TRAINER'S EYE #133 - "Friendships Through Cyndaquil's Flame Wheel" ft. GoodraFTW

In this Pokemon interview, we are joined by GoodraFTW, a Pokemon Trainer who is a part time content creator on Twitch and Youtube who hosts Shiny Showdown with his co-host LadyDunsparce!

GoodraFTW starts his Pokemon journey playing Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen. He shares his early experience playing with his friends, despite his family against engaging with the franchise due to religious reasons. GoodraFTW would continue playing the games as he grew older. 

GoodraFTW shares his favorite region of Johto and what he loved about playing the second generation. He gives insight into the numerous Pokemon he fondly remembers, including his favorite one, and also gives insight into his eventual transition into the PokemonTCG from Yugioh.

Finally, GoodraFTW shares his dabble into creating content and how he came up with the idea of Shiny Showdown. He connects how his value of friendship has kept him motivated to keep up with creating Pokemon content and how he has used content creators in the Yu-gi-oh space to influence his own ideas.

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

Connect with GoodaFTW: Twitch | Twitter | Youtube

Transcript

GoodraFTW: 0:00

I am GoodraFTW, and this is my Pokémon story.

David Hernandez: 0:43

Welcome to as the pokeball turns where we interview people's experience about Pokemon. My name is David Hernandez I'm joined by Gujra FTW, also known as Gujra for the win. Gujra, welcome to as the pokeball turns.

GoodraFTW: 0:57

Thank you for having me, always good to be talking to other members of the community, and just, uh, branching out a tad.

David Hernandez: 1:03

I have to go on a limb, I'm gonna guess maybe Guju's your favorite Pokemon, or is that, like, what's the story behind that name, if you don't mind sharing?

GoodraFTW: 1:10

I've, I would probably classify Cyndaquil as my favorite Pokemon. Uh, there was like a, an old anime episode that was like focused more on like gold and silver. And I remember being at my grandma's house and like there's this thing with Typhlosion. I was like, Oh wow, that's so cool. And so like, That's where I get the Typhlosion line, but the Goudra thing is actually a story in its own. So, in college, my freshman year of college was around, the time X and Y was about to be released. so like obviously that's when internet leaks were becoming a hot commodity. And, the full Pokédex got leaked before the game was released. And my roommate he had seen the leaks and he was just like, so mad that Goomy was a dragon type. And we were like, I was like, you know what, you hate this thing so much, I'm going to give it all the love in the world. And so from that point on, I loved Goomy and the, and the Goomy line, in spite of my friend's hatred for it. So.

David Hernandez: 2:10

I mean, that's such a troll move, I love it.

GoodraFTW: 2:14

Gotta gotta do what you gotta do. I mean, he's just a little guy like, what,

David Hernandez: 2:17

But,

GoodraFTW: 2:18

how, how can you hate him?

David Hernandez: 2:19

I know, right, but what type did he think Goomy was?

GoodraFTW: 2:23

He was just, he was just mad that it was a dragon. He didn't he loves dragons. That's, that's his thing. He loves cool Pokemon, that he, he just loves cool things. so like the fact that. It was a dragon and it wasn't just like a cool edgy dragon like Garchomp or Salamence or anything like that just kind of annoyed him

David Hernandez: 2:40

I mean, I can see that, I guess, because it's kind of, uh, A strain off the path of what we're used to at that time because you said Garchomp, Dragonite, Haxorus, all those Aggressive looking dragons and here you got innocent Gumi that you kind of want to plush of

GoodraFTW: 2:55

Yeah, he's a round little cuddly guy, you know

David Hernandez: 2:58

so actually I did something similar, but this is actually related to my discord name So I was in a Pokemon go server at the time and the owner We got on some subject, but he hated Hamtaro with a passion. He just went on a huge rant. And so the troll myself. That's what I said. Uh, real recognizes real here. I changed my discord name to Hamtaro or no, I changed my profile picture to Hamtaro. And then this is the kind of discord where you can't really change your nickname. So he then goes, okay, well, I'm just going to keep you as Hamtaro. And it kind of just stuck ever since my discord community. They always call me Hamtaro. And that's where that comes from.

GoodraFTW: 3:36

ha ha ha. Love it.

David Hernandez: 3:39

You mentioned how, you know, y'all were in college playing Pokemon X and Y. so you and your friend were playing Pokemon, I assumed. Were y'all like, kinda like, exploring the game together? Battling? Like, what was that like?

