The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
PAX Pokemon League East 2016! [Thank you for participating!]
Calling all gym leaders! Calling all gym leaders!
Do you have what it takes to be a leader in the PAX Pokemon League?
We're looking for up-and-coming trainers from around the world to don the green scarf and join the ranks of the PAX Pokemon League Leaders at PAX East!
Our application process is pretty in-depth, but the full application is posted here. You will have to make an account on our personal forums to make an application, but all leader activities are done in that forum too!
Gym leaders are responsible for accepting challenges from eager champs-in-making, and awarding their personal badges to those they deem worthy.
Basically, in less romantic terms, as a gym leader, you'll be wandering the halls of PAX accepting challenges and playing a lot of Pokemon and having a lot of really excellent battles and giving out pins!
We're looking for players of all skill levels! This is NOT a Pokemon tournament, and the only requirement is that you have a copy of the newest Pokemon games and can put together a team that is unique and fun to play against. If you're thinking about applying, go for it!
Requirements:
0) First off, being part of the PPL requires a time commitment: you'll be playing lots of pokemon, and we have meetups on every day of PAX where swarms of challengers will be clamoring to challenge you. We really recommend you go to at least one of these meetups. The best leaders will wander the halls doing what they like but will always be up for a battle. Gym leaders have battled in the Expo Halls, while queuing, during panels, all over the place. The Pokemon action never stops! Well, it does stop, you don't have to accept challenges 24/7. But we don't want you to be so elusive that no challengers can ever find you.
1) Your gym has to have a theme, and you have to train a team of Pokemon to go with that theme! You don’t strictly have to have a full team of 6 (though most leaders do, even if they don’t use them all in every battle; sometimes it’s fun to have a team of 6 and do 3-on-3 battles!) and your team doesn’t have to be at a certain level (we use flat battles, so your pokemon will be leveled appropriately). Also, and we repeat this point because it’s important: YOUR TEAM DOES NOT HAVE TO BE SUPER COMPETITIVE OR TOURNAMENT-FOCUSED. In fact, we discourage it: gym leaders should have teams that are fun to play against, but beatable. We encourage you to build your team with Pokemon you love.
2) You MUST purchase a 3-day pass as soon as they go on sale. In previous years we've waited a bit longer until badges were actually on sale, but this year we've got so much in the works that we want to start reviewing applications straight away! So, if you apply to be a leader, you're applying with the understanding that you're definitely going to PAX and are planning on getting a badge the instant you hear they've gone on sale. If you don't secure a 3-day badge, you can't be a gym leader! Don't make us give you the boot!
3) You're also going to be responsible for designing and ordering your badges. In the past we've gotten discounts through PureButtons, it's usually fairly inexpensive - expect to spend around 20 dollars for a set of 100, plus up to 10 dollars for shipping. You will also be responsible for having a PPL Green Scarf. Those are all handmade by one of our leaders and the cost would only include the cost of materials - we are not selling them.
4) The league involves interacting with lots of people, and a lot of people choose to go with the flow and go with their persona full-scale. We've had people cosplay as existing gym leaders, as well as people go all out and design an original persona for themselves to play. We don't require cosplay or themed outfits, but we greatly encourage it!
Basically, in less romantic terms, as a gym leader, you'll be wandering the halls of PAX accepting challenges and playing a lot of Pokemon and having a lot of really excellent battles and giving out pins!
We're looking for players of all skill levels! This is NOT a Pokemon tournament, and the only requirement is that you have a copy of the newest Pokemon games and can put together a team that is unique and fun to play against. If you're thinking about applying, go for it!
Requirements:
0) First off, being part of the PPL requires a time commitment: you'll be playing lots of pokemon, and we have meetups on every day of PAX where swarms of challengers will be clamoring to challenge you. We really recommend you go to at least one of these meetups. The best leaders will wander the halls doing what they like but will always be up for a battle. Gym leaders have battled in the Expo Halls, while queuing, during panels, all over the place. The Pokemon action never stops! Well, it does stop, you don't have to accept challenges 24/7. But we don't want you to be so elusive that no challengers can ever find you.
