The cut-out of the popular Pokemon character described by the society as “our wife” was stolen from the Pokémon society in the quad during the downpour that saw out O-Week on Thursday.
UNSW security footage captured part of the incident but is inaccessible by the PokéSoc until they file a police report.
Societies had to leave the quadrangle in fear of lightning strike, likely due to Raichu not being a part of the stall setup.
Once the rain had abated, all clear was given for societies to pack up their stalls. But when PokéSoc directors returned after a round of trivia, they quickly realised the absence of the life-sized cutout of the Sinnoh Champion.
Leslie Siu, PokeSoc’s Creative and Art Director, found it missing at around 2:20pm, “when Ginger and I went to check out how our stall was doing.”
Ginger S* was the art director who made the cutout of the Champion, valued at between $100-150 on various online retailers. She told Tharunka that the process took 7-8 hours from scratch to make a life-size Cynthia out of A4 paper and cardboard.
Ten minutes later, other members of the Pokémon society arrived to investigate Cynthia’s disappearance. Members of the Minecraft Society, their next-door neighbours for the week, told them of Cynthia’s last moments.
Jim Huang, the Treasurer, said that he found out when Ginger called him. One of the Minecraft members noticed that two intrepid villagers-turned-thieves soon took off with the life-sized cut-out of the Sinnoh Champion while they were packing up their own stall.
When asked about how they felt about Team Rocket striking in 3D, Ginger said, “Anger and frustration [weren’t] close to describing what I felt at that moment.” Huang was confused and surprised by the thievery.
Calum Smith, the President of the Pokémon society, made an announcement at 5:25pm announcing the thievery and their investigation: “Our team have talked with Street Team, Yellow Shirts and Campus Security but have had no luck uncovering what has happened.”
The wider PokéSoc community surged into a flurry of discord messages:
While they were upset over her absence, they believed in her strength.
Update: eagle-eyed readers may have noticed that this article was taken down temporarily after it was posted after O-Week.
The thief, using a dummy account parodying Andrew Tate, posted a picture of Cynthia in a basement with the caption, “Mwahahahahaa open to trades #topg #freemyman #hustlersuniversity” at 7:48 PM.
At eight pm, this article was published after being scheduled earlier that day. A representative from the Pokémon Society contacted Tharunka for the article to be taken down temporarily at 8:25 pm. At 8:34 pm, the article was taken down.
Security has sent the footage to UNSW to be handled internally. There has been no update to Tharunka or Pokémon Society as of 18.02.2023.
As of this moment, Cynthia is still missing. If you have any further information or were there at the time, please contact the Pokémon society on Instagram @unsw.pokesoc. Pokémon society members wish for Cynthia’s safe return.
