JimmyGlenn!!!

Kotaku.com posted a story about a mobile X-ray machine in Japan that is branded with Pokemon characters. The goal is to make x-rays for their younger patients (and potentially a Japan bound Gabe Grisalez) more fun.

I wasn't really aware of Pokemon's continued popularity in Japan.

Here, Pokemon, like so many things, was a passing fad that EVERYONE had some experience with. We all:

• had either Charizard, Bulbasaur, or Squirtle.
  
• Everyone expected Pikachu to be the shit (he wasn't).
  
• No one likes Metapod.
  
• And Mew and a some glitched character were the Pokemon equivalent of the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant. (To this day I still hear about the various lengths people went to obtain the coveted 151st Pokemon!)

For me, Pokemon fits between Pogs and Power Rangers in the alphabetical catalog of my youth , chronologically I think the Tamagotchis are it's closest companion-trend.

I am not, and never have been, as obsessed with beating video games to their full potential as most of my friends. In the case of Pokemon: I got the badges, I got a decent amount of shit in my pokedex, I KICKED GARY'S ARROGANT ASS!, and that's where it ended for me... I may have gotten a bike of some sort.

From Penny-arcade.com

I know. I know. I am sorry Pokemon enthusiasts, I decided very early on that I wasn't gonna "Catche 'em all." I wasn't gonna suffer thru battles with Metapod and Weeblo or whoever the fuck, so that I could evlove them into Awesome-Blossum or whoever. I don't have the patience for such things, and in the case of video games I prefer linear, somewhat mindless gameplay. Anything more and I get overwhelmed by options... (YEAH I'm lookin at you Everquest, GTA, and WOW). If I didnt have to catch them all to beat on my nemesis Gary (ooohh Gary you Douche-Bag), I wasn't going to. To me, some Pokemon were not meant to be caged...

As an aside, I'd like to discuss diglett and dugtrio... This is something that has bothered me since I was a kid. If I am hanging out, and then two friends meet up with me. I am not an entirely new fucking organism! This was the most flawed logic ever!

Charles Darwin you are not!



Ok now that that has passed...

At somepoint Pokemon was a giant amongst men in the realm of consumerism, we had card games, video games, cartoons, happy meals, and actions figures. People went to tournaments (Gabe, at 17, probably kicked one of your little ten-year-old cousin's asses at that time). For the most part, Pokemon's time has passed (unless you are Gabe).

It's cool to hear that Pokemon still is apparently relevant in Japan. The company that produced the Poke-X is slated to make 30 others to be distributed throughout Japan, so I guess kids there still are pretty familiar with the series. I think that's cool. I am glad that that piece of my childhood hasn't completely disappeared. Maybe they will make a new game that will sweep the nation when my kids are around. Who knows...

-Meowth that's right!