Base Breaking Character / Pokémon

Given the sheer amount of Pokémon and human characters in the games alone, it's only natural that there are some of them that fans have differing opinions about.

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Games

Gen I

• Pikachu, the Series Mascot, is a world-renowned icon and generally liked by the older fanbase; especially from Gen VI onward, most fans consider it to be a Sacred Cow due to its adorable design and universal appeal, and for not having an annoyingly vocal fandom in the vein of other popular Pokémon like Charizard. However, depending on how heavily it's marketed at the time (particularly compared to other Pokémon), it occasionally goes through periods of resentment and even hatred by some older fans due to its "cute" Kid-Appeal Character nature, being one of the weakest Pokémon in a library of 1000 unique creatures and counting, and association with the divisive anime, with the dawn of "Pokémania" and early parts of Generation V^note due to the fact that Pikachu stood out like a sore thumb among the purely new Pokémon probably being the periods where its hate was most notable. It also gets backlash from fans of its evolved form Raichu, since the franchise seems to go out of its way to ignore Raichu.
• All three of Kanto's fully evolved starter Pokémon have become this, in light of the franchise's heavy emphasis on First Installment Wins and Charizard becoming a heavily-marketed Breakout Character:
  • Venusaur, while one of the most popular Pokémon, is also the least popular of the Kanto starter trio (in an opposite vein to Charizard); some people consider it to be cool and badass, while others consider it ugly and unappealing compared to Charizard and Blastoise, and even its own pre-evolutions (Bulbasaur in particular is universally loved by the fandom). Nonetheless, Venusaur has many fans for being the underdog of the Kanto trio, and it helps that it was the most competitively viable of the three until Gen VI (and it still has the most viable base form).
  • Charizard became this due to its excessive Wolverine Publicity. While it has always been the breakout fan-favorite of the three Kanto starter evolutions, once it began topping popularity polls, it started getting disproportionate amounts of favoritism over Venusaur and Blastoise, let alone other starters in general. This culminated in its appearance in Pokémon Sword and Shield, where it was the only non-Galar starter to be obtainable in the game and to get a Gigantamax form (prior to the DLC expansions) and received heaping amounts of Character Shilling as Champion Leon's ace Pokémon. While many people (especially younger and old-school fans) continued to think that Charizard is the coolest thing ever, others (especially fans of Generations 3-5) got increasingly sick of the excessive attention it was getting within the franchise and are frustrated with its generic dragon design and/or its popularity and attention, not helping that unlike Venusaur and Blastoise, it can be transferred to Pokémon Scarlet and Violet prior the announcement of every starter Pokémon returning for the DLC.
  • Compared to Venusaur and Charizard, Blastoise's fanbase is less vocal, but it also attracts less criticism than the other two starters. It is a very popular Pokémon, but some fans find that it's almost as much of a gonk as Venusaur, and others find it kinda bland compared to Venusaur and/or Charizard (if it retracts its cannons then it just looks like any old turtle monster),. That said, it doesn't elicit the same visceral reaction that some fans have to Charizard's Wolverine Publicity or Venusaur's overly monstrous design, and would love to see an adaptation where the main character picks it over the other starters, making it more of a downplayed example.
• Magmar, and its whole evolutionary line except for Magby. Some people like it for being a powerful Fire-type Pokémon, while others find it ugly and mock its design (such as its forehead having an unfortunate resemblance to a butt) and Japanese name of "Boober". In turn, some fans like Magmar precisely because of its goofy design.
• Dragonite is fairly divisive for a pseudo-legendary. Some people love it for being a mighty Badass Adorable, and great in competitive play without being as much of a Game-Breaker as other pseudo-legendaries. Others find it to be too dopey and unthreatening, infamously likening it to Barney the Dinosaur. Possibly to address the latter camp, Dragonite has been increasingly depicted with angry facial expressions and in badass poses, which make it more similar to Charizard — though its cuddly/friendly depictions aren't completely gone. It's also contentious among fans of Dragonair since it's a drastic departure from its previous stage's sleek, feminine appearance, and some fans would have preferred something more like Milotic for its final stage.

Gen II

Pokémon

• The Chikorita line. Although several people like the line for being Badass Adorable (especially Chikorita which is considered a Ridiculously Cute Critter), several others hate the line for being one of the weakest starters in the series (if not the weakest) — Meganium is a Jack of All Stats, Master of None whose defenses are good, but its attacking stats are weak for an evolved Pokémon on top of having a very shallow movepool, both making it difficult to properly use in the games until the trip to Kanto, and giving it no merit in competitive play. A third camp appeals to both points, saying the Chikorita line is hated too much and that it does encompass Badass Adorable, but that it's also one of Game Freak's most neglected Pokémon lines.
• Typhlosion, though not to the extent of the Chikorita line. It is both liked for its evolution following a design order from the adorable Cyndaquil that ends up as badass, and for being the best starter to use in Gold/Silver/Crystal and HeartGold/SoulSilver. Or it is contested for being too generic both design-wise and gameplay-wise (a mono-Fire typing, a movepool with minimal variety, and its stats being identical to Charizard), and for its model removing the fire from its back unless it performs an attack (a trait that would follow it until Scarlet/Violet). Its Hisuian form, however, has been widely received with open arms due to its design, interesting lore and Fire/Ghost typing, alleviating Typhlosion from some criticism.
• It's a hot topic to discuss whether or not Crobat's existence redeems the Zubat line, or is just as rotten as its predecessors.

Humans

• Whitney is liked for being a Badass Adorable trainer or disliked for the sudden Difficulty Spike her boss battle brings, no thanks to her Miltank. Her crying and refusal to give you the badge after a hard-fought battle until you talk to a trainer in the Gym only adds fuel to the fire.
• Similarly, Clair is either loved for having an Awesome Ego and providing a suitable challenge for an eighth gym, or utterly hated for refusing to give you the Rising Badge and forcing you to venture into the Dragon's Den to either take a test in the Dragon Shrine, or find the Dragon Fang. The remakes considerably mellowed her out by making her ego more of an insecurity, and giving her a heaping dose of Character Development seen when you rematch her and face her and Lance in a double battle.

Gen III

Pokémon

• The Torchic line, but especially Blaziken. On one side, Blaziken's design is seen as cool for resembling a cockfighting chicken, and is acclaimed as the strongest starter to use in competitive and in-game (despite its native region, Hoenn, being home to a lot of Water-types). On the other hand, some people find Blaziken to be somewhat ugly and blame it for being the start of the Fire/Fighting trend that occurred for the next two generations. Some others don't like how it also became a High-Tier Scrappy starting in Generation V thanks to getting Speed Boost as a Hidden Ability. That said, much like its Grass and Water counterparts, Blaziken is still a fairly popular starter, so its case isn't as big as many other mons.
• Once a straight Ensemble Dark Horse, Gardevoir has fallen into this territory beginning roughly around Gen VI. A good chunk of the fanbase continues to love it for its beautiful waif-like design and benevolent-yet-powerful nature. However, an equally sized portion loathes it for having a design that looks a bit too human, accusing it of being a thirst trap (especially considering the rate-breakingly high volume of Rule 34 art depicting it). Additionally, a number of fans blame it for the designs of later generations of Pokemon becoming more anthropomorphic, citing it as "patient zero" for the franchise's alleged shift to "human-like/anthropomorphic" designs; hilariously enough, it doesn't help that Gardevoir was included in the "Human-Like" Egg Group since Gen VIII.

Humans

• Wallace in Emerald; his inclusion as the region's Champion split the fanbase down the middle. Some people either don't mind or like the idea of Wallace being upgraded from Gym Leader to Champion, showing that Gym leaders aren't just second-rate compared to them. The rest, however, weren't fond of him replacing fan-favorite Steven Stone, with his spotlight both relegating Steven to a wandering trainer and a one-time challengable optional Superboss, and also helping contribute to the Elite Four being almost forgotten by fans. Some also cite how Wallace's Champion status only proves evidence that the Hoenn region has a high water mass and further help spawn the "too much water" quote from IGN.

Gen IV

Pokémon

• The Generation IV evolutions of Pokémon from earlier generations. Either they're creative evolutions of otherwise forgettable mons from previous generations, or hideous design departures from their pre-evolutions (not helped by many being evolutions of first generation mons). The latter opinion was widely held when they were first revealed, but over time, some of the evolutions have grown on many fans. In regards to their availability and effectiveness in combat, it doesn't help that some of them evolve via trading while holding a specific item, are outclassed by their pre-evolutions after the introduction of Eviolite in Gen V, or both. Possibly as a result, Game Freak has worked hard to rectify this, as later generations have introduced new evolutions for perceivedly highly forgettable Pokémon (ex. Stantler and Qwilfish in Legends: Arceus, Dunsparce and Girafarig in Scarlet and Violet). Three-stage evolutionary lines have also become less common, with more emphasis on single-staged or two-staged families with a significantly weak base form to not outclass the final evolution.
  • Out of the evolutions introduced by Gen IV, Rhyperior deserves special mention. While it's a very powerful Pokémon whose ability promotes much more survivability given the line's poor defensive typing, it's often lambasted for its overly bulky design (similar to Emboar and Conkeldurr), but even more so because it evolves from Rhydon, whose design was more popular and more rhinoceros-like.
  • In general, it seemed that the evolutions of the Gen I Pokémon (with the exceptions of Magnezone and the Eeveelutions) sparked the most controversy, while the evolutions of Gen II Pokémon (ex. Weavile and Honchkrow) and Gen III Pokémon (ex. Gallade and Roserade) were more warmly received.
• The Bronzor line. On one hand, they have very high defenses and their Steel/Psychic typing made them weak to either Fire or Ground (depending on ability) ^note Heatproof or Levitate respectively until Gen VI. On the other hand, they're quite annoying to fight, and they're just another Animate Inanimate Object Pokémon, and some fans don't cotton to those. There's also the fact that Steel losing resistances to Dark and Ghost in Gen VI and the (unnecessary for some) buff to Knock Off shattered most of its viability in the higher tiers of competitive play.
• Garchomp. You either love it for being an badass looking dragon and being an absolute beast both in-game and in competitive play thanks to its accessibility, well-rounded stats and movepool, or hate it for being one of the biggest High-Tier Scrappies in the franchise (at least until Gen VI came around) and, similarly to Charizard, its enormous popularity.
• Lucario, ever since its introduction in the eighth movie, it's been a contentious Pokémon. Either it's out-and-out awesome and its huge popularity isn't a bad thing, or it is given too much attention. Although Lucario's appearance in Black 2/White 2 was well-liked for turning a previously rare, yet very popular Pokémon with Late Character Syndrome into one of the earliest and best Pokémon to use in-game, X and Y repeating the same thing was criticized, and not helping matters is that it was these games where its Wolverine Publicity was cranked up from previous appearances, with many people drawing comparisons to Lightning and Rosalina in terms of excessive overexposure.
• Heatran has its fans for being an amazing take on another volcanic Pokémon, especially one that's Fire/Steel, as well as being one of the very few Legendary Pokémon that can be gendered (with its male/female ratio being perfectly balanced). Its status as one of the best Pokémon in competitive play (without being too broken) is also well-liked. However, it's also got some detractors due to its ugly, ambiguous design, as well as forming part of the Legendary Pokémon bloat that the generation is infamous for. Even among those that love the Sinnoh games for their focus on legendaries, Heatran is disliked because it has very little in the way of in-game lore and it’s hard to gauge what it’s role is in the mythology of the Pokémon world.
• Arceus. Some people don't take too kindly to the notion that it's supposed to be the god who created the Pokémon world, as it makes other deified legendaries look less impressive by comparison. Its stats, ability, and movepool are certainly worthy of praise as god-like, though ironically, Arceus itself is on the receiving end of obsoleteness following the advent of powerful forms for major legendaries since X/Y. Fortunately, Legends: Arceus has managed to win some detractors by giving Arceus a less subtle role in the story, cementing its status as a Big Good as well as its boss battle (and the optional Superboss one) being a sight to behold.

