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My comic project: Aurora Shards
3 min read
Three years ago, on September 11th, 2018, I wrote a journal entry saying that I was going to be taking a break from Pokemon art and that I was planning on making a webcomic series. After that I went quiet about it for a long time, not giving out any details on it except to some friends on Discord servers. Yesterday (July 3rd, 2021), I finally posted the main character of the comic to DA:
I drew this character a year ago, never posting her because I never believed I'd actually make the comic series for real. I started this project back in 2018 and have worked on it off-and-on since then, it initially started out as an idea for a concept inspired by the old Sonic the Hedgehog comic book and cartoon series from the 90's, then kind of evolved into what it is now. This is the day I finally announce "Aurora Shards", the comic series I've been working on for 3 years.
Aurora Shards is a comic series set in a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk future in which a mega-corporation known as the Eris Corporation has taken over everything and is causing the planet to decay, mechanizing the environment and turning anyone who opposes them into a robot slave. A group of rebels known as the "Aurora Shards" opposes them, led by Hunter Inugami. One day, Hunter encounters a young fox girl named August (pictured above) who lacks any memory of her past, but has strange energy powers that are tied to the planet's life force. She bears resemblance to the Princess of Delfia, Lisa, who vanished when the kingdom was toppled, and believes she is the key to stopping Eris Corp and their mechanization of the planet.
The series is heavily inspired by Sonic the Hedgehog, Final Fantasy, Mega Man Zero, and various other fantasy and science fiction stories. I barely see any action-adventure series featuring anthro animal characters, most stuff I see with anthro characters seems to be slice-of-life in nature, and I have no idea why, because you can tell a lot of interesting stories with anthro characters.
So when do I plan on releasing this comic? Hopefully this month actually! I don't have a planned release date for it, and I don't have a set schedule for when I will be releasing new pages. So be sure to stay here and look at my page for any updates regarding my comic series. This is Masterge77, signing off!
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After a discussion with one of my watchers, I would like to issue some new rules regarding anyone who wishes to draw my characters. This includes any art-trades or commissions I do with people, let alone art people draw for me for free. 1. If you are to draw art of my characters, I would like to be messaged about it when it is finished, so I can see it. 2. If you are going to be making any animations or movies featuring my characters, however, you must ask me permission first before you proceed. Certain characters of mine I wish to be voiced by me, such as Monty and Jack, due to them being my fursonas.
3. Any mature artwork of my characters is forbidden.
4. If I am to tell you to stop a project that regards the usage of my characters, you will do so IMMEDIATELY! This includes if I am to ask for a refund on commissions or cancel an art trade for whatever reason.
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Looking back at my Robot Pokemon Challenge
13 min read
Lately I've been posting almost all my art to FurAffinity, mostly due to the Eclipse controversy and the fact that a lot of my followers are moving there. I started with 2015 because that was when I changed from MS Paint to Inkscape, and I'm looking at a lot of my old art and am seeing how much I've improved since then.
Today I'm going to look at my robot Pokemon Challenge from February 2016. Even though I don't really draw Pokemon anymore, it was nice to look back at what I did all those years ago.
During February of 2016, I did an art challenge in which I drew robotic versions several of my favorite Pokemon species, lasting 16 days (save for one delay). It was the most ambitious project I did at the time, and it was heavily inspired by a friend's project of drawing robotic Pokemon, which I referred to as "Robomon" (yeah, I wasn't that original). It was pretty fun!
Day 1: Delphox
I actually wanted to do one of each starter type, so I started with my favorite Fire starter's final evolution, Delphox. Admittedly, I never actually used Delphox in the games (I chose Chespin in X, kind of regret it looking back). I thought a holographic fire wand would be a cool addition to it's arsenal.
Day 2: Mightyena
This one wasn't really that special, but it was probably one of the few times I ever did a quadruped creature.
Day 3: Raichu
This Raichu robot was probably my absolute favorite one of all the bots I did for the challenge. I was so happy with it that I actually made it into a full-time character named Lewis the Robot Raichu. I planned to do the same with other bots, only happening with the Lucario bot though, becoming Max the Robot Lucario.
