TRAINER'S EYE #105 - "Pokemon GO in Louisiana" ft. Shiny Hunters

In this Pokemon interview, we are joined by AlphaPupRemy, a Community Ambassadors for Pokemon GO from Monroe, Louisianna.

AlphaPupRemy shares his initial experience with Pokemon. He has grown up with Pokemon his entire life and has developed a fondness for the Ice type Pokemon. He shares his start with Pokemon Blue before taking us on a journey throughout each generation, specifically his fondness for Unova.

Finally, AlphaPupRemy shares his experience playing Pokemon GO and building up his community with the Community Ambassador Program. He expresses the challenges and offers tips to potential Pokemon Trainers interested in building up their local community.

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

Chapters

• 0:00 TRAINER'S EYE #105 - Shiny Hunters
• 13:07 Commercial Break

Transcript

TRAINER'S EYE #105 - Shiny Hunters
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[00:00:00] Shiny Hunters: My name is Alpha Pup Remy. from Monroe, Louisiana, and this is my Pokémon story.

[00:00:04] 

[00:00:43] David Hernandez: Welcome to As the Pokeball Turns, where we interview people about their experience with Pokemon. My name is David Hernandez. Today, I'm joined by a community ambassador from Monroe, Louisiana, AlphaPupRemy. Alpha, welcome to the show.

[00:00:58] Shiny Hunters: Hey, it's great being here. Thanks for having me on. Yeah,

[00:01:04] David Hernandez: a very soft fondness from people from Louisiana. I love y'all's Cajun food. So, I love Popeyes for what that counts. I know that's not real Cajun but it's kinda close.

[00:01:14] Shiny Hunters: it's great. Yeah, it's good. Popeye's is good. I will agree.

[00:01:17] David Hernandez: Oh, so it's like Popeye's kinda like y'all's Whataburger to where it's like, like y'all have pride in it or like how does Louisiana identify with Popeyes? 

[00:01:24] Shiny Hunters: Well, I think that since, popeye's is synonymous with Cajun and Louisiana, it's like, essentially Cajun chicken, I guess. That people usually kind of, when you think of Popeye's, you think of Louisiana, but gosh, I haven't had their food there in quite some time, so I can't actually remember the last time I've actually been there, but I used to go there a lot as a kid, but it was pretty good.

[00:01:49] I can't complain.

[00:01:51] David Hernandez: Hashtag not sponsored, but Popeye's, if you want to, please reach out to me.

[00:01:55] Shiny Hunters: Not sponsored by, by Popeyes.

[00:01:57] David Hernandez: Well, what's cool is that, you know, I'm happy to finally have somebody from Louisiana to talk on the show and you know, you're community ambassador for a area. Can you first talk about, you know, what is it like to play where you're from? You know, where do y'all go for like a raid day, a community day and stuff like that?

[00:02:11] Shiny Hunters: Okay. So, Monroe is very small. Our population is only about 45, 000 people. so rating is. Pretty much relocated to, our downtown Monroe area. we also have an area in our sister city, West Monroe, which is even much smaller than Monroe, but we kind of raid in between those two areas. And we do have a pretty decent park, uh, foresight.

[00:02:36] We will raid there occasionally, but not as much as being just downtown near basically the heart of the city.

[00:02:41] David Hernandez: And you know, how long have you been running your group? ?

[00:02:44] Shiny Hunters: I've been running the group, I think it's probably been about a year so it's about a year old. it's been quite the challenge just being able to get people together, since COVID. prior to COVID, I did run the Ouachita Parish official Discord. For about two years, I co ran it with, My bestie, Melissa, also known as Barefoot Melissa, we ran the Discord together and we'd host occasional giveaways, we'd do meetups, I think we did a few meetups at Jade Garden, it's a local Chinese restaurant a few times, we did meetups for trades there sometimes, 

[00:03:19] but, My most recent group that I restarted, Shiny Hunters, essentially, it's just basically, a split off of that group.

[00:03:26] So we have all new admins. It's a pretty much a brand new community since, like I said, COVID happened. A lot of people have kind of dropped off in playing since that started. So the community is basically completely different. So, it's just been a challenge just getting people out and, being able to want to show up, essentially.

