Transcript
WEBVTT
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This is Roy Flash Gordon of Pokéman's Health, and this is my Pokémon story.
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Welcome to, as the Pokeball turns, where we interview people about their experience with Pokemon.
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My name is David Hernandez today.
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I'm joined by Roy, the Flash Gordon from Pokemon Health.
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He's a VGC competitor, men's life coach, and he has his goal to create a safe space where men can take on their mental health, create a supportive relationships and live their authentic selves.
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Roy, welcome to the show.
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David, thanks so much for having me, man.
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I'm, excited to be here with you, excited to, chat about my favorite franchise ever, and, let the community know a little bit about what I'm up to.
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Definitely.
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And it was by luck that I kind of found you actually found you through.
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messaged this to you.
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I found you through Pokemon Crossroads because I never heard of your podcast.
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And for those who don't know, I'm actually used to be a mental health professional myself.
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That's what I did for a couple of years.
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And even with my own struggles with, depression and, you know, going to therapy, it like hit close to home.
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And the question has been on my mind that I want to start this conversation with.
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Why both Pokemon and mental health?
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Why did you decide to diffuse those two together?
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yeah.
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I think, um, let me talk more about the video game piece of it, I think Pokemon came into my world because of the video game.
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well that's what solidified it in my world either way.
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So you have the show, you have the cards and then the video game, eventually something I got my hands on and I played video games before that.
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I was probably like seven, eight, something along those lines.
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I played a few games before that and had a good time, but nothing captured my imagination, like Pokemon did.
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And, just from the start with the show with get into battle and like, Oh, wow, I can be like ash during this thing.
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Wow.
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I can have my own little adventure during this thing.
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I can be a hero during this thing.
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And it's only like years later.
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And I'm now looking back on everything that experience was for me.
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But, growing up in the hood, in an abusive household, like, with the challenges of just being a little black kid and not knowing, like, am I good, bad, am I pretty, ugly, like, all those sorts of things, like, piled up it's a tough mental health situation that, uh, a lot of us in that situation grow up through, and Pokémon was, like, you know, It was being a hero to me, essentially, you know, it was helping me survive.
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It was giving me something that made me really happy.
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Uh, it was also giving me something where I could be a little creative.
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I could be in charge, make decisions and see those things like carry out, in a world, you know, a little bit of an escape from the world that I was in.
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Uh, so I had just this deep, deep love for it.
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You know, looking back at it, it was something that was helping me manage my mental health as a kid, me like survive and regulate and, even find safety in a place that didn't always feel safe.
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And just growing up and going on my journey and deciding, Hey, I want to help people eventually being like, Hey, I think men, you know, really need some help.
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So I want to help men and knowing that the connection that I had with video games, it's probably something many men.
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having video games as well, and maybe not even able to articulate.
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but knowing that I had that experience, they may be having these experiences, we're connecting through the game anyway, through all these competitive means, but like, what if we connected the game through competitive means, and.
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Have other kinds of conversations together that can also help us in real life.
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And I just felt like this was a like step in the direction that would allow me to help people, but also like in this way that I'm like, yo, like I already enjoyed doing it, but I can play video games at the same time.
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Right.
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It's like, that sounds pretty crazy.
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And everyone that I talked to, right.
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As I'm like, guys, am I crazy?
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They're like, actually, that's a really great idea.
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Like you're having trouble getting people interested, like just the base.
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So what if you combine it with the other hobby, and it's brought me.
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an opportunity to do that work, but also this crazy, fun community that I've never had before.
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So I just thought it was a really natural kind of gelling that wasn't being looked at.
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And, I'm just really excited that people are excited about it.
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And it seemed to maybe buy into that idea as well.
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A video game as this mental health, like support, It being used in a different way, essentially.
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it actually reminds me of how people would go into sports maybe it's because of, you know, we're kind of the video game generation to a degree, because video games are more, they came out in the 1980s.
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Pokemon didn't come out to the 1990s when you think of the timeline, but you know, a lot of them are growing up was reinforced through sports.
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the whole idea was let the men come through sports, let them learn, let them learn how to lead, be disciplined and stuff like that.
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And it kind of, what you're talking about kind of reminds me through that, just with Pokemon or video games instead.
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And maybe that comes from us, you know, growing up with the video games, growing up with Pokemon.
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You mentioned how you talked about that was kind of your safe space to get away from the abuse at home.
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For me, I've talked about my podcast.
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I always try to remake that episode where Ash was about to be frozen to death but he was surrounded by his Pokemon because for me, I lived a lonely childhood, I didn't really have friends, I didn't have siblings close to me, so I lived by myself a lot, and Pokemon, just like for you, was my way to find solace outside of the pain.
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Yes.
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Yes, dude.
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I think Pokemon is, just has so much heart.
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Right.
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I like feel like a soul connection to this thing.
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it's got so much heart and like themes of friendship that I think like.