Day 4: Serperior
My favorite Grass type, both in general and as a starter. This one was actually the hardest to do, as I never drew a more serpentine body shape before. Nothing really special about it though.
Day 5: Sylveon
If you're going to do a challenge where you draw a different Pokemon each day, you HAVE to do at least one Eeveelution. Originally I considered doing Umbreon, but I had an idea for how Sylveon's ribbons could work as holographic constructs. Admittedly, this is another one of my favorites from the challenge. This one was another one that was going to be made into a full-time character, but I forgot what it was going to be named.
Day 6: Excadrill
This one and the Ampharos bot are the only ones I was never really happy with. Excadrill is a rather tricky Pokemon to draw, but this one I am just unhappy with, specifically with the head and arms. If there are any I would actually redo, it would be this one.
Day 7: Zoroark
Even if it's probably my favorite Dark type next to Mightyena, Zoroark wasn't originally planned for the challenge, but I ended up deciding to do one anyways, and I ended up liking it. The head is a bit big and the arms are a bit thin, but that was how my artstyle was at the time. And yeah, I tend to give Zoroark and Lucario actual dog noses, the regular snouts didn't fit my style.
Admittedly, even if I designed all the robots in this challenge to be gender-neutral, I always imagined this one to be female. Much like Lewis, this one was planned to be a character, but I never finished it.
Day 8: Lucario
Of COURSE I would do Lucario as a robot, who wouldn't? Like the Raichu robot, I decided to make this one into a character as well, being Max the Robot Lucario. This one is easily my second favorite from the entire challenge, Lucario is always fun to draw as a robot. Yeah, like Zoroark, I tend to give Lucario a dog nose, the regular snout never looked right in my style.
Day 9: Ninetales
Ninetales was the first Pokemon I ever loved, so it's no surprise I decided to do it. Unsurprisingly, I chose the nine-tailed kitsune to be the 9th day. I thought it would be interesting if the tails were holograms, and rather than the "robot grin" mouth that would light up whenever the bot spoke, I thought it would be different if the bot spoke with the visor display glowing.
And before you ask, yes, all the Robomon can actually talk. I was more into Mystery Dungeon type stuff at the time rather than stuff with Trainers, so it's no surprise that I would feel more comfort with talking or anthropomorphized Pokemon rather than human trainers. I kind of imagine this one to have a rather chill personality.
Day 10: Dragonite
Dragonite is another one of my favorites, so of course I was going to go with it. Not much to say about this one other than I thought rocket boosters in the feet and a Mega Man-esque energy buster on the arm would be really cool.
Day 11: Lopunny
This was another one that originally wasn't planned for the challenge, in fact, I actually don't remember what the Pokemon I originally planned for this day was. Admittedly, I'm not a big fan of Lopunny, but I decided to go with it because it was the favorite Pokemon of one of my followers at the time (I forgot their username, but I do know they deactivated later that year. I don't miss him though, he was kind of a jerk). I actually kind of like how this one came out, I was inspired by another robot Lopunny design and decided to make this one mouthless, probably the only one I did it with.
Day 12: Ampharos
I wanted to do another Electric type, but I couldn't decide which one it should be, and then I suddenly thought of Ampharos out of the blue. Like the Excadrill, I'm not too happy with this one, but it was my first time drawing an Ampharos, so that's probably why.
Day 13: Feraligatr
When I first played Pokemon, it was Pokemon Gold, and my starter was Totodile. This one wasn't as challenging as the Serperior, but it was rather tricky to design given Feraligatr is a rather complex Pokemon to draw. Admittedly, I was going to do Blastoise for the water starter, but I saw there was a lack of Gen 2 Pokemon, so I went with Feraligatr instead.
Day 14: Shaymin (Sky Forme)
My favorite Legendary, and one of my all time favorites. I went with the Sky Forme because it was easier for me to design, and I wanted at least one Legendary in the challenge. This is another one of my personal favorites.