[00:03:46] not that they don't want to, I think it's just that they're afraid, for the most part, for some reason. Heh heh.

[00:03:53] David Hernandez: Afraid in what way? Like afraid like, you know, because of, you know, the pandemic, you know, there is still cases going around or just afraid in regards to 

[00:04:00] Shiny Hunters: I

[00:04:04] a nervousness involved. Where back in 2016, where people are more so walking around and you see people on their phones and it's like, back in 2016, that's kind of when like everyone said that we achieved world peace, because you could just kind of walk up to anyone and just kind of talk to them and chat with them and say, Hey, you're playing Pokemon Go, whereas now people are just kind of. relegated to their cars. And it's just like, people aren't wanting to get out of their car, I guess, maybe due to the heat here a little bit, but it's been, it's been challenging to get people out of their cars and wanting to actually attend meetups and things like that, but we have grown, significantly since then.

[00:04:43] I think our last, in person meetup, we had maybe around 20 people show up. So for that, for us, that's a lot. nothing like, I know probably in Dallas, Fort Worth, you guys probably get 10 times that amount because you guys are so huge. But we're small and, you know, been just trying to build a community that has been just basically obliterated by, you know, the pandemic.

[00:05:07] the slow process of just rebuilding.

[00:05:11] David Hernandez: mean, it's, you know, it's easy to think like, oh, it's just 20 people but, you know, 20 people just as one group playing one games quite a bit. You know, that's a LAN party back in my day. That's like a a large leap over for other people. You know, 20 people is quite a significant number. So, it kinda goes to show that yes, you know, I am spoiled living in DFW, but you don't need hundreds and thousands of people in one group to really have a Pokemon GO community.

[00:05:34] Is that kind of fair to say?

[00:05:36] Shiny Hunters: Yeah, I mean, you know, I envy those, you know, big cities like that, they're able to turn those kinds of numbers, but here, just being able to get people, To actually come out in those numbers.

[00:05:46] it's actually, it's, been pretty wild ride, know, we started and I mean like the very first meetup that I did, I think we had hard time just getting like five people, you know, like a year ago and now we're getting like consistently 15, 20 people, you know, when we do like the community day meetups, we're getting more and more.

[00:06:08] So it is growing and we are having more people come consistently. whereas when I first started, it was like, we would get different people, like. every event. It would just be a completely different group of people. So, you know, we would have, maybe one or two people or four people that would show up that would always show up.

[00:06:26] But now we're starting to get more people that are more consistent and people are actually showing up and what's, it's like a snowball effect. We're getting more and more people. So I think we're a pretty good size, right now, but we are going to continue to grow. And so that is my goal, just to keep growing the community and keep getting people involved.

[00:06:44] David Hernandez: I want to come back to the community ambassador, you building a community here in a little bit, but I want to touch on, you know, you playing Pokemon GO back in 2016. It sounds like that was your first experience. What was it about Pokemon GO that kind of made you want to get involved with the game?

[00:06:58] Shiny Hunters: whenever red and blue first came out, I was all over those games. Like, as a kid, I had, Pokemon Blue. That was my first Pokemon game. I've been a big fan of the series ever since it first started. And I've grown with the series.

[00:07:13] You know, playing through gold and silver and, Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Gold, you know, Crystal. I've played pretty much all of them up until present day with Scarlet and Violet. And it's just, I have like my group that I play with on a regular basis will not probably Scarlet and Violet so much anymore, but we did have a little group of, The union circle. I had a group of my bestie and, We basically go and play that for hours and it's just, every time there's like a new announcement for a Pokemon game, we just go insane. 

[00:07:45] With, Pokemon Violet. I think I've sunk like maybe 400 hours into it.

[00:07:50] with. Each game, it's pretty much at least a 400 hour time sink. So

[00:07:56] David Hernandez: Cause you get to kind of dive in world, for me, you know, I've played all the games as well. And I've always transferred Pokemon from past generations. I don't know if you've done the same thing or do you kind of stick to building new Pokemon in each game?

