...and a happy new year!

And so, another year has gone by!

And this year was a bit of a weird year for me. I got my Master's degree, which I thought was going to be so busy that I would have to cut down a lot on blogging, but turns out that... I think I posted more over 2022 compared to 2021? But I think I do have gotten into a nice habit of not trying to rush things out and take things at my own pace so that I don't burn myself out. Me circa 2018 would probably force myself and burn the midnight oil just to get the playthrough of Pokemon Violet done before December was out. 

Admittedly, it does really help that the current projects that I'm doing, ongoing, have felt a lot more like fun things for me to blog about instead of obligations? I think that was what led to the huge burnout in 2020 or so -- trying a bit too hard to review everything I watch or read. Some pieces of media I ended up just... consuming, and that's it. There are some things that I would like to talk about in this blog over the next year (or for me to just write up and edit later on as a bit of a 'buffer' for if/when I get busy) but so far, here are my quick rapid-fire talks of what else I watched this year that I normally would've reviewed...

• Kamen Rider Geats: Amazing arc-structured show. I like it more than Revice and definitely far moreso than Saber. I don't know how I'll handle the reviews for this one, though, since I kind of binge-watch the show and so a lot of the details might be mixed up in my head. Great that they used a very explicit arc structure, and the vibes of the show really does feel like Garou in a way. A great combination of Kabuto and Ryuki, I feel.
   I'll wait until the second arc is over before deciding if I'll do reviews per arc or after the show itself is over. 
• Kamen Rider W: Fuuto Tantei: A short anime adapting the manga that takes place as a sequel to W. Great animation, and the voice actors they got really do channel the original actors amazingly well. The plot is pretty neat and they got to do things that wouldn't be feasible in a live-action show, but a lot of it does hinge on how much you like Tokime, who I don't mind but might understandably rub some people the wrong way. 
• Dr. Stone: I read all the manga. It's... it kind of lost me around the middle-end parts (particularly the post-Xeno arc and the globetrotting ones), but I really did admire how succinct the ending is for a manga that seemed to be somewhat rushed. It's not the best, and in the last 20 chapters or so all the characters that's not Senku kind of blur together... but at least we didn't get a Toriko or Bleach syndrome with this one, at least. I also admired how the manga was quick to realize that its original supporting cast wasn't the best, wrapping up the Tsukasa arc and then ditching the original cast for the Ishigami Village. Good job, there. 
• Chainsaw Man: I thought of doing episodic reviews for the anime, and might still do so if I rewatch it next year. Love the manga, which I caught up to around May this year. Great direction that they went with for the anime adaptation, especially the very sleek and smooth animation.
• Spy x Family: Extremely funny. I watched the first season of the anime on November or whatnot, but when the anime was at the height of its popularity I actually went and read the manga instead. Pretty fun!
• Cyberpunk: Edgerunners: I'm only vaguely familiar with the story of Cyberpunk 2099, but familiar enough to watch this show. I'm two or three episodes away from finishing it, but so far it's done a wonderful job at both introducing the world of Cyberpunk and also telling its own very self-contained story. 
• Overlord, Season 4: Was late to the party on this. A return to form after the rather sub-par animation of season 3, but I do feel like they rushed a bit too quickly through this? It's been a while since I read the light novels that corresponded to this, and I know they cut out one of the arcs to save it for a movie, but I did really feel like we could've had one or two extra episodes to pad things out. 
• Kaguya-sama, Season 3: Very fun, very light. This one adapts all the way up to the school festival confession arc, which is nice and emotional and all that, but the best thing this season did is the rap episode, where they actually got the voice actors to rap and even make a rap MV at the end. Great!
• House of the Dragon, Season 1: Neat enough for a 'oh, hey, let's watch a couple of episodes of this' show when I'm doing my Genshin Impact dailies on my tablet. Surprisingly got pretty fun towards the end, great acting from Daemon and both Rhaenyra actors. The time jumps are a bit jarring but pretty fun, and I expected the conflict to end in the first season, which is a bit surprising but very welcome.
• The Sandman, Season 1: Neat-o. Huge fan of the comic book series, very faithful adaptation, great casting for Morpheus. Not much else to really say about it? 
• The Boys, Seasons 1-2: Haven't watched season 3, but what a riot. A roller-coaster of a series, very fast-paced and fun. A brutal deconstruction of the superhero genre, which I tend to not care for, but the writing for the TV show is pretty fun. Great actors for Homelander and Billy Butcher, too. Will eagerly consume the next seasons.
• Invincible, Season 1: Also another deconstruction of the superhero genre, albeit this one is an animated show. Not as huge of a fan of this one as the Boys, but this one I feel is a bit more optimistic and flows more like a superhero show itself, since the main character is actually an honest-to-goodness superhero.
• My Hero Academia (the manga): still do plan to catch up with the anime eventually, but the manga's pretty interesting. I do admit that I kind of lost interest around the time the 'final battle' showed up, but they did an okay job focusing on many of the 1A class members in this final showdown... even if I really do think that I don't particularly care all that much about Shigaraki's redemption. 
• The Book of Boba Fett: Very messy? It's not the worst thing I've watched, and it got a lot better when the Mandalorian showed up and it led to the 'the best episode of Boba Fett is the one without Boba Fett'. I admittedly never cared all that much about Boba from the old EU, though, and I do like the bit of expansion of Tatooine's culture. The stupid Cyberpunk reject vespa riders are very eye-rolling, though, and Boba himself isn't the most interesting character in this show. 
• Kenobi: Very fanservicey. Great that they got Hayden and McGregor back, and while the fanservice is obvious, I did like any time Obi-Wan and Vader faces off against each other. Great child actor for Leia, too. Huge plot snarls for them apparently forgetting each other when we get to Episode IV, but I do feel like this was pretty neat as far as a 'story never told' season like this would be handled. Third Sister was very underwhelming, though.
• Andor: Eeeeeeeeeeh is my big response to it. It has a promising if plodding first batch of episodes, but... for a show about Cassian Andor, it really didn't give Andor much of a personality beyond generic rebel hero, and while the plotlines that they show are interesting on paper, they really aren't things we haven't seen in other Star Wars project. The heist and the prison break episodes were neat, but there's something rather odd when the side-stories are more interesting to me than anything involving the main characters. It has its fandom, though, and I don't count myself among it, but I'm happy that this was relatively well received by critics, I guess. 
• Jurassic World: Dominion: A mess of an ending, because I'm here for dinosaurs and not locusts and clones. Neat conclusion to the characters from the two previous World movies, I guess, but I really couldn't care all that much when they kinda ignored the most interesting part of the franchise, which are the dinosaurs?
• The Batman: Great reboot. Great Dark Knight-style distillation of the things that made Batman cool while still being grounded and down-to-earth. Unlike the DCEU, I absolutely approve that the makers behind this movie really understood that the 'vengeance' part isn't the main point of Batman stories and that he's supposed to be a hero and a hopebringer and the 'fear' stuff is just a tool against the bad guys. 

I also played through Mass Effect 3, going through all the DLC's which I never actually got to before. Still think the ending is dumb, but my headcanon is that the Reapers blew up and the Citadel DLC happens after everyone survives and nothing bad happens to any of our heroes as the 'best' ending, so yay for that. I was planning to go into Mass Effect Andromeda, but... the opening kind of lost me, and I got Pokemon Legends Arceus, Pokemon Violet, Pokemon Scarlet, Persona 5 Royal and Final Fantasy XII all vying for my attention, so no Andromeda-ing for me in the near future.

Next year I do plan to do a lot of stuff... I have been slacking on monster reviews and do plan to talk more about it. Obviously the ninth generation of Pokemon will show up no matter what, and I do have several other Pokemon-related articles that I have been doing on the down-low, but I do plan to give a lot of my older Pokemon reviewing articles a bit of a rewrite. That's going to be a big project, though, and while I did revise some of them (particularly the scoring system, which is now at 6 balls!) I do kind of want to go back and rewrite a lot of them... particularly the pre-Alola reviews do feel a bit dated, especially compared to the quality and length of my reviews in the Alola and Galar reviews. It would put a severe dampener on the scheduling of other content on the blog, though, since I would want to do full rewrites...

