Project Doubles Community Spotlight: Stratos

ryo yamada2001

ryo yamada2001
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Community Spotlight: Stratos
Note: Check out the May 2015 player of the week issue with Stratos! It will be referred to several times throughout this interview and is a worthwhile read in itself because of the extensive answers, although some might be slightly outdated at this point!
Stratos 3: Back with a Vengeance
A cornerstone of the Doubles metagame and community, for he has been around since the dawn of Doubles, under the moniker of Pwnemon. Despite a long period of Smogon absence, his track record remains impressive: a 2015 Doubles circuit victory, leading the Six Island Shitposters to DPL2 victory with a 6-0 record and becoming 2015 Fall Seasonal finalist only to lose to KyleCole. Stratos also had a long tenure as tier leader, and has been contributing for years with valuable resource posts, insightful metagame commentary, and countless streams he hosted for tournament matches.

After returning from his lengthy ban, he immediately dived back into the competition with a top 8 DLT finish, getting bought for 17000 credits in DPL 5, and getting drafted in Snake 3 for the Sky Tower Lindworms where he'll have to prove his worth as builder for Croven. Most recent is his recent Grand Prix win, where he beat Memoric in the finals.

Stratos is an undeniable part of Doubles history, a relic vying to redeem himself with his battling skills, whilst also being a notable presence in the Doubles chat with his constant wit, rallying for a Shaymin-Sky unban, and grabbing every opportunity to shit on jojoposters whenever they interrupt the important iDOLM@STER talk!

Hi Stratos, could you give us a brief introduction of yourself to kick the interview off?
I'm 22 years old and work as a software developer in Wisconsin, USA. I've been playing competitive Pokemon since I was 12.

Is there anything great about Maryland? (or in whatever bumfuck nowhere state you live now)
Maryland? No. That place sucks. It's in my rearview mirror forever. Wisconsin doesn't really have anything to recommend to tourists, but it's a nice, relaxing place to live and I generally love it here.

You went from Pwnemon to Stratos to eventually jumpy23; what are the origins for these names and how do you feel about them now?
Pwnemon is the name I came up with when I made my first Pokemon-related account on the now-defunct website The Pallet Tribune; you can probably follow the logic. It's a nice ironic username, but unfortunately I made it with no irony at all. All of my old accounts used it, including my Smogon account (which I actually wanted to make at the same time as my TPT account, but I read the rules first and saw that you had to be 13 to have a Smogon account!)

The previously untold story of why I switched usernames is that I noticed that I had started referring to myself as "Pwnemon" in my head in real-life contexts and I knew if I ever accidentally called myself that in front of another person I would have to start a new life in a different country. So I brainstormed cool usernames for a while and eventually hit upon Stratos because clouds have cool names.

When I got banned from Smogon in 2016, I was trying to come up with untraceable alt names to continue to read Firebot with, and in a moment of post-ironic inspiration I hit upon jumpy23. The "untraceable" bit didn't work out too well because I liked the username so much I changed to it on Discord and then that alt got banned, which certainly didn't help my case for getting unbanned.

These days I avoid the "Pwnemon" issue by not using the same username everywhere, so my personal identity isn't tied to any one username. I think I have a pretty good set of usernames to pick from when I'm making new accounts these days, I tend to like them all, though I don't use Pwnemon anywhere I want to be taken too seriously.

What made you change from the trademark eel you had over three years ago in favor of a standard anime girl profile picture Taiga?
Bad Joke Eel is probably a better avatar than an anime girl in an objective cosmic sense, but I want my avatar to be of one of my hobbies (and not Pokemon). It's a similar logic to why I wear my Pokemon t-shirt climbing and my climbing T-shirt to regionals—it's a quick way to signal shared interests to make friends.

What initially got you into Pokémon? And how did you get into competitive Doubles?
I was always into Pokemon as a kid, but what actually got me into competitive Pokemon was my dad—which certainly didn't stop him from ranting about how it was taking up too much of my time throughout high school. My brother had gone to a Pokemon TCG prerelease event (I don't know whose idea that was) and my dad asked if I wanted to come along to the next one. I was nine then, and played the TCG for a few years—that's actually the only trophy I have, from a state championships as a junior—and then my dad also let me know about "podcasts" and told me there were ones about competitive Pokemon. Those are what got me into the competitive video game (that's what The Pallet Tribune was).

I spent half a decade being a mediocre ladder player in singles tiers, my ladder peak was like 22 on the OU ladder in Gen 5 I think? And then one day DTC in #cap told me about DOU. I joined the IRC channel for it, built proto-WhiteWater as my first team, and the rest is history.

What are your favorite Pokémon in terms of aesthetics, and your favorites for competitive usage? On the contrary, are you any Pokemon you dislike seeing or using?
I think almost all Pokemon designs are pretty good, and that if you use a Pokemon enough competitively you'll eventually come around on its design. For example I used to think Amoonguss was stupid, but it was on a lot of my XY teams and now I think its design is cool. Of course, there are Pokemon for which I love the design, even if they suck competitively, such as Lanturn. My favorite Pokemon, Scizor, is also viable competitively (kinda...) so that's nice.

Some of my favorite Pokemon to use competitively are Talonflame, Kingdra, Kartana... What can I say, I'm an offense guy. As for Pokemon I hate to see, really there aren't many. Even stereotypical "annoying" Pokemon like Chansey just present an interesting challenge where you have to be hyper aware of your positioning. I guess I hate Pokemon with a strong luck element like Diancie.

Congratulations on being drafted for Snake! Finding yourself on a team within your first year back from getting unbanned is an impressive feat, but did it come as a surprise to you? Are you content with pairing with Croven on the Lindworms?
Honestly, I was excited when I got paired with Emilio in top 8 of Grand Prix, despite our horribly lopsided match count (in his favor). I knew he was the guy to beat in DOU right now, so I thought I had a pretty good chance at getting drafted if I could win our set—and I did! Of course, I'm not taking it for granted, and I knew there was a good chance I didn't get drafted as well, so I'm just happy to be here. Croven's an idiot but I'm looking forward to working with him, and hoping that he wins every week so I don't have to start. I'll do it if I have to, of course, but I'm not really looking forward to the possibility. More on that in the next question.

