>>37198936Pokemon anime back when it arrived in the UK in 1999, and saw the first 3 movies in the cinema as they came out. I was a fan of the anime and card games until I finally got Silver in 2001. Me and my friends would play as being trainers and battle each other as the pokemon. Flareon and the 'Saur line (especially Ivysaur) were my favourites and they still are now.
I had lots of the toys etc too, mainly plushes and the figures that came in the pokeballs with sweets. I had the Pokemon Handbook (original red one) and read it until most of the pages fell out, taped them all back in, and kept reading it anyway.