Twenty-five years. Man, time is crazy! I admit that coming up with something to write for the occasion is an incredible challenge. How can I properly pay homage to a series that's been an integral part of my life? While I could write about Pokémon's cultural impact on the world (which of itself is quite impressive), I think the piece I need to write is about my experience. With that, here are 25 moments in my life brought to you by Pokémon. Except for the first and last, these aren't put in any order but rather are collections of fond memories throughout the years.
1. Growing up, I lived in a cul-de-sac with a lot of kids my age, so we'd usually hang out together. One day, however, I was upset that my sister was invited to the Douglas's house and I wasn't allowed to go. My mom felt bad for seven-year-old Stephen and bought him a Gameboy Pocket alongside Pokémon Red, and man I can't begin to describe how excited I was! I had no idea that fateful day would change my life. So really, big shoutout to Caley for not inviting me over -- wouldn't have gotten Pokémon without you.
2. Back when my brother was in kindergarten and I was in high school, I spent a lot of time trying to teach him how to read. Was it that I was invested in his education and wanted him to get a head start on life? Of course not -- Diamond and Pearl just launched in the US, and if he could read, he could get Diamond and play along as I had Pearl. A few months later after I got Pearl, he moved on to 1st grade and picked up Diamond. The sheer joy we both shared spending time together was priceless.
3. For her 10th birthday, my sister's party was a screening of Pokémon: The First Movie. Definitely an odd choice since I was the bigger Pokémon fan, but it was the 90's when Pokémania was at its height. There even was someone dressed as Pikachu and a random kid photobombed our group photo? Weird times for sure. Years later, my sister and I went to Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You as a throwback to her 10th birthday party. It was terrible, but us cringing through it was a fond memory in of itself.
4. Back in 2011, my brother qualified to participate in Pokémon VGC Worlds in San Diego. I remember the time leading up to it was stressful -- learning how to RNG abuse for the first time, I spent weeks training up the perfect team for him. And while naturally the focus was on him (and rightfully so), I felt hurt my efforts weren't also recognized. Before we left, my grandpa gave two letters to us: One to my brother wishing him luck at the tournament, and another to me saying how proud he was of my work helping my brother succeed. Worlds was an incredible experience where we got to meet the directors of Pokémon, Junichi Masuda and Shigeru Morimoto, and take in the sights of San Diego. But my favorite moment was our flight back. When I showed my grandpa the list of 649 Pokémon at the time, he looked at me shocked. "You have to memorize all of them?" This memory still makes me laugh, and I appreciate my grandpa for always believing in me.
5. In 2015, I applied for a social media job. The interview was nothing outside of the norm: I answered questions about my writing ability, how I take in feedback, and how I work in a team environment. That is, until they brought up this blog. I at first was taken aback, worried that the nerdy subject matter made me unprofessional. It actually helped me land the job, so shoutout to this being a class assignment I kept up with since 2011!
6. During his birthday, my childhood best friend, Michael, pulled a holographic Venusaur from a pack. If you know me, Venusaur is one of my absolute favorite Pokémon, so I begged and pleaded with him to trade my Rhydon for it. This is quite possibly the worst trade of all time, but Michael obliged and I added Venusaur to my collection. I still have this card to this day and it's featured on the first page of our holographic binder. Never gonna sell it, and never gonna let go of it. Think I might owe Michael for it though.
7. Y'all know Pokémon Go was HUGE back in 2016! It was as big, if not bigger, than when Pokémon first came out. There was one problem though: My office was located in the heart of downtown office yet there were no Pokéstops. That first week of conserving Pokéballs was brutal! I remember working when I got a group DM on Slack from one of our coworkers: "we're taking lunch now -- Pokéstops have appeared!" Dude, we spent so much time over by the capitol catching Pokémon and chatting with strangers -- it was amazing. Pokémon Go really brought the office, and the world, together.
8. In college, I produced a video game show called Video Game Hour Live alongside a few friends. We were hosting a tournament at Café Medici as a fundraiser when James introduced me to his friend, Connie. We were both playing through Pokémon Black at the time and had our DS's on us, so of course we battled! I think she had a Haxorus on her team? The important thing was I made a new best friend in Connie. Years later right before her wedding ceremony, I caught an Eevee in Pokémon Go and named it after her and her husband.
