Player Characters Discussion

[Ryoma Maser]

The new player characters seem to have a lot discourse among the fandom at the moment.

What we know currently:
-The player characters seem to wear a unisex school uniform.
-The outfit changes depending on the version; a bright orange for Scarlet and a muted purple (or purple-blueish) for Violet.

What do you think about the new player characters? Opinions on the designs, any speculation on their names and customization, and anything else you want to add?
-Mods are free to change this portion of this post if necessary.


My opinions on them:
I feel mix on them as a whole. They look much younger than previous protagonists and I hate the hair on the male protagonist, I haven't been liking the male designs since Ultra Sun/Moon. Plus I really seem unsure on the whole school uniform aesthetic especially the hat since it reminds me of a uniform Japanese elementary school children. I just hope we get to customized outfits as soon as possible since I am really unsure about these designs.

 

[DynoStretch]

Yeeeeah, so far they look really... bland to me. I know there's going to be customization so it doesn't really matter in the long run, but their default looks aren't very appealing.

I wonder if the school outfits mean that the plot will mostly be taking place in a Pokemon academy or some kind.

 

[DawningWinds]

While I like having unisex clothes, but I don't hugely like the design of the uniform the protagonists are wearing as their default outfits. I definitely agree the male protagonist's hair is not great, but I like the female protagonist's hair decently. Probably not well enough that I won't restyle it at the first opportunity unless the other styles are all way way worse, but well enough that I won't probably mind the hair too much until that first customization opportunity.

Hopefully the first clothes store is in like the first town though those uniforms are not very good looking. I am in favor of unisex clothing option as I said at the beginning of this post, so I do hope all customization outfits are available to both genders and having a shared base uniform does hopefully indicate that to be the case which is nice.

 

[Emmy]

It definitely feels like the power of customisation has made GF give less care to the Player's base design - the males in particular which I haven't cared for since Gen 2.

The unisex outfit makes me wonder if it's some kind of school uniform or something. Could be interesting if the player was part of some kind of Trainer school.

 

[Cute Charm]

I think they look a little...off to me. The small round eyes just seem weird coming from 8 gens of player characters having either elongated oval eyes or big round eyes. They kind of look like the New Snap NPCs like they borrowed the models or something. I'm really hoping the customization options make me like them more.

With that out of the way, I wonder if the diffrent colored uniforms have plot reverence to them or it was just a design choice .

 

[UltraDoyle64924]

Omg it's Dora :0

 

[CuboneKing]

I agree that they don’t look right. I’ll be heavily customizing away from the default design as soon as possible.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

Not gonna lie, I really don't like them. These have to be the worst protagonist designs we've ever seen.

 

[Eitarou]

Silly uniforms aside, my main problem is that they look so similar to each other.

I thought we were done making the protags opposite-gender clones. Up until around Gen VIII, they've looked fairly distinct from each other.

 

[Emmy]

The fact that they look so similar has me wondering if they might be relatives if the non-chosen one shows up in the game.

 

[UltraDoyle64924]

The fact that they look so similar has me wondering if they might be relatives if the non-chosen one shows up in the game.

It's a Spanish region that's a given

( Ps I'm Hispanic so don't flame me )

 

[nickdt]

The fact that they look so similar has me wondering if they might be relatives if the non-chosen one shows up in the game.

Interesting discussion. What if they are the child of the professor or champion. This would also make for a good rivalry (I hope we have 2 from the start this time around, just to switch it up a bit. The one choosing the starter strong against yours is the more feisty one at the beginning of the game, while the one choosing the weaker one has always been the more shy one, but the more the game progresses, the more change happens and it actually turns out to become the opposite, with the shy one being the stronger rival.

 

[Torchic W. Pip]

I kind of like them. The version difference outfits are also really cool color palette-wise. They look like they're twins or related in some other way. and if that plays into the plot of the games... that might be fun.

 

[Sakuraa]

They're cute I like how the outfits are different colors based on version. Kinda wish the girl had a skirt instead of the shorts, but as long as customization is in there should be no issue. I like the uniform looking outfits too, it's different from the causal wear the other protagonists wear.

 

[Mr. MoonStone]

I don't mind the design. The uniforms are distracting but customization is imminent so it won't be too long until I change into something more my style. I don't quite understand the discourse on their perceived ages though; most of the protagonists in the mainline games are young children right? But they do look quite similar, almost identical, which makes me wonder if they'll be canonically twins or something.

 

[Cute Charm]

I don't mind the design. The uniforms are distracting but customization is imminent so it won't be too long until I change into something more my style. I don't quite understand the discourse on their perceived ages though; most of the protagonists in the mainline games are children right? But they do look quite similar, almost identical, which makes me wonder if they'll be canonically twins or something.

There's discorse? I mean their ages are probably anywhere between 10 (Gen 1) and 15 (Gen 5/Legends) so looking young is par for the course.

Do they want adult protags or something?

 

[Alola]

Something tells me that as a result of the unisex uniforms, customization options will appear quite early in the games. I just hope they are plentiful and diverse. And that we don't have a situation again where female players get more and better outfits.

 

[Mr. MoonStone]

There's discorse? I mean their ages are probably anywhere between 10 (Gen 1) and 15 (Gen 5/Legends) so looking young is par for the course.

Do they want adult protags or something?

There's been some talk about them being young, compared to the "teenaged" protagonists depicted in some games. I agree though, they've always been children in the games and most have been under the age of 13 so I don't quite get the reaction.

 

[Fairy Wind]

I'm not crazy about the outfits, but I don't mind them too much, especially knowing customization is likely to return. I do like the girl protagonist's hairstyle, though!

 

[SUP3RN0VA]

I kind of liked how they looked in the trailer, as they seem to be modelled a little more 'realistic' than past games, although I agree they look kind of bland in the official artwork of them (particularly the male, who looks a little too timid for my liking).

Customisation is pretty much a given at this point (it'd be foolish to go back on it now after so many generations of having it already) but I'm hoping the customisation options will be the best yet. I am also hoping Gamefreak will soon take customisation further than they have, and let us customise things like eye shape. All our trainers generally have rounder eyes (which does make sense as it works for younger characters) but I would prefer to be able to choose more 'shaper' options.

I also loved that Legends Arceus finally gave us a proper, cool spiky hair option and I hope a similar hairstyle is available in Pokémon SV/ScVi/however these games will be abbreviated.

Pokémon SM had in my opinion the worst customisation so far (having zero options for full length pants, only shorts) but I did like the Kommo-o outfit that USUM had available, and wouldn't mind seeing more outfits based on Pokémon. Also, we need capes, or trench coat options. My hopes on trench coats are low though, considering not even SwSh had them, and Galar is based on the UK, known for having colder 'coat' whether, so I'm not expecting a region based on a warmer climate like Spain to have any trench coat options.