As An Artist I Am Not Immune To The Ultimate Pastime (drawing Eyes)

I would love to get into language stuff for the ✨️bearimba pokeverse✨️ but the more I look into it the more I confuse myself?? Like. It feels like I've opened a huge can of worms here. Sure, I could be overthinking it, but if I didn't overthink things, then this blog literally wouldn't exist, so.

Quick warning for a long, probably quite boring, and highly speculative rant:

To start out with, I would love for each region to have its own language, more or less---regions that are geographically close are likely to have similar languages possibly due to a common ancestor (like how Spanish and Italian are both Romantic languages that came from Vulgar Latin), but otherwise, each language would be distinct. But then there's the matter of how exactly these languages evolved to be distinct from one another, or even more confoundingly, how these languages had a shared ancestor in the first place. Take Kalos and Paldea, for example: both are based off of Romantic-speaking countries. France and Spain, respectively. In the ✨️bearimba pokeverse ✨️, these regions are nowhere near each other, but somehow, they speak similar languages (assuming the pokeverse languages are like or the same as their real-life equivalents). How does that work exactly?? The only reasonable explanation I can think of is that at one point in time, people from one of these regions emigrated away to go live in the other region. but. if you think about it, the people that moved away would've had to leave long enough ago that the region would have time to develop from nothing into the state it is in modern times. Obviously that's going to take quite a long time---take the USA for example, which from the point of its conception as a collection of colonies (and I am specifically talking about America as it was founded by Europeans and not the collection of Native American cultures) has been around for over 200 years, and American English has changed drastically during that time. Yes, it hasn't quite evolved into a new language, but it is different enough to be distinguished from British English. Keep in mind that 200 years is (to my knowledge) a remarkably short time for a country to be considered developed, not to mention that England and its colonies had constant communication that kept the languages from deviating too far. My point is, two countries that are geographically separated for multiple centuries without regular consistant contact are likely to develop very different languages, but since Kalos and Paldea are based off of countries with similar languages, this doesn't really sit right with me. Theoretically, I could just place them closer together physically, but that would make travel between them much more feasible which would result in more cultural similarities than are present in the games, so then I'd probably have to do an overhaul of both regions' cultures, and I'd like to keep them as unique as possible. Do you see my problem here????

That's not even to mention my issue with multilinguisim. If every single region has their own language, then there has to be some sort of lingua franca so that everyone can actually communicate. However! Believe it or not, this comes with its own set of issues! The first of which being, how did this lingua franca come into existence? The most obvious answer is that it's a pidgin or creole language, but a language made of bits and pieces from 9+ other languages is going to get complicated real quick. The only other origin for a lingua franca I've come across so far is colonial languages. and, uh. that is just not an option I'm going to pick. so.

Besides the origin of this lingua franca, there's also the matter of how it spreads. Lingua francas are created and used to share information between linguistically separated parties, typically during business or academic exchanges. But not everyone is going to talk to people from other regions in that type of circumstance! Someone might specifically learn the lingua franca so that they can communicate while traveling to other regions, but that won't necessarily make it widely user, and this supposed to be a universal language. My solution: have it be taught in schools! It's like how English is taught in many Asian countries in order to enable participation in international circles. However, it's entirely possible that not every school will have the funding (how pokemon schools even get funding is its own separate thing that I have yet to even consider) to teach the lingua franca. There's other ways to learn, of course, like being taught by family/friends or even teaching yourself, but those methods aren't necessarily standardized. Then again, neither is getting taught at school---it's like learning textbook Spanish in class then traveling to Spain and realizing that you're woefully unprepared. Whatever method is used, it's best to start learning at an young age, as the earlier you start, the easier it is to pick up a new language. Again though, that's not going to be accessible to everyone, so it's entirely possible that some people will just be limited to one language unless they take it upon themselves to learn.

