Board 8 > Who are the most universally-liked Pokemon?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Depends on if it's positive percentage or amount of fans.

It's definitely not Bulbasaur either way, that thing (incorrectly imo) has always had a bunch of haters for being the weak starter.

By positive percentage my first thought was Gengar.

Otherwise probably Pikachu or Charizard.

I know Greninja won that poll, but the poll was constructed so you voted for each generation, which probably screwed the results a bit.

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Squirtle

Psyduck. I don't think he's as beloved as others but it is hard to dislike a nervous duck.

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Wobbuffet anime version

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Lugia

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ctesjbuvf posted...

It's definitely not Bulbasaur either way, that thing (incorrectly imo) has always had a bunch of haters for being the weak starter.

I think that hate was either over exaggerated or just doesnt exist anymore, because Bulbasaur made top five in the poll for Kanto, losing only to Gengar and Charizard. Bulbasaurs more popular than Squirtle, at the least, and Id say is probably less hated than Charizard, since Charizard gets the shoved in your face kind of hate.

Gengar probably is the answer, though its not as clear cut as it seems. Gengar only barely beat Bulbasaur in the poll, for instance, and Bulbasaur has a more cute appeal.

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It definitely more of a casual thing, but it does exist.

The poll is hardly a case against the case, because a poll like that doesn't account for any hate. There are no anti votes in a poll of 151, or Charizard wouldn't be at the top at all (I agree it's probably more hated these days, though online forums probably make it seem bigger than it is).

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I dunno, the Bulbasaur is the hated starter still feels like a citation needed kind of thing. Like, its true that the poll only accounts for favorite votes and not hate, but the fact remains that Bulbasaur got more favorite votes than any Gen 1 Pokes other than Charizard and Gengar, and it was very close to Gengar. So while you cant necessarily draw a conclusion on its hate based on that, you can certainly draw conclusions on its popularity. Bulbasaur is very popular, moreso than Squirtle, and doesnt suffer from the shoved into literally everything hinderance like Charizard.

By pure popularity, Charizard wins, but Ive definitely seen hate for Charizard, like when it was the only starter to get two Megas, and its focus in SwSh over the others, etc., whereas I dont think Ive seen actual vocal hate over Bulbasaur.

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Yeah, Bulbasaur is definitely not hated. Even the whole "starter nobody wanted" thing was more revisionist history than anything.

In a contest where you can +1 and -1 an entrant, I imagine Bulbasaur will be up there, not because it'd get the most pro-votes, but because it would avoid a lot of anti-votes.

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Those answering Pikachu clearly has no idea how many people hate Pikachu thanks to the anime but that was like almost 2 decades ago. I have no idea what the consensus is on Pokemons these days.

For what's worth. The Pokemon official YouTube channel ran a poll of the three original starts last week: "As we near the end of Kanto month, we need to ask the ultimate questionBulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle?"

262k votals. Bulbasaur 31% Charmander 46% Squirtle 24%

Obviously you can't infer too much, but Bulbasaur landing in he middle helps with this projected idea of the very least an attitude of indifference, rather than straight anti-votes.


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I hate Wooper and Psyduck is super annoying.

The correct answer is Bulbasaur.

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OhEevee is another great choice. Most people are listing some terrible Pokmon though.

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It has to be a Gen I Pokemon (because anything after Gen I is either unknown, or subjected to genwunner bias). It also can't be something highly prominent, because that leads to popularity backlash. I've gotta agree that Gengar is RIGHT in that sweet spot of being beloved, but not so overhyped that people would be annoyed.

Honestly, I feel like Articuno's gotta be up there too.

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Axl_Rose_85 posted...

Those answering Pikachu clearly has no idea how many people hate Pikachu thanks to the anime but that was like almost 2 decades ago. I have no idea what the consensus is on Pokemons these days.

It depends on how the original question is interpreted. There's an argument for pikachu if it's just a pure count and not a rate/does not consider dislikes.

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there's an argument for pikachu that his widespread reach to people who aren't that big on Pokemon altogether outweighs the downvotes from jealous hardcore fans

I say that as someone with a vendetta against Pikachu for erasing my true favourite pokemon from existence, Raichu

I'd also apply this to Jigglypuff tho tbh

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Yeah, random grandparents who doesn't know charizard going "oh yeah that's pikachu, he's a pokeymon right? I like him, he looks cute"

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GTM posted...

It depends on how the original question is interpreted. There's an argument for pikachu if it's just a pure count and not a rate/does not consider dislikes.

I was considering the question to involve a lack of dislikes. Otherwise it would be the same as asking "who is most people's favorite Pokemon".

It's probably Pikachu solely on non-pokemon fans recognizing and liking him. He's extremely marketable.

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Exeggutor

I mean, c'mon, it's a tree with 3 heads. What's not to get behind here?

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Accel_R8 posted...

