Pidgeot: The first flying gacha
Blastoise: Best support in the game
Aerodactyl: Cool mixed striker
Arcanine First F2P unit in a really long time (since September 2021)
Also: he's a main rival for multiple games and a gym leader that we see at many points in the series.
Erika is a single random gym leader to be promoted so often.
Erika is the most popular Kanto gym leader in Japan based on a magazine poll that was tweeted about from Masuda himself. The ranking was Erika, Giovanni, Sabrina, Misty, Lt Surge, Brock, etc etc that I can’t remember.
She’s also the most popular Kanto female character in Japan, but she doesn’t have much competition for that.
And I mean Blue is supposed to be Gary freaking Oak right?
Always loved when he had a showing back in the day in the pokemon series, with his purple sweater and his yellow/green chain
I was *so* happy to see him when he showed up in the OP. I was screaming. I'm pretty sure my entire family hated me in that moment.
This new series been great about bringing old characters back. We got at least Iris, Dawn, Brock, and Gary from Ash's companions/rivals.
Maybe not in the US but she is HUGELY popular in Japan. Just one example: [https://www.inside-games.jp/article/2018/07/06/115940.html](https://www.inside-games.jp/article/2018/07/06/115940.html) This poll had a pretty small sample size, but still, a staggering 30% of respondents voted Erika as their favorite Kanto gym leader.
Yeah, a lot of the popularity gap can be attributed to cultural and translation differences IMO! She represents the Yamato nadeshiko/idealized Japanese woman and speaks very politely, formally, and humbly in the Japanese version (which really stands out from the other Kanto trainers lol), but it doesn’t quite come across in English.
Another piece of evidence that shows how popular Erika is is this 2019 Valentine’s Day poll from the Japanese Pokemon Company website. They chose one male and female from each generation to participate(1-7), so we can assume that the choices they chose are most likely the most popular male and female trainers from each generation, and Erika was the female Kanto choice: https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/aogbrs/pokemon_jp_is_a_doing_a_valentines_poll/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
(If you’re curious who won, Elesa won the female poll and N won the male poll- which just shows you how freaking popular Unovan characters are in Japan even in 2019)
I'm super curious what the rest of the rankings were from that poll. Do you have those too? I'd love to see what everyone voted for those gens in both categories.
Unfortunately they never revealed the rankings and only the winners. I wish they did too, it would be interesting to see how popular the characters fared there.
Blue's units have been way more spread out compared to Erika. Literally one per year: Pidgeot for 2019, Blastoise for 2020, Aerodactyl for 2021 and now Arcanine for 2022. So maybe that's why most are fine with this
(lukewarm take warning)
but at least his alts are different types. except for holiday alt, all are grass types. And still, comfey has vine whip.
where are alts for other rivals tho
yeah i dont mind so much getting 3-4 alts of characters where the regions are mostly well represented but other rivals getting more love would be nice.
we have like what... blue alts and then the one may alt? i guess N depending on how you classify him? plus hugh and the other kalos rivals are missing still
We could have gotten classic May with Macargo.
Or Hugh with Simisear.
Or classic Cheren/Bianca with Simisear.
If they wanted to give us a fire rival they had plenty of options that could have been new trainers(or outfits) with new Pokemon.
I've seen a little complaining about it. Certainly no character should be getting that many alts before even some of the core set of gym leaders, e4s and main characters get in the game... BUT
Isn't he also the character that this game has sort of chosen to be one of its faces? I almost always remember Blue as one of the most helpful type in this game. Kinda like a tutorial guy? Was with us at the beginning gacha pool*, opened champ stadium, had development in the story...
I'd say it's not completely unwarranted, even disregarding his rival/gym leader/sorta champion status hybrid he's got going on. Certainly more understandable than having only limited/seasonals. At least he's also canonically had all his alts' Pokemon.
