Have you ever 'dipped out' of Pokémon?

[WyndonCalling]

Pokémon's becoming quite the venerable franchise, to say nothing of the hairline of some of the fanbase. Whether you've been with us for 20 years or 3, has your interest always been consistent and sustained? Have you ever 'skipped' a particular generation due to a dislike of the games or Pokémon designs? Perhaps your group of friends wasn't that into it? Did your plushes get stuffed into a box in the attic, only to be released at a later date?

For myself, I've bought into every Gen in some form or another (my parents didn't buy me the Gen 1 games, but plenty of books and cards) but I was quite resigned to having my interest permanently fade into the background when I made the transition to university - I could only ever find a pretty limited number of friends at school and sixth form who were similarly invested, and those people would be even harder to find in a more mature crowd, right?

Well, that resignation ended when I saw the Pokémon Society stall at the fresher's fair. Now I'm waist-deep more than ever and members of that group are still my best friends.

 

[Fan of Jarrus]

Almost went out in Gen 5. Because of the difficulty.

 

[Leaf_Ranger]

Well, I am still so in love with HG that I only entered Gen. V with B2 and already after the announcement of XY. Back then I was in collegue and without the time to spent following the franchise aside from the passion to play HG and I disliked the fact that Isshu was based in NY and that GF was moving away from Japan.
I never nor will play XY because of everything that I've read and seen about it. I bought my Blue version 3DS so that I could play the original Blue version (too bad there wasn't an English Green!) and I bought AS to play in it.
At the moment I have a Switch but I won't touch any Galar game and still waiting to see what the Sinnoh remakes will bring.
During those times and at the moment I thinking of jumping out...my other two favorite game series are dead (Castlevania and Metal Gear) and Pkmn seems rotten in many aspects - GF, TPCi, some fanbase - so standing aside might be the right choice to not have any further disapointments and sadness about a franchise that I loved.

 

[Esserise]

I had the typical "I'm too old for this" phase circa 2004/2005 (so I'd have been 11-ish, lol) but came back around in 2008/2009, although I wasn't able to play any of the DS games until 2011.

 

[Daren]

During gens 2 and 5 I was mostly out of it. I was sort of aware of what was going on with the franchise but I didn't play G/S/C much (or B/W at all). There wasn't really any specific cause either time; I was just doing other things.

 

[Sheep]

Never! Pokémon has been a huge part of my life since I moved to the US at 8 years old, and I've never thought to look back. I adored and still adore a lot of things about it - the monster designs are a perfect mix of cute and cool, the collecting and training aspect, the music, the anime, the community... it's all a great fit for me, even if these things are all far from perfect. A lot of people I've seen stopped being fans around gen III but I never felt the urge to break from it myself, especially since I always found many other fans online to connect with.

I took a break from the anime around Sinnoh (and then Kalos) but the games always held my love the entire time, and my interest in the anime has been pretty huge ever since Alola. It's my #1 thing atm even if some previous sagas never pulled me in as much. The games will always be great too despite the more obvious corner-cutting lately haha, no similar types of games can really capture that charm Pokémon has. I still have most of my merch/cards too! And even my copies of RBY/GSC/other super old titles, even if they may not work anymore.

this series holds a very special place in my heart <3

 

[Insanish Danish]

This only happened when I was a kid. I got into Pokemon when I was seven years old and maintained interest in it until...I can't remember exactly when, but I want to say I was maybe nine or so? Then I kind of forgot about it for a few years, only remembering it existed because of Smash Bros. Then a couple of weeks before I turned 15 I came across some of my old Pokemon videos while cleaning the house, decided to watch them both for a fun trip down memory lane for myself and to introduce my sister to it (she liked Smash Bros too and was curious to see Pikachu in the show haha), and was immediately sucked back in. I started watching the anime regularly again and playing the games I'd missed. This was in March 2007 and I haven't looked back since. Pokemon is basically a part of who I am and even if I do wind up losing interest again somewhere down the line it will always be immensely special to me.

 

[KaylaBaraonda]

Not really dipping out, but despite spending so much time over it, sometimes I find the actual Pokémon games too lame and childish and only read about them to get away from an obsession.

