Afterword

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Since starting this project, the “general” fan opinion on Black and White has become more visibly positive than ever before. A lot of this is thanks to social media opening up the discussion to the literal millions of people who play and can’t possibly all have a negative opinion on the matter. But negativity is the perfect breeding ground for engagement, so the Negative Nathaniels that have stuck around have their opinions elevated by algorithms and their presence amplified.

While these types go around with the same tired complaints about Black and White as they did over ten years ago, they also recognize a need to freshen up their “arguments.” But these usually backfire by showing just how flawed their logic is. Did you know Black and White have unoriginal Pokémon designs because they’re based on gen. 1 Pokémon? Amazing! Did you come up with that yourself? A YouTube comment I came across in late 2020 felt the need to give a better example than the usual “Roggenrola is just Geodude,” and instead provided, “Patrat is just another Rattata.” I hope this person never finds out about Sentret, Zigzagoon, Bidoof, Bunnelby, Yungoos, or Skwovet!

Of course, it’s perfectly okay if you’re not a fan of Patrat. But is it really fair to expect every single Pokémon to appeal to your particular tastes? Is it really fair to think badly of Unova for having “callback” designs when every other generation does, too? I’ve seen complaints about Cottonee and Petilil being “too similar” in concept to Bellsprout and Oddish, but never callouts for Lotad and Seedot. This is on top of how design preference is entirely subjective. “Why would anyone use Gigalith over Golem?” I once saw someone ask on Twitter. I don’t know, Jeff. Perhaps because Golem isn’t in Black and White to begin with? But even if it was, I’ve known more people who prefer Gigalith’s design over Golem’s (and Whimsicott and Lilligant’s over Victreebel and Vileplume’s).

Then there’s the matter of mechanics over design: gen. 5’s Pokémon aren’t inherently weaker than their “gen. 1 counterparts” (the same unfortunately can’t be said about gen. 2’s Pokémon compared to gen. 1’s, but you rarely hear that brought up). Competitively, in Black and White, Conkeldurr was OU while Machamp was UU. Fast forward to Sun and Moon, and Conkeldurr was banned from UU while Machamp dropped to RU. In Black and White, Gothitelle was banned from UU while Gardevoir was NU. Fast forward to the present—which means taking away Gardevoir’s Mega Evolution (Rest In Peace)—and Gardevoir is stuck in RU while Gothitelle has use in AG, Ubers, and even VGC thanks to Shadow Tag. Additionally, I can think of many reasons why people would always opt to use Amoonguss over Electrode, the later having no practical viability at all. The former, on the other hand, was so strong that Game Freak had to make Grass-types immune to Spore and introduce the Safety Goggles item in X and Y to try to weaken it—and it’s still one of the single best support Pokémon today, even after all that. What a fun guy!

But why even bother pitting these Pokémon against each other? Perhaps the most ironic thing of all is that complaints about Pokémon similarities never seem to come from actual fans of the gen. 1 designs. Actual fans of the gen. 1 Pokémon generally like their “gen. 5 doppelgängers,” and it really shouldn’t be surprising why. I really like cats, so why would I complain about Skitty, Glameow, Purrloin, Espurr, Litten, and Sprigatito existing? Just because Meowth is a cat doesn’t mean there should never be any other cat-like Pokémon. One of these may be my favorite overall, but I still love all of them. Give me all the cats!

Out of curiosity, I checked the review pages for the Sitting Cuties plush line on the United States Pokémon Center website and found a very similar phenomenon. Someone whose favorite Pokémon is Poliwhirl also loves the Tympole line; someone who’s favorite Pokémon is Weezing enjoys Klang; and although I never thought I’d see someone whose favorite Pokémon is Voltorb, lo and behold, there’s a person listing Voltorb as their favorite, and they’re praising Foongus. It’s the “two cakes” situation: when faced with two cakes, there will be one that gets perceived as “better” (that being entirely subjective), but the person receiving them is mostly just happy to have two cakes.¹

Part of why I enjoy essay writing so much is because the writing process itself helps your thoughts develop. Writing this series proved instrumental in helping me discover exactly why I love Black and White so much. This also helped me understand what I like about Pokémon games as a whole, what aspects disappoint me, and, most importantly, why. It sounds paradoxical (especially when “all or nothing” opinions are the ones brought to our attention most online), but I feel like writing an entire dissertation on “why Black and White are the absolute best” has helped me enjoy all Pokémon games even more now. By better understanding what I like and don’t like, I can more easily find things to enjoy in between the elements that disappoint.

