January | 2026 | Animangemu

Many pop culture phenomena have made history, but something about Pokémon stands entirely apart…

On October 16, 2025, people waited in line to buy the latest Pokémon game, Pokémon Legends: Z-A. It didn’t matter how long the line was—all they wanted was to buy the game, play it, and experience the magical journey that every Pokémon game has to offer. (Myself included.) Young and old—the demographics didn’t really matter. Millennial Pokémon fans in their 30s or 40s, who still felt like eight-year-olds from the late ’90s, were showing their children the magical world of Pokémon. Gen Z fans in their 20s (or wrapping up their late teens) were ready to dive into the adventure, just like they did in the 2000s and 2010s. And Gen Alpha kids were gearing up to enjoy the new Pokémon journey, courtesy of their parents. All had one thing in common: they love Pokémon. As time goes by, no matter how old they get, the feeling of playing Pokémon never gets old. As a fellow die-hard Pokémon fan, I echo the same sentiment.

By the end of the first week, Pokémon Legends: Z-A had sold an impressive 5.8 million copies worldwide. This figure, announced by The Pokémon Company shortly after the October 16, 2025 launch, included sales across both Nintendo Switch and the new Switch 2 (with roughly half on the latter platform). Lines at stores, midnight releases, and massive digital downloads proved the hype was real—fans young and old couldn’t wait to dive back into Lumiose City. Never mind that this game is simply a continuation of Game Freak’s experimental Legends series, or that first-week sales were down compared to Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s explosive 10 million units in just three days back in 2022 (a Nintendo record that still stands). Despite the dip—placing Z-A as the fifth-best Pokémon launch ever—these numbers once again proved just how popular and beloved the Pokémon franchise remains. Another year, another blowout success. No matter how many years go by, the popularity of Pokémon never seems to age. And with the franchise set to celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2026 (kicking off on February 27 with special logos, animations, events, and more announcements on the horizon), the question begs to be asked: Is Pokémon pop culture’s greatest achievement in history?

Many pop culture franchises have enjoyed tremendous success. Disney is known as an animation empire and has always summoned massive audiences. Other well-known pop culture icons—from Hollywood blockbusters like Star Wars to entertainment based on comics and art like DC, Marvel, and international phenomena such as Britain’s Harry Potter—also boast iconic status and huge followings. Yet, in spite of that, their popularity and fortune don’t even compare to Pokémon’s staggering $105–$288B lifetime revenue (with the highest estimates reaching $288 billion as of late 2025, including games, merchandise, trading cards, anime, and more). This makes the Pokémon franchise the highest-grossing media franchise in entertainment history, outpacing giants like Hello Kitty ($80–$88B), Mickey Mouse & Friends ($52–$70B), Winnie the Pooh ($48–$75B), Star Wars ($46–$70B), and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (~$30–$35B from box office alone, plus merch). Pokémon’s fans remain young at heart, it keeps gaining new generations of followers, and somehow manages to retain the old audiences who grew up with it from the very beginning in 1996. The recent launch of Pokémon Legends: Z-A on October 16, 2025—selling an impressive 5.8 million copies in its first week (with roughly half on the new Switch 2)—further proves the enduring power, even if lower than Scarlet and Violet’s explosive debut. So, for this article, I’ll be doing a deep analysis of today’s topic: Is Pokémon pop culture’s greatest achievement in history?

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“The cosplay community is being rocked by a horrific trend unfolding on X—but what exactly is it?”

New year, new beginnings, new excitement, and of course, new drama. Although that sounds typical, this new crazy firestorm that’s been rocking X lately is what I’d call “something else.” Today we know that, nowadays, the concept and lifestyle of hyper-sexualized living may be in a golden era—or in this case, “a dark era” for sane individuals like us. On the internet—whether it’s social media, websites like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram (especially), and of course X (formerly known as Twitter)—these platforms, along with the entire online hemisphere, are rife with sexual content. The phenomenon has gotten so out of hand that there’s now a popular term for it, which I’m sure most of you already know: “gooning.” Those who practice this insane pornography-addiction ritual are called “gooners.” Because of this wild gooning epidemic, the internet has truly lived up to its meme and that old song: “The Internet Is for Porn.”

Cosplay is a fun passion where many people dress up as characters they love—fictional ones, original ideas, and of course, all sorts of other creative concepts. In my personal opinion, cosplay is a form of artistic expression where a fictional character is brought to life by an individual simply through dressing up in a costume. While this sounds typical, it carries a very deep meaning, and when done professionally, it elevates costume-wearing to a whole new level. In other words, it’s like two souls—one from the real world and one from the fictional world—merging into one. That’s how I feel when I cosplay as my favorite characters. Of course, like all interests, cosplay has a dark side. The community is plagued by notorious issues such as racism, degradation of looks, toxic attitudes, indecent incidents, consent violations, and body-shaming. These problems run rampant throughout the cosplay community, and even as of 2026, they continue to persist. Of course, there’s another issue emerging right now—one that no one, myself included, ever expected… In fact, it’s pretty scary what’s going on…

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