I've been mulling over an idea for a long time: A sort of alternate timeline where, instead of Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, or Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee, we got a direct sequel to Sun and Moon that took place across the Kanto and Johto regions.
I had this idea for a long time, and was reminded of it because, it turns out, Legends Z-A touches on some similar conflicts I'd thought of way back when I was thinking about what could come next after finishing Sun and Moon, and again when I washed Tama Hero's video on the Gen 1 pokemon games on YouTube, taking some of the themes that went into designing the world of Kanto, and reexploring those themes with the concept that a significant amount of time has passed since Red and Blue, with Lillie as your rival.
I'm not very skilled with art, I've only dabbled in it a little bit here and there. But I've obtained some useful toys to improve my art and help me study anatomy. Namely, a drawing tablet and some wooden posting dolls. The latter of which has already helped me tremendously with the anatomy here, as this is a pose that would be very difficult for me to do before. I didn't do any shading, right now my focus is to improve anatomy, clean lines, and coloring. But I can always come back and rework my art!
As for Blue's design, I wanted to immediately convey that he's a professor with the traditional white labcoat. I wanted to convey a more mellowed out version of him while still maintaining his coolness. To add to that vibe, I wanted to draw him surrounded by low-level pokemon that seem child-like in contrast to the powerful pokemon he's usually depicted with like Alakazam and Charizard. As for the pokemon, I hope you appreciate the personality I gave them! I thought it would be fun to mess with the usual personalities these pokemon tend to be depicted with. Charmander is a bit timid, hiding behind Blue and swiping at Squirtle, hinting that Squirtle is a bit of a bully. Bulbasaur is a bit grumpy, just trying to get some sleep. Eevee is vying for attention by climbing on his leg while Rattata is just curious about what's going on.
One of the ways I had in mind to communicate this idea was that you would go to visit "Professor Oak" to get your starter, only to run into Blue instead of his grandfather like you would expect.
The idea is that Blue has mellowed out over the years. He still loves a high-level battle, but he's developed a fondness for setting young trainers up for success. But make no mistake. He may be in training to fill his grandfather's shoes, but he's still the Viridian Gym Leader, and he's a tough teacher! Especially for those he lends starters to. One requirement before he lets you keep your starter officially is to challenge his gym first!
Blue's gym has officially been rebranded as a Normal type gym. Against most opponents, he uses a Rattata and an Eevee. But against trainers like you, he'll swap the Eevee out for the starter pokemon that's strong against yours! The recommended, but not required, solution is to catch a pokemon from Route 22 (Poliwag, Ponyta) or Route 3 (Bellsprout/Oddish) to target the troublesome pokemon's weakness.
And if you're playing on Hard Mode, you'll additionally have to deal with a Pidgey.
Upon defeat, Blue will reward you with the Earth Badge and the TM for Return. In addition, he'll also bring you back to Route 1 to demonstrate Z-Moves, revealing that the newly designed Indigo League badges are made from Z-Crystals, enabling the use of Z-Moves of any type whose badge you've collected, though a pokemon cannot use a Z-Move if it's holding an item.
by Auraveils