TRAINER'S EYE #5 - "Mic, Camera, Shuckle!" ft. PKMNtriggerplz from Purified Podcast

TRAINER'S EYE #5 - "Mics, Camera, Faction!" ft. PKMNtriggerplz from Purified Podcast
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David: [00:00:00] Hello everyone. My name is David Hernandez and you're listening to As the Pokeball Turns.

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of As the Pokeball Turns, a Pokemon GO podcast, where we discuss, news, events, and other topics around Pokemon GO. Today we have episode five of Trainer's Eyes. A segment where we'll get to hear from you, the [00:01:00] community on how your Pokemon GO journey started, where it has been, and where is ultimately going. Back on December 12th, 2018, PVP, one of the most sought after mechanics from the main series was finally introduced into Pokemon GO and it received a mixed reaction. Gone were the four moves, turn style battle system known from the main series and what came was one fast move, two charge moves, two shields and tapping, lots of tapping. The Go Battle League we know today wasn't even released until January of 2020. However, that didn't stop a PVP meta from developing and for one of the longest pillars of Pokemon GO, the Silph Road, to take the reins with the introduction of the Silph Arena. As PVP continued to evolve through a COVID world, the Silph Arena announced a new edition that promised to change the landscape of PVP forever. The path towards the pinnacle of Pokemon GO, PVP would no longer be walked in solitude. It was time to gather your squad with Silph Factions. Factions is a team based PVP league, where [00:02:00] many teams were formed to be crowned champion. My guest today is a member of the Faction known as "Sw1tchMstrz", in addition, he is also a Pokemon TCG collector, and one half of the Purified Podcast. My friends allow me to introduce to you Chris AKA PKMNtriggerplz. 

Hello everyone and welcome to an episode of Trainer's Eyes, a segment of the podcast, where we get to hear from various people around the community on how the Pokemon GO journey is started, where it has been and where it is ultimately going. Today I'm joined by a very good friend of the show and one half of the Purified Podcast. Chris before we do get started, how about you introduce yourself and tell people who you are. 

Chris: For those of you that aren't familiar, myself and Luis, also known as PureLighter, do the Purified Podcast, which is also a Pokemon GO podcast. I am team Valor. I've been a playing Pokemon GO for quite some time, yeah, I'm really excited to see how the show goes.

David: Definitely! So, how did your Pokemon GO journey start? 

Chris: I actually waited three [00:03:00] days to join Pokemon GO. I think I judged Pokemon GO at the beginning. I was like who are these people swooping in and taking up the Pokemon name, you know, who is Niantic? I wasn't sure how I felt about it. After three days I gave it a shot, I was like, " Hey, I can't really judge it until I try it." So, I started Pokemon GO, never looked back on, July 10th. It's been, fantastic. Met a lot of people along the way, including Luis. As soon as raids started, I think that's when a lot of people, really started to connect with each other- 

David: mm-hmm especially for the tier fives, yep. 

Chris: Oh yeah, oh yeah! I really wanted those T-Tars and then the Legendaries came out and if you didn't have a bunch of people, you were not getting that Raid done. So yeah, it's been a fantastic, I can't really see myself leaving Pokemon GO unless they did something dramatically wrong. I can't see that happening though to be honest.

David: It's funny, you're first reluctant and now you're addicted, so welcome to the Pokemon GO [00:04:00] addicted club. I know you talked about how you were hesitant, so like, was it hesitant because Game Freak wasn't in charge or was just because of Niantic? 

Chris: I don't know if it's cuz it was mobile and it was so new. I really think it was the Niantic name though. It was somebody, you know, completely new., "Oh, they're gonna ruin the franchise and I'm gonna hate it." Maybe if it was Game Freak, I would've just, picked it up without even thinking. I just judged it before even playing it for some reason, even though I loved Pokemon, I was a huge Pokemon fan before Pokemon GO, but I don't know what it was. I think it was just the fact that it was a, brand new person to me running the game.

