Vol. 2, Issue 4 - Interview with Pokémon Rebirth
An interview with classic Pokémon fan website and mixed media fan fiction series, which ran from November 2001 to April 2021. We also have the latest Pokémon news, and more from the mailbag
Welcome to Vol. 2, Issue 4 of Johto Times! Today, we are happy to be sharing an interview with the classic Pokémon website and mixed media fan fiction series Pokémon Rebirth, which was active for almost twenty years! As usual, we also have the latest Pokémon news and more from our mailbag!
News
The Pokémon GO Taken Treasures event will take place on January 27th, 2024 at 0:00am until February 1st, 2024 at 23:59pm local time. Paldean Pokémon Varoom and Revavroom will make their in-game debut, obtained from 12 km Eggs. For more information on this and other Pokémon GO events, head over to the official website in the source link below!
Source: Pokémon GO
Sources from the Van Gogh Museum, who spoke with Dutch news website Het Parool, confirmed recently that four employees were suspended due to misconduct, in connection with the Pokémon exhibition which took place last year. This included security guards and public service employees, with one employee allegedly stealing a box of Pokémon cards. It would appear that it wasn’t just attendees and scalpers who were to blame for the poor handling of the event.
Sources: Eurogamer, Het Parool
The Pokémon Company released a statement on Thursday January 25th, 2024, regarding inquiries into other companies' games. TPC have “received many inquiries regarding another company’s game released in January 2024” and have “not granted any permission for the use of Pokémon intellectual property or assets in that game”.
While not specifically mentioned in the statement, the video game Palworld released this week with over seven million sales in five days. The action-adventure survival game, made by Japanese developer Pocket Pair, has been dominating the news due to its similarities to Pokémon, with accusations of stealing assets and the use of AI. TPC’s statement goes on to say “we intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon”.
Source: The Pokémon Company, GameSpot
Feature: Interview with Pokémon Rebirth
Pokémon Rebirth is a website that features a mixed media fan fiction series exploring stories based on characters from the anime series, video games, and other media, as well as original characters and stories. The website opened on or around November 11th, 2001 and closed on April 23rd, 2021, with a final farewell message published on December 23rd, 2021. Despite the project ending after more than twenty years online, I had the opportunity to speak to Gemma, the person behind Pokémon Rebirth, to discuss her project and her connection with Pokémon.
I’m honoured to be interviewing you for Johto Times, Gemma! Could you please introduce yourself to our readers and tell us more about your website: Pokémon Rebirth?
Gemma:
It’d be a pleasure! I’m a writer/filmmaker from Essex, England, now living in Derbyshire. Pokémon Rebirth is a hub for a series of fanfiction that I created during the peak of my interest in the franchise, as well as other supporting Pokémon fan media.
Written between 2001 and 2021, Pokémon Rebirth was a project composed of eight major stories and seven short stories based on the first thirteen seasons of Pokémon and its movies. For those who aren’t familiar with the project, how would you describe Rebirth?
Gemma:
Rebirth was, at its core, an exploration of characters and ideas from the Pokémon anime that particularly fascinated me. For example, ‘Getting Technical’ happened as a result of the question ‘What was Jessie and James’ life at Pokémon Technical like?’. ‘Cockaigne’ asked ‘What happened to Professor Hale when he vanished in the Ruins of Alph during the 3rd movie?’. ‘Blank Pages’ was my off-the-wall answer to why Tracey Sketchit’s personality felt a bit one dimensional during the orange islands season, haha! Overall, Rebirth was my big wish-fulfillment sandbox.
You built a whole world for your stories, including characters, a timeline comparable to the official Pokémon series, and even a whole unique region! Tell us more about the development and inspiration of this universe you created!
Gemma:
No piece of Pokémon media was off the table when worldbuilding for Rebirth. I’d take inspiration from the games, the anime, manga, and more abstract things like the trading card series, merchandise and internet memes. As a result, there are reams of little nods and references peppered throughout.
Your story takes place in a land called Tatto, a region situated off the north-western coast of Johto, and it was based on your home country of the United Kingdom, back when there wasn’t an official region based on it. When Pokémon Sword & Shield released in 2019 and introduced the Galar region, what were your thoughts?
Gemma:
It was pretty surreal for there to finally be an official region based on the UK! I loved the designs for some of the characters and locations (cosy pub Pokémon Centers, anyone?) as well as the sporting vibe throughout. If they had introduced Galar sooner, I would have retooled Ultimatum to take place there instead of Tatto. Alas, the plot points and ideas were too ingrained with Tatto by this time, and it would have been a LOT of extra work to adjust everything. (I did retroactively reference one or two things from Generation 8, though...)
