Story of the Sun and Moon Chinese Leaks

The story of the Sun and Moon Chinese leaks

The Sun and Moon Chinese leaks were the first ever leaks from China in Pokemon’s history. 

After the existence of Sun and Moon Chinese leaks, Chinese leaks became a very popular phenomenon among Pokemon fans who love leaks and rumors. 

But how did it happen?

In this article, I’ll take you back to July 2016, just 2 weeks before the Pokemon Salandit was publicly revealed. 

2 weeks before the reveal of Salandit, an anonymous person posted the Sun and Moon Chinese leaks on Chinese forum Tieba. 

The leak claimed that due to the addition of the Chinese language options in the Sun and Moon games, many Chinese localizers were involved in Sun and Moon.

The leak then proceeded to say that there are no gyms.

This caused people to find it stupid, and the leak did not gain much traction even on Tieba itself. 

Most importantly, no one knew the one who posted the leaks, while being reputable was super important over here. 

(Here, I would like to tell you that the original Sun and Moon Chinese leaks were NOT posted by the “Chinese Riddler” who was a very famous Chinese leaker. There are many, many Chinese leakers, not just one.)

However, a real life friend of mine took a screenshot because he was into rumors and leaks. 

The real life friend of mine, let’s call him Mr. P because he wants to stay anonymous, is an active VGC player from Hong Kong. 

(If you play VGC in Hong Kong, it’s very likely that you know Mr. P in person, lol) 

2 weeks went by.

On 7th July 2016, Pokemon publicly revealed Salandit– a poison fire lizard that the leak had mentioned. 

Mr P messaged me and other Pokemon fans from Hong Kong quickly and told me about the leaks. 

He said:

“This is huge! I remember seeing this leak 2 weeks ago. No one cared about it back then. But it has to be real. See how it mentioned a fire poison lizard?” 

He highlighted the “fire poison lizard” in the screenshot. 

Most of my other friends think it was fake. 

Mr E (another friend who wishes to stay anonymous):

“Doesn’t this rumor mention the Archer grass starter, the Siren water starter, and the Wrestler fire starter? Can’t it be made up after seeing this picture?” 

Most of my real life friends believe that the Chinese leaks were made up after seeing this picture. 

While many people believe this leaked concept art was part of the Chinese leaks, I’m afraid to tell you that no one really knew where this artwork came from. 

The artwork was very likely to be leaked from Japan instead of China. 

I tried finding discussion of the Salandit leak on English forums and Twitter.

I was shocked that I couldn’t find anything at all. 

I told Mr P.

“No one in the English community was talking about it.” 

Mr. P said

“I really think it’s real”

“Did you really see this leak 2 weeks ago?” 

(most of us don’t visit Tieba regularly and was unaware about the leaks) 

“yes”

It was at that time, an idea sparked: 

“Can I translate it?” I asked Mr P.

“Sure!” 

“I mean can I post it in public?” 

“Yes!” 

It was then I translated this leak and messaged PokeJungle about this Chinese leak. 

“Are you lying?”

PokeJungle asked.

“No.”

I said firmly. 

(At the time, PokeJungle didn’t know me yet.)

PokeJungle decided to believe me and posted my translation. 

PokeJungle also had another Chinese person to proofread my translation. 

It went viral. 

Very viral. 

Way more viral than I assumed, at least. 

Suddenly hundreds if not thousands of people were discussing it. 

I was very, very nervous. 

What if it was all fake? Would I be known as a huge liar? 

Would people come and harass me if the leaks turned out fake? 

In August 2016, The trial captain Mallow was revealed. 

The same Mallow that appeared in the Concept Art Leak. 

People are starting to say that it confirms that the Chinese leaks were real. 

“Ah, so the Concept Art Leak was real, after all”

my friends said. 

“Still doesn’t mean the Chinese leaks are real, because the Chinese leaks can just be piggy backing on the Concept Art Leak!”. 

But I believe the Chinese leaks were real at that point because if there were gym leaders to reveal, they would have been revealed earlier. 

I was starting to believe that there are no gyms in Sun and Moon.

In September, Passimian was publicly revealed. 

“That was the rugby monkey from the Chinese leaks”

I thought. 

I was finally able to stop worrying. 

“Does it mean I became famous……?”

lol. Maybe.