These old Pokemon ads and toys bring me back

My childhood, summarized

I went down an Internet wormhole last night when I really, truly should’ve just gone to bed.

It began with this Imgur album of old Pokémon ads, but as someone who grew up alongside Pokémania, it couldn’t end there. I had flashbacks of kids bringing their crinkled posters of “all 150 Pokémon” to recess; worrying we’d be late to a screening of Pokémon: The First Movie; arguing with my mom about whether pocket monsters were a fad like the amiibo of the day, Beanie Babies.

What began as a nostalgic evening has become a nostalgic morning because, after sleeping on it, I decided that scouring the web for more of this old stuff would be a good use of my time.

Here’s what I found.

Magazines:

Merchandise:

Commercials:

Burger King:

I wanted the full set of gold trading cards so badly that I dragged my family to Burger King multiple times despite hating the food even at a young age. That’s the power of Pokémon.