GoodraFTW: 3:50

so, When, when the game first came out, So obviously it was the first, uh, Pokemon game released on the 3DS, Like, family of systems, And it released very closely, Or alongside the 2DS, I was able to pick up the 2DS and get the game and, uh, he just wasn't able to get it right on release. I was playing it and I was showing him all the cool things that I was doing and he's like, Oh, come on,

David Hernandez: 4:15

You're torturing the boy, oh my

GoodraFTW: 4:16

I was, torturing him by just flexing and showing off. he eventually was able to get it. but that was actually, when I started to like do content creation in general back then and I think even now a lot of the Youtubers will say the the best way to get started is just to start recording so a lot of my very early stuff was me just like sitting with a with a tripod my phone on the tripod pointed at my 3ds while I was doing stuff because like I didn't have money for a capture card didn't know how to how to go about getting a capture card or anything But 3DS capture cards were a process in and of themselves at the time, too, so. my roommate and I did, like, a little bit of battling on the games, but We were also getting into card games as well. So, we started off, we got into Yu Gi Oh! first. And then, uh, somehow we eventually transitioned over to Pokemon. He had played Pokemon when he was in high school. and had like a bunch of cards. And, we didn't really have like a, league around us at the time, but the card shop we went to we were able to just kind of start up like Just like some local stuff so it eventually went from the video game and transitioned into the card game and so the rest has been Like history since then just on and off playing whatever so

David Hernandez: 5:32

It sounds like it's a very core memory, cause you know, here you are, you're just playing Pokemon X and Y. And then that also eventually, like, rolls into you just trying out TCG and not even in the competitive sense, just trying not to play the card game and learning how to play.

GoodraFTW: 5:45

Yeah, And, like, I think that's the beauty about, all the different things that Pokemon kind of has their hands in. Because, like, there is overlap in a lot of ways. most people probably started from the video game at some point or another. Either the anime or the video game. Especially, like, millennials and, Kind of our age group. so, we get started on that, and that gets us into the merchandise, into the cards, and then, like, we just have fond memories of those as children, and then we just, like, get the stuff, and, like, maybe we'll come back to it as adults. I just, I really enjoyed card games. Like, I would, I really like Yu Gi as a card game, not so much how it's managed. Pokemon is, uh, It's, it's a lot cheaper, it's a, it's a lower barrier to entry. And especially now that, I've kind of reconnected with some, some old friends. are also into uh, Pokemon it's just been nice to just get back into it and, meet new people, just branch out in that regard and just meet all kinds of, all kinds of great people, even, even locally where I live, cause the friends I do have are in a different state

David Hernandez: 6:46

Do you find it kind of different to, like, you know, even just X and Y, we'll stick with that for now. To where you got all these connections, you get to kind of learn, experience Pokemon together to compare to when you first started, like, how different is it?

GoodraFTW: 6:58

so, when I first started, it was in middle school. so, I really wasn't allowed to play Pokemon Like, I wasn't allowed to be involved with Pokemon at all. but like, I kind of convinced my dad. I don't think my dad really knew that we weren't allowed. So I convinced my dad to like, let me buy a Pokemon game at a pawn shop.

David Hernandez: 7:18

Okay.

GoodraFTW: 7:19

friends at school were playing Pokemon. And I was like, oh man, this looks really cool. I want play. and so my first game was FireRed. and so, Really, like, it's just being, being involved with friends who were also involved with Pokemon. It's just kind of been like a common string along the way. cause that's, that's where it started. And then, when I moved up to college, like, sharing that interest with my roommate and us becoming friends. through not only that, like, we, we were, we were the same major, in college and everything too. But like being able to bond over Pokemon through, through friendships or create new friendships through Pokemon has always been like a, very, uh, common theme throughout for me.

David Hernandez: 7:57

why weren't you allowed to, I guess, get engaged at that age?

GoodraFTW: 8:00

it was, kind of like a religious thing. so I, I grew up in a, a Christian household and there was a huge scare about like Pokemon and like, I used to watch Digimon and then my mom. had like come in on one of the episodes where they were talking about like demons and like prophecy or whatever and it like freaked her out and she's like, alright, no more of this and the two were like the same thing to her for the longest time. Uh, so it was kind of like off limits, I wasn't allowed do it,

David Hernandez: 8:27

It's like she came at the wrong time. It's like if you had came at any other time, you would not have seen this. It's just the one scene.

GoodraFTW: 8:33

Yeah, yeah, probably. Just one of those like, wrong place at the wrong

David Hernandez: 8:36

Yeah, I was gonna that's not the right place for you.

GoodraFTW: 8:38

she, she actually now does play Pokemon Go, uh, recently.

David Hernandez: 8:42

Oh, wow.

GoodraFTW: 8:43

Go, so it's, it's, it's done a full 180 for her.

David Hernandez: 8:47

She's more receptive to it nowadays compared to back then.

