Jim Viscardi (00:00.814)
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to another exciting episode of that Pokemon podcast, your one stop shop for everything Pokemon related. If it's the games, for video games, trading card games, whatever games we got, we got you. You want information about the anime? We got you. You want information about weird random lawsuits that happen in the world of Pokemon? We got you. You want to squint just a little bit too hard and realize how unsettling the world of Pokemon is? We got you.
I'm one of your hosts Jim Viscardi joined today by Christian Hoffer and Megan Peters who's back in the saddle, baby.
Megan Peters (00:36.522)
I'm back and I'm back with a new microphone because rest in peace whatever happened to my previous one just decided to explode.
Jim Viscardi (00:44.952)
You sound great.
Megan Peters (00:46.806)
You know what? I love that. I love the crisp, clear quality everyone gets of my lovely voice.
Christian (00:47.059)
I am also here.
Jim Viscardi (00:53.228)
Yeah. All right. we've got a bunch of stuff to get through this week and only so much time to get through it. So we will just get started. The Pokemon Company is teaming with another museum because we haven't learned our lessons.
Christian (01:11.764)
Yeah, that was basically what everyone said about this. So the British Natural History Museum is getting its pop-up. So the trend here is European museums get pop-ups with the Pokemon Company. Now, I will say that the plush that they revealed for this is not nearly as enticing as Van Gogh Pikachu with both of his ears, which is, you know, just a slight mess. It should have been a...
Van Gogh Pikachu with one ear, but you know, who's passing judgment? This program starts on October 1st, let me pull it up here.
Megan Peters (01:53.846)
I mean, here's the thing. mean, there is the saying that like very ubiquitous like fool me once, like shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. Like is there a racketeering ring going on within the Pokemon company and these British like European museum institutes? Because I truly cannot understand. I want to be, I wish I was a fly in the room when somebody was like, I've got a proposal for you. We do another museum exclusive.
Jim Viscardi (02:05.452)
Yeah
Megan Peters (02:22.656)
And I just want to know like what PTSD flashes happened for that team remembering how Amsterdam.
Jim Viscardi (02:23.022)
Megan.
Jim Viscardi (02:28.462)
No, it's super it's super it's super easy to explain Megan. It's just very clearly money laundering
Megan Peters (02:32.116)
Okay. yeah, yeah, no, yeah, it is, you know, here in America we have like mattress firm and mattress companies that are clearly, you know, conspiracies are correct, not actually mattress companies. European museums, they're just trafficking cards.
Jim Viscardi (02:42.382)
Heheheheh,
Jim Viscardi (02:48.29)
Yep, yeah, instead the Pokemon Company just opens up shops in European museums.
Christian (02:54.048)
So the one good thing about this is so this this is what the British Natural History Museum. It starts in January 2026, which means that they have until January 2026 to bulk up their infrastructure so they can support like not only the Crusher people that are going to absolutely come and check out this thing, but also, you know, they're online. They are making this available from the online Natural History Museum shop.
and also the Pokemon Center UK official online store. Notably not the Pokemon Center US online store. So this appears to be a UK only thing. You can sign up for tickets now, starting on October 1st. So like I said, pretty interesting.
Jim Viscardi (03:42.412)
Man would be a great would be a great time to be sponsored by Nord VPN where if you need to get your
Megan Peters (03:49.026)
just said, are like, they might, it might not be available for the US store, but you've got the right VPN and you have like a secondary seller that'll get it to you in the United States. Like you're fine. Japan has been on that forever. I, so I mean, I understand like there's the ticketing aspect to it. know it's so, though it's becoming more acceptable, you know, in Western culture, I just feel like they have to like really establish an
Jim Viscardi (03:54.926)
Megan Peters (04:18.068)
a lottery for this somehow, whether it's an online in-person or both like form of a lottery that like the Japanese Pokemon centers so often establish. It gets a lot of crap on the front end, but in the back end, it prevents so many of headaches. So it's either that or the the British, you know, museum that they are teaming up with needs to like begin training its own security strike team right now. Like
They need to begin hiring for that Pokemon designated security, you know, X-Force team at this point.
Christian (04:55.466)
Yeah, like the security, like I said, what I I'm really curious because based on everything that happened with the Van Gogh Museum and for those of you who weren't following the podcast when this happened, they did a collaboration a couple of years ago with the Van Gogh Museum. It was an absolute disaster and like the worst possible sense scalpers raided the Van Gogh Museum, like caused like a crush of people. The online stuff got raided by
Jim Viscardi (04:56.607)
Yeah.
Christian (05:25.45)
got rated by scalpers. I never got my Van Gogh Pikachu Pokemon card, which was the greatest crime of all. I did get my Van Gogh Pikachu plush though. So, you know, small, whatever.
Jim Viscardi (05:42.722)
Yeah, I mean, it's crazy because I thought maybe by now, given how many potentially were out there, like prices would have gone down a little bit, but nope. Like I think at minimum for a PSA nine, you're spending close to 800 bucks.
Megan Peters (05:44.098)
all victory.
Christian (05:59.189)
Which, now, they have not announced any sort of... They have not announced any cards, so that's also a good thing.
Jim Viscardi (06:05.261)
Like if there's gonna be a card or something.
Megan Peters (06:11.701)
Here's the thing, people will still show up though on the hopes that it's like a secret last minute drop. They'll still show up and then be offended if they don't, if a card is never in hand and they don't get one. Like that's the kind of mentality that so many of these like reseller scalpers, you know, you know, have. And, you know, I can, I can easily say that because, you know, this, this past, you know, summer at
Jim Viscardi (06:17.417)
Mm-hmm.
