The Most Controversial Pokemon Characters of Every Generation

[Music] hey guys Ron here and some time ago I made a video about the most controversial Pokemon so let's take it a step further and talk about the most controversial Pokemon characters in every generation the most important thing you got to keep in mind is that I'm not talking about characters that garnered some kind of controversy in pop culture or anything outside of the fan base like Jinx and Porygon but rather characters that Pokemon fans cannot agree on this is a list of polarizing or divisive characters these aren't necessarily unpopular characters in fact many characters on this list are so popular that they have a group of haters the common denominator is that they all receive some sort of backlash my job is basically to explain why there are so many contradicting opinions surrounding these main series Pokemon characters so that means nobody exclusive to the anime like go or Tobias will be mentioned let's naturally begin with generation one honestly the shortest list considering there aren't many characters in Kanto that do anything so number two Rock a popular character with many different perceptions by fans in game depending on the starter you chose he can be a forgettable challenge or a harsh first boss that you will never forget and as a game character with the most screen time in the anime fans have had time to form long complicated opinions on the man to some he's Ash's most reliable and humorous companion while to others he harasses women left and right in gags that do not age well I mean he was replaced for that same reason but brought back because of his popularity one of the few characters here with actual controversies and number one is blue a classic example of a character some fans hate and some love to hate many people point at Blue as the ideal rival one we want to defeat and who can give us a good challenge while many others will describe blue as the most shallow rival he simply wanted to be the best and is a generic jerk for the sake of it some fans find him to be the least interesting and generally insufferable it gets even more complicated because some may have hated him as a rival but do appreciate his development in later games simply a character many cannot agree on and therefore the most divisive character from generation 1. time for generation 2 definitely a few more controversial characters from Johto number four Lance fans thought he was cool as a gen 1 Elite 4 member and even cooler as an undefeated Champion Dragon Tamers have always been the most revered trainer class and his team is fairly severe but there are many fans who find him to be one of the most boring Champions with a relatively flat personality perhaps the multiple Dragon Knights rubs them the wrong way or they can acknowledge his team but don't see what makes Lance so cool especially since half of the fandom thinks his outfit is a bit goofy he is nothing more than his title number three silver the last of the traditional jerk Rivals many fans find him more interesting than blue since he has an arc within the game he debuts in and has a canonical backstory we all know and love as the son of Giovanni we can at least see why he acts the way he does but a good amount of players simply don't find him to be challenging at all don't appreciate his attitude and actions and understandably may not even care about his backstory since it's not even in the game number two Claire as the strongest gym leader in Johto one of the most beautiful characters in the franchise and one of the few in her region to have ties to other characters her cousin Lance in this case as well as story elements outside of her gym many fans gravitate towards Claire but there is a large circle of fans that find her insulting considering she doesn't give you a badge after defeating her fair and square especially taking into account how formidable she is she comes off as a spoiled adult but I'd personally spoil her any day number one Whitney this girl's milk tank is known as one of the most surprisingly problematic aces in the franchise but the reception to miltank is kinda split some love the challenge and therefore Love Whitney some enjoy the challenge but don't attribute it to Whitney and some hate the challenge and feel Whitney is responsible for their unsavory loss but when they do win Whitney's tantrum leads people to perceive her as a brat I don't know what's up with game freak and making the female Johto Gym Leaders such sore losers Gen 3 is next slightly less controversial characters number three Wallace as the strongest gym leader in Hoenn with a wonderful personality and appearance outside the gym Wallace is thought to be an ideal Pokemon character to some While others may just not like flamboyant characters and are salty about him replacing Steven as champion in Emerald one fan could absolutely love Wallace while another could find him to be among the worst champions number two Wally the confusion over Wally's popularity is probably a result of him originally not being a well-developed character in Ruby and Sapphire and one of the most forgettable Rivals but his glow up in Generation 6 made him extremely popular with his characterization and design more expertly handled and battle music that solidified Wally as a noteworthy rival but a lot of fans simply didn't feel it was enough considering there's still a huge gap during his development which means him overcoming his illness and