TRAINER'S EYE #79 - "Pokemon Desserts" ft. Cupcakedex

In this Pokemon interview, we are joined by Cupcakedex, a Pokemon Trainer from Canada who is obsessed with making Pokemon-themed food.

Cupcakedex shares her Pokemon journey starting with Pokemon Yellow and how she has stayed passionate about the franchise throughout the history of Pokemon. She shares her interest in the video games, anime, fanfiction, and Pokemon GO.

Cupcakedex shares how her interest in baking started with Pokemon and how it transitioned to becoming a stream on Twitch. She shares insight into what goes behind the scene for production and how she creates her many recipes. Initially starting with Pokemon cupcakes, she has evolved her process to include snowcones, coco bombs, pizza, and so much more!

Finally, Cupcakedex shares the power of having an online community and what it felt like to meet people over mutual passion for Pokemon, particularly at Pokemon GO Fest and her wedding with Miss Editor!

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 Cupcakedex: Linktree

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. Our journey takes us to Canada, where we meet a comedian woman obsessed with making Pokemon themed food. Starting in Pokemon Yellow, she has remained dedicated to the franchise throughout Pokemon's history. Eventually, her love for Pokemon met her interest in baking back in 2016, where she would attempt to make an entire dex of Pokemon cupcakes. Today, she has branched out into other parts of baking including snow cones, cocoa bombs, and so much more. But how did this mix of Pokemon and baking come together? Only one way to find out. Here is her origin story into the world of Pokemon. This is Cupcake Dex. Today, I'm joined by someone who will make your favorite Pokemon look absolutely delicious. Cupcake Dex. Welcome to the show.

CupcakeDex: 1:34

Hey, David! It's so good to be here. Thank you so much for having me on.

David Hernandez: 1:38

Without a doubt and the honor is honestly all mine because I'm deep down. I'm a foodie and I always the idea Oh, yeah And I always loved the idea of Pokemon and food coming together Like I feel like this should be a Pokemon bakery or restaurant somewhere if there is it needs to be in the US or Canada since you're from the Canada

CupcakeDex: 1:55

The absolute tragedy of it all is it's only in Japan currently, but we got to get it here someday. Right? At least in North America, if not Canada, I think we should be here in Canada. I'm not biased at all as a

David Hernandez: 2:05

Oh, yeah, just a little bit. Hey, I mean, I don't mind going to Canada I hear you all good people up there. So I wouldn't I wouldn't be against that

CupcakeDex: 2:10

We welcome you here. Come to the land of the maple syrup and hockey.

David Hernandez: 2:14

Yes, You got me sold on maple syrup

CupcakeDex: 2:17

Yes. Perfect.

David Hernandez: 2:18

So you said there was a bakery in Japan. So have you ever been there? Have you researched it?

CupcakeDex: 2:23

I have researched it extensively. I have not actually been. The dream is to go. I went in Japan and I went to Japan with my now wife, Miss Editor, in 2017, and right before we went, they announced there's going to be a Pokemon Cafe opening up four months after our visit there. So forever, we were so sad that we had missed this opportunity. And now we are going to Japan for our honeymoon, And. We are definitely going. I am so, so excited.

David Hernandez: 2:51

Oh, I'm very excited. I can imagine you're probably going to be visiting and are you gonna try everything on the menu? Like, do you have ideas of what you're going to try out?

CupcakeDex: 2:58

I, ooh, they, they changed their menu seasonally. So it's going to be a really fun game to choose what we want. And plus there's the cafe and then there's also the bakery. So I'm just going to have to eat a whole bunch of Pokemon foods. It sounds terrible. I know, but I'm looking forward to it.

David Hernandez: 3:13

Oh, that brings up the question. I wonder if there's like Pokemon vegetarians in the Pokemon universe, you know, like what would they be called?

CupcakeDex: 3:19

Oh, Poketarians, right?

David Hernandez: 3:23

if you're a Poketarian, shout out. Tag me on Twitter. Well, CupcakeDix, first I want to talk about your experience with Pokemon. So when did you first start getting interested in Pokemon?

CupcakeDex: 3:32

I am a day one fan. I was like, in grade school when Pokemon first came out and I started seeing kids with Gameboys, during recess. I had no idea what a Gameboy is. I didn't know what a Pokemon was. I wasn't allowed to watch TV shows during the week. So I wasn't introduced to Pokemon. Anime, until my best friend in the whole wide world was like, CupcakeDex, come over to my house. I got the N64 games, I got the anime, I got it all, and once she introduced me, I was absolutely hooked, and I continued to be a huge Pokemon freak from, early grade school, into high school, through college, into adulthood, the whole nine yards, never stopped, and I became known as the, person in the friend group who's just always into Pokémon. And if you let her talk, she will talk your ear off about Pokémon. If allowed. Only if allowed.

David Hernandez: 4:25

So you were very passionate about Pokemon growing up throughout the years, like you never took any breaks. That's impressive. There's not many people who've done that.

