The Brit who created the best and worst Pokémon is now overseeing all of them

Graphic designer James Turner left the Pokémon series in 2022, but he’s been brought back to serve as its new creative director of art and design.

With Pokémon Winds and Waves not due until next year, it’s unclear if Game Freak and The Pokémon Company have already finished designing every new pokémon that will be added.

If they haven’t, it sounds like new pokémon going forward will now be overseen by one James Turner; a name some diehard fans of the franchise will recognise.

Turner previously worked at developer Game Freak as a pokémon and character designer, starting with Pokémon Black & White and later served as art director on the UK-themed Pokémon Sword & Shield, which is fitting since Turner himself is British.

This made him the first Westerner to design new pokémon, although he’s perhaps best known for creating the Vanillite line of pokémon, which resemble ice cream cones and are considered by many (including us) to be some of the worst designed pokémon in the series, especially the middle evolution Vanillish.

However, these are by no means his only creations as he’s credited with also designing a few of the deliberately bizarre Ultra Beasts from Pokémon Sun & Moon, and Pikachu’s adorably chunky Gigantamax form.

Ironically, he also designed one of our favourite pokémon as well, in the form of Sinistea, which is basically a haunted teacup, and its evolution Polteageist – which is a haunted teapot. Did we mention that he’s British?

Whatever you may think of Turner’s contributions, The Pokémon Company clearly thinks he has the right eye for pokémon designs, as he has been brought in as creative director of pokémon art and design.

Turner hasn’t specified exactly what his new job entails, only saying on X, ‘It feels great to be working in the world of Pokémon again, with a lovely group of people. I’m very excited about what comes next!’

This comes after leaving Game Freak four years ago, so he could set up his own studio, All Possible Futures, which released its debut game, The Plucky Squire, in 2024. A game that looked amazing but didn’t play so well, but then he has nothing to do with gameplay at Pokémon.

A quick glance through the replies to Turner’s announcement shows a lot of Pokémon fans are thrilled he’s working on the franchise again, thanking him for creating some of their favourite pokémon… including the Vanillite line.

Considering there are over 1,000 pokémon now, after 30 years of the franchise, even the less popular creations are going to be someone’s favourite. One fansite that asks people to vote for their favourite pokémon proves this.

However, according to the site, the Vanillite line is definitely on the lower end of the popularity scale. At the time of writing, the final evolution – Vanilluxe – has received only 140 votes, while Vanillite itself has 117 votes.

We feel vindicated seeing Vanillish is the least popular of the three at only 35 votes, but it’s still scored higher than plenty of pokémon from the most recent generation – Pokémon Scarlet & Violet – which haven’t been out long enough for people to grow nostalgic for.

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