"Zigzagoon Found Groudon At The Beach" ft. Mr. Zigzagoon | TRAINER'S EYE #171

 He just wanted to list it as his job on Facebook. Instead, it became a community.

For longtime fan Mr. Zigzagoon, a tiny raccoon Pokemon became the symbol of something much deeper like friendship, passion, and perseverance. We explore how a chance online connection sparked the beginning of a community, how a childhood Mew gifted through kindness shaped a lifetime of giving, and how love and support carry this Trainer forward in both life and Pokémon.

From Pokémon cards to late-night launches, power-saving giveaways to quiet moments over a match of the Pokémon TCG, this story reminds us why we stay, even when no one else is watching.

Listen now and rediscover why we all chose to press Start.

 🎧 Be inspired by the leaders shaping the future of Pokémon.
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Sources
Opening Song: "Forget You" by Alex_MakeMusic from Pixabay 

Transcript

Mr. Zigzagoon: 0:00

Hey, I'm Mr. Zigs Goon, and this is my Pokemon story.

0:03

Theme Song

David Hernandez: 0:43

Welcome to As The Pokeball Turns where every voice, every journey, and every memory brings us closer to the world of Pokemon. I'm David Hernandez and I'm joined by a longtime Pokemon fan who's been sharing their passion since 2015. As a collector, a creator, and a community memeber behind Mr. Zigzagoon. Mr. Zigzagoon. Welcome to As The Pokeball Turns.

Mr. Zigzagoon: 1:03

Hey, thanks for having me, man.

David Hernandez: 1:05

Absolutely. And for me, I love Gen three, that's one of my favorite generations, and I saw your name. I'm like, oh my gosh. Somebody named themselves after Mr. Zigzagoon. I kind of wanted to know the story of why Mr. Zigzagoon, where's the inspiration behind that name?

Mr. Zigzagoon: 1:19

Okay, so, yeah, like you said, gen three, that is a favorite generation of mine as well. back in 2015, I made a friend in another Pokemon group. He was from Singapore, and we started chatting and stuff. We'd trade Pokemon and all that. you know, in the mega ruby and alpha Sapphire days. So. he got this idea one day, he was like, Hey, we should make a Pokemon group. And I was like, I don't know man. I feel like that's gonna be a lot of work. And he was like, that's fine, we'll do it anyway. And so he made the group and he made me an admin immediately and I was like, alright, I guess I'm in it now. So, yeah, I just got to work right away. And we decided to do like admin tags, kind of like a lot of people in Pokemon groups did back then. like a Pokemon that represents them. And at first I was gonna go with like Groudon or Tyranitar'cause I was like, yeah, those are awesome. Right? You know? but then I thought about it a little more and I was like, you know what though? I was like, Zigzagoon. He's kind of the G.O.A.T of gen three in a way, you know? And I think like that'd be a little funnier and a little more unique. So I chose Zigzagoon,

David Hernandez: 2:19

well, I guess what made Zigzagoon the goat for you in Gen three? So,

Mr. Zigzagoon: 2:22

So, obviously he, he clears with his hms, you know, like he's the guy that you need for that. And, his pickup ability is just, you know, super helpful throughout the game.

David Hernandez: 2:33

Yeah. Especially, um, I love the Ruby Sapphire one specifically because they didn't have the limitations that Emerald introduced. So you could get like rare candies, you can get like nuggets at like level two or three

Mr. Zigzagoon: 2:44

Oh yeah, it was like a huge help. You know, you get a nugget early game, that's five grand immediately.

David Hernandez: 2:49

Exactly like how game changing. Obviously it's very broken, but how game changing was that And plus I love Zigzagoon and its evolution. I think they say Linoone is how it's called. They're

Mr. Zigzagoon: 2:57

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 2:57

of like, I don't know. I, I prefer them over Sentret for some reason. I just always found them adorable.

Mr. Zigzagoon: 3:02

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, who doesn't like a raccoon based Pokemon?

David Hernandez: 3:06

Now I wanted to ask, since you touched on how this page started in 2015, and I wanna know like, was there ever any moment that made you think, yeah, I really love being a part of this Pokemon community?

Mr. Zigzagoon: 3:15

Yeah. what I did, I actually used like power save back in the day. I did like. giveaways. I do them like every single day to the point where I burn myself out after like, you know, six months of doing this straight.

