TRAINER'S EYE #67 - "No Chansey Against A Dandy" ft. DandyintheBronx

In this Pokemon interview, we are joined by DandyintheBronx, a Pokemon Trainer from The Bronx and a menswear content creator on Instagram. DandyintheBronx reveals the roots of his unique lifestyle back to his days as a teacher. Discover how his commitment to making students feel at ease in their uniforms evolved into a passion for refined fashion and the art of being a Dandy.

DandyintheBronx then takes us on a nostalgic journey through his history with Pokemon, sharing the moments that sparked his fascination with these beloved creatures. Learn how his affection for Pokemon seamlessly merged with his love for fashion, giving birth to a delightful fusion of content creation that is uniquely his own.

Finally, DandyintheBronx provides valuable advice for aspiring content creators, drawing from his own journey of seamlessly blending Pokemon and fashion content. He shares insights that will inspire and guide those looking to make their mark in the content creation world. Tune in for an episode that transcends fashion and gaming, exploring the intersection of a Dandy's lifestyle and a Pokemon enthusiast's heart. 

Trainer's Eye is a series where the stories are real and people still play this game. From PVP to Shiny Hunting, each person's Pokemon GO journey is unique and we dive into each journey here on As The Pokeball Turns!

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

Connect with DandyintheBronx: Website

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. Our journey takes us to the Bronx, Where the world of fashion and Pokemon crosses paths. Within the world of Pokemon, fashion takes on many forms from Pokemon stylists who design clothes and accessories for Pokemon, to a gym leader from Innova named Alessa, who is also a fashion model. But what is fashion? Fashion isn't only the clothes you wear, it's a state of mind, a spirit, an extension of one's self. Fashion is a language which tells a story about the person who wears it. As the saying goes, the clothes don't make you look good, you make the clothes look good. My guest is a menswear and lifestyle creator who started out as a teacher interested in helping his students become comfortable in their uniforms by wearing a suit and tie everyday to school. In addition, he is also a big nerd at heart, particularly with the world of Pokemon. Here's his origin story into the world of Pokemon Go. This is Dandy in the Bronx. Today, I'm joined by a fashion slash Pokemon Go content creator, Dandy in the Bronx. Dandy in the Bronx, welcome to the show.

DandyintheBronx: 1:52

Thank you so, so much for having me.

David Hernandez: 1:54

Without a doubt, and the one first question I want to ask is... What's the story behind dandy because when I first heard dandy actually believe it or not my dad That's how he would answer the how are you questions because he would say I'm feeling fine and dandy But there's actually more of a different meaning to it, right?

DandyintheBronx: 2:10

Yes. Yeah. it's actually an old English term. basically, long story short, it's a gentleman who just really cares about dressing up and there's like historical dandies from way back when, and basically they just became, famous or well known in their social groups just because they just cared about dressing. Well, maybe a little bit. too much. And I, uh, wanted to embody that now. even though I call myself dandy in the Bronx, there's people out there who are way more dandy than me, but, I tried to aspire to be a dandy. In the Bronx

David Hernandez: 2:45

What was it about the idea of gentlemen or you know What they would call themselves dandy that made you want to try to be like them

DandyintheBronx: 2:51

so I know a couple of IRL Dandy and I always liked dressing up and you know, wearing suits and stuff like that. the Dandy I know is a gentleman named, Nathaniel Adams, who actually wrote a book called I Am Dandy and a sequel called We Are Dandy. He was a musician and he would do electronic music and I remember I would go to shows and he would still be performing in like three piece suits. I would ask him like after shows, Oh, you know, where'd you, where'd you get that? And he truly was a designer and he would make his suits. I wanted to make that a part of my life as well and that kind of actually goes into with how I started becoming quote unquote, dandy. I used to be a teacher and at my school, my kids wore uniforms. So I felt as a Latino male teacher, you know, they don't usually see people that look like them, you know, wearing suits. So I started like becoming dandy at schools, I would come wearing suits, trying to dress myself. I don't have a background in fashion. I go to school for fashion. So I basically was learning everything from social media. And yeah, I just started wearing those suits every day at school.

David Hernandez: 4:00

You know, you bring something interesting regarding to, you know, you don't remember seeing like Latinos dress like you dress. For me, I think about my dad because I don't know if this is maybe part of the Mexican culture or Hispanic culture. Maybe you can chime in on this. But I do not remember my dad ever dressing up with a tie or jacket or anything like that. The best he would dress up would actually be either a polo or, you know, one of them dress shirts. And that was about it. Was that your experience as well?

