TwitchPlaysPokemon. Hmmm just the name alone floods me with pleasant memories about this place. You know there was a time where I thought I couldn't get enough of what that stream had offer. I also didn't think I'll be leaving the community, until 2016 struck me like a rock. Yet here I am, 2018 and the once crazed phenomenon from two years ago still buzz strongly in my heart, yet I'm never around to know what's going on anymore. Why is that you may ask? Well a lot of things, but it's nothing that's ranty or anything. No far from it.

You see, originally there were times I wanted to make a post putting the entire community on blast, in cost of my reputation with the crowd. There were times I wanted to make a video where I talk about the nature of TwitchPlaysPokemon, and how it's forever changing from extreme good, to dramatically bad. I was willing at a time to put myself at risk of being curbed stomp by the entire community, until it hit me... How far HAS the community changed? How much people still enjoy it? Does the community still party like I remembered it? That's when it started to hit me in the heart, to the point it made me very sad.

What would be the point of ranting to people about how I felt about TwitchPlaysPokemon? It's been done. So many people did it to the point where everyone turned their backs on it. Not only that, who am I to tell them what or how they should enjoy TwitchPlaysPokemon (COUGHCOUGHeveryoneCOUGH). If anyone was there in the discord server's #general (which I bet people mostly muted like they're above it all, despite us all being just as wacky at a point in time), you should know how I feel about the whole thing. You saw how the first time since the Randomized Alpha Sapphire incident I lost my cool. I'm not gonna do that again here. It's like I said; my perspectives has changed so much of TwitchPlaysPokemon, that I'm very sad I technically left it in the first place. More than that feel I can never really come back cause I've highly grew out of it, and how much things changed for me since then. I'm sure deep in my heart, mostly everyone feels the same way too, and yeah that can always change till they feel like it's time to comeback. That said instead of ranting, I just like you guys to kick back, relax, and hear a story on how TwitchPlaysPokemon was once what I like to call "An never ending party".

Yeah I know streamer drama to a level that became controversial. Same with the mods. However when I talk about TwitchPlaysPokemon, I'm not talking about the higher ups or the streamer himself. I was a firm believer that we, the voices, the die hard fans of the stream ran things in the beautiful chaos we know today. The higher ups in my opinion are very cool people who just try to maintain that chaos that everyone never thought they'll get bored with. I understand people have lives too, that they can't participate anymore. To that I say that's cool! You don't know how many times I've saw post over the years talking about how they're going to leave the community so they can go get a job (anyone hiring anyway? -wink-), or they want to travel the world more, they had their fill of the twitch plays experience, hell even to the point where some have FAMILIES now! That's pretty awesome. So I'm not going to be including them, cause that seems unfair to them. Life has their calling. This is just a love letter to all of us who stood endless days on the stream, only to get bored of it later on. The ones that ask themselves "What went wrong" in the stream & community. While I don't have an answer to that, I can share my thoughts like the rest on why I highly feel this way compared to 2014. That said, I might as well get into it.

I'll be breaking this down in a few section on what made TwitchPlaysPokemon magical to me. The stream itself, the runs we participated, Pokemon Betting, the community that was built around it, and the memes & lore that spawned from it. Better add some old feels hitting history music. It's going to be a deep one. If not, I'm down to provide my own I was typing to.

PART 1: TWITCHPLAYSPOKEMON THE STREAM

Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_c2RLiCHSk

I'm sure you guys all know the story for me. When I heard about TwitchPlaysPokemon, it was a time where I just missed the golden ages of the stream. Back where the stream was more about being a social phenomenon, and the memes dominated the true fandom before it became a community. (I know kind of the same thing, but hear me out. You'll see why I class these two different things here) At the same time, I missed one of the most hardcore runs TwitchPlaysPokemon had too; Pokemon Crystal. (My all time favorite pokemon game) So when I jumped into the stream, I didn't know what to expect. I treated it like any other stream even I go to. I mean that's why I made a twitch after all to follow Super Smash Flash 2's smash con events. So this was really my FIRST true experience on twitch, and it was consistent. While I heard before my time there that the numbers were higher than 20 - 30k (much higher my god), the chaos was all still the same.