David Hernandez: 3:25

Oh, geez. Yeah, that's a

Mr. Zigzagoon: 3:26

Yeah. But a lot of people came and showed support and, you know, I just felt nice to give something nice to people. the page itself, it's a funny story about the page. I actually made it to be, kind of a part of the group in a way. I want to list the group as like my occupation on Facebook. even though I had a full-time job, so the page wasn't really active and it was just a means to, to do that. And I even like put it in the page so like, you know, this won't be active just so I can, list this says my occupation. Well people just started liking the page anyway, and before I knew it, there were like hundreds of people already, you know, had liked the page. So, yeah, later on I decided to utilize it and, turned it into what it is now, so,

David Hernandez: 4:12

Now, my last question just in regards to the early starts, before we dive into your experience with Pokemon, because you said your friend started the group anyway, even against your own wishes saying it was gonna be too much work. Right?

Mr. Zigzagoon: 4:22

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 4:22

made you decide to still say yes to being a mod?'cause you could have just easily said, you did this, but I'm not gonna be involved even though you were hesitant to begin with, you know?

Mr. Zigzagoon: 4:30

Yeah. I don't know. maybe I felt like it was kind of a, maybe a duty to my friend. I was like, you know, he seems pretty passionate about it, so I'll give it a shot. And I think as soon as I started working on it, I kind of fell in love with it immediately, even though traction wasn't great at first. But I knew it was like anything that you build from the ground up, you just kind of gotta work at it. And you know, if you keep going, you know people will come. and that's exactly what happened.

David Hernandez: 4:55

You're also very patient because you know, a, for your friend to just, to still stick with them, you know, but

Mr. Zigzagoon: 5:00

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 5:00

you put it beautifully to where sometimes attraction's not immediate, and a lot of people really want that immediate satisfaction, but you kind of solve the, I'll say growth of, of starting something fresh and you are willing to kind of stick with it.

Mr. Zigzagoon: 5:13

Yeah, it definitely takes a lot of perseverance if you're doing any sort of like content anything like that. And I, I think a lot of people get discouraged very quickly and it can be discouraging. I actually put up a post, I don't know, a couple weeks ago about mental health in this space and how, you know, it can be very discouraging. It can take a toll on your mental health when you put out content every day. And sometimes you don't see the results you like and it, it can hurt.

David Hernandez: 5:39

Now I wanna shift gears real quick. We'll come back to the Mr. Zigzagoon page, but I wanna talk about your experience with Pokemon and know where did this all start? Where did your experience with Pokemon first begin?

Mr. Zigzagoon: 5:48

So whenever it hit the US back in, I guess it was 98, I was in third grade, and when it, first started becoming very popular, I actually was kind of a, I guess a contrarian at first. I was like, you know, it's just a bunch of dumb animals. I was like, this is silly, you know?

David Hernandez: 6:06

Right,

Mr. Zigzagoon: 6:07

pretty soon I got my hands on like my first Pokemon cards. and I fell in love. But, you know, I, I just flip flopped immediately. So, Yeah, I started collecting the cards and it wasn't long after I got my very first Game Boy Pocket with a copy of Pokemon Red and it was on from there, you know.

David Hernandez: 6:23

are you like me, like in a different time zone? Because that's how I first started to where Pokemon came out. I'm like, why would you like this stuff? Like what's the appeal behind it? And I hated Pokemon. That's always been something I've said and I'm like, wait, this sounds very familiar. Are you sure you're not me in a different world?

Mr. Zigzagoon: 6:38

Probably, I'm not gonna lie, I, I have this tendency toward a lot of things. It become like super popular and I try to work really, really hard not to be like that, you know, because. there's been things just like that and I've given it a fair shake. Eventually I'm like, you know, this is actually pretty good, you know? So, yeah. I don't know. There's just some sort of like predetermined thing within me that wants to dislike things that are super popular, but sometimes they're popular for a reason.

David Hernandez: 7:01

You know, after you changed your mind it's because of the cards. Do you remember like what it was about The Pokemon card specifically that kind of changed your mind?

Mr. Zigzagoon: 7:09

I don't know. I, I think the fact that it was like something you could do with your friends and stuff, you could trade them and collect them together and all, like, it's definitely very appealing even now, uh, even though I don't get to do that with friends very much these days, I mean it kind of, it's like the community aspect, kind of like just with the pages and groups and stuff. Like I really enjoy the community aspect of Pokemon. It's uh, it's kind of a magical thing, you know?