Jim Viscardi (06:21.31)
Yeah
Megan Peters (06:37.398)
San Diego Comic Con, I moderated the panel for, you know, Magic's panel that they did with Avatar, The Last Airbender. And that panel tapped like first thing in the morning. And that panel wasn't until 3 p.m. because people just sat in that room, all scalpers hoping that we were going to give out cards, you know, as a gift. And while we did have a contest that, you know, some people were given a card, the people that were given those cards had to win an Avatar, The Last Airbender, like trivia quiz.
Jim Viscardi (06:44.237)
Mm.
Jim Viscardi (06:48.258)
Yeah.
Megan Peters (07:07.36)
And there were so many scalpers in that room that didn't even know what Avatar was when they went out to try to win the trivia quiz to get those cards. They just failed miserably. It was hilarious. So like that's the kind of mentality that we're dealing with. And I expect only bad things to happen. I truly hope I'm wrong and that this goes without a hitch. And, you know, people are able to get their lovely UK exclusives.
But ultimately, I think this is gonna go very poorly.
Christian (07:42.399)
Yeah, we'll just have to wait in January. Stay tuned for the January 2026 episode of That Pokemon Podcast, which will be titled either Absolute Disaster at the British Natural History Museum or We Visited the British Natural History Museum and Everything Went Really Swo-
Jim Viscardi (07:42.526)
Only time will tell.
Megan Peters (07:44.704)
We'll see.
Megan Peters (08:03.008)
Yeah, hopefully it's not a breaking news, you memorial situation. Hopefully it's a this went great and we were wrong. But well, we'll see. So set a reminder, everyone.
Jim Viscardi (08:13.815)
Here we go. in other, just holy crap, WTF news.
Department of Homeland Security used Pokemon.
Megan Peters (08:25.762)
Hmm
Christian (08:27.774)
Yes, so today...
Jim Viscardi (08:29.515)
for their latest video.
Megan Peters (08:29.602)
Yeah, this is a rough one, guys.
Christian (08:34.474)
So the Department of Homeland Security has been trying to... I'm trying to think of the most politically neutral way of putting this. They've been trying to promote themselves, which is weird because it's the Department of Homeland Security. You don't need to be cool or anything like that. You just need to do your job. But they've been trying to promote themselves via a series of pop culture references. Pokemon was the latest one of these. They did a mashup.
Jim Viscardi (08:50.253)
Department of Homeland Security.
Christian (09:04.064)
of the Department of Homeland Security doing various things, including what appeared to be raids for undocumented immigrants superimposed to the Got to Catch Them All Pokemon theme song. And they have literal scenes of Ash throwing a Pokeball, followed by DHS agents pulling people out of like tattoo parlors and whatnot. It's very bizarre. The legality is questionable. And it's one of those things.
Jim Viscardi (09:32.599)
just... I mean, like, right? I think the question is, will they... are they trying to say this is parody? Or... and like, does that give them the okay to use this?
Megan Peters (09:33.826)
questionable the legality is of these clips being used. Ain't it amusing?
Christian (09:37.052)
I'm... I'm being politically neutral.
Christian (09:49.49)
Is the... Is the Department of Homeland Security allowed to say that it's parody?
Jim Viscardi (09:56.302)
That's what I mean!
Megan Peters (09:58.178)
There's a lot of political factors here, which, you know, we will not stray into too deeply. We are wanting to mainly discuss how absurd this is, but also the fact that this does present very real legal questions and ramifications for, you know, not just, you know, Nintendo, but, you know, for the copyright holders of the theme song, you know, know, depending on, you know.
where whether it's the English use, the Japanese, obviously we know what was used by the Homeland Department. There are a lot of stakeholders and copyright holders that we that will see this. you know, people are already spamming Nintendo with like tags and posts that this is happening as if Nintendo doesn't already know. Or, you know, the Pokemon Company itself, you know, either other stakeholders, Game Freak, etc.
you know, Studio OLM that, you know, was, you know, really produced kind of the original Pokemon anime, like in terms of animation. There's a lot of legality issues here, which reminds me of earlier this year where we had kind of the open AI Studio Ghibli apocalypse, where all of a sudden there was a bajillion Studio Ghibli, like, remakes, updates, AI art creations.
from OpenAI and know, Chatt TPT having access to, know, analyzing Hayao Miyazaki's artwork and creating a generator that can, you know, create that artwork on demand. You know, a lot of people question, you know, the legality of that and, you know, Studio Ghibli has always has just kind of taken hands back on it, aside from, you know, the US distributors of Studio Ghibli films commenting on the situation.
Jim Viscardi (11:23.764)
yeah.
Megan Peters (11:45.376)
Japan isn't kind of a weird place, especially right now with Pokemon and, you know, we seeing the kind of legality it's had with, Power World. so I truly have no idea. I would be shocked if anything comes out of this. I think the Pokemon company and Nintendo may just let it lie down. Regardless of what, how you feel about the politics involved here. But it is.
an uncomfortable position to be in, I think is the easiest way to put it.
Jim Viscardi (12:12.524)
Yeah.
Jim Viscardi (12:15.917)
100%. With that, since you mentioned it, we might as well jump into the latest Palworld news of the week. Because not to be upstaged by the Pokemon Company, the developers of Palworld said, we got, we got something. We got something for you.
Christian (12:34.208)
So, Powell World is releasing Powell World Powell Farm, which is now doing its own cozy farming life sim. It is just... It is basically what it sounds like. It is a, move to an island where the Pals, which are definitely not Pokemon, live, work together to till the fields, cook, craft, and build the farm of your dreams.
Howlfarm will also support multiplayer, so you and your chainsaw wielding not Pokemon can go and raid each other too. At least I assume that's what the point of multiplayer is, that this is going to be like a-
Jim Viscardi (13:14.735)
my God, there's a trailer and everything? It looks just like the game! my God!
Megan Peters (13:17.376)
Yeah!
