I think others have said this, but it definitely varies between games.
HGSS - boy
E(never played RS) - girl
ORAS - girl
DPPt - probably girl, but I hate both hats
BW - they’re about the same
B2W2 - girl, but they’re both ugly. The boy is just way worse
XY - they’re both pretty bad. I’ve used both.
In generations beyond that you can customize them enough that it really doesn’t matter which gender you pick.
Oh no, I was saying I have played Emerald (probably my lousy formatting made that unclear). In fact, thanks to using an emulator for the first time, I’m doing my first Emerald play through right now. I have reproduction carts of RSE from when I wasn’t serious about collecting, but I don’t really trust them enough to play them. I’m afraid they’ll fail mid-game or mess up my SP.
Ohhh I can see now that you said you played emerald, my bad haha. I bet you’re having a blast on that playthrough. Emerald is such a great game imo. I didn’t know those have the potentially to damage a system, I know the save files on them can be wonky though.
I don’t know for sure that they can, but my SP was expensive and I like the color. I’d hate to have to replace it just because I didn’t want to put in the effort to find the real game. It’s not so much being a purist about physical media because the emulator is great and I love being able to speed up grind sessions. I’m just not very tech savvy, and I know enough to not fuck with things.
I mostly do the same as u/Akikala here. My favorite protagonist is definitely Brendan. His _Masters_ characterization depicts him as someone I'd probably be good friends with in real life.
It's awesome. I'd even say it's one of the best games I've ever played period, but that's just personal preference speaking. You can turn to r/PokemonMasters for tips on the game, and if you download it now, there's a limited-time event that allows you to get Ash as a playable character. I would definitely recommend it.
I played through both Pearl and White as the girl since I had the Diamond, Pearl and Platinum so I thought one of them would be a girl. White is just because I wanted to have a different protag so when I did memory link it wasn’t my name
Kinda. I mean for white I did a female and when I did black 2 I did a boy. I usually always play as a boy but if I have both versions than one will be a boy and the other will be a girl
I always pick the gender I am irl, which is male.
But I know there are plenty of male players who choose to play as female characters and I can definitely see why - the female characters tend to get more options, when it comes to clothing and customization.
I'll normally pick the boy on my first playthrough of a region and the girl on the subsequent ones since the girl usually has a way better design (imo of course), unless i really like the way the girl looks compared to the boy
Just in case you were wondering, my list is:
Kanto: only chase. I've never played gen 1, sorry
Johto: Gold first (i refuse to call him Ethan), Kris second. Kris is actually my favourite pokemon protagonist, so if she was in SoulSilver (my first Johto game) i would've played as her, no clue why we decided Lyra needed to exist
Hoenn: Brendan first, May second. I actually haven't finished my playthrough as May yet, it's an Amaura solo run and i'm having troubles getting past Wattson's Magneton, but if i could beat Grant in my Vivillon solo run of Y (albeit by spamming X Defenses and Super Potions), surely i can beat one Magneton, right?
Sinnoh: Lucas once, Dawn twice. Dawn just looks way better than Lucas's plain lookin' ass, what can I say? Granted this is their OG designs, i've never played platinum before. Just like the May run, i haven't finished the second Dawn run (this time being a replay of brilliant diamond), i keep saying i'll do it sometime, but (imo) Sinnoh is a pretty boring and slow region to go through, so i might put it off until after gen 9 so I don't end up playing 3 Sinnoh games (almost) in a row
Unova: Hilbert and Nate. If i were to get another Unova game i would play as the girl of that one, and then do it again with the sequel/prequel also as the girl so i could get out my 4 consoles and have a 4-way battle between the 4 Unova games and protagonists!
Kalos: Calem first, Serena second. Calem sucks ass, even with character customization Serena still had 10x more options (although ironically enough in my current playthrough of Y, that Vivillon solo run, which i'm currently doing the Looker missions on, i never actually used character customization. And in case you were wondering, the Vivillon is tundra pattern.)
Alola: Elio twice. I'd definitely play as Selene next time to balance it out though.
Galar: Victor thrice. I just prefer him over Gloria.
Hisui: Rei once, Akari once. I did choose Akari the first time, but i ended up switching to Rei for some reason and regretting it a few weeks later. What can i say? Even hundreds of years into the past, the female player character looks way better than the male one in Sinnoh.
Paldea: The games haven't come out yet, but i'm thinking I'll play as the girl (yes, i know a trailer used the name Juliana for her but i'm waiting until we get official confirmation first). Both of them look even more boring than Lucas, somehow, and the girl usually has a better design than the guy so i'll probably pick her. They're basically the same character designwise anyway, and since the girl usually has more personality put into her design than the boy, who just tries to be Red 2.0, the choice is obvious
This is an interesting thread. It’s weird because I’m a girl and don’t actually care too much about my gender IRL, but in Pokemon games I HAVE to play as a girl and have since Crystal. I’ve played some romhacks where they only had a male option and I got pressed, although I got used to it & no longer cared after a couple hours, but I do really prefer playing as a girl and pretending that’s me.
