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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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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:

DoctorTwo · 10/04/2018 23:59

And the thread titles hopefully stick an earworm in :o

koyaanisqatsi · 12/04/2018 00:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

JamieVardysHavingAParty · 12/04/2018 01:03

OP, I have been playing Pokemon in various forms since it came out in 1996, own DVD box sets of the cartoon and I agree with you.

I watch the anime with the kids, and DH and I constantly joke about the absurd double-think in the scenario. Trainers capture cute wild animals and make them act as gladiators. The pokemon bond with their captors, and cooperate with all this.

There's a phrase for that: Stockholm Syndrome.

Also, Ash is a complete and utter div.

WhatToDoAboutWailmerGoneRogue · 12/04/2018 05:48

JamieVardysHavingAParty I don’t think you’re watching them very thoroughly then Else how could you miss that they only battle if they want to? Or that they break out of PokeBalls when they don’t want to be captured?

CaptainKirkssparetupee · 12/04/2018 06:10

It's inconsistent but Pokemon can't actually go into balls if they don't want to, hence pikachu being out.

Slarti · 12/04/2018 06:32

I've said the same thing OP, but in a lighthearted way. If the characters were cartoon dogs it would be a bit too on the nose and the parallels too close for comfort. But they're not, so it's a bit daft to genuinely get wound up over it. That said there seems to be quite a few people whose defence of a cartoon is also a bit much. Everyone needs to chill.

Anyway, they’ll grow out of it

Having read some of these posts I'm no longer so sure.

Katedotness1963 · 12/04/2018 06:42

What annoyed me most was after you spent a bleeding fortune on cards some kid would talk yours into swapping his entire collection for one card...

WhatToDoAboutWailmerGoneRogue · 12/04/2018 09:18

Anyway, they’ll grow out of it

Having read some of these posts I'm no longer so sure.

Slarti There’s no age limit on liking the franchise, or liking anything at all. Particularly since Pokemon came out in the 90s, a lot of the players are now adults and into the newer games and Pokemon Go, which is aimed at the adults who were kids when the games were first released.

Flyingpompom · 12/04/2018 09:24

I've skipped a couple of pages but OP, I have to say I agree completely! I was a teenager when this came out and I've been saying this for years!

WhatToDoAboutWailmerGoneRogue · 12/04/2018 09:31

I've skipped a couple of pages but OP, I have to say I agree completely! I was a teenager when this came out and I've been saying this for years!

Flyingpompom If you’ve skipped a couple of pages then you’ve missed the important parts. Namely, that what OP is ranting about isn’t actually true.

They aren’t forced to fight; they choose to. If they don’t want to fight, they refuse (case in point: Ash’s Charizard).

They also break out of PokeBalls if they’re not interested in being caught.

QuackPorridgeBacon · 12/04/2018 11:41

To be fair though, animals don’t tend to have any powers so would be unfair. The poke ball collects the creatures when wounded and they have specialist hospitals so not all bad. They were born to fight. Our animals in the real world were not. I do feel for psyduck though the poor thing. Constantly trying to battle his own headache and walking around in pain :(

QuackPorridgeBacon · 12/04/2018 11:45

i wouldn’t mind actually watching them again. My four year old loves pokemon and has t shirts and headphones etc but won’t actually sit and watch it lol I may try her on it again later. Wouldn’t mind revisiting my childhood for a bit. No shame in watching kids shows, I happily (and sometimes when the kids are in bed) watch gumball and teen titans

JamieVardysHavingAParty · 12/04/2018 12:02

WhatToDo Yeah. It's Stockholm Syndrome.

They also break out of PokeBalls if they’re not interested in being caught.

Not quite. In the handheld games of Pokemon Red onwards (and also in the anime), it is explicit that you increase your chances of catching a pokemon by battling it first. You weaken it, by beating it up, then throw a pokeball at it. If it breaks out, you keep going until it gives up, or you switch to using a stronger pokeball that it can't break out of (great, ultra, master, etc). Ash generally throws balls without battling first, but this is because he is a div. Or because he's a really nice boy, who is resisting questionable parts of his culture. Jury's out there. But he always looks totally surprised when it breaks out, so I think it's door number 1.

Anyway, throw a pokeball without battling in any game except Go (which has v. different game mechanics) and it will almost certainly break out straight away.

The reason Ash's Charizard didn't fight for him was a reference to Gym badges in Pokemon Red/Blue, which is what the anime is based on. You need the Rainbow badge to command Pokemon above level 50. Technically, Ash did have that, but only because he was given it. I think the badge didn't "take" on Charizard because of that. As Ash gains more badges, some of them legitimately (!), Charizard falls into line.

DoctorTwo · 12/04/2018 14:30

Katedotness1963 Thu 12-Apr-18 06:42:26

What annoyed me most was after you spent a bleeding fortune on cards some kid would talk yours into swapping his entire collection for one card...

DS would've swapped all his possessions for a gold Charizard card, and this video shows why

Flyingpompom · 12/04/2018 15:13

Whattodo...erm....you know that none of it is true right?

Katedotness1963 · 12/04/2018 16:43

DoctorTwo, wow!! My boys had one in a special case. I wonder what happened to it... Not that one, obviously but something like blue eyes, or white eyes... Damn! I bet I charity shopped it!!

moofolk · 12/04/2018 16:47

It's also the ultimate capitalist concept. Mine all got into Pokémon Go last year.
Collect, accumulate and there's never enough. Some become valuable through scarcity and when you've hit the ones you're after? Ooh guess what? There's more and better and yours are old hat.

Aaaaggggghhhh!

Some good lessons on economics, and the futility of chasing satisfaction in a capitalist society, mind.

Slarti · 13/04/2018 07:11

a lot of the players are now adults

That was my point.

rumbelina · 13/04/2018 07:18

DS loves pokemon. He’s never tried to put our cat in a ball and make her fight for him though.

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