G&C Podcast - Episode 174: Discussing All The Pokemon Player Characters!!

On this episode of the Gaming And Collecting Podcast Bill and Alex return to the world of Pokemon, this time discussing all the different player characters from all the main series titles! But once again guys thanks for joining us as we discuss the games that shaped us! Follow the Gaming And Collecting Podcast on all of our socials, easily found here: https://linktr.ee/Thebarberwhogames

Intro Music By Gerry At: https://soundcloud.com/greymatteraudio

[00:00:00] Hey guys, on this episode of Gaming and Collecting, me and Alex are returning to the Pokemon franchise.

[00:00:06] This time we're gonna go over all the different player characters from the franchise.

[00:00:11] Going over our favorites, the ones we dislike, and maybe we'll rank them at the end.

[00:00:15] It's definitely gonna be an interesting one. Now cue the intro music.

[00:00:30] So, how you been?

[00:00:40] I'm living. Life has been happening. I'm coughing.

[00:00:48] And Bill asked me if I was good and I thought I'd tell the podcast.

[00:00:54] So I had a cough for about...

[00:00:58] Let's see. This will be week number two of the cough.

[00:01:06] It's not going away, it's not getting better.

[00:01:10] And I keep trying different things. Like I tried taking cold medicine and the cold medicine wasn't doing shit.

[00:01:14] So I tried taking a different allergy medicine which is helping a bit more.

[00:01:20] But I'm still coughing a lot. So I came to the conclusion that maybe I should go see a doctor.

[00:01:25] Because you aren't supposed to cough for two weeks straight.

[00:01:30] Which will happen.

[00:01:33] So I'm gonna see a doctor on Friday because I might be dying. I don't know.

[00:01:38] Yeah, let's not say that.

[00:01:41] I'm kidding. Not dying.

[00:01:44] But yeah, I can't stop coughing. So you may hear me cough in this episode. I'm so sorry.

[00:01:50] I can't control it.

[00:01:53] Alright. As long as you're going to see a doctor.

[00:01:57] I am. I am going Friday. I went to dance on Tuesday.

[00:02:01] So it's weird because I'm literally...I don't feel sick.

[00:02:07] Like I don't have a headache. I don't really feel more tired than usual.

[00:02:11] I don't have any of the symptoms of being sick besides a cough that just won't go away.

[00:02:17] And I mean congestion. Which is why it's causing the cough.

[00:02:21] But like I'm not feverish. I'm not nauseous. Like nothing.

[00:02:26] The only thing I have is a cough and congestion.

[00:02:29] So I don't know if just allergies are...my allergies are out of control right now.

[00:02:33] But I have two air purifiers in my house now.

[00:02:37] Our wonderful mother got me them. So thank you mother. That was very kind of you.

[00:02:41] So I have one going downstairs and one going upstairs.

[00:02:44] So I hope they help.

[00:02:47] And while the doctor is just like, oh this is what's wrong with you. Here you go.

[00:02:51] Take this. That's my hope.

[00:02:54] So yeah.

[00:02:57] How are you doing Bill?

[00:03:00] I almost got run off the road on the way home. That was fun.

[00:03:04] Yeah. It was crazy. The rain and then it just like stopped.

[00:03:08] Yeah. The second we got home. It was weird.

[00:03:11] The second we got home. It was like I was at work and like one of our windows...

[00:03:15] One of the windows that led out to our shop just...rain was coming in.

[00:03:20] There was a pool of water out from under that...

[00:03:25] From that window. It was crazy.

[00:03:29] So aww. What?

[00:03:34] My baby.

[00:03:38] He's here. Yeah.

[00:03:41] I'm pretty sure.

[00:03:44] Tilly's home by the way for all of you who want to know.

[00:03:48] I mean she's home. I finally was able to get her from the vet back.

[00:03:54] You know and it's not the same but it does make me feel a lot better.

[00:04:00] Just you know having her physically home.

[00:04:04] You know it's not the same but you know it does...

[00:04:09] At least I don't need to worry about that anymore.

[00:04:12] And they were very nice. Like they gave me this little...

[00:04:16] They like took an imprint of her paw and they like put her name engraved.

[00:04:21] Her name on it. So I always have part of her.

[00:04:24] I mean I always have her. They put like her ashes in a very nice box.

[00:04:29] So I have her in the kitchen because she loved food.

[00:04:33] And she loved the kitchen. So I just felt it was the right place to put her.

[00:04:38] That's good. What do you think Bill?

[00:04:43] As long as she's home. That's all that mattered.

[00:04:46] She's home. So yeah.

[00:04:50] So I'm doing better. I'm still really sad about it.

[00:04:54] And I still cry when I see some of her photos but I'm doing a lot better.

[00:04:59] Yeah. Yeah I hydroplained really bad on the highway though.

[00:05:04] Yeah me too. I was trying to call you but my stupid voice-to-text voice car thing was just like...

[00:05:12] Call Will Barber. And I was like...

[00:05:15] Call Bill Barber! And I'm like yelling it and I was like...

[00:05:18] Oh fuck this! I don't give a shit anymore.

[00:05:21] So I was going to call you to warn you to not go in the left lane because it was very puddly.

[00:05:26] But then I just said fuck it! Because the voice-to-text wasn't working.

[00:05:32] I was pretty bad on the other lane as well.

[00:05:37] Yes. I cut you a break and let you over.

[00:05:40] I know! I saw you coming and then I was like...

[00:05:44] Please! Please! Please! And then you did let me over.

[00:05:47] I was like thank you! And then you abandoned me.

[00:05:49] Well no, I tried to let you over again but you didn't...

[00:05:53] They were to let me go over!

[00:05:55] I slowed down and I was waiting and then traffic jacked up and I was like alright sorry Alex.

[00:06:01] I didn't see it. Well, because I kind of saw you and then I saw you next to me.

[00:06:05] I was like when the fuck did he move over?

[00:06:11] I did move over eventually too but...

