We Preserved Pokemon's Biggest Failure

[@Bunni89]

I did not expect "and the artist who designed Todd Snap was literally a rockstar leopard furry"

[@melvinshaw7574]

Unexpected yes, but somehow I'm not surprised. I honestly always expect the weirdest of the weird to come up when you dive into early Pokémon. It's the sort of franchise that we've normalized too much to realize is extremely weird upon observation and thus logically needs the weirdest people to bring it to life.

[@denis2381]

Imakunu or whatever the Name was is weird too

[@Solaceon]

​@@melvinshaw7574this is honestly why Bill is my favorite. Early Pokémon's take on him was WILD.

[@Tothro]

I know that's a funny factoid but it is known among the chronologically advanced part of the furry fandom that a siezable part of the early animation industry was what kickstarted furry cons.

[@coreyander286]

Benimaru Itoh wrote the _Star Fox_ comic, in which a female fox OC finds Fox McCloud's dead mother's flowing gauzy dress in Fox's hideout and wears it herself. Fox walks in, sees her in it, and is elated to see how much his girlfriend resembles his dead mom. This is also pivotal to why Andross is defeated in the finale. Andross was murderously jealously in love with Fox's mom too, and loses coordination with his other clone who did not inherit the same lust for Fox's mom once he sees Fox's girlfriend dressed like Fox's mom. One can only imagine how Itoh felt about Krystal a decade or so later.

[@eXiLe824]

I can only imagine how bored and disgruntled the illustrator must have been when he submitted that "find Ninetales" strip lmao

[@KathyHarrington]

To say nothing of the Find Doduo, Find Raichu and Find Magmar strips.

[@yllruk13]

im wondering if they were made because adults wouldnt know too much about pokemon going into this, so making it easier for them to see it made it easier for them to remember?

[@JusticeForPottsvilleMaroons]

"They weren’t funny or entertaining" I mean, that's like 90% of all newspaper comics anyway

[@ArchOfWinter]

That's true, but they are endearing and cute. Most people probably don't laugh at Peanuts or Garfield, but look at how much merch they sell each year. The Pokemon artworks aren't even cute! At the very least they could have done was to make reader want to buy a Pikachu plushy.

[@1colonelsanders]

@@ArchOfWinter They were a lot cuter than charlie brown and garfield imo.

[@DarkOverlord96]

I'm Argentinian so I vehemently disagree.

[@tguit-fiddler5692]

for real though, I was thinking they captured newspaper comic strip humor very well lol

[@digitointi3223]

@@tguit-fiddler5692 Yeah. None of these examples are horrendous. I got smile out of them. Mom ones were good.

[@normalichu]

Based on what you guys said, it looks like the writer didn't know if they were making a kids comic or an adults comic, making it boring for everyone. Also, it certainly looks like they were trying to be the next Peanuts, but Gerard Jones is just not as good as Charles Schulz was.

[@PicketPolecat]

"This was made for kids, right?" "I don't think it was made for anybody"

[@hisaceinthehole3426]

Honestly, the way that gerard wrote it, i dont think he even cared.

[@clairebit]

The connect the dots is supposed to be a sitting Meowth, like the art on the jungle tcg card

[@videostash413]

yup, these video makers are fools

[@evanseifert8858]

No way I was seeing that.

[@Ihartwalrusguy]

I feel like Mario would make a better Newspaper strip than Pokémon.

[@tk-5764]

Man I wish this was a thing

[@SnepperStepTV]

I swear there already has been a Mario newspaper comic from around the SNES days. For what its worth, that era is definitely the better era to have a Mario comic, it would be worse than Family Circus if it were made in 2024.

[@WolfSaviorZX]

They could have had Super Mario-kun adapted to a 4 panel comic and it would have been great.

[@Kamiyouni]

Both tbh

[@zobblewobble1770]

⁠@@SnepperStepTVI saw on Vinesauce’s channel that there were some forgotten Mario comicbooks from the 90s. I wonder if that’s what you were thinking of.

[@bennyshores8979]

I remember finding this in my local library as a kid. I think I enjoyed it because I was obsessed and hungry for any Pokémon content. The funniest part about it, I'm pretty sure I was the only one who checked it out because it was always available and none of my friends knew what I was talking about when I mentioned the Pokémon comic, no, the one for newspapers.

[@blackjam_alex]

A legendary artist is dying from cancer. The Pokemon Company: How can we profit from this situation?

[@wilbo_baggins]

Welcome to big companies.

[@psychokinrazalon]

Welcome to corporate capitalism.

[@S3anyBoy]

​@@psychokinrazalon can just say capitalism

[@pableitor2009]

Nintendo: "Am I really going to defile this grave for money? Of course I am!"

[@Orangeninja5000]

That's capitalism

[@xJC4Rx]

The idea that Pokemon thought to themselves "Hey, this very important beloved man is dying, let's use this as a marketing opportunity" feels very sociopathic to me.

[@kenirainseeker539]

Welcome to capitalism

[@Ultimate_Charizard]

Business is often cruel. Stephen Hillenburg, the creator of SpongeBob, was adamant that he didn't want SpongeBob to have any cheap spin-offs made. Nickelodeon announced one less than three months after he died.

[@saschaberger3212]

First day?

