Oct. 18, 2023

TRAINER'S EYE #60 - "The Raid Bus Returns" ft. FrostisEpic

Show Notes
Transcript

In this Pokemon interview, we are joined by FrostisEpic, a Pokemon Trainer from Texas and co-owner of The Raid Bus. This isn't just your typical Pokemon adventure; it's one filled with heartwarming family bonds, rare Shiny Pokemon, and the revival of The Raid Bus.

FrostisEpic shares how he and his mother bonded through Pokemon GO which eventually led to them attempt to restart the Raid Bus in Austin. He also shares his experiences attending GO Fest in Seattle and New York City, where the vibrant Pokemon GO community brought unforgettable memories.

Finally, FrostisEpic shares his fascination with Shiny Pokemon and his interest in collecting rare poses in Pokemon GO.

Trainer's Eye is a series where the stories are real and people still play this game. From PVP to Shiny Hunting, each person's Pokemon GO journey is unique and we dive into each journey here on As The Pokeball Turns!

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

Connect with The Raid Bus: Facebook | Discord | Website

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

00:00:00.002 --> 00:00:03.501
My name is David Hernandez, and you're listening to As the Pokeball Turns.

00:00:44.008 --> 00:00:49.597
Welcome to As the Pokéball Turns, where the stories are real and people still play this game.

00:00:49.904 --> 00:00:53.853
Last year, I invited a guest known as PhilofAustin onto the show.

00:00:54.158 --> 00:01:01.037
He was the founder of the Raid Bus, a bus that would transport a group of Pokémon trainers around select cities in the US.

00:01:01.371 --> 00:01:09.007
Due to a combination of COVID and live transitions, He ceased operations for the Raid Bus, leaving it for a new individual to pick it up.

00:01:09.317 --> 00:01:15.668
He even encouraged anyone to contact him if they had any interest in starting a Raid Bus in their city.

00:01:15.963 --> 00:01:24.524
little did anyone know, myself included, that someone would actually answer the call and reach out to PhilofAustin to help restart the Raid Bus.

00:01:24.834 --> 00:01:29.537
What is even more interesting is that it's not just one person, but two.

00:01:29.847 --> 00:01:35.268
Actually, both a son and a mom who decided to restart the bus for the Austin community.

00:01:35.570 --> 00:01:42.957
In this episode, we come full circle, he shares his experience with Pokemon and the reason why he wanted to restart the Raid Bus.

00:01:43.278 --> 00:01:48.638
He also shares the challenges and And his hopes for what the RAID bus can become moving forward.

00:01:48.941 --> 00:01:51.221
Here is the origin story into the world.

00:01:51.531 --> 00:01:54.740
Here's his origin story into the world of Pokemon Go.

00:01:55.048 --> 00:01:58.539
This is FrostisEpic! today...

00:01:58.620 --> 00:02:00.609
I'm joined by FrostisEpic.

00:02:00.929 --> 00:02:08.776
He's the co founder of the new Raid Bus and is here to share his story on how he rebuilt a former business with him and his mother.

00:02:09.075 --> 00:02:10.536
Frost, welcome to the show.

00:02:11.135 --> 00:02:12.216
Hi, how are you doing?

00:02:12.987 --> 00:02:18.241
I'm well, my friend, and for those who don't know, What is the Raid Bus for those who may not know what it is?

00:02:18.825 --> 00:02:27.043
So, the Pokemon Raid Bus was originally started by someone named PhilofAustin, back in 2016 when Pokemon Go first released.

00:02:27.538 --> 00:02:37.573
it's kind of a bus that just drives around downtown Austin and later expanded further, that would take you on raids all the time, and it was honestly just a really fun experience.

00:02:37.932 --> 00:02:40.592
it's more of a community now than a bus itself.

00:02:41.175 --> 00:02:44.635
When the Raid Bus first came out back in, when raids were introduced.

00:02:45.117 --> 00:02:46.168
What was your first trip?

00:02:46.168 --> 00:02:46.888
Do you remember that?

00:02:47.487 --> 00:02:49.117
Oh, that is a good one.

00:02:49.117 --> 00:02:53.390
I want to say it was Entei, but it could also have been Armored Mewtwo.

00:02:53.687 --> 00:02:55.788
I know that I was really upset.

00:02:55.807 --> 00:03:16.626
I think if it was Entei, I, my child self was really upset because when spoofing was a big thing, I did it for three days and then I got a warning saying, your accounts going to be banned and so I stopped, deleted all my spoofed Pokemon out of fear, and apparently I got shadow banned from any, 3 star raids or higher, where I could never catch a Pokemon.

00:03:16.675 --> 00:03:21.935
And it took me about, I think, around 50 legendary raids before I got my first legendary.

00:03:22.272 --> 00:03:25.627
And I think Entei was one of my first on the bus.

00:03:26.225 --> 00:03:29.225
So you did 50 raids and you can never catch a single one of them?

00:03:29.550 --> 00:03:33.860
Yeah, on the bus I probably did like 2 tickets before I could catch anything.

00:03:33.870 --> 00:03:46.662
And it was really heartbreaking, cause I was like, My mom paid the tickets, we were on the bus making friends, and I think trading was honestly the most I got out of them at that point, but I just could never catch it and I was just so heartbroken.

00:03:47.355 --> 00:03:47.925
Heartbroken.

00:03:47.925 --> 00:03:51.225
And I would be frustrated too, if I did 50 raids and not catching an Entei.

00:03:51.485 --> 00:03:52.836
You must've had a lot of patience.

00:03:53.133 --> 00:03:58.122
Eh, I think my mind's kind of blocking out all the, crying I did, but.

