URPG Times September 2017 (SPECIAL END OF SUMMER ISSUE)

EDITOR'S NOTE: Because of the lateness of the issue last month, I decided to run a Special issue for this month’s Times. We at the Times reached out to the entire community and provided a prompt, for which every member of URPG could anywhere from a sentence to a novella. The articles were purposefully on the light side to make room for this, and to give the writers a break. Thank you all for your increased support for the URPG Times! You can definitely feel the love from the community!

Additionally, welcome Mistral into the halls of URPG Times writers!

Table Of Contents:
I. Pokémon of the Month
II. Pokémon of the Month Lore
III. Gym Leader Interview
IV. Special Item Exposé
V. NUKEM of the Month
VI. Art of the Month
VII. SPECIAL ISSUE
Epilogue. Payments, Awards, and Jobs

Pokemon of the Month
By Mistral

They hired the person who doesn’t know a thing about battling to do the Pokemon of the Month. Let’s see how this goes, fam.



This boy up there is a Pinsir, and he’s our Pokemon of the Month!

This guy doesn’t really evolve, but he does have a Mega Evolution. When he Mega Evolves, he’s no longer just a buggy boy; he becomes a flying buggy boy.

I’m not exactly the best battler in URPG, so I won’t be providing too much in the way of battle strats. I will say that Pinsir and its Mega Evo are strong physically, so they’ll hit hard. It has a high physical Defense, but it’s frail in terms of Special Defense. The best abilities for it are probably Mold Breaker and Moxie, though when it Mega Evolves, it gets Aerilate. It’s worth noting that Pinsir has a 2x weakness to Fire, Flying, and Rock type moves. When it Mega Evolves, it gains a 2x weakness to Electric and Ice type moves and its Rock type weakness is bumped up to 4x.

If you want to get your hands on a buggy boy it’s considered to be Complex rank in Stories and Art. You can also get it through the National Park if you go into the Woods (or the Enigma Ruins)! You’ll also need an extra 20k to get the Mega Ring + the Pinsirite, or just 15k if you already have a Mega Ring, to get a flying buggy boy.

If you already have a buggy boy, rumor has it you can claim 1k.

Also when weir asked me to do this, I said something along the lines of “ugly ass bug,” so I gotta put that in here too because Pinsir truly is an ugly ass bug. pls don’t kill me, mikey ily

Pokemon of the Month Lore
By Liam

Hello all! Bug-Catcher Liam here with another installment of Pokémon Lore: the Pinsir Edition!

Pinsir, the Tauros of the Bug Type World, is known as the Stag Beetle. It shares this title with its newest Alolan rival: Vikavolt. But Pinsir's talented yo! It can juggle more than one rival! In fact, it has 3 counterparts/rivals in the world of Pokémon! It first started out with countering Scyther in R/B/Y, where Pinsir was only available in Blue. The strongman PokéBug needed much more than Scyther as Scyther evolved in Gen 2; thus Heracross was born and another rival to Pinsir was chalked up!

But back on Pinsir itself, it is based off of a stag beetle, as mentioned before, but more specifically, it was based on the Lucanus maculifemoratus, a type of stag beetle found in Japan (also known in japan as the “Deep Mountain Stag Beetle”).
Its notes in the Pokédex are violent as this beast of a bug is known to grip its foes with its thorny mandibles and either crush/slice them in half, or shake them around like a mangey land shark! It's also noted that this Pokémon will become sluggish and slow in cold environments. So if you ever come across an angry Pinsir, just bring along your handy Alolan-Ninetales and whip up a good ol' hailstorm to slow that testosterone-filled beetle of rage!!

But joking aside, don't let your patriarchal view of the world get in the way of thinking female stag beetles are just mama-beetle! The males may have larger mandibles and they use those mandibles to fight other males and grip females to mate, but in some species it's the shorter mandibles on the females which are the strongest! Females are also the ones who usually do the defending against predators as the males' large and obstructive mandibles can get in the way. But don't fret, its bite is only about a force of 7 Newtons, which is like having a 700g pin pressed jabbingly on you... but that's for a regular sized stag beetle; Pinsir is by far much larger- so maybe you should fret this deadly vicegrip of a Pokémon that's also snipper happy!!

Pinsir, and it's availability to its many Fighting type moves, not only resembles it's willingness to play fisticuffs and brutish nature similar to stag beetles, but it also resembles a gambling sport in eastern Asia: Insect Fighting. People raise and take care of their insects (usually stag beetles or crickets) and then pit them against each other!

Overall Pinsir is a viscous insect with a plethora of enemies to battle and grip in it's mandibles, an insect with an interesting design, and a background with an animal that collectors love and fighters adore. Plus, it's mega looks scary as hell!!

Gym Leader Interview
By GrayMagicΓ

Gray:
Hello, Monbrey! Thank you for giving us your time. I'm sure everyone knows who you are, but just in case, could you please introduce yourself to our readers?

Monbrey:
Sure. I'm Monbrey, or Ryan, Ive been second in charge of URPG and Cinnabars gym leader for most of my time here, I think about 5 of the 7 years I've been playing this.

Gray:
That's quite some time! Do you remember why you initially went for Cinnabar Island way back then?

Monbrey:
Ever since the first day I joined I was focused on Fire types - my starter was Charmander and I soon bought a Torchic, Magby and Chimchar. I even wrote for Growlithe. Ii spent a year in the Fire Dojo as a noob, had Lavaridge for a short while but Cinnabar was always the goal.

Gray:
I see you're very enthusiastic about the type! What about the type appeals to you? Simply the aesthetic? Or is there something they generally excel at in battle?

