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What's a Pokémon that you didnt really like in the Games but began to like when you saw them in the Anime?

Rainbow-Rain

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I have to admit there's are a few Pokemon who I didn't really like or care much for when I saw them in the Games.

But then I saw them in the Anime and I did a 180° on my opinion lol

The most standout examples for me are Cinderace and Dracovish

I didn't really care about Cinderace in the games but Goh's Cinderace is so endearing that it is now one of my favorite Galar pokemon.

I used to be scared of the Galar Fossils in the Games until Ash's Dracovish came and wiggled it's way into my heart :bulbaLove:


The Sobble line is also a very weird case for me.
I loved Sobble and was indifferent to Drizzile and Inteleon before the Anime came out.
Soon after time Goh's Sobble began to really irritate me and but my love grew for Drizzile and Inteleon when they debuted (rushed evolutions aside) :wynaut:

Do you guys have any Pokemon that you didnt like in the Games but the Anime made you like them?
 
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Wow, same about Dracovish. They did him so dirty in the Anime, man. He's now one of if not my favorite Galar mon just because of how silly and adorable Ash's Dracovish is.

...But the exact opposite happened to me with the Grookey line. Usually a "big and strong and wide" Final Starter Evolution is my favorite in every generation, but I'm not sure I even HAVE a favorite Galar Starter Line anymore.
 
Swellow is the main one that comes to mind.
I mostly ignored regional birds in the past but Swellow clicked to the point I gave most of the later ones a shot.

A partial example is that the movie is probably the main reason I used Lucario in DP (where he was good enough to make it onto my 'short call" list of go-to Pokémon I know I could rely on).
 
Wow, same about Dracovish. They did him so dirty in the Anime, man. He's now one of if not my favorite Galar mon just because of how silly and adorable Ash's Dracovish is.

...But the exact opposite happened to me with the Grookey line. Usually a "big and strong and wide" Final Starter Evolution is my favorite in every generation, but I'm not sure I even HAVE a favorite Galar Starter Line anymore.
I understand Grookey but what made you turn on Thwacky and Rillaboom?
 
For me, I would say Kingdra.

Before it appeared in the Whirl Cup I didn't care about it.

Now I train one in every generation.
Even if Tattsuu isn't found in the wild; then I trade, breed and steal the Dragon Scale.

The other Pokemon, Male Nidoran, that I use in most games, I liked him from the start.
 
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Prepares to be slaughtered for the opinion.
I'm still not sure if the forums are ready for this….

Greninja.

So I returned to the Pokémon fandom with the XY series as a teen, and didn’t really care about any of the Kalos starters (Greninja's tongue was still off putting), but the rule of cool just caught me. As fate might have it, I reentered the fandom at the very moment Frogadier's future was predicted by Olympia and no one knew wtf was going on. I found the Bond Phenomenon a cool concept and I didn’t really care about story writing value during those days, sand that’s the story of how a Greninja found its place in my very first Showdown Pokémon Team.

So yes, it’s the bizarre journey of Ash-Greninja's coolness being a guilty pleasure of mine that gradually led me to post more on these forums and actually learn about the narrative problems (and the things it did right), and also analyse all the future sagas from a more critical perspective.

EDIT: Greninja also ended up inspiring my teenage self to participate in his first Role Play and creating an OC with a Bond Phenomenon Typhlosion so there’s that.
 
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There are two that come to mind for me, and I think both are pretty controversial.

The first major one is Raichu. I never particularly cared for this pokemon, mostly because I was always exposed to "Pikachu vs Raichu" stuff all the time which can burn you out really damn fast, but then Journeys introduced Goh's Raichu. I know this pokemon barely has any development and nowadays has vanished into "off-screen land", but I really liked her overall concept and personality as a whole. She just feels like a really fun and enjoyable pokemon to me, and I found her evolution to be really unique. Extra points for it not being an Evolution Ex Machina and being set up throughout her debut episode. Then my opinions on the pokemon species itself began to turn around and next thing you know, three of my pokemon OCs happen to be Raichu. I also find it to be really adorable and its cries are just plain underrated. Basically, the lesson I've learned once again is to not let the fandom taint your perception of the media itself.

