July 19, 2023 • 29 mins
Katy46, a passionate Pokémon GO trainer from Alaska, reveals how her journey through PvP battles began with the Silph Arena and led her to the Play Pokémon circuit. She discusses the impact of her hard work in building an inclusive Pokémon GO community in Alaska, while also creating a thriving Twitch space for trainers. This episode offers a deep dive into her efforts to bring people together through PvP and the love for the game, both locally and globally.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
David Hernandez (00:00):
My name is David Hernandez, and you're
listening to As the PokeballTurns.
(00:44):
Welcome to As the PokeballTurns, where the stories are
real and people still play thisgame.
One of the interesting aspectsabout Pokemon Go is that it
brought down barriers.
Pikachu could arguably be auniversal language around the
world.
It's one of the most iconiccharacters, maybe even iconic
mouse next to Mickey Mouse.
Usually, There are groups ofpeople that would never
(01:06):
integrate with one another dueto age, location, socioeconomic
class, or even common interest.
While some barriers still existtoday, Pokemon Go paved a way
for many to unite under theumbrella of Pokemon.
It allowed the possibility ofbuilding bridges and connecting
with each other.
It's why often times peoplerefer to the community as the
best part when it comes toplaying Pokemon Go.
(01:28):
It might even explain why theworld felt at peace during their
first days of the game's launch.
For my guest, She emphasizes howPokemon Go helped bring down
barriers for people within bothher community and across the
world.
From Alaska, here's her originstory into the world of Pokemon
Go.
This is Katy46! I'm joined by aPokemon trainer from Alaska and
(01:51):
a member of the greatest teamever, Team Mystic.
Katie 46, welcome to the show
Katy46 (01:57):
Hi, thank you so much for having me.
I'm so happy to be here.
David Hernandez (02:00):
without a doubt.
And I want to start off withjust asking, like, why did you
choose team mystic?
Why did you choose the greatestteam on planet earth that was
blessed by Niantic?
Katy46 (02:09):
Right, exactly.
I'm so happy.
I'm such a proud member of TeamMystic and, it's for so many
reasons, but I'll step back andtell you at least how it started
for me, staring at the teamchoice screen, right?
We see all 3 lined up in frontof us.
We have team valor and mysticand instinct, which 1 do you
choose?
(02:29):
my friends had already chosenyellow.
but I really like the colorblue.
I'm not going to lie.
I was being a little bit basicabout that choice in the
beginning, leaning into myfavorite color choice, but.
it was a tough decision, Istared at that screen for a
couple minutes and then Irealized the crests behind each
leader were the legendary birdsI'm a genuine trainer.
(02:50):
I love Articuno if for somereason choosing team mystic
meant that I was only gonna getArticuno and like I only had
that one choice, then I wasgonna take it.
Articuno is absolutely thereason I am Team Mystic and
ended up being my choice.
It's also my favorite Pokemon,so have been rock and team
mystic for a long time and I'mvery happy to be team Blue.
David Hernandez (03:11):
It's very interesting because, of course
I'm team mystic without any biasor without any doubt for anybody
listening.
I chose Team Mystic for the samereason.
We didn't know what the gamewould be nowadays back then.
we didn't have raids, we didn'thave legendary birds, we didn't
even know how we were going toget a legendary Pokemon.
And I'm like, no matter what, Iwant to make sure that I get
Articuno.
Which is why I chose TeamMystic, because I felt that,
(03:33):
however Niantic was going to dothe legendary birds, I would
think that they would at leastguarantee the legendary birds
would go to the team that youchose, if that makes sense.
Katy46 (03:42):
yes.
I was on the same mindset aswell.
But yeah, great minds thinkalike, right?
David Hernandez (03:46):
I know, right?
It's the person coming from thebest team on planet Earth.
It's great.
Katy46 (03:51):
Gotta lock in that Articuno if it was our only
chance,
David Hernandez (03:53):
Oh, yeah.
Now, you said your favorite wasArticuno, so you find your
favorite?
Was there a story behind that?
Katy46 (03:59):
I started out playing the game with Pokemon Blue.
definitely for a long time, myfavorite was Squirtle, cause
that was the first starter thatI chose, so Squirtle's near and
dear to me, but when it comesdown to it, thinking about, what
I really liked, I liked usingArticuno in battle, of course,
to, just flexing in battle usingvery powerful Pokemon, was
something I really enjoyed a lotand drew me to, to Articuno
(04:21):
being my favorite, especiallybeing able to use it and, late
game battles, and also to just.
leading me into the battlinglifestyle of Pokemon,
David Hernandez (04:29):
what's interesting, though, is you said
your favorite color is blue.
And you really suck to it,because you got Pokemon Blue.
Favorite Pokemon is Articuno,and then Team Mystic,
Katy46 (04:37):
right?
Yeah a theme a little themethere.
Yeah,
David Hernandez (04:41):
so you said you were day one with just Pokemon
in general.
did you play Pokemon right whenit first debuted back in the
early 90s?
Katy46 (04:49):
yes, I did you know I started I had the card games in
elementary school and I watchedthe anime and I saved up a bunch
of money in order to get A gameboy pocket and, convince my dad
to take me to target and allowme to buy this with my saved up
birthday and Christmas money andget Pokemon blue.
I very much was just buying thegame boy, so I could play
(05:12):
Pokemon blue.
There was a gap of time, youknow, teenage years, late
preteen years, and some ofcollege where I wasn't playing,
but, came back certainly andpicked up the main series again,
not so much, T.
C.
G.
but I still like opening packs.
I I like to watch people openingpacks as well and, I don't know.
I think maybe we'll get backinto TCG eventually, but, I
(05:33):
definitely very casually play,the video game series and like
that a lot.
David Hernandez (05:38):
I always feel like the TCG openings are like
Christmas Day each time youwatch them because you never are
too sure what you're going toget.
Katy46 (05:43):
Right.
Yeah.
And it's so easy to be happy forother people too, when they're
making the pull, you get thosefeelings as well.
and then too, just even if youdon't get anything amazing, the
art is so nice to look at too.
I'm just a big appreciator ofthe art and the cards.
David Hernandez (05:56):
So if you're going to do a playthrough for
Pokemon Blue, obviously Articunowould be one of them.
Who would be your other fivePokemon you would use?
Katy46 (06:03):
Oh, gosh, yeah, that's a tough question.
but I think you're going to, Ithink you're going to see a
theme.
we're definitely going to haveBlastoise on there.
we're going to have Vaporeon butthen, we do need to balance the
team out.
We can't have, just a bunch ofwater and
David Hernandez (06:15):
I mean, this is your team.
You can choose whatever youwant.
So I'm not going to judge you.
Katy46 (06:19):
right?
but we probably have, have somemore Eeveelution.
we'd probably go with Flareon aswell and Jolteon.
I'm a big, big Evolution fan,Then we're going to go, we have
to have, Mewtwo on there.
I mean, is Gen 1, Mewtwo
David Hernandez (06:31):
big one, right?
The best Pokemon in the firstgeneration.
You can't forget it.
Katy46 (06:35):
yeah, as big as the, the legendary birds are, of course,
Mewtwo just holds
David Hernandez (06:39):
So, Pokemon Go comes out in 2016.
