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Fuck Uri Geller>Israeli magician Uri Geller, known for his attribution of his spoon-bending tricks to alleged psychic abilities, sued Nintendo, alleging that Kadabra (known as Yungerer in Japan) was an unauthorized use of his name and likeness. Besides Kadabra's use of bent spoons to enhance its psychic powers, the katakana for its name (ユンゲラー) is visually similar to the transliteration of his own name into Japanese (ユリゲラー). In particular, he took issue with Kadabra cards in the Pokémon Trading Card Game, especially the existence of the card Dark Kadabra (named "Evil Yungerer" in Japanese). >Geller, who is Jewish, additionally argued that Kadabra's design is antisemitic due to the five-pointed star on its forehead and the lightning bolts resembling the logo of the Waffen-SS. He is quoted as saying "Nintendo turned me into an evil, occult Pokémon character. Nintendo stole my identity by using my name and my signature image." >The symbols themselves are taken from those used on Zener cards, which have been used to conduct research into supposed psychic abilities since the 1930s, and Geller has personally used in some of his magic tricks. >Geller told news outlets that he first became aware of Kadabra and its similarities to him while he was Christmas shopping at a Pokémon Center store in Japan. According to Geller, the store manager "rushed out from his office continuously bowing," followed by "hundreds of children [thrusting] Pokemon cards at him to autograph while chanting what sounded like Uri Geller."
Anonymous
>>57141715 >In December 1999, he told news outlets that he was planning to sue Nintendo. Geller retained lawyers in Tokyo and the United States, and told news outlets that he was pursuing legal action in "Europe, America, Latin America and Australasia". In the US, his lawyer said they were planning to sue for US$100 million. When reached for comment, Nintendo in Japan told news outlets they had not yet received the lawsuit. Nintendo told news outlets "None of the Pokémon characters is given a name based on the image of any particular person". >When VICE investigated the case in 2018, they were unable to find any evidence of Geller ever filing a lawsuit in Japan, although they were unable to contact the Japanese lawyer who Geller had retained. >In November 2000, it was reported that Geller had begun legal action against Nintendo in Los Angeles federal court, for using his likeness (Kadabra) on Pokémon cards without authorization. It was reported that his lawsuit alleged he should receive substantial damages and that Nintendo cease producing cards containing his likeness. >When VICE researched the case in 2018, they were only able to find documents filed from 2001 to 2003. >In 2001, Geller, along with Liechtenstein company Sambracal AG (who own the rights to Geller's name and likeness), sued Nintendo, arguing that the use of his likeness in Kadabra violated his rights under California's privacy laws. Anonymous
>>57141721 >However, the judge ruled that as he was not a citizen or resident of the United States (he is a citizen of Israel and the United Kingdom who lived in the United Kingdom at the time), he was not eligible for protection under these privacy laws, so he could only sue under privacy laws in the United Kingdom, but no such laws existed that would protect him in this case; that part of the case was dismissed on August 16, 2001, but Geller continued to sue arguing that the cards violated the trademark rights to his own name. In November 2002, a judge dismissed Geller's trademark claims against Nintendo of America, ruling that there was insufficient evidence that Nintendo of America was involved in the distribution of Japanese language Kadabra cards in the United States (since only the Japanese language cards bore a similarity to Geller's name); since the Japanese language cards were only intended to be distributed in Japan, only Japanese trademark law could be applied, but Geller did not own a trademark on his name in Japan. On March 3, 2003, Geller's lawsuit was dismissed by the judge. >Despite Geller losing his lawsuit, it seemed to have a chilling effect on the usage of Kadabra in official Pokémon media. From 2003 to 2022, there were no new Kadabra cards released in the Pokémon Trading Card Game, with the last Kadabra card to be printed before the drought being in Skyridge in 2003. >Kadabra had not appeared in the Pokémon animated series since Fear Factor Phony in 2006. In a July 2008 interview with PokéBeach, Masamitsu Hidaka stated that usage of Kadabra on a card is not allowed until an agreement was reached and that the case would not be settled anytime soon. Anonymous
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>>57141728 >Abra and Alakazam cards have continued to be printed, despite the lack of Kadabra cards. In matches that prevent the use of older cards, this made it impossible to play Alakazam without using cards that allow Alakazam to be played directly without evolving it from Kadabra, such as Rare Candy. The only Abra card released between Skyridge and 2023, in Mysterious Treasures, has an attack that allows it to evolve directly into Alakazam, skipping the Kadabra stage. Any Alakazam cards printed since were Basic Pokémon that did not need to evolve from anything. >On November 27, 2020, The Gamer published an article about the history of Geller and Kadabra. The following day, after being contacted by a reader of The Gamer's article, Geller reached out to The Gamer, telling them that he had sent a letter to "the chairman of Nintendo giving them permission to relaunch the Uri Geller Kadabra/Yungeller worldwide", which they published in a follow-up article. The next day, Geller tweeted that he was sorry about "what [he] did 20 years ago", and that he was rescinding the ban; the tweet included an image of The Gamer's second article and a link to his personal museum, which at the time was scheduled to open in December 2020 after its opening had been postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic. >In 2021, Kadabra made its first appearance in animation since 2006 in the Pokémon Evolutions episode The Show (debuting December 16, 2021). >The first Kadabra card printed since Skyridge is included in the Pokémon Card 151 subset in Japan (released June 16, 2023) and its counterpart 151 expansion in English (released September 22, 2023). Anonymous
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>>57141715 >Thinking anyone cares about Shitdabra when its superior evo is there for the choosing Anonymous
>>57141715 He is based for making Nintendo suffer from the same petty bullshit they subject everyone else to with their "image" and brand.
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>>57141715 Wow, he's Israeli? I'm surprised he didn't sue for Nosepass, too.
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>>57141715 He lost the lawsuit and they had 0 issue with putting it into the games
[megacorp] is fault as always
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(((they))) are the best when it comes to whine and play the victim (TCG) card
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>>57141715 Well he is a jew
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>>57141715 Anon he already walked it back, last year tpci printed the first kadabra card since 2001, the beef is no more
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>>57141917 Well, when you put it that way...
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>>57141917 Nah kikes can't be based
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>>57149128 trump won. get over it. soon these sniveling ltttle comments you make hiding behind a screen will get you the punishment you deserve
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>>57141715 I thought Jewish guys had huge noses
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>>57141715 >>Geller told news outlets that he first became aware of Kadabra and its similarities to him while he was Christmas shopping at a Pokémon Center store in Japan. According to Geller, the store manager "rushed out from his office continuously bowing," followed by "hundreds of children [thrusting] Pokemon cards at him to autograph while chanting what sounded like Uri Geller." this sounds like the biggest load of bullshit!
"a bunch of japanese kids ran up to me cause they recognized me from pokemon!"
let me remind you what kadabra looks like, it's a fox/goat hybrid, the only resemblance they share is a spoon and nothing else. Honestly geller should be glad that anyone would reference him in anything! he was some flavor of the month psychic that was dressed down and disproven probably 3 or 4 years after he started performing. he's a faggot
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>complains about being turned into an occult pokemon character >claims to have psychic abilities
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Kadabra was explicitly based on Geller; Abra is named after Edgar Cayce and Alakazam is named after Houdini.
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>>57141715 >israeli Stopped reading there, told me everything I needed to know
