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I, like a lot of awkward, scrawny, near-sighted nerds did not have the easiest time in middle school. You’d never know it by looking at me now (you totally would), but I had my fair share of bullying cast my way. I was never athletic, I wasn’t a skater, and I didn’t really fit with any other popular crowd. The one group I always meshed well with, of course, was the nerdy kids. Being a nerd in the late ’90s was a bad time to do it. After school, I usually would go home, read, and play video games. One of my favorites, all the way since 1998 when it hit the shores of these great United States, was Pokémon.
My brother and I picked up the Red and Blue versions when they first came out, because you gotta catch ‘em all and we ain’t no scrubs. We would spend hours after school playing, searching for new Pokémon, trading, and battling – or in my case, losing. As the younger sibling you just learn to accept these things. I could not, however, bring this enthusiasm of these little critters to school, because it wasn’t the popular thing to talk about. Before Halo came around and made video games badass, it wasn’t exactly popular to play them, and it definitely wasn’t cool to talk about them when you weren’t playing them.
Full of social graces as I am, I didn’t give a single solitary shit about what was popular. I wanted to talk about the fact that I just got a Dragonite. I wanted to spend recess battling my Pokémon with those of my friends. But anytime the topic came up around someone more well-adjusted than us, we would catch a lot of hell for it. We would get called nerds, losers, and other much more derogatory terms that twelve-year-olds probably can’t grasp the full weight of. Did this bother me? Sure. The one thing that it didn’t do, though, was stop me. I, being a 26-year-old married man who pretends to be a grown up on a semi-regular basis, have played every single generation of Pokémon. I’m fine with admitting that fact on the Internet, knowing full well that many people who read this might be the same kind of person who told me a decade and a half ago that I was a loser for getting excited about a game like Pokémon.
If you’ve been anywhere near the Internet this week, you may have heard that a little thing called Pokémon GO was just released. And it. Fucking. Exploded. That shit is everywhere. There are people who have never touched a Nintendo product who are acting like giddy little kids over this. The same people who treated me like shit are now getting excited that they found a Pikachu in their office.
You might think that would make someone like me kind of angry, right? Ten years ago I was lame for liking Pokémon and now they’re acting like it’s the coolest thing ever and they’ve always liked it? I was upset about it, if only for a moment. Then I realized that I shouldn’t be mad. I should be excited that something I like is now popular. I don’t want to get some sort of hipster satisfaction that I liked it before it was cool. Honestly, the thing that I get most excited about here is that kids in middle school now don’t have to get bullied over the same things I did. There’s someone out there who can now focus better on his homework because he’s not dreading going to school the next day.
So I’m not angry at all my bullies for going turncoat on Pokémon. In fact, I forgive them for the things they said to me when we were kids. I mean, twelve-year-olds are assholes, and who knows what might be popular in another ten years, right? So if you were a nerd who got bullied over something you were passionate about, consider forgiving your bullies. If you were one of those bullies, think about maybe breaking out the S-word. No, not “sorry”, we don’t give a fuck if you’re sorry. Just offer to trade us your Slowbro..
Image via Myimagine / Shutterstock.com
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@DoubleYeti
I wonder how strong the correlation is between getting beat up in middle school and going into HR
Depressingly high. None of us were prom king.
When I was 9, I got this ridiculously designed black sweatshirt with a giant Bulbasaur on it from my grandmother for Christmas. Even at 9, and loving Pokemon Gameboy games and cards, I knew this was a social disaster and hid the sweater. Didn’t wear it once. Now that my grandma has passed away, I totally regret not letting my freak flag fly.
All of the most intense, cut throat pokemon trades went down at the bus stop in 4th/5th grade. Its where I wheeled and dealed my way to a Charizard
Pokemon Go has been so glitchy and im really butthurt that no pokemon live near my house.
Pokemon/Pokemon Go has taught me 3 things:
1.) That fucking someone over in a trade for assets is what America is all about. Especially while waging endless battles to establish dominance in a contrived world of distraction.
2.) Trying to “Catch Them All” is an existential representation of the never ending search for happiness as an adult.
3.) In a sense, we are the Pokemon. We’re always hiding to some extent and we are very good at fighting. We’re always getting caught by authorities and used as pawns.
That was deep man… I cried a little
Okay settle down there Tyler Durden.
I had a traderape happen to me that haunts me to this day. Very first pack of Pokemon cards I got a holographic Charizard. I have always been a Squirtle family man myself so not knowing what it was worth I immediately traded it to the store clerk for a regular ole Blastoise. I want to find that man and ask him did he take satisfaction in what he did that day.
Reading this hurt me more than it should have. I feel for you
Made the same mistake but with a gengar. Still bitter.
I’ve never forgotten the excitement of getting all 150 in Blue, only to be let down when there was no cool reward to be had and no one was impressed.
My boyfriend and I first started talking about our mutual interest in sports, but what we really connected over were our nerdy interests, including Pokemon. We’ve introduced each other to different games and shows that were definitely not cool when we were in middle and high school (and still aren’t tbh), and it’s probably my favorite thing about him now.
I remember Pokemon being the great unifier on the playground. Everyone was playing, nerds, bullies, etc. Surprised you had to keep you fandom to yourself
Yep, was going to say this exact thing. Growing up everyone at my school knew and loved Pokemon. In fact, the kids that caught shit were the ones that WEREN’T in to it.
You want to go full nerd, go for the free fan-made ROMs like Pokemon Insurgence. That, a beer, and Netflix is the ultimate Sunday Scaries cure.
Insurgence and Zeta/Omicron were some of the most amazing Pokemon games I’ve ever played. That developer is an absolute genius. I only wish I could get them on my phone or DS.
Also I always want to go full nerd, as you can plainly see.