[00:08:08] Shiny Hunters: you know, it depends. I think every time I finish a generation, I try to finish the Pokédex and then I transfer all of them to my home account. And so I think the only time that I. actually did not start with a brand new team, was on Brilliant Diamond. I got to Cynthia, and she wiped the floor with me, and I guess I wasn't expecting that, and then I did transfer in some Pokemon from Legends Arceus.

[00:08:34] David Hernandez: It's like, let me bring the reinforcements

[00:08:36] Shiny Hunters: like, I'm

[00:08:36] David Hernandez: person.

[00:08:37] Shiny Hunters: yeah, I'm not going back to that cave and grinding underground anymore. Like, I'm just gonna go ahead. I just want to be with it. So that's where I was with her. So I just went ahead and I did that. it wasn't my proudest moment, but I did do that.

[00:08:50] David Hernandez: So since you have all this experience with Pokemon, do you have a favorite generation you lean towards? Like one that you could play over and over?

[00:08:57] Shiny Hunters: Generation 5 is my favorite

[00:08:59] David Hernandez: Ooh, black white.

[00:09:00] Shiny Hunters: Yeah, Black and White is definitely my favorite. I think that, Black 2 and White 2 and the story with Getsis and how he actually tries to, kill the main protagonist, that was, like, pretty unheard of back then. But I do love, Black and White in general.

[00:09:14] David Hernandez: I mean, everybody I've talked with who's black and white, they've always talked about the story. Even myself, that's one of my favorite generations. And it was just so ambitious. And it also made you kind of question. You know, are we really battling with Pokemon or is it really, are we kind of enslaving them?

[00:09:27] And you know, of course there's little holes in the argument, but you know, it made you think kind of thing.

[00:09:31] Shiny Hunters: It did. And the whole thing, kind of reminds me of, Sun and Moon. We kind of battled with that as well with, the Aether Foundation and Lusamine trying to, basically go in and gosh, I don't even remember what she was trying to do.

[00:09:47] David Hernandez: think she was trying to bring the Ultra Beast into our world and she was trying to, yeah, that's all I remember. I don't

[00:09:52] Shiny Hunters: Yeah, I,

[00:09:53] David Hernandez: Shit.

[00:09:54] Shiny Hunters: know, I completely, I, you know, I felt like I was going somewhere with that, and completely just kind of went blank,

[00:09:59] David Hernandez: Uh, people are listening. It's like, you, how do you not know about ether? And I'm like, it's been a while since I've played these games, man.

[00:10:04] Shiny Hunters: Yeah, it has been, it's been a couple of years since I've played Sun and Moon, but it's also one of my favorites as well.

[00:10:10] David Hernandez: I have to ask. So, you know, Dear Black and White, you know, what were your thoughts when they decided to kind of just release a whole new dex and kind of leave all the, you know, at the time, the Pokemon that we knew of packing Hoenn behind?

[00:10:22] Shiny Hunters: See, I feel like this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but I like that. Here's the thing. I like being able to go into a completely new area and use a completely different team. And I thought that was a lot of fun because every time we would play, gold and silver or ruby and sapphire or diamond and pearl, I was bringing in like the same Pokemon every time. So it's just like, I'd get to the point where I could bring in like, you know, Articuno is also one of my favorite Pokemon I just love Ice type in general. I would just go and bring in whatever Ice types could and just try to clear the game with my Ice types because that was always what I loved doing.

[00:11:00] David Hernandez: Oh,

[00:11:01] Shiny Hunters: finally, when, Gen 5 came out, they're like, we're going to give you completely new tools to use, and you're going to beat the game with these. And I liked it because it made me use Pokemon types that I wouldn't normally use, like using Conquador, like fighting type, like, what is that?

[00:11:15] I would, I would never use that on my own, but it made me appreciate types like fighting and, rock type using Boldor and Gigalith, like I had a lot of fun, and I think it. Open my eyes being able to, attach to other Pokémon types other than ice types.

[00:11:30] David Hernandez: it sounds like you have a very fondness for ice. Although being from Louisiana, it's kind of shocking because it's like that fire ice combo.

