>>45661408It's strange to say that Pokemon was ever a "fad" when it has been an omnipresent cultural juggernaut for nearly a quarter of a century.
Electric Solider Porygon was probably the turning point in the early years. The show was discontinued for nearly four months, and when it started airing again, it barely got around half the ratings share it was getting before then (wild to think this show got almost 15% of Japan tuning in every week). In the time between mid-December 1997 and April 1998, NO episodes were airing, which gutted a huge portion of their advertising campaign. It terrifies me to imagine just how much bigger the Pokemon IP could've been if it didn't get stymied by a seizure incident.