gaining confidence was all off screen and his battle was nothing to write home about another possible case of an overrated character number one Norman he has one of the most interesting gym leader teams with a powerful slacking that gave us all a run for our money many fans appreciate the first and only inclusion of our father in any main series Pokemon game but as a somewhat absent father who doesn't act all that paternal there are a great deal of players who find him to be far from a role model his parenting itself is controversial but since when has anybody agreed on how to raise a child Gen 4 has some unconventionally controversial characters number four looker this man has his fans who find him a refreshing change of pace a handsome old friend and an admirable and an animal and an admirable I can't say admirable I'm sorry an admirable in admirable enforcer of the law While others shrug whenever he appears cringe at his odd way of speaking and Associate him with some of the worst post games they've experienced he simply evolved with Hit or Miss plots and it's up to you which look or Mission you take to heart and which ruins your relationship with this character number three Flint he's considered one of the most memorable elite four members for all the good and bad reasons he is very difficult to beat with one of the most unconventional elite four teams people like his personality and relationship with valkner but many take him at face value and believe he has the worst design in Pokemon they simply can't take him seriously some are also completely baffled by his inconsistent team in Pokemon Diamond and Pearl number two Barry to fans of both jerk and friendly Rivals Barry seems to strike the balance between friendly and unyielding he's not a pushover but far from the strongest rival he's memorable but not for any deep reasons fans find him to either be energetic or annoying his quirks make him fun or aggravating he Teeters on the edge of irritating so just one piece of dialogue can make the difference between liking or despising Barry and number one is Cynthia the Charizard of Pokemon characters as the most popular Pokemon character who is seemingly beloved by Game Freak as well she appears in tons of media especially over the last few years but considering she really is arguably the toughest trainer in the franchise is very easy on the eyes and has a commanding presence it's no wonder this elegant woman is so popular but on the other hand fans find her to be overrated and Mild her story is relatively non-existent for a champion she may be interesting but as a character she barely does anything and lacks an interesting personality she's like vanilla she's the most popular character but there are more complicated and exciting flavors of characters out there but vanilla is also my favorite flavor so Gen 5 is when characters began to be more and more controversial now that Pokemon plots became more prominent and characters begin to be more diverse and transparent number six and as the second most popular character according to my fan poll and unfortunately received some hate for being a bit overrated but even those who don't ride the end train can still admit he's possibly the best written character in the main series of Pokemon with a great design backstory plot personality and actions and is the full package and some fans want Ann's package but others are over his popularity and want him out of the picture admittedly the backlash to his popularity is way less than let's say Cynthia so he is low on the Gen 5 list number five Lenora back at it again with another character that had an actual controversy her original design was suspiciously too close to a mammy stereotype so some fans held that against her While others didn't even know what the controversy was about as a character especially with her redesign fans had no problem with Lenora they even found her battle to be somewhat tough but there was a group of fans who were left with a bad taste in their mouth number four Marlin with so many characters in Gen 5 that only see extremes we have Marlin who is a hardcore Centrist he believes that every perspective is valid but most people can only accept a person who picks a side so both sides end up hating him others agree with his sentiments or don't read into it too much they either find him to be too moderate in his convictions and disapprove of his false equivalencies or enjoy his chillness some love his design as well While others feel Bamboozled that his skin is simply tanned and not in fact naturally dark number three getsis one of the most manipulative antagonists in Pokemon a straight up villain with a genuine long-term plan to take over Unova The Mastermind behind the most popular plot in Pokemon and some intense fights in Gen 5 but while fans love him for that the fact that he abused one of the most popular characters in the franchise kinda means he's gonna be despised as well he's the most unredeemable villains in Pokemon some people love that and some people find it two-dimensional especially when many fans preferred the black and white plot to be nuanced and were disappointed that guesses didn't really want to liberate Pokemon number two Iris in game she's a beloved gym leader and Champion with a popular battle theme and respectable team she Rose through the ranks and is a praiseworthy prodigy but in the anime she is Ash's least popular female companion and relatively annoying people mistake her in-game