The Pokémon Episode That Nearly Ended The Show... And Some Kids (All Fear Man-Eater Bug)

After over two decades, Pokémon is still one of the most successful media franchises of all time. However, early on into the success of the pop culture giant, one episode could have ended it all...
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Starring Karl Smallwood
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Filmed and Edited by Brad Rawlinson
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Original Article:
www.factfiend.com/pokemon-epis...
Sources:
kotaku.com/5757570/the-banned...
web.archive.org/web/200201250...
www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...
www.snopes.com/fact-check/fit...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_LaF...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/a...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%...
Videos:
Pokémon: The First Movie - Mewtwo Strikes Back (1998)
www.imdb.com/title/tt0190641/
Pokémon (1997 - 2018)
www.imdb.com/title/tt0168366/
Futurama (1999 - 2013)
www.imdb.com/title/tt0149460/
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 - 1996)
www.imdb.com/title/tt0131613/
Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
www.imdb.com/title/tt1772341/
Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995)
www.imdb.com/title/tt0112281/
X-Men: The Animated Series (1992 - 1997)
www.imdb.com/title/tt0103584/
The Simpsons (1989 - present)
www.imdb.com/title/tt0096697/
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)
www.imdb.com/title/tt2527336/
Images:
Images and Logos from, www.pokemon.com/uk/
Man-Eater Bug, www.yugioh-card.com/en/
Various Sonic Fan Art, knowyourmeme.com/memes/christ...
Screenshot from The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992 - 2014)
www.imdb.com/title/tt0103569/
Sonic, www.sonicthehedgehog.com/
Music:
"Two Finger Johnny" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

[@xixXxxXxix]

Please keep the Sonic Warnings recurring without mentioning the origin of them in future videos so future fans are like WTF!?!

[@HumanTypewriter]

no

[@the-aspiring-creator4249]

@@HumanTypewriter Why not?

[@HumanTypewriter]

@@the-aspiring-creator4249 in todays youtube climate that kind of stuff stops growth. It makes new people feel left out, like it's an exclusive club that they can't join. A part of the success of this channel is that you can come in now or 3 months ago and it doesn't matter.

[@RainOn2SunnyDay]

Bear studios i discovered this channel three days ago and now i just wanna watch all his vids in chronological order just because

[@papertroll1876]

I mean you’re kinda taking it out of proportion, anyone can laugh at random Christian sonic fan-art if it shows up for no reason, it’s not going to alienate people if they see an oddly decorated warning sign, but it’ll be a fun thing for people who have seen this video, not to mention you can go back and watch previous videos, it’s not like if you miss a video that’s it! You’re out of the loop! It’s more like a mystical time-travelling line

[@geolex9260]

Stop saying man eater bug Karl: i would, but *flips card* man eater bug

[@sentrywar2582]

"God said let there be light, Karl said Man-Eater Bug" I need to write that down and fucking frame it. beautiful.

[@HasHollow]

And pikachu was actually the one that did it. rip porygon

[@renaxakai3]

Mascot immunity. That is the only reason.

[@hakenbacker]

Plot armour

[@sandradermark8463]

coolkid gaming No. THE SOFTWARE PROGRAMMER (a bit character whom no one even cared to give a proper name) was the one who actually did it - and the NURSE JOY who summoned him also played a key part. Plot armour was given to the two of them because: Nurses Joy are fanservice fetish goddesses, while the poor guy who installed the antivirus is not even given a proper name! Yet the Porygon line were the ones who had to pay...

[@brandonporter8509]

Sandra Dermark add to that porygon’s name is in the episode title.

[@kjone5086]

Porygon isnt dead. He was actually realesed to the wild as seen with pokemon heroes movie. But the porygon-zero (the porygon team rocket stoled) might be broken/dead by this point since he was captured by team rocket.

[@Kai-ju1rz]

I can imagine Karl playing a game online and when someone does literally anything they get a text of a picture of a man eater bug.

[@blakeallen1057]

Consider this a warning *man eater bug picture* oh sorry mum

[@tomatoanus]

ayyyy the tattoo is getting its color. looks nice so far.

[@TheGhostOfSabotage]

It's colour! :P

[@bigmango202]

Tomato man appears

[@TheGhostOfSabotage]

@Aniquin I was making a British joke. Or do you not know what a joke is?

