Pokemon Nicknames: Disney (6)

Working my way through replaying Pokemon Yellow and catching more on Pokemon Go (thank you, Explorer Gadget), I have Pokemon on my mind (when don’t I?) so I have another round of fun Disney nicknames for your Pokemon (fun for me at least). Here we go with another handful:

Dedenne as Gus Gus

Nickit as Nick Wilde

Tepig as Pua

Purugly as Machiavelli

Tirtouga as Squirt

Quaxly as Donald

Diglett as Mole

Mantine as Tala

Raboot as Judy Hopps

Disney-Themed Pokemon Nicknames:

• Gen I: Part 1
• Gen II: Part 2
• Gen III-V: Part 3
• Gen VI-VII: Part 4
• Additional: Part 5
• Additional (2): Part 6

5 Disney Movies About Embracing Differences

Our family recently watched Zootopia 2. I'm not sure what I expected, but I didn't expect a message so warm and applicable to the world. Regardless of your affiliations in the mortal journey, I think we can all agree there's a great deal of chaos in the world. No surprised, based on the number of Biblical prophecies about our day. You don't need to go far to see how "men's hearts will fail them" (Luke 21:26) and "the love of many shall wax cold" (Matthew 24:12). It's always us against them. The more differences, the more we fight. But it doesn't have to be that way. Many Disney movies have taught us to look past those differences and these are just a few that came to my mind.

Zootopia

Both this movie and its sequel fit this theme perfectly. First it was predators against prey. In the second, it was mammals against reptiles. There were animals in Zootopia that wanted to pit the world against itself for their selfish reasons. Power. Influence. It's because Judy and Nick were able to see past those differences that Zootopia was changed for the better. Later it was Judy and Gary clinging together that returned a community of reptiles to their homes. Yeah, we're all different. But we can work together.

Hunchback of Notre Dame

Talk about different: a physically deformed Quasimodo and a pariah Esmerelda. The mad priest Frollo was bent on putting people against the gipsies because of their differences. As with many situations of us against them, We have more in common than we have different. The world will always fare better if we focus on those similarities instead of differences.

A Bug’s Life

For this movie, I’m not even talking about the different types of bugs working together. Even within the ant colony there are differences, especially with Flik and Dot. Aside from those two oddballs, the colony isn’t accustomed to working together, except to pool the food for the grasshoppers. Hopper knew that the ants had the sheer numbers to overwhelm their oppressors. Once the ants realized this and pulled together to stand against Hopper’s crew, it was easy to gain their freedom. 

The Tigger Movie

Once proud of being the only Tigger, our bouncy friend began to realize how lonely that reality is as. Off on an adventure to find his striped family, Tigger wanted to find belonging with those who would understand him. Funny how he wanted a crew of folks exactly the same as himself, not a group of Tiggers with their own personalities and interests. When other bouncy trouncy friends weren’t doing, the residents of the Hundred Acre Wood can’t together for Togger. Their differences made the community what it was. Not a group of identical Tiggers, but a diverse family of friends. 

Lilo and Stitch 

If you know me, you knew I had to include Stitch in this list. Both he and Lilo felt alone in the world: Lilo’s peers actively rejected her and Stitch was as literally the only one of his kind. Rejected by those little goths and the Galactic Council, they found a home and an Ohana together with humans and aliens alike. Just another example of how family and love are available to everyone, no matter how different we are. 

When Zootopia 2 inspired this post, I knew there was more I wanted to say about it. I still don’t feel like I’ve articulated everything I wanted from viewing that movie. So seated tuned for whatever comes to my mind and heart in future viewings. Maybe it’ll come to me during General Conference. In the meantime, check out Zootopia 2 and these other movies on Disney Plus. 

Try Everything

Have I mentioned that I love listening to music with my daughter? We have been on an a cappella kick recently and have enjoyed the talents of “Home Free,” the 2013 winners of NBC’s show, The Sing Off. Their arrangement of “Try Everything” recently struck a chord with me (pun intended). 

For the sake of background, “Try Everything” was originally sung by Shakira and is from the Disney movie, Zootopia about aspiring police officer Judy Hopps and the crafty criminal turned sidekick, Nick Wilde. I loved the movie and have used the “What do you call a camel with 3 humps?” joke often. (The answer is “pregnant”) But I want to focus on the lyrics to the main song from the soundtrack, “Try Everything.” The last verse resounded with me on a day when I was feeling a little down:

“Look how far you've come

You filled your heart with love

Baby, you've done enough, take a deep breath

Don't beat yourself up

Don't need to run so fast

Sometimes we come last, but we did our best”

I have had the experience of coming in last and it was embarrassing, but I do think I was doing my best. I’m sure there are always moments we can look back on in our lives and think, “Wow, that was dumb. Wish I could have changed that or done that better.” I think that is one of the beautiful things about the principle of repentance in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In his April 2018 General Conference address titled “Until Seventy times seven,” Elder Lynn G. Robbins spoke about how repentance allows us to make mistakes and learn from them as opposed to being condemned by them. He said,

 “Mistakes are a fact of life. Learning to skillfully play the piano is essentially impossible without making thousands of mistakes—maybe even a million. To learn a foreign language, one must face the embarrassment of making thousands of mistakes—maybe even a million. Even the world’s greatest athletes never stop making mistakes. ‘Success,” it has been said, “isn’t the absence of failure, but going from failure to failure without any loss of enthusiasm.’”

Isn’t that a liberating idea? I can do my best and still fall short, come in last place, mess up again, lose another fight, but because of the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, I can learn from those experiences and keep moving forward. Now, let me be clear, while “Try Everything” sounds great, there are some things that I don’t want to try. I have seen the negative effects of some things in the lives of others and that is enough for me to know that I don’t want to try them. I am eternally grateful for the love of Jesus Christ. I love that “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)

Pokemon Nicknames: Disney (3)

It's the fourth anniversary of Pokemon Go! Other than a couple weekends that I've been out of cell service, I think I've played just about everyday since its release. So in honor of Pokemon Go, I've got a few more Disney-themed Pokemon nicknames. Since the later generations of Pokemon are less popular than the first two, I'm breezing through generations three, four, and five. So have fun!

Slakoth as Flash

Delcatty as Duchess

Kecleon as Pascal

Chimchar (or Aipom) as Abu

Abomasnow as Marshmallow

Stoutland as Colonel

Simisage as King Louie

Purrloin as Yzma

Unfezant as Kevin

Disney-Themed Pokemon Nicknames:

• Gen I: Part 1
• Gen II: Part 2
• Gen III-V: Part 3
• Gen VI-VII: Part 4
• Additional: Part 5
• Additional (2): Part 6

Pokemon Nicknames: Disney (2)

So I've had a lot of downtime lately (like a lot of you) so I've been playing Pokemon a bit more frequently. Currently working on a dog-themed team on Ultra Sun. But regardless of my current team, it felt like as good a time as ever to do some more Pokemon/Disney nicknames. This time I'll cover a few Gen II favorites to complement the Gen I names I did a couple months ago.

Feraligatr (or Krookodile) as Tick-Tock

Flaaffy as Bellwether

Noctowl as Archimedes

Ledyba as Francis

Heracross as Dim

Politoed as Naveen (or Tiana)

Ursaring as Lumpjaw

Disney-Themed Pokemon Nicknames:

• Gen I: Part 1
• Gen II: Part 2
• Gen III-V: Part 3
• Gen VI-VII: Part 4
• Additional: Part 5
• Additional (2): Part 6