These are Venia Silente's nominations and comments for the 2021 awards. See all nominations here.
This is not only a Collosseum story done right, which really is a subfranchise that needs more exposition in the fandom. No, this story does that well, PLUS at the same time being a reasonable and relatable story about a human outlaw in a world that has Pokémon in it. For extra bonus points, there's Espeon and Umbreon and they have quite well defined personalities on their own. Anyone of us who lives with pets such as cats or dogs (or more, cats AND dogs) can feel the pain of Wes having to deal with them and keep them entertained and engaged like, all the time. And it makes for a so much more human Wes-character.
This is like a Teen Titans (the original animated series) filler episode on crack, mixed with the classical JoJo vs DIO arguments in the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure fandom, and further sprinkled with *discussion of* Pokémon mechanics. And it shows. Do you not see that punching, kicking, grappling, are all equally and absolutely useless? A *true* fighter defeats the enemy in their own heart, before the fight even starts. Yada-yada, blah blah woof woof and all that koan mumbo jumbo, but the point is… *crotch hits*! And meta jabs at Fire-Fighting types. What's not to love?…Did I also mention *Pokémon getting naked*?
Yes the story is of Wes and about Wes, but Espeon and Umbreon here are literally my mom's cat and dog BUT POKÉMON, with personalities and attitude voices to match, and with how much they drive Wes into the adventure, or into the idle times of it sometimes, it could just as well have been named "Espeon and Umbreon's BizOrre Adventures" and it would have been a perfect fit.
Finally was Ea-Nasir vs. [Cynthia's] Garchomp. This seemed to be an exceptional-quality Garchoomp, moreso than even Scathatch. Could he or his team take it?[…]He channeled all his willpower, all his focus, all his faith in his teammates and TRainer he tried to desperately hide, into one more Psychic.The Garchomp held its head, wobbled, and fell over.Ea-Nasir stared in shocked silence. Then cheered. He had done it.He was the highest-quality Bronzong in all of Sinnoh.
A lot can be said in History about the great merchant Ea-Nasir and the quality goods he sold back in the ur-times of Ur. But it also has to be said that the internet has made sure the reputation of Ea-Nasir survives forever, and here we have Umbramatic not only give off a very loose adaptation of the character but also even "redeem" this historical self of sorts, by giving him an achievement ranking him among the most competent and high-quality Bronzong ever.
Not to be outdone, Throh stamped his feet and faced down the Magmar. “You’ve forced me to my limit!” he called. “I now have no choice… but to get naked!” With a single fluid motion, Throh whipped off the white robe his species always wore, then approached the Magmar. He wrapped the robe – which had a certain degree of fire resistance – around the flaming beast’s body, allowing him to grip the Magmar long enough to spin them around and toss them over the side of the arena.
Listen… there's no way I can unsee this, a naked Throh, and how this could have gone sideways a LOT of ways, in a story like /Hitmontop Saves The Day/ or any other… and now there's no way you can unsee it either — as your imagination fills the missing… bits of the mental image even as you try to resist. You're welcome.
It takes some guts to work on a story for 10 years soon to be, and one wiht a lot of introspection at that.