No one saw Pokémon’s American Psycho parody coming

polygon.com:

Bet you didn’t have “The Pokémon Company doing an American Psycho parody on its social media” on your bingo card for this Friday. But this is the reality we live in, where a Marshtomp plush stands in for delusional sociopath Patrick Bateman in a contest of (non-business) cards at the Pokémon offices, where Pokémon do their mergers and acquisitions.

We should specifically call out the Pokémon Trading Card Game folks for the following impressive spot of comedy, in which Marshtomp compares Larry trainer cards with his colleagues Quagsire and Slowpoke. The latter, presumably having acquired it due to infinite levels of patience, shows off its ultra rare, full-art holo card, sending Marshtomp into an existential tailspin.

Also funny: a notepad on the table with a downward-trending line graph and the word “Lechonks” scribbled on it.

It is both amazing and a little shocking to see The Pokémon Company riffing on American Psycho’s infamous business card scene, in which a quartet of interchangeable white businessmen flex their interchangeably white business cards. American Psycho is, of course, a darkly violent satire that was initially slapped with an NC-17 rating for its displays of sex and violence. The film’s initial release was met with protest that echoed boycotts of Bret Easton Ellis’ original novel on which Mary Harron’s movie was based.

And now we have Pokémon doing (really good) goofs on it!

There is precedent for such a parody, though. A decade ago, comedian Demi Adejuyigbe created an infamous and convincing recut of the scene, in which Bateman throws down his Cubone, only to be shown up by his colleagues, and ultimately Paul Allen’s Snorlax.

The Pokémon Company is busting out American Psycho jokes for the upcoming