Why the hate on Popplio?

[Magicmed]

I'll admit it, my first impressions of the 3 starters were not that great, I had gotten all hyped about some sweet new stuff and I was a little disappointed, but they have grown on me a bit especially Popplio and Litten, sure they're not Squirtle and charmander but they're cute. I just don't understand all the hating on Popplio in general. He's the one I'm most excited to see evolve, but I'm partial to water. Just wondering

 

[PageEmp]

Aw mang don't be sad. I'm totally gonna pick that seal guy (unless his final evo is bad). I mean come on hes so happy! :D

 

[Venitardus]

It's not that I hate it, I just like the other 2 designs better. I'm sure I'll train one up after I get it after completing the game.

 

[Xander Olivieri]

I'm actually seeing more hate on Litten than Popplio since the reveal, like Popplio has grown on people, but there are more coming out of the woodworks complaining about how generic Litten's design is.

 

[Magicmed]

Oh its not going to deter me, I think the little bugger is adorable, I'm hoping his final is cool. I was just seeing a lot of posts on facebook hating on popplio and just didn't understand it :)

 

[Flowerchild]

It's just that its design is a little less unique or interesting than the other two, I think. Personally I think they're all adorable, and though Litten is my favorite, I still find the other two nearly as cute. Don't really get what's causing some people to actively be hating on Popplio.

 

[Hikamaru]

Like the others said, there's always one starter that's going to get bashed on a lot upon the initial reveal. Just look at Oshawott back when the Unova starters were first revealed, it had a lot of negative reaction which was mainly directed at its looks.

Also, I've been heavily comparing the Alola starters' current popularity to the Unova starters.
- Rowlet is being the most praised of the trio, similar to Snivy back then.
- Litten has a much quieter following, but still solid fanbase like Tepig once had.
- Popplio is the unloved one, and bashed on for its appearance, similar to Oshawott.

And the fate for Unova's starters was Tepig declining into complete unpopularity with its evos (at the time fans were bored of the Fire/Fighting combination) while Oshawott got more cooler-looking evolutions and adorable expressions in the anime (along with a lot of anime screentime) that helped add to its fans. Snivy's fanbase also got more divided because its final evolution was more defensive and couldn't hit as hard as the others, causing the fans to feel they were let down heavily, though not to the same extent as Tepig.

 

[Ho-Oh]

Because it is this generations Oshawott and Froakie. The unconventional designs get more hate than anything else because they're just unexpected. People will grow to love it's derpyness dw. :)

 

[Hikamaru]

As she said above, the derpyness will grow to be loved. Also, both Froakie and Oshawott got the most anime exposure out of their respective trios, and Piplup was also made the mascot of DP's female lead Dawn, so it wouldn't be surprising if Popplio ends up getting a lot of anime exposure as well. Goes to show that GF and even the anime writers secretly favour the Water starters.

 

[TheLegendaryGuy]

I don't hate Poppilo. Its just that i like Rowlat much more than any other starter of Alola.

 

[Haza]

Flopplio is pretty awkward as a starter. I'd feel like such a dork with it as my only Pokemon to start with.

 

[Starry Windy]

I'm wondering if they were bashing Popplio for somewhat unusual design for the starter, even though I think it's that kind of design which brings the appeal more as time goes on. And speaking of which, I still don't get why some are bashing Popplio so much, though.

 

[poop face]

I thought Popplio was goofy looking, and I like that. I like derpy looking things.
It was my favorite if we are basing it off of looks.

Litten looks boring as hell, if you ask me. There's nothing unique about the design.

But I'll probably end up choosing Rowlet dou, mostly cause I really like the Flying/Grass typing.

 

[OuterTsuchinoko]

Every new set of starters gets hated on then people start getting over it and used to them. I like all of them. Litten is my least favorite and Rowlett is my favorite. I usually pick the fire starters but this time I'll be going with grass. Popplio has nothing wrong with it, it's cute and unique.

