semi obligatory character thread

I like the designs, but I feel like Trent should have the more geeky attire since he's a nerd, and Brooke should look more rugged to go with her seemingly a bit more rugged personality.

Also wait. If these are supposed to be the player characters, shouldn't they be more similar to each other? I don't want to say generic, but look at all the previous player characters. They're not really that different. Though the personality thing may be going delving into this too much. In my opinion, I think these should be the friendly rivals, and the gender neutral one you mentioned should be the player character.

Now as for the jerk rival, I have done already gone on record saying that I don't like them. It's probably just branching off my desire for everyone to be friends, but they've always just rubbed my the wrong way. I would personally prefer someone more Gladion; not so much a jerk, but still kind of cold toward you. But I know that I'm probably in the minority here so if I get outvoted, that's fine.

 

Alright so the idea of a girl who loves pyrotechnics being a Fire-type gym leader just came up in Discord. Just putting that out there hopefully before Demo puts out his post about an explosion-obsessed Team Chaos leader because it kind of stemmed from that.

 

Really? I was thinking the main two characters looked kind of similar in terms of attire, the shade of blue really pops but it makes them look really similar. I personally prefer the Gen 8 route of not having the other guy be your friendly rival, it gives us more space to work with characters, but I get that it's a tradition in Pokémon.
I don't even know if we're doing order or chaos anymore, I thought someone vetoed it but I have no clue what's going on anymore with that part. Let's just focus on Gym Leaders, champion, protag and rivals in this thread while the story is sorted out.

 

Demo is still going with Order vs Chaos, and I am not on board with it anymore. I have no idea how anyone else feels.

There also is still the debate of if we want to stick to the monotype gyms or make them more theme-based. I only bring this up here because it probably will effect the gym leader designs. Personally, I like the monotype gyms.

 

The protag designs are pretty good, but one thing I'll say is that almost all protagonist designs in the past games have had pretty different color pallets, with the one exception being Brendan and May. Those two have very different hats as a big distinction, but it's still an exception, so you don't necessarily have to follow this trend. Worth mentioning though.

 

OKAY so I just brainstormed ideas for gym leaders. Here we go.

Spoiler: Riley (Fairy)

Riley is very childish and naive, but also super nice and just wants to be friends with everyone. They can either be gender neutral or full on trans (not that it really effects that much either way), and would probably be earlier on.

Spoiler: Pyra or Flaren (Fire)

Pyra (the only name I will be using for this description) is energetic scatterbrained, and slightly crazy. She loves explosions and works with pyrotechnics. I imagine her being mid-late. Like sixth.

Spoiler: Maverick (Flying)

Maverick is very calm and quiet, mainly keeping to himself. But don't let that fool you, he is very strong. He researches weather and may or may not use weather patterns in his battles (how they applies effectively to Flying-types I have no idea). Probably the eighth one to battle, and the gym leader of whatever city is based off Chicago.

Spoiler: Axel (Steel)

Axel runs a factory, possibly one that makes cars (idk subject to change). He is tough but nice, though he does have a big job at the end of the day and might prioritize that over kindness. Probably fifth or so, and the leader of the Detroit-based city.

Spoiler: Cole (Fighting) and Jess (Psychic)

We got a sibling duo here. Cole is the older one. He is gruff, scrappy, and very protective over Jess. Jess, on the other hand, is friendly, but shy, and tries her hardest to keep Cole from getting into fights. He's a rapper and she's a singer.

Spoiler: Matilda (Ice)

Matilda is very kind and welcoming. Her warming presence is a nice deviation from the harsh cold of the area around this town. She's probably earlier on because of this (kinda like Milo), which breakers the trend of Ice-type gyms always being near the end.

I also think we should have gym leaders for Water (because duh) and Electric (because Thunder Bay), but the character ideas I came up for them I don't really like.

 

Oh yeah go ahead and screw with the names if you want. The only one I came up with that is actually derived from something is Pyra (because pyrotechnics). Riley was the first gender neutral name that came to mind and Maverick is a subtle nod to Top Gun for some reason. The others I literally just came up with and thought "that works". You also could argue that Axel comes from like a wheel axel (axle? idk) but there's probably something better to use.