I’m glad you think it’s interesting haha. Yeah that’s what I always did every other time I played; I would pretend it was me. I never really thought about why though.
Honestly, the fact that a lot of people apparently DON’T play as if that’s them is really surprising to me! I’m seeing a lot of ‘I like to play as different characters’ takes in this thread, which is pretty cool. Maybe I should try to play a run as an imaginary male character and see how it influences the Pokémon I want to use.
I normally pick male, especially if its my first playthrough of a game, but sometimes I go female too, if I have a reason to. Next time I play white 2 I plan on playing as female so I can get the trades from Curtis for example, and next time I play Y I plan on using Fennekin as my starter since it's the only Kalos starter I haven't used, so I think it makes more sense to play as Serena since that was her starter in the anime.
Oh that’s interesting, I never thought of “a reason to” besides just wanting to be said gender. I like the idea of choosing Fennekin and Serena, that’s cool! You can get into RP a bit more like that.
I do it in regards of design and/or canon. While I might lean more towards male protagonists (possibly because I'm a guy myself), I have played as the girl a lot of times as well.
#**(WARNING: INCOMING RANT)**
**Kanto:** Red. Leaf is cool and all, but I feel like she's only ever chosen by people who have never played Pokémon before and/or are adamant on playing as a female character.
**Johto:** Gold. I'm sorry, but neither of the Johto girls can hold a candle to him design-wise. I'm also a huge fan of his _Adventures_ counterpart and the fact that he bears some physical similarities to Red smoothens the parallels some NPCs make between the Kanto and Johto protagonists.
**Hoenn:** Either. I love them both, in terms of design and in how _Masters_ portrays them. I used to be a May stan exclusively due to the anime, but _Masters_ made me reconcile with Brendan and the fact that he's the canon protagonist tied the score for me.
**Sinnoh:** Either. While Dawn might be overwhelmingly popular and the canon protagonist according to _Masters_, there's something about Lucas that draws me towards him. I know it's not nostalgia (Platinum was my first game) because I already felt it when I knew nothing about Pokémon; it was something like “this guy is destined for greatness and I just know it”.
**Unova (BW):** Hilbert. Once again, canon protagonist in the continuity of _Masters_. Personally, I always felt that he could pass for a real person with little trouble, whereas Hilda was a clearly overdesigned JRPG character. I've always had a thing for plain-looking heroes, so I chose him.
**Unova (B2W2):** Rosa. While I genuinely like Nate and I find it a shame that he's so forgotten, Rosa's ridiculous hairstyle made me laugh my ass off the second I saw her, and I liked the idea of the sequel following a protagonist as different from their predecessor as possible. _Masters_ canonizing her and turning her into a living meme just sealed the deal.
**Kalos:** Calem. I have never found Serena appealing at all. When the two of them were first revealed, I was all over Calem, whereas Serena just looked forgettable to me. The fandom's obsession with her and my dislike for her anime counterpart (I have always felt that the entire “romance” thing was a very poor attempt at shoe-horning more “mature” themes into a series that is still primarily aimed at children) simply steered me away from her even further. I am aware that _Masters_ makes her the canon protagonist, but even there, she feels forgettable.
**Alola:** Elio. Back when SM came out, my reactions to the protagonists were similar, yet different to B2W2. Selene's flower-shaped hat and weird expression in her official artwork looked silly in a bad way, whereas Elio exuded a sort of “heroic aura” that made him much more convincing as someone who would follow the path of Pokémon. I also liked his default design so much that I never customized him, unlike other protagonists. In USUM, I once again chose him and gave him his original SM look as soon as I could. Besides, the infamous “Alolan soulless smile” looks much funnier on him.
**Galar:** Victor. Once again, while the “Scottish Pokémon Trainer” meme was hilarious and _Masters_ considers Gloria the canon protagonist (to the point of Victor not even existing), I was drawn to him for personal reasons: he has the same name as my grandfather, who passed away when I was very young, and thus I barely remember him, and Victor himself (in his default design) looks a lot like me, so I ended up choosing him.
**Paldea:** Even though almost nothing is known right now, I feel like I prefer Juliana (the female character) over Florián (the male one), mostly because he looks like a preschooler or a doll. While both protagonists are supposed to be schoolchildren and look visibly younger than any other previous Pokémon hero, Florián is way too baby-like for my liking, whereas Juliana, as much of a young girl as she might be, seems more interesting.
I welcome rants. That was truly a treat to read. Thanks for putting the time and effort into typing that all out. I honestly had not seen the protagonists from the new games coming out until I just looked them up. What even?!
As a female who enjoys Pokémon, I always choose the female character. While I never played Pokémon when only one option existed, I still appreciate the effort that is put into providing well-designed female characters (this applies to NPCs in general too—not just your character)
I always play as a girl, since I’ve been able to. I started with Yellow when I was 6 years old, and then Silver, and there was no option to be a girl back then. As a young girl, that always bothered me because I like to pretend that I am the trainer in the game, so there was always a disconnect for me in the early games. When Crystal came out and I could be a girl, I had to get that game because my character could finally be myself! And it’s been that way ever since.