David Hernandez: 7:32

Now you said you eventually jumped into Pokemon Red. Do you remember what your first experience of playing those games were like?

Mr. Zigzagoon: 7:37

Oh yeah. Yeah. I played it a ton. Um, so Bulbasaur was my very first starter.

David Hernandez: 7:43

Let's go.

Mr. Zigzagoon: 7:44

Yes. And if I could choose him again, I would, you know, like I've always loved Bulbasaur. I ended up naming it Bruteroot after the, Venusaur that was on the first movie. I had a friend on the bus. He was actually quite a bit older than I was. he may have been a middle schooler high school, I can't remember which, but he'd sit with me and we'd play the Game Boy games together and he was like a super big help. He'd like, let me borrow his strategy guides and stuff, and he'd like. Trade me cool Pokemon. he had a game shark. He like got me a Mew

David Hernandez: 8:11

Oh, that's sick. Yeah, and

Mr. Zigzagoon: 8:13

and same with the cards. He'd like, he'd help me out. I was just a kid, you know, and he knew that, and he'd like, give me free stuff, you know. He is, he's super nice.

David Hernandez: 8:20

Sound like this friend had a huge influence on you. Like I know they're old. He was older, but I mean, the fact that he let you even borrow the game guides, he gave you a Mew, which I know it's. It's a game shark and I mean, I used it too, so,

Mr. Zigzagoon: 8:31

Sure. Yeah. It was hard to get a mute back then.

David Hernandez: 8:34

it was, I mean, it was impossible. You had to

Mr. Zigzagoon: 8:36

Yeah,

David Hernandez: 8:36

York City or something like that. Right.

Mr. Zigzagoon: 8:38

right.

David Hernandez: 8:39

when you look back on that, what does it mean to be trusted with something like a Mew from him? Did, like, did that kind of leave an imprint on you? Yeah,

Mr. Zigzagoon: 8:45

yeah, I'd say it did. Even if like, I didn't really know it at the time, you know, I was maybe too young to really realize it. but yeah, just that act of kindness like that, I do go back and think about it every now and then just because it's like, I guess it was my first experience with Pokemon where someone was showing me a great amount of kindness through the franchise, and it's been really nice to like kind of give back, you know, uh, in the future, you know, whenever I could do like the groups and the pages and stuff, I try to, I try to engage with, people as much as I can. I try to be. As kind as I can,

David Hernandez: 9:17

Do you think that, I guess that initial action that he gave you, uh, of, you know, the Mew and the tragedy guys kind of influenced what you do nowadays within The Pokemon community?

Mr. Zigzagoon: 9:26

Yeah, a little bit. Especially, you know, I don't do the, the giveaways with like power saving stuff anymore, but,

David Hernandez: 9:31

Yeah.

Mr. Zigzagoon: 9:32

but I, I really enjoyed doing that. Whenever I did do that, it felt very much like the same thing, but on a much larger scale.'cause I was, you know, given away like. hundreds Pokemon, you know?

David Hernandez: 9:42

like I said, you're doing it for six months straight. I'm impressed by how long that went. So clearly you were passionate about doing that kind of side of Pokemon. Yeah.

Mr. Zigzagoon: 9:49

Yeah, absolutely.

David Hernandez: 9:51

Now, did you continue with Pokemon after Gen one or like, what does that journey look like afterwards? So,

Mr. Zigzagoon: 9:55

So yeah, whenever gen two came out, I got silver and I played that. I was a huge fan of Lugia. So yeah, that was only natural. and then. Whenever gen three came around, my like interest in Pokemon was starting to wane a little bit. And funny enough, I saw a promotional poster for Pokemon, Ruby and Sapphire, and I saw Groudon on there and I was like, dude, that thing looks sick. I was like, I need that. we went on our family vacation to the beach and I got like. a little chunk of money that I could use while we were on vacation and I used like a big chunk of it to buy Pokemon Ruby while we were there.

David Hernandez: 10:30

Oh, wow. Really?

Mr. Zigzagoon: 10:32

Yeah. And like, you know, at night, whenever, you know, we were like back from the beach and just chilling out after dinner I'd be playing Pokemon Ruby and I was like hooked, you know, and they made a lot of like great changes in gen three, you know, that really improved Pokemon, I think. and I continued playing Gen three for many years after that, even though I didn't like buy gen four back then and everything. I was even into my like early mid twenties still playing the original gen three games.