[00:11:36] Shiny Hunters: It is.

[00:11:37] David Hernandez: What is it about the ice type that you enjoy?

[00:11:40] Shiny Hunters: don't know, you know, it was something about, as a kid. playing Pokemon blue for the first time and getting to the elite four and going against Lorelei. And I'm like, Oh, well, this trainer is really cool. And you know, you very have, you have little experience ice types during the game, because there's only a handful, like Cloyster and Dewgong and what, Jinx.

[00:12:02] David Hernandez: Yep.

[00:12:03] Shiny Hunters: always

[00:12:03] David Hernandez: for it. Yeah.

[00:12:04] Shiny Hunters: Yeah, I was like, this is pretty cool. And then finally I got to Articuno and I was like, this is my favorite Pokemon.

[00:12:13] David Hernandez: Instant

[00:12:13] Shiny Hunters: it just kind of made me fall in love with ice types. Yeah.

[00:12:27] David Hernandez: them compared to nowadays are all over the place. But cause you think about all those Pokemon you mentioned, they're all late game.

[00:12:32] They're all not something you can get within the first couple of rounds. Then Lapras to you. So you don't really find that one in the wild.

[00:12:38] Shiny Hunters: Yeah. And they make you work for that Lapras too. And, and it's like, I don't know, it's something about their designs typically, also because I'm a sucker for like, light blue and white Pokemon in general, so like, all of my favorite Pokemon are like, either white or light blue, so that's just kinda how I I don't know.

[00:12:58] I attached those Pokemon.

[00:12:59] David Hernandez: Hey you! Yes, you with the ears! Don't go anywhere, just taking a quick ad break. We'll be right back.


Commercial Break
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[00:13:07] 

[00:13:09] 

[00:13:42] David Hernandez: So, you know, you come to Pokemon Go, it releases in 2016, and you're playing the game. How would you play the game? And, you know, would you be like a Shiny Hunter? Are you a Raider?

[00:13:52] Shiny Hunters: So when I first started in 2016, I don't think we had a shiny until Magikarp, I think was the first one.

[00:14:00] David Hernandez: Yes.

[00:14:00] Shiny Hunters: but back then, I kind of played the game kind of touch and go. I didn't play a whole lot. I just kind of, Gen one, this is probably going to be not the most popular statement wasn't my favorite generation? So get me. It didn't work. Real me and I guess like It didn't hook me until they started dropping the raids. And, uh, back then it was just, it was so little to do, and there were barely any spawns here where I play, so it was like, we'd play for a little bit and, I'd get kind of bored with it and then I'd pick it up and play a little bit more, but when the raids actually dropped, it was just kind of like, I think Articuno was the first raid, I think, and I like, Yeah, Articuno, that's, that pretty much brought me back into the game hardcore.

[00:14:46] David Hernandez: It's like, they got my favorite Pokemon. I

[00:14:47] Shiny Hunters: They did. I was like, I gotta go back. And I remember doing Articuno raids when they first dropped. I remember there were groups of like 15 people and we would fail.

[00:14:57] David Hernandez: Yes. Yeah.

[00:14:59] Shiny Hunters: it

[00:14:59] David Hernandez: Yeah, that was legit. Yeah.

[00:15:02] Shiny Hunters: And I remember those days of begging people like, Hey, we need to down this Articuno, is there anyone that could come and help us?

[00:15:08] And we'd have like 13, 14, 15 people. And like, we'd fail our like Lugia, I think was even worse because it's so bulky. And it was just like, it it was hard to get that many people together and in one place at the same time, it was a lot of fun, but now pretty much what I do is For the most part, a shiny hunter, I also like to raid, but my favorite thing to do is shiny hunting, but I will raid, uh, I think my raid badge is around 4,500 just for legendary raids, and I think the badge for, like, non legendary raids is about that much, too, so I am raiding a lot,

[00:15:46] David Hernandez: hmm.

[00:15:47] Shiny Hunters: but my, I'm only raiding just to get the shiny,

[00:15:50] David Hernandez: No, that's fair. I mean I think about those days too. When I came, I was in Dallas, the raids were launched. You know, you think about the old system, a lot of people don't have the Pokemon to kind of counter these raids at the time, because people didn't have like a Tyranitar. They didn't have, they probably had Golems.

