Jim Viscardi (00:00.814)
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to another exciting episode of a wild. Just kidding. Welcome to that Pokemon podcast. I am one of your hosts, Jim Viscardi joined today by Megan Peters and Christian Hoffer. We're back, baby.
Christian (00:18.4)
We are indeed back.
Megan Peters (00:21.662)
I am physically present. I am physically present, as we will remember.
Jim Viscardi (00:21.806)
bring in that excitement. It is like we never left. Welcome back everyone. If you are a faithful listener of the other Pokemon podcast we used to do, God damn, are we glad to see you back. If you are new to the show, congratulations. You just found your new favorite Pokemon podcast guaranteed hands down. No problem. This show.
talks about all things Pokemon. We're gonna talk about the games, the anime, the Pokemon stuff, and at the very end, Christian is gonna give you a Pokemon fact of the week that's gonna make you a better, smarter Pokemon fan, and at times, scare the living crap out of you. We're doing it. Today, we've been going back and forth on when, where, how, what do we wanna do, and bring it back, and we have this lovely...
thriving discord community which you can find a link to in the description of this show please go join it there are a ton of people there who have been there from the very beginning and people who literally are joining every day which means like people are finding our old show and being like I know they haven't been around for over a year but let's go check out the discord and people are there joining every day it is hands down the best have to give a shout out to semantics for keeping that thing running keeping the lights on
God bless him, but hey I got it also just really quick give a quick shout out to some of the some old standbys who I know are listening to this very first episode Calder and Kestrel and And I got and now now I feel bad Mcgundam and general code and so many others I'll shout out the rest in the second episode everyone is gonna be like how come I didn't get one Then then you get that's fine. Call me out and then you'll get one on the next episode
Christian (02:13.344)
Well, we will have we will have a new way to call out listeners to the show, which we can talk about in a little bit, because, you know, we we need to figure out a way to keep the lights on on this podcast.
Jim Viscardi (02:24.462)
That is also true. We are no longer part of a giant media conglomerate. We are doing this on our own. And I just went through and picked up, I grabbed as many social handles I could. You could also find this podcast if I didn't screw it up at that Pokemonpodcast.com. Presumably would work, presumably should work. Yeah, right. No, exactly.
Megan Peters (02:25.024)
No!
Megan Peters (02:46.894)
I mean, that sounds official enough. It sounds really, you know, professional and great.
Christian (02:48.631)
Yeah.
Jim Viscardi (02:54.048)
so much has happened. And going to bring my weird tangent full circle, the when and how and why we wanted to bring this back is one, we miss each other. And so that's a that's a that was a huge, huge part of that. I mean, these, these two, and I know I'm taking up the bulk of the talking at the start of this, but these two were such a part of my weekly routine for so many years that when
I went to go off on my other ventures and everyone else went on their own other ventures. It sucked, to be quite honest.
Megan Peters (03:28.61)
Dude, it's hard being an adult and like having regular friend time. like, you can, if you can like guise it up as a podcast, two birds, one stone.
Christian (03:29.984)
Yeah.
Jim Viscardi (03:36.535)
Mm-hmm exactly
Christian (03:37.494)
Yeah, I'm tapping friends, so it's nice to have friends again.
Megan Peters (03:41.606)
yeah, no, legitimately, anytime I would see like Geodude merchandise, I would just text it to these two. I'd be like, look at these Geodude clothing hangers. These are so sick.
Jim Viscardi (03:47.297)
I know!
But like it was it's always a weird like where do you like where do you drop a new episode? Where do you drop a reboot episode and all and honestly doing it on the same day a Pokemon presents comes out is really the best and only spot to To do it and boy. boy. Did we get a really good one today? Like like, know, I've been paying attention and I've watched a bunch of the other ones today's pretty legit
Megan Peters (04:18.904)
We did, it faked me out at the beginning though. So, you know, that was painful. That one hurt me on the inside, but then it got, then it was fine. I was still pleased with the overall results.
Jim Viscardi (04:21.707)
You
Christian (04:28.682)
Now, most importantly, did everyone see the DJ Pikachu set that they had playing on the Pokemon YouTube page before the Pokemon Presents started? They had... It ran at least 15 minutes long and it was literally DJ Pikachu playing back classic Pokemon songs remixed for the club.
Megan Peters (04:40.28)
No.
Jim Viscardi (04:40.572)
no.
Jim Viscardi (04:53.303)
No,
Megan Peters (04:53.422)
Was it like bass drops? Did we get like Skrillex influence?
Christian (04:59.074)
We literally had like the air horn like, you know, while the like Pokemon Pokemon Center theme song was playing. It was and Pikachu was wearing neon shades that glowed. He was surrounded by other Pikachu that were banging their heads and dancing and doing like the whole and like Pikachu kept on having one of its paws like raised up in the air and like.
Jim Viscardi (05:01.335)
Peace.
Megan Peters (05:17.186)
Naturally.
Christian (05:27.628)
having his hand go up and down with the beat. It was a full-on...
It was almost a waste that they had to do like, you know, so when they do the Pokemon presents, they always do like the YouTube premiere. And so it has like the one minute countdown and stuff like that. It was a waste.
Jim Viscardi (05:41.729)
Right. Which is why I only rolled out of bed at eight o'clock and then immediately hit go. So I didn't, cause I don't need the countdown.
Christian (05:48.158)
Yeah, it was a big waste for DJ Pikachu to have a separate video. So they had a separate countdown video with DJ Pikachu. And then you were supposed to swap it over to the Pokemon Presents. I don't know how that transition actually worked out, but it was something different, something very different.
Megan Peters (06:11.554)
I don't... Yeah, I don't feel like that transition went well. I'm now really upset I missed it. Yeah, sure it's on like YouTube shorts or something.
Jim Viscardi (06:17.517)
I know! I'm gonna go try and find it now.
Christian (06:18.272)
Well, I think DJ... Yeah, think DJ... I think DJ Pikachu is still on the YouTube page.
Megan Peters (06:27.075)
he's still going. wow.
Christian (06:28.547)
he still playing?
Jim Viscardi (06:30.431)
no no no, I think he means like the video is saved on the YouTube page. No, he's not still...
Megan Peters (06:32.818)
I was like, did he come back? Is this his encore? Look, mean, it's truly like Ray, VDM, Pikachu that this late is his time. Like this is his moment right now. So.
Christian (06:33.312)
Yeah, the video is still there.
Jim Viscardi (06:37.697)
I know it's late in Tokyo, I don't think they're still going hard to the Pokemon.
Christian (06:50.39)
So, actually I don't, I don't, I'm pulling up the live videos. There is currently no way to check out DJ Pikachu's full set list. This is something they will clearly need to, need to fix.
Jim Viscardi (06:50.966)
Megan Peters (07:06.606)
They'll drop like a, you know, like a quiet Beyonce drop, you know. We won't see it coming that record. It'll just pop up on Spotify and it'll pull a K-pop Demon Hunters and just take over the charts.
Jim Viscardi (07:15.789)
Yeah.
Jim Viscardi (07:20.621)
Speaking of, K-Pop Demon Hunters? Incredible. It's so good.
Megan Peters (07:23.994)
I cannot even tell you how many times I've watched it. It's so... Honestly, the little bird with three eyes, like that's a Pokemon.
Christian (07:24.097)
Yes.
Jim Viscardi (07:31.605)
Nora's watching it at like almost once a day at this point. It's kind of insane.
Megan Peters (07:35.201)
it's so- it's- it's stupid good.
Jim Viscardi (07:38.827)
Yeah, if you haven't checked it out, it's on Netflix. Go check it out. Speaking of Netflix, let's talk and we'll we'll get to the these things always open up with the boring World Championship stuff. And it's in Anaheim. It's going to be in a stadium for the first time ever. OK, whatever. Moving on. Does anyone care? No.
Christian (07:54.252)
Yeah, friendship ended with world championships now that I no longer am going. I have... I have...
Jim Viscardi (07:59.47)
I Mean I care they look like fun, but like it's in Anaheim this year It's like it sure isn't it is it special absolutely it being in an arena for the first time is pretty cool like the the Participants get cool swag the championship the guy who ever wins championships actually get some pretty cool dare I say drip Like the that jacket and whatever looked actually really the hat looked really really cool But other than that I mean that's really all the news you need to
Christian (08:19.319)
Yeah
Jim Viscardi (08:28.385)
Championships are being held in Anaheim if you want to go go But back to Netflix the thing I like I'm crazy excited for we're getting finally getting more episodes of Pokemon concierge the best Pokemon media thing I've seen in a million years
Megan Peters (08:43.18)
Yes, September 4th. It's coming back. like we don't theoretically as long as we don't hit any delays
Christian (08:43.594)
And, and we're going to meet Haru's ex. So we're going to, we're going to get into the deep life backstory of why Haru became so depressed that she decided to rip up her life and travel to a Pokemon resort to work there.