Here I was, joining thousands upon thousands of people. Excited to participate in Pokemon Emerald 6 hours from my time being there. There I started to meet people who were just as insanely hyped like I was, and I started to see the big leagues raring to go too. Many of these these people I used to talk to daily in the chat. Many of them I used to consider very good friends of mine too. Others I just straight up idolized them, and they know who they are. I thank them for that. While many of these people maybe seen differently now, my point is we met all types of fun people in the stream no matter who they were, or what they represented. Heck people could post triggering memes, and we hilariously was more worried about teaching our Azumarill Rest or not.

That was where the core magic of TwitchPlaysPokemon lied. It wasn't just about playing a game of Pokemon. It was about playing a game of Pokemon with the people around it. You can have different political views, say something controversial, be a furry people blindly hate, be a jerk to everyone you've met, and carry that over being a troll to the stream. That didn't matter, cause there was something bigger that unified everybody: Pokemon. For a long while even when I wasn't part of the Praise Helix age. Even when I wasn't part of the a time where it was wild to think we can even face our past teams. I still felt that insanity the old Era brought to my heart. I was hooked. 2014 - 2015 you could never get me off that stream even if you tried. It was to a point where once I first saw that timer to beat the Emerald Elite Four happened, I automatically felt like I was gonna drop loads in my pants. It was such an intense moment.... and we failed it. Sure we got extended time, but that I felt like it was the stream's first big loss, and man was it a magical experience to witness.

If I like to give one word to describe TwitchPlaysPokemon at the time, it would be "chaotic". This was at a time Twitch was more wild, and people weren't afraid to be no holds barred in a stream. We just ran rampant, and did it in style. To many people, my word describing it can also be summed up in one word, "Anarchy".

PART 2: THE RUNS

Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg_-eab-wD0

After the Emerald run, all I can take out of that stream is "I gotta have more". I wanted to participate in more runs, and man did it delivered with a news ranging from days to weeks. However I've seen what people meant by saying they can't replicate the magic a second time. To them it'll be the fourth & fifth time they did this with Fire Red & Platinum. You know the old meme, in fact everyone does it. "I'm just not like feeling the stream anymore, so I'll call it from here". Then everyone "OKAY SEE YOU THE FOLLOWING DAY! :D" This happened to me a lot for reason I didn't know, but this REALLY started happening after the first time, Platinum. See Platinum is high up there with Emerald being one of my favorite runs cause it did something I thought no other run couldn't do for me. (or at least Fire Red at the time, and the beginning of Platinum.)

Picture this: You're bored at home, stuck on TwitchPlaysPokemon for many days, and just finish playing through the most anti climatic ending to a gen 3 run. (Fire Red) Now picture yourself not being too much of a Gen 4 fan (and if you are, just wear my size 10 half shoes for a moment), and had a mindset everything will just be as boring in the run like the games themselves.... Boy now picture the chat randomly exploding because two mons we shipped was torn apart cause we left one of them in the daycare, then having an egg with another mon. Oh did I mention that mon that did that happened to be the number one pokemon species everyone HATED??? What I just described was the infamous "daycare scandal" where people heavily shipped our Shinx & Flareon. Only to be tarnished once Flareon got to the daycare care and got it on with our Bibarel. Sounds insane just for a Pokemon game right? Whooooo there was blood in the water for that one, and my god did it brought life to my TwitchPlaysPokemon passion ever since.

Emerald had these same random shenanigans too, which was why i loved it so much. The random PC shuffles, the great oddish catching (where we had like 30 of them, and an egg), mons that were heavily ship then taken away... Remember when I said it wasn't just the stream, but the people around it? Well it's the fact that anything could have magical spark as long the chat was having a good time goofing off. People could be legends just by cancelling evolutions. So many jokes and ideas can spawn by just crashing into walls and trees. People reactions to certain milestones made it worth it to keep watching, and a hilarity to witness. That said, each run during 2014 to early 2016 did it's job well in keeping my eyes glued, and make sure I didn't miss a single shred of detail on it. It even made me kick off my own passion, and started the old PioxysTPP Blog you see now collecting dust.