In addition to being a great writer, you’re also a talented artist who has been able to illustrate characters and scenes and bring your stories to life. How has art impacted your life and inspired your stories?
Gemma:
Art has played a large role through my whole life – not only in using the medium as a method to express my own thoughts and feelings, but getting to experience those of others in a unique way. Life would be a lot less vibrant without it.
You have even produced some animations for Pokémon Rebirth! What was that process like for you?
Gemma:
It was a learn-as-you-go sort of thing. I started out with very simple techniques, by drawing the frames on layers in Photoshop and putting them together in a video editor. After that, I moved onto Flash, which I haven’t stopped using since. It took time to fully understand how many frames were needed to make a movement look right and play at the correct speed.
The main protagonist of your stories is a character called Caley Wilson, but many characters are present throughout your stories. Where did your inspiration for your characters come from?
Gemma:
Very much a mixed bag. Caley Wilson started life as a trainer character design I made for a hypothetical Pokémon game idea. Others were versions of official characters, or inspired by background characters in the anime/games/manga. In a couple of cases, there were characters submitted by fans of the project that became mainstays of the series.
Early versions of Pokémon Rebirth featured two fanart sections, one for your own artwork and one for your audience. What was it like to receive tributes from fans based on your own creations?
Gemma:
It was honestly quite moving to have people be invested enough in the world of Rebirth to want to draw art about it. I displayed much of the art I received on my walls for some years! It’s all in a folder now.
It feels like you really appreciated your audience and did what you could to involve them in your project where possible. I especially loved the idea of your 'Ask the Cast’ segment, where readers got to send in questions and have your characters answer them. Can you tell me a bit more about this?
Gemma:
Oh this was a lot of fun – it gave me a space to roleplay the characters as if they were actors responding to their fan mail. In a few cases, it even helped me develop the personalities of the main cast further, which I translated back into the stories they featured in.
How would you describe your community and fans?
Gemma:
For the most part, very encouraging and respectful. Nothing was ever demanded, and no one ever told me to hurry up, which made working on the project a pleasant experience.
I respect this may be a difficult question to answer, but what is your favourite scene, moment or plot point from Pokémon Rebirth?
Gemma:
Oh wow, yes this is a bit of a tough one. Ultimatum has a special place in my heart for not only being my first major Pokémon fanfic, but also the one I was able to complete fully. There were so many moments I loved writing in Ultimatum, but two in particular were the Team Rocket HQ escape sequence, and the climactic end battle sequence, including the events running up to it. I haven’t managed to surpass myself with the choreography I wrote on those...yet.
You were first introduced to Pokémon in the late 90s. What was it like to be a Pokémon fan during that time?
Gemma:
While interest in Pokémon has never really faded since its debut, being a fan in the late 90s was definitely its own unique thing. On the cusp of anime becoming mainstream, the sudden upsurge of interest in the franchise was novel to some and worrying to others. I’d say it’s levelled out a bit since then, though the first year or two of Pokémon Go mimicked the vibe.
What were some of your highlights from your time working on Pokémon Rebirth?
Gemma:
Getting to have one of the short stories ‘Fleeting Shadow’ published in an at-the-time active unofficial magazine, Pokémon World. I tried my luck in writing to those in charge of publishing the magazine at the time, and they were interested.
At the time of interview, we are now in the year 2024, and there are now nine generations of Pokémon, totalling over 1000 creatures and their different forms. What are your thoughts on the franchise and how it has grown and developed over the years since you were introduced to it?
Gemma:
There’s been a real period of exploration with the franchise these last couple of years which has been good to see. I appreciate the increase in Pokémon animations that have been exploring new ideas, much like I did with Rebirth. I’ve also enjoyed the games that got a bit deeper with their storylines like Sun/Moon, or tried new twists on the formula, like PokéPark Wii and Legends: Arceus.
What fond Pokémon memories can you share with us from your childhood?
Gemma:
That feeling of joy and excitement I had when I sat down for the first time and played Pokémon Yellow on my N64 using the Transfer Pak. Those pixelated worlds seem so small now, but our imaginations somehow made them grand. It really felt like an adventure.
Are there any pieces of Pokémon memorabilia or special items that you still have to this day that you would like to share with us?
