Every story has a beginning, and every person has a home, somewhere you came from, an origin
point.
Over 20 years ago a story began to take shape and spread like wildfire across every corner
of the planet… a phenomenon like we’ve never seen before..
This was the advent of pokemon.
Starting on the 8 bit original gameboy and evolving its way onto the latest in portable
gaming hardware, pokemon has entertained hundreds of millions, not just as a video game, but
as an anime, an ever lengthening series of movies, a card game, and even an extensive
collection of manga.
With every generation came new twists and turns, new pokemon to discover, new places
to explore, and new truths revealed through the history of these many lands, but like
i said, every story has a beginning.
The timeline of the pokemon world is a total mess.
Mostly because it’s not a line, it's more like a chart, or a graph, or like someone
gave a four year old a crayon and let them draw on the wall.
Things were at one time simple: red, gold, ruby, diamond, black,...black 2, it was more
or less a continuum, but then kalos entered the picture and we learned of a war from centuries
past in which a weapon was fired.
A weapon powerful enough to diverge a universe into two.
One in which the weapon was fired and resulted in mysterious gems known as ultra stones falling
all over the world.
These allowed pokemon to transcend a final evolution into something more…
And of course the other universe in which that never happened.
But again, every story has a beginning, and despite the lore which travels back millions
and millions of years to the creation of the entire universe in which pokemon reside, this
is not something we see.
This is not where OUR story begins.
No, our story begins in a place called kanto, it always has and i’d like to place a bet
that it always will.
In late 2018 we are once again, going home.
So prepare yourself!
For a stupid baby game made for babies that is actually awesome and deeper than it looks!
For a new beginning to later chapters we already know!
For another addition to the insane and complex lore of the pokemon world, this is pokemon
let’s go pikachu and eevee, the story YOU, NEVER KNEW….
Guess what?
Black Friday season is right now which means shameless materialism is the mantra of the
hour.
And so it’s no coincidence we’ve got some dope clothes sittin in our sweet merch store
just waiting to grace your body with their...WELL JUST LOOK AT ‘EM.
We here at Treesicle pride ourselves on being a little stranger than other video game lore
channels.
That’s why we’re proud to show you our Black Sheep design because, as the black sheep
of gaming channels, it’s only natural for us to turn our angst into art.
And that’s not all!
If super intelligence, space faring races are more your speed then behold your mom getting
sucked up by a tractor beam.
Why wouldn’t a highly advanced alien race want her?
;) PIXELEMPIRE.COM/TREESICLE! (link in the description) And use offer code TREESICLE
for 10% off the whole site!
For years, we’ve been slapped by the cold, neglectful hand of daddy YouTube for my filthy,
dirty mouth.
So support the channel with Treesicle shirts!
These designs won’t be available forever so grab your UFO and/or black sheep shirt
and rock it like no one will think you’re cool if you don’t.
That’s how advertising works right?
Go to pixelempire.com/treesicle and check out what we got.
And while you’re there go check out some other the other awesome shirts and designs
PixelEmpire has to offer!
Pixel Empire was kind enough to work with us ‘round the clock to get things ready
by this video’s release!
You won’t be disappointed.
Click or tap that link in the description and get your hands on a comfy, high quality
shirt.
I love ‘em and I know you’ll love ‘em too.
AND REMEMBER code TREESICLE for 10% off EVERYTHING!
Back to it!
Heyo so there’s gonna be spoilers in this video, if you don't want to be spoiled….um…
hit that “watch later” button and go away.
HERE WE GO!
If you’re like me, kanto feels like home.
It’s almost as if i was born there myself.
My therapist tells me it’s normal.
Pokemon was one of the first long games i played and beat, but it also permeated so
so far into pop culture when i was a kid that i doubt i’ll ever forget the song of pallet
town, a blank canvas for which to paint your pokemon journey.