Long story short, linguistics is hard. At least to me. And everything I've mentioned is mostly about figuring things out on a practical level---there's still more cultural stuff to consider like code-switching, global/regional slang, and other things that I haven't even thought of. I'm not really linguistics enthusiast, nor am I especially ready and raring to do deep research at the moment, but looking into some of this stuff really has been quite interesting! Anyways, I don't really have a good way to end all this, so I guess if you actually read all this, congrats? And thank you? And that either way, I hope you have a good day? Yep.

Ethan (HGSS) Character Headcanons

Continuing with the New Bark Town trio headcanons!

Starring Ethan next:

So unlike Lyra, Ethan doesn't really do anything in the main storyline (same as the games, really, if you choose Lyra as the player character).

I thought maybe it would be cool if he had some kind of connection to the legendary beasts? since I associate Silver with Ho-Oh and and Lyra with Lugia. So basically, he experiences the Suicune/Eusine subplot instead of Lyra

I think the way it would go is that while he's out on his journey, he happens to encounter one of (or all of) the legendary beasts but it's scared off by the arrival of Eusine. Ethan asks what in the world just happened and Eusine starts explaining the ✨lore✨. He ends up accompanying Eusine on his quest in the hopes of another legendary encounter (though he doesn't really care about Eusine's reasons. he's used to just nodding along to Lyra's infodumping and Eusine isn't really any different. so). Slowly though, he starts to warm up to Eusine, genuinely getting invested in his efforts to bring back the legendary beasts and learning a bit about maturity/empathy on the way. It ends at Cerulean Cape like in the games, except Ethan doesn't catch Suicune and the event is left on a hopeful note that the beasts can in fact regain their trust in humanity.

His maternal grandmother was very hard on his mom during her child, so he ended up getting raised with much more relaxed rules. Unfortunately, rarely getting in genuine trouble, he kind of got used to getting away with more than he really should've. He ended up a little too confident and even a little self-centered at times as a result, though he's never intentionally mean-spirited.

A huge part of his character arc involves figuring out what he wants to do with his life. Living in a tiny town such as New Bark, he was always convinced that he had to go out and do Big Things™ with his life---and he kind of does while he's out with Eusine and later competing in the Pokelathon. But while doing so, he ends up overlooking what really matters: the people (and pokemon) close to him. And eventually he learns that not only is it fine to have an "average" life, it's actually kinda preferable in some ways.

(unfortunately the exact timeline/story beats are still very much undecided. so. can't elaborate on the specifics for now :/ )

After Lyra chose Totodile and Silver stole Chikorita, he was left with Cyndaquil. He already had a starter pokemon (Marill) but since Cyndaquil was left by itself, Elm decided to offer it to Ethan and he was like "yeah why not." His third pokemon is a Pichu, specifically the spiky-eared Pichu (how'd get it without already having a shiny Pichu? Great question, moving on---).

He was the first person to really bring Lyra out of her shell when they were kids. Back then, she had the impulsive ideas but he was the one to actually go through with them. Some of their antics included climbing the windmills in New Bark Town, sneaking into the pen of a very wild pokemon Elm was studying, and sailing down the river on Route 27 all the way to the ocean on a poorly made raft, none of which were very successful. Kris tried to do damage control when she could, but as a research assistant there was no way to keep an eye on them at all times.

He's actually the weaker battler compared to Lyra and Kris, but what he lacks in skill he makes up for in sheer willpower. by which I mean he likes to act big and cocky and tough when he really isn't. Dude loves his pokemon but just has no idea how to battle, he just does whatever feels right in the moment.

He still loves competition though, so when the chance came to compete in the Pokeathlon he was absolutely pumped. He and his pokemon are later considered one of the best teams, and he kinda becomes a celebrity---not necessarily mobbed on the streets, but definitely a well-known name to anyone who keeps up with the sport.

While he's competing, he lives with his grandparents in Goldenrod and helps out around their daycare. They don't initially approve of his participation, but he gets money for winning and he promotes the daycare every chance he gets so they can't really complain.

Partially due to the advertising, business at the daycare blows up and Ethan eventually "retires" to focus on it. He doesn't bother announcing it or anything, he just kinda stops showing up to the Dome. When interviewed about it, he responds "oh yeah, I'm actually done competing lol. anyways if you need any top-tier daycare services---"

He ends up taking over the daycare for his grandparents once they're older and it's too much for them to handle. He occasionally helps Elm with his research since he deals with pokemon eggs and evolutions so often.

