TRAINER'S EYE #61 - "Streaming The Pokemon GO Experience" ft. landoralpha

TRAINER'S EYE #61 - LandorAlpha

[00:00:00] David Hernandez: My name is David Hernandez, and you're listening to As the Pokeball Turns.

[00:00:43] Welcome to As the Pokeball Turns, where the stories are real and people still play this game. Live streaming is the streaming of video and audio in real time. The idea of live streaming dates all the way back to 1993, when a band known as Severe Tire Damage performed a gig over a niche network called M Bone. As both time and technology progressed, we eventually met the modern age of YouTube and Twitch, where many people continue to live stream whether it's playing video games, Cooking or even just chatting. The appeal behind live streaming is the immediate access to the creator and the connection that is built through streaming between fan and the creator. Many people enjoy the idea of creating or participating in a community that they can connect with whether it's an intimate conversation or one where people are just spamming chat. Just like life, there's a community for everyone when it comes to live streaming. In this episode, my guest shares his interest in live streaming and how he has continued to build a community and improve himself as a content creator with Pokemon Go from Troy, New York here's his origin story into the world of Pokemon Go. This is LandorAlpha.

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[00:01:51] David Hernandez: today, I'm joined by the leader of the Alpha Squad LandorAlpha. LandorAlpha, welcome to the show.

[00:01:56] LandorAlpha: Hey, David, good to be here, man. How you doing today?

[00:01:59] David Hernandez: Oh, I'm doing pretty good, my friend. How about yourself?

[00:02:02] LandorAlpha: Not too bad, ready for the weekend, full of shiny hunting for Pokemon Go. 

[00:02:07] David Hernandez: is that kind of your favorite way to play Pokemon and play Pokemon Go?

[00:02:11] LandorAlpha: Yeah, I find myself to be more of a shiny hunter. I know there's a lot of people that like to, collect hundos, or nundos, or shundos if they're really good at the game. Um,  I'm someone that likes to go after shinies, so for those who happen to be watching, it might be a little bit newer shiny Pokemon is essentially like a color variant that happens to be a bit more rare than the run of the mill. version of that Pokemon you may find within the game. So, it might be, just, color variants, uh, as far as, uh, the average person's concerned. But for me, it's like the thrill of the hunt, like actually going out there and being able to share my experience with my audience, whether it's live or recorded and I find a lot of joy in bringing that to my audience.

[00:02:49] David Hernandez: is it because of Pokemon Go that you started shiny hunting? Or did that come from the main series as well?

[00:02:53] LandorAlpha: that's a great question. So I actually never really started shiny hunting until Pokemon Go. Uh, my Pokemon experience began with Pokemon Blue and Really shinies weren't around back then technically they were, but that's a whole other conversation for another podcast I'm sure, 

[00:03:11] David Hernandez: No, Go for it. Dive into it,

[00:03:12] LandorAlpha: Okay, fair enough, so, the way shinies technically worked back then is you had to look for a certain stat combination And you still couldn't see the shiny within the game because you're playing on a monochrome game boy So you wouldn't be able to tell anyway So you had to trade it to like a different game in order to see it, uh, assuming it was on Game Boy Color or whatever, uh, in order to see the, the color variation. back then, that's when my journey began to play Pokemon Blue, backwards, forwards, inside, out, level 100 Charizard, all that fun stuff. Um, and then, uh, I kind of dropped out of Pokemon for a while, mostly because I got my, game taken away from me because, you know, my parents had alternate views on Pokemon as many parents did back then concerning, uh, if it was good for their kids or not. so I was out of the game for like a long time until, Pokemon Y, so that would be Gen 6 that we're coming back to. So I was out of the game for a long time. Bought that game in and played it all the way through, had a blast with it. And I actually got traded my first ever shiny Pokemon In that game, and it was actually a Noivern, now whether or not it was actually ginned or not, I don't know, I don't know if it was legitimate, but the fact I got him like, hey, that looks kind of funny, what's that star symbol on that screen, and I was like, oh, it's a shiny, oh, okay, well, uh, that's something, I guess, and then from there I went on to play Pokemon Sun, then we had, uh, uh,  Omega Ruby, Alpha Sapphire, which were went on to really get into like my streaming career, if you want to call that, when I started playing Let's Go Pikachu, and that's where I really, in combination, of course, with Pokemon Go, really started really getting into the shiny hunting between those two games, seeing how both of those games actually communicate with each other if you're trading From or transferring Pokemon from, Pokemon Go to, uh, Let's Go Pikachu. You're able to send only Gen 1 Pokemon, including Meltan and Melmetal, which is kind of odd how that worked, but... Okay, sure, why not? Let's, uh, let's transfer them over. Heck yeah. So, um, Pokemon Go, largely my first time really getting into Shiny hunting within the Pokemon franchise, and that's something that I've come to enjoy, that's where I found, part of my drive to play the game, and it continues to be fun for me. 

[00:05:23] David Hernandez: You mentioned how when you played Pokemon Blue, it sounds like you played it very dedicatedly, and your parents were against it. What was it like for you to have to grow up and not be able to kind of indulge with the love of Pokemon like what was that like for you?

