Another update for you all!
My dollhouse and it’s Halloween interior, and my abandoned amusement park are still in progress (read more here and here). You will most definitely be seeing dollhouse related images next month. The amusement park will be here in time, but as I’m still working on sourcing 3 more ride kits, it’s slow going.
I’m assuming you all know what Pokemon is, especially with the recent popularity of Pokemon Go. If not, here’s a brief history. Pokemon games were released in Japan for GameBoy in 1996. In these games, and with the series as a whole the goal is to catch, level up and battle animal like creatures called Pokemon. Later that year, Pokemon cards and manga were released. In 1997 came the anime series. The show and games then came out in the US in 1998. It goes on from there with new games and cards continuing to be released. (Learn more here)
It seems with Pokemon Go there’s been a resurgence however. People in my age group, the age that was really into Pokemon in it’s onset in 1998, got overwhelmed with nostalgia. While Pokemon has never ceased to be a thing, back then EVERYONE played Pokemon, or at least knew someone who did. If you were in elementary or middle school it was all the rage. I myself didn’t watch much of the series, but I for sure saw Mewtwo Strikes Back when it came to theaters (I mostly just wanted the card that you got with purchase of a movie ticket). And as I didn’t have my own card collection, when the neighbor kids wanted to trade with me, they’d give me half of their collection. I also played Pokemon Yellow and Silver on my Gameboy Advance.
To give you an idea, I was 7 in 1998. But Pokemon was a thing for people much older than me as well. And in Pokemon fashion, Pokemon Go seems to have stretched across all generations as well of new and old Pokemon fans. It seems, of course like the excitement of Pokemon Go has settled down, but there are some people still playing, at least casually, and maybe with more updates, it will get a resurgence.
All that to say, a couple months ago I had the idea to create a Pokemon photo series. In 1998 there were these mystery packs with 4, 2 cm tall Pokemon each. I got precisely 1 pack back then, and still have those 4 Pokemon to this day.
I decided to look for more and found a lot of 144 knock-offs (it’s actually quite difficult to find the real thing) on ebay. The product images looked like decent quality, although I assumed I’d have to do some paint touch ups here and there. They finally arrived in the mail last week, and well, they don’t quite live up to their product description.
(Also Jinx, while always creepy, typically has a purple face, this one looks sorta racist product image or not)
Basically with the items arriving after the Pokemon Go fad faded down, and with them being so poor quality, the series was looking less likely. But I decided I’d try my hand at repainting some. Quite a lot aren’t exactly the right shape, etc. but I think most of the ones that are will be getting a nice new coat of paint.
That’s 11 repainted now, with 3 more currently in the works. Since posting the above photos I’ve given Vaporeon a nose and mouth and fixed a bit of the teal/beige on Typhlosion. Then of course, there’s the actual posed photos. I plan on taking quite a few and posting them here in groups. Although, I’ve taken 2 so far and posted one here for this week’s weekly weather. Zebstrika, an electric Pokemon, under a lightning sky. To see more repaints follow me on instagram here (@tourmalinenow).
Don’t worry, for all you non-fans there will still be plenty of non-Pokemon images here. Hope you’ll forgive me.
And for those of you who do like Pokemon, let me know all about it below!
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Great job on repainting them! Charmander looks almost like the real deal now! I can’t believe how different they look from the posting but it happens! I’m a huge Pokemon fan and have played most of the old games and all of the newer ones. I don’t really care for Pokemon Go though. I look forward to seeing your photos.
Thank you! They’re so small so I know I’m not going to be able to make them perfect but I at least want them to look like they should. I’m hit or miss with Pokemon go but I did enjoy it for awhile. My parents never really bought us Pokemon things when we were growing up but when my grandma brought home a bunch of garage sale game boy games I claimed yellow and silver real quick. Thanks for the comment and I look forward to you following along with my Pokemon image progress.