Day 15: Mienshao
To no surprise, I saved my two absolute favorite Pokemon, Mienshao and Floatzel for absolute last in the challenge. Yes, I am aware this robot Mienshao in particular looks similar to my Mienshao bot Alex, which was the point as he’s actually the same model as this robot here, albeit with minor differences such as the color differences and a slightly different pose as this was drawn from scratch.
Regardless, Mienshao is really fun for me to roboticize, it just works well as a robot for some reason, to the point where I roboticized it numerous times.
Day 16: Floatzel
As I said with the Mienshao robot, I saved my two absolute favorite Pokemon, Mienshao and Floatzel for last. There's not much I have to say about this one, other than I have an adoration for roboticizing Floatzel in particular. Something about it just resonates with me as a robot. This design ended up being reused for a redesign of my Floatzel robot character Jacen... who ended up being redesigned the following year because I though this design didn't fit him.
—————————————————————————————————-
I was going to do a second one later that year, but it ended up being cancelled due to real life happenings. I only ever got two for the second challenge done, but when Pokemon Sun and Moon were announced, I decided to postpone the challenge until the games were out so I could have new species to draw... and then I ultimately never did it. Those three were Umbreon, Quilava, and Primarina, the latter of the three being repurposed into Stephanie the Robot Primarina.
Will I post them? Probably not, unless you really want me to.
Today I'm going to look at my robot Pokemon Challenge from February 2016. Even though I don't really draw Pokemon anymore, it was nice to look back at what I did all those years ago.
During February of 2016, I did an art challenge in which I drew robotic versions several of my favorite Pokemon species, lasting 16 days (save for one delay). It was the most ambitious project I did at the time, and it was heavily inspired by a friend's project of drawing robotic Pokemon, which I referred to as "Robomon" (yeah, I wasn't that original). It was pretty fun!
Day 1: Delphox
I actually wanted to do one of each starter type, so I started with my favorite Fire starter's final evolution, Delphox. Admittedly, I never actually used Delphox in the games (I chose Chespin in X, kind of regret it looking back). I thought a holographic fire wand would be a cool addition to it's arsenal.
Day 2: Mightyena
This one wasn't really that special, but it was probably one of the few times I ever did a quadruped creature.
Day 3: Raichu
This Raichu robot was probably my absolute favorite one of all the bots I did for the challenge. I was so happy with it that I actually made it into a full-time character named Lewis the Robot Raichu. I planned to do the same with other bots, only happening with the Lucario bot though, becoming Max the Robot Lucario.
Day 4: Serperior
My favorite Grass type, both in general and as a starter. This one was actually the hardest to do, as I never drew a more serpentine body shape before. Nothing really special about it though.
Day 5: Sylveon
If you're going to do a challenge where you draw a different Pokemon each day, you HAVE to do at least one Eeveelution. Originally I considered doing Umbreon, but I had an idea for how Sylveon's ribbons could work as holographic constructs. Admittedly, this is another one of my favorites from the challenge. This one was another one that was going to be made into a full-time character, but I forgot what it was going to be named.
Day 6: Excadrill
This one and the Ampharos bot are the only ones I was never really happy with. Excadrill is a rather tricky Pokemon to draw, but this one I am just unhappy with, specifically with the head and arms. If there are any I would actually redo, it would be this one.
Day 7: Zoroark
Even if it's probably my favorite Dark type next to Mightyena, Zoroark wasn't originally planned for the challenge, but I ended up deciding to do one anyways, and I ended up liking it. The head is a bit big and the arms are a bit thin, but that was how my artstyle was at the time. And yeah, I tend to give Zoroark and Lucario actual dog noses, the regular snouts didn't fit my style.
Admittedly, even if I designed all the robots in this challenge to be gender-neutral, I always imagined this one to be female. Much like Lewis, this one was planned to be a character, but I never finished it.
Day 8: Lucario
Of COURSE I would do Lucario as a robot, who wouldn't? Like the Raichu robot, I decided to make this one into a character as well, being Max the Robot Lucario. This one is easily my second favorite from the entire challenge, Lucario is always fun to draw as a robot. Yeah, like Zoroark, I tend to give Lucario a dog nose, the regular snout never looked right in my style.
