Hanako Oku and Pokémon Ultra Sun

A l o l a   C o u s i n s !

I am currently playing Pokémon Ultra Sun as a character named “Hanako”. The name is based on one of my favorite recording artists Hanako Oku! Don’t worry — Denny from Sinnoh will appear in Pokémon Ultra Moon. When I buy a new game I usually like to differentiate the trainer character. This also helps in keeping track of Pokémon in the Pokémon Bank.

I thought it would be cute to play as “Hanako” to honor Ms. Oku-san.

I tried to style her in the way she looked when her music career was rising in the 2005-20011 period. She often wore boyish clothes — usually jeans and a t-shirt. Of curse, the delightful Ms. Oku is more sophisticated in her stage attire now, but I liked her early period. I used her short brownish bobbed haircut with bangs. I chose red frame glasses after Ms. Oku’s trademark red spectacles. I think that she would like the Pickachu t-shirt I gave her, and her boots are closest to what she wore in her early period. I also named her Festival Plaza “Oku University”.

I chose Rowlet as her starter Pokémon. It turned out to be a female Rowlet, so I named her “Olympia” after the forested mountain region in the Pacific Northwest.  A lot of owls live there. I have decided not to let Olympia evolve, at least not until the main story is finished. She is just too cute.

Hanako received the special event Pokémon Rockruff which is the only one which could be evolved into the special “Dusk form” Lycanroc. Little Olympia could sometimes be overwhelmed by higher-level Pokémon, so I gave her a strong wolf to defend her. I named the puppy/wolf “Roofies” after my previous post on Lycanroc linked here.

A little off-topic: I was very proud to see that my Lycanroc post gained 13,000 views! That one post gained nearly 7,000 reads on just November 17, 2017 — which was my most viewed day ever! It seems a lot of people were looking for nicknames for event Lycanroc on the Ultra Sun-Moon release date!

Other members of the team include a Yungoos I named “RikiTikiTavi” after the mongoose in the classic Rudyard Kipling story. Hanako had previously caught other Yungoos named “Youngblood” and “TRUMP2016“. I am also not letting little Riki evolve. It is just too cute, the little biter. He holds a Normal Z-Crystal for extra power.

Hanako’s Charjabug is named “EmergencyUse” except that the electric bug is often used. She never has to worry about her batteries running out. Her bug cannot evolve however, until it encounters the special magnetic field present in the Vast Poni Canyon or on Blush Mountain.  It is a slow bug, so it carries a Quick Claw.

Her Wishiwashi is named “Smells Fishy“. It is good to be skeptical on an adventure. Sometimes things do not appear as they seem. I can suggest many more Wishiwashi names from my old fish post linked here. It carries a Waterium-Z.

I wanted Hanako to have Alola-only Pokémon, and as it turns out, many are small-less powerful ones which still need to evolve. Her Comfey does not evolve. She caught one female Comfey named “Princess Lei” after the Star Wars character, but named another one “Lei Lady Lei“ after the Bob Dylan song linked here.

Regarding songs, which Hanako Oku song might be playful enough for a Pokémon adventure? Most Hanako Oku songs are emotional piano ballads dealing with unrequited love — or “break up songs” as is sometimes described on American radio. I thought that her song “Takoyaki” sounded playful enough. I could see the young trainer prancing through the tall grass singing this one.

“Takoyaki” is the name of a Japanese snack made like a wheat dumpling, but containing OCTOPUS!  If little Hanako catches an Octillary, guess what she will name it?

Hanako’s Rotom Dex is well meaning, but often questions his existence and always wants to be reassured. Likewise, I think that my Pokémon journey is coming to an end. I first started playing Pokémon with my son when he was in second grade. We always bought every new game on release day. He would get one version (Diamond) and  I would take the other (Pear). We did this all the way through Pokémon Sun and Moon.

I noticed that he had less enthusiasm for Pokémon these days. He is very much more into Fire Emblem these days. He still wants the new Pokémon, but mainly just rushes through the story to beat the champion. I on the other hand was always diligent about filling the Pokédex.(“Denny” finally filled the National ‘Dex in Pokémon Y, including all the event Pokémon.) My son is not at all thrilled about Ultra Moon, even though this is probably THE BEST GAME IN THE SERIES.

So … without a kid interested, should I continue to play Pokemon games? … at my age? … with my responsibilities? I still enjoy writing “Pokémon Nicknames” as the series is less so about naming Pokémon, and more about being a jumping off point to discuss unrelated aspects of Popular Culture.

I am hoping that she will finish her adventure. Are you interested in what she will name her Alolan Pokémon? Please comment!

Starlight: Looking back through the telescope at 2010. 

Pokémon Nicknames: Caterpie, Metapod and Butterfree

Pokémon Nicknames:

Caterpie (in Japanese: キャタピー  “Caterpie”), Metapod (in Japanese: トランセル “Trancell”), and Butterfree (in Japanese: バタフリー “Butterfree”) are all Bug-type Pokémon. (Source: Bulbapedia.) Butterfree becomes a dual type Bug/Flying, and it very easy to level up. You only need to level up Caterpie to level 7 to make it a Metapod, and it evolves again to Butterfree at the low-level of 10.

(Denny imitating Tony Soprano). “Levelin’ up deese bugs? – Fugghetaboudit!”

You can encounter these bugs in your Generation 1 game, and you also encounter them in the first patch of grass you visit in Pokémon Sun/Moon and the new Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon games. Caterpie is usually an early member of most player’s team. “String Shot” is a useful move in the early game.

Caterpie is a Caterpillar, but it looks like a cute “Sweetie Pie”, so you could use that name. A sweet little munching Caterpillar, yeah, that will work. Of course, if you are a dark, “edgy” kind of player, you might like the name “PewDiePie” after the famous YouTube creator. Caterpie’s antennae looks like a big red letter “Y”, so you could name it “Ate-at-the-Y” after the joke where your friend asks you if you are hungry, and you reply “I already ate at the Y”. (Because you are a paid member of the local YMCA.)

My favorite name for Metapod is “Fuhgetabodit”. Remember that you only have twelve spaces for a name, so one cannot use the original Fugghetaboudit – which is an Italian-American slang contraction of the phrase “forget about it”. There are different ways to spell the word, but there is only one correct way to say it. Here, try it yourself:

Ha! An upper-class British guy trying to sound like an Italian-American from Jersey. If you are like me, and you use the Wondertrade a lot, you receive a lot of weak Caterpies and Metapods. I like to send over a Metapod, and the Wondertrade captions says “Denny sent over … Fuhgetabodit”. Ha. … as in you can forget about receiving a special or useful Pokémon this time. Also, you can fuhgetabodit — because with a very small move set, Metapod really is not very good at battling (Insert lame joke about the move “Harden” here). I also like to use “Hard Knocks” as in “the school of hard knocks”.

Denny contemplates this joke … fuhgetabodit!

Butterfree’s name is based on the saying, the book and the movie “Butterflies Are Free”. Consider these names for Butterfree:

“96 Tears” after the famous Mysterians song in the 1960s — because Butterfree has compound eyes with 96 parts.  “Y.U. Buggin”  – after what my friend who imitates the “rap” dialect sometimes says. “Margarine” because it is BUTTER-FREE, get it! “Flapper” as in the 1920s ladies fashion style. “Effect” after “the Butterfree effect“. Ha, tricked you.

Butterfree’s eyes somewhat resemble those of Venonat, so you may consider my names for it linked here.

Please enjoy the Butterfree cosplay!

I wouldn’t mind using some butter right now!

What is the name for your hard little bug? Please comment!