Underdog:

"Jared Wilson is fifteen years old and waiting to begin his Pokémon journey, but he always gets held back. As a citizen of Violet City in Johto, he can't stand it any longer and decides to take matters into his own hands.

"Constantly living under the shadow of his brother, Falkner, Jared feels left out and imperfect. He feels that the only way to change this is to become a Pokémon master as well, and take his brother's place. But what happens when Jared's plan to start his journey backfires?"

Genre: Fanfiction, Adventure, Comedy

Andy (Vespin)'s Review:

For this review, we'll be taking a look at Underdog- winner of 2014's Pokemon Watty Awards and the first Pokefic that I've ever read. But despite the nostalgia and sentimentality, here is my non-biased review.

First off, it was great. Every chapter felt like a new episode in a TV series the Pokemon Company should've made a long time ago, and I didn't have any problem finishing the book in one day. It was that enjoyable. A diverse range of characters, lovable Pokemon and a protagonist whom I, and I'm sure many other readers as well, could relate to- the Underdog.

The author did an excellent job in fleshing out Jared Wilson, the titular character, and making us grieve when he grieved, annoyed whenever something annoys him, and furious for every time he was wronged. It's a powerful thing to craft a character so human and to put him through so many trials, yet he perseveres to make the best out of his predicaments. It's inspiring, and I am going to remember this character for a very long time.

Also, I absolutely loved the Pokemon in this story. Each had their unique personalities, which, in my opinion, isn't a strong point in other Pokemon fanfictions. I especially LOVED Romeo and Gigi. Romeo's curiosity always made him do something silly and Gigi was a grumpy, adorable ball of pink- with a soft spot for her trainer. I'll admit that halfway through the story I felt like cuddling these two.

However, where there are pros, there can also be cons.

Despite being an overall good read, there were some things in the story that broke the immersion and made me cringe- they were utterly nonsensical.

Seth felt very forced into the story. Now I wouldn't really consider this a spoiler because it doesn't give away a major plot reveal. At one point in the story, Jared is walking in the forest all by himself and bumps into Seth. And all of a sudden, for the sake of making Seth a main character in the story, Seth suddenly starts following Jared for no legitimate reason whatsoever. The fact that he was insufferable during that scene did not help with his forced addition into the story. I had a few questions in my head at that time: Why is Seth suddenly following Jared? Doesn't he have anything better to do? What was he doing in the forest before this? The only reasonable conclusion I could come to was that Seth was wandering aimlessly in the forest to want to follow Jared so much; in which case, if he had no purpose to be in the forest he should never have bothered to enter it in the first place.

Also, for some reason Seth and Gold started following Jared and his friends. From one incident (which I will not spoil) they became travelling buddies.

A similar situation was when Kimi suddenly decided to follow Jared. She was mad at him the whole time and then, out of nowhere, she wants to travel with him?

Um, ok.

What I'm trying to say here is: forcing something into the story leaves a bad taste.

Here's a small plot hole that broke immersion: In chapter 17, Jared was confronted by Ashy and two more grunts. Jared fled but confronted Ashy again. All of a sudden there was no mention of the two grunts that were with her earlier. And, when she fled, there was no mention of the grunts fleeing (if they still existed, that is). Your readers are visualizing your book like a movie. You need to update them on what's/who's present (or lack thereof) in a scene. This may be minor, but it's also minor plot holes such as these that would break the attentive reader's immersion in the story.

****SPOILER SECTION****

I absolutely loved the twist that Jared was a fake human. I had no idea that was coming. And the twist with Gigi dying- the author crafted Gigi and Jared's relationship so well that there were manly tears on my part. And that's a big accomplishment for the author because I'm not one to express emotion easily.

Those were the only spoiler-Pros I had to share. Here are my spoiler-Cons:

Falkner suddenly going from bad to good was too jarring to be swallowed by me, as the reader. A.K.A: it wasn't believable. It was nonsense. Throughout the story Falkner was making Jared's life hard in virtually every way- he even KILLED GIGI. NOT COOL, MAN.

