Pokemon HGSS: Lance

I would love to get into language stuff for the ✨️bearimba pokeverse✨️ but the more I look into it the more I confuse myself?? Like. It feels like I've opened a huge can of worms here. Sure, I could be overthinking it, but if I didn't overthink things, then this blog literally wouldn't exist, so.

Quick warning for a long, probably quite boring, and highly speculative rant:

To start out with, I would love for each region to have its own language, more or less---regions that are geographically close are likely to have similar languages possibly due to a common ancestor (like how Spanish and Italian are both Romantic languages that came from Vulgar Latin), but otherwise, each language would be distinct. But then there's the matter of how exactly these languages evolved to be distinct from one another, or even more confoundingly, how these languages had a shared ancestor in the first place. Take Kalos and Paldea, for example: both are based off of Romantic-speaking countries. France and Spain, respectively. In the ✨️bearimba pokeverse ✨️, these regions are nowhere near each other, but somehow, they speak similar languages (assuming the pokeverse languages are like or the same as their real-life equivalents). How does that work exactly?? The only reasonable explanation I can think of is that at one point in time, people from one of these regions emigrated away to go live in the other region. but. if you think about it, the people that moved away would've had to leave long enough ago that the region would have time to develop from nothing into the state it is in modern times. Obviously that's going to take quite a long time---take the USA for example, which from the point of its conception as a collection of colonies (and I am specifically talking about America as it was founded by Europeans and not the collection of Native American cultures) has been around for over 200 years, and American English has changed drastically during that time. Yes, it hasn't quite evolved into a new language, but it is different enough to be distinguished from British English. Keep in mind that 200 years is (to my knowledge) a remarkably short time for a country to be considered developed, not to mention that England and its colonies had constant communication that kept the languages from deviating too far. My point is, two countries that are geographically separated for multiple centuries without regular consistant contact are likely to develop very different languages, but since Kalos and Paldea are based off of countries with similar languages, this doesn't really sit right with me. Theoretically, I could just place them closer together physically, but that would make travel between them much more feasible which would result in more cultural similarities than are present in the games, so then I'd probably have to do an overhaul of both regions' cultures, and I'd like to keep them as unique as possible. Do you see my problem here????

That's not even to mention my issue with multilinguisim. If every single region has their own language, then there has to be some sort of lingua franca so that everyone can actually communicate. However! Believe it or not, this comes with its own set of issues! The first of which being, how did this lingua franca come into existence? The most obvious answer is that it's a pidgin or creole language, but a language made of bits and pieces from 9+ other languages is going to get complicated real quick. The only other origin for a lingua franca I've come across so far is colonial languages. and, uh. that is just not an option I'm going to pick. so.

Besides the origin of this lingua franca, there's also the matter of how it spreads. Lingua francas are created and used to share information between linguistically separated parties, typically during business or academic exchanges. But not everyone is going to talk to people from other regions in that type of circumstance! Someone might specifically learn the lingua franca so that they can communicate while traveling to other regions, but that won't necessarily make it widely user, and this supposed to be a universal language. My solution: have it be taught in schools! It's like how English is taught in many Asian countries in order to enable participation in international circles. However, it's entirely possible that not every school will have the funding (how pokemon schools even get funding is its own separate thing that I have yet to even consider) to teach the lingua franca. There's other ways to learn, of course, like being taught by family/friends or even teaching yourself, but those methods aren't necessarily standardized. Then again, neither is getting taught at school---it's like learning textbook Spanish in class then traveling to Spain and realizing that you're woefully unprepared. Whatever method is used, it's best to start learning at an young age, as the earlier you start, the easier it is to pick up a new language. Again though, that's not going to be accessible to everyone, so it's entirely possible that some people will just be limited to one language unless they take it upon themselves to learn.

Long story short, linguistics is hard. At least to me. And everything I've mentioned is mostly about figuring things out on a practical level---there's still more cultural stuff to consider like code-switching, global/regional slang, and other things that I haven't even thought of. I'm not really linguistics enthusiast, nor am I especially ready and raring to do deep research at the moment, but looking into some of this stuff really has been quite interesting! Anyways, I don't really have a good way to end all this, so I guess if you actually read all this, congrats? And thank you? And that either way, I hope you have a good day? Yep.

