Where were you when....

[Carmen Lopez]

Remember any of these?

I wanted dearly to post this in the "In the News" thread but Linkachu said that all Pokemon related news stories had to go here. Basically I would like to know some of the reactions to some of these "controversies"--some are funny, some are kinda silly.

One of my personal favorites is the Uri Gellar case because it just seemed so silly. I can understand it, but still ^^ I really hate that Porygon and its evos will never get screen time because of what Pikachu did in that infamous seizure episode.

And the scandals/big Pokemon related stories aren't just limited to the ones in the link. If you have anymore (and there are a LOT more), mention them as well.

 

[KoL]

My opinions on each of these varies between humour and annoyance, since some of the things that happened were just outright stupid.

The Porygon issue has always been a controversial one, although from what I've heard, Japanese children have an extremely questionable habit of sitting mere inches away from their TV screens, which in itself is a very bad idea. That said, whoever put the flashing scene into the episode probably should have known better themselves - I've seen that scene on YouTube, and even sitting 2 feet away from the screen with it shrunk down to it's normal size hurts your eyes when you watch it. Clearly someone wasn't thinking straight there...

The Uri Geller/Kadabra thing is just dumb. Uri may be psychic, but he certainly isn't very smart if he thought he actually stood any chance of winning that case. Not only does Kadabra have a name more associated with a magician than a psychic (despite it actually being a psychic,) but Kadabra looks absolutely nothing like him at all. If he thought he could sue Nintendo just because Kadabra could bend spoons, he was a fool, simple as.

The Jynx thing, again, is just dumb as well. A little bit of research probably would have revealed the ganguro reference and shown that it wasn't a racist stereotype at all. Just a case of people being over-sensitive towards things and jumping to the wrong conclusions.

The religious things have been heard about for a long time now, and although I'm not a religious person in any way whatsoever so I can't really see things from their perspective, I think their views towards the franchise are just silly. Just seems like they wanted to attack something just because it was successful, and in the end, they got what they deserved - ridicule for their actions, which failed to even put a dent in the franchise's dominance. That said, the guy who made "Pocket Saints" or whatever may actually be onto something...

Finally, the Poke Ball toy one from Burger King...I put that down partly to the parents not supervising the child properly - if she's thirteen months old, shouldn't her parents be constantly watching her? My viewpoint here is probably due to other instances where a child has suffered harm from a toy or game and the parent has tried to push the blame onto the game/toy to cover up the fact that they were just a bad parent who wasn't taking care of their child properly. That said, the parents in this case were probably right to complain about the toy since it is a blatant suffocation hazard no matter how you look at it, and toys like that in general aren't suitable for children below 3 years old usually anyway.

In each case, I just can't help but think that someone, somewhere along the lines just wasn't thinking straight at all. Sometimes it's funny, but in these cases, it just makes me shake my head in disbelief.

 

[Psycho Monkey]

Why must humans be such close minded, misinformed, idiots? It's amusing 80% of the time and after that it's just sad, pathetic, and/or irritating.

Then again without ignorant religious fanatics, I wouldn't have found this fun little tidbit.

These people don't even try to understand Pokemon. Bulbasore a frog? A Pokemon evolves by dying and reincarnating itself? Seriously, know what you're bashing or don't speak at all!

 

[Plapti]

The thought of the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) being considered a form of gambling in San Diego. They are only playing cards of imagination. It's not like people fight and cause harm to others for it. ANd if they do, they probably take the TCG a tad serious. Either that or they really want the card and like beating people up. But I really hope that's not why.

As for the other thing about cards, that guy is just a wee little over concerned. It is a game. There isn't any harm. Personally, making his own set of cards for a game was going too far, but I'm not one to judge people's reactions.

The things with the TCG are ridiculous, if not crazy. I really don't understand where these people are going with their plans to abolish the TCG from their area.

