TEAM B!

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

The following members have been assigned to TEAM B for PXFIRE!

Bulbasaur Caite-chan Death's Spook Morzone Neo Emolga ninjaskarmory pokemon trainer Felix sammy0295 Scytherwolf

Your team leaders are:

BULBASAUR AND CAITE-CHAN

Now it's time to build some team spirit! Get to know each other and what sections you all intend to join in.

By June 25th, you must have come up with a Team Name and theme. Are you a team of pirates? Of Pokemon? Of an evil organisation that wants to rule the world? It's all up to you!

We hope you will all discuss this together, but the team leaders will have the final say. The team leaders must officially decide the team name and theme by JUNE 25TH. Once you have decided, please make a new thread for your team, with the team name in the title. If you get this done before June 25th, your team will earn 5 points! The thread you create will be your team's discussion thread during the event so make it fun, colorful and inviting!

Note to team leaders: It is your job to make sure everyone on the team feels welcome and included! Do your best!

Good luck!

[Bulbasaur]

It's time, guys! :D

I know a few people here, but glad to meet some people I haven't talked to! What sections are you all planning on entering?

[Neo Emolga]

It's time, guys! :D

I know a few people here, but glad to meet some people I haven't talked to! What sections are you all planning on entering?

Sup dude!

I'm doing Graphic Art, Creative Writing, and Humor for sure, but Drawn Art and Comics are maybes. Those I would only go after if the first three are already covered and I'm feeling confident. Thankfully, the scoring system would ensure I get something even if I'm not a hotshot like some other artists are around here!

Meanwhile, I'm judging Role Play. And yes, in the RP, I'm NOT your friend (but I'm still earning judge points!). All the characters I'm commanding are Black Lotus leaders, captains, and commandos, which are against everyone else in the RP. You need to kick their butt and... I'm not going to make it easy!

[Caite-chan]

Hello my evil minions....lol. I'm planning to try and do Humor, Showdown and Creative Writing.

As for our team what should we go with? Evil? Pokemon? Type?

[Neo Emolga]

As for our team what should we go with? Evil? Pokemon? Type?

https://s5.postimg.org/z3s3ol1s7/Emolga_Tough.png
Something black. Something badass.

Also, I'm more than happy to make team banners and other graphic art goodies. >:3

[pokemon trainer Felix]

It's time, guys! :D

I know a few people here, but glad to meet some people I haven't talked to! What sections are you all planning on entering?

I will be doing drawn arts and comics Maybe humor or Showdown battling. Though I don't have My computer anymore and playing Showdown on the phone is kinda annoying.

[Death's Spook]

I'm primarily participating in the RP section.

[Caite-chan]

Anyone have any ideas they would like to toss in for the team?

[Morzone]

Hello Teammates!

I'm definitely in the RP, drawing, and Creative writing sections My writing is going to get creamed by Noble. oh noes
I might Try humor but... well it isn't really my thing.

Random Team Idea: The Grunt Coalition. We're grunts from all the various evil groups come together to make everyone think twice about calling us pushovers.

[ninjaskarmory]

Henlo!!! I lurk here a lot instead of posting and make terrible 5-second memes

I'm planning on entering quite a few of the categories but I'm not sure if I'll actually commit oops

I'm such a good team member right :')

Anyways I like humor, art, and writing a lot and also showdown battling even though my teams are... yikes and I play almost exclusively hackmons cup and randoms now

Uhh I'd come up with a random team idea but Morzone's is pretty solid

[Neo Emolga]

I'm guessing it would be like Team Rocket, Magma, Aqua, Galactic, Plasma, Flare, and Skull combined? It sounds funny and interesting, but... how would that work for the RP, though?

[Morzone]

Pretty much, we're all grunts from all the different teams come together.

As for the RP, I thought maybe we could be appealing to a neighboring Country (Or as close to neighboring as you can get) to give us refuge from the queen's reign. All of our teams got wiped out when she took over, and us left over grunts just want to get away from it all. But to gain acceptance into the safe country we have to prove our worth in the festival, preferably by winning, though the country was unspecific to what it was looking for.

[Death's Spook]

I like Morzone's idea as a starting point, but I confess that I think it would be more interesting with a general "alliance" sort of theme. Instead of just "a whole bunch of grunts" it would be "a bunch of people from different groups getting together and allying, with probably different but ultimately compatible goals." It would give much more diversity of characters that can play around in that playground while simultaneously sidestepping the whole "what are team rocket et al doing in a Pokémon only world?" thing.

