Pokemon AUs

I love Pokemon. A lot. If there is a game I will play over and over again, it'll be any of the Pokemon games including the flagship series. I adored having my own team and participating in many side events like Contests. If there is a game series I'll pick over any other JRPG like Persona, Zelda and Tales of, it's Pokemon.

As a result of this, I adored Pokemon AUs. There are a total of 809. And that number will increase as new flagship games will continue.

I am no creationist but I adore creationism in fiction. Lore of gods in fiction was always interesting to read, particularly what can be extrapolated from PokeDex and known research in-universe. I'm a huge lover of myths and fairy tales so don't think it's surprising that I'm even implementing creationism. I always found it interesting to think in a philosophical and if it were real. I'm an agnostic after all.

I'm digressing.

Pokemon games are basically a game of chance. You can make whatever team you want. Aside from the main story, you can create your own team and win whatever ribbons and prizes you want. There is a reason why the Battle Frontier and Pokemon Contests are quite fun in their own right. I still don't recommend completionist goals because, despite its look of simplicity, it's not easy. That's one of the reasons why Pokemon is so beloved.

Which is why choosing teams for anybody like fictional characters are so much fun. You can decide whoever you choose. Whether balanced or not, it will be fine. Aside from my official teams which include Mythical/Legendaries

I think I will be happy, living in the present-day Pokemon world.

I have my own headcanons regarding education and whatever in that world. Not to mention, how fun it is to think of Pokemon regions based on countries around the world? I would really love to have a Pokemon region based on Vietnam.

This fanart depicts Thor with a growing army of baby Electric Pokemon with a Raikou and it's fine.

Any Pokemon is fine. Some would be better matched than others. Or purposely mismatched.

For example, Tony Stark with Rotom would be a great match.

Now there are popular choices that were made and were deemed appropriate thusly. For example, for Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, whatever version, there's Absol and Arcanine respectively.

So if you want Espeon for BSD Osamu Dazai? Then that's awesome. If you want Kanto Vulpix for BSD Chuuya Nakahara, then that's awesome.

If you want Milotic, Sharpedo, and Dragonite for Haru, Rin, and Makoto respectively? That's awesome. Go for it!

You can still get more than five Pokemon for a team, y'know. There is a reason why Ash has so many Pokemon back at Professor Oak's ranch. There is a reason why Paul's Pokemon also lived with his brother. I headcanon May would sooner or later catch a Swablu which would be a reference to her caring for one in the series. I also headcanon Max's team compiling of those he met in his journey with Ash, Brock, and May aside from the promise he made with Ralts.

Pokemon AU's have a lot of potentials. Whether you choose them to be any occupation, it has the damn potential. You can adjust the original canon or not in the au's. There is a reason why coffee shops au's are so popular. I prefer to read cooking and sports au's than coffee shops au's. Depending on the coffee shop though since I prefer quaint yet sells good tea - I can drink tea and coffee but I have a preference for tea.

Deconstruction was only possible if the archetypes and concepts are tackled elsewhere. Look at Watchmen. Sure, you can still deconstruct internally - see Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? - but there is a line of realism and hatred/cynicism. Voltron Legendary Defender was the latter because of the hate towards mecha tropes and themes and the show was too cynical, unfortunately. Tiger and Bunny were the former and this show was hopeful.

There is a place for cynical works. I completely understand bitterness and cynicism in the world at large but personally for me, I choose hope and optimism for a better future. I won't go for idealized future but still, a little more optimism and hope for humanity is better than hate. Hate had become so central in today's culture that it's distressing to find little hopeful works. Which is why I take the hopeful works when I can. Cynical works just make me sad nowadays and want to cry into an ice cream bucket or scope out for good food. Since I technically want desserts to cry into when I'm really sad with a tad bit of alcohol.

This video is kinda headcanon but it's the closest thing there is to the possible timeline of the Pokemon world. Be aware that it includes the anime timeline as well. If that is not your thing, then you can exclude it. It's also great in explaining how Pokemon and humans coexist happily for so long and why Pokemon is such a major part of the world including Contests and battles. Here it is!