DandyintheBronx: 4:26

Yeah, so my father's very similar, but my grandfather, he would dress up. he was the one wearing, just on his casual walk, be wearing a tie or, a shirt, a jacket or something. if anything, I got it from my grandfather. My dad, not so much. Very similar to your dad. my family's Ecuadoriano, So, I... had a very similar situation. So at my school, they had uniforms. So, it was black Latino kids and, they would see uniforms of people that look like them wear uniforms all the time. But you the people in quote, unquote, power teachers, principals, whatever, never like them. So I felt as I was the main headroom teacher at the time. I should dress up. I should be dandy. For the kids.

David Hernandez: 5:07

Did any of the kids kind of like mimic what they saw from you?

DandyintheBronx: 5:11

Yeah, actually, one moment that sticks out for me, at my school, one of my kids came in, wearing a tie bar, a tie clip, because they saw me wearing it. And this is like a, like a four year old kid, with a tie clip on because they were, they wore uniforms. So the boys wore like almost the Catholic school style uniform, tie, slacks, dress shirt, whatever. But one kid came in wearing a tie clip and he wore it because I was wearing a tie clip.

David Hernandez: 5:36

Wow, did he tell you that?

DandyintheBronx: 5:37

Yeah. Yeah. He told me that. Yeah.

David Hernandez: 5:39

That's incredible. Like, that's gotta be humbling just to be able to have that kind of influence on a child that young.

DandyintheBronx: 5:44

Yeah, you know, well, that's why I went into early child education because I felt like that is the key moment. obviously I'm biased. I went to school to learn early child education, my bachelors in that, and that's why I wanted to teach those years because I feel like those were cornerstone years, that if they had a good early child education, they would be set for life. I wanted to do that. You know, The people who teach middle school, who teach high school, they're superheroes because I would never be able to handle that age group, but, younger, I feel that I have more of a control over there and more of a say, and I felt like I was able to really, leave an impact on these kids.

David Hernandez: 6:21

When it came to the kids, did you ever connect with them over Pokemon at all?

DandyintheBronx: 6:24

Oh, yeah, no, absolutely. Even today, like I've actually did some substitute teaching and Pokemon is still relevant, still talking about Pikachu, Pikachu is still, there and you'll get maybe a couple different Pokemon there depending on what generation my class is in. You know, what, whatever, whatever the thing is, you know, at the time. I remember Using like prize boxes, old Pokemon cards, using that as prize boxes, you know, if you're a good listener, at the end of the week, everyone gets a little prize, and then in the prize box, I would have like random commons, uncommons in there, trash rares or whatever. They would know who these characters are, and I would be able to talk about, my favorite Pokemon and their favorite Pokemon or pretend to have battles. Obviously, try not to correct them too much if they get, weaknesses, incorrect, or, typing mismatches, or whatever, but I'll try my best, but, um, yeah, Pokémon was still relevant.

David Hernandez: 7:12

What about for you? What was your first experience with Pokemon?

DandyintheBronx: 7:15

Yeah, so I'm old. I'm a boomer at this point, I was there in red and blue and red and blue came out. I remember, I had an issue of Nintendo power magazine and they had It was like a one pager about Pokemon Pocket Monster, Red and Green, I believe, back then. And they were just like hyping it up like this game is really popular in Japan, it's coming to America. it eventually did. I remember, getting, picking a red version and my brother got blue version. I remember going to all the mall tours, watching the cartoons, buying the cards and everything and I was always a big fan of RPGs at the time. So, I was really excited to try it out, and the idea of being able to like, build up these party members, your Pokémon, to do battle, and then eventually even battle other people. That was Pokemon! I was like, oh my gosh, I can make my own team, build it up, and then battle someone else's team. that was crazy, mind blowing at the time.

David Hernandez: 8:09

Would you and your brother battle each other?

DandyintheBronx: 8:11

Yes, yeah, we would battle each other, trade, my brother's four years younger than me, so, it was a lot of, explaining, teaching, I would never, try to trick my brother or anything like that, but, we'd do a couple of battles and, obviously back then it'd be like, oh, yeah, six Mewtwos, six Alakazams, you know, eventually I would still, I would learn strategies and stuff like that, but it was very silly battles back then.

David Hernandez: 8:33

You're better than me. I'd be trying to cheat my brother out of any wins if I was battling him.