[Neo Emolga]

I like Morzone's idea as a starting point, but I confess that I think it would be more interesting with a general "alliance" sort of theme. Instead of just "a whole bunch of grunts" it would be "a bunch of people from different groups getting together and allying, with probably different but ultimately compatible goals." It would give much more diversity of characters that can play around in that playground while simultaneously sidestepping the whole "what are team rocket et al doing in a Pokémon only world?" thing.

Could be like a Pokémon meets Overwatch kind of thing. In Overwatch, you have a team of heroes, but each character is very different from each other. One is a research scientist (Mei), another is a former profession gamer (D.va), and a third is a reawakened assault robot (Bastion). And there's heaps of others. And yet, despite those differences in personalities and skills, they work quite well together.

If you want it to take a more darker route, it could also be like DC's Suicide Squad where a team of villains, thugs, criminals, and assassins are banded together to take on a threat even more dangerous than they are. But like in the Overwatch example, they each have unique but different powers and ability traits.

Could be a cool idea to work with.

[Caite-chan]

We'd be like the PXR Squad...lol. Bunch of different types of Pokemon Trainers.

[Scytherwolf]

Late to this but I'm definitely going to enter some of the art-related stuff. Maybe roleplaying. I'd say writing but I'm still not sure how to make anything I write SHORT.

[Neo Emolga]

Late to this but I'm definitely going to enter some of the art-related stuff. Maybe roleplaying. I'd say writing but I'm still not sure how to make anything I write SHORT.

As far as writing goes, this might sound weird, but make very touch and go characters. Characters you like, but not the kind you want to sincerely follow come hell or high water. Don't develop them too much, only just for the purpose of a short, quick and dirty story. If you fall in love with them too much, kablam, novel time. Same thing with the setting. Too much lore, background, history, and development and... boom, it's now a novel. You may also need to tone it down with exactly how much time passes and plan on conveying your message to the reader a whole lot sooner. Novels usually cover the passage of time in years, but short stories are usually covering only weeks, days, or even just the passage of time over a few hours if even.

It's like a huge buffet where you can put anything you want on it, but it's a matter of knowing how to be precise and selective with that smaller plate. It's all about those smaller but tasty portions that complement each other nicely and not piling too much on.

And try the roleplay! There are so many different ways you can approach it.

[Morzone]

Scyther, if you do decide to join the Roleplay, you'll need to Join Death Sook and I one Skype, since we've been planning what we're going to do for the RP as a team.

[Scytherwolf]

As far as writing goes, this might sound weird, but make very touch and go characters. Characters you like, but not the kind you want to sincerely follow come hell or high water. Don't develop them too much, only just for the purpose of a short, quick and dirty story. If you fall in love with them too much, kablam, novel time. Same thing with the setting. Too much lore, background, history, and development and... boom, it's now a novel. You may also need to tone it down with exactly how much time passes and plan on conveying your message to the reader a whole lot sooner. Novels usually cover the passage of time in years, but short stories are usually covering only weeks, days, or even just the passage of time over a few hours if even.

It's like a huge buffet where you can put anything you want on it, but it's a matter of knowing how to be precise and selective with that smaller plate. It's all about those smaller but tasty portions that complement each other nicely and not piling too much on.

And try the roleplay! There are so many different ways you can approach it.

That does make a lot of sense! I should save this for future reference. XD Depending on how busy I am, I might give writing a shot.

As for the roleplay, I'm still thinking about it but it's a definite maybe! I'll be away at the end of July but I'll have internet access, so we'll see.

[Bulbasaur]

I like Morzone's idea as a starting point, but I confess that I think it would be more interesting with a general "alliance" sort of theme. Instead of just "a whole bunch of grunts" it would be "a bunch of people from different groups getting together and allying, with probably different but ultimately compatible goals." It would give much more diversity of characters that can play around in that playground while simultaneously sidestepping the whole "what are team rocket et al doing in a Pokémon only world?" thing.
I definitely like this idea! :D

By the way, I'll be doing humor, showdown, and possibly writing. :]

[Morzone]

That description just sends us back to square one though... by definition a team is a bunch of different people coming together for a common goal. Just saying "A bunch of people allying" Doesn't actually describe anything about the group. The grunt plan has a base in the mainstream games (The actual grunts from the actual teams) So it gives us a face and appearance, but its not so strict that we can't be creative with it. There obviously wasn't an inter-team grunt alliance, so we can pioneer our own ideas in that respect.