What was it like when the gamefirst debuted for you in your
area.
Katy46 (06:47):
it was an exciting time.
even though I come from, maybemore rural area than other
trainers, I had very much thesame experience, that everyone
had of just, getting out therewith the community and just this
intense excitement and being apart of it.
I started officially on day 2,so I just missed being able to
call myself a day 1 trainer, Butyeah, I locked it in on day two,
(07:07):
just barely as well.
I, I think I downloaded the appat 10.
30 at night, sitting in my bed,and I, leapt out of bed to,
catch my first Charmander.
for some reason, when I loadedthe game, only a Bulbasaur and
Charmander displayed, I didn'tget the option
David Hernandez (07:23):
They censored Squirtle for me.
Katy46 (07:25):
Yeah, I know I didn't get it, but, it is what it is,
we know what the early gameswere like.
After that though, it justbecame a lot of, running around,
with my close friends at first.
but then we got to the pointwhere we started selecting
teams, right?
And, it became very fun to havethat rivalry.
I tend to be a prettycompetitive person, did a lot
of, team sports growing up.
(07:46):
We start seeing this big growthof Valor, it's pretty common,
there's a lot of Valor, trainersout there, a lot of people
choose it, but we decided weneed to do something about it on
Team Mystic.
I got, with a friend and webought all the blue bandanas in
town, we could find, and webought sticker paper and printed
up a ton of, these crests, thatwere, posted on Facebook, did a
(08:07):
local meetup at a bar downtownand just handed out bandanas and
stickers to people like,"haveyou chosen a team yet?
No, please join team mystic, youwon't be disappointed.
It's the best team out there andjust did a lot of recruitment.
And I have to say that theeffort that we put in went
pretty far because we have justabout as many Team Mystics here
in this town as Valor, but itwas certainly really fun just
(08:29):
getting to meet people first anda great way to talk to people,
in the early game to try to dothis team building, but, Just
also the reality that everybodyyou saw on the street, everybody
you talked to on the sidewalk,they were playing that game too,
so it was just a fun time to beout.
David Hernandez (08:46):
So y'all basically went around town
recruiting people to not onlycome play Pokemon Go, but to
also make sure they choose TeamMystic on the team screen?
Katy46 (08:53):
Yes.
Yes, exactly.
They would join us and, itactually became a really
beautiful thing.
because it just embodied, one ofthe goodness of the people
around you, the goodness of thepeople in my community, but, it
started becoming this tradethere was somebody that was on
team mystic that knew how toprint T-shirts.
So, I'd had given them stickersand bandana and they made me a t
shirt for free and they would,go out to these events with us
(09:15):
to try to get people to buy tshirts for Team Mystic.
there's just this reciprocitygoing back and forth and just
good sense of community.
especially amongst the Mysticplayers that maybe, the other
teams didn't have so well thatwe're so organized and,
communicated and ultimatelyfriends in the end.
David Hernandez (09:31):
it's that type of team camaraderie that I kind
miss, but I feel like a lot ofthat team camaraderie is missing
that we don't really have it tothat degree compared to when me
and you first started.
Katy46 (09:41):
yeah, absolutely.
I agree.
I miss that a lot, but, in someways it's good that the barriers
are broken.
I definitely have friends thatwe knew, what we had on team
mystic was so good and weenjoyed playing together.
So well, that we have peoplethat before the team medallion,
and the ability to change teamscame into effect, literally
started new accounts to give upinstinct and become mystic so
(10:04):
they could roll around and playwith us and we would all be
together, all get the samerewards.
it's something I missed, butit's something that brought us
together and, defined us in somany ways, but I am glad that we
don't have such staunch linesdrawn in the game, because, it
is about the community in theend, and I'm just happy people
are still playing, when it comesto it at the end of the day.
David Hernandez (10:25):
you said you're from a rural area, is there like
not many spawns, or is there notmany places for people to go out
and play, or is there a certainarea y'all go to for say a
community day or for raid hour?
Katy46 (10:35):
I live in Alaska, a small town of about 30,000 and
there are no roads in or out.
and so there's really only twocell service in the central
areas of town.
that being said, yeah, we all goto our downtown area to play, we
have this great grind loop thatwe all do and it's excellent
because, we get to see eachother out and about playing and
(10:56):
we all know each other's carsand decals on it.
It's much more of a tight knitcommunity here, we know everyone
is.
We didn't have problems withspoofers so much in the game, or
if we did, we dealt with ittogether because again, they're
not being roads in around of ourtown.
Level 40s wouldn't just comethrough in the middle of winter
to a little Alaska and
David Hernandez (11:18):
just take a small stroll through Alaska in
the middle of the night, youknow, what's the suspicion about
that?
Katy46 (11:23):
yeah, yeah, right.
You know, there are just somethings we knew collectively,
Weren't right, or just seeingthese regionals in gyms, so we
would together, again, also justembrace our sense of community,
put forward this will of we'regoing to keep this community
clean, we're going to keep itthe right game play style and
we'll together, we'll all reportand spam and make sure that this
riffraff is kept out of town.
but that being said, you seeeach other at all of the gyms in
(11:46):
town, you'll know What peopleare doing when you're out with
your other friends that maybedon't play Pokemon Go.
You'll see a car maybe goingslow through an area, and you'll
be like, oh yeah, I know that'sLillian, it's, she's just out
grinding, it's okay.
it's that nice, sense ofcommunity and closeness that I
appreciate so much, and I'm sureit's just not an experience a
lot of people have gone to have,But it's so nice.
David Hernandez (12:06):
I'm aware that you've helped build up your
community, right?
Like you would do things foryour community besides, of
course, promoting people to teammystic and try to get bandanas,
right?
Katy46 (12:13):
yeah, absolutely.
this started out with, communitydays.
I started holding, communitydays through the Silph Road, but
even before I started doingSilph Road, community day
meetups, I would make, stickersstarting at the very first, surf
Pikachu, and hand them out topeople, that I would see playing
the game just as a way to,strike up conversation too or
just good icebreaker.
people would find me, walkingaround, always handing out
(12:36):
stickers for whatever communityday Pokemon was featured that
day.
But then we do meetups and thosemeetups for community day
eventually evolved into, SilphRoad tournaments, which I've had
a ton of fun being a part of andhave been so fulfilling for many
years now.
David Hernandez (12:50):
Do you feel like doing those stickers helped
enhance the community or helpmake people feel like they
belonged?
Katy46 (12:55):
Yeah.
I think so for sure.
and it also made it so it feltokay talking to people out in
public about the game, right?
That, I'm not this weird person,haha, doing this video game to
myself like I really can beoutward in, I don't know, I
don't know if you want to sayproud in a, in a way, but you
don't have to be ashamed thatyou're a nerd playing a Pokemon
(13:16):
game out in public.
it just made it okay for peopleto be comfortable in their own
skin and be doing this inpublic.
David Hernandez (13:23):
You know, it's interesting because earlier you
talked about how the teammedallions was able to help
break barriers, you know,allowed people to play together
if they were on different teams.
In the same way, it sounds likethe stickers also break barriers
because there is that stigma ofpeople's like people, you still
play this game.
