TRAINER'S EYE #98 - "A Magikarp Splash" ft. MythicalHitch

TRAINER'S EYE #98 - MythicalHitch
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[00:00:00] 

David Hernandez: Welcome to As the Pokeball Turns, where we interview people about their experience with Pokemon. My name is David Hernandez. Today, I'm joined by a good friend of mine, Mythical Hitch. Hitch, welcome to finally coming on the show.


MythicalHitch: Thank you for the invite. Glad to be here.


David Hernandez: Definitely, and when I was picking out guests, I was like, I need somebody who has experience for post GoFest. And I remember you were on the Wayspotters, and you talked about GoFest with Jamal, and I was like, perfect fit! And we get to talk about New York City, which we just both came back from.

MythicalHitch: Yep, that was post Seattle GoFest. That was a fun time. That was my first in person GoFest. And now it's ready to talk about the new one. Well, let's, let's compare. Let's compare to Seattle, which is your first one in New York, which is the most recent one. What is the difference? What did you like about each one?


Seattle's gameplay area was The park experience was much better. it was set up in a better flow. They had huge, dioramas of different Pokemon and they had different music for each area. like in the dream section, they had clouds that were [00:01:00] up. It was really an interactive experience for everybody and it was all in one park and it was easy to navigate. New York's park, while it was larger, that meant it was more spread out and there's construction right in the middle of it that you have to walk through. last year it was a half hour to get through it, because it was a, bottleneck zone. And this year it wasn't as bad, but it was still a dead zone for 10 minutes of your gameplay time. so Seattle was overall better for the park experience, than New York was, but the city experience in New York was better than the city experience in Seattle, I thought, because Seattle was very hilly.

It was, unless you were going with the hills, you were either going down very steep or going up very steep and it made it hard to play and walk around at the same time, but they were both very good experiences.


David Hernandez: I think both cities realized how, I'm in shape. I'm not because Seattle, I'm not, I wasn't ready for the inclines in New York City. I was in better shape, but the humidity got us for New York City. For sure. It was to play in that humidity.

MythicalHitch: Saturday was bad, which was, most of our [00:02:00] group's gameplay. so it was, I don't know the exact temperatures or the exact humidity percentage, but it was hot and it was wet. It was a really horrible day. But it was fun. Still, the people were with the things we were doing, the memories we were making, it was perfect.

David Hernandez: Yeah, it's something we get to talk for generations when we're in a retirement home and we're all still arguing about the starter and somebody's forgetting their memory, forgetting what they're talking about. It's gonna be something we can talk about. Those kind of memories is what we're talking about right now.

MythicalHitch: Yep, exactly.

David Hernandez: You mentioned how Seattle was your first GO Fest ever. What made you want to go to that one? Why is that one your first one? Did you start playing the game recently or?

MythicalHitch: Well, I actually started week one. Um, I was living in Chicago. I started it and it was right before I moved back from Chicago to central Iowa, and I just put the game down and forgot about it for a couple of years. I met my wife, who at the time I was dating when we got, when I got back here and COVID had hit and we were trying to figure out ways to get more mobile and do more, physical activity because stuff's closed.

[00:03:00] Nobody's out doing anything. we just thought we'd pick up some Pokemon Go and get some walking in while playing. that was right before Ghastly Comm Day. We didn't even know what a spotlight hour was. So on a Tuesday, I looked at my phone and I was like, why are zoo bats everywhere? It was a zoo bat, spotlight hour. Eventually, I started listening to podcasts and found, lured up and became part of their community and on their discord and, was invited to go to Philly for the remake, And that was my first ever in person, interview stayed with, I don't know, there was eight or 10 of us in an Airbnb there.

And I just, I absolutely loved it. so when the next opportunity was the following GoFest and was Seattle and it was a no brainer. Like I told, Steph at the time was my fiance and we hadn't got married yet, but it was like, we're going to this, you know, this is going to happen. And she was like 100 percent on board.

So we went and never looked back. We've gone to every. GoFestSense, so she didn't make it this year because she just changed jobs, but I guess I've made it to every one.[00:04:00] 

David Hernandez: I guess it sounds like she at least understood why you want to go. It's like some people like, why do you want to go play Pokemon go? But you and your wife, do y'all play together and go to, usually go to these events together?

MythicalHitch: absolutely. Um, she didn't go to Philly, but then she went to Seattle with all of us, and she went to New York last year with all of us, and she would have been in New York. I had everything, paid for for her, but she got a new job the week before GoFest, and it's not exactly, hey, I'm going to take a whole week off, I know I just started, so that wasn't on the cards.

David Hernandez: Yep. 

You talked about how y'all played, you started playing the game again in 2020 during, you know, lockdowns pandemic. That's kind of the situation. Yeah. Why Pokemon Go of all things, during that time period?


