TRAINER'S EYE #55 - "Inside The Tapu Fini Shell" ft. NHoff

As a competitor at the Pokémon World Championships in Japan, NHoff highlights her personal mission to bring representation to underrepresented communities in Pokémon GO PvP. Her journey, from breaking barriers to discovering the magic of Pokémon in Japan, showcases the power of the game to unite diverse communities. This episode is a must-listen for anyone passionate about Pokémon, PvP, and the global impact of the franchise.

Sources
Opening Song: "Forget You" by Alex_MakeMusic from Pixabay

Transcript

David Hernandez: 0:00

My name is David Hernandez, and you're listening to As the Pokeball Turns. Welcome to As the Pokeball Turns, where the stories are real and people still play this game. When I was a senior in high school, I remember I had a shirt that was given to me for student council that read on the back, why follow and read this shirt when you can lead and see so much more. It imprinted the idea of both leadership and forging one's own path, a trait that is usually admired in our western world. As many of us follow our own paths, whether we are discussing Pokemon or professionally, we give courage for others to do the same, especially those who can relate to our own stories, struggles, or perhaps our own ethnicity, gender, or race. Having that connection with a role model is important because it gives people hope that they can be more than what they thought possible. My guest today is motivated by being an example for both women and trans members within the Pokemon community. In spite of all her battling accomplishments, she places more value on improving the experiences for both women and trans members within the community, particularly when it comes to PVP. From Boston, Massachusetts, here's her origin story into the world of Pokemon Go. This is... NHoff. today I'm joined by NHoff. She has qualified for 2023 World Championship and is heavily involved with both GO Stadium and GirlsThatPVP. NHoff, I'm happy to finally have you on the show. Welcome.

NHoff: 2:04

Thank you so much, David. Yeah, it's an honor to be on. I'm really excited to talk about all kinds of things Pokemon Go PvP and it should be a great time.

David Hernandez: 2:14

Definitely. before we dive into PvP, like, where did your journey with Pokemon Go start? Like, when did you first start playing?

NHoff: 2:19

so I'm a day one, at least in the states, player, so I believe that's July 7th. July 6th was if you did, the Australian APK, I didn't quite do that, but first day it was available here, I was out playing, catching those Pidgeys and not much else. I remember, that first week, more game crashes than able to actually play the game. going around and catching, you know, a bunch of the same, getting so excited catching your first lapras, all those really good. You know, 2016 vibes. Evolving Vaporeon to put into the gym and then I played it for about a year and a half. and similar story to a lot of players, took some time away from the game. the features weren't really coming out at a rapid pace like we have them now. between like end of 2017 and like mid 2019, I came back right before Mudkip Community Day and have played since. told myself if I get back into Pokemon Go, I'm gonna go deep into it. And PVP was really interesting to me, so I was a bit of time after, PVP was introduced, but started with Silph Season 2 with the Sinister Cup was my first tournament. I actually tied for first at my first tournament I ever played in PVP, and obviously, have not looked back since. it's my Favorite aspect of the game, and, really love what it does in terms of building community, and the game itself is really fulfilling to me has really been enjoyable, and the game becoming a larger part of my life is actually something I've, really enjoyed.

David Hernandez: 3:54

So, for those initial days, you talked about, trying to get a Vaporeon to put in the gym. You talked about trying to get a Lapras. Were you just, out trying to hunt these Pokemon? Like, Lapras was pretty hard to hatch back in those days.

NHoff: 4:04

Yeah, so, Lapras, I remember hatching my first one. in terms of catches, obviously the storyline is the dragonite. And I remember, finding a couple, or like seeing people at the local park all running to one location which, the only time you really see it now is like at a Go Fest when there's a hundo, I saw it. in New York, there was a Hundo Dratini, and you see everyone rush over, but that was just for any given Dragonite spawn back in the day. so I remember those, and then catching Eevees, and going for the 1 in 3 roll of Vaporeon. But there wasn't a ton else to hunt, because so many things were either, locked to eggs... raids weren't in the game yet, it was just gyms to defend, or regionals. And, that was before we had a lot of these events based on the game that get you to go all over the world. So I know we're going to get to Japan later, but like getting a Farfetch'd just wasn't feasible. I think, a large reason why a lot of players, took a time away from the game and now it's so much, in my opinion, so much better in terms of Interesting things to hunt. I can go for a walk, especially with adventure incense as well, which is one of my favorite additions to the game. I can potentially get something like a Vullaby or a Rockruff from my adventure incense, and that's exciting, like that brings back some of that wonder in a way that we didn't even really have in 2016 because it was like Dragonite, maybe like a Hitmonchan was really exciting. I don't remember if those even spawned or if they were from eggs, but like things that are still a little bit rarer. but that was about it, and then trying to evolve your strongest Eevees into Vaporeon and hoping they got the right moves, too.

David Hernandez: 5:44

Oh, yes, that's before TMs. I remember, like you said, like, all we had back in the day was really just a grind. I think the rare catches back in those days was definitely Snorlax, Chansey, if you got the evolution starters, like, Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise, that would get people running and Dratini, of course. I get what you're saying to where like nowadays those spawns are more, there's more different type of spawns and you get to more like rare spawns, if you're lucky.

NHoff: 6:08

and the advent of things like nests, which I don't think were in the game at the beginning of the game, or if they were, they were just very limited in what was available in nests. the idea of, oh, my local nest is a Pokemon that I want to grind XL for? I'm gonna stop by it for a few days in the next week. I remember, later on, like a couple years back, my local park became an Onix nest and I really wanted a good shiny Onix for, a shiny Steelix for PvP. And that was just really exciting, that was something to grind. So just like adding all of those aspects to make Things a little bit more interesting has just been really nice.

