Vol. 3, Issue 2 - Interview with Aspenth & Frogglet
An interview with Aspenth and Frogglet, the original creators of The Pokémon Factory. Plus, a recap of the latest Pokémon news, and the results of our 2024 Favourite Starter Pokémon Poll
Welcome to Vol. 3, issue 2 of Johto Times! The team is now back and fully rested after our December break. We hope that our readers had a great holiday season, and have the best possible start to 2025! This week we have our first interview of the year: a huge recap of all the big Pokémon news you may have missed over the past few weeks. We also have a new addition to the newsletter: Community Spotlights!
Back in December 2023 we published an interview with Bonzai from The Pokemon Factory, a classic fansite that began in 1998 with a focus on fake Pokémon creations. As a result of that interview, the original creators of the website, Aspenth and Frogglet, found Johto Times and reached out, which eventually resulted in us setting up an interview together! For the first time ever, Aspenth and his brother Frogglet share their memories of their community and assets from a lost version of the website, which haven’t been seen since the late 90s!
News
During December and early January, there were plenty of Pokémon news announcements! Here’s a brief summary of news from the past few weeks you might have missed. Our regular news updates will resume in next week's issue.
Pokémon GO Tour: Unova will take place between February 21–23, 2025, in both New Taipei City, Taiwan, and Los Angeles, CA, USA. Then, on March 1st and 2nd, 2025, Pokémon GO Tour: Unova – Global will begin, allowing players to take part in activities inspired by the Unova region.
Source: Pokémon GO
Pokémon TV, the official app and website, which was discontinued in March last year, has returned as a YouTube channel! The channel, like its predecessor, allows fans to watch a growing number of episodes from the Pokémon anime. Currently, the first two seasons of Pokémon are available, so be sure to subscribe and indulge in some classic episodes from the past, free of charge!
Source: Pokémon TV
The Pokémon Center Tohoku store is relocating to the third floor of the Sendai PARCO main building on February 16th, 2025, from its current location on the eighth floor.
Source: Pokémon
The Pokémon Store in Narita Airport is also set to close between January 13th–26th and reopen in a larger space in Terminal 1 on January 27th, 2025.
Source: Pokémon
A mini-concert performed by the NHK Symphony Orchestra will be streamed on the official Pokémon Kids TV YouTube channel. The concert will take place on January 26th, 2025, with first part being at 11:00 AM and the second part at 3:30 PM, JST. The YouTube broadcast will be uploaded at a later date.
Source: Pokémon
The Pokémon Company International and Aardman Animations will be teaming up for a special project, coming in 2027. The British animation studio based in Bristol, UK, which uses stop motion and clay animation techniques, is known for their work on television and film projects such as Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run, Shaun the Sheep, and Flushed Away.
Source: Aardman
A new expansion for Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket, Mythical Island, was released in December, adding many new cards to the game, featuring Pokémon such as Mew and Celebi. The company has also confirmed that the game has now been downloaded more than 60 million times!
The Blastoise Drop Event is currently taking place in TCG Pocket, which began on December 31st and will run until January 14th, 2025. Promo Pack A Series Vol. 3 introduces five new promo cards into the game, such as Snivy, Eevee, Volcarona, Cinccino, and Blastoise.
Source: Pokémon
The next Pokémon TCG set, "Battle Partners" will be released in Japan on January 24th, 2025. The set was initially teased in April 2024, during the closing ceremony of the Pokémon World Championships. The set will include cards such as N's Reshiram, Iono's Bellibolt ex, and Hop's Zacian ex.
Source: Pokémon
Feature: Interview with Aspenth & Frogglet
In December 2023, we had the pleasure of sharing an interview with Bonzai, a former admin from The Pokémon Factory, a fan website that began in 1998 with an emphasis on fake Pokémon creations. After that interview was published, one of The Pokémon Factory’s original creators, Aspenth, reached out to me by email to let me know that he and his brother Frogglet, its other creator, had seen the interview. After talking for a bit, they wanted to share their stories with us, as well.