1) Your gym has to have a theme, and you have to train a team of Pokemon to go with that theme! You don’t strictly have to have a full team of 6 (though most leaders do, even if they don’t use them all in every battle; sometimes it’s fun to have a team of 6 and do 3-on-3 battles!) and your team doesn’t have to be at a certain level (we use flat battles, so your pokemon will be leveled appropriately). Also, and we repeat this point because it’s important: YOUR TEAM DOES NOT HAVE TO BE SUPER COMPETITIVE OR TOURNAMENT-FOCUSED. In fact, we discourage it: gym leaders should have teams that are fun to play against, but beatable. We encourage you to build your team with Pokemon you love.
2) You MUST purchase a 3-day pass as soon as they go on sale. In previous years we've waited a bit longer until badges were actually on sale, but this year we've got so much in the works that we want to start reviewing applications straight away! So, if you apply to be a leader, you're applying with the understanding that you're definitely going to PAX and are planning on getting a badge the instant you hear they've gone on sale. If you don't secure a 3-day badge, you can't be a gym leader! Don't make us give you the boot!
3) You're also going to be responsible for designing and ordering your badges. In the past we've gotten discounts through PureButtons, it's usually fairly inexpensive - expect to spend around 20 dollars for a set of 100, plus up to 10 dollars for shipping. You will also be responsible for having a PPL Green Scarf. Those are all handmade by one of our leaders and the cost would only include the cost of materials - we are not selling them.
4) The league involves interacting with lots of people, and a lot of people choose to go with the flow and go with their persona full-scale. We've had people cosplay as existing gym leaders, as well as people go all out and design an original persona for themselves to play. We don't require cosplay or themed outfits, but we greatly encourage it!
I WANT TO SUBMIT MY APPLICATION:
Click here to begin your application!
Timing!
The first wave of applications will be closed on December 18th. Get your applications in by then if you don't want to miss out!
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SECRET TIP FROM PROPRIETY: Just a reminder to everyone that when I'm doing the painful, impossible task of selecting gym leaders, one thing I do look for is monotype gyms! In order to keep with the spirit of the gyms, I try to accept enough leaders to represent a wide variety of types. Themed gyms are fun, but they can be tricky to do well and aren't as restrictive as monotype teams, so they can get too tough to beat. So if you're on the fence, go with monotype!
Also, doubles/triples/rotation gyms are encouraged and fun! If you and a friend want to gym lead together, that's fantastic, and is a great way that we can get more people being gym leaders while not overwhelming people with eight bazillion badges. So if you and a friend are going to be playing Pokemon all weekend together anyway... consider forming a doubles gym with them!
THIRD: One of my top priorities with the PPL is to get gym leaders who, like the games, represent a diverse group of people! People of all ages, genders, races, skill levels... actually I'd like to be MORE diverse than the games! So if you know someone from a group that is under-represented or turned off by the traditional tournament scene but who likes battling, maybe give them a nudge and encourage them to apply to be a leader!
Good luck everyone!
(Also once applications close this thread will change over to be our HQ thread for the run-up to the League! So keep an eye out for leader announcements, etc.)
Love Pokemon? Going to PAX Prime/East/Aus/South? Challenge the PAX Pokemon League!!!
I'm on the fence this year only because I have a lot of ideas, but my hotel is way closer this time as well so I can be a lot more flexible in my ability to take battles.
If you're not interested in being a gym leader but still love Pokémon, then join our forums anyway. Get some tips, tricks, rare Pokémon, and maybe a new friend or two.
The leaders for PAX Australia ran a podcast for their second year and Professor Fern was nice enough to have some Prime leaders on for an episode to discuss the rules, as some fairly large changes were implemented at Prime this year. Here is that episode:
Our rule set changes each PAX depending on what the leaders feel is necessary to keep things fun, so there will be some more changes for South and maybe more for East when that time rolls around. We do our best to keep things fun and as a leader you can take part in the discussion to shape them.
