Pokémon GO Players OUTRAGED Over This Avatar Update… 

I wish we could go "rediscover" our old models back

I just hate the toddler heads. There isn't one that doesn't look like a toddler.

Even the Team Rocket GO grunts have more life than my player model.

What makes this even more stupid is they had test roll outs. Reaction then was negative, and they still rolled it out.

My character is built like a French toast stick

Nothing wrong with adding more options, but taking options away was not the answer.

No ''adult'' face added, all of them look like children. No beard options, horrible hair selections.. And to top it all off, i feel like my avtar got shrunk in height aswel?

I wish I could undiscover this update.

my character looks so weird now

As a woman, a lot of women and girls, after this update, feel like we don't exist. There's no hips, no waist... it's like we don't exist. I liked dressing my character up cutely and now, I can't even see myself, a woman, being within the pokemon universe - yes some may say that's taken too far, but it really comes off that way, because representation has been thrown away. I think some are genuily hurt over this and the overall poor execution from Niantic.

Male and female have different body types and features, there needs to be more of a difference 😭

I’m a transgender person, I’m basically the exact target audience Niantic had in mind for this update, and even I can say that IT LOOKS ABSOLUTELY AWFUL! You didn’t have to REMOVE gender from the game, that’s just nuts! & No matter how ”inclusive” this update might be, it doesn’t change the fact that these avatars are the ugliest things in the world. You didn’t satisfy anyone with update, Niantic. Hope you’re happy :/

It's all wrong. I'm a woman and I want my avatar to look like a woman. So let them add a neutral version of gender in addition to male and female. The pose after winning the fight is horrible.

literally all they had to do is keep the old gender models along with the slider thing but no they had to remove it. I literally don't understand how they thought this was a good idea, there was literally a post on the pokemon go reddit a trans girl made about how the new model legitimately made them feel dysphoric.

Removing staple male and female options and forcing everyone to use “non-binary” abominations, couldn’t expect anything less from a company based in California

Every time they screw something up like this I keep thinking of how good this game could be if the company running it allowed more than one braincell per person

At least bring the default avatar body back, the new one just looks so weird

I also would like to add that the "diversified" hairstyles are mainly straight hair, barely any curly haired styles Especially no long curly hair for people of color This update was already too late and still they managed to just not include a huge part of people. Instead making it diverse for bodyweight. As if that is what anyone wanted.

I couldn't even find a skin colour that matches my complex. I'm a more tanned dark-skin Asian, and the choices were either too light or too dark; nothing in between.

These character models are terrifying! Have you seen the team rocket victory animation, nightmare fuel.

Fixing things that aren't broken is the core ethos of silicon valley these days

This update is quite literally one of the worst pieces of design I've ever seen. It's off-putting, it's like everyone fell into the Uncanny Valley. It's total [expletive, redacted] and they need to unwind it, ASAFP. Niantic has made a ton of questionable to enraging decisions in the last 2 years or so, but this one is arguably one of the worst, because you always have your avatar staring at you while you walk around, or when doing GBL, and there was no reason to roll out something that looked like this. Everyone's model at least had some character before. Now, we all get soulless, vacant expressions, and out-of-touch body proportions. I am all for inclusivity, I really am. Give people the ability to express who they really are. But it has to look physically pleasant to the people using the product, and it absolutely does not. Undo it. Undo it, right now.

They should have added, not removed the genders. I look like a cross-dressing man with a diaper. The hands are too big, the torsos are too long. The only outfit I look ok in is Arlo's, I want refunds on everything else I paid for.

I literally had to buy a mask just so i dont have to see my avatars' hideous face.

It’s really funny to me that among all the customization options, they picked shoulder format instead of height

Finally, a huge content creator addressing this horrendous issue.

I've never had so many body issues as I did trying to customize my new avatar 😂

This just shows how out of touch Niantic is with the actual players of the game. This is the most ridiculously idiotic and pointless update they've made so far. I can't even imagine how much money Niantic wasted on this crap.

