Employment survey in Skyrim: "I followed this guy and saw him mining stuff in the mine so he's employed" Employment survey in Pokemon: "This guy has his sleeves rolled up and is complaining about crime so he's employed"
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door would be excellent for this series, since you can use Goombella to learn more about every character in the game, along with all their dialogue options.
I dunno if they’re both liberal, crime rate talk tends to be more of a conservative thing…oh Christ, I just thought of a Pokémon Ben Shapiro using loaded language to describe alleged Team Rocket criminals. Yknow: “Theoretically, if I were a Zubat, for the sake of argument, am I not more likely to be owned by a Team Rocket member? Therefore, I would then hypothetically say that Zubat are criminal Pokémon…”
I’ve mentioned it before but I’ll mention it again; I love the detail you put into the EMPLOYED and UNEMPLOYED labels. I just noticed they have shadows now and that’s so awesome
On a series scale, these videos have actually taught me a lot about world-building and writing. The implied rate of working citizens seems to change the tone of a setting in really unique ways- even in similarly cheery games, like Delfino Plaza vs. Viridian City. Heck, even different Pokémon towns compared together.
@@nullpoint3346 which are visitation spots too. swamps like the everglades only exists there. and siesta key is known as the best american beach. (also the purest sand for the crazy sand sculpture contests). there's also the amusement park hub which only happens to be orlando. daytona beach has NASA. miami, tampa, and others, are just miami, tampa, and others. nothing too noteworthy to visit in either one of them. regardless, common tourist spots are littered all over florida. every county has something famous about it.
Unless he's from NY, he wouldn't be Unovan. The regions until Gen 8 weren't entire countries (even Gen 6 wasn't all of France), so it's likely that as Gens 1-4 are Japanese, Unova is just a part of America
I used to make this joke in the 4th grade in 1998 when Pokemon first released on Gameboy: "So who's Lieutennant Surge's Dad, General Electric?!". I have not ever been as clever in my life ever again.
I'd posit that some of the employment is simply not visible at time of survey-during the day, all the boats are out on the water, so you were unable to account for any shipping and fishing that wasn't done on land. It's also possible that Vermilion runs on a seasonal economy based around tourism (the cruise ship) and since you came off-season a few of those seemingly unemployed folks were actually just on break. I also think that young couple in the PokeMart could have both been employed. And the Pokemon Fan Club chairman is probably not employed in that he isn't getting a salary. It's probably a hobbyist organization that he runs for fun in his retirement because he's rich and has the money to pay for his passion project. I agree about the assistant, but do employers who hire personal assistants but don't have paid jobs themselves still count as employed?
The pokemart couple are definitely both employed and hold similar but slightly different political views on Pokemon control which has rapidly causing tension in their relationship.
if the chairman doesn't receive a salary from the fan club, but pays his assistant to help him run it, she would count as a personal assistant to him himself, and therefore is employed
i didnt expect to get a solid argument for Vermillion City's political affiliation when I clicked on this video, but man you made some very compelling points. excellent work as always, I love these videos so much
Correct, that tourist is Mina from Sun and Moon. In those games, she's decades older and is a professional artist + trial captain. Trial captains run the Alolan equivalent of the gym circut, leading the children of Alola on a "coming of age" journey across the islands and evaluating their progress. As well, they take care of culturally important "totem Pokemon" which I would say is an important job to the locals. Rest assured, in the future Mina will be very employed. Even if she's a slacker.
@@BJGvideosShe really makes the timeline weird because she’s 19 at most but we know from lore that Gen 1 happened 20 years before SM so I have no clue when Let’s Go happens
@@AislingNightmare But Let's Go isn't treated the same as gen one. The events of gen one have already happened and Let's Go is somehow reliving them. LG is a very uncomfortable game to fit into the timeline.
@@AislingNightmare The characters you play in Let's Go aren't the same ones as the original Kanto games. You actually encounter Red Blue and Green during the course of normal gameplay and it's after their journey. That said they don't look older like they do in Sun and Moon, but it's kind of hard to tell age in Let's Go because of the extra chibi style.
I understand this series is sticking with this specific remake's version of Kanto, but thinking back on the early episode where the potion guy had his line changed to remove the reference to the PokeMart (retroactively unemploying him), I'm curious what the age demographics of Vermillion originally were, the amount of elderly people here is weird. It's weirder thinking that somebody at Game Freak made an active choice to put them there. Also, "Kantonian" is an understandable but awful sounding and looking word.
@@imperiallarch7610 Kantonese makes the most sense and is the easiest on the ears, but Cantonese already refers to a language widely spoken in southern China.