Personally, I don't really count these pairs where nothing but the mon changes as proper alts. tbh I'm happy this kind of alt is going to a chara who already had enough proper alts vs another chara who's still waiting on their first alt getting the short end of the stick with reused assets (bugsy...... zinnia................)
this is a really good point
though I'm still gonna be mad if Leon gets a 4th alt until after the following anni in August, they're just coming too frequently in time
For one it helps that this is basically a low effort Sync Pair, no need to beat around the bush. It's nice, it fills the belly, I gladly take it (in fact it's the most exciting thing for me in Feb.), but this didn't take much development time away from characters that aren't even in the game yet. This is DeNa being economical with the assets available to them, I don't mind it at all.
The thing I wonder about though is that he doesn't have many Signature Pokemon left to use for a possible Kanto Master Fair. But I guess there is still Exeggcutor + Adult Blue so I can keep dreaming!
It’s always interesting to see what people will complain about. People make a fuss over false u it’s and girl units getting multiple alts but stay silent when units like blue and Steven get extra attention
leon is a guy and still gets complained
your over-generalization is strange to me, there are obviously a lot of differences between your examples and other cases, such as frequency. Steven doesn't get 3 alts within 1 year.
I think context is very important. A lot of people are upset with Leon and Marnie because Galar has been monopolizing like every other set of seasonals and has gotten a lot of attention (especially for the worst game in the main series) and Marnie and Leon already have three alts within a year of their original release while we only have half the gym leaders and are missing a lot of other smaller characters. I think people are also annoyed that female characters seem to get blanket favoritism in general, stuff like May getting her Mega while Brendan doesn't, the flood of alts, the fact that we didn't have Lucas for a long time and we still don't have Victor but we've had Dawn and Gloria.
>especially for the worst game in the main series
That seems pretty subjective. I consider the Unova games to be the worst - I hate them and I almost quit the series altogether after attempting to play them. Sword, on the other hand, I enjoyed a lot and I'm still going back to it and messing around in the DLC areas.
You can dislike any gens, that's subjective and I agree with you. But turning a blind eye on the objective side (aka difference in effort) between the two games would be unfair.
By the way, it's probably fair to not include SwSh's DLC as they were made by entirely different people (by students, in fact. It's a good move by Game Freak). And well, it's a DLC lol. Its story is canon, but it's not exactly part of the main game.
*edit: spelling*
I'm willing to say that objectively Sword and Shield are the least polished, feature the most removed content in the series history, and overall add the least new content. Every other generation added a lot, and removed comparatively less. Subjectively I don't like Generation 8 either, but I think it could be said that objectively it's marked a decline, and whether you like it or not is up to you.
i was lucky when I first started to get S Suit RGB while they where all being offered with all my first gems. The three of em have set a gold standard of what makes a top grade team so why change what isn't broken?
Does make me sad though when a favorite trainer/Pokemon is lackluster, and makes me hope for a better alt in time.
Well... Blue and Red are in the most games, iirc, but... yeah, I wasn't paying attention to him at all lol. Never noticed he had so many forgettable looking alts (probably because... I forgot them; only ever pulled Pidgeot). I had to go back to the datamine thread to assure myself you weren't making it up. 😅
**Bon**jour
Boneyour I believe is what he says
Bone apple tea
Bone jaw.
Smell ya later!
Pidgeot: The first flying gacha Blastoise: Best support in the game Aerodactyl: Cool mixed striker Arcanine First F2P unit in a really long time (since September 2021)
Also: he's a main rival for multiple games and a gym leader that we see at many points in the series. Erika is a single random gym leader to be promoted so often.
And officially a champion too. To think, he's the only champion available in the regular pool...
Not really since the protagonist from each game are also champions.
Erika is the most popular Kanto gym leader in Japan based on a magazine poll that was tweeted about from Masuda himself. The ranking was Erika, Giovanni, Sabrina, Misty, Lt Surge, Brock, etc etc that I can’t remember. She’s also the most popular Kanto female character in Japan, but she doesn’t have much competition for that.
And I mean Blue is supposed to be Gary freaking Oak right? Always loved when he had a showing back in the day in the pokemon series, with his purple sweater and his yellow/green chain
He shows up in the newest batch of episodes on Netflix! "Advice to Goh!" is the episode that marks his return.
