For parents, there was no hiding from this one. No hoping it would blow over. This thing grabbed ahold of your child's mind and your wallet and shook like a schoolyard bully. Who, incidentally, did the same thing to your child in order to get the rare 1st edition Gyarados card that your screaming, whining, pleading kid got you to shell out $75 for. Pokémon cards made you their bitch. Oh, the humanity of it. Kids got so crazy with trading and battling their cards that schools banned the cards so that the kids would pay attention and stop shuffling the cards around under the desks like some kind of morally questionable exchange, I can see them, dammit!
The Great Poké-Card Rage had hit schools in late '99, and by February of 2000 the cards were no longer allowed. Broken-hearted children had to wait until 3PM to trade, battle and show off their new $400 collection of Christmas-gotten cards.
(You're never too old for Pokémon. So what if people give you funny looks for hanging around elementary schools and asking kids if they want to check out your holographic Dewgong?)
Surely the spent hours of our lives can only be matched by the spent dollars of our parents.
So that you don't feel too lame, I'll say that I still break out my old GameBoy color and Pokémon Silver from time to time and get old school 2000 when I'm bored with the routine of my life. Don't worry, you're not too juvenile for hiding a Pikachu blanket in your closet (nerd).
So for old time's sake, go ahead and dig up your GameBoy and Pokémon game, or your huge collection of trading cards, or your old Pikachu pajamas, you know you want to. Don't try to fight it. And hey, who knows, maybe if you're lucky you can sell your old collection for some serious cash. I bet there are some nerdy kids of this generation that would be willing to hand over some dough to take them off your hands.
BLASTOISE!!!
Dude, yes. I love pokemon. If it weren't for the DS's inability to play pre-GBA games, I would still be playing Blue and Yellow (hell, maybe even Gold, too)...that is both the one problem I have with the DS, and the reason I want to get one of the remakes (FireRed and LeafGreen).
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