9. Pokémon X and Y. Wow, these titles take me back. I remember really getting upset at Mega Evolution and claiming it a "mega mistake" (real original, Smiles). Luckily, some college buddies talked sense into me and I got it anyways. Man, we had a blast playing it on VGHL! Pretty much after every episode, we'd trade Pokémon amongst ourselves, and I even made a review on it. While recording the segment, Duc kept on feeding my Slurpuff in Poke-Amie cause "it looked stupid" and it eventually helped sweep through the Elite Four with all its boosts.
10. Speaking of Duc, I was offering to EV train Pokémon and he asked for a Level 100 Magikarp. EV training it wasn't hard, but getting it all the way up to 100 was a week-long grind! That thing would get thrown in Pokéwalker pretty much every day. I'm pretty sure Duc hasn't touched it since I traded it to him, but hey, I'll always go the distance for friends.
11. When Pokémon Sun and Moon first launched in 2016, Toys 'R Us had a great deal where you could get both copies for $50. So of course, I snatched it up. However, the shipment was delayed and I wouldn't be able to play it for a week! On launch night, I was sitting up in bed and decided "heck I want these games now!" so went to Wal-Mart and bought a copy of Sun at midnight. I still remember the Snapchat Story of me twirling around the parking lot singing "the sun will come up tomorrow." During my initial playthrough on Twitch, both Cory and Collin from work tuned in and I still remember us getting hyped over the Professor Oak shirt! (When the Sun and Moon double pack eventually did arrive, I was able to return a copy so don't worry.)
12. Right before I left for Arizona to lead a new team, I joked with my coworker Mary that our social media team would be named Postémon. What started as a gag actually became our choice! But honestly, I couldn't have thought of a more fitting name. This leg of my journey has its highs and lows, but I felt it all came together when I took the day off to stream Pokémon Sword. Sword and Shield brought a big dex cut which was disheartening, but just like how my Arizonan coworkers helped ease my transition to a new state after saying goodbye to old friends, so too did the new Pokémon make Galar a region I enjoyed. Reflecting on my playthrough and the connections I made in Arizona, it reminded me that while change is inevitable, life is always one grand adventure.
13. Speaking of my Arizona team, in 2020 we started working remotely due to the pandemic. At the beginning, we were confident we'd be back to the office within a month, but as time moved on it seemed unlikely we'd be returning anytime soon. One day when I was picking up supplies from the office, a painting was at my former desk! Logan commissioned this for my birthday and now it hung up at my apartment. It's been tough not seeing coworkers in person during the pandemic, so this gift meant a lot to me.
14. In fourth grade, my friend Ivan wrote done instructions on how to do the Pokémon Gold cloning glitch. At the last step, he forgot to complete his sentence so I wrote it out. I still have that piece of paper! I don't have many relics from my elementary school days, so this is a cherished possession of mine.
15. Real ones know about the Blockbuster Pokémon Snap print station! My sister and I had a Squirtle card we used at that kiosk (don't tell her I stole it). While we didn't get to print a picture of every single Pokémon, most of the stickers we did print are in our Pokémon Snap guide -- they still are glossy to this day.
16. Growing up, my dad would always get us a pack of Pokémon cards on his way home from work. Once we proved we finished our homework, he'd pull out a Fossil pack we'd quickly tear into. Running his own company, my dad worked a lot. Having these moments to connect with him was really special. Years later, my little cousins would get into Pokémon, so I gave many of the cards from those packs to them. They were so excited to receive them! Brought me back to when my dad and I used to share that together.
17. Whenever I was home from college, my brother and I would spend our afternoons swimming in our pool. One day, the chlorine got so bad, I could barely keep my eyes open after swimming! Determined to still EV train my Rotom, I handed my DS to my mom and had her run around a specific route. She'd call out which Pokémon she encountered and I would either ask her to run away or blast the Psyduck with Thunderbolt. The things moms do for us. While not a big moment per say, it highlighted something I was proud to inherit from my mom: her kindness.
18. My dad would tease my sister and I growing up, claiming that Nintendo ripped off his idea, Moképon. His humor was always in good fun, however. Every so often to honor him, I'll catch a Pikachu and name it after his original creature, Chikapu.