[@arand4]

Shiit, i used to collect pokemon cards, then yugioh and then for a short while magic. I prefer yugioh though

[@cthulhu759]

Why the Fuck i can't find out how tall that Karl guy is?

[@montyfranklin5681]

Man-Eater bug, man the 90’s has a weird meta

[@da_roachdogjr]

Who is that Pokemon? oh, it's Karl...

[@sebastianhart217]

Uh, actually it's "who's that pokemon" 😰

[@da_roachdogjr]

My version is different.

[@Saiyanryu]

Karl used "Man-Eater Bug."

[@Dafoodmaster]

wow. at some point in time thousands of people in japan went to their local town hall and sang to save my childhood.

[@SanzuRiver]

Dafoodmaster I didn't get to do that. :-:

[@Dafoodmaster]

@@SanzuRiver the fact you're sad about that proves you're a truly good person. I love you.

[@redlock1353]

Wish they would have JoJo'd Pokemon. New region. New protagonist. New opportunities. Just give them like the same cap and you're done. Or maybe just have the protagonist get the new pikachu related pokemon or variations on Pikachu. Aesthetic changes that to the average on-looker would immediately convey that they are indeed watching pokemon. It would make Pokemon feel like a generation spanning rite of passage, rather than a boy's quest to fail over and over again. You could even have some protagonists win and some lose the league. That would have been so interesting and it would have kept pokemon fresh for decades.

[@daltonwilliams1723]

Pokemon sun and Moon is getting really good reception. I'd try that series

[@NinjaTyler]

They we're gonna do that with sun and moon but didn't develop a character in time so they dragged ash back, X,Y&Z was going to have him finally win but because of S&M they changed the final episodes to make him lose out of nowhere so they could reboot him.

[@AlejandroRodolfoMendez]

dawn, serena and may were attempts but the fans wanted ash to continue.

[@mariobadia4553]

And get rid of their two mascots? That's never going to happen so......

[@oswaldpenny]

I mean there is a different electric rodent for every generation, that would have been great! with occasional references to the other trainers sprinkled in there.

[@Funloverparty]

I'm surprised you didnt mention how Porygon was banned from making and appearances after that episode even though Pikachu caused the seizures XD or how theres a theory Mimikyu is Porygon's ghost coming for revenge on Pikachu XD

[@pokenerd3340]

I know #BringBackPorygon

[@akumarajio2691]

two things that give me PTSD: Mirror Force and attacking into Man-Eater Bug

[@SakuraAvalon]

Well then. Use Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon to get over it.

[@blakeballinger171]

Or any targeting non battle destruction. Too many to go into now. Not saying its not strong just not god tier or anything.

[@TheMasterKrook]

This episodes existence always fansinsted me as a kid, and still fascinates me till this day. Happy you covered it Especially happy about the mad edit you pulled on the cap turn. Its like watching a budget Pokemon, but with facts nstead of pokemon

[@IronicCliche]

I want to believe that sonic Christian fan art is an attempt by the Catholic church to exorcise the Sonic fandom.

[@underscore.petrichoir546]

new headcannon

[@thejamman4070]

Jeremy Crow I may steal this joke.

[@lilyegg6185]

***It's failing***

[@supershadowfan2000]

Yes... Yes it is

[@NA-xx5tz]

Huh thought it was about Cris chan.

[@renaxakai3]

There is one thing I learned from this topic. I never knew about the fans singing the theme to get the show to continue.

[@joraforever9899]

In this episode: 40 percent Pokémon stuff 60 percent unrelated cool stuff

[@mismismism]

The secret, Pikachu killed Ash when he electrocuted him at the start and he's been stuck in purgatory ever since. Doomed to never actually succeed at anything ever or get older or actually learn how to battle correctly lol. Team Rocket beat him finally, he's officially in hell lol.

[@ahughes7792]

I didn’t even have to watch the video to know what this episode was

[@nunwithagun6775]

A Hughes same

[@oliverhees4076]

yeah if you know anything about pokemon, you'll probably know about electric soldier/warrior porygon

[@karleighelizabethlust4994]

I’d just been diagnosed with epilepsy when Pokémon came out. When people started talking about this episode in America, my mom made me stop watching the show until she heard that they weren’t playing this scene here. I had to watch Digimon😒

[@hakenbacker]

Haven't finished video so I'm playing Russian roulette, but because of this they have never shown porygon again, which was bullshit as the flash was by pikachu

[@riddledoodles1250]

Doctor tells me I just had a seizure: I play man eater bug

[@blast0isek1d37]

I'm literally choking right now. The intro is priceless. Thank you guys for bringing laughter and random knowledge to me every day. Fact fiend

[@starsignature4106]

22nd August 2019 Karl: They’ve condemned Ash Ketchum, the hero of the Pokémon franchise to this eternal quest that he’s doomed to never finish. 15th September 2019 Pokémon: *Makes Ash a Pokémon Master* Karl: *shocked Pikachu face*

[@SynthTechnic]

Who’s that Pokémon?! It’s a seizures!