David Hernandez: 10:58

That's such, I guess a powerful start to to gen three'cause you're at the beach, which is where Hoenn kind of based off of, especially after you get past the Rustboro City part and

Mr. Zigzagoon: 11:09

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 11:09

and everything. That's such a cool tie in to have, and I don't know how far you got into the game, but if you made it that far to even catch Groudon, I mean, you kind of had the whole Hoenn experience, four D and ahead of its time, if that makes sense. That's so funny

Mr. Zigzagoon: 11:21

That's so funny you mentioned that. I actually never like connected those dots like that.

David Hernandez: 11:25

Oh,

Mr. Zigzagoon: 11:26

That's kind of cool.

David Hernandez: 11:26

Yeah.

Mr. Zigzagoon: 11:29

Yeah, definitely like a tropical region. And I was at the beach. Huh?

David Hernandez: 11:33

Yeah.

Mr. Zigzagoon: 11:33

Yeah, I don't remember exactly how far I got, but I definitely, I was playing a lot, so I, I think I at least made it probably halfway through the game or more while we were, you know, on vacation that week.

David Hernandez: 11:43

Well, lemme ask you this. So what do you think it is about Gen three specifically that compared to the other generations, or at least one and two, that kept you hooked and kept you playing the game even into Gen four and beyond?

Mr. Zigzagoon: 11:53

like I said, I feel like they made a lot of upgrades. the graphics were, I guess nothing crazy if you really think about it, but they just felt so much fresher. the introduction of double battles was like super exciting to me. I thought that was really cool. I thought all three of the starters were amazing. I did choose Treecko though,'cause I'm usually a grass guy. yeah, I don't know. A lot of The Pokeball just felt, I don't know, they just, they were like, just so cool and so natural to me. I really enjoyed just about every aspect of the game, honestly. well that you could just run was really nice.

David Hernandez: 12:26

sounds like you have like a very, I don't know, tie in or very relational aspect to the grass type Pokemon.'cause you chose Bulbasaur, you chose Treecko,. Grass-type something that you resonate with or is it kinda your favorite type?

Mr. Zigzagoon: 12:38

funny thing, I, I'd say it's not really my favorite type overall. but I don't know, there's just something about it. I feel like everyone always gravitated toward fire starters and, I don't know. I felt maybe grass was maybe more unique. I enjoyed the Maybe strategic slower play that grass types often have where they use stuff like leach seed and, and all that. You know, the long game.

David Hernandez: 12:57

I was gonna say, it probably ties into your contrarian inside, like, oh, if you're choosing a fire start, I'm choosing the grass type. I don't care if it's weak, kind of thing.

Mr. Zigzagoon: 13:02

Yeah, exactly. I'll just, I'll go catch a Geodude you know.

13:08

Hey you. Yes, you with the ears. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back. Love hearing real stories from real trainers. Help As The Pokeball turns become the best Pokemon interview podcast like no one ever was. By joining our Patreon, you're not just supporting the show. You're helping more fans share their journeys with the world. As a thank you, you'll get accustomed Pokemon Wristband each month themed after a featured Pokemon. Head on over to patreon.com/ As The Pokeball Turns and join our community today.

David Hernandez: 13:42

Well, as we continue, I wanted to ask, so what's your favorite Pokemon? Is it Zigzagoon or is it something different?

Mr. Zigzagoon: 13:47

I'd say Zigzagoon probably is like my favorite. right beside it though is Groudon, uh, I love Groudon it. Just, it's such a cool Pokemon. And honestly the reason why I bought Pokemon Ruby. I feel like it like kind of saved my love for Pokemon in a way.'cause like I said, I was kind of, getting out of it a little bit. And you know, the fact that I saw Groudon and thought it was so cool kept me right in there. You know, and I've been in and out of Pokemon throughout my life. You know, you go through stages and phases and stuff, but I never disliked Pokemon no matter what. So

David Hernandez: 14:15

it's always been kinda like that little background character to where someday you'll probably engage with it and other times you kinda have to put it aside properly. Most of the time it's life. Sometimes, you know, you have, you need to break. Sometimes Pokemon becomes too much for everybody, right?

Mr. Zigzagoon: 14:26

yeah, definitely.

David Hernandez: 14:26

I definitely resonate with you with groan or gro. I keep calling it Gruin. I don't know why, but, but I love Groudon. That's actually why I chose Pokemon Ruby as well, because

Mr. Zigzagoon: 14:35

Nice.