CupcakeDex: 4:31

Yeah, no, it was, uh, embarrassing in high school. It was definitely a thing I hid at the time. But then it all comes around again and it started to be cool again in college. so I didn't have to hide and I actually got to talk with people and not just my Online Pokemon friends, but real people in the real world. which was another exciting element, because in high school, I was like that real loner, lonely kid who didn't have a lot of friends. But, I went to the internet, and I made a whole bunch of amazing friends who I'm still in touch with and still good friends with to this day. Online, in Pokemon forums, if you can believe it. I'm a forum baby. and like, that was how I like kept that passion alive at the time. I was so excited about, Pokemon pixel art and spriting and also Pokemon fan fiction.

David Hernandez: 5:17

So what kind of fan fiction would you write?

CupcakeDex: 5:20

Not a lot. I'm a writer at heart, but one who always struggled with inspiration. So I wrote some short form. Uh, they're called one shots in the fanfic world. These are short stories, mostly about like. Humans and Pokémon, their relationships, their bonds, like Pokémon sort of growing up and like their different experiences. I always thought that that was such an interesting element. I often wasn't really writing about like canon characters, but like, what's the story of like this one lonely Magikarp who wants to become a Gyarados?

David Hernandez: 5:52

Are you the Canadian version of me? Because that's really the same fan fiction I used to write when I was growing up.

CupcakeDex: 5:57

Stop! What? Say more! Wait, what?

David Hernandez: 6:00

Yeah. So when a fan fiction, I would look into like stories of Pokemon because I felt like there was more depth to it. And I would try to explore the relationships with not just one Pokemon, but like. One of the stories I had was taking place in Viridian Forest and it was supposed to be like a war that was taking place And a Caterpie that refused to evolve kind of thing.

CupcakeDex: 6:15

yes! What?

David Hernandez: 6:17

I Know that's what I'm saying. I'm like, this is literally I feel like I'm not I know I'm gonna be myself But I feel like I'm almost I am myself here

CupcakeDex: 6:28

That's so funny, I love that. There's not a lot of us like Pokemon fanfic people out there these days. I feel like Pokemon fanfiction It was always a bit of a niche, but especially nowadays It's very interesting seeing how fandom has has changed and what gets prioritized. It's become very very visual So the fan artists will always still be the biggest but now you have video creators, and, you know, vloggers, and event people. But like, fanfiction kind of remains this niche that's off to the side that, like, doesn't really get explored. Especially because, unfortunately, fanfiction has a very bad reputation for not always having great quality, but The reality is that's all forms of art, no matter what you're doing. There will always be people who are, trying out for the first time, making so, so kind of art. And then you have people at the top who are making this like absolutely amazing content that like, you know, then goes viral and gets the most views. And then you have a lot of people who are just in the middle you know, talented and amazing and probably never going to really get their dues.

David Hernandez: 7:27

Now, what was your favorite generation to play, out of all the ones you've played so far? Ha

CupcakeDex: 7:32

man. It's an interesting question. Actually, Gen 2 remains my favorite generation, but more so Johto as opposed to gold and silver specifically. So heart gold and soul silver. Just have such a special place in my heart. Even though I started with Pokemon yellow Gold silver crystal were always my favorites to play because I just fell in love with the Johto region So any opportunity to go back there? I'm kind of hoping for Pokemon, you know, Let's go Togepi or Pokemon Legends Celebi. Just give me, just give me some more Johto. I would love that. Otherwise, Pokemon Legends Arceus was also such a phenomenal game. I would love another one in that series. It was just so fun to play. A really fun break from everything else. I hope we get more like that. I love it when Pokémon breaks the mold a little bit, because it's such a fun world and there's so many fun ways to play with it.

David Hernandez: 8:24

Well, what's your favorite Pokemon?

CupcakeDex: 8:26

Ooh! to this day, it kind of remains a tie between Mewtwo and Mew. I saw that first Pokémon movie in theaters as a kid, cried my eyes out. It was a formative moment. And to this day, I absolutely love Mewtwo and Mew. But as a Pokémon baker, I also just love Alchemy. She's such a little sweetheart. Oh my gosh. Ah! have way too many Alchemy plushies.

David Hernandez: 8:53

Pokemon movie? Because they used to give out some promo cards, right?

CupcakeDex: 8:56

I didn't get Mewtwo. I was so disappointed. I remember getting that Flying Dragonite card, which was very cute, which I came to appreciate a lot more with time, because gosh, Dragonite is adorable.

David Hernandez: 9:08

In spite of it, I don't know, I still, yeah, in spite of people not liking it because of calls from Dratini. I think people were hoping more of like Dragonair kind of thing.

CupcakeDex: 9:15

Yeah, it's kind of a goofy dragon, but gosh darn it, Dragonite is our goofy dragon, you know? That's

David Hernandez: 9:27

bubble and I think no, it was the bubble but it was also trying to go up the windmill and a game going down and be like mew!