DandyintheBronx: 8:38

No, you know, I, cause I, I, I guess maybe I was always a teacher, but I always wanted to make sure that, you know, what's a good team, And I think that's another thing that made me fall in love with Pokemon was the idea that you can build up a team, moves actually matter, you know? Like obviously back then it was like, teach hyper beam to everybody. Right. You got to teach everyone, you got to teach everybody. Hyper beam moves like agility and sword dance are garbage because they, they don't do anything, we know better now, but, exploring that, and actually that reminds me of my, favorite Pokemon because of all that, Chansey. Chansey's one of my favorite Pokemon and that actually imbued with me my love of battling, my love of strategy, like the possibilities of what Pokemon can be. Chansey is a weird Pokémon, because it, it has a ton of HP, no defense, but a ton of special defense, and back then, like, when you're thinking about that, it's like, what does that mean? What does that mean in the whole grand scheme of the battle? back then, everyone's using Hyper Beam, everyone's using Psychic on their Alakazams or whatever, and Chansey eats those Psychics. Why does Chan why? Why special defense? Chansey can learn a crazy moves. It can learn Soft Boiled, it can recover its HP. It can learn Toxic. Toxic, it doubles damage every turn. Everyone's Mewtwo and Alakazam has recover. Toxic rips right through that. it can learn Reflect. It can halve physical attacks. It knows Counter like... All those little nuances, all these little things you can teach your Pokemon, for me, Chansey, it's like, wow, like, there's so much depth to this game, it's an RPG, Final Fantasy on crack, it was amazing.

David Hernandez: 10:16

I used to think Chansey was trash as well. And it wasn't until I got older. You know, that's just the difference between when you're younger and older. I didn't realize how much of a powerhouse Chansey was because, as you said, it had a high special.

DandyintheBronx: 10:26

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 10:28

I know you're talking about Gold, Silver, and Crystal when they had the high special defense, but in Red, Blue, and Yellow, it had a high special as well, and it could deal back that damage to other Pokemon, which made it such a good powerhouse back in the day, but I had no idea, because, like you said, attack, attack, attack, enchanting, and it never could be useful. It doesn't evolve anything. It's a Pokemon Center assistant, basically.

DandyintheBronx: 10:48

Yeah. And I think that's the thing that also made Pokemon special because of all that like strategy, all those, stats that you don't even think about. Like it's so deep and you can build your Chansey or whatever Pokemon so many different ways.

David Hernandez: 11:02

clearly it sounds like you played at least Gold, Silver, and Crystal. Did you stick with Pokemon throughout, up until present day?

DandyintheBronx: 11:07

Yeah, so I've been playing red and blue, gold and silver, ruby, sapphire, fire red, leaf green. X and Y, I think I stopped a little bit after X and Y. I totally took a break from there after the game. I think from there, I don't know, it just wasn't as interesting the game for me anymore. I wasn't as excited for the games anymore. Sun and Moon, I like, I touched it a little bit, but I didn't get into it. what got me back into Pokemon Go, was actually Sword and Shield. Now, a lot of people talk a lot of crap about Sword and Shield, and I think we're going to look back to it, in a positive light, because I think that on the Switch, it was a great, switching over from that DS era. I fell in love with the game again and I love the quality of life improvements, EV training, IV tra you know, looking at IVs and stuff like that. Just the graphics at the time, considering that my last Pokemon game at the time was X and Y. Like, I thought the graphics were like, very cool. the gimmick of Dynamaxing, I love Dynamaxing because every Pokemon could Dynamax. You know, the Kaiju style battle. I feel like it was very, casual friendly, accessible like if you're an onlooker watching and you see a Pokemon Dynamaxing, that's cool. like the Pokemon growing and, some Pokemon can Gigantamax, like that's just visually cool. when I first got Sword and Shield, I sped through the entire game because I wanted to get to the end game because I wanted to practice for VGC like, that was my main thing.

David Hernandez: 12:31

Oh, you got into BGC.

DandyintheBronx: 12:32

yeah, yeah. Okay. So I, fun fact, during Diamond and Pearl era, 2006, the first time the Pokemon company and Nintendo were doing, tournaments for VGC, at the time it was called Video Game Showdown. And this was during Diamond and Pearl. And, there was a regionals in New York City. And this is back when, VGC was like in its infancy only people in Smogon were doing competitive battling people in game facts, forums. People in the four chan, Pokemon boards were like doing, VGC battles or, you know, double battles, whatever you wanna call it at the time. my team at the time was Machamp, Rhyperior, Blissey, you got to put Blissey in there, and Togekiss and I was able, I think I topped eight. Yeah. I topped eight and I won a chance to go to Worlds.

David Hernandez: 13:25

Wow.

