pokémon Company and Nintendo make money.

Check That Game Freak

Have you ever wanted to collect all of the cards, and I mean all of the cards? Then it is time to start printing out some checklists. And it just so happens that I have a couple of them for you to get started with.

Game Freak released them a while ago and I am glad that they did, since it is neat having them printed out and slipped into a binder, seeing what you have and don't have, and drooling over the names of cards you may never find.

I love the lists, but I will mention that none of them are actually 100% complete. Unfortunately, the checklist do not include the secret rares.

Base Sets

Base Set Checklist

Base set checklist

Base Set 2 Checklist

Base set 2 checklist

Jungle

Jungle set checklist

Fossil

Fossil set checklist

Rocket

Rocket set checklist

Gym Heroes

Gym Heroes set checklist

Gym Challenge

Gym Challenge set checklist

Neo Genesis

Neo Genesis set checklist

Neo Discovery

Neo Discovery set checklist

Pokémon – The Series is for the Fans

I don't know if I would call myself a die hard fan or not, I mean, I love the series and have played/collected a lot of it but that doesn't mean that I have seen or done everything that they offer. There is only so much time in the day and there are only so many things that you can do before you get a little burnt out and that means that with all of the content available it would take me forever.

And new stuff comes out all of the time anyway.

On top of that, for me personally, my favorite is original series. I have seen it multiple times and it has the best writing imo and pacing. But in general, the first five seasons have well written stories, funny moments from Ash doing stupid things and it introduced me to world of Pokémon.

On top of that you have Tracy’s temporarily replacing Brock. This led to some good stories and it was nice seeing Ash growing from a rookie to good trainer.

The only downside was that Misty is more of a side character than a legitimate Pokémon trainer due to her so-so character development. It isn't until later that both Misty and Serena become more original. But fans had to wait until SM for that to happen.

The wait was worth it.

One is a tomboy who stood up to her sister's verbal abuse, and latter showed actual growth/ independent development from a girly girl who didn't know what to do to a more matured girl who stood up against her mom's wish and followed her dream as a Pokémon performer.

Sure for Sun and Moon some of the character designs are horrid. And I have yet to find anyone that thought Rotom was anything less than obnoxious, but the animation is fantastic.

Also the story would be better if they could introduced a new groups to replaced Team Rocket, and would be even better if Ash didn’t have to get up his best Pokémon for newbies in Johto season. The worst episode in the show has to be the gym battle vs Liz and Tate in the 3rd generation. People criticize the season for a couple of reasons: lackluster characters, lack of character relationships, as well as Ash turning into a different character.

I enjoy Sun and Moon because it is a lighthearted and fun contribution to the series.

Pokémoments

White 2 was the first game I spent hours upon hours upon hours on. My first time getting Pokémon to level 100. It was a great game for me. I had played Leaf Green beforehand, but White 2 was the first game I actually grew invested in the game, even the horrible horrible weeks it took to get a hydreigon and Volcorona, I still remember it all with the fondest of memories.

One of my favorite memories from Pokémon was in Pokémon Black 2, when you fight Ghetsis.

It was his breaking point before going full psycho. It’s one of the most memorable villain fights in the games.

Still if we are talking about Black and White 2 I would have to say that my favorite moment was when I got into the hall of fame. The techno music didn’t hurt.

Another one of my favorite moments from the games was in Silver/Soul Silver, when I climbed up Mt. Silver and fought Red and finally beat him. It was like the culmination of everything I had done throughout the game was building up to that one intense, and difficult, moment. But, all well worth it.

I love the Pokemon franchise and have many favorite moments, but these are a few that solidified my foundation as a Pokemon fan.

I still have some Pokémon games to completely finish because I don't have my Ds or 3DS anymore. I love the Pokémon franchise. It means a lot and it gives me hours of entertainment weekly. I still play Pokémon go when I go out to places.

Katekyo Hitman Reborn Varia Arc Rewatch

KHR just keeps getting better. It started off with a fair amount of training, and then lead to some awesome fights. Just as I had hoped, the Varia arc continued the plot and character development that began in the Kokuyo arc. (Not a complaint perse) Making this is my overall favorite arc of the show so this isn't my first rewatch, but I have put somethings down that may improve your first rewatch.

34 The Varia Comes! ヴァリアー来る
35 The 7 Vongola Rings ボンゴレリング7つ
36 Katekyo, Start カテキョー、動く
37 Master and Disciple Combi, Set 師弟コンビ、揃う
38 The Disapperance of the Stubborn Fawn ワガママ子牛の失踪
39 The Unseen Enemy's Motive 見えざる敵の目的は
40 Fight for the Ring Begins! リング争奪戦、開始!
41 Feelings of the Protector 晴の守護者の思い
42 The Power to Rebound Adversity 逆境をはね返す力
43 Thunder Strike of 20 Years Later 20年後の雷撃
44 The Stolen Sky Ring 奪われた大空のリング
45 Storm Brewed by Angry Waves 怒涛の嵐戦
46 Reason to Fight 戦う理由
47 The Strongest Invincible School 最強無敵の流派
48 Namegata's Game 勝負の行方
49 Requiem of the Rain レクイエムの雨

I just love the entire premise of the arc. And I feel like it is the best implamented overall when compared to the Manga. There are some things here that you don't get, or get as much of in other arcs, especially when it comes to different group of people contesting to be the next Vongola X. I mean, really, at this point in the show, which viewer hasn't looked at Tsuna and thought "this kid is gonna be Vongola X?"

