TRAINER'S EYE #161 - "From Shadow Sneak to Pokemon Spotlight" ft. Adellion

What if your childhood passion became your adult legacy? For Adellion, Pokémon didn’t fade, it leveled up with him.

In this powerful episode, we hear how one of Pokémon GO’s most respected community leaders went from organizing local raids to casting on the global stage for Play Pokémon. From washed-up Charizard Pokemon cards to launching the Devon Corporation, Adellion’s story is a masterclass in passion, leadership, and legacy. Whether it’s grassroots PvP, commentary, or building communities from the ground up, his journey reminds us that the greatest evolutions happen when we step up for others.

Listen now and discover what it truly means to grow alongside the game you love.

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

Chapters

• 0:00 TRAINER'S EYE #161 - Adellion
• 22:06 Commercial Break

Transcript

TRAINER'S EYE #161 - Adellion

Adellion: [00:00:00] My name is Adellion, and this is my Pokemon story.

David Hernandez: Welcome to As The Pokeball Turns, Where every voice, every journey, and every memory brings us closer to the world of Pokemon.

David Hernandez: I'm David Hernandez and I'm joined by Adellion, a pillar of the Pokemon GO global scene, a trusted voice in tournament commentary, and the founder of Davon Corporation, [00:01:00] whose work continues to shape the future of grassroots PVP. Adellion, welcome to Ask the Poke Ball Turns. Thank you for coming on.

Adellion: I really appreciate the invite, David. Thank you so much.

David Hernandez: Absolutely. And as I told you before, you have a lot of hats. You are one of some guests who have done so much within the Pokemon Go community. You know, you've judged, you've commented and you've organized, but was there ever like a specific moment where you realized that this was just something you absolutely loved that led to what you are today?

Adellion: I think, yeah, I think I, I love Pokemon ever since I was a kid and I grew up with the game, had a bit of a pause, and when I was a teenager and then got back into it as a young adult. And then when Pokemon Go came out and it got to a stage where we needed to interact with local community, it became apparent that I was actually quite good at.

Adellion: Gathering people up in order to do, these Pokemon Go raids as they had come out at at the time. And that was really my [00:02:00] first foray into realizing that this is not only a franchise, but a game that I could really get into on multiple levels, not just enjoying the video games as I did in the past, but also interacting with people and enjoying the company of others while playing what was one of my most precious hobbies.

David Hernandez: Now, you said you grew up with Pokemon, so give us an insight to what that looked like. Were you with the games, the training cards, the anime back in the day.

Adellion: So it started as a combination thing with the anime and the video game. So my mom, bought me my first ever Game boy, which was a game boy color. and with that there was Pokemon Blue me not being the brightest bulb. I was like, I want to get every single Pokemon version. Not considering that.

Adellion: The games were primarily the same bar, a few differences in a few Pokemon command that you can't get, you can't get in one versus the other. So I got Pokemon, blue, red, yellow, gold, silver, crystal, just every single one. And I would play through each one, even though 90% of the content was the same in some cases.

Adellion: but I [00:03:00] really enjoyed them and it. developed into getting Nintendo 64 playing Pokemon Stadium. I never really got my head around the card game, all that much, although I did a collect a few when I was younger. And one of the most heartbreaking stories is I do distinctly remember having a. very rare, one of those very rare char results with the, uh, 120 HP from the sort of first print, maybe not first edition, but one of those first print designs and it ended up in the washing machines.

Adellion: And I

David Hernandez: Oh no.

Adellion: I'm pained to this day about that.

David Hernandez: Does that keep you up sometimes? 'cause I mean, that's pretty, that's one of the moments like, eh, I wish I took a pair of bear care of that card back in the day.

Adellion: definitely. I'm just sat there thinking, Hmm, I wonder how much that would've been worth now, who knows? Or

David Hernandez: Oh my God. Uh.

Adellion: as a collector's item. Um, 'cause there's, you know, some very appealing merchandise and sometimes appealing though it might be financially there's something even more so about just having it in your home mounted up on the wall or something. So I'm not sure what I would do with it if I had that [00:04:00] charizard, but, safe to say, I would, I would be slightly happier if I did have it.

David Hernandez: Now, you talked about how you played each game, like as it was owned, even though there wasn't that many differences. what kept you wanting to engage in the same game over and over? You know, red Yellow was probably the only outlier you've mentioned, but Red, blue Gold through Crystal were basically the same game.

