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It's time to get back to our original duties! Pokemon Scarlet & Violet's DLC, The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, released in two parts, bringing some two dozen new pokemon with it. (EDIT: No, Six. That's 14. Not 24. Please learn to count.) Neither of us had completed the main game, nor touched the DLC, so we held off on discussing designs we'd never seen in context. Well, we have now, and we're pretty excited about some of them! Let's talk!

Our podcast art is done by Robin (@CourageousRobin on Twitter).

We had a score to settle with N. And then, spoilers... we did. This week on the Unova Tourism Committee, the Eight Badge Gates, Victory Road, the Elite Four, N's Castle, and a man impersonating our mom!

That's it for round 1 of this tour, and we'll take a few eps doing other things before we jump back in... but we WILL jump back in, for Black 2 & White 2.

We're so close to done... but alas, getting close to finished with the first half of our Unova journey is a lot of pressure. To relax a little, we're taking a quick detour. Team Rocket, Team Skull, Team Magma, Team Yell... and others, like... also Team Skull but different. So many villainous organizations in Pokemon. But what is the BEST? Let's decide.

Our podcast art is done by Robin (@CourageousRobin on Twitter), and you can contact the show with any questions, comments, or arguments for future (or past!) monsters at [email protected].

In search of answers as to how to revive the dragon pokemon of legend, we head to Opelucid City, home to Drayden and Iris, Dragon Gym Masters and protectors of the Legend Badge. And, of course, they don't know a SINGLE THING. Siiiiigh. Opelucid itself is a strange city separated by version, with very little to do but dramatically different aesthetics. We wrap a few character stories, like Professor Juniper (whom we are accidentally VERY rude to) and Bianca. And we stare down the Eightfold Gates to Victory Road. Here we go, gang.

We thought we were done with Pokemon movies. Truly, Allen and I were like "okay, we've had our fun, but the rest aren't worth our time." But along came Magellan (@chatzpod), Allen's best friend and Pokécinéphile, to convince us that we were neglecting a magnificent body of work. Is that actually true? I guess we'll see, as we continue our journey through the Pokémon movies starting with the 4th.

We're incredible grateful to Magellan for joining us! Make sure to check out Chatz: A Television Podcast, which Allen and Magellan do together, plus Super Smash Echoes, which Magellan does with their friend Justin!

Our podcast art is done by Robin (@CourageousRobin on Twitter), and you can contact the show with any questions, comments, or arguments for future (or past!) monsters at [email protected].

Snow and ice conjure hardship to the human mind. Bitter winter, and its challenges- something so many of us know well. It's something we can all relate to, and find hard. That's why ice-type gyms are so often near the end, but not actually the last dungeon: you want a relatable challenge, and clear communication that things are getting hard. But for the finale, things need to get more intense than anything you've experienced in your real life.

no sorry i made it sound like next ep is the finale, it's just the last gym. of the first set of games. there is a lot of UTC left.

A quick jog to Chargestone Cave becomes a LONG slog through the cave itself as we deal with an onslaught of story, trainer battles, and an obnoxiously high encounter rate. Then it's on to Mistralton City, a city that- wait. That's it? There's no city here! Oh well. Off to Celestial Tower? Then the gym? I'll be honest- not Black & White's strongest showing this ep.

For all the hype about the music, Driftveil is no great shakes. Ha! Cuz Quake Badge? It's a... yeah, ok. Driftveil City is a quiet town, and this is a quiet episode, as we partially foil an unclear Team Plasma plot before being forced to surrender the culprits back to their organization, check out a nice little market that doesn't sell anything we want, watch the sunset... y'know, a quiet day is nice too sometimes.

After, let's face it, a down episode, we're back up as we head to Nimbasa City, the electric city! Sports! Musicals! A ferris wheel! A roller coaster! Plus sand, a castle (but not a sandcastle), a spoOoOoky forest, and lots of new pokemon! We're feasting this week, and even N being sorta inappropriate and definitely a weirdo can't bring us down. Alright Empire PokeState, what have you got for us next?