FULLVIEW: http://www.deviantart.com/download/.....on-d3cv05z.png

This commission is part of a comic commissioned from the wonderful JHallPokemon (http://jhallpokemon.deviantart.com/). I will only be posting the pages to my account that contain my character, Lucas.

This is the final page of the comic - the full comic can be found on JHall's account at http://jhallpokemon.deviantart.com/.....llery/29268831

This was done as a statement comic, and this is the statement I asked JHall to post in his comments section:

Hello, fello Trainers. This is most likely the only time I'll hold the attention of so many fellow Pokefans, so I know I need to make this count.

Much thought went into this commission, and asking JHall to add my Mewtwo character, Lucas, as a cameo in his comic. I've had many feelings I've wished to express about the Nuzlocke fad for a while now, and this mini-series has allowed me to get my point of view out there on all of them at once.

*First, no self-respecting Mewtwo - or any other legendary with any kind of clairvoyance or psychic ability - would sit still in one place, knowing their murderer would be coming for them and doing nothing about it. If Mewtwo/this other Legendary knew what would potentially happen, they would either cut the Trainer off at the pass before they became powerful enough, or as happened in this case, stop the one who was spreading the idea of killing Pokemon from having any further influence on society.

In that respect, consider this comic a pre-emptive strike against any and all Nuzlocke comics where Mewtwo would be killed, and a response to any finished comics I may not be aware of yet where the same has happened.

*Would it not be MORE of a challenge to have to catch all of the normally-accessible Legendaries, rather than just knocking them out? Many who attempt a playthrough with Nuzlocke rules say they do so for the increase in difficulty over playing the regular game. It is one thing to go up against a Legendary Pokemon with a Pokemon of similar level and knocking it out before it can return the favor, it's entirely another to weaken it and survive the onslaught with your team while you make the capture attempts, especially against Legendaries with an extremely low catch rate. Even if you would choose not to use them in your party, Legendaries who show you the proper respect of standing to fight you deserve respect in kind, of a proper capture attempt.

*Then there's another ethical issue beyond killing off Legendaries. Okay, I understand that there's a unique challenge in not using a Pokemon again once it's been KOed. But why release that Pokemon when there are millions of other Trainers who would love to have those Pokemon on their team - the vast majority of which are just a few button presses away thanks to the GTS?

With that, I propose one alternate Nuzlocke challenge, and one additional Nuzlocke rule.

The alternate challenge - play through a Nuzlocke as you would otherwise, but any time one of your Pokemon is defeated, it is boxed. When a certain number of Pokemon (say, 3) have been boxed in this manner, your goal is to find another Trainer who is also doing a Nuzlocke run, and trade your KOed Pokemon for theirs. After the trades are completed, you are now allowed to use these new Pokemon during your run, and they are allowed to use your previously-fallen comrades. This gives those Pokemon a second chance in a new world, and another shot at a Trainer who will take them to the top.

The alternate rule - upon either completing a Nuzlocke attempt or failing it, ALL Pokemon that were defeated, plus any caught Legendaries that will not be used, must be offered up in a giveaway to other Trainers within the community that want them.

I am a firm believer that high-quality art and fiction within a community will influence the direction the community takes. As a Mewtwo fan, I have been forced to watch from the sidelines as our fanbase, and his popularity, has dwindled over the recent years. Between the Brawl roster, the near-disregard of the "Uber" tier as far as Smogon's competitive players, his atrocious moveset in HG/SS making what was once the hardest fight against a Legendary into nothing more than a laughingstock, and the lack of other appearances in official media lately, it's been rather disheartening. I've spoken with fans of other Legendary Pokemon who are in similar scenarios - most Trainers disregarding those Pokemon as a whole because they're "too powerful" and beyond one game and one anime appearance, get no further official support from Nintendo or GameFreak.

That having been said, it is up to us as fans to support our loved Pokemon beyond that point. This is my support for Mewtwo, and other Legendaries who would be disregarded as unimportant due to this method of gameplay. While I realize that bringing Mewtwo back into the spotlight is out of my reach alone, and changing the entirety of how the Nuzlocke run is perceived is a lofty goal, I can only hope that this comic, and the statement that goes along with it, changes how a few of you out there see Nuzlocke runs as a whole. If it convinces just a few Trainers, Deviants, Redditors, furs, /vp/-goers, or other Pokemon fans to find good homes for Pokemon that they'd either normally not catch, or just release, then I feel I've done what I've set out to do.

JHall, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak with a huge portion of the active Pokemon fanbase through your amazing work.

Here's hoping that this helps tweak how future Nuzlockes by other Trainers are perceived and played.