As The Pokeball Turns
As The Pokéball Turns is a Pokémon interview podcast that shares real stories from Trainers around the world. From personal journeys to lasting friendships, we explore how Pokémon shapes lives and builds community across the games, the TCG, and beyond. Join creators, community leaders, and everyday fans as they share what makes Pokémon more than just a game. New episodes drop every Wednesday and Friday. One voice, one journey, one memory at a time. Your next Pokémon adventure begins here!
As The Pokeball Turns
TRAINER'S EYE #157 - "Sewaddle Through The Bug Buzz" ft. PokeJungle
What does it take to run one of the longest-standing Pokémon fan sites online?
PokeJungle is a fan-driven Pokémon news site that began in 2003 and rose to popularity during the Generation 5 era. Starting with Neopets guilds to breaking major Pokémon game updates, PokeJungle shares how his blog evolved alongside the Pokémon community.
PokeJungle dives into the emotional impact of Pokémon Crystal, what made Pokemon Diamond & Pearl fall flat, and why Pokemon Black & White stands out as a storytelling high point. You’ll also hear about his deep appreciation for both Bug-type and Grass-type Pokémon.
Whether you’re a veteran Pokémon Trainer, an aspiring fan site creator, or curious about the history of online Pokémon fandom, this episode offers a nostalgic and insightful look behind the scenes of one of the community’s most trusted voices.
🔗 Pokemon Community Leader Episodes
Discover the stories of Pokémon Community Leaders who are building inclusive spaces, hosting events, and inspiring the next generation of Pokemon fans!
Sources
Opening Song: "Forget You" by Alex_MakeMusic from Pixabay
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Your next Pokemon adventure begins here!
My name is Poka Jungle, and this is my Pokemon story.
David Hernandez:Welcome to as the Pokeball Turns, Where we interview people about their experience with Pokemon. name is David Hernandez. I'm joined by the webmaster of Poke Jungle, a fan run Pokemon News and content site established all the way back in 2003. Poke Jungle, welcome to as the Pokemon Turns. Thank you for coming onto the podcast.
PokeJungle:Yeah. Thanks so much for having me. I really appreciate it, and I'm excited to be here.
David Hernandez:Likewise and know, when we just say 2003, that's a long time. You've seen this community evolve through so many eras, from Hoennn to Sinnoh to Alola to Scarlet Violet so many times. wanna start off with this question. Start, what's one era or moment you wish you could relive in Pokemon?
PokeJungle:honestly, I would like to go back to. gen three I guess that was kind of a magical time for me. I just loved, getting the upgrade to the, game Boy Advanced Graphics and then also having the internet become more ubiquitous and, you know, the community was growing larger online. So it was just a really fun time in my opinion. And, definitely, you know, a classic era.
David Hernandez:And that's also the time when you started your website too, right? If I'm not mistaken, the timeframe.
PokeJungle:Yeah, very, very baby PokeJungle website. it was, you know, a very amateur, practice, type of, situation. But, there are roots way back, to 2003.
David Hernandez:you know, you said it was growing, you know, Pokemon's growing online. from your perspective, what did that growth feel like? Was it excitement? Was it chaos? Was it pressure for you?
PokeJungle:to me, and I guess this is mainly coming from the point of view of the websites that I enjoyed going to and the interests that I had, but I feel like there was a lot of, different Pokemon forums that, conversations were taking place in and discussions were being had. And then also there was just a huge growth of Pokemon fan sites like my own. so you had basically poke anything, you know, like you had, Pokemon Safari, Pokemon Ocean, like any, any type of, you know, location people were like trying to, make websites out of. And I really loved seeing the creativity. Of other people and how they were kind of taking their passion for Pokemon and making a little place for themselves online.
David Hernandez:Now, I know your site originally was, I guess, inspired by Neopets that led to what we know today as PokeJungle What did that creative spark feel like for you when you decided just to jump in and start this website?
PokeJungle:You certainly did your homework. Um.
David Hernandez:I try. Thank you.