David: That's fair and since you said you're such a huge fan, like, how much a fan are we talking like have you been playing from day one

Chris: I believe when I was about 10, I don't know the exact age I was, but it was right about when, Sapphire came out because, on that Christmas, I somehow got my dad to get me a Game Boy Advanced SP [00:05:00] and, uh, Sapphire while my sister got Ruby and we each, started in gen three making that, you know, my favorite gen, just because it was my first gen pretty much, I feel like it's the same way for a lot of people. Started with Mudkip, played through the game. I couldn't find surf. even though they walk you right to it, so I ended up with a level 80 Swampert before the, I believe, fifth gym.

David: Oh gosh! Okay!

Chris: And then, yeah, it's this was before the internet was like a, a big thing, so I couldn't like just Google it. So yeah, I just ended up breezing through the game after that, but, um, after that scooped up, you know, FireRed, got to play through gen one. I did play through the original FireRed and Silver, when I found them at a Flea market one day. That was pretty exciting! Even though Black and White isn't as exciting to kids as playing in color. Other than that, I played until about, gen four, and then I ended up stepping away [00:06:00] from Pokemon. I thought you had to get a 3DS to play gen five onwards and I was, I just didn't have the funds for that. I didn't have a job. I didn't wanna make my parents, buy a three DS when they already bought me a DS to play, a few of the newer games. So, uh, I stepped away and then Pokemon GO came out and got me back into the fray and I ended up, buying a switch to play Pokemon Sword and Shield. So I have been looking into playing some of the older games. I've played through a bit of Sun, not Moon yet, and only a little bit of a Gen Five as an emulator though. I am looking to play through a few of the gens though, so I can see what I missed out on. 

David: Now gen five was, I believe, Black, and White, HeartGold, SoulSilver, and Black and White 2, right?

Chris: Yes, I played through a bit of Black and White. X and Y isn't as exciting to me. I do think I need to play it, it's the same thing with Pokemon GO, I need to play it before I judge it. 

David: Right. 

Chris: Because, uh, I'm sure even X and [00:07:00] Y is a lot of people's, favorite games. 

David: Yeah, definitely cuz oddly enough, you know, I grew up with gen one, but actually I love gen three. It's my favorite generation of all time, I love Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. 

Chris: Oh 

David: Yeah, and I love that whole generation. 

Chris: It's a loaded gen. 

David: It is and it helped that during gen four, I broke my DS, so I had like seven year or six or seven years, I don't know how long it was of just playing gen three, but I loved it so much. I can play that game probably blindfold at this point. 

Chris: Oh my gosh, dude, there are people that do that. So I, I definitely believe you oh my gosh. 

David: During gen three, did you ever play, Pokemon Colosseum or XD Gale of Darkness by chance?

Chris: No, sadly. I don't remember. I feel like I've seen Colosseum. I've seen it with my eyes and I'm very angry. I did not pick that up when I was a kid because you know, looking back at it, I really feel like I would've loved that game. I don't know why, but like watching people play it now, seeing shadow Lugia XD 0, 0 [00:08:00] 1 

David: Sweet skin man kinda thing. Yep.

Chris: Oh yeah. 

David: That's why we were, lot of us were disappointed when, uh, Niantic announced shadow Lugia it just was, uh, there was like, where's the purple in this man? Come on! 

Chris: Technically they could release it in the future. I don't know if I see it coming to Pokemon GO though, just because of how all the rights are. As much as I want it.

David: Unfortunately, and for those who don't know, so apparently there's a little bit of, I'll say blurriness in regards to does the TPC have permission to use shadow Lugia sprite or not? I'm gonna leave it at that just because it gets very convoluted at that point. Since you've played Pokemon so long, like, do you have any favorite Pokemon or do you have like a certain favorite at all?

Chris: A lot of mine are from third gen- 

David: I'm all for it. Let's go! I, I just love it again. Uh 

Chris: Obviously I, uh, I said I had a level 80 Swampert, picked Mudkip, love that thing. 

David: Oh, you love, you like Mudkip? 

Chris: Oh yeah. Yeah. I love Mudkip. 

