Pokémon fans vote for their favourites and Pikachu isn’t even in the top 50

A new website is collating votes and comments on peoples’ favourite pokémon, although the top spot is still a partial win for Pikachu.

There is currently a grand total of 1,025 pokémon, with even more to follow in Pokémon Winds & Waves next year, which is too many for any but the most dedicated Pokémon fans to easily remember.

The roster’s grown so big that, starting with Pokémon Sword & Shield in 2019, the mainline games can no longer include every single one of them from the start. However, none of them disappear forever, since even the most forgettable pokémon is someone’s favourite.

As such, a new fansite encourages people to vote on their personal favourites and after only three days has attracted over 72,200 votes, although the most popular pokémon might catch you by surprise.

Rather than any of the usual suspects from the original Pokémon Red and Blue games, like Pikachu or Charizard, the number one belongs to ghost/fairy type Mimikyu, which has accrued 927 votes at time of writing.

Mimikyu debuted in 2016’s Pokémon Sun and Moon and is famous for the fact that it’s described as a very lonely pokémon that disguises itself as series mascot Pikachu.

It’s also said that anyone who sees its true form underneath its disguise dies, but that’s not something the games have ever depicted directly.

Based on some of the comments people have left to explain their choice, Mimikyu fans seem to overlook that second part and are sympathetic to its plight, while others just find it cute.

‘Relatable little guy, they just want to be loved even if it means pretending to be someone they’re not,’ writes Satsu.

‘Dressing up as something cute and lovable because you’re scared nobody will love what you truly are. I hope one day, Mimikyu, that you’ll learn to live. Not under the guise of another, but as yourself,’ writes Kian.

‘He’s cute, for one. Also deceptively strong in battles! Carried me through Pokemon Violet, will carry me further too!’ writes Firs.

Mimikyu’s success here also makes sense when you remember it made the top 10 in Google’s own Pokémon of the Year ballot in 2020, also outperformingPikachu. It still came third overall, though, losing the top spot to Greninja from Pokémon X and Y.

Surprisingly, for this new list, Greninja has scored much lower, coming in at 116th place with just 171 votes. Although even more shocking is that Pikachu is only at 70th place, with 239 votes.

If you’re curious, the pokémon with the least amount of votes is currently a three-way tie between Trumbeak (from Sun and Moon), legendary pokémon Tapu Bulu (also from Sun & Moon), and Tadbulb (from Scarlet and Violet).

All three have only two votes each, although we doubt anyone actively dislikes them; they’re just not especially memorable.

Not that that matters since the purpose of the site was to determine if every pokémon was someone’s favourite. In a post on the Pokémon subreddit, the site’s creator, Mixel34P, said they had two questions they wanted answering:

• What will the very last pokémon that will be discovered by the community be?
• Will there ever be a pokémon so rare that not even one user picked it?

Turns out the answer to the second question is none of them, though the site has recorded the final five pokémon to receive a vote: Arrokuda, Capsakid, Brute Bonnet, Nymble, and Quaxwell.

Interestingly, all but Arrokuda are from the most recent game, Scarlet and Violet, so this is likely due to a lack of nostalgia amongst older fans.

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