You still play Pokemon go?
And the sticker allows people tohave a middle ground.
(13:43):
If so, you will to where, Hey,this Community Day is going on,
have a sticker and y'all cankind of connect, I guess.
Katy46 (13:49):
definitely.
I think so very much.
cause two, you'd probably besurprised to stumble on, a woman
of my demographic backgroundthat's out here playing Pokemon.
and so it's probably a littlebit surprising to you too.
So it makes it easier to relateand be like, wow, there's all
sorts of people.
There's a huge amount of peoplein my community that you would
(14:10):
be so surprised to play and theyare hardcore players.
a lot of them are people whosekids played Pokemon.
maybe their retirees have alittle bit more time on their
hands, but they grind.
They're out there playing hard,raiding hard, taking gyms, and
you would just be so surprised.
And I love those people in mycommunity.
(14:30):
And it's also just so fun to belike, Oh yeah, that's my friend
like you maybe wouldn't know howwe met, like you would never
guess.
Oh yeah.
I met them through Pokemon Go.
One person in my community I canthink of comes to mind.
he plays very hard, but hecatches Pokemon to trade to his
grandkids and that's like hismain goal.
he'll just trade things for me,he's actually like my main
Vullaby dealer, like, like saveVullabies for me.
(14:55):
He really just doesn't care somuch about grinding, but he
plays so hard, but.
the reason he does it is becausehe wants to trade these Pokemon
to his grandkids or trade themto someone else so they can use
them for something more than,he'll value them for.
For him, that's a massivemotivator.
David Hernandez (15:09):
I don't think I would ever have thought I'd hear
the words Volbeat and Dealer inthe same sentence.
Katy46 (15:14):
Right.
Yeah.
It's amazing.
Like I have to say, I don't havethe biggest PVP community here
in town, but we have a lot ofpassionate players, but they'll
save they're Vullaby's for meand they're amazing.
David Hernandez (15:25):
You've been listening to As the Pokeball
Turns.
We're going to take a quickbreak.
We'll be right back.
(17:31):
You talked about how back whenSilph Arena first debuted, you
used to host the tournaments,right?
Katy46 (17:36):
Yeah.
I started hosting, tournamentswith the very first one with
Boulder cup, here in mycommunity.
And I happened to win that one.
I'm very proud.
Um,
David Hernandez (17:44):
congrats!
Katy46 (17:45):
but yes, I've hosted Silph Arena tournaments for a
really long time.
In fact, I've hosted every onewith the exception of Arcana and
Innocent Cup.
at the end, I dipped off there,but, But yeah, it's been so
rewarding, but I was there rightat the beginning.
David Hernandez (17:59):
you said earlier you were a very
competitive person.
PvP obviously wasn't in PokemonGo when it debuted.
How is that for you?
Was it like something wasmissing, almost?
Katy46 (18:09):
It definitely felt like that in some ways.
I did enjoy battling in gyms.
and so in many ways, that ishow, I was able to enjoy the
game.
I was so into gyms.
I need to have, be on the top.
I needed to have, you know, the,the largest Dragonite.
I needed to prestige them, Ineeded to have them all gold
(18:29):
before anyone else.
when that became a feature.
but yeah, PVP, when it, changedto being more than just battling
in gyms, it was like, okay, thisis it, this is the real end
game.
This is What everything I'vebeen doing works towards now I
get to see how powerful myPokemon can be
David Hernandez (18:46):
how did Silph Arena influence your journey
into PvP?
Katy46 (18:50):
it was pretty much almost instant.
So again, I was already pluggedinto the Silph Road.
I did the self community daymeetups.
And so it was really interestingto see this tournament system
was going to be put out, forthis new feature as well.
Again, connecting with people,messaging your friends when
you're still sitting at home onthe couch, but you're like, hey,
let's do some battles and, maybespending an hour, just battling
(19:11):
randomly, randomly, randomly,and over again, having that be
so fun.
of course, there was just asmall gap between when PVP came
out and the first Silph Roadtournament, was able to be
hosted, so I was very much justengaging my friends, the ones I
was battling with on the couch.
Other people I knew were,hardcore into the game at the
time were also the people I wasbattling in gyms, the people
(19:33):
that would, be doing raiding andthings like that, inviting them
to come try, test their might inthis new feature and see if we
can stack the cards and havesome more fun and in this other
competitive way of the game.
David Hernandez (19:44):
What's your favorite league to battle in?
Katy46 (19:47):
you'd be surprised to learn it's actually Ultra
League.
it's not Great League, despiteSilph and everything.
I'm a little bit of an XLabuser, but yeah, Ultra League,
It tends to just be a little bitless known it's pretty common
people like to play in masterleague greatly, of course, being
so accessible, but, I thinkUltra League just, hits
different.
David Hernandez (20:05):
so did you have a place you would go to learn
PvP?
Like, what were your resources?
Katy46 (20:10):
a lot of it was just going through, to the Silph Road
Reddit and, eventually it'sstill arena.
It's hard to say if there wasone specific PvP content
creator, because I just absorbso much, Pokemon content in
general.
I think when I really startedgetting into it more, more
locally, I started watching,WildSusanBoyle on Twitch.
he's probably the most localizedPvP content creator, to me in
(20:33):
this area.
aside from...
Other people, I don't know.
You may have heard of PokeAK.
But, yeah, I would say WildSusan Boyle and then I'll also,
Yusei Furou is, is anothercontent creator I watched on
Twitch when I really wanted toget into more skills and, the
more basic steps of how to getbetter,
David Hernandez (20:49):
what's funny is that eventually you watched all
these Twitch streamers andeventually you became a Twitch
streamer yourself because you doPvP content, right?
Katy46 (20:56):
Yes.
I do have a twitch stream.
I started, um, we're gettingclose to 2 years ago.
We're not there just yet.
it's been a lot of fun.
I'm getting involved in twitchand connecting to with the
community there.
it's just an opportunity thatmaybe, in so many ways, we
wouldn't have to connect if youwere just only doing it on
Twitter, or other social media.
But I really, I really have alot of fun being on Twitch.
David Hernandez (21:18):
I actually enjoy your cooking shows.
I saw the one you did with thepizza recently.
I like how you got yourcommunity involved with the
pizza one, to where you let themchoose the toppings or the ones
you would make for the pizza.
Katy46 (21:28):
Yeah.
I like the cooking streams a lottoo.
again, I think food is, anotherbig thing.
That's, breaks down barriers forus so much, I wanted to have fun
with the pizza one.
I learned how to make, pizzas athome when, the pandemic started,
you're like, if we can't go torestaurants or whatever, one
thing I can't live without ispizza and so I'm going to learn
how to make it myself.
But yeah, it was fun.
we did this open voting period,where, people got to choose
(21:51):
between 46 different ingredientsfor their pizza.
Because of course I'm Katie 46,but there was a lot of weird
stuff on there, like salmon,crab, fruit and things.
I was thinking people might,pulling over on me, maybe have
some fun, try some weirdtoppings, but generally people
were pretty awesome and chosethings like bacon.