David Hernandez: 14:36

the appearance and it was just something about it being, I guess, red and the whole idea of it being ground and magma really kind of stuck with me. When I saw Kyogre I just thought, oh, it's just a fish. But Groudon just was really more of. I don't know. I just kinda like the design and it's something that stuck with me for the longest, and even to this day, it's not, it's obviously gone down for me a little bit for as far as favorites, but I just love the idea of it bringing the sun. It could potentially destroy the world realistically. Like to me it felt more realistic if the sun really partes the earth, you know?

Mr. Zigzagoon: 15:05

Oh yeah, no, it, it'd be terrifying actually to, to see a Groudon in real life.

David Hernandez: 15:10

Now I want to ask, so what did you get a chance to play the remakes? Omega Ruby Alpha Sapphire

Mr. Zigzagoon: 15:14

Yeah, I did. I, I thought they were were excellent overall. I was gonna go to the midnight release at GameStop when it was coming out, and then I guess, I guess it hasn't been mentioned yet here, but you know, I work night shift and I have for the past 15 years. And I was like, oh man, you know, I gotta go to work. And I was like, I don't have any time off or whatever, so I can't go to that. and then I realized I had like a personal day where like, it was like one where I could just call it in and you know, there was just like nothing held against you. And as soon I was like literally brushing my teeth, getting ready to like leave for work. And I was like, oh my gosh, you know, I've, I've got that personal day. So I hit up my friends and I was like. Guys, I was like, get your stuff, get ready. I was like, we're going. I was like, I don't have to go to work. So we, we went and got, uh, Pokemon, uh, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire and pretty much played it all night. So

David Hernandez: 16:08

I imagine you going, Hey, got, uh, Hey boss, I got The Pokeball RS I'm not gonna be able to make it to work today.

Mr. Zigzagoon: 16:13

yeah,

David Hernandez: 16:13

I'm at The Pokeball Center right now though. I'll give you an update if I can make it tomorrow,

Mr. Zigzagoon: 16:17

yeah, no doubt.

David Hernandez: 16:19

but that's kind of cool though. You like, thought was like, it was like a last like 11th hour kind of thing to where, hey, I can actually go and see this. And

Mr. Zigzagoon: 16:26

Yeah,

David Hernandez: 16:26

friends probably enjoyed that time. Like what was that like to kind of be in that midnight release.

Mr. Zigzagoon: 16:30

it was cool. Uh, I don't think I'd ever been to a midnight release of anything before, and it wasn't massive or anything. we're in a bit of a smaller area, I think, as Clefa mentioned. But, yeah, it was just, it was cool to like go and get the game, like at its very first release and be able to just, you know. Played immediately. And like I said, you know, I played it all night and then of course I continued to play it for a few years, and, the games were amazing. I felt like, the things that they changed with it compared to the originals like, they were really nice. for example, the characters, I felt like the characters that already existed, they gave a lot more personality to, the additional characters that they added I felt were like really nice and natural. You know, they felt. Like they fit in the game well. the additional content was nice, like the Delta episode. That was pretty cool.

David Hernandez: 17:12

yeah. I love that. Yeah.

Mr. Zigzagoon: 17:13

Yeah, I mean, uh, just about everything about it. I can't really find much of a complaint about the games. I you know, so some might say it's a 7.8 outta 10 too much water, you know. But, uh,

David Hernandez: 17:23

know, shoot,

Mr. Zigzagoon: 17:23

I'd say I'd say 10 outta 10 for sure. Easy.

David Hernandez: 17:26

they need get with that. Hm. O three man.

Mr. Zigzagoon: 17:28

Yeah, exactly.

David Hernandez: 17:30

I did. Well, since you mentioned the Delta episode, I felt like it was kind of for me justification, because I was one of those guys who believed in the myth of Sootopolis city, or not Sootopolis, Mossdeep City, the space station, where

Mr. Zigzagoon: 17:40

Yeah,

David Hernandez: 17:41

the rocket hit the hundred, you get to go see Jirachi. And I'm like, ah, I wish it was true. But then I felt kind of like, I don't know, scene. At that point I'm like, oh my gosh, we actually get to go to space and battle thees. This is perfect.

Mr. Zigzagoon: 17:52

right. It's honestly pretty sick.

