Bianca just being blind af in the first games is a new head canon I'll gladly accept. Bianca: "Dad, I'm gonna go live my life! Don't stop me!" Her dad: "Bianca, you can't leave home without picking up your glasses, they're prescription!" Bianca: "YOU CAN'T STOP ME!" **runs into a wall**
I still do like Iris' BW design a lot more but the big, poofy dress has definitely grown on me. It's so over the top and flashy that I can't help but smile.
I mean over the top is just what a champion is supposed to be Over the top Pokemon Over the top Special Moves Over the top Outfits Etc. (Champions usually only have 1 of over the top thing about them)
That big poofy dress is also great because they also give a reason for why she's wearing it. Not only is it a gift from Dreyden, but it's also implied iirc that it's the first time she's really tried on something fashionable so she's going over the top
He was boring in the first game and he's boring in the sequels. The Unova games are the most overrated shit. I don't understand why anyone likes that generation.
I don't think N's design feeling different is from him "looking down instead of up", its the fact that in the original design there was a shadow over his face, while now its bright and a lot more clear.
@@Tenzsei That's the design choice. The shadow cast on his face makes him look more "evil", while his face without the shadow looks a lot more friendly.
The direction of where he looks is important too: in BW he looks down, he is superior and the thoughts of those who don't agree with team plasma are irrelevant; in B2W2 he looks slightly upwards, meaning that he's "submissive and breedable" JOKES ASIDE it means that he's approachable, doesn't seek conflict and is more open.
I always found it kinda funny that Zinzolin was the dude who got trapped in cold storage, then became a full fledged ice villain, we really traumatised him in BW 1
I like how despite its low sales White 2 and Black 2 are some of the best games in the series which improved almost everything White and Black did. (Also if you want to buy it these days it'd be $80 and upwards)
Even some relatively minor things. You can select a group of Pokemon now. The game asks you if you want to reuse a Repel. You can put all your most useful items in a special bag (number 1 feature I want to see back).
Since we brought up the seven sages, shout outs to the sage that rejected Ghetsis and kept the old Team Plasma alive with the ideals they more publicly were known for. Don't remember the sage's name, but he had a following with grunts that still wore the knight outfit and they were really just chill and were like "treat pokemon better, please." and I think they even ended up helping you take on Neo Plasma in the plot near the end or something or other.
His name was Rood, and yes him and some of the other former Team Plasma grunts helped take care of the Neo grunts at the Giant Chasm so you could go on ahead
Something I do find interesting is that even outside of B2W2's Memory Link feature, you can actually see Iris and Team Plasma's old designs in the new games I think the reason for Iris is simple enough, her BW design could be seen as more of a casual attire, while her new design is saved for when she's actually acting as Champion For Team Plasma, it's a lot more significant, as the Team Plasma members with the old designs are the Team Plasma members who are still faithful to N and are striving to help the Pokemon that were separated from the trainers, in contrast to the new Team Plasma who seek conquest of Unova.
I like that they did this for the anime too! When she's being casual, like hanging out with Ash, she's in her old outfit, but during battles she changes into her champion dress.
Black and White 2's release timing was unfortunate for sure, coming out in late 2012 for the original DS, then X and Y being revealed barely over two months after they released (going off the US release date) definitely hurt them.
Another thing about Zinzolin's B2W2 design is that it's meant to be very, VERY insulated to show how much he hates the cold. If you remember his appearance in BW, he was stuck at the Cold Storage and that was all he kept yammering about that whole time
In hindsight, that was probably supposed to tip people off to the "twist" that he isn't really running the show, what with Ghetsis being the one who's *actually* trying to use Kyurem to freeze over Unova.
Bianca was also kind of clumsy if I recall so the glasses may also be helping with that. She also used to rush around everywhere so overall her glasses might represent her becoming less clumsy and also taking things more slowly and appreciating things more(which is reflected in the first scene we have with her where she is admiring a beautiful view).
Also, I agree with the Lenora design thing. I think it would have made more sense to give her clothes that resemble like museum staff, a researcher, professor, or even a librarian. The only way i can think of that having the apron relates to her character is that she has like a husband I guess(and that’s kind of a stretch). The apron makes her look like cooking or something is an important part of her character even though it’s not. I definitely get the idea but the apron was not a good way of conveying that imo.
To add more about Iris' new look, the fabric that loops over behind her head from under her arms is specifically common in imagery of kami or other spiritually powerful beings, called a hagoromo, or "celestial veil".
