Happy Valentines 2020

We Ship Baby Yoda and Pikachu for Valentines Day:

I really aspired to coming up with something less predictable than this, but predictable was the best I could do today.

Our son commented that there might be a lot of romantic fan fic out there about these two. I cannot confirm or deny.

See previous Valentines napkins at this link

Charmander Rides the G

Pokemon: Unsafe at any speed underground in NYC

We somehow managed to dodge it for a while, but Pokemon Go obsession has finally seized our older son.  The younger one is not all that interested in the game itself, but is amenable to reigniting the general obsession with things Pokemon. Thus we have the two napkins picturing each of the kids' favorite Pokemon of the moment. The younger requested Charmander, and the older, Wigglytuff.

I inserted them into our morning subway commute to summer camp.

The MTA is clearly concerned about the safety of people playing the game in the subway. As am I of course. While a game that actually encourages our older child to put his pants on and leave the house is not a thing to be scoffed at, I am worried about his inattention to the surrounding real world.  Below is the MTA poster telling commuters to not fall onto the tracks while trying to catch Pikachu.... or maybe not to try to save Pikachu from a certain and horrible death by subway train....

 These napkins were rather casually executed, Due to health issues, my staying up late privileges have been permanently suspended, probably permanently. I pretty much have to go to bed at the same time as my kids, minus some hurried lunch packing and laundry doing. A two napkin evening is definitely a thing of the past, so I had a hard time finishing these two in the morning while we were trying to get out the door for camp.

Wigglytuff at the Metropolitan Stop

Pikachu Zaps Deadpool

Maybe it's best if relations are not too warm and fuzzy.

We recently read some of "Deadpool Volume 5: Wedding of Deadpool," during which Wade and his new bride, Shiklah, (who Is literally a man-eating demon) fight some Pokemon-like creatures over a briefcase full of cash. Deadpool says something like, "you follow that guy, and I'll stay here and kill Pikachu." The Pokemon creature in the comic doesn't much resemble Pikachu...but the kids and I agreed, why not Deadpool and Pikachu?

I thought maybe their relationship should look a bit less combative, if not entirely positive. Given Deadpool's behavior with unicorns in the recent movie, it might be wise to keep the relationship slightly unfriendly.

(Pikachu never seems to lose his charm as far as the kids are concerned- See all of the Pikachu napkins here)

Pikachu and a Minion Cosplay as One Another

What's small,  yellow, cute, doesn't speak English or have visible genitals?

We've noticed the obvious similarities between these characters previously. There was a Pikachu/Minion napkin back in 2013.  At least on that occasion, I did not neglect to draw Pikachu's nose. I don't know what happened last night that made me forget such an important piece of anatomy.  I see now that I also neglected to put red dots on the Minion's cheeks.....Sigh. I can only blame once again the two napkins a night problem.

Yes, we saw the Minions movie over the weekend.  It was not optional as far as my kids were concerned. They loved it of course. I remember some of it. Although the movie does blend seamlessly in my mind with my previous repeated viewings of the trailers, so I am not sure how much new information I have actually retained.

While my older son and I were discussing the pairing on this napkin yesterday, he specified that despite the two characters being done up like each other, the Minion should not be naked....because....that would just be too disturbing.  This led to a mildly disturbing discussion of what was going on with the Minions genderwise.  I argued that they were likely male...or at least not specifically female, since they all seem to have male names. And they often dress up in female drag clearly for humorous effect.  This comic cross dressing is in fact my biggest gripe about the Minions, but it is by no means unique to them. If a non human character doesn't have eyelashes, hairbows, and isn't wearing a silly dress, then it can't be female.  And if it's male and is wearing a dress, then it is HILARIOUS.

The kids were not really convinced either way, and they generally tune out their mother's feminist harranguing anyway.  We agreed that the Minions must reproduce asexually, perhaps through cloning or some sort of binary fission. (Now there's a disturbing thought)

One could ask similar gender questions about Pokemon characters like Pikachu.... (Although I know people will be happy to rise to the challenge and explain the rules of Pokemon gender to me.)


