Web Video / The Kaskade Region

The Kaskade Region is a region defined by change. Thanks to the presence of its local Legendaries, the seasons change at an accelerated schedule, quickly altering the weather at the drop of a hat. With the constant availability of many seasonal crops and many seasonal activites, the region has become an economic hub, and people from all around the world are immigrating to this area, bringing with them their cultures and traditions. As the economy grows and businesses clamor to take advantage, people are forced to choose between adapting to this change or sticking to their old ways, ambitious individuals set their sights on the forces stimulating this change and seek to control them for their own ends, and in the middle of all this, a new trainer starts off on the ever-present Pokémon journey to be the very best, like no one ever was.

What changes await this region next?

The Kaskade Region is a series of Pokémon fan videos created by Lockstin of Gnoggin with art commissioned by various artists. They provide details about his fan-made Pokémon region, which is based on the Pacific Northwest of North America, and illustrate all the different themes common to all Pokémon games, from the natural Fakemon (or Lockemon in this case), the regional variants of already-exisiting Pokemon, and the box-art Legendaries, to the Pokémon professor, Gym Leaders, Elite Four and evil team.

Also, the names for the two game versions are Pokémon Blazing Bloom and Frigid Fall, although a single fangame known as Swirling Seasons is in development as well.

The project is completed as of June 14th, 2022, with a new project called Pokémon Legends Neo: Ghetsis beginning just one month later on July 15th, 2022.

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Tropes present in The Kaskade Region:

• Adaptation Expansion:
  • Effort is made to provide at least one Pokémon for every unused type combination thus far.
  • The local weathergy has provided many different new weather effects, and also caused the local Castform to have a form for every different type of weather around, encompassing all 18 types.
  • In this region, Rotom can take other forms by phasing into different machines, including a computer server, an arcade machine, and whatever Mechanical Abomination Amaze-All is cooking up at the end (unsurprising considering it is one of the mascots of Amaze-All). There are even enough appliances to give it one form for every type in the game.
• Amplifier Artifact:
  • As Professor Fir finds out, giving a Castform a Weather Gem allows it to absorb more different types of ambient energy or weather elements, such as Infinity Energy, fighting spirit or insect pheromones, to give it different forms via its Forecast Ability.
  • A Steel Whirlygig, one of Fir's inventions to give his Castform the Steel type, does a similar thing... but it also locks Castform into that form until sufficient damage breaks the Whirlygig, and Castform does not enjoy being in this form at all.
• Anti-Climax: During your fifth battle with your rival (after the 6th gym badge), they come at you with his fully evolved starter, several powerful Pokémon, including a pseudo-Legendary Metagross, and after you've beaten all but one, they tearfully send out as their last Pokémon... a Lv. 6 Pudet.
• Animal Facial Hair:
  • Male Tamroasts (Fire/Fairy-type monkeys) have large white mustaches and beards.
  • Leader Follemings have long Cult-leader style beards.
• Appeal to Tradition: This is Wicoot's argument to Tom Bezzle for not altering the Legendaries' seasonal cycle on his say-so, not even to improve profits; it's just the way it's been for thousands of years, before humans even arrived in the Kaskade region, and it's not up for humans to decide, especially given the very real consequences of changing an entire ecosystem just for the sake of profit. Tom… doesn't take it well.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Revylon's signature Sulphur Beam attack has it fire searing hot beams from its twin mouths capable of giving the opponent a nasty burn, while also smelling faintly of eggs.
• Author Appeal:
  • As a resident of the Pacific Northwest, Lockstin makes effort to include as many aspects and local cultures into the region as possible.
  • Gnoggin has several videos linking Pokémon to alchemy, and the box Legendaries Manadza and Arctikull both possess alchemical symbols on their bodies; Manadza having the symbol for calcination (heating things up), and Arctikull the symbol for congealation (freezing).
• Awesome, but Impractical: As Professor Fir discovers in his findings, some of Castform's new weather forms and the new secondary abilties it grants have rather detrimental side effects.
  • Its Psychic form, obtained via Psychic Terrain or the new Psychic Field weather condition, increases the power of its allies' moves, but it will also start meditating and not use anything other than status moves. The effect lingers for a turn if you switch it out to another Pokémon, thus giving the new Pokémon a power boost for one turn.
  • Its Dragon form, obtained via an Infinity Energy-infused Weather Gem, will boost its offensive and defensive stats every turn... but will also hurt itself with slowly increasing damage every turn as well.
  • Its Dark form, obtained via a blood moon-infused Weather Gem, slightly boosts all its stats, but it becomes so michevious that it won't listen to any of its trainer's commands. On the bright side, the stat boosts stay if the weather changes again and it switches to a new form.
  • Its Steel form, obtained via a Steel Whirlygig, allows it to alter the magnetosphere to clear other weather effects, boost its and its allies' move accuracy, and effectively absorbs all Electric moves... but at the cost of Shapeshifter Mode Locking it into Steel form until the Whirlygig is broken, and also possibly mentally traumatizing it.
• Bad Moon Rising: The Blood Moon weather condition is represented by a red moon, and revolves around the Dark-type. It has effects involving boosting super-effective damage and giving priority to status moves.
• Bad with the Bone: Bearvoyance, a Psychic/Ghost kermode/spirit bear shaman, both wears bone adornments and carries a bone cane. Also, it can learn Bone Club, making it no longer the Marowak line's Signature Move.
• Bait-and-Switch: When introducing new Pokémon to fill in the missing type combinations, Lockstin knows exactly which Pokémon to make a regional variant of for the Bug/Dragon type combination… no, not Flygon, Yanma and its new evolution, Yanmage!
  • When talking about Seattle's infamous Gum Wall and thinking of a "gross Pokémon" to represent it, Lockstin briefly shows the silhouette of Muk... then brings in Kaskadian Bruxish instead.
• Bald of Evil: Tom Bezzle, as the Big Bad of this region. His head in his sprite has its own Lens Flare.
• Barefoot Sage: The Poison/Psychic-type Qayagus is a literal example, as it is an old, psychic snail that resembles a large foot, with sagebrush growing on it!
• Battle Aura: Embodied as an energy-based weather condition revolving around the Fighting-type, filling the entire battlefield with aura. It boosts the chance of critical hits for all Pokémon, protects Fighting-type Pokémon from stat debuffs, and when boosted, even allows Normal and Fighting-type moves to hit Ghost-types.
• Bears Are Bad News: Arctikull, the Legendary of winter. An Ice/Dark-type giant bear that brings forth punishing winters, uncaring of any people or Pokémon that succumb to the cold? Oh yeah, definitely bad news.
  • Averted with Bearvoyance, a Psychic/Ghost-type spirit bear, who is seemingly more docile in nature.
• Beast of Battle: Pudet and its evolution, Woond, are Fighting-type military dogs. Woond in particular is also Ghost-type, is Covered with Scars and has ghostly phantom limbs, having come Back from the Dead due to it not being ready to stop protecting its country.
• Behemoth Battle: The post-game has you reassemble the parts of the thunderbird-esque Ωrogon, use its power to lure in Endram-Odai, and possibly use it to battle the Eldritch Abomination.
• Biblical Motifs: The post-game villains all draw their inspirations from the Bible.
  • The Cataclysmic Quartet are inspired by many beasts described in Revelation. Pestilation (a Flying/Poison winged scorpion with its claws as feet and its head on its tail) is based on scorpion-tailed locusts with torturous stings. Revylon (a Ground/Fire leonine beast with an extra mouth on its tail) is based on fire-breathing cavalry beasts with lion heads, horse bodies, and snake tails. Leoseace (a Water/Dark long-necked leopard with six jawed tails) is based on the seven-headed biblical Beast of the Sea, as well as the serpopard. Lamentu (a Psychic/Fire feminine ram with seven eyes and a red neck) is based on both the Lamb of Revelation and the Lamb of Sacrifice, as well as the Mesopotamian goddess Mamitu.
  • Endram-Odai is loosely inspired by the red dragon from the Revelations of Saint John, or more specifically a Christian conspiracy theory that the end times would begin when the red dragon nebula passed through the Andromeda constellation (which is also known as the fairy constellation in China). Endram-Odai, which is Dragon/Fairy-type, has seven crowned 'heads' represented by its seven pairs of eyes reminiscent of the nucleus in the nebula, and ten horns.
• Big Bad: Tom Bezzle, CEO of Amaze-All. He is dedicated to giving people what they want, whether they know it or not, and growing his MegaCorp to control all aspects of business and everyday life in the Kaskade region by any means necessary, whether it means dealing with unsavory criminal types, buying out newspapers that criticize him, controlling one of the four seasonal Legendaries, or even… making his own.
