I love how you describe Black and White 2s’ protagonist designs. I cannot stand these, and this is the first pokemon game where both the main characters look terrible to me. Do you have a favorite “protagonist” of any of the pokemon games (including X and Y). Mine’s the X and Y girl, as she looks like she actually has a personality other than being ambiguously heroic

Oh, I don’t think I’d go so far as to call them terrible.  They look a little bit ridiculous, but I think one of the things you just have to accept about this universe is that anyone even slightly important is going to look ridiculous (to a degree that, broadly speaking, increases through generations).  The player characters generally haven’t done that as much, but really, Brendan’s hair… hat… er… whichever it is…

Personally?  I’ve always had kind of a soft spot for Ethan (the male GSC/HGSS player character) although I agree with you regarding the new female character; she does has a certain je ne sais quoi.