After years of fans treating it as such, the Pokémon company officially recognized that the World Championships also serve as a convention of sorts. Did the content on display match what I expected?
Since flying directly out of Chicago was cheaper than flying
out of Madison and connecting (we still haven’t gotten our direct flight to SFO
back), I took the bus down to O’Hare and went through the usual rigmarole. The
only notable thing about the flight were some issues with my seat’s IFE and
power delivery, which I was actually compensated for with about 3500 miles.
After arriving, I took BART up to downtown San Francisco (I
had learned not to use a rideshare based on a business trip in 2019), got to my
hotel, and ordered a fish and chips dinner from The Chieftain Irish Pub & Restaurant
while listening to the Giants game (which didn’t seem to be available on the TV
in my hotel room).
My appointment at the Pokémon Center store was in the
afternoon, so I took the bus over to Amoeba
Music west of downtown. Dressed in my “Intimidate Shinx” Michael Hutchence
cosplay, I did get some interesting looks from some of the other patrons. While
the store had a good selection of new and used music overall, I can’t say I
found too much in the way of hidden gems-or perhaps, they didn’t find me.
The Pokémon Center experience was a bit rough, as is usually
the case at Worlds. It was 30-45 minutes behind, and there was plenty of
waiting inside as well. I picked up a (reversible!) Vulpix pendant and sleeves,
then returned to my hotel room and ordered French toast from Mel’s Kitchen.
This was effectively my day off, so I decided to go over to
Alameda to check out The
Experience Share retro store. While I can’t specifically tie it to XP, the
folks working there did tell me it seemed like it was busier than usual. After
purchasing a trio of games, I dropped by the Pacific Pinball Museum before eating
an early dinner at Alameda Pizza, a restaurant that survived not only Covid,
but also the closure of the naval base back in the 90s.
After returning to the other side of the bay, I headed over
to Union Park for the evening screening of Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. The
pre-show had music, trivia, and a costumed host. As you’d expect, the movie was
a lot of fun to watch with a receptive audience of several hundred.
Sunday
This being my spectator pass day, I donned my “Ditto Inside”
Michael Hutchence cosplay and headed over to the Moscone Center. I made a quick
pit stop at the pinball machines (I gave the folks from Stern a hard copy of
our roundtable from February), then settled in for a series of panels, taking
pictures of other attractions in between.
Notes on specific panels:
Pokémon Horizons: Compared to the similar panel in Honolulu,
this one had less production info and was more about the voice actors and
direction (this made some sense since there was a dubbing demo you could try).
Cosplay Showcase: As expected, there was a wide array of
well-made costumes. Also, apparently Corbeau is popular.
Gotta Catch ‘em All Game Show: This was much better paced
than in Anaheim, with a more appropriate amount of banter between the host and
contestants. See if you can spot me in some of the audience footage.
After the last panel, I thanked some of the staff and headed
back to the hotel (probably a good idea since the closing ceremony wasn’t held
until several hours later). After ordering food from Bean Bag Café, I started packing and prepping
for the return trip.
Monday
History rhymes. Hard.
In an effort to get home earlier, I arrived several hours
early and put myself on standby for the 10:15 am flight to Chicago (I would
have booked this flight instead of 12 pm, but it was substantially more
expensive). I not only got moved up, by my checked luggage made it on the
flight as well (perhaps helped because the noon flight was slated for the same
gate).
Things went downhill as we approached O’Hare, though, as
being stuck in a holding pattern eventually led to us being diverted to
Indianapolis (déjà vu from last year’s return from Anaheim), being forced to de-board
and re-board the plane, and finally getting into Chicago around 10:15-10:30. I
was forced to take the 12:15 am bus back to Madison. For an extra bit of irony,
the 12 pm flight arrived at 7 pm, only about 30 minutes late. I got home around
3 am.
Other Notes:
-Judging from my discussions with others, I kind of lucked
out getting Sunday as my spectator day as opposed to Saturday, which apparently
had the most issues.
-Having the XP panels livestreamed really was a blessing, and listening to them as I explored the area made me feel like I was missing out a lot less.
-I completely avoided going to any side events due to the delays I experienced
last year.
-Having spent a fair amount of time around the pinball machines, I think it
might have been better if the Stern folks volunteered to help some of the
attendees, as it seems a number of them were interested, but not familiar with
pinball in general. Granted, it was the third day.
-Speaking of pinball, I’m also disappointed the Game Boy and GBA pinball games
haven’t been added to NSO (and furthermore, that nothing was added to NSO in
conjunction with the event), which might have helped with the unfamiliarity.
-“Wild Card” seems somewhat interesting from a tonal perspective, but I’m
having trouble getting excited since “Path to the Peak” is still relatively
recent. I really wish Pokémon would make films (live-action or animated) based
around existing game characters.
-Best meal of the weekend definitely goes to Alameda Pizza. Not only was the owner interesting, but the food was pretty great:
