Originally posted by TURD CUTTER!!!
Sorry for sounding harsh, but once you reach double digits in age, it's really stupid.
I like to play the Gameboy games. I own our Red and Blue versions, and I'm waiting for one of my boys (ages 6 and 9) to get tired of playing their Gold/Silver versions they got for Christmas so I can have a crack at them. Granted, they aren't the best RPG-type games out there, but they're fun, and they give me something I can talk about with my kids.
It drives the wife crazy when we speak "Pokemon", and she has no idea what we're talking about.
We also have a decent collection of the cards. I own most of the good ones, though my eldest has a fairly good resource-denial deck with some good cards in it. I like playing the game with my kids, and while it isn't nearly as complex a game as Magic it's geared toward a younger age group, so what exactly do you expect?
The kids like the TV show too, and the movies. I've seen some of them, and I don't really think they're all that great, but then, I haven't really been into cartoons for about 30 years now.
And on the merchandise: It's made my Christmas shopping a whole lot easier for a couple years now, so I don't really mind that either...