TRAINER'S EYE #125 - "Obstagoon's Alley Mates" ft. ThePokeNetwork - As The Pokeball Turns

Episode Transcript
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ThePokeNetwork (00:00):
I am the PokéNetwork, and this is my
Pokémon story.

David Hernandez (00:49):
Welcome to As the Pokeball Turns, where we
interview people about theirexperience with Pokemon.
My name is David Hernandez.
Today, I'm joined by thePokeNetwork.
A fellow Poki NERD here to tellus how great Alolan Persian is.
Welcome to the podcast.

you just had to run that ballpark.
Did you buddy?

Of course, it's part of my show.
Welcome to As the Pokéball Turnswhere I troll my guests
sometimes.

Yeah, yeah, well, I'm also glad you
emphasize the nerd like I liketo

The NERD! NERD! How could I not do it?
That's like one of the key partsof what we're going to talk
about later.
I had to include it.

I mean after all it's a whole it's like a whole
concept of my channel I meanafter all I do have a podcast
myself called pokey nerds Inc

Well, what's unique about you is that you
know, you do years live onTwitch and you know We're gonna
dive into more the heavy part,but I kind of wanted to start,
you know I'm one of the firstPokemon interview shows around
and I know you came in a littleafterwards What made you kind of
want to dive into that kind ofpart of the Pokemon content
sphere?

well, it's actually quite a funny story
because, I was more of aentwined with, some of the
variety content community beforeI was like really in depth with
the Pokemon community.
So I knew this guy on Twitch whodid a podcast and I told him,
Hey, when, if you, if you everneed a guest for the show, feel
free to contact me.
And so we did.
And, I really loved doing thepodcast experience.

(02:20):
I've been on a few, a few otherpodcasts, aside from that.
And I was like, You know what?
There's a lot of Pokemoncommunity members out there that
I know but don't really know soI'm like I want to start my own
podcast.
So I asked around various peoplethat I knew and see if they
would be interested in doingthis with me.
So I jumped the gun.
I made a discord.
I got some graphics made and,almost two years later we're

(02:43):
here.
And I've interviewed, uh,almost, over 30 creators so far.

That's amazing because it's kind of cool.
You just like thought it was agood idea because you were a
guest on and then you're like, Idon't really know these other
creators.
Let's like kind of dive intotheir own kind of, I guess,
experience with Pokemon becauseyou'd kind of dive in on like
what started with him.
You know, what's their favoriteshiny Pokemon?
What's a Pokemon they hate,which I kind of actually love
because you don't really hearthat kind of question too often.

Yeah, yeah, I like to try to, like, learn as
much about them, Pokemon wise,as I can, and also, like, about
them, per se, because, like Isaid, I'm all about learning
about the origin stories of thepeople that I know, and I'm just
glad that I've been able to notonly learn these stories, but
also, you know, blessed withthem taking time out of their

(03:28):
lives to spend it with me so Ican pick their brains.

I think one of the best things I loved about
your show is you actually spentthe whole season honoring, I
think his name is Turbo becauseI think he passed away, right?
Yeah.

Uh, yeah, TheTrueTurbo, he was the season
one finale guest, And, that wasactually the last time anyone
ever saw him on a live streamingplatform, Because after that, he
got really sick, about a couplemonths later, he unfortunately
passed away.
So, I decided to dedicate mywhole second season to him, And
I had People wearing bow ties orputting a bow tie on a plushie

(04:02):
to help help help honor him.
That's why I also wear a bow tiefor, every show that I have to
honor my brother.
And that's why I also at the endof every podcast, I always say,
stay safe, stay rock and staytrue to yourself because that
was his outro.
And I don't think he would mindat all if I honored him by, you
know, doing that at the end ofevery show.

What is it like to have a guest who, you know,
after you interview them, theykind of pass away, was it kind
of shocking and kind of weird

Um, It's it's a little bit of both because I
mean I I knew turbo a little bitbefore I interviewed him But
after I interviewed him, I knewI knew more about him But I also
knew people connected to himthat were like just as like
devastated for his loss Like theidea that the last time somebody
was on camera as a contentcreator was on my show it it

(04:52):
Don't get me wrong.
It did it did like mess You Not,I wouldn't say mess, like, it
would, it definitely hurt meemotionally and psychologically,
but at the same time, I knewthat if, I just, tucked myself
away that I wouldn't be honoringhim the way I have been.
And, Turbo had, like, thebiggest heart of anyone that I

(05:12):
ever met, heck, I mean, I deal alot with my autism, but he had a
lot of other issues aside fromhis physical impairments.
But, the sheer fact that thatman could not only do content
creation, but also inspirehundreds of people around the
world, I mean, it just, it justmeant a lot that I had him on my
show, it was definitely a bigloss for the Pokémon community.

Absolutely.
And I think Nobody can reallysay like how difficult that
would be to kind of go throughthat because I would struggle
even myself trying to imaginelike if I had a past guest go
through that and I'm like, Idon't know how to handle it.
So Bravo for even takingconsideration to do that for a
season.
it's easy just to say like, Oh,it just happened.
But you actually gave him a fullseason dedication with all the
bow ties.
And it was very sweet to see foran entire season.

Yeah, some of the people that I had on season
two were close to Turbo, so itjust made the season a lot more
special.

