5th Gen Protagonists and YOU

Aaand Aspertia is the winner!

Before you even started your first journey in Unova you had to pick a character. Who do you think the best designed protagonist was?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Hilbert vs Hilda?
Rosa vs Hilda?
Nate vs Rosa?
Nate vs Hilbert?
Who had the most awful name?
Who did you play as most?
How would you redesign them?
What did you think of the ocean clothing style the B2W2 protagonists were sporting?

It genuinely saddens me that the two male protagonists are practically the same as the one from DPPt...anything that introduces some variety would be welcome. Different coloured clothes. Different coloured hair. ANYTHING. I'm fed up with them cloning the male protagonist from DPPt and either slightly adjusting his hair or his clothing, especially when the female characters are always so radically different in design. It's getting to the point where all male trainers have brown hair and a fondness for blue. It's boring, Game Freak. Boring.

Rosa all I would change is her hair...she looks like an ungodly cross between Usagi Tsukino and Princess Leia with that hair style. The yellow skirt seems a bit out of place, too...would have been better if she'd had shorts like Hilda, I think. Maybe not ripped in the same fashion, and definitely not yellow, though.

Hilda I actually quite like because she actually looks a lot older. She's a far cry from Dawn in terms of design, to be sure, but I like her more mature aesthetic...even if I'm not overly keen on her name. Fortunately you can change that. Of the four I'd vote for her I think; she made the strongest impression on me back in the day and even though she's a far cry from Dawn, she's a lot better than May.

While I really do like Hilbert's design, I can't deny that they really played it safe with this design. At least with DPPT, they had a different style hat, and RSE had the greatest knit-hat that confused everyone until reading the manga, but Hilbert's design is really basic. I mean, I like it and all, it's just sooo standard, which I guess fits the design for a player character.

I personally really don't like Hilda's design. I mean, her clothes are great, but goddamn I hate her hair. It sticks out too far up from the back in my opinion, and considering that Hilbert was so standard, it just didn't sit with me.

Nate.... beh. I love his character artwork and in game sprite, but something about the hair just bothers me. His OW sprite and artwork make the hair look fine, but the battle sprites and trainer card sprite help me realize how odd the hair looks...

Nora's design is interesting to me though. I mean, her outfit looks super comfy and I love it, and I weirdly love her hair (just like Nate though, mainly in character artwork). I get that it looks like she's busy fighting evil by moonlight, but to me she just rocks that hair.

Hilbert vs Hilda?
Hilda for sure. She's cute, but fits all the typical female protagonist archetypes. There's also something very appealing about those shorts.

Rosa vs Hilda?
I'd declare it a draw, since they do have unique designs among the female protagonists. If I really had to pick one, uh I'd say Hilda again.

Nate vs Rosa?
Rosa! Nate is hands down one of the most hideous protagonist designs, likely because I don't like how messy his hair is. Rosa's hair and outfit is also much cuter.

Nate vs Hilbert?
Hilbert, again because he has a better design than Nate.

Who had the most awful name?
I'd definitely say Hilbert. His doesn't feel like a "normal" name at all.

Who did you play as most?
Both the females, since I typically always play as the female protagonist in the games.

How would you redesign them?
I would make Nate's hair neater, and maybe I'd make Rosa's "shorts" into an actual skirt.

What did you think of the ocean clothing style the B2W2 protagonists were sporting?
I always felt it was an odd choice, because it did once make me speculate about if we were able to travel to new areas. Sadly, it wasn't the case.

Hilda. Always Hilda.

She had the most mature design of any other protagonist and it finally felt like you weren't playing as a ten year old. I just found her to be the most unique protagonist in not only Gen V but out of all the games. The guys are pretty much copy/paste and the other girls just seem too cartoonish to me but Hilda was done right.

As for my least favorite in Gen V, I'd say Nate as well. He should have a real hat, not that visor thing, to keep his hair in check.

I find Hilbert and Nate's designs unfortunately dull. :( They're pretty much like every other standard male character...

But Hilda and Rosa on the other hand?? I love them! Hilda personally is my favourite because she is probably one of the most unique designs (I mean it's pretty hard to describe but I dunno she just stands out more than any other female design). Rosa has a little too much of a water theme going on. Yeah she looks cool but she also looks like she's about to go for a swim every second...

