No, Detective Pikachu is Not a Cop

The new Detective Pikachu trailer has created a lot of hilarious new memes, but one of the funniest is based off a faulty presumption about the title character’s occupation.

Yesterday, Detective Pikachu set the Internet on fire with a two minute trailer that convinced millions that a live-action Pokemon movie will actually be…good? As fans obsessed over the revelation that Jigglypuff had fur or that Mr. Mime’s weird head horns were fleshy instead of carefully sculpted hair, some “detractors” sadly pointed out that they were unable to love Detective Pikachu due to the principle of “ACAB.”

“ACAB” stands for “all cops are bastards” and dates back to at least the counterculture and punk movements of the 1970s. Because of the often contentious relationship between police and the general populace, ACAB is a popular slogan about the distrust law enforcement engenders.

You can see some of the examples of the Internet lashing out at Detective Pikachu below:

However, for those worried that they can’t love Pikachu anymore because he’s a cop, we’re here to set the record straight: Pikachu has no ties to law enforcement.

It’s easy to understand the confusion, given that Ken Watanabe’s character seems to be attached to the Ryme City Police Department and Detective Pikachu‘s original trainer has several awards and honors from the RCPD. However, the original Detective Pikachu game makes clear that Detective Pikachu (and his human trainer) are private detectives and not police detectives. Although Detective Pikachu and his human trainer seemed to have a good enough relationship with the local police, they operated independently of the RCPD and had no actual authority to arrest anyone.

The trailer even makes this clear when Tim (Justice Smith) corrects Detective Pikachu when he says that he’s becoming the bad cop while interrogating a Mr. Mime. Tim quickly reminds Detective Pikachu that they’re not cops just before Detective Pikachu runs into Mr. Mime’s Barrier attack.

There’s a proud tradition of private eyes in fiction dating back to Sherlock Holmes and Detective Pikachu honors that tradition right down to the deerstalker hat. Private detectives are often seen as a check on police departments, helping to root out corruption and taking on the cases that police won’t investigate. If not for the fact that Detective Pikachu is a PG movie, we’re sure that Detective Pikachu would at least empathize with those who say “A.C.A.B.” as he’s a champion of the people.

Detective Pikachu comes out on May 10, 2019.