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Pokémon: An international cultural phenomenon: An examination of the franchise in pop

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BulbaBot

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Pokémon: An international cultural phenomenon: An examination of the franchise in popular culture

Pokémon; a franchise that now ranks as the second best selling video game series in history per units sold, placing it behind only Mario. No series can gain such a massive amount of popularity without being referenced or parodied in the mainstream media; and despite the fact it is clearly a series aimed at young children, many of these cultural references can be found in series that are unequivocally aimed at an older audience.

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Re: Pokémon: An international cultural phenomenon: An examination of the franchise in

That was a great read.

I actually never knew about the Swellow cameo.
 
Re: Pokémon: An international cultural phenomenon: An examination of the franchise in

Yeah, neither did I know about it, I thought they were just a bunch of regular birds at first.
 
Re: Pokémon: An international cultural phenomenon: An examination of the franchise in

omg so terrible this isn't news >:[









just kidding ;D

Yeah I didn't know there were so many references in so many different shows/movies. And I can remember when I got that Charizard card :3 good times.
 
Re: Pokémon: An international cultural phenomenon: An examination of the franchise in

They were swallows, not Swellows.

You know, the actual bird?
 
Re: Pokémon: An international cultural phenomenon: An examination of the franchise in

I agree that the Swellow thing is not based on the actual Pokemon.
Its probably this type of swallow that was smacking into the dome:

swallow_adult_300_tcm9-142504_v2.jpg
 
Re: Pokémon: An international cultural phenomenon: An examination of the franchise in

How big were they? Barn swallows seem tiny while Swellows are HUGE.
 
Re: Pokémon: An international cultural phenomenon: An examination of the franchise in

I love this article. It's very fascinating. I never knew there were Swellows, and Ash's face on the Simpsons episode in the picture is really hilarious. I also find all the Pokemon references funny to read, like the Everybody loves Raymond one.

If I have to throw my thought in on parodies, I would say that it's a shame that Animaniacs didn't get to parody Pokemon, because I think there would be a lot of potential.
 
Re: Pokémon: An international cultural phenomenon: An examination of the franchise in

Due to inconsistencies in the Dome's size, I find it difficult to measure the size of the birds accurately. There are also no surrounding objects the birds can be measured against.
 
Re: Pokémon: An international cultural phenomenon: An examination of the franchise in

Due to inconsistencies in the Dome's size, I find it difficult to measure the size of the birds accurately. There are also no surrounding objects the birds can be measured against.

Immediately after they begin sliding down the glass it scrolls down to the cats below, which appear to be or a similar size, IIRC.
 
Re: Pokémon: An international cultural phenomenon: An examination of the franchise in

IIRC in that episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, Ray's daughter trades away a whole bunch of cards for a single rare one and Ray forces her to trade them back. She then says she hates him or something and then Ray tries to get that card back, ultimately buying the card and some comics from a Comic Store.
 
Re: Pokémon: An international cultural phenomenon: An examination of the franchise in

I thought those birds were just swallows, but now that I look at them, they look more like Swellow.
 
Re: Pokémon: An international cultural phenomenon: An examination of the franchise in

They don't have that back crest thing ot whatever you call it. They do look like Swellow but thats mostly because Swellow looks the same as a Swallow.
 
Re: Pokémon: An international cultural phenomenon: An examination of the franchise in

They were swallows, not Swellows.

You know, the actual bird?

I agree that the Swellow thing is not based on the actual Pokemon.
Its probably this type of swallow that was smacking into the dome:

swallow_adult_300_tcm9-142504_v2.jpg

Also, subtitles say SWALLOWS not SWELLOWS.
 
Re: Pokémon: An international cultural phenomenon: An examination of the franchise in

I have the Simpsons movie on DVD so I can check for myself. I'll post back with my findings.

Nice article, btw, it was interesting. :)
 
Re: Pokémon: An international cultural phenomenon: An examination of the franchise in

Wow, this was very interesting to read. Made me go and actually look for these little cameos and clips. The one with Bart watching Pokemon was funny, I literally lol'd at "crystal light ball" and Pikachu's voice-acting. Going to go watch the episode Chinpokomon :).

Great article.
 
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Re: Pokémon: An international cultural phenomenon: An examination of the franchise in

IIRC in that episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, Ray's daughter trades away a whole bunch of cards for a single rare one and Ray forces her to trade them back. She then says she hates him or something and then Ray tries to get that card back, ultimately buying the card and some comics from a Comic Store.

that episode actually just aired recently. Everybody Loves Raymond is an awesome show. It was a Scramisaur card that she traded for and it evolved by "getting the sonic crystal." lol, good times.

On topic: Great article. What was the reference to Pokemon in Goldmember?
 
Re: Pokémon: An international cultural phenomenon: An examination of the franchise in

Urgh, 'Swellows'? Definately worthy of a groan, for reals :/


Had to look up the Simpsons clip over at the ol' 'tube o' you. OK, I...couldn't make out a word said by the Ash expy, though I got a good laugh at the irony of Bart's one liner.
 
Re: Pokémon: An international cultural phenomenon: An examination of the franchise in

Just got to the part in the Simpsons movie and Kevin Brockman does indeed say Swellows. And honestly, given how many other types of swallows there are, it seems hard to imagine that they chose that particular species for no reason whatsoever. So given the context, it's definitely a reference to the Pokemon. A pretty cool yet subtle reference I missed the first time around if I do say so myself. :] It seems that there's a Pokemon fan among the Simpsons writers.
 
Re: Pokémon: An international cultural phenomenon: An examination of the franchise in

What's even more strange, as the article pointed out, that writer knows Pokemon other than the first 151. Surely something like that is unthinkable when making a parody of Pokemon.
 
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