You mentioned before you become very nervous during games; do you believe for this reason it is a wise decision to pick you up a substitute, or are you disappointed you aren't starting?
Yeah, I do get stupid nervous, and I'm a big choke artist. You didn't ask, but I think it's because I really feel like I need to be acknowledged by the community as a great player (to justify the time I spend on this shit to myself?) and losing on a big stage like a Smogon draft tour or a tour finals is a really good way for that to not happen. So while on the one hand, it would have been a huge opportunity to be able to start, I don't think it would have been good for my mental health at all. It's probably better for me and my team that I play a support role, especially on my first big tournament in years.

How do you feel about the rest of the Snake Doubles playing field? In your 2015 interview you mentioned being a little afraid of managers defaulting to VGC players over those invested in Doubles. We have had tons of VGC-first players since that interview who have been successful in these big team tours. Do you feel like there is enough Doubles main representation among the draftees now? Is the high VGCer pick rate a worrisome trend despite their strong showings?
Back then, the larger Smogon community wasn't really taking DOU seriously, and getting wiped by Biosci bringing the same Terracott team to five SPL games in a row was the last thing we needed. If the DOU community wasn't good enough for a seasonal winner to be a safer draft pick than random VGC guy 11, I had a real fear that people would eventually say "Why is this shit still in SPL anyway?"

These days, I don't think that's a concern. So when I see random VGC guy 11 get drafted for SPL my thought process is generally hoping they have fun. I'm also ever so slightly involved in the VGC community now, so I know a lot of these guys and want them to do well for that reason. It still sucks for the guys who aren't good enough to get drafted over Ezrael or Human, but that should just be motivation to improve as an individual—I don't see it as a community crisis anymore.

We are reaching the end of current generation Doubles, do you feel like SM is now a solved metagame or do you believe there is still room for innovation left? Do you have any expectations for Snake in this regard?
Of course SM isn't a solved metagame. We had people saying BW was a solved metagame years ago, and look how that's changed. We might need a fresh set of eyes to shake things up, but I'm certain there's something that can change. Team tours are usually an environment which pushes that innovation to the forefront since people go hard on the prep. But I think what might really be the next big shake-up in the SM meta is when SS come out and we backdate new strategies—like how Knock Off rose to prominence in DPP OU after people realized how good it was in XY, or how Stoss Kang became a thing in XY thanks to SM.

Are there any tiering decisions you believe are worth looking at, during the final stages of SM?
The only thing I think we should reconsider is the Dark Void ban in SM. I don't think it's necessary at all with Fini, Koko, the Accuracy nerf, and being removed from Smeargle. And I like Darkrai, so I'd like to have a reason to use it, even if it was a gimmicky one.

Congratulations on your Grand Prix win! Do you believe it was a successful tournament concept?
I think that qualifying via 3 single-elim tournaments is overly influenced by bracket luck. I could have made playoffs by beating Frrf, soTsoT, duckpond, and poseidonTHEking; other people weren't so lucky. I also think asking people to play 3 bo3 sets in a single week (4 if they are also in Seasonal) is a bit much and prep is going to be devalued in that kind of scenario. That being said, I definitely want some kind of all-gens tournament to always exist in the DOU circuit (only partly because that favors me over just about anyone), and the Grand Prix wasn't a bad way to do it. It could just use some further refinement in the future, I think. Perhaps just a double-elimination bracket with playoff bo3 format would be better.

What did you find the most fun set to play in Grand Prix, and what was the tier you enjoyed the most?
All of my playoff sets were super fun, as I really enjoy the all gens bo3 format, and I got to play against three of my friends on the NPA Monarchs. Other than that, I'd have to say my set with Kiichikos, because I built a fun new team that I got to show off. I've said this before, but asking me to pick a favorite DOU gen is like asking a parent to pick their favorite child. It's not that I don't have one, but my favorite changes every time it pisses me off. So right now it's probably BW or SM since I just lost to Terracott against Tommy.

XY has developed enormously over SM's lifetime with the newfound knowledge and improved playerbase. What do you find the best or most surprising innovations and developments? Do you believe there is still much room for adaptation here, as well?
I think XY still has room to change, but I think of the three DOU metas, it's the closest one to being solved. I've been loving the recent adaptations to counter THALKS builds (such as Memoric's grassless Zard or Tommy's Terracott) which are not exactly falling out of favor, but becoming less reliable. Similar to how Kangaskhan didn't cut worlds at VGC14. People, including me I guess, were kind of doom-saying about THALKS when it put a dominant showing in DPL, but I think the XY meta history is far from being finished.

(XY thread) You have been rallying hard for a reconsideration on Shaymin-Sky's ban, to the point of bringing even Darkmalice out of his grave. Do you believe an unban would positively impact the metagame? Are there any more tiering decisions, whether ban or unban, that you would like to see considered?
Of course I think an unban would positively impact the metagame, or I wouldn't be posting for it. You can see my logic in the XY thread (and you should go post your own opinion there!)

I would like to see a Mence unban in XY considered. I think we made a mistake banning Mence in the first place before we suspected Jirachi. We didn't really know what we were doing in XY at the point where we banned Mence—go check out the VR at the time. I understand talkingtree's point though and ultimately I'm not losing sleep over the fact that Mence is banned in XY.

You have mentioned being insecure about your BW games despite your positive Grand Prix record. Do you believe BW is still a worthwhile metagame or is it too dated and the metagame too RNG-reliant to include it into the Doubles circuit?
I don't think BW is as inconsistent as I think it is... if that makes sense. There are a lot of relevant 90% accurate moves and the like (way more than in SM for sure), which can be a problem, but the better player still usually wins. A large part of the reason I'm scared of BW is not the RNG, but because I think the meta is underexplored, and I still don't really know what works. If I was more confident in my ability to prep in BW, I would not have any reservations about choosing it first in a Prix bo3.

