"Scrafty's Payback Hits Harder When You Survive" ft. Eastside Scrafty | TRAINER'S EYE #177

TRAINER'S EYE #177- EastsideScrafty

EastsideScrafty: [00:00:00] Yeah, this is Eastside Crafty. This is my Pokemon story.

David Hernandez: Welcome to As The Pokeball Turns, where every voice, every journey, and every memory brings us closer to the world of Pokemon. I'm David Hernandez and I'm joined by someone with a remarkable story that I guarantee you won't forget, Side Crafty.

Welcome to As The Pokeball Ball Turns.

EastsideScrafty: How's [00:01:00] it going? How's it?

David Hernandez: It's going really well, man. I hope that you're doing well. Um, I have some insights to how this is gonna go, and I'm excited to finally have you on the podcast. I was telling you that beforehand, but I'll throw you a little softball because obviously you're known as East Side Crafty.

I wanna know what's the inspiration behind that name.

EastsideScrafty: All right. So, um, for that, it is gonna sound so stupid. My favorite, one of my favorite rappers is West Side Boogie.

And my favorite Pokemon being crafty. I'm just like, alright, how do I set aside this crafty page apart because I noticed that there's some, well, granted they were inactive, but there's some crafty pages on here that posted some last favorable things that I didn't wanna get mixed up with them.

David Hernandez: Mm-hmm.

EastsideScrafty: So I was like, huh, let's just put the east side on there. 'cause I live in the East Coast and it kind of sounds like a hip hop rapper name. It kind of catches more my persona. I'm not a rapper or anything, but I have a very. deep connection with black culture, so it just felt right to me. No,

David Hernandez: I got you. So in a way, it felt like RAF East Side, RAF combined both your love for hip hop and rap [00:02:00] with your love for Pokemon, it sounds like.

EastsideScrafty: right.

David Hernandez: What is it about Scrappy that makes it your favorite Pokemon?

EastsideScrafty: Well, when I look at crafty, it kind of reminded me about the way I grew up, if that makes sense. It's just like the baggy pants have always been. Aware of like very loose clothing.

always loved wearing hoodies, got the hood on sting. And personally, I think the hood isn't utilized enough in the games and media.

That's just me. Hopefully the mega changes that wink, wink.

And another thing I love about Crafty is the fact it's always been a very, I'm gonna do my own thing, but I'm gonna take care of mine. You know what I'm saying? It takes care of its family, takes care of its friends. It doesn't really like the outside, but if it lets you inside, it'll ride or die for you.

That's kind of the way I am with most of my friends. It's kind of hard to get to know me, but once you know me, you're gang. You know what I'm saying?

David Hernandez: So it's like you're very protective of who you led into your inner circle, but once you're kind of in that inner circle, you kind of like basically are family and brothers at that point.

EastsideScrafty: [00:03:00] Right. Someone messes with them. It's, it's on,

David Hernandez: That's awesome, man. I guess what led you to want to be that loyal? Like what leads you to kind of want to be that loyal to your friends or your family?

Like to have that deep protection, for them?

EastsideScrafty: well, my family's really disjointed. Um, so the inner Circle, my family, even the inner circle isn't all that tight and connected anymore, which doesn't sit right with me. My little sibling who runs the NOC turn page, that boy NOC turn, is like the only real member of my inner family that I keep a tight relationship with.

David Hernandez: Mm.

EastsideScrafty: And after that, it's just the friends that I made along the way that I still keep close and personal, even though I can't see them that much in person anymore. It's like I would die for these people because they actually check up on me and make sure I'm all right. I wouldn't want anything to happen to either, you know?

David Hernandez: I mean, that's so important because a lot of people, I think we grew up with this perception that family's blood. And sometimes that's not always the case for some of us families, the ones people we find along the way. And that just fits into such a theme of what Pokemon's about, [00:04:00] because you'll go on this journey, you'll go on pick your starter, and you'll go on these like different like routes and you know, different choices y'all make

EastsideScrafty: Right.

David Hernandez: and you meet these people.

Like it's not everybody, but there's just certain people that just stick with you that even if you don't see them for years, it's like y'all never really left. Once y'all meet.

EastsideScrafty: Exactly. And one of the big things I've come to realize as growing up, ' Sometimes family, you just can't trust them. Like you can still love 'em, but you gotta love 'em from a distance. You know,

David Hernandez: Yeah, I've learned that too. Yeah.

EastsideScrafty: you wanna hear, since you mentioned it, with like, um, starters and going on your journey, you wanna hear a dirty little secret of mine.

