Anti-Anti-Pokémon
August 14, 2008
What is Anti-Anti-Pokémon?
Am I too old to play Pokémon?
Where has everyone gone?
What makes a Pokémon original?
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What is Anti-Anti-Pokémon?
Anti-Pokémon began in around 1999-2000, during what many
consider the Pokémon fad. Some people said the whole thing was stupid or
childish. Anti-Pokémon sites sprung up all over the Internet, just as fast as ordinary
Pokémon fan sites. It was very annoying to deal with for those who liked
Pokémon. Luckily, many of these anti-Pokémon people dumped their sites and left
as the fad started to die out in early 2001.
As many of us know, Pokémon fans started to become more rare. It was no longer mostly children in elementary school. Many of those who still liked it were in junior high school, where many believed that they were "too cool" for Pokémon. The anti-Pokémon people stopped caring. The populace apparently moved on to other fads in their eyes.
Now, it is 2008. If you search the Internet for "pokemon", no longer will you find many anti-Pokémon sites in the first few pages. Although the sites do still exist, many have not been bothered with in the past eight years. However, the anti-Pokémon individuals still express their hatred, sometimes being very annoying on popular forums or posting rather graphic images.
You're probably asking "But what is this Anti-Anti-Pokémon thing?" Good question! The phrase Anti-Anti-Pokémon refers to the people who are against the hatred of Pokémon, whether it be the video games, the animé, or the creatures. It is the defense of Pokémon fans! These people unite to show how they don't want to take it, and show their pride.
Show your Anti-Anti-Pokémon pride by joining the Anti-Anti-Pokémon Alliance (AAPA). Then, you can display this button on your site:
Am I too old to play Pokémon?
Definitely not! Pokémon is a very diverse franchise, with characteristics to
entertain both those with developing minds and those who are already in the work force. However,
there are many folks out there that just can't see that as correct. To them, Pokémon is nothing
more than a baby's game.
Of course, Pokémon fans like myself know that that stereotypical comment is just plain incorrect. The video games are actually some of the most in-depth strategy games to hit the industry, with nearly-infinite team combinations, movesets, and battles. In fact, the games' detailed inner workings almost make them too difficult for the younger audience. It almost makes you wonder why the games are put down when looked at from a strategic aspect. The point is that the games have different aspects so anyone can enjoy them.
Where has everyone gone?
First, who is this everyone that I'm talking about? That's a pretty big word!
Alright, I'm referring to the
Pokémon fanbase. Right now, if you look around, you won't find very many Pokémon
fans. In the old days of the whole "fad", you could easily tell who was a fan.
People would talk about it wherever they were. Many of the people that played it
were--you guessed it--children. Today, these same children are now in high
school, and some are even earning their college degree.
In 1999, there were many who jumped on the bandwagon. Just because their friends were into Pokémon, they decided to get into it. Sure, they collected the cards and watched the show, but they didn't know the exact reason why they were doing it. When the fad died out, those people just stopped caring and moved on to something new. The other people that truly liked it also collected the cards and watched the show, but they all had the same reason for doing it: because they liked it. These people are loyal; when the fad died, they didn't care. They were still into the whole phenomenon, even while the rest of the world tried to put it behind and leave it to the history books. The years went on and the short-lived fans started to sell their merchandise. Today, they don't care, or they try to cover up that they ever liked it. Only the true fans are actually still into it. Almost everyone has not forgotten about their past experiences with Pokémon.
There are three groups of people when you talk about Pokémon. For some, it is a very sentimental subject. They are no longer fans, but they enjoyed being with it. These people are very mutable. They can be influenced easily by others, especially those that make fun of them for liking Pokémon. Some wish they could still be into Pokémon without being embarrassed for their "childish pastimes." Too bad you can't tell them that there is nothing to worry about!
To others, it was a boring fad. Some believe that Pokémon was never really a big part of their life and that it was pointless to even get into. Others dedicate their time to quite the opposite. Yeah, these are those Anti-Pokémon people. They waste their time flaming other fans.
There is one last group: the people that still play Pokémon today. You may not know it, but there are at least 50 million Pokémon fans, and at least 30% of them take it seriously. But where are they?! They're in the vast cyber world that is known as the Internet, of course! Back in 2000, many of the fans were too young to participate in Internet social groups, web spaces, or forums. The web was also still quite young, so there weren't as many sites. These same fans can now log on to their favorite sites like YouTube, deviantART, or MySpace and meet many fans just like them. You may have met a Pokémon fan, or even have friends that are Pokémon fans, and neither of you know about the other's interests!
In fact, Pokémon faced a resurgence in 2007, with the release of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. (You can read more in my other article, The Return of Pokémon.) Sadly, this also made many of those anti-Pokémon sites come back, along with the many fans that couldn't keep quiet about all the game's new features and the 107 new monsters. (Don't tell Nintendo we know about Arceus!) Today, the fad is back up, because Pokémon Platinum is coming to America in the winter or spring of 2009! It's pertinent to note that the annoying folks probably won't get over the fact that Pokémon is still popular.
Let's take an example. Back in the late 1980's and early 1990's, there was another fad about four reptiles. They were none other than the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Today, those of use who are old enough can look back and remember how cool it was to see the Turtles in their own cartoon show, video games, action figures, and even a trio of movies (although the third is almost universally considered a failure). Some people can say that Pokémon likened to TMNT. It's not quite the same, but it's close enough. Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello, along with their sensei, Splinter, their friend, April, and their enemy, Shredder, were everywhere, just like Pokémon. Everyone had to have a Ninja Turtles toy or they weren't "in." After the whole TMNT fad started to drop out, it appeared like nobody cared about our favorite Vanilla Ice-sanctioned reptilian creatures anymore. We were proved wrong recently. Another television show aired in early 2003, titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a new video game was released, and just last year, TMNT hit theaters. This just proves the "Pokémon Cult" has the ability to come back and mutate, just like the Turtles, a fact that cannot be denied by anyone, fan or not!
