POKEMON.

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THE BANDERSNATCH BLOG CONTAINS INFORMATION AND OPINIONS THAT THE PUBLIC MIGHT FIND OFFENSIVE. PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL INFORMATION WILL BE CHECKED AND OPINIONS DO NOT REFLECT THE OPINIONS OF THE MAIN BLOGGER HERSELF.

Hey there Earthlings, Alternatives and Trollers. Put down that mouse and lend an ear. Welcome to The Bandersnatch blog where we talk weird, wacky and wondrous. I'm Mama Ogre and I have no idea what I'm doing.

Random blog day boo yah. As you should know Fridays is random blog day were we talk anything and everything and pretty much run with it. Today's blog is on the worldwide phenomenon.....Pokemon.

Pokemon also known as Pocket Monsters is a Japanese media franchise which was originally created by Satoshi Tajiri and Ken Sugimori but are currently owned by Nintendo, Creatures, Game Freak and The Pokemon Company. Pokemon started as a pair of Gameboy Games known as Pokemon Red and Green (Later released outside of Japan as Red and Blue) in February 1996. Pokemon due to its popularity became a mixed media franchise, becoming the highest grossing media franchise of all time and second best selling game franchise behind Nintendo's Mario Franchise.

The term Pokemon is a Portmanteau (a linguistic blend of words usually with two meanings in one word) of Pocket monsters. In addition Pokemon refers to both the franchise itself, all 896 fictional species as well as being both singular and plural as in one Pokemon and many Pokemon. Pokemon concept stems from the hobby of insect collecting which creator Satoshi Tajiri enjoyed as a child. Through the game the player known as a Trainer must catch, train and battle Pokemon across the region to become the regional champion.

The first generation of Pokemon games was Pocket monsters: Red and Green and was released on February 27^th 1996 on the Game Boy system and was followed by Pocket monsters: blue, Pokemon: Red and Blue and Pokemon Yellow. From 1999 to 2002 Pokemon Gold and Silver and Pokemon crystal followed as the second generation of games on the Gameboy Colour. Third Generation came in 2002 through 2006 on the Gameboy Advance with Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, Pokemon Red-Fire and Leaf-Green and Pokemon Emerald. Generations four and five ran on the Nintendo DS from 2006 to 2013 with Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, Pokemon Platinum, Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver, Pokemon Black and White and Pokemon Black2 and White2. Generations six and seven came out on the Nintendo 3DS from 2013 to 2019 with Pokemon X and Y, Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, Pokemon Sun and Moon, Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon and Pokemon Lets go Pikachu! and lets go Eevee!. The current generation Generation Eight is on the Nintendo Switch with Pokemon Sword and Shield. Pokemon is also on mobile as Pokemon Go.

Out of all the game generations I've played the 2001 version of Pokemon Gold, the 2007 versions of Diamond and Pearl and Pokemon Go. Whilst Pokemon Go is ongoing and time consuming. I managed to complete both Diamond and Pearl but never managed to get past a particular point with Pokemon Gold.

Pokemon became a TV show after the games proved popular releasing on TV Tokyo on April 1^st 1997. in Japan Pokemon consists of seven series each based on the main instalment of the game. In international broadcasts the series are split across 22 TV seasons with a 23^rd season to be streamed on Netflix from June 12^th 2020 (a month ago last Sunday as of the posting of this blog). Each series follows Ash Ketchum and his Pokemon partner Pikachu and a rotating cast of Human characters (as of this posting its Goh), Ash travels through various regions battling in various Pokemon leagues. With the popularity of the TV shows Pokemon was expanded to several made for TV movies as well as the 2019 blockbuster Pokemon Detective Pikachu!.

There has been a controversy of sorts with the TV show due to several episodes being removed from rotation. Specifically with the Porygon episode which made headlines due to causing 685 cases of seizures and seizure-like symptoms in children. Porygon's appearances (as well as its evolutions Porygon2 and Porygon-Z) on the episodes have been reduced to brief moments mainly as cameos.

Pokemon expanded from the Computer games to a card collection strategy game in 1996. The Pokemon Trading Card game can both be simply collected and played competitively. In 2016 it was the top selling toy in the strategic game subclass, had an 82% share of Europe's strategic card game market in 2017 and in 2019 has sold over 28.8 billion cards worldwide. The game set up can take less than a minute but gameplay between the two players can take up to 2 hours.

Pokemon has a special place in my heart because I grew up with it as an essential part of my childhood. I cant objectively give the Pokemon series or games a serious rating due to the copious amount of time I spent watching the show and effort in playing the games. I do however recommand the watching of the show to everyone with children and the playing of the games with those who love to play games in general both the cards and the computer games. However with the movie Pokemon Detective Pikachu, I highly recommend giving it a watch, whilst it took me a while to watch it and I didn't fully get the plot of the movie, the jump from full animation to combined live action and animation as well as the choice of actors was both amazing and fantastic. I highly recommend it to those who love Pokemon and give it a 7/10.

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THE WEBSITE BIBLIOGRAPHY:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_(anime)

https://pokemon.fandom.com/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Wiki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detective_Pikachu_(film)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Trading_Card_Game

https://www.pokemon.com/uk/pokemon-tcg/

https://www.game.co.uk/en/merchandise/toys-and-games/trading-cards/

https://www.pokemon.co.jp/

https://www.pokemon.com/us/

https://www.pokemon.com/uk/

https://twitter.com/Pokemon?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFctpiB_Hnlk3ejWfHqSm6Q

https://www.patreon.com/BandernsatchBlog?fan_landing=true

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THIS IS THE BANDERSNATCH, I'M MAMA OGRE AND REMEMBER STAY WEIRD, STAY WACKY, STAY WONDEROUS AND I'LL SEE YOU SOON...