David Hernandez: Yeah, go for it.

EastsideScrafty: I almost always can my starter Pokemon as soon as I get the chance.

David Hernandez: Really? Dang. So you don't stick with it.

EastsideScrafty: Very rarely I think. There's only three generations where I stick with it. Generation four because I love Torra Generation five because I love Samrat.

The only Pokemon from Generation five, the starter Pokemon. I'm not really a [00:05:00] fan of Teig.

And then generation three, I can pick any of 'em. Just go the entire game with 'em. 'cause they're all so good.

David Hernandez: What's your reason for not wanting to stick with your starter primarily in the other generation?

EastsideScrafty: Honestly, I feel like it's just an expected norm in the games where it's like, oh, hey, this is the first step of your journey. This is The Pokeball. That'll be your best friend. I'm just like, nah, that don't sit right with me. You know what I'm saying? Because it's kind of fits that weird expectation. The same thing like family.

It's like these are your people comes thick or thin.

David Hernandez: But

EastsideScrafty: Sometimes your people, the people that you're supposed to be your people, they aren't actually your people. They're not good for you, you know?

And I feel like that's a lesson that, not everybody has to learn, thankfully, but when you do learn that lesson, it kind of sticks with you in all aspects of your life.

David Hernandez: I could see that. So for you, the starter Pokemon represented the expectation that you're supposed to love your starter Pokemon. In this case, your family, no matter what. And you kind of [00:06:00] were against the idea, like, I'd rather choose who I want, just like how you said you, you, you know, whoever you choose your inner circle, you know, it's like for life. But in the same way, your Pokemon journey represented that to where you'd rather choose your first Pokemon, no matter what it is. Because for you, that meant more than being given the starter from the professor.

EastsideScrafty: Correct.

David Hernandez: Wow. that's pretty profound. I'm not gonna lie.

EastsideScrafty: It is like, it's one of those things that's, it's one of those things where it's only been starting, I think since I turned 20. Really?

cause before then I'll be like, oh, cool. Lemme just take this, uh, lemme just take this mud kit or this uh, this, uh, this fean or whatever generation I was playing. Lemme just roll with this.

It's not gonna leave my party. And that's just kind of the way you always do when you grow up as like, I grew up experiencing things like, all right, let me do things a different way. See how I like this. And it's kind of become just part of who I am. It's like, all right, I'm not just going to give you love to start.

I'm gonna give you respect, a baseline level of respect, and you gotta earn love, you know?

David Hernandez: Well, let's dive into your Pokemon experience. If we just start there, [00:07:00] what was your first ever experience with Pokemon? Where does this all start?

EastsideScrafty: All right. So back when I was, I want to say in the fourth grade, I think it was when, diamond and Pearl, the enemy was going on. I woke up. It was me, it was Cleo, my little sibling, the one that runs an OC page. Love you buddy. Um, we woke up, we were getting ready for school. There was an episode on, and I think it was the episode.

It wasn't an episode where um, Paul got rid of Chi Char. It was the first battle where Chi Char, evolved into Ferno and then went berserk fighting. Um, I don't remember who was fighting. It was one of Falls, Pokemon, I think it was Electrify. It

David Hernandez: Uh, yeah, it's usually that one,

EastsideScrafty: was usually that one.

David Hernandez: Yeah, I think it's electable actually. I could be wrong, but Yeah, I know what you're talking about.

EastsideScrafty: Yeah. I was watching this while I was getting dressed and I was like, you know what? I feel that. In my head, my little like eight, 9-year-old him like, you know what? Fuck that guy. I had no idea what was going on.

Never seen Pokemon before, prior to this. I saw that. I was like, I [00:08:00] don't know what's going on, but that monkey is mad. Fuck that nigga. Go over there. Excuse my language.

David Hernandez: Right.

EastsideScrafty: And then I remember I was doing that. my little sibling was getting ready to go down thing. I was so enamored in this. I ended up missing the bus.

I got my ass whooped. My mom tore my backside up for that one.

David Hernandez: mm-hmm.

EastsideScrafty: But ever since that day, I was watching the animes. And then, um, when I was a kid, when I was a kid, uh, I would, whenever we were on the bus, occasionally, you know how kids are, they like play with things, they throw things around on the bus.

Sometimes things would slide down to the back.

I think a kid lost, uh, a kid was playing with his dad. He dropped his cards. The car slipped to the back of the bus, but he was off, um, getting off on his stop. I picked the cards up. This was, I think the last day of school. It was like, I think it was the last day of school going into fifth grade, because I remember I was still in the Department of Children Family System at the time. somebody dropped an entire deck of, um, Pokemon cards and a pay blade and it flipped back of the bus, but they had to get off and me being the little piece of shit I was, I swipe bitches.