Humans

• Barry, as the years have passed, has slowly been receiving more scorn from the fanbase. Some people find Barry Adorkable and a worthy rival that does try to get tougher at the same rhythm as you do, and undergoes some important Character Development by the hands of Team Galactic that lets him take it more seriously, especially in Platinum where his team eventually becomes the strongest of any rivals in any Pokémon game. Others think his energy gets annoying later on in the story and that he is not nearly as badass as Blue in Gen I and Silver in Gen II. Recently, many of Barry's detractors have also painted him as the "original friendly rival" that created the massive amount of blasè rivals that would be later decried. Defenders of Barry will point out that he is still driven by a desire to one-up the player character despite his losses, and that not only his Heroic BSoD happens due to the villainous team, but his character development happens in time in the story rather than at the very end and that it involves a great case of The Dog Bites Back. Fans also feel it's unfair to blame Barry for starting the trend when both of his predecessors (Brendan/May and Wally) were friendly rivals as well. Whereas his detractors will dismiss these points and say that despite this and his team becoming much stronger (especially in Platinum), the damage to his personality and to the development of future rivals is already done.
• Team Galactic as a whole. Some view them as an entertaining team with an epic goal led by the decently written threat Cyrus, and a few will defend them for some of the grunts being a good source of laughs^note "Our objectives are incredible—too incredible for me to understand! I'll fight blindly to defend them, and your intrusion won't be forgiven!". Others view them as idiotic villains with incoherent motives, with Cyrus in particular coming under fire for being very confusing in what his points and objectives are and having a weak Freudian Excuse. At the very least, they have received less unanimous disdain than Team Flare, and their Platinum incarnation has been seen more positively because of the team in general becoming much more badass and competent in their goal.
• Cynthia, although not to the extent of other human characters. She is beloved for being a badass Champion with a near-perfect team that is very well-known for giving people A LOT of trouble —to memetic levels—, on top of having an endearing personality, and helping the player's progress (similarly to Steven Stone in Gen III, and especially present in Platinum), and being given Character Shilling in later games like HeartGold/SoulSilver, Gen V and Gen VII. That said, she still has detractors for precisely being given too much spotlight, due to her constant appearances in subsequent games and despite some other characters getting as much spotlight as her (Looker, for example). Criticism has been also been directed at her characterization for coming off as generic, and not having that much of a role in the actual conflict with Team Galactic (though other media like the anime tend to improve on this). A couple of small vocal minorities either don't precisely enjoy how difficult her battles tend to be or just found her Champion battle to be "not as hard as other people say it is".

Gen V

Pokémon

• The starters of this generation ended up being notoriously contentious among the fandom, a trend that would be passed down to future generations:
  • Snivy's line had a period of insane memetic popularity at the time of release of Black/White, though not without It's Popular, Now It Sucks! also being in play. The popularity was brief, however, as its final evolution, Serperior, became infamous for two motives. Its design got rid of its limbs^note Its arms, while still present in its design and just folded behind its back, are barely noticeable, either, which alienated it for many people as it departs a lot from its previous forms. Its gameplay was also lamented for being a repeat of Meganium as one of the weakest starters in the entire series, even for in-game purposes — despite its cool design, its attacking stats (other than Speed) were absolutely pathetic given its mono-Grass typing. Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire subdued the latter point by finally releasing its Hidden Ability Contrary, allowing it to use Leaf Storms that would boost its Special Attack as opposed to dropping it and vindicating the line for good (although more-so in competitive play).
  • For Tepig's line, it's a matter of whether their evolutions look badass or are a big departure and make no sense at all. Particularly, Emboar remains one of the most disliked starters in the series —even well into Gen IX—, often used as a punchline for Fire-type starters from later generations evolving into Fire/Fighting types. Some people argue that Emboar's typing is so blatantly lazy that it ruined the reputations of the Unova starters, or even the Unova Pokédex, as a whole. Despite this, Emboar has its defenders, especially after multiple generations of not reusing its Fire/Fighting typing. Some people like its rugged design, and thanks to its Hidden Ability of Reckless, which gives a boost to not just its Flare Blitz but other coverage moves in Wild Charge and Head Smash, it's generally regarded as decent in competitive play and better than many other starters.
  • As for Oshawott's line, some people love the otter unconditionally, while others think it has a stupid character design. The evolution into the quadrupedal, sea lion-esque Samurott, is also especially contested; some people think it looks badass and will point out it has a good movepool, while others argue it's a large departure from the initial two forms, on top of pointing out its awkward stats. However, in light of the starters from following generations becoming overly anthropomorphized, some have actually warmed up to Samurott's design in hindsight for taking a cool concept (a samurai sea lion Dual Wielding BFS) and executing it in a way that still feels like an animal rather than a furry. Samurott's Hisuian form has also been better received for its more interesting Water/Dark dual typing and more elaborate armor patterning, not to mention its better stat distribution.
• The Vanillite and Trubbish lines, who have been the start of many flame wars. These evolutionary lines are the most commonly criticized Pokémon of Gen V, and are the go-to examples for people who believe Game Freak is running out of ideas. But you will find just as many people defending them, either because they genuinely like these Pokémon's designs, finding them to be ridiculously cute and/or Ugly Cute, or they just think the hatred is taken too far.
• Both forms of Kyurem got mixed reception. On the one hand, they had the highest base stat totals for their time after Arceus (not counting Mega Evolutions, Primal Reversions and Eternamax Eternatus). On the other hand, many think their asymmetrical, complicated designs don't do justice to the more popular Reshiram and Zekrom required to create them — particularly with Black Kyurem, which has a Top-Heavy Guy design that makes it look like a giant Druddigon.
• The Forces of Nature, Tornadus, Thundurus and Landorus. A lot of it comes down to their designs, as the Incarnate forms of the trio are so close in design as to resemble Palette Swaps at first glance, which sparks accusations of them being lazy. The Therian forms give them more unique looks, which creates debates over whether this saves their designs or whether the Therian forms are simply ugly on their own merits. Conceptually, they also tend to start arguments, with some appreciating their references to Japanese storm gods and Tornadus's status as the first pure Flying-type, and others still not being on board, whether due to not being familiar with their original inspirations or being familiar and still finding Landorus unnecessary. The addition of Enamorus turning the trio into a quartet and finally giving a unique design among the Incarnates seems to be at least welcomed for patching one of the group's bigger issues, though Enamorus itself still gets a lot of the usual "it's ugly" gripes from detractors, claiming to have a garish, overly gendered design. There is also the camp that reviles the group for being notoriously really strong in competitive play, no matter the format.

Humans

• Bianca. Many people find her cute and her story of finally being able to go out on her journey by coming to terms with her father to be great characterization. Others think she's annoying, overly ditzy, is present for far too much in the game, and should just go away and not bother you while you're trying to go about your own journey.
• Alder. His fans appreciate his depth and backstory as well as half his team (particularly his ace Volcarona) displaying the power of the notoriously poor Bug Pokémon, while his detractors deride him for losing to N and being a lackluster Post-Final Boss after the much bigger challenge defeating Ghetsis.
• Hugh. When artwork of him was first shown, almost everyone fell in love with how badass he looked, with many expecting him to be another Jerkass rival in the same vein as Blue and Silver. Once his role in the story was unveiled, fan opinion of him became largely mixed. Some praised him for being the first rival in the series to have a fleshed out backstory and whose motivation wasn't to just be stronger than the protagonist, while others disliked the fact that all he cared about was Team Plasma and he didn't really feel like a rival, fighting alongside you as much as against you. A few others were also not fond of him not being the Jerkass rival his design suggests.
• Marlon. Some like his unique design and found his Surfer Dude personality and role in the game amusing, while others think his design looks ridiculous and found his personality and laid-back attitude regarding Team Plasma to be incredibly irritating.
• Whether Iris being the new champion in Black 2/White 2 was a good move or not. Her anime counterpart, who is also very polarizing herself (as soundly described below in the "Anime" folder), affects most of the fan reactions even to those who are okay with her in-game personality. Some prefer the previous set of protagonists to be the champion instead, since Iris already replaces them in the anime.

Gen VI

Pokémon

• As with Gen V, all three of the starter's final evolved forms drew a lot of mixed reactions among fandoms:
  • With Chesnaught, some like its bulky knight design, while other think it's too generic next to the others and too much of a departure from its pre-evolutions (despite it being justified because of the way chestnuts mature).
  • With Delphox, some fans like its design along its typing since the previous three Fire starters were Fire/Fighting. On the other hand, some fans dislike its design, saying it appeals too much to the Furry Fandom. Its typing is also contested since it gives Delphox five typing weaknesses, and its limited movepool (which renders it as a sole attacker) compared to Greninja and Chesnaught doesn't help matters. Because of this, Delphox is sometimes used as an example on how far Psychic-types have fallen since their former reign of terror in Gen I.
  • With Greninja, it comes down to its tongue scarf of all things. Either it's cool or narmy. Some fans have also grown to resent it over time when it proved the most popular of the three, and not unlike Charizard, it ended up appearing a lot in promotional material to the point of overshadowing the other starters, and in the anime's case, even Pikachu for some time.
• Honedge's evolutionary line and Klefki get a lot of flack for being Pokémon based off of inanimate objects, despite the fact that there are Pokémon from previous generations who have similar designs. It comes down to whether the execution in designs justify the concepts some inanimate object Pokémon are based on, which for most of the time is hit and miss. Others like them for their typings, and find the idea of a possessed sword and a key-stealing mischievous face pretty cool. Some also think that they're based on the idea of Tsukumogami, a kind of youkai that is an object that becomes alive and self-aware.
• Sylveon. Some fans absolutely love it for its Badass Adorable design, having ridden the train of Fairy-type Pokémon being strong against Dragon-types. Others find it creepy-looking (especially its eyes), overhyped and gets accused of being a Spotlight-Stealing Squad compared to the other Eeveelutions — now whenever all eight of them are featured anywhere, Sylveon is nearly always front and center, especially since it was considered the go-to example of a Fairy type when it was first revealed. Similar to Generation IV's evolutions above, there have been no new Eeveelutions since Sylveon's introduction (and Word of God is that no new Eeveelutions have been planned for the future), which doesn't help its divisive reception.
• Dedenne's reception is unusually polarizing. On one hand, fans hate Dedenne for being utterly garbage in battles (it doesn't even learn Moonblast!) as well as not liking its design, being another Pikachu clone. On the other hand, there are some fans who like Dedenne for being adorable, as evident by a Japan-based Pokémon popularity poll called "Pokémon Election", it managed to be in 31st place out of 720 Pokémon. In general, fans who follow the anime more are kinder to Dedenne than those who follow the games more, due to its prominent role in the TV show.
• Volcanion. Either it's a very cool concept on the Fire/Water typing for its "steam" motif, or it's downright ugly. Doing it no favors is its frequent comparisons to the similarly base-breaking Heatran (detailed above).