Well, I want to ask you this so obviously, you
know, Pokemon brought ustogether and you know We're
gonna talk about the ways youkind of engage with the
franchise now But where did yourorigin story start?
When did you first start playingPokemon?

let's see.
I first started playing Pokemongames in, I believe 2006, 2007,
because that was the era of,Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire.
Sapphire was the very firstPokemon game that I ever played.
I didn't actually start andfinish it.
It was just a pre loaded copywith everything done on it.
So all I was doing was justknocking out, various things

(06:32):
like, Seviper, Zangoose, andNuzleaf, with, my buddy Swamper
night.
It was like, this is a really,this is a really cool game.
I mean, this is a really coolfranchise the very first Pokemon
game that I started andcompleted was Pokemon Leaf
Green.
And, I remember using a Venus orthe first time I played, and
Venus Source is still myfavorite, gen One star to this
day.
it really also got me thinkingabout, like, actually

(06:53):
strategizing because, you know,I made the careless mistake of
overleveling my starter and thenI didn't train up an actual
team.
So, I learned how to play thegame and, the rest is history.
I've played pretty much, I'veplayed pretty much every single
Pokemon game there is inexistence.
I've even gone back and playedthe older games.

Mm hmm.
That's amazing.
So even before Leaf, Green, andFire Red, do you go back to play
the ones that came on the GameBoy Color?

Yeah, like, uh, um, some of my stream endeavors
were actually, runs with, thevery first Gen 1 mechanics of
Pokemon.
Like, I did a Charizard solorun, in Red.
And, uh, it was

I imagine

um, it was difficult in some ways, but, it
was still a pretty doable run.
the very first time I complete,started and completed Pokemon
Red was actually on stream.

Oh really, so the first time you ever beat the
game, your audience to see youdo it.

Uh, yep, exactly.

That's awesome dude, that's crazy.
I remember when I played,Pokemon Leaf Green, and I loved
it, because for me, I wasrevisiting Kanto, but it felt
kind of empty compared to likesome of the remakes nowadays.
But I always loved the Hoenngames though, those have always
been one of my favorites.

I've always said I'm a Gen 3 baby, so, people
will say, like, what Pokemonregion you like to live in, and,
I always, like, give them twoanswers.
Uh, the first one wouldobviously be Hoenn, because it's
my home region, it's where Ifirst started playing Pokemon
games.
And the second would be Galar,because, of course, that's where
Obstagoon resides, and the onlyregion he resides as of this
point.
uh, uh,

since, I mean, give us some time here.

uh, uh, uh,

Because I haven't seen Galar, I haven't
seen Opsigun so long.

I yeah, I mean, uh, I still, I still say to this
day, I'm still pissed off thatthey didn't integrate, the
Linoone line, whether it'sHuinian or Galarian into the,
teal mask or.
Indigo Disc DLCs.
I'm still pissed off about that.

I think what's amazing, and we're going to dive
into some of your favoritetypes.
Originally, I think it wasDarkrai was your favorite, but
once you saw Obstagoon, I thinkthat became your number one.
Is that correct?

Uh, yeah, um, Obstagoon, uh, on looks alone,
jumped into my top ten instantlybecause I just, I've never seen
a Pokemon like this before.
It looked so badass.
I'm a really big fan of blackand white, color schemes, and,
this thing just looked menacing.
and you know, the fact that it'sa dark type, my favorite type,
just made it all the morespecial to me.
And then when I finally startedusing it in Sword and Shield, it

(09:07):
pretty much became my secondfavorite Pokemon, toppling
everything else.
And, the reason why it's, becamemy favorite is because when I
started doing Twitch streaming,I needed a Pokemon mascot.
And I know for a moment at thatPaters was using dark rice like
a co mascot, so I didn't wannafeel like I was copying anyone.
So that's why I chose Stegobecause no one else was using
it.
So I jumped on the gun and therest is history.

It's cool just to see how both Pokemon that you
kind of got attracted to isbasically how you build your
channel.
And you know, you have a verydeep passion, not only for Dark
type Pokemon, but especially forObstagoon.
It's kind of amazing to see.

I know I'm currently actually getting a
full gon line tattoo on my rightarm.

Really?
No way.

Uh, yeah, the pinned photo on my Twitter page
is actually, the progression ofmy tattoo.

you said earlier, Dark type's your
favorite type.
what is it about the Dark Typethat makes it your favorite, and
when did it first happen, do youremember?

Well, I think it generated from, you know,
Darkrai becoming my favoritePokemon, and I think Dark types
became more of a staple for me,like Gen 5 and beyond, because
Gen 5 introduced some reallygood Dark types, you know, like
Hydreigon, Crocodile, Bisharp,and, so.
The reason why it startedbecoming my favorite is because,
like, I'm not gonna sugarcoatshit.

(10:19):
I've been through hell and back,as a kid and as a teenager.
I guess, like, Dark Types justkind of spoke out to me because,
like, Dark Types are alwaysgiving a bad rep.
like as we both know, it'scalled the evil type in Japan.
And, you know, that's why darktypes are like, evil menacing
creatures, but I just, I just,you know, become like, I feel
like more at home with them.
And I feel like I can, you know,kind of relate to them because

(10:42):
I've had such a pretty dark pastand, they are actually some of
the strongest mods in the game,in my I can, be at home with
them.
That's pretty much all I can sayabout it.
It's just, I feel at home withdark type Pokemon.
And on top of that, I've usedDark type Pokemon on pretty much
every team I've had, now that Ithink about it.
I used Crocodile in Black 2 andWhite 2.
I used Greninja and Pangaroo onmy first run of X and Y.

(11:04):
I had a Sheesh, what was thatfirst team I had?
Um Actually, did I have a Darktype on my first run through of
the game?
No.
Oh, yeah, I used Incineroar.
I was I was like thinking.
I used Incineroar I usedIncineroar Gen 7, and I used,
obviously, I used Obstinator inGen 8.
I used Grimmsnarl in Gen 8, sojust like, I've always wound up
using a Dark type Pokemon on myteam.