Monbrey:
Theres definitely an aesthetic aspect to it, I've been playing Pokemon since Gen 1 and Charizard and Arcanine and still two of my favourite designs. I think most people generally like those two anyway. As for the battling style, they definitely tend towards the "hit hard and fast" style that I tend to battle with. I mean, if any Pokemon defines "hard and fast" it'd have to be Blaziken.

Gray:
As a fellow Blaziken enthusiast I couldn't agree more. Speaking of Charizard and Arcanine, I couldn't help but notice that they're the only Gen 1 Fire types on your roster. If there was any other Gen 1 Pokemon you could improve, what would it be and how would you make it better?

Monbrey:
That's actually a tricky question. I do have plans to use Ninetales again so that probably doesn't need improvement. I'm not sure I can pick one but I can definitely discuss the two main reasons I don't use them - Speed and/or movepool. Rapidash is fast but doesn't have any moves that really fit a need that isn't better covered elsewhere. Magmortar has a good movepool and great special attack, but lacks speed and became superceded by the likes of Chandelure and Delphox who carry secondary STAB. And poor old Flareon just doesnt get the speed OR the moves, though I think it's probably my favourite of the above and the one I'd choose to improve.

Gray:
Fair enough! Speaking of more recent Pokemon like Chandelure and Delphox, what's your favorite Fire type that came after Gen 1?

Monbrey:
Haha, I'd have to make the huge jump to Gen 2 and say Houndoom, and I love Typhlosion too. I generally tend towards the older designs every time. But if you want something much more current, I do kinda love Incineroar... I mean:


Gray:
Oh yeah, I love the Gen 7 starters! Thanks again for the interview, Monbrey, I'd have to say it's in a 3 way tie for the best one I've done. Do you have any last words for our readers?

Monbrey:
Yeah, stop taking / trying to take my Fire NUKEMS :angry: I'll be back for them!

Special Item Exposé
By Mikey57

The Assault Vest Expose

The Assault Vest is quite the item as of late. Raising your Special Defense by 50% (+1 in URPG), it holds quite the value in all-out-warfare. However, the ability to use status moves is revoked and you can only use damaging moves. This is fine. Raw, offensive power is the real way to go. I, Mikey57, shall show you why the Assault Vest one-tricks are amazing to use.

Why is the Assault Vest good?

Nobody sees it coming.
Nitro-08/19/2017
obviously all of our section leaders are among the best of their field
obviously a SR would never lose to mikey57's mega heracross
;__;
swiftgallade46-08/19/2017
or his Assault Vest Ludicolo ;__;
Nitro-08/19/2017
tfw half of the SRs have been legit traumatized by mikey in battle
Silver | GrayMagicΓ-08/19/2017
lol
swiftgallade46-08/19/2017
...or his Assault Vest Stunfisk for Seppe
Damn

As we can see here, there are three ways the Assault Vest has taken down some of the best of the best.

Assault Vest Ludicolo, for one, threw Swift completely off during my random Legend Defend challenge to help Xali get his reffing legend. Keeping Rain on, why not just go for full sweeping power and tank hits against a togekiss?
The prime example: Air Slash leaves Ludicolo at 45.05% HP without the vest… BUT WITH THE VEST IT LEAVES IT AT 63.18%. That’s an 18% difference that prevents it from being 2HKO’d.

Xali | Feelykins-06/24/2017
Ludicolo 100 [Shadow Tag] | Togekiss 25.13 | Rain
AIr Slash
hits
Flinches
Ludicolo 63.19 [Shadow Tag] | Togekiss 25.13 | RAIN
Pokemon Trainer Mikey57-06/24/2017
Fk
swiftgallade46-06/24/2017
should do a lot more
Pokemon Trainer Mikey57-06/24/2017
Nah
swiftgallade46-06/24/2017
unless some weird item ?
Pokemon Trainer Mikey57-06/24/2017
:Eyes:

:Eyes:

:Eyes:
Menegoth-06/24/2017
:eyesreverse:
swiftgallade46-06/24/2017
o
Assault Vest
Pokemon Trainer Mikey57-06/24/2017
P r a n k e d


As we can see here, Swift was taken aback by the Assault Vest Ludicolo. The item that prevented it to be destroyed by Togekiss in two hits. Three hits. Too strong.



Still not convinced? I understand. How about… Assault Vest STUNFISK?!

One person has ever tried this in URPG; and that’s me, the KING of Stunfisks. Using this vs Seppe when he challenged me at Legend Defender, it was time to make him feel the wrath of Mikey not caring about it anymore.
Xali | Feelykins-07/02/2017
Energyball
Pokemon Trainer Mikey57-07/02/2017
I played myself tbh
Fak
Xali | Feelykins-07/02/2017
no drop
Pokemon Trainer Mikey57-07/02/2017
H A H
Xali | Feelykins-07/02/2017
Discharge
Seppe | URPG in 4K-07/02/2017
NO WAY
Pokemon Trainer Mikey57-07/02/2017
P-P-P-P
PRANKED.
Seppe | URPG in 4K-07/02/2017
W T F
IS
THAT
Xali | Feelykins-07/02/2017
no par tbh
Pokemon Trainer Mikey57-07/02/2017
P R AN K. ED
Seppe | URPG in 4K-07/02/2017
ASSAULT
VEST
Pokemon Trainer Mikey57-07/02/2017
LMFAO
Seppe | URPG in 4K-07/02/2017
K M S
Pokemon Trainer Mikey57-07/02/2017
SHIT IT DIDNT WORK