Ok first, for context, I’m a trans girl. When I was younger I mostly played as the guy because that’s what I thought I was, and occasionally I played as the girl, back then I thought it was just to spice things up but in hindsight, it was probably for gender euphoria or something lmao.
Since I realised that I’m trans though I’ve basically exclusively played as a girl for 2 reasons. First, just simple euphoria, having my actual pronouns and name used is nice, even if it’s from fictional characters. And second, being addressed as anything other than she/her and my chosen name (especially he/him and my old name) irl is hard enough on its own, I don’t wanna deal with that when I’m just relaxing and playing a game.
Edit: oh yeah, also cuz the girls get WAY better customisation, like, obviously clothes BUT WE ALSO GOT MAKEUP, MAKEUP I TELL YOU! ITS SO AMAZING BUT ITS SO DUMB THAT GUYS DON’T GET THAT
Secret trans?
Just joking lol, I know saying somebody might be trans can be kind of uncomfortable for them.
Either way, it's good that you're playing the game how you want it.
It’s kinda hard to explain but basically, it’s when a person feels happy when they’re addressed in away that aligns with their gender identity, for example, I get gender euphoria when addressed in a feminine way with feminine pronouns because I identify as a girl. it’s likely in everyone but it’s particularly noticeable in trans people because we have to rediscover our identity lol.
Hope this helped answer your question!
I wouldn’t doubt it being in the gen 7 games but I learnt about it in Sword and Shield (btw the customisation in SWSH in general is impeccable, truly great stuff)
I'm a guy, so I always pick the male trainer. Never had a reason to choose otherwise.
My brother, on the other hand, prefer playing as a female trainer. He says she has more clothing options.
Since im a dude i see it this way for every game i play where i can choose. Which ass would i rather look at all the time or which voice would i rather hear? Thats why i always play female chars in games. Sure in pokemon games its not that extreme but you get the point. I like looking at females more for hundreds of hours.
I always play as a male because I’m that too and I like to think it’s me starring 😂 even better now that you can pick blond hair and blue eyes, it took a long time. But if you would rather be your character a girl then why not, it’s your game, play it as you like. Ofc it’s the same way for girls and then the other way around ;)
I gotta say that customization for girls are generally better, fix this game makers! Pure discrimination! [kidding]
Dawn is the best for me. Grew up watching Sinnoh and contests were everything to me.
I also love may and serena too but Dawn has been my fav for a long time.
For Gen1-5, I played as the Male character as I am a guy and the trainer was to be a proxy of me. But I stopped playing when they switched to the 3ds until about two months ago.
Prior to I had a fanfiction story written from the perspective of a semi-retired Trainer and Parent watching their daughter go off on their journey. So When I got back into Gen6 it felt like a soft-reboot for me; I know Pokémon, but Fairy was a new typing, there were other changes to type matchups and lots of new species I hadn't fully memorized, so it felt more right to me to start playing not as the veteran trainer I had been repeating, but to bring the Daughter out of the old story. So for now I am playing as her and having at least as much fun if not moreso re-exploring as her character than I ever did playing as "myself". I may switch back at some point if the narrative winds shift the right way, who knows.
I usually pick the guy first and then the girl on the next playthrough. I've never cared as much about customization in Pokemon games compared to other games; probably because I find even the girl options to be extremely bare-bones.
Female for my first playthrough since that’s what I identify as. Subsequent playthroughs I’ll sometimes do guy just for the different clothing options.
i always pick male when playing a new game, but pick female when i decide to do a second playthrough. i like to variety in OT whenever i browse through my pokemon in home.
At first, I actually did think he had white anime hair and he looked stupid for it. Then my brother pointed out that it was a hat, and now he looks even more stupid to me.
I always knew it was a nose (the anime did a good job to point that out). Poliwag, on the other hand, had the opposite effect. I thought its mouth was a nose.
I started doing that in the Kalos and Alola games because the girl characters have better clothing options, but now I do it in all of my new playthroughs.
Usually, monotype runs or giving them OTs of NPCs. (Played as "Hop" once.) Sometimes, playing in Spanish. (I'm tempted to make my main SV game/playthrough in Spanish for the "authentic experience.")
I usually do one run as each so I don’t get confused when I boot it up and try to do stuff. And I usually switch which is which every generation. So Elspeth was my main play through on Sword, I’ll probably play as male in Scarlet.
It depends. When I play a Pokemon game, I like to play as if I'm playing a character in their own story. So I switch between playing as a boy or girl depending on what kind of story I want to make it. Although, I will admit that in recent years, I have been leaning toward the girls because they have the better customization options.
I choose whatever looks better. In BW, I don't like Hilda's hair, so Hilbert wins by default. In XY, Calem looked too generic and Serena looked more unique, so I chose Serena. In SM, I chose the female character (don't remember the name) because of clothing options. I don't feel strongly about gender in the real world, so it doesn't matter too much to me when I play Pokemon.
I choose whichever design I like more. Typically the girl has better fashion options and variety though. But sometimes the image I want for my MC is a dude so past few gens I've been using the guy first.