Before I forget to add, I can't forget to mention the people who stepped in to help make the runs as innovate & amazing as possible for the people to enjoy. From well known ROM hacks, to the inclusion of 3DS titles thanks to Twitch_Plays_3DS (aka DekuNukem)being one of the first to help out. It was always another adventure waiting to unfold for all us in the stream & community.

Part 3: POKEMON BATTLE REVOLUTION

Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YmVC6bO5XY

Lets pump the breaks on feeling a bit sad thinking about those aspects of the stream, and listen to tunes that suits the style of what I'm about to talk about. While many seen this aspect an improvement of TwitchPlaysPokemon, many people also saw it as it's downfall until it was too late. Me? I'm personally in the middle, but that's not what I'm going to talk about (just yet). TwitchPlaysPokemon was about to take a drastic shift for the ages, and created something that no one saw coming; Pokemon Betting. You see back when this was introduced as Stadium 2 betting, it was a small side by side feature to entertain the crowd during the run. This created some fantastic memes, and even defining lore to the run it was introduced in, Platinum. The gimmick at the time was that you bet virtual currency in a battle of 1v1, 3 pokemon teams. Hoping you'll win a big payout, and not lose it all when a pokemon randomly spams roar all the time. (#NeverBetEnteiTriHard) This amazingly sparked new life in the stream, and formed a whole new generation of TwitchPlaysPokemon fans who could enjoy the run, the chat, and now this new betting feature. I for one was addicted to it. It got to a level where I got addicted to it so much, that people will highly only remember me as a legendary meme for it. (PIOXYS X STARMIE IS STILL NOT CANON!!!)

Now you might be thinking to yourself: all we just do is bet on Pokemon when we're bored. What can you talk about to make things more interesting? Is there even anything to persuade me to try it out? Well the answer is yes and no. Otherwise I wouldn't be talking about this aspect. You know how there's a little mode that happens every once in awhile called defiance? You know the one mode I just mentioned, where you need to pray your Pokemon land the right attack, and not mess it up? Now imagine that, but 24/7. THIS was the random element I believe captured the spirit of the stream. It was new, it was innovated, it was chaotic, and it was the most unpredictable experience well... You could ever experience. It was like the 1990's again, and my grandfather used to take me to the horse track. Betting so much money hoping a good horse would win it big, but try again if the horse failed. Who to thought many years later I take after that trait in the form of Pokemon Betting. They were great of times as they were back at the horse track.

For a long time this was chaotic as it could be until the demand of full screen to be implemented. Along with the feature to now control the Pokemon you're betting. For a stream that was originally inspired by SaltyBet, you can really see the genius behind this concept going further beyond. Now players can not only look, but they can play, and this sparked an even newer wave of players who really wants to get down to that competitive aspect on betting in a stream of Pokemon Battles. To add to that, now we improved from Pokemon Stadium 2, to now Pokemon Battle revolution! Thanks to of course another who stepped in, and gave a great hand to the stream. Where we had our loving blaziken Deku, we had the lovable chatot's man, ProjectRevoTPP. Not a problem with that right? It did spawn the whole new generation it wanted, and drove it home extremely well right? eeeeeh it's hit or miss to a lot of people you may think. I might not to be able to speak for all of them, but I can tell you my own issues with that in a brief summary.

