As The Pokeball Turns

TRAINER'S EYE #148 - "Blindfolded Munchlax Masters Metronome" ft. Bootlegflanderz

• David Hernandez • Season 1 • Episode 152

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Bootlegflanders, a visually impaired Pokémon Trainer, shares how he’s navigated the Pokémon world with creativity, resilience, and heart. From his first battles in Pokemon LeafGreen and Pokémon Stadium to adapting to the challenges of modern games like Pokemon Sword and Shield, Bootlegflanders opens up about what the franchise means to him. He also dives into his passion for competitive battling and reflects on how important accessibility is for fans with disabilities. This is a powerful, inspiring conversation about inclusion, connection, and the magic of playing your own way.

Listen now to discover how one Pokémon Trainer is breaking barriers, reshaping expectations, and showing that Pokemon is for everyone. 

🔗 Pokemon Trainers Living With Disabilities
Discover more powerful stories from Pokémon Trainers living with disabilities.

Sources
Opening Song: "Forget You" by Alex_MakeMusic from Pixabay

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Your next Pokemon adventure begins here!

Bootlegflanderz:

I am Bootleg Flanders, and this is my Pokemon story.

David Hernandez:

Welcome to as the Pokemon Turns, where we interview people about their experience with Pokemon. My name is David Hernandez. I'm joined by a Pokemon trainer who is also visually impaired here to share his story, not only with Pokemon, but also just living with disability itself. Bootleg Flanders. Welcome to as the Poker Ball Turn.

Bootlegflanderz:

Thanks buddy. I'm really glad to be here. It's an honor to be on this show.

David Hernandez:

Absolutely. And special shout out to Little Red Rupert who made this happen. She knew of you. She knew of me, and she was like, y'all need to get to know each other. So Thank you. Little Red Rupert, if you're listening to her, if y'all would listen to this pod, uh, this podcast, make sure to check out her channel. She's the one who made this happen, and

Bootlegflanderz:

I.

David Hernandez:

to really dive into my guest today.

Bootlegflanderz:

Big shout outer.

David Hernandez:

Now Flanders, there's a lot that we could dive into. you have a very unique, I guess, skillset, but one thing you know, I love to dive in with each of my guests.

Bootlegflanderz:

Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez:

very soft, uh, spot of Okie-dokie Flanders from The Simpsons. Obviously it's

Bootlegflanderz:

Yeah.

David Hernandez:

what's the bootleg like, why Bootleg and Flanders?

Bootlegflanderz:

So the story behind it is funny. It started with, I think I needed a gamer tag for, I think I was trying to play Fortnite with my siblings or something. and the look I have and the personality I have like. I think it was my sister or my brother said, you're like a bootleg version of Flanders.'cause like the glass is the blind part in that. And like, but I have all the positive traits but just, you know, bootleg. And I thought that was hilarious and I kind of ran with it. I had to change the spelling from an S to a Z so I could get like my name on the socials. And honestly, I think it was a typo the first time I wrote it. So we went with it.

David Hernandez:

Wow. Do you have any regrets or you kind of, owned it at this point?

Bootlegflanderz:

regrets? None, honestly. Like, I like the name. It's catchy, it's fun. Would I change it? No.'cause I can't really think of what I would change it to. And it's nice to have like a screen name and you get to be yourself while also being like a screen name and that, so internet safety, you know.

David Hernandez:

when it comes to your experience with Pokemon, you know, Simpsons and Pokemon have been going back and forth for the longest, show ever. your first experience with the Pokemon franchise? Where does this all start?

Bootlegflanderz:

Okay. So way, way back when I would've been a wee oh boy. But I think the first time I played a Pokemon game, I can't remember how old I was. But my older brother, his friend, had leaf green. And so he let my brother borrow it and then by extension I played it a bit here and there. And cause the game Boy screens are small. You can't really see so much what you're doing. You kind of get used to like memorizing the clicks or Oh, the sounds of things and you're able to play it. And I had so much fun'cause the Pokemon, they're cool designs in that. And the game was entertaining. It was also turn based. So if I had to take time to just sit and figure it out or look or whatever, I could also, then when we got the Game Boy player thing for uh. Game Cube, so you could put your things up on the TV screen. That made it way cooler, honestly. cause then I could actually see what I'm doing.

David Hernandez:

Yes. That's what I enjoyed most from the Game Boy Player. I know it's like a, I guess a pricey item nowadays, but I was so excited when they debuted that back in Gen three. I never played my Game Boy events after that. I always just plugged in my game Cube, plugged in my game, and that's how I played Pokemon Gen three. Ruby Sapphire Hoenn. Then also Fire Leaf Green was just on the TV and it was perfect. I didn't have, I could sit back. I had my wireless controller and I was just going to town.

Bootlegflanderz:

Same here. It was the the Game Boy player, even for like non Pokemon games. cause like I loved playing like the games and that, but it's. Difficult'cause even with like some of the different machines or technologies you can get to help you see better when you're blind, it's not always nice. Like one of the things you can put the little game boy under a screen, it kind of projects it up onto like a monitor, but that requires a lot of light shooting at the screen, which'cause of how screens are, that's glare that's coming back at you. Whereas Game Boy player, It's no different than if you pop a game into your game Cube. It's on that big screen. There isn't a lot of glare or anything, and you can enjoy.

David Hernandez:

Now you've alluded to that you relied on clicks, you relied on sounds. So I'm assuming that you were already visually impaired at the time, Pokemon debuted,

Bootlegflanderz:

Yes, I have been, blind since birth. Visually impaired, blind, whichever word people prefer. I am like past legally blind and I'd argue much closer to completely, but whichever word suits people better. I just use blind'cause it works. I don't take offense either way. But yeah, I've had issues with blindness since birth pretty much.

David Hernandez:

Okay. I guess to give some insight, and I don't know if you can provide that. We'll try our best.