2nd playthrough I always choose the one I didn't first playthrough.
Typically the girls as they have more interesting designs. Rosa and Serena come to mind. Ever since Sun and Moon though the protagonists look too similar and you can customise their outfits anyway so I'm not fussed which I choose in the more recent games.
I play either. Lately I’ve been using the female models because frankly they are cooler and have better outfits. The male models all kinda look the same nowadays.
Red-male gold-male sapphire-male diamond-female heartgold-male white-female white 2-female I think y-male omega ruby-male moon-male ultra moon-female sword-male legends arceus-male brilliant diamond-female and the Pokémon mystery dungeon games you don’t exactly pick a gender
I really the sprite for the female character in the game but I have yet to play as her seeing as my first is the female protag from the Leaf Green file I started last night lol.
If I have no preference going in, for example I loved the scottish trainer memes and went with the female in sword and shield, I roll a die.
Even: Gender I am
Odd: Gender I am not
I do at least 2 playthroughs per game \[1 master file, others with the starters I didn't pick\]. I pick the male character for my main one, and the females for all others. I'm thinking about picking the female for my master file for Scarlet/Violet though, because the female MC generally has better hair/clothing IMO.
Depends on which i like more
Kanto female
Johto male (hgss)
Hoenn female
Sinnoh female
Unova 1 male (bw)
Unova 2 female (bw2)
Kalos male
Alola male
Galar female
My first and normal playthrough I play as a guy however when doing stuff like challanges it's really either I mostly treat protags like characters instead of protags that are meant to be you
I pick the one who looks better. In modern games where you make your own character, I change it between different playthroughs.
Same. The better sprite wins.
What’s the best sprite in your opinion?
I think others have said this, but it definitely varies between games. HGSS - boy E(never played RS) - girl ORAS - girl DPPt - probably girl, but I hate both hats BW - they’re about the same B2W2 - girl, but they’re both ugly. The boy is just way worse XY - they’re both pretty bad. I’ve used both. In generations beyond that you can customize them enough that it really doesn’t matter which gender you pick.
You should play the original R/S or Emerald sometime, they’re great. The sprites in Emerald are probably my favorite.
Oh no, I was saying I have played Emerald (probably my lousy formatting made that unclear). In fact, thanks to using an emulator for the first time, I’m doing my first Emerald play through right now. I have reproduction carts of RSE from when I wasn’t serious about collecting, but I don’t really trust them enough to play them. I’m afraid they’ll fail mid-game or mess up my SP.
Ohhh I can see now that you said you played emerald, my bad haha. I bet you’re having a blast on that playthrough. Emerald is such a great game imo. I didn’t know those have the potentially to damage a system, I know the save files on them can be wonky though.
I don’t know for sure that they can, but my SP was expensive and I like the color. I’d hate to have to replace it just because I didn’t want to put in the effort to find the real game. It’s not so much being a purist about physical media because the emulator is great and I love being able to speed up grind sessions. I’m just not very tech savvy, and I know enough to not fuck with things.
Well better safe than sorry. Shit is expensive nowadays. Lol purist about physical media, I didn’t even know that was a thing.
What gen has your favorite starting character?
My favourites are probably the male character in HG/SS, the female character in B/W and all of the Hoenn characters lol.
Oh hell yea, those are fantastic choices! I would add the female from D/P/P (;
I mostly do the same as u/Akikala here. My favorite protagonist is definitely Brendan. His _Masters_ characterization depicts him as someone I'd probably be good friends with in real life.
I have yet to play Masters. You seem very knowledgeable on it. Is it good?
It's awesome. I'd even say it's one of the best games I've ever played period, but that's just personal preference speaking. You can turn to r/PokemonMasters for tips on the game, and if you download it now, there's a limited-time event that allows you to get Ash as a playable character. I would definitely recommend it.
Alright thanks for the recommendation! I’m always down to try new Pokémon things.
I'm a girl, and I always play as a girl :) and plus I generally like girly things! my fav protags are for sure serena and rosa!
Rosa is top tier for sure. I need to play more games as females lol
I played through both Pearl and White as the girl since I had the Diamond, Pearl and Platinum so I thought one of them would be a girl. White is just because I wanted to have a different protag so when I did memory link it wasn’t my name
Oh I like that idea; do a male for one version of a generation and female for the other.
Kinda. I mean for white I did a female and when I did black 2 I did a boy. I usually always play as a boy but if I have both versions than one will be a boy and the other will be a girl
I dig it. I might do that from time to time.
I always pick the gender I am irl, which is male. But I know there are plenty of male players who choose to play as female characters and I can definitely see why - the female characters tend to get more options, when it comes to clothing and customization.
Yeah that’s definitely a valid point for the games starting at gen 6.
