A Decade of Pokemon Scandals

[Disaster_Lord]

...This is what happens when parents try to raise their kids in front of the tv instead of sitting to talk to them...Then they complain about the results.

The death was tragic indeed...but take into consideration that just in mexico almost 100 kids die of chooking coz something weird into their mouth, so i cant get the odds in the world...Why do they complain...

In my humble opinion...They just have a lot of time to complain and make up stupid theories, but no time to fix their own issues...Beautiful world in wich we live dont we?

Anyways... no matter how manny stupid things they say about pokemon...I will play it as long as they keep the magic in the games...Yep i almost gave up with the anime...too childish...I want battles!...no, well, contests...

 

[Kamex]

Nah, it was based on the Japanese ganguro/yamanba fashion trend, some of the biggest defining features of which were an absurdly dark tan, bleached-out hair, strange makeup, and outlandish clothing, which all fit Jynx perfectly (with the black face playing humorously on the tan). Even its Japanese name, Rougela, refers to makeup.

Read this (same link as in my last post). There's a section near the bottom about the ganguro theory.

 

[Sapphiredragon929]

I loved Electric Solidier Porygon he is so sexy...and he causes seziures, why can't I have a boyfriend like that.

Isaiah, I choose you! Concerned by the popularity of Pokemon trading cards in his Sunday school class, British teacher David Tate designed his own versions, which pitted Biblical characters against one another in a "Top Trumps"-style battle. The only one missing was Jesus. "It would defeat the purpose if Jesus was beaten by one of the bad characters," Tate told the BBC

Hey, this was a goos Idea, I have 4 limited editiion St. Joan slu% cards, worth about three "saved from hell tickets" each.

Self-proclaimed psychic Uri Gellar built his reputation on his supposed ability to bend spoons with the power of his mind. When Nintendo introduced Kadabra, a psychic-type Pokemon that carries a bent spoon, he sued for $100 million over claims that the game had stolen his identity. Gellar lost. You'd think he'd have seen that coming.

how 'bout he gets bent. HAHAHAHAHA.

Black skin. Big lips. Swinging hips. Does Jynx, one of the original set of Pokemon in Japan, look like a racist caricature of a "blackface" entertainer from the days of the minstrel show? Some claimed so, prompting Nintendo to hastily redesign Jynx, trading the character's black skin for a nice (and less controversial) shade of purple.

Oh, C'mon Jynx is a pretty damn good pokemon after a couple of beers. Back of all you rascists.

When you think of illegal gambling, what springs to mind? Smoky poker dens? Underground dog-fighting rings? Schoolkids lining up to buy Pokemon cards? One of these things is not like the other, but that distinction didn't stop a firm of San Diego lawyers from filing a class-action suit against Nintendo, alleging that the small chance of finding a valuable card in a deck of Pokemon cards constitutes an addictive form of gambling

Another way to "gamble" is to bet on a horse that isn't in the race.

"I BET ON MS. LUKIE"

"Sir, she ain't in the race"

Saudi Arabian religious leaders aren't fans of Pokemon. In fact, they issued an edict in 2001 banning the game outright, alleging that it promotes Zionism and gambling, and possesses the minds of children.

Yeah, those evil Chimechoes, possesing children to ring everytime their father smacks them because the girl wants an education. Pogemanyz is just ebil.

Stuffing toy Pokemon inside three-inch plastic Pokeballs sounds like a great idea for a kids' meal promotion, but when Burger King tried it in 2000, it resulted in tragedy. A thirteen-month-old child in California suffocated after she placed both halves of the Pokeball over her nose and mouth. Burger King recalled the toys as a result.

This is what happens when you parents chain smoke and talk on their cell-phone. While they give their 13 child a toy where every single part is bigger than their breathing organs. THE RETARD PLACED IT OVER HER MOUTH AND ARM!!

 

[pirate_fox673]

My response to the whole BK toy thing: There are choking hazard warnings on the toy's packaging! READ THEM. I should know. I used to work at BK. And yes, there are other toys for children under 3 years old (as previously stated).