CupcakeDex: 9:37

favorite scene. I was like, it's going to be the Mew bubble with the windmill. Yes, absolutely. It's adorable. You watch that and how could you not fall in love with Mew? And then you hear Mewtwo giving these long speeches about the meaning of life, and you're like, I have also fallen in love with you, unfortunately. Oh

David Hernandez: 9:55

didn't. It went head at first. The message went over my head first because I always, I don't know, I expected more battling. But, you know, it's kind message was obviously opposite. So, but I appreciated it more as I grew up though.

CupcakeDex: 10:06

It is funny, that first movie made some bizarre choices. As a movie that was really representing the Pokemon franchise, it really was like, we're actually not going to include a whole lot of battling that looks cool and isn't, like, brutal and makes you want to cry. Uh, here's really strong messages that you're not going to be able to fully appreciate and absorb instead.

David Hernandez: 10:28

although I will always say that vacation song from the, was it the Pokemon

CupcakeDex: 10:33

Aw, Pikachu's vacation!

David Hernandez: 10:35

song, every time I go anywhere, usually like for a Go Fest, I always play that song to start off every single vacation. Cause it does not feel right if I don't play that Pokemon vacation song.

CupcakeDex: 10:45

I love that so much. That makes me so happy. I'm stealing this idea immediately, David. That's phenomenal.

David Hernandez: 10:54

Vacations where I want to be.

CupcakeDex: 10:56

The Oh my gosh! Yes!

David Hernandez: 11:00

So, you know, obviously you're known for is your baking side and you know, before we dive into how you mixed that with Pokemon, like what made you want to start baking?

CupcakeDex: 11:07

it was in 2011, Cake Boss first started airing on TV. And this whole cake decorating thing first became really popular. And I, I remember seeing this howdini. com, video on how to make a rubber ducky cake. And I was like, This is phenomenal. I have one of my good friends collects rubber duckies I'm gonna make her a rubber ducky cake for her birthday, and I had so much fun making this cake I decided like off my like siblings birthday. I'm gonna make a cake and for this friend's birthday and For the next friend's birthday. He was a big Pokemon fan. I was Wait a second. Can I make some Pokemon cupcakes? and, the world opened up, I posted them to one of the Pokemon forums I was on and someone jokingly said, you should make the first 151 Pokemon as cupcakes and. My mind was blown, my 80th chakra opened up, and I knew that I had do this. So I started a Tumblr blog called The Cupcake Dex, where I decided I was going to make the first 151 Pokemon as cupcakes. And that was, I think, 2014? Oh my god, 10 years ago.

David Hernandez: 12:20

Was it a particular Pokemon you did for the Cupcakes? Or was it just like a Pokeball?

CupcakeDex: 12:24

I asked my friend what his favorites were and I remember he said like, it was like Mewtwo, Gardevoir, Greninja, so I like made them and then I also did like, Froakie and a few others to just kind of pad it out. I used the Pokémon Shuffle sprites from the 3DS, if you remember those. like, kind of just their faces, so super simple. I just made them all as like icing transfers. And I just had so much fun that that was how I decided I would also do the cupcake decks, where they're all 100 percent made of icing, they're 100 percent edible. It's really fun! You get, you just use icing to trace an image and then you freeze it and you plop it out and it, it just comes out as this like firm little like Pokemon face that you plop onto a cupcake. It's so cool. I love it.

David Hernandez: 13:07

And eventually you branched out to the other desserts, right?

CupcakeDex: 13:09

Yeah, at first I thought I was just gonna be making cupcakes and then this, group that I was in called Fandom Foodies, which was a whole bunch of other bakers who baked creations from, like, video games and books and movies. They were doing these different monthly themes where every month would be, a different theme that everyone could contribute to. So, you know, it was like a red wall theme, a cat theme, a nightmare before Christmas theme, and then there was a Pokemon theme and I knew. Well, I gotta contribute to this, and I decided to make candy from the, at the time, newly released Pokemon Go. So I made like Charmander, Squirtle, Pikachu, and Bulbasaur, candy. it was so much fun that I was like, Well, maybe the Cupcake Dex can post things other than cupcakes. And, I basically have not been able to stop ever since. Ha

David Hernandez: 13:59

been very dedicated especially when people watch your twitch streams like you dive into different things besides cupcakes you do cakes One thing that I really love that. I wanted to let you know. I really love the Swablu shaved ice You did like it looks so beautiful. I don't know if it looks like it tastes good, too It looked like uh, almost like a blue coconut almost I don't know, that's what it reminded me of.

CupcakeDex: 14:20

Thank you. That was a fun one. Yeah. So I started streaming on Twitch, where I now make my Pokémon treats live every single week. Whereas before that, it was like maybe once every three, four weeks, I would make something new. But now it's every single week. And I had to make something from Pokémon Café Remix. Obviously. And that's probably shaved ice looked so good. So we made like shaved ice from scratch. We made ice cream from scratch. It was so cool. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. It was really tasty and very, very, very melty. So fast.

