About

Pokémon GO Appraisals are screenshots of in-game advisory messages from the mobile gaming app Pokémon GO in which the canonical names of the Pokemon creatures are replaced with common nouns or phrases for humorous effect in third-person address.

Origins

On August 22nd, 2016, Niantic unveiled a new "appraisal system" in an update for Pokemon GO, which offers a one-sheet summary of each Pokémon’s technical attributes and capabilities in the form of advisory messages from one of the leaders of the three Pokemon GO teams (Candela, Blanche or Spark). The feature was designed to help the players determine which Pokemon in their possession would be most effective in any given battle (shown below).

Trainers will now be able to learn about a Pokémon’s attack and defense capabilities from their Team Leader (Candela, Blanche or Spark) to determine which of their Pokémon have the most potential for battle.

Spread

On August 24th, Tumblr user i-drink-commoner-coffee posted an in-game screenshot of Team Valor leader Candela appraising a Vaporeon nicknamed "Will to Live," accompanied by the caption that reads "when i go back to school." Later that same day, Tumblr user Capndirosso posted an in-game screenshot of Candela appraising a Raticate nicknamed "Self-Esteem." The posts garnered more than 4,500 notes and 500 notes within the first 24 hours, respectively.

In the following days, dozens of screenshots illustrating in-game messages in which the Pokemon GO Team leaders address the creatures by their user-specified nicknames emerged on Tumblr under the hashtags #Pokemon Go Appraisal^[11] and #Pokemon Appraisal.^[12]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References