Seppe | URPG in 4K-07/02/2017
WHY DIDNT U TWAVE U DUMB HO
U HAD ME
Pokemon Trainer Mikey57-07/02/2017
GEE SEPPE
ASSAULT VESY
Xali | Feelykins-07/02/2017
Gengar 69.44 atk2 satk4 | Stunfisk 3.32
Seppe | URPG in 4K-07/02/2017
OH LOL
Pokemon Trainer Mikey57-07/02/2017
VEST*
D*****S
Xali | Feelykins-07/02/2017
tbf
Seppe | URPG in 4K-07/02/2017
dude i've never f*****g seen assault vest in my life


Seppe had never seen one in his life! But, he learned. He learned the hard way. Stunfisk lived at 3hp, tanking a +4 special attack Gengar Energy Ball. This is why the Assault Vest is god tier. It tanks everything… but doesn’t always win.

Assault Vest Stufful had been my latest plan in the Legend Defense spree. It failed, by 1hp. It left the dragonite at 1hp with rock slide. No Priority moves. It was a shame, honestly. It’s not invisible as a strat, but it’s a great way to throw your opponents off. Both times in Budget Tournament, I’ve sent my Skuntank with Assault Vest, but it has never hit the battlefield. Shame, too, it would’ve destroyed my opponents in ease… maybe.
Regardless, let it be known the Assault Vest is one of the perfect ways to throw an opponent off within any URPG Battle. If it can swing hard and tank a few hits, you’re doing it right. See y’all on the battlefield! Just be ready to counter those secret Assault Vest Strats! :eyes:

NUKEM of the Month
By Ralin

It’s half past nine in the evening. Your car sits idling in the parking lot of your favorite food establishment, Papa John’s Pizza. Your pizza has about ten minutes until it is cooked to delightful completion. You slide the AUX cord into your cellular device and turn on your favorite soundcloud musician. The weird indie beats start to put you to sleep despite the insatiable craving for Papa John’s brewing inside of your stomach. You wish you could devour it like a beetle. Your mind imagined your body with pincers on top of your head, ready to shred the delicious pizza. You smile slightly and get comfortable.

The image continues onwards. Your skin begins to tighten, your mouth forms an O with teeth on every end. Your hands become tiny. Your legs are stubs. You are a Pinsir.

ACT 1:
WHAT CAME FIRST THE EGG MOVE OR THE EGG?

To understand how to devour a pizza, one must understand Pinsir. What makes Pinsir so good? Why would you want to master the art of Pinsir? As light gleams into your newborn Pinsir eyes for the first time, you realize something. Something very important.

You will become NUKEM.

Just like in the reality where Pizza exists, hunger engulfs your Pinsir-self. You scan your surroundings. A herd of Pinsir surround a small pile of berries. That is when your bloodline’s powers first begin to activate. You Flail forwards at the pile of berries. In whatever language Pinsirs speak, you shout Me First! As you rapidly barrel towards your brothers and sisters. It was an awfully Quick Attack. Your siblings say some vulgar things to you. You take a Bug Bite out of the berries and glare at them. This is your food now.

One of the brethrens slams their foot to the ground and rushed you with their own Quick Attack. Luckily, your bloodline knows how to do Close Combat. You throw a Feint at him. He falls for it. That is when you finish them off with a Fury Attack. You feel the ghosts of your bloodline leave your body. You have proven your worth to your family for Eight Generations.

ACT 2:
SPECIAL MOVES FOR A SPECIAL BOY.

You hum a tune to yourself. It’s your anthem. The Papa John’s theme song. Mom always said you were special, and when you bought pizza from Papa John’s, you felt the same way you did when she cooked dinner; special, and loved. A special person would for sure have special moves, right? Right.

Your Pinsir-Self trots through the forest, looking for a delicious snack. An Oran berry hangs from above. You crave it. You need it. Your Pinsir-eyes move towards the ground as you come up with your master plan. You are gonna throw a rock. You’re special unique-ness gives you the power to Rock Throw. You hurl the rock upwards. Your stomach growls in unison. The rock misses the target. You shut your eyes and sigh. You need a Helping Hand. There is no one around. You are alone.

ACT 3:
TO MOVE ON FROM YOUR TUTOR

You stroke your metaphorical beard. You have become a Pinsir master. You have trained in the great peaks of whatever the local mountains are called. It doesn’t matter. It’s time for your final foe. Your final foe is the real you. You blink. You see yourself rise above the horizon. Your real-you stomach roars. It wants Papa John’s. The real-you holds a receipt in its grasp. You brace yourself with your Iron Defense. There is one thing left to do. You must knock the receipt out of real-you’s hands. Your training has lead to this.The final move…. Knock Off.

You rush forward towards the real-you and slap the hand that holds the deed to deadly desire. As the piece of paper flutters to the ground reality begins to warp and bend. Are you real? Is Pinsir real? What is a Pinsir? What is a Papa John’s? In a glow of heavenly light, the gods come down and kiss your forehead. You have achieved godhood, you have achieved… NUKEM.

ACT 4:
FELINA

You awaken in a parking lot in cold sweat. You have no idea why you’re here. You feel hungry. Looking into the building to your left, you see a Papa John’s. No. You do not want Pizza! You. Crave. Love. You slide your car into drive and veer off into the night. A piece of you sits quietly in the heavens. Unfamiliar words whisper inside of your head.

“NUKEM PINSIR”

Art of the Month
By Weir

Here's the link to the piece!