 

Axles are also made from steel, as are axes, so I'd argue Axel works fine. I read somewhere that in Japanese, all the Gym Leader names are references to plants, so if we want to mess with that that's also an option.

 

I really like Aurora as her name. Fits nicely. I can't stop picturing the kids calling her "Auntie Aurora". This also means that at some point she needs an Aurorus on her team. Probably not at first but maybe in rematches?

Maverick was a complete accident there. Seriously I was just making a Top Gun reference. Because planes.

Enya is nice. Honestly that's all I really have to say about it.

I really like the name Robin. However, I don't know if referencing Robin Hood really fits their character. Robin Hood is basically a vigilantly thief. This gym leader just wants to be nice.

Crash and Edna I'm kind of mixed on too. The single word name thing is cool (did not know Tate and Liza had that), but the names indivually aren't that amazing. Plus they both are a bit similar to other names. Crasher Wake already exists, and is also a Fighting-type specialist. Edna is pretty similar to our own Enya (assuming we go with that).

I like the idea of a female Electric-type gym leader. I mean every generation except II and VIII introduced an Electric-type specialist of some sort, but Elesa is the only girl. Plus I just like the name Audra.

The idea of a gym leader obsessed with the legend of a certain mysterious Pokémon is really cool. Could go hard in that Loch Ness Monster idea (since Galar didn't do it...). And this might just be the Fire Emblem fan in me, but Cordelia makes me think of Flying-types because of the pegasus knight.

 

(stumbles into thread) Hello i have been lurking and while u guys debated gym leader names i studied the blade and have been theorizing japanese names behind the scenes

NYWAYS HI I LOVE CHARACTERS so ill throw out some thoughts of my own....!! i like all our gym leaders so far type and personality wise, have no onions on names bc i think other ppl have that under their belt + im just sitting here googling plants so yall dont have to..... i am especially in love with the water one and their obsession with a legend!! maybe u cant battle them at first bc theyre out looking for the pkmn and ur like Seriously so u have to get them back to their gym to battle lol

otherwise i have not a whole lot to add.... the idea of a rival being with the villains is cool and could lead into a Friendship Is Power moment at the story climax where u convince them to fight for your side to save the region or whatever.... also i fucking stan the protag designs chefs kiss brooke esp an she be playable

so yeah ive been looking into jp names while all of this has been going on for fun and i have 2! i only did aurora and maverick so far bc they seem to be the ones that wont change the most

Spoiler: i googled plants for fun

for aurora i have the name touhi atm!! touhi (トウヒ) is the name for the spruce tree in japanese so PLANTS!! the hi at the end comes from one of the readings for 氷 which means ice and thats about it lmfao!! interesting to note that this guy here 灯 can be read as tou OR hi and means light which can tie into the aurora lights thing but im hesitant to say its important to the name as its more for electrical/non natural lights.

mavericks name atm is nogikuu (ノギクウ) which comes from 野菊 which is aster (this can refer to any aster but my plant of choice was the new england aster as its native to a lot of illinois and does exist around chicago as its decided at this point hes the leader of bootleg pkmn chicago) BECAUSE PLANTS and reads as nogiku. "wheres the extra u then" it comes from kuu, a reading for 空 which means sky since hes the flying leader! so its kinda a combo of the two instead of going full pkmn and googling a plant and then finding words that happen to match up exactly or closely to the 3 charas chosen for the name

i probably didnt explain it that well so feel free to ask "wtf man" bc same haha

 

AHH AURORA LOOKS SO CUTE! Is it weird to say that about a mom? Oh well I don't care. For some reason I imagine her with a slight Scandinavian accent. Not that they really matters Pokémon games don't have voice acting. Maverick being unorthodox and weird is a really fun choice too. Bad fashion FTW.

