Pikachu Libre

About

Pikachu Libre is a type of Pikachu from the Pokémon series dressed as a Luchador professional wrestler. After appearing in 2015's Pokken Tournament, the design was used as an alternate skin for Pikachu in 2018's Super Smash Brothers Ultimate. The character has also inspired a copypasta about its gender.

Origin

Pikachu Libre debuted as a costume in the 2014 ports of the third generation of the Pokémon games, Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.^[1] A Luchador Pikachu was added as a fighter in the fighting game Pokken Tournament, released July 16th, 2015 in Japan and March 18th, 2016 worldwide. The character reappeared in Pokken Tournament DX on September 22nd, 2017. The design was added as a costume for Pikachu in Super Smash Brothers Ultimate.

Spread

Pikachu Libre Is a Girl

Pikachu's with "heart-shaped" tails are women in the Pokémon universe. A copypasta surrounding this fact emerged reading "Did you know Pikachu Libre is a girl? You can tell by the shape of her tail." It's possible this stemmed from a August 21st, 2015 article now appearing on Splinter^[2] praising Pikachu Libre in Pokken Tournament. Author Charles Pulliam-Moore writes: "In the games, it should be pointed out, Cosplay Pikachu are always female. You can tell that Cosplay Pikachu are female because of heart shapes at the ends of their tails." Another possible origin for the copypasta is a September 20th, 2018 tweet by @SSBUNews about Pikachu's inclusion in Super Smash Brothers Ultimate (shown below).

The copypasta began spreading online after the SSBU tweet, particularly in the Smash Brothers community. For example, users on /r/smashbros completed the copypasta on October 10th (shown below left). It was mocked as oversaturated on December 17th in /r/circlejerk (shown below, right).

It was also referenced in a gameplay video posted by RawFoe on November 1st, 2018 (shown below).

Search Interest

External References