David Hernandez: What kept it fresh for you?

Adellion: I think there was enough differences in being able to make, a different team of six Pokemon and power them up. 'cause I didn't want to have to constantly rotate Pokemon out of, what was Bill's PC in red, blue, and yellow and, something different for gold, silver, and crystal. so it was nice to be able to do that.

Adellion: Also, the backstory was very different when you had Pokemon yellow and Pokemon crystal, which added another. Dynamic to it. So it was very enjoyable, for example, to see you seen pop up in Pokemon Crystal, which was a new character that I hadn't seen before. and then of course with the major graphical updates from when we went into Ruby and Sapphire, that was a big step up. In that [00:05:00] sense. And it allowed for more tactical gameplay when it came to battling. And I really did enjoy that 'cause it was a matter of confusion to me why a move, like fire punch, was always a special attack until the physical and special split in generation four. So I think the new things that keep getting introduced, you know, night and day cycles, weather, and whatnot, that was.

Adellion: An exciting thing that always kept me attached to the video games, and I just continued to play them as I got older.

David Hernandez: Out of all the experience of games you have, did you have a particular favorite region that you enjoyed exploring the most out of them?

Adellion: Yeah, I think Sinnoh was the best one for me. That's my preference. I know a lot of, you know, very hardcore gen ones will always stick with the og, with Kanto and to Kanto, you know, credit, credit where it's due. But for me, Sinnoh had the, Most enjoyable Pokemon. Quite a few fan favorites and my favorites, were either introduced or evolved into what I would see as their sort of best versions of themselves.

Adellion: I'm talking about Pokemon, like Electivire, uh, [00:06:00] Magmortar, Rhyperior,, and of course, uh, Lucario was a thing as well then, which was always pretty cool. I do also have a soft spot for gala, but that's. Possibly because, it's based on, the uk and I love seeing the similarities and the sort of nuance trying to copy different regions of the UK in the Galar region.

Adellion: So I'm a fan of that.

David Hernandez: What was it like to kind of have your home region represented in Pokemon in a way? What did they get right and what did you kind of wish they included?

Adellion: It was really surreal. there were certain, so there were certain cities like windon, like motor stoke that, uh, you could tell there were a bit of a mishmash of a couple of different cities. Although they had a, a nice basis I. For which kind of city they were going after. So obviously Winden where you, you would think was linked to London in a way.

Adellion: 'cause of course you're heading to, the End of Victory Road and you know, the biggest stadiums with the, you know, the biggest battles and trying to become champion. It's gonna be in London. But I did like some of the different character with. [00:07:00] some of the other cities, Moto Stoke being another, an example that sticks out from memory where I'm like, this seems a lot more industrial.

Adellion: And it harks back to the UK's industrial era. and so I did like that attention to detail. The only thing is, and I must admit it, and, and I'm glad that the Pokemon company did not put this in, is I think Galar makes the UK seem a lot more impressive than it is, and there are, there are some there.

Adellion: There is perhaps not quite as perfectly pretty in the uk. There's nice places of course, and then there's the odd bit that's not quite as nice and you're like, Hmm, good thing this didn't feature in the game.

David Hernandez: I mean, we got the same thing in Canalave City and black and white with New York City, New York City's never that clean, let's be honest. So.

Adellion: Yeah. But if you are, if you are, um, a foreigner like me and, you know, New York seems glammy and, you know, impressive. And then of course for anyone living there, I think the same's true for someone from London, like myself, there's always gonna be, you always see your own city or your own hometown in a slightly different light.

Adellion: But that being said, I [00:08:00] wouldn't knock a knock on it too much because at the end of the day, I'm from there and we're all kind of proud of where we're from to an extent. Right.

David Hernandez: before we dive into Pokemon Go, I gotta ask like, do you have a favorite Pokemon? And if so, what is it?

Adellion: Oh yeah. So I, I've had a few and they've kind of all. evolved as I, as new generations come out and I'm currently set on rather creepily Hisuian Zoroark is one of my favorite

David Hernandez: Oh.

Adellion: just because it's got a very strange and creepy backstory. And you know, rather unfortunate story, I must admit, if you look at the Pokedex, but there's something very.

Adellion: Aesthetically pleasing about it. Like Zoroark as a Pokemon in, in Unova was pretty cool and that was one of my favorites. but then the Hisuian version is just something else, and that's kind of made it in my head like the number one. There are a bunch of other Pokemon like as well, but Hisuian Zoroark, you're asking question, that's the number one Pokemon for me.