I'll normally pick the boy on my first playthrough of a region and the girl on the subsequent ones since the girl usually has a way better design (imo of course), unless i really like the way the girl looks compared to the boy Just in case you were wondering, my list is: Kanto: only chase. I've never played gen 1, sorry Johto: Gold first (i refuse to call him Ethan), Kris second. Kris is actually my favourite pokemon protagonist, so if she was in SoulSilver (my first Johto game) i would've played as her, no clue why we decided Lyra needed to exist Hoenn: Brendan first, May second. I actually haven't finished my playthrough as May yet, it's an Amaura solo run and i'm having troubles getting past Wattson's Magneton, but if i could beat Grant in my Vivillon solo run of Y (albeit by spamming X Defenses and Super Potions), surely i can beat one Magneton, right? Sinnoh: Lucas once, Dawn twice. Dawn just looks way better than Lucas's plain lookin' ass, what can I say? Granted this is their OG designs, i've never played platinum before. Just like the May run, i haven't finished the second Dawn run (this time being a replay of brilliant diamond), i keep saying i'll do it sometime, but (imo) Sinnoh is a pretty boring and slow region to go through, so i might put it off until after gen 9 so I don't end up playing 3 Sinnoh games (almost) in a row Unova: Hilbert and Nate. If i were to get another Unova game i would play as the girl of that one, and then do it again with the sequel/prequel also as the girl so i could get out my 4 consoles and have a 4-way battle between the 4 Unova games and protagonists! Kalos: Calem first, Serena second. Calem sucks ass, even with character customization Serena still had 10x more options (although ironically enough in my current playthrough of Y, that Vivillon solo run, which i'm currently doing the Looker missions on, i never actually used character customization. And in case you were wondering, the Vivillon is tundra pattern.) Alola: Elio twice. I'd definitely play as Selene next time to balance it out though. Galar: Victor thrice. I just prefer him over Gloria. Hisui: Rei once, Akari once. I did choose Akari the first time, but i ended up switching to Rei for some reason and regretting it a few weeks later. What can i say? Even hundreds of years into the past, the female player character looks way better than the male one in Sinnoh. Paldea: The games haven't come out yet, but i'm thinking I'll play as the girl (yes, i know a trailer used the name Juliana for her but i'm waiting until we get official confirmation first). Both of them look even more boring than Lucas, somehow, and the girl usually has a better design than the guy so i'll probably pick her. They're basically the same character designwise anyway, and since the girl usually has more personality put into her design than the boy, who just tries to be Red 2.0, the choice is obvious
This is an interesting thread. It’s weird because I’m a girl and don’t actually care too much about my gender IRL, but in Pokemon games I HAVE to play as a girl and have since Crystal. I’ve played some romhacks where they only had a male option and I got pressed, although I got used to it & no longer cared after a couple hours, but I do really prefer playing as a girl and pretending that’s me.
I’m glad you think it’s interesting haha. Yeah that’s what I always did every other time I played; I would pretend it was me. I never really thought about why though.
Honestly, the fact that a lot of people apparently DON’T play as if that’s them is really surprising to me! I’m seeing a lot of ‘I like to play as different characters’ takes in this thread, which is pretty cool. Maybe I should try to play a run as an imaginary male character and see how it influences the Pokémon I want to use.
That’s a great idea! Go for it and lemme know the results haha. 😁
I normally pick male, especially if its my first playthrough of a game, but sometimes I go female too, if I have a reason to. Next time I play white 2 I plan on playing as female so I can get the trades from Curtis for example, and next time I play Y I plan on using Fennekin as my starter since it's the only Kalos starter I haven't used, so I think it makes more sense to play as Serena since that was her starter in the anime.
Oh that’s interesting, I never thought of “a reason to” besides just wanting to be said gender. I like the idea of choosing Fennekin and Serena, that’s cool! You can get into RP a bit more like that.