Between the Pokelathon and helping out at the daycare, Ethan gains a decent amount of muscle. It gets to the point where he can just throw his friends over his shoulder without warning and parade them around, and it's his favorite thing ever. Kris will just hang there chilling, Lyra will burst into laughter until she's set down, and Silver will either quietly sulk or cuss Ethan out depending on the mood he's in.

He's cousins with Red on his dad's side! They both know the basics of Kantonian Sign Language because sometimes, it's easier to sign than miming or pulling out their pokegears to communicate when Red goes mute (though it's not their main form of communication). He really looked up to Red as a kid, so when his older cousin goes missing, he takes it as best as he can even though it's still really hard on him.

He cuts his own hair because it "looks cool." Eventually he figures out how to do it well, but for a while his hair just looks like he put it under a weed eater and called it good.

Despite getting flak from his friends for occasionally lacking common sense, he actually grows to be very emotionally intelligent. He's easily able to pick up on what other people are feeling and works around that during conversations, which is part of the reason he gets along with almost everyone (helps that's he's super charismatic---not in an attractive way necessarily, just a big lovable dork kind of way)

He's naturally extremely friendly, but he also returns exactly the attitude he's given. He and Silver's friendship has a very rocky beginning, with the two of them tolerating each other for Lyra's sake until they manage to find common ground (and Silver becomes a little less of an ass)

He's the kind of guy to wear shorts no matter the weather. It's fine when he's living in New Bark Town, but unfortunately for him Goldenrod tends to be a bit more chilly. Not that he'd ever actually admit to being cold, of course---he's too cool for that (pun intended)

He hands out nicknames left and right---Crystal, Lyra, and Silver are Kris, Ly, and Silv respectively. The more he dislikes someone, the more outlandish (and/or insulting) their nickname tends to be.

Kris (Pokemon GSC/HGSS) Character Headcanons

And last but certainly not least, it's time for the third of the New Bark Town kids, Kris!

Here's my list of headcanons for her:

Her name is actually Crystal, she just goes by Kris because she likes it better (she spells it with a K because when they were kids, Ethan said it was "cooler" and she thought it was amusing so it stuck)

Her pokemon are Furret, Dunsparce, Slowpoke, and Tauros.

She's four years older than Lyra and Ethan more or less, making her about 20 by the time HGSS rolls around. She's friends with both of them, but because of the age gap and some other stuff I'll cover more in a later post, she becomes more of a tired older sibling figure. This does become a slight point of contention, but once her friends leave on their journeys and mature a bit, they're able to reunite on equal ground and much better terms.

She's super chill most of the time but can be incredibly dry and sarcastic. Despite this she's genuinely and openly supportive of her loved ones a lot and would probably kill for them. (unfortunately for them, she's also not afraid to turn her fury on them too if necessary. Sometimes tough love is valid if your friends are risking their lives by being idiots :D )

She's just a little tiny bit of a know-it-all (like the "erm actually ☝️🤓" kind of know-it-all). She's not afraid to speak up and debate with someone about the subjects she's educated in, and while she always tries to stay civil about it, she can't help the occasional snide comment that slips out. Of course, even though she cares more about being correct than "winning", she can't help but feel a bit smug whenever she's right and sulky when she happens to be wrong.

She's also pretty snarky and even a bit judgemental sometimes, but she was raised to be very polite, so she tries her best to keep it on the down-low. Still, lying to anyone about something shallow always leaves a bitter taste in her mouth, so when she's trying her best not to be rude (usually around strangers---she lets loose more around her friends), she'll get really vague or just refuse to say anything if it's really bad.

She's already been on her own journey when she was around 13-14, during which she managed to get most of the badges and dominated the Battle Tower (which has expanded into the Battle Frontier by the time HGSS rolls around. She likes to visit from time to time when she needs to blow off steam). She probably could've gotten all of the badges if she hadn't gotten tired of it. She's a very family-oriented person, so being away from home for so long wore on her nerves.