It would certainly be a massive shame for BW to ever be dropped from the circuit completely. OU official tournaments go all the way back to RBY, and I think BW DOU should always have a place in a Prix-style tour. Dropping it from DPL is a discussion we'll have to have at some point, but I'll probably be fighting to keep it when that happens.

^ I wrote that shit before my game vs Memoric for Prix finals. Delete this meta please

As you have played through the entire lifetime of all three generations of Doubles we've had; would you say they are more fun or satisfying than they were at their beginnings?
I definitely think they are, even if the meta has changed in a way to decrease creativity (which it definitely has in every gen). Simply because I think it's more fun to play at a higher level. Pokemon is such an addicting game to work toward mastery because the skill ceiling is incredibly high.

Could you give us a team (for any gen) that resembles your playing and building style and elaborate briefly on it?
(click for paste)
Here's one of my favorite BW teams. I think that perfectly played crackhead offense is the most consistent team-style, because it doesn't rely on having checks for things—if you are able to suffocate and overwhelm the opponent, you don't have to respond to their gameplan. A lot of times, slower teams just 'auto-lose' because they lack the ability to proactively respond to a threat before it stomps them, but that's never the case with a well-built offense.

I do think that offense is a harder style to play with because a single mistake sends the game careening off course (see my XY game vs Memoric), but I remember that back as far as 2015 Mizuhime said that I like to build teams that have theoretically better matchup spreads but are impossibly hard to use. I think that's definitely still true of me haha, I like to believe that I can push myself to be a perfect player and thus win with these teams.

You have been pretty active on the ladder, hitting #1 several times, but in 2015 you mentioned you were disappointed at its low skill level. Do you feel like the ladder has improved over time? Do you still believe we should divulge usage stats from tiering, especially now that we have a relevant metagame in DUU that is impacted by it?
Frankly, the last time I seriously laddered (DLT), I thought it was worse than ever, except maybe BW-era. You can totally hit #1 without being good, simply by knowing how to beat hard TR. As toxic as old ladderers like Pane and frania could be, I have to admit they were at least good at the game.

Trying to divulge usage from tiering is a waste of breath at this point, and I don't actually give a shit about DUU so I may as well not. A better approach would be having some alternate method to group mons in the DOU teambuilder / on analyses, because a lot of players will see a mon as "DOU" and think "well it must be viable in DOU then!" or vice versa. I think we as experienced players definitely underestimate the effect of analyses on new players—I remember Dragonite dropping from top 10 in usage to like 40th after I wrote the XY Dragonite analysis. That's the real fallout to me of mons being in the wrong tier, is newer players (or just those uninterested in engaging with the community) being misled.

Also, what are your favorite and least favorite gimmicks to face in DOU and what kind of advice do you have in regards to playing and building to achieve consistent results on the ladder?
I don't tend to like playing gimmicks or anything flowcharty in DOU, I hate them all to greater or lesser degrees. Even if it's an autowin, thanks for wasting my time. If you want to achieve consistent results on ladder, I have three pieces of advice.

1) Be legitimately good at the game.
2) Don't neglect your fullroom matchup.
3) Pay attention to your tilt. When I was going for the triple peak achievement in my signature, I would quit laddering for the day as soon as I lost a single game. It's so easy to say "I need to get the points back NOW," but that is the wrong attitude. Mental game is always important in Pokemon, but it's most important on the ladder.

Is there any player you have been notably impressed by in recent memory? Are there any retirees you believe would be able to still perform at consistently high level in DOU?
Back in the day, I used to watch every single seasonal set—that's not an exaggeration. I don't do that anymore, so it's harder to catch good players on the come-up. I guess I would have to say something basic like SMB to answer this question these days. There aren't many players I would admit are better than me, but he is one.

As for retirees, how old are we talking? People who quit playing in gen 6 (Laga, Audiosurfer, Nollan, etc)? Probably not unless they put in a lot of work, I think we as a community are better than we were back then. People who quit more recently, like Chase and frania, could probably jump right back into the fray though.

What are your tips to achieve success in tournaments? Any other advice to newcomers, those interested in trying out DOU, or those vying for a big team tournament spot?
Practice a ton. Even though I hate the ladder atm, it is the best way to get a lot of practice quickly. Immerse yourself in the metagame; watch as many tournament sets as you can (especially live!) Make friends with good players, and ask them for test games. The only reason I'm good at this game is the amount of time I've dumped into it. A lucky talented few can succeed with very little practice, but if that's not you, then you know what you need to do.

Also, be humble. Take advice from people. After every loss, look at what happened and ask how you could have won—even if you got haxed, there are usually things you could have done better. Never just blame "matchup" or "bullshit" for your losses and move on without learning anything. A loss is a great opportunity to learn, so don't squander it.

What tournament sets did you enjoy playing the most in your career? What were the most difficult sets you ever played? At their peak, who would be the players you would least want to play in an important best-of-3? What player historically was the most fun to play? (as in, who were you happy to get paired up against knowing you'll have a good set).
This is a bit of a left-field pick maybe, but I think the best game of Pokemon I ever played was game 2 vs shaian in the 2015 fall seasonal (winners' semis). I had a bad matchup but I think I played super well to end up winning the game (please don't break the illusion by telling me all the misplays I made).

The player I would least want to play is definitely Chase (I am a Rookie). I practiced with that guy a lot for SPL8 and he is the master of making experienced players look like they have no fucking clue what they're doing. I would get absolutely humiliated by some bullshit if I played him in a tournament.

I didn't ever really play the same player enough times to get an idea for who would give me a fun set, but I always enjoyed playing against friends.

