Can I Not?

community rant

This has been on my mind because Loss_txt made a rant about this before remodeling their account

((Side note, its Lostie/-P, and I'm using they/them pronouns bc I haven't asked them what they're comfortable with me calling them))

Anyway, they made a really good point about the Pokémon fanfic community that really struck me as true.

When them and I were first on here, estimated time being ~/+4 years ago, the Pokémon community was EXTREMELY different. I remember being the PWA had just started the year I joined (2013), and the top names in the fandom were people like PikaChick (I forget her account name but correct me if I'm wrong), Pyro (Pyro_Maniac), AceTrainerKate was huge, RiteMeowRed (sorry rite), and alvinpakim (??again, correct me. This is from so long ago that I forget...). I can't forget about some, like Juuzouu , or Holo, was her nickname at the time... (rip I miss her so much </3 she was an amazing friend) heck, even iipotato!! Remember that gem?? JewelHaze??

Some of the biggest books entered in the PWA were Truth or Dares / RPs, and then mainly short stories. MoonCrane098 started getting big then too (bless them I miss talking to them). It's unreal to see how the award went from simple things like that to not the only way to make it or break it in the community.

When you say Pokémon Fanfic Authors on Wattpad who do you instantly think of?

Scarlet? Serena? Rose? MAYBE Blue/Rem/Gren, but they're from a year or two ago.

No one remembers you from past years.

Does anyone remember how big Blue Lightning's game/quiz/website was?? Or even how big the idea of a GIANT RP based on a fanfic was??

It's so sad to have the newer generation of writers only see the new names. They'll never experience the gems we had, like Pyro's True or Dare or Rite's Pokémon Special, At It's Finest~!. heck, remember when AangTheAvatar was here with Pokémon Facts. (He doesn't even regret leaving.) Yes, I can accept that time passes and we grow up. I'm not gonna lie, I MISS roleplaying with people and ALWAYS being excited to read the next chapter of Pokémon Fanfictions, even writing them. But now? I barely think of writing them. My ideas will be throw around as copy cats of those to Serena's or Rose's, because that's all we know. I don't even attempt to rewrite what I have. The ideas are no longer unique.

I'm not going to lie, Lostie's idea of Mental Battles was one of the most original Pokémon Fanfic ideas I had seen in a long time. Rite comes up with AMAZING Namelessshipping AUs, which is the reason most of my reading is limited to her work or irltakumi 's. Heck, even before last year, GingerAndy was one of my favorite writers because her ideas were SO UNIQUE.

It's just the same and the only way to be known is to win the PWA. It's sad.

I'm done rambling...

Leave your thoughts below too.