Transcript
WEBVTT
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.890
Hey, I'm Caleb Hatfield from Rockets Markets and this is my Pokemon story.
00:00:43.018 --> 00:00:47.718
Welcome to As the Pokeball Turns, where we interview people about their experience with Pokemon.
00:00:48.537 --> 00:00:49.868
name is David Hernandez.
00:00:50.256 --> 00:01:00.045
I'm joined by Caleb Hatfield, co owner of Rocket's Markets, where they curate exceptional vendor markets, pop ups, and craft markets across a diverse range of genres.
00:01:00.371 --> 00:01:06.831
They both host TrainerCon, a dynamic Pokemon marketplace and convention where Pokemon trainers celebrate all things Pokemon.
00:01:07.006 --> 00:01:07.725
Thanks, man.
00:01:07.736 --> 00:01:09.266
David, you're such a professional.
00:01:09.396 --> 00:01:10.986
This is awesome to be on this with you.
00:01:11.447 --> 00:01:15.078
It is, and it's finally nice to bring you on because we met, I think,
00:01:15.192 --> 00:01:15.753
It had.
00:01:16.207 --> 00:01:17.737
was it three or four?
00:01:18.004 --> 00:01:22.391
And I was excited because I had never heard of a Pokemon trainer convention.
00:01:22.391 --> 00:01:25.180
I was like, yeah, I can get to be around other Pokemon people, just
00:01:25.465 --> 00:01:26.236
Heck yeah, man.
00:01:26.546 --> 00:01:27.796
I remember meeting you.
00:01:27.825 --> 00:01:30.620
I mean, I definitely was at at TrainerCon 3.
00:01:30.930 --> 00:01:33.159
That was the first time that we were at our new space.
00:01:33.469 --> 00:01:35.849
It was a much larger space than we'd had before.
00:01:35.989 --> 00:01:39.750
But, yeah, man, it was good to meet you and glad that we fostered a friendship out of this.
00:01:40.185 --> 00:01:42.495
For sure, and it's cool to see you also come out to the community.
00:01:42.495 --> 00:01:45.405
So it's clear that you have such a passion for Pokemon.
00:01:48.826 --> 00:01:49.167
Sure.
00:01:49.167 --> 00:01:54.977
So it started when, my parents graciously took me to a Toys R Us back in the day.
00:01:55.447 --> 00:02:08.526
we were walking down the aisle and I remember seeing Pokemon blue version and I just I had to have it my parents knew that I was into Pokemon and you know with a little bit of egging on they let me go home with Pokemon blue version
00:02:09.116 --> 00:02:10.406
What was it like to finally you play
00:02:13.707 --> 00:02:26.138
dude absolutely after watching the anime for so long it was interesting to to finally get to play and I was so excited I remember after beating the elite four I actually leveled up my dug trio to level 100.
00:02:26.443 --> 00:02:27.133
Oh, wow.
00:02:27.328 --> 00:02:29.717
Why your favorite Pokemon?
00:02:29.717 --> 00:02:30.608
Or was it just
00:02:30.936 --> 00:02:32.006
Not even close.
00:02:35.485 --> 00:02:37.966
Um, I have no idea why I dug Drio.
00:02:38.271 --> 00:02:45.554
I think I just heard that, you know, if you leveled up a Pokemon to level 100, then it like magically turned into Mew or something like that.
00:02:46.003 --> 00:02:51.213
And so, you know, it had be, it had to be, you know, those things were crazy.
00:02:51.750 --> 00:02:52.250
That's cool.
00:02:55.546 --> 00:02:56.236
Oh, geez.
00:02:56.276 --> 00:02:58.943
My starter had to be, Charizard for sure.
00:02:59.383 --> 00:03:02.127
Um, What's wrong with
00:03:02.455 --> 00:03:03.032
ha ha ha ha
00:03:06.358 --> 00:03:07.117
I you're right.
00:03:07.127 --> 00:03:07.617
You're right.
00:03:07.647 --> 00:03:14.057
After going back and playing as Bulbasaur and Venusaur, like, alright, there's some others that are pretty good in there.
