Unofficial Pokémon Regitube makes a huge splash  

A new unofficial Pokémon has been born! Named Regitube or Regifloat by fans, the rubbery water type Pokémon has a bizarre TikTok origin story and is fast becoming a fan-favorite.  

It started back in August, when The Tube Shack posted a comedic TikTok of its employees having fun. The Tube Shack is a company in Canada that rents out inflatable rubber rings to swimmers, so the video featured an employee trying to wear as many of the big rings as possible. One employee managed to fit a total of 15 rings onto themselves. This almost completely obscured their body, creating a mysterious rubbery blue creature that plods past the camera in the clip below:  

The video has since gone viral, receiving over 8000 comments. Pokémon fans were quick to point out the visual similarity to Regi Pokémon, naming the creation Regitube. Regi Pokémon are a type of legendary Pokémon that first appeared in the Ruby and Sapphire games. Beginning with Regirock Regice and Registeel, there is now a total of six official Regi Pokémon.

These Pokémon tend to have geometric appearances with bulky arms. Regice and Regirock in particular look like they were made out of chunks of ice and rock respectively. Therefore, it is easy to see why fans dubbed the rubber ring creation Regitube or Regifloat, musing on whether it was some kind of aquatic Regi Pokémon. In response, the Tube Shack posted a new version of the video with different music, asking viewers to choose which name they like best out of Regi-tube, Regi-water, Regi-float and Regi-rubber.   

Pokémon fans have truly claimed Regitube as their own, with an outpouring of artwork and tributes. Some have given Regitube plausible abilities and have even jokingly made videos that retcon him into the Pokémon universe. The Pokémon games do not feature a water type Regi Pokémon yet- which may partially explain fans’ love for the adorable blue rubber creation.

The buoyant monster has brought surprising attention to Tube Shack, who seem to be thinking about using something similar as their company mascot. Their TikTok below features a concept drawing of a fish-faced character similar to Regitube, and asks for name suggestions (other than Regitube!) 

Written by. Verity Townsend based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2023-11-28 13:31 JST)