[@geomaster9409]

Don’t like it to but it’s a failure and failed as is

[@doctormatthattan]

It’s very on brand for them

[@johnsimon8457]

In my local paper they just re-ran selections from 50 years of old Peanuts strips as "Classic Peanuts" after Schultz's death. Those Gen 1 days were weird, man.

[@monstersociety3360]

Oh, tons of newspapers still do that "Classic Peanuts" thing. It's a very self-destructive thing for newspaper comics as an industry to do that because it doesn't give newer comics writers a chance to rise in popularityl. There's also "Cathy Classics" "Foxtrot Classics" "Back to B.C." & a fistful of others. It's like, jeez, those were good comics for their time & all, but give new writers a chance to shine! And the entire newspaper industry is all like "No, our demographic is mostly old people who are used to seeing this sort of thing in their morning paper every day & they'll be super upset if they don't see it!" Seriously, it's really awful.

[@Vulpas]

Gen 1 days were the best of all

[@KasumiKenshirou]

Same with my local paper. I had no idea this Pokemon comic strip even existed. It would seem newspaper editors took a look at it, thought it sucked, and stuck with Peanuts reruns instead.

[@navi5661]

I caught Azumarill and Granbull in some of the comics, so apparently this is some unseen gen 2 transitionary weirdness rearing its abyssal head

[@leonro]

​@@navi5661Yeah, this all happened in the 2000s, when gen 2 was around. The gen 1 pokemon were just better known due to being around for longer, which is also a more general issue with the series. The anime also didn't start doing the generational reset around Ash's company and the pokemon either.

[@LamanKnight]

I've been reading through this comic archive, and thus far only one comic has made me chuckle: [Ditto has been transforming into other Pokemon for the past few strips. Currently, it is transformed into Squirtle.] Squirtle: Don't pretend to be someone you're not, Ditto! There's only one way to be happy! Just be yourself! Ditto: You're right! [Ditto stands there doing nothing, still appearing like Squirtle.] Squirtle: Uh... what are you doing? Ditto: Just what you said... I'm being YOURSELF. The only other one that has really made me smile is the first one when Ash puts on his Halloween costume. It's like a bizarre version of Mimikyu, over a decade before that Pokemon became a reality. Other than those two "shining" moments, it's been kind of uncomfortable to read some of this comic strip. I get the feeling the author was in a very miserable stage of his life while he was writing this stuff, and some of that bleeds through into the subject matter. ...Still, it's been mildly interesting so far. I'm going to keep reading these through to the end.

[@princesshannah7]

I've heard stories about corporate greed backfiring before but "pouncing on the comic strip void left by Charles Goddamn Schulz the minute he dies" is certainly a new one on me 😬 (Also y'all are troopers with these translation/preservation videos, we appreciate all your work 🙏)

[@boxylemons7961]

Yea not even I expected the pokemon company would do this

[@jsan2548]

The strips featured in this video feel more like cousins to Doonesbury or Calvin & Hobbes than an attempted Peanuts replacement.

[@PIKMINROCK1]

It was taking Peanuts' literal place in the newspaper as in the section in comicss

[@stephenfiler3204]

The art style even looks like a fusion between the two and Zitz.

[@ArchOfWinter]

I agree! Should have just leaned into the cuteness and mundane situations. Continuous storyline in newspaper comic was the worst idea ever. The goal should have been make the Pokemon world look cute and endearing to adults without any complicated in-universe jargons. This way adult might buy a Pikachu plush because they think it's cute, just like a Snoopy, or be more willing buy whatever Pokemon toys their kids want to get.

[@jsan2548]

@@PIKMINROCK1 Oh, for sure. I’m just focused on tone/style.

[@thekiss2083]

Hey! Don't drag Calvin and Hobbes into this.

[@TBoneTony]

10:50 This is the Pokemon version of "This is fine" meme.

[@marc-antoinepepin8908]

It was ahead of its time

[@mariokarter13]

1. My name is Brock and today we're gonna make some delicious doughnuts! 2. You start by putting rice in the rice cooker. 3. ... 4. Hey wait a minute.

[@benraven9087]

Okay now THAT would've been funny!

[@DarkNia64]

Someone should draw this

[@Dremag_Gaming]

Guessing later on, he'll be talking about not forgetting to take your "drying pan" in case it might rain later.

[@StudioInkblot]

​@@benraven9087too much inside knowledge required, especially for that time

[@DarkOverlord96]

@@benraven9087 Problem is, there was *NO WAY* a comic strip from the early 2000s would've made a 4Kids joke like the ones everyone makes today.

[@NinjaxCad]

oh my god i remember this comic in the detroit free press. nobody ever talked about it so i assumed it was a weird local artist that had a tenuous relationship with copyright law? they were not great and even my 12yo self could tell they were mega cheesy

[@melskunk]

It really LOOKS like a lot of the borderline bootleg stuff of the era. When they said an official artist did these I was kinda shocked.

[@Vulpas]

@@melskunk I was shocked it was an actual Japanese artist.

[@AkuTenshiiZero]

Same, I thought this was just a local thing because literally nobody has mentioned it until today. I knew it wasn't something I imagined, my memory of it is too clear for that.

[@karatemaster1144]

DUDE, I read it in the Detroit Free Press back in the day too. Regardless of quality, I just liked it because it was Pokemon.

