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Trainer redesigns between remakes

zakisrage

zakisrage

SAEV DEH WHALEZ!
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We've had remakes for the first three generations, so let's talk about redesigns of the player characters, Gym Leaders, Elite Four members, and other important Trainers.

Which redesigns are your favourites? Which ones are your least favourites?

My favourite redesigns were those of Red, Falkner, Morty, Jasmine, Karen, Brendan, Roxanne, Norman, and Steven. My least favourite redesigns are Sabrina (Gen IV) and Wallace.
 
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The redesigns I like are mostly those that still look like the original, but improved (more detail, better colors etc). Examples of redesigns I love are Red, Erika, Pryce, Roxanne, Flannery, Winona and Steven. And pretty much every FRLG redesign, except Gary I think. I prefer the long necklace and fanny packs are just…no.

The most redesigns I dislike are girls that were made girlier/more fashionable. Like:
  • Whitney, now with lipstick.
  • Jasmine, now with a hideous dress.
  • Sabrina, now with pink crop top (wtf).
  • May, now with a bow instead of a bandana and the rest of her outfit is now girlier too. Not to mention that thing that is her contest outfit.
Other redesigns I dislike are Blaine (HGSS), Wallace, Maxie and Archie, because they went from looking like someone I can take seriously to something complete ridiculous. Especially Maxie and Archie now look like completely different people compared to their original design. And also not a fan of ORAS Norman, he somehow looks almost too young to be your dad now.

The Team Magma outfit redesign is a bit of a disappointment too, I prefer the ponchos and the black bottoms of the original design.

Finally, there’s one redesign I’m still on the fence about: Morty. I love everything about it but I really wish those pants weren't white.
 
You're right about Sabrina. God, that outfit just doesn't fit her personality!

ORAS Wallace looks like a male stripper.

I actually like the Team Magma/Team Aqua redesigns.
 
Hmm... I love May and Brendan to begin with, and prefer their original designs, but all in all, they look pretty good. My favourites would probably be Brawly, Steven, Karen and Sabrina. < Dun dun DUN!!


Brawly just looks too good for words. In the original game, he looked like a sad old surfer dude. But now he looks more robust, energetic and young. I used to think the original Brawly was at least 40! xP (That's just the sprite I guess lol)
 
Kanto Characters:

Red - The original RB outfit is superior.
Blue - I'm split on this one. I am happy that the fanny pack died, but the black polo looked pretty good. Also, the black and purple from FRLG was a more eye-catching color choice.
Brock - I prefer the FRLG attire. It looks much sturdier. His RB outfit is boring.
Misty - I prefer the one piece with the jacket. Not really sure why, I guess it's just more interesting than the plain blue bikini. If we are comparing her RB outfit with her FRLG outfit, then I prefer the RB one for the more interesting colors, although the stump leg they saddled her with in ther artwork is extremely jarring.
Lt. Surge - Either is fine. He looks good with sleeves or showing off his muscles. <3
Erika - I think I slightly prefer the shape and color distribution on the FRLG attire, but the HGSS one isn't bad. I don't love the original RB outfit.
Sabrina - No, seriously, what happened there? FRLG wins by a mile.
Blaine - I think both look fine. The lab coat get-up makes sense (although the RB version was better), but I like the color distribution and the dapper-ness of his HGSS outfit.
Lorelei - The black dress from RB was more memorable to me, but both looks are nice.
Koga - His FRLG sprite makes his clothes out to be green-er than they are in his artwork, but I like the green. But I think his HGSS outfit is just a bit better. Darker colors, some touches of purple, and those cool metal shin guards.
Lance - Man, you know what? I always thought that red leather jacket from RB was just the coolest look for him. I think it's a shame it never saw more prominence. The subsequent designs are alright, but much less distinctive, in my opinion.

Johto Characters:

Ethan - OG Ethan was better. Looked like he was ready to get out there and climb a mountain or some shit. NuEthan looks a bit too hip for his own good.
Kris vs. Lyra - Lyra's overalls are such an audacious choice that my reaction circles right back around to respect, but... sorry girl, my heart belongs to Kris.
Whitney - I think I slightly prefer the white shorts from GS.
Morty - HGSS is an improvement on every level.
Jasmine - Plain white dress was better. There can be elegance in simplicity.
Pryce - While I like the look of the white scarf on the blue coat, it seemed so much more badass when they had this old dude hanging out in an ice Gym in a polo and some cargo shorts. So, gotta side with the original on this one.
Clair - I don't really see much of a difference. I guess I slightly prefer the darker color palette of her GS sprite.
Will - I'm not actually sure as to how much is supposed to have changed here? I like his HGSS attire, at any rate.
Karen - Lorelei did the black dress first, Karen. :p While that does make sense for her type specialty, she's also a bit laid-back (from what little we ever glean of her personality), and I do prefer the color distribution on her HGSS outfit. And I like that it's not quite something you would expect from a Dark type specialist. *And* I'm not really a fan of minidresses anyway.

