April 2, 2025

TRAINER'S EYE #145 - "Vulpix Fire Spin Captures Nostaliga in Pixel Art" ft. Retro Pokesprites

Show Notes
Transcript

Retro Pokesprites takes us on a journey through his deep-rooted Pokemon passion, starting with the iconic Pokemon Gold and Silver games. He reveals how his career as a veterinary technician and wildlife biologist fuels his creative spark and strengthens his connection with Pokemon. Learn how Retro Pokesprites brings nostalgia to life, reimagining classic Pokemon in Game Boy Color-style sprites. From his early love for pixel art in Pokemon GSC to his growing online store filled with unique products, this episode dives into how his art combines the worlds of Pokemon, nature, and retro design.

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

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Your next Pokemon adventure begins here!

WEBVTT

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I am Adam Retro pokey Sprites, and this is my Pokemon story.

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Welcome to, as the Pokemon Ball Turns, where we interview people about the experience with Pokemon.

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My name is David Hernandez I'm joined by Retro Pokey Sprites, a pixel artist redesigning newer Pokemon on retro game boy color style sprites.

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When he isn't creating pixels, you can find him either as a vet or a wildlife biologist.

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welcome to ask the Pokemon Turns.

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Hi.

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Thanks for having me.

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Absolutely.

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And you know, you have a very unique skillset on one set.

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You sound like you're very into the science animal side of things.

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On the other side, you're also into the artist.

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Talk to us a little bit about your experience as a biologist and a vet.

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Like how did you get into that and how does that relate to Pokemon?

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Yeah.

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you know, I think that my interest in Pokemon and wildlife biology and animals more broadly kind of, coincide.

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So I've always liked animals.

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I've always liked learning about new animals, new, wildlife, things like that.

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and so as I was growing up and I was introduced to Pokemon and I could relate what I saw in the real, real world to what I could catch and train in the game, I, I really like those connections.

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and I've just kind of grown from there.

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So when you were growing up, what kind of animals were you interested?

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Like were you insects, reptiles, like dogs.

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whew.

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That's a tough one.

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I don't know.

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pretty much anything i, I could learn about.

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I was, focused on dinosaurs, I think is a, a common one for a lot of people, and that was definitely an era of my childhood that, contributed to my interest in Pokemon, I think.

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You're primarily a vet, I think by career, but you, I guess you dabble in while, life biologist.

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Is that kind of how it

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Yeah, my, my degree is in wildlife biology.

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right now I'm a veterinary technician.

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I didn't mean to fall into it, but it's, it's kind of what happened.

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during Covid there were some job changes and, so I've done a bit of both, but yeah, right now I'm a vet tech.

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for those who aren't familiar, what does it mean to be a wildlife biologist?

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Like what does that kind of encompass?

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Yeah, it depends on the, degree that you have.

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But right now I have a, a bachelor's degree in wildlife biology.

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So, a lot of what I did in undergrad and probably could do with this degree is do like field work and field research for, PIs and people with upper level degrees.

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But unfortunately those jobs are mostly seasonal and, they're not a lot of benefits in security.

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So this is a, a more safe spot right now?

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Hey, we all gotta go where the money's at

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Yep.

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Yep.

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Yep.

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I guess going, returning it back to Pokemon, so clearly you were in a Pokemon when you were younger.

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What was the first experience for you with the franchise?

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so I think what in like, it was either 2005 or 2006.

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my.

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Grandpa gave me a copy of, Pokemon Silver and, you know, it's not like he was playing it.

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He worked for Parks and Rec and he found it at one of the race tracks he was cleaning.

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he, he just found someone's abandoned copy and a, game boy, game Boy advanced, like glacier cartridge, whatever that that is.

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Was it like that clear one?

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Like that transparent where you can see the insides

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Yeah.

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Kind of purpley.

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yep, yep.

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And it didn't have a, a battery back, so sometimes the batteries would fall out and yeah.

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So that was my first, first experience.

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Oh, that must have been annoying.

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'cause I always imagine, know, those back, if you didn't have the back of the game, boy it was easy for the batteries to come out.

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Yep.

