Kids (...or Trainers, Fans) These Days

Along with Duff Goldman mentioning Pokémon, there was something else that he said that is somewhat fascinating to discuss, especially in connection to Pokémon. The phrase that he said forms the parts of the title of this post that aren't in parentheses. Coincidentally, this phrase has become all the rage among my colleagues in a different form, one that seems mixed up among languages. All oddities aside, this phrase merits some consideration in regard to Pokémon.

One key implication of this phrase is that Trainers of yesterday are different from Trainers of today. Back in the early days of Pokémon, the way of being a Trainer was only one, through the main series games. Today, it is possible to become Trainers in different ways through different games (like Shuffle and Go), though the main series games (by way of VGC, and to some extent the TCG by its own championships) still carry the most prestige. The point is that the way or experience to be a Trainer has diversified from those early days, making it quite different.

Even in the main series games, Trainers' concerns are different. Back then there were less detailed stats to contend with, and data related to Pokémon were fewer. Now there are many stats to deal with and much data to process, making it seem almost impossibly huge. The expansion of these could be considered mind-blowing. Yet whatever the case, for Trainers, these are just things to be dealt with in the most efficient manner possible; many have demonstrated this for games both old and new. Certainly the processes do differ.

The fandom of Pokémon is certainly different as well. In older times, fans likely played the main series games and then they work their way from there. In more recent times, there are fans of the games, anime, merchandise, et cetera, though many do crossover from one area or another or are involved in many areas at once, like me. This is where the word "kids" of the phrase comes into greater involvement; many adult fans today were kid fans back then, and now there are cadres of new kid fans. There are many different things for many different people to like, which has changed over time as well.

These days, Pokémon is big, even bigger than in the past. So kids, Trainers, and fans these days have to contend with Pokémon in all its different forms in different ways that may or may not be similar to the past. It's not necessarily an easy thing to do or to keep in mind, yet in these days, they are what needs to be done, for Pokémon or otherwise. Pokémon these days are... Pokémon these days, for people of these days.