[00:16:05] I was probably about it, but Articuno would usually one shot with the ice attacks. So it was kind of a different, I guess, meta in a way to where people just didn't have the Pokemon powered up unless you're really prepared, which I wasn't and you can go against these, but it was not uncommon to see.

[00:16:18] What you're saying, 15 people fell in the Articuno or Lugia

[00:16:21] Shiny Hunters: Oh, yeah.

[00:16:22] David Hernandez: they were just a different animal back in those days.

[00:16:24] Shiny Hunters: Oh, yeah. And, you know, we would have people bringing, like, Vaporeon. Because, you know, it would bring what was resistant in recommended. So we'd have people bringing Vaporeon or Snorlax or whatever they could. So, you know.

[00:16:38] David Hernandez: yeah

[00:16:40] Shiny Hunters: know, Blissey was always, like, one that they would bring. Well, I don't know if Blissey was out yet, but definitely Chansey. It was an insane time to be playing Pokémon Go.

[00:16:48] David Hernandez: It was it was my gosh good times You know these raids they get out and you know, you're hooked on those So are you like leading the raid groups at this point? Like what is it like to play when these raids are launched?

[00:16:59] Shiny Hunters: back then I wasn't leading raids. I was just kind of, I think where people are in my community today, just kind of waiting for other people to do all the legwork and I just show up. So back then it was just like, I would just kind of wait by my phone or I think we did have telegram group or something like that. It was, I can't remember exactly, but it was basically where you just kind of download the app and give it your phone number and receive text messages. And we would have like actual text groups. So I just kind of use that and just pray that someone would do a raid in my area and I could just show up. I remember showing up to like the first three Articuno in a row and they all fled. It was just miserable.

[00:17:43] David Hernandez: have been heartbreaking for you.

[00:17:45] Shiny Hunters: Yeah, it was, it was miserable, but also I was, I was really bad as well. So

[00:17:50] David Hernandez: Oh, bad in the sense that you just didn't know to do curve balls or typings or.

[00:17:54] Shiny Hunters: oh no, I was pretty bad. I wasn't throwing curveballs. I didn't have golden razzes or anything. So it was just, you know, straight ball. I don't think, I think maybe half of the balls even hit it. So it was just, I do remember having a really hard time getting my first Articuno.

[00:18:11] David Hernandez: I mean, we all go through those. I call them growing pains of Pokemon GO because you know, the game doesn't explain everything. And a lot of the stuff you kind of have to learn by experience,

[00:18:19] Shiny Hunters: Yeah.

[00:18:19] David Hernandez: just, those are the things you have to kind of go through, because I think for me, I didn't have the ice type badge.

[00:18:24] Leveled up too well. So they were running pretty fast whenever I came here to Dallas. And eventually for those who don't know, the type badges make a huge difference whether you're going to cast as Ray boss or not curve ball be damned. So

[00:18:36] Shiny Hunters: do. They do. And people don't know 

[00:18:40] David Hernandez: They don't, and it throws people off all the time, but it's like, no, those type badges matter.

[00:18:43] Shiny Hunters: Yeah, and um, another wonderful thing about being in person and hosting like, events where you can actually get people together is that you can see them and see hey, Maybe try throwing a curveball, you know, because a lot of people still don't know, like, setting the circle or the circle lock technique.

[00:19:00] The game doesn't tell you any these things. So, today, you still have people that are throwing on Lugia, and they don't know, hey, it'll be a lot easier if you set your circle. Or, if you just kind of throw a curveball, because, like, you're not learning, unless you're looking on, like, the Silk Road, or you know someone personally showing you.

[00:19:19] Hints and tricks and tips. It's easy to miss that information. So, back in 2016, when you're in a crowd of people and you're watching people and people are around you, it's easy to look over and say, hey, this is what I do. Have you tried this? less of that peer to peer information that's kind of going around.