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that you probably had a little bit of a struggle with that.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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I ended up putting some tape over it to, to make sure it didn't fall out, but then it became a pain to change'em out and all that stuff.

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So.

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so when you were playing Pokemon Silver and you know, your grandpa gave it to you, what do you remember most about those games?

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Like were you, going through Jodo and then Canto and like what started, did you choose

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Yeah, so

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so.

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I, I can't, I remember, so I have a very specific story, but I can't remember if the file had already been started, Or what the deal was.

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'cause I can't imagine that without a handbook anyone would really know how to delete a save file.

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So I, I think it was already started, but it was in New Bark Town, whatever file had been started, had a chickita.

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and so that was my first starter.

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Don't remember if I chose it for sure.

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but that was my first ever Pokemon, so.

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It reminds me of when I got one of my cartridges.

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I wanna say it was like maybe either gold or silver.

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No, it had to be silver'cause it was a used one

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Hmm.

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and I, I opened it up just to see what was inside of it.

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And I remember I got literally an aero blasts, celibate aero blasts, lugia, and an aero blasts mu two.

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And now clearly they were hacked, but

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Right.

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young year old eight or 9-year-old self was like, oh my gosh, they can learn aero blasts.

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This, this is amazing.

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Not quite.

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Not quite.

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No, no, no, no.

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But it was just kind of cool just to kind of, I feel like whenever you get something that you didn't open, it's almost like opening a.

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Memory box, I guess in a sense to where you find out like how did they get to this point in the game?

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I think there's some fun into getting a used game and just seeing where they progressed and how they got to that point, don't you think?

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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I actually, at, some point I had bought a Japanese copy of White, I think, and it had a, a file that was almost completed.

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They'd done all the gyms and got into the Elite four.

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I couldn't read anything, but I, I managed to translate enough to, beat the game.

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And so I, I've now, you know, moved those Pokemon up into newer games and just like use them.

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And I, I wanna know what their story is, but I'll never know.

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Ooh.

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Tell me though, like how did you get into that Japanese side?

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'cause I think you have to get a specific, me if I'm wrong, I think you have to give specific region Ds to play

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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And a few years ago, I had bought a Ds, I think an Etsy, a refurbished one, and thankfully it was compatible, so I can play it that way.

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but even then, it sometimes has problems like loading and, it is, it is a real copy.

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So.

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Yeah, I don't know.

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I'm grateful that I was able to play it'cause I didn't read the description, which said that the, you know, the game is region locked and you can only play it on certain dss, but thankfully it worked out.

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Now, of course, you know, you played through gen two.

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What do you, was it just your interest in animals that you think kept you engaged with the franchise that let you go on?

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Did you keep going on with the games at that point?

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Yeah.

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so I was in this like summer program kind of daycare type thing, in elementary school.

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And so I.

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the kids that I hang hung out with while I was there were all playing Pokemon, but in 2006, seven they were already playing Gens three and four.

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So I would watch them play and kind of like, not envy'cause I really liked Silver, but like look forward and you know, I would ask for games for, holidays and birthdays going forward.

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And yeah, I just kind of kept with it.

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Do you have a particular favorite region that you enjoyed playing so far?

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Yeah,

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Yeah, I think I, it's, it's kind of just that, you know, gens two and three were my beginnings and I, I feel like I had the most, significant experiences during those times, which is kind of how I came to, you know, do these, these sprites in the way that I do and all that.

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So I think those are probably my, my favorite regions to revisit'cause they have the most nostalgia.

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I feel the same way because, and I was falling through Pokemon for years.

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And there was the one point to where gen three was going to gen four.

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And the Nintendo DS I had happened just to break, I was cut off from playing Pokemon Diamond and Pearl and I went back to playing Gen three, Pokemon, Ruby, Safron, and Emerald.

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I played those games probably more than any other generation.

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I think I played those for like six years or five years.

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I don't know how long the time period would

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Right.

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it's because I spend so much time with them, I have so much more memories with them compared to other generations.

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Yep.

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And everything was new.

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There wasn't, you know, there weren't leaks that I was attuned to and, I didn't use the internet.