Day 9: Ninetales
Ninetales was the first Pokemon I ever loved, so it's no surprise I decided to do it. Unsurprisingly, I chose the nine-tailed kitsune to be the 9th day. I thought it would be interesting if the tails were holograms, and rather than the "robot grin" mouth that would light up whenever the bot spoke, I thought it would be different if the bot spoke with the visor display glowing.
And before you ask, yes, all the Robomon can actually talk. I was more into Mystery Dungeon type stuff at the time rather than stuff with Trainers, so it's no surprise that I would feel more comfort with talking or anthropomorphized Pokemon rather than human trainers. I kind of imagine this one to have a rather chill personality.
Day 10: Dragonite
Dragonite is another one of my favorites, so of course I was going to go with it. Not much to say about this one other than I thought rocket boosters in the feet and a Mega Man-esque energy buster on the arm would be really cool.
Day 11: Lopunny
This was another one that originally wasn't planned for the challenge, in fact, I actually don't remember what the Pokemon I originally planned for this day was. Admittedly, I'm not a big fan of Lopunny, but I decided to go with it because it was the favorite Pokemon of one of my followers at the time (I forgot their username, but I do know they deactivated later that year. I don't miss him though, he was kind of a jerk). I actually kind of like how this one came out, I was inspired by another robot Lopunny design and decided to make this one mouthless, probably the only one I did it with.
Day 12: Ampharos
I wanted to do another Electric type, but I couldn't decide which one it should be, and then I suddenly thought of Ampharos out of the blue. Like the Excadrill, I'm not too happy with this one, but it was my first time drawing an Ampharos, so that's probably why.
Day 13: Feraligatr
When I first played Pokemon, it was Pokemon Gold, and my starter was Totodile. This one wasn't as challenging as the Serperior, but it was rather tricky to design given Feraligatr is a rather complex Pokemon to draw. Admittedly, I was going to do Blastoise for the water starter, but I saw there was a lack of Gen 2 Pokemon, so I went with Feraligatr instead.
Day 14: Shaymin (Sky Forme)
My favorite Legendary, and one of my all time favorites. I went with the Sky Forme because it was easier for me to design, and I wanted at least one Legendary in the challenge. This is another one of my personal favorites.
Day 15: Mienshao
To no surprise, I saved my two absolute favorite Pokemon, Mienshao and Floatzel for absolute last in the challenge. Yes, I am aware this robot Mienshao in particular looks similar to my Mienshao bot Alex, which was the point as he’s actually the same model as this robot here, albeit with minor differences such as the color differences and a slightly different pose as this was drawn from scratch.
Regardless, Mienshao is really fun for me to roboticize, it just works well as a robot for some reason, to the point where I roboticized it numerous times.
Day 16: Floatzel
As I said with the Mienshao robot, I saved my two absolute favorite Pokemon, Mienshao and Floatzel for last. There's not much I have to say about this one, other than I have an adoration for roboticizing Floatzel in particular. Something about it just resonates with me as a robot. This design ended up being reused for a redesign of my Floatzel robot character Jacen... who ended up being redesigned the following year because I though this design didn't fit him.
—————————————————————————————————-
I was going to do a second one later that year, but it ended up being cancelled due to real life happenings. I only ever got two for the second challenge done, but when Pokemon Sun and Moon were announced, I decided to postpone the challenge until the games were out so I could have new species to draw... and then I ultimately never did it. Those three were Umbreon, Quilava, and Primarina, the latter of the three being repurposed into Stephanie the Robot Primarina.
Will I post them? Probably not, unless you really want me to.
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MG77's Commission Prices (OPEN)
4 min read
Very recently I've been hit with financial problems, combined with I have decided to open up commissions in hopes of me drawing more frequently. Since I'm new to this and I don't believe my artwork is good enough for large prices, I'm going to be having rather low prices, Personally I want to use this opportunity to draw more frequently.
