What? Your Magikarp is evolving!

[Crystal]

This shrine is so fun to read! I love your different take on it and how it is more based on your own experiences rather than talking about information in-game. Awesome job!

@Dubs: Black&White is one of my favorite generations so at least one person has played it LOL.

[Larissa]

Holy toledo, you guys, thank you all so much.

This is going to be super long omg you guys

@Mikari: Thank you! And thank you again for your help C:

@Lethe: omg you. This layout has a lot of box-shadow abuse, yes! And hahahah oh my god did you really hear people talking about Gyarados's type, that's amazing.

Also I checked and I went through the Elite Four on Ruby 61 times. Yeah. I wasn't exaggerating when I said I played it too much.............

It seems like you called up a lot of very old memories when writing this shrine, and that's... something I consider very beautiful and touching. It's also impressive that you still have all that save data. All of this makes the shrine as much about Pokémon as it is about your individual Pokémon experience and your video game experience as a whole, considering your history with Pokémon and the note on which you ended the Gen III remake page. The entire site is personal and informative both, switching back and forth, and it is very easy and entertaining to read.

Ahhh Lethe thank you so much for all the kind words. You really got what I was going for with this site -- a collection of my experiences with the series, mixed in with specific game data. I did have to dig deep for some of these memories, and it was funny, really -- the more I wrote, the more I found I remembered. It was as if the more I tried to recall, the more old memories came tumbling out.



@Jae: Thank yooou! (I feel like I'm gonna say that a lot in this post, haha.) But seriously, thank you for the comments on my humor -- I'm really glad it came across well. I'm also super glad it was enjoyable despite your being away from Pokemon for some time.

Those Magikarp deserve the best.

@Andrea: OMG A FELLOW GYARADOS FAN. I'm so glad there's another person who's suffered through raising this silly fish with me. And lmao I completely know the feeling of "Which Pokemon are you using?" "Gyara--" "SWITCH."

I'm so glad it felt like an homage to the series too, as that's very much what I was going for! I got super lucky with the site name, haha; a happy coincidence. I'm also glad that the inclusion of Magikarp was a pro and not a con; I did worry a little about how much I was bringing it up, but then I figured it was too relevant not to.

Thank you so much for the kind words!

@Destinie: Thank you so much! I was really going for something different with this site; I've never been fully happy with my other Pokemon sites and I really wanted to make this one unique.

You are totally right about that link, though. I kept trying to get back to the index while building the site and eventually built the sitemap for my own purposes more than anything else, haha. I'll go change the header into a link now, and probably toss another link into the footer.

@dubiousdisc: Thank youuu.

- "You can't really set standards before setting them, huh?" -- YES EXACTLY. I've seen it brought up in a few other places around the web but I think it gets forgotten a lot that R/B were the first Pokemon games and they had to establish their formula before they could change it.
- I think we all felt that way about Crystal, honestly. Keep it! :D
- VOLTORB FLIP, VOLTORB FLIP, MAN. I didn't mention it but half the reason I didn't finish Diamond was because of the Underground. Great minigames are the bane of my life.
- A few people brought up the typing so I'll cover it here: thanks! When I read about the legend Magikarp and Gyarados were inspired by, Water/Flying made perfect sense; Water/Dark was more of a stretch at first, but once I sat and thought about it, I could see why it was chosen. I do still think it's silly, though. It's not like Kingdra doesn't exist.

Also ahhh you reminded me I forgot to link where I found the code for the animated underline! I cannot take credit for it unfortunately; I had seen the effect elsewhere and googled how to do it. I'll toss the link on the site page.

Thanks dubs

@Crystal: Thank you! C: I'm glad it's fun.

Seriously, guys, thank you so much. I'm so glad this site went over so well, especially given how self-indulgent and personal it is, haha.

[Megan]

LARISSA WHAT

This not only came out as a surprise site but also ITS SO CREATIVE AND AMAZING!! I am loving it!! I think they way you chose to set up this site really makes your Pokemon stand out from other sites. I am glad that someone took the initiative to make a Pokemon site extremely personal and tell us exactly why they liked the Pokemon from not just one, BUT ALL GAMES!! Ahhh just amazed. Really, fantastic job!

