At its core, Pokémon is a wildlife expedition. The series sends us into nature to capture these wonderful creatures to fight our battles for us. On top of that, we fill out a Pokédex and learn more about them as we capture them in Poké Balls. Over the years, the series has explored different human/Pokémon relationships through the lens of games like Detective Pikachu, but throughout the series, they are largely characterized aswild animals with fascinating behaviors to analyze.
YouTuber and TikTok user Elious Entertainment has created mock-ups of a National Geographic-style Pokémon show (Thanks, Polygon) that examines these little guys in their natural habitat. Each video shows different Pokémon existing in the wild to the backdrop of a soothing narration telling you some of the most fucked up things about the Pokémon universe.
The PokéNational Geographic series has done especially well on TikTok. Entries have surpassed over 200k views on the app, but because YouTube’s horizontal format both shows more of Elious’ animation and fits better on this website, we’ve included them here, Let’s go through the PokéNational Geographic’s attempts to make sense of the wild world of Pokémon.
Magnemite
PokéNational Geographic starts off simple enough with Magnemite. While the magnet-based Pokémon is one of the questionable instances of human-made items becoming sentient, the video doesn’t get too into that mess. Instead, the first entry shows the electric/steel-type Pokémon floating alongside a Geodude, who is mainly a guest star in Magnemite’s starring video.
Phantump
Phantump, like most ghost-type Pokémon, has some messed-up lore. The ghost/grass-type Pokémon from Generation VI is said to be a stump possessed by the spirits of children who died when lost in the forest, and somehow, that is less harrowing when it’s read in a smooth, gentle National Geographic narration.
Sobble
The Sobble entry spends some time talking about how the Generation VIII starter’s tears can make you cry as if you just took a whiff of 1000 diced onions. Unfortunately, it is upstaged by Mimikyu’s cameo appearance, who is the actual saddest Pokémon in the Pokédex. I would love to see a PokéNational Geographic episode on how Mimikyu is an apparently terrifying creature hiding under a Pikachu costume because it wants to be as beloved as the series’ mascot.
Magikarp
While PokéNational Geographic seems mostly excited about its subject matter in most videos, its Magikarp video is pretty much a roast of the fish Pokémon. The narrator is having a one-sided rap battle against the creature, talking about how it’s useless, stupid, and its parents don’t love it. To that, I say chin up Magikarp, you’ll be a Gyarados one day and then you can just eat the guy for all the mean things he said about you.
Baltoy
The latest entry of PokéNational Geographic focuses on Baltoy, but also spends time talking about Route 111 from Ruby and Sapphire. It’s cool because it contextualizes why Baltoy is able to thrive in the desert area, both as a creature built to survive its hot temperatures and congregates there with others of its kind.
Most of this information is found in the Pokémon series’ own dex entries, but it’s fun to see these creatures in nature alongside all this context. The series has attempted to capture Pokémon living in the wild in games like the Pokémon Snap series, which has you taking photographs of different monsters as you pass through different biomes. So these animations feel like a natural extension of the world. I’d love to see the series do more things like this in an official capacity, as it’s such an important side of the universe. Until then, Elious Entertainment is filling in the gap.
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