[00:05:35] LandorAlpha: So, it was more like, kind of being like on the outside looking in, I, so having it taken away from me, I didn't really... Other than, you know, initially like being upset about and trying to fight it, uh, it kind of just stopped there as far as like my resistance to it. So, I didn't really have like anywhere else to turn to, like, there wasn't YouTube back then in order to be able to watch someone else playing the game. So, I might see, like, friends playing Pokemon or whatever. But I knew that I couldn't play. I did not have access to it because my parents said no. So, my interest in Pokemon kind of just, you know, fell away. I would see, like, commercials on TV on occasion for new Pokemon TCG sets coming out or new Pokemon games coming out, but, largely, that was it until I would say... Maybe around 2008 or so. I finally got to explore the internet really for myself. I started live streaming all the way back in 2008 before it was... The way it is now in, in the current landscape is, and back then we had Ustream. We had Livestream, which is still actually around, uh, to this day. It's more of like a corporate kind of thing now. And we also had Justin. tv, which today is now known as Twitch. So, I was on those platforms simulcasting, uh, to those different, uh, livestreaming platforms at the same time. I had my own YouTube channel back then, which, uh, is the same channel I use now, but a lot of those videos are just not available anymore because had a shift in interest. But back then I was doing... tech related stuff, tech reviews, news videos, I had my own podcast network with, uh, friends of mine, we had several different shows running on it, and it was a lot of fun, I had a lot of inspiration from the likes of Leo Laporte with, uh, This Week in Tech, um, Chris Pirillo, who, uh, he kinda changed up how he does things these days, but he's still around, he doesn't really operate, his podcasting and The way he did back then, but these were folks who were like on the forefront of like 24 hour live streaming whether it was just, recording whatever they recorded for like YouTube and then just left the camera on for like a 24 hour, 7 stream and It was kind of like a, uh, inside look to like someone else's world, right? Or this week in tech with, uh, Leo Laporte, they would live record their shows on their network And then they would play older shows and reruns. So it was was like a TV network, but on the internet So that was like unheard of and now it's something that's more of like, uh, I wouldn't say it's an everyday occurrence But it's a lot easier to achieve something like that now and, uh, that kind of thing inspired me to do my own thing And to involve some of my friends, to create a platform like that and I did that for a while until I went to college, uh, after I graduated high school in 2009 and I kind of fell off from some of that stuff because I was focused on school and then I got married in 2013. After that is when I started coming back into, uh, live streaming on YouTube. Pokemon Go came out in 2016. I didn't start making content for it right away. It took until, early 2018 when I came back. into like, content creating, making vlogs about my Pokemon Go journey. and that's kind of where the, the love of content creating for Pokemon Go began.

[00:08:30] And it continues to this day with, uh, what I have going on, uh, on all the different social media platforms I have a presence on.

[00:08:36] David Hernandez: Hey, you stay busy, man. I see all your stuff. And I'm like, how the hell does he do it? Man,

[00:08:40] LandorAlpha: I'm wondering that myself.

[00:08:44] David Hernandez: Now, what's interesting though, is you mentioned how you, you started, you stream before Twitch was even a thing. And even, I think about 2008, I only think streaming, I mean, I think of YouTube, YouTube wasn't to the point where people were thinking about being content creators, there's a lot of people who just fell into it. What was it about the streaming platform that really interested you back then, and even now, like, why do you like to stream?

[00:09:06] LandorAlpha: I think having, uh, Access to, uh, people who are located all over the world. I think that's probably one of the coolest things about being able to stream live and interact with people in real time. I've had the privilege and the honor to be able to stream and create content for people from all over the world, I even had someone recently at TikTok saying that they were watching from Mongolia. I'm like, Mongolia?

[00:09:28] David Hernandez: the actual country, or the actual

[00:09:30] LandorAlpha: The actual country? You're like... Really? I mean, it's not like, I know you guys have like, internet and like, electricity there, but I'm like, that's what I'm saying, it's like, places like that, I would never have dreamed I've been able to reach people from, without having a live platform like that, and, I, I find it really cool to have like, an exchange of conversation, ideas, and things like that while on a live medium, uh, and I know for the longest time I was more or less like locked down here in like this kind of a four wall office space, in my younger years and even when I was older because I hadn't like considered, you know, IRL streaming or things like that. when Pokemon Go first came out, IRL streaming was like, Not like it's infancy, but very few people were doing it. It was very cost prohibitive and 

[00:10:12] David Hernandez: niche,

[00:10:12] LandorAlpha: very, very niche, yeah, absolutely. And so I was at home like everyone else was, just streaming, making videos and stuff like that and I was very happy with being able to meet people from all over the place and just be able to, converse with them and just get to know a little bit about each person and just building a community that way.

[00:10:31] David Hernandez: We come back to Gen 6, which was X and Y. Around the same time, Pokemon Go comes out. I'm guessing they probably, maybe were back to back, depending on which one you started first. When you came to Pokemon Go, what was it like to play? Like, where did you go? Did you play day one?

