Wednesday 8 February 2017

The Curious Case of Mimikyu

The best Pokemon ever.
Every Pokemon game has a fake Pikachu, an Electric-type rodent of some sort that tries to repeat the winning formula of the original mascot. It never works. Don't get me wrong, some attempts have been better than others. Pachirisu looks awful, Dedenne is kind of sweet, and Emolga is my favourite Pokemon ever ever ever!!!
A football waiting to happen.
Togedemaru is the “official” knock-off Pikachu of this generation. Not the best design, not the worst, definitely no Emolga. The funny thing is, this game also features Mimikyu...
Don't you just want to tickle both his chins?
who is a shy Ghost-Fairy type hiding inside a Pikachu costume and everyone loves it. Every Pokemon player on the internet, it seems, is united in their love of this little fellow. I'm right with them, Mimikyu was the only Pokemon I went into this game thinking I absolutely had to have one on my team.

This does not seem to be the intention. We were meant to find it creepy. The Ghost trial where it first appears presents it as a creeping terror luring people in by pretending to be a cute little Pikachu and its Pokedex entry reads like something out of Lovecraft: “It's actual appearance is unknown. A scholar who saw what was under its rag was overwhelmed by terror and died from the shock.” I called mine Innsmouth, by the way. Hell, the anime even has one willingly joining Team Rocket just because it wants to beat up Ash's Pikachu.

But people love the little guy in a way you just can't manufacture. After six generations of trying to replicate the Pikachu formula they finally hit on it by just creating a Pokemon that's literally pretending to be Pikachu and I find that hilarious. 

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