PokeJungle:Um, yeah, so just going slightly back to the Neopets reference, I don't know if anyone else, played Neopets, but there would be guilds you were in and guilds often made offsite websites for themselves, for their members. And honestly, I think that was my first exposure to making a website like on geo cities, and kind of some of those early free web hosts. And so I was like, wow, I wanna make one of those. So like my first, foray into, uh, building a website was like all the content was just centered because I didn't know how to make sidebars or anything. So it was just like centered content down, the webpage. And that's kind of like what got me into it. but also just seeing the fan sites that other people were making for Pokemon, you know, maybe a year later. I think. Made me want to create something that was a little bit more complex. so that was probably, I guess, a spark.
David Hernandez:Now I know that, you know, you talked about how each site was kind of a representation, it was a creativity of the web post themselves,
PokeJungle:Mm-hmm.
David Hernandez:I know you have a higher preference for the forums. What do you miss about, I guess those slower pace places compared to now we have Discord and Facebook and everything.
PokeJungle:Yeah, so I think forums were always, more special for me, I guess, because I liked the way that you could have a conversation and you know, like when you're in Discord, things are just often, you know, messages if you're in a busy, busier server, messages are just, you know, flying and conversations are kind of like whatever's being talked about at the moment. whereas forums are so much more structured, and we still have things like Reddit, social media, that that is more structured. but I think with social media and Discord, you have like one profile that is tied to you and you're in a lot of different communities and you're kind of exposed to the whole platform. Whereas forums were a place that was kind of carved out on the internet and you had that account for that website and it was very much more focused on the community that was there and you didn't necessarily have the ability to like, be distracted, by whatever else is trending or, you know, like, whatever, whatever outside maybe your interest. Was so, it felt a lot more close and tight knit to me. Um, I guess that's, yeah, that's just my take on it. So I've always enjoyed that kind of feeling,
David Hernandez:Before we dive more into PokeJungle, I know we kind of went off the deep end. I wanna take it a step back. Can you remember, like what was your first experience with Pokemon?
PokeJungle:I can't pinpoint like a, a single moment, but I definitely grew up during the Pokemon craze, so. I was in elementary school, and I think like the whole neighborhood, would either be trading cards, you know, like if the kids were together, we'd, you know, have cards out or, um, there'd be discussions about like what the latest episode on TV was and I didn't have a Game Boy, or an N 64 later. So I was always super happy when I would like go over to a friend's house and they would let me borrow, their, you know, handheld and I could play like Pokemon Red or yellow. so that was always a highlight to me and I always kind of like, oh my gosh, I hope one day I can, you know, have my own game boy to, um, be able to play. it was almost a longing, to be able to play Pokemon, And of course I did have cards, um, but I, I missed out on some of the video game experience, when it first launched.
David Hernandez:So, you know, you'd go to these friends places, y'all would, that would be your only experience, I guess, for the Pokemon Games. It sounds like the Pokemon Anime was how you experienced it at home. Is that kind of how it worked out?
PokeJungle:Yeah, I would say the cards and the anime, I would always be trying, I have three younger sisters and I'd always be trying to get them to like, oh, you know, like, let's try having a Pokemon battle or something, you know, like with the cards. but. They were, they were not as enthused about the franchise as I was.
David Hernandez:Oh, really? So it was just kind of you and your own little world? Right.
PokeJungle:A little bit. Yeah, I think that's fair.
David Hernandez:What did you enjoy, I guess, about Pokemon? Because you didn't have that media exposure. Like what was it about the Pokemon world that you, I guess, was it just the fandom or the craze or was there more to it?
PokeJungle:I've always been into like. Creatures I love, like, as a kid, especially, like, I would love just going out into the woods and like hunting for bugs or like trying to find snakes and stuff. So to me the, the series was like kind of very similar to that. Like it had creatures that I enjoyed and then also I am just that type of person who, you know, I saw kind of my own hobbies in the real world as you know, being represented and trying to collect all these creatures spread throughout the world.
David Hernandez:Wow, that's kind of interesting.'cause I used to collect bugs too. I used to do Rollie pullies
PokeJungle:Oh,
David Hernandez:like, I would get Rollie pullies from my school and my house and anywhere I could find them, I put'em in a little Jack of lantern and I would feed them like leaves off my little net. We had next to the fence, uh, where I, my backyard and I would just feed'em. It was just kind of a little world to have, you know.
PokeJungle:that is super cute. I, I am still a bug catcher, so I actually do have an isopod
David Hernandez:Ooh.
