Web Video / Pokesins

"Hellllllo and welcome to Pokesins."

After the success of Cinemare Sins (CinemaSins for My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic), numerous are the people who decided to adapt the CinemaSins formula to anything.

Gar1onriva is one of them, and decided to do it to Pokémon: The Series.

While the first episodes adopt the traditional CinemaSins formula, they eventually turn to a different system with TWO counters: The Minun (Negatives) and the Plusle (Positives).

Check it here.

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Tropes picked apart by PokéSins:

• Actually Pretty Funny: Geran gives a Plusle for every time a joke makes him laugh unironically. (E.G. A scientist in episode 62 frets that he can't replace his broken scanner if he can't find "ze comic book [he] ordered it from.")
• Alternative Character Interpretation: invoked Geran will sometimes come up with his own takes on various characters.
  • He's convinced the "doctor" from "A Chansey Operation" is just a janitor pretending to be a doctor.
  • Likewise, he believes that Rebecca's father from "The Punchy Pokemon" swindled Ash out of his Primeape because he was jealous
  • Bill and Melvin the Magician both come across to him as being creepy stalkers/rapists.
  • He postulates that Oswald from "Clefairy Tales" deliberately sets off his "alien detector", rather than it reacting on its own.
  • In "So Near, Yet So Farfetch'd", he suspects that the Officer Jenny who appears might actually be a Dirty Cop secretly working with Keith on his con.
• Artistic License – Geography: He occasionally calls out the show for playing fast and loose with the geography from the games. For example, he sins it for the river around Viridian Forest, which doesn't exist in the games, and for Pokemon being in areas where they can't be found in the games.
• Berserk Button: Downplayed due to his relaxed nature but Geran's seems to be non-accidental Child Endangerment, such as Jessie and James throwing bombs at Ash while he's hanging off a waterfall. When Tomo's father is shown holding his infant son outside a helicopter window, Geran says nothing while steadily adding more and more Minun for the duration of the scene... and then gives another five after blowing up at him afterwards. Most of his comments in the remainder of the video make it clear how much he detests the guy.
  Seriously. Lock him up. Lock him up now!
• Bias Steamroller: He admits in the BTS for “The Purr-fect Hero” that he didn’t like the episode when he first saw it (due to a mix of Elmuh Fudd Syndwome being annoying and the teacher’s constant yelling), so he expected it to get a high score. In the video proper, he’s notably annoyed that it didn’t beat out “The Kangaskhan Kid” (which he admits to having liked when he first saw it).
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Characters in the show acknowledging their own fictionality earn a Minun ...unless it makes Geran laugh.
• Bystander Syndrome: In "Pokemon Shipwreck", Geran calls Misty and Brock out for not helping Ash when he's hanging upside down and Meowth for not getting Jessie and James out from under a burning stove.
• Captain Obvious: Ash usually, but Misty and Brock occasionally get in on the action too.
  Ash: "It's a door."
  Geran: "Well done!" (Sarcastic Clapping)
• Changing Clothes Is a Free Action: Jessie switching outfits in front of James and/or Meowth.
• Continuity Nod: Referencing events of past episodes usually gets a Plusle, as long as it makes sense.
• Contrived Coincidence:
  • In "So Near, Yet So Farfetch'd", Geran spends nearly 2 minutes of the episode deconstructing Keith's plan of stealing trainer's Pokemon, and how unlikely he was to pull it off successfully.
    Misty: How could this happen?
    Geran: I think I've fairly conclusively proven that it couldn't have.
  • "A Scare in the Air" has an excessive number of coincidences required for its plot to work. At the end of the video, Geran rants about the sheer unlikelihood that a dilapidated blimp crewed by "two idiots and a Meowth" could get launched by accident, survive a storm, arrive at its intended destination, and crash-land without causing serious damage to its surroundings.
• Cuteness Proximity: Pikachu being cute is a big source of Plusle. Togepi and Cyndaquil's existence can get even more.
  N'aaaawwww!
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: In episode 62, he questions why Giovanni doesn't reassign Jessie and James to the R&D department if they can invent complex machines.
• Cutting the Knot: Geran will often ask why the characters don't just try simpler and more obvious solutions than what they end up going with.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Yes, many times over:
  No, THIS is a straitjacket (shows a picture of a straitjacket). I could show you what this DOES look like but then this video would get taken down for indecency.
  • Jessibelle earns more than one comparison to a dominatrix from Geran, and for very good reason.
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • His earlier episodes used the standard CinemaSins format before implementing the Plusle and Minun system in Episode 16.
  • Discussed in regards to the anime; because Geran is sinning the first era of the show, he's given out a lot of Minun for references made to real-world places or animals or things that are directly related to them (like Meowth's cat puns) because the anime has since undergone Earth Drift. Consequently, things like Hollywood and ordinary fish don't exist in the Pokémon World anymore.
• Easily Forgiven: "So Near, Yet So Farfetch'd" receives extensive criticism for Keith getting let off the hook despite stealing multiple trainers' Pokemon.
• Everybody Hates Mathematics: Geran admitted in the bonus video for "Foul Weather Friends" that he initially wanted to pursue meteorology...but that would involve math, so he went into creative writing instead.
• Failed a Spot Check:
  • In "The Ghost of Maiden's Peak", an Officer Jenny cheerfully and obliviously accepts a floor-penny from uniformed members of Team Rocket as lost and found money, much to Geran's bemusement.
  • In "Hypno's Naptime", after the group spends the whole episode helping an Officer Jenny search for missing kids and finally finding them in the park, Geran immediately complains that the police apparently never checked there on their own despite having three days to do so before Ash and company showed up.
• Fantasy Gun Control: Enforced, even in Legend of Dratini.