Eventually, I do have been writing down long drafts of my commentary on Pokemon moves in the background, and would be polishing them for the first half of 2023. After those are done, I might do some 'reviewing humans' for Hisui and Paldea, though those articles really didn't do all that well, so... I do plan to do a bit of an addendum to my 'fan region', too, and highlight just how much better Pokemon Scarlet and Violet actually handled a lot of the concepts that I've mentioned there. 

My main priority now is to finish Pokemon Violet first, of course, but I do plan to do Scarlet after that (I'm actually doing Scarlet concurrently... basically Violet is when I sit down and pay attention, and Scarlet is my 'meandering around while I watch TV' game) and then jump straight into Persona 5, which will be the brunt of my next batch of 'reviewing monsters'... which will be done in the same way as what I did for Final Fantasy XIII and VII, where I talk about the monsters (and personas!) as I encounter them in my playthrough.

Other reviewing monsters... I do plan to talk about Scarlet Nexus, a game I saw a friend finish, and will dissect the very bizarre monster designs of that game. A lot of the video game monster designs do kind on hinge on me playing through the games itself, but maybe I am being a bit hard and I might just sit down and talk about games that I've seen people play through. Other games that I do plan to talk about at some point include Metroid Prime 3, the Mario games, the Fallout games, Morrowind, Zelda 2, Trails of Cold Steel, Silent Hill... we'll see. I have zero knowledge of the franchises, but I really do want to talk a bit about a bestiary from the Monster Hunter and the Dark Souls/Elden Ring franchise. I also do plan to talk a bit more about Kamen Rider monster designs, with Kuuga, Zero-One, W and Faiz kind of being up there in terms of the series that I might talk the most about. 

Other things I plan to do for the future... I haven't actually watched the second or third parts of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean, and that, I think, will be a bit slower as I go through them. I still plan to talk about Bleach as it goes, and maybe I'll do a 'season 1' type write-up about Chainsaw Man and some of the independent superhero shows there. I do have drafts up for a lot of the DC movies, though it's all going to depend on whether I have the energy to proofread them. 

Anyway, that's 2022, and it sure is a wrap!

Let's Play Pokemon Violet, Part 19: Falling Stars & Plot Twists

Okay! So after that Ortega/Eri sequence, I return back to Uva Academy to find Clive standing in front of the gates waiting for me. He talks about bringing this little performance to an end, upon which he reveals his true identity, taking off his pompadour clothes to reveal... Director Clavell! How did you hide those pants under those shorts, I will never know. 

Clive gives this dramatic reveal that the boy known as Clive is actually... Director Clavell! DUN DUNN DUNNNN! Plot twist!

...and I have the option of calling him out immediately for it. Clavell is shocked, because his disguise was perfect, and he attributes me seeing through his disguise when he 'neglected to keep up his youthful act' on several occasions. Which... yeah, most importantly, probably during that whole bit with Harrington and Ortega, but I'm sure he did get a bit serious at the ends of each Team Star base. 

Then Clavell announces that the true identity of Cassiopeia, the Big Boss of Team Star... was him all along! DUN DUNN DUNNNN! Plot twist!

Now this isn't too unbelievable as a plot twist that Pokemon would pull on us, though obviously the facts don't line up if you think about it too hard. Clavell claims that the voice of Cassiopeia is a pre-recorded voice that he did with one of those 'high-tech gizmos'. Very clever, yes! Clavell demands to face me in one last showdown to decide it all, and we finally get to fight the director himself

He leads up with an Oranguru, which... I get it! He's a teacher, and a guru is a teacher! Rabsca makes quick work of it with a Bug Buzz, and so did the Houndoom that comes afterwards... and so did the Abomasnow that came after that. Okay, okay. Not really seeing the thematic pattern with Clavell other than the Oranguru, but sure. 

His next Pokemon is a Polteageist, which I thought was cutely thematic considering what a sir he is, and that Polteageist falls to a Throat Chop. I absolutely love the fancy animation of Throat Chop, and particularly when I do it to Pokemon without a throat. Clavell sends out an Amoonguss next, which... yeah, there's no real rhyme or reason to his team. That's neat, I suppose.

But then Clavell summons his final Pokemon, and it's... Quaquaval! The dancing duck-man with a huge fancy hairdo and... okay, he actually looks a bit nicer in motion, particularly when his tail explodes out into those psychic peacock tail feathers. I still think I like him the least out of all the three starters? I dunno. Maybe it's because I've seen Meowscarada a couple of times and got a chance to get used to his design? I don't know. I just thank goodness I have my crocodile child here with me. At least I like one of the starter final evolutions this time around! Also, it's still very cool that Clavell, who basically takes over the role of the professor mentor, has one of the starters that isn't picked by me or my rival.

Anyway, Brambleghast kills this peacock dancer and Clavell falls. 

Clavell finally admits that he's not Cassiopeia. DUN DUNN DUNNNN! Plot twist! But him and Clive being the same person was not a lie. He talks about the reasons of doing this, basically noting that he has a guess about who Cassiopeia's true identity is, and he doesn't want me the agony of confronting them in battle. Which... I dunno. I don't think I quite have the same bond with Penny the way I did Nemona, Arven or even Clavell himself. But okay, then. 

Clavell notes that he just wants to test my resolve, and if I lost, he would've brought down Cassiopeia himself... he bows down to me and asks for my help in taking down Cassiopeia and saving her. And then we get a fun comedic bit where Ms. Tyme comes out, about to investigate an unauthorized battle on school grounds, finding out that it's the academic director himself, and demands to report this to the school council board. Clavell runs off after Tyme, begging her not to do so. 

Meanwhile, I confront Penny in the schoolyard, where she shows up. Literally her entire design is the same, it's just that she's got her hood up, but still we're treated to a dramatic un-hooding. And Penny is the same person as Cassiopeia all along! DUN DUNN DUNNNN! Plot twist!

She's been wanting to take down Team Star to have them go back to school, basically, which is already kind of obvious the moment we learn about that from the Giacomo base from Clavell, and apparently she got the kinda when she saw me fight those two first Team Star goons. But then she doesn't really want to see Team Star roll over and die like that, which leads to her to want to challenge me at least once. Not sure what that will prove, but... okay, sure? 

"Clive" shows up, clearly taking time to write his apology letter. Or, uh, make preparations. Penny asks Clive to record the battle to show to the rest of Team Star later on, before introducing herself as Cassiopeia, no, Penny. 

Okay, then. More of a 'soul-searching' bit, and Penny sends out an... Umbreon! I don't know why I didn't get clued to this a bit earlier -- not even when I played through the game itself -- but Penny's Eeveelution team is foreshadowed with that Eevee backpack! Not even foreshadowed, it's outright outlined to us! Rabsca barely survives a Dark Pulse before taking out the Umbreon with a Bug Buzz, then Garganacl takes out the Flareon. The Vaporeon kind of got bullied by my Clodsire soaking up its Hydro Pumps. Then Lokix one-shots the Leafeon with a First Impression, and then Clodsire Earthquakes the Jolteon. 

...not a very impressive showing from Penny, honestly, though I do think that I've grown a bit overleveled after the Elite Four and Champion. Penny summons her final Pokemon, Sylveon, and tells it to Terastralize, and 'shine bright like the starry sky and become who you really want to be'. Get it? Starry sky, Team Star? And because all members of Team Star do go through a bit of a journey of self-acceptance and self-discovery except for its founder? 

Sylveon transforms into its Fairy Tera Form and it's got a big-ass heart with tacky cheap jewelry thingamabobs hanging off its side. It's, uh... I guess this one is appropriately tacky? Anyway, Clodsire tanks the Moonblast before taking out the Sylveon with a Poison Jab and that's that for Team Star. 

We then cut away to the night that Team Star disbands, with Cassiopeia calling the five squadron bosses and telling them that they should 'call it quits'. The five goons are confused, because they didn't see it as getting carried away. After all, they merely got the bullies to run off (and ultimately quit the school) merely by intimidation. I read the Harrington explanation from before wrong, too, because the original bullies aren't even intimidated by the Starmobiles, just their outfits. Okay, yeah, I guess Eri, Mela and Atticus are kinda intimidating!