 

[Aulos]

Kind of, but not really. I mean, I really didn't much care for Gen III, and didn't play a new Pokemon game after Ruby until 2008, which was pretty much five entire years after I played Ruby. There was an entry in my diary in 2004 that said "I'm not into Pokemon anymore", but I think that wasn't completely the truth because in summer of 2004 I remember wanting the FireRed/LeafGreen remake. Also, I know that I replayed Crystal in the summer of 2006.

A lot of this was because my parents made it clear they did not like Pokemon and did not want to pay for Pokemon stuff for me anymore. So I stopped showing interest because I knew they didn't want me to. It wasn't incredibly hard due to Ruby really disappointing me.

 

[FroyoDragon]

It would be more accurate to say that I never properly even "dip in" before "dipping out" haha.

Other than a number of games I can literally count on one hand, I can never bring myself to fully go through them for one reason or the other, so I end up stopping altogether until circumstances change and interest returns.

 

[Phosphene]

Yes, sometime between the release of B2W2 and XY. I had petered out of my other Pokemon games and I had little interest in B2W2 because I (incorrectly) assumed they would be the same as Black and White (I did eventually go back and play them). I filled my time by drawing a lot on this one drawing app, Drawcast, however, when XY released I stopped drawing and went back into Pokemon mode.

 

[Lylian]

I lost interest for a while during gen five. There was something about the graphics I didn't like. The region was kinda boring too. Then I got interested again for ORAS and XY. (Mainly because I loved the Hoenn region.)

 

[Daenerys]

My interest usually decreases in between generations when there's no new info on upcoming games. I remember playing Black and White in early 2011 and beating the games within a few weeks and then finishing the Dex within a month in each game, which meant that I had like a whole year where I was bored with the franchise until the sequels were revealed.

Technically I've dipped out of Pokemon for now after Shield and Sword came out since I'm bored of the franchise and the endless patterns.

 

[Venomaid]

Sometimes I stop playing the games or watching the cartoon for months but I always come back eventually. I think Pokemon is the kind of media where you need to take breaks in between the dry spells.

 

[colours]

there are moments where i stop playing the games for extended periods of time as i do get burnt out occasionally. right now though, i'm in the middle of playing Platinum with a friend and i haven't gotten bored, so there's still a tiny spark in there that still enjoys playing pokemon.

 

[wanderist]

I lost interest for a couple years, my entire middle school life I think, but can't really remember why. I had gotten into the games with Emerald a few years earlier, and then gotten Diamond and later SoulSilver. I remember I never really finished either and kinda fell out of love with the franchise for a while. I picked SS back up the summer right before high school started when I was really down and ended up falling back in love with it. By then it was already the end of Gen 5, just before Gen 6 was announced. I ended up playing both Gen 5 games just in time for XY to be revealed and grew to love the series even more from there. I haven't really lost interest since then besides taking small breaks.

 

[nini]

I lost a bit of interest after Sun. It was nice but I didn't complete it. I didn't buy ultra sun/moon and let's-go-pika/eevee/sword/shield (I don't have the switch so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ).
I'm still in for fanart, because there's always something cute to take inspiration from... but games meh. Maybe I'm just waiting for the Sinnoh reboot.

 

[mikechuu]

I've been a fan since the Red and Blue days, and only dropped off during gen 5. I was just busy with irl things and didn't play too many games around that time. I got back into it during the release of X & Y and been back ever since.

 

[Nichole the Otter]

I've mostly lost interest in the franchise when Gen 7 ended as I couldn't afford a Switch, and because I also disapproved of the direction the franchise was heading in, in that it succumbed to corporate greed. I particularly blame Pokemon GO and mobile gaming as a whole for delivering the final nail in the coffin. The only Pokemon-related thing that keeps me around is the fanart.

 

[PinkIceFox]

For reasons I still don't really understand to this day, after picking up my copies of ruby and sapphire when they first came out, I stopped being interested in playing pokemon. I remember at least getting to flannery's gym but that's it. I think skipped Emerald, Fire Red, Leaf Green, Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. But I got excited when Heart Gold and Soul Silver were announced and I started playing pokemon again. I got super excited for Black and White and I think it was even around that time I joined this forum actually, lol.

But since then my love of pokemon has not wavered at all. If anything it's gotten just as strong as it was when I was in the middle of Blue and Silver versions when I was a child. If the number of pokemon related toys and things I own is any indication. *glances at the like 30+ plushies on my bed and some of the figures on my desk*

I really like pokemon you guys.