Imprison (Ninetales)

[Larissa]

So glad to see this forum here -- thanks guys!

Anyway, I made this post for my Ninetales site, but it really goes for all of my Pokémon sites, so consider them part of this topic too. (Second post in the forum and already breaking the rules, oops )

Basically: I feel like there's more I could and should be doing with these sites, but I have no idea what. I'd like to have more unique content in my Pokémon sites, but I don't have any ideas for the kind of content to cover. I've already covered what basic information and analysis I could think of, included media, and so forth.

I could cover the anime & manga versions of Pokémon, but realistically I will never have the time or inclination to comb through 900+ episodes of the anime for the individual species I care about. Ditto the manga. I'm fine with just having game-oriented sites, but at the same time I don't know how to get past regurgitating the game information aside from a couple of analyses.

tl;dr I feel like these sites are missing something, but I don't know what. I'd love to expand them and make them more personal, or give them more depth, but how? I've covered everything I could think of! (I know Destinie's upcoming challenge is meant to help with this, but I've had no ideas, whoops...)

More importantly, how do I make them stand out from each other? Right now I feel like these three sites have a couple of unique things to them, but not a whole lot, and it's kept me from making more Pokémon sites.

Thanks for any and all help!

[Megan]

You could relate the Pokemon's skills to people (like on my Gogoat shrine I talk about what it means to be psychic and how you can work on psychic abilities of mind reading). You could also get into the type of animal they are in more detail. I also lately have thought about looking at whether there is a higher chance of finding boy vs girls of that Pokemon, and then comparing it to the animal in real life to see if it is similar in data!

I think I understand what you mean about the anime, however if you find out the few episodes that Pokemon really stars in, its way easier to write about! That way you can include information on the trainer that has them and their relationship, etc etc. The bulba pages or even wikipedia will tell you what episodes they are in! The anime also helps you learn about their personalities a bit more, so it would be easy to type up a page on their feelings and attitudes towards people and other Pokemon!

I hope some of this helps!

[Robin]

Larissa, this is exactly what I've struggled with concerning my Clefairy shrine, so I completely get where you're coming from. It's like "I typed a lot of stuff but nothing about it is really ME" syndrome or something. All the info I have for that shrine, excepting one page, comes from sources outside me, and all I did was copy-paste and aggregate the info. That feels so empty to me, and it's left me very dissatisfied with my own creation.

The one page that REALLY works for me, and thus the page that might give you ideas on how to expand your Pokemon sites, is my "why Clefairy?" article. I loved putting that page together because I was able to connect my love of Clefairy to other interests in my life, as well as doing research on fairies/mythical creatures, moon lore, etc. Maybe you could write a page or two on what drew you to each Pokemon, what interests of yours feed into that adoration, etc? :)

[Todd]

I agree with the others about writing info on the animal the Pokemon is based off of. I love those sections! I did one on echidnas for my Knuckles the Echidna shrine. I think discussing elements might be nice on Pokemon shrines, too, because elements are so important. Not just how their particular element is used in battle, but the significance of it in culture/history, and how it may or may not relate to how you see the Pokemon. Fire is associated with war, for example. It can also be a symbol of passion or rebirth. There's a lot of stuff there you can look into with elements; I'm sure you'll find something that can relate to your Pokemon.

As for something unique to Ninetails... What is significant about the number 9? Maybe nothing, but why doesn't she (only because my Ninetails is female, haha) have seven tails or ten? I also like comparison pages. Sega has a fox in its Sonic series named Tails, and Tails also has multiple tails. They seem to have a lot in common.

Those are just a couple ideas off the top of my head. I'll try to think of some more!

[Camy]

Just poking in to say that the number nine is because of the Japanese folklore of the nine tailed fox being the most powerful and revered.

[Larissa]

Sorry for the delayed response, been really busy with new job.

@Megan: I like the idea of looking at the animal they're based on, although since not all Pokémon are based on animals that gets tricky, haha. That's a good starting point, though, I'll look into it!

With regard to the anime/manga: I've looked at the Bulbapedia entries to see where they show up, but I just don't have the time or inclination to go through everything and talk about it. (For example, one of the main characters has a Scyther in one of the anime arcs; I'm just never going to get around to watching all those episodes.) Since I generally like to take the all-or-nothing approach with sites it's a lot easier for me to completely disregard the anime and manga. (I did make an exception for Latias's movie appearance - I feel like the movies are more accessible material to cover.)

@CuriousLittleBird: Yeah, I'd like to come up with something more personal, although with Pokémon it's tricky because I've liked it since I was a kid and as a kid I had very uncomplicated reasons for liking things. (Not that you really need a complicated reason to like Pokémon.) I'll see if I can write something about why these particular Pokémon have remained my favorites, though.

@Todd: Yeah, as Camy said, Ninetales is a kitsune -- the origins page on the site talks about what that means. I should probably go into more depth and explain it more clearly on that page. I am actually not a fan of comparison pages, but there are a lot of characters in Japanese media inspired by the kitsune.

You've given me some great ideas about elements, though! I love thinking about Pokémon types and there's a lot of depth I can go into.

Thank you all for your input! You've given me the starting point for some new pages and ideas on how to revise ones I already have.