In red and blue, or fire red and leaf green, you played as red as you fought your rival
blue for the rights to the pokemon world champion seat at the elite four, took down team rocket
on your way and then captured the mysterious cloned mewtwo.
However, in pokemon let’s go, that isn’t the case.
Or well, it is the case, but you’re not red, you’re... you?
Yes for the first time in a pokemon game there’s not even so much as a prompt name for the
main protag, it simply is you, different, but okay… and who’s this guy then?
Some rival, i guess? we gotta have a rival!
This is pokemon after all, but who the hell is he?
He’s supposed to be our rival, but he’s helping us?
Rivals aren’t supposed to help us!
He’s more like our little BINCH.
And he’s got a bit of a hype problem…..
But let’s backtrack before you get all upset.
Pokemon let’s go is CANON, officially, inarguably.
So whatever happens in this game HAS to make sense with the greater lore… of the mega
universe.
In the intro -which some chad in the comments is trying to get you to skip with a “VIDEO
STARTS HERE” timestamp (clearly that guy doesn’t understand the nuanced concept of
context.)
I mentioned briefly that the pokemon world is split into about two universes.
There's more, and hypothetically your gender or pokemon choices splinters those universes
down into smaller subsets of universes but before i send you into existential panic let's
stick to the point.
Pokemon let’s go is NOT a remake of red and blue, and it's NOT a remake of yellow.
Just because there’s Pikachu doesn’t mean it’s yellow 2.0.
And speaking of Pikachu, quick shoutout to out buddy Lockstin over at Gnoggin.
He just released at vid on a Pikachu Manga you’ll definitely like.
The Electric Tale of Pikachu.
It was made by a tent guy artist in the 90’s.
Hnnng.
Whoop Whoop!
Anyway, These games occupy a strange space in the
mega timeline.
It's a story in kanto AFTER the story in kanto!
“But grant” i hear you say, “why would they have a game in kanto that's just like
red and blue in almost every way but its not red and blue, you sound like an idiot” to
which i would reply…
NAY it is YOUUU who is the one that is the idiot!
See at the beginning of this pokemon journey red and blue are already done with the events
that transpired in well, red and blue, or fire red leaf green, just assume i mean all
of them from now on.
However BOTH sets of those games were in the standard timeline, NOT the mega timeline,
so WHAT happened to the red and blue story in the mega timeline?
Well it happened, and you probably saw it.
Remember a little anime event that happened a while back?
Pokemon origins?
This was a four part anime mini that detailed some key events in the pokemon timeline, but
specifically for the mega timeline, origins WAS red and blue, it wasn't just a game, it
served to show how mega evolution played its role in red and blues story.
Red’s charizard mega evolves in the end so he can capture mewtwo.
This short series was believed to be the canon beginning to the mega timeline we know, but
at this point that may not be the case, more on that later…
Either way let’s go takes place at somewhere around two years after pokemon origins.
However these two games are arguably the starting point for this timeline, at least in the game
world.
And once again, we are in kanto, where journeys, and stories begin.
Maybe it's because kanto is the one place in the pokemon world that is most like our
own world.
Maybe its because the native pokemon there don't get much crazier than weird birds, bugs
and mammals.
Maybe it's because this is the one place in this universe that is so like its irl counterpart
that it’s easy to immerse yourself in without having to jump too far out of your imagination
comfort zone, but pokemon always starts here.
That cool war stuff, we don't get to play that, the whole arceus being born from the
egg and creating dialga and palkia in order to make space and time, nah that's just stories,
kanto is where it has always began.
Like all of the first four pokemon regions kanto is modeled after an area of japan, the
kanto plains.
The most industrious wealthy and educated area of the island nation.
The Kanto plains houses the entire tokyo area which is represented by celedon and saffron
city as well as the famous port of yokohama which is represented by vermillion city.
The region is mostly well, plains!
Which is why we don't get a ton of difference in the overall geography of the kanto game
map.
