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Pocket Monsters and Peace

How I discovered myself through Pokémon.

By Juan DelgadoPublished 3 years ago 4 min read
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My First Shiny Legendary 02/20/21

25 years ago I came to learn of a cardgame that was hotter than a lizard with wings amongst my school mates. It’s called Pokémon, short for “pocket monsters” I explained to my dad on our way to walmart after convincing him to buy me my first deck after school, I carefully opened the sleeve and quickly sorted through them skipping over the standard cards and dupes looking for one thing.....a holographic card, and there it was, a Venusaur, the 1st Grass Starter’s final evolution, which was later stolen by a kid named, Carlos, while looking through my binder collection (Grrrrr curse you Carlos)

I spend many lunch breaks and recesses trading Pokemon cards, trades alwayw felt like a drug deal, one would first test the “goods” by holding the card up against the light to see if any light would shine through, the absence of light meant the card was “legit” trading anything otherwise was considered a bad trade deal, there were a few other markers of authenticity which I have forgotten now with age.

Us nerds spent our downtime discussing our fave pokemon, at the time mine was Vileplume simply because it was based off the corpse flower, which fascinated me at the time.

After school I’d watch new episodes of the TV show that my Dad recorded over VHS tapes because the new episodes aired during school hours. He was an enabler of my “habit” while my cathloic Mother was convinced by the media that Pokemon was subliminally trying to turn me into a violent satanist.

My addiction continued into my pre-teen years, one evening I decided to make my first steps to manhood by walking into a Blockbuster and choosing to play the videogame. Do I go with Yellow, Blue, Red, or Green?

Looking behind the glass display I remembered my first holographic card (An event that would disposition me to always pick Bulbasaur and any accompanying evolution power up items) I was DESTINED to pick the vibrant swirly green box with a menacing looking venusaur on the cover, it read, “Pokemon LeafGreen Version”

The videogames hit me harder than puberty, the playing cards and tv shows no longer gave me the same high. I needed something “stronger.” There was no turning back. To this day I have continued my journey to “Catch em all”

I’ve navigated throught the games in the following order:

Leaf Green, Crystal, Sapphire, Diamond, White, Heart Gold, X, Moon, Let’s Go Eevee, Shield.

Now at the age of 31, I spend most of my time playing “Pokemon Go” and occassionally rummaging 4chan’s /VP/ for Pokemon leaks.

If you ask my why I have devoted so much of my time, money, and energy into to a game about just catching animals. Id say it is because of all the meaningful connections I made with other humans who shared the same enthusiasm with me as a child and adult alike. When Pokemon Go was released for mobile gaming, I felt the same excitment I did when I was in grade school, the launch of Go felt more like world Peace Day, and was jockingly dubbed so by fans. July 6, 2016 was a reminder of where we could be as humans, playing, exploring, and cooperating together in friendly rivalry.

Pokemon also taught me inclusion, with such a diverse selection of Pokemon, I truly believe there is a pokemon for everybody.

I’ve actually asked people on dates who their favorite Pokemon is to get a better sense of their character. If your answer is Pikachu, I hate to break it to you but you are basic and this isn’t going to work out.

My spirit Pokemon happens to be a shiny Clefable. Like Clefable I am timid and mysterious, much like the fairy I also spend alot of my time ritualisticly dancing around under the moonlight. I was born with a skin condition called vitiligo so I was different or “Shiny”. A shiny Pokemon is a Pokemon who has a different coloring from the standard design they are rather rare and the changes of finding one are low. To cope with the self consciousness caused by my skin condition I re-assured myself that I was just a “shiny” it brought me comfort to feel special.

Fast Forward to 2013, in a beautiful and symbolic manner Clefable’s typing was changed from “Normal” to Fairy in Gen 6. The addition resonated deep within me as someone who spend his early years a closeted gay man trying to be “normal” but I knew deep inside that there was more to me, I felt magical, like a fairy. For one the fairy type was super effective against dragon types, who long stood on top of the Pokemon food chain and were the poster child for the patriarchy. The change for me was powerful, it was a reminder of progress towards woman empowerment and acceptance of the LGBTQ community.

We all have our own metaphorical “typing.” Each with our own strengths and weaknesses, like a grass type Pokemon pitted against a fire type, sometimes we will be out of our element, all we can do is fight until the end, if you lose there will be other situations where your special ability and “type” will bring victory. There is so much that can be learned from Pokemon.

Perhaps I am guilty of drawing parallels and finding deeper meaning in trivial things, but I consider it a blessing more than a flaw as I like to use my ability to inspire others.

I will celebrate Pokemon day on February 27th because it has been there to inspire me like a good friend. I hope to have many more adventures with my collection of monsters which I eventually intend to pass down to my children one day.

The Pokemon slogan is, “Gotta catch ‘em all.” It is a bit unrealistic but I will sure do my best, and have the time of my life while doing so.

-Juan Delgado

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