00:03:14.348 --> 00:03:16.858
But you said you were also watching the anime beforehand,
00:03:20.219 --> 00:03:25.909
I mean, back at that point in my life, I didn't even realize that shows had a story to them.
00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:29.610
It was just kind of like, you know, the show's on.
00:03:29.639 --> 00:03:32.819
So let me just watch this episode and see what this episode is about.
00:03:33.090 --> 00:03:36.780
I didn't know that there was an overarching story to anything really.
00:03:36.819 --> 00:03:40.770
I just knew that Ash was 10 always and never beat the elite four.
00:03:42.110 --> 00:03:45.890
That's true, wouldn't have gotten to the games, it sounds
00:03:45.954 --> 00:03:46.704
Absolutely not.
00:03:46.713 --> 00:03:47.854
No, there would have been no way.
00:03:48.305 --> 00:03:52.675
How did you feel that now that Ash has kind of retired from the Pokemon franchise?
00:03:53.391 --> 00:03:54.282
It's bittersweet, man.
00:03:54.498 --> 00:04:00.014
to be honest, I haven't really kept up with the anime in quite a while, but, you can't stay 10 forever, I guess.
00:04:01.008 --> 00:04:01.177
He
00:04:03.594 --> 00:04:04.115
That's right.
00:04:04.585 --> 00:04:05.104
That's right.
00:04:05.105 --> 00:04:14.164
Oh,
00:04:14.203 --> 00:04:28.399
Charizard, Pokemon Blue I did Blastoise, And, I just love, being able to pick your own Pokemon, and just, know, develop kind of a bond, and going through all the Gym Leaders, because I always had trouble beating, because Alakazam and Kadabra were just so
00:04:28.432 --> 00:04:28.971
geez.
00:04:29.031 --> 00:04:29.762
Absolutely.
00:04:30.959 --> 00:04:31.459
Mhm.
00:04:31.769 --> 00:04:35.829
What about, did you stick with and
00:04:36.557 --> 00:04:37.677
Absolutely, man.
00:04:37.706 --> 00:04:38.776
I mean, well, okay.
00:04:39.156 --> 00:04:45.226
So I, played blue and I got yellow at a thrift store for like 5 bucks or something like that.
00:04:45.509 --> 00:04:47.230
I paid for it with my own allowance.
00:04:47.240 --> 00:04:48.040
It was that cheap.
00:04:48.574 --> 00:04:53.024
I actually didn't play 2nd gen for, I mean, a while.
00:04:53.024 --> 00:04:57.524
It was probably 5 years ago until I actually sat down with crystal and played it.
00:04:57.848 --> 00:05:01.059
I had blue and, and yellow and I was content with that.
00:05:01.059 --> 00:05:10.369
I, I didn't even know that there was a second generation for a while, so it went from first gen to, third gen and ho end, and then, you know, just kind of went on from there.
00:05:10.519 --> 00:05:15.694
I did play Soul Silver and Heart Gold whenever those came out, but the second gen just kind of slipped on by.
00:05:16.089 --> 00:05:26.379
That's crazy, especially considering how many people revered Gen 2 and it just slipped you You just, it just didn't care, you didn't care attached
00:05:27.437 --> 00:05:30.716
Well, it wasn't that I didn't, didn't want to get into it.
00:05:30.757 --> 00:05:32.026
I just didn't know it existed.
00:05:34.456 --> 00:05:35.406
I had no idea.
00:05:35.586 --> 00:05:41.713
It wasn't until I was at somebody's house, kind of just playing around and he busted out his game boy.
00:05:41.754 --> 00:05:48.377
And I remember seeing the classic, first gen graphics on the screen, but it had so much more color.
00:05:48.416 --> 00:05:49.437
I was like, what is this?
00:05:49.687 --> 00:05:52.067
Do you have a better game boy than I do or something?
00:05:54.346 --> 00:06:00.567
And, uh, then I saw all these different Pokemon that I hadn't, uh, I hadn't seen before and it was just kind of mind blowing.
00:06:01.031 --> 00:06:04.531
I was wondering, so, you know, you kept playing after, you know, Gen 3.