Bootlegflanderz:

Sure.

David Hernandez:

does it mean to be your levels of blindness?

Bootlegflanderz:

So this is a little tricky, but I will do my best to explain. distance for me is really. Bad. Like say you're standing at the foot of your driveway or somewhere like on the sidewalk, the curb to the road kind of thing. There's a good chance that I'm not gonna see the other side of the road. Now, maybe with the right contrast and stuff I could see, oh, there's like grayish beige everywhere. But somebody has like. I don't know, like a dark red, toboggan or something sitting on their driveway. Maybe I'll, that'll stand out'cause it's color in that. But I have very short sight and that's just one of the things with it. It's also tricky to explain'cause it's changed over the years. where I'm at currently, and, and I apologize in advance to people if this is a little bit sad, but, as it stands right now, my right eye has what they call a calcium band. So like, think like the fog on a bathroom mirror or like the frosting you can put on windows, like, or that happens when it's really cold out. so like I can see color and I can see some motion, but everything is really, really foggy. And I hope to eventually have that calcium removed so then I can see how much I can see again. cause there was a point in time where I didn't have that. And for example, with the right equipment, I could read text, I could like, not so much see facial expressions, but like if I had a picture and I blew it up, I could see the facial expressions in a picture and stuff like that.

David Hernandez:

Mm-hmm.

Bootlegflanderz:

That's that one, the, the left eye. However, it happened suddenly, and I still don't quite understand it, but my retina detached in the left eye. And despite our best efforts and many, many surgeries, more than I'd like to admit, the retina cannot fully reattach. So like I can see in the left eye, I don't see anything, but I do see light, so like it's not like you could put a flashlight and see the flashlight moving around in your eye. It's my eyes, nerves and that work, but it just doesn't process light. So like if it's dark out, but I see like a yellow street light. I might get a yellow in my eye for the next, I don't know how long, even if we walk past it or something. It's very tricky to explain, but there's sort of where I'm at, if that makes sense. For blindness.

David Hernandez:

it sounds like to me, you can see, like I'll say blurs of color and I'll be very generous on that to where you'll see like a quick of light. Um, you say use the street light, so you see like maybe a little sharpness of yellow. Maybe if you see a street light, you see maybe a little sharpness of red and green, but that's about it. Otherwise, the world's completely blurry or black, I assume, depending on what time of day it is.

Bootlegflanderz:

Yeah, that, that's about right. Especially with the left eye. It's like that thumb before the retina thing in that I still saw mostly like color in that, but I could see motion, I could sort of read and stuff. It's, it's a very complicated thing to try and explain, but for example, if I take the calcium off the right eye. It will go from just like a blur with some motion and colors in that to maybe, oh, I still see colors'cause contrast regardless of before or now has been very important to whether I can see stuff or not. but if I remove say that blurriness, then I will be able to then see better. But yeah, it's mostly I see color and shapes. And like some motion in that.

David Hernandez:

Now, when it came to you playing the Pokemon Games, you know, you're already visually impaired at that point, you can't see, so it sounds like you're relying on, sounds like when you hear the barrier and that sound to get around, would you also have like friends help you? Like what was that experience? Trying to

Bootlegflanderz:

Um.

David Hernandez:

games for Leaf Green.

Bootlegflanderz:

So I would have like people help me for some of it, but also one of the things that was nice when you put it up on the Game Boy player is like, if you think let's go to just even like the, the first route when you go from Pallet Town to. Vermilion city I think it is, or Veridian city.

David Hernandez:

Yes.

Bootlegflanderz:

there's like the light green is grass. There's that bright yellow pathway you can walk on. And then the dark green is the tall grass with wild Pokemon. So you can kind of, oh, I can follow the yellow path. Which seems like a road and you can get there even if I don't always know exactly where my character is. But those games kind of put your character in the center. It works and yeah, you do follow like, oh, I bumped into something, you hear the bump noise and then you try to move left right up or to get around it and keep going. So a lot of wall hugging. between that and getting friends and siblings to help, that is how I navigated the games.

David Hernandez:

That's crazy'cause it's a different world to where you don't get to really see the interaction with the characters at all. I'm assuming you're pressing a through any of the text and. know, you're trying to walk through the, different ways through all the different mazes puzzles and all that. How did you, I guess,

Bootlegflanderz:

Yes.

David Hernandez:

which Pokemon you liked and which ones you didn't? I.

Bootlegflanderz:

So again, like with the thing, like the Game Boy player and you can blow up the images and stuff like that. I looked at some of the Pokemon, like that looked cool and that, and also the Cry kind of made a difference'cause right from a young age, I liked imitating the little cries in that. Just like when they had them in Pokemon Stadium, the cries were different

David Hernandez:

Mm-hmm.

Bootlegflanderz:

the motions. I'm like, this is cool. but. Going through like text in that again, like if I could blow it up with tools or something, I could read it.

David Hernandez:

Oh,

Bootlegflanderz:

It took me a long time, but it would be like if I put it, for example, on the Game Boy player and then I grab like a little hand magnifier thing, make maximize it by like 28 times or 38 times the normal size, and then I can maybe read it kind of deal. I'm not exactly sure on the numbers for the magnification, I'll be honest. It's been so long. and some of the Pokemon, like in leaf green that were just. Cool in that I like, like I liked Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur had the cool cry in that and also bulb boor, whether it was in the Pokemon stadium or in leaf green. even though it was all green, there was kind of like contrast. It's almost like mint green kind of body or turquoise green and then like that dark and also very bright green little seed on its back. I'm like, this is cool to me. And I kind of ran with it.

David Hernandez:

So you were still able to make the connection with Pokemon visually, but although I guess it wasn't as important than it was against the cries and the audio side of it.

Bootlegflanderz:

Correct. Like visually, I still could do stuff. It's just, it was a lot more, um, reliant on like the sound and other stuff. That's also why Chinese and that was that. That's a whole story. It's tricky with those. I like certain ones more. Just because they have like the contrast or they stand out.