To be fair, this game canonically takes place after red and blue. So the Pokemart worker could have been let go in that time frame, and had a break down because they felt they had no purpose, staying on the route clinging onto their old life and handing out potions. As for how this person could be getting all of these potions when they have no income, remember that we run into a whole bunch of random potions on the ground. Trainers are sent out at 10-11 years old for their journey, a bunch of these kids probably drop some potions, or since a potion is a spray bottle with liquid in it, use half or less and throw the rest away, thinking it was finished. Since Pokemon games have no mechanics involving half potions, it could easily be that potion use is directly linked to how much missing hp a Pokemon has. If your Rattata has 6/13 hp, and you use a potion on it like many young kids who don't understand enough to refrain would, you're only using 7 out of the possible 20 hp the potion can recover. If they use the potion like this, and assume that it's done afterwards, they might just be dropping the half full bottles on the ground, and this ex mart worker could be collecting them, condensing them into 20hp potions, and giving them away to live in the dreamland that they still have their job. It could mean that they're unemployed. TLDR; The Pokemart guy got fired, collects discarded potions, and gives them away, because they feel like they have no purpose in life.
I feel like this series was tailor made for me, this is the kinda shit I love; going over world building details you don't think about with a fine toothed comb, and discovering a narrative from it.
I love how much you can infer from the npcs from context clues it's so interesting coming up with stories. I used to do that with XY and some houses had three men and one bed like that gives me a lot of material on it's own
I notice that the city has a lot of elderly men, but seemingly no elderly women. The oldest women seem to be the nurse and the police officer, maybe the red dress ladies, who I would say are in their 40s at the latest. What is causing these women to leave or disappear? Perhaps the local government has descriminatory employment practices and that is why the only employed women are with federal agencies or being an assistant to the president of the fan club.
The little girl with the fairy type Pokemon you ran into around the four minute mark is actually Alolan! She grows up to be the fairy type Trial Captain in Sun and Moon, so you were right about her being a foreigner.
I imagine most of the labor in Vermillion is seasonal, given it's a port town. It seems to be early spring in Kanto at the time of the report, given the lush grass and general humidity outside coastal areas. The town is likely on the tail-end of a lull in work due to harsh winter waters around Japan preventing the regular incoming ships, thus reducing the need for labor. As such, the harbor likely employs people on a month-by-month basis, paying well enough for people to put down payments towards housing, food, and entertainment, all of which is likely inexpensive in Vermillion due to its relatively small size allowing for easier navigation, and port status ensuring plenty of food resources, even if it's primarily fish and dried goods. This would also explain the influx of elderly and youth members; retirees, students, and fresh graduates making the most of their time by working the season, but not overworking themselves, giving them more time for hobbies and the like. The lack of extraneous expenditures would explain the relatively well-off nature of the people living here, as well as the more conservative viewpoints; they simply don't live in a part of the world with much strife or imbalance. Tourism and limited land area, however, would make it difficult for new people to move in, at least until the older population passes or somebody moves away, so money is likely somewhat stagnant here. Vermillion's docks and Pokemon center likely make a quite sizable sum of money, and most of it is likely spent in Saffron, which at the time of the report, had just been through a city-wide shutdown due to Team Rocket attacks. That itself may be why so little was being done on that day in particular, and why morality and crime were a hot topic in the marts.
I'd love to see some Scarlet and Violet analysis at some point. Also worth noting that Lt. Surge was a military official in another country (he was originally dubbed "the Lightning American" but has been retconned to be probably from Unova)
Unova would be in America at least. Though specifying the region would just rule out Orre or Alola and future proof him with any other American regions
Another thing to note, they say the SS Anne only comes by once a year. It's possible the city has a lot of seasonal employment, which possibly makes up a significant portion of their economy during the brief times when the SS Anne (a luxury cruise ship) is docked there. This would be difficult to quantify via direct survey at any other time of year.
I noticed that Vermilion City seems to be the only port town in Kanto. So the city probably makes a lot of money on imports, exports, docking fees, and all that stuff, as the only place where large vessels can stop
w/r/t the Lass/Miniskirt trainer class: They are designed to look like they're wearing school uniforms so you can write them off automatically on the assumption they're students. Mina is indeed from Alola. She's the trial captain of Poni Island.
I love the simple yet very intricate editing just about the employed or unemployed pop-up, it always matches the angle of the character and even has an impressively detailed shadow. Contrasted with the red arrow in a white box that pops up to provide some necessary guiding details for the viewer.
Just to clarify on the working pokemon issue- according to the ADA, a service animal who has a task they are trained for that aids the owner so they can live normally is treated as medical equipment. They can be registered as an emotional support animal if a person has the diagnosis and documentation from their doctor that the animal would aid their mental wellbeing, but that is specific to them NOT being trained to do anything besides be a companion. Animals that are trained in a task or for specific work are working animals, but they are treated as work equipment/property in the eyes of the law. Therefore, if a pokemon has a task or is trained in a specific kind of work (and if "pokemon trainer" is a job, then I would say that their pokemon count) then they are equipment/property, but if they are purely a companion, they are a pet. In both cases, not a job. However, I will say it's disturbing that there is no governing body to protect the rights and safety of the pokemon, considering all the dangerous tasks they perform and the sport they are used for... just because there is a pokemon center in practically every town and healing items to alleviate any discomfort/injury they may sustain does not make the extremely questionable activities they are made to do any better.
Lt. Surge is called the Lightning American. He moved to Kanto some time after fighting in the Pokemon war. Which is kind of crazy that their was a fairly recent Pokemon war that no one talks about.
Thanks for another look into the employment surveyor life! I love how in-depth you go with your speculations and final report. Please keep making these videos!