(11:26):
It's pretty much since Gen 5.

I know there's some Dark Types, specifically
Absol's always been the primeexample, to where people think
that it's a sign of things, thatit brings disaster But if you
watch the anime, it actually iskind of foreboding, of a
disaster coming.
But people think that it bringsthe disaster with it.
So it seems like it's almost amisunderstood type in a way.

Exactly.
Because that's also how I feelbecause like I said, I'm on the
autism spectrum.
So I feel I felt a lotmisunderstood by my fellow
students, my fellow, you know,Human beings in general because
I just felt so Misunderstood butit did you know, I took later in
life for me to start to realizethat these people yes They
misunderstood me because Ididn't understand what was going

(12:06):
on in my head So people don'treally understand what's going
on behind the scenes as a darktype.
So that's why I kind of relateto them in so many ways and
shapes and forms.
And plus, I can also agree thatthey do have strong hearts.
I mean, after all, if you'veseen the anime, you'll know that
Houndoom just loved Misty'stogepi.

And Houndoom has the flames that would, you'd
feel the burn forever, but italso has a soft spot, which I
think kind of shows contrast ofboth what you perceive and what
can be reality at times.

Exactly.

I kind of want to focus on just Team Yell for a
bit because the one thing that'sunique about, not Team Yell, but
the leader, he actually becamethe first Dark type Gym Leader
within kind of Pokemon'sfranchise.
Did you kind of feel some senseof pride that, yes, I finally
have a Dark type Gym Leaderafter all this time, you know,
after Karen and the guy from Gen3?

I definitely felt some pride because, well,
you're also left out, uh, Nanu,the Kahuna of Ula Ula

I'm not gonna remember guy's name, man.

Well, I have to, well, I have to for certain
reasons, but any But, yeah, um,I definitely felt, like, very,
very, very, very happy that wefinally got a Dark type gym
leader.
And, on top of that, Piers aceis Obstagoon, so that's why,
like, he held a special place inmy heart.
Not just him, but also Marnie aswell.

(13:23):
Marnie's my favorite, not onlymy favorite Pokigirl, but she's
also one of my favorite gymleaders because of the fact that
she, it's a dark type gym leaderand uh, Have you like have you
seen that like that that thatcut scene at the end game?
post game where she's like in ahotel room and she like puts on
a Like puts puts her fingers upto her lips and does like a real
smile animation front her morepico I thought that was I

(13:46):
thought that was the most likeone of the most adorable things
I have ever seen So that'sanother reason why marty has a
little bit of a special place inmy heart

I actually always enjoyed Marnie as a
character.
She was very, I think,underrated in Sword and Shield.
And, Grimsley actually.
Grimsley, I loved Elite Four.
He was the dark Elite Four, Ithink, in Innova.
And I liked his style.
He always had that verysentencing look, if that makes
sense.

exactly.
like, Piers looks like thedefinition of a dark type,
trainer because he has darkcircles for days, he has the
long, super long ass hair, hiswhole ensemble is just, you
know, black and white, grimlooking, and he's also, like, I
don't know if, like, being superskinny is, a depiction of being
a, a dark type master, it is,then I guess it is.

(14:28):
Is

Anyway, I want to dive into, you know, you
starting to stream on Twitch.
I think you started back duringthe pandemic, right?

Uh, yeah, I actually started, June 17th,
2020.
It was the, the day the Isle ofArmor, DLC released.

What made you want to start streaming on
Twitch?

it comes down to, uh, years of watching
YouTube and seeing all thesevarious, uh, creators doing,
like, randomizers and Nuzlockechallenges.
And, uh, it's like, I could dothese myself, but I want to
share my experience with theworld.
Like, my world seems so smallbecause there's Pokemon fans,
uh, where I was living at thetime.
So I decided to branch out and,actually reach out to, a Pokemon

(15:08):
YouTuber known as MJTV.
I think you know him.

Yes, I do.

Yeah, um, I actually,

know him by name.
Okay.
Just

yes, yeah, I mean, yeah, yeah, I know, yeah,
we know him by name.
So I, I actually emailed him andasked him if there, if he, you
know, give me some advice onstarting up, a Twitch channel or
whatnot.
And, uh, I didn't know if he wasgoing to respond or not, but to
my surprise, he actually did.

That must've been very humbling.
Like, Oh my gosh, he actuallyresponds.

Uh, yeah.
Yeah, like I, yeah, it was, itwas very humble of him and, uh,
yeah, he just gave me someadvice but this was in 2019 and
I didn't have enough money tosave up for, a starter PC.
So basically what I did was I,pretty much, Put my entire
stimulus into my startup PC and,I had no idea what I was doing
at the beginning.
I hadn't, I had no idea like Iwas, I was streaming off the

(15:55):
Elgato software, not OBS.
I didn't know how to integrateon social media.
It was just like, I was doingsomething, but at the same time
I wasn't growing because I justdidn't know what to do.
wasn't until my friend, uh,John, uh, aka PowerPunchPlays,
uh, rated me for the first time,where he kinda like opened up my
eyes to the world of Twitch, andthat's where I, started, you
know, actually startedprogressing as a creator and, a

(16:17):
person in general, because, ittook me about six months to
finally get affiliated.
And when I did, it just all, itjust snowballed from there.
I started doing a lot morerandomizers and challenge runs.
I just started doing a lot moretypes of shiny hunting.
I started doing community, shinyhunting events, world record
attempts.
that's just pretty much howit's, got to that point.

So, you know, initially you sent the email out
to Mandy, to see what he wouldsay in regards to, you know,
starting the content creationjourney.
Do you think you would have keptgoing with Twitch or even think
about trying it, had heresponded?