After the bullies blubbered and apologized and ran off, they apparently 'made a huge stink' about what happened, leading them to leaving the school and tarnishing Team Star's reputation. Which... again, makes it even more confusing that neither Clavell or any of the teachers or the rest of at least Mesagoza isn't aware of what went down, but at least Penny going for broke and doing the emotional thing of just disbanding Team Star immediately makes sense for an emotional teenager. She goes off and says that she will fix this part on her end, before cutting communications with the rest of the squadron leaders. 

Penny wants to take responsibility for everything, which leads to the aforementioned 'exile' into Galar, while Giacomo and the others are confused why she's so intent on taking all the blame on her own. Penny thanks the team for being so kind to her, and says goodbye, with the team blissfully unaware that she's right outside the window as she walks off. 

Penny then declares how this is the end of Team Star, and also offers an explanation that she couldn't just order the other Team Star leaders to disband because their code states that no one has the right to order the others around. Fair enough, bullying victims would definitely respect each other's autonomies. Which is why Penny used the whole code thing to take down Team Star. Clive asks Penny what Team Star means to her, and, of course, as per the running theme of this whole damn questline, they're her greatest treasure! 

...and then Clive walks up and reveals a huge thing to Penny. He strips and changes clothes, and he's actually Director Clavell! DUN DUNN DUNNNN! Plot twist!

Hilariously, despite also having a secret identity herself, Penny is actually completely and utterly blindsided by Clive and Clavell being the same person. She even tells Clive to 'quit with the old geezer act', which... I don't know. This running gag should be something that makes me roll my eyes, but I really do find it kinda funny. Though Penny still calls out how the outfit is too much and how she has certain feelings about the wig. 

The five Team Star goons show up and finally greets 'Big Boss' for the first time. I find it adorable that Eri calls her 'B.B.'! They are all very supportive of Penny, and they say 'hasta la vistar' to Cassiopeia, and hello to Penny. Aww...

This cutscene still continues on, because after that heartwarming reunion, Clavell walks up... and does a deep bow, apologizing deeply for the faults of the Uva Academy. He is absolutely correct that his handling of the situation has been a dismal and utter failure, because he's an adult responsible for a whole academy and didn't even do the damn research on how this whole mess ended up happening! Though he also did acknowledge that the Uva Academy he experienced was one free from bullying, making him blinded to the fact that this environment was 'built on the backs of your hurt and anger'. 

Clavell revokes the threat of expulsion, and so Team Star can keep remaining. Giacomo and the others also point out about how they're already on page about how they figured out that Penny did the whole Operation Starfall thing to keep them from getting expelled, which is, again, very nice. 

...at which point Clavell interrupts and starts getting angry at them, because there are issues that needed to be addressed, like their protracted truancy, misuse of school facilities... and... the brazen customization of school uniforms? Okay, I kinda am down on Nintendo for removing that option (especially when Legends Arceus had it!) but it is kinda funny that they are really doubling down on this in-universe reason of why our characters can't change their outfits. 

 Clavell then puts them into community service, where they run the STC's, the Star Training Centers. DUN DUNN DUNNNN! Plot twist! Basically they're trying to make the rush battle thing into something akin to a training facility for trainers in Uva Academy, which will allow students to battle and train and whatnot. 

And then we get another scene in Clavell's office, where Clavell thanks us, and then Penny shows up, declares her intention to get punished even more severely. Because she's the leader? No, because, uh, she's been hacking into the league funds in order to pay me with LP. Right. She's manipulating the Cryptocurrency market! Clavell got so confused that he decides to talk to Geeta about this. And Penny almost lets loose the fact that it's really not that hard for her, before cutting back into an apology. 

There's a weird bit of pacing where the game lets me run around in the school for a bit without really telling me what to do, but then I exit the school and Penny calls me and asks me to meet in the stairway where I first 'saved' her from the Team Star goons. Apparently, the Pokemon League will ignore all her crimes, and offer her a job in the League after she graduates. So basically one of those hackers that gets picked up by the FBI or CIA or whatever and recruited straight to their ranks. 

Penny thanks me for helping her so much with the whole Team Star situation as well as being her friend, and tells me that if there's a debt that she can pay, all I need is just to let her know. And Starfall Street closes off with a shot of Penny walking up the staircase.

Talking to Clavell after this gives me a special little cutscene where he is absolutely thankful that I decided to be a good friend to Penny, he gives me a Big Nugget (it's the 'max bond' conversation reward like the 10 Max Revives from Miriam) and thanks me for coming to this academy. Thanks, Clavell, you're pretty cool!

Which means that, well, she's going to join us in Area Zero, where she's probably going to be the de facto tech girl! And Area Zero is where we're heading next time!

Random Notes:

• It was a bit long, and there were definitely parts of it that could've been offscreened, but I really do like the Team Star storyline. They didn't really do anything too emotional and the actual bullying takes place off-screen in the past, but it is a surprisingly neat topic for Pokemon to tackle!
  
• "Smells worse than a Stunky's behind!" Okay, I'm not sure why I find the joke of Tyme confronting Clavell and threatening to tell on him to the board of directors is hilarious to me. 
• So Espeon and Glaceon are the two Eeveelutions that Penny doesn't use, huh?
• I was actually half-expecting a brand-new Eeveelution to debut here as Penny's final Pokemon. I know it's unlikely, but it's not impossible since I haven't seen the entire Pokedex... and spoilers about a new Eevee form would spread faster than Annihilape and Dudunsparce. But I was holding out hope!
• Penny calls Giacomo 'Momo', Ortega 'Ortie', Mela 'Mellie', but both Atticus and Eri by name. Eri's girlfriend Carmen calls her Riri, which leaves Atticus as the only squadron leader without a nickname, unless I'm missing something. 
• Right. Those LP. I probably should use them. Okay.
• Penny's last gift to me is the TM for Draco Meteor, which made me do a bit of a double take because it has absolutely nothing to do with the Eeveelutions theme. 

Let's Play Pokemon Violet, Part 18: Bullies & Backstories

With me completing both the Victory Road and the Path of Legends storylines, I guess it's about damn time to take down Team Star! And I decide to just go through the last two ones before I get too over-levelled for the endgame. First up is the leader of the Fairy-using Ruchbah Squad, which... if we're going by story progression, probably should've been best done last? The story still flows because it's the Clive/Cassiopeia/Penny conversations before and after taking down the base that really changes, but the Ortega supporting character really is the one that reveals the biggest thing about the nature of Team Star. 

First up, though, we get a Team Star member talking to some dude called Harrington, who calls Ortega 'young master' and is waiting for him to come for a piano lesson. Pretty much a pampered rich kid, right? It's a typical trope in these anime-inspired games and shows, and Harrington ends up being the obligatory pre-base fight. He sends out a Morgrem and a Hattrem, before walking off. 

The random Grunt, however, gives me one hell of a bombshell. Harrington used to be the academic director of Uva Academy... wait, hold on. So he is Clavell's predecessor, then? And he got reduced to a butler or tutor type? Anyway, it's time for a 'Star Raid', and... I don't really have anything against Fairy types other than Clodsire's Poison, but Ortega's goons are sending out Impidimps and Jigglypuffs against me, so they really aren't the most threatening. 

Anyway, Ortega shows up with his pimped-out Starmobile, and pimped out is the right word to say for this Fairy-type Starmobile! He also has a cane.-staff thing. He talks a bit of a big game, thinking that I'd be a bit 'beefier' (he's one to talk, you wimp!) and talks about who I'm going to lose regardless. 

His Pokemon are... not the most threatening. I respect Azumarill from my competitive-Wi-Fi days with Belly Drum and stuff, but this one just tries to Aqua Tail my Clodsire for no reason (Clodsire absorbs Water moves!) and gets Poison Tailed to death. The Wigglytuff and the Daschbun aren't much threats either to Clodsire. As with the other Team Star members, his final Pokemon is the big pure-Fairy Revavroom, who just gets taken out pretty quickly. 

As usual, we do get a flashback, and I think Ortega's flows pretty quick. It's clear that each member of Team Star does have their own little role or whatever, and Ortega's is that of a mechanic. He kept trying to build the Starmobile, kept failing, and has a brief moment where he wonders if he should asked his mother to just casually buy a car for them... and the other members of Team Star -- well, mostly Mela -- just all get testy at Ortega 'saying stupid things like that', since they have agreed to stop relying on bags of parental cash to fix their problems. This leads to Mela's own story too, I think, where she decides to train up her Charcadet and have them evolve, thereby solving the problem of the fuel source that Ortega is facing. 