What if this was an attempt to promote people to spend more coins on coverup .. But that's just a theory

Lmao pokemon have male and females but the human trainers can't lmao

None of my friends play Pokémon GO that often anymore so I screenshotted their unedited characters 😂

I HATE THE NEW AVATARS SO MUCH

My avatar with cliff’s costume in old version made me look buff and now with this new update, costumes has ruined my looks since I don’t look buff in it anymore.

Feels like the new ones were designed by my cousin (he's 2)

Even the avatar of the woman in the commercial looks so messed up as an avatar, it looks like she’s wearing a full diaper

GENDER DYSPHORIA: I'm just gonna throw this term out there, as I believe some of us are experiencing some digital version of it with the recent avatar changes.

Ignoring the body, just the way the faces look are wayyy different and there is only one ‘conventionally masculine’ option ☠️

Why is there only 1 male face out of the 7 options?

Pokemon is an anime. Why change it away from the anime vibe to make it more realistic

My old character looks more like me than my new characters. WHAT THE F HAPPENED TO MY CHARACTER'S WAIST!!! I have a waist , and I like to have my avatars to have a waist. We need more sliders if they want to be more inclusive. Amd the faces. This is dumb.

Unfortunately the feedback given by players doesn’t really matter. I can’t remember a single time Niantic took in feedback and made a change the community wanted. They post the same “we hear you!” message and then carry on as usual.

I rarely comment on videos, but I would very much my waist and ass back... I'm a female and I play pokemon GO because they are cute, now I can't even relax like I used to before because my avatar is so terribly ugly I feel like bloody Shrek.... REALLY??? Sincerely, Miss M

It feels like they heard about the Stellar Blade drama and decided to go the complete opposite direction of that lmao

This update is a piece of crap, who is with me?!?!?

either make it like a mii or just don't change it at all.

all of my favorite avatar items clip into my characters skin now and the new faces are terrifying smh

rediscover yourself? nah more like "rediscover your balls"

My avatar was missing it's shoes, pants, gloves, backpack and glasses when I logged back on and it was absolutely terrible trying to fix it after they moved and changed stuff, plus the old skin tone I used is just entirely gone for some reason so I have to use one that looks way too pale, overall they really should've done a better job... hopefully the rest of the rediscovery thing turns out much better than the avatars did lol

bro the update is so laggy, and my avatar literally looks like a twig.

I wish we could “rediscover” my old model

So my character looked great. - it was me for all those years - now its like i am playing on somebody else's account I am an older gamer - now my character looks like a 12 year old boy or a women - nothing in-between is possible. But my daughters account has not updated and i can still see my original character. Everyone on my friends list now has masks on to cover their faces - every single one

We're all transitioning in Pokemon Go now! Whether we like it or now

I don’t think Niantic is trying to be progressive I think they just gave us customization in the laziest way possible. Skin color alone is ridiculous. Like give us a sliding scale of skin tones at least. None of them look like me while my previous avatar did.

Wearing my Raquaza helmet now

That's the problem with these companies trying to appeal to everyone without actually putting effort in. They should have kept the more anime-esq designs that made everyone looks good instead of going a shitty realism route where everyone looks bad. 😒

The fact mystic doesn’t care means we’re never getting a change. Niantic has NEVER felt the pressure from their content creation community so why would they ever care about their average players feedback??? Trying to find “common ground” with players is not the way to go about it. They will never change until they actually feel pressure.

It’s kinda hard to not wish for the downfall of this game, Niantic just simply doesn’t care anymore and don’t deserve deserve the money or success that go fest will provide for them

Here's one customization that everyone can agree on: more diverse facial expressions

It looks tragic, no need to write more...

my game is not working properly. when I'm actually moving, on the map I stay in place no matter how far I walk! the game also sometimes teleports me to the middle of nowhere! what can i do about it?

I had no idea about this update (I live under a rock lol), so when I saw my new avatar I was so confused. I couldn't really tell what was wrong, but I knew that the avatar had gone through a significant enough change to find it unappealing. Then I found out about the update. They could have done something really cool, and this is what we end up getting...

