Pokemon Go avatar updates are finally here and they’re hideous

Niantic has unveiled customization for Pokemon Go avatars globally, and quite frankly, they are terrible and a tragic departure from the previous versions.

The Rediscover Go campaign by Niantic has been a major disappointment for Pokemon Go players so far. If the looming Kanto revisit wasn’t bad already, everyone is shocked by the much-hyped avatar customization feature.

While this update is now available worldwide in Pokemon Go, many already got a teaser of what’s to come since it was accessible early for certain trainers, and needless to say, it was nasty. Instead of looking more like us, as communicated by the devs, the avatars were grotesque versions of our old in-game selves.

Now, weeks after testing the new avatars and announcing them as part of ‘Rediscover Yourself,’ fans would have expected the devs to rework the designs, but they turned out no good. It’s almost like Pokemon Go is improving in the wrong direction.

The new avatars look too childlike, have weird proportions on the arms and legs, and have no gender differences. Even the much-hyped hair and body customization options feel out of touch with what you would expect out of a major Pokemon game.

A game that has been a sensation for nearly eight years, run by a prominent company in the AR industry, and promises to grow more in the next 10 years should have created better graphics, but players are now missing the pre-update avatars already and have slammed Niantic for the same.

When a user named ‘The_Scrungler’ showed their new avatar on Reddit, calling it “awful,” fellow players were shocked and gave their own tidbits on why they hate their avatars after the update.

Trainers called it everything from “hideous,” “hot garbage,” and “creepy,” as they hope Niantic fixes the mess ASAP. A user wrote, “This is terrible. Niantic clearly doesn’t know how body shapes look like,” before adding: “These shapes are just disgusting.”

The designs prompted some to recall the messed up models of the Team Leaders in 2022. “It definitely feels like a huge downgrade. Similar to when they massacred the designs of the beloved team leaders Blanche, Candela, and Spark,” a fan mentioned. “The faces are bad, the arms are bad, the necks are bad, the posture is bad.”

With Go Fest 2024 on the horizon and Pokemon Go hinting at fusions for the Gen 7 Legendaries, it would be in the best interest of players to fix the poorly executed avatar changes at the earliest so that they don’t play spoilsport to the exciting new additions.