Kris (Pokemon GSC/HGSS) Character Headcanons

And last but certainly not least, it's time for the third of the New Bark Town kids, Kris!

Here's my list of headcanons for her:

Her name is actually Crystal, she just goes by Kris because she likes it better (she spells it with a K because when they were kids, Ethan said it was "cooler" and she thought it was amusing so it stuck)

Her pokemon are Furret, Dunsparce, Slowpoke, and Tauros.

She's four years older than Lyra and Ethan more or less, making her about 20 by the time HGSS rolls around. She's friends with both of them, but because of the age gap and some other stuff I'll cover more in a later post, she becomes more of a tired older sibling figure. This does become a slight point of contention, but once her friends leave on their journeys and mature a bit, they're able to reunite on equal ground and much better terms.

She's super chill most of the time but can be incredibly dry and sarcastic. Despite this she's genuinely and openly supportive of her loved ones a lot and would probably kill for them. (unfortunately for them, she's also not afraid to turn her fury on them too if necessary. Sometimes tough love is valid if your friends are risking their lives by being idiots :D )

She's just a little tiny bit of a know-it-all (like the "erm actually ☝️🤓" kind of know-it-all). She's not afraid to speak up and debate with someone about the subjects she's educated in, and while she always tries to stay civil about it, she can't help the occasional snide comment that slips out. Of course, even though she cares more about being correct than "winning", she can't help but feel a bit smug whenever she's right and sulky when she happens to be wrong.

She's also pretty snarky and even a bit judgemental sometimes, but she was raised to be very polite, so she tries her best to keep it on the down-low. Still, lying to anyone about something shallow always leaves a bitter taste in her mouth, so when she's trying her best not to be rude (usually around strangers---she lets loose more around her friends), she'll get really vague or just refuse to say anything if it's really bad.

She's already been on her own journey when she was around 13-14, during which she managed to get most of the badges and dominated the Battle Tower (which has expanded into the Battle Frontier by the time HGSS rolls around. She likes to visit from time to time when she needs to blow off steam). She probably could've gotten all of the badges if she hadn't gotten tired of it. She's a very family-oriented person, so being away from home for so long wore on her nerves.

She doesn't battle often anymore, mostly just to exercise her pokemon, but she can still hold her own even against ace trainers. This is mostly because she uses a lot more strategy compared to most people, as she's able to come up with plans on how to defeat an opponent even if she's never seen their team before thanks to her extensive knowledge of pokemon. However! if her plans happen to get knocked off track, it's much easier to overpower her team.

She takes over the lab from Elm, though it doesn't happen until he's basically forced to retire (the man loves his work, ok?). He still hangs around though especially since his home is literally on the second floor.

She also specializes in evolution, but instead of focusing on breeding like he did, she's more interested in requirement-based evolution (like why some pokemon will remain in their first stage of evolution despite being old enough/having the experience to evolve. or why some pokemon need certain items to evolve. or why some pokemon evolve with trading. stuff like that. it's definitely a wide field but she enjoys the variety a lot).

She has this habit of flicking people's heads if she's annoyed with them. Light flick? she's being lighthearted. Painful flick? she's actually upset. Oftentimes she'll flick herself if she's particularly stumped on something, usually to do with her research.

She owns a bicycle her parents bought from Goldenrod and takes it absolutely everywhere---girl could probably ride across the entire region if she wanted to.

Her pokegear is horrendously outdated, and the screen is so cracked it's a miracle it still works. Regardless, she refuses to get a new one because "it turns on just fine."

She has the worst handwriting known to mankind, but she still insists on scribbling everything down herself. It's like a rite of passage for every new researcher to try and decipher her notes well enough to transpose them into the lab's computer system.

Her love language is sending pictures to her friends. except. most of the time it'll either be motion-blurred pics of random pokemon with captions like "good find today👍" or the world's most incomprehensible memes.

Despite teasing her friends about talking too much, she can be just as bad when talking about any vein of pokemon science, especially with fellow colleages/researchers. She's much more of a nerd than she likes to let on.

If you're still taking Pokémon requests, could you maybe draw a Cinderace happily laying its chin in its trainer's hand like this example?

This one turned out cute, I think!

