Sigh, nostalgia. Good times watching Pokémon on television in the late 1990s and early 2000s during my childhood years. I remember my young brother and I played Pokémon Red and Blue versions on our Nintendo GameBoy Color handheld systems, watched Pokémon The Movie 2000: The Power of One in the movie theater, and watched Pokémon anime on both syndication on weekday mornings and Kids' WB on Saturday mornings. Pokémon was one of the first four anime titles that I grew up alongside with Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball, and Digimon in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The amazing part is that it wasn't just a passing fad; now it is one of the biggest franchises in pop culture, with a long-running series of games, an equally long-running anime, and instant recognition worldwide. Pokemon basically did what Star Wars did in 1977, in that it came in with a bang, then cemented itself into and changed pop culture.
@@Fireglo not really. I mean it wasn't ALWAYS going to be the main focal point of people's attention but none of it's series (video game, manga, anime, trading cards) have ended. Pokemon GO was a passing fad.
@@juandiegotorres9632 Yeah, it actually did, the movies tanked, thus more from Japan never got released in the US, games sold less and less, toys stopped being hot Christmas items (thus you didn't see them flying off shelves), fast food toys no longer were sought after like they were the Burger King toys in 1999. It must be nice being so young you don't remember 1999.
I remember coming home from school in 1998 watching an episode of Pokémon then going to my friends house to trade battle and play our game boys, he had Red I had blue. God i miss those times so much. It’s almost depressing to me.
I was on first grade when the waves hit Finland. A crazy autumn of pokemon cards and then they were banned bcs older students ”scammed” (ofc) younger ones. I remember trading my Venomoth for an Eevee because Eevee was cuter…
wouldn't have been worth much, too much of it produced the first couple years. The stuff from around 2003-2010 would probably be worth the most due to less sales per year than in 1999/2000.
Jesus Christ, all those Boosterboxes just sitting out in the open on that store shelf and a cabinet full of sealed Japanese southern islands folders... That's all potentially millions of dollars worth now.
It settled into a nice niche for Game Freak, Nintendo, Creatures, and The Pokemon Company. Sure, the toys no longer top sales, and the games haven't ever surpassed the original's sales, but it's still bringing in a consistent $1 billion every year (1999's $1 billion would be approximately $1.53 billion today- but that $1 billion in 1999 was just in the US, not worldwide!).
I remember in 5th grade in 1999 before they banned them at school we battled for keeps on the playground and this Mexican kid battled me I beat him took his card but that was his only card so i found him and have it back because I felt bad I had more cards then him. He gave it up with no complaint when I beat him and it made me feel bad. Good times man.
Magical times to be a child. We had it all us 90s kids. Born 1990 here, I had watched the first episode before playing the games and it was an instant love affair and addiction to the franchise. The only hype that was on par with the initial release were the months before and after the release of Gold & Silver. It was like a collective hive mind experience for our whole school. Everyone was playing them 😂
I remember "PAYLESS" had some POKEMON themed plain old white shoes with a card insert in the sides of each shoe Everyday I & the other kids would rep a different card each day A few kids got jumped & mugged for apparently prepping a MEWTWO & MEW card
Kid showing up to school with his binder of cards... like I didn't even go to a bad school or anything, but you're just asking to get your stuff stolen, bro!
When everyone is a nerd the franchises themselves suffer because thy writ them with the idea to appeal to everyone, which makes the product suffer as a result. I miss when pop culture wasn't trendy.
When I was in high school and the gamecube had been released, I decided I was done with Pokemon after playing it since blue version. so I got rid of all of my cards and gameboy with pokemon games and n64 pokemon games. After going to college and skipping gen 3, gen 4 came out and I have been a fan again ever since. Also found two binders of pokemon cards and promos I forgot to get rid of and kept them til this day.
