Children, we want to believe them to be good, to be pure, to be free of the poison of society. Often we commit the worst acts of censorship for their supposed "safety"; we hide bodies and sexuality away from them to keep them from being "corrupted", we censor words we do not want them to speak, we hide ideas away from them so they do not become "confused". Because of this, we often underestimate children; they can be capable of great things. Children can be capable innovators, writers, singers, artists. A child well reared can be a great scientist, a natural leader, a fantastic artist, etc. But, sometimes, a child can be evil as well. Why? Partly because that's how he was raised, and partly because that's just who he is. Today's villain is an example of the Evil Child: Pokey Minch from Earthbound.
Literally the best image I could find. That's his teeth, by the way, not his eye.
Aged thirteen years old, Pokey starts the game as the obnoxious, cowardly kid next door. One night, a meteor crashes in the outskirts of Onett, and Pokey's brother, Picky, leaves the house to investigate. Too cowardly to help out, Pokey goes to his next door neighbor, Ness, and asks him for help. Ness agrees, and accompanies Pokey towards the crash site. They find Picky close to the meteor, inspecting it. Picky chastises Pokey for his cowardice, when a strange bee appears, telling the three boys a prophecy: three boys and a girl will stand up against Giygas, an alien monster bent on destroying the world. In a moment that utterly defines him, Pokey nervously hopes to NOT be one of the boys.
In any normal RPG, Pokey would be the heroic character who learns he is braver than he is, learns to stand up for himself, and becomes a hero in his own right. But this is Earthbound, where light and peppy is used to mask some pretty dark themes...
In the Japanese version of the game, as Ness, Picky and Pokey return to their homes, Pokey states that his father will give him 100 spankings. Sure enough, when the brothers return home, Pokey receives said spankings (you don't see it, but you sure hear it). In the North American version, Pokey's father merely yells at his son. Really, really loudly. In any case, we see parental abuse, slightly censored but unmistakable.
We don't see Pokey again for a while, but in that interim, Ness has started fighting the forces of Giygas. With nothing but a baseball bat, a yoyo, and his three friends Jeff, Paula, and Pu, Ness fights the forces of darkness and evil, including motorcycle gangs, corrupt cops, and space aliens. Giygas' influence, however, is starting to reach the citizens of the world, and many start actively trying to help Giygas and trying to stop Ness. Among these are the Happy Happy Cult, a cult of people who wish to paint the world blue.
And Pokey Minch is one of their leaders. Under orders of Carpainter (leader of the Happy Happyists) Pokey kidnaps Paula in order to make her into one of the high priestesses of the Happy Happyists for Giygas. Unlike the leader of the Happy Happyists, Pokey is not directly under Giygas' control. After Carpainter is defeated, Pokey tries acting like he's sorry and tries to make amends with Ness, only to take it all back and run away. In the original Japanese version, Pokey's attempts were more sincere, but because Ness can't talk, he takes it as a refusal and runs away. This is a crucial difference.
Pokey continues aiding Giygas out of his own free will. He works for Geldegarde Monotoli, a man who gets posessed by Giygas, as a consultant, stealing money from him to live in luxury. When Ness and crew confront the two, Pokey abandons Monotoli and steals his helicopter, leaving the old man to fight off Ness by himself.
When he is last confronted by Ness and company, Pokey is fighting alongside Giygas. He expresses his own belief that Giygas should destroy the entire universe and everyone in it. When Giygas is finally defeated, Pokey escapes via time travel.
He resurfaces a thousand years later, threatening the world with his Pig Mask army, but this happens in the game Mother 3, which has yet to see an American release, so I cannot comment much on it. Suffice to say, however, that Pokey takes over as the big bad of that game, and is soundly defeated by the heroes.
What's the deal with Pokey? A cowardly kid turned into a metaphorical monster by his own choice, the game offers too little to work on in regards to his motivations. However, a debate of Nature versus Nurture can be had in regards to the boy.
Pokey is cowardly (Nature), greedy (Nature), but he was raised in a rich family of emotionally absent and abusive parents (Nurture). His father is an ill tempered man who is willing to beat his child senseless for a minor infraction (yes sneaking out of the house is bad, but it doesn't warrant physical abuse of that magnitude. One hundred spankings! Seriously!?) and holds grudges over anything (Mr Minch absolutely loathes Ness' father because he lent him some money and the man is yet to pay Mr Minch back. How much was borrowed? A LOT less than what warrants the hatred this man feels for Ness' dad). Though his role in the game is minuscule, Mr Minch's role in Pokey's development is impossible to ignore.
