Pokémon‘s big 25th anniversary celebrations aren’t due to officially kick off until February 2021, but that hasn’t stopped the franchise from getting the ball rolling a little early. As teased this week, The Pokémon Company opted to use this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to unveil the logo that’ll no doubt be stamped on a tidal wave of tie-in merchandise scheduled to release over the next 12 months or so.
As for the symbol in question, it unsurprisingly takes the shape of Pikachu’s iconic face and replaces his rosy red cheeks with the numbers 2 and 5 in reference to the upcoming birthday bash. The design, describable only as minimalist in nature, has been met with criticism by some fans and labelled unimaginative and/or lazy due to its visual similarities to 2015’s 20th anniversary emblem.
Far be it from us to decide for you, though. Check out the reveal for yourself below:
Folks over on Twitter, on the other hand, are having a field day with poking fun at The Pokémon Company, as you can see…
Pokemon: let's make the new Pokemon anniversary logo
Graphic designer: Great! I've got some great ideas based off of the 20-year anniversary with-
Pokemon: pic.twitter.com/dXzTl0j3EP— Austin John Plays (@AustinJohnPlays) November 26, 2020
https://twitter.com/Gotcha876/status/1332273760318189572
@Pokemon here's your real logo https://t.co/GgVLiCdkwB
— Julian Santiago (@GeekTales01) November 27, 2020
https://twitter.com/RadCharzrd/status/1332346439167565824
That logo is underwhelming
Just like all the recent Pokémon games since the early 2010s https://t.co/t2UnzaeSsN
— Sam ⚔️ (@ohheyfritz) November 27, 2020
Sonic. Is this even a question? Look how creative the Sonic logo is compaed to the Pokemon logo https://t.co/nGv3aj3ra7
— BrandonB (@bkbriggs324) November 27, 2020
Sonic no question
Pokémon is literally just a lazy, dumbed down recycle of the 20th anniversary logo
— TheNCSmaster (@TheNCSmaster) November 27, 2020
https://twitter.com/spz_34/status/1332216808259137536
Others, though, have attempted to defend it…
well they would have to fit 6 more starters and that would probably be messy
— archive (@ProudPopplio) November 26, 2020
https://twitter.com/Bloke99/status/1332335567720341504
User Peronyx, clearly eager to take on the challenge of introducing Gen VIII’s starters into a design mimicking that of 2015’s, came up with the following:
https://twitter.com/Peronyx_/status/1332163737046937602?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1332163739383181315%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.creativebloq.com%2Fnews%2Fpokemon-25-logo
Ultimately, it’s unlikely that the backlash will lead to any radical redesign and honestly, it matters little in the grand scheme of things. As for what Pokémon fans can expect to see announced in the near future, rumors are already flying around online pertaining to supposed remakes of Gen IV’s Diamond & Pearl, with one insider even suggesting that four separate titles are on course to release in 2021. You can head over here for the full story or, alternatively, let us know where you stand with today’s development down below.
Published: Nov 27, 2020 11:24 am