[00:19:38] So unless you're actively seeking it, if you're playing solo, then you're kind of at a disadvantage. So that's another big perk of having a community, is having people that can give you that one on one help when need it. And that's why I try to make myself available to people, that they can come to me with questions and things like that.

[00:19:55] Like, I still have people that will text me about events. It's like, Hey, can you tell me, like, should I be using this Pokemon? What should I bring? So.

[00:20:04] David Hernandez: It makes a huge difference because for me, you know, I was kind of more of a hardcore player after raids came out. And I thought everybody was on my level to where like, we all knew everything. We all knew, you know, the badges. We all knew the throws yet. That's how I was coming from. And it wasn't until I took over my Facebook group and DFW to where I realized I'm way ahead of the pack compared to the average player.

[00:20:26] Shiny Hunters: yeah.

[00:20:27] David Hernandez: like you said, they don't know that stuff. They don't know the types. They don't know the curve balls. They don't know berries and all that. They don't know how much of importance it is. And it's eyeopening.

[00:20:35] Shiny Hunters: They don't know. And the thing is, they don't know what they don't know. So at the same time, they don't know. that there's a bonus for like the platinum catch badge or there's a multiplicative boost when you throw a curveball on top of the golden rise. Like they don't know those things.

[00:20:51] David Hernandez: Mm hmm.

[00:20:51] Shiny Hunters: So it's hard to be able to show people and tell people things like that when they're remoting, remoting the raid from their couch.

[00:20:59] it's a lot easier when you have people in person and you're all kind of doing it together. But that's another one of the challenges is just, helping people. Like a lot of people don't know. And because they didn't grow up like I did, or I knew, with learning like the type chart.

[00:21:14] And I don't think, expect anyone coming in that did not grow up with it to learn it, because it is overwhelming a lot of the times, just looking at it.

[00:21:25] But because, We've been kind of growing with it for so long. It's kind of in the back of my mind where I already know what Pokemon to bring based on what type of Pokemon I'm fighting. I don't have to go and look it up every single time because I already have that information internalized.

[00:21:40] But for someone else who's just like, you know, a random dad with kids who can only play for like, An hour a week,

[00:21:47] David Hernandez: Mm hmm.

[00:21:47] Shiny Hunters: he's just trying to get his Pokedex Lugia. I'm not going to expect him to know to bring, you know, whatever. So I think a lot of times it's just getting the information out there and helping people.

[00:21:58] It's the biggest part of building the community and having, being available for people to ask questions and things like that.

[00:22:05] David Hernandez: . Well, then even think about this, cause you know, think about when we grew up, gen one, right? It was more simplistic in regards to, you know, you had grass poisons, you had pure water, pure fire, pure electric. Nowadays you've got the mixed types. You've got electric types that may resist ground like electric grass or grass, water type, which would resist fire.

[00:22:21] And you know, all those kinds of combinations that yes, make the game great with how they are, but they also make it more. Intimidating for players to kind of figure out like, Oh, fire may not always be effective against grass. If the grass has a water type, AK Ludicolo, or example, water grounds, then infamous one to where electric, usually super effective against water.

[00:22:41] But if it has a ground typing, it's immune to it.

[00:22:43] Shiny Hunters: Oh, yeah, definitely. And I think that's a huge hurdle for raids a lot of the times and also sometimes the rocket battles, like I'll see people sometimes having issues with like fighting Sierra or, you know, whatever, and they may not know the type matchups. And so that's, that's putting you at a huge disadvantage if you don't know that information because if you don't know the lineups and it could definitely cause you to lose You know, an advantage,

[00:23:07] David Hernandez: , you talked about how the raids and then, you know, the pandemic happens 2020. What made you want to become a community ambassador?

[00:23:15] Shiny Hunters: I would say I want it to bring the community together. I wanted to be able to have a place where people could play together and share raids and raid together and make friends. And I noticed there are tons of people who, you know, they're all sitting around, they want to raid, but it's like they just want other people to just kind of do the legwork for them.

[00:23:38] And I don't mind doing that sometimes. You know, so I'm like, I can, I can help. I think the main thing is like, I don't know for the most part. It's just like, I like helping people, you know, I think that's the biggest thing, especially about Pokemon, because it's something that I'm so passionate about, so I don't mind helping people with.