It's interesting that the most popular and exciting pokemon games are actually sequels. Pokemon black and white 2 and gold and silver (heartgold and soulsilver for remakes). Going back to the place you remembered and everything is different. Familiar faces have grown up, stories have moved on and the characters you once played are now legends in your new game. And yet game freak seems to avoid this for some reason. Who wouldn't like a pokemon game where you visit older regions to see how they changed. Imagine jhoto with gigantimax battles being featured now or mega evolutions in sinnoh?
I'm still mad USUM weren't actual sequels. Otherwise Gen 7 would have really become one of the top gens. And now with DLC it seems this era is definitely over...
Pokemon Black 2/White 2 is my favorite pokemon game ever. The amount of love, details and care put into the game still stands not only as a fantastic pokemon game, but one of the best DS games period.
Blaze Black 2 is the best romhack and best addition to the game ever. all 650 pokemon and increased difficulty ontop of the amazing base game makes it the best ever pokemon experience Ive ever played. I wish gamefreak took this approach to pokemon instead of kid friendly 3d
@@2014dotcom if you like playing rom hacks I highly recommend Inclement Emerald. It has every mon up to gen 7, megas, different difficulty modes and almost every quality of life addition you could think of.
The thing that managed to make me love even more that generation, is the Gechis event from Pokémon Masters Ex, where they tell you two important things: 1) For the first time ever in the history of Pokémon they revealed that Nate, the canonical protagonist of BW2, is apparently fatherless for who knows how much time, and when he see's the behaviour of Gechis towords N being so harsh we, this time, thruly know why the main protagonist hates the villain so much, since all he's ever wished to have was a paternal figure... and i'm not gonna lie the lines that he shouts in order to defend N hits worse than a truck. 2) In his sinc move animations alongside Kyurem, Gachis states: "I'll take you down with my own hand". This implies that he's not hiding his right arm, he straight up doesn't has that arm!!!
@@Boltz4 If the main game is not fully able to do so, then another one should take the responsability of teaching us more. So yes, even though is not "canon" it still manages to do his job correctly
I know there was a theory that his hydreigon actually bit off his arm and destroyed his eye, hence why they are both covered up, because he abused it into evolving too early, as it is below the level it can normally evolve.
@@Blaze-nm1uh Nah, we see his other arm in BW's intro, and it's perfectly intact. We also see it intact in other branches of canon. As for his eye, the eye itself is also intact, as shown by some concept art which showed that it just has a scar around it. It's unlikely that his hydreigon caused this injury, even if he definitely abused it: After all, it's the only NPC pokemon ever to have minimum friendship, and as a result the only NPC pokemon ever to use a max power Fustration.
iirc, when you reach the last town on BW2 there is an npc that will talk to you about a trainer who saved unova 2 yrs ago, it's the same guy you first encounter outside your town when you play BW. it gave me nostalgia when i first play it
I actually love Lenoras apron. It felt like she was a working archeologist, restoring fossils etc with her apron on where she can keep her tools and stuff
I regret not buying BW2 back then. I was a child and couldn't really afford it or to be precise, I didn't allow myself to buy it after already playing the previous White. Also, I didn't expect it to be much different. I played all main games and BW was one of the best I think. I would love to play the sequel one day, it is a bit difficult to get it these days.
@@karuiz3658 That's not really true though, pokemon remake's always get released in the order of which region has had the longest without a game. The next "remake" is likely going to be gen 2 followed by a gen 5 remake at some point. Although due to how gen 5 has 2 entirely seperate game's potentially it would need 2 remakes in a row.
@@ZenCheesecake Ash is not a canon character, he's an anime only character (hence why the characters of the game appear in the anime, but not the other way around: the only canon of the Pokémon franchise is what happens in the games). So Iris is still the youngest Champion ^^
I dont know how people hate bw or bw2, there's so much effort put into those games that it brings some joy to me, National dex at the time, HUNDREDS of NEW sprites just fot THOSE specific games, a lot of small details such as low HP pokémons having a bit slower animation, or closed eyes when sleeping + slow animation, the soundtrack of the games fits perfectly in every single place, one of the best stories and antagonists, the world moves with you instead of moving around you, such as in bw the gym leaders interact a lot with you unlike other games, there's so much to do in these games, you can even be a moviestar or play a little "dating" game with yancy or curtis depending on your character, the post game is kinda big, with the big tree and a lot of legendaries to catch, it's all so interactive and at the time it felt so alive, just the fact that you could call your mom was awesome for me, i always would call her between cities to se her reaction, the battle train was also awesome tho, some people didn't even know where did ingo came from in legends arceus, but i got so happy seeing him get some atention, just a bit sad that he got separated from his brother, the graphics fits a lot for pokémon in the DS, people complain about pokemon designs but i love a LOT of those, i love trubbish's idea seeing that unova is mostly urban, unfezant and pidove being based on pigeons. Leavanny is my favorite pokemon, scolipede is awesome, gigalith, excadrill, lilligant, Krookodile, scrafty, ZOROARK, galvantula, CHANDELURE...And a lot more amazing pokemon, people that complain to me never really tried to give it a chance, the games are definitely underrated, and even today with a lot of new pokemon ganes such as legends arceus or swsh, i still consider bw2 and bw to be some of the best pokemon games out there, it was time when gamefreak still put effort, time and love into those games unlike today...Let's just hope that pokémon scarlet and violet can bring us more joy from this pokémon world that we much love and care about
It's really due from them 1. Ditching all old pokemon 2. Replacing them worse allegedly worse pokemon 3. The story feeling like it was too serious for a pokemon game 4. Weather wars. If you know, you know
I think these are my favourite of your videos, it’s just fun to see someone discuss how character designs evolve, why these changes were made and just taking a moment to appreciate them
I love that you singled out Gorm because in Saltydkdan’s Pokémon friendlocke season 2, when he shows up, they act all surprised, like Gorm of the Seven Sages! And that’s the only reason I even remember their name.