19. In 2007 while getting ready for a family trip, I quickly caught the Regigigas at Snowpoint Temple. Feeling it wasn't much of a challenge, I decided to shiny hunt for one. So on our way to Kemah, the way back, and during movie night, I kept on resetting for Shiny Regigigas. As we were watching Space Jam, my first ever shiny appeared! Not wanting to lose it, I threw a Master Ball to snag it. Ever since then, I have gotten at least one shiny Pokémon per year. I honestly could fill 25 memories with just my shiny hunts alone! Some other noteworthy ones include a Pidgey I caught the first day playing Heartgold, the Wailmer on our family cruise, and an Eevee where I ran out of my economics class and hugged a random girl.
20. Similar to Connie, my best friend Christian and I met through mutual friends and bonded over Pokémon. We had an administrative day at school and to kill the time Christian, myself, Matt, and Alex got into a multibattle. That is, until Principal Moran made us put away our DS's. Right after his freshman year of college, Christian went on his mission trip, but we still kept in touch and of course talked about Pokémon. While I haven't seen him physically in about 10 years or so, we still catch up on our respective Twitch streams. And yes, we still play Pokémon together.
21. During college, my friends and I would always go to Dave 'n Busters for half-off Wednesdays. There was a particular spin-the-wheel game where it was easy to get jackpot, so we'd abuse it to get pretty cheap Pokémon packs. Packs usually cost $4, but with how much we won, each pack came out to $2. Anyways, while I would get a holographic Starmie, Duc and UyenAnh would pull things like Reshiram-EX. On my birthday, they bought me a pack and their pull luck must have transferred over to me -- I got a Shaymin-EX! A few years later, another birthday pack of theirs yielded a full art Yveltal-EX -- maybe I should have them pick out my Pokémon packs going forward.
22. Detective Pikachu was the most hyped I was for a movie in a very long time. Now, it's not Oscar-worthy or anything, but the fact we were getting a live-action Pokémon movie was incredible! I don't know what possessed me to do so, but I dressed up as Professor Oak at work so I could go to the premiere right after, and yes I even changed my Slack picture. When my boss Molly asked, I mentioned it was for the premiere and it was very dorky. I never will forget how supportive she was and asked why would this be dorky yet the Met Gala be the height of class. "Isn't life more fun when you're not afraid to be enthusiastic about something?" Molly's been a mentor of mine for six years, and it meant so much I could be unapologetically myself. Thank you for teaching me that.
23. While I didn't know him as well as I wished, my grandpa on my dad's side once got me a pack I pulled a holographic Poliwrath and my grandpa mentioned how the swirl would move whenever you rotated the card. While this wasn't true, I smiled and nodded politely. However, one day I lost that card! Digging around, I couldn't find it, so I decided to rebuy it years later. I had it shipped to our home in Texas while I was in California for the semester, only to find during Christmas break that the card went missing! Third time's the charm: I bought it again one more time and haven't lost it since. Glad I still have this memento.
24. So many countless battles! That alone could probably fill up all 25 moments. To keep this brief though, what I really enjoy about battling other trainers is not only putting my strategy to the test, but also learning from others. For instance, I once got beat by a Galarian Corsola and now I've used one in almost every competitive team I've built. There are also a lot of close calls that still stick with me, like one time in Sun & Moon, I had Gastrodon and Porygon2 left against Mega Mawile and Tapu Bulu. Naturally, the opponent didn't see Gastrodon as a threat since Tapu Bulu could one-shot it, so it instead targeted down Porygon2. What they didn't realize was I carried Sludge Bomb which was 4x effective, so I snuck in an attack and quickly turned the tide of battle. I'm getting pumped just reminiscing about all these bouts! Before I drone on, I'll leave y'all with this: my first foray in competitive battling.
25. In my senior year of college, we were able to get Fred Cook, the CEO of Golin-Harris at the time, to speak to our class. Back in the 90's, Fred Cook was the head of the Nintendo account, so you bet I was freaking out that we'd have the guy who played a critical role in Pokémon's marketing in the west come talk to us. While other people asked about how to get a job after college (yawn), I asked "how did you not only overcome the controversies of Pokémon, but help make it the second most lucrative franchise in Nintendo history?" His simple and profound answer still sticks with me to this day.
"I didn't think of Pokémon as a TV show, a video game, or a comic book -- I thought of it as a phenomenon and went from there."
Wow. A phenomenon. Pokémon lives up to that in every sense of the word. Reflecting on all these stories, it's incredible just how much of an imprint this series has made on me. It's led to countless nights playing and collecting, forging lifelong friendships, and even shaping my career path. And to think, many people around the world have a similar tale to tell thanks to one man's hobby of bug collecting. Here's to 25 more years as the journey continues.
