Tag: about the editor

Do you have any pokemon at the moment, Lanette?

Oh! Yes!

I still have my starter, who’s by now a swampert. He’s probably my foremost partner, in that he’s not only handy around the house (sometimes anyway), but he also helps with lifting heavy equipment for me. Then there’s my medicham, whom I sometimes confide in whenever Brigette’s not around. Then you have the two pokémon I’d kept from my time as a coordinator, a manectric and a glalie. I used to have a clefairy for the contest circuit too, but I gave him to Bill, as a sort of gift exchange because Bill was giving me an eevee (who is now a flareon and, strangely enough, my glalie’s best friend). You’ve … probably heard of that clefairy, actually. I feel a little guilty about that, but I thought those two would be a perfect match when I made the trade. So that was more correct than I’d thought.

That’s about it, actually. Coordinators focus a lot on the development of a pokémon’s style, so even when I was traveling, I tried to keep my team small. I’m glad I did now, if I’m honest. The lab barely fits me, let alone more than a handful of pokémon, and even then, most of them spend their time outside unless I really need their help. Yes, even my glalie. I’m not sure why, but she adores warm weather.

LH, do *you* have a fursona?

No, sorry to say. I always thought the idea was a little nice, actually. Strange parts of the fandom aside, furries are so creative, and the idea of having an animal that describes who you are is a little … comforting. But I’ve never been able to feel strongly enough about a pokémon to see it as a representation of me. I just can’t get past seeing myself as anything other than human.

I know it sounds weird to be so forlorn about it, but besides the creativity, there’s also the empathy. It’s impossible for humans to think exactly like pokémon, but because furries already identify with something non-human, they can probably come close. That’s why I don’t think Bill’s research costumes would work for anyone but him. Even if I wore one, I wouldn’t be able to turn off the human part of my brain and let myself imagine what it’s really like to be a pokémon; I’d still keep thinking on a subconscious level, “I’m human, and this is silly.” Bill, on the other hand, turns that part of him off for a hobby, so it’s almost second-nature for him to put on a costume and let himself slip into the mindset of a pokémon for research. So I envy him a little.

…

Oh. So this is why he keeps going on for pages whenever he answers asks. Who knew it would be this easy to just talk…

Lanette has had *enough*

Oh, don’t get me wrong, readers. I enjoy working with Bill; it’s just that sometimes, he can get a bit … difficult when it comes to things that he’s not doing professionally.

I have an idea, though. Because Bill is going to be unavailable to answer your questions until he agrees to behave, I’d be happy to answer questions on my own for the next couple of days. If you’d like to get my perspective on things, just address your asks to LH, and I’ll get to them as soon as I can.

Regular asks—including older ones—will resume on Monday.

—LH

Casual question but what’s your favorite movie of the year so far? I thought PokeRangers Infinity Legends was pretty good as the big season finale to the Mawrvelie Cinematic Universe and Ready Trainer One was surprisingly okay??? I didn’t think the film was any good but it was better than expected

PokéRangers Infinity Legends wasn’t that bad, no, but frankly, if we’re talking about the Mawrvelie Cinematic Universe, the character focused movies are in my humble opinion far superior. That is to say, who can argue that Black Liepard was just the right balance of action, comedy, thriller, and science-fiction that the MCU hasn’t seen since Steel Man 2? Or what about the chemistry between the titular characters of Durant-Man and the Vespiquen?

Beyond that cinematic universe, though, Guillotine was a surprisingly good sci-fi movie, if not a bit too violent for the editor’s tastes (which is to say, I admit I went alone), and although it’s yet another superhero film, the same could be said for Shedpool 2 (which is to say I went alone for that too). On that note, though, Orre Rim 2 was also decent, although it didn’t quite capture the glory of the first Orre Rim.

As for the editor, she’s unfortunately more interested in romantic comedies, foreign films, and generally more “serious” subjects (although we both can at least agree on Black Liepard for reasons that involve, and I quote, “hey, look, it’s us,” during the scene where Black Liepard’s sister asks him to test the unobtainum suit), so her recommendations differ quite drastically from mine. She thought Love, Cynthia was quite “adorable,” for one, as was Let the Sunny Day In (which was technically a 2017 Kalosean film, but it’s only been released in Hoenn this year, apparently). She’s also fond of Kyogre’s 8 for reasons that certainly don’t make complete sense if you’ve spoken to Lanette Hamilton for more than two minutes.