Unrelated to this video but I wanted to mention that your request to watch multiple videos of yours in a row to boost engagement has fundamentally changed how I use UA-cam, thanks Austin!
The "XY girl" is a Trial Captain in Alola, which is Sun Moon/Ultra Sun Ultra Moon. I don't know if this is a younger version of her or if that's just the result of the art style, but assuming the latter, she is employed... just not anywhere in this region.
In this game it is a younger version of her, as in the games she originally from she's an actual adult. Though I'm not convinced that Trial Captain is an actual job though. The whole Alolan system felt more like a cultural, community driven thing than a formal, taxable thing. They always gave me more volunteers-at-an-after-school-program vibes than a this-how-I-pay-for-groceries ones
@@theeth3242 Fair. But considering they end up starting a proper Pokemon League by the end of things, the Trail Captains that you have to go through to get there MUST be getting paid for their services. On an unrelated note, it's a shame USUM wasn't a sequel game where we got to see Alola a couple years in the future with a proper Gym system.
Been a follower since the early Eggbuster days, and I see you get shouted out on Nakey Jakey's video and I was so happy and surprised, I had to come comment on both videos. I have always enjoyed your videos and I'm glad a bunch more are on their way from another great channel. o7
Interjection: Lt. Surge is the "Lightning American." Kanto is explicitly NOT America. Surge is therefore part of either an occupying force or allied nation stationed out of a local base, i.e. American service members deployed to Japan. Would he really be counted in the population of a foreign country? Does the US military get counted in the Japanese census? I doubt it.
He's likely not an active member of the military. Considering his position as gym leader, which has the purpose of testing if the local youth are strong enough to continue on their journey to be champion, and that the gyms are controlled by the League, which would be a Kanto based branch of the organization, I would think he has to have some sort of permanent residency, and familiarity with the local customs and culture, to even be considered for that role. Remember that almost every local economy is dependent on the League, so they will not likely hire a random stationed American, who can leave at any time, for this important of a facet to their society. He's probably retired, and moved to Kanto some time ago. After proving his mettle as a competent trainer, and proving he knows the culture enough to assess the required strength for local trainers to compete in the biggest market of the entire continent, they hired him on as a gym leader. That's my theory of it when putting it into this video series perspective. Also to note, people in the military can retire very young. My brother is in the military, and he's set to be able to retire at mid to late 30s, so Surge's perceived age is not a factor.
13:53 I didn’t see the lass in the corner at first, so I thought you were implying the birdkeeper was in a relationship with his Pidgey. With how some of those trainers talk about their birds, it wouldn’t surprise me.
So excited that there's a new one out. Which is exactly opposite the energy of the video (not in a bad way!) but it's just funny to be excited about something as mundane as employment rate also was not expecting the story you made of the city but I'm never going to forget it
Edit: The two guys under this comment make a fair point. I'm being improvident. I am still leaving this up, though. I never thought about Vermilion City being comparable to a military town (relatively speaking). As someone currently active duty and on shore duty (Navy), it is completely valid for older individuals (typically prior service members with 20+ years) to come back to work on the civilian side for military installations. Just bump Lt. Surge's rank to Commander and add in military base shenanigans, more rundown buildings (and degeneracy) and it's basically that.
I don't know if it's safe to call it a "military town." There's no military infrastructure present and no nearby installation. It's more likely that it's simply a place where Kanto veterans have chosen to settle down or retire and that Surge (if he is still serving) is either some sort of inactive reservist or a vet that still wears his old uniform as a gimmick. Also, you can't compare Naval military towns to other ones evenly. The Army gets a mixed bag of town quality (Colorado Springs at Carson vs Killeen at Hood) and the Air Force just gets the higher quality living spaces in general.
@@J3Puffinthe most apt comparison might be american military bases in okinawa in that case, since lt surge is known as "the lightning american" in every game he appears in (in both jp and en versions)
Gotta disagree with your analysis of the young conservative couple in the first house; the “wife” is clearly wearing a sailor uniform, which is a common school uniform in Japan. And before anyone says “it’s a kink”, I just wanna say that there isn’t a conservative couple alive who would allow their children to know about sex, let alone kink play. Tl;dr They’re all siblings and the parents are just at work in another town. Edit: No comment on the liberal couple
That is the more obvious reading. But is it the *funnier* reading? I think not. Better to assume these high schoolers have elementary school age children.
Trying to infer the political landscape of towns in video games by speaking to the residents could be its own series. This one was of the most entertaining.
2:57 If we are saying that the Machop is an employee, you'd have to start counting Pokémon as a part of the survey. I think a more apt metaphor would probably be a beast of burden, like an ox. In which case the old man might just be a retired old man that has a working animal on his property. Banger video, as always!
The man in the bohemian couple was wearing overalls, hinting at a blue collar profession. As blue collars workers are not expected to be left leaning, he could pass as being apolitical while at the same time, making plans to leave the city. I am willing to bet that the man had a jobw hile the woman kept house but both wished to leave. But it wouldn't have affected the statistics.