David Hernandez: 17:54

Okay. Well, I wanna shift gears back to you spreading the page because again, we started in 2015. How did you guys learn along the way to run the page and what kind of content to put on out there for people to watch or consume like how did that relationship evolve? I guess

Mr. Zigzagoon: 18:08

So, I actually didn't start doing a whole lot with the page until 2022. like I said, the page was created back then and, you know, it was kind of vacant for a long time and I started to utilize it later, but it was, happened to be years later. so. I started off, in the, sort of toward the end of 2022 with getting really into the cards again, and I wanted to create like Pokemon card content, and that's kind of what I started doing. You know, I'd, I'd share some things here and there. I wasn't posting a whole lot though, but it was kind of difficult to like, make enough Pokemon card content to fill each day, and I realized that pretty quickly. It's also very costly.

David Hernandez: 18:47

it gets a little pricey after a while,

Mr. Zigzagoon: 18:48

Yeah. So, I started diversifying my content sometime last year. I started adding in more things like I post like Pokemon art, I post Pokemon memes. I do like interactive posts now. just fun stuff that people can relate with and stuff that, you know, like I, I feel comfortable, you know, doing within the space.'cause not everything in The Pokeball franchise I'm comfortable with, like, doing content on, for example, like the anime. when I was growing up, we didn't really have the channels that had the anime, so my exposure to it was fairly limited. You know, I, I gotta see like, the first movie in theaters. Uh, I saw some episodes on like VHS tapes that I had, But I I didn't really get to watch through the anime. You know, like a lot of people have.

David Hernandez: 19:28

you talked about you were into the cards. What brought you back into that side of Pokemon?'cause I know at first that's how it got started, but it sounds like you took a break and then came back with the cards at that point. Yeah,

Mr. Zigzagoon: 19:37

Yeah, so Ari had like a Pokemon card collection. it was, you know, it was pretty decent. And then, a friend of mine, he actually started working at the local card shop here. And slowly got me back into like the cards again. Especially because his boss was always trying to sell me Pokemon cards. He knew I was interested in them. So it was a pretty easy sell to me, you know, after I started looking through'em and stuff and I was like, yeah, why not? You know? So.

David Hernandez: 20:03

what does your collection consist of? Are you trying to do like master sets you, do you favorite Pokemon? Like what do you like to collect Pokemon card wise? Yeah.

Mr. Zigzagoon: 20:09

Yeah. Unfortunately it's master sets.

David Hernandez: 20:12

my gosh. You cel. I'm sorry.

Mr. Zigzagoon: 20:14

Yeah, it is. It is a painful process. It's, it's fun and painful. It's a, it's a job that never ends for sure.

David Hernandez: 20:21

I thought like that's Pokemon car collection in a nutshell. I feel

Mr. Zigzagoon: 20:23

Yeah. Pretty, pretty much.

David Hernandez: 20:26

Do you have any particular favorite sets that you, I guess, enjoy or hope to complete someday?

Mr. Zigzagoon: 20:30

I don't know. I don't know that I have a particular favorite set off the top of my head. I don't have many complete, to be honest with you. I am one reverse hollow away from completing obsidian flames from Scarlet and Violet.

David Hernandez: 20:42

okay. So

Mr. Zigzagoon: 20:42

It's a Dugtrio that keeps eluding me and I could just buy it on TCG player if I want, but I wanna find it, you know, so.

David Hernandez: 20:49

about the hunt that really appeals to a lot of people. Yeah,

Mr. Zigzagoon: 20:51

Yeah, exactly.

David Hernandez: 20:53

That's how it feel with me.'cause for me, I decided to try to do a master set of the gym Heroes and Gym Challenges back in, you know, the classic set.

Mr. Zigzagoon: 21:00

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 21:01

it's just, it brought so much memories.'cause I'd always loved those cards. I just loved the idea behind them. But then I'm to the point to where. I'm at the pricier side. I'm like, oh my gosh, I don't know how I'm gonna ever afford this. This is like almost half my rent. So

Mr. Zigzagoon: 21:12

Yeah. Undoubtedly, especially if you're getting like first edition and stuff and um, and you start diving into like shadowless and base set, it's.

David Hernandez: 21:19

not

Mr. Zigzagoon: 21:19

It's surreal.

David Hernandez: 21:20

doing shadowless first a edition. I'm tempted that that does appeal to me, but

Mr. Zigzagoon: 21:24

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 21:25

the idea of completing that. So that's my kind of. guess we'll call it whale Lord. I'm trying to complete that.