Let's just say that I think its best that they all keep their pants on.

Attack on Pokemon

 

Or maybe it should be "Attack on Ketchum"

Unsurprisingly, none of my son's second grade classmates are familiar with the "Attack on Titan" series, but Pikachu is always good.

"Attack on Titan" and "Pokemon" seemed like good candidates for a mashup as they are both manga and anime series that engage in serious violations of the law of conservation of mass. The Titans, including the "Colossal Titan," who looms so compellingly over the barrier wall, spring instantaneously from normal sized humans.

And Pokemon somehow fit in those little balls.

Birthday Hydreigon

A napkin/card for a Pokemon themed 8th birthday party.

It is probably way too much pink and purple for a male birthday child, but so be it.

When our older son was 8, the Pokemon infection was so widespread and intense that the second grade teachers outlawed Pokemon cards at school. There were many Pokemon napkins as I tried to compensate for our son's lack of $15 cards. Mercifully, our younger son's second grade enthusiasm for things Pokemon is much less intense.

But after attending this Pokemon birthday party today, the situation has escalated noticeably.

Dark Pikachu

 A happy and ever popular Pokemon... but of course it is the dark version.

There is no doubt that Ansel gains plenty of pop culture boy cred courtesy of his older brother.  He's on top of all of the video game trends and is an early adopter of all sorts of age-inappropriate content and behavior.  When all the parents in Kindergarten received an email that said something like, "Your child may have been exposed to some inappropriate language today at lunch time..." we did not have to ask which child was the source.

Archer is 4 years older, and he works hard researching the stuff that he is too young to access directly. As a result, much of the material that he shares with Ansel is way too far ahead.  (I'll just offer two very disturbingly linked phrases:  "Grand Theft Auto" and "lap dancing")

While I have my own concerns about the larger issues of the transmission of  inappropriate content, on a lighter note, I think the situation makes Ansel's napkin pictures rather obscure for his second grade lunch friends.  When Archer was seven, the napkins were all Pokemon, LEGO or Star Wars.  Those topics were instantly recognizable and cool from his friends' perspective.  I engaged in a lot of napkin compensation: When Archer felt deprived of the latest Pokemon card or Star Wars toy (something that happened pretty much on a daily basis) I could at least draw a nice picture of it on his napkin.

Ansel's napkins often feature whatever his 11-turning 25 year old brother has been yammering about the day before.  Last night's topic was the horror video game "Five Nights at Freddies."  At bedtime, Archer announced to me that Ansel was really interested in this game.  This prompted the question, "I wonder who told your seven year old brother about this creepy game featuring killer animatronic creatures?" (parental disclaimer: Archer has not played this game...but he knows all the details anyway)

For today's napkin, I decided to forgo the homicidal robots and instead feature the more age appropriate Pokemon that Ansel and his classmates were arguing about at pickup yesterday.

Homicidal robots next week?


Below are Ansel's superior drawings of Pikachu, light and dark, bleeding through on opposite sides of one sheet of paper:

Pikachu With Portal Gun

Archer actually asked for the Scribblenauts version of Pikachu holding a portal gun. I went astray somehow and ended up with a more "realistic" creature...although realistic is perhaps not exactly the right word...but it's not very Scribblenaut like anyway.

I'll have to admit my complete ignorance of the Portal game. I wasn't even certain which was the business end of the gun.  Meanwhile, Pikachu became far more malevolent looking than I had intended.

Pikachu/Toothless with Ash/Hiccup

The latest "How To Train Your Dragon" spin-off, the TV show on Cartoon Network now titled "Dragons: Defenders of Berk," reminded both of our sons that they are pretty excited about Hiccup and Toothless.

We had all our Halloween costume choices made until they watched the lastest Dreamworks Dragons episode.  Now they are squabbling over who will get to be Hiccup....because they can't both be Hiccup... can they?