I just got done watching your Skyrim restaurant inspections videos and started looking at the kitchens in this Pokémon video... *And WHO in their right mind puts the microwave on Top of your Refrigerator?!?* Sure you save counter space, but That's how you spill hot food on your face.😂
Fictional character: complains about organized crime syndicate ruining the country Austin: he's alt-right conservative, but employed. thats the quality analysis I expect from my background noise👏
I’m working my way through all of these lovely reports now, and this series was a brilliant idea because even if Austin got burnt out or bored making them, that would only add to the charm.
3:46 Mina is from the Alola Region actually 😁 Pretty cool to meet trainers from other regions in Kanto, I think! I don't remember if there were any others though
The recurrent dilemma of the Pokémon employment surveys: Person who stands around and just says stuff of varying degrees of utility... Job or not a job?
this is ur first employment video since I am officially employed to be a caregiver for my grandpa which barely feels like being employed but whatever I am getting PAID and PAYIN TAXES again
Austin’s channel makes me angry because I want there to be a hundred of each type of video but it’s not that old a channel yet. So I just rewatch the same videos and get very excited when new ones come out.
Everyone complaining that I said a character from sun and moon looks like a character from x and y is unemployed.
damn he's right
Second this motion
@@ceciliamoore7329 complainer
😂
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has spoken. 😂
Employment survey in Skyrim: "I followed this guy and saw him mining stuff in the mine so he's employed"
Employment survey in Pokemon: "This guy has his sleeves rolled up and is complaining about crime so he's employed"
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door would be excellent for this series, since you can use Goombella to learn more about every character in the game, along with all their dialogue options.
Rogueport is begging to be enumerated
Once the remake comes out yea.
Yes please
@@any_austin lets gooooo
Yooo thats such a great idea!!
Vermillion being a Red State with one out of place liberal couple is the most important and accurate piece of Pokémon lore I've ever heard.
That was an amazing observation from him and I’ll die on that hill now
Maybe they're young runaways!!
I dunno if they’re both liberal, crime rate talk tends to be more of a conservative thing…oh Christ, I just thought of a Pokémon Ben Shapiro using loaded language to describe alleged Team Rocket criminals. Yknow: “Theoretically, if I were a Zubat, for the sake of argument, am I not more likely to be owned by a Team Rocket member? Therefore, I would then hypothetically say that Zubat are criminal Pokémon…”
And then there’s Pokémon Jordan Peterson, with his weird obsession for Krabby/Kingler
If you've ever lived in a red state, they're definitely the couple who was born there but can't afford to leave/are stuck for other reasons.
I like to imagine the Eevee is the enumerator, and is just using the trainer kid as a vehicle to navigate these human cities
I second this motion
You've heard of detective pikacu, get ready for enumerator eevee
@@lemonlupinreuben5362 and we can only wait until they return
Can our narrator confirm or deny these claims?
i like to think the tiny diglett on eevee's head is the enumerator
I’ve mentioned it before but I’ll mention it again; I love the detail you put into the EMPLOYED and UNEMPLOYED labels. I just noticed they have shadows now and that’s so awesome
its one of those reasons that keeps me coming back. Its the cherry on top and I would be sad if he ever stopped putting in that extra touch.
Honestly. It baffles me that he gets them angled in line with the heads just so.
you don't understand how excited I get when a new unemployment video comes out. I don't even know why but brain happy
enumerating make brain go brrr?
@@Fooma777 it do, very much
@@venomouzelite4380 big same
Autistic, all of us...
@@stargirlfeliciaacoustic
I'm impressed by how much you managed to figure out about not just the employment situation, but the politics of this city.
Austin’s ability to manifest a narrative from a string of unrelated design choices never ceases to amaze me
On a series scale, these videos have actually taught me a lot about world-building and writing. The implied rate of working citizens seems to change the tone of a setting in really unique ways- even in similarly cheery games, like Delfino Plaza vs. Viridian City. Heck, even different Pokémon towns compared together.
Vermilion appears to be more of a destination city, like Delfino or Florida
@@warlordofbritannialove the implication that florida is a city
@@avocadokin
Thank you, I was hoping people would notice how I slipped that in there 😂
@@avocadokin The only place worth visiting in Florida is a city, everything else is swamp or beach.
@@nullpoint3346 which are visitation spots too. swamps like the everglades only exists there. and siesta key is known as the best american beach. (also the purest sand for the crazy sand sculpture contests). there's also the amusement park hub which only happens to be orlando. daytona beach has NASA. miami, tampa, and others, are just miami, tampa, and others. nothing too noteworthy to visit in either one of them. regardless, common tourist spots are littered all over florida. every county has something famous about it.
With Surge being American/Unovan, Vermillion is probably intended to be something like Okinawa, so a military base city.
Isn’t Okinawa an island of its own?
@@warlordofbritannia It's also the second-largest city in Okinawa prefecture.
@@CircusFoxxo
Makes sense
It's actually based off of Yokosuka, the port city south of Tokyo proper (ie Saffron City) and headquarters of the US 7th Fleet.
Unless he's from NY, he wouldn't be Unovan. The regions until Gen 8 weren't entire countries (even Gen 6 wasn't all of France), so it's likely that as Gens 1-4 are Japanese, Unova is just a part of America
the analysis of the political atmosphere in Vermillion City was my favorite part.