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And so anytime that I found something new, it was fresh.

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And I can't really replicate that feeling now, which is fine.

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I've come to accept that.

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But that it makes it more kind of magical in a way to, to revisit those.

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And then plus you had like, with Gen three specifically, you had Team Magma, team Aqua, then you have Gru.

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On Kegar.

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You felt like you were literally for the first time, saving the world.

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You

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Right, right.

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were more just trying to save a little small region.

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This one you felt like, oh my gosh, the world's about to end.

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Yeah.

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Much larger scope.

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Do you have a particular favorite Pokemon at all?

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Yeah.

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I tend to say my favorite Pokemon is Volpi.

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that one's been a consistent.

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Throughout.

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and I think the, the reason being is like, actually before I got an, had any games, when I was really young, someone had given me a volpex, card from like the D Neo Destiny set.

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the illustration is it's sleeping under a tree and I, I still have that card and.

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just think of it fondly.

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I, I dunno.

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Volpi has, has been a, a consistent one, but I, I have some, like honorable mentions, Ryon, flagon, Sile, Torra.

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I tend to really like grass types.

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so I'll, I, I like a lot of them.

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so

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I'm looking at it right now.

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This picture of a volpi from Neil Destiny is very soothing'cause it's just like, it's wrapped up like a little dog

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right.

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or curled up like a little dog and you have it under a tree and it's just sitting there.

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It's a little 50 point 50 hit points with the ember.

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Yeah.

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Yep.

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That's it.

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it.

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so, you know, you said Volpi is your favorite Pokemon.

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What do you think about a Lowen volpi?

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Do you have little similar connection or do you still prefer the original?

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it's hard to say whether I prefer one or the other.

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I think the release of Sun and Moon and AOL Limb Vol kind of came at, an interesting time for me.

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So I was in college at the time studying wildlife biology, learning about evolution, and, like how evolution really works, which is not how it works in Pokemon, you know, it's more like a, a metamorphosis.

00:09:27.951 --> 00:09:41.712
but this, the, the regional variants were Kind of a course correction into making something similar to, to real life evolution where you have two similar species, I guess technically they're the same species and game, but that, have evolved in separate locations and have different traits.

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And so for volpex to be one of the flagship, Pokemon, that got that treatment, that was just super, super thrilled and for it to be like fire to ice type, I think that's just really cool.

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It is, and I think that, I'm glad Pokemon has added regional variants in a way, because like you said, you shouldn't expect one region to have the same type of Pokemon in a specific same, in another one.

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And, you know, you had Volpi, you had Grr, I think you had Executor and a couple other Pokemon just debuted in those generations.

00:10:07.048 --> 00:10:12.957
And it also kind of gave a reason for Pokemon to Reccon classic Pokemon without actually calling Reccon, if

00:10:13.033 --> 00:10:13.812
Right, right.

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Give them, give them a new, a new spotlight, a new fresh coat of paint and.

00:10:18.230 --> 00:10:18.875
Send'em off.

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If you were to have like a different variant of volpi, do you have like an idea of what you would wanna see?

00:10:23.595 --> 00:10:23.924
Ooh.

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I surprisingly have never thought of that.

00:10:26.215 --> 00:10:26.634
I, it'd be

00:10:26.679 --> 00:10:27.039
neither.

00:10:27.294 --> 00:10:29.154
Yeah, no, that's a really great question.

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I know that like gray foxes, are very, like arboreal.

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They, they climb trees.

00:10:33.355 --> 00:10:37.735
So I think it'd be cool to have like a, I don't know, maybe like a longer skinnier pic that.

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It's maybe a grass type.

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'cause I love grass types and it's like up the trays and stuff, but they, they do a lot of foxes and so yeah, we'll see.

00:10:45.250 --> 00:10:45.909
We'll see if it ever happens.

00:10:45.955 --> 00:10:49.345
it would be like a gray, or would it be like a brown or like what color are we thinking?

00:10:49.509 --> 00:10:49.929
Yeah.

00:10:49.980 --> 00:10:56.076
I mean the real fox is kind of a gray to rusty, like the outer edges of the fur more rusty.