00:06:04.961 --> 00:06:09.771
Do you have a particular favorite, like, generation that you grew to play or
00:06:11.384 --> 00:06:12.363
I don't know, man.
00:06:12.699 --> 00:06:16.144
It's tough because like, you know, I grew up with the first gen, but.
00:06:16.163 --> 00:06:27.014
As I get older, like the, the third gen Pokemon going back to that art style and those Pokemon specifically, I just, I don't know, something just gravitates.
00:06:27.353 --> 00:06:30.694
I just gravitate towards the gen three, Pokemon and the art style.
00:06:30.694 --> 00:06:33.786
So I would have to say is definitely the best for me,
00:06:34.187 --> 00:06:34.437
What
00:06:38.029 --> 00:06:40.899
Flygon, um, Salamence.
00:06:40.920 --> 00:06:50.089
I mean, even like the little guys, like the Reggie's, Latias, Latios, Jirachi, all of the, the legendaries in that are just so sleek.
00:06:50.293 --> 00:06:51.834
they just have something to them, man.
00:06:52.237 --> 00:06:53.208
I agree, cause I mean,
00:06:56.500 --> 00:06:59.113
Mm hmm.
00:06:59.113 --> 00:07:03.639
Mm hmm.
00:07:03.737 --> 00:07:10.978
world building, I love the Pokemon specifically, like, there's not, I hate the most is Feebas, it pain catch.
00:07:11.728 --> 00:07:16.197
But, other than because it looks bad, it's just cause it was a pain, it was just a hard one to catch.
00:07:16.327 --> 00:07:19.987
I never, I Pokemon that I look at, I'm like, I don't really care for it.
00:07:19.987 --> 00:07:20.413
So, yeah.
00:07:21.252 --> 00:07:21.512
seemed like
00:07:23.930 --> 00:07:24.009
hmm.
00:07:24.060 --> 00:07:24.410
Dude.
00:07:24.845 --> 00:07:28.204
All of it, all of it, art style, the story.
00:07:28.285 --> 00:07:30.985
I mean, you, you hit the nail on the head, all of gen three.
00:07:31.194 --> 00:07:32.095
It doesn't miss.
00:07:32.096 --> 00:07:35.824
Absolutely.
00:07:35.843 --> 00:07:39.372
of those three starters and you'll have the probably similar difficulty.
00:07:39.372 --> 00:07:48.399
I think Mudkip has the most advantage probably out of the three, but it's not by you really would have still just a solid play Trico or Torchic as well.
00:07:49.242 --> 00:07:50.211
I'm right there with you, man.
00:07:50.862 --> 00:07:51.463
What's your favorite
00:07:51.463 --> 00:07:52.723
Pokemon?
00:07:53.302 --> 00:07:57.084
Dudee, it's a toss up between Quilava and Absol.
00:07:59.264 --> 00:08:05.454
So Quilava, just because, you know, I grew up a little emo kid and Quilava's pretty uh, pretty alt.
00:08:07.274 --> 00:08:08.884
been a favorite of mine for a while.
00:08:09.172 --> 00:08:12.951
Absol though, it's, first off, the dark type.
00:08:13.262 --> 00:08:14.872
It's something to it.
00:08:14.911 --> 00:08:16.911
You know, it's got a lot of type advantages.
00:08:17.252 --> 00:08:24.172
but also Absol, it may not be great at special attack, but it sure does have thunder it's got fire blast.
00:08:24.182 --> 00:08:26.002
It has blizzard that it can learn.
00:08:26.021 --> 00:08:28.641
It's got all, it can cover so much ground.
00:08:29.541 --> 00:08:30.802
it in your playthroughs, I assume?
00:08:32.274 --> 00:08:32.644
No.
00:08:36.823 --> 00:08:37.903
Well, it was.
00:08:38.083 --> 00:08:38.663
It was.
00:08:38.714 --> 00:08:45.144
I mean, okay, so it is my favorite Pokemon, but I've come to learn that it has some weaknesses to it, too.
00:08:49.653 --> 00:08:50.624
Used to.