 

[BlitzBlast]

Get your facts right, the reason pokemon was banned in Muslim countries had nothing to do with evolution, it was because they thought that the Colorless symbol promoted Zionism, since it resembled the Hebrew star of David. Nothing more. Nothing Less.

Eh? From what I read it was because of the whole 'promoting evolution' thing.

Could've been both.

 

[sockyskarmie]

Wow, I found this quite interesting.
Too bad the toys were called back... to be honest, I don't think it was Burger King's fault, but the poor parenting of the child's guardian.
The jynx racism is a load of crap. The word "racism" is thrown around lightly these days. It seems people are just looking for something to have race-discriminating properties. Never once in my time of pokemon did I ever consider jynx to represent something else (just a super-skank pokemon), and anyone who can "see" these things is much more racist themself.

 

[SaiyanHikari]

Stuff like this always just angers me. I want to talk to the person/people who compiled this list and just own their faces in a rant, because the arguments and examples presented in this...bleh.
1. Someone mentioned that there is a cultural moral on "focusing" in Japan. In this way, Nintendo/animators are faulted for not knowing enough about their target audiences, but also the culture for having them set in a dark room and sitting a foot away from the TV? That's naturally unhealthy anyway, shouldn't be doing that...
2. Am I missing something? I don't understand how this even is a slight against Nintendo. Pokemon is not even directly related to this. So what if a random person decided to make a trading card game based on the Bible? Is that necessarily a bad thing? That's a controversy? Do "I" care? I mean, if the mere idea of something making a TCG on the Bible bothers you, then you have beef with that person, not Nintendo, cuz Nintendo did not sponsor this at all. I really must be missing something, someone please point it out to me. No, really, I don't understand this example.
3. I don't know too much on this, so I'll try to keep my opinions low. But to me it just seems like there was no hard evidence on Gellar's side.
4. Same as above, little info on the specifics of this one. But I can see how it might be "offensive." If that is the case, then people who are offended by it should just walk away, and not rant and complain. Honestly, there is so much subtle racism. Why don't we rant and complain about that?
5. Someone or a few people have made the good point that Pokemon is popular, and thus will attract attention. If I walk into my nearby Newbury Comics store, I see a myriad of trading card games. Pokemon, Yugioh, Magic, Inuyasha, Maplestory, World of Warcraft. And that's excluding the more obscure ones. Yet i feel Pokemon's the only one that has been accused of "gambling" due to a "valuable card" theory. Well, then bad all tcgs which include randomness in their products. Because clearly, some cards will be "better" than others, and randomness automatically equates to gambling.
6. First, why is this here? Like number 2, this does not have a direct impact on many many people. If it does, then correct me. And two. I have not heard of any hard evidence that Pokemon causes mind possessing. If Saudi Arabian religious leaders don't like it, fine, let them ban it. Go right ahead. Are we done now?
7. If there were instructions on that pokeball, the caretaker is responsible. The baby is too young to take any blame/responsibility, and I'm pretty sure BK is good at putting tags/warnings on their stuff. In any case, this isn't completely Nintendo's fault, if they are to even take a single drop of blame. I mean, an age restriction is there for a reason...

If any of this sounds too biased due to the fact that I am an Asian-American living in America, let me know. But I have tried to make this as understanding as possible given my moral stances/the way I think.

 

[The_Mexican_Smeargle]

Wow, that sux the baby died, but that's why on the kids meal thing the bag is so god damn hard to rip open and it clearly says NOT FOR CHILDREN UNDER 3. Ther's a reason they have a baby toy ya know =P. Liek someone above said, Chain smoking cellphone addicts, for shame -_-

And pretty much everything Saiyan Hikari said


Besides that, people say that Lombre and Ludicolo weren't banned because nobody complained about them for having some obvious Mexican attributes. The sombrero, the name Lombre, which is like Hombre, which is man in spanish, their "Rain dance" like the natives supposedly did, and YES Mexican's ancestors are native Americans too =P. To all that I roll my eyes. Hell I'm Mexican and I don't find any of that offensive. I'm actually flattered to think that a couple of Pokemon are somewhat based on a Mexican. Though the grass type does touch the gardener thing a bit, they didn't make it an alcoholic DUI dude on COPS that has teenage kids that think they're gangsta and and pick figths with other gangstas because they're wearing the wrong color clothes in the wrong trailer park or apartment complex neighborhood =P

 

[eye.of.the.dragonfly]

Read this (same link as in my last post). There's a section near the bottom about the ganguro theory.

