Tag yourself I’m Slowpoke #3
If this post makes it to 500 notes I’ll make charts & analyze the results scientifically.
because shitposts appeal to the lowest common denominator
I.Mean.Obviously. lol.
Tag yourself I’m Slowpoke #3
If this post makes it to 500 notes I’ll make charts & analyze the results scientifically.
because shitposts appeal to the lowest common denominator
A Lysandre x Sycamore thing, but Lysandre is dead.
Text are from the song Hana ga Chiru Sekai from Bravely Default OST
I realize it’s just because they’re trying to introduce the audience to the concept of Pokemon and everything but nothing will ever be funnier to me than prof oak being like “these are creatures called Pokemon, they live in all sorts of environments!” like imagine if you met a biology professor and they were like ‘I’ve been studying these intriguing creatures called “animals’
=-= mmh
The names of the Ruinous Quartet
So I’ve been playing Pokemon Violet and the names of the four Ruinous Pokemon are clearly derived from Chinese, so I thought I’d share some thoughts on what they mean.
The Ruinous Quartet comprise:
- Wo-Chien
- Chien-Pao
- Ting-Lu
- Chi-Yu
The first thing to note is that the names seem to use the Wade-Giles system of romanisation, as opposed to the Pinyin system used today. I don’t know Wade-Giles, so I’m going to be translating these to Pinyin for the explanations.
Wo-Chien
The Pinyin equivalent of Wo-Chien is Wo Jian. This doesn’t tell us what the tones are, but the Mandarin name for Wo-Chien according to Bulbapedia is 古简蜗 - Gǔjiǎnwō. 蜗 (Wō) means “snail” (more commonly said as 蜗牛 - wōniú). 简 (Jiǎn) is more difficult to translate because it can take on a lot of meanings depending on context and what words it’s paired up with (it can be a noun, adjective or verb), but in this context it refers to the strips of bamboo that were used for writing in Ancient China before paper was invented. These were strung together so they could be rolled up (kind of like sushi mats lol) when not being read:
This is why Wo-Chien is the Tablets of Ruin. This version of 简 (Jiǎn) isn’t commonly used anymore, instead it’s more usually used to mean “simple” (简单 jiǎndān).
Chien-Pao
This one is fairly straight-forward. The Pinyin of Chien-Pao is Jian Bao. This “Jian” is a different word from the one above referring to the bamboo slips, which was 简 (Jiǎn) - this one is 剑 (Jiàn), meaning “sword”. And Bao here is 豹 (Bào), meaning “leopard” (not buns, which incidentally is 包 Bāo). Hence the Mandarin name for Chien-Pao is 古剑豹 (Gǔjiànbào), meaning ancient sword leopard. So Chien-Pao is literally Sword Leopard, which makes sense as it’s the Sword of Ruin.
Ting-Lu
Ting-Lu in Pinyin is Ding Lu, and the Mandarin name is 古鼎鹿 (Gǔdǐnglù). Lu here refers to 鹿 (Lù), meaning “deer”. Ding refers to 鼎 (Dǐng), which are ancient Chinese cauldrons with three legs and two handles (below). This is depicted on Ting-Lu’s head and is why it’s known as the Vessel of Ruin. So Ting-Lu is basically the Cauldron Deer.
As a bonus, the character 鼎 (Dǐng) can be traced back to a hieroglyphical depiction of the actual cauldron itself (source):
Chi-Yu
This one is a bit of a mystery. The Pinyin for Chi-Yu is Ji Yu. Now Yu is obviously 鱼 (Yú), meaning “fish”, but it’s unclear what character the Ji refers to. All three previous Pokemon’s names derive from the animal and their associated item (tablets, sword, cauldron). Chi-Yu’s associated item are beads, but that translates to 珠 (zhū), not “ji”. The Mandarin name for Chi-Yu is 古玉鱼 (Gǔyùyú), meaning ancient jade fish. This is another example of different Chinese characters being apparently spelt the same but said differently - 玉 yù vs 鱼 yú. Maybe this is why they didn’t go with Jade for the English, both because Yu can stand for both and Yu-yu would look somewhat silly.
One possibility (which is what Bulbapedia goes with) is that Ji Yu is 鲫鱼 (Jìyú), which is a type of carp (note also that Bulbapedia records it as goldfish, but goldfish is 金鱼 jīnyú).