David Hernandez: Now transitioning to Pokemon Go Side, you know you've done a lot with PVP, but let's start with when you started playing that came out in 2016. [00:09:00] Were you kind of one of the first people to play it, or were you kind of ones who came later on?

Adellion: Yeah, no, straight away. I think I was working on, on the day job, shall we say, and it came out while I was in London and I was, and you could just notice the people that were playing 'cause it was the first two days a bun and I was in the middle of, uh, a university at the time and just streams of students just coming out with their phone, just walking around holding it, you know, chatting and commenting and it was one of the most amazing experiences where everyone was kind of just happy and in awe all together. Just the Pokemon Go mania had taken over again, you know, that song, from the first generation of Pokemon, you know, and we all live in a Pokemon

David Hernandez: Yes, yes.

Adellion: that, that vibe was very much there and that, that moment is etched in my memory.

Adellion: And just that, just that little pocket of, nostalgia, of just how perfect things were for that one moment.

David Hernandez: Now you mentioned how you were kind of in charge of bringing people to raids. You know, this is of course later down the pipeline of [00:10:00] Pokemon's timeline. Did you ever see it like as a huge social force and what did those like early community moments look for you when you were still trying to kind of build the community in a way?

David Hernandez: I.

Adellion: Yeah, I did meet a couple, a few friends, so before raids were a thing, but being honest with you, I didn't expect it to ever become a huge social phenomenon like that because at the end of the day, the primary concept of the game was to go out, walking and catching. It was meant to be a health advocate. As a game, something that you can step out of the house and have some further entertainment by walking. And so that was primarily where it all started, but I didn't think you'd bump into all that many people other than a few that also have the same mindset to go and walk together maybe at a push. So the raids, coming in was a great idea because it actually gave you something to do outside catching because.

Adellion: Most people had caught most things by then. the interesting thing was a lot of Pokemon Go players at the time were quite private, quite peaceful, you know, perhaps, you [00:11:00] know, a little bit introverted as well. So it is a little bit daunting to go up to other individuals and say, Hey, do you want to do this raid with me? But being. Drawn in by the fact that you had to be in a certain location at a typ at a certain time. There were no remote raids, of course, at at that point. And so people coordinated, with say Facebook and created groups for it. That slowly sort of crystallized based on repeat raids and familiarity where people started forming.

Adellion: You know, some semblance of friendships and bonds over time, and it was really nice to just see a community in its infancy form up just by repetitive in-person interactions. at that time

David Hernandez: You know now, even when you look into that, when PVP debuted in 2019, you were right there in the middle of trying to build a community and transitioning and trying to, you know, build the scene back in with the silver arena. How did that look and how was it similar or different from when you were trying to do raids?

Adellion: So [00:12:00] what PVP was great. Uh, I think a great addition. I know it was, some people have different views on it in terms of how different it is compared to. in the video games. but the fact of the matter is that Niantic, I imagine had to build some kind of alternative, battling system so that it wouldn't be, otherwise, it would be somewhat cannibalistic, I imagine, compared to the video games.

Adellion: So it had to be something different. But I do like the fact that there were some similarities when you think of, typings and Taking stats and move sets away from, from the video games. But what was nice is with the Silph Road and the Silph Arena, setting this up now, I wasn't actually part of the Silph Arena. primarily it was, I was just one of the folk that would host events in my local community and convince people to show up in person to afford them. And it was a bit of lighthearted fun. And then at the time you, in order to battle remotely, you had to be ultra friends with people. And so that's when, we started forming these wider [00:13:00] groups of more dedicated battlers that wanted to.

Adellion: Compete on a more regular basis. And uh, so they would all group up together to go into ultra friends. And all you needed is, I believe at least eight people who are all ultra friends with each other in order to get these battles done. And so the first sort of remote tournaments formed out of that, and I was keen to sort of help out on that front initially.

David Hernandez: I don't know if maybe you just kind of undercut yourself on purpose, or maybe you don't realize how much impact it is, but I simply host a Pokemon Go PvP tournament means that shows leadership, don't you think? I mean, not everybody's willing to host an event, especially one when you know, PvP's not that popular, like.

David Hernandez: It takes some strong determination to just go out and do that. Don't you think So?