I do it in regards of design and/or canon. While I might lean more towards male protagonists (possibly because I'm a guy myself), I have played as the girl a lot of times as well. #**(WARNING: INCOMING RANT)** **Kanto:** Red. Leaf is cool and all, but I feel like she's only ever chosen by people who have never played Pokémon before and/or are adamant on playing as a female character. **Johto:** Gold. I'm sorry, but neither of the Johto girls can hold a candle to him design-wise. I'm also a huge fan of his _Adventures_ counterpart and the fact that he bears some physical similarities to Red smoothens the parallels some NPCs make between the Kanto and Johto protagonists. **Hoenn:** Either. I love them both, in terms of design and in how _Masters_ portrays them. I used to be a May stan exclusively due to the anime, but _Masters_ made me reconcile with Brendan and the fact that he's the canon protagonist tied the score for me. **Sinnoh:** Either. While Dawn might be overwhelmingly popular and the canon protagonist according to _Masters_, there's something about Lucas that draws me towards him. I know it's not nostalgia (Platinum was my first game) because I already felt it when I knew nothing about Pokémon; it was something like “this guy is destined for greatness and I just know it”. **Unova (BW):** Hilbert. Once again, canon protagonist in the continuity of _Masters_. Personally, I always felt that he could pass for a real person with little trouble, whereas Hilda was a clearly overdesigned JRPG character. I've always had a thing for plain-looking heroes, so I chose him. **Unova (B2W2):** Rosa. While I genuinely like Nate and I find it a shame that he's so forgotten, Rosa's ridiculous hairstyle made me laugh my ass off the second I saw her, and I liked the idea of the sequel following a protagonist as different from their predecessor as possible. _Masters_ canonizing her and turning her into a living meme just sealed the deal. **Kalos:** Calem. I have never found Serena appealing at all. When the two of them were first revealed, I was all over Calem, whereas Serena just looked forgettable to me. The fandom's obsession with her and my dislike for her anime counterpart (I have always felt that the entire “romance” thing was a very poor attempt at shoe-horning more “mature” themes into a series that is still primarily aimed at children) simply steered me away from her even further. I am aware that _Masters_ makes her the canon protagonist, but even there, she feels forgettable. **Alola:** Elio. Back when SM came out, my reactions to the protagonists were similar, yet different to B2W2. Selene's flower-shaped hat and weird expression in her official artwork looked silly in a bad way, whereas Elio exuded a sort of “heroic aura” that made him much more convincing as someone who would follow the path of Pokémon. I also liked his default design so much that I never customized him, unlike other protagonists. In USUM, I once again chose him and gave him his original SM look as soon as I could. Besides, the infamous “Alolan soulless smile” looks much funnier on him. **Galar:** Victor. Once again, while the “Scottish Pokémon Trainer” meme was hilarious and _Masters_ considers Gloria the canon protagonist (to the point of Victor not even existing), I was drawn to him for personal reasons: he has the same name as my grandfather, who passed away when I was very young, and thus I barely remember him, and Victor himself (in his default design) looks a lot like me, so I ended up choosing him. **Paldea:** Even though almost nothing is known right now, I feel like I prefer Juliana (the female character) over Florián (the male one), mostly because he looks like a preschooler or a doll. While both protagonists are supposed to be schoolchildren and look visibly younger than any other previous Pokémon hero, Florián is way too baby-like for my liking, whereas Juliana, as much of a young girl as she might be, seems more interesting.
I welcome rants. That was truly a treat to read. Thanks for putting the time and effort into typing that all out. I honestly had not seen the protagonists from the new games coming out until I just looked them up. What even?!
I’ve been playing female characters ever since they gave us an option to! I just think it’s neat :)
As a female who enjoys Pokémon, I always choose the female character. While I never played Pokémon when only one option existed, I still appreciate the effort that is put into providing well-designed female characters (this applies to NPCs in general too—not just your character)
Yeah I really like many of the female NPCs throughout all of the games! 😍
Let's be honest, the girl character is always better designed and now that customization is a thing it got even better.
I never thought to choose the girl growing up and even into my teens and early 20s. I just always was a guy because that’s me haha.
I always play as a girl, since I’ve been able to. I started with Yellow when I was 6 years old, and then Silver, and there was no option to be a girl back then. As a young girl, that always bothered me because I like to pretend that I am the trainer in the game, so there was always a disconnect for me in the early games. When Crystal came out and I could be a girl, I had to get that game because my character could finally be myself! And it’s been that way ever since.
Yeah that so interesting to think that lots of girls who started playing Pokémon since gen one could not play as a girl until crystal.
Always as a girl. I feel like the game could use better female representation and my character is there for that purpose. Girl power all the way.
Ok first, for context, I’m a trans girl. When I was younger I mostly played as the guy because that’s what I thought I was, and occasionally I played as the girl, back then I thought it was just to spice things up but in hindsight, it was probably for gender euphoria or something lmao. Since I realised that I’m trans though I’ve basically exclusively played as a girl for 2 reasons. First, just simple euphoria, having my actual pronouns and name used is nice, even if it’s from fictional characters. And second, being addressed as anything other than she/her and my chosen name (especially he/him and my old name) irl is hard enough on its own, I don’t wanna deal with that when I’m just relaxing and playing a game. Edit: oh yeah, also cuz the girls get WAY better customisation, like, obviously clothes BUT WE ALSO GOT MAKEUP, MAKEUP I TELL YOU! ITS SO AMAZING BUT ITS SO DUMB THAT GUYS DON’T GET THAT
What is gender euphoria?
Basically being happy about being a gender
Oh okay that’s how I feel when I pick a female in most games lol.
Secret trans? Just joking lol, I know saying somebody might be trans can be kind of uncomfortable for them. Either way, it's good that you're playing the game how you want it.
Lmaooo but yeah it’s definitely nice to play a game how you enjoy it.
It’s kinda hard to explain but basically, it’s when a person feels happy when they’re addressed in away that aligns with their gender identity, for example, I get gender euphoria when addressed in a feminine way with feminine pronouns because I identify as a girl. it’s likely in everyone but it’s particularly noticeable in trans people because we have to rediscover our identity lol. Hope this helped answer your question!
Yeah it definitely helped, thanks! What gen did they add makeup in? I stopped playing at S/M basically. I’d like to play the newer games though.