PRICES:
- $10 for a single character with no background, $5 for each additional character
- $20 for a simple background
- $30 for a more detailed background
WILL DO:
- Anthro art
- Pokemon and Digimon (Feral or Anthro)
- Sonic OCs
- Robotic characters (mecha will be harder)
- Fan characters
WILL NOT DO:
- Humans or non-anthro humanoids (Will make an exception for Mega Man OCs)
- NSFW or Gore
- Fetish art
- Hate art or anything offensive
- FNAF Animatronics
RULES:
- Additional characters are $5.00 USD
- Shading is also $5.00 USD, cel-shaded only.
- One commission per person, if you want a second commission, wait until your current one is done.
- I reserve the right to decline a commission, especially if I deem it too complex or involves subject matter I am not comfortable with.
- A visual reference of the character is required.
- If any delays are to occur, you will be notified.
- If you wish to cancel the commission and you have already paid, I will refund you.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
- All prices are listed in USD, prices might vary between regions.
- Prices listed are subject to change.
- Any questions answered will be listed below.
I'm going to have only 5 slots open for the time being, and will not accept any more commissions until all of them are done. I cannot guarantee they will be finished immediately, so give me time to complete them.
SLOTS OPEN:
1. KendraEevee
2. 1jet10
3. KamikazeTommyDragon
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
PRICES:
- $10 for a single character with no background, $5 for each additional character
- $20 for a simple background
- $30 for a more detailed background
WILL DO:
- Anthro art
- Pokemon and Digimon (Feral or Anthro)
- Sonic OCs
- Robotic characters (mecha will be harder)
- Fan characters
WILL NOT DO:
- Humans or non-anthro humanoids (Will make an exception for Mega Man OCs)
- NSFW or Gore
- Fetish art
- Hate art or anything offensive
- FNAF Animatronics
RULES:
- Additional characters are $5.00 USD
- Shading is also $5.00 USD, cel-shaded only.
- One commission per person, if you want a second commission, wait until your current one is done.
- I reserve the right to decline a commission, especially if I deem it too complex or involves subject matter I am not comfortable with.
- A visual reference of the character is required.
- If any delays are to occur, you will be notified.
- If you wish to cancel the commission and you have already paid, I will refund you.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
- All prices are listed in USD, prices might vary between regions.
- Prices listed are subject to change.
- Any questions answered will be listed below.
I'm going to have only 5 slots open for the time being, and will not accept any more commissions until all of them are done. I cannot guarantee they will be finished immediately, so give me time to complete them.
SLOTS OPEN:
1. KendraEevee
2. 1jet10
3. KamikazeTommyDragon
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
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So yeah... I'm about to write one of my most controversial journals ever, and I'm sure a lot of people are going to hate me for writing this, but I do feel a lot of people are in the same boat as I am with this situation. While I agree with many of them, I would like to discuss my two cents on the situation.
As you probably read from the title, I'm not getting Pokemon Sword and Shield. Part of the reason for this is because I don't own a Switch, and another reason is that I've decided to take a long break from Pokemon stuff, combined with not wanting to hear all the drama in regards to the controversies surrounding the game, but there are other reasons why I am not getting the games, namely the fact that it continues a downward trend in the franchise that I am not fond of.
Before we discuss anything else, let's address the elephant in the room: The National Dex controversy... which I won't be talking about in this journal. I choose not to spend my time talking about this because 1. It's been discussed enough already in the fandom, and there's no sense repeating what they've said, and 2. There are other problems these games have asides from that. Yes I'm bummed that certain Pokemon that I love were cut out, but I'm not going to go further than that, because Dexit/Bring Back National Dex/whatever you want to call it is the least of my problems with these games. In fact... I'm surprised they didn't do it in an earlier generation.
Instead, I want to talk about something else, being that these games, as well as Pokemon Go and Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee are a sign of a much bigger problem with the franchise, one which I think is INFINITELY worse than half the Pokedex being cut out... because these game are not only one of the most controversial in the franchise, but they represents a dark future for Pokemon that I feel will harm the franchise in the long run, and being a long time fan, I am extremely concerned about this direction they've gone in.
