The Commercialization of Pokemon (big rant ahead)

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Nekusagi

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So... yeah. I was at the mall this weekend, shopping, and I pass an emo kid, the stereotypical type, wearing a Pokemon shirt. The kind from Hot Topic.

Was it at all unusual for me to get a little pissed about that? I know the whole purpose of Pokemon is to, well, make money and all, but for some reason, it just annoys me deeply when some emo or "alternative" kid buys the shirts from Hot Topic/FYE/Goody's because "that's the cool thing to do". And it's weird, because I used to COMPLAIN that it was impossible to find Pokemon shirts/other stuff anywhere, but now I'm complaining that you CAN. It's just that this has always been something that, you know, seemed to belong to me and the other fans, and my membership card in the Nerd Club, and now there's emos going around, wearing the stuff, who probably couldn't even name half the monsters on there if you asked them to. And what especially annoys me is how it seems they're trying to make this the new Hello Kitty- almost all the stuff seems marketed to girls (to the point that you can buy the little plushies that would cost you $6 anywhere else for $8.50 at Claire's- seriously). I love Hello Kitty probably more than an eighteen year old should, but Pokemon is NOT HK and should stay that way.

Am I the only one who feels this way?


(In the interest of full disclosure, shortly after getting angry at the emo kid, I proceeded to buy a Jigglypuff pin in Hot Topic. So maybe I'm a hypocrite. But at least I'm really a fan.)
 
I wish they sold Pokemon merchandise in the UK...the only stuff I can get is in Toys R Us under the DP section that is selling stuff with the *Advanced* series logo on. And the only stuff in that section are Pokedexes and Pikachu and the Hoenn starters action figure things. Be happy you can buy Pokemon t-shirts and whatever...:(
 
See, I *love* that you can get more stuff for it now. But even then, none of it's in my size and they STILL haven't made a Team Rocket shirt (you'd think that'd be tailor made for Hot Topic).

This is similar to what the Lord of the Rings geeks went through when the movies came out. Suddenly, being a geek was mainstream rather than a niche market.
 
LAWL. How dare Nintendo try to make money off its cash cow? It's not like Pokemon has been about buying and collecting since Day 1.

Blackjack, have you tried Torrid? It's Hot Topic's plus-size affiliate and I loev it. Got a Gir shirt there back when Zim was popular.
 
yea I saw a Pikachu shirt there like two years ago and I was mad
fuck it, it happens really

it'll pass
 
Blackjack Palazzo said:
See, I *love* that you can get more stuff for it now. But even then, none of it's in my size and they STILL haven't made a Team Rocket shirt (you'd think that'd be tailor made for Hot Topic).
Click to expand...

Yeah, I admit I'm really glad the stuff is out there, but I can never find it in my size. I might have been able to wear those Pikachu slippers I saw at Hot Topic, but I'm not terribly fond of Pikachu.

This is similar to what the Lord of the Rings geeks went through when the movies came out. Suddenly, being a geek was mainstream rather than a niche market.
Click to expand...

Transfans have been going through this for a bit. I don't know why, but I get irritated when I see some emo kid wearing a G1 Soundwave shirt. Like he'd even know what a Decepticon is. :sweat:

On the bright side, I can at least find Bumblebee t-shirts, so I take it as a mixed blessing.
 
I love going to HT and being able to find Pokemon shirts there. I have 3 right now, the Pikachu one, the Squirtle one and the gray one with all the first gen Pokemon on it.

However, I wish that the trainers like Misty and Hikari would be on some shirts. In fact I hate seeing so little merchandise of the trainers. Plus, a plushie of Misty>>> some stupid Pikachu plushie

The Pokemon themselves are overadvertised. They should advertise the trainers too.

And not to mention, I hate how most of the Pokemon clothes at HT dont go beyond generation 1. I dont really like the first season (IMO, the mainstream season that everyone and their brother has watched at one point) and prefer Diamond and Pearl by an extreme. I wouldn't mind having a tshirt with Pochama on it or something.

But not Pikachu

and I may shop at HT but I hate emos and Goths and punks. I hate the music they play there, I hate the whole mood of the store and only come in there because of the bright accessories and anime/Pokemon tshirts

I wish they had an anime store in every mall. It would probably be filled with Narutards but it's better than shopping for Pokemon stuff while listening to a song about someone killing themself.
 
