Feb. 12, 2025

TRAINER'S EYE #133 - "Friendships Through Cyndaquil's Flame Wheel" ft. GoodraFTW

Show Notes
Transcript

In this Pokemon interview, we are joined by GoodraFTW, a Pokemon Trainer who is a part time content creator on Twitch and Youtube who hosts Shiny Showdown with his co-host LadyDunsparce!

GoodraFTW starts his Pokemon journey playing Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen. He shares his early experience playing with his friends, despite his family against engaging with the franchise due to religious reasons. GoodraFTW would continue playing the games as he grew older.

GoodraFTW shares his favorite region of Johto and what he loved about playing the second generation. He gives insight into the numerous Pokemon he fondly remembers, including his favorite one, and also gives insight into his eventual transition into the PokemonTCG from Yugioh.

Finally, GoodraFTW shares his dabble into creating content and how he came up with the idea of Shiny Showdown. He connects how his value of friendship has kept him motivated to keep up with creating Pokemon content and how he has used content creators in the Yu-gi-oh space to influence his own ideas.

Sources
Opening Song: "Forget You" by Alex_MakeMusic from Pixabay

Connect with GoodaFTW: Twitch | Twitter | Youtube

Send us a text

Support the show

Connect with David Hernandez: Linktree
E-mail Me: asthepokeballturnspodcast@gmail.com

Join Our Discord Community!
https://discord.gg/AqAbD7FbRt

Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.500
I am GoodraFTW, and this is my Pokémon story.

00:00:43.017 --> 00:00:47.534
Welcome to as the pokeball turns where we interview people's experience about Pokemon.

00:00:48.005 --> 00:00:54.066
My name is David Hernandez I'm joined by Gujra FTW, also known as Gujra for the win.

00:00:54.595 --> 00:00:56.615
Gujra, welcome to as the pokeball turns.

00:00:57.470 --> 00:01:03.149
Thank you for having me, always good to be talking to other members of the community, and just, uh, branching out a tad.

00:01:03.545 --> 00:01:09.415
I have to go on a limb, I'm gonna guess maybe Guju's your favorite Pokemon, or is that, like, what's the story behind that name, if you don't mind sharing?

00:01:10.093 --> 00:01:15.513
I've, I would probably classify Cyndaquil as my favorite Pokemon.

00:01:15.603 --> 00:01:21.468
Uh, there was like a, an old anime episode that was like focused more on like gold and silver.

00:01:21.811 --> 00:01:26.042
And I remember being at my grandma's house and like there's this thing with Typhlosion.

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I was like, Oh wow, that's so cool.

00:01:27.591 --> 00:01:32.706
And so like, That's where I get the Typhlosion line, but the Goudra thing is actually a story in its own.

00:01:33.246 --> 00:01:39.757
So, in college, my freshman year of college was around, the time X and Y was about to be released.

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so like obviously that's when internet leaks were becoming a hot commodity.

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And, the full Pokédex got leaked before the game was released.

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And my roommate he had seen the leaks and he was just like, so mad that Goomy was a dragon type.

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And we were like, I was like, you know what, you hate this thing so much, I'm going to give it all the love in the world.

00:02:02.527 --> 00:02:09.209
And so from that point on, I loved Goomy and the, and the Goomy line, in spite of my friend's hatred for it.

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So.

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I mean, that's such a troll move, I love it.

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Gotta gotta do what you gotta do.

00:02:15.588 --> 00:02:17.389
I mean, he's just a little guy like, what,

00:02:17.703 --> 00:02:18.073
But,

00:02:18.092 --> 00:02:19.173
how, how can you hate him?

00:02:19.223 --> 00:02:21.992
I know, right, but what type did he think Goomy was?

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He was just, he was just mad that it was a dragon.

00:02:24.932 --> 00:02:26.905
He didn't he loves dragons.

00:02:26.935 --> 00:02:27.895
That's, that's his thing.

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He loves cool Pokemon, that he, he just loves cool things.

00:02:31.532 --> 00:02:33.046
so like the fact that.

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It was a dragon and it wasn't just like a cool edgy dragon like Garchomp or Salamence or anything like that just kind of annoyed him

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I mean, I can see that, I guess, because it's kind of, uh, A strain off the path of what we're used to at that time because you said Garchomp, Dragonite, Haxorus, all those Aggressive looking dragons and here you got innocent Gumi that you kind of want to plush of

00:02:55.913 --> 00:02:58.650
Yeah, he's a round little cuddly guy, you know

00:02:58.962 --> 00:03:11.693
so actually I did something similar, but this is actually related to my discord name So I was in a Pokemon go server at the time and the owner We got on some subject, but he hated Hamtaro with a passion.

00:03:11.693 --> 00:03:13.423
He just went on a huge rant.

00:03:14.152 --> 00:03:16.132
And so the troll myself.

00:03:16.141 --> 00:03:16.442
That's what I said.

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Uh, real recognizes real here.

00:03:19.192 --> 00:03:24.102
I changed my discord name to Hamtaro or no, I changed my profile picture to Hamtaro.

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And then this is the kind of discord where you can't really change your nickname.

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So he then goes, okay, well, I'm just going to keep you as Hamtaro.

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And it kind of just stuck ever since my discord community.

00:03:33.812 --> 00:03:34.852
They always call me Hamtaro.