The second one is Mimikyu. I never got the hype over it, but when I saw Mimikyu in the anime...oh, wow, did I fall in love. I would've liked to see it get some backstory and some more fleshing out in it getting over its hatred, but I still loved it. It was a unique pokemon with unique relationships and dynamics, especially given how its gag surrounded on the violence it constantly brings to the show. It's relationship with Jessie has always been a highlight for me, which is why I'm always bummed out when I hear people saying that Mimikyu should've gone to James. I don't think the relationship dynamic would've worked there, in my opinion. Jessie and Mimikyu are alike in a lot of ways and the parallels between them is what makes their relationship so interesting and enticing. I've said this before, but when Jessie shows her soft side, it's much more meaningful to me than with James or Meowth because it's such a rarity. The same applies to Mimikyu. And despite being not as well written as other pokemon rivalries, I loved its relationship with Pikachu and wish we got an episode forcing the two together somehow. Just THINK of the potential!
 
I think that the Pokemon that fits the bill most for me would be Steelix. It was a Pokemon I tended to overlook, but then in AG Brock's Onix evolved and was pretty cool in battle, which made me grow fond of the species to the point that I actually tried out using one in-game.
 
Don't kill me but... Treecko. Lol

Idk why, it always looked a bit... off to me and the ''bubble fingers'' always weirded me out, but then I saw Ash's in AG and I just fell in love with it. Besides, Grovyle and especially Sceptile are gigantic upgrades from Treecko's design and their paws/hands actually have claws as opposed to those bubble fingers, so I got sold onto the ine a lot more.
 
Incineroar was a major one for me. Out of all the Alola starters, it was always my least favorite and one I didn’t really like due to not being a fan of its design. The anime though presents Masked Royal’s Incineroar with so much charisma every time that it’s on screen that it vastly improved my view on the species. Now if only Ash would actually use his.
 
Prepares to be slaughtered for the opinion.
I'm still not sure if the forums are ready for this….

Greninja.

So I returned to the Pokémon fandom with the XY series as a teen, and didn’t really care about any of the Kalos starters (Greninja's tongue was still off putting), but the rule of cool just caught me. As fate might have it, I reentered the fandom at the very moment Frogadier's future was predicted by Olympia and no one knew wtf was going on. I found the Bond Phenomenon a cool concept and I didn’t really care about story writing value during those days, sand that’s the story of how a Greninja found its place in my very first Showdown Pokémon Team.

So yes, it’s the bizarre journey of Ash-Greninja's coolness being a guilty pleasure of mine that gradually led me to post more on these forums and actually learn about the narrative problems (and the things it did right), and also analyse all the future sagas from a more critical perspective.

EDIT: Greninja also ended up inspiring my teenage self to participate in his first Role Play and creating an OC with a Bond Phenomenon Typhlosion so there’s that.
Ash’s Greninja’s arc was wasted by having him lose the league
 
There are many Pokemon from the earlier generations that I like thanks to the anime (Squirtle, Snorlax, Corphish, Johto starters), but since I saw the anime before anything else I don't think they count.

Pansage was animated in a very cute way, I enjoyed its relationship with Cilan and his battle. Its role definitely raised it above the other monkeys for me.

Bunnelby and Hawlucha were meh for me because their designs feel pretty average, but now I think they are decent because of their anime battles, styles and relationships with other Pokemon in the anime were great.
 
Ash’s Greninja’s arc was wasted by having him lose the league
I guess it differs for different people, but I personally just went "meh" and moved on. The league loss won’t really change tall the hype and mystery of the new mechanic I experienced beforehand. It was just one thing among many. I guess I have a less extreme reaction to it since I'm pretty ambivalent to Alain, his Charizard and Mega Charizard X was actually one of the Megas I liked.

I wanted the Kalos League to actually have no outcome, Team Flare interrupts the League Final to kickstart their plan, the match remains indecisive and Ash is given a Honour of Kalos trophy for his contributions.
 
Biggest one for me is both Galar Farfetchd and Sirfetch’d. Wasn’t that impressed when they were first revealed. There were many other galar pokemon I found more appealing. But they really grew on me despite barely showing up. Something about their unique fighting style and personality was just so fun to watch.
 
The first example that comes to mind is Torkoal. I don't think it stood out to me that much when I played R/S, but I really like Torkoal's personality in the anime and its capture episode was really solid. It's a real shame that it barely got any noticeable victories in AG, but I still like it more after rewatching AG and seeing Ash's Torkoal.

I'm pretty sure that I already liked Bunnelby and Hawlucha before they appeared in XY, but Clemont's Bunnelby made me appreciate more and Ash's Hawlucha definitely made it more memorable too.
 
Honestly, thats a thing Journeys has done right, because i like Gohs Dewgong a lot and am considering using the species in a next Pokemon game i am gonna play.

And due to Journeys, i have used regular Farfetch'd in SWSH, but this is also mainly due to the introduction of Galarfetch'd, since i wanted to compare them, so i used both at the same time and they didn't disappoint me.
 
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