Should Game Freak have used Leaf's original design in FRLG?

[Dr. Buni]

Not everyone knows, but Leaf/Blue had a different design in some Pokémon Red & Green artworks:

Spoiler

A picture of Leaf's Pokémon Special counterpart, that shows her unused design more accurately:

Spoiler

And for the sake of the comparison, here is a picture of Leaf's FRLG design:

Spoiler

So, what do you think? Which design do you prefer? Personally, I like the prototype design the most. Her black dress is very cute, as are her hair and boots. The actual Leaf's design isn't bad though, but I am not fond of its color scheme. Her socks are really weird also. Though the red and green color scheme do make sense and match the games she is the protagonist. Still, I really think they should have used the prototype design, for the mentioned reasons and for it being more unique compared to the other female protagonist's designs.

 

[Glitchipedia]

Red also received a redesign—one he desperately needed to help differentiate him from Ash Ketchum a little better. Leaf's redesign was likely done to more closely match Red, which I think was necessary under the circumstances. I say they made the right call.

 

[Cool and Spicy]

Wow, I didn't know this at all. Leaf's prototype design is better in my opinion, except for one little thing. A cute cocktail dress looking thing like that isn't the best attire to go on a journey with. I mean, at least she can move around in the skirt more. I'm assuming the dress would be more constricting in the movements. I think if they brought her back, in some sort of atmosphere that had contests or something similar, that would be a good look.

Also I like the socks. Isn't that a fashion thing in Japan? I can think of a few characters from anime that have socks like that.

 

[Akromatic]

I don't think that I would want to go on a journey across mountains, oceans, and deserts wearing a cocktail dress and high heels. I'm glad that Game Freak changed the design.

 

[Dr. Buni]

I don't think that I would want to go on a journey across mountains, oceans, and deserts wearing a cocktail dress and high heels. I'm glad that Game Freak changed the design.

Dawn's outfit isn't much different nor is Leaf's FRLG design (she uses a very short skirt, after all).

 

[Akromatic]

I don't think that I would want to go on a journey across mountains, oceans, and deserts wearing a cocktail dress and high heels. I'm glad that Game Freak changed the design.

Dawn's outfit isn't much different nor is Leaf's FRLG design (she uses a very short skirt, after all).

I never said that I thought that all the female protagonist's designs were practical. I mean, Dawn, really. Don't wear short skirts when you're in the coldest region. At least the B2W2 kids and the leaders had some sense to at least put on some more clothing, like Roxie's sweater or Burgh's spider silk shawl. Fashion kind of goes out the window when you're dead from frostbite and naked from hallucinations.

 

[Swadloon]

No, I did enjoy the re-designs of all the characters. I just wish they had put Leaf in the early games, so we could choose her (and there wouldn't be any excuse to not put her in HG/SS).

I would like they hadn't got rid of Kris either (I indeed like Lyra more than Kris, the fact they aren't supposedly the same character is just what bothers me).

 

[Dr. Buni]

I would like they hadn't got rid of Kris either (I indeed like Lyra more than Kris, the fact they aren't supposedly the same character is just what bothers me).

You know, I think they should have used Kris again in HGSS, with the usual outfit change (but not many changes! her original outfit looks pretty good, after all). In the end, there was no reason to change Kris to Lyra and I know that a lot of people didn't approve the change. And then, they could have used Lyra's design in BW, instead of Hilda's ugly obnoxious design

 

[CynthiaLover]

I forgot about early Leaf, back in the old Pokemon Adventures manga (boy, could that be a dark manga), though it's probably because I remember her other name: Green (Blue in Japan). I haven't seen that form of her in a while.

I admit, Leaf's prototype design does look nicer, but I think GF made the right call redesigning her to what we know today. A cocktail dress isn't exactly practical, even if it fits her more mischievous and sneaky manga persona (poor Red, how many times did she sucker punch him in the manga?). So I think her FRLG design is better suited for not only travel, but given the fact she had to somewhat match Red's design (not exactly, obviously, but you get it), it made more sense to redesign her. Though I still think she's cuter in her prototype outfit...

So I think her FRLG outfit is fine. I mean, her game persona isn't the same as her manga counterpart, so it fits the bill better.

On a side note, I still think that Lyra should've never replaced Kris. I liked Kris better, and her design was quite sharp. She is much better than Lyra, so they should've just redesigned her as well, not outright replace her. But what's in the past is done, and there's nothing that can be done about it. Oh, well.

 

[Aulos]

No, I did enjoy the re-designs of all the characters. I just wish they had put Leaf in the early games, so we could choose her (and there wouldn't be any excuse to not put her in HG/SS).

I would like they hadn't got rid of Kris either (I indeed like Lyra more than Kris, the fact they aren't supposedly the same character is just what bothers me).

There still wasn't any excuse to not put her in HG/SS.

If they're going to use the excuse of "She wasn't in the original R/B/Y games", then I'm going to shoot back and question, if representing the "original" matters oh-so-much, why in the world was Kris allowed to be replaced by Lyra?