David Hernandez:

Hmm. you, can you gimme like an example of just some shining Pokemon you, I guess enjoy.

Bootlegflanderz:

So, a good example for me, for a shiny Pokemon one that I enjoy, you take Scizor, which is normally like a maybe burgundy, red kind of deal like that, more dark, but not like a bold red. And then you make it like candy apple green. That is a huge contrast and also it's. It's striking and it looks nice to me. And it's that big kind of color change for Shinies that I like more than we took a blue and we made it like one shade lighter. No shade to those people might like those, but for me, I don't like, look at the gar chomp line. I can't actually tell the difference between the shiny and the other one. Even if I put them side by side, I, it doesn't register to me and that's sad.

David Hernandez:

I think one thing I love is how you use descriptions for the Pokemon, for example, Scizor. Instead of saying, oh, it's a red bug, use burgundy. Which is a very more different shade that, you know, most people would describe it, or, I mean, at least I would. But then you said instead of glow in the dark bug, you said, um, what was it? Shoot, you had a good one. Uh,

Bootlegflanderz:

apple Green.

David Hernandez:

apple green. That's such a very powerful visual for somebody who doesn't even have that much. You know, visual, I guess, strengths to begin with. it seems like you have more appreciation for what you can see despite how limited it is.

Bootlegflanderz:

Yeah. It's also like when trying to explain things like, sometimes it'll be like, oh, can you see reds? Can you see greens? Can you see yellows? It's like, yes, but it, it, a contrast is big, but also it's like, those, I don't know what the name for it is, if it's pastel or not, but some of those colors where it's like a washed out yellow or like they put a, like a whiteish yellow. Those kind of more faded or washed out colors. Those to me sometimes that might just register as white, so I don't really look at those. And if people ask, oh, can you see this is red, this is that, it's, it depends on the red, like a burgundy or like a, a darker bold red, or even like the really bright fire engine red. Yes, with the right thing on the background and stuff, but that's where I try to get more elaborate in describing it.'cause sometimes even when you're at hospitals and that, and they try to be like, okay, we're gonna do like the visual tests and that I have to explain contrast can be important and with colors and that. It all depends on lighting and stuff like that. So I've gotten very good at articulating it as best I can.

David Hernandez:

Mm-hmm.

Bootlegflanderz:

My sister and my mom and my brother and even friends, they help me sometimes'cause I'm like, I see this red, I don't see this. Or what is the name for this shade of this color? And they help me out with that. So then I can articulate better.

David Hernandez:

Now, when it came to Pokemon, you know, you started with Leaf Green, where'd you go from there?

Bootlegflanderz:

The way that we ended up getting the games, we had leaf green, and then eventually my mom got Pokemon Stadium game for the Nintendo 64. And that one, again, it was on a big screen. It was lots of fun. the cries were different. And even, not even just the visuals for like the animations, like when you see like, oh, they got hit with fire blasts. So then like they get that orangy color and you see a little bit of like smoke or steam come off them. It's the sounds that went with it. Like in game bubble and bubble beam and leaf green sounds one way, but then in Pokemon Stadium, they took like the blowing bubble noise and added almost like a, it's raining down or being fired at you, like out of a cartoon gun or something. I like, I like the sounds, I like the colors, I like the, the, the, everything that went with it. It was immersive

David Hernandez:

I think with Bubble Beam,

Bootlegflanderz:

there. You're good.

David Hernandez:

like almost, uh, like a tempo. It started high then go, woo.

Bootlegflanderz:

Yeah.'cause it goes up, down, up, down, kind of like Aurora Beam did in the Pokemon Stadium games.

David Hernandez:

And then ice beam I think had like back and forth. High pitch. High pitch,

Bootlegflanderz:

Do, do you want me to try and imitate it?

David Hernandez:

I can't even imitate that, but you know what I'm talking about though, right?

Bootlegflanderz:

Like, there, there's, there's the, the, the best way I can do for ice beam and Yeah. Versus in game it was just a simple like. And then it did like the, the sound of almost like icicles falling, which was cool still. But it's the fact that they made it so different, yet you knew exactly this is ice. Even if you didn't know it was ice beam, it's like, oh, that's ice, that's ice.

David Hernandez:

Yes. And I think that's something that's kind of missing even with the more current games, is that that small detail that makes it distinct from a fire attack to a fighting attack. One, you know, example, seismic toss or csic toss is what the announcer would

Bootlegflanderz:

Yes.

David Hernandez:

It would go in a circle and you would hear a circle sound almost. And it's just that small little detail. You could tell it's a fighting move compared to, you wouldn't hear that in like a grass but you know the other different types of moves that are out there.

Bootlegflanderz:

And then like in some of the Pokemon games, when you used the seismic toss, the Pokemon went up into the air and it did like the woo, and then.

David Hernandez:

So would you do like all

Bootlegflanderz:

Was good.

David Hernandez:

and I guess all the cups in Pokemon Stadium, like how deep did you, how

Bootlegflanderz:

Um,

David Hernandez:

Pokemon Stadium?

Bootlegflanderz:

when I got a chance to, I played, I don't remember if I ever finished all the cups. I know finishing Prime Cup was difficult'cause Mew with thunder wave was annoying. The the last trainer in Prime Cup master ball, their team is pretty stacked. But for me it was the constantly being paralyzed and trying to break through Mew is hard. That thing is really bulky in that game.

David Hernandez:

Yep. And then you see all the difficulties with the status moves specifically. And

Bootlegflanderz:

Yeah.

David Hernandez:

the rap was really what annoyed me the most in those

Bootlegflanderz:

Oh, rapid fire spin. Yeah.

