Even for fans, Pokémon’s 30th‑anniversary merchandise feels excessive

Pokémon has been impossible to escape this month as the franchise marks its 30th anniversary: celebrity spots (including Lady Gaga with a Jigglypuff), rereleases of FireRed and LeafGreen on Nintendo Switch, a Natural History Museum pop-up in London, a greyscale Pikachu plush that sold out in seconds, a Tokyo theme park, a Game Boy–shaped music player and a runway collaboration with JimmyPaul.

I am exactly the target audience—first‑generation Pokémon kids now nearing 40—but most of this feels like, simply, stuff. Expensive stuff. A £579.99 Lego set of the original starters made me wince, and an advert that shows a bored, tired millennial slipping on a trainer’s cap and proclaims “Your time has come!

And destiny doesn’t care about lower back pain!” left me feeling both patronised and called out. For me, Pokémon was always about forming attachments to particular creatures and the memories of playing, not the merchandise.

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