And that's how I kind of got into like the card aspect. It, I never [00:09:00] really played the game. I just had 'em to look at 'em. If that, like, look what I got.

I was more into, and to this day I still more am into Digimon and like Babe Blades, but I do love Pokemon. I just love all three a lot.

But I would like have the cards. I wouldn't know how to play or anything like that. I was like, look at these cards I got, my cards are cool in yours, you know?

 And then it was, uh, the first Christmas we got back. into my mother's custody after that. Um, DCF battle, I remember I got a ds, my little sibling.

We all got Dsis Cleo and I got black and white. 'cause that was when it just came out. And Cleo and I always argue about who got what version. 'cause we both got a different version. I'm 90% sure I got black. And again, it's been so long I don't remember.

But I just remember I got that, I got a wrestling game.

I got something for the Wii, and then I got wrestling tickets for a house show the day before Christmas Eve, which caused drama in the house because that was my older sister's birthday. So [00:10:00] while my older sister was having a little birthday party in the house, I was at a wrestling show on her birthday.

David Hernandez: oh man. I'm sure that didn't say well.

EastsideScrafty: Uh, let's just say that although it, it caused drama in the house, although it, we try not to let it get up to mom. It did get up to mom eventually

and, uh, she handled it and I'll leave it at that.

David Hernandez: we'll let jaffle in the words.

EastsideScrafty: Yeah, let y'all imagine how that went was what I said earlier her,

David Hernandez: Right.

EastsideScrafty: but yeah, it's like, uh, I remember.

Playing through the game, playing through generation five.

I remember everything about my first semester. I picked AWA because I thought the little Gura was funny to look at. I remember thinking, wow, Sharon kind of sucks, like just off rip because he talked a lot.

David Hernandez: Yeah.

EastsideScrafty: I remember thinking, wow, Bianca kind of sucks because she doesn't believe in herself, and that's annoying.

I was a very, very shitty kid.

David Hernandez: I mean, we just saw the world a different way. Let's put it that.

EastsideScrafty: Yeah. I spent more of [00:11:00] my time in ISS and suspended than actually in a classroom. but I was going through a thing and you know how like on the way to cast, not Castillo, right after you get outta Castillo City, you go on your way to Namba City, there's that little like desert resort area.

There's a small, small chance you could just catch a scragg over there.

It was the first encounter I got. I was like, huh, this little dude has pants. That's pretty cool. So I caught it and I leveled up scragg. And the cool thing about I like about, black and white is that they made you use the new Pokemon before letting you catch the other generation Pokemon.

 I always thought that was a cool thing. I wish they'd bring it back, but I understand why they don't.

I remember by the time I got to level 40, ' cause the way I play Pokemon games when I'm not streaming, I just hyper level everything and it's just the way I do all JR. Pgs,

I hyper level all of my Pokemon pretty much to max and I just kind of breezed for everything. 'cause I just wanna experience the story.

After that I had.

David Hernandez: first. That way you don't have to worry about trying to be under level and everything.

EastsideScrafty: Exactly. It's like, I don't need to worry [00:12:00] about the battle aspect of this because I can just steamroll you anytime I want.

 I remember this GRA Scragg evolved into this craft team. I'm just like, you know what? I like this. And all of it just kind of fell into place from there, I.

David Hernandez: Do you feel like because you over leveled your Pokemon from there that you get to experience more of the story that you wouldn't had you not otherwise?

EastsideScrafty: For me, it's more like I can, 'cause I have a DHD

So for me, it's just like, if I don't have to worry about like the fighting aspect, I could pay better attention to the story. I can process the information that's coming to me.

 I could be like, form my opinions better without thinking, oh, hey, I gotta get my Pokemon up to this level for the gym.

David Hernandez: you mentioned earlier how, you know you were in ISS, you know, you had a DHD, you were having a lot of stuff going at home, obviously like how did Pokemon play a role in that? Was it kinda like a safe space for you to kind of go and just escape the world?

Or was it kind of just something that you did just to pass the time.

EastsideScrafty: it's a little bit of both, if I may, if I'm being honest.

See, 'cause the kind of person I am is like, once I've experienced something, I can't experie it again [00:13:00] without being like, oh, I already know this. You know?

Which is why like if I watch a movie, I'd be like, alright, this movie, I've seen this, I like this.

