(image courtesy of this place)
the past few days have been the best of my life and it's all because of pokémon go.
from the moment i heard that pokémon go could possibly be a thing, i've been more excited than a labrador who's seen a tennis ball (which is to say pretty well excited). i waited to pounce on every update. i read all the articles and news that came out. and i told everyone that even though this is my last year of high school, the second pokemon go comes out it will be my number one priority.
so i was most definitely not expecting that for the first time since the dawn of time - instead of being excluded by region - that pokémon go would be hitting australian phones first. and, boy, do i regret not starting my holiday homework last week.
i woke up on wednesday at the normal, everyday time of 12:22pm only to open my phone and be bombarded by notifications and messages and snaps. i quickly clicked on the nearest one and immediately snapped out of my sleep-ridden stupor - wednesday was the day.
i didn't even think as i swiped my way to the app store, heart pounding as the little pokéball icon downloaded onto my homepage. a smile spread on my face of its own accord as i prepared to finally experience my dreams. i was beyond thrilled. and i was just about to open the app when the most annoying, puny little voice piped up in my head. i remembered that i had an important tutor exam in two days and only last night i had sternly told myself that i will stop shitting about. i immediately began to justify why i didn't necessarily need to study, as i so often did when it came to work vs pleasure issues, but the night before had been a big moment for me - very responsible and epiphanic blah blah blah. so i decided that i would deny myself my greatest desire until the moment the exam was finished and then i could catch 'em all to my heart's content (ignoring all my homework in the process). and for an hour or two, i did! that is until my brother burst into my room and showed me the pokémon he caught on his. i shoved my finger itching towards my phone under my leg. i ooooed and ahhhed at the appropriate times, hoping he would soon leave. but then he told me that unfortunately his name was already taken so he had to put some random numbers in and the battle was over. i had to start playing soon so i could get my name, right?
fast forward to today and i have been outside more times in the past week than in the previous five or so years. instead of avoiding the more populated side of my neighbourhood, i now march straight into the masses in the hopes to find more rarer pokémon. i went on a two hour walk today - barely noticing the time slip by as i chased a growlithe around my local park - and passed at least 10 people on their own pokémon adventures, nodding and smiling at them knowingly before turning back to my phone and waiting eagerly for it to vibrate and reveal my new potential teammate.
pokemon go has been a phenomenal success. but with great hype comes great amounts of sheep following the herd. the same people who scoffed at me for playing pokemon during lunch at school just last year are now running around the city asking 'where can i find a pikachu?' people who barely know the difference between a caterpie and a weedle are pulling out their phones at parties to show off their party like 'hey look at me, i'm cool and trendy too'.
i wanted to tell them that i've been waiting for this game since forever. i wanted to tell them that i watched a two hour panel of the programmers discussing the upcoming features a month ago and enjoyed every second. i wanted to tell them that years of waking up early to watch the cartoons and play 'who's that pokémon' means that i can identify a species from its shadow in a heartbeat. i wanted to tell them that this is more to me than the 'app of the week' and instead it's a chance for me to live my childhood in a way that i only ever dreamed of. i wanted to tell them that in the top ten experiences of my life this was way up there.
but then i realised that i was just being a giant asshole.
the source of the pokemon franchise's appeal comes from the fact that it's personal. everyone's first pokemon game is different. everyone chose a different starter. everyone buys a different card deck. everyone watches a different movie. the key storyline of pokemon is the same: catch 'em all, fight the gyms, train your team, save the world, be the pokemon master. but the way that each person does it is so distinctly unique from their team to their battle strategy to whether they decide to even do a contest.
so maybe some people's first experience of the pokémon world is through pokémon go. good for them. i don't want to be just another elitist snob trotting in on my high rapidash to stubbornly declare that the first 151 pokémon are the best of them all without ever even playing another game. granted, i've never gone past sinnoh, but what i do is so different to anyone else.
pokémon's key demographic is kids and what's the common factor between all kids from the past, present and future? there's always going to be new ones which means there's always going to be someone with their first pokémon experience waiting around the corner. i don't want to be the prick that takes the joy and sentimentality of that moment away from them.
besides, the more popular it becomes, the more important it will be for the company which means the more updates and new things they will create. and i definitely won't complain about that.
(born in 1998 and have a voice to share with the world? click here to find out how you can be heard!)