Incredibly, Aspenth had kept an early copy of The Pokémon Factory on their computer, data which had been backed up for more than twenty-five years! In this interview, we will be sharing some screenshots from the website, which would otherwise have been lost to time. Aspenth and Frogglet were key people responsible for the creation of The Pokémon Factory, and it was my pleasure to speak with them both and learn even more about the website.
It’s great to be speaking with you both about The Pokémon Factory! Could you please introduce yourselves and tell us about your roles on the website?
Aspenth:
Hey, Johto Times. My name is Justin; I [have gone] by Anapan online since around 1997, and [I] created the fake Pokémon Aspenth when I officially joined as a member of The Pokémon Factory. I was involved from the start; I was a senior in high school and was considering a career in video-game creation, IT or web development.
I created the first version of the website and made a few revisions to it before Mewthree took over authoring and updates. I think it was originally hosted on Xoom before moving over to CJB.net (or was it F3D.net?). I was the sole pixel artist through the early years, and I did updates to the original version(s) of the site.
My joining the site officially was part of a major overhaul to expand and help foster fan involvement to make the most of being a high-ranking site in the various web-hubs that independently ranked sites back then. Our hit-count was a major factor we used to gauge our success and also a main goal we discussed often in conversation between the three of us over email and ICQ (our main IM client early-on).
I created the RGB Gen 1 font based on the only games that existed at the time to facilitate rapid Pokédex entry creation. The first few were made letter-by-letter. I extracted the graphics out of all the Pokémon roms and several Game Boy RPGs among other games to use as assets to cut-and-paste together into new Pokémon. I was already extracting sprites from many games as part of how I was learning to create video games of my own, and having these sprites made the job of cutting and pasting the bits of them together an easy task. I followed the direction of Mewthree and my brother Frogglet to facilitate anything that needed to be accomplished, as it was fun to be involved in something we all enjoyed. I was always amazed that my involvement allowed the website to rapidly excel as one of the major Pokémon websites recommended by the popular web hubs online.
There were a lot of rumours about what happened when my Pokémon avatar was introduced, but the fact is my brother had already started his apprenticeship as a Collision Repair Technician, while I remained as a basement dweller learning to program an API for video game development. His involvement was not that necessary for the expansion that needed to happen as we chased higher website rankings. His avatar remained long after he stopped being directly involved.
Oh, and I made the Mewtwo fingers over the pageview counter which eventually a team member made into a widget anyone could put on their site with several Pokémon holding the counter.
Frogglet:
I am Jeremy, Justin’s younger brother. When my brother and I first started the website, I dealt with the people online and went through the requests to decide which Pokémon we would ultimately make.
I went through hundreds of e-mail requests and online forums for Pokémon, weeding out the ridiculous ones, and choosing which Pokémon we would actually make for the website. My brother would then make the images and create the Pokémon, and we would then post them. I dealt with people and emails, and Justin made the Pokémon and font so they could be made to look like official Pokémon.
This interview will be an excellent opportunity to learn more about the very earliest days of The Pokémon Factory and answer some questions people may be curious about. Let’s start with hearing how you both first got involved with the website!
Aspenth:
I only have some fuzzy memories of the very beginnings. My younger brother joined a "Mailing List" about Pokémon – sort of a group chat that periodically sent an email with replies to topics iirc [if I recall correctly] – I wasn't involved yet. Mewthree was a member of that mailing list – I think he was using the name as a handle already. I remember reading a bit of the chats.
The topic of Pokégods was brought up in one of the topics. That is my first memory of the name "Mewthree". I think that was the inception right there. I made the Mewthree sprite first. I really wish I even remembered what his first iteration looked like, but I remember being told "not muscular enough" so I remade it by taking a Mew sprite's head, the eyes off of the Green version of Mew and mirrored them to look front facing, and the best biceps and triceps from the three original Mewtwo sprites, and [that became] the version that persisted.