Will you be participating in the next VGC season? If yes, are you excited for it? What do you believe would be the optimal ruleset?
I think I will be. I've already made plans to attend the Knoxville regional. There are a few things for me to be excited about:

First, you probably wouldn't think about this, but the actual physical ergonomics of a 3DS are a serious disadvantage for taller players. I have to sit with horrendous posture for 7 hours on Swiss day in order to prevent screenpeeking and keep the IR connected, and I can tell my brain isn't as sharp as it is on Showdown. Also the backlight fucking sucks. The Switch provides the possibility of these issues being mitigated / eliminated, and that's exciting.

Second, the decision to cut Pokemon from the national dex is great for competitive. GameFreak will certainly get rid of bugbears like Genies, Tapus, and probably most pseudo-legends, which are basically just impossible to balance. 2017 was a great format with the lower power level, and I'm hoping for another like that.

I don't think it's much use talking about optimal ruleset because VGC rulesets are quite predictable at this point. Gonna be Galar dex in 2020.

What are your expectations for the upcoming Sword and Shield game? Do you remain optimistic despite the abundance of negative press its development has had? What do you think of its newly introduced mechanics and their potential impact on Doubles?
It's going to be an awful single-player game, as all Pokemon games have been, because the battling isn't interesting PvE and that's the core gameplay mechanic. I don't really care though. What I do care about is that the battles are probably going to be laggy, unperformant, and maybe buggy, which will be annoying when playing in events. GameFreak is a terrible developer, and getting your hopes up is asking for sadness.

They're pretty good at designing a competitive game though. I'm really excited about replacing Mega with Dynamax which is just a much more interesting mechanic, since you're not locked into half a dozen archetypes as soon as you start building.

What spurred you on to return and participate on Smogon again despite your lengthy ban and less-than-stellar reputation on the site? What made you stick around the community during your ban period?
Bro, I just love Pokemon bro. Even when the community is pissing me off, the game is just excellent. I've never seen a competitive game with so much room for creativity at the top level; the skill ceiling is so high that I'm confident we've never even gotten close to scratching it.

How do you feel about the development of 'mish' over time? Are there any other memes you find either particularly funny or grating?
I generally try not to be "old man yells at cloud" about memes, I tend to find them pretty funny. The only real criterion I have is that the meme has to encourage creativity, I want to see the format used slightly differently each time. I have an entire folder on my PC for Loss because it's one of the most creative formats of all time.

I used to hate mish because there was no creativity in how you use it, but eventually I came around on it because I think it's fucking epic that our community has its own version of Frindle.

Rate the DPL meme threads by quality; and what are your favorite posts from these?
I don't know where I'd put the rest, but #1 is obviously the DPL2 meme thread.

Is there any retiree you miss being involved with the community?
Plenty. Probably Audiosurfer more than any, we were buds back in the day. I wish Totem would be more involved than he is, but I still talk with him daily.

What is your fondest memory of Doubles? How do you feel about how the tight-knit community has developed over time, relative to when we had our interview in mid-2015?
It's hard to pick a single favorite memory of Doubles, because I have a lot. This is a crazy pick, but my single favorite might be the saga of totem trying to download Cat Planet Cuties from the single seed in Johannesburg. Epic DOU chat moment.

One thing that disappoints me about the DOU community of late is that we've moved to discord, as this makes it a lot harder to recruit new members. But I don't know how to get a critical mass to migrate back to PS. I will confess that this is selfishly good for me so that I can chat when I'm on mobile, but that might be a bad thing anyway, lol—I should probably cut myself off from communication more often than I do. Otherwise, I think DOU's community is still pretty great—probably better than it was in my last interview because it's not being led by an annoying 17-year-old (me).

What is your opinion on the switch from old-school likes to the Facebook-style reaction images Smogon now has? Also, what was your favorite version that Smogon has gone through?
"Old-school" likes?

You may not be old enough to remember this, but there was a massive uproar when Smogon switched from vBulletin to XenForo (because of security vulnerabilities in vB that let rootinabox take down the entire site) and got likes in the process. People were adamant that likes would ruin the forum, although LizardMan may have gotten a blowjob out of it.

My opinion on likes is mixed, leaning negative. It's good to feel that your post is appreciated, and that happens a lot more now. But without likes, you have to respond to show you agree with a post, and that tends to involve adding your own viewpoint as well—so I think likes overall discourage discussion and lead to a deader forum. I've also noticed that when I refresh Smogon I check whether my like count has incremented, and that's a pretty disgusting behavior from myself that I am having trouble stopping.

I think a full react gamut is definitely an upgrade from just having likes. Now when someone makes an awful post, instead of having to leave an easily misinterpreted irony like, I can drop a haha/shocked/sad/angry react, so the poster knows I think their post is trash. I think people who oppose the full react system just hate all change. I also think people who opposed the move to the Pokemon reacts hate change—they're cute and I like them.

My favorite Smogon version is probably XenForo because the mobile website is easier to navigate, though I had gotten pretty adept at clicking extremely tiny links back when Smogon was on vBulletin—and it was fewer clicks to go from place to place. Probably current Smogon though because the dark theme is slick.

Who's the hottest Pokégirl, you kisama? Just kidding, but what are your favorite Firebot threads, posts, quotes, or comments?
Obviously the first mention here has to go to the Smogon Hate Thread. That was the greatest happening in my entire time on Smogon. The thread had something like 400 concurrent viewers and racked up 11 pages of posts in a few hours (and many of those posts were 5+ paragraphs long). Sadly the few attempts to recapture the magic haven't even come close.

Another great Firebot happening was the Subjugator thread, we had a lot of good riffs come out of that one. Individual posts I remember loving include Tobes's attempt to post like v and I'm sure there are plenty of great ones I don't remember. Most xenu threads were good, as you've alluded to.

