History BaseBreakingCharacter / Pokemon

* Iris received a substantial amount of flak for her constant habit of [[HypocriticalHumor referring to Ash as a "kid"]]. She was also criticized for bucking the trend of a female protagonist as a traveling companion. Others found her unique quirks and CharacterDevelopment interesting, and like the fact that she was another attempt at a female companion trying to master a Pokémon type. Then there are those who see her as a case of TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter.
** Upon her return in ''Journeys'', the fanbase was further broken with the revelation that [[spoiler:she's the new Unova Champion]]. On one side, there are some fans who like said development because it brings her closer to her game counterpart, while others dislike it because they feel it's way too big a jump for her, and preferred if [[spoiler:she was just a Gym Leader like her game counterpart's pre-[=B2W2=] self]].
* Serena is probably the most divisive female companion after Misty. Her ShipTease with Ash was popular enough to make it to the FanPreferredCouple page, but she also received backlash from [[DieForOurShip people who shipped Ash with anyone else]], as well as accusations that she and Ash were being StrangledByTheRedString. There's also the matter of how Serena took over 40 episodes to find her goal, which some found to be a nice case of realism while others felt it led to ArcFatigue and highlighted Serena's perceived lack of agency outside of Ash. Some of Serena's detractors go as far as to call her crush on Ash unhealthy and stalker-like. Similarly, people are extremely divided on Serena's eventual goal of being a Pokémon Performer finding them to be either a unique way of showing careers in Pokemon that don't involve battling or a lesser version of contests, with these fans instead wanting a career that's more action-packed and/or from the games.

* Chloe Cerise. On one hand, people are interested in her for being wildly different from previous Pokégirls, questioning what she wants to do in life and feeling pressured to follow her father's footsteps and love Pokémon just because he's a Professor. On the other, people criticize how OutOfFocus she is compared to previous female leads, as well as her initially cold attitude toward Ash. Eventually, she started getting more focus and CharacterDevelopment, but the execution of this is highly polarizing as well; some fans have become increasingly critical of the [[RecycledPlot repetitiveness]] of her post-Eevee focus episodes, as well as her perceived AesopAmnesia toward the moral that she's still young and has plenty of options. This came to a head with her final focus episode, which not only interrupted the ''Masters 8 TournamentArc'', but ended on essentially the exact same message Chloe had gotten at the start of the series. Depending on who you ask, this is either a poignant {{Bookend}} or complete stagnation for her character.

* While the Paldea Elite Four is largely well-recieved, [[TheBabyOfTheBunch Poppy]] is a rather divisive figure. Her detractors find her gimmick as the youngest Elite Four member to be grating and nonsensical, especially given that it conflicts with the previously-established rule that Pokémon trainers must be at least ten years old in order to legally register as a trainer. Additionally, some people view her design as [[SweetnessAversion trying too hard to be cute]], instead looking [[UnintentionalUncannyValley unintentionally creepy]]. However, she has her fans for being a unique take on an Elite Four member and a cute and comical [[ExaggeratedTrope exaggeration]] of the franchise's protagonists being children who control powerful and dangerous creatures. Her fans also point out the fact that young prodigies are nothing [[LifeImitatesArt new in real life]] - [[https://www.straitstimes.com/tech/seven-year-old-pokemon-player-simone-lim-is-singapores-youngest-e-sports-champion including in the realm of Pokémon battling]].

* Penny is either viewes as sympathetic due to being bullied in the past and doing everything she could [[spoiler:to minimize everything bad caused by the group she founded to stop bullying]], or a hypocrite for doing the exact same thing she faced to Nemona and Arven during The Way Home. Her design is also pretty split; some like how she resembles an otaku, which is something not normally seen in the series, making her stand out and making her being bullied more believable, while others feel that her look is too busy or simply dismiss it as "waifu bait."

* Rather shockingly, there are a decent number of people conflicted over Poppy. She is disliked for the fact that she's a literal toddler who's an Elite Four member which makes zero sense, playing into the trope of young children being actually very powerful, and the fact that her design hits the wrong way by being creepy instead of cute. However, others state that it's an fun expy of how the ten-year-old main character is able to be a champion while capturing various overpowered Pokemon, the fact Poppy is still cute and her idea is funny, and the fact that young prodigies are nothing [[LifeImitatesArt new in real life - including in the realm of Pokemon battling.]] After all, [[https://www.straitstimes.com/tech/seven-year-old-pokemon-player-simone-lim-is-singapores-youngest-e-sports-champion Simone Lim]] exists.

* Ash Ketchum has as many fans as he does detractors. Many praise Ash for his accomplishments, his competence as a trainer (especially in Sinnoh and Kalos), having great relationships with his Pokemon, and for being one of the last aspects of the original series to remain in the show. However, there are many who don't like him for being blander in personality than his companions[[note]]Notably, original showrunner Takeshi Shudo had always intended Ash to be a bland character who met more interesting ones[[/note]], being widely inconsistent in both character and competence, being the main source of ArcFatigue in the series by sheer virtue of being the protagonist for 20+ years and his goal ToBeAMaster, [[AesopAmnesia never being allowed to permanently learn from his mistakes]] or [[NotAllowedToGrowUp grow up]], and for sticking around long after all other aspects of the original series came and went to the point of being called TheArtifact. [[spoiler:This was most evident after Ash won the Alola League, with people either feeling that Ash was too iconic at this point to replace or feeling that Ash's story was over and that it was time for someone else to take up the mantle.]]

* Terapagos has the (dubious) honor of being the first Pokémon to earn this title through its main-series story role alone. Its fans adore its EldritchAbomination nature and its borderline {{Reality Warp|er}}ing powers, being the progenitor of Terastalization and enabling a variety of other feats such as [[spoiler:artificial intelligence, time travel, and connections to alternate timelines]], creating a very heavy [[NothingIsScarier air of intrigue]] about what exactly it is and how far its powers extend. Its detractors feel it has no real personality or character and thus offers no real insight into why it acts the way it does, and that its abilities are so thoroughly unexplored despite being so critical to the story that it serves as a [[FanDislikedExplanation poor and underwhelming answer for its mysteries]] and makes it feel like a borderline DiabolusExMachina.

* Rainbow Rare cards, which are either visually stunning and sought-after or visually underwhelming and only serve to inflate set numbers, especially considering that all of them reuse the artwork from full-color versions of the same cards. The ones in the ''Sword & Shield'' sets at least try to be more visually distinct, with a special holofoil pattern that shifts between sparkles and etching depending on the viewing angle. Many fans grew sick of them during the ''Sword & Shield'' era, with almost every Pokémon VMAX and VSTAR getting a Rainbow Rare variant while distribution of the much better-received alternate art VMAX cards is more inconsistent (stopping entirely from ''Brilliant Stars'' onwards aside from Trainer Gallery and Galarian Gallery cards), and VSTAR cards didn't have alt art variants ''at all'' until ''Crown Zenith''.[[note]]However, Charizard VMAX and Charizard VSTAR both got alternate art variants as promo cards in October 2022.[[/note]] Ultimately, the mixed reception of the Rainbow Rares led to them being phased out at the start of the ''Scarlet and Violet'' era, with alternate arts (AKA Illustration Rares) serving as their replacements. Despite this, some Rainbow Rare cards continue to be well-received and sought-after, mostly any Pikachu and Charizard variants.