00:10:56.076 --> 00:10:56.767
So, I don't know.

00:10:57.037 --> 00:10:59.047
Probably more gray if you wanna diversify it a bit.

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You know, they could even make it like a grass dark type.

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Just that way it counteracts against the, ice ferry of volpi

00:11:04.866 --> 00:11:05.256
Yeah.

00:11:05.302 --> 00:11:06.381
I think that'd be kind of cool.

00:11:06.412 --> 00:11:07.251
Yeah, that'd be great.

00:11:07.282 --> 00:11:07.522
to it.

00:11:07.822 --> 00:11:12.172
Yeah, game for, you're listening to it, A thank you and B, like, get on it.

00:11:14.091 --> 00:11:14.751
Maybe one day.

00:11:15.184 --> 00:11:22.302
so you know, we come back through Pokemon was there any point where you just stopped or you just kept playing the games over and up until present day?

00:11:22.754 --> 00:11:32.315
I've been pretty consistent throughout, but there was definitely a point, at, you know, at the end of elementary school into middle school where it became less cool to, to play Pokemon.

00:11:32.315 --> 00:11:32.495
So I.

00:11:32.986 --> 00:11:39.197
You know, kind of isolated myself a little bit and didn't get as much into Gen Five though, you know, retroactively.

00:11:39.197 --> 00:11:40.037
I love those games.

00:11:40.037 --> 00:11:40.427
They're great.

00:11:40.427 --> 00:11:43.037
The Sprite animations, the Sprite designs are like peak.

00:11:43.437 --> 00:11:48.866
like I'm, I'm glad that I didn't drop off completely and I managed to find my way back'cause it's such a, an important part of my life now.

00:11:49.408 --> 00:11:55.378
There was just that weird period where it wasn't, I guess, acceptable to be a Pokemon fan.

00:11:55.513 --> 00:11:55.793
Yeah,

00:11:55.798 --> 00:12:04.557
You have the older generation who really frowned upon still sticking to things that when you were as a kid, you had the other societal aspect to where.

00:12:04.988 --> 00:12:11.498
You know, you're a nerd, which I don't know, I just felt like it's more, it was more, it's more acceptably be a nerd now than it was back in those days.

00:12:11.633 --> 00:12:11.903
sure.

00:12:11.977 --> 00:12:17.677
you kind of had like different directions of where you shouldn't be a Pokemon fan, if that makes sense.

00:12:17.677 --> 00:12:17.768
Right.

00:12:18.023 --> 00:12:18.232
right.

00:12:18.232 --> 00:12:19.613
Or it was like a kid's game.

00:12:19.613 --> 00:12:24.923
You know, all my, my friends are playing Call of Duty or you know, first person shooters, and I was like, not as into that.

00:12:24.923 --> 00:12:28.082
And I just wanted to, to catch my monsters and, you know, catch'em all.

00:12:28.082 --> 00:12:28.383
So,

00:12:28.893 --> 00:12:32.822
Yeah, I, I'm sure I annoyed my friend the most because he was always into the first career.

00:12:32.883 --> 00:12:34.173
Now he never made fun of me though,

00:12:34.352 --> 00:12:34.653
yeah.

00:12:34.653 --> 00:12:35.942
was into those first person shooters.

00:12:35.942 --> 00:12:38.163
'cause that's just what everybody was around those my age.

00:12:38.373 --> 00:12:39.842
But I was like, I just played Pokemon.

00:12:39.842 --> 00:12:42.903
Every time he came to my house, he obliged with me and we played Pokemon together.

00:12:43.052 --> 00:12:45.753
But I know that deep down, he was the first person shooter kind of guy.

00:12:45.753 --> 00:12:45.993
So.

00:12:47.722 --> 00:12:48.567
well, at least he played with you.

00:12:48.567 --> 00:12:50.327
That's, that's a, a good friend.

00:12:50.827 --> 00:12:51.427
Oh, absolutely.

00:12:51.427 --> 00:12:52.447
He was a very good friend.

00:12:52.447 --> 00:12:53.677
I had very fond memories of him.