GoodraFTW: 8:50

Yeah, yeah,

David Hernandez: 8:51

Was it difficult, I guess, you know, as you know, Pokemon can progress. So you started with fire red and, you know, of course we get more games with the DS and all that, and you said your parents were against it where you kind of left out at that point and your parents were kind of, or your friends were kind of progressing with Pokemon or how did that work out for you?

GoodraFTW: 9:07

Well, once I started playing the game, my mom, she wasn't happy that I had the game, but like, she stop me from playing

David Hernandez: 9:14

Oh, so you weren't like completely forbidden from playing it just at the initially part.

GoodraFTW: 9:17

yeah, I was forbidden from, like, trying to start playing. But once I started playing, I guess she realized it really wasn't all that bad.

David Hernandez: 9:24

Gotcha. Okay.

GoodraFTW: 9:25

and so I, I, I just kind of took it and ran with it. especially, like, even in the DS era, I would remember Taking my DS to school. Even my Game Boy Advance. We would do trades, link battles, all kinds of fun stuff. Especially in the morning while we were waiting for the bell to ring to go to class. And even at lunch as well.

David Hernandez: 9:46

That's what I enjoy too. Cause, uh, that was actually the first time I ever got to experience like battling in the multiplayer of Pokemon, my friends, we would go in the mornings. And of course we played Yu Gi Oh, we played the Yu Gi Oh card game, but we also started playing Pokemon. We did battles, we did trades and we would just be in the cafeteria table, just kind of, you know, doing our thing. And it was just a lot of fun to finally experience that in that time period have such good fond memories of it.

GoodraFTW: 10:10

Yeah, I remember, um, So, there was, there was like some stink at the school, where the assistant principal was like, no, you're not allowed to these in the morning, don't bring them back to school. But like, we still brought them, we just like snuck around doing it. And then like, she finally came and was like, alright, you can do it in the morning. And we just all immediately pulled it out, DS's started playing again.

David Hernandez: 10:33

Oh my gosh.

GoodraFTW: 10:34

cool, thank, better to ask for forgiveness than permission, I

David Hernandez: 10:37

I love that quote. Yeah, I need a shirt on that. I mean, that's so crazy though. Like it's like at the morning, like, what do you want us to do? We're waiting for class. Like we're not distracted or anything.

GoodraFTW: 10:47

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 10:48

I wanted to know. So, you know, you said you kept playing the games. Did you have a particular generation of games that you enjoyed playing the most? Like what would be your favorite one?

GoodraFTW: 10:57

I mean I'm always a Gen 2 truther. Uh, so, one thing that's weird for me is because like, I started playing right before Diamond and Pearl came out. But I ended up still playing, Each generation in order, so my first game was FireRed and LeafGreen, so Gen 1. The second game I played was actually Silver. cause there was a kid in my class who was like, Yeah, I got this old Pokemon game, I'm gonna sell it. And so I bought it from him, and like, I mean, obviously, I, I, I, I mentioned the Typhlosion thing earlier, So like, I get to play with Typhlosion, this is like, Amazing. so, I just love Gen two. I, think it's just being able to like, go through and you get to do the whole Jo to section and then you still get to go back into Canto was really cool. so, and then after that, like, I got to play like, Sapphire and then, the first game I actually bought, the first Pokemon game I actually bought like. On release was, uh, Pearl. It was for my birthday, the year that Pearl came out,

David Hernandez: 11:55

Oh, that's such a good birthday present.

GoodraFTW: 11:57

birthday subsequent to its release or whatever

David Hernandez: 12:00

Oh,

GoodraFTW: 12:00

but I, I, I think Gen 2 is probably my favorite just because like there's a lot of Pokemon from Gen 2 that are just like, within their particular like category are my favorite. So like favorite Legendary is Lugia, favorite like roaming Pokemon is Suicude. Obviously, favorite starter, favorite Pokemon is gonna be like, Cyndaquil, Typhlosion, Lion. So, just a lot of things I really enjoyed about Gen 2.

David Hernandez: 12:23

I think Gen 2 was just such a good follow up for the Kanto games. I know you started with FireRed, but, you know, you got to kind of experience the heart of RedBlue in a way. But what I loved about, you know, GoldSilver and Crystal is of course the two regions, but it's also, I like the progression. Because sometimes with Pokemon games, you kind of just get stuck in this time period. But Pokemon you got to see the progression of what happened after Kanto. What happened after you beat Team Rocket, after you won the championship. And it hasn't been replicated. It's gotten some pieces, but not to that degree.

GoodraFTW: 12:56

Yeah. So, another thing that like, leads to love and enjoyment of Gen 2. So like, FireRed, like the post game stuff is like, centered around the Sevii Islands. And so after you get your national decks and can go to like, more of the Sevii Islands. You start to actually encounter Johto Pokemon and, Like, I fell in love with a lot of them, like Larvitar and Pupitar. Uh, fell in love with those. Um, I, I'm seeing my Chikorita plush behind me.