I just realized while looking through old website revisions that the original site was actually called Mewthree's Pokémon Page! It was only later changed to Mewthree & Frogglet's Pokémon Factory. The original Frogglet sprite was made from an image of a frog with red eyes from the cover of a comic called Creed. I originally put the bulb from a Bulbasaur on its back. It was later revised to have the wings from the official art of Ridley from Super Metroid. I made the website and Pokédex entries shortly after. This was all at the request of my brother. I wasn't talking with Mewthree directly yet.
Frogglet:
After seeing some very poor attempts at creating fake Pokémon, having a good laugh at most of them, I decided we could do better. I was involved in a couple online forums at the time, and a few e-mail groups as well, and through these is where the idea of making better, official[-looking] Pokémon came from, and ultimately what led to The Pokémon Factory being created. My first Pokémon was the Frogglet. It came out very well, and I posted it in a few different places as an official undiscovered Pokémon. The reaction was good, so we decided to make a few more "undiscovered Pokémon."
My brother was always better with computers and graphic design, so I asked him to make the Pokémon [screenshot] and the font.
The main focus of The Pokémon Factory was to showcase fan-created Pokémon, made to look like they could exist within official games. You contributed significantly to the earliest and most popular Pokémon creations from the website. What was the process behind creating them?
Aspenth:
Cut and paste with the lasso tool. I started with grayscale images. I resized any that were too big, reduced them to black, white and 2 shades of grey if they weren't already posterized (from a Game Boy game). Once they were in 4 colors, cutting and moving pieces around was pretty simple. I just zoomed in to make individual pixel movements changes easy. I manually drew the last few details – connected outlines, cleaned up details one pixel at a time.
Next, I changed the two shades of grey to more appropriate colors. Paste the finished sprite onto a blank pokedex image and type out the details using the Gen 1 font. Combine the two description gifs into an animated GIF using Animation Shop and submit it for inclusion in the next site update.
It was less than a month after Mewthree asked if I could make more sprites that I created the Gen 1 font. I had already made several bitmap fonts, and it took less than an hour. I had been using Paint Shop Pro since it came on a shareware supermarket floppy 5 1/4 disk (version 2) and I still use version 9 to this day. I spent about a week extracting sprites from Final Fantasy Legend 1-3, Aretha 1-3, Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, and various other cool-looking enemies from various JRPGs [Japanese Role-Playing Games] to combine together.
Frogglet:
After the reaction to Frogglet, we made a few more undiscovered Pokémon, Necro-bat (evolved Frogglet), Mewthree and a few others. I was going through forums and such, and saw other people posting the Pokémon we made, and eventually let it be known they were fakes. Once that came out, it was argued to me for a while that they were real, until I took some requests and we made more. Ultimately out of this process, we created the Pokémon Factory.
What are some of your favourite The Pokémon Factory Pokémon?
Aspenth:
Foleon is my favorite by far! I found some incredible background pixel art of leaves from the games "The Lion King" and "Megaman X2". The only thing left was the [Jolteon] face. One site visitor threatened legal action over Foleon because he made Grasseon in his mind a month earlier and it was his creation despite never telling anyone. I'm glad that ordeal was taken care of without my involvement, but I expect Mewthree did this kind of thing often.
Bugeon is my second favorite. It just turned out well.
Nearly all the other Fakemon I made make me cringe now.
Frogglet:
My favorite was the Necro-bat. I am still using it as a handle and as an e-mail address to this day. I had one of my old online friends do a sketch of it, and that was my tag for years.
In the early days of Pokémon, Pokégods were hot topics in the playground and on internet forums, mostly born from inventions by fans based on rumours and speculation of Pokémon outside the original 151. How much do you believe The Pokémon Factory contributed to the spread of Pokégods and other Pokémon rumours?