Kanto also is the most advanced of all the region.
it’s where the first modern pokeballs were crafted, scientists do research on resurrecting
fossils, or creating pokemon from scratch like porygon.
They even cloned fossilized dna into a genetically augmented marvel like mewtwo.
It's no wonder our journey always starts here, it's the place most like our own home world.
At the start of the game we go in blind not knowing what to expect while THINKING we know
what to expect.
I suppose that's the issue with multiverses am i right, things are so similar yet so different...
but then all of a sudden blue shows up and things get turned all around.
Blue is definitely older than he usually is in r/b and has already finished his pokemon
journey.
He’s also a bit of a celeb now.
After beating a slightly older brock we run into team rocket on mt. moon and not just
any team rocket, but a canon-arse jessie, james and meowth.
Yes they’re real now, james fans rejoice!
Later, after meeting misty and saving bill from well, himself… we find ourselves on
the ss anne once again.
We meet an international police man who is NOT looker, so that mystery is solved for
you lore fanatics, but what is really interesting is who we meet AFTER we leave the cruise line.
A strange painted girl named mina from the island of alola.
But this mina is young, about our age, showing how far in the past this story is in comparison
to pokemon sun and ultra moon where mina is not only an adult but also a trial captain.
Things get a little stranger from here as we make our way to lavender town which is
being haunted by the ghost of cubone's mother, something that should’ve happened in the
past that red would have dealt with.
But then again, at this point, maybe you are red after all?
All we’ve seen is blue so maybe this whole origins deal is wrong?
Nah, im never wrong, just ask ralsei’s vasheen.
Anyway, that's not the only thing which is amiss, the whole team rocket scandal is here,
trying to steal the masterball, trying to take over silph, all under the control of
giovanni himself.
But red should’ve taken him out of commision years ago.
At the same time blue meets up with you and leaves on a journey around the region to clean
up the rest of team rocket while you take on the boss at silph headquarters.
Since when has blue had a hand in this?
It's all very… curious.
Things happen and you eventually meet giovanni again in the Viridian gym which is well, his
as always, you defeat him and then an event happens which pinpoints perfectly where let’s
go falls in the mega timeline.
Blue takes over the Viridian gym.
It's where we find him in gold and silver during the kanto part of our journey, so let’s
go takes place right in between red and gold and well before the events of kalos and alola.
However it isn't until you defeat the elite four that things go a little haywire.
Naturally after your victory against the top four pokemon trainers in the world and you
know, that rival kid whos nice to you this time, you go to capture mewtwo in cerulean
cave.
And you do.
But on your way out your rival tells you that some fiesty girl went in looking for the psycho
science experiment and you should go show her that you got it first.
When you meet up with her in the bottom of the cave she bonks you with a pokeball and
then jumps right into battle, this characters name?
IT’S GREEN.
Green is a character that has never officially been in the pokemon games but has existed
about as long as the franchise itself, in the MANGA.
As a child she was kidnapped by freaking ho-oh and grew up feral, during red and blues introduction
to their starter pokemon she snuck into oak’s lab and kidnapped his squirtle, and what pokemon
does she hit you with last?
A freaking BLASTOISE!
LIKE WHAT THE HECK GAME FREAK!
She’s green.
GREEN.
THE COLOR OF LEAF POKEMON.
WHAT MAKES YOU THINK SHE WOULD STEAL SQUIRTLE AT THE BEGINNING!
Red - Charmander.
Blue - Squirtle.
Green - Bulbasaur.
But nooooooo.
YOU JUST HAD TO GO MESS EVERYTHING UP.
MIIYYAAAAMOTOOOOO!
This is undoubtedly the green from the manga, and this means a LOT.
So now not only are jessie, james and meowth from team rocket OFFICIALLY canon, but so
is green, meaning this game not only took from the anime but ALSO the manga!
Our character has also usurped red’s role in this timeline as the one who defeated team
rocket, but instead of doing it single handedly he persevered with his friends.
But how do we know we’re not red?
