Dōtaku Island

PREFACE

the blog is run based more on the manga than games, as the game mechanics don't suit real life. The principal here is to rationalise and use logic and sometimes real life facts to make the pokemon world seem very real and even more amazing than it already is! We have a Patreon for those who would like to support more work being made, and a website dedicated to hosting the full comics.

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WHAT WE DO

Our work centralises on grass pokemon, their care, their health, and the general relationships we share with them. many are responsible for the health of the ecosystem, and provide valuable nutrition and support to not only the plants but pokemon they live near.

Though we focus the study aspects of our work on grass types, each of the staff have different areas of expertise, and we often handle very difficult, or "last chance" pokemon that are far too aggressive, damaged, or difficult for the average handler.

Our lab handles all sorts, and offers a multitude of events for the public to partake in. The care facilities here match any pokecentre you may come across, with available rooms for short stay rental, along with rental tents for those who want to camp out in the grounds at designated locations.

We also rehabilitate and rehome many species, should both parties be interested in the partnership, with many open days to come visit, and flexible personal visits should the open days be inconvenient.

All public locations are signposted, pokemon guides frequent most locations should you become lost, and you're free to wander the grounds in your own time, so long as you don't go to the north side.

I’ve been making Pokemon from my real days and life, based on things around me that stand out. Weirdly, so far, they’ve come in threes and had a colour theme. I hope I get pink, white or green next.

Blue star oddish - first plant purchased after moving back to the uk last week.

Blue pot exeggutor - one of two plants that survived for 6 months without anyone even in the house.

Blue butterfree - a rare species that’s shown up in my garden, came home to that joy.

Fletchling - the garden Robin, it’s still figuring me out, I feed it worms whenever I can to coax it closer and to trust.

Sleepy Ledyba - a ladybug sat on my shoulder while I dug out a garden bed for raspberries to be planted. Did not move for a long time.

Big macargo - huuuuge snail found with bright shell and very clear swirl on it, like bigger than I ever seen of that type of snail.

Odd Spinarak - watched a nest of spiders hatch, 50 odd, only one was yellowish white, while the rest were green.

Buttercup oddish - a quest item looking clump of buttercups I pass by when I go to the gym every day.

Second, could we please get a blank version of your base thingy that I can't think of what it's called right now so others can do one too?

Honestly she would have one of those. Christmas gets cheaper with her around.

And of course, go forth and make things, all of you. But tag me so I can be nosey hehe

This is nothing to do with the island but I have no where else to put it and it’s Pokemon so.

IRL me and my team, that’s right, the loser behind the art everyone. Welcome to the disaster. I am making this to…reset myself for returning home. Fresh sheet, return to my roots in every sense. Also to keep busy and calm. I have space to grow with this batch too, lots of slots, lots of opportunity for friends. Each one of these stems from a time, event, or moment in my real life, so, they have a lot of meaning to me.

Demo- first real Pokemon, sneasleXsmeargle, a dark/normal type. Arty and moody, with hints of true joy when presented with beauty.

Odessa - QuilavaXgalarian linoon. A fire/dark type. Bold, brave and brash, she is all about investigating and exploring. Very curious.

Imp - espeonXgogoat. Psychic/grass type. Sassy, judges you, cheeky and playful with a lot of charm. Lives up to the name.

Morello - cherubi, grass, very quick to fight, sour disposition, fussy, but loyal as a guard. Kind deep down.

Rue - Cutifly ✨ fairy/bug, just a lovely jolly lady, cuddly, sweet, everything you’d expect. Total baby behaviour.

I know its technically a wild colony and people are always saying you should leave pokemon to fight their own battles but these guys are my friends & my partner's family so I feel like I should try and help them somehow? I wanted a professional opinion before I took action and my local professor isn't a fan of shiinotics, so I figured you'd be my best bet! Any advice would be greatly appreciated :>

Sounds like you need to go to local Rangers, theyre often the ones who handle local environmental disturbances like this. If you dont know whats bothering the colony, then your best bet is to go to them and ask for help in finding out.