That's it. Unless it really stuck with me. Like one of my favorite, um, things to revisit every once in a while is like the original Pokemon. Movie, the first movie, just because when I experienced that, I remember experiencing that by myself. I was like, huh, this is really good. And it was the first time I felt like that about a cartoon movie, if that makes sense.

Or anime movie in this case, because Pokemon was also my introduction to anime.

So I revisit that every once in a while for like nostalgia purposes. And whenever I was pretty much like going through something when I was in um, DCF care and then during the process of my birth mother losing parental rights to me and then getting adopted, and then my adoptive mother pretty much kicking me to the curb when I was 18, said, okay, fend for yourself by the way.

I took all your documents and I shredded them.

David Hernandez: Mm

EastsideScrafty: well, okay. Wow. [00:14:00] Thanks. It was kind of like I always kept up with Pokemon, even if I wasn't like actively in, like couldn't watch the shows for whatever reason, I always kept tabs on it, and that's why sometimes I'll do something stupid on stream.

It's like, what is this Pokemon again? 'cause I'll be honest with you, generation seven. It's like a blank for me, other than the fact that the video game, I forgot what her name is, the mom that is allegedly the bad person, but she got brainwashed or something.

Lily's mom.

Lily's mom is different in the anime versus the game because I guess the anime was a bit too dark. I mean, I know the, the game was a bit too dark, which makes sense,

but

like outside of that generation seven is like a blank to me,

And like generation six, um, I remember pretty much that

what I played through the games is like the guy wants to destroy the world. And then there's this old guy who's coming back for um, ZA that was friends with like a flowed or fbe, I forgot which one it was. It's one of those [00:15:00] two.

David Hernandez: Yeah.

EastsideScrafty: And he is like, oh my God, I haven't seen you in a thousand years. I'm like, why is this tall, lanky bastard so old?

But yeah, that reminds me that, remember like when I first played through generation six. I was thoroughly convinced, thoroughly convinced, oh, hey, you get a mega for this book. Why don't you get a mega for this book? And my crafty gets a mega, right? No.

David Hernandez: Oh, I'm feeling excited for that. Yeah.

EastsideScrafty: Yeah. I was just like, so now when I see Naveen and him having in his, um, um, what you call it in his concept art, having a mega bracelet. And him seemingly having a scra is his main partner. And then seeing his, um, jacket design from the back. There's a crafty right on the nap of his neck. I'm just like, oh, what's happening?

And if it doesn't happen, I'm gonna fucking riot. I got 975 people on this page and we will go to war was game freak. And a minute I will take you all down.

David Hernandez: Get scratch the Omega [00:16:00] now.

EastsideScrafty: Oh, you gonna make one?

Commercial Break

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David Hernandez: It's interesting just to see how Pokemons is. I know, you know, you mentioned other franchises that have played the role, but just, it's amazing to see how Pokemon even played a role into that.

EastsideScrafty: Right.

David Hernandez: of give you a place of, I'll say a connection, because you talked about how you under, you kind of resonated with Chi Char from the anime of it being tossed away from Paul. You re, you resonate with raggy and the [00:17:00] baggy pants and the uh, hip hop culture side of thing. It sounds like you were able to kind of get pieces of. Of identity you kind of resonated with from different parts of Pokemon and that's amazing. That's what I love.

EastsideScrafty: Right. And um, a good portion of this too is just the fact is like when you grow up, given the situation I'm in

David Hernandez: Sure.

EastsideScrafty: I was raised, you're in and out of foster care constantly. You've lived with practical strangers for the majority of your life. and like throughout the 18 years of your young child life, you've only lived with your birth mother for roughly four of them.

One and a half of them you don't even remember 'cause you were a fucking baby.

it does kind of mess with you after a while and you kind of have to make your own bridge and, which is why I consider Pokemon because Pokemon's like a bridge to me, you kind of use that as a bridge to build connections elsewhere.

It's like most of my close friends that I have now, the very few I have, one thing we all have in common is we all love Pokemon. Like, my girl who just started to scale a dirt dread [00:18:00] page. we met at the downtown library in Hartford. And pretty much me not having a real way to like communicate with people, I noticed, hey, they're talking about the new Pokemon game.

Um, I like Pokemon. Let me try to talk. And then I'm sitting there like a fucking idiot while they're all staring at me. He's like, why is this weirdo staring at me? But eventually I did kind of stammer out, like, Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. I, uh, I, I played this game too and I pulled out my, I pulled out my phone 'cause I was playing, uh, uh, um, um, a black emulator on my phone.

And then we all started kind of getting, talking like that. And through more and more, um, interactions with them, we became friends and I started to learn more about them. They started to learn more about me.