Megan Peters (09:00.142)
I mean, let's be so honest, this has been a great move for Haru though. I mean, like truly, if you were gonna have a full crash out, like she crashed out in the best possible situation to be at a hotel resort with Psyduck and like a whole bunch of really cute Pokemon. You know, I'm disregarding a lot of the labor.
Christian (09:04.066)
Yeah.
Jim Viscardi (09:17.877)
Yeah, but like because of a boy? mean, let's like...
Christian (09:21.122)
It's because of a boy in Peek- and Psyduck does not trust that boy. Because he shows up and they start holding hands and Psyduck, you know, goes and gets in the way and says, absolutely not on my watch. I barely have, like, know, self-cognizance, but even I know that, you know, we're not going to go back to this toxic relationship. Like, you know, my head hurts too much for you to be in a relationship, Haru.
Jim Viscardi (09:47.182)
It's a strangely adult theme for considering the first, mean, actually, you know what? I lied. I was gonna say the first season was not so, didn't have real adult themes in there, but who am I kidding? mean, there was a lot of, there were definitely tones of stuff in there. mean, it cuts pretty deep. Yeah, so.
Christian (10:01.419)
Yeah.
Megan Peters (10:01.504)
yeah, like the first two- like the first episode where it was like a total adult transition into this like new new job I was like, ooh, this is hitting hard!
Jim Viscardi (10:11.085)
You know what forget I even said that you're right the first the first season was also Had a bunch of stuff that we could all relate with but I mean like it looks great. I love That this I love that this series shows such a wide range of Pokemon right because I think it's so easy to get stuck in You know like the ones that everyone knows kinds of things But you see a bunch of see a bunch of stuff there that there's I don't think there was an Eevee in the first season and so like you know
Eevee stands, congratulations, you get your Eevee and...
Megan Peters (10:42.786)
Yes. Thank you for congratulating me. I appreciate that.
Christian (10:43.084)
Yep. You get an EV with a bad haircut.
Megan Peters (10:48.94)
This is true. This is unfortunately true, but you know what? Evie with a bad haircut is better than no Evie at all.
Christian (10:51.543)
There is-
Christian (10:56.052)
It's a first for the Pokemon franchise. They're finally showing Pokemon with bad haircuts. They're reminding... Like in the real world, not every animal is cute. you know, so now we're...
Jim Viscardi (10:56.269)
It's true.
Megan Peters (11:08.418)
This is true. I there was that like in the anime, there was that Pikachu they introduced that had a haircut like Naruto, Boruto. I mean, that thing is still the thing of my nightmares. Yeah, it haunts us, truly. So, you know, I can accept it. So September 4th, Pokemon Concierge, if you've been missing a little bit of, you know, cute fun that's also got some like decently existential themes to it, if you're of the older persuasion, Concierge is an adorable series.
Christian (11:14.754)
Yeah.
Jim Viscardi (11:18.103)
Haunts us. Yeah, it's still haunts
Jim Viscardi (11:37.195)
the the arcanine in the rain like was just so cute. And like but like but like to see it with like it's kind of like wet matted fur in that like plush stop motion style. I was just like, God, this show just looks so good. So I can't wait.
Megan Peters (11:54.028)
Yeah, and now we have another one that's coming out with Netflix. finally got our first look at the the Aardman Studios Pokemon TV series.
Christian (11:56.961)
Yeah, I'm-
Christian (12:02.375)
and as everyone expected, it's a Game of Thrones spin-off.
Megan Peters (12:11.33)
You know what, I need to hear more about this, why.
Jim Viscardi (12:13.985)
Yeah, how are we making this connection, Kristen? Go ahead.
Christian (12:16.096)
No, well, no, it's it's it's you guys have never seen you guys have never read the Dunkin Egg books. I'm pretty sure that's literally what this is. It's called The Misadventures of Sirfetch'd and Pichu and basically appears to be Sirfetch'd, you know, kind of protecting Pichu as Pichu gets into various misadventures. And this is literally the plot of A Night of the Seven Kingdoms, which is the upcoming HBO miniseries. So.
We're not going to need this, unfortunately, because HBO, think, is getting this out a year earlier in non-stop motion form with the Dunk and Egg series that's coming out. But if you want a Pokemon version of it set in the same region, because it's the Galar region. I love the fact that Ardman's like, yeah, guys, we're totally going to Pokemon Britain for this, because why wouldn't we? It's there.
Jim Viscardi (12:58.273)
Hehehehe
Jim Viscardi (13:04.781)
You
Jim Viscardi (13:08.749)
Well, it was good because he was just like, he didn't say the region and I was like, am going to have to try and figure out what region it's in? And then it was immediately apparent right from the get-go. And I was like, OK.
Megan Peters (13:16.27)
We're immediately in like, Cornswall. Like, we're in Cornswall right now. I love Wallace and Gromit. I cannot, like, I've always been such a huge fan. And as soon as this was announced, you know, many moons ago that this project was happening, especially after Concierge with kind of the stop motion, like, proof of concept, like really works for Pokemon. I am very excited to see how kind of the specific art of and humor
Christian (13:22.978)
Yeah.
Megan Peters (13:45.474)
fits with Pokemon. I'm also excited to see how many different varieties of cheeses they're able to fit into this TV show.
Jim Viscardi (13:51.872)
Nahahaha!
Christian (13:52.766)
I'm a little disappointed that they didn't somehow merge Wooloo with their other sheep, you know, because Ardman, like the Wallace and Gromit series, you know, all prominently feature sheep. You know, that's they're they're basically like secondary characters in that. And they immediately opened up with a Wooloo. And I think the point was was like, guys, no, we're going to use Pokemon models for this. We're not, you know, this this this sheep, this Wooloo looks like a Wooloo and not one of our sheep.
Megan Peters (14:04.238)
Mm-hmm.
Christian (14:21.826)
I think it was a very deliberate touch. you know, no, in case you're wondering if our Pokemon are all going to have like weirdo heads. And I say that lovingly because I too love like Wallace and Gromit. Like, but they all have they all have like pear shaped heads. And there's like, no, that's that's not going to be the case. Here is a normal looking Wooloo during normal Wooloo things. And also here's Sirfetch'd having medieval adventures in the back.
Jim Viscardi (14:30.445)
Right.
Christian (14:48.842)
I fully expect like Sir Fitch to fight a dragon in this series.
Megan Peters (14:52.46)
There's no way that doesn't
Jim Viscardi (14:52.609)
mean, you saw the Charizard. Yeah, I mean, it's gonna be, I mean, you saw the Charizard, you heard the Charizard and you saw the fire.
Christian (14:54.313)
Yeah, yeah.
Megan Peters (14:59.884)
Yeah, he's for sure gonna have. mean, my favorite, the thing that I'm gonna be so thoroughly disappointed is if we don't get a large crowd shot of like a field of Wooloo and we don't see like a regular like, show on the sheep. We don't see like, a regular sheep. They have to.
Christian (15:10.498)
pretty sure.
Jim Viscardi (15:11.597)
They are so good at like sticking Easter egg stuff in a bunch of their stuff I have to imagine we're gonna do that because we are kind of recording this and I don't really I Mean, I'm gonna sound unprofessional and say I don't really plan on editing this but I'm gonna edit it a little bit I have to go let my dog out but I'm gonna let you guys really quick or not really quick But start talking about Pokit Park and I'll be right
Megan Peters (15:33.184)
my God, this is what I've been waiting for. mean, obviously as Jim just teed us up, we're getting, it's not technically the first of its kind, but we're getting kind of a year round dedicated subset Pokemon amusement park in Japan.
Christian (15:33.693)
yeah.
Jim Viscardi (15:49.697)
That's not true, Megan, they said it is the first of its kind.
Megan Peters (15:52.644)
They've had like little pop-up ones before in Japan.
Christian (15:54.646)
Well, so they say it's the first of its kind, but really, and I'm actually kind of disappointed by this announcement, is the expansion of a concept that they already had at this amusement park. like, I forget if it was last year or the year before, they had like an out, like literally the outdoor park area that Pokopark Kanto is taking over got transformed into a
Jim Viscardi (15:55.701)
I know, I know.
Christian (16:22.338)
Pokemon made out of nature where they like took acorns and turned them into C-Dot and stuff like that. They literally built Pokemon models out of like things they found in the forest. And that was cool and was novel, but I'm shocked that they said, let's turn that concept into a full blown park. So the main draw of this is going to be a Pokemon forest in which people walk around and presumably see models of Pokemon in the woods because
This isn't Disney. This isn't Universal where they have animatronics. These are going to be Pokemon statues of Pokemon in the natural environment, which is cool. But that's going to be the main attraction is a walking path with and I. I know things are a little bit different in Japan, but if that was in the United States, that would not be enough of a draw.
