A Magician Sued Nintendo and Made This ‘Iconic Pokemon’ Disappear for 20 Years From the Beloved Franchise

For over 20 years, the psychic Pokemon known as the Kadabra has been unavailable in the TCG scene. Even though Nintendo had been very tight-lipped about the matter, fans had been aware that the famous (infamous in some cases) real-life psychic, Uri Geller, had waged a legal war against the pokemon for using his likeness. 

The first-generation psychic Pocket monster known as Kadabra is the second evolution of the Abra line. It is one of the first pokemon that had human-like features. One of his most iconic aspects is the spoon, or spoons, that it gets in its later evolutions. Which is a clear homage to real-life psychics. 

Pokemon that was ‘captured’ by a psychic 

The Israeli-British illusionist Uri Geller had the surprise of a lifetime 20 years ago when he stepped into a mall in Tokyo and kids surrounded him and started to bow in front of him, chanting his name. Finding this occurrence very strange, Uri looked at the newly released Pokemon cards and found out that one of the cards had his name and likeness.

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The original Japanese name of the pokemon Kadabra is “Yungerer” or “Yungeller”. This was a clear reference to Uri, as the Japanese pronunciation of his name is very similar to this. Even Kadabra’s design was very similar to a psychic and somewhat likely to Uri. After knowing that the Pokemon was an homage to him, instead of jumping on the spot with happiness, Uri decided to sue Nintendo. 

And for more than two decades his war on the pokemon continued. Due to this legal fight, Kadabra was made unavailable in the TCG for this long. But the hope has finally returned as Uri has announced that he is no longer interested in holding the pokemon captive. Following his announcement, Nintendo has confirmed the new Kadabra card will finally return to the Pokemon TCG. 

On Twitter, Uri said, “released Pokémon from the ban. Forgive me.” In an interview with pokebeach Uri added, “I admit, totally open and honest. I was a fool. It was a devastating mistake for me to sue Pokemon. [Kadabra] was basically a tribute to Uri Geller. But it’s back now. Forgive me. I love you all. Much love and energy.”

As to give context to this sudden change of mind, Uri had told in his video on Twitter that he recently became a grandfather and it changed his mindset. He is terribly sorry for holding the creature for so long and thinks he should have had a better judgment. In the video, he also announced the upcoming pokemon TCG card launch of “Yungerer” aka Kadabra. 

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