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Why is Brendan's design so disliked?

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Cybersai

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Does anyone remember when R/S was revealed for the first time way back in 2002, and Brendan and May were shown for the first time, all everyone talked about is how "lame" Brendan looked compared to Red and Gold?

Not only was there always controversy over his hair/hat (which we now know is a white hat), but I remember him being the least liked male protagonist for a long while.

Back then May overshadowed him for multiple reasons, and May's design wound up being popular with the fanbase. (Given this was the start of the females being used for fanservice, I am not surprised).

While people may have changed their opinions on Brendan over time, why do you think there was such a backlash toward his design originally? I don't even think Lucas got as much flak when he was shown.
 
I wasn't even a part of the fandom at that time, but I saw things the exact opposite way. I love Brendan, he's my favorite male protagonist pretty much ever, and only recently have I liked May. .__.'

and personally, I still can't see why May is so well-liked. I find her hair rather stupid, and everything else is just kinda generic.

but if anything's wrong with Brendan, I think it is his hat. it makes better hair in my opinion.
 
I like how he looks. ok sure we dont see him enough he made camo appearences in movies intros.. we seen more may then him he and lucus made apparences in movies into.. yet we dont see what kind of person there both like like may and dawn. we only see there manga counter parts

emerald look
Pokemon_Trainer_Brendan_Emerald.png


R/S look

Brendan_Birch_by_Gilbertman.png



what is there to not like about his look? whats wrong with his cloths?
 
I suppose the main reason is is hat. Most people think it's white hair. They either hate that or are dismayed when they find out that it's a hat.
 
I think the Brendan was so disliked simply because they tried way too hard to make him look cool. Red and Gold looked more like normal kids. Even Lucas looks pretty average except for the beret.
 
Eh, I wasn't around at the time, and only came in halfway through gen 3, when liking Brendan was cool. But maybe it has something to do with his RS design. I mean, back then it wasn't evident whether the white cap was his hair or not, it's moronic to wear that warm-looking outfit in a semi-tropical region like Hoenn, and Brendan looks way too happy to be alive in his original Sugimoro art. XD

At least other sources (Brendan's in-game sprite, his appearances in the movies, his TFG figures, Ruby in Adventures) makes Brendan's outfit look less baggy and himself less excited, so that counterbalances it. And his Emerald outfit finally made it clear that the boy did have hair and a much, much better design (although I do hate his wearing a second pair of pants undernath his shorts in Emerald). Plus there's the bonus of familiarity. So people got used to him, I suppose.

Now I'm just wondering why people still hate Lucas so much. C'mon, the beret is awesome*.

*Although I am the one with an avatar of Lucas without the beret and thinks he looks better without it. Hmm.

EDIT: Serenity, I love that art of R/S Brendan. :D
 
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Lil Brother said:
EDIT: Serenity, I love that art of R/S Brendan. :D
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I didnt make it.. I just picked out a good picture from my DA favorits ^^;..I cant make something that good although I could draw that like a copy but other then that.. I cant do shading and I noo have photoshop and suck reaaal bad with backgrounds

off topic:I do take requests I'll draw any character I'm actually re making my character new outfit..and I dont feel like doing any art work at the moment of my mood.
 
Honestly, the design is pretty bad. Especially the R/S one. For one, pants tucked into shoes: what? The only skin showing is his face, which while not a bad thing, just doesn't fit the game's ongoing design, especially when placed beside May. The colors are dorky, like the random blue on the gloves, and his hat really makes no sense. (Though I personally like his hat, I'm just saying.)

The Emerald design was a GODSEND OF AN IMPROVEMENT, but as aforementioned in this thread, why does he need to wear two pairs of pants? Well, shorts and pants.

My conclusion: Brendan is a cutter, and he doesn't want anyone to know! We love you, Brendan. D:

Emi-chan said:
and personally, I still can't see why May is so well-liked. I find her hair rather stupid, and everything else is just kinda generic.
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Yeah, May's hair is just stupid. XD I know Pokémon is known for its interesting hairstyles, but that one was just...
 
I personally don't like Brendan's design all that much. His Emerald design isn't terrible, but his R/S design is...yeah, I won't comment.

There's nothing wrong with Brendan or anything, though. I just don't care for his appearance that much.

I will say one thing, though. I actually like Lucas's design better than Brendan's. One of the few, huh. :3
 
Emi-chan said:
and personally, I still can't see why May is so well-liked. I find her hair rather stupid, and everything else is just kinda generic.
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May's hair only looks odd if you look at her from behind. From the front or sides, it doesn't look too strange.

As for why May was preferred over Brendan design wise, it may have to do with the majority of the fandom being male at the time?