Mega Evolutions

• Both of Charizard's Mega Evolutions. While it's generally agreed that it deserved a Mega Evolution, the handling of the Mega Evolutions themselves are often debated. In general, there are heated arguments in the fandom about whether it deserved two Mega Evolutions in the first place, and whether its Breakout Character status was enough to justify its priority over Venusaur and Blastoise. Their designs are also contentious within fans, often resulting in Fandom Rivalry between those who like X or Y more. Some fans believe that the best solution would have been to have a singular "Mega Charizard" with X's Fire/Dragon typing and Y's more immediately impressive stats and Ability.
  • For Mega Charizard X, while it's one of the most popular Mega Evolutions for granting the longtime fan request of turning Charizard into a Dragon-type Pokémon, it also gets a hefty heaping of It's Popular, Now It Sucks! (especially from Mega Charizard Y fans and Charizard haters), and gets some flak over its black and overly "edgy" design, plus the fact Charizard's Shiny counterpart is already black, which makes it seem less unique. It also came under fire near the end of the XYZ season of Pokémon the Series: XY for being the Pokémon that Ash loses to.
  • For Mega Charizard Y, some fans prefer it over X for its more recognizable color scheme (including the classic black Shiny coloration) and playing like a supercharged version of base Charizard, with extremely high Special Attack and Fire attacks further boosted by the sun provided by Drought. Others believe that X's Fire/Dragon typing makes Y redundant and that it had no real reason to exist other than to dupe the fandom for a few weeks, as Charizard's and its Y Mega Evolution's Fire/Flying typing were vocally maligned by many fans who wanted it to somehow gain access to the Dragon-type, especially before X was revealed — although some people can accept that Y most likely remained Fire/Flying for Competitive Balance purposes, since being Fire/Dragon would likely turn it from a Glass Cannon to a horrendously overpowered Master of All.
• Mega Venusaur and Mega Heracross are well-liked for their competitive potential, but are disliked by some for their ugly designs, similar to Heatran and Conkeldurr.
• Mega Slowbro. It's a topic of debate to whether its design is unbelievably stupid, or perfectly fitting for Slowbro.
• Mega Gyarados, in a similar vein to Mega Charizard Y. Some fans maligned it for its bulkier, less streamlined design, as well as its lack of Dragon typing (as Gyarados was second only to Charizard in terms of fan requests to make it into a Water/Dragon type). Others like its darker and more colorful design, and find its Water/Dark typing appealing and very fitting for Gyarados' nature — particularly as it finally gives a Gen I Pokémon access to the Dark-type (aside from the later Alolan forms and earlier true cross-generational evolutions such as Umbreon).
• Both versions of Mega Mewtwo; while they are praised for their high, record-breaking base stats (X and Y have the highest Attack and Special Attack of all Pokémon, respectively), there is some debate on how good their designs look compared to each other as well as base Mewtwo. For a while, Mega Mewtwo Y got some extra hate for its association with the unpopular "new" Mewtwo character from the 16th movie, which was eventually fixed by giving the same form to the far more popular Mewtwo in Super Smash Bros. (primarily based on the first movie).
• Mega Sableye. While its ability and stat boosts make it a fantastic Stone Wall in competitive battles, some people don't like how its design has embodied one of the most reviled game strategies in the series: stall. To this day, people can't decide on whether its battle design is good or not. Some fans deride it off sheer principle that it wasn't given Wonder Guard which they feel worked with its design, would've been a good homage to the infamous WonderEye hack, and would've timed perfectly with its counterpart Mawile getting the Fairy-Type.
• Mega Salamence. On one hand, people love how its wings have combined into a dual-function glider/blade and are happy the dragon came back after the Fairy-type nerfed it, complete with Aerilate giving it usable Flying-type STAB moves. Others dislike its bizarre, frisbee-like design, in addition to being another pseudo-legendary that got a Mega Evolution, and that it became overpowered^note indeed, Smogon ended up quick-banning Mega Salamence to Ubers when it was released.. The introduction of its Paradox counterpart in Roaring Moon in Scarlet/Violet, which shares a similar design with more tribal-like features, has managed to win over some haters, though.
• Mega Lucario. Its already base-breaking nature aside (as explained in the Gen IV folder), its Mega Evolution was made a central focus of the Mega Evolution subplot, and automatically gifted players a fully-evolved Lucario early on in the game, complete with Mega Stone. On the bright side, many people were happy to finally see it in an in-game starring role and latched on to its Mega Evolution; on the flipside, others got sick of its overexposure. There's also the camp that argues the gift Lucario being one of the reasons for X/Y's lack of difficulty.
• Mega Gallade. Its Mega Evolution does have a sizable fanbase who are relieved that it got a Mega Evolution after getting overshadowed by Mega Gardevoir; the card duelist memes don't hurt, either. Some fans thought that its Inner Focus ability is not as impressive as Mega Gardevoir's Pixilate, and others were not pleased that it is not part-Fairy.

Kalos - Humans

• The four rivals are this. Although some people find the enormous quantity of rivals interesting and a welcoming challenge, they have received a lot of criticism for, like many of the other plot-relevant characters, their lackluster characterization (especially compared to those of past rivals). Each is divisible in their own right.
  • For Calem/Serena, the fanbase is divided on whether or not their characterization is better or just as lackluster as the other rivals. Some enjoy their competitiveness, their nice guy/girl personality all things considered, and the fact they battle alongside you to stop Team Flare, while others in the story think their characterization outside of those traits could've been expanded on more.
  • For Tierno, either he's a likeable Nice Guy whose fondness of dancing moves is endearing, or his few appearances and lack of characterization (especially compared to the other rivals) makes him come off as bland.
  • For Trevor, he is liked for being cute and dorky, and people find his goal of completing the Pokédex relatable. Or he's disliked for not being fleshed out outside of repeating the Character Development of rivals like Wally and Cheren: taking a level in badass when it comes to Pokémon battling.
  • And Shauna, although she gets hit with this less than the other secondary rivals. She's liked for her energy and her cuteness, while being fleshed out more than the other secondary rivals in terms of how much she helps through the adventure, which makes her Character Development from an absent-minded, rookie trainer to a much more serious battler more credible; it helps that her team is the toughest of the three secondary rivals. Still, people have drawn comparisons to Bianca from the previous game, seeing her as annoying and likely stealing what could've been some character development for the other rivals.
• Team Flare is arguably the most divisive villainous team the series has ever had, to the point they trumped the once-reigning Team Galactic. While some people find their Cold Ham status as endearing and claim that they are led by an excellent antagonist in Lysandre, detractors will point out their motives to be horrendously incoherent and that they blindly follow the main villain. There's also the camp that finds their Cold Ham status as forced and a big source of Narm, and that their designs are bland and horrible due to their overusage of hot colors, making them come off as homogenized.

Hoenn (ORAS) - Humans

• Zinnia. Some fans love her for her cool design, great battle theme, badass dragons, tragic backstory, and enjoyable personality. Others find her a Spotlight Stealing character who hijacks the Delta Episode, and behaves inexcusably towards anyone who isn't the player character or Aster, and that her attempts to save the planet would have actually doomed it (or at the very least caused a ton of unnecessary damage) if the player wasn't around.
• Wally, originally an Ensemble Dark Horse back in the original games, has become one due to how the remakes handle him differently. Some fans appreciate his expanded character development and story role, and love that he eventually builds a truly impressive team. Others feel his increased exposure undermines the surprise of his reappearance at Victory Road as your final opponent, and that his changing of his team so radically is too out-of-character and should be allocated to another rivals instead.

Gen VII

Pokémon

• Popplio was the most polarizing starter — its personality and quirky circus clown design caught a lot of flak online. This only made Popplio's fans more vocal, catching the attention of Kotaku, here and Destructoid, among others.
• The starters' middle evolutions became this upon their reveal.
  • Brionne once again received the worst of it. There are people saying that its design and backstory were adorable and won them over; others think Brionne's design looked no better than its pre-evolution. Some even claim that Brionne's design is even worse, and even some people who had previously defended Popplio from its haters promptly turned against it just because of what it evolved into. One common complaint against Brionne is that its design is "too feminine"; the best explanation is that while there have been other feminine-looking starters in the past such as Braixen and Meganium, Brionne's design extensively uses feminine Tertiary Sexual Characteristics despite its gender ratio favoring males, similar to Sylveon.
  • Dartrix's design is divisive for being either cool enough or looking edgy, and its Brainless Beauty nature is either hilarious or unlikable.
  • Torracat is by far the most liked of the three for following Rule of Cool, but early signs of its controversial evolution were a point against it.
• And much like the previous two generations, the starters' final evolutions are also divisive.
  • Litten's final evolution, Incineroar, is the most controversial of the trio. While a cat evolving into a tiger has been an extremely popular fan idea for a Fire-type starter line, most of the debate surrounding Incineroar comes from the fact that it has the look and feel of the Fire/Fighting starters from Generations III through V, and most fans have been dreading getting another one of those ever since. However, Incineroar breaks the mold by being a Fire/Dark type^note only shared with the Houndour line and being very clearly themed on both black cat superstitions and Heel wrestlers; some fans appreciate these elements and find that they make Incineroar cool and unique with lots of personality (and even see Incineroar as a deliberate homage and Evil Counterpart to the Fire/Fighting archetype), while others see them as half-hearted excuses for having yet another Fire/Fighting-esque starter without the actual typing, and a deliberate slap in the face to those dreading yet another bipedal fire starter. A third camp doesn't mind that Incineroar is bipedal, but don't like its strange, top-heavy body proportions (while it has a buff chest and upper arms, its lower torso, lower arms and legs are oddly thin in comparison, the arms to the point that its fingers are thicker than its wrists, and its body in general has a lack of muscle toning that makes its arms have tubelike shapes) that have been likened to making Incineroar look like a balloon and throw it into Unintentional Uncanny Valley. All of this wasn't helped by the fact that Incineroar is a highly obnoxious High-Tier Scrappy in VGC competitive play whenever it's present. Fortunately for some, the Sun/Moon anime depicted Profesor Kukui's Incineroar with lots of personality, and two years later, it was also revealed as the surprise new Pokémon fighter for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a unique, pro-wrestling styled character (especially according to Masahiro Sakurai). Both media was able to draw more attention to its cool and lovable personality, rather than its more contentious aspects, alleviating it from some flak and winning over more of its previous detractors.
  • Primarina has its fans for its beautiful design, amazing defensive typing and surprisingly diverse movepool, while its haters have many of the same complaints about both being part Fairy-type as well as complaints from its pre-evolutions (although most people agree that it's more aesthetically pleasing than Brionne). Its Hidden Ability, Liquid Voice, is generally considered to be lackluster as most of the sound-based moves that it can learn are inferior to Surf and Sparkling Aria outside of Hyper Voice not hitting allies, and is further hampered by the fact that it is the only type-altering ability that does not power up its affected moves.
  • As for Decidueye, some people like it for its unique and badass archer-owl design with a fantastic Grass/Ghost typing, while others see its design as awkward design and its typing something coming out of left field. While it has a nice range of status moves and a fantastic niche as a False Swiper thanks to those moves and being part-Ghost, it has a horrendously shallow offensive movepool compared to Incineroar and Primarina, a ridiculously high Special Attack despite learning very few special moves (none of which were available through leveling-up prior to Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon), and some people would have preferred it to have stayed part-Flying like its pre-evolutions. That said, it's considerably more divisive in its native Japan than in the West, where it's easily the most popular of the Alola starter evolutions and is praised over Incineroar and Primarina for not being as overly anthropomorphized. Notably, unlike with Typhlosion or Samurott, there is a notable Broken Base over whether its Alolan form or its Hisuian form from Pokémon Legends: Arceus is better, as the original Decidueye already had a secondary type and a Secret Art that made it more interesting to many people than Johtonian Typhlosion or Unovan Samurott, along with debate over its straw-hat-wearing Japanese archer design is better than the original.
• Bewear is considered either charming with a sad backstory, or stuck with a generic design that looks like a fanmade Pokémon. Even its name is divisive, with some feeling that it fits the character (who is The Dreaded to the Alola folk) while others are not able to get past the Punny Name and feel that its one of the most Narmy English names in the series' history. Its pre-evolution has also gotten mixed reactions, with people either loving it and finding it adorable or disliking it for having a bland Fakemon-esque design. Some of its silly yet badass portrayals in the anime and the Narm Charm animations of its Z-moves have helped its reception, however.
• As with most inanimate object-based Pokémon, Sandygast and Palossand. Some like their designs and find the concept of a possessed sandcastle awesome, while others feel they look creepy or uninspired and compare them unfavorably to Yo-kai Watch characters. Because of the latter, many fans of the sandcastle mons have taken to pointing out Gen I's laundry list of inanimate object Pokémon to defend them, just as what happened to other inanimate object-based Pokémon in generations past... except this time, this incited people to counter by saying that just because it was there from the beginning doesn't mean it's acceptable now.
• Alolan Raichu has three groups of differing opinions: those who love its cute design and are happy Raichu's finally getting some love, those who like the design but think it could be better, or those who hate Alolan Raichu's pastel-colored design. And that's not getting into whether Raichu should have gotten a Mega Evolution instead (assuming no Pokémon will get both). Its sparse lore for how it came to be doesn't help matters, though this also depends on whether one accepts the anime as canon, since it has featured a blue-eyed, wave-sensing Pikachu that serves as a better precedent than game canon.
• The Ultra Beasts have been a point of massive dispute, mainly over the speculation fueled by the lack of knowledge of what they actually are and what role they play in the games' story (and their potential changes to Pokémon's formula). Some only dislike the term "Ultra Beast," which they argue sounds uncreative and like something straight from a lower-quality children's monster/fighting game. Their creepy designs are another point of contention; many people feel they don't look like Pokémon, while their supporters argue that their designs were meant to be jarring because they're not actually Pokémon. The Reveal that they can be caught and used in battle and that they're just extradimensional Pokémon is a source of further dispute; many fans like that they stand out from other Pokémon and are surprisingly good in competitive battling (similarly to, again, the Tapus), while others feel they should have been exclusive to special boss battles and shouldn't count as normal Pokémon.
  • UB-02 Absorption/Buzzwole in particular has garnered mixed reactions. People either love it for being a menacing, towering bug abomination or hate it for its somewhat silly ridiculously muscular design that makes it look like someone's Stand. And, of course, some people love it because of said ridiculous, Stand-esque design.
  • UB-05 Glutton/Guzzlord has also been a point of contention. Some people love it for its menacing, eldritch design while others find its design to be a generic, narmy one reminiscent of a 90's Monster of the Week. Similar to Buzzwole above, a third group of people love it because of its silly design. However, unlike the above-mentioned Absorption, Guzzlord is hated by a fourth camp for being rather poor in competitive in contrast to its beastly design, especially compared to the other Ultra Beasts.
• Ash-Greninja. Some love it, seeing it as a cool nod to the anime and like the fact that fan favorite Greninja has access to a Mega Evolution-like form change. Others (particularly fans who prefer the other Kalos starters and detractors of the anime and Ash Ketchum) hate that the anime is being acknowledged or are just sick of Greninja, whom they perceive as a Spotlight-Stealing Squad and believe shouldn't have been given a new form without giving Chesnaught and Delphox the same treatment. As of Generation IX, Ash-Greninja no longer exists, with its Battle Bond ability now merely granting a stat boost without Greninja transforming, which was been met with rejoice from the form's detractors and dismay from those who liked the form. Others hold out hope that the form will return someday, with the current most popular theory being that it will return in remakes of X and Y as Mega Greninja.
• Alolan Persian. Some people like its fat face as it makes it look more like a persian-breed cat. Others are bothered by the bobble-head look or wanted it to stay closer to Kanto's Persian, and have drawn comparisons to Garfield. And, like the Ultra Beasts above, some people do like the fact it looks like Garfield.
• Lycanroc's Dusk Form. Initially, some people complained it was simply Midday Lycanroc with an orange coat, green eyes and Midnight Form's mane attached. Others began to like it after finding out that it would have Tough Claws. After it was revealed to be an event-exclusive evolution (which reminds of the Zorua line fiasco) it got disliked once more — though this aspect died down after it was revealed that it would be able to breed offspring that evolves into Dusk Form. Tensions flared up again when it was discovered following the game's release that Dusk Form has Midday Form's statspread and movepool with the sole differences of two points taken from speed and placed into attack, having access to Counter and two more tutor moves. Some people believe these factors make it much better than Midday, others are worried about its viability since a little change in speed can mean a lot of difference in competitive potential, and some were disappointed that its stats weren't either a combination of or average between Midday and Midnight's statspreads, while others still insist that the ability to use Z-Happy Hour makes up for this.
• Ultra Necrozma has many fans that love it for its golden angelic design and having one of the best boss fights in the core series. Others, however, aren't fond of it being another Dragon-type Legendary, or of Ultra Necrozma rendering Dawn Wings Necrozma almost totally obsolete.