Personally the magic of Pokemon Betting CAME from that random element of unpredictability. The moment you gave the access to control our pokemon, you accidentally thrown away the core of what made betting so magical to begin with. At the same time you've replaced it with a new core which generated it's own magic we know today. Is it a bad thing? Of course not. His to their own I always say, but if you asking me this (which I'm saying now), I just love how crazy betting in the stream used to be. I was just a guy who never liked the input system, but I'm glad to those who still enjoy it to this day. At least the mods heard out and added the now Defiance mode, to recapture that old magic betting once had. Does it hold up? Actually it does! This was a fantastic idea to appeal to those classic era betters. However I do wish it did happened tons more often as much as input battles. How's that for swaying the people eh?~

Now what I just talked about were core aspects throughout TwitchPlaysPokemon's lifespan. All 3 of these aspects came together, and created a shockwave that shook the internet time and time again. Many people enjoy it, and still like participating today for those reasons. At the same time TOO MANY people left because of how much things changed for better or worse, and the environment it created from it. Not to mention people were starting to leave more due to life activities. Before all that though, lets go back to a place in time where all of us had the time to talk about TwitchPlaysPokemon, and a time where we can express it. AKA personally my key favorite aspect about TwitchPlaysPokemon.

Part 4: THE TWITCHPLAYSPOKEMON COMMUNITY

Music: https://youtu.be/l00bippm3LY?t=28s

Trust me you really want to talk about a dedicated fanbase, TwitchPlaysPokemon was by far one of the most unique at it's time. When I started out, I ran a tumblr blog that lasted from 2014 to somewhat 2017. At that time I thought I've seen it all in the tags. I seen a wave of other people blogging about how they're enjoying or complaining about the run. I've seen incredible fan art, theories, links to dedicated projects all about the past runs we've been through over time. (many of them Red related but who cares.~) The community was chilled, but had a few bad apples, but what do you expect from a fandom that spawned from a experimental social phenomenon? There were even people who knew me from my blog, which was mind blowing to see. To get an ask on a side blog saying; "Hey it would be amazing if you post your stuff to the subreddit". Oh boy was I both excited, yet terrified. For those who didn't know, my first experience with the TwitchPlaysPokemon subreddit was an.... interesting one. The point where I had to delete it, but not ashamed to hilariously talk about it today.

In short remember the scandal I talked about earlier. Well at the time there were ideas floating around about what could have truly happened. Maybe Flareon & Shinx made up and continue their lives, with the Bibarel still being close friends (COUGHmycomicsCOUGH). Maybe the ship was doom to fail, and everyone came out of that miserably. Or maybe alternatively or in theory "canonly", Flareon and the Bibarel became their own couple, and the Shinx happily gave them best wishes with no regrets. I on the other hand was told it would be a cool idea to think of one of those alternatives to deflect the hate off certain pokemon in the team. Or rather put the blame to another mon in disguise. This collab idea didn't sit to well with the community to the point I basically got barked out of there entirely. So just like everyone else who had that experience, I was skeptical of returning. Later on after that ask I just mentioned, I gave it another go.

So now we're finally getting into it.. -CLAP- lets talk about the community, and oh boy is it a dozy. This is where I called this stream/community an never ending party. I've joined around the time we've played Pokemon Black, and people were starting to get a little more accepted to creative ideas &theories. Rrather than everything being tightly packed bow we had to follow. Things were shifting just enough in the middle to consider it the perfect time for me to join in. (despite the dramas I was either apart of or jumped into) We posted batshit memes, we talked about hilarious & epic theories, we got together to create collabrative pieces (Many I regret not joining, or taking the opportunity to start one with others), created amazing comics & stories based on what was going on, and I've got to see some of the most passionate works I've ever seen in any "fanbase". AgainTheSaga was making a collabrative TwitchPlaysPokemon game before closing it down. Tustin made this amazing world of TwitchPlaysPokemon characters to interact & know with. However nothing tops the one true dedicated passion project from TwitchPlaysPokemon.... TwitchDATESPokemon.

Just like the stream was having a blast with each other, so too did the community that started to build themselves from it. Filled with their creative thinking, hardcore planning, and all around epic jokes, art, stories, and fun events & contest to share. Which I guess it's time to get to the final segment that really drives home why TwitchPlaysPokemon is so well known, and remembered...

