Pokemon — the small, adorable creatures with special fighting abilities — have been around for more than two decades, and they are as popular as ever, mainly due to families sharing the legacy.
More than 7,500 people from 49 nations are expected to attend the annual Pokemon World Championships in Washington this weekend.
On Friday, as the event started, most of the attendees appeared to be in their 20s or older.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“I’m 24, but I know I look young,” joked Amanda Gunkle, who was decked head-to-toe in the gear of Pikachu, the iconic yellow Pokemon.
She came in from Pittsburg with her twin brother to watch the tournament.
“I’ve been a fan [of Pokemon] since my early childhood,” she said.
It is clear why Pokemon appeal to younger children.
However, for many of the older fans, Pokemon simultaneously represent nostalgia and novelty.
The Pokemon franchise launched in Japan in 1996, but did not take off in the US until the early 2000s.
The brand, which is estimated to be the highest-grossing media franchise ever, produces video games released in pairs every one to two years, alongside a new batch of Pokemon species.
It also makes trading cards that players use to battle each other, an animated television series and several movies.
“We’re definitely seeing some intergenerational fans,” said Elvin Gee, a spokesman for the Pokemon Co, who was a big fan of Pokemon himself growing up.
“It’s amazing to see parents pass on their cards or pass on their video games to their children,” he said.
The franchise’s popularity is also due to the success of smartphone app Pokemon Go, a game that lets players walking the real world hunt virtual Pokemon, as well as the film Detective Pikachu, which opened in May and has made more than US$430 million worldwide.
“There’s something for everyone,” Gee said.
New Jersey native John Kim drove down with his family so his two older sons, ages 11 and eight, could compete in the tournament.
“I really like it for [my sons], because ... they have to learn to lose gracefully, to win gracefully. They learn rules, they learn to accept outcomes,” the 40-year-old said.
For the Kim family, Pokemon’s legacy moved in the opposite direction: John became interested when his sons started playing.
Now, the whole family plays together, even the youngest boy, who at four years old plays alongside his brothers — albeit with a simpler deck.
“They have to sit with an opponent” and engage with others, Kim said.
That engagement is a staple of the Pokemon community, with many players developing close friendships, despite only seeing each other at the world championships once a year.
The championships prize money — which runs up to US$25,000 for the card game tournament — is mainly offered in the form of scholarships or travel certificates, particularly for players under 18.
The goal is to encourage education and strong principles among the participants, many of whom are minors, the organizers said.
“It’s about sportsmanship, it’s about great characters, it’s about a great game,” Gee said.
Like the Kims, Yannick Daunais’ interest in Pokemon was sparked when his daughters started playing. The 38-year-old from Joliette, Quebec drove to Washington so that his 11-year-old son could compete in the championships.
“We’re like a huge family,” said his daughter Mya, 14.
She and her sister Lidya, 12, were dressed as Pikachu and Eevee, another Pokemon.
“Exactly,” her father agreed. “We’re part of a huge Pokemon family.”
SECRET AGREEMENT: China is paying for construction at Ream Naval Base, where dredging would be needed if larger military ships were to dock there, AMTI said Dredgers have been spotted off Cambodia’s Ream Naval Base, where China is funding construction work and deeper port facilities would be necessary for the docking of larger military ships, a US think tank said on Friday. The US, which has sought to push back against Beijing’s extensive territorial claims and military expansion in the South China Sea, reiterated its “serious concerns” about China’s construction and military presence at Ream. “These developments threaten US and partner interests, regional security and Cambodia’s sovereignty,” a US Department of State spokesperson said. The report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think tank said the
France is to relax some COVID-19 restrictions from early next month in a bet that an outbreak of the Omicron variant of SARS-COV-2 would recede thanks to faster inoculations and plans to shut the unvaccinated out of most social activities. The French government is to lift the obligation to work from home at least three days a week from Feb. 2, French Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Thursday. It would also remove a requirement to wear a mask outdoors, and scrap attendance limits for sports arenas and cultural venues, Castex said. Infections with the Delta variant are “clearly receding,” while the
RED LINE: The US and its allies would not accept if ‘any’ Russian troops cross into Ukraine, the state secretary said, clarifying Biden’s remarks about a ‘minor incursion’ The US and its allies on Thursday warned Moscow of grave consequences if “any” of the tens of thousands of troops massed on the border were to cross into Ukraine. Following talks in Berlin with Germany, France and the UK, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Russia “cannot match” Western powers’ resoluteness. Allowing Russia to breach Ukraine’s territorial integrity would “drag us all back to a much more dangerous and unstable time, when this continent, and this city, were divided in two ... with the threat of all-out war hanging over everyone’s heads,” he told reporters. In a show of that
Tania Sibree late last year quit her well-paid job as a financial services lawyer in Hong Kong and returned to Australia rather than live a moment longer with the territory’s strict COVID-19 restrictions. Sibree, who said she had enjoyed the previous five years in Hong Kong, is one of hundreds — possibly thousands — of foreign expatriate professionals who have left or are planning to leave, threatening to dent the territory’s standing as one of the world’s financial hubs. “The hotel quarantine made it just so tough for people to travel and that was the big incentive to being in Hong Kong,
RSS