00:12:53.677 --> 00:12:55.028
Both him and my other one.

00:12:55.268 --> 00:13:00.518
We just played Pokemon, but I know that, you know, I was very obsessed with the Pokemon franchise.

00:13:00.518 --> 00:13:02.827
Still am to this day, considering I have a podcast.

00:13:02.932 --> 00:13:03.173
Yeah.

00:13:03.232 --> 00:13:04.102
Yeah, for sure.

00:13:49.847 --> 00:13:57.501
now the one thing that I want to touch on is your Sprite, art, specifically, you know, you talked about how gen two and gen three is where you focus your art on.

00:13:57.501 --> 00:13:58.611
Is that kind of fair to say?

00:13:58.642 --> 00:13:58.701
Yeah.

00:13:58.897 --> 00:13:59.197
Yeah.

00:13:59.256 --> 00:13:59.557
Yep.

00:13:59.758 --> 00:14:02.278
What made you kind of wanna dive into doing pixel art?

00:14:02.740 --> 00:14:03.190
Yeah.

00:14:03.289 --> 00:14:07.940
so August, 2020 is when I, when it started, that's kind of the covid stuff.

00:14:07.970 --> 00:14:09.404
I was looking for new things to do.

00:14:09.404 --> 00:14:14.105
I'd played through Sword and Shield enough and needed some fresh, fresh perspective, I think.

00:14:14.105 --> 00:14:21.785
And so I had done, a play through of the virtual console, gen two games and I had forgotten just how great the sprites were.

00:14:21.816 --> 00:14:23.076
and, but also how simple they were.

00:14:23.076 --> 00:14:28.086
You know, I never realized that they were just, you know, two unique colors plus black and white, so four colors total.

00:14:28.176 --> 00:14:31.176
And I just thought that that was like this amazing.

00:14:31.596 --> 00:14:32.405
Graphical thing.

00:14:32.466 --> 00:14:40.211
And so I, I looked up a, a video on YouTube by substitute, which I know that like other pixel artists with the same style of us have also watched.

00:14:40.451 --> 00:14:44.871
And I just kind of learned how to, put the pixels together and, never really stopped.

00:14:44.876 --> 00:14:44.996
So,

00:14:45.623 --> 00:14:48.682
So when you were going into this, you had no artistic experience whatsoever.

00:14:48.682 --> 00:14:53.753
You just happened to just want to dive into it and just try to relive that kind of era of Pokemon.

00:14:53.923 --> 00:14:57.013
no, no digital art experience, you know, I'd done odds and ends.

00:14:57.113 --> 00:15:00.962
Just growing up and, and through college and stuff, but never anything, digitally.

00:15:01.335 --> 00:15:01.934
No.

00:15:01.934 --> 00:15:08.294
When you were trying to practice trying to get, you know, develop your pixel art, did you ever feel like maybe this wasn't a right fit for you?

00:15:08.294 --> 00:15:16.455
'cause it's kind of an odd or not even odd jump, I would say a far reach for you to be more science-based to all of a sudden want to do pixel art.

00:15:17.379 --> 00:15:22.600
yeah, I don't think there was a point where I thought that it, it wasn't something I wanted to keep doing.

00:15:22.600 --> 00:15:26.659
I think the, the more I practiced, the like.

00:15:26.990 --> 00:15:30.320
More, I would realize that older sprites just like needed a nice touchup.

00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:33.620
You know, like my first, my, the first Sprite I ever made was tco.

00:15:33.620 --> 00:15:37.639
I was trying to, you know, stay numerical and so the, the next step would be to go to Hoen and tco.

00:15:37.909 --> 00:15:41.870
The first Sprite I ever made, looking back on it is just laughable.

00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:42.710
is so bad.

00:15:42.710 --> 00:15:47.690
But, but I look at it fondly because I'm like, wow, I can't believe you know, what this is and where I am now.

00:15:47.940 --> 00:15:48.629
and so I think.

00:15:48.679 --> 00:15:57.740
you know, there would be points in time where I'd make a Sprite and I would realize something that would make it look a lot better, and then I would look at old sprites and think that they need work.

