An epidemic of ignorant-sounding or downright false information has been plaguing the Pokemon news industry as of late and it is doubly important for Pokemon fans — or, more importantly, for those looking to get into the games who might not know what’s what — to check their sources.
Water Sport! Litten sure seems to enjoy it. ? Drawn by comicamanager! ( https://t.co/KffnRhcZZT ) #Pokemon #PokemonSunMoon #PokemonArt pic.twitter.com/OBcbDi7ncO
— Pokémon Art! (@PokemonArt) November 15, 2016
Pokemon is finally back on top of the pop culture scene. After falling out of the public eye for 15 years, Pokemon GO and the upcoming Pokemon Sun and Moon have revived the Pokemania that was present at the turn of the millennium.
The fact that Pokemon ‘s popularity has rocketed into the stratosphere in the past few months also means that it is a popular topic in the news. While there is a lot of reliable Pokemon -related content being produced by sites like Game Xplain , IGN , and the Inquisitr , many online content writers who know very little about the franchise have been seizing on its sudden popularity in order to get more views.
Let’s first look at an example pointed out by a Redditor handled BenZo2020 on the main Pokemon subreddit.
First, he points to an article on Gamenguide that looks at the “possibility” of baby Pokemon being included with Pokemon GO’s generation two update. Even fairly casual Pokemon fans may know that baby Pokemon, which are just pre-evolutions to existing generation one Pokemon, are more than a possible addition; they are obviously going to be included like the rest of the gen two Pokemon. To understand just how inaccurate the article can get, however, a Pokemon fan needs to read some of the actual text.
For example, check out the following passage.
“Rumors claim that the new baby Pokemon feature is going to replace the ‘Pokemon GO’ egg evolution because it totally makes no sense having both Pokemon as egg possible egg hatches like Pichu and Pikachu.”
That is not an exaggeration. That is a verbatim excerpt from the article. Besides being grammatically incorrect, it stands in defiance of fact. Pichu evolves into Pikachu. This aspect of the Pokemon video game franchise has been established for 17 years now. And the whole “rumors claim” phrase that prefaces the “report”? It shows that either the site does not do its due diligence by using reliable sources (not to mention its lack of citations) or, more likely, that it is completely making up this rumor mill of which it speaks.
The article is clearly uninformed reporting, yet it appears on the front page of a Google News search for “Pokemon.” This shows how hard such information is to avoid.
It does not take a dedicated Pokemon fan to tell the article referenced above is factually incorrect, but there are a lot of articles that discuss lesser-known Pokemon -related topics and try to pass off false information as fact.
For instance, an article from the Bitbag discusses shiny Pokemon in a way that will make true Pokemon fans cringe.
“Since it has become a tradition lately, fans are wondering if Pokemon Sun and Moon would have shiny versions. These ultra rare Pokemon usually have distinct differences in terms of appearance and stats. They aren’t just ‘shiny’ like the name suggests.”
This passage contains a few factual errors, the most glaring of which is that being shiny does not, in fact, affect anything except a Pokemon’s coloration. It never has.
Second, and perhaps even more irritating to longtime Pokemon fans, is the claim about “since it has become a tradition lately.” No, it hasn’t. Shinies have been a central topic of the Pokemon fan community since they were introduced 17 years ago in Pokemon Gold and Silver . Pokemon may have become popular again only recently, but that does not mean the series’ entire history began with the mobile app. Fact-checking, people. It’s your job.
Closely related are the ads for Pokemon Sun and Moon that call them “the perfect follow-up to Pokemon GO .” This might infuriate the Pokemon faithful for the same reason as the claim about shiny Pokemon being a new concept: It is essentially ignoring the history of a franchise that is very important to them.
One Reddit user named Giantroboticcat attempts to make sense of this advertisement in BenZo2020’s thread by reasoning that, technically, Pokemon Sun and Moon were meant to act as a follow-up for fans who rediscovered Pokemon through GO .
“I’m sure they didn’t mean it this way, but that sentiment is correct. Sun/Moon is looking to be a perfect follow up to Pokemon Go. Pokemon Go reminded a lot of people that Pokemon is a thing, and I’m sure it got more than a few interested in checking out the main series again. Now look at Sun/Moon with Alola forms putting a new spin on the gen one Pokemon. The fact that all the Alola forms are gen one wasn’t a coincidence. It’s designed to draw old fans back into the series.”
So yes, these erroneous Pokemon articles written by people who obviously know less than they should about the games can easily anger veteran fans. Maybe even worse, though, is that the false information can make it more difficult for new fans to get into Pokemon . If these newbies are constantly fed untrue facts about the series and its content, they will get confused and find it harder to embrace Pokemon .
Official artwork of the fully-evolved starter Pokémon using their exclusive Z-Moves pic.twitter.com/NuKbNPlXKn
— BulbaNewsNOW (@BulbaNewsNOW) November 14, 2016
The bottom line is that, unless someone writing about Pokemon is already a knowledgeable super-fan of the series, he or she should fact check thoroughly. We are of course not accusing these authors of spreading incorrect information on purpose, but we are just encouraging readers, especially those of Pokemon news, to stick to reliable sources.
Pokemon news sources Smogon and Serebii are the absolute most reliable sources for Pokemon news, although they stick strictly to officially confirmed info and will not have anything else.
The Inquisitr’s reports almost daily Pokemon news updates covering leaks, popular speculation, and other well-sourced Pokemon updates not mentioned on the official-news-only sites mentioned above.
Pokemon fans, what has been your biggest “how can they say that” moment regarding online Pokemon “news?” Make yourself heard in the comments below!
And as always, train on, Pokemon fans.
[Featured Image by Arkeis-Pokemon/Deviantart]