• Big Brother Is Watching: The Amaze-All Corporation prides itself in always knowing exactly what their customers want and where they are to deliver to them promptly, by keeping track of everyone's everyday lives with their Poryphones and Porywatches, their Goomaze Home devices, their engineered Vibat (regional evolution of Golbat) Pokémon, their Kaskadian Sudowoodo living cell towers, and even their artificial robot kitty Pokémon Botnyack. Accusations of privacy invasions are naturally overblown… as far as they're concerned.
  • The post-game takes it up to eleven when it's revealed that he wants to set up towers all over Mt. Spectoul and spread its mystical aura (which makes it easier for people to understand their true feelings) all over Kaskade, allowing Amaze-All to know exactly what everyone truly desires before they even do and serve them accordingly. Or rather… it's the plan of the Orbtholod that want to use the power of people's souls to open an Ultra Wormhole.
• Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti:
  • Vitisquash is a Normal/Grass Bigfoot-esque ape that has found its purpose in life farming and squishing grapes with its bare feet, thus leaving purple footprints wherever it goes. Its evolution, the Poison/Grass Dionysseur, is a Roman emperor-esque white-furred ape that has turned into a true connoisseur of wine, and the item required to evolve it, the Bacchus Laurel, can only be found after a long cryptid-hunting-esque Fetch Quest.
  • For a more local variant, there is a Kaskadian Ambipom which is based on the agropelter. Like its mythological inspiration, it carries rocks everywhere and chucks them at foes with its long arm-tails.
• Big "WHAT?!": Tom Bezzle's reaction to being told that his Orbtholod mind-controlled him into authorizing the purchase and remodel of Mt. Spectoul to spread its soul-opening power across the region is, "I did WHAT?!"
• Bizarre Seasons: The Kaskade region is divided into four quadrants by a mountain range and a massive river, and the seasons change every month (and not for thematic purposes like in Pokémon Black and White), due to the four main Legendaries effectively playing a giant, everlasting game of musical chairs. The rival Legendaries of summer (Manadza) and winter (Arctikull) are constantly trying to change the environment to their liking, and they each send their herald Legendaries of spring (Tamunk) and fall (Temunk) respectively ahead of them to clear the season of their rival and prepare the land for their arrival. As a result, the Kaskade region is always experiencing winter, spring, summer, and fall in at least one of its sections at all times of the year, with each section's season changing from month to month as the Legendaries circle from quadrant to quadrant.
  • The local businesses have taken advantage of this rapid change in weather to grow quick-growing seasonal crops all year round, as well as offer many seasonal tourist activities. With them being able to sell crops in other areas' off-seasons and constantly offer seasonal recreations, the Kaskade region is an economic powerhouse.
• Breakout Character: Tofrug, the Poison/Fairy tofu-frog. As a Mon that ticks all the checkboxes for Ridiculously Cute Critter (small white huggable body, stubby limbs, big purple eyes, large red snout, waggy tadpole tail, cute froggy ribbits), it has shown up in quite a few places as the player character's family pet, as part of the introduction to some of the videos, and even into the real world as a plush.
• Bribing Your Way to Victory: The Kaskadian Champion, Yazin, makes no secret of his sponsorship of Amaze-All, and the benefits that gets him, including access to the new Cloud-linked Amaze Balls and the newest Porygon evolution, Porygon⍵. In addition, he has a lot of powerful Pokémon on his team and a lot of assistants on his payroll, who apparently do a lot of the Pokémon training for him.
• Broken Bridge: A literal one prevents you from skipping over two entire quadrants of the Kaskade region and progressing from the first quadrant directly to the fourth. Repairing it is a side project of the first Gym Leader and construction manager Adamo, as it would allow a lot of travel between the Mega City of Port Alki and the growing city of Chapinook.
• Brooklyn Rage: The first (substitute) Gym Leader, Adamo, specifically comes from Brooklyn/Unova. Though he doesn't have a temper, as a construction worker, he's guaranteed to be tough, and he loves pizza.
• Brown Note: Just being around the Eldritch Abomination Endram-Odai will give anyone a splitting migraine. Actually battling it makes it so hard to think that you might not remember how your Pokémon are arranged in your team or what moves they know.
• Burning Rubber: Referenced in the Fire-type starter Therpal and its evolutionary line, especially its final stage Tarmendoa. It is a fiery snake literally coated in rubber, making it hydrophobic, and it can roll around at high speeds producing copious amounts of heat.
• The Cameo:
  • Going to the equivalent of Microsoft's headquarters in Port Alki has you run into Bill from Kanto.
  • Professor Kukui shows up offering his knowledge on Ultra Beasts when an Ultra Wormhole opens above Mt. Spectoul and releases a Cataclysmic Quartet of invading Ultra Beasts, and even sends you some Beast Balls to help.
• Canary in a Coal Mine: Embodied in the Rock/Ghost Pokémon Prospector, which resembles a floating mining lantern/canary cage with a stone hat, prospector's beard and ghostly yellow eyes shaped like canaries.
• Captain's Log: The video detailing Castform's many weather forms (one for each type) plays out as a research log video recording by the regional Professor Fir, who is logging how he managed to achieve each of the forms with his partner Castform and is using the video to summarize his findings.
• Cataclysm Backstory: As discovered through the game, there was once an otherworldly invasion of strange Ultra Beasts into the Kaskade region. A hero summoned all the region's Legendaries and they beat back the invasion, but the Great Thunderbird fell in the process.
• Cats Have Nine Lives: Referenced in Catatomb, the Spiritomb-esque evolution of Catteraxe. Just like Spiritomb is 108 spirits in one keystone, Catatomb is all of a cat's nine lives contained in one key bone.
• Central Theme: Change, from seasons and circumstances to immigration and emigration, is a constant theme throughout this series, as well as what one does when confronted by it. Do you change to match? Do you leave? Do you stand your ground and refuse to change? Or do you do everything in your power to change things again to the way you want them?
  • In the region's opening mythos, after the land was created by Groudon, its hot weather attracted Manadza from the south, who liked the land and whose fiery powers turned it into a perpetual summer. After a while, Manadza went into hibernation, and as the land cooled down, Arctikull ventured down from the north to settle in the land, locking it in perpetual winter. Eventually, the cold reached Manadza and awoke it from hibernation, who then began to turn the region back to summer, one section at a time. But Arctikull saw the changing land and resolved to change it back to winter, one section at a time. Eventually, both decided to empower Chewmunks to become their scouts — Tamunk and Temunk of spring and autumn, causing the game of seasonal musical chairs that has lasted to the present day.
  • To use the Gym Leaders as examples:
    • Adamo is an immigrant from Brooklyn/the Unova region, who is tasked with building the Chapinook City gym (and acting as its substitute Gym Leader) and the bridge that connects the city to the region's Mega City Port Alki. Once he's done, he's planning on settling there permanently.
    • Caela is a park ranger at Tso-Lo Falls, a nature retreat, whose parents immigrated from Galar and Kalos. People come to this location from all over the world to do soul-searching and find themselves, and she's dedicated to helping them do so.
    • The brothers Kaiba and Tate are Foils for each other in how they handled change. Both of them grew up in Bent Town, which was slowly dying due to lack of industry. Kaiba swore to do everything he could to help his hometown survive, and did so by making a deal with Amaze-all to bring manufacturing and warehouse jobs to the town, which did indeed revitalize its economy. His younger brother Tate, meanwhile, decided to leave his hometown to find his destiny elsewhere, and now helps people cross the river to reach the other quadrants where all the jobs are. Both of them have issues with each other; Kaiba is disappointed that Tate couldn't change with the times and abandoned his hometown, and Tate resents Kaiba becoming some "corporate Mudsbray".
    • Mary and John are an elderly farming couple that have worked on their family ranch all their lives, and have a huge family to match. They espouse traditional family values and raising their family right. Several other trainers on their ranch follow Tate's point by mentioning how hard it was to leave their families behind, but feel like it's the right choice in the end.
    • Elna is an eccentric cook and seamstress that she started off not knowing what she wanted to do or be, so she just started dabbling in everything she could think of, and although she wasn't good in any of them, she found particular joy in sewing and cooking and kept practicing until she found her place.
    • Zlata is a punk, a Gamer Chick and a streamer, who revels in her youth. Bullied just for being who she was, she found comfort in her dad's old arcade games, and isn't about to let any stuck-up adults tell her how she should act.
    • Trip is a Hipster, dislikes labels with a passion, believes you shouldn't care what other people call you, and his only creed in life is "Be Yourself". Moreover, he is a victim of change as Amaze-All is relocating his gym to a more modern structure closer to their corporate headquarters, which he has mixed feelings about — he needs Amaze-All's funding and the new gym is really hip with the latest tech, but he'll still miss the old one.