Aspenth:
I think it helped make them more mainstream, but the idea of Pokégods and the like was already all over the internet before the website was even an idea. Even a few fake pokedex entries had been created before I made one. We were slow to respond, IMO [in my opinion]. I was already very interested in the topic of Pokégods and regularly searched for more information on them online. My own list of the Pokégods was already half-filled with ones I’d read about before I started making any of them for the site. The Pokémon Factory forum had a section to discuss them and it really helped us gather a lot of established lore before we made them into Pokédex entries. The first batch was made while I was newly employed and had less time. My part in them was all low-effort. I stole art directly from the DOS games Dark Legions and Dominus, and as many people noticed, the art of Ridley from Super Metroid.
Frogglet:
There was chatter of Pokégods and such well before The Pokémon factory came about. But, as mentioned earlier, after Mewthree and the few other fakes were created and distributed online, there was a lot more chatter on the groups I was in. I let it be known Mewthree was a fake, and people were arguing with me about how they were in fact real. These arguments also came with pictures of more poorly done Pokémon, then pictures of the ones we had created and people were saying that since the obvious fakes looked so horrible, and these looked so official, they had to be real. Back then, when Pokémon was fairly new, the internet [was] not what it is today, and [when] people [had] something to push as real, they went all out pushing it. I saw our fake Pokémon a lot, then more talk, so I believe that we had quite a large part in that phenomenon getting pushed harder.
What was it like to work with Mewthree, the original creator of The Pokémon Factory?
Aspenth:
Well, the original iteration of The Pokémon Factory website (webpage) was actually my creation, though I think he came up with the name and idea.
It was a team effort that we were all very passionate about. My brother was sorting through submissions, and Mewthree (I think his name is Andrew) took care of website maintenance and PR – he received all the e-mails and moderated the forum more often than I did. We talked regularly over IM apps to make the site better together. He also communicated with potential new team members as they became necessary for continued website growth. Mewthree lived in Australia and I live in BC, Canada. The time zone difference wasn't really a big problem because I stayed up all night; for the first several months we were still on dialup internet using a modem and it tied up the house phone.
At a certain point, Mewthree was definitely doing the brunt of the work to make the website continue. He took over PR, website authoring, [and] member coordination, and I think at this point he had been fielding/filtering over 40 e-mails a day manually. This to us meant things were progressing well and we were optimistic about the rapid growth and popularity.
Frogglet:
Mewthree came in later and ultimately took over the website. He started taking on more of the website as we got busier with life. The website started when I was just entering high school and we continued with it for a few years after its creation. However, it was Justin and I who originally created the website. He was great to deal with when he came in, though.
The Pokémon Factory was affiliated with lots of larger Pokémon fan websites at the time and had a significant presence online. What was your relationship like with other Pokémon fan websites back then?
Aspenth:
Mewthree handled all the affiliation stuff. I was only involved in any collaborations involving art – Pokémon trainer entries and the like. I talked with some webmasters a bit over ICQ and AIM as well as taking part in a few forum conversations with other website owners. I don't remember much about that, really.
Frogglet:
I honestly can not remember much about that.
Do you have any fun anecdotes from your time working on the website that you can share with us?
Aspenth:
When the magazine picture of Marill appeared online we talked a lot about what to do with "Pikablu". It didn't have an American name yet, and nobody could read Japanese. I wish I'd made a better effort to create a sprite for it, but I remember a lot of people being excited about it anyway.
I recall that one of the team members started an IRC Pokémon battle roleplay. People could join the chat and set up a match where they would challenge us Pokémon Factory members to battles for our badges (art I made up) to be displayed in rankings. The few times I joined in, people were expecting it to be epic and last a long time, but I got bored quickly every time and let Aspenth's armor crack in half, easily handing over a win so I could leave the chat. I found their disappointment kinda funny.