counterparts for being irritating even though she's pretty inoffensive in Pokemon Black and White some fans even liked her in the anime I know right number one Q fans are totally split about their opinion of Hugh to many players his motivation to find his sister's stolen purloin is totally Valiant his blind hatred and rage towards Team Plasma is perfectly valid his desire for you and himself to get strong in order to achieve his goal forms a believable rivalry his character development going from seeing all of Team Plasma as evil to realizing that it isn't black and white and some members actually wanted to do good perfectly demonstrates the theme of The Generation plus his design is cool and he's one of the few friendly Rivals that isn't a pushover or too amicable a good balance of cool and friendly but there are so many fans who don't sympathize with you find his goals to be pathetic dislike his outbursts and haven't really understood his Arc or don't really care about the message whose story conveys they simply mock the character who only ever talks about retrieving his sister's Purrloin even though to the other fans it's more nuanced than that Gen 6 is next number five tierno Trevor is technically more unpopular than tierno but considering Trevor doesn't really do anything offensive people simply don't care about him but to many fans tierno is insulting his goals of creating a Pokemon dance team are considered to be incredibly uninteresting and silly for a rival he isn't really a rival he's just a new acquaintance you battle a few times without any challenge he's a perfect example of fluff there are tierno fans who appreciate his design and unique Endeavors but everyone can agree his execution was lacking number four Valerie this one's simple people either think she's super pretty or super creepy her fashion is adorable but her eyes are unusual many find her face to be cute While others can't look at her straight it's silly I know but many Gen 6 characters are here for simple reasons like number three Diantha people believe her to be the most underutilized Champion she has great potential and a lot of fans love her for that they adore her design profession music and team while many other players find none of that important they use her as an example of X and y's underdeveloped story easy battles and lackluster characters to some she has everything that is wrong with Kalos pretty but Hollow number two Zinnia Zinnia is one of the most popular Side characters in Pokemon for her erotic erratic personality interesting dialogue and World building lore as well as her great design and battle theme she's incredibly memorable but a great deal of players find her obnoxious hate the fetch Quest nature of the Delta episode are insulted by her treatment of Stephen Stone and loathe her overbearing Die Hard fans controversial fan bases do lead to a controversial character after all and number one is Lysander there are a great deal of fans who find Lysander to be an interesting villain they can admit team flare is terrible but find Lysander to be the only saving grace they understand his personality and love his design while many other players believe his plot to be one of the worst in the franchise abhor his look and attribute the terrible story of X and Y to him I mean he tried to commit genocide either you like your villain to be that insane or you want to be able to empathize with the actions of an antagonist and I hope nobody can empathize with the idea of nuking an entire nation the increase in relevant characters in plot contributes to gen 7 having the most controversial characters so far number eight kahili an inoffensive character but even though this has been the case for Generations there are fans who hate her for being the only sun and moon Elite 4 member who doesn't appear before the Pokemon League they are baffled when she's introduced while other fans love her design theme and team number seven the ultra Recon Squad these Invaders from another dimension appear to be relatively great to many fans they are roadblocks for most of the games but aren't really doing anything that oppose our goals some fans empathize with their plans While others don't understand them and believe they are bland many look at them as positive editions While others associate them with the reason they don't approve of ultra sun and Moon's entire existence number six Sophocles close to the least popular trial Captain he's either despised for being the face of the Festival Plaza a criticized feature and the least charismatic of trial captains others find him quirky and charming and appreciate his design or simply enjoy his anime counterpart I honestly never know what people think of Sophocles number five ilama the actual least popular trial Captain this was a surprise when I asked fans he has a memorable tough fight in the beginning of the game a memorable personality and design as well as one of the most gender neutral looking characters in all of Pokemon I assume he has fans While others may find him too smug for their liking or didn't enjoy his battle or even worse didn't even find his battle much of a challenge number four lusamine okay now we have a big jump in controversy we went from golfers children and pretty men in sweater vests who haven't really done anything wrong to a literal child abuser and eco-terrorist but the difference here is that lusamine is a very popular character there is a vocal group that doesn't like her as a person for