[00:10:46] LandorAlpha: I have a day one account, yeah. I was at work when the game dropped. And I was like, oh, it's live, let's go. And then, you know, I download it and I'm pretty sure I first fired up the game while I was at work. I don't have any specific clear memories of like, what I did exactly when the game first launched, I just remember like, where I was. it was a Wednesday, I'm pretty sure it was a Wednesday. July 6th, 2016, I think it was a Wednesday. someone can check me on that.

[00:11:13] David Hernandez: I'm not gonna fact check

[00:11:14] LandorAlpha: That's okay.

[00:11:15] David Hernandez: Although this episode will drop on a Wednesday,

[00:11:17] LandorAlpha: Hey, look at that! It does come full circle, I love that. Um, and I just remember this opening game, I'm like, Oh my god, I can, like, take Pokemon with me. And that, like, I couldn't before, but, It was contained within, like, a game cartridge, With, like, a Game Boy, or, or something like that, Or a 3DS at that point, I would suppose. But, um, we are out here, with our phones, Playing Pokemon Go, in the real world, For the first time ever. And... That just stuck with me, uh, for some reason. I just, I just found that really fascinating. I remember going to local parks and, you know, chasing down, unfortunately, too many Pidgey were in the game back then. So it's probably a lot of what I caught at that time.

[00:11:55] David Hernandez: yeah. There are Pidgey Farms

[00:11:57] LandorAlpha: Pidgey farms everywhere, but you had the, the rare Dragonite spawning, the Snorlaxes, you had the, the Kanto starters, and, you know, Pikachu of course was, was out there as well. And just, I mean, what's Pokemon without the mascot, right, that'd be kind of

[00:12:12] David Hernandez: Oh, I like how you separated Pikachu from the Kanto starters. It's like there's levels to the Kanto

[00:12:15] LandorAlpha: There are, there are levels, and Pikachu's like in a class of its own, I mean, look at how many costume variants there are of Pikachu at this point, it's, it's, it's mind boggling. But, Just being able to get out and see other people walk around with their faces in their, their phones. Just, you know, swiping their phone screen, trying to catch whatever's on the screen and just having a good time. It was like, I know a lot of people make this like reference, but it's like for the first time in like a really long time. It's like the closest like we've ever been to achieving world peace, even though in, in of itself playing Pokemon Go it's actually pretty chaotic. People... Are playing while they're driving and doing a lot of things that they probably should have been doing and causing chaos

[00:12:52] David Hernandez: you

[00:12:53] LandorAlpha: Exactly. If you know, you know, that's why we have you know speed locks in the game now It's a lot That's why we have a lot of things that we have to kind of abide by in order to have a safe pokemon go experience But that time in the world it was like an eye opening like a brand new adventure unfolding and Unbeknownst to me at the time, a whole adventure was opening up for me as a What would have been a future content creator at that point? And the places i've been able to travel and the people building me in and uh all the cool opportunities i've had. Um, Had I known back then what I know now It's a good thing. I probably didn't I probably would have been too intimidated to uh to do anything But because I I think of the character when I say character development and Look at me talk about myself like I'm a TV show character or something, but my own personal character development between, uh, you know, the beginning of Pokémon GO and now, a stark, vast difference. I can go back to old livestreams of myself, and I go and see how I talked and interacted with viewers, I was a lot more, quiet and reserved. And now due to the content that I make and all the talking that I do on live streams and interviews, like on podcasts like this, I have been able to practice my communication skills, my, my interaction skills, social skills and at GoFest in London and in New York City having been able to meet so many people, uh, having those kinds of social skills and, um, communication skills has gone a long way to be able to interact with the, the community and also convey my sincere appreciation for those who Follow me this whole time who have interacted with my content and to just, meet people who just want to like take a photo and they're like, Oh man, I've been watching your streams and I love your TikToks and this, that and the other. The fact that, like, real people are out there, like, watching my stuff, interacting with it, and then we get to meet, it's like, that full circle moment, going from a moment where I'm making something, like, I don't know if anyone's gonna watch this, or if they're gonna like it, and then Going back to a moment like there, where I'm hearing exactly how much they enjoyed it, and that they've been following me for however long they've been around, it's just, It's mind blowing. It's, it's really,  it's really An incredible feeling, to have been able to bring, what I'm able to give to the community from my content, from my, my presence, and blessing someone's day. Maybe, you know, picking their mood up a little bit if they're having a down day or helping their game skills or helping them, uh, know a little bit more about what's happening within the Pokemon GO landscape, I want to do more of it. It drives me to do more, it drives me to want to be a better content creator, to be a better communicator, to constantly keep pushing the envelope for what I can bring as far as being a creative to the Pokemon GO landscape.

[00:15:27] David Hernandez: You mentioned how there's people all over the world who know who you are now. It's pretty mind boggling. It's pretty humbling. What does it mean for you to have that idea that people are really invested in your journey as a Pokemon trainer, and they really want to keep up to date based on whatever, say a Tik Tok or stuff you post on Twitter, like what does it feel like to have that around you?

