Aether Foundation

[skyburial]

Other major characters sometimes get a lot of detail, and some champions aren't even hugely detailed (Blue, Lance, maybe even steven)

I seem to remember Lance having a cape, DBZ-style hair, combat boots and dramatic poses. That's some pretty heavy design.

 

[Ullion]

Lusamine has the most robust and unique design of any character we've seen so far. Since there are no gym leaders in this game, that kind of overdesign would most likely be reserved for either the leader of the evil team, or the regional champion.

This was my thought as soon as I saw Lusamine in the Japanese trailer (which I saw before the English trailer). I instantly thought "Oh my god, it's the new Cynthia!". Her overall look/demeanor just screams regional champion to me. And she's involved with a huge regional business (like Steven being involved with Devon Corp in Hoenn). It may seem weird, but I find her being a regional champion is more likely in comparison to the Aether Foundation being truly evil.

On that side of the discussion though, I don't think GameFreak would make the plot-twist having the AF as the true bad guys. While I do see Team Skull as being less serious as previous evil teams... Team Rocket really was no better than these guys right? I'm not saying you guys are wrong, I just don't see it as the most likely option at the moment. Plus none of the AF characters strike me as sinister other than that scientist guy. I'll admit, he looked sketchy as hell.

 

[Altairis]

idk guys I think they can be trusted for the most part.

althought it'd be a pretty big plot twist if there was some team magma/aqua type **** and they're both not only against the player but against each other.

I don't think it would be THAT big of a plot twist considering how people are expecting it to turn out, haha.

Anyway I don't trust them. "Helping the Poor Pokemon"? I feel like they're the creators of Type: Null.. Team Skull doesn't seem like it has the capability for creating a Pokemon, as they seem really disorganized and less sophisticated.

 

[mew_nani]

Concerning Lusamine specifically... anyone notice her eyes are kinda off? Everyone has a bright spot above their pupils and a spot that's not quite as bright below them... everyone except for Lusamine. Lusamine has no bright spot above her pupils and has a weird yellow triangle below them. Her hair's sorta off as well given it looks like it's floating in midair, though I can forgive that as there's plenty of female characters in Pokemon that don't have even semi-realistic hairdos, and her general demeanor is sorta... strange. Honestly the way she looks and acts I have a hard time believing she's human, or at least totally human, though she could just be a person with contacts on and with strange fashion taste.

What do you guys think about this?

 

[WingsofBliss]

Not saying that the Aether Foundation is evil, but for speculation's sake on the possibility of it:

People say they see a resemblance to Team Plasma, but when Aether is put together with Team Skull I'm getting a Team Snagem/Cipher dynamic instead. What I mean by this is purely based on aesthetics. Team Skull, much like Team Snagem, come off as a gang of lowlife thugs without a whole lot of technological means and resources(Skull Grunts even have to buy their own uniforms since they're not provided. Aether and Cipher have tons of high-tech stuff, clearly have a lot of funding, and have much greater ambitions. A smaller comparison is the names of their organizations: Team *insert name here* and the other "team" has a singular name. Both groups also work together, with their goals being different from each other.

I will throw this out there for food-thought: I don't see Game Freak giving up the "high-tech organization villain team with huge ambitions" formula that easily. Plots have been getting progressively bigger since Gen 4, and to have them suddenly drop down to a gang of ragtag thugs as the evil team feels a little odd, especially for a 20th Anniversary game that they're putting so much hype on if the recent Japanese trailer from today is anything to go by. This is the only reason I have my suspicions about the Aether Foundation, other than a couple behavioral cues and choice of words from Lusamine and Faba.

 

[Rivvon]

Who are you comparing Lusamine with, specifically? The other members of the Aether Foundation?

I suppose it helps for a visual...

Spoiler:

Compared to maybe Wicke..

Spoiler:

Maybe I'm just being airheaded here (or that Wicke's glasses don't really give a great visual of her eyes), but I don't notice anything offputting? o.o

They mean the rendering of her eyes.

A much more typical rendering of eyes in the Pokémon series. Notice the big white highlight.

This is the "standard" style of rendering eyes in this "Sugimori style" and applies to almost every single character.

Lusamine's eyes. No highlight (which has been done before, with N, but likely to emphasize a sort of ... sadness and emptiness? But that's another topic altogether) and an odd triangle-like shape likely representing reflected light (but even that's questionable). I definitely noticed her eyes are rendered differently than normal, too.


The XY Fairy Gym Leader had oddly-rendered eyes too but those are confirmed in concept art to be fashion contacts. But somehow I don't imagine these being contacts on Lusamine, considering the other similarities she shares with Gladion and Lillie.

 

[Rivvon]

I'm certain N's choice in eye color and rendering style are intentional choices made to contribute to his character in gen 5... so by that logic I don't see why they would render Lusamine's eyes so differently if there wasn't some reason behind it.

 

[WingsofBliss]

There's that funny saying that goes "the eyes are the window into the soul" or something like that. What's got me about Lusamine though is how her hair is hiding most of her face, mainly her eyes. That particular expression alone to me comes off as kind of suspicious, like she's hiding something.

Another thing is that they're giving off this utopia-like air, going as far as saying their island is a "veritable paradise", with veritable meaning "true", judging by their dialogue. The last couple guys that were associated with a utopian lifestyle goal in mind wanted to wipe out emotions or humanity

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

There's that funny saying that goes "the eyes are the window into the soul" or something like that. What's got me about Lusamine though is how her hair is hiding most of her face, mainly her eyes. That particular expression alone to me comes off as kind of suspicious, like she's hiding something.

Another thing is that they're giving off this utopia-like air, going as far as saying their island is a "veritable paradise", with veritable meaning "true", judging by their dialogue. The last couple guys that were associated with a utopian lifestyle goal in mind wanted to wipe out emotions or humanity

Cynthia's face is also greatly covered up by her hair too...

Don't forget N's version of Utopia either.

Hmm, she is ambiguous.
Maybe Aether aren't the villains, but they might have done stuff in the past which they regret doing, such as making artificial Pokemon. So basically Aether could be like old Plasma in B2W2, trying to redeem themselves. Though, Lumi might rather not talk about it. Heck, maybe it was her predecesor who did it, either way that could explain the sad look, and would be more of a twist than "Aether are evil!" at this point...

 

[WingsofBliss]

Something kinda popped into my head...

Wicke says that they protect Pokemon that have been harmed by Team Skull, but then she says they also look after Pokemon who need extra protection. Extra protection from what, exactly? What's more harmful to Pokemon than Team Skull in these games? It could be the Ultra Beasts, since it's explicitly stated that they're studying them?

Another thing... I'm finding it hard to believe that Team Skull were the ones that created Type:Null, despite the fact that Gladion owns one. Maybe I'm underestimating them, but they really don't seem like the type of group who would be capable of creating a Pokemon from genetics of various other Pokemon.

 

[Ullion]

They could have intentionally created them, not realizing what it was they were making. They failed to control the UB's and then they broke free or something and are causing other Pokemon harm? There's a lot of things that could happen with the UB's.

 

[kingdenas]

Idk, the Aether Foundation raised a LOT of questions. If they're not evil, I kinda think they maybe are hiding the abominations (ultra beasts) they created in the past. Maybe they now pose as "good guys who take care of poor Pokémon" just to hide that "sin". There's still a lot we don't know about them, and I kinda like it that way, since I think it's way more interesting discussing about it and learning more about them in-game...

Also.... it has already been pointed out but...

Spoiler:

The way her eyes have been created, and the way she poses.... She looks so away from reality that she actually gives me chills!

 

[raxic_ex]

Hey... question: does Gladion have the same kind of eyes that Lusamine does? Or rather, the same kind of shading?

Nope, not at all. If anything I think Lusamine is the only character that has her eye different shading so far... Actually I also like to point out that her hair is really weird ._______. it's like a thin layer of paper, no matter in-game modal or her concept art, it's just so unnatural, her eye is unnatural, everything about her is so unnatural...... she's extraterrestrial XD

 

[Altairis]

Hey, does anybody have the Colress possibly in Aether Foundation image saved? I can't find it and the images on the previous pages don't show for me. (guys this is why you rehost images when you post them!!)

 

[blue]

Hey, does anybody have the Colress possibly in Aether Foundation image saved? I can't find it and the images on the previous pages don't show for me. (guys this is why you rehost images when you post them!!)

You mean this one?

 

[blue]

fixed it! the image is on the discussion page.

 

[Ninjorf]

They definitely have a deep, dark secret. Unless there is some group we don't know about, they created Type: Null, which is supposed to battle the pokemon "spoken of in mythology". Those are definitely Arceus and the creation trio. You really don't need to bother those guys if you're on the side of good.

 

[blue]

Maybe that's the intention. Introduce them as the stereotypical good guys so people assume they're bad, when they turn out to be the real good guys nobody would expect it lmao. But yeah, almost certain they are the true villains.

 

[WingsofBliss]

I have a strong feeling that the Aether Foundation are the ones that created Type: Null, solely because Team Skull don't seem to be the types that have the resources to produce a synthetic Pokémon. I'm wondering if Skull has actually stolen Type: Null from the Aether Foundation to use for their own means. If Gladion is related to Lusamine, he might know about Type: Null and that would thus make him the right Team Skull member to be using it.

 

[blue]

CoroCoro promised for some new details on Type: Null next month which will hopefully clear a few things up. There is certainly a lot of mystery surrounding the Aether Foundatiom and I'm looking forward to seeing what it entails!