David Hernandez:

More so rap is what I saw.'cause uh, Tentacruel was very common. I don't remember who else was a faster rapper. I think Victory Bill sometimes would annoy me, but Victory

Bootlegflanderz:

Yeah. Victory Bells would do it. Onyx could do it.

David Hernandez:

was slow. That's the only reason why I don't throw it in there.

Bootlegflanderz:

Yeah. It, it depends though, like if you got like when they're bulky, like. Say it's the last Pokemon. Sometimes you have something slow left or maybe you're paralyzed. And that's what I ran into Rapidash with Fire Spin made it really hard to finish Gym Leader Castle because Blaine Fire Spam. Spammed but I also liked playing the mini games'cause they were a lot of fun too. especially the ones like the, the Magikarp and the Sandshrew one were great because you didn't have to worry about losing your character. You just press buttons. But it made noise. I still to this day, am terrible at Clefairy says, but I will attempt to play it with friends for fun.

David Hernandez:

I wonder why. Yeah.

Bootlegflanderz:

Uh huh and then I don't remember if, you remember the game with the Lickitung. There's all the things on the plates, which you couldn't,

David Hernandez:

Yeah.

Bootlegflanderz:

couldn't tell me what those were. I just made up things as it went. Like, oh, I. This, I forget what the item was. I'm like, oh, that looks like a controller. Okay. So he's eating controllers. Cool. And I, I ran with it, but when he could get'em and he'd be like, bang,

David Hernandez:

Yeah.

Bootlegflanderz:

he'd go red or green, it was it. I loved the things like that, the small little details that made the games fun. Even if visually, I'm probably missing something, I could still follow along and had a lot of fun with it. Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez:

to Pokemon after Pokemon Stadium, where did it progress from there? Like what's the journey?

Bootlegflanderz:

So after that, I believe we got Emerald and then the big one at that point would've been, Pokemon Xd, Gale of Darkness. I've still, to this day, have yet to play Coliseum, but I played a lot of xd. There's one that that was difficult game to play. The one thing I will say that made it better than most of the Pokemon games even now, this is a small detail, but you know how in like, take Fire, red Leaf Green or even, sword Shield Scarlet Violet, it's a white text box with black writing. Pokemon XD did the opposite where they had a black, like not a transparent black where you could see the background behind it, but like a very dark, black, bold background. And then they put like. Bold white text on it.

David Hernandez:

Yes.

Bootlegflanderz:

an example of contrast that makes it easier for me to see. I couldn't really tell you why, but dark theme and stuff like that just makes it easier. And so in that sense, also, I think they made the text just larger. XD was great. Um, I don't think the game had a bump sound, but also, thankfully a lot of the stuff in the game was very. Big and colorful. So barring a few little areas, I was able to navigate it myself through trial and error. And also the game keeps your character center focused, which is nice. But I had a lot of fun that that game. The, the sounds, the fun things you can do. It was very, very much a trip

David Hernandez:

Now when it come to XD, specifically, how difficult was it to navigate though, because you don't have that sound? I don't remember. I don't think you had that sound compared to like

Bootlegflanderz:

I don't think the sound is in that game. Yeah. so I think it's heavily depends on the area. So like this is just, again, this can also highlight contrast in that.'cause the game sometimes has like a top down view. The lab you start at in the game. It can be tricky sometimes.'cause a lot of the stuff looks the same. It's all like the same kind of color. So I'm like, oh, this room. I know like the one area has a side up. But I'm like, okay, but who, they're in this room? Is that the room where I go left and up, or do I have to go down? And it's a lot of memorizing some of the other maps, like, I forget the name of the village. It's got like the, the laid back country music. Yeah, that one, you're less of a top down view and more of like a standard third person kind of view. You start on that bridge. They make it pretty obvious that there's, the hill also took me a long time to realize there's a poke ball right at the start of that area. So there you go. you walk up the hill and because of the way the camera's centered for most of that area, I'm like, okay, I see the brown bridge. There's the green, there's the green, there's blue underneath. But I see the bridge. So I walk down right to the edge. Good thing I can't fall, and I can walk across the bridge. And because enough of the stuff looks. Different. It's pretty easy to navigate. And then there's these puzzles, they're in like two or three spots where you have to click the colored levers and then you move across on these floaty platforms. The problem is the camera angles and those areas specifically. It's a confusing puzzle as it is, but for me, I'm like, okay. sometimes they have like a light blue. Then like maybe a very light green, but they look the same to me. So I'm like, oh, I pulled this. Oh, there's another blue. So I just pull the blue again. Nope, you need to pull this color. And it gets tricky. But I'd say generally that navigation other than like one or two maps in the game would be fairly easy even without the bump sound, thankfully.'cause they did contrast and nice camera angles.

David Hernandez:

And then I was gonna say, I think Mt. Battle would be super easy for you because you literally only have the one way you can go. I think. The only difficulty would be trying to figure out where the small bridge is, but since you have more ability to see contrast, I don't think that would've been as difficult.

Bootlegflanderz:

So Mt. Battle actually is pretty easy. The only parts where it's kind of difficult. So you know, there's the different stages of Mt. Battle. Like you go up the first levels, it's pretty basic, bold colors in that, it's that section, I forget, like if it's maybe halfway through or a little bit like a third of the way in like your 30 to 60 kind of area could be wrong. You hear like the bubbling of the lava and that, and that helps for some stuff. But the map gets. Darker, but not just that it gets darker. There's almost like, and I could be wrong, almost like a thin fog or something over it. I couldn't tell you what color it is, but everything seems a little more blurred. Could be'cause it got darker. That's the only time where it's really difficult to navigate Mt. Battle.'cause I can barely make out the letters.'cause now everything's more red and the letters in Mt. Battle are always red. But even the bridges before these bright. Beige with yellow on the side. Bridges that stood out with everything, have this reddish color with a reddish like magma underneath background. I'm kind of just bouncing around and I'm just guessing. I'm like, okay, muscle memory. I might need help here.