[00:09:00] 

Chris: Love Rayquaza!. I think that's an awesome, legendary. It's been in my top three for the longest time. If you guys have ever seen my profile picture, I love Shuckle. That was more because of recently, I did a drawing contest in a Pokemon discord. There used to be a Pokemon catching bot on Discord called Pokecord and it had art contests. So I decided to join one of the art contests and, uh, it was to draw a Detective Shuckle I thought it was really fun. I'm a little bit artistic. I'm not like a monster at it, but, uh, I ended up drawing a Shuckle with a little detective hat and a little, uh, magnifying glass and I ended up using that as my profile picture, when I started a Twitch. Because of that, it's definitely grown on me as a Pokemon, I think it's a really cute Pokemon. I think it's very meme worthy. I think Shuckle and Rayquaza [00:10:00] are always gonna be cemented for me as two of my top Pokemon with Mudkip being my favorite starter. Obviously, I love Charizard. A lot of people either, love him or you know, are tired of seeing him.

David: Definitely! So, you know, you're known by PKMNtriggerplz. So how did that name come about? 

Chris: Oh my gosh. I started out with a different name in Pokemon GO. 

David: Do you remember what it was? 

Chris: Yes. My name used to be Ben Dover for me please. and yeah, Niantic wasn't a big fan of that. 

David: Oh, so you got the message from Niantic. 

Chris: Well, yeah, I used to put my, Pokemon in the gym at the church by my house. I'm 99% sure some body there reported my name, sadly. Um, 

David: Oh my gosh! 

Chris: Yeah yeah, I, I was disappointed, you know, especially after seeing a bunch of other names I've seen from like that time onwards. [00:11:00] I was so mad. I was like, "oh, you guys are getting triggered by this?" I made my name, PKMNTriggerPlz because I was kind of salty that I had to change my name.

David: That's hilarious. Oh my gosh. I didn't know. There was that much history behind it. 

Chris: Yeah, I was just salty, so I was like, oh yeah, you guys are triggered, well, I'm triggered too! I like the name now but it does make me laugh looking back at it. 

David: Wow! There's so many words I have to say. I don't know where to start, but so we, I know you like to PVP, but before we get to that, before PVP, how would you play Pokemon GO?

Chris: I'd say I was a very, very serious, I was very serious about getting High CP Pokemon. This was before Legendaries. This was before, a lot of the strong, strong, strong Pokemon got in there. You know, you'd see, uh, Dragonite, you'd see Snorlaxes. I don't think I had a, Dragonite until shortly before I was level 40. So I'd spend my nights like really late over by a river [00:12:00] walk. It's literally a walk next to the river. I'd get a bunch of water Pokemon, primarily like Tentacruels and, uh, a lot of Eevees try to get those Vaporeon cuz those two were fairly easy to get and very strong with the gym system early on. I would, uh, power up the gyms and everything. Wherever I could fight 'em. Dude! There'd be two people fighting a gym and I'd somehow be powering it up faster than they could beat it. I don't know. The old system was pretty broken even though people hate the berries When people started putting Blissey in the gym, this was way later on, when people started putting Blisseys into gyms, I just couldn't fight it anymore cuz how hard it was to beat Blissey. I just didn't want to take the time. But yeah, before PVP, I was just grinding like crazy, trying to get every Pokemon for the Pokedex of course, and trying to get that high CP, painting the town red. I don't know if I mentioned it, I am team Valor and I am very, very happy. I picked Valor. 

David: Do you remember why you picked Valor? 

Chris: I thought [00:13:00] that the different teams would have different bonuses for you because of like things they said like, Spark is all about Instinct doing things on the fly, Mystic is all about knowledge of evolutions, and this is what caught my eye, Valor is all about power and battles, I believe, or something like that. And I was like, well, obviously I wanna be strong. So I picked Valor plus I think out of all three birds, Moltres appeals to me the best even though I personally, I think spark is probably the coolest looking, leader, just in my eyes. I mean, he's the dabbing king now. I wouldn't switch teams, but I definitely think he's one of the cooler leaders. Louis is obviously Mystic. I believe your team Valor too, correct? 

David: Mystic. 

Chris: Oh, no, we can't. We can't, you're not invited to my tea party now. 

David: Oh my gosh. I was just crash it anyway. 

Chris: Oh my 

David: So similar to you. So I was actually, I chose only reason why I [00:14:00] chose Mystic was cuz I thought like you said, there was, would be bonuses, but I thought that 

Chris: Yeah!