Adellion: Yeah, I would say, uh, I would say so, but not to toot my own horn, uh, too, too much on that because there's of course many other folk who are doing, the similar things, trying to host their own, in-person tournaments. I think the mix, what you need is, first of all, you need to. Enjoy PVP or be willing [00:14:00] to learn how to play it in order to then enjoy the success you get out of it.

Adellion: And then once you do that, You want to have that intention to share that success and joy that you get out of it with others who either. Are interested or can be convinced to be interested because they like the idea of trying it out or the, the idea of socializing with other people and as long as they're playing Pokemon, they don't particularly mind, you know, what kind of activity it is.

Adellion: So those are sort of people that you wanna befriend and market it to, when you're doing it in person. And then of course when you are. Doing it remotely then it's was a lot easier. Of course. 'cause you have access to the whole world in theory to find this right. Sort of people that are super keen to play with you.

David Hernandez: Well, let's dive into that aspect. So what is it about PVP specifically, especially when it came to Pokemon Go, that I guess piqued your interest and wanted you to be invested in trying to build the community and try to get involved that way.

Adellion: So by the time PVP came out in 2019, I [00:15:00] had built up. The community, nearby to where I live, to the point where it was very, it was working very well. It was entirely self-sufficient. It did not require all that much management anymore. People knew the drill. They knew when radar was, they knew where to meet, and it would just work like clockwork. And there wasn't all that much. That could go wrong. It's, it's a train that just kept chugging along, I would say.

David Hernandez: Sure.

Adellion: so the, when PVP came out, now bear in mind, battling has been an integral concept in Pokemon as a whole. The video games is all about battling the trading card game. It's about collecting, but. To do anything meaningful with the cards, aside from look at them in your collection, you have to battle with them. And Pokemon Go really lacked that. Uh, so there wasn't really an end game for Pokemon Go. You would catch things, you'd collect, things, you'd raid whatever new thing came out. And then I. That was it. And so there was no real sort of meaningful end game content other than trying your best to collect them all, [00:16:00] which became more and more hard because there were more regionals and more different places you to go to get these things. And of course it's, imagine now if you had to get comfy, you'd have to fly over to Hawaii. I mean, that's not happening easily for a lot of people who aren't on the west coast of the us you know, or in, or lucky enough to be in Hawaii to begin with. So,

Adellion: It was for that reason. I was like, right, well there needs to be some other driver, something else that's going to excite People want to try a new challenge once they've reached the end game of Pokemon Go.

Adellion: So I thought PVP was a fantastic idea to bring Pokemon Go in line with what the video games offer and what the trading card game offers. And I wanted to promote that and into, at the time I was thinking, make it as big as what the video games or the trading card games. Could be on that side.

David Hernandez: Now you bring up so many points because I see a lot of people who want to build the the PVP scene,

David Hernandez: and I guess maybe I want your perspective. if somebody wanted to build a PVP community within [00:17:00] their home area, and we'll assume, like I said, they're not a Aurora, assume like they may be in a well-populated area.

Adellion: Yeah.

David Hernandez: What do they need to kind of build that up? 'cause it seems like it's difficult for people to do that because there's not that many in real life person, PVP places, What advice would you give, I guess, from your experience?

Adellion: Yeah, you are

David Hernandez: I.

Adellion: are quite right. It is, it is challenging. So it, right now a lot of the in-person PVP is. Coming off the back of, official play Pokemon tournaments, and these are split into two categories. These are local challenges, which award, 15 championship points, and then, and that's a monthly thing per venue. And then League Cups, which are 50 championship points, and they are once per quarter, per venue. And that's specific for Pokemon Go. So the thing that's neat is, first of all, you need a store that's affiliated with the Pokemon company and the part of the play Pokemon Circuit.

Adellion: So assuming you've got that, locked down and you have a store nearby that is, Able to accommodate on that front. The [00:18:00] next thing is to have a Pokemon professor who is willing to host the event with that store. So this require, requires a couple of things. It requires a professor to be happy to host Pokemon Go tournaments. it requires a store that's happy to collaborate with that professor to create these Pokemon Go tournaments and see the value in it. And then the third thing is, of course, having enough people to consistently turn up. Because at the end of the day, if these stores are not getting enough footfall from people turning up to do these tournaments, then it's not economically worthwhile for them.

Adellion: And so they're less likely to host those. So. The challenge has always been a mixture of either the venue, for business reasons or, another reason doesn't want to host Pokemon Go tournaments, or there isn't a professor that feels capable or has the time to host these tournaments. Or it might be that there simply isn't enough players willing to meet up together at certain point, in a certain point to go into the store and attend these tournaments and compete.