Yes, and no because like I said, it was
always something I wanted to do,but I just didn't know where to
begin.
If he didn't respond, I probablywould have just dove into The
Google verse and then juststarted looking up about
tutorials and how to get startedand whatnot Like I didn't know
how to do anything for mystartup PC.
I had to rely on my brother inlaw and my sister for that.

(17:09):
So

Shout out to them.
Yeah.

Yeah.
You know what's cool about them?
I actually had them on stream acouple of times.

Oh, really?

Yeah, I did a 24 hour when I got to a thousand
followers and they were sittingwith me when I was playing XD
Gale of Darkness and and ofcourse, and of course, my sister
told embarrassing stories and Ihad to mute them out because I
didn't want my dirty laundry tobe spread all over Twitch like
that.

But you're the dark type trainer.
Isn't dirty laundry supposed tobe, like, your M.
O.?

There are just some things in my past that are
just so embarrassing, I don'teven want to explain them on
this show.

about this joke?
You want to slay them here?
I don't mind going to dirtylaundry.

Yeah, uh, yeah, not today, not today, not today.

It's like you brought the family with you.
I mean, besides the wholeembarrassing stories, of course,
you it must have been kind of,it kind of came full circle in a
way.

Uh, yeah, it definitely did.
So, you know, and sometimesthey, uh, came in to crash my
stream, especially one time whenI was, playing my, alter ego,
dark king persona.
And I had full blown face painton they came in and I was all
decked out in costume and facepaint.
They're like, what are youdoing?

It's like, is it Halloween or something, or?

Yeah.
Yeah.
It was like, was so random.

I think you go through every single region, and
that's when you go and beatevery game with dark types,
right?

Uh, yes, indeed.
Uh, his name's the Dark KingZao.

Mmm, okay.
How'd you come up with him?
Was it just something that cameout of the head, or have you
been working on him?

it's kind of a mixture of spur of the moment
and, uh, Let me further explain.
Uh, you see, after I did myfirst ever dark lock and sword,
um, I decided to do it again inUltra Moon, but this time I
decided to just, put a littlegimmick behind it and I got a,
cape.
And a crown and I just said, thedark king is coming back to
conquer the next region becauseI called myself the dark king of

(19:06):
Galar.
So now I wanted to proclaimmyself the dark king of the
Pokemon world.
So I just, you know, bought,bought a crown and the cape and
just started, you know, actinglike a king when I was on
stream.
the Zeo part didn't come intoplay until later on, like
halfway through that lock, whenI decided to actually give my
alter ego a name and Zeo isactually a name of, a character

(19:26):
That I wrote in Avatar lastAirbender Fanfic.

Mm hmm.
Wow.
Okay, so you really went deep todream bring him back, huh?

Uh, yeah.
So, um, I decided to give himthe name and then, uh, I decided
to speak in this deep, somewhatBritish, deep s Scottish accent
to differentiate myself from thecharacter.
You know,

but that's only the chain looks I got a chance
to see some of your streams whenyou do that and you get so into
character and you started outSaying that we're gonna go and
conquer this region and expandour kingdom, you know I'm not
doing you justice, but that'sjust like stuff like that was
always entertaining to see

I actually, so far I have successfully done,
uh, dark lock in Galler, a Lola.
Kalos, Unova, and Sinnoh.

so you thought you've gotten Almost over half,
you know, you've gotten overhalf.
You're just missing a couple.

Yeah, yeah, I was actually doing my Darklock
in Omega Ruby before I took ahiatus.
I still have yet to return tosaid lock.
So, one day soon, someday soon,the Dark King Zael will come
back and he'll complete thatrun.
And, I'll finally be able toproclaim myself as the Dark King
of the Hoenn region.

There you go now you gotta do the dark king
of kanto

Ah confusing because you first, like that
one's gonna be the final lock,cause, the plan is to conquer
Johto and Kanto in one game, andwe both know there's a game that
has both of them,HeartGoldSoulSilver.
So, so, basically, I have aplans to do it in SoulSilver, so

(21:04):
that's gonna be a, two in onewhopper because I'm gonna,
Defeat the Johto region, get allthe Kanto badges, and then
defeat Red, and then as soon asI defeat Red I can proclaim
myself the Dark King of thePokemon World.
I Have a friend who is the fairyking and I don't think there's a

(21:30):
damn soul that can conquer him

Okay, bug king.
I don't know, that's all I got.

You're killing me here

Yeah, I think that's all I mean, uh, the
fighting Nah, the fightingking's kinda overrated.
call you the bug master.

I don't know there's only a few bug pokemon I
can stand

you know, since we're on the topic of Nuzlocke,
you know, sometimes you do thaton Twitch, and sometimes you do
that in private.
Like, what is it about Nuzlockethat you enjoy?

Well, I've always been good with
challenging myself.
I like to challenge myself and,those locks are like one of the
easiest things you can do interms of like, you know, trying
to make a game that you'veeither not played before or have
played before.
Just a lot more, of a funexperience.
So, Like, in terms of like,Nuzlocke's on stream, I started

(23:05):
with a Shield Surprise Locke,which is, you know, the new term
for a Wunderlocke, because Idon't know why they changed
Wunderlocke to Surprise, like,Yeah,

Wonder Trade sounded so much better.
But anyway, continue.

so I started with that, it wasn't my first
ever Nuzlocke, because I did afew Nuzlocke's off screen
before, But my first one onscreen was that, and I had a lot
of fun doing it, I gainednewfound respect for some
Pokemon, like I gained anewfound appreciation for, you
know, Excadrill, Leafeon, evenPrimarina, and I didn't, I
didn't even like Primarina atthe time.