David Hernandez (22:07):
Yeah, I'm pretty sure that pizza topping
could have gotten very weird ifyour chat wasn't as, I'll say
considerate for the lack of abetter word.
Katy46 (22:13):
Yeah, but I don't know.
there's some weird things youwould maybe be open to trying
like, banana and bacon would beweird, but I don't know.
Maybe not bad.
David Hernandez (22:21):
I'm going to ask a random question.
So what's your dream pizza?
Katy46 (22:24):
Ooh, okay.
This one's easy.
it would be Pineapple,pepperoni, and my candied
jalapenos, the candied jalapenosare just phenomenal on pizza.
David Hernandez (22:34):
Last question for PVP.
If you could change anythingwithin the PvP system, whether
you want to add something ortake something away, or change
how something's done, what wouldyou change?
Katy46 (22:44):
I would bring back, Master League Premier.
I just think Open Master Leagueis still too unaccessible.
David Hernandez (22:51):
That's fair.
All the XLs, especially for thelegendary Pokemon, unless you
are a madman and walk like crazyor you go through other means,
then there's not really a way toget that XL candy,
unfortunately.
Katy46 (23:01):
exactly.
I really want to celebratepeople who play the game a lot
and play at a high level and arehardcore, but it is still so
hard, even at my level, tocompete at Open Master League.
David Hernandez (23:12):
I know you got to travel to some regionals,
right?
Katy46 (23:14):
Yes, I did.
I got to travel to, recently theVancouver Regional and then the
Portland Regional.
David Hernandez (23:20):
What was it like for you to go there?
Katy46 (23:22):
it was absolutely amazing.
I'll tell you about my firstexperience in Vancouver.
So I got to travel there, withsome friends, that I met through
Twitch and, and GoFest inSeattle this last year.
so it was great, getting to meetsome of them for the first time,
but then some of them, meet themagain and go and compete.
we're all very competitive, buthaving that camaraderie to go
together and, and tackle thebeast that is original together,
(23:45):
was really great.
I have to tell you it's, it'svery nerve wracking.
maybe you would expect it goingin, but especially going to my
1st 1, I felt like I was goingto throw up, just from stress,
like walking through the doors.
and I don't normally get nervouslike that.
People see us battle all thetime.
We stream on Twitch.
So it's something else about thecompetition, about taking it
seriously, or even to it beingso serious to me, maybe
(24:08):
personally and wanting to win.
it was a nervous experience forsure, but it was so amazing when
you get there and.
Of course, are getting ready forthe tournament again, and you're
just greeting all these peoplethat you've seen, online, maybe
seeing them on the Twitchstreams for other regional
events, and just getting to meetthem for the 1st time, and say
hello, Maybe do some practicebattles as you get warmed up,
(24:31):
but, just the hype is sointense, not just from the go
community too, but also the TCGand VG communities.
it's just a really amazingatmosphere to be a part of.
David Hernandez (24:42):
Now, you said you went with some friends,
right?
did y'all do anything outside ofthe regionals?
Katy46 (24:47):
we did do a Twitch stream, the first night, that we
got there, we all dressed up as,as sailor scouts from sailor
moon, and did a stream likethat.
so that was also fun just totake on, a role in, each of our
parts as sailor guardians.
David Hernandez (25:00):
Oh, that's awesome.
did y'all have like selectsailors?
Y'all would cosplay as that, ordid y'all just cosplay as
yourselves?
Katy46 (25:05):
yes.
We were select sailors.
I was sailor moon and then myfriend telegraph train, sailor
Jupiter, my friend, bubblemouse, was sailor Mars and,
Shazay was, sailor Uranus.
There's eight total, so theremay be more Sailor Scouts in the
future.
David Hernandez (25:21):
What do you think these regionals add to the
PVP scene that people may not beable to get from, say, a go
battle league or just, battlingonline?
Katy46 (25:29):
a live tournament is, it's indescribable, but I'm
going to tackle it.
I'm going to try to describe it.
David Hernandez (25:35):
go for it,
Katy46 (25:37):
there's just something about, one, just the competitive
nature of getting to go to eventand being with people that
you're competing against, butthe atmosphere and environment,
it very much just embodies, whatPokemon go was back in the
summer of 2016, but Pokemon goaims to be, in the community
aspect and also to just, Pushingyourself to that excellence,
(25:57):
wanting to strive, but also tomaybe you do these events over
and over again, you can seeyourself making small gains over
time.
There's just really nothing thatcompares to a live tournament.
As fun as just battling is ingeneral, when you two also get
to see and talk to, you'resitting across the table from
somebody that cares aboutbattling just as much as you.
it's easy to have barriersbroken down and, strike up a
(26:20):
conversation and to gain 20friends in a weekend.
David Hernandez (26:23):
So you talked about how earlier you actually
went to Seattle Go Fest.
what was it like for you to go,was that your first one?
Katy46 (26:29):
Yeah, Seattle GO Fest was my first one, and I was just
so happy, for it to, be soregionally close for me, for
one, but to get to go to a GOFest for years, friends, that I
played this game with, will knowthat I've said, all I want to do
is just go to a GO Fest.
I just want to go to a GO Fest.
it had been a dream for so long.
then of course, we couldn't do,Live events for a while.
(26:52):
so it was definitely this thingout there, that I wanted to do
and it absolutely lived up tothe hype.
I just had the most amazingweekend meeting people, going
out, playing the game, doingtrades, just enjoying life in
the summer.
I just.
left that weekend with so manyamazing memories, so many new
friends, and just a, of course,a hankering to do more in this
(27:14):
game, to do more with thecommunity and to go to more
events in the future.
David Hernandez (27:18):
You said you wanted to go to Go Fest, that
you'd always been wanting to go,it was like one of your goals.
What stopped you from goingbefore?
Katy46 (27:25):
I think it was just, getting in and out of Alaska is
not the easiest thing ingeneral.
but just the amount of distancethat it would take to travel, or
maybe not being so sure that youhad friends or, community that
when you went to these eventswould be there and, would get to
enjoy them with you.
again, Being in a nerd or beinginto video games, and having
that fear of going out thereinto the world and, being alone
(27:47):
in your experience while there'smaybe an event that a lot of
people are there having fun at,it's not something that anybody
would choose outright, but I'lltell you, though, when you do go
to these events, that'sdefinitely not the feeling that
I would get.
Even if you were a wallflower, Ithink you would find it very
difficult to go to these eventsand not have fun and to feel
alone when there's so much funand so much warmth that's going
(28:10):
on.
David Hernandez (28:11):
if somebody was on the fence about going to a Go
fest, What would you tell them?
Katy46 (28:14):
I would say go.
Absolutely go.
Do whatever you can.
Set the time aside and just go.
David Hernandez (28:20):
Well, awesome.
Katie, you've been a wonderfulguest.
If people want to check out yourcontent, where can they go?
By all means, please plug away.
Katy46 (28:27):
You can start out by finding me on Twitter@Katy46AK.
You can also find me onInstagram under the same handle.
I'm always on Twitch on Tuesdaysand Thursdays at 8pm Alaska
time, which is Katie46AK.
Is a 9 PM Pacific, but I'll letyou do the conversions
otherwise, but that'stwitch.tv/Katy46.
