WGN aired Pokémon: The Movie 2000 at 2AM this morning. I watched most of the first part of the movie, a short about a bunch of Pokémon's misadventures in a tree (entirely in Pokémon language and, accordingly, awesome when you're drunk) but couldn't bring myself to watch the actual movie. The first scene of the movie proper introduced a bunch of Pokémon I had never seen before, which made me sad (OG 151 REPRESENT). Also, the movie's theme song contained some auto-tuned lyrics.
I still don't know how I convinced my dad to take me to see the first Pokémon movie, the creatively titled Pokémon: The First Movie, back in 1999. I remember being pretty embarrassed when I had to ask the movie theater's manager for the exclusive Pokémon trading card that was supposed to come with the movie ticket. I was fourteen.
While I was in high school, I earnestly searched for a semi-ironic, adult-sized Pokémon T-shirt. Semi-ironic because teenagers aren't supposed to like stupid kids stuff like Pokémon, but I actually did. In 2008, The Pokémon Company actually manufactured a line of Pokémon T-shirts for adults called "Pokémon 151," and, surprisingly, they weren't all that ugly. A year later, Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo released a series of Pokémon T-shirts for adults that were also wearably good-looking.
In middle school, Brett and I would play the Pokémon Trading Card Game in the library during lunch. I remember being called "gay" for playing the game at least once. After school, Brett and I would walk over to the elementary school where my mom works and play the Pokémon TCG some more before my mom drove us home. The Pokémon TCG was remarkably entertaining because it wasn't as complex as Magic: The Gathering (which I was obsessed with for a good six months or so, even though I never really played it) and was balanced and fun enough to play with just a starter deck. Just thinking about it now makes me want to dig up my old cards and play it again. In 2000, Nintendo released the Pokémon TCG video game for Game Boy, which saved me a shitload of money because it basically had, built into the game, every card released up to that point. It also allowed me to play the game by myself, which was convenient for reasons that should be obvious by now (i.e., Pokémon fans don't have a lot of friends). Ironically enough, the Pokémon TCG video game came with an actual, physical, limited edition Pokémon card.
I must have been about twelve when my cousin Chris and I bought a copy of Nintendo Power magazine that had a special, pull-out section featuring the soon-to-be-released (in America) Pocket Monsters video game. I don't think they had reveled its English title—"Pokémon"—just yet. It confused me then, and still confuses me now, to think that "Pokémon" is a more Japanese sounding name than "Pocket Monsters." I remember poring over that magazine with Chris for hours while we were in Flagstaff on a family vacation: holy crap, were we going to have fun when that game came out. I bought Pokémon Red; Chris bought Pokémon Blue.
In the summer of 1997, after I finished elementary school, I went to Malaysia with my family for summer vacation. I returned to the United States with a Pocket Monsters coloring book. Neither the Pokémon video game nor the Pokémon cartoon had come out in the United States, so I didn't know the Ash Ketchum character had black hair. I colored his hair brown.
I bought a copy of Pokémon Ruby soon after I acquired a Game Boy Advance SP. I quickly realized I had to sell the game away because it was distracting me too much from schoolwork. That was the last Pokémon game I played.
I recently read that Nintendo has made Nintendo DS remakes of Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver, the second installments in the franchise that were originally released for the Game Boy. I am seriously considering buying a copy of this game when it is released in the US, primarily because it's supposed to come packaged with a "Pokéwalker," essentially a Pokémon-themed Tamagotchi/pedometer that syncs with the video game and gives you prizes and stuff. The Pokéwalker is actually Nintendo's third iteration of Pokémon-themed virtuapetometers, following the Pokémon Pikachu and Pokémon Pikachu 2. Kalia and I each had the original Pokémon Pikachu, and I remember playing with it quite a bit. I also remember being rather embarrassed when it made noise in my backpack while at school. I was fourteen.
I still don't know how I convinced my dad to take me to see the first Pokémon movie, the creatively titled Pokémon: The First Movie, back in 1999. I remember being pretty embarrassed when I had to ask the movie theater's manager for the exclusive Pokémon trading card that was supposed to come with the movie ticket. I was fourteen.
While I was in high school, I earnestly searched for a semi-ironic, adult-sized Pokémon T-shirt. Semi-ironic because teenagers aren't supposed to like stupid kids stuff like Pokémon, but I actually did. In 2008, The Pokémon Company actually manufactured a line of Pokémon T-shirts for adults called "Pokémon 151," and, surprisingly, they weren't all that ugly. A year later, Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo released a series of Pokémon T-shirts for adults that were also wearably good-looking.
In middle school, Brett and I would play the Pokémon Trading Card Game in the library during lunch. I remember being called "gay" for playing the game at least once. After school, Brett and I would walk over to the elementary school where my mom works and play the Pokémon TCG some more before my mom drove us home. The Pokémon TCG was remarkably entertaining because it wasn't as complex as Magic: The Gathering (which I was obsessed with for a good six months or so, even though I never really played it) and was balanced and fun enough to play with just a starter deck. Just thinking about it now makes me want to dig up my old cards and play it again. In 2000, Nintendo released the Pokémon TCG video game for Game Boy, which saved me a shitload of money because it basically had, built into the game, every card released up to that point. It also allowed me to play the game by myself, which was convenient for reasons that should be obvious by now (i.e., Pokémon fans don't have a lot of friends). Ironically enough, the Pokémon TCG video game came with an actual, physical, limited edition Pokémon card.
I must have been about twelve when my cousin Chris and I bought a copy of Nintendo Power magazine that had a special, pull-out section featuring the soon-to-be-released (in America) Pocket Monsters video game. I don't think they had reveled its English title—"Pokémon"—just yet. It confused me then, and still confuses me now, to think that "Pokémon" is a more Japanese sounding name than "Pocket Monsters." I remember poring over that magazine with Chris for hours while we were in Flagstaff on a family vacation: holy crap, were we going to have fun when that game came out. I bought Pokémon Red; Chris bought Pokémon Blue.
In the summer of 1997, after I finished elementary school, I went to Malaysia with my family for summer vacation. I returned to the United States with a Pocket Monsters coloring book. Neither the Pokémon video game nor the Pokémon cartoon had come out in the United States, so I didn't know the Ash Ketchum character had black hair. I colored his hair brown.
I bought a copy of Pokémon Ruby soon after I acquired a Game Boy Advance SP. I quickly realized I had to sell the game away because it was distracting me too much from schoolwork. That was the last Pokémon game I played.
I recently read that Nintendo has made Nintendo DS remakes of Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver, the second installments in the franchise that were originally released for the Game Boy. I am seriously considering buying a copy of this game when it is released in the US, primarily because it's supposed to come packaged with a "Pokéwalker," essentially a Pokémon-themed Tamagotchi/pedometer that syncs with the video game and gives you prizes and stuff. The Pokéwalker is actually Nintendo's third iteration of Pokémon-themed virtuapetometers, following the Pokémon Pikachu and Pokémon Pikachu 2. Kalia and I each had the original Pokémon Pikachu, and I remember playing with it quite a bit. I also remember being rather embarrassed when it made noise in my backpack while at school. I was fourteen.
Alice and I have renamed Diglett. He is now known as "Thumb Guy."