  • Another theme present throughout is morality. A number of characters, including several Gym Leaders, are put into situations where they have to (or already have) twist or let their morals slide in the pursuit of a greater goal. The prior example of Kaiba selling out to Amaze-All to save his Dying Town is one such case. The main villain, Tom Bezzle, is already shown many times to have let his moral slide in the pursuit of convenience at all costs, whether from allowing his corporation to gain dominance by any means, his lack of care for privacy in the name of convenience, and increasingly shady actions. Even Professor Fir is noted to have let his morals slide in regards to the selling of the Steel Whirlygig (a held item that allows Castform to change into the Steel Type, but at the expense of making the Pokemon uncomfortable and deeply traumatized) to Amaze-all, in exchange for money that could keep his lab going for ten years longer than any grant could.
• Classical Elements Ensemble: The Cataclysmic Quartet have this sort of typing, with the Psychic/Fire Lamentu, the Water/Dark Leoseace, and the Poison/Flying (air) Pestilation. The Ground/Fire Revylon shares its Fire-typing with one other member, but its Ground-typing holds more prominence, as its Signature Move Sulphur Beam is Ground-type.
• Conflict Killer: Whenever Manadza and Arctikull got into a fight, it came down to Wicoot to negotiate peace through diplomacy or trickery, or the Great Thunderbird to demand an end to the battle. Although it's noted that this fighting has cooled down significantly ever since the death of the Great Thunderbird, with skirmishes being much more infrequent.
• Continuity Cavalcade: The eighth gym features trainers from all over the world and using Pokémon from their home regions, serving as this for all the regions that came before.
• Contrived Coincidence: Professor Menzie ends up breaking your Porywatch because she doesn't want Amaze-All spying on you through it, but then she gives you her notebook to replace your Pokédex, which now you have to write in by hand (gameplay-wise, it's just an aesthetic change). And what a coincidence, it contains all the information about exactly all the Pokémon you've recorded in your Porywatch's Pokédex up till now!
• Cowboy:
  • The aesthetic of the Burbwhirl line, the Water-type starter Pokémon. The middle stage Spoutlaw has a mustache and water bubbles on its hips that it can rapidly pinch and turn into water whips, Vaquamael has a poncho/cowl-like carapace, and both upper evolutions have air bubbles on their heads that resemble cowboy hats.
  • Desoray, a Ground/Fighting sand-swimming stingray shaped like a cowboy hat and with a tail like a bullwhip.
• Crazy Survivalist: Embodied in the Kwaile evolutionary line (the standard bird Com Mon of the region). The middle stage, the Flying/Ground-type Quailert, is wary of everything it perceives as a threat, even if said "threat" isn't dangerous. Its fully-evolved form, Quailstion, can embed its hard wings into the ground to form a bunker that it uses to protect its eggs, and its reflective head feathers make it resistant to Psychic attacks.
  • In addition, the southeastern desert area of the Kaskade Region is home to many trainers of this mentality, who all use a lot of Quailstion in their teams.
• Creation Myth: This game adds on to the canon Pokémon creation myth about the continents being formed. Going out from Spear Pillar, Groudon traveled west to create the continents, which Regigigas dragged into place, while having continued battles against Kyogre (the Indian ocean being a section where Kyogre prevailed). After progressing for a while and completing the western coast, Groudon engaged in another battle with Primal Kyogre who threatened to overwhelm it, until suddenly a Great Thunderbird appeared and helped it bypass Kyogre, allowing it to create new continents on the other side of the new ocean (i.e. the Americas). Eventually, the continent creation ends when Kyogre triumphs over Groudon, leaving the Kaskade region as the last bit of land Groudon created before returning to Hoenn.
• Crippling Overspecialization: The security system in Amaze-All's headquarters is extremely effective at tracking down anyone inside that is using Amaze-All technology… but it's pretty lousy at tracking down someone if they don't have any Amaze-All tech on them.
• Culture Equals Costume: With the Elite Four Exchange Program going on this year, the international Elite Four representatives all wear their traditional garb to emphasize their home cultures. The Japanese Kokoro wears a hakama and kimono (that he made himself), the European Cleary wears his traditional druidic robes, the African Pemba wears a dress made from bògòlanfini patterned after various Pokémon, and the Central American Catalina wears a gorgeous rose-patterned fiesta dress.
• Darker and Edgier: Not for the most part, but there are a few introduced Lockemon that definitely have darker inspirations.
  • The Ghost/Fighting-type Woond is a military hound that was killed in battle, but roused itself from the dead because it wasn't ready to stop serving its country. It is Covered with Scars and has lost parts of its legs, but replaces them with limbs made of ghostly ectoplasm, thus having literal phantom limbs, fueled by a literal purple heart.
  • Folleming is an Electric/Psychic-type rodent that travels in small groups, where the leader "guru" Folleming (which possesses a long cult-leader-esque beard) mind-controls its followers. It combines elements of the myth of Suicidal Lemmings that follow each other off cliffs, and the Oregon-based Cult Rajneeshpuram.
  • Estoe and Perpetua, two Psychic/Poison-type Lizard Folk-like alien Pokémon that are based off of nuclear energy.
  • All of the Ultra Beasts included in the Kaskade region, being based on both Lovecraftian eldtrich horror and biblical apocalypse tales. Lamentu in particular is meant to have patterns alluding to a slit neck of a sacrificial lamb.
• Death Mountain:
  • Spectoul Mountain in the south is a spiritual hub and is home to many Ghost and Psychic-type Pokémon.
  • Mt. Anneal is the largest mountain in the Kaskade Region, located smack-dab in the middle of all four quadrants. Its peak differs depending on the game version: in BlazingBloom, Manadza's slightly stronger power makes it a hot spring, while in FrigidFall, Arctikull's power makes it an ice cap.
• Defeat Equals Explosion: After you defeat Ωrogon, it flies into the air and explodes, scattering its parts all over Kaskade.
• Dented Iron: After billions of years aiding Groudon against Kyogre, mediating and possibly subduing Manadza and Arctikull if their rivalry gets too destructive, all the while not getting enough recovery, the power of the Great Thunderbird has waned. During a cataclysmic battle against the invading Ultra Beasts, it successfully pushed them back, but lost its life in the process.
• Dirty Business: A few characters discuss the idea that selling out to Amaze-All, however morally unpalatable, is necessary to get by in a world so full of its technology. Both Kaiba and Professor Fir confess to doing this; Kaiba opened his hometown to Amaze-All warehousing and production jobs to save it from being a Dying Town, and Professor Fir, despite how much he distrusts the company, sold the Steel Whirlygig technology to it to gain more money than his research grants could provide.
• Dismantled MacGuffin: Finding the pieces of the exploded Ωrogon is integral for the post-game.
• Distaff Counterpart: Kituff and Beadamup serve as this to Riolu and Lucario. Both are Fighting->Fighting/Steel bipedal animals, but where Lucario is a jackal, Beadamup is a cougar. Where Lucario is more masculine and known for being calm and composed, Beadamup is rough-and-tumble and based on roller derby girls — also a case of Female Feline, Male Mutt. Where Lucario can manipulate its aura as a special power, Beadamup has Magnetism Manipulation that allows it to control beads of metal as weapons, and can also float and skate around on its metal cat toe beans.
• Dreadlock Rasta: Cooreds, the middle cocoon stage of the regional Bug-type Com Mon Sighlo, is a bug with a cocoon made of dreadlock-like strands and plays trumpet-like sounds from its snout. Its final evolution, Probaska, takes the Rasta connection fully since it's a hackysack-colored weevil that plays Reggae and Ska music.
• Dying Town: Bent Town is located in the middle of the southeastern Kaskadian desert and is slowly losing residents. That is, until the local gym leader Kaiba made a deal with Amaze-All and brought more manufacturing jobs to the town... something that his younger brother Tate takes issue with.
• Easy Come, Easy Go: At the end, you take out Tom Bezzle, beat Champion Yazin, win the Pokémon League, become Kaskade Champion and also brand ambassador for Amaze-All... and then Tom Bezzle pays his fines, gets out of jail, and also withdraws his sponsorship of the Champion position. You still keep Lucy as your assistant, though.
• Eggshell Clothing:
  • Kwaile, the standard bird Com Mon of Kaskade, wears an eggshell half as a helmet. Fittingly, its evolutions grow up to be Crazy Survivalists.
  • Gneckle is a baby goose that is so grumpy, it never comes out of its egg even after hatching, instead remaining affixed to its seaside rock like a goose-necked barnacle with only its head poking out. It only comes out after it evolves into Rabyoose.
• Eldritch Abomination: The invading Ultra Beasts, which the Legendaries and the Great Thunderbird fought off so very long ago. Orbtholods look like a cross between turtles, octopi, and Starfish Aliens that can psychically control people, the Cataclysmic Quartet Pestilation, Revylon, Leoseace, and Lamentu look completely alien with too many eyes and/or too many mouths, and Endram-Odai is a literal Space Whale with a Body Of Stars and way too many eyes, and just looking at it can give you a migraine. Even the narration glitches out every time it tries to say Endram-Odai's name.
• Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Invoked specifically for the typings of the four main Legendaries of the region, which are based on the four seasons. The Fire/Psychic-type Manadza (representing summer) and the Ice/Dark-type Arctikull (representing winter) cancel each other out in both directions, and both are strong against the Grass-typing shared by Tamunk and Temunk. However, Tamunk's Fairy-type being strong against Arctikull's Dark-type represents spring following winter, and Temunk's Ghost-type being strong against Manadza's Psychic-type represents fall following summer.
• Elite Four:
  • As is standard in Pokémon, with a twist. For this year, there is an international Elite Four Exchange Program, so the local Elite Four are off participating in Leagues from other regions, and four Elite Four members from regions around the world have taken their place to take on challengers.
    • Kokoro is a traditional Japanese craftsman, and his team are all Pokémon based on inanimate objects, reflecting the Japanese myth of tsukumogami, objects that have existed long enough to gain a kami/soul.
    • Cleary is a European druid, and has a deep appreciation of Pokémon's original designation of "magical creatures". His team all reflect either the use of ancient worship or magic (either traditional or pop-culture wizards).
    • Pemba hails from West Africa, reserved at first but extremely passionate about her Pokémon's strength, always striving to be better. Her Pokémon all mirror animals found in the savannah.
    • Catalina is from Central America, also competes in Pokémon Contests, and her two big loves in life are dancing and her enormous family. She sees her Pokémon, who all similarly reflect the Central American culture, as part of her family.
  • During the post-game, the Ultra Wormhole that the Orbtholod open sends out the Cataclysmic Quartet, four Ultra Beast-like envoys, Pestilation, Revylon, Leoseace, and Lamentu. They are all fought like regular trainers before joining the battle themselves.
• The End Is Nigh: In Port Alki, you can find a stereotypical, doomsaying, sign-toting conspiracy nut hanging around on a street corner. You can battle him, but he keeps saying something odd about "Endram-Odai"...
• Enemy Mine: Under the threat of Endram-Odai, Tom Bezzle agrees to help you fight it off, by reassembling the destroyed Ωrogon and using it to fight the beast.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Tom Bezzle may have tried to mess with the natural order for the sake of profit and is probably still stealing your personal information, but even he wouldn't invade other people's souls. His Orbtholod, on the other hand...
• Everyone Has Standards: Despite the pettiness of their rivalry that eventually led to the demise of the Great Thunderbird (due to constantly having to come out in order to settle their rivalry despite needing rest), Manadza and Arctikull find Tom Bezzle's appeal to change the entire ecosystem for his own gain to be absolutely insulting, bluntly and angrily refusing to even consider the idea. Wicoot makes it clear that he is not impressed either, that Tom was making an extremely reckless and stupid decision.
• Everyone Went to School Together: Professor Fir mentions that he and Tom Bezzle were frat mates in Kaskade University, and Tom also once dated Professor Menzie.
• Evil Is Petty: After you beat Tom Bezzle and foil his initial plans of capturing Manadza and Arctikull, he interrupts your final match with Champion Yazin and hijacks his final Pokémon, Ωrogon, to turn it into a beast meant to control the other Legendaries itself. Then he makes this comment to you:
  Tom Bezzle: Besides... denying YOU a victory just gives me a kick.
• Extra Eyes:
  • Jemineye is a Rock/Psychic Pokémon based off of a chitton, which means it has eyes all over its rock body. Also, just like Sableye, all of its eyes are jewels.
  • Some of the Ultra Beast-like invaders have eyes like this, like the goat-like Lamentu and the enormous Space Whale Endram-Odai. The latter can even make it seem like all its eyes are staring at you at once, no matter how spatially impossible that may be, and its foremost pair can even move around the red parts of its head.
• Executive Meddling: The MegaCorp Amaze-All has plenty of In-Universe examples. One is moving the eighth gym in the region closer to its headquarters, housed in a much more modern building, a fact that the Hipster Gym Leader, Trip, is not exactly happy with. He can be found near his old gym, which is due for closing, but since he's not allowed to battle there, he'll reluctantly take you to the new one.
• Expy:
  • Tom Bezzle, entrepeneur extraordinare. He is the creator of the FaceDex social media app and the Goomaze web searching software and now CEO of the Amaze-All parcel delivery corporation. He's basically Jeff Bezos (with the baldness to match) if he not only created Amazon, but also Apple, Google, and Facebook too.
  • Champion Yazin, with his darker skin tone, well-styled beard, and undercut hairstyle, is noted for resembling a buffer, Younger and Hipper version of Chairman Rose, with elements of Leon mixed in. Especially with his Celebrity Endorsement of Amaze-All connecting him with some particularly shady folk.
• Family-Friendly Stripper: Kaskadian Jynx, which are pole-Dance Battlers that use bo-staffs made out of psychic energy, are technically based on strippers, but are just as covered as regular Jynx are.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: As mentioned, the Kaskade region is based on the Pacific Northwest of the United States, specifically, the area around the real-life Cascade mountain range. Practically speaking, it's the result of Oregon and Washington state being overlaid over each other, with added bits of northern California, western Idaho, and southern British Columbia brought in on the edges.
  • For specific city-based examples, Shayklind Town and Chapinook City are based on Ashland and Salem in Oregon state respectively, and the resident Mega City Port Alki is a fusion of Seattle, Oakland and Vancouver.
• Fictional Counterpart: There's of course Amaze-All, the MegaCorp counterpart to Amazon, as well as its creator Tom Bezzle having a hand in creating the Goomaze search engine and the first successful website (counterpart to Google) and the FaceDex social media app (counterpart to Facebook). It is also mentioned that it invested in and eventually bought out the Starbyss coffee chain (counterpart to Starbucks) and the Mega taxi service (counterpart to Uber).
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: After Tom Bezzle is released from his Orbtholod's mind control, he looks at his notes and realizes that the cell towers that would spread Mt. Spectoul's soul-opening effect across the region is scheduled to activate in...
  Tom Bezzle: ABOUT TWENTY SECONDS!!!
• Flunky Boss: Battles with the Ultra Beast-like envoys are like this, where they act like trainers and send out other Pokémon like Orbtholods and Ultra Beasts first before entering the fight themselves.
• Foreshadowing:
  • At the tail-end of Professor Fir's research log on Castform forms, he opens a new research log saying that Amaze-all approached him and offered 10 years worth of grant money for production rights to the Steel Whirlygig, leaving Fir conflicted if he'd want to put any more Castform through the horrors of an artificial Steel-type form. Then, in a later video detailing Tom Bezzle's motivations, he mentions wanting to create an artificial weather-based Legendary Pokémon to resemble the ancient thunderbird that created the Kaskade region, and a brief scene later displays some strange Mechanical Abomination.
  • Investigating some odd ruins under Mt. Anneal, you and Professor Menzie find a strange mural about the Great Thunderbird... but for some odd reason, the later parts of it are completely unintelligible... as if something doesn't want you understanding them...
  • Throughout the game, you encounter quite a few Pokémon with motifs of Mind Manipulation, such as Drosabell, Folleming, Kaskadian Trevenant, and Phisnooz and Telemac. While some of it can be due to the idea that they evolved to match the spiritual air of Mt. Spectoul, it also foreshadows the overall threat of the post-game.
  • In Port Alki, the player runs into a "The End Is Nigh" sign-waving doomsayer that keeps muttering, "Endram-Odai". In the post-game, you finally get to see Endram-Odai... a ginormous Space Whale Ultra Beast.
• Foul Waterfowl: Rabyoose, a black-feathered Dark/Flying-type goose Pokémon with a mean, territorial disposition and talons and claws to match. Its base form Gneckle isn't much better, remaining in its shell even after hatching and only poking its head out, only coming out once it's ready to evolve, and even knocking its fellow hatchlings out of the nest.
• The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: When introducing the new Pokémon Orbtholod, the narration itself gets a bit... odd...
  Towards the end of the 2000s, Orbtholods start appearing in the region- (screen glitches out) -wait, what do you mean, "appearing"? They've always been here! There's no evidence or fossil records of them always being here; well, they have no bones! I, for one, love how every important person seems to have an Orbtholod; I just think they're neat!
• Forest of Perpetual Autumn: Quoia Forest in the southwestern quadrant of the region seems to emit a strange energy that causes it to be locked in perpetual autumn, despite the switching Bizarre Seasons of the rest of the region. Moreover, despite the leaves constantly dying, the trees still grow to be some of the tallest in the area.
  • And it's not just autumn; the Obsidian Flow in the southeast quadrant, a patch of verdant farmland in the northeast, and a mountain glacier in the northwest all emit different energies that lock them in perpetual summer, spring, and winter respectively, regardless of what season the rest of its quadrant is. The implication is that in the post-game, these four areas are where one can find the four seasonal Legendaries.