I don't know if this one is funny or sad, but some of the people I was talking to regularly on IM apps were new members of the site, and I wasn't really keeping track so sometimes didn't even remember or know they were team members until much later...
Frogglet:
Mostly what I remember are the people I made friends with, and the horrible Pokémon suggestions (like rocking Pikachu, a Pikachu with sunglasses and a guitar).
Eventually you both left the website behind. What were your reasons for that?
Aspenth:
I was working and had less time. I was also an avid gamer and wanted to spend more time gaming. I got totally hooked on Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and I'd recently joined the community over at the Castlevania Dungeon forums where I would go on to help make an unfinished game called Castlevania Online. The many piled-up excellent ideas for more fake Pokémon images started to get tedious, and my interests changed. I never even played the GBA Pokémon games because there were so many other great games for the system. Castlevania: [Circle of the Moon] is still one of my favorites.
Frogglet:
As mentioned, the website was created when I was just starting high school and my brother was part way through it. I was in a couple of punk rock bands, had got my license, and had started building and driving muscle cars, dating and working. I just didn't have as much free time as I had when it was created, and the more popular the site got, the more e-mails, etc. there were to deal with. The website needed someone who had more time to deal with all of that and take care of it, and Mewthree was more than happy to take on more.
The Pokémon Factory website and community has continued to be maintained and supported by several people, long after you both left the community, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2023. What are your thoughts on the modern-day website and what the website has produced since you both left?
Aspenth:
Heh, honestly I haven't even looked at it. Many years ago, I guess not long after I moved on from the site (relatively speaking), someone from The Pokémon Factory found and contacted me about making a Gold/Silver font, and I briefly joined in again to help get the newer-style entries looking correct, but I've never even looked at the site since. The artists working on the new G/S entries were much more talented than I ever was.
Frogglet:
I have not seen the new website, [and] honestly have not thought about it much at all until my brother said you wanted to do an interview about the original Pokémon Factory.
You were fortunate enough to experience Pokémon during its very earliest days, during the hype we refer to as “Pokémania”. What was it like to grow up with Pokémon?
Aspenth:
It was really cool. The first games were unlike anything I'd ever played, and I had already played through the most popular console and handheld RPGs in North America, as well as some newly translated ones through emulation. The games had a lot of mysteries inside them, and the need to interact with other players to trade was a really cool mechanic. My brother and I regularly watched the anime as well. I never got into the card game, but I had friends who played it. I can't believe it's still a thing with my nephew, who's the same age as my little brother was back then, collecting and trading them.
Frogglet:
It was a little grainy and discolored at the time! I had it on Game Boy, and I loved it; I played it a ton. I watched the show religiously, and it was great. I was really into final fantasy and other RPGs [Role-Playing Games], and Pokémon was a new kind of game for me. I really enjoyed it.
Do you have any items or merchandise related to Pokémon that meant something to you, that you have held onto?
Aspenth:
I still have my original Game Boys (well, I reshelled the GBC since it was pretty scratched up) and I still have the original Pokémon Red Version cart I started with. The Pikachu toothbrush is sadly long gone. I just checked and I still have a Hitmonchan POG in the sleeve. I always wanted the 1998 TOMY talking [Pikachu bootleg] figure, but it's a relatively new purchase, as is the 3D printed "Buff" Pikachu.
Frogglet:
Not exactly merchandise, no, but I have kept the Necro-bat name and picture since it was created. I also kept my "lucky frog" POG from the POG game, which I believe is what made me want to create Frogglet in the first place.
What are you both up to these days?
Aspenth:
I've been a boilermaker for 20 years; I repair and build pulp and paper mills, refineries and hydroelectric dams. My brother and I went to college pre-apprenticeship together. I do small IT contracts on the side like website authoring, CG/3D modelling, network stuff and computer repairs. For hobbies, I enjoy video game console modding (RGB video upgrades, etc.) and vintage computer optimization (can it run Doom?), and I built a woodworking shop to make arcade cabinets. I also enjoy cooking and charcuterie – sausage/jerky making/curing – and distilling alcohol.