00:03:34.872 --> 00:03:35.722
And that's where that comes from.

00:03:36.711 --> 00:03:37.201
ha ha ha.

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Love it.

00:03:39.243 --> 00:03:43.383
You mentioned how, you know, y'all were in college playing Pokemon X and Y.

00:03:43.703 --> 00:03:45.802
so you and your friend were playing Pokemon, I assumed.

00:03:45.983 --> 00:03:48.098
Were y'all like, kinda like, exploring the game together?

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Battling?

00:03:48.639 --> 00:03:49.588
Like, what was that like?

00:03:50.046 --> 00:04:09.448
so, When, when the game first came out, So obviously it was the first, uh, Pokemon game released on the 3DS, Like, family of systems, And it released very closely, Or alongside the 2DS, I was able to pick up the 2DS and get the game and, uh, he just wasn't able to get it right on release.

00:04:09.751 --> 00:04:15.110
I was playing it and I was showing him all the cool things that I was doing and he's like, Oh, come on,

00:04:15.181 --> 00:04:16.600
You're torturing the boy, oh my

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I was, torturing him by just flexing and showing off.

00:04:19.309 --> 00:04:20.629
he eventually was able to get it.

00:04:20.920 --> 00:04:51.283
but that was actually, when I started to like do content creation in general back then and I think even now a lot of the Youtubers will say the the best way to get started is just to start recording so a lot of my very early stuff was me just like sitting with a with a tripod my phone on the tripod pointed at my 3ds while I was doing stuff because like I didn't have money for a capture card didn't know how to how to go about getting a capture card or anything But 3DS capture cards were a process in and of themselves at the time, too, so.

00:04:51.283 --> 00:04:58.132
my roommate and I did, like, a little bit of battling on the games, but We were also getting into card games as well.

00:04:58.142 --> 00:05:01.923
So, we started off, we got into Yu Gi Oh! first.

00:05:02.322 --> 00:05:05.959
And then, uh, somehow we eventually transitioned over to Pokemon.

00:05:05.968 --> 00:05:08.309
He had played Pokemon when he was in high school.

00:05:08.309 --> 00:05:09.848
and had like a bunch of cards.

00:05:09.889 --> 00:05:31.831
And, we didn't really have like a, league around us at the time, but the card shop we went to we were able to just kind of start up like Just like some local stuff so it eventually went from the video game and transitioned into the card game and so the rest has been Like history since then just on and off playing whatever so

00:05:32.177 --> 00:05:36.427
It sounds like it's a very core memory, cause you know, here you are, you're just playing Pokemon X and Y.

00:05:36.716 --> 00:05:44.574
And then that also eventually, like, rolls into you just trying out TCG and not even in the competitive sense, just trying not to play the card game and learning how to play.

00:05:45.110 --> 00:05:52.156
Yeah, And, like, I think that's the beauty about, all the different things that Pokemon kind of has their hands in.

00:05:52.185 --> 00:05:54.648
Because, like, there is overlap in a lot of ways.

00:05:54.971 --> 00:05:57.862
most people probably started from the video game at some point or another.

00:05:57.891 --> 00:05:59.461
Either the anime or the video game.

00:05:59.971 --> 00:06:02.896
Especially, like, millennials and, Kind of our age group.

00:06:03.197 --> 00:06:14.177
so, we get started on that, and that gets us into the merchandise, into the cards, and then, like, we just have fond memories of those as children, and then we just, like, get the stuff, and, like, maybe we'll come back to it as adults.

00:06:14.487 --> 00:06:16.346
I just, I really enjoyed card games.

00:06:16.466 --> 00:06:20.867
Like, I would, I really like Yu Gi as a card game, not so much how it's managed.

00:06:21.192 --> 00:06:25.992
Pokemon is, uh, It's, it's a lot cheaper, it's a, it's a lower barrier to entry.

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And especially now that, I've kind of reconnected with some, some old friends.

00:06:29.952 --> 00:06:45.841
are also into uh, Pokemon it's just been nice to just get back into it and, meet new people, just branch out in that regard and just meet all kinds of, all kinds of great people, even, even locally where I live, cause the friends I do have are in a different state

00:06:46.141 --> 00:06:50.682
Do you find it kind of different to, like, you know, even just X and Y, we'll stick with that for now.

00:06:50.992 --> 00:06:57.591
To where you got all these connections, you get to kind of learn, experience Pokemon together to compare to when you first started, like, how different is it?

00:06:58.406 --> 00:07:01.456
so, when I first started, it was in middle school.

00:07:02.386 --> 00:07:08.892
so, I really wasn't allowed to play Pokemon Like, I wasn't allowed to be involved with Pokemon at all.

00:07:09.266 --> 00:07:11.935
but like, I kind of convinced my dad.

00:07:11.935 --> 00:07:14.076
I don't think my dad really knew that we weren't allowed.

00:07:14.076 --> 00:07:18.346
So I convinced my dad to like, let me buy a Pokemon game at a pawn shop.

00:07:18.735 --> 00:07:19.154
Okay.

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friends at school were playing Pokemon.

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And I was like, oh man, this looks really cool.

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I want play.

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and so my first game was FireRed.

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and so, Really, like, it's just being, being involved with friends who were also involved with Pokemon.

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It's just kind of been like a common string along the way.