David: Based on the team we would get would be the legendary bird we get and my probably favorite Pokemon is Articuno. So I'm like, I wanna make sure that I get Articuno no matter what, you know, this is before raids, before everything else we knew, right? So I chose mystic, but if it wasn't for that, if I know now I probably would've been Team Instinct, to be honest. 

Chris: You really would've thought they would've, brought the birds into it a little bit more other than just a, sign. So I'm a little bit surprised by that. Like, I don't know, has the team members even mentioned the legendary birds other than having them on their master league teams? I don't think they've ever said their names. 

David: Not that I recall, no, I think it's just been the logo. That's the team you choose, you know, gyms and teams are probably more prevalent back in the day compared to nowadays, but most of the parts, just a simple design that's about it.

Chris: So strange 

David: Very much so. So eventually you did get into PVP. And what about PVP really interest you or what got you [00:15:00] hooked? 

Chris: So, same thing with Pokemon GO. I was initially very angry with PVP, cuz I was like, who is this Silph road? And why are they the only people trying to move in on PVP? Why is there no one else?

David: You're living up to your trigger name right now, by the way. 

Chris: Yeah, getting angry. I was like, who are they? They're they're coming outta nowhere. They're they're trying to be the, uh, founding force, the only people on the scene. but I was like, " obviously I gotta try it before I knock it." Ended up getting into it and I was one of the people that, already used them before to report the nest. I wasn't like completely against them against them, but I was just a little bit annoyed that there was literally like nobody else trying to move in on the scene it felt like. I'm not a big fan of like monopolies in a way, you know? So I think that part took me back a bit. PVP started out very, unbalanced, I would say. I think, it was Boulder Cup, I believe and, [00:16:00] Skarmory, Medicham were like O P. I remember my first team. I don't know why. I put two Nidokings on one team. This was before they had a ban for you to use multiple Pokemon of the same species and I put Nidoking on a team instead of like six Skarmories, I , I don't know what I was doing. Oh my gosh, yeah, i, I lost hard, that first cup, obviously. I was not prepared for Nidoking or, uh, the Skarmories. 

David: I don't think a lot of people were prepared for Skarmory cause I think Skarmory was one of the Pokemon to where people didn't think it was gonna be good until eventually cups started being held and then that's when people were looking for Skarmory nest.

Chris: Yeah, I think this might have been long before PVPoke was relevant. A lot of people didn't know about the website itself, but if you guys don't know, PVPoke is amazing. But yeah, I ended up, getting really into it. I wasn't one of the people that led the PVP at the beginning. After a few of the team [00:17:00] leaders, just weren't as interested in PVP later on. I loved PVP so much, I became the person that held the PVP cups for a bit. 

David: And is this with your community or is this with Silph Road? 

Chris: Yes, specifically through Silph Road. I'd be the person that orders the badges, holds the cups, try to get a start time and everything for everybody. I think we did try to do like unranked ones a few times. Obviously it was easier when the remotes started like a Shiny Only Cup cuz I just thought that was, you know, a fun, little challenge to do. I will say I, at least locally, was the, uh, highest ranked for a bit. I ended up hitting the Elite ranking on Silph and at the beginning of one of the seasons. I can brag about this, even though it happened legit like the first week, I was ranked three in the world , in Silph! But, but like to be FA like, I'll, I'll be honest. It was because there was only like two cups that were ranked at that [00:18:00] point, but my name was there, and it was awesome. and then a lot of- 

David: it still counts. It still counts. 

Chris: Oh yeah. I, I got the screenshot man. um, but, yeah, I think the funniest thing out of that was, I was in one of those, groups on the Silph website, where they'd have like eight people fight every cup. One of the people complained that I was trying to fight people weaker than me to rank up. Like how, how does that work? How would I know that I was gonna win? 

David: They think you paid them under the table. That's what happened. 

