Today marks Pikachu’s 17th consecutive appearance in the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade! And although seventeen isn’t an especially exciting or important number, I thought we could take a look back at the parade and Pikachu’s multiple appearances! also because #newsdrought
The Parade: A Brief History
The roarin’ twenties were a rather glamorous time in America’s history: flappers were a plenty, speakeasies were open for business, and Macy’s was beginning to become the house hold name it is today with all time high profits. It was 1924 when Macy’s president Herbert Straus realized how big the department store had become, and how it deserved an even larger event to celebrate it. You see, at this point, Macy’s had officially taken over an entire New York City block becoming the biggest store in the world, so Straus’ promise of a “holiday event like nothing the city had seen before” didn’t seem that Farfetch’d. Planned and executed only two weeks before the holiday, the first ever Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was born! Over the years the parade has evolved and undergone several changes: TV gained interest, broadcasting the annual celebration to millions every year, and massive character balloons slowly became the focus. Watch it or not, you can’t deny the parade has become an American institution and tradition; and reaching close to it’s 100th anniversary, it doesn’t look like it’ll be stopping anytime soon. Fast forward to 2001, and we see Pikachu’s first appearance in the parade…
Flying Pikachu, 2001-2005
Fresh off the “Pokémania” craze of thd late 90’s and early 2000’s, Pikachu made it’s debut at Macy’s 75th Annual Thanksgiving Day Parade! Preceded by a Pokémon themed Volkswagen Beetle, the balloon’s design had the TV audience more in mind with it’s belly down and friendly face shooting straight to the city’s horizon. In the balloon’s first year, due to Pokémon’s crazy popularity, Pikachu had the honor of having a walk-around style mascot costume appearance on the 75th Parade SuperStars float – one usually reserved to showcase characters and properties from retired balloons of parade’s past. The Pokémon themed VW Bug was moved to follow the Flying Pikachu balloon from 2002-2004 until it’s sudden disappearance in 2005 to make room for…
Pikachu & the Pokéball, 2006-2013
Come 2006 a new design of the Pikachu balloon was unveiled! This new balloon featured a more spectator-friendly design (with it facing slightly downwards in a more bipedal position) with light-up cheeks, and an additional Pokéball balloon. Although the Pokéball almost always came before Pikachu, this era had the most “variations” among the three: To celebrate 10 consecutive years in the parade and the upcoming release of Pokémon Black & White in 2010, floats carrying larger-than-life size statues of game mascots Zekrom and Reshiram guided the main balloons along the parade route. And although it’s more of a mistake, Pikachu’s ears weren’t inflated properly in 2012, causing it’s ears to be deflated for most of the parade.
Holiday Pikachu, 2014-Present
Inspired by the facelift Generation VI gave to the main series games, the balloon got another re-design in 2014 bringing Pikachu to its current iteration. This new balloon features a much more cartoon-y style, and is explicitly holiday with its scarf and little Pikachu snowman in hand. With 17 consecutive parades under its belt Pikachu rounds out the the top 5 most appearances by a single balloon character in the last 40 years of the parade – only behind much older brand and character juggernauts like Ronald McDonald (McDonalds), Snoopy (Peanuts), Big Bird (Sesame Street), and Spider-Man (Marvel).
As time has gone on I’m admittedly less and less interested in the parade; What started as me watching godzilla-size versions of all my favorite characters fly by on TV as my parents prepared a turkey turned into the parade passively being on in the background as I checked social media on my phone. Nowadays I tend to just specifically look up the Pikachu balloon up every year to keep my nostalgia in check. Either way, I see our favorite yellow mascot being a parade regular for the past two decades (and the changes it’s undergone) as a testament of Pokémon’s permanent stamp on the past, it’s current influence, and it’s continued evolution as a brand that will forever withstand the test of time.
Anybody else have memories of watching the parade? Which iteration of the balloon is your favorite?
well i sunk so freaking low i have to fight moronic low ladders who run bullcrap teams…….
I’m hoping sometime in the near future, we get some sort of event, whether mystery gift, code, or even in-game encounter of the shiny US/UM mascots, Solgaleo and lunala. I really want a blood-moon Lunala and since it’s still shiny locked apparently, it really stinks. Surely their shiny forms will become available somewhat sometime in the future, right? There wouldn’t be a purpose for them to have shinies if they couldn’t be obtainable, right?