What is the best log from Demantoid's quote database?
Not gonna reread all of his PR thread dumps to answer this. The one that comes to mind immediately is

[12:09 PM] miltankmilk: u ever build a team
[12:10 PM] miltankmilk: and then scrap it because if it wins, aray had a decent meta call

What are your hobbies and interests outside of playing Pokémon?
My main hobbies are board gaming and rock climbing. I'm a pretty decent board gamer and I have a few trophies and other awards from it. I'm a pretty bad rock climber, but it's fun, and a better way to meet girls than anything else I do. Aside from that, I play video games (especially platformers and strategy games) and watch a bit of anime. If you have any questions about these hobbies, feel free to ask away.

What are your favorite board games, and why?
My favorite game of all time is Robo Rally (1995 / 2005), probably at least somewhat due to nostalgia as I've been playing it since I was a little kid. Other favorites are Herbalism, Medici, Gangsters, Diplomacy, Hanabi... I tend to favor games with a strong interactive component and just enough luck to keep it interesting, and be less enthused by games that are more "multi-player solitaire" engine buildy types (though I end up playing a lot of those as well due to sheer quantity). I tend to hate co-op games, since they usually end up being one player making all of the decisions for everyone, though Hanabi is the exception for the obvious reason of no table talk being allowed.

As a last note, if any of you crazy gamers are ever at the World Boardgaming Championships in Seven Springs, PA, hit me up in PM because I'm always there.

What are some anime you'd recommend to the readers?
90% of anime is SHIT, but there's a lot of good stuff, like Fooly Cooly. It's hard to give "general recs" without knowing the taste of the person you're recommending stuff too, but anything on my 3x3 or that I've rated 5 on https://anilist.co/user/jumpy23/animelist is probably worth checking out.

ACCA / Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood / Nagi no Asukara / Tsuki ga Kirei / Toradora! / THE iDOLM@STER / AnoHana / Mushishi / 91 Days

Give us a THE iDOLM@STER character tier list!
S: Haruka, Chihaya
A: Makoto, Takane, Yukiho
B: Azusa, Hibiki, Yayoi
C: Iori, Ami, Mami, Miki

What is your favorite iDOLM@STER episode?
BLOOD TOTEM is gonna call me a little bitch for this pick, but absolutely Yakusoku. I don't wanna get too into it because I don't want to spoil it for anyone who might watch im@s in the future, but I tend to like cry porn and that's what Yakusoku is. Just a real nice episode with a feel-good ending, and probably the ep with the highest production value in the show (which makes sense as it's the emotional climax of the show). Also Haruka and Chihaya are the main characters of it.

What is your favorite iDOLM@STER song/performance?
My favorite song from the show is Nemurihime. Imai Asami is a legend. Unfortunately, I don't think they've ever released a full a capella version of Nemurihime—but I still do love the full version. It was my first pick for karaoke with the boys in Japan.

I wish I could say my favorite performance is something chad and high IQ like Marionette Heart. Can't lie though; it's Yakusoku again.

THE iDOLM@STER was a notable omission from the renowned Doubles Anime Viability Rankings; what tier would you reasonably put it in?
Unironically tier 1. Great animation and great writing.

Do you regret buying your Haruka shirt? Do you regret spending over 500 USD (correct me if i'm wrong) on iDOLM@STER merchandise on your Japan trip?
It was less than 200 USD for the iDOLM@STER merch alone—I got a lot of other merch as well. You would not believe how difficult it is to find 765pro merch in Tokyo; Cinderella Girls is apparently infinitely more popular. The namuko idols also appear in Million Live, but all of the Million Live stuff I saw barely contained them at all—there was this cool official magazine for Million Live that I almost bought, but the entire thing contained two pages of 765pro. So as a general rule, I don't regret any of my iDOLM@STER merch purchases, simply because it contributes to demand for 765pro.

That being said, I wish I had gotten an iDOLM@STER t-shirt that I could actually wear outside.

Could you tell us more about your Japan trip? Give us a warstory!
Tokyo is awesome, man, I miss it. I'll try to keep this short and touch on the interesting anecdotes cuz I expect a lot of people aren't interested.

Spent a few days browsing anime merch with BLOOD TOTEM and shesukmedry. Totem talked me into buying all kinds of bullshit I didn't need, but when I was debating buying Amami Haruka card sleeves he said "look, man, I've pressured you to buy every item we've come across, and all I'm saying is, you shouldn't buy those." The porn in anime stores is just sitting out there, and it's based as hell. Real fun to browse porn with the boys.

Went to karaoke with the boys twice. Martin did a surprisingly good rendition of Rolling Girl, despite how fast that song is. Totem did not do nearly as good of a job trying to sing Radiant Force. internet put Never Gonna Give You Up in the queue and its name came up in katakana. When I was trying to read the next song's title, I was like "Give... you... up? ........ Ok who the fuck put this in here." It was great.

Went into a Don Quixote and there was a Tenga Egg party pack sitting on the shelf. That was the actual name of the item. We all got aggressively approached on the street in Shinjuku by a black man (the only one we saw the entire time) inviting us into a brothel.

We climbed Mt Fuji and let me tell you, that shit is the biggest tourist trap. It's 500Y for a water bottle on the mountain and I was not prepared, so I ended up spending something like 3K yen on water. There were so many people climbing that there was a literal km-long queue to the summit. The views were amazing though.

Some of the subway ads were everywhere and became their own legend. There was one that just said Burger is American Beef. We ended up eating at that restaurant; advertising works I guess. There's a lot more I want to say, but I'll cut it off here.

Whats your biggest real life pet peeve?
Of the normal things people do, probably chewing with your mouth open. I had a roommate in college who did this, and I had to leave the room every time he was eating. He always ate in the dorm, too.

Is Tulsi Gabbard the #1 hottest candidate of all time? Do you think finding a candidate 'hot' is valid reason to vote for them?
If you're asking whether Justin Trudeau's election was legitimate—then no.

As for the most important question of them all: who is your waifu?
Real answer—there are a ton of anime characters I like (of course), but I'm almost never "attracted" to them. They're almost all in high school, dude, that's just too weird. I'm 22 now! So I don't have one.

