I Really, Really Want a Break From Kanto Pokemon
I was kinda hoping that, with the Kanto Celebration ending, we’d get a bit of a break from Kanto Pokemon. There’s 151 of them, making it one of the bigger regions with the most Pokemon. Out of the Pokedexes in Pokemon GO, only Unova beats out Kanto, with 156 Pokemon. That being said, there’s at least 300 Pokemon in other regions, and none of them get a look in. It’s… getting silly.
Despite this event ending, we’re still getting Kanto Pokemon.
Having a look at the upcoming March events, there’s STILL a heavy lean on Kanto Pokemon. Sure, we are having the appearance of the Therian Forms of the three Genies. We’re also having a handful of events, one of which features Beldum, a generation 3 Pokemon. But just look at the upcoming Spotlight hours! Three of them are Kanto Pokemon! And for the season of Celebration? The northen hemisphere’s ‘rare spawns’ are Scyther and Dratini. Two Kanto Pokemon.
We could have gotten any other Pokemon, but no, we get TWO Kanto Pokemon. Meanwhile the Southern hemisphere gets Bagon and Ferroseed.
Even Team Rocket are following the trend. Giovanni is coming back with new rocket quests. And what does he bring with him? More legendary birds in shadow form. Okay, sure, while we’re all still in lockdown, I don’t expect anything fancy like Shadow Lugia. But we could have gotten any other legendary instead.
For February, it made sense, but previous months were just as bad.
I can kinda forgive them for this month. After all, February 2021 marks 25 years of Pokemon. And Pokemon started with the Kanto region. This month makes sense to have celebrations, because, if it wasn’t for Kanto, we probably wouldn’t be discussing this at all. But no matter what, the region leeches into everything else.
Most of last year’s Community Days were Kanto-themed. There were multiple events where Kanto starters spawned. And we got a ton of hatted Pikachus. While the Go Battle League cycles through Pokemon regularly, the top reward is, well, another Pikachu. Most events, whether they are related to Kanto or not, will have a Kanto Pokemon nearby.
Even GO Fest was partially to blame. A large chunk of GO Fest consisted of Kanto Pokemon too. While Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Groudon and Kyogre all appeared in raids, and Victini appeared in special research, the real prize of GO Fest was Shadow Mewtwo. Another Kanto Pokemon.
“But Medic, Gen 1 is what most people grew up with!”
Yeah but not everyone did. Gen 1 appeared in 1996. Pokemon is older than my sister. I didn’t even get into Pokemon until the 2000s. There are eight generations of Pokemon. We have over a thousand Pokemon spanning eight entire generations and ignore almost all of them except the first 151 Pokemon.
The problem is though, it works. It works insanely well. Nostalgia powers the Pokemon train. The Kanto Tour may not have had as many heavy hitters as GO Fest did, but it sold well because of shiny Mew. If they had offered any other shiny Mythical, I don’t think anyone would have cared nearly as much. Heck, I doubt even a guaranteed shiny Greninja wouldn’t have pulled as much weight as shiny Mew did. And the Pokemon Company knows this.
While yes, I really want a break from Kanto, it’s just not happening. The first generation of Pokemon make far too money, and guide basically everything else Pokemon-related. So no, we can’t have a break from the Kanto region. Because that’s where all the whales and old nostalgia fans are.