Ooh, you're tapping into your furry side.

Yeah, I mean, there's only a few fairy Pokemon
I can actually, you know, standand like, but, Primarina's still
off that list.

Still off the list.
it saved your butt, it's stilloff the list.

yeah, pretty much, but yeah, yeah, just like
that.
Um, it always like gives youlike a newfound respect for
Pokemon you think you'd neveruse.
Like for like biggest example Igot is that, I did a electric
only Nuzlocke in Pokemon shieldand I used a lantern on my team
and I nicknamed her Sushi and Igained a newfound respect for
that powerhouse because she hadsuch a versatile moveset, it was

(24:14):
like, man, I mean, come on,Dazzling Gleam, Thunderbolt, Ice
Beam, Scald, I mean, dang, thisthing is the perfect powerhouse
right here, like, like, if, if,if Lantern's stats were a little
bit better outside of its HP,it'd be a lot more used, in my
opinion.

It would be.
I love that water electrictyping.
I fell in love with it in Johtoand I'm like, I love ice beam
surf.
And I think Thunderbolt wasalways my move set until it got
rain dance.
And of course I upgraded, butI've always loved the typing and
the potential.
It just, unfortunately the statsare very mediocre.

Yeah, I know, exactly, but yeah, like I said,
it gives you new, a newperspective and newfound
appreciation for Pokemon youthought you'd never use.

I know we just touched on Nuzlocke, but you
also do shiny hunting Do youhave a preference on which one
you prefer over other?

kind of like half and half because I always
station myself as a varietyPokemon streamer.
So I stream pretty much anythingPokemon related.
But I do focus primarily onShiny Humping and Nuzlocke.
So it's kind of like a half andhalf batch because there's a lot
of Pokemon.
There are hunts that, uh, you'rededicated to that you just don't

(25:16):
want to, you know, stop in themiddle of it and then move on to
something else.
But then, you start gettingdedicated to a muzzle lock
project that you don't want tostop.
So, you just, you know, wind upkind of putting shiny hunting on
the backboard.
So, I like how I can, like, tryto blend the two, in sync as
much as possible so that way I'mnot doing one over the other.
But sometimes I do things whereI do, like, community events

(25:37):
where I'm shiny hunting, So, Itry to make it as even as
humanly possible.
And, uh, when it comes to myinterests.
Cause I love them both equally.
So I try to like, you know,just, even it out.

when it comes to Shiny hunting, you know, Game
Freak's very good about pickingshiny Pokemon in the colors,
right?
You know, they do such a goodjob with all of them.
But if there's happened to belike one Pokemon that you could
change the shiny form, which onewould it be?

Easy answer.
The whole Charcadet, Armourous,and Saru Ledge line.
The whole line.

yes, oh my gosh.

I say this every single time I do a podcast.
All they had to do was make CharKedet a burnt out charcoal gray
color and then swap the colorschemes of Armourers and
Cerulidge, and they would havebeen some of the best damn
shinies in the game.
But new Oh, no, no, no, no, no,no, no, no, no, no.
You don't get any good shinies.

Nope, it's gotta just be the eyes, but
nobody's gonna really payattention.
It's just for some reason justthe eyes are different, but
everything else is the same.

I say this before.
I mean, you've seen me on streambefore.
I wear sunglasses on stream as agimmick.
So people see me without mysunglasses are like, oh my God,
this is a rare form of Spencerand it is.

Well, I just figured the glasses were they
power up your dark type movesearly.

Well, I guess they kind of do, but they kind
of do, but yeah, but yeah, likekind of off topic.
But yeah, the sunglasses arepurely gimmick.
Um, my, I wear regularprescription lenses that have
severe monitor glare.
So people can't see my eyesnormally.
So why not just, you know, makemyself look cool?
Yeah.

Yeah, that one and Mal's Hold were the two that
bugged me from that generation.
There's others, of course, butMal's Hold, I've always said, if
they just made it brown for thecolor.
That's all they had to do.
It would have been a brownmouse.
It would have been perfect, butno.
It's just a different shade ofwhite, and it bugs the hell out
of me.
But especially for Set Religion,the other one.
That, that's just ridiculous.

I also say this, like whatever, like They don't
PK Hex shinies anymore.
They, you know, they designthem.
So whoever designed the shiniesjust does not deserve to, be in
the company anymore becausethey're so bad.

Right, that's the worst part, like I would be
understanding if it was likebefore, I think, what was it?
Pokemon Sun and Moon was thelast time, the first time they
ever started designing their ownshiny Pokemon?
I would understand maybe if itwas before, but no, this is
after.
They can design whatever theywant, and they chose white on
white, I don't get it.
And same with the ones youtalked about, they just changed
the eyes.
There's no reason outside of, Idon't know, just trolling us, I

(28:01):
guess?

yeah, I mean, they, they, they've really
dropped the ball with certain,like good shinies between sun
and moon and, and Scarlet andViolet.
But I will say they have donedecent compensation with some
Pokemon, I won't, I won't saythey've completely trashed us.
They have given us some goodPokemon like vi vault, uh,
grapple, locked ops, Sagoon,grim snar.

(28:24):
I'll just name a few.

Now, speaking of shiny Pokemon, you had a
shiny hunt on your secondfavorite Pokemon, Darkrai.

Actually, it's my third now.

Oh, it's gotten downgraded even more, my gosh.

Yeah.
Uh, Greninja.

Really?

yeah, it is become my favorite, not because
it's a dark type, it's becauseof its versatility and also its
ability.
And, uh, you know, my historywith it, it's become my favorite
starter of all time.

