A Pokémon legend receives the support he deserves.
It doesn’t take a lot of looking to find drama on the internet. The same is especially true in the Pokémon community. Drama is often found in the time between new Pokémon games and it’s how we cope with no new games to play. Most internet drama starts with a vague or one sided understanding of a topic and some out of context video.
King Pokémon
This is exactly what we have today. Self proclaimed “King Pokémon” Gary Haase of Pawn Stars has gotten himself into some hot water. It spawned from a video where he talks about a graded 10 Base Set Charizard that has an autograph (on the case, NOT the card) from the original artist Mitsuhiro Arita. Gary states the signature means very little and adds nothing to the card. This is what drove The Pokémon fandom mad.
This video was brought to light by Frosted Caribou whom we have featured on PXR before. She calls Gary Blatantly Disrespectful, and most of us, who came into the controversy here, would agree. This sparked an outpouring of support towards Mitsuhiro Arita from Pokémon fans on Twitter.
An Outpouring Of Support
Let’s get this trending, and show some appreciation to @MitsuhiroArita. He’s the artist that created alot of amazing art for our favorite Pokémon cards! Here are some of my personal favorites #ThankYouMitsuhiroArita pic.twitter.com/8AIzeZ3q4x
— AwesomeAdam🐲 (@AwesomeAdamTV) July 4, 2021
Mitsuhiro even retweeted it himself, acknowledging the love and support. More and more fans began retweeting and adding their own favourites.
Here are my favorites that I gladly had signed WITH my name making it so that they aren’t worth anything to re-sell. pic.twitter.com/hSatUEQAFg
— primehgss 🐉 (@hgssprime) July 5, 2021
Of course I had to show my own support with a collection of his favourite Pokémon, Mewtwo.
Because he was a big fan of Mewtwo, I thought it fitting to show some of his Mewtwo creations!#ThankYouMitsuhiroArita pic.twitter.com/A5AtpH7rJM
— Genesect (@GeneticInsect) July 5, 2021
One fan even compiled a list of all 667 Pokémon cards that Arita has drawn. Arita was even surprised it was that many, claiming he believed it was closer to 600.
All 667 of the cards Arita has illustrated can be found here: https://t.co/aCicspQFDd
— Noah (@Nallerton10) July 4, 2021
From the dark, comes light. And The Pokémon fandom is great at supporting those who deserve it. Thank you Mitsuhiro Arita, your work for the Pokémon TCG among other great projects, have had a huge impact on fans around the world. If you appreciate his artwork, be sure to let him know on twitter.
An Update
A video has recently surfaced addressing the above mentioned drama, giving us more insight to Gary’s point of view. Maybe he isn’t the villain people are making him out to be. Check it out and decide for yourself.
See you around, Genesect!