YouTuber PewDiePie’s fan base is up in arms at the moment, due to the internet personality joking that the Pokémon anime main character was a subscriber to his channel. This has caused mass confusion online, with fans believing there to be a hidden easter egg in the show.
PewDiePie is one of the biggest names on YouTube, with a subscriber count of over 110 million, the third-highest subscriber count on YouTube. Outside of YouTube, PewDiePie's online popularity has made him one of the biggest online personalities to come out of the content creator industry. PewDiePie is a known Pokémon fan, often referencing the franchise and games in his videos, and has played many of the Pokémon games on his channel. Some fans even once created a custom Pokémon featuring the Swedish star. Recently, an episode of Pokémon Journeys has gotten the PewDiePie online fan base up in arms.
In the 59th episode, the main character of Ash Ketchum wears a pyjama shirt that seems to be indicative of the YouTuber’s Brofist logo. According to Dexerto, the fans on PewDiePie’s dedicated subreddit have been spreading out into other social media platforms to ask whether or not the design was intended to be similar to the YouTuber’s. This discussion was started in a post by Reddit user Aharano.
The design in question is actually that of the gym leader from Pokémon Sword and Shield, Trainer Bea. She is a fighting type user and wears the logo on her outfit in the game. While the simple design is similar to Pewdiepie's logo, the color palette is completely different. A fist has long been the unofficial logo for the fighting type in the Pokémon franchise. It is close enough for fans of PewDiePie to get confused at a passing glance, but in context with Ash having met Trainer Bea in the show, it makes sense he would have a shirt with the gym’s design on it.
It seems that Pokémon fans and PewDiePie followers have a lot in common, with many crossing over into both genres. Whether or not Nintendo wants to be affiliated with PewDiePie is yet to be seen, with nothing being said by the Japanese gaming company. The obvious answer would be no, but considering how much influence PewDiePie has on his fans, other companies mday want his support going forward. For now, this remains a harmless joke online with the logos simply being similar and left at that.
Source: Dexerto, Aharano/Reddit