Madame Pika

ANYWAY, off that horribly selfish derail train now, what keeps me from being ABSOLUTELY FURIOUS of Ash losing Goodra is my faith that he WILL have a Greninja someday. At last, Ash will finally have a fully-evolved water starter and it's thankfully one that doesn't suck! I mean, the fact that Greninja's in Smash Bros. pretty much tells me it's popular enough to warrant some good anime screentime. Oh yeah, and he's swapping one Dragon-type for another. idk how to feel about the Noibat thing yet, Imma just gonna see it pan out and assume they'll handle this right. Even in Best Wishes, babby Scraggy was one of the few main-cast 'mons I genuinely liked despite lacking development, so I presume Noibat won't be too bad. Still doesn't change that Goodra > Noivern overall in my eyes. And I'm still a little out of the loop, but I'm assuming Serena gets an Eevee/Sylveon soon too? I was kinda hoping at some point she'd follow in May and Dawn's footsteps and get a starter of the gen that's being remade - namely Mudkip, because it was wasted on Brock while Sceptile/Blaziken got lots of focus, so I'm hoping like hell that still ends up being a thing. Hopefully not too long so that it doesn't become ridiculous for Serena to have a Swampert by the end.

It doesn't surprise me that Iris would be less popular than the other main pokeani girls in Japan, despite BW's attempts to hype the shit out of her. Of all things, though, race being the cause is mighty depressing. I was initially EXCITED for Iris before BW aired and was hoping for something like Sapphire from Special but... ohhhh nope, that'd have been too fun. I guess it's not impossible for an Iris cameo to be good like you said, depending on the writing and the justification for why the hell she's in Kalos in the first place.

Most sensibly I opted for mom dying when Paul's too young to properly/reliably remember her, but old enough to have some degree of emotional scarring that blocks what few memories he'd have and that just leaves him further confused/unable to comprehend proper family life, so that he'd be old enough to know Reggie being literally his only family is not enough for him, no matter how hard Reggie tries to be dad+mom+big bro simultaneously. And Reggie constantly trying too hard to fill all the family roles for Paul's sake just drives Paul further away, which might go some way in showing why Paul tends to be pretty distant, even when he's being polite to Reggie. Like even when he's trying to show his love, it often comes out completely the wrong way. XD And by the present timeline, Reggie probably realizes that, even if it gets on his nerves and it takes every ounce of willpower to suppress those feelings so he can keep being the best pseudo-parent ever! At the very least canon already provided us proof that Reggie's under no delusion that his little bro is a saint: he is a shitlord through and through. I'm weird when it comes to showing my love for characters, ain't I?

Incidentally, looking over some of your headcanons, I kinda chuckled at the Reggie-starts-with-Turtwig one - NOT because I don't think it's plausible, of course! But because the ends to justify your means (aka Paul's Turtwig was hatched from Reggie's Torterra) is actually something I long ago had in the works, only instead of Reggie, it'd be Brandon's Torterra that would've laid the egg that would one day be Paul's Turtwig. XD And that Brandon's Torterra is a shiny. I guess what I'm trying to say is I like how our clashing headcanons produce the same intended result, fff.

But yeah. I guess generally my problem is anyone assuming I'm using the headcanon just to give Paul a sympathetic sob story. Because really, in my mind, Paul was a little dickmonger even before his mom died. The plan was never to excuse Paul's behavior; simply to give him a bit of hell and because when watched Paul for the first time, one of my earliest thoughts was "Geez, what kind of mother would raise their boy to be like this?!" which naturally my brain mapped out the typical branches of possibilities: a) the mom is an abusive and awful human being - something I see a LOT more commonly done in fanfics at least and it's way more of a cheap method to excuse Paul's behavior, b) mom just works a lot and never sees her kids - which I saw a lot of people against Brandon-daddy headcanon lobby for in both parents; same with option a - but I personally find on the dull side and imo that headcanon works way better for Conway /bias, and of course c) mom died - which I see variants of.

