1863_project Returns

Four years ago on this date, I realized that I had once again been crushing on a fictional character for ten months without actually knowing that I was.

Normally I can tell pretty quickly, but this time was different, because I was so caught up in the euphoria of finding two characters who were actually just like me for the first time. I actually didn't realize that it wasn't just that Emmet was so much like me for ten months until he and Ingo were added to Masters and I heard his voice acting. Since it's me, of course, it specifically took me hearing audio of him laughing, and then it clicked instantly and I was really, really mad about it.

Apparently everyone else knew before I did. Go figure.

Anyway, the important part about Emmet is actually that for the first time in my life, I wasn't imagining other characters with the fictional object of my affections. As a teenager, I'd make OCs who actually weren't me but who I'd try to actually make compatible with them or happily ship canon characters with each other, and as an adult I continued the latter. It took me ages to realize that it was my childhood bullying by my male peers that was so intensely hostile that I had actually been shielding myself from harm by being unable to imagine myself in those situations at all. I had never inserted myself because I didn't think I could be loved that way or that I deserved it. An abusive college roommate only confirmed that for me because if a person couldn't live with me and love me as I am, then what chance did I have?

I "met" Emmet and his older twin brother Ingo in late 2020 and immediately felt like I was looking in a mirror. They were actually just like me, and their deep autism coding, whether intentional or not, made me feel seen, because they presented the same ways I do. I still hold that if you merged them into one person, you'd have me. I quickly became deeply and intensely attached because I'd never seen a fictional character exactly like myself before, and here I had two of them! It was so validating and wonderful to see them being accepted and respected exactly as they were by other canon characters (now granted, this is Pokemon, one of the most autistic fictional universes on the planet, where eye contact is a sign of aggression). And they had a fanbase on top of that - of course, there was the inevitable ableism to navigate around, but by the time I met them things had pretty heavily quieted down and the people around appreciated them exactly as they were. That actually meant more than anything, and it allowed me to start healing that part of myself.

Fast forward ten months to July 2021, where I finally realized that no, I was also stupidly infatuated with Emmet because it turns out that he's literally everything I look for in a man but of course he isn't real AGAIN, and weirdly, this time something clicked. It hit differently. I don't know why - maybe that if he was real we'd actually be really compatible - but this was the one that unlocked my heart. He somehow overrode the walls I'd put up for two decades and I was able to imagine myself in scenarios for the first time, being accepted as I was, loved as I was, even being attractive as I was because of who I was. I still don't fully understand it, but I decided to go with it and let myself have fun with it, and it actually started to change the way I looked at myself for the first time. I wasn't broken or disgusting, I was just someone who had a lot of healing to do and Emmet was the start of that.

It's been four years since the day of the realization, and I obviously still have a lot of work to do. I still haven't tried to properly date or anything - I don't quite feel ready and I haven't let go of my shame enough. But I've made a lot of progress, and it all started because of a silly crush on a man who isn't real.

Happy fourth anniversary to my beloved and favorite (not actually) maladaptive coping method. <3 Thank you for everything, Emmet, I'm getting there.

I'm an archivist in my regular life, so sometimes I use the nice work scanner to do some better work than I could do at home. These are all scans from PokeSpe - every single panel that has Ingo, Emmet, or both of them in it.

A couple of preview images...


And my personal favorite...

This post originally appeared on Tumblr on February 3rd, 2022. I am the original author and I am posting it here as a backup.

Did you just find out about the Pokemon franchise’s most popular battle facility since the Battle Frontier because of a plot point in Legends: Arceus? Were you curious because your friends were talking about some weird train man and you have no idea what they’re on about? Worry no longer, because this mole person has you covered.

What the hell is Submas?

The term ‘Submas’ is a portmanteau of their Japanese trainer class title, Subway Masters (in English releases, they got the trainer class title Subway Boss). Note that I’m saying “they” - there are, in fact, two of them, and they’re twins.
 