All very nice and good, but the actual Team Star story content comes from Harrington. Ortega is about to head home, but Harrington comes in with his 'friend' Clive, a distant acquaintance. The two of them clearly talked to each other off-screen, and Clive/Clavell wants to understand why the son of a wealthy family would join a group of hoodlums like Team Star. The answer is something that was most apparent before with Atticus's story -- bullying. And Clive is super shocked to realize that, yes, Uva Academy did used to have an issue with bullying, in contrast to the very nice sunshine-and-rainbows vibe that it has now. 

Ortega also answers one of the biggest questions I had when reading about the bullying story from Atticus and Giacomo's stories. Whatever happened to the original bullies? After all, Team Star seems to be the only bullies around, and they mostly keep to their bases. Ortega explains that the bullies from back then no longer go to school.

And Harrington gives us the explanation to what happened one and a half years ago with Operation Star! Apparently, when the founders of Team Star finally confronted the students who bullied them, a huge altercation happened... which ended with the original bullies all withdrawing from school. Out of fear, however, because Team Star just showed up and intimidated them with their massive Starmobiles. 

But Clive has no idea this happened, because all records of that incident is hidden by Harrington's deputy out of shame. 

Also, the original 'big boss' of Team Star also declared that they would take responsibility for all of Team Star's actions, in exchange for exonerating the other Team Star members of any blame -- something that both Ortega and Clive had no idea about. This leader ends up being assigned to an 18-month overseas study trip to Galar to cool off. 

But then Harrington's deputy erased all traces of the Team Star and bullying incident, which Harrington finds out... and he fires the deputy. Before resigning alongside the entire teaching staff. Which explains that the current teaching staff had no idea about the bullying problem. 

Except. 

Except somehow, despite all this, Uva Academy clearly still enjoys a status of a highly-regarded institution. And I get it, all records of the bullying is hidden, and Team Star's reputation got screwed over by rumours. But you'd think the fact that the entire teaching staff of a prestigious academy changing would raise some eyebrows. 

ALSO, despite knowing all these, Harrington never made a proper handover to Clavell about the circumstances, leading to him making the whole 'Team Star needs to return or be expelled' ultimatum. Also ALSO, he never told any of the Team Star students, who all probably thought that they were still expelled. 

ALSO ALSO ALSO, he's... working for Ortega's rich parents, quite literally in speaking distance probably every day with one of the six most important people in Team Star, so it isn't because he can't access them like if he's in prison or hospital or something. 

So yeah. All of this is Harrington's fault, because the dumbass is too happy being a butler for a rich family and never bothered to communicate this super-messy situation to anyone. God damn it, Harrington! Great story, though it all is Harrington's fault.

Anyway, Cassiopeia also gives us a version of the story, enforcing that Team Star relied more on fear as opposed to violence, scaring off their original bullies without even throwing a punch, but the fact that all the bullies quit school ended up with Team Star becoming the villain. Penny also shows up, gets licked by Miraidon again, and then mutters about how the teachers and students are all messed up for thinking that Team Star are the villains of the story considering the actual events. And... well, it's pretty clear that either Penny or Cassiopeia or both of them are the original big boss of Team Star. Which two -- or all of them -- are the same person is, I think, the twist. 

At the very least, Cassiopeia is the boss, since she talks about being in a gang before and being surprised at Eri retreating, so she definitely knows the Team Star members. It's just how Penny fits into all this, because I could see them making her the Team Star Big Boss as much as her being just one of the victims rescued or inspired by Team Star...

I just power through the fifth and final Team Star base, and after reaching there through climbing some mountains, we get a brief scene where Cassiopeia and Clive talk to each other, with Cassiopeia confirming that we're going to have to take down the main big boss, who will come out into the open after the five squadron leaders are taken down. Clive also thinks about a 'final decision' while flexing his pompadour. 

And then we get to see the aftermath of an off-screen battle between Clive and Eri, whose fashion sense is... it sure is interesting, I'll give you that. They compliment each other's skills, before Clive points out the strangeness of the squadron boss herself guarding the gates instead of it being one of the goons. A neat nod to how in the previous four Team Star bases, Cassiopeia always gives us a reason why the boss isn't outside, whether by some character quirk or their own strategy. Eri, meanwhile, is outside because she's the toughest and because she doesn't want to risk anyone else getting hurt -- which are basically her two defining character traits. Neat!

A Team Star grunt called Carmen shows up and tells Eri to get back inside, while Eri whines about how she has to protect Caph Squad until 'big boss' comes back. But Carmen twists her arm enough to get her to go back.

And Caph Base... is quite cool! Instead of several huge fields, Caph Base actually is like a bunch of mountain roads and the Fighting-type Pokemon used by the Team Star Grunts are actually probably far more powerful-looking than the bosses of other squadrons! Primeape, Crabrawler, Falinks, Passimian, Breloom, Hariyama... even a Gallade at one point! I'm sorry, other villainous teams use like, Stunky and Poochyena and Zubat. You guys are running around with Brelooms and Gallades!

Eri then fights me, as usual, on top of her Starmobile. She has a party of five, which makes her pretty damn cool. She starts off with a Toxicroak which I finish off quickly with my Rabsca. She follows up with a Lucario, who shoots out a... Dragon Pulse at my Clodsire? Okay? Lucario isn't a Pokemon I thought Nintendo would give an 'evil' team, but I guess at this point we realize that Team Star are just misunderstood, huh? Clodsire takes out Lucario with an Earthquake. 

Then her next Pokemon is an Annihilape, which is a nice little showcase of the Paldean Pokemon, which gets Shadow Balled by Brambleghast. Then a Passimian gets killed by Psychic, before the Psychic-type Revavroom takes on center stage and gets Psychic'd by Rabsca to death. Rabsca does a lot in this fight!

And then we get the flashback. Eri's basically a bit of a meathead and a training freak, and is the one responsible for training the other four admins of Team Star. They are all appreciative of Eri for training them so hard (Mela is clearly slacking, though, based on her Pokemon levels) and Eri is just.. super-duper intent that she's just training all four of them without rest whereas they take breaks. She's just so energized by the fact that she has friends to protect. 

And while she recognizes that I'm not a bad guy, falling and failing to protect her base sends her crying off into the corner, at which point Carmen explains the situation to Clive and I. Carmen used to be Eri's bully, actually, the alpha bitch of the class who's jealous at Eri for being even more popular than her when she arrived. But because teenagers are fickle, the target of bullying ended up shifting from Eri to Carmen... but then Eri shows up to defend Carmen from the bullies. Clive gets confused about rumous regarding Team Star engaging in bullying, but Carmen gets pissed off at that. I guess, uh, those grunts that tried to pressure Penny into joining earlier in the game are just either new or just too enthusiastic. 

With another word about how Team Star is their treasure, we cut away to Cassiopeia and Clive. Penny doesn't show up this time around, and... yeah, I think Penny, Big Boss and Cassiopeia are all the same? Clive takes over as being the supply unit rep, and Cassiopeia talks about how Operation Starfall has entered its final stage. And Cassiopeia reveals herself as the Big Boss of Team Star. Which, yeah, from her dialogue, at this point it's kind of obvious. The fact that Penny is also absent and she's clearly the student that's going to follow us to Area Zero with Arven and Nemona makes me think that she's probably also Cassiopeia?

Cassiopeia's motivations are also pretty clear, especially after we learn about Clive's ultimatum. She wanted her treasured friends to not continue holding on to the past, and if things go on like this they won't be any good to anyone. So she makes use of the code they make to force them to disband, because Team Star doesn't work on giving orders. Cassiopeia wants to fight me after dark at school, which is where we'll go next, to complete Starfall Street and most of the original objectives before the endgame!

Well, that's interesting. I do think that the backstory given -- particularly Harrington and the fact that all the bullies and irresponsible teachers are already out offscreen -- is kind of a way for Nintendo to not have a full, proper vile villain and have us confront them. I do think that this is certainly a very interesting standalone story within the games, for sure, and Scarlet/Violet is definitely stronger for it! Next up, the conclusion to this!

Random Notes:

• Mela, Giacomo, Atticus and Eri all have their own bases, yes, but I think Ortega's walled-off boggy area takes up the biggest part of the map! It even 'eats' the lighthouse on the Northern end of Paldea! Damn rich kid!
  