PokeJungle:Also known as Rollie Pollies. So yeah, I have powder oranges, and I have them in a little, you know, terrarium feed'em dead leaves as well.
David Hernandez:See, I've always been tempted to start it and I'm like, I really kind of want to just recollect them. But the problem was that I accidentally, the lantern didn't have a filter and one time it stormed really bad.
PokeJungle:Oh,
David Hernandez:yeah, you can imagine, you
PokeJungle:I,
David Hernandez:kind of put two and two together, but I'm like, I really kind of just wanna see'em'cause it's just kind of cool to watch, you know? It's
PokeJungle:mm-hmm.
David Hernandez:watching, except it's with the really pulleys, you know? So you know, you were already starting to get in Val, the franchise, I guess, what was your first experience with the games
PokeJungle:I finally did get a Game Boy Advance. But I didn't start with the Game Boy Advance Games. I actually got a copy of Crystal, and this, I believe this was before Gen three had actually launched. So crystal was basically the latest game that had come out and I finally got it and it was honestly everything I was hoping it would be.
David Hernandez:It lived up to your expectations.
PokeJungle:Yeah. And really to this day, I think Crystal has some of the best, Sprite animations and stuff. just some really, really classic. things, and this is a little bit off topic, but I really hated emerald's Sprite animations. I was disappointed that the animations left when, you know, Ruby and Sapphire were released. but then emerald's animations were just like so much of like the bouncing and stretching, whereas Crystal, had much more customized, animations for the Pokemon. So super disappointing to me, but.
David Hernandez:Now, when you finally had your own game, did it kind of feel like you were connected to the Pokemon world in a different way? Like you didn't have to go to your friends anymore?
PokeJungle:Yeah, I do feel like that I had also moved. so I grew up my house was kind of like in a forest, um, in a rural area. So it was suddenly also harder to like just see neighborhood kids and like. trade Pokemon. So I actually, I think that, may have pushed me in the direction of, you know, more time, uh, with the online Pokemon community just because it's like, there wasn't, you know, like a, my neighbor was, you know, two miles away. So,
David Hernandez:A little bit of a hike.
PokeJungle:yeah.
David Hernandez:stuck with gen two. Did, when did you progress into gen three In the further later generations.
PokeJungle:I think because I had my Game Boy Advance. I think I bought, yeah, I definitely bought it on release when Gen three was released.'cause actually like talking about it, I remember pre-ordering it at Target and the pre-order thing was a holographic like metal coin. sadly I was a little bit disappointed'cause I, there was like. Groudon and Kyogre, and I got the Kyogre one, but I really wanted the Groudon one, so, maybe that's why I remember it so well.
David Hernandez:It's a bad memory. It's, well, not a bad memory. It's like I didn't get what I really wanted.
PokeJungle:But like now as an adult, like, I'm like, well, it's still cool that I have, I still have it somewhere, so,
David Hernandez:you do? Now around Gen three is kind of when you started the PokeJungle, you know, you got people websites all over the place. Was it difficult for you to kind of start a site at that point? Or were you kind of very naturally gifted in trying to start a web post or whatever? I.
PokeJungle:I don't, I don't know if I would say like I was super gifted, but, I feel like I had a good community, because on certain Pokemon forums there were groups of like people who had fan sites and stuff, and so like, there was people who would help if you had questions or like offer critiques. so there was like kind of a group of us that would, work together and share knowledge and, you know, sometimes fight, sometimes a little bit of drama, but.
David Hernandez:I mean, that's what happens in every community, right?
PokeJungle:Yeah,
David Hernandez:when it came to just seeing how the sites continue to grow and now, you know, I guess they've started to decrease. How has it been to see kinda a lot of the communities fade away in time and be left with what it is.