[@GamingintheAM0801]

That thing about adults absolutely hating the comics checks out. I was a Pokémon kid in 2000, and every adult I knew absolutely despised Pokémon -- either because they were whack-jobs who thought it was the work of Satan, or they were just sick and tired of hearing their kids constantly talk about it.

[@gothnerd887]

I often wonder if Nintendo made Yokai Watch to make fun of religious wackos. "Our game is banned in the Middle East and Bible Belt America because they think the pokemon are demons? Let's take the piss out of these gaijin by making a game with *actual* demons. Let's say it's educational so no-one will want to ban it"

[@jellojiggler1693]

I feel like if most adults hated it they wouldn't have gotten the games and merch for their children. Its the biggest media franchise and their most rapid growth was pre 2001.

[@GamingintheAM0801]

​​@jellojiggler1693 I mean, if the only thing your kid asks for for Christmas is Pokémon stuff, what else are you gonna do? My parents thought Pokémon was the dumbest shit on Earth, but they still bought me the games/movies/toys when I asked for them. It's a very common phenomenon for people to hate something *because* it's popular. Most parents hated Barney the Dinosaur too, but that didn't stop it from being popular.

[@sion8]

​@@GamingintheAM0801 Until the day my dad died he hated Barney. I don't know why, but he hated it.

[@coreyander286]

@@sion8 Barney was communist indoctrination. Notice how suddenly everything is "woke"? Barney.

[@bannanateam]

"Well, I guess we won't be seeing you in the funny papers anymore" - This cracked me up so hard I can't believe his expression and that smirk in his face lmao

[@glitchz1]

From the title, I thought it was going to be the short lived Pokemon stage musical

[@keip4568]

I really wanted to see the lost & discarded existential dinosaur movie...

[@TheCrispyChip]

I feel like that's the first thing everyone thinks of though it's pretty known at this point

[@brianmoyachiuz905]

Same here 😂

[@jackwilliams801]

I still remember seeing Pokémon Live as a child. Only piece of merch I still have of it is the CD soundtrack. The Giovanni song is still a bit of favorite.

[@glitchz1]

@@TheCrispyChip Yeah but its super poorly preserved. The pro shot fell through and the only recording is a bootleg by the director filmed all the way from the back. I figured they might have found a new bootleg or perhaps a proshot from the south American version of the show.

[@JoshuaOdionson]

15:35 "We could have reached out to him for some behind the scenes info like we usually do in our videos, but this time, we're good" Yeah, id agree on this one.

[@psychokinrazalon]

“Because doing time doesn’t matter in the court of public opinion.”

[@kenirainseeker539]

@@psychokinrazalon Just because he did his time and is free now, doesn't mean anyone is obligated to talk to a pedophile

[@sonder420]

You might say pedophiles shouldn't be defended.

[@psychokinrazalon]

@@sonder420 Murderers?

[@DJIVision]

@@psychokinrazalon more like "Distributing lots and lots of child p**n means I don't wanna talk to you." Not in the court of public opinion. In my opinion, the guy who wrote this video and didn't wanna talk to him. You wanna be pen pals with the guy, go right on ahead.

[@Ultimate_Charizard]

I know about this series solely because the Bulbapedia infobox for Ash's Pokémon has a section for Pokémon he owned in the newspaper strip.

[@EmoryIllustrated]

"We very much want to put out good content, but we don't have time. We don't want to miss this window of opportunity" I feel this quote may have been a warning for the series as a whole...

[@aliceporter6239]

“Here are 3 storylines to give you an idea of what it was like, ash preparing for a battle and losing, misty badgering ash for a Valentine’s Day, and brock BEING INCREDIBLY HORNY”

[@60UGH]

it's so crazy to me that someone at Pokémon heard that a beloved comic artist was dying and immediately thought of ways to profit/take his soon vacant place.

[@vixxito]

Welcome to Capitalism!

[@thecianinator]

You literally cannot get a job as a marketing director if you don't think that way

[@gunstar168]

@@vixxito True, there should be NO replacement to a beloved comic. In fact, once all the bread is gone..I mean all the comic strip writers pass away, we should start forcing people to make the (a) comic for us!

[@mikeey6804]

​@@vixxitoPokémon is the direct result of capitalism.

[@TheRealAmericanMan]

I mean… it’s no more unfunny than the average newspaper comic to be fair

[@monstersociety3360]

I wish I didn't have reason to agree with this statement as much as I do. Literally, this is the embodiment of that meme "Never have I been so offended by something I absolutely agree with." Not that what you were saying was "offensive" per se, but yeah, the Newspaper Comics industry really sucks.

[@Vulpas]

Agreed

[@vvlaze]

Calvin and Hobbes & the Far Side are really the only strips I’ve enjoyed much, and that’s almost purely because I got to read books of them all printed out. A lot of stuff in papers is just… nothingburger.

[@gamerman1458]

Top 4 newspaper comics #4 peanuts #3 the far side #2 pearls before swine #1 Calvin and Hobbes

[@jellojiggler1693]

Glad someone is saying this. That's very average humor for an American newspaper comic strip. I feel like the people at this channel haven't read many of them?

[@KyvannShrike]

They're all pretty bad but tbh the vulpix one where Brock was practicing lines on her was pretty funny IMO.

[@CathodeRayKobold]

I like the one where Pikachu murders Santa Claus.