Jim Viscardi (17:18.166)
You
You
Christian (17:21.366)
for like a park area. Like, yo, that, that wouldn't be enough. And
Jim Viscardi (17:26.249)
especially when you've got Universal opening up these like the the Nintendo land stuff and you have all of that happening and it's like here's a nature walk with Pokemon statues.
Christian (17:31.115)
Yeah
Christian (17:37.184)
Yeah, it-
Megan Peters (17:37.282)
I mean, for me, really reminds me like it philosophically is very reminiscent to me of like the Studio Ghibli Park that's been opened in Japan. like that is a green priority park that's, you know, it's within like a massive park area. It's like totally green. There's a bunch of like they built like different sets houses from Studio Ghibli movies and like.
Jim Viscardi (17:44.673)
Mmm.
Megan Peters (18:01.716)
it's not really like a ride centric thing. Like there's there's it's primarily like a Totoro walking path and you you can climb into the cat bus. It's more kind of like scenery set pieces and then stores and restaurants rather than kind of the full amusement attraction that we see it like Universal like that we're used to even here in America or, you Universal Studios Japan. I just given the success of the Super Nintendo World.
for Universal Studios. I'm just, there has to be greater plans for like a theme park expansion with Pokemon in a theme park somewhere that's like ride based. Like I can't imagine that not being a thing. My conspiracy theory is, know, what is preventing that from happening?
Christian (18:40.896)
Yeah, like.
Christian (18:50.282)
Now, my guess is, that there is because we know at one point Universal was developing a Pokemon expansion of Super Nintendo World. So we've seen the concept art. There was going to be a water ride. Like we know that. So I am curious if those plans are still in the works. And so that's why we got the more.
Megan Peters (19:08.078)
Mm-hmm.
Christian (19:18.278)
nature walking part like set pieces as opposed to an active ride because Universal still wants to make like a Pokemon roller coaster at some point. Like that is my personal guess is that the license and the other thing is is keep in mind Universal technically licenses Nintendo. There could be a point in time and it won't be anytime soon because of how these Universal contracts are written because we've seen
Megan Peters (19:28.184)
Mm-hmm.
Megan Peters (19:39.288)
Mm-hmm.
Christian (19:46.662)
how the Marvel contract is written for Universal Studios in Florida. that runs for that's like a 99 year like thing. And, you know, it's east of the Mississippi River. No one is allowed to make Marvel rides, including the actual owner of Marvel. Unless that involves a certain set list of characters. And that's why we have Guardians of the Galaxy at Epcot. And that is it. I am wondering if
Jim Viscardi (19:50.283)
Mm-hmm.
Megan Peters (20:11.075)
Mm-hmm.
Christian (20:16.3)
Pokemon who owns Poké Park. They jointly own Poké Park. They made an investment in the amusement park and own that land. Like there's Poké Park Kanto, the company, I forget what the exact name is, owns that land. And so I'm wondering if they licensed out like more immersive or more expensive rides and went for this more low-key thing.
because eventually Universal Studios Japan is going to open up a Pokemon expansion.
Megan Peters (20:49.41)
That is my primary conspiracy theory. Keep the low key costs and prime the well essentially with this smaller outfit in Japan and then have the USJ in Japan then do the larger rides, the water ride. My ideal world would be a Dueling Dragons kind of ride with some sort of dragon epic clash or something like that.
Christian (21:10.155)
Yeah, yeah.
Megan Peters (21:16.002)
You know, that's the dream. think we are unfortunately still a decent bit away from having that happen. I think if anything, we'll get something like Legend of Zelda related into the parks before we get Pokemon, which is interesting from an IP state, because obviously Pokemon as an IP is just stupidly big, separated from that and to know of it all. But in 2026, Poké Park Kanto will be open in Japan if you're going to be around and you want to take a cute little walk.
Christian (21:27.457)
Yeah, I think.
Christian (21:39.266)
But.
Christian (21:45.204)
And Zelda, so Zelda is going to be kind of, I agree that probably the next expansion is going to be Zelda solely because we have the Zelda movie coming out in two years. that's, that's going to be the reason why we are going to get a Hyrule Castle that is going to be very close to however Hyrule Castle looks in those movies. And we should also just expect a talking link as well.
Megan Peters (21:55.502)
Exactly. That is 100 % the reason why.
Jim Viscardi (21:56.46)
Mm-hmm.
Hahaha
Megan Peters (22:06.744)
Mm-hmm.
Megan Peters (22:11.948)
Yeah, just come to terms with it, everyone. You can cry with me in the background.
Christian (22:16.194)
They're not making a Mutant Link movie. Anyways.
Jim Viscardi (22:22.272)
Alright, well anyway, that was way more about Poké Park Kanto than I expected us to spend but here we are Now we get to the my god, they're still making these they're still making and updating these mobile games part of the show
Christian (22:22.305)
So before...
Megan Peters (22:22.402)
Let's go to fight.
Christian (22:35.702)
Yes, so Pokemon Cafe Remix, Loprez is showing up dressed as a pirate.
Megan Peters (22:36.387)
Good.
Megan Peters (22:40.603)
Ooh. Okay, now that's sick.
Jim Viscardi (22:41.908)
Which is great. Look, I still love that game so much. So like, honestly, if you were to ask me at this point between Cafe Remix and Unite which of the two games I would still be playing, I would not have expected it to be Cafe Remix.
Christian (22:56.812)
So my 10 year old recently got into Pokemon Unite and I am surprised that it still has like a decent sized player base. And also that you can remain not wretched with the Pokemon that I collected years ago when I was playing that game. Like John is like decently high up on the rankings just playing his Pikachu.
Like he's he's not like master, like whatever, like the master tier is. But he's like he's like ultra ball tier, I think, or whatever, whatever, the third tier is. And he did that all on his own with Pikachu. I'm like, Pikachu apparently is not terrible.
Megan Peters (23:31.992)
Mm-hmm.
Jim Viscardi (23:44.076)
Good for him.
Christian (23:45.248)
Yeah, they're also Pokemon Masters EX is also still a thing. They are introducing Carmine and I can never get this Pokemon's name right. Sinestra. It's Sinesti, but with Chai. Yeah, it's not even Chai, it's Matcha. Yeah, so it's Sinatra.
Megan Peters (24:06.856)
yes.
Jim Viscardi (24:11.052)
You
Christian (24:12.246)
Yeah, it's matcha. I don't even know it's not chai, it's matcha. It's literally a freaking matcha cup. And Pokemon Sleep is introducing a new region here coming up. I stopped playing Pokemon Sleep a few months ago. No, I just quit playing a few months ago. So I kind of fell out of the habit.
Jim Viscardi (24:24.554)
Are you still Pokemon sleeping?
Jim Viscardi (24:36.204)
I guess now we have to talk about.
Megan Peters (24:36.206)
Okay, as long as you're still getting sleep. guess that's At least unless you're playing Pokemon Insomnia right now, in which case...
Jim Viscardi (24:39.297)
Yeah
Jim Viscardi (24:43.902)
You
Christian (24:44.468)
I have sleep meds now, so there's no point to Pokemon Sleep because I'm out like a freaking light. I don't want to see what my sleep cycle is like. Yeah. I don't want to see what my sleep cycle is like because it's just like me dead to the world for nine hours every night.
Jim Viscardi (24:51.66)
I know how I sleep really well.
Megan Peters (25:01.73)
But imagine what kind of points you would be pulling without the sleep you're getting.
Christian (25:05.218)
100 every single day.
Jim Viscardi (25:07.678)
All of your Pokemoners super evolved! Alright, I have to go let my dog back in, but let's talk about Pokemon Go because I guess we have to.
Megan Peters (25:10.444)
Yeah, they are just eating good.
Christian (25:16.399)
yeah. So, Pokemon...
Megan Peters (25:18.498)
The game that just keeps on giving, whether you want it to give you anything or not, doesn't matter.
Christian (25:23.762)
So Pokemon Go Fest is in fact happening, I think, at the beginning of August, so in like a week or so. And as part of it, Eternatus will be making its global debut. that is the big thing, is Eternatus is back and they're doing a bunch of like G-Max, Pokemon are showing up in raids. But I think like the big news is that Eternatus is making its comeback.
Megan Peters (25:36.438)
Okay.