David Hernandez: 13:24

Yeah, Chikorita.

GoodraFTW: 13:25

love the design of Chikorita and Bayleaf. Like, there's just so many great designs that I, I just love from that generation.

David Hernandez: 13:31

And you just settled for Cyndaquil. Why? You could have just been a Chikorita fan. I don't get it.

GoodraFTW: 13:36

See, the thing that ruins Chikorita for me Meganium. Meganium had a better design, I think I could get more behind it. But, it's like, it's, it's the, it's like the leaf blade on the head is, is what I really love about Chikorita and Bayleaf. And then they just get rid of it

David Hernandez: 13:53

Yeah. They gave little two, yeah, antennas. Yeah.

GoodraFTW: 13:56

so.

David Hernandez: 13:57

Well, how would you redesign Meganium though? What would you change about it that would make it more appealing?

GoodraFTW: 14:01

A, a leaf blade head, I don't

David Hernandez: 14:03

You just want the leaf blade head? Okay. What if we did like a little leaf blade hat instead of the flowers? We just had a hat around, you know, it's like a hop hit

GoodraFTW: 14:11

sure someone could come up with something that I'd be on board with, but

David Hernandez: 14:14

if y'all design something you have any artistic skill Tag us. I'd be curious to see what y'all make. I'm not sure if we'll get answers, but I would love to see what y'all make

GoodraFTW: 14:22

Let me see Mega Meganium. That brings back the leaf.

David Hernandez: 14:27

I know that, you know, early, you said how you started your content creation, playing Pokemon X, you know, just by the struggle was real, right? Holding a tripod and just trying to record video with crappy footage. People nowadays don't know what it's like. What made you want to try to do the content creation at the time? Like what made you want to just go to that effort just to record some gameplay?

GoodraFTW: 14:45

I was in college, I didn't have a lot to do. Uh,

David Hernandez: 14:48

You what, you mean study? You didn't mean you didn't study and procrastinate like the rest of us?

GoodraFTW: 14:51

I, I mean, you know. Uh, I mean, I was on YouTube a lot, I was watching YouTubers. I, I, I really took a liking to Shady Penguin. his content. I really enjoyed Shady Penguin's content and there was there was a time where I was doing it was like the first pokemon let's play I did where I actually like did layouts and everything and it was just So so much fun to like See all the work that I did on it Like seeing the layouts come together and the transitions I just thought it was like so cool to see everything come together and like I Look, I made this. Look how cool this looks. And like, I just felt like a sense pride about it. And it's like one of the, one of the few things that I've really felt like, I just enjoyed doing and wish I could do more often. obviously as time has gone on, it's been like hit or miss whether or not I can actually like find the time to do it. I, I try the best I can, but you know.

David Hernandez: 15:45

Mm hmm. Responsibilities.

GoodraFTW: 15:47

yeah. Adulthood. Life.

David Hernandez: 15:50

Oh, I wish I was Ash. I could just stay at 10. Well, no, I don't want to do that. I want to stay at 21. That's, that was the ideal age.

GoodraFTW: 15:57

Yeah, I was talking to my brother the other night and I think we were just going on a nostalgia trip for some reason. And I was telling him, I was like, man, I wish I was back in college. He's like, why college and not high school? I was like, well, in college, I had the least amount of responsibilities, but the most amount of independence.

David Hernandez: 16:12

Yes.

GoodraFTW: 16:13

yes.

David Hernandez: 16:14

I agree.

GoodraFTW: 16:15

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 16:16

I'm a college boomer. My college years were fun. I don't regret those at all.

GoodraFTW: 16:20

No, I, I love my college years. I was playing yugi playing video games most of the time. So like, I, I wasn't out like partying or anything. I was, I'm not that fun. I'm

David Hernandez: 16:31

Well, I mean, I'm serious though, because like, before, I kid you not, high school year, I sold all my Yu Gi Oh cards. Because I didn't think that nobody would go and play Yu Gi Oh. I gave away all my Magic the Gathering cards because I didn't think people would play Magic. And I kept my Pokemon games because I'm not crazy enough, but, when I got to college, I saw people playing Yu Gi Oh, I saw people playing Magic, I'm like, what the heck? Like, blew my mind that people would still be into this stuff because I always thought that It was kind of, you know, quote unquote kiddie stuff, but lo and behold, here we are still playing, talking about

GoodraFTW: 17:03

they, they say high school are the best of your life, but like, in hindsight, I could care less for, for my high school years. I enjoyed college so much more. I felt more like I could be I mean honestly just be myself. so like I was in band so like, I did band in college and like I was around other band kids a lot and just being in that environment and being around people who were more like me Just made me feel like I could be more like me I think that's part of why I enjoy it so much, but you know, just how it goes.