Adellion: So [00:19:00] those are the three challenges. speaking about myself the way I managed to get, so I have a consistent, local gaming store in Manchester called Fanboy three, who I host with for Pokemon Go. And they are uh, really nice store. They appreciate the value of Pokemon. They make a lot of money from hosting Pokemon tournaments, in their store boat.

Adellion: The trading card game and the video game, and they want to be able to say, we host all three. All three are successful, and all three have repeat customers coming in in order to compete in these tournaments. so the, the way that it's worked for me is I have said to them that. If you allow me to host, I'll be able to, handle everything and make sure it doesn't cause any pressure for your employed staff there, to which they're more than happy with that.

Adellion: So they, they trust me quite well, quite well in that store. And the second thing as well is being a leader of Manchester's general community means I can market the tournament to a. Facebook group, which is about 8,000 strong or a discord that's [00:20:00] about 4,000 strong. And really get to grips with advertising as aggressively as possible and selling the idea that trainers should come and compete with these 'cause it's fun and you get some amazing rewards for taking part.

David Hernandez: I think you bring up why it's such a challenge to do this and it's not a bad thing. It's a challenge to where you can't just be somebody focused on, I just want a tournament near me. You have to invest on, you have to kind of convince the store on why should they host Pokemon 'cause they are a business.

Adellion: Yes,

David Hernandez: But then the flip side is you gotta have that relationship with the existing community as well to where like if you're just a random nobody and they don't know your name, then you don't have any, I'll say influence. And I think that's why it's so hard. And just like how I talk to you, you have so many hats you've worn, which has gotten you to where you are.

David Hernandez: And I feel like that's kinda the prime example of anybody who wants to do something in real life, whether it be Pokemon Go. Or even the VGC or TCG, if you wanna build something like that, you gotta have those different hats. It's, it's not easy to do. It's very, very difficult.

Adellion: I think, [00:21:00] to be honest, I think it's like, I can probably distill it down to one thing. You as a community leader or someone who wants to build influence in the, in your local community, just go out and befriend. The other players that play with you, because when that happens, not only do you get the, enjoyment of those friendships anyway, because I have a strong belief that almost everybody is interesting and all you have to do is talk to them and. Sort of for, to sit, sit to use a, a, a very, a fairytale phrase to, uh, sift out the diamond from the rough. everyone has the potential to be a diamond in terms of their personality, and it's down to you to go and find that, because you don't know just how much emotional value they will add to your life because of their presence.

Adellion: And then when you're playing together with them and you, they, you enjoying each other's friendship, then. It doesn't, then it will be, regardless of whether it's a raid hour, whether it's a ax, Battle day or a PVP tournament, people will be more likely to turn [00:22:00] up because the friendship and the bonds are there.

Adellion: Aside from those that, of course, like coming 'cause they like to compete, that that's a given.

Commercial Break

[00:23:00]

David Hernandez: Now one thing, next thing I want, last thing I wanna talk about with the PVP is you're also an admin or you were kind of one of the founders for Davon Corp. Is that correct?

Adellion: Yes, that's another hat. To tell, to say a little, a little bit more about Devon Corporation. So the Silph Arena sadly shut down a few years ago, and what they would do before play Pokemon tournaments were a thing, is they would host monthly tournaments where the rules were different every month.

Adellion: So you had to build a new [00:24:00] set of Pokemon every month in order to, compete. Not necessarily completely news. You could take a few from last month and reuse them, but the rule sets would change. There'd be certain Pokemon that are banned, certain Pokemon that are included, and so on and so forth. that was really fun.

Adellion: And it could all be, uh, it could all be competed in remotely as well. So there was no, geographical barrier to entry. Now, the big downside with play Pokemon, well, I wouldn't say downside, that's a strong word, but, the sort of, the, the missing link, shall we say that Pokemon, uh, play Pokemon doesn't quite fulfill is the fact that in order to compete. you need to attend one of these League cups, these local challenges, or indeed a regional or special event, a special championship.

Adellion: some people don't have the ability to do that because they have commitments to their family.

Adellion: They may have other things that are restricting them. Their work might also be a restricting factor. They, if they work weekends, that's quite tricky 'cause all of the regionals and special championships take place on weekends. So they are really locked out of competitive PVP [00:25:00] and. For me, I'm thinking, well, just because the Silph Arena has closed down doesn't mean that we can't get something smaller scale up and running.

