With all the MTG ridiculousness happening, I was just thinking about Pokemon and it’s longevity. I’m not worried about the Pokemon market, but this is just a train of thought I was querying and found it interesting. Personally, I will likely hold my cards till I’m old and crusty. They will likely be the thing that brings back memories when I’m old and have some kind of mental impairment.
That being said, I am not following the new stuff, so It’s likely that my collecting days will cap out with Sun and Moon. That is unless a new Pokemon game in the future has “adult mode” where they don’t baby you till you’re blue in the face. Naturally this is meant to be a children’s game though, so likely there will always be some kind of “home base”, if you will, for the new generation to cling to. For example, my home base is Base Set, no pun intended, whereas my friend’s little brother (age 10) will likely have affiliation with Sun and Moon or Sword and Shield.
My questions are these, do you feel that Pokemon has the ability to continue putting out new content and garnering a consistent amount of viewership over the coming decades? Do you think this viewership will also translate into vintage remaining viable once everyone from our generation has passed on?
Thanks, and I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
one of the main reasons I have been pouring into pokemon is the visibility I have into it’s popularity through younger people and my children. My kids are 2, 5 and 7. For the 7 and 5-year old, pokemon is very popular at their school with their friends. they love the shows, movies, cards and all of the merchandise (“plushies”). so it’s going for at least one more generation. we also have a german and a Chinese au pair (both in their early 20s) living in our house. both are familiar with pokemon and say it’s very popular with kids in their countries. I feel like I’m an “old” pokemon collector at 42. most of the popularity seems to be with people 40 and younger. as those people age the core demographic for pokemon will stretch out further and further. it’s relatively young for a collectible and has long legs. I have confidence in that.
there have been threads discussing pokemon vs mtg. they are so different it’s hard to compare. but to summarize, I believe pokemon has much broader mass appeal than mtg which is and always has been “niche” and contained to the TCG. Pokémon has TV, movies, and lots more beyond the TCG and is a much larger part of pop culture
Multiple facets of the franchise (tv show, movies, toys, tournament play, collecting, illustration contests, video games, Pokémon go).
Multi-generational interest.
Just as if not more popular with current youngest generation as it was in the late 90s.
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MTG has basically just tournament play and collecting.
Regardless of how sought after new product will be in Pokémon, general interest in Pokémon will continue for decades imo. Therefore there will always be interest in the most vintage items of the hobby. Think about when Pokémon go will be using state of the art technology in 10-15 years, the cycle will continue, wave after wave.
My father collects a very niche toy-category that was based on the “Western” culture, almost exclusive to Germany and only really popular during the 60s & 70s, then they stopped being produced.
The market pretty much only consists of people that are his demographic - and it remained pretty stable to this day because people like him still chase the nostalgia.
Pokemon will be a forgotten curiosity one day, as will almost every colelctible, but I’m 100% with Gary when he often said Pokemon will be “safe” (given that the world keeps turning ) until decades after the last card is produced (/ the last kids stop playing with them). I know I’ll keep my 1. Edition Base Set forever, if I can.
I have no doubt Pokemon can keep up putting out new content, The franchise is very much booming after 20+ years which is amazing.
I think Vintage will always remain viable far into the future of Pokemon as there will always be Generation 1/2/3 etc Pokemon in the future products and games they release. As more collectors appear (even if they may not have been around when the vintage cards were released) i think they will still show interest in them because of the different art styles there is of there favourite Pokemon. Pokemon like Pikachu and Charizard will be fan favourites for a very long time
Even if pokemon’s massive popularity fades in the long run, it will still be a key part of pop culture history. I couldn’t even name a single magic card until a year ago, meanwhile I don’t think I’d be able to find many people that don’t know what a pikachu is.
Solid points, I also didn’t take into account generation remakes into my pondering. Let’s go Eevee/Pikachu was an easily accessible user friendly start for a younger audience and it showcased the originals as well. Can’t wait for D/P/Pt remake!! That’s where I got hooked on EV training and competitive Pokémon battling.
As others have said, the fact that new Pokemon media is being made and today’s kids are eating it up is a great sign that PokeMania will continue for many more years. My girlfriend’s 6 year old sister loves Pokemon even more than I did at her age.
What I wonder is if today’s youth will ever care about WOTC era/other vintage cards. While they are the most sought out cards now, it is possible that being less flashy then today’s literally golden sparkling cards - today’s youth will gravitate to what they wanted as a kid (current modern.)
All in all I think trends will shift as the decades go by, but Pokemon is something I’d bet my money on staying around right next to Mickey Mouse for the years to come
I have given many WOTC cards to my younger cousins (6 through 12) as they started collecting. While they love the new flashy cards, they also love showing off the WOTC cards that no one else their age has. One thing to take into account is that many of their favorite Pokemon are newer generations with no WOTC cards.
I can’t help but feel that WOTC era cards will one day come to hold a legendary status in the minds of young fans. The place of beginning is somehow inherently special.
I can probably add a different perspective to this conversation due to growing up with ex/DP/HGSS. For me, I love the old school ex’s, lv x’s and primes, but that does not mean I do not like the original wotc era. My collection is mostly made up of the cards from the ex era, with some lv x’s and primes, but there is still something special about the early sets.
I agree with this. I loved comic books as a kid in the 80s. In the 90s I started to read about the history and the “first appearance” of my favorite super heroes. Most of these first appearances occurred before I was born. Many took place in the early 1960s. Instead of turning me off it was the opposite. I would go to comic book stores just to look at the issues I could not even remotely afford. I dreamed of owning them. When I grew up and had my first disposable income as an adult, I could finally buy them and that’s what I did. And by the way I was buying what I could afford, which were CGC (equivalent of PSA) 5s, 6s and 7s. So don’t underestimate the appeal of those older cards or “first appearances”.
I think Pokemon does have potential to remain popular amongst kids for the next 10 - 15 years. That depends on many factors including reception of new games, how well the TCG is maintained, marketing, etc. Past 15 years, I’m doubtful that it will be as popular and relevant. There’s only so much rehashing that can be done before it gets super stale. I think the rollout of continuous new Pokemon will also get stale. The number of Pokemon currently is very overwhelming and I started to feel that at Gen 4.
I definitely echo that opinion, it’s been on my mind for a while. However, I always come to the realization that the production of new pokemon is pretty much infinite. Its all about just making an animal or inanimate object into something else, or just a literal one to one rip off of an existing animal. I’m looking at you pidgey! However, With new consumers continually joining the market, kids, they will likely have less biases that us old folk have haha!
) until decades after the last card is produced (/ the last kids stop playing with them). I know I’ll keep my 1. Edition Base Set forever, if I can. 