Hey guys! Back again with another Art of the Month, this one’s going to Elrond and his Sunset Shellos piece! Elrond’s medium is colored pencils, and god, does it look amazing. The soft touches of the sun detail reflecting off the water is an amazing backdrop to the #WestSeaBestSea Shellos obliviously climbing on a rock. The quite literal perfect detail put into the Shellos, from the way the waves wrap around its shell to the nigh perfect anatomy made me go into shock when I realized it wasn’t a photograph. Good luck in curation buddy, and send West Sea Gastrodon in FFAs with me :eyes:

URPG TIMES SPECIAL ISSUE
By The Community of URPG

Editor's note: Guys this turned out way better than I could've even imagined. We're all different, and we all think differently (I'm sure TC coulda told us that) but I've never been prouder to be part of something in my entire life than I am in this moment. Not gonna preface it with anything else.

Morru

Spoiler

Probably the memory that stands out to me in the past summer was when I finally unlocked the Master-tier Pokemon in the Berry Store. I purchased URPG's first ever Turtonator. I don't know what others would say about this, but personally it felt like my crowning achievement as both Coordinator and Judge. There was a solemn kind of catharsis there, and knowing that I got to that point with the help of people I love made it all the better.

Fabled

Spoiler

"Urpg let me meet by best friend and some other cool ppl so it's okay i guess"
There's ur quote fucko

Nitro

Spoiler

I had lots of fun on AH this summer!! It was like URPG’s home for all of the wacky fun crazy spiels that we usually leave in #general, except this is where they’re actually supposed to go!!

I also had fun palling around with all of my pals.

Ebail

Spoiler

So if I had to pick a fondest memory this summer i think it'd have to be the time we all discussed old school/original yugioh in the general chat.

As a kid there hit a point where it wasn't cool or whatever to like Pokemon anymore and at this same time yugioh had just released in the states so everyone jumped onto that. Back in school we would duel and trade and such. So to be able to have q chat with several people in general about the old school days and call back to the old days was a pretty cool and fun time. Especially Nitro going crazy over Beaver Warrior

Ralin

Spoiler

The contest section entirely this summer. It was great to see it grow so much as more users found enjoyment in it. Although a more casual experience, I saw people who would usually be inactive become active again due to contests with friends. They were a great fun time to have.

The penultimate best part had to probably be seeing Gray get his legendary in three months from it. Then because he got his legend so quickly, trainer court combusted into debates that went nowhere. Good times.

Then the final awesome part of contests this summer? The CARNIVAL! This was such a fun thing to experience, it made contests a bit more active and added some really fun twists to the usual formula. Yes, even the DPPt contest mode was fun.

DiamondPearl876

Spoiler

Well, I re-joined URPG this summer, so that's a memory in and of itself. : ' ) Not even two days after I got my starter, I was asked if I wanted to do my first contest, but I said hell no because I absolutely sucked at the in-game ones. But all the participants PMed me the best comboes for Froslass in a Normal Beauty contest and let me win. Now I'm a goddamn judge and a URPG junkie. purplearmy4ever

Elrond

Spoiler

that time weir had to go during a battle 'cause he was shtupping his gf

CowboyJake

Spoiler

So, for this issue I was asked to write about a good memory from the summer. Judging from the fact that I’m furiously writing it up two nights ahead of time, I’ve been struggling with that a little bit. I was taking summer classes at my college from June through August, so I hardly had any time to go anywhere, especially with everyone I know in a different state. All I really did to pass the time was URPG… and that’s more or less when it hit me.


Joining URPG was hands down the best decision of the summer for me, thanks to an innocuous comment on an untouched Reddit thread by one GrayMagicΓ. I probably would have spent the summer doing little to nothing, but ended up meeting a bunch of cool people and feeding my Pokémon addiction instead. I’ve been part of the community for just under three months now and I’m already an active ranger, prepping for the ref test, and poised to become a Gym Leader!


More importantly than that, I was glad to find people I could just hang out with and shoot the breeze, Pokémon-related or otherwise. Without that, I more than likely would have been alone the last three months, and for that I want to thank all of you guys.

Juliorain

Spoiler

My Favorite Summer Memory: Seeing Catskill New York for the last time was possible the most exciting moment for me at least. I drove there after moving in from Cleveland visited family in Syracuse, and drove there. On the way there I was so glad to finally move all of my art and things that I couldn’t take on the first trip out and start me new life. Dad and I took a detour through the Catskills on the way to Syracuse and seen huge expanses of mountings, pristine forests, and adorable little towns. I was en route to my next stage in life and cherished every moment.

Synthesis

Spoiler

Losing champ to some scrub

CommBA

Spoiler

Damn, end of summer already? Well, here are some of my fav memories: Being pinged constantly just because I happen to be online! Finding out somehow that chump not only got Legend Defender, but even DEFENDED that shit like twice with some hella knockoff fake drunk strats! Finding out that chump was gonna host an auction and then he gave away some made up item (Stone Edge Metagross is more real than an Adrenaline Orb)! Oh, wait, you wanted favorite moments? My bad, none of those count. All things I despised. Happy End o' Summer URPG!

Jacen

Spoiler

Favorite memory is probably chilling and talking with everyone in VC during the summer auction/karaoke night

Mikey57

Spoiler

"I have two favorite memories that must be spoken of for this article tbh
1. Meeting Weirlind120 and K'sariya was the first time I've ever met someone long distance before. We had a blast hanging out, with plenty of memes to spare. Honestly, I cannot wait to see them for a third time in the coming future!
2. Asking Felly/Mistral out to date was something I never thought I'd be doing. Our one month anniversity is on 9/11 (LOL), and we're going so strong. Love you Felly!"

