iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Update: I'm apparently incapable of making custom vehicles based on anything other than Pokemon lmao

Sonic Racing Crossworlds screenshot of a custom car made to look like the Pokemon Froslass

Sonic Racing Crossworlds screenshot of a custom car made to look like the Pokemon Golisopod

Sonic Racing Crossworlds screenshot of a custom car made to look like the Pokemon Goodra

Sonic Racing Crossworlds screenshot of a custom hoverboard made to look like the Pokemon Lunala

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

So I just got Sonic Racing Crossworlds since it was on a deep discount in the Steam Autumn Sale (DLC and all) and for some reason, one of the very first things I did was create The Dunsparcemobile

Sonic Racing Crossworlds screenshot of a car made to look like the Pokemon Dunsparce

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Yeah, that went very smoothly - Wingding set up dual screens (and I finally remembered to give them Light Clay to hold lmao), and Gritty just cleaned up his whole team with Earthquake :3

Pokemon Platinum screenshot after beating gym leader Volkner

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

And to round of the gym leaders (before I get too distracted by the TF2 Halloween event lmao), it's time to battle Volkner! I've heard that this one isn't all that bad as long as I have a Ground type, and I do, so hopefully this should go alright

Pokemon Platinum screenshot of gym leader Volkner battle

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Uhh... Jasmine? As in gen 2 gym leader Jasmine? What's she doing here? I mean, the surprise previous gen cameo is more than welcome, I just wasn't really expecting it, nor do I know why they chose her of all characters to be here at Sunyshore of all places

Pokemon Platinum screenshot of talking to Jasmine

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

And now the Elite 4 members are starting to show up! Umm... ig that's kinda interesting and post-worthy? idk

Pokemon Platinum screenshot of Flint's first appearance

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Oh, so ig I can go hunt some Legendaries now if I want? That's neat, but do I want to? Ehh, probably not tbh, it's not like I'd actually use them anyway

Pokemon Platinum screenshot of Rowan talking about the Lake Spirits returning home

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

This isn't where I entered the Distortion World, where tf is this I mean I have a vague idea, but still

Pokemon Platinum screenshot after exiting the Distortion World

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Beat him! And yeah, Doofus filled the exact role I figured she would - switching in and fainting so I could switch in someone else safely lmao I'm kinda glad I chose to leave Pea behind, bc I don't think she would've done much here Also I forgor to screenshot at the same time I usually do, oops

Pokemon Platinum screenshot after beating Cyrus in Distorion World

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Yep, had a feeling this was coming, but I also figured he'd lead with Weavile since he lead with Sneasel in all the previous battles, but he lead with the 1 type that counters Wingding. Thankfully Doofus can act as death fodder here for a clean switch if I need it, which I think I might already

Pokemon Platinum screenshot of Cyrus battle in Distortion World

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I got kinda distracted by other stuff yesterday, but I'm back now, starting off by entering the Distortion World. I get the feeling the difficulty is gonna ramp up quite a bit very soon, which worries me bc I had to replace one of my usual team members with my Bibarel HM friend to even get here

Pokemon Platinum screenshot after entering the Distortion World

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

"This Pokemon's name is never to be spoken - anyway, let me say it's name right now"

Pokemon Platinum screenshot of Cynthia talking about Giratina

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Obligatory "this is probably fine" post every Pokemon playthrough I do needs for some reason

Pokemon Platinum screenshot of Giratina's first appearance

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

And after some level grinding, I decided to head up to Spear Pillar and take out both Mars and Jupiter, and despite them collectively having a full team worth of mons, it was pretty easy

Pokemon Platinum screenshot after beating Commander Mars & Comander Jupiter at Spear Pillar

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

About damn time Merryment learned Flare Blitz, now he can finally evolve into Rapidash! And with that, my entire team is now fully evolved yippee :3

Pokemon Platinum screenshot of Ponyta learning Flare Blitz

Pokemon Platinum screenshot of a newly evolved Rapidash

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Oh and uhh... I beat Saturn too ig

Pokemon Platinum screenshot after beating Commander Saturn at Team Galactic HQ

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Uhh... thanks? I guess? Wasn't expecting to recieve this from the boss of the evil team, but whatever, now I have an easy out for a potential mandatory legendary encounter later on, so sure, I'll gladly take it

Pokemon Platinum screenshot of recieving the Master Ball from Cyrus

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

So his team was more evolved than last time, which I did expect, and I also was a liiittle underlevelled, but despite that, yeah, he still went down pretty easily :3