David Hernandez: 14:53

real quick? Like, it wouldn't last long staying out, or? Oh,

CupcakeDex: 14:56

would not last long at all. All every time on my live stream, where I decide I'm going to make some kind of summary treat using like ice cream or shaved ice or anything cool like that. It winds up being a heat wave that exact day. And you know, the whole idea is let me at least be able to assemble the whole thing and take a photo. And there are some days where I can't even do that. So, I'm in Canada, we shouldn't be getting this kind of weather, and

David Hernandez: 15:23

I was gonna say y'all supposed to be cold up there. How's it a heat wave up there?

CupcakeDex: 15:27

Look, I'm not mad, our summers here are beautiful, but gosh darn it, not when I'm baking, please!

David Hernandez: 15:35

When you go into trying to make these Pokemon creations, you know beyond the cupcakes or even cakes or whatever How do you design it? Like do you try to do a plant beforehead and try to put it into mind or do you like draw it out?

CupcakeDex: 15:46

That's an awesome question. I've really run the gamut. before I started streaming, I started to create this, like, list in Excel of different Pokémon treats that I wanted to make. And it's, currently sitting at like 80 different treats long. I would just be inspired by anything. Sometimes I'd be scrolling Instagram and see like, that's a really cool concept for a tart or a cake. I wonder if I could do that. Or sometimes I'd just be like looking at a Pokemon and thinking, I'll bet you could be a pie. I'll bet I could turn you into a pie. But that said, since I stream on Twitch, I have to make something every single week. And sometimes, look, at this point, I'm kind of tired of looking at that list that's now, like, multiple years old of those, like, 80 plus treats. you know, there's also new Pokémon out now and, like, new events. So sometimes I want to do something that's, you know, related to the new Pokémon GO Community Day. Or a Pokemon that was just announced. And so it's always this question of like, what is inspiring me at any given time? And certainly there are times where it is like trying to draw blood from a stone where I just, you know, my live stream is coming up. I have to figure out exactly what I'm going to be making. Cause I got a plan in advance and it's not until like. Two hours before I go live that I know, okay, I am going to make like, a Sharpedo dessert where like, I'm going to dip chocolates in straw, nope, I'm going to dip strawberries in chocolate, and I'm going to decorate it to look like Sharpedo, and I'm going to make little glasses full of blue jello so it looks like he's in the ocean, and that's what I'm going to do. Sometimes, deadlines are the best creative juice you can ask for.

David Hernandez: 17:24

so do you have the recipe and you just mold it into Pokemon?

CupcakeDex: 17:27

Yeah,

David Hernandez: 17:28

kind of how it works?

CupcakeDex: 17:29

That's typically how it is. Sometimes it's okay, there's like this kind of cookie recipe, but I wanna give it that type of flavor or this type of mix in, or, you know, I wanna use, that kind of icing instead of this kind of icing. But typically, I'm honestly really bad at creating my own recipes. So I kind of just go online and try to get inspired. I get recommendations from friends or even from chatters on Twitch of what we should make sometimes. It's wonderful, it's super helpful, and recipe creation is such a whole other beast. If I were to try to design my own recipes, Whoo, that would be a whole other ballgame. I'm happy to make recipes that are tested and tried and true, and I know that they're gonna more or less come out. Assuming I can follow the recipe properly, which, you know, we do our best. We're live on Twitch. We're, you know, mistakes happen. Uh, not infrequently.

David Hernandez: 18:19

Well, that was actually Well, that was actually another question I had, because before, you used to bake in private, before Twitch. You know, you would post on, like, Pokemon Amiibo, you'd post on Tumblr and stuff like So there you can kind of, like, if you made a mistake, you could kind of clean it up. Twitch, of course, it's live. You can't really, like, oops, it happened, it happened. you have to kind of adjust to that to where like, Oh, if it make a mistake, I make a mistake. I can't do anything about it.

CupcakeDex: 18:41

Oh, totally. When I first, first started, on Twitch, I thought, all right, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to bake a cake in advance so that, while like, I'm going to bake the cake, quote unquote, on stream, I'm going to actually put that in the oven. And then I'm going to magically, as if with TV magic, I'm going to make a cake appear from below the table, like on a cooking show. Ah, magic. Uh, and that way I know it's done and it's ready and all that. The thing about that method is that it makes, it makes you create double the amount of food and double the amount of time. it's not efficient. and I don't want to give up my entire Sunday to streaming. I need to have a little bit of a life too. So we do it live. Sometimes we mess up and, the great thing about streaming on Twitch is you have a whole audience of people to tell you that you're doing it wrong! do this Why are you cupcake decks? Come on! I'm having a panic attack over here!

David Hernandez: 19:40

My gosh.

CupcakeDex: 19:43

So it really is, like, actually genuinely helpful having chatters who are able to give advice, including, like, we have some very talented, like, Bakers and cooks in our chat who do like hang out and I'm so grateful to have their advice because otherwise it's just like Oh the show must go on just this past sunday I was using a blender and realized that the little rubber ring of the blender was not In the very safe position that it should have been and instead got ground up by the blender blades. So we had to spend, a good ten minutes just fishing through our, muffin batter to make sure that there weren't any pieces of, silicone just kind of floating around in there.

