LINE Pokémon Emoji

Anyone who is familiar with instant messaging apps of the recent era will no doubt be familiar with emoji (derived from Japanese, meaning "picture character"). It's an expansion of the concept of emoticons with a more pictorial appearance. The instant messaging app LINE some time ago added the ability to purchase and use special emoji packs pertaining to different things (both official and indie or creators'), and one of those official things happens to be Pokémon. It was one of the earliest packs to be added, and I recently got it a short while ago.

Emoji, like stickers, are purchased from the sticker store. The cost for the Pokémon emoji is 100 coins, equivalent to the price of sticker packs. What one gets for that price is a pack composed of 40 emoji, which is equivalent in number to a standard non-enhanced sticker pack. The emoji can be used per their intended purpose, which is to be inserted in message text to add emotions. However, emoji can also be used on their own without accompanying text, and in doing so, they appear larger, almost like a mini-sticker. So for this Pokémon emoji (as well as any other), I'm essentially getting a free sticker pack as well, only with the added perk that these can be inserted into text, making them rather flexible.

The assortment of featured Pokémon is pretty good too. The de facto series mascot Pikachu gets six emoji while Piplup gets five. Piplup tends to be a favorite of a smattering of fans, including one in my figure group, so it's no wonder that it got a few here. The rest are composed of many Pokémon from the first and second generations, with a handful from later generations. Rounding out the emoji pack are the "Big Four" types of Poké Balls, which should offer a way to decorate messages. They're all quite expressive as well.

The art style here is pixelated retro. The Pokémon and Poké Balls appear as if they were taken out of one of the classic main series Pokémon games. The pixelation is even shown clearly when the emoji are used on their own and enlarged. On the other hand, they are supposed to be mostly used inserted into text, so that's fine. My favorites from here are the ones with Pikachu and Piplup, though I have to say Meowth and Wobbuffet look pretty expressive as well.

Unlike stickers, this is the only Pokémon emoji pack that currently exists. But given how other things have multiple emoji packs, future Pokémon emoji packs may be expected. I, for one, would like to have an all-Pikachu pack, or at least more of Pikachu and Piplup in one pack. Emoji packs could also have Pokémon items, of which Poké Balls are a small part of that. For now, this emoji pack looks to be a great start. Anyone who uses LINE and want to integrate Pokémon into their messages as an alternative to sending stickers can do so with this emoji pack.

One year ago: The Super Incubator
Two years ago: The Badge Arcade Hit Its Limits