Christian (25:53.27)
They're doing a couple of other interesting things with Pokemon Go, which isn't enough to get me like back into the games, but it's like moderately interesting. One of the things is they're doing, think like they're going to be like Gigantamax, like Rillaboom and Cinderace and, Tellion are, you'll have a chance to have one of those appear.
like as a code, so I think you just get them in Gigantamax form. But they're they're doing a they're doing a big event over the course of the next month because the other thing is they've seen in Zamazenta are coming back to the games and they're like powered up forms, which like cracks me up that those Pokemon have been in the game for years, but only in their like mediocre forms, which you don't even really get in the games, you know, because they should always be holding the items that powers them up.
Jim Viscardi (26:42.027)
Yeah.
Megan Peters (26:49.592)
Mm-hmm.
Christian (26:49.728)
But in the Pokemon Go, their weekend forms have been in the game for a long time. And they're finally getting a power-up. Yeah, exactly. That's exactly what it is.
Megan Peters (26:56.078)
There's kneecap in them.
Jim Viscardi (27:00.222)
Are we? I've been a little bit out of the Pokemon Go news stuff, but are we out of the Niantic era or is that?
Christian (27:08.962)
So we're officially in Scopely has bought them out. they the only Scopely thing that they've done so far is they've introduced bottle caps to the game, which I think you have to buy in order to utilize. So that's the only really.
monetization that has gone over and beyond what is usually monetized in Pokemon Go.
Jim Viscardi (27:33.962)
Mm-hmm. So we don't know yet how we feel about the scopely of it. Go ahead, Megan, what? It feels sick.
Megan Peters (27:35.752)
I it's just, it feels ick. I don't know. It feels ick. I'll just say it feels ick. My thing is like, obviously in previous discussions we've had, I've just, well, I was for a hot minute during the pandemic and then they rolled back everything and where I live, there's just not a lot of accessibility for like, without me having to pay out.
Jim Viscardi (27:51.212)
You're the go power player
Mm-hmm. Right.
Megan Peters (28:05.026)
you know, from my wallet, which I'm not gonna do, to really be able to like have great accessibility and get a lot of these great, you know, catching opportunities. It's like, I haven't played in a hot minute, but I got the world's worst reality check a couple of weeks ago. went to my hub, like a family reunion on my husband's side. First time I met like a whole bunch of like his family, like after like eight years of us like being together, I met.
One of like a distant cousin or something, they had their kid with them who was, you know, playing on the Switch. And I was like, Nintendo kid. Like we can talk Pokemon. They loved Pokemon. And I was like, well, you're, you're, mean, this kid's like seven, but all seven year olds seem to have phones these days. And I was like, what do you ever play Pokemon Go? And this kid looked at me like I was the crypt keeper. He was like, you know, that's what old people play. And I legitimately was like,
Jim Viscardi (29:01.088)
Megan Peters (29:03.884)
That's the biggest reality check for Pokemon Go that I've gotten in a long time because I, you know, I don't even know if-
Jim Viscardi (29:10.71)
Is that because all the kids are playing TCG Pocket?
Megan Peters (29:14.112)
I don't, guess all the kids are playing Roblox. I don't know. I don't really know like the mobile uptake on that. But yeah, he was like, that's what old people like, was like, old people play it. My dad plays that game. And cause I was like, Ooh, Ooh, this one hurts a little bit. Cause like he, this, this kid was, I mean, I assume a baby wouldn't like the game actually came out like during the craze. So now he's like, you know.
Jim Viscardi (29:16.789)
well, that too.
Jim Viscardi (29:26.444)
no.
Christian (29:27.447)
No.
Megan Peters (29:41.726)
older, you know, he's a fully functioning kid and I'm like, I'm curious to see if and how Scopley with Pokemon Go is able to bridge this kind of generational gap that's starting to rift open.
Jim Viscardi (29:43.01)
noooo
Jim Viscardi (29:55.596)
To be fair, I did see a lot of pictures of the last in-person Go Fest thing that they had and it was just a bunch of elder millennials and so that happened. But I'll tell you what though, it's interesting. Cuz Nora's still pretty plugged in for a reason. So she's 10 now, which is kind of insane to think about. She's way more into TCG Pocket than she is almost anything else.
Megan Peters (30:03.214)
Yes, it is.
Christian (30:03.33)
Yeah.
Christian (30:21.398)
That was, it was kind of surprising that there wasn't a TCG Pocket announcement because we're due for one. There should be a new set coming out next week.
Jim Viscardi (30:26.538)
Announcement. Yeah.
Jim Viscardi (30:33.548)
I yeah, that's the thing. like, it's, that is, that is a mobile game that like, not only like for Nora, but like she's gotten like a bunch of her friends into it. And like that now, now I like, I, that game, the mobile game is doing what I remember the physical game did when I was in elementary school, right? Like they actually like, like it's, it feels like, during the run, there's still plenty of kids who are still diehard. I want to get the physical cards.
of them all kind of thing. like there are more kids in her friend group that care more about like trading and just ripping open packs digitally than I honestly thought there would be because I didn't think that there's to me there's nothing like opening up a physical pack but I guess there did. It is it that's it's 100 % it.
Megan Peters (31:21.71)
It's the gotcha element of it. I mean, it's just, it's just that kind of instant gotcha, which like, I fall prey to that. I still play all the ancient impacts and, know, all that stuff. It's like, I still understand like 100 % that like, I know I tap into that vein, but it's, I'm so curious.
Christian (31:23.723)
Yeah.
Jim Viscardi (31:41.214)
It's like I still get my digital fix. I'm fine. I don't have a problem
Megan Peters (31:49.518)
If there is going to be some of that gratification for Pokemon Go with younger generations moving forward, or if this is truly starting to be an aging out of Go for the younger generation.
Jim Viscardi (31:54.508)
Mm-hmm.
Christian (32:04.309)
So I think part of the problem with Pokemon Go for kids is that now that you have to go to places to play it, you are somewhat limited by what you can do with either in your neighborhood, in your backyard, or where your parents will let you go. And so that I think is what's kids back from playing Pokemon Go.
I mean, I think that there are kids that still play it, but I think for the most part, you know, they're not going to play it on their own. They have to play it with their parents because they are limited to where they can go based on where their parents and they have shifted the game back to a model of you have to go places to play this game.
Jim Viscardi (32:44.853)
Mm-hmm.
Megan Peters (32:52.717)
Mm-hmm.
Jim Viscardi (32:55.295)
Yeah, I mean, good on them. They figured it out.
Megan Peters (33:00.972)
Yeah, we'll see. Well, we will. If Pokemon Masters is still going to keep rolling out updates like it does, Pokemon Go is in no immediate danger.
Jim Viscardi (33:01.387)
Can someone tell me?
Jim Viscardi (33:06.443)
I don't I don't but I bet how is that game still around? Pokemon I mean like we don't spend too much time on it I just like I saw the update for Pokemon Masters, and I was like good lord What? It's still here It's still
Megan Peters (33:20.95)
It's still here. Just... It's still here. But you know what's also here?
Christian (33:22.634)
It exists. And that was functionally what the trailer was, was a reminder that it still exists.
Megan Peters (33:31.566)
Have you guys remember this game? You might have like, it might have auto uninstalled from your phone because you didn't open it in a really long time, but like it's still here. So like reinstall it and do this stuff. I though, as soon as the Pokemon Presents was over, went and checked out Pokemon Friends because that is...
Christian (33:33.622)
Yeah.
Jim Viscardi (33:37.675)
You're alright!
Christian (33:48.832)
Yeah, I-
Jim Viscardi (33:48.907)
So can someone tell me why Pokemon Friends is not just called Pokemon Puzzle League?
Megan Peters (33:53.194)
I just, do you understand why I got faked out so hard? Do you understand? The... I was like... My heart was in my throat. I was so excited. I thought we were getting just Pokemon Puzzle League Mobile or something like that. And this, so this is not to confirm Pokemon Puzzle League sequel. This is Pokemon Friends. It is a, you know, puzzle solving, Pokemon themed brain teasers-esque game. I'm...
Jim Viscardi (34:09.215)
Be right!
Megan Peters (34:23.05)
obsessed with it. I cannot like focus. Like I just want to play Pokemon friends. It's like the perfect combination of like Wordle and like the New York Times like Puzzle Brain Teaser games, which I have on my phone and I play every morning, plus Pokemon. So it is exactly what I wanted. And I can only hope if this game does well enough, they will add in like a puzzle function.
Jim Viscardi (34:49.227)
I I hope so. It's...
Megan Peters (34:50.762)
because at that point you'll never see me again.
Christian (34:53.356)
So my main question about Pokémon Friends is, is there actually a friends aspect to the game? Can you friend other people in Pokémon Friends or is that a misnomer? Because what social interactions do you have in completing puzzles? This isn't words with friends. You're not competing to solve puzzles with people. So that's my only question about it.
Jim Viscardi (35:14.821)
I I have to imagine there's gonna be a... like a... I don't know, like there's no like leaderboard or anything in the game yet?