GrayMagicGamma

Spoiler

My favorite part of Summer was the URPG Contest Carnival 2017. It brought an insane amount of activity to my favorite active section, gave everyone new Pokemon to screw around with, was an amazing testing ground for unique special rules, and concluded with the launch of ORAS contests, the product of dozens of hours of hard work that I lovingly put in. Even after the Carnival I'm seeing ORAS used just as often as RSE, which is exactly what I wanted to happen to it (as opposed to being quickly forgotten about like DPPt contests or borderline replacing RSE contests like BW contests).

SinnohEevee

Spoiler

My best summer memory was the solar eclipse of August 21th. This rare phenomena can give a spectacular sight. What's the most amazing was the feeling it was dusk. Unfortunately for me, I don't live in the path of totality, and I didn't have tools to watch carefully the Sun, but I managed to take picture safely with my cellphone. It was 58% in Montreal, which was something. You feel the light of the Sun is dimmer compared to other sunny days. I can't wait for 2024 where my city will be in the path of totality.

Swift

Spoiler

My favorite memory was the Auction. I always like seeing URPG players coming together to throw money at random things and I think Mikey did a great job as host and with hyping up the event.

John

Spoiler

My favorite memory of this "summer" was me getting my 100k stunfisk tbh

and then mikey pulled a mikey and didnt even send me the goddamn full bee movie script

dammit mikey

Mistral

Spoiler

SUPER SECRET SUMMER THING IDK

“Write about your favorite memory from April till now.”

I don’t even remember that far back tbh.

Pretty sure the podcast started happening in that time frame, so we’ll go with that. Truly a memeworthy experience. AND I BETTER HAVE MY MEMES SOON IF THEY’RE NOT ALREADY OUT BY THE TIME THE TIMES HAPPENS. @Mikey57;, I’M LOOKING AT YOU. :eyes:

Did Syn vs Ash happen in this time frame? I feel like it did. That was pretty cool. I mean the time Syn became champion btw, not the time Ash became champion again but that was pretty cool too.

That time Mikey made me write a story in 3 days for SWC and I still finished before him.

Staying up till ungodly hours of night playing League tbh.

I dunno, I didn’t really do much URPG stuff till like, August when URPG decided it wanted to host a bunch of events because I like events tbh.

There was also that time where memes became a reality, where Thursdays turned into Fridays, and I still don’t have any yoga pants or any pictures of a certain someone in yoga pants. :thinking: Maybe I’ll get those pictures around our 2 month anniversary. :eyes: If you haven’t gotten the picture yet, Mikey and I started dating and that’s the best memory I’ve got tbh. ♥ also send podcast memes because i’ve been waiting for months tbh

Liam

Spoiler

My favorite part of this summer is either belting Lion King during the URPG Karoke Event, or winning Ameribirb (Rufflet) in the auction, my first ever Pokémon from an auction!!

Xali

Spoiler

"My favorite part of summer was the not school part of it."

Monbrey

Spoiler

"The rare moments when some fuckhead wasn’t shitposting memes"

Sou

Spoiler

Ah, Summer… A time when most people have get together’s, cookouts, and beach parties. A time when people go out to shoot fireworks, go on vacations and get sunburn~! A time when… adults like myself work all the time :’) Thats right, admittedly, most of my summer was spent like any other day of the year. A routine of getting up at an ungodly hour of the morning, grabbing breakfast, preparing for work and off I go to the magical world of adulting! Typically, after all is said and done, I come home tired and just chill until bedtime before starting the process over again. And that is how I spent the -majority- of my summer. Yet, amongst all the chaos and mediocrity of daily life, I happened to enjoy myself at a 4 day event towards the end of May. The best part? It was just a week after my birthday, so that made it feel a bit more special. Now, I didn’t go all four days, as price for doing so would have quickly ate through my funds, but the two days I did go were absolutely amazing. The place? Well, it was an anime convention, and the second one I had ever been to. At events like these, panels are set up all throughout the day of the event that people can go to and its all listed in a book with locations to mark everything ahead of time. On top of that, there are autograph signings, a large area for video games, computer games, and even tabletop! If that wasn’t enough, there was the vendor area and artist alley for all my purchasing needs. It was a MASSIVE event, though not quite as large as more recognizable ones.


For me though, I spent a lot of time in the vendor area and artist alley. I love supporting artists and chatting with them about a variety of topics, whether it be art related or merchandise related. One of my highlights there was meeting someone who is close friends with one of my good friends and I was able to buy merchandise to support both of them. I also spent a lot of time, just chatting with them and with other artists, because at the end of the day, these are people too and while some of them are more experienced then others, they’re all there because of art. I found it incredibly inspiring to be in such a large area full of artists with different backgrounds, art styles and interests.


Another good chunk of my time was spent in the vendor area and its as it sounds. As it was an anime convention, most of the merchandise was going to be directly related to anime, video games and some comic book characters. I spent a little less, money wise here, but I had two highlights in that area, both being related to Pokemon if you would believe it! See, on my first day, I choose to wear a Team Rocket inspired shirt, so naturally I got some nice comments on it. It was a simple black tee with a small team rocket logo to the right on the front. However the back was all decorated with a large version of the logo, words and silhoulette’s of Team Rocket. So my first highlight was someone calling out to me because of my shirt. They were selling Pokemon Merchandise, and of course, commented on my shirt before showing me a pretty neat assortment of items. I did buy two things because of it and they are sitting on my dresser as we speak. The second was a little less social, but I couldn’t help but cry internal tears of joy at buying the last available Mimikyu plushie they had there. Those things sold out day one and for a pretty hefty price of $35. It was worth it though. I also picked up a gift for my IRL friend, Zenith who also hangs around URPG, though I’ve failed to send that in the mail yet haha. ; One day, ~~ 70 years later.