Oh, okay.
Ripped Darkrai.
But what was it like to kind ofshiny hunt and finally get
Darkrai then?

Like, I'm, I'm gonna take you all the way back
to April 2022 when I firststarted this hunt.
So, I started this huntliterally 2, 3 o'clock in the
morning at the end of my 24 hourstream.
And, when I started this hunt, Ihad no conceivable idea how long

(29:15):
I would have spent just goingafter that purple nightmare.
so, Yeah, pun intended.
That's literally, that's thenickname I give it, the Purple
Nightmare.
after like the first few months,uh, I was like, okay, okay, this
is getting a little bit long.
And then all of a sudden we goat the end of the year and I'm
like, oh my god, I'm startinghunting this thing into the new
year.

(29:35):
And I was.
I was shining out into the newyear and I was like, okay, so I
knew at the time my communitywas also kind of getting bored
seeing the darkrai hunt, so whatI did was I got a second capture
card and I started doing doublehunting, so that way, you know,
we could actually get shinies onscreen in case this darkrai
never shows up and I don't knowthe exact number, but I have

(29:59):
gotten at least, at least Overtwo dozen shinies on the other
side before I found Darkrai,INCLUDING a shiny Regieleki.

Wow, he was dedicated for this shiny
darkrai.

Yes, um, I was too far gone.
Once I hit 10k, I was too fargone.
And once I surpassed one othercontent creator I knew that got
his Darkrai at, 10, 522.
I knew I had to please him nomatter what.
And then I entered the infamous20k encounter club for Darkrai,
and I'm like, oh my god, thiscan't get any worse.

(30:36):
But, Like, uh, less than twoweeks later, two weeks later, I
was shiny hunting Drillbur andDarkrai at the same time, I got
a shiny Drillbur in 82 eggs, andliterally, the next reset for
Darkrai Finally, after one year,nine months, three weeks, one
day, 20, 118 resets, thatfrickin purple nightmare finally

(31:02):
decided to pop up on my screen.

And your reaction deserved it.
Like it felt like, you know, youwon the lottery that you
couldn't believe what hadhappened.
You were wondering if you weredreaming, like it was such an
ecstatic reaction to finallygetting a Pokemon like that.

Like, I won't say that my reaction was better
than Reversal's Feebas, becausewe all know how badly that was
going on for him.
But I will say that I, fullybelieve.
I screamed louder than he did.

And you know, here's the guys the more
depressing part, you know inanother world The poking network
is still shiny hunting darkrai

Oh God.
Yeah.
The mult,

gosh

or, or there's a multiverse where he's not
hunting it at all.

What would he be doing then?
Just he probably like me withthe feedback, huh?
Mm

Like, I don't know what I would have done if I
wasn't doing Darkrai.
I mean, that's one of thereasons, that's one of the
things I'm known for now is myshiny Darkrai.
I'm known for a few things nowTwitch.
I'm like the Obstacoon guy, I'mthe guy that took nearly two
years to find shiny Darkrai.
I'm the Mr.
Celebi finding two shiny Celebiwithin the span of like three

(33:00):
days.
And I'm also, please be femaleguy on on TikTok.

What the heck?
What's the what to please mefemale guy?

Please be female.

Oh, please be female! Okay, what's the story
behind that?

Basically, what's going on is that I'm
shiny hunting a Snow Runt inRadar and I finally got a shiny
patch and whatever brain cellclicked in my brain, I kept
yelling, please be female,please be female, please be
female.
And when it did, I got a decentreaction and then I blew up on
TikTok.

(34:18):
uh,

what are some of your favorite shiny dark
types?

Well, obviously I gotta go with, the Bacon Bird,
Yveltal.
That's a good one.
My fa my favorite one of alltime is shiny Greninja.
That's my favorite shiny of alltime.
Let's see, we have shinyGrimmsnarl, that's a good one.
I know people like to call shinyGalarian Lyneum Toothpaste, but,
I call shiny Obstagoon the red,white, and blue demon.

Okay, uh, I call him Colgate.

Tch, yeah, Colgate.
Well, Toothpaste, Colgate,whatever one, floats the boat.
so yeah, we also have crookedaisle.
He has a good one.
B Sharp.
Uh, his whole line has a amazingblue, shiny I love I, I love, I
love blue shinies.
Love blue Shinies.
let's see, uh, spirit Tomb Shinyis also s here.

You got that blue, I think it's blue and
pink, right?
Yeah.

Uh, yeah, blue, pinkish, magenta, something like
that.
Umbreon obviously has, uh, my,that's my favorite, uh, shiny
evolution.
I actually have a shiny ryonplushy in my nerve cabinet.

One thing I would ask, so, you know, you
said you started streaming onTwitch.
You know, you get some tractiongoing.
we talked earlier how, you feltmisunderstood because you do
have autism.
Did you feel like, you know,having autism kind of put you at
a disadvantage in any way?
Or,

Um, no, not,

Mm

I mean, people always put tags in their thing
and, I've always been open thatI'm autistic and no one seemed
to, you know, judge me orwhatnot because I've met, some
of the most amazing people in mylife that are actually the same
as me.
one of my dear friends on Twitchis actually on the autism
spectrum like I am.