Megan Peters (35:17.6)
I have no idea. I've not explored it that hard, but that is a good question.
Christian (35:23.042)
Yeah, that's like my only thing is like I feel like Pokemon Friends is a little bit of misnomer. Are they running out of things to like why?
Megan Peters (35:29.368)
Here's the thing. The friends are the plushes that you earn because you earn like literally this game. This game could not have been made more for me. It is a Pokemon puzzle league, essentially a clone, and you collect cute Pokemon plushies. It is everything I love about Pokemon. Yeah, to decorate. Yeah, so it's like I get to play almost kind of Sims and Squishmallow and Puzzle League all at the same time.
Christian (35:32.993)
Yeah.
Jim Viscardi (35:34.395)
yeah, I mean, that's it.
Jim Viscardi (35:45.397)
to decorate a room. Not only do you collect the Pokemon plushies, but also to decorate.
Megan Peters (35:56.63)
It's like they just opened my brain and said, hey, Megan, I know you're going to meet up with Jim and Christian for this podcast. Let's get it on a good start, like a good foot forward. I am obsessed with Pokemon Friends. So I will take it up upon my shoulders to update everyone on that more weekly basis.
Jim Viscardi (36:17.653)
I mean, it's one of those things that, I mean, it...
It is the most perfect of the casual mobile games that I think that they have released so far.
Christian (36:27.478)
Yeah, it's...
Megan Peters (36:28.324)
yeah. It's gonna pry remix from like Cafe Remix from my cold dead hands. Like I never thought I'd stop playing remix but like Cafe Remix but like Pokemon Friends is gonna do it. I can tell. I feel it. So I am very excited. If you have not, if you don't know what we're talking about, please look up the trailer, please download. And if there is a friend aspect to it, I will share any of that information on the next episode or in Discord.
Christian (36:30.967)
Yeah.
Jim Viscardi (36:56.363)
Yeah, I mean, I think this is gonna be a ton of fun. So I'm excited.
Christian (37:03.286)
I'm literally downloading it as we speak.
Megan Peters (37:06.06)
i love this! i love this! i'm glad! see? i got- i got- i got- i got christian in, and everyone else who's listening, get in on it.
Jim Viscardi (37:13.255)
It's really good. All right, I guess now it comes down to, well, guess we should probably make a mention about Pokemon Champions, which is a game I still don't understand why it exists.
Christian (37:25.546)
It's Pokemon Stadium. So, I mean, why it exists?
Jim Viscardi (37:27.817)
I- What do you need Pokemon Stadium for when you could literally just do it in any of the Pokemon games at this point?
Christian (37:33.022)
It's so that they're going to use that as the official battle app for competitive play moving forward. They're decoupling. They're decoupling competitive. It's literally giving all the competitive stuff that people have wanted for years, such as ranked play, the ability to mix and match, like literally the national Pokedex and battle with the national Pokedex, battle using different like, I'm assuming they're going to...
Jim Viscardi (37:41.033)
Okay, I mean sure, but like...
Christian (38:00.822)
run through different regulation rules and stuff like that.
Jim Viscardi (38:02.943)
I was just gonna say, but like, does it matter if there's still a meta at play anyway?
Christian (38:07.052)
There will be, but it's going to be easier to control now rather than kind of limit it to like Pokemon Scarlet and Violet because I mean, like the thing is, is as of now, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will be in use for like six years. They're introducing this so that they can bring back mega evolution, but without doing the live battling that
Jim Viscardi (38:10.975)
Okay.
Christian (38:31.938)
Pokemon Legends ZA will use. That's the reason why. They need to decouple that so they can start making more Pokemon Legends games and games that kind of evolve away from the turn-based battle system. Yeah.
Jim Viscardi (38:45.387)
That is not- that is the- I said, it's the live battling and not the standard like... battling.
Christian (38:53.452)
So they announced that you'll be able to buy Pokemon on the game for your team. So you can transfer Pokemon, you can buy Pokemon, and like buy Pokemon, use victory points, which I'm assuming you earn through battles. And you can also improve their stats and change their, like basically customize those Pokemon to make them into like the idealized competitive Pokemon. So it'll be interesting to see how it all works.
Jim Viscardi (39:07.659)
Mm-hmm.
Christian (39:23.284)
genuinely curious how it will work out with VGC. Like I said, you can see why they're doing it, but and also like, let's be real. So like Pokemon Showdown is like insanely popular and this is basically going to allow them to DMCA Pokemon Showdown.
Megan Peters (39:35.534)
Mm-hmm.
Megan Peters (39:40.77)
Also, I will say I do like the fact that like the victory points in this, in champions, like you don't have to spend actual money on that. It's not a micro transactions. You have to, you earn victory points by playing the game. Like it's not something where you'll be micro transaction to death. Unless there's other facets that they haven't shared about the game that are micro transactions in that way. But at least victory points, which are one of the main ways that you're able to like boost up your Pokemon from like battles and customization in that regard.
Christian (39:48.332)
Yeah.
Megan Peters (40:10.114)
Like that won't be micro transaction, which I appreciate in this industry.
Christian (40:16.17)
Yeah, yeah. And we should also probably really quickly mention the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet thing, which is somewhat of a big deal. We do!
Megan Peters (40:22.21)
god, do we have to? come on i'm so tired i'm so tired, i'm so tired
Jim Viscardi (40:24.203)
To run like- to run as God intended, finally! The game is now finally to run on the platform it was developed on.
Christian (40:30.71)
but that's it
Christian (40:34.88)
Well, so it's not only that, that's been the case for the last month. honestly, honestly, God, Pokemon, Scarlet, and Violet are genuinely fun to play on the Switch, too. They are... They are fun games. Like, because Pokemon, more than, like, a dozen Pokemon appear, it runs the way that it's supposed to run. There's no longer...
Megan Peters (40:38.958)
Jim Viscardi (40:45.737)
Yeah, yeah. Gee, I wonder why.
Megan Peters (40:47.246)
I'll never know. I'll never know.
Jim Viscardi (41:00.381)
As you're approaching a city, the game doesn't lock up on you?
Christian (41:03.966)
It doesn't lock up. You can go into water areas and the game will just continue to function normally and not slow down. You can see Gyarados go move at more than four frames per second. That's great.
Megan Peters (41:04.184)
This is amazing. The game runs.
Jim Viscardi (41:21.855)
Yeah, like I said, it's the game the way God intended on the platform it was developed for.
Christian (41:26.166)
Yeah, it is a functional Pokemon game. It just required a totally different platform. But they're coming out with these shiny treasures of ruin. But it's kind of interesting. in the past, how they would do legendary Pokemon is they would just give them away as mystery gifts. And this, people have to work together to battle each of them a million times collectively in order to get them as mystery gifts. Now, I think that anyone
who logs in once the 1 million threshold has been passed will get them. You don't have to participate in a raid in order to earn it, but that's not necessarily confirmed. Who knows? Maybe with the Switch 2 they have new ways. But basically this is a new type of Shiny distribution system. It kind of combines the Pokemon Go raid, the Pokemon Go Ultra unlock ways. They've done it kind of before.
where they've done events involving legendary Pokemon. So this is the new legendary event for the year. It involves the shiny versions of the Treasures of Ruin, which are all... and the shinies are genuinely cool looking. So that's also interesting. So I'm excited for this. I will definitely participate. I've gotten back into playing Pokemon. I'm now playing through Pokemon Violet for the first time. So...
I'll definitely get these, because I think it's...
Jim Viscardi (42:55.881)
I still have to pick up a switch too. I have yet to do that. There's still plenty available, but I just...
Megan Peters (42:57.89)
I mean, hair? Yeah. Yes.
Christian (43:00.908)
So I stumbled backwards into my Switch 2. So my original plan was not to buy a Switch 2. And then because I couldn't get a pre-order for it. So I'm like, well, no Switch 2 for Christian. And then I saw a post on my local Reddit saying that there were still some in stock at some targets. And but I was like, well, they're not going to be in stock because I have an appointment that I have to go to.
Jim Viscardi (43:17.195)
I'm
Christian (43:30.658)
And so I went to log into this appointment and I get contacted and it's like, Hey, your appointment doesn't start for another hour. So I logged onto target, found out that they still had a switch too at my local target. And by God, 15 minutes later, I was in the possession of a switch too.
Jim Viscardi (43:44.171)
hahahaha
Megan Peters (43:45.87)
i was able to get a walmart preorder so they did send me a can of pringles with mine so i appreciated that here's the thing if enough people tell me to give scarlet and violet another shot specifically on the switch 2 i will try it i will give it a fair shot i will actually try
Jim Viscardi (43:50.379)
my god.
