Harambe Is Dead, but He May Live On, as a Pokemon

Harambe the gorilla captured the hearts and memes of the world after his untimely death, and a new Change.org petition wants to pay tribute to him in the best way possible — by making him into a Pokémon.

Harambe became a martyr for the internet when he was shot and killed by Cincinnati Zoo staff after a young boy fell into his enclosure. Although Harambe is dead, his memory has lived on in the form of memes, which went become viral across the internet. Now, one Twitter user, Eric Creamymemes, has taken it a step further by creating an online petition to turn Harambe into a Pokémon.

Even though it may have been a joke, the petition has earned a lot of support – with over 62,000 people adding their name to the petition. It is now only 12,000 signatures away from reaching its mark of 75,000 signatures. Eric Creamymeme’s proposal uses art from Pokémon Sage an unofficial version of Pokémon that originated on 4chan.org gaming forums.

Harambe (and his unevolved version Hambo) are renamed versions of Simayan and Monkezuma, two unofficial designs created in Pokémon Sage.

Mr. Creamymemes did make some updates to Simayan and Monkezuma, though. The unevolved version is now “Hambo,” and both Pokémemes have been made a “Ghost” type Pokémon, because they are dead. Their ability is “Meat Shield,” which is both hilarious and sad.

If Nintendo takes this seriously, it may still have time to add Harambe to the game before it releases Pokémon Sun and Moon on November 18, 2016.

Nintendo has released some of the new Alolan forms of older Pokémon, including Sandshrew, Exeggutor, and Raichu. If the petition does hit 75,000 signatures, expect to hear some word on whether the idea will come to fruition. Here’s hoping they turn Harambe into a legend.