Thinking about Giovanni vs Lance... ground-type vs dragon-type specialist... the ability to stand your ground against any opposition regardless of if you're right or wrong, to be anchored and weathered down and yet to withstand it until you prevail or you're worn to dust... and the ability to take those same struggles but to fly past them instead, to remain sturdy in your beliefs and yet flexible enough to adapt and overcome, to take every hardship as a new scale to add to your armor... two very different versions of strength that Silver is influenced by on his journey to not only become the strongest trainer but also to discover what that means in the first place...

soulsilvershipping my beloved <3

For the JEC Kickoff Event - Curate a Collection

All images used can be found here!

Ethan (HGSS) Character Headcanons

Continuing with the New Bark Town trio headcanons!

Starring Ethan next:

So unlike Lyra, Ethan doesn't really do anything in the main storyline (same as the games, really, if you choose Lyra as the player character).

I thought maybe it would be cool if he had some kind of connection to the legendary beasts? since I associate Silver with Ho-Oh and and Lyra with Lugia. So basically, he experiences the Suicune/Eusine subplot instead of Lyra

I think the way it would go is that while he's out on his journey, he happens to encounter one of (or all of) the legendary beasts but it's scared off by the arrival of Eusine. Ethan asks what in the world just happened and Eusine starts explaining the ✨lore✨. He ends up accompanying Eusine on his quest in the hopes of another legendary encounter (though he doesn't really care about Eusine's reasons. he's used to just nodding along to Lyra's infodumping and Eusine isn't really any different. so). Slowly though, he starts to warm up to Eusine, genuinely getting invested in his efforts to bring back the legendary beasts and learning a bit about maturity/empathy on the way. It ends at Cerulean Cape like in the games, except Ethan doesn't catch Suicune and the event is left on a hopeful note that the beasts can in fact regain their trust in humanity.

His maternal grandmother was very hard on his mom during her child, so he ended up getting raised with much more relaxed rules. Unfortunately, rarely getting in genuine trouble, he kind of got used to getting away with more than he really should've. He ended up a little too confident and even a little self-centered at times as a result, though he's never intentionally mean-spirited.

A huge part of his character arc involves figuring out what he wants to do with his life. Living in a tiny town such as New Bark, he was always convinced that he had to go out and do Big Things™ with his life---and he kind of does while he's out with Eusine and later competing in the Pokelathon. But while doing so, he ends up overlooking what really matters: the people (and pokemon) close to him. And eventually he learns that not only is it fine to have an "average" life, it's actually kinda preferable in some ways.

(unfortunately the exact timeline/story beats are still very much undecided. so. can't elaborate on the specifics for now :/ )

After Lyra chose Totodile and Silver stole Chikorita, he was left with Cyndaquil. He already had a starter pokemon (Marill) but since Cyndaquil was left by itself, Elm decided to offer it to Ethan and he was like "yeah why not." His third pokemon is a Pichu, specifically the spiky-eared Pichu (how'd get it without already having a shiny Pichu? Great question, moving on---).

He was the first person to really bring Lyra out of her shell when they were kids. Back then, she had the impulsive ideas but he was the one to actually go through with them. Some of their antics included climbing the windmills in New Bark Town, sneaking into the pen of a very wild pokemon Elm was studying, and sailing down the river on Route 27 all the way to the ocean on a poorly made raft, none of which were very successful. Kris tried to do damage control when she could, but as a research assistant there was no way to keep an eye on them at all times.

He's actually the weaker battler compared to Lyra and Kris, but what he lacks in skill he makes up for in sheer willpower. by which I mean he likes to act big and cocky and tough when he really isn't. Dude loves his pokemon but just has no idea how to battle, he just does whatever feels right in the moment.

He still loves competition though, so when the chance came to compete in the Pokeathlon he was absolutely pumped. He and his pokemon are later considered one of the best teams, and he kinda becomes a celebrity---not necessarily mobbed on the streets, but definitely a well-known name to anyone who keeps up with the sport.

While he's competing, he lives with his grandparents in Goldenrod and helps out around their daycare. They don't initially approve of his participation, but he gets money for winning and he promotes the daycare every chance he gets so they can't really complain.