• Fossil Revival: As is standard for Pokémon games. However, instead of reviving fossilized remains, you revive frozen remains from the Ice Age, resulting in the revived Pokémon always being part Ice-type. In addition, all of them are Ice Age mammals with ancestral links to modern-day Pokémon.
• Gentle Giant: Crynorawst, woolly rhino-like Rock/Ice-type Ice Age Pokémon, may look brutish and temperamental, but they care greatly for others and have the helpful temperament of a Saint Bernard.
• Ghostly Chill: The cursed winds weather effect is like this, causing people to feel cold even though the actual temperature doesn't lower. It causes all Pokémon except Ghost, Dark, and Normal-types to take damage over time, and can even possibly make them too scared to move.
• Girl Friday: When you first meet Champion Yazin, he is accompanied by Lucy, the Champion's personal secretary and guard. After the player wins the League and becomes Champion, Lucy becomes their secretary, and also their tagalong Ms. Exposition + The Watson of the post-game.
• Giver of Lame Names: Professor Fir acknowledges that his naming of the local Weather of War effects as "weather energy" or "weathergy" is uncreative, but states that it's not his job as a professor to be creative.
• Gondor Calls for Aid: There are legends that, in the face of a terrible cataclysm, a hero summoned the mythical Wicoot with a strange flute, and with its wisdom, assembled the other Kaskade Legendaries to combat an otherworldly threat.
• Grail in the Garbage: The Relic Key, made from the bones of the Great Thunderbird and capable of unlocking its burial place and all the secrets within, was eventually found… in a little curio store in Shayklind Town.
• Greater-Scope Paragon: The Legendary Thunderbird protected the world, had roles in helping Groudon create the land, and keeps the seasonal Legendaries in check. However, it died fending off a world-threatening cataclysm and is long dead, but its influence is definitely felt.
• Green Aesop: A few Pokémon have obvious environmental inspirations, and Lockstin isn't shy about describing them.
  • Rascoom is a Fire/Steel-type steel-jawed raccoon that was initially seen as a pest around cities until everyone realized how good it was at consuming trash, making them more tolerable. Its introduction video also mentions the Canada-Philippines waste dispute and how the trash in question ended up at a waste-to-energy plant.
  • Bagoul is a Ghost-type Pokémon that is literally a discarded plastic bag that was possessed by a wayward spirit.
  • The Eecroach line are Grass/Bug-type insects (aphids, mosquitoes, and cockroaches) that infest buildings and grow over them like wild grass, as if they are the embodiment of nature reclaiming urban environments.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Some of the Legendaries are required to be captured for story events, like the four seasonal Legendaries before facing Ωrogon, and Kaskadian Diancie before confronting Tom Bezzle in the post-game. If you don't catch them, they decide to come along with you anyway for the time being as you probably need their help.
• A Head at Each End: Two of the invading Ultra Beasts, Revylon and Leoseace, have tails with gaping jaws on them.
• Hipster:
  • Llampas, the Grass-type starter, and its evolutions take a lot of cues from this. All of them are happy, easy-going llamas that just enjoy taking life as it comes.
  • Tamroast is another species based on hipster culture. They are very interested in roasting and brewing their own coffee, have a very easy-going nature, and their varying designs call to mind things like carefully cultivated beards and moustaches.
  • Trip, the 8th Gym Leader, has this characterization. He is very well-traveled, hates labels, and is rather smug when he bets that you've never even heard of some of his Pokémon before, from places you've probably never been before.
• Home Field Advantage: From the second gym onwards, the gym battles have weather effects applied to the field right from the start, without any Pokémon having to use any moves.
  • During your battle with the Champion, he says that a random set of weather conditions will be implemented to keep things interesting... except that since it's his arena, "random" means the best combination of weather conditions to hamper your team or benefit his own.
• Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Averted, while one of the Cataclysmic Quartet is named Pestilation, none of the four have outright motifs on the Horsemen, and Lockstin admits that he thought that designing Lockémon explicitly based off of them would be too easy.
• Hot Wings: Variation, lightning wings. The artificial Legendary Ωrogon, built to replicate the power of the ancient thunderbird, has wings and a tail made entirely of blue electricity, emitted from a metal frame.
• HP to One: The Signature Move of the Poison/Flying Ultra Beast Pestilation inflicts a horrible poison that's even stronger than Toxic, but will not KO the opponent.
• Hypnotic Creature: Orbtholods, Psychic/Dark Pokémon found throughout the Kaskade region and used by many important people, like Tom Bezzle and the Champion Yazin. The post-game reveals that they've been using their psychic powers to implant suggestions in Tom Bezzle's head.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: As you progress through the gyms, the Gym Leaders' teams are balanced to match yours, as befitting of beginning trainers. After you complete the main story, you can rematch any of the Leaders, and they'll use full teams of 6 with much stronger Pokémon.
• It May Help You on Your Quest: Subverted. The first time you meet Champion Yazin, you and your junior rival Jay have a battle in front of him, and Yazin is so impressed that he gives you... a signed photo of himself.
• Impersonation-Exclusive Character: The story never reveals what the Great Thunderbird looked like, or even its proper name. The closest thing to it you ever see is Ωrogon, the artificial Legendary built to replicate its power, and empowered with a Relic Key made from the thunderbird's bones.
• Interface Screw: When the protagonist faces off against Endram-Odai, just looking at it gives them such a migraine that it makes it hard to concentrate on their Pokémon or remember what they can do, which translates to all the words in the menu and text boxes, as well as the Pokémon sprites in the menu, being turned into gibberish. Hope you (the player) remember how you arranged your Pokémon and their moves!
• I Owe You My Life: This is the reason your rival is so loyal to Tom Bezzle; they were stuck in poverty until Bezzle gave them a job, and now they feel like they need to do everything to make his dream a reality — even if it means breaking the law.
• It's All Upstairs From Here: The Pokémon League is based in Port Alki's analogue of the Space Needle, a massive tower built by Amaze-All. It's large enough to house the entirety of the Victory Road trainers, and the top contains the entire battling arena for the Elite Four and Champion.
• Jump Scare: Kasakozog likes pulling these. It hides in piles of autumn leaves, made easy by its hat made of glued-together leaves, and then pops out to scare and challenge trainers.
• Karma Houdini: You beat Tom Bezzle, foil his plans of mind-controlling the regional Legendaries and altering the weather, and he decides to honestly turn himself in... and the very next day, he pays his fines and gets out of jail.
• Kid Hero: Averted. Instead of the 10-12/16-17 age range of most other Pokémon protagonists, the player character explicitly starts the game at 22 years old. Your rival/junior, Jay, plays it straight, as he starts off his Pokémon journey at 10.
• Law of Cartographical Elegance: The entirety of the Kaskade region is a perfect rectangle divided into four perfectly rectangular quadrants by a mountain range and a large river. Downplayed in that there is a highway leading off the map to the south and north, but it is unknown if it is traversable by the players.
• Left-Justified Fantasy Map: Justified as the Kaskade region is a Fantasy Counterpart Culture of the US's Pacific Northwest, which of course would have the Pacific Ocean off its west coast.
• Long-Dead Badass: The legendary Great Thunderbird that fought alongside Groudon, helped create the Kaskade region, and kept both Manadza and Arctikull in line, eventually perished while holding off an otherworldly cataclysm.
• MacGuffin Delivery Service: The games' plot kicks off like this. From the starting town of Shayklind, Professor Fir asks the player to deliver something to his fellow regional Professor Menzie, since he doesn't trust Amaze-All to do it without... issues. However, since he doesn't know exactly where she is as she's often bouncing around various archaeological or historical sites, it'll be a pretty long adventure, so they might as well do the gym challenge while they're at it. And if that's not enough, there's a strange person following you, trying to get that package for whatever reason...
• The Man Behind the Man: While Tom Bezzle had his own business-minded schemes, his Orbtholod was also influencing and mind-controlling him to set up schemes of its own, to help its masters, the Ultra Beast-like invaders. It's also implied that it was the Orbtholod's knowledge that enabled Amaze-All to create technology that could control even Legendaries like Manadza and Arctikull.
• Mage Tower: There is a literal wizard's tower on an island in the middle of the lake above Tso-Lo Falls, which is based on Wizard Island in Crater Lake, Oregon. A lot of magic-based Pokémon reside around it, like Bloomage, Yanmage, and Hatterene.
• Magical Defibrillator: Literal example in the form of Faebrill, an Electric/Fairy healing-specializing Pokémon that assists the region's nurses, like Chansey and Audino.
• Mammoths Mean Ice Age: Downplayed. While it's established that Mamoswine did exist during the Ice Age of the Kaskade region, the "fossil" Pokémon that can be revived from Ice Age specimens don't include a second woolly mammoth-like Pokémon; instead, we have Feafurr and Vaicear (saber-toothed tiger), Phisnooz and Telemac (phiomia and macrauchenia), Macedontus (glyptodon), and Crynorawst (woolly rhinoceros). There is a woolly mammoth-like Pokémon introduced (Golgre, evolved from Kaskadian Golett), but it doesn't seem related to the Ice Age or these fossil Pokémon in any way.