What makes a Pokémon original?
Originality is another popular topic about
Pokémon. However, this one is more of a war between true fans and those against
progress. Pokémon (as a franchise), has evolved from a basic collection of 151
simple monsters to a much larger menagerie of a whopping 493 creatures. (The
theory is that the next batch is coming in late 2009 or 2010.) It likely will
not stop. Every few years, Ken Sugimori works with others of the art department
to draw up new Pokémon to release with the newest-generation Nintendo gaming
console. They monsters are put to life by the Game Freak programming staff and
shown to us. You probably already knew that; it's nothing new.
To some, they can take one look at the newest batch of Pokémon and instantly think they look stupid. Others actually take their time to analyze each Pokémon and see how original they are. The thing is that it becomes more difficult to think of new and unique creatures. In the beginning, they were all basic animal-style Pokémon. With each passing generation, they started representing lesser-known creatures or filling in the gaps of what common animals were missed. That actually means the newer ones are more original, because they take longer to realize what they are and took longer to make them come to fruition.
The common argument is "The programmers got lazy." (Yes, it's always "the programmers", never "the artists" or "Game Freak" or even "Nintendo".) I agree that it can be very pressuring to come up with nearly a gross of monsters given only a few months. In fact, Sugimori-san drew up over 500 conceptual sketches for his idea of "a game where you keep monsters in your pocket." Only 151 of them made it into the first game, though. No one knows for sure what happened with the rest of them. It is very probable that some of them made it into future games. Who knows? Maybe the first few Pokémon drawn were introduced in the third generation?
For a Pokémon to be original, it must not be like other Pokémon (except its alter ego, evolutions, or partner). Some concepts were brought back to the drawing board because their first realization was a mess or didn't have enough usage. For example, Poliwag and its two original evolutions were tadpoles, also known as pollywogs. In the second generation, Politoed was introduced to add a frog as a more principled and factual evolution. (In real life, a larval tadpole metamorphoses into an adult frog as part of its regular lifecycle. The idea of trading with a King's Rock alludes to how some amphibian larvae will not go through its transformation if not under proper environmental stress.) In the fourth generation, two more unrelated frogs, Croagunk and Toxicroak, were introduced to take more of an advantage of frogs.
The addition of additional evolutionary forms (prior or subsequently) was likely done to bring back some classic Pokémon and let them enjoy an additional form or two. The example in this case is Magmar. It is a large lava monster stemming from childhood beliefs and games, as well as mythology. In the second generation, it gained a new pre-evolution, Magby. As a combination of the words "magma" and "baby", it's quite simple to tell what the little thing is. When the fourth generation rolled around, Magmortar was added ("magma" + "mortar") to make it come full cycle and bring back another of the originals.
Without a reference point, there is no such thing as "originality" or any other opinionated words. The reference point for Pokémon is, of course, the real world. They were modeled after real animate objects and beings, be it fauna, flora, or some other conglomeration of existent matter, like a rock. In addition, the real world has changed a lot in the the last few million years. Each step along the way was important to reaching a succeeding destination. Pokémon has done the same thing, only with a much smaller timeframe, complete with its own steps. Therefore, each generation had its necessary purpose.
The first generation (colors) was designed to get people accustomed to the new Pocket Monsters and give them some examples of how imaginary creatures can be both cute and powerful. It established the standard and emphasized the idea of variety. There were three starters in Red and Blue, each with a type that trumped the former. This triangle was used in all subsequent games. The generic beginning Pokémon found on the first couple routes of the game (Rattata), the secret powerhouses (Gyarados), and the legendary trio (Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres) would all come back in the future.
The second generation (metals) was built upon the foundation of the first generation. Many new pre-evolutions were introduced to accompany two of the new features of the game, genders and breeding. New evolutions were added to go along with the ability to hold items. It was conciliated with the first generation games to allow linkage and not let all those hours of training go wasted. The game also introduced the aspects of a clock (for in-game events), berries (automatic healing), and two new types (the old 15 were unbalanced).
The third generation (gems) was meant to be a new frontier, as it was a large upgrade in system abilities. Instead of adding a bunch more evolutions, the idea was to simply release a whole new batch of Pokémon. Trading with past games was not possible due to a large number of incompatibilities between the Game Boy Color and the Game Boy Advance. For many, this was either the beginning or the end; those with large collections could not just start over, so they continued to play their older games and let Ruby and Sapphire pass them by. The second half of the third generation (elemental colors) came about to truly bring back the original Red and Green. I'm talking about FireRed and LeafGreen. They were basically a third generation version of the classic games. Fully compatible with the prior gemstone games, this pair, along with Colosseum (and XD), could allow you to get everything back from your old Gold and Silver game cartridges.
The fourth generation (precious objects) was intended to follow suit of the classic Super Nintendo title, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. It was a combination of the last three generations in a new style. It contained new Pokémon, revived old evolutions, enabled compatibility with the former generation, and even had areas where you could get almost any non-legendary Pokémon. To many fans, Diamond and Pearl are the best games on the system for those reasons alone. (And Wi-Fi, who could forget that?)
Let's return to the main question now: what makes a Pokémon original? The answer in a nutshell is this: originality is based solely on whether or not the idea is fresh and unique. Show your support for all generations with this button:
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More Information
For more information, check out these websites:
AobaruNet: AAPA
We All Live In A Pokémon World (A Buizel.Net Affiliate)
The Cave of Dragonflies: AAP (Highly Recommended!)
Buizel's Island: AAP