Hiding in a hole in the ground until I finish my MA thesis

If nothing happens, just assume I’ve died. It’s possible I’m dead already and just haven’t stopped writing yet. I may be becoming a sort of lich-like entity, in which case I look forward to the vast magical powers that will surely be mine when the transformation is complete.

ThatsWhatEllieSaid asks:

How do you think the government functions in the pokemon universe? I don’t think there’s ever been any reference to any higher powers in either the games or the anime.

Well, Ash and his friends do occasionally encounter local government, in the form of the mayors of a few of the towns they visit. The mayor of Trovitopolis, in the Orange Islands, is preoccupied with reelection when they meet him in The Mystery Menace, which implies that this particular city’s government is democratic, and in the absence of any further information I would assume that this is true across the board. To be honest, I think this is one case where, if they don’t tell us anything, it’s probably because they just assume it works the same way as it does in the real world.

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Anonymous asks:

You mentioned most members of the Marill line technically being transgender. If Pokémon could be transgender, how would this work with your ideas on Pokémon gender?

Disclaimer first of all that my ideas on Pokémon gender are totally bat$#!t and probably bear little resemblance to anything Game Freak’s designers have ever thought in the privacy of their own brains…

…and secondary disclaimer that since the last time I babbled about Azurill, someone has pointed out to me that Game Freak actually did remove/fix(?) the gender thing in generation VI…

…and tertiary disclaimer that I’m cis and have no close friends who are trans (or… I don’t think I do…), so I kinda don’t really know what I’m talking about here…

…but my understanding is that transgender is basically when your biological sex doesn’t match up with your psychology or the social role you’re comfortable with, and in a world where gender works the way I outlined in that article, this… well, wouldn’t happen. What little sex differentiation Pokémon exhibit is directly tied to their psychology, so by definition they’re all cisgender. Which means that if you believe my rambling nonsense, what Azurill is doing is something quite different, where her gender identity actually changes (the point of trans being that your gender identity was the same all along and everything else about you is catching up, so to speak – which is how you’d interpret Azurill if we do think Pokémon have biological sex differentiation), for which I think the term is genderfluid but I’m not really sure?

I’m just confusing myself now so I’ll shut up before I offend anyone I haven’t already.

Rivals, part 7: The X/Y Kids

Okay. Just me this time. Jim’s played Omega Ruby, but not X or Y, so he’s not terribly familiar with Serena/Calem and the rest of the gang from X and Y. Let’s… see if I can still write one of these on my own, then. So, first impressions, then; what do we think of the X/Y rivals?

…

…right, right; it’s just me. Bollocks; this is harder than I remember.

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RandomAccess asks:

So. Today on E3 2015 they announced that there’s gonna be a Final Fantasy VII remake. If you’ve seen the trailer, what are your thoughts on it?

[N.B. Yes, this is how long it takes me to answer questions sometimes. If I’m honest, this isn’t even unusual. Regular readers may wish to begin embedding references to current events in their questions in order to keep me honest.]

Well, aside from that once dalliance with Final Fantasy VII two years ago, I’m not really an aficionado of the series, and I don’t exactly have strong opinions about it. Besides which, the trailer basically consists of “we’re remaking Final Fantasy VII; look how pretty our graphics engine is,” so there’s not really anything I can think of to say about it, even if it were particularly close to my heart. I suppose the one point that really comes to mind for me is that it’s going to be difficult for them to do a strong portrayal of Aeris’ death, because much of its force in the original came from being violently unexpected, and a big chunk of their market for this game will be people who’ve played the original. They’re going to have to think long and hard about that one. Beyond that… le shrug.

However, Jim the Editor, who grew up with Final Fantasy VII, would like to add, and here I quote: “ZOMGIAMSOFUKKKINEXCITEDTHEYBETTERNOTFUKKTHISUP.”

Anonymous asks:

have you ever seen the cartoon uncle grandpa? if so, what do you think about it?

…should I have?

…

…okay I Googled it and now I am very very afraid

VikingBoyBilly asks:

Why can’t persian relearn Pay Day after it’s evolved? Why does drowzee/hypno have Assist as an egg move? (the japanese name for the move is a cat-related idiom, isn’t it?)

1) I suppose because Pay Day is so closely associated in the designers’ minds with Meowth’s habit of collecting coins and other shiny objects (which Persian doesn’t share), and also with the basis of Meowth’s design in those little waving cat statuettes you see in Japanese shops sometimes (again, a feature Persian doesn’t share), which are supposed to bring luck and prosperity. Discounting the existence of a first-generation TM, it’s actually one of the most exclusive moves in the game – the only other Pokémon who can learn it is Purrloin (and even then only as an egg move, which means that she can’t relearn it either, whether before or after evolving [EDIT: WRONG; as of X and Y you actually can re-learn egg moves]). Contrasting that with Game Freak’s willingness to splash around other things that were originally signature moves, like Leaf Blade and Waterfall, it seems like Pay Day’s ability to generate wealth must be specific to the design of Meowth and Meowth alone. Apparently this is really important to them.

2) They’re hardly the only non-cat Pokémon who learn it that way – so do Sneasel, Chimchar, Sentret, and Spinda. To me it makes perfect sense that a manipulative Pokémon like Drowzee would be able to learn a skill that makes use of allies’ powers in place of his own.