MythicalHitch: She had friends that had talked about it just for helping him move around. And she brought it up to me and I was kind of like, I played that before, you know, maybe, and then, I was working overnights at the time and she was at work and I was like, okay, I'm going to download this and try it. And as soon as I redownloaded it, um, I couldn't remember my, my logins or anything like that, so I just started a new account. but I just [00:05:00] dove right in headfirst and never looked back. And then she was like, two days later, she's like, what are you playing? I told her, she's like, Oh, you started without me. And she dove right in then. And we, uh, we've been playing ever since.

David Hernandez: What do y'all, you said, I know we talked about how you and your wife play together. Do y'all like walk in parks? Do y'all grind together? Like, what play style look like for Pokemon Go?

MythicalHitch: Well, when I lived in Ames, Iowa, that's where Iowa state university is. we have two really heavily densely populated areas for the game. Campus town, just full of artwork and statues and dorm rooms and everything that's. be nominated, has been nominated. Um, there's a guy in our community named Mr.

The Awesome. He's just covered the whole city with just stops. He's making gyms. He's making spins. He's, he's got the campus town covered and he's got our downtown covered. our downtown is basically, I got four block wide by seven block wide area. And there was no place in New York that I [00:06:00] saw that was as dense as that section is.

our community days and raid hours, put New York to shame. when I was back in Ames, that was just, it's so densely populated. Everything that can be nominated has been, um,

David Hernandez: saying is GoFest should happen in Ames, Iowa next year?

MythicalHitch: if they had the infrastructure to hold 300, 000, 400, 000, whatever the number of people is, absolutely. It's, it's just, I, I didn't believe it, I was telling everybody at the Airbnb we stayed at, I'll have to get a picture and pass it along. It's definitely more densely populated than any place we went to in New York.

more gyms, more spins, but enough room where they're not getting in your way from clicking on the Pokémon. You'll have to try and catch them, so.

David Hernandez: I mean, I wouldn't mind going further north. I mean, I'm game, you know, I mean, if Roswell can hold that, uh, area 21 way back in a couple of days, I don't see why I will do a go fest. Like let's, make it happen.

MythicalHitch: Exactly, even, like, It would be perfect, but there's so many places in the Midwest that would make it easier for everybody to travel. Kansas City, [00:07:00] Branson, St. Louis, there's lots of them. 

David Hernandez: Before Pokemon Go, did you have any experience with Pokemon, or is Pokemon Go your

MythicalHitch: Oh, no, absolutely was one of, I was invested since, uh, the day that Japanese cards arrived at our local card shop at Ames called Mayhem. I was

David Hernandez: ha ha

MythicalHitch: 13 years old when I showed up, I was mowing lawns and shoveling snow to buy cards. I didn't know what they said. I just liked the pictures. And, um, then they, they showed up in English and I was hooked.


Set one on, I played magic. Um, I played another game called nightmare. Tomb Raider had a game, Major League Baseball had a game. I played card games well before Pokemon came out. So it just, got to the anime side of me, I guess, when I saw those.

David Hernandez: Did you dive into playing the Pokemon TCG, or are you mostly a collector?

MythicalHitch: I, I did play for a long time. Um, then I turned into a collector, then I turned back into a player and now I don't do anything with the cards. Um, me and my wife got pretty big into it and COVID and we realized, We were just sinking money into it, and we weren't playing the game, so we stopped completely.

no [00:08:00] more shiny, cardboard for us.

David Hernandez: ha! This game wore a shining cardboard for everybody else, I suppose.

MythicalHitch: exactly. I have tons of if anybody wants any, let me know. I've got some for you.

David Hernandez: Was it about The Pokémon TCG specifically, That you liked playing it as a card player? Compared to like, say, a magic. 

MythicalHitch: Ease of entry. A young kid can pick it up and understand the basics in five minutes. And an adult can pick it up and understand the intricacies in five minutes. So it's, everybody can get in and play at a different level, but still play the same game together. magic, while you can pick up some of the basics right away.

it's a lot more in depth and there's way more cards that can be used and way more mechanics that can be used. And it's just not as ease of, ease of use for everybody, ease of access. So just a very fun game for everybody pretty much.. 

David Hernandez: Did you ever, uh, play any of the main series games at all?

MythicalHitch: Yes. I started with, green.

David Hernandez: Really? Actual Green?

MythicalHitch: had one ordered in from my, my local store, again, Mayhem. and they have [00:09:00] everything Japanese game related in anime and whatnot. and then again, I was playing the game without knowing what I was reading.

but then I got, read when it came out in English and then I understood what I was doing prior to that. So I knew what my mistakes were and whatnot at that point.

David Hernandez: Did you keep up with Pokemon throughout as they continue to release more generations or did you come at a stopping point at some point?