Christian (13:17.524)
There is a trailer. It's very impressive. I will say, Pal-World's dedication to living in that thin gray line between copyright infringement and parody and whatever the heck they're trying to do, I...
Megan Peters (13:26.006)
Here's the thing.
Jim Viscardi (13:41.197)
my god, there is a scene in this trailer where one of the PAL people literally uses a chainsaw to chop down a tree and it falls on another one, squishing it. You have to see this trailer, it is bananas.
Megan Peters (13:53.27)
Look, that's that's the reality of the Powell World ecosystem. Look. My my conspiracy theory is that Powell World has been working on this for longer than the Pokemon Company has been doing theirs and then the Pokemon Company within their legal, you know, back and forth discovered somehow through discovery, learned this. They said and they said absolutely not in this world. Are you going to do this before we do? And they just said.
Christian (13:58.217)
Yeah, like I'm
Jim Viscardi (14:12.205)
that would make a ton of sense, Megan.
Jim Viscardi (14:21.963)
Because here's the thing. It looks really good. It looks really good.
Megan Peters (14:23.766)
We're done.
Megan Peters (14:27.776)
Yeah, no, like this power of game like Pal-Farm looks really good. And since I was not on last week, the PokéPia, that is going to be my obsession. And, you know, Pal-Farm also going to be my obsession now. This might be the thing that gets me back into it and makes me stop playing Hello Kitty, I lit adventure, which anything that takes me away from that game is just kiss. But I that's that's.
Jim Viscardi (14:37.907)
yeah, 100%.
Jim Viscardi (14:48.269)
Yes!
Megan Peters (14:54.42)
I have no basis for this, but this is my fun conspiracy theory of what if now it's just a back and forth game of what is Power World going to do next? We're get like Power World racing and then we're gonna get a poke. Like it's just, yeah.
Jim Viscardi (15:06.795)
We're gonna get Pal World Mystery Dungeon before Pokemon re-releases it.
Megan Peters (15:11.786)
Yeah, we're gonna get like all of these. Yeah, I mean, we are on the edge of like the like PAL World Puzzle League, like all of these things that I would, I mean, despite the, you know, the again, legality gray world of this, this is just wild.
Jim Viscardi (15:32.173)
Holy Christian, have you seen the trailer?
Christian (15:34.386)
I have not. I haven't had a chance to actually watch the trailer yet. I-
Jim Viscardi (15:36.309)
Okay, I just dropped it in discord. You need to just pull it up and just take a take a very quick look at it because
Christian (15:44.798)
Alright, well, let's-
Jim Viscardi (15:45.261)
I think I could because here's the here because here's the thing. I think Megan's conspiracy theory is probably right. There is no way that a game for a trailer looks this polished without like the Pokemon company discovering something through their lawsuit being like, oh no, we need to very quickly pull something together.
Megan Peters (15:53.536)
Look man!
Megan Peters (16:12.49)
Look, I'm just saying one of the games looks better than the other, you know, visually speaking.
Jim Viscardi (16:19.392)
I look, I wouldn't say that one looks better than the other. They are two very different styles, right? Like one is way more cozier and the other one looks like sons of the forest.
Megan Peters (16:22.134)
I
Megan Peters (16:30.412)
That's it. That is exactly the vibes I'm getting here as Sons of the Forest. That's it. That's the game. Thank you for bringing that game back into my memory.
Christian (16:39.208)
I didn't realize that they had made a Zatu... They had made a Zatu knockoff. Yeah, they're called PAL.
Jim Viscardi (16:43.5)
Azatu, what are they? Are they just called pals, Megan, in this?
Megan Peters (16:48.79)
Yeah, they're just your, they're your good old pals.
Jim Viscardi (16:51.372)
They're just your good old pals.
Christian (16:52.946)
I'm just, I remain continually impressed how many of these are just like brazen knockoffs of Pokemon. And, you know, I had hoped that maybe after a year of like copyright litigation, you know, there'd be, my God, I just, I just saw the, also we, we literally have a merchant playing Russian roulette. Okay.
Jim Viscardi (17:20.268)
You
Megan Peters (17:20.631)
Mm-hmm.
Christian (17:22.538)
There's a bomb of snow.
Megan Peters (17:25.728)
Here's the thing, they can't stop the direction they've taken or else it shows in a court, like to a court that they know what they were doing was wrong. They have to stay on this beat. They can't abandon this beat until there's no question left of, you know, whatever this legal process looks like. Then, then they will make some room for some originality.
Jim Viscardi (17:40.512)
Right.
Jim Viscardi (17:49.174)
It also looks like there's a wedding that happens in this trailer?
Christian (17:52.468)
Yes, they're definitely.
Megan Peters (17:53.278)
Look, if they're trying to be like Harvest Moon, then yeah, there's batch like, here's the thing. I will draw the line if Pal World lets you marry one of the pals. That's where suddenly things are going to get incredibly uncomfortable. we're going to have to have some sort of episode.
Jim Viscardi (18:02.097)
yeah, no, no, I don't. Yeah, you can't do that.
Jim Viscardi (18:09.036)
ash's mom and mr mime would like to have a conversation with you megan
Christian (18:13.086)
That, that, I was gonna say, that would-
Megan Peters (18:13.6)
Look, see, that's the thing, that's good, pull back the veil on Pokemon, then we have that conversation after dark.
Christian (18:19.028)
That would be the thing that would finally get some of the Pokemon fandom to abandon Pokemon for Power World. If you could finally marry Gardevoir.
Jim Viscardi (18:28.681)
If they could marry there.
Megan Peters (18:29.15)
they would. Absolutely. If they make it so that you can marry the Gardevoir knockoff and pal world, that's it. Sold. Done. We're good. Like that's that that's where all things are with things will be getting getting a little little little too weird for me. But, you know, again, I'm sticking to my conspiracy theory for absolutely no basis to it. But I'm excited to try both.