It's probably Pikachu solely on non-pokemon fans recognizing and liking him. He's extremely marketable.

Pikachu is very easily hateable.

Not really. Pikachu gets hate for how well-loved he is but frankly the number of people getting jealous over pokemon (which yeah includes me) is going to be minor compared to the series's broad reach among casual players who just like Pikachu because he's the cute pokemon everyone knows.

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Dedf1sh posted...

I feel like Wooper is one of them. Never saw anyone who actively disliked Wooper.

I fucking hate Wooper

Got that stupid face like : )

shroomish still the emote king

|:<

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I'm not thinking the current Pokmon fanbase has anything against Bulbasaur, it's in the bigger picture. Include that group being called genwunners and it surely gets backlash (even if Venusaur might be the bigger target of it). You're thinking it's gone today because those people no longer go to official Pokmon channels.

I'm not saying it's hated, but in a question of universal love, I'm thinking which popular Pokmon has practically no dislike for it at all big scale. Gengar fits that better than anyone - probably partly because it never really got compared to anything else the way the starters did.

Bulbasaur has always been a personal favorite of mine, but unless we're keeping this to current fanbase still buying new games, it shouldn't even be in the debate.

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Ive been playing since the beginning and I really dont remember any of the Gen 1 starters getting any kind of hate back in the day at all. Hell, most of Bulbasaurs big love comes from older fans/genwunner types because of the anime, where it hasnt been relevant in a good while.

You havent actually given a reason why Bulbasaur wouldnt be in the conversation other than trust me, people used to dislike it, which is an opinion that doesnt seem to have much to back it up, and certainly doesnt mesh with polls and the like.

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Positive percentage is not a great indicator because as a pokemon gets more notable with more opinions based on it the harder it is for it to maintain that percentage. You hear about people disliking popular pokemon because they are popular. You don't hear people disliking some pokemon because no one cares about them.

It has to be some sort of weighted system to get an actual answer.

It's probably a bit hard to dig anything in particular up. I could probably find some of the old memes or threads maybe even polls - but it's hard to make up the same picture as being on the internet when they came out. Historical view on Pokmon sure also sounds like a "you had to be there" more than something you can put cites on. I've followed the franchise since always and I loved Bulbsaur since the anime begun - so yeah, the best I can put out there is probably that non-cited statement that I'm in a good position to know. I mean, I get asking for actual reason, but all numbers brought into this topic put it below its fellow fire starter line, that I'm sure we all agree does not belong in the debate today because Charizard became a victim of its own popularity, so I don't really think tgat reasoning is much better. It shows how misleading such can be and therefore I think our combined "experience" is the way to go about a question like this.

I think the anime fanbase was a bit more split at least for a while, because Bulbasaur used to lose more often than the others fueling that it was the worse starter, while Charizard and sunglasses Squirtle were "cooler" appealing more to most kids growing up with the anime. At the same time it also had a lot of personality appealing to a group I believehave grown since that point of the anime. Until a lot of people came around, the anime was the primary place I could find people that shared my Bulbasaur appreciation.

There was definitely a time where Bulbasaur was generally viewed as the starter you don't pick - and there must be others remembering that. Ironically, they probably helped making Bulbasaur more popular than it used to be. I don't know if people straight up changed the minds or just became less loud and cared less. I do hope it's the former, but my point was that I think it's latter, but that I obviously don't know for sure.

So it comes down to interpretation of question, at least partly, because a fair point to raise against me is if history even matters in this case, and if not, the case for Bulbasaur is much greater. Though I still don't see anything that puts it above Gengar which has always been very popular and never really had anything against it. It's not jusr positive percentage, but best positive percentage for the Pokmon that generally rank among the top.

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Being the worst starter doesn't mean people don't like it

It's been nearly 25 years, so my mind is a little hazy but I seem to recall Bulbasaur being the secret best starter. Or maybe that was just the strategy guide I read back then because that was why I picked it as my starter.

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The reason guides would say Bulbasaur was the best starter is because he's good against the first 3 gyms.

but modern knowledge basically knows squirtle is the best starter from a gameplay perspective.

yeah it's known, and mainly just because your collection of Pokemon is still small for the first few gyms, by the time you get to Erika it doesn't matter so much your Charmeleon can finally dominate.

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Honestly Articuno is another fantastic answer.

Bulbasaur, Articuno, Eevee, Charizard, and maybe PikachuAll of those answers are pretty defensible.

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I think Gengar is a good answer too. But that wont be a popular response.

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KokoroAkechi posted...

The reason guides would say Bulbasaur was the best starter is because he's good against the first 3 gyms.

but modern knowledge basically knows squirtle is the best starter from a gameplay perspective.

