Pokémon: Twilight Wings is a web series of monthly shorts made by Studio Colorido, based on Pokémon Sword and Shield.
The series depicts the daily lives of certain characters residing in the Galar region, with a Corviknight and the taxi driver loosely tying to each story by taking each episode's main character to their locations.
The entire series can be viewed here
on the official YouTube page.
Pokémon: Twilight Wings provides examples of:
- Adaptation Expansion: Twilight Wings expands and fleshes out some of the canon characters, adding little details about them and their motivations.
- Bea is frustrated after losing to Leon and trains herself to extreme levels. She learns that while training in of itself is fine, pushing herself to the detriment of her health is not and it discouraged her own Pokemon.
- Nessa is confronted with the possibility of choosing between her modelling career and being a Gym Leader. Her episode also shows her eating out with Sonia (the main game having mentioned they are good friends).
- Oleana's backstory was that she was once a researcher. In present time, she has to deal with managing the company while Rose is away. The episode sheds more light on her relationship with Rose.
- Leon is shown to be Not a Morning Person in his episode. It also alludes to the fact that despite all of the fame and renown he has as Champion, certain aspects of being a celebrity are hard for him (examples demonstrating this include the fake smile John notices on the TV interview, and Opal's words about not knowing if he wants to win or to lose). It also subtly implies that Leon's No Sense of Direction may be, in some parts, an excuse to get away from it all.
- Aesop Enforcer: Allister appears to be this for Tommy as he encourages him to go and apologize to John in person to fix their friendship. He even accompanies him to help.
- All There in the Manual: Bea's Machamp is female, but because there aren't gender differences, it's hard to tell it's not male.
- And the Adventure Continues: After the final episode, Shingo Yamashita posted a photo on his twitter of an older John and Tommy with their own starters, starting their own journey.
- Animal Lover: Multiple Examples
- In the first episode, John is shown to be good with the very Corviknight that nipped at Rose a few scenes prior, indicating his potential future as a trainer.
- Nessa's expertise on Water-type Pokémon shows when she's able to interact with wild Water-type Pokémon as if it was second nature. It's heavily implied she had this affinity when she was a child.
- Leon is shown to be able to connect with Corviknight (a Pokemon he didn't own) and encourage it to use its full speed potential.
- Animated Adaptation: The shorts are Pokémon adaptations based off the then-newest Pokémon Sword and Shield.
- Anime Hair: Subverted with Nessa. Flashbacks to her childhood show that the blue portions of her hair are highlights. She had completely dark hair as a kid.
- Ascended Extra: The Corviknight and the taxi driver from the games become recurring characters loosely tying stories together with their passengers.
- Behind the Black: Allister and Tommy appear in the Corviknight Taxi twice without the driver even noticing which scares him.
- Big Brother Instinct: The Gastly, Gengar and Haunter in "Moonlight" shows signs of this with Allister as they stood between Tommy and Allister in the graveyard, uncertain what Tommy's intent was to meet with Allister.
- Big Eater: Both Nessa and Sonia aren't afraid of taking huge bites of their shared cake.
- Book Ends: The first episode has John giving a letter to Rose asking for an invitation to one of Leon's matches. He gets a reply in the final episode.
- The Bully: Avery appears to be this in The Gathering of Stars when he uses his psychic powers to stop a dojo student from running away and forcing him to battle again.
- Butt-Monkey: During Bea's training, only her Machoke seems to be struggling at keeping up with Machamp and Machop.
- Call-Back: "Moonlight" is essentially one of these to "Letter" since it makes references to John's letter given to Rose and the end of the short has Chairman Rose deliver it to Leon himself.
- The Cameo:
- A trainer and Pikachu who look very much like Ash and Pikachu◊ can be spotted in the first episode.
- In Nessa's short, Marnie and her Morpeko are in the background when Nessa and Sonia are at the cafe.
- In Oleana's short, Kabu, Piers, Gordie, Melony and the Ball Guy can be found in the background throughout Oleana's travels around Galar.
- In Leon's short, all of the Gym Leaders, Hop, Marnie, and Bede make brief appearances. The Stinger also has a brief appearance from Victor and Gloria, though we don't get to see their faces.
- In The Gathering of Stars, Honey makes two small appearances and speaks while offscreen. Oleana (alongside her Garbodor) also makes a slight appearance at the mines. Sordward and Shielbert briefly show up at Wyndon Stadium, being the ones who funded Leon's Galarian Star Tournament as said in the games. Lastly, Victor and Gloria, or one of the two, show up near the end, though it's unclear who it is due to Feet-First Introduction.
- A trainer and Pikachu who look very much like Ash and Pikachu
- Camera Abuse: During the interviews about Leon in Sky, Piers refuses to make any comments and reaches to cut off the camera instead.
- Canon Foreigner: Unlike the rest of the established characters, sickly hospital kid John and his friend Tom aren't characters from the games.
- Character Tics: Chairman Rose is almost always seen twirling his fringe round his finger when in his office or talking to Oleana.
- Children Are Innocent: Bea's Machop is the most worried about her stubbornness to keep training without resting.