Chris: Oh my God! Yeah, gimme weak opponents to fight against. That's real fun! I think, COVID really shut down a lot of PVP. Definitely locally, cuz we weren't allowed to hold ranked tournaments at all, for a bit through Silph. I think because of that, that was the main reason that we kind of just stopped doing PVP locally or meeting up locally. And now that everything is [00:19:00] becoming more open, it's not something I can really get back to now, mostly because of work. I don't know, maybe in the future, I'd want to do it again, cuz it was really fun. But trying to get that eight person minimum is very tricky. 

David: Yeah, you just try to bring some person who doesn't wanna do it just to get that eighth person, so you can actually have an official tournament, it's kind of frustrating. 

Chris: Oh yeah, yeah, you'll get six or seven pretty constantly, but that last person, oh my gosh, unranked, if we don't get them. 

David: Yep and even around my area, PVP is basically, I don't wanna say dead, but I don't think there's been any Silph meetup since COVID happened. So we're talking three, two years at this point. It's a tricky situation. 

Chris: You just gotta look forward to those, big meetups. Those are the best ones. 

David: Can you tell me, like, I know you're involved with Factions now, but can you explain like what Factions are and how you got involved?

Chris: I don't remember how exactly I came to join the Faction I did. I believe I was on Twitter. Which, I'd flex that I was an elite trainer and [00:20:00] very strong. I ended up seeing that one of the fellow podcasters, jolt switch, was actually, putting together a team of PVP-ers and I, being very happy with Great League, opted to try to be their Great League Specialist. In my opinion, I think we did fantastic the first season. Factions is very interesting to me because all the weight isn't on you. Let's say you have a bad week, you go zero and three. Your team may be having a really good week, so they pick you up, when you're down. You try to pick them up when they're down or the whole team just kills everything that week. But yeah, I had a very strong teammates, I still do. We've had a few team changes over the seasons, but, I'm very happy with how far we've come. Sw1tchMstrz", was at silver tier last season. We had a rough season, so we dropped down to Copper but, we're right at the start of this season. With Louis on the squad now actually, PureLighter, we're really hoping to climb back up to silver or higher, obviously. I [00:21:00] really think we're at least a Silver tier team, so really hoping to push through this season. 

David: That's awesome! So how many people are on a Faction normally? 

Chris: Ooh, that number actually changed this season. I believe it was, one for each of the, different leagues. One for Great League, Ultra, and Master. I think we had three for three different special cups, but I think it's almost as much as 10 members. 

David: That's very cool. So I know you were talking about like levels like copper, silver, and gold. How many levels are there and like how does a team or a Faction progress?

Chris: There's open tier. And then it goes to iron and then it goes to, Copper tier and I believe each tier has 10 teams, so it goes from copper to bronze, goes from bronze to silver, from silver to gold, gold to platinum, platinum to diamond. And then, they just added the new Emerald tier, this season, I believe. It's definitely a grind it's really competitive. There are people that sponsor teams, our team has been [00:22:00] sponsored by energy drinks and, uh- 

David: Really? 

Chris: You know, NFTs. And we, you know, we don't talk about that. We don't, I'm not gonna mention that too much, but 

David: That's fair. That's fine. I'm not gonna get into too much detail. 

Chris: I feel like they might become bigger in the future with how much Pokemon GO is being seen as a PVP, entity now. 

David: Yeah. 

Chris: I think that spotlight, definitely helped, Pokemon GO PVP a lot. You never know, you may see some Faction battles at a worlds next year.

David: I know people who look on the outside, they just think it's tap, tap, tap. But once you dive into PVP, it's way more in depth than the simple tap, tap, tap. There's way different strategies that go along, there's different roles for each team and that's kind of the biggest hurdle you have to get to players who are not familiar with PVP to like kind of learn. 

Chris: Yeah. a lot of people think you'll just get hard countered by a team that, you just can't get out of. I've seen people come back from the most wild, hard counters. The fact that, uh, Medicham can still beat like [00:23:00] a Skarmory is something that makes it fun to watch cuz it doesn't seem like it can be done from the outside, so seeing people do the impossible is, really, fun to see as a human. You know, it's like watching the underdog come out on top. 

David: You said that Factions make PVP more interesting as opposed to just playing solo. What does Factions add to PVP in your opinion?

