By: Declan Hertel Entertainment Editor
When it comes to my generation, I prefer the moniker “’90s Kids” to “Millenials” because at least the derision “’90s Kids” carries is self-inflicted. And “’90s Kids” are now reaching that age where they’re realizing that the things they love are aging with them, and not too long ago, a beloved franchise had an early release of their anniversary Super Bowl ad: kids, Pokémon just turned 20.
For those of you just emerging from that cave and joining the surface dwellers, Pokémon are fantastic creatures that inhabit far off lands, and certain humans that live in those lands, Pokémon Trainers, capture them, befriend them, and pit their team of Pokémon against the teams of their rivals in Pokémon battles.
With six generations of Pocket Monsters (“Pokémon” is a portmanteau) in a long-running anime and series of movies, a trading card game, twenty-four video games in the main series with a great many spinoffs plus an augmented-reality game on the way, and no end in sight for any of that, Pokémon is a cultural force to be reckoned with the world over, especially in America and Japan, its country of origin.
People love Pokémon. There are countless videos of Pokémon events wherein a large contingency of people dress up as Pikachu, the most iconic Pokémon, and perform silly dances. There is a very active “Trainer” community, with players of all colors and creeds coming together to whoop on each other’s virtual pets. Even the Trading Card Game, which is admittedly not as popular as it once was, still has a dedicated player base (that I would be an unashamed part of if I had time or money).
I was honestly a bit inspired by the ad put out by The Pokémon Company, probably because I’ve grown up with it. The message the franchise has always carried is gloriously represented: if you work hard and never, ever give up, you can be the very best, like no one ever was. Train on.
