Pokémon Sun and Moon/YMMV


 * Alternate Character Interpretation: : an innocent victim of circumstance, the series' most vile villain to date, or a deeply flawed and awful, yet tragic individual?
 * Related to that,
 * On a more amusing note, the game's smattering of horrifying Pokedex entries in both the main games and their sequels have led many to believe that as opposed to being factual, it's the Rotom Dex trying to freak out the player with larger-than-life exaggerations.
 * Base Breaker: The Rotom Dex has a lot of people who don't like it, mainly due to perceiving the Dex as an annoying chatterbox who doesn't really say anything interesting. That being said, it has just as many fans who like the concept of a sentient Pokedex and find its chatter amusing and inoffensive, if nothing else.
 * The game's Big Bad is, as far as villains go, one of the series' best-received antagonists to date, but
 * Alolan Forms in general. Are they a cool addition to the series that allows old Pokemon to feel fresh due to receiving total revamps in designs, typings, stats, and abilities? Or an unnecessary addition that wastes space that could have been used for full-fledged new Pokemon? And that's not even going into personal taste as far as designs go.
 * Complete Monster:
 * Demonic Spiders: Thanks to the S.O.S mechanic, just about any wild Pokemon has the potential to become this: at any point in a battle, a Pokemon that has not been knocked out can call an ally Pokemon for help, which leaves your Pokemon on the field to fend for itself against two Pokemon at once. Even worse is that it's all too common for the survivor of the pair to summon another ally as soon as their backup dies, leading to what can be a cycle of frustration and annoyance to those looking to catch a tough rare Pokemon. And may god have mercy on any Nuzlockers who run afoul of this mechanic.
 * Ensemble Darkhorse: Despite her minor role in the grand scheme of things, Wicke of the Aether Foundation received an explosion of fanart from people who loved her for being simultaneously adorable and attractive. It helps that in the game proper,
 * Kahunas Olivia and Nanu were huge hits with the fanbase: Olivia for being cool and drop dead gorgeous, and the latter for his hilariously blunt and depressed attitude coupled with his love of cats. The fact that the former is the series' first and the latter is technically the series' equivalent to its first Dark-type Gym leader probably added to their status.
 * As far as Trial Captains go, Lana and Acerola get this for being adorable and quirky (and in Lana's case, hilariously unnerving).
 * Hiker David's hilarious photobombing during Kiawe's trial helped an otherwise run-of-the-mill generic trainer stand out as one of the funniest characters in the game.
 * As far as Pokemon go, Mimikyu proved popular with the fans thanks to its creepy yet adorable design and surprisingly woobielicious backstory. And once fans realized that it was crazy useful in battle, this status skyrocketed.
 * Despite being a bit divisive due to being a final stage evolution that looks nothing like its preceding forms, Toucannon ended up proving to be one of the series' best received early game birds mainly due to looking so hilariously pissed off beyond belief.
 * The Rockruff line in general, due to Rockruff itself being an adorable little puppy, and its evolutions being a badass wolf and badass werewolf respectively.
 * As far as Alolan forms go, Alolan Raichu, Alolan Marowak, Alolan Ninetales, Alolan Exeggutor, and Alolan Dugtrio are probably the biggest darkhorses. Alolan Marowak has an awesome fire-dancer inspired design and proves to be reliable in competitive play. Alolan Raichu is not only adorable, but has an interesting typing and is addresses fan demands for Gamefreak to give the often-neglected Raichu some much needed love. Alolan Ninetales is breathtakingly beautiful, and Alolan Exeggutor and Dugtrio manage to be so ridiculous-looking that they loop around to being hilariously awesome in the fandom's eyes.
 * Mudbray and its evolution Mudsdale were huge hits: Mudbray for being Ugly Cute, Mudsdale for being a huge Badass horse, and both for being insanely good in-game.
 * Salazzle became a major sex symbol among furries in the fandom. Can't imagine why. Tsareena attracts legions of fans for similar reasons.
 * Evil Is Cool: Despite being the leader of a bunch of thugs who do little more than annoy and frustrate Alola's residents, Guzma manages to be among the series' best-received villains to date due to his larger-than-life personality, hilariously blunt dialogue, and surprisingly tragic backstory and sympathetic qualities. He also gets points for being an evil team leader who uses an all-Bug type team.
 * Similarly, Guzma's fellow villain
 * Evil Is Sexy: Plumeria of Team Skull. Her skimpy attire and attention-grabbing tattoo do a lot to make her the sexiest admin this side of ORAS Shelly.
 * Jerkass Woobie: Under his hard, violent street thug persona, Guzma is a surprisingly vulnerable individual. During his childhood he failed his Island Challenge, and that, combined with living with a violently abusive father and an inability to ever truly excel on a competitive front led to Guzma developing a sense of self hatred and obsessive desire to assert some form of greatness and obtain an adult's approval. It's quite telling that when he loses a battle, he viciously tears into himself for his failure.