 

[Magpie]

The The Uri Geller/Kadabra story really made me laugh. It's the only one on that list that I heard of or didn't know about, but I'd have to say it amuses me the most. Thinking a Pokemon is stealing your identity just borders on insanity. He either has quite the ego, or a limited outlook. Either one will do XD

I remember when they set the ban on the Trading Cards in my school, because it was 'causing bully problems and creating tensions'. It really wasn't. I spoke to more people than I ever had done while the cards were allowed. I actually made a couple of friends through it - an even though many weren't really interested in Pokemon, just the TCG, we remained friends long after. It's always the actions of a few idiots that spoil the fun for everyone else.

Loved the link you provided, Psycho Monkey. Honestly, some people really read/look into things far too deeply. If playing Pokemon really is selling my soul to the devil, then I must say that it's not so bad

 

[Xatu]

I really like how I'm apparently I'm a crazy cultist, because I play Magic.
That card they mentioned doesn't even say 'sacrifice a white creature.' It says 'remove target creature you control from the game.' They need to get their facts straight.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the claims of promoting Zionism. Has there been any bit of Jewish imagery in the games at all? I can't think of anything.

 

[jertyuiop]

For the jynx issue... somebody was stupid. I am a darker-skinned person and the episode doesn't seem even the slightest bit racist! :

 

[Doctor Oak]

I once wrote an article for Pokecharms about the Uri Gellar thing under the short lived PokeBlunders section. I've been considering bringing it back for a while and this is certainly moving me back towards that consideration. >>

 

[Tatile]

I once wrote an article for Pokecharms about the Uri Gellar thing under the short lived PokeBlunders section. I've been considering bringing it back for a while and this is certainly moving me back towards that consideration. >>

You know, I think you should as it sounds like an awful lot of fun.

To the subject at hand though, I've never really kept up to date with much surrounding Pokemon, but I do remember the cards getting banned in my primary school for something. For obvious reasons I've not tried to watch the Porygon episode either.

On the Christian Top-Trumps, Ian Hislop suggested something similar (if I remember correctly) but involving great figures of British history. Good old Have I Got News For You.

 

[Doctor Oak]

FYI, the Porygon episode is perfectly safe to watch unless you do actually have a form of epilepsy (which is a lot more common in Japan than it is in the west). As long as you're watching it in a well lit room and your nose isn't against the screen there's nothing to worry about. You're not going to suddenly die the instant Porygon appears. >>

Not that Porygon had anything to do with it, sadly... it was all Pikachu's fault - and look who got banned from the anime because of it!

Mind you, considering how batshit trippy the episode itself is, I doubt people are missing out on much by not watching it. The entire episode revolves around everyone going into a computer ala TRON and just rides the WTF-o-Meter right out through the rest of the episode...

 

[Carmen Lopez]

It's ironic that Saudi Arabia banned Pokemon for promoting Zionism, and yet there was an uproar over a Swastika (which was actually a Buddhist symbol that the Nazis high-jacked) on a Pokemon card.

And let's not forget the Registeel sprite incident...

 

[Satoren]

I wasn't in to Pokemon until after the Pikachu-seizure incident, and even after finding out about it, I never really stopped loving it. You'd think after banning said episode they'd get on with their lives but then they go and ban Porygon and all its evolutions from existing in the anime. It's rather silly.

Also silly is Gellar's suing of Kadabra. I won't comment on that other than by lolling for several hours at its stupidity.

Then there's loveable Jynx. As neat as the little lady is, back in the day, a child could easily stereotype her as a black woman, especially if exposed to that gag from cartoons of yester year. Although now, I'm fairly certain Jynx's complexion is more of a reference to the Ganguro fad in Japan, but hey, no one below 11 would bother to know that.

And on the whole aspect of gambling, Pokemon has to admit to that. If putting a casino in every game, and winning money off opponents can't attest to that. then I don't know what will.

 

[Doctor Oak]

Also silly is Gellar's suing of Kadabra. I won't comment on that other than by lolling for several hours at its stupidity.