Part 5: THE MEMES & THE LORE

Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXZWpuKGUac

Hmmmm Now for the longest time I've thought to myself how to approach this bit. I held my tongue about it since 2016 cause I didn't really know how I wanted to come across as with this? Did I wanted to post something serious to address with the crowd? Or did I wanted to rant about something cause they're doing something in a way I don't like? If I do either of those things, my point wouldn't get across, and it would cancel out any points of just do what you gotta do as a TwitchPlaysPokemon fan. Especially coming from the guy who made a series asking past run Pokemon. TwitchPlaysPokemon is just not for one thng, but it's for EVERYTHING, and I didn't want to come across that as "Oh Pioxys is just being salty about it". Which lets be real I wouldn't make this post if I WASN'T at least bit sour. However I don't even want come across as starting drama, or start a rally. I just want to talk about how I feel with you guys about this, and start a nice discussion how this place used to been the cat's meowth. So how am I going to go about this without getting lit on fire?... Eh just wing it and let the people decide. Here's what I saw when hanging around in TwitchPlaysPokemon for many years.

The community back then was one of the most insane when it came to their ideas of memes, and lore. From the Helix & Dome wars, to the godslayers taking on the gods to Mt.Silver. From "Giovanni's Wild Ride" to "Never Bet Entei". From screaming "KENYAAAAAAAAA" after our groudon with Water Absorb's release, to our host from Black being one of the worst fan of the voices we could possibly imagine. There was no ground untouched by the community, and at a time all this was everywhere instead of one place. Before it was shunned, we used to LOVE talking & posting these things in the chat, before we carried it further on Reddit. Where we joked around about our memes so much, we just had to show it to the subreddit to get a good laugh out it. Many times it was the other way around too! Something so good came from the subreddit, that people just had to link it to the chat. Now days if we do that, people will complain about you being thirsty for memes, or forcing lore. If you mention either side, people will spit at you and say that side is "cancer furry toxic trash". A problem that always happened yeah, but not as dominate as it is today to cause a division. People act like they so above it and this is the only time in this post you're gonna see me rant for a quiiiiick second. Bullshit. Stop acting like you wasn't part of the days where all this was unified, and any weird shit we talked about one place, didn't happened in the other consistently. You know for a fact that's what made it fun in the first place to interact with all these people, and just have fun playing a game of Pokemon. Either we're all equally epic, or we're all equally toxic trash. Where ever it swings, it shows on all side. That said, this doesn't apply to everybody, but at the same time they know who they are. That's where I'm gonna close this part of the rant cause I'm here to talk about what made this place fun for me after all. I have more fond memories of this place than I do negatives. That's how I like to remember it.

See at the time, there was a great spirit within the community to create memes & theories based on the events that happened in the stream. It was as if the stream & community had some sort of balance that clicked. The stream could create these insane ideas of jokes, and it was the subreddit's job to keep those ideas & jokes going. Meanwhile, it was the community who could expand on these ideas. Forming their own crazy ones that the stream HAD to see and talk about. There was just as much chaos in the subreddit as there was in the chat, and that was the beauty of it all. We all kept each other updated to progress, memes, theories, and lore. If you missed one thing, you can always go to the other to go "OH CRAP SO THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED!". Or just go "HAHA I REMEMBER THIS. We need more of this!" Now seems like more and more neither side like to keep informed, nor wants to continue what was made in the past. (Not counting Red run for this one) So that just leads all of us to be lost in the end. Especially those who strictly follows one thing, cause the other is not their thing either. I guess this is why this segment sounds more depressing compared to the others. it's where I speak from the heart at most to just... Makes you wish it could have that second wind again... I want to see not only the runs being insane, but the people themselves are too. I want to see more of the subreddit being as explosive before everything fell off in 2016 (In my opinion of course). Then all, I would love to see the new blood come in, and they're welcomed to see the same reasons why we loved this place from the start.