[00:15:45] LandorAlpha: You said the right word, it's it's very humbling to Know that there are people out there rooting for me that want to see me succeed, that want to be a part of what I'm doing if they, you know, become like a, a financial supporter, or if they are just giving some of their time to watching me on whichever platform I happen to be making content on even on platforms like YouTube, where people who are just swiping through, one video after another after another with the short speed and they happen to land on my video and give even a few seconds of their day to leave a comment, even if it's... Them not, not liking what the video might be about.

[00:16:21] Even if it's something like that, like you took the time to interact with the video, still it was worth your time

[00:16:27] David Hernandez: Apparently I left some kind of

[00:16:28] LandorAlpha: Yeah, exactly. It was worth your time to leave. some sort of a reaction. I'm like, cool. I try to leave, uh, a kind of a comment to kind of interact with it. And sometimes it might be the, the troll a little bit too, sometimes that also helps with, a little bit of, uh, interaction too. I typically, not the, the troll kind of guy, unless they're

[00:16:43] David Hernandez: You call it trolling. I call it therapy.

[00:16:45] LandorAlpha: exactly, exactly. And, um, just having people who interact with my content, who, bother to drop a line. It helps me want to be better at what I do, to bring more, to Listen a little bit more attentively to the community with what they are thinking and feeling about any given particular thing that might be happening within the game. I know, uh, Hot Topic still happen to be the prices of Remote Ray Pass and Limits, and in other things that, some people may not have the best feelings about within Pokemon Go. I try to do my best to help convey what the, the thoughts might be behind. Niantic's actions when it comes to changes that are being made in the game. And I try to help people think a little bit, subjectively. instead of, uh, you know, just focus your lens on what could be happening more so around you, not so much about what you think or feel. Even though, yes, that's important. Like, what could be happening in a broader landscape that might lead to Decisions that are being made that you may not necessarily like But might make sense in a different way that you might not be thinking about so helping shift people's perspectives I don't not a force shift, but just helping people think a little bit more critically not so much critically as in like being upset about something But just really thinking about why something is the way it is and what the purpose might be behind it.

[00:18:01] David Hernandez: So going back to playing Pokemon go, what is it like to play Pokemon Go in your area? Like, where do people go for like, say, a Community Day, say, for a raid hour? Like, where do people go for where you're from?

[00:18:10] LandorAlpha: So, I am from upstate New York, and for those that are not from New York, um, it is a very divisive topic, uh, where upstate ends and begins, and what is considered downstate, and it's a whole thing when it comes to living in New York State, my fellow New Yorkers will know a little bit about that if they happen to be listening, um, but, for like, perspective on where I live, I am 159 miles north of New York City. So I'm in what is considered the capital region of New York. I am roughly more or less 10 miles outside of Albany, New York, which is the capital of New York State. I live in a city called Troy, New York. I do spend some of my time streaming and creating content in Troy, but I do spend a lot of time in Albany in the capital city itself, uh, creating content and streaming as well. as far as where people like to play events, it really depends on, uh, what event we're talking about. If we're talking like a raid hour or a community day, largely, you'll find a lot of people at a park called the crossings in Colony, New York and where Colony is, uh, situated compared to Albany, it is probably a similar distance away from where I live compared to Albany. So, seven to ten miles away. Um,  Colony is considered, from what I remember, the second largest town in the United States, uh, in square mileage. Uh, the amount of area it occupies. It's very large. It's, uh, divided into several different areas. Uh, there's hamlets and there's villages that all comprise the town, but the crossings there is a beautiful park, at this point it has... Roughly 15 gyms, which compared to back when I was there a lot pre pandemic. Way more than there was back then. That place is hopping now. Teeming with Pokestops is a very popular place for a lot of the locals to go and play, Community Day or Raid Hour even. there's some people around that like to do raid trains more or less for raid days or even for uh, raid hours. We were doing that kind of thing back then. How it is right now, I'm not entirely sure. I don't play at that park as much as I used to. in terms of streaming, it's kind of hard to deliver the best quality stream I can from there due to where the park is situated, cell service is kind of funny there. While I have more than one mobile service provider I use for streaming by phone, I have on Verizon one carrier, so it's one network I'm on and just about any service acts kind of buggy there. I'm not sure why, if there's iron deposits or whatever, um, but you would think that a park close to the airport, you would think that a park close to the airport would actually have pretty decent cell service. It's kind of weird, but.

[00:20:31] David Hernandez: You think

[00:20:31] LandorAlpha: Yeah, yeah, but um, that's where a lot of people like to play. There's a big community up in Saratoga Springs, New York as well. Where I'm playing in Albany, I usually play at a spot called the Empire State Plaza. That is largely like the seat of the New York State Government. It's a large public government complex where there's a plaza level where there's outside art sculptures and reflecting pools and water fountains and, places to sit and relax and enjoy the breeze. It's like, the place is like designed to be like windy, so it's usually pretty breezy in that area. flanked on other sides are agency buildings, which would be different departments, uh, within New York State that have a presence. but I like to go there, one, because it is flooded with Pokestops, it's Pokestops all over the place. It's, uh, a really fantastic place to play community day, in my opinion. Not a lot of people tend to play there for Comm Day I do see people that do play there. It's not really a, uh, hopping spot at the moment, like it was pre pandemic again, you know, that changed the landscape for the game as, well as a lot of other things that, we know and love in life. Um,

[00:21:30] David Hernandez: Is it kind of like a hole in the wall place where people don't know about it, but those who know knows it's a good spot?

