How I Caught Your Mother is an Abridged one-shot of Pokémon Origins episode 2, created by ThornBrain and Mugiwara Yoshi and developed by TheMidnightFrogs. The title is a parody of How I Met Your Mother, and it shares its use of narration, but it is otherwise unconnected. The show follows Red, an apparent orphan, as he recalls the event that led to him deciding to become a Pokémon master: a day of nonsense in Lavender Town. Meanwhile his idiot rival Green follows him around and desperately tries to get Red to care about him.
The video was created and released in June 2016 for Team Four Star's TIBA abridging contest, in which it ultimately reached 7th place. The team intended to abridge the entire miniseries, but TheMidnightFrogs went into indefinite hiatus within the following year. Their return in 2020 has left the door open to continue the miniseries.
The video can be watched here
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This series provides examples of:
- The Abridged Series: Of Pokémon Origins. It's currently only a one-shot of episode 2, but the team are open to abridging the other three episodes.
- Accidental Misnaming: When Green is introduced, he keeps thinking his name is Blue, a reference to the dub of Origins switching his name from Green to Blue, as well as the history of the Blue and Green versions of the original games.
- Black Comedy: The video draws heavily on humor relating to people and Pokemon dying, several characters being mentally and emotionally broken, and Green trying to kill himself so he can haunt Red as a Ghastly.
- Brick Joke: Green is introduced planning to kill himself so he can haunt Red. Later he's running down a staircase because he forgot how to fall.
- Comedic Sociopathy: Much of the humor is based on Red being disinterested in and having no sympathy for the people around him as he works towards getting something he wants.
- Death by Adaptation: Red's parents, since he's an orphan.
- Hand Blast: Red uses one on the Team Rocket grunts.
- Idiot Hero: Red and Green. With Red it's unclear if his screws are loose or if he's playing everyone around him to his own ends, while with Green it's very clear he's missing the whole toolbox.Green (up in a tree): "Hey Red! I saw some green stuff in the tree! So I went up to look, and to my surprise it was leaves, not me! But now it's me!"
- Incredibly Long Note: A woman in the graveyard tower sings Red a song that includes this before the scene cuts away. Presumably it lasted even longer.
- Minion with an F in Evil: The Team Rocket Grunts cause no significant trouble to anyone. Cubone running slowly is too fast for them, pushing an old man down the stairs somehow only makes him stronger, and Green is able to steal their Silph Scope without them caring that they have a job to do with it.
- Mythology Gag:
- Green initially thinks his name is actually Blue, a partial reference to the Green and Blue versions of the original games.
- Blue Rocket Grunt sings "Meowth! That's right!"
- Rapid-Fire Comedy: Like TheMidnightFrogs' other videos, the jokes are set close to each other and breeze by so that viewers catch more of them on repeat viewings. The climax with Marowak's ghost in particular is a cavalcade of jokes piled on top of each other.
- Shout-Out: The show's title references How I Met Your Mother, and HICYM shares its use of the main character narrating his memories.
- Suicide as Comedy: Green tries to kill himself so he can haunt Red as a Ghastly. He fails dramatically because he forgets how to fall down stairs and instead runs straight down them.
- Surprisingly Creepy Moment: When "Mom" turns slowly and speaks creepily after introducing the people in her house."And I am all of their mothers now..."
- Too Dumb to Live: Inverted. Green is too dumb to die. When he tries to kill himself by falling down the stairs, he forgets how and just runs down them instead.
- Urban Legend of Zelda: Referenced In-Universe when Red shoots a "Pikablu," the fan name for what was later revealed to be Marill. Marowak screams that it's not real.
