Poke-educate me
July 31, 2016 8:39 PM Subscribe
Without making me play any games, what can I read or watch to quickly educate me about Pokemon?
I've got young relatives who are obsessed, so I'm looking for which movies or TV episodes I can watch (or youtube clips of important cut scenes from the games, or video overviews, etc) or specific articles I can read beyond wikipedia, that would be most useful for me understanding the stories of this world. There is a ton of stuff out there, so I'm in search of the most useful and concise explanation of what it's all about, its rules, primary relationships, underlying themes, coolest parts, etc -- specific to the most current generation. Thanks!
I've got young relatives who are obsessed, so I'm looking for which movies or TV episodes I can watch (or youtube clips of important cut scenes from the games, or video overviews, etc) or specific articles I can read beyond wikipedia, that would be most useful for me understanding the stories of this world. There is a ton of stuff out there, so I'm in search of the most useful and concise explanation of what it's all about, its rules, primary relationships, underlying themes, coolest parts, etc -- specific to the most current generation. Thanks!
Best answer: Have you seen the Pokemon Go FPP? Lots of great questions and answers and real life game play discussions. It seems like everyone has questions about some aspect of the game.
posted by Room 641-A at 9:41 PM on July 31, 2016
posted by Room 641-A at 9:41 PM on July 31, 2016
I play the mobile game, my kid has some of the cards, but I am too old for the original go around.
Here's what I understand: a kid, Ash, has a little creature named Pikachu who is a cute yellow thing that is a Pokémon. Ash and Pikachu travel around Japan to go into battles (apparently of magical powers) with other kids and their own Pokémon.
My elementary aged kid has a ton of cards. The kids seem to get into these battles with their cards. The fire pokemon are best against the water pokemon, and so on. The pokemon cards have some points assigned to them where a 46 fire beats a 31 water (I think?)
The mobile game is an extremely simplified version of all this.
posted by k8t at 9:58 PM on July 31, 2016
Here's what I understand: a kid, Ash, has a little creature named Pikachu who is a cute yellow thing that is a Pokémon. Ash and Pikachu travel around Japan to go into battles (apparently of magical powers) with other kids and their own Pokémon.
My elementary aged kid has a ton of cards. The kids seem to get into these battles with their cards. The fire pokemon are best against the water pokemon, and so on. The pokemon cards have some points assigned to them where a 46 fire beats a 31 water (I think?)
The mobile game is an extremely simplified version of all this.
posted by k8t at 9:58 PM on July 31, 2016
Have you watched the opening credits from the original cartoon (in English)? Gives you a strong dose of flavor and shows off the wide variety of cute critters you can catch. Pay attention to the cheesy lyrics, too. (Not kidding.)
posted by cdefgfeadgagfe at 10:01 PM on July 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by cdefgfeadgagfe at 10:01 PM on July 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I was 7 years old when Pokemon first became a thing, have all the first and 2nd generation games, and lined up for the first Pokemon movie and cried at the ending, so I'll just tell you.
First, the theme song. The theme song is excellently well sung, has some catchy and some compassionate lyrics, and is very much in the rock styling of Queen when it comes to anthemic adrenaline raising songs. When Pokemon first came on, I remember being shocked by the theme song and so excited as a little kid, because all the other shows seemed to have utterly basic and boring songs that were made for pre-5 year olds and lack any interestingness. It basically took us very seriously, we may be 7-9 years old but we aren't idiots!
The most interesting part about Pokemon as a kid to me (and this shows how I am a total nerd) is that we were encouraged to thoroughly memorize the names of the Pokemon, descriptions, characteristics, and type moves for battling. (see the PokeRap.) You would actually learn a lot from reading some of the first official game walkthroughs, which introduced me to a grid-system where I had to memorize and remember which of my Pokemon types were most effective against which, which moves could be optimized, and how to have a greater team. You also would collect TMs (which were one-use only and then expire) and then HMs (which did not expire) to bless special moves onto your Pokemon. I remember my mother approved of this game a lot, because she said that it taught a lot of memorizing and recall skills, and we had to articulate to other children what we were doing in our Pokemon games.
