Asking ethical questions about Pokemon is a fun and troubling road to go down.

Because, they’re kind of animals. And you look at a Miltank or a Ponyta, and you go okay, yeah just farm animals makes sense. Same with a Pikachu, it’s just an electric mouse, that’s a pet, sure. Even some of the bizzarre ones are like “okay, I guess a Magnemite acts sort of animalistic, so sure, it can be a pet.”

Then you get to the humanoid ones. Mr. Mime, Machop and it’s evos, Alakazam. What about those guys? Machokes work on construction sites, do they have to get paid? Do you pay their “owner”? Is that just slavery? They work jobs, do they have to pay taxes? Can they quit if they want to? Can they start their own construction businesses? Are they allowed to enter into contracts? Can a Machoke take out a loan from a bank to get his bricklaying business off the ground? Can they join a union? Do we let Alakazam play the stock market? Is it ethical to let him play the stock market since he can read minds and use that for insider trading? Could the police use him for interrogations or is that a violation of human rights? Do Pokemon get human rights? Can they go to prison for doing crimes? Can they be deported? Do Pokemon have citizenship? Can they get a passport? What about a driver’s license? Can a Mr. Mime get financing to buy a big beautiful Buick Enclave to drive across the border to go on vacation using the vacation days he saved up from working as a janitor?

There’s so many questions you could ask, but probably shouldn’t ask.