Pokémon
Pokémon is one of those things you never really grow out of. Not in some fond look-back, covered in dust way. We mean actually liking it in the present tense, in 2021; folks in their twenties and thirties who are still buying cards, still debating over starter selections, still caring way too hard about a franchise that began in 1996 and yet still feels important. If you’re trying to pick a gift for that kind of person (or a kid who is just discovering it now), it can be intimidating figuring out where to start.
That’s why we wanted to do this. Not by exhaustively listing every Pokémon toy and bit of merch ever created but by singling out the stuff that’s actually worth purchasing. There’s a real divi
ce there. The market is flooded with companies dressing up cheap plastic in the IP’s skin, sticking Pikachu on a keychain and calling it a day as a “gift.” We don’t care about that stuff. We wanted to highlight items that would make someone stop and actually appreciate them; whether they’ve been into Pokémon for thirty years or thirty minutes.
The range of products we’ve selected covers a variety of people and price points because Pokémon is not a monolith and neither are its fans. Some of you reading this want fancy displays worthy of displaying. Some want product that connects to Pokémon as it exists in the gaming sphere they play every Monday with their buddies. Others just want something cool they can wear that says “look at me, I love Pokémon” without screaming it from the rooftops. We’ve taken all these interests into consideration instead of leaning on the expected.
Age is something we considered properly as well. You’ll find gifts for kids experiencing Pokémon for the first time on this list, but you’ll also find stuff here that’s blatantly targeted toward adults and would be insulted by children’s themes. It’s a difference we recognize and have avoided blurring.
Every single one of these products had to meet the same criteria. Would I give this to?. Not does it “look like” a Pokémon gift on first glance, would I hand this to my friend/sibling/kid and feel confident that I picked something they would enjoy? A lot of stuff fell off our list due to this. What you see here is our trusted short list.