Alola - Humans

• Continuing tradition from Barry since Gen IV, Hau being yet another friendly rival had many fans irritated. Some like his sunny demeanor, his blasé attitude to losing, and think his relationship with his grandfather makes him developed. Others find his personality too overdone and generic, and his attitude to losing patronizing and obnoxious. Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon saved it for a few people from this category by making him more serious, but also made him gain a new amount of detractors for replacing Professor Kukui as the game's Final Boss before becoming the champion (as although Hau has Pokémon with colorful moves, Professor Kukui used legitimate competitive strategies that made him a hard, yet enjoyable final boss). There are also players who are divided whether Hau counts as a champion or not just because he is fought right after the Elite Four (Professor Kukui is at least the League founder).
• Even though she has many more fans than detractors, Lillie get this treatment from some people. Her fans find her to be one of the best characters in the game, and possibly even rivaling N as one of the most developed characters in the series. Her detractors, on the other hand, find her overrated and overshadowing the protagonists (this is also connected to the game's controversial increased focus on story, as the majority of the story is about her and her family and a group of her detractors accuse her of being a Purity Sue because of this). It doesn't help the player often gets Lillie dumped on them at several points in the game to escort her to places, since she has no Pokémon of her own (besides Nebby), which can make it feel like you're her babysitter. Her newfound confidence after her Significant Wardrobe Shift is also divisive; many fans find it to be well-done and endearing, while her detractors either find it Narmy and unnecessary personality-wise. In the end, no general consensus has been reached on whether she's an adorable, interesting and tragic character, or annoying and just being made of traits that make her more appealing to the audience rather than being well-rounded on her own. Fortunately, Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon's portrayal of Lillie going from a non-action girl to becoming a confident trainer has saved her for some fans.
• Lusamine's overall characterization is base-breaking in-and-out of itself.
  • Her first portrayal in Sun/Moon is one of the franchise's most beloved and sinister villains (with many people comparing her to the similarly beloved Ghetsis) for her twisted, faux-affable nature, being an incredibly accurate portrayal of an Abusive Parent, and providing two of the best boss battles in the series (both her normal self and Mother Beast Lusamine). However, there is also a camp who feels Lusamine should've never come across as vile as she did and that the narrative tries to paint her a victim with both of her children forgiving her despite her abuse, with her sociopathic insanity and abusive nature being too frighteningly realistic. This isn't helped by all the informed statements about her past kindness, being under the influence of Nihilego's neurotoxins, and her Heel–Face Turn occuring entirely offscreen. Some other people also feel her motives to be flimsier than Ghetsis, and there are those who dislike how her own boss battle doesn’t utilize the Motherbeast form in any creative way.
  • Her second portrayal in Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, however, completely split the fandom down the middle, even by the franchise's standards. There are many who were outraged that not only she was changed into a well-intentioned and sympathetic character who gets a redemption arc, but that she goes from the first female Big Bad to The Heavy as Necrozma takes her former spot and then a Damsel in Distress in the postgame Rainbow Rocket episode. On the flip side, there are fans who were glad that these games humanized her by depicting aspects of her character not originally seen in Sun/Moon (such as her change of heart and character development), and makes her someone you respect enough to want to rescue. Typically, fans of Sun/Moon Lusamine hate her Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon incarnation and vice-versa, though there are some who love (or hate) both interpretations of the character. This extends to various spinoffs like the anime and Pokémon Masters, which follow on her USUM depiction, and in the latter case, imply that Sun/Moon's Lusamine was not a raging psychopath when not on Nihilego toxins.

Alola - Other

• The Rotom Pokédex. Some like it for being a cute and snarky Robot Buddy, others consider it annoying and feel it comes off as a Kid-Appeal Character. There's also factors relating to its function that garner controversy, as its map and Pokédex are both commonly seen as inferior to those in Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, and its presence and position on the touch screen facilitates the removal of Gen VI's menu buttons. Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon's handling of the Rotom Dex further muddied its overall opinion; did the reintroduction of O-Powers in the form of Roto Powers, the new ways to interact with it, and the chance for it to let you use two Z-Moves in one battle, redeem it? Or has it become worse due to its Annoying Video Game Helper side being ramped up to the point where at times, most of your returns to the main overworld are accompanied by it blocking out the map with unwanted and unhelpful pieces of advice (that, mind you, Rotom itself lampshades)?

Kanto (Let's Go) - Humans

• Trace is one of (if not) the most divisive rival characters in the franchise. Some people like or do not mind the concept of a different rival for this playable version of Kanto, especially given the setting is an alternate timeline. Others detest him for being, once more, a Friendly Rival, a feeling made especially egregious given he was advertised exactly as that. Some people even draw unfavorable comparisons to him and Blue (not helped by Blue himself also being in the game).

Gen VIII

Galar - Pokémon

• While Rillaboom isn't as controversial as the other two starters, there's one aspect of its design which is contentious among the fandom, and that's the wooden drum it carries around with itself to use Drum Beating and some other moves. Some fans think it's a fun inclusion to the design that helps it feel more like a real drummer. Others find it an awkward and forced way of expressing the drummer design motif that was conveyed more subtly in Grookey and Thwackey's designs, and consider it a missed opportunity to have Rillaboom pound its chest to use as drums.
• Cinderace. Some find its soccer/football-based design fun and fitting for Galar, while others dislike it for being yet another anthropomorphic Fire starter. Its design has also brought up debates about its androgyny; some people, especially those that are Transgender, love it, while others feel like it comes off as unnecessary.
• Of the starters' final evolutions, Inteleon is the most divisive. It does have its fans, mainly those that found its spy, James Bond-esque design to be cool and fitting for the region (given James Bond origins from England). However, it came into a lot of fire upon its reveal as the final form for Sobble, mainly from people who were getting tired of the "final evolution is anthropomorphic" trope that was used for every starter since Gen VI. Others, while not outright disliking Inteleon's design departure, found its lanky design to be too jarring.
• Some fans like Stonjourner for its unique Stonehenge-inspired design, while others hate it, seeing it as ugly, too simplistic and being based on yet another inanimate object.
• The Fossil Pokémon can be divisive for their Flesh Golem nature. Either they're cool explorations of what fossil restoration could end up like and a neat nod to antiquated real-world British archaeology; or they're too dumb-looking to be taken seriously, too biologically impaired to be happy about, too creepy to even look like real Pokémon (similarly to the Ultra Beasts), a waste of potential for four individually cool properly restored Fossil 'mons, or (in the case of Dracovish specifically) being a Lethal Joke Character.
• Eternatus. Some people love the alien dragon and its otherworldly, skeletal design and its awesome three-phase boss fight in the main story of Sword/Shield, along with it being one of the most useful Legendary Pokémon of its general power level due to its perfectly tuned Lightning Bruiser stats and movepool. Others dislike it for looking too incomprehensible and overdesigned looking far too alien (similarly to the Ultra Beasts) and emotionless compared to other Pokémon. Its Eternamax form is even more divisive, for its even weirder design that barely looks like a dragon (let alone an animal of any kind, or even its own base form) and for being an unplayable boss with an obscenely high base stat total.

Hisui - Pokémon

• Similar to the previous starters, the final evolution of each of them are divisive:
  • Hisuian Decidueye is seen by fans as a pretty cool alternative to its Alolan counterpart, having a handy Hidden Ability, and also felt that having an archer Pokémon makes a lot of sense in the setting. Others are quite baffled at the Decidueye line gaining a Regional Form since it already has a second type and are annoyed that an already slow Pokémon is even slower.
  • For Hisuian Typhlosion, there are many who like the stoner like look to it, being based on Buddhist monks which gives it a unique look, and are happy that it is no longer a carbon copy of Charizard stat wise. Detractors feel that it doesn't really change its appearance that much and in light of Skeledirge's typing, are starting to see it as a precursor to another common type in starters.
  • Some fans embrace Hisuian Samurott as a much-needed refresh of the Formidable Pokémon due to its better stat distribution, typing, and sleeker design. Others decry it as a lazy Palette Swap of regular Samurott, decrying it as simply "Samurott but edgier". A third camp finds its design just fine, but wishes it was more different from the original. Despite this, it's generally considered a straight upgrade over vanilla Samurott, which is a Base-Breaking Character in its own right and generally regarded as much more bland than its Hisuian cousin.
• Sneasler, and by extension its pre-evolution Hisuian Sneasel. Some fans find it to be a charming and badass alternate take on a Sneasel evolution, while many others view it as ugly furrybait and a particularly egregious example of "it just gets bigger" syndrome. Additionally, its detractors view it as a wholly unnecessary addition, as regular Sneasel was already native to modern-day Sinnoh and had a well-liked evolution introduced in said region.
• Kleavor is either seen as a badass, suitable addition to the Scyther line, with a design that just clicks after the player notices the similarities with the other members, or as a disappointing, ugly mess that departs too far from the insectoid inspiration of the original Scyther while taking all the wrong cues from modern Pokémon design like the facial hair and axe hands.
• Dialga and Palkia's Origin Formes. Many fans welcome how the original creation duo got a much-needed buff through the more optimized stat distributions of their Origin Formes, but the main point of contention is their extremely bizarre Arceus-hybrid designs. Some welcome the weirdness because it emphasizes their nature as Eldritch Abominations, while others dislike them for being visually messy and unappealing and a major letdown compared to Giratina's well-received Origin Forme introduced 14 years earlier.