I'd love a series where he analyzes the political leanings of different pokemon towns and then makes an election map of the region
I used to make this joke in the 4th grade in 1998 when Pokemon first released on Gameboy: "So who's Lieutennant Surge's Dad, General Electric?!". I have not ever been as clever in my life ever again.
This is a woefully underrated comment
@@BJGvideos woefully
I'd posit that some of the employment is simply not visible at time of survey-during the day, all the boats are out on the water, so you were unable to account for any shipping and fishing that wasn't done on land. It's also possible that Vermilion runs on a seasonal economy based around tourism (the cruise ship) and since you came off-season a few of those seemingly unemployed folks were actually just on break.
I also think that young couple in the PokeMart could have both been employed. And the Pokemon Fan Club chairman is probably not employed in that he isn't getting a salary. It's probably a hobbyist organization that he runs for fun in his retirement because he's rich and has the money to pay for his passion project. I agree about the assistant, but do employers who hire personal assistants but don't have paid jobs themselves still count as employed?
The pokemart couple are definitely both employed and hold similar but slightly different political views on Pokemon control which has rapidly causing tension in their relationship.
@@EpixGamingincas demonstrated by them being at different parts of the store, but still mulling over the subject
The fan club chairman probably calls it a non profit or a charity and is thus employed because he runs such an organization.
Thank you for this pal, these standards are kept for the betterment of us all
if the chairman doesn't receive a salary from the fan club, but pays his assistant to help him run it, she would count as a personal assistant to him himself, and therefore is employed
i didnt expect to get a solid argument for Vermillion City's political affiliation when I clicked on this video, but man you made some very compelling points. excellent work as always, I love these videos so much
Honestly i love the little stories he makes up to explain all the Pokemon weirdness
Correct, that tourist is Mina from Sun and Moon. In those games, she's decades older and is a professional artist + trial captain. Trial captains run the Alolan equivalent of the gym circut, leading the children of Alola on a "coming of age" journey across the islands and evaluating their progress. As well, they take care of culturally important "totem Pokemon" which I would say is an important job to the locals. Rest assured, in the future Mina will be very employed. Even if she's a slacker.
Decades older? Trial captains can't be older than 19.
@@BJGvideosShe really makes the timeline weird because she’s 19 at most but we know from lore that Gen 1 happened 20 years before SM so I have no clue when Let’s Go happens
@@AislingNightmarelet's go definitely happens after the original red and blue timeline, it's confirmed by blue, red and green's dialogues
@@AislingNightmare But Let's Go isn't treated the same as gen one. The events of gen one have already happened and Let's Go is somehow reliving them. LG is a very uncomfortable game to fit into the timeline.
@@AislingNightmare The characters you play in Let's Go aren't the same ones as the original Kanto games. You actually encounter Red Blue and Green during the course of normal gameplay and it's after their journey. That said they don't look older like they do in Sun and Moon, but it's kind of hard to tell age in Let's Go because of the extra chibi style.
"I believe you. *Sigh* Do you have a job?" absolutely killed me.
Your content is always so hilarious while being so very serious and all business. I love it.
Humor is all about subverting expectations
so close yet so far identifying where mina ('kantonian trainer' lady) is from - she's alolan, so sun/moon
Mina's my fave from that game so I'm glad she's there!
I love Austin's ability to make me deeply invested in topics I would never care about
Was not expecting to get an analysis of Kanto's political districting today, but we're here for it
"If you go to an anime convention you don't assume those people are employed; in fact you assume they are unemployed"
ABSOLUTELY SAVAGE AUSTIN
Though how do they afford the anime conventions. Those things are expensive and I am employed lol
Looking this cute is a full time job
07:15
It's not a gun control thing it's a pitbull control thing.
I love hearing the clicking of the pen and shuffling of papers. Thank you for another wonderful survey and presentation 👏
I understand this series is sticking with this specific remake's version of Kanto, but thinking back on the early episode where the potion guy had his line changed to remove the reference to the PokeMart (retroactively unemploying him), I'm curious what the age demographics of Vermillion originally were, the amount of elderly people here is weird. It's weirder thinking that somebody at Game Freak made an active choice to put them there.
Also, "Kantonian" is an understandable but awful sounding and looking word.
Agreed about "Kantonian" but I think it's better than the alternatives. "Kantoan"? "Kantonese"?
@@imperiallarch7610 "Kantonite", "Kantoner" and "Kantonish" are equally bad.
well they cant say Kantonese, haha
@@imperiallarch7610 Kantonese makes the most sense and is the easiest on the ears, but Cantonese already refers to a language widely spoken in southern China.
To be fair, this game canonically takes place after red and blue. So the Pokemart worker could have been let go in that time frame, and had a break down because they felt they had no purpose, staying on the route clinging onto their old life and handing out potions.