DandyintheBronx: 13:26

So I, at the time, I think Worlds that year was in Orlando, Florida. I meet Ray Rizzo for a second there. He probably doesn't remember me, but, yeah, I lost the first round, but I got to go to Worlds. And I always wanted to like, achieve that again sometime. So, I've been dabbling in VGC and I, never quite got back into it. I went to a couple of regionals, but, I always loved. VGC. Pokemon has so much different ways. You can tackle it and I love it.

David Hernandez: 13:53

so what was it like to battle in worlds? Like, how fierce is the competition?

DandyintheBronx: 13:58

You know, the thing is, when I was at Worlds, everyone was on the same boat. it was a very small group of, players there, because it was essentially like America versus Japan at that world. And, just everyone just knew Pokemon. Everyone knew, IVs, EV training, hatching a bunch of eggs, nature, what natures you got, wanna trade. You know, let's do some last, minute battles before the, the thing there. So it's just a, such a high level of play and, when everyone's talking the same Pokemon language, it was so cool. And also at worlds, everyone got a like Pokemon dictionary. It had common phrases and Pokemon and how to say them in like five different languages, which is really, really neat. Yeah. So the booklet had at the time, all the Pokemon's names up to, you know, the end of Diamond and Pearl, and how to say them in five different languages. Also had Pokemon TCG terms, because at the time it was TCG and VGC. And, Yeah, no, it's just that high level play, everyone loves Pokemon, everyone's like making the same jokes, the same memes or whatever, just making hyper specific niche Pokemon jokes that you can't really make anywhere else, and then obviously interacting with Japanese players, other players from around the world, it was so, so cool.

David Hernandez: 15:09

last question, for the Pokemon experience, if you had to pick a team of six Pokemon for a play through with Pokemon Sword and Shield, which six would you pick?

DandyintheBronx: 15:17

Oh my goodness, oh man. A playthrough of Pokemon Sword and Shield. it's funny because like, when I first played Sword and Shield, I was like, trying to speedrun it as fast as I can. my starter was Grookey. I always go for, Grass starters. so, go Grass. really liked Balthound, Balthound? Balthound? I, I really liked that one. Wooloo, oh my gosh, such a cutie patootie, yeah, eventually Chansey. I would use Chansey with, Evilight. And then I would,

David Hernandez: 15:47

evil.

DandyintheBronx: 15:48

of course, of course, you have to. I would choose, Zamazenta as my legendary and then I remember I was putting in there Machamp, just Machamp in there with, No Guard and Dynamite Punch, just to always get those, 100 percent hits in there.

David Hernandez: 16:03

You've been listening to as the Pokeball turns. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

16:11

I think Brock ended up getting a crow bat eventually in the TV series. And I just thought it was so cool playing Red, Blue, and Yellow, and how everybody hated Zubats. It was worthless. One, they were annoying. You ran into them all the time. Everybody hated them. And even if you did get one and liked it, its moveset was absolute garbage through Zubat and Golbat. I think that's why I like Gen 2 a lot is because it added Crobat and a really good moveset to it. And in addition to, one of my friend's favorite cards back in the day was Crobat EX from the Delta series. He would constantly destroy all my friends in the TCG with that card. It was such a good card. Yeah. To hear the rest of this story, listen to Trainer's Eye number 3, Shiny Pokemon in the Shiny Economy featuring Ruby. Now let's get back to the episode.

David Hernandez: 16:59

So, Pokemon Go comes out in 2016. Were you a day one player, or did you find the game later on?

DandyintheBronx: 17:05

Day two player day one was impossible to log in but I was just day two player. Obviously every Pokemon go player at least in New York City will probably say the same thing Or whoever was in a big city that those weeks months of Pokemon go was legitimately world peace around the world when Pokemon go was out. You know, and that was the dream, to be able to actually play Pokemon, go be a Pokemon trainer in real life, being able to walk around, find Pokemon, people will be yelling out, yo, there's a, there's a dragonite over there. There's a Charmander over there and physically walking to that area and being like, wow, this Pokemon is actually there. Just that feeling of, being in a group of people, having the same conversations, that feeling of we're all in the same playing field here, just trying to be the very best and capture these Pokemon. it was amazing. And, Yeah, like I was playing with everyone, my family, friends, co workers, everybody was playing it. It was everywhere.

David Hernandez: 18:01

Since you went to Worlds and you talked about how it's a bunch of Pokemon fans there, was it very similar to that experience, the Pokemon Go early days?

