• A new LGBTQ+ forum is now being trialed and there have been changes made to the Support and Advice forum. To read more about these updates, click here.
  • Hey Trainers! Be sure to check out Corsola Beach, our newest section on the forums, in partnership with our friends at Corsola Cove! At the Beach, you can discuss the competitive side of the games, post your favorite Pokemon memes, and connect with other Pokemon creators!
  • Due to the recent changes with Twitter's API, it is no longer possible for Bulbagarden forum users to login via their Twitter account. If you signed up to Bulbagarden via Twitter and do not have another way to login, please contact us here with your Twitter username so that we can get you sorted.

Your "too old for Pokemon" phase

For me, I got into the franchise through the anime; specifically the early Advance Generation episodes, and played Blue on a second-hand copy. Given this was in the early 2000s where the anime got full-frontal promotion instead of the games, and me being born in mid-1994, I was convinced Blue was adapted from the anime. I lost interest in the franchise around 2005.

When I bought Platinum in 2009, I had to be closeted during that time because I was in an all-girls high school, and all the other students were obsessed with High School Musical and Twilight. You had to (pretend to) like those two franchises and Hannah Montana, otherwise you'd be subjected to homophobic bullying.

It wasn't until the release of Black and White that I started to open up again in regards to Pokémon, and so did a lot of adults around South Australia, as Japanese culture became wildly popular in the early 2010s, and our state had a weekend festival dedicated to it every July before the pandemic started. Pokémon is well-beloved in Adelaide, and even a railway station has a mural showing Vulpix, Fennekin, Bulbasaur, Pikachu, and Mudkip. And this was before GO came around.

Nowadays, I'm very active in Pokémon GO, and I'm at Level 44 and have never missed a Community Day. I've also bought the mainstream games on the DS, 3DS, and Switch, and definitely looking forward to PLA.

The anime, on the other hand, I never really regained full interest over, especially after the Kalos League, where I left a comment on this forum's review page for the episode where Ash lost stating the anime had jumped the shark. Although I mainly see it as something akin to preschool media for its more black-and-white morality, less-risky writing, and character shilling. Heck, in Adelaide, if you see merchandise with Ash on the cover, it's either in the bargain bin at a supermarket, or a bootleg in discount shops to trick clueless parents.
 
maybe i feel like the odd one out because i haven't had a "too old for Pokemon phase" yet. there are moments where i've taken extensive breaks, sure, but that goes with every pokemon game. i think when i get bored of a particular pokemon game, i play it very infrequently and it remains that way until i somehow either get spontaneous motivation to pick it up more, or until the next set of pokemon games come out.
 
I've never really had a "too old for Pokemon" phase to be honest. I never really found a reason to drop the anime, the games or really anything about the franchise. I kept enjoying it after I was considered outside of the target demographic and that's still the case to this day. I never really had a too old to enjoy something phase in general either. I do remember a classmate I had in the sixth grade say that we were too old to play Pokemon, which was pretty weird given that we were twelve and people were making fun of me just the year before for not being into Pokemon. It also felt more ironic with every passing year considering how many adults are into the franchise and how much attention the first generation gets in general. Even when people were making fun of me for liking Pokemon, I didn't think of dropping it because I still enjoyed it and clearly those people were going tot make fun of me regardless of what I did or what I liked.
 
Haven't been through that phase, well asides from the anime recently which I've stopped paying much attention to, but as for the franchise as a whole I'm still very much into it.

I watched Pokémon a lot as a kid whenever I got the chance but I kind of always flip flopped between different sort of things and grown out of them - Thomas the Tank Engine I was super into for example (I had a hell of a lotta things - books, some toys, DVD's, VHS tapes, you name em) before growing out of that, then moving onto Sooty (which I still like nostalgia wise) then onto some other stuff and now my true main stuff I like into voice acting, video games, anime and a few other things (Pokemon of course).
 
While I never felt too old for pokemon, the time between Ruby and Sapphire's release to the announcement of Heart Gold and SOul Silver I didn't play a single mainline pokemon game.

Dunno what it was that made me put down Ruby/Sapphire, but I did. Then I didn't get a DS for the longest time so I never picked up Diamond or Pearl when they came out. I remember thinking the box legendaries looking really weird and out of place back then when I saw commercials. I still kind of do today but eh.

I'll never think I'm too old for pokemon now though. I own more pokemon plushies now than I ever imagined I would as a kid. They take more space on my bed than I do :')
 
My phase was during the entirety of Gen 3. Just missed that whole thing out, which makes me sad, because I don't feel like I'll ever really connect to it in the same way as I would've back then. There's so many Pokemon generations now that it gets lost in the shuffle.

Though it was less that I thought I was "too old" and more that people around me kept saying it and I felt so bad and embarrassed about it that I stopped. Then Gen 4 was about to come out and it looked so cool that I decided to screw it and I've been in the Pokemon fanbase ever since.

Recently had a moment of embarrassment where my mother saw a Reshiram plush and said: "You still like Pokemon and little dolls?" But whatever, I don't need to care what her generation thinks. I'm almost 30 and I can't even remember a life without Pokemon. There is no going back.
 
Last edited:
Briefly during Gen 5. Didn't really like Black/ White.

Got back into the series after getting a 3DS and wanting OR/AS.
 
I don't think I've really had one. When I was a lil' kid I was into the anime, around elementary school the anime airtime became more sporadic but I got into collecting the cards instead (probably bootlegged, now I think about it, but it's the fun that counts), and then in middle school I got into the games in earnest. There was a long stretch of time when I didn't have anyone to talk about it with, but that changed when I started using the internet also in middle school.
 
Please note: The thread is from 2 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
Back
Top Bottom