00:03:58.281 --> 00:04:02.320
I'm sure it got better the more I realized it was just not gonna change.

00:04:03.068 --> 00:04:06.376
Befor we dive into Pokemon Go, do you have any experience with Pokemon?

00:04:06.984 --> 00:04:11.433
I got introduced to the franchise probably when I was like four or five.

00:04:11.463 --> 00:04:15.987
My friend was huge into the games, huge into the cards as well.

00:04:15.997 --> 00:04:18.483
He had some of the coolest cards I've ever seen.

00:04:18.524 --> 00:04:19.403
I love the art.

00:04:19.757 --> 00:04:23.278
I think art is one of my biggest passions as of now.

00:04:23.624 --> 00:04:34.581
all the courses I'm taking, like graph design and stuff, I think is really brought on by Pokemon cards, Because if I go through my old books of like drawing sketches, it's just all Pokemon.

00:04:34.911 --> 00:04:40.843
And all trying to replicate these styles of Pokemon cards and then I tried my first Pokemon game.

00:04:41.177 --> 00:04:50.074
this is why I love Lugia so much, my first game was actually Soul Silver and that was the first Pokemon into games I've ever seen.

00:04:50.285 --> 00:04:51.985
So I think that was really fun experience.

00:04:53.120 --> 00:04:58.750
You mentioned earlier how you were connected to the art and that's what inspired you to what you're doing now or trying to do.

00:04:59.047 --> 00:05:04.737
Do you remember any cards that stick out that were like your favorites, like you really appreciated the art from them?

00:05:05.329 --> 00:05:10.509
my friend had some fake cards, because, as you know, a lot of kids can't tell the difference.

00:05:10.910 --> 00:05:40.088
But it was the Mega Metagross, the Japanese one, the shiny Mega Metagross and I was like, that was the one that I really wanted, And before that, I think he had some of those dark cards, like Dark Magikarp and Dark Gyarados from Team Rocket, and I was like, I just fell in love with those art styles, like the dark versions, those before shadows were a thing, way before Pokemon Go, like we're talking 2012 ish, 2010, of just cards, and I think those were some of my favorites.

00:05:40.708 --> 00:05:46.557
When you were trying to learn how to draw, did you have like a favorite Pokemon you really wanted to learn how to draw or you practiced over and over?

00:05:47.154 --> 00:05:53.836
it'd have to be Lugia, I'm not the number one Lugia fan, but I like to say myself as I am.

00:05:54.182 --> 00:05:55.963
I think my profile on chess.

00:05:56.192 --> 00:05:57.673
com is a Lugia.

00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:01.389
a lot of my old website designs were based off Lugia.

00:06:01.389 --> 00:06:03.726
A lot of my art is based off Lugia.

00:06:03.726 --> 00:06:05.596
Some of my favorite palettes are from Lugia.

00:06:06.142 --> 00:06:14.802
I think the item itself, in Pokemon Go, the Lugia master you got from Johto Tour The minute I put it on, I have not taken it off since.

00:06:15.206 --> 00:06:25.509
I just fell in love with Lugia, and I'm still not able to draw it after all these years, I can draw almost any Pokemon, but Lugia, something with those little, eyes, always gets me.

00:06:25.509 --> 00:06:27.019
I never feel like I did good enough.

00:06:27.622 --> 00:06:34.562
One part of Lugia that I appreciate, I'm not too sure if you know, I'm pretty sure you probably do know about it, is the Shadow Lugia from XD: Gale of Darkness.

00:06:35.163 --> 00:06:55.052
Yes, I have a physical copy, I made two of them, of a note I sent Niantic back in, 2017, 2016, when Buddy System first got introduced, I was writing down, I was like, it would be really cool If you could, like, give your buddy something and it could walk around on the map with you.

00:06:55.291 --> 00:07:01.024
I understand it could be a lot of coding and some animations, but I feel like it would be an amazing thing for you to add.

00:07:01.334 --> 00:07:02.814
And, of course, that later came true.

00:07:02.894 --> 00:07:05.475
I like to credit myself for that, but I know I didn't.

00:07:05.774 --> 00:07:10.028
I know they never opened those things, but I think Shadow Lugia was one of the requests.

00:07:10.028 --> 00:07:14.064
I said, if you ever add this, please add a Shadow Lugia from XD.

00:07:14.661 --> 00:07:17.612
Please do it, Niantic, because I'm actually a big fan of that Lugia as well.

00:07:17.661 --> 00:07:20.132
I would raid so hard for it if it ever came to raids.

00:07:20.733 --> 00:07:22.632
I had not stopped until I did a Hundo.

00:07:22.836 --> 00:07:23.247
I think.

00:07:23.247 --> 00:07:23.396
Oh?

00:07:23.560 --> 00:07:24.129
For Lugia?

00:07:24.432 --> 00:07:31.237
Yeah, my funny story about Hundo's Lugia is my first ever one, I was in my school's Pokemon Go club.

00:07:31.550 --> 00:07:32.819
Of course, I'm not the leader of it.

00:07:32.870 --> 00:07:39.947
I waited for someone else to start it, but, I was in there and I was like, we were all doing raids cause there's like a bunch of gyms around my school.

00:07:40.242 --> 00:07:50.629
And so there was a bunch of Lugia raids and so I was of course in class on my phone, sticking in, doing some, and then at Pokemon Go club during lunch, I did my first raid of that day.

00:07:50.937 --> 00:07:52.107
I didn't even know it at the time.

00:07:52.107 --> 00:08:06.882
I was just catching the Lugia, my friend looks over at my phone, and he's like That's a hundo, and I'm like, No, hundo's this, and I was thinking of the weather boosted, but it wasn't, and he's like, No, that's hundo, that's hundo, and everyone starts freaking out, and I'm like, I think it took me until the second ball to catch it, and my heart was racing.

