Uh oh....

The Team Rocket shirt that I thought would work the best for me, the one with Meowth standing in front of Jessie, is only $10.49 right now. That's the one with the "Prepare for trouble and make it double" around the picture, which would be awkward if Dad tried to read it, but at least he wouldn't really be able to see what Jessie was wearing. It is so tempting to get it....

And ugh, I was looking for a kids' book at Barnes and Noble last week, an adaptation of some X and Y episode with Team Rocket getting to save the day, and I couldn't find it. I was pressed for time and I didn't really think I'd buy it since it's $3.99 for a 32 page book, so I didn't keep looking or ask, but now I see that they do have it in stock somewhere in that branch. I do wish I could have found it and at least looked at it.

I watched the abridged Pokemon Live on Saturday night and just finished watching most of the scenes cut out from it in the full version. Aside from the Pokeshipping stuff, I actually do really like it. But I do cringe that Team Rocket seems OOC. Jessie and James seem more idiotic than usual and Meowth even has a key phrase that he screams at them throughout. "Knuckleheads!!!!!1111" Brock also seemed a little goofier than he should have been. Trying to forgive those problems, it was a lot of fun.

Watching live stage shows and things like that fun Double Trouble video make me wish I could put on productions like that, or even just short Pokemon or Turtles videos. It would be so fun to have some local friends who would like to get together and do something like that! I don't think I ever mentioned this, but as a kid I had a dream of putting on plays that I'd written. I even wrote one about the characters that started out as Don Karnage and Mad Dog and later became more like OCs. I never did get to put it on, but for a while I really tried hard to make it work. Now I have a silly dream of wishing I could put on an amateur and free production of Pokemon Live (although I'd probably cut the Pokeshipping stuff and tweak Team Rocket's dialogue a bit, heh). But I wouldn't have anyone to put it on with, unless I tried to recruit kids in the neighborhood who like Pokemon, and I doubt I'd really be able to handle something like that. I would get so overwhelmed so quickly, especially with kids' short attention spans. (I think that's partially why my old play never quite worked. No one else wanted to do it as much as I did. Although I probably could have made it work had I tried harder. I eventually got overwhelmed.) I'd rather put it on with contemporaries and not be the only person in the crew, and I just don't have any local Pokemon fan friends. But ah, it's fun to think about, at least.

And then I started working more diligently on my redo of the old Pokemon fic. The first chapter was written very quickly and I ended up deciding I wanted to share it right away and post each chapter as it's written, as is my usual modus operandi. I'm working on chapter 2 now. It is so fun writing this fic over and making it better!

... Also, while listening to the Christmas songs yet again, I'm pondering on how I think one of the charming things about Pokemon and 87 Turtles and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is that they don't tend to have rude or crude words involving body parts or bathroom humor so common in kids' shows starting around the mid-90s. 87 Turtles only used those types of rude words maybe twice and I don't recall ever hearing such talk in My Little Pony or Pokemon. Don't know how the newer Pokemon seasons hold up, but it was something nice about the old ones, at least. It makes the shows feel dignified, at least in that respect. Definitely the shows have their flaws, and I will always cringe whenever I see Team Rocket being electrocuted, but I do like that at least listening to the shows is a clean experience. It's especially surprising coming from Pokemon and My Little Pony, since they both came out after the point when such talk was becoming commonplace in kids' shows.

To tweak or not to tweak

So I watched Giovanni's song again because it's one of my favorites in Pokemon Live and pondered on how some of what he sings is really scary ("complete annihilation" to his enemies?!). I wonder if Jessie and James and Meowth really take him literally. In the anime, he never says anything like that, at least not for them to hear. But in the play, he does. So in that verse, either they don't care or they really don't think he means it literally. I'm tempted to have a bit with them really thinking about what he said and starting to get worried about it.

Other possible tweaks to the storyline would involve them eventually not going along with his plans to some extent (either by actively trying to stop it and maybe getting hurt or else just not doing anything and maybe hiding during the final battle; either would fit with their personalities). Even though I know I will never put on any version of Pokemon Live, I did think that figuring out a slightly tweaked version of the production for my own enjoyment would be fun to do. Only thing is, it's a pretty light-hearted production and I wouldn't want to make it too serious. So I debate whether to even tinker with it at all.

And even though I'd want to make Jessie and James not as incompetent as they were in the play, another of my favorite songs in the production was The Best At Being the Worst. Fun tune and it made me snark. I liked Jessie and James tangoing too. So I'd want that one to stay. But I'd think of it being more like it was in the abridged production, because Jessie and James seemed kind of mean-spirited to each other in the full production version of it, or at least Jessie did, since James was accidentally injuring her and it looked like she was deliberately hurting him in turn. Very Jessie-like, of course, but I think they'd be able to dance without so many disasters happening. LOL. Although I definitely laughed when they got tangled up like pretzels. **snerk.**

(Yeah, I like them dancing together even though I'm not a Rocketshipper, heh. Because I think it's adorable for them to be enjoying dancing together like that if there aren't any romantic feelings involved!)

Also, my favorite line from the song: "We defy Murphy's Law!" LOLOLOL.... Or actually, I think it's "define." But either way, that's classic.

... And I think another of my favorite tracks on the Christmas album is Nobody Don't Like Christmas. LOL. It's a very cynical ditty with more humor that grown-ups would get than kids. Meowth is so funny.

I think chapter 2 of the fic is done, but I haven't posted it yet. I've been getting Favorites and Kudos, but no comments yet. Was hoping for at least one, so I might wait until tomorrow before posting more. I have chapter 3 started and I also wrote the updated version of the future scene where Jessie finds Meowth attacked. It's much more involved and intense and sad than before. I also plan to do a scene unique to the new version where Jessie is at the Pokemon Center, waiting for Meowth to wake up. Reading the old version, I cringe at how Meowth disappeared from the plot once he was hurt. He's mentioned a couple of times, but only appears again at the end, running in with Ash and company. And really, I think if Meowth was hurt after James was already thought dead, that would really put a strain on Jessie and it would be something to write about, not gloss over. Man, the old version is so terrible....

Also, I finally saw Mewtwo Returns. I totally love it! So much great Team Rocket content. I especially loved that even though they were being dangerously weighed down by the rope with all those people hooking onto the basket, they never once considered taking the rope off and letting the people fall to certain injury or death. And Meowth helping the other Pokemon was awesome, and also how he hoped to help Jessie and James by doing so, since they'd promised to let Jessie and James go if he helped. Then he got really involved in the Pokemons' plight and sincerely wanted to help them. I loved when he stood up to Mewtwo at the end and insisted that everyone's memories needed to stay. And Mewtwo trusting all three of them to keep things secret speaks volumes.

I also love that the city where Mewtwo settles at the end looks like New York. Heh.

I'm going to watch it again now. I might have liked to have seen the third movie and the Lucario movie again when I had them, but I didn't think I'd have the time for that, since they're longer, especially the Lucario one, but this is shorter and it's also harder to get hold of since it's out of print, so I'm definitely going to watch it some more before it goes back to the library.