David Hernandez: 20:24

Well, that's protein. Doesn't it?

CupcakeDex: 20:25

I

David Hernandez: 20:27

Hey, don't add protein. Do silicone. I do not, I do not endorse that.

CupcakeDex: 20:36

That's, you know? We all gotta make our own decisions about what right?

David Hernandez: 20:43

Hey, I'm just trying to avoid a lawsuit. So, You've been listening to as the Pokeball turns. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back What's interesting, you know, your wife,

CupcakeDex: 21:39

Editor, yeah.

David Hernandez: 21:40

yeah, She's the editor behind the scenes kind of thing, so how did y'all, like, manage, camera angles and trying to, get a show together? Because I'm sure she has to move things around when you have to go through the oven and backwards and all that stuff.

CupcakeDex: 21:52

Oh, man. so our setup is one that we have perfected over the past four years of streaming. I'm so lucky that my wife is like a professional filmmaker, essentially, specifically an editor, but she's worked with cameras for years professionally. So we have one front facing camera. And one top down camera. And when we first started streaming, she was behind the camera. She would zoom in on whatever I was making and zoom out and focus on my face and focus on the food and it was just totally untenable. over the years, we had to just like really nail down what is our setup going to be. And we still revisit it. Because right now, you know, there are points where I'm just going to be off camera because the setup is just in our dining room, not in our kitchen. So there's a lot of points in the show where I just have to get up, I have to get something from the oven, I have to do some dishes, and I'm simply not on camera. We have tried setting up cameras in pointing down into the kitchen and it just hasn't worked so far. We have a very small little one bedroom apartment and getting more cameras so far. It's just really difficult. Setting up for a stream is no small task. If you're just doing a gaming stream, it's a lot easier. You typically have, like, a webcam on your computer, you have your microphone kind of set up stationary at your desk. But when you're doing a baking stream, you're not at your desk. Well, I mean, you could be, but I wouldn't recommend it. Frankly, you need a set, you really need a set for it. So we have to, there's a lot of moving things around. There's a lot of setup. It used to take an hour to set up a stream and an hour to take down the stream. We've thankfully integrated after all these years, we've like put lights into the walls. We have a permanent arm that comes out of one wall that holds the camera. We have a stand that sits right by the entrance to the kitchen that holds the main camera. And it works. Blessedly, it works. It's what is currently sustainable. But we're always looking for ways to improve this stream and to make it better both for ourselves and for the audience. We want it to be like fun and dynamic and like, you know, an exciting fun place to be and interesting to watch.

David Hernandez: 23:56

so one thing that your passion for both Pokemon baking brought was you actually got to host your own contest which was the Pokey Noms challenge back in

CupcakeDex: 24:03

Oh my god, you've done your research! Oh my god!

David Hernandez: 24:07

try. What was it like? Because that was your first ever contest you ever hosted, right?

CupcakeDex: 24:11

That was Super interesting. I worked with a good, friend who was also a Pokemon baker at the time. He goes by Aquat, the Waylord. He's made phenomenal, like super duper creative Pokemon treats as well. it was so cool. Like just saying like, Hey world! Come on! Make some Pokémon treats! And they did! And they were so fun and creative. I love any opportunity to see it. When I first started Pokémon Baking, it was like me in a quad, and like, you know, the odd, like, you know, Pokémon cake here and there, but a lot were Yeah, it was very, very niche. And now, in 2024, there's like a few people who have kind of also come into the niche of Pokémon Baking both in North America and like, I think my friends in Brazil. There's also like amazing Japanese Pokemon food artists like it's like a whole little, not quite community. I think I want us to all be closer. I wish we were all a little bit. Such a phenomenal cohort of artists working with like such a unique medium, making such cool stuff. And anytime that anyone makes something like unique Pokemon food related, whether like you've done a hundred of them, or this is like your first time baking, it's so exciting. you can see, you can tell how excited folks are to be like. I don't really work in the kitchen much, but like, you know, I tried making this with like a recipe I'm familiar with or a recipe I wasn't familiar with and like, I love the results and I feel more empowered to bake. That is the coolest to me, like for people to feel empowered to try something new that like feels creative and then also is creatively nourishing. I think that's so exciting and that to me is like part of the dream is can we like let's get more people making their own food and like doing it in fun, engaging ways that like appeal to our own like creative personal niches. That's what it's about.

David Hernandez: 26:02

One thing that you've alluded to is you've played Pokemon Go. What was it like when you first started playing, or when did you start playing?

CupcakeDex: 26:08

I, of course, was playing immediately. I remember, I was like, theorizing with friends what Pokemon Go was gonna be like. I joined the Silph Road in excitement over how the whole thing was gonna work. So, the second that, like, APK dropped in Canada, I was downloading it. Like, I remember I was, like, at the hospital. Like, for a family member, and I was

David Hernandez: 26:28

Oh my god!