 And it's kind of like one of those things where like that's kind of like Pokemon really is kind of the reason why I have any friends really.

David Hernandez: You mentioned how, it's the bridge of way you be able to connect with people. Was it because of just your upbringing, the way you were in and out of foster care your whole life, the way you didn't have that kind of parental connection that other people might try to relate [00:19:00] to? Do you think if it wasn't for Pokemon and this interest you, you had in other spheres that you wouldn't have the friendships you have today?

EastsideScrafty: If I'm being honest, if it wasn't for Pokemon of mine, I'd probably be in jail right now.

David Hernandez: really

EastsideScrafty: Yeah. So I had, I have a lot of anger issues and I've been going to a therapist,

thankfully, and it started back in high school.

Where they forced me to go to a therapist. I did something in middle school, which involved a principal

and pretty much the court said, Hey, um, DCF had to go to court.

Pretty much just like, Hey, either you find an outlet for this anger you got, you go see a therapist and find an outlet for this anger issue that you have, or your next stop is juvie. And that's kinda like my slap on the wrist, you know?

David Hernandez: Mm-hmm. That's your wake up call.

EastsideScrafty: It was kinda my wake up call, but to me it was just like, yo, fuck this fucking judge.

'cause at the time I'm like, because at the time I'm like 12, 13,

David Hernandez: Sure.

EastsideScrafty: like I like, I don't have a real, I [00:20:00] don't have a real concept of, Hey, you just caused a major problem. My guy.

David Hernandez: Well, I mean it's like the same, you know, a lot of us who are that age, we rebelled against our parents. That's you rebelling against your parents instead of your parents. Is the judge of the state is your state you live in. It makes sense. Yeah. Right.

EastsideScrafty: Right.

David Hernandez: Yeah.

EastsideScrafty: but like now I'm thinking about, it's like I'm kind of glad that they kind of put me on the right path. 'cause I very easily could be in jail, in and outta jail right now. Like a good portion of other people that I see in my community,

who didn't have people looking out for them, who didn't have kids that were the, it was actually the principals.

I still don't like that man, but I do acknowledge that he could. I, I still acknowledge that he could have pressed charges on me if he wanted to, and I could have went to juvie straight up

because I did throw that man down a flight of stairs.

I don't remember the incident. All I remember is I whipped a desk at a teacher, and then the next thing I know, I'm sitting in the back of a cop car with my hands behind my back, like handcuffed.

David Hernandez: Oh wow. So pitched like basically wide to anger and you just black, not [00:21:00] blacked out, but whited out and you Yeah. Yeah.

EastsideScrafty: it's just straight up what happened. And then I'm in a, and then I'm in a, uh, precinct and downtown in my hometown or my hometown up in Connecticut, and they're telling me like, my mom comes in, my birth mother, and she's like, what the fuck did you do? I'm like, what? What are you talking about? She's like, I don't even know why I'm here.

And then she explained to me like, Hey, uh, you whipped a desk at a teacher. You whipped a desk at like three students. You threatened to stab another student, and then when the principal tried to calm you down since nobody else could, you picked him up over your shoulders, like you tackled him. And then he picked him up and he like kind of whipped him down the stairs.

I was like, that don't sound like me. I was like, whoa. That's what you did. And it was kind of like one of those things where, um, I got sentenced pretty much to like, community service. It was like, I think a hundred hours, like something like that, a hundred hours. I had to like, check in with a therapist twice a week.

I had to go into this program where I had like a, it was kind of a break brother mentor service.

And then I had to, uh, find better outlets and that's [00:22:00] kind of how I got into football. I got more into Pokemon that way, like not more into Pokemon than the fact that, um, excuse me, it wasn't into Pokemon, but I kind of got more into like the deeper connection, Pokemon, just something to calm me down because that made me happy.

David Hernandez: It was a grounding mechanism for you.

EastsideScrafty: it was a grounding mechanism. It's either I do this or I do something that gets me thrown in jail.

David Hernandez: Right,

EastsideScrafty: I remember like being The Pokeball kid on the football team caused problems on the football team. But then again, when you're five 10, like 350 pounds in your freshman year, people don't really take it too far.

David Hernandez: So you were the outcast on your football team for liking Pokemon, but because of your size, they kind of let that be kind of your own thing, it sounds like.

EastsideScrafty: Yeah, pretty much. It's just like, yeah, we can poke fun at him, but you poke fun too much. He might actually like, 'cause at that point, because at the time I lived in such a small town,

the news got around and it was just like, okay, this guy's a psychopath. Why is he not in jail? Because nobody knew why I wasn't in jail.