[00:06:14] So Bill, what are we talking about today on this podcast?

[00:06:24] So we're returning to Pokemon. It's been a while.

[00:06:27] Oh dear god no! Mom! Run away!

[00:06:32] It's been a while. We don't have a new gen to talk about all the Pokemon so we're not doing that today.

[00:06:39] When did this one come out?

[00:06:42] Like the last Pokemon game. It was Christmas time, right?

[00:06:46] Well...

[00:06:49] I'm dying.

[00:06:50] The last episode we did was...

[00:06:54] Oh yeah, you're looking at your wall.

[00:06:56] Yeah, it was episode 116 and we're currently on 174 now I want to say.

[00:07:03] Which one was that one?

[00:07:05] That was the Violet and Scarlet, the Palladia region.

[00:07:09] Really?

[00:07:12] It's been a while.

[00:07:13] That doesn't feel like it was that long ago but okay, I'll take it.

[00:07:17] That was about a year ago at this point.

[00:07:20] But yeah, so we don't have any new Pokemon to go over but we thought it'd be interesting to revisit this time discussing the player characters because as we discovered there's a fucking lot of them.

[00:07:33] Yeah and there's a lot that like I don't remember.

[00:07:38] Like I'm looking at these and I'm like who the fuck were these people?

[00:07:43] So yeah, whoopsie!

[00:07:46] I think we're gonna mostly stick to the main, like the core games for now.

[00:07:53] Jesus, sorry. Oh my god that sounded so bad.

[00:08:01] I'm so sorry.

[00:08:03] I'm dying.

[00:08:06] Yeah.

[00:08:07] But yeah, so we're gonna mostly stick to the core games.

[00:08:12] Yes.

[00:08:13] For this list, because there is a bunch of spin off games but like those characters for the most part, most of them don't even have like sprites, let alone art.

[00:08:24] Yeah.

[00:08:26] So yeah, what better place to start than obviously the original character in the series Red.

[00:08:33] Hi Red.

[00:08:35] You're looking great in that cap.

[00:08:38] In best combo.

[00:08:40] He's had so many different designs over the years.

[00:08:43] It's funny, like looking at we're both on Bulbapedia right now.

[00:08:47] And it's funny looking at like the first gen art versus like his later release art, like just like how the style has changed.

[00:08:55] Well yeah because he started out as basically Ash in Red.

[00:09:01] Yes.

[00:09:02] Well Ash was based off of Red.

[00:09:04] Yeah.

[00:09:05] Look at you Ash, always 12.

[00:09:07] But then, he wasn't even 12, he was 10.

[00:09:10] Oh, always 10? Damn.

[00:09:12] Yeah.

[00:09:13] Red was 12, but Red actually aged.

[00:09:15] Yes.

[00:09:16] Considering his sun and moon design.

[00:09:20] Yeah, he's been through quite a bit like he later got redesigned for Fire Red and Leaf Green with like that much more iconic like the brown hair design that actually looks different.

[00:09:29] Yeah.

[00:09:30] And nice yellow backpack.

[00:09:33] Yeah.

[00:09:34] Personality wise though, he is like legitimately probably the...

[00:09:38] A wall.

[00:09:39] He has, you're gonna find out most of these characters have like zero personality.

[00:09:43] Yeah, yeah.

[00:09:44] Most of them do.

[00:09:46] Really? But that's kind of the problem too if like...

[00:09:50] No, but then never mind. I take it back because you know our Kami had a personality.

[00:09:56] He did.

[00:09:58] The end thing.

[00:09:59] I don't know if he drove that, but yeah.

[00:10:01] He had a personality.

[00:10:03] The thing about the Pokemon protagonist is a lot of them have personalities, but it's only when you're not playing as them.

[00:10:14] Yeah.

[00:10:16] In the case of Red though, his only real appearances are when you're playing as him where he has no personality or when he's on top of the fucking mountain and he doesn't talk.

[00:10:26] Yeah, he's just like, I kill you now. Goodbye.

[00:10:30] Interestingly though...

[00:10:31] He pushes you off the mountain.

[00:10:32] His counterparts are more interesting.

[00:10:35] Well, I mean, Ash is Ash.

[00:10:38] I mean everyone knows there.

[00:10:40] But he did have his...

[00:10:41] He turned only ten.

[00:10:43] He did have his Pokemon origins incarnation though which was a lot more down to earth and actually had some growing to do.

[00:10:53] And then my personal favorite is the Pokemon Adventures counterpart who was a completely different character entirely.

[00:11:03] He actually had a very defined personality.

[00:11:06] The Adventures counterparts for most of these characters are very different in a lot of ways.

[00:11:13] Yes.

[00:11:14] That being said though, Red's counterparts, who didn't exist in the original game...

[00:11:21] Nope.

[00:11:23] So she goes by many a name in the series.

[00:11:29] Bulbapedia refers to her as Leaf.

[00:11:32] Leaf. Hi Leaf, my name is Dick.

[00:11:36] Based off of some code in one of the games...

[00:11:44] Oh, and I think she was officially called Leaf in like Pokemon Masters EX.

[00:11:49] So I guess that's her official name now.

[00:11:52] I don't really know.

[00:11:53] Leaf.

[00:11:54] What did I click on?

[00:11:58] Sorry, I clicked on the screen.

[00:12:01] She's actually based off of a unused female sprite character from the early Pokemon promotional stuff.

[00:12:12] That's where the brown haired girl in the little black dress comes from.

[00:12:18] That was her original design, but she was not used in the original red and blue.

[00:12:25] And they recycled...

[00:12:27] Well that character appears in Pokemon Adventures quite frequently.

[00:12:31] But when they eventually made a female protagonist for the remakes, they actually brought her back with the very iconic red skirt, blue shirt, white hat design.

[00:12:48] Yep. Which is funny because it's just his design inverted.

[00:12:52] Yes, you'll notice that frequently with the counterparts.

[00:12:58] I like Leaf's design.

[00:12:59] It's probably my favorite of the female designs up until black and white.

