All art is at once surface and symbol

There's a Brad Armstrong plushie and I want it soooooo baaaaaad. ;;

It's only available until May 27th though, so there's no way I'll be able to afford him before the end of the month is over. :/ It DID get fully funded though, so I'm hoping it'll be permanently available after this? Dear god please, that'll put my mind so much at ease.

I saw a post about escapism on Twitter, and I was about to make a cynical post along the lines of "Media that preaches anti-escapism is grossly fucking out of touch, especially with how our world is right now" when lo and behold, my feed brought me art of Molly & Entei from the 3rd Pokemon movie.

Spell of the Unown/Lord of the Unown Tower is an interesting take on escapism because the story is specifically about a traumatized girl whose mother is away for whatever reason and her dad goes missing. Storytelling is not only her escape, it's also her way of processing grief. That pain, of course, manifests in physical form as crystals, which she uses to lash out against the world. Remember, she's a kid--she doesn't have the life experience or the maturity to have developed any healthy coping mechanisms. The Unown are all she has.

But I think the movie has a more complicated take on escapism than just "weh weh you can't turn to your silly fairy tales for comfort forever." If Ash and gang just gave her that finger-wagging nonsense, Molly would've shut them down immediately and everyone would be dead. Instead, everyone hears her out first. Brock and Misty battle with Molly and see her enthusiasm for Pokemon and adventure. Delia sees both sides of the situation; she knows Molly is lonely, but she also points out it's wrong to separate her from her son just to be her "mama."

tl;dr Ash and gang see where Molly's coming from, but warn her that staying in her crystal world would make her MORE alone, not less. She's terrified of being abandoned again--they promise her there's people out there who care about her, and the world is worth exploring and finding good in despite how harsh and cruel it could be. This is a lot of emotions for a kid to process, so Molly's breakdown is understandable and relatable as hell. Even Entei realizes his own existence is holding her back, and sacrifices himself so she could truly be free.

I think the movie emphasizes how important a support system is. If there's no one to provide empathy or compassion, then how else is a person going to cope with the horrors of the world? How can the higher-ups who caused their shitty situation in the first place have the gall to preach to them?

"Escapism is unhealthy uwuuuu~" Says the gaming companies who want you to indulge in their worlds, then slap you for caring about characters they told you to get invested in, then charge you for DLCs and quality of life updates while jailing you for playing mods, romhacks, and emulators. (Oh yeah, and firing all their workers regardless of how well the game sold just so CEOs and shareholders can make themselves look good and hog all the cash. It's not just the gaming industry either, streaming services like Netflix fucking love to cancel popular/successful shows out of greed. Why the fuck even work a job in this economy when you're going to get fired anyway? At this point, our government expects us to make a living by never spending anything ever again, not even groceries, because they're smug and assured there'll be replacements. Oops, ranting about capitalism again)

To get back on point, I'm looking forward to how Deltarune is going to tackle escapism. Toby Fox is one of the rare people I still trust when it comes to storytelling, so I expect there's going to be nuance. Please don't let me down, smol white doggo. ;;

Me: Finally, I made it to Cerulean City! ...I have to train for Misty, don't I?

Repels made all the difference for Mt. Moon. I used a video to pick up a secret Moon Stone too! :D Seel's backsprite is a smiling blob with a tongue sticking out and it's the cutest thing ever.

Had my first instance of a humiliating defeat in a goddamn cheating AI. A Rocket member had a Gastly and a Kadabra (guess which Pokemon I don't get until near the end of the game! :D), which Luisa the Machop was not equipped for and I had to switch around my team yet again. Sahaquiel the Magneton was our hero for Mt. Moon. ;; I've been training Tiptoe the Ivysaur too, but I'm concerned about Misty since she'll have psychic and ice moves for any grass-types she's up against, and Thunderbolt from Starmie is gonna hurt. D:

Aside from that burst of activity, I've been absolutely bored, yet too unmotivated to do anything. It's the worst mood, I swear.

New Recruits

Walker the Rhydon (who'll be boxed until the wild Pokemon give enough EXP for him to evolve, since all he'll have is Double Edge)
Resetti the Diglett
Sahaquiel the Magnemite (Remy's great, but his low defense is gonna hurt him, so we got an Angel for backup)
Goodsir (after Harry Goodsir from The Terror) the Seel

Evolutions

Birb to Pidgeot! (It's the first time I've ever had a Pidgeot in my party. The lower level cap definitely helps. XD)
Snek to Arbok (I postponed her evolution by one level so she could have Body Slam. With Earthquake and Rock Slide in her arsenal, she'll be the strongest cobra around!)