David Hernandez: 17:34

I know. Hey, if you're listening to this and you're in college, enjoy your years while you got it, because they go by fast.

GoodraFTW: 17:39

Yeah, they might be expensive, but it will be some of the most enjoyable times, hopefully.

David Hernandez: 18:31

Now, you know, you were talking about, you know, your content creation and I'm guessing, you know, you were just streaming at the time. What did you try to make? Like, planned content, making the videos, you know, like you do on YouTube, like when did that start kicking in?

GoodraFTW: 18:43

so for, for a while, like right after graduated, My roommate and I were trying to do a lot of like, deck profiles and stuff. And we kind of varied it a little bit. A little bit of Pokemon TCG, but we also tried to do a lot of Yu Gi Oh! at the time as well. The, the biggest, like, obstacle that's been with my content creation is I've never been able to, like, stick with one thing and, like, be consistent with it, which is, like, not good for YouTube. YouTube just kind of wants you to stay in one lane the whole time you're on YouTube. and I'll, I'll go through spurts where, like, I just can't get myself to, like, put out something, which they also want consistency. I get, like, stretches of consistency. time where I'm really good about uploading something, and then stretches where I upload nothing and then I'll finally get around to being able to, do it again. the past couple of years has been like the most consistent and, Allie, Lady Dunsparce has really helped in this by doing the series her, she'll, ping me and be like, Hey, uh, are we streaming? Shiny Showdown? Uh, she's already been asking me about the next season. So we're, we're getting that planned out and everything. I think having someone else be reliant upon my content creation, has helped a little bit. that way I'm not like, uh, screwing Ali over by like, not, not doing anything. So, I think this is like the most consistent and most scheduled I have been. for those reasons.

David Hernandez: 20:09

Hey, shout out to Lady Dunsparks. You're changing this man right before our eyes.

GoodraFTW: 20:13

ha ha ha ha ha.

David Hernandez: 20:15

But, in serious note, like, you think about why you got into Pokemon, it's because of friends. You know, in college, you talk about friends again, your roommate. Here is your content creation. You still, the reason why you're doing it is because of, you got somebody next to you who you rely on. Mm And I mean, I'm the same way. I don't want to be staying in one lane. I want to be able to swerve and go backwards and make people think I'm the crazy driver. Like, I want to have every piece of the pie.

GoodraFTW: 20:39

Yeah, I'm just a, I'm a gamer. I want to be known just for Pokemon. Like, there are times where I just can't stand Pokemon, I'll be honest. But, uh, like,

David Hernandez: 20:50

Hey, go off with a little name of time. I'm curious. Like, what's a time that where you just couldn't stand Pokemon?

GoodraFTW: 20:55

I mean, the, the Pokemon card game is like, It's like, eh, like, sometimes there are decent formats, sometimes, It's with every, every card game. I was really, I was really critical of of Scarlet and Violet, like, I put out a lot of stuff in Scarlet and Violet, but I'm so critical of the games, I just don't think they're good games, I don't think they get, I, I think they get more love than they deserve. but I'm a hater, so I don't know. I,

David Hernandez: 21:19

be the hater with you. The ones that piss me off the most, Ultra Sun, Ultra Moon. And it's because you had to be in that time period. You get Pokemon Sun and Moon. Next year, Pokemon gives you Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. They're the same damn game outside of some added features. It pissed me off so much, I stopped playing. I didn't get past. I still not to this day. Gotten past the instruction part of Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. I went to play Pokemon Go. So, I feel you on that. There's just those parts where, you know, the franchise pisses you off.

GoodraFTW: 21:49

Yeah, I mean, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, it's a big It feels like they definitely tried to gear it more towards a younger audience, and like, it's like, hand holdy. Because I remember there was a lot of uproar at time,

David Hernandez: 22:01

Mm

GoodraFTW: 22:01

people were complaining that it was, it was really hand holdy. Pokemon had to remind people, like, Hey, this is kids. I'm not here to satisfy your 20 year old fantasies. Heh heh. I'm here for the seven year olds, what are you doing?

David Hernandez: 22:17

hmm. And to that I say, Game Freak, I've got the 70, the kids barely have two! Oh,

GoodraFTW: 22:27

like the meme, I remember a meme, it's like, a comparison between like, intended audience and like, actual audience Pokemon and Call of Duty. like, the intended audience for Pokemon's children, for Call of Duty's adults, but the actual audience is flipped.

David Hernandez: 22:41

Yes, yes, yes, yes. I love that, because I'm like, yeah, I guess I can remember, I was a gangsty young child, so In Super Mario 64, I was always throwing the penguin off the edge, so

GoodraFTW: 22:50

Ha ha ha ha ha.