David Hernandez:

Now clearly you have a lot of experience with Pokemon, and we're gonna dive into more of it, but I gotta ask like, what's your favorite Pokemon?

Bootlegflanderz:

Okay, this is a tricky question. I would say design wise like that I just think is like adorable and fun in that would be Munchlax. And it also holds kind of like a little bit of, emotional connection aside from he's a goofy Pokemon bun that loves to eat You know, the Mr. Dungeon games, how those work. Like you, you answer some questions, you get a starter picked for you

David Hernandez:

Yes.

Bootlegflanderz:

thing. when I finally got Explorers of Time on the ds, my first run and only run, actually, I did the thing and I got Munchlax and I'm like. Cute. I like this Pokemon. And then the more I played through mystery dungeon, the more I got attached to Munchlax.'cause that game is a real journey. I, I loved it, honestly. But Munchlax, not only are you like a normal type, so you also have a lot of options for moves and fun stuff like that. Even if, I guess you could say you're playing on hard mode'cause you don't have advantages like other types. But it was just fun. And honestly, the more I played it, the more I'm like. The more I stare at this little munch la, the more cute it gets and I love it.

David Hernandez:

What's the other one you said there was that one specifically, but what was the other reasons for the others.

Bootlegflanderz:

For me, some of the Pokemon that I've just generally thought looked cool would've been like the concept of like Magnemite and Magneton, especially in Pokemon Stadium.'cause like when they go to use a move, they kind of keep. Moving in and out of each other, like a, a, a symbol or whatever. It was cool to me and mildly and trancing. Also, the sound they make in Pokemon Snap was very satisfying, and there's something about little metal balls with magnets floating around together that I thought was cool. God, I've had a lot of Pokemon that I've liked over the years, but it's hard to pick a favorite, that's why, at least for now I just say it's Munchlax. But there's other ones that have been like, I really do like these Pokemon.

David Hernandez:

favorites based on your experiences with them in the game. You mentioned how Munchlax was because of Pokemon Mystery, dungeon Magneton and Magnemite were specifically from Pokemon Snap. So it sounds like ba, you base your favorites on the game you play

Bootlegflanderz:

Yeah, because.

David Hernandez:

favorite.

Bootlegflanderz:

Yeah.'cause it's, it's hard to, um, maybe it's just me, but it's hard to pick a favorite when there's so many nice ones. And also, like, even if you watch like the, the anime or whatever, they do some cool stuff with the Pokemon, but, I look at it like when there's memorable things again, like even with Pokemon Snap, they do like the, the, the fun little interactions and sounds. It's less of, I look at a Pokemon man that looks so cool because I'm basing it off. The other factors. Visuals do help too. Like, again, like how I explained how Scizors shiny is cool, but that's where I kind of go with picking Pokemon. I like, if that makes sense.

David Hernandez:

No, it does. Like I said, and I guess on that note, I want to ask, since you know you are visually impaired, what's a Pokemon cry that you enjoy listening

Bootlegflanderz:

Ah, okay. So for those who may not know, from generations one to five, Pokemon cries were done a certain way, but then I think it was generation six onwards, they changed a lot of the old Pokemon cries. So they do sound different. But cries that I think are cool and, and then they're fun to like imitate or do. there's a lot of these ones. I, I have a lot of fun with these, but, a good example. Empoleon sounds cool. I like the fact that, I think it's. Omanyte and Machop used to sound almost identical. Same with Charizard and Rhyhorn. even just some of the goofy ones that make me smile on that. take Anihilape from Scarlet Violet. It almost sounds like breaking twigs after it does its little groan or grumble and the things like that are very amusing to me.

David Hernandez:

Now you've played Pokemon through most of the generations. Do you have a particular generation of games that you enjoyed playing the most out of all of them.

Bootlegflanderz:

this is a good question and actually a difficult question. So real quick, I'm just gonna say, I did not play any of generation six or seven. I'll just get that out of the way. Just I. Didn't wanna buy another smaller screen at the time system to try and play these games. it was, just difficult. And there would be a lot of cost to do. I would like to, if they put them on like the switch or a larger screen, I'd revisit them. so generations that I liked, generation three, kind of a bit of a soft spot for'cause that's where I started out. And a lot of the stuff was fun and simple and you had like your XD in that. But one of them that I particularly enjoyed, and it's when I started playing competitive, would be Sword and Shield. They had like the cool sound effects and stuff, but they managed to make the game a lot easier to get into competitively compared to other things. Like you had bottle caps, you had mints, you had stuff. But even that aside, it's so easy to level up stuff'cause you can get the EXP candies from raids and rental teams and on a competitive level, I love playing that. But I also liked the sound effects from Dynamax and that it was fun and the generation, although. It's kind of difficult to navigate, especially'cause you don't really have a mini map and the map isn't super easy to read. It was fun to try and navigate. Definitely needed friends help for a lot of that, but it was fun to navigate. And then by extension, Scarlet and Violet, which is a little easier to navigate, is also fun for that. Being able to wander around and you kind of get to see Pokemon walking around, you hear them, you do stuff. It was fun.

David Hernandez:

Now you alluded to how it's more difficult to navigate nowadays. You know, Pokemon switched over to doing more 3D back with gen six with Pokemon sun and Moon, and of course they doubled down on it with generation, I believe, eight and nine, with short and sealed and scar and violet because you can't really see as well. difficult has it been seeing the progression of Pokemon Games to what it was back in the day like? What are the challenges you see now that maybe people don't realize?