PokeJungle:I feel like it kind of makes sense'cause I feel like a lot of people do, grow up and have their interests change. So it kind of makes sense that there's not gonna be a lot of websites that run. 10, 15, 20 years. but on the other hand, it's a little bit sad not to see as many new, websites try to come up because I feel like there are, a lot of people who were my age, you know, and interested in Pokemon and creating websites. But it doesn't seem like, there's as many people who necessarily want to do that, and. I may be speaking out of ignorance because I'm not as involved, um, with, I don't, I don't have like a community of like, people who love to make websites, on a Pokemon forum, like back in the day. So I may be totally ignorant, so I'm not meaning to offend anyone who does have a website that I don't know about. but from my impressions online, it just doesn't seem like there's that much passion to like start small fan sites. And this is actually beyond just Pokemon too. I wish when I searched Google, I would find different stuff. I wish that I would find more content that's written by fans of a series or something, versus like, I just feel like there's so much kind of slap out there where you read three paragraphs, to get nothing. Like, I don't know if you know what I'm talking about, but you know, like some video game websites, you read three paragraphs and it's like, okay. the, the headline has not been addressed yet. whereas I feel like people who are passionate about a topic, really put a lot of effort in. so that's what makes, projects like, you know, your podcast and also websites and newsletters so important, because they're, the way that they handle content and the topic is different, I feel like.
David Hernandez:I see it a lot whenever I scroll the web. Especially doing this podcast just looking for guests. I wanna say Pokemon's maybe become so hyper-focused and maybe this is beyond Pokemon, like you said, it's become so hyper-focused on just video
PokeJungle:Mm-hmm.
David Hernandez:the only way people feel like they can express themselves.
PokeJungle:Mm-hmm.
David Hernandez:And you know, yes, I understand video is king, but it's not the only way to engage people. like you said, you know, bring back the discussions to where you can write stuff about Pokemon. You don't see that much anymore. You don't see, like the fan think it's very, I don't wanna say they're in the. They're kind of niche. You have to kind of go, really dig in deep now to kind of find it where I feel like maybe back when we were growing up, it was more prevalent. I think you could find it a lot more easier compared to nowadays.
PokeJungle:Mm-hmm. No, I totally agree. And actually that's a really good point. I didn't even mention video when I was talking about that'cause
David Hernandez:I
PokeJungle:almost feel like it's a separate category. In a way, I do make videos occasionally, um, particularly like for merchandise. but I'm just so not passionate about it, so it's hard for me to like, kind of make stuff in that space. I'm, I have a lot more fun like using, video editing apps to make like shorts and stuff.'cause it's just, it's easy and you can like, you know, throw something together. that looks kind of cool. But, I feel like the creation scene has definitely gone in the video direction, which I don't have anything against necessarily, but it just makes me mourn, I guess, a little bit for the older, like tech space, creation.
David Hernandez:Now, you know, we've talked about how a lot of communities faded away. What kept you going, I guess, to keep PokeJungle running, even when other, you'd see some of your fellow hosts, web hosts, like disappear and move on to the sunset.
PokeJungle:There was a time I did take a break, I think it was like for a year. and that was around the time of HeartGold and Soul Silver's pre-release lead up. and at that time I was just really struggling, with a lot of stress. And so I can definitely empathize with people who ultimately, you know, decided not to, continue their website or project because sometimes, you know, real life does have to take, priority over this stuff and sometimes it can just turn into stress. even for me, like I have a lot of, unopened stuff. don't call me a hoarder, but, well, I don't know. I have a room full of Pokemon stuff and it's supposed to be a studio, but like, I haven't, I, I gotta do some stuff and it's like. right now it probably does look like a hoarder's room. Um,'cause I gotta organize everything and that's been like a huge thing that I don't wanna do. But anyway, so back to the topic, like I definitely, empathize with people who have, not been able to continue and stuff, but, it is a little bit sad to see some of these projects fold. but what's kept me going is kind of my interest in covering news. I like the feeling of like, trying to get, different stories and news out that I think fans are going to enjoy and I try to give context about it. cause I know some sites, you know, Serebii is obviously extremely popular, extremely well run website. but their news section is usually just like a paragraph or two about news. So like when I'm doing stuff, like I want to give a little bit more context If there's, you know, something related, I wanna like bring it up and have a little bit longer, articles when news is shared. So just like being able to kind of cover news has really been my passion to be honest.
David Hernandez:Now when it comes to running PokeJungle, have you always felt like you were a fan or do you feel like your relationship with Pokemon has changed at times?
PokeJungle:I don't really work directly with the brand too often. I feel like there might be different feelings from, um. I don't know, video creators, who get invited to events and stuff, and have a stronger relationship with actual company. but for me, I really am just a fan still.