• Mascot: Amaze-All has both Rotom and Porygon as its mascots, and have developed such things as the Porywatches, the more stable evolution PorygonΩ, and even more forms of Rotom housed in different appliances. And then there's Ωrogon, an artificial Legendary imbued with the power of the Great Thunderbird, with a Porygon-shaped head and a Rotom face on its chest.
• Meaningful Name: Oh boy, does the creator like his Meaningful Names. Virtually all of the Fakemon created for this region have at least two components to their names that directly parallel their design, and most have a lot more.
  • As just one example, the box-art Legendary of BlazingBloom is Manadza, the Legendary of summer, a Fire/Psychic lizard from ancient times with a flaming feather-headdress and magical fire powers (making it a pyromancer). Components of its name include "Mana", "lizard", and the Numu words "tabodza" ("lizard"), "tadza" ("summer"), and "ma'na'we" ("a long time").
  • On the human side, we have the CEO of Amaze-All, Tom Bezzle, whose name isn't very far from "to embezzle".
• Mega City: Port Alki, a fusion of Seattle, Oakland, and Vancouver. It's so large, it has two gyms, one downtown and one uptown, and also houses the headquarters of many corporations, including Nintendo and Amaze-All, and the Pokémon League in the Space Needle analogue. However, it's also so expensive to live in that people are considering moving out to the smaller but growing Chapinook City.
• MegaCorp: Amaze-All, a major parcel delivery service and clear Expy of Amazon, along with being the parent company behind Poryphones and Porywatches, the Goomaze web search application, and the FaceDex social media app, in addition to investing and then buying out the Starbyss coffee chain, the Mega independent taxi service, and even their competitors in Rotomphones. It effectively controls 100% of the delivery services in the Kaskade region, a majority in Orre, Unova, Galar, and Kalos, is steadily making inroads into the Japanese regions, and comprises about 3/4 of Kaskade's economy and almost 1/8th of the whole world's. It is also doing research into Kaskade's weather for… some reason.
• The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: In his research log on Castform's many regional forms of various types, Professor Fir notes that his partner Pokémon also had its personality and attitude change to match. While in its Psychic form, it started meditating and did not attack until the weather changes; in its Dark form, it became mischievous and did not listen to commands; and in its Steel form, it became absolutely miserable, as if it hated the artificiality of its form.
• Mirror Character: For all that Professor Fir distrusts Amaze-All and especially their CEO Tom Bezzle, he does acknowledge how difficult it is to live in today's age without their tech and admits, after selling his Steel Whirlygig tech to Amaze-All for research funds, that sometimes you have to bend your morals a bit to get by, and the player will understand when they get older. Tom later echoes that sentiment almost to the letter after he captures Manadza and Arctikull when convincing them to alter the seasons to be more efficient doesn't work. Maybe it was something in the frat they shared at Kaskade University?
• The Mole: For the entirety of the game's plotline, Orbtholod were a pretty unusual but not-uncommon and quite powerful Pokémon, used by virtually every strong trainer in the Kaskade region. Then in the post-game, it's revealed that they're minions of Ultra Beast-like otherworldly invaders, with one controlling Tom Bezzle to hijack one of his schemes for their own.
• Mrs. Robinson: The tough Cat Girl Pokémon Beadamup explicitly like to prey on younger Pokémon. A common term for women who go after younger men is "cougar", another name for this trope.
• Multinational Team:
  • The eighth gym (Port Alki's uptown gym) counts as this. All its trainers come from different foreign regions with associated Pokémon, and the gym leader Trip is very well-traveled and makes a point of using Pokémon with foreign regional variants on his team, like Galarian Rapidash and Alolan Persian.
  • The Elite Four counts for this year only, since this year, there is an exchange program where the local Elite Four go to compete in other countries and other Elite Four members come to the Kaskade region to challenge the local trainers. The representatives come from all four corners of the globe; Kokoro is from one of the Japanese regions, Cleary is from one of the European regions, Catalina is from one of the Central American regions, and Pemba is from one of the African regions.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Professor Fir has a great deal of guilt when, in his endeavor to find a Castform form for each of the 18 types, he managed to make a Steel Whirlygig that gave Castform a Steel form, but locked it into its form until the whirlygig was broken and possibly also mentally traumatized it.
• Mystical White Hair: Bearvoyance, a Psychic/Ghost kermode/spirit bear, normally has black fur with purple markings, but some members, after evolving from Oracub, have their supernatural shaman powers turn their fur white.
• Mythology Gag: In the early parts of your journey, you can run into your junior rival Jay pestering your other rival Wren/Lark for a battle because their eyes met.
• New Technology Is Evil: Zigzagged. A few characters discuss their discomfort with Amaze-All, saying that although their Poryphones, Porywatches, and instant delivery is so convenient and useful, allowing them so much access into their lives and giving them so much power over them is unnerving. The Professors don't trust Amaze-All (both having known Tom Bezzle in their school years), with Fir using their tech with reservations, and Menzie having borderline Technophobia — she doesn't own a Porywatch, barely uses a computer, writes all her notes by hand, and communicates by courier Kwaile. At the same time, the main character has no issue with technology, having grown up with it all their lives, and it has undoubtedly made the Kaskade region a far better place to live for everyone. If anything, it's not the tech that's evil, but the MegaCorp who has a monopoly on it.
• "No. Just… No" Reaction: During the post-game, in the face of a looming threat, Yazin suggests getting Tom Bezzle to help find the scattered pieces of Ωrogon, to which both Professors Fir and Menzie respond, "NO WAY!". They still end up getting his help reassembling the Pokémon, though.
• No-Sell:
  • Each of the starters has an ability that neutralizes the weather effect created by the Signature Move of the Pokémon strong against it. Alfalphalops's Fluff Buff move fills the air with pollen, but Burbwhirl's line has the Bubble Helm Ability that protects it against air quality changes; Vaquamael's Whirlduel creates a rainstorm, but Therpal's line is literally Hydrophobic and immune to rain and snow; and Tarmendoa's Thermal Vortex creates a drought, but Llampas's line possesses the Ability... Droughtproof (and temperature-proof too).
  • With Manadza's high Special Attack and Special Defense but low physical Attack and Defense and vice versa for Arctikull (not to mention having typings that can hit each other super-effectively), battles between them might be a case of Rocket-Tag Gameplay... but their Abilities make things more nuanced. Manadza's Heat Haze Ability allows it to dodge and counter the first physical attack used against it with a burst of heat haze, while Arctikull's Ice Armor effectively reflects the first special attack used against it back at its opponent.
• Older Than They Look: Zlata, the seventh gym leader of downtown Port Alki. For all that she looks like a hair-dyed, ear-pierced, punkish gamer and her motto is to embrace one's youth, she is significantly older than she looks.
• Olympus Mons:
  • The four main Legendaries of this series are based on the four seasons. Manadza (Fire/Psychic) represents summer and is a fiery lizard, and its herald Tamunk (Grass/Fairy) represents spring and is a chipmunk with butterfly wings. Arctikull (Ice/Dark) represents winter and is a giant monstrous bear, and its herald Temunk (Grass/Ghost) represents autumn and is a chipmunk with a ghostly tail.
  • Before, the region was said to be created by a giant bird of thunder (specifically not Zapdos, a bird of lightning), but no-one knows what it was or what it looked like. Tom Bezzle is taking a good deal of interest in it.
  • Wicoot is a Mythical Dark/Psychic coyote and a Shout-Out to the Native American legend to how the animals were arguing about what the seasons should be and it was the Know-It-All trickster Coyote that suggested the idea of seasons.
• Ominous Visual Glitch:
  • During the sequence of Amaze-All advertisements, the RotomDex mascot glitches out a few times, often when it starts cheerfully proclaiming that everything Amaze-All does is above board and all rumors that they engage in dubious practices are simply untrue.
  • When introducing the Champion Yazin's team, the camera and voiceover briefly get a ghostly tone when it introduces a new Pokémon called Orbtholod, and when introducing his Rotom, the camera briefly glitches to show a new Spiritomb-esque Rotom form named "Rotomb".
  • While looking at the many big corporate buildings in Port Alki, the video starts to take a look at one of them before it glitches out to show two very eerie shapes before promptly moving on. These turn out to be Ultra Beast-like invading creatures.
  • Even the narration glitches out every time it tries to say Endram-Odai's name.
• Out-of-Character Alert: Tom Bezzle may be a Corrupt Corporate Executive, business-minded to a fault, and doesn't give a whit about privacy in the face of convenience, but surely devising a plan to open up humans' souls to know their true desires is too far, even for him? And what does he mean by "you humans" and "your laws"?