I believe there was an interview with a director about the mascots being locked since gen 5. They said they wanted people to focus on the “wow factor” behind seeing a legend, rather than trying to get a shiny version of it. But I’m sure eventually they’ll do something in a later game akin to ORAS and USUM where we can encounter past legends that aren’t shiny locked
i mean since we already saw them from S/M, wouldn’t it make sense they’d release them now since we already seen them and the new wow factor would be shiny forms of them?
I’ve come to realize I shouldn’t try to see through GameFreak logic. What you’re saying does make sense, so I have no idea why things are how they are.
BOTH THE VIVILLION’S HURRICANES CONFUSE MINIOR…..>WHY DID I DO DESERVE SUCH HORRIBLE BAD LUCK
Because Pokémon RNG is just bullshit
And yet the very next match my vivillion’s hurricane misses and the stupid thing gets a free air slash on me
Is finding a Mareanie with its HA just as common as finding one in general or no? I caught two of them and one has merciless and the other has limber but id assume that regenerator is the ability to go with
You have to wait for Corsola to SOS it, it can be a pain. I can just breed you one if you want.
Oh i know how much of a pain it is lol the second one came faster than the first one. I wouldnt mind if you bred one although i did want to use it for my team and im about to fight olivia
Have you tried using Skill Swap to see if it has the ability?
I have not… i kind of just catch on sight lol
If you would prefer I could breed you a ‘mon with Skill Swap so you can continue looking for it. Or I can breed the Mareanie, trade it to you as an egg and you might want to Level grind it?
How long will the breeding take?
For what? Like 5 minutes probably.
??? you’re serious?
To breed a regular HA Mareanie or Skill Swap ‘mon? Yes.
HA Mareanie lol
So you want it? It’ll probably be in a Lure Ball.
Thats another question i have does the ball it comes in make ANY difference at all or is all for aesthetics?
Aesthetics only except for Luxury Ball where friendship raises faster by a little bit.
Interesting cause i see a lot of people on here asking for specific pokeballs when breeding pokemon
’cause they look nice is all. Am I breeding this for you or not?
Yessir ??
As you can tell i dont have anything special for it
That’s OK.
Awww ??
OK the egg is ready. FC: 0748 – 2744 – 4660 IGN: James
Ok give me one second lol
1263-6760-1275 IGN: Mark
OK, coming online now.
I dont trade often so how will i find you?
As long as you are online in the plaza I will find you.
Makes sense
I suggest pressing trade and GTS to make sure you are connected.
???
You’re awesome ???
Hope it helps 🙂
Well right now my team is torracat, rockruff (still hasnt evolved into lycandusk), charjabug and a mimikyu i got on WT at level 1
Not a bad team, Mimikyu will likely be the most helpful of those VS Olivia, you’ll want to train up that Mareanie though. Do you have any water TMs you can teach it?
I dont BUT my pokemon are a pretty high level i feel. Mimikyu is 29 while the other 3 are 32
If you hatch it I can teach it Scald if you trade it back for a minute. It learns no water moves naturally until lv 49 apparently.
With Liquidation right? ? whoever decides these level up movesets needs to be fired lol
Yeah, you’ll want Scald anyway though tbh, it has bad physical attack and scald at least can burn.
Thats true…
You want me to teach it to it then?
When it hatches sure
OK well I’m going to sleep in 10 minutes so is it close to hatching?
I doubt it but i dont need it today! Go to sleep youve been a big enough help to me already ?
Are Totem Pokemon you get from Samson able to get that aura or are they just going to be bigger than regular Pokemon?
They are exactly like normal Pokémon just with bigger heights and weights
So it’s useless getting them, they’re just slightly bigger. What a rip :/
What’s peoples favourite Gender Differences in Pokemon? Thoughts on the concept?
My favourite gender difference is Popp-oh wait, they make it a majority male. Why do starters have to be majority male no matter how they look different from it?
Not sure, any reason I can think sounds unlikely/not real reasoning.
And my RU rating hit 1.1k I’m officially done…
If anyone needs me I’m gonna drop my rock collection on my face until I feel nothing at all
Ouch…
Soooo.. I’m a bout to play US for the first time…
Any reason to bother finishing the original??