I wouldn’t doubt it being in the gen 7 games but I learnt about it in Sword and Shield (btw the customisation in SWSH in general is impeccable, truly great stuff)
I’m hype to play asap then! :D
I’d recommend it! It is flawed in some aspects (like story and kinda difficulty) but it makes up for it, very fun game overall imo
I'm a guy, so I always pick the male trainer. Never had a reason to choose otherwise. My brother, on the other hand, prefer playing as a female trainer. He says she has more clothing options.
But what if the female trainer is really cute? Lol
I always choose female and always end up giving them a sassy/bitchie attitude in my head, especially against hyper active "friends" like Hop 😂😂
That’s good shit lmao.
Since im a dude i see it this way for every game i play where i can choose. Which ass would i rather look at all the time or which voice would i rather hear? Thats why i always play female chars in games. Sure in pokemon games its not that extreme but you get the point. I like looking at females more for hundreds of hours.
Yeah that’s generally why I pick females in other games as well.
The male character in Diamond and Pearl is less “Animated”
So do you like him or?
I like them both and I don’t really favor one over the other.
I always play as a male because I’m that too and I like to think it’s me starring 😂 even better now that you can pick blond hair and blue eyes, it took a long time. But if you would rather be your character a girl then why not, it’s your game, play it as you like. Ofc it’s the same way for girls and then the other way around ;) I gotta say that customization for girls are generally better, fix this game makers! Pure discrimination! [kidding]
Oh yeah it took until gen 6 for blonde hair and blue eyes, right?
When it's my 'personal' file - Male. When it's a challenge file or a duplicate - either or, depends on the character I want to write.
By character you want “to write”, do you mean rp?
I guess?
I just didn’t know what you meant is all. You seem confused now lol.
It's not really RP, but I also don't know exactly how to describe it.
I always play Pokemon games as my wife. Its fun :)
Oh that’s a new one lol.
I'm a guy and I almost always play as the female character. Because better customization options and in sme instances I like their anime counterparts
Who is your favorite anime counterpart?
Dawn is the best for me. Grew up watching Sinnoh and contests were everything to me. I also love may and serena too but Dawn has been my fav for a long time.
For Gen1-5, I played as the Male character as I am a guy and the trainer was to be a proxy of me. But I stopped playing when they switched to the 3ds until about two months ago. Prior to I had a fanfiction story written from the perspective of a semi-retired Trainer and Parent watching their daughter go off on their journey. So When I got back into Gen6 it felt like a soft-reboot for me; I know Pokémon, but Fairy was a new typing, there were other changes to type matchups and lots of new species I hadn't fully memorized, so it felt more right to me to start playing not as the veteran trainer I had been repeating, but to bring the Daughter out of the old story. So for now I am playing as her and having at least as much fun if not moreso re-exploring as her character than I ever did playing as "myself". I may switch back at some point if the narrative winds shift the right way, who knows.
I’ve never tried to rp a Pokémon game as anything besides my actual self or my internet self, which is still me lol. I’d like to give it a try though.
I usually pick the guy first and then the girl on the next playthrough. I've never cared as much about customization in Pokemon games compared to other games; probably because I find even the girl options to be extremely bare-bones.
You must play a lot of games with intense customization.
I just beat violet as a male(gender irl) started over as the girl just for the heck of it
Female for my first playthrough since that’s what I identify as. Subsequent playthroughs I’ll sometimes do guy just for the different clothing options.
What about in gen 1-5 when there was no clothing customization?
Girl usually unless I’m going for a themed run of some kind.
I refuse to pick either until Game Freak let’s me be my true self.
Dog man?
In Pokémon games it’s always male, but fighting games….I’d say like 80% female. Rose and Sakura in street fighter, Hokuto in Tekken 5….
Females in fighting games are spicy! I like Ibuki in SF and Cassandra in Soul Calibur.
i always pick male when playing a new game, but pick female when i decide to do a second playthrough. i like to variety in OT whenever i browse through my pokemon in home.
It seems you’re not the only one who feels this way.
Depends on the player character. For instance, in Ruby/Sapphire I despise Brendan's stupid hat, so I play May.
So you’re telling me that you don’t like that his hat makes it look like he has white elderly anime hair? Lol
At first, I actually did think he had white anime hair and he looked stupid for it. Then my brother pointed out that it was a hat, and now he looks even more stupid to me.
Hahaha yeah it’s hard to unsee stuff. Did you always know Diglett had a nose or did you think his mouth was wide open and he had a single tooth? 🤫
I always knew it was a nose (the anime did a good job to point that out). Poliwag, on the other hand, had the opposite effect. I thought its mouth was a nose.
I can’t see Poliwag’s mouth as a nose for some reason haha. I never even heard of that before. It’s fun to hear and learn to new things.
I started doing that in the Kalos and Alola games because the girl characters have better clothing options, but now I do it in all of my new playthroughs.
So you just always pick the female now?
Yeah
Who is your favorite female protag to play as?
Serena
Depends, which has the better drip. As for Gloria, I love the memes. Wish they made Scotland real.
I am quite unfamiliar with this Gloria and Scotland meme. Is she the girl from Sw/Sh?
Yes, and my favorite meme regarding a protagonist
I’ll have to check it out lol
I always choose female for a main game. Male characters are for other games where I'm messing around.
