The Creature Quorum

It's time for a long, looooong stretch of game! Looping all around Kanto as try to make our way to Celadon City! And once we get there? Game Corner! Team Rocket Headquarters! Erika's Gym! A weirdly creepy old man (who is weirdly NOT creepy in one version of the game)! How can we survive all of this? Thank god Magellan is here to help us along. Check out Magellan's blog, Not That Magellan, and listen to Chatz: A Television Podcast with them and Allen anywhere you catch pods! Bit of a shorter segment for our next episode, because we'll be playing through Saffron City... which is right next door! There will be some side stuff to talk about, though. The Scanline Media Discord can be found here!

Tunnels and ships, here we come! Bit of a short segment of game this time, but that's ok because we have tons of news to talk about for Pokémon's 30th Anniversary! It's... kind of underwhelming stuff, but at least there's a lot of it! For next time, we're doing a really roundabout run- Diglett Cave, Route 11, back to Cerulean City, to Route 9, to Rock Tunnel, and Celadon City. And a few little Routes in the middle of that too. It's a long chunk! The Scanline Media Discord can be found here!

With our first badge behind us, we now face the challenge of our first dungeon. And boy, across three iterations of the game, this dungeon is a wildly different experience! Once we exit Mt. Moon, it's Nugget Bridge, Bill's House, and closing it out with a challenge to the Cerulean City Gym, and the iconic/gender goals Misty. As cool as she is, she's possibly the easiest gym leader in the game. Oh well, cool isn't always about skill. Next episode, we're swinging south to the S.S. Anne and Vermillion City! The Scanline Media Discord can be found here!

We still have Rainbow Rocket to fight back in Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon. But who IS Team Rocket? ...Listen, I know the answer, and I know you probably do too. But work with me here. Pretend that this is a good excuse to check out Kanto, the twice-remade original generation of Pokemon, spread across a staggering seven games. The origin of it all. Welcome to Pallet Town. Next time, we're doing Mt. Moon through Cerulean City! The Scanline Media Discord can be found here!

There's nothing expressly called a "Part 1," it's just the beginning of our episode on the Alola Elite Four. So listen to that if you want to hear us begin the task of Quoruming the Z-A Mega Evolutions! Boy, they sure dumped a lot on us, huh? So many Mega Evolutions to rate. And our philosophy on what makes a good Mega has changed a lot since the days of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. But probably their philosophy in creating them has changed, too. Well, let's put it all to the test! The Scanline Media Discord can be found here!

We can't let a new Pokemon release go without coverage! As a treat, we invited Jen and Kyrie to join us and discuss the latest, and perhaps the greatest, from the world of Pokemon. ...Ok, not the greatest. But charming, thought-provoking, and distinctive, is how I would describe Pokemon Legends Z-A, and the four of us sat down to discuss its shortcomings, its successes, and the potential it shows in a series we all love. But also worry about. The Scanline Media Discord can be found here!

Ultra Necrozma? Done and dusted. Mina's Trial? Did it. Hapu's Grand Trial? Completed. Mt. Lanakila? Climbed it. The Elite Four? Smoked 'em. Hau? Bested. On this episode, we ran through the last stretch of Alola like a runaway train, smashing every remaining obstacle between us and the credits. There is, of course, more game after the credits roll. But that will have to wait for another time. The Scanline Media Discord can be found here!

The way our discussion breaks down does not always imitate how our play sessions went. Sure, we spend a third of the pod talking about Aether Paradise. We talk Hapu and Seafolk Village, we talk the Altar of the Sunne and the Altar of the Moone, we talk Trials and Necrozma. But most of our time? Was fighting in the aptly named "Vast Poni Canyon." Yeah, that... that's a dungeon, right there. Next episode, we are hopefully closing out the main story of Pokemon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon! We'll be back for postgame stuff, but we'll take a break first: we both want to catch a breather, and also dig into Legends Z-A! The Scanline Media Discord can be found here!

Team Skull. The island challenge dropouts have hounded us since the beginning of the game, kidnapping pokemon, blocking public roads, harassing bystanders. Oh, and trying to beat us up, though their efforts have been pretty laughable. But this week, they go too far. And it's up to us to head to their hometown to bring justice to them where they live. ACAB includes Nanu, in fact it might include him more than most fictional cops. Our playtime for this ep leaves us at the base of the Aether Foundation- next time, we're playing the rest of that, and onward til we hit the Kommo-o Trial on Poni Island! The Scanline Media Discord can be found here!