[00:13:05] Yeah, I mean some that you know...

[00:13:10] We'll talk about it later.

[00:13:12] But no, I like her design.

[00:13:14] I think it's fine.

[00:13:15] I mean it's like nothing like wow, amazing.

[00:13:18] Like it's fine.

[00:13:20] It's not overly flashy.

[00:13:22] It gives me mullet though.

[00:13:23] I don't know why.

[00:13:24] It's not a mullet, but it just gives me that vibe when I look at it.

[00:13:27] I don't know.

[00:13:28] I think it's the way the hat looks when she's not wearing the hat.

[00:13:31] It looks different.

[00:13:33] But she's wearing the hat so it's giving me the mullet vibes.

[00:13:36] Yeah.

[00:13:38] No, but it's not bad.

[00:13:39] I design.

[00:13:40] I'd say this one though is very much like very much inverted.

[00:13:46] Like some of them I feel like later on they really try and differentiate the characters where this one not as much.

[00:13:53] Yeah.

[00:13:55] Moving on though now, we'll get to gold and silver, Gen 2, and we get Ethan.

[00:14:02] I don't remember Ethan.

[00:14:04] Well you...

[00:14:07] Okay, so he has two designs.

[00:14:10] His original gold and silver design was a lot more edgy looking.

[00:14:14] Yeah, he kind of looks like a little shit.

[00:14:17] Well in Pokemon Adventures...

[00:14:18] He's giving little shit to me.

[00:14:21] Fun fact, in Pokemon Adventures he totally was.

[00:14:24] Well, it works.

[00:14:26] The design just says little shit.

[00:14:29] Yeah, they later like kind of like smoothed out his design for HeartGold SoulSilver.

[00:14:35] Now he just kind of looks like more of a kid.

[00:14:39] I prefer the HeartGold SoulSilver design.

[00:14:42] Like I think he had too much yellow in the original design.

[00:14:45] Nah, I like his little shit energy in the first one so much better.

[00:14:50] His other one just seems like, hey I'm your average little school nerd.

[00:14:56] No, not that but I like his little shit design.

[00:15:00] Just that smug face.

[00:15:02] He's just not getting that same energy.

[00:15:05] In the manga his name was Gold.

[00:15:08] Why the fuck can they not decide?

[00:15:11] Like what?

[00:15:12] The website just broke.

[00:15:14] Well all the manga names are completely different from the game names.

[00:15:19] What? Why the fuck do they do that?

[00:15:21] They just want you to be confused.

[00:15:23] No, it's because the manga is written way in advance and the names aren't revealed yet.

[00:15:30] Especially because the Japanese names come first before the American names.

[00:15:36] But yeah.

[00:15:37] So this is where it gets confusing now.

[00:15:40] Yeah, I'm already...

[00:15:41] I'm looking at it and I can tell and I'm confused.

[00:15:44] I don't know who his counterpart is.

[00:15:46] So Gold and Silver is an interesting one.

[00:15:49] His original, the OG female character was Chris.

[00:15:58] And where it gets weird is Chris was completely just dummied out and removed for the HeartGold SoulSilver version.

[00:16:07] Which really pisses me off because Chris has a really cool character design.

[00:16:11] Much better than her replacement.

[00:16:14] We'll get to Lyra in a second.

[00:16:16] But Chris I really like because like you said her design is legitimately just...

[00:16:20] It's very much kind of like...

[00:16:23] It's actually very similar to Ethan's original design.

[00:16:27] But it's also different though.

[00:16:30] I mean she has cool hair, she has a cool outfit.

[00:16:34] They're a pair but Chris's design is so much better than Lyra's.

[00:16:41] Also...

[00:16:43] We want Chris back!

[00:16:45] A lot of people do.

[00:16:47] What's interesting is because the way the manga was written, Chris was the character they used in the manga.

[00:16:53] Well she's known as Crystal in the manga and he is awesome in the manga because she's literally like the only sane person in that manga.

[00:17:02] She is legit the normal person in a group of fucking psychos.

[00:17:07] And she basically just has to deal with all their bullshit the entire time.

[00:17:12] Yeah.

[00:17:14] What's funny though is a mythology gag is because Chris was already established when they went and did the Hark! Gold Soul Silver Arc,

[00:17:23] because Chris was already the character, they just gave Chris Lyra's costume and they made it a character point that she hated it.

[00:17:32] Good because looking at Lyra's costume it is definitely one of the more ugly designs of the characters.

[00:17:41] I don't get why they changed.

[00:17:44] I don't either!

[00:17:46] Like Lyra is very... she's wearing overalls and she's got a big poofy hat.

[00:17:52] With a big old bow and pigtails that defy... well Chris also has pigtails that... but hers are at least cool and spiky.

[00:18:03] Lyra's are like a mustache on the back of her head.

[00:18:07] Like an Eggman mustache.

[00:18:09] No, she looks like Mario. I just realized this.

[00:18:13] Yeah! Oh my god it's like a Mario's mustache extended to his whole fucking head.

[00:18:19] I'm never gonna be able to unsee this now.

[00:18:22] She is Mario. I think that's all that can be said. Mario.

[00:18:27] Okay so at the moment Lyra's probably our least favorite.

[00:18:30] Yeah right now... right now for me it goes Chris, Leif, Lyra.

[00:18:37] Yeah we should probably rank... we should rank male and female separately because they're entirely different designs.

[00:18:42] Yes! And then I would say Ethan Red.

[00:18:46] Because well Ethan's first design, Red, and then Ethan's second design.

[00:18:52] Yeah. That would be my line.

[00:18:56] So moving on this is where we're getting a little more elaborate now because we're getting to Brendan.

[00:19:03] Or as the fandom likes to refer to him as Blandin because he's quite...

[00:19:09] Is that a hair or swim cap?

[00:19:11] It's a hat. It's a hat.

[00:19:15] This is an ongoing... this is such a thing that it's actually a plot point in the manga.

[00:19:21] That is great.