00:08:52.244 --> 00:09:02.844
Used to, I would use it in, in my playthroughs, but, you know, I've grown a little bit, learned that there, there may be a few other Pokemon that can do the job a little better than Absol.
00:09:03.433 --> 00:09:05.484
Still holds a special place in my heart, though.
00:09:06.606 --> 00:09:13.777
Oh my, I mean, I can see that the emo stuck with you with as I called it when I like, it's kind of the emo Pokemon
00:09:13.783 --> 00:09:14.144
That's right.
00:09:14.193 --> 00:09:15.793
Yeah, exactly.
00:09:16.437 --> 00:09:23.806
Um, As I've grown older, I've come across people in my hometown that like, will talk about Pokemon.
00:09:23.956 --> 00:09:27.466
And at the time we had no idea that either of us played Pokemon.
00:09:27.475 --> 00:09:36.306
So I think in my community, it was kind of more hush hush about like, you know, there was something, taboo about being into Pokemon.
00:09:36.758 --> 00:09:45.042
Well, it was, I remember it was, there was a certain period where it was kind of, shameful in a way to be into Pokemon because some people either thought it was too little, you're too old to be into it.
00:09:45.851 --> 00:09:49.392
And then also, you know, nerd culture wasn't really embraced at the time.
00:09:49.392 --> 00:09:52.351
This is before, you know, the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
00:09:52.351 --> 00:10:04.216
I think, I always accredit that to really why people who have kind of nerdy of, I don't want to say come out, but they can kind of be more comfortable about Having kind of those interests and it just was a different time that thankfully it's gone
00:10:07.558 --> 00:10:07.999
Right.
00:10:08.188 --> 00:10:09.168
Yeah, absolutely.
00:10:09.369 --> 00:10:12.668
I mean, that's all that we want is for people to be who they want to be.
00:10:12.698 --> 00:10:13.658
So that's perfect.
00:10:13.668 --> 00:10:16.259
And I, you know, Pokemon kind of allows that.
00:10:17.447 --> 00:11:05.774
it does it does it does Well, as we keep going on, I know that I've met you at Pokemon Go at
00:11:09.081 --> 00:11:13.770
Go, I was actually a day one Pokemon Go download.
00:11:14.100 --> 00:11:15.591
I was so excited for it.
00:11:15.591 --> 00:11:29.605
And then I got out there and started playing and I was like, Oh, this kind of sucks, but my girlfriend at the time, she's now my fiance, she told me that she played Pokemon go and I was like, really?
00:11:29.615 --> 00:11:31.485
So she kind of got me back into it.
00:11:31.775 --> 00:11:36.225
Um, this was probably two years ago that I, that I really got back into it.
00:11:36.255 --> 00:11:39.225
2023, I think September, 2023.
00:11:40.453 --> 00:11:42.183
Now you were surprised, so was she not much
00:11:45.446 --> 00:11:50.046
So, as far as I know, like she would watch the episodes every once in a while.
00:11:50.216 --> 00:11:53.566
I don't think she's ever played a Pokemon game like a core game.
00:11:54.046 --> 00:11:56.875
Um, so learning that she was into Pokemon go.
00:11:56.875 --> 00:11:58.306
Yeah, it was, it was surprising.
00:11:58.716 --> 00:12:04.096
Um, I'm really glad that she did play it because, you know, it got me into it.
00:12:04.275 --> 00:12:05.596
Now it's, it's awesome.
00:12:05.816 --> 00:12:09.196
I love the raids, the max battles that they're introducing now.
00:12:09.582 --> 00:12:15.753
And just the, the community that's around Pokemon go, it's, it's so cool to go to, the stuff that.
00:12:16.427 --> 00:12:19.748
That you hold and, you know, where you're passing out those wristbands.
00:12:19.847 --> 00:12:25.717
I mean, I've got a, a backpack full of all the, the wristbands that you, uh, that given out now.
00:12:26.937 --> 00:12:27.408
So.
00:12:27.530 --> 00:12:33.312
And if you want one of them wristbands, you can become one by Anyway, Ha ha
00:12:33.837 --> 00:12:34.508
That's perfect.