To be fair, Kadabra IS unashamedly based off of Uri Gellar (it's even called 'Yungerer' in Japan, which is clearly a riff on his name), so he's hardly without an actual cause for feeling a bit miffed if he thought its actually offensively taking the piss out of him.

Which he did, 'cos here's this weird fictional creature that's based off him walking around with a star that looks like the Star of David stamped on its head (the Nazis used to make Jews wear Stars of David with "JUDE"[Jew] on them to identify them as Jews) and seemingly also tattooed with the symbol for the SS. Which, when you're famous for only two things (Bending Spoons and being Jewish) is probably quite a disturbing thing to have handed to you one day...

 

[Doctor Oak]

Just for this topic, I've uploaded the Pokeblunders section again - although I haven't modified the pages at all so the layout will be entirely broken. The content and all the content images should work fine though.

Bare in mind, though, that I wrote these a good few years ago now and would totally need a rewrite to be properly republished again...

http://www.pokecharms.com/pokeblunders/

 

[Plapti]

Heh. Loved what Pokemon.com did. It was freaking hilarious. Any chance of you publishing more of these Alex?

 

[Magpie]

They were fun to read. I loved the Pokemom.com article, It was really well written and made me giggle. I'd like to see more also, if there were any more ^^

 

[Carmen Lopez]

lol, someone SO got fired for this.

The Pokemon.com one was hilarious and it really is hard to believe a slip-up like that could happen--particularly because it was something so big.

 

[Linkachu]

FYI, the Porygon episode is perfectly safe to watch unless you do actually have a form of epilepsy (which is a lot more common in Japan than it is in the west). As long as you're watching it in a well lit room and your nose isn't against the screen there's nothing to worry about. You're not going to suddenly die the instant Porygon appears. >>

I lived to tell about it, too! To tell that... oddly enough, watching it did give me a bad headache, lol. I'm wondering if it was the placebo effect, though, because I did go into it worrying something like that might happen... Either way, I got the gist, so I don't feel compelled to watch the episode again.

And lolz, Pokeblunders return. Got a kick out of those way-back-when. ^^

 

[Luconray]

For the first post, I've only really heard of two of those before, which was the Porygon one, and the Jynx one. The other's I've never saw before. They're all interesting, though. Really, I like reading about those kinds of things.

For the Pokemon.com mess up, all I can do is just say "lol" at it! Seriously, I BET someone got fired for that! :

 

[drake13]

LOL!!!

they're just overreacting, a toy pokeball?? suffocation?? obviously, the parent must be responsible for this, there are WAAAAY MANY toys that can suffocate human beings, the toy even has a warning symbol!!

and pokemon cards are not meant for gambling...they're just meant for fun, it depends on people if they want to gamble using pokemon cards, in fact, there are many more card collections like yu-gi-oh, magic cards and many more!!!...

religious beliefs in pokemon??...oh please, the only thing i see to be touching religions is arceus...so what if pokemon has their own religion??...there are many varieties of religions in our world....sorry for those who are not comfortable for what i'm saying about religions but it's the fact!!!

that kadabra issue??...HE'S JUST ACTING LIKE A BABY...

the only thing where nintendo went wrong is the porygon episode, life's a beach and that jynx episode....

oh yeah, i have another thing were pokemon was said to be possessed by demons...(O_o?)
here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB4q5VcD3lQ
in here, they backmasked a lyric in the rap "Pokemon rap" and what resulted is "I love satan, i love satan" which is not pertaining to myself....I HATE SATAN!!! >...you've gotta admit, it's pretty scary... :-\

 

[OranRi]

Wow, I never knew about all of these except the Jinx, Life's a Beach, and the Porygon one. Haha I just checked Pokemon.com to see what the commotion was about and those were hilarious. They really need to not over react so much. I can understand a few, but some are just ridiculous.