If you want a deconstruction of Mons like Pokemon and Digimon, you should go look at Shin Megami Tensei who was actually the first one to create Mons but also the first to deconstruct them. Seriously, if you don't want cutesy or at least reconstruction of Mons, don't look at Pokemon or Digimon.

The Pokemon world is really malleable. Not only is there potential to have Pokemon based on legends and myths around the world but also the real world animals. And machinery. And scientific stuff. Basically, anything you can think of.

The anime and games leave a lot of the systematic laws and whatever to speculation. While I do believe age ten is where people would get their first starter Pokemon, be it a starter or something else like a Slowpoke, I think those laws depends on the town and its own restrictions. For example, the League can set up the age limit to get your first Pokemon which tends to be a large variety but the starter Pokemon of fire, water, and grass is typical for each region. It doesn't have to be. For example, Roselia can be your Starter.

I think education must be on the go. Unless they want to become a nurse or a profession that does not require far too much traveling - I'm excluding jobs that had required travel - like Trainers and Coordinators, they can go to actual school and earn their degrees. Most of the learning and thereof tests are mostly on Pokedex which is also an ID primarily for staying in a hotel or a Pokemon Center. It's the requirement that these trainers must not skip their education and had to pass these internal tests made by the government, not the Pokemon League. The government must make sure these kids are protected since y'know Pokemon while having a symbiotic relationship with humans, has the ability to harm and lure. Some are not quite as benevolent.

Like how I imagine the world of One Piece, there are many dialects, accents, and variations in the languages. There are the same languages on the same land that were based on such lands. While I highly that the Pokemon human world follows the same history as our reality, there might be indications of it with war. I seriously think Pokemon world actually achieved world peace as a result of the love of Pokemon and how Pokemon became their culture. Yes, there are still human jobs like surgeons and scientists that have nothing to do with Pokemon.

You can create whatever you want. I honestly want to see more of Pokeani stuff in AUs, tbh. The Pokeani's structure of tournaments makes it easier than the go-in challenge. If you have trouble how to make out the world of Pokemon other than the lore, you can start with the basics in creating a legitimate world human can live with Pokemon.

Ugh, I'm craving chocolate but I especially want bamboo ice cream. The latter of which, I crave more than chocolate as of now, to be honest. I do have chocolate cravings and that's usually one of my signals that I am close to the time of the month.

I like buddy cop. I think it's one of the genres I rather like if taken in a good direction and good writing. Look at Hot Fuzz as a good example of it despite it being both a deconstruction and an affectionate parody. If you want to see it play really straight, go look at Zootopia. If you want a superhero version, look at Tiger and Bunny. I typically make romcoms and comedy like buddy cop as one of my go-to feel-good. If I want a musical version of a feel-good, I'll look for Legally Blonde. I have feel-good anime too like Pokeani. Depending on my mood, I would see whatever I like to see the most. Hot Fuzz is one of my favorite UK films, really, with Shaun of the Dead.

Power Rangers and Super Sentai: Time Force and Timeranger

Bah, this is just a comparison and for funsies. I like both series anyway. I don't want to harp on anyone. Again, because SSTR and PWTF are written for totally different audiences and culture in mind, I won't go into any of the -isms.

Writing

It's like comparing apples and oranges. However, if I were to pick the better written overall, it's Timeranger. Time Force didn't have much development on some characters' end, namely Lucas and Katie. There are development there but not as much that provide as well as their counterparts in Timeranger. Sometimes, certain development that should follow a certain path would not fall into that path like Ransik for example.

As extremely well-done the acting Vernon Wells put into Ransik, the writing is not quite up to par. I love his relationship with his daughter, no doubt and I love his humanity. Some of his actions did not say this unless we go into the mind of Ransik which the show didn't go into.

Unlike other PR adaptations of SS like Samurai and Megaforce, it's far better than expected. Now TF is far more ambiguous at the ending whereas Timeranger is always going to end up bittersweet. The Americans wanted happy endings.