• All the Team Star leaders use one of the Poke Mart special balls. These two are pretty appropriate! Ortega is a spoiled rich brat so he uses Luxury Balls. Eri's real personality is someone who protects her friends, so she uses Heal Balls. Mela's a hothead, so she uses Quick Balls. Atticus uses two Revavrooms in his party, so he uses a Repeat Ball. Giacomo uses Timer Balls, and I'm not 100% sure why. I guess he's the most patient of the gang?
• Did you guys ever notice that two tiny Varooms are attached to the rear wheels of the Starmobile? I didn't until the Ortega/Eri sequence here!
• Is Eri's face paint meant to be her Toxicroak? The markings are almost correct, though those white bits next to her mouth and the black lower jaw reminds me more of like a World of Warcraft orc or troll.
• Ortega apparently couldn't have evolved his Pokemon if not for Eri's help, based on the flashback. Um... between Wigglytuff, Azumarill and Dachsbun, which one did you have trouble evolving, my guy? 
• I gloss over the area where Eri's base is at, but there's a very strong Japanese garden vibe music from that place. Lots of Bisharps there, too, and the Kingambit is based on a shogun, so...
• Eri yells RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH a lot. 
• Yeah, I really do like the fact that we transition to a catchphrase that the Team Star squad leaders use to them saying the same thing 18 months ago. 

One Piece 1070 Review: Dawn Pistol

One Piece, Chapter 1070: The Strongest Form of Humanity

So this chapter came out a while back but I just got busy with Christmas stuff and real-life stuff and Pokemon that I didn't have the time to talk about it, and... it's kinda okay, I guess, because 1070 is a lot more action-y than the previous one, which was the ORIGIN OF ALL DEVIL FRUITS and that's a much more interesting chapter to review. Not to say that this one isn't fun to read, but it's not really one that gives me a lot to talk about. 

Sentomaru isn't dead, of course, and apparently he used the ability we now know as Ryu'o, the invisible Armament Haki, to block Lucci's strike. Nice to see Oda remembering that specific bit of power and the original introduction to Haki, and to show it to us again here. Luffy then goes all insane with Gear Fifth, which... honestly, at this point in the story, I kind of am glad Oda went this route with Gear Fifth. After all the rather 'Bazooka, but with Armament Haki', 'Pistol, but with Ryu'o', 'Pistol, but in Gear Fourth Boundman', it's starting to get a little boring -- in the same way that I would criticize Dragon Ball Z's attacks -- that it's mostly the same thing shaded a bit differently. Luffy's "Dawn Whip" has him spin himself around like a top, and gives us the ridiculous mental image of him going around like the goddamn Tasmanian Devil. 

We then cut away to see the Seraphim Shichibukai cut apart a bunch of generics, and... it's a bit unfair to call them generics because presumably as Cipher Pol agents they would be slightly lower in terms of power compared to pre-timeskip CP9, but it's a bit less impressive to see Seraphim Mihawk cut apart a bunch of no-name government suits as compared to seeing him clash with Blackbeard. 

Franky asked a question I asked a while back, about the Swim-Swim Fruit of Senor Pink. Franky goes for the obvious conclusion that Senor Pink died offscreen and had his fruit reincarnated, but turns out that, thankfully, Senor Pink is alive and good! Glorious! Vegapunk then reveals that only Zoans can be created artificially, Logias cannot be recreated, but Vegapunk notes that he can recreate the power of other Devil Fruits with the amount of resources he has. He can't confirm that they can or cannot awaken, though, which is interesting. Are we going to the criteria as to how awakenings happen?

Vegapunk also rules out Caesar Clown's SMILE aberrations, and I love the brief and consistent character moment from Nami about how Caesar is a horrible child-experimenting lunatic and deserves to die. 

Vegapunk then explains how duplicating the Paramecia types work -- just synthesize the bloodline elements (a.k.a. their DNA) and then literally turn them into sci-fi Green Blood and pump them into the Seraphim. It's something pointed out as part of gibberish jargon about S-Shark a couple of chapters ago, and we get to see S-Snake use Mero Mero Mellow and S-Bear use Ursus Shock. 

Lucci just keeps trying to get rid of Sentomaru and Luffy goes super-duper gigantic like Kirby and tries to eat Lucci, and then proceeds to spit out the rubble up at Lucci. He then rubberifies one of the tunnels and then does a Gomu Gomu Dawn Rocket, launching himself down at Lucci. More interestingly, he plucks off part of his Gear Fifth hair and turns them into goggles, which... yeah, the Toon Force powers is strong with this one. Lucci gets knocked out -- though he gets better afterwards, so yeah, that's where the power-scaling goes, I guess.

S-Snake helps Chopper and Jinbe, who are evacuating Bonney and Atlas, into the Vacuum Rocket, and S-Snake is the first Seraphim to show more than a robotic beep-boop personality, getting flustered when Jinbe compliments her. Luffy decides to go off and retreat, leaving Sentomaru to hold back Cipher Pol, because the current priority is getting Vegapunk off the island... and I guess Gear Fifth's biggest weakness is its time limit where it's near-invincible when it's up, but Luffy goes straight into old-man mode afterwards. 

We cut to the Labophase being separated from the rest of Egghead, and then back to Sentomaru, who was left on the battlefield all bloodied and defeated. I was a bit confused why Sentomaru didn't just retreat with the Straw Hats, but I guess if he did, the way the previous chapters' explanations were is that the Seraphims' controller would, by default, pass back to the CP-0 agents. Doesn't explain why Sentomaru doesn't just order the Seraphim to 'go as far as possible from this battlefield' or something, though. The chapter ends with the CP-0 and Seraphim all united together. 

And then Kizaru arrives and the end, mister lightspeed high on weed himself, mumbling about how Vegapunk has sided with the Straw Hats, and how escape won't be easy... and he's summoning all battleships. 

Now that's more like it for an opposing force in an arc!

Random Notes:

• The cover story shows the original incarnation of MADS, which... includes... uh... I don't even know what I'm looking at. We've got young Vegapunk with glasses where you don't think they would be? There is Caesar Clown with a much more fancier-looking outfit than we've ever seen him wear, and... there are three other people there that took a while to identify. The one on the right seems to Vinsmoke Judge, just with a less epic outfit and less of a mustache. The epic rockstar next to Caesar is QUEEN? Okay, I guess if he's skinny, he would be a bit too popular. And then there's a woman that I'm going to assume is... Stussy? It would make sense about how she said she had been to Egghead before, but I didn't expect her to be part of MADS itself!
• There is a recent Jump announcement from Oda that says he's not planning to end One Piece 'soon', which I think is a concern about how there was a statement about a 3-5 year timeline. We are definitely in the final arc, though!
• There's a translation note that 'Dawn' can also be read as 'Don!' in Japanese, which is the sound effect associated with Tom the shipwright and also a sound effect that this manga really likes to use. There's even a DON! effect in the final page where CP-0 stands around with the Seraphims!
• It is interesting how Vegapunk notes that he can't recreate the power of Logias, but we know that even the first-generation Pacifistas use Kizaru's Pika Pika no Mi. Is it just the laser beams that are replicatable, is the 'becoming immaterial' thing that's hard to replicate, or is it a 'I can't get the colour of the dragon right' kind of perfectionism going on?
• The Mero Mero no Mi acts on those who harbour lust on the user, so, uh... those random Cipher Pol agents... um... yeah, I guess it's best to have them petrified on the island. 
• Since we're in Devil Fruit explanation territory, I would be remiss to not point out how Luffy's Gear Fifth and Chopper's new Monster Point all end up with them reduced into a comical old-man weakened state. Are the Rumble Balls truly an artificial way to stimulate awakening? Especially with Vegapunk talking about how he hasn't been able to make the artificial devil fruits awaken? 
• There's also a funny panel with Nami going 'he's going to be a thorn in our side. Ice him!' The expression and pose she makes there is hilarious! 

Let's Play Pokemon Violet, Part 17: Interviews, Elite Four and Champion!

So after completing the Path of Legends last episode, I decided to just go and finish off the Victory Road storyline as well. Which means I fly off to the Pokemon league, where La Primera Geeta is waiting for me...

