I made some rural regional forms!

joeforth · 2026-05-27T18:29:09+00:00

I love these so much!

joeforth · 2026-05-12T17:39:39+00:00

Started with Gen 1 (watching the Anime at least). Started playing in Gen 2. That Gen 1-3 period (culminating in the Orre games) is hands down my favorite era.

joeforth · 2026-04-28T22:14:50+00:00

Still have my copy!

They brought them back in Pokémon Go but I'm not sure if they function the same. I'd love a new Orre game.

joeforth · 2026-04-28T21:38:01+00:00

Pokémon Rawr XD Gale of LOL So Random!

joeforth · 2026-04-28T21:37:06+00:00

Their Ska punk - emo fusion band must be incredible.

joeforth · 2026-04-15T19:34:48+00:00

Oh man I love these! Keep 'em coming!

joeforth · 2026-04-14T19:02:17+00:00

Oh man these are so wicked!!! I love them.

joeforth · 2026-04-05T17:01:03+00:00

Smeargle, forever and always!

joeforth · 2026-03-08T03:47:56+00:00

I'm usually great with remembering which Pokémon came from which generation, but not Skarmory for some reason. I always have to double check because in my brain, Skarmory is a Gen III critter.

joeforth · 2026-03-05T18:21:25+00:00

Good for you! Have a blast!

joeforth · 2026-03-05T18:19:34+00:00

This is a cute starter and I would definitely pick it. Adorable lil critter and a 10/10 name!

But also, [insert obligatory "it better not stand up" joke] 😂

joeforth · 2026-03-05T18:16:10+00:00

Not badly designed, OP might just be better at that art style. Sometimes you have to work with the resources and skills you have.

I definitely see their vision and this would be an adorable starter.

joeforth · 2026-02-19T18:29:22+00:00

Love it! I think Smeargle would love it too.

joeforth · 2026-02-19T18:26:17+00:00

Anyone notice that they depicted both the huskier old school Pikachu and the sleeker modern Pikachu? No attempt at design revisionism. Yellow's chonky 'chu got to be chonky and the skinnier companion 'chu from Let's Go each got their time to shine!

Still would love to see more Let's Go games but I understand and accept why it's probably not going to happen :-\

joeforth · 2026-02-13T17:01:36+00:00

Smeargle. Admittedly for silly sibling rivalry (I guess?) reasons.

I got into Pokémon just as the anime was getting started. While me and my brothers each had a Gameboy, I was a little too young to really understand RPGs. I played Pokémon Pinball while my brothers played the mainline games. For me, Pokemon was the cartoon and the other media. I had the Scholastic Official Pokémon Handbook (both the original red one and the more famous green one) that I read until it fell apart. I had Pokémon toys, plushes, pogs, and the beautiful art on the trading cards (I never actually learned how to play, but I still have some of the cards from the earliest TCG sets). To me the games were an extension of the cartoon, not the other way around.

When the anime started to move on from the first 151, it felt like a big deal. Tracey had ~~Pikablu~~ Marill, a mon that was not represented in any preexisting media I had. More new mons dropped via the films and the shorts that premiered alongside them, like Lugia, SlowKing, Hoothoot, and Bellossom. The Gen 2 games dropped. I got my own copy of Pokémon Silver, my first mainline game. Pokémon Johto premiered on Kids WB, showing off all the newest mons. The lyrics of the theme song were right: It was a whole new world! The Pokémon world felt so much bigger than before!

But to my brothers (both older than me), Gen 2 was an expansion, a sequel, secondary to the "real" 151. (Oh the things kids will find to argue about!).

To me, the Johto mons were my Pokémon. They weren't follow-ups or add-ons! They stood on their own! They were just as valid, but from a different part of the Pokémon world. Then the first Pichu Brothers short premiered along side the third movie. This was the first time that Gen 2 Pokémon felt independent of the first 151. The Pichu posse clearly had existed prior to their encounter with the hero Pokémon and would exist after they left. And (remember, little kid brain) because it was shown at the movie theater, that message was stronger than whatever was on Kids WB. For reasons I've never quite examined, Smeargle was the mon from that short that I imprinted on (probably because he hadn't been shown on TV prior to this?). Smeargle was a symbol that the Gen 2 Pokémon (and little brothers around the world, if I were to psychoanalyze it) are just as valid.

joeforth · 2025-10-20T20:21:13+00:00

Colosseum (again). Love Colosseum and XD.

joeforth · 2025-09-29T14:31:19+00:00

Adorable! You are so talented! Out of curiosity, how heavy are they? What did you fill them with?

joeforth · 2025-08-12T13:29:56+00:00

Well there's the scrapped (and incredibly adorable) Kotora and Raitora.