• Faux Symbolism: In "Pokemon Shipwreck", Jessie and James are daydreaming about sunbathing on a beach. When they start to scream over what they think is the sun beginning to burn them, Garen comments there's an analogy for Heaven and Hell somewhere in their lines.
• Friend to All Children: Geran loathes child endangerment, and will be more lenient on scenes that feature the baby Pokemon Togepi.
• From Bad to Worse:
  • Long considered "The Kangaskhan Kid" to be the absolute worst episode of the original anime, and long wondered what would be the episode to top it in its awfulness. He was astounded at how much worse he found "Clefairy Tales" turned out to be for having pushed his suspension of disbelief beyond its limit.
    I didn't think that anything could be worse than "The Kangaskhan Kid".
  • Special mention goes out to "Electric Soldier Porygon", which by default earned the show's highest sin score due to the infamous seizure incident.
    Hey! Something finally beat "The Kangaskhan Kid".
• Gambit Roulette: Any plan that would easily fail due to random chance and/or people not acting exactly the way the planner requires them to gets sinned.
• Hammerspace: Often wonders where things came from and where they went. And then gives them a Minun.
• Hell Is That Noise: Geran thinks this about Victreebel's voice. Its shrieking is consistently met with a remark of "that scream" and a Minun.
• Insistent Terminology:
  • Geran awards a Minun for every time Silph Co. is referred to as "Silph Company" in Origins 3: Giovanni.
  • After "Charmander The Stray Pokemon", anytime a character says "Pokemun" it's an automatic two-Minun penalty.
• Lampshade Hanging: Comes with the territory. A good example is The Breeding Center Secret where he points out a few logical holes in Misty's plans, Butch and Cassidy's plans, and the police's professionalism (or lack thereof).
• Moral Event Horizon: Invoked — Geran doesn't pull punches at Tomo's father when he dangles his son outside of a helicopter. He points out that in real life, he would have been arrested with CPS taking Tomo away from him.
• Never Say "Die": Geran himself will freely point out when someone should have died, but it's apparently a Minun if the show refers to death directly.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • A recurring Minun is Geran calling disturbing-looking off-model freeze-frames this. Sometimes though, it IS something in-universe.
  • Treats Delia Ketchum's Mr. Mime as this as a Running Gag.
• No OSHA Compliance: Geran complains that Blaine's "Secret Gym" is located in the magma chamber of a volcano. Apparently, Blaine expects challengers to battle Pokemon of all shapes and sizes on a platform that's suspended by chains over a lethally hot substance.
  This is officially the most criminally dangerous gym in the world! I'd take Sabrina's magic dolls over this.
• Not So Above It All: He tries to be professional and analytical for the most part, but if a character annoys him enough, he'll award Minun simply for being in the episode. The only recurring example thus far being Todd Snap. He'll also occasionally award Plusle for awesome comebacks or Pokemon being cute.
• Once an Episode:
  • From "Pokémon Shipwreck" onwards, Geran opens every episode with the page quote followed by the episode's title card.
  • All of the Season 3 episodes so far have each gotten a free Plusle for "Best Intro".
• Papa Wolf: Geran himself, judging by how he consistently adds Minun for bad parenting, abusive teachers, and child endangerment. This extends to real life child endangerment, as shown by how "Electric Soldier Porygon" got a Minun for every Japanese child hospitalized as a result of the initial airing.
• Police Are Useless: In "Hypno's Naptime", "Ghost Of Maiden's Peak", and "So Near, Yet So Farfetch'd" he notes that the police. Are. Useless. (Mostly) averted for "The Case of the K-9 Caper!" at least.
• Precision F-Strike:
  • Gary Motherfucking Oak (Minun cry).
  • When Geran runs out of patience with a particular episode, he'll usually hit back at it with "Fuck this episode!" So far, only two have managed to push him over the edge.
• Protagonist-Centered Morality: Geran is quick to point out whenever this pops up, which is surprisingly often. Most notably in "The Kangaskhan Kid" where he is in constant disbelief that the father dropping his infant son out of A HELICOPTER WINDOW is just glossed over by everyone, including a police officer.
• Rage Quit: Geran ends "The Kangaskhan Kid" episode with this.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Or as Geran calls it: "Demon Eyes", although these Minun are usually the result of an animation error or a character being Off-Model. Conversely, eyes that are glowing white are "Avatar State Eyes".
• Rhymes on a Dime: Courtesy of Seymour the Scientist: "Random, unprovoked rhyming (ding!)."
• Running Gag:
  • "Don't be silly, [character], X doesn't exist" where X is something that wouldn't exist in the Pokemon world (typically Real Life places or animals).
    • Subverted in "Holiday Hi-Jynx": Geran initially says the North Pole doesn't exist, then realizes that there must be a North Pole in the Pokemon world and allows the reference to pass without a Minun.
  • "Gary Motherfucking Oak" whenever Gary is being a jerkass.
  • Putting creepy words in Delia's Mr Mime's mouth whenever it shows up on-screen.
  • Whenever a trainer uses two or more Pokemon to battle one (or any other unfair matchup), Geran will play the clip of Ash saying "The Pokemon League rules say only one at a time" from Episode 3 and add a Minun. He has noted that there are exceptions to this, like when Ash uses multiple Pokemon to battle the giant robot in "The Kangaskhan Kid". Also, 2 vs 2 battles are allowed as long as no single Pokemon ends up battling both of the others (therefore making it an unofficial Double Battle before the concept was introduced).
  • "N'awwwwwww!" during cute moments. He had to stop himself on this reflex during "Pikachu's Goodbye" because the wild Pikachu really were too adorable.
  • Similarly, "Balloon!" when Jigglypuff puffs up.
  • Any disturbing-looking off-model freeze-frame will be responded to with a deadpan "nightmare fuel".
  • Similarly, scary-looking off-model eyes will be greeted with "demon eyes".
  • Whenever a meat dish other than generic kibble appears onscreen, Geran will ask what Pokemon it's made of.
  • His trademark "No lipstick" line whenever Jessie is shown in a shot without her lipstick on.
  • After "Stage Fight", any instance of bad lip-syncing will be followed by a clip from that episode of Ash saying "it's kinda hard to match the lip flaps, isn't it?"
  • Whenever an Electabuzz appears, Geran will imitate its weird babbling.