[00:21:34] LandorAlpha: You know, you would think a big place like that wouldn't be so much of a hole in the wall. It's a very open public space. But it kind of feels that way. It feels like it is a little bit of a, well kept secret. But it really, it's, it's right there. Downtown Albany, that area, there's lots of Pokestops all over. Dense place to play Pokemon Go and get a lot of game time out of it. Especially if you're doing like a hatch day or a research day where you are more or less dependent on Pokestops.

[00:21:58] David Hernandez: You've been listening to As the Pokeball Turns. We're gonna take a quick break. We'll be right back.

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[00:22:48] David Hernandez: So you started content creation. your first YouTube video was around 2018 and I'm assuming that's probably when you started your content creation for Pokemon Go

[00:22:56] LandorAlpha: Yes, um, I want to say 2018 was the first video. There's a chance that there was something from 2017 that may, maybe not be public anymore, but late 2017, early 2018. is when I started dabbling into the Pokemon Go space. Back then, obviously we had, you know, who would be the Pokemon Go titans now for content creation Trainer Tips, uh, Mystic7 largely was who I was watching. Then you had some more people come up on the scene later on. You had, uh, JTGilly, the Trainer Club, uh, Zoe2Dots as well, so, some of them, uh, you know, watched for inspiration and just was like, you know, why can't I share my perspective, uh, uh, from my own adventures in Pokémon GO with everyone else? who's to say that someone from Albany Couldn't, you know, make it within the content creation space, right?

[00:23:40] David Hernandez: Was it that desire to maybe show off your areas? What led you to content creation or was there something else?

[00:23:45] LandorAlpha: Showing off the area was a part of it, but I, I just felt like it was something that I, I needed to do. I was not unfamiliar with, content creation at that point, but as far as having a camera in hand and taking out and sharing what I'm doing with other people, that was a little bit of a different take on being a content creator at that time. And even back then, obviously for YouTube at large, that was a pretty common thing. You had Casey Neistat, who even to this day is still making content. Other content creators who either have come and gone, who have done that, you know, vlog style of content creating, that was like the thing back then, that was hot. Right? It didn't start back then, but it was like during the peak, maybe starting like the downturn like, people are still vlogging these days, obviously, but it's not like what the true meta is for content creation these days. MrBeast has a pretty tight grasp around what currently, uh, is the meta. He kind of controls, uh, The vertical and the horizontal for, for the YouTube space at this time. But back then camera in hand was the way to go. So I just felt like that was something that I should be doing. Now, whether or not that was leading to what I'm ultimately going to be doing in the future, I can't say that so much right now because, you know, my content creating journey is still unfolding, we'll see where things go. But it has led me to the point where I'm at now with the content I'm creating now on the different platforms I'm on. I specialize largely in live and short form content. And I do want to bring that more so to the long form content space when the time is right. These steps I have taken in my content creator journey have led me to where I'm at now, to creating the content I've been creating, to reaching the people I have been reaching, and making the connections that I have made that have landed me in the position I am in right now. 

[00:25:26] David Hernandez: In your opinion, like how has short form content , taking over your content creation, what do you like about it compared to long form content? I

[00:25:32] LandorAlpha: So, having done some long form content before, I viewed short form as a challenge. Because it's having to condense an idea into such a short amount of time into a small package that is interesting enough to hook somebody within the first few seconds to keep their attention for as much of the video as you can possibly keep them for. I like that challenge and that's what I decided to go for. I wanted to take on that challenge to see if I can pull it off and I think I'm doing pretty good at it so far. I think I've,

[00:26:04] David Hernandez: think you're doing pretty good, Mmm.