Jim Viscardi (18:50.476)
I mean, look, Megan, more and more sounds like a pretty solid theory, so we're gonna stick with it. All right, let's move along to, God, I still can't believe that pal holding a chainsaw is real.
Megan Peters (19:07.263)
absolutely, it makes Digibon a name.
Christian (19:08.286)
Yeah, you don't- you're shocked that the Sylveon knockoff holding a Pikachu- holding a chainsaw is real?
Jim Viscardi (19:09.226)
It's so-
Jim Viscardi (19:15.372)
I mean, it's just... It's so perfect. Like, no. Okay. Pokémon Lego leaks!
Christian (19:20.36)
It's literally Sylveon.
Christian (19:28.862)
Yes. So this is huge. So two parts of this one. First, we allegedly know what the 6500 piece set is going to be. It is not one, not two, but three Pokemon. The Kanto starters are each going to get their own Pokemon. So they're releasing three three Pokemon models and one box set. Yeah. So that's that's what that is. The second thing is there are allegedly
Jim Viscardi (19:50.172)
in one set.
Christian (19:57.857)
20 more Pokemon Lego sets coming out in 2026. And they are going to use the Smart Brick technology so that the Pokemon Legos can battle each other. if you have... So Lego, when they release the Super Mario line, the Super Mario figure is a Smart Brick. So basically it has the ability to read QR codes.
And when you jump on different pieces, like different characters or different like areas, it makes different noises and stuff like that. And it actually tracks on a Lego Mario app that you can put on your phone or your iPad or like that. So allegedly they are coming out with a similar kind of technology for the Pokemon ones to let you battle the battle the Pokemon.
Jim Viscardi (20:30.697)
yeah.
Jim Viscardi (20:55.232)
rate. So that means that that's just that's an easy way to say, Hey, we need to we'll add $20 to the to the cost of these things.
Christian (21:02.43)
Yeah, yeah.
Megan Peters (21:02.604)
I mean, just going to take the Mario method that they've been doing with all like the Mario releases.
Christian (21:08.35)
Yeah, well, the only the only difference, though, is is that allegedly each Pokemon model will get its own like smart brick. there there's the evolution and technology is, you know, originally it was just like Mario, Luigi. And I think they came out with a peach from and those were so basically they had these little figures. You can dress them up in the various costumes and.
Jim Viscardi (21:17.356)
Mm-hmm.
Megan Peters (21:26.326)
Yes. Correct.
Christian (21:37.502)
You know, but they only had like three of these. And this, you will be getting a Smart Brick with every Pokémon, allegedly.
Jim Viscardi (21:44.109)
Hmm. Are there now I haven't been keeping up to date with any of the Mario Lego sets, but are there mini figs that are that are in the Mario world or are they all build a model and that that's that's what you get.
Christian (22:02.036)
They are closer to build, so they're play sets. So you can build a Goomba, the Goomba will be like 10 pieces or something like that. So they're not, it's not like a Goomba minifig, it's more of a traditional figure, like, you know.
Jim Viscardi (22:06.08)
right.
Jim Viscardi (22:09.588)
Yeah, okay.
Jim Viscardi (22:15.05)
Right.
Jim Viscardi (22:18.55)
So do we think that's gonna be the case with Pokemon? Like we're not gonna get Pokemon minifigs?
Christian (22:22.782)
Yeah, yeah, they're they're gonna we already kind of figured that was going to be the case based on the fact that we saw like the Pikachu tail on the one trailer
Jim Viscardi (22:32.798)
Yeah, I kinda hate that.
Christian (22:37.012)
So it should be.
Megan Peters (22:37.259)
I do have to say this. Obviously we know that Mega Bloks has had its fingers on Pokemon for a while. I have to figure, I have no basis again for this, if the brand deal or licensing contract there is ending. Because when I went to Target the other day, every single Mega Bloks Pokemon kit was on clearance for like...
Christian (22:59.956)
Yeah, because maybe.
Jim Viscardi (23:00.102)
Megan Peters (23:00.962)
70 % off. So I bought all of the like Pixel ones so you could get like Pixel Eevee, Pixel Pikachu. I bought every single one of them. I bought the Pokedex kit. so I have just a crap ton of Pokemon Mega Bloks kits now because normally they were like 29 bucks, 30, 39 bucks. And I got the most expensive one I bought was $11. So that was great.
Jim Viscardi (23:19.561)
Yeah, you know, they were pricing.
Jim Viscardi (23:24.182)
Damn.
Christian (23:25.384)
Yeah, Mega Bloks is only allowed to sell Pokemon through the end of this year.
Jim Viscardi (23:32.46)
So they are just getting rid of them.
Megan Peters (23:36.03)
yeah, well I'll keep my eyes out for even more clearance items because that was, I have like, I'm looking at my stack, I just have a huge stack of like Mew, Eevee, the original starters, Pikachu, Pokedex.
Jim Viscardi (23:45.898)
God, I think I need to, I need to go try and find that, that geo dude one then I've been putting it off.
Megan Peters (23:52.194)
Mmm. Yeah, no now's the time now's the time
Jim Viscardi (23:56.91)
those pixel sets are pretty cool.
Megan Peters (23:58.816)
Yeah, so I'm gonna put them on the wall because you can hang them rather than just like set them on a desk. That is the plan. Anyways, for you guys. Look to see if they're on clearance because it's already starting in preparation for these Lego kits.
Jim Viscardi (24:06.733)
you know anyway.
hahahaha
Go look for him.
Christian (24:15.616)
Also, in related, not Pokemon news, they're apparently coming out with a new Legend of Zelda Lego set that's going to be Ganondorf's head.