[@Innuya]

@@CathodeRayKobold your pfp is so cute!

[@boxylemons7961]

I'll admit I kinda smirked at the one where Ash's Charmander burns the curtains. Probably moreso because of my own sense of humor than the actual punchline though.

[@deadheat1635]

Yeah I'm still laughing from that one

[@effyelvira]

That Kadabra chilling during the arson comic is HIGH ART

[@mikistrawberri]

That's so weird, I used to read the newspaper comics (as a child) a lot back than and never even seen it.

[@KasumiKenshirou]

Your paper probably didn't carry it. Mine didn't. My uncle came to visit from another city and brought a newspaper with him which had a bunch of strips my local paper didn't have, including a Simpsons one. My paper didn't replace Peanuts, but just reran the old ones.

[@AntFaiellaArt]

Same!!

[@Thekinggamelon]

Boy, never thought I'll see these strips again after many years. I remember seeing them on an old magazine we used to recieve every Saturday through the newspaper line we were once subscribed to. Back then, I found it amazed to see a popular Nintendo franchise adapted to the comics, and this was before I discover they did the same with Metroid, The Legend of Zelda and even Star Fox. Then after they disappear, always wondered what happened, and well, decades later, now I know. Still, glad this was archived.

[@mightyfilm]

Other than a couple odd creative choices, I really can't blame this for being anything else than a bog standard comic strip. Not all of them are Calvin and Hobbs, not all of them are Far Side. Hell, not all of them are even Garfield back in its heyday or as oddball as Heathcliff is now. At best, you'll get a small chuckle worthy slice of life observation from a talking animal, or talking baby, or something. At worst, you'll have something where the guy is so creatively bankrupt, they take audience submissions and just scribble something based on it (cough cough Pluggers). It could have been funny if it was written by someone who knew the ins and outs of Pokemon and could put some inside observation Pokemon humor. But then again, who is that for? Adults at the time only thought Pokemon as a dumb fad, and I doubt any kids at the time were as avid comic strip fans as I used to be at the same age. Then again, there was a weird TMNT comic strip, and that seemed to last a while being done in house at Mirage.

[@EnzoDraws]

"Sadly, the creator of Charlie Brown was dying... So the corporate leaders saw an opening and got together to take his place" bro this sounds so grim 😭😭😭

[@geomaster9409]

Didn’t like it to but it deserves the failure so they’ll never do it again

[@Kateshi]

Not gonna lie, despite the awful "unfunniness" of the strip, it does have some interesting creative ideas. The Original Series protagonists on a more "real" setting like an school, the philosophical Metapod and even the dynamic between Delia and Ash's Pokémons, actually seems like funny scenarios for an self-contained comedy about the Pokémon world. Too bad it was in a format that it just simply wouldn't work. It's was more appropiate for an American cartoon from that 2000s era. And, as someone already said, I also think that Mario with his extended world (Donkey Kong, Wario, etc.) and I dare say Animal Crossing, are more fitting for a comic strip. However, can we talk about for a second about how morally and ethically dubious is that TPC and in no small part its three thirds (Nintendo, GF and specially Creatures) actually wanted to take Schultz's place in the comic strip world when they learned that he was about to DIE? And even worse, that they rushed the strip when it was announced that he passed? I don't know people, but that seems too scummy for me. Although, he did already announced his retirement in advance, and his very last strip (a farewell Sunday strip) was published the very day AFTER he died. So, who knows, maybe TPC wanted his place when his retirement was announced.

[@jpcsdutra]

It half feels like jokes that could have come from The Golden Boys or Electric Tale of Pikachu in Japan; but I'm positive they thought a comic of their own like that in America would absolutely flop. It could probably have worked fine if the whole premise was "adults trying to understand kids" as in "Delia fails to understand what Ash likes so much about Pokémon". Then it could have been incredibly relevant and even have evolved without using the creatures as a crutch because it would speak of a generational gap feeling in human condition. It absolutely backfires because this was corporate saying "make more money" instead of "here's a good idea"

[@Kateshi]

@@jpcsdutra Yeah, also, a Pokémon comic book would be neat, specially considering the amount of artists and writers that are fans that can make a Pokémon comic in so many formats (adventure, comedy, etc). Or heck, Nintendo comics in general. Nowadays that both Nintendo and TPC are very open to this kind of things, it's actually weird that they hadn't approached a publisher.

[@monopolyrubix1875]

Peanuts has humor, but it's not what makes the comic. What made Peanuts great was that it had heart. Something like this, manufactured by a corporation and expected to succeed, is the antithesis of Schultz's Peanuts. It was doomed to fail. R.I.P. Mr Schultz.

[@adam_dangelo]

Already knowing about Gerard Jones as a DC comics reader, I shuddered when his name was first brought up here!

[@ninjaconsultantsixshot]

It’s a shame that a book like Green Lantern Mosaic, an important part John Stewart’s history, can never be reprinted because of Jones.

[@Danielruni]

Same, I mainly know about him from his Dragon Ball localization which is still sadly used today despite his crime & quality of the localization definitely being questionable in places

[@StudioInkblot]

Yeah same, I spent the whole video waiting for that shoe to drop

[@elliot.6995]

I like that the Metapod in the strip you spotlighted at 8:58 is in front of the comic: it's ambivalent even about which panel it ought to be in.