[00:19:24] So he has three main designs because he's got his original design which is my least favorite.

[00:19:31] His emerald design which is my personal favorite.

[00:19:36] And then his Omega Ruby Alpha Sapphire design which is like a mix of the two.

[00:19:43] It looks like he's swimming in the last one.

[00:19:48] He's also got like a tan, which I guess kind of makes sense because of all the water in a poem.

[00:19:54] But yeah I'm not huge on the new... like his final design.

[00:19:59] I prefer the emerald design with like the... he's still got the stupid hat but he's also got this like...

[00:20:05] He's still got that dumb ass hat.

[00:20:07] He's got a lot of green incorporated into his design and like the vest jacket thing I think just works.

[00:20:16] Also in the manga his name is Ruby.

[00:20:20] Rudy?

[00:20:21] No, no, Ruby.

[00:20:23] I know but I prefer Rudy.

[00:20:26] Oh and in an interesting twist in the manga he is more into contests than he is gym battles.

[00:20:32] And he's got... and he has massive daddy issues but that's...

[00:20:38] Why? Why the Pokemon game?

[00:20:41] Because it's dad's gym leader.

[00:20:44] Oh, understandable.

[00:20:47] Moving on though we get May who is very well known for her anime counterpart.

[00:20:55] Now May has three designs as well.

[00:20:58] She has the original design, the emerald design which is basically the original design only with more green,

[00:21:06] and her Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire design which is actually my favorite of the three.

[00:21:14] Agreed.

[00:21:16] I like the short shorts combined with just the general kind of taking the best parts of both designs and just making one solid design.

[00:21:25] Agreed. And I really like how they made her hat into a headband instead.

[00:21:31] I feel like it just makes the look more cute.

[00:21:35] Yeah. She also looks more her age which I prefer because there's some weird stuff with the Pokemon artists who don't know how to draw children.

[00:21:45] Yeah.

[00:21:47] The manga is infamous for this I will say because it is oh my at times.

[00:21:53] Yeah, I really like May's most recent design though.

[00:21:56] In the manga it's actually really funny because her name is Sapphire and she's like a wild child that lives in the woods.

[00:22:03] A wild what? What are these uncanny like...

[00:22:08] The manga is amazing for so many reasons.

[00:22:12] I do need to eventually read the manga. It's on my list. It's just hard.

[00:22:19] I know they actually do play with the whole like, you know how like the whole like you mentioned earlier that it feels like they're the characters clothes are just like inverts like of each other.

[00:22:30] Yes.

[00:22:32] In the manga, because Ruby or Brandon is a contest guy.

[00:22:38] He actually he's very good at making clothes for the contests.

[00:22:42] The way because when you first discover Sapphire she's literally wearing like leaves in like a like caveman outfit. It is very bizarre.

[00:22:52] It makes sense in context but because she's like a wild child he's like you can't go into society like that so I'm just going to give you a set of my clothes that I altered to look to be female.

[00:23:04] And her reaction to this is, did he take my measurements while I was sleeping?

[00:23:11] Yeah.

[00:23:13] But that's why her clothes look so similar to his in the manga.

[00:23:20] Moving on though now we get arguably the protagonist I think we had the most time with back as kids.

[00:23:27] Don and Lucas.

[00:23:30] So starting with Lucas.

[00:23:33] Lucas looks like a dork.

[00:23:35] Yeah, I'm sorry.

[00:23:37] Looks like a dork but I still like his design more than Brandon's.

[00:23:42] The beret is kind of goofy.

[00:23:44] Yeah, it's the beret also the scarf but I feel like the scarf was very of the time the game came out.

[00:23:51] Well, the scarf was mostly because you know was supposed to be cold like super cold.

[00:23:57] Yeah, but he just looks so stupid when you're wearing a t-shirt.

[00:24:01] Exactly. That's why for the platinum they redesigned him and gave him a jacket.

[00:24:07] I prefer the jacket look personally.

[00:24:10] Yep.

[00:24:11] It makes more sense.

[00:24:13] His original design is like why are you wearing a t-shirt in the scarf?

[00:24:18] And I love how in the later game, the redo, it goes back to the shittier design.

[00:24:25] They did include the platinum style as a bonus.

[00:24:30] Oh, okay. Nice.

[00:24:32] You didn't play enough of the game to get into.

[00:24:34] No, I did not.

[00:24:37] Moving on though we also get Don.

[00:24:39] Don is a very iconic character in the series.

[00:24:42] Yes, and Don is one of my favorite designs.

[00:24:46] I mean, I just feel like I love Don's design because it's so cute and so feminine.

[00:24:52] Like just the pink. None of them had worn pink before and she was the first one to go pink and it's just so cute.

[00:24:58] And I mean her characters.

[00:25:00] Well, I guess Lucas too but like she comes back again for a later game, you know as a different character.

[00:25:06] Kind of. We'll get to them later.

[00:25:08] She was also in the anime and her anime counterpart was very developed.

[00:25:14] Yes.

[00:25:15] I will say though I'd much prefer the platinum redesign.

[00:25:19] Oh my god, the platinum is adorable. It is so cute.

[00:25:23] Like the bag. I agree. Both the platinum designs are great for both of them.

[00:25:28] And I really like how these two, they weren't necessarily exact cop.

[00:25:33] Like, you know, like just the color. I really like that they made them different characters, you know, not just a copy in a copy.

[00:25:39] Yeah, both are fine to me. Don's got probably one of the most iconic designs in the series.

[00:25:48] So cute.

[00:25:50] And her name, I believe in the manga is Latina.

[00:25:57] Yeah. Latina? What the fuck is with these names?

[00:26:02] What's Lucas's name?

[00:26:05] I think, I think he's...

[00:26:07] No, it's either, he's either, I haven't got there yet reading it. It's either Pearl or Diamond.

[00:26:12] I think Diamond. Why? Why does he get a normal ass name and she gets Platinum?

[00:26:17] It sounds like a disease.