Jim Viscardi (44:00.596)
Yeah, I mean look, I've been watching I've been watching some folks play it on on Twitch and it legit legitimately looks like The game it was supposed to be
Christian (44:07.842)
Like the models look absolutely gorgeous and like the improved graphic capabilities. Like it's really fun to like, it's a lot easier to shiny hunt because 50 Pokemon pop up on screen at any given time. So like you just will randomly run it. Like I, the first time I opened up Pokemon Scarlet, I ran into three shiny Pokemon in a day.
Megan Peters (44:31.87)
Now you're making me feel like I need to try it. If enough people in this podcast community on Discord tell me to try it again, I will do it and I will document it on this podcast.
Jim Viscardi (44:32.266)
Mm.
Christian (44:41.922)
Like, if your issues with Pokemon, Scarlet and Violet were like the graphical performance was too poor, then that is genuinely solved by the Switch 2. There are no longer the drastic performance issues. Are there still the occasional goofy thing?
Megan Peters (44:49.954)
Yes, I could have wrote it.
Megan Peters (44:57.538)
I could not musically play it without laughing.
Christian (45:07.242)
Yeah, like occasionally you'll be riding on your Pokemon and it will disappear usually in caves. usually when you're in the it's it's just like the camera perspective are some of the camera perspectives kind of goofy. Absolutely they are, but it actually runs as intended. And that's that's the big difference. You no longer have any run issues.
Megan Peters (45:25.344)
I will give it a shot if I am persuaded, but I will say I'd have to wait until I'm done with Donkey Kong Bonanza.
Jim Viscardi (45:28.159)
There you go.
Yeah.
Christian (45:31.296)
Yes, yeah, that's fair. That has become a priority in my household as well.
Megan Peters (45:36.165)
no, it is the most therapeutic game I've played in long time, because I just imagine I'm punching specific people and it's so pathetic.
Jim Viscardi (45:45.674)
alright, let's talk about Legend ZA, which now the title makes sense.
Christian (45:49.506)
Yeah.
Megan Peters (45:51.778)
Yes.
Christian (45:52.554)
How did it not make sense before?
Jim Viscardi (45:55.071)
I mean, it didn't make sense. didn't understand. Well, then I must have missed the like rank up system from Z to A.
Christian (45:57.213)
That's...
Christian (46:04.261)
yeah, guess that wasn't officially confirmed until now. But yeah, that's in there.
Jim Viscardi (46:07.177)
We're out like what? Okay, so see? Yeah, I guess, I guess that wasn't.
Christian (46:11.234)
No, no, no, it's called Pokemon ZA because it's the opposite of AZ. You know, the 3000 year old hotel owner slash ancient King of France that prominently features in the game. It's named ZA because there's Zygarde involved. then we don't know how yet. We've just seen its little cell forms slime around and across the city like a slug infection in Pokemon Paris. But, you know, that's the reason why.
Jim Viscardi (46:39.145)
Okay, but just because- but like, just- but like-
Christian (46:40.898)
It's called Pokemon CA because it's based off Pokemon XY, so of course it's going to use letters.
Jim Viscardi (46:47.765)
I mean, okay, sure, but also, now it makes more sense.
Megan Peters (46:53.912)
will say this, the Z to A did always make me think of Amazon because Amazon is everything from A to Z. So every time I would be like, I hated that connection. the, the, the everything that we get that makes me not think about Amazon, I approve of.
Jim Viscardi (46:58.206)
is A to Z.
Christian (46:59.35)
Yeah.
Christian (47:09.5)
I... I... I'm... It cracks me up that we've had three trailers for this game and we still know next to nothing about
Jim Viscardi (47:09.689)
Megan Peters (47:17.998)
Truly.
Jim Viscardi (47:18.549)
We know, we know nothing. We know like some of the stuff you can do, but we know nothing.
Megan Peters (47:23.736)
Pokemon, the Pokemon company just watched like the last three years of like Marvel Studios trailers and said, let's do the opposite of that. Like, let's not give everything away.
Christian (47:24.002)
It.
Christian (47:31.712)
Yeah.
I mean, so far we know that you can customize your trainer in ways that... I mean, it's... It is certainly...
Megan Peters (47:37.984)
Okay, but that's big news.
It's some of the best customization I've seen on a Pokemon. Like you can like, you can have like different color, like you can have like red and pink hair and like balayage and like lip con. Like for me, as I have said many times before in our conversations for Pokemon, I love customization and I love cute things. So this is a huge win for me, especially compared to some of the stuff we've had on previous console releases.
Christian (47:47.36)
Yeah, yeah!
Christian (48:06.338)
Yeah, no, I'm not complaining about the actual customization and there was like a legitimate worry that there wouldn't be a ton of that, but I'm like, guys, we're going to Pokemon Paris. Like, of course they're going to let you choose your outfit. Like, there's going to be so many outfit choices. I mean, there's been like in Pokemon Sword and Shield, there were a ton of Pokemon customization options. Like it was only in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet that we got to step back.
And even then we still had a lot of customization options. It was just you couldn't change your base outfit. You could change all of your accessories, which was goofy. But I mean, there were still a ton of customization options. They're just bringing it all together for this new game, which I appreciate. And it makes a lot of sense because once again, we're in Pokemon Paris and we're getting Furfrew back and Furfrew has 40 different forms based on how you groom it. So damn straight.
Jim Viscardi (48:59.212)
You
Megan Peters (48:59.694)
which we love.
Christian (49:01.152)
they better be allowing you to do the same thing with your people.
Jim Viscardi (49:05.182)
I just... The thing about the other, like the other new aspect of this game is the new mega evolutions.
Christian (49:15.009)
Yes.
Jim Viscardi (49:17.938)
If you've been a long time listener of this show, since episode one of this show, no, of the other show, mega evolutions are basically inhuman. And so, I love...
Christian (49:30.145)
Yes.
Megan Peters (49:30.156)
Yes.
Jim Viscardi (49:35.691)
That instead of like... I don't know, up with new names for whatever, we decide, no, we're gonna go back to Mega Evolutions. And I get why, because of X and Y, blah blah blah, whatever. But like, that I know that Mega Evolutions are so terrible for Pokemon, I can't unsee that.
And so when I see an adorable Dragonite form and I go, it's so cute. I also think, wow, what terrible pain it must be in to keep that form.
Christian (49:57.558)
Well and
Megan Peters (50:05.964)
What crippling torture is it?
Christian (50:06.166)
Yeah, I can't wait to find out that it's head- I can't wait to find out that it's head wings are actually its exposed brain or something like that.
Jim Viscardi (50:12.873)
Hahaha
Megan Peters (50:12.884)
It is. It's for sure like it's brain stem or something. Like there's no way that's not the case. Or like if it goes like too fast, its neck breaks because of the insane amount of tension being put on its neck by its wings being positioned where they are.
Christian (50:15.681)
Yeah
Christian (50:19.393)
Yeah.
Christian (50:30.274)
Although this is a Kalos game, so all these will be framed positively and then we'll find out in Pokemon Champions about the terrible, terrible downsides to Mega Evolution. That's how this actually will work because in Pokemon, it wasn't until Pokemon Sun and Moon that we started finding the awful truths about Mega Evolution. In Pokemon X and Y, the Mega Evolutions were all fine and normal. It was like, yeah, this is just something that the French do. And that was cool. And then in Hawaii,
We're like, by the way, we actually researched this and smoking actually is in fact bad for your health. And over in Pokemon France, they're like, what? No, no, no, no. And so we're going back to that. This is literally the smoking of the Pokemon universe. And it's just something that's commonly accepted in Pokemon France. This thing that's terrible for Pokemon health. And we will find out about the devastating consequences in a later game.
I am just very glad that Dragonite finally, after all these years and after all these gimmicks, finally has something. Like it is freaking brutal that we needed to wait like six generations for Dragonite to get head wings and a long tail and also Hermes wings on its ankles.
Jim Viscardi (51:48.99)
I mean, and the little ball on its tail. Did you say that?
Christian (51:52.224)
Yeah, yeah, it's got a pearl on its tail and that's probably actually its secondary brain or something like that also exposed. Or maybe it's actually a Pokemon egg. I can't wait to find out what horrifying truth is actually involved.
Jim Viscardi (51:54.484)
Dragon.
Megan Peters (51:56.994)
Yeah, there's just so many things about.
Megan Peters (52:04.549)
yeah.
Jim Viscardi (52:06.281)
No, you're gonna learn that people now are hunting mega dragonite to harvest the pearl on its tail.
Christian (52:13.762)
So Jim, I have a very important question for you. Am I allowed to curse in this podcast?
Jim Viscardi (52:18.407)
god. No! No, we're not, this is still, this is a Pokemon podcast for all. No cursing.
