AWKWARD ZOMBIE

I kinda prefer it this way. I came in thinking Lillie was going to be a "t-thanks for saving me but I can take care of myself. A-and no peeking at my bag! It totally doesn't have a special Pokemon in it or a-anything" tusundre style character who you'd have to get to open up gradually. A lot of people wanted her as the dominant rival, but I like her character and her interactions with Nebby are great, and I'm not sure how they could just have Nebby be out and about with Lillie without also kinda explaining why everyone is being super secret and protecting her and taking her along. At least not without shifting the focus of the plot a massive amount. The intro sets up that she took Nebby, Team Aether was chasing her, and she escaped. Maybe it would have been better if Team Skull did it, but I digress.

Later on, you'll see they really aren't hiding anything about the character motivations.

This game's writing needs work.

Cutiefly has forever redeemed Bug-types for me because mine is kicking noticeable amounts of booty.

Same here; mine wiped the floor with the first island's Kahuna. I keep hearing this is going to be another great generation for Bug-types, since it has Cutiefly, Vikavolt, and Wimpod, and Leech Life got buffed to 80 power(!). Maybe not as good as Gen 5, but still nice.

The buff to leech life makes me very excited to bring my shiny Mega Beedrill over from ORAS.

That would be great, but Beedrill sadly can't learn Leech Life. However, it can learn Fell Stinger, which got buffed to 50.

That's not bad on a Glass cannon! The Stab should help greatly when you have no time for a Swords dance.

Yeah, and with Adaptability, Fell Stinger would pack quite a punch.

So far my team consists of Mankey, Grimer, Misdrevaous, the new bird starter that I can't remember, slowpoke, and growlithe.

Generally I go with the idea of using pokemon I've never used before, even if this is a brand new game with shit tons of new ones.

I thought of the nickname Modest Mouse for my Pikachu and for once

FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE

I am proud of what I have accomplished

Has anyone been able to find a female Salandit? I've been looking for the better part of an hour, I've see a few dozen Salandit, but none of them have been female. Supposedly, only 1 in 8 is female, so maybe I'm just unlucky.

EDIT: Just unlucky; finally found one, but it has a nature that lowers special attack. Fuuuuuuuuuuuck.

ANOTHER EDIT: Finally caught one! Of course I finally found one just as I was about to leave and do something productive. Her name is VenoVidiVici; I would've gone with VeninVidiVici, but there weren't enough spaces.

Caught my own Crabrawler, was actually posting to say it appears in berry piles, but I guess it was already mentioned.

My current team is Brionne, Pikachu, and Growlithe, really pop flyin' I could get Growlithe early on, can't wait to get a Flufful.

Wow I'm having so much fun with this game, I like how it urges you to try out Cockfighting Society you find in the wild. Also I'm totally forgoing Exp Share this time around, and so far the game had been pretty tough. I have yet to clear a Totem/Kahuna battle without any 'Mons fainting, which is a sort of challenge none of the prior games have put up for me yet.
SOS battles will be the death of me.
My team (of sorts) so far:
Meororo (Torracat)
Corbott (Magnemite)
Muffin (Misdreavus)
Muddimoo (Mudbray)
Maestro (Fomantis)
Crabagarre (Crabrawler)
(in reserves:)
Head Channon (Trumbeak)
Skittles (Alolan Grimer)
M. Wishsplish (Wishiwashi)
Stu-Jeremy (Cutiefly)
Wow, a lot of "M" names.

The fucking Daycare WHY