And we get an interview. This interview is also something that happens if you wander into this Pokemon League building before you have eight badges, but it'll only unlock the Elite Four and Champion challenge if we actually have all eight badges. Similar to that series of checkpoints in Indigo Plateau back in the first two generations. 

And it's Rika! Rika with a pair of glasses, conducting the interview with me! Which is very interesting. the interview itself is pretty fun, going from simple questions -- like 'what is the name of the school you're attending', including Naranja Academy from Scarlet; what my first starter Pokemon is -- to seemingly philosophical bullshit ones like 'what is your goal in the Pokemon league'. Which... there's no wrong answer to that. The first time around. Some six questions later, Rika actually asks you the same question again, which is an amazing way to get her to gauge our consistency! 

Another great little memory game to see if we're serious about the Pokemon League is asking me which of the eight gyms that I had the most difficulty with. Which, of course, I answered the Alfornada Gym, which I challenged as my fifth or sixth gym instead of the... uh... it's supposed to be the last gym I challenge, apparently, according to Rika's listing. Okay! And then Rika proceeds to ask what type and what the name of the gym leader is. Very nice! Again, it severely punishes anyone who somehow is cruising through the game without paying attention to the simplest details, and I love it. 

Rika declares that I have passed the first part of the champion assessment! Yay! And it's time for the Elite Assignment... which, of course, involves  me fighting the Elite Four. Which, of course, includes her. 

There's a cool little walkway down to the battlefield, very reminiscent of the ones in the first four generations of games with long corridors leading to a room with a bunch of square tiles. Rika, of course, is the first Elite Four member that I am supposed to face, and she takes off her glasses and gets ready to fight. 

And... you know what? I wasn't very sure what type Rika is going to be. Dark or Grass/Bug seemed to be the ones I thought she was going to be. Dark because she kinda has that very strong Nanu energy; and Grass or Bug thanks to her hair colour. But no. Her first Pokemon is...

...a Whiscash! Which I send out my Rabsca to fight. Oops! Like the Arven fight, the levels of my party is more or less in the early-60's range, though this time I did bring my full proper party since I know I was going to fight the Elite Four. My Rabsca is strong enough to take out the Whiscash no Problem. 

Then Rika sends out Camerupt, against my own Clodsire... and I forgot that Clodsire is part-Poison, so he takes considerable damage from Earth Power. Clodsire manages to take out Camerupt with two Earthquake, though. (Camerupt wastes his second turn, using Yawn to put Clodsire to sleep)

Next up are Donphan, followed by Dugtrio, both of whom are pure-Ground and get absolutely bullied by my Brambleghast. Her final Pokemon is a Clodsire, which she Terastralizes from being a Poison/Ground into a pure-Ground type. And then it dies to Power Whip, since Grass-type moves are super-effective instead of being normally effective. Silly Rika! 

Rika congratulates me and calls out Poppy, who walks into the room. Cute that I don't have to go into each successive rooms, but instead have the Elite Four all come into my room! And in each successive fight, the defeated Elite Four is watching me! Poppy is a small girl, and she's excited, and she's happy to beat me up! All her Pokemon are super tough, she says with a cute grin... 

...and thankfully, I can still heal. I mean, thanks to the remote accessing of Pokemon boxes, I can actually discard and draw my party and replace them with fully new members, but that sounds like absolute cheating. I will, however, make use of my Super and Hyper Potions in-between battles. And to wake up Clodsire with a spray medicine.

Poppy has a big-ass key as a necklace, so Steel-type isn't that hard to guess on her. She sends out Copperajah, who she calls Rajah. "Smush 'em!" she says, and... well, I predicted right, and I had Skeledirge just sit in the entire battle, alternating between Torch Song (which has a chance to buff my own Special Attack) and Flamethrower. Man, Torch Song is so cool, with his little fire bird jumping out and making a mic stand, and him screaming so hard that the little fire bird friend becomes the Phoenix Force to burn down the elephant...

I mean, where was I? Ah, yes, Bronzong. That thing probably had Heatproof, right? Just to be sure, Skeledirge Shadow Balls the metal bell. 

Corviknight! Wasting its turn with Iron Defense instead of something that could damage my Skeledirge! Death by fire!

Magnezone! It sets up a Light Screen, but also Death by Fire!

Tinkaton! It's the final form of Tinkatink, which I have, and it's got a giant-ass Thor hammer made up of scrap metal harvested from the Corviknights it kills! Does Poppy know that? Does Poppy's Corviknight know that? Whatever the case, Poppy Terastralizes 'Tinkie', transforming her into a Steel Terastralization... and the Steel Tera effect has a GIANT FUCKING AXE IMPALED INTO TINKATON'S HEAD. Okay. Okay, from a sheer hilarity standpoint, this is one good thing to come out of the Terastralization nonsense. 

Oh, and also Death by Fire, of course. 

Poppy gets sad, runs to Rika, and blubbers that she wanted to take revenge on Rika, and Rika corrects her, saying that she should be taking revenge for Rika. The third Elite Four member is... the one I didn't see before, except technically I did. It's... it's motherfucking LARRY. 

Unfortunately for him, he serves as a member of the Elite Four, too. Is that why he's so overworked? He's holding two full-time jobs? Man, poor, poor Larry. As I face him in battle, putting my Skeledirge in front in anticipation of nullifying all of his Normal-type moves, Larry talks about how in his gym, he uses Normal type, but the 'boss' (Geeta?) told him to use a different type as a member of the Elite Four. 

...Wait, what? Damn it!

Larry adjusts his tie and... OH I GET IT. The only thing that's not a boring generic salaryman outfit is his tie, which has clouds on it. That's cute. Okay, Larry, you might be overworked, but you sure have a fun fashion sense. 

And his first Pokemon is... Tropius. Who sets up Sunny Day? I assume this is for a Solarbeam combo, but man, I was expecting Normal-type, but Larry serves me a weak-to-fire Tropius on a silver platter. You know the drill, Skeledirge does DEATH BY FIRE. 

His second Pokemon is a familiar face, the Staraptor from his gym. I send out Garganacl, one of the only two Pokemon with anti-Flying moves (Rabsca also has Electro Ball, but he's part-Bug so that's not good for him) and Staraptor immediately Close Combat and brings Garganacl to yellow. I switch into Brambleghast, and the second Close Combat goes through Brambleghast, and the leftover damage from Salt Cure takes down mohawk bird. 

The third Pokemon is Altaria, and... okay, I really don't have anything against Dragon, huh? Garganacl pops out again and just spams Salt Cure until it dies, while also making use of Recover to get back to green. Larry's fourth Pokemon is Oricorio, who uses Teeter Dance and manages to survive enough Salt Cures to see my Garganacl take herself out with confusion. Clodsire finishes off the Oricorio .

And then the final Pokemon is... Flamigo, the flamingo amigo! It knows Brave Bird, but that's not particularly useful against Skeledirge, who two-shots Flamigo with Flamethrower. 

The final member of the Elite Four is, of course, my art teacher Hassel, and Larry just keeps calling out for Hassel, who can't hear him because Larry's voice is so soft. Rika actually facepalms in the background because Larry just repeats the same stupidity, speaking with such a soft voice, over and over... until she finally loses her patience and yells for Hassel to get back out. 

Hassel is overly excited that his student has reached this stage, explains that he's the dragon guarding the final challenge (oh, that's why his assistant was a Gible!) and then challenges me to battle. The final member of the Elite Four! And he's got dragons! 

His first dragon is Noivern! A very cool dragon! I send out Garganacl, and Salt Cure does damage the big angry gargoyle sonicboom bat monster, but Noivern uses Super Fang to make fun of Garganacl's defenses, and Dragon Pulse manages to cripple Garganacl all the way to the red before the Noivern is out. 

Hassel's second Pokemon is Dragalge, who pops up only to get Psychic'd and beaten down by Rabsca. Sorry, Dragalge, you're a cool dragon, but you ain't that powerful.

Hassel's third Pokemon is Haxorus! A very cool dragon! I don't have any Fairy or Ice types or even Dragon types in my party, so I just test the waters out with Lokix. First Impression and a subsequent Sucker Punch manages to put Haxorus in the red, but two Rock Tombs finishes off Lokix. Rabsca hops back out to Psychic Haxorus down. 

Hassel's fourth Pokemon is Flapple! Who is a strange dragon, but a very cool apple! I send Skeledirge out, forgot that Dragon resists Fire, and Flamethrowers the Flapple. Thankfully the Flapple really can't do much against Skeledirge, and it falls.