Chris: I think the team aspect, specifically, having other people to go through your team with, to rely on, to just be friends with is a really nice cuz you guys get to pump each other up. Let people know, when there's a big hole in their team, like, " oh my gosh, if you fight a Wigglytuff, you are not getting through this week."

David: So y'all actually play against each other and talk PVP like outside of the whole battle thing?

Chris: Between the weeks, we'll try to look through teams that, let's say, " oh, we're gonna battle, the Gnarly Shuckles this week or something. oh, you're the great league guy, you better watch out. This guy really [00:24:00] likes to want run, uh, Registeel. Make sure you got a Pokemon that can cover that. We might fight them with a team that they might use to try and get them prepared for that. How are you gonna get out of this situation? Just something, so they don't start a fight and have the worst possible scenario and just get all flustered. You wanna be prepared for the worst scenario. 

David: So this is off topic, so when I used to host the dodgeball teams, I named four teams after the starters. It was Bomba-saurs, Charmed and Hers, Squirtle Boppers, and Pika-shoes. 

Chris: Oh my gosh. 

David: So if anybody's trying to think of a Faction name, you have my permission to use it. Anyway, I just wanted to share that real quick.

Chris: I like that. I like that. I could definitely imagine people, uh, using the Charmed and Hers. Oh, my god!

David: It was creative. It was a co-ed team. I'm like, " how can I put like a Pokemon into it and I just thought Charmander, Charmander, and then somehow ended up on Charm and Hers. One of the best things I've done in my life.

Chris: Love it. Love and love it. 

David: [00:25:00] Thanks! So before we move on to the next topic, so if somebody ever had any interest in getting involved with Factions, like how do they go about it? How do they get involved?

Chris: I say the main way is to join the Silph Arena Tournaments Discord. If you're in there, there should be a Factions role and you can just try to enter a Faction. I wouldn't say it's the best way to join a Faction. There isn't really a perfect way to do it, but if you're starting out, there might be somebody that needs just one person. I'd personally think Twitter might be the better way to go. It's kinda like a spider web and you're just kind of hoping somebody, gets caught where you're asking for people to join your squad like when you just need one or two people, Yeah, just get your name out there, see what people might be interested in, and try to do well in GBL I'd say, and, that might be a way to, uh, get people's, eyes on you more.

David: So you're involved in the TCG in some way. Do you collect cards or you just play the game or like, how involved are you?

Chris: I started with[00:26:00] Shining Fates for getting back into Pokemon cards. When I was a kid, I did get my dad to buy me a few tins. I know he got me a Rayquaza tin that would've been worth some crazy amount right now just cuz it's impossible to find now.

David: It's always when we were kids, we get the valuable stuff. We just don't realize until we're older. 

Chris: Yeah. this thing had like a gold star Rayquaza in it or something, something crazy. And, and I'm just like, "Ooh, shiny cardboard!" I just kept watching people open cards on, uh, YouTube. Maxmoefoe is one of my favorites. I don't know what it was cuz uh, I couldn't justify buying Pokemon cards before Shining Fates and Shining Fates was the peak of Pokemon, like where people were going crazy. I still don't have every Pokemon card from Shining Fates.

David: What about it makes that collection so difficult to complete. 

Chris: Oh, my gosh, Something about modern Pokemon makes Pokemon go, how do we make people buy more Pokemon [00:27:00] cards?" they want to make a 300 card set, something crazy like that. So you have to open up thousands of packs to get those 300 cards, cuz you're not gonna pull every card you need. You're gonna get repeats like crazy. You might, the beats are VMAX. 

David: Yeah. 

Chris: It's a whole new monster trying to get, everything in the shiny vault. Trying to pull 60 to a hundred shinies in Shining Fates?

David: So You've talked about Louis AKA PureLighter. How did y'all two meet? 

Chris: We wouldn't have met each other, if it wasn't for Pokemon GO, I really don't see how that would've happened. We were at a raid for a Tyranitar and he actually asked me to join the discord for our local Discord. He was a very prominent leader and eventually at one of the raids, I think he was talking about doing a podcast. I know he was, listening to other people like, The Lured Up Podcast. Obviously, you know, we were watching the YouTubers, Trainer Tips, Mystic7, PKMNMasterHolly. PureLighter was like I wanna do it, but I just can't get a cohost.[00:28:00] I was like, " Hey man, I'd definitely be down for that. He was very excited for it. He wanted one of his other friends, to be in it, but, sadly his friend couldn't dedicate the schedule to it. I am very happy, that we have the podcast going. We're over a hundred episodes now. 