Basically... I feel The Pokemon Company has lost the point of what made Pokemon so popular and special to begin with, mostly because they've resorted to the same mentality that Disney has with Star Wars, being that they rely on the brand name recognition of Pokemon for success rather than making anything that's of quality. Since Gen 6, Pokemon games have been getting more simplistic, more linear, with less content, lower quality, more gimmicks (Mega Evolutions, Z-Moves, Dynamax, etc.) and the fact that spin-off titles are no longer unique or distinct. Gone are the days of Mystery Dungeon and Ranger, now replaced with more "casual" games like Pokemon Go and Pokemon Masters, which are given priority over anything else.
In other words, Pokemon has become so successful as a franchise that they're now making anything and everything just to make a quick buck, while completely missing the point of what made the franchise so popular to begin with.
I'm also starting to think that Game Freak is getting tired of doing only Pokemon all the time, and that they want to do their own stuff now, but Nintendo won't let them due to how profitable Pokemon is. I think they want to go the route of Inti Creates (who made Mega Man Zero and Mega Man ZX) after they split up from Capcom, where they do their own things rather than suck up to pre-existing IPs. Thing is, Game Freak tried to do that at the worst possible time. Little Town Hero DOES show that Gamefreak wants to do more then just Pokemon after all (given they stated it was of higher priority than Sw/Sh), heck most of their other games before it got overshadowed by Pokemon's fame. Anyone here ever heard of Pulseman, HarmoKnight, or Drill Dozer? If not, those were other games Game Freak made, which GF RARELY makes because they're forced to do Pokemon all the time.
As you probably read from the title, I'm not getting Pokemon Sword and Shield. Part of the reason for this is because I don't own a Switch, and another reason is that I've decided to take a long break from Pokemon stuff, combined with not wanting to hear all the drama in regards to the controversies surrounding the game, but there are other reasons why I am not getting the games, namely the fact that it continues a downward trend in the franchise that I am not fond of.
Before we discuss anything else, let's address the elephant in the room: The National Dex controversy... which I won't be talking about in this journal. I choose not to spend my time talking about this because 1. It's been discussed enough already in the fandom, and there's no sense repeating what they've said, and 2. There are other problems these games have asides from that. Yes I'm bummed that certain Pokemon that I love were cut out, but I'm not going to go further than that, because Dexit/Bring Back National Dex/whatever you want to call it is the least of my problems with these games. In fact... I'm surprised they didn't do it in an earlier generation.
Instead, I want to talk about something else, being that these games, as well as Pokemon Go and Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee are a sign of a much bigger problem with the franchise, one which I think is INFINITELY worse than half the Pokedex being cut out... because these game are not only one of the most controversial in the franchise, but they represents a dark future for Pokemon that I feel will harm the franchise in the long run, and being a long time fan, I am extremely concerned about this direction they've gone in.
Basically... I feel The Pokemon Company has lost the point of what made Pokemon so popular and special to begin with, mostly because they've resorted to the same mentality that Disney has with Star Wars, being that they rely on the brand name recognition of Pokemon for success rather than making anything that's of quality. Since Gen 6, Pokemon games have been getting more simplistic, more linear, with less content, lower quality, more gimmicks (Mega Evolutions, Z-Moves, Dynamax, etc.) and the fact that spin-off titles are no longer unique or distinct. Gone are the days of Mystery Dungeon and Ranger, now replaced with more "casual" games like Pokemon Go and Pokemon Masters, which are given priority over anything else.
In other words, Pokemon has become so successful as a franchise that they're now making anything and everything just to make a quick buck, while completely missing the point of what made the franchise so popular to begin with.
I'm also starting to think that Game Freak is getting tired of doing only Pokemon all the time, and that they want to do their own stuff now, but Nintendo won't let them due to how profitable Pokemon is. I think they want to go the route of Inti Creates (who made Mega Man Zero and Mega Man ZX) after they split up from Capcom, where they do their own things rather than suck up to pre-existing IPs. Thing is, Game Freak tried to do that at the worst possible time. Little Town Hero DOES show that Gamefreak wants to do more then just Pokemon after all (given they stated it was of higher priority than Sw/Sh), heck most of their other games before it got overshadowed by Pokemon's fame. Anyone here ever heard of Pulseman, HarmoKnight, or Drill Dozer? If not, those were other games Game Freak made, which GF RARELY makes because they're forced to do Pokemon all the time.