Megan Peters (52:27.17)
Look, you have to pick a Pokemon and turn that Pokemon name into your curse. Like in the Smurf movies, you know, they're always like, let's Smurf it up. I'll Smurf you. You're gonna have to pick a Pokemon to do that with.
Christian (52:27.446)
follow-up question.
Christian (52:41.666)
I'm gonna... It's gonna be like cloth or something like that. Like that feels vaguely cursing. So follow-up question, am I allowed to make comments of an adult nature? Because I'm very specifically referring to Dragonite having a large ball attached to its lower regions. Am I allowed to be more explicit in what that ball could be? Okay. Okay, so friends...
Megan Peters (52:45.58)
Hahaha
Jim Viscardi (53:00.243)
No. Okay, well, see there, that is the line. That's it, that's the line.
Christian (53:11.124)
If you've gone through the fifth grade...
Jim Viscardi (53:11.241)
No, that's it. That was the line. You've said it. Now we move on.
Christian (53:16.738)
So that
Megan Peters (53:18.006)
If you need more information, can find Christian in Discord.
Jim Viscardi (53:21.291)
NNNN
Well, actually that may be because I think we've basically talked all about ZNA that we we could possibly
Christian (53:29.824)
Yeah, yeah. They didn't reveal very much. So, Pokémon France, Mega Dragonite, Mega Evolutions, Onimak, there's a new team that you join, and also there's an evil crime syndicate called, like, the Rust Syndicate or something like that, that used Snake Pokémon. There's your-
Jim Viscardi (53:45.183)
Right. Yeah, I like the day and night. I like the day and night aspect of it. I think it looks great. I like the battle ranking up system, which
Christian (53:56.13)
I like the idea that they are referencing the degeneracy of Paris at night, drunken cafe culture, it's just like, Pokemon Paris is a very different city at night, and it's like, are the luscious all out? Is that what's going on,
Megan Peters (54:11.776)
No, this is where- No! Christian, this is where DJ Pikachu is. It's where he does his sets, you gotta go find that alley.
Jim Viscardi (54:16.041)
That's
Christian (54:16.194)
That's for you to be.
Christian (54:21.91)
DJ.
Jim Viscardi (54:21.995)
Honestly though, I think the ranking up system is probably the best use of the presumed open-worldness of the game, right? Now that these games are truly more and more hopping off rails in kind of a guided way. There's still progression and that progression is gonna be guided or whatever, but it feels like the
Christian (54:34.283)
Yeah.
Jim Viscardi (54:51.487)
The barrier at least is extended because of something like this.
Christian (54:56.266)
Yeah, I agree. won't. It'll be interesting to see because there's rumors that the ranks you'll gain ranks in various ways, but I do feel like it's a good replacement for the gym system. And it was something that was kind of missing in Pokemon Legends Arceus where in Pokemon Legends Arceus, you you kind of level you gained ranks, but you gained ranks through your Pokedex and not through like a plot progression where it was, you know, because you.
would very often run into times where you outpace the plot. And I think this is a way to let the plot of the game, assuming that there is one, we don't know because they haven't said anything about it, but this would be a very easy way of letting the plot kind of dictate your ranking up to, because I'm guessing the ranking up will be central to the actual plot of the game.
Jim Viscardi (55:43.135)
Mm-hmm.
Jim Viscardi (55:47.753)
Right, like you hit a certain rank and then certain things happen in the story.
Christian (55:51.294)
Exactly.
Jim Viscardi (55:53.739)
So, all right, I guess it's time for us to try and wrap this thing up. Christian, we alluded to it in the beginning part of the podcast that we're doing this show on our own. And that means there is no no support from from a larger corporate conglomerate. And we're doing this on our own. And so for years, folks have asked, how could they how could they help? And we've said, no, no, don't worry about it.
And we're still saying no, no, don't worry about it because I think right now like, you know, a lot of what it takes to kind of put the show together is those costs are pretty minimal and whatever. But we we love the community and the community is such a huge part of honestly, it's one of the biggest reasons like outside of the selfish reasons of me getting to hang out with Megan and Christian once a week again. The community is the is truly the reason why we're back.
Like that is the we're sorry it took so long and it's we're sorry we put you through like the weird awkward teenage years when with Megan truly holding holding down the fort but between the time I left and Christian left and and all that and you know God bless her for doing that and but like now we're here and so so because of that we're gonna we'll take the community up on on their offer no like to said
no obligation to but if like we want to be able to do things that further promote the show that further support the show that so we can do more things that we don't necessarily have to worry about. You know we'd love to bring more people kind of on to the team that maybe you know need you know do need to make a little bit of money I'd love to bring a video editor on in some capacity right to help do social clips and you know just things like that right. And. That's where you come in Christian go ahead.
Christian (57:51.682)
So we will, we have officially launched, literally I push publish as Jim was making that spiel, a Patreon account. So we have a Patreon. We're keeping things relatively simple. How this will work is $5 a month. And, you know, we're not going to offer special episodes. We might get there eventually, but it's basically $5 a month.
Jim Viscardi (58:14.879)
Look, you guys keep asking for Pokemon after dark, this may be the way to get Pokemon.
Megan Peters (58:18.858)
Is this when I finally might get my Zelda spin-off?
Jim Viscardi (58:22.067)
Zelda spin off, right? Yep.
Christian (58:24.77)
So for the initial supporter tier, you're going to receive a special flare on our Discord, which we'll get set up here in the next week. And we're also going to start an Ask the Hosts Anything segment in which you ask the questions and we will answer in an episode. And what we'll do is we'll do a call for these questions once a month and then kind of just queue them up and just go one by one answering the questions and we'll kind of split them up.
Jim Viscardi (58:37.791)
Mm-hmm.
Christian (58:51.616)
And we'll just have a segment and these can be Pokemon questions. They can be non-Pokemon questions. They probably can't be, you know, there are some limits we're not going to talk about, like, you know, work stuff. So if you want to know about like images and our workings, this is not the place to do it. Or, you know, we can't give financial advice, but, know, other things, you know, just ask us what you want to ask.
Megan Peters (59:07.064)
Ha
Christian (59:17.218)
And if it can be Pokemon questions or it can be just random thoughts on pop culture. And so we'll answer those in a segment and we'll get that started here once we get enough people backing our Pokemon Patreon. So I'm assuming that a few people are going to jump in. I just posted the link to the Discord. I will send Jim the link so that he can include that in the description to our podcast. So in case you're finding this on Spotify or
Apple podcasts or one of the other podcast platforms that I'm not thinking of. you know, there'll be a link in there and yeah, that's, that's all we're asking for. And hopefully, you can support us. And if not, that's okay too.
Jim Viscardi (01:00:02.718)
Yeah, absolutely. So thank you, everyone. The outlook and the other thing the other part of the business that is also very important is leaving reviews, right? We had so many awesome, phenomenal reviews, the left on our our last show that we that's what's one of the best ways to support the show for free.
Christian (01:00:19.286)
Yes.
Jim Viscardi (01:00:32.33)
and it helps get people to find the show. I, you know, can do all of the SEO hacking that I can try and muster up to get our show to show up in places, but reviews are truly the best way. And so the show...
will be on Apple podcasts, it will be on Spotify, it'll be in a bunch of other places. like, but we're gonna do that we'll do the same thing that we did that we did in the last show, I'm going to get a bunch of stickers printed. And so if you leave a review on the show, and we read it on the air, we will send you a sticker to put wherever you put stickers, laptops, notebooks, stop signs, bathroom, public bathroom.
So yeah, so we'll be bringing that part back. And then, you know, as you're listening to this, this week is San Diego Comic Con. I'm gonna be there. Megan's gonna be there. Christian will not be. But I will be hosting a bunch of panels for Image Comics, so you can find that all on my social stuff. Megan, you're hosting a bunch of panels too, it looks like, right?
Megan Peters (01:01:48.398)
Yeah, I'm teaming up with Webtoon, guys.
Jim Viscardi (01:01:51.23)
You're like Webtoon's official spokesperson now, it feels like.
Megan Peters (01:01:54.542)
I wish. That was a gig that I wish I had. No, I'm a big Webtoon fan. love vertical scroll comics. I will be bringing moderation for the omniscient readers. Live action movie panel. That's going to be at Comic-Con. Got some other things coming up. So yeah, just look for my purple hair if you're at SCCC.
Jim Viscardi (01:02:16.776)
love it. Well, great. Well, guys, we did it. wait, we're going to into the Pokemon fact of the week. I totally forgot about that. God. Okay. Okay. So hold on, we have to set up the Pokemon fact of the week. And for some folks, you're going to get a little bit of repetition, but now you're going to get our reaction through older, more experienced ears and eyes here now.
Christian (01:02:23.552)
We forgot, we forgot about the most important part.