- Continuity Nod: In Oleana’s short, one shot of the Wyndon streets includes a Macro Cosmos member in a phone booth, referencing a late game scene in the Sword and Shield games.
- Covers Always Lie: "Moonlight" focuses on Allister. However, the English dub video's thumbnail features Sonia, who only appears for about 6 seconds near the end and has no speaking role.
- Creator's Culture Carryover: Nessa bows at the end of her short, which is a Japanese custom, despite being raised in a British-inspired region.
- Dare to Be Badass:
- In Nessa's short, Rose and (to a lesser extent) Oleana suggest that Nessa choose between her modeling career or her being a gym leader after a string of losses. When she reunites with the Feebas who ended up evolving into a Milotic in the years since, she resolves to keep doing both and get better.
- In the final episode, Leon encourages John to meet him in battle one day.
- A Day in the Limelight: The shorts focus on several characters.
- "Letter" features Rose and Oleana.
- "Training" puts the spotlight on Bea.
- "Buddy" focuses on Hop, Hop's Wooloo, and Milo.
- "Early-Evening Waves" focuses on Nessa and Sonia.
- "Assistant" focuses on Oleana.
- "Moonlight" focuses on Allister as the Decoy Protagonist. John and Tommy are the real focus characters.
- "Sky" focuses on Leon as well as John.
- "Gathering of the Stars" is basically Putting the Band Back Together, though Leon still takes the spotlight.
- Feud Episode: "Moonlight" is this between Tommy and John.
- Foreshadowing: The very last shot of each episode so far has been of the character who will be the focus of the next one.
- Foregone Conclusion: The fact that Victor and Gloria exist may mean John will never get to be the Champion by defeating Leon but at least defeating Leon is possible.
- Foreshadowing: In "Gathering of the Stars":
- At the Isle of Armor, both Klara and Avery are seen training (with Avery using his telekinesis on a student), though neither Victor and Gloria are there, Honey still has Bulbasaur and Squirtle, and Kubfu is still up and about, implying this is set before the two even arrive at the dojo, but after one of them has defeated Leon. In-game this early meeting between Leon and Mustard is supported by how Mustard indicated he was aware of Leon planning the Star Tournament well before it began.
- Sonia takes out an old book detailing the Swords of Justice, foreshadowing her eventual trip to the Crown Tundra in search for them.
- On the way to the Crown Tundra, Peonia is frustrated with her father and storms off, with him running after her in the train cabins as they head for the tundra, prior to Victor and Gloria meeting them arguing outside the train station in the games.
- Friendship Trinket: The ending for the first short includes a quick scene of Hop making a friendship bracelet for his Wooloo. In the third short, which focuses on the two of them, the bracelet breaks as a reflection of Wooloo's doubt over their friendship, but it flies out the window of the taxicar Wooloo is currently in and lands near Hop, who has been desperately searching for his missing Pokémon the entire day. The bracelet allows Hop to reunite with Wooloo and apologize to it, their friendship fixed.
- Funny Background Event:
- Bea's Machoke unable to keep up with the team, showing exhausted and possibly even mentally abused by the harsh training.
- As Oleana walks through an office of the company, there's a Sudowoodo fittingly being used as a bonsai tree decoration.
- During one of Nessa's photo shoots, as she is looking at Leon's invitation letter, an Inteleon is posing in seductive poses for the camera. What's more, both Nessa and Inteleon appear together on a blimp's TV display at Wyndon.
- When Tommy and Alister is walking up to the Corviknight taxi driver, Alister's Gengar is seen pushing a hesitant Alister forward.
- Gameplay and Story Integration: According to the Pokédex, Wooloo's fleece is so thick it can jump off a cliff and not be harmed. In "Buddy", Hop's Wooloo jumps off a cliff and tries to fly like Charizard, but falls to the ground and suffers no apparent injury aside from being dazed and having swirly eyes.
- Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: Happens to Hop's Wooloo in the third short when it jumps off a cliff and tries to fly.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Wooloo becomes jealous and runs away when Hop praises his brother's Charizard more than him.
- Hypercompetent Sidekick: "Assistant" really shows the amount of work, dedication and efficiency Oleana maintains to keep the company running when Rose was away.
- Innocently Insensitive: Hop admires his brother and Pokémon but his constant praise of Leon's Charizard makes his Wooloo feel unwanted.
- I Just Want to Be Badass: Hop's Wooloo tries his hardest to be able to be better than Leon's Charizard, getting the wrong impression that Hop doesn't like him as much. Hop later realizes he was being insensitive and convinces Wooloo that he's fine the way he is.
- Mythology Gag: Bea briefly mistakes a Rhydon for Leon and his Charizard. It isn't as random as you might think when you recall both Charizard and Rhydon have similar cries in the games, especially pre-Generation 6.
- Meaningful Name:
Word of God says the title of the web series is meant to refer the various characters' personal trials that lead into a dark path, until eventually, light will shine on them, hence "twilight." - No Sense of Direction: Leon's horrible sense of direction is on full display in his focus episode; he gets a little lost on the road on the way to a match and somehow ends up in the middle of the wilderness.
