Pokémon Go has officially changed its avatar models, and players across social media are mourning the loss of their previous looks, with some saying this new update has “ruined their trainer” along with causing various visual bugs.
On April 17, the first wave of Niantic’s new “Rediscover Pokémon Go” updates went live, pushing a new set of avatar designs live with more customization options available. Unfortunately, those models also drastically altered the look of legendary Japanese character artist Yūsuke Kozaki’s original Pokémon Go designs for the player trainers, leaving them as “corpses” with less vibrant colors and odd proportions.
What some players heralded as “visual doomsday” has now come to pass, and many who thought that was an exaggeration is now seeing that, while some of the options are welcome additions, the suction of soul from the models was not overly dramaticized. “I am so sorry I ever doubted you oh wise PoGo community. Niantic, what the hell is this?” Reddit user Tatertot1282 said. “The stance. The arms. Why are the arms so long? Why does everything look awful now? We wanted hair options but at what cost? The hair options are so bad???!!!”
Yes, the ability to change your trainer’s body shape and some additional features like the hair is something players have been asking Niantic to implement for years, but the whiplash is deserving of this building backlash. Players are making jokes about their “ass being gone” and the like, but the sheer number of posts being upset at the new proportions genuinely upset and thinking about quitting the game outweighs the jokes.
It has been received so poorly that players are contemplating purchases for avatar items that cover their entire character up, saying things like “Niantic has body-shamed my avatar into a jacket permanently.” Pair that with rising demand for a way to revert to the old Pokémon Go avatars, and you have a recipe for fan backlash not seen since last April’s Remote Raid changes, and similar calls for boycotts.
“Eight years of an established look just to pull the rug out from under people for features nobody asked for other than hair, and no OPTION, operative word here, OPTION to use the originals if we so please. And still no facial hair even,” Reddit user The_Scrungler said. “They physically could not have handled this worse.”
The disappointment doesn’t even touch on other issues caused by this Pokémon Go update, such as broken visuals when catching Pokémon, accessories breaking when equipped, and avatar items simply being removed from players’ outfit tabs—several of which cost coins to buy. Players are also reporting an increased number of app crashes and broken widgets after updating too.
This is the first of several updates Niantic has dubbed “Rediscover Pokémon Go” that will be released through to May 7, with the next drop set to add “enhanced visuals” for the map, encounter screens, and other areas set for April 22, alongside a new event.
For now, we can only really hope for some quick bug fixes from Niantic and maybe a potential statement on this avatar controversy.