But, while those were both really enjoyable moments for me during my time at the event, I think the panels were probably the most memorable for me, some more then others. Funny enough, I remember my first panel of the event being extremely boring, as we were sitting in a room listen to one guy talk about already known things regarding Splatoon. I had expected to be at least play the games, but the panel ended up with a single winner trivia game and that was the end of it. From then on, some panels are a blur, but we did happen to stumble into a sing-a-long one. They just so happened to be playing disney songs, so I couldn’t help but go inside to see a large group on either side of the tv in the room, singing along to the songs on it. There were also people sitting at tables doing the same. Did I join in? Hell yes I did and the best part? A certain Mulan song coming on where EVERYONE joined in. We (my cousin and I) were only there for maybe ten minutes, but it was a lot of fun. They even played a few Steven Universe songs, which reminds me of another panel we went to.


There was a panel labeled, “Steven Universe Jam Session”. Now, I dunno about you guys, but when i read the words “Jam session”, I thought it was going to be a bunch of songs being played and everyone singing along to it. Songs were certainly playing before the panel started, so it made sense thats what it was going to be about. However the panel started and the next thing I, my cousin and the audience knew, people were being asked to volunteer to make a sandwich. Guess what one of the ingredients was? Yeah, Jam haha. And they did this, over and over until towards the end of the panel when someone asked the golden question, “Are you guys going to play songs?”, to which the crowd all joined in wanting to know. Turned out, they meant -literal- Jam when they said it was a Jam Session, but then started to play songs since that was what most people wanted. It was a bit odd of a panel for sure though and from there, I went on myself to the Team Rocket Radio Tower panel.


I wasn’t in all Team Rocket Garb, but I was ready for this panel and its trivia~! Upon arriving though, I found that the people heading the panel were all dressed up as Team Skull! They claimed to be taking over the panel! The Fiends. But when all hope was lost, a bunch of people dressed up in Team Rocket garb came in and many laughs were had before we rolled in Trivia. The prizes were pokemon cards and while I knew some of the answers, I never got picked from the raised hands to answer! I truly felt like Team Rocket then. /shot From there, I left for a disney sing-along panel and if you know me, you know that I’m deep into Disney. Deep. It’s a huge passion for me and I know a good chunk of the full songs by heart. I admittedly, didn’t get up on stage, but I sang along with the person on there! If I had to choose though, I was definitely planning on “Let it Go” from Frozen or “Shiny” from Moana, ya know, because ”I’d rather be SHINY!, let a treasure from a sunken pirate wreck~ Scrub the deck and make it look SHINY~!”, okay I’ll stop haha. I’minlovewiththatsong.SendHelp.


Anyway, the first day was a blast and I’m probably mixing what happened on what day up, but its the point I remember them. It means it was enjoyable and yet, I haven’t even spoken on the panel teaching the Voice of Pearl from Steven Universe… what a meme is. Thats right, we were all trying to teach her about memes and everyone was hysterical during the entire thing. They invited a sorta of known SU youtube who does SU memes to come in and show off some of her stuff she created using Pearl’s voice. We saw a couple of others and other video memes not related to SU, naturally starting with some good old rick rolling, haha. Believe it or not, someone rick rolled the entire panel during the part of the panel where they open the floor to questions. I recall he asking to show a video on his phone of his friend, who couldn’t be there, asking a question, to which it was the rick roll video. Had the whole audience and me, rolling. I even learned something! As before I had no idea what “dank meme’s” even meant. I know understand what it means to say ‘dank memes” and yet, I’ll still post trash memes, heh.


There were other panels and events I went to, such as the autograph signings and other Steven Universe panels, but I don’t remember them in great detail. I just know I enjoyed myself, but wished I could have stayed longer on those days to enjoy the midnight events. I never even got to try the DDR machines, but I’d probably be too embarrassed to try. The craziest thing about it all though, was that I enjoyed this event while I was sick. Despite feeling like all i wanted to do was curl up in my bed, I went to this event and enjoyed myself. If there was anything over the summer I enjoyed, it was this event. So despite my overall, boring summer, I did take back some memories made from it and when I look back to this year, I can say, I did something I enjoyed. Summer itself flew by, just as these days tend to and I didn’t accomplish too much over these past few months. But, if given the chance to have small moments, in events like these, I’ll jump at it and create new, enjoyable memories to remember for years to come.


The fall breeze comes, Leaves, etched with those memories turn, Falling from withered branches, In preparation. For the end of summer draws And with it, A start to new ones. And thats all I have on my favorite memory of the summer~! But if i had to add one thing, it would be that I feel blessed also, for having made new connections, and new and deeper friendships. I thank them, for also lighting up my summer.

Anonymous

Spoiler

Watching QE get better at battling, watching Mene and John make their own URPG memes, watching Ralin own the Story section, it's all really exciting and and heartwarming to see

Smiles

Spoiler

I started off my summer as a spy.

The original goal was to go around the far-reaching corners of the Internet, recruiting role players for the URPG. I relayed this story in distress to all you friends sometime in August - of my insidious intent, of the guilt I felt for joining role play sites for the sole purpose of getting people to jump ship to us. I made friends. That was my first mistake, because making friends turned into creating plots and staying up late into the night on their VC Salt Server, and those talks turned into pivotal moments of what I realized I missed by never venturing much outside the URPG.

no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t do it. Couldn’t bring them here, couldn’t open up our chaotic, messy, gorgeous and amazing community to them. That was my second mistake, and my third mistake is to Stay.

