Hello and welcome back to OM Interviews! Today we have the awesome, the sleepy, the pet moderator himself...
G-Luke !!!
Hello G-Luke, esteemed Pet Mods king.
Hello! But I believe its Pet Mod Overlord :)
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I'm an 18 year old guy (my birthday was like the 29th of Sept) named Gianluca Webster. I'm from the beautiful island of Jamaica. I am a MASSIVE comicbook fan. In my first year of college atm, studying Forensics.
How did you get into Pokémon?
Well its kinda funny. My love for Pokemon did not come about til high school, as playing Pokemon was just not a thing where I grew up. Prior to this, anime was my only source of Pokemon knowledge. When I was finally introduced, it was to Black and White, and I was kinda disappointed at the rather boring battle style as opposed to the dynamic of anime style battling. My interest did peak however, at the discovery of PO. Finding out you can battle real world people in real time was a massive shake up for me, and I instantly fell in love. The reason I got to Showdown is quite funny - my parents despised (and still do) Pokemon and banned me from interacting with it. So I had to find a means of playing Pokemon without downloading it unto my family Desktop. This Showdown was born. I remember hopping on ladder with such K I N G sets like Flame Charge Overheat Volcarona and Dragon Fang Haxorus.
What metagame or metagames are you currently playing?
Tbh I will let you in on a secret, since the start of Gen 7, I have not truly committed to playing and learning any OMs. I am always still a massive STABmons fan, but even then I havent played much. I did have a brief stint in UU which I do plan on returning to, and lots of people know my heavy involvement with both the CAP Project and Metagame. Gods and Followers has, however brought about a resurgence in my interest to battle, and while my bad experimental teams have lead to a
terrible ladder ranking, I plan to ace the meta I have been pushing for a long time.
Do you want to share some cool sets you've made for these metagames?
In Gods and Followers, my three favourite gods are Yveltal, Ultra Necrozma and Kyogre. I have been finding success with Splash Plate Ash-Gren and Z-Move Protean Greninja on Kyogre teams, as Protean Ninja is basically customized to what your team is weak to, and Splash-Ash is great, thanks to rain already making its Hydro Pumps score OHKOes pre transformation, and being able to switch up moves to strike a Latios with Dark Pulse, get up Spikes on a predicted switch or pivot out has proven to be invaluable to my team.
What is your favorite part of Pet Mods and it's culture?
The community. It always surprises me how creative and supportive the community is, always helping out new Pet Mods get on their feet, and its amazing just how new and inventive the ideas are! A fun example is the Pet Mod Typing: The Mod, where people suggest brand new creative typings to fill out and balance the Type Chart. I was surprised when two particular subs came about: Blood and Invasive. From the minds of
Pika Xreme and
AquaticPanic respectively, they both beautifully explain just how these typings can not only flavourfully exist, but function positively in a OU based metagame. You don't just go and see Blood and Invasive as typings in a random fangame, and its that creativity that lets me know even if I step aside, Pet Mods are in good hands. Even the flagship Pet Mod Fusion Evolution, which has arguably seen better days, has evolved into its very own sub-community, and I am pretty sure
EV did not have the slightest idea what he was eventually starting into when he first subbed it all those years ago.
Who are you rooting for in the Pet Mods Grand Slam?
I personally like
leonard (from big bang theory)'s run throughout the several Opens, which I believe they won two of. They always struck me as a level headed person in submission threads and a person who can keep their cool within a battle. I wish them and everyone else the best of luck for the rest of the Tournament!
Do you have any ideas on improving / growing Pet Mods' influence?
More small scale tournaments. Many Pet Mods did not make the final cut for PMGS, and most Pet Mods after finishing their goal just die off. I implore the creators or anyone who is interested to host tournaments from time to time, and I especially wish that members of the OM community take the time out to participate in said tournaments. I know it looks rather daunting to jump into a Pet Mod and battle (for some its kinda impossible), but I believe once a sizable audience takes root, Pet Mods can do nothing but flourish.
What players do you look up to or are really good friends with within the OM community?
EV drampa's grandpa Ransei Quantum Tesseract Snaquaza wishes GL Volkner are just some people I can list off the top of my head. I always love talking to and interacting with these individuals and think that they are or have been a positive impact on the Other Metagames community and subforum as a whole. A special shoutout to
Willdbeast, my partner in crime for the OM Snake Draft. They are splendid to talk to and I hope we can work together again on future endeavours. Also big greetings to the Pet Mod community! I have not forgotten you all! Other than the aforementioned Pika and Aqua, I gotta hail
Ludicrousity lyd Reviloja753 Stitch98 charizard8888 Yoshiblaze Jucherz and many others, as without them, Pet Mods as we know it just would not exist.
Do you have any last words you want to share with us?
Follow my brand new comic page @thecomics.cave on IG!
I never thought I would be interviewed on here, which kinda makes me reflect on how far I have come since joining Smogon. Its been a pleasure dealing with all of you guys!
Peace!
P.S. And just to get it out of the way, I have never smoked weed (>﹏<)
Now that's all the questions we had time for, so it's your turn! Ask Away and have fun!