Oh My My, Oh Hell Yes!

You'll be buried in your party dress.

Vanna lyrics. Always incredible. Listen to them (if you like hardcore music).

Today is a beautiful day. The sun is shining, it's decently warm out (instead of 80º in April...), I had an iced coffee. I'm in a fairly decent mood. I don't even have work tonight! Nothingcan ruin this day as of right now (my Grandmother is staying at my house for the next few days starting today, so that could change real fast-like).

I don't have much to be excited for this weekend. It's actually looking pretty dull if you ask me. But whatever, I could use the relaxation I guess.

Onwards!

My post about how much I love Pokémon made me think about it quite a bit. So I'm going back to that subject for a few.

I personally believe Pokémon has the most brilliant marketing I've ever seen. The entire industry is a surefire way to make oodles and oodles of cash (for oodles of noodles, of course). I'm not even talking about in the Japanese market. This is all about Pokémon in America.

On September 8th, 1998, the first episode aired on what was arguably the most heavily watched Saturday Morning Cartoon station, KidsWB. I watched it, and I had no clue what was coming. At the end of the episode, I wanted more of whatever the hell it was (I was SEVEN, still not sure what was going on). And I know my friends watched it too, and some of them are 2 and 3 years younger than me. I'm willing to bet that 50% of the child population between the ages of 5 and 11 caught that. At least 50%.

Fast forward 2 weeks. A huge bomb is about to drop. A bomb we know as Pokémon Red and Blue. 2 weeks after the show had gotten kids all over the country addicted to those cute little monsters, a game comes out. A game where all of these kids can now be Pokémon Masters too, just like Ash. What do you think they all (except for me) got for Christmas? Gameboys and at last one of the Pokémon games (I say at least because many kids got both). So now Nintendo is selling more Gamboys too. Bonus.

Now, these young kids aren't the only ones getting this game. Kids older than 12, who probably already have Gameboys, were getting it too. Why? Because these are the people that actually look at new games and get excited. They already know they like video games. Plus, Charizard is badass.

Then comes the trading cards, the stuffed animals, the Pokémon PokéDex (just like the one Ash has!). Pokémon had become a household name, like Kleenex or Band-Aid. Between the games, the show, the cards, and all the adorable merchandise, all of the kids in the country (for the most part) were all Pokémon, all the time. And this is before Nintendo realized that at least 50% of these PokéFanatics would be fans for life.

Here we are, 12 years later. There's more Pokémon than ever now, they got more badass and more adorable. There are baby Pokémon now. What little girl doesn't love Pichu? He's adorable. And come on, what 11 year old boy did not think Tyranitar was the coolest Pokémon ever? We're up to the 4th generation of Pokémon in the main game series (don't forget the two remakes; FireRed/LeafGreen and the newly released HeartGold/SoulSilver). There are a ton of spin off games, 12 movies (13th on the way), and the show is up to over 450 episodes. 12 years of cash. Nintendo is brilliant. Pikachu might just be the greatest thing to come out of Nintendo since Mario (this coming from a huge Zelda fan, I admit Pikachu is cooler than Link).

What I'm saying is this; every cartoon, video game, or comic book company wishes they had thought of Pokémon. It's an incredible game (yes, it is, shut up), a fun show. There's a card game. There's a comic book (that is actually really good, and I only started reading recently). Not many other games can reach out to a demographic so large (we're talking 5/6 to mid-to-late 20's). Nothing but, well, Mario.

Call Nintendo kiddie. Call them stupid. Call the Wii garbage. Nintendo owns your soul and you know it.

I would list the reasons behind that, but half of my readers wouldn't get them. Just know that if you play video games, Nintendo owns you.

I'll cut back on the nerdiness tomorrow, I swear.

List time! In the spirit of Pokémon, I thought I'd tell you my favorites!

My Top 10 Favorite Pokémon (in no particular order):

1) Celebi

2) Charizard (duh)

3) Treeko

4) Blaziken

5) Espeon

6) Murkrow

7) Mudkip

8) Wobuffet

9) Mew

10) Umbreon (Espeon is cooler, but I loves them both)

I also love Pikachu and Shaymin, but I love the other 10 a little bit more. I really love Mudkips. And that list was incredibly hard to make. I'm such a loser.

Look, I'm a nerd. I get it. I'm done with the Pokémon posts for now.

Today's song is:
We Ate the Horse You Rode in On by Vanna

If hardcore is not your thing, then Vanna probably isn't for you. They're pretty intense.