[@KeyBlade447]

Why does this video give me vibes of a Defunctland episode

[@mindwarp42]

Because Pikachu could have known all of our sins just like Garfield if this hadn't flopped? 😂

[@videostash413]

because plaigarism

[@virgilepiaux150]

Not enough Michael Eisner

[@someguy0987]

11:13 That one wasn't THAT bad. No worse than other Comic Strips are today. 12:38 DID YOU KNOW? Meowth didn't always stand up. Most art of Meowth before the Anime got popular, had them in a sitting position as the Meowth seen with Team Rocket was not the norm and in fact quite different. Even other Meowth in the Anime walked and sat like cats did.

[@littlefox_100]

Meowth still walk like normal cats in the anime as far as I know!

[@Compucles]

Yeah, "Go West, Young Meowth" made it a point that Team Rocket's Meowth not only learned to talk like humans but also to walk like them.

[@memisserna8128]

“But uh this time.. we’re good” lol

[@jacobsfitnessladder285]

It was ill timed. With peanuts, people grew up with Charlie Brown.

[@andrestapia1493]

4:13 What EarthBound comics?

[@class3pwr]

Nintendo Power used to have short comics printed in it. Earthbound was one.

[@andrestapia1493]

@@class3pwr Yes, I know about those, I have the Mario ones. But I don't ever recall there being EarthBound comics.

[@laslosermcuseless1574]

I think they cover the whole game from what I've seen from them. Ashura benimaru also designed most of the characters for earthbound 64 before that was cancelled

[@bombasticbeegirl]

Benimaru Itoh was the artist and writer behind the manga "Mother 2: Giygas Strikes Back: Ness's Adventure Memoirs"! It was fully translated years ago (unofficially, of course) and I'd highly recommend it.

[@coreyander286]

(Wow. He doesn't know about the EarthBound manga!) (What? Really? How embarrassing!) 🗣🤭

[@the1doctorwhat]

I feel like a few of the old "Brawl in the Family" strips got that sunday newspaper vibe these guys were going for.

[@StudioInkblot]

And we're actually funny

[@matsu8518]

Im shocked someone is actually talking about this or even remembers this. Sadly i'm one of those odd people who has some kind of ' nostalgia' for the comic since i remember reading through my physical copy that my parents brought me. Even as a kid i found it kinda odd, like i don't remember if i found it funny but it stuck out to me as strange and a weird product. Like it didnt match any of the other pokemon media i had. I dont even remember if i found it funny, but i did find it fascinating. I did somewhat enjoy the artstyle though (i still like how Pikachu is drawn) and i'm guessing it stuck in my mind because i immediately knew what this video was about from the thumbnail. I dont even know how i found it online in the first place or why i asked my parents to get it. It remains in a strange part of my mind that every once in a while I'll remember it. As mentioned in the video, it's not widely mentioned or talked about so its just something that i think about every once in a while. I still have it though, probably rotting in storage. Sometimes when im sorting through my stuff i restumble upon it but never feel the need to take time to flip though it. Maybe next time though ill re-read it for a 'laugh'. Thank you for highlighting this weird comic. Always wanted to learn more about it. Also thank you for preserving it as well. Its odd but media like this should be kept around.

[@christianwinandy341]

They should had focused on their comedic trio they already had.. that being team rocket. Idk if people would had cared still, but seeing incompetent villains try and fail again and again was already a proven method.

[@lesbianesti]

this is so cursed. the artwork isn't good, it isn't funny, it was made to capitalize off of a man's death, and it was written by a genuine creep. i don't usually say this about anything bc even bad art has effort that was put into it, but honestly it's for the best that no one remembers this...

[@videostash413]

wrong, we can learn from mistakes, thus ALL history is important

[@alboexe]

was looking for this comment, exactly what happened 🙏

[@Elyseon]

Ash and Misty as classmates? Sounds like a good way to end up with a destroyed school.

[@Thrillhou]

Sounds like fanfiction I wrote in 1999. And BELIEVE ME, it was definitely self-insert.

[@nathanaelr.3989]

​@@Thrillhouwhere were you inserting yourself I wonder

[@Thrillhou]

@@nathanaelr.3989 let's just say I earned my Cascade Badge.

[@ScottKozdra]

Can someone help me find the Victreebel at 8:30

[@Jeriun]

Ash's mom getting up at 3 am actually made me chuckle

[@otaking3582]

Did the Japanese executives not know about Peanuts beforehand? Because Peanuts is pretty popular in Japan.

[@Emplordxiii]

Yup, Snoopy has a presence at Universal Studios Japan with a land and rides. Though, it is now funny that Pokémon also has a presence in Universal Japan.

[@TheAlexSchmidt]

I could be wrong but I think I have heard people suggest that maybe Earthbound's portrayal of America was influenced by Peanuts.

[@Trowelhands]

Pokémon comics with newspaper boomer humour has to be one of the most cursed things ever.

[@videostash413]

that's not boomer humor, that's dry wit, much older

[@sandy_shark]

15:25 Whoa, whoa, whoa! You’re telling me KZbin actually did something right for once?!?

[@burnv06]

This was probably the pre-Susan era when the management was actually good

[@sandy_shark]

@@burnv06 still, I’ll be damned

[@IAmMissingnoMaster]

Kinda wish they'd revisit the general concept. They could definitely do a solid Pokémon newspaper comic strip, I know I'd love to see it.