[00:23:56] A game that I love that's really dear to my heart, especially a series that I hold so dear.

[00:24:01] David Hernandez: What is it about Pokemon that you love so much? Cause you've grown up with it. So, you know,

[00:24:05] Shiny Hunters: I have, and I would say the creatures, you know, just, the experience of going into like a new fantasy world and seeing a creature that you've never seen before I wouldn't say the story for most of them, because for most of the games, the story is kind of non existent. But just being able to immerse yourself in like a brand new world, and bond the creatures, and just I don't know, I think that's really cool.

[00:24:31] That's always kind of been cool for me. Heh

[00:24:33] David Hernandez: No, I agree, because that's what I've always enjoyed, especially, you know, you've played all the games, you get to experience, you have different memories with certain Pokemon over others, and then the fun part for me, you know, as a Pokemon fan, Pokemon Go came out, you know, Pokemon Go brought a lot of people who either left the franchise back, you know, gen one or two, or they never played Pokemon, it was kind of cool to share my Pokemon nerdiness to people who know, it was just kind of good bonding sport.

[00:24:57] Shiny Hunters: I listen, I know exactly where you're going, like where you're going this, because I would say if anyone has played the main series games, you already have a huge advantage over everyone else that plays Pokemon go, because I would say, especially here, 60 percent of the people who play Pokemon go have never played a Pokemon game. It just seems like, the ones that have played, most of them have dropped off, like, after Gen 1 or Gen 2, sometimes Gen 3, like, from being a community leader, just for, like, as many years as I have, just talking to people about Pokemon Go and nerding out, it just seems like it's very rare, to have people that say, oh, yeah, I've played Sun and Moon, or I've played Diamond and Pearl, but Most of them have only played at most red and blue, gold and silver. And you're lucky to even that.

[00:25:45] David Hernandez: you talked about earlier, how you, when you were building your community up, it went from now you average 20 people, but when you first started, it was only like five people would come up.

[00:25:53] If that, how did you keep yourself mode? And what is it like in those early days when you were trying to build up your community?

[00:25:59] Shiny Hunters: Oh, yeah, it was definitely rough. like I said, the community was just kind of after the remote rating came into play. I mean, if it was able to be remoted into, like, people would do that. Over showing up most of the time. So I think after like the remote raid, price hike, we started getting a few more people out that would come out and, actually show up because it was way cheaper to raid in person.

[00:26:22] But just starting out, I think we had like, four or five people that would come and show up. And then it just, it just takes a very long time. And it's just, you just have to be able to deal with, there's like a churn. I call it, where there's always going to be people that kind of come in and they leave.

[00:26:38] So from what I've noticed, you know, we'll host a raid. We'll have people show up and then we won't see them for a while. They'll kind of fall off the face of the earth. And it's like, they'll come back every now and then. But from what I gather, most. Players are kind of seasonal. They'll come back usually, certain time of the year they'll play or they'll play for like really big events.

[00:26:59] But just like regular, everyday logging in, you're not really gonna see 'em all too often. So I think the main thing is just kind of having consistency, you know, being consistent. Having events regularly, getting people engaged, showing people that, you're going to be around a while, so they can kind of get to know you a little bit and just being familiar with you.

[00:27:20] but the main thing I would say is just being consistent, and eventually you pull people.

[00:27:25] David Hernandez: It's the hardest part because, you know, for podcasting, we built, we're built on consistency, and it's hard to kind of, when you don't get a small group of people or a small group of listeners to start out, because it's It feels kind of, maybe you take it too personal, but that's probably the best can take it to where you think that reflects your effort.

[00:27:41] And it doesn't, it's just, it takes time. It takes consistency. Like you said, to kind of build up that momentum and that steam and go from there to kind of build something. Cause you're not trying to build just people who play the game in your experience, you're trying to build a community and that's not done overnight.

[00:27:54] That takes, that takes time.

[00:27:56] Shiny Hunters: It does, and um, I just try not to take it personally, but you know, people are, wanting to be a part of community, I think, they just may not know about us yet. Or a lot of people are just kind of, they just want to sit in their car and just kind of play and just, you know, have their music going and not be bothered.