David Hernandez: 22:53

But you know, you taught, you know, you seemed like you're very into the card game and I think that's kind of something that I guess people also kind of miss. And you brought up a good point, how different parts of Pokemon caters to different audiences. And one thing I learned is how important TCG is because it was kind of the gateway for people who couldn't afford the games.

GoodraFTW: 23:12

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 23:12

Cause if you couldn't afford the, you know, basically a hundred to now it's about like 400, you could afford a four or 5 pack. How important was it for you to kind of play the Pokemon card game or were you still primarily just more into Yu Gi Oh at the time?

GoodraFTW: 23:25

well, I started out with Yu Gi Oh!, enjoy, I still enjoy Yu mechanically a lot better than I enjoy Pokemon, but I've done like so much more Pokemon TCG with Pokémon, like, I've actually gone to regionals. a couple years ago, I went to my first, international championship. it was the last, last one they did in Columbus before they moved them to New Orleans. So, like, I've done more regionals for Pokémon than I've done any, like, regionals or YCSs for Yu Gi but even those, like, It's just, it's always such a blast to go and like, hang out and meet up with friends. Especially now since like, I live further away from them all. It's always really nice to just meet up with them and like, catch up and just hang out with them for the day. Maybe do some side events after we go X3,

David Hernandez: 24:10

mm hmm, yeah

GoodraFTW: 24:12

but I think Pokemon does A really good job with their, card game. their reprint policy is very good. So like, definitely have the means for people to play competitively. The prize support is there. Because, I mean, like, regionals, you can win money if you're good enough. You win the actual, like, events. Even for VGC and Go, they offer money. But,

David Hernandez: 24:36

Also say you don't want to win a playmat if you win all of the Yu Gi Oh World Championship I mean, I'm just not throwing shade if you know, you know continue though Mm

GoodraFTW: 24:45

I mean, I think they support their game well. They know it's a money printing machine. And like, I feel like at this point the games have become a vehicle to print more cards in a way.

David Hernandez: 24:59

I want to ask, so, you know, you're obviously are in the TCG. What kind of cards do you like to collect? Is there anything unique that maybe it's just for you? Like, do you collect favorite Pokemon or kind of try to complete sets?

GoodraFTW: 25:12

I'm not a set completionist, cause I have kids, so I don't have the expendable income enough to, like, purchase cards all the time. Well, obviously when I was like, trying to get back into the game, I was trying to get stuff and like, have like, trade stuff. so I have two separate binders. So, uh, when 151 came out, I, I got a binder collection. So that's like my trade binder that I'll take to locals, but I have like a smaller binder that I bought. It's just like the sheets are like nine cards, er, no, four, four cards per page each side. Um, so four, and then on the backs, four. So it's a lot smaller, and where I keep cards that I don't want to trade away, that I want keep. so a lot of that is mostly filled with, like, my favorite Pokemon. uh, I got like Lugia's, um, Piplup's, and Uh, all that fun stuff, you

David Hernandez: 26:00

Oh, okay. So it's like, Some of the favorite cards of some of your favorite Pokemon?

GoodraFTW: 26:05

Yeah, yeah, mostly, and just stuff that I don't feel like I want to trade or might use later. Like, there's, Full Art Pi Pajati Xs in here that, I might use relevant again. I guess if if there's anything I do, like, hunt down, it would be more so, either arts that I really like, or, uh, Pokemon that, I like, or, like, the the art for cards, so.

David Hernandez: 26:27

The last thing I want to talk about with, uh, you Gudra is of course, you know, how, you know, lady done spars and y'all do a series together called shiny showdown for those who aren't familiar with it. How would you describe shiny showdown?

