The Rock transforms into the most famous Pocket Monster of all to delight his daughter.

To be totally honest, I never expected Pikachu to become as popular as he has. Especially when the Pokémon franchise first started out, with one of its pillars being a rearing video game on the seven-year-old Game Boy hardware, and the other a cheaply made TV anime, I thought Pikachu would have a brief 10 minutes of fame in Japan, and end his career largely unknown by people overseas, thanks to the then less-than-mainstream nature of his native media forms.

Speaking of pop culture stars I underestimated, I didn’t think Dwayne Johnson, a.k.a. The Rock, was destined for movie greatness either. Sure, he was a big deal in the professional wrestling world, but that wasn’t going to matter to the majority of movie-goers, who prefer their pretend fighting to be filmed instead of performed live.

And yet, both Pikachu and The Rock turned out to have such massive stores of charisma that they’ve gone on to become world-famous entertainment icons. So in a way it’s fitting that on Easter Sunday, the Rock celebrated by doing some Pikachu cosplay, as shown in this video from his Instagram account.

However, while some other celebrities are anime fans themselves, The Rock wasn’t dressing up strictly for his own amusement. It’s actually his daughter, Jasmine, who’s the big Pikachu fan (though the little tyke pronounces the Pocket Monster’s name as “Peekyu”), and she was so excited by the surprise visit that she wore her costumed daddy out, according to The Rock’s statement that:

“ I’m tired, today’s my only day off, it’s 118 degrees in this costume and Hobbs [the Rock’s pet bulldog] keep trying to p*ss on my leg. And I luv every minute of it. Bring it on. It’s what daddy’s do. “

Now I can’t help but wonder if The Rock knows that Pikachu also dabbles in pro wrestling, or if he and his family will be coming to Yokohama for the annual Pikachu outbreak. If you and your family are indeed headed to Japan, Mr. Rock, hit us up here at RocketNews24 – we’ll be happy to show you around town.

Source: Instagram/therock (H/T Kotaku USA)