David Hernandez: 6:46

Before Pokemon GO, what was your experience with Pokemon?

NHoff: 6:49

I started with generation 2 Back in the day with silver and crystal were the two Games that I had so my first starter was Cyndaquil and then I played a good deal of that and then Pokemon Sapphire released. to this day, Hoenn is my favorite region, Sapphire and Emerald as well. And then the remakes as well, Omega Ruby, Alpha Sapphire, are my favorite mainline Pokemon games. I just was... So and for all the upgrade in visuals and in like depth to the game in Generation three having double battles, having weather in game, and just Pokemon. Hoenn is one of my favorite Pokedexes in terms of what's available Even beyond the, Hoenn decks, things like, Skarmory, like Slugma from Johto, that are just not really explored in that region, and then brought into Hoenn, I think it's just incredible and I dumped so many hours into Sapphire, restarting my save, playing it over and over again. and then I played Pearl, and then I, again, like many Pokémon players, dipped out for a while. Pokemon Go was actually my re entry to the series. to this day, I have not played Generations 5, 6, or 7, in their main versions, or, none of them have remakes yet, but, I will, whenever... We get a remake of Unova, Kalos, and Alola, and I plan to play them at some point regardless. But that was like my gap. I played heavily Gens 2 and 3, and side games as well. I played, XD is one of my favorite spinoffs still. And then Pokemon Go released, I jumped heavily back into the franchise, and I've really enjoyed it since. I've played. I had Sword, and now I have Scarlet, and really enjoyed, Pokemon Legends Arceus, pokemon Omega Ruby, Alpha Sapphire, as I said, that was actually my first game back. And then, Oh, Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee, and Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. So, basically, oh, and New Pokemon Snap, and Unite as well. So, like, since getting, heavily into Go, I've just dove back into the franchise, every release has been interesting to me in some way and I found it really enjoyable.

David Hernandez: 9:05

you know, I'm always a fan when I find somebody comes on the show and they say gen 3 was her favorite cuz that was my Favorite too because gen 3 like you said the Pokedex was very differential, the terrain was different, you had the volcano you the rainforest. you got a piece of every different type of terrain possible. Now I know the biggest criticism is all the water and everything, but me, I like that, like the extra water. Cause it adds a lot of mystery that you really, obviously, there's a limit to how much you get to explore in the game, but it gives you the idea of that there's more compared to what you experienced.

NHoff: 9:34

I am a big, Hoenn being water based defender. I think that there's a lot of interesting elements to that, especially when you introduce dive as a mechanic. And I think that all the towns based around the water are really great. You have... Mossdeep with the, Twin Gym. You have the ice area, Shoal Cave, north of that. You have Sootopolis, which is still, one of the coolest cities in Pokemon, in my eyes. and then Pacifidlog as well, an entire aquatic city. So I understand if you're, like, big on the whole, oh, I don't want to face fifteen Tentacruel one after the other after the other. and oh, I have to use repels, but like, it's no different than going through a cave for a route where you have Zubats over and over. grass routes can be nice because you can avoid some encounters, but like... I'm all for it, especially that late in the game. you should have some level of, difficulty there, and I don't really think it's that serious unless people just get, annoyed by it, which I can understand, but I really like the water half of Hoenn. Obviously love the land half of Hoenn as well, Lavaridge is, my favorite, Pokemon town at all, Flannery was my favorite Pokemon character until Gen 9, And still is one of my, favorites of the entire franchise. So, lots that I really love about this region.

David Hernandez: 10:54

My last thing on the ocean part of Hoenn, even Pacific log, it's not fully developed, it's not fully explored, like. It's a very small forgettable town, I'll be honest,

NHoff: 11:05

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 11:05

you think about Mirage Island, that popping up randomly, as long as your battery didn't die in Gen 3, we don't know why it appeared. It's right next to Sky Pillar where Rayquaza's at, and then when you read the text from all the people who live in the town, They talk about how, I think they were originally, explorers looking for some kind of ancient, Pokemon or something like that, which eventually, if you go further west, you find out it's the Regis. there's just so much depth to just a small island. And plus, I like the idea to where it's I think it's, abandoned, how can I word it? You know what I'm talking about, to where you're walking on, little, wood, I forget how the houses I can't even remember the foundation the houses were built on.

NHoff: 11:41

Yeah, but it's like rafts and floatsome.

David Hernandez: 11:43

There we go. Yes, those, exactly. And then the town, it's been a couple generations since the original ancestors. And they kind of remember, but it's become more that folklore kind of style thing.

NHoff: 11:54

you're touching on also like just the lore of the Hoenn region. I love the... I love Jirachi. It's my favorite mythical Pokemon. I really like a lot of, like, space based Pokemon. So, Rayquaza, Deoxys, all of this, is really interesting. Latias is probably my second favorite Legendary behind Tapu Fini, of course. There's, just a lot that I really like, from the mythos of Hoenn as well.

David Hernandez: 12:18

Last question about Hoenn, I promise. If you're gonna do a playthrough for Hoenn, what six Pokemon would you choose?

