A 20-year-old man in Taichung on Thursday reportedly suffered a nervous breakdown after his mother’s poodle chewed on a limited edition figurine of a character from the Pokemon animated series, the Taichung Police Department said.
Officers at the Nantun District (南屯) Police Station said they received a report that a man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was out of control and acting aggressively, adding that they were asked to support the firefighters who were already dispatched to the man’s apartment.
Police said they found Chiu sitting on the floor, holding a pair of scissors and apparently having a nervous breakdown, while his mother stood to one side, clutching a poodle.
Photo: Screengrab from the Internet by Hsu Kuo-chen, Taipei Times
Chiu’s mother was quoted by police as saying that Chiu told her he was going to “teach the poodle a lesson” after seeing the dog ruin the figurine that he purchased from a capsule vending machine.
“However, he suffered a nervous breakdown after I took the dog away,” Chiu’s mother said.
A police officer, surnamed Shih (施), tried to convince Chiu to put the scissors down while another officer, surnamed Wu (吳), told Chiu that he also collected figurines from vending machines and that they could be bought on the Internet.
“They do not sell single figurines online, they only sell sets,” Chiu said, to which his mother responded by saying that he could buy an entire set.
After Chiu surrendered the scissors, paramedics checked him and said that he did not need to be hospitalized, and released him to his mother’s supervision.
Chiu’s mother told police that he is easily excited and the outburst had been due to a moment of anger.
The capsules are called gashapon in Japan, where they originated and gained popularity, capsule collectors said, adding that the capsules usually hold figurines from popular Japanese comics, anime or video games.
Most capsules feature a set of figurines based on its source material, the collectors said, adding that gashapon’s allure is that “you never know what you will get.”
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