To somehow make up for my misdeeds, I’m going to be honest as possible. I’m a spy over there but a storyteller for you, then, now, always. This is a sad story with no resolution btw.

It’s been a challenging summer. More than ever before, I’ve reflected about my role in the URPG and on the internet en large. I’m perpetually moved by the inspiring people I’ve met - this summer alone, i’ve fallen in and out of love, wrote 135 pages of gay girl fanfiction, collaborated with AH people to start the biggest event yet, raved about the SWC, reconnected with someone I loved very much through a series of stories we told each other about work, and met some of the most creative, genuine people I’ve ever had the fortune of knowing.

On the flip, we’ve all hit each other really hard recently. Politics is heavier than it’s ever been here. I want to laugh, say “let’s have a urpg roast” but it’s not enough to fix the frays between us; the memes can try to cover it but some days i’m drained, just so tired of the vituperative stuff we put each other through. I am a Staff and it’s my job to handle it, for my sections, and I know i’m not allowed to be burned out - not for this long, because right now any effort feels impossible. I know you feel this too - we’re all a little bit to blame somehow. But I find myself well into my second week of grad school with two facts in mind: i couldn’t be moved to tell you i was flying out in the first place, and i’m still on perpetual invisible.

The thing is, too! I’m not looking for pity, for encouraging statements and hashtags, for apologies that aren’t necessary. I think it’s good when we challenge this robust game - at heart, i rebel, i stir the pot, i Start Shit with the intention of changing things for good in the URPG. so i identify with that strongly! All I’m saying is that I’m tired and divinely inspired by all of you, like i’m boiling on the surface of the sun, with all the sense in the world to go but with the spirit to just bask in where I’m at. I love you all so much. This summer, for all its sadness, has been a reminder of just that: why I URPG, why I log into our Discord just to blindly scroll through without commenting on anything, observing ffa’s from afar, doing grader and chronicler wages and cotm even though it’s horribly late, whoops!

No matter how imbalanced this game can feel sometimes, as someone who doesn’t battle, as someone who deeply loves writing and role-playing and appreciates all the other sections, I can say with pure confidence I do love this game. You’ve all changed my life in profound ways throughout the years and here I am now, writing this sappy reflection that’s, in a way, saying i’m both sorry and not sorry for detaching as of late. I can only ask that we give each other a little more friendship, kindness, and community here at the urpg, because that’s what we do best. Especially when the world’s so wild right now. Let’s also do more karaoke and auction nights, cause you all really rocked at that and i really died every second along the way!

I love URPG, i’m so frustrated by URPG, am shook by all the fabulous art work, the battling and contesting endeavors, am elevated by the way we love each other - and i know, at heart, there is no where else I’d rather be. So I’ll end my summer promising to be both here and there, not two halves of a heart split but rather All that I can possibly give to you. Thanks much URPG fam, always ♥

Menegoth

Spoiler

"my favorite part of summer was watching mikey become a man"

Gun6

Spoiler

d a d d y no not the hose

K’sariya

Spoiler

"One of my favorite memories of this summer was Karaoke. It was awesome getting so much of URPG involved. If it weren't for the hype of getting everyone on the call, I don't think I would have been able to solo All Stars like I (terribly) did. It was such a fun experience that totally made my entire day--and week! "

Ash

Spoiler

8 AM Champion battle before sleeping.

FD

Spoiler

Fierce Deity | neoslayer93
"prob when i finally accepted xali request for e4 and won tbh i totally did not know what i was doing for 62.7% of the battle but it all played out somehow
edit1: :dahell:
edit 2: also @Monbrey ok i am in dis
edit 3: is this anonymous enough guys"

MagikChicken

Spoiler

Honestly, it would have to be visiting with Weir and K’sariya. Sitting down with some people I previously knew only by their online handles, and having a nice meal and an engaging discussion of URPG, Pokémon, and life

VoltchenMagneton

Spoiler

The best part of summer in URPG is the Auction and Karaoke! My favorite part of the auction is when Mikey basically banned everyone from outbidding themselves lmao and of course the memetastic prizes! The Karaoke may be a mess, but it's a beautiful mess and everyone sang their hearts out, especially one particular Mikey57 person :eyes:

VeloJello

Spoiler

This summer, I didn’t do a whole heck of a lot of things! I got neck-deep in The Adventure Zone, drew a ton, and even got back into the URPG after many years, but I didn’t do anything that most people would consider “exciting”. Unless you count starting two URPG professions you’ve never had (curator and finally reaching that high, lofty title of ref), that is.

But that’s not to say that I didn’t have fun, because I absolutely did! In addition to the above stuff, which were very good for me creatively and were just fun in general, I hung out a lot with a close friend of mine. We don’t live very close to each other, so face-to-face meetings can be kind of difficult, but they’re worth the heckle.

After a half-hour drive, I arrived in Ann Arbor - it was quite the ride for someone like me, who lives in the boondocks and never drives in big cities. Again, though, it was worth it. Downtown Ann Arbor is a really cool place. There were a lot of people, which was weird for me, but the people who we interacted with were really nice. My favorite was the guy who was playing Uptown Funk outside a restaurant on his saxophone.