Yes if ya wanna do the Looker missions and get the UBs.
.. O. Looker only.. :///
Oh wait.. I did make it to missions.. I forgot lol. Boring
No.
If you got Sun last time possibly not. You could trade me the apricorn balls from it though if you aren’t using them? I could breed you something in return.
Lol. If I’m ever not feeling lazy, possibly
You know, since mega stones returned in G7, it’s a bit weird to think that both Megas and Z-Crystals will consistently return throughout the generations.
I feel they will update crystals for new pokes.. but worried no new megas.. minus occasional legend.
But the wrist ring will stay
Wow Guzma kind of gave me a run for my money in my first battle with him this time around. His Golisopod was tough in SM, but he really brought his A game. I’ve gotta do a lot of training with my Pokemon if we’re gonna stand a chance at standing up to him later.
I got a shiny Medicham!
Here’s the blue beaut!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8c591f4b3c948d0c38a2ea0f19a08e765bb7a31f644080a4615e66dc13e9b61c.jpg
Why does God do this to me? I was on the GTS when I found someone offering a Shiny Poipole for a Male Carbink. Only problem is? Carbink is Genderless
They are a hacker.
Same thing happened to me, someone was offering a shiny Blacephalon for a Porygon2, I had it, but it was asking for a male. I don’t know if Japan has gendered Polygons or if that person has misheard or if they’re trolling, but CURSES! I’d like that dark blue disco ball!
They are hackers.
What a shame.
For the love of……They REALLY need to fix the GTS. I mean it’s ridiculous. This has been going on for years. It;s not hard to block out impossible requests. If someone inputs a Dialga they should even have access to the gender option and when it comes to levels it should fade out any level that’s lower than the official original level you can get it at. No more gendered legends at level 1!!!!
You can get a level 1 Dialga, Palkia and Giratina though. Also events might give them. The gender thing is ridiculous though.
Ok fair enough that’s a bad example, but you get my point lol
Everyone’s seen this particular Poiple it seems
That’s weird. I’m having the opposite problem. I’m offering my Shiny Poipole for just a Male Carbink but no one is willing to trade.
….That’s because Carbink are genderless…
That’s the joke
Oh, I thought they were clueless and hadn’t any idea it was genderless.
Pokémon have a biological sex. Gender is something you identify by. I am sure there is a Carbink out there that identifies as a male, y’all just aren’t looking hard enough.
I mean, Diancie is most likely a female, as it’s a princess, and it completely dresses like that, whereas Carbink are most likely males, albeit them being classified “genderless”.
Until Diancie floats up to me and tells me that its preferred identification is female-I am withholding my judgement. Otherwise I might end up in the same situation as our pal Gallade.
P.S. There is blood and verbal obscenities in this picture so please let me know if this is okay to be on the site, if not I will delete the comment.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f2cef641ae9f9344c59b4793cbc4ef088e6943bfb8e993fc9127e48779c354ea.png
Exact same scenario with Primarina!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/81a07fcae956591c614d1dc99c2cc74d0921239bede3b60a0abb27693e659f5f.png
I’ll give you 8 shiny Missingno. for it.
I’ll give you a male Cresselia and a female Thundurus for it. Oh, also a shiny Lunala.
I’ll give you my genderless Heatran
I’ll give you a Male Reshiram for it and a Female Xerneas
Hmm but all rezhiram are male
I always found it weird how they decided to start giving “genders” to Pokémon starting with Heatran.
I thought they started giving genders since at least when breeding was added.
I meant Legendaries, not just Pokémon in general. That was a mistype on my part.
Ohh, yes it’s fine. Anyways, Lunala and Solgaleo, although claimed to be genderless, their S/M dex entries called them the “male/female evolutions of Cosmoem”.
High School Reunions… https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/746ab2482441d422ae9b7de772dd950fa20c2fa7817b076440180c08a66c034c.jpg
Snorlax is a cat…
Snorlax reminds me of Pete the Cat.
It’s really based on a hibernating bear though.
No? It’s literally a huge cat
Wait. Seriously!
Prepare for an USUM review
Not just of the game
But of the friends who carried me through it
You’re going to review your friends?!
By my friends
I mean my team
Ah.