Additionally, the circumstances between Alex and Ryuya are very different. While the writing of Time Force did not really do well unless Alex is just very strict to the rules. I find it dubious that Jen didn't know this side to Alex during her time dating. On the other hand, Ryuya has a different relationship with the rest of the rangers from the start. Even disregarding the beginning where it was apparently not Ryuya in the first place except it kinda is since he was the bigger bad behind what happened.

I seriously wonder what if Time Force kept Ryuya's villainy for Alex. Ryuya wanted to save his own life at the price of so many including Naoto. I think it would break Jen's heart if her hand was forced to kill Alex in the end. And Time Force would be forced to cover up Alex's crimes as he was supposedly one of the saviors. It would make Time Force's adaptation to spare Eric much more ironic, given that Naoto died. It would certainly be a stab to Alex, even if he did die in the end. What if he did take the Quantum Morpher instead of Eric and survived or would he still die?

Pah, I just don't mind that PRTF chose to make Alex's counterpart much more heroic despite the potential angst. I just have a problem with having Alex depicted as such a jerk when there shouldn't be the need to be. The difference between Ryuya and Alex returning to the past is that Ryuya has a much different goal in mind and the Rangers did not know Ryuya's personality. I don't mind sparing Eric because Dan Southworth is a fantastic actor in the show. His later appearances in the Wild Force crossover showcased another one of that performance. I don't mind it, given how much it's something that worked for Time Force.

Even then, don't forget the differences between Katie and Lucas and Trip with their Sentai counterparts. Hell, Domon has a story arc, unlike Katie. I like Katie, she's awesome. But she doesn't have a strong arc like Jen. Even Nadira has an arc. Katie is a good character but doesn't have a strong arc or even a well-written static character in the likes of Toph. Lucas' counterpart had an arc, mainly because he was deadly sick.

A major problem with Power Rangers and Super Sentai is that there are neglected Rangers in terms of a story arc. Typically, those are in the more average seasons - such as Goseiger and Mystic Force. They have strong and good characters with great personalities that the actors can work with but in little ways with an actual story like background.

Then there is Frax and his counterpart. Both counterparts are tragic in different ways. Either way, both are so sad that they don't deserve more pain in their suffering. It's just sad that Frax ended up destroyed. I don't know if that was a mercy kill or not, especially since the Rangers definitely did not know that bit of backstory. Frax just had a lobotomy that destroyed his remaining humanity.

Nadira's counterpart did little to affect the plot in any major way. But even Nadira's role was mainly to play Daddy's little girl and villain. She's less pure evil and more spoiled. She has a kinder side to her that took some time since all she knew was her dad's villainy. She has some personality and character though. She wasn't defined entirely by her father though as she does resist her father.

As for Gluto, his counterpart in Time Force was not intelligent and did not affect the plot in any grand way. Gluto was Timerangers' main antagonist in the series before the reveal of Ryuya as the true Big Bad.

I think a major difference between these two series is that Time Force presented itself as a utopia with no criminals left. Think of it as Star Trek without the space exploration...although I do think humans had made contact with aliens for centuries already since the MMPR days. In contrast, Timeranger is always presented as this craptastic world. I would like to remind you that the aliens aren't from an entire prison but from a prison ship that Gluto hijacked. It is one section. The implications of dystopia are still there but it's always presented itself as a better future for everyone whereas Timeranger and Star Trek made it pretty damn clear that for all its innovations and obvious less -isms, there are still -isms. Hell, aliens were the ones that were basically imprisoned by turning into toys.

Timeranger actually went into the changes made by the Timerangers in the past. Time Force brought it up by Alex but never once went deep into it. I just wished that part was expanded upon. That would be awesome to go into that. We actually know the changes that went on due to the interventions in the past such as a cure for TimeBlue and a time of suspension for TimeYellow and TimePink's families living instead of dying. Time Force's timeline looked like it barely changed at all when Timeranger's timeline had changed.

Hey, in comparison to those seasons that stick way too close to the Sentai without taking consideration of character or creativity, Time Force is better than Megaforce. Anything is better than Megaforce or at least the Super season.