Humans

• Similarly to the case in X/Y, all three rivals are a case of this.
  • Hop was the quickest to solidify into this. Some fans think he is a good rival because he gets some great Character Development, and he has a solid (and dynamic) team compared to a lot of previous rivals, as he is one of the first rivals to ever catch a legendary. However, he has the misfortune of riding on Hau's and Trace's train as a friendly rival to the player — not helping is his particular similarities to Hau in terms of goals (surpassing their family idols). He is derided for appearing too frequently throughout the story (especially considering he almost always challenges you to a battle), repeatedly interrupting exploration by showing up at the entrance to towns or routes to advance the story, stealing the spotlight from the other rivals who don't get as much time to shine, and frequently mentioning details such as type match-ups or critical hits during battle (which some players have found annoying).
    • Hop's tendency to get Demoted to Extra in adaptations and spin-off games is divisive in its own right. His detractors are happy that they don't have to see him much outside of the games, while his fans lament his lack of prominence (and tend to dislike fellow base-breaker Goh for essentially taking his role during the anime's Galar arc).
  • Bede's reveal made many players excited to finally get a jerkass rival again, but he ended up being similarly divisive. While he's liked for being a breath of fresh air compared to the usual friendly rivals and undergoing his own arc to becoming the Fairy Gym Leader (which causes him to mellow out a bit), some players dislike how, unlike previous jerk rivals like Silver and Gladion, Bede has no actual Freudian Excuse for his behavior, behaving like a jerk merely out of overconfidence, amusement, and being directly appointed by the Chairman Rose for the Gym Challenge. Not helping matters is his lack of focus in the second half of the game, as he disappears until the Galar Champion Cup yet doesn't help during the final conflict (unlike Hop or Marnie), and during the post-game, he still has bitter issues with the player character.
  • Marnie has fans who enjoy her relationship with Team Yell and her brother Piers, as well as her hidden cute side beneath her gothic exterior. Detractors view her as boring and underdeveloped compared to the other two rivals, and claim that despite her being the driving force behind the Team Yell' sub-plot, she is barely relevant to the main plot itself.
• Leon. He is praised for being extremely competent both in-universe and out of it, by directly intervening in several conflicts and problems throughout the game and averting the series' long held issue of Adults Are Useless, and having a surprisingly strong and effective team that many fans declare gives him Best Boss Ever status. He also, however, draws much ire over how the game gives him excessive Character Shilling and has him constantly repeat what he says to the point of annoyance, as well as how him averting Adults Are Useless locks the player out of the more interesting things in the story until right at the last minute, leaving them with the sole directive of completing the Gym Challenge. The fact that his ace is a Charizard, another base-breaker in its own right (as detailed above), instead of another Galar Pokémon, just rubs more salt in the wound. There's also a third camp that enjoys the character ironically and finds the incessant Character Shilling for Leon and his Charizard to be So Bad, It's Good and worthy of Memetic Mutation, often exaggerating it into a Charizard-centric joke religion similar to Shrekology.
• Chairman Rose. Some see a genuinely sympathetic villain as a welcome change, thinking they come across as a sympathetic figure with a complex motivation. Others aren't a fan of said motivation, thinking the actions of the character make no sense in hindsight. And especially after the excellent antagonists of Black/White, X/Y and Sun/Moon, an antagonist without a strong personality who acts out of foolishness rather than malice just comes across as a letdown.

Gen IX

Pokémon

• After a generation where this was not the case, all three final stages of the starters became quite divisve among fans once again.
  • Meowscarada has a pretty large fanbase for its fun magician-like design, but also many detractors for being not only yet another anthropomorphic evolution to a feline starter (especially by those who pleaded for Sprigatito to not become bipedal upon evolving), but also a particularly egregious example of a "furry-bait" starter.
  • Skeledirge is the least divisive of the three starters thanks to being the first truly quadrapedal starter since Generation V, as well as the first fully quadrapedal Fire-type starter evolution ever^note Typhlosion is counted as a quadruped by the Pokédex, but is rarely seen on all fours. Still, some fans dislike it for having an overly complicated design (with its sugar skull-like head being a sore spot for many), as well as for being a "jobmon" (in this case a singer) despite its more animalistic appearance. While Meowscarada and Quaquaval got some slack for their types being the same as Hisuian Decidueye and Samurott's with the Fighting and Dark assignment swapped around^note itself exacerbated by the aforementioned Hisuian Forms having the exact same types as Chesnaught and Greninja respectively, as well as the overabundance of part-Fighting, Dark or Ghost starters since Gen VI, Skeledirge fares worse with such criticisms as it has the exact same combo as its direct predecessor, Hisuian Typhlosion, and reminds a number of fans of the infamous Fire/Fighting starter streak which is made even worse by the fact that, as of Gen IX, Skeledirge’s Fire/Ghost typing, a type combination that originally didn’t exist until Gen V, has now become a more common type combination than the notorious Fire/Fighting typing.
  • Quaquaval is by and far the most divisive of the three starters thanks to a combination of its anthropomorphic design and flamboyant, campy mannerisms. Some find it hilarious, charming and awesome, bringing Brazilian carnavals to mind; others deride it as ugly and, similarly to Meowsacarada, a example of "furry-bait". It's also hated by a third camp for being yet another Fighting-type starter, as all but four sets of starters^note Kanto, Johto, Alola, and Galar have had a starter that gains the Fighting-type upon evolution. Given that Quaxly's coif looks like a hat, many people were hoping for it to get a pirate-themed final evo^note a popular but unexplored concept, similar to dolphin Pokémon prior to Finizen's introduction or one based on Don Quixote given its name, only to be disappointed by Quaquaval's final design.
• The Pawmi line, like most Pikaclones. Some find their designs adorable and love how they're the first Pikaclones to evolve (as well as being among the first Electric/Fighting-types), while others view them as a bland evolutionary line that just gets bigger.
• Armarouge and Ceruledge are both divisive for similar reasons, with detractors viewing them both as poorly-designed NetNavi rejects that don't look like Pokémon. Ceruledge also catches flak for having a (literally) edgy design, as well as its Wolverine Publicity in promotional material, especially compared to its counterpart Armarouge. However, they also have their fans precisely because they look like Mega Man characters, as well as those who think they just just plain cool.
• Depending on who you ask, Bellibolt is either an adorable and fun plasma ball frog or an ugly attempt to emulate Chansey and a waste of the aforementioned concept. Its association with fellow base-breaker Iono (detailed below) doesn't help.
• Scovillain has garnered a number of fans for being the first Pokémon to bear the long-sought Grass/Fire type combo (and in certain circles such as 4chan, ironic and unironic popularity due to memes treating it like Palafin's archnemesis) and some enjoy its unique take on a pepper Pokémon with two heads, resembling different pepper colors and having unique expressions - but on the other hand, its design is often seen as too weird to be appealing or uninspiring since it's based on chili peppers like many fanmade Grass/Fire-types. A third camp of fans appreciate its design, but feel like it looks too much like a middle-stage Pokémon, and hope that it receives an evolution in a future generation. A fourth camp also dislikes it for its Low-Tier Letdown status.
• Palafin is especially polarizing. Some love it for being the first non-orca dolphin Pokémon as well as for its superhero-based design and gimmick, with many people finding it hilarious and comparing it to All Might or Dr. Livesey. Others dislike how its Zero form looks nearly identical to its pre-evolution, while another camp finds its Hero Form to be obscenely ugly. Its infamously convoluted evolution method does it no favors.
• Flamigo is either a simple-yet-charming Pokémon that happens to be surprisingly powerful for a single-stager found early in the game, or an extremely plain and lazy design that's simply a cartoonish flamingo.
• While Dudunsparce is appreciated for making Dunsparce more worthwhile to catch and train, its design is quite divisive. Some people dislike its design for being too similar to Dunsparce's, since they were expecting a potential Dunsparce evolution to look much more beautiful and majestic. Others think its design being almost identical to Dunsparce's is funny or fitting.
• Gholdengo is seen by its fans as a funny and oddly adorable surfer dude/cheese stick man monster. Detractors, however, dislike its design precisely because it looks like a cheese stick man and feel it should've been a cool Chest Monster. Its High-Tier Scrappy status in competitive play no matter the format only adds fuel to the fire.
• Among the Paradox Pokémon, while the Ancient Pokémon are mostly well-liked, the Future Pokémon are more controversial. Some fans think their futuristic, robotic designs look good and consider them to have enough differences from the originals to stand out, while others dislike them due to having very uniform designs — while the Ancient Pokémon are based on a wide range of prehistoric creatures and concepts, the Future Pokémon are all robotic, often look more similar to their present-day counterparts than the Ancient Pokémon do, and have a very similar visual aesthetic to each other. This is especially true of the Paradox versions of the Swords of Justice, which were decried as being far too bland and similar to their original counterparts compared to the well-liked dinosaurian Paradox Legendary Beasts. The only ones to mostly evade this status are Iron Bundle and Iron Valiant, due to their more unique designs — the former is loved for its hilarious design as a violent killer robot version of Delibird, while the latter is appreciated for being a creative Composite Character of Gardevoir and Gallade.
• Scream Tail and Flutter Mane are exceptions to Ancient Paradox Pokémon being generally well-liked, as many criticize them for looking too similar to their modern-day descendants. However, both still have their fans for being quite cute by Paradox Pokémon standards, as well as being deceptively strong despite being based off of unevolved Pokémon. Flutter Mane itself also attracts some criticism due to its High-Tier Scrappy status in competitive play.
• Baxcalibur is considered to be either an awesome Not Zilla with a badass design, great stats, fun typing and a unique Secret Art, or yet another ugly, uninspired Tyranitar-like "kaijumon" that belongs back in Gen I^note which is criticized by some fans for an excess of Pokémon using the same general kaiju design and build and should have been an anatomically correct Spinosaurus given the look of its pre-evolution Arctibax. Similarly to Gholdengo and Flutter Mane, its High-Tier Scrappy status in competitive play is also lamented. Although Baxcalibur isn't as divisive as Goodra or Kommo-o, fans are split on whether it lives up to (or even exceeds) previous fan-favorite pseudo-legendaries or whether it's a step down from them, particularly its widely loved predecessor Dragapult. Many Baxcalibur fans assert that its design is mostly fine aside from its awkward, completely upright posture when not in battle (as seen in its menu sprite and stock art), which makes it look more like a person in a dinosaur suit (just like Godzilla, ironically) instead of a real dinosaur and doesn't do its design justice, as it looks more appealing when assuming hunched over slightly like some older depictions of theropods.
• Koraidon is easily the more divisive of the two box legendaries. While Miraidon is well-liked for being an awesome electric robotic dragon that incorporates the game's exploration gimmick in a streamlined way by being a Transforming Mecha, Koraidon's design and transformations have proven to be more contentious. Some fans find that Koraidon is overdesigned and that its motorcycle elements feel tacked-on and unnatural, and tend to mock how it uses its different body parts in ride mode, such as the strange antennae that turn into Mercury's Wings^note arguing that it could have very easily simply been given wings on its back like a classic European dragon and its running on all fours The Flintstones-style instead of having actual tires. Others enjoy its badass, majestic design for looking like something out of Monster Hunter, and find its awkward pseudo-motorcycle aspects charming in a goofy way.
• The Loyal Three, consisting of Okidogi, Munkidori, and Fezandipiti, is among the most divisive legendary groups in the series. Some fans find their origins as a Fractured Fairy Tale of Momotarō interesting and their dark designs to be cool and intimidating. Others view them (especially Okidogi and Munkidori) as ugly Yo-kai Watch rejects whose design origins are superficial at best.
• Bloodmoon Ursaluna. Its fans view it as a badass Living Relic whose armored design is an awesome Expy of Akakabuto, and praises it for having an interesting sidequest tied to Ensemble Dark Horse Perrin. Detractors see a tryhard edgy mess of a design, not helped by it going bipedal when part of Ursaluna's charm for many was it being the first quadrapedal bear Pokémon. It being a significantly stronger version of an already-powerful Pokémon doesn't make it any more appealing to its detractors.

