The Official Pokémon Evolution thread

[Fig]

Well, most of you know by now that a group of authors and artists from this board has been working in (some) secrecy on a large-scale "official BMG fanfic" project, Pokémon Evolution by name. As the project is slowly making its way forward (the draft form of the first episode has pretty much been approved, and what remains to be corrected now are mostly matters of style and such), it's now time to give out some information about it, and a place for people to talk about it.

The first thing to be aware of is that it is a LARGE project. A single season will be comparable in size with Pokemon Master, and there will be more than one seasons unless of course we get booed down by everyone.

Now, some basic facts :

Staff List :

Damian Silverblade (Episode Writer, Project head)
Barb (Episode Writer)
Platinum Hawke (Episode Writer)
Kasumi Chan (Head Artist)
Adam (Beta Reader/Editor/Artist)

(We're hiring, too - for both the art department and episode writing department. Rocky, I'm just waiting for words from you on if/where exactly you'd like to be involved to add you above)

Thanks go to : Timarelay ; Tygerofdanyte ; Kinglerlord2 ; BenRG ; Azura Stardust (Legend of Didesy) for their contribution to the plot and art creation, and to Archaic for approving the project.

What is Evolution about?

It's our take on the basic Pokemon story from the games. Essentialy, what the various people involved in the project think the anime SHOULD have been like. That also means it's not simply a "What if" based on the anime where we change a single thing and took the whole story further from there. It means it is a completely different tale - just as distinct from the anime as the anime is from the various mangas.

However, unlike a simple OT story, it features entirely the game cast (plus a handful of original characters, such as Nizomi the Sprout Tower novice in the second season) - that is, the main character (in Kanto) *is* Red/Satoshi, his rival Blue/Shigeru, etc.

Now, a quick list of what not to expect in this story :

-"Kids" characters. Evolution works as a setting where the beginner age for trainers has been upped from 10 to 16. It makes for a different characters dynamics. And that's Ash's age in season I, he'll grow older as the story proceed.
-Constant assault by TR buffons. Yes, Jessie and James (or, more appropriately, Musashi and Kojiro) being game characters per Poke-Yellow) shows up once in a while. No, they are not buffons. Yes, their line-up has gone up on the power scale, with Kojiro recovering and evolving his two "one-shot" pokemon (Magikarp and Growlithe) for example.
-Ash releasing pokémon constantly.
-Ash always being the main character. Season II and III (if they are made) will feature other main characters, although Satoshi will still get frequent appearances.
-The English character names. We've been forced to decide against using them due to the existence of the two separate May (Oak and from AG) who both have major roles planned for them in Evolution.


What else is there to say? Other, that is, from the fact that the pokémon world took a turn for the darker in our story. Team Rocket in Evolution is the TR that took over Silph co, did not hesitate to hurt and kill, and so on. Imagine an even nastier version of the Mewtwo Returns TR, and you get it, pretty much. They are willing to go to any length, killing even to reach their goals. And kill they will.

Anyway, if you want to ask any question or offer your help, post here.

 

[Geodude]

I could try my hand at episode writing...on a sort of trial basis perhaps, so I can get a feel for it and to see if my writing will be good enough.

 

[Fig]

Well, a number of plan changes have been made lastly, mostly after it was observed that with all the events we were trying to fit in four seasons of twenty-thirty episodes, we'd wind up with a story just as superficial as that of the anime, except without filler.

The easiest cut to make to remedy this was to remove Johto and Houen from the equation : while these region will *impact* Evolution, they will not appear in the core 3-seasons series (although if Evolution is popular enough, there may be spin-off stories detailing the tale of some other characters later). As a direct result of this decision, the character of Haruka has vanished from the story, meaning we will be using the english names after all - there is no more case of May-duplication. The one May in Evolution is May Oak.

The three seasons will be set primarily in Kanto, although the new islands from the FRLG game series will feature prominently in season II.

The plot will be heavily centered upon the conflict between a number of visions of humans and pokemon and their relations. There are those who perceive them as mindless drones, slaves, those who perceive them as cash waiting to be collected, those who perceive them as pets, as allies and friends. And then there are those who realize humans and pokemon are not so different themselves.

At the core of this conflict stands the Master Ball. A powerful tool able to catch any pokemon without fail and fully bind it to its trainer's will, it represents the ultimate boon for many, and the ultimate horror for others who believe it will destroy the entire point of training - after all, what's there to training if all you have to do is lob a single pokeball at a highly powerful pokemon and then use it against your rivals?

But there is more than just that in terms of conflicts brewing. Psychics birth are more and more frequent, and there are few willing to tolerate that. Already there have been more than a few cases of psychics children abandoned into the wild by their parents, or even killed outright by fearful townsfolk. And rumors of strange evengs - legendary pokemon being sighted, ghosts hauntings, etc have multiplied.

In the meantime, Team Rocket has been ever-growing in strength. As a result, the minimum age for trainers to obtain their license was increased to sixteen, and even so, trainers vanish each years. Some are found dead, others are never found again, and yet more are found jailed by the police as they fight for Team Rocket. Some few have begun openly talking of putting an end to trainer journeys as a way to fight against team rocket.

That gives you an idea of the kind of setting Evolution is set in - Ash's trainer journey will be no walk in the park ending in defeat after defeat in the leagues because the show must go on.