With all metric crapton of Pokémon and human characters, don't be surprised that there will always be a character that fans want to check on their cartridges and release them from their game.
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Anime & Manga
Anime
Being a Long-Runner with a broad fandom, the anime features many characters who receive unintended hatred from some groups.
- Samurai, the first Character of the Day, is hated for interrupting Ash when he's in the middle of catching a Weedle in order to challenge him, causing said Pokémon to call a swarm of angry Beedrill, which proceed to steal Ash's Metapod and force them into hiding. Samurai angrily blames and berates Ash for not taking responsibility, even though Ash tried his hardest and that all of this was Samurai's fault in the first place! The only positive things fans have to say about him are that he's a starter trainer with a Pinsir, and that he's responsible for the infamous "Metapod vs Metapod" battle that became subject to numerous memes. A couple of fanfics have made him a Butt-Monkey who gets curbstomped by Ash when he challenges him.
- Misty's three older sisters (Daisy, Lily, and Violet) are hated for their stereotypical Brainless Beauty nature, neglect towards Misty, and complete lack of work ethic in spite of their positions as Gym Leaders. The final nail in the coffin came when they shirked their responsibilities and left for a cruise immediately before a Gym inspection; this forced Misty to leave Ash's group, making them the in-universe reason for her leaving the show, giving Misty the dubious honor of being the only trainer to not leave Ash's group willingly.note While Pokémon Chronicles would give Daisy some Character Development by having her take her Gym Leader duties more seriously, which rescued her in the eyes of some fans, Lily and Violet are still widely hated by the fandom.
- Tobias stands out amongst the hatedom of those who defeated Ash in the Pokémon League for the sheer Diabolus ex Machina of using a Darkrai and Latios, without an explanation of how he caught a Mythical and Legendary Pokémon. While Ash's other League rivals got plenty of interaction and focus, Tobias only had a few mentions and cameos of buildup, disappears after winning, and hasn't been heard from since. Thus, he never got the buildup or Rule of Cool that would make him having such rare Pokémon feel legitimate, and seemingly only exists as a Writer Cop Out. The Curb Stomp Cushion of Ash defeating Darkrai and Latios when no one else in the region could felt less like a consolation and more like proof that Ash should have simply won the League, as he was clearly skilled enough to do so if not for such absurd circumstances. While the other five trainers who cost Ash the league have some defendersnote , Tobias has almost none, with the ones who do think that A.) he's a great concept ruined by lack of screentime or B.) Ash beating his Darkrai and Latios while still taking the League loss is a good thing, and is seen as the tipping point for Ash's inability to win a League going from tolerable to perhaps the most widely reviled part of the series.
- Trip is the most consistently disliked of Ash's main rivals. He made a bad first impression after defeating a weakened Pikachu with his newly obtained Snivy, which set the stage for Ash's reset, and annoyed fans with his bland rival dynamic and unexplained classism against Kanto. Fans see him as an uninspired rehash of Gary and Paul, but without the charisma of the former or the psychological conflict and previously shown skill of the latter that made them interesting. He lorded his victory over Ash, which he only won because Pikachu wasn't able to use any electric attacks, despite Ash consistently finishing ahead of him in the series' numerous Tournament Arcs. He also tended to look down on all the other competitors in the tournaments right before one of them inflicted The Worf Effect on him. This made him look like an extreme Small Name, Big Ego who wasn't nearly as good as he thought he was. Eventually, the writers appeared to catch on, as Trip is eliminated in the first round of the Unova League Conference with his only appearances afterward being a few silent cameos.
- Ash's Unfezant takes the crown as his most unpopular Pokémon. Not only is she extremely bland personality-wise, even by regional bird standards, but she was notoriously weak in battle, only getting one major win in the entire series while being nearly useless in almost every other battle. Possibly in response to this, she ended up getting unceremoniously written off before the series had even ended, sent to Professor Oak's lab ahead of time to make room for Charizard.