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cause that's, that's where it started.

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And then, when I moved up to college, like, sharing that interest with my roommate and us becoming friends.

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through not only that, like, we, we were, we were the same major, in college and everything too.

00:07:47.975 --> 00:07:57.055
But like being able to bond over Pokemon through, through friendships or create new friendships through Pokemon has always been like a, very, uh, common theme throughout for me.

00:07:57.675 --> 00:08:00.529
why weren't you allowed to, I guess, get engaged at that age?

00:08:00.944 --> 00:08:02.865
it was, kind of like a religious thing.

00:08:03.185 --> 00:08:11.843
so I, I grew up in a, a Christian household and there was a huge scare about like Pokemon and like, I used to watch Digimon and then my mom.

00:08:11.843 --> 00:08:23.653
had like come in on one of the episodes where they were talking about like demons and like prophecy or whatever and it like freaked her out and she's like, alright, no more of this and the two were like the same thing to her for the longest time.

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Uh, so it was kind of like off limits, I wasn't allowed do it,

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It's like she came at the wrong time.

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It's like if you had came at any other time, you would not have seen this.

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It's just the one scene.

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Yeah, yeah, probably.

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Just one of those like, wrong place at the wrong

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Yeah, I was gonna that's not the right place for you.

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she, she actually now does play Pokemon Go, uh, recently.

00:08:42.798 --> 00:08:43.488
Oh, wow.

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Go, so it's, it's, it's done a full 180 for her.

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She's more receptive to it nowadays compared to back then.

00:08:50.623 --> 00:08:51.212
Yeah, yeah,

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Was it difficult, I guess, you know, as you know, Pokemon can progress.

00:08:55.244 --> 00:09:06.933
So you started with fire red and, you know, of course we get more games with the DS and all that, and you said your parents were against it where you kind of left out at that point and your parents were kind of, or your friends were kind of progressing with Pokemon or how did that work out for you?

00:09:07.599 --> 00:09:14.038
Well, once I started playing the game, my mom, she wasn't happy that I had the game, but like, she stop me from playing

00:09:14.183 --> 00:09:17.744
Oh, so you weren't like completely forbidden from playing it just at the initially part.

00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:21.298
yeah, I was forbidden from, like, trying to start playing.

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But once I started playing, I guess she realized it really wasn't all that bad.

00:09:24.144 --> 00:09:24.514
Gotcha.

00:09:24.543 --> 00:09:24.903
Okay.

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and so I, I, I just kind of took it and ran with it.

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especially, like, even in the DS era, I would remember Taking my DS to school.

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Even my Game Boy Advance.

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We would do trades, link battles, all kinds of fun stuff.

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Especially in the morning while we were waiting for the bell to ring to go to class.

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And even at lunch as well.

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That's what I enjoy too.

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Cause, uh, that was actually the first time I ever got to experience like battling in the multiplayer of Pokemon, my friends, we would go in the mornings.

00:09:55.056 --> 00:09:58.905
And of course we played Yu Gi Oh, we played the Yu Gi Oh card game, but we also started playing Pokemon.

00:09:58.916 --> 00:10:04.481
We did battles, we did trades and we would just be in the cafeteria table, just kind of, you know, doing our thing.

00:10:04.522 --> 00:10:09.741
And it was just a lot of fun to finally experience that in that time period have such good fond memories of it.

00:10:10.115 --> 00:10:21.349
Yeah, I remember, um, So, there was, there was like some stink at the school, where the assistant principal was like, no, you're not allowed to these in the morning, don't bring them back to school.

00:10:21.568 --> 00:10:24.308
But like, we still brought them, we just like snuck around doing it.

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And then like, she finally came and was like, alright, you can do it in the morning.

00:10:27.999 --> 00:10:32.428
And we just all immediately pulled it out, DS's started playing again.

00:10:33.099 --> 00:10:34.109
Oh my gosh.

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cool, thank, better to ask for forgiveness than permission, I

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I love that quote.

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Yeah, I need a shirt on that.

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I mean, that's so crazy though.

00:10:42.626 --> 00:10:44.706
Like it's like at the morning, like, what do you want us to do?

00:10:44.706 --> 00:10:45.537
We're waiting for class.

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Like we're not distracted or anything.

00:10:47.581 --> 00:10:47.971
Yeah.

00:10:48.426 --> 00:10:49.066
I wanted to know.

00:10:49.076 --> 00:10:51.275
So, you know, you said you kept playing the games.

00:10:51.395 --> 00:10:54.975
Did you have a particular generation of games that you enjoyed playing the most?

00:10:55.015 --> 00:10:56.625
Like what would be your favorite one?

00:10:57.073 --> 00:11:00.063
I mean I'm always a Gen 2 truther.

00:11:00.124 --> 00:11:07.443
Uh, so, one thing that's weird for me is because like, I started playing right before Diamond and Pearl came out.

00:11:07.984 --> 00:11:14.187
But I ended up still playing, Each generation in order, so my first game was FireRed and LeafGreen, so Gen 1.

00:11:14.636 --> 00:11:17.581
The second game I played was actually Silver.

00:11:17.581 --> 00:11:21.341
cause there was a kid in my class who was like, Yeah, I got this old Pokemon game, I'm gonna sell it.

