Pokeman Go..Please Go
by Clay Jones
If you ventured onto Facebook over the weekend, or never got off, you may have noticed a lot of updates about Pokemon. You may have also noticed a lot of other updates with people asking “why the Hell are people talking about Pokemon?”.
After seeing several updates about Pokemon I was definitely in the camp of “why?”. I didn’t really understand Pokemon and kids collecting the cards 20 years ago. My son attempted to get into it but lost interest after about two minutes. For years we had a big Pokemon notebook with three cards. I didn’t understand what the kids were into then and that was before I got old.
In case you don’t know, and you kinda want to without becoming involved, I’ll explain it: The company that owns Pokemon released a new app over the weekend and it really shot up. It’s getting more activity over two days than twitter, even with Donald Trump’s constant updates about the poor treatment he received from “Sleepy Eyes” Chuck Todd, CNN and “the underachieving” John King.
It’s called “Pokemon Go.” You download the app and then you go. go hunting that is. Hunting for Pokemon in the real world. You walk around your neighborhood, city, town, wherever the hell you live, and you find him. It uses a GPS and it designates some landmarks as places a Pokemon hangs out (if there’s more than one Pokemon, is it “Pokemons?”). Pokemon will show up on your screen with your environment as the background. Yes, people are actually doing this. As I understand it, adults are doing this.
I think you collect the Pokemons, throw things at them, make them fight other Pokemons and you’re supposed to take them to a gym where they join a Pokemon gang and where the Pokemon Crips battle the Pokemon Bloods.
People are walking into traffic, down stairs, into walls, other people, and one person in Montana stumbled upon a dead body. Some clever gangsters have used the GPS to lure Pokemon hunters into muggings. Apparently, adults who play with Pokemon aren’t the toughest people around. Shocking.
So yeah. I research some pretty stupid stuff for my work. I read more than one article about this fad that will probably die by next weekend. I did get another opportunity to mock the human Cheeto that is Donald Trump and his total ridiculousness. I predict this won’t be the only cartoon to have fun with The Donald and Pokemon.
A lot of people, those with lives, may not get this as they’ll be unfamiliar with the new fad. To them the cartoon will be another “why is everybody talking about Pokemon?”.
Remember Virtual Pets? They’re were Yamaguchi something or other. In 1997 I had just moved to Honolulu and everywhere I went I saw kids with these Yamaguchi key chains. They were supposed to feed the pets, raise them, neglect them, watch them die, etc. I thought it was only big in Japan and Hawaii but it soon swept the United States for a minute. They probably still make them and it’ll be the new big thing next weekend.
Unfortunately for all of us, Trump will remain a trending topic until at least November and then some. I expect his public meltdown and hissy fit over losing the election can amuse us all the way to January.
This cartoon and post by Clay Jones are from his website www.claytoon.com