Who is your favorite protagonist?

[Sheep]

Out of all the Pokémon games, who is your favorite protagonist?

 

[icycatelf]

Design-wise, maybe Black/Hilbert? I like Ruby/Brendan too but mainly for the manga.

 

[giradialkia]

Great question. It's so hard to decide, because you can approach it so many different ways.

I would say my favourite protagonists are a split-tie between the gen 2 protagonists, and the gen 5 protagonists (covering both BW and B2W2).

(I'll always wish we got to see Gold/Kris in future titles. We've seen Red return in HGSS, B2W2 and gen 7; but he was defeated by Gold/Kris at the end of Gen 2/4. How come they don't get to live on as legends?)

I think their designs are pretty peak overall; specifically, I like Kris/Crystal's design far more than Lyra's. Gen 4 Gold was a modernized version of his Gen 2 clothing, which ultimately just fit with the aesthetic of "protagonist trainer" at that point in time.
Lyra has a farm-girl outfit. Which is cute, for sure, but just too specific and stylised. I would've much preferred if they just updated Kris and her outfit; I'll never understand why they decided to split the two characters.

Moving onto gen 5, same deal - their designs are excellent, in both the originals and the sequels. The only complaint I have is for the atrocious canon names of Hilbert and Hilda. "Black" and "White" were right there, and just... wow. Truly awful. But their outfits are awesome. As slightly older protagonists, they just... don't look as childish as the likes of Gen 7 and 9, and both provided the long-awaited return to a good ol' baseball cap, like Red and Gold wore. I'm kinda sad we never got a big boss battle against them in B2W2.
The designs for Nate and Rosa are also excellent. a little bit stylized, in that they seem to be wearing a sporty-under-layer (which I'd thought was a wetsuit, and that can't make sense because they literally live in a landlocked city, Aspertia). I like how they share similar colour schemes to Hilbert and Hilda, but their crazy hair differentiates them substantially.

A lovely detail is that their hair (which is a significant feature of their design) matches their mother's.
The mother has a bun which matches Rosa's two, and she also has locks dropping to the side which match Nate's hair. Just a nice little detail.

 

[ReKoil]

Male: Calem & Victor... I guess ?
The male characters are always kinda bland. I'd have no problem going with just the female characters below as an answer lol

Female: May, Serena & Gloria.
They're the ones I like the most design wise.

 

[icycatelf]

Lyra has a farm-girl outfit. Which is cute, for sure, but just too specific and stylised. I would've much preferred if they just updated Kris and her outfit; I'll never understand why they decided to split the two characters.

This was covered in an interview that Did You Know Gaming recently had translated. The reason: the character designer literally forgot Kris existed. Dx

 

[Devalue]

Probably Gloria (Sword/Shield), with Ethan (Heartgold / Soulsilver) in second and Hilbert (Black/White) in third. Likes the color combinations or something. May partially be about not looking too wild or outlandish as well?

Heavily judges on the hat too, or something. Always rags on Selene's chicken hat (Sun/Moon). Might explain that.

 

[Orion☆]

Listen, I know a loud minority likes to rag on the male protags (except Red and Gold/Ethan because of the nostalgia factor) for being too "bland" or whatever, but lately I have found them more relatable than the female ones. Don't get me wrong, I like Lyra and Akari and possibly Gloria too, but I'll admit there's not a single male protagonist I dislike.

Applies even more so to Florian from S/V, whom I think is the most adorable of all the protags period as well as a rare case where his character artworks show him growing in confidence and poise. A close second would be Victor from Sw/Sh for being so fashionable. (Oh, Chairman Rose is gonna set a new trend by walking around Galar in his jammies? Guess I'm gonna do it too!)

 

[Lavender]

Male: Elio from sun/moon, I like the simplicity.


Female: Serena, mostly because of the anime.

 

[_confused_piplup_]

Lucas/Lucinda. Also Brendan/May i guess. They feel right. I am used to them. None of the others tells me much tbh.

 

[salmence33]

Gloria, I'm still very entertained by her Scottish accent interpretation lol

 

[Elite Overlord LeSabre™]

Male: Honestly, only Wes from Colosseum stands out to me. He's older, and he's got a unique backstory as a rouge member of a criminal team who's betraying his boss. Of course, it's never revealed whether he wants to atone for past crimes, or if he's just snagging back Shadow Pokemon to get back at Gonzap and Team Snagem for something.

Female: You should know my answer to this question by now. Leaf and Serena. Their design is beautiful and timeless. Not much else tosay since main-line protagonists never get much of a backstory.

 

[Setsuna]

I've always thought Serena is the prettiest female protagonist they've ever had for the series and I think the idea of XY introducing character customization really adds to that. I like Rosa and especially Selene a lot, though.

As for male protagonists, maybe it's my Sinnoh bias but I've always liked how simple Lucas was. If you made me pick anyone else though, probably Ethan, I just think the design is really solid and it's the one time I think having a hat on a Pokemon protagonist has really added to the design, I don't think I'd like him nearly as much without it, which I can't say for any other protagonist.

 

[Descendng]

I'd say my personal favorites are Gold/Ethan, Hilbert (despite his name), Rosa, and Dawn (specifically in Platinum). all of them really stick out to me for one reason or another.

 

[Alex_Among_Foxes]

That depends on whether or not I'm using my own 'interpretations' of the characters from my playthroughs or not.
If no, then they are getting judged on design only, and that means that I'd say Crystal. I love her blue hair in the art for that game.
If I am able to judge from my 'versions' of their personalities, I'd say my protag from Shield! No, he doesn't count... Hmm, my protag from Violet! No, she doesn't either... Hmmmm... It's either Ashley Dawn from Platinum, or Dellen Brendan(?) from Omega Ruby.

 

[VisionofMilotic]

I will always have a bit of soft spot when it comes to Kris for breaking barriers as the first girl protagonist. She is distinctive- sporty and cheerful with a pair of blue pigtails that have a mind of their own.

I also like Serena, but I think it's her contest-loving anime incarnation that I really like, who is still cute, but more bashful and hopelessly romantic than her game counterpart.