Periodic Table of Pokémon
By: Disco Matt
  
    

    You have yourself the Red, the Blue and Yellow. Now that Pokémon Gold and Silver are coming out, the Pokémon craze can once again take this country by storm. It won't stop there though, it can't. The Pokémon craze is going to have to continue to appease the North American public. We can't seem to get enough of those little critters. Halloween is just around the corner and I can bet you that there's going to be a little Ash Ketchums running around demanding candy or their little Bulbasaurs are going to vine whip them until they score. The merchandise isn't enough to keep the little wanna be Pokémon trainers at bay. So here come the new batch of Pokémon toys. Burger King will have the little kids meal figures, the card game will have to update the game and include all 100 other Pokémon into the game, new stuffed animals of everyone's favorite Pokémon. The list continues. But what will happen when Gold and Silver get tarnished? Of course, there's going to have to be a new duo of games. How about Platinum and Copper? Sooner or later the entire periodic table of elements will have a game named after it. I can't wait until there is a Pokémon Arsenic!

But then there would have to be another 100 Pokémon for every game. Soon the creators would have to start creating a new splicing system that could take a Pikachu and Maril and turn them into that ever illusive Pikablue. There would be twelve different Pikachus, each with a different colour and element. Pikared would have fire, Pikagreen would be grass and so on. This is obviously far fetched but that's what it will have to come down to. There isn't enough Pokémon in the world to keep North America happy. Pokémon is like some new wonder drug and to keep us on our high, we need more and more of it. What a gimmick! It's quite amazing how quickly we bought into this fascination of Pokémon. It gives you a new perspective on what we can get accustomed to. Sooner or later there is going to be something else that will take the place of Pokémon for another 5 years or so. A new breed of anime that will have us cheering "Give us more!"

How to keep this enterprise afloat will be quite a tough task. We will swallow anything Pokémon related, it just depends on the dosage. We begin with the games. There is at least another set of games coming out to appease the urge of Pokémon. Then it will dry out. Cameos will be Pokémons only survival in video games. Pikachu showing up on a poster will add another 5% of the population buying the games. The cards will continue to get more and more popular, each new card adding abilities to keep the people engaged. Stuffed animals are always a plus, they will never go out of style. And that's that. The key to keeping Pokémon in the game so to speak is to re-invent the image with the same familiar characters on the mind.

Pokémon pray on the feelings of the consumer. It allows everyone to get involved. The children aged 4-12 just want to be like Ash and pals. They let their imaginations fly and they can see themselves yelling "Go, Pikachu!" and such. The teens aged 13-18 just love the game. The intricate detail of the area, the endless game play and the surreal atmosphere give the teens the nostalgic feeling they once had when Ninja Turtles were the big things in their lives. The grown ups aged 19 to who ever still is involved love all of it. The collecting aspect of it unlocks the suppressed memories of their forgotten childhood. Being able to feel alive again and seeing themselves, as did the children, in a world of wonder and excitement. Oh, and it also brings them cash to anyone who is involved in making/producing/marketing the Pokémon phenomenon.

Wherever the path leads Pokémon, it will be a prosperous one for all. The cash will flow for all involved in pushing Pokémon, it will disappear from all who buy but will be replaced with a magical feeling of infancy. It isn't just a game or show anymore, it is a part of our society, and by mixing Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold and Silver, you get none other than the element of fun.