00:15:57.899 --> 00:16:03.450
but every time that I, I did something good, I was encouraged by it and just kept going and going and touching up old ones.

00:16:03.450 --> 00:16:07.039
And, now I feel like I'm at a good spot, or I'm not doing as much of that.

00:16:07.039 --> 00:16:08.720
So it, it's more consistent now.

00:16:09.534 --> 00:16:15.024
Well, I mean, even just looking at what you post on Instagram and I see the hard work that you put into it.

00:16:15.024 --> 00:16:16.945
'cause it's so detailed and we're not just talking.

00:16:16.945 --> 00:16:19.565
The older Pokemon, we'll get into a little bit later.

00:16:19.684 --> 00:16:22.325
We're talking, you're doing Sprites for even the newer Pokemon.

00:16:22.414 --> 00:16:28.294
You think of like the Megas, you think of Pokemon that never got that Sprite treatment after black and white

00:16:28.455 --> 00:16:28.754
Right.

00:16:29.195 --> 00:16:31.355
doing and they come out amazing.

00:16:31.904 --> 00:16:33.465
Yeah, I'm, I'm excited now.

00:16:33.465 --> 00:16:38.928
So I'm working through Gen five, And obviously that's the last, Sprite generation, and so I.

00:16:39.724 --> 00:16:42.514
You know, moving into six and beyond in the, in the next year or two.

00:16:42.734 --> 00:16:49.533
I'm very curious to see how a lot of those turn out because I've, I've done a handful, for like commissions and things, but, yeah, I haven't done many consistently.

00:16:49.624 --> 00:17:00.053
And I think that, you know, with the, introduction of 3D models, there's, there's a huge bump in like, complexity of sprites, or, and, and just Pokemon designs in general.

00:17:00.053 --> 00:17:04.463
So I'm curious to see how that translates to such a limited, like graphical Sprite.

00:17:04.895 --> 00:17:06.605
I do wanna highlight one that you've done.

00:17:06.605 --> 00:17:13.895
It's the manga, AMRO, and obviously that didn't have an original Sprite, so clearly you had to do something that's, I guess, original in a sense.

00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:14.391
Yeah.

00:17:14.526 --> 00:17:18.246
was the hardest part about doing Mega Amro specifically?

00:17:18.365 --> 00:17:22.566
Because it didn't have the original, I guess, Sprite from the previous generations.

00:17:22.820 --> 00:17:25.580
Yeah, so I, I broke a couple of rules, so like that one.

00:17:25.885 --> 00:17:31.945
it, it's not limited by the, the 56 by 56 Sprites that are found in the gold, silver, and crystal games.

00:17:32.135 --> 00:17:34.476
and then I also have, I think, three colors.

00:17:34.476 --> 00:17:37.006
I added red so I could give it like the red, head orb.

00:17:37.306 --> 00:17:39.675
But, Yeah, just the level of detail.

00:17:39.776 --> 00:17:48.715
kind of like I said earlier, when, when they made the jump to 3D models, especially with mega evolution, they just poured like a ton of extra detail that they couldn't accommodate with Sprites, into their models.

00:17:48.715 --> 00:17:53.382
And so trying to, capture all of that with such a limited color palette was a difficult task.

00:17:53.382 --> 00:17:55.332
But I, I think that one definitely came out Well.

00:17:55.332 --> 00:17:56.051
I like that one a lot.

00:17:56.592 --> 00:17:57.852
It did, it came out amazing.

00:17:57.852 --> 00:17:59.382
That's when I saw that one.

00:17:59.531 --> 00:18:00.281
I was impressed.

00:18:00.281 --> 00:18:02.951
And I've also seen a lot of the ones you've done on Gen five.

00:18:03.011 --> 00:18:05.642
I think that's where I first, discovered your Instagram page.

00:18:05.642 --> 00:18:08.041
'cause I saw, I'm a huge fan of Gen five.

00:18:08.041 --> 00:18:09.541
That's probably my second favorite generation.

00:18:09.541 --> 00:18:13.432
If not my first, like depends on, depends on, what day I'm feeling.