[@JTheFool]

It's not the exact same thing, but I remember there being this book called Pokemon Pocket Comics during Gen 5 which basically did this. Each page was a short skit featuring Pokemon from Unova with little quizzes in the corners to test your Pokemon knowledge. I think they still sell them, and if not someone's probably scanned all of them online.

[@SaraBlade]

Wow thats just messed up in so many ways

[@kirbyofthestarsfan]

They should have gotten Nobuhiro Watsuki to illustrate instead of Benimaru Itoh, jeez did that arrest throw me for a loop lol

[@mechafizz]

I actually own a physical copy of this comic strip collection! A little over a decade ago now, I spent a month in Japan through a study-abroad program with my college. On that trip, I happened upon a lone copy of "Pikachu Meets The Press" for ¥1000 at a Book-Off somewhere in Tokyo. I had no knowledge of its creation or history. I bought it simply for its oddness and novelty---a collection of Pokémon newspaper comics I had never heard of, and the only English book in a Japanese bookstore. Thank you for providing me the context and history for this obscure piece of Pokémon media after all these years!

[@beaniebear1122]

I always love learning about comic strips. It'll be pretty cool if you guys launch a channel dedicated to preserving comic strip history.

[@xnamkcor]

I'm no expert, but maybe Charles Schultz deserves a little more reverence than "[he dead]".

[@Mephitinae]

This whole concept was ill-conceived. Pokemon became a hit in America because it was totally unlike anything available to American kids at the time. Western people liked it precisely because it was so distinctly Japanese. The cynical American boomer humor was a poor fit for Pokemon. Adding real life references was a blunder too. I'm sure every kid understood the Pokemon world was an alternate universe.

[@dikinebaks]

of course the writer of Batman: Fortunate Son is responsible for this

[@skapokonroll]

Not too familiar with DC Comics... What's wrong about that particular one?

[@dikinebaks]

@@skapokonroll Batman is fighting a rock musician while keep saying rock n roll is just loud noise and devil's music. Which wouldn't be a problem if the book was written in the 50s and not freaking 1999! Besides that everything else is just bad, plain bad...

[@paulakroy2635]

He’s also responsible for a lot of amazing comics. John Stewart comes to mind

[@StudioInkblot]

I forgot that he wrote that.

[@346436]

"Pokemon is nothing but death and crime and the rage of a beast!"

[@CrimsonMoonM]

That suddenly got very dark. At least none of the strip's fans had their days ruined when that particular piece of news dropped, considering there likely were none to begin with.

[@EnigmaticGentleman]

Congratulations, that joke at 15:30 was funnier than the entirety of this comic strip!

[@KCCKirby]

I remember reading these comics. So much so that I bought the book with all the strips in it.

[@keip4568]

I really wanted to see the lost & discarded existential dinosaur movie...

[@ChicagoMel23]

What’s that?

[@Ability-King-KK]

@@ChicagoMel23 The man who created Lugia, who was also constantly high and drunk when he worked, had an idea for a _Pokémon_ movie where an actual Tyrannosaurus Rex is revived and starts rampaging across the Kanto region, leaving destruction in its wake. Now you can see why it was vetoed and discarded.

[@Code7Unltd]

@@Ability-King-KK >re-animated dinosaurs run amok That sounds like the plot to "Jurassic Park". How warm am I?

[@byronlyons3548]

@@Code7Unltd I think the main difference, is that the dinosaur was still bones, when running amok. Probably how it was, unless I missed any part where it regained flesh and returned alive. But also the other point of the plot, is it's the main reason, including is the last appearance of any normal animals in the Pokemon world. Showing they have all gone extinct, and is replaced with Pokemon. It being the reason how we don't see any normal fish or animals anymore after a certain point, where as we did see them in the first season of the anime.

[@Beefaroni_Bert]

​@@Ability-King-KKit was actually supposed to be the Unown movie and thats likely how they got entei being created by the unown and going on a rampage (kinda) through Kanto(?) spreading crystals and creating the palace molly lived in. its actually kinda cool seeing the evolution from one scrapped film idea to one that replaced it.

[@gabrielfausto3108]

I just like how it feels like a villain's story from the beginning, even though of course is not that.

[@KevinJennissen]

Did you watch til the end? It definitely is that.

[@gothnerd887]

Aha, inspiration for the villian of the next Pokemon game

[@LionelRGuy]

13:50 - Trying to figure out if $25,0000 is more or less than we think it is.

[@UmbreonMessiah]

That 3am comic is actually hilarious.

[@WindowshadeCure]

Also the one with Brock being thundershocked and saying "this isn't my usual hairstyle" to the chick he's trying to flirt with

[@karatemaster1144]

I actually remember this comic. I used to cut it out from the paper to save for later, since I was just happy to see a Pokémon comic running in the newspaper.

[@koolguy5483]

I HAD A COPY OF THIS AS A KID, it's been sitting on a shelf for as long as I can remember. I also had weird Where's Waldo styled pokemon books, what a childhood I had.