As for how this person could be getting all of these potions when they have no income, remember that we run into a whole bunch of random potions on the ground. Trainers are sent out at 10-11 years old for their journey, a bunch of these kids probably drop some potions, or since a potion is a spray bottle with liquid in it, use half or less and throw the rest away, thinking it was finished. Since Pokemon games have no mechanics involving half potions, it could easily be that potion use is directly linked to how much missing hp a Pokemon has. If your Rattata has 6/13 hp, and you use a potion on it like many young kids who don't understand enough to refrain would, you're only using 7 out of the possible 20 hp the potion can recover. If they use the potion like this, and assume that it's done afterwards, they might just be dropping the half full bottles on the ground, and this ex mart worker could be collecting them, condensing them into 20hp potions, and giving them away to live in the dreamland that they still have their job. It could mean that they're unemployed.
TLDR; The Pokemart guy got fired, collects discarded potions, and gives them away, because they feel like they have no purpose in life.
I feel like this series was tailor made for me, this is the kinda shit I love; going over world building details you don't think about with a fine toothed comb, and discovering a narrative from it.
I love how much you can infer from the npcs from context clues it's so interesting coming up with stories. I used to do that with XY and some houses had three men and one bed like that gives me a lot of material on it's own
three homies sharing a house cause the economy's fvcked
And they were roommates 😮
We love gay poly couples
@@misteryA555speak for yourself
I notice that the city has a lot of elderly men, but seemingly no elderly women. The oldest women seem to be the nurse and the police officer, maybe the red dress ladies, who I would say are in their 40s at the latest. What is causing these women to leave or disappear? Perhaps the local government has descriminatory employment practices and that is why the only employed women are with federal agencies or being an assistant to the president of the fan club.
It's because they drafted women in the pokewar with lt Surge being a rare instance of a male serving in the army.
The little girl with the fairy type Pokemon you ran into around the four minute mark is actually Alolan! She grows up to be the fairy type Trial Captain in Sun and Moon, so you were right about her being a foreigner.
❌Unemployed❌
the one queer couple in the conservative town only interested in their hobbies and getting out of there is tooooo real
queer? they're man and woman
It hurts how real it is 😅
The guy and girl are queer?
@@shorewall all liberals are gay
The couple at 13:54
I imagine most of the labor in Vermillion is seasonal, given it's a port town. It seems to be early spring in Kanto at the time of the report, given the lush grass and general humidity outside coastal areas. The town is likely on the tail-end of a lull in work due to harsh winter waters around Japan preventing the regular incoming ships, thus reducing the need for labor. As such, the harbor likely employs people on a month-by-month basis, paying well enough for people to put down payments towards housing, food, and entertainment, all of which is likely inexpensive in Vermillion due to its relatively small size allowing for easier navigation, and port status ensuring plenty of food resources, even if it's primarily fish and dried goods. This would also explain the influx of elderly and youth members; retirees, students, and fresh graduates making the most of their time by working the season, but not overworking themselves, giving them more time for hobbies and the like. The lack of extraneous expenditures would explain the relatively well-off nature of the people living here, as well as the more conservative viewpoints; they simply don't live in a part of the world with much strife or imbalance. Tourism and limited land area, however, would make it difficult for new people to move in, at least until the older population passes or somebody moves away, so money is likely somewhat stagnant here. Vermillion's docks and Pokemon center likely make a quite sizable sum of money, and most of it is likely spent in Saffron, which at the time of the report, had just been through a city-wide shutdown due to Team Rocket attacks. That itself may be why so little was being done on that day in particular, and why morality and crime were a hot topic in the marts.
I'd say land won't be a problemm in the near future with the slave driver developing it.
I bet Hoenn would be quite a good location for enumeration. they really fleshed out the towns in those games, if I remember right
This is the best brand of dry humour.
May I suggest doing a Restaurant Critique of the establishments in Pokemon X and Y? Quite a number of those places have actual star ratings, you know.
I cannot explain why I love this series so much, but I am glad to be in the timeline where I get to enjoy this
the shoutout at the end of nakey jakeys npc video was so dope, glad you’re getting recognition for the effort you put in these vids
The report section is my fave part. Love the addition of gameplay in the corner to give context to what you're referring to in the report
I love the way he clicks his pen at seemingly random times
I'd love to see some Scarlet and Violet analysis at some point. Also worth noting that Lt. Surge was a military official in another country (he was originally dubbed "the Lightning American" but has been retconned to be probably from Unova)
Unova would be in America at least. Though specifying the region would just rule out Orre or Alola and future proof him with any other American regions
Another thing to note, they say the SS Anne only comes by once a year. It's possible the city has a lot of seasonal employment, which possibly makes up a significant portion of their economy during the brief times when the SS Anne (a luxury cruise ship) is docked there. This would be difficult to quantify via direct survey at any other time of year.
I noticed that Vermilion City seems to be the only port town in Kanto. So the city probably makes a lot of money on imports, exports, docking fees, and all that stuff, as the only place where large vessels can stop
w/r/t the Lass/Miniskirt trainer class: They are designed to look like they're wearing school uniforms so you can write them off automatically on the assumption they're students.
Mina is indeed from Alola. She's the trial captain of Poni Island.
I love the simple yet very intricate editing just about the employed or unemployed pop-up, it always matches the angle of the character and even has an impressively detailed shadow. Contrasted with the red arrow in a white box that pops up to provide some necessary guiding details for the viewer.