00:08:07.209 --> 00:08:13.192
that was probably my biggest thing, one of my favorite accomplishments was the Hundo Lugia in my collection.

00:08:13.891 --> 00:08:17.500
So unfortunately for me, I actually encountered a Hundo Lugia as well.

00:08:17.826 --> 00:08:20.430
However, mine did not stay in the ball.

00:08:20.733 --> 00:08:25.968
I was with my friend, his name was Deverock, and I remember, I was like, Oh my gosh, this is the Hundo CP.

00:08:25.968 --> 00:08:30.572
I think I had maybe 13, 14 premier balls, and I threw every single one.

00:08:30.918 --> 00:08:36.448
Now granted, they weren't excellent, they were mostly great throws, because trying to get an excellent on Lugia is difficult with how much it, attacks.

00:08:36.849 --> 00:08:39.769
I was like, Oh my gosh, I'm not going to catch it and of course I didn't.

00:08:40.135 --> 00:08:40.755
it haunted me.

00:08:40.755 --> 00:08:41.765
Like I was like done.

00:08:41.765 --> 00:08:45.135
Like I couldn't go to sleep after that, that's how bad it was.

00:08:45.196 --> 00:08:46.576
I really wanted the Hundo Lugia.

00:08:46.936 --> 00:08:54.121
Yeah, I remember I've lost, I want to say around seven hundo legendaries in my raiding career.

00:08:54.121 --> 00:08:57.881
I know the latest one was Genesect.

00:08:58.239 --> 00:08:59.318
I lost that one.

00:08:59.318 --> 00:09:00.499
I was super bummed.

00:09:00.548 --> 00:09:05.105
I was on raid night with some of the people from the raid bus originally.

00:09:05.705 --> 00:09:08.264
So did you stick with Pokemon after SoulSilver?

00:09:08.274 --> 00:09:10.095
Did you stick with it throughout till present day?

00:09:10.698 --> 00:09:18.135
I went to a lot of summer camps growing up, and if you've ever been to one, you would know, with Pokemon cards, they were the thing.

00:09:18.442 --> 00:09:22.307
You would just have Pokemon cards and you'd trade them.

00:09:22.615 --> 00:09:31.999
It was like, hierarchy, the coolest kids would have the best cards and I remember one camp, I left them at home, and my mom mailed them to me.

00:09:32.304 --> 00:09:36.684
they ended up not giving them to me because they thought it was a suspicious package.

00:09:36.998 --> 00:09:46.107
So they wouldn't give it to me until my mom came to pick me up like a week later and I was so sad, like every day I was like, I swear they're coming, my mom said she, mailed them to me.

00:09:46.118 --> 00:09:50.457
I swear they're coming and they just never did until found out they didn't give them to me.

00:09:51.058 --> 00:09:51.349
Wow.

00:09:51.349 --> 00:09:52.735
So they would just confiscate it.

00:09:52.735 --> 00:09:54.985
And they did they even open the envelope or they just

00:09:55.269 --> 00:09:55.889
they didn't open the box.

00:09:56.750 --> 00:10:00.350
There was like a specific height the box could be apparently.

00:10:00.657 --> 00:10:05.496
And it was like two centimeters over or something, so they didn't trust it.

00:10:06.101 --> 00:10:06.282
Damn.

00:10:06.282 --> 00:10:06.912
That's unfortunate.

00:10:06.917 --> 00:10:08.172
At least you got the cards back though.

00:10:08.172 --> 00:10:11.201
'cause usually when I grew up, when they took the cards, we never got'em back.

00:10:11.509 --> 00:10:13.729
Yeah, I know, like, I was so worried.

00:10:13.729 --> 00:10:18.139
if I'm not mistaken, it could be a Thundurus, but I think I have one of my prized possessions.

00:10:18.139 --> 00:10:20.052
It's a Team Plasma Lugia.

00:10:20.355 --> 00:10:22.405
And I have kept that thing forever.

00:10:22.416 --> 00:10:24.135
It was like one of my first pulls.

00:10:24.676 --> 00:10:26.395
I was freaking out with my friends.

00:10:26.416 --> 00:10:28.905
We went to Target, got like a three pack.

00:10:29.206 --> 00:10:31.196
I was super in love with it because of the art.

00:10:31.225 --> 00:10:32.206
It was a full art.

00:10:32.206 --> 00:10:38.072
I didn't know those existed at the time and then the Team Plasma logo on it was like, amazing.

00:10:38.133 --> 00:10:40.263
and that's why Team Plasma is my favorite team.

00:10:40.263 --> 00:10:42.576
And they should add that to Pokemon Go, but yeah.

00:10:43.203 --> 00:10:46.951
I actually have the first Lugia card released or the first, version.

00:10:47.250 --> 00:10:53.557
And the reason why I have, it's,'cause I always was fascinated by that one, having each elemental, like the fire, water, and electric.

00:10:53.878 --> 00:11:02.077
And I just thought that was so cool to add to the card that like, I need that card and I keep it in a, box cover just'cause it just has so much memories of just constantly, always looking at it growing up.

00:11:02.673 --> 00:11:04.182
I did not know that existed.

00:11:04.182 --> 00:11:07.263
I haven't looked at Pokemon cards in a hot minute.

00:11:07.633 --> 00:11:19.836
although, my last birthday, I was doing some of those Pokemon Go packs for those codes and I think I pulled, 12 Full Art Melmetals out of like, the 20 packs it came with, and I got so annoyed.

00:11:19.836 --> 00:11:21.255
So they don't need more of them.