Essentially we're the Pokemon version of Spartacus' army. All the rejects and front-line fighters no one really cared for coming together to show we're not as insignificant as everyone once thought.

Or if you prefer, it's like in Strike/Union movies where the low working class rebel and show that the big money makers wouldn't be able to do anything without them.

[Neo Emolga]

That description just sends us back to square one though... by definition a team is a bunch of different people coming together for a common goal. Just saying "A bunch of people allying" Doesn't actually describe anything about the group. The grunt plan has a base in the mainstream games (The actual grunts from the actual teams) So it gives us a face and appearance, but its not so strict that we can't be creative with it. There obviously wasn't an inter-team grunt alliance, so we can pioneer our own ideas in that respect.

Essentially we're the Pokemon version of Spartacus' army. All the rejects and front-line fighters no one really cared for coming together to show we're not as insignificant as everyone once thought.

Or if you prefer, it's like in Strike/Union movies where the low working class rebel and show that the big money makers wouldn't be able to do anything without them.

Well, I've been thinking it over some more and we definitely can't use the grunts from the mainstream games. Not only to the goals of Team Aqua and Team Magma conflict, but the others don't translate well into an RP where everyone's a Pokémon. Team Plasma's strategy of trying to get everyone to release their Pokémon wouldn't work for this. Team Rocket would just have to be a band of thieves since they wouldn't be able to steal Pokémon. Or they'd be kidnapping them instead. The other thing is you'd have to establish reason as to why the grunts left their previous organization to join this one. Did they fail or were they kicked and now they joined this band of outcasts? Everyone would have to come up with a story as to how and why that happened. The other thing is I'd have to establish origin base for all those teams in the RP as well. I'd die a little inside struggling and trying to figure out just how to make that possible without it going all weird.

I was really bending more toward Death's Spook's idea of us coming from different walks of life and being specialists in our own special things, but coming together as one for a common cause. Problem with both of these ideas is they're abstract and they don't have any theme to it. How would you put this into a form you can visualize? What would you use to represent the team? That's something we need at the moment. The other thing is now that we're banding together, what is the goal? What would we strive to do and what would likely happen if we won? The other thing is in the RP, teams will actually be more on the wealthier side than on the low-income working class. I honestly don't think asking to start off with a financial disadvantage instead is a good idea. Besides asking to have some crippling disability, that's probably the second worst thing you could have going for you in that context.

Here's how I'd try to retranslate this into a Pokémon context.

Let's go with normal-type Pokémon instead. So many people overlook them. And yet, bam, they're capable of amazing things. In many cases they can be underdogs but when used right, they're amazing and show everyone just how capable they are even though they can't harness the elements as well as some other Pokémon can or don't have the kinds of psychic powers others do. But even if you're a Pokémon that has a second typing of something besides normal, there's still this sense of unity and belonging in relying on your skills more than your types or what elements you can harness.

In the RP context, our weaponry and tactics consist of things we build as a result of our handicrafts. If you want a sense of working class, we build a ton of things with our hands/paws/fins. Very blue collar. We're technicians, welders, engineers, mechanics, inventors, craftsmen, mechanists, and things like that, and because of that, our technology and weaponry is more beefed up because we're the artisans when it comes to things like that. We've lived lives that depended on us usually not having that go-to element of fire, electricity, or water or something like that, so we've come up with other ways to work around it and even rise up against those that do.

[Death's Spook]

Let's go with normal-type Pokémon instead. So many people overlook them. And yet, bam, they're capable of amazing things. In many cases they can be underdogs but when used right, they're amazing and show everyone just how capable they are even though they can't harness the elements as well as some other Pokémon can or don't have the kinds of psychic powers others do. But even if you're a Pokémon that has a second typing of something besides normal, there's still this sense of unity and belonging in relying on your skills more than your types or what elements you can harness.

In the RP context, our weaponry and tactics consist of things we build as a result of our handicrafts. If you want a sense of working class, we build a ton of things with our hands/paws/fins. Very blue collar. We're technicians, welders, engineers, mechanics, inventors, craftsmen, mechanists, and things like that, and because of that, our technology and weaponry is more beefed up because we're the artisans when it comes to things like that. We've lived lives that depended on us usually not having that go-to element of fire, electricity, or water or something like that, so we've come up with other ways to work around it and even rise up against those that do.

I think limiting what Pokemon we can have by type is needlessly restrictive, especially since both Morzone and I (the main RPers other than possibly Scytherwolf) each have characters designed and none of them are normal type. We were actually discussing the problem over Skype, and we came up with something sufficiently thematic while not being so restrictive as to be unfun:

Basically, we're all traitors.