[00:28:13] And I'd let them know that's cool too, but I do have the option. Hey, if you do want to come and hang out, we're here, so we don't want to force anybody. We don't want to be weird or too pushy. So we just, you know, have that door open. If people do want to come and hang out with us and, I'll do, Some gift card giveaways.

[00:28:30] . So just being able to, get that one on one interaction with people has helped tremendously with building the community.

[00:28:37] So it has been, like I said, like a snowball effect where we're getting more and more people. every community day. So it has grown.

[00:28:44] David Hernandez: You know, last question, regardless, just the community ambassador program and everything you've done with it, you know, there's a lot of people who are on the other side, who don't have the community or trying to build it up. What advice would you give to someone like that?

[00:28:55] Shiny Hunters: I would say just, if you're trying to build up community, talk to people, get people excited, motivated, and just kind of show up, you know, it's a little bit. impersonal when it's just people through text. So I think once people can kind of see you and put a name with a face and it becomes a little bit more personal and I think it makes people more invested, cause I've made several friends from, leading events and things like that.

[00:29:20] And I think part of that is being able to make friends and it's like, well, they want to come see you now because you're their friend. So it's been a lot of fun and I've made tons friends from being a community ambassador, in the area and just. it's going to be slow, especially if you're in a small town, but if you can just be patient and just kind of put yourself out there, leave your door open so people can come and talk to you, you know, they need help with the game or just answering questions and hosting events, you know, giving people a chance to show up and get something cool, Something cool could be something, you know, just a Pokédex entry Lugia that they wouldn't have gotten on their own. So just like things like that really help grow the community.

[00:30:05] David Hernandez: The way I always like to think about it is that, you know, I'm not bringing people to try to play a game. I'm trying to bring people to do a raid. I'm trying to bring people who love to play Pokemon, because that's the reason why we play this game. You Pokemon, it's the IP. You know, we like the, uh, we like the option to be able to kind of have that adventure and that's I try to approach it because, you know, Pokemon has brought me so many memories and so much joy, and I want to see other people experience the same thing.

[00:30:28] Shiny Hunters: Absolutely.

[00:30:29] David Hernandez: Well, alpha, I got one last question before we close

[00:30:33] so say somebody is going to come battle you in Louisiana and your home turf, and you have to bring ice type. We're going to do ice types because you said that's your favorite type.

[00:30:39] Shiny Hunters: Uh

[00:30:40] David Hernandez: What six ites type Pokemon would you bring to the battle?

[00:30:43] Shiny Hunters: Oh, you know, I'm going to, quote Karen of the Elite Four, you know, when she says that, strong Pokemon, weak Pokemon, basically the true trainers try to win with their favorites. I'm going to bring my favorites and going to be probably Beartic, Cube, Articuno. G Max Lapras and

[00:31:09] I really like Snom. Can Snom there? Because Snom is one of my favorites as well.

[00:31:16] David Hernandez: is your team. It can be whatever you want.

[00:31:18] Shiny Hunters: Snom and probably Mr. Rhyme. I know people hate that Pokemon, but I love it.

[00:31:24] David Hernandez: Hey, I love it too. I love the hat. And I was, I'm waiting for it to drop a hip hop, uh, album.

[00:31:30] Shiny Hunters: The Charlie Chaplin

[00:31:31] David Hernandez: Oh my gosh. I feel like it was a missed opportunity for them not to include it. Well, I know she's a ghost trainer, but, uh, that rapper from Charlotte Violet, he should have been on that team. That would have been perfect, or at least a background character.

[00:31:42] Shiny Hunters: I think it was Rhyme.

[00:31:43] David Hernandez: Uh, something like 

[00:31:45] Shiny Hunters: Something like that. Yeah, that definitely of my favorites.

[00:31:47] David Hernandez: Thank you for listening to As the Pokeball Turns. Follow all my socials and join our Discord community to stay connected by clicking any of the links in the description of this episode. Tune in next time for more episodes featuring more people, more stories, and more Pokemon. Until next time.