That's awesome.
So y'all both connected thatway, or just, it was through
Pokemon and then y'all found outtogether?
Mm

you know, we first connected through Pokemon,
but then we later found outthat, uh, you know, that she
actually is on the autismspectrum.
And then, I just felt moreconnected to her as a person
because everyone on the autismspectrum is different.
so we're all technicallydifferent, but at the same time,
it's nice to, you know, meetsomebody that I can level with.
But, in terms of like, puttingme at a disadvantage as a
content creator, um, I don'tthink it does, but I think it

(36:19):
does give me a strength becauseI could probably sit here for
hours and sit here in silenceand just listen to music and,
jam about my day and people willjust, you know, like to watch me
for that.
Or I could just babble on forabsolutely no damn reason.
People either get hystericalabout it or they talk along with
me or they just find what I'mtalking about, inspiring because
that's what I try to do.
Like, I try to get theconversation going cause I love

(36:41):
the talk.
I love the talk, obviously.
That's why I made a podcast andwhy I'm talking to you with you
today.

Hey! Podcast on podcast action.

Yeah, pockets on pockets asking.
So yeah, I love to talk and Ijust love to talk to people and,
you know, hear their stories,you know, how their day's going
or some life stuff that's goingon or whatnot.
Cause I also like to be anadvocate for mental health
because you know, I like to, youknow, say to people, Hey, if you
ever have any problems, youknow, you can reach out to me.
I'm not going to ignore yourDMS.
I'm not going to ghost you.
I just want to be there as aemotional shoulder for you to

(37:11):
lean on.
If you ever need one.

Yeah, and the reason why I brought it up is
because, for me, I'm fairly newinto the autistic side.
I've been more on the mentalhealth side with people with
depression, anxiety, and youknow, the mental health in
general is just such a differentworld unless you've, been in it
like long enough like we haveor, you know, you have mental
health.
concerns and, you know, it'skind of inspiring to see
somebody who is on the spectrum,be able to become a streamer.

(37:35):
Cause some people they may getturned down, like, Oh, you can't
be a Twitch streamer, you can'tdo content creation, but here
you are, you know, you stream topeople, you get into character,
you're very entertaining and youknow, it's got to have a sense
of like, you kind of are a verygood role model for people who
are, maybe you're looking to becontent creators.

It just boggles my mind how people can take
inspiration with what I'm doingon Twitch and I'm no stranger to
mental health battles.
I mean, this has probably beenone of the worst years of my
life, to be brutally honest,because, I lost one of my cats,
and, uh, I had him for about 12years, and it sent me down a
spiral that I was actuallyalready on, but I didn't
actually finally go on thatsteep decline until I lost him,

(38:13):
and then, I stopped streamingfor a little bit, and uh, when I
wanted to come back, that's whenI lost, my other cat, and I had
him for fifteen and a halfyears, literally since the
second he was born, and thatdestroyed That, that, that
destroyed my, that destroyed myheart, that destroyed my mind.
I just felt I had nothing left.
it took a lot for me to go andget help when I finally did.

(38:36):
when I finally did get help, Istarted healing.
And when I started healing, Idecided to, you know, give
streaming a chance to come backto.
So I decided, for a littlewhile, I decided to stream on
the weekends and dip my toesback in the water.
And I gotta give major creditto, uh, shine patrol.
Because, it was his, full onshowdown event is what got me
back into streaming.
So I have a huge gratitude forhim to have not only, you know,

(38:59):
welcome me to partake in theevent, but also to actually be
able to start streaming again.
I have to thank, my very dearfriends that I have met, through
the platform that, uh, stuckwith me in my darkest hour,
because, if it wasn't for them,I don't know where I would be.
They know who they are and, theyknow how much, they, they mean
to me.

It's great because you know, you got to
meet them through Pokemon,through streaming.
But, that's what friends are forbecause Sometimes you do have
those days or years, especially,you know, losing a pet.
Like I have two dogs and I callthem my world because they kind
of are, you know, for those whodon't know, my dad's gone.
My mom's not in my life.
So it really is just me outhere.
So for them, they're kind ofsomething I look to, kind of

(39:37):
cheer me up and I like to messwith them in their own way.
And, you know, they're kind ofalmost become my own children
without me actually having kids

Yeah, exactly.

I can't imagine, you know, what you had
to go through losing one youbasically had since birth And
then just had to pull yourselfback out and have to rely on
people and it's tough because alot of people can't handle that
Intense pressure when it doeshappen

Yeah, and, I learned very quickly, like, who
those people were in my life,cause they quickly left my life
when they, like, I had some, Ihad some really good friends,
that I met through the platformthat I lost after my mind went
to crap, they have yet toresurface since I finally got
back into a better state ofmental health, and, everything
just showed me like who my truefriends are and that my

(40:20):
community is very dear to methey love and respect me enough
to be there for me.
even though that I didn't askfor it.
So I'm uh, I'm just glad thatI'm been able to come back home
to them.

you hear that pokey nerds you gave uh You gave
network.
yeah.
Well, I know you call goonsquad, but I

Well, actually, I don't, that's actually, I
don't call them that anymore.

Oh, really?
I'm, sorry.
Okay

Uh, yeah, yeah, that's fine.
I mean, uh, like, for those ofyou that don't know, because I
labeled myself the Top Goon, Idecided to call my community the
Goon Squad because, you know,Office of Goons is the main
mascot of the channel andwhatnot, but after I came back,
I decided, like, I had a freshnew perspective on things, so I
decided to, in line with,calling, my community, the back

(41:04):
alley because that's pretty muchwhat spike month is giant back
alley.
So I decided to call, you know,just start calling my community,
my alley mates instead of goons.
Cause it felt more.
I don't know, it felt, it feltright.
It felt right to change up thecommunity, name a little bit, so
that's why I decided to go withthat.
I actually just formally gotmyself a new nickname I'm now

(41:25):
called of the Back Alley.