00:18:13.432 --> 00:18:15.622
I always jump between that and gen three, but

00:18:15.622 --> 00:18:15.912
Yeah.

00:18:15.951 --> 00:18:19.162
just love that art because I feel like you capture the idea of.

00:18:19.987 --> 00:18:26.277
I feel like your artistic style, and you might, you can put input on this, fits more with gold, silver, and crystals sprites.

00:18:26.696 --> 00:18:29.846
And I feel like you catch those perfectly when you just look at your work.

00:18:29.876 --> 00:18:29.936
Yeah.

00:18:30.192 --> 00:18:30.640
Yeah.

00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:32.509
I haven't, dug too deep into any other.

00:18:32.723 --> 00:18:45.866
Sprite style, which is, you know, maybe to my detriment because it's such a niche, niche, style type, like I feel like the audience I'm reaching most of the time they, they can't, understand like the graphics of the gold silver crystal, which is totally fine.

00:18:46.086 --> 00:18:50.836
but yeah, that's kind of what I try to emulate most often is just that, game boy color, style.

00:18:51.511 --> 00:18:53.311
I mean, why would you say that as a detriment?

00:18:53.372 --> 00:18:58.231
You don't think that would be like a strength because now you just focus on like one generation instead of having to pick and choose

00:18:58.261 --> 00:18:58.711
Yeah.

00:18:58.741 --> 00:18:59.701
one, two, and three?

00:18:59.701 --> 00:18:59.791
Well,

00:18:59.882 --> 00:19:00.182
Yeah.

00:19:00.186 --> 00:19:13.487
I, I, I guess, I mean, a detriment more to, or more of like a, an obstacle for, for like younger Pokemon players to relate to, because, you know, they probably see it and they don't understand, the meaning behind it, the, the limitations of it, which again, is totally fine.

00:19:13.487 --> 00:19:16.426
Like, I support whatever you grew up with, you know?

00:19:16.707 --> 00:19:18.717
a Pokemon fan is a, is a Pokemon fan to me.

00:19:19.047 --> 00:19:19.957
but I think.

00:19:19.957 --> 00:19:30.184
compared to 3D models or even the, the sprites of the kind of middle generations, they're a lot less graphically complex and maybe don't appear as complicated as they actually are to make

00:19:30.490 --> 00:19:36.825
I can understand that because I remember during Pokemon Goes early days, there was one event where Niantic did a.

00:19:37.278 --> 00:19:42.961
Nod to Pokemon fans to where they released the Gen three sprites in the inventory and all the

00:19:43.260 --> 00:19:43.681
mm-hmm.

00:19:43.921 --> 00:19:50.611
and there was just so much, I guess I'll say outrage from being in real life that people didn't understand it.

00:19:50.611 --> 00:19:54.270
They were like, I don't know what these Pokemon are now and I don't like this and I don't,

00:19:55.221 --> 00:19:55.605
I know.

00:19:56.101 --> 00:19:58.260
I appreciate it'cause I'm a Pokemon fan, that's gen three.

00:19:58.260 --> 00:19:59.310
That's my favorite generation.

00:19:59.310 --> 00:20:04.365
But I can kind of see how you can get that kind of pushback to where people can't make that connection compared to what we're used to.

00:20:04.529 --> 00:20:05.940
Yeah, I think that is crazy.

00:20:05.940 --> 00:20:09.940
I feel like, you know, other, long lived franchises that have made the jump from.

00:20:10.111 --> 00:20:11.701
pixel art to, to 3D models.

00:20:11.701 --> 00:20:13.740
It, it doesn't quite hit the same.

00:20:14.070 --> 00:20:21.901
you know, there's so many Pokemon, so many characters that have made that transition and, you know, some of them better than others, I think.

00:20:22.131 --> 00:20:29.576
but yeah, I, I could totally see newer Pokemon players not, not quite understanding what the point of the sprites is or like why, why they exist.

00:20:29.876 --> 00:20:34.116
But yeah, I, I love talking to people who have had that experience and, appreciate them in the same way.

00:20:34.727 --> 00:20:41.537
Now outta curiosity, how long does, on average, how long does it take you just to make one Pokemon to the Sprite that you're doing?

