I can’t believe that Pokémon has been around for 30 years! It’s been an essential part of childhood for both Gen Z and millennials, and it will remain so for generations to come.

Even though Pokémon has been around for decades, it is still as popular as ever. I have been hearing more and more stories recently about people selling their old rare Pokémon cards for thousands of dollars. I don’t remember people predicting that Pokémon cards would be worth thousands of dollars when I was a kid. I remember adults investing in Beanie Babies instead of their 401ks, but I knew that was baloney, even as a kid. I loved my frog Beanie Baby named «Smoochy,» but I knew that his value was more correlated to my emotional connection with him than his actual monetary value. 

The worst thing about trends like this is that they can inspire a lot of copycats who want to get rich quick and end up with thousands of dollars in debt from buying a «portfolio» of Pokémon cards they want to «flip» and sell for more than they paid. This is the kind of business scheme I would expect on the playground, but not for adults who have watched previous generations lose their fortunes on Beanie Babies. 

I’m not saying that you’re childish if you like Pokémon. Pokémon has clearly stood the test of time and has been reinvented repeatedly to keep bringing in new fans. Whoever came up with Pokémon Go is the biggest genius who ever lived. In 2016, everyone was starting to get really addicted to their phones and social media, but was still willing to go outside to some degree. They created the only app that perfectly balances going outside with playing on your phone. 

I clearly don’t have very much to say about Pokémon, and that’s probably because I didn’t actually play Pokémon growing up. I saw other kids at school with binders full of Pokémon cards, but I didn’t really care. I was more invested in High School Musical, Silly Bandz, and Webkinz. Silly Bandz were the best, because they were so cheap and easy to trade. I remember my arms were covered in marks in 4th grade because I wore so many Silly Bandz on them. Luckily, our school wasn’t tyrannical enough to ban them, but they probably could’ve if they really wanted to. They were horribly distracting.  

Even though I’m not a Pokémon expert, I know a good meme when I see one. If these Pokémon memes don’t meet your standards, I hope you can find another way to celebrate the 30th anniversary of such an iconic piece of popular culture. Who knows, maybe by the time the 40th anniversary comes around, I will be converted into a full-blown Pokémon stan who is selling cards on the side. For now, I’m just going to look at the cute character, whose name and abilities I am not quite familiar with.