In fact, that's pretty much explicitly the case with this person who I don't think even has a tumblr, but they're quite avid in thinking I can't write Paul for shit. idk though, the headcanon is popular, sure, but I hardly see it all over the place. And I actively look. But to be honest, the thing that creeps me out the most is the fact that the avid hater of my fic on LJ and the one I've seen most adamantly hateful about the headcanon via your tumblr use Paul icons made by me. For so long I've been so incredibly lax on people using my icons without crediting or whatever, but SOMETHING just feels extremely wrong when people use my icons while trashing my story/blaming me for the headcanon/assuming anyone who follows the headcanon uses it as a cheap ploy to develop Paul and/or Reggie. @_@

Might just be me being overly sensitive to criticism or even paranoid, but these instances were pretty jarring experiences to run into. Especially when it gets so blown out of proportion. I really wish I was more on-schedule with Trifecta, because by now I'd be at the point where Brandon's backstory gets cracked wide open and abruptly switches Reggie and Paul's brother roles in the process. I mapped out so much damn backstory for Brandon pre-dadddy days, to the point that even without that particular headcanon, I cling to another headcanon that Brandon is totally BFFs with Byron and Palmer and I reeeeeally wanna get to writing that soon.

(invitation to spam you say?? well I prepared 20,000 characters of that! Let's see how many VMs that makes)
Hahaha, that's okay. I don't frequent this place nearly as much as I used to, and sadly I'm a bit terrified at the idea of having my own tumblr page. There's already total strangers I've never even met there who hate me with inexplicable passion; I shudder to think of how much anon harassment I'd get on a daily basis. Not just from people who can't handle my contempt for Best Wishes, but even from Paul fanboys! I've gone through your tumblr every now and then because I like reading your own personal take on Paul, Reggie, and the anime in general~ and your tumblr will pop up on google searches once in a while when I'm bored and googling my own fic title to see if there's anything I'm missing out on. XD I like your headcanons, even if they happen to conflict with mine, and I liked reading your analysis on DP128 that I also studied relentlessly (and kinda had to for fic purposes, hahaha). But I admit it was a bit disconcerting seeing a couple of people who were so vehemently against the Daddy Brandon headcanon, because I can't help but feel that's somehow my fault because Trifecta's one of the few stand-out representations of said headcanon.

Not that real life hasn't given me plenty of stress on its own merits, but having another version of a Best Wishes depression that hits even closer to home than the original article has really done a number on my head, as you might imagine. XD At the very least, I'm keeping Trifecta alive in my head and my heart every day, no matter how rarely I write on it. I'd like to try and not make this an ACTUAL 2-year wait, though. Thank god the weather's getting nicer; that should help motivate me rather than vegetate like I've been doing all winter. Thankfully there's not many more acts to get through before SMC's run is done (these bi-weekly releases are pure hell though) and I hope to GOD they aren't greenlit to Crystal-fy the next three story arcs or I might try to fry some bitches with my mind. Like seriously, I'm almost afraid that if I try writing Trifecta before I've properly cleansed my soul from the poison SMC's marinating it in right now, the writing of Trifecta itself is going to look like something straight of of Sarcastaball. I wish I was kidding. o_o

(But thanks for checking in! XD Always great to have someone to talk to!)

Or, barring/adding to that, incessant whining and complaining that anyone dares to... well, complain about Sailor Moon Crystal! Just like how certain people LOVED to endlessly bitch about anyone who dared to criticize Best Wishes! Because that's totally not hypocritical at all! To hell with your right to express your opinion, HATERS shouldn't have rights! Because by god if you don't think Usagi and Mamoru's love is the purest and most perfect example of love out there that Crystal perfectly represents just as it PERFECTLY represents the manga and Naoko Takeuchi's TRUE wishes for how the story should go, then GTFO and take that negativity pollution out with you! When I browse Sailor Moon Crystal tags, GOD HELP YOU if I see one person who does not love this masterpiece of a series! Take off those NOSTALGIA SUNGLASSES and recognize that show which got you into Sailor Moon in the first place is a big shitty LIE that oppresses Goddess Naoko's True Vision and if you love that over this GODLY recreation of HER original story, then WTF kind of Sailor Moon Fan are you but a NAZI! A manga hater! That's all you must be if your 90s-addled brain cannot comprehend the greatness of Sailor Moon Crystal, the true and ONLY animated version of Sailor Moon we should've had all along!

---Yikes, my apologies. I suddenly had a raging Randy Marsh moment there.