NHoff: 12:24

Ooh so that one's tough because I like a lot of Pokemon that are like Later on, and also, I'm bad in variety because I love so many different ground types. I would probably pick, Swampert as my starter. I love all three Hoenn starters, I think it's one of the best fleshed out regions in terms of, first partner Pokemon. I love, Swampert. I think Aggron is one of the coolest, like, early route Pokemon that you can get. definitely picking up Torkoal. Torkoal is my favorite fire type to this day, used it on all of my VGC teams as well. Flygon's just one of my favorites from Hoenn as well. I'm gonna pick up Skarmory, probably my only, non Hoenn Pokémon, and I'm doubling up on Steel, and I already doubled up on Ground, but I think it's pretty fun. And then, I would pick up a Castform. I've never actually done a playthrough with a Castform, but I've really grown to love Castform through Pokemon Go, and I just think it's a really fun, Pokemon. I like its idea a lot. I love its, incorporation into Hoenn. It's never been, like, a huge favorite of mine, but I've picked up rainy Castform in like, draft tournaments. it can just be an interesting pick in a team of six. I would probably opt for it as, Snowy Castform, like, I would try to do, a Hail, setup. Just because of how that works with the team's weaknesses and because, I've used a lot of Rainy and Sunny Castform in Go. I like Snowy Castform, it's just, unfortunately is the only one without any coverage in Go and it would be cool. It would force me to play something different. Cause I've done a lot of like, Oh, I'm just gonna run, You know, my starter, Aggron, which like, Aggron's great. and some other big Pokemon on my team. so Castform's a little bit more challenging to use.

David Hernandez: 14:09

So you said how you left the Pokemon series for a bit after gen 4, which pearl Why did you stop playing?

NHoff: 14:17

Just like, moving out of childhood, so to speak, starting to get the stigma between peers of Oh, Pokemon's not that cool anymore, and also like just different priorities in life. it wasn't even necessarily tons individually that changed. I think it was also like moving from the DS, I tapered off, gaming in general and then I picked it up a lot more than later on in life.

David Hernandez: 14:41

that's fair I think we all struggle with trying to find that especially around that age when we're growing up We feel like we should just put it to the side, but reality we probably should have just I don't know I get I think we all go through that stage to where we feel like we've probably grown out of it We should stop doing it, especially, you know with our generation, you know the ones before It was childish to still do stuff like that. So we're first ones. I say we, but people who grew up in the nineties, I would say were the first ones to hold onto those kind of childhood, Pokemon, Digimon, Yu Gi Oh is different ones. Of course it's different brands, but we still play Pokemon to this day and it's because we grew up with it.

NHoff: 15:15

Definitely! There's just a hold to it. And it's, it's actually something that I've been talking with people a lot about recently. It's the commitment to the brand in whatever shape it takes like... It's so powerful and it's just so enjoyable. There's not really anything from Pokemon as a brand that I've disliked. things that I like more than others, of course. I have played, Pokemon Go, obviously, extensively. I've played a lot of the main series games as well, but I haven't, super watched the anime. But, It's not that I dislike it. I, everything I've seen of it, I've liked. It's just a matter of time and all.

David Hernandez: 15:50

let's fast forward back to 2016. So Pokemon go comes out in 2016. You play for a year and a half. You put the game down cause it's just not as interesting. You come back after Mudkip community day. what brought you back to Pokemon go Was it the PVP aspect or was it something else?

NHoff: 16:05

so what brought me back to the game was actually moving to Philadelphia. I played... the game in more of a urban setting when I started the game up in northern Pennsylvania at the city that I went to college. I moved back into a more suburban part of Pennsylvania and just dropped off and then my significant other at the time and myself moved into the heart of Philadelphia, and I was like, well, I want to be a bit more active, and I really enjoyed Pokemon Go when I used to play it. Let's see if I can give it a re download. Didn't look back, obviously, until current day. I'm still playing the game. So, that was the big driver, was like, I know this game is more enjoyable in a city. I know I put it down because I was in a less urban setting and with PvP added and having the community element, it just was great. And I, really enjoyed it since. And that was even before like Go Battle League was a thing. it's only improved since.

David Hernandez: 16:59

So, when you came back, did you like, find people right away? Like, would you go to downtown or the parks to try to find people to play? Or would you just be a solo player?

NHoff: 17:07

I would play, so my significant other at the time would play with me now and then, but she was never a hardcore player. she would just, play community day with me, and now and then you unlock, so I would usually play solo, and still to this day like A good chunk of my play is solo. I'll usually go into the Boston Commons for an event, for a community day, or a spotlight hour, and if I see people there, you know, I see people there. at that time, I was involved in discords and such and that's how I got incorporated with the community for like, my first tournament, Sinister Cup, and so on. But, yeah, I was mainly a solo player. I would see people at tournaments and then not until the next tournament, really. which was interesting, it was also very interesting, the people that you get to meet, because, I was locals with House Stark at the time, and, like, the mythos that gets built up about these players, and, now I'm on a team with Stark, and, like, talk to him all the time, and it's just, it was an interesting dynamic of early PvP kind of structure, of, not everyone's communicating with everyone else all the time, or seeing them at events, and It was charming, looking back, it was really, neat to have that kind of hold.

David Hernandez: 18:15

You alluded to where you started playing PVP with Sinister Cup. Was Silph Road where you learned how to get better at PVP?