[00:26:04] LandorAlpha: Yeah, I, I, I think I've been able to figure it out, and, and I'm enjoying that process so far, it's even more challenging with more and more people coming into the space, whether they're in the Pokemon Go niche, or whatever else that they're doing. and I'm going to continue to do it, but I also am wanting to see what else I can do, but at the same time I have to keep in mind I'm only one person with a finite amount of energy per day, finite amount of time per day, so not trying to, Overdo it, which I'm bad at, I'm very bad at overdoing it because I over, I've overdone it a lot and I continue to do it, but trying to, you know, take it one day at a time, try to better manage my time, my energy, myself. I'm being challenged in more than one area, more so than just content, it's also focusing on myself to making sure that, I'm being the best content creator I can be, being the best person I can be, while I'm in the content creation space. Cause I'm not doing this alone. Uh, yes, I may be the creator, but I'm also married. So I am married. I have a full time job. So I have a wife who depends on me. I have a company who, who depends on me. I'm being paid for my time and working there. And then whatever time I have available outside of work and other commitments, I'm putting towards making this content and brainstorming, Conceptualizing things, editing, filming, all that stuff is being done, outside of my, my work hours trying to bring content to the, the masses and, and, uh, trying to share my love of Pokemon Go, my Pokemon Go journey, and also tips, tricks, news, and all that fun stuff to everyone out there. We always have something fighting and demanding our time whether it's, you know, a partner, a spouse or a job, whatever, whatever the case might be, lots of different things going on, especially when you're like sick and you like, Really can't put forth your best effort and it really sucks when that happens. And it's just really coming to grips with what we're able to do. How, how human am I? What, what is my limit? And how can I do what I do without pushing past the limit and hurting myself or someone else in the long run with this journey I'm on for content creation. it's a lot to think about, it's a lot to consider, which is why I would highly suggest for, for anyone listening, if you're in the content creation space, or if you're considering entering the space, make sure you approach it, approach it very methodically. Approach it carefully, have a plan. do your best to try to have a schedule for your, for your content, for your pre production for content. If you've never heard of the word pre production before, start considering that. Uh, we're talking about writing ideas down, we're talking about scripting, we're talking About gathering assets for your videos, like, don't, like, sit there at your camera press record and you're like, I don't know what I'm gonna say next. Having a script is very good for, uh, these moments. You'll have words to read. Even if you look at it on your screen for a second and you try to memorize that bit, And then you blurt it out, and then you gotta do, like, a jump cut because you can't memorize long phrases or multiple sentences or whatever, whatever you got to do to help your dream to make it easier like do what you can to make your your journey as easy as possible because time is limited. We only have a limited amount of time to do what you can do each and every day and you want to make sure you're making the most of your time and You're as structured as you possibly can because the more structured you are in the beginning and you stick with it It'll help you. I can't even tell you how much it'll help you down, down the road. It'll be super helpful, not just for content creating. Maybe you'll be on time for school. You'll be on time for work. I don't know. It might help later on in life. Might just help you be a little bit more structured and more organized. Pre production is super important for a content creator journey. Do not underestimate being prepared before you go and hit that record button.

[00:29:25] David Hernandez: LandorAlpha out here preaching right now, man.

[00:29:29] LandorAlpha: Right?!

[00:29:30] David Hernandez: to stop. I'm like, man, keep going, man. You kind of alluded to it a bit with what you said on how important structure is. Is that kind of how you found yourself to be able to balance, you know, being married, being employed, and trying not to let the content creation suck you too deep to where you kind of neglect those other two?

[00:29:45] LandorAlpha: Boy, that is a question right there. It's because I know the, the truth and the reality of, of being structured. I had to learn how to be structured and I, and I'm not saying it where I'm like, I'm perfect now. I got it all figured out. I don't have it all figured out. I'm still figuring it out for myself. I've had to learn the hard way for some things where, you know, I spent too much time Content creating and not enough time in other areas that were more important. Like, maybe I should have taken the trash out when my wife asked me the first time. Instead of, you know, instead of waiting until the next day or whatever. My point is, like, you gotta make sure you keep things forefront and foremost. Uh, so if you are married, if you have kids, if you have pets, I don't know, whatever your priorities are in life, whatever you have in your life, just make sure you keep real life first. Keep that, keep yourself grounded in that first and then once that is squared away, get to your content, get to your pre production, get to your filming, get to your editing, whatever it is you gotta get to. 

[00:30:41] No, you're not gonna get it right the first time. No, you're not gonna get it perfect. We all make mistakes, we all have those days. But just make sure that you keep what's important first and foremost. That will keep you out of a lot of trouble later on and just take that from me. I've, I've been there, I've done that, I've had issues with, keeping my life structured and organized in the past and it's something I'm working on each and every day to better myself at, to make sure I don't end up in a place like that again. Just, uh, just make sure you prioritize your life. Make sure you know where your priorities are and where your content is. And the rest will fall into place.

[00:31:18] David Hernandez: And with all the wisdom you shared and all the work you've put into your content, it eventually leads you to be featured as a content creator in Hoenn Tour, GoFest London, and GoFest New York City, right? 

[00:31:29] LandorAlpha: Yeah, so, I first, uh, started, uh, my relationship with Niantic back in 2022, but I wasn't, obviously wasn't featured or anything back then. I had the incredible opportunity To have been, uh, invited to be a notable trainer at Hoenn Tour in Las Vegas in person.

[00:31:49] It was incredible to be there. The fact that I had people there who knew me, who flagged me down, who chased me down, were like, hey, Lander Alpha, yeah, I've

