Your controversial opinions

[Welkamo]

Thank! You!

You're welcome! Someone needed to say it.

 

[BackSet]

This is going to sound insane but I would be okay with an entire Gen of the only new Pokémon being “fur bait” Pokémon.

 

[Nodqfan]

This is going to sound insane but I would be okay with an entire Gen of the only new Pokémon being “fur bait” Pokémon.

"Fur bait" Pokemon?

 

[Phosphene]

"Fur bait" Pokemon?

I'm assuming they're referring to Pokémon that look like furries, i.e. animals that are heavily anthropomorphized.

 

[BackSet]

Yeah, it’s the term that a lot of detractors (probably from 4-Chan let’s be honest) use for Pokemon like Lucario, Zoruark, Cinderace, etc. I use it because my original idea, Lucario Clones, doesn’t make sense since not all of them are meant to be clones of Lucario. Also technically Blaziken started it so it would be unfair to my beloved fire chicken.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

If anything, Lucario is a clone of Absol. It isn't anthropomorphic, but it is a canine-ish Pokémon that learns a lot of moves and appeared next to legendaries in its debut generation.

 

[TechSkylander1518]

that learns a lot of moves

I mean, most Pokemon learn a pretty big variety of moves...

 

[Epic Spheal]

I like modern Pokémon games. I may be biased because my first games were modern Pokémon games, but I think they've got a lot of really good qualities. It's fine to not like modern games, that's a valid opinion, but some people get so... angry, especially with SwSh (I don't think I need to explain who toxic things got). I've even seen people say stuff like "why are people defending these games who's paying them" and it's like... people are allowed to like a game without selling out? Why would GF or anyone be paying me to like SwSh? What would they gain from that?

I agree. The modern games are good. Actually my favorite game is Pokemon Shield, and I've been with the franchise since the early days.

It seems as if internet discourse has gotten worse these days...I thought it couldn't get worse back during gen 5 but wow I was very wrong on that note. It's sad to see though. Of course everyone is entitled to their opinion but I really dislike seeing younger fans who may have gotten into the series in gen 6, gen 7 and/or Gen 8.

 

[BackSet]

Honestly I can't tell if there's toxic positivity where everyone is excited and shaming you for hating things or toxic negativity where everyone is angry and shaming you for liking things.

Are we worse than the Steven Universe fandom now?

 

[Esserise]

I like modern Pokémon games. I may be biased because my first games were modern Pokémon games, but I think they've got a lot of really good qualities. It's fine to not like modern games, that's a valid opinion, but some people get so... angry, especially with SwSh (I don't think I need to explain who toxic things got). I've even seen people say stuff like "why are people defending these games who's paying them" and it's like... people are allowed to like a game without selling out? Why would GF or anyone be paying me to like SwSh? What would they gain from that?

Yeah, I used to bandwagon on the hate for the Gen 6/7 games, and for a time I thought I really did dislike them - maybe I convinced myself that I did, but eventually I realized that whenever I wasn't online and discussing them in a negative atmosphere, I was playing and enjoying them. I have my gripes and my criticisms here and there, of course, as it's healthy to, but the truth is that I've been nothing short of satisfied with the series since I came back to it in 2011.

 

[prog rocker]

I've even seen people say stuff like "why are people defending these games who's paying them" and it's like... people are allowed to like a game without selling out?

This is giving me flashbacks of the guy that asked me how much Nintendo was paying me for pointing out Madame and Lugia were unrelated.

Yeah, I used to bandwagon on the hate for the Gen 6/7 games, and for a time I thought I really did dislike them - maybe I convinced myself that I did, but eventually I realized that whenever I wasn't online and discussing them in a negative atmosphere, I was playing and enjoying them. I have my gripes and my criticisms here and there, of course, as it's healthy to, but the truth is that I've been nothing short of satisfied with the series since I came back to it in 2011.

This is kind of the opposite situation I had with the whole Battle Frontier. I was part of the bandwagon that hated ORAS because it didn't have the Battle Frontier... then I replayed the Frontier in Emerald and realized it wasn't for me at all and ORAS gave me more satisfaction than Emerald ever did.

In short, it's not a good idea to join bandwagons specially when you don't actually believe what they say.

 

[Welkamo]

agree. The modern games are good. Actually my favorite game is Pokemon Shield, and I've been with the franchise since the early days.