A contrast exists between Pokey and his brother, Picky. While Pokey's in your party, he is useless. That is no hyperbole, Pokey literally does NOTHING, just hide behind Ness every time you get attacked by the weakest enemies in the game. Picky, though not that strong, at least tries to attack the enemies. This is due to their contrasting natures: Pokey is a coward, Picky is not. Pokey is immature for his age, Picky is mature for his age.
But if he's such a coward, why would Pokey align with Giygas, the embodiment of darkness and evil? To understand that, we need to look at Pokey's life and standing. Pokey is stated to not have any friends, and the ONE boy who puts up with him is the son of his father's hated enemy. His own parents are abusive; his mother is emotionally absent while his father is abusive. If you attempt to visit the Minch household while Pokey is in your party but BEFORE saving Picky, Pokey will mention that his parents are out. Pokey is 13 and he has been left alone in a large house with just his little brother and no adult supervision. This also has to be stated: the game starts in the middle of the night; the Minches were not yet home by the time their children would have been in bed and asleep!
Pokey had no positive role models in his life; just an ass for a father and a flighty mother. Friends? None. So when Pokey was trying to make amends with Ness after the ordeal with the Happy Happyists, he was trying to make a friendship, something that can make him feel loved. But because of a misunderstanding, Pokey ends up falling to the dark side.
Or maybe he was there to begin with. Unlike the other villains of Earthbound, Giygas never directly controlled Pokey, merely "guided" him. And at the end of the game, Pokey was fighting right beside Giygas, like an equal. This cannot be overlooked, as it is quite telling of Pokey's nature.
But why Pokey, and not Pokey and Picky? Both brothers were raised the same, but only Pokey helped out Giygas. Why didn't Picky turn out evil like his brother? This is proof against the idea that Pokey's upbringing made him evil; Picky was raised similarly to Pokey, but Picky never served Giygas. So, what does this mean? That maybe it's Nature, not Nurture, that decides if someone is truly evil.
He was only thirteen, and he wanted the world to be destroyed. He never stopped to consider how his actions were hurting others, and cared only for himself. He couldn't muster the courage to help his own brother, and every time it looked like there would be trouble, he ran. He willingly aligned with an evil entity for no greater reason than to see the world destroyed. A coward, a bully, a terrible child, that's Pokey Minch. The fifth greatest video game villain.
The summary:
Name: Pokey Minch
Type of Villain: The Enfant Terrible, the Evil Former Friend, the Cowardly Villain
Greatest Crime: Allying with Giygas, the embodiment of darkness
Current Status: Unknown (according to Mother 3, trapped inside an Absolutely Safe Capsule until the end of time, alive)
In any normal RPG, Pokey would be the heroic character who learns he is braver than he is, learns to stand up for himself, and becomes a hero in his own right. But this is Earthbound, where light and peppy is used to mask some pretty dark themes...
In the Japanese version of the game, as Ness, Picky and Pokey return to their homes, Pokey states that his father will give him 100 spankings. Sure enough, when the brothers return home, Pokey receives said spankings (you don't see it, but you sure hear it). In the North American version, Pokey's father merely yells at his son. Really, really loudly. In any case, we see parental abuse, slightly censored but unmistakable.
We don't see Pokey again for a while, but in that interim, Ness has started fighting the forces of Giygas. With nothing but a baseball bat, a yoyo, and his three friends Jeff, Paula, and Pu, Ness fights the forces of darkness and evil, including motorcycle gangs, corrupt cops, and space aliens. Giygas' influence, however, is starting to reach the citizens of the world, and many start actively trying to help Giygas and trying to stop Ness. Among these are the Happy Happy Cult, a cult of people who wish to paint the world blue.
And Pokey Minch is one of their leaders. Under orders of Carpainter (leader of the Happy Happyists) Pokey kidnaps Paula in order to make her into one of the high priestesses of the Happy Happyists for Giygas. Unlike the leader of the Happy Happyists, Pokey is not directly under Giygas' control. After Carpainter is defeated, Pokey tries acting like he's sorry and tries to make amends with Ness, only to take it all back and run away. In the original Japanese version, Pokey's attempts were more sincere, but because Ness can't talk, he takes it as a refusal and runs away. This is a crucial difference.