While it is important to step away from pokemon so that the natrual order of things can proceed (everyones gotta eat, prey and predator alike), this may be a case of an invasive species coming in and threatening a wild population when it has no place being in the area.

You will need to know what is causing the damage, to assess if its something you morally should or shouldnt get involved with. Im not saying its not unfortunate but colony collapse happens, its part of it all, sometimes this is just how nature is. This however sounds like something more...hostile. Typically a species in large groups like that have one or two picked off, their natrual predators will single a few out, feed, and try again later for another individual when things have calmed down. If somethings going for the whole bunch, could be a swarm of some kind.

I am genuinly always so hype to see people get inspired to do their art, their writing, their crafting, because they saw a thing i did and went 'I WANNA JOIN IN' like that is so so cool, and thank you for telling me, also RIP for trawling back through it all, youre a trooper for that.

As for making this whole thing, i have on occasion given advice, and can boil it down to a few key things.

Enjoy the work. If you hate the thing you are doing, you will put it down and move away from it subconciously. If you do not like it, change it so you do. That may be a reward system, it may be catering to your own niche wants, it may be writing or drawing a thing no one ever asked for, and that is how you enjoy it. Making a schedule around this love for the craft is easier too.

You do this work for you. No one else matters as much as you do in this priocess. it will feel selfish, maybe a bit counterintuative, but if you like the product, and you keep at it and believe in it, other like minded people will find you. Some will not like your stuff and be loud about it. Ignore them, theyre the sort to plug prompts into AI and call themselves artists when all they are are thieves with no creativity. haters are just bored of their lives, and often jelous. They arent worth time nor effort, block, pick your pen up, and keep going.

scheduling. I say this...loosely, as i have ZERO schedule, but i do make a lot of to-do lists and try to tick off 2 or 3 of the things every week. They do not have to be huge tasks, full pages, or even art itself, sometimes the work is quet, and you must sit and contemplate the story, the content, the next steps. Pushing yourself is one thing, being hard on yourself is another. you will resent the work if all you do is scold yourself for the outcome. Make managable goals, small bitesized things, break bigger tasks up, so if you do complete them, its more of an accomplishment on paper. MAKE A VISUAL TICK SHEET. we make notes on our phones, close them and have no proof infront of us that we have achieved anything. Makes you feel lousy. Make a list, put it on the fridge, tick things off, SEE the progress every day.

Understand when to let go. A big issue online artists have, myself included, is getting hung up on trivial details. You do not have to like what you make fully, sometimes it is enough to have made it. a Critical eye is a sign that your mind is seeing issues and improving every day a little more, if you do not see issues with your work, great! if you do, also great! means youre learing. That being said, sometimes you have to see something to the end, tell yourself 'i like X, Y and Z, but do not like this other thing' and move to the next piece. Growth happens in mistakes, make them. make lots of them. make them without concern for posting or numbers or followers, just make them and put them out there as a record for your own progress. The rest will follow.

shes so deadpan funny

I love that people find her utter shambles of a life kind of funny, because im trying to write it that way. She handles injury, anger, dissapontment, upset, and misfortune with as much level headedness as possible, we will in this comic, see that break and crack and fall, she will have things hit her when no ones around to see, and face them with genuine human emotion that she tucks away when things are hard and eyes can see her, but for the most part she is the definition of 'tired dad who is not in any way prepared for anything, yet keeps handling everything because she has to.'

Get ready for her, cyllene and Zisu to be three mums and their teenage son when Rei comes in fully. They each hold varying degrees of 'very tired, overworked and underpaid' that shines in different parenting styles, they handle challenges differntly and come together chaotically, and i think it will make for good reading and funny interactions for sure.

Still a gremlin, maned wolf in looks, demon in personality. I dont think evolutions change a base trait set, just...put it in a new body. She would still try to get on the shoulders, she would still be an aggy little horror, she would still clamber into the vents to rummage around, she'd still be chaos in the most controlled, destructive yet not way.

shes so tired, please.