I don't want my character to look like an androgenous weirdo. I made him kind of look ok but the old version was much better. I also wish they added the option for facial hair so you can make your character not looks so damn soft in the facial features. Also all of my outfit presets were lost..

I have never wanted to delete a game from my phone more then now

So they don't even test their stuff huh? Embarrassing

I'm non binary, and these character model options are upsettingly painful and embarrassing.

Removing gender isn't 'interesting'.... it's appalling 🤬.

I'm more optimistic about avatars getting reverted or totally overhauled, while remote raid passes didn't for one reason... Niantics mission statement is, and has always been, to get people outside and interacting with their community. Remotes really violate that mission statement so on principle they are less inclined to roll back restricting those even if it hurts them. The avatars on the other hand don't have any affect on their stated mission at all, so they violate no internal principle (if they really do have one) by rolling this awful decision back.

Theres no masculine face choices if you ask me, they are all some bland form of androgyny

It’s funny how with the new customization options people are trying to make their characters like the originals as much as possible.

i'm a new player who started right before the new update came out, and obviously i can't speak for everyone. As a trans girl, i WANT my character to look super feminine, i WANT that expression of myself, of who i am. but these new models just don't do that for me. i absolutely loved how the old female trainer looked, i made her as pretty as i could possibly make her, just to log in a few days later and found out my character got absolutely demolished. it honestly makes me not want to even touch it anymore, and that like 2 days after i started playing

I spent a bit of money on poses and outfits that I won't ever use now because my avatar is so awkward and out of proportion. Also, some of us enjoy matching our outfits to my buddy. And I like to choose a special outfit for Go Fest.

i got a full costume on so i havnt noticed much change. i do like the back drops behind the pokemon now when AR is turned off

Not all "progress" is good, I miss my old pokemon style avatar 😢

Getting major Uncanny Valley vibes from the new avatars.

I've always had my characters face covered with the pikachu pumpkin head but before the update I could use glasses to add some depth inside the pumpkin head since it's just all black in there. Now after the update glasses no longer work and it's just dead and lifeless in there, I want my funny glasses back niantic

Niantic doesn't actually care but for example anything that we like in the game like a good feature they remove anything we don't like they'll keep in the game because they honestly don't care about the community

And you know what else is outrageous? They deleted almost all of the recent 1 star reviews! Theyre trying to hide this, but its obvious that theyre doing some really shady work. The people who Niantic paired up with was an LGBTQ non-profit organization (in reality, they arent) of some sort that Niantic paired up with to make this character customization update was a company with people who have a really, really, dark past. (thats what i heard from other youtubers videos about the customization)

I think it could also be a thing to make people spend more money on their avatar

Honestly I love the idea of more representation in the game, especially gender neutral options. But it should be that: an option! Adding a few more options would've been so much better than the customization they added... bc of all the body options all the animations look terrible as well, the movements and proportions are just weird and unnatural. The only good thing imho was more color options, but even the different shades they chose are questionable... There's like 4 different types of black, but none of the brown colors look like actual brown hair to me. And with skin tones you're either pale or literally as white as a sheet of paper... My solutions would be: - 3 options for gender: Male, female and gender neutral. - a few options for body types, but no customization bc that fucks with animations. - Just add a color spectrum, that shouldn't be too difficult to program and that way you can actually pick a color you want.

I really wonder what they thought about how this would be received. They previously had 2 character-models that were specifically designed to have a very aesthetically pleasing appearance and all the wearables were designed to look a specific way on these two character-models. Especially the girl-character was designed to have features associated with attractivity like long legs, high set breasts, low hip-to-waist-ratio, well-rounded buttocks, a pointy chin and even a thigh-gap. Now they have a dynamic model with dynamic wearables and you simply can't make it look as aesthetically pleasing as the old fixed models. It is simply not possible to recreate the old models within this new framework. And this is exactly the problem. They basically have replaced well-crafted 3d-modelling artworks with a 3d-model-generator that can only create generic stuff that looks soulless by comparison. Of course the players will feel like you've taken something away from them. And this is the point where I can't comprehend how the people making the decisions for that company could possibly have thought that anyone, let alone a majority of their player-base would receive such change positively. Did they really think that having the option to make your character obese will be compensation for not having the option to make it look attractive anymore?