Hoenn Characters:

Brendan - I gotta be honest, I never really cared for Brendan's design until ORAS. He looks more athletic now, and I prefer his new hairstyle and skin tone. What even were those shorts-over-pants from Emerald?
May - I don't love that they cutesy-fied her. That said, I never really liked her original designs either. Not keen on bandannas (though it at least had much more personality than a giant bow), and her hair has always seemed... odd, to me. I think she's probably one of my least-favorite protagonist designs altogether. And while we're at it, I agree with @Soki that her Contest Spectacular outfit needs to be jettisoned into the sun.
Roxanne - The proportions were always off in her original artwork, and that always bothered me. So I'm really just glad they fixed that. Outfit-wise, I prefer the ORAS dress. It's got a nice pattern, and her color scheme is better in my opinion.
Brawly - ORAS ORAS ORAS ORAS
Wattson - The brown jacket looks more durable, but he's a cheery guy so a silly tropical patterned shirt is also a good fit for him. I think I'm siding with ORAS on this one, as I think it's a bit more true to his personality.
Flannery - I think the ORAS outfit works a bit better for the hot spring setting, plus her ORAS artwork does a better job of expressing her personality. Not that the original RS design is bad - I just think it would work better in a different setting. Can't quite put my finger on a specific idea, though.
Norman - This one is weird. As a Gym Leader, I prefer the ORAS version. But, his original artwork looks more dad-ly, so I think I like that one better in terms of his domestic role.
Winona - I mean, neither of them look very good to me. But I really don't like the wing adornments on her ORAS outfit, and the original had some nice touches of goldenrod to help it pop. So the RS outfit is the winner.
Liza and Tate - Their original outfits are very plain and uninteresting to me. ORAS wins this one.
Wallace - Flamboyant, elegant, artistic. I love his ORAS outfit. It's audacious but he don't care, he just gonna keep workin' it. :p
Sidney - I like both, but I prefer the more gambler-esque look of his ORAS design. Plus that facial expression!
Glacia - I miss the vaguely Nordic, vaguely Victorian touches of her original outfit. :(RS takes this one.
Drake - There isn't actually much of a difference between his RS artwork and his ORAS artwork, but his RS sprite has a slightly different color palette which I think looks better. So, RS... sort of?
Steven - Oh Steven. The ORAS outfit came so close to perfection, but then they just had to give you those solid purple sleeves. :( Still, on the whole, I like it more than his original outfit.
Archie - Wetsuit-wearing tanned Archie kicks ass. RS Archie was too plain.
Matt - Dude warpainted the Team logo on his chest. He's hardcore. And anything was an improvement on the original.
Shelly - Ehh... I prefer her new skin tone, but the original was a better overall design.
Team Aqua Grunts - Originals were booooooooooooooring. Mark another point for ORAS.
Maxie - I would have never thought it possible, but this man can pull off a coat + shorts + long johns combo. I am impressed, although it is probably worth pointing out that I thought his original outfit was terribly bland.
Tabitha - ORAS, definitely. I mean, the original was only ever a Magma Grunt with a cape, so like Matt, I think just about anything would have been an improvement. But I also found the fandom's nasty response toward him being fat to be extremely off-putting. My reaction to it was that it was nice to have a mix of body shapes among the characters.
Courtney - The original was alright I guess, but I love stoic Robo-Courtney.
Team Magma Grunts - Their new outfits just look goofy, and unlike the admins, they don't get any personality to help make sense of them. While I didn't particularly love the original outfits, they at least looked a bit cooler and a little demonic.
 
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Jersey Jimmy said:
But... Whitney's supposed to be girly. Her title is literally "The Incredibly Pretty Girl." It's kind of her gimmick.
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One can be pretty without wearing lipstick :p And it mostly just looks really off on her and the weirdest thing is that she isn't wearing any in her artwork, but she is in her VS sprite? So I think she looks fine in the artwork, it's just the VS sprite that's bothering me. It's just an unnecessary addition imo.
 
Although I can see them tweaking some designs a bit for Gen IV remakes, I can't really see any drastic redesigns when they get around to Gen V remakes. Gen V pretty much was a distinct moment of "Art Evolution" in regards to human characters (particularly the eyes, which had more varied shapes than they did from Gens I-IV) as well as Pokemon, and the character designs for Gen V and Gen VI meshed pretty well. From what we've seen of Gen VII's humans, they fit neatly to the post-Gen V style.
 