NHoff: 18:22

Well, for Silph, definitely, but I have to give a shout out, as always, to, Matthew, the developer of PvPoke. I am always a very heavy analyst. I love diving into the data, and Pokémon Go PvP is a game that has so much data behind it, like, it's something that we, especially high level players, take for granted, we're just like, this is how this works, and, because you have so much knowledge already, you take it for granted. But, the Sinister Cup, timeline, PvPoke did not have the Team Builder tool yet, and it did not have, the matrix function to what we see, today, where you can just, like, easily sim against the meta. I did so much of my training for that, using the PVPoke training tool, because I didn't know anyone to scrim. tied for first in that first tournament, I think it officially shows up as gold on my Silph card. Never looked back. Was so into it. Said, when's the next tournament that I can drive to? Like, one of the locals from that tournament, IVpips, who's the developer for PokeNav as well, so shout out to him. immediately was like, looking to scrim with me, like, became really close friends, we're teammates now as well and really great camaraderie, and people who were also just super interested in data, like, some of these early conversations, Around the game, like, it's hard to put yourself in the mindset before GBL, before PvP info was as widespread as it is now. I remember talking to HouseStark at an event and it was like getting to the point where return had just been changed into a heavy damage move, it wasn't a bait anymore And sableye had been like released into the rocket pool and like we knew that sableye was good. him and I were talking about like hey, do you think return would be a good move on sableye to keep? Because it gives you that foul play return coverage. people are doing all these trades for Lucky Sableye because it was useful in the game, but what if we went specifically for purified ones? And now, like, common knowledge that you want to run a purified Sableye, also completely different because it's not one that you want lucky anymore, but like, the kind of, tribal information share. While it's really bad for, making the game accessible, it was really charming at the time, and looking back at that time.

David Hernandez: 20:32

that makes sense because back in those days, it was always like those rumors. I remember back when Pokemon first came out, you don't know the rumors like Same thing with PVP to where news was passed by is Oh, I heard this from other sources. And this is before keep in mind for people listening. I believe this is even before PVP content creators really became a thing, right? Because at the time, it was just mostly Silph Arena and It wasn't as big as GBL became.

NHoff: 20:54

No, you're, you're entirely correct. one of the people I'm good friends with to this day, but is the only, one of, like, maybe three or four creators that made PvP content at that point in time and still does today is Alfindeol. the biggest inspiration to me getting into streaming and content creation, one of my closest friends, I'm still A very dedicated mod in his stream and in his Discord, but Alfindeol made Silph streams, he would do scrims with people on stream. And it was right when I, like, got heavily back into PvP, I was, like, looking for, Pokemon Go on Twitch. And it was compare it to now, we would have maybe six people streaming Pokemon Go, average of, fourteen viewers. we see people all the time now be like, Oh, the category is dead. We're at an average of 300 people watching the category at it's minimum. And there's only 20 streamers live right now. not to disparage those takes or anything like that, Like, you can definitely chart Twitch, usage is and all that. But like, just looking back at that era, like, it was so different, and the treatment of content was so different. again, like, stuff that was kind of charming. Another, another longtime creator, as well, Debbie Pebble. One of my favorite people in the community. Debbie's a really great, streamer and content creator from Australia and she would stream now and then. Obviously like GBL was so different, but that was huge in capturing me and my interest in PvP. It was like, oh, a bunch of other people that like to have fun with this.

David Hernandez: 22:21

earlier you said Alfindeol is the reason why you wanted to stream. What was it about, being part of this community or just observing him that kind of motivates you to want to start your own Twitch stream?

NHoff: 22:32

I've been a Twitch viewer for an extremely long time and I want to say my Twitch account is... 11, if not 12 years old at this point. back in those days, it was entirely to watch League of Legends and LCS. I've always really enjoyed watching streams, the kind of environment, that it cultivates with, having a chat community, to be able to share this game with, whatever game it is that you enjoy, sharing that with your chat and watching Alfindeol, the way that he engaged with chat, the way the conversational aspect of Pokemon Go, being a much smaller game than something like League of Legends or Hearthstone, which I've also watched a good deal of and enjoyed. made the chat experience really great like I've watched a ton of, what people will call Papega style streams where it's a lot of chatter is spamming and that content can be super enjoyable, but I also really love like an intimate, streamer chat experience and environment and that's something that I really thought that. I could engage with as well, especially in a category that I didn't really see a ton of women engaged with. There's, Debbie Pebble, and this comes back to, Pokemon Go's player base, especially GoPBP's player base being extremely male dominated, and then further, like, who's willing to put themselves out there? I wanted to be that example, be that change that I could be. in the, category. And again, shout out to people like Debbie Pebble to people like Momita. we have wonderful, lovely women who create content in this catergory. I'm not going to be extensive with this, but you can definitely find, really great female content creators who make great experiences for them and their viewers and to me, it's, it's just the most enjoyable form of content creation. I've made video content. I've made a ton of graphic content and I love that as well, but I just really find the Twitch stream, environment just really charming.