Not to mention, walking around the different towns, learning copious amounts of vocabulary (the first town is named Pallet Town, and the rest are named after complicated color names. So cute), and trying to learn about the fable and lore of Pokemon was cool. I feel that it was a very kid-friendly introduction to walking RPGs, and giving you the freedom of exploring and talking to NPCs and completing missions and battling gym leaders. Each of the gym leaders had ethics and back-story for why they ran the gym. I remember even one of them was the daughter of a former gym leader, who ran off to join the Elite Four. That was a big deal for female representation, considering that in the first game, we were automatically assigned a male avatar.
I mean, the storyline itself is quite amazing, you are a young child sent to explore the Kanto region in search of Pokemon, and you are entrusted with an important task from Professor Oak. With each new game, a new region of the world is added, with a new Professor in charge of each region's research collection. This part of the game is designed by the original creator, because as a kid, he loved bug-catching. As a hint, there is even a "Safari Zone" where you can catch rare Bug-type Pokemon in an enclosed area in Fuschia City. Fun stuff!
Furthermore, If you grew up in suburban hell where you would not even be allowed at the playground after sunset and mindnumbing education system that treated you like an idiot, this was the closest you could get to actual freedom and playing in the forest like the damn Winnie the Pooh books always epoused. (I also believe this is why the Harry Potter series took off, because of course many of us identified with Harry Potter, being trapped in suburbia, and wanting to go somewhere else.)
Also, the character designs for the first 151 Pokemon were really quite lovely and were inventive takes on a lot of real life creatures that we recognized, but were superpowered. Plus, Pikachu is so cute.
Also, the first Pokemon movie is an emotional wallop. You try to not cry when you see clone Pokemon and real life Pokemon fighting for their existence, and making kids question their ethics about how they would treat beloved Pokemon if they were "fake". Meaty stuff.
posted by yueliang at 10:30 PM on July 31, 2016 [29 favorites]
First, the theme song. The theme song is excellently well sung, has some catchy and some compassionate lyrics, and is very much in the rock styling of Queen when it comes to anthemic adrenaline raising songs. When Pokemon first came on, I remember being shocked by the theme song and so excited as a little kid, because all the other shows seemed to have utterly basic and boring songs that were made for pre-5 year olds and lack any interestingness. It basically took us very seriously, we may be 7-9 years old but we aren't idiots!
The most interesting part about Pokemon as a kid to me (and this shows how I am a total nerd) is that we were encouraged to thoroughly memorize the names of the Pokemon, descriptions, characteristics, and type moves for battling. (see the PokeRap.) You would actually learn a lot from reading some of the first official game walkthroughs, which introduced me to a grid-system where I had to memorize and remember which of my Pokemon types were most effective against which, which moves could be optimized, and how to have a greater team. You also would collect TMs (which were one-use only and then expire) and then HMs (which did not expire) to bless special moves onto your Pokemon. I remember my mother approved of this game a lot, because she said that it taught a lot of memorizing and recall skills, and we had to articulate to other children what we were doing in our Pokemon games.
Not to mention, walking around the different towns, learning copious amounts of vocabulary (the first town is named Pallet Town, and the rest are named after complicated color names. So cute), and trying to learn about the fable and lore of Pokemon was cool. I feel that it was a very kid-friendly introduction to walking RPGs, and giving you the freedom of exploring and talking to NPCs and completing missions and battling gym leaders. Each of the gym leaders had ethics and back-story for why they ran the gym. I remember even one of them was the daughter of a former gym leader, who ran off to join the Elite Four. That was a big deal for female representation, considering that in the first game, we were automatically assigned a male avatar.
