On Pokémon GO Fest and the Fourth of July: What Are We Actually Celebrating?

There are reasons to celebrate, to be sure, but there's a lot worth questioning, too.

I am personally devastated that, because I didn’t pay money, I was unable to get a sentient keyring.

If you played Pokémon GO Fest and had a wonderful time with no notes or reservations, feel free to stop reading now. If not—and I’m betting quite a few of you had at least a few qualms about it—this post is for you.

Seeing as this piece is, in part, a retrospective, and seeing as the event followed a now-established pattern, I’ll try to spare you too much detail. First, let me acknowledge that I liked some things about GO Fest. Broadly speaking, I liked the sword- and shield-themed spawns, particularly the more uncommon ones. Having Galarian Farfetch’d, Pawniard, and Vullaby available in the wild is appreciated considering that these Pokémon are normally confined to Eggs and are thereby subject to Individual Values floors. I also enjoyed Skarmory appearing in relative abundance.

(I get it, by the way—Skarmory isn’t even the best Steel/Flying-type Pokémon in the game anymore now that Corviknight is on the scene. I also readily acknowledge the existence of the phenomenon known as the “sunk cost fallacy.” But as Arceus as my witness, I will get enough Candies XL to power up a Skarmory for Ultra League. I don’t even care if I never use it. I’ve come too far to turn back now.)

To the extent that any rare spawns extended to the four rotating habitats, that was a boon, too. I no longer have to worry about missing out on the regional variants of Flabébé. I’ll take that. It was also a treat to see the likes of Carbink, Frigibax, Mawile, and Pancham freely in the wild. Of course, I still want or need—and pardon the use of this highly technical language—an ass-ton of Candies for these various Pokémon, but as with Skarmory and the crawl to respectability, every little bit helps.

Other aspects were more of a mixed bag, though by no means were they a negative. I once again liked having a separate GO Pass for GO Fest. Quite frankly, I enjoy being rewarded for my play. That said, if the tab containing these timed research tasks already felt crowded with the monthly GO Pass and the GO Battle League “battle pass” rewards, it sure as Sharpedo felt difficult to manage during the span of the event. I think that’s one thing that doesn’t occur to a lot of non-players: as much as physical exhaustion can be a factor over the course of four or more hours, there’s a certain degree of mental exhaustion as well. You thought PoGO was a fun game? You absolute buffoon.

That’s about where my approval ends, however. Once more, the emphasis of Pokémon GO Fest was five-star Raids, with Crowned Sword Zacian and Crowned Shield Zamazenta serving as the, ahem, crown jewels of the affair. What I found vaguely irksome, even if I understand it from an engagement perspective, was splitting up the two Raid Bosses between Saturday and Sunday. I was never going to do enough Raids to generate the energy needed to change forms for these Pokémon, but I ended up not doing a single Zacian Raid owing to that structure. Simply put, after spending a sizable portion of Day One out and about, I didn’t want to devote another day to grinding the same habitats. Even for the avid Raiders, I imagine this felt excessive.

Speaking of Raids, and I know it’s not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, but I’m not enjoying the trend of having costumed versions of Pikachu being restricted to Raids and Field Research. Once upon a time, Pokémon GO gave out hat-wearing Pikachus like they were candy on Halloween. If I’m not committing money to the big, bad Legendary Pokémon or that year’s spotlight Mythical Pokémon, you can bet your bottom dollar I’m not forking over cash to try to garner a Shiny version of Pikachu in a topcoat. Hell to the no.

Overall, was this GO Fest the worst event or even the worst iteration of this specific event? Not by a long shot. That notwithstanding, after years of the same experience, the cumulative effect of having a merely passable promotion begins to take its toll. I did a few hours of grinding before the 10 AM start time as part of my normal feeble weekend attempt at exercise. After seeing each of the habitats once, I had had my fill, one Shiny to my name—a Community Day Shiny (Swinub), no less. I can’t conceive of wanting to stay for the entirety of GO Fest, let alone doing both days in full. Maybe I’m just too much of a filthy casual at this point, but that strikes me as cruel and unusual punishment, on top of a rather unproductive way to spend your off time.

Largely bypassing Raids during a Raid-oriented extravaganza, I suppose it’s only natural that I would feel disconnected from the sense of community that GO Fest and other similar events are meant to instill in players. I’ve long maintained that it’s this bond between Trainers which is the most redeeming quality of the game’s existence. After a while, however, I have to wonder if that’s what we’re really celebrating with our continued participation.

From where I stand, my commitment to Pokémon GO is less an indication of belonging to a worldwide community and more an expression of my individual determination, perhaps in spite of better judgment. About the only real achievement I can ascribe to this GO Fest Weekend and really my playing tenure as a whole is earning the Platinum badge for 10,000 kilometers walked. I can be proud that I put those steps in. In this moment, I’m not celebrating my oneness with the PoGO faithful. I’m simply celebrating the notion that I haven’t given up yet.

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I am also personally devastated that I was unable to secure a Shiny version of “Pokémon that looks like train.” Why don’t you believe me when I say this?

If you’ve read the title of this piece and, well, if you know me, you’ve probably guessed that this post is about to wax political. Much as Pokémon GO Fest failed to stir much in me in the way of conviviality, this Fourth of July didn’t manage to make me feel all that patriotic.