her many flaws and actions but as an antagonist many people like her backstory personality and schemes her botched storyline and vague goals in usum make her even more controversial though number three trace the most unpopular rival and champion in Pokemon history so why is he called for quote unquote replacing blue one of the most popular characters in Pokemon to many he's a pushover who is quite the opposite of blue and personality so what does that mean he's just a nice guy who helps you out and adopts a Cubone people really hate nice Rivals the disparity between the kind of inoffensive character he is in let's go compared to his extreme fan reception is why he's on the list number two how the epitome of nice Rivals to a ton of fans he represents the worst of friendly rivals in Pokemon he's not even close to competitive just wants to have fun and interrupts your exploration to talk about unimportant things in battle you well to a ton of other fans his battles were actually tough they understand his inability to take things seriously is his response to the pressures of being the Kahuna's grandchild and they appreciate his development at the end of ultra sun and moon some are simply fine with family Rivals and love is dynamic with a more popular rival gladion and number one is Lily a perfect example for this list one of the most beloved Pokemon characters in the franchise number six according to my fan pull but also one of the most despised characters in Pokemon as well so many attribute her to the reason sun and moon is unplayable she is Chester who initiates the most cutscenes the plot practically follows her the game revolves around her the world is lilies and you're just living in it while most fans find her interesting enough to follow her story and care about her development and they find her to be the main reason why alola's story is among the best in the franchise and want more characters like her gen 8 ties for the most controversial characters you'll notice why number eight sword word and shieldbert another example of very unpopular characters they are not actually divisive but what they represent is many take their hatred of the twins too far and cite them as an example of sword and Shield's inferiority while many others may agree but see Galler's character designs as among the best in the franchise and one of the strengths of gen 8 so the design and personality of these two isn't indicative of any flaw in this game's relatively popular cast of characters some may also not take them seriously and enjoy the laugh number seven Melly again another example of a super unpopular character he's obnoxious self-absorbed and selfish but some enjoy that kind of personality in their characters they find him entertaining he's simply controversial for for just being an outlier most unpopular characters in Pokemon are simply boring while this guy is actually hated number six Gordy the least popular galerian gym leader among a group of very popular Gym Leaders so what went wrong while some who played Pokemon Sword are disappointed that they didn't get to battle his mommy I mean his mommy I mean his uh mother Melanie instead in game he's supposed to be the most popular gym leader with tons of female fans but to some players he comes off as conceited but those who love him appreciate his Tastefully Hefty design find his swag charming and his uniqueness interesting number five feed he's exactly what fans want a rude rival but as a character who isn't as formidable as blue or as brutal as silver to some he just Falls flat they may not like his design or Arc either he's very entitled and not much of a serious rival many are just happy to have a mean rival again While others may not even have wanted a mean rival in the first place number four chairman Rose a relatively popular character but the least popular Pokemon antagonist he goes from a mysterious and interesting character who Peaks your interest in terms of how he fits into the plot because we were all ready for his involvement but once it was his time to shine he was revealed to be an antagonist with the most Preposterous goals in all of Pokemon impatiently solving an energy crisis that'll manifest in 1 000 years this man couldn't wait one day for our champion battle to take place The Duality between a potentially Great Character and terrible execution makes him controversial number three Leon a very good example he's popular so to many he really is The Undefeated Champion a challenging threat with a quirky personality interesting design and compelling Dynamics between multiple characters like hop Sonia Rose and Ryan he's on everybody's minds but the other half of fans find his design to be goofy to test his personality are annoyed that his entire existence as a champion revolves around the fact that he's the champion and while his design is all over the place that's kind of the point he was a champion since childhood and is a kid's interpretation of what a champion looks like but people also hate that he has a Charizard so that I mean that's probably the biggest reason number two ha one of the most controversial Rivals you'll be surprised to know that he's actually relatively popular he has a big fan base that enjoys his personality and empathizes with his Arc finding it unique to have a rival that doubts their abilities and begins to experiment with his team they are fond of his idolization of Leon are proud of his development and treat him like a true friend others