David Hernandez:Well, I mean, there's so much news that comes in. I'm impressed that you can keep up with it all. So that's why I'm like, uh, does this sometimes feel like it's work, sometimes, like having to do all that stuff? Or do you just enjoy like just bringing the news to the people?
PokeJungle:Yeah, I, I mean, sometimes it does feel like work. to be honest, like I gotta find a better way. Some of these, one of the things you have to consider when you're doing like, web stuff as like, optimization for images. recently I was working on a story about black bolt, white flare TCG set And I don't usually cover TCG news, but I am a super big, gen five fan. So having a set that includes, um, illustration rares or secret illustration rares for every single. Pokemon from Unova was big for me, so I wanted to spotlight that on my website, but like, grabbing images and then like resizing them to certain, dimensions that are gonna get like a smaller, file size. And then I usually use a tool like, tiny PMG, to compress those down. Like it just, like the article honestly, I think took an hour just to put up. and I'm sure there's a faster way, so like I gotta work on my workflow, but, sometimes it's just like, I wish I could just like snap my fingers and have something more put together. but I don't wanna, use like AI for content or anything, so I'm doing everything by hand.
David Hernandez:No, I understand the exactly how I feel because I don't know if people know this. I used Photoshop 2016
PokeJungle:Hmm. Hmm.
David Hernandez:there's so many limitations I have on that tool that I
PokeJungle:Mm-hmm.
David Hernandez:But it does what I need it to do. It's just those small details. I think the best example is whenever I need to bend an object, some reason, the one I have does not allow me to bend objects. So I have to go to like an online site to bend an object, download it, re-upload it back onto my, uh, canvas of what I'm doing.
PokeJungle:Mm-hmm.
David Hernandez:it takes just extra, those extra steps is extra time. It's like, I feel you.'cause I'm like,
PokeJungle:Yeah. Yep.
David Hernandez:there was a, I know there's an easier button, but I don't wanna pay a subscription, so I don't got that kind of money. So.
PokeJungle:Yep. I actually, I switched to Affinity Photo last year because I was like, you know what, Adobe's making some decisions. I don't agree with Affinity is just gonna be a flat fee, you know, for this version. So it took some getting used to, but like I'm actually in a good place right now with that. But I definitely feel you. Yeah.
David Hernandez:you. Thank you for the recommendation. I might have to check that out after this. You said Gen five is one of the, your favorite generations. Let's talk about it. You know, what do you enjoy about playing? Black and white? Black and white? Two bad generation of games.
PokeJungle:you know, honestly, and this is gonna be a controversial hot take, but Gen four was not one of my favorite generations. and I honestly feel like it might be somewhat influenced by my Ds'cause I had an original. DS and to be honest, the screens are not that amazing. Or maybe my console didn't have that amazing of a screen, I didn't feel like it was a huge upgrade. I loved the vibrant colors in Hoenn and Gen three definitely still like, was magical, I felt like. but going into gen four, it just seemed a little bit more muddy, coloring. And maybe this is only me who feels this way, but, it just, it was fine. Like there's some Pokemon that I love from Gen four Carnival, Cher. Like, I'm not saying that I'm right off the whole generation, but I was just super excited for something new by the time Gen five, was coming and. It just really, really impressed me. I felt like it was great to have a whole new set of characters, because we had been, you know, seeing Generation One Pokemon for four generations, you know, in different games, and it just felt like super fresh, super exciting. I, I realize that not everyone felt that way, and I think it has like some of the lowest sales when we're comparing like the First Games of a generation.
David Hernandez:Now, I know that the Pokemon that's based off of PokeJungle from their Sewaddle,
PokeJungle:Mm-hmm.
David Hernandez:your favorite Pokemon or what led it to becoming the logo or the face of your website?
PokeJungle:It's definitely one of my favorite Pokemon. honestly, I don't know, but that kind of encapsulates my website to me. And also, my kind of vibes,'cause like, I love Sewaddle, if you think about like, you see the, caterpillars head or caterpillar, like Pokemon's head and then a leaf encasing it. So like my two favorite types are bug and grass. So it just really, felt like perfect for me, I guess. So I was, I was really happy when it was revealed and I was just like, well, that's what my site has been waiting for. That's the mascot we're gonna be using from now on.