Still I am not without complaints, right now there are 2 things in the anime that are bother me, the biggest being that most of the female characters in the show are unbelievably dense. I hope they change or that more interesting and less dense female characters get introduced as the series progresses.

The other one is Tsuna's uniform, which now has wavy edges around the collar and shoulder for no apparent reason. This is a minor complaint, so it hasn't really affected my enjoyment of the show, but I can't excuse lazy animation.

As I have said, the fights, the fights. The fights are amazing. Tsuna saving Lambo at the cost of losing his sky ring! Wow, this showed how his character had developed thus far, which was nice.

Just like Gokudera's fight, Yamamoto vs. Squallo made great use of its surroundings – this time with a flooding destroyed building. Really fitted well with their fighting styles.

Rain

This is my favorite fight of the arc.

It combines action and intellect and has the best setup to the fight. The team now can't afford another loss AND Yamamoto's opponent is Squalo (my favorite member of the Varia from the beginning and someone who's showed that they're a good threat by beating all of the guardians including Yamamoto before) AND there's no "good" outcome to the battle.

I loved Squalo because of his design, VA, and funny personality but there was definitely a sad thought in my head that once Squalo lost the battle, he'd get killed by the Varia. So there's stakes in either outcome of the battle. Yes, you could argue that it's obvious Yamamoto's going to be the winner because we need to see the other battles (also, opening) but this fight is less about "who will win?" but more about "HOW will Yamamoto win?" and this fight completely delivers there.

The end to episode 48 feels so hopeless with Yamamoto being completely outclassed and now knows that Squalo has beaten the invincible style before.

My friend predicted here that there'd be "a secret 9th stance" cause that's what anime does, but KHR did it even better. It made it so there was a reason Squalo didn't know about the 8th stance and a reason for Yamamoto to create his own stance and subvert the style. I also loved how the writers didn't just have Squalo lose because he couldn't recognize the attacks–he still had his artificial hand that could've killed Yamamoto if the 9th stance didn't involve reflection.

It was a great end to an exhilarating battle and Squalo was never more entertaining during it.

I was thinking that the fight would end with Yamamoto winning and then bringing Squalo to the Vongola side and while I never truly believed Squalo was killed by the shark, I still liked the overall direction of his character

Collecting Nostalgia

When you do something long enough, when you engage in a hobby for years it is both modern, fresh and familiar, but it also brings with it a certain amount of nostalgia.

The nostalgia is a great feeling, and one that should be cherished. I love to have something physical when it comes to Pokémon. The smell of new blister packs. The sensation of opening something that it filled with a little bit of wonder. It is great. The online game and Go are both good. But the physical game, that is where I find myself having the most fun. Don' get me wrong, collecting your sixth lvl 100 in the video game, catching the 280th Rattata in Go or playing the card game online is definitely fun.

But for me it's not the same as with the TCG.

Every card is a small piece of art.

Collecting now as an adult also reduces my deep sadness that comes up when I think what happened to my shoebox full of cards.

Collecting is something that keeps the game interesting. When I started there were only 151 Pokémon. Today…

I have completed the Goldstars, Shinings, both Black & White secret rares, full arts, Breaks, Legends, Primes, first 4 sets, 95% of all Charizards including a 1st edition base Charizard, own 5 crystal holo cards including Charizard. My collecting now contains more than 29,000 cards and out of that number, over 900 are Ultra rare/ secret rare cards.

As a kid I dreamed of having an awesome collection.

You know the kind, the one that my parents would never buy for me because they thought it was a waste of money.

Now that I'm older I get to collect the holographic cards that came out when I was little, I look forward to the end of each month to buy another!

People still tell me that this is a waste of money, but it isn't their money, nor do I tell them what they should spend theirs on. I simply love collecting and if it fulfills me then it is none of their business.

Fan Favorites: Clefairy

Clefairy (Japanese: ピッピ Pippi)

Base Stats

  • HP 70
  • Attack 45
  • Defense 48
  • Sp. Atk 60
  • Sp. Def 65
  • Speed 35
  • Total 323

I don't know how many years ago, but it was many, I blindly played through Pokemon Blue.

Through some serendipity I was able to catch a Clefairy in Mt. Moon, though I didn't like the Clefairy at first. I quickly learned how silly I was though and it soon became a staple on my team.

Clefairy's elemental coverage helped me push my way past all the obstacles and before I knew it I had a lvl 100 Clefable and had beaten the Elite 4. That girly monster eventually found its way onto my copy of Silver version where it helped me catch a shiny Ryhorn, first non-Gyrados shiny, in Mt. Silver.

This all culminated with defeating my real life rival in the most intense battle of my childhood.