Of course not. —LH

well on the bright side, that half the world *doesn’t* include the children. hopefully you can make a case for yourself out of that fact in order to placate lanette. good luck…

Oh, don’t worry about Lanette. She knows me well enough that it’s literally impossible for me to annoy her so deeply that she doesn’t forgive me within a day.

Granted, that’s mostly because I once had to explain to her that the emails I had sent to her one fateful week were nigh incomprehensible not because I was drunk but instead because I had clefairy paws, but the point is, she knows I largely mean well.

Actually, it’s more like nothing he says or does fazes me anymore, so knowing him is a constant act of nudging him towards doing something less him, but yes. —LH

Hey! You’re back! Great—I have a new idea for an invention that I want to share with you. It’s watch, but you use it to stop time so you can have more time to catch pokémon. —Bill

And I’m out again. —LH

So do the devs ever get together to play Dungeons and Dragonites?

We do it over Discord, actually.

Bill’s created so many intentionally terrible characters it’s become a competition among the rest of us to see how quickly we can kill him off when it’s our turn to DM. The record-holder is currently Bebe, who killed off his bidoof bard within five minutes of the campaign’s start. —LH

You, on the other hand, consistently play fighters prone to bouts of violence so ornately detailed that it worries me a little. —Bill

In honor of pride month, are there any pokemon who are more prone to chosing same sex mates? Or do you know of any gym leaders/professors/champions/pc managers who are lgbt?

Regarding the latter, I must say quite a few of the figures you’ve mentioned are either closeted or straight, so I’m either not at liberty to out them or can’t include them here for obvious reasons.

At the very least, though, my colleagues on the storage system’s staff and I are quite happily open. Among the core developers (that is, the administrators of Kanto/Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, and Alola), Lanette is the only one who’s both straight and cisgendered. Her sister and Molayne are aroace, Bebe is bisexual, Celio is gay, Cassius is pansexual and polyamorous at that, and I am an unfortunate cross between panromantic and asexual. Amanita is excluded here because she hasn’t really explored her sexuality or gender yet. Neither our circle nor her sister are putting any pressure on her to do so, though, but we’ll fully support her when she’s ready. In addition, Molayne is genderfluid (their pronouns are he/him and they/them, incidentally), but we also have a number of trans and nonbinary administrators among the non-core developers. Ingrid of London, for example, who seems to be a fan favorite,  is trans.

Among the gym leaders and Elite Four, as I’ve said, a number of them are either straight or closeted. When it comes to outed members, there is quite an extensive list. For the sake of ease, allow me to only give a few examples. For one, Valerie of Kalos is trans and also aroace, but Jasmine and Will, likewise trans, identify as bisexual and straight, respectively. Burgh, meanwhile, identifies as genderfluid (pronouns are also he/him and they/them). Erika and Sabrina both identify as wlw, although Sabrina is asexual as well. On the other hand, Morty is openly gay, as are Brawly, Wallace, and Grant.

As for Elite Four and Champions, I admit I can’t say for the vast majority of them (they keep their identities rather secret due to our unfortunately backwards media, as you may be aware). However, Steven Stone is openly asexual which … is perhaps because of some rather fascinating rumors about him. Quite honestly, he’s a man after my own heart—far more interested in science than more human pursuits. Of course, his main interests lie in geology rather than in pokémonology, but I don’t judge him for it. I just lament that it’s simply never meant to be.

(Bill, is that really necessary? The media has a field day with you on the daily as it is… —LH

It is 100% necessary. —Bill)

As for pokémon, few of them share our concepts of gender and sexuality, so mated pairs of all possible orientations are not at all unusual in the pokémon world. Wild jynx populations, for example, are known to form same-sex couples and use nearby pokémon (sometimes found well outside the jynx’s home cave systems) to fertilize their smoochum eggs. Even when healthy populations of compatible male pokémon are presented to jynx, they often prefer the company of their own species or female representatives of the male’s. The tyrogue family, sawk, throh, and the bounsweet line seem to be the same way, and froslass, upon evolution, also gravitate towards other froslass and female glalie, even if they displayed a preference towards either gender as snorunt. (Researchers aren’t entirely sure why froslass do that, unfortunately.)

In short, I suppose one can say that should you be LGBT, readers, rest assured you are far, far from alone.

I love Bill.

I love Bill too. —LH

What? —Bill

I love him like the brother I never had and also never asked for because he will one day either kill himself or kill us all through mad science, so I have to watch him and ensure he doesn’t break the space-time continuum again, which is occasionally annoying, but he’s somewhat charming, so I don’t necessarily hate doing it. —LH

Oh, okay. Business as usual then. —Bill