LEGENDS: 'ZA

*spoiler alert in case anyone ever actually sees*
 
Finished a 100% playthrough of Legends Z-A (on YouTube.) Unfortunately the player labeled it thus even though he left off Mabel's research at level 43/50...and there doesn't seem to be anywhere that shows going through all the levels (like, the actual receipt of the TMs and hearing what the next reward'll be...) That was the longest playthrough that had been there, so unlikely that another would include the remaining 7 levels if it didn't, and even if one did, where tf would they be? Supposedly you get a shiny charm or some shit for completing it all. Anyway, hopefully whenever Bulbapedia gets their quote pages updated, that stuff'll be on Mabel's. 'Cause, she's da best. (Wonder how long it'll take for the site to work reliably again though. It'd be nice to be able to listen to all the however-friggin-many stupid Master Sex events' scripts/summaries read aloud, heh.)
But no, I will not misspell Mabe's name. Can't figure out why they did that. No way did they know she was gonna be a professor in the future and therefore spelled it like maple.

Anyway, I love her sense of humor. I love her peach-ring dress. I love that aside from having to rage about the unknown idiotic mayor's idiocy, she is mostly enjoying her stint as Sycamore's substitute. Shame she's unable to travel freely or leave Lumiose for now, but here's what's gonna happen! Soon as she and her three pals are free, they're gonna form a band with Malva. Because they look more like a band than a team of scientists--and while it's awesome that they are the latter, they should also be the former. A science band. One that will take the world by storm, I'm talking Spicemania level (or the preceding Beatlemania. I would so have been part of that too if I could've.) They've got pink, orange, green, blue, purple. Orange and purple are the most frequently shafted in color groups, but all they needa do is put a lotta red and yellow* in their logo/main outfits...they already have the hot Flare red-orange/orange-red as their signature. Without the visors, Mal will fit in naturally.
Did wonder how Mabes got chosen out of the quartet for this expanded role when the rest sadly didn't even appear/get mentioned. I suppose she stands out--ABC, M. She has the most normal and tree-like name. :b 
(*and all the intermediate colors and every shade of every one...okay, that's for the rest of their 'fits. Even tho pink's kinda just light red. See the Dewey Color System book. ^~ And below. I love how the science quartet+Malva=my Neon Wigs' colors...Eudora, Dolores, Bess, Ramona, Cordelia...:3)

Other returning characters!
Lysandre: Or should I say L...;p Mah man! So he's now an "immortal" amnesiac, whose hair lost its color in the process (yet he gained no height), who's gonna do 3000 years' worth of good. Hm, could this be possible in the anime? Unlikely. 3: And of course that'll always be The Canon to me. I incorporate whatever game (or manga) stuff fits.
Emma: The photos on her wall of Mimi with Xerosic and Looker!!! HER DADS!!!! ;U; Malamar--my friend and hers--gifted her by a man who played an important role in her life. The two of them may not be physically present in the game, but they're there supporting her in spirit, and she knows it. Actually I was really surprised and disappointed not to see Xerosic. I thought people had spotted evidence of him on the box art, but maybe it was mistaken or just represented the spiritual presence. However, there was definitely a detail in the otherwise accurate plot leak about him showing up with a tan and having lost weight. Which HAD sounded really strange, but you never know? Obviously that bit must've been tossed in just to throw people off or troll us or something.
AZ: Aw. His death and the aftermath were really moving. The leak had said that only one of 'the immortals' would be alive at the end, but gave no clue as to which of the two it'd be.

New characters!
Let's try to rank these duos.

Corbeau + Philippe: Heh. Yeah. What can I say, they're great.
Griselle + Grisham: Of the Nouveau Cafe (Cafe Nouveau?) coffee/food truck. Members of Team Flare Nouveau, children of Flare members. Are they supposed to be a couple, or siblings, or just two particularly close members, or what? She reminded me slightly of Sonia at first. I guess she's supposed to be like, the Cafe Lysandre waitress with partially-dyed hair. Once again you had members of an organization unaware either of the leader's true intentions, or when the goalposts have shifted a bit.
Jett + Vinnie: As with Corbeau, they were early favorites due to having been revealed. Glad they didn't turn out to be twist villains. And ha, Jett=Taunie/Urbain's grandmother. Everybody's guessing was for naught. xD
Ivor + Gwynn: They were neat. He's a hoot, she's kinda like a low-key Hex Maniac. Hex enthusiast, perhaps.
Lebanne + Jacinthe: Erm, word of advice for Leb? "You're a dragon. Be a dragon." xD Hair reminded me of Cheryl and Miriam.
Canari + Tarragon: Ah yeah, Canary...Cannery...Cannoli... Best things going on w/ her and Iono are the color schemes. Io's hair combo. The lemon-limeade and "maybe she's born with it, maybe it's Mabel-esque?" Mmhmm. (I've always assumed that the characters' hair colors and shapes/styles are natural for the most part, but wouldn't be surprised if there were wigs or dye at work here.) You'd *think* Manectric would be her ace (like my eLouai girl Evelyn!!) rather than Eelektross, and then it turns out there is one on her team.