Adellion: And so the Devon Corporation was founded to basically fill that hole of having a monthly rotating meta where you have different rule sets each month. People can compete. They don't have to pay any entry in order to compete. It's all hosted by tournament hosts that are doing it online because they have love.

Adellion: Of the game and want to support grassroots battling, and the hope is that by having a grassroots solo circuit to compliment the play Pokemon solo circuit, which is of course in person, then you get the best of both. Where trainers will ideally do both and get the benefits of competing and getting the practice they need with some more unusual Pokemon via the Devon Corporation.

Adellion: So that's why. I decided with a very good team around me to work together. I, I work together to build this up. I sometimes don't like claiming I'm the [00:26:00] founder because quite frankly, I think so many other people have put just as much hard work into it, if not more than I have that I really do think it's a team effort and something me, jojo and Zion, who are the other two admins plus, numerous other staff in the organization, we can all be really proud of it.

David Hernandez: because I know you won't claim yourself as the founder, which is fair, but how did you find the people you wanted to surround yourself with? Because sometimes. Putting the team around you that you need to succeed is more important than just having just be yourself.

Adellion: Yeah, absolutely there. So. a mixture of people who have a track record for being community leaders. So if I look at jojo, for example, she is one of the leaders for girls at PVP and that has been around for many, many years advocating to have, Better space for women to be involved in PVP and creating those good environments where anyone, women included, can flourish, uh, safely. And then if you look at, uh, Zion [00:27:00] Zion's set up so many projects over the years. Um, merciless Syndicate, he's been involved with flash tournaments for everyone as well. he is another person that's just a driver and is. Very passionate about grassroots. So these two individuals reached out to me saying that they would like to, work on this project with me and push for it. And so the Devon Corporation, spun out of what was initially Project Zygarde, Which was looking to set up a new website to host, uh, grassroots tournaments. and so the Devon Corporation spun out, and separated from them in order to actually create the Mets and try setting things up in terms of a annual grassroots solo season. and my hope is we will have a. Equivalent World Championships, and there might be a prize pot of, I'm hoping for close to about $1,000

David Hernandez: And it just goes to show that you try to fill a hole that was, you know, desperately needed to be, and you didn't wait around. You kind of just took the initiative and you put a team around you, and here you are, you're still trying to build the community, [00:28:00] even all these years later.

David Hernandez: It's crazy.

Adellion: Yeah, it's a fun, it's, it's a fun thing. It's a bit of hard work. nowadays I do feel that I'm thinking about Pokemon more often than I should, but it's, uh, it's the na it's the nature of the beast. When you've got your, got your finger in like so many different, that phrase? or dipping the toe in the water or finger in pie?

Adellion: Some,

David Hernandez: We say, uh, we say fingers in the pies over here. Yeah.

Adellion: remember the phrase.

David Hernandez: Well, I didn't know if it was something different over there. That's why I didn't wanna interrupt you. I was like, oh, maybe you have a different phrasing over there.

Adellion: I'm just, I just clueless and sometimes forget these things, so I appreciate the clarification.

David Hernandez: No, no, no, you're good. But on that note, like I said, you know, you've got so, and I, I agree, I think about Pokemon way more than I really think I should be working. I'm like, oh, why am I thinking of, community Day Pokemon or something like that. Your passion has just led you to become a caster for play Pokemon, and I kind of wanted to talk about what was those early experiences and how did it all happen?

Adellion: So, casting was something I never dreamed I would ever be able to get into. and so how it started is, from time to time I [00:29:00] became rather well known within the grassroots, not necessarily for battling prowess, I would say. Um, I'm not a bad battler by any means, but certainly not as good as, uh, some of the best in the world for sure, but nonetheless, re reputable enough that, I was sometimes invited to be a guest caster on certain, grassroots channels on YouTube.