• Panthera Awesome: Vaicear, the Fire/Ice-type apex predator of the Kaskadian Ice Age. Kill It with Fire? Kill It with Ice? Vaicear chooses both by either leaving its fangs and claws as their regular icicle-like weapons, or heat them up with flame.
• Perception Filter: In the middle of reading the mural in the thunderbird's tomb, part of it suddenly becomes completely unintelligible, as if it's physically impossible to understand. When Professor Menzie tries getting a rubbing of it, she passes out.
• Percussive Shutdown: This is what Professor Menzie does to your Porywatch when she suddenly realizes that Amaze-All have been listening in.
• Playing Possum: The Normal/Ghost-type Specoey and Opakespiel are oppossum actors that can feign death so convincingly, even death itself thinks they are dead.
• Playing with Syringes: There have been some accusations that Amaze-all have been genetically altering Pokémon to assist in their services or to further their business goals. Examples include the Steel/Ghost Kaskadian Drifblim that deliver packages like drones, the Steel Kaskadian Sudowoodo that effectively serve as living cell towers, and the robo-pet Botnyack. And then there's the artificial Legendary that Tom Bezzle wants to create…
• The Power of Glass: Pramblo and Glashulimp are Fire/Ground-type glass-blower mantis shrimp, that can punch with a fist of red-hot glass.
• Recurring Element: For all those common to Pokémon:
  • Grass starter based on prehistoric fauna? Llampas, Danfluff, and Alfalphalops, based on a camelops.
  • Fire starter based on a member of the Eastern Zodiac? Therpal, Aspfault, and Tarmendoa, based on the snake.
  • Water starter based on a weapon/warrior? Burbwhirl, Spoutlaw, and Vaquamael, a Cowboy-motifed bug with a focus on water whips.
  • A Pika-clone? Guruchi, a hydroelectric beaver.
  • Com Mons that include a regional bug, bird, and critter? That would be the Sighlo line, the Kwaile line, and the Chewmunk line.
    • Chewmunk breaks the mold slightly, as it only evolves into Cheekat via friendship, making them much rarer in the wild.
  • Two Olympus Mons to serve as the box-art Legendaries, one red and one blue? Those would be Manadza for BlazingBloom, and Arctikull for FrigidFall.
  • Magikarp Power small fish evolving into huge beast? Rowviar and Sanook, a small salmon egg evolving into a saber-toothed salmon as big as a canoe.
  • A pseudo-legendary? Buwuve, Wasgrowl, and Worcane, a Water/Dragon orca whale-wolf-wasgo hybrid.
  • Regional professor named after a plant? Professor Fir, whose research focus is the weather system of the Kaskade region and the phenomena known as "weathergy".
  • Eight gym leaders, each specializing in a different type? Eight, yes, specialties, nope! Each Gym Leader has a team of Pokémon that more relates to their profession and personality more than a type, like construction, forest ranger, or farmer.
    • And the same applies to the Elite Four; they too battle with themed teams instead of type specialities.
  • Fossil Revival? Not quite; you're instead reviving frozen remains from the Ice Age, resulting in Ice-type Ice Age Pokémon.
  • An evil team to thwart? The Amaze-All MegaCorp, dedicated to improving its business no matter what it has to do.
  • Rivals? Yep, and you get two, one your opposite gendered counterpart Wren/Lark, and the other your new junior Jay.
• Revealing Skill: On one of your battles with your rival, they eventually resort to using a Botnyack in battle. When you tell Professor Fir about it, he mentions that Botnyack are primarily used by Amaze-All.
• Riddle for the Ages: What was the Great Thunderbird's real name, and what did it look like? Similar to the original dragon that spawned Reshiram, Zekrom, and Kyurem, it is never seen or named on-screen.
• The Rival: Two in this game:
  • Your first rival is Lark/Wren, the opposite-gendered player character that you didn't choose, like Brendan/May or Calem/Serena. They also turn out to be more antagonistic, as they steal a starter from the Professor's lab like Silver, and have a dutiful loyalty to the evil organization's boss, do morally dubious things in their name, and eventually are fired by them like Bede.
  • Your second rival is Jay, a cheerful, 10-year-old new trainer that becomes your junior, similar to Wally. The Pokémon catching tutorial also proceeds with you showing him how it's done.
• Robot Me: Ωrogon is essentially a mechanical knockoff of the Great Thunderbird.
• Seasonal Baggage: The four main Legendaries of this region are based on the four seasons, and their movements influence the rapidly-changing seasons in the region, which in turn affect businesses and economies.
• Shared Universe: Pokemon Cardinal Episode 0 confirms that the Kaskade region shares a fakemon universe with the Norcloh region, as well as the Asone and Solympia regions.
• Shout-Out:
  • Specoey and Opakespiel are oppossum Pokémon with a huge Shakespearian actor bent in reference to the Oregon Shakespeare festivals. Specoey has a skull-like pattern on its head, and while hanging upside down, Opakespiel carries its baby on its hand, presenting it like a skull Alas, Poor Yorick-style.
  • Kaskadian Exploud is based on Grunge music and is one big Nirvana reference. It has white circles around its eyes in reference to Kurt Cobain's sunglasses, and its body patterns suggest guitar strings, converse sneakers and ripped jeans.
  • Yanmage, Bug/Dragon evolution of Kaskadian Yanma, is one big shout-out to wizards, Dungeons & Dragons, and Tabletop RPGs in general, with a wizard hat-like point on its head, an orbed tail, white markings that resemble glasses, and even a D20 in its chest.
  • Auditaur and Oxillery are blue bulls, in a clear reference to Paul Bunyan.
  • This 'verse has its own version of LOLCats that had their start in Port Alki, started by an Alolan Persian asking for a cheeseburger.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: The Gym Leader brothers Kaiba and Tate (of separate gyms) contrast each other in many ways. Kaiba is large, plump, and a man of few words, while Tate is a slim Motor Mouth. Kaiba has his gym in his hometown of Bent Town, but Tate's gym is set up near Gorge Outpost next to the large east-west river of the region, without a town to speak of. Where they contrast most, however, is how they each dealt with their hometown becoming a Dying Town: Kaiba decided he'd do anything to revitalize it, and made a deal with Amaze-All to bring in more manufacturing and warehousing jobs. Tate instead took off and instead helps other people who followed his lead to cross the big river to more jobs in the other quadrants. Obviously, both have a pretty big beef with each other.
• Slippery Skid: Clamtrip is a Rock/Water crab in a clam shell that loves collecting pearls. Its Pearl Drop ability means that when it's sent out, its collection of pearls scatters everywhere, tripping up attacking enemies and reducing the accuracy of their physical attacks.
• Space Whale: Endram-Odai, a Dragon/Fairy Eldritch Abomination of an Ultra Beast and the leader of the otherworldly invaders, complete with Celestial Body. It has references to both the red dragon nebula and the constellation Andromeda, known in Chinese as the "fairy constellation".
• Spiders Are Scary: Kleptarak, a Bug/Dark-type, is a cobweb spider-like Pokémon with an eerie face, a grabby tail, and a penchant for kidnapping other Pokémon.
• Spoiled Brat: The baby-faced Champion Yazin. It's not known how much of his rank is due to his battling skill or to his connection to Amaze-All that gives him enough funds to locate the strongest Pokémon and hire the best trainers to train them for him, but he really enjoys boasting about his possessions, including his Pokémon. Also, despite owning the pseudo-Legendary Worcane, he has mentioned wanting something better than a pseudo-Legendary, whether by capture… or creation.
• Stating the Simple Solution: When accused that his tech is infringing on people's privacy, Tom Bezzle simply demonstrates the option of turning all the privacy settings on.
  Tom Bezzle: It's entirely voluntary. I'd NEVER strip a human of their beloved privacy against their wishes! That'd make me a monster!
• Sudden Name Change: The plot video changes a couple of Lockémon names.
  • The Ice/Dark ursine Legendary of winter was originally named Arctoyield, but was renamed to Arctikull because it sounded cooler.
  • The Fire/Steel racoon Pokémon was originally named Coonsoom, but was changed to Rascoom to avoid the ethnic "coon" slur in its old name. In the defense of Lockstin, he admitted that he wasn't aware of that when he originally came up with the name and neither was the editor.
• Swapped Roles:
  • In the post-game, one of Tom Bezzle's Pokémon, his Orbtholod, reveals itself to be an alien invader and proceeds to challenge you to a battle… and it sends Tom out as a Pokémon!
  • Defeating the Space Whale Endram-Odai reveals that the red segment on its head is actually a Puppeteer Parasite that's controlling it, and after Endram-Odai breaks free, it takes control of the parasite instead.
• Swiss-Army Hero: Castform, when exposed to this region's unique Weathergy, gains new forms that not only change its type, but also give it secondary abilities. Its Rock-type form protects its allies from a sandstorm, its Electric-type form draws in opposing Electric-type attacks and charges up its Weather Ball, and its Psychic-type form boosts the power of its allies' moves.