Ingo (Nobori) is the older of the two of them, specializing in Singles. He speaks overly politely/formally (more obvious in Japanese), has no indoor voice, will yell “BRAVO!” the second anything remotely good or exciting happens, has an overbearing sense of responsibility (it’s an older sibling thing, trust me), and became an accidental sex symbol on Pixiv (don’t ask, he probably doesn’t know either). He’s best known for being the “serious” one and notably has not been allowed to smile in-game to this day, although he was allowed in the anime and manga to be more expressive. He makes up for this by being very, very loud.

love of my life Emmet (Kudari) is the younger of the two of them, specializing in Doubles. His dialogue is a lot more blunt and informal (again, more obvious in Japanese; the English translation made him seem almost stiff), and he’s actually the more excitable of the two of them and is nearly always depicted in-game in a good mood and smiling. This is a bit deceptive, as when he’s battling he’s actually very serious and intense about it, and he also does take his job seriously and will go through safety checks before battling in certain scenarios. He has a verbal tic of reminding people that he’s Emmet, probably because when you have an identical twin sibling you get tired of being mistaken for each other your entire lives, and another verbal tic of saying “very” as “verrrry.” He’s not irresponsible in the slightest but is still the goofball younger sibling to his older brother.

What, exactly, is the Battle Subway, and why is it so popular?

The Battle Subway is Gen 5′s most notable battle facility. To get to it, you go to Nimbasa City and enter Gear Station, which architecturally appears to be a combination of Grand Central Terminal and the late Pennsylvania Station (F in the chat). Once here, you can choose to do Singles, Doubles, Multi (2 vs. 2), or Wi-Fi battles (playing online with multiple people). You’ll face 7 opponents in a row; losing gets you booted from the train at a stop you didn’t intend to get off at, which in New York City is a regular commuter annoyance. Winning 20 in a row allows you to fight Ingo, Emmet, or both of them if you’re doing Multi Battles; you can then fight them again with their team aces if you rack up a separate winning streak of 49 battles. Like all battle facilities, this is a challenge and requires skill and luck in equal measure, but it’s a lot of fun if you enjoy pushing yourself in that way.

As for why it’s one of the most popular battle facilities to date, being referenced in multiple games since its inception in Gen 5? Japanese railfan culture is on an entirely different level than other places; the nation adores its trains, and for good reason. Throw in a set of weird-looking twins and you’ve got a recipe for success that you probably weren’t expecting. Here’s a poll done at the time of Pokemon Black and White showing the most popular characters; note that Ingo and Emmet are second and third respectively...only behind N.
 

(When I found this poll, I found some people who didn’t believe it was real. Obviously, they were people who didn’t know about Japan’s railfans.)

Why do they point like that?

Japanese railway employees use a system called pointing and calling to reduce workplace errors, improve muscle memory, and overall avoid accidents. Pointing and calling originated at the beginning of the 20th century - because steam locomotives are Very Loud - and has continued to this day because it improves safety. By pointing at each indicator/task and saying it out loud as it’s performed, it actually increases focus and decreases mistakes, which is immensely important when you’re working with trains.

The New York City subway has its own version of point and call - there are zebra signs (black and white striped signs) at each station, and when arriving at a station the conductor has to open their window and point at these signs to ensure the engineer has correctly lined the train up with the platform, because if the train isn’t lined up correctly...well, passengers could step out and there might not be a platform to step out onto. Not a good thing. Anyway, yes, you can have fun with the fact that they’re required to point at every single station.

What Pokemon should I expect to see here?

Ingo and Emmet appear to share a lot of their team members, as you’ll see both of them using certain ones depending on what mode you’re playing. Most notably, Ingo’s ace is Chandelure, and Emmet’s is Eelektross:
 

(The dynamic duo as they appeared in the anime.)

You’ll frequently see them associated with other team members, too, though. In Pokemon Masters EX, in order to allow them to work together as effectively as possible with the game’s mechanics, Ingo has his Excadrill and Emmet has his Archeops. Emmet is also frequently depicted with a surplus of Joltiks, because his Galvantula knows Cross Poison, a move it could have only learned from breeding in Gen 5.

 

This is a full listing of their team members if you’re interested, or if you’re like me and enjoy trying to run their team in other battle facilities. (Yes, it works.)