- Nini, one of Serena's Showcase rivals, is hated for her reputation as the most pointless rival in the series. As her personality was completely interchangeable with the anime's countless friendly One-Shot Characters, and she never even remotely challenged Serena as a performer, fans largely agree she had no business appearing beyond her debut. Furthermore, Nini received indirect flak for using up screentime that could have been used on more interesting rivals, most notably Ensemble Dark Horse Amelia.
- The anime's incarnation of Faba is widely hated for claiming the spot of the main antagonist in Sun & Moon from the more popular and story-relevant villains in the Alola games such as Guzma (who was Demoted to Extra) and Lusamine (who received a severe case of Adaptational Heroism). Even those who judge the anime on its own merits felt Faba had too weak of a presence to be the main antagonist, finding he lacked the intimidation factor and grand goals that prior villains had. Fans also hate how Faba becomes Easily Forgiven in spite of his many crimes (kidnapping, attempted mind control, and forceful experiments) finding Faba's guilt and repentance to be an Informed Attribute. Fans felt very pleased when he suffered a humiliating defeat at the Alola League at Ash's hands in the first round.
- While its tagging along with the Rocket Trio was initially met with optimism among fans who were put off by the Rocket Prize Master, James' Morpeko has gone on to become possibly the least popular, if not the most outright disliked Pokémon that either Jessie or James have ever owned among their fandom. Its entire character basically revolves around being a freeloading jerk that constantly eats all of the Rocket Trio's food and leaving them to starve and physically assaulting them when they get in its way while in its hangry state. While many of James' previous Pokémon would frequently cause him harm, it was usually unintentional due to them being overly affectionate towards him (Or in Victreebel's case it was possibly trying to eat him, which fans still enjoyed due to the audacity and cartoonish presentation of it), Morpeko by contrast rarely shows James or either of James' teammates similar affection while attacking them, leading many to find its treatment of them overly mean-spirited, especially with how disturbingly straight their starvation is played in at least one episode. While its capture episode tried to give it a few bonding moments with James and show that it could be potentially useful in battles against Ash, its next few appearances had Morpeko be just as much of a brat as ever and causing the trio more problems than actually helping, even singlehandedly ruining James' attempt to lead an honest life in episode 95. Overall, Morpeko ends up leaving a bad taste in the mouths of TR fans who were already largely unhappy with the characters' treatment in Journeys, with some wishing James had never caught it.
Adventures
- Emerald attracts the most ire from fans mainly for two reasons: Being a Canon Foreigner like Yellow, but replacing Wally as a possible main protagonist.note The detested Running Gag of Emerald urinating in public does nothing to help his reputation.
Video Games
Main Series
Gen III
- In Emerald, Juan replaces Wallace as the Water-type gym leader. He shares the same "Water = Beauty" character motif that Wallace had, which leaves him feeling like a redundant inclusion since he and Wallace are basically the same character. Not helping matters is that Juan's Signature Mon isn't from Hoenn, which is seen in the fandom as something of a cardinal sin for Gym Leaders.
Gen IV
- The Spiky-Eared Pichu and the Pikachu-Colored Pichu in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver. Not only does the former replace Celebi in an event, but there's pretty much nothing special about them except for their appearance and odd moveset. The Spiky-Eared Pichu can't evolve and can't be transferred to the fifth generation, meaning there's absolutely no reason to even bother with it. (The Pikachu-colored Pichu is at least a "shiny" Pokémon, which is normally rare in the games, though it is still considered a waste of an event as they are already technically accessible in-game, unlike most event Mons.)
Spin-Offs
- Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness: Jovi, the player character's younger sister, is hated for being a Bratty Half-Pint who who constantly speaks in the third-person, and belittles her older brother for being useless. This is despite Jovi contributing nothing to the game's narrative beyond an Escort Mission and a Fetch Quest.
- Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers: You'll be hard-pressed to find someone who actually likes Team Skull (no, not that Team Skull), especially Skuntank. In theory, the group would be an effective rival team and Hate Sink thanks to them going out of their way to cause the Hero and Partner much grief just 'cause. But in practice, Skuntank's status as The Unfought and the group's general irrelevance to the plotnote cements their Scrappy status.