Partially due to the advertising, business at the daycare blows up and Ethan eventually "retires" to focus on it. He doesn't bother announcing it or anything, he just kinda stops showing up to the Dome. When interviewed about it, he responds "oh yeah, I'm actually done competing lol. anyways if you need any top-tier daycare services---"

He ends up taking over the daycare for his grandparents once they're older and it's too much for them to handle. He occasionally helps Elm with his research since he deals with pokemon eggs and evolutions so often.

Between the Pokelathon and helping out at the daycare, Ethan gains a decent amount of muscle. It gets to the point where he can just throw his friends over his shoulder without warning and parade them around, and it's his favorite thing ever. Kris will just hang there chilling, Lyra will burst into laughter until she's set down, and Silver will either quietly sulk or cuss Ethan out depending on the mood he's in.

He's cousins with Red on his dad's side! They both know the basics of Kantonian Sign Language because sometimes, it's easier to sign than miming or pulling out their pokegears to communicate when Red goes mute (though it's not their main form of communication). He really looked up to Red as a kid, so when his older cousin goes missing, he takes it as best as he can even though it's still really hard on him.

He cuts his own hair because it "looks cool." Eventually he figures out how to do it well, but for a while his hair just looks like he put it under a weed eater and called it good.

Despite getting flak from his friends for occasionally lacking common sense, he actually grows to be very emotionally intelligent. He's easily able to pick up on what other people are feeling and works around that during conversations, which is part of the reason he gets along with almost everyone (helps that's he's super charismatic---not in an attractive way necessarily, just a big lovable dork kind of way)

He's naturally extremely friendly, but he also returns exactly the attitude he's given. He and Silver's friendship has a very rocky beginning, with the two of them tolerating each other for Lyra's sake until they manage to find common ground (and Silver becomes a little less of an ass)

He's the kind of guy to wear shorts no matter the weather. It's fine when he's living in New Bark Town, but unfortunately for him Goldenrod tends to be a bit more chilly. Not that he'd ever actually admit to being cold, of course---he's too cool for that (pun intended)

He hands out nicknames left and right---Crystal, Lyra, and Silver are Kris, Ly, and Silv respectively. The more he dislikes someone, the more outlandish (and/or insulting) their nickname tends to be.

Pokemon characters anyone 👀?

If you wanna ask about a character, please do so through my ask box! and I'll answer with a new bingo card for each ask :)

Already covered:

(if I feel like it I might also write a lil rant depending on the character :0 if that's something that interests anyone)

((I SHOULD ALSO SPECIFY game characters only please!!! I have very very limited knowledge about pokespe stuff and know even less about the anime (besides like. the mainstream stuff)! so! thank you very much for your consideration!))

Sorry in advance if this post doesn't make much sense, but! in my defense, this was all originally going to be left in tags (for this post specifically if you're curious). And then the tags breached containment, and they were pretty off-topic anways, so... here we are! There's no particular point here, I'm just writing whatever comes to mind, so fair warning for lots of aimless rambling that leads into even more aimless rambling:

PLA to me is about perseverance. It's about the initial confusion, and the consequent adaptation that changes you fundamentally as a person. It's about using your strengths in ways you never considered before. It's about ✨Willpower✨ even--- ok that's a reference to personal canon but whatever. More than anything, it's about the lengths someone is willing to go through to get what they want, whether it's summoning Pokemon Satan to restart the world, trying to protect your hoe from mentioned Satan-summoner, or just trying to survive in the midst of chaos.

My Lucas is deaf and loses his hearing aids when he first arrives in Hisui (he has a tiny bit of hearing but like. not enough to be useful for the most part), so instantly he's cut off from everyone who tries to help him. He can write to communicate but the language gap is like modern vs middle english---sure it's kinda possible but it's gonna be a pain in the ass, take forever to decipher, and meaning will be lost in translation. It gets easier to deal with as time goes on, of course, but the pure inconvenience will always be there. And then of course he's shoved right into the Survey Corps because they assume he just speaks a different language instead of Literally Not Being Able To Hear Anything. He ends up communicating mostly through gestures when out in the field (he and Akari work out their own system of signals for long-distance communication methinks), and as per Cyllene's suggestion, he eventually puts together some communication cards for general use. When he gets back to Sinnoh, it definitely makes him think about over-relying on technology, but getting into that would segue into unrelated territory.