I think that Game Freaks really needs to take a break from Pokemon, considering that The Pokemon Company is sucking the talent out of them, and each newer game, especially after Gen 5, feels like it's of lower quality than the last, and with less and less content. Basically, it's quantity over quality, and you have TPC's CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara to thank for that.
And that's my biggest problem, The Pokemon Company is far too conservative with the franchise, they refuse to update it or try anything new or different, instead dumbing the franchise down to appease casuals rather than embracing the growth of the franchise. It just feels like the entire franchise has been stifled on creativity because of how conservative and safe TPC is with it... or more rather, they have a screw loose, in the fact that we're getting random apps like Pokemon Home and Pokemon Sleep, as if Pokemon Go and Masters weren't enough.
To put it simply, they're unwilling to take risks with it and are trying to rebrand it into a "lifestyle brand" rather than a video game franchise. No really, they said they want Pokemon to be a lifestyle brand, which is usually a death sentence to a franchise. And you know why they are doing this? They want to compete with Sanrio and Hello Kitty, rather than Digimon or Yo-Kai Watch, who have things more straightened out and at least don't spread themselves too thin.
You want to know why "cutesy" Pokemon like Pikachu and Eevee and the base forms of starters get more merchandise than the non-cute Pokemon (that aren't Charizard or Lucario)? It's because they want to compete with Hello Kitty and the cutesy franchises made by Sanrio. They're trying to rebrand Pokemon as a whole to break into a market the franchise was never designed for, all because of the sheer size of the franchise's revenue and the fact that people will buy anything with the Pokemon name on it without question, which as I stated earlier, is a similar problem I have with Disney's approach to Star Wars (oh, I'll be getting to you in another journal).
Compare that to the IPs that TPC's parent company Nintendo owns. You rarely see Nintendo license out their franchises to be made into movies and TV shows (other than a few times like Kirby: Right Back at Ya! and the Animal Crossing movie), because they're designed to be video games first and everything else second. Do you know why Nintendo continues to make successes, why there are so few BAD Nintendo games (just really divisive ones)? It's because they stick to what's true to what their franchises were made for.
The Pokemon Company was created when Nintendo didn't want to deal with doing things directly in terms of the franchise outside of video games, so they decided to put everything in the hands of a second party company. This, combined with the franchise's sheer success already as well as how people outside of Japan saw Pokemon primarily as the anime rather than the games (due to the anime coming out first) made Nintendo give the decision to have TPC make all the decisions with the franchise rather than Nintendo directly like they do with all the other franchises, segregating Pokemon from Mario and Zelda. Basically, it was all about marketing the non-game material to audiences that weren't familiar with the games, and Nintendo wanting to stick to only doing video games and not much else.
So what you ended up with is essentially a miniature Disney that has only one franchise under it's control, owned by Nintendo, a company that's already considered the Disney of video games... but more in the style of the OLD Disney rather than the overly greedy and ambitious modern Disney that likes to buy everything out. The Pokemon Company functions more like Disney than it does Nintendo, or even Sega or Capcom for that matter. Even Electronic Arts, as much as we all like to rip on it, knows it's a video game company first, and when Electronic Arts knows to prioritize video games before other things first and a company owned by Nintendo doesn't, you know there is a problem...
People do blame GF for it when it's mainly the Pokemon Company itself that should be ashamed for the massive drama, but let's look on the bright side... at least they're not banning competitive players for saying they support a protest against a totalitarian government. Isn't that right Blizzard Entertainment? (And no, I am not making a journal about Blitzchung, that's a whole other can of worms that I don't want to deal with).
Either way, I just want to say that Pokemon's best days are long behind it, that the franchise is nothing like what it was back when Gen 1 came out, and while I'd normally say "Look at how far we've come" from Gen 1, I rather say "Look at how far we've regressed" because I feel the franchise has devolved into something less than desirable, and while people tend to throw around the term "franchise fatigue", I feel the direction the Pokemon franchise has gone in the past few years is doing more harm to it than good, and that within a few years... there might no longer be a Pokemon franchise at all.