Team MZ: Largely likable. Taunie (& Urbain) got that good hair. Her design is a little better. Be cute if they were actually twins. Paxton and Harmony of course don't even get referred to by name unless you enter that, but their default designs are decent. They should've been offspring of Sycamore and Grace though, lul.

This is the first time I've gotten to know a set of characters through a game rather than the anime. And maybe it's the Switch 2, but more than any other game it kinda plays like an anime. Or a really fuckin' long movie. SPEAKing of which--and this has been true especially since g6, but eSPECIALly now--if you're gonna have that much bloody dialog/on-screen text, it needs to be spoken aloud. I don't even care about voice acting, man, just provide the option for text-to-speech. 

Ranked the new megas already. The one I flip-flopped on the most was Feraligatr; I have seen a lot of fanart that's better. Some may have been unused gigantamax designs. Froslass in particular felt that way. And I'd forgotten to include Zygarde and Eternal Flower Floette, both of which are cool. Naturally doggo Zygarde is best Zygarde. And the Hyperrogue Ange Floette battle gave me Little Shop of Horror vibes, which were what I'd wanted for Mega Victreebel. Dx Hmm. Perhaps Floette is to blame for Victree getting stuck with such an awful design...=x That would be a tremendous shame though, given that it's only a unique one-off situation. And Florges really should have a mega. Some of the new ones are jokey, which I don't really appreciate because then those poor pokemon get stuck with that crap for the sake of a few ha-has and memes...

Ingo! Great to know he's back where he belongs, and the same had better happen for Anabel. (Man, it's hard not to type Annabelle.) Really disliked how she was randomly ripped from her real life and dumped in Alola with amnesia, just to make her join the Interpol and somehow become Looker's superior? Like wtf was that, give the poor girl back her actual identity and life and let her go home where she's meant to be. Glad that crap is just a game thing. Whatta ya doin', just lookin' back through the older characters and picking one you feel like reusing in a different context?

Sycamore, Diantha, leaders & elites, etc...nowhere to be seen, pretty much. Same with Trevor & co. from the XY games. I had marked "Sawyer, Miette, Trevor, Tierno, Alain" as the best Kalos rivals based on the show, but it ain't the strongest group no matter how you slice it.

-I enjoyed the design of the city itself tbh. All the grass patches/parks everywhere and wild zones--cozy! Was weird to notice the lack of vehicles only very late in the video, but I guess it was all they could do to program the people. The buildings you need to enter are all really nice inside...Quasartico, the museum, hotel, syndicate, Pokemon Center, restaurant...
-All those unhinged npc quotes, lol. The citizens of Lumiose (and probably employees of Game Freak) are truly Livin' Like Larry. xD 
-Haha, stoned "Nurse Joy"/PCL/clerk

Cute game overall. Didn't get any new ships out of it--well no actually, Grishelle, if they're not twins/siblings.

just some nice fanart =3

First Mega-Dimension trailer shit:
-Mega Baxcalibur is cool--and how could it not be, unless they'd decided to curse it with another silly-looking one? Mega Chimecho is a bigger surprise, being more changed and more...more. The moreness is increased. Definitely unexpected. As a pokemon it's cute but has never really stood out to me. I prefer Chingling for its resemblance to a classic yellow smiley. This is kinda like if a Chimecho mated with a Klefki. (Also yeah, it's a bit odd how they keep giving new forms to species that James has owned. What's up with that?)
-Returning ZA characters, yay. No surprise really though. Korrina before Clemont & Bonnie, but I suppose it makes enough sense since she's the mega-evolution girl. Watch the Hoopa doughnut girl be connected only to the folks from the movie and have absolutely nothing to do with Diantha. xD
-Most-anticipated megas: Golisopod, Tatsugiri. And Glimmora could be pretty. (And I think "Glimmer-uh" is a somewhat superior pronunciation to "Gli-Moira?")