[00:26:19] I don't know. I don't know. I haven't got there yet.

[00:26:26] But yeah, I love Don's design. Moving on though. Now we get...

[00:26:34] Who are the most iconic?

[00:26:37] Well, I'd say one of them. So we got my favorite, the best names in the series.

[00:26:42] Yes, that's what I mean. Why the fuck did they need... I love how these two are the American characters because I know 50 Hildas and Hilberts all the time.

[00:26:53] Yeah, so Black and White was supposed to be... Black and White was an interesting one for me because it was A, it was based in America, which we could relate to.

[00:27:03] But also they were aged up a bit from like, I think they were 14 rather than 12. So they were able to make them a little bit older.

[00:27:13] Hilbert, his design is good but he just seems like another red to me.

[00:27:19] His name's Hilbert.

[00:27:21] Yes. He just feels like another red though.

[00:27:25] Yeah.

[00:27:27] It's a good design. He's basically red with darker colors and poofy hair.

[00:27:32] I mean, I feel like it's pretty known that... Black and White you play as Hilda because in the story it makes more sense.

[00:27:45] Especially the scenes with N. The scenes with N are freaking weird. They just don't feel as right. I mean, I feel like Hilda is meant to be the main character of this game.

[00:27:56] Isn't she the main protagonist in the manga too? Like she's more of the main character or...?

[00:28:01] They're dual characters.

[00:28:03] Oh, okay.

[00:28:04] They have their own storylines. Actually, the Black and White manga is very good.

[00:28:09] Yeah. But yeah, Hilda. Hilda is... I'll say it now is my favorite female protagonist design.

[00:28:16] Oh yeah. There's no one that... Hilda's design is the best out of all of them.

[00:28:22] There's no stupid gimmicks. It's legit what you would expect.

[00:28:26] She just looks cool. Like she looks like an actual... someone who's actually be traveling as a Pokemon trainer.

[00:28:32] Unlike some designs.

[00:28:36] Yeah. Well, I mean to be fair, they hadn't been too bad to this point.

[00:28:41] But Hilda was like the first one where I saw it and I was like, yeah, that looks like something you could actually see in reality.

[00:28:47] Yeah.

[00:28:48] It's also the most easy one to cosplay.

[00:28:51] Yeah.

[00:28:54] Yeah, I like Hilda. I kind of am disappointed though that she basically only appears in this game and completely disappears after this.

[00:29:01] Yep.

[00:29:02] I mean, she appears but never... not nearly as much as say other characters.

[00:29:10] And in the manga they are known as Black and White.

[00:29:14] Yep.

[00:29:15] Yes. The male character's name is Black.

[00:29:20] Don't question it.

[00:29:23] So yeah, moving on now. So Black and White got sequels and we got...

[00:29:28] We went from two of the most realistic like best designs to two of the goofiest fucking designs.

[00:29:35] I will say I do like Nate's design still more than Lucas and Brendan.

[00:29:40] True.

[00:29:41] I still like the design more.

[00:29:43] Nate's design is fine other than the fucking shorts. The shorts bother the fuck out of me.

[00:29:49] They're just... they're so big. Why are they so big?

[00:29:53] Like he's wearing like... he's wearing spandex underneath them and then he's just got these like boofy shorts on and it's like... it's like why?

[00:30:03] It's like it completely throws off the entire design.

[00:30:09] I do like his palm tree hair though.

[00:30:12] Yeah, it is pretty fun. And his visor action is pretty great.

[00:30:19] Yeah, the vi... I don't know. I thought you'd have PTSD about visors.

[00:30:23] What do you mean?

[00:30:25] Your buddy.

[00:30:27] Oh. No. No. I... one person cannot change my view of visors.

[00:30:35] Okay. He was a supervisor.

[00:30:40] What?

[00:30:41] He was a supervisor.

[00:30:43] God fucking damn it.

[00:30:46] So fun fact. In the manga, because they already used black and white and they weren't going to be that lazy and call them black, white and black too.

[00:30:58] Essentially, they actually had to make up names and in the manga Nate is known as Blake.

[00:31:04] Hold on. In Hilbert?

[00:31:06] No. His name is Blake.

[00:31:08] Blake.

[00:31:09] He's like, okay, cool.

[00:31:14] Yeah. I haven't got to that part of the manga yet though so I can't really say much.

[00:31:20] That being said, let's get to Rosa.

[00:31:24] Once again, the fucking...

[00:31:25] What in the Sailor Moon is that hair?

[00:31:29] The hair. The hair I could get past it. What the fuck is that?

[00:31:32] Also a visor.

[00:31:34] I dig the visors. That was an interesting change. What is she wearing?

[00:31:40] I don't know. I feel like she rolled out of bed. It was just like, oh shit, I gotta go catch some Pokemon.

[00:31:49] Nowadays, I feel like they just have her wearing the leggings.

[00:31:56] Yeah.

[00:31:57] The pants are unnecessary. The little skirt shorts thing is just unnecessary.

[00:32:03] Yeah.

[00:32:05] That being said, I like her design otherwise. It's literally just the pants. The pants throw me off.

[00:32:10] The skirt. Yeah. No, if she was just wearing the leggings, it'd be fine. The skirt, what shorts is like me?

[00:32:18] I think she's canonically the oldest protagonist too.

[00:32:22] Really?

[00:32:23] Yeah, her age is unknown. It's not given. I think she's canonically the oldest one though.

[00:32:29] Don't 100% quote me on that. I don't really know.

[00:32:34] Oh yeah, and in the manga, her name is Whiteleap.

[00:32:38] Whitelee?

[00:32:39] Whitelee.

[00:32:41] Why?

[00:32:42] Because the manga names are hilarious.

[00:32:47] I also like how we went from Hilda who had this confident coolness to her, and then Rosa just looks like a ditz.

[00:32:55] Yeah, Rosa looks like she would be like, oh my god!

[00:33:01] She somehow looks more ditzy than Lyra, but at least she has a charming design.

