My Academic Proposal for a Real Pokemon League

This blog entry is still due some more pictures, colouring in, etc, and just some things to brighten up the place and expel some of the intense intellectual discussion that is going on here.

I recall a discussion I had with an associate trainer of mine when I was twelve. We were such fans of Pokemon that we began to discuss how it might be possible for it to become quite real. A world in which twelve year olds could leave home and gain their independence through rearing wild animals appealed to us greatly and it certainly beat the only other gritty option, which was to murder your parents and join the circus.

Now at twenty-two and with several rejection letters from a number of major circus tours, I once more turn my attention to this question: "Could an actual Pokemon league truly exist in modern Britain and indeed, the modern day EARTH?"

First off, I'm not counting these tournaments run by Nintendo and The Pokemon Company. Good as they are (first prize in this country is an all expenses paid trip to Haiwaii for the global tournament) this all feels too world cup like, too laden with rules about what version of Pokemon you're using and too inpractical; temporary.
I guess what I'm saying is, minus the morons and disgusting excess of cash, I want to form the Premiership of Pokemon. A domestic league that plays almost exactly like the the Pokemon League that Ash participates in, in the cartoon series.



It's not such a crazy idea. Here, let me help you out. Since journeying around the country is needed, participants cannot be twelve, they must be older (or maybe accompanied by a parent? But what parent would go to Birmingham for Pokemon?).
So, participants would have to be sixteen, straight off the bat. Secondly, I personally would put a ban on legendary Pokemon. They're stupid, better than the rest, everyone can catch them in the game and it's just unfair. No Legendaries.
So, we'd need gym leaders. Ok that's easy enough. I officially declare myself, Gym Leader of Maidstone for the British Pokemon League.

Yikes. Then I'll need the following:

-A running theme to my Pokemon.
-A number of original badges of my own design (ensuring that they cannot be copied)
-A place to call a Gym.

Let's say I'm a normal-type gym leader. I can make badges out of anything, as long as I can keep producing them. A gym? Well, in truth, since Pokemon are, I truly regret to say, not real in the flesh, a gym is not necessary. But, perhaps some eccentric hat or garb would be appropriate when performing your gym leader duties. When you're done, you should end up with something that looks like this:


(This still needs some colouring in - I don't own the right shade of brown. OH WHAT, SORRY, SO SUE ME)

Here's how it all works; Joe Blogs buys Pokemon White - BOY, is he excited! He completes the game (or whatever, gets half way through). At this point he's wondering why he can't go online with his DS no matter where he is and how much he would like to battle some human trainers instead of the mediocre challenge of the game's trainers.
He finds The Official British Pokemon League online. He orders his Trainer Card/Liscence (which will cost like, £1 I guess). Online, there is also a profile of all eight Gym Leaders in The Official British Pokemon League, along with their [pokemon] contact details (an email), their location (say, Maidstone) and the name of their badge.

Joe Blogs gets in touch with these Gym Leaders one by one. He meets them in coffee shops, bus stations or somewhere out of the way where he won't get beaten up for playing Pokemon. When he wins, he gets a gym badge and the Gym Leader signs his Trainer Card.

When he has all eight badges & signatures, he can fight the Elite Four in the same manner. If he beats the Champion, he is officially the new champion and gets the one existing Champion Pin when he wins. Next time a new trainer wants to fight the Champion, they come to him.

Boom. Pokemon League. Now, it might seem like a long process, with a lot of travelling all over the land. Yeah, hi, IT'S CALLED A POKEMON JOURNEY ok? Think of the experiences you're gonna have and the time spent playing Pokemon on the train. Excellent.

In terms of trainers fighting trainers on their journey, there will be an optional and generic trainer...um...also badge? To be worn when a trainer has their DS with them and they are happy to battle someone - so if you're playign Pokemon and see someone with a "!" Pokemon Trainer Badge, then you can ask them for a battle! Primo.

So there you go. There'll be problems to iron out at first sure. But I think we could have this down by 2013, no trouble. Plus, it beats the idea I had when I was twelve. When I was twelve, the idea I proposed to my friend was that in the future we can have all the floors, everywhere, across the world, outside and in, layered with a metal computer system that generated hollograms - hollograms of Pokemon. And that we would have Pokeballs that could interact with and save these Pokemon, either beaming out our own or capturing the other. That one might not be ready for 2013. 2050, maybe.

In the meantime, I'm taking applications from would be Gym Leaders. You just need your own city, theme and badge name/desgin.