00:11:21.500 --> 00:11:31.525
And so I bought it from him, and like, I mean, obviously, I, I, I, I mentioned the Typhlosion thing earlier, So like, I get to play with Typhlosion, this is like, Amazing.

00:11:31.928 --> 00:11:33.782
so, I just love Gen two.

00:11:33.782 --> 00:11:42.576
I, think it's just being able to like, go through and you get to do the whole Jo to section and then you still get to go back into Canto was really cool.

00:11:42.971 --> 00:11:50.456
so, and then after that, like, I got to play like, Sapphire and then, the first game I actually bought, the first Pokemon game I actually bought like.

00:11:50.865 --> 00:11:52.716
On release was, uh, Pearl.

00:11:52.775 --> 00:11:55.346
It was for my birthday, the year that Pearl came out,

00:11:55.490 --> 00:11:57.020
Oh, that's such a good birthday present.

00:11:57.025 --> 00:11:59.676
birthday subsequent to its release or whatever

00:12:00.051 --> 00:12:00.421
Oh,

00:12:00.525 --> 00:12:09.961
but I, I, I think Gen 2 is probably my favorite just because like there's a lot of Pokemon from Gen 2 that are just like, within their particular like category are my favorite.

00:12:09.961 --> 00:12:14.996
So like favorite Legendary is Lugia, favorite like roaming Pokemon is Suicude.

00:12:15.331 --> 00:12:19.441
Obviously, favorite starter, favorite Pokemon is gonna be like, Cyndaquil, Typhlosion, Lion.

00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:22.551
So, just a lot of things I really enjoyed about Gen 2.

00:12:23.441 --> 00:12:26.931
I think Gen 2 was just such a good follow up for the Kanto games.

00:12:26.931 --> 00:12:32.701
I know you started with FireRed, but, you know, you got to kind of experience the heart of RedBlue in a way.

00:12:33.201 --> 00:12:39.583
But what I loved about, you know, GoldSilver and Crystal is of course the two regions, but it's also, I like the progression.

00:12:39.583 --> 00:12:43.504
Because sometimes with Pokemon games, you kind of just get stuck in this time period.

00:12:44.004 --> 00:12:48.344
But Pokemon you got to see the progression of what happened after Kanto.

00:12:48.344 --> 00:12:52.614
What happened after you beat Team Rocket, after you won the championship.

00:12:52.614 --> 00:12:54.134
And it hasn't been replicated.

00:12:54.134 --> 00:12:56.024
It's gotten some pieces, but not to that degree.

00:12:56.308 --> 00:12:56.629
Yeah.

00:12:56.933 --> 00:13:02.224
So, another thing that like, leads to love and enjoyment of Gen 2.

00:13:02.244 --> 00:13:06.774
So like, FireRed, like the post game stuff is like, centered around the Sevii Islands.

00:13:07.094 --> 00:13:11.234
And so after you get your national decks and can go to like, more of the Sevii Islands.

00:13:11.693 --> 00:13:17.813
You start to actually encounter Johto Pokemon and, Like, I fell in love with a lot of them, like Larvitar and Pupitar.

00:13:17.813 --> 00:13:19.754
Uh, fell in love with those.

00:13:19.844 --> 00:13:23.543
Um, I, I'm seeing my Chikorita plush behind me.

00:13:24.303 --> 00:13:25.124
Yeah, Chikorita.

00:13:25.163 --> 00:13:27.333
love the design of Chikorita and Bayleaf.

00:13:27.333 --> 00:13:31.203
Like, there's just so many great designs that I, I just love from that generation.

00:13:31.703 --> 00:13:33.274
And you just settled for Cyndaquil.

00:13:33.293 --> 00:13:33.714
Why?

00:13:33.714 --> 00:13:35.354
You could have just been a Chikorita fan.

00:13:35.354 --> 00:13:36.004
I don't get it.

00:13:36.308 --> 00:13:39.229
See, the thing that ruins Chikorita for me Meganium.

00:13:39.899 --> 00:13:43.719
Meganium had a better design, I think I could get more behind it.

00:13:43.879 --> 00:13:51.895
But, it's like, it's, it's the, it's like the leaf blade on the head is, is what I really love about Chikorita and Bayleaf.

00:13:51.916 --> 00:13:53.255
And then they just get rid of it

00:13:53.591 --> 00:13:53.880
Yeah.

00:13:53.880 --> 00:13:55.740
They gave little two, yeah, antennas.

00:13:55.740 --> 00:13:56.051
Yeah.

00:13:56.635 --> 00:13:57.025
so.

00:13:57.416 --> 00:13:58.975
Well, how would you redesign Meganium though?

00:13:58.985 --> 00:14:01.105
What would you change about it that would make it more appealing?

00:14:01.755 --> 00:14:03.355
A, a leaf blade head, I don't

00:14:03.365 --> 00:14:04.336
You just want the leaf blade head?

00:14:04.336 --> 00:14:04.686
Okay.

00:14:04.775 --> 00:14:07.546
What if we did like a little leaf blade hat instead of the flowers?

00:14:07.546 --> 00:14:09.395
We just had a hat around, you know, it's like a hop hit

00:14:11.171 --> 00:14:14.740
sure someone could come up with something that I'd be on board with, but

00:14:14.926 --> 00:14:18.265
if y'all design something you have any artistic skill Tag us.

00:14:18.306 --> 00:14:19.446
I'd be curious to see what y'all make.