And we're supposed to believe that Jared and Falkner were cool after a five minute talk? Mind you, Gigi's body was getting cold just a couple of feet away from Jared when they had that talk. Does the author expect us to forgive Falkner for everything he's done, after hearing his lame excuse for joining Team Rocket?

And here's what bothered me the most: At the end of the story, everyone's rejoicing that Seth was back, and I quote Kimi, who said,

"But I can at least be glad that team rocket didn't take an innocent life."

Um hello, reality check: the Seth you knew and loved is still dead. This is just a new clone that looks like him. A clean slate. The Seth you bonded with is no longer here. Why are they rejoicing? Why is Gold even rejoicing? That's not the same Seth!

I feel that the addition of Seth #2 is the author's way of pleasing the readers who commented how sad they were when Seth died. Seth's death was perfect. It's good to have some tragedy in a story- it sticks with us, it makes us remember your story after finishing it. Don't ruin our emotional turbulence by suddenly making him alive again.

****END OF SPOILER SECTION****

With all that being said, I rate this book: 7.5.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this book, and it is still one of my favourite Pokemon fanfictions. Anyone looking to read a good Pokemon fanfiction should read this ASAP.

Emerald (IshiEmerarudo)'s Review:

Underdog is an award-winning story that follows the story of Jared Wilson, a teenager dubbed to be a clueless heartthrob and a misunderstood boy who always gets held back. Follow his adventure to redemption in Johto City while also getting himself in trouble along the way. Will he be able to break through?

Ok, so where should we start? As I first read Underdog a long time ago and as I read it again, I wouldn't say I was disappointed because I never noticed how really good this story was. The plot flowed really well in my opinion, but sometimes it felt like the plot was going either too slow or too fast because of the filler chapters' presence and absence. It's like, you're jogging across the park then you decide to run but you get tired, so you walk instead. That's how I felt reading it.

The battle scenes were really well-written, so much so that I found myself getting caught up in it. I would be hooked and actually feel the fear or joy of the characters as they went through them. They were filled with so much action that mentally I was doing them as well. Great job on that part.

Character development. I loved it. Though it isn't near perfection, as shown with the other characters, it was nice watching some of them grow so much. Like how shocking it was when we find out the secret of the brothers and how it's the other way around. And also, Jared as a main character is one of the best quality characters out there. Sure, he has his bumps and is definitely flawed, but that's the beauty in him. He is not a perfect one; he is perfectly imperfect. And it's quite satisfying to see him mature. We can't understand him at the start, but, I tell you, you will start loving him as much as I do.

And oh boy, the Pokemon have personalities as well, which is really great. Like with his Igglybuff, though this spot can't be shared with the other two because we don't see them as important, really. They were just there to fill their roles, to be honest. Now, back to Gigi. Gigi is like a big baby, proving to us once again that looks don't matter. She is literally a small puffball that will kill if she wants to, and it was nice seeing her growth along with Jared. I bet that if you go and read this book, you will want an Igglybuff as well.

Now that I talked about how I liked the story, let us talk about how I hated it.

Remember me saying that character development wasn't near perfection for some of the characters? Well, that's because some don't even change, and some suddenly change. Like Falkner and Jared's last two companions. ***SPOILERS*** I can't understand why Falkner was portrayed to be an evil jerk, but suddenly, at the very last chapter, that's where he finally snaps. He was going to be that consistent demon of a brother, but then he turns into an abandoned angel? And now, Kimi. Oh boy, she was only there in like five freaking chapters. I felt like she was the most rushed character out of all the cast because of the way she suddenly changes from hardheaded to understanding in the epilogue. In the epilogue! This fact was only hidden because of how the book tells how she likes the main character, and that was the reason why.***SPOILERS END***

And don't get me started on Reid, who appeared fewer times. Throughout the book, he was seen as the main character's only best friend, but, when we met him, we learned how bad he was as a character. ***SPOILER*** So much that we don't even get to hear from him ever again in the last few parts of the book. I know, we know where he is eventually, but there was just this gap in my heart when we don't see him in the story except that he moved on in life and never returned in the story plot-wise. ***SPOILER ENDS*** Lastly is Seth. And you know what my problem with Seth is? I think I'm the only one with this problem, but... is Seth a boy or a girl?

