3rd Gen Kanto vs. Hoenn Poll #3 - Battle of the Protagonists!

Alrighty, poll #3 focuses on the comparison of the protagonists from both these games: Red & Leaf from Kanto, and Brendan & May from Hoenn. Basically these are the guys who we choose to play as from their respective games!


Red & Leaf from LG/FR



Red's the boy, and Leaf's the girl; they both have a rival from childhood, and eventually they encounter the evil Team Rocket, to save the pokemon in Kanto. Soon they arrive at the Indigo Plateau to challenge the Elite Four, where they battle against their rival one more time to become the champion.


Brendan & May from R/S/E



Above is their appearance from Ruby and Sapphire. Interestingly, the character that isn't chosen becomes the rival for the protagonist you pick! They also battle against Wally, as well as the evil Team Aqua/Magma, where eventually they have to save Hoenn from the brink of extinction from the rampaging Groudon and Kyogre. They eventually face the champion Steven to become pokemon champions themselves.



Above is their outfits from Pokemon Emerald; just a few differences on what they do in Emerald, in which they both encounter Kyogre and Groudon at the same time, so they go to the Sky Pillar to ask Rayquaza for its assistance to quell the beasts. In the end, they fight Wallace to become pokemon champion~


Alrighty, from all that, here is the poll: Which protagonist duo (Leaf & Red from Kanto or Brendan & May from Hoenn) do you prefer, and why? As always, feel free to share your thoughts. :3

Brendan and May get my vote - they're just so much more interesting, design-wise. Lead and Red are just so...plain.
The Hoenn duo stand out, their characters are somewhat elaborated on (being related to Normal/Birch and having a common quest between them) and they have the more interesting adventure (let's face it, Team Rocket were hardly exciting).

Ah, I'm going to swing towards Brendan & May from Hoenn too.

Mostly because I think May is the cutest ever teehee, but, I do love their overall design, especially their clothing in the Emerald games! Not that I didn't like Red and leaf too, I just thought that not only Brendan and May had the better visual appearance, but, I also think they had the better story; quelling ancient beasts before the region goes in extinction... that's some heavy stuff. owo I hope that Red and Leaf will have a better storyline soon, though~

For me, it would likely have to be Brendan and May as well, for sure.

As far as May goes, I sort of prefer her Ruby and Sapphire version a little more; this outfit has been featured in the anime throughout, which, in my eyes, helps make her feel like a standout in-game. Brendan—I like his Emerald outfit better, as he seems to be more good-looking with short sleeves than long.

I like the Kanto protagonists, too—especially Red; he is a lot well-known and whatnot among fans, arguably—but not as much as above two.

I love Leaf so I have to go with Red and Leaf. I think her design is so cute. Those socks lol. Also I've always thought she had the best hat out of all the female protags. I think they look more realistic also. For example I could see someone in real life wearing something fairly similar to Red. They have very simple and subtle designs which is something I tend to prefer.

Regardless I still like Brendan and May. Brendan's hat threw me off for years though, but I mean I always played as May so that could be why I didn't take much notice. I think May def has a more bad ass look that none of the other female protags have come that close to.

I can't help but to agree with mostly everyone else here- in generation 3, RSE was more exciting than FRLG. Sure, FRLG offered the nostalgia factor, especially one that trainers like me who started out in Kanto love; but their storylines and characters were still plain. I especially loved Brendan and May's outfits in Emerald, they just scream of the adventure and excitement that Hoenn has to offer.

I voted for Brendan & May as well. They have really cool outfits (although I think Brendan looks better in the Emerald outfit, while May suits the Ruby & Sapphire design better) and May is in my opinion one of the cutest characters to ever exist in Pokemon.

I would order Leaf with Rosa at the bottom of the pack of female protagonists.

May, Dawn, Serena, and Hilda are perfect designs and the atmosphere of their respective regions.

Though, I do like Lyra and Kris as well.

Rosa is a meatball head with horrible style, and Leaf is that one girl with a hat and plain monocolor shirt and skirt, basically, she has NO style.

If you just look at Brendan and May, without knowing which region they are from, you should be able to guess Hoenn. They are well-designed and match their regional vibe.

Brendan is unequivocally the best design among male protagonists. It's the most original male design.

Nate, Hilbert, and Calem are too similar. Calem's design looks best.
Red, Lucas, and Ethan are too similar. Ethan's designs looks best.

No question about it, Brendan beats Red in design.

May and Brendan are by far the better than Leaf and Red, if not, the best pair of protagonists in the game.

I'm going for Brendan and May; I love their designs hehehe

They seem much more standing out then Red/Leaf's designs, they seem kinda dull and stuffzies. The Emerald designs are actually kinda cool, I just prefer the Ruby/Sapphire ones more because I've seen them more, I guess. Although I'd love it if May's outfit was blue for Sapphire <3

I'm with May and Brendan, secondly I prefer their Emerald outfits as it's more fitting with the Hoenn region's climate.

But Red and Green's outfits aren't that bad, particularly Red's.

Brendan's original outfit is a bit too dark though.

Dragon said:

Alrighty, poll #3 focuses on the comparison of the protagonists from both these games: Red & Leaf from Kanto, and Brendan & May from Hoenn. Basically these are the guys who we choose to play as from their respective games!


Red & Leaf from LG/FR

Red's the boy, and Leaf's the girl; they both have a rival from childhood, and eventually they encounter the evil Team Rocket, to save the pokemon in Kanto. Soon they arrive at the Indigo Plateau to challenge the Elite Four, where they battle against their rival one more time to become the champion.

Click to expand...

Whoa am I the only one noticing the opposites between the two?
Take their hats for instance:

Red's hat is majority red and minority white.
Leaf's hat is majority white and minority red.
Plus they're 2 different types of hats.

Red's hair is short.
Leaf's hair is long.

Red carries a backpack.
Leaf carries a purse/handbag?

Red's shirt is red (with sleeves) and PANTS are blue.
Leaf's shirt is blue (sleeveless) and SKIRT is red.

Shoes are somewhat Identical. With the exception of socks and no socks.

Red carries ball on his left hand.
Leaf carries ball on her right hand.

Red's mouth is closed.
Leaf's mouth is open.

Red's knees are locked.
Leaf's knees are slightly bent.

Red is serious.
Leaf is outgoing.

The striking difference between the male and female were meant to be polar opposites huh?
...Or has it always been like this in the real world and I am now just realizing this? .______.

My thoughts...

Red: Classic, iconic design... in Gen 1. His Gen 3 design, while not hideous, looked odd and slightly OOC. Yes, I get that they wanted to make him look more distinct from Ash, but Ash was based on him, not the other way around. Plus, weren't the two already made distinct enough when Ash was redesigned in AG?

Green: I liked her. She looked feminine, yet wasn't obnoxiously cutesy and girly (unlike two other later female PCs). She still looked strong and like someone who was ready for an adventure. GF made a mistake in retconning her out of canon.

May: Despite being introduced in a so-so region, May wasn't bad. Both her RS and Emerald designs looked strong and adventure-ready, and were neither over- or under-designed. I prefer the Emerald one for its more tropical feel, but both are great and far better than the monstrosity Gen 6 inflicted on her.

Brendan: While May was a win, this guy, unfortunately, was another story. Regardless of whether or not it's a hat or hair, that white thing on his head was hideous. And, big fashion NO to wearing shorts over pants. Oh, and, he was a sexist douche if you played as May. I hate to say it, but I was kind of hoping he'd get the Kris treatment in ORAS.