Because much like how it was a pain to maintain how my feelings on Best Wishes were justified without actively coercing others to agree with me or lauding my views to be superior to those who begged to differ (as many MANY people have characterized me to be no matter how often I've gone out of my way to insist otherwise), though I was wise enough to keep my hands off from any forums or other social gatherings, it pained me to see people who felt exactly as I did get slandered and accused by people who LOVE SMC and insist anyone who doesn't is either an uneducated idiot with no knowledge of Sailor Moon beyond the DiC dub of the 90s anime, or just isn't a true fan.

Instead, though, all the misery and woe Best Wishes had bestowed upon me is now being fed to me by another source. One which, much like Best Wishes, I foolishly got REALLY REALLY HYPED for, and consequently became rendered dead inside for being given a product that has absolutely zero excuse to suck... and it goes by the name of Sailor Moon Crystal. And it's actually far more soul-crushing than Best Wishes could hope to be, because Sailor Moon is quite literally the embodiment of my childhood (unlike Pokemon, which my pretentious preteen self snubbed until giving it a chance at age 17 ), especially for anime and my social life on the internet. I've been all over Sailor Moon for approximately twenty years now. Watched all 200 episodes of the original 90s anime, read every volume of the manga, watched every episode of the live action series made back in 2003, collected a good number of merchandise over the years for someone who lives in a state where Sailor Moon stuff isn't exactly in steady supply (even today I dream of one day owning toy versions of every weapon/henshin pen/brooch ever made!)... only thing I never really dabbled in were the musicals. I saw approximately one in its entirety (the very very first one), which was entertaining, but damn are those things long to watch and there are TONS of them. But yeah, point is, I'm a well-rounded consummate Sailor Moon fan. Introduced via DiC version like most other American fans, but the internet enabled me to enjoy the true version of the story and its many retellings. In varying degrees, I enjoy all these forms of Sailor Moon.

But I despise Sailor Moon Crystal. I don't WANT to hate it, but honestly, it's impossible for me not to. It's also impossible for me to just stop watching it; if for nothing else, as my duty as a Sailor Moon fan, I must see the product in full to maintain my justified stance on why SMC is a terrible, horrible blemish on a franchise I've loved for nearly 2/3rds of my life.

What was a bad thing was that Cameron of all people had the team that matched my own BW team the best... and... the less said about how painful that is to reminisce about, the better. >< I suppose it could be worse. Iris could be making her requisite cameo and Ash could be handing Goodra over to her... if this happened that would be the first thing I'd be legit pissed about in the XY series. At this point I'm holding out hope that this is more of a Gliscor-type deal and that Goodra will at least show up for the Kalos League, because I'm finding it hard to justify Ash releasing Goodra. XY's more or less been written quite competently; we're long past the Kanto days of idiotic Pokemon releases and we're no longer in the inexplicable funk that is the era of Best Wishes' shit-tastic level of storytelling.
But beyond that sudden bump in the road... beyond a miraculous device to retcon Best Wishes out of the storyline so that XY is what follows after DP instead and a really cool Paul cameo, I couldn't really ask for more out of XY at the moment! I had a feeling all along there'd be something big for Serena down the road... and man, it feels nice to be right about something and that something being a good thing for a change. I legit love this entire group, I welcome the slower pacing and the gym battles becoming more sensible and cleverly-written again (rather than constantly leaning on the crutch of using type disadvantage to instill false drama and Heart of the Cards being favored over training we can actually be shown rather than just being told it happened off-screen), not to mention so much of this GLORIOUS ANIMATION. Not to say it's an absolutely perfect series, of course, but after Best Wishes it really feels like a godsend and just being able to have high hopes for the show and being legitimately excited over stuff rather lowering my expectations by force to avoid as much disappointment as possible is a freaking fantastic feeling.