DandyintheBronx: 18:08

Yeah, everyone came out of the woodwork, was able to like, mention like, Oh man, I remember Pokemon, I tried this out. Or, my favorite was meeting people who Pokemon Go was their first Pokemon game. That's always been an amazing experience, meeting those people who were familiar with Pokemon, and then gave Pokemon Go a chance, either because... it was very popular. or they had a friend that was trying it out, but yeah, everyone's talking about their favorites, strategies like, oh, do a curve ball here, feeding these berries, help makes it easier to capture. Did you get anything rare recently? oh, there's like a rare Pokemon over here. What did you get? so having those conversations, a great, ice breaker, great equalizer. It was magic.

David Hernandez: 18:46

I always find pure joy when I find, people who did Pokemon Go was their first game, because then we wouldn't have met otherwise. Right. Because, me and you were in the mix of Pokemon, right? We have familiarity. That was our niche outside of other stuff we did, but there's people who just didn't grow up with Pokemon, whether it was because it was too late or they just didn't get into it. And then to be able to connect with them. On the Pokemon Go level, really added just another layer to my fandom that's really hard to describe.

DandyintheBronx: 19:13

Yeah, like it's a once in a lifetime move, you know Obviously Pokemon company wants to get that moment once again, and they're trying they're trying but we're never gonna probably ever get to get another Pokemon go moment ever, but we'll keep trying.

David Hernandez: 19:26

What is it like to play in your area? Like where do people go for like say a community day or a raid day?

DandyintheBronx: 19:31

So, very privileged, very lucky to live in a huge city with a ton of Pokemon stops, a lot of gyms, Manhattan is usually the key place to play like, even though I'm in the Bronx, the gyms are not as active, it's usually outer boroughs that are not as active as Manhattan. You want to be in Manhattan proper. So usually a lot of New York City Pokemon players, like for example, OmniSec usually will start In Bryant Park. Bryant Park is usually a great place to start your journeys or travels there, because it's, a good middle ground, to like branch off on your journey, but yeah, gyms fill up very, very fast, gyms are being violently attacked very, very fast. So, trying to keep a Pokemon at a gym there is almost impossible, honestly, unless, people are feeling, feeling generous. but, it's great, like, when you're doing specific raids, you don't necessarily need a, a group, per se, because there's always... Something happening, but usually that's always Manhattan though, so in the Bronx though, I'll have to bring people over or, on my shows, I will, remote rate people into there, but usually in Manhattan is where things get, crazy.

David Hernandez: 20:33

For Pokemon Go, how do you like to play? Like, are you collector? Are you a battler?

DandyintheBronx: 20:37

my play style has changed a lot throughout the years. Now, when I first started, Pokemon Go, it was very casual, you know, just, try to catch them all, got to complete the dex, that was always my main thing. It wasn't really, about stats. I think by the time I stopped playing Pokemon Go, I think they was introducing, Gold and silver Pokemon, they start introducing like IV checkers and stuff, and I was playing casually, nonchalantly, you know, I would take out my phone randomly, see what was around the area, and I would play on and off for special events. I remember completely missing out on Armored Mewtwo, I missed out on Apex, Lugia, Ho-oh, the cloned starters, yeah, there's a lot of events I missed, but even though I loved Pokemon Go, I never considered it a quote unquote, real Pokemon game. And I think a lot of people still do. However, everything changed for me when, Pokemon Legends Arceus dropped and they finally added Pokemon Home compatibility to Pokemon Go. So when they added Pokemon Home to Pokemon GO, that Changed everything for me because that made the game real for me. And this is obviously not to take away from all the amazing trainers who've been playing since the get go capturing them all, whatever. But the fact that I was able to transfer Pokemon from go to Pokemon home and then transfer them to a mainline game that made everything real to me because then I made all the Pokemon I was capturing in the game, like I can use this. Fun fact, I transferred my shiny Celebi from Pokemon Go to Pokemon Home, which now I regret a little bit, but nonetheless, I didn't know any better, and, I was able to finish my Arceus Pokedex, but now the fact that I can do that, while having Pokemon Go open, so I can, like, capture Pokemon randomly, do random raids, and this is back when, raids were like a hundred coins, and you can do it in all the raids, so I started hosting raids while playing Arceus at the same time, But then that's where I started getting hardcore. That's when I started, like, actually, like, I want to capture them all. let's shiny hunt in Pokemon Go, because I can actually take these shinies to the real game at the time, quote unquote. So, that's what, that's what changed everything for me, Pokemon Home.

David Hernandez: 22:38

Was it just the barrier that Pokemon Go for a while wasn't compatible with the main series that made that not a real Pokemon game for you?

