As a long-time Pokemon fan, from my childhood with Pokemon Emerald and now into adulthood with Pokemon GO (and the Switch games occasionally), I enjoyed this article about how The Pokemon Company...
As a long-time Pokemon fan, from my childhood with Pokemon Emerald and now into adulthood with Pokemon GO (and the Switch games occasionally), I enjoyed this article about how The Pokemon Company tried their darndest (and succeeded!) into making sure everyone knows about the franchise, even if they aren't a fan.
Of course, there's a capitalistic undertone behind all this - TPC's goal is to make money - but I feel like they are one of the few companies that do sometimes try to put some soul into what they're making, and when they do, it ends up being great. (And other times it's gacha and pachinko, but let's not talk about that.)
I haven't checked out the TV show, but it does sound quirky and fun.
Apologies for rambling, but this article hit me at a funny time and helps me think through it - I'm considering getting a Pokemon tattoo, since a family member's sleeve with some Pokemon on it...
Apologies for rambling, but this article hit me at a funny time and helps me think through it - I'm considering getting a Pokemon tattoo, since a family member's sleeve with some Pokemon on it turned out really well, and I heard back that the artist is cool with my request just today. My wife with a few tattoos has been wary about getting characters or symbols from fiction in the wake of the Me Too wave due to associations with authors, and made a good point that whatever I get is something that just cannot be corrupted no matter what happens to it. So I'm kinda grappling with how silly it is that I want two Lopunny emblazened on my arm... Or whether this series could become a stain for some reason.
The series' worst enemy used to be itself to me - I thought X/Y were kinda dreck way back, and I stopped playing since I felt burnt out on the series for years. But I played Legends: Arceus after some good press, and made me feel like I was 5 again. I think there's something that TPC and Nintendo finally get, that after however long the brand escaped a single corporate view; everyone holds it dear to them for their own reasons and it makes sense to create works that appeal to those different reflections on the series. There's certainly that insidious and addictively capitalistic aspect to the series forever baked into it, sure, but even then there are so many fan works that it's nearly impossible for Nintendo to quash everything, and there's still that love and feel behind it when someone outside the company expresses themselves with it. And I still find it wonderful that TPC has people who were clearly inspired by it - like Toby Fox, providing the wonderful Area Zero backdrop to S/V - coming in and feeding their genuine love back into the series to make something new out of it again.
Even if I lose interest again, there are just some things I always come back to or revisit that I can't shake. I've got so many positive memories as part of me growing up that are attached to it. Hell, my username for the last 15 years was a result of cracking jokes on GameFAQs about Game Freak putting a playboy bunny in a kids game, until I unironically kept using Lopunny in game and it became my favorite Pokemon. So fuck it, I'm branding myself and I'm excited.
What's the worst that could happen, Lopunny has a sex scandal? :^)
I mean... there's a non-zero number of hits if you search for lopunny sex scandal. But it's true that as a faceless corporation (TPC) and one really focused on being family friendly (Nintendo),...
I mean... there's a non-zero number of hits if you search for lopunny sex scandal.
But it's true that as a faceless corporation (TPC) and one really focused on being family friendly (Nintendo), the number of scandals that could come up to tarnish the Pokemon brand are very low.
Go for it! For me Sun/Moon was the series that basically almost killed Pokemon for me. I was in love with the X&Y artstyle for the anime, and they changed it for Sun and Moon. And I wasn't too hot...
Go for it!
For me Sun/Moon was the series that basically almost killed Pokemon for me. I was in love with the X&Y artstyle for the anime, and they changed it for Sun and Moon. And I wasn't too hot on the Switch back then so I lost interest in the games too.
But the anime grew on me, and Let's Go Eevee was such a refreshing take on the Pokemon formula for me, that I got hooked back.
I'd love an edgy Mega Rayquaza tattoo, but I'm too scared to get it done.
As a long-time Pokemon fan, from my childhood with Pokemon Emerald and now into adulthood with Pokemon GO (and the Switch games occasionally), I enjoyed this article about how The Pokemon Company tried their darndest (and succeeded!) into making sure everyone knows about the franchise, even if they aren't a fan.
Of course, there's a capitalistic undertone behind all this - TPC's goal is to make money - but I feel like they are one of the few companies that do sometimes try to put some soul into what they're making, and when they do, it ends up being great. (And other times it's gacha and pachinko, but let's not talk about that.)
I haven't checked out the TV show, but it does sound quirky and fun.
Apologies for rambling, but this article hit me at a funny time and helps me think through it - I'm considering getting a Pokemon tattoo, since a family member's sleeve with some Pokemon on it turned out really well, and I heard back that the artist is cool with my request just today. My wife with a few tattoos has been wary about getting characters or symbols from fiction in the wake of the Me Too wave due to associations with authors, and made a good point that whatever I get is something that just cannot be corrupted no matter what happens to it. So I'm kinda grappling with how silly it is that I want two Lopunny emblazened on my arm... Or whether this series could become a stain for some reason.
The series' worst enemy used to be itself to me - I thought X/Y were kinda dreck way back, and I stopped playing since I felt burnt out on the series for years. But I played Legends: Arceus after some good press, and made me feel like I was 5 again. I think there's something that TPC and Nintendo finally get, that after however long the brand escaped a single corporate view; everyone holds it dear to them for their own reasons and it makes sense to create works that appeal to those different reflections on the series. There's certainly that insidious and addictively capitalistic aspect to the series forever baked into it, sure, but even then there are so many fan works that it's nearly impossible for Nintendo to quash everything, and there's still that love and feel behind it when someone outside the company expresses themselves with it. And I still find it wonderful that TPC has people who were clearly inspired by it - like Toby Fox, providing the wonderful Area Zero backdrop to S/V - coming in and feeding their genuine love back into the series to make something new out of it again.
Even if I lose interest again, there are just some things I always come back to or revisit that I can't shake. I've got so many positive memories as part of me growing up that are attached to it. Hell, my username for the last 15 years was a result of cracking jokes on GameFAQs about Game Freak putting a playboy bunny in a kids game, until I unironically kept using Lopunny in game and it became my favorite Pokemon. So fuck it, I'm branding myself and I'm excited.
What's the worst that could happen, Lopunny has a sex scandal? :^)
I mean... there's a non-zero number of hits if you search for lopunny sex scandal.
But it's true that as a faceless corporation (TPC) and one really focused on being family friendly (Nintendo), the number of scandals that could come up to tarnish the Pokemon brand are very low.
Go for it!
For me Sun/Moon was the series that basically almost killed Pokemon for me. I was in love with the X&Y artstyle for the anime, and they changed it for Sun and Moon. And I wasn't too hot on the Switch back then so I lost interest in the games too.
But the anime grew on me, and Let's Go Eevee was such a refreshing take on the Pokemon formula for me, that I got hooked back.
I'd love an edgy Mega Rayquaza tattoo, but I'm too scared to get it done.