Bootlegflanderz:

So. again, I can't speak on six or seven, I'm just making sure that's clear. So there's not any flack. But, when I played even I played the original black and white. I got white and I got my sister black and we played together. It was a lot of fun. even that game had subtle things that were different. Like when I pointed out in Leaf Green when you had like the bright yellow pathways and the green grass and that. Black and white took a direction where the graphics, I guess you'd say look better or more realistic kind of deal. But it took away some of the contrast, which made it difficult to navigate. And as we progressed into 3D, like 3D moving through some of the towns I would've liked in Sword and Shield even take a Hammerlocke'cause I get lost there pretty often. It would be nice if like the flag poles that I get stuck on would stand out a little more, even though there's the bump sound, it's quiet in that game, so it's difficult. A little bit more contrast in towns would be nice. And specifically areas like, the water town's called bury. I think, there's points like when you're walking towards the lighthouse, the camera zooms way out and I'm like, now I can't see myself at all. I don't know if I'm center left right. It's little things like that that you see more. The games have gone 3D, which I guess for people who can see, it makes sense'cause it looks cool or a little more dynamic. But those are some of the struggles. I have less contrast as graphics improve and then again with the camera angles make it tricky to navigate these, especially by myself.

David Hernandez:

So usually you have to rely on, I guess, on family and friends to be able to kind of have you experience the story. Is that kind of

Bootlegflanderz:

Uh.

David Hernandez:

it's

Bootlegflanderz:

Y

David Hernandez:

into nowadays for you?

Bootlegflanderz:

Yeah, some of it can be muscle memory and remembering. Some places have better contrast than others, but a lot of it is family or friends or I find some tools like there's this ai, it's not great'cause it's still a work in progress and like every 10 minutes you have to refresh it unless there's an error. Then you have to do it sooner and I can share my screen and be like, Hey, Is there any Pokemon nearby? And it'll tell me sometimes or like, Hey, on my map there's this, which direction do I move my cursor to hover over it so I can set a marker? And things like that. Those I've, that's how I've tried to navigate to have a little bit more independence in being able to play the games and also just trying to, level the playing field.

David Hernandez:

How do you feel that you, I guess, are losing independence as the games have progressed? Do you, does it affect you at all? And if so, what way?

Bootlegflanderz:

I will say it's a tricky one to answer, so. On one hand, like I do need to slowly learn. Like before I had the issue with my retina, I was able to, not great, but I could navigate most of Scarlet Violet decently. Even if what might've taken someone 20 minutes, takes me like two hours, it's fine. except area zero. That was really hard. but. it's not a great feeling when you feel like you have to rely on more and more people to do stuff, especially when you love doing it. But also like I have a solid group of people and I make the best of it, and I still try to find different tech and stuff just so I can be more independent.'cause things may get better, things may get worse, but I still try to, take the positive outlook and do what I love to do, and I'm gonna find ways that I can keep doing it.

David Hernandez:

What is it about Pokemon that you love?

Bootlegflanderz:

there's a lot of things that I actually really do love about Pokemon. I like the colorful monsters and the fun moves. it's more strategy based. So like, even if you are blind or deaf, or even if you have like problems, like maybe your hands move slowly or you have shakes, you can all be put on a level playing field because you have your timer. It's like turn based. But also can be strategy based. So. Okay. I'm fighting you. maybe you switch out, so I'll just shoot leach seeds anyway. Or maybe I'll just switch out. They, they have ways that you can still figure out what's going on, unlike other sports and even a lot of other games where it feels like everyone's on an even playing field. And that's also why I like competitive. But even just the play throughs of it, some of the stories are fun. The Pokemon, whether you look at them through the show or through the games or even the spinoff things, they're, they're just entertaining. It's almost like if you look at some other games where like, the pickman are cute and fun, or Oh, there's like the cute little doggy and stuff. It, it's that kind of vibe too.

David Hernandez:

You know, it sounds like you enjoyed not only The chess side of Pokemon, which you know, is the competitive side, but also you just enjoy, I guess, the way that you can kind of connect with the memories with the Pokemon. Like I said, you don't, you have a hard time just choosing a favorite because for you it's not about the looks, although it does matter a little bit. It's, it's about like how you encountered and what was the context behind that. And that's also progressed into your competitive side as well.

Bootlegflanderz:

Yes. I'm also, and this might be a bit off topic, but I'm also a very big believer. A lot of people look at competitive like, oh, you can, you just have to use like the same handful and maybe when you're starting out'cause it's like established and you can just learn how to, oh, when to switch, when to hit, but. I am a big believer and I do this with a lot of my content. I will take concepts, whether generated by chat, by friends or whatever, just something I come up with and I will run it, even though it is, everyone says it's bad or it's not meta. Like somebody sent me a team, no restricted in a format where there's restricted and I have Trapinch, and I had a lot of fun with that team and I won games.

David Hernandez:

Wow, you won Game with a Trapinch.

Bootlegflanderz:

Not one, two.

David Hernandez:

Oh,

Bootlegflanderz:

We beat a Koraidon and Miraidon

David Hernandez:

I guess what appeals to you about that side?'cause that's pretty, Trapinch is pretty spicy when you come to the competitive, I would imagine,

Bootlegflanderz:

Just like running Toxapex in doubles most people look at it like, that's terrible, but I'm like, but I have a way to make it work. And I got top 500 back in regulation C.

David Hernandez:

Oh my gosh. like you're

Bootlegflanderz:

Yeah.

David Hernandez:

scientist when it comes to the VGC side or competitive side of Pokemon.

Bootlegflanderz:

I'd like to think so. Like I'm not gonna sit here and say that I'm, by any means amazing. Like I haven't done a regionals or anything, but I like to build, I like to have fun, use goofy stuff outta the box stuff, things I like. And even if there's something that's very standard, I like to make it different. Add a flare to it, make it work.'cause that's how you innovate and you have fun with it, first and foremost.

David Hernandez:

It sounds like you really enjoy the challenge behind it.'cause you know,

Bootlegflanderz:

Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez:

not to engage with video games or Pokemon, you know, you can't see Pokemon's become less accessible, but you still try to persist. You still try to engage with the franchise even though they don't really, I guess, acknowledge you that well. But then you also try to do spicy picks, you know, Trapinch to where, yeah, maybe a useless Pokemon for some, but you enjoy the challenge of trying to win some games with it.