- Not a Morning Person: John, due to being ill, often sleeps in. He shares this trait with Leon.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Despite Galar being Fantasy Counterpart Culture Britain, the characters have American accents in the English dub.
- "Not So Different" Remark: During their flight to the stadium together, John finds out how much alike he is to Leon.
- Obsessively Organized: Perhaps due to her workaholic nature, Oleana is very attentive to mistakes, such as when the taxi driver incorrectly referred G-Max Lapras and G-Max Coalossal as Dynamax Pokémon instead of Gigantamax Pokémon. She proceeds to berate him into using the right term.
- Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Oleana starts off like this before Rose meets her and makes her vice President of Macro Cosmos.
- Passive-Aggressive Kombat: After Nessa suffers a string of losses in her stadium matches, Rose swings by and compliments her recent successes as a model, implying that she can't manage both careers at once. All with a cheerful smile on his face.
- Prequel: This is set right before Pokémon Sword and Shield's main story.
- Put on a Bus: John and Tommy are nowhere to be found in the final episode, though the hospital they were at manages to get a scene in. A brief scene during Leon's speech features two characters who bear similar complexions to the two seated in the grandstands, though they appear definitely older than them. Word of God has not confirmed whether they are one and the same.
- Scenery Porn: Every locale is simply gorgeous to look at.
- She Is All Grown Up: The abused Feebas that Nessa cheered up when she was a child returned to see her when Nessa went back to the lake for a photo shooting, only the Feebas had evolved into Milotic by then.
- Shown Their Work: During "Gathering of the Stars," Bea is seen enjoying sweets with some friends. She is wearing her school uniform as shown in the official artbook◊.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Allister can suddenly disappear from one spot and suddenly appear somewhere else without making a slight sound. This skill somehow extends to people he's with!
- Suddenly Voiced: After having no dialogue whatsoever in their previous appearances, Marnie and Bede get their first speaking roles in The Gathering of Stars.
- Supporting Protagonist: In a sense, the taxi driver and his Corviknight could be considered the overall protagonists of the series, playing a role in every episode and having the series named after them, but the stories instead focus on the other characters who they interact with.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Part of Bea's Training from Hell involves her fighting her own Machamp. She ends up getting at least a very nasty bruise when Machamp actually lands a punch on her. Even if she is used to Training from Hell, getting hit by something that can punch holes through solid rock is going to hurt quite a bit.
- A minor one. Initially Nessa has been having difficulty with winning stadium matches as of late, while her modelling career had been exploding with success. Managing two full-time careers can be difficult for anyone, even for professionals, and more often than not they sometimes lean towards one career over the other.
- An example in Oleana's story involves her feeling all burned out after helping everyone with their problems. Working yourself hard without taking any breaks can end up becoming too much and exhausting for even the most professional of hard workers.
- Leon's "fake smile" in the interviews versus the genuine smile he flashes at John during his battle with Raihan show that even enviable jobs such as being champion have both pros and cons, something that's often ignored when viewing people of such high status. Leon's bonding with John on the Corviknight was also a reminder that celebrities are still human deep down and not just a superhuman entity.
- After getting jealous of the praise that Hop is giving to Leon's Charizard, Wooloo jumps off a cliff and tries to fly like Charizard. Since it's not a Charizard (or even a Flying-type, for that matter), it hangs in mid-air for a second before plummeting to the ground and rolling down the hill. Thankfully, its thick fleece protects it from being seriously injured, so it's just mildly stunned when it falls into Milo's pasture.
- Tears of Joy: Upon finally seeing and interacting with his hero Leon and seeing one of his battles in person, John begins to cry.
- Training from Hell: In the second episode, Bea's Training Montage features her, among other things, fighting her own Machamp. Anyone who knows Machamp's Pokédex entry will tell you that so much as attempting to block its chops or punches will hurt. While she has a Machop, a Machoke, and a Machamp helping her, Bea is also implied to punch out a Rhydon. You know, the Pokemon with hides thick and strong enough to swim through magma without melting.
- Unreveal Angle: Ball Guy's cameo in "Assistant" is seen resting outside a cafe with his mascot head on the table, however we can only see his back.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Tommy and John appear to be this. Despite almost having different beliefs, they remain best friends and always support each other.
- Weirdness Magnet: Downplayed, but it's implied throughout "Moonlight" that Ghost-type Pokémon are attracted to Allister's presence. There's a large amount of random Ghost-types hanging around him in the graveyard at the beginning of the short, including ones that wouldn't normally be in that environment such as Dhelmise. Later, after he accompanies Tommy to the hospital, other Ghost-types begin to show up around them.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: According to Shingo Yamashita, John and Tommy started their journey.
- With Friends Like These...: Tommy's attitude towards John wanting to be a trainer almost damages their friendship. Luckily he is able to resolve it with Allister's help.
- Workaholic: Oleana is shown to be this during "Assistant".
- You Will Not Evade Me: In "The Gathering of Stars", when a dojo student tries to run away and avoid battling Avery again, Avery stops the student in his tracks with his telekinesis.
