At the risk of sounding extra stupid, I, uh, didn’t realize the Pokémon World Championships, or Pokémon Worlds as it’s called by the hip kids, have been going on since 2004. That’s 22 years of festivities that I missed out on! More than half my life! Yes, this year was the first time I’ve ever set foot at a Worlds convention and I have to say, it was a mildly life-altering experience. Let’s take a trip down memory lane as I talk about the recents Pokémon Worlds that took place right here in San Francisco, California at the end of August (yeah, it took me a minute to get to this, cut a guy some slack).
For the uninitiated, like I was, Pokémon Worlds is a whole mix of things. It’s a championship, in this case featuring the debuts for both Pokémon Unite and Pokémon Champions, as well as the Pokémon TCG. It’s a collectathon, with both real life merchandise to buy at the pop-up Pokémon Center store and independent merchants. It’s an experience, with mascots and statues and art and giant, inflatable slides to see. It’s a celebration of Pokémon in virtually every medium you can imagine, from TV to movies to books to games to collectibles and more. In brief, the Worlds in the name of the exhibition isn’t a misnomer; indeed, it’s a promise.
Pokémon Worlds got me excited for the franchise in ways I didn’t think I was capable of anymore. Yeah, I’m officially 40, so maybe getting older is part of it, but when I showed up on Thursday to get my badge at Moscone West at the Moscone Center, I could feel something palpable in the air as I was surrounded by not just the veneer of Pokémon on every surface of the facility, but the energy of the people around me. Other than scalpers (disgusting), no one is going to Pokémon Worlds who isn’t a true fan, or the parent of a true fan or two, or these days, a true fan with his true fan-kids in tow. I marveled at the crowds, a mixture of super nerds, diehards, and families.
The families, in particular, really made me happy to see. Even though I’m an adult collector/fan, sometimes you have to take a step back and remember who the series is truly for, and that’s kids. Although I stand by my belief that scalpers are killing the magic of card collecting for today’s youth, I was elated to see so many young people drawn to Pokémon. It’s such a positive series that pushes a lot of traditional values that I think are important and lacking in American society. I also think that it’s amazing how so much time has passed that Pokémon is a more cross-generational franchise than ever before, with people who grew up with the series now sharing it with their own children.
That Friday was my appointment to shop at the Pokémon Center and I almost didn’t make it. I was running late after work and had forgotten I was supposed to be there. At this point in my Pokémon Worlds journey, I was mostly going through the motions because my sister was the one who really wanted to be there. I’ve mentioned this elsewhere, but I wasn’t a true fan from the beginning. At that point I was in middle school and “too cool” for Pokémon, you see. I thought they were too cutesy. But every day after school, Angie would sit and watch the cartoon on channel 20 here in the Bay Area, and with only one TV in the house, well, that means I watched Pokémon, too. Slowly but surely, Pokémon grew on me, and by the time we hit the Game Boy Advance era of the series, I was officially on board.
That Friday, though, my enthusiasm just wasn’t there, and I was content with missing the shopping and just picking Angie up when she was done. Things didn’t quite work out that way, however, as Angie told me that she was still in line outside the building by 4:30, and at 5:15 I walked up and joined her outside. She’d gotten the Build-A-Bear Charizard, which I ended up holding so she could hang onto the bag of stuff she’d already bought earlier on the show floor. As we twisted through the enormous line outside and then eventually inside the building, the magic of the transformation of the Moscone Center into the world of Pokémon started to take hold. Everywhere I looked I saw happy fans, and everywhere else I looked I saw posters and banners and statues and other Pokémon soon-to-be ephemera (can you imagine the stuff the workers get to take home?).
If it’s been a minute since you’ve engaged with the series, I recommend taking a look at some of the excellent design work in the games, show, movies, and merchandise. Pokémon really does have a great aesthetic, and to suddenly have it surrounding your entire being is oddly energizing. I went from not caring about getting into the Pokémon Center to thinking, “dear lord, what if I’d missed it?!” Once we reached the upper floor and started on the path into the store, my eyeballs suddenly had ten thousand different things to look at. Shirts, hoodies, planners, posters, plushes, statues, deck boxes, playmats, water bottles, toys—it was overwhelming how much was in that room. I experienced sticker shock with some of it, while other bits were pretty reasonably priced.