Mr. Zigzagoon: 21:31

That is a whale order of a said.

David Hernandez: 21:32

of a set and so, but I kind of seal it'cause it's like I wanna see it done. Like I just, I never got a chance to complete a set. I've never done that. That's the one that I have the most nostalgia for back in the day. I love the new cards, I love the designs. It's just, I don't have as much of appeal compared to those, so I get it.

Mr. Zigzagoon: 21:48

Yeah, the nostalgia factor definitely plays into that. I mean, I still have a lot of like vintage cards as well. I don't have any complete sets of that yet, and I haven't really started trying to tackle it. If I find one that I know I'm missing and it's not a horrible price, you know, I might grab it or something. But yeah,

David Hernandez: 22:04

Now, you also started, I don't know if this is maybe around 2022, you started your own Facebook group with Mr. Z, which is the Mr. Pokemon station. And what made you kind of wanna start that group? Was it because you wanted, came back to the page, or was it a different reason? So

Mr. Zigzagoon: 22:17

so that is actually the original group that I was talking about from 2015. It's just been converted. Yeah. Yep. So it was originally called Pokemon Station. That was the name that my friend actually gave it. and then shortly after I started getting back into the page and, you know, doing stuff with it, I decided to, convert the group because it just kind of laid vacant for a long time as well. I'd say sometime in like 2017 it really started to die off, and it was partly because I wasn't really contributing much to it anymore. a lot of the other admins weren't really doing a whole lot with it either, so. It, it just kind of died off. So I've converted it into, Mr. Zigzagoon's Pokemon station and just kind of repurposed it as kind of a hangout to, supplement my page.

David Hernandez: 22:58

how have you noticed a difference from running the page to running the group? Like what the different, I guess, appeals to each one?

Mr. Zigzagoon: 23:05

so a lot of the content that goes on my page does go to the group as well. I feel like maybe the, currently the main appeal to be in the group is to be able to share your own stuff If you're just a member, so you have a place to like. be connected to Mr. Zigzagoon in the page, you know, wise, but also be able to like, share your, you know, cool art that you found. Or maybe you pulled a cool card today and you can share that, or whatever.

David Hernandez: 23:30

So I wanna shift gears real quick, and I wanna talk about Clefa doing stuff. she's your uh, partner and, you know, we had her on the podcast. She shared her story and now you hear you are, and I kind of wanted to know, what is it like to kind of have who also does Pokemon stuff? Does it kind of overlap or do y'all kind of bounce ideas off each other sometimes?

Mr. Zigzagoon: 23:48

Yeah. we definitely bounce some ideas off each other. I feel like we do mostly do our own stuff, but every now and then, like if one of us is struggling, you know, the other knows it and kind of like try to be supportive and, you know, off. Her ideas and stuff. So I know for her, she, sometimes she kind of has to wing it with her post. She doesn't always have a whole lot, you know, scheduled ahead and it stresses her out really badly. So, you know, if, if I can think of something, I'll be like, Hey, what if we took a, a picture with CLE foot doing this or something, you know, or, Hey, let's take a walk. Maybe we can find something cool to take pictures, you know, with Cliff, you know, so,

David Hernandez: 24:23

It

Mr. Zigzagoon: 24:23

yeah.

David Hernandez: 24:24

kind of her support system when she, the whole, she's kind of frantically and kind of I'll say panicking.

Mr. Zigzagoon: 24:29

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 24:30

her grounded in a way.

Mr. Zigzagoon: 24:31

Yeah. And she's mine too, because while I don't really panic or stress out in the same way, uh, I definitely get frustrated. she's a very calm person, and I am too, until I get frustrated. And then I'm just, uh, I get very irate sometimes, you know, and I don't, I don't take it out on her, obviously, but I just, I don't know. I, I just kind of get. In a bad head space, you know, but she definitely helps me a lot whenever, you know, I'm, I'm feeling it.

David Hernandez: 24:57

We talked about this a little bit and I wanted your insight on it. You know, she supports you on what you're passionate about and you know, she, she even admitted that you're more of a Pokemon fan or not Pokemon fan. You know more about Pokemon than she does,

Mr. Zigzagoon: 25:09

Yeah.

