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The Canadian government tweets about Pokemon, is totally hip

Snarky Twitter replies about trying too hard: Gotta catch 'em all?

Ottawa would like your opinion on fictional Japanese pocket monsters, please

Lauren O'Neil · CBC News ·
Nintendo's unveiling of three new starters for its forthcoming Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon games sparked a Twitter hashtag that was trending worldwide for much of Tuesday. The Canadian government wanted in on that. (Twitter/@Canada)

In an apparent bid to connect with young gamers and nostalgic millennials on Twitter (or maybe to score exposure through a globally trending hashtag), the government of Canada on Tuesday tweeted about Pokemon.

More specifically, it joined millions of the Japanese media franchise's fans in celebrating a first look at two forthcoming Nintendo 3DS games: Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon.

Sort of.

".@Pokemon has been around in Canada since 1998!" tweeted the federal government around noon ET, referencing the year in which TV stations in Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Australia and other English-language markets started airing English-language versions of the popular anime show.

Using the hashtag #PokemonSunMoon, which held strong near the top of Twitter's trends list for Canada all morning, it then asked, "Which Pokemon do you think is the most Canadian?" 

This question proved tough to answer, given that the entire Pokemon universe was created in Japan — though not as tough for some, apparently, as the question of why @Canada was tweeting about Pokemon at all.

Ouch. Who'd have thought that Canada and Pokemon could spark so much snark together?

For all of the hate, though, there was plenty of love for the thread this tweet inspired.

Some people even lobbed genuine suggestions as to which Japanese pocket monster could (theoretically) be considered more Canadian than any others.

Bidoof, an agile, beaver-like Pokemon (who is not part of the original 151) was by far the most common response among those answering the government's question seriously. 

But the replies from those who answered with jokes, non-Pokemon characters, or hybrid creatures of their own design were perhaps most demonstrative of how Pokemon characters would look if they were designed by Canadians on Twitter.

Joking aside, today was a big day for Pokemon fans, with Nintendo's unveiling of three new starters for Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon: Litten, a fire-type cat; Popplio, a water-type seal; and Rowlet, a grass- and flying-type owl.

In less than a day, more than 1.1 million people have viewed a trailer showing them in action for the first time.

It is unknown whether any of these views came from the office where Canada's official government Twitter account is managed.

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