DandyintheBronx: 22:45

Yeah, you know, because it just made it casual, Because there's a lot of, Pokemon mobile games out there, like... obviously, I don't remember the timeline here, so I'm probably very off base right now, but, you know, like, Pokémon Café, Pokémon EX Masters. those are Pokémon games, but they're not, quote unquote, mainline Pokémon games. and you play those games casually, they're casual games like, yes, you can, be hardcore, spend money on those games, whatever. but with Pokémon Go, when Pokémon Home was added, I was like, I can, take a Pokemon from Go, bring it to the main game, train it for a VGC tournament. I can finish my dex on the mainline games with Pokemon Go. I can Shiny hunt and bring those Shinies. into the main game, like now those Community Day Shinies, I had like a bunch of Shinies from, Community Day I can bring them now to Arceus, and like, evolve them, and now when I tell people About Pokemon Go, like, they'll ask me, like, Oh, do people still play Pokemon Go? Unless, let me tell you, people still play Pokemon Go. But, tying it to Pokemon Home and saying, Hey, you know how you're playing, like, Scarlet and Violet right now? You can capture a Pokemon and go! And potentially bring it to Scarlet and Violet like, that changes people's minds about it. They're like, oh man, I can like, find a rare legendary, a rare Pokémon, a rare shiny, and bring it to the, quote unquote, real game.

David Hernandez: 23:56

That makes a lot of sense actually, cause it just seemed like he was just a distant cousin cause... You know, there's been a lot of, spin off Pokemon games, right? You think of Pokemon Conquest, you think of

DandyintheBronx: 24:03

Yeah, yeah,

David Hernandez: 24:04

and it's not to say they're not real Pokemon games, but they're just very distant from the main series because you really can't interact with them except for Gen 4 with, I think it was Pokemon Ranger for the Fione, and that was about

DandyintheBronx: 24:15

Yeah, pretty much it. Yeah, they're very standalone. they're little like, morsels of Pokémon content. And they're fun, and they're great. Obviously, especially Pokemon Ranger and, Pokemon Mystery, Mystery Dungeon. Like, yeah, like those games, people, they have great followings, but they're not the main game. they're spin off series.

David Hernandez: 24:33

You mentioned earlier how you did Twitch. And you were streaming the Pokemon main series games. But actually, before even Pokemon, you actually were a content creator for fashion, right?

DandyintheBronx: 24:42

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So that's my, bread and butter right now is Instagram. So I'm a full time content creator, but on Instagram and I create men's fashion content there. So. how I got into that was actually at my school. started posting my suits on instagram. I started doing it like almost every day, made it part of my gimmick, just wearing suits all the time. my friends saw me as someone like, Oh, Hey, you're the suits guy. If you ever need help, I should ask, Diego. So one day I started amassing a following on Instagram. One day a brand DM to me. They're like, Hey, Diego, we like your account. Can we send you like a free tie at the time? I was like, that's amazing. Yes. I would love a free tie. And I learned that, they didn't send that tie because necessarily they liked me. I learned that because I had an audience that they wanted to send me products. I would talk about it and be an app for them. I did not know that was a thing. I didn't know people made money this way. I learned about influencer marketing. I learned about content creators. I learned about that world and I wanted to learn more about it. So I took a break from teaching. I took some classes in digital marketing to learn more about what goes behind it, but what goes behind the scenes, worst case scenario, I would be a teacher again, but I took a break from teaching just to experience this world and I haven't gone back. So I'm pretty much as a full time instagram content creator who makes fashion content it helps pay the bills, luckily,

David Hernandez: 26:07

That's awesome, dude. Now, just on that note, you know, we talk about teaching, and we'll say it's a socially accepted kind of profession, right? if you say you're a teacher, you know, people accept that. Content creator, it's not so much. It's like, it's a huge risk. You know, it's not everybody's a content creator. Was there ever, like, a doubt that you may not make it as a content creator when you decide to take that chance on yourself?

DandyintheBronx: 26:28

absolutely, of course, but that so I'm very privileged that, I had a family that supported me in my choices. I had the teaching as a backup, if I couldn't be a content creator, I could always be a teacher again but I had a plan, I, I took these classes in digital marketing, I pretty much started my life over, I interned at a bunch of fashion startups doing their social media, I worked at a food startup doing their influencer marketing stuff. So I just started my life over, doing, freelance, building up my, resume of influencer stuff, at one of my jobs that I applied for. at the interview, I just took out my phone. I'm like, look at my Instagram. And I was like, this is my, this is what I've done for myself. I can do that for you. And back then, Instagram, social media, influencer marketing was at its infancy. there was no class for this. There was no degree for this. So I was able to just use my own account, my own Instagram page as my work to say that, look, I know what I'm doing, look at my social media. I've done this for myself. I can do this for you.

