Approved by UU moderation & inspired by Feliburn's project
After a 1.5 month break.. "Player Interview" is back ! This project will allow you to discover or re-discover some well known players of the UU community. Those people may be known thanks to their high-skilled level or their achievements on the strategic scene but also thanks to their dedication into the tier or within the community. Time to gossip !
Hey there Hilomilo and welcome in this first player interview of 2021 ! First of all, how are you doing ?
Hi Moute! Thanks so much for having me! I've been good today, thanks :))
You're well known for being the host of the Viability Rankings since forever, outside of this, could you talk a bit about yourself ? Who are you on Smogon and how did you discover the website ?
Sure thing! I actually came across ps! after catching a mention of it in a youtube video in middle school (I used to be an avid poketuber watcher, horrible I know), and learned about Smogon not long after. I was a casual UU player before maining LC for a little bit then delving more deeply into UU as the early SM metagame really grabbed my interest. I've always absolutely loved writing, which really made the website's C&C section my homebase of sorts. I started on LC QC, became UU QC not much longer, and after a few years of that became a moderator for UU C&C!
Pretty great path overall ! Do you remember since when you're hosting the UU VR ?
I think around January 2018? It's absolutely crazy to think it's been that long. I was a fairly active contributor through most gen 8 VRs, and after deciding to step down as host pif was gracious enough to bring me up as a candidate for the position. It's been a really fun and rewarding way to both still contribute to the community and find a different kind of writing outlet on the site.
Yeah you’re a figurehead for sure ! Could you tell us a bit about yourself IRL ?
Aww thanks, means a lot hearing that. And absolutely! I'm a 19 y/o psychology student in my first year at uiowa. I'm in the US and have only ever lived in the midwest (unfortunately), and am a huuuuge drum geek. I'm on my university drumline and that's been chaotic and frankly super stressful to navigate with my major and COVID, but it's been such a great experience and I wouldn't take it back for anything.
Since when do you practice drums ?
I started when I was maybe 9? 10? Whenever kids usually start concert band in America LOL. I was a percussionist in concert band and totally ate up all the additional opportunities that came with it, like playing kit in jazz band and drumline in high school. It's definitely always been my bread and butter
Damn yeah it's been a while ! And since when are you playing Pokemon ?
I was always a huge Pokemon player growing up. I first played Diamond when I got it as a birthday present waaay long ago and completely fell in love with the franchise. I started ps! random battles sometime in middle school and began playing tiered metagames not long after. My engagement with UU's various metagames has been a bit on and off depending on how much time I have to get into stuff, but I've bought nearly every Pokemon game in the last few years as they've been released.
Oh so you began with Diamond ? Then are you hoping for a DPP remake at the end of 2021 ?
YES. One THOUSAND percent hehe. Infernape is my favorite Pokemon ever and is lowkey
Yeah I'm hoping the same ! Outside of Pokémon, what video games do you like to play ?
I've always been pretty big on Nintendo and admittedly haven't ventured too far outside of that realm. Luigi's Mansion is probably my favorite game ever, and Mario games have been a splurge of mine pretty much any time they've come out. I also absolutely LOVE horror games, though, with Outlast in particular being one of my all-time favorites.
Did you played the second opus of that game and if you did, what do you though of it ?
I have! Both that and the Whistleblower version. I feel like nothing can beat the initial magic of slowy unconvering everything going on in the first games but I'll always love the game format and psychological thriller aspect of the games.
Yeah the first game was quite amazing ! By the way, why did you pick "Hilomilo" as your username ?
LOL there's actually no specific reason! A lot of people think it's from the Billie Eilish song 'ilomilo' but itwas just kind of something I spontaneously came up with and decided to stick with after liking the sound, even though most people mispronounce it heh
Alright, last but not least would you mind to share with the community a team that you made in UU if you have one ?
Of course! I admittedly haven't laddered on my main in AGES (alts are far too appealing to hide behind) and wish I was a little more invested in this current meta, but this team has been a lot of fun to cheese around with. I like bee webs more than I probably should and wanted to tap back into that magic/cheese of bish/mmq/mamo from gen 7. Definitely some holes in the team but I've enjoyed playing around with it here and there.
Ooh so you're a web lover like viv ! Well well thanks a lot for your time and your answers, we finally managed to get some time to do this interview ! :]
Thank you so much for having me! I'm glad we were finally able to do this, thanks for being so patient :')
Feel free to ask to Hilomilo any questions you want !
If you have some recommendations for an interview, feel free to DM me !