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Oddishnews:Junichi Masuda frozen after Ice Bucket Challenge mishap: Game Freak Direct

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Oddishnews:Junichi Masuda frozen after Ice Bucket Challenge mishap: Game Freak Director ...

In a freak accident, Pokémon Director Junichi Masuda has been hospitalized after being frozen solid following an attempt at the Ice Bucket Challenge, a fad that is sweeping the internet and the world with the hope of raising money and awareness of ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). Participants douse themselves in ice water and frequently call out friends, family, or colleagues to participate in future challenges. Masuda performed his challenge on August 23rd after being nominated to do so by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe following his own successful challenge.

Read more on Bulbanews
 
Re: Oddishnews:Junichi Masuda frozen after Ice Bucket Challenge mishap: Game Freak Di

Well, I got a good chuckle out of it, so I wouldn't mind seeing more every once in a while
 
Re: Oddishnews:Junichi Masuda frozen after Ice Bucket Challenge mishap: Game Freak Di

It was certainly an entertaining read. I wouldn't mind seeing more of this.

Besides, it has Oddish in it. :3
 
Re: Oddishnews:Junichi Masuda frozen after Ice Bucket Challenge mishap: Game Freak Di

Worth a good chuckle. Made me feel better after a nightmarish early morning.
 
Re: Oddishnews:Junichi Masuda frozen after Ice Bucket Challenge mishap: Game Freak Di

I was like 'it's not April... some sort of April Fool's Dayesque day in Japan perhaps?'
 
Re: Oddishnews:Junichi Masuda frozen after Ice Bucket Challenge mishap: Game Freak Di

I like this. This is funny and I actually believed it at first.
 
Re: Oddishnews:Junichi Masuda frozen after Ice Bucket Challenge mishap: Game Freak Di

An idea for a new Ice-type move!

Ice Bucket Challenge: the user convinces the target to drench itself in icy water, freezing the target solid.
 
Re: Oddishnews:Junichi Masuda frozen after Ice Bucket Challenge mishap: Game Freak Di

I don't know how much I'd mind if I knew it was a thing, but popping into this forum and expecting (real) news articles/discussion, all I could think upon reading that headline was, "WTH? There's no way that's real...right???"

It might be neat to see some articles that did more mixing of the real world and Pokemon (like how the article said he was treated with Aspear Berry extracts and mentioned research needed to figure out the chance of ice buckets causing a status condition), but this article/headline just did not strike the right tone for me. Not enough outright fiction, perhaps.

Either way, it'd probably be advisable to make sure such articles are very well distinguished from real BulbaNews articles. (I.e., I do not think it would be good to place an Oddishnews headline among regular Bulbanews headlines on the Bulbanews site, even distinguished with the header "Oddishnews". At least not if the headline is at all like this one.)
 
Re: Oddishnews:Junichi Masuda frozen after Ice Bucket Challenge mishap: Game Freak Di

It's something interesting I approve. Trough I prefered columns, and you should have chosen a slow news period instead of today. I would've also liked to see a photoshopped image :p
 
Re: Oddishnews:Junichi Masuda frozen after Ice Bucket Challenge mishap: Game Freak Di

That was actually pretty funny, nice job.
 
Re: Oddishnews:Junichi Masuda frozen after Ice Bucket Challenge mishap: Game Freak Di

Hello everyone,

Thank you for all the feedback, and keep it coming. As the writer for Oddishnews, I figured I'd answer a few questions as well as point out a few of the lesser-obvious things.

Oddishnews is a column that focuses on satire and comedy relating to Pokémon. Unfortunately, there are some technical issues that make categorizing it as both a "hoax" and a "column" a bit difficult and result in the behaviors that we want, so for now we are just tagging it as "hoax" to better align with the behaviors we want.

This is not related to any April Fools-esque day in Japan. It is just us wanting to be silly every so often. In fact, Oddishnews was carefully picked as the name of the column for several reasons:
1) As a spoof of Bulbanews
2) Because it literally is Odd-ish news
3) Oddish and Bulbasaur share many traits

As far as subject matter, content, and reducing confusion: This is where things get very tricky. We want to play some minor tricks on people, but we simultaneously don't want to lead people into believing that things are true. This is why the articles are prefixed with "Oddishnews:", why we have a visible template stating that the articles are satire, and why the articles are also clearly tagged as "hoax." Precautions are made to reasonably keep confusion as low as possible, but there is always going to be some confusion surrounding this. Most articles will be focused around absurd concepts ('PokeBank becomes Sentient'), but we might have a few slightly more plausible ones here and there. I am hoping that for this one, people would catch on that a simple Ice Bucket Challenge cannot freeze solid a healthy human.