Megan Peters (24:26.793)
that's weird. I don't-
Christian (24:28.136)
Yeah, it's going to be like a diorama of Ganondorf.
Megan Peters (24:30.922)
I hate those ones. I hate the ones that are like the head bus. They never look... Yeah, they always look...
Jim Viscardi (24:36.073)
Yeah, or when that are like supposed to be like models or whatever. It's like if I wanted to buy a statue, I'm going to go buy a statue. I don't need it in Lego form.
Megan Peters (24:43.104)
Yeah, like if I'm especially for the amount of money that Lego is charging for you to get that bust I would rather just pay up and do a first for figures or something
Christian (24:50.928)
excuse me, it is supposed to be an Ocarina of Time diorama featuring Ganondorf.
Megan Peters (24:59.018)
Okay, nevermind. Salt. Salt. Bring me down. Bring me down. Pre-ordered.
Jim Viscardi (25:00.173)
Damn Megan that went that went fast
Megan Peters (25:06.048)
See, very easily my mind will change when presented with correct information.
Jim Viscardi (25:08.973)
Mmph.
Jim Viscardi (25:12.416)
I didn't realize we had breaking news today.
Christian (25:14.996)
Yes, breaking news, breaking news. We got a first look at the new Mega Charizard X card coming to Phantasmal Flames. It looks like as if the Egyptians worshiped Charizard instead of cats.
Jim Viscardi (25:34.123)
instead of their own gods. Yeah.
Christian (25:37.579)
So it looks pretty cool. I'm actually a little bit disappointed by the special illustration rare version of Mega Charizard X, which shows Mega Charizard X about to eat a Charmander, it looks like. Yeah, and Charmeleon is also there. So Charmander is on its...
Jim Viscardi (25:56.077)
A Charmeleon?
Jim Viscardi (26:02.615)
He's also there.
Christian (26:05.312)
back with its legs spread wide saying, make a Charizard, eat me. And make a Charizard X looks like it's about to comply. But the gold rare card now, these are this new style of gold rare cards that they're putting out with, looks really freaking awesome. It's got Charizard.
Jim Viscardi (26:24.501)
Yeah, so it's like gold with the the color foil kind of set within the background is pretty cool.
Christian (26:29.972)
Yeah. Them switching to this style is so much cooler than, Yeah. Yeah. That's...
Jim Viscardi (26:38.209)
getting a full gold card. Yeah. Well, all right. So go on the lookout for that. All right, we got two more bits of news. First one is in polion is finally in Pokemon Unite.
Christian (26:54.282)
Yes, Empolion is in Pokemon Unite. That is the news.
Jim Viscardi (26:58.721)
Doh!
Megan Peters (26:58.978)
That's it. That's all you gotta know. Honestly, I hear so little about that game at this point that I continuously forget it currently exists.
Jim Viscardi (27:06.943)
I picked it back up the last time we had some big news about it. I thought I was like I was gonna be big mad because I didn't I wouldn't be able to figure out what the meta was. Turns out doesn't really matter. You can still play who you want and still have fun.
So.
Megan Peters (27:29.676)
Look, I'm glad, I am glad that there's still that fan base for it because good lord, I continually forget it exists up there with like Pokemon Masters EX.
Jim Viscardi (27:38.189)
Yep.
Christian (27:40.148)
How could you forget about Pokemon Masters DX? They do such a good job of reminding us it exists in every... every single Pokemon Direct.
Jim Viscardi (27:48.683)
Yeah
Megan Peters (27:49.472)
Look, the Pokemon Directs are not frequent enough to, to, to keep it fresh on my memory.
Jim Viscardi (27:56.492)
I still can't believe that that game exists and they cancelled Pokemon D-
Megan Peters (28:01.13)
Look, when they bring back Pokemon Duel, that might be the greatest day of Jim's life.
Jim Viscardi (28:04.493)
Really like my I will have the same experience Megan had when they announced the new snap game. Yep. Yep. So, so that'll be fun for me. I still I still have the icon like the the tile on my phone. I have not deleted it just in hopes that one day I'll get the the Hey update. Here's an update for it.
Megan Peters (28:11.308)
Correct. That'll be it.
Megan Peters (28:25.048)
god.
Christian (28:31.392)
To this day, I am shocked that we do not have some kind of Pokemon miniatures game. I'll say it again. They're coming out with a My Hero Academia miniatures game for crying out loud. Give us the Pokemon miniatures game. Let me build...
Jim Viscardi (28:43.925)
Is it like, is it gonna be like Pokemon Duel?
Christian (28:46.96)
The My Hero Academia? No, it's gonna be like Marvel Crisis Protocol. Where you build like small rosters of heroes and battle each other. They're coming out with a Gundam miniatures game. And so like, I feel like it's just a matter of time. Like, make a Pokeplob miniature game. Sell like hotcakes. Repeat. Yeah. Well, that's what Pokemon Duel originally was too.
Megan Peters (28:52.459)
Nah.
Megan Peters (28:59.425)
Yes.
Jim Viscardi (29:07.178)
you mean like a physical miniatures game. I thought you meant like a digital one.
Yeah, I know. But I want the digital one.
Christian (29:19.358)
Now
Megan Peters (29:19.668)
I don't have enough space.
Jim Viscardi (29:19.693)
Because those miniatures looked so good.
Christian (29:22.844)
and they would look even cooler if you assembled them and painted them on your own.
Jim Viscardi (29:28.543)
You
Megan Peters (29:29.152)
Look, I've seen what Warhammer can do to a person. I've seen. I've seen what they can do, what Star Wars Armada can do to a person. I can't go down that road.
Jim Viscardi (29:31.903)
hahahaha
Jim Viscardi (29:40.299)
Nope. Nope.