00:11:21.562 --> 00:11:24.582
And my friends were freaking out just apparently that was like really good.

00:11:24.918 --> 00:11:27.678
And then I was going through all the codes, redeeming them.

00:11:27.698 --> 00:11:42.972
Cause if you didn't know this, the Pokemon Go, Pokemon cards come with codes you can claim that can give you an exclusive shirt and hat item and I was after that as I collect all rare things in Pokemon Go, like anything that's limited or exclusive, I try and get it.

00:11:43.484 --> 00:11:48.303
Of course, that doesn't count for GBL because I cannot battle in Pokemon Go.

00:11:48.634 --> 00:11:53.033
I just don't have the reaction time and don't want to spend eight years in the Stardust.

00:11:53.191 --> 00:11:58.114
But, uh, I got it on my birthday, my very last code.

00:11:58.451 --> 00:12:03.400
my mom and I were talking cause it was just me and her for a little bit, dad went to bed and we were like.

00:12:03.543 --> 00:12:10.352
Like, it would be so funny if this was the shirt, and little did I know I got the shirt, and we were like freaking out, it was so happy.

00:12:10.946 --> 00:12:12.796
So Pokemon Go comes out in 2016.

00:12:13.427 --> 00:12:14.817
When did you first start playing?

00:12:15.423 --> 00:12:23.652
When the game first came out, my friend, same friend who introduced me to Pokemon, he was like, Get this game, it's the thing and me just following whatever he says.

00:12:23.682 --> 00:12:24.902
I was like, Oh, all right.

00:12:24.902 --> 00:12:25.552
I'll try it.

00:12:25.642 --> 00:12:26.442
It's Pokemon.

00:12:26.751 --> 00:12:34.260
My mom's reading all these articles of people getting trampled and like stampedes happening and she's like, no, no, you can't get this.

00:12:34.341 --> 00:12:35.490
You can't get this game.

00:12:35.490 --> 00:12:36.370
It's too dangerous.

00:12:36.370 --> 00:12:37.041
You'll die.

00:12:37.408 --> 00:12:38.678
Can't do any of this.

00:12:39.028 --> 00:12:40.067
I was so upset.

00:12:40.087 --> 00:12:47.254
So I waited like two weeks and then my mom finally agrees to let me get it after I'm sure was like seven hours of nagging a day.

00:12:47.634 --> 00:12:48.964
I really wanted that game.

00:12:48.994 --> 00:12:50.073
I finally did it.

00:12:50.393 --> 00:12:53.953
I remember being confused about, how to throw a Pokeball.

00:12:54.303 --> 00:12:56.234
I didn't know you had to click on the Pokemon.

00:12:56.264 --> 00:13:00.014
I went to my bag and I, kept clicking the Pokeballs that can't be used here.

00:13:00.014 --> 00:13:02.813
And I'm like, there's a Pokemon right here! What are you talking about?

00:13:03.139 --> 00:13:05.029
But I've been playing ever since then, and then...

00:13:05.086 --> 00:13:09.582
Later, I go on a trip to Florida and we were playing Pokemon.

00:13:09.904 --> 00:13:12.832
my mom got really hooked on it, and she didn't have her own account.

00:13:12.832 --> 00:13:13.832
She was playing on mine.

00:13:14.153 --> 00:13:17.123
So anytime I tried to play, she would just be on my account.

00:13:17.143 --> 00:13:18.253
I wouldn't do anything.

00:13:18.649 --> 00:13:20.559
So I told her, make her own account.

00:13:20.750 --> 00:13:22.659
She started like four months after me.

00:13:22.981 --> 00:13:24.942
She is now four levels higher than me.

00:13:25.250 --> 00:13:28.179
your mom got addicted real quick after she played on your account a bit.

00:13:28.298 --> 00:13:31.227
Yeah, the ironic thing is she wouldn't let me get that game.

00:13:31.238 --> 00:13:32.937
She was afraid it was too dangerous.

00:13:32.977 --> 00:13:35.518
And now I have to remind her not to play while driving.

00:13:35.918 --> 00:13:39.703
She'll be like, but there's a Pikachu, I need it! And I'm like, no you do not.

00:13:40.244 --> 00:13:44.884
And she's like obsessed with like those, she calls them babies, CP10

00:13:45.191 --> 00:13:46.390
Oh, level ones.

00:13:46.500 --> 00:13:52.917
Yeah, she'll, she'll find them and she will swerve off the road trying to get a cp 10 And I'm like, it's not worth it.

00:13:53.177 --> 00:13:54.417
I'll catch it for you.

00:13:54.777 --> 00:13:59.854
I'm afraid of what she does when I'm not in the car with her because that is It was really funny though.

00:14:00.083 --> 00:14:05.245
She was afraid of me getting hurt playing the game and now she's gonna Be crazy about the game

00:14:05.846 --> 00:14:08.427
How does it feel to have your mom playing Pokemon with you?

00:14:08.437 --> 00:14:12.506
Does it feel kind of weird or does it feel something like y'all can kind of bond over together?

00:14:13.101 --> 00:14:17.272
I think, the first few weeks she started playing, I was just happy.

00:14:17.576 --> 00:14:19.277
I was happy she was playing.

00:14:19.581 --> 00:14:21.441
I can finally play on my own account.

00:14:21.875 --> 00:14:25.605
Then we started going to the Austin capital for comm days.

00:14:25.730 --> 00:14:27.400
Then I felt a little bit more weeded out.

00:14:27.400 --> 00:14:32.817
I'm like, eh, that like my independence phase where I was like, oh, I want to be by myself or with my friends.