;193;

Their arguments against it basically suck, though, to put it bluntly.

"The colors on Jynx aren't the exact actual colors that ganguro girls have, so it's not based on them" - yeah sure, and Pikachu isn't a mouse because it's bright yellow. *eyeroll*

"The fad only reached its peak a year before the games came out" - and that means it didn't exist for many years before? When its peak was is entirely irrelevant - it still existed.

"There are a lot of fads, and it doesn't make sense to pick one to base a Pokémon on" - first off, comparing it to POGS is ridiculous: yeah, saying basing a Pokémon on a notable and often ridiculed counterculture trend and basing one on a copyrighted toy are the same thing makes perfect sense.

So basically, none of those arguments pass muster. I'm glad I saw that link, though, because I'd never heard about the Nordic princess theory before. I'd always wondered why it was an Ice-type, and that makes perfect sense - not to mention that if you stuck a horned helmet on its head, it would look just like the stereotypical opera singer image.

;469;​

 

[Clamps]

Though the grass type does touch the gardener thing a bit

Wait, what? You are forgetting, much like that ***** who saw Jynx as racist, that Pokémon is not made in America for Americans. If Pokémon was made in America, that might have some backing, but otherwise no. Just no.

 

[qwerty0805]

To sum this whole thing up, the guy(s) who wrote this is(are) idiot(s) and the article is stupid. List reasons why.

 

[Korobooshi Kojiro]

Wait, what? You are forgetting, much like that ***** who saw Jynx as racist, that Pokémon is not made in America for Americans. If Pokémon was made in America, that might have some backing, but otherwise no. Just no.

That actually helps the arguement.

While in America Black Face has long been pretty much done away with in main stream, in Japan, a country that's pretty ethnically undiverse, there are still black face characters in some rather recent entertainment intended for kids. A recent one was Oilman in Mega Man Powered Up being black with huge, pink lips in the Japanese version.

Considering back in the 151 days the designers didn't expect the game to be a global hit, them including a character with traits of a black face character really doesn't seem like that much of a stretch.

While I don't think Gamefreak meant it as a heartless racist move, I really don't see why Carol Weatherford gets so much hate for pointing out something that definately has some backing to it. And I definately have no clue how that makes you racist pointing that out. :0

 

[~*Lyra]

I had one of the Burger King toys that were recalled, years ago.

And yet somehow I managed to avoid dying.

 

[Miss_Pocket_Monster]

I don't think it's fair that the Porygon evolution line has been basically banned from the anime over that one episode. It was Pikachu responsible for the offending scene, after all. Besides, I saw it on Youtube and it wasn't really that bad. ;137;

Not even gonna touch the Jynx controversy. I'm fine with how she looks in purple, and I'll leave it at that.

As far as the Burger King toys are concerned, that's probably the worst of the controversy because it involves irresponsible parents who want to pin their idiocy on somebody else. Like someone else said, they could've asked for different toys for the kid; they could have read the warning labels on the bag. But hey, whoever said America wasn't a litigious country? ;057;

 

[Lady Umbreon]

I remember Inside Edition or one of those tabloid shows interviewing Uri Geller about the lawsuit. It hurt my head. Aside from it holding a spoon, here was his evidence:

1. Kadabra's Japanese name is "Yungerer", so it most likely was named after him. Yet you don't see Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee's family complaining about their Pokemon namesakes.
2. Geller claimed that Kadabra is evil because it gives people headaches. Never mind that it's not deliberately causing the headaches - they are a side affect of its sheer Psychic might - or that Pokemon are explicitly described as being not evil.
3. Geller claims that the star on Kadabra's head was the Star of David and the squiggly lines on its belly stood for "SS", as in the Nazi's Schutzstaffel. He didn't seem to notice that the star has 5 points (I think it had 6 in the original Japanese games but was changed for the American audience) or that there are 3 "S" shapes, not two. I'm pretty sure the shapes come from those cards used to test ESP.

