Ramblings of an Englishman

After a few days to reflect on the latest Pokémon Presents I have to say that Legends Arceus is one of my most anticipated games. One major relief I had was that we will get new regional forms as it has become one of my favourite parts of each game and with how Sword and Shield added evolutions on top of this for regional forms it really added to the whole product. Not only that we are getting new evolutions for older Pokémon with Wyrdeer the new evolution for Stantler and Basculegion for Basculin it is great to see Pokémon not really used or mentioned getting new attention and I have to be honest it will be the first time I've ever thought about using Basculin because of this. I wanted to break down a few other Pokémon that could get regional variants, evolutions or both.  Dunsparce - Evolution Starting with a popular choice if we are giving Pokémon like Stantler and Basculin who don't get used a new lease of life we might as well do it for one that people like. Dun...

Now before you get angry let me pre-empt this by saying I am a Kingdom Hearts fan of that is not clear from the multiple posts here I have made on the franchise before this. In fact I believe the opposite could be argued as well for fans of the series who analyse everything in depth to be able to make accurate predictions. As a series it depends where you look at the narrative/lore of Kingdom Hearts to where you get confused or enjoyment out of it. The main purpose of this post is to look at how that has evolved and how that is now overly complicated. Personally for me I do still enjoy the games but do feel the overall story is confusing in parts to fully keep track of which I hope to explain in more detail below. When you think about longform narratives video games are an interesting format for this. Unlike in films where the actors get older the characters in your game don't have to unless you want them to. While consoles change you can keep a cast of characters for as long as yo...

It had been 2766 days since CM Punk has been in a wrestling ring but who said anyone was counting. In the only company it could really happen in CM Punk return to what could only be described as a ground shaking pop.  The past week have seen a lot of conversation from a company and its die hard fanbase that CM Punk was not a needle mover. He was not 'a draw'. While all the copium in the world might not be enough the tickets moved for his return the AEW shop website not working with everyone wanting his shirt oh and #AEWRampage trending higher than Smackdown as well it's all good.  But above that CM Punk was the guy for fans of my generation and someone who reignited a lot of peoples interest. You can measure a legacy in wrestling by what people still attribute to what they did. How many promos get called 'Pipebombs' because of CM Punk and him coining the phrase a lot of people hung on Punk's every word as his run as the guy and when he left a lot of people'...

AEW added to its weekly block of show in the past week with AEW Rampage a new one hour show on Friday's on TNT. While you could argue the Rampage in the United Centre titled 'The First Dance' is the real debut for the show (for obvious reasons) I feel that we got a glimpse into how this show will be.  I do wish that the set up was somewhat different to Dynamite just to differentiate the show. It sounds different with its commentary team but I wish something would be done with the stage. Maybe just the one tunnel switch the Cody entrance out for everyone using it. When discussing this with other people it was a talking point to how to make the show different. It could be something minimal like having the middle rope be Orange or bring back the old mat that had the AEW logo on it. To take a page from the old 205 stuff when it was on Raw where the logos were in the corner and the ropes were Purple so you knew the change and what was happening. People remember stages I mean how...

Generation 8 for Pokémon will contain one of the more unique entries in the main series of games in Pokémon Legends: Arceus which set in a bygone era of the Pokémon world will see a different take on how the games operate. While at this time I do not know if gyms will be featured and the game features the ability to capture  Pokémon without going into battles. I just wanted to quickly lay out some hopes and expectations for the game. I don't think anything I state is overly ambitious but it's more of some general thoughts. I do wonder if we will see any new  Pokémon I do find it very unlikely but it would fun to see some which can be remade into fossils going forward. While I feel this could be unlikely I do wonder if some sort of regional form like a classical or historical forms that where the Pokémon has changed over time for once it reaches the modern setting has changed to the form we know.  I do wonder what will replace the gyms. I had a feeling the island trials wo...