I will get you linked ASAP on my Pokemon sites! :D

[neo]

Ugh, I read this on my phone a few days ago and I realized I really have nothing more to add to this that hasn't been said??

But, I'd still like to let you know I really liked your take on this as a Trainer log! It's such a neat idea!

[Larissa]

@Megan: Thank you so much, Megan! I had the idea and wanted to sit down and make it right away, haha; I'm glad I managed to pull it together before too long. !

(Also I really need to link your sites; I haven't updated my link pages on my Pokemon sites in ages, sob. I just keep c/p'ing an old list, haha. Soon!!)

@neo: ! I appreciate that you took the time to drop a comment anyway! Thanks so much, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[Megan A]

Hi, Larissa. I feel like I should comment here because I think I've been secretly fangirling you/this site for far too long now. First off, the layout is SO AMAZING. I love the format, big font, patterns, colors, and how incorporated sprites into the layout. I love that they change depending on what generation you are on and LOVE that you included the shiny Gyarados sprite for 2nd gen and HG/SS. Formatting is also gorgeous especially for your little Pokedex entries, your Gyarados, etc. I can't get over how adorable and pretty those little boxes look.

NOW THE INFORMATION. I can't get OVER how you've presented it. Pokemon shrines are far from few, and I love them all. But you brought such a creative and innovative new format to these shrines. It's just so different and fresh. I can't even begin to start gushing about it because I feel like I will be here forever. This site is SO personal and really, really great. I don't really have much else to add that hasn't been said, but I also wanted to point out that I love that you added your own trained Gyarados information as well. Ahhh, it's just amazing. <3 I had such a great time reading.

[Emma]

WOW LARISSA. I LOVE THIS SITE. I love how reading it is such a journey - they way you've structured it flows so well, and it was such a wonderful read. Especially for a Pokemon site - I know I and I think a few of us have spoken about struggling to make Pokemon sites unique and I really do think you've set a new bar for Pokemon sites. This is a very personal site while still obviously also being about the games and Gyarados and ahhh I'm just all HEART EYES EMOJI everywhere. (And excuse you for getting me totes emosh when you were talking about playing Omega Ruby. Was not expecting a Gyarados site to hit me in the feels that much)

So yes, like a few other people have mentioned, this site managed to hit my nostalgia buttons about playing the earlier games when I was younger as well as inform me new things about Gyarados and make me consider some things I'd never thought of before.

Also, the layout is a DELIGHT.

(@Andrea LMAO I'M PRETTY SURE I USED THAT ICON ON LJ FOR A WHILE)

[Larissa]

@Megan: ahhhhh thank you so much Megan I'm so glad you liked all the little touches I put in! I really liked how all the little boxes came out, haha. I'm thrilled that you enjoyed it so much! Thank you so much for the kind words.

@Emma: heart eyes emoji back at you-- wait i can do that here. THERE YOU GO. Seriously though, thank you!

I'll be honest, I got pretty emotional putting the site together; I dug into some really old memories, and by the time I reached the end I felt as if I'd relived my entire Pokemon journey. I felt like I was closing the chapter on my Pokemon history all over again, just to get ready to start fresh with Sun and Moon.

ISN'T POKEMON JUST THE BEST. Who knew this silly fish I trained too many times could bring out these feelings!

[Laura]

It took me so long to reply to this because I wanted to have enough time to sit down and actually read the site in its entirety... and I'm glad I did! I'm amazed that you keep coming up with such unique ways of creating your shrines. <3 Again, like your Ayu shrine, I'm just blown away by how much of a personal spin you put on the content while still providing all the necessary information we wanna know. <3

I had some good laughs reading through your site... Magikarp was always that super derpy pokemon that always made me laugh and I loved using Gyrados too. Your site definitely brought back a loooot of memories for me. XD

[Camy]

I spent some time reading this shrine since I fell upon it [forgot how lol] and it was so much fun to read about your journey through the games (well besides Diamond...) with Gyarados :D