All Star, All Pokémon

Hey now, you're an all-star

Get your game on, go play

Hey now, you're a rock star

Get the show on, get paid

And all that glitters is gold

Only shooting stars break the mold

-- "All Star", Smash Mouth

Also a little over one year ago, along with the introduction to Pokémon Go Tour, I also brought up this song as part of the way I introduced things. The song might have greater association with a movie about a big green creature as well as an Internet meme that occasionally makes the rounds, and it might be a little less applicable for Pokémon. Yet, the parts that are applicable may still be considered to have some meaning with Pokémon.

One of those parts is the "get your game on" part, which would be the part that is relevant to the main series players - actually, even a little beyond - that I also mentioned previously. The phrase makes up their slogan to a capacity, a way to get players going. It should be admitted that the slogan may have been conceived independently of this song, but regardless, the slogan is exactly the same as the lyric, and therefore it's difficult to escape connecting the song, the slogan, and Pokémon affairs all together.

Then there's the "break the mold" part, which is evocative of an Ability in the main series games that is aptly called Mold Breaker. Some advanced species do have this Ability, and they are popular among competitive circles, at least enough for the Ability itself to stick out in the memory of some players like myself.

Meanwhile, the rest of the song can be summarized in one message as being able to make breakthroughs in life. That's a vital thing for any Pokémon Trainer and in fact any one, whether they are very brilliant stars or just a regular star, or whether they are rock stars or just an ordinary musical star. In the end, everyone gets their own time to shine, just as something that a famous painter helped to popularize has dictated.

It might be a bit of a stretch fitting this song to Pokémon, but in my mind, many things seem to fit - and in the case of my fellow players above, they might agree that it also fits even if a connection wasn't intended. If anything, it might just be that Pokémon has the power to turn "any star" into an "all-star", and that's bright and shining indeed.

One year ago: Pokémon Go Community Day, 2/7/2021

Two years ago: Turning Around and Back

Three years ago: Local EX Raid (with "Friend Boost"), 2/7/2019

Four years ago: An Eye for Pokémon

Five years ago: Conserve and Cooperate