David Hernandez: 24:20

How has being a part of Girls at PVP changed your experience with Pokemon and

NHoff: 24:25

Yeah! again, have been on Twitch and in, competitive gaming since 2011. especially as, as a trans woman, like, being able to see, how women have been treated in gaming over, over a decade. And... obviously, League of Legends, especially early League of Legends, very toxic environment, like, I knew firsthand, like, how bad gaming can be, towards women and especially towards queer women, and trans women in particular. as soon as I got invited by a friend, Endon7, who's one of my favorite people in the Pokemon Go community, and one of my best friends in... life, period, inviting me to girls at PVP and, you know, a great environment without the pressure that, having male dominated spaces can give, and especially Knowing that, even in Pokemon Go, which tends to be a really good community comparatively to other games, knowing that misogyny exists, knowing that, homophobia and transphobia exists, and like, having this safe environment to discuss this game that we love, to know that people can be newer to this game and not be judged for it, or, trying out different things and not be shot down for ideas, has been amazing. I joined girls at P V P in, 2019. And then in like spring of 2020 was asked to be an admin for the server and, it's been my favorite. community to advocate for within the Pokemon Go community. I think it's... It's so incredibly important especially as, someone who is able to perform at a high level, within the game, like, has a very intimate knowledge of the mechanics of the game and, can play well, like, I, take representation extremely seriously. It's something that I love that I can share. I've run lecture style classes in GirlsThatPVP myself, and DPhie, another amazing friend of mine, one of my best friends, again, in life, beyond just Pokemon Go, but in life. her and I have led like casting coaching within that server and seeing the joy of women in this community that can focus on What they enjoy without feeling like they're going to be judged without feeling like oh this man That gives me trouble at my locals because he always says that i'm an easy win or whatever the things that like Sometimes other men won't believe actually happens whether it's in dms or in person events like completely removed from that it's really beautiful to see and it's things where I will know someone in a more public server and They don't talk nearly as much and then I see them flourishing girls at PVP, it just makes me so incredibly happy. with the past couple years, like being involved with some of the other games, getting to see the Hatterene Series for VGC, getting to meet some of the people within Girl Power TCG, seeing, Unite has an all women's team propping up. I think it's called the femme fatales and like seeing these different spaces, having collaborations, we've done tournaments with a Hatterene as well. it's just been beautiful to see and it. really makes all of it extremely worthwhile to me, like knowing that I'm representing girls at PVP, knowing that I'm helping invite women to this community at events and, getting to see growth from other members of the server, like nothing, nothing makes me happier.

David Hernandez: 27:43

You've been listening to As the Pokeball Turns. We're gonna take a quick break. We'll be right back. NHoff, one thing that people know about you is your signature Pokemon is Tapu Fini. How did that all start?

NHoff: 28:53

that's actually a really fun, story, so big shout out to SpeediestChief2, in particular. So I... And a massive shout out, we'll get into, Trogdor, who's a local of mine. if you know the faction Muddy Water, he's the captain of that faction, he's a huge, influence and presence in Boston in terms of PvP. so Trogdor, during the water festival event, messaged me because I worked over in Cambridge, which is near where he... hangs out at times and he messaged me and he said, Okay, I found in this park near your work a rank 7 Araquanid like how available are you to run over? And I was like, I can take a a half hour for dinner And run over and it was like a 10 15 minute walk. So it was really nice and uh Just being able to see him and he's hey, do you want to do a trade? I was like sure like phoeni had just released in raids rather recently He was like, do you want to try to re roll Fini? And I got, the Pokemon that is now, forever tied to me. it's a 2 attack, 2 defense, 8 HP, Tapu Fini, so it gets a really nice HP point. And I got it in the trade, it said it was 1463 CP, and I was like, oh, this could either be really bad or really good because legendaries have a really high, step size of CP power up. So I was like, if I get a power up, this is gonna be amazing. If I don't, it's gonna be terrible.

David Hernandez: 30:19

Oh my

NHoff: 30:19

like 1499. and the rest is history. The whole, man I love Feeny, phrase, started saying that all over, because it's true, I love the Pokemon. So, SpeediestChief, the reason I mention him is, there were, practice tournaments for these regional championships that were happening. and so I entered one with both of those Pokemon, both Araquanid and Tapu Fini as well as Noctowl, Galarian Stunfisk, some other meta Pokemon. But I really enjoyed those two, and I've always, really enjoyed water type Pokemon, so they were really things that I wanted to test out. the fluidity of Tapu Fini, we see people talk about it all the time, we see like casters mention it. The Water Gun, Surf, Moon Blast, moveset is just very enjoyable to me, especially more so than Azumarill, which is a little bit slower paced. It's a lot bulkier, but it's also lumbering. I love fluid Pokemon in Pokemon Go PvP, and this isn't just because it's a water type, it's like the play style of a one turn fast move. The power of Water Gun Surf, and especially of Moonblast, has closing power. Just instantly I was, match made in heaven. both of those, Trog and Speedius, really solidified, oh, I want to learn this Pokemon extremely intimately. There is a high skill ceiling to this Pokemon. But, yeah, it was like instantly, I fell in love with this and because it's a trade under 1500 pokemon That not a ton of people have, this is something that I can learn, and I will always have, like, this knowledge that I can have as, my advantage. it's a Pokemon that a ton of other people might not, even have to test out, but a lot of other people won't invest it. I've really enjoyed Tapu Fini, obviously, it's my quote unquote signature pick because of that, but it's just something that every time I've used it, I found it rewarding in one way or another. And even people expecting it from me now, is something that can be rewarding as well, playing into the expectations. I don't see it changing anytime soon, so long as they don't nerf Water Gun, Surf, or Moonblast, you can expect me to be running Tapu Fini at basically every tournament. I actually have a hundo now that I need to max out, and I have the XLs because I've raided so many Tapu Fini because everyone wants one for me, which is like a great problem to have, don't get me wrong. People coming up to me at events and being like, I want you to trade me a great luchini, I want the fini from NHoff, I'm just like, It is the most touching thing, I still get weird about people approaching me at events, feeling not, Famous isn't the right word because it's, the Pokemon Go community, it's not like we're a huge community, but it is, A level of, oh, someone wants to approach me to say hi, and they're like, Hello, I'm TropiusFan55, I watch your Twitch stream, I comment in chat every now and then, and I'm just like, this person knows who I am, this stranger, and it still hasn't stopped being surreal. Someone approached me at Worlds in London and was like, will you sign my phone case? And it's like this isn't like me trying to brag, this is me trying to say like, this is It's still surreal and it's part of what I love about Pokemon Go and the community is people will seek each other out just to say hi, just to get a photo, and the like, connection with me and Tapu Fini that has resulted and has this like Influence and this impact and people will want to immediately talk to me about it, like what do you think about Feeny with the move updates? it's something that I don't take for granted. I feel very privileged to have this kind of standing and, it's something that I'm really glad that I dove so heavily into Tapu Fini for because, being the subject matter expert for a Pokémon, for lack of a better phrase, is really cool and being able to be that as a woman in the community, I think is just huge as well.