Now that we've talked about the characters, let's move on to how inconsistent the plot is. Yes, I know I said how well it flowed, but that doesn't mean it's as good in consistency. I mean, the author admits it. And it's all because of a foot injury. Jared's foot never seems to heal, but, when he runs away, his foot magically heals! And in the later chapters, the main character gets worried that his foot will break again because of how much it hurts. Bravado.

Last thing I want to talk about, and I don't mean to be blunt, but do you have a phobia of the word "the" ? I mean, at times when it is needed, it consistently isn't there. And that's not the only error. Let's cite some examples:

...I managed to turn around and watched [the] scene unfolding...

The Pokemon used to the attack again (to should be removed)

...tried his best, but I wasn't [p]aying attention.

...heading towards [the] store.

"If [you] speak to me like that again..."

"He's understands." (why the 's?)

"How do [you] stand this..."

I don't know about you, but I think this wonderful piece just needs a quick edit or two, and it'll be good as new. Well, in structure that is. I can still see why it was awarded a Winner of the Pokemon Watty Awards in the Adventure category. Nevertheless, consider reading this book. I promise you, you won't regret it.

My Rating: 6.5/10

Sheldon (SGMijumaru)'s Review:

What would you do if your brother was a complete jerk to you, a brother who always got his way in life while being allowed to kick you around like you were dirt? How about if having to obey him led you to meeting more jerks who were even worse, leading you into even more butt-kicking situations that played against you? Presumptuous questioning aside, we're reviewing Underdog, the pokemon fan fiction that clearly has the worst characters in the entirety of the genre, not in the way that they're badly done, but that the main characters do not get along well with each other.

Okay, maybe it's unfair to start with saying that, but there is truth to that. The characters in this story really don't have your average friendships or family relations, particularly between the main character and his brother Falkner. What you get from the competitive synopsis is what you get in the story right from the start, the experience of brother to brother rivalry that runs so deep that the duo despises the fact that they are family. No bro-fists or cocky arguments here, just pure, honest jealousy transforming into hatred that makes up a fan fiction.

What I mean here is the main protagonist, Jared, and his brother Falkner, the first gym leader of Johto, are horrible to each other. They do everything they can to destroy each other's pride and can barely manage a decent conversation without insulting each other every two lines. Normally a writing strategy like that is a recipe for failure as we end up with characters that we dislike as we wouldn't like them in real life. However, in this case, I say it works in this book's favour; it is part of a special charm that carries it out of pokemon norms and keeps it a refreshing, interesting read. Their hate for each other just drives the book towards its next big event, so you long to see the conclusion to each plot arc introduced every time.

Jared just so happens to be the character whose perspective the story is told from as well, and, praise be to all, the point of view never pointlessly switches. It's also written in a way that is just as unique as is the rivalry that builds this book. Descriptions, dialogue, intentions and all else are explained entirely from Jared's rude, young, teenage mind. That means snarky comments on many conversations, rhetorical questioning of visual elements, and deep, emotional tension whenever scenes seem like they're going to get heated. If I had to clarify all of this even further, I would go as far as to say that the whole story is simply Jared's character. You're not reading the events of Underdog by reading Underdog; you're exploring the main character and their reaction to everything that happens in the book. You don't get descriptions of towns or people; you get descriptions of what Jared personally thinks of them, and all in his own words.

So the story succeeds in the unique, refreshing factor, but does it win out on high praise because of that? I personally would say it doesn't. The story does an incredibly good job on its introduction – a fast paced opening chapter before depth and struggle ensue, where we go full throttle into the exploration of Jared's character in the way I mentioned above. Everything that happens in the first few chapters is huge and gripping, unpredictable and quite hilariously weaved together – hilarious in that it is quite funny seeing the representation of standard pokemon elements. For example, Jared's starter pokemon and the way it behaves, as well as Jared's reaction to everything happening. It keeps things feeling original instead of like a standard pokemon adventure, especially thanks to the unique way it is all written. It really is a standard pokemon journey of a young trainer wanting to collect gym badges, but the reasoning behind the start of the journey and the early events of it are so well disguised behind a unique style and unusual events that I found myself intrigued and really wanting to read on.