David Hernandez (28:47):
Cool beans.
And I'll make sure to includelinks to everything she said in
the description of today'sepisode.
Here's a sneak peek for the nextepisode of As the Pokeball
Turns.
My name is David Hernandez, and you're
listening to As the PokeballTurns.
(00:44):
Welcome to As the PokeballTurns, where the stories are
real and people still play thisgame.
One of the interesting aspectsabout Pokemon Go is that it
brought down barriers.
Pikachu could arguably be auniversal language around the
world.
It's one of the most iconiccharacters, maybe even iconic
mouse next to Mickey Mouse.
Usually, There are groups ofpeople that would never
(01:06):
integrate with one another dueto age, location, socioeconomic
class, or even common interest.
While some barriers still existtoday, Pokemon Go paved a way
for many to unite under theumbrella of Pokemon.
It allowed the possibility ofbuilding bridges and connecting
with each other.
It's why often times peoplerefer to the community as the
best part when it comes toplaying Pokemon Go.
(01:28):
It might even explain why theworld felt at peace during their
first days of the game's launch.
For my guest, She emphasizes howPokemon Go helped bring down
barriers for people within bothher community and across the
world.
From Alaska, here's her originstory into the world of Pokemon
Go.
This is Katy46! I'm joined by aPokemon trainer from Alaska and
(01:51):
a member of the greatest teamever, Team Mystic.
Katie 46, welcome to the show
Katy46 (01:57):
Hi, thank you so much for having me.
I'm so happy to be here.
David Hernandez (02:00):
without a doubt.
And I want to start off withjust asking, like, why did you
choose team mystic?
Why did you choose the greatestteam on planet earth that was
blessed by Niantic?
Katy46 (02:09):
Right, exactly.
I'm so happy.
I'm such a proud member of TeamMystic and, it's for so many
reasons, but I'll step back andtell you at least how it started
for me, staring at the teamchoice screen, right?
We see all 3 lined up in frontof us.
We have team valor and mysticand instinct, which 1 do you
choose?
(02:29):
my friends had already chosenyellow.
but I really like the colorblue.
I'm not going to lie.
I was being a little bit basicabout that choice in the
beginning, leaning into myfavorite color choice, but.
it was a tough decision, Istared at that screen for a
couple minutes and then Irealized the crests behind each
leader were the legendary birdsI'm a genuine trainer.
(02:50):
I love Articuno if for somereason choosing team mystic
meant that I was only gonna getArticuno and like I only had
that one choice, then I wasgonna take it.
Articuno is absolutely thereason I am Team Mystic and
ended up being my choice.
It's also my favorite Pokemon,so have been rock and team
mystic for a long time and I'mvery happy to be team Blue.
David Hernandez (03:11):
It's very interesting because, of course
I'm team mystic without any biasor without any doubt for anybody
listening.
I chose Team Mystic for the samereason.
We didn't know what the gamewould be nowadays back then.
we didn't have raids, we didn'thave legendary birds, we didn't
even know how we were going toget a legendary Pokemon.
And I'm like, no matter what, Iwant to make sure that I get
Articuno.
Which is why I chose TeamMystic, because I felt that,
(03:33):
however Niantic was going to dothe legendary birds, I would
think that they would at leastguarantee the legendary birds
would go to the team that youchose, if that makes sense.
Katy46 (03:42):
yes.
I was on the same mindset aswell.
But yeah, great minds thinkalike, right?
David Hernandez (03:46):
I know, right?
It's the person coming from thebest team on planet Earth.
It's great.
Katy46 (03:51):
Gotta lock in that Articuno if it was our only
chance,
David Hernandez (03:53):
Oh, yeah.
Now, you said your favorite wasArticuno, so you find your
favorite?
Was there a story behind that?
Katy46 (03:59):
I started out playing the game with Pokemon Blue.
definitely for a long time, myfavorite was Squirtle, cause
that was the first starter thatI chose, so Squirtle's near and
dear to me, but when it comesdown to it, thinking about, what
I really liked, I liked usingArticuno in battle, of course,
to, just flexing in battle usingvery powerful Pokemon, was
something I really enjoyed a lotand drew me to, to Articuno
(04:21):
being my favorite, especiallybeing able to use it and, late
game battles, and also to just.
leading me into the battlinglifestyle of Pokemon,
David Hernandez (04:29):
what's interesting, though, is you said
your favorite color is blue.
And you really suck to it,because you got Pokemon Blue.
Favorite Pokemon is Articuno,and then Team Mystic,
Katy46 (04:37):
right?
Yeah a theme a little themethere.
Yeah,
David Hernandez (04:41):
so you said you were day one with just Pokemon
in general.
did you play Pokemon right whenit first debuted back in the
early 90s?
Katy46 (04:49):
yes, I did you know I started I had the card games in
elementary school and I watchedthe anime and I saved up a bunch
of money in order to get A gameboy pocket and, convince my dad
to take me to target and allowme to buy this with my saved up
birthday and Christmas money andget Pokemon blue.
I very much was just buying thegame boy, so I could play
(05:12):
Pokemon blue.
There was a gap of time, youknow, teenage years, late
preteen years, and some ofcollege where I wasn't playing,
but, came back certainly andpicked up the main series again,
not so much, T.
C.
G.
but I still like opening packs.
I I like to watch people openingpacks as well and, I don't know.
I think maybe we'll get backinto TCG eventually, but, I
(05:33):
definitely very casually play,the video game series and like
that a lot.
David Hernandez (05:38):
I always feel like the TCG openings are like
Christmas Day each time youwatch them because you never are
too sure what you're going toget.
Katy46 (05:43):
Right.
Yeah.
And it's so easy to be happy forother people too, when they're
making the pull, you get thosefeelings as well.
and then too, just even if youdon't get anything amazing, the
art is so nice to look at too.
I'm just a big appreciator ofthe art and the cards.
David Hernandez (05:56):
So if you're going to do a playthrough for
Pokemon Blue, obviously Articunowould be one of them.
Who would be your other fivePokemon you would use?
Katy46 (06:03):
Oh, gosh, yeah, that's a tough question.
but I think you're going to, Ithink you're going to see a
theme.
we're definitely going to haveBlastoise on there.
we're going to have Vaporeon butthen, we do need to balance the
team out.
We can't have, just a bunch ofwater and
David Hernandez (06:15):
I mean, this is your team.
You can choose whatever youwant.
So I'm not going to judge you.
Katy46 (06:19):
right?
but we probably have, have somemore Eeveelution.
we'd probably go with Flareon aswell and Jolteon.
I'm a big, big Evolution fan,Then we're going to go, we have
to have, Mewtwo on there.
I mean, is Gen 1, Mewtwo
David Hernandez (06:31):
big one, right?
The best Pokemon in the firstgeneration.
You can't forget it.
Katy46 (06:35):
yeah, as big as the, the legendary birds are, of course,
Mewtwo just holds
David Hernandez (06:39):
So, Pokemon Go comes out in 2016.
What was it like when the gamefirst debuted for you in your
area.
