April Fools' Day 2018

April 1, 2018 was an April Fools' Day that fell on a Sunday. In the Pokémon fandom, some websites pulled hoaxes on gullible fans.

Hoaxes

The Pokémon Company

• The Pokémon Company International announced on social media that they had been taken over by Team Rocket.
  • On Twitter and Facebook, they made several posts following the beginning and fall of their takeover. The hashtag #TeamRocketTakeover was launched with the first post and continued to be used on all posts.
    • VIZ Media played along with the hoax and got retweeted.
  • On their homepage, several articles were written about Team Rocket and promoted on the main page.
    • The Featured Pokémon were all Team Rocket Pokémon and the first one was Meowth.

Pokémon GO

• 8-bit graphics for Pokémon sprites were announced, and then released in Pokémon GO. The 8-bit graphics were kept until April 7.

Pokémon Duel

Data for Carlo

• The Pokémon Duel Twitter account posted information for a figure featuring the player's AI, Carlo:

Figure information

• Figure name: Carlo (カルロ)
• Move Points:
• Types: Electric/Steel
• Rarity:
• ID: 0401

Abilities

Deep Learning ディープラーニング

自分のターンの最初に、ＭＰ移動の代わりに、デュエルを３ターン前に戻してよい。ターンエンド。 At the start of your turn, instead of making an MP move, you may rewind the duel by three turns. Your turn ends.

Data Disk

Shutdown シャットダウン 20 pt.

相手プレイヤーの使用デバイスをシャットダウンし、デュエルに勝利する。 The opposing player's device is shut down. You win the duel.

Miss ミス 4 pt.

{{{effect}}}

Automata オートマタ 20 pt. ★

相手プレイヤーを「マヒ」状態にする。相手プレイヤーのプレートを１枚選び、使用済みにする。 The opposing player becomes paralyzed. Choose one of your opponent's plates. That plate is now used.

Miss ミス 4 pt.

{{{effect}}}

Extreme Speed しんそく 20 pt. 100

{{{effect}}}

Miss ミス 4 pt.

{{{effect}}}

Sleep Mode スリープモード 20 pt. ★★★

このフィギュアを「ねむり」状態にする。デュエル終了までこのフィギュアにはタッチできない。 This figure falls asleep. Until the end of the duel, this figure cannot be tagged.

Miss ミス 4 pt.

{{{effect}}}

※画像はエイプリルプール用のものです。 *This image is for April Pools'.

Fansites

• Pokémon Showdown announced it would have Max Revive and Critical Hit Insurance DLC.
• The Cave of Dragonflies revealed a new style for the day, which was a remake of the site as it appeared in 2003. It kept the layout and design but updated the banner to use newer Pokémon sprites, used Comic Neue as the font instead of Comic Sans, and included a new Butterfree cursor trail instead of reusing the prior design.

Aesthetic changes

• The Bulbagarden Forums were changed into GardenGarden with accompanying Garden theme and names for rooms.
• Pokémon Central Wiki changed its main page to Pokémon Central Rainbow Rocket Wiki and designed it to reflect this.

Other

• New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) added an Eevee mascot as one of their new pro-wrestler signed to the company. He was scheduled to fight wrestler EVIL on April 1, 2018.
• During a press conference, the Udon-prefecture announced that they would change their name to Yadon-prefecture (Slowpoke) to boost tourism and that Slowpoke would become their newly appointed Prefecture Governor. They even displayed some Slowpoke merchandise to sell and showed a commercial.

References

This article is a part of Project Fandom, a Bulbapedia Project that aims to write comprehensive articles on every aspect of the Pokémon Fandom.