MythicalHitch: Oh no, I've never stopped. between cards, main series games, Pokemon Go, the dungeon games, all the ones that aren't main series, I've always been into it, in some way or another. my dad always likes to make fun of me because twice he had to pick me up from the comic shop because my car got towed when I was in high school and I was

David Hernandez: They got toad?

MythicalHitch: I was illegally parked by comic shop to get into an event or whatever. I'd come out and my car would be towed and he'd have to come get me.

David Hernandez: Oh my gosh, that's hilarious, yeah, because usually there wasn't many parking spots with comic shops, so you kind of have to,

MythicalHitch: Yep. Not on campus. It was on campus too. So specific spots for different businesses. And I would always just pull into the first open spot [00:10:00] and be like, Oh, I'll be gone before it's a problem. And my car be gone and made it a problem.

David Hernandez: Well let me ask you this, so what is like your favorite generation of games for

MythicalHitch: Oh, Canto, favored everything. Gen one for cards, for games, for the anime, 

David Hernandez: What is it about the Gen 1 games out of every other that you just enjoy? Is it the simplicity or is it just nostalgia?

MythicalHitch: the classic feel. one of my buddy's dads growing up with, I had a big Koi pond and I always felt a draw to them. Like I loved them right away. And then I was playing the game and I saw this dumb, weak Koi flopping around. And it was Magikarp, became my favorite immediately. It's been my favorite ever since, and, I always liked Gengar, just the way that he was laughing at everything he did.

He was playing pranks on people, and it just, those two just cemented into me right away. And then I just ended up loving all of them for their little quirks, all the different Pokemon in Gen 1.

David Hernandez: You know, that's a good point because I feel like I have more personality memories with [00:11:00] Pokemon from first generation. Compared to the later ones, I really don't develop the personality. They're kind of all the same.

MythicalHitch: Yeah, absolutely. It does. Cause I think I had a conversation, with somebody about this recently about how the newer games, you just kind of blast through and try and finish the decks. You're not worried about the story. You're complaining about different, graphical issues and how stuff's not going as smoothly.

And back then you just wanted to read the story. You wanted to catch all the Pokemon. You wanted to beat the Elite Four. You wanted to do everything you could right away to actually do all of the game, and now it's just get to the end. And I want to complete my deck so I can get better shiny odds.


Commercial Break
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David Hernandez: Now, I know we, as you said, Magikarp's your favorite Pokemon. You have a very extensive collection of Magikarp, right?

MythicalHitch: Not as extensive as I thought it was once everybody started reminding me about the shadows and all that. I have those saved. but I have, the Hundos are the male and female Magikarp, the male and female Gyarados. They're all level 51 best buddied. I don't have the Shtundos yet. I haven't been lucky enough to get the shiny Hundos.

and I don't have the Hundos of the, [00:12:00] Shadows. I also have the Nundos of Male and Female Magikarp and the Male Gyarados. I don't have the Female Gyarados Nundo yet.

David Hernandez: Oh my gosh, that's some dedication right there.

MythicalHitch: it's, it's all, it's all been luck of the draw. I've had two called out in our local community in the Discord that I went got.

They were doubles, they weren't new to my decks. The rest of them have all been through trading for some of the Hundos or through random encounters that ended up turn, becoming 100 percent catches.

David Hernandez: I think that's also one of my favorite memories from uh, New York City. 'cause I remember I traded you my first ever REOs to you, cause I always wanted go it to go to good home. And I'm like, I'm never gonna use it. I'd rather go to somebody who appreciated it and then I was like, oh, I wanna give this a hitch.

And it took, it turned a hundo, turned a lucky hundo. And I'm like, yes. It lives on.

MythicalHitch: That was my ninth Hundo Magic Harper Gyarados. That was a, a good one. I couldn't believe I, everybody started cheering and like clapping and laughing about it, it was just, it was perfect.

David Hernandez: But that house was cracked though. We got so many hundos in that

MythicalHitch: Yeah.

David Hernandez: [00:13:00] I got, I think I got a hundo unknown or something from Saramanda. It was crazy.

MythicalHitch: And Saramanda got a lucky Hundo of, the orange full baby Hondo from a random trade. I got the slender Zorora from, Scipio blue, then.

Raver, uh, Casa de Cubón gave me the shiny lucky hundo of the French form, Furfrou. and I know there are other hundos, I'm gonna forget. Oh, Cubón and, um, Adam from Special Conditions and Lured Up did a trade on their way in, and they got the double lucky hundo, or the double, yeah, lucky hundo trade.

They both got the hundo from the same trade.

David Hernandez: That's crazy. I love how the memories like we talk about the traits, but there's just so much memories tied to what we do in that, small area. that's what I enjoyed most about GoFest is it brought us all together. We're all, we really didn't know each other. Some of us knew each other, but it's like, it gives us time to really have that in person experience.