Okay, OP, you’re from the greater NYC area. How the hell does your subway system actually work?

For whatever reason, a lot of people find our subway system intimidating at first glance. We have over 470 stations and counting sprawled across several boroughs, so it can be a lot for a visitor from a place with no public transit whatsoever or a less complicated system.

The truth is that the NYC subway system is actually three historical systems that were merged a long time ago - the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (the numbered lines [1-7] and the shuttle [S] between Grand Central and 42nd Street-Times Square), the Independent Subway System (lines A-G), and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company/Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation (lines J/Z, L, M, N, Q, R, and W). In the 1940s the city decided to take control and merge them all into the modern Metropolitan Transit Authority that we know and love (?) today. If you’re interested in the history of the subway, you can learn more at the New York Transit Museum’s website!

To take a ride, you need a MetroCard, although these are in the process of being phased out for a new system called OMNY, which will allow you to tap your phone and use that as payment. Currently, the fare is $2.75. Every New Yorker ever will complain when there is a fare increase, even if that increase is minimal. Jumping the turnstiles to ride for free is illegal, but many people do it anyway. And yes, if you’re good, you can speedrun the entire subway system. I haven’t done this yet, but I fully intend to.

Do people actually fight on the subway in real life?

Yes, I’ve witnessed it, and it was far from the weirdest thing I’ve seen on the subway. You get used to seeing strange things when you ride regularly.

Are there really that many rats down there?

Yes, and they’ll be your friends if you feed them. Most of the time they avoid humans, though, but you can watch them skitter about on the tracks when trains aren’t nearby. One I observed at 14th Street-Union Station once was particularly smart and knew exactly where the train would stop, then stood just past that point and avoided being hit.

What about abandoned stations?

We have plenty, and if you know where they are you can look out the window for them as you pass through! If you’re visiting NYC, I particularly recommend taking the 6 train all the way to the end and staying on when it loops back around to go back uptown. You’ll pass through City Hall, the original terminus of the 6 line and an absolute masterpiece of architecture that has sadly been closed to the public since the 1940s due to trains being elongated since that time.

City Hall is objectively my favorite subway station in the entire city. It even has chandeliers. I’ve often wondered if this is why they gave Ingo Chandelure in the first place.

OP, you’re a foamer, aren’t you?

Maybe. (Don’t get me started on the GG1, Mallard, or the destruction of Penn Station in the 1960s.)

Is there anything else I should know?

Actually, yes, a few things:

• For whatever reason, shipping Ingo and Emmet together is called Blankshipping. I do not do this because I have a real-life younger brother and obviously am wildly turned off by incest as a result. It was hard to avoid it during the games’ original run, but it seems to have thankfully died down now, though it’s still out there in places. Tread with care.
• People in the know might notice that both of them can be interpreted as autistic-coded characters. (As an autistic person myself, I feel very seen by the fact that they exist and are so much like me.) Take care when depicting them to make sure you’re not doing anything ableist by mistake (Emmet in particular got hit hard by this early on). If you’re not sure, ask a neurodiverse person!
• Don’t touch the third rail, you’ll be electrocuted and die instantly.
• The man whose voice you hear saying “Stand clear of the closing doors, please!” is named Charlie Pellett, and his voice sounds like that because he was born in the UK and tried to disguise his accent growing up to avoid being made fun of. He now has the most recognizable voice in New York City.
• DON’T WEAR YOUR BACKPACK WHEN YOU’RE STANDING ON THE SUBWAY. Seriously, it takes up too much space, bumps other riders, and is generally a nuisance. Yes, this applies to the Hikers you meet in the Battle Subway, too.

Hopefully this guide helps you out on your journey into the world of the Battle Subway and the Submas fandom! I’m happy to assist with any more in-depth questions about our subway system/trains in general, as well as other inquiries. Just don’t send me your Arceus theories anymore, I’m trying not to think too hard about it because it makes me cry. And with that...

出発進行!

Updates since the original post was written in February 2022:

• Ingo has since been allowed to smile in Legends: Arceus, both after you battle him during the story and in the photography studio.
• The price of a MetroCard swipe has since gone up to $2.90. Yes, we all complained.