[00:33:06] Yeah, it's better than Lyra, but it's not one of my favorites. There's definitely better designs.

[00:33:13] It's the goddamn pants for both of them.

[00:33:16] Yeah.

[00:33:17] Moving on though now, X and Y. We got Callum.

[00:33:23] Honestly, I don't know what it is, but I don't like his design. I just don't like it. I don't know why. Just like...

[00:33:31] The outfit's fine. That looks pretty standard.

[00:33:37] It's boring. There's nothing to it.

[00:33:41] You gotta remember though, this was the first game with customizable characters.

[00:33:45] Yeah, but then you look at the character below. Serena. Her design is adorable and wonderful, and his looks like shit.

[00:33:57] Because ladies get more options, alright?

[00:34:00] Yes.

[00:34:02] I will say another thing. His hat bothers me.

[00:34:06] I hate his hat and his hair. I just hate his design. I just hate him. He's my least favorite. He's at the bottom of my list now. I hate him. Fucking Callum.

[00:34:16] Yeah, his...

[00:34:18] I prefer Brandon's hair hat thing.

[00:34:22] I unironically like Brandon's hat just because it's so fucking stupid looking.

[00:34:27] Yeah.

[00:34:31] Callum is just...he just looks off.

[00:34:34] Yeah. He doesn't look like a Pokemon character.

[00:34:39] You know what bugs me about the hat? He's got a trucker hat on, and then he's got the sunglasses that are too big over the trucker hat.

[00:34:47] Yeah, which realistically would just not work. I don't know. I hate him. I hate Callum. Fuck you, Callum. I hate you.

[00:34:56] The only part of his design that I like is he's got some bitchin' boots. That's really about it.

[00:35:01] But they don't work with the...everything about Callum's design is shit. It's terrible. Fuck you, Callum. I hate you.

[00:35:08] That being said, his name in the manga is just straight up X.

[00:35:13] X out of the manga? Fuck you, Callum.

[00:35:19] Yeah, I will say too my in-game character looked nothing like that by the end of the game.

[00:35:27] Serena now.

[00:35:29] His design is frickin' adorable. It is one of the cutest. And you can clearly tell it's from...isn't it based in Paris or something?

[00:35:38] It's supposed to be France, and there's a very French design to it.

[00:35:42] Oh my god, she's so cute! The skirt, the hat, the hair, the shirt, the shoes and stuff. It's adorable.

[00:35:49] Interestingly, the first blonde protagonist.

[00:35:52] Yeah!

[00:35:54] I don't know if you get it because they were all previously Japanese or the American ones were brunettes.

[00:36:00] Yes. No, I think Serena's design is one of the cutest. And then it kind of all goes downhill after her.

[00:36:07] It's interesting to me too because she's the last one that looked older. Which is weird though because...

[00:36:13] And the rest definitely agree. They go towards a more child look.

[00:36:18] It's weird though because in all of the alternate versions of Serena, they cut her hair and made it shorter.

[00:36:27] I don't know.

[00:36:29] It's usually a plot point. It's weird.

[00:36:32] Oh, her name is Y by the way.

[00:36:35] Why not?

[00:36:37] I just realized they actually have real names. I think her name is Yvonne.

[00:36:44] Yvonne.

[00:36:46] What is Callum's name now? I have to know.

[00:36:50] Ass hat. Fuck you, Callum.

[00:36:54] Hey, Callum.

[00:36:57] I can't find the note. It doesn't matter.

[00:37:01] Elio.

[00:37:05] So I'm not gonna lie. There are two versions of these characters. Why do the redesigns look so shit?

[00:37:14] I don't really like either of these. I won't lie.

[00:37:18] The first one looks so 2010s, like Teenage Boy.

[00:37:24] Yeah.

[00:37:26] He looks like an emo guy with his emo hood hat thing going on there.

[00:37:31] Yeah.

[00:37:37] His redesigns look...

[00:37:39] I was very happy when I could change the design. Let's just say I was very happy when I could change my character look.

[00:37:45] So Sun and Moon is infamously the game that I got like five minutes into and put down.

[00:37:50] Yeah. I played through this twice.

[00:37:54] I know you did. Why does his redesign have loopy energy?

[00:37:59] I don't know, but I do give it points for that. That's why he's not below Callum. But I don't like his design either.

[00:38:06] It's funny because the two versions don't even look like the same character.

[00:38:10] Yeah. Even Selene too. They look like two different characters.

[00:38:15] So yeah, I don't really like either of them. I'm not gonna lie.

[00:38:22] Either versions for both of them, I'm like, eh, they're fine. I mean, nothing special.

[00:38:27] We're also at the point where I'm completely not even close to knowing any manga stuff.

[00:38:31] So I'm not even going to attempt to give manga information anymore.

[00:38:35] Good plan.

[00:38:37] Because like, yeah, Selene. Selene. OK, Selene like de-aged between designs.

[00:38:44] Yeah, I feel like they both got younger. Like they both did. Like, I don't know. Yeah.

[00:38:49] I don't like Selene's original design or her redesign really.

[00:38:54] Me either.

[00:38:55] They don't look like the same character for one.

[00:38:58] Yeah, but neither of them do.

[00:39:00] I like her like backpacks. Those are fun.

[00:39:06] That's about it, honestly.

[00:39:10] I have nothing really great to say about Sun and Moon so like I can't even like try.

[00:39:16] Yeah, I played both of them and I didn't hate them, but I was very happy when I could change the character design.

[00:39:24] Yeah, so I forgot these guys existed for a while.

[00:39:28] But moving on, we got I didn't know they had names either, but we have Chase.

[00:39:34] He is just a new red essentially.

[00:39:37] Yeah, he's baby red. He's red baby.

[00:39:43] He does look younger. He looks like a younger red.

[00:39:47] I like his design though. It's solid.

[00:39:50] Yeah, it's cute. I'll give him that.

[00:39:52] It's simple. It's simple and not over designed other than his bumblebee shoes, which I'm not really into.

