Recently the game of pokemon tcg and pokemon has taken a turn for the

worst. This in the form of the rules of the game (or what will be the change

in the rules), and the popularity of pokemon. First I am going to tell my

pokemon story and then discuss the problems I just stated.

MY STORY

    When red and blue was released in 98, I knew nothing of them (besides a

few obscure ads on TV). I learned of them when I was at my best friends

house. He was purely obsessed with his pokemon blue. That same day i became

obsessed. He slept over my house for a week and after spending money on 2 new

gbcs and 2 red versions and 1 blue i was caught up with him. After a while he

gave me some cards. Some pokemon cards. They were from base and jungle set. I

teasured them. Within a week i saw an ad in the toys r us flier that said

come join the pokemon league and buy Fossil packs. I of course got a ride

down there joined up and bought 4 packs of fossil.The next months are a blur.

I remember pokemon fever gripping everyone i knew. Cards were banned at

school, people traded the tv episodes, gameboy sales increased over 100%. I

had tons of fun at the league.I was extremely good and was earning badges 2

weeks after they came out. Then something happened. BASE SET 2. It isolated

casual fans who felt they were buying the same stuff they already had. Then

came Team Rocket. This was a players set. It was met for the players for

strategy purposes. This started what i came to call the die hard era. This is

when the players stuck with the game and the fans left. I enjoyed this time.

I had fun playing other serious players. Then came gym heroes. At the

beginning of my card playing time i looked forward to this set but by the

time this rolled around in my very small town it was consided little kid

stuff or uncool to play pokemon. I didn't care. I went to the gym heroes

pre-release event and won it. I had a great time. This was the last time i

played pokemon tcg. Shortly after gym heroes came out my family moved and i

didn't exactly have alot of time to play. So i didn't at all. I collected all

the sets and never played with any of them. THEN CAME NEO. This is what

everybody hoped (including me) would breath some life back into the dying

pokemon and it did. {Pokemon G and S were the best selling video games for

any system for half a year and still are in the top 5. Pokemon stadium 2 is

right now in the top slot.} i bought a box of neo and built a new deck and

planned to sign up for the new league but never got around to it.( the deck

is with the rest of my tcg stuff in 4 steel briefcases under my bed{

underneath my bed is a shrine to pokemon}). Now here i am. i haven't bought

any Neo 2 cards and it has almost been a year since my last game. I don't

know what is next with me when it comes to pokemon. I started writing this

article with the entention of writing my pokemon memories and then saying my

farewell to the pokemon world ( this is of course for the video games which

have always rocked)  but now that i look back on all my fond memories i want

to play again. Tommorow i will probably buy a box of neo 2 cards and

hopefully i will use them this time. I can only hope that the world of

pokemon will pull throw this rut it is in but with vs. down the road it looks

like it will be the next nails in the coffin. Wizards and nintendo(not so

much nintendo) will have to do something drastic to save our beloved pokemon.

THE RULES OF THE GAME: VS. will kill things we love about poke tcg. VS. could

have been a set that revitilized pokemon a little bit more instead it will

kill it's last shreads of casual fans(if there are any left) and it will

chase away some die hards. So my advice to wizards. Don't release VS. in

america. Make your own pokemon g/s gym leaders set and make the cards in that

set balance the game of pokemon and make the cards in that set appeal to old

casual fans who want to come back but have no reason to.

POPULARITY OF POKEMON: with anything people who were liking it because

certain otherpeople liked it eventually stoppedc spending there money on it.

And with anything some people just stopped caring. People still like it

however as the games sold enormous numbers and are still best sellers. So why

do the people who bought the games not play the tcg. I don't have the

answer.I do know however that the movies that came out did less numbers then

the movie before it. This tells me two things: people don't want to be seen

having anything to do with pokemon even though they like it or the movies

sucked.I do believe pokemon will have a resurgence a one point and then it

will go through the die hard phase again, and it will cycle like this

forever. Or it will soon die    .

                                                                               

                            Dan L

                                                                               

    send any comments bashes or opinions to tyrant526103@aol.com