Pokémon Mechanical Fan

If I'm going to own tools and trinkets, I like to make sure that they work as expected and that they have some functional purposes, perhaps not just one (in that last regard, they're what Alton Brown calls "multitaskers"). I think both of them qualify for something I found again from the event on Sunday. It's a Pokémon/Pikachu mechanical hand fan, which is kind of unique; so unique that although there were several sold during the course of the event, I decided to buy the last one displayed. Oh, it's also unofficial by the Go emblem on it, but that's the least of my worries.

As I've mentioned, this is a mechanical fan. It's not electric, and it's not powered by batteries, so in some sense it's also environmentally friendly. How it works is you push and let go of the part of the handle that sticks out, and the fan will spin for around three to four seconds. If you want the fan to spin longer, you can push and let go repeatedly for as much as you like. I think the way that the fan works is like a wind-up car that you roll backwards to store energy then let go to let it cruise, except you do the motions by pushing the handle, and it turns a fan instead of wheels.

But then what about the criteria? Let's consider:

• Does it work as expected? Yes, it does. The fan turns sufficiently fast to produce a cooling flow of air. Granted, the flow does not last long with a single press, but with multiple presses, you can make it go some ways. It's obviously not for continuous use as you would get tired of pressing, but it works fine in a pinch.
• Does it have functional purposes? Yes, in some ways. You can fan yourself to cool yourself down, or you can fan others to cool them down. You can also fan other things to dry them, for example. I'd say there's sufficiently a multitude of purposes for this mechanical fan.

Based on these criteria, the mechanical fan fulfills them both, so I'd say it's a worthwhile tool to have.

That said, I didn't buy it just for its practicality; I bought it because of the Pokémon motif. But if you look at it closely, you can notice another Pokémon connection: it almost looks like a miniature version of Fan Rotom, only of course not electrified. I'm tempted to make it look like as such, but alas, I don't have the skills, time, or materials. Still, I'm just happy that it reminds me of Pokémon in at least one way. A little function to the form doesn't hurt either. 👍