For anyone browsing the Ooks Life app’s community page, among the posts from students and clubs here at NAIT, you may have come across postings from NAIT’s local Clodsire enthusiast. 

The Clodsire enthusiast is really Tyler Kendall, a Mechanical Engineering Technology student. When he is not sitting in lectures or working hard studying, he can be found sharing photos of the Pokémon Clodsire. Clodsire is an amphibious, brown Pokémon from the franchise’s ninth generation and one of the evolutions of Whooper.

At the start of the semester, Kendall “scoured the internet” to collect as many Clodsire photos as he could. The reason for this? 

“Because Clodsire is awesome,” says Kendall. On Sept. 3, he started posting on Ooks Life daily using photos of the Pokémon from the large “collection.” 

“If ever you are sad, look upon the mighty clod and rejoice!” he wrote in his first post.

• Related: How Pokémon Go has changed in five years

Later in the semester, he switched to weekly Clodsire posts. “I did lose track of which ones I had already posted,” he explains, adding that he also ran out of photos of the tadpole-like Pokémon.

“So, I slowed down a bit because of that.” Many of the captions include friendly messages to NAIT students encouraging them to enjoy their weekend or take time to rest. Kendall says he’s never played the official Pokémon games, but enjoys connecting with other students on Ooks Life this way. “I just know some of the creatures and really like this one,” he said.

“Clodsire brings me a lot of joy,” says Kendall. “Some people may not like school, so I just try and brighten people’s day by sharing what I love.”

He has gotten “mostly positive” responses to these posts, including some from other Pokémon fans. Some students have even asked if he’s the “Clodsire guy,” Kendall told the Nugget. But not everyone appreciates Clodsire as much as he does. 

Kendall received a direct message from another NAIT student who wanted to inform him that “Quagsire is better.” Quagsire is an alternate evolution of the Pokémon Whooper in the game. This didn’t discourage the Clodsire Enthusiast, though. “It’s fun to talk to people like that,” he says. 

Kendall encourages students to “post what you want to share.” 

“If you’ve got something you love, share that. If you just want people to see something funny or [if] it made you smile, maybe it’ll make someone else smile too. And that makes it all worth it.”

Featured image with files from Nintendo