Thank Heaven for Little Boys

There are many things that I like in this world, and quiz shows are one of them - I'm partial to Family Feud and its kin, not the least because I grew up with it. Recently, a question was asked in the Fast Money round that puzzled some people, even Steve Harvey (the host) himself. Here's how it went, an answer that was given, and how many points it earned:

"Besides dogs, name an animal little boys love..."
"Frogs" - 23 points, number one answer

For me, this answer isn't puzzling at all. In fact, this answer makes sense in light of Pokémon, which is why I'm posting about it. Remember, if it's even slightly related to Pokémon, it's worthy of discussion here.

The reason this is related to Pokémon is because this was one of the things that inspired Satoshi Tajiri, the creator of Pokémon, to create it. In addition to collecting insects (and understandably in effect other animals) to duke them out with friends later, which forms the main premise of the Pokémon main game series, he envisaged tadpoles - little frogs - being sent through channels or cables to others. This would form the premise of the trading system, one of the key points of the Pokémon main series, and the "tadpole" was realized as the Poliwag family; Politoed came later on and gave adult frogs an honorable place in the world of Pokémon.

And thus frogs played a pivotal role in the inception of Pokémon. A little boy's fascination with collection and competition of animals was realized in a virtual form that anyone can easily take up. What Satoshi Tajiri was really doing was sharing his childhood passion with the world so that we can share and revel in his joy. It's also in essence what I'm doing with this blog now with the help of Pokémon itself.

So Steve, don't be surprised of little boys that love frogs, because one of them is the brains behind one of the world's top-selling game franchises.

Thank heaven for little boys, for little boys get bigger every day.