Things I've Learned from 'Pokémon'

Written by Shae Rufe

The idea for this hit me yesterday, oddly, while I was lying in bed trying to sleep and browsing the internet for entertainment, because isn’t that what we all totally do when we can’t sleep? Then I saw the coolest picture of Pokémon drawn as real-life beings, and I was so into that, that well, this blog happened! Now, the cartoon, comic, and game are three different things, and each taught me valuable life lessons. First off, they all start the same way. I also don’t know in what world it’s totally okay for a 10-year-old to go off on his own and just explore life, but you know what? It always bothered me! 

Pokémon taught me that just because your parent is cool with you going off into the world to enslave various creatures, doesn’t mean you should! Seriously, they send him off with a wave and an electrical super powered rat and a full Pokédex and that’s it. Good luck kid! Clearly you have enough money for whatever you need for your how-ever-long-journey. The parenting or concern of safety of children is seriously lacking in the Pokéverse, and honestly, I feel like child services should have been called a long time ago. Also, what happened to Ash’s dad!? Did that ever get figured out? He travels the world wanting to be the world’s best trainer, like his dad, but dad isn’t around! It’s just his mom! Did he die? Did he run off with some other chick? Is he still out there?! Why isn’t that ever answered!?

Pokémon also taught me that it’s totally cool to make your pets fight other pets. I mean, really, if you think about it, this show/game is basically a legal animal fighting ring. It’s socially acceptable to just start fighting people in the middle of anywhere, so long as your pet is doing it. And they had some pretty weird pets. No matter how bad it got, though, nobody ever died. They just…passed out. Which, really, is totally unrealistic. I also learned that when your Pokémon had beaten enough Pokémon in fights it would ‘evolve’. Okay, hold on, evolution doesn’t work quite that fast, but I’m not even going to touch that one. But, to tell me their personalities might be different? That’s just weird. But it's true. Charmelion was a total dick to Ash for no reason! Charmander was just too cute...I’m pretty sure he was the only Pokémon to evolve in Ash’s care. I could be wrong, I did stop watching the show a long time ago. On another note, if your Pokémon can talk, it’s likely evil. Between Meowth and Mewtwo, I don’t trust any Pokémon that can hold a full-blown conversation in English, or Japanese, or any language for that matter.

The game taught me some serious trust issues. Like how strangers were always wanting to fight me, and how it was alright for them to be totally rude to you and to actually try and steal your pets. It also taught me that if I’m in a grassy area for more than ten seconds, wild Pokémon will just run up to me and try and attack. Which, I guess is okay? I don’t even know…either way, the type of Pokeball determines if you catch that type of Pokémon or not. A Masterball is always something you should have. Also, legendary Pokémon should totally be caught and owned, because reasons. The games also taught me that gambling is addicting. I think the slot machine game is one of the funnest to play on the older ones. And when I was growing up you had a pocket Pikachu, kind of like a Tamagachi, only it was cuter and you could gamble on slots with Pikachu…and feed him. And the more you walked, the more points you got! How cool is that?

Pokémon also taught me that Gym Badges are more important than a job. So long as you fought Gym leaders and took their badges, you were set in life! If only real life was kind of like that. At least in the game, you got money for beating them. The comic, however, was a whole different ball of wax. It taught me that Misty was not as nice as we once thought, and that Pokémon battles were beyond epic. Of course, I can’t ignore the billions of movies out there. I remember going to see the first Pokémon movie in theaters as a very young teen/preteen and the magic that was that movie. It taught me not to look at the differences in another being, because we were all really the same. It also introduced me to Mew. Now, I love Pikachu and so many of the other Pokémon, but Mew stole not only my heart, but left me in total awe. This tiny, cute, flying being of awesome teleported onto the big screen with an adorable little ‘mew’ and then saved the day. The biggest lesson, Pokémon taught me, was that even the smallest creatures can have the most profound affect on the world.

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