It seems as if internet discourse has gotten worse these days...I thought it couldn't get worse back during gen 5 but wow I was very wrong on that note. It's sad to see though. Of course everyone is entitled to their opinion but I really dislike seeing younger fans who may have gotten into the series in gen 6, gen 7 and/or Gen 8.

Yeah, internet discourse seems to be, in many cases, worsening. Of course, this may be because I've only recently started engaging with online communities recently, or maybe it has to do with the evolution of internet culture.

I think Pokémon in particular-being a franchise with almost universal or, at the very least, broad appeal, and being a franchise that's gone on for so long-you have many different people with many different opinions. And the more people there are, the more likely there's going to be a disagreement. We've seen similar things in other fandoms like the Star Wars fandom: franchise goes on for a long time, new things happen, people either love the new things or hate them, blah blah blah discourse, blah blah blah anonymity of the internet means people are more likely to be jerks, blah blah blah toxicity.

The Sin Squad on YouTube made a video called "Why Fandoms Are So Toxic" (it's a pretty good video, and I definitely recommend it), and my main take away was that fandoms are toxic because people want to be right about how they interpret a piece of media or else their opinions are considered "invalid". The mindset, for me at least, is that there isn't "I agree with this opinion and disagree with that opinion", it's "this opinion is right and that opinion is wrong", when that's just not how opinions work.

I really don't have one good reason for why the Pokémon fandom is especially toxic. Maybe it's the wide audience, maybe it's people growing up, maybe it's human nature to not like change (something very prominent in modern games), maybe people are protective of things that remind them of simpler times maybe it's the way the internet works, maybe it's a bunch of factors. I'm not going to be able to explain the psychology behind fandoms in one reply, nor will I be able to find a solution. I'm just some Pokémon fan on the internet who wants people to treat each other like... well, like people.

I wouldn't say I dislike seeing younger fans getting into the franchise through newer entries, I'm technically a part of that group. I am, however, worried about how people, especially those who don't really like newer games, will treat them.

 

[Welkamo]

Honestly I can't tell if there's toxic positivity where everyone is excited and shaming you for hating things or toxic negativity where everyone is angry and shaming you for liking things.

Are we worse than the Steven Universe fandom now?

I think positivity/negativity only get toxic when either one is used to justify harming/harassing another person, or when either one is used to invalidate the existence of other opinions.

I don't know much about Steven Universe, so I can't really give a good answer. I will, however, say that just because you like something with a toxic fandom, doesn't mean you liking that thing makes you a bad person. Every fandom's going to have the good, the bad, and the Msscribes.

Yeah, I used to bandwagon on the hate for the Gen 6/7 games, and for a time I thought I really did dislike them - maybe I convinced myself that I did, but eventually I realized that whenever I wasn't online and discussing them in a negative atmosphere, I was playing and enjoying them. I have my gripes and my criticisms here and there, of course, as it's healthy to, but the truth is that I've been nothing short of satisfied with the series since I came back to it in 2011.

I remember that around the time SwSh were starting to spark controversy, I felt guilty for being excited for them. This was the first time I was really reading Pokémon game discourse. Up until that point, I had only consumed Pokémon news from the official YouTube channel. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that, while SwSh has its flaws, I can still enjoy the games even if others don't.

 

[Welkamo]

Not to quote Vine or anything, but I really can't stop thinking about that one "that's my OPINION" vine when thinking about the Pokémon fandom.

Also not to quote Be More Chill, I don't really like Be More Chill, but sometimes Pokémon fans really need to be more chill.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

I never got Sword/Shield because the drama about how you were a "blind fanboy" if you didn't nitpick every pixel of the game to death leading up to its release turned me off it.

 

[Welkamo]

I never got Sword/Shield because the drama about how you were a "blind fanboy" if you didn't nitpick every pixel of the game to death leading up to its release turned me off it.

I have two tidbits of advice:

1. If you watched the trailers for the game and thought "yeah, this game looks like something I'd wanna play", I'd say play the games.

2. You don't have to consume media while nitpicking every detail. You can if that floats your boat, but if it doesn't, that's valid. Consume media how you wanna consume media.

 

[prog rocker]

This is kinda reminding me of a certain YouTuber that got hate just for being cautiously optimistic about MvCI.

 

[KirbyBulba737]

MvCI?

 

[prog rocker]

Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite. The game was trashed by almost everyone since almost day 1, so when he said the game might not be bad they turned against him.

 

[Welkamo]

I looked up MvCl and got Marriott Vacation Club and for a second I thought "wow the hotel fandom is having discourse, too?".