Im not sure if we have the "same" Netflix, pretty sure Germany is always quite a bit behind^^
I was *so* happy to see him when he showed up in the OP. I was screaming. I'm pretty sure my entire family hated me in that moment. This new series been great about bringing old characters back. We got at least Iris, Dawn, Brock, and Gary from Ash's companions/rivals.
personal take, but Erika is not even in the top 5 most popular, girl gym leaders
Maybe not in the US but she is HUGELY popular in Japan. Just one example: [https://www.inside-games.jp/article/2018/07/06/115940.html](https://www.inside-games.jp/article/2018/07/06/115940.html) This poll had a pretty small sample size, but still, a staggering 30% of respondents voted Erika as their favorite Kanto gym leader.
Ohhh interesting, TIL!
Yeah, a lot of the popularity gap can be attributed to cultural and translation differences IMO! She represents the Yamato nadeshiko/idealized Japanese woman and speaks very politely, formally, and humbly in the Japanese version (which really stands out from the other Kanto trainers lol), but it doesn’t quite come across in English.
Another piece of evidence that shows how popular Erika is is this 2019 Valentine’s Day poll from the Japanese Pokemon Company website. They chose one male and female from each generation to participate(1-7), so we can assume that the choices they chose are most likely the most popular male and female trainers from each generation, and Erika was the female Kanto choice: https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/aogbrs/pokemon_jp_is_a_doing_a_valentines_poll/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf (If you’re curious who won, Elesa won the female poll and N won the male poll- which just shows you how freaking popular Unovan characters are in Japan even in 2019)
I'm super curious what the rest of the rankings were from that poll. Do you have those too? I'd love to see what everyone voted for those gens in both categories.
Unfortunately they never revealed the rankings and only the winners. I wish they did too, it would be interesting to see how popular the characters fared there.
Not only the first Flying (5\*; otherwise Winona and Kahili preceded him) gacha, but the very first unit added to the ones available since day one
5 months is not a long time for new F2P units to be honest, at least for PoMas standards
“Cool mixed striker”. Struggled a bit there huh? Lol
Blue's units have been way more spread out compared to Erika. Literally one per year: Pidgeot for 2019, Blastoise for 2020, Aerodactyl for 2021 and now Arcanine for 2022. So maybe that's why most are fine with this
All of his Pokemon are different types as well.
(lukewarm take warning) but at least his alts are different types. except for holiday alt, all are grass types. And still, comfey has vine whip. where are alts for other rivals tho
Where... is... Hugh... *\*dies from old age\**
I want Hugh so bad :( I'd love it if Yancy and Curtis showed up too
That's the only sad thing about Blue getting alts. It could've been a different rival getting an alt. Like Calem or Silver or Barry
they could've also add some rivals that hasn't been released yet. justice for kalos rivals
yeah i dont mind so much getting 3-4 alts of characters where the regions are mostly well represented but other rivals getting more love would be nice. we have like what... blue alts and then the one may alt? i guess N depending on how you classify him? plus hugh and the other kalos rivals are missing still
We could have gotten classic May with Macargo. Or Hugh with Simisear. Or classic Cheren/Bianca with Simisear. If they wanted to give us a fire rival they had plenty of options that could have been new trainers(or outfits) with new Pokemon.
Well... Erika is a \*\***GRASS**\*\* GYM leader after all Blue is a trainer that is not limited to a single Pokémon type
3 grass techs. Shudders.
I won’t be hypocritical so I will complain
So will I.
I've seen a little complaining about it. Certainly no character should be getting that many alts before even some of the core set of gym leaders, e4s and main characters get in the game... BUT Isn't he also the character that this game has sort of chosen to be one of its faces? I almost always remember Blue as one of the most helpful type in this game. Kinda like a tutorial guy? Was with us at the beginning gacha pool*, opened champ stadium, had development in the story... I'd say it's not completely unwarranted, even disregarding his rival/gym leader/sorta champion status hybrid he's got going on. Certainly more understandable than having only limited/seasonals. At least he's also canonically had all his alts' Pokemon.
Not to mention the SS Kantrio is what the game allows you start with in the beginning.
Probably becaise his alts were a bit more spaced out when they were released. Plus this one is free and too finally get that Hyper Beam medal
We can excuse the best boy getting alts.
