Author Topic: Pikachu Lookalike Discontinued in Japan  (Read 3717 times)

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Offline NWR_pap64

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Pikachu Lookalike Discontinued in Japan
« on: August 12, 2011, 05:49:38 PM »

The eco-friendly creature was too similar to the Pokemon mascot.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/27432

Eco-chan, a character created to promote the environment by Japan's Yamaguchi Prefecture, has been retired to due claims of the character being too similar to Pokemon's Pikachu.

The character has the same facial features as Pikachu, but painted green in order to fit with the message of nature protection. The media started noticing the similarities between the two characters, forcing the city to retire the mascot costume. The original character illustrator claimed that they didn't know who Pikachu was when creating the character.

The illustration of the character, however, will still be present in marketing material.

Pedro Hernandez
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Offline Ryan Cannon

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Re: Pikachu Lookalike Discontinued in Japan
« Reply #1 on: August 12, 2011, 06:01:14 PM »
"The original character illustrator claimed that they didn't know who Pikachu was when creating the character"
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Offline Sessha

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Re: Pikachu Lookalike Discontinued in Japan
« Reply #2 on: August 12, 2011, 06:29:08 PM »
Yeah that sounds believable
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Offline TJ Spyke

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Re: Pikachu Lookalike Discontinued in Japan
« Reply #3 on: August 12, 2011, 06:34:11 PM »
Unless he created the character in 1995, he is BSing it. Pikachu is recognizable be almost everyone, even those who never touched a Pokemon game. In Japan it's even more true.
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Offline NWR_pap64

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Re: Pikachu Lookalike Discontinued in Japan
« Reply #4 on: August 12, 2011, 07:08:13 PM »
I'm calling BS on the whole "Don't know who Pikachu is" as well. Unless the guy is a hermit and has cut himself from civilization, and only comes out when he is commissioned to create crappy characters for promotions. :p
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Offline Flipster

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Re: Pikachu Lookalike Discontinued in Japan
« Reply #5 on: August 12, 2011, 08:45:18 PM »
Man I would love to raid whatever storage locker that costume is being kept in =p

Offline ShyGuy

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Re: Pikachu Lookalike Discontinued in Japan
« Reply #6 on: August 12, 2011, 08:57:13 PM »
lol, getting a pokemon banner ad on this article.

Change the nose and mouth, no problem.

Offline famicomplicated

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Re: Pikachu Lookalike Discontinued in Japan
« Reply #7 on: August 12, 2011, 09:13:41 PM »
Well, if the guy was over say, 70, he might not know who Pikachu was.
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Offline Mop it up

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Re: Pikachu Lookalike Discontinued in Japan
« Reply #8 on: August 12, 2011, 10:47:15 PM »
Pikachu isn't a very unique character, things like those eyes and cheeks seem common with Japanese characters. I could see someone creating a character like Greenachu there who hasn't seen Pikachu. I have no idea if that's true or not in this case, but it is possible.

Offline GK

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Re: Pikachu Lookalike Discontinued in Japan
« Reply #9 on: August 13, 2011, 12:28:35 AM »
Look closer to Pichu to me...
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Offline zachs1997

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Re: Pikachu Lookalike Discontinued in Japan
« Reply #10 on: August 13, 2011, 01:21:22 AM »
his tail needs to be the recycling sign
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Offline NWR_pap64

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Re: Pikachu Lookalike Discontinued in Japan
« Reply #11 on: August 13, 2011, 02:19:53 AM »
Well, if the guy was over say, 70, he might not know who Pikachu was.

True, but if there was a team behind it all, someone must have realized that Eco-chan looked like Pikachu.
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Offline Lithium

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Re: Pikachu Lookalike Discontinued in Japan
« Reply #12 on: August 13, 2011, 10:51:57 AM »
It's the extremely rare grass type Pichu, I thought it only existed in legend

Offline Ceric

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Re: Pikachu Lookalike Discontinued in Japan
« Reply #13 on: August 13, 2011, 11:17:17 AM »
Its someone in a Pichu costume with a slight green tint to the Photo.

Make it Super Green and A recycling symbol tail and give it some claws.
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Offline KDR_11k

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Re: Pikachu Lookalike Discontinued in Japan
« Reply #14 on: August 13, 2011, 01:28:02 PM »
It may be a simple and pretty standard Japanese design but they could've picked a different animal than a mouse. Ecolis has three different Japanese-designed eco monsters and none of them look like Pikachu.

Offline ShyGuy

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Re: Pikachu Lookalike Discontinued in Japan
« Reply #15 on: August 13, 2011, 02:07:31 PM »
Nintendo should have capitalized on this and made it a special downloadable Pokemon. I googled Pichu and it does look more like that.

Offline KDR_11k

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Re: Pikachu Lookalike Discontinued in Japan
« Reply #16 on: August 13, 2011, 02:21:21 PM »
You never played Smash Bros Melee?

Offline ShyGuy

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Re: Pikachu Lookalike Discontinued in Japan
« Reply #17 on: August 13, 2011, 03:39:09 PM »
I bought it used once but the disc was broken, so I returned it. I was then going to buy it at Target out of their $20 section but they told me it was $30. So I got fed up and decided I wouldn't buy it until I found it for $20 or less. I never did.

Offline Mop it up

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Re: Pikachu Lookalike Discontinued in Japan
« Reply #18 on: August 13, 2011, 07:09:38 PM »

Offline ShyGuy

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Re: Pikachu Lookalike Discontinued in Japan
« Reply #19 on: August 13, 2011, 11:03:29 PM »
I gave my sister my gamecube and my Wii still needs a disc repair.

Offline zachs1997

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Re: Pikachu Lookalike Discontinued in Japan
« Reply #20 on: August 13, 2011, 11:22:20 PM »
shy guy you can do it your self and buy the disk drive on ebay for $10. not the disc drive the disk sensor
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