CupcakeDex: 26:30

dropped! I have to download it! So, I downloaded it and I got literally, like, my siblings, every friend, I was like, you gotta play this! Here, there's a Pidgey! You catch it! You catch it! It's just like this! And, it was so much fun. We had the really popular park where, like, a Machamp was spawning every so often and, like, people were like, oh my god, Aerodactyl! And the the whole crowd just running for it. Those were such exciting days. The church nearby decorated their windows with like the different Pokemon go team colors and was giving out water bottles. it was really exciting times. And I was like organizing meetups, like immediately within my city, just like, let's all get together and like do a Ray train for our Articuno day. And of course, like. You know, things dipped and rose, especially here in Canada, the summertime is always like the place and the time to play, and then winter things fall off a little bit, but that first summer in 2016 was so magical, and so special, and the closest thing to that really is like the Pokemon Go Fest events, like that has been so special, I've loved being able to go to that, getting to like interact with So many other Pokemon fans, like seeing everyone get so hype. Oh my God. There's a perfect Staryu over here, everyone. Come on, come on, come on. It was. That, like, energy is, like, just so, like, electric, if you'll forgive the pun. And I love being around that. And it's so much fun. And I love the way it brings people together, that it gets people chatting, and just gets you outside and exploring. Oh, I love Pokemon Go so much. For all its faults, it's a great game.

David Hernandez: 28:08

So you said you would host meetups for like raids, like you said Articuno Day, so like people would come out and y'all would, would y'all walk, would y'all drive,

CupcakeDex: 28:14

Yeah, we were walking, especially in those early days. We would find like a, you know, kind of like a downtown spot to meet up and like, alright, everyone, let's like go and do a raid train together. and we would just go from one spot to another, trying to make sure that everyone got in, alright, do we have enough Do we need to split off? How are we going to do it? We have the one girl in the corner who every time she clicked on a Pokemon would yell SHINY and you'd be like AHH! And then she'd be like, no, it's not. She'd get me every single

David Hernandez: 28:45

Oh, she would fake y'all out.

CupcakeDex: 28:47

Every, every time. And she was good at it. Ah, ah.

David Hernandez: 28:51

gosh. She'd be a good poker player.

CupcakeDex: 28:54

She would. Oh, I love that kind of thing. I love that, like, exploring together. I haven't really done the car raid train, even though probably that would be the best way to do it during these awful Canadian winters where, it's just so cold. Why is it so cold?

David Hernandez: 29:09

I know, right? Like, can't we just stay inside? They just need to build an entire city just inside, you know, that way wouldn't be affected by the winter.

CupcakeDex: 29:17

Exactly. Is that so much to ask?

David Hernandez: 29:19

So you mentioned how you like to go to GOFest. I know you got a chance to go to the one in 2019, I believe, in Chicago.

CupcakeDex: 29:26

Yeah, That was really cool. That was the last year that they held it in Chicago. I think it was their third year if I'm not mistaken. So they'd hammered out all the different like issues and details and all the things that people hated the first couple years. So things were really lovely. Things went very smoothly overall, other than the fact that I was playing on Saturday and there was a tornado warning. So, they shut the event down. They sent us all back to our hotels and of course, after 10 minutes of, you know, sitting around the lobby, they're like, okay, the event's open again. but you know what? We got a makeup day once we got home and that was not bad. I not, not mad about that. but I think my favorite part about Chicago go fast was also just like. the people. I was with the Silph Road at the time, and they hosted a Saturday night after party, which was like, so cool. All the, like, Pokémon content creators were there, there was, like, pizza, and, like, competitions, and, like, PVP. It was, like, the first big trophy for like the PVP thing that I still know almost nothing about. But like the energy was just so exciting and so much fun and the event went probably until three or four in the morning. Because those battles, those, those battles can last a while apparently. And then that same summer we actually had the first and still only Canadian. Pokemon Go event, which is a Safari Zone in Montreal, Quebec, which was really cool. So that was like, okay, right off the steps of Pokemon Go Fest, like truly a month later was this event, And it was so cool. I think still the only Canadian event. And that was a lot of fun getting to have all these content creators in our neck of the woods. we also planned a party. and it was so cool having a whole bunch of folks here. I think, there were also, yeah, there were also raid trains. I don't think they had any locals. So we kind of started off in like an area that didn't have. any raids. So we had to walk for 20 minutes just to find the first raid. This like huge group of a hundred people. It was wild, but oh it was so beautiful and so much fun.

David Hernandez: 31:31

I know you got a chance to go to Seattle, but then you also got to go to New York. Which out of two was your favorite between those two?