Just to clarify on the working pokemon issue- according to the ADA, a service animal who has a task they are trained for that aids the owner so they can live normally is treated as medical equipment. They can be registered as an emotional support animal if a person has the diagnosis and documentation from their doctor that the animal would aid their mental wellbeing, but that is specific to them NOT being trained to do anything besides be a companion. Animals that are trained in a task or for specific work are working animals, but they are treated as work equipment/property in the eyes of the law. Therefore, if a pokemon has a task or is trained in a specific kind of work (and if "pokemon trainer" is a job, then I would say that their pokemon count) then they are equipment/property, but if they are purely a companion, they are a pet. In both cases, not a job.
However, I will say it's disturbing that there is no governing body to protect the rights and safety of the pokemon, considering all the dangerous tasks they perform and the sport they are used for... just because there is a pokemon center in practically every town and healing items to alleviate any discomfort/injury they may sustain does not make the extremely questionable activities they are made to do any better.
Never played Pokémon so I’m accepting your theories of Sarges military connections funding this town to be canon
funny thing is how far from unsubstantiated his theories are
You are taking your punitive punishment in stride and really stepping it up as a Bureau employee!!
Big hype! I enjoyed this video and the conclusion that it's a "red-state." Very creative.
Lt. Surge is called the Lightning American. He moved to Kanto some time after fighting in the Pokemon war. Which is kind of crazy that their was a fairly recent Pokemon war that no one talks about.
Thanks for another look into the employment surveyor life! I love how in-depth you go with your speculations and final report. Please keep making these videos!
People continuing to work into old age and not retiring is a sign of a declining economy
This is completely necessary and amazing, please dont stop
Unrelated to this video but I wanted to mention that your request to watch multiple videos of yours in a row to boost engagement has fundamentally changed how I use UA-cam, thanks Austin!
Dude! You got a shout from the one and only NakeyJakey. I can't remember what year I subscribed to you, been too long. I'm just proud :' )
The "XY girl" is a Trial Captain in Alola, which is Sun Moon/Ultra Sun Ultra Moon. I don't know if this is a younger version of her or if that's just the result of the art style, but assuming the latter, she is employed... just not anywhere in this region.
In this game it is a younger version of her, as in the games she originally from she's an actual adult. Though I'm not convinced that Trial Captain is an actual job though. The whole Alolan system felt more like a cultural, community driven thing than a formal, taxable thing. They always gave me more volunteers-at-an-after-school-program vibes than a this-how-I-pay-for-groceries ones
@@theeth3242
Fair. But considering they end up starting a proper Pokemon League by the end of things, the Trail Captains that you have to go through to get there MUST be getting paid for their services.
On an unrelated note, it's a shame USUM wasn't a sequel game where we got to see Alola a couple years in the future with a proper Gym system.
"a mooring bollard is for tying your boat"
austin: "well that's important local knowledge"
Been a follower since the early Eggbuster days, and I see you get shouted out on Nakey Jakey's video and I was so happy and surprised, I had to come comment on both videos. I have always enjoyed your videos and I'm glad a bunch more are on their way from another great channel. o7
Interjection: Lt. Surge is the "Lightning American." Kanto is explicitly NOT America. Surge is therefore part of either an occupying force or allied nation stationed out of a local base, i.e. American service members deployed to Japan. Would he really be counted in the population of a foreign country? Does the US military get counted in the Japanese census? I doubt it.
He's likely not an active member of the military. Considering his position as gym leader, which has the purpose of testing if the local youth are strong enough to continue on their journey to be champion, and that the gyms are controlled by the League, which would be a Kanto based branch of the organization, I would think he has to have some sort of permanent residency, and familiarity with the local customs and culture, to even be considered for that role. Remember that almost every local economy is dependent on the League, so they will not likely hire a random stationed American, who can leave at any time, for this important of a facet to their society.
He's probably retired, and moved to Kanto some time ago. After proving his mettle as a competent trainer, and proving he knows the culture enough to assess the required strength for local trainers to compete in the biggest market of the entire continent, they hired him on as a gym leader. That's my theory of it when putting it into this video series perspective. Also to note, people in the military can retire very young. My brother is in the military, and he's set to be able to retire at mid to late 30s, so Surge's perceived age is not a factor.
The position of Gym Leader means he's legally a citizen of Kanto now
So he'd be counted
I appreciate that eevee has glasses, because he’s an enumerator, too.
4:09 you're a generation off, that's Mina from Sun and Moon
13:53 I didn’t see the lass in the corner at first, so I thought you were implying the birdkeeper was in a relationship with his Pidgey. With how some of those trainers talk about their birds, it wouldn’t surprise me.
The joy I felt seeing this video come up was palpable. I like how we’re getting a picture of Kanto as a whole region along with the individual towns.
The Skyrim ones are my favourites
The semi-realistic world makes it more hilarious 😄
A war veteran not dealing with PTSD and having an stable job. Kanto healthcare system rocks
So excited that there's a new one out. Which is exactly opposite the energy of the video (not in a bad way!) but it's just funny to be excited about something as mundane as employment rate
also was not expecting the story you made of the city but I'm never going to forget it
Edit: The two guys under this comment make a fair point. I'm being improvident. I am still leaving this up, though.