Besides working out my own thoughts, my goal with this overly-thorough examination was to combat some of the common misconceptions about Black and White that somehow managed to last more than ten years after their release. I would be a lot more welcoming of criticism towards the games if they weren’t either so hypocritical (see: hating Black and White for being linear but taking no issue with Sun and Moon‘s constant railroading of players from Point A to Point B) or so often based on blatant falsehoods. Since starting this project, I’ve seen people try to claim that Black and White‘s flaws include (just to name a few):

1. That you are forced to use the legendary dragon Pokémon you capture (when asked if you want to add the legendary to your party, you are given the choice between “Yes” and “No”);
2. That Alder threw the match against N because he wanted the player to fight him (any and all dialog from Alder on this topic proves that this is the farthest from the truth any interpretation can get);
3. That you needed to get all three of Johto’s event shiny legendary trio to get a measly single Zoroark (you only need one to activate the event);
And 4. Pretty much anything about the region’s Gym Leaders.

At one point on Twitter, before the site’s CEO changed, I noticed “Gen 5” was trending and dove in to take a look. It was mostly positive and pleasant, but one interaction in particular stood out to me. The original poster tweeted that they loved Unova’s Gym Leaders because they were involved not only in the story but as active members of their society. One of the earliest responses, from someone who didn’t even follow the original poster, felt the need to “set the record straight.” They said that the Gym Leaders were only involved at the very end of the story in N’s Castle, and therefore they didn’t do enough to warrant being liked. This goes completely contrary to reality, where the Gym Leaders are very involved in the story way before the finale. OP was right the first time, but some people are so intent on convincing others that they shouldn’t like Black and White that they will utilize entirely false evidence to try to change their minds.

What’s worse, they don’t even think to question the logic they’ve built their opinion on when they see one that conflicts with theirs. They assume the other person has to be the one who is wrong instead of first exploring the evidence behind their reasoning. If I were feeling especially bold, I’d say the reason why so many people still dislike Black and White is because it hits especially close to home: N faces opinions—and reasonings behind those opinions—that conflict with his own, and initially refuses to rework his beliefs based on his new information. The key difference is that by the end of the story N has grown enough to concede what is necessary—many Pokémon fans online, however, haven’t gotten that far in their own character arcs yet.

No piece of media will appeal to everybody, but I would much rather people think accordingly about the media they consume either way. Why do you like this game? Why do you dislike this game? And just like how there can be things you dislike in a game you love, there can be things you love in a game you dislike overall. But the only way to determine which is which is if you really understand the game at hand. Be aware of what the game is and isn’t before marching unannounced into public discussion spaces and making general remarks that are simply false—and before solidifying your own opinion.

For people who were already fans of Black and White, I hope this long written journey has given you more to appreciate, or a renewed appreciation of the games. For people who did not like them, I hope for one of two things: either that you have grown to appreciate some element (or all elements!) of the games—that you found something about them to like; or, if you still mostly dislike them, that you have found a more sensible reason to dislike them.

Daily’s own Jake described me as “the gal who writes rivers about Black and White.” Looking back at this behemoth of a project, I think “oceans” may be bit more apt, but I still want to stick with rivers—you know, for the symbolism that I love so much. I do write rivers about Black and White. And I write these rivers so that readers can build their own bridges over them. Even if we both like Black and White, we may not like them for the same reasons. And if you don’t like Black and White, knowing why will help you understand yourself and for me to understand you better, and we can find common ground from there. Although we probably already have something in common, hiding right under our noses: we’re fans of Pokémon, letting our differences in specific favorites pull us apart rather than bridge us together.

One of my favorite quotations in all of Black and White comes from, of all places, a Fisherman on Route 1: “Yes, in life, even meaningless things can have meaning.” To me, there is no greater mantra. By finding meaning in “meaningless” things, you are giving everything the respect and consideration it’s due. So keep finding meaning in the things that you love, no matter how “meaningless” they may seem. Keep honing your beliefs by allowing yourself to be challenged so that you may continue to attribute meaning to the world around you. And keep on dreaming so that you may enact meaningful change and help others discover their own dreams, dreams they may never have thought possible to even consider. We may all be trains chugging down the tracks of life, but we can still change the tracks—and we can certainly appreciate the scenery along the way.

Best Wishes,
Rivvon