...and we all know Marlon is the only one in Unova that is REALLY going to do that. :)

Really though both the female designs are good in general. Then you get to the names. Fifth Gen has to have the worst possible names for their protagonists! I love the games but the names of the protagonists are so... odd. Who would name anyone Hilda or Hilbert THESE DAYS? Nate and Rosa are okay but they still give off an old person vibe. I actually really liked Touya and Touko...or u? It's been so long I barely remember how to spell their names lol

I would rename them to... Eliza and Matt? and then for the B2W2 ones: Lily and Jake! Those names fit much better imo. :)

Forever said:

I find Hilbert and Nate's designs unfortunately dull. :( They're pretty much like every other standard male character...

Click to expand...

I feel every male design gets worse as the generations go on, in that since B/W they always stick to mainly blue-dominant outfits, but also likely the reason behind these similar-looking designs is maybe because of wanting to base Ash's outfit for the generation on those clothes, and they didn't want his outfit changing too drastically.

Forever said:

But Hilda and Rosa on the other hand?? I love them! Hilda personally is my favourite because she is probably one of the most unique designs (I mean it's pretty hard to describe but I dunno she just stands out more than any other female design). Rosa has a little too much of a water theme going on. Yeah she looks cool but she also looks like she's about to go for a swim every second...

Click to expand...

I can easily see why Hilda is up there with the likes of May and Serena for favourite female protagonist designs, especially when you consider most of the female outfits tend to fit the region but Hilda also has that tomboy thing going on with the shorts (which I assume is also why May's design is popular). I do admit that Rosa looked a bit out-of-place in terms of outfit but at least her hair is cute and gives off that Sailor Moon vibe.

Forever said:

Really though both the female designs are good in general. Then you get to the names. Fifth Gen has to have the worst possible names for their protagonists! I love the games but the names of the protagonists are so... odd. Who would name anyone Hilda or Hilbert THESE DAYS? Nate and Rosa are okay but they still give off an old person vibe. I actually really liked Touya and Touko...or u? It's been so long I barely remember how to spell their names lol

Click to expand...

Nate doesn't seem like an "old" name to me, but I can see what you mean. The name choices I admit were a bit odd, though I can see the theme they were going for, aka "resonate" and "hild" which is the German word meaning "battle". Their Japanese names are pretty bland, but simple enough.

I find it important to be able to relate to the protagonists (physically) to some degree and I found Hilda to be the the most relatable protagonist for me next to Leaf. I found her design to be simple yet lovely, and very befitting of her. Not only that, I love how she's 16 and really looks about that age. The combination of her more tomboyish outfit and her being older than the other protagonists made her my second favourite protagonist, actually.

Rosa is okay, but I don't like her clothes. Hilbert looks really cool, but I have to agree that there's too much blue going on in all the nale protagonists these days. And to this day I still find Nate's hair weird.

In terms of names I find Hilbert and Hilda awful and I really wish they did their best to find some names that don't make me think of German folks over the age of 50. Those are the only two protags I've sticked to calling them by their Japanese names (Touya/Touko). Nate is okay for a name but I really like Rosa.

Hilda is by far the coolest female protagonist in any of these games; I like the inclusion of a female protagonist who isn't ultra-high-femme-all-pink-everything, and her design is really damn cool. Hilbert (who has the worst name) has a cool design but is very generic. Nate and Rosa, while by no means generic, have awful designs. Nate especially; the visor cap/swim trunks/yoga pants combination is head-scratchingly off.

Hilbert vs Hilda?
Hilda.Because my opinion say Hilda's design more mature than Hilbert
Rosa vs Hilda?
Hilda.Rosa is cute but, I looking Mature character like Hilda
Nate vs Rosa?
Rosa, But Adventure Manga make Nate more 100X Cool
Nate vs Hilbert?
Actually, I love both
Who had the most awful name?
For me, Everyone has great name
Who did you play as most?
Probably, Hilda
How would you redesign them?
My Opinion Say, Everyone has great design

I gotta say...

They really dropped the ball when they designed the other protagonists (other than Hilda!) according to you guys haha.

Great weekly poll turnout! Keep posting/voting though :)

Rosa was my favorite because of the hair. Hilda was ok but the shorts are kinda weird and I didn't like the hair as much. Hilbert/nate are both boring. Hilda and Hilbert (especially hilbert) have terrible names.

Hilda's design really shows off her spunky attitude! I agree that making the protagonists older really helped define this generation. I got tired of playing as a little kid, and Hilda and Hilbert's designs helped me out, even if Hilbert's is a bit generic. I always got a little weirded out by Rosa's outfit, but it was pretty on point for current (at the time and still kinda now) Western fashion.

So I'm totally biased, but my friend draws Touya (Hilbert ugh) so damn cute that he's my favorite out of all of them now.