Dollar Tree being only a single dollar on everything.
I didn’t know Dollar Tree existed further back in the years like the 80s. But, I didn’t discover the store until like late 2000s. That store was a godsend for my then mostly broke ass. Sure the quality of products could’ve been better and the food selection could’ve been better, but they were there for me and others who’re strapped on budgets.
And it was a good 16 years while that lasted. It is a little annoying at times to shop there and know it is no different than Dollar General and Family Dollar. But it could’ve been worse.
I stopped at Gen 4.
I look at Pokemon now and where it is and all I can think is how lazy and cash-grabby it really tries to be. Not like it hasn’t been cash-grabby before, it was just a lot more clever about it back in the day and striking while the iron was very hot. But the developers of Pokemon have gained a reputation as being considerably lazy and nuanced about where they’re taking the series. For example, Satoru Iwata is the key reason that Gold and Silver was able to have both the Johto and Kanto regions. He helped use a special compression method that made it work, while the original devs were fretting about in how to do it and was considering cutting content out.
These days though, it’s been evident how truly lazy the devs are, they’ve relied on name brand alone to carry them. Like yes, I know Pokemon was geared for kids and everything should be simple and all. But even the kids deserve something better than what garbage that has been shoveled out.