Gotta Make ’em All: Turning Irinia Into A Pokémon… and a Trainer

Konichi-well well well! So Senpai did something super nice for me and said I did not have to be grateful huh! Well, too bad for her .. I was super duper grateful and touched! She wrote about me.. so of course I have to reward that by writing something about her.  I did not feel it was right to create Irina with Anime.. because Senpai is my superior in the anime department.. I would not do it justice.. so I will interpret my Senpai in the world I am strongest at.. Pokémon! For Halloween I created Pokémon.. and before I did do trainer profiles for anime characters so Irina gets both let’s start with Irina the Pokémon!

^{<Disclaimer>
I in no shape way or form claim to state facts on Irina. This entire post is speculation based on Tweets, Blogs and Avatars, nothing is meant to critique her OR others and is just a reflection of my thoughts.. they may very well be wrong so leave your pitchforks at home!
<End of Disclaimer>}

The Typing of Irina

Before we start designing our beloved blogger as Pokémon we begin with the basics first.. what type do we want her to be?!  Of course I want her blog theme.. drinking booze.. to play a theme in the character. Yet I also want that we could actually put this Pokémon in the game.. should it ever become so beloved people really want it.. and why not Irina is Awesoe.. and yes I spell it like that.. It’s one of the first things Irina called me when I started blogging and we made it a new word. Regardless.. a boozer Pokémon that in which we can imply boozing doesn’t help us a lot so let us take a look at Irina’s personality.  The Irina I know is a very sweet and tranquil person. She uses a lot of white … formerly in her hair, her avatar where’s a white dress and her background is very white as well. So white is a colour often used in Normal and Ice types.. since Irina is anything but Ordinary Normal is out.. but could she be an ice type.

Yes very much so I think, while Irina is super kind and supportive she can also keep a bit of a distance between herself and the blogging community. Not in a bad way.. but let’s compare her to Scott and Lita for example  and those I find join Jon Spencer’s games, talking on Lita’s server or being in the High Council of Owls.. they seek more contact. Irina is a bit like Elsa from Disney.. super sweet but with a bit of a harder shell. The ice type can also be used for drinking.. cause she can ice your drinks. On top of that she is a Russian living in Canada so like every anime ever would like her to snow!  That’s how things work!  Irina’s warm personality though also has something regal.. she has something whimsical and playful she doesn’t take herself too seriously.. so I think Irina is an Ice-Fairy Type. She also has a magical girl form she talked about so there is THAT as well that works well with the Fairy Type.

Designing Irina

Step 2 is designing the Pokémon. We need a Pokémon that you can see working as a Bartender.. but she can’t be a bartender.. ..She also claims she drinks a lot so we need to bring that into the equation. I also want to use Irina’s colour schemes  into play.. So black/white and Aquamarine eyes. Initially I wanted to make her a Yokai.. so she also could be in the Natsume Book of Friends… but.. that thing.. A Bartender Yokai?!  Then I had a great idea.. let’s make her a Penguin.  Irina has business of her own so I imagine she wears mantle suits from time to time.. the whole black and white theme could go well with her business side.. her bartender side.. and of course she always claims she is a bit stiff and socially awkward and a penguin could really help convey that emotion. I imagine her being a very girly penguin like Penny from Penguin Diner 3D.. now we just have to make the penguin drunk!

How we will do this is by using Irina’s willingness to help. She oftenly puts new bloggers in the spotlight, she is a part of OWLS to make the world a better place, she helped Karandi out with her blog, and constantly is contributing to make the Ani-blogging community a better place.  She is always trying to look at things form a positive angle.. I guess she is really a good drunk! We can’t have the penguin actually consume alcohol.. because that would be a nono for Nintendo.. so instead I look at something Irina also reminds me off a bit.. The Saint Bernard Rescue dog! You know those dogs that carry around a little bottle of Booze?! Well Irina carries  along a lot of Booze.. she is a Penguin.. rolling on a Barrel of Booze.. though we won’t call it booze.. we will just put the medicine logo on it.. to fit in with her pharmaceutical background.. because OF COURSE it’s not booze! The penguin would carry a little cocktail shaker though that it can lug at enemies as a Steel type attack as well.

