Thus, the latest fad hits us like a thundershock attack from Raichu (an evolved form of Pikachu, dontcha' know). There are now hundreds of duly licensed Pokémon products cramming the stores, so kids can pick-and-choose their Pikachus, be they on book bags, notebooks, T-shirts, or virtually any paraphernalia his likeness fits upon. Warner Bros. is bringing out Pokémon: The Movie in November (a holiday release; what timing!), and you can already listen to the Pokémon 2BA Master: Songs From The TV Show CD, which includes the "Pokérap." Well, all the better for Messrs. Tajari, Ishihara and Kubota; if their research was that slick and the overall marketing strategy that clever, then their riches are probably well deserved. Having owned, at various stages in life, a Howdy Doody swimming pool, a Zorro mask and cape, a Beany-copter cap, and enough Batman trading cards to pave the streets of Gotham City, I can only shake my head in admiration and dish out $9.99 for an adorable plush Squirtle. No...make that a Pokémon Micro Playset...or maybe a few Power Bouncers...

At any rate, I'll probably need to move quickly; somewhere in this world some toy, video game, comic book, or RPG developers are creating the next must-have commodity. Attention spans being what they are in this "what's hot/what's not" culture, Pokémon may be moving to the closet shelves, clearance racks, and fading memories of millions of kids fairly soon, so better "get 'em all" while you can. After the locomotive roars by, you can almost hear the kids chanting in the schoolyards:

He-Man, Care Bears, GI Joe,
Pink Ranger, Blue Ranger, Donatello
In a year, less than two,
They'll be joined by Pikachu !

Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman is a longtime student and fan of animation. He lives in Anderson, Indiana.