[@thatonedudea]

the theory I like for ash never aging is ..in episode 1 he sees a ho-he and legend states who ever sees a ho ho has their greatest desire come true.. and ashes desire is to go on a great pokemon adventure,, and that's why he never ages or beats the elite four cause then his adventure would be over

[@djhunstiger]

I appreciate the seizure warning guys! My mom gets seizures and it was passed down to me so it means alot to me that y'all looking out for epileptics. I love y'all but I don't love y'all enough to have a seizure for y'all but I just might since you very possibly saved me from a seizure so... I think I now owe y'all a seizure? Is that how it works? Like you save my life I owe you my life? Save me from a seizure I owe you a seizure?

[@Yoda3455]

I'd take you on with my Blue-Eyes deck anytime Karl. Also, Man-Eater Bug, meet Paladin of White Dragon. He destroys face-downs without letting them flip and can be tributed to special summon a Blue-Eyes from your hand OR deck.

[@nightmareyacht4126]

Man, I remember the YuGiOh days. There was always that one kid that went on eBay and bought fake God Cards and thought they were the shit. Good times.

[@dragonkun15]

Karl would love the fact that a upgrade to Man Eater Bug was made called "Nobleman-Eater Bug", it's the same as normal Man Eater Bug, but it's Flip effect destroys two monster instead of just one. I built a simplistic deck made using both types. I don't always win, but I sure annoy the hell out of my friends by killing all of their monsters constantly. Friend: "Complex Rules! Syncro summon! 4000 attack points! You can't beat that!" Me: "Man-eater bug" Friend: (Visibly angry): "Fine, I monster reborn my trump card 'Captain Super Cool' that helps me summon 'Ultra Mega Death Beast'!" Me: "Nobleman-eater bug" Friend: "FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF~"

[@SharkyRMCA]

"I summon Exodia the Forbidden O-" 'Nobleman-Eater Bug' "...we have reached an impasse"

[@sword7166]

Oh so the flashy bit gets a warning, but out of the blue you drop in the saddest scene in the whole pokemon franchise? I'm crying now and it's totally your fault :P

[@reneerivers5570]

Grow up

[@sword7166]

Sounds boring, no thanks!

[@reneerivers5570]

Beacause the strobe lights caused seizures, crying doesn't make you sick

[@sword7166]

... You do understand that I was joking, right??

[@reneerivers5570]

@@sword7166 I know I was talking about your first comment

[@LuizFernando-ek9mh]

already knew about the Porygon thing, still watched because Karl talking about Pokémon is adorable also "God said Let there be Light Karl said Man-eater Bug Boom, no universe, done."

[@sherlockinvestigatesjapan8302]

Still have my Yu-Gi-Oh deck! Of course it has to be the "Seven Samurai". Time do duel Karl!!!

[@happiestaku6646]

Wait...150 went to hospital...150 original Pokémon... ILLUMINATI CONFIRMED!!!!!

[@shootingdragon0]

Should we tell him the upgraded man-eater bug

[@qww21wwed17]

karl..ur hilarious. brad...ur a master of ur craft. New american viewer but I've been watching these back to back and they are amazing. keep bein u, guys. thanks

[@pinkfeather1268]

The editing is so awsome in this episode. Good job Brad. And some great suggestions from Karl.

[@ikeidas7946]

The best part about the episode with James and his Breasts is when he taunts Misty by saying “Maybe when your older you’ll have breasts like mine,

[@Waynimations]

I’m surprised this episode is still talked about but I will always watch a video talking about it

[@Mekilo1994]

I'm watching you religiously I just can't get enough of you. You are awesome keep up the amazing videos and I can't wait to see you Friday man

[@Mekilo1994]

@@DizietSma69 yup same here lol XD

[@RobbieManic]

Thanos attempting to wipe out half of all life in the universe? *Man-Eater Bug*

[@Dragonclaude]

I really want to see a yugioh episode now from Karl

[@matthewfield5748]

Karl, I challenge you to a children's card game!!!!!