Making Pokédex Entries for Irina

Now of course a cute designed Pokémon should have some lore. Usually new Pokémon are introduced in split games as is tradition and both games will have their own unique Pokédex entries.. thus we will apply this to Irina as well who I think as a Pokémon,  By the way I think we should Pokéify her name to something like Yreynia oy Yrynna something to make it feel a bit more Pokémonny. Irynha seems like the best option here.. because Pokémon names are always something sound familiar, but are spelled in a way you’ll always misspell it. It would also be fun to see Irina misspell her own Pokémon name.  But onto the Pokédex lore.. for maximal applicability we will not assign her a region based on Canada or Russia.. we will not reinvent a region we will simply insert her in any reason that will have her calling the Pokémon versions A and B.

Pokédex Entry A would read.. Irynha is the Sub-Zero  Pokémon.. her body temperature is always below zero which can hurt her internal organs. Luckily Irynha always carries a special mixture that can keep her warm in her Barrel. While this drink is meant for herself.. She loves sharing it with her friends.

The awkward biology that is completely unable to sustain itself if not for some weird condition is totally in line with Pokémon our beloved blogger would also fit that role. It does seem something she would take upon herself.. and well you ain’t a drunk if you need it to survive right so the Pokémon company would definitely accept lore like this.. because It is okay if your pokémon is basically a dead man walking or sucks the brains out of grandma.. but if it boozes no no! This solves that.. but it might be a bit to subtle.

Pokédex Entry B would read:  This pokémon walks on a barrel of liquid it needs to survive.. so it will always carry it with it. However the more Liquid it drinks from that barrel the harder it gets for Irynha to stay on top of it’s barrel. It also carries a small metal container in which it mixes its medicine with other drinks.. it loves to share these cocktails with friends.

And there we have it.. a barrel that gets harder to walk .. if it’s drained from content.. that is an alcohol metaphor if I ever heard it. .and people meanwhile could debate if the barrel becomes more unstable.. or maybe with a filled stomach the penguin gets too slow.. no we all know she’s drunk! But hey it will fool little kids and it sounds super duper adorable! 

The Role of Irina

Now for the final stage of her Pokémonhood we will look at what role she would fill in a party.. but we will also already move on to Irina as a trainer and think of what Trainer archetype she would be.   As a Pokémon I imagine Irina as a support Pokémon. Something you’d use in Double Battles.. with heal moves.. Like Heal Pulse.. or Status inflicting moves.. such as Ice Beam.. for freezes, Scald for burn.. which we can explain as her having an ability to clean glasses and ice drinks. Her best stat would be her HP ..because Irina just keeps going. A blog per day every day! For years. .aside from the million of jobs she has. Lita might have every media platform to make content for.. Irina does every job in the world and still finds time to blog! Definitely a stamina type. Her defences would not be that good though Irina oftenly underestimates herself.  She always keeps yelling that people are better .. underestimating what she can do.  A fear of failure might cause her to flinch more often than you would like…so her defences aren’t great.. Her insightful blog pieces.. that are jam packed with comedy makes me think she is a special attacker.. she blows your mind!   Her speed would also be good! Because how else can you do so much in a day!

These traits do make Irina a bit hard to place as a trainer archetype.. She is too witty to fit in the Scientist archetype.. She is not skilled enough in Pokémon to be an Ace Trainer and she is too old to be a lass. Clearly she isn’t a Pokéfan. I doubt she would be a Battle Girl.. as I don’t think Irina is particularly physical as she always has something a bit .. untouchable to me.. Her Senpai Lita is definitely a Battle girl though! However I think Irina is a Hex Maniac..  The Trainer class that mostly uses ghost types.. they are a bit crazy.. usually appear in the mid to later tier of the game, showing off some skills.. and they look like they have just drunk a billion coffees.. I imagine that is how Irina looks like after a long day of working  through her entire list of whatever she does in a day! They favour the ghost type.. and two Pokémon I am going to put on her team are that type as well. 