00:14:33.177 --> 00:14:44.842
But, it felt weird, and then I got really comfortable with it, and then, like, mother son bonding is very difficult, because usually you don't share too many interests, but, found Pokemon, and it was just really fun.

00:14:45.191 --> 00:14:53.708
She'd drive me out places to go, she'd drive my dad crazy telling her, like, pull over here, there's a Pokemon we want, and it was just really fun.

00:14:54.360 --> 00:14:57.789
So you and your mom would go to play Pokemon go together.

00:14:57.809 --> 00:14:59.110
I guess, as soon as she's driving.

00:14:59.590 --> 00:15:01.840
So y'all would also do that for community days and stuff like that.

00:15:02.429 --> 00:15:04.809
Yeah, we would, we'd drive community days.

00:15:04.850 --> 00:15:06.039
we found a nest.

00:15:06.149 --> 00:15:08.850
there used to be an app that would show you nearby nests.

00:15:09.157 --> 00:15:14.284
And we were just playing it all the time, just running around, having the time of our lives.

00:15:14.284 --> 00:15:17.928
Being like, there's a Charmander! There's a Charmander! And there's like 50 of them.

00:15:17.928 --> 00:15:20.198
And back then, Charmanders were really rare.

00:15:20.208 --> 00:15:24.484
Getting like candies for them or evolving to a Charizard was like the thing.

00:15:24.801 --> 00:15:28.261
You could not like not have a Charizard and be a good player.

00:15:28.851 --> 00:15:30.812
So what's your way to play Pokemon go?

00:15:30.812 --> 00:15:33.261
Like, do you collect, are you a shiny hunter?

00:15:33.951 --> 00:15:35.322
I do a little bit of both.

00:15:35.341 --> 00:15:38.182
I collect anything that's limited, like items.

00:15:38.572 --> 00:15:48.018
I think currently my outfit is the black, In person, exclusive, New York, Osaka, shirt, in game, with just the pants I always wear.

00:15:48.018 --> 00:15:51.738
I always wear the same ones, because they resemble the shorts I wear every day.

00:15:52.051 --> 00:15:56.217
I'm more of a collector of like rare items and then shinies.

00:15:56.518 --> 00:15:58.697
I love shiny hunting, I think that's really fun.

00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:01.551
not really big into PvP, as I said, it's very...

00:16:01.551 --> 00:16:03.634
difficult for me to actually play it.

00:16:04.014 --> 00:16:11.567
My friends will go on 30 minute rants about, here's what team to use and why, and all this stuff that just sounds like gibberish to me.

00:16:11.874 --> 00:16:13.114
It's just too difficult.

00:16:13.114 --> 00:16:14.683
And I get super upset at it.

00:16:14.734 --> 00:16:16.293
I'm like, I clicked the move.

00:16:16.303 --> 00:16:17.543
Why isn't it using it?

00:16:17.543 --> 00:16:18.484
I can't, do this.

00:16:18.543 --> 00:16:20.918
I just want my Pikachu Libre to be over with.

00:16:21.520 --> 00:16:22.421
So you said items.

00:16:22.431 --> 00:16:26.000
So you mean like, costumes or do you mean like you actually collect every single item in the game?

00:16:26.010 --> 00:16:27.130
Cause you said rare items.

00:16:27.775 --> 00:16:29.836
I do more of the anything that's limited.

00:16:29.836 --> 00:16:32.456
So a ticketed event that has a pose, it's mine.

00:16:32.816 --> 00:16:38.216
I think that started with the GO rock star pose from the Regigigas research.

00:16:38.528 --> 00:16:40.285
I didn't actually play that day.

00:16:40.355 --> 00:16:46.948
my mom and I completely blanked that we bought like the 30 ticket for it, but I did get the pose and I was rocking it forever.

00:16:46.948 --> 00:16:48.928
And everyone kept asking me, how did you get this?

00:16:48.928 --> 00:16:49.688
How did you get this?

00:16:49.688 --> 00:16:52.828
And I'm like, honestly, I don't know, but I realized no one had it.

00:16:52.828 --> 00:16:54.859
And that started like an addiction in my brain.

00:16:54.859 --> 00:16:56.969
I'm like, I want all these rare items now.

00:16:56.969 --> 00:17:00.219
I want to have something that someone else can't have.

00:17:00.519 --> 00:17:11.721
it was just really fun collecting all these items, to get all these shirts, going to in person events, Getting as you said costume, like Pokemon as well like I think I'm still missing a few.

00:17:11.721 --> 00:17:18.921
I'm missing all the clone Pokemon and a lot of shiny event Pikachus, but I have almost every costume in the game.

00:17:20.123 --> 00:17:23.012
You know, I've been doing this interview stuff for about a year.

00:17:23.308 --> 00:17:25.409
You're the first person I've ever met.

00:17:25.409 --> 00:17:34.449
Who's talked about collecting poses or items like that's just so fascinating to me, I'm, impressed that there's this different way to play that never knew existed until today, so thank you for that.

00:17:34.766 --> 00:17:48.258
Yeah, it's honestly not a lot of people know that there's some really rare items besides the GBL stuff, like You would probably not know that like certain shirts are like limited to like certain events like I missed out on the Mr.

00:17:48.258 --> 00:17:50.188
Crime event as everyone calls it.

00:17:50.198 --> 00:17:53.407
So I'm always upset I don't have the mime pose.

00:17:53.718 --> 00:17:58.334
there's a lot of like tiny poses that you could just get and no one knows about.

00:17:58.644 --> 00:18:02.564
they look so similar to the other stuff, but they're not, they're just exclusive.

00:18:03.036 --> 00:18:10.016
I think the rarest one, in my opinion, has to be, just from pure skill alone, the Giovanni shirt.