[00:32:00] David Hernandez: Oh, 

[00:32:00] LandorAlpha: I've had people chase me down too. And it's like, you're looking for me? this is crazy right now. I, I, I, it's an honor to have even been in a position like that. And then, uh, the meet and greets that we did both days. Being able to shake hands, and, sign autographs, and then even receive gifts. I,  I don't know exactly where they are right now, but I had people give me, like, custom postcards, custom Pokemon cards, stickers or, like, actual, real Pokemon cards like, here, out of the bunch here, take a card. And I'm like, Okay, wow, this is, my mind's blown right now, this, being in that, that position like I was talking earlier, just, it's humbling, it's, it's an honor, a privilege to have been a part of something like that. And you know, I thank the community for coming out and for being there for all of us for meeting us and and hanging out taking photos and all that thank you Niantic for the opportunity to do that as well But to just be an in person event, If you've never been to an in person event before a GoFest a Safari Zone a tour whatever other events there may have been, you're really missing out on the In person aspect of playing Pokemon Go. Yeah, you might have your local communities, right, and you get out there and play Pokemon Go and you have a good time, but being able to go to, like, an event where there's thousands of people just scattered around playing Pokemon Go, little kids shouting that they got a shiny, older adults who you would even think would be interested in Pokemon Go are out there with their little Pikachu visors and, like, with their phones and sometimes even they're with their grandkids having a good time. It's... an incredible sight to see, and I saw that all throughout Hoenn Tour, that was amazing to be there, and that was a fantastic event, even though, you know, a little bit of a hiccup with, like, the cell service, uh, at the beginning of day one, and all that, but the event turned out Great overall and then, uh, being featured in London and New York when I, when I got the message when they, when they asked me like, Hey, uh, you want to be a notable trainer in London? I'm like, excuse me? In London? Where? You want, you want me to go overseas and do this? Okay, sure. Why not? I go to London for GoFest and I'm one of three primarily English speaking content creators featured as myself, Kricket23, and The Trainer Club. two of us were the Americans and then one was, you know, obviously from Australia, but like it was an honor to have been invited to be on a platform like that and to have met so many people and to have met some my European audience. I do have a decent sized audience, uh, probably largely I would say in the UK and then of course scattered to other European countries. But having been able to meet some people from the UK who knew who I was, who I've had lucky trades with for God knows how long and finally been able to fulfill those lucky trades and have some really cool things happen on the spot. it was absolutely incredible to be there and it was just a humbling experience. I had an amazing time exploring London with fellow content creators and friends, uh, having played a Pokemon go at, uh, Brockwell Park or even in London proper. It was a bit of an awestruck kind of moment, just being there, like, wow, I'm here, I get to play Pokemon, I get to catch Mr. Mime, like, actually where Mr. Mime is from, like, the regional Pokemon there, and I, I hatched, like, one, non event 5km egg, and I actually got a Mime Jr. out of it, so I was, Pretty happy about that. So that was cool, too. 

[00:35:13] David Hernandez: No shiny, but close enough. 

[00:35:15] LandorAlpha: I did have someone who traded me their spare shiny mime jr.

[00:35:18] Though, 

[00:35:18] David Hernandez: Oh, wow.

[00:35:19] LandorAlpha: That was nice. I think that was a lucky trade too. So that was pretty cool to have had that happen. It's just a really sparked me a desire to want to travel more to more places to visit them, but to also be able to play Pokemon go and Create content there, you know

[00:35:34] David Hernandez: What places would you like to go visit? Like, do you have some in mind that you're thinking about going to?

[00:35:38] LandorAlpha: So, yes, um, at this point, I don't know anything, uh, officially for sure yet, but there might be a, travel visit to one of the City Safari locations. besides that, oh boy, Japan would probably be one of the biggest locations I would love to visit., I wasn't able to be in Japan, you know, with everyone else for GoFest and for Worlds this time around because of my commitment in London. It was literally that same weekend. it is what it is with that, but uh, everyone looked like they had a great time. I would like to go there someday. Not exactly looking forward to experiencing the heat, the humidity that, uh, they get in Japan that time of year, but you know what, for the memories, right? So I guess I have to do that at least once in my lifetime. other places I would love to go, I think Australia would be, a fun place to go to at some point. Maybe we'll get an official event there, who knows? I think a really cool place to go would be to go to one of the very few locations in China where you can actually technically play Pokemon Go. Because in China, mainland China, not like the autonomous regions, like, you can't play Pokemon Go. Just, there's nothing. Game not allowed. It's the great firewall, you know It would be cool to go to Hong Kong Or I suppose I think Macau is another place where you can actually play it too. A place like that I think would be a really cool place to visit and to also experience Pokemon go Singapore. I hear is a fantastic Location for Pokemon go as well and maybe I don't know crazy idea somewhere in Africa, someday I don't know where I'm not really picky whether it's like Egypt or South Africa or Some other place in between to, to go and play Pokemon I think it would be really cool to be able to visit Africa. I've never been, the closest I've been was, was going to the UK. That's still not close enough, obviously, but as far as geographical terms, it's almost right there. but I would love to go to Africa someday. Never, never visited, never been, but it would be a cool opportunity, if it ever arises to be able to visit that continent.

[00:37:28] David Hernandez: One place I want to go to is I want to go to Antarctica. Antarctica or Japan just to kind of experience, you know, how many people can say they went to Antarctica to play Pokemon Go? Like, that would just be sick to have catch a Pokemon and say, like, hey, I got this from Antarctica and that'd be great. 

[00:37:41] LandorAlpha: I think that'd be freaking amazing to go to Antarctica. I've, I've heard, some talk amongst some creators about wanting to do that. I'm not sure if there's any solid plans to do that. if I could tag along, I wouldn't mind going like, Hey, um, I'm interested. Can I come with you guys? I think it'd be a really cool place to play from as well.