POKEMON LEGENDS ELCTUS UPDATE

PAGES 86-89 NOW UP HERE

you guysssss :') honestly this positivity is nourishing me, i am making pages right now, i will make au stuff tonight, i wanna enjoy this all way more, and hopefully you can all enjoy too!

This is a loaded and massive question in that, each species is varied and has its own dual energy system, each balanced at varying percentages.

for example. a Rowlett can exist without sun, it CAN survive and even in some cases thrive, even without photosynthesis to make energy and food. It has a fully functional typical digestive process that can absorb all the nutrition it requires from typical consumption.

the other end of this stick would be species like Sunkern, who have a very minimal ability to digest and process foods, but need the sun to produce their energy and keep surviving.

I will note, even if a pokemon can exist without one half or the other of its bodily processes, doesnt mean they should. Its often a balancing act with grass types, and should be taken into account.

All pokemon defecate in some way or another, except Solosis, they do not posess typical bodily functions.

It does actually happen, and is not all that rare or particulalry special an occurance. There is no visual indication of how much experience a pokemon has, not really. You can assume a lot from various things like size, disposition, physical apperances, move sets and such, but its not easy to accuratley gague that accumulated energy that goes towards evolution. So yes, from time to time, you do hear stories of it happening.

Loved ones will go to great lengths to protect their own, never underestimate that need, it resonates in almost all living things, pokemon often more so than humans. They posess a loyalty you cannot teach when treated with respect and care, enough to change the very fabric of their existence in the correct circumstances. I suppose we are all capable of it, but they truly can show it in more dramatic ways than we ever could.

For any staff hired on the island, one thing I have to express as a clear note to this line of work, that you can get injured by any Pokemon, big, small, young, or old, they all have the potential to do critical damage while working with them. All staff are by law required to wear specific safety gear when handling certain Pokemon yes, anything with spores or gasses need masks, and often goggles, anything poisonous needs gloves, overcoats, even hazmat suits in some cases. It’s all species dependent, situational, and also very much down to regional law. The island falls between johto and hoenn in a sort of no-man’s-land area legally speaking, so when handling PPE we typically refer to the medical fields guid to care, rather than a regional law-set, as those vary from place to place.

I must admit, I have a mildly potent resistance to poisons, and am more than happy to wrangle aggressive or difficult pokemon, so when something truly dangerous to the staff comes in for a visit, I will not subject them to that kind of work unless they show an active want to learn how, and even then it’s a case by case basis, if I don’t think they’re ready, they won’t be put in that danger. They all know however that this job comes with risks, it’s part of the work.

As for species specifics, we tend to get a lot of trouble with beautifly, highly aggressive and underestimated species. Zubat can cause issues with blood born pathogens and biting, coupled with a cry that can confuse anyone who’s caught without ear protection. Anything with a fighting type nature can be uh…challenging, at times. Ghost Pokemon can be tricky to pin down for work, poisons have a knack for making staff sick if their gears not on right, electric types can be tricky, thankfully not the species we specialise in or get often. I think the one Pokemon we get a lot of that is regularly the reason we get the injury report forms out for is drowzee and hypno. You can put masks and gloves and even armoured gear on to spare yourself injury, but to treat a pokemon in many cases, you must be able to see the Pokemon, and if you can see that species, they can catch you in a hypnosis state and escape while youre just stood there in some fanciful daydream state. It’s quite irritating, thankfully I have Pokemon who stop it so I’m usually the one to handle that kind of patient, they’re often booked in for treatment on my days in office, but sometimes on my days off I still get messages that someone’s been caught by that little trick by walk-ins at the clinic.

We as a team are wary of psychic types, some have been known to cause lasting brain damage in cases all over the region, so I try to take those jobs and spare the staff the stress. Val keeps them out of my head, and they can be treated with care and respect, making the process as painless for both parties as possible. We try and lessen any anxieties for those who aren’t comfortable with the doctors, and hopefully in turn reduce the chances of injury to all involved moving forward.