Megan Peters (01:02:24.27)
Well, say we've got a reason we have a hard reset.
Jim Viscardi (01:02:46.952)
We used to do a Pokemon fact of the week and we got pretty far. I don't remember where we left off because we jumped around a little bit sometimes and whatever. It doesn't matter. We're starting from scratch. So if you are a long time listener, just hang along for the ride. Maybe you'll learn something new. Maybe you'll have a new reaction. But with that said, Christian basically is going to go through the Pokedex and pick out a fact about your favorite Pokemon going in order of the Pokedex.
And this is an effort to make you a better, smarter Pokemon fan and horrify you. So Christian, take it away.
Christian (01:03:20.608)
Yes. So we are starting at the top. So we're talking about my favorite Pokemon, which is the Bulbasaur family of Pokemon. Two fun facts about Bulbasaur. Despite Bulbasaur's name and the line's name involving Saar, you would think those are dinosaurs. No, they are in fact based on frogs. And that is kind of confirmed. When in Pokemon Let's Go, Pikachu and Eevee, we got to see Venusaur hop around like a frog instead of walk normally.
The other thing is, that Venusaur's flower is, you know, gives off a strong odor that attracts other Pokemon to it. That flower is based off of the Corpse Flower, which is the largest individual flower on Earth. It is native to the rainforests of Sumatran and Borneo, and, you know, it is actually, you know, known for giving off a scent not unlike that of decaying flesh. So when...
Venusaur is attracting other Pokemon to it. It is giving off the appearance of dead Pokemon flesh and attracting various carrion eaters to it to battle or do whatever. I'm assuming that Venusaur then goes and eats those.
Megan Peters (01:04:34.414)
was about to say, wait, is Venusaur eating these Pokemon? I thought, I thought, I thought it was a herbivore!
Christian (01:04:38.644)
I think that's implied. So, well, why wouldn't, if it was a herbivore, then it would be a cannibal, because it's a grass type. So only by eating...
Megan Peters (01:04:49.707)
my god.
Jim Viscardi (01:04:50.282)
Okay, but no, it's a being a grass type and eating plants doesn't make it a carnivore. It's still very much a toad.
Christian (01:04:55.712)
But... I mean, yeah, and toads are also carnivores. Yeah!
Megan Peters (01:04:58.304)
I Toad's e-book! Yeah, Toad's e-book! Well, this is... Well, dang, I learned something new.
Jim Viscardi (01:05:03.964)
It's interesting that like, but it's so interesting though, because like Bubble Shower doesn't really have any tongue moves.
Christian (01:05:04.01)
Yeah, so...
Christian (01:05:09.962)
No, well, I mean... Yeah, I mean, not every frog has a long tongue, I'm assuming. And who knows, maybe... Maybe it does. Maybe we will get a new Venusaur evolution where it's just Mega Venusaur but with a tongue. That's, you know...
Megan Peters (01:05:10.688)
just kinda gums at it, I guess.
Jim Viscardi (01:05:16.83)
That's true. I don't know. Now we're now we're assuming I don't know. I assumed frogs did have long tugs.
Megan Peters (01:05:30.012)
my god, the Lickitung-Vitasaur combo.
Christian (01:05:33.09)
Just with a six foot long tongue that rolls in and out and just goes...
Jim Viscardi (01:05:38.202)
Hold on. Now we've got to... Now I have questions about some of the rules about Pokemon Fact of the Week because now we just basically went through Bulbasaur through Venusaur. So now are we starting... gonna go through... One fa... Okay, so we're going... So each episode will be one evolution line.
Christian (01:05:48.064)
Yeah, yeah, it's one family of Pokémon per week. Some Pokémon are just very uninteresting. Some Pokémon are just boring. And so that is one way we're at it. Also, hilariously, one of my favorite one of my favorite Pokédex entries is, again, Venusaur. And it's the Gigantamax version of Venusaur. And it talks about, like, in battle, this Pokémon swings around two thick vines. Of course it does. It's a Venusaur.
But then, if these vines slammed into a 10-story building, they could easily topple it. So one, we have building destroying vines coming out of Gigantamaxminasaur, and also, huge amounts of pollen burst from it with the force of a volcanic eruption. So it is a freaking volcano with giant vines. Like, you know, we talk about how horrifying mega evolution is. This is literally like freaking Heterah.
from the freaking Godzilla franchise only as a giant frog. So anyway.
Megan Peters (01:06:47.85)
All I know is that the pollen volcano would end me with my allergies. That's it.
Jim Viscardi (01:06:52.17)
But isn't, okay, but isn't the Gigantamax version, I always took that as more like projection, right? Like almost like Yu-Gi-Oh in a sense, but not like actual, not physically turning into that, but more like...
Christian (01:07:11.296)
No, physically turns into them. It's just that I think they have to be around the Gigantamax energy. like outside the Galar region, they can't do it. And within the Galar region, they only have a very small like window to do it in, which are like the way too small like raid crystal things. So you can only really do them where... So I think they just have a very small...
Jim Viscardi (01:07:30.084)
okay, that makes sense.
Christian (01:07:40.35)
area of effect is what it comes down to.
Jim Viscardi (01:07:42.282)
That makes sense.
Christian (01:07:46.186)
least that's how I've always taken it.
Megan Peters (01:07:47.674)
man, now Veedasaur is way more metal.
Jim Viscardi (01:07:48.328)
I Venusaur's kind of always looked like a slob, like a slob Pokemon, it makes sense that it smells like death.
Christian (01:07:55.222)
I mean, listen, I love Bulbasaur. Venusaur, can, you know, it's kind of a weird evolution for it. I've always thought that, you know, it should be like a little bit more like noble and majestic than like the giant toad. But I appreciate Venusaur. But Bulbasaur is really where it's at. Bulbasaur is just cute. I love Bulbasaur. He's just a little guy.
Jim Viscardi (01:07:59.499)
You
Megan Peters (01:08:11.982)
He's just a little guy.
Jim Viscardi (01:08:14.666)
Just a little guy. Love it. All right, so there we go. I like this new rule to Pokemon Fact of the Week where instead of, know, like Christian said, some Pokemon are just boring. So we'll go through their evolution lines episode by episode.
Christian (01:08:29.538)
And once again, the too long didn't read Pokemon fact of the week version of it is Venusaur eats Pokemon. Venusaur eats other Pokemon. There you go. And Venusaur stinks.
Megan Peters (01:08:40.574)
And Venusaur stinks. Yeah. Boom, boom, Boom.
Jim Viscardi (01:08:43.914)
Yes, that's right Venusaur stinks worst Pokemon Well everyone thank you again for Sticking it out this long and listening to the show again again if you're a first-time listener I hope you enjoyed it It feels like old times and if we've got the old energy back you're gonna be here for a long time and if you're not I'm sorry there's
Christian (01:08:47.018)
Venusaur literally smells like dead people.
Megan Peters (01:08:50.414)
Boom, done.
Jim Viscardi (01:09:12.82)
plenty of other podcasts you can listen to. But this one is going to be the best. So with that said, we're going to I think we're planning on doing this weekly, which probably should have figured that out. The plan is to do it weekly. We're doing it weekly. Right now today is Tuesday. Tuesday may be the day that part may change as we kind of figure out this this new system. We're all very busy. And now that we all don't work at the same place, sometimes it may need to shift a little.
Christian (01:09:23.595)
Yeah!
Megan Peters (01:09:24.556)
No, figure it out.
Jim Viscardi (01:09:42.282)
We will pick a day and we will stick to it.
Christian (01:09:42.4)
Well, and are we now will this have a video component to it? Do we do we decide on that?
Jim Viscardi (01:09:50.024)
Well, I mean, not this first one, but because because you were very you were pretty you were pretty against that.
Christian (01:09:52.168)
Okay, so we'll have to figure out how to do... I was pretty against that, but I was asking because I have a big box of black flair and... or white b- white flair and black bolt cards just sitting in my living room, that need to be opened.
Jim Viscardi (01:10:05.194)
Well, what the hell yeah, okay, so we'll do it so I mean I've got the video it's not gonna be pretty but we can put it we can put it up if you don't care we'll just have to see if Peter's willing to do us a favor but But yeah, no, I mean like will we have video TBD and if we do we will let you know next week Or if you're listening to this and the video is already up surprise itself But we gotta go
Megan Peters (01:10:05.762)
What? What?
Christian (01:10:16.866)
Yeah.
Megan Peters (01:10:30.574)
Surprise.
Jim Viscardi (01:10:33.096)
We'll catch you next week. Thank you again, everyone, for your support. We are so happy to be back. you know, keep catching Pokemon because as long as you do that, we'll keep talking about them. See you later, folks.
Megan Peters (01:10:44.856)
Bye.