They all knew what [00:23:00] happened though. Everyone thought it was like, oh, you got, like, you got sent to prison. 'cause when I went to, um, 'cause my, uh, I think it was 10, uh, not 10th grade, it was eighth grade for the remainder of seventh grade and eighth grade I was in like a behavioral school. And then when I finally went to high school, they said, all right, we're gonna put you back in public school to see how it goes.

You're gonna be in these behavioral classes, you're gonna be in this floor, you're gonna be allowed to go to other classes, but only like three classes a day. And pretty much you're gonna have to check in with this, this, I was like, yo, this seems excessive. It's like, well the alternative, is this another behavioral school or jail?

Pick one. I was like, alright, fine.

So I met a couple kids in, over the course of behavioral classes that also like Pokemon that we had, that I was friends with for a while. And then one of them did something crazy, but pretty much it was like more Pokemon, more anime. And I think this is around the time that my mother lost parental rights to me,

David Hernandez: it's a lot, man. Like you've been through a lot in and out foster care. know, you had anger issues, you had behavior issues. And it's [00:24:00] amazing to see how something as simple as Pokemon prevents you from going to the deep end. You know, a lot of people don't understand that kind of life.

They don't comprehend it. think even just hearing your words. don't think many people who listen could even fathom it. And the fact that you're still here, the fact that you're still kind of fighting says a lot about how much, I'll say tenacity. You have determination you have, the fact that you know you're still trying because it's not easy.

EastsideScrafty: Thank you.

David Hernandez: When it came to, you know, you playing Pokemon at that age, you still, you know, you're playing football, you know, you're still engaging with the franchise. What did you enjoy most about it? What did you love about Pokemon, 

EastsideScrafty: Well, I guess is the best way to put, it's like, another thing I liked a lot about is, um, it was violence that wasn't real. Stimulated violence.

' cause we try not to think about it in like the grand aspect of what Pokemon is because think it's supposed to be a competition. Nobody's getting hurt. You can heal 'em. You're, they're your best [00:25:00] friends. You're still dog fighting.

Because Pokemon is just a dog fighting competition and we really get down to it.

David Hernandez: Well, I mean, that's what they brought up in, uh, black and white, your first game. That's what the whole story was about.

EastsideScrafty: Exactly. Which to be fair is like if it wasn't for the fact that guesses was trying to turn that into like, I'm gonna take all your Pokemon away to dominate the world. They'd have a point.

And up until like the end where I figured that, I was like, you know what, I'm kind of whis team plasma until the big turn happened because I was whiz team plasma on their entire S skis

David Hernandez: Mm-hmm.

EastsideScrafty: n all the way until Gettes kind of showed his true colors.

David Hernandez: Mm-hmm.

EastsideScrafty: oh, okay. Yeah. Okay, that makes sense. But I was with you. And that's the best kind of villain. A villain. That makes sense.

David Hernandez: Well, I mean, even when you think about it The way in was brought up obviously, 'cause he was kind of brought up, uh, he was still a child really in a way.

EastsideScrafty: Right. Yeah.

David Hernandez: that whole idea of, you know, workforce and Pokemon, I know ultimately it's a choice, but in a way the, you know, constant they're battling with is like how much, freedom of choice do [00:26:00] Pokemon really have when it comes to battles And they don't really. Fully answer that question. They kind of leave the door open when you really try to deep dive a little more deeper beyond it. But it's a question that, you know, Pokemon fans have always joked about and Pokemon actually acknowledging kind of made it such an interesting plot point.

EastsideScrafty: Yeah, it's always been a very interesting conversation with me and like other Pokemon fans. It's just, all right, Pokemon are our friends, but real life. Would you walk up to your friend? Let's just say, uh, Jenny. I don't know. Just, just a name.

David Hernandez: Sure.

EastsideScrafty: say, Hey Jenny, go punch that guy in the neck right now

for no reason.

Well, we keep Jenny in like a cage at all times and just carry them that cage on our belt and we could like shrink it down.

David Hernandez: Yep.

EastsideScrafty: Probably not.

David Hernandez: well I wanna dive into your Facebook page because that's how you know we met. And I wanna know, we obviously, we talked about the inspiration behind it, but what made you wanna make a Facebook page?

EastsideScrafty: Uh, all right, so this is gonna be sad. So it was a [00:27:00] last ditch effort for me to find a reason to not kill myself.

 I have a lot of guns I usually use them for work usually, but, uh, I had gone through a pretty bad breakup.

part of it was my fault. Part of it wasn't my fault.