She doesn't battle often anymore, mostly just to exercise her pokemon, but she can still hold her own even against ace trainers. This is mostly because she uses a lot more strategy compared to most people, as she's able to come up with plans on how to defeat an opponent even if she's never seen their team before thanks to her extensive knowledge of pokemon. However! if her plans happen to get knocked off track, it's much easier to overpower her team.

She takes over the lab from Elm, though it doesn't happen until he's basically forced to retire (the man loves his work, ok?). He still hangs around though especially since his home is literally on the second floor.

She also specializes in evolution, but instead of focusing on breeding like he did, she's more interested in requirement-based evolution (like why some pokemon will remain in their first stage of evolution despite being old enough/having the experience to evolve. or why some pokemon need certain items to evolve. or why some pokemon evolve with trading. stuff like that. it's definitely a wide field but she enjoys the variety a lot).

She has this habit of flicking people's heads if she's annoyed with them. Light flick? she's being lighthearted. Painful flick? she's actually upset. Oftentimes she'll flick herself if she's particularly stumped on something, usually to do with her research.

She owns a bicycle her parents bought from Goldenrod and takes it absolutely everywhere---girl could probably ride across the entire region if she wanted to.

Her pokegear is horrendously outdated, and the screen is so cracked it's a miracle it still works. Regardless, she refuses to get a new one because "it turns on just fine."

She has the worst handwriting known to mankind, but she still insists on scribbling everything down herself. It's like a rite of passage for every new researcher to try and decipher her notes well enough to transpose them into the lab's computer system.

Her love language is sending pictures to her friends. except. most of the time it'll either be motion-blurred pics of random pokemon with captions like "good find today👍" or the world's most incomprehensible memes.

Despite teasing her friends about talking too much, she can be just as bad when talking about any vein of pokemon science, especially with fellow colleages/researchers. She's much more of a nerd than she likes to let on.

Pokemon HGSS: Silver

Main Posts: Headcanons Gender Thoughts (plus lots of rambling in the tags) Character/Legendary Matchups

Mentions: Strength (Giovanni vs Lance) Mini headcanons Johto4 body language notes Silver/Lance/Clair

Art: Doodles (pt. 1) Uniform brainstorming Quick bust A Bit Rude... Kitchen Troubles HatSilver Miku

Hello!! :)

This blog is basically all fandom-related, from headcanons to art to whatever else I feel like sharing in the moment! You can find all my headcanons under the tag #headcanon, and my art under #bearimba art! If you're looking for a specific fandom, posts will also be tagged under that fandom.

Stuff I've posted about: Pokemon HGSS, Phasmophobia (GIGS)

If there's anything specific you'd like to hear about, if you'd like to contribute your own thoughts, or even want to request a lil doodle, please hit up my ask box! I enjoy hearing what people have to say and I especially love encouraging people to talk about their interests, so as long as you're respectful about it then nearly anything goes :)

Finally, a shameless plug:

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Johto Enjoyers :) • Community on Tumblr

A space for anything related to the Johto region of the Pokemon world, from the games to the manga to the shows and more!

Pokemon HGSS: Lyra

Main Posts: Headcanons Character/Legendary Matchups

Mentions: Character Bingo Johto4 body language notes

Art: Uniform brainstorming Doodles (pt. 1, pt. 2, pt. 3, pt. 4) A Bit Rude... Johto4 body language ref notes

Not a headcanon, just pointing it out: I feel like soulsilvershipping tends to be "I can fix him" while huntershipping is "I can make him worse."

Just... just imagine all three of them in a relationship, Lyra and Ethan pulling Silver in opposite directions in an endless battle of tug-of-war.

Thinkin about aragoto as a (ceremonial?) Dragon Clan tradition, with kumadori as a generally less formal (maybe for celebrations/festivals) but still culturally significant custom....

And then also Clair incorporating it into her gym leader uniform?