CupcakeDex: 31:36

Ooh, Seattle. New York is lovely. I loved getting to visit New York, especially because it was our little mini honeymoon, which was so much fun. And we had a great time because we hosted picnics both at the Seattle Pokemon Go Fest and New York Pokemon Go Fest for Cupcake Dex fans and for other content creators. the picnic that we hosted in New York was so special because it was our honeymoon and people like brought us gifts and congratulated us. It was so special. It was so lovely. It was really, really a special day, but I have to admit the actual playing of Pokemon Go. at this location, which was a park on an island, was not good. we took a ferry there and thank goodness we did because walking onto that island or driving onto that island seemed like a nightmare. And the park itself didn't have a lot of shade and my wife needs to like sit down a lot. There wasn't a lot of places to sit. It was just kind of a rough experience. Whereas contrasted to Seattle in, 2022, that was phenomenal that took place in this like really nice tight area that had the Seattle space needle, that had the museum of pop culture and a bunch of other really cool locations. All in like this really great sort of downtown spot that was like super easy to get to totally beautiful. I thought that Seattle was hard to beat. It was just so gorgeous and so much fun. and again, just like really nice and compact. You can walk the whole circuit in no time at all. Whereas New York, I don't even think we were able to walk the whole thing. it was just too big funnily enough.

David Hernandez: 33:14

I don't know if you heard in Seattle, but I also love the conductor when he says, welcome to Seattle, Pokemon trainers or something like that on the

CupcakeDex: 33:20

Oh. That was so fun. Was that on the monorail?

David Hernandez: 33:24

I believe so. Yeah.

CupcakeDex: 33:25

Ah, I love those little touches. To me, what also makes Pokemon Go events so special and exciting, and at least, it seems like more Pokemon events are doing this, but the theming. Makes me so happy having the like different environments having, especially the little Pokemon statues or like standees that you can take photos with, with a blow ups. Uh, those are just so much fun. And then things like, the London championships from a couple of years back looked so special because they were kidding out everything. Pokemon themed, the con hall, the, gondolas like everything was just like so strongly themed and I'm just such a sucker for that. I absolutely love those like fun photo ops and those like really immersive elements that feel like, Oh, we've like brought the Pokemon world into the real world. Like for real. This

David Hernandez: 34:13

I know. Right. Yeah. So small details that you just like geek out over when you see it. I know that.

CupcakeDex: 34:20

Yeah. Just it just makes it, it makes these things that just live in fantasy and within fiction. kind of real for just a moment and that's just so special.

David Hernandez: 34:31

Now, in regards to you hosting picnics, you know, as Cupcake Dex, what was it like to kind of have people who watched your stream, you got to meet them in person, and those who appreciate what you do? Was it kind of weird or did you feel kind of, you know,

CupcakeDex: 34:43

it's my favorite thing. Obviously, I am a very, not a very anxious person. I'm a medium anxious person. I certainly was nervous about it. But the thing I was nervous about was like, are we going to have enough food? Are we going to be able to find a good spot to set up? Is, is everyone going to be able to get here okay? not so much, like, the people are the exciting part that I'm not so worried about, like, I coordinated with a bunch of other, like, Pokemon content creators who I'm friendly with, I'm so, all I am is excited to meet them, like, it's going to be phenomenal, and then getting to meet fans that part is mind blowing, like, so much in the past, like, I love getting to meet, like, people I know through Pokemon, who I typically only know online. Getting to meet them in person is so, so special to me. it's a different relationship when they're, like, viewers and fans. And it's, it's so interesting hearing someone say that like, you know, someone look at you face to face and say like, I watch you like every week or like, I admire you or like, you know, you are just a dose of sunshine when I'm having a tough day, like, oh, it's, it's so hard to describe how special that is and like what an absolute honor that is. I just want to be the kind of creator who like lives up to that and like, can be a good person to meet and like can be a fun experience to also when you have that in person interaction that is still like fun and special and makes you feel good. And not just like, you know, the way that I so often approach a social interaction afterwards is like, did I do an okay job? Uh, do they think I was weird?

David Hernandez: 36:21

start overthinking it. It's like, Oh, did I should have said this? I should have said this better. They're going to think I'm mean or something like that. Yeah.

CupcakeDex: 36:27

Yeah. Do they think I'm awkward? The answer is yes. They think I'm awkward, now it's about embracing the awkward.

David Hernandez: 36:36

Mm hmm. my gosh, oh so what kind of food did you prepare for them like you said a picnic So did people like did you bring the food or did it bring people bring their own food like

CupcakeDex: 36:45

So, it was like a potluck, which was like my favorite thing.

David Hernandez: 36:49

Those are best yes

CupcakeDex: 36:50

That's the coolest. So unfortunately it will not, unfortunately, such fortunate. It was five days after the wedding.

David Hernandez: 36:56

Mm hmm

CupcakeDex: 36:57

So we didn't exactly have a lot of time to like cook or prepare food. And I felt so guilty about that going in, but my plan was we'd made these. These wedding cookies as, these cookies as wedding favors. They were Pokemon cookies of my and Miss Edna's favorite Pokemon, Alcremie and Sylveon. And we had a ton of leftover party favors because no one took party favors at the end of the wedding. So we were able to bring them to New York and give them out at the picnic and be like, Hey, here, like this wedding part two, here you go.

