Pokémon Is Officially Giving Fans What They’ve Been Waiting For

2 weeks ago 17
A female trainer with an Eevee on her arm in Pokémon-Let's-Go-Eevee! Image via The Pokémon Company

Published Sep 28, 2026, 5:00 AM EDT

Hannah covers horror, sci-fi, and games at Collider, where she writes news and features, reviews new releases, and interviews the people who make them. She’s helping build out Collider’s gaming coverage, with Pokémon as one of her specialties. If she isn’t writing about a monster, she’s probably watching one on a tape from her VHS collection.

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Pokémon GO players have had plenty of reasons to hunt for Applin since the apple-dwelling Pokémon arrived in the game. Catching one is only part of the job: Evolving it means collecting the right kind of apple, and the one you need depends on which evolution you’re after. The upcoming Harvest Festival is giving players a chance to fill their bags before those choices come up again.

There is another reason to go apple picking this year. Mossy Lure Modules will work differently during the event, and players will be able to choose a reward path that gives them a particular kind of apple. Anyone who has been putting off an Applin evolution might want to make room in their schedule.

Shiny Applin will make its Pokémon GO debut during Harvest Festival: Applin Picking, which runs from Tuesday, September 29, at 10:00 a.m. through Monday, October 5, at 8:00 p.m. local time. Applin may appear in the wild, and catching one during the event will have an increased chance of yielding a Tart Apple, Sweet Apple, or Syrupy Apple once players unlock the first bonus on the event’s GO Pass. As always, finding a Shiny is a matter of luck, so the extra Applin encounters should be welcome.

Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes Which Netflix Character Would Be Your Best Friend? Dustin · Emily · Wednesday · Gi-hun

Some friends drag you out of the house. Some sit with you on the worst night of your life. Netflix has written both, plus the one who tells you the truth you have been avoiding all week. Answer eight quick questions about how you actually do friendship, and find out which of them was always going to end up in your corner.

🧢Dustin(Stranger Things)

🗼Emily(Emily in Paris)

🕷️Wednesday(Wednesday)

🟢Gi-hun(Squid Game)

FIND YOUR BEST FRIEND →

01

How do you usually end up making a new friend? The origin story says a lot about the friendship that follows it.

AWe got loud about the same obsession and never stopped. BThey invited me somewhere before we had properly met. CWe bonded over disliking exactly the same thing. DThey noticed I was struggling and stayed with me.

NEXT QUESTION →

02

What is a perfect Saturday with your best friend? Friendship is mostly built out of very ordinary hours.

AA ridiculous plan neither of us should attempt. BSomewhere new, photographed heavily, ending very late. CSomewhere quiet, few people, zero small talk. DSomething simple, and a conversation that actually matters.

NEXT QUESTION →

03

You call them at two in the morning. What happens? This is the real test of a friendship, and everybody knows it.

AThey are already putting their shoes on. BThey answer instantly and turn it into a plan. CThey answer and say something unflattering and true. DThey listen for an hour and never check the time.

NEXT QUESTION →

04

What do you want from them when you are clearly wrong? The best friendships are the ones that survive being corrected.

ASupport first. We can review the mistake later. BA relentlessly positive reframe of the entire disaster. CThe blunt version. Do not soften it for me. DPatience, and no judgment about how I got here.

NEXT QUESTION →

05

What do your friends actually value about you? The friend you attract says something about the friend you are.

AI am all in, always, about everything. BI can turn almost any situation into a good time. CI say the thing nobody else in the room will. DI look after whoever is having the worst day.

NEXT QUESTION →

06

You have a falling out. How does it go? How a friendship repairs itself matters more than how it breaks.

ALoudly, briefly, then back to normal by Tuesday. BThey apologise first, enthusiastically, with a gift. CCold silence, then one dry joke that fixes everything. DWe talk until we both understand what actually happened.

NEXT QUESTION →

07

What do you actually need a best friend for? Everybody is missing something. The right friend fills that gap.

ATo make my life bigger than it would be alone. BTo push me out of the house and into my own life. CTo catch me when I start lying to myself. DTo be the person who never gave up on me.

NEXT QUESTION →

08

Ten years from now, what keeps the two of you close? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides who you get.