David: Yeah, that's impressive dude. 

Chris: I don't remember. Yeah, dude, when we hit the big, uh, 100, uh, is very exciting.

David: How did the name Purified Podcast come about? Was it already pre-planned before you joined or did y'all kind of come up with it together?

Chris: We were brainstorming, and we just couldn't think of anything. I really wanted it to be like, something that had to do with Pokemon GO. Shadow Pokemon had just come out very recently when we were deciding the name and obviously his name is PureLighter. So I was like, I've got the perfect name! People are purifying their Pokemon right now. Let's put your name into it a little bit and be the Purified Podcast. 

David: Now was this before y'all realized that, uh, Shadow Pokemon were stronger or was this kind of just- 

Chris: I kinda like to think of it [00:29:00] as Louis is the good while I'm the evil. That's the way I like to think of it. He's talking about how good the, you know, we gotta get that Hundo, Purified, Pokemon, and I'm over here, like, "Hey man, I don't know this 96 shadow Machamp kind of strong though."

David: Actually I thought you would be the purified part and he'd be the podcast part. 

Chris: Oh no, no. He tries to talk some good into me. I'm the, triggered evil boy . 

David: So while y'all were planning the podcast, do you remember any of the other names y'all were kind of pitching around? 

Chris: I do not remember. There weren't any that I thought were that fun. 

David: Who designed the artwork? 

Chris: Purelighter! He actually did it himself. We might do an updated version in the future. I do think the colors are pretty simple. um, I, think they definitely catch your eye. He says himself he's not artistic, but I really do like that art.

David: Do you remember how the first episode went?

Chris: I don't remember that much. I remember it was awkward, but [00:30:00] we caught our steps. We knew, very soon after that how we wanted it to go from the future on. I'm not saying that it was like a horrible start cuz if it was, I, I don't know how long we would've went. 

David: It blot out your memory, that's what happened. 

Chris: Yeah, I'm, I'm blocking it out. I'm blocking it out! But I think we uh started out walking and then a progressively, we got more comfortable with what the podcast was, I think it's like wine, you know, we are getting better with age. I'm, very excited cuz Pokemon GO just keeps dropping more news, dropping more Pokemon and we just keep getting excited for it. 

David: Definitely! And I get excited whenever new news, new news drop, because then like, alright, I get to cover this in the podcast next episode. It's great! 

Chris: Yep! Yeah. It's like, whenever stuff happens in the community too, it always fun to, celebrate somebody winning, championships and stuff. Just knowing like, " oh my gosh, I cannot wait to hype this up with everybody. " 

David: So y'all started actually the podcast a month before the pandemic started. I believe [00:31:00] February was y'all first episode. What was it like when the pandemic hit to record the Purified Podcast at that time? 

Chris: Dude, it was, uh, very strange, starting out and I would tell people right away, I was like, Pokemon GO is changing, but guess what, things are gonna change back in the future. Seeing Pokemon GO basically turn upside down for, you know, a year and a half, two years, and then, uh, try to go back to normal, after that. It's been really crazy, especially to have it like documented. 

David: Part of what's makes your show unique for those who may not know is that y'all go live on Twitch every single episode, at least the ones I've seen recently. Has that always been a staple of your podcast or is that something that kind of came in later?

Chris: We've always tried to go, uh, live and, yeah, I don't think we've ever changed that. Even when we have guests, we always try to go live with them. If we need to change the day, cuz uh, one of our, schedules conflicts or maybe our guests can't go live at a certain time, we do accommodate that and go live at a [00:32:00] slightly different time. We don't really have a set time for getting the podcast out there. You know, I'm sure there's some people that like that, cuz it's kind of like a, pleasant surprise. 

David: I know that you want to get Trainertips on the show at some point. Have you had any luck trying to get him to come on Purified or is that still work in progress?

