Y – Yellow

A high level of nostalgia means that this year my chosen theme for the 2016 A to Z challenge is Pokemon. Whether you yourself have a similar level of sentimentality or you’ve never really gotten into it, I hope that you enjoy this month of posts as I indulge myself.

Pokemon Yellow was the special edition of the game in the first series of games. In the UK, this took the form of Red, Blue & Yellow, released as a trio of game, with Charizard, Blastoise, and of course Pikachu as the mascots.

You pretty much know this already, because it’s been almost impossible to talk about the various aspects of the Pokemon world without relating them to the games. But I am going to run through the games that have been out, because there have been a lot of them. Main generations games, that I have been familiarising you with are:

• Generation 1
  • Pokemon Red
  • Pokemon Blue (In Japan it was Green version)
  • Pokemon Yellow
• Generation 2
  • Pokemon Gold
  • Pokemon Silver
  • Pokemon Crystal
• Generation 3
  • Pokemon Ruby
  • Pokemon Sapphire
  • Pokemon Emerald
  • Pokemon Fire Red (Remake of Red)
  • Pokemon Leaf Green (Remake of Blue/Green)
• Generation 4
  • Pokemon Diamond
  • Pokemon Pearl
  • Pokemon Platinum
  • Pokemon Heart Gold (Remake of Silver)
  • Pokemon Soul Silver (Remake of Gold)
• Generation 5
  • Pokemon Black
  • Pokemon White
  • Pokemon Black 2
  • Pokemon White 2
• Generation 6
  • Pokemon X
  • Pokemon Y
  • Pokemon Omega Ruby (Remake of Ruby)
  • Pokemon Alpha Sapphire (Remake of Sapphire)
• Generation 7 – Coming late 2016
  • Pokemon Sun
  • Pokemon Moon

 

Of course, those are simply the main series of DS games (okay, so actually they started on the gameboy, then gameboy colour, then gameboy advanced, then DS, and now 3DS. It’s been going for a long time, there have been a fair few upgrades in technology since the start). There are actually quite a number of other Pokemon games out there, which I would like to give you a brief introduction to:

Pokemon Stadium & Pokemon Stadium 2 – These were on the N64, yeah, quite old, but I remember playing the original one a lot. Sure, there was an arena for Pokemon battles, but there were also cups to compete in, the Elite four to take on, you could import your Pokemon from Red/Blue/Yellow to fight, you could get rare Pokemon to export back into your game, you could fight Mewtwo after you did a bunch of other things. But mainly I remember the mini games. Themed around different Pokemon, I had huge fun with Lickitung’s all you could eat game, hoop-la with Ekans and Diglett, and Run Rattata Run! Massively fun, fairly simple games, which I could and did sink hours into.

Pokemon Snap – I can complete this game in six hours. How do I know this? Because I played it a heck of a lot, even during university, and I timed myself. It’s a Pokemon game where you play a photographer. you have to go around various Pokemon environments, take photos of Pokemon, sometimes trigger special events, and then Professor Oak will evaluate your photos and give you points for them. I was insanely fond of this game. And I am pretty sure that somewhere I still have the cartridge. At the end of the game you unlock a level with Mew in it, and it’s ridiculously hard to photograph, but it’s so pretty when you do!

Pokemon Colosseum – This was sort of like a cross between the Stadium style of battling, and the RPG of the games. You’re a trainer, there is a plot line (a fairly good one from what I recall) revolving around stopping the resident villainous team from stealing Pokemon’s hearts and minds. And them as well probably. It was an interesting game, because the battling style was a fair bit different (probably because it was on the gamecube) but also because you started with a pair of levelled Pokemon – Umbreon and Espeon! Can you see why I might have liked this game a lot? Pokemon XD was a follow up game which was very similar to this, which I never did get around to playing.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Series – Yeah, I can actually count this one as a series, because there are currently seven or so games that are called Mystery Dungeon. I just picked up the latest one Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon. The basic premise is that you yourself are a Pokemon, and you go an join up with the explorers guild. You then explore various dungeons, fighting Pokemon in a special system, recruiting more Pokemon, and finding treasure. They are super cool, playing as a Pokemon is awesome, and there’s a surprising amount of plot packed in there as well. I’m rather looking forward to playing this next one.

Pokewalker – A pedometer crossed with a simple Pokemon catching game. Walk around in real life, and you will walk around in the tiny little screen, and then you have a chance to find and catch wild Pokemon. Mainly I mention this because also coming out later this year is Pokemon Go! which is going to be a augmented reality game through your phone. Using the GPS software in your phone, run around the real world, and in the game, you will be running around tall grass trying to catch Pokemon. I am looking forward to it far more than I should, and I am very much going to be running all over town trying to catch Pokemon!

Of course, these are just the games that I choose to mention specifically. Pokemon has been around for a long time, and there are loads more games. The Ranger series, computerised versions of the cards games, puzzle games, pinball games, Pokemon Dash, which was this fun little racing game. However, this post is already running long, so I’ll leave you to explore extra titles as you want to 😛

 

Pokemon of the Day

Y is for Yveltal

Is a large Pokemon that contains both avian an draconic traits. It has a dark body, wings, and a bright red underside with branching black markings. It has five claws on each appendage, a beak like snout, and a large ruff around it’s neck. When the appensages are fully extended, the shape resembles the letter Y. It’s the counterpart legendary Pokemon to Xerneas, and has the power to absorb life energy. When it reaches the end of its lifespan, it will steal all the life energy of the living things around it and then transform into a cocoon to sleep for a millenia.

Again, since we’re fairly near those awkward, end of the alphabets letters, there isn’t much choice for Pokemon of the days, but I thought since we’d had Xerneas yesteday, it made sense to have Yveltal today as the other half of that equation. That, and he looks badass, Dark/Flying is a cool type combination, and he can sleep for 1,000 years, which is something I wish I could do sometimes.