Feel free to check out some of our other YouTube videos if you would like to see some examples of teams that leaders bring. We have a couple leaders from each PAX since we started making videos around the time of East this year.
Don't forget to get your application in soon if you are interested, time will go by fast!
We have received a lot of applications for Water type gym leaders so far, so keep in mind if you apply with that type it will be a little more difficult to get accepted as we can only take so many of one type. Take a look at some other types and give them a try, you might be surprised how enjoyable new Pokemon can be. That's one of the best things about being part of the PPL: finding new Pokemon that you enjoy using that you may never have thought of using before.
Would you recommend people edit their applications to a different type if they want a higher chance of getting accepted? I applied to be a water type gym leader but I think my vision is robust enough where I can change it a bit to work with a different type of Pokemon.
Sorry if you can't answer that, but if it would make your lives easier I think I can weave a different type to fit my character
That's completely up to you. If you don't mind using a different type, and think you can make it work with your character, you are free to change up your application if you saved the link. It would give you a better chance to be accepted if you do change, but in the end it has to be something that you want to do and will enjoy.
What I did last year was a dual-type, but I did add in comments at the end that i was willing to go monotype if they needed me to do so. I would suggest putting in the last comments box what other monotype teams you're willing to consider. Every gym leader usually has to be changed up a bit anyways after getting accepted, so saying you're willing to go with x other types as well might get you a higher chance of getting accepted.
Noting flexibility definitely won't hurt! Just keep in mind that admins only consider one character idea though, so the potential type switch has to fit with the same character.
This is a last reminder to anyone interested in applying. Applications close this Friday, so don't miss out on your opportunity and get those apps done!
If any of your applied and didn't get in this year, don't give up! You can still get in next year!
For those of you who haven't seen them before, the leader reveals are just small posts that give you an idea of who our gym leaders are. They have what is called a trainer's eye (based on a feature in the gen 3 games) which gives you some insight into how that leader likes to battle and the kind of Pokemon they will be using. You will also find out the name of their badges and see some fantastic artwork made of them. We have an amazing art team that does really great work.
Looking for more to maybe give you an edge preparing? We'll soon be doing some more in depth leader reveals on our Twitch channel where you can hear from the gym leaders themselves and see their teams in action!
All of our gym leaders have been revealed and half of our Elite 8. You can check out their information on our website to learn more about them and pick out the interesting themes that you really want to see. The rest of the Elite 8 will be revealed next week along with our champion. Our leaders are divided into three tiers: Casual, Intermediate and Veteran. These are to give you a general idea of which gym leaders might be around your level so you can get the best battles. When you face your first gym leader make sure to ask for a trainer card of the tier you feel best suits you. It will have the leader art and names of the gym leaders in that tier. Important not here, as some people get confused: You are NOT limited to battling gym leaders only in the tier of the card you have. The cards act just as guidelines, but you are free to challenge any leader you want. As a former Casual challenger, it can still be really fun to challenge an occasional veteran to see how you hold up. You might be surprised.
We also put out an update today including our little side activity that gets you a raffle ticket for some cool prizes, as well as where you can find us and some meetup times where you can find a large number of gym leaders in one place. We have a booth in the Diversity Lounge and there's usually some gym leaders hanging out there and in the Handheld Lounge, so always check those places if you're having trouble spotting a green scarf while walking around the convention. We would also like to emphasize that we DO accept challengers outside the HHL and Diversity Lounge. As long as we have on our green scarf we are accepting challengers. Waiting in line for a panel can be a great opportunity for example. If you follow our Twitter it will occasionally retweet some of our gym leaders who share their current location or where they're headed to accept challengers.
That should cover everything. If you still have any questions go ahead and ask. Looking forward to seeing all you challengers next week!
For those of you who did challenge the PPL, there will be a survey going out soon that we would appreciate if you took the the time to answer. We do our best to put together an enjoyable experience for everyone, but there's always room to improve and we want to hear your ideas on how we can do that. Watch our Twitter to see when the survey goes out or check back here in a few days, I will share the link for you.