(LONG reply ahead, fyi~)
Ahh, very nice to see a friend check in on me! ♥ I'm still very much enjoying XY though I've fallen a bit behind on it, mostly due to the fact that I axed my cable early this year. I'm not exactly missing my cable at all when Amazon Prime+Netflix+Hulu covers nearly everything I ever need or want to see at a cheaper price; the only downside is not really getting to catch new episodes live as they come. But I've been in a depressive funk for a few months now due to a myriad of issues, so half the time I'm forgetting to check for premieres and the like anyway. Thankfully there is an official app for Pokemon anime on my Fire TV that's free, so in due time I'll catch up. I AM rather bummed at the very likely possibility of Ash parting ways with Goodra soon after JUST getting that adorable thing to become an awesome powerhouse - because it feels like a massive waste to invest all this time to award Ash his first fully-evolved pseudo-legendary only to take it away from him as it reaches the level of pure awesomeness (in hindsight it feels incredibly unfair considering last series Iris literally got handed a fully-evolved pseudo-legendary that was already way too powerful than it had any right being, yet she gets to keep it and only deal with problems after fucking up a good chunk of the last major tournament arc before the League by spamming the shit out of that undeserved power) - and also because I really really like the Goodra line in general and Goodra was such a great teammate for me in X. :') Between it, Mega Charizard X, Blaziken, and Delphox, I pretty much dominated X with those four alone. And it's not often Ash gets to have one of my personal favorite 'mons - last time that happened was in DP. And even then that was only Torterra and Staraptor... and his Torterra sucked. Paul's team was closer to what my DP team was. Which of course isn't a bad thing!

Hello

This was unexpected surprise. Don't worry my friends, its forgiven . Glad that you remembered and like saying goes better ever than never.

Thank you, this was very considerate from you.

Ah, I see.

No problem.

I'm not sure what percentage are myself. Probably about 30% are fans of the idea of Satoshi itself. XD.

Unless he was purposely trying to forget V's face out of anger maybe, that's a good point. XD He really did look almost exactly the same as he did when he was younger, and there's not even a thing like getting a scar (like IV did since he was younger) to be confusing. What did you think of Chris's deck, by the way? I always liked the ideas behind it, but we got to see so little of the cards it's kind disappointing (and the spells are a bit disconnected from the monsters, I think).

Oh, thank you, I'm glad you liked it! It feels like so long ago I wrote that, I almost need to reread it myself, LOL.

Yup. Oh, so your parents play games? Yeah, it's nice to get back to Towns and use a new item you just got in a dungeon to help you get to chests with heart pieces or rupees. It's a hard dungeon that involves little fighting, and mostly needs logic with handling the water. In the original OoT, it was the most disliked dungeon just for its difficulty and having to always take around 10 seconds to change the boots. With how many times you needed to change them, it was an annoying nightmare. It isn't hard, but you have to be incredibly fast. You have to kill it before it has a chance to get up on the ceiling. It does have its own positive fanbase. Just talking about it makes me want to play it again.

If you need a quick review on it, don't hesitate to send me a PM for me to check it out. I love when I read through somebody's work and help improve it. Just recently my dad gave me a list of points to make into essay form to help release somebody who is in a Libyan jail. Two days later, my dad told me it got signed by the Vice Prime Minister of Libya, so I felt really happy!

Indeed. That's my favorite aspect, you have to be on edge all the time, which helps suck you in the game and make it addictive. Exactly! It's not a lot, it's still the same game at heart, but little features like being able to change the iron boots to use in the Water Temple without having to get on the equipment screen all the time. Yeah! I actually managed to beat the first OoT boss in just seven seconds! It was really different, but the main reason I liked it was because the gameplay was solid and it really tested my skills as a gamer. I think the hate on it is both, with maybe even difficulty.

I'd have liked if I helped more, but it's nice to hear that. Good luck! You may want to get more Pokemon fans to follow you to see your stuff. I also suggest that you make a directory to your reviews. Anyone who would be checking your tumblr would check your pages out, so if they saw it, they might be more inclined to follow you.

I think it's because they're incredibly linear. Zelda II is linear too, but harder and I found myself actually having a hard time in dungeons. It has a level up system too, and if you die there's the consequence of losing some experience. It's vague enough without spilling what you have to do exactly. I'd say Ocarina of Time 3DS, because it was a real pleasure going through it twice and getting all the items, gold skeletons and heart containers. It even had the option of rebattling bosses, which was a feature I said before it was announced should have been in the original game. There was this option where I had to battle all eight bosses in a row with only 3 heart pieces, and after lots of tries I managed to do it, feeling like as if I really did master the game. Zelda II and the Minish Cap are my second and third favorite respectively. Something it had that bothered me was how there were actually videos in the game that spill what you have to do, but they're optional. I haven't played Skyward Sword, Wind Waker, Spirit Tracks, Twilight Princess and A Link To The Past yet.

None! It was very well written, convincing and the quality of the pictures were good enough. If you want more people to see it, I recommend posting it as a blog post here.

U Watch the Anime a lot or not really but like to talk about it with People.

I like your Username it is a good one!