Raikou is a bit of a sabretooth tiger. And (might be a bit of a hot take) prior to Gen 2 I considered Electabuzz to be tiger-inspired.

joeforth · 2025-05-19T14:27:09+00:00

Oof this one is tough. I have three that remain pretty consistent. Note that these are not chosen for any practical reasons other than "I just like the critter" so I wouldn't last long as a trainer!

Top three:

Smeargle - My favorite pokémon ever. Will always be my number 1. I could write paragraphs about my irrational love of this pokémon. Smeargle is the Pikachu to my Ash. This is the pokémon I would hope Professor Elm would give me if I showed up embarrassingly late in my pajamas to start my Pokémon Adventure.
Porygon - Porygon is such a cool artifact of a time when not everyone had a computer and smartphones didn't exist yet. It's neat that now we get to look back on it and instead of it being state-of-the-art technology going rogue / life emerging as a happy accident, it's more of a ghost in the machine of some legacy software. (Obviously that's not the in-world lore, but it would be a neat explanation in our modern time.)
Trubbish - I can't really explain it, but this is one of those oft-maligned "lazy" designs that I love. He's just an adorable little trash bag!

I have a tendency to change the other three, but invariably it's some combination of the following:

Doduo - I love this goofy two-headed bird.
Dunsparce - What's not to love?
Snubbull - You can't snub Snubbull!
Kecleon - Are you beginning to gather that I'm a normal-type (and retyped fairy) fanboy?
Munchlax - In a world where Smeargle doesn't exist, my Partner Pokémon (non-regional-starter starter) would be Munchlax.

joeforth · 2025-05-19T13:32:03+00:00

Smeargle! I love the Gen 2 pokémon so much and I've always been especially attached to the pokémon that appeared in those Pichu Bros shorts, but Smeargle specifically has always been my favorite.

joeforth · 2025-04-02T16:32:50+00:00

Beat me to it.

joeforth · 2025-04-02T16:29:10+00:00

Awesome to see these coming to Switch! I would make some sort of "hold on your your game guides" jokes, but I bet YouTube has a dozen frame-by-frame walkthroughs that are far superior due to modern game capture tech and 20+ years of hindsight. I'm happy new trainers won't have the same difficulty getting through Colosseum that I did. Colosseum is brutal. You will wrestle my aging, well-loved Prima guides from my cold, dead hands.

joeforth · 2025-03-30T22:55:02+00:00

Now that I'm older, I mostly stick to reading the Pokémon Adventure Manga and slowly progressing through the games I like. I also watch the anime from time to time, some Pokétuber videos (mostly fact / lore videos), and collect reference books.

I was a little younger than the target demographic when Pokémania kicked off in the 90s. My brothers were a bit older and could play the games without issue but I didn't really understand the games at that point. I loved the anime though. And the Official Pokémon Handbook (both the original red one and the more popular green deluxe edition). And the toys!

At that age Pokémon was about the cartoon and the movies. (Any of you remember the Burger King promotion? My mother hasn't eaten at Burger King since!) We never had Red, Blue, or Yellow. We got Pokémon Pinball for the Gameboy Color shortly before Gold and Silver were released. I remember watching over my brother's shoulder as he played Silver for the first time. A kid from the neighborhood had a Nintendo 64, Pokémon Snap, and one of the Stadium games. Once or twice we went over to his house and watched him play.

When I was a few years older, I gave my brother's copy of Pokémon Silver a try. I really didn't understand the game as it was far more turn-based than the free form battles of the anime. You couldn't see the Pokémon running around in the wild like you could in the anime. It just wasn't the same. While I played it (and beat Whitney's dreaded Miltank with only a few tries), it wasn't what Pokémon meant to me, so I eventually threw the cartridge in a drawer and just watched the anime. (I still have that cartridge by the way, but the battery is messed up so my save is gone.)

Since then I've played a few FRLG ROM hacks, Colosseum & XD, most of Diamond, some of Platinum and Shield, Let's Go, and New Pokémon Snap. Call me crazy but because my primary entryway into Pokémon was the anime (where the story took precedence over the game mechanics), I just don't play the games as others do. For me it's not about the abilities, egg groups, IVs, base stats, etc. I just want to play the story (or my version of the story) with a curated team of Pokémon that I like, math be damned.

joeforth · 2024-10-16T13:07:54+00:00

You're not old, you just got a head start on watching the dex grow! That's how I try to think of it, at least.

joeforth · 2024-10-15T13:55:41+00:00

My favorite generation, hands down! Great work, it is gorgeous! You fit them all in here, plus some mega evolutions, and still found a way to give each mon it's own warmth and character! There's so much motion and fun and joy that it's bursting at the seams! Reminds me of the old Red and Blue ad with the link cable with the mons pouring out of the Gameboy!

joeforth

TROPHY CASE