There’s a bug where if you equip the lugia mask and wear a hair affecting hat, it’ll either not show the hat or make you bald. I learned the hard way when my usual fit turned me bald 🥲

My character looks transgender

What I think they should've done was give us customizable options on the original avatar bases. They didn't need to completely change the base at all. The dimensions are completely off now, as you've seen. The face and hair options are awful. It's completely fine if they want to implement an androgynous face and body, but they shouldn't make it the only option. The only thing I really like about the change is that the clothing isn't gender restricted anymore. When the update first dropped on my end, I was excited to make my avatar look more androgynous since I'm a 42 yo nonbinary person. But nothing fit right and I truly thought I was just tripping. That's when I went into the full customizing menu. Everything clicked. I couldn't get my character to look right. The face, especially, throws me way the hell off. As others have stated, it looks like a young child. None of the options look very adult. Again, I'm all for customization. Even if you hadn't heard it, lots of players wanted options to customize their characters beyond the basics provided. Quite a few of my local pogo friends wanted to make their avatar look more like them. People have been asking for it since the beginning. I think we were hopeful because there are tons of games that have extensive customizable options for their character creations I think Niantic released everything too quickly and clearly didn't beta test it enough. No one in their right mind would've green lit those horrendous avatars. Something went horribly wrong at HQ. While I do agree with you that it's not something to get super angry about, this isn't something that should be brushed under the rug. Niantic needs to know that they messed up big time. I'm currently hiding my avatar, too, which sucks because I like experimenting with different looks. But nothing looks good on it. I hope they revert the avatars back to their original bases and go back to the drawing board. They need to give the employees more time and resources to get things right.

I got back into Pokémon go for the return to kanto I now have everything except mr mime and the legendaries. About to hit level 31 so I can collect XL candies. Also any tips for trading should I keep all my shines for trading since their IVs can be re rolled for the other person right?

20 people can’t be first😂

I left the game a while ago, and with these they are making sure I don't want to comeback

they're gonna release a attempt to fix it update thats just getting rid of all the clothing items besides a gray baggy sweater and sweatpants

I no longer play pogo, but I really respect how professionally you handle a subject that could be very sensitive in the world we live in now. Keep it up my dude!

Progressive is when more character options

my old skins have all been deleted i hate niantic

i got the biome update thing today honestly really like it but the only down side is that diffrent pokemon spawning in each like that will probably get annoying

At least put something in the settings so I don't have to look at that thing in the bottom left corner during game play

as someone who doesn't really fall into binary genders/gender presentation... trying to make my character look like me in this update made me feel more dysphoric than i have ever felt looking at my own real body. the sentiment was there... ish... but the execution was awful. too many options in the wrong places and not enough options where there actually should be (see: hair styles, face shapes). they just look so odd now and i hate looking at my character.

Completely unnecessary update that serves absolutely no one and only damages their brand and wider IP. Fantastic idea.

The faces look worse, the skin colour looks unnatural, all body types look unflattering. So many other games have done this and done this well - how could Niantic miss the mark so much???

As a long time player i have an issue with the player models, but that doesn't matter. I have a new issue where my game crashes on launch. i literally could play for the first hour of comm day yesterday and then the game doesnt wanna open, ive tried everything to play the game and it doesn't function.

We in Brazil have had these avatars for way longer than you guys in the US, We have been used as guinea pigs by Niantic and now it's your turn

ya the avatars are terrible but i dont see how its niantic pushing their progressive views on anybody...? I think they were just trying to make more inclusive body types and messed it up horribly lol

I didn't care about the character until it looked so ridiculous that I had to hide every part of it lmaooo

It’s also the 21st and tomorrow they’re rolling out the next update with the background catch screen and a Kanto event? Or something to do with Kanto but they haven’t said anything? It’s making me think it’ll be underwhelming but maybe they’ll surprise us with a really cool event with shiny increased spawns, but doubt it.