00:14:19.446 --> 00:14:22.645
I'm not sure if we'll get answers, but I would love to see what y'all make

00:14:22.971 --> 00:14:24.711
Let me see Mega Meganium.

00:14:25.191 --> 00:14:26.671
That brings back the leaf.

00:14:27.120 --> 00:14:33.711
I know that, you know, early, you said how you started your content creation, playing Pokemon X, you know, just by the struggle was real, right?

00:14:33.730 --> 00:14:37.135
Holding a tripod and just trying to record video with crappy footage.

00:14:37.135 --> 00:14:38.605
People nowadays don't know what it's like.

00:14:38.926 --> 00:14:41.775
What made you want to try to do the content creation at the time?

00:14:41.775 --> 00:14:44.916
Like what made you want to just go to that effort just to record some gameplay?

00:14:45.395 --> 00:14:47.046
I was in college, I didn't have a lot to do.

00:14:47.375 --> 00:14:47.796
Uh,

00:14:48.275 --> 00:14:49.346
You what, you mean study?

00:14:49.355 --> 00:14:51.206
You didn't mean you didn't study and procrastinate like the rest of us?

00:14:51.426 --> 00:14:53.306
I, I mean, you know.

00:14:53.956 --> 00:14:58.645
Uh, I mean, I was on YouTube a lot, I was watching YouTubers.

00:14:58.645 --> 00:15:01.763
I, I, I really took a liking to Shady Penguin.

00:15:02.388 --> 00:15:03.087
his content.

00:15:03.087 --> 00:15:25.765
I really enjoyed Shady Penguin's content and there was there was a time where I was doing it was like the first pokemon let's play I did where I actually like did layouts and everything and it was just So so much fun to like See all the work that I did on it Like seeing the layouts come together and the transitions I just thought it was like so cool to see everything come together and like I Look, I made this.

00:15:25.765 --> 00:15:26.586
Look how cool this looks.

00:15:26.586 --> 00:15:29.005
And like, I just felt like a sense pride about it.

00:15:29.005 --> 00:15:36.993
And it's like one of the, one of the few things that I've really felt like, I just enjoyed doing and wish I could do more often.

00:15:37.255 --> 00:15:43.025
obviously as time has gone on, it's been like hit or miss whether or not I can actually like find the time to do it.

00:15:43.025 --> 00:15:45.355
I, I try the best I can, but you know.

00:15:45.655 --> 00:15:46.385
Mm hmm.

00:15:46.385 --> 00:15:47.485
Responsibilities.

00:15:47.696 --> 00:15:48.525
yeah.

00:15:48.796 --> 00:15:49.755
Adulthood.

00:15:49.865 --> 00:15:50.475
Life.

00:15:50.885 --> 00:15:52.145
Oh, I wish I was Ash.

00:15:52.145 --> 00:15:53.046
I could just stay at 10.

00:15:54.145 --> 00:15:54.875
Well, no, I don't want to do that.

00:15:54.875 --> 00:15:55.855
I want to stay at 21.

00:15:55.895 --> 00:15:57.265
That's, that was the ideal age.

00:15:57.615 --> 00:16:02.913
Yeah, I was talking to my brother the other night and I think we were just going on a nostalgia trip for some reason.

00:16:02.913 --> 00:16:05.682
And I was telling him, I was like, man, I wish I was back in college.

00:16:05.682 --> 00:16:07.123
He's like, why college and not high school?

00:16:07.123 --> 00:16:11.873
I was like, well, in college, I had the least amount of responsibilities, but the most amount of independence.

00:16:12.148 --> 00:16:12.748
Yes.

00:16:13.543 --> 00:16:14.072
yes.

00:16:14.528 --> 00:16:15.008
I agree.

00:16:15.442 --> 00:16:15.753
Yeah.

00:16:16.488 --> 00:16:17.548
I'm a college boomer.

00:16:17.587 --> 00:16:18.707
My college years were fun.

00:16:18.788 --> 00:16:19.967
I don't regret those at all.

00:16:20.399 --> 00:16:22.222
No, I, I love my college years.

00:16:22.528 --> 00:16:24.988
I was playing yugi playing video games most of the time.

00:16:24.988 --> 00:16:28.077
So like, I, I wasn't out like partying or anything.

00:16:28.077 --> 00:16:29.248
I was, I'm not that fun.

00:16:29.307 --> 00:16:29.668
I'm

00:16:31.148 --> 00:16:37.457
Well, I mean, I'm serious though, because like, before, I kid you not, high school year, I sold all my Yu Gi Oh cards.

00:16:37.457 --> 00:16:40.398
Because I didn't think that nobody would go and play Yu Gi Oh.

00:16:40.677 --> 00:16:44.317
I gave away all my Magic the Gathering cards because I didn't think people would play Magic.

00:16:44.630 --> 00:16:51.250
And I kept my Pokemon games because I'm not crazy enough, but, when I got to college, I saw people playing Yu Gi Oh, I saw people playing Magic, I'm like, what the heck?

00:16:51.660 --> 00:17:01.951
Like, blew my mind that people would still be into this stuff because I always thought that It was kind of, you know, quote unquote kiddie stuff, but lo and behold, here we are still playing, talking about

00:17:03.613 --> 00:17:08.972
they, they say high school are the best of your life, but like, in hindsight, I could care less for, for my high school years.