MythicalHitch: form, a physical bond instead of, what we're doing right now. Uh, two faces over the computer screen bond.

David Hernandez: You know, where are your hopes to for GoFest? Like if [00:14:00] somebody's on the fence about it, what would you tell them?

MythicalHitch: I would say, to reach out to people that have been there, to get a feel for what it's gonna be like, because everybody's gonna have a different experience, hear what people loved about it, what people didn't, and kind of take it all in.

Um, and then make your decision. And just, if you decide to do it, just hop in with both feet. Go ahead first. Just do whatever you need to do and go. It is so much fun. we had. Nothing but good experiences with people we knew, people we didn't know, with locals. Uh, everybody wondering why we were all staring at our phones with cords attached to our hips.

Like, what was going on? It was just fun. I guess to give an example, we were all in Central Park. It was Saturday. It was after our city or our park played for the group we were with. And we're sitting down cause it is, it is hot. The sun is beating down on us. We found a shaded bench.

We all sat down and this lady walks by with her son and says, you know, Hey, how's it going? You know, we're playing Pokemon. I assume you guys are. You're all on your phone. Like, Oh yeah, we are. We're taking a break. She's like, Oh, [00:15:00] we need to, but we were about ready to pack it in and go home. But then my son just got the a hundred percent Necrozma and it's shiny.

So now we got to go and get more so we can get all the candy and. Get all the XL so we can power it up. And now we're just reinvigorated. And I was like, that is perfect. We had a person in Seattle that had the same thing. we were doing a raid train and a kid caught the a hundred percent shiny. Um, Oh, what's the pink bird.

I'm going to forget the name now.

David Hernandez: Pink bird. Oh, Yveltal?

MythicalHitch: No, no, no. Sorry that, Oh, I can't even think about it. Anyways, I'm going to have to look, but anyway, it's got the Shundo and it was his first ever Hundo and it was the Shundo. 

David Hernandez: The only pink bird I'm thinking of is Flamingo, and that's not it.

MythicalHitch: no, no, it's, uh,

David Hernandez: Yeah, that hasn't come in Pokemon Go. What is the pink bird?

MythicalHitch: Cresselia,

David Hernandez: Oh, the duck! Okay.

MythicalHitch: the duck. Okay.

David Hernandez: The pink duck.

MythicalHitch: All I all was thinking in my head was the bird. Um, yeah. And it was a kid. We were walking around. JT Fowler was filming videos and, uh, he was in our, part of our group for that walk. And [00:16:00] we hear this screeching and it's this kid that got it while he's filming this video.

And so it was cool. You can see him in his recap of Seattle. He shows the, Cresselia with the a hundred percent shiny on it. And it was just those little moments, people just having a great time together with people they don't know. They just joined our train. Like they weren't part of the community.

We didn't know them. They just jumped in and started talking with us. All of a sudden that kid had the best catches had ever. So just fun times.

David Hernandez: Well, Hitch, thank you for coming on the show. I do have to ask my last question before we cut this off. So, if somebody's coming to Iowa to battle you in a Pokemon battle, and you can bring six Pokemon, What six Pokemon would you bring?

MythicalHitch: , okay. Uh, Gyarados for sure. Uh, he's a destroyer of cities. He's gonna, he's going to be there doing work. Magikarp's always there. Yeah. Yeah. That's, just a given. I would like Gengar for my, uh, ghost moves and darts. Rayquaza, Rayquaza is my favorite legendary. Definitely gonna throw him in there. because everybody gets so annoyed and I find [00:17:00] it funny when battling against them. It'd be Defense Form Deoxys, just because they're impossible to take out.

David Hernandez: Get the in there.

MythicalHitch: yeah, just gotta get him in there. Just does no damage to anybody, but he doesn't take any damage either. Um,

David Hernandez: more. We got one more.

MythicalHitch: oh man, who would be a good sixth one?

David Hernandez: But you said Or we can recap. Magikarp, Gengar,

MythicalHitch: Rayquaza

David Hernandez: And Deoxys, yeah, so one more.

MythicalHitch: and Defense Form Deoxys. I'm going to go with another Gen 1, or we're going to go with Mew. Mew has access to every move in the game. 

David Hernandez: not saying you can keep people under your feet with the Mew.

MythicalHitch: It's, it's a guessing game. You're, you're flipping your coin if you're blocking or not, because you don't know what's coming at you.

So that's definitely a solid six. I think maybe the most effective, probably not. but it'd be a fun one to use.

David Hernandez: doesn't always have to be competitive, sometimes you can just have fun with it.

MythicalHitch: Yep. It's the best way to play the game. Play it your way because. In the end, you're going to catch what you want to catch. You're going to battle what you want to battle and you're going to play your [00:18:00] way. There is, except for the older games. Now there's no way you have go. You go wherever you go when you want to go there and just have fun.