I mean, the storyline itself is quite amazing, you are a young child sent to explore the Kanto region in search of Pokemon, and you are entrusted with an important task from Professor Oak. With each new game, a new region of the world is added, with a new Professor in charge of each region's research collection. This part of the game is designed by the original creator, because as a kid, he loved bug-catching. As a hint, there is even a "Safari Zone" where you can catch rare Bug-type Pokemon in an enclosed area in Fuschia City. Fun stuff!
Furthermore, If you grew up in suburban hell where you would not even be allowed at the playground after sunset and mindnumbing education system that treated you like an idiot, this was the closest you could get to actual freedom and playing in the forest like the damn Winnie the Pooh books always epoused. (I also believe this is why the Harry Potter series took off, because of course many of us identified with Harry Potter, being trapped in suburbia, and wanting to go somewhere else.)
Also, the character designs for the first 151 Pokemon were really quite lovely and were inventive takes on a lot of real life creatures that we recognized, but were superpowered. Plus, Pikachu is so cute.
Also, the first Pokemon movie is an emotional wallop. You try to not cry when you see clone Pokemon and real life Pokemon fighting for their existence, and making kids question their ethics about how they would treat beloved Pokemon if they were "fake". Meaty stuff.
posted by yueliang at 10:30 PM on July 31, 2016 [29 favorites]
Best answer: Also, there were tons of fun surprises when it came to playing Pokemon and getting different evolutions. There was a cute rabbit-cat Pokemon named Eevee, and in the game, if you get different stones or happiness moods or special missions, you can get different "eeveelutions" with different strengths and special attacks, and are often some of the strongest in the entire game.
The first season of Pokemon was also quite phenomenal, and had a lot of really cute, hilarious stories. It was a show that you would run after school to watch as soon as it came on, and it never repeat the same episode twice, so it was always a serious treat to watch it. My favorite is "The Song of Jigglypuff" because Jigglypuff is one of the cutest assholes in existence.
posted by yueliang at 10:37 PM on July 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
The first season of Pokemon was also quite phenomenal, and had a lot of really cute, hilarious stories. It was a show that you would run after school to watch as soon as it came on, and it never repeat the same episode twice, so it was always a serious treat to watch it. My favorite is "The Song of Jigglypuff" because Jigglypuff is one of the cutest assholes in existence.
posted by yueliang at 10:37 PM on July 31, 2016 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Perhaps the most thorough yet concise explanation of the rules, world, etc. for the current generation is the X and Y walkthrough at Bulbapedia (which I hope meets your criterion of not being Wikipedia!). It strikes me as much more readable than the plot summaries on the main game pages, and it's easier to skim than a Let's Play video. You might want to confirm that's the game they've played though, because they could be playing the remake of Ruby/Sapphire.
The TV series is a bit different, because (unlike the game) it goes out of the way to maintain significant continuity with major characters from way back. Bulbapedia has a list of the main characters broken down by series--7 for the original series and 3 more for the latest--but for sure you'll miss what really matters: the humor and warmth.
I guess one extremely biased way to sample it that comes to mind for obvious reasons is that, once you know the basic characters, you could watch this mega-clip of scenes featuring Wobbuffet, a comic relief character introduced with the second generation but still making appearances in the most recent series. None of that clip is particularly important, but the point is that Pokémon is chock full of memorable minor characters who make the whole greater than its parts.
Seeing the characters do something they don't typically do is also a big thing; for example, probably my favorite episode from the original series is "Island of the Giant Pokémon," where the Pokémon are off on their own, talking to each other with subtitles--that's not a normal thing in the show at all, but it's a very revealing thing.
posted by Wobbuffet at 10:41 PM on July 31, 2016 [3 favorites]
The TV series is a bit different, because (unlike the game) it goes out of the way to maintain significant continuity with major characters from way back. Bulbapedia has a list of the main characters broken down by series--7 for the original series and 3 more for the latest--but for sure you'll miss what really matters: the humor and warmth.
I guess one extremely biased way to sample it that comes to mind for obvious reasons is that, once you know the basic characters, you could watch this mega-clip of scenes featuring Wobbuffet, a comic relief character introduced with the second generation but still making appearances in the most recent series. None of that clip is particularly important, but the point is that Pokémon is chock full of memorable minor characters who make the whole greater than its parts.
