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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To absolutely loathe pokemon and think it is horrendously unethical!

94 replies

Liken · 10/04/2018 20:03

DC's are currently obsessed with pokemon (aged 4 and 6), as are all their school friends - card trading etc is actively encouraged at the school and supported as a playtime activity. The cards I had less of an issue with, but when I watched this on TV with them it seems little more than glorified dog fighting - in essence on this show they catch wild creatures, store them in a ball, and bring them out to fight whenever they wish (normally cause the 'trainers' ego has been dented), until one of the pokemon gets seriously hurt, then they pop them back into a ball until the next 'battle', the creature has no choice in any of it as far as I can tell.... I'm probably over thinking this but nothing about it seems appropriate for primary aged children to me...

OP posts:
GrapesAreMyJam · 10/04/2018 20:25

This reply has been deleted

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

Original poster
Liken · 10/04/2018 20:26

Lol NewYear I'd heard of them just never had reason to take notice, I'd recognise the yellow one but that was about it! Keeping up with trends has never been my strong point!!

OP posts:
lljkk · 10/04/2018 20:28

I always felt very sorry for Wiley Coyote. He just needed to eat. That cartoon was animal abuse & very anti-eco that we were invited to laugh at his failure. Tsk Tsk.

StayGoldPonyBoy · 10/04/2018 20:29

I loved Pokemon as a kid and still have the original gameboy games and some of the DS ones and I hoped my DD to like it too, but she took the same stance as you.

‘What about their mummies and daddies? Won’t they miss them if you catch them?’

‘Is it comfy in the ball? It looks too small’

‘I don’t think they would like doing battles, mama’

At least she keeps her grubby paws off of my DSGrin

StayGoldPonyBoy · 10/04/2018 20:29

Nintendo DS, that is. Not son HmmGrin

SavoyCabbage · 10/04/2018 20:31

The card game is an absorbing and well thought out game.

My dd, who dislikes reading, will happily study the Pokemon encyclopaedia for hours.

I’ve walked 1000km playing Pokémon Go.

NotACleverName · 10/04/2018 20:35
Hmm

Anyway I caught Groudon in Ultra Sun a couple of days ago and I love it.

TreesAgreen · 10/04/2018 20:39

I know where you are coming from, thought it years ago when they came out. Have never mentioned it to anyone though accept DH.

Dc1 came to the same conclusion after he'd grown out of the phase.

PokemonGo · 10/04/2018 20:42

As you may guess from my username I’m a massive Pokémon go fan. I have never thought about the ethical side of pitching one Pokémon against another and I don’t think I’m going to start now. 😆

Original poster
Liken · 10/04/2018 20:42

Thanks TreesAgreen I think we may well be alone in this thinking though!

OP posts:
ToadsforJustice · 10/04/2018 20:43

You've gotta catch 'em all OP.

simonisnotme · 10/04/2018 20:45

get the kids playing Pokemon Go
walk for miles out in the fresh air, meet groups of like minded big kids at special raids and community days, its fab even for us oldies Grin

Original poster
Liken · 10/04/2018 20:47

My issue is more with the TV series than anything

OP posts:
FranticallyPeaceful · 10/04/2018 20:50

Haha! Coincidence, my 7 year old said to me today “Pokemon is a bit weird really... you’re catching animals and making them fight their friends” although he said it light heartedly and didn’t phase him.
Bear in mind he loves Pokémon and still plays it... it was an observation. He knows it’s a cartoon.

I think you should chill your beans.

SuperLoudPoppingAction · 10/04/2018 20:51

The cartoon is a way of explaining a universe that card and video games are set in.
The games work by comparing characteristics of different monsters.
The cartoon does this by showing battles. The pokemon don't die during battles like in a dog fight.
They just exhibit their moves and then go back in their pokeball.

5plusMeAndHim · 10/04/2018 20:53

Do you worry about chess pieces kept in a dark box?

5plusMeAndHim · 10/04/2018 20:55

......and the blacks battle the whites, who get to move first! White privilege!

edwinbear · 10/04/2018 20:57

I knew nothing about Pokemon until I started Pokemon Go. The whole family is obsessed and the kids spend ages using their times tables to work out how many Pokémon candy they need to 'evolve'. We've also met some lovely people in our local community playing 😁.

So switch them over to PoGo!

Murinae · 10/04/2018 20:57

Some of us still play Pokemon Go and we even have a thread on mumsnet for Pokemon go players!

glueandstick · 10/04/2018 20:59

There’s a PoGo thread?! I love a good bit of pokeballing 😁

guiltynetter · 10/04/2018 20:59

this is one of the most bonkers things i’ve read in a while on MN! talk about overthinking 😂 i don’t think there have been many reports of children catching animals and training them to fight influenced by the cartoon pokemon...

KadabrasSpoon · 10/04/2018 21:01

Waveing at everyone from the pokemon go threads.

It's ok if they get beaten up OP there's potions to heal them

MorningsEleven · 10/04/2018 21:04

How do you get 50 pikachu on a bus?

You pokemon! BOOM BOOM!

Genius 🤣🤣🤣

TreesAgreen · 10/04/2018 21:08

They just exhibit their moves and then go back in their pokeball

The cartoons that first came out that I saw, they did fight and get harmed, they even had to travel to spacial pokemon vets to get some of them better again.

Preparefortroublemakeitdouble · 10/04/2018 21:09

What about team rocket following children about and trying to steal their animals. No one thinks of that being strange either.