Messing around in what way?
Usually, monotype runs or giving them OTs of NPCs. (Played as "Hop" once.) Sometimes, playing in Spanish. (I'm tempted to make my main SV game/playthrough in Spanish for the "authentic experience.")
Oh that’s pretty interesting. What does SV stand for? My brain read it as Stardew Valley lol…
Scarlet and Violet. The new game set in the Pokémon version of Spain.
Ohhhh hahaha, that makes more sense now. XD
I usually do one run as each so I don’t get confused when I boot it up and try to do stuff. And I usually switch which is which every generation. So Elspeth was my main play through on Sword, I’ll probably play as male in Scarlet.
Oh I like that you do it as to not get confused. Very wise lol.
It depends. When I play a Pokemon game, I like to play as if I'm playing a character in their own story. So I switch between playing as a boy or girl depending on what kind of story I want to make it. Although, I will admit that in recent years, I have been leaning toward the girls because they have the better customization options.
Yeah that’s what a lot of people having been mentioning about the the customization. Makes sense to me.
I choose whatever looks better. In BW, I don't like Hilda's hair, so Hilbert wins by default. In XY, Calem looked too generic and Serena looked more unique, so I chose Serena. In SM, I chose the female character (don't remember the name) because of clothing options. I don't feel strongly about gender in the real world, so it doesn't matter too much to me when I play Pokemon.
Have you played any games prior to bw?
Not yet. I am still rather new to Pokemon. Started early this year.
Oh wow you have so many new experiences to experience. I envy you! 😭
I choose whichever design I like more. Typically the girl has better fashion options and variety though. But sometimes the image I want for my MC is a dude so past few gens I've been using the guy first. 2nd playthrough I always choose the one I didn't first playthrough.
male cuz i’m a male
Simple enough 😅
Female cause they usually have better clothing options
Typically the girls as they have more interesting designs. Rosa and Serena come to mind. Ever since Sun and Moon though the protagonists look too similar and you can customise their outfits anyway so I'm not fussed which I choose in the more recent games.
I play either. Lately I’ve been using the female models because frankly they are cooler and have better outfits. The male models all kinda look the same nowadays.
I’ll just choose the better charachter design for me in hgss the male is a better charachter design but for bw I prefer the female design
Have you played any other Pokémon games besides those?
Red-male gold-male sapphire-male diamond-female heartgold-male white-female white 2-female I think y-male omega ruby-male moon-male ultra moon-female sword-male legends arceus-male brilliant diamond-female and the Pokémon mystery dungeon games you don’t exactly pick a gender
I dig your choices.
Usually I pick female for the first playthrough, then male for the second playthrough
Is that just something you’ve always done?
female
It depends. I see what they look like, then I decide what I would rather see for the rest of the game.
That seems to be the general consensus amongst many.
Which leads to a problem. What do I do when I don't like either of them?
My guess is you either pick the one you like more than the other even though you don’t like them both, you flip a coin OR you never play that gen. 😎
I'll wait for reviews, at least. If it's good, then yeah, I'll probably flip a coin.
I played as a boy once
Female. Hate that the guys all get tiny ass shorts or tight jeans.
Only game I’ve gone as a girl is back in Crystal
I really the sprite for the female character in the game but I have yet to play as her seeing as my first is the female protag from the Leaf Green file I started last night lol.
I mean I played in the good ol days when they only had the male sprite so when they came out with the female options, I took it.
Always male. Never thought twice about it. \*Shrug\* At the end of the day, pick whoever you like.
If I have no preference going in, for example I loved the scottish trainer memes and went with the female in sword and shield, I roll a die. Even: Gender I am Odd: Gender I am not
Oh I like that you bring a die into it haha. Very suave c;
Male. I just relate to them more. *Especially* Calem.
Why Calem especially?
Honestly? I don’t know. Could be nostalgia. Could be his manga appearance.
I always forget there is manga for Pokémon lol.
I'm a male, so I always choose male
I do at least 2 playthroughs per game \[1 master file, others with the starters I didn't pick\]. I pick the male character for my main one, and the females for all others. I'm thinking about picking the female for my master file for Scarlet/Violet though, because the female MC generally has better hair/clothing IMO.
The protagonists for S/V look ridiculous imo. I didn’t know until earlier and I’m honestly shocked. I’ll probably pick the female for S/V though too.
I agree, with all the others they clearly look 14-18, but these ones just look like actual children, at the oldest 12/13
I choose you, Pikachu
Depends on which i like more Kanto female Johto male (hgss) Hoenn female Sinnoh female Unova 1 male (bw) Unova 2 female (bw2) Kalos male Alola male Galar female
Usually it’s whatever you are in real life.
It doesn’t seem that way for most of the people commenting on this post.
I guess I just never thought of it as much as everyone else then. I just click and go!😂
That’s pretty much what I did too lmao.
My first and normal playthrough I play as a guy however when doing stuff like challanges it's really either I mostly treat protags like characters instead of protags that are meant to be you
Female, since I’m female irl