Part 6: THE END

Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owft9ZlQFUQ

So here we are. The now titan of a social phenomenon, now taking it's eternal slumber with a few sticking through the end. (Highly which being myself) This goes back to what many of you felt before... What went wrong? Things seem lively still, but why do we still feel this problem we can't shake off? Most of all.... If everything's okay now, why did you had to go and ruin it all Pioxys? Why start this "Drama" when there's nothing wrong with the community currently. That's a very good question to ask. All I got to say is: aside from that mini rant about people being too stuck up dividing everything, this was never intended to be a post to start anything. I just did what anyone else would and just spoke my thoughts on how they feel about TwitchPlaysPokemon as a whole. The ups, the downs, why the love it, and why they hate it. I know I can be all positivity bullshit too, but I really don't see this place in a negative light, despite it having many many flaws. After all, it can't be TwitchPlaysPokemon if everything breaks and we're all in panic, or up in arms about something right? With every crazily good thing, you also had it's bad, and over the years the good slowly went away and gotten more bad than we think. Especially to the point where it became too late, and looking at the somewhat depressing state the stream & community has been in now.

I started off saying this is a love letter to this place, and how I really mean that. Out of all the times Pioxys walked on egg shells for better or worse, today i'm rolling the final dice and telling you guys everything on how I feel. Many of the things I said here may feel touching to one's heart. Many of the things I say may be seen as me bashing this place, which is never the intention. Or you just want to say fuck it and throw eggs at me cause it's fun haha. Jokes aside, I just want to speak how much I love this place, and I've seen a lot of how it evolved, how it devolved, and the legacy it left on all of it. Just a straight shoot on the thought post on whatever came to mind on typing this whole thing. I might missed out on a few things, but many things I'm glad I didn't left out. Take what you will from this, and hope it's something to reflect on for the fun of it. Not to complain "BACK THEN IS BETTER! THIS IS SO TRASH NOW!". Nah, now more than ever that's the last thing we want. This is just an old skool discussion we would use to have back when the stream was this never ending party I would always go to. A time where Pioxys ran rampant. Now a shock that Pioxys became but a lurker.

Last thing I want to say is I know. The original streamer had his problems, the mods every now and then get pinned as bad guys, and it seemed like everywhere you looked, drama seemed to follow the name TwitchPlaysPokemon. Noticed how I didn't talk about ANY of that except for how the community is treating each other. How they're treating this place, and while it may not be all, it certainly is an majority whether we can agree on it or not. While it didn't help keep this place a lively float, my money on the fact people just got bored of what the stream had to offer, and the environment slowly just calmed down without picking up traces of new blood. Or at least not enough new blood to keep the party pumping. Should that be anything discouraging? As said take it how you see it, but I like to believe we're not out of the count yet. I feel like one of these days there WILL be that wave when people go "Hey remember TwitchPlaysPokemon? Lets go relive that", and despite people telling them this place and the stream has changed, despite them saying it will never be as great as 2014, there's just this 1% feeling inside me that wants to live long enough to see that second explosion happen. Even if it's just for one run, cause that would truly be the best send of to an icon moment in internet history. At least that's just me. All we can really do is just doing us, and keep the train rolling slowly.

Well that's all I basically have to say on my thoughts. Many seen good, many I know will see bad. If it comes down to it, I'll delete this post, cause it was never intended to start some type of fight among the community. Just coming back to how much fun we had with it good or bad, and probably start a discussion on our experiences in the stream. I loved TwitchPlaysPokemon for those reasons. Maybe you guys had others I highly didn't see. Maybe there was something about the first two games I've left out that's worth mentioning today. Then again bring something up like this, and everyone ready to throw darts at you for even speaking your mind. Well, allow me to be the first to put my TPP legacy on the table to get this fun discussion going. It's like I said, nothing to lose right? I'll just delete this as soon this starts to turn to a bar fight more than anything lol. I will add on by saying this place is not a doubt still one of the best creative things I've stumbled on to since I've first joined in. Along with those who still wanting to keep the legacy going in their own way is absolutely admirable. I know my time has passed here, but it certainly for others. I hope to see more of that, along with the new blood.

On that note, I'll end it from here.

I got more comics to update if I can.

Stay Beautiful & sexy everyone.