David Hernandez: 34:10

What is it about it being surreal? Because, when I look at what you've done so far, you've been to worlds twice, you've are very heavy involved with in the community itself. Is it just the fact that you don't feel like you don't deserve that kind of recognition? Or is it more of? It's too good to be true kind of thing.

NHoff: 34:29

you're keying on kind of two sides of it. There is a lot of, self doubt or, self, criticism of, Oh, why are, why is someone excited to see me? I'm just another person. I'm just another player. we're all playing this game together. but it's also, yeah, surreal and like, I don't expect it to happen like, too good to be true, kind of like, Oh, I'm being recognized for my play in this TapTap phone app, as, we call it. Some of it comes back to, like, so much of my learning of the game is stuff that I would just hyperfixate on anyway, and I'm just like, Oh, when I, played thousands of hours of RuneScape, I was just another player, but now when I'm playing, so much of Go and learning so much about the game, because it's a competitive game, it's something that, garners respect, and garners fame, and, like, it's also, I didn't approach content creation trying to be, like, a big name, nor do I think I am, like, comparatively to others in the game, but, it still is something where I'm, like, a recognized trainer, or Thanks What they put up at regionals, I think it's called Notable Trainers, Players to Watch, I think is another one they'll put on the streams. And it's oh, I'm on there. Oh, at Peoria, like... I'm playing 15 games in a row on stream and like getting put on youtube and gaining a ton of followers and like it happens obviously and that's exposure and all that but like I don't always Connect that like mentally and then like people will approach me and be like, oh, I loved watching you play against hot pocket in Peoria and I'm just like oh, yeah, like people watch these like I it feels so dumb to say out loud But like it is that kind of like too good to be true. I try to stay extremely, humble is like the classic word, but like, respectful of, everyone that I face, and, even in, Go Battle League and all. There's a certain level you get to when everyone's good, so... Why am I special? Why is someone approaching me and asking me for a photo? And, I know that's like a mindset that doesn't really make sense because there can be a lot of really good players, but it's just like, where my brain goes to, I'm like, Okay, I'm just another, I'm just another person tapping my phone.

David Hernandez: 36:36

No, that makes sense. Because like you said earlier, you didn't go into this for fame or to be well known. You went into this because you were just passionate about PVP and you just wanted to get involved. You started doing content creation and you just got involved with girls at PvP and go stadium and now you're almost a household name basically at this point. It becomes to the point to where like, oh, I was just doing it just for I enjoyed it I didn't really do this in hopes of having my name up there with all the others

NHoff: 37:02

Yeah, The first time that they broadcast like world qualified for trainers on the stream. And I saw mine up there with pocket with Stark, with Elam. it was just surreal to be like, Oh, and it's not like I hadn't seen the success in KBP up to that point. I've done things like eight aero draft league. I had done go stadiums tier system up to the God rank. That's where my Twitter username of goddessNHoff comes from like there's. Things that I had done and seen success in there, but then like suddenly it was so much more real Like you're saying like I have taken it through the lens of I want to be representation For girls at PvP. I want to be good representation for girls at PvP like I present myself very professionally. I try to do very good work for things like the Pokemon website articles that I've done for World in London, the preview and the review that I did and other articles since, and like, how I present myself in a stream, trying to, teach new players, and, trying to continue to do well at tournaments and be that representation, that, to me, is so much more rewarding than, Oh, I had five additional viewers in my Twitch stream. If I can have two women join Girls at PVP and have their, growth in this game fostered, and have that sense of community for them, that means so much more at the end of every day, and it's really something that, I didn't even, start my journey with this in mind, but it's just what I've found so incredibly fulfilling, and especially, again, queer women and trans women, like, I've formed extremely close bonds with trans members of the Go community, of the greater Pokemon community as well, and having these shared experiences and being able to, relate to kindred spirits, it's just, extremely fulfilling and, through gaming as an avenue that I never expected it to, having grown up with extremely toxic gaming environments, it's really surreal, and it's something that I feel blessed for every time I compete, every time I put on my, Stadium Elite jersey and go to compete at a tournament, a lot of these emotions just continuously hit me, and that's, why I keep doing it, that's why I go to so many, and, why I'm always so happy to, continue to be involved in the GO community as extensively as I can, to the point where, I get told a lot to, do less, be, like, less agreeable to do things, to, help out with things, but it's just the most rewarding thing.

David Hernandez: 39:25

You spoke about how you had those articles written, and they were published by Pokemon themselves. How did that feel? Like, if I was in your shoes, I'd imagine myself being ecstatic, jumping up in my place. Like, that's a big deal in

NHoff: 39:38

So, one of the, one of the weirdest... experiences, is going on to Twitter and seeing a DM from someone who says they're the editor for Pokemon.com. and they're messaging and they're saying, Hey, we, we know you're a top player. we've seen you on the, Go Battle League leaderboards, and we've seen some of your written work. Would you be interested in writing an article for Pokemon. com? My immediate reaction was, Very much freaking out, and very much, am I being scammed? Like, am I,