I never thought about Vermilion City being comparable to a military town (relatively speaking). As someone currently active duty and on shore duty (Navy), it is completely valid for older individuals (typically prior service members with 20+ years) to come back to work on the civilian side for military installations.
Just bump Lt. Surge's rank to Commander and add in military base shenanigans, more rundown buildings (and degeneracy) and it's basically that.
I don't know if it's safe to call it a "military town." There's no military infrastructure present and no nearby installation. It's more likely that it's simply a place where Kanto veterans have chosen to settle down or retire and that Surge (if he is still serving) is either some sort of inactive reservist or a vet that still wears his old uniform as a gimmick.
Also, you can't compare Naval military towns to other ones evenly. The Army gets a mixed bag of town quality (Colorado Springs at Carson vs Killeen at Hood) and the Air Force just gets the higher quality living spaces in general.
And either way, you’d have to compare the situation to Japanese naval towns, not American ones
@@J3Puffinthe most apt comparison might be american military bases in okinawa in that case, since lt surge is known as "the lightning american" in every game he appears in (in both jp and en versions)
I would have assumed the picknickers up north were part of Vermillion City
3:41 did that “employed” pop up have a shadow?! how the hell did you pull this off
Gotta disagree with your analysis of the young conservative couple in the first house; the “wife” is clearly wearing a sailor uniform, which is a common school uniform in Japan.
And before anyone says “it’s a kink”, I just wanna say that there isn’t a conservative couple alive who would allow their children to know about sex, let alone kink play.
Tl;dr They’re all siblings and the parents are just at work in another town.
Edit: No comment on the liberal couple
That is the more obvious reading. But is it the *funnier* reading? I think not. Better to assume these high schoolers have elementary school age children.
Vermillion City tradwives are my favourite Pokemon NPC archetype
3:38 This drop shadow matches so well that I had to check to see that I didn't imagine it
was watching this and a big UNEMPLOYED appeared over my head. Thanks for the reminder 😢
If we let the Pokémon own guns, maybe they wouldn't be in as many slave fights
The foreigner is Mina, she’s a trial captain from Alola. I think the trial captains are all children so she’s doubly exempt from the survey
I love the way these create a new spin on the world with an outside perspective
I thought the no good or bad pokemon thing was in reference to certain dog breeds, especially bully breeds.
Is the shadow on the employment icon new or am I just now noticing it? Incredible attention to detail either way.
Trying to infer the political landscape of towns in video games by speaking to the residents could be its own series. This one was of the most entertaining.
2:57 If we are saying that the Machop is an employee, you'd have to start counting Pokémon as a part of the survey. I think a more apt metaphor would probably be a beast of burden, like an ox. In which case the old man might just be a retired old man that has a working animal on his property. Banger video, as always!
The man in the bohemian couple was wearing overalls, hinting at a blue collar profession. As blue collars workers are not expected to be left leaning, he could pass as being apolitical while at the same time, making plans to leave the city. I am willing to bet that the man had a jobw hile the woman kept house but both wished to leave. But it wouldn't have affected the statistics.
The woman at 4:00 is in fact a character from the Alola region and is not a local.
I just got done watching your Skyrim restaurant inspections videos and started looking at the kitchens in this Pokémon video...
*And WHO in their right mind puts the microwave on Top of your Refrigerator?!?*
Sure you save counter space, but That's how you spill hot food on your face.😂
Fisherman are employed they either are trainers which you allowed a trainer in cerulean or they sell the fish pokemon as food or to be kept
I like the conservative vermillion city headcanon, would not expect the alt right in pokemon lol
The alt right specifically tried to be a, yk, alternative to republicanism.
My favorite series of yours. Thank you for your service.
LT Surge being a former GI in a town with Republican citizen talking about gun(Pokémon) right home schooling makes too much sense
Now I'm tempted to read up on the real-life Kanto region to see if any of this information lines up.
That line about the anime convention made me burst out laughing
Fictional character: complains about organized crime syndicate ruining the country
Austin: he's alt-right conservative, but employed.
thats the quality analysis I expect from my background noise👏
Excuse me, but I don't think running around in a gang uniform is very appropriate attire for an enumerator
4:00 MIna is from Alola 😁
I’m working my way through all of these lovely reports now, and this series was a brilliant idea because even if Austin got burnt out or bored making them, that would only add to the charm.
Vermillion as a color is also red
5:54 y is there a Magikarp just dying in the background 😂
"This character design is hella X and Y" he says to a character literally from Sun and Moon
3:46 Mina is from the Alola Region actually 😁 Pretty cool to meet trainers from other regions in Kanto, I think! I don't remember if there were any others though
The recurrent dilemma of the Pokémon employment surveys:
Person who stands around and just says stuff of varying degrees of utility...
Job or not a job?
this is ur first employment video since I am officially employed to be a caregiver for my grandpa which barely feels like being employed but whatever I am getting PAID and PAYIN TAXES again
Austin’s channel makes me angry because I want there to be a hundred of each type of video but it’s not that old a channel yet. So I just rewatch the same videos and get very excited when new ones come out.
“I believe you. Do you have a job?” 😂😂😂