We get it: Pikachu is cute in a hat. Nobody is arguing with that one. The Ash hat from the anime is, inarguably, the cutest of these hats, but I digress. The point is, Pokémon GO has so far focused an irresponsible amount of its attention on costuming the little electric mouse at the expense of all the other Pokémon in the game, but that finally changes this weekend with Community Day. And the game is getting the costume piece that I've been waiting for ever since launch: Squirtle is finally getting its sunglasses, Niantic announced recently
This is significant for longtime Pokémon fans, and we'll take a step back to talk about why. In the original Pokémon anime, Ash starts out with only Pikachu in his team and slowly builds out a travelling party with the rest of the starter Pokemon, each of which gets their own introductory episodes. In Squirtle's episode, the little fellow is part of a gang of ne'er do well turtles known as the Squirtle Squad. Abandoned by their trainers, the Squirtle Squad didn't take nothing from nobody, and their cool sunglasses showed the world what they were all about. After some hijinks and day-saving, the leader became convinced enough by Ash's actions that it joined him on his journey, but the squad lived on.
Early on in the game, I said I would gladly pay money for Pokémon cosmetics, the way you can do in a lot of other free-to-play games. And while I'm still not sure just how much I would shell(!) out for such a cosmetic, Niantic has so far limited premium cosmetics to player items and included Pokémon costumes as part of special events. Which is fine by me.
One major question: will the sunglasses translate to Waroturtle and Blastoise? Pikachu tradition would suggest that they would. And will the sunglasses be the round variety favored by Squirtle Squad rank and file, or will they be more like the angular variety favored by the leader? I wasn't all that excited by another starter-oriented Community Day, but now I'll be out as long as I can be trying to get a perfect sunglass-wearing Squirtle.