Lance would probably also have some, but significantly less dramatic just because of personal preference. Like maybe just some eyeliner, something a little more obscure.

I think the ipponguma would also be a better fit personality-wise, but realistically he'd probably reference the nihonguma style just as part of the more "respectable" image he has to portray as champion.

Lance isn't allowed in the kitchen for a reason :D

Thank you so much @invisiblemelonmoose!!! Hope you don't mind me answering your comment with a post, it's just a lot easier to format this way since I have quite a bit to say on the subject >:)c

So right off the bat, none of the kids have an actual connection to the legendaries---no special ✨chosen ones✨ or anything like that. It's more of a thematic thing for characterization purposes. To put it simply, each legendary has a specific word/trait I've associated with it for one reason or another, and so each character exhibits their respective trait in a way that they're supposed to grapple with throughout their game's storyline. Aka, an easy recipe for character growth!

Red -> Moltres (passion) Leaf -> Articuno (composure) Blue -> Zapdos (wit)

Since there's not really much lore for the Legendary Birds (at least not that I can find---there's a bit from the movies but I don't typically work with the animated stuff as source material), I had a very vague starting point, so I decided to go off their elements when selecting traits. Fire is often associated with burning, consuming passion---but Red isn't exactly the most animated guy in canon. Instead of being outwardly enthused, he has a much more mellow but no less intense love for pokemon. Big or small, tough or weak, he has a soft spot for them all. However, he also happens to have a talent for battling that Oak picks up on, for which he encouraged him (to a maddening degree) to pick up battling and eventually the Indigo League. Yet all the nagging and expectations---from nearly everyone around him, not just Oak---wears down on him, and it takes a forfeited match and an extended trip to the coldest, most isolated place in the region to recall that old flame... Blue takes after his grandfather in that he has a lightning-quick intelligence---not that Oak ever seems to be particularly impressed. In a family full of extraordinary people, Blue only ever seems to be extra ordinary. As a result, he goes out of his way to appear confident and cocky, though it's less about having an inferiority complex and more so just wanting to be noticed. He's even compared to Red constantly, who is objectively the better battler and who is the main reason Blue takes on the gym challenge himself. But on his journey, his self-assurance actually causes him to make dumb mistake after dumb mistake that culminates in the loss at the Indigo League. Then Red goes missing all of a sudden, and Blue's left to pick up the pieces of his ego while he and Leaf travel through the Sevii Islands. Out of the trio, Leaf is most definitely the most unfazed. It's not that she's particularly peaceful---watching one of Blue's and hers many arguments will instantly prove otherwise---but overall she's not nearly as passionate as Red or as outspoken as Blue. In fact, she can show an almost icy apathy at times. When Blue returns to Pallet Town without Red and without a Champion title, she's the one to suggest they head out to the Sevii Islands and take a break. But as the situation on the archipelago worsens, Blue digs them into deeper trouble with the remnants of Team Rocket, and they continue to hear nothing but radio silence from Red, Leaf's first instinct is to shove it all down like none of it particularly matters.

Lyra -> Lugia (empathy) Silver -> Ho-Oh (justice)