Is there anything we missed in the interview that you would like to touch on. Anything else to say, or some shoutouts of any kind?
Shoutout to all the people who supported me getting unbanned. It means a lot to me to get another chance.
 
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ryo yamada2001

ryo yamada2001
is a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnus

BLOOD TOTEM's Anime Corner
Omoide Poroporo
(1991)
Studio Ghibli

MyAnimeList link
I picked a movie since in theory it should be more accessible, even to those who wouldn't typically take any interest in anime. What's more it's a movie produced by **Studio Ghibli** wtf bros!!! doesnt this guy hate everything popular????

Omoide Poroporo is quite a special film. In this package Takahata Isao delivers a subtle understated story with a great sense of gravitas. The script makes heavy use of nostalgia and introspection to allow us to see how the childhood development of our main character, Taeko, comes to affect the way she approaches her summer holiday as a 27 year old wageslave who works in Tokyo. The film delivers its narrative through traditional means, but also makes use of visual storytelling through metaphors hidden beyond the dialogue in some of the vignette's from Taeko's past.

It should be immediately obvious that a great deal of care went into the crafting of the film. It is one of the few rare cases where the sound was actually recorded before the animation work began and there is a lavish amount of effort that goes into breathing life into the dialogue and other sounds. Ultimately the approach pays off greatly, the end result being that characters feel incredibly human as the animators were working on making the movements to match the sounds which allowed them to focus on the small idiosyncrasies which define the way we act.

Even outside of the production, there is a great deal of care in the construction of the story. At it's core it is a simple love story, Taeko leaves the big city to enjoy life in the countryside where she meets Toshio who represents everything she loves about countryside life. She spends time working on his farm and slowly begins to fall for him and begins to wonder if she wants to settle down in the idyllic landscape she came out to enjoy. When faced with heading back to the city she is plagued with worry that her love is merely based on her fanciful whims about the countryside and if she is really ready to abandon her comfortable life and job in Tokyo to get her hands dirty out in the sticks. Throughout the movie, several vignettes from her childhood are thoughtfully picked out and she draws on these past experiences to give her the strength to make her decision.

In terms of animation there's nothing explosive like one might expect out of an action flick, but the way the staff captures the a wide range of human emotion is truly phenomenal. It's easy to overlook how good the animation is because the story is so grounded, but it's difficult to ignore the affection that goes into creating characters that look and feel human. Outside of animation, the art direction is also worthy of merit, with the majority of the film shot in two different styles. The scenes shot in the present have a more realistic style and aim to portray the beauties of nature and the realities of the characters, whereas the scenes shot in the past make use of a cold background palette which contrasts with the warmth of the young characters from Taeko's childhood. The art style used for her memories is reminiscent of the manga which would have been contemporary with her childhood, making use of more simplistic designs and less defined features. Also it has really nice hand drawn backgrounds which pretty much no one does these days except based studio pablo and kobayashi pro. (and also high production movies which i guess this is lole) (check this out it's cool https://imgur.com/gallery/0pAKV)

I think Omoide Poroporo is a film which everyone should watch at some stage of their life. It does require you to engage with its narrative and pay close attention to what you're watching in order to get the most out of it, but if you're willing to put the time in, it's an incredibly rewarding experience.


Post-retirement interviewee #1 -- DaAwesomeDude1
Note: Read Toxigen's may 2017 interview with pre-retirement DaAwesomeDude1 here
DaAwesomeDude1 is a truly unique specimen and one of the most consistently hilarious posters I've ever encountered on the internet. The mixture of his highly ironic sense of humor, over-inflated ego when it comes Pokémon, a desire to fit into stereotypical white frat boy culture despite being a gacha-playing weeb, and an abundance of anecdotes he tells with such authenticity that they make him a one a kind comedic figure. Aside from his stories about defending his pride by racing a 5-year-old, ghosting a girl in favor for basketball, and countless Mishiimono-tier ladder rants, he's a polite and charismatic figure who I have impressively seen avoid drama over all the years that I know him. And now that you know all about him, you're buds for life. (poolparty)

His high memeability aside, DaAwesomeDude1 participated actively in the Doubles community, with his countless analysis quality control contributions that destroyed his post-to-like ratio. He was also a SPL-caliber tournament player in his prime with his highest seasonal finish is a top 3 performance, and a 3-3 record for the BIGs in Smogon Premier League 8. Ever since those peaks, the self-titled 'Daddy' faded away more and more until his eventual retirement from serious play. His last tournament result was going 2 - 3 in DPL 5 for the Squirtles, where a hefty 14500 credits were paid for his best-of-3 services.

Yo, well I'm an Awesome Dude sometimes called DAD, othertimes called DaDude; but in all honesty, that is just a ruse to cover up my insensitivity :^)
I enjoy running, watching anime, and playing music, mainly the Piano and Viola; also in case you're wondering I run both Cross Country and Track so feel free to hit me up if you ever want to chat about those. Avid Doubles and VGC player. I guess that's p much it lol. Now that you know everything about me, we're buds for life. (poolparty)

Does this introduction still hold up to this day or do you have a better brief introduction for the readers?
i should've deleted that a long time ago sigh but it's still mostly accurate

Do you still play Pokémon casually? If yes, what tiers do you play?
honestly i don't even play casually anymore. you might find me on the randbats ladder but that's about it. i occasionally join fun doubles minitors / duu tours so there's that i guess

What is the best Randbats Pokemon?
there really isn't a definitive best randbats mon but basically anything with good setup, sigilyph, shell smashers, etc, are good. i also think i have a 100% win rate whenever i have malamar so there's that lol

[7:24 PM] Daddy1: fun fact, i never jerked from sophomore to end of junior year because i thought that not jacking off will make me faster at track
[7:24 PM] Daddy1: and then i got injured and i said fuck it

Did you get get better track results during this period of #nofap?
yes actually. i started the nofap at the start of my sophomore year and my 800 pr went from 2:14 to like a 2:03. Mile went from like 5:01 to a 4:40, and 5k went from somewhere in the mid/low 19s to 17:00. the results show that nofap does indeed improve athletic performance

[10:28 PM] jumpy23: >watching hentai
[10:28 PM] Daddy1: ok but everyone watches hentai

What are some hentai suggestions everyone should check out? What is the best hentai studio in the game right now? Can you explain to the readers why you can't read doujins, despite them being objectively better?
honestly tho all hentai suck, only the directors are good and they like bounce around studios and shit. also i can't read without hearing my own voice which is why i can't read doujins. i also can't nut to stuff that isn't moving.


