>>58810776I think he may drop ranks simply because these polls are quite heavy on the recency bias. If you notice, the only Pokémon character introduced before Gen 8 to have placed in any of them was Steven Stone with the comment mentioning Mastersex and Journeys, and 2023 - 2025 has been all Gen 9 and Kabu. If these polls existed for prior years, we'd see husbandos from when their games were in spotlight such as N, Submas, Volkner, Sycamore, and more Steven.
Rika placed first in all three years where SV was the latest game, Kabu for SWSH DLC's year, and Corbeau for ZA, and had ZA released in 2024 as initially planned, Corbeau would win first place for 2 years straight by this point. I don't know if that's a strength of Pokémon itself or the yume landscape in general since the poll was established.
I have no doubt that Gen 10 will have at least 1 placement in the next poll unless it massively messes up on characters, let alone the new hotness from that game reaching top 10 or even first. Rika and Corbeau will likely place again, Kieran, Grisham, and Urbain may also return, and Kabu may finally be off the list again for the first time since 2022.