Adellion: So examples include MyPVPAcademia, which was set up by counts and lundberg and spleen. other examples including, Pallet Town PvP, which was hosted by FishonaHeater and a few other fabulous fee people on that side. and also the odd gym breaker stream as well. So I was sometimes invited to be a guest caster there. the Silph Arena also invited me on one or two occasions as well. So anyway, This led to me just doing this for a bit of fun, and I ended up with a compilation of about 20 to 30 videos of my casting. Now, fast forward to I would say maybe 2023. I [00:30:00] think the new season of Play Pokemon had started and Pokemon Go would be having its first full year of, casted shows in Europe. And these, this was still being hosted on Luka's Twitch channel rather than on the official circuit. there was some certain folk involved who I won't go into, but they were looking for casters and they basically looked and saw, ah, you know. this guy on YouTube's got quite a few bits and bobs and we have the Liverpool regionals coming up and it would be good to have someone, from the uk. so they opened up a form masking, casters to apply, including those from the UK but elsewhere as well, within Europe. And it just so happens that within those, I was one of the.

Adellion: Casters that were selected. And I think a large part of that was because of all the grassroots casting had done, over the years, which I'd done completely for fun. So it ended up being, I think me, Amanda. or otherwise known as Berger. Uh, inance, uh, for those, uh, for those that know his real name.[00:31:00]

Adellion: Uh, and then Koenig Lionheart as well. all we've us four got selected and it was the start of a very surreal and exciting journey for me.

David Hernandez: You know, it's crazy 'cause you weren't chasing to become a caster. You stepped into the role. What was that moment like for Play Pokemon, to recognize you for all the work that you've done? not only for just the community, but as well as the stuff you did on streams.

David Hernandez: Like, did it feel like validating in a sense?

Adellion: Yeah, definitely I was, I was very honored to be selected. I didn't think, you know, I certainly had imposter syndrome because there were quite a few other individuals, certainly friends of mine in the UK that had casted a little bit and, were vying to have a place in that roster as well. so I was very. very honored, but also quite aware that there was a lot of pressure to make sure if I get selected that I do a good job and. It was very, very daunting, because you think grassroots casting is much more, [00:32:00] it's much more easy, casting on a more official circuit or representing the brand comes with its own caveats in terms of certain expectations.

Adellion: You, there is less margin for error and you have to be a lot more. Professional and rightly so, and I think it's something that's very easy to overlook, compared to grassroots casting, just how much more of an expectation there is in terms of performance, it was daunting to say the least.

David Hernandez: Of course, I don't know how y'all do. Y'all got so many people watching it both on live streams as well as across the world. I don't know how y'all not get stage fright. It would freak me out just having that many eyeballs on me.

Adellion: Well, it's the, I'm a bit desensitized to it now. And of course, you're not looking, when you're casting, you're not necessarily looking at, twitch views or how, what's being said in the chat or anything like that. All I'm focused on is talking about, I. What I think at least is the right things. giving an entertaining cast that adds real flavor to the main stars of the [00:33:00] show, which are the battlers themselves. And so I'm hoping that people do enjoy having some background casting to supplement the battles. And, perhaps forgive me if I do make the odd mistake here and there.

David Hernandez: And at least you're honest like hell, right? You can't just pretend to be perfect. We all make mistakes

Adellion: Oh yeah, definitely. I, I am, I'm certainly not going to claim I'm perfect by any means.

David Hernandez: now, you know, as you look back on your casting experience and you know, being, again, you were chosen to be stepped into Pokemon. What do you think about your presence or the casting style from your time in grassroots that made you stand out compared to other people?

Adellion: So now I'm. a space that has anything to do with gaming. I have in my mind that I'm always to an extent representing the brand I'm representing Pokemon. Before I enjoyed Pokemon, it was a hobby. Now it's a hobby that has turned into not necessarily complete one, but a partial career. you never know when the eyes are [00:34:00] on you. So whenever now I go to, my local Raid Hour or when I go to host a large event in Manchester as my, in my ambassador, community ambassador role, It's not just that individual role I have to think of, and I have to think of, right? I don't know who I might bump into. I might bump into, for all I know, I might bump into a Pokemon employee. I might bump into a gaming journalist that, is aware of what I do. And so it's important for me to always uphold the good principles that. The Pokemon company expects because ultimately we want this franchise to continue to be successful.

Adellion: We want it to, always be seen as a welcoming franchise for people to take their kids to, to enjoy themselves and to be a real family friendly game and franchise. And it is. It really is.

David Hernandez: it reminds me of when I was in college, I was a resident assistant my bosses always said, we live in a fish bowl. And you know, as a res assistant, we lived where people [00:35:00] would always kinda watch us. They watched what we did, what we didn't do.

David Hernandez: We were always kind of a unspoken example of what people looked up to.

Adellion: Yes.