00:17:08.972 --> 00:17:10.573
I enjoyed college so much more.

00:17:10.893 --> 00:17:15.220
I felt more like I could be I mean honestly just be myself.

00:17:15.553 --> 00:17:33.796
so like I was in band so like, I did band in college and like I was around other band kids a lot and just being in that environment and being around people who were more like me Just made me feel like I could be more like me I think that's part of why I enjoy it so much, but you know, just how it goes.

00:17:34.351 --> 00:17:34.760
I know.

00:17:35.070 --> 00:17:39.361
Hey, if you're listening to this and you're in college, enjoy your years while you got it, because they go by fast.

00:17:39.736 --> 00:17:44.286
Yeah, they might be expensive, but it will be some of the most enjoyable times, hopefully.

00:18:31.713 --> 00:18:36.884
Now, you know, you were talking about, you know, your content creation and I'm guessing, you know, you were just streaming at the time.

00:18:37.064 --> 00:18:37.973
What did you try to make?

00:18:37.983 --> 00:18:43.019
Like, planned content, making the videos, you know, like you do on YouTube, like when did that start kicking in?

00:18:43.701 --> 00:18:52.414
so for, for a while, like right after graduated, My roommate and I were trying to do a lot of like, deck profiles and stuff.

00:18:52.654 --> 00:18:54.505
And we kind of varied it a little bit.

00:18:54.535 --> 00:18:59.404
A little bit of Pokemon TCG, but we also tried to do a lot of Yu Gi Oh! at the time as well.

00:18:59.877 --> 00:19:10.897
The, the biggest, like, obstacle that's been with my content creation is I've never been able to, like, stick with one thing and, like, be consistent with it, which is, like, not good for YouTube.

00:19:10.938 --> 00:19:14.458
YouTube just kind of wants you to stay in one lane the whole time you're on YouTube.

00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:22.861
and I'll, I'll go through spurts where, like, I just can't get myself to, like, put out something, which they also want consistency.

00:19:23.193 --> 00:19:24.473
I get, like, stretches of consistency.

00:19:24.473 --> 00:19:34.173
time where I'm really good about uploading something, and then stretches where I upload nothing and then I'll finally get around to being able to, do it again.

00:19:34.483 --> 00:19:45.307
the past couple of years has been like the most consistent and, Allie, Lady Dunsparce has really helped in this by doing the series her, she'll, ping me and be like, Hey, uh, are we streaming?

00:19:45.307 --> 00:19:46.146
Shiny Showdown?

00:19:46.446 --> 00:19:48.727
Uh, she's already been asking me about the next season.

00:19:48.727 --> 00:19:50.977
So we're, we're getting that planned out and everything.

00:19:51.717 --> 00:19:57.443
I think having someone else be reliant upon my content creation, has helped a little bit.

00:19:57.844 --> 00:20:02.973
that way I'm not like, uh, screwing Ali over by like, not, not doing anything.

00:20:03.326 --> 00:20:07.905
So, I think this is like the most consistent and most scheduled I have been.

00:20:07.939 --> 00:20:09.398
for those reasons.

00:20:09.852 --> 00:20:11.332
Hey, shout out to Lady Dunsparks.

00:20:11.332 --> 00:20:13.132
You're changing this man right before our eyes.

00:20:13.922 --> 00:20:14.951
ha ha ha ha ha.

00:20:15.832 --> 00:20:19.991
But, in serious note, like, you think about why you got into Pokemon, it's because of friends.

00:20:20.332 --> 00:20:23.461
You know, in college, you talk about friends again, your roommate.

00:20:23.836 --> 00:20:25.086
Here is your content creation.

00:20:25.096 --> 00:20:29.776
You still, the reason why you're doing it is because of, you got somebody next to you who you rely on.

00:20:29.776 --> 00:20:31.701
Mm And I mean, I'm the same way.

00:20:31.701 --> 00:20:33.141
I don't want to be staying in one lane.

00:20:33.141 --> 00:20:37.000
I want to be able to swerve and go backwards and make people think I'm the crazy driver.

00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:38.790
Like, I want to have every piece of the pie.

00:20:39.215 --> 00:20:41.006
Yeah, I'm just a, I'm a gamer.

00:20:41.185 --> 00:20:44.016
I want to be known just for Pokemon.

00:20:44.726 --> 00:20:48.256
Like, there are times where I just can't stand Pokemon, I'll be honest.

00:20:48.925 --> 00:20:50.155
But, uh, like,

00:20:50.230 --> 00:20:51.790
Hey, go off with a little name of time.

00:20:51.790 --> 00:20:52.441
I'm curious.

00:20:52.441 --> 00:20:54.500
Like, what's a time that where you just couldn't stand Pokemon?

00:20:55.020 --> 00:21:03.760
I mean, the, the Pokemon card game is like, It's like, eh, like, sometimes there are decent formats, sometimes, It's with every, every card game.

00:21:04.270 --> 00:21:16.136
I was really, I was really critical of of Scarlet and Violet, like, I put out a lot of stuff in Scarlet and Violet, but I'm so critical of the games, I just don't think they're good games, I don't think they get, I, I think they get more love than they deserve.

00:21:16.686 --> 00:21:18.067
but I'm a hater, so I don't know.

