The art and culture of Pokemon

I will be dating myself when I say this. I was in my first year of college, way before the world of Pokemon Go, and in mandatory “public speaking class” we had to make a presentation on something we were passionate about.

Needless to say, I was a few years too early and although my pokemon presentation garnered a passing grade, but little to no respect from the class of 18/19-year-olds who already thought of me as a freak. (Other presentations were about things like DJ-ing or even mixed drinks.)

In that world, there were certainly not influential youtube stars like Syren Cove getting neck tattoos of their favorite characters.

or people composing amazing rock covers of classic songs from the Saturday morning cartoon.

Pokemon is a culture. Like Sims or World of Warcraft, it’s a land on to itself. But like the Simpsons (or any cartoon that has a hero that never seems to age, not even after decades,) it has that sense of innocence and wonder.

Maybe it’s because I was not allowed to have a pet as a child. Pokemon is a world where you have hundreds of pets, from giant birds to robots to insects.

Each game has a self-contained plot; bad guy A (most recently Team Skull) is trying to take over the world by acting like the poke-mafia.

But there is always secretly something worse. A world ending challenge that is hundreds of years in the making. Such as AZ from Pokemon X/Y who’s little flower pokemon died in the ancient pokemon war.

Yes, you get to make a team and go to the elite four. When you win (and you will win, all it takes is a little level grinding) you will be crowned champion of all the land. (And unlock the other 1/3 to 1/2 of the game, that was previously inaccessible to non-champions.)

But gone are the days when kids try to name all the pokemon (there are 800 and counting.) This is more than a game of collecting cards or even catching them all(some YouTubers try to beat the game with assorted handicaps like catching only green pokemon or only one pokemon.)

This is a new age, a new generation…

As the song goes…

We all live in a Pokemon World

Also,
On deviantart.com be sure to check out-

Where Artists are invited to create pokemon on a theme (music, winter, to medieval times/renaissance fair.) For every pokemon created, a certain dollar amount is donated (by the group founder) to charity.