It was the 17th anniversary of the Pokemon series recently and the franchise doesn't have any plans of slowing down anytime soon.
I grew up with the games/toys as well as the TV series. I still remember being late for street hockey games Saturday morning because I was caught up in watching the TV show. The Kanto league had a prime-time special hyping the league on the WB and I remember seeing the Charizard evolution episode so many times I wanted to bang my head against the wall. I think the Anime treatment of Squirtle made me like him even more, such as the Squirtle Squad or the Squirtle Squad sunglasses. Later on during the show’s run, it started to lose some of what made it “good” during the first few years. They even changed networks and voice actors. Usually when a show has to change voice actors, it isn’t going to last much longer. Pokemon is still going strong and will keep going until Nintendo decides to pull the plug on it.
There were some low points as well during the Pokemon saga for me. I remember doing really bad in school right before Ruby and Sapphire came out. I tanked a test and then called Toys R Us to see if the games came in and sure enough they did. Try asking your mom for a ride to Toys R Us after failing something, it isn’t fun. The Black and White mall tour was fun because I wasn’t employed at the time and could go during the day when people would be at school/other places. It was also the Pokemon Company trying to revive the series and personally, I think it was a great success. The mall tour showed me that there are still a ton of people that really enjoy the Pokemon series. Hell, I was in the bowels of the mall. That statement right there is enough proof to show that the series is alive and well. You’re not supposed to see the bowels of the mall.
Fast food. The franchise wasn’t/isn’t afraid to throw its hat into the fast food game and that hit the peak with the first movie. Burger King had the rights for the toys and I don’t remember the United States seeing something like this pertaining to toys. Burger King started trade nights during the week where kids could meet and trade their duplicate Pokemon toys and cards. It was another way for kids to try and make new friends and trade partners, something the series depends on. We got out hands on 2 complete sets of the First movie toys, something that was tough to do at the time because they didn’t have clear bags. Also the fact that the whole set is like 50 something toys. I also got my hands on a ceiling display for the second movie, the best movie in the series thus far.