"Oh, but it's just the female protagonist, so it doesn't matter". Is that it? Because sometimes I think that's the way that Gamefreak and some of the fandom thinks, and it disgusts me.

Anyway, sorry for the off-topic. I think that the redesign of Leaf was good. She looks more like a trainer. Her redesign is actually one of my favorite trainer designs of the series.

 

[Team Gaara]

I like Leaf's FRLG design a little better. It looks more kiddish (love the socks!), and, as mentioned, more practical. Her hair looks a little more normal, to me, too.

The original design was cool with the gloves and all, but, she looked more like a Lass than a PC, and she lacked the signature/necessary PC hat.

 

[Infinity Mk-II]

FRLG's design is definitely my favourite. It matches far more the concept of an adventuring trainer and is more comparable to Red's (which, given they are essentially the same character, I'd think is important. Note I said comparable, not equal nor similar)

She really looks like someone who'd be travelling around the region for a while. That she's dressed so casually to me makes an statment that she's not to focus on what she's wearing, she's just wearing clothes.
Most of the other female protagonists look too specific on their clothing instead, trying to look specifically cute or cool or whatever... Ironically, the cocktail dress is pretty much the complete opposite of this. She looks like a trainer class.


Maybe it's just me, but really, to me she simply looks like an strong trainer. Nothing else in particular. (Although her official art makes her look pretty badass, too.)
Which I think is how it works best for a PC.

 

[Almonds]

Iirc, the design of Leaf's prototype was based on an unused Lass/Beauty trainer class.

I like her Gen3 design since it looks more a trainer

 

[Swadloon]

No, I did enjoy the re-designs of all the characters. I just wish they had put Leaf in the early games, so we could choose her (and there wouldn't be any excuse to not put her in HG/SS).

I would like they hadn't got rid of Kris either (I indeed like Lyra more than Kris, the fact they aren't supposedly the same character is just what bothers me).

There still wasn't any excuse to not put her in HG/SS.

If they're going to use the excuse of "She wasn't in the original R/B/Y games", then I'm going to shoot back and question, if representing the "original" matters oh-so-much, why in the world was Kris allowed to be replaced by Lyra?

"Oh, but it's just the female protagonist, so it doesn't matter". Is that it? Because sometimes I think that's the way that Gamefreak and some of the fandom thinks, and it disgusts me.

Anyway, sorry for the off-topic. I think that the redesign of Leaf was good. She looks more like a trainer. Her redesign is actually one of my favorite trainer designs of the series.

I agree with you. I've always said what you said. But that canon thing is still an excuse everyone uses, since there are other video games which have it. I don't think Game Freak thought in any excuse for that, fans just interpreted that way, and Game Freak was like "ok, whatever".

 

[Mia Dessendre]

Yeah, I knew of this before. But it's still pretty interesting. I definitely agree with some others in that she looks more like a trainer, and therefore, more appropriate. It is a shame that she's kinda ignored all over the place, considering she's my favorite female trainer design thus far. Still, I think Gamefreak made the correct decision in redesigning her and they shouldn't really have kept the original design. It's just a generic Lass anyways, nothing of note and doesn't seem like an appropriate counterpart to red.

 

[BlackButterfree]

I prefer her Gen III makeover tbh. And as for the whole Kris/Lyra thing, Pokémon Adventures handled it WAY better than the games or Nintendo/GameFreak did…

 

[potatomon]

Slightly off-topic but has anybody ever seen this? Ken Sugimori’s Pokemon related tweets ① | honyakukonyaku

I'm not sure how accurate it is but apparently Sugimori answered a tweet about a year ago about the original design. He said that he designed her specifically for the game guide. He wanted to draw three starters with three trainers facing each other and invented her to pair up with the remaining starter (Squirtle). I'm not sure if all this is right, but if so, then that means that she wasn't meant to be another player character or even in the game but just of Ken Sugimori's own invention to pair all the starters with a trainer.

He also apparently took some inspiration from her when designing the FRLG female protagonist but the wording implies that they're not exactly the same? She also doesn't have a name but what would assume it's Blue (to match Red and Green).

Just a bit of interesting information I found. Even though he says he only took some inspiration from her in designing "Leaf" (ugh), I'm pretty sure most people see them as the same anyway (like how I see Kris and Lyra as the same) because they're the same at the core of the character. And from that, I do like the female protagonist's design. It's one of my favorites because it's girly but at the same time, it looks like you actually can travel with it. I just wish it didn't look so much like Red, maybe if she was a little more differentiated, we could see her as a little more separate from Red. s̶o̶ ̶s̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶a̶p̶p̶e̶a̶r̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶O̶R̶I̶G̶I̶N̶S̶ I do understand that the game guide design probably wasn't meant to be an outfit that she would don on a journey anyway so I appreciate that design for what it is.

SORRY FOR THE LONG-WINDED SPEECH, EVERYBODY. Kudos to you if you actually made it through that essay. D: Just my thoughts on this whole situation. Wish Blue/Leaf got more exposure than she does.

 

[Muur]

I like the FR/LG design so nah.