If you're unfamiliar with Adi Shankar's Bootleg Universe, allow me to welcome you to it: It's a fan-first, artistic take on some of the world's most famous properties, an indie approach to parody, satire, and criticism that pulls no punches and gives no fucks about standards and practices. Every installment is a unique, balls-to-the-wall interpretation of pop culture icons that bring equal measures of insanity and fan-focused attention to the work.

Take, for example, today's new entry, one that focuses on the world-famous kids franchise, Pokémon. If you've ever played the game, or even just had a passing familiarity with it, I guarantee you've thought about how messed up it is that these kids go and hunt animals in order to imprison them, train them, and battle them against other sentient beings until they "faint" from exhaustion. This new NSFW trailer takes that idea to the extreme as a group of pro-Pokémon / anti-trainer activists turn the tables on the series' heroes, led by someone you might not expect. But in between the absolute madness lies epic, "realistic" depictions of the Pokémon themselves, brutal battle sequences that are too real for TV, and an attention to Pokémon lore (like rare candies, Magikarp mythology, and Mewtwo as Mewtwo should be) that's rather admirable. As with most of the Bootleg Universe entries, I'd love to see this one play out in a longer fashion.

The seventh installment of the unauthorized video street art series created by Shankar (Castlevania) is a satrical take on the ramifications of the Pokemon concept that pulls back the white veil from the classic children’s franchise. Produced in collaboration between Bootleg Universe, Octopie, and Angry Metal Studios, The End of Pokemon was directed by the Junquera Brothers who preciously directed the third Bootleg Universe, a satirical take on the Judge Dredd franchise (which is unconnected to the Adi Shankar-produced 2012 live action film DREDD.)

Check out the new NSFW Pokémon trailer below:

  • Presented by Adi Shankar's Bootleg Universe
  • Directed by Luis Pelayo Junquera and Enol Junquera
  • Subscribe to Octopie for more badass animation
  • Animation By Angry Metal Studios
  • Executive Producers: Adi Shankar, Jeremy Azevedo, Vikram Salgaocar
  • Producers: Damien Haas, Alex Greenfield, Ben Powell
  • Starring: Brock Baker, Erika Ishii, Britanni Johnson, Lyle Burruss, Kenlon Clark
  • Animators: Juanma Laguna, Laura Rabanal, Spundman, Borja Sauras, Bruno Suarez, Luis Pelayo Junquera, Enol Junquera
  • Sound Design: Marcos Cabal
  • Boat Theme Composed By: Bruno Suarez, Marcos Alvarez
  • Additional Work By: Rebeca Alonso, Sergio Abalo, Irene Mateos

About The Bootleg Universe One-Shot Series:

“The Bootleg Universe: One Shots series is an unauthorized video street art series created by Adi Shankar (Castlevania) where Adi and collaborators reimagine, satirize, and subvert pop culture iconography.

 

Past entries include takes on The Punisher (Punisher: Dirty Laundry), Venom (Venom: Truth in Journalism), Mr. Rogers (Mr. Rogers: War Hero), James Bond (James Bond: In Service of Nothing), and Power/Rangers.

You can watch the rest of the Bootleg Unvierse here!