I finally have this lil cutie of an item in my filthy hands, what better excuse for a first post?
...I can hear you already: "For what reason would I be interested in this article? Why even write something like this? No one will look such a thing up on the internet." Well... it's simple. I come from a time in which no-one, apart from corps, thought that hard about engagement and numbers. People celebrated 100 hits, for crying out loud. We all made websites because it was fun, and to share ourselves to the world.
But, what's this "cutie of an item" I'm talking about? Let's see it:
Uh. A small pouch. A small uber-overpriced pouch branded Pokémon (was it a Pokémon Center exclusive? I'm not sure). Well, technically a coin purse, but coins have a tendency to stain... and I'm not staining something I spent [REDACTED] Euro for. It became my favorite place to stash USB pendrives, my SD card reader, my R4, my Pokéwalker... all small tech shit that would get lost in my drawer. On the backside it has a slot to stash a card in (I slapped my IRL trainer ID for competitive TCG/VGC events in it). Did I really need it? Why did I decide to buy such a small expensive thing? Well, let's get into what the merchandising line Contents of Trainer's Bag (2019) is, and why it appealed to me.
This line had a lot of items, ranging from coin purses, to pouches, to bags, to pocket mirrors, notebooks, card sleeves, and the like. All with four different kinds of print, which, at first sight, seemed random Pokémon related objects... but, once you squinted a bit, you could see... those items portrayed belonged to four very specific trainers! Two male, two female, two adults, and two kids: Steven, Cynthia, Calem and Selene. Specifically:
The objects in the first image I posted above belong partially to Cynthia, the Sinnoh Champion. A pochette with a Spiritomb charm, a Gothita themed umbrella, a thick notebook with polaroids of Dialga and Palkia, a small pouch with pens to write with, a pocket mirror with a Roserade engraved on it, and some beauty items (way to be vain): there's really no doubt.
The other half of the items belong to Selene, the female protagonist of the Sun and Moon games (oh, actually they're not even all in one place: some objects, like her Rotomdex, are in the second pic). You can see the beans from the islands, the Primarina themed wallet, some adorable candy boxes, Rowlet themed items.
Let's go to the second pic: a Kalos Pokédex, a Greninja-themed spray, a Klefki keychain, Poké Ball earplugs, a Mega Charizard X and Y themed wallet and a box for badges: they belong to Calem, the male protagonist of X and Y.
Last but not least, my husband's Steven's items: a plain black wallet, a small notebook with a simple pen, a handkerchief with the same colors as his clothes, Glalie branded refreshing wipes (lol), a Skarmory-wing shaped magnifying glass, a flashlight with a cute Beldum charm, gloves (those seem like they belong to a goalkeeper... Donnarumma bros), the OBVIOUS box of stones with a Metagross engraved on it, and... a first aid pouch, which for some reason he's the only one to carry. You'd think it'd be commonplace among trainers. You can see a mask, a bandaid, and some other undefined stuff.
Even the choice in Poké Balls seems themed: Cynthia chooses swag with Luxury Balls, Selene prefers the plain but cute Premier Balls, Calem has plain Poké Balls, and Steven chooses catch rate over swag and goes with Ultra Balls. Even the Trainers' bags are actually portrayed as silhouettes, next to the logo, but I can't find a picture of it. For example, Cynthia has a very feminine bag, while Steven has one of those small suitcases you see doctors/lawyers carrying around, LOL.
All in all, I love the subtlety of this merchandise line, and how the items portrayed let us peek into the trainers' personality. But in the end I'm just a shitty fangirl, and wanted an item related to my favorite character. It was a good excuse to write something interesting though. ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧
Credits: hi-res pics were found here.