Last week, The Pokemon Company celebrated Bidoof Day with… well, not a lot. There was an event in Pokemon Go that was basically just an endless stream of ‘catch Bidoof’ tasks, a Rickroll Bidoof video, and a warm, fuzzy feeling that comes from seeing the loveable critter’s goofy teeth. Despite not much happening on the day, it still felt like the perfect celebration of what makes Bidoof great, and proves that every single Pokemon is worth celebrating. Well, maybe not Yungoos.
To be honest, with the right amount of love and care, even Yungoos and its horrible Donald Trump toupee could be redeemed. Pokemon is at its best when it’s about the creatures themselves, and while the outside world attaches weighted value to some – Pikachu being 'better' than Gilscor, for example – the internal reality of the universe should not. Yes, some are better battlers, while others are more suited to certain activities or environments, but every Pokemon is valuable and worthy of love. I don't think every single Pokemon deserves a day dedicated to them; there are more Pokemon than days in the year, and the novelty of days like Bidoof Day would wear off very quickly. But Pokemon has done a Bidoof day before, and it has always been a wonderfully silly load of nothing. In some way, Bidoof Day isn't so much about Bidoof specifically as it is about all of those Pokemon that are never going to get a day of their own. Every Pokemon is someone's favourite after all, and Bidoof Day is for them – it’s a day when we celebrate Pokemon being Pokemon while asking for nothing in return. It might have starred Bidoof, but it was just as much Yungoos Day and Gliscor Day as it was a celebration of Gen 4’s beloved beaver.
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That nothing really happened on Bidoof Day is kind of the point – we don’t need free things, new games, or cool events every day to remind us to put our favourite Pokemon in the spotlight. Just celebrating them should be enough. It would have been so easy for Niantic to give us a Bidoof in a hat, for example, but it doesn’t really matter that we didn’t get one. The day wasn’t about forcing you to play, tapping into time-limited-event FOMO, or even marketing. Pokemon knows how to do marketing, but Bidoof Day wasn’t really that. It was made entirely for existing fans, for trainers who already follow the company on Twitter or have alerts set up on YouTube. It wasn’t an attempt to pull more people in off the street – it was for people already at the party.
Just because there was no incentive to play doesn’t mean the day was a bust, either. That Rickroll video was an original production, and is not the kind of thing that can be phoned in. From the original lyrics to the recording, to the brilliantly campy dance montages, Bidoof Day took a lot of love and a lot of effort. There was nothing really in it for Pokemon either – Bidoof, great as it is, is not a showstopper like Pikachu or Charizard. You only 'get' Bidoof Day if you're already a die-hard fan of the series.
It's like when you go to see your favourite band and they play that B-side from one of the less popular albums. I always remember going to see Paramore live, and after a run of Misery Business, Careful, and Playing God, they switched to Here We Go Again – the atmosphere changed. Paramore stopped being this incredibly popular, global tour having, genre leading, iconic pop punk band and turned back into that small band from nowhere I heard on Kerrang Radio. That's what Bidoof Day was – it stripped all of the money and events and tie-ins and merch away from Pokemon, and for one day, for one YouTube video, it turned back into that video game I used to play on my Game Boy Color with a torch to light the faded screen and sellotape to keep the batteries in place.
Pokemon doesn't feel like that very much anymore. Part of that is just getting older – you can't go home again, especially if that home is in Pallet Town. But part of it is also that Pokemon as a phenomenon always seems to be ahead of everything about Pokemon. Sometimes that can be great, like when this enthusiasm fizzes up and establishes Pokemon Go as the best game this century. Other times it can sour everything, like when grown men in socks and sandals fight each other for packs of Pokemon cards. Bidoof Day eschews all that for something much more sincere. There's no way to win, no way to lose, no way to profit. All there is is Bidoof. Enjoy it.
Next: Justice For Erika: Pokemon's Most Underrated Gym Leader