Hassel then summons his final Pokemon, which is... Baxcalibur? Okay, that's new, but I assume it's the final form of Arctibax, the pseudo-legendary of this region. It's kinda neat! It's a theropodal dragon with an icy head, Wolverine fangs, and a big-ass glaive-shaped Spinosaurus spine that it uses to impale others with, as the animations show. And... and it's an Ice/Dragon type that Hassel transforms into a pure-Dragon type (the dragon tera crystal has a weird Zelda-esque dragon totem on top). 

...which I kinda didn't consider like an idiot, and had Skeledirge go hurr durr Flamethrower on Baxcalibur. 

Because I had no fucking idea that Baxcalibur's ability is Thermal Exchange. Which basically is a free Swords Dance if Baxcalibur is hit by a Fire-type move. Hey, guess what I just did! I hit Baxcalibur with a Fire-type move!

And Baxcalibur used an attack called Glaive Rush. And it one-shots Skeledirge. And with absolutely nothing to stand up against Dragon-types, I just send out my Pokemon one by one. Garganacl, Clodsire, Brambleghast and Rabsca all get Dragon Rush'd to death, and it's a single-hit too thanks to the free buffing I gave him... and I think Terastralizing also adds some stats, too? Anyway, with how jacked up Baxcalibur is, highly doubtful that I can take it out even if I used Revives and Hyper Potions. Well, I... I got wiped out by an Elite Four member!

...and I wasn't even taking this battle too lightly! But this... this is fun. This is a great feeling for me. The last Pokemon League I lost to was Cynthia, and unless I'm misremembering something I don't think I ever actually lost my entire party to an Elite Four or Champion member. So yeah, Hassel... congratulations. You're pretty badass! You made me white out! This is what a Pokemon League should be. XY and the first Black/White Elite Fours were so easy, and I don't really remember much about my first encounter against Sun/Moon or Sword/Shield. Other than the fact that Sun/Moon has my favourite Elite Four themes. 

Which means... it's a training arc time. Except not really. It's just like, a minute as I look through TM's to see if there are any Fairy or Ice TM's that my party can learn. Garganacl can learn Ice Punch, which I give to him, and after five minutes of going to Western Paldea to murder several Finneons, I teach Clodsire Surf. That's enough coverage for me, time to re-challenge the Elite Four!

This time it's really not that much of a challenge, since I know what's going to come. Brambleghast and Clodsire pretty much take on Rika's entire team; Skeledirge still sweeps Poppy's entire team single-handedly; and Larry is fertile testing ground for Garganacl's new Ice Punch. 

Which leads to my rematch with Hassel. Garganacl Ice Punches Noivern! Skeledirge Shadow Balls Haxorus, because I have to conserve Garganacl's health! Rabsca Psychics Dragalge! Garganacl Ice Punches Flapple! Then it's time to have revenge against Baxcalibur! ...who immediately takes Garganacl out with a Glaive Rush. But this time, my team is a bit more prepared, and more importantly, Thermal Whateverthefuck isn't activated. A Shadow Ball from Skeledirge manages to break through, and Lokix manages to cleave half of Baxcalibur's health with Sucker Punch, and Rabsca finally deals the finishing blow with a Psychic. 

Hassel gets so emotional that he's blubbering and yelling WONDERBUL and sobbing through his words. Hassel gets so emotional that he can't really talk straight, so Rika tells me that I pass the Elite Four test. Barely! I actually lost like, half my team to Hassel and that's with preparation!

Rika heals my team to full health so I don't waste my potions and ethers (well, ether is mostly for Sucker Punch) and then I have to go off to meet Geeta, the woman who strongarmed the four of them to join the Elite Four. Man, poor Larry. 

And thus we go to the final test of the Champion Assessment, taking place on a goddamn rooftop arena where Geeta herself, is waiting for me. The Top Champion of Paldea, the head of the Pokemon association, La Primera and the woman with the funkiest hair in all of the region. La Primera apologizes for the fact that is inappropriate for League Champions... that she is incapable of holding back in a Pokemon battle. Whoa, them's fighting words, lady! I'm not sure why that trait is inappropriate. You'd think that the champion should be able to fight all out. 

But as the music builds up, Geeta talks about how no one recently (other than Nemona) has been able to pass this test. Hell yea, lady! Come at me, La Primera!

Also, yeah, while the Elite Four theme was just kinda there, the champion fight theme is pretty head-bopping!

Her first Pokemon is... Espathra! I led with Garganacl, who I immediately swap into Lokix. Espathra uses something called as Lumina Crash and I have no idea what that is, but it sure as hell doesn't affect my Dark-type Kamen Rider! Then a First Impression completely murders the weird Cleopatra ostrich! La Primera even takes time to praise me for making the right decision!

She then sends out Kingambit, which... okay, I know there's a Bisharp evolution in this game, but not what it looked like, and... uh... it's a... shogun? I was a bit confused why a very Japanese-looking evolution debuted in Poke-Spain, but, uh... Kingambit is... uh... it sure is a design? It activates something called 'Supreme Overlord', which lets him gather power from the fallen. Okay, Ainz Ooal Gown. 

Apparently he is a fat-ass king, because Lokix almost takes out Kingambit with a Low Kick. Almost being the operative word, because Kingambit uses a Stone Edge. Which critical hits to boot, taking out poor Lokix. La Primera even notes how unfortunate that there was a critical hit. Skeledirge shows up to Torch Song Kingambit to death. Oh, Kingambit is sitting on his long-ass ponytail? Okay. 

She sends out Avalugg, who Skeledirge one-shots with a Flamethrower. Then a Veluza shows up, which faces off against my own Brambleghast. A Power whip and the fish gets minced up to death... yeah, Brambleghast literally hard-counters Veluza, huh?

La Primera's fifth Pokemon is a humble Gogoat. I mean, no disrespect to Gogoat, but... well, literally my entire team except maybe Garganacl can deal with it. I choose Rabsca, though, and a Bug Buzz knocks out the leaf goat. 

So what is La Primera's ace? Her Dragonite, her Garchomp, her Metagross, her Volcarona, her Mega Gardevoir? It's... it's a Glimmora! That terastralizes into a Rock-type, with the whole damn Parthenon popping up on its head. Okay, okay. I toss out Clodsire to try and Earthquake it down, but Earthquake takes out maybe half of Glimmora's health, and it manages to critical hit Earth Power my Clodsire. Not bad, not bad. 

Garganacl pops out to do another Earthquake, and almost kills Glimmora. But Glimmora takes out Garganacl with two Earth Powers, and the Toxic Spikes unleashed by Glimmora's ability would've taken out Garganacl anyway. 

I still have three Pokemon left, though, making it a lot better of a place than I did when I faced off against Hassel. I could use Rabsca and Brambleghast, but... but I'll use the Pokemon that I started off with. So once more, without Terastralization. Just a fire crocodile and his undead bird spirit pet, unleashing the mother of all rockstar scream to take down a sentient rock creature. 

And... and I'm the Champion!

That was actually a hard-fought battle. Mostly against Hassel, but Geeta wasn't that much of a pushover either. The Elite Four show up to congratulate me, Hassel gets super emotional, and then Geeta brings me back down to the entrance where a familiar face is waiting for me. Nemona! She asks me if I became a champion, and... I can troll her and continue saying no, and she keeps telling me to quit with the jokes but gets actually worried and agitated at every sequence until it devolves into her just screaming "YOU! CHAMPION! YES?!?!" She asks me to be best rivals for life, and gets super excited to finally have someone at her equal.

Geeta tells me to rest for a bit and stops Nemona from ambushing me into a battle. It devolves into a discussion of where to hold this super-important rival battle of the two of us with our full power and equal champion titles. I suggested Nemona's backyard (which she doesn't seem keen on) and the Treasure Eatery (Larry wouldn't like the surprise visit, and Nemona doesn't find Larry memorable how dare her) before she runs off to Mesagoza for a proper final battle. 

And I guess this is kind of like springing a new battle into the Elite Four/Champion formula. Which... okay! At least it's not mandatory to do immediately, but you know what? Let's go with it. Might as well as finish all of the Victory Road storyline, right?