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know, some people like might find corny or whatever, but I think there's a lot of like internalizing that we get through just playing it and being there through that experience.
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And I was thinking about like those, those little, you know, your little team, the little virtual team, like really like having a space in your heart and like really feeling like.
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somewhere to put your energy that you, you know, might put in relationships that you have, if you have them.
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And the reality for many people, especially in the gaming community is they may be a bit more disconnected from the outside world and more internal, but they've got a lot of video game friends and it's just like, yo, if you're going to find them somewhere.
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Find them number one, you know, find, find those somewhere is the number one thing to really, you know, live in your life and if you're going through a depression or tougher emotions and whatnot, having friends.
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Goes a long way to, you know, keeping you healthy, helping you move towards health and whatnot.
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and I see it, honestly, people making all these friends, through video games who may not have such a strong network, in person, just totally fine, you get those friends somewhere.
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And I see video games as being just a great bridge for a lot of people.
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I want to switch topics to your experience with Pokemon and when that first started.
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You talked about how you were into battling.
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So when did you first start playing Pokemon?
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Yeah.
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Um, I started playing again.
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I said it was eight.
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I feel like I might more closer to nine or 10 though.
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I'm not judging you, don't worry.
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Yeah, so whenever I got started, it was great.
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So I had a math teacher, it had to be when I was in his class.
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So probably around 10, uh, I had this math teacher who gave me his old game boy because he was like, video games are for children and I like you.
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You can have this.
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And he really took me under his wing.
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Yeah, he really took me on his way.
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He ended up being my first football coach as well.
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Very impactful person in my life.
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But also in life, you would not think that brick game boy made the impact that it ended up making on me.
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But he impacted me that way too.
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So I had
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We'll just so make sure real quick.
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So he didn't want to play video games.
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He was like, and this isn't for me.
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So he just gave it to you out of
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Yep.
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no obligation whatsoever.
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that's my Game Boy I younger.
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Yep, my Game Boy from when I was younger.
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I thought you might, want it.
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And my mom worked at the school at the time as a, as an aide.
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So he, like, knew just a little bit about herself.
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Oh, okay.
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So, it was really cool of him.
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I just had it, but I had no games.
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So, eventually, I, uh, Was walking down the street again.
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I'm in the hood and I come across this copy of Pokemon red on the floor.
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It's like in the ground, in the dirt, like beat up, like this got stolen from somebody probably, you know what I mean?
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It
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you never know.
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might, yo, I was like, this feels too good to be true.
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And I'm begging my mom for this thing forever.
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and she just couldn't afford it, you know?
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So I take it up, I get some batteries for the game boy, pop it in and it's ready to roll.
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And I play that thing into the ground, at least two games on that cartridge.
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And the second one, like the first one, I was like, I don't want to erase this.
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I can't erase it.
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I can't erase it.
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But, you know, I wanted to move on and like really master this thing.
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And I did.
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And that was like the start of this tremendous journey.
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Played Gen 2 as soon as it came out.
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a friend gifted his copy to me.
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His parents really took a lot of care of me during that time.
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between, Ruby Sapphire.
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there was a bit of a space between playing.
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I think I was starting to get around high school, late high school, college years, where it was just like, you know, everyone was not playing games as much.
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I was a bit more focused on girls and football and all that stuff.
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But eventually I was like, Oh man, this Emerald thing sounds kind of good.
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So when Emerald came out is when I picked it up again, um, played it and pretty much everything else from there, I guess the time when I was in college, so the DS version, so Platinum, Diamond, Pearl, that was another slow start for me, same with Gen 5, but I eventually picked all of them up, played them through and it was Gen 6, like, really had me.
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7 had me.
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It took me a minute to get a switch, but by the time, um, Sword and Shield started, I was back in, like, as hard as possible, just hooked.
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I was, like, in line the second the game comes out, ever since.
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And, just really enjoying it.
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So I played competitive.
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Pokemon and I think I gravitated towards that.
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Cause that's just like, the base experience.
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so we had right from the jump collection and battling was really it.
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I had no care for collection and maybe because like, I don't have access to the other game, you know?
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And my friend may or may not have a link cable, that sort of thing.
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So, you know, battling was always fun.
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I always wanted to, to win.
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Build the best team.
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I always wanted to try different combinations, like mono team or whatever.
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And just that part of the game is what made me fall in love.
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And I'm just a naturally competitive person.
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And eventually when connected to the internet and people became easier, which is around gen four, it was still really silly to connect to the internet, but it was like, it's around gen four, so funny.
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And, um, I played competitive smoke on.
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so an online forum that really dominate the space and it still does.
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But Smogon was it, if you want it to find games, you're on Smogon.
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If you want it to find trades, you're on Smogon, et cetera.
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And, uh, That really got me and I played Smogon singles for about a year.
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I was like one of my years during college.
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I was like studying and like trying to learn competitive Pokemon and really challenging to do because it was also really hard to build a team back then, get the materials you needed back then, much harder than it is today.