[00:37:59] David Hernandez: Yeah, I don't think there'd be much, but just to be there for probably a day or two and then I'm done cause there's, I mean, there's, I'm pretty sure there's not much to do in that tundra. 

[00:38:06] LandorAlpha: Yeah, unless you're there for like scientific research or if you're a penguin, you know, I suppose you don't have much to do Other than to say that you saw antarctica You got to I guess technically be there by stepping on some ice or something. However, that works I don't know. I don't know how the tourism industry for antarctica is I'm sure someone's figured it out by now though

[00:38:26] David Hernandez: Well LandorAlpha, you've been a great guest. I do have one last question before we close this taco stand.

[00:38:32] LandorAlpha: All right

[00:38:33] David Hernandez: So you said that you really love shiny Pokemon, that's the way you like to play the game.

[00:38:37] LandorAlpha: Yep large and part shiny hunter. Yeah

[00:38:39] David Hernandez: So if you had a team of 6 Pokemon, and they all were shiny, which ones would you pick?

[00:38:44] LandorAlpha: I get this question a lot as far as like what's one of my favorite shiny Pokemon, so I'm gonna have to include, uh, probably just for Brute Force, uh, shiny Obstagoon. Very good shiny and of course, you know, it's a Galarian Pokemon from one of my favorite generations as far as Pokemon games go So we'll take a shiny Obstagoon. For the OGs out there I started with Gen 1 right and Pokemon blue.

[00:39:04] So I think we have to throw in a shiny Charizard in there for shiny Pokemon number two

[00:39:08] David Hernandez: Mm hmm.

[00:39:09] LandorAlpha: Now, let's see for the others. It's gonna get more interesting. We're gonna skip to one of the later generations and go with shiny Greninja Because that's one of my all time favorite Pokemon, and it has a good shiny, matches Charizard a little bit, so that's number three.

[00:39:22] David Hernandez: Black on black, I like it.

[00:39:24] LandorAlpha: Black on black, baby. It's a good color combination. Um,  And then another one, one of my other favorite Pokemon is going to be, uh, Toxtricity. Now, it's, it's not like a crazy looker as far as like the shiny variant of it. It's instead of purple goes like a magenta, which, I don't know. It looks good, it looks good. It's not like a huge jump, but we're gonna go with a shiny Toxtricity. Especially if we can get like a Gigantamax form in there, that would be cool. I don't know how they're gonna work that in Pokemon Go. We'll figure it out someday. It's gonna be number four. one of the Pokemon I like a lot from Galar as well, we're going kind of Galar heavy on this, is, uh, we're gonna get a, a shiny Sirfetch'd in there. I'm a big fan of Galarian Farfetch'd and Sirfetch'd is pretty cool. It has a great shiny, so that's gonna be number five, number six. Now this is where I'm gonna have to think a little bit, um, one of the coolest, uh, Starter Pokemon, in my opinion, I think, was Scorbunny. I won't call it my favorite, but it's definitely one of the coolest.

[00:40:19] But I wouldn't go with Shiny Scorbunny, I'd go with Shiny Reboot, the mid tier evolution, because I don't like Cinderace. Cinderace... Not my jam. Not a big fan of it. The shiny is okay. But I'm gonna go shiny Reboot. Reboot just has like, swag to it, right? He's just like a cool dude. But and then the shiny's not bad either. It's like, it goes like, from like white fur to like gray fur. So I'm gonna put like a shiny Reboot on there in my, uh, number six position.

[00:40:40] David Hernandez: It reminds me of, uh, I like Shiny Pidgeotto, but I don't care for Shiny Pidgeot. I just like the color scheme of what happens with Pidgeot. Just don't care for it. So I can relate on preferring a middle evolution compared to the final one.

[00:40:52] LandorAlpha: Yeah, that's one of the few times you'll actually hear me say that. It's not common.

[00:40:55] David Hernandez: Well, LandorAlpha, that's the show. Thank you for coming on the podcast. Before you do go, if people want to check out your content, if they want to connect with you, where can they go? By all means, please plug away.

[00:41:06] LandorAlpha: Right on. So if you want to check out what I do on the internet, on all the platforms, I'm on, you know, we're talking Twitch, YouTube, Tik TOK, Instagram, Twitter, X, whatever that's called these days, you can go to landoralpha.Tv. I have everything links, what I do on that site right there, you can also find a platform to support me, merch and all that fun stuff, and also a link to like a list of gear that I use to make my IRL streams possible when you do see me streaming IRL outside. Everything that I do, located at landoralpha.Tv, it's like a good one stop place for everyone to be able to check out my content from there.

[00:41:40] David Hernandez: Cool beans. And I'll make sure to include links to everything he said in the description of today's episode.

[00:41:44] Thank you for listening to As the Pokeball Turns. If you want to support the show, consider becoming a patron by either clicking the link in the description or going to patreon.com/asthepokeballturns. Now here's a sneak peek for the next episode of As the Pokeball Turns.

[00:42:01]