They were both amused by this napkin's Pokemon/Dragons mash-up anyway.  Each boy made a point of telling me the picture was funny this morning.  Not "hi-larious" (the highest praise)... but funny at least. 

Pacific Rim Meets Pokemon: Pikachu Jaeger

I somehow dodged having to draw Connor Kenway again for today (although Chris Giarrusso's version is very nice) because my kids were reminded recently of the coolness of giant mechs.

There was some debate about the translation of various jaeger features to Pikachu anatomy:  Where do the weapons go? What does one do with the tail?

I'm sure one could spend hours on the topic of  Pikachu mech design...hours that I did not have last night.  So my apologies to all those who inhabit the overlapping territory of the venn diagram circles of Pikachu and Pacific Rim fans.

Pikachu Rides Skateboard

Pikachu continues to compel Ansel as you can see by his school self portrait below.
Mercifully, the startling cries of "Pika! Pika!" are more infrequent this week.

I drew this one rather distractedly last night while watching Star Trek: Into Darkness on pay per view.  
Predictably, the low effort blob on an indeterminate background is Ansel's most favorite napkin in recent memory.  He actually said, "Mom, that is so awesome!" this morning. 

The Pikachu frame was entirely his invention according to his teacher.
But also take a look at the attitude on this six year old person.

Despicable Me Minion With Pikachu

We have less emphasis on violence for today.

I don't know how me missed the obvious combination of yellowness and excessive cuteness before.

Minecraft Pikachu and Alien

Our older son is quite an authority on Minecraft...particularly considering he has not had an opportunity to play the game himself.  He has watched enough online videos of other people playing and discussing the game that I should probably have my parenting license revoked.  (If only there were such a thing as a parenting license...)

The younger brother is not so interested in Minecraft, but he is definitely interested in all the various incarnations of Pikachu.

I have been told that I made Pikachu's thunderbolt the wrong color- it should have been entirely yellow.  I don't know how I could have made such a mistake.  

I know that the lack of  authetic Minecraft detail, however, was just laziness.

Electric Pikachu With Boy

We've experienced a notable and unexplained return of interest in Pikachu recently.  I think it is mostly about shrieking "Pika!' repeatedly and loudly around unsuspecting adults.

I guess Pikachu was supposed to look "realistic," but clearly I was incapable of rendering such a thing... perhaps I was also incapable of even conceiving of a realistic Pokemon.

Ansel has been cuddling with one of our several stuffed versions, so I was inspired to include him on the napkin. 

Bad idea of course:  "I am never taking THAT to school!' he told me.  

His coloring of my sketch indicates pretty clearly how he felt about my drawing of his face.

Megawatt from Ben 10 and Elekid from Pokemon

Megawatt from Ben 10 Omniverse and Elekid the pokemon enjoy an electric connection.  The combination of cuteness and destructiveness is so compelling for my sons.

Noctowl for Archer

Archer's year end report is on barn owls.  He is completely resistant to the idea of a napkin featuring a real owl, but an owl-like Pokemon creature is ok.  He got the dearth of blue markers/weird pink sky treatment as well, but perhaps with more success.

Herdier and Pikachu for Ansel

More Pokemon characters for Ansel:  It was far too late last night for me to give any consideration to what might be the relationship between Herdier and Pikachu, much less their environment.  Lack of functioning blue markers has reduced me to strange pink backgrounds.

Bulbasaur with Pasta for Archer

My feelings about Bulbasaur are mixed, but Archer feels he is astoundingly cute...and that he himself is astoundingly cute while he is pretending to be Bulbasaur.

Herdier for Ansel

Another image of Pokemon's Herdier "the moustache dog" as Ansel likes to call him.  Pretty much a complete background failure on this one, but I felt compelled to put something behind the dog, as drawing the Pokemon character did not present much of a challenge.  And fancy backgrounds have become another entitlement as far as the kids are concerned.  Ansel in particular feels that I am shirking my napkin duty if the whole thing is not colored in.