00:18:10.313 --> 00:18:12.578
I think that one, I still don't have.

00:18:12.729 --> 00:18:19.583
I'm stacking my rockets to get it for a good Pokemon, but you have to beat him 20 times, and I think very few people have that.

00:18:19.885 --> 00:18:23.195
I think you had to actually stack a bunch of researches.

00:18:23.520 --> 00:18:32.624
I think the only way you could currently have that is if you bought a super rocket radar When it was available in the shop for 2, 000 coins Back when he first got released

00:18:33.278 --> 00:18:35.159
so, you said New York, do you mean like GoFest?

00:18:35.683 --> 00:18:38.931
Yeah, my first in person GoFest was Seattle.

00:18:39.248 --> 00:18:41.243
I was really big into that.

00:18:41.544 --> 00:18:45.407
my mom and I went, it's just a fun vacation and we loved it.

00:18:45.713 --> 00:18:47.683
I think the walking really killed me.

00:18:48.054 --> 00:18:59.413
I recently at that point got, my feet problem that I still have to this day uh, My tendon, my Achilles tendon has shrunken and compressed to the point that I can't even, stand up straight anymore.

00:18:59.702 --> 00:19:04.222
And I have to, like, wear special shoes to stand up straight, so I'm always, leaning forward.

00:19:04.519 --> 00:19:12.878
If you ever meet me, you'll always see me leaning forward, just a bit barely noticeable, but right when it started, it was when I was in, like, the most pain.

00:19:13.229 --> 00:19:21.144
And so like, I remember that GoFest being like so fun, yet I couldn't walk more than like two hours before like my feet just started dying.

00:19:21.904 --> 00:19:25.035
Going into Seattle, what were your expectations for GO Fest?

00:19:25.085 --> 00:19:26.914
what did you imagine it would be like?

00:19:27.535 --> 00:19:28.164
Honestly.

00:19:28.164 --> 00:19:29.994
I went in expecting very little.

00:19:29.994 --> 00:19:32.115
I was like, I thought it was just gonna be a Comm day.

00:19:32.413 --> 00:19:42.557
My Comm day, odds are terrible like going into it I was Expecting really low shinies, But I go into the park and it's like shiny after shiny my first click of the event shiny Unown-A.

00:19:42.857 --> 00:19:44.077
Really exciting for me.

00:19:44.382 --> 00:19:45.902
My mom and I were freaking out.

00:19:46.198 --> 00:19:47.448
She got really jealous.

00:19:47.597 --> 00:19:52.788
I think I got three shiny Unowns from the first check and it was just really exciting for me.

00:19:52.788 --> 00:19:58.067
At one point I even forgot that my legs existed and I was just having so much fun.

00:19:58.067 --> 00:19:59.748
I was just like running around.

00:19:59.748 --> 00:20:00.847
It was super fun.

00:20:01.152 --> 00:20:05.422
I think the bubbles, I remember it was like the fairy habitat, that was my favorite.

00:20:05.450 --> 00:20:07.220
I love just running around there.

00:20:07.519 --> 00:20:09.279
It felt very immersive

00:20:09.880 --> 00:20:12.569
So we fast forward to New York, how was that different?

00:20:12.569 --> 00:20:15.390
Like, were you just as excited as you were for Seattle for New York?

00:20:15.994 --> 00:20:19.345
I think I was more excited because I was taking a friend.

00:20:19.684 --> 00:20:27.948
we went to Las Vegas for go tour, but I brought like five friends with me as my birthday and Christmas gift was, I was able to take five friends with me to Vegas.

00:20:28.248 --> 00:20:34.248
We did have a problem with that, my friend, didn't get a ticket in time and so he had to play on my mom's account, which she was fine with.

00:20:34.555 --> 00:20:36.634
But New York, I was super excited.

00:20:36.634 --> 00:20:38.634
I was like, I understood how everything worked.

00:20:38.634 --> 00:20:39.795
We had all three days.

00:20:40.184 --> 00:20:44.305
We were playing my first click, Shiny Seviper, one I've been needing forever.

00:20:44.602 --> 00:20:47.231
Shiny Unown odds were actually really sad.

00:20:47.491 --> 00:20:50.291
I think Niantic made them more rare than they should have been.

00:20:50.587 --> 00:20:56.478
out of that entire event, I got three shiny Unowns, which Seattle, I nearly tripled that number with nine.

00:20:56.801 --> 00:20:58.942
I think some people might've gotten more lucky than me.

00:20:58.951 --> 00:21:02.451
I think my shinies, I ended up with around 110.

00:21:02.768 --> 00:21:17.038
the park, this is my only negative feedback, it was honestly really congested with the amount of people, they had like 10, 000 ish people there, I think, the places they put buildings blocked the natural flow.

00:21:17.347 --> 00:21:25.008
So you had to walk in like tight, compact areas where everyone's playing Pokemon and looking at their phones, so you would just get bumped into constantly.

00:21:25.326 --> 00:21:35.696
And then the swap between two habitats, I think the athletic field and noxious swamp and then the hidden Treasures and Volcano one was terrible.

00:21:36.003 --> 00:21:40.987
You had to walk in like a circle, I would say it's like a one bike lane worth of it.

00:21:40.987 --> 00:21:42.747
And you have to, you couldn't walk behind you.

00:21:42.747 --> 00:21:44.446
You have to walk in a certain direction.

00:21:44.457 --> 00:21:52.317
So if you got caught in the flow, you'd have to walk back around again, then no Pokemon would spawn while you're walking through it and it just felt really bad for me.

00:21:52.317 --> 00:21:53.659
I was like, Compared to Seattle.

