Did you go through Pokemon demonization?

[pkmin3033]

After several incidents of theft, my Primary School banned the cards, but that was the only time I ever experienced anything like this. I was quite lucky when it came to Pokemon: my father watched the cartoon with me, and my mother has been playing the games since Yellow came out. I remember seeing things on the news about Pokemon being too violent, but my parents laughed that off - as far as they were concerned, violence involved gore and swearing, and Pokemon had neither.

 

[HairyLoco]

Ahh back in the primary school days my friends and I would bring our Gameboys to school to play Pokémon on during lunch break. Lunch break would last one hour and kids would either go home or stay at school and be supervised by volunteers.

It was a good time, but sadly all good things come to an end. It lasted for several months until the PTA decided to ban Gameboys during lunch break because we didn't play outside.
The year after that, our last year, Yu-Gi-Oh TCG came in and we'd play that instead. We'd duel on the benches outside (we were forced to go outside during lunch break, staying inside was no longer permitted). And yet again, several weeks later, Yu-Gi-Oh cards were banned at school because we didn't exercise enough.

My friends and I were the sole reason for the banning of gaming consoles and Yu-Gi-Oh cards, and the fact that staying inside during lunch break wasn't allowed any more.
I have no regrets.

 

[Dusk]

Oh my god I was made fun of in elementary school for liking Pokemon back in the day... The kids at my school were really weird. They... seemed immune to the hype? Or pretended they thought it was stupid? Perhaps shunning me for liking Pokemon was just another way to pick on me? Either way I could not find any fellow Pokefans at school... Thankfully there were some at my daycare and we traded figures and cards and such. :)

 

[theunversed]

man this is funny I just told a friend about the experience i had. so I was into pokemon since day 1and started collecting the cards. by the time i started getting into video games gen3 was out and that was my first experience with the main series games. one day my aunt told my mom(with me in the room) that pokemon was demonic or some crap and so i had to give it up for a while. but eventually my mom realized she was wrong and I've been able to enjoy something i love again(like mid gen4). its just funny how people can just go after something like that with no real reason.

 

[Arylett Charnoa]

Not really, no. Although my dad really disliked it for some reason. Kept saying it was some stupid kid's thing I was too old for. But he'd still buy me Pokemon games and not even pay attention to what he was doing. My parents were never really too attentive about anything in the first place, so I got away with a lot freely.

 

[AdamN]

My school was going to, but decided to ban beyblades instead.
I guess they thought there'd be riots if they banned both :p

 

[Ammako]

Only reason they banned stuff over here was because it would cause fights, with people stealing from others and such.

 

[WolfAndSheep]

We actually never had Pokemon stuff outright banned in our school I don't think. Though I personally ended up not really bringing my games, merchandise or cards to school because I cared too much for them and I would worry about losing them. The kids from my school for the most part grew into the "Oh Pokemon is so childish! I'm a big boy/girl now!" around generation 3 so people just outright stopped bringing things because of peer pressure. There was hype for RBY though and people would bring their stuff in for that, and I think GSC as well? I skipped 2nd gen for quite some time and kept playing RBY. Funny thing is now we're all adults I know it was all a ruse. I know plenty of old schoolmates that happily admitted to buying BW(2) and XY when we were all actually grown up.

I've heard of the all Pokemon satanic thing, and from my point of view it just seems... really dumb. Why would anyone even think that? Because of the whole evolution shtick it has going on so it's going against some religious oriented beliefs that humans never evolved from apes? Even if that's true why would anyone grasp at straws that because of that Pokemon must therefore be worshipping the devil? Honestly though, if you even tried to say something was demonic around these parts people would think you were the insane one, not Pokemon or any other "demonic" thing. We're not the sort that gives any credibility to devil worship. It's just flat out not an argument that could ever be used as a logical reason to ban something here.

 

[Corrin]

No, but it happened with YuGiOh, the cards were banned from schools.
Kids just sort of "grew out" of pokemon where I lived and started making fun of it, but nothing like what you said.

 

[Boured]

Well I started playing Pokémon in the 3rd generation, So my answer would be no though the Idea of parent's thinking Pokémon is a bad influence is kinda idiotic. Though It's over now or it's at least died down so that's good.

 

[Artisan219]

I remember this being a big deal among religious households. In mine, it wasn't even brought up or considered. If I recall correctly, a Christian organization began the rumor that Pokemon was satanic because it encouraged children to run away, play with a bunch of creatures that didn't look like the sort of animals we'd find anywhere -- absurd really. I'm glad the rumor is gone.

I remember the Christian right spouting off that it promoted evolution and dog-fighting.

 

[Tolkin]

Surprisingly, no. I have heard stories where parents think Pokemon is evil, but that's about it. I don't expect anyone to demonize Pokemon unless they have their heads in the sand.

 

[magicalgirlj]

I remember my friend Chase brought a Ninetails card to school it was confiscated and he never got it back. That was back in either second or third grade back when Pokemon was all the rage. My family never thought it was evil my dad even had an Exeggcute card because he licked that Pokemon. There is this video on youtube of a persist saying that Pokemon is evil.