Humans

• Nemona is the most controversial of the three major protagonists. Serving as the player's rival in the "Victory Road" route, she encourages the player to reach Champion rank like her so they can have a no-holds-barred battle at the end. Some enjoy her passion for battling, likening her to a Saiyan, and her sincerity in pushing the player forward. Others view her as obsessed with the player and deride her as shallow compared to the other two major protagonists in their routes. The fact that her past is only revealed very late in the game unlike Arven and Penny who had their pasts revealed over the course of their respective routes didn't help.
• Penny is either viewes as sympathetic due to being bullied in the past and doing everything she could to minimize everything bad caused by the group she founded to stop bullying, or a hypocrite for doing the exact same thing she faced to Nemona and Arven during The Way Home. Her design is also pretty split; some like how she resembles an otaku, which is something not normally seen in the series, making her stand out and making her being bullied more believable, while others feel that her look is too busy or simply dismiss it as "waifu bait."
• Within mere seconds of her reveal, Iono became one of the most divisive Gym Leaders in the series' history. Some find her design and personality incredibly endearing and cute as well as appreciating her career as a streamer. Others view her as obnoxious "waifu bait" and accuse Game Freak of trying too hard to appeal to modern trends by having a streamer character that visually resembles a V-Tuber. The debate got even more heated when news broke out that Iono's Illustration Rare card caused a shortage in the Japanese "Clay Burst" set, with the card itself going for hundreds, even thousands of dollars on the secondhand market.
• Geeta draws a lot of ire for her lackluster team, especially with her ace, a Pokémon designed to be sent out first, being programmed to come out last, resulting in her being seen as an Anti-Climax Boss, particularly after the more warmly received Elite Four fights needed to even reach her, flying in the face of someone touted In-Universe as the "Top Champion". Even putting aside the fact that she doesn't seem to have the best reputation among the game's characters (notably with Larry, who claims he gets his pay docked if he idly chit-chats too much, and Penny, whom she strongarms into being one of her employees, albeit as penance for creating Team Star and letting it spiral out of control), many fans find her to be a very boring and generic character that's only ever relevant when Nemona is involved and has no real synergy with either the Gym Leaders or Elite Four she picked by hand, which many feel is very unfitting of Paldea's "Top Champion". Other fans are more charitable because they see Geeta as merely a businesswoman doing her job, which she does to procedure rather well (such as by having Penny fix the League's point system after she successfully hacks it), and think that attempting to expand Geeta's role beyond her managerial position (often to the point of making her a Twist Villain as many Epileptic Trees liked to espouse) would be of no benefit and would only make her fall for the same traps as Chairman Rose, preferring the refreshing change of pace of a business person that doesn't bumble headfirst into stupidity. They also argue that she doesn't need to be as strong as claimed because of how Champions work in Paldea and how Nemona serves as the real closer to the Victory Road story^note Clavell states that multiple Champion-rank trainers can co-exist in Paldea, Nemona among them. Her design is also a fracturing point: people either think she's creepy and generic, or she's pretty and full of character.
• Carmine has proven to be one of the most divisive characters in the game, if not the series as a whole. Some fans love her for having more subtle Character Development than other characters in the series and for how humorous her over-the-top reactions can get, and/or Love to Hate her and enjoy watching her get knocked down a peg by the player character and Kieran. Other fans feel that her bullying of Kieran hit way too close to home for her to be considered likeable and consider her a Karma Houdini for her part in Kieran's downward mental spiral (it's acknowledged that her decision to hide Ogerpon from him and force the player character to do the same played a major part in it, but that's about it).
• Though not quite to the extent of his sister, Kieran has also gotten a divided reaction from the fanbase. While a lot of fans see him as an adorable woobie who doesn't deserve the bad things that happen to him throughout the DLC story, there's also a number of fans who who ended up seeing him as a Spoiled Brat Creepy Child whose obsessions with Ogerpon and (later) becoming stronger came off as more disturbing and annoying than sympathetic.

Anime (Original Series — Journeys)

Main Cast

Ash, Pikachu and Team Rocket. Because they are the most prominent characters in the show, they do have a following among regular watchers of the anime, and their depictions in early seasons tend to be quite popular. However, it's very common for fans to label them as annoying, ineffectual and seemingly tailor-made to entertain young children and nobody else depending on the season, with Flanderization and Adaptation Displacement not helping matters.

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• Ash Ketchum has as many fans as he does detractors. Many praise Ash for his accomplishments, his competence as a trainer (especially in Sinnoh and Kalos), having great relationships with his Pokemon, and for being one of the last aspects of the original series to remain in the show. However, there are many who don't like him for being blander in personality than his companions^note Notably, original showrunner Takeshi Shudo had always intended Ash to be a bland character who met more interesting ones, being widely inconsistent in both character and competence, being the main source of Arc Fatigue in the series by sheer virtue of being the protagonist for 20+ years and his goal To Be a Master, never being allowed to permanently learn from his mistakes or grow up, and for sticking around long after all other aspects of the original series came and went to the point of being called The Artifact. This was most evident after Ash won the Alola League, with people either feeling that Ash was too iconic at this point to replace or feeling that Ash's story was over and that it was time for someone else to take up the mantle.
  • In terms of characterization, Ash's sanitation into the Nice Guy from Johto onward. There are those that like Ash being nicer as it made him a more likable character and felt it was a natural progression for him. Those who don't like it feel that Ash was more interesting back when he was still jerky and that his sanitation into the Nice Guy made him more of a Vanilla Protagonist.
  • Ash also deals with a great deal of controversy because of the radical personality shifts he's received in every series after Sinnoh, with many feeling he lost his authenticity as a character after Unova's Soft Reboot. As such, debates often rise over which modern interpretation of Ash is the most in line with his "classic era" personality, as well as how much these shifts affect the overall enjoyment of the show, as all of Ash's biggest achievements have only occurred after several massive character overhauls.
    • Ash's XY incarnation is a strong example of this; while most fans agree that his battling record during the Kalos saga was at its best, fans are divided over whether his more suave and inspiring attitude made him a strong and likable character or made him too dull, bland and uninteresting as a person, with the sole exception of him still being Oblivious to Love.
    • Sun and Moon tried to form a balance, giving him a more expressive personality while maintaining his battle competence for the most part, but the depiction remained very divisive. Fans found Ash’s newfound enthusiasm a breath of fresh air after Gen VI (and to lesser extent IV) cranked Ash’s maturity up to the point he could come across as a Stock Shōnen Hero and Flat Character. With fans of Sun & Moon appricating Ash’s childlike wonder returning without regressing his intelligence like Black & White did. On the flip side, just as many found this version too expressive and overtly childish, to the point where he comes across as even younger than he did at the start of his journey. Some argue he regressed even further than he did in Unova, with many out-of-character moments (such as trying to cheat on a school assignment), and did not deserve to be the incarnation that finally won a league.
    • Journeys introduces possibly the most divisive version of Ash yet. While it attempts to please all sides of the argument by downplaying (but not removing) his more hyperactive qualities from Alola, many see him as the most empty iteration to date as his personality seemed to change in almost every episode, abruptly shifting between all of his past characterizations Depending on the Writer. Journeys Ash is also criticized for being overly passive in situations where he'd normally take action, a problem even Sun and Moon rarely suffered from, and his writing seemingly lacking any consistent direction even when compared to other controversial series.
• Pikachu splits the base in almost the exact same fashion as his trainer, being inconsistent in both character and power while solidifying his species as a nigh-inescapable Series Mascot. Some abhor Pikachu for being a Spotlight-Stealing Squad in and out of the show, being slapped on every piece of merchandise, refusing to evolve, and getting enormous amounts of Popularity Power in battle. Others praise and respect Pikachu as the Japanese equivalent to Mickey Mouse while finding him genuinely cute and entertaining.
  • Starting in Generation VII Pikachu became more childlike and mischief-prone, and willing to go against Ash similar to how he was in Gen I. Fans are divided on whether this makes Pikachu a more interesting character or is a terrible case of utter character regression with the epitome coming in Journeys Episode 30 where he tries to run away from Ash out of jealousy of Riolu. While some appreciated Pikachu's loyalty having limits others felt Pikachu getting jealous this late in the series was too unbelievable and cheapened his bond with Ash.
• Team Rocket, depending on who you ask, are iconic as comical Harmless Villains who are more entertaining than Ash himself, or their incompetence and sideplots in an episode are overdone and just plain annoying. In addition, the fanbase is also left divided over whether Team Rocket was improved as characters after they Took a Level in Badass and started becoming serious villains. There's also another group who remains unconvinced that they've taken any such level at all.^note The divide is more cultural in this case, as the majority of detractors are Japanese, or fans of Dogasu's Backpack (whom emphasizes the Japanese versions), and those in favor of the more serious Team Rocket are Western audiences. Their portrayal from XY onward has tried hard to appeal to all sides of the argument, though alas they're so divisive, it's impossible to please everyone in this regard.
  • Similarly there's a divide on how often Team Rocket should appear. Prior to Gen V, the Trio was only absent twice (the very first episode and a clip show in Hoenn). However, starting Best Wishes the show would have long stretches of episodes where they make no such appearance. Some fans are fine with Rocket being absent as certain episodes don't need their presence and it's best to use them sparingly. Others however feel that Team Rocket is too essential to have such long and frequent absences. Things have reached their boiling point in Journeys where the Rocket Trio was Demoted to Extra having their lowest attendance record at approximately 45% of episodes. Furthermore, Team Rocket are frequently Out of Focus when they do appear. This has caused a wide divide between fans on how little is too little.

Ash's Companions

• Misty. She remains popular long after her departure from the main cast for her entertaining personality, being the first female companion, and her snappy dynamic with the then-jerkier Ash. However, others feel that her popularity is unwarranted, comes mostly from people who grew up watching the original series, and that her constant bickering with Ash is annoying and borderline toxic, particularly due to the original series' proneness to Broken Aesops that would blame Ash for everything without acknowledging Misty's own faults and frequent hypocrisy. Her Character Development after getting Togepi only worsened the split between those who felt it mellowed her out and made her a more likable character or made her bland and took away the best parts of her personality.
• Max. On one hand, his Bratty Half-Pint personality can be entertaining, and his tendency to call out others on their stupidity is welcome, alongside him being the Hoenn group's designated "stop Brock from flirting" guy, quips and all. However, detractors find his brattiness and smug know-it-all nature rather aggravating, and he tends to be overly harsh towards Ash (and May to a lesser extent). And since he's not a trainer himself, his role in episodes is typically limited besides occasional special focus, and it makes it harder to take his training criticisms seriously when he's chiding Ash about something he himself doesn't have any experience in.
• Cilan. Either he is a better character than Brock and his strong personality is refreshing, or he's getting too much focus, has gotten as stale as Brock was as a result, and is a spotlight hogger for those who find him and his antics "forced" or "overexposed".
• Iris received a substantial amount of flak for her constant habit of referring to Ash as a "kid". She was also criticized for bucking the trend of a female protagonist as a traveling companion. Others found her unique quirks and Character Development interesting, and like the fact that she was another attempt at a female companion trying to master a Pokémon type. Then there are those who see her as a case of They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character.
  • Upon her return in Journeys, the fanbase was further broken with the revelation that she's the new Unova Champion. On one side, there are some fans who like said development because it brings her closer to her game counterpart, while others dislike it because they feel it's way too big a jump for her, and preferred if she was just a Gym Leader like her game counterpart's pre-B2W2 self.
• Serena is probably the most divisive female companion after Misty. Her Ship Tease with Ash was popular enough to make it to the Fan-Preferred Couple page, but she also received backlash from people who shipped Ash with anyone else, as well as accusations that she and Ash were being Strangled by the Red String. There's also the matter of how Serena took over 40 episodes to find her goal, which some found to be a nice case of realism while others felt it led to Arc Fatigue and highlighted Serena's perceived lack of agency outside of Ash. Some of Serena’s detractors go as far as to call her crush on Ash unhealthy and stalker-like. Similarly, people are extremely divided on Serena's eventual goal of being a Pokémon Performer finding them to be either a unique way of showing careers in Pokemon that don't involve battling or a lesser version of contests, with these fans instead wanting a career that's more action-packed and/or from the games.
  • There's also quite a divide on Serena's haircut and change of wardrobe upon her first loss. Many praised it as a great example of moving on from failure and showing Serena's growth appreciating the symbolism behind the action. However, others felt Serena's first design was more appealing with a more cohesive design. These detractors also felt Serena's reaction was too overblown to take seriously, especially when compared to how May and Dawn handled their first losses.
• Lillie. On one hand, there are those who don't like how her well-loved character arc (and all things attached to it) from the games was removed, while others enjoy the fact that the anime is taking its own liberties with her character, such as her character arc regarding her phobia of touching Pokemon and many episodes punctuating her role as the dorky Smart Girl of the group. The fanbase was further split by her treatment in the Aether arc for losing all her progress (in fairness, because of a repressed memory coming out) and gaining it back with no work of her own (when she fully understands the memory and after she is rescued from Faba) and calling out her well-meaning mother for no reason. That she got more focus after that while her fellow cast members struggled to get any made her seem somewhat of a Creator's Pet as well.
• Lana has amassed fans for her kind hearted-nature her drive to protect Water-Type Pokémon from harm and being among the few of Ash's classmates to be consistently working towards a goal, despite how humble it is (making a Bubble big enough to walk on the ocean floor). Detractors of Lana, however, see her as a Flat Character that recycles elements from Misty without any of the traits that made Misty entertaining. Detractors also decry Lana for her goal, finding it to be too shallow to be compelling.
  • This was especially so in the latter half of Sun & Moon, as Lana had shed her main character flaw (her shyness) and rather suddenly became both a competant battler (without any build-up, nor prior skills, as she was never much of a battler beforehand) and an absolute ace at every school activity. Some found this hilarious, making her into a Memetic Badass of sorts, while others found this frequent one-upping to be irritating to the point of giving her the nickname "Lana Sue".
• Goh saw himself becoming one of the most contested characters in the entire anime as Journeys went on. For some, he's one of the most unique and interesting companions Ash has ever had for being just as ambitious as he is while still coming across as distinct, his nice Foil dynamic with Ash providing for great interactions, his "catch 'em all" goal satisfying to see after years of the Anime avoiding such a crucial part of the franchise, and his relationship with his starter being more interesting than most partner Pokémon due to their different passions and Goh's emotional immaturity complicating matters. For others, however, he's an insufferable character who, due to being more based on the Pokémon GO side of the franchise, ends up catching a large amount of his Pokémon very easily, making his goal come across as mechanical, luck-based and dull compared to Ash's battles, not helped by the low amount of interaction he has with his captures, making them feel like Ash's benched mons at best and filled checkboxes for Goh's Pokédex at worst.
• Chloe Cerise. On one hand, people are interested in her for being wildly different from previous Pokégirls, questioning what she wants to do in life and feeling pressured to follow her father's footsteps and love Pokémon just because he's a Professor. On the other, people criticize how Out of Focus she is compared to previous female leads, as well as her initially cold attitude toward Ash. Eventually, she started getting more focus and Character Development, but the execution of this is highly polarizing as well; some fans have become increasingly critical of the repetitiveness of her post-Eevee focus episodes, as well as her perceived Aesop Amnesia toward the moral that she's still young and has plenty of options. This came to a head with her final focus episode, which not only interrupted the Masters 8 Tournament Arc, but ended on essentially the exact same message Chloe had gotten at the start of the series. Depending on who you ask, this is either a poignant Bookend or complete stagnation for her character.