Well it's simple, red is actually in the game.
After beating a certain amount of master trainers he appears at indigo plateau and challenges
you.
But this red is a different red.
All we know of him at this point is what we learned from our battle with him in the distant
future as the alolan protagonist in sun or moon.
In this battle he has blastoise venusaur and charizard.
But in let’s go he only has venusaur and BLUE has charizard!
So in this universe red chose bulbasaur, not charmander, blue chose his opposite and green
still stole the squirtle, like i said, a divergence from origins!
So you are not red, this is not a remake of yellow, and it’s not in the same exact universe
as the pokemon origin anime, but a tangential one!
However it is the origin story of what we know of the mega universe in the pokemon games.
In this universe red and blue set off on their pokemon journey, it went smoothly.
Blue beat red to the champion seat at the elite four and red dethroned him due to the
power of his bonds with his pokemon.
Afterwards red disappeared and blue stuck around to travel and hone his skills while
also being harassed to run the viridian gym.
Green lurked in the shadows learning about mewtwo and becoming stronger on her own so
she could one day catch the thing herself, but then you showed up with your eevee or
your pikachu which had way too many OP moves and messed it up for her.
She then smacks you with some pokeballs and asks if you want to be one of her pokemon
instead.
Here’s a last bit of nerd lore for you.
In the manga green knows silver, the rival of gold in the johto sequels who is apparently
giovanni’s son (if you look into pokemon generations- a youtube event on the pokemon
channel which consisted of multiple anime shorts detailing side events in the pokemon
world.)
Silver and green were childhood friends who formed a bond due to their unfortunate circumstances.
Because of her simple appearance in let’s go it is almost guaranteed we will be getting
a gold and silver remake in the mega universe where she will play a bigger role.
The advent of these games can be taken many ways but if we look at the way pokemon has
gone it only makes sense.
Kalos was the first game in a new universe followed by a remake of ruby and sapphire,
followed by a new game in alola, followed by an origin story of the mega universe on
the new hardware, starting where it all began once again -the kanto region.
There are 3 more stories that have yet to be told in this universe and who knows how
many more to come in the future, but let’s go ends presumably right as the events of
the mega universes gold and silver begins.
Blue is in his gym, red has been defeated by us at the doorsteps of the pokemon league
he conquered once before, but what of green?
What role will she play in the future?
Will she continue to follow arcs from the manga?
Who knows!
Pokemon let’s go is the start of something that had already began a while ago but on
a whole new level!
It’s a baby game for babies that is addictively fun, mind numbingly nostalgic and has more
deep cuts than those emo kids in my middle school.
It’s finally combined the games with not only the anime but also the manga into a story
that has begun to take shape for the new era of the franchise, its mere existence demands
that we once again return to johto, sinnoh, and maybe even dumb old unova (you know, i
mean, if we have to ughh) it’s a game that leaves more questions than answers but shows
the pokemon company is merging the multiple worlds of pokemon for the mega timeline, anime
and manga too.
It’s not only an origin story but the beginning of something entirely new for the universe
within these games.
That's the story of pokemon let’s go, the story you never knew.
And...that’s my take on Pokemon Let’s Go.
These games are pretty sweet so claps to you Nintendo.
Can’t wait to see where they go from here.
Also don’t forget your very own Treesicle shirt, hoodie, or tank top at Pixelempire.com/treesicle.
Link in the description.
Also we’re super good friends with a dude named Lockstin over at Gnoggin.
He goes DEEP into Pokemon and he made a video on The Electric Tale of Pikachu...a manga
made by the unwashed hand of a tent guy artist in the 90’s.
I’d highly recommend checking it out.
DOIT YOU’LL LOVE IT CUZ HE’S AMAZING AND HANDSOME.
LOCKSTIN’S NEW VIDEO, TREESICLE MERCH HNNNNG!
I’m Grant, that’s all I got for today and I’ll see you all next time.
Bye!