As we drove home from the convention center that night, Angie and I discussed plans for the next day. The pin rally was foremost in our minds, a giveaway of 12 exclusive lapel pins, and we decided to get to Moscone around dawn in order to get in line and be ready to claim the ones we wanted. By the next morning, though, the past week of work had caught up with me and I couldn’t get there by dawn. Angie did, however, and she spoke of an absolute horror story of hundreds, if not thousands, of people swarming the convention center for the pins. It was a total nightmare born of poor planning, where The Pokémon Company had chosen to allot only an alleged 4,000 of each pin per day. That might sound reasonable until you realize that 54,000 people attended the convention.
With 54,000 people, you’d need 54,000 of each pain to satiate the demand. 12 pins at 4,000 each is 48,000 total per day; that also might sound reasonable if you assume that not every attendee wanted a full set, but let’s face it, the majority of people who came for Worlds did want all of the pins. And so this means that the amount of pins being offered every day was nowhere near enough to satisfy the demand, and the lines became utter mayhem, as a result. So much so that on Saturday night, a notification went out via the Worlds app that the pin rally was canceled for Sunday. Speaking with a source at the event (how often do I get to say that?), I was told that the fire marshal was the reason the pin rally got axed, allegedly telling officials at the convention that they needed to either shut down the rally or have all of Worlds shut down.
Ouch. I didn’t know that until the next day, naturally. Instead, I arrived Saturday later in the morning and meandered through the grounds of Moscone basking in all of the Pocket Monster accouterments everywhere the eye could see. Howard, the street which runs right through the middle of the Moscone complex, was totally shut down between 3rd and 4th and renamed Rayquaza Road. The asphalt of the street was covered over by huge sheets of fake grass like a big, green rug, and I marveled as I walked on what is normally gridlock at any time of the day. There was the huge Wharf Stage for performances; a gigantic inflatable Pikachu; a pop-up Pokémon Center Outpost for folks who didn’t have appointments to the big one; the Rayquaza Trolley; and much, much more.
Yerba Buena Gardens were similarly transformed, with Pokémon statues, most notably Ditto, spread throughout the area. If you were feeling fancy, the ColourPop X Pokémon: Glam Spot would give you a Pokémon-themed makeup job. Furfrou’s Hair Salon could give you a new ‘do, while Garden Games and the Garden Stage were there to keep everyone entertained. The Flower Dome had special seed pods that people could put together, as well. Nature and Pokémon are a great fit, and harmony between people, Pokémon, and the natural world is a core tenet of the series, making the Yerba Buena Gardens element of the convention pretty fitting.
I looked around and snapped photos until it was time to meet Angie. When we finally connected, we went into Moscone South, where the bulk of the exhibits and activities were taking place in the lower levels of the complex. It was at this point where my mind was really starting to get rewired by the Pokérus. There was so. Much. To. See. The Honda Koraidon Project and Toyota Miraidon Project were both on display, and it wasn’t until I saw them in person that I realized how gigantic they both are. Sirfetch’d and Pichu were waddling around in their own area for people to snap photos with. I got to check out Team Rocket’s HQ and snap a pic at Giovanni’s desk.
Throngs of people filled every inch of floor. Lines stretched everywhere, most of which unreasonably long and constantly being cut off and then reopened. Frustration set in at multiple times when Angie and I were both denied entry to a line only, moments later, for the line to reopen after we’d walked away, and then subsequently closed once more the second we got back. It was a maddening Groundhog Day-esque cycle that could have been, like the pin rally fiasco, avoided with better planning. Regardless, there was so much to experience that it didn’t totally dampen the mood, but because of the line troubles there was a lot we didn’t get to see and do in person.
Not that we didn’t get to do a lot of stuff. There was an entire history exhibit dedicated to 30 years of Pokémon, including a bunch of the TCG cards. Angie marveled at the many, many cards she owned in her collection, and as we passed displays we laughed as we kept track of everything we still had at home (it was a lot). There was a preview area devoted to Nintendo Switch 2 games and Pokopia, although we only managed to get into the latter. Displays of original TCG art were there, as well as some beautiful dioramas based on the Pokémon ecology book, Pokécology. Glorious hand-painted statues from Sideshow. Enormous statues of Balstoise and Venusaur made of LEGO.