00:21:19.038 --> 00:21:19.340
I,

00:21:19.467 --> 00:21:20.396
be the hater with you.

00:21:20.457 --> 00:21:24.116
The ones that piss me off the most, Ultra Sun, Ultra Moon.

00:21:24.606 --> 00:21:26.606
And it's because you had to be in that time period.

00:21:27.076 --> 00:21:28.557
You get Pokemon Sun and Moon.

00:21:28.866 --> 00:21:31.237
Next year, Pokemon gives you Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.

00:21:31.416 --> 00:21:34.416
They're the same damn game outside of some added features.

00:21:35.017 --> 00:21:37.876
It pissed me off so much, I stopped playing.

00:21:38.076 --> 00:21:38.856
I didn't get past.

00:21:38.906 --> 00:21:40.153
I still not to this day.

00:21:40.153 --> 00:21:43.681
Gotten past the instruction part of Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.

00:21:43.800 --> 00:21:45.171
I went to play Pokemon Go.

00:21:45.320 --> 00:21:46.911
So, I feel you on that.

00:21:46.911 --> 00:21:49.441
There's just those parts where, you know, the franchise pisses you off.

00:21:49.931 --> 00:21:59.000
Yeah, I mean, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, it's a big It feels like they definitely tried to gear it more towards a younger audience, and like, it's like, hand holdy.

00:21:59.030 --> 00:22:01.131
Because I remember there was a lot of uproar at time,

00:22:01.445 --> 00:22:01.796
Mm

00:22:01.800 --> 00:22:04.851
people were complaining that it was, it was really hand holdy.

00:22:05.446 --> 00:22:08.537
Pokemon had to remind people, like, Hey, this is kids.

00:22:08.846 --> 00:22:12.527
I'm not here to satisfy your 20 year old fantasies.

00:22:12.527 --> 00:22:13.352
Heh heh.

00:22:14.541 --> 00:22:16.791
I'm here for the seven year olds, what are you doing?

00:22:17.622 --> 00:22:17.632
hmm.

00:22:17.642 --> 00:22:27.741
And to that I say, Game Freak, I've got the 70, the kids barely have two! Oh,

00:22:27.981 --> 00:22:35.526
like the meme, I remember a meme, it's like, a comparison between like, intended audience and like, actual audience Pokemon and Call of Duty.

00:22:35.945 --> 00:22:41.326
like, the intended audience for Pokemon's children, for Call of Duty's adults, but the actual audience is flipped.

00:22:41.336 --> 00:22:43.056
Yes, yes, yes, yes.

00:22:43.496 --> 00:22:50.269
I love that, because I'm like, yeah, I guess I can remember, I was a gangsty young child, so In Super Mario 64, I was always throwing the penguin off the edge, so

00:22:50.558 --> 00:22:51.848
Ha ha ha ha ha.

00:22:53.018 --> 00:22:59.403
But you know, you taught, you know, you seemed like you're very into the card game and I think that's kind of something that I guess people also kind of miss.

00:22:59.513 --> 00:23:03.663
And you brought up a good point, how different parts of Pokemon caters to different audiences.

00:23:04.253 --> 00:23:11.983
And one thing I learned is how important TCG is because it was kind of the gateway for people who couldn't afford the games.

00:23:12.548 --> 00:23:12.858
Yeah.

00:23:12.993 --> 00:23:18.864
Cause if you couldn't afford the, you know, basically a hundred to now it's about like 400, you could afford a four or 5 pack.

00:23:19.307 --> 00:23:24.678
How important was it for you to kind of play the Pokemon card game or were you still primarily just more into Yu Gi Oh at the time?

00:23:25.276 --> 00:23:36.269
well, I started out with Yu Gi Oh!, enjoy, I still enjoy Yu mechanically a lot better than I enjoy Pokemon, but I've done like so much more Pokemon TCG with Pokémon, like, I've actually gone to regionals.

00:23:36.311 --> 00:23:39.471
a couple years ago, I went to my first, international championship.

00:23:39.761 --> 00:23:44.362
it was the last, last one they did in Columbus before they moved them to New Orleans.

00:23:44.761 --> 00:23:57.467
So, like, I've done more regionals for Pokémon than I've done any, like, regionals or YCSs for Yu Gi but even those, like, It's just, it's always such a blast to go and like, hang out and meet up with friends.

00:23:57.467 --> 00:24:00.507
Especially now since like, I live further away from them all.

00:24:00.727 --> 00:24:06.317
It's always really nice to just meet up with them and like, catch up and just hang out with them for the day.

00:24:06.346 --> 00:24:09.297
Maybe do some side events after we go X3,

00:24:10.156 --> 00:24:10.916
mm hmm, yeah

00:24:12.433 --> 00:24:16.903
but I think Pokemon does A really good job with their, card game.

00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:19.339
their reprint policy is very good.

00:24:19.339 --> 00:24:25.035
So like, definitely have the means for people to play competitively.

00:24:25.035 --> 00:24:26.615
The prize support is there.

00:24:27.105 --> 00:24:30.994
Because, I mean, like, regionals, you can win money if you're good enough.

00:24:31.005 --> 00:24:34.035
You win the actual, like, events.

00:24:34.714 --> 00:24:36.565
Even for VGC and Go, they offer money.

