>>54712890I feel like that's a uniquely Pokémon problem. Take something like Ace Attorney, for instance. It's a character-focused series and has a bunch of wacky and zany characters, down to the names. Yet if a "normal ass guy" like Larry were placed in that series he wouldn't really be a fan favorite. I think it's because the abnormalities of Ace Attorney characters feel less artificial and more self aware, you often hear the main character going "damn this dude's weird". That's not the case with Pokémon, so many characters feel so artificial in the way they act and as a player you're supposed to take it completely seriously unless they are explicitly comic relief. Therefore a character like Larry, a regular ass guy, is the antithesis of the traditional Pokémon character, a natural-feeling person in an almost completely artificial environment.