[00:39:58] But what do you mean?

[00:40:01] They look so goofy compared to everything else.

[00:40:05] Yeah.

[00:40:06] He does look like Ash, honestly, but to be fair, Let's Go was based off of yellow, which was based off the anime.

[00:40:13] I actually do like the more like kid designs because I feel like Let's Go was more of a, I don't know.

[00:40:20] Like, I mean, it wasn't but like it was more of a kid friendly game, I would say.

[00:40:24] So I thought it was cute. I think they're both cute.

[00:40:28] Like Elaine's outfit. It's funny.

[00:40:31] I know it's funny because that's our mom's name, but definitely cute.

[00:40:35] Elaine looks like a younger version of Hilda, actually.

[00:40:39] Yeah, like a baby Hilda.

[00:40:42] Actually, I like Elaine's design though.

[00:40:44] Like it's cool compared to, it's the most realistic female design we've had in a while.

[00:40:51] Yeah.

[00:40:52] I mean, I like Serena's design, but Serena's design is so not what I'd expect to see a trainer wearing.

[00:40:58] Yeah.

[00:41:00] This is like, this looks like something that I'd actually, well, she looks like Hilda. It just works.

[00:41:09] That being said, now we move to a game that I don't hate anymore, but I still don't like one of these character designs.

[00:41:17] Oh boy.

[00:41:18] Victor looks stupid as fuck.

[00:41:20] Okay, I'm glad you said Victor because I was going to say, how dare you shade Gloria?

[00:41:27] Yeah, I don't hate him as much as Callum.

[00:41:30] He looks like a hobo. He straight up looks like a hobo.

[00:41:34] I don't like Callum, okay? I hate Callum.

[00:41:38] Callum's design is just objectively just kind of bland.

[00:41:46] Victor's design is like, what were they going for?

[00:41:49] I don't know, but I still hate Callum more.

[00:41:55] My current sword and shield playthrough, I've completely redesigned him because I took one look at this and went, no.

[00:42:02] I'm not playing as this the entire game because my God, he looks like a bum.

[00:42:09] Yeah, I don't know what they were going for.

[00:42:11] Especially, well, I feel like their effort went into Gloria's design because Gloria is cute.

[00:42:17] Gloria is very, and it's cute because it's Scottish and you can definitely see that in her character.

[00:42:23] She's cute.

[00:42:25] I like Gloria mostly for the memes when the game was first announced.

[00:42:29] Yeah, like the Scottish accent.

[00:42:31] Super Scottish for no reason.

[00:42:33] Like Gloria.

[00:42:34] Also, did you notice since Black and White were the last ones to give them ages and all of them are ambiguous ever since then?

[00:42:41] Yep.

[00:42:43] Yeah, Gloria is definitely a design. She looks like a Pokemon character.

[00:42:48] Yeah, and she's different.

[00:42:50] And that's what's nice is at least they tried to do something different.

[00:42:55] I also like her plaid socks because they actually do kind of, they have a...

[00:43:01] Her pom-pom hat is so cute.

[00:43:06] Yeah, now Gloria is definitely the superior design of Sword and Shield.

[00:43:10] Yeah.

[00:43:12] Okay, now we're going for a bit of a throwback.

[00:43:14] We've got Legends Arceus.

[00:43:16] Yes, I'm going to play that again.

[00:43:19] So we've got Rey and we've got Akari.

[00:43:24] They're Don and Lucas, but older essentially.

[00:43:27] Yes.

[00:43:28] I will say though, like it's hard...

[00:43:31] I mean like I like both.

[00:43:37] I prefer Rey's design over Lucas's design.

[00:43:44] I do too, but I still find Rey to be less interesting than Akari.

[00:43:48] Yeah, in all honesty, I'm just putting Rey and Akari like right next to Don and Lucas.

[00:43:57] What's weird to me is Rey looks like Lucas a lot.

[00:44:01] Akari looks like Don until she gets her outfit and then she looks like a completely new character.

[00:44:07] Yeah.

[00:44:08] Like because her actual design with like her catcher outfit plus the bandana like makes her look completely different, honestly.

[00:44:20] I actually really like Akari's design.

[00:44:23] I actually played the game as the female character because I just preferred the design.

[00:44:28] Nice.

[00:44:29] I like it though.

[00:44:32] It's consistent.

[00:44:33] They both have the same outfits though, so there's not much to go there.

[00:44:37] Yeah, and I guess the next one too, it kind of ends up being similar.

[00:44:43] Oh, the next ones are Florian.

[00:44:48] He's a middle school boy.

[00:44:51] Yeah, and she's a little school girl.

[00:44:53] I hate both of these designs.

[00:44:54] I'm just going to say it now.

[00:44:57] Julie Anna is the better of the two, but I still don't like it.

[00:45:03] I don't like the shorts.

[00:45:05] I don't like the shorts.

[00:45:06] Yeah, I'm a fan of these.

[00:45:09] I was very happy when you could change outfits again.

[00:45:12] Yeah, I mean, also just like, I don't know, the school kids.

[00:45:18] I thought the school kids are kind of stupid.

[00:45:21] All of them running at their two frames per second.

[00:45:25] Yeah.

[00:45:26] Yeah.

[00:45:27] Yeah.

[00:45:28] I mean, there's not that much to judge since they're basically wearing the same exact outfits.

[00:45:33] So yeah.

[00:45:35] I like the fact that Scarlet and Violet have their own unique color schemes, but...

[00:45:40] No, yeah, I do, but I prefer the Violet color scheme.

[00:45:45] Yeah.

[00:45:47] I'm not going to lie though.

[00:45:50] Scarlet and Violet is a game that I just objectively don't like for a number of reasons, mostly just because of the background stuff behind it and the fact that it's just...

[00:46:00] You mean your horse Pokemon falling off a cliff mid-battle?

[00:46:04] I tell that story to everybody and it makes them laugh.

[00:46:08] The horseman, Mudslide is one of my favorite Pokemon.