YEEe
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c7b1db8822e2a81f6e01a81f1a82301ff9cd026424292d61529c338ad25affa0.jpg
Here are all my UM Wormhole Shinies! Seriously, they’re ALL shinies.
Any in special Pokeballs?
Most of them are in Quick or Ultra Balls sadly, as I didn’t want to risk it.
Understandable.
Yeah, I didn’t think they’d be easily catchable especially since they’re level 60, so I decided to just catch ’em quickly and simple.
So what happens to the Pokemon you don’t choose?
In Alola Kukui raises it
One is chosen by Hau, the other is most likely taken by Kukui, evident by S/M and how he gets the starter strong against yours, while Hau gets the one weak.
Outside of Alola. Sacrificial offering. It’s a scary world out there. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/63795f8fda473100c2917764d4e333e5ac6e18ede7274bd5ece4ca759d01f13b.jpg
I know this is random and non-Pokemon related but there’s this SpongeBob song where it sounds like he’s saying he’s ready to twerk…
It doesn’t sound like it. Spongebob is saying it.
Search “Rubber Hose Rag” and if you listen carefully he’s saying something like it.
This is why spongebob has been horrible since after the first movie.
He wasn’t literally saying it though, I was just pretending he was. Plus, it’s not like there weren’t any good episodes at all after the first movie, there were quite a few gems scattered around, plus 2nd movie and after improved a ton.
I finally bought Stardew Valley on Switch. I love this game so much. Not sure if I wanna romance Leah or Penny this time…
Just hit 3000 resets for Poipole! I really hope i get it under the odds and soon because I really wanna play through the rest of this game with a shiny new team member!
Without a charm? ouch
Yeah, but it’s okay! If I get to the 5000 mark I think I might just get the charm and come back to try again, but for now I’m gonna try and get it without
Literally? U restarted that many times… Lol. I’m naive
It’s honestly not awful. It’s still under the odds, and resets are pretty quick (roughly 20-30 seconds a piece). I usually just keep myself busy watching shows while resetting, and have gotten in on average 1000 resets a day for the past three days! And I really want this shiny, so I can be a little patient to get it!
If floatzel had an ability that started rain on it’s entrance… Wouldn’t it be Ubers… Strong.. fast.. just low def.. like UBs
I really do not like Aether Paradise’s design. It’s so bland and boring. There’s no exploration to it…no sense of awe..It’s not a paradise, which would be fine if that was the point, but it’s not. The AF isn’t evil, Lusamine is.
I don’t think the USUM Lusamine is evil. Sure, she started out like that, but post-story, she’s reformed and back to normal.
I guess “sh*tty person” is slightly more accurate.
Eh, to each their own.
I mean, she neglected her children
Ohh, I thought that’s what you thought overall as a character. K, Nvm lo.
She was mentally ill tho
I’d say more “Blinded by her desires”
Exactly.
Nah she’s just a boring character now
Still makes more sense than SuMo Lusamine
No? Not really
Woot, lucky 2nd shiny Medicham!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cacec48eecd3df8580f36c4a2b94cede92ca7fc07a77d3e13fdafc201d9f21a3.png
Oh boy
R.I.P, I accidentally killed a shiny Abomasnow (really it killed itself due to wood hammer) but i made it up for myself by catching a shiny crustle!
Well that sucks. I don’t think I’ve ever ran away from a shiny or killed one, but I can imagine it hurts pretty bad. Still playing through the game, but looking forward to jumping into the Ultra Wormhole and catching some brand new shinies to ad to the collection.
Yeah, it was a bit heartbreaking when it died, but hey, at least I managed to heal myself a bit with another new shiny.
I’m beginning to think that Nintendo is planning a Nintendo Direct in “direct” response to Sony’s PSX show which will have some interesting announcements (including Media Molecule’s Dreams, a huge deal to me). So maybe December 5-7 or something, just a few days before? It would be an interesting way to detract attention from Sony, now that the Switch has made Nintendo more aggressive. I also say this because I’d rather not wait until January 😛
Don’t count on it, it will be January. PSX wasn’t even going to be livestreamed originally, so I guess they will not show anything groundbreaking. The Game awards will likely feature smaller Nintendo announcements like the Ballad of the Champions DLC.