Another (less likely but I think more interesting) possibility is that Chi-Yu isn’t Wade-Giles at all, but just Pinyin, in which case “Chi” could be 赤 (Chì), which is a fancy word for red (红 - hóng), kind of like how you can just have red but if it’s scarlet or crimson then all of a sudden it’s more exciting even though no one’s actually thinking about the precise shade differences. This would fit given Chi-Yu’s fire typing.
Aaaaanyway I hope this has been interesting and happy 2023!
HC Scarlet/Violet timeline
This is based on information from the game (most of it being Raifort’s history course and the notes in the Zero Area Research Stations) as well as a general assessment of what makes most sense based on apparent ages etc. The only thing that doesn’t make sense internally in the game is Raifort’s statement that the Tera Orb was invented ten years before game time, when the notes in the Research Stations clearly state that Sada/Turo invented the orb before Arven was born. If both are right, then Arven is 9 years old or younger, which clearly isn’t right, so I’ve gone with the notes in the Research Stations and assumed the Tera Orb was invented over ten years before game time.
Timeline assumes start of game takes place in late 2022.
–
1,000,000 BCE - Formation of the Paldean crater
0 CE - Rule of the Paldean Empire
0-1000 CE - The Era of Exploration
1217 - Unification of Paldea, establishment of the Academy
1822 - Area Zero Expedition with Heath
1820s - Heath publishes the Violet Book
1882 - Discovery of terastallised Pokemon in the Great Crater
1962 - Clavell is born (making him 60 in game)
1975 - Sada/Turo is born (making her/him 47 in game)
1986 - Jacq is born (making him 36 in game)
1989 - Clavell (27) leaves Paldea for travel/work
1993 - Sada/Turo (18) enrols at the Academy (which I HC at that time was a higher education institution, it opened up to various ages later).
1995 - Sada/Turo (20) graduates, becomes a tutor/researcher at the Academy (his lab is Clavell’s current office).
2000 - Clavell (38) returns from travel/work overseas, takes up a teaching post at the Academy. Meets Sada/Turo (25).
2002 - Sada/Turo (27) “leads” a research team (incl Clavell, 40) into Area Zero. Leads in quotes because Clavell is supervising behind the scenes. Sada/Turo’s lab at the Academy is held for him in the interim.
2003 - Sada/Turo (28) discovers the crystals cause terastallisation.
2004 - Sada/Turo (29) invents the Tera Orb prototype; receives corporate funding. Disturbed by Sada/Turo’s talk of past/future Pokemon, Clavell (42) stays only to help perfect Tera Orb for mainstream distribution. Sada/Turo’s resulting profile leads the Academy to preserve his old lab.
2005 - Sada/Turo (30) sets up a lab at Cabo Poco Lighthouse; Clavell (43) moves to a different research facility (Paldea? Elsewhere? Unsure). Later that year, Sada/Turo returns to the Crater, moving research to the Zero Lab with a “smaller team”; conducts time machine research.
2007 - First Koraidon/Miraidon brought through time machine. Meanwhile Jacq (21) starts work as a junior researcher, meets Clavell (45).
2008 - Arven is born (making him 14 in game). Sada/Turo is 33. Turo/Sada leaves within the year.
2009 - Sada/Turo (34) creates AI assistant. Between Sada/Turo and the AI, they manage to raise Arven.
2011 - Second Koraidon/Miraidon brought through time machine.
2017 - Jacq (31) develops the Pokedex App for the Rotom Phone.
2019 - Arven (11) enrols at the Academy.
Early 2021 - Operation Star; Harrington resigns along with the rest of the staff. Clavell (59), Jacq (35), and other staff join the Academy. Clavell moves into Sada/Turo’s old lab.
Late 2022 - Second Koraidon/Miraidon kills Sada/Turo (47); First Koraidon/Miraidon flees; AI Sada/Turo asks Clavell (60) to be put in touch with MC.
Early 2023 - Events at the Zero Lab; destruction of the time machine.
Some Clavell doodles. That second drawing is inspired by @nitefise-art‘s fantastic Zero comic which you should totally read. I mostly wanted to draw trans Clavell with top scars but oop, the angst popped out.
*whispers* Giovanni
I got carried away
Nanu would be so annoying that Giovanni would just be like “fuck it I’m too old for this shit” and gap it back to Kanto
lmao