Katy46 (06:47):
it was an exciting time.
even though I come from, maybemore rural area than other
trainers, I had very much thesame experience, that everyone
had of just, getting out therewith the community and just this
intense excitement and being apart of it.
I started officially on day 2,so I just missed being able to
call myself a day 1 trainer, Butyeah, I locked it in on day two,
(07:07):
just barely as well.
I, I think I downloaded the appat 10.
30 at night, sitting in my bed,and I, leapt out of bed to,
catch my first Charmander.
for some reason, when I loadedthe game, only a Bulbasaur and
Charmander displayed, I didn'tget the option
David Hernandez (07:23):
They censored Squirtle for me.
Katy46 (07:25):
Yeah, I know I didn't get it, but, it is what it is,
we know what the early gameswere like.
After that though, it justbecame a lot of, running around,
with my close friends at first.
but then we got to the pointwhere we started selecting
teams, right?
And, it became very fun to havethat rivalry.
I tend to be a prettycompetitive person, did a lot
of, team sports growing up.
(07:46):
We start seeing this big growthof Valor, it's pretty common,
there's a lot of Valor, trainersout there, a lot of people
choose it, but we decided weneed to do something about it on
Team Mystic.
I got, with a friend and webought all the blue bandanas in
town, we could find, and webought sticker paper and printed
up a ton of, these crests, thatwere, posted on Facebook, did a
(08:07):
local meetup at a bar downtownand just handed out bandanas and
stickers to people like,"haveyou chosen a team yet?
No, please join team mystic, youwon't be disappointed.
It's the best team out there andjust did a lot of recruitment.
And I have to say that theeffort that we put in went
pretty far because we have justabout as many Team Mystics here
in this town as Valor, but itwas certainly really fun just
(08:29):
getting to meet people first anda great way to talk to people,
in the early game to try to dothis team building, but, Just
also the reality that everybodyyou saw on the street, everybody
you talked to on the sidewalk,they were playing that game too,
so it was just a fun time to beout.
David Hernandez (08:46):
So y'all basically went around town
recruiting people to not onlycome play Pokemon Go, but to
also make sure they choose TeamMystic on the team screen?
Katy46 (08:53):
Yes.
Yes, exactly.
They would join us and, itactually became a really
beautiful thing.
because it just embodied, one ofthe goodness of the people
around you, the goodness of thepeople in my community, but, it
started becoming this tradethere was somebody that was on
team mystic that knew how toprint T-shirts.
So, I'd had given them stickersand bandana and they made me a t
shirt for free and they would,go out to these events with us
(09:15):
to try to get people to buy tshirts for Team Mystic.
there's just this reciprocitygoing back and forth and just
good sense of community.
especially amongst the Mysticplayers that maybe, the other
teams didn't have so well thatwe're so organized and,
communicated and ultimatelyfriends in the end.
David Hernandez (09:31):
it's that type of team camaraderie that I kind
miss, but I feel like a lot ofthat team camaraderie is missing
that we don't really have it tothat degree compared to when me
and you first started.
Katy46 (09:41):
yeah, absolutely.
I agree.
I miss that a lot, but, in someways it's good that the barriers
are broken.
I definitely have friends thatwe knew, what we had on team
mystic was so good and weenjoyed playing together.
So well, that we have peoplethat before the team medallion,
and the ability to change teamscame into effect, literally
started new accounts to give upinstinct and become mystic so
(10:04):
they could roll around and playwith us and we would all be
together, all get the samerewards.
it's something I missed, butit's something that brought us
together and, defined us in somany ways, but I am glad that we
don't have such staunch linesdrawn in the game, because, it
is about the community in theend, and I'm just happy people
are still playing, when it comesto it at the end of the day.
David Hernandez (10:25):
you said you're from a rural area, is there like
not many spawns, or is there notmany places for people to go out
and play, or is there a certainarea y'all go to for say a
community day or for raid hour?
Katy46 (10:35):
I live in Alaska, a small town of about 30,000 and
there are no roads in or out.
and so there's really only twocell service in the central
areas of town.
that being said, yeah, we all goto our downtown area to play, we
have this great grind loop thatwe all do and it's excellent
because, we get to see eachother out and about playing and
(10:56):
we all know each other's carsand decals on it.
It's much more of a tight knitcommunity here, we know everyone
is.
We didn't have problems withspoofers so much in the game, or
if we did, we dealt with ittogether because again, they're
not being roads in around of ourtown.
Level 40s wouldn't just comethrough in the middle of winter
to a little Alaska and
David Hernandez (11:18):
just take a small stroll through Alaska in
the middle of the night, youknow, what's the suspicion about
that?
Katy46 (11:23):
yeah, yeah, right.
You know, there are just somethings we knew collectively,
Weren't right, or just seeingthese regionals in gyms, so we
would together, again, also justembrace our sense of community,
put forward this will of we'regoing to keep this community
clean, we're going to keep itthe right game play style and
we'll together, we'll all reportand spam and make sure that this
riffraff is kept out of town.
but that being said, you seeeach other at all of the gyms in
(11:46):
town, you'll know What peopleare doing when you're out with
your other friends that maybedon't play Pokemon Go.
You'll see a car maybe goingslow through an area, and you'll
be like, oh yeah, I know that'sLillian, it's, she's just out
grinding, it's okay.
it's that nice, sense ofcommunity and closeness that I
appreciate so much, and I'm sureit's just not an experience a
lot of people have gone to have,But it's so nice.
David Hernandez (12:06):
I'm aware that you've helped build up your
community, right?
Like you would do things foryour community besides, of
course, promoting people to teammystic and try to get bandanas,
right?
Katy46 (12:13):
yeah, absolutely.
this started out with, communitydays.
I started holding, communitydays through the Silph Road, but
even before I started doingSilph Road, community day
meetups, I would make, stickersstarting at the very first, surf
Pikachu, and hand them out topeople, that I would see playing
the game just as a way to,strike up conversation too or
just good icebreaker.
people would find me, walkingaround, always handing out
(12:36):
stickers for whatever communityday Pokemon was featured that
day.
But then we do meetups and thosemeetups for community day
eventually evolved into, SilphRoad tournaments, which I've had
a ton of fun being a part of andhave been so fulfilling for many
years now.
David Hernandez (12:50):
Do you feel like doing those stickers helped
enhance the community or helpmake people feel like they
belonged?
Katy46 (12:55):
Yeah.
I think so for sure.
and it also made it so it feltokay talking to people out in
public about the game, right?
That, I'm not this weird person,haha, doing this video game to
myself like I really can beoutward in, I don't know, I
don't know if you want to sayproud in a, in a way, but you
don't have to be ashamed thatyou're a nerd playing a Pokemon
(13:16):
game out in public.
it just made it okay for peopleto be comfortable in their own
skin and be doing this inpublic.
David Hernandez (13:23):
You know, it's interesting because earlier you
talked about how the teammedallions was able to help
break barriers, you know,allowed people to play together
if they were on different teams.
In the same way, it sounds likethe stickers also break barriers
because there is that stigma ofpeople's like people, you still
play this game.
You still play Pokemon go?
And the sticker allows people tohave a middle ground.
(13:43):
If so, you will to where, Hey,this Community Day is going on,
have a sticker and y'all cankind of connect, I guess.
