>>45628732I was young enough that I wouldn't be mocked for liking it (either by kids my own age or teens), since I got into the franchise as a literal kindergartner in like 1999, but I myself was one of those who sorta lost interest in Pokemon around Gen 3. I was still into Gen 1/2 and played those, but was losing interest in the anime around Johto and never was motivated to get past, like, the fourth or fifth gym in R/S. Thought FireRed etc. felt super lame for some reason and didn't get into Colosseum.
I didn't hate them but I think a lot of the Gen 3 Pokemon didn't appeal to me, plus I didn't like stuff like no easy way to trade with Gen 2/no day/night cycle, etc. I realize that in retrospect this could come off like just repeating common criticisms, but I did feel that way at the time. While I still played Pokemon, it was mostly replaying Gen 1/2 and related stuff like Stadium, and I got into other stuff like Yu-Gi-Oh and even Neopets that felt more popular then.
So while I didn't notice myself or kids my age being mocked for liking Pokemon, since, again, we were young and I guess being into uncool/little kid shit was expected, it definitely was no longer the in thing and merch etc. just wasn't as common anymore. I didn't really get back into Pokemon until I started checking out /vp/ in my late teens, and even then, while I'm not quite a genwunner, Gens 1 and 2 are still what I'm most familiar with and I guess the aesthetic I lean toward for the series, or some shit.