00:12:35.158 --> 00:12:35.508
do
00:12:35.634 --> 00:12:36.020
ha
00:12:36.798 --> 00:12:38.107
helps David out helps.
00:12:38.268 --> 00:12:48.831
Uh, so, Yeah, going to those Pokemon Go events is really cool, being able to see how much of a community there still is around Pokemon.
00:12:48.831 --> 00:12:53.341
This game that we've been playing since we were kids, it's still, it's still going strong.
00:12:53.402 --> 00:12:54.721
It's so, so cool.
00:12:55.167 --> 00:12:56.626
What would you and your girlfriend do?
00:12:56.626 --> 00:13:00.116
Would like y'all just take walks together or just would y'all's
00:13:01.913 --> 00:13:08.918
So, in the beginning, we kind of just like hung out and saw what was in our area.
00:13:09.240 --> 00:13:11.620
We're both kind of from a small town area.
00:13:11.620 --> 00:13:14.130
So there really wasn't much of a Pokemon go community.
00:13:14.530 --> 00:13:17.831
Um, it was just something more to do to pass the time.
00:13:17.880 --> 00:13:23.217
But when we got to Dallas, going in like, Oh, I see a red gem near us.
00:13:23.217 --> 00:13:24.347
Let's go mess them up.
00:13:24.868 --> 00:13:26.258
Let's go take over that gym.
00:13:26.706 --> 00:13:32.025
you know, she's in the yellow one, which is instinct.
00:13:32.056 --> 00:13:32.426
Okay.
00:13:32.436 --> 00:13:35.549
And I'm in blue with his, which is mythic, So.
00:13:35.549 --> 00:13:43.529
Yeah, we would kind of have a rivalry like, uh, whenever I saw a yellow gem, uh, you know, I'd be like, Oh, I'm about to mess you and your folks up.
00:13:43.559 --> 00:13:45.470
And same with her to me.
00:13:45.798 --> 00:13:49.597
but yeah, just kind of a friendly rivalry, I guess, is what we were going for.
00:13:49.628 --> 00:13:57.259
And, that kind of evolved to, you know what, maybe let's get out there and do a route or, Oh, I see this Pokemon that we don't have.
00:13:57.259 --> 00:13:59.360
Let's go find out where that is.
00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:10.360
And that just kind of evolved into like, Oh, well, there's this Pokemon go event that's going on at Addison circle park, you know, let's, let's go see what's going on there.
00:14:10.440 --> 00:14:12.200
And then there you are.
00:14:13.562 --> 00:14:21.131
so it was just kind of a, a fun evolution of, you know, it started innocently and now it's like just a thing that we do.
00:14:21.894 --> 00:14:23.215
almost like a social outing, it
00:14:23.517 --> 00:14:24.596
That's exactly right.
00:14:24.596 --> 00:14:25.067
Yeah.
00:14:25.381 --> 00:14:26.841
do you try to shiny hunt at all?
00:14:26.851 --> 00:14:27.552
Or, like, what's
00:14:30.813 --> 00:14:35.033
So shiny hunting is definitely a thing, especially when there's like a community day.
00:14:35.368 --> 00:14:40.707
she and I will, uh, we'll text each other screenshots of like, Oh my God, look who I just got.
00:14:40.717 --> 00:14:42.207
Look what shiny I just got.
00:14:42.227 --> 00:14:43.967
And, you know, it's, it's really cool.
00:14:44.293 --> 00:14:44.933
Awesome.
00:14:44.953 --> 00:14:50.683
That's amazing, It's cool to see how Pokemon goes kind of not only kind of enhance your I guess
00:14:52.890 --> 00:14:53.160
right.
00:14:53.160 --> 00:14:55.600
Yeah, it's kind of neat how Pokemon does that.
00:14:56.057 --> 00:15:04.368
I want to kind of dive into, you know, how we did meet, which was at the trainer and want to know, like, how did this start originally?
00:15:04.368 --> 00:15:07.817
It's like overseas it's by rocket markets, the kind of the oversight.
00:15:08.298 --> 00:15:11.028
How did y'all kind of kind
00:15:12.235 --> 00:15:19.057
Yeah, so, we started with our first event was held at a little coffee shop.