So yeah. The final battle with Nemona in the Victory Road path! A bunch of people come to watch us battle in the square, including Clavell, La Primera, the Elite Four (Larry walks by in the background) and then we face off in a pretty cool shot... and then I am challenged by Champion Nemona! You've been kind of a punching bag throughout the game, and La Primera says that Nemona didn't even use her full strength in the champion assessment. 

She leads off with Lycanroc, who manages to get off a Stealth Rock! Clodsire Earthquakes it! She sends out Orthworm, which Earthquakes my Clodsire before it could Earthquake it! Skeledirge Flamethrowers the Orthworm! Then Nemona sends out Goodra... and I have to go with Garganacl. Garganacl manages to Ice Punch Goodra before she herself gets taken out. I toss in Brambleghast, who Phantom Forces Goodra to death. 

Nemona then sends out Pawmot, who also gets Phantom Forced. But Pawmot manages to score a critical hit Ice Punch, leaving Rabsca to Psychic to take out the Pawmot. I get to see an attack called 'Double Shock' from the Pawmot, though, which apparently uses up all its electricity? Okay. 

Nemona's fifth Pokemon, which would be the one I never saw before is... a DUDUNSPARCE! Rabsca manages to get off a Psychic to take out half of Dudunsparce's health before it Hyper Drills Rabsca. Lokix shows up and takes out Dudunsparce with a First Impression. 

And finally, the battle of starters. Meowscarada versus Skeledirge... and... sixth verse, same as all the pervious ones. The original kill that my Fuecoco did, and now easily taken out. Final evolution, full power team, Terastralization... and still, Meowscarada gets taken out with a Flamethrower. On the cat's defense, it finally learns Shadow Claw, which is actually kinda damaging! 

After beating Nemona, there is an animation where she seems to cry, and Clavell and Geeta almost gets concerned... but she's just laughing in sheer manic joy at finding someone she went all out for... and still lost to. It's some battle-hungry, competition-hungry mentality, and... yeah, the joke that she just wants to keep fighting me over and over with just little bouts of rest does kind of get old, but that's a nice little cap off to this little battle-heavy sequence. 

Anyway, as champion, next up will be me clearing out Team Star, and hopefully finishing up their storyline! 

Random Notes:

• Final Violet Party: Skeledirge, Lokix, Brambleghast, Rabsca, Clodsire, Garganacl.
• Slight apologies for the longer-than-normal let's play segment. Or is that a bonus? It's to compensate for my break while I reviewed Marvel movies, anyway. 
  
• Be proud of me for not making a 'what a hassel' joke throughout this let's play. 
• Hassel did make a 'drag on' pun. For shame!
• It is pretty strange facing the Elite Four in what's basically the mid-point game for me. I mean, I guess I could do the Titan and Team Star quests and complete them first, but I could also do them last! It's so weird to have all of this going on, as even games with multiple plotlines going on at the same time tended to have the Elite Four/Champion fight be at the very last part of the game... the closest we deviated is in Sword/Shield, but even then the supposed Champion fight leads to the cutscenes that led to the final villain battle. 

Kamen Rider Revice: Birth of Chimera

Kamen Rider Revice Movie Spin-Off: Birth of Chimera

It really is surprising that as the build-up to the standalone movie Kamen Rider Revice: Battle Familia, the accompanying prequel... actually barely stars the Revice cast. They show up, for sure, and Hiromi gets typically beaten up by the main villain Azuma in the cold open, but other than George Karizaki, this special really ends up focusing a lot on the two main movie-exclusive riders. 

We get to meet the bizarre hermit-hobo Azuma, who beats the shit out of Hiromi before we learn a bit more of his backstory throughout this special episode. He was an ancient cultist that made a contract with Giff alongside Akaishi, and despite his rather bizarrely modern (and English!) catchphrases of "game on!" and "grrrrreat powaaah!" he's committed to his ancient goal of just wiping out all conflict. 

George, meanwhile, is up to his mad scientist games, and at the moment of writing I'm still not sure if this takes place before or after George's stint as a crazy antagonist in the show. But this is where the non-sequitur revelation of Masumi inserting his inner demon into George ends up paying off -- George's attempt to utilize the Chimera Driver unleashes his demon Chic, who steals the Chimera Driver and one of Giff's eyeballs. 

Then the rest of the episode focuses on Otani Nozomu, a young man with a loving family. We get to see a lot of their domestic life, and Nozomu also hangs out with his buddy Ryu Mukai, a Fenix dropout who's about to participate in clinical trials done by a doctor. Of course, because this is a Kamen Rider show, the clinical trials turns out to be codeword for 'Kamen Rider transformation experiments'. The doctor, who turns out to be mind-controlled by Chic, uses the volunteers as guinea pigs for his Chimera Driver. 

Ryu is actually successful in transforming, and he's a very optimistic superhero, happy to fight evil and protect the innocent and all that. Again, it's nothing particularly new, but the fact that we get to spend time with these brand-new characters and that they're acted well does help to build them up in a way that makes me care for them a bit. Ryu ends up transforming into Kamen Rider Chimera to fight one of the failed candidates, who, of course, transforms into a demon. Ryu is forced to kill the demonized candidate, and gets disgusted by the doctor. 

However, when Ryu confronts the doctor, Chic reveals himself and possesses the doctor before transforming into his demonic form. The confused Azuma also shows up, and Chic ends up basically being the devil in his ear, telling him that the power of the Giff eyeball can stop his immortal body from deteriorating, and allow him to properly guide humanity. This all culminates in Chic's minions (who I assume will be the requisite goon squad in the movie) attacking Nozomu's family as bait to draw out Ryu. 

During the fight, Azuma transforms with the Tri-Chimera Vistamp and Giff's eyeball to transform into Kamen Rider Daimon with a cry of GREEEAAAAAT POWAAAAA! The resulting fight ends up mutating Ryu into a demon, who Azuma coldly kills while ranting about how this is justice and an acceptable sacrifice to guide humanity into a good place. And, hey, just to pile up the tragedy, Ryu's explosion kills Nozomu's parents as they shield their son from the explosion. 

Azuma, Chic and their goons walk off, while Nozomu, having lost his best friend (who dies for trying to do good) and his faily, picks up Ryu's Chimera Vistamp. It's a very cool anti-hero origin story for sure, surprisingly dark in a way that these V-cinemas are allowe to be. We get some extra scenes in the end that build up the movie itself (Azuma and company planning to attack the Igarashis, a.k.a. the last spawns of Giff; while George makes another Chimera Driver with the other eyeball). 

And, well, it's... it's actually pretty good. Normally I'm not a big fan of these one-off, special-only characters getting expanded stuff because they're normally just pretty one-note, but the single-mindedness of Azuma makes sense considering he's a jaded immortal man who's just been trying to stop conflict (via assassination!), Chic is a glorious little devil that manipulates everything around him, and while it is kind of overwrought, Nozomu's Punisher-style backstory is sufficiently tragic enough to be believable, particularly since we actually get to see Ryu written as a pretty convincing well-meaning and heroic character that got duped. Ultimately, a pretty cool sequel. We'll see how the movie itself stands up, though! 

Random Notes:

• It really is a bit ambiguous considering the timeline of events, but George having Masumi's inner demon is revealed in episode 43, presumably they harvested Giff's eyeballs after his defeat in episode 46... but whether this happens before or after George went loco in episode 47-48 isn't exactly clear. George seems to be pretty much in control of himself, but then discovering his inner demon would be much more appropriate for his descent into madness. 
• "Mr. Kamen Rider", Takaiwa Seiji, a.k.a. the guy that played nearly every single main Rider from Agito to Zi-O, plays Nozomu's dad. His son Takaiwa Shinta plays... well, Shinta, the failed candidate who Ryu has to put down. 
• I'm not really up to date with Sentai actors, but this special features multiple actors from Kakuranger -- the actors for NinjaRed, NinjaBlack and NinjaWhite, plus the suit actor for NinjaWhite, and Takaiwa Seiji was the suit actor for NinjaRed as well.
• Chic is voiced by Fujimori Shingo, who has been providing his voice to the drivers in the Revice series. 
• George does the Kamen Rider Ichigo pose when trying to use the Chimera Driver. 
• When Ryu and Azuma transforms into Chimera, they use different animals? I'm not sure if it's relevant, but they sure will become chimeras.