A haunting experience this week as we tool around Ula'ula, finally fighting the leader of Team Skull and challenging a throwback in the form of the Nugget Bridge, but it's all building to a shopping experience we won't soon forget. Sure, the Haunted Thrifty Mega Mart is spooky. But it's also really hard, with the Totem Mimikyu thrashing us within an inch of our lives. Past that inch, in some instances.... Next time, we challenge Team Skull on their home turf- Po Town! Then we'll knock out the Grand Trial, and hop on a boat to the Aether Foundation for some PLOT. The Scanline Media Discord can be found here!

New island, new us! Ok, I lied. Same us. Gardens, community centers, tile puzzles (???), even a gym ala Kanto, Ula'ula Island is immediately serving up some fresh and engaging spots for our tour guides. We get to the top of a nearby mountain at the end, but it's the rest of the island that's really proven so interesting. Plus: Six forgets what shape a Z is! All this and more. We'll tackle the ghost trial next episode, continuing our Ula'ula Island Time! The Scanline Media Discord can be found here!

Leaving the volcano behind, we head for the coast and cooler climates. Then it's back into a hot and humid jungle to pick ingredients for a soup. We make some time for science and golf, head through tunnel taken over by an invasive species, meet the Ditto Five, fight Team Skull's strongest trainer yet, and triumph over Olivia. All in a day's work. A lot waiting for us next time- the Aether Foundation's floating conservatory, Ula'ula Island, a gym?!? Should be interesting. The Scanline Media Discord can be found here!

A shorter piece of game gives us time to linger and explore, and we're all the better for it. Akala Island has a lot to offer, from ?evil? scientists to definitely deranged influencers to our main topic- a friggin' volcano with a dance contest at its peak! Boy howdy, lot to dig into there. Plus: Hapu! She's the best! Next episode, we will CONCLUDE Akala Island with Mallow's Trial and the Grand Trial! The Scanline Media Discord can be found here!

We're leavinggggg! On a Mantine! Don't know why cuz I'm back again! ...Hold me like you'll never let me go? Or is that part BEFORE the chorus? I don't know the song that well. We finish our first island, leave, and then turn around and come back because hey we weren't actually done. But THEN it really is on to island number two, a watery trial, and a trailer full of infinite Pikachus. It's probably not cursed. Probably. For our next episode, we're playing up through Kiawe's trial on Akala Island! The Scanline Media Discord can be found here!

An interesting theme of empty homes this week as our journey through the Trial and Grand Trial of Melemele Island sees us stopping by the homes of both Ilima and Guzma. We start sticker collecting, learn to do Z-Moves, and... have Metal Gear Solid 3 flashbacks? Alola means "hello," "goodbye," and "enemy spotted." For our next episode, we're playing up through Lana's trial on Akala Island! The Scanline Media Discord can be found here!

We're picking starters. We're Deciding If We're A Boy Or A Girl (TM). We're walking into tall grass obliviously. Yes, it's time to start a new Pokémon game, and a new tour. As summer gets underway, we take things to the sunny side in Pokemon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon, and the island chain of the Alola region. There are malasadas to eat, Kahunas to fight, trials to pass, and Mimikyu to fear. Let's get started. For our next episode, we're playing up through the Grand Trial of Kahuna Hala to finish up Melemele Island! The Scanline Media Discord can be found here!

We've taken the League Challenge, and fought our way through eight gyms to the Elite Four, beaten them, and then the champion. (Kind of.) We've beaten N, and proved he should have more faith in humanity. We bonded with two ancient dragons of legend, and used their might to beat Team Plasma. Then we started over. We took the League Challenge anew. We beat back a reformed Team Plasma. There was a third dragon, we got that friend too. Ghost houses. The return of N. The story of the rising champ Iris. So many caves. Getting lost. Pushing rocks. We've done it all, folks. And with this, we close the book. This is the end of the Unova Tourism Committee. We hope you've enjoyed it. The Scanline Media Discord can be found here!

Here we are- the reason Magellan encouraged us to pick up our watch pods of the Pokemon movies to begin with. Are you READY. To see LEGENDARY POKEMON LATIAS. Kiss a HUMAN BOY. We're heading to PokeVenice, we're shapeshifting, we're corrupting gems, we're solving ancient sliding tile puzzles. If you thought the last Pokemon movie was a bit of a whiff, don't worry. We're back on track. Incidentally, Six writes these show notes and maybe some other people wouldn't quite say the same thing.