New Weekly Thing?

Right then, going to throw this and something else later out there, I'd like you guys feedback on these ideas as something to add to the expanding Solaris League and its growing content.

Currently we have Lone and Mike's Pokemon X Nuzlocke Challenge, Surge's Polls, and his What Will OHKO Me? thread, the ever growing Solaris TV project and Friend Code Master List as well as the ever helpful Pokemon for Trade list. (Also my poky little Medal Hunt thing )

Whilst all of these are great ideas, they all focus around the same thing; the current generation of pokemon games. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with that, but it is a bit... narrow.

I know most of you guys are up for expanding Solaris, as am I, but we all seem to be forgetting that there's a bit more to Pokemon then the games. True it's the most interactive for us all but there are other forms of media in the franchise; the long-winded anime series and movies, the various manga series (yes there's more than just the Adventures series), the classic and old generation games, the TCG, and - whilst it's not official - even the fandom for crying out loud.

Now you guys are probably thinking; 'well so what?' My point is, the most popular websites and youtube channels often contain more than just walk/playthroughs, nuzlocke variations and online battles of the most up-to-date games. Serebii.net and Bulbapedia cover almost everything there is to do with Pokemon that has the approved by Nintendo sticker on it, &/or Pokemon Company copyright. Marriland and Pokebeach both cover the TCG in a fair amount of depth, more-so than Serebii, and I'm sure almost all of them cover the anime in some depth.

'So what do you recommend?' Well, to be honest I'm not entirely sure. However, in order to expand the horizons somewhat, I'd like to ask your opinion on an idea I've had.

Having spent a bit of time on the FT Wiki, it's clear that the most popular blogs are the weekly reviews done by about five different people every time a new FT chapter comes out (don't ask about new anime episodes, haven't been there long enough). Herein lies my idea of a weekly review of the Pokemon Manga, as well as individual fanfictions to do with Pokemon.

I suspect a lot of you will now be like 'oh piss off you nerd' and I can understand why. Most FFs are crap. And I accept that. A lot of them are either poorly written, have a thin plot, no character development, hell some completely ignore the actual pokemon entirely and just go on about the shipping they support. Fanfiction.net is widely known not for the decent content but the pornagraphic content.

'Why the f*ck do you want to review that kind of thing then?!'

Three reasons, none of which involve porn thankfully. One goes by the name of Coli Chibi. The second goes by the name of Snake Doctor. (Third point's coming up later.) Both of these guys write excellent pokemon fanfics. And I don't mean excellent as in good for fanfics, I mean excellent as in why the hell hasn't The Pokemon Company hired them as screenwriters. To me; they're that good.

Both of these guys have on going stories that are being updated at varying paces, Coli Chibi's story; 'Tony's Journey' is so large, he's had to split it in two; 'Pokemon Black and White: Tony's Journey' which has concluded, and 'Tony's Journey: Unova Grand Tour' which is still on going. At 160 chapters and 73+ chapters long, you can tell he updates relatively frequently. At the other end of the scale, Snake Doctor's 'On Leather Wings' is only 29+ chapters long, but with Snake Doctor having kicked himself up the backside his updates are going to become relatively more frequent. (Not as frequent as Coli's but that's not the point.)

By reviewing the work of these two (granted I get permission from these guys to do so first) it'll be something different for Solaris, and something most places probably won't have. (Correct me if I'm wrong) And if it's a success, something to brag about perhaps. It doesn't have to be just me doing the reviewing either. If there was something you'd read which you'd want to review, you'd be more than welcome to do so on a dedicated thread. What I'd like to do is a review of both fanfics mentioned once a week, covering previous chapters &/or the most up-to-date ones.

'Wait, don't you have that shitty Medal Hunt thing to do every week already?'

Yes but I'd want to do these on Mondays or Tuesdays, mainly to keep the start of my week somewhat interesting. Seriously, waiting for the end of the week for some mild entertainment is extremely boring.

This brings me onto my third point, I've wanted for the longest time to write a pokemon fanfic. I've tried and failed twice. Which is why I'd like your opinions on a forum thread dedicated to an 'art-dump' style fanfictions thing. Somewhere where writers (not just me, I hope) can come and place there ideas and drafts for Solaris members to give opinions and feedback on from people you know rather then having to go find a random beta reader. (Hey, you can do that too if you want! )

So what do you guys think? Are these good ideas, if so would you want to do something similar, or should I just stop trying to be different and join Solaris TV somehow?

By all means, feel free you write and review these FFs. I also play TCG so that's something I can help with. Any ideas on where you'd like to start with the TCG content?

Sound like an interesting idea to be bro

@Lone I don't actually play the TCG because I've never understood how it works, I just collected the cards

@Mike which one?

You should download Pokemon Trading Card Game Online. I can help you learn the basics.

Got a reply from both guys, and they're more than happy for it to go ahead so next Tuesday will be a review for the first chapters of: Pokemon Black and White; Tony's Journey, On Leather Wings, and Pokemon Adventures RBG. Look out for the new thread then