Ok, this one might need a little explaining since I kind of had to extrapolate here (Lugia's ocean/storm thing is way too close to Kyogre to just go with something water-related, and Ho-Oh is kinda just Moltres But Cooler in a way). In the Tower Duo's legend, the Brass Tower burned down in a rainstorm, during which Lugia tried to quell the fires with the wind. However, that put the rest of Ecruteak in danger, so Lugia had to stand aside and let it burn---its empathy led to its own downfall, so to say. Then Ho-Oh came along and revived the pokemon that had died in the tower (the Legendary Beasts), but fixing the injustice that happened to the Beasts caused the townsfolk to drive them away. Also, we're ignoring the whole blurb about trainers who can "touch the souls of pokemon" or have a "pure heart" bringing the Tower Duo back---I'm regarding that as a legend that's more so about people and pokemon as collectives regaining trust in one another (remember, trying to avoid chosen ones here). Anywaysss, moving on to Lyra and Silver! Lyra is a very empathic person, but she relates to pokemon far more than she does people. She's used to going along with anything and watching the world move on around her, so when she's faced with actual conflict, she struggles to go out of her way to help. Meanwhile, Silver has no problem calling out such infractions when he sees them, but he often fails to consider the fallout when trying to confront it---especially how it'll affect his own pokemon. Their arcs throughout HGSS involve learning from each other (as in their arcs are so intwined it's extremely difficult to discuss them separately) until by the end, Lyra becomes Champion and gains the power and motivation to help everyone, while Silver is... well, he's stuck reevaluating his entire worldview and goes through a teeny tiny itty bitty little existential crisis, but that's a story for another day (aka spoilers that I would like to cover in its own post). Originally, the plan was to pair the johtags to each Legendary Beast with Kris, Ethan, and Lyra relating to Raikou, Entei, and Suicune respectively. However, the fire/water/electric combo felt way too similar to the kantrio kids, and I couldn't really come up with anything original that felt like it would fit. I feel like I can justify it though considering both Kris's and Ethan's journeys have nothing to do with the plot of HGSS (Kris's takes place a few years before during GSC and Ethan's doing his own thing with Eusine during HGSS) sooo......

Brendan -> Groudon (structure?) May -> Kyogre (entropy?) Wally -> Rayquaza (ambition?)

I'll be completely honest here, I've barely fleshed out the Hoenn trio. like. at all. so I won't say much here for fear of writing something that I don't agree with later. But! I can say that while the kanjoh kids all start off with their defining traits, I want Brendan, May, and Wally to work up to theirs. Other than that, I'd have to do way more research into the characters and plotline to come up with a decent semi-faithful interpretation, so this is my formal apology to all the Hoenn fans reading this :( I'll get to it someday I promise!!!!

Dawn -> Mespirit (emotion) Lucas -> Azelf (willpower) Barry -> Uxie (knowledge)

Since I've saved the Creation Trio for PLA, the Sinnoh kids get the Lake Guardians! It's easy pickings, too, since they've already got characteristics practically built into them. I know the matchup here mighttt look off considering the character's in-game personalities, but hear me out on this: Dawn starts out on her pokemon journey purely to spite her mother and becomes Champion mostly because she can. If that's not emotional-led thinking, I don't know what is. She certainly doesn't act emotional half the time---she's level-headed, and clever enough to get herself out of all the trouble she causes---but there is very much a reason why she and Barry get along so well. In addition to that, she does hold a very firm belief that certain things should go certain ways and she will do just about everything to ensure they do. In that respect, she can come across as quite entitled, but it isn't inherently in a mean-spirited fashion. She just needs to figure out what's worth fighting for and what isn't. Lucas is much more stubborn than he typically lets on. He does come off as a little awkward and even bumbling at times, but he's also a trainer nearly on par with Dawn and Barry. Considering he's a dedicated research assistant underneath Rowan and Dawn/Barry are full-time trainers, it'd take a lot of commitment to train his team enough to keep up. Overall, it takes quite a bit of convincing to get him to back down from something once he's set on it. If something's false, he has to correct it (it's not about him being right, it's about getting the facts straight), and if he doesn't agree with a rule, he'll simply ignore it (why should a rule exist if it's stupid anyways?) Though it can be inconvenient at times, it's exactly this attitude that allows him to survive getting blasted back to ancient Hisui. Also a fun fact: Lucas is the only protag to officially have two legendary associations, as his character correlates to Azelf and Dialga in DPPt and PLA respectively (Akari gets Palkia, and you'll never guess who Giratina is left to... >_> ). Barry loves to learn, he just can't focus for the life of him. He's constantly the first to know and the first on the scene, he always uses his losses as a chance to reflect and improve his team, and he even goes out of his way to memorize all he can at the Trainers' School in Jubilife. That's not to say he especially cares about learning subjects outside of his interests, but he absolutely does get sucked deep into whatever catches his eye. Especially after Lucas's disappearance, he devotes all his free time to research just so he can figure out what happened to his friend---and just possibly, with some help, he manages to catch a lead...