Overview
Chinpokomon (チンポコモン) is the title of the tenth episode of the third season of South Park airing 1999. In the show there are a toy brand and show meant to parody of Pokémon.
It is a banned episode within Japan and never showed up on any DVD releases. It's believed the reasons for this could be the possibility of protests from Nintendo or the copyright holder of Pokémon.
Another and more likely reason is because the president of the Chinpokomon Company named Hirohito, a parody (and same name) of Emperor Showa. Within Japanese culture it's deemed very taboo to make fun of people from the Imperial Family (see chrysanthemum taboo).
Chinpokomons also appeared as collectibles in the video game South Park: The Stick of Truth with new (or unreleased) chinpokomons.
A single search using this tag alone will almost certainly return an R-18 illustration of the original Pokémon, so it is advisable to add "South Park" to the search, or tag the work with both "South Park" and "Chinpokomon" as well.
Name
The chinpo (ちんぽ) or chinpoko element in chinpokomon is actually a vulgar Japanese word for "penis". With "mon" meaning "monster" the full meaning of chinpokomon is "Penis Monsters".
Rumor
The reason for the name is that "pocket monsters" (the full title of Pokémon) of is an American slang term meaning "monsters in your (crotch) pocket". This is one of the reasons why "Pokémon" is the official name of the game overseas instead of "Pocket Monsters".
But there is no such slang or story in the United States.
In fact, this episode seems to have caused the above story to spread as an urban legend.
The Chinpokomons
Lambtron (once incorrectly referred to as Lambtor) (ラムトロン)
A lamb-like, Pikachu-like chinpokomon with a mega buster-like weapon attached to one hand. Kenny has that toy when he sings his part at the opening of the fourth season.
Furrycat (ファーリーキャット)
A rugged-looking, green, Meowth-like chinpokomon.
Pengin (ペンギン)
A deformed penguin chinpokomon. It is spelled "Pengin," the same pronunciation as in Japanese. Cartman's favorite chinpokomon.
Shoe (シュー)
As the name suggests, it is a brown shoe. It's not shoes, because it's only on one side.
Chu-Chu Nezumi (チューチューネズミ)
A mouse chinpokomon with three eyes and bat-like ears.
Roo-stor (ルースター)
A mecha rooster chinpokomon. Can evolve into Roostallion (ルースタリオン).
About the Japanese in the show
South Park recreates the accents of various countries, and Japan is no exception, speaking in blatantly katakana English.
Related Articles
Princess Kenny - a parody of Japanese anime and video games that appeared in later years.
External Links
English
South Park Fandom Wiki - Chinpokomon (Brand)
South Park Fandom Wiki - Chinpokomon
Japanese
South Park Fandom Wiki - チンポコモン