 * And underneath the self-absorbed narcissism, cold-blooded sadism, and psychotic, abusive mentality,
 * Magnificent Bastard: The Big Bad,, may be among the most (if not the most) successful and manipulative villains in the main series.
 * Moral Event Horizon:
 * In the eyes of a good number of fans though,
 * Faba crosses it when he Faba's reasoning for why he did this is so he could further his career.
 * They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Despite all the hype they got during the pre-release period, Alolan Forms weren't utilized to anywhere near the extent they could have been: with only a handful of Pokemon families getting Alolan variations that were relegated solely to Kanto Pokemon to boot. Considering the huge amount of of fan-made Alolan forms for all sorts of Pokemon, there's a ton of potential that Gamefreak could have tapped into if they tried. But tragically, nothing much was done with it and in Ultra Sun and Moon, absolutely no new Alolan Forms were added.
 * Among the Elite Four, Kahili is the only character among them who the player never interacted with beforehand, leading to her feeling a lot less developed than the others.
 * Sequel Difficulty Drop: According to some fans, Pokémon Sun and Moon and its sequels are regarded as having "too much handholding," just like the newer entries, i.e. Pokémon Let's Go: Pikachu and Pokémon Let's Go: Eevee. Unlike the older games, that give Poketrainers the challenge, like not showing which types are effective and the Exp. Share is regulated to only that one mon that's wearing the Ex. Share helmet. In a weird twist however, this doesn't entirely translate to battling itself, since Sun and Moon have some of the toughest boss fights in the franchise thanks to how the Totem Pokemon fight. And Ultra Necrozma in the remakes is even more ridiculous.
 * Tier-Induced Scrappy: Crabrawler and its evolution Crabominable catch a lot of flack for being what are widely considered to be among the worst Pokemon to use in-game. While not terrible, they suffer from two major drawbacks: one being that Crabrawler cannot evolve until it reaches Mt. Lanakila... which is at the very end of the game, meaning that you have to lug around an unevolved Pokemon with middling stats through all of the game, where it has a really hard time keeping up with all the powerful Pokemon that pop up near the end. And the other drawback is that as a Crabominable, its slow speed and partial Ice typing do it no favors on a defensive front, and the only major opponents it can fight (The Elite Four and Champion) will, more often than not, have Pokemon that it's either weak to, or otherwise is disadvantaged against.
 * Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
 * It seems that Game Freak themselves are aware of this, since in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon,
 * Faba crosses it when he Faba's reasoning for why he did this is so he could further his career.
 * They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Despite all the hype they got during the pre-release period, Alolan Forms weren't utilized to anywhere near the extent they could have been: with only a handful of Pokemon families getting Alolan variations that were relegated solely to Kanto Pokemon to boot. Considering the huge amount of of fan-made Alolan forms for all sorts of Pokemon, there's a ton of potential that Gamefreak could have tapped into if they tried. But tragically, nothing much was done with it and in Ultra Sun and Moon, absolutely no new Alolan Forms were added.
 * Among the Elite Four, Kahili is the only character among them who the player never interacted with beforehand, leading to her feeling a lot less developed than the others.
 * Sequel Difficulty Drop: According to some fans, Pokémon Sun and Moon and its sequels are regarded as having "too much handholding," just like the newer entries, i.e. Pokémon Let's Go: Pikachu and Pokémon Let's Go: Eevee. Unlike the older games, that give Poketrainers the challenge, like not showing which types are effective and the Exp. Share is regulated to only that one mon that's wearing the Ex. Share helmet. In a weird twist however, this doesn't entirely translate to battling itself, since Sun and Moon have some of the toughest boss fights in the franchise thanks to how the Totem Pokemon fight. And Ultra Necrozma in the remakes is even more ridiculous.
 * Tier-Induced Scrappy: Crabrawler and its evolution Crabominable catch a lot of flack for being what are widely considered to be among the worst Pokemon to use in-game. While not terrible, they suffer from two major drawbacks: one being that Crabrawler cannot evolve until it reaches Mt. Lanakila... which is at the very end of the game, meaning that you have to lug around an unevolved Pokemon with middling stats through all of the game, where it has a really hard time keeping up with all the powerful Pokemon that pop up near the end. And the other drawback is that as a Crabominable, its slow speed and partial Ice typing do it no favors on a defensive front, and the only major opponents it can fight (The Elite Four and Champion) will, more often than not, have Pokemon that it's either weak to, or otherwise is disadvantaged against.
 * Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
 * It seems that Game Freak themselves are aware of this, since in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon,
 * It seems that Game Freak themselves are aware of this, since in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon,