Project Player of the Week - wooper

czim · Tuesday at 7:58 AM

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Approved by sleid and Tuthur | Amazing Art by Albatross and butchered by me | Thread formatting stolen from Jett, who I thank for starting this project in the first place
(Interview Date: 2nd of November, 2025)

Hey friends and welcome to this edition of ZU ~~Palpitoad~~ Player of the Week. I'm very excited to be doing these again and I hope you enjoy reading these interviews as much as I enjoy making them! This is the project where we learn about some of ZU's finest community members in the form of interviews. In the second Halloween Edition (because I was too lazy to take down the decorations), we have someone who's not only a Forum Moderator and a ZU Room Owner, but also someone who, unlike Toto, is named after the best gen2 Water-type Pokémon! Without further ado,

Pokemon | Wooper pokemon, Cute pokemon wallpaper, Pokemon gif

wooper!!
Favorite Pokémon: :wooper:

(Room Owner, Forum Moderator and Old Gens Leader)

Ditto used Transform!
Ditto transformed into Wooper!

*woooooper*

Hello wooper and welcome to another edition of ZU Player of the Week! Hope we have a fun interview here today! To start things off, a simple question. How are you doing today?

I’m doing great! I’m ready to tackle the day and be productiveI hope you’re doing well too!

Being productive on a sunday? I cannot say the same for me lol, I am currently playing some Nine Sols before the interview started and don't plan on doing much today! What are your plans for today then?

Sundays are my reset days, I typically always fold and put away laundry, go grocery shopping, and make a big dinner so I have leftovers to take to work for lunches throughout the week. Last week I made a delicious tortellini soup!

Oh that sounds good! I usually try to do stuff like this on Saturday if I can to try and have a more chill day on Sunday. Since you already mentioned work, what can you tell us about yourself in real life?

Saturday is usually my day to socialize, see friends and family, or just have a lazy day like I did yesterday playing video games, it’s just what works for me and my schedule. Irl I live in New Jersey with my boyfriend, Monday the 3rd is our 7 year anniversary! I work at a school doing event planning for the students. Aside from any identifying details, I’m pretty much an open book, so if you wanna know more, feel free to ask!

Congrats, 7 years is a long time. I have also been in a relationship for 10 years now! How long have you lived together? What are you planning for the anniversary?

10 years is really admirable! We’ve lived together for 3.5 years now, and we don’t really have any solid plans for now! I know since it falls on a Monday, we should do something special today like a nice meal out, but we went to a wedding recently and this weekend’s budget went towards a gift. So I think just making a nice meal together and staying in relaxing, preparing for the week ahead

Sometimes staying in and doing something together can be as rewarding as something big to be honest, just enjoy the day together! I also wanna talk about your work here, because it seems very interesting! What kind of events do you help plan? Also how did you end up doing this job? Did you study something related to it?

I plan all sorts of events, from simple fundraisers that last an hour to graduation ceremonies with hundreds of attendees that last all day! I was very involved in extracurricular activities as an undergraduate college student, and sort of fell into this field. I ended up getting my masters degree in it in 2020!

Ah that's very cool, seems like a fun job! Just before I almost forget our new tradition like I did last week, it is time for one of our most popular questions, the pet tax™! Do you have a pet? And if so, would you want to share a picture of them with us?

yes!! here is a lovely picture of my corgi and my maltese-yorkie mix (known as a morkie)! dont be fooled by the picture, they are not friends and more like disgruntled roommates

Cute picture of wooper's dogs!

But they're supposed to love each other, that's sad! Which one of them is the boss? How old are them? Can you tell us their names?

My corgi unfortunately passed last year but he was 10.5, and my morkie is 10.5 herself now! neither one of them was truly the boss over the other, it's a funny story--corgi had separation anxiety so I convinced my mom that getting another puppy would help calm him down, so we got morkie, who ended up learning all of corgi's bad habits! so our family had our hands full

I'm sorry to hear about the Corgi, their lifespans are way too short. But at least we keep the memories forever! They're 2 very cute dogs and I'm glad you shared the picture with us! You mentioned you like to spend your saturdays with friends, family and sometimes chilling at home. What else can you tell us about it? What do you usually do with your friends and family? What do you do at home in your free time other than playing videogames? What other interests do you have?

Thank you

! It's a lot of parties and get-togethers, board game nights, movie watchings, dinners out, things of that nature. My boyfriend and I keep our schedule pretty busy, yesterday was an exception! At home in my free time, it's mostly just playing video games. He and I both took off from work the day Legends Z-A dropped and he's already beaten the game. Right now, I'm playing Old School Runescape on the side! I'd say my interests are like, Nintendo franchies and pop culture through and through. Anyone in ZU who knows me know that I love love love kpop, and keeping up with movies and tv shows and celebrity drama is what I like to do!

Nice, there's a lot for me to work with here! You seem to be pretty active people. I wanna start with board games! Which ones are your favorites?

Settlers of Catan I’d say is our favorite! We also recently played SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) with our friends, which was kinda like an expanded version of Catan set in space, super fun!!

Oh, I really like Settlers of Catan too, used to play it with friends too! I haven't heard of the other one but I'll check it out! You also mentioned you go to dinners out frequently. What are your favorite cuisines? Also what's your favorite food in general?

I'm not sure that I have a favorite cuisine, I love so many across all the continents! Thai, Indian, Italian, Mexican, Middle Eastern, etc. etc. And I always say that my favorite food item is sandwiches, but I think my favorite kind is like, a really good chicken parm sandwich!!

I think big part of being in long-term relationships is going out a lot for dinner lol. We also tend to go out a lot to eat and love to try new food. Have you ever had brazilian food? I don't know how common it is in Jersey! Can never go wrong with a sandwich either. You also mentioned you go to the movies frequently! What are some of your favorite movies? Also what are some recent watches you recommend?

Yes I've had brazilian food, but I dont have it too often! It's not too common here but there are pockets of brazilian (and portuguese) communities. I had a really great coxinha just a few weeks ago that I haven't stopped thinking about....As for movies, I have a running note on my phone of the movies that I've watched, ones I want to watch, and my favorites! Sort of like letterboxd but with less effort and not public. My favorite genre is definitely comedy, with some of my top movies being Robots, Scott Pilgrim vs the World, But I'm a Cheerleader, and Scooby Doo. I just watched Elvira: Mistress of the Dark last night, very silly and campy if you like that kind of thing. If you're into romcoms, I highly recommend A Nice Indian Boy, I watched that a few months ago and instantly fell in love with it

Can never go wrong with a Coxinha, one of my favorite foods! Glad you liked it! Some nice movie picks there, Scooby Doo and Scott Pilgrim are classics! You said you like pop music in general, what are some of your favorite artists? Do you also like podcasts?

Beyoncé is my all-time favorite artist, but she hasn't necessarily been pop music recently. Carly Rae Jepsen (yes, the call me maybe girl), Chappell Roan, and TWICE (kpop) are some of my favorite pop music acts of all-time. I've listened to podcasts before, I like them if the topic is right and if I'm in the right mood. But I don't particularly reach for them, especially not when I'm commuting to work. Sometimes I put them on while focusing on work, but that's about it

Isn't TWICE the band from Kpop Demon Hunters? That movie slaps and the soundtrack has stuck with me for a while now lol. I like some of Beyoncé's albums too like Lemonade and especially Renaissance! Let's focus on games now, you mentioned Old School Runescape, that's a game I played for a while too. What are your favorite activities on it? Any favorite skill to grind?

Yes, that's them! I'm seeing them in concert in February, I'm very excited! Also Lemonade and Renaissance are my favorite Beyoncé albums, so you have good taste hehe. I play OSRS pretty unconventionally nowadays, but historically I just love to put on a cool looking outfit and train my skills up, whether that's combat or not. Farming quickly grew to be my favorite skill in recent years, I got the max level on two separate accounts, but now I only play free-to-play (f2p), which doesnt have the skill. Most people get memberships to play, but I play on a f2p self-sufficient playstyle known as Ironman, which adds a different kind of challenge to the game. I like it because I can't play every day so this works for my lifestyle

That's cool. I personally liked Fishing and Cooking the most when I used to play, but I was mostly f2p and haven't played in years! What other games do you like to play? Any personal favorites to play together with your partner?

Fishing and cooking are nice and fast, i like them too! outside of OSRS and pokemon, not much else truly. I enjoy the kirby franchise a lot but dont pick it up often. the Mario franchise and particularly Mario Party and Mario Kart games are favorites with me and my boyfriend and our friends. Outside of that, our tastes differ quite a bit. He's playing overwatch 2 right now, but i'm not a fan of first-person shooters admittedly.

You're more of a Nintendo person it seems, right? You said you guys were playing Legends ZA, what do you think of the game so far? Enjoying it or not? Also what is your favorite new mega?

Yes, definitely a Nintendo person. I'm loving the Z-A! It adds a lot of heart to the series with its slice of life approach to the Pokemon world. In comparison to Legends Arceus, which I feel added a lot of lore to the franchise. The dialogue and the ability to walk around with your Pokemon out really appeals to me, I'd give it an 8/10! I think my new favorite mega is Eelektross, I really vibe with its design!

A shame it is not Victreebel, I just love it a lot. I liked Legends Arceus a lot and will probably try ZA whenever i can, the Legends series seems to be a breath of fresh air for the Pokémon franchise. What is your favorite Pokémon game overall?

Victreebel is so goofy, and it works surprisingly! I can't say the same for ~~Starmie~~ some other goofy megas....Emerald is definitely my favorite Pokemon game overall, the replayability of it is just so high in my opinion. I love being able to construct new teams and play with them to the end, it feels like putting together a puzzle!

Gen 3 has a special place in my heart too, love the games and their mechanics! Since we are already discussing mons, you have to tell us. How did you first came in contact with Showdown and Smogon? How did you end up going all the way down to ZU?

We're going back 8 or 9 years now at this point so my memory isn't the best here. I definitely starting posting on the forums while involved in some SS NU and eventually made my way down to ZU. I'm not sure what it was about ZU that drew me in, but I think the power level and oversaturation of content on OU led me to the lower tiers initially. In ZU, I really fell in love with its old gens and ADV in particular and I've stuck around ever since!

The only people who do not love ADV ZU are the ones who haven't played it. Since you already mentioned it, what are your thoughts on the new shifts? For the uninformed, Grovyle and Ivysaur dropped and we sadly lost Wartortle to ADV PU

I'm excited for them! Wartortle didn't see too much usage but it was a nice mon to have as a defensive/bulky water that could also be a nice tank. Seaking fills that role pretty well in its absence, so it wont be the biggest lost. Ivysaur is just a sidegrade to Gloom, so I'm not too worried about it either. Grovyle will be the most impactful I think, thanks to its speed tier. I can see it functioning super well on HO builds! I'm looking forward to seeing it in action in some official play soon

Same, I am very excited for Grovyle shaking up the current speed metagame, outspeeding crucial threats like Ponyta and Abra! How would you rank the ZU generations, from your favorite to your least favorite?

This is tough! ADV > ORAS > BW > DPP > RBY > SM > GSC > SS. I hate the fatter, do-nothing metagames of GSC and SS. I've played them before and have enjoyed them sometimes but overall they are not for me

SV is so bad you forgot it existed, sad! Back to ADV, since it is your favorite. What are some Pokémon that you think are sleeper picks in the current metagame? Also, if you could get another drop from PU to shake up the metagame, which one would you want to get?

I was only doing old gens, oops! I'd put it after RBY I think. Lileep, Nosepass, and Drowzee are definite sleeper picks imo. Smoochum too! I think it'd be fun to have Omanyte or to get Pineco back, Spikes could go a long way in the meta to help break through fat cores, but also they'd provide some nice defensive backbones that can also function on offense with Swift Swim and Explosion, respectively

Good takes, I think Clamperl being gone definitely helps those slow rock-types like Nosepass and Lileep (and Rhyhorn too) to function more properly. Do you play any other metagames outside of ZU? Which ones are your favorites?

Yes, Clam was definitely a huge strain on the builder and I'm glad it's gone. I really don't play much outside of ZU ! I have SV teams and samples in my builder for LC, NFE, NU, and PU, but those are months or even years old at this point. I had a lot of fun playing Shared Power in the early days of SV, but that's about as far out as I ventured

That's fine lol, I hardly venture much outside of ZU and Random Battles myself to be honest! Time for the fun questions. And since Halloween was like yesterday, I'm not going to remove the decorations for this edition too lol. If you had to do a couple's costume for Trick-and-Treating for you and your partner, which one would you choose?

We’ve done quite a few couples costumes over the past few years! Mike Wazowski and Sully, Peter and Lois Griffin, Pleakley and Jumba, and this year we were Bert and Ernie!

Guess I was spot on with my question then lol! Ok, so to make the question harder, your costume has to be Pokémon related then. What do you choose?

In an ideal world, Espeon and Umbreon I think! They’re our favorite eeveelutions, can you guess which one is mine?

Woopeon. Hmm, I'm wanna guess Umbreon, because it is my favorite! But my gut is telling me it is Espeon. Which one is it?

Espeon indeed, good that you went with your gut!

Espeon is a nice one too, but Umbreon is superior and your boyfriend has the better taste! As i also asked last week, to close our Halloween session, what is your favorite type of candy?

Twix or Snickers, straight from the fridge or freezer. Don’t ask me to eat room temperature milk chocolate, it is not tasty!

That makes no sense to me, but to each their own lol. Room temperature chocolate all the way! Before we move into the final part of the interview I just wanna discuss SV ZU, what do you think of the new drops? What are your thoughts on the current metagame?

I don’t mind the drops! Having Braviary back for defog when we are so hard pressed for removal is a godsend, but it does suffer hugely from 4MSS. Graf is a fun addition but also super annoying to face—is it Prankster vs Poison Touch? Boots vs Scarf vs Band? Uturn vs Pshot, does it have SD Copycat? Etc. And Venu is a great defensive glue mon that can disrupt so much with Knock and Leech Seed, or with Leaf Storm Eject Pack, or by stopping Basculin in its tracks, etc. Mismagius leaving wasnt too hard of a hit though, so all in all I’m glad the drops have been making a significant impact in the meta, which I’ve been finding quite stale lately.

Cool analysis. I think they're all interesting in their own right and Venusaur might be the single best mon in the metagame! Do you have a team you would like to share with us? Add a description if you can!

This here's the HO sample I submitted that was just accepted for SV ZU. I wanted to use the aforementioned SD Copycat Grafaiai on HO since I hadn't used it before and went Gunk > Dedge because I'm Prankster > PTouch. I originally had a lead Lycanroc, but it was too easy for opposing Sandslash to spin, so I pivoted to Froslass. Taunt stops opposing hazards and then I just have dual stab to hit hard, particularly into Sandslash with Ice Beam over the less reliable Icy Wind or DBond + Avalanche strats. I wanted Encore to disrupt the opponent, and landed on Pixie Plate Whimsicott to still serve an offensive purpose and also to bluff Specs since no boots. Mesprit is standard Subplot + Kiss with a bit of HP invest for more lefties recovery. Samurott is the sleeper pick here, able to tank a lot of random hits and deal back massive damage. It's super easy to get it into +2 Torrent range and then fire off some strong Aque Jets for necessary chip in the back for its partners. And last is a standard OTR Spiritomb, which gives the team a bit of speed control and can take advantage of webs if they ever get up. Also a nice option for wearing Lax and Regirock down easily for its teammates, which super appreciate those walls gone.

Looks pretty nice and good sample team to learn the ropes of the metagame. I think it's also nice to advertise about the SV ZU samples project hosted by HAVOCKNIGHT that has just updated for the new metagame! Our readers can find the updated SV ZU samples here! We are reaching the end of this interview, so is theres anything you want to say? Is there anyone you want to shout out?

I am very grateful to have been involved with ZU for as long as I have been, and to have served in multiple leadership opportunities across the years. Thank you for inviting me to do this interview! As for shoutouts, there are truly so many people who have been been a part of my journey. Tuthur as my previous co-TL, sleid for picking up the reins after me, you as my initial old gens role model, and so, so many more. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone involved in ZU past, present, and future, from newcomers to current auth to longtime legacy accounts, and all those in between!

That's a great shoutout post! We are also glad for how much you've done to ZU over the years! And this concludes another Player of the Week interview! Thank you for being here and I hope you had a good time! See you all next week for another interview!

Very grateful to have done this, thank you!!

Feel free to ask wooper any questions you want!

Mirbro · Tuesday at 8:10 AM

Why do you love wooper and why is the best mon ever? My partner recently gave me a Quagsire pluffy as a gift :)

zause · Tuesday at 8:22 AM

SS ZU and do nothing in the same sentence in 2025 I thought we beat these allegations

Real question why do you prefer RBY > SV, that seems like a bit of a hot take to me

Joaf · Tuesday at 8:35 AM

wooper no questions your honor, just glaze. You da best!

Oofhixd · Tuesday at 11:50 AM

wooper favourite twice and beyoncé songs?

wooper · Tuesday at 12:17 PM

Mirbro said:
Why do you love wooper and why is the best mon ever? My partner recently gave me a Quagsire pluffy as a gift :)

wooper are just so happy and/or oblivious all the time they are so dopey and i love them , quagsire too! i've always liked wooper as a pokemon but came to really truly love it when i adopted the infamous sexy wooper profile picture

zause said:
SS ZU and do nothing in the same sentence in 2025 I thought we beat these allegations

Real question why do you prefer RBY > SV, that seems like a bit of a hot take to me

i just find the simplicity of RBY to be more appealing! SV isnt bad theres just a lot to consider when building/playing

Joaf said:
wooper no questions your honor, just glaze. You da best!

thank you!!

Oofhixd said:
wooper favourite twice and beyoncé songs?

this is TOUGH!! yes or yes for twice or maybe dance the night away but they have just so so many good songs and so does beyoncé..i think maybe Sandcastles but these are very mutable tbqh

ItsScaryCary · Tuesday at 12:19 PM

wooper whats your favorite fully evolved pokemon

wooper · Tuesday at 12:24 PM

ItsScaryCary said:
wooper whats your favorite fully evolved pokemon

arcanine has a special place in my heart <3

Project Player of the Week - wooper

czim

Mirbro

zause

Sigma Gamer

Joaf

We're exquisitely lucky, you and I...

Oofhixd

wooper

wooper graphic ultra modern girl

ItsScaryCary

wooper

wooper graphic ultra modern girl