YMMV / Create-a-Pokémon

• Broken Base:
  • Create-A-Pokémon 11 Voodoom suffered from this, with huge arguments stemming from the typing discussions.
  • CAP 28 Miasmaw also suffered from a contentious typing process, with Bug/Dragon being the ultimate winner. Those in favor of it found the typing to be unique and to have an interesting place in the metagame, while those against it believed that the typing would cause Miasmaw to perform poorly due to being mediocre both offensively and defensively, and accused those in favor of Bug/Dragon of prioritizing flavor potential over competitive play. Following Miasmaw's floundering in the post-Crown Tundra metagame (which released a mere four days after Miasmaw was made available), a lot more people than usual called for Miasmaw's type to be changed during its buff process, an act that is considered a last resort by many (though it ultimately didn't go through).
  • The concept of post-process type changes in general is somewhat divisive, as demonstrated with the reactions to Chromera's type change. Some think it's a necessity to make the Pokémon viable again, especially if their original typing has inherent, insurmountable flaws. Others are heavily against the idea due to a desire to play around said typings' flaws, as well as a belief that changing a typing after the original process goes against concept. There's also the larger issue of flavor, as the new typings have a chance to clash heavily with the original design in addition to it possibly going against the artsts' wishes (though Gravity Monkey did confirm that they were OK with Chromera becoming part Normal).
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Create-A-Pokémon was originally a one-off idea that was just speculative, but its implementation on a battle server caused it to continue and eventually gain its own forum. Within Smogon, CAP has a one-off metagame that includes OU (the most popular tier) Pokémon with CAP Pokémon.
  • CAP ASB was also a one-off game based off of the CAP Project. It, too, grew in popularity and got its own sub-forum in the local forum games forum.
  • As for the creatures themselves, Pajantom is by far the most well-liked for its interesting concept (both competitively and design-wise), as well as for its badass-yet-cute design. The official popularity poll even ranked Pajantom as the number one most popular CAP!
  • Mollux is also popular due to its absolutely adorable design and unique concept, being a lava lamp combined with a cone snail (the latter of which is rarely seen in fiction period).
• Fan Nickname:
  • "Snapple", a tongue-in-cheek potential name for Malaconda, being a portmanteau of "snake" and "apple", as well as the name of a tea and juice company.
  • Saharaja is often called "Drip Camel" due to its fancy garb and association with this memetic GIF.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Rebound was a custom ability Colossoil had that reflected status moves back at the user on the turn Colossoil switches in, most people agreeing that having it work on every turn would be broken. Then Generation 5 introduced Magic Bounce, which functions like Rebound, except it works every turn the Pokémon is out.
  • Colossoil has the same typing and a very similar stat distribution to Krookodile, which premiered one generation later.
  • Cyclohm, the fluffy cloud-donning electric dragon, turned out to later be remarkably similar in concept and noticeably similar in appearance to Mega Ampharos.
  • Likewise, a Fighting/Flying type that's Mayincatec in design and based on Aztec eagle warriors; are we talking about Tomohawk here, or Hawlucha, which came the next generation?
  • The Necturine line bears great similarity to the Pumpkaboo line, not only in typing but also in design. Necturine is designed after a Liechi berry and has the same body shape, leaf 'tuft', and extra 'eyes' as Pumpkaboo. Necturna looks more like a feminine humanoid with long arms and a torso with 'eyes' and a 'mouth', like Gourgeist.
  • In the Gold and Silver Beta leaked in 2018, the Pokémon Kurstraw bears a strong resemblance to Voodoll and Voodoom, although its evolution is completely different.
  • Astrolotl, a red, bipedal axolotl with long antennae and frills around its head and legs, bears a striking resemblance to Koraidon.
  • Equilibra was designed after delayed moves like Future Sight and Doom Desire, because they were seen as unviable by the competitive community. This kind of move actually enjoyed a surge in popularity two generations later - especially Future Sight, in the hands of Slowbro, Slowking and their Galarian forms.
• Memetic Mutation: Shares a page with Smogon itself.
• More Popular Spin Off: CAP ASB was created by longtime member Deck Knight to help keep the CAP forum's blood flowing. When it was finished and gained its own subforum (before being moved to Circus Maximus), it became VERY popular.
• "Stop Having Fun" Guys: While flavor is encouraged during the CAP process, this trope is enforced to give CAP Pokémon competitive basis. However, this does cause oddities between a Pokémon’s stats, moves, and appearance.