[@parasite159]

Karl, you're a man after my own heart, my old Yu gi oh deck ran 3 Man-eater bugs and 3 Old Vindictive magician's(exactly the same card only it's a dark/spellcaster)

[@BoredCo2]

Dude, even watching the clip at 0.25x speed, the flashing is still really intense! How did everyone in production think that flashing was OK?

[@devanysuarez]

I feel better about playing Yu-Go-Oh!😂😂

[@Meow_YT]

Oh no... wait... mine's not photo-sensitive.... years of "Oh wait... should you be watching this?"

[@elijahl4343]

I knew exactly what was coming from the thumbnail, but I had no idea of the true extent of this story

[@jose13neo]

“I’ve had 5 surgeries on my right knee” It was the right knee, right?

[@Zombiellectuals]

he said christian sonic.... I imediatly thought christian weston chandler. Dead

[@reecedignan8365]

Come on Karl, where’s the Video about our most respected Gunny R Lee Ermey and how he came to get his most glorious Role as Sgt Hartman? Come on man, you wouldn’t leave the good gunny without a video would ya?

[@shadyshadko3430]

This brought a smile to my face since I never actually knew about the background behind this but at the same time I knew just a little of the rumor mill about this legendary episode.

[@hamtier]

Brad's edits are on point, his skills are growing and i'm starting to wonder when he will use his gained ability for evil and very subtly mess with karl's recording to make karl look like a fool.

[@romansgamingempire3743]

Tip:you can just slow down the flashing color or black it out.

[@RabbiB0Y]

okay god I didn't get a seizure but it hurt my eyes, like seriously slow the footage down also it reminds me of how thunderbolt is depicted in the games, a black circle spazing out, also it was all English speaking episodes where the episode where gets the Taurus was removed

[@galarstar052]

is that how thunderbolt looks? cause i don't think it is. I mean i started with gen 5 so it might have been different

[@ThePhunkyPlatypus]

gen 1 thunderbolt was a black spazing circle, as was thundershock.

[@chao807]

God Dammit, you two. I was NOT ready for the Pokemon: The First Movie Scene, the feels, they be hurtin :'(

[@purplestonehenge4501]

oh my god stop making me love this channel even more

[@akatea7773]

Totally watch the whole video before making this comment

[@thatcoolguyeveryonelikes1273]

?

[@jlw9113]

Chris Chan sonic fan art > Christian sonic fan art

[@freedantheeternal]

I'm not photosensitive and that flashing still almost instantly made my head hurt. Who in the hell thought that was a good idea?

[@duckvirus2667]

Ty brad for outputting corners it makes my day

[@SecretSquirrelProduc]

Doesn't everyone already know this?

[@ocbee6175]

steven hall no

[@lukesick1]

steven hall known for years

[@tj843]

No

[@penguindog1799]

That intro just hit me with about a million waves of nostalgia, I haven't heard that theme in a long ass time!

[@projectmessiah]

This is one of those stories that I've know for years but only think about it when it get brought to my attention

[@Peppamaneee]

Well I learned I had epilepsy from this episode

[@blackderby80]

I have narcolepsy, and have never once fallen asleep during a fact fiend video.

[@rodrigorebollos]

I remember those! I kinda miss My Wave-Motion Burn deck... >Insert meme< "You can't eat my monsters" "If I have no monsters in my deck"

[@charliesimmonds6149]

Another great video. How did I know the minute I saw the video title that clips from the Simpson’s going to Japan would show up 😂😂

[@Kattlarv]

I still recall a scene in... can't recall which pokemon movie. But I was really touched by it, ironically more so than any other movie that entire year. And it was during a forest fire. You had multiple types of pokemon, but specifically: grass, bug AND grass/bug types that tried to save a... if I recall: You had a pokemon ranger that was stuck. And I just went "You're 4x weak to fire! Don't do it!" and it was a really emotional moment as these pokemon desperately tried to sand attack and other very ineffective moves against a literal forest fire.

[@chewviewleonardo6511]

*hears man-eater bug* Me: 'Cyber Jar' is a true annoyance...

