He believed the design of Kadabra was antisemitic (note that he's Jewish), due to the star on its head and the stripes bearing resemblance to the Waffen-SS logo. Considering the sprite for Alakazam in Red and Green features a whole ass Star of David on its forehead, I wouldn't say it's an outlandish claim to make either.
I don't think outlandish is the right word cause it's not correct. If we're to take his (or his lawyer's) words to being their honest thoughts, then it's a misunderstanding. Kadabra's star and lines are from Zener cards, cards used to test someone's telepathic claims. The 6-pointed star on Alakzam's head is an oddity but I don't think it's there to make reference to the Star of David. If it was an intentional inclusion it was probably there just because Kadabra has a star on its head and since it has evolved the star goes from 5 points to 6. And since the Abra family is also a hodgepodge of occult stuff the 6-pointed star, actually called a
hexagram, has been used there (as in a lot of other instance like astrology & other religions, it's both a memorable but simple shape so gets a lot of symbology uses).
Actually the occult angel is another point which Geller may have had a semi-legitimate claim. There's also a thread on Serebii forums about this and someone on it mentioned, and I'm not sure this is ture, Geller first learned about Kadabra (and probably Pokemon as a whole) when he was in Japan doing a tour and a batch of kids came up to him asking to autograph the Kadabra card. It was also around this time that Pokemon was the target of many evangelicals and soccer moms of pushing occultism (and, in their view, also Satanism), something Geller did not want comparison too (not sure how religious Geller is, but in the past one way the Church persecuted Jews was claiming they practiced occult magic). It may be because of this reason he was able to keep the case going for 20 years, Abra family are based on occult imagery (obviously not in a way that's pushing it, it's just a silly monster design and that's all it is; though saying that I can also see Geller being angry his name is used as a name of a creature constantly called "monster"). It's all overblown and I have a feeling Geller & Nintendo/GF never met in person and had a sit down chat to talk over things, it was likely all lawyers throwing accusations as one another.
I don't think he's rescinding his "ban" on its depiction in the TCG in good faith, though. He specifically refers to Kadabra as "his" and acts as if the stuff is valuable, so it seems to be more for elevating himself than actually burying the hatchet. Oh, well.
Yeah, noticed that. At this point let him believe what he wants, as I said this is the first time in years, over a decade, anyone has thought of Geller aside of the guy who bent spoons and sued Pokemon. If he did this out of good faith, wanting to put this behind him, fine, good on him. Though I also wouldn't be surprised this is a publicity stunt for attention and if you keep following him he's likely over the next few days reveal a new show or product he wants to push. At the very least Kadabra is free and we can start adding the whole Abra family line back into the TCG.
As for why he thinks the Kadabra card is valuable, my guess in not understanding how the TCG works and also we've had a few Kadabra merch in the past few years (and even if we didn't Pokemon has +1000 Pokemon (counting alternated forms) to base products on, like the Ralts family is just as iconic as a Psychic Pokemon as the Abra family). He first learned of all this by Japanese kids asking him to sign the card. So he probably thinks by keeping from more Kadabra cards from being made, if you want to use Kadabra, you need THAT card. Except the card was uncommon so there's hundred of thousands of it out there, the TCG has marched on and competitive only considers a handful of recent sets legal (like at most an Alakazam EX (and also Mega Alakazam) is still allowed since EX Pokemon you can play without needing to go through evolution chains), and the newest Kadabra card will still be uncommon (thus a lot of them printed) because it's a com mon mid-evolution (at MOST maybe it'll get a special variant). Heck, I'm sure it's not the only Pokemon who is "out of play", the makers of the TCG probably have a list of Pokemon who they need to make new cards for so that they can be playable in the TCG again, all this means is that the whole Abra family can go back on that list. Thinking about it, Pokemon also got lucky it was the middle evolution that got hit with the controversy. In GF's view mid evos are easily ignorable, had it been Abra or Alakazam that got into the controversy this may have an entirely different story.
Huh I didn't see that, interessing. I wonder if we're getting more kadabra cards in the next expansions, along w/ the rest of the line, to compensate
Probably not the next expansion as that likely has been already made, but I'm sure it will be in the next one they're currently planning out. Though then again if they haven't sent the next set to print they could probably quickly fit in the Abra family.
Kinda wonder how Mega Alakazam could be made, given the circumstances. TPC was so afraid of giving the Abra line any more attention than it needed, yet they still found it worth it to give Alakazam a Mega?
Because Gen I nostalgia is strong. Despite Alakazam also having the spoon bending connection, it wasn't directly affected by the lawsuit (merch could still be made of it and the TCG just had to find work arounds Kadabra which they did, almost to a hilarious degree). When Mega Pokemon came along they just had a really fun idea for Alakazam for it mind controlling FIVE spoons (
Vanillite Hordes beware)! Part of me wonders if maybe this could have even been a subtle jab at Geller. "You can maybe stop Kadabra, but Alakazam is still in the clear and now it's bending five spoons, beat that!". Okay, probably not, but it's funny to imagine.
Its with grimmsnarl, though it wasnt exactly a big deal like jynx or anything, rather something pointed out that didnt sit well with people. Since it mainly came from a lack of research and misunderstanding rather than malice, so no one took it beyond "hm i really dont like this and heres some info on why". also I dont know how much I can talk about it in this forum lol I don't want to break any rules
You have to really STREEEEEEEEEETCH to think Grimmsnarl is anti-semitic (even with what
Plague von Karma said about the goblin connection). I would consider Probopass more anti-semitic before Grimmsnarl, lol.
"Bring my Kadabra Pokemon card"
???
