Web Animation / Pokémon Petunia

Pokemon Petunia's logo.

Pokemon Petunia^note  previously referred to as "Project Fritho" (2020) is the second installment into The 'Verse that is the Askosverse, created by Jaydreamer. It follows the What If? scenario of "What if New Zealand was a Pokémon region?", where the culture and history of New Zealand is translated into a potential plot for a Pokemon game.

Pokemon Petunia is part of a bigger Shared Universe. The full video can be watched here.

Pokemon Petunia contains examples of the following tropes:

• A Glitch in the Matrix: "Basil"^note  who is actually Elara starts to experience several strange occurrences that make them question reality.
  • Though as revealed later, Elara is a Fourth-Wall Observer, since she's aware of the regular tropes of a game.
• Assimilation Plot: Wyatt wants to control the Fritho region through the "Cyber Visor", because of The Evils of Free Will.
• Capitalism Is Bad: Nina takes this stance when talking about Cyber Labs, Peter later siding with her.
• Deadpan Snarker: Basil is this - even without Elara playing as the video game him.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": Assistant K-A1 doesn't want to be called "Alan".
• Face Your Fears: Peter reveals he has a fear of Bug type Pokemon, and "Basil" helps him face his fears.
• Fictional Video Game: "Project Fritho" is a video game created, based off real-life events that happened to real people. Elara experiences all of this in a first-person VR "simulation".
  • As revealed in Project Pandora, Elara was trapped inside of this VR game for three days straight.
• I Have No Son!: Happens after Peter tries to reason with Wyatt after his defeat.
  ''Peter: Dad, please...you can still fix this. You can still fix your mistakes. You heard it from the legendaries themselves - we don’t have to make them fight anymore. We can achieve peace without anyone getting hurt...just please, stop this.
  Wyatt: ...you’re no son of mine.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Basil battles a mind-controlled Peter and tries to snap him out of it afterwards (which succeeds).
• Interactive Narrator: Later into the video, "Basil" starts to interact with the narrator, who starts to be pretty argumentative with them before the game breaks.
• Lotus-Eater Machine: Elara is playing through a near one-to-one recreation of ^note  the REAL Basil's experience in the Fritho region 20 years ago.
• Long-Lost Relative: It's revealed that Basil's biological father is the same as Peter's, the two being twin brothers.
  • The most obvious foreshadowing towards this is the Family Eye Resemblance, with Basil and Wyatt both having bright green eyes.
• Lonely Rich Kid: Peter is this, since his dad is a Corrupt Corporate Executive.
• Meet Cute: Peter and Nina go through this, and this is expanded upon in the Askosverse Shorts.
• Offscreen Breakup: Wyatt and Anne divorced at some point before the story, since Anne was Turned Off By The Jerkass.
  • In Project Metameleia, Basil cites this happening around when he (and Peter) were 6.
• Ominous Visual Glitch: These start appearing near the end of the story, with visuals (and audio) becoming more buggy as "Basil" progresses towards the (non-existent) postgame.
• Perfection Is Impossible: Wyatt strives to make the world "perfect", but Peter, throughout the story, learns to take the opposite stance, claiming "Imperfections are what make us human".
• Separated at Birth: Basil and Peter are revealed to be this - Wyatt taking Peter, and Anne taking Basil.
• Significant Birth Date: Basil and Peter both sharing the birthday of January 31st is the very first clue towards them being siblings.
• Shattering the Illusion: Elara does this by trying to enter an area that the game's creator, her brother, Atiel, never programmed in - that being the Amurg region.
  "I...don’t recognise this place, in any of my research…This...This isn’t what I’m meant to be showing you at all! How did you get here?! This is all because of your morbid curiosity, isn’t it? You are going out of bounds. You should turn back. Bad things are going to happen. VERY bad things. At this rate, it might overload, then…at this rate, you’re putting yourself in danger."
  "...People like you never change. You are…Nonononononononono….Everything...EVERYTHING IS WRONG!"
• Straight Gay: April and Imogen are implied to be dating, and aren't very explicit about it.
  • Although, Imogen says "You see, my girl...my FRIEND, April, lives over in the next town, and I need to deliver this letter to her...
• Thanking the Viewer: At the end of the Closing Credits, it thanks the viewer.
• You're Not My Father: Basil says this verbatim to Wyatt before they battle.
  • Though to be fair, Basil and Wyatt didn't have much of a relationship anyway.
• Written by the Winners: Fritho's history was oppressed by the Delwissan colonizers who occupied the region 30 years prior to the main plot.