Katy46 (13:49):
definitely.
I think so very much.
cause two, you'd probably besurprised to stumble on, a woman
of my demographic backgroundthat's out here playing Pokemon.
and so it's probably a littlebit surprising to you too.
So it makes it easier to relateand be like, wow, there's all
sorts of people.
There's a huge amount of peoplein my community that you would
(14:10):
be so surprised to play and theyare hardcore players.
a lot of them are people whosekids played Pokemon.
maybe their retirees have alittle bit more time on their
hands, but they grind.
They're out there playing hard,raiding hard, taking gyms, and
you would just be so surprised.
And I love those people in mycommunity.
(14:30):
And it's also just so fun to belike, Oh yeah, that's my friend
like you maybe wouldn't know howwe met, like you would never
guess.
Oh yeah.
I met them through Pokemon Go.
One person in my community I canthink of comes to mind.
he plays very hard, but hecatches Pokemon to trade to his
grandkids and that's like hismain goal.
he'll just trade things for me,he's actually like my main
Vullaby dealer, like, like saveVullabies for me.
(14:55):
He really just doesn't care somuch about grinding, but he
plays so hard, but.
the reason he does it is becausehe wants to trade these Pokemon
to his grandkids or trade themto someone else so they can use
them for something more than,he'll value them for.
For him, that's a massivemotivator.
David Hernandez (15:09):
I don't think I would ever have thought I'd hear
the words Volbeat and Dealer inthe same sentence.
Katy46 (15:14):
Right.
Yeah.
It's amazing.
Like I have to say, I don't havethe biggest PVP community here
in town, but we have a lot ofpassionate players, but they'll
save they're Vullaby's for meand they're amazing.
David Hernandez (15:25):
You've been listening to As the Pokeball
Turns.
We're going to take a quickbreak.
We'll be right back.
(17:31):
You talked about how back whenSilph Arena first debuted, you
used to host the tournaments,right?
Katy46 (17:36):
Yeah.
I started hosting, tournamentswith the very first one with
Boulder cup, here in mycommunity.
And I happened to win that one.
I'm very proud.
Um,
David Hernandez (17:44):
congrats!
Katy46 (17:45):
but yes, I've hosted Silph Arena tournaments for a
really long time.
In fact, I've hosted every onewith the exception of Arcana and
Innocent Cup.
at the end, I dipped off there,but, But yeah, it's been so
rewarding, but I was there rightat the beginning.
David Hernandez (17:59):
you said earlier you were a very
competitive person.
PvP obviously wasn't in PokemonGo when it debuted.
How is that for you?
Was it like something wasmissing, almost?
Katy46 (18:09):
It definitely felt like that in some ways.
I did enjoy battling in gyms.
and so in many ways, that ishow, I was able to enjoy the
game.
I was so into gyms.
I need to have, be on the top.
I needed to have, you know, the,the largest Dragonite.
I needed to prestige them, Ineeded to have them all gold
(18:29):
before anyone else.
when that became a feature.
but yeah, PVP, when it, changedto being more than just battling
in gyms, it was like, okay, thisis it, this is the real end
game.
This is What everything I'vebeen doing works towards now I
get to see how powerful myPokemon can be
David Hernandez (18:46):
how did Silph Arena influence your journey
into PvP?
Katy46 (18:50):
it was pretty much almost instant.
So again, I was already pluggedinto the Silph Road.
I did the self community daymeetups.
And so it was really interestingto see this tournament system
was going to be put out, forthis new feature as well.
Again, connecting with people,messaging your friends when
you're still sitting at home onthe couch, but you're like, hey,
let's do some battles and, maybespending an hour, just battling
(19:11):
randomly, randomly, randomly,and over again, having that be
so fun.
of course, there was just asmall gap between when PVP came
out and the first Silph Roadtournament, was able to be
hosted, so I was very much justengaging my friends, the ones I
was battling with on the couch.
Other people I knew were,hardcore into the game at the
time were also the people I wasbattling in gyms, the people
(19:33):
that would, be doing raiding andthings like that, inviting them
to come try, test their might inthis new feature and see if we
can stack the cards and havesome more fun and in this other
competitive way of the game.
David Hernandez (19:44):
What's your favorite league to battle in?
Katy46 (19:47):
you'd be surprised to learn it's actually Ultra
League.
it's not Great League, despiteSilph and everything.
I'm a little bit of an XLabuser, but yeah, Ultra League,
It tends to just be a little bitless known it's pretty common
people like to play in masterleague greatly, of course, being
so accessible, but, I thinkUltra League just, hits
different.
David Hernandez (20:05):
so did you have a place you would go to learn
PvP?
Like, what were your resources?
Katy46 (20:10):
a lot of it was just going through, to the Silph Road
Reddit and, eventually it'sstill arena.
It's hard to say if there wasone specific PvP content
creator, because I just absorbso much, Pokemon content in
general.
I think when I really startedgetting into it more, more
locally, I started watching,WildSusanBoyle on Twitch.
he's probably the most localizedPvP content creator, to me in
(20:33):
this area.
aside from...
Other people, I don't know.
You may have heard of PokeAK.
But, yeah, I would say WildSusan Boyle and then I'll also,
Yusei Furou is, is anothercontent creator I watched on
Twitch when I really wanted toget into more skills and, the
more basic steps of how to getbetter,
David Hernandez (20:49):
what's funny is that eventually you watched all
these Twitch streamers andeventually you became a Twitch
streamer yourself because you doPvP content, right?
Katy46 (20:56):
Yes.
I do have a twitch stream.
I started, um, we're gettingclose to 2 years ago.
We're not there just yet.
it's been a lot of fun.
I'm getting involved in twitchand connecting to with the
community there.
it's just an opportunity thatmaybe, in so many ways, we
wouldn't have to connect if youwere just only doing it on
Twitter, or other social media.
But I really, I really have alot of fun being on Twitch.
David Hernandez (21:18):
I actually enjoy your cooking shows.
I saw the one you did with thepizza recently.
I like how you got yourcommunity involved with the
pizza one, to where you let themchoose the toppings or the ones
you would make for the pizza.
Katy46 (21:28):
Yeah.
I like the cooking streams a lottoo.
again, I think food is, anotherbig thing.
That's, breaks down barriers forus so much, I wanted to have fun
with the pizza one.
I learned how to make, pizzas athome when, the pandemic started,
you're like, if we can't go torestaurants or whatever, one
thing I can't live without ispizza and so I'm going to learn
how to make it myself.
But yeah, it was fun.
we did this open voting period,where, people got to choose
(21:51):
between 46 different ingredientsfor their pizza.
Because of course I'm Katie 46,but there was a lot of weird
stuff on there, like salmon,crab, fruit and things.
I was thinking people might,pulling over on me, maybe have
some fun, try some weirdtoppings, but generally people
were pretty awesome and chosethings like bacon.
David Hernandez (22:07):
Yeah, I'm pretty sure that pizza topping
could have gotten very weird ifyour chat wasn't as, I'll say
considerate for the lack of abetter word.
Katy46 (22:13):
Yeah, but I don't know.
there's some weird things youwould maybe be open to trying
like, banana and bacon would beweird, but I don't know.
