My 151 (2023)
A little over three years ago, I made a post on social media entitled “#My151.” It was the culmination of a fairly innocuous idea that came to me one day in my mid-twenties.
Inspired by the Scrubs episode where J.D. rushes to complete every item on his 30th birthday “bucket list,” I decided I should give myself some sort of goal. Nothing over the top or impressive, such as J.D.’s choice to complete a triathlon. Instead, I would strive for an accomplishment that would impress the 10-year old version of myself: “I’m gonna catch ‘em all.”
However, the curse of creativity and over-thinking wouldn’t allow me to simply catch all 800+ Pokémon that were available at the time. That would have been far too simple. And besides, shouldn’t I also do something that would appease 27-30 year old me?
After spending the better part of 2,000 hours playing eight different games to successfully catch them all, I then compiled a list of the 151 Pokémon that would constitute my ideal Pokédex (at the time). This Pokédex not was not only balanced with the number of each attack type (fire, water, ghost, grass, etc.), but it included all the normal tropes of the series (pika-clones, 3 starters, fossils, legendaries, etc.)
In some ways, I consider that post the precursor to the Ptolemy’s Tales blog. It wasn’t just a list of 151 different pocket monsters, but a look back at my journey in catching them all and compiling the list. It was a reflection on how everything evolved (pun intended) into the finished product I was presenting. When I started Ptolemy’s Tales, I continued this trend with my short stories. Reflecting on the creative process and showing my notes was just as important to me as the stories themselves.
Guided by my infatuation with telling stories and showing growth, I decided to re-post the original “#My151” from 2019 on this blog.
And nothing more.
Just copy and paste.
Don’t read it, reconsider it, reflect upon it, or make a new list.
Just copy and paste.
Just…don’t…read…seriously? That was the list I came up with?
Like most decisions Past-Ryan has made, I do not approve.
I was clearly blinded by nostalgia. There is no other reason I can think of to choose Rattata to be the Route 1, single-evolution, animal-based, normal-type Pokémon. That is a very important trope in the series and I chose the purple rat?
While that is a bad choice, it’s not so bad that it requires an entirely new list. Although, to be fair, there have been some great new additions to the world of Pokémon over the last 3 years that should be considered. There have also been some awful additions that have ruined entire evolution charts, which now requires the immediate removal of some of my previous favorites (I’m looking directly at you, Kleavor. A design so bad, it managed to make Scyther uncool).
…
…
I won’t be happy until I make another list.
But I’m not making it balanced, including the tropes of the series, or worrying about entire evolution lines. As a writing exercise, I’ll add some context to my choices and any trends that I may notice.
Will that make a better list? Probably not. Will anyone else enjoy this? Most definitely not, but that’s essentially the premise of every creative endeavor I take on. At the very least, it’ll be fun to look back on in another few years and point out all of my bad choices. After all, judging Past-Ryan’s mistakes is one of my favorite hobbies.