I realize most of you weren't online back in 2002, but I remember back when R/S came out, a lot of guys said they'd rather play as May than Brendan. It may also have to do with the fact that unless you had Crystal, it was also the first gen you actually could play as a female character.
 
Brendan is also my favorite male protagonist ever, design-wise more than anything. I liked the hat and clothes the minute I first saw the Sugimori art, and seeing as Brendan was the first male player character he draw in his new art style, I think he's the best. In the case of the official image (Ruby & Sapphire outfit), the shading, the choice of colors, the details in his gloves and sneakers and the sport theme overall fits the adventure spirit of a protagonist traveling across a region. Speaking of Sugimori's style, I still see some Toriyama's traits in the original Brendan like the eyes, smile and tight sport pants (Bulma, Capsule Corp. people maybe?), but in general he looks as recent as Hibiki or Red. I used to wear a hat like that so that part is probably a little biased on my part, but the white color looks good. The Emerald revised clothes aren't as good, but what saves then is the green in my opinion, and it looks much more suited to Sugimori's current work; it seems Sugimori has a tendency to draw more simple images for the revised outfits.
The rest of the male characters are good, but I'd choose Red (new and old) and Lucas (any of his outfits) as the next on my list over Hibiki/Gold any day of the week. Gold (GSC player character) looked too young and a little different for the style of Sugimori back in those days, aside from his clothes being too much overloaded with pockets and different shades (I don't like yellows), and I'm just not impressed with Hibiki either.

May on the other hand, I've always loved her, although I still prefer to choose and play as the male characters. The Emerald outfit in this case suits her better than the Ruby & Sapphire one (too much love for the green color maybe?).
 
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Guess it has to do with the drastic change from caps to hair-like hats, and apparently the outfit.

Personally? I think Brendan always looked nice enough. I think his RS outfit is cooler than his Emerald outfit, but both are alright. I dunno what is it, but his clothes are pretty cool to me, and I like his hat as well (I wonder why people raise riots when the debate ever comes along). He's one of my favorite main guy designs, even, but I guess I'm unconventional like that. After all, the main guy design I dislike the most is the FRLG Guy, AKA Red. That defines epic fail as far as I'm concerned, and comes nowhere near to his damn good design back in the RGB days.
 
PDL said:
I suppose the main reason is is hat. Most people think it's white hair. They either hate that or are dismayed when they find out that it's a hat.
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Hodgepodge. It's only confirmed as a hat in Special. Nowhere else is it confirmed inexplicably as a hat or hair. And Special is not the be-all-end-all earth-shattering proof everyone thinks it is, only because they are perfectly capable of taking liberties. Yes, they are.
 
I was in the fandom but not really "among" the fandom for most of generation III, so I never knew that there was backlash about his design. I assume it was probably because he was so unlike Red and Gold and people, in general, tend to dislike things that are different as a first reaction. Compare the initial reaction to the DS and its current reception.

If you look closely at his back sprite and his Emerald artwork, you can see patches of black that would be very hard to justify in any other way than to identify it as his hair.
 
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AngadS said:
I'm just happy that he isn't wearing a BERET.
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Agreed. The hat on Brendan however did confuse me when I realized it wasnt hair.. What kind of hat is that to begin with. And while it looks fine in some art it looks rather stupid in others. But yeah same can be said for any character now and then. And when it comes to Lucas.. Yeah Beret is bad enough but in Plat they make him look better with the jacket and all.. but the scarf I can never place if I find it girly or just something out of Dr.Seuss. But from hair to clothing im noticing characters are just getting more puffy like.
 
I don't see how people hate Brendan's design. I actually like how he wears both pants and shorts.
 
I admit, I was slightly surprised at Brendan's first design. But it was also around that time that I was deciding that from now on and forever I would do my best to play a gender opposite of myself. The more I played Brendan in my Ruby game, the more I grew to love the design.

So when Emerald rolled around with the new outfit, it didn't scream "Brendan" to me. D: So I screamed "discontinuity" and pretended the Emerald!Brendan was a different person altogether, as evidenced in my signature.

As for May, I love her R/S outfit, but her Emerald one...doesn't suit her at all either. Game Freak might as well outright say the only reason there is a female protagonist now is for disgusting fanboys to drool over. The heroine of FRLG only further proves this. And then for the heroine of DPP, it drives me mad at how blatant the sexualization of 10-12 year old girls is. When Generation V rolls around, I beg and hope and plead that there will be a female protagonist that isn't a sex toy for the Pokemon fandom. It's a doomed hope, but I sure do hope for it.
 
Sleet said:
If you look closely at his back sprite and his Emerald artwork, you can see patches of black that would be very hard to justify in any other way than to identify it as his hair.
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That still doesn't prove anything conclusively.

I give you Horohoro's sideburns as an example of mismatch between two shades of hair and a bandanna separating them.
 
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