‘Pokémon’ fans don’t understand Game Freak’s leaks

Game Freak, the developer of pokemon games, has suffered a major data leak; Among the trove of data were unused stories, world building, and abandoned designs that paint the Pokemon world in a sinister light.

What was revealed in The Game Freak Leaks?

The leaks included personal data of employees, source code for full versions of games, and a wealth of information about the Pokémon world and its inhabitants; in a statement, Game Freak said the leak was the result of “unauthorized access to our servers by a third party.”

What drew the most attention, however, were the unexpectedly grown-up stories, concepts, and themes within unused Pokémon lore that Game Freak employees had created during the conceptual design and writing stages.

Much of it reflected traditional folktales and real-world mythology; there is even a detailed creation myth, which includes a confrontation between the gods.

Pokemon fans freak out over Typhlosion, Octillery and Slakoth

Fans, however, found many of these popular Pokémon tales disturbing, as some of the entries described cruelty, sex, and sadism—fans of this kid-friendly franchise were unprepared to read stories of people and Pokemon brutally attacking each other, not to mention mutilation and torture.

Stories of Pokemon kidnapping and heavily pregnant women caused an uproar in the community and many, many memes.

Some commentators misinterpreted these pieces of world-building and Pokémon folklore as “fetish content”, even describing Game Freak employees as “perverts”.

These stories may seem shocking in the context of the bright and sunny Pokémon world, but they’re clearly meant to reflect the tropes of real-world mythology.

Not to mention, none of these things are canon, they’re just ideas.

Any book of unedited folktales, from any culture, is filled with violent and sexually charged encounters between humans and the inhabitants of the “other world”: fairies, spirits, gods, demigods, and demons.

Disney smoothed out all the rough edges of the folktales they adapted into classic animations, and the Brothers Grimm did the same, editing local fairy tales to fit the moral standards of the time.

The Greek gods are famous for their unbridled lust and for the amusing, mean-spirited and vindictive punishments meted out to those unfortunate enough to insult them. But lesser-known regional folktales are even stranger and often involve rape, forced marriage, murder and unwanted offspring.

The encounters between the supernatural world and the human world were supposed to be nightmarish and deeply disturbing, but Pokemon fans weren’t expecting to find that kind of tone, and Game Freak didn’t want to.

The most interesting part of the leaks is how much darkness lurks beneath the surface of this franchise: the artists sculpting the Pokemon world are clearly engaging in thoughtful world-building, before the edges are polished for public consumption .

This can be seen even in unused Pokémon designs, which show monstrous figures that look more at home. Elden Ring that pokemon.

However, there has always been darkness lurking in the Pokemon world, since the beginning.

The Pokemon world has always been strange

Some Pokemon games allow some darkness to seep through, with some containing strange and tragic descriptions of certain Pokemon, especially “ghost” types.

For example, the famous Cubone bears the skull of his dead mother, while Mimikyu is so hideous that its Pokedex entry reads: “His true appearance is unknown. A scholar who saw what lay beneath his cloth he was overwhelmed with terror and died from the shock.”

A cute balloon-like Pokémon known as Drifloon drags children into the afterlife and “doesn’t like heavy children.” The psychic Pokémon Hypno is known to hypnotize people and “eat their dreams” and occasionally kidnap children.

Aside from the creepy ghost Pokemon, there are also the strange human creatures like Mr. Mime and Jynx; the Pokemon world is always disturbing, even when it’s beautiful.

It’s a bright, happy place where people watch their pets mistreat each other; imagine a dog fighting ring. Animal Crossingand that’s the entire pokemon world.

Well, a little. Pokémon are often mistaken for mere animals, but the creatures were originally inspired by the “kami,” the countless deities of the Shinto religion; Folklore has always been the backbone of this franchise.

No wonder the creatives at Game Freak let their minds go to dark places: Pokemon is a strange world, where human beings regularly interact with the divine.

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