Chris: We haven't tried recently. I've met him twice. I know PureLighters talked to him. Maybe if the both of us were to chat with him, you know, at a future GoFest or event, I might be able to talk him into it, I know he's probably very busy. I do want to have him on the squad with PureLighter and I! I, I think that's like the pinnacle 

David: It's like mama, I made it. Trainer tips is on my show! 

Chris: Yeah. I, I, I loved the people we've had, Speediest Chief was a huge step for me cause you know, I knew about him before he was the world champion, we had him on the podcast multiple times before he was world champion.

David: Wow! That's awesome! 

Chris: Yeah, like he's a local boy too. He's from Florida.

David: I remember I watched you guys and I'm like how they do [00:33:00] this, because it would, for me, in my opinion, it'd be overwhelming to manage both Twitch as well as trying to concentrate on the host and the topics at hand, like that's three different things at one, I can barely do the one talking to the mic.

Chris: Yeah. the fact you gotta worry about Twitch chat, are we live, how's the audio, can they hear us, there's a bunch of things that play into it that are definitely stressful. I've dropped calls before because of internet and that, that's probably the worst thing that can happen. 

David: Definitely. And y'all just make it look so easy now because you go into the show, you know, I'll say hello and whatnot, but y'all actually respond and y'all respond in a timely manner while still being able to stay on topic and it just kind of shows that there's more different ways to do a podcast besides doing it in private. Which I think is pretty cool.

Chris: Yeah! You know, all, all power to every podcast. I think everybody has their own unique and a special spin on it. It's just about finding a way that works for you, for sure. 

David: So if somebody did have any interest in like starting a [00:34:00] podcast, whether it be Pokemon GO or anything, like what would you tell them?

Chris: I wouldn't recommend to buy the most expensive mic or a crazy computer. Just record on your phone, find a cheap way to start it. You don't need to sound like Morgan Freeman. You just need a microphone to record your words, your thoughts, and then, see how it sounds, upload it. You might get a few listeners and if you like it, continue, invest in it, because you wanna make sure you actually do want to do this in your free time, you know.? 

David: Very much so! Now, if you do sound like Morgan Freeman, please contact me because I need, so I would love you to do my introduction for my podcast. That would be having Morgan Freeman as an intro for my podcast would be amazing. 

Chris: We now watch the March of the Pokemon GO players.

David: Well, I do have one last question before I let you go. What has been, in your opinion, your biggest accomplishment when it comes to Pokemon GO? 

Chris: Ooh. Oh my gosh. I think the thing that got me the [00:35:00] most excited was getting a Hundo Rayquaza from my first lucky trade. I'd say my biggest accomplishment is one of my Shundos. A Shundo Moltres with sky attack. 

David: Ooh. 

Chris: Yeah, probably not the most crazy legendary. You know, it's not the most usable, but it, it is something that means a lot to me. Especially being, Valor holds a little bit of a flame to it. 

David: No pun intended? 

Chris: Oh, pun intended.

David: Well, before you go, Chris, how could people find you? Like, do you have a Twitter handle your Twitch, like plug away? 

Chris: You know, if, if you wanna follow me on Twitter PKMNtriggerplz. Uh, PKM N trigger P-L-Z. Post a little bit on there, mostly about Pokemon card stuff. I do definitely, uh, retweet the, podcast, which is on a PureLighters channel on Twitch. Feel free to drop by and enjoy the podcast. Hope you enjoy listening to this one, cuz it's been very fun, 

David: Definitely! And if anybody who's listening to this episode, I [00:36:00] will include links to both, Chris's Twitch as well as links to the Twitter for both the podcasts and Chris. So that way, if you have any interest, you can just click on it and badda bing badda boom!

That's all I have for today. Thank you all for joining me for another episode of, As the Pokeball Turns. As a reminder, you can subscribe to this podcast on apple, Spotify, or your podcast stream of choice. If you wanna listen to more, please check out my episodes. Also, if you enjoy the show, consider sharing with a friend, family member, anyone and everyone who plays Pokemon GO. Feel free to follow me on all my socials by clicking the link of the description today's show. Just as I said, PKMNTriggerPlz links will be in the show as well. And I'll see you next time!