If you are a Genwunner or only appreciate a single Pokemon generation, are you a “real” Pokemon fan?
Please debate respectfully.
Of course they are, and so are those who specifically prefer gen 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and/or 9
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Sure they can absolutely be real, authentic fans of only the original 151. There’s plenty of content catered to just them in the pokemon ecosystem. It can also just be annoying if you want to discuss anything about more than 1/10th of a 30 year old hobby with them.
Tons of them though are just surface level nostalgia heads who barely even know Gen 1 outside of Charizard and Gengar who also claim to want to relive their childhood (I never understood that sentiment) while they are mostly really just poorly trying to chase a buck (not to say some poke nerds aren’t also just chasing a buck, but it’s certainly harder to tell with them lol)
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Of course they are. Who gets to define “real” fans?
That said I think we can all agree that Logan Paul is NOT a real fan.
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I appreciate the conversation starter…
Surely it comes down to preferences, judgement and good taste.
Some of us have it; some don’t. 
Yes. There are people that just collect one single pokemon and then are also fans.
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Yeah of course! You also hear people claim that if you don’t play the card game you’re not a real fan, or don’t play video games then you’re not a real fan…
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This is me. I do love Pokemon, but only really follow / play / collect Gen 1.
I do feel completely left out at card shows though
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It’s those Genfivers you need to watch out for. Those guys are weeeeiiiiiirrrdddd
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I cant name a single pokemon after gen 3 and i only collect one pokemon
I am a real pokemon fan
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I’m mainly a Genwunner, but I grew up with Gen 1-3 and enjoyed all 3 immensely. If you haven’t played Gold/Silver/Crystal and Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald, I’d highly recommend them. I’m convinced that many strict Genwunners would gel very well with the Gen 2 and 3 games, mainly because the theming and flow of the games is very similar, and the Pokémon are still relatively easy to relate to and enjoy.
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Nobody else said this yet but I feel like there’s a distinction between “someone who has preferences for gen 1” and a “genwunner”. I think the former group are real fans and the latter group are bad people.
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I love Gen 1.
I love Gen 2.
I like Gen 3.
I like Gen 4
I like Gen 5
I have no clue about Gen 6
I have no clue about Gen 7 (but I love S&M era cards)
I quite like Gen 8
Gen 9 may as well not exist
Collecting old stuff doesn’t make me more of a collector than someone who just collects SWSH era reverse Holos or some madness. Real collectors are people who have passion for what they’re doing, and treat people with respect.
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Yeah, and the funny thing is that if Pokémon continues into perpetuity, these first 9 generations will seem virtually indistinct from one another once our great grandkids are collecting Gen 50. Everything becomes ‘old’ eventually. There’s a funny thing about time and our perception of physical objects. While we handle cheap ultra-modern promos and ARs without too much affection or thought, one day those cards will be decades old, and despite it being the same physical object that we once paid £5/10/20 for, they’ll one day be worth hundreds if not thousands because the perception of them and what they represent in the hahbee will have completely shifted. Fascinating stuff.
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I’m tempted to tag @genwunner, but since he’s been inactive since late 2023, I’ll refrain from doing so.
But to answer the question: sure they are. Some people like all Pokémon; some only one or two gens; some only very select Pokémon and nothing else. As long as they’re having fun with anything Pokémon related, I’d say they’re Pokémon fans.
Likewise, there are also a lot of Pokémon fans that never collected anything of the franchise. They’ve been playing the games, or maybe watch the anime episodes/movies, but they’re still big fans.
Greetz,
Quuador
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I’ll push back respectfully on this. Mostly for sake of discussion, but also because when I apply the same question to other categories I don’t get the same answer.
If you only like the first album from the Beatles, are you a true Beatles fan? What if you only listen to one song over and over and over? I would say then, unfortunately, that you aren’t.
If you only like the first movie of a trilogy or series of movies, are you really a fan of the franchise? What if you only watch one scene over and over and over? If you only liked the first season of Doctor Who, but didn’t watch or look down upon seasons after, are you really a fan? Or if you only watch one episode over and over and over? I do think the answer would be no.
I think you’d fall into the category of a Beatles/Movie/Series/Doctor Who purist, but not necessarily a fan of the thing itself. This also assumed that the purist would think that the thing couldn’t get better as it goes on, and that the first thing made was the best and everything just got worse from there. When, if you stick around long enough, the later stuff can actually be better than the first. I think of The Return of the King, the Beatles White Album, the 10th Doctor of Doctor Who…all incredible things.
If Pokemon retconned the first gen of Pokemon, would the Genwunners stick around? From what it seems like it looks like the answer would be no. If they retconned a single Pokemon and just got rid of it and said it doesn’t exist anymore, and that Pokemon was the one you collect, would you stick around? I know if that happened to me I would strongly consider thinking Pokemon was the devil and just leaving lol
I think being a “real” Pokemon fan like the question suggests would mean that you like what Pokemon (the creative entity) produces and are excited for what they will create, not necessarily like a single thing that they did when they first started.
I’d be interested to hear what everyone’s thought on this are, especially when considering other categories. Interesting question for sure! 
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Perfectly sums it up.
If you are a Beedrill collector and only like Beedrill, then your not a Pokemon fan. You are just a fan of Beedrill.
If your only into gen 1 then you are not a Pokemon fan. You are just liking this one album not the band.
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If you don’t like a certain song does that mean you don’t like music?
I would say yes, though it really depends what you mean by “fan” at the end of the day. Personally I think it’s a self-identifier.
But more importantly, what do we gain from this? Are we trying to make an in and out group? For what reason?
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