That I’d be less than enthusiastic about a holiday commemorating America’s declaration of independence isn’t all that shocking. After being apolitical and uninformed for the first half of my life, I’ve come to realize some harsh truths about the country’s conduct on the world stage and its very essence since then. Despite the Declaration of Independence itself professing the belief that “all men are created equal,” the U.S. of A. is built on white supremacy and the subjugation of the “other,” an ethos which exists primarily in opposition to indigenous peoples/persons of color but also can manifest in general antipathy to immigrants. Heck, the document was written by Thomas Jefferson, a slaveowner and, as the historical consensus recognizes, a child rapist. That knowledge alone is, as the kids say, some shit.

As pertains to policy matters, er, it doesn’t get much better. I have saved on my PC desktop what I believe amounts to a pretty solid distillation of American international politics. On my news feed one day, in close proximity, mind you, I saw separate stories about then-vice-president Kamala Harris promising more help to Afghan women and children and then-president Joe Biden vowing more strikes on ISIS. In its self-appointed role as the world’s “peacekeeper,” America meddles in other countries’ affairs, pledging aid but frequently taking actions to further its self-interests, including but not limited to widespread military incursions and promoting regime change. This hawkish insistence on military might dovetails directly with a domestic agenda which, independent of which party is in power—and for the foreseeable future, that’s one of only two possibilities—calls for profligate spending to buttress an increasingly bloated budget for the inaptly named Department of Defense. All the while, the nation’s social safety net suffers, its infrastructure continues to erode, and its reliance on fossil fuels goes on unabated amid an ever-worsening climate crisis.

This is the state of the United States under the “lesser of two evils” condition. In the present climate, one very much dominated by the greater of two evils, immigration, a pillar of the country’s development and of its total economic strength, is demonized, with masked federal agents regularly “disappearing” people with little to no explanation and similarly miniscule regard for their actual legal status or the severity of their “crimes,” if even applicable. Re foreign policy, under the Trump administration, the U.S. has maintained its steadfast support of an Israeli government perpetrating a genocide on the Palestinian people, it has bombed Iran without congressional approval (and without any apparent respect for civilian casualties), and it has made any alliance with Ukraine, the victim of a Russian invasion, largely conditional, all while causing regular international tumult by haphazardly instituting and negating broadly-scoped tariffs of which the very calculations are questionable—and that’s putting it charitably.

The cherry to top all this off? The passage of a “big, beautiful bill” largely along party lines that extends tax cuts for the wealthiest earners, increases funding for defense (!) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known colloquially as ICE, and makes drastic cuts to Medicaid and other public assistance programs. Happy Fourth of July! The federal deficit will balloon even higher, and Grandma won’t be able to afford healthcare anymore, but God bless America, right?

If this all is what we’re celebrating, I’m not for it. To the Trump supporters reading this piece, firstly, what are you even doing here? Like, how did you find this blog? You can stay if you’d like, but I frankly don’t think this is up your alley. If you’re still following along and are yet undeterred, secondly, I’d like to ask, when you declare that “we’re winning,” who are “we” and what does “winning” look like? Sure, this is a win for Donald Trump, his cronies, and other people like him. Does that materially benefit your life, though? Other than the feeling of smug satisfaction, what have you gotten out of this relationship? Is it worth widening economic inequality and the wholesale destruction of communities of color? Is keeping trans people out of sports and out of daily life that meaningfully attractive or advantageous to you personally? These stances make me sad, not merely for the people who will be disadvantaged by the signing of this legislation into law, but for you as well. If this brings you joy, maybe you need a hobby or two—preferably something that keeps you off your computer/phone and away from Facebook and Twitter.

Coming back to Pokémon GO, if I outright hated the game, I wouldn’t play it. It’s primarily a means to an end as a way to stay physically active, but without catching and training Pokémon, it would be an outright forfeiture of time and energy. As I feel like I have to remind people, I like Pokémon GO. The core user experience is an enjoyable one. Especially right now, though, there’s a lot that I don’t like about the game. Accordingly, I don’t really have much of a mind to celebrate it until things substantially improve.

By the same token, there’s a lot about the U.S.A. which makes me unhappy, but it’s still my home—for now, at least. I’m not exactly a proud American, but for what this country can stand for at its most principled, I have a shred of belief. For all its misdeeds and individual bad actors, there are that many more acts of kindness brought about by honest, well-meaning folks each day. And as imperfect as the vessels have often been for the U.S.’s elaboration of its ideals, those stated ideals are worth fighting for.

As regards Pokémon GO or the whole freaking land of the free and home of the brave, therefore, I’m not ready to throw out the proverbial baby with the bathwater. At the same time, I can’t be much of a cheerleader either, and as much as I sympathize with the faithful in both cases, without serious momentum toward positive change, it’s hard to be especially encouraged by small victories, whether it’s Scopely releasing the month’s schedule of events ahead of time or Zohran Mamdani scoring an upset win in the New York City Democratic Party mayoral primary. There are reasons to celebrate, but there’s a long way to go and a lot of work which needs to be done before the real party can begin.