[@kalashboi]

My college has ten or so people with ridiculously strong YuGiOh decks, and many more that are constantly getting destroyed by those ten or so people (I'm in that sad, depressed group). Thank you for revealing to me the power of Man-Eater Bug. I now have the ultimate power.

[@Goldendriger]

Hey Karl. Just want to let you know thanks to this channel i tried your Fried Beans from the beans wars episode. My life may never be the same again. The world must know of Fried Beans, My housemates are weirded out though.

[@rob.carrillo]

"God said 'let there be light,' Karl said 'Man-Eater Bug'"

[@geodude671]

That Raticate Ash got was actually pretty freaking cool; it knew Jump Kick, which is not a move that Raticate normally gets.

[@halquo905]

I'm amazed they didn't talk about lavender town. not even a mention. great video

[@j_0anna]

the thing about this video that i find the most hilarious is that you play the scene that caused literal hundreds of seizures at full speed, and then later in the captions you say that more people suffered seizures when the scene was rebroadcast at full speed in a news report.

[@YeahTheDuckweed]

I think my most emotional Pokémon episode was all about Brock, and he was nursing a Stantler but he had to release it. It was one of the most wholesome but also one of the heaviest episodes to me just because it was pretty real.

[@loganlabbe9767]

I had an incredibly frustrating gravity bind deck with man eater bigs and a lot of things that could attack lifepoints directly

[@HishUnderscore]

One of my favorite cards was soul absorbing bone tower, I get two on the field and now you can attack me and need to use an effect them off the feild

[@TheJMan1K]

I remember a friend sent streaks that was a bunch of flashing lights. I don’t have seizures but that shit low key made my eyes tingle.

[@angelaisacliche]

I love so so much that you actually referred to it specifically as 'photo sensitive epilepsy' and didn't act like flashing lights cause all people with epilepsy to have seizures. It's nice when people know what they're talking about and don't continue misinforming people, especially after the Incredibles 2 debacle. I also really appreciate your fun warning

[@aech0s877]

As an avid yugioh fan who still regularly duels TO THIS DAY, you gotta do an episode on the dark shit that the shadow realm and the graveyard represented and how dark it was for a kids show

[@jacksnexus2616]

Although, people speculate that because he saw the articuno or moltress whochever one he saw episode 1, he was given a wish and well, apparently this could have been his wish, to nevee have his journey end

[@TheBronyCraft]

This is your best damn episode man. Cheers

[@davemarx7856]

Running out of ideas eh? I'm surprised it took this long to scrape the bottom of the anime barrel. But your take on it and selection of details is interesting.

[@davevasquez5010]

Wait... so, the original Pokemon, sent 150 Kids to the hospital... Those 150 are the chosen ones...

[@utaatu4576]

I still feel like this was one of those things where children heard of the effects of a few and mimicked the epilepsy episode.

[@sparklelikeaghost]

I remember my dad brought me to see the pokemon movie in theaters. It was great

[@iowaman1126]

Karl I agree with you one hundred percent about the Pokémon movie, I shed some tears when I watch that.

[@chloek8561]

I love being part of the 90% of epileptics not affected by strobe lights

[@BigToastyCinnamonBun]

The intro lmao Love you lads

[@taterbean4722]

"We've got swearing, we've got drinking, and themes of a sexual nature." *pkmn* TRAINER SMALLWOOD wants to battle!

[@RapidRichu]

Karl there are so many cards in the game that can negate man-eater bug nowadays. Also there are monsters that can't be effected by monster effects or be destroyed by card effects.

[@prestongarvey1572]

The red color that flash's reminds me of a video of a cartoon scene of the inside of nuke exsplosion

[@Tasoq]

I kind of giggled that it was 150 kids going to hospital from seizures and now I feel terrible

[@elite5102]

So many years still yet i almost fucking cried over that scene from the pokemon movie

[@wutzit]

8:46 GotDAMN that bass guitar is killer!

[@VortexTraveller]

Fun Fact, later they made a more powerful Man Eater Bug card called Nobelman Eater Bug which when flipped lets you kill 3 monsters, but unfortunately it does require a tribute to bring out.

[@insomnifaxxwmaxx7244]

I too, am ready for a duel. Man eater bug is an awesome card. It is still part of my deck.

[@XYGamingRemedyG]

Absolutely floored to learn that Karl plays Yu-Gi-Oh. I would love to duel you!! 😍🤗