[@connordarvall8482]

Admittedly, Metapod feels like a classic newspaper comic book character in these. It's like it's mandated that every comic has one character who exists to give depressed soliloquies. That being said, I think a comic like this could have worked as a way to explain what Pokemon actually were to the parents of kids who play Pokemon, but the writer would have to be dedicated to playing the games and reading some official sources. The game mechanics give an extra layer of personality to the Pokemon that I think the media misses a lot.

[@thalandor46]

Why would they hire a superhero comic writer to write newspaper comics? I understand they're the same type of art format, but they are drastically different types of writing media.

[@hooliganmulligan]

Well given that he also worked on the localization for the Pokemon adventures and dragon ball manga, it showed that he had some experience with translating Japanese media and even a knowledge of Pokemon which for adults in the entertainment industry back then was rare

[@Vulpas]

That really wasn't a good match. And the artist...whoever directed him messed up.

[@roskiart8750]

The humor isn't the worst. Honest, some of these strips are chuckle worthy. No, the BIGGEST downfall for this is the simplest one: adults back then didn't know about Pokemon. It was unfamiliar to them so they would have to try to grasp half the crazy stuff happening on panel most of the time. Peanuts worked wonders because it was immediately relatable to the American everyday life, and in some cases just the human experience. It wasn't even meant to be funny half the time, in fact it got pretty sad rather frequently. It's just... you could connect with those kids, with Charlie Brown's bad luck, Peppermint Patty's insecurities, Snoopy's daydreaming and so on. Here? Characters feel pretty extravagant and are harder to pin down amidst the wacky animals with superpowers which is a death sentence if you want to draw an older new audience into it. Funnily enough, I DO think nowadays with the universal exposure of the series something like this comic strip could work. Well, at least if it was better executed that is.

[@SmoothieD00d]

The strip about Ash's mom waking up at 3am isn't bad given context

[@ianmurphy3840]

I feel that Pikachu: Meets the Press is trying too hard to be the next Peanuts. It tries to pander for an American audience on how Ash and his friend goes to into wacky high jinks in a somewhat urban society. It has Pokemon in there, but it doesn't feel like Pokemon. Like why does Ash and his friends go to school? Sure he did go to school in the Sun and Moon Anime but the school does tackle topics that is relate to Pokemon World. Meet the Press on the other hand, just have them go into normal school to where it feels more out of place to see Ash read about U.S Government and History. What made Peanuts is how it tackles the everyday lives of children. Sure it's a humorous tone which children may like, but adults can relate to the children struggles and how it doesn't confuse or dumbs downs it's audience. Personally, I feel Pokemon Adventures/Special did a better job adapting the World of Pokemon, not just it dark themes, but it's tone and characters.

[@Weatherman4Eva]

Well dang, now I wish this has succeeded and I was able to see pokemon in the Sunday newspaper comics

[@LostForestX]

Idk, those comic strips were pretty amusing by comic strip standards. Nothing in the paper is fall-down, laugh out loud funny. They're ongoing stories with quick, small punchlines at the end. I feel like nobody at DYKG has actually read a recurring comic strip before.

[@DJIVision]

Hey LF, I'm the guy who wrote this video. I read the funny papers every morning before school as a kid, and I also owned all 16 Calvin and Hobbes comic compilation books, plus a few for Foxtrot, Dilbert, and... I know there's another one, it's escaping me at the moment. But anyway, yeah I've read a lot of newspaper comics. I also had a lot of Dragon Ball and DBZ comics, written by Gerard Jones actually. Not what you're asking about, but kind of a coincidence, since the only other (non-newspaper strip) comic books I collected were Uncle Scrooge.

[@sstteev]

You missed the humor of the comic at 9:33 - -Ash's mom is watching the news (BORING) -Jigglypuff sings her to sleep -Ash takes out his earplugs and changes the channel to POKé SMACKDOWN

[@CowboyBumbiss]

In the Metapod encounter comic, there's a Rapidash shaped cloud in the last panel.

[@randomcharacter6501]

That's kinda disgusting to try and capitalize on someone's death.

[@geomaster9409]

At least the comics were a failure so I don’t think they’ll ever do it again

[@kenirainseeker539]

Your clothes are made by slave labor. Welcome to capitalism

[@Orangeninja5000]

That's capitalism for you

[@videostash413]

like how they sold lots of princess diana merch "in memory"?

[@DerangedCoconut808]

i thought this was gonna be sponsored by Palworld for a second there lol.

[@bi_oxy_zenko]

8:36 seriously though where THE FUCK is Victreebell supposed to be?

[@yotaruvegeta]

2:47 I had no idea Charles Shulz would be brought up in this video.

[@johnmobile5747]

The Dilbert esque metapod jokes were ahead of their time feels like a modern day shitpost

[@cybertruckeralpha]

"In early 2000, Charles Shulz was dying of cancer -- his comic writing days were over. "Pokemon's corporate leaders saw an opening..." Creepy.

[@superblakefilms]

“Let’s try to make Pokémon more appealing to adults but make it so there’s no context as to what the world of Pokémon is and make it different from what their kids know about Pokémon.”

[@TommyDeonauthsArchives]

Just when you think you know 'em all, DYKG digs up Pikachu Meets the Press...

[@Lucy_Wo]

Well, that strips look like typical bizarre comic strips in newspapers, but Pokemon.

[@CapnJigglypuff]

You rarely see this much padding in a newspaper comic. The strip with Charmander setting Delia’s curtains on fire is a two panel joke (“joke”) grotesquely stretched out to fit four panels.

