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Pokémon conventions are every kid’s dream. Merchandise galore, meeting your idols, being surrounded by like-minded trainers, and apparently a man wearing a silk vest eating ravioli sauce from his pocket.
Pokéverse PH took place in the Philippines, and the disastrous event has been likened to Willy Wonka’s Glasgow, served next to DashCon, with a twist of Fyre Festival. Headline appearances included Veronica Taylor, the voice of Ash in the anime, and Jason Paige, the singer responsible for the theme song. According to those who attended, the event had very little to do with Pokémon aside from that, and was instead a marketing exhibition for NFTs and a jewellery shop.
If it already didn’t sound like a terribly organised event, apparently a group of immuno-compromised children were brought on-stage in front of all attendees, then made to introduce themselves to everyone. A Twitter/X user known as Rita documented the event’s incredibly poor planning, saying that they were “shell-shocked” and “horrified” at what they saw, before being brought on-stage themselves to sing alongside Paige.
Furthermore, they had a friend with scopophobia – a fear of being looked at or seen – who was repeatedly pictured by photographers. These photos were then shared online, despite the fact that they had been told explicitly not to share them anywhere.
After Rita left a very scathing review of the event, the PokéVerse organisers responded:
We apologise for the oversight, we are investigating the matters with the production [and] the team.
@BintuRita
The organisers have been very busy with post production but has said [they] will reach out to you personally to make sure your concerns are addressed.
It’s our first event with very little time to prepare but we do agree that a lot of things need to be improved for another season but we appreciate your participation and will continue to take your feedback to do better next time.
…
We have taken down the PokeSinger video as well for the time being to investigate further.
But we really appreciate you being part of the event and we hope to excite better for another one.
According to Rita, cameracrew had been photographing unattended children, and the man who had previously been escorted out of the building for eating ravioli sauce and terrible body odour was then let back inside.
The event took place between May 31st and June 2nd, and according to Kotaku, attendees had found plenty of “inconsistencies between the promotional material and the actual event.”
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