Customization Killed The Game Protagonist

[Daren]

I could have sworn that they started to drop features well before the fifth generation, but I could be mistaken. I don't know if that would be much of a factor as to why the anime makes fewer callbacks though, especially when both BW and SM have more nods to previous series than XY did.

Fifth seems to be when it really started in earnest, but I think gen 4 removed the phone features from gen 2 and 3.
Also the big one: gen 3 removed the ability to transfer Pokémon from the previous game, though it came back after.
*
I sort of wonder if they may have intended the XY anime to be the start of a clean break from continuity (not a reboot, but each series referencing the previous as little as possible) but backed off a tiny bit in SuMo for the Let's Go promotion? I'm not sure. Things got really odd with the anime starting in BW and I'm not sure why.

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

Well, I think we can now safely assume that we won't see Gen IX player characters in the anime. Customization made the game characters redundant.

 

[Articfoxgamez]

I agree with another person in this thread Thats two years old It depends on if the Player Character has an NPC counterpart on if they get into the anime or not. For the females at least the males are doomed. Serena was simply the only case of that in a while. Now if you wanna argue that character customization has made is so that player characters in the games don't appear as NPC's much anymore, that's a different story.

 

[Shadao]

The reason why it feels like character customization killed game protagonists showing up in the anime is because the game customization itself has diluted the uniqueness of the Pokémon Trainer in the games. They are not longer characters with a specific canonical design anymore. They are virtually your customizable avatar.

If I were to show you Red from Generation I, you pretty much known based on the design what kind of personality he may have. This is true for many game protagonists following him. Sure you may name them different, give them different Pokémon. But the unchanging design means that at the back of your mind, you know there's a canonical character behind your avatar.

But starting in Gen VI, when player customization begin to take off, that becomes blurred as you make the character exactly how you wanted.

 

[Articfoxgamez]

I mean, I would actually somewhat argue otherwise with gen 7, because no matter what clothes you put on those guys they always feel the same as when they started because that game has bad customization. Unlike say SWSH or PLA where they can seem nothing like what they started as.

 

[Blob]

The thing I hate about customisation is that the default costumes the characters come with are often way worse than what you can customise them to be. The SM to USUM default costumes were a huge downgrade because it made the protagonists look five years younger. I'm also dreading the Scarlet and Violet games because the default costumes in those games look AWFUL. The main characters look like they're seven and I don't get why GF keep on babyfying the main protagonists. Generation 8 DID fix things (until BDSP) by not having the protagonists look like babies. Though I don't like the default costumes anyway in SwSh.

Default costumes post-customization tier list:
1. Legends Arceus - Shouldn't really count because they're based off of DP protagonists, but it goes to show you pre-customization they made default costumes better.
2. XY - The first generation to do it. It does it the best by not making everyone look stupid or look like babies.
3. SM - They're OK, but I'm not a huge fan of shorts or the weird shoes.
4. SwSh - They're OK, I just really don't like the hats or Gloria's dull colour scheme. I also hate the backpack on Victor.
5. USUM - The main protagonists look like 5 year olds. Also, what is Selene even wearing? Looks like she has a nappy under her shorts!
6. SV - Dull, dull, dull. They just used the same boring school design TWICE. I can't wait to not be able to tell the protagonists apart in Pokémon Adventures... and I though Tate and Liza were bad!
7. BDSP - Again, shouldn't count. All they did was make the overworld models look all gross and plasticy. What's worse is you can't change tops or bottoms separately anymore.

 

[PaperSplash]

I think whether they choose to incorporate a game protagonist or not has a lot more to do with the direction and theming of each series. BW was an attempt at going "back to basics" for the anime; apparently part of that was replicating the dynamic Misty and Brock had with Ash, so they decided to have him travel with two other Gym Leaders and give them similar personalities (a snarky tomboy around Ash's age and a teen that's more "mature" but with an over-the-top running gag). SM was a more stationary slice-of-life series so a game protagonist would feel more out of place, as another user pointed out. And JN chose largely not to focus on the current game region, and due to the nature of the series and the closest thing to a "main region" actually being Kanto, Gloria being there wouldn't make sense at all.

 

[Sai]

The next protagonists looking very bland makes it obviously they won't be in the anime.

 

[Nichole the Otter]

No, as Serena appeared in XY. In fact her haircut and outfit change was meant to be a nod to the character customisation in the games. Her Journeys outfit also consists of clothing items from the game.

Hilda and Rosa didn’t appear in BW despite customisation not existing yet, though I think it was more due to wanting to echo OS by having two Gym Leaders as the companions.

Neither Elio or Selene appeared in SM, due to the already bloated main cast and the school setting not fitting with them. Ash in fact literally wore Elio’s SM outfit just palette swapped.

Gloria not being in Journeys is likely due to the region-hopping format and multi-generation focus. They also needed to market towards Pokémon GO’s popularity, so it was easier to instead create a completely original character designed around the game’s mechanics to market to the GO players. Had it been a traditional Galar-focused anime instead of Journeys, Gloria could have been the female companion instead of Chloe. In fact, Journeys’ closest thing to a “main” region is Kanto and not Galar, likely because its format and setting was to honour the 25th anniversary of the franchise.

 

[Beatsy Ray]

It seems the rule is: If a female protagonist appears as a character in their own game (when you play as a male), then they will appear in the anime.

They were testing the waters with Serena, but since gen 7, character customization has basically become full on character creation. It's obvious that the default player character designs are now being made as neutral as possible as a result, and for that reason they aren't worth including as characters in the games anymore.

In that way, character customization is (indirectly) responsible for the lack of female PCs in the anime.

 

[PaperSplash]

It seems the rule is: If a female protagonist appears as a character in their own game (when you play as a male), then they will appear in the anime.

They were testing the waters with Serena, but since gen 7, character customization has basically become full on character creation. It's obvious that the default player character designs are being made as neutral as possible now, and for that reason they aren't worth including as characters in the games anymore.

In that way, character customization is (indirectly) responsible for the lack of female PCs in the anime.

Technically, the lack of Hilda in the BW anime broke that rule, since she does appear as an NPC when playing as the male character, albeit only in the Battle Subway. Same with Rosa in B2W2.

 

[Emelie]

Either way, I'm still sad that we haven't seen a female protagonist since Serena. It's weird how she is the only game protagonist since DP if you think about it.

I think they tend to be better than the gym leaders and trial captains since they have goals similar to Ash's badge quest and rivals. Iris having the Don battles were OK but it wasn't her thing since Cilan, Ash and their million rivals also participated.

It's hard to care about Koharu when she is not in the games and barely appears unless the writers are trying to promote Eevee and Kanto stuff while the male characters get all the focus. The fact that Go isn't all that great either doesn't help.

 

[Blob]

I could have sworn that they started to drop features well before the fifth generation, but I could be mistaken. I don't know if that would be much of a factor as to why the anime makes fewer callbacks though, especially when both BW and SM have more nods to previous series than XY did.

Gen 5 still had major new features to make up for what they dropped though. From Gen 6 is when they either add in super mundane features like Battle Tower clones or nothing at all.