Frogglet:
I am a union boilermaker, still build and drive muscle cars, have recently gotten into forging, blacksmithing and knifemaking, and I am raising a family. My daughter is 21, an artist, and largely online most of the time. My son is 14, into video games (although mostly the newer ones, I did start both my kids out with old-school games first), knifemaking, metalwork, etc. too. I also have a large collection of vintage games and systems from the Atari 2600 to the [PlayStation] 3 that I am setting up in my shop as well.
Aspenth, Frogglet, it has been a pleasure to speak with you both and learn about the earliest days of The Pokémon Factory. Do you have any closing comments you would like to make to our readers, and to those who visit and work on The Pokémon Factory?
Aspenth:
Pokémon was a big part of my life, and it's amazing that it has only grown as a media franchise. I made a lot of friends through the community The Pokémon Factory fostered. I honestly figured the site, while popular in its niche, was actually pretty insignificant in the end. It really surprised me once I moved to Vancouver for college years later that my landlord's kids knew of the site, and even printed, cut out, and traded the fake Pokémon images I created with other kids in their school. To those of you still involved in The Pokémon Factory community – kudos! It's great that you're continuing the legacy of a site I had such a great time being a part of.
Frogglet:
Enjoy it! I had a blast with it when it started, and although I have no input into it whatsoever anymore, I am glad people are still using and enjoying it!
I am incredibly thankful to Aspenth and Frogglet for reaching out to me and for answering my questions about the original website. It was such a great moment to hear from the two of them, especially because I hadn’t been able to find them during our initial search. We wish to thank them both for their work on The Pokémon Factory and wish them both the very best of luck for the future.
Johto Times Favourite Starter Pokémon Poll 2024
From November 22nd, 2024, until December 31st, 2024, we conducted a poll via Google Polls to discover the most loved starter Pokémon (also known as First Partner Pokémon) from the mainline Pokémon games. We asked our readers and the wider Pokémon fan community to rate each Pokémon between 1 (dislike) and 5 (loved). In total, we received 819 responses, and today we would like to share those results!
1st - Cyndaquil (4.10)
2nd - Rowlet (4.08)
3rd - Bulbasaur (4.03)
4th - Mudkip (4.00)
5th - Totodile (3.90)
6th - Sprigatito (3.88)
7th - Fuecoco (3.85)
8th - Squirtle (3.80)
9th - Eevee (3.80)
10th - Piplup (3.74)
11th - Litten (3.66)
12th - Charmander (3.59)
13th - Torchic (3.58)
14th - Turtwig (3.52)
15th - Oshawott (3.49)
16th - Fennekin (3.48)
17th - Treecko (3.47)
18th - Snivy (3.43)
19th - Pikachu (3.38)
20th - Froakie (3.38)
21st - Popplio (3.34)
22nd - Chikorita (3.26)
23rd - Scorbunny (3.25)
24th - Quaxly (3.11)
25th - Sobble (3.09)
26th - Chimchar (2.92)
27th - Grookey (2.92)
28th - Tepig (2.89)
29th - Chespin (2.72)
Please note that while some of these results display the same average score, some Pokémon appear lower or higher due to their overall results, as determined via Google Polls. A huge thanks to everyone who voted; it was a lot of fun to see these results come through! Please remember that every Pokémon is someone’s favourite, and this poll doesn’t determine a Pokémon’s worth. A full breakdown of these results will be shared in a future issue of Johto Times.
That’s all for this week’s issue! If you enjoy what Johto Times provides, be sure to share our newsletter with your friends and loved ones to help us reach even more Pokémon fans. For Discord users, you’re welcome to join our server for the latest notifications from our project. We are still open to sharing your mailbag entries, so if you have anything you would like to share with us, drop us a line by visiting this link to contact us directly!
Let's goooo cyndaquil sweep <3