AWe would still drop everything for each other, instantly. BWe still make plans, and we still actually go. CWe still cut through each other's nonsense in one sentence. DThey stood by me once when it cost them something.

REVEAL MY BEST FRIEND →

The Group Chat Has Spoken Your Best Friend Is…

Four Netflix characters, four completely different ways of showing up for somebody. This is the one who fits how you actually do friendship, and what having them in your life would be like.

Dustin Henderson

You do not do friendship at half volume, and neither does he. What you want is somebody who says yes to the plan before you have finished describing the plan.

  • Dustin is the friend the entire show runs on: loyal past the point of sense, enthusiastic about everything, and incapable of leaving anybody behind.
  • You have the same instinct. Your friendships are loud, specific and slightly ridiculous, and they last for decades because of it.
  • He is also the one person who would take your strangest interest completely seriously, which is far rarer than it sounds.
  • You would have a group chat. It would never once be quiet.

Emily Cooper

You are the friend who makes things happen, and so is she. Together you would be mildly exhausting to everyone around you and completely delighted with yourselves.

  • Emily treats an ordinary Tuesday as something that could be turned into an occasion, which is either the best or the worst quality in a friend depending on your energy levels.
  • You share her refusal to sit still. Neither of you has ever accepted a night in when something was happening somewhere else.
  • She is far more loyal than people give her credit for. She defends her friends loudly, publicly, and occasionally before checking the facts.
  • She would post the photo without asking. You would forgive her, because it is a very good photo.

Wednesday Addams

You have no patience for pleasant lies, and she has no ability to tell them. What looks like coldness from the outside is the most reliable friendship on this list.

  • Wednesday never says a kind thing she does not mean, which makes the rare ones count for an enormous amount.
  • You would rather be told the truth than be made comfortable. She is constitutionally incapable of offering you anything else.
  • Underneath all of it she is ferociously protective. She simply refuses to make a performance out of caring.
  • Do not expect a birthday message. Do expect her to ruin anyone who wrongs you.

Seong Gi-hun

You look after whoever is having the worst day. So does he. It is the least strategic way to move through the world and the best possible quality in a friend.

  • Gi-hun is not the strongest player in Squid Game, or the cleverest. He is the one who keeps choosing to protect somebody else, over and over, at genuine cost to himself.
  • You have the same instinct. You notice who is struggling and you stay with them, long after anybody would blame you for leaving.
  • He is a flawed friend, and that is part of why it lands. He lets people down, then comes back and tries again, which is more than most manage.
  • He would give you his last chance and never once mention that he had done it.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

Shiny Applin Isn’t the Only Reason To Go Apple Picking

Some rewards for the 2026 Pokémon GO Harvest Festival. Image via Scopely

Mossy Lure Modules will attract only apples during the event. Tapping those apples can award one of the three evolution items or trigger an encounter with an event Pokémon, including Applin and flower-crown Cottonee. Wild encounters will also include Skwovet, Lechonk, and Smoliv, with an increased chance of finding Shiny Smoliv. Players who reach Rank 10 on the event GO Pass can make their Mossy Lure Modules last for an hour, giving them more time to search. The event also includes branching Timed Research with a choice between Tart Apples, Sweet Apples, and Syrupy Apples as rewards. Pick the path that matches the evolution you want, then finish the tasks and claim the rewards by October 5 at 8:00 p.m. local time. Event-themed Field Research will offer additional Pokémon encounters.

Every player will automatically receive the free Harvest Festival GO Pass when the event begins. Ranking it up can earn Pokémon encounters, apples, a Mossy Lure Module, and a Super Rocket Radar, while Rank 20 unlocks extra Stardust from defeating Team GO Rocket Grunts and Leaders, although doing so is considerably less frequent now. A paid GO Pass Deluxe costs $4.99, or $6.99 with enough GO Points to reach Rank 7, and adds rewards such as more encounters, apples, and Mossy Lure Modules. Players can upgrade later and still collect paid rewards from ranks they have already unlocked. There is a little breathing room after the event for claiming GO Pass rewards: They expire on Wednesday, October 7, at 8:00 p.m. local time. The Shiny hunt itself ends with the Harvest Festival on October 5.

Pokémon GO Poster

Released July 6, 2016

Developer(s) Niantic, The Pokemon Company, Nintendo

Franchise Pokemon

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