Christian (29:41.866)
So I have a fun Warhammer story, which is... Okay.
Jim Viscardi (29:45.324)
Although hold on before you do that, I would not mind if we got like Pokemon hero clicks. Like the whole like just just because of the whole the like blind box part of it and just like building a mini tiny army that would be fun. Because then you can like mix in Chinese and all kinds of fun stuff. Anyway, Christian, go ahead. You had something to say about war him.
Megan Peters (29:53.195)
Mmm.
Christian (30:11.136)
So my Warhammer story is, so for the past couple of years I get free Warhammer stuff and it used to end about... and they send so much Warhammer stuff it's frankly ridiculous how much Warhammer stuff they send and you know I have a backlog of Warhammer stuff to build now simply because there's so much of it so about a month ago they send out an email and they're like, hey guys
We're changing how the free Warhammer stuff gets sent out. We're going to be sending you less of it from now on. And, you know, my first instinct was, no, they're sending me less free stuff. And my second instinct was, thank God they're sending me less free stuff because there's just so much of it. I've gotten three emails today alone saying that they are sending me like 16 boxes worth of Warhammer stuff. And I'm like, if this was, if this is less.
What in the flying hell would they have sent under the previous program? Because it is ridiculous. It is absolutely ridiculous. There's my humble brag for the day.
Jim Viscardi (31:17.803)
That's kind of amazing.
Jim Viscardi (31:22.101)
Yeah, as I say, nice, nice low key flex Christian.
Megan Peters (31:24.162)
You're funding your own Warhammer economy at this point.
Jim Viscardi (31:28.013)
Ha ha ha ha
Christian (31:28.288)
At this point in time, I have like two thirds of about 15 different armies. Not quite enough for a single army, for any one army, but I have like, you know, maybe one more generation that'll turn over and release enough new miniatures in a line to send me the rest of these armies and I'll have enough that I can actually build. I have so many partial armies, it's ridiculous.
Ridiculous.
Megan Peters (31:57.938)
Look what the Pokemon Company is missing out on.
Jim Viscardi (31:58.19)
All right.
Ha ha ha!
Christian (32:01.854)
They too could be sending me free stuff.
Jim Viscardi (32:06.773)
Last bit of news is the Pokemon Go Tour is coming to LA.
Christian (32:11.124)
That is indeed the news. It's coming to LA and Taiwan. Yes. Which I'm a little bit surprised that they're going to Taiwan, to be honest. But then it's going to be in February. So it's February 20th to February 22nd in those locations. And then there will be the two day global celebration on February 28th. So the day after.
Jim Viscardi (32:15.082)
and Taiwan.
Christian (32:38.944)
Pokemon and the other thing is it seems like Pokemon Go Tour is abandoning like the cow like weirdly so I think we're up to like cow Pokemon Go Tour Kalos or something like that is where we're at in terms of like regions these past Pokemon Go Tours have focused on different regions there is no reference to a specific region whatsoever so they may be rejiggering how this is done
Jim Viscardi (33:02.573)
Well, the I mean, it sounds like it's going to be z related because in the announcement, it says we we're mega excited for what's to come and they might tell us size mega so it sounds like it will just be
Christian (33:17.473)
I missed that. It was very subtle.
Jim Viscardi (33:19.509)
Yeah, so very subtle. So subtle.
Nevermind.
Megan Peters (33:27.606)
Look, if it's so subtle that one of the fandom's pre-eminent Pokemon experts, Christian Hoffer, misses the note, it's maybe a little too subtle. Gotta say. Gotta admit it. Just throwing that out
Jim Viscardi (33:37.485)
I mean, I don't know. It was the first thing I noticed when we're clicking through the link.
gotta get on it Christian. This, the Pokemon Go website, I haven't been to it in a while, but like, it's pretty legit in giving you everything you need to know about this game. Like, it sorts the news really well, gives you information about like, you know, the seasons and kind of all that jazz. Like, that's a pretty, that's a pretty good website.
Megan Peters (33:49.782)
Here's the thing, I just love Pokemon Tour but also know.
Christian (33:50.388)
or no.
Megan Peters (34:17.09)
This is such a random question. Have people has has a major production company done like a documentary on the Pokemon Go craze the summer it came out yet?
Jim Viscardi (34:17.633)
to say.
Jim Viscardi (34:27.149)
God, no, but that feels like
Megan Peters (34:28.95)
Like I feel like that's a missed opportunity in so many ways. Like that's something I could see like being number one on Netflix for like a hot minute.
Jim Viscardi (34:35.147)
The title of it would be the closest we've come to world peace. The Pokemon Go story.
Megan Peters (34:37.972)
Yeah, like truly, like truly. Like I was just thinking about that because I watch like the movies that made us, the toys that made us, stuff like that all the time. I was thinking the other day, I was like there needs to be something that like is a documentary on that like three month period of like how the world was after Pokemon Go came out. Because like when I try to talk about it,
Jim Viscardi (34:46.295)
yeah.
Jim Viscardi (35:00.045)
I don't know.
Megan Peters (35:04.652)
to like my nephews who, I mean, they're younger. like they obviously were not like, yeah, like they, like I try to explain to them like, yeah, all this stuff is happening. They're like, really? That old game? Like trying to like explain it to them. Like I think that is a missed opportunity. Also, I would just personally love to relive some of the insanity that came about during that time.
Jim Viscardi (35:10.381)
It's like talking about a completely different time.
Jim Viscardi (35:19.33)
What?
Jim Viscardi (35:32.365)
God, I will never forget the amount of people just out and about and you could clearly peg that they were playing Pokemon Go, right? And just how absolutely friendly and welcoming everyone was.
Christian (35:46.932)
I just.
