Shaymin
On May 22nd 2008, a lulzy /v/irgin and LJ dramawhore named Lexeevee and a talented Tartlet (aka oxymoron) named PurpleKecleon decided to devise an experiment to test and record the feeding frenzy of faggotry that takes place when Anonymous drops the drama bomb on a particularly twitchy fan community. KC painted an alternative form for the Pokéymans called Shaymin, based on a description that had been published on the website Pokebéach. She then overlaid moonspeak on it, printed it out on glossy paper and took a blurry photograph of it. Finally, Vee then posted it to 4chan /v/.
—Lexyeevee | ||
Over the next twenty-four hours, the results were carefully documented. The results read like a sad indictment of internet culture. They are reproduced here from the timeline on Vee's blog, with reverence for his services to the lulz.
Timeline
2:58 PM Original /v/ post.
3:06 PM /v/ post Imageshacked and linked from Gamefaqs, citing /v/ as sauce.
3:47 PM /v/ post Imageshacked again and linked from LJ Pokémon. Sauce named as 2chan.
4:00 PM A breakthrough. After an entire thirteen minutes of inactivity the image is stolen by Pokébeach, stamped with their watermark and reported as front page news. The sauce is given as LJ User HeerosFerret, and no credit is given to /v/ or the LJ Pokémon community.
4:07 PM A bare two hours and nine minutes after the original /v/ post - RULE 34 ON SKY FORME SHAYMIN!!!!!!!!!1
4:11 PM The second Imageshack link is lifted from LJ Pokémon and uploaded to the website Bulbagarden. No sauce named.
4:26 PM First fanart of Sky Forme Shaymin appears on DA. Names it as OFFICIAL NEW POKÉMON, and gives sauce as 4chan. Lol wut.
4:28 PM Original photo posted to Pokémon forums at Serebii.com. No sauce given.
4:36 PM Imageshack link spreads to forums at Smogon. Sauce named as Pokébeach.
5:16 PM Pokébeach image circulated via IRC.
6:23 PM Excitable stampeding trendwhores upload Pokébeach image to DA. Hastily deleted for some unknown reason.
6:30-7:00 PM Original /v/ thread expires, and the paperchase back to Anon is severed permanently.
2:43 AM The news sites start to shit themselves. Serebii speedily edits his article and covers it in "This is almost certainly a hoax" warnings in a desperate attempt to save face.
6:36 AM Moar DA fanart.
6:48 AM Pokébeach image re-uploaded to DA with the watermarked hacked off. Re-deleted just as fast.
4-6 AM The story continues to spread across the blogs.
1:27 PM Less than twenty-four hours after the original post, Sky Forme Shaymin reaches Fur Affinity. All hope is lost.
Vee's Conclusions
In final analolysis, Lexyeevee made the following observations based on his results.
- It was amazing to watch how markedly little suspicion the fake Pokémon met. Even 4chan - the home of "Looks shooped," "Pics or it didn't happen" and "GTFO newfag" - threw up only a handful of naysayers.
- Curiously, the fact that the /v/ post was of someone holding the picture up to the camera actually caused people to accuse it of being faked rather than adding to its air of authenticity.
- Serebii and Pokébeach getting into a giant pissing contest, calling each other out, bitching about sauce and generally trying to be the most super special awesome Pokémon site on the internet served as a big catalyst.
- Sadly the story was not carried by the site "Bulbanews"; because Vee notes that he uses their news feed for Pokémon updates, and it would have been Epic Win for his own hoax to arrive back on his own front page within a day via a chain of third parties.
Wait, it's not fake...?
Ironically, Nintendo really did create a sky form Shaymin. When rumors leaked about the real sky form Shaymin everyone figured it was the old fake Shaymin photoshops again or yet another prank. I mean, seriously? Who would go and create an actual honest to god pokemon like that after someone made a fake that spread across the internet at lightning speed to the delight of thousands of super-excited nerds with money... oooh.... Never mind, it's genius!
Of course absolutely nobody believed a word of it until Nintendo made a freaking Sky Form Shaymin movie. They named it "Giratina and the Sky Warrior" to try to hide the fact that the real main character was freaking Sky Shaymin. They also added an "e" at the end to make it Sky Forme Shyamin. Apparently sticking an "e" in the name made it a totally original idea that Nintendo totally didn't steal from the internet.
And if you are wondering, yes, those are wings on it's head. It doesn't use them, though. No, it doesn't fly with the flower on it's neck, either. It actually sort of hovers like a giant malformed dandelion puff as it pathetically kicks it's legs as if running in the sky. Lazy animation or disturbing anatomy? You decide.
External Links
- Copy of the Original /v/ Thread
- Pokébeach News Story
- Gamefags Thread
- Bulbagarden Thread
- Serebii Thread
- Smogon Thread
- Serebii Hastily Backpedals
- The cancer spreads into the small hours...
- ...and spreads...
- ...and spreads some more.
 Shaymin is part of a series on Pokémon [Who’s that Pokémon?] | |||||||
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Shaymin is part of a series on Visit the Furfaggotry Portal for complete coverage. |