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Pikachu, of course, is no creature of evil, and will no doubt be consulting his lawyers about this heinous abuse of his image rights. (I mean, there was that "Hell March" that one time, but that's in the past, right buddy?)The Westboro Church itself, its compound in Topeka, Kansas, was assigned gym status by Pokémon Go and subsequently taken over by a Clefairy called "LOVEISLOVE". This act of, well, trolling basically, did not go down well with the WBC, leading not only to the above-embedded tweet but several before it (which we're not about to link you directly to, but you know where to find them).Pikachu wants to warn his neighbor! — Westboro Baptist (@WBCSaysRepent)July 11, 2016
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All of this activity is causing a few headaches, though. As we wrote in this article, the Pokémon Go's servers are struggling with player demand, and the app commonly crashes. These teething problems are being worked on by Niantic—"We thought the game would be popular, but it obviously struck a nerve," said the company's CEO John Hanke, defining the meaning of understatement—which is why the official UK rollout for the app is on hold right now. Looking around London, though, on this balmy Monday, it's pretty clear that hundreds of street-walking monster-hunters are already well on the way to catching them all.Follow Mike Diver on Twitter.Find more articles on video games on VICE here, and follow VICE Gaming on Twitter at @VICEGaming.Related, on Motherboard: People Who Drive While Playing 'Pokémon Go' Are the Real Monsters