find him to be the most annoying rival who appears and battles you throughout the story even though that's kind of what every rival does they believe he has too similar of a disposition and character Arc to how despite him being competitive from the beginning unlike how many fans especially hate how he takes a lot of the spotlight away from the other gen 8 Rivals speaking of which number one Marnie the most popular rival in gen 8 and according to my poll the ninth most popular character as of late 2022 she is a phenomenon I get it her design is among the best in the entire franchise the punk jacket over a pretty dress perfectly showcases her identity based on her look and upbringing you expect her to be brutal aloof and maybe even cocky when in fact she is the sweetest girl who wants to do good make her Town proud win fair and square and even make friends along the way this depth is unfortunately dispersed throughout the game so it's easy to miss but Others May look for her character development when in reality the development is how the player sees Marnie many fans view her as a waste of potential mistake her inability to properly emote as a lack of personality and believe her only purpose is to facilitate team yel's existence which admittedly is far from worth it they can't fathom what all her fans see in Marnie this inability to see each other's perspective is the reason she is number one and finally we have generation 9. considering the recency bias and open world there aren't any really highly controversial characters I obviously have a selection of about five but when I pulled my viewers only one of them was actually controversial but perhaps I'll let you decide number five clavel he's quite a popular character his good intentions surprised many fans and his Antics were Goofy and Charming it's clear he cares about a student so there isn't any serious reason to dislike him even those that would consider him incompetent or barely in the story don't necessarily hate him but there's a good amount who didn't enjoy his Clive Persona or vice versa they would have preferred Clive stay number four nimona she's a very popular rival a lot of people like to spin on both the Rival and champion and empathize with her desire to facilitate the protagonist's growth in order to receive a true challenge some are entertained by how battle crazy she is while many others find it annoying and her motivation is to be too straightforward some would even surmise that fans only like her more than similar Rivals like Barry because she's a girl you be the judge of that number three Penny the shadow leader of Team star who secretly tries to disband the group of misunderstood victims considering they have gone too far many fans relate to her troubles personality and even her design they find her to be very realistic and fully understand her motivations in Arc she's a character constantly putting up a facade hiding behind technology and sarcasm but there are those who don't empathize with her plight find her to be mean and were put off by her crimes as well as cassiopeia's contrived mystery number two aiono YouTubers and streamers generally tend to be controversial so this IRL V Trooper got much Flack when she was first revealed many found her design and personality too over the top and perhaps cringed at how she parodies influencers but by now she's become one of the most popular gym leaders in paldea probably second to Larry most fans appreciate her battle and enthusiasm at this point her haters fully understand that they simply just don't like the tropes she represents or don't find her to be an accurate portrayal of streamers While others think she hits the nail on the head which makes her even more annoying I think she's neat and number one is Hita some dubbed her Diantha 2.0 and consider her even worse because her single quality is just being the champion and not even a particularly compelling or tough one at that she literally doesn't do anything in the game and many are baffled by how underwhelming her team is simply making glimra her lead would bumper up a tear because many fans still find her design in role compelling there's an air of mystery to her that some find fascinating she had potential but gamefreak chose to shift Focus to nimona sometimes forgettable is worse than bad but I hope you found this video memorable leave a like And subscribe if you enjoyed I have many videos ranking various aspects of Pokemon Generation so make sure to check them out take a look at the description as well for the music I used the t-shirts I made for you guys and my patreon where you can get cool rewards like seeing my videos days early and my patreon Discord you can also press the join button for the same rewards follow me on Twitter and I'll see you guys very soon

Channel: Truegreen7

Views: 539,981

Keywords: Creating New Pokemon, Designing New Pokemon, Fakemon, Asone, Asone Region, Pokemon Type Swaps, Fixing Pokemon, Pikachu, Charizard, Pokemon Sword and Shield, Sword and Shield, Top 10 Pokemon, Favorite Pokemon, Truegreen, True green 7, Pokémon (Video Game Series), Pokémon (TV Program), Pokémon (Brand), Truegreen7, Pokemon GO, Game Freak, Pokemon Legends, Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Drawfee, Subjectively, Moxie2D, Pokemon Scarlet, Pokemon Violet, Gen 9, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, Miraidon

Id: u7fE1I-7scw

Length: 23min 30sec (1410 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 11 2023