Subtotal: $59.98
The Japanese “base set” – released on October 20, 1996 – featured a humanoid Pokemon called Jynx. It’s not difficult to figure why she raised eyebrows prior to international release in January 1999; the jet-black skin, huge pink lips, gaping eyes, straight blonde mane, wiggly hips and full figure, Jynx is clearly an offensive racial sterotype. After watching the film “Holiday Hi-Jynx” with her 10-year-old son, African-American children’s author Carole B Weatherford described Jynx as “an overweight drag queen incarnation of Little Black Sambo”. That pretty much nails it.
Even before Weatherford began her campaign to prevent the distribution of this clearly racist figure, the publisher (Wizards of the Coast) had self-censored and Jynx was repainted purple for international release. But the Japanese persisted and in October 1998 black-faced Jynx reappeared (twice) in the Gym Heroes expansion set. Again, the cards were recoloured for international release in 2000. In fact, Purple Jynx became the dominant form of the Pokemon in most Japanese releases from that date forward.
In a weird – and largely uncommented twist – black-face reared her head again in the 2000 Neo Revelation set. This time however, she wasn’t censored and, in 2001, international audiences were treated to drag-queen Black Mumbo for the first time. It seems, from what I can find, nobody gave a damn.