David Hernandez: 27:27

So, we think about 2014, right? This is before the idea of a influence even almost existing. it's the infancy, like you said. So, what you were doing was, like, groundbreaking, to be honest, because, I'm thinking about it from what I remember. it's not as prevalent as it is nowadays.

DandyintheBronx: 27:42

you're right, it was, at the time, no one knew what it That was being an influencer to be paid to promote stuff on their social media. And I knew that there was a lot of influencers. Like I consumed a lot of YouTube content, consume a lot of Instagram content. Like I was in that world and I understood what it meant like I remember getting invited to an event for GQ and then just meeting other fashion content creators there. And you know, picking each other's brains, just trying to figure out like. What are we doing here? Like, how do we do more from this? How do we monetize this? Like these brands obviously see something in us. So how do we pay the bills of this? luckily I was able to be there, you know, with other great creators and just learn from each other.

David Hernandez: 28:22

Now, eventually you started doing Pokemon Go. What made you want to include Pokemon Go into your branding and into doing your content?

DandyintheBronx: 28:29

I'm slowly including Pokemon Go and like all the stuff I do, but, specifically in Pokemon Go and my Twitch content. So I first started doing Twitch. It was originally, like, Sword and Shield, Dynamex, Raids, with viewers, I actually did some Animal Crossing for a while, and my other vice, my other passion is Magic the Gathering, so I would do Magic the Gathering content, Magic the Gathering Arena on my Twitch show, and then the Pokemon content is the stuff that actually Started getting, gaining traction, people started following, people started watching. And then I started doing like Nuzlocke's and like challenges and, battling viewers. And then I added Pokemon Go when Pokemon Home compatibility with Go came out. So when that happened, I started adding a lot more Pokemon Go content. And once again, it started, like, picking up even more. And I remember hosting raids on my show doing like a hundred raids at a time, you know. I remember... doing Ho Oh raids on my show and doing like 97 raids in one day. It was insane. Yeah, I think I got the shiny like 97, I think, it was crazy, but... People liked it and people started gravitating towards me for that content. And then when the whole raiding change happened, I was like, well, I can't raid from home as much as I want to anymore. So let's take it to the streets.

David Hernandez: 29:44

And you've been doing that ever since because you even still dress up. You're in a suit, you're in a tie, you're still, dandy in the Bronx. And I like how you've been able to fuse both Pokemon with your branding from fashion. I think it's a very good niche and I love it.

DandyintheBronx: 29:57

I appreciate that. You know, because I. That's still me. You know, I mean, I love wearing suits. that's just my thing when people ask me is like Do you dress casually and I'll all right, I guess I take off the tie, I guess, you know, but you know But like that's just me. That's the the character I have and like that's how I want to show the world. It's it's never been almost like two different brands, it's like just another side of me So my twitch my youtube content is still dandy in the Bronx, but another side of me. Instagram, it's still dandy in the Bronx, which is another side of me, so there's a little bit of cross pollination between my audiences like for example, my Twitch audience, like they know that I love suits or whatever, and they're like, Oh, you have an Instagram. And then vice versa like my Instagram audience is like, Hey, you know, I wear suits, but I also play Pokemon. It's like, what? You play Pokemon, you're a nerd or something. it's been great being able to mix those two together and just build new audiences, build new communities, and just be able to like build this whole community up.

David Hernandez: 30:50

You know, you think about your journey so far, you started as just somebody battling your brother with Pokemon, you know, you did worlds for diamond and pearl. You had a mission going to the teaching field to try to just be an example for people of what it means to dress especially for men. And now you hear you got the two worlds fused together and you're an independent content creator. You know, what is it like to think about the journey of where you started to where you are now?

DandyintheBronx: 31:12

I'm very lucky, I'm very privileged that I have a lot of supporting people in my life that support what I do. People who believed in me, you know, my family. You know, sometimes my mom will still be like now she gets it. But I remember in the early years, like she'll still be like sending me like job applications and stuff like that and you know, but I get it though. I get it, but I'm very lucky that what I'm putting out there has found an audience has found people that like what I do, my style, my persona. When I hit partner earlier this month, I would not be here without my audience. I would not be here if I'm in my community. I would not be talking to you without my community, without my audience, I've been very lucky, very blessed that the guy I'm putting out there, the dandy in the Bronx I'm putting out there that people are resonating with, they're connecting with, they find interesting, they find entertaining, whatever the word is, they're, they're tuning in and they're following me and it means so much. My goal is to just give them a good show, give them positive vibes, give them a safe space and Just keep building it up. You know, you can't stop, you can't end this and we can only keep doing more and as long as I'm still producing something that people like, we're going to keep going.