Megan Peters (35:46.964)
yeah. Unless you were trespassing on private property during that time, Pokemon Go was a great moment. And even then, during those couple of months, the people that had like Pokestops in their like private property would charge people to go on their private property to spend that stop. So like that's I just I hope we get one of those before too much. Truly. That's that's truly.
Jim Viscardi (36:01.727)
Jim Viscardi (36:10.13)
capitalism. All right, Christian, what's our Pokemon fact of the week?
Christian (36:18.016)
So we are to Pikachu and Pikachu's original design was like Daifuku which is a Japanese sweet treat that basically is a ball of mochi with a sweet filling inside and so Pikachu was originally Daifuku with ears and the black tips of its ears are actually a reference
Jim Viscardi (36:21.314)
Megan Peters (36:21.718)
We love.
Christian (36:47.53)
to this. The Daifuku, the black tips were actually a reference of the ears were actually a reference to like the mochi design.
Megan Peters (37:00.396)
I did not know that. That makes sense. Here's the thing. If we're gonna reference Pikachu after Daifuku, if that was kind of the original premise, it makes it even more of a shame that at some point in the Pokemon lore we had that Pikachu and we lost him. We lost him. And I'm not disparaging or body shaming Pikachu as he exists now. I am supportive of every creature's journey with-
Christian (37:02.57)
Yeah.
Jim Viscardi (37:19.489)
I know.
Megan Peters (37:30.304)
body but well how are we gonna model something after a sweet dessert and not keep them a little chubby? all I'm saying.
Christian (37:39.678)
Ozempic's a powerful drug, that's all I have to say.
Jim Viscardi (37:42.699)
was gonna say it.
Megan Peters (37:42.737)
I was about to say, I was hoping someone would mention that because the whole time I've been thinking like, like in the Pokemon world, are there like how we see like Ozipic commercials, drug commercials all the time in the United States, which doesn't happen really in many other countries in the world. Do those exist in the Pokemon universe?
Jim Viscardi (38:00.845)
No, see my so my my theory was before I was M pick became a big thing was that like the design is basically like, Pikachu just became one of those CrossFit bros. And that's, you know, that's why he's right. Yeah, exactly.
Megan Peters (38:12.738)
He like hooked up with Lieutenant Surge and like understood what CrossFit could do for him.
Christian (38:15.316)
And that's why.
Christian (38:19.962)
Those those stripes on Pikachu's backs aren't actual fur stripes. They're musculature lines.
Jim Viscardi (38:28.066)
You know, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, what is it, kinesiatic tape or whatever? That's what it is.
Megan Peters (38:30.795)
For his abs, his abs are forming.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's trying to keep himself together. Oh my god, that's amazing. I, yeah, no, I love that fact about Pikachu. We could stand to have him be a little chuvier. So I'm saying, so I'm saying.
Jim Viscardi (38:48.577)
Megan, since you weren't here yesterday and it's, you know, since we were talking a lot, not yesterday, last week, and we are talking lines, what are your thoughts on the two Raichus?
Megan Peters (39:00.418)
Look, I think it's a little gibbicky. I go, here's the thing. I've never really loved Raichu except for the Pokemon's association with Lieutenant Surge and their anime presence. I think, I think it's fine. I wasn't blown away by it. Like when they were teasing, there was this next like, you know, big announcement coming for ZA and it was just the Raichu DLC. I was like, well, that was a little bit of letdown. Could have been better. So I mean, I'm always excited when we get
You new presentation of new Pokemon, regional variants, know, evolutions, whatever, but I'm just kinda... I'm not gonna get excited until they give me my next Eevee. It's been years. It is literally, it has been literal, like five years. Give me my new Eevee. You're losing the young kids. They are losing it.
Jim Viscardi (39:40.3)
Yeah.
Jim Viscardi (39:49.165)
Here's a question.
Jim Viscardi (39:56.905)
If Raichu was an evolution of a different Pokemon.
would people like and accept him more? Like feel like Raichu gets a lot of hate because he's the Pikachu evolution and doesn't really look like Pikachu in that sense and like so people just kind of forget him because everyone loves Pikachu. But like if Raichu, if Raichu was inevitably the like, I don't know, like say Deidian, right? Like you didn't get the Deidian design, you got Raichu as a design. Would we like it better?
Megan Peters (40:33.89)
I would have to say my contrarian opinion is I just think right she is a fairly boring design to be honest as
Jim Viscardi (40:41.888)
See, kind of love, I love the tail. I don't like the ears on Raichu, but like I love Raichu's tail.
Megan Peters (40:45.474)
The tail is the only thing that saves it for me. The tail is the best part of the right to design. And so like my stance that I stand by to this day is that the only good right to you is an Alolan right to you because like there's there's more nuance and like character to that evolution and design. So like I have to say, I don't really think I think I think just by merit alone of it not.
Jim Viscardi (40:57.439)
No.
Megan Peters (41:12.37)
of Raichu not being associated with Pikachu in an evolutionary tree would make, would give Raichu an easier threshold or barrier to cross, but I still don't think it would be like a top favorite. So it would do a little bit of good, but not, not in a crazy amount, I would say.
Jim Viscardi (41:32.14)
Christian has no opinion.
Megan Peters (41:35.188)
No, think Christian is on board with my opinion of Alola's right to being the only good right to.
Jim Viscardi (41:35.75)
Christian's on. Whoops.
I didn't realize I had I had him on the tiny screen. No, I mean, like, again, right, like, I think it's one of those things where like, there are so many
I get like, is Pikachu considered a rat type Pokemon or like a mouse or whatever? Like there's so many of those that like, there's a bunch that I could just like forget, right? Cause I think like you've got,
Megan Peters (42:02.87)
Yeah, like a mouse, yeah.
Megan Peters (42:16.162)
There's like plus all and like minus and all of them.
Jim Viscardi (42:16.503)
Like a moga.
