Pokepocalypse Quest Review

I'm back for a third review in a single thread. That's gotta be a personal record. This time, it's Pokepocalypse, as promised.

The premise of the quest is pretty novel as far as fanfic stories go: the protagonist (as well as all of the other human characters) are of our own timeline but not our own time; specifically, Pokepocalypse is a period piece, set (briefly) in a rough approximation of real world reconstruction America (while the story is meant to be understood as taking place in the real world, a lot of the social issues that were pretty central at the time are ignored in favor of a more lighthearted apolitical narrative which I think serves the story nicely). However, as the name implies, the world of the setting doesn't stay familiar too long, with strange, supernatural 'neofauna' (pokemon, obviously) suddenly and without warning or explanation manifesting into the previously mundane reality. Now, yankee naturalist Walter Buchanan finds himself thrust into a new world of research and exploration far from home in the wild west as he catalogues, battles, and befriends these new and mysterious creatures.

So, starting with benefits: Pokepocalypse's tone captures all of the exploration and whimsy of a first playthrough of a pokemon game-- catching and befriending your new companions, discovering new pokemon, and exploring a vast and interesting world-- while maturing with its presumed audience. Instead of "maturing" by jamming in sex, drugs, murder, and edgy pseudo-philosophy like a lot of fanfic of children's IP tends to, however, it actually just takes advantage of a smarter and more patient audience to fully explore on the premise. The ways the world and the pokemon interact-- steel type pokemon munching through trains and railway lines, infesting mineshafts and causing problems without malice, or human mobsters trying to exploit bug type pokemon for silk-- really sells the premise that these two disparate worlds have clashed. In the end, it's change: not necessarily good or bad, which I think fits the concept. As for the period-piece aspect, it's surprisingly well handled considering the slapdash nature of the setting selection. The level of technology and information is a perfect fit for the concept, with just enough familiarity to make the pokemon feel like the alien portion of the setting while not adding in the degree of scientific certainty in regards to things like genetic sequencing, anatomy, taxonomy, and quantum mechanics that would make the QM have to make the naturalist protagonist ask a lot of uncomfortable questions with boring or even immersion breaking answers. Plus, everyone knows that westerns are cool.

If you want nitpicks, I think that the character writing and dialogue scenes can be a little bit uncompelling at times. Not to say that it's bad per se, but that the segments that try to develop a lot of the secondary characters read kinda dry, and often times I find myself skimming past them waiting to read more about the pokemon. The writing isn't bad, and I really can't pinpoint why I have this kind of reaction, but I found myself reminded of playing through Sun and Moon as a kid and holding down the A button waiting for the cutscenes to end. Again, though, this isn't really the fault of the QM, and the moments are sparse and unobtrusive enough to not really hamper the reading experience.

Still, Pokepocalypse is a perfect twist on the beloved pokemon formula. Anyone who finds themselves nostalgic for their first adventure through the games or the early episodes of the cartoon will have a blast with pokepocalypse. Here's the link if you wanna give it a try:

https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Pok%C3%A9pocalypse%20Revival