For one reason or another, every single one of our characters has committed some kind of betrayal or something similar. Socially, we're all outcast: no one wants to trust us, and we're pretty much the only people who wouldn't want to immediately cut off each others' heads. Whether it's a noblewoman who killed her father, a warrior who betrayed a cult, or a berserker who flipped out at a really wrong time, everyone has skeletons both in the closet and out in the open. This even lets us keep a financial advantage if we're a bit unscrupulous about it, and lets people of all sorts of backgrounds unite because the alternative to hanging together is hanging separately.

[Neo Emolga]

I think limiting what Pokemon we can have by type is needlessly restrictive, especially since both Morzone and I (the main RPers other than possibly Scytherwolf) each have characters designed and none of them are normal type. We were actually discussing the problem over Skype, and we came up with something sufficiently thematic while not being so restrictive as to be unfun:

Basically, we're all traitors.

For one reason or another, every single one of our characters has committed some kind of betrayal or something similar. Socially, we're all outcast: no one wants to trust us, and we're pretty much the only people who wouldn't want to immediately cut off each others' heads. Whether it's a noblewoman who killed her father, a warrior who betrayed a cult, or a berserker who flipped out at a really wrong time, everyone has skeletons both in the closet and out in the open. This even lets us keep a financial advantage if we're a bit unscrupulous about it, and lets people of all sorts of backgrounds unite because the alternative to hanging together is hanging separately.

Hmm, this is true, probably better not to limit ourselves after all. As for the idea behind the team, rebels in the truest sense seems pretty good to form a group of exiles and outcasts that have banded together. Some of us could be criminals, traffickers, smugglers, and anyone else that has done something deemed to be illegal.

The big question now is... what to call ourselves?

[Morzone]

It should be something with "rebel" in it. I honestly keep thinking of the song "rebel Yell" when I imagine the team. Like "rebel nation" or something similar.

Or maybe I'm just throwing out random ideas now

Something like "The exilelites" ? Exile and Elite put together. Since we're exiles who banded together to make it big.

[Morzone]

It should be something with "rebel" in it. I honestly keep thinking of the song "rebel Yell" when I imagine the team. Like "rebel nation" or something similar.

Or maybe I'm just throwing out random ideas now

Something like "The exilelites" ? Exile and Elite put together. Since we're exiles who banded together to make it big.

[Neo Emolga]

Death's Spook mentioned "The Unspoken" to me in an earlier VM. I think something along that or "The Unspoken Exiles" would be pretty sweet.

"Exilelites" just doesn't really grow on me, sorry. Someone could read that as "Exile Lites" or "Exil Elites" as they try to break down the word to get to it's inner meaning. I'll admit I kind of read it as "Exile Lites" at first as I didn't know what it was supposed to be until I continued reading.

[Morzone]

I'm not surprised, really. "exilites" was something I thought up on the spot anyway.

I'm not really sure about "Unspoken." It makes it sound like we're trying to stay silent and out of the way or something. Something a little louder/bolder would be better for a competition like this.

[Death's Spook]

I don't know about Team Name, but I propose that, in the RP, the territory we have should be called The Outskirts. Basically, the worst slums and factory territory with air smoggy and things like that, where the most downtrodden people lived. In summary, a place where even a band of traitors could be seen as a group to rally around. Income would be generated by the fact that, given that we control a number of dirty bit important factories, the prices of the goods sold by said factories would have significantly up. In conjunction with with significant... resource liberation on the part of our group, and we'd be financially well off like the other two teams and the Black Lotus.

[Neo Emolga]

I don't know about Team Name, but I propose that, in the RP, the territory we have should be called The Outskirts. Basically, the worst slums and factory territory with air smoggy and things like that, where the most downtrodden people lived. In summary, a place where even a band of traitors could be seen as a group to rally around. Income would be generated by the fact that, given that we control a number of dirty bit important factories, the prices of the goods sold by said factories would have significantly up. In conjunction with with significant... resource liberation on the part of our group, and we'd be financially well off like the other two teams and the Black Lotus.

Yep, Black Lotus would hate us for taking away a bunch of their more important industrial areas and cutting off a vast supply of factory supply routes. In terms of weapons and machines, a lot of them could be makeshift and they might look very much like the ones in Mad Max: Fury Road and Borderlands. Brutish, rugged, heavy war machines with lots of armor and weaponry, but still very effective even they they would look very crude and brutal. Meanwhile, the outside surrounding landscape of our area could very much be like the desert and badlands setting with those heavy industrial sectors that have now pledged loyalty to the team cause. Beyond Black Lotus, Gracidea Order would hate us for being a pollution and metallic cesspool of industry.