David Hernandez:Well, what do you have against Paras? I mean, Paras has been around for like a long time.
PokeJungle:And you know what I actually love, Paras too, but I don't have as much connection with like the mushroom vibes. So it, it really was like the bug and a leaf motif. but actually, yeah, I would say like those two are in my favorites as well, so like, definitely for sure up there, but it was not necessarily poke a jungle to me, you know?
David Hernandez:I know you said bug and grass are your two favorite. What
PokeJungle:Mm-hmm.
David Hernandez:those typing specifically that speak to you differently compared to other types?
PokeJungle:I am just like a nature kid. So like, I loved being out, not outdoors, like outdoor sports. I'm not, I'm not that kind of, I was that kind of kid, but outdoors as in like, hiking and just exploring. And so I've always loved like trees, grass, plants. and then also of course, you know, like I shared, I liked bug collecting as well, so. I think those two types were just a standout, from the whole list of'em to me.
David Hernandez:Now, you know, you don't have to go in specific order, but what kind of bug Pokemon or grass Pokemon speak to you on that level? That kind of, when you see it and you think, oh, this is definitely nature kind of vibes.
PokeJungle:I would say that like, personally I really enjoy Pokemon, that have like leaves as part of their, design. I like Bulbasaur, you know, the Bulbasaur line. and honestly like there's over a thousand. So like, I can't, I can't like go through everything, but you know, like Carnival is just like a really classic, Pokemon that I enjoy.
David Hernandez:Now as you continued with Pokemon and you know, you're running PokeJungle, what were the kind of the challenges, especially as the landscape shifted from, you know, forum to the websites? You know, how did you adapt?
PokeJungle:you know, ultimately I closed my forums because there just wasn't enough, activity and stuff. So it was really hard to kind of deal with the changing landscape of social media and how people really flocked more to Facebook and Twitter, over more traditional places to have Pokemon discussions and stuff. I recently reopened my forum. so like I am gonna be continuing to promote that as an alternative, and kind of get away from like billionaire funded social media networks that's often push, different narratives and stuff. But that was a challenge. And then also I think when I kind of switched to going to college and then like. Having classes working part-time and also trying to manage my website. It was pretty difficult, for me to find a balance there. And I think, it's easier for me today as, you know, an older adult. because I have a job that allows me to have flexible breaks and stuff. If there's like suddenly news that comes up and I need to write an article real quick or something. but definitely balancing like college and working, I think was, was a challenge
David Hernandez:you know, if the forms were able to make a comeback, especially in considering how social media is starting to manipulate people, you've got the algorithms, you've got the bot accounts. What would, I guess, be your ideal vision of what an updated form site would look like? Would it be same to what you grew up with, or would it be something more modern to what they're used to?
PokeJungle:I think a mix of both. I think there's good things that social media has brought, like we couldn't just, you know, like type an at mark and. write someone's username to like tag them on a forum back when I was, you know, using them when I was like 12. so there are things that social media has really popularized and like my new forum, you know, like they've incorporated these forums in the years since. but I think there's things that social media brought that are good. but to be honest, my ideal forum is not huge. I've always. Enjoyed being an alternative location, to either discuss things on a forum or even like, you know, my website. I'm not trying to be the biggest website out there. I've always just enjoyed a more tight-knit, community and group.
David Hernandez:Now let's go back to the Pokemon Games real quick. You know, we progress on to Path Gen five. What do you enjoy about playing the games? Do you play for the story? Do you like the shiny hunt? Are you collector?
PokeJungle:honestly running, and I don't know, maybe this is the first time I'm talking about this, running a Pokemon website has totally destroyed my enjoyment of the games in a certain way. because when I'm playing the games, I am feel like I have to catalog a lot of stuff. Um, so I don't necessarily feel like excited to play sometimes'cause I'm like, oh crap, like I just found like where this location is, like I need to update like this page or whatever. And so it ends up becoming more stressful. So. but in general, I am more of like, someone who plays for like the story and collecting Pokemon. I'm not, a competitive player. I really respect all the strategies and stuff that the, video game championship players come up with. Like, it's super intriguing the way that they use different stuff. Like growing up as a kid, of course, I was like, oh, this move doesn't do damage. Bye. Um, I had no, you know, like no appreciation for any of that kind of stuff, but I mean, you don't necessarily need it when you're playing against the MPCs and the games, right now, yeah, I would say more like story and, getting to see the Pokemon world. I think it's really cool the way that different generations have given us a glimpse of the different regions and, you know, evolved the lore and stuff.