 

[Kamon1]

Its been more than a decade jerks... >_>

;492-s; "Lets all get along and not flame this user. Or any others." ;492-s;

...This is what happens when parents try to raise their kids in front of the tv instead of sitting to talk to them...Then they complain about the results.

Actually, this is what happened with me. I turned out perfectly fine, not having parents telling me who to like, what to do, my brother got the brunt of their affection but I warded them off when he got amnesia from a fight... But I won't get into it. (no it wasn't with me, he protected me from a insane nutso who tried to kill me o.o)

The death was tragic indeed...but take into consideration that just in mexico almost 100 kids die of chooking coz something weird into their mouth, so i cant get the odds in the world...Why do they complain...

They complain becuase it was a death. But I don't see how its really bad enough to become a 'scandal'. I mean seriously, baby dies, how is that a scandal? Its bad yes but...

In my humble opinion...They just have a lot of time to complain and make up stupid theories, but no time to fix their own issues...Beautiful world in wich we live dont we?

I see. But they didn't NECISARLY make it up. They just scrounged the internet and found the weirdest reasons ever. So, it is a odd world though but its not yahoo's fault that some random person decided to make a article on how Pokemon is a "decade" of 'scandals' <_< lol

Anyways... no matter how manny stupid things they say about pokemon...I will play it as long as they keep the magic in the games...Yep i almost gave up with the anime...too childish...I want battles!...no, well, contests...

The anime can get way too childish sometimes... But I just make my brother watch those parts and tell me them in a un-childish way. Hes getting quite good at it.


Anyway, I must go. School is ending.

;444; "Do not flame any users!" ;444;

 

[Jhonny]

I hadn't heard about Burger King murdering that child. Regardless, the article just reminded us of some things that happened that nobody outside of the Pokemon community cares about.

 

[Aviano]

I had one of the Burger King toys that were recalled, years ago.

And yet somehow I managed to avoid dying.

Ouch, talk about tasteless.

;193;

Nah, it was based on the Japanese ganguro/yamanba fashion trend, some of the biggest defining features of which were an absurdly dark tan, bleached-out hair, strange makeup, and outlandish clothing, which all fit Jynx perfectly (with the black face playing humorously on the tan). Even its Japanese name, Rougela, refers to makeup.

;469;​

While all that is true, it still looked racist enough to offend black people, and that's what it's all about. Even if it wasn't meant to be racist, it can still hurt people. That should be more than enough reason to change Jynx. Think about it, if someone drew a very offensive picture of you, (naked or something, I dunno) but then said the picture wasn't modelled after you, so it's okay. You wouldn't care, about whether or not it was modelled after you. You'd just want him to stop showing that picture to the world.

Anyway, loved the bible-pokemon cards. Where can I get those?

 

[Faerie]

I find it hilarious that such a child-oriented, harmless franchise as Pokemon could be the object of so much hate and scandal. I don't really know why, either. Maybe paranoid parents see the Pokemon craze sweeping over their children's generation and think, "It must be brainwashing them, and therefore is evil!", or something like that. Seems like if there's an opportunity to panic, people always take it.

 

[Killer_Squirtle]

CBC new had a special on POkemon a while back saying that stuff like that was Poison not passion. I didn't watch it though, it was only on a commercial on this tape we were watching in English class. While that commercial was on I was all drp jaw saying to myself "WHAT DA UNDERWORLD ARE THEY SAYING?! KILLER SQUIRTLE IS ANGRY NOW!" Seriously, passion in fiction like this is just like anything else, the only reason people don't like it is because it's foreign. IF YOU THINK POKEMON IS PASSION NOT POISON SEND ME VM! rawrz!