Unofficial Pokémon fan event drags ill Make-A-Wish children in front of a crowd, suffers invasive camera crews, and is haunted by the Ravioli Man

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(Image credit: Nintendo)

Pikachu looking shocked.

Pokeverse, an unofficial, fan-run Pokémon event in the Philippines, has been a disaster of such catastrophic proportions for some attendees that it’s being mentioned in the same breath as the ill-fatedDashCon—which produced a picture of a lonely ball pit so infamous as to be instantly recognisable to anyone familiar with con culture.

Acosplay contestwas also announced less than a week beforehand, with discounts for cosplayers—though Rita claims at least one cosplayer was denied said discount “because staff didn’t recognize his character”.

Later on, it turned out that cosplayers had been brought into the event on thesame dayas child-centric attractions and events: “If you wore a costume, or a onesie, there is a guarantee that at least one child would start following you around or grabbing your clothes and props.” Rita also says there was “no lounge. So cosplayers started changing HERE”, before sharing an image of avery public-looking, tiny restarea,addingthat the camera crew “would not leave the rest area alone”.

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In fact, Rita says that the camera crew were a constant scourge at the event,claiming: “The camera crew was filming EVERYTHING. It felt like 1984. Cameramen were shoving their cameras up cosplayer’s faces, people who were sitting down to draw. And most egregiously, unattended minors whose parents were getting food.”

(Image credit: @BintuRita on Twitter/X.)

A post that reads: “Enter THE RAVIOLI MAN.This guy was eating sauce off a ravioli jar in his pocket. It seemed to be a filthy frank style prank there there were children under five running around the space and he smelled ROT.Security refused to do anything despite several congoer’s reports.” Features several images of the Ravioli Man.

Rita alleges that the Ravioli Man “was escorted out but only after he took a sponge and started rubbing it on one of the sponsor booths. Though later in the EXPO, security still let him back in.”

One of the more dire aspects of the event, however, was its involvement with the Make-A-Wish foundation. I want to be fair, and note that the foundation’s incorporation does seem to be well-intended. There was a boothset up to raise funds, and I’m sure that money was gathered and given to a good cause.

Rita, who also placed in a singing competition, goes on to share an utterly baffling series of events in which she is brought on-and-off stage to belt out unpracticed versions of the Pokémon theme three separate times. She also says she was told to wait for a fourth encore performance that never came.

(Image credit: @BintuRita on Twitter/X.)

In addition, Rita claims that the event organisers took pictures of a friend with scopophobia (a fear of being looked at or seen), and she asked that they take those videos down. Naturally, they took down thewrong videos: “I think it [was] explicitly clear that I wanted the videos taken of my loved ones without their consent taken down, and not the video of me performing for you … I don’t even think they read my post!”

There’s a lot that I haven’t covered here, like indie artists beingmessed aroundand bizarre inflatable gamesreminiscent of the DashCon ballpit. Marie Angelique, a crochet artist with a booth at the event, also posted a lengthy recounting of their experiences at the convention on Facebook, complaining about poor organisation, almost zero mentions of their booths from the organisers, and being relegated to a “barren” part of the hall,writing: “we did not deserve to be used as accessories to an event that we actually paid for.”

Rita, to the event’s credit, seems to have enjoyed themain stageand the appearances of both voice actor Veronica Taylor (who voiced Ash in the 4Kids english dub of the original anime) and Jason Paige, who sang the original theme song.

In aresponse to Rita—the one where they reassure her that they’ve taken down the (wrong) video—the organisers write: “It’s our first event with very little time to prepare but we do agree that better that a lot of things need to be improved for another season, but we appreciate your participation and will continue take your feedback to do better next time.”

Rita would laterspeak with Eurogamer, adding: “I wish it was more Pokémon centred. I wish the production team had more emphasis on consent. And I wish they had been more careful with the children in the convention space.” She does note, however, that her experiences may not be entirely universal: “Some people went to the con and despite the hiccups, had a wonderful time. That wasn’t my experience.”

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