Pokemopolis
- This article is about the fan website. For the ancient civilization in the anime, see Pokémopolis.
| Pokemopolis | |
|---|---|
| "Not Dirty, Just Dodgy!" | |
 | |
| Language | English |
| Status | Inactive — due to close |
| Run | 1999 - Present |
| Date opened | 1999 |
| Creator | Dodgemaster Brandon |
| Forum | Pokemopolis forum (defunct) |
| Mascot | Koffing |
| Website | Main Page |
Pokemopolis, or previously Pokémon, Pokémon, is a fan site initially maintained by Dodgemaster Tim, Dodgemaster Lex and Dodgemaster Brandon. It is popular for being one of the few openly satirical Pokémon fansites that was able to maintain a wide degree of popularity, having reached over 400,000 hits.
On April 13, 2014, Dodgemaster Tim announced that the forums would be closing at the end of the month and the website closing down in October 2015, said date later moving to October 2018. As of August 2023, the site itself is still operational in a limited form, although there is an unofficial continuation at pokemopolis.freeforums.net.
Ethos
The site is dedicated to the proposition that "Pokémon is NOT a children's cartoon." It is well known for its detailed and humorous anime episode guides, contests, anti-RocketShipping stance (a running theme being that James of Team Rocket is a gay character), dislike of Ritchie and Todd Snap, and promotion of Koffing as a Pokémon.
The website's target audience is aimed at teenage and adult fans of the franchise, due to its humor mainly going towards innuendos and uses of profanity. Their slogan is "Not Dirty, Just Dodgy!".
History
Pokemopolis was originally a generic Pokémon fansite named "Pokémon, Pokémon" run by Dodgemaster Brandon. Pageviews remained low when it was a generic site and Dodgemaster Brandon turned the site over to Dodgemaster Tim and Dodgemaster Lex, two friends who were introduced to Pokémon by Brandon. They began to pick up on alleged innuendo present in the anime, they decided to change the format of the site to one that explored the "dodgyness" and other camp elements of the show. As a result the modern incarnation of Pokemopolis was born.
Over time pageviews and popularity increased. In mid- to late- 2003, the number of active forum users rivalled those of much more well-known Pokémon websites. As a result, Lex and Brandon worked on a revamp of the site, moving it to a domain at pokemopolis.net, while Tim started to work on updates himself, writing more articles and adding to his popular episode guide.
Site
The site originally contained many subsections, including fanworks (fan art and fanfics by all three Dodgemasters and site visitors nicknamed Dodgers), anti-RocketShipping claims, quizzes, contests, articles, and even a forum. Following the 2003 revamp, some articles were added or removed; in April 2014, most of the site was removed in preparation for its closure. Currently remaining on the site are:
Episode Guide
The episode guide is largely written by Tim, with occasional contributions by Lex and Brandon; it focuses on each episode of the anime in turn. Each episode is given a Pokemopolis-specific title; these titles usually refer to dodgy material with the correct English title underneath.
In addition to a synopsis of the episode with dodgy revelations, each episode has its original Japanese title, a dodgyness rating (out of five), an animation rating (out of five), 'Team Rocketness', the story, a dodgy synopsis, and a 'moral learnt' section. Some earlier episodes add a 'highlight' in place of the moral.
Forums
The forums were a feature that gained well over 500 members at their peak; as of 2014, they have been removed by Tim. A new forum, "Unofficial Pokemopolis Forum", has been set up for Dodgers to continue to commune and discuss the dodgy revelations of the continuing anime, although Tim has stated that this is not an official continuation of Pokemopolis. During it's time online, the Forum had four general sections, consisting of Pokemopolis, Pokémon, Everything Else, and Beyond Reality.
Staff
There have been three staff members present at Pokemopolis over time:
Dodgemaster Brandon
Dodgemaster Brandon was the original creator of the site back when it was still Pokémon, Pokémon. Once the site was retitled, however, he was no longer responsible for every update. Brandon continued to contribute with fan art and had a tendency to browse the forums, where he was known for his offbeat sense of humour and random names such as "Brandooon" and "Brandini". Brandon left Pokemopolis eventually, to work on other projects and websites.
Dodgemaster Tim
Dodgemaster Tim was one of the two people who took over the site from Dodgemaster Brandon. After picking up the innuendo in the show, he and Dodgemaster Lex changed the format of the site into one that focuses the anime's dodgyness. Tim wrote the episode guides, provided fanart, and kept up regular communication with the core group of fans who frequented the forums of the site. In 2014, he was the sole remaining Dodgemaster, and the one who made the decision to shut down the site, although maintaining the fact that he still loves Pokémon.
Dodgemaster Lex
Dodgemaster Lex was the other person who took over the site from Dodgemaster Brandon. She was the Pokemopolis Webmaster, working mostly on the site's contests and maintaining much of the website's code. She was mostly responsible for overseeing the various transitions of the website, and was the one who engineered the move to pokemopolis.net in 2003. Lex left Pokemopolis towards the end of its life, leaving Tim to work on the site alone.
External links
- Pokemopolis (archive snapshot 29 December 2003)
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