Bianca's eyesight got worse and Cheren started wearing contacts I never really considered N an enemy after the second meeting. He just seemed... Too lax.
Y'know, my hope for remakes has been pretty much crushed by BDSP, but imagine if by some divine miracle game freak was still able to make decent remakes, they could remake the B&W gen by smashing both B&W and B2&W2 together with the second story taking place after an in-game timeskip in postgame, somewhat similar to the delta episode in ORAS. Sure, the story would be changed a bit since you'd stay the same character (or maybe not and you create a second character for the second half and are able to challenge your old self to unlock the ability to switch character. Pokémon teams are shared from the start though to not screw you over), but a warped story in a remake would be a welcome change to make things even fresher.
firstly BDSP weren't made by Game Freak and secondly BDSP were decent remakes imo, certainly not deserving of the scorn they get. that'd be an interesting idea though! I am wondering how they would do it
Ghetsis’ appearance gives off a large intimidation factor. But something more intimidating is his strength. If you observe the Black 2/White 2 battle sprite, he quite literally breaks the top of his cane off as he jabs it into the ground. This man ain’t screwing around. His anger leads him to break STEEL with his bare hand
I had to look back at his intro animation to see this, and... oh my! You're right! I never even noticed that before. Ghetsis is definitely capable of killing the player with his bare hands... or, hand, since he might be missing his right hand/arm. I don't think we've ever seen it in any iteration of him. That little detail just made him so much more intimidating.
Another thing I love about Ghetsis' redesign is his battle theme. In BW his battle theme sounded mysterious, intimidating and mighty. Which then transforms into sounding more evil and intimidating. It sounds like the theme of someone who thinks of himself as an absolute ruler. A god. In BW2 his theme already starts with the second part. He doesn't hide his true plans anymore. He isn't hiding that he is evil. Also this theme is very chaotic, unlike his first theme, which was much calmer and not chaotic. Definitely fits his new character and development.
Iris' champion design is still my favorite character design in pokemon to this day. Her outfit looks awesome, make her looks like a princess. It give off cute, energetic, and powerful vibes at the same time
It was fun seeing Iris as champion in Pokémon Journeys. I watched all of Black and White as a kid and am very nostalgic for that generation even though I never got to play the games.
I wish the internet stopped trying to attack non-issues to "defend us" As a black person I never had a problem with her design, it does makes her look motherly It makes sense
But tbf many black people do have a problem with it and have been harmed by the stereotype. Best to not have it than have it when it's such a quick and easy fix.
thank you for this video, its so cool to understand the smart design choices put into the character art and how they are meant to show something about the character. its so interesting how these things are so subtly (at least subtle to me cause im stupid) put into a characters design that have such a huge meaning
N's old look looks a lot like his making a great and strong entrance(his introduction to the games and anime) and the glow-up looks like his looking back before saying goodbye.
Given that Hilbert was 15 along with his rivals, Bianca and Cheren now look so grown up because they're 17 now And since Iris is older than them, she's likely a grown woman now
BW2 have a special place in my heart simply because they were the first Pokémon games I ever played. I sadly never got to finish it because it was a copy my cousin gave me, in Japanese, so I had no idea what the hell I was doing 99% of the time and got stuck in Castelia City lol.
Something else about Cheren's design in B2W2. His face is a bit flushed in his art, but I've also noticed that his battle sprite appears to be sweating, showing that he hasn't gotten his footing in this whole gym leader thing quite yet.
Really like Unova. Even at the time I really enjoyed the games & was pretty surprised by the hate they got over the lack of older Mons during initial playthrough & the reboot of the Anime. Iris was awesome too as both a GL & a Champion so was unfortunate her teasing Ash about being a Kid when he seemed to be pretty elite in Sinnoh or at least getting there placing top 4 & doing better than the finalist challenger vs Tobias, outshined her game counterpart. Also I remember people raging about B2W2 being on DS not 3DS, which definitely explains the sales in part.
bw to b2w2 had some of the best time skips. Organic, tied up loose ends in bw plot (such as Bianca finding out who she wants to be, Cheren being ok w not being champion and trying smn new) and the designs all made sense. I loved it
b2w2 are the best pokemon games objectivelly, are just super super polished games and very good quality in every way, lots of content also and lots of postgame, you just have an open world to explore you start opening the areas gradually but at the end is an open world when you beat the main story couse there are still milions of places you havent explored and even during the game every badge you have like 3 or 4 places to explore and level up, the level curve is very good unlike modern games and the difficulty curve is very good unlike modern pokemon games
Zinzolin heavy coat is also because he is always freezing as he was the sage that try to hide himself in the cold storage in the previous game and now always feel like he is freezing which is nice
With Lenora and the apron I can see her wearing them in either way ( though an animation of her going from it being worn to it over her shoulder would have been awesome as a pre battle animation). It's well within her profession to wear that style of apron.
I love how they updated all these designs I have to love elesa because of her glow up its so good. Also cherens and Iris new designs look better than the old ones I just love how iris became the champion in b2w2
As exciting as remakes can be, or third versions for that matter, sequels are way more interesting. Instead of just making the original version obsolete, they instead build upon what was already established and expand the world, characters, and gameplay with a continuing storyline that offers a new experience that's equally as important as the original. Black/White 2 are similar to XD Gale of Darkness in that regard, both offering fresh, yet familiar experiences that do not take away from the original Black/White/ Colosseum thanks to the bridges in storyline.
While I do genuinely love your videos, I am a HUGE Gen 5 softy. As they are still to this day my favorite Pokemon games. I even noticed how you had the rare dream world music in the outro of your videos lately.
Iris really was a cool character in black and white, but the sequel really made her cooler. I’m glad cheren (sorry if that’s wrong spelling) is a gym leader too and Bianca becoming a professor or more or less, a helper.
For me Black and White and Black 2 and White 2 were the peak of Pokémon games, they had everything, incredible designs, musics so high quality they may put you in a trance and that have a very distinctive identity, the graphics and gyms were the best we ever had and the plot was just the best with villains more complex than everything we had before, these games for me were the culmination of all the other before them, they took the formula, but they also took everything that made the past Pokémon games good and unforgettable, the very soul of the franchise, and refined it to perfection. It was the ultimate Pokémon game. What came after never ever reached that level and I don't think it ever will.
additionally to your notes on Zinzolins new design. He's wearing a gamberson (woolen armor typically used by knights.) It makes even more sense since the region vets colder.
Never would have thought the apron in Lenora's design would have been even slightly racist. I always thought the apron was proper for the fact she is an archeologist, wearing an apron so she doesn't get dirt on her clothes.
What archaeologist have you ever seen wear an apron? None, because archaeologists do not wear aprons and have never been associated with them. They wear overalls or coveralls yes, but no aprons. And Japan often makes characters of non-Japanese descent based on stereotypes, this is not surprising or out of the blue by now.
Never played black/white but I played black 2 and it's my favorite pokemon game to date. Was interesting to see how some things had changed from 1 to 2!
Are you sure the apron was to make her seem more motherly? I always thought it was like blacksmithing aprons or woodworker aprons, but for archeologists where they keep their tools and brushes and stuff
Still not a fan of making Iris a champion in Journeys. It feels like it just the reason is: "make her champion just like in games". The backstory how she became one is non-existent. Not even mentioning of Alder. Wouldn't be so jarring if she became a Gym Leader like Drayden wanted eventually. Although she's shown during the match with Cynthia to be experienced enough.
I'm a 32 year old man and Iris is my favorite Pokemon character. Her theme is like riding a Salamence over a rainbow and I always have it in rotation. I love her glow up so much too, going from child prodigy to the champion of Unova. She just exudes positivity and confidence. All of the redesigns in B2W2 are so good though. I love the thought that went into the time skip glowups and they look super cool. The redesigns are flashy and eye catching enough but not excessive or tacky. Also I played every core series game over the years and Gen5 is by far my favorite!!! I think it's the combination of the nostalgic 2d style of play and just how freaking great these games are as a whole (Fun story and characters, more convenience, upgraded interface, lots of new features, awesome soundtrack). This series just simply did not miss much and has a special place in my heart.