00:15:19.447 --> 00:15:20.618
Okay, well, let me back up.
00:15:20.942 --> 00:15:26.750
Our first kind of foray into getting into events within the Pokemon community was with Rockets Relics.
00:15:26.769 --> 00:15:44.166
That's a, a little company that are a little business that we made, uh, where we make, Diorama cubes from, the Pokemon TCG, we would, we would never cannibalize a card to do this, but we would take the image of those cards and kind of make it into a diorama, a 3d diorama where it has some dimension.
00:15:44.166 --> 00:15:50.773
And it's more of like a, collectible, a memorabilia piece, somebody to put it on their desk or whatever or like a shelf in their room.
00:15:51.091 --> 00:15:57.654
And it kind of evolved into like, well, we have this product, we started making air fresheners to go along with that.
00:15:57.956 --> 00:16:03.356
And then it was like, okay, well, we're going to these events and they're awesome.
00:16:03.647 --> 00:16:06.076
we want to hold events ourselves.
00:16:06.116 --> 00:16:25.100
So we created trainer con and trainer con is where we had, a marketplace where artists could come and, Set up their shop and sell their products and, you know, we saw what it would do for us and we wanted to spread the love within the community and and have other people do the same thing that we were doing.
00:16:25.490 --> 00:16:30.679
So we would have artists come, people that are selling sealed products like TCG products.
00:16:31.077 --> 00:16:38.658
People that are making clothes for, like, Pokemon themed clothes, you know, all different kinds of people in the Pokemon community.
00:16:38.658 --> 00:17:17.332
We just wanted to, to spread the love, to be a part of it, you know, So over time that evolved into us holding a TCG tournament and then like a super smash bros tournament, and then most recently a cosplay contest it's amazing to see how much fun there is within the community and how strong and how tight knit of a community, the Pokemon community is, there's always a friendly face that you see at, these events, like, uh, I'm by nature, somewhat of a loner and seeing all of these wonderful people at the markets, whether it be our markets or somebody else's is just, it's so neat.
00:17:17.571 --> 00:17:20.461
So neat to share a story about, what's going on.
00:17:20.481 --> 00:17:23.632
You know, I've learned so much about these people's families.
00:17:23.954 --> 00:17:26.214
So it's really such a tight knit community.
00:17:26.214 --> 00:17:29.029
and I've typically I'm more of like the product side of things.
00:17:29.339 --> 00:17:32.923
I create, things for us to sell, and then.
00:17:32.942 --> 00:17:37.507
Joey, my business partner is more on like the socializing with people.
00:17:37.507 --> 00:17:39.487
He's much more social than I am.
00:17:39.957 --> 00:17:43.797
Um, so he's kind of the, the voice of the company.
00:17:43.846 --> 00:17:46.656
I'm kind of the hands of the company, if that makes any sense.
00:17:47.064 --> 00:17:52.594
Earlier, uh, while you were talking, you said to kind of give people the opportunity that Jaw Guys received.
00:17:52.866 --> 00:17:52.926
hmm.
00:17:53.693 --> 00:17:54.013
I guess.
00:17:54.013 --> 00:17:56.884
Could you give me more insight on like, maybe you go into these events?
00:17:56.884 --> 00:18:03.705
Like before y'all started the whole rocket relics and everything, how did y'all experience going to these other events that made y'all want to start this?
00:18:04.333 --> 00:18:08.633
I mean, we were, we were nobodies within the Pokemon community.
00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:11.560
we really didn't have a name at all.
00:18:11.641 --> 00:18:19.211
And, being kind of boosted up by Indigo Plateau, they showcased us for one, one event.
00:18:19.221 --> 00:18:21.330
They put us on their Instagram story.
00:18:22.337 --> 00:18:28.288
People were coming to their market like, Oh my gosh, I saw your product on Indigo Plateau's Instagram story.
00:18:28.458 --> 00:18:29.758
I have to have this.
00:18:30.057 --> 00:18:34.538
And I guess it just kind of went from there, seeing what they did for us.