• Take That!:
  • Kaskadian Excadrill's description states that although their crystals do have medicinal properties, many people believe that they can do much more than they actually can and will eschew modern medicine to use their crystals exclusively, in a clear jab towards the anti-vaccination movement.
  • In response to complaints that the Kaskade Region concept has “too much social commentary”, Lockstin drops into Sarcasm Mode and "agrees" that the regular Pokémon series has no social commentary at all while displaying pictures of Team Plasma, Team Flare, Muk, and Cursola.
  • When discussing the various Pokémon based on Idaho, Lockstin proceeds to take a lot of shots at how bafflingly dumb some people in that state can be.
  • Lockstin makes no secret that he despises the designs of Ambipom and Crabominable, and essentially made their Kaskadian variants as attempts to improve them.
• Tears of Blood: Mercryni is a Poison/Steel-type based on a horned lizard, and cries poisonous mercury to ward off predators.
• Terrestrial Sea Life: Drout is a trout Pokémon with strong digging forelimbs. It has two forms, a Water/Ground Wet Form that resembles the usual fish, and a Rock/Ground Dry Form with a more reptilian appearance, dirt-like armor, and clawed forelimbs.
• Theme Naming: The Canon Names of your player character and your rival, Wren for the female and Lark for the male, as well as the name of your second rival, Jay, all are the names of birds found in the real-life Pacific Northwest.
• Those Wily Coyotes: The Mythical Pokémon Wicoot is the epitome of the wise, wily trickster. It roams the world, negotiates between the other Legendaries, possesses moves like Hoodwink (to switch its stats around) and Hornswoggle (Playing Possum to weaken the opponent), and after you successfully catch it for the first time, it escapes its Poké Ball in the overworld and runs away!
• Time for Plan B: After Tom Bezzle fails to convince Wicoot, Manadza, and Arctikull to alter the seasonal cycle by a week to more efficiently grow crops and make more money, he decides to just capture Manadza and Arctikull in his Amaze Balls to command the cycle himself. And then, after the player breaks them free, he departs saying, "It's time for Plan C.", which turns out to be creating a replica Pokémon of the Great Thunderbird.
• Touched by Vorlons: It's stated that Tamunk and Temunk were just ordinary Chewmunk (the standard Normal-type critter Com Mon of the region) that were blessed by Manadza and Arctikull respectively to become their scouts and heralds, tasked to clear the area of their rival's influence and prepare it for their master.
• Took a Level in Kindness: You can eventually battle your rival Lark/Wren again in the post-game, after they've gotten their head back on straight, improved their team a lot, and want to fight you fair and square. The hallmark of this is their Pudet evolving into a Woond.
• Underground Monkey: The Kaskade region continues the trend of Pokémon regional variants.
  • An Normal/Ice Raticate, referencing how the area has a large rat infestation, and how dry ice is commonly used as rat poison.
  • A Normal/Poison Skuntank, referencing... well, weed.
  • A Normal/Steel Exploud, which is a Shout-Out to Nirvana and the grunge scene.
  • A Ground/Fairy Excadrill, which has a crystal head instead of a drill head.
  • A Bug/Dragon Yanma and its regional evolution, Yanmage, based around the Dungeons & Dragons scene.
  • A Rock/Ghost Palossand made of river pebbles instead of sand.
  • A Normal/Rock Ambipom, which is a skilled rock-thrower based on the mythical agropelter.
  • An Ice/Poison Crabominable, which is based on a gorilla crab.
  • Mienflux, an Electric/Fighting regional evolution of Mienfoo, which is based on a taekwondo-using wolverine.
  • A Normal/Steel Bidoof and Psychic/Steel Bibarel, referencing all the iron in their teeth, and for Bibarel's Psychic-typing, the urban legend that iron in one's teeth allows one to listen to radio signals.
  • A Grass/Ground Tropius based on a redwood tree, twice as tall as its regular variant.
  • Water/Ghost Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar, which are based on forest mist.
  • A pure Grass-type Bellsprout, based on a cobra lily, and a single regional evolution, the Grass/Psychic Drosabell, based on the carnivorous drosera/sundew plant.
  • A Steel/Ghost Drifblim developed by Amaze-All to deliver packages.
  • An extra-tall Steel/Psychic Sudowoodo that serves as a living 5G cell tower for Amaze-All's network.
  • Porygon⍵, a regional evolution of Porygon2 that was perfected by Amaze-All's programmers.
  • Vibat, a regional evolution of Golbat that allows Amaze-All to listen in on anyone they wish.
  • A pure Water-type Bruxish that more resembles the bubble-eyed goldfish, and has giant cheek pouches that allow it to blow bubbles and produce healing liquid, as a combined reference to Seattle's famous Pike Place Market and the Gum Wall.
  • A Water/Grass Azurill line that is based on bladder kelp.
  • Fighting/Grass Gurdurr and Conkeldurr that are based on lumberjacks and wield progressively bigger tree trunks.
  • Normal/Ice Bunnelby and Diggersby that are based on the arctic hare.
  • A Diancie found in Spectoul Mountain (which is based on the spiritually-charged Mt. Shasta), representing the ancient Lemurians. It aids you when the Orbtholods try using the Soul Power of its home for insidious ends.
  • A Dragon/Ice Lapras based on Sharlie, the Idaho Paddler, whose ice-covered back is too slippery to ride.
  • A Psychic/Fighting Jynx that has taken up both martial arts and pole dancing to attack all around itself with psychic staves.
  • A Water/Psychic Solosis, Duosion, and Reuniclus based on tardigrades.
  • Ghost/Poison Phantump and Trevenant based on poisonous mushrooms and fungi taking over the possessed logs.
  • A Normal/Fire Dubwool that has a plaid-patterned coat, a superb sense of balance, and blows fire from the pipes sticking out of its body, in reference to Portland's own Unipiper.
  • Kaskadian Snover and Abomasnow, which have much less snow on them.
  • A pure ghost Golett based on a woven soul-holding Chinookan basket, with a new regional evolution, the Ghost/Rock-type Golgre, based on the mammoth-like dzunukwa or basket ogress.
  • Luxray and its pre-evolutions are an inversion. Since there's a Kaskadian Ice Age Pokémon named Vaicear that is the ancestor to Luxray, it's specified that the Ice-type Kaskadian Luxray is the original Luxray and it's the Sinnohnan Luxray that is the regional variant.
• Waving Signs Around: The stereotype of Nomobjeka, a Fighting/Fairy-type based on the goblin-like nimerigar. It fights for justice through social protest and carries a leaf on a stick like a sign.
• Weather-Control Machine: This is effectively what Ωrogon is, as it's a Mechanical Abomination built by Amaze-All to replicate the power of the Great Thunderbird, control the four seasonal Legendaries, and get them to make the seasonal cycle more efficient.
• Weather of War: The main feature of the Kaskade region is that several of its Pokémon exhibit strange weather energy ("weathergy"), allowing them to produce more varied battle weather effects beyond the usual sun, rain, hail, and sand. There is now one type of weather for each Pokémon type (with one move and one ability to activate it), divided into three different sub-categories, and one weather of each category can be active on the field at any one time, allowing for a large variety of weather combinations (and terrain combinations too).
  • Climate-based weather includes Fire-type harsh sunlight, Water-type rain, Ice-type hail, Dark-type blood moon, and Normal-type fog.
  • Irritant-based weather involves filling the air with some form of material, like Rock-type sand, Ground-type dust, Grass-type pollen, Bug-type pheromones, Poison-type smog, or Fairy-type fairy dust.
  • Energy-based weather involves covering the battlefield with some type of energy, like Fighting-type aura, Ghost-type cursed winds, Psychic-type cosmic rays, Dragon-type arcane power, an Electric-type thunderstorm, or the Steel-type magnetosphere.
  • The Strong Winds of the Flying-type are special, since they not only clear all existing weather conditions, but also boost the power of the next weather move used, granting it extra power and effects.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Tom Bezzle believes in his heart that his way of listening in to people to know what they want and delivering it to them with supreme convenience and efficiency is the best way to making people happy and improving the world and civilization, and anyone getting in the way in the name of privacy, competition, or oversight are just closed-minded fools. As such, he believes any means necessary to expand his company's influence to improve the world are fair game, up to and including buying out the competition, buying out news companies that publish criticisms of Amaze-All, collaborating with organized crime, and co-opting the region's Legendary Pokémon to more efficiently control the Kaskade region's seasonal cycle, or even… creating his own.
• Wham Shot: When Tom Bezzle mentions the idea of recreating the region's creator Legendary thunderbird Pokémon, a flash of lightning briefly illuminates a silhouette of a giant Porygon/Rotom-esque monstrosity.
• Youkai: Tofrug and Kasakozog, two frog-like Pokémon based off of the tofu-kozo and the Karakasa Youkai, respectively.