And finally, some interesting trivia.
- There are two references to a fairly popular anime series that isn't Pokémon. Can you find them, and what series are they referencing?
- The original draft for this article was written on 21 August 2014, several days before Masuda actually did his Ice Bucket Challenge.
 
Re: Oddishnews:Junichi Masuda frozen after Ice Bucket Challenge mishap: Game Freak Di

I like it! I thought it was funny! I also thought it odd that it just popped up on the main page, but I liked it. But I agree with someone above me that photoshopped pictures would be a great addition.
 
Re: Oddishnews:Junichi Masuda frozen after Ice Bucket Challenge mishap: Game Freak Di

Has my madness finally rubbed off on you, Bulbapedia staff? If so, you should know that madness isn't free and you owe me $9.99, $5 of which is tax deductable.

In any case, as a madman, I can say that I enjoyed this and would love to see more. The possibilities for articles like this are endless, and I would love to see someone dedicated to writing such fun articles every nce in a while. Maybe monthly?
 
Re: Oddishnews:Junichi Masuda frozen after Ice Bucket Challenge mishap: Game Freak Di

...I don't like it. It's just misleading and potentially going to spread wrong info as true (as if the internet isn't full of enough already)
A forum thread/blog dedicated to made up hoax stories sounds like a better option if that's really needed... bulbanews should probably aim to be a bit more professional and stick to cold facts/news only.
 
Re: Oddishnews:Junichi Masuda frozen after Ice Bucket Challenge mishap: Game Freak Di

Maverick Nate said:
Why is Bulbanews focusing on writing fake news when there are so many real news stories that aren't published.
Click to expand...

Off the top of my head:

  • Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire OST announced, to be released November 29th
  • The pilot for a second season of the Team Rocket radio show is currently in development, according to Mima Masafumi's Twitter
  • Smash 3DS is out in Japan, so, y'know, Pokemon-related Smash news
  • The Cocoon of Destruction and Diancie's weekly box office figures
  • The Press Start concert occurring in Tokyo today that features music from Pocket Monsters XY
  • The Indigo League's being re-released on DVD in the U.S.
etc.

But nah, let's make a joke article about a social media meme that nobody cares about anymore instead.
 
Re: Oddishnews:Junichi Masuda frozen after Ice Bucket Challenge mishap: Game Freak Di

Dogasu said:
Maverick Nate said:
Why is Bulbanews focusing on writing fake news when there are so many real news stories that aren't published.
Click to expand...

Off the top of my head:

  • Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire OST announced, to be released November 29th
  • The pilot for a second season of the Team Rocket radio show is currently in development, according to Mima Masafumi's Twitter
  • Smash 3DS is out in Japan, so, y'know, Pokemon-related Smash news
  • The Cocoon of Destruction and Diancie's weekly box office figures
  • The Press Start concert occurring in Tokyo today that features music from Pocket Monsters XY
  • The Indigo League's being re-released on DVD in the U.S.
etc.

But nah, let's make a joke article about a social media meme that nobody cares about anymore instead.
Click to expand...

Not to mention ANY sort of merchandise going on in any place in the world. The entire Spooky Party promotion in Japan for Halloween. New 2015 Pokémon Calendar announced for Germany, the one, two, three new ionix sets of Pokémon toys released September 10 to Toys R US in america, tumblers that happened in Korea late last month, and honestly any single one of the 20 items listed on this page.
 
Re: Oddishnews:Junichi Masuda frozen after Ice Bucket Challenge mishap: Game Freak Di

Dogasu said:
Maverick Nate said:
Why is Bulbanews focusing on writing fake news when there are so many real news stories that aren't published.
Click to expand...

Off the top of my head:

  • Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire OST announced, to be released November 29th
  • The pilot for a second season of the Team Rocket radio show is currently in development, according to Mima Masafumi's Twitter
  • Smash 3DS is out in Japan, so, y'know, Pokemon-related Smash news
  • The Cocoon of Destruction and Diancie's weekly box office figures
  • The Press Start concert occurring in Tokyo today that features music from Pocket Monsters XY
  • The Indigo League's being re-released on DVD in the U.S.
etc.

But nah, let's make a joke article about a social media meme that nobody cares about anymore instead.
Click to expand...

Seeing as different people would write the two articles (Maxite is not a news writers and doesn't want to be), there is absolutely no relation whatsoever between your complaint and this article. Writing this didn't prevent us from writing any of the news.
 
Last edited:
Re: Oddishnews:Junichi Masuda frozen after Ice Bucket Challenge mishap: Game Freak Di

And yet the fact remains that this joke news article exists while articles for those other, actual news stories do not.
 
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