Pikachu Statue Mysteriously Appears on a City Block in New Orleans

16:03 August 01, 2016
By: Noah Stokes-Raab

I’m sure you’ve heard about all the hype surrounding the new Pokemon Go game.  You know, the one everyone’s constantly talking your ear off about even though you don’t play it.  Or you’re one of those people who actually does play the game.  Or you’ve been living under a poke-ball for the last few days

Well, the game has become a bit of a craze recently, after it was released to the public a few weeks ago.  Essentially, you walk around with your phone, and your GPS tells you where you can find and catch Pokemon, or Pokemon “gyms” which are essentially Pokemon battlegrounds where you can pit your own Pokemon against the reigning champ of said gym.

This new take on the classic game of Pokemon has created quite a following and dedicated users are playing it on their phones nonstop.  Things have been getting a bit out of hand, for example, car crashes and robberies, all results of the game, but it’s overall pretty harmless and fun. 

Last night, on Terpsichore Street between Prytania and Coliseum, yet another one showed up.  This one, however, was not an icon on someone’s phone GPS; it was a real-life statue of Pikachu, the beloved and arguably most popular Pokemon character in the show and game.  Some unnamed people erected this statue overnight, and it was found this morning.  Nobody has come forward yet to claim responsibility for the statue, but the city of New Orleans has said they have nothing to do with it, so it looks like this is the work of some kind of local Pokemon vigilante. 

There’s even a Pokeball engraved into the base of the statue as well as the hashtag, “#pokemonument,” which I found very clever and amusing.  The city has not yet made plans to remove the statue.  It’s safe to assume this statue won’t be around much longer, but nobody is in any rush to remove it for the time being; it’s not exactly the worst thing in the world to have a small, cute statue of Pikachu.

But one question remains: which brave, Pokemon-obsessed stranger did this?  Who had the idea and the guts to place a Pikachu statue right on a city corner?  I for one, commend this person and their courageous act, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion on the matter.

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