Ash's Rivals

• Gary is typically a Memetic Badass, but you will often find people who view his tormenting of Ash as extremely overdone^note As an example, in Beauty and the Beach, despite having not even run into Ash once since the first episode - in which Ash was very cordial with him despite Gary's snide comments - he proceeds to get on stage and publicly mock Ash, even getting his cheerleaders to sing about how he'll trash him; plus his famous sign vandalizing to declare "Ash is a loser" even earlier, especially if they've dealt with similar bullying experiences themselves. After he Took a Level in Kindness, people either found him now boring without his Awesome Ego, or much more tolerable. On top of this, there's the issue of Gary's lack of proper plot focus; some find him entertaining enough to look past this, while others believe it ruins what otherwise could have been a great rivalry.
  • Gary's new role in Journeys as Goh's Project Mew rival is also controversial in its own right. Some find it an interesting concept with an entertaining dynamic, and enjoy that it gets more focus than his rivalry with Ash got in the same amount of time. Others question Gary's motivations for being in Project Mew to begin with, find his dynamic with Goh less compelling than with Ash, and criticize the general writing for Project Mew that forces Gary to get regularly curb-stomped by Legendary Pokémon.
• Ritchie. Detractors usually refer to him as "Ash 2.0" and hate him for being the one Ash wound up losing to in the Indigo League. Supporters counter that his similarities to Ash made him a good Foil to the then-jerkier Ash and a likable character in his own right. Its also pointed out that most of the hate surrounding him is unwarranted since he was the person who was least responsible for Ash losing- if you want someone to blame, you can mostly point fingers at Team Rocket, whose constant abduction and pursuit of Ash before the match causes him to face Ritchie with a deflated, exhausted team.
• Paul. There are many who would call him one of the best-written rivals Ash has ever had, with many liking him for his jerkier personality akin to the rivals of earlier games, valid criticisms and/or representation of overly competitive players, and for giving Ash one of the best fights in the series. However, there are others who don't like him for his perceived favoritism by the writers, weak motivation for pursuing strength, and for not being punished for his more heinous actions, especially concerning his treatment of Chimchar before he released it.
• Sawyer is seen as having rushed development by some. Others say his development was paced just fine because he doesn't have Team Rocket following him and all the Filler episode characters, and had Ash as a mentor. There are also those who wish Sawyer would have developed more evenly, but are happy with how he was given time constraints.
• Alain. At his debut, he was near-universally loved, especially by the Periphery Demographic, with very few detractors. Fans loved him for being different from Ash, the specials he starred in having more mature writing, being well-developed as a character, slowly becoming a good Foil to Ash (especially by the end of the 4th Mega Evolution Special)^note Word of God is that Alain is an Expy of Anakin Skywalker, falling into villainy for those he loved, having a Charizard, and using Mega Evolution, which none of the main cast would use through the entirety of the series. What few detractors he had didn't like him for winning almost all his fights, suddenly choosing to take part in the Kalos League, and for being able to collect all the badges within 7 episodes of Ash mentioning the Kalos League to him. Then he defeated Ash at the Kalos League, and opinions on his character inevitably divided hard, mostly concerning whether or not his win was justified and the role his character played on a meta scale in yanking the chain of both Ash and the longtime fans.^note Word of God also mentioned that Alain being Ash's final opponent was planned from the very start, though it’s never been made clear if him winning was also planned, too.
• Hau. On one hand, many fans loved him for his Nice Guy personality and lacking several habits of his game character that people found annoying (like his constant cheerfulness no matter what), and his Decidueye's rivalry with Rowlet allowed Ash's least focused on Alolan starter some much needed solo focus and moments to shine. On the other, his very low number of focus episodes (he only appeared once before the League, and even during the League his contributions beyond the battle with Ash were minimal) made his character feel way too shafted for the rivalry to be meaningful in the eyes of some fans. Then there's a third camp that had no inherent issue with Hau's writing, but they disliked how Ash was written in their interactions, with moments such as him losing the first battle with Hau simply because he slipped a Z-Crystal and wasting time looking for it rather than concentrate on the battle, or Rowlet's own Seed Bomb variant making him a sitting duck at crucial points and the infamous fakeout "loss" by Rowlet's sleeping making it seem like the only reason Hau posed a threat to Ash was due to him and his Pokémon of choice being treated as comedic bumblers.
• Gladion. While he's an overall well-received character in the Anime, opinions are split on his handling as a rival. Supporters like him for being a Nice Guy rival with fundamental respect between him and Ash, his constant role in Sun and Moon's legendary arcs that most previous rivals avoided, and managing to give a heartfelt final match before Ash crowned his first League Conference win in the show's history. Detractors, however, criticize how there didn't seem to be any real commonality between the two beyond being strong trainers on friendly terms with their Lycanroc needing to provide a backbone to the rivalry, their questionable buildup as rivals with Gladion being more involved in his own affairs than wanting to face off against Ash and only one completed match between each other and an unfinished one to provide a background to it, and their match at the League being a measly 3 VS 3 match rather than the full battles previous main rivals (with the exception of Trip) got making it an underwhelming finale for the achievement it was.
• Bea. Some fans respect her for not only being Ash's first major female rival, but also being a generally skilled opponent whose character and perspective creates an interesting dynamic with Ash. However, others criticize her for being extremely Out of Focus compared to other major rivals. The long space between her second and third appearance, and general lack of appearances outside of battling Ash, creates a feeling among several fans that she was underutilized and didn't have the time to fully realize their rivalry's potential. On a lesser note, some criticize the rivalry for its heavy use of Fighting-type mirror matches, feeling Journeys was already overusing this concept and Bea only made it worse.
• Leon. Some fans love him for being Ash's most powerful rival by far, his decent number of appearances, the Hidden Depths of fearing he had become too strong to be challenged, and his Cool Big Bro relationship with Ash. However, he's criticized by others for being strong to the point of invincibility, which is seen by many as extreme Flanderization from his first battle with Lance (where the latter put up a very close fight) and leads to very rushed and disrespectful battles. His Character Development is also considered rather disjointed by certain fans due to the episodic nature of Journeys, who point out that despite appearing several times after the Darkest Day arc, his angst from this arc is not hinted at in any form until over 50 episodes later.

Companions' Rivals

• Harley. Fans see him as a highly entertaining antagonist for how dramatic and petty he acts in his pursuit to make May miserable, for something that might not have even happened. Others however, feel Harley fails as both a compelling character and effective Hate Sink due to never getting punished for his blatant cheating and dirty tactics (such as exposing May's biggest fear on live television or hiring Team Rocket to Kidnap May), while noting he fails to be a compelling rival given how often he loses, only managing a single victory against May in his entire tenure. This split is even more pronounced in the English Dub thanks to Harley's Character Exaggeration which amplifies his flamboyant traits, pushing Ambiguously Gay to its limits. Fans feel this makes Harley a far more entertaining character, while others (most notably Harley's first voice actor, Andrew Rannells) feel that pushing Harley into this direction while retaining his villainous traits turns him into a harmful stereotype of LGBT individuals.
• Kenny is arguably the most polarizing of Dawn's rivals for how his crush on Dawn was handled, particularly in his final episode. Detractors feel like he got off far too easy for both his previous Loving Bully behavior and perceived objectification of Dawn, getting jealous of her closeness with Ash and pressuring her to leave with him if he could beat Ash in battle. She rejects this offer, though many fans disliked how she did so without really confronting him on his behavior. There are others who defend him, though, enjoying his interactions with Dawn beforehand and feeling he was just treated really poorly in his last few appearances.
• Ursula. Her similarities to Harley (both of them being arrogant, petty Coordinators who constantly lose yet never really grow from it) draws a good deal of criticism. Many consider her an uninspired knockoff, especially because she lacks the sheer over-the-top insanity of Harley's grudge on May, though some still appreciate the great battles she gave to Dawn.
• Burgundy is either hilariously insane or insanely obnoxious. Her rather inconsistent Character Development (and the writers' tendency to prioritize her Butt-Monkey status over it) doesn't help matters.
• Georgia. While fans generally enjoyed her interactions with Iris and numerous valid criticisms of her, there are some that find her Sore Loser habits annoying.
• Miette. Many consider her a funny and memorable side character who gets hilarious Clingy Jealous Girl reactions out of Serena, but others dislike that she spends more time teasing Serena about Ash than actually competing with her as a Performer. Detractors tend to see her as magnifying Serena's status as a Satellite Love Interest, given that their "rivalry" is almost entirely based on competing for Ash's affections, and Miette has little to no substance as a character beyond pushing the Ash/Serena ship.

Villains

• Lusamine, again based upon comparisons to the games. Some people love her Adaptational Heroism, quirkier personality and the bond she has with her family, while others who feel it downplays the games' first female Big Bad and one of the most twisted villains the series has ever had. Basically, the division comes down to how the anime handles Lusamine as a character as a whole vs. Lusamine as a villain. The fact that Faba took her place as main antagonist is also a point of contention for some, citing that we'd already seen manipulative schemers like him before with Cyrus, Colress and Lysandre. Then there are fans who are outright angry that the first female main antagonist of the games was the only one shafted in favor of another character.