We walked around for a really long time trying to find someplace to eat. There’s a lot of places to eat in Ann Arbor, but there’s much more indecision in me. I went out on a limb and tried some Indian food; it was good, if a bit spicier than the food I’m used to (which is admittedly a low bar, because I’m weak to spicy stuff). Afterward, we went to a Ben & Jerry’s. If you’re like me and don’t/didn’t know that there are physical Ben & Jerry’s ice cream shops, there are, and they’re great. I got a fresh, tasty scoop of caramel blondie, and we headed back with cones in hand.

It probably says a bit about me that this stands out most in my mind out of everything that’s happened this summer, but hey, I’m not a super adventurous person, sue me! I’ve had a great, calm, summer, and time spent with friends made it a lot nicer.

Elysia

Spoiler

once upon a time
s w c had just a rhyme
monbrey's poem was great

but t'was not haiku
i wept for the empty coup
resigning to fate

but against my fears
seventeen entries appeared --
and all were first rate!

vote

Rick

Spoiler

I got rolled a Tapunium Z on this month's Underground. Now, being a legendary-exclusive item was bad enough already (also a fairy to make matters worse)... but the dice decided to raise the middle finger and rolled a Marshadium Z right after that. Swift called it, too. Oh! And do I have to mention that this was after I got rolled an Odd Keystone on post #666 in Crossroad's Underground? Coincidence? Maybe. I got rid of it as soon as possible without even releasing the Spiritomb inside it, but I guess the curse was already laid me. Hoping it's lifted in October.

HKim

Spoiler

HKim - Yesterday at 11:04 PM
"My favorite part was the love of family and friendship."

EmeraldArcher

Spoiler

One of my favourite memories from this summer is easy ... stumbling across URPG! (I know that sounds cheesy but it's true!) I was in a couple of ASB leagues years ago, but there's one thing that URPG has that they didn't - Contests!

I joined just over a month ago now, just in time to get involved in Week 2 of the Contest Carnival. Why contests you may ask? It's mainly because battling is the very core of the games and so can be done in any version. But the feeling of exploring Hoenn for the first time, stumbling upon a weird building with blenders that you put berries into, played a little minigame and got a strange back to put into a PEZ dispenser. Of entering a contest and the crowd cheering for your starter. So many good memories (even if I had no clue of the mechanics behind it all) and getting the chance to relive them is great. (Even if Omega Ruby did satsisfy that need a while ago.)

I'm really looking forward to enjoying more contents, battles and getting to know all of you guys more!

Zolar

Spoiler

i went to arizona and got hammered every night

Weirlind120

Spoiler

Honestly guys, my favorite part of the summer was putting this, and the Times, together. I was given the role in both a happy and sad context, and I will forever be indebted to Menegoth for entrusting me with this. I plan to play URPG for as long as I can, and produce so many more Times articles for you guys, the community; until one day, maybe I’ll find a bright-eyed new member to pass this on to. Until then, I hope I, and my glorious, wonderful writers here at the Times, can continue to make the beginning of URPG’s month, every month, just that little bit more fun. Thank you guys so so so so much.

Payments, Awards and Jobs

Writers

Liam: 5k for Pokemon of the Month Lore
GrayMagicΓ: 5k for Gym Leader Interview
Mikey: 5k for Assault Vest Exposé
Ralin: 5k for NUKEM of the Month (It’ll be different than the PotM next month, promise.)
Mistral: 5k for PotM
Weir: 5k for AotM
(Note here: consulting an external source for Editor in Chief wages)

Uncle Weir wants YOU to write for the Times next month!

Cool People

Anyone who owns a Pinsir can claim 1k (Lets be honest, this is just Nitro, and maybe Felly?)
Elrond can claim 1k for drawing well
Every SWC Finalist can pat themselves on the back for writing extremely well
Monbrey can claim 1k for putting up with Gray

Thank you to everyone who made the Special Issue a success! Summer may be over, but the memories we made during it will last a lifetime.

Speaking of, you didn’t think I was just gonna let the issue end like that, right?

Anyone who wrote for the URPG Times Special Issue can claim 1k. Ostensibly, this means the near entirety of URPG can claim 1k just for scrolling to the bottom of this Times issue if they wrote.

I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH; ANY CLAIMS FOR THE PODCAST SHOULD BE ON AUGUST’S ISSUE, NOT THIS ONE. I WILL PUBLICLY OSTRACIZE YOU FOR NOT FOLLOWING THESE INSTRUCTIONS.

Don’t forget: any feedback, especially in Weirlind120’s inbox on Discord, is always appreciated! We’re always looking to improve, and the past feedback has helped immensely! Making the Times the best we can be is the end goal!​

 

Please I own one of them buggy boys

http://morrumagnumurpg.proboards.com/post/237

Claiming $2k (1k for Pinsir, 1k for the Special Issue)

mmmm I love URPG tbh

 

I claim 1k for writing a random sentence as a meme to piss off mikey.

 

1k for NOTHING

 

Claiming $5k for the article and $1k for the special thingy.

 

I claim $1,000 for my NSFL memory and another $1,000 for my very SFL picture of a Sluggy Boi.

 

Claiming 1k.

 

Claiming 1k for making words with my keys

 

Claiming $2,000 for words and Pinsir.

 

Claiming my 1k for mentioning the

 

Claiming $1,000.

 

Claiming 5k for writing and 1k for remembering. Thanks all!

 

Claiming 1k for the summer memory!

 

complaining 1k for some half-assed shit thx

 

Claiming my tasty 1k.

 

Claiming those $1,000

 

1k? OK

 

podcast sent me

shoutout to fd

claiming 1k for alolan marowak!