And poor Lucas doesn't know how to survive out in the wild!! He's a scholar not a fighter!!! He probably read some relevant stuff back in Sinnoh but also his memory is pretty shot. Akari's there to help too (she has a much more active role in personal canon) but a lot of it is still trial and error, and then so so so much research while he has the luxury of being in town. The first time he encounters an alpha pokemon, it manages to sneak up on him from behind, and he kinda sorta nearly dies! After that, he learns real quick to pay attention to the shadows around him as visual clues, including after he returns to Sinnoh (which does ruin Dawn's/Barry's fun a little but it's probably for the best so they don't end up scaring him and getting suckerpunched out of reflex). He ends up using the environment to his advantage a lot in that way, even after he physically adapts to his new setting---after all, no matter how strong you and your pokemon are, there's always going to be someone stronger. You're much more likely to survive if you know how to work around that strength instead. He'd probably take up foraging as well whenever he runs out of supplies. I can't see him hunting for food because 1.) trying to prepare a pokemon for consumption would be Overstimulating to say the least, and 2.) killing a pokemon might be just a little traumatizing for someone who works so closely with them (both before and during PLA). Like sure he'd probably get used to it, but he's not willing to get that far in the first place, so his diet suffers a bit as a result. There's plenty of other examples but honestly this paragraph is getting too long.

Long story short once he gets exiled it's basically Survival Wilderness Training Pt. 2: Hardcore Mode. Of course, he doesn't especially care about his banishment---Lucas is perfectly fine with rules right until the point they become unfair or unreasonable, after which he'll ignore them at his leisure---but sneaking back into Jubilife tends to be more trouble than its worth anyways. From there, its a matter of figuring out who he can and can't depend on. Akari was the person he trusted most but ultimately chose to stay in Jubilife when he was banished, the clan leaders frankly seemed a little childish at first but they're eager to lend him a hand, the wardens can't do much for fear of offending the Galaxy Team, and Volo's willing to help but sticks his nose in Lucas's business too much for his liking. Then again, he can't really be too picky when he's roughing it out in the wilderness and also trying to stop what feels like the end of the world. It's a matter of principles vs practicality, and unfortunately for Lucas, he has some very strong principles.

Aaaaand from here I'm not sure what else to write. Like I mentioned, I didn't exactly have a specific topic in mind while writing this. I'm also pretty undecided on the story beats overall---I haven't actually. y'know. played or watched PLA yet. But these are my thoughts so far at least!

mmm poffin tasty :)c

To celebrate the beginning of the Johto Enjoyer Community (or the JEC), we're starting off strong with a bingo card!

Unlike many other bingos, each square has a task instead of a prompt. The goal here is to encourage everyone to participate in a part of the fandom they might not otherwise---artists can try their hand at writing, fic writers can figure out how to organize moodboards, board creators can practice their drawing skills, and so on! But don't worry, all the minimum requirements (listed at the bottom of this post) are very low, so every task should be accessible to every person regardless of skill level or circumstance!

There's even a prize: a free full-body illustration like styled like Kris above for any pokemon/character (not just within the Pokemon universe) of your choosing, drawn by yours truly! Of course, you can join in without going for the prize, but in order to be eligible, take a look below...

The Rules:

The winner of this event will be chosen by raffle. Every confirmed bingo will earn you one raffle entry. That means that the more bingos you complete, the higher chance you'll have of winning!

To get a bingo, you must complete the tasks of five squares in a row, horizontally or vertically (not diagonally). Each bingo must have five original attempts, even if you've already covered a square in a previous bingo. All task attempts must be centered around Johto in some way, though mentioning other regions is by no means strictly prohibited.

To submit a bingo to the form, you must upload an image of your bingo marked on the card provided below. Then for each task, you can provide either an image (required for the Leave Some Love task) of your attempt or a link to where you've posted it online. You can only submit one bingo per form. Once I've confirmed your bingo, I'll add your entry to the raffle pool!

Not every task attempt has to be posted for the world to see. If you're feeling shy about a particular task, it's perfectly acceptable to submit it directly to the form---remember, you can post privately on Tumblr and no one will be able to see it unless you share the link! However, if you do decide to share it publicly, please use the tag #jec kickoff bingo.

