#Pokemon
I'm sure all the 90's kids on this sub can back me up when I say, that in the late 90's, Pokemon ruled. If you were a kid back and your Pokemon card game was weak, you were picked on. If you didnt beat the elite 4 on red/blue/yellow you were a constipated, overated, out of style loser. Pokemon had stapled itself into an entire generation. To this day, it's still alive and well and is the largest grossing media franchise in the world. Kids (and many adults) still play the games, watch the shows/movies and collect the cards.
Like Boomers to comic books, and like Gen X to sports cards, it was only a matter of time that Millennials returned to their youth. YouTube videos of unboxing and opening pokemon packs start to trend. They go viral because these videos give us that same adrenaline rush we had when we were kids opening a pack. As popularity rises, so did the value of Pokemon collectibles. [Recently a PSA 10 1st edition shadowless base set Charizard sold for $420k.]( https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2022/03/22/charizard-pokemon-card-sold-for-record-420000-how-much-is-yours-worth/)Yes. $420k, the equivalent of the average house in the US for shiny cardboard. Which brings me to my next point.
#NFTs
While different NFTs are used in different cases, they are most commonly associated as collectibles. Bored Apes, Rocks, whatever that weird stuff Madonna is doing. While many of us here couldn't justify spending millions on monkey jpegs, those who do are buying them to be apart of the club. Like Pokemon cards, it's a collectable from the community.
Now remember that shiny cardboard that sold for $420k? If people are willing to spend millions on monkey and rock jpegs, imagine how much the 1st edition Charizard NFT would sell for. Then the 2nd edition, then the 3rd, so on and so fourth. And there's like a thousand of these little pocket monsters with more and more that they release. Nintendo and The Pokemon company is sitting on an absolutely insane goldmine. And these Pokemon NFTs can be much more than just collectable art....
#Play to Earn Games
If you haven't played Pokemon Legends Arceus yet, I highly recommend it. It's a very fun game where you go on missions, explore and catch wild Pokemon. Another key feature to this game is going around collecting objects, whether that be tools in trees and rocks that can be made for pokeballs and potions or glowing ["Wisps"](https://www.imore.com/sites/imore.com/files/styles/xlarge/public/field/image/2022/02/pokemon-legends-arceus-wisp.jpg) that unlock a certain Pokemon.
If Pokemon replaced "Wisps" and/or tools with crypto rewards and integrated the NFTs in game, they'd not only have the best P2E game, but perhaps the best game on the market. Considering Niantic Labs (Pokemon Go Creators) who collabs with the Pokemon company have made a [play to earn games with Bitcoin]( https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/23/22798523/niantic-fold-ar-metaverse-mobile-game-bitcoin-earning), this might not be something too far off from happening in coming years. Especially considering the money Pokemon can make from all this.
Just imagine. You get your paycheck from Wendy's. You go to the GameStop NFT marketplace. You can't afford that Charizard, but Slowpoke#420 looks pretty cool. Congratulations you've received Slowpoke#420! You enter the code they give you so it can be redeemed in-game. Proceed to explore the Pokemon world with your homie Slowpoke as you grind for crypto/rewards and catch pokemon. Wouldn't that be awesome?
Thank you for taking the time to read my schizo post. I for one welcome our Pikachu overlords.
TL;DR Pokemon sitting on goldmine with NFTs.