[@sticklyboi]

my favorite is the one where pikachu fucking kills santa

[@videostash413]

yeah, because cartoon violence is SOOOOO serious, like an anvil falling on daffy duck

[@sticklyboi]

@@videostash413 what

[@dannym2804]

Very good production. And yeah, I could tell that the artwork wasn't up to snuff. It's actually interesting seeing 2D Pokemon art that's not super detailed or stylistic, but rather shows signs of being rushed.

[@Hex.A.Decimal]

Literally just had to use Jessie and James as an us VS the world style comic and they would have won the west. Odd. So very odd. Every step of this was odd. So many leaps in logic. It's so bad it's hilareous. Now I know why my mom has Peanuts and Pokemon collectable smuckers jars from this era, though. I wasn't old enough to remember. I always thought that was such a strange collection. Makes sense now.

[@ARDIZsq]

Oh MAN, I'd been digging into Pokemon a lot over the past month or so, and I stumbled across a few mentions of Pikachu Meets the Press here and there on Bulbapedia. Never looked into it much further than a passing "Oh, that's something that exists," so this video is a great way to experience the story behind such an odd piece of Pokemon history. That said, holy hell was this thing plagued with issues. From the disgusting writer to the awful means of conception, this thing was pretty much doomed to fail. It might have seemed like the perfect choice at the time, but thanks to hindsight, the writing was on the walls from the very start.

[@MoonyRanalie]

Knowing the author did what he did, I don't think I could ever read his writing without feeling icky the entire time

[@Vulpas]

Let me tell you a little something about Hollywood...

[@mbii7667]

​@@Vulpasthis guy gets it

[@hisaceinthehole3426]

Considering how freetarded gerard is, im shocked he didn't get imprisoned sooner.

[@techno_otaku]

I think ontop of all the cancelled stuff and failed projects I've heard from both Nintendo and Creatures Inc. .... this may be the wildest thing yet.

[@talesfromiDEATH]

I used to have the collection of these. The first time I went to MCM a guy had boxes of them and was selling them for £1 each. Looking it up now it doesn't seem like there's many copies of them around so my guess they got pulped. It was a really bad comic so I'm hardly surprised. The story behind it is wild though.

[@Lita3O2]

wow, I haven't thought about this in years, but I totally remember it being in the paper when I was kid. I'd read the newspaper and comics while I was eating breakfast before school. I even cut a few out and saved them, I remember some strips about Clefairy needing to shrink down and deliver a birthday present to Diglett in its burrow. Never very funny, but some of the pokemon drawings were cute. that teaser at the end for the 'even weirder' thing and picture of Mewtwo makes me wonder if the next video is going to be about the weird stage play. I vaguely remember seeing the pokemon stage show with some friends as a kid.

[@lrgogo1517]

Am i crazy, or are all the strips this vid singled out for being unfunny... kinda funnier than most of the strips that were left in the background? 9:05 - carried entirely by the face Psyduck makes at the end. That made me chortle. The inanity of Metapod's speech kinda works in the strip's favor here because it's more relatable when Psyduck gets a headache 9:34 - going by how this strip is narrated, I feel safe to say the video writer just lowkey missed the intended joke. See, Jigglypuff sings in the background and causes Ash's mom to fall asleep, and Ash was using earplugs to protect himself from the effects and then change the channel to his liking. 10:50 - i kind of imagined a less funny version of this strip while reading it... like I expected Mrs. Ketchum to have a cornier punchline but instead she started "this is fine"ing and it took me by surprise 11:14 - i mean... by modern-day-Garfield standards, it clears? (Coincidentally, _Garfield_ theoretically might have told this joke better, because then it'd've had one less panel that it clearly didn't know what to do with.) Okay, these might not be comedy *gold,* but this strip still gets points for its unique art style. I've never seen any other official _Pokemon_ product give their monsters this varied a range of expressions - it feels fresh despite being decades old. I thought this would be a point we could all agree on, but then Mr. DYKG goes "We guess some days Itoh-san _does_ miss, this art is jank af" and i can't do this anymore man ù_ú. No wonder this channel doesn't usually host reviews. I think the only claim in this I gelled with was that the "Where's That Pokemon?" assignments were too easy.

[@krystaloftheshores]

At least they said that comedy is subjective. But still, as someone who has had to find a way to enjoy a moment of peace and quiet in any way they can, that 3 AM strip with Ash’s mom was at least relatable and relevant. Comics don’t have to make you laugh your lungs out to be enjoyable. They can just make you smile or think “big mood.” I wasn’t impressed by the narrator’s criticism in this video either. Maybe it wasn’t all super funny, but it gave me the vibes of a high school kid being overly dramatic over something simple.

[@UnknownFlyingPancake]

It's important to preserve even bad work, as it helps to showcase the cultural landscape at the time. So the efforts to preserve this and make a video about it is deeply appreciated.

[@TetraSky]

lol, "this time... we're good" can't blame you on that one

[@mbii7667]

I do blame him

[@LARKXHIN]

The vibrancy of the commentation really makes this enjoyable

[@julesrules7297]

Dang, talk about paying for your hubris.

[@yat282]

Thank you for archiving and drawing attention to things that have mostly been forgotten.