Until then, this is Masterge77, signing out!
And that's my biggest problem, The Pokemon Company is far too conservative with the franchise, they refuse to update it or try anything new or different, instead dumbing the franchise down to appease casuals rather than embracing the growth of the franchise. It just feels like the entire franchise has been stifled on creativity because of how conservative and safe TPC is with it... or more rather, they have a screw loose, in the fact that we're getting random apps like Pokemon Home and Pokemon Sleep, as if Pokemon Go and Masters weren't enough.
To put it simply, they're unwilling to take risks with it and are trying to rebrand it into a "lifestyle brand" rather than a video game franchise. No really, they said they want Pokemon to be a lifestyle brand, which is usually a death sentence to a franchise. And you know why they are doing this? They want to compete with Sanrio and Hello Kitty, rather than Digimon or Yo-Kai Watch, who have things more straightened out and at least don't spread themselves too thin.
You want to know why "cutesy" Pokemon like Pikachu and Eevee and the base forms of starters get more merchandise than the non-cute Pokemon (that aren't Charizard or Lucario)? It's because they want to compete with Hello Kitty and the cutesy franchises made by Sanrio. They're trying to rebrand Pokemon as a whole to break into a market the franchise was never designed for, all because of the sheer size of the franchise's revenue and the fact that people will buy anything with the Pokemon name on it without question, which as I stated earlier, is a similar problem I have with Disney's approach to Star Wars (oh, I'll be getting to you in another journal).
Compare that to the IPs that TPC's parent company Nintendo owns. You rarely see Nintendo license out their franchises to be made into movies and TV shows (other than a few times like Kirby: Right Back at Ya! and the Animal Crossing movie), because they're designed to be video games first and everything else second. Do you know why Nintendo continues to make successes, why there are so few BAD Nintendo games (just really divisive ones)? It's because they stick to what's true to what their franchises were made for.
The Pokemon Company was created when Nintendo didn't want to deal with doing things directly in terms of the franchise outside of video games, so they decided to put everything in the hands of a second party company. This, combined with the franchise's sheer success already as well as how people outside of Japan saw Pokemon primarily as the anime rather than the games (due to the anime coming out first) made Nintendo give the decision to have TPC make all the decisions with the franchise rather than Nintendo directly like they do with all the other franchises, segregating Pokemon from Mario and Zelda. Basically, it was all about marketing the non-game material to audiences that weren't familiar with the games, and Nintendo wanting to stick to only doing video games and not much else.
So what you ended up with is essentially a miniature Disney that has only one franchise under it's control, owned by Nintendo, a company that's already considered the Disney of video games... but more in the style of the OLD Disney rather than the overly greedy and ambitious modern Disney that likes to buy everything out. The Pokemon Company functions more like Disney than it does Nintendo, or even Sega or Capcom for that matter. Even Electronic Arts, as much as we all like to rip on it, knows it's a video game company first, and when Electronic Arts knows to prioritize video games before other things first and a company owned by Nintendo doesn't, you know there is a problem...
People do blame GF for it when it's mainly the Pokemon Company itself that should be ashamed for the massive drama, but let's look on the bright side... at least they're not banning competitive players for saying they support a protest against a totalitarian government. Isn't that right Blizzard Entertainment? (And no, I am not making a journal about Blitzchung, that's a whole other can of worms that I don't want to deal with).
Either way, I just want to say that Pokemon's best days are long behind it, that the franchise is nothing like what it was back when Gen 1 came out, and while I'd normally say "Look at how far we've come" from Gen 1, I rather say "Look at how far we've regressed" because I feel the franchise has devolved into something less than desirable, and while people tend to throw around the term "franchise fatigue", I feel the direction the Pokemon franchise has gone in the past few years is doing more harm to it than good, and that within a few years... there might no longer be a Pokemon franchise at all.
Until then, this is Masterge77, signing out!
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