 

[Tabby]

I remeber the Suffocateing pokeball one, but none of the others. Me and my brother only kept the Mew/Mewtwo ones because they were, well, awsome. the others i dont. But i have heard of many of them. Mainly the Eplilepcy and the Jynks one's

 

[Agent Zero]

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the claims of promoting Zionism. Has there been any bit of Jewish imagery in the games at all? I can't think of anything.

Same here. And I'm Jewish.
Really Saudi Arabia. Help me out here.

[quote author=Reina Carmen link=topic=5824.msg95180#msg95180 date=1238638160]
It's ironic that Saudi Arabia banned Pokemon for promoting Zionism, and yet there was an uproar over a Swastika (which was actually a Buddhist symbol that the Nazis high-jacked) on a Pokemon card.

And let's not forget the Registeel sprite incident...
[/quote]
I'm not disagreeing with you at all BUT I'll just say that even though I know the games are designed in Japan where the swastika has a completely benevolent meaning I still feel just a tad uneasy whenever I look at the bottom left portion of the Sinnoh map when playing Platinum.

 

[Hoenn Master]

Alright, I think I broke a World Pokemon-fan record: I read a third of that Essay. That is complete and total BULL.

And, as much as I hate to sound out-of-the-loop, but... What Registeel sprite incident? The other ones are just plain strange/funny. And the Saudi Arabian Pokemon thing? Preposterous!

And I can't believe that the past 4 years of my life, I've sold my soul to the devil! Wow... You got me Japan. I am truely trumped.


AL
*Poof!*

 

[Agent Zero]

Alright, I think I broke a World Pokemon-fan record: I read a third of that Essay. That is complete and total BULL.

And, as much as I hate to sound out-of-the-loop, but... What Registeel sprite incident? The other ones are just plain strange/funny. And the Saudi Arabian Pokemon thing? Preposterous!

And I can't believe that the past 4 years of my life, I've sold my soul to the devil! Wow... You got me Japan. I am truely trumped.


AL
*Poof!*

The Satanism and Pokemon thing almost comes across like "In Pokemon some of them are Fire types! Satan lives in Hell which has lots of Fire! EH? EH?"

Registeel sprite incident concerned the fact that the original Japanese/North American sprite for Registeel in D/P looked somewhat like it was giving the Nazi salute. In addition to potentially being offensive, giving that gesture is still illegal in most European countries. Hence why the Registeel sprite was changed for the European release of D/P.

http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Registeel_(Pok%C3%A9mon)#Trivia

 

[SoIHerdYaLiekAnime]

They say Pokemon involves sacrifices? I'm a Christian and I love Pokemon. Yu-gi-oh does say sacrifice, but HONESTLY...

 

[Agent Zero]

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the claims of promoting Zionism. Has there been any bit of Jewish imagery in the games at all? I can't think of anything.

Actually, now that I think about it, there is Golem, who's named after a Jewish folk tale from the middle ages.

http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Golem#Name_origin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golem

Maybe that's what the Saudis got all uptight about?

 

[Hoenn Master]

I sent that essay to my friends. Immediately, I got one of my friends saying that it makes normal Christians rather mad. (Normal meaning that the guy who wrote it has a mental defect)

BTW, the Regis are based off of the Golems of Hebrew legend. They attack. Is that offensive?


AL
*Poof!*

 

[Agent Zero]

They are? Golem is pretty obvious, but this is the first I've heard that the Regis trio are based off of the Golem.

Still, if that's what's getting Saudi Arabia all wound up they should probably consider that most cultures around the world are referenced in Pokemon one way or another.

 

[Xatu]

Okay so we have 1 Pokemon's name. Honestly, they take lore from all over the world so that can't be enough to cause anything.

Just a funny story though. A friend of mine is from Iran and when he went to visit his cousins a few years back he took a copy of Red version with him. His cousins loved it. (I don't know why he said this next bit but,) He told them that Jews made the game and apparently they said this made them not hate Jews anymore.