Y – Yearbook

Sometimes known as an annual it’s a book that is published once a year, and there’s one in particular that I am thinking of. Relevant to writers, of all genres, not just fantasy. Red and yellow cover. Lots of information that is really, really useful? I am of course talking about the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook.

This yearbook is a “comprehensive, up-to-date directory of media contacts and contains a wealth of practical advice and information” – taken from the back cover of the book itself. And the about section tells me that it has been published every year since 1906, making 2015 the 108th edition of the book.

In it are a lot of articles and content that actually give lots of helpful advice on stuff about dos and don’ts, how to find agents and publishers, and other such interesting and relevant articles, often from successful writer’s giving back to the community.

But what it is most useful, and famed, for is the comprehensive and up to date list of publishers, both UK and abroad. Each entry tells you the name, web and emails address, addresses, and what type of books they publish, fiction, non-fiction, subjects, genres, ect. It really is very useful. And it does magazines as well. There’s also a section for poetry, one for television, theatre, and even art/illustration.

After that it moves onto agents, again with contacts details, what type of literature they work with, and if they are good, authors they have worked with as well. So again, the famed references that this books is golden for come into play.

Some I didn’t realise was that it has a section on societies and competitions that run throughout the year, whether that’s for writers or artists of all varieties. And flicking through one of the old copies my library has, I can also see it’s got sections on copyright laws and finance to help writers with the nuts and bolts type of stuff that comes with writing.

I’ll admit, I’ve never bought a copy myself, I just browse through library ones. This is mainly because I’ve never got a book to the place where I thought it was good enough to find an agent/publisher to send it to. But hopefully that will change in the near future. Fingers crossed 2015 will be the first year I buy a copy for myself in!

Y – Dragon Young

Also called wyrmlings, today we’re going to be talking about the juvenile stages of a dragon’s life. I did say I was going to talk about baby dragons, waaaay back in my E – Dragon Eggs post, if you were paying attention 😉

The life cycle stages that a dragon goes through are:

• Wyrmling  0 – 5 years
• Very Young  6 – 15 years
• Young  16-25 years
• Juvenile  26-50 years
• Young Adult  51 – 100 years
• Adult  101 – 200 years
• Mature adult  201 – 400 years
• Old  401 – 600 years
• Very Old  601 – 800 years
• Ancient  801 – 1,000 years
• Wyrm  1,001 – 1,200 years
• Great Wyrm 1,201+ years

When a dragon has hatched from the egg, it is a slightly sodden creature, but dries off within a couple of hours and starts running and walking almost immediately. Within the next half week, the wings also firm up, and wyrmlings have been known to fly from as young as two days. Flying is a good advantage for the young, since they can easily escape earthbound predators this way.

Dragons as a species have ancestral memories, this means that when the young are born, they have a substantial amount of their parents knowledge imprinted on their brain. This is not a complete working knowledge of everything the parents knows however, and is more a sense of identity as a dragon and the generalities of the world, which their parents can then expand upon if the species is of the type to stay with it’s parents. This awareness helps them to judge potential threats in the world, and helps them to use their innate abilities in overcoming obstacles.

Wyrmlings are born with teeth and claws, although not very big they are still very sharp. They are also born with fully formed organs capable of producing a breath weapon. The area affected is smaller proportionally to the dragon then it is when it’s an adult, but it is still a breath weapon and more than capable of causing significant harm of injury.

A dragon’s relationship with its parents tend to depend on the species, but most species who are not overly protective of their young will accompany them on their first few hunts, but then leave the young dragon to hunt on its own, developing the skills and memories it was born with through practice.

Wyrmlings will stay with their parents for a few years, learning more things like how to look for a good lair, picking good territories, and how to pick the best items to hoard and other skills for draconic activities.

Wyrmlings who were abandoned or orphaned still have a good chance of surviving due to their ancestral memories and innate abilities, but to takes longer for them to learn skills without a parent to show them, and they are at danger from larger predators without an adult dragon to drive them away.

Whilst wyrmlings are roughly the size of a large wolf, young dragons are approximately the size of a horse. Very young dragons are still honing their skills and instincts, sometimes with the aid of parents but mostly by themselves, but by the time they get to the young stage of life they have all the instincts of an adult dragon, including hoarding and territorial claims. This is when most dragon will leave the nest, through choice to go and find it’s own territory, or because the parents kick them out to preserve their own territory or hoard. Quite a few dragons are known to leave before this phase, so as to keep the relationship between parent and child a loving one in the future.

The first thing a newly separated young dragon has to do is find a lair of its own. This is like a coming of age trial, as they have to find a place which is not already occupied by another dragon, has adequate resources, and a good lair for the dragon to sleep, live and hoard in. At this stage, the dragon will prefer to find a lair, in an old castle or mountainous cave, that in can inhabit since that means the work has already gone into creating a space. Later in life they are more able to build one, but for this point they need a base to work from and do not have the resources to build their own.

Once they have a lair, they can establish their territory, usually this will be what the dragon can fly over in a day from the central point of its lair. And then they can start building their hoard. At this age, the dragon will take to attacking caravans and travellers in the pursuit of something to add to it’s lair. They are unsophisticated in their approach at this age, and unselective in the pursuit of treasure. As they grow older they become wiser and more selective, but every dragon has to start somewhere with their hoard.

From this point on, the dragon’s habits are set, and whilst they will develop new approaches, wisdom, and bigger hoards, the foundations of who they are have been developed and the juvenile stages of their life pass into adulthood.

And we’re done! Penultimate post finished! See you all tomorrow at the finish line!

Oh, and a huge shout out to digitaldivaducky and Tom Benson for featuring my blog on theirs!