Pokemon Platinum screenshot after beating Cyrus at Team Galactic HQ

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

So I stormed Galactic HQ in Veilstone, heard Cyrus' whole speech and whatnot, and now I'm battling him again. He wasn't too hard last time, so I doubt he'll be all that hard now, especially since he has the same number of mons, although this lead is definitely less than ideal for me

Pokemon Platinum screenshot of Cyrus battle at Team Galactic HQ

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

She definitely had some fight in her, but I managed just fine! And despite Gritty being weak to Ice, he definitely helped out here thanks to his Sand Stream getting rid of the Hail set by her Abomasnow, meaning her Froslass couldn't make use of Snow Cloak :3

Pokemon Platinum screenshot after beating gym leader Candice

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

And with my whole team (more or less) complete, I say it's time to continue progressing through the game, and next up is gym leader Candice! Since Ice is a pretty frail type but very offensively strong, Ice gyms are pretty hit-or-miss, so let's see whether this is a hit or a miss

Pokemon Platinum screenshot of gym leader Candice battle

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

It took a long time trying to find a female Snorunt with a decent nature, but I eventually found one! And since I already had a Dawn Stone (2, even), I could evolve her straight away! Say hello to Snowgrave, who will probably be the final member of my team :3 (though not the last to evolve lmao)

Pokemon Platinum screenshot of a newly caught and evolved Froslass. It has a Modest nature

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Nuh uh, nice try, but I know your tricks, I ain't falling for it (not that it'd matter anyway bc I don't even have a Medicham rn)

Pokemon Platinum screenshot of an NPC offering to trade a Haunter for Medicham

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

ngl this battle kinda just felt like a repeat of the last one but with a fat cat instead of a lanky frog lmao

Pokemon Platinum screenshot after beating Commander Mars at Lake Verity

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Ok so some shit's going on at the lakes, so that means I had to battle Commander Saturn, and tbh they were much easier to beat than the previous 2 commanders, mainly on account of the fact that I've kinda got more of an actual team going on at this point (though it's still incomplete... for now)

Pokemon Platinum screenshot after beating Commander Saturn at Valor Cavern

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Oh hey, that egg hatched, and it's one of the Sinnoh Big Six who I vowed to not have on my team in this playthrough, so sorry Riolu, but you're getting boxed

Pokemon Platinum screenshot of a newly evolved Riolu

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

And that actually ended up being super easy, not a single faint on my side! It definitely helped that half of his team also happened to be weak to Water lmao Also neat how he's the father of Roark who had a Cranidos and he has a Bastiodon so they both have one of the fossils, I like stuff like that

Pokemon Platinum screenshot after beating gym leader Byron

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

And now for the 6th gym leader, Byron! As a Steel gym, I could see this one being difficult, but there's no way to know without just going for it And to address the Donphan in the room, yes, I'm deliberately delaying Merryment's evolution, specifically so he can learn Flare Blitz much earlier

Pokemon Platinum screenshot of gym leader Byron battle

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

And here's the main thing I wanted to come here for! That's one more team member fully evolved :3 Yeah, I could've delayed this so she learned certain moves, but none of them seemed all that appealling to me, her set seems fine for now, so I just evolved her immediately

Pokemon Platinum screenshot of obtaining a Shiny Stone at Iron Island

Pokemon Platinum screenshot of a newly evolved Roserade

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Oh you can just straight up find wild Steelix in this game? That means you can catch and use one without trading, so that's pretty cool :3

Pokemon Platinum screenshot of an encounter with a wild Steelix

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Oh umm, that's kinda sudden, but sure I'll take it ig this is how they make this area mandatory to come to, even if you do the gym first. I can't do anything with it yet, I presume I need to beat the gym first to use it out of battle, but yeah, sure

Pokemon Platinum screenshot of obtaining the Strength HM

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Now I could just go and battle the Steel gym leader right now, but I wanted to see what Iron Island is all about I've heard that there's a certain item I can get here that I'd really like to get my hands on, which is kinda my main reason to come here tbh

Pokemon Platinum screenshot after arriving at Iron Island

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

After a whole lot of exploring around with Surf, I reached Canalave city and had another run-in with Custard, and even though his team definitely seems a lot stronger now, what with his mons being fully evolved and Heracross also being there, I still managed just fine :3

Pokemon Platinum screenshot after winning rival battle at Canalave City

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Yep, called it! Getting Surf is such a liberating feeling in these games bc it opens up SOOOOO much Plus, Penta's gonna have a much stronger Water STAB move now, so that's a plus :3