David Hernandez: 40:09

Yeah,

NHoff: 40:10

is this real? Like, I, I go to the, the guy's, profile, and it says, content manager for, Pokemon.com, or Chief Editor, I forget what his official title is, but, Luckily, I was, friends with, Gabi Snyder at the time, and still am, but knew her from having done the, Battle for Rose stream, the, charity stream we did directly after NAIC last year, in the wake of the Roe v. Wade, Supreme Court decision, and so I was like, hey Gabi! Is this what a Pokemon company email looks like? what this guy just gave me to contact him. Is this legit? And he was like, yes, it's legit. Also, congratulations. And I was just like, freaking out, jumping up and down. also oh, I can't tell anyone about this, this is such a weird experience. huge honor. Still my favorite piece of written work that I've done to this day was my preview for the 2022 World Championships because it was the first World Championships for Pokemon Go. it was my first, article for the Pokemon. com website, and for Pokemon. com, it was the first written piece by a Pokemon Go community member. There were articles written by, Pokemon. com staff. There were articles written by Gabi, who is a Pokemon GO community member, but she's a VGC player. She is a VGC caster. She has joined our community, but it felt very real to have them reach out to someone who was not from any other established community, again, not at all to disparage Gabi, but like, I had entirely started my Pokemon career from a formal perspective in the Go community. And that was something that was a huge honor, and still to this day is not lost on me. So, it was pretty insane. Like, it was, incredible, and getting to see it published, I saved the, screenshot of the website. now that I've moved into a larger place, I want to get it framed like it is. It's still one of the wildest moments to me, and, I messaged at the time when it published, the, like, inner child, jumps for joy of, like, that's Pokemon, that's the Pokemon website and my image and my name are on it, there's a little blurb about me like at the bottom of the article. I've been featured on the stream. Gabby interviewed me in Arlington at the Arlington Regional like there's been so many moments that I feel so blessed for. obviously a culmination of efforts, but still, just also recognizing that, so many external factors have led to this, and I am blessed for every single one of them. I am so thankful that I've been given these opportunities and that I've been able to continue, working with the website that I've been continued to be featured as a player, like, I get to have a pretty good communication with Daniel, who's the producer for the streams. We talked at Worlds about, like, hey, if you have a good run, like, we have stuff prepped for you for stream, and like that is so incredibly, heartwarming of, like, this is a community of People who want to highlight others and do care about misrepresentation. there's no surprise in the fact that the other, like, member of the Go community who's been involved heavily in writing articles Is Soph Toth. the person who reached out to me about writing for the website cares about having women writers and like that to me just continues to cement, like, talking to Daniel about, Hey, what are some, who are some women that you know are going to this regional? Who do you think like we could highlight on the stream? it's never lost on me. It is so incredibly, incredibly exciting to see so much investment in this from a community as a whole. And yeah, there are bad actors. I've certainly had my experience with bad actors, but comparatively just so incredibly great.

David Hernandez: 44:00

The last thing that we're going to touch on is just your world run. Most specifically, you actually got a chance to participate in Japan. what was it like for you to go to Japan, the birth of Pokemon, and be able to participate in worlds?

NHoff: 44:11

Japan was my first Worlds as a competitor. It was also, as you're saying, the birthplace of Pokemon. It was also the inspiration for the first four Pokemon regions. I did a Pokemon tourism trip to Japan. that was entirely guided by myself and Stella Tesla, a very close friend of mine from the Netherlands. who traveled with me and we went to kyushu the bottom like area of japan like bottom island where the hoenn region was based on we spent time going to different cities that were inspirations for cities in Hoenn. And then, obviously GoFest Osaka, Osaka was in the Kansai region, which was the inspiration for Johto. And we got to go to different cities, DPhiE250 as well. arrived in Japan around this time. We got to go to different cities that inspired areas of the Jōtō region. And then, obviously, Yokohama was the inspiration for Vermilion City in the Kanto region. We got to explore that region. So, like, talking again about, the inner child, my childhood eyes, being able to be like, Oh my goodness, that is, the area that Fallarbor Town was inspired by, the Hot Springs, I get to visit this video game that has been so integral to my life, especially now, and then I get to compete at my first ever Worlds. There's no words to describe the full, encapsulated experience, but it is, by far, like, the coolest, like, three weeks timeframe of my entire life at this point. It was... It's so incredibly surreal, I know I'm beating that word to death, but throughout it, just it's your childhood, fantasies come to life. you are living through this world, you are competing at the highest level, as the title of Pokémon Master, it's the closest, experience to that exists, and it's why I love this franchise so much.

David Hernandez: 46:06

I remember you posted photos on Twitter, and I was geeking out because I don't know much about the inspirations, obviously I know the region, but I don't know the inspirations on how closely they were to the town. I think the one I commented on was the Mount Chimney, I asked you the question about, oh, is there a rail car? And that was actually my question. Like, how similar was it going to these towns compared to what we see in the games? Like, what are some of the similarities that stick out to you?

NHoff: 46:31

obviously things get exaggerated because it's a video game and they're so much smaller, but the amount of things that you see That are similar, it's really jarring, like, Takeda was one of the towns that inspired, Lavaridge. And being like, oh, like, this is, near Mount Aso, which is the largest volcano in Japan and like, you can go to an onsen, which are the hot, baths. And oh, that's exactly like in the game, like you can get your Wynaut egg. from the old couple at the hot spring bath in Lavaridge. we went to Mount Aso, and yeah, there wasn't a cable car, it was a, it was a bus up to the top of the mountain, but you can see entirely how it inspired, the area. We went to, Kumamoto, which is the inspiration for Mauville, and like, No, there's not a huge power plant. It's not a huge, like electrical town, but you see the Komoto castle and it's like, oh, I can see how this inspired the gym of that city. especially in Johto, because Johto, or rather Kansai in the real world is so heavily dripping with Japanese culture. we went to, Nara and Kyoto, which are the inspirations for violet City and Ecruteak City, And you get to see the temples that inspired the, Burns Tower and the Bellsprout Tower and the Golden Tower in real life. And you're like, I can see exactly where this game came from. I can see the golden, bird that's at the top of this temple that's... The inspiration for Ho-oh as a Pokemon and it's really cool. You get to see wild deer in Nara and you're like, I can see why they wanted stantler as a Pokemon in the Johto region. I think that in particular was just so cool to me. Osaka was based on, Goldenrod And they have this huge radio tower in the middle of the city that the Goldenrod radio tower obviously was based on. They have an entire underground area, which is where we actually played most of Osaka GoFest, but it's where the Goldenrod Underground is based on. So, obviously it varies city to city, how much of its inspiration you see, but it was, like, to a level that I was not expecting. I was expecting little, landmarks here and there, but they were able to capture so much of this area in a very simple video game, it was incredible.