Bootlegflanderz:

Yep. But to answer though, like why do I like the competitive side of Pokemon is Yeah.'cause like it's, it's, again, it goes to the even playing field and also I do enjoy. the strategies, the, the, you get to see the interactions with the fun cries and that, especially like now, if you knock out a Pokemon or if you switch the other Pokemon, they make the sound and the sounds change whether you're high health, low health, or you get knocked out too, which is nice, but a lot of other games,'cause like before my site got to where it is now, it's progressively gotten worse as I've grown up, which is just how, what I'm dealing with is. But, I would play games like League of Legends with my siblings and stuff, and I mean, I did okay, but you're sitting at the bottom of the barrel and 90% of the game, like. I can't look at little health bars on the minions. I can't, play the characters where you're supposed to be at a range.'cause I keep losing my cursor in that. So having a game that's turn base, that not only I can play and enjoy the little characters in that, but I can even play competitively. So you get to scratch that itch and also welcome other people into it, so to speak. It's a good feeling, honestly.

David Hernandez:

You've talked about how, you know, you stream on Twitch. You started making content. What led you want to go down doing that, and, how has it been trying to make content?

Bootlegflanderz:

So content creation. That was a tricky one. What made me want to do it is. Part of when I was getting into Pokemon, I would watch certain other creators or streams and some people just explained like getting better at battling or different tips and tricks to team build and stuff like that. Some people, there was another person, I don't think they do content anymore, but they would build outta the box kind of teams and have fun with it too. But they would have results. It's not just, oh, this is a gimmicky team. You'll win one every like. 25 games. No, he would win at least like 30, 40% of his games, so it was great. Another factor that got me to want to create content and stuff was so. Even though you can kind of set up your switch like docket, put it on your TV or monitor some stuff was still difficult to read and I had not been made aware until very recently. The Switch had a Zoom feature built in. But what I did is I went out and I got a capture card. so I could plug my switch into my computer and then I can use like the magnifier or the AI thing, or the screen reader to read text or see the game better and stuff like that. And then I'm like, well, I could also stream then and not only, do videos and stuff, but I could also stream and people could watch and engage and not only maybe get a little more comfortable or be welcomed into competitive or shiny hunting, stuff like that, but also whether it's Pokemon or other games, I can give the experience, like y'all get to be interactive. I have my chat. Help me so often with, Hey, is this the right item? Or where's the Pokemon guys? Like how many. Box, like squares in the box, left, right, up, down and they like it'cause they get to have like the blind experience, so to speak, without having to have the drawbacks, which then they learn, if you're spreading awareness so to speak, but you're also making it fun and entertaining and very interactive for them. So those are the things I've found through streaming and why I enjoy doing it.

David Hernandez:

What's been the reception like, I guess for you being somebody who's visually impaired streaming, like what comments have you received?

Bootlegflanderz:

I would say mostly it is positive, thankfully. I've had like sometimes in YouTube videos or comments for TikTok or even sometimes in stream chat where people have either accused me of faking it or just been rude for simple things. Like I had a video where, I thought it was like a glitch because of when there's the terror, the screen kept flickering, I thought. But what it really was is I think it's like dragonite flying and the way the camera's angled, as it moves its wings, that flicker gets stopped and then flickers, and then stops, and then flickers. It's just the way the camera angle was, but I thought it was a glitch. Like my screen was just chopping out and that's why I kept doing this flash of, I couldn't tell what color it was, so I put the video out there and some people are just. Some people laughed. Some people said it's like a disco dance. And then you have the people who make the negative comments. And I also don't believe in really engaging with people who are gonna leave negative comments. You can either just ignore them or delete them. So that way people don't just keep doing it, like you don't engage with the negativity'cause you don't really wanna foster that in your community. My personal opinion. as for Stream other than the art scam bots and that again, like in Twitch Chat, mostly been positive. People have a lot of fun with it and they're entertained. Some people stay, some people go after a bit. It's fine, but I've only had a few people where I've had to be like, Hey, Cut it out or like kick them, ban them, whatever, because it's like, I gave you a chance. even with things for my discord, it takes me a while. Like, okay, you guys joined. I need to go through with the screen reader to find the setting, which, depending on how Discord updates their code. And that is easier, more difficult to do even if nothing. Visually changes for a sighted person. And I'm like, okay guys, it might take a while for me to even just give you the members role. So until I do that, I'll just ping everyone instead of members if I go live or do something. But you gotta be patient. And I make it very transparent and clear when stuff's going on. But some people are okay with that. Some people are just. Negative and I remove the negativity and I just keep the positivity that way, even if it's not towards me or just blindness in general. It's more welcoming for people of all skill levels or all levels of wanting to play games or do stuff to be open in themselves in the community.

David Hernandez:

And I think this answers why some people question about, you know, why do we have awareness days? Or why do we have awareness months? Or, you know, whatever question you want to insert in. I think

Bootlegflanderz:

Mm-hmm.

David Hernandez:

you really. Are involved or you know somebody directly, you don't realize some of these challenges that happen. the one that fits to mind is back when I was in college, we had somebody who would make games and we had somebody who was visually impaired always come. And the games we always were common games you would do with the group. They were all visually paced. And we thought, we finally found one where he could be included. There was one to where it was like charades to where you're supposed to, write a word on the person's back. So we thought like, okay, he'll be able to feel it,

Bootlegflanderz:

Oh, I know what you're talking about.

David Hernandez:

see it, but does not know regular English words. He knows braille. then we're

Bootlegflanderz:

Yep.

David Hernandez:

but see, that's the thing though. It's like see things both within Pokemon as well as within life that. Me, myself included. Don't see. And unless you really know somebody or connect with them, a lot of what you're mentioning, I'm genuinely curious how many people who listen to this episode are aware of the challenges that happen with people who are visually impaired, you know?