You do not have to be a member of the community to play---This event is open to everyone!

The submission form will close at 2:00 AM CST on March 17th, so you only have two weeks as of posting to participate in the raffle!

Submit your bingo through this link!

The Categories:

(don't worry, all you really need to read here is the colored text. all the plain text is just examples to serve as a jumping-off point!)

Leave Some Love - compliment a blog/piece of work! Try leaving a nice comment under a Tumblr post, other social media posts, or even an AO3 work. Feeling a bit shy? Anonymously message someone who posts regularly about Johto. If you're brave, you might make a public call-out post targeting your some underrated people in the community (as a whole, not just the JEC). There's no one way to do it, but do try to be genuine about your compliments! It's no fun for anyone if you just say is "hey i like your stuff" and leave it at that. Please be mindful of how you submit your compliments---images are required for this task. Also, I can only confirm anon asks before they've been sent.

Draft a Drabble - write a fanfic that is at least 100 words long. For those not in the know, a drabble is a piece of fiction that is exactly 100 words long. Though, it's not a strict definition, as some drabbles may be a little more or a little less. Any subject is allowed as long as it's a creative story---you could write about an event, for example---so don't worry about limiting yourself to characters if that's not your thing!

Dig in the Details - write an analysis on any topic of your choosing. Want to pick apart a character's personality based on their manga dialogue? We'd love to hear it! Got an idea for the best possible competitive team using all Johto pokemon? Go for it! Just really need an excuse to complain about why the level curve is so bad? We've all been there! An essay would likely be the easiest way to do this, but there's no singular best method---you could even make a powerpoint presentation if you wanted!

Pick a Pocket Monster - choose any pokemon to discuss! Whether its your overall favorite, a particular partner you had on one of your playthroughs, or even your most expensive trading card, we want to hear everything that makes this pokemon stand out to you over the rest.

Doodle a Darling - draw a pokemon, character, item, location, or any other subject of your choosing. Drawings do not have to be full illustrations (though they certainly can be), nor is skill/quality a point of judgement here. If you feel like going the extra mile, you could even explain why you chose your particular subject!

Curate a Collection - create a compilation of media based on a certain subject. This might be a moodboard, collage, pinterest board, music playlist, fic rec, or even a gif set! Please keep in mind that as per our community's rules, you may not use any fanworks that you have not created yourself. Make sure to credit the sources of other pieces of media when appropriate.

Fix it with Fanon - share a headcanon/theory/etc. you enjoy! You might know how to fill a plothole from the manga, have an idea on how to fix a weird game mechanic, want to share your favorite AU, or even have a fakemon you designed just for Johto. As long as it's a fandom-original idea, it'll fit the bill!

Convince the Crowd - try to persuade everyone to agree with you on a certain topic! Maybe there's a pokemon type you believe trumps all others, or maybe you're really passionate about which movie it the best. You can also reply to points other people have made if you have an opposing view. Whatever you choose, be respectful when making your argument!

Knicks and Knacks - make an arts-and-crafts project themed around a topic of your choosing. The sky's the limit here---you could try your hand at little accessories like bracelets or pins, cobble together a short zine, make a paper doll, design cool profile icons or web stamps, stitch together an edit or meme, put on some cosplay, and so much more! As long as it's something you made with your own hands (so to speak), anything goes.

Script a Scenario - portray a situation using a medium other than standard illustration/writing. This could include playscripts, comics, texting fics, or even the photo booth feature in Pokemas! If you need to give a short written description to clarify what's going on, that's fine, but it shouldn't be the star of the show.

Free Space - Choose any of the above categories to complete!

The Minimum Requirements:

Images/GIFs - 500x500 px

Writing - 5-6 sentences or ~75 words

Moodboards/Pinterest Boards - 5 images

Collages - 5 main elements (not including minor decorations)

Playlists - 3 songs with a short explanation each

Fanfiction Recs - 3 works with a short explanation each

Made it through all that and still have questions? Feel free to leave them down in the comments and they'll be answered as soon as possible!

Good luck everyone, and mostly importantly, have fun!

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Johto Enjoyers :) • Community on Tumblr

A space for anything related to the Johto region of the Pokemon world, from the games to the manga to the shows and more!