Every Pokémon is someone's least favorite

Love and hate are two sides of the same coin. Just as every Pokémon may be someone's favorite, it's almost guaranteed that every single pocket monster has at least one die-hard hater out there. This idea was one I began pondering recently, following the announcement of the new starter Pokémon for Winds and Waves, which everyone on the internet immediately had hot takes on.

There was one particular post that got my attention, where a user was responding to all the Pokémon confirmed by the trailer with extreme disdain. "Can we fucking let wingull go like my god," the post read, which prompted questions like "wtf did wingull ever do to you," and many others of that nature. Though the user's hatred for Wingull didn't resonate with me personally — prior to this post, I hadn't even thought about anyone having strong feelings about what's essentially a seagull — I respected their ferocity.

I am always a fan of people having very strong opinions on inconsequential things, and I decided to consult some of the most opinionated people in my life on the topic to garner more intel about everyone's least-favorite Pokémon. One of the funniest recurring themes I noticed in this research was that, while many will wax poetic about their favorite Pokémon, delving into their lore or fighting power, the reasons behind people's least favorite Pokémon tend to be much simpler, often tied more to visceral feeling or a certain small detail that just rubs them the wrong way.

For example, if I had to pick a least favorite Pokémon, it would be Glalie. I have no real strong argument behind this — it's just a gut feeling. Especially when compared to the beautiful Froslass, the other possible evolution for Snorunt, Glalie is an unappealing blob that looks like a chew toy made of ice and unsettles me to my core.

This gut feeling persisted as I polled some of my friends. "The entire Naclstack line," one of them said, "It’s just an awful design clearly inspired by the success of Minecraft, and it really shows. I have not researched how it was designed, but that's how it feels in my heart."

Other responses were more passionately vitriolic. "Vanillish," said another, "It's fucking ice cream. What evolutionary decision made you edible? An affront to god." Even the more popular Pokémon are not immune to this phenomenon, with another friend calling Mewtwo "dumb as hell."

Of course, I had to pose the question to the Polygon staff as well. Writer Ford James, who previously wrote an entire list on the topic, was one of the first to respond: "Gholdengo. It's just a cheesestring with a stupid belt," he said.

For writer Josh Broadwell, it's Carkol who's earned his ire:

Carkol's a hot mess and not even a proper object Pokémon. The lumpy critter isn't a sentient mine cart. It's just coal that looks like a mine cart, which is silly, but also a noticeable downgrade from the kind of imaginative interactions between humans, nature, and Pokémon we saw in older games. A good evolution story is right there! A coal spirit that interacted with humans and human objects so much that it evolved to mimic theme. No, it's just the progenitor of coal, a Pokémon that, if you go by Sword's Pokedex entry, sprinkled it happily on the people of Galar so they could fuel their homes. That's a pretty glib way to deal with decades of important social and political contention wrapped up in the U.K. coal mining industry. Not cool, Game Freak.

Austin Manchester, on the other hand, is a long-time Zubat hater:

Let me speak for everyone who grew up with Pokémon Red and Blue or the Game Boy Advance remakes Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen: screw this bat. Punt it into the sun. Zubat is the worst. These mouthbreathers will swarm you every two steps in a cave, like Mt. Moon. Turn around? Zubat. Climb down a ladder? Zubat. See the exit in sight? Here's 10 Zubats between you and daylight. There's not enough repel on Arceus's green Earth to keep the Zubats away.

To Giovanni Colantonio, Chewtle deserves no respect:

Squirtle is about as close as you can get to a perfect Pokémon. It has an elegant design, it’s cute as a button, and it has a punny name that makes perfect sense. Chewtle, on the other hand, is as far on the other end of the spectrum as you can get. It’s yet another water turtle, but one that replaces Squirtle’s precious little smile for a big dumb head that looks like a punching bag. I could rag on this thing for any number of reasons, but my big gripe is its name. Chewtle? What is the joke? That he’s a turtle… that chews? Is that a novel enough inversion of standard turtle behavior to justify this absolute non-pun of a name? I cannot abide this.

This year, to mark the 30th anniversary, the company has launched a year-long What's Your Favorite campaign, which is meant to highlight how every Pokémon is beloved by someone. While this may be true, I believe the opposite is as well. Even for the most popular Pokémon, like Pikachu, there will always be a subsection of people who dislike them because they are popular, or because of the gut feelings mentioned above. It doesn't mean players like the franchise any less by holding ire towards certain Pokémon — if anything, it proves how passionately fans feel about the world that's been created over the past 30 years.