Yeah. yeah, like Puzzle and Men Minin. Like what are we even doing there? Like those should have been Pichu. And I always get confused when they're not. Like when there's... Or it's like, yeah, or it's just like, they're like, you know, it's like they're like Pichu's like stepbrothers in a sense. But like that, like that to me, like we don't really need those.
Megan Peters (42:28.788)
Right, they're like PQ's cousins, but they have no relations.
Jim Viscardi (42:46.635)
I also don't like I never understood like the toga tomorrow. Like I get why they're like, we need like an electric rat. So like they so they did that. But
Megan Peters (43:00.278)
Yeah, there's a good number of them trying to replicate the magic that Pikachu embodies. So, like, course Raichu cannot live up to that magic. That's just kind of inherent to kind of the problem of being related to such an icon, you know? But I do think even with...
Jim Viscardi (43:17.909)
Yep. But yeah, but like, we don't need parachute or a mullga. I do like more peco.
Megan Peters (43:24.662)
There's just too many. And Morpeko's more like a hamster, my opinion. Gerbil, kind of. The electric rodent trope, don't understand. And it's just continually trying to relive Pikachu's glory and-
Jim Viscardi (43:26.197)
yeah more peco is more like a hamster than than
Jim Viscardi (43:39.559)
yeah, it's trying to be like, can we get more, you know, can we capture lightning in a bottle? No pun intended.
Megan Peters (43:43.808)
Well, you know what captures lightning in a bottle? That's just an easy win. Another Eevee Evolution! Those things sell like hotcakes and you haven't given us an Eevee Evolution in a hot minute.
Jim Viscardi (43:49.005)
I'm
Jim Viscardi (43:57.57)
I wonder, but I feel like the reason we haven't is putting a new Eeveelution out there is one of those break glass in case of emergency moments, right?
Megan Peters (44:06.934)
The last evolution was Sylveon in 2021.
Jim Viscardi (44:12.673)
Yeah, that's still, that's plenty of time.
Megan Peters (44:12.756)
It's been four years. My nephews live in a world where they have never been introduced to a They don't have, they don't, they don't. And like, I don't fault him for it. My nephew loves Umbreon. And I'm like, imagine how you would feel if you were introduced to a Pokémon of your own generation. Like he's about to-
Jim Viscardi (44:17.325)
They don't have their own Eeveelution.
Jim Viscardi (44:32.863)
Okay, but there's that okay so but of the types that are left, what would you want to see the most?
Megan Peters (44:38.838)
Dragon.
Christian (44:41.086)
Yeah, Dragon Type EV for sure.
Jim Viscardi (44:41.717)
Really? Over... over Ghost?
Megan Peters (44:44.14)
Dragon is my preference for like the next one and then Ghost is right up there.
Christian (44:48.992)
But my question is about a ghost type EV. Is given that ghost types always have sad sack stories, do we really want to solid the EV brand with a sad sack story?
Jim Viscardi (44:58.967)
do we want?
Megan Peters (44:58.984)
Absolutely we do because this Eevee could tap into like the Korone kind of dark gothiness. A ghost type Eevee is the best combat to Sanrio's know rank.
Christian (45:07.274)
Like, I don't really-
Jim Viscardi (45:08.563)
Think of the merch that they could sell with-
Christian (45:11.232)
I really don't want an Eevee that's lost its mother.
Jim Viscardi (45:15.725)
No, but for Q, it's okay with Q-Bone?
Christian (45:19.584)
Yeah, mean, Cubone is what it is. I mean, they literally make plushes of Cubone crying at this point in time. Like, we don't need to sully the EV brand with like, you know, this EV actually eats children, you know?
Jim Viscardi (45:25.293)
It's true.
Jim Viscardi (45:32.845)
hahahaha
No, was just this is an Eevee that got lost and died in a forest somewhere. And so this is now this Eevee haunts graveyards or something. no, I think we lost Megan.
Christian (45:50.493)
Yeah, Megan's computer has died. Yeah.
Jim Viscardi (45:52.95)
she just blipped out. But but yeah, anyway. Maybe we'll talk we can talk more evolution stuff, what we need to see from z.
Christian (46:07.432)
Yeah, one of these next episodes, we'll do a ZA expectation episode because they're not releasing any more like new ZA content. And we're still like three weeks away from this game being released. So we need to, we need to come up with something to fill the next couple of weeks. Yeah, exactly.
Jim Viscardi (46:09.75)
next week.
Jim Viscardi (46:23.885)
Yeah.
We gotta get in on the spec, the speculation. So, all right, well, that is gonna do it for us today. If you have not yet already, if you wanna support the show, please head on over to iTunes and leave us a five star rating and a review. And if we read it on the air, goody goody for everybody.
Looks like Semantics did a second one, which is great. Thank you. And I thought I saw.
Jim Viscardi (47:05.911)
can't remember if I read this one or not, but this one is from Captain Hank.
Their prior podcast was a favorite of mine and I was really bummed with how it ended. I'm so glad this team is back. They have fantastic chemistry and a great style for Pokemon content. I'm so glad that I can continue to learn fun and frequently horrifying things about my favorite Pokemon during the Pokemon Fact of the Week segment. Definitely a a definite weekly listen for me. Love that. Thank you, thank you, thank you for that. And then like I said, you can go over to Spotify and leave us a review there or a rating there and then you can leave comments for the episode. Otherwise,
Get involved on the Discord. The Discord link is in the podcast description where folks are joining all day every day, which we love. then if you want to further support the show, we always are so thankful for our patrons over at Patreon. You guys help us make the world go round and make it a little bit easier to do this show. That's going to do it for us this week. Have all the shiny luck.
Catch all your favorite Pokemon in shiny form and we'll catch you at the time, same place next week. See you later, everybody.