00:24:36.595 --> 00:24:36.835
But,

00:24:36.871 --> 00:24:45.538
Also say you don't want to win a playmat if you win all of the Yu Gi Oh World Championship I mean, I'm just not throwing shade if you know, you know continue though Mm

00:24:45.538 --> 00:24:48.327
I mean, I think they support their game well.

00:24:48.327 --> 00:24:51.077
They know it's a money printing machine.

00:24:51.160 --> 00:24:59.369
And like, I feel like at this point the games have become a vehicle to print more cards in a way.

00:24:59.984 --> 00:25:03.204
I want to ask, so, you know, you're obviously are in the TCG.

00:25:03.785 --> 00:25:05.615
What kind of cards do you like to collect?

00:25:05.615 --> 00:25:08.525
Is there anything unique that maybe it's just for you?

00:25:08.615 --> 00:25:11.424
Like, do you collect favorite Pokemon or kind of try to complete sets?

00:25:12.019 --> 00:25:18.372
I'm not a set completionist, cause I have kids, so I don't have the expendable income enough to, like, purchase cards all the time.

00:25:18.664 --> 00:25:23.951
Well, obviously when I was like, trying to get back into the game, I was trying to get stuff and like, have like, trade stuff.

00:25:24.142 --> 00:25:25.771
so I have two separate binders.

00:25:25.882 --> 00:25:29.892
So, uh, when 151 came out, I, I got a binder collection.

00:25:29.892 --> 00:25:34.902
So that's like my trade binder that I'll take to locals, but I have like a smaller binder that I bought.

00:25:34.922 --> 00:25:40.612
It's just like the sheets are like nine cards, er, no, four, four cards per page each side.

00:25:41.132 --> 00:25:43.192
Um, so four, and then on the backs, four.

00:25:43.513 --> 00:25:49.173
So it's a lot smaller, and where I keep cards that I don't want to trade away, that I want keep.

00:25:49.594 --> 00:25:53.023
so a lot of that is mostly filled with, like, my favorite Pokemon.

00:25:53.203 --> 00:26:00.473
uh, I got like Lugia's, um, Piplup's, and Uh, all that fun stuff, you

00:26:00.519 --> 00:26:01.249
Oh, okay.

00:26:01.592 --> 00:26:04.981
So it's like, Some of the favorite cards of some of your favorite Pokemon?

00:26:05.561 --> 00:26:10.102
Yeah, yeah, mostly, and just stuff that I don't feel like I want to trade or might use later.

00:26:10.132 --> 00:26:15.511
Like, there's, Full Art Pi Pajati Xs in here that, I might use relevant again.

00:26:15.960 --> 00:26:26.585
I guess if if there's anything I do, like, hunt down, it would be more so, either arts that I really like, or, uh, Pokemon that, I like, or, like, the the art for cards, so.

00:26:27.484 --> 00:26:38.049
The last thing I want to talk about with, uh, you Gudra is of course, you know, how, you know, lady done spars and y'all do a series together called shiny showdown for those who aren't familiar with it.

00:26:38.220 --> 00:26:40.299
How would you describe shiny showdown?

00:26:41.238 --> 00:26:45.010
so it actually springs out, from Yu Gi Oh! content, actually.

00:26:45.010 --> 00:27:00.409
Uh, so I watch, I, I really got into watching a lot of Yu Gi Tubers that I used to watch, so, The biggest influence, I think, has been Deezeef, who loves Spheal, uh, and is like, that's part of his thing, he loves Spheal, even though he's like a YouTube, uh, Yu Gi Oh! content creator.

00:27:00.679 --> 00:27:05.454
So he does this series called Master Saga, where it's like a, progression series of sorts.

00:27:05.994 --> 00:27:09.095
So like the, they're pulling, they're pulling packs.

00:27:09.590 --> 00:27:18.540
And they're building a collection, then they build decks and play each other, uh, with those decks, and like, their collection changes each week, and their deck changes, they do a banlist.

00:27:18.820 --> 00:27:22.361
And so I wanted to capture something that was similar to that, in a way.

00:27:22.912 --> 00:27:28.102
but like, there wasn't really the tools to do it in like, TCG live time.

00:27:28.842 --> 00:27:32.701
and I feel like it was easier to do, and like, less expensive.

00:27:33.551 --> 00:27:35.082
Since it's just in the game.

00:27:35.082 --> 00:27:36.741
to do in, in the game.

00:27:36.741 --> 00:27:45.640
And so I had, I had approached Allie with this, Cause I think we had talked about trying to do co A collab of some sort, because she was getting into streaming.

00:27:45.640 --> 00:27:46.329
at the time.

00:27:46.329 --> 00:27:50.366
And so, we had talked about how we could do a collab.

00:27:50.366 --> 00:28:06.467
And, um, I brought up this, this This idea to her at the time it was zero to hero and so it was a little closer to kind of how like Master saga would work where we would get like a starter and like There were like certain milestones we could hit to like evolve the Pokemon.

00:28:06.477 --> 00:28:13.656
It was a little convoluted, uh, but then she kind of pared down and like we were able to to come up with, what is now Shiny Showdown.

00:28:13.866 --> 00:28:22.670
Obviously as the seasons have gone, the, there's been a few rule changes that I think we've added some, some cool things we added Masuda methods into season two.

00:28:22.940 --> 00:28:28.707