So the last thing I want to touch on is
again, you know We're both kindof interview podcast and
eventually dive into doing thepoking nerd Inc podcast and You
invite all these creators fromtwitch to kind of share their
twitch journey as well as theirPokemon journey What has been I
guess the biggest?
Challenge, you know doing thepodcast because it's hard to
kind of find guests also to doit on a live show on twitch

that's definitely a challenge because,
there could be tech issuesduring the show that may,
disrupt the show.
Like, for example, there was atime when I had one podcast the
stream quit three times andthere was three different vibes.
So we have to put them all intoone and then put them all on
YouTube.
another thing is actually, yeah,just, it's one thing.
Finding people to be on theshow, but I have been very

(42:09):
fortunate enough to have met alot of creators over the last
four or five years I've beenable to rack up enough people to
appear on my show Likecommunication beforehand is,
also a challenge because Ialways reach out to these
creators and I never know ifthey're going to say yes or no,
or maybe not or anything.
So it's always about, you know,biting the bullet, and pulling

(42:32):
the trigger and just reachingout to those people is what,
Basically just make or break apodcast season, and, I've been
lucky enough that I've, uh, beenable to rack up as many, many
people over the last few yearsas I have.

Right?

So, so I'm, uh, I'm fine, I also find it very
fortunate that I have seasonfour pretty much racked up, so
it's like, it's, uh, whew.
I have a stacked line of guestsfor season four, like y'all,
y'all are gonna be very, veryhappy to see who I have on the
show this time.

Hey, y'all better get ready.
And he showed like, he showedkind of behind the scenes of
what I go through because wesend these emails out.
Some people may not respond.
Some people mostly don'trespond.
And then some people respond acouple months later and
sometimes you get some immediateresponses, which I'm grateful
for.
But that's kind of the difficultpart about doing this kind of
format is that you've got tokind of be on top of it and
you've got to kind of planahead.
he is like, he's got monthsahead of time and I'm kind of in

(43:22):
the same boat in a way.

Like, uh, uh, I already have the dates lined up
for season 4, I just need to getit all scheduled.
And that's like 5 months downthe line.

You want a part time job?
You can help me out.

I actually, believe it or not, I actually,
maybe, maybe, like, I actually,kid you not, I actually have one
of my fellow past podcasties.
I officially made him my chiefrecruitment officer because I
needed help.
like it's just a title, but he'sactually just helping me recruit
people for the show.

(43:56):
And I was just very gratefulthat he volunteered to help me
out with this project and, itjust means a lot because this
was actually the same guy thatwas, actually I'll name him
dragon tamer, Tom.
he was close with turbo, veryclose with turbo before, you
know, he passed and, he feltmore than happy to, Play a role
in this in this podcast seriesnow

Yeah, cuz for those who don't know for me I
have like four twitch channelson one of my screens while I'm
doing something else That's howI have to scout on my end
because you know, I'm one man,man.
He's got a recruit.
He's got employees now He'sfancy.
I just got two dogs So I gotfour screens trying to see like,
oh this be a pretty good guessor they're not ready and like
Oh, definitely like you and I'mlike, man, I'm not too sure if

(44:38):
you're gonna respond but so It'sa lot find people man.
It's crazy

i'm not i'm not called the pokey network for
nothing.
I have to network all over theworld

aye, I like that, there's a double meaning
to it.

Exactly

Just don't call em the Spoke Network.

You had to go there

I HAVE TO! Like it's the podcast, you're the
guest of my podcast, I'd be afailed interviewer if I don't
bring it up.
I'm not at least, making fun ofit.
I'll stick Alolan Persian,that's more my jam.

I know I know I know

If you want to know what that is, check out his
episode because he explains it.
So I'm not even going to explainit on this podcast.
You check out his Twitch channelon whenever he has an interview
podcast, he'll explain what thatis.

Yeah, if you wanna, if you wanna hear the
story, watch any episode of mypodcast and you'll fully
understand why people called methat.

Well, very cool.
I want to finish on this lastquestion.
And it's this, you know, we had,of course, you know, Pierce is
the gym leader, but if somebodywas going to come and challenge
you on a six on six Pokemonbattle, what six dark type
Pokemon would you bring?

I've been asked this question a lot.
So first off I am bringing offstagoon.
He is my ace and he will alwaysbe my ace I will have a Greninja
on my team.
No doubt about that I will havea Hydreigon, definitely Umbreon
as the you know, toxic staller,you know troll mom that he can
always be I'll bring a drapebeyond to my team.

(46:07):
I love DRA beyond and, uh, hehas a very wide range move set.
And to round it off, give me mygood boy crocodile.

Ooh, Crocodile.
Way to finish it off.
I like the accent too.

Yeah, I can't do the rolling tongue thing, but,
uh, I try.

I can't either.
I'm Hispanic, but thePokeNetwork, thank you for
coming on.
As the Pokeball turns before yougo, people want to check out
your content.
If they want to connect withyou, where can they go?
By all means, please plug away.

You can follow me on Twitch at twitch.
tv slash ThePokeNetwork.
You can go to my YouTubechannel.
I go by ThePokeNetwork onYouTube there.
You can find me on Twitter.
BlueSky, TikTok, and That'spretty much it.

Yep, and if you happen to be live when he, or
you happen to see him when he'slive, tell him that you sent a
lovin Persian love to him.

I'm getting close to making an Alolan
Persian emote that's just likeit dead on the ground.
You know, kind of like thoseemotes where like somebody's
like lying dead on the groundwith a pool of blood from their
mouth.
I'm imagining that with AlolanPersian.

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TRAINER'S EYE #125 - "Obstagoon's Alley Mates" ft. ThePokeNetwork

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}TRAINER'S EYE #125 - "Obstagoon's Alley Mates" ft. ThePokeNetwork