A team name with something to do with metal, raiders, ravagers, or something like that would fit quite well. Boneyard Gang, Dreadnought Legion, Steel Scavengers, Ravager Brotherhood, or anything along those lines sound perfectly badass. And I would happily make many dark, metallic-themed banners and stuff like that for this beastly war machine. >:D

[Neo Emolga]

Bulbasaur Caite-chan Death's Spook Morzone ninjaskarmory pokemon trainer Felix sammy0295 Scytherwolf

Okay, guys, our deadline is the 25th. Seeing as how my calendar shows the 24th today, that means we need everything finalized and a team thread to be up by tomorrow.

Needless to say, it's...


DECISION TIME!!!

I feel everyone's had a chance to toss some ideas around for the past week and we did come up with a bunch of good ones, but seeing as how Bulbasaur and Caite are leaders, I think it's ultimately up to them to decide what our final team name and theme is about. I think you two have a pretty good idea of what the team would like to see, but it's really up to you. Have with it, I know you two quite well, and I think you'll both come up with something awesome that we could all get behind. :3

The sooner a decision is reached, the sooner we can really get going on making stuff like banners and things, plotting stuff, and all that fine jazz. But yeah, we definitely can't delay this any longer and be stuck as "Team B" forever more.

[Bulbasaur]

Yup, we should get something together soon. XD

Do we have any contenders for names? I definitely think everyone should have a say, but at the same time we should have a team name that represents us. What do you think, Caite-chan?

[Neo Emolga]

Yup, we should get something together soon. XD

Do we have any contenders for names? I definitely think everyone should have a say, but at the same time we should have a team name that represents us. What do you think, Caite-chan?

We had all these as possibilities so far:

The Exilelites
The Unspoken
Boneyard Gang
Dreadnought Legion
Steel Scavengers
Ravager Brotherhood

We had a week and I think everyone had at least some chance to speak up about what they'd like to see. Unfortunately, I don't think there's enough time to wait for everyone's response. If they chime in now, that's fine, but we can't really afford to just continue waiting.

In terms of themes, the general idea most people seemed to be leaning toward was a rebellion group of traitors that aren't afraid to get their hands dirty because they already have. Most of us would be shady and shadowy rogue-like characters.

In the RP, we're thinking of having control over an industrialized area that we simply seized control of ourselves. Because of those, our ability to manufacture weapons, vehicles, and whatever resources we need is significantly easier and readily more available.

That's basically what we have so far in a nutshell, but there's more details in the previous posts.

[Bulbasaur]

Good names! I'd be fine calling ourselves any of them. :D

My favorite is probably Ravager Brotherhood, but again, they're all cool to me. Let's see how much input we can get before I go to sleep, at around 9-10PM (EST). We can call that a tentative deadline.

[Caite-chan]

Sorry I've been in the hospital since last night after blacking out while driving with Mom. And looks like I won't be out till some time tomorrow.

I like the name Steel Scavengers or maybe even Steel Gang....just something short and sweet. As for the ideas I like them. I won't do much in the way or role playing though.

[Bulbasaur]

Sorry I've been in the hospital since last night after blacking out while driving with Mom. And looks like I won't be out till some time tomorrow.

I like the name Steel Scavengers or maybe even Steel Gang....just something short and sweet. As for the ideas I like them. I won't do much in the way or role playing though.
Oh jeez, hope you're alright! D:

Steel Scavengers was also one of my favorites. What do you all think of that? If you don't, speak up! :D

Death's Spook Morzone Neo Emolga ninjaskarmory pokemon trainer Felix sammy0295 Scytherwolf

[pokemon trainer Felix]

I like the sound of the Steel scavangers
but i'm fine with whatever gets choosen

[sammy0295]

My vote goes to Steel Scavengers, but I like all of em well enough.
Apologies for not giving any input before now, but I rather like how it all worked out.

[Neo Emolga]

I'm game with Steel Scavengers! ;D

[Bulbasaur]

Alright, I'm going to make the thread. Caite-chan can make edits as needed, so continue input. :D

[Bulbasaur]

http://www.pokemoncrossroads.com/forum/showthread.php?14449-Steel-Scavengers

Here is the thread!

[Scytherwolf]

I'm late to this again but I like Steel Scavengers!