GoodraFTW: 26:41

so it actually springs out, from Yu Gi Oh! content, actually. Uh, so I watch, I, I really got into watching a lot of Yu Gi Tubers that I used to watch, so, The biggest influence, I think, has been Deezeef, who loves Spheal, uh, and is like, that's part of his thing, he loves Spheal, even though he's like a YouTube, uh, Yu Gi Oh! content creator. So he does this series called Master Saga, where it's like a, progression series of sorts. So like the, they're pulling, they're pulling packs. And they're building a collection, then they build decks and play each other, uh, with those decks, and like, their collection changes each week, and their deck changes, they do a banlist. And so I wanted to capture something that was similar to that, in a way. but like, there wasn't really the tools to do it in like, TCG live time. and I feel like it was easier to do, and like, less expensive. Since it's just in the game. to do in, in the game. And so I had, I had approached Allie with this, Cause I think we had talked about trying to do co A collab of some sort, because she was getting into streaming. at the time. And so, we had talked about how we could do a collab. And, um, I brought up this, this This idea to her at the time it was zero to hero and so it was a little closer to kind of how like Master saga would work where we would get like a starter and like There were like certain milestones we could hit to like evolve the Pokemon. It was a little convoluted, uh, but then she kind of pared down and like we were able to to come up with, what is now Shiny Showdown. Obviously as the seasons have gone, the, there's been a few rule changes that I think we've added some, some cool things we added Masuda methods into season two. Season three is when we started doing VGC stuff, When we first started out, we didn't even have a name for the series. It was actually her brother, who actually came up with the name. He suggested it, and like, ah, that's it. Uh, so, ever since then, it's been Shiny Showdown. But, once again, it goes back to Yu Gi Oh! I think, I just really enjoy the Yu Gi Oh! YouTube content sphere. I think it's entertaining stuff. I wish, cause like, a lot of Especially like the big Yu Gi Oh, or not Yu Gi Oh, but the big PokéTubers. I feel like their content sometimes feels a little dry. and it's not like, as entertaining. But I think that's just also part of the nature of the TCG. it's just, it's not very exciting. Like You're playing solitaire, you're taking turns playing solitaire and have very little with your opponent So like there's not really a lot of like big plays or big like crazy moments Because like obviously Yu Gi Oh, you're you're Interacting and interrupting plays and like there's a back forth more so during turns as opposed to like just Whatever Pokemon doing So I I wish I wish there was more I Guess Content that is closer to what I what I watch and I'm sure it's out there. It's just probably I just haven't looked for it and so I that was that was my that was my hope and my is to like in emulate something that I feel is very entertaining and A way to get people to, like, invest into the series, uh, because, like, what we'll do is, to explain the series, actually, finally.

David Hernandez: 29:58

You've been explaining it. You've just been kind of prepping people up. I like it. Come

GoodraFTW: 30:01

yeah, So, so what we do is, we will, hunt for shiny Pokemon. So, we do three sandwiches, obviously Scarlet and Violet. for shiny hunting you do, you make a sandwich, use urban mystica, and depending on the ingredients you use in the sandwich, uh, determines the So we each get to pick a type, and then we spin a wheel, just like, uh, Doug does in a lot of his, series. We spin a wheel that determines what the third type's gonna be. And so we'll hunt Pokemon during the, the 30 minute timer. Each sandwich you make is 30 minutes, uh, the effects last for 30 minutes. So within those timers we're looking for shiny Pokemon. and then we'll compile all Pokemon we've caught throughout the, the three sandwiches that done. And at the end we do a battle with them. so every, every five episodes what we'll do is we'll, we'll do a little all star battle. So we'll take, the Pokemon from the previous four episodes that, uh, think would work well in a team together. And then we do like a best of three game. So that's, that's where we kinda get into the adjacency of VGC battles. and so the, the All star component is a way of like getting people to hopefully invest and see like how, how our team comes along, as we go through each episode. And then on the finale, we do like an all star of all stars. So we'll like, Use all Pokemon that, we've caught through the entire season. of just like, the last four. Obviously the last four, the previous four as well, but also use our old stuff again as well too.

David Hernandez: 31:31

Your series kind of reminded me it was actually from CMO He used to do a series sealed showdown and that's kind of what initially remind me of and then of course, you know Doug does master or not master to um,

GoodraFTW: 31:42

so, I Simo does one with NimNim called

David Hernandez: 31:45

Sealed showdown or not. Uh, yeah progression series. Yeah

GoodraFTW: 31:48

Um, I, I don't know what came first. Like, I mean, I think a lot of the YouTubers have like some sort of progression show now, in one way, one shape or form. Uh, none of them are as entertaining as, obviously Seamoes is probably the, the most, well known, I would guess. But I just love Master Saga.

David Hernandez: 32:07

Yeah, well, I think it shows how important it is to kind of get outside of the Pokemon bubble sometimes, because, I haven't played Yu Gi Oh!, I'll kid you not, since probably 2008. That's right around the time where Edison Format comes in. That's how long it's been since I've played. And I still go and watch this content, because it's such entertaining. for me, I found CMO. So I've done progression series. I've done, seal showdown, you know, I've seen all the stuff, the creativity he has. And of course he mentioned Doug. Doug used to do just fact videos before doing

GoodraFTW: 32:38

he's, he was, uh, he was just mostly a discussion guy, like, there, there really a lot of face cam for Doug. It was just like card on screen with a moving gradient background.

David Hernandez: 32:47

Yeah. Uh, he runs me similar of a card logs,

GoodraFTW: 32:50

yeah. Yeah. Uh, Dual logs.

David Hernandez: 32:52

log. Yeah.