The food left something to be desired, but a highlight was the pizza boxes from Silver Gate Bridge Pizza emblazoned with Pokémon branding. I saved two and have one up in my classroom as I type this. There were also little cardboard sleeves to put around hot drinks with images of Pikachu and the word “Recharging!” on the side (and is also now on the wall in my classroom!). Sometimes it’s the non-collectible stuff that I end up cherishing the most from events like this. Maybe one of these days I’ll show you all the mountain of random swag I collected from E3 back in the day.
Sunday, the final day, was its own distinct spectacle because it was dedicated to the various Pokémon championships, which took place at Chase Center, the home of the NBA’s turncoat Warriors. Between the two of us, I was more keen than Angie to get to the arena closer to opening. I was convinced there would be some kind of giveaway or goodies unique to the venue, but Angie wasn’t so sure. Ultimately, we did end up getting to Chase right about at opening, and from the outset we were greeted with a towering inflatable Lapras at the entrance. Inside the arena, the concession areas had Pokémon statues placed all throughout, and we stopped to snap photos of all of them. Sadly, the level for people in the suites had a set of statues we never got to see, but we did manage a shot at Morepeko from behind.
There was a TCG card you could only get by attending the championships (or going to a special Giants game that had happened in conjunction with the convention—no thanks) and we also got special bracelets with glowing LED lights that synced with the light show going on inside the arena where the contestants were facing off. It was only at this point that I started trying to collect badges, which were digital giveaways inside of Pokémon Home that you couldn’t get anywhere else. Some were in different spots around the city, like Japantown, and I regretted not making the effort earlier.
The highlight of going to Chase quickly became the competition itself. I’d never bothered to sit and watch anyone face off in any Pokémon games, TCG, the video games, or otherwise, but I soon realized how exciting it all is. The floor of the arena was one, giant screen and sitting in that spacious room felt like being inside of an actual Pokémon arena from one of the games. It perfectly complimented the tension of the battles taking place. At the end, fans were treated to some musical performances, and then The Pokémon Company International President and CEO Kenji Okubo took center stage.
He made some announcements, including showing previews of what’s to come in the world of Pokémon. Then, the broadcast portion of the night ended and he announced that a special guest had traveled from far away to come see us all that night. The arena grew dark. Everyone waited in silence, movement clear in the blackness of the now unlit stage, but it wasn’t apparent what they were doing. Angie’s phone dead, I had mine filming, ready for whoever should appear. Would it be Satoshi Tajiri? Ken Shugimori? We waited four minutes… and then…
Ed Sheeran took the stage.
I turned to Angie and said, “so, should we just start heading to the parking garage…?”
And that was the end of our time at Pokémon Worlds. No offense to Mr. Sheeran, of course, but he isn’t our cup of tea, so off we went (along with a lot of other people in the crowd). The walk back was a little cold, and as we talked about everything, I felt wistful knowing it was already over. Pokémon Worlds came and went in a flash, but what a bright burst it was. For me, Worlds was a really personal event. It was a reminder of something that has really evolved and grown with me for most of my life. Pokémon has been a constant, whether as a game, a show, collectibles, art, or clothing. But with Worlds, I was reminded that the tchotchkes aren’t the only think about Pokémon that matters.
It’s all of the experiences that come from the series that mean the most. Even now, as I work with my students, there are constant conversations at recess and lunch about Pokémon. Cards the kids have, strategies in the games, collectibles that they like. I see Pokémon backpacks and lunchboxes everywhere throughout my day. Friends in my life continue to be enthusiasts; one of my ex-girlfriends became a big fan later in life and she’s now fully ensconced in her local competitive scene and also produces Pokémon art commissions. For me, though, Pokémon always comes back to my childhood and so many memories that surround it. To this day, my sister has the same beat up Pikachu doll that our aunt Linda brought home from the Kay-Bee at South Shore at lunchtime on a bright, summer vacation day.
Worlds sort of helped me remember how important it all is, even if it’s just some silly video game series. Nothing is silly about the real ways in which Pokémon has impacted me. Humanity clings to its myths and legends, so why shouldn’t we cling to the modern ones, too? I left the experience of Worlds with a renewed sense of joy and appreciation for all things Pokémon. Now, if only Winds and Waves would hurry up and launch…