00:21:53.669 --> 00:21:54.848
Seattle flowed well.

00:21:54.868 --> 00:21:57.128
Seattle, there was not really congestion points.

00:21:57.128 --> 00:21:58.509
You were able to freely walk.

00:21:58.805 --> 00:22:00.315
My friend was super excited.

00:22:00.345 --> 00:22:02.375
It was his first ever, GO Fest.

00:22:02.704 --> 00:22:10.201
He was like, this is amazing! This is so fun! But to me, I was like, this park really sucks compared to Seattle and compared to Vegas.

00:22:10.261 --> 00:22:11.682
It's just too congested.

00:22:12.279 --> 00:22:15.369
what was it like for you to go New York and experience go fest with your friend?

00:22:15.430 --> 00:22:17.529
Did it feel any different compared to when you went with your mom?

00:22:18.470 --> 00:22:23.559
It was honestly, I spent a lot of time with, we were all together, but I think it felt really different.

00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:29.140
he is really in the PVP, so he's really helpful with a certain Pokemon I needed to catch.

00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:31.839
He also would call out random Pokemon.

00:22:32.180 --> 00:22:33.990
I think he was really helpful with that.

00:22:34.314 --> 00:22:44.329
it was also just really fun watching us like compete for Shinies, just like every Comm Day, my friends and I will get together and we'll have a little competition and be like, Alright, whoever gets the most Shinies.

00:22:44.329 --> 00:22:44.859
wins.

00:22:45.183 --> 00:22:54.336
And we have a point system where like a hundo is five, a non community day shiny, or a non event shiny is three points, first shiny is two, last shiny is two.

00:22:54.626 --> 00:22:59.676
We keep track of all these things and it's just really fun watching us like run around and compete.

00:22:59.973 --> 00:23:06.284
on the days I don't compete, it's fun watching them like sprint everywhere trying to beat each other at the last minute.

00:23:06.584 --> 00:23:07.644
It's just really fun.

00:23:08.240 --> 00:23:09.619
Last question about Go Fest.

00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:12.980
If somebody was on the fence about going to go fest, what would you tell them?

00:23:13.589 --> 00:23:18.700
I think if you're gonna go to GoFest, Make sure you have money for in game items.

00:23:19.007 --> 00:23:21.807
We bought the hotel, we shared a room, so it was cheaper for that.

00:23:21.807 --> 00:23:24.626
But make sure you have money for...

00:23:24.626 --> 00:23:32.614
I'm saying like 150 for in game items like, you need, raid passes, incubators, star pieces, eggs.

00:23:32.653 --> 00:23:39.453
If you have a star piece and an egg running for the entire time, I think I did over 3 million stardust in New York alone.

00:23:39.753 --> 00:23:44.534
I know I did 255 eggs hatched in New York alone.

00:23:44.829 --> 00:23:47.166
I hatched 4 hundo Tirtougas.

00:23:47.469 --> 00:23:52.148
But, if you're gonna go to GOFest, you need to have a lot of money set aside for it.

00:23:52.548 --> 00:23:56.648
You need to make sure you have items, you need to make sure you have, everything you could possibly need.

00:23:56.942 --> 00:23:59.051
Sometimes you could go without some stuff.

00:23:59.051 --> 00:24:03.291
But, if you really want to maximize your experience, you need to have Pokecoins.

00:24:03.897 --> 00:24:06.857
You've been listening to As the Pokeball Turns.

00:24:07.155 --> 00:24:08.556
We're gonna take a quick break.

00:24:08.855 --> 00:24:09.934
We'll be right back.

00:25:15.307 --> 00:25:20.346
earlier you mentioned how I think your first raid bus was, uh, you weren't too sure, but you said it was probably Entei?

00:25:20.673 --> 00:25:20.973
Yeah.

00:25:21.273 --> 00:25:24.723
What was it about the raid bus that you enjoyed back in those days?

00:25:25.273 --> 00:25:28.564
Honestly, because I couldn't catch anything, it was the friends.

00:25:28.859 --> 00:25:38.487
I met two notable people, michelle or Meech Maxx, she was amazing and she had a friend, who I thought at the time was her husband, turned out they're just really good friends.

00:25:38.849 --> 00:25:45.344
Bucka Rhett, he's now in Arkansas, but still have a lucky friend with him trying to somehow manage to do that.

00:25:45.630 --> 00:25:47.569
But They were so nice.

00:25:47.829 --> 00:25:52.864
I remember one time we forgot our portable chargers and they offered us like three for every device.

00:25:53.166 --> 00:25:59.166
They were amazing and little did I know if I didn't make friends with them I would have never tooken over the Raid Bus.

00:25:59.467 --> 00:26:15.153
I think that is one of the biggest things is Michelle actually talked to me while we were doing our raid train I think they had this little thing after the bus shut down with a lot of like Really passionate Raid Bus people with Phil for Austin, I think all of them were community managers for him.

00:26:15.457 --> 00:26:26.713
And they started this thing called a Raid Train and my mom's friends, or my mom's co worker knew one of them personally and so they were talking, and then she got invited to this Raid Train in December.

00:26:27.010 --> 00:26:32.191
I remember one of them was talking like, y'all heard the raid bus shut down and we were like, what?

00:26:32.498 --> 00:26:39.481
I'm like, yeah, the Phil has officially told me he's shutting it down, but They're looking for people to take it over and I'm like, I want to take it over.

00:26:39.511 --> 00:26:41.402
I think that was the jump in my brain.

00:26:41.402 --> 00:26:45.751
I was like, all these people I go raiding with, I want to like take over the raid bus.

00:26:45.751 --> 00:26:49.693
I think at that time I was more motivated by money than the people.