I imagine Axel being the big, bulky type. But the might just be my mind thinking "Steel = Strong". Enya I think should have very messy and unkept hair. Because of the slight craziness. But this is your artwork so if you don't want to do these things that's fine.

 

I'll be sure to try and get to drawing soon, but for now, how about a few possibilities for main 'friendly' rival, main 'fuck you >:c' rival, and also a gym leader, though mostly due to relevance.

Spoiler: Cove Sidon, The Friend

Name subject to change, but for now it is Cove, the body of water, and Sidon, from Poseidon. Both for obvious enough reasons given the regions water focus.

Cove Sidon's exact start depends on how things play out, but I imagine it would be interesting if the player didn't necessarily start with them like a lot of rivalries begin. Maybe you just encounter each other early on Route 1, as the first trainer battle, and they happen to have started with whichever starter Pokémon is advantageous towards yours. That's right. They may be the friendly rival, but that doesn't mean you should get to just brush past them with a quick water gun or something.

You'll encounter them throughout the game, developing a neat friendship and rivalry, ultimately leading to a final battle around the elite four or something of the sort...however that decides to work.

Cove is a little on the shy, perhaps even cowardly side, but they truly do want to get stronger--and, of course, do so over the course of the game. Perhaps they grew up feeling overall weak throughout their life. And, once they grow and learn to let go of the fear of being weak, they can finally float.

Spoiler: Mai Monaka, The Jerk

Mai Monaka, as a name, is actually a combination of two different types of sweets. Maíz con hielo is a sweet and refreshing snack food in the Philippines, made with shaved ice, corn kernels, sugar, and milk, and Monaka is a Japanese sweet made of azuki bean paste sandwiched between two thin crisp wafers made from mochi.

Mai Monaka is a member of a fairly long line of culinary artists, who has recently also been known for being gym leaders of the Ice and Fairy types, likely leading to some story stuff for Mai once the player reaches that gym, who is very much supposed to be there as the elder child inheriting the gym.

Due to the unfortunate but completely natural passing of Mai's mother, the previous gym leader, she has been left to inherit it a bit earlier then anticipated. A bit of panic, and here she goes running away to get stronger. A similar sort of problem to Cove, but with less of a "scared and cowardly" approach and more of a "I am hiding my worry of not being strong enough to do this under six layers of anger". And, once she grows and learns to let go of that worry, she can finally float.

Spoiler: Sou Monaka, Ice/Fairy Gym Leader

Sou, as a name, is once again from a dessert, Sou being a type of dried flaky Chinese pastry found in a variety of Chinese cuisines.

With Mai having ran away to lots of worry, someone else had to take over the gym. The eldest heir was gone, so the younger brother, for now, had to take over. Sou is definitely on the cold side, but easily more calm and calculated then his more ironically hot-headed sister.

While definitely a very skilled battler, and able to hold his own as whichever gym leader placement he holds, Sou always was more of a chef at heart, and is absolutely ready to drop this gym leader stuff the second his sister decides to show up again.

These are my random ramblings, and I would also like to contact @Skittle in particular for some potential discussion. While, ultimately, this project will have a lot of picking between the different creations of contestants (which starter concept to go with, which gym leaders to use, etc) it still might be worth talking a bit, with you having made some player characters.

 

I will say, ideas for gym leaders are going to be thrown around, and some not all are probably going to be used. Especially when 6/8 of them are made at once. Ice and Fairy were chosen specifically due to probably fitting chef the best, though depending on how it's spun stuff like Fire and Fairy miiiight also work.

That's also a pretty good idea, actually. I wouldn't mind doing that instead of the Mai stuff, in all honesty. Could be them working for one of the evil teams (if we do Order and Chaos, probably Order). Like Bede if that went anywhere.

Something I didn't include in the original post, but I actually kind of had a vague theme in mind for both rivals. Letting go of 'weights' for the ability to 'float'...like floating on a lake. Cove's own weight was the doubt and fear of being generally weak, meanwile Mai's was...kind of the same, but in a much different flavor. Definitely, DEFINITELY stuff to work with there for working for the evil team.