00:20:42.436 --> 00:20:44.086
probably a couple hours on average.

00:20:44.086 --> 00:20:49.817
'cause some of the more simple ones I can do pretty quickly depending on how distracted I get with other things.

00:20:50.096 --> 00:20:56.017
but then like some of the more complex ones that fill up the whole, 56 by 56 pixels can take, more time.

00:20:56.017 --> 00:21:01.386
But it also just, yeah, really depends on my motivation for the day and, how I can limit the distractions I have.

00:21:01.386 --> 00:21:01.596
So.

00:21:01.981 --> 00:21:02.791
That's always a struggle.

00:21:02.791 --> 00:21:04.021
That's how I feel about podcasting.

00:21:04.021 --> 00:21:06.902
Some days I'm like, my dog, like we need to go touch grass.

00:21:06.902 --> 00:21:08.567
And I'm like, I need to record an episode and edit.

00:21:08.567 --> 00:21:09.781
And I'm like, we gotta go touch grass.

00:21:09.781 --> 00:21:10.592
I'm like, God dammit.

00:21:10.741 --> 00:21:12.721
So I got two dogs.

00:21:12.721 --> 00:21:15.991
So they always keep me, they keep me from being a hermit, so.

00:21:16.217 --> 00:21:16.366
Yeah.

00:21:16.372 --> 00:21:16.571
Yep.

00:21:17.711 --> 00:21:32.082
so you started your Instagram page in February of 2021, and eventually you opened up your own site called retro pro sprites.com, where people can kind of buy stickers, they can buy ornaments and vinyl featuring the different types of Pokemon, such as Erdos and Cynical and of course in many other Pokemon.

00:21:32.462 --> 00:21:35.492
what led you to wanna open your store and what do you kind of hope it becomes?

00:21:35.886 --> 00:21:36.156
so.

00:21:36.156 --> 00:21:44.836
My, partner has a ton of stickers that she, she's just accumulated over the years and I was like, how can I, I guess sell my product.

00:21:44.836 --> 00:21:51.240
I mean, I, I've, I've started to reach a few thousand people by, late 2021, early 2022, and like, can I sell this?

00:21:51.240 --> 00:21:53.401
Is there any way to like, make any money on this?

00:21:53.701 --> 00:21:56.207
and honestly, because it's such a niche thing.

00:21:56.356 --> 00:21:58.028
There aren't a lot of products that I feel.

00:21:58.028 --> 00:21:58.958
Would sell well.

00:21:59.147 --> 00:22:00.917
and so I was like, I, I could make stickers.

00:22:01.157 --> 00:22:04.548
and so I, you know, I got all the stuff to make the stickers myself.

00:22:04.738 --> 00:22:12.778
you know, went through a whole lot of trial and error with that and just kind of decided that that was a, something that I could reasonably do while keeping my full-time job.

00:22:12.807 --> 00:22:16.253
'cause it, you know, it's not my intent to have this be a full-time thing.

00:22:16.253 --> 00:22:17.423
Just a, just a hobby.

00:22:17.723 --> 00:22:18.144
project.

00:22:18.144 --> 00:22:18.443
Really.

00:22:18.469 --> 00:22:19.219
exactly, exactly.

00:22:19.219 --> 00:22:24.042
Something, something to make, you know, some value of it, outside of just, discussion, online.

00:22:24.042 --> 00:22:24.163
So.

00:22:24.499 --> 00:22:29.269
Is there anything that you want to kind of eventually add that you don't have when it comes to the store?

00:22:29.269 --> 00:22:32.358
Like you, like I said, you got the vinyl stickers and the ornaments.

00:22:32.449 --> 00:22:36.219
Is there anything like you hope to maybe see in the future that you would like to do with your, your pixel art?

00:22:36.578 --> 00:22:41.378
Yeah, I had, I, I don't remember if it's up still, but I had a, I.

00:22:41.378 --> 00:22:46.364
A map of Hoen that was, yeah, with, with, gold and silver tile set.

00:22:46.554 --> 00:22:48.713