Your bike, Anne, has been a recurring character in your anecdotes. Could you elaborate on your relationship with her?
at first, me and anne have kind of a master-servant type of relationship. i only used her when i needed to get from my apartment to my class but as we have grown closer throughout the past year, i'd consider her an integral part of my life. i used to only ride her to class but i've started going on long rides throughout the town with anne and it is a time that i cherish greatly. when some fucker stole her front wheel, i can't even explain the devastation i felt. that day, i decided to skip my 9:30 o chem lecture and 11:00 diff eq lecture just to take anne to the bike shop and get her fixed.


We never really got a proper conclusion to the 'annoying ding-dong-ditch kids' arc; did you eventually end up beating his ass via adult rules?
i complained to my mom who is a part of the neighborhood association and she told me like they're kids just let them play so i just bottled up my frustration and complained in the TF chat. they ended up moving away tho so i'll never see them again in my life but the little kid will always remember the L he took when he decided to race dad1 and anne

[8:14 PM] Daddy1: this girl was flirting with me at work today so naturally i flirted back because i wanted her to buy our shit but when i was ringing her up she said she was 13 and i was like hell no dog i almost just got fucking FBI'ed
[8:15 PM] Daddy1: i wasn't interested it was strictly for the company ok
[8:15 PM] Daddy1: she ended up buying those sunglasses too so i did my job

Probably your most popular quote that has now been getting wildly misconstrued over time; do you regret sharing this little anecdote as the punchline has now turned into farfetched paedo jokes?
sigh i guess there's like some regret to it cause now i'm the token lolicon but i was just doing my job as a sales associate

You rated Fate/Zero a 10 on your MyAnimeList and now you're an avid Fate/Grand Order player. Post a screenshot of your current lineup, tell us about your favorite FGO characters, and what are your plans to roll for in the future?


i haven't updated my sorter in a long time but altera is my favorite because idk i just like her design? as for plans to roll in the future, there's merlin that's coming in a month and then i'm saving for jalter in like january but after that i don't have anyone i want to roll for until like next year

[9:50 PM] Daddy1: i wish i can achieve this peak white male aesthetic
[9:51 PM] Daddy1: alas i am asian so this will never happen

Do you still strive to achieve peak white male aesthetic every day? Can you give us some fashion advice and tips and tricks on how to blend in with this crowd?
i am still striving for this aesthetic but it is very tough. the best thing i can suggest is to wear pastel colored shorts / medium length running shorts with either a frat t shirt or vineyard vines / southern tide / other shep shirts. one of the best things about being asian is that every friend group wants to have that ethnic flair so if you just act like them you can find friends :DDDD

How did you respond to Paul George forcing a movie to the LA Clippers, Westbrook's departure, and how do you see the future of the Oklahoma City Thunder franchise with the Clippers assets you've received, such as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander?
paul george is a bum. how do you get sauced on by joe fucking ingles??? to make it worst, how do you then lose next year to fucking damian lillard and cj mccollum. who the fuck is even on the blazers other than them??? MOE HARKLESS???? KANTER???? AMINU?????? the only other guy i can fucking name is myers leonard but that's only bc he is rly good looking and not that he is a good basketball player because he's not. i think the local asians at my ymca are better basketball players than the fucking trailblazers. holy shit this dude is apparently a top 5 defender but lets joe ingles drop 23 on him in an elimination game and then lets dame hit this LUCKY ASS GAME WINNER that should not have gone in. it's a shitty shot no matter how you coat it but because he made it, dame is now considered a top 3 pg or some shit. every fucking day i see that stupid shot. bleacher report, espn, sportscenter, EVERYONE finds an excuse to post that shot on social media whenever they can so i always get reminded how much of a bum pg is and how disappointing it is to be a thunders fan. "8 months ago damian lillard hits this game winner to end eliminate okc" FUCK YOU BLEACHER REPORT AND FUCK YOU PALU GEORGE. westbrook's departure tho made me very sad. that's it. i hope he wins a ring in houston. i think we're in a pretty good place rn so hopefully we can draft some goats like harden or westbrook again and be a good team in like 6 years. shai is the goat tho and he'll lead us to the promised land unlike bum ass paul george. this is also all carmelo's fault. if we never traded for him, our team would've been so good fuck u carmelo.

Who is your waifu?
anime girls aren't real, i'm grown up now. but also probably like chitoge


What are your fondest Doubles memories you recall from over the years?
man that's gonna get me in my feels. most of the interactions i've had in tf have been some of my fondest memories. my favorite ones are probably the roasting of the nats pic or croven's orange sweater. i also enjoy our wholesome discussions too such as the recent character development saga. as for doubles, i think dpl 2 / 3 was probably the most fun i've had in a team tour. i personally think that dpl 2 sums up the doubles community very well. the draft chat for dpl 2 is still probably the funniest thing i've ever read in doubles. even tho shaian drafted me only to bench me for dpl 3 despite my solid record, i still had a ton of fun in that chat cause i was with the homies. this isn't anything particular but i really enjoy the mundane discord chats like which tapu is the best waifu and shit like that. it's nothing that stands out a lot but it makes me feel like i'm just chilling with friends which is why i enjoy them so much.