That was until I got to chapter 7, where I started to notice... some weird changes that were occurring to the story. For some reason, this far into the story, there hadn't been a single likeable character introduced at all, or at least one that would go on to play an important role in the story. They were ALL dislikeable jerks, and, from the way Jared and others interacted with them all, it didn't look like they were going to develop otherwise. And yet, the story seemed to push this and kept those jerky characters as a focus or partner to Jared, albeit without spoiling too much, he has no choice but to travel with them due to deep circumstances. Considering the obvious clichés this story was leading towards with Jared learning about true friendship or seeing the better side of a pokemon journey, it fails to hit a single mark – not in the way that it is like in the introduction where the story is unpredictable or unique, but just in a way that felt like it was forcing characters to travel together just to follow pokemon and adventure genre norms.

From chapter 8 onwards, the story just started to feel like a mess of forced emotions and corny 'shipping' scrambled together in a petty attempt to make a 'dark' pokemon adventure. Characters who aren't really all that nice or likeable to each other somehow get into a relationship, almost purely for the sake of shipping characters together. Nonsensical violence takes place in practically every chapter that involves Team Rocket, completely changing the story from that of a pokemon fan fiction to some kind of teen thriller. Characters and scenes that should have an effect later on in the book are completely forgotten moments after being introduced, leading to scenes that exist just for the sake of including certain elements, such as legendary pokemon. And one of my all-time hated pet peeves with adventure stories, large gaps of time skipped between chapters or paragraphs for seemingly no reason at all. Surely something interesting happened on the journey from Goldenrod to Ecruteak, for example?

***MILD SPOILERS***There is a Team Rocket admin in the story who mysteriously has Deoxys. There's no explanation as to why they have Deoxys, nor do we ever see or hear of it again beyond the chapter it was introduced. At one point, Jared also catches a shiny Umbreon. Yes, he catches a shiny Umbreon. We barely get an explanation of how, where or when he caught the Umbreon, he just ends up with it. Just when the plot seems like it's going to reach a huge, climactic plot arc, it suddenly dismisses everything to do with that and starts forcing more cheesy romance between two characters. Spur of the moment inclusions like this, as well as entire chapters dedicated to the completely unbelievable romance of Jared and another character, spoil almost everything this book had that kept it interesting and special.***SPOILERS END***

For a pokemon fan fiction that clearly started to be written on the spot without any planning, the spelling and such was surprisingly good. The only errors I noticed were the odd exclusion of words that needed to be there every now and then, but it's nothing that couldn't be overlooked or fixed with a quick skim through of editing. This made sure that the battles and action sequences were as fast paced and descriptive as they needed to be, and, surprisingly, battles weren't too over-descriptive either. I did notice a bit of inconsistency with the battles or rules at times (for example, the battle against Jasmine, where her Magnemite seemed to be able to take an awful lot of super-effective attacks...) but, again, most of it could very easily be overlooked to try to enjoy the book.

But its quality just doesn't excuse the mess that this story becomes. The story really does start out as something special, but it falls flat as clichés, norms and nonsensical romance take precedence over everything, followed by abruptly throwing Team Rocket back into the mix towards the end to create a climax of even more clichés. With such a mess of structure, weak, forced character development and an ending that left me questioning what on Earth Team Rocket's plot actually was, it ended up being a book I was not pleased with reading. The conclusion was something to be expected, but, with how it was delivered, it felt as cheap, forced and rushed as everything else from chapter 8 onwards.

The + and – section, where I highlight the good or bad that just won't fit into this review!

+Jared's perspective is the most brilliant thing about this book. The writer seriously nailed this bit of his character without making it annoying or tiresome throughout the book, as if they had the character down to a T.

+Battles were pretty well done in my opinion. Eventful, planned out and logically concluded every single time.

+The humour in this book is something to really look out for, especially the personalities of the pokemon and their behaviour.

-Virtually every single character was dislikeable except Bugsy. Why are they friends again?

-Throwing away the entirety of the plot in and after chapter 14 created huge questions and never answered them, ruining the entire story.

-The ending arc of the story was vastly disappointing and clearly rushed to conclude events that didn't actually need concluding at that point.

-Falkner's role and actions in the conclusion were as forced and unrealistic as the rest of the book, at that.

-What was the point of Team Rocket using and focusing on pokemon if they were just going to beat up, shoot, or stab their enemies? They just felt silly, most of the time. And they didn't even have a grand plan, in the end.

-Whitney memes. Miltank with rollout was hard to KO; we've all heard it before.

OVERALL SCORE: 4/10

In the end, Underdog just ends up on my list of fan fictions that I didn't end up liking despite their huge popularity. It got a lot of support from comments and friends of the writer who made artwork for it and overall influenced the later chapters, which is an inspiring plus. To me, it really did start out as something special and quite gripping as a pokemon story. But with just so many forced scenes, flat, constantly negative characters and a lack of developed or ongoing plot arc, the story fails to be anything memorable that can be recommended by me. It is definitely better than some other books I've read, and the writer clearly has solid potential, but writing like this needs a lot more care and attention and less corny fan service to succeed being a truly outstanding fan fiction.

Katlin (Sheare)'s Review:

Let's dive into this book that swept the Pokémon Wattpad Awards years ago.

First of all, this book was hilarious. It was cynical, sarcastic, fun, and loud—all thanks to our lovely protagonist who I like to call Jerk #1 aka Jared. I loved the perspective because it made the story exaggerated and overly dramatic. And most importantly, it provided a majority of the book's charm.

As for the plot, it fell flat for me. The opening chapter was great and all; I can tell you were trying to establish a unique scenario for Jerk #1. However, a couple of chapters in, it turned into this overly fast-paced mess of jerks and unique-turned-unrealistic scenarios.

The characters made no sense to me. ***SPOILER***Jerk #2, Falkner, wishes death for his brother because of...family issues involving jealousy and public image? ***END SPOILER*** I would have preferred a more convincing motive for that bit.

***SPOILERS***And all of these deaths leading up to the ending in the first place seemed...unfitting. The tone of the book never made it suitable for me. It was almost like "oops, well, he's dead now" but then you would try and throw in realistic reactions that would never fit. It's just death itself never had a good time to appear in your book because the tone was never set for it. This made the ending really cringe-worthy for me. ***END SPOILERS***

This book also fell into the "too many characters" trap. Except, all of the characters' personalities seemed similar, hence why I call each character Jerk #. There's just no balance when it came to that and provided no variety.

The romance present in the book was really not that complex for me. Luna, Jerk #3(though she's not that big of a jerk), was just the most blank love interest I have ever seen. It was predictable and not entertaining to me.

For writing mechanics, overall it's pretty well-edited. I've picked up a lot of habits from you, though. You would typically do this:

...faster than you can say 'Zephyr Badge'!

When it should be:

...faster than you can say 'Zephyr Badge!'

Also, you used hyphens where dashes should have been, which was extremely annoying to read.

However, your biggest probably was your past vs present battle going on. A majority of the story was written in past, but you would slip the tense A LOT during the entirety of the book.

The presentation of the fic was decent. It had a nice description and a hilarious cast list, but the cast list only furthers my point about a majority of the characters being similar.

Overall, it was a book that had its charm and would certainly be memorable in the minds of its readers. Despite this charisma it possessed, it was only the entertaining surface covering its tacky plot lines and lack of character variety.

Rating: 5/10

Blue (Blue___22)'s Review:

To those reading this, note that there will be scattered spoilers throughout.

Underdog by DachshundPiano was a really great book. The main character and his team were extremely rich. They had personality, ticks/quirks, and stood out in general. All the characters were easy to differentiate and did not seem like carbon copies of each other in terms of MBTI charts and such things. The Pokemon were in fact one of the best parts, as it was easy to remember all of them based on their personalities and nicknames. In most books the nicknames are very repetitive and hard to keep up with, but Underdog allowed someone to read without having to keep a character chart on hand.