• The Scrappy: invokedHe's got enough for a list. So far there's: Todd Snap, Tomo's parents (especially his father), the instructor from "The Ultimate Test", the (alleged) Doctor Proctor, Melvin the Magician, the Three Eevee Brothers, Oswald, Tracey Sketchit, Keith and Bill.
  Ten pounds says that Mankey beat the shit out of [Todd]. -Plusle!-
• Special Guest: He has a few guests appearing from time to time, giving Plusle and Minun. Notably SkulShurtugalTCG, ProtoMario, and MysticUmbreon
• Spoof Aesop: "Remember kids, love is getting the first punch and beating them hands-down. You heard it here, now NEVER REPEAT IT."
• Sturgeon's Law: Even with the Plusle and Minun system in place so that a negative and a positive thing cancel each other out, the majority of episodes end up with more Minun than Plusle and have a score in negative numbers. It took eighty-three episodes of Pokesins before an episode earned a positive score, that being Johto Episode 15, "Fighting Flyer With Fire" at +11. Even after that, only a scant few episodes either have a positive score or a score of 0.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: invokedHis recurring problem with the OVAs is events that would have made for good episodes are just glossed over.
• Too Dumb to Live: Geran will always give a Minun whenever anyone says or does something stupid (Ash and Team Rocket usually, although other characters aren't safe either).
• Tranquil Fury: Though he remains silent for the duration of the scene, "The Kangaskhan Kid" has Geran gradually add 20 Minuns while Tomo's father dangles his son out of a helicopter window and eventually drops him.
• Unexpectedly Obscure Answer: Geran's biggest issue with "The Ultimate Test" is the inane answers to the questions on the Pokemon League Admissions Exam, which include things like a circular silhouette being a Jigglypuff as seen from above.
  I would say when something's that easy to get into, it's not worth it but let's be real, nobody passes this test.
• What Measure Is a Mook?: The presumed deaths of all the Rocket Grunts are what drags down "Battle Aboard The St. Anne" so much that it's solidly at the bottom of the list, just above "The Kanghaskan Kid" and "Clefairy Tales".
• Wild Mass Guessing: Geran has gone out of his way to theorize how some of the more... "Video Gamey" aspects of the Pokémon World would actually work in-universe, like the six Pokemon limit or how one can quantify "experience".

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