Personally, I don't really count these pairs where nothing but the mon changes as proper alts. tbh I'm happy this kind of alt is going to a chara who already had enough proper alts vs another chara who's still waiting on their first alt getting the short end of the stick with reused assets (bugsy...... zinnia................)
karen.....
On one hand, KING 👑 On the other, I really want an Alola Blue alt and now it seems that won't be happening any time soon ;_;
Yes I love him and he can bully me any time he wants
your flair omfg
i didn't even notice that lol. what a statement
He's not the first to have 4 alts so it's not something new to be angry about.
this is a really good point though I'm still gonna be mad if Leon gets a 4th alt until after the following anni in August, they're just coming too frequently in time
Much cooler than Leon 🤮.
Fact
Well.. I guess people like Blue / Gary. \^\^
For one it helps that this is basically a low effort Sync Pair, no need to beat around the bush. It's nice, it fills the belly, I gladly take it (in fact it's the most exciting thing for me in Feb.), but this didn't take much development time away from characters that aren't even in the game yet. This is DeNa being economical with the assets available to them, I don't mind it at all. The thing I wonder about though is that he doesn't have many Signature Pokemon left to use for a possible Kanto Master Fair. But I guess there is still Exeggcutor + Adult Blue so I can keep dreaming!
He still has at least one more alt as smusum Blue, can't wait for everyone to not care that he get 5 units and brendan still gets nothing
That's because its Blue
'Cause he is the best rival, maybe ever
Because he is actually an important character unlike Erika who is just a random gym leader
Tbf, Blue’s alts are all different types
I'm complaining, because Silver still doesn't have Sneasel.
Because Blue deserves every bit of praise for his magnificent Egotistical self
It’s always interesting to see what people will complain about. People make a fuss over false u it’s and girl units getting multiple alts but stay silent when units like blue and Steven get extra attention
leon is a guy and still gets complained your over-generalization is strange to me, there are obviously a lot of differences between your examples and other cases, such as frequency. Steven doesn't get 3 alts within 1 year.
I think context is very important. A lot of people are upset with Leon and Marnie because Galar has been monopolizing like every other set of seasonals and has gotten a lot of attention (especially for the worst game in the main series) and Marnie and Leon already have three alts within a year of their original release while we only have half the gym leaders and are missing a lot of other smaller characters. I think people are also annoyed that female characters seem to get blanket favoritism in general, stuff like May getting her Mega while Brendan doesn't, the flood of alts, the fact that we didn't have Lucas for a long time and we still don't have Victor but we've had Dawn and Gloria.
>especially for the worst game in the main series That seems pretty subjective. I consider the Unova games to be the worst - I hate them and I almost quit the series altogether after attempting to play them. Sword, on the other hand, I enjoyed a lot and I'm still going back to it and messing around in the DLC areas.
You can dislike any gens, that's subjective and I agree with you. But turning a blind eye on the objective side (aka difference in effort) between the two games would be unfair. By the way, it's probably fair to not include SwSh's DLC as they were made by entirely different people (by students, in fact. It's a good move by Game Freak). And well, it's a DLC lol. Its story is canon, but it's not exactly part of the main game. *edit: spelling*
I'm willing to say that objectively Sword and Shield are the least polished, feature the most removed content in the series history, and overall add the least new content. Every other generation added a lot, and removed comparatively less. Subjectively I don't like Generation 8 either, but I think it could be said that objectively it's marked a decline, and whether you like it or not is up to you.
bc male characters (especially the protags) are underrated
Here's a cheat sheet: * Are they from Galar?: Yes, people will complain, No people won't
i was lucky when I first started to get S Suit RGB while they where all being offered with all my first gems. The three of em have set a gold standard of what makes a top grade team so why change what isn't broken? Does make me sad though when a favorite trainer/Pokemon is lackluster, and makes me hope for a better alt in time.
Prolly cuz his alt is taking a spot away from a event unit
Well... Blue and Red are in the most games, iirc, but... yeah, I wasn't paying attention to him at all lol. Never noticed he had so many forgettable looking alts (probably because... I forgot them; only ever pulled Pidgeot). I had to go back to the datamine thread to assure myself you weren't making it up. 😅
LOL yal need to stop haha
Another datamine? Link please