As a completely separate thing, I find it funny that the Uber-right wing Christians hate this stuff, as it seems Uber-right wing Muslims do too. In my experience, plenty of Orthodox Jewish families have no issue letting their kids play with Pokemon or anything of the like. It seems every 10 year old Orthodox boy I know is currently obsessing over Bakugan.

 

[Carmen Lopez]

They are? Golem is pretty obvious, but this is the first I've heard that the Regis trio are based off of the Golem.

Still, if that's what's getting Saudi Arabia all wound up they should probably consider that most cultures around the world are referenced in Pokemon one way or another.

And on another note, both Kyogre and Groudon are based on Hebrew legends as well (the Leviathan and Behemoth respectively). But yeah, some of this stuff (okay, the vast majority of it) is just ridiculous.

 

[Xatu]

Now I just feel like a bad Jew for not knowing any of this.

However, after spending time on Wikipedia, it looks like Rayquazza is probably based on the Ziz

 

[Agent Zero]

Okay so we have 1 Pokemon's name. Honestly, they take lore from all over the world so that can't be enough to cause anything.

Yep. Plus names change with every language version, so if there was, say, an Arabic language version Golem's name could be changed.

Just a funny story though. A friend of mine is from Iran and when he went to visit his cousins a few years back he took a copy of Red version with him. His cousins loved it. (I don't know why he said this next bit but,) He told them that Jews made the game and apparently they said this made them not hate Jews anymore.

LOL. I think we just found out how to create peace on Earth. Find two groups of people who have problems with each other, introduce Pokemon to the younger generations, and tell them the other ethnic group developed the game ;D

As a completely separate thing, I find it funny that the Uber-right wing Christians hate this stuff, as it seems Uber-right wing Muslims do too. In my experience, plenty of Orthodox Jewish families have no issue letting their kids play with Pokemon or anything of the like. It seems every 10 year old Orthodox boy I know is currently obsessing over Bakugan.

I knew an Orthodox kid who's parents banned him from all video games. I used to smuggle him over to my place so he could play N64.

[quote author=Reina Carmen link=topic=5824.msg109461#msg109461 date=1245850906]
[quote author=Agent Zero link=topic=5824.msg106388#msg106388 date=1244691896]
They are? Golem is pretty obvious, but this is the first I've heard that the Regis trio are based off of the Golem.

Still, if that's what's getting Saudi Arabia all wound up they should probably consider that most cultures around the world are referenced in Pokemon one way or another.
[/quote]

And on another note, both Kyogre and Groudon are based on Hebrew legends as well (the Leviathan and Behemoth respectively). But yeah, some of this stuff (okay, the vast majority of it) is just ridiculous.
[/quote]

[quote author=Xatu link=topic=5824.msg109729#msg109729 date=1245950674]
Now I just feel like a bad Jew for not knowing any of this.

However, after spending time on Wikipedia, it looks like Rayquazza is probably based on the Ziz
[/quote]
Really? I did not know that. Coolio. IIRC though, the Koran, the Islamic holy book and the basis of the Saudi legal system, recognizes both the Hebrew and Christian Bibles as "words of God." So if that's the case wouldn't characters based on Leviathan, Behemoth, and Ziz be ok?

 

[Toastie]

I'm irritated about that whole Porygon scandal. I don't see why they couldn't re-air it without that scene and stop this ridiculous charade of shunning Porygon2 and PorygonZ from the anime.
As for the Uri Geller thing, that made me laugh! I was reading through and at the end it simply said - He lost. XD!

 

[Agent Zero]

What's worse is that it was all Pikachu's fault. Porygon just took the fall ;D
Though from what I've heard about the episode in question it's probably best it didn't air.

 

[Xatu]

Found some more idea's.

Shaymin's name may be based on the Hebrew word שמים (Shamayim) which in Modern Hebrew means sky or in Biblical Hebrew refers to Heaven.

 

[Agent Zero]

Ok, I admit it. As Recording Secretary to the Grand Zion Council I admit that Pikachu is really the secret leader of the World Wide Jewish Conspiracy.