Gemma:
I still have a Charizard plush that my mum won for me during the 2000 Pokémon World Exhibition held at London’s Millennium Dome (now the O2 Arena) which means a lot to me, in part because it was a gift, and partly because of the memories from that day overall. I also have an autographed photo of Veronica Taylor which a friend of mine kindly sent me from America, when they met Veronica in person. This is particularly special, because I loved the original voice actors for the Pokémon anime, and appreciate voice acting in general.
On April 23rd, 2021, you uploaded the final document for the final story “Brink”, and on December 23rd, 2021, over twenty years since the creation of Pokémon Rebirth, you left a message on your website to say thank you and goodbye to the project. A couple of years have passed since then. I’m curious whether you were satisfied with your decision, or if you think there’s a chance the project could continue in the future?
Gemma:
With the speed of time, a lessened personal interest in the Pokémon franchise and my two major original projects on the go, I can’t see Pokémon Rebirth continuing in the future. But I am satisfied with the conclusion I was able to give it. It may not have been the level of completion I had intended with Brink, but to be honest I had set a very high bar for myself, and it would have been many more years of work.
We are conducting this interview in early January 2024. What are you up to these days?
Gemma:
Creatively, I’ve been putting my time into a 2D animated sci-fi feature film called “Outcast Hero”, as well as a comic/animation hybrid slice of life sci-fi, “W.A.T.S.O.N Your Mind?” - both are available to see in some form on my main website, niftihalostudios.com.
Now that the door has closed on Pokémon Rebirth, what do you think its lasting legacy will be?
Gemma:
Probably all the crazy fan theories I made up to give otherwise one-shot or unexplored ideas more complexity, haha! I never forced it on other fans because it was purely me creating ‘what if’ scenarios, but a number of people who read Rebirth ended up finding it altering their experience of watching the anime. I called this phenomenon ‘Rebirth-Tinted Lenses’ as a play on rose-tinted lenses. I recall seeing Pokémon Rebirth on the TV Tropes page for ‘Wild Mass Guessing’ once, though it’s since been removed. I wouldn’t argue – creating fanon was one of the most fun things I had while making Rebirth.
Gemma, thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions about Pokémon Rebirth. It’s rare to see a project that has been going for so long brought to fruition. I regret that I didn’t grow up reading it, but during my research for this interview, I discovered how much it meant to people. Congratulations on everything you achieved! Do you have any final words you would like to share to our readers and fans of your project?
Gemma:
Thank you! It’s hard to convey the depth of my gratitude for those who have enjoyed Rebirth. It was a project that taught me a lot, especially in story construction and writing. The internet landscape has changed so radically since working on that project, it’s difficult to get work seen now. I feel I was in just the right place at the right time to create Rebirth. And if you haven’t had a chance to read it, perhaps it might inspire you too.
Additional photographs courtesy of Gemma from Pokémon Rebirth:
A huge thank you to Gemma from Pokémon Rebirth for answering all of my questions relating to Pokémon Rebirth, and her Pokémon memories! Be sure to check it out for yourself on the link below:
Website: niftihalostudios.com
Mailbag
Want to be a part of our newsletter? You’re welcome to submit content including (but not limited to) questions, fan-created art, short stories, cherished memories, photographs from your collection, and anything else you think we would like to see. In this issue, we have another piece of fanart, this time from a reader who goes by the name of Iceflame44.
I had a little winter doodle I'd like to submit to the mailbag! And since the doodle's Meowstic themed, I'd like to ask if you could keep one Pokemon as a pet, which would it be and why?
Iceflame44, USA
Thanks for contacting us, Iceflame44! This is a high-quality piece of digital art. The winter theme makes me want to grab a big mug of hot chocolate to warm myself up! I appreciate the detail in the lighting on Meowstic and swirling snowflakes that are being whipped up by an icy wind. Keep up the great work!
As for your question, I would choose a Rowlet as a pet because it’s adorable and round, and if it was similar to Ash’s Rowlet from the Pokémon anime it would have a fun personality that would keep me entertained and make me smile when I was having a bad day! My second answer would be a Groudon, but I think it might be a little difficult to tame…
So cool to see Pokemon Rebirth get a spotlight! I remember seeing them around over the years, and admittedly felt a bit intimidated to read it. What a lovely opportunity for a retrospective!
Also as a Meowstic f fan, it's so lovely to see this fan art with a unique style for a normally very feminine Pokemon!
You're doing a great job with your goal to preserve and highlight pokémon culture all around!