In fact, on the note of Pokemon, the battles were excellent. They were easy to read and even intriguing. It was not hard to keep up with what was going on and unlike many other stories the battles were a really good hit. They weren't something to flip through mindlessly. Instead, they grabbed the reader's attention and demanded to be read.

Humor was also very rich in the book and was not cliche at all. By that, the flow of how things went was more natural. The characters themselves felt as if they were happy instead of having just lines of dialogue typed out to be funny. The humor was what truly brought the book to life. Interactions between the characters were fascinating to read and provided an excellent source of entertainment.

However, there were still some major issues.

The first thing on the table is Falkner and Jared's relationship. It's very confusing and unclear as to where they stand with each other. Jared obviously hates Falkner, and that much is very clear, but shouldn't hhe at least feel some degree of love for his brother?

Falkner was even more confusing and rather unrealistic. The same thing about him being family to a degree contributes to confusion in the book. What kind of a family member is he to Jared, anyways? Understanding his motives was very difficult, so much to the point that it seems like he doesn't have a proper motivation for what he's doing. To see what I mean, look at the scenario objectively. Why in the world would one man join Team Rocket (which is known to be lawless anyways), go as far as to get the boss's favor, convince his brother to fake his death, and let the organization he's a part of use his brother as a lab rat for something potentially lethal? Because he's gotten too much pressure as a gym leader? Even for Falkner that's just a flight of fancy.

The next item on the table is the plot twist, aka the sudden announcement that Jared had silver blood (and everything that comes with that). It didn't feel incorporated enough. When looking back, there was evidence as to what was going to happen to Jared, but it didn't click so well. It felt very random. Perhaps it's from a missing piece before, meaning something you didn't include. Maybe it was the fact it wasn't all that life changing ultimately, but it just felt sort of null maybe almost vapid. There was something off about it. It didn't feel like all the pieces clicked together, where although it was a plot twist it needs to feel probable. Also, it was very confusing. Was he a clone or was he the original Jared? Plus where was all the stuff about him starting to like Team Rocket?

Two other quick issues had to do with characters. The first was that there were too many characters. Kimi and Reid were superfluous, and especially the love triangle. Samantha was cool, and it would have been nice to see more of her. I liked her character and thought that if she could be incorporated she could be a valuable asset. Otherwise she can be scrapped too if you aren't going to include her more. She needs to serve a purpose to the book if you're going to keep her. The rest of the characters were okay, though.

The second was character deaths. Simple, they could have been much stronger. There was absolutely no true felt significance of Seth's death, and igglybuff could have been talked about much more. A recommendation would be to look up how to bring strength and/or emotion into your book. It's more than just making it personal to the reader. You have to make it personal to those in the world around the character who died and give the reader a reason to care. In fact, your characters need to go through at least some visible parts of the five stages of grief. Two deaths would be devastating for those in that world. They would be scarred for life. The ending felt nonchalant, as if the deaths did not matter. Make them affect all of the characters personally and in visible ways. Why should we care if they died?

However, except for the cover, which could use some work, the book markets well. The synopsis is excellent and draws the reader in fairly easily. After that it's easy sailing because the pages practically turn themselves.. Overall the book is a very light read and is difficult to get bored with. It was easy to reach all the way to the end. Obviously what's above can be worked on, but for the majority it was excellent. It's worthy of all of the attention it's gotten.

GRA Rating- 8/10 excellent

***

Credits:

Article put together by: d_s_t_e

Reviews written by: Vespin, IshiEmerarudo, SGMijumaru, Sheare, Blue___22

Special thanks to: DachshundPiano

------------
We hope you all enjoyed this review! We'll be publishing another one soon. We will also be publishing our interview with DachshundPiano separately, so watch for that very soon! Please remember that we still have an opening for new critics, so, if reading this article has inspired you to join us, head over to the Info Corner to find an application!