Meta Boss said:
I really liked Gen V's models. Hilbert is my favourite PC. Nate is ok, but not as good as Hilbert imo.
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I have a very heavy bias towards Hilbert since he was my first cosplay. Nate I didn't like at first, but after the Japanese version of the trailer had Miyu Irino voice him, he grew on me big-time because he had the same seiyuu as Sora from Kingdom Hearts.
 
bugmaniac20 said:
I have a very heavy bias towards Hilbert since he was my first cosplay. Nate I didn't like at first, but after the Japanese version of the trailer had Miyu Irino voice him, he grew on me big-time because he had the same seiyuu as Sora from Kingdom Hearts.
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Nate's hair is just a bit too wild imo xD Hilbert has an a lot more balanced design overall. He is one of the few reasons to justify playing BW over BW2 xD
 
zakisrage said:
ORAS Wallace looks like a male stripper.
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Exactly the reason why it's the best design. <3

I do generally prefer the remake designs over the originals, though there are exceptions. FR/LG Sabrina & Blaine being the main ones that come to mind.
 
Overall, the remakes made many of the characters more... visually interesting. Plain designs were given more detail (like with FR/LG Erika) and some outfits that looked kinda off were redesigned to better fit the trainer (like with FR/LG Sabrina removing her whip and giving her more even bangs and HGSS Morty getting a ghost-themed revamp of his old look.)

Redesigns I especially like:
  • HGSS Blue (he went from a rather plain outfit to having a pretty stylish jacket)
  • ORAS Wattson (switching his jacket for an electrified aloha shirt was a simple but effective change)
  • HGSS Morty (that scarf, dude)
  • ORAS Brendan (his new clothes are much better suited for Hoenn's weather. And his Contest outfit is just awesome)
  • HGSS Will (They took a rather forgettable Elite Four member and made him look even more fantabulous)
  • ORAS Wally (Not so much for the outfit, but the new art style makes him look that much more adorable)
  • HGSS Lance (Another subtle one, but his new look is both badass and classy as hell)
  • ORAS Archie (The original was good, but now he's a manly-ass pirate)
Redesigns that could've been better:
  • FR/LG Lorelei (she looked more sinister in the originals... maybe they could have kept her hair purple)
  • HGSS Ethan/Gold (a minor one, but he could've used different shorts)
  • ORAS Maxie (The shorts aren't really doing it for me)
Redesigns I'm kinda divided on:
  • FR/LG Agatha (She looks less curmudgeonly but closer to Professor Oak's age)
  • ORAS May
  • ORAS Tabitha (RSE Tabitha looks more badass, but ORAS Tabitha better fits the newer, nerdier Team Magma)
 
HGSS ~
I loved how all of the Kanto Leaders looked in this game, because they all feel much more down to earth. Like 'this is how they look in their free time' is what the designs say to me. I think it compliments the fact that you can more or less hang out and chat with them in that game after getting their Badge. Of all the redesigns in the game though, Lance would probably have to be my favorite. The colors used and the new detail in his cape and suit make him look fierce and regal. Perfect.
 
Out of all the redesigns, ORAS was the most interesting. I think they went so far with redesigning the characters to the point that they had completely different people with the same names. Is that a bad thing? Not really. I was never too fond of the original Gen III characters to begin with so changing them to something more memorable was nice.

@Soki Glad I'm not the only one who noticed the female redesigns. I'm not too much against making them slightly more feminine, but some of the changes were beyond unnecessary. I do not care for May's bow and Jasmine looked so much better before her redesign. I hate it when they change something that gave them so much character into something that's the typical generic female anime character. =\
 
On the topic of redesigning in general, what about the sprites of the personnel, especially in recent years? Thoughts? Favorites? My personal favorite Sprite generation is probably IV, I absolutely loved the trainer sprite in Sinnoh, both the one you use traveling and the one you see when entering a battle. I'm honestly not looking forward to these futuristic human sprites in Sun/Moon, though I know I'll end up liking it to an extent. The game's graphics have really advanced in recent times.

May be a bit away from the OP, but just throwing in another aspect on the topic of redesigns :notworthy:.
 
The redesigns for trainers in remakes are good and there is no complaints from me about them.
 
At this point, I think Sabrina's design fits - considering B2W2 had her as a movie star. Maybe, I dunno. I was always a bit more of a fan of that. Neither outfit will stop a specific artist on the subject matter.

For my favourite redesigns, off the top of my head, Wally is the first thing that comes to mind - especially the artwork that matches his later rival fights with his shirt open and the Mega Pendant visible.
 
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