David Hernandez: to me, that's what it sounds like with Pokemon. I think a lot of people don't, I'll say a lot of content creators don't understand, especially when you're starting out on how you're not only just playing Pokemon. If you really want to get to that next level, you gotta understand what are the expectations of representing a Pokemon brand.

David Hernandez: And that's a lot of weight to have. You just talked about it, how you've gotta know what Pokemon stands for. You gotta know what do they want, There's certain things you can and can't do, and I think that's what you alluded to, to where, but you went from being a Pokemon fan to just enjoys and engages with the franchise to one, wanting to see it grow and being a, a valid representative.

David Hernandez: Is that kind of fair to say?

Adellion: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

Adellion: there's just so many nuances as well. 'cause there's the, coming back to having multiple hats. I feel like, I feel like I'm collecting rather than collecting Pokemon, I'm collecting different roles. I have that I do on behalf of, um.

David Hernandez: [00:36:00] You really are. Yeah.

Adellion: so there's the, 'cause there's, so the split between but Run Mind with Pokemon Go.

Adellion: It's obviously Niantic who have created the, the game and they are obviously using Pokemon as a franchise, to, enhance their game. And so they have community ambassadors for which you represent a city and help host their large events. So. The examples being gigantic, max, max battle days, but then there's also the casting. There's also the being a Pokemon professor where you support on the regional, uh, tournaments or regional championships and special championships, as well as obviously hosting on the local level. Um, so. It does keep one very busy, but one thing I really like about it is it allows me to lean, or all three of these roles lean on each other to support each other as well.

Adellion: So you can have, you can use your influence from one to help out with another if you get where I'm coming from.

David Hernandez: Well, Adellion, I wanna finish this interview on this last question.

Adellion: Yeah.

David Hernandez: You know, we've talked a [00:37:00] lot about how you went from organizing tournaments to casting on the biggest stages With Play Pokemon. Your journey has helped shape so many people's experiences, not only with just Pokemon, but also Pokemon Go PVP.

David Hernandez: When people hear your name or maybe they see Devon Corporation, what do you hope they walk away with?

Adellion: So I would hope they look at me and indeed all the different roles of all the different organizations that I am proud to support and go, I want to have a look into this. I want to. dip my toe in the water and see what is the hype about being part of an ambassador community in nearby to where you are?

Adellion: Or trying out a local challenge at a tournament a couple of hours away, for example, There must be something very interesting about it, which is why a chap like Adellion is so focused on promoting it and making it better and better. So takeaway message I would say is Go get involved with your local community. Most people that you'll meet tend to be nice, at least I hope so. I've had a generally good track record

David Hernandez: [00:38:00] There's always some exceptions. Yeah, I was gonna say.

Adellion: mine, but you know, we, but I, but I like to, rather than talking about the exceptions, let's talk about the fact that the majority will be amazing people.

Adellion: You will get a lot of happiness out them, and then you can enjoy being. Part of an ambassador community where you get rewards for it. So you get the benefits from playing the game with your ambassador community. You can get rewards from competing in these tournaments and you'll live. happy life with all these potential friends around you that you can make.

Adellion: It's an avenue to forming real bonds with your community and society as a whole. So I would welcome anyone who wants to reach out and learn a bit more about how they can get more involved, that is the best thing about the game, and I'm willing to help anyone on that journey.

David Hernandez: And speaking of reaching out Adellion, if they wanna connect with you, if if they just want to just meet you, where can they go? By all means, please plug away.

Adellion: Well, yeah, there is, uh, there's quite a few different places, uh, you can get hold of me. So, I am on, Blue [00:39:00] sky and X. So on blue sky, it's Delian B sky, social, on X it's Delian. But just to clarify, the Adel has a zero instead of an uh, instead of the an O at the end of it.

Adellion: So a DE double LI zero N. And of course you will see me on the Pokemon Go Twitch channel on occasion Twitch tv slash Pokemon Go if I'm casting. and then of course there are other ways you can reach out including, on Discord and if you happen to live close to Manchester or close to London. there's a good chance you'll see me in person on occasion at one of these big meetups, so I'll also be very excited to meet each and every one of you at one of those locations or another regional special championship in Europe.

David Hernandez: Thank you for listening to As the Pokemon Ball Turns, if this story resonated with you, share the podcast with the fellow trainer. Don't forget to follow us. For more voices, more journeys, and more memories. I'm David Hernandez, and remember, your next Pokemon adventure begins [00:40:00] here.