Ketsuban said:
Blackjack, have you tried Torrid? It's Hot Topic's plus-size affiliate and I loev it. Got a Gir shirt there back when Zim was popular.
Click to expand...

They don't have as good of a selection for licenced stuff though. Although I'll be going to the mall on Saturday, I can check then if they have any Pokemon stuff.
 
Pokemon's indie cred all down the drain thanks to those "ironic" emo hipsters!!!!

But yes I know what you're talking about. Pokemon has completed it's cycle of going from lame products for kids - to a dead franchise - to something people can now ironically wear.

See: Carebears, Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, Thundercats, etc.

It at least makes it like 10% less socially pathetic to be associated with the ironic fad product, so you have that going for you.
 
Neku said:
So... yeah. I was at the mall this weekend, shopping, and I pass an emo kid, the stereotypical type, wearing a Pokemon shirt. The kind from Hot Topic.

Was it at all unusual for me to get a little pissed about that? I know the whole purpose of Pokemon is to, well, make money and all, but for some reason, it just annoys me deeply when some emo or "alternative" kid buys the shirts from Hot Topic/FYE/Goody's because "that's the cool thing to do". And it's weird, because I used to COMPLAIN that it was impossible to find Pokemon shirts/other stuff anywhere, but now I'm complaining that you CAN. It's just that this has always been something that, you know, seemed to belong to me and the other fans, and my membership card in the Nerd Club, and now there's emos going around, wearing the stuff, who probably couldn't even name half the monsters on there if you asked them to. And what especially annoys me is how it seems they're trying to make this the new Hello Kitty- almost all the stuff seems marketed to girls (to the point that you can buy the little plushies that would cost you $6 anywhere else for $8.50 at Claire's- seriously). I love Hello Kitty probably more than an eighteen year old should, but Pokemon is NOT HK and should stay that way.

Am I the only one who feels this way?


(In the interest of full disclosure, shortly after getting angry at the emo kid, I proceeded to buy a Jigglypuff pin in Hot Topic. So maybe I'm a hypocrite. But at least I'm really a fan.)
Click to expand...
Just curious, but did you ever consider the possibility that maybe said emo kid was also a Pokemon fan?
 
Ugh, I am sick of this.

Blackjack said:
This is similar to what the Lord of the Rings geeks went through when the movies came out. Suddenly, being a geek was mainstream rather than a niche market.
Click to expand...

Except that it's still a niche market, and not mainstream like LotR. That's why you see all of these emos trying to show how different they are to all the other emos by showing that they know Pogeymanz.

Like this local band in my town. They have this one song "B.U.L.B.A.S.A.U.R" and you can tell it's the only damn pokemon they know. As a result, I have people coming up to me saying "OMG u'll luv tis song u haev to hare it!!!" and then acting all surprised that I hate the song after hearing the band pronounce it "Bubbazor."

I'm sick of these mainstream-emo-alternative-types trying to look niche and unique with any fandom and don't realise that their "unique" and "out there" trends already have thousands of fans that really don't appreciate having the same people that made fun of pokemon a year ago wearing the merch.
 
I hate all non-conformists because they always end up conforming to each other, and then look down on you for liking something because its "mainstream" when the only reason they don't like it is because it is.

Also I'd wear Pokemon T-shirts if any of them actually looked good.

I also hate the fact that the people who hated Pokemon yesterday are pretending to like it to look "cool" when they don't know anything about it, but perhaps it's because I barely had anyone to talk about Pokemon with so I felt secluded and hae the fact that all these people poped up. I actually found it annoying that people kept bringing D/P to school, and that one guy who kept singing the Pokemon theme.

Maybe I just like feeling special.
 
I saw those shirts. They also have Pikachu slippers, and what not. I love Hot Topic though. It doesn't really bother me *goes off to buy some new skinny pants*
 
Æsahættr said:
Except that it's still a niche market, and not mainstream like LotR. That's why you see all of these emos trying to show how different they are to all the other emos by showing that they know Pogeymanz.
Click to expand...

Well as someone said above, how do you know these "emos" don't like Pokemon?

And how is Pokemon *ever* a niche market? Maybe when popularity lapsed between GSC and RSE, but even then it wasn't considered out of the ordinary to play it or wear something related to it.

The only difference I see now is that they're finally reaching out to older fans. And frankly, there's nothing negative about that.
 
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