 

[Call me Gamma]

Some very interesting points made here. Ultimately, I think the designs are very "Sugimori". I like Rowlet well enough, and Litten looks promising, but i'll likely choose popplio out of curiousity on my initial playthrough. In the end, it's going to come down to whether or not any of them are competitively viable. Popplio's 2nd stage evolution looks like Walrein dressed as a clown for all I care, so long as he can crush souls in battle.

 

[blue]

There's always going to be one starter that's just not as popular than the other two, in this case that happens to be Popplio. Personally out of the three Popplio is currently my least favourite and that's mainly down to the design. This usually changes once the evolutions are revealed, just right now it's a popularity contest and for me I find Popplio's design a little too childish.

 

[Sabrewulf238]

It seems like people generally don't like "goofy" Pokemon. Which is a shame since I think they can be quite likable. I feel like a Pokemon based on a clown or circus performer probably isn't going to get a good first impression. Also Popplio has a bigger nose than Oshawott and his nose was one of the reasons people hated on Oshawott at first too.

Popplio is my second favourite after Rowlet. I like his personality and the way he puffs up his chest during his battle animation. Plus he's cute.

 

[Spinosaurus]

Speaking as someone who typically goes for the water starter, I think it makes sense for several reasons.

The very first thing is that it's completely generic. A water seal is something that's not only been done before but it's been done before TWICE. Once people see it it's of course going to be compared to Seel and Spheal. Moreover, a circus seal is a really boring concept that's been overdone.

Taking all this into account, it doesn't help that it's overdesigned for a first stage starter. Everything about it screams "I'm a circus seal", and it's obnoxious. Take all three first stage water starters from before. At first glance you wouldn't tell Piplup, Oshawott and Froakie were supposed to be a prince, a samurai and a thief respectively, and you might not even be able to tell that at all. With Popplio one look at it and you'll go yep, that is a circus seal. Subtlety goes a long way especially when it comes to appreciating good designs, but Popplio is way too on the nose with what it wants to be. When you consider that on top of having that whole "been there, done that" vibe and being completely goofy looking, it makes sense.

Now I like Popplio. I didn't at first, but it's quickly growing on me but that's partly because it is dumb and goofy looking. I'm not gonna point at it and say "see that? that is a good design."

 

[Hikamaru]

Pretty sure opinions would more or less change depending on what we see of the evos, anyway.

This. I'm sure that when the evolutions come we'll be getting more people loving Popplio, and the chance of the massively popular Rowlet also losing fans.

Now I like Popplio. I didn't at first, but it's quickly growing on me but that's partly because it is dumb and goofy looking. I'm not gonna point at it and say "see that? that is a good design."

As someone who also usually picks Water, I can understand the trend we've had in the last few generations of derpy and somewhat goofy-looking unevolved Water starters. As Spino also mentioned, no one imagined Piplup would become a Poseidon penguin, or Oshawott becoming a samurai, or even Froakie becoming a ninja.

 

[Spinosaurus]

As someone who also usually picks Water, I can understand the trend we've had in the last few generations of derpy and somewhat goofy-looking unevolved Water starters. As Spino also mentioned, no one imagined Piplup would become a Poseidon penguin, or Oshawott becoming a samurai, or even Froakie becoming a ninja.

Nah, there are people who called their evolutions. Since Piplup is based on the emperor Penguin, has a crown marking on its head and its thick "cape" looked like that of a prince's some called that its evos will carry on the royalty motif. (Though I don't think anyone called it turning into NAPOLEON of all people.) Oshawott's iffy since the samurai resemblance isn't apparent until you see it using its scalchop as a faux samurai sword (or a war fan?), but Dewott took it to a whole new level. Froakie's bubble mane and two white bubble nose resembles the bags Japanese thieves carry around, but I don't think anyone called it turning into a ninja to be fair and I was personally expecting it to take the thief motif even further. (Although thieves turning into ninjas is a typical progression in RPGs.)

Popplio isn't as subtle as they are though, so I don't think its evolutions are gonna be as surprising.