Bootlegflanderz:

Well, I mean, if you get any comments of people asking for more stuff, and even sometimes in my chat, I don't mind explaining the stuff. It may take time to put out like a video, a post, or even just if you want to drum up a conversation while I'm live, I don't mind doing that. I do get distracted sometimes, but I don't mind sharing it. But yeah, the thing with, see, luckily for me, I have enough sight and I was able to learn, printing and cursive, personal opinion cursive. At least when I do it, I know sometimes it's not the cleanest, although. My mom and whenever I have to sign for stuff, people say that I have really, really nice handwriting. But, I make sure my letters are very distinct. Like an L can look like an f, can look like an e kind of debate. Like if you're going fast, even if the things are a little more spaced out and it takes longer to write, I make sure that it's definite difference. So if I have to read it. I can tell the difference even if I'm not like studying hard. I also know braille, which is nice. But, no, it did not help with the Reggie Quest thing because braille I know by feel and I know what the dots are, but if they did a black thing with the white braille dots, maybe I could have figured it out. But the contrast wasn't good for that. So, eventually,'cause that, that took ages after I realized it was. Braille, which would've taken all but way, way too long. I could read it, yes, but it would be a lot quicker if I just found a guide to do that side quest. But for my own personal, just wanting to know, I would go back there and I would read,'cause like they have the little stones in that room, I think they have the whole braille alphabet there, if I recall correctly. And then I would stop and sit there and be like, yep, that's right. Yep, that's right. Hmm, wait a minute. Is that that,'cause like braille might be different in other languages too, so, and since it's Japanese translated to English for Pokemon, I don't know if they have like Japanese Braille or not. So that was the curiosity I had with that.

David Hernandez:

I guess, you know, what keeps you wanting to try to be engaged? You know, some people would say it would be easier just to not even try to, not even try to be involved within gaming or within Pokemon. Why continue to keep trying to stay engaged despite the limitations

Bootlegflanderz:

this is a good question and it goes past Pokemon in that, but like most of the things in my life, learning to print, learning to do a lot of the things, even the little bits of tech, I'm slowly teaching myself. So I can just do stuff. I could just sit on my hands and give up because there's things stacked against me. a good way to put it would be like. You're not gonna run a marathon overnight, there's gonna be hurdles. Okay? Maybe you twisted your ankle so you find ways so that way when you run next time, your ankle doesn't twist. And you can slowly do better even if you never make that marathon, but you're able to run like a mile that's still running. And if you enjoy running, do it. For me, I like gaming in general and especially because like I try and I have like I can go out with my siblings, my friends and that, and I can do stuff out and about sometimes. But especially with light sensitivities and some of the stuff I'm dealing with and even just recovering from surgery, it's not always easy to be out and about.'cause like the light, for example, the light off my computer screen with my glasses, I'm okay, but sometimes sunlight just hurts. Even if I have like the really dark sunglasses on sunlight hits different than artificial light.

David Hernandez:

wow.

Bootlegflanderz:

a small thing people may not think about. So gaming is one of the things when I'm at home, aside from like I'll listen to music and watch TV and videos and stuff too, but gaming is an interactive, fun thing I can do, make friends and do stuff with people, and it's also relaxing. And you get to like you're snowboarding in a game or you're going through a jungle and stuff. Traveling isn't exactly easy for me costing that aside because depending on where you go, there's barriers of just, you're now in a foreign place and all you're trying to figure out where you are, your direction, and that is off. And some places are more and less accepting of disabilities, so it makes it difficult. Whereas a game, if I can with accessibility or help with friends, play the game, I get to travel around. Almost like people say a book can trav transport you to a magical land. It's that too.

David Hernandez:

Boole fingers. I want to finish on this last question. It's a

Bootlegflanderz:

Sure thing.

David Hernandez:

If you could bring six Pokemon, what six would you bring?

Bootlegflanderz:

Oh, why do you have to hit me with such a hard one? for funsies, because I just feel like it, I, I'm gonna treat this as if like I was a gym leader. So what I'm gonna do is I'm going to have my team here. I have a theme going on.'cause that's, that's honestly way easier for me to answer the question.

David Hernandez:

let's go

Bootlegflanderz:

Um, I would go, oh, what's that Pokemon called?

David Hernandez:

Well, since you're doing Gym Leader, are you doing the typing or.

Bootlegflanderz:

Yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do a typing, and I have, and I have an idea behind it, and it makes it fun for me. I'm going to, because it would either be grass or poison, but the thought I have in my head would be poison. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go, Salazzle Toxicroak, Revaroom. Muk, but like either of the Muk work,'cause they're both cool to me. Crobat and my last Pokemon, the, the, the, the coolest of the cool that I would pick would probably be Galarian Slowbro, because I like the little, like he's got the shell on his arm. Look.

David Hernandez:

Yeah, he's got like the little, uh, I call it a little water gun kind of thing, you know?

Bootlegflanderz:

Yeah, that's what it looks like.

David Hernandez:

BootlegFlanders, thank you for coming on. As the pickleball turns, before you go, if people want to check out your content, if they want to check you out on stream, if they want to even just connect with you directly, where can they go? By all means, please plug away.

Bootlegflanderz:

So I have a YouTube channel. Twitch channel. I do use Twitter, but it's kind of difficult. I have a TikTok, I have an Instagram, but that's also difficult, so I haven't really posted on that yet, but I'm trying to. And the best part about all this is, it's the same name across everything. It's Bootleg Flanders, B-O-O-T-L-E-G-F-L-A-N-D-E-R. Z. Z. Z, whichever you wanna say. All one word, all lowercase usually. And that's where you can find me.

People on this episode

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David Hernandez

Host
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Dux

Co-host
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Layla

Co-host