And I was feeling down, 'cause like I swore she was the love of my life. I was like, dang, I messed this all up to send a dirt. I was trying everything. I was sad. I was drinking a lot, was drinking a little bit too much.

I was like, you know what? I saw ferro. It just so happened to cross across my, uh, main feed.

I was like, all right, so here's Amfi and I trying to remember exactly what it was. I think it was literally Amfi posted a picture of like a couple me. I was like. You know what? That's easy as hell. I can do that. This is the guy I think he is. So I made a page and at the time was just crafty because this is where I found out of the other non-active s crafty pages from the past that posted less than favorable things.

 And I made a post, I think it was my first or second post I tagged Amphi. It is like somewhere in my [00:28:00] head it was just like, this guy's not better than me.

Because just me being anchored was life and the position I was in. I was dealing with debt from a car accident and then having to transition to like taking care of an entire apartment by myself while also taking care of other things in my life.

David Hernandez: It's a lot of weight.

EastsideScrafty: Yeah, it's a lot of weight. And then the support system I had in her was gone.

And then to my surprise, Anthony was like, oh my gosh. New friend though. Hi. I was like, whoa, okay. I wasn't expecting that. That's kind. So I just kept doing that and then I shortly got introduced to the rest of the crew in the group cut and I was like, you know what? You guys are pretty cool. This is cool company.

I think I'm gonna keep doing this. And I did. And I slowly started to feel less and less. Hopeless. And it's like I said, it's kind of the reason why I'm so alive today. 'cause this repetition, this community gave me the kindness and the interaction to kind of like, alright, let me stick around for another day, so on and so forth.

And it's gotten to a point where I'm better [00:29:00] now and I don't feel like I'm gonna do that anytime soon.

David Hernandez: I mean, it just sounds like they gave you, FY kind of gave you hope to where you were on your last leg then just that one small, like grateful. It wasn't even much, they just said, oh, a new friend

EastsideScrafty: Right,

David Hernandez: brought you kind of back down to where. it reminds you that you still mattered,

EastsideScrafty: right.

David Hernandez: it reminds you that there are people out there who still kind of want to be your friend, you know?

EastsideScrafty: Yeah, it was kind of like a rock in the middle of like a raging river going down off a waterfall.

David Hernandez: Yeah.

EastsideScrafty: It's like it hurts to hit up against, but alright, I got something to keep me steady. Now. I'm not getting swept away. I'm not getting swept off the edge. And from there I found my footing. I kind of got my mental health in check and eventually, I won't say I'm completely outta the river, but I'm kind of close to the shore.

And honestly compared to where I was, that's a godsend,

David Hernandez: Yeah. you've had a tough life to try to get to this point. And you know, just those small steps to have you found your kind of crew that you can kind of vibe with [00:30:00] where, you know, accept you for who you are, not based on who you were.

EastsideScrafty: right? And I thank all of them for that is big shouts out to them. Univar region. Uh, Pokemon Fanatics, Harry to hit Munch in

Rally girl. All them in the, all them in the crew.

David Hernandez: Well, let me ask you about their Facebook page, because you said like a lot of the other scraping pages, you know, they were inactive. They didn't kind of represent what you were either going for or what you felt scrappy represented. So how did you want to approach what you did on your Facebook page differently than what you saw and put your own spin on it?

EastsideScrafty: the kind of thing about me is like, I think a lot of people that kind of, um, interact with me is like, I'm very candid is what I say. Like, I won't deny it. I'm a fucking asshole.

David Hernandez: Hey. At least you know,

EastsideScrafty: Yeah. At least I know I own that. I own that. I embrace it. That is my personality through and through, but I always wanna have respect for others and make sure everybody feels comfortable being themselves.

There is never [00:31:00] a moment where I want people to engage to me and think, oh, I don't, I'm not safe to be here. You know what I'm saying?

And some of those other pages, like, they kind of like made their jokey posts too. They're kind of like their personal posts, uh, their personality posts as well. But some of them were a little, let's just say some of them were a little outdated in what their values were.

Because you know how like early 2010s, late two thousands, humor differs a lot from what's acceptable now.

I was like, I don't wanna be associated with that. I don't want someone to look up, Hey, look up this crafty page. You accidentally see a different crafty page and they see something about gangster rape.

David Hernandez: Yeah,

EastsideScrafty: Yeah, I don't, I don't want that.