David Hernandez: 32:18

Danny, you've been a wonderful guest. before you do go, I do have one last question to close this taco stand. So you talked about how it was a risk for you to leave your teaching career to become a full time content creator, and I would imagine you don't regret it. There are other people who are also maybe working as well as trying to do content creation. What advice would you give to people who are kind of in the mix where you were before you made the jump?

DandyintheBronx: 32:42

I think a lot of people want to be content creators. Everyone wants to be the dream like I want to be the next, big Twitch star, big YouTube star, big, whatever. my biggest thing is, You have to find a niche. You have to find a story. You have to find something you're passionate about. Something that you like talking about. like for me, it was fashion. it was suiting I live and breathe this and I feel like if you want to be a content creator, what are you passionate about? What do you, what do you care about? Are you really into battling? Are you into, creating teams? Are you into interviewing people? Are you a podcaster? Are you into, theory crafting? Are you into reaction videos? Are you into reviewing Pokemon memes or something? Like, I feel like a lot of people try to do too many things at once. I think in the beginning, at least in the beginning, is to really laser focus on one thing first. when I first started for Pokémon content, it was a lot of just hosting raids and at the time, it was like Dynamax raids. I'm doing Dynamax raids every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, we're doing Dynamax raids. And just being consistent to that, and then trying to add more things to make it more entertaining. And then watching as my audience evolves, you know, changing things up. And it was like, as my audience grew, it was like, all right, let's try a Nuzlocke. And people like the Nuzlocke. usually when I'm doing interviews like this, and when we're talking about like content creating stuff, the example I usually give is. if you're gonna be content creator about Tupperware, tell me everything about Tupperware, tell me about different countries. Tupperware is made from telling about limited edition Tupperware. Tell me about best techniques on how to use Tupperware. Tell me about how to clean Tupperware. Like, I need you to know everything about this Tupperware. If you're a content creator about Tupperware, what makes you the best Tupperware content creator around? take something as mundane as, Tupperware and make it interesting. Make it exciting. Make it fun. Make it different. Make it unique. What's your special twist on it? there are over 9, 000 million bajillion content creators. Everyone in their mom wants to be a content creator. what sets you apart? What makes you different? And I think that's what people need to figure that out. If they really want to pursue this now, of course, I. Want to make this my job. I want to pay the bills doing this. I always see everything in a business lens. How am I going to, monetize this, hitting affiliate, how are we gonna put affiliate links everywhere? How are we gonna do, advertising, finding sponsorships. This is not for people who want to do this casually. You know, I know there's a lot of people who stream just to have fun, valid, who wants to just do it free cause they want to make friends. Valid, but if you're wanting to actually make this your job per se, you got to find that thing that sets you apart from everybody else.

David Hernandez: 35:11

Well, Dandy, thank you for coming on the show. Before you do go, if people want to connect with you, if they want to check out your content, where can they go, by all means, please plug away.

DandyintheBronx: 35:20

I appreciate that. So, for my fashion lifestyle behind the scenes stuff, you can find me on Instagram at dandy in the Bronx. of course you can see my Twitch show, simulcast on Twitch and YouTube, twitch. com slash dandy in the Bronx, youtube. com slash dandy in the Bronx every Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 1pm. Easter Sander time. Live from New York city. I'm also on Tik TOK, dandy in the Bronx. Pretty much everything is dandy in the Bronx. but yeah, hopefully I'll see you in the chat very, very soon.

David Hernandez: 35:50

Cool beans, and I'll make sure to include links to everything that he 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 slash as the pokeball turns. Now here's a sneak peek for the next episode of As the Pokeball Turns.

36:12

You disrupt my coronation! Everyone has been destroyed because of this freak! I won't allow it! These babies just saved this lame ass party! Four Ice One Sand One Four Wade Crazy Bobby Say Chum Boobity Drop Rah Nah We Can't Evolve Haha, say that all the time! I always Say Hair I always Say Go I always Say Chum Chum Chum Chum Chum Chum Chum Chum Chum Chum Chum Chum A fairly prominent content creator made a joke during the summer and they joked about how do you hatch eggs, for example, and he's got this number one hack and he's like, use your own two feet. And some people in, in the thread were like, ha ha ha. In fact, a majority of them were, but another guy's like, Hey man, you know, is there, you know, there are people with. Neuropathy and mobility issues. That's, that's not funny. And even me, I enjoy the good dark humor. Hell, I was there when South Park started back in 1997 or whatever year it was. So, I can appreciate a good dark joke now and again. But I even said to this prominent person, like, Hey!