Community reacts to the 2020 Pokemon of the Year vote