The thing is theres so many water types you get throughout the game that its really hard to ever justify the water starter. Like early on its tough to get for RBY but every other Gen you get one super easily. You get Grass types too but most of them are kinda ass compared to the starter. The Fire is the one thats probably the best value


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Bulbasaur's first grass move being leech seed really threw me off against Brock.
Didn't grind for Vine Whip and Pikachu/Pidgey are useless vs Geodude.
Squirtle just makes a kid's life so much easier.

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junk_funk posted...

Honestly Articuno is another fantastic answer.

Bulbasaur, Articuno, Eevee, Charizard, and maybe PikachuAll of those answers are pretty defensible.

Charizard's way too hated to be the most universally liked Pokemon. It's become the face of Gen 1 nostalgia, so the anti-Genwunners usually focus their wrath on Charizard (like with Leon's Charizard in Sword/Shield or the people bitter that Charizard got special treatment and is the only starter to get 2 mega evolutions).

I'd go with Gengar. Gen 1, popular + always in the top tier in polls, but not in the "shilled so much" category that gets a ton of backlash. Also not a starter that leads to natural rivalries nor have "weird fanbases" like with Gardevoir or Lucario.

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if like a billion people like charizard and 10 million people dislike it.
and like 250 million people like gengar and 1 million people dislike it.

which one is actually more liked?

Well, "liked" by itself is ambiguous in meaning, but the topic is asking for "universally-liked", which should take into account its hatedom.

https://pastebin.com/AUWJa304

Here's Charizard topping a least favorite Pokemon poll and if you are anywhere within the Pokemon community, there are tons of regular Charizard bashing which hit a fever peak during Dexit. It's just hard to consider Charizard a contender for "most universally loved Pokemon" if it's there's such a sizable community of people that vocally hate it. Gengar in comparison, for example, didn't get a single vote in that poll and I rarely see anyone bashing Gengar.

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If it were up to me and we could disseminate a survey, I'd first sort the Pokemon by percentage of like vs. dislike (which Pokemon is the most well-received), then sort the results by number of votes received.

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Bulbasaur was my first thought but Gengar might be better. Definitely one of those two

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I used not to not like Bulbasaur. Gengar does seem like a good choice.

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Gengar is not notable enough of a pokemon where people are going to go out of their way to dislike it.

Like I said for the heavy hitters (pikachu, charizard, gen 1 starters, lucario, probably mewtwo etc) they are or have been forefront in the minds of pokemon fans. So of course the people that dislike them are going to be more open. And on a percentage metric they would probably be less liked. But I don't hear people talking about how much they like gengar. I do hear people talking about how much they liked charizard or how cute pikachu is etc.

If this was for least disliked pokemon in comparison to likes Gengar would be a good pick, but I'd also argue that Arcanine could be better.

But this is most liked and simple pure mass numbers have to be a factor. So like in reality very few pokemon even have legit shots at winning.

y'all still keep sleeping on Jigglypu-...

...

OHHHHHHH

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KokoroAkechi posted...

Gengar is not notable enough of a pokemon where people are going to go out of their way to dislike it.

Like I said for the heavy hitters (pikachu, charizard, gen 1 starters, lucario, probably mewtwo etc) they are or have been forefront in the minds of pokemon fans. So of course the people that dislike them are going to be more open. And on a percentage metric they would probably be less liked. But I don't hear people talking about how much they like gengar. I do hear people talking about how much they liked charizard or how cute pikachu is etc.

If this was for least disliked pokemon in comparison to likes Gengar would be a good pick, but I'd also argue that Arcanine could be better.

But this is most liked and simple pure mass numbers have to be a factor. So like in reality very few pokemon even have legit shots at winning.

It has already been mentioned in here, but TPC made that poll though Google last year where you voted for your favorite in each generation. Gengar finished second in gen 1 behind only Charizard, ahead of Bulbasaur and Pikachu that was third and fourth.

If we're only looking at likes, it's much easier to get numbers for this and I brought up Gengar because it does great in such things and I've never seen anyone dislike it.

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I assume by universally liked you guys just apply to US?

Cos doesn't Japan tend to skew way more heavily towards mons with cute designs?
Not sure they'd put Gengar up so high.

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The problem with the polls is that these are being answered by mostly fans of pokemon.

What about like people who just casually know about pokemon? Do you really think if every one would be forced to like vote on the poll that they'd put gengar over pikachu?

voltch posted...

I assume by universally liked you guys just apply to US?

Cos doesn't Japan tend to skew way more heavily towards mons with cute designs?
Not sure they'd put Gengar up so high.

Yeah, they ran a poll for Japan this year and literally Dedenne won. They only posted the top 30, and the results of the mons talked about most in here were

7 Pikachu
18 Charizard
27 Bulbasaur

Gengar did not make top 30, though Sableye was #3, so I have no idea what to make of it. Also of note, Greninja finished first in the one referenced in this topic previously, and 16th in the Japan poll.

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I was pretty sure there was stuffing involved

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Does anybody hate mimikyu?

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