GoodraFTW: 32:53

Yeah. So seeing, seeing Doug branch out and like, embrace this, and he actually streams, streams the episodes live now, like, uh, records them live. they all, they all do together. but, I agree. I think, I think there's definitely content and creative ways to present videos, um, that, I, I don't see a lot of in, in Pokemon sphere. And I, I think there's just good ideas out there. It's just a matter going out trying it and see how you can adapt it into Pokemon. Cause, there's other things like, especially within the Yu Gi Oh! sphere that I would love to be able to like, try to translate into a Pokemon way. Uh, but I just haven't found the time or had the energy to really go about

David Hernandez: 33:35

I mean, you've, you're pro, uh, you got kids and you know, you got a job and you've got responsibilities. Uh, it makes it difficult unless you don't want to sleep for the rest of your life.

GoodraFTW: 33:43

very true. Sometimes I feel like it doesn't matter if I sleep or not, so. Uh,

David Hernandez: 33:49

The one thing I want to let to finish this interview off is, you know, we haven't really talked much about, you know, your co host with Shiny Showdown, who's been very instrumental so far recently. We talked to, you know, how she kind of motivates you. How did y'all first meet each other? Where does that start? Like, where did y'all's paths finally cross together? I know y'all aren't married, but just as content creators. Let's put that out there. I don't want to start a little conspiracy out there.

GoodraFTW: 34:12

we met in college, actually, and, we were, we were both music majors, so we were, we were in a lot of the, the same music classes, she was in a relationship with my roommate at one point. And so like, Because I was spending a lot of time together with him, I spent a lot of time together with her. that's actually where we started playing Pokemon. It was around the time that, uh, they were together, um, and we all three kind of started playing the card game together at the time. and so, just hung out Just spent a of time around and with then like, we graduated, moved away. And, just kind of, grew apart just because we didn't talk much anymore. Uh, but it wasn't until I think it was during the pandemic. I was streaming a lot of Legends Arceus cause it was, it was so fun. I enjoyed it a lot. And, uh, she popped into one of my streams one day and it was like, Hey, what's up, long time no see. Just wanted to say, hey, hope you're doing well. And so, uh, we got to reconnect through Pokemon, uh, because of that.

David Hernandez: 35:15

It brought y'all back together. Yeah,

GoodraFTW: 35:16

yeah. And, obviously she had gotten married at that point. I, I had gotten married and, uh, moved away. and so, she was doing a lot of content creation within the TCG sphere specifically. Getting her start in her content creation stuff around then or before then. that's actually what kind of got me back into wanting to be in the TCG again. is watching her, her do her content. And so because of that we were, we were able to like meet up. At regionals and I got to meet her husband who's really cool. And so it's just really really great to always get to hang out with them and just uh, Enjoy card games and enjoy the day together with them. So

David Hernandez: 35:55

Well, Goodra, I'm going to finish it with this last question. Okay. If somebody was going to come challenge you in a Pokemon battle, what six Pokemon would you bring?

GoodraFTW: 36:05

oh gosh, oh man I think i've definitely got to bring Typhlosion Gotta, gotta throw in poon in there. let's go, let's throw in Tyra Atar. let's see. I'm, I'm not big, I'm not a big fan of using Legendaries, so I think I'll, I think I'll skip on those. Um,

David Hernandez: 36:24

He's got ethics. That's a good thing.

GoodraFTW: 36:26

yeah. I try, I try to, I try to, to have a soul sometimes, you know? Um, Oh man, that's so tough. You know what, let's, let's add Arcanine. cause, I really enjoy Growlithe and Arcanine. So let's, let's add, let's add the good doggos.

David Hernandez: 36:43

we're doing regular his human.

GoodraFTW: 36:45

Regular. And then, let's put Espeon in there.

David Hernandez: 36:49

All right. I like it. I like it. Good. Thank you for coming on the podcast. If people want to check out your content, if they want to connect with you, if they want to watch shiny showdown, where can they go? Tell the people

GoodraFTW: 36:59

Yeah, so, uh, Shiny Showdown, we stream it live on Twitch. my Twitch is twitch. tv slash, gudra underscore FTW. Lady Dunsparce does her side of things on her Twitch as well, which is, uh, twitch. tv slash Lady Dunsparce. Uh, you can also watch the, the playback, the, the edited, fully composed episodes on YouTube, which is gujra4thewind, gujraFTW, no underscore. Uh,

David Hernandez: 37:29

somehow he got that name.

GoodraFTW: 37:31

Yeah, I think I, I think I do own the, the Goodra FTW, like, screen name on Twitch, but I, I don't know what happened that I, I ended up creating the one the underscore. So for now, there's a difference, uh, but everything, Twitch, I think Twitch is the only thing with the underscore, everything else is without the underscore, so, Twitter is without underscore. I don't, I don't use it too often, so, like, your best bet of catching me is either on Twitch or YouTube, so, uh, go check those out.