Pokémon

• Just about ANYONE who has a Charizard. Like in the games, some people love the Nostalgia Filter that Charizard is getting a lot of love and badass attention in the series: Ash owning one and becoming an integral part of his growth, Alain using Mega Charizard X and won the conference with it, Leon sporting one to win the previous World Coronation. On the other hand, many others hate Charizard for this very reason, since they are sick and tired of seeing a Charizard, compounded further by its improbable high power and its very high win ratio each time it is on-screen thanks to Popularity Power.
• Misty's Togepi. Some love it for being adorable and funny, others hate it for never evolving and constantly getting into trouble, forcing Pikachu to constantly rescue it. There are some fans who also blame it for, in their eyes, making Misty's personality too soft.
• Dawn's Piplup. Either seen as one of the most annoying mons in the series, or adorable and full of personality.
• Ash's Oshawott. His Attention Whore nature and tendency to form rivalries with other Pokémon is either deemed cute and funny, or he's yet another annoying Spotlight-Stealing Squad with an unoriginal personality taken from several of Ash's previous Pokémon, namely Bayleef and Aipom, who won't evolve out of his weak "adorable" form.
• Iris's Axew. He's polarizing for many of the same reasons as Togepi; some find him a cute baby character who had nice relationships with other cast members, particularly Pikachu and Scraggy, while others heavily criticize him for his frequent Damsel Scrappy tendencies and poor development across the board. He expresses the desire to evolve in episode 6, only to never do so, constantly gets babied by Iris in a way that never applies to her other Pokemon, and learns multiple Deus ex Machina moves to give the impression of growth (only to go right back to being babied). The infamous "Lost at the League!" episode really doesn't help matters, completely wasting time during the Pokemon League of all things for another pointless "Axew gets lost" plot. Most of these criticisms died down after its return in Journeys where it evolved into a Haxorus and helped Iris become the Champion of Unova.
• Ash's Pignite. Some give him flak for being overly derivative of Ash's previous Fire starters, being the third one to be abandoned by a Jerkass trainer and taken in by Ash (coming straight off the heels of Infernape didn't help matters, who had already explored this plotline about as far as it could possibly go). Others look past this, finding him likable and sympathetic on his own merits.
• Iris's Dragonite. Legitimate badass, or a poor clone of Charizard that gave Iris undeserved victories? Not only does he catch flak for the sheer absurdity of him curb-stomping Ice-types, he catches even more for the massive losing streak he suffered afterward. Dragonite hasn't scored a single serious win since Dawn's Mamoswine in the Junior Cup, exactly two episodes after its capture, which not only makes his wins even more questionable but unintentionally makes him seem weaker for growing obedient to his trainer.
• Ash's Greninja. No character captures the Broken Base surrounding the XY series as thoroughly as Greninja; was it a badass ace who demonstrated an interesting connection with Ash, or was it a boring stoic with no personality? Was the concept of Bond Phenomenon and The Chosen One awesome, or forced and bordering on fanfiction? Did it earn its status as a Spotlight-Stealing Squad, or did it needlessly steal the thunder of Ash's other Pokemon? And perhaps most of all, was the insane amount of hype worth it knowing how its story ultimately ended? The fact that it lost to Alain's Charizard in the league finals and thus lost another league for Ash and was released by the end of series has kept it dead center of constant debate.
• Serena's Braixen. Some thought she was a likable match for Serena's personality, but others disliked her tendency to act like a Spoiled Brat in her focus episodes, fussing to the point of Jerkassery over extremely mundane things like getting dirty or getting her stick-wand broken.
• Ash's Rowlet. Some find it a cute, quirky comic relief that didn't need to evolve or lose its personality to be strong, while removing the need for another generic regional bird. Others find it a forced cutemon whose Heavy Sleeper gag prevented it from properly developing. Rowlet became an especially huge subject of debate during the Alola League, where it fell asleep in the middle of battle; not only did it nearly cost Ash the match, but it showed that he had failed to curb Rowlet's bad habit after all this time, needing to walk directly onto the field and wake it up. While some thought this was a humorous Bait-and-Switch that was in line with Rowlet's character, others feel it was Plot Armor that strips the league of its legitimacy.
• Ash's Naganadel. One half of the fanbase finds it positively adorable and love his antics, his budding friendship with Pikachu, and his teased plot relevance with Necrozma. The other half hates him for his bratty behavior and for not doing much since its debut, with perceived similarities to Nebby and being one of Ash's main team members without contributing to battles being used as accusations against it. His subsequent release at the end of the Necrozma arc followed by his return in the League fully-evolved offscreen just in time for Ash's only full battle in the Sun and Moon series only flared up a different side of this debate, as while some people feel his strong showing during the exhibition match with Kukui redeemed his previous role as The Load, others feel that having him return after offscreen improvement was very sloppy writing that just dropped a strong Pokémon on Ash's lap without him needing to train Poipole (not helped by Meltan having just evolved into Melmetal not even a couple episodes before, again without input from Ash), and the fact that it only coincidentally returned for the final major battle of Sun and Moon and then left afterwards without Ash having any say in the matters made his return feel forced and ruined the finality of their initial farewell.
• Lana's Eevee, Sandy. Many love it for its Keet personality and giving Lana her long needed second Pokémon, others complain about Sandy doing too little under Lana's care, especially after the buildup in its mini side parts before the capture, and would have better suited filling the missing slot in Ash's Alola team rather than being regulated to comic relief. That fact that other more relevant Water-type Pokémon such as Dewpider appeared beforehand that Lana could have caught doesn't help. That this was the third time a female protagonist got an Eevee also garnered complaints as many people felt the repeated pattern of female companions getting an Eevee, despite the Pokémon being a Breakout Character, was getting stale.
• The Shaymin adopted by Mallow. Some love it for its cuteness and Nice Guy personality (compared to the Bratty Half-Pint Shaymin of Pokémon: Giratina and the Sky Warrior) and acting as one of the more stagnant companions' de-facto secondary (as well as giving one of the companions a mythical Pokemon to balance the absurd amount of special perks Ash's Alola team had). Others complain about Shaymin not really doing anything besides acting as The Baby of the Bunch (making its addition do nothing to fix Mallow's stagnancy as a character) and feel that Mallow is undeserving of possessing a mythical Pokemon. It leaving Mallow at the very end of the series did it no favors, even with the implication that Shaymin was in fact the reincarnation of Mallow's deceased mother, with some finding it a cheap attempt at making it relevant at the very last second.
• Ash's team from Journeys was criticized due to being Out of Focus for a while, but Lucario in particular seems to be the most polarized. While Riolu's capture and evolution were universally loved, and it gaining the ability to Mega Evolve was also received positively due to both being popular fan requests, some fans disliked Lucario's post-evolution personality, saying that it's too one-dimensional, bland, and generically cold, contrasting the cute personality it had as a Riolu. Its character is also compared unfavorably to other Lucario in the anime, such as Sir Aaron's, Korrina's, and even Cameron's, while its bond with Ash is criticized compared to Ash's previous aces due to the shortage of interactions they have outside of battles. Other fans don't see those issues to be that big a deal and like how Lucario is involved in funny moments where it can't keep its cool, its growth over the course of the series, its ability to Mega Evolve giving it a unique position in Ash's roster, and how it becomes more open in showing affection towards Ash later on. Lucario's fans argue that while it is mostly serious, it has more depth than just being a cold and stoic Pokémon that loves to battle.
• Goh's Grookey is either seen as being cute or funny, or a very obnoxious and troublemaking waste of space who creates more problems than it solves and is useless at anything but trying to be cute or funny.
• Chloe's Eevee. On one side, there are people who like the idea of Chloe getting such a Pokemon not only because its popularity, but because how well it parallel's Chloe's own uncertainty over what path should she take in life. Others, however, wished that the anime would give Eevee a rest, since Chloe is the fourth female companion to own an Eevee overall, the third in a row, and the second in a row whose Eevee stayed unevolved, and would have preferred if her Pokemon was one introduced in Gen VIII (as it was the case of Goh's Signature Mons), such as her father's Yamper or the Galarian Ponyta she befriended on one episode.

Movies

• The Iron Masked Marauder. People either admire him for his voice (courtesy of the ever-hammy Dan Green), his cool design, and for posing a genuine threat, or view him as a boring villain with a generic motive and loads of wasted potential.
• The Shaymin from Pokémon: Giratina and the Sky Warrior. Its Jerkass to One attitude towards Ash is either seen as legitimately funny or annoying. Being an ungrateful Bratty Half-Pint through most of the movie while only admitting at the end that it never truly disliked Ash, can also come off as empty to some people. Generally, it's more beloved in the franchise's home country, while reception for it outside of the East is typically mixed to negative.
• Alva is seen as a Flat Character who, like many Pokémon movie villains before him, has no backstory, personality, or motive beyond greed. Then there are those who would look past this because of his "forced Mega Evolution" gimmick.
• Sorrel and Verity. Some see them as fine characters in their own right that combine the better aspects of a few of Ash's companions, while others feel that they lack enough character to be memorable and just see them as inferior replacements for Misty and Brock. Some take a third option and feel while not the most interesting in "I Choose You" couldve been fleshed out had Ash not parted ways with them in the end
• Cross. Those that like him feel he is a good Composite Character of characters like Gary, Paul and Damian. Others hate him for replacing Gary as Ash's first rival and for his design being likened to a bad DeviantArt OC.

Anime (Horizons)

Main Characters

• Liko and Roy. The fandom is split between those who welcome the new protagonists with open arms and those who see them as a Replacement Scrappy for Ash and his 25-year legacy.
  • Many viewers enjoy Liko's shy and reserved nature being a breathe of fresh air compared to Ash's outgoing personality with different struggles she faces with them. There are those who also find her to be too mild and soft for the anime which has built a reputation for being adventurous and action-packed. There are also criticisms against the plot of her being The Chosen One, with the pendant being something tied to her heritage rather than something she has to work hard for and earn.
  • Roy was intially seen as an inferior replacement for Ash, but many did warm up to him for being similarly energetic and upbeat like his predecessor. That still doesn't stop the occasional complaints that he's too similar. A shared complaint he has with Liko is how he hogs the spotlight and gets more development than her in the first arc despite the premise of a dual-protagonist setup, but the anime addresses this by acknowledging how Liko is lagging behind due to her lack of drive. There are also those who dislike how the Ancient Pokeballs have been going to Liko despite it being marketed as Roy's MacGuffin.
• Professor Friede. While fans think he's a unique professor and badass trainer, many also dislike how much of a Spotlight-Stealing Squad he is. Despite Liko and Roy being the protagonists, fans don't like how the battles are carried hard by Friede and his team. Many cite Friede as a reason why Liko and Roy feel underdeveloped as the main protagonists.

Pokémon

• Captain Pikachu, and to a degree Charizard too. Initially, there were doubts about him succeeding the most popular incarnation of the franchise's mascot, but eventually Cap was seen as being a unique enough and entertaining Pikachu who can be differentiated from Ash's. However, fans do not like how Friede's team are the only competent battlers of the Brave Olivine, often stealing the battling spotlight from the rest of the crew and swooping in to save them even outside Friede-centered episodes. Many have also noticed how this spotlight stealing also applies to Liko and Roy, the main protagonists and their Pokemon. While the complaints also go out to Friede, much of the blame goes to the Pokemon due to Pikachu and Charizard's status as mascots, with many accusing the anime of keeping them in the spotlight fearing viewers may not want to see the new cast.

Manga

Adventures

• Red. Fans either love him for being the original hero, or hate him because they find him to be The Generic Guy among a main cast full of characters with more interesting personalities.
• Blake is a rather controversial character (at least in the West) with fans either disliking or appreciating his emotionless and cold Mr. Perfect personality, to say nothing of those who dislike him for replacing Black.
• Shauna is a rare case of a non-Dexholder example. Some find her pessimism, a complete 180 degree flip from her game canon counterpart, to be off-putting. Others find it refreshing and point out that it makes sense given what happened to X.

Other

GO

• Ever since the Team Leaders' official artwork has been released◊, Spark has been pretty hotly debated. Many fans say, especially compared to Blanche and Candela, that he looks like a dweeb and the least threatening of the three. However, some people are drawn to him exactly for that reason, he's the only one who actually looks like he's enjoying himself while the other two look awfully serious and severe.

TCG

• Charizard, for reasons similar to the games. It's one of the most popular Pokémon, its inclusion in a set always drives sales, and fans tend to get hyped whenever it gets a new rare printing of some kind. However, many other fans are sick of it constantly getting new cards to the point of Wolverine Publicity, lambast the fact that most of its cards are utterly unplayable, and blame it for the lack of variety in some sets as well as for some low-quality expansions such as Champion's Path that serve no purpose other than to motivate collectors to gamble for Charizard (not to mention it also motivates scalpers to snatch up sealed product).
• Rainbow Rare cards, which are either visually stunning and sought-after or visually underwhelming and only serve to inflate set numbers, especially considering that all of them reuse the artwork from full-color versions of the same cards. The ones in the Sword & Shield sets at least try to be more visually distinct, with a special holofoil pattern that shifts between sparkles and etching depending on the viewing angle. Many fans grew sick of them during the Sword & Shield era, with almost every Pokémon VMAX and VSTAR getting a Rainbow Rare variant while distribution of the much better-received alternate art VMAX cards is more inconsistent (stopping entirely from Brilliant Stars onwards aside from Trainer Gallery and Galarian Gallery cards), and VSTAR cards didn't have alt art variants at all until Crown Zenith.^note However, Charizard VMAX and Charizard VSTAR both got alternate art variants as promo cards in October 2022. Ultimately, the mixed reception of the Rainbow Rares led to them being phased out at the start of the Scarlet and Violet era, with alternate arts (AKA Illustration Rares) serving as their replacements. Despite this, some Rainbow Rare cards continue to be well-received and sought-after, mostly any Pikachu and Charizard variants.

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