David Hernandez:I mean, on that note, I guess, how do you find that balance to kind of step away and just, you know, not between burnout and passion, like how do you balance it out?
PokeJungle:Um, yeah, I don't know if I really think about it as two different things. Like, to me, my passion is definitely kind of wrapped up in covering news in a weird way. Like I don't feel. That is a chore as much actually as playing the game sometimes. cause I really, really love covering the news versus cataloging information. So like Serebii obviously has great stuff. Bulbapedia has great stuff. Like there are websites that do a great job at cataloging, different stuff about the games. Characters, that's not my passion and I really struggle with that. So that's why you notice, like my website really lacks a lot of, pages and I gotta, I would like to go through and update a lot of stuff. but to me, I guess I avoid burnout by kind of balancing how much I spend, cataloging stuff and creating pages and mostly focus on news to avoid, Resenting the, the franchise. I guess
David Hernandez:Right. I mean, you're doing a good job though. Running on 20 plus years. You got a long way to go. Maybe another, we'll see you another 20.
PokeJungle:I'll be passing it down to my kids. Maybe I,
David Hernandez:Oh, that'd be kind of cool. And then I can interview'em on the podcast Talk. PokeJungle two. You know, we're up towards the end What do you want to see PokeJungle become? You talked about how you open the forms up. You're hoping to kind of be another place for people to step away from social media. Do you have any other vision you have for the website moving forward?
PokeJungle:Yeah, I'd really like to increase our merchandise coverage. I really focused more of our social media accounts on. Updating, fans about what's coming out in Japan or what's been announced, in the US and release dates and stuff. But I definitely like to start bringing that more onto my website and having a better resource for fans who are looking to learn about what's coming out or, more of a historical, archive if fans are like looking for information on different things. So that's. That's my next big project, I feel like, and um, I'm excited to work on that.
David Hernandez:That's awesome, man. I look forward to kind of seeing how this, grows. it's crazy to think that you've been going there for 20 plus years and you still got a lot more in you.
PokeJungle:I guess that's one way to think about it.
David Hernandez:This is gonna be my last question for the close out the podcast. And I want to think about back when you were just collecting bugs and you know, you were going to over to, you know, a friend's to borrow games. If that kid saw who started PokeJungle, now, what do you think that they would say?
PokeJungle:Um, I'll give you my very honest and maybe not so positive thing, but like.
David Hernandez:go for it.
PokeJungle:Wow, you're 35 and you still like Pokemon. I mean, like, I, you know, like maybe there's a more inspirational, answer. Like, I would love if they say, wow, you know, you're so passionate about that. You're still like following your dreams and, you know, you've been able to create a small, you know, following. but I don't know who would tell me that. Um. But am I embarrassed? No. You know, like, I think people should really try to enjoy, life and Pokemon certainly is a huge part of my life just because of my website and stuff. but it's definitely not everything I do. I love to, read different things and, broaden my horizons, through other learning. So it's not everything I do. but I do feel like people should pursue things that bring them joy because we all are on a limited timeframe as humans, as mortal humans. And really our job in life, I feel like is to both, expand our knowledge and bring joy to ourselves and others.
David Hernandez:Well said. Well said, PokeJungle. Well said. Thank you for coming on. As the poke ball turns, before you go, if people want to be a part of your forms, if they want to check out, you know your community, where can they go? By all means, please plug away.
PokeJungle:Yeah. So first of all, thanks so much for having me. It's been a blast talking with you and I've really enjoyed, our conversation. But if you want to follow me, yeah, make sure to check out my website, PokeJungle.net. Our forum is a mount moon.net and that is M-O-U-N-T mount moon dot net. And you know, on social media, if you search PokeJungle, our council probably come up, it's usually@PokeJungle, but I think like PokeJungle Network, which was the very old name, you know, of my website. So.
