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Fan Gets 3D Poké Ball Tattoos/Subdermal Implants

In the photographs shown to the right, Pokémon fan Alex Finch displayed his tattoo of six Poké Balls, supplemented by six subdermal implants to create the effect of three-dimensional Poké Balls implanted into his arm. Finch spoke with ANN and stated that he has been a fan of the Pokémon videogame and anime franchise since he was in third or fourth grade, and that he chose to get six Poké Ball tattoos in reference to the number of Poké Balls which can be carried in the original videogames. He also noted that the tattoos shown are "just the beginning" as he plans to get additional tattoos of videogame, cartoon, and anime icons on the rest of the arm, including more Poké Balls.

In the franchise, the Poké Ball (or Monster Ball in the original Japanese version) is a spherical device used to capture and store wild Pokémon, to be released in battle. There are several varieties of the Poké Ball, including The Super Ball, Ultra Ball (Hyper Ball in the Japanese version), and Master Ball, which have higher rates of capture success than the standard Poké Ball. Later additions to the game franchise such as Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver added more varieties of Poké Balls.

The tattoos shown depict the original Poké Ball.

Sources: Kotaku via GoNintendo, BMEZine

Photographs © Alex Finch. Reprinted with permission.