…That title sounds drastic, but I promise it’s not really. Kind of.
9 years, huh? That’s… a long time. I felt like I was reciting what to write here over and over again, but now that I actually have it open, my mind is… completely blank. Which is kind of how it is with me!
Four years ago, around Pokeau’s 5th anniversary (I think), I finished DELTA – the first novelization project. And, for 9 years… Moon is complete, too! Its cool to see the contrast in these stories, following the same family – and how I’ve improved as both a storyteller and an artist. And it’s certainly an achievement! I mean, 70k words? Good god. You should check out the newest chapters, btw.
But…
It feels like it’s been drifting a bit. Not entirely, but let me explain some things that have been on my chest for a while.
Last year in April, Ultra Arc came to be. It was a detached storyline that spiraled into its own unique world and plotline, and I became extremely invested in it – to the point of neglecting ‘classic’ Pokeau. But, it wasn’t Ultra Arc’s fault alone in this. Because while Ultra Arc was more ‘freeing’ in only having vague ties to Pokemon, classic Pokeau has its roots already too deep. And when the direction of the games and the fandom began tiring me out… my investment with classic Pokeau waned in favor of Ultra Arc.
And it’s… distressing, to say the least. At least for me. Because I’ve been so hardcore dedicated to Pokeau for 9 years, that a waning interest is scary and I don’t like it. I know it’s the course of life for things to change, but the naive part of me wishes it wasn’t like that.
Which isn’t to say classic Pokeau is dead. At this point, I think it’s just going to go down with me. But… there’s certainly lots of conflicting feelings and troubled emotions. It started with the SwSh era, and only intensified tenfold when it came time for ScarVio. Fandom alienation and the exhausting media cycle TPC seems to be pushing has just increased to be unignorable since then. Burnout allegories amongst characters have been a bit of a trend in the postgame, so… maybe the advent of the Ultra Arc is just a well-needed vacation?
I can only go at something so hard for so long, I suppose. And while I’d love to give equal love to both at once, it’s… hard.
But that’s a bit depressing, isn’t it? And I’ve been feeling a bit too much of that lately. Let’s talk about things that suck less!
The amount of non-canon characters in Pokeau, including Ultra Arc and PSMD, has surpassed the amount of original Pokemon! It’s… probably not 151 anymore since there’s a few new folks I haven’t factored in, but I still think it’s super cool. According to Bulbapedia, the amount of sync pairs in Pokemon Masters is at 208 (as of writing) – so let’s see if we can get there, too!
I’ve learned a lot of new skills because of Pokeau – one of them being ‘proper’ animation and rendering in Blender! It’s kind of always been a dream so make silly animations with the cast, so I can’t wait to see what the future for that holds. Seeing my new renders and animations compared to the little MMD skits I’d make as a teenager… it’s a cool contrast!
Speaking of, PSMD! That’s a thing! Though I’ve admittedly… been slacking on it, a bit. But it’s cool that the Pokeau universe feels fully ’rounded’ now, since a proper PMD-verse had been missing for years, despite having a rough skeleton.
And of course, I’ve said it before, and it’s cheesy, but it’s true: the strides of improvement I’ve made over the past year because of how dedicated I am to Pokeau are wild to look at! I mentioned in last year’s anniversary letter, but it goes to say again – I hated my art, but ever since last year, I’ve finally been feeling more content and confident with it, and its done wonders on my overall self-esteem. It took years of effort to change how I thought, but finally living in the payoff is wonderful. I’m happy.
Let’s keep going for a full decade!
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