Damn. I never wanted a pit bull until now.
That beats the heck out of sharks with frickin’ laser beams attached to their heads.
Well, there’s a fourth-grader at my church whose Pokemon obsession was so bad that his parents finally pulled the plug on the whole thing, “no more cards”, and then he discovered last month that he could sneak out during Wednesday night kids’ church on pretense of going to the bathroom, and he could meet up with this fifth-grader, also similarly constrained by parental dictums, and they could trade pokemon cards in the boys’ room.
See, it’s a Satanic entry-level drug. First it’s the videos, then it’s the cards, then the next thing you know, you’re cutting church… 
Is he starting to memorize jokes from Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang?
Pokemon is still huge. The Diamond and Pearl games for the DS (released last April) have sold an absurd number of copies over the past year, and that’s before you get into stuff like the cards, magazines, toys, etc.
I’m a big Poke-fan who has been watching the cartoon since it first started airing (back in, like, '98? God, I’m old), and I agree with everything Tengu said. The show has a really strong moral core, and anyone who deviates from it is punished in some way.