David Hernandez: 48:53

Did it feel like it brought that video game to life to where like, you know, obviously you played Gen 2 and Gen 3. did it feel like when you entered these cities, like the games gave it a new dimension?

NHoff: 49:03

You're exactly spot on. I was like, I feel like I'm in Ecruteak City. I feel like I'm in Johto right now. And I am, because it's the inspiration for it, but it's like... I get to see these landmarks, and I get to see these things, and you're entirely right, I feel a deeper connection for this game and this franchise as a result. I love Hoenn as a region, having experienced it, like, Takeda, which was one of the inspirations for Lavaridge, it's probably my favorite city I've visited in all of my travels ever. It was so incredibly cool, both because I loved this, video game, but also because it was just such a great area. Beautiful nature, really quaint, smaller town. Which again, fits with the vibe in the video game, there's three houses there. I felt like this like fangirl for the Pokemon franchise the entire time and that gets exaggerated at Pokemon centers and so on. As you said, brought an entire extra element to this franchise. I want to continue doing it. I want to go back and visit Hokkaido, which is the inspiration for Sinnoh. New York I've done, obviously, with Unova, but visit, the parts of France that were inspirations for Kalos and Worlds 2024, I guess I'll be able to visit Alola, because it'll be in Hawaii, but it's something that I am so glad that I did, and would recommend to anyone who's a huge fan of the franchise to do something like this, because it was... It was incredible.

David Hernandez: 50:30

NHoff, we're nearing the end of the show. You've been a wonderful guest. I do have one last question before we close this taco stand.

NHoff: 50:36

Oh, of course.

David Hernandez: 50:38

You've really been passionate about representation within the Pokémon GO community, both for women as well as for the transgender community. When you finally put the game of Pokemon Go down, and you're done, what do you hope people remember you for?

NHoff: 50:53

Damn. oh, is cursing okay?

David Hernandez: 50:55

Yeah, it's fine.

NHoff: 50:56

wow, that's a heavy one. I would like to think that I am remembered for this game as someone who gave their all to making it a better game, whenever I wind up stepping away, or if, whatever my legacy winds up happening, is that I made the game and the community better at the end of it than when it started. especially again for women, queer individuals and trans individuals in particular. the idea that I'd have any positive impact in those directions, it means the world to me. I had the pleasure and the privilege of, getting to meet some for lack of a better term, idols of mine, in the trans community, in gaming, through this game, and, hearing compliments about what I do already for representation, and, advocacy, it is, again, the most fulfilling thing possible. If people can say, I felt comfortable starting to stream because of NHoff, because of Ana, that is the most beautiful thing I can hear. If someone says, I felt comfortable competing at an event and putting myself out there in public because of NHoff, These are things that I've heard and just, floor me every time more than anyone approaching me. It's what it's all about and my legacy, I don't care what it says about me as a player. this is another thing, I don't want to be the best female player in the world. I know there's a lot of people who do, and I know there's... a lot of times, men in the community will be like, Oh, she's surely the best female player about myself, about Paula, about Andris, about whoever. That's not important to me. getting the most, views on Twitch, or, getting, some of these opportunities in, creation and writing and being featured in, videos or graphics or whatever. Individually, it's amazing, but it doesn't matter at all comparatively to knowing that I'm helping push that needle. And if I'm remembered as, the first, trans woman competitor at Worlds, the first, breaking into, heavily featured in competition and on streams and all of this and paving the way for other queer folk to feel comfortable to compete, other women to feel comfortable to compete. That is what it's all about, it is what matters at the end of the day for me.

David Hernandez: 53:17

That's a show. Thank you for coming on to the show. Before you do go, if people want to connect with you, if they wanted to watch your streams, where could they go? By all means, please plug away.

NHoff: 53:27

I'm most active on Twitter or X now, but Twitter

David Hernandez: 53:33

Whatever they decide call themselves.

NHoff: 53:35

Yeah, it's twitter. com slash, at goddessNHoff or on Twitch, it's nahoff. I stream most weekdays, 9 a. m. Eastern Time. and then I'm active here or there. If you're in the Go Stadium Discord, you'll... be able to see me on the sidebar. I'm always very well, open to talking to people about the game. especially again a woman baddler is listening to this, or just a woman player is interested in joining girls at PvP, just send me a message, I would be so happy to connect you to the community. you'll definitely see me at a bunch of regional tournaments this year as well So look out for me at those

David Hernandez: 54:12

Cool beans, and I'll make sure to include links to everything she said in the description of today's episode. Thank you for listening to As the Pokeball Turns. If you want to support the show, consider becoming a patron by either clicking the link in the description or going to patreon.com/asthepokeballturns. Now here's a sneak peek for the next episode of As the Pokeball Turns.