David Hernandez: 25:10

to know what does it mean for you to have that kind of support from a partner who may not have as much history or experience with the franchise, but chooses to kind of engage with it because of you, if that makes sense. Yeah,

Mr. Zigzagoon: 25:21

Yeah, it's, it's honestly huge because, I hear so many stories of people that, not even just Pokemon, just their hobbies in general. Their partner isn't supportive of it, and it's kind of sad to see, especially when it's a hobby that isn't hurting anybody and. you know, I mean, I can understand if you're like dropping thousands of dollars on the cards or something and you're not able to pay your bills, that's one thing. But when someone's healthily, engaging in their hobbies and the partner's not supportive, it's kind of, it's sad to see. So to have a partner like her who's not only supportive of it, but has also, dove into it with me, you know, has been really nice. It's been, uh, it's been fun.

David Hernandez: 25:56

And then what I loved about it, she also shared how she helps you at doing vendor events.

Mr. Zigzagoon: 26:00

Yeah,

David Hernandez: 26:00

I wanted to know what made you start to want to do those and how has your experience changed with her by your side, kind of running this small business in a way.

Mr. Zigzagoon: 26:08

so we only started doing, vendor events starting earlier this year. yeah, there's a guy that I met, he's a, a local fellow, I met him a couple years ago actually. I bought a 3D print of his At a festival here in town we kind of started chatting a little bit and stuff, and we wanted to kind of do some business stuff, but it just didn't really come to fruition at that time. And then late last year, we got in contact again and we started talking about it again and we started formulating ideas and goals and stuff. And yeah, this year we've been going, you know, more into it. he's got his, like his own LLC and everything for his 3D printing business. And he wanted to expand into Pokemon cards because that's a big interest of his. And obviously that's like something that I've specialized in for at least the past few years now. So I've been able to like, add that portion to the business and, been learning about like 3D printing stuff, which is really cool. I always thought it was really cool. so we've been doing a lot of events throughout the year. Uh, our weekends have been pretty busy. It, Cleffa's been there pretty much the whole time, you know, helping me out whenever it's like, not one that I'm not doing with my business partner or whatnot. So.

David Hernandez: 27:14

That's great. And has your experience with Pokemon been like going to these events and being like a Pokemon vendor? How's it different from you being a fan and just doing the games and the cards?

Mr. Zigzagoon: 27:23

I'd say it's not too different because most people that come to me and they're interested in buying anything Pokemon, whether it be like a 3D print or the cards, they're usually willing to chat about it a little bit because, you know, they're obviously interested in it and it helps a lot. I like going to like any social event where I know I can connect to people on something so.

David Hernandez: 27:43

Now I wanted to ask, this is my last question just with y'all two. has there ever been kind of a moment or something with, it comes to Pokemon that kind of feels just deeply just you two, like this is just y'all's thing

Mr. Zigzagoon: 27:53

I guess she mentioned us playing the TCG together. Like she said, there's not many people around here to play with, unfortunately. So it was for a long time just kind of a thing with us. You know, we'd be bored or something in the evening and I'd be like, Hey, you wanna play some Pokemon TCG? And she'd say, sure. You know, so we'd sit down at the table and, and play a few games, you know?

David Hernandez: 28:13

Oh, that sounds awesome. It's like a date night in a way. A

Mr. Zigzagoon: 28:17

Yeah, a little bit.

David Hernandez: 28:17

Yeah. Well, Mr. Zigzagoon, I wanna finish on this last question if somebody was to come battle to you, six on six, what six Pokemon would you choose?

Mr. Zigzagoon: 28:27

Oh, wow. All right. Dream Pokemon team. That is, that's actually kind of tough. I'd say, give me Venusaur, Garchomp, Zapdos., Let's go with Rotom Wash. Now change that to Rotom Heat. Actually, the fire coverage, that's better.

David Hernandez: 28:42

Okay.

Mr. Zigzagoon: 28:42

and we will go with Mimkyu and Snorlax.

David Hernandez: 28:46

And Mr. Zigzagoon, if they want to check out your content, they wanna check out your page, where can they go? By al means, please plug away.

Mr. Zigzagoon: 28:51

So, Facebook, Mr. Zizagoon, just as you would think it's spelled, Of course I got the group, Mr. Zigzagoon's Pokemon Station. I also have an Instagram, which isn't too active, but I hope to, make that more active here in the near future. And I do also have a YouTube channel, which same deal there, not active so much at the moment, but something I hope to bring back soon. So also just called Mr. Zigzagoon

David Hernandez: 29:15

Thank you for listening to As The Pokeball Turns, if this story resonated with you, share the podcast with the fellow trainer and 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 here.