A Sydney photographer has gone full Humans of New York and captured the intimate stories of Pokémon Go players out for an afternoon hunt.
Pat Stevenson, who you might know better as the dude behind Hobogestapo, turned his lens to people nose deep in the game one lunchtime at Redfern Park.
“After observing 100+ people in the park catching Pokémon on their lunch break I thought it would be a good idea to hit the streets with my camera and a pad/pen to see what all the fuss was about,” he said.
It turns out that ‘the fuss’ is different to each person. For example, here are Aiden & Ben, who think that catching 100 fucking Zubats is a good thing (it’s really not).
“Names: Aiden & Ben
Favourite Pokémon: All of them (answered with a giggle)
How’s the day going? Yeah great mate, got about 100 Zubats which is fucking sick, can’t wait to catch more on a smoko later on today.”
Pat managed to capture the full range of humans-playing-Pokémon, including the deadset Pokénerd, the dear old man, and the bloke who looks like’s two Gym Battles away from a full-blown coke problem. (‘Full range’ in this case means ‘mostly dudes’, as sadly all the women players – like this chick, the one writing the piece you’re reading – were not available to be interviewed. Rude.)
“Name: Alexis McGregor.
Favourite Pokemon: I love the Snorlax one, he and I would get along well in real life
How’s the day going? Fantastic and thank you for asking, I figured I would come by the park and drop a few lures and see what I could catch, later on I am going to go home and transfer a few Pokemon in while I drink a cup of Earl Grey and smash a few Mint Slice bikkies.”
“Name: Bert Smiggins.
Favourite Pokemon: I am a big fan of Scyther, the way he slices his way through life reminds me of how I slice through a mean business deal back at the office
How’s the day going? Oh it’s ok, just closed a large merger and killing it at the moment, hehe how are you?”
“Name: Travis
Favourite Pokemon: Gyarados is mean and mighty and has a +13 strength bonus with 30% chance of dodge.
How’s the day going? I have spent $260 on this game and I love it, worth every cent, I love to come to the park to make friends.”
Bless. I’ll happily be your friend, Travis.
Pat even managed to capture a few rare shots of the Pokémon themselves, a concept once conceived by Nintendo itself as a stand-alone game which surprisingly turned out to not be shit. (Yes, Pokémon Snap, I’m talking about you.)
“Pokemon Name: Orangeman
Type: Cautionary Type
Ability: Reflect”
“Pokemon Name: Dogger
Type: Doge Type
Ability: To Dog”
“Pokemon Name: Ratwing
Type: Stink Boy Type
Ability: Germ Blast”
“Pokemon Name: Ibis aka ‘Tipchook’
Type: Garbage Type
Ability: To rape bins”
Now the Ibis may seem like your typical sky-rat Pokémon that festers in turd-like places and sticks its extraordinarily long beak into ya’ berries, but it actually has a fairly powerful evolution.
Check out the rest of Pat’s photos here.
Source: Facebook.