Acting

Both series pulled some strong performances. I won't lean on either superiority.

Although I seriously wonder why award-winning and some people who are better like Vernon Wells doing in Power Rangers? It's like watching Meryl Streep in a bad B-slasher movie. Why on earth are actors who had a better scale of acting jobs - for the love of Godoka, Edward Albert earned a fucking Golden Globe - than Power Rangers? Power Rangers, this campy and cheesy goodness...that admittedly evolved throughout the years at least until certain people won't allow creativity. But still a Golden Globe-winning actor and an actor who had been in Mad Max with relatively unknown actors or actors who did not gain lots of traction. I know that nobody expected Power Rangers to rocket into pop culture when it was initially released. But do I have to remind you that Power Rangers, no matter how good a season, was never quite as pervasive as The Twilight Zone? Seriously, I saw one episode of The Twilight Zone and fell in love with it in middle school. One of my English teachers in middle school showed it to the class for some kind of analysis, I think.

I'm digressing.

The acting in Time Force has some good acting chops. A prime demonstration of acting is encapsulated at the moment Jen meets Wes for the first time. There are many good moments of incredible acting in the series that we would be here all day in this section.

Dan Southworth is worth mentioning since he has been auditioning since the MMPR days. I'm actually glad about that since Dan would outshine a good lot of the cast. Power Rangers' acting tends to be more serviceable than anything else. Seriously, if Dan had been cast as Adam, he would work it despite the little material he had. He would stick out from Rocky's actor a lot. Eric, on the other hand, is something Dan could put to potential, highlighting his talent. In a show of good actors, he would shine just as much as the rest of them rather than outshining. There are decent cast members in TF such as Lucas.

If you want to see good actors stick out like sore thumbs in Power Rangers, look no further than the Lightspeed Rescue and Time Force crossover. Even if we just contrast the acting of Vypra and Ransik and Nadira, the difference was stark. And that was when Vypra's actor had improved but not so much to actually stand out from the actual good acting of Vernon Wells. Power Rangers' typical performances, especially those with not much to go on due to their writing, are serviceable. Amy Jo Johnson has a lot more to work with as her character developed beyond the original concept of a valley girl. Hell, Jason David Frank's Tommy Oliver has a lot of material to work with - see his battle inside the mind with his previous colors.

Again, why the hell are extremely good actors, or at least actors who should have better paygrade than Power Rangers as in this ridiculous show that is so cheesy and hammy that flips the bird at science and perfectly willing to let their space-time continuum die in its own blood? I don't know why Judd Lynn would go out of his way to do the former. Even when Dino Charge is revealed to be an alternate universe, you shouldn't kill the space-time continuum that Pokemon looks easier to live with? Look, I would not mind being in the actual show itself but I'd rather not waste money going to New Zealand just to audition.

There is seemingly a lot of material that these actors can use. Whereas Trip, Lucas, and Katie did not have that much material to work with as opposed to their counterparts who have a lot to work with, these actors did do their best.

The chemistry of the Time Force cast had been well-noted. To the point, the entire cast exempting the dead ones would've come back for the Wild Force crossover.

Overall

I don't want to choose one over the other with the exception of some cases. But even then, I would just shrug them off at this point.

Now I didn't tackle any of -isms and -phobias in this post. If I were to do that, I'll make a separate post for that. Because if I want to tackle social issues nowadays, it's on a separate post dedicated to it or an addendum.

Both series aren't perfect. Nowadays, it's hard to even enjoy a series without people putting social issues first before their story - looking at you, Steven Universe who is really dragging the story beyond its shelf life and make things realistic than in-character. The irony is that the Pokemon anime doesn't have the same problem as SU at all. Please normalize those people first and don't draw too much attention to it unless it is the central/one of the theme you are tackling and don't make these characters mouthpieces instead of actual people with morals and personality. Don't hit these people over the head with the three-by-four on the social issues; don't treat your audience like goldfish.

The next post coming up is on Pokemon AUs.