It really is a testament to the strength of Nintendo’s (and Game Freak’s) brand and characters that they can have so many fans, making so much awesome fan art and content, all while being the absolutely most abusive and toxic to those fans and artists.

Like, most creators and franchises would kill for a community to spring up, or for people to engage with their work outside of their work. They’d consider it free advertising, and in fact they sometimes even pay for contests and things like that to drum up some kind of fan community and momentum.

And then Nintendo is out here hunting momentum and affection wherever they can find it, and it keeps springing up despite that 😛