The Team of Irina

So in the old days I would make a team containing a physical sweeper, a special sweeper, a special wall, a physical wall, a signature pokémon and a legendary.  For Irina I will not dig as deep and instead I decide to flavour her theme after her favourite Anime show Natsume Book of Friends.  I do not feel Irina is particularly competitive in the world of Pokémon, she’s  the type of person that gives you an important HM to help you further or  trade you a Pokémon so hers can walk outside a bit more.  I am not saying Irina is not a pet person.. but  I think the world of Pokémon would have too many distractions for her .. She would set out to become a Pokémon Trainer and then end up taking the Suf Championship in another region..  or becoming a movie Star in Poké Star Studios She certainly looks the part.. regardless I do feel Irina would want a bit of a reference to her team hoping that Porygon one day can make her cross over into the world of Natsume.. and thus we get the following team.

Irina’s Starter : Kantonian Meowth (Gigantamax)

So Irina’s starting pokémon would be easy! It would be a Kantonian Meowth as that is the closest thing we have to a Mani Neko.. of course she would not just get any Kantonian Meowth but she would get one that can Giganta Max.. In this form that cat is super elongated and looks a bit more monstrous.. but also like one of those inflatable flailing airmen.. making Money is something this Pokémon is really good at and I do think that is a big ambiton for Irina as well.. I do imagine her quite wealthy.  I am not sure.. but that’s what I think. It also would help Irina who I think is fairly new to the world of Pokémon to get started.. as the Fighting Types usually don’t show up in the first half of the game Irina could travel her region fairly safely without having to worry about type match ups from the get go. Of course a Mani Neko that has an elongated form.

Irina’s second Pokémon : Lombre

Based on a Kappa this would be yet another Yokai like Pokémon Irina can add to her team. Starting as Lotad.. Lombre is  Grass Water Type .. That immediately helps her with her fire water grass core..(and also as far as she is going to get with that because she would get distracted and go another route) yet it also testifies to Irina’s efficiency. Like how she can take  a blog tag and turn it into something better.. telling something about other people. I did not make it’s fully evolved form because Ludicolo is a cheerful dancer that starts dancing whenever music is one.. I am not sure if I see Irina do that.. I think Irina is the type that whenever one of those songs everyone dances to starts playing if she even is going out.. she will use that moment to go to the bathroom not to have to dance.. I might be wrong though. Lombre is more Kappa anyway and I am not sure if Irina knows how to evolve Lombre.. it will not evolve by hard work alone!

Irina’s third Pokemon:  Mawile

So by now I am pretty sure that Irina would start her journey in the Hoenn region because the third Pokémon she’d  use is Mawile .. giving her the Fairy Type I associated her with earlier.  Mawile is a physical attacker like Meowth but as a steel type also has some solid defences. She is based on the Futakuchi-onna which is a fairly well known Yokai.  The lady with the hair that eats. Mawile’s lore is just a bit.. crueler.. which I think Irina would really dig.. she has oftenly said she doesn’t always like it when bad guys have redeeming qualities and prefers things to be a bit more black and white from time to time. Where the Yokai often has valid reason in myth.. Mawile just used her power to devour prey..The Fairy Steel type is also a very solid typing.. and I am pretty sure Mawile learns Fire Fang so Irina can complete her core that way. It’s also a fairly easy catch in Hoenn. I imagine it would have a bit of a flirty personality. Rini senpai is overly romantic so she would need a Pokémon like that!

Irina’s Fourth Pokémon:  Dusclops

ANOTHER Hoenn Pokémon.. I am not sure how she does it .. but  yeah ..I noticed how many cyclops ghosty Yokai there are.. and well this is the only cyclops ghost in Pokémon is another Gen III Pokémon. Nowadays with eviolite it works  as a defensive Pokémon and is better than it’s evolution. Which is another great pokémon for Irina. She has this  youthful style, full of energy and joy. There are bloggers out there that might look into things deeper , comparing anime with the literary works of the great. Irina I have always felt a bit of kinship with. Irina can be very deep.. but she always keeps things real.. and light.. as if Irina can grow up a step.. but really likes where she is right now as well.. and she is one of the best at that level. Dusclops is said to absorb anything.. and I think that goes for Irina as well.. booze.. games and anime there is nothing Irina can’t absorb and there is nothing she can’t  enjoy Irina is one of the most positive bloggers out there that can consume everyone.. just as long as there is booze.

Irina’s Fifth Pokémon: Froslass

Irina’s final regular Pokémon I would make Froslass.. we can’t have russian-candians go without their ice type. Based on the Yuki Onna , Froslass is all about collecting. Irina is quite a collector too, recently she collected a Yaoi Mystery box, and I have seen her do these kinds of things before.  Maybe Irina doesn’t  collect the corpses of her frozen victims and uses them in a garden.. then again maybe she does, I have no idea how good Canadian cops are or what Irina does on Saturdays and Sundays and Mondays.. I do know she responds quite a bit slower on the weekends. I do have an idea Irina’s home is filled with all sorts of collectables.. though I do feel it’s mostly posters and maybe some wall scrolls, a drawer of keychains! I for a fact know she doesn’t have a lot of phone straps. Other than just having the collecting and the type in Common, Froslass like Irina would have it’s strength in it’s speed stat and special attack..

Irina’s Legendary: Xerneas

So this one might be a bit of a stretch but I feel there are very little Legendary Pokémon that fit Irina. Tapu-Fini comes to mind in terms of looks and feel, but I don’t feel like Irina would like hot weather too much.. I am not sure why.. but I imagine she is one of those .. “hide at home when it’s hotter than 20 degrees celsius types of people. So getting a legendary from a tropical Island might not be a good fit. Stereotypical the partner animal for a Canadian would be a Moose.. but there aren’t any Moose Pokémon let alone a legendary, so I went with the deer legendary Xerneas. It is based on nordic legends, based around the tree of life.  Having deep connections with the world tree Yggdrasil.  In some story variants this tree connects worlds together. I feel this also applies to Irina a lot.. she is “legendary” in her own way for being one of those pillars in the community.  There are a few others out there but I feel most connected to the Rini Pillar. She has a breeziness and humor that is well reflected once again in Xerneas Fairy Type.

Xerneas above all else represents something positive.. where most version pairings are neutral Xerneas and Yveltal are Life and Death.. Good and Bad.. and among the Legendary Bloggers I do feel Irina is one of the most positive voices.. even saying sorry if she doesn’t like an anime.. telling you it could still be awesome to you. Irina is always going on about how anime is for everyone.. welcoming every single person who is even remotely interested in anime among our ranks. She wants anime to bloom.. to be as lively as it can be..  and this is often reflected in the pieces she writes. Thus Irina truly is the legendary anime blogger that represents life in the community and these two will make a great pair.

Irina’s Trainer Journey

Such a nice and mixed team for my Senpai.. it can probably perform pretty well in battle if she evolves Meowth later on and figures out how to evolve a Lombre! Yet I do not feel that Irina would strive to be the very best.. like no one ever was. To catch them would not even be her real test. .nor would training them be her cause. You see I feel Irina would more likely be one of those trainers that ends up performing in contest spectaculars.  I mentioned it before.. when I said Irina might get distracted, but Irina is also a master of Aesthetics.  Always hunting for the perfect screenshot, analysing colours ,  making that perfect composition of pins on her Pinterest.  So I feel like contest spectaculars where it is your job to make your pokémon look as pretty as possible.. (and possibly take screenshots)  would be much more a part of her journey. Irina would bring beauty and joy without doing the deep battle analytics of others out there. 

If Irina would pursue battle I do not think she would strive to be a champion.. I think she would either become an Ice Type Gym leader.. though for some reason I can also see her as a bug type gym leader.. so she can inspire the next generation to grow stronger. To inspire that passion of training in others rather than pushing her passion to the highest level. Irina might not be the social butterfly Lita is in that sense of the way.. but Irina is truly an inspiration.. a true senpai.. or in anime terms.. a student council president.  So I really think the later life role of Gymleader would fit on Irina after she would have begun her journey!  I bet her gym puzzle would involve finding hints in awesome screenshots… or of course some wickedly fun drinking games.. after which the gym would be closed down.

And that my friends.. is Irina is a Pokémon.. and A Pokémon Trainer. What Typing would give Irina.. what Pokémon do you think should be on her squad?! Do YOU want to be made into a Pokémon and/or a Pokémon Trainer.. let me know! One person is already on my list! Of course you are more than welcome to just talk Pokémon or Irina in the comments! If you by some weird fluke don’t know who Irina is check out her blog! It’s awesoe!