Maybe not bad.
David Hernandez (22:21):
I'm going to ask a random question.
So what's your dream pizza?
Katy46 (22:24):
Ooh, okay.
This one's easy.
it would be Pineapple,pepperoni, and my candied
jalapenos, the candied jalapenosare just phenomenal on pizza.
David Hernandez (22:34):
Last question for PVP.
If you could change anythingwithin the PvP system, whether
you want to add something ortake something away, or change
how something's done, what wouldyou change?
Katy46 (22:44):
I would bring back, Master League Premier.
I just think Open Master Leagueis still too unaccessible.
David Hernandez (22:51):
That's fair.
All the XLs, especially for thelegendary Pokemon, unless you
are a madman and walk like crazyor you go through other means,
then there's not really a way toget that XL candy,
unfortunately.
Katy46 (23:01):
exactly.
I really want to celebratepeople who play the game a lot
and play at a high level and arehardcore, but it is still so
hard, even at my level, tocompete at Open Master League.
David Hernandez (23:12):
I know you got to travel to some regionals,
right?
Katy46 (23:14):
Yes, I did.
I got to travel to, recently theVancouver Regional and then the
Portland Regional.
David Hernandez (23:20):
What was it like for you to go there?
Katy46 (23:22):
it was absolutely amazing.
I'll tell you about my firstexperience in Vancouver.
So I got to travel there, withsome friends, that I met through
Twitch and, and GoFest inSeattle this last year.
so it was great, getting to meetsome of them for the first time,
but then some of them, meet themagain and go and compete.
we're all very competitive, buthaving that camaraderie to go
together and, and tackle thebeast that is original together,
(23:45):
was really great.
I have to tell you it's, it'svery nerve wracking.
maybe you would expect it goingin, but especially going to my
1st 1, I felt like I was goingto throw up, just from stress,
like walking through the doors.
and I don't normally get nervouslike that.
People see us battle all thetime.
We stream on Twitch.
So it's something else about thecompetition, about taking it
seriously, or even to it beingso serious to me, maybe
(24:08):
personally and wanting to win.
it was a nervous experience forsure, but it was so amazing when
you get there and.
Of course, are getting ready forthe tournament again, and you're
just greeting all these peoplethat you've seen, online, maybe
seeing them on the Twitchstreams for other regional
events, and just getting to meetthem for the 1st time, and say
hello, Maybe do some practicebattles as you get warmed up,
(24:31):
but, just the hype is sointense, not just from the go
community too, but also the TCGand VG communities.
it's just a really amazingatmosphere to be a part of.
David Hernandez (24:42):
Now, you said you went with some friends,
right?
did y'all do anything outside ofthe regionals?
Katy46 (24:47):
we did do a Twitch stream, the first night, that we
got there, we all dressed up as,as sailor scouts from sailor
moon, and did a stream likethat.
so that was also fun just totake on, a role in, each of our
parts as sailor guardians.
David Hernandez (25:00):
Oh, that's awesome.
did y'all have like selectsailors?
Y'all would cosplay as that, ordid y'all just cosplay as
yourselves?
Katy46 (25:05):
yes.
We were select sailors.
I was sailor moon and then myfriend telegraph train, sailor
Jupiter, my friend, bubblemouse, was sailor Mars and,
Shazay was, sailor Uranus.
There's eight total, so theremay be more Sailor Scouts in the
future.
David Hernandez (25:21):
What do you think these regionals add to the
PVP scene that people may not beable to get from, say, a go
battle league or just, battlingonline?
Katy46 (25:29):
a live tournament is, it's indescribable, but I'm
going to tackle it.
I'm going to try to describe it.
David Hernandez (25:35):
go for it,
Katy46 (25:37):
there's just something about, one, just the competitive
nature of getting to go to eventand being with people that
you're competing against, butthe atmosphere and environment,
it very much just embodies, whatPokemon go was back in the
summer of 2016, but Pokemon goaims to be, in the community
aspect and also to just, Pushingyourself to that excellence,
(25:57):
wanting to strive, but also tomaybe you do these events over
and over again, you can seeyourself making small gains over
time.
There's just really nothing thatcompares to a live tournament.
As fun as just battling is ingeneral, when you two also get
to see and talk to, you'resitting across the table from
somebody that cares aboutbattling just as much as you.
it's easy to have barriersbroken down and, strike up a
(26:20):
conversation and to gain 20friends in a weekend.
David Hernandez (26:23):
So you talked about how earlier you actually
went to Seattle Go Fest.
what was it like for you to go,was that your first one?
Katy46 (26:29):
Yeah, Seattle GO Fest was my first one, and I was just
so happy, for it to, be soregionally close for me, for
one, but to get to go to a GOFest for years, friends, that I
played this game with, will knowthat I've said, all I want to do
is just go to a GO Fest.
I just want to go to a GO Fest.
it had been a dream for so long.
then of course, we couldn't do,Live events for a while.
(26:52):
so it was definitely this thingout there, that I wanted to do
and it absolutely lived up tothe hype.
I just had the most amazingweekend meeting people, going
out, playing the game, doingtrades, just enjoying life in
the summer.
I just.
left that weekend with so manyamazing memories, so many new
friends, and just a, of course,a hankering to do more in this
(27:14):
game, to do more with thecommunity and to go to more
events in the future.
David Hernandez (27:18):
You said you wanted to go to Go Fest, that
you'd always been wanting to go,it was like one of your goals.
What stopped you from goingbefore?
Katy46 (27:25):
I think it was just, getting in and out of Alaska is
not the easiest thing ingeneral.
but just the amount of distancethat it would take to travel, or
maybe not being so sure that youhad friends or, community that
when you went to these eventswould be there and, would get to
enjoy them with you.
again, Being in a nerd or beinginto video games, and having
that fear of going out thereinto the world and, being alone
(27:47):
in your experience while there'smaybe an event that a lot of
people are there having fun at,it's not something that anybody
would choose outright, but I'lltell you, though, when you do go
to these events, that'sdefinitely not the feeling that
I would get.
Even if you were a wallflower, Ithink you would find it very
difficult to go to these eventsand not have fun and to feel
alone when there's so much funand so much warmth that's going
(28:10):
on.
David Hernandez (28:11):
if somebody was on the fence about going to a Go
fest, What would you tell them?
Katy46 (28:14):
I would say go.
Absolutely go.
Do whatever you can.
Set the time aside and just go.
David Hernandez (28:20):
Well, awesome.
Katie, you've been a wonderfulguest.
If people want to check out yourcontent, where can they go?
By all means, please plug away.
Katy46 (28:27):
You can start out by finding me on Twitter@Katy46AK.
You can also find me onInstagram under the same handle.
I'm always on Twitch on Tuesdaysand Thursdays at 8pm Alaska
time, which is Katie46AK.
Is a 9 PM Pacific, but I'll letyou do the conversions
otherwise, but that'stwitch.tv/Katy46.
David Hernandez (28:47):
Cool beans.
And I'll make sure to includelinks to everything she said in
the description of today'sepisode.
Here's a sneak peek for the nextepisode of As the Pokeball
Turns.
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