David Hernandez: it sounds like you just want your place to be kind of a safe haven to welcome those who maybe not follow your footsteps, but at least resonate with not having a place to belong with not having a, I'll say no more upbringing

EastsideScrafty: Right, like be yourself here, but also be accepting of others. That's my whole thing.

Like on my page, I don't tolerate [00:32:00] downplaying women. I don't tolerate disrespecting the LGBT community. Like if that's not your thing, I can't force you to be your thing, but if you're going to interact with my community on my page, you're going to respect everybody in it because I run this gang, not you.

And if you don't like it, go make your own page.

David Hernandez: at this point with Pokemon, you know, like I said, you have a lot of different interests, but you know, obviously I'm most primarily focused on Pokemon. What's your kind of relationship now like? Do you still try to play the games to try to gain the story, or do you see it more of a way to connect with your friends moving forward?

EastsideScrafty: Well, I see it right now as kind of like a, Hey, this is my little. This is my little like, piece of heaven. This is what I can do that makes me feel happy, and it makes other people feel happy too. So come enjoy it with me.

Usually I'll try to place something by myself first, so that way I can get the pure enjoyment out of it before going and having other people enjoy it with me. You know what I'm saying?

David Hernandez: That makes sense. I mean that's how it is with me. 'cause before I used to always have these like goals within Pokemon games to where I would try to complete the decks where I [00:33:00] try to get all Pokemon to level a hundred. But nowadays, and part of it maybe is 'cause I'm older now, I care more about connecting with others than I do with trying to do everything possible within the game.

Right,

EastsideScrafty: Right.

David Hernandez: and that's just my, been my approach now to where, you know, I can connect with others through Pokemon, it's kind of how I am in my stage of life, because that's just what I value more nowadays.

EastsideScrafty: I think my big value is Pokemon now is like, alright, I want to kind of be here, be happy with a community that also likes to be here and be happy, and I want to be me and I want to share my love of this guy right here. Was the funky mohawk, the baggy pants, and the hoodie, because I think crafty doesn't get enough respect to this day.

David Hernandez: Scratch these underrepresented awesome.

EastsideScrafty: Absolutely. And like I said, Naveen is gonna be top five all time rival. I don't care if that's not factually true. That's it for me.[00:34:00]

David Hernandez: Well, very cool. I want to finish on a fun question. You've had a very, uh, deep story. If people were gonna come challenge you into a Pokemon battle, what six Pokemon would you bring?

EastsideScrafty: So if I was a trainer. I'd have a crafty. I'd probably have like a, 'cause champions would've starters.

David Hernandez: hey, this is your team. You can do what you want.

EastsideScrafty: All right, Lee, lemme just rattle off some bullshit then. All right. Okay. Rattling off some bullshit Crafty torra. Um, let's just go ahead and throw Corvine in there. Corvine is pretty cool.

David Hernandez: Yes it is. Yeah.

EastsideScrafty: let's go a, let's go as a classic and put a needle king in there.

Let's see. Let's go ahead and put a gig lift in there.

I like gig lift giggles pretty good.

So for coverage, let's go ahead and throw in a, uh, earth ring,

David Hernandez: Oh, spicy toys. I like it.

EastsideScrafty: because I wanna have, 'cause I don't want my Pokemon, my Pokemon gym leader team to be like, just a generic. All right. These are some big, well-known Pokemon. No, it's gonna be me.[00:35:00]

David Hernandez: Yeah.

EastsideScrafty: I'm gonna have a fucking bear.

David Hernandez: There you

EastsideScrafty: I don't want one any. I don't want any of the basic bears like snor locks, even though SSLs technically not a bear, but most people consider it.

I don't want bear tick. I want a just straight up big menacing. I take care of my family as bear, so us.

David Hernandez: Alright. Alright, well, Lisa said crafter. People want to check out your content. If they want to visit your Facebook page, where can they go? By all means, please plug away.

EastsideScrafty: All right, so Facebook page, east Side S Crafty, YouTube, east Side, Rafe, Twitter, east side s Crafty. You wanna add me on Nintendo Switch? I will have a link pinned to my uh, Facebook page. So go to East Side Rafe, um, blue sky, east side s crafty. If you want to join a group of for Pokemon Creators and Pokemon pages, go to my page.

I append a link. Cast city Pokemon Central. Was that being said? Thank you for having me, Mr. Hernandez.

David Hernandez: And thank you for listening to As The Pokeball Turns, if this story

EastsideScrafty: [00:36:00] I.

David Hernandez: with you, share the podcast with a fellow trainer. Don't forget to follow us from more voices, more journeys, and more memories. I'm David Hernandez, and remember, your next Pokemon adventure begins here.