Is there anything we didn't touch on during this interview that you wanted to say? Any shoutouts of any kind you want to give?
i've pretty much quit for good but i really want to give a massive shoutout to the entire doubles community. these past 5 years playing in this tier and talking with all of y'all is honestly some of my most fun and fondest memories. i never would've thought how much an online video game sim and the people i've met through there would impact my life. obviously i gotta shoutout the tf homies; there really isn't much to say about that that i haven't already said in the chat but thank you guys for always listening to my rants and helping me with my issues. it's been real, love you guys
 

Arcticblast

Trans rights are human rights
is a Forum Moderatoris a Tiering Contributoris a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Past SPL Champion
Stratos

What's worse - a Skymin-less XY or my hat hair?

When will you recognize me as the greatest washed up player ever?

What are some of your favorite teams that other people have built?

If we could assume perfect skill among players, do you think Doubles play would generally tend towards hyper offense or slower, more defensive sorts of teams? Not necessarily thinking durdle squads for the latter, but stuff like Fini / Zap / Incineroar teams in general
 

Stratos

Banned deucer.
you recently said you lost your virginity. Tell us about that
This might be risky but I'm going to actually respond to this.

It was a random Tinder date (still the only person I've met from Tinder), and the date was going horribly but I guess she was desperate. And being a 21 year old virgin I was obviously desperate, so things progressed anyway.

Earlier in the day I had been talking with Tman about using Electric Seed Xerneas to stunt on ladder randoms in VGC19. The theory was that you lead Power Herb Symbiosis Florges and scarf Koko, volt switch into ESeed Xerneas and now Seed procs and you get the Power Herb via Symbiosis. Then Florges has Ally Switch, so you Ally Switch and set up while Florges gets roared out, then you sweep. (Florges also has helping hand, so if the Incin is Snarl instead, +1 HH moonblast will OHKO). It was obviously stupid, but it was funny. While on the date, I opened Discord (I mentioned it was going horribly) to see Tommy had posted some funny-ass log of a dude getting wrecked by our ESeed Xerneas.

So ... I don't know how to phrase this delicately ... while having sex, I don't even care about the sex, I'm just thinking about how bad I want to stunt on some dudes with ESeed Xerneas. That taught me something about my priorities, and how sex is really not very enjoyable if you don't care about the person.

I ended up going on one more date with her after that to see if the last one was an unfortunate fluke. It wasn't, so when she tried to go back to my place I just told her I'd rather be playing Pokemon and dropped her off and went home.

What is your favorite bird and why?
bluebird, or as they call it in japan, AOI TORIIII

What's worse - a Skymin-less XY or my hat hair?
Skymin-less XY is fine, it's just not ideal. Your hat hair wasn't fine.

When will you recognize me as the greatest washed up player ever?
At a bare minimum, ray rizzo has to not be washed up anymore.

What are some of your favorite teams that other people have built?
Tons of these, especially in SM where I don't use my own teams. SMB rain, Stax Sample, emilio's mega venu being some of my staples.
In XY I added my tweaks to THALKS but I of course was not the person to build it, so that too.
BW is the only meta where I really tend to stick to my own teams, because I think nobody else knows how to build BW either. But even then, the Blue Volc sample is something I like to use, though I have also added my own tweaks there—namely the Volc.

If we could assume perfect skill among players, do you think Doubles play would generally tend towards hyper offense or slower, more defensive sorts of teams? Not necessarily thinking durdle squads for the latter, but stuff like Fini / Zap / Incineroar teams in general
I think if players are perfect, the metagame will run in cycles, so this is impossible to say.
 

DaAwesomeDude1

waiting for a moment
is a Top Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnus
Stratos you recently said you lost your virginity. Tell us about that

What is your favorite bird and why?

DaAwesomeDude1 Western conference, Eastern conference and finals prediction?

What is your favorite bird and why?
Western:
1. rockets
2. jazz
3. nuggets
4. clippers
5. blazers
6. lakers
7. warriors
8. spurs

Eastern:
1. bucks
2. 76ers
3. celtics
4. pacers
5. raptors
6. nets
7. magic
8. heat

Finals:
ROCKETS vs 76ers

my favorite bird is larry bird because he is an NBA champion
 
DaAwesomeDude1
fellow retiree here, how do you fill your time that was previously pokemon?
What specifically keeps you attached to this site and community?

Stratos i was going to ask why you kept playing pokemon being banned so long, but i read the interview minus anime section and enjoyed it. So I just wanted to comment while I was here that your passion for doubles is almost certainly unmatched, and for however many times I publicly and privately bashed you solely for being banned,I was wrong. Your sheer love of this game and bettering the meta is extremely laudable, and I wish you nothing but success following all of this perseverance.

edit: grammar
 
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DaAwesomeDude1

waiting for a moment
is a Top Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnus
DaAwesomeDude1
fellow retiree here, how do you fill your time that was previously pokemon?
What specifically keeps you attached to this site and community?

Stratos i was going to ask why you kept playing pokemon being banned so long, but i read the interview minus anime section and enjoyed it. So I just wanted to comment while I was here that your passion for doubles is almost certainly unmatched, and for however many times I publicly and privately bashed you solely for being banned,I was wrong. Your sheer love of this game and bettering the meta is extremely laudable, and I wish you nothing but success following all of this perseverance.

edit: grammar
I've been playing a lot of weeb gacha games / smash bros to fill my time. School has also picked up a lot too so that helps. I don't really do very much on smogon anymore. I used to check it multiple times daily but nowadays it's more of a once-a-week kinda thing and I mainly do it because it's a force of habit and not really that I'm looking for anything specific. I consider a good number of people in this community my friend and I just generally enjoy talking to them so I'm still around discord lol. Welcome back tho my man
 

Stratos

Banned deucer.
That wasn't my most strategic post, but I do believe that all the new kids should have the chance to experience an honest-to-god Hate Thread for once in their life.

also i wanted to ask you what advice would you give someone getting back into high level doubles
Ladder a lot with Stax Sample and SMB rain, that's what I did to get back into it.
 

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