[00:46:14] Sorry, I got distracted.

[00:46:17] Mudslide is one of my favorite Pokemon.

[00:46:21] And Vandu...

[00:46:24] Yeah.

[00:46:25] Yeah, this game I just...

[00:46:31] Sword and Shield I came around to.

[00:46:33] Scarlet and Violet I just have no interest.

[00:46:36] I get it.

[00:46:38] The ending is fucking weird though.

[00:46:40] I will say the ending is like, whoa.

[00:46:42] I've heard Game Freak just annoys me as a developer.

[00:46:47] I joke online that I'm Game Freak's biggest hater sometimes.

[00:46:52] If I ever hear somebody trashing Game Freak, I always jump in like, ooh, are we trashing Game Freak?

[00:46:57] I'm in!

[00:47:00] It's not that I hate everything they've ever done because it's more I hate them for what they've become.

[00:47:07] And they're completely justified to do it because fucking Pokemon... Scarlet and Violet sold fucking amazingly.

[00:47:13] Yeah.

[00:47:14] So they're just like fucking encouraged to just do this shit.

[00:47:18] Yep.

[00:47:19] But yeah, so we've gone through them all.

[00:47:22] List...

[00:47:24] You list your favorites from...

[00:47:27] Well, I was thinking do it by the ladies and then do it by the gents or do it by the gents, then the ladies from like favorite designs to least favorite designs.

[00:47:36] Or actually...

[00:47:37] Let's do least to favorite.

[00:47:39] Least to favorite, yeah.

[00:47:40] That's what I'm thinking too because then the favorite will be a surprise.

[00:47:43] Because the least should be pretty obvious.

[00:47:46] Do you want to do your full list just to speed it up a little bit and then we'll...

[00:47:50] Like I'll do my the guys first, then you do your guys and then I'll do my girls.

[00:47:55] Sounds good.

[00:47:56] So least favorite, Florian.

[00:48:01] Followed by Elio.

[00:48:06] Then Victor.

[00:48:07] Really? Not Victor?

[00:48:08] You were hating on Victor.

[00:48:10] Well, here's my thing.

[00:48:11] Victor's design is stupid but you can change it really quick.

[00:48:14] I just fucking hate...

[00:48:15] I hate fucking sun and moon.

[00:48:18] Then Callum, then probably Brandon.

[00:48:26] Brandon's original design anyways.

[00:48:29] Then Lucas's original design, then Lucas's updated design.

[00:48:33] Oh, I didn't...

[00:48:34] Just to tell you, I didn't split them by updated designs.

[00:48:37] Okay, then I'll just go by my designs I like.

[00:48:40] So I'll go back to...

[00:48:42] So I did Callum, then I'll say Lucas, then probably Nate, then Brandon.

[00:48:53] Then Chase, then Ethan, then Hilbert and then Red.

[00:49:00] Red's just the best.

[00:49:05] If it wasn't broken, they didn't need to fix it.

[00:49:09] Okay.

[00:49:10] What's your favorite designs?

[00:49:13] My least favorite is Callum.

[00:49:16] Fuck you, Callum.

[00:49:18] Then Victor, Florian, Elio, Brandon, Lucas, slash Ray.

[00:49:26] I just have them combined.

[00:49:28] Chase...

[00:49:29] Oh yeah, I forgot about Ray.

[00:49:30] I put him with Lucas.

[00:49:32] Today's Nate, Hilbert, Red, and then my man Ethan with that smug little punk ass design.

[00:49:42] It is a good design.

[00:49:45] All right, so now to rank the ladies.

[00:49:52] So yeah, Juliana's the worst, sorry.

[00:49:57] Followed by Celine.

[00:50:01] I think it's harder because they're all pretty good after this.

[00:50:04] Lyra?

[00:50:05] Oh yeah, Lyra.

[00:50:06] Yeah, I forgot about her.

[00:50:08] I already forgot her.

[00:50:11] Yeah, so Juliana, Celine, Lyra, probably Gloria after that.

[00:50:21] Gloria!

[00:50:25] Then I'd probably say Rosa, Serena, May, Dawn, Chris, Leaf, and then Hilda.

[00:50:42] Hilda's the best one.

[00:50:43] Oh, Akari, actually I forgot about Akari.

[00:50:47] I actually think Akari would be behind Leaf before Chris.

[00:50:55] Mine is Lyra, Juliana, Celine, Rosa, Leaf, Gloria, Elaine, May, Dawn slash Akari, Chris, Serena, and Hilda.

[00:51:15] Because Hilda has the best design.

[00:51:18] She just does.

[00:51:19] It's so simple.

[00:51:20] What looks the coolest?

[00:51:21] Like out of all of them you're like, dang, Hilda looks cool.

[00:51:25] I want to hang out with Hilda.

[00:51:27] It's just a simple look that's not over the top and not...

[00:51:31] Yeah, that's the thing.

[00:51:32] A lot of them are over the top.

[00:51:34] Like they just go one too far and hers is just perfect.

[00:51:38] It also has to do a lot with the fact they went directly from Hilda to Rosa.

[00:51:43] It's like, what happened?

[00:51:44] Yeah, nothing good.

[00:51:48] I think my favorite, I saw a fan comic that it was like a picture of Hilda walking down the street and then she walks past Rosa and she just goes, so is it like laundry day for you or something?

[00:51:59] Yes.

[00:52:00] It's just like, yeah, that's probably about right.

[00:52:04] But yeah, so we've covered the protagonists.

[00:52:08] We should probably do like Arrival slash Gym Leader episode at some point in the future.

[00:52:12] We should do that.

[00:52:13] That would be fun.

[00:52:15] Not right away, but in the future we should definitely do a...

[00:52:18] We should revisit and talk about the rivals because the rivals are equally interesting.

[00:52:22] Honestly, and sometimes better designs.

[00:52:25] Yeah, honestly, we'll get to that.

[00:52:28] Yeah.

[00:52:30] But yeah, other than that, not much more to go on.