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But I played it pretty hard for a while and really enjoyed it.
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I would see doubles, which is the VGC actual, like, Pokemon standard of competitive.
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And I was like, doubles, that's, that's not how it happens in the show for real.
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So, uh, it was really, really goofy.
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And, played it out and eventually, you know, college and real life get too busy.
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So I was like, all right, I'm playing the base game, but I can't do this competitive thing.
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And I was kind of, you know, bummed out about that, but.
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It made sense at the time I was doing real life competitive stuff that just needed more time for me, you know, and like I said, it would pick up the generation whenever the new generation came out pretty consistently from gen six onward and, play it until I was done playing it, beat the base game, maybe catch a few legendaries and, keep up with, if there was any events and something cool to collect and whatnot.
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So I'd say February of, of 23 was when that idea was like starting to percolate a little bit to say like, like I'm doing this men's group stuff, the men's work stuff.
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Uh, and I wasn't having a ton of fun with it, honestly.
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Just doing it as it's like base, which is very like which is good.
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You know, we're working on it.
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It's very raw, which is good.
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Where those are skills we're trying to build, but like, it was just kind of boring, you know, stuffy and like traditional, like, uh, closer to
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felt like a recovery meeting it
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Yeah, exactly.
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Exactly.
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Exactly.
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You know, which is fine.
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And I think it's super powerful, but I'm thinking about like, how do I want to like spend my life and do this?
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Like if this was to be, like a way to make a living and whatnot, and I'm just like, I don't see myself doing it like this.
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I see myself doing something a little different, something unique, whatnot.
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Uh, and at the same time, I was just like, you know, questioning life.
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And this is a bit of my mental health journey, just questioning like life and where I was and I'm really into inner child work, which we can talk about sometime.
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Uh, and one day, like, yeah, you know what I mean?
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I was like, what am wanting?
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You know?
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And like, he wants something more, like something's not working right now.
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And I eventually asked the question, like, instead of inner child, let's think about future self, you know, if I had financial freedom, what would I be doing?
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And I was like, I'd be trying to become a Pokemon master.
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Almost certainly.
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Like, I was just like, almost like,
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Driving to the land, trying to understand the power
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Exactly.
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It was like, you know, doing what I love, but like competitive, like something really indulgent, something that felt really indulgent And I was like, you know what?
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I can do that right now.
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I might not be that good yet.
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You know, I might not go to every single tournament, but I can absolutely pursue competitive Pokemon right now, because guess what?
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I'm going to have to be good if I'm ever going to become a master.
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So I should probably start trying to like, be good.
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And you know, the base game, especially when you play since you're a kid, you get a ton of like base knowledge and whatnot.
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So pretty much from then on, I started to learn VGC, like updated, learn it and see like what the metagame was like and whatnot.
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And no, I also knew it was attractive because I knew that it's way easier to build teams and stuff than it used to be.
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there's a lot more items you can get.
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You finish the game, you get access to even more stuff.
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That's like cheaper to get than it ever was.
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Like you don't have to do a bunch of crazy quests to, to get one thing that's going to contribute to the 10 things you need to build a Pokemon, that kind of thing.
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It was a struggle
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It struggle.
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It was
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Preach.
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I'm not going to stop
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Yes! Oh my god, there's ways to get money, like, that are, like, reasonable, that isn't battle the Elite Force 17, 000 times, but you still might
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Real quick.
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I want to touch on something.
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What life changed for me was how easy it was to get the IVs you want.
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Because back then, Gen 3 and 4, you had to continuously try to re roll.
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That's all it was.
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You could not control the IVs.
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it was a mess.
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It wasn't a mess.
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I mean, you could play like that from gen two.
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I'm pretty sure.
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Right.
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And I love that that was in the game and I love that it was like hidden and he had to figure it out.
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Right.
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But we live in the day and age we do.
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Please don't hide that stuff for me.
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I want to know how to just do it.
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But like legit, that was really tough to try to get good.
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IVs on six mon, that's crazy, you know, and people would do it.
00:15:26.350 --> 00:15:29.770
People were really into breeding, another really cool mechanic in the game, right?
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And something that, back then, people actually did it.
00:15:32.407 --> 00:15:34.386
I hatch eggs all the time.
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Those were, like, the
00:15:35.981 --> 00:15:37.562
you're talking thousands of
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You guys!
00:15:38.422 --> 00:16:04.085
like I think it was crazy and I had a friend he was into the competitive and what he did was he actually had like papers and papers on his wall you thought it would be like a madhouse he had papers and papers of just written of the breakpoints the IVs like he was really in depth to it for me I couldn't go that far because I was like My madness is enough with just trying to get breedable moves and nature's like I'm good there I never broken the IVs because of how difficult it
00:16:04.350 --> 00:16:05.009
Yeah, dude.
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So tough.
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And you just reminded me of the egg move thing.