David Hernandez: 37:30

That's the reception part

CupcakeDex: 37:32

Yeah, exactly. There we go. And that was really fun. We, like, tried to give them out if I saw, like, other content creators I was friends with. It was a great excuse to give them all out. The worst part is I still have some. We weren't able to get rid of all of them. still

David Hernandez: 37:46

that many wow

CupcakeDex: 37:49

I spent multiple live streams baking these cookies thinking, Surely these will all get taken. Surely these will all get eaten. I'm making them from scratch. No. But

David Hernandez: 38:02

I'm available

CupcakeDex: 38:03

Yeah! Hey! Now, when it comes to mailing cookies, I do have a pretty terrible track record with that, so I can't make any promises, but you find me next GoFest. That's a different

David Hernandez: 38:16

I got Okay. I got you. You know, one thing we haven't touched on is your wedding actually. And I wasn't planning on touching it, but actually I think it's a good point because you told me earlier, your weddings were all your online friends got to come in that you met on the Pokemon community. Right. They all came your wedding. What was it like kind of have them join you in one of your special moments or join you in one of the person's special moments right there people you've met online people you've connected with

CupcakeDex: 38:42

That was so special. we had a total of like five intranet friends who were able to make it from like all different corners from the States, from Iceland. It was so, so special. And it was one of the things I was looking forward to the most was getting to see those friends. So shout out to Dragon Free and Negrek. The first time I got to meet them was actually for a different online friend's wedding. Yeah, in 2014, our good friend Act invited us to her wedding and it was the first time we all got to meet in person. It was so spectacular. So, so special. And every summer we tried to meet up. at least like some part of this group tried to meet up every single summer. And in 2019, we were like, Oh, I don't think it's going to work out this summer, but summer 2020. Here we come. We're all going to get to meet up then. It's going to be great. And then a pandemic hit. I don't know if you heard about this.

David Hernandez: 39:40

i heard something in the news about it yeah

CupcakeDex: 39:42

Yeah, it was, it made the headlines for a little bit. So we didn't get to do our thing until the summer of 2023 for the wedding where we were like, This has to work out, please. Like we made sure to tell them first what the date of the wedding was so that they could like clear their schedules, make sure they could travel. And I'm so, so glad they did. It was so phenomenal and then we were able to invite another internet friend who happened to be in town, who we'd met up with in Japan of all places. she was like, Hey Dex, I'm going to be like. In your area, is there anything to do the weekend of August 13th? And I was like, well, which would you like to come to our wedding? And she said, yes, it was so lovely. Yeah. None, none pressure. It was so special getting to spend that time with these friends who'd come from so far away, who I get to see so rarely. It's like such a treat to get to see them. I love that. Like, again, these are friends who I've had since like 2008. I know that not everyone believes in, like, internet friendships being the same as, like, in person friendships, and certainly there are differences, but I think there's such a special relationship and so much value in, like, being able to have friends from all corners and being able to just, like, have one silly little thing to bond over. you never know what can come of those kinds of friendships. And they can be some lifelong ones. For real.

David Hernandez: 41:16

and that's the beautiful thing about Pokemon is it allows you the opportunity to make friends both in person and online And it just takes that one little small interest that y'all share to make a that lasts for in your case 15 20 years

CupcakeDex: 41:29

Yeah! It's wild. It's so, so special. And, you know, those were the friends who were there for me in some of my, darkest, like, loneliest days as a teenager. And, the fact they've stuck with me after seeing, all the drama. After all the imperfect decks that they have witnessed that, like, you know, they're still around. you don't get friends like that often. It's, it's so special, and I just hope everyone has the opportunity to make those kinds of friends. So, if you see someone posting some cool Pokémon or talking about something like, talking about competitive in a way that like really sparks an interest, like, start a conversation. You never know where it's gonna go.

David Hernandez: 42:07

Well, CupcakeDex, for coming on the show. You've been a wonderful guest. If people want to check out your content, if they want to connect with you, where can they go? By all means, please plug away.

CupcakeDex: 42:15

Thank you so much, I stream on Twitch, doing Pokémon baking every single Sunday at 8pm Eastern Standard Time. That's twitch.tv/cupcakedex. Come and join us. Learn some stuff. Joke around. Watch me mess up. It's always a good time there. Otherwise, if you just want to see my Pokemon baking, you can follow me on Instagram, on TikTok, on Twitter, on Facebook, on CupcakeDex on all those places. And if you want to see daily Pokemon food, not just mine, but from other people too, you can follow my Tumblr. That's right. I have a Tumblr at tumblr. com slash CupcakeDex. And lastly, If you want to see some of my writing, I just just started a newsletter. You can follow me at substack. com slash at cupcake decks.

David Hernandez: 43:00

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 Patreon by either clicking the link in the description or going to patreon. com slash as the pokeball turns. Now, if you aren't able to support the show financially, you can always support the show by sharing it with your Pokemon community, because this show wouldn't exist without listeners like you. Now here's a sneak peek for the next episode of As the Pokeball Turns.