Pokémon

A Pokémon card sold at action for $54,970. That's a lot of money for a Pokémon card. Not that you’re worried that that card might’ve been in that box of Pokémon cards you threw out of your dad’s house last weekend.

Deep breaths. Deep breaths. Everything’s fine.

The Pokémon card in question, which sold at Heritage Auctions over the weekend, was a super-rare, mint condition “Pokémon Illustrator” card, one of 39. Not that one of the other 38 could’ve been in that box marked “Pokémon Cards and Other Junk” you just tossed out on Sunday.

Just count to ten. Count to ten. It wasn’t in there. It couldn’t’ve been.

Just look real close at it. Holographic of chubby little Pikachu painting a Charmander. Oh, no. That was definitely the card.

via GIPHY

According to Mashable,

“Before you start thumbing through your old Pokémon card collection to see if you have an Illustrator yourself, the card was never in circulation — the 39 cards that exist were handed out as prizes for a three different Pokémon illustration contests held by CoroCoro Comic in the late-‘90s.”

Mashable also translated the card, which honestly, is a huge relief:

"We certify that your illustration is an excellent entry in the Pokémon Card Game Illust Contest. Therefore, we state that you are an Officially Authorized Pokémon Card Illustrator and admire your skill."

Oh. I guess, I should stop frantically calling my dad and finish the article before…

Wow, pretty cool about that card, huh? Hey, who wants to go get some frosty chocolate milkshakes and never talk about this again.

via Super Amazing Cupcake

Despite being promoted as a largely social experience that would get users up and out of their seats, Pokémon Go might be promoting antisocial tendencies. New studies are finding that the game is giving players “pavement rage,” meaning feelings of anger spike when they run into other players on the street. 

“Analysis showed players experience unconscious spikes in anger and frustration when they encounter other members of the public while hunting down the fictional characters in the game,” according to The Daily Mail. “The research also revealed just how immersive the game could be — with one participant in the study almost walking into the path of an oncoming truck.”

via Reddit

Basically, the study found that people think that they are being social and active when playing, but as neuroscience analyst Adam Simpson say, “On an unconscious level, they were so engrossed in the game they missed out on stuff that was going on in the real world around them.”

"When they encountered a large group of people in their way, for example, they showed a lot of frustration as members of public were disrupting their playing experience.”

Word to the wise: You can become the best Pokémon Master in the land, but remember, it’s lonely at the top.

Pokémon GO developers, Niantic, have been infamous for poor changes and slow response since the games release. It finally looks like we're seeing a trend in a postive direction, but does it come too late?

Niantic is finally adding rewards for trainers that play the app every day, offering bonuses for catching pokemon and hitting pokestops daily.  

• Catching a Pokémon every day: 500 additional experience points and 600 stardust.
• Catching a Pokémon seven days in a row:  2,000 experience points and 2,400 stardust.
• Visiting a Pokéstop daily:  500 experience points and more items.
  
  
• Visiting a Pokestop 7 days in a row: 2,000 experience points and more items.

On top of this we're pleased to report that the once popular 3rd party Pokemon trackers are back up and running. We have no idea why Niantic saw fit to block these applications out in the first place, all they did was add to the excitement and scope of the game. 

This August Ruslan Sokolovsky recorded himself while playing Pokémon GO inside Church of All Saints in Yekaterinburg, after having been made aware such activity within the church could result in jail time...

“How can one offend by entering a church with a smartphone?” Sokolovsky asked. “I decided to just catch some Pokemon in church because, why not? I believe it’s both safe and not prohibited by law. Let’s go.”

Well, fast forward to after Sokolovsky posted the video he was investigated by police, and shortly thereafter charged with inciting hatred and offending religious sensibilities. He's being detained for two months, and stands to face up to five years in jail.

What do you guys think, does the punishment fit the crime here?

The world's first "Pokémon Master" was selected from among thousands of candidates applying to Funzing.com earlier this month.

Ivy Lim, a 22 year-old from Singapore, who is a Trainer Level 23, and has caught only 121 characters so far, will be paid $1,000 a month for at least three months to catch Pokémon, train others, hold events like lure parties, teach secrets, and share her experiences.

Maybe she can help me figure out how to evolve my Pidgeys faster?



Check her out below:

...and go here if you want to up your own game in the meantime.

A clever ad campaign has caught Londoners attention by threatening to deport Pokémon Go! characters as a ploy for getting attention for a petition demanding that EU Citizens be allowed to stay in the UK with the same rights as pre-BREXIT had allowed them. The signs were spotted all over London Monday, from the London Eye to Tube Stations:




The #POKEMONGOHOME Campaign has garnered a ton of attention...









So even though we love and adore THESE guys...





...Go Sign The Petition to guarantee EU Nationals a right to remain in the UK, because people are definitely better than freakin' Pidgeys.

Gary Dear, owner of Mad Hatter's Ice Cream in Anacortes found himself situated in the middle of a maddening Pokémon GO mecca. Eager players have flocked from miles and miles away to his shop, where there are three Poké Stops located nearby---many end up getting ice cream after their journeying around.

"Never in my wildest dreams did I ever expected it to end up like this," said Dear. "I've never seen anything take off like this."

Dear even estimates that his store's sales have doubled, if not tripled, on certain nights when the Poké Madness runs wild.

A fire department hailing out of Needville, Texas was recently forced to remove their status as a PokéStop due to public safety concerns; and the events that ensued after (slashing of tires) are being blamed on Pokémon GO players. What do you guys think---this a fair and warranted claim by the fire department?

As noted by Archangelus on Reddit, Vaporeon's go-to move Water Gun has been nerfed from from its previous power of 10, to 6. See in the screenshot below, provided by Alex Zandra:



Thing that's kind of awkward though is that at the same time, Vaporeon's Hydro Pump was deffinitely buffed -- 50% increase.

What do you guys think? The gym leaders were revealed yesterday at San Diego Comic-Con, when hundreds of players also gathered with high hopes that a legendary might be unleashed...no such luck, unfortunately. Some other details covered:

• There are easter eggs that nobody's discovered yet
• They’re planning ways to customize Pokestops
• Pokemon Centers are coming
• There will be more functionality added to gyms, though the specifics aren’t clear
• Niantic says the game is at about 10% of what they want it to be
• They’re still discussing breeding, but nothing concrete in the works yet
• The legendary birds are tied to teams in some way, as the original designs implied
• Yep, they know about the three-step glitch.
• It sounds like we can’t expect legendaries until after the game has been released on all regions, which makes sense

Variety reports that Legendary Entertainment locked down the rights to what could be a massive franchise, subsequent to reported accounts that they were trying to close the deal. Details are pretty hush right now, but we've heard whispers that the studio's nudging for the film to kickstart in 2017. Oh, and we're talking Detective Pikachu for the 'theme'. For those that don't remember, here's a quick reminder that, yes, Detective Pikachu, is the hero you deserve:

It's practically a give at this point that your Pokémon GO! adventures will take you off the beaten path, and maybe even tempt you to go exploring your neighbors' properties with the utmost caution...naturally, this pisses the hell out of some folks who just want to be left alone like this chick...



Well, not Matthew Beaman. Beaman's been busy depositing 3D models of Pokémon for players at Poké Stops around Ikfracombe, Devon. He wanted to leave players souvenirs that'll last off their screens.



"I thought rather than leaving it just to chance I should let people have some fun with it.



"I've had people shouting thank you at me in the street."



Damn right. You are the MAN.

Two things that really got me going here: One, it's almost like he thought by showing the police he was playing Pokémon GO! that he thought it'd be all chill after. Second, I'm pretty sure he was still trying to catch whatever it was that got him in the accident, after being confronted by the cops for CRASHING into a cop car! Sheesh, man. Come on.

Sometimes we lose ourselves amidst the pursuit to catch 'em all...Let's just hope that this fool over in Milford, Michigan wasn't actually trying to catch a Parasect before he was apprehended by police authorities. 

Chief Thomas Lindberg said the man (William Wilcox) just made it easy, by showing up. Wilcox, a repeat offender with a warrant out for his arrest, ended up right in front of the men that'd go on to take him into custody.

"It was a misdemeanor warrant for a failure to appear on a breaking and entering charge," Lindberg said. "They approached him. Took him in custody without incident and he admitted he was trying to catch the character at the flagpole."

Pokemon Go players looking for Pokemon