00:26:50.321 --> 00:26:51.491
Why did you want to take it over?

00:26:51.491 --> 00:26:55.484
'cause you said earlier, it started with money, but then it eventually changed to the people.

00:26:56.105 --> 00:26:58.565
So my first question is, why did you want to take it over?

00:26:59.163 --> 00:27:03.743
my first thought when I was doing that, I said my mom was like, this would be a fun summer job.

00:27:03.743 --> 00:27:06.574
This would be something to do I can make money from.

00:27:06.881 --> 00:27:09.371
that was kind of like my main motivation at the time.

00:27:09.679 --> 00:27:12.798
I realized that's not what I really want to do.

00:27:13.184 --> 00:27:21.987
I want to be there for the people, I think some of my favorite moments on the bus was just seeing, like, people's face light up as they got a Shiny or they got a Hundo.

00:27:22.920 --> 00:27:31.237
on our last Mega Rayquaza bus, we actually got, I think, like, seven Hundos and that's seven times more than we've gotten on any bus before, we've only gotten one.

00:27:31.549 --> 00:27:34.980
someone got a Shundo on the bus, and we were all freaking out.

00:27:35.380 --> 00:27:40.279
The first Hundo of the day was, in fact, a Shundo Rayquaza and everyone was freaking out.

00:27:40.579 --> 00:27:44.079
I think that was really fun and that's why I wanted to take it over.

00:27:44.383 --> 00:27:54.027
I think in the back of my head, I really wanted to do it for the people, but my vocals were kind of like, it's for the money, but that's not truly what ended up happening.

00:27:54.632 --> 00:28:02.045
It sounds like that you were kind of conflicted Like at first you kind of thought like, Hey, I can make some money off this, doing something that I'd like to do.

00:28:02.352 --> 00:28:04.271
maybe it's more of a transition or a journey.

00:28:04.717 --> 00:28:09.196
You found out that, Hey, it's more of the people that reason why I do this and the money's kind of secondary.

00:28:09.196 --> 00:28:11.126
If I even do make money off this,

00:28:11.722 --> 00:28:11.932
Yeah.

00:28:11.992 --> 00:28:14.282
And that's a very good point there.

00:28:14.292 --> 00:28:19.492
If I even make money, we've actually been losing, I think, about 200 per bus.

00:28:19.522 --> 00:28:22.923
I know my mom doesn't want me to share this, but I think it's good to say it.

00:28:23.220 --> 00:28:26.480
We don't do this for the money, if anything, we're actually losing money.

00:28:26.782 --> 00:28:33.059
I think that was the biggest thing, where we lose money and that kind of shows how, everyone on our team.

00:28:33.089 --> 00:28:43.383
My mom, Jessica, and I, Jessica, she was from the original Raid Train, are all just in it for the people to put smiles on their faces, and money is just a bonus if we can make it.

00:28:43.980 --> 00:28:47.717
what were the struggles that you ran across when you were trying to rebuild the raid bus?

00:28:48.106 --> 00:28:51.807
I think the biggest struggle was people, branching out.

00:28:52.136 --> 00:28:59.507
when we first wanted to take it over, it was still recently announced that it was over, and so a lot of people were wanting to take it over.

00:28:59.813 --> 00:29:04.369
But, we ended up reaching out first, or, ended up actually, putting the most effort in.

00:29:04.670 --> 00:29:10.133
I remember every day after school, we contacted Phil, and I'd come home and be like, Mom, has Phil talked back to us?

00:29:10.133 --> 00:29:11.502
Has he said anything about it?

00:29:11.807 --> 00:29:21.633
she'd be like, no, no, until finally, she was like, he finally said something and she reads the message, and I'm all like excited upstairs, where she's in her office, and we're all like, Happy.

00:29:21.930 --> 00:29:25.343
we later go and call him and we talked about it.

00:29:25.343 --> 00:29:27.772
We're like, we've been on the bus a few times.

00:29:27.772 --> 00:29:30.532
We're not the most avid bus riders, but we love it.

00:29:30.603 --> 00:29:32.153
We love what we're doing.

00:29:32.153 --> 00:29:34.730
I think taking it over would honestly help.

00:29:35.027 --> 00:29:41.467
The problem with us was we just couldn't get everything figured out in time and we ended up just forgetting about it for about a year.

00:29:41.765 --> 00:29:42.625
We just forgot.

00:29:42.922 --> 00:29:45.832
We just absolutely forgot that it was a thing.

00:29:46.125 --> 00:29:50.694
And then later, Jessica was like, have y'all put any more effort into the raid bus?

00:29:50.724 --> 00:29:54.738
And we're like, acting like we have a lot, but we completely forgotten.

00:29:54.738 --> 00:30:01.107
We ended up just taking that opportunity and restarting the whole project and I think we got it up within a month.

00:30:01.407 --> 00:30:02.657
it was tireless nights.

00:30:02.657 --> 00:30:10.907
I was staying up to like 1am making promotional images in Photoshop doing all this stuff, doing all the research I need, all the stuff.

00:30:11.211 --> 00:30:14.122
Of course, my mom, she only set up financing.

00:30:14.422 --> 00:30:22.684
She's only a volunteer, because she wants this to be my thing and so she's just a volunteer who helps the social media and the website.

00:30:22.981 --> 00:30:31.112
the biggest part is just like doing all the promotionals and trying to get everyone from Discord, Facebook, the old, anything on our side.

00:30:31.112 --> 00:30:45.085
I remember being so distraught when I was talking to some of the people in Phil's chat and they're like, I thought raids are free, not if you ride the bus, and they were like trash talking us, and it really distraught me.

00:30:45.383 --> 00:30:46.942