Pokemon Platinum screenshot of obtaining the Surf HM

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Yeah that was super easy actually, Penta solo'd his whole team lmao I also get the feeling I'm gonna get a new HM soon, bc I can't really think of anywhere else I could go from here otherwise

Pokemon Platinum screenshot after beating Cyrus at Celestic Town

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Uh oh, looks like I'm finally having my first battle with Cyrus. I think I'll probably be fine as long as he doesn't have any really high level mons, but let's see

Pokemon Platinum screenshot of Cyrus battle at Celestic Town

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Huh, that actually went a lot better than I expected! I sent in Wingding against Gyarados to set up Reflect, went back to Pea and tried a new strategy involving Stun Spore, Growth and Substitute, and it worked out against Gyarados, but then his Floatzel came in, used Ice Fang and... missed lmao

Pokemon Platinum screenshot after beating gym leader Wake

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Well, guess it's time to battle Crasher Wake now! And I umm... have made an incorrect lead, it would seem, but hopefully I can still win despite that, so let's see

Pokemon Platinum screenshot of gym leader Wake battle

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

And in the process of that extra bit of grinding, Penta finally evolved into Empoleon! I didn't see any reason to delay his evolution, though I probably will do that for Gritty the Hippopotas so he can learn Earthquake a little sooner. But yeah, I feel like I've gotten a pretty good power boost here

Pokemon Platinum screenshot of a newly evolved Empoleon

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Finally got back around to making some actual progress, starting with a pretty easy win against Custard! All that grinding brought me up to about his level, but the next gym leader is a bit higher level than that, so if the gym trainers don't get me up there, a little more grinding might be in order

Pokemon Platinum screenshot after winning rival battle at Pastoria City

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

So here's that Mega Golisopod team I was hoping to make. I still don't think I'm very great at teambuilding, and I'll even admit that a lot of the ideas here aren't my own and were kinda... "inspired" by some other teams I saw, but hopefully it'll be at least usable to some extent

Pokemon Champions screenshot of a Golisopod team, featuring the following Pokemon: Golisopod with Emergency Exit holding Golisopite who knows Leech Life, Iron Head, Liquidation and Protect. Politoed with Drizzle holding Damp Rock who knows Weather Ball, Ice Beam, Earth Power and Protect. Farigiraf with Armor Tail holding Colbur Berry who knows Twin Beam, Ally Switch, Trick Room and Helping Hand. Incineroar with Intimidate holding Sitrus Berry who knows Flare Blitz, Throat Chop, Fake Out and Parting Shot. Pawmot with Iron Fist holding Focus Sash who knows Double Shock, Close Combat, Coaching and Revival Blessing. Rillaboom with Grassy Surge holding Grassy Seed who knows Wood Hammer, High Horsepower, Grassy Glide and Fake Out

The same team as the othet screenshot, just now showing the stat alignments. Golisopod has more HP and speed, Politoed as more HP and special attack, Farigiraf had more HP and a little more defense and special defense, Incineroar has more HP and defense, Pawmot has more attack and speed and Rillaboom has more HP and attack

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

With the new Pokémon Champions, I wanted to maje a new team, and one of the members I wanted was Rillaboom, so I figured I'd go shiny hunting, and there it is! :3 I actually caught three, but I only needed one, so who cares

Pokemon Scarlet screenshot of an encounter with a wild shiny Grookey

Pokemon Scarlet screenshot after catching the wild shiny Grookey

Pokemon Scarlet screenshot of a newly evolved shiny Rillaboom

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

It was a pretty rough battle, but I still won in the end, mainly thanks to a lucky burn on her Lucario from Merryment's Flame Wheel :3

Pokemon Platinum screenshot after beating gym leader Maylene

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

After a whole day of nothing post-worthy happening, just some exploring and level grinding, now it's time to actually make some progress by battling the 4th gym leader, Maylene! With how tough these gyms have been so far, I'm not expecting that to change here, but hopefully I'll still manage

Pokemon Platinum screenshot of gym leader Maylene battle

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Girl, do I have the spinoff series for you (which I should probably play myself at some point)

Pokemon Platinum screenshot of an NPC saying she wants to be a Pokemon

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Yep, I kinda felt like I was overdue for another Custard battle, and fortunately for me, Pea setting up with Growth won the day yet again :3

Pokemon Platinum screenshot after winning rival battle at Hearthome City

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Mayo :3 @mayocolonthree.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

I'm sorry, Defog is a HM in this game? Oh, this really is gonna be one of THOSE games, isn't it...

Pokemon Platinum screenshot of unlocking the ability to use Defog outside of battle

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