>>55524698It took me awhile to "grow out of it". Even during the dark age of Gen 3 and Gen 4 where you were shamed for still being a Pokemon fan, I loved the series. Bought cards, bought toys, watched the anime, etc. I just kept quiet about it in school and tried to make friends online who still loved the series as much as I did.
It wasn't really until Gen 7 happened did I feel like the games and the franchise weren't up to snuff for my tastes. I was hoping things would be so much better after X&Y, that they'd learn from the 3DS specs and the shortcomings of those games but they didn't seem to. It also didn't help that I had stopped watching the anime at this point and was no longer in a position where I could buy the merchandise, all I had left was the games. When the dex cut happened, I was basically done and frustrated with Game Freak and what I felt was them mishandling the games, which was all I had left of the franchise.
As far as being sucked back in, that happened with Pokemon Legends Arceus. It helped remind me what it was that I loved about the series, and I ended up binging the older anime seasons and will probably keep going well past where I stopped. Hopefully ZA expands on PLA.