Seeing the characters do something they don't typically do is also a big thing; for example, probably my favorite episode from the original series is "Island of the Giant Pokémon," where the Pokémon are off on their own, talking to each other with subtitles--that's not a normal thing in the show at all, but it's a very revealing thing.
posted by Wobbuffet at 10:41 PM on July 31, 2016 [3 favorites]
Speaking from slightly outside the fandom: The kids I know who have gotten really into the game enjoy memorizing a bunch of facts about the Pokemon, so I think it's useful to know a little of the vocabulary and just ask them about the Pokemon they're talking about. Think of it like kids who like to learn dinosaur facts or baseball stats. They love nothing more than explaining the intricacies.
There are different types--some are kind of familiar to other fantasy stories, like earth, fire, water, but there's a bunch of other ones too, like fairy and grass and psychic. Many of them can evolve into stronger Pokemon, or evolved from weaker Pokemon. They have different attacks, and depending on its type, it will be particularly strong or weak when fighting a different type. (If you've seen "it's super effective!" memes, this is where it's from. A water-type using a water attack against a fire-type will be super effective. Not all of them make that much sense out-of-context, but that's the idea.)
So without learning a ton about the world, you could make a young Pokemon geek very happy by just repeating the name they just said and saying "Okay, Eevee. What type is that again? What does it evolve into? Oh, three different evolutions? How are they different?"
posted by tchemgrrl at 6:57 AM on August 1, 2016
There are different types--some are kind of familiar to other fantasy stories, like earth, fire, water, but there's a bunch of other ones too, like fairy and grass and psychic. Many of them can evolve into stronger Pokemon, or evolved from weaker Pokemon. They have different attacks, and depending on its type, it will be particularly strong or weak when fighting a different type. (If you've seen "it's super effective!" memes, this is where it's from. A water-type using a water attack against a fire-type will be super effective. Not all of them make that much sense out-of-context, but that's the idea.)
So without learning a ton about the world, you could make a young Pokemon geek very happy by just repeating the name they just said and saying "Okay, Eevee. What type is that again? What does it evolve into? Oh, three different evolutions? How are they different?"
posted by tchemgrrl at 6:57 AM on August 1, 2016
Best answer: Seconding Bulbapedia. I use it to look up anime episode content I have missed (I only watch the anime sporadically because I find it rather silly), Pokémon stats and moves etc. for in-game breeding and competitive play, but also to write Pokémon fanfiction. Go on Bulbapedia and click yourself through some of the main articles.
Personally, I think the biggest aspect of Pokémon's success is the wish fulfillment part, which builds on what yueliang said above. You get to collect and control all those cute and/or powerful monsters, make friends, save the world - and nothing really bad ever happens. That's probably why the anime is so shallow - there is never any real danger, no high stakes. But the games are great and really cater to the Pokémon lover these days - in the sixth generation games, you can feed and pet your Pokémon and play little games with it.
posted by LoonyLovegood at 7:19 AM on August 1, 2016
Personally, I think the biggest aspect of Pokémon's success is the wish fulfillment part, which builds on what yueliang said above. You get to collect and control all those cute and/or powerful monsters, make friends, save the world - and nothing really bad ever happens. That's probably why the anime is so shallow - there is never any real danger, no high stakes. But the games are great and really cater to the Pokémon lover these days - in the sixth generation games, you can feed and pet your Pokémon and play little games with it.
posted by LoonyLovegood at 7:19 AM on August 1, 2016
I started watching the show because of this thread. It is adorable.
posted by k8t at 8:52 PM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by k8t at 8:52 PM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
This will surely raise more questions than it answers, but I'm in a similar position (never saw the TV show or movies, played only a little bit of the game) and a friend recently shared this climactic emotional moment from the end of the first movie. It's made me want to explore more and figure out what the hell this whole series is really about.
posted by naju at 9:39 PM on July 31, 2016