Pokey continues aiding Giygas out of his own free will. He works for Geldegarde Monotoli, a man who gets posessed by Giygas, as a consultant, stealing money from him to live in luxury. When Ness and crew confront the two, Pokey abandons Monotoli and steals his helicopter, leaving the old man to fight off Ness by himself.
When he is last confronted by Ness and company, Pokey is fighting alongside Giygas. He expresses his own belief that Giygas should destroy the entire universe and everyone in it. When Giygas is finally defeated, Pokey escapes via time travel.
He resurfaces a thousand years later, threatening the world with his Pig Mask army, but this happens in the game Mother 3, which has yet to see an American release, so I cannot comment much on it. Suffice to say, however, that Pokey takes over as the big bad of that game, and is soundly defeated by the heroes.
What's the deal with Pokey? A cowardly kid turned into a metaphorical monster by his own choice, the game offers too little to work on in regards to his motivations. However, a debate of Nature versus Nurture can be had in regards to the boy.
Pokey is cowardly (Nature), greedy (Nature), but he was raised in a rich family of emotionally absent and abusive parents (Nurture). His father is an ill tempered man who is willing to beat his child senseless for a minor infraction (yes sneaking out of the house is bad, but it doesn't warrant physical abuse of that magnitude. One hundred spankings! Seriously!?) and holds grudges over anything (Mr Minch absolutely loathes Ness' father because he lent him some money and the man is yet to pay Mr Minch back. How much was borrowed? A LOT less than what warrants the hatred this man feels for Ness' dad). Though his role in the game is minuscule, Mr Minch's role in Pokey's development is impossible to ignore.
A contrast exists between Pokey and his brother, Picky. While Pokey's in your party, he is useless. That is no hyperbole, Pokey literally does NOTHING, just hide behind Ness every time you get attacked by the weakest enemies in the game. Picky, though not that strong, at least tries to attack the enemies. This is due to their contrasting natures: Pokey is a coward, Picky is not. Pokey is immature for his age, Picky is mature for his age.
But if he's such a coward, why would Pokey align with Giygas, the embodiment of darkness and evil? To understand that, we need to look at Pokey's life and standing. Pokey is stated to not have any friends, and the ONE boy who puts up with him is the son of his father's hated enemy. His own parents are abusive; his mother is emotionally absent while his father is abusive. If you attempt to visit the Minch household while Pokey is in your party but BEFORE saving Picky, Pokey will mention that his parents are out. Pokey is 13 and he has been left alone in a large house with just his little brother and no adult supervision. This also has to be stated: the game starts in the middle of the night; the Minches were not yet home by the time their children would have been in bed and asleep!
Pokey had no positive role models in his life; just an ass for a father and a flighty mother. Friends? None. So when Pokey was trying to make amends with Ness after the ordeal with the Happy Happyists, he was trying to make a friendship, something that can make him feel loved. But because of a misunderstanding, Pokey ends up falling to the dark side.
Or maybe he was there to begin with. Unlike the other villains of Earthbound, Giygas never directly controlled Pokey, merely "guided" him. And at the end of the game, Pokey was fighting right beside Giygas, like an equal. This cannot be overlooked, as it is quite telling of Pokey's nature.
But why Pokey, and not Pokey and Picky? Both brothers were raised the same, but only Pokey helped out Giygas. Why didn't Picky turn out evil like his brother? This is proof against the idea that Pokey's upbringing made him evil; Picky was raised similarly to Pokey, but Picky never served Giygas. So, what does this mean? That maybe it's Nature, not Nurture, that decides if someone is truly evil.
He was only thirteen, and he wanted the world to be destroyed. He never stopped to consider how his actions were hurting others, and cared only for himself. He couldn't muster the courage to help his own brother, and every time it looked like there would be trouble, he ran. He willingly aligned with an evil entity for no greater reason than to see the world destroyed. A coward, a bully, a terrible child, that's Pokey Minch. The fifth greatest video game villain.
The summary:
Name: Pokey Minch
Type of Villain: The Enfant Terrible, the Evil Former Friend, the Cowardly Villain
Greatest Crime: Allying with Giygas, the embodiment of darkness
Current Status: Unknown (according to Mother 3, trapped inside an Absolutely Safe Capsule until the end of time, alive)
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