Are Filler-Free Watch/Read Lists Worth It?

I thought about this over lunch today. I was thinking back over the Animorphs series, and my fading memories of that experience. My brother once started the series, since I had them all, and quit somewhere in the teens saying, "They're too predictable. The twist always comes in chapter 17."

I couldn't really argue that point with him, but I do remember that the series as a whole takes a turn around book 45, but that always seemed like a heavy initial investment to get to "the good part." Smash cut to about fourteen years after finishing the series, and I've since entered and exited at least two otaku phases, maintained a sincere enjoyment of children's shows, and generally stayed the circles that would eventually bring me to this idea of a filler-free list. The concept has stayed around in anime circles mostly, but other shows have their own "skippables".

Still, I have to wonder if it's worth it to carve away pieces of the history of a fandom; even for the sake of lowering the bar of entry for new fans. Some of these "fillers" have quirky and off-beat charm to them, and I wouldn't enjoy some of my favorite properties as much without the weird pieces like "Doctor Who"'s Love and Monsters or "Avatar"'s The Great Divide.

Then you look at something like "Steven Universe" and have to wonder, is the show's tone set for the cluster without the earlier body horror of Frybo? Is charm lost without Garnet's Universe? Without Open Book, we're cutting into moments of charm and heart, and if you're not watching for that, then why are you even watching?

Then we can look at how hotly contested some of these lists can be. Even the most agreed upon list a person can manage is going to slice out someone's favorite episode.

Still, the barrier to entry is real. I get it. There's things I love, and I want my friends to love them too. When something makes me happy, it's instinct to shove it down the throat of everyone in my life who I want to be happy, too. That's fandom, and we all get that sometimes. If saving the "worst" episodes for last means getting them to watch the show at all, maybe that's worth it. 'Cause if the best the show has to offer gets them hooked like you think it will, they'll get every episode eventually, no doubt.

So, maybe there's not an easy answer, here. What do you think? Jump in the comments with your thoughts on filler free lists. Have they helped pull you in, or have they torn the heart of it out? Until next time!

Gym Leader: Pokemon Gen 1 Challenge Run

Hey all,

It's been a while and I'm still kind of figuring out what this blog will look like moving forward. In the meantime, I wanted to share a special challenge run of pokemon that some friends and I tried once, I had to do a little research to figure out the difficulty levels, but I think this could be a fun rehash of a game that, to me, remains an old favorite. I set this up for Gen I, but the principle should apply in any generation.

You are a gym leader, and your team is themed accordingly. Choose a type from the original fifteen and get started. You may take your starter (but if one starter is, or will evolve into, your type, you have to take that one), but otherwise, you cannot catch a pokemon unless it fits your type or will evolve into a pokemon which fits your type. You may decide to also allow catching pokemon that can be traded in-game for pokemon in your type, but only if that pokemon can only be obtained by trade. Below, I've set up a breakdown of the difficulty levels. HM slaves are allowed, so long as that's all that they're for.

Very Easy Run: (3 types)
On Very Easy, you'll likely get less of a challenge run, but you'll still get the chance to play with a team outside of your standard go-to. This is more of a change of pace than a severe challenge.
Normal: These are available right off the bat in Pidgey and Rattata, and there are fifteen families with twenty-four total pokemon that include the normal type.This gives quite a bit of variety, even early on.
Flying: Again, with Pidgey right there on route 1, this is a good pick to try out the run. Thirteen families include flying pokemon somewhere in the evolution with nineteen total pokemon in the games with flying typing.
Poison: People don't think too deep into it, but poison pokemon are populous and common. Thirteen families bring a grand total of thirty-three pokemon whose types include poison, and these may be found after Viridian City in the Nidoran families and the Weedle evolution line.

Easy Run: (5 types)
On an easy run, you should actually start to see some of the challenge to the run. These types are a little harder to find, and don't offer quite the same variety as the very easy runs, but the difficult still hasn't ramped up TOO drastically.
Fighting: This family might seem somewhat limited. Mankey's line, Machop's line, Hitmonlee and Hitmonchamp are the only pure fighting types, with Poliwrath picking up the Fighting type on evolving. Still, the early availability of Mankey and, to a lesser extent, Machop, means that this type is one that can be started in on early.
Ground: Ground has some options left. Nine families include fourteen total pokemon, which leaves some options for your party. It's worth remembering that Nidoqueen and Nidoking both gain the ground type, and are worth picking up early.
Rock: Rock can be a bit of a slog, as your first chance to pick something up won't come until Mount Moon. However, this is a fairly strong type and with six families bringing eleven pokemon to the table, this type would seem to give a little bit of a challenge without too much difficulty.
Bug: I debated where to put this one. Bug types are fairly populous, with six families boasting a total of twelve bug type pokemon. In addition, the pokemon you need for your team are available early on with some powerful status abilities. However, bug types are difficult to play well with. They tend to be underpowered, and battles may prove difficult with this type.
Water: Water-types are tricky, since until getting the fishing rods, there's little opportunity to find them. Still, fishing rod in hand, this type has a breadth of options and are easy to find. Sixteen families include thirty-two types of pokemon to choose from.

Moderate Run: (4 types)
Moderate playthroughs are going to narrow down the options even more, and include pokemon that can't be obtained early in the game. This is where the challenge really kicks up.
Fire: Fire types are difficult to find, and aside from Flareon in Celadon City, and the choice of either Growlithe or Vulpix outside of Celadon (depending on whether you're playing red or blue), they can't be found before you're almost ready for the gym on Cinnabar Island. Beyond this, they are not the best in combat, as water types are plentiful and fire's advantages are not very common. Seven families include twelve pokemon to choose from.
Grass: Grass takes some doing to make it work well. Paras is part grass type, and some other fairly early options are available in the area around Cerulean City. There are fourteen grass pokemon divided between six families in this type.
Electric: If you don't have the patience to catch a Pikachu in Viridian Forest, then you're not going to do well in an electric run. There are nine electric pokemon in six families in the game and most of these are only available in the power plant.
Psychic: Psychic pokemon are going to be an odd challenge. Abra is notoriously hard to catch. Mr. Mime and Jynx need to be traded for in-game. Drowzee and Slowpoke may be your mainstays for a while by default. There are fourteen psychic pokemon in eight families. Still, if you can pull this off, you've got a team of gloriously potent pokemon.

Hard Run: (3 types)
I don't recommend this. Honestly, these ones seem too hard to really be fun. Still, if you need an intense challenge, give it a go.
Ghost: Gastly, Haunter, Gengar; these are your options. Ghost was supposed to be the answer to psychic, but all of these are Ghost/Poison, and poison is weak to psychic. This left psychic overpowered, and ghost was cleaned out of most utility.
Ice: Dewgong, Cloister, Jynx, Lapras, Arcticuno; these are your options. Ice is available so late game that most of your playthrough will likely feel like a challenge run where you only get your starter.
Dragon: Dratini, Dragonair, Dragonite; these are your options. Forget Lance's claims, these are the only dragon pokemon in the Gen 1 pokedex. You can get Dratini at the Rocket Game Corner, or by fishing at the Safari Zone. This is more potent than Ghost, but available later in the game.

So, there we go. A gen 1 pokemon challenge with various difficulty options. Obviously, these rules would work in other generations, but the challenge ratings may be different based on how those later titles were balanced. If you decide to give this a try, let me know in the comments how it went.

Happy Gaming, all.