Important Moves

Remy got Thunderpunch, Poggers got Dig (which we'll desperately need for Mt. Moon), and Lorenzo got Flamethrower! Lorenzo is seriously king. When Birb wasn't gaining levels by fighting the pre-Mt. Moon trainers (Remy and Shinji helped a little too), Lorenzo cleaned up after him. His Double Kick is so helpful against the Jigglypuffs! :D

Inb4 Mt. Moon, land of the exploding Geodudes. I hope we get a good Clefairy in there. :o

Friends we picked up at Viridian Forest (and one just outside it):

Remy the Pikachu
Glenn the Poliwag
Rumika the Oddish
Lorenzo the Ponyta
Phototaxis the Venonat

Kyubey Battle #2 went relatively fine! Everybody in the party was level 10, so Big Ike was trucking through, and Kyubey got butthurt and switched from Eevee to Mew. Big Ike got knocked out, but Lorenzo was so fast he stomped Mew before it ever had a chance to use Softboiled, and easily did the same with Ember to Eevee. What a good boy~

I got my first wipe at Brock. Level 12 is NOT enough to fight him; his Golem Earthquaked most of my team, with only Tiptoe able to withstand it at three HP left. :( Then Kabuto finished us off, ow ow. Trying again with the party at Level 14 was much more successful, especially because Glenn evolved into Poliwhirl. :D But poor RNG luck caused him to faint at Omanyte, and Aerodactyl is meeeeeeeean. He wiped everybody with Fly, which is now a one-turn move. Add to the fact his speed makes him more likely to crit, and hurray, we lose! :D

Third attempt at Brock is the charm, with my team being:

Tiptoe the Bulbasaur (Level 15)
Glenn the Poliwhirl (Level 16)
Donnie Darko the Psyduck (Level 15)
Rumika the Gloom (Level 16)
Big Ike the Wartortle (Level 16)
Shinji the Cubone (Level 14)

I wanted Tiptoe to lead so he can get a bit of underdog spotlight, but he didn't survive Golem's Earthquake this time. :( This fight clearly belonged to Glenn - he not only destroyed Golem with Bubblebeam, but Submission took care of Brock's two fossils too. :D (With a little help from a Potion in-between, since Submission chips at his health) Aerodactyl took out Glenn, but thanks to the defense boost from evolving, Big Ike tanked one Fly and landed a Bubble Beam on him before the big meanie crit'd him. Shinji was the secret weapon since he withstood one Fly from the previous Brock attempt; one Rock Slide and Aerodactyl is done. We got our first Gym Badge! :D

And I got a bit of a headache. Grinding is sooooooooo boring, but I wanted to beat Brock before I took a break, so there you have it.

Here's an idea how insane this romhack is gonna be.

On one hand, I think if I can get through the game, I stand a chance at the competitive Pokemon scene. On the other, the Safari Zone has a puzzle where you need to use 499 steps out of 500 in order to get the Surf HM. Screw up once and you're fucked. I just don't have patience for that kind of frustration. :P

No, I am NOT Nuzlocking this thing. I got my limits, yo.

So according to the video, Pokémon Bank will be free after the March 27th deadline. There's a kicker though if you want Poké Transporter. I'll leave one of the comments here:

There's a huge problem with Poké Transporter though. After March 27th, Pokémon Bank will be an entirely free service, meaning a pass isn't required anymore (not that you could purchase a pass even if it was needed). But you won't be able to install any new software once the eShop closes down. In order to even GET Poké Transporter, you need to purchase a pass for Pokémon Bank to become usable, at which point you'll be able to download Poké Transporter from within the app. You won't need to pay for a pass once the eShop closes down, but you won't be able to download anything anymore. Which means, unless you spend money on a service that's going to be obsolete, you can never get Poké Transporter legitimately. And bear in mind, apart from requiring the pass for Pokémon Bank, Poké Transporter is FREE. You see the problem?

Jesus Nintendo. Good thing I already got Bank and Transporter, at least. So maybe all isn't lost for my Shiny Poiple? But yes, I'm sharing this as a head's up for everybody else. :o