There have been a lot of edgelords coming around lately talking about how unoriginal or how overly-cutesy the designs of pokemon are. But pokemon from the very start has always prioritized cuteness over edge, which I think helped it stand out a lot from other monster hunting contemporaries at the time. And has now set the standard for what people look for in a relatively low stakes comfort game.

Yes, Dugtrio with a party-mullet is ridiculous, and stupid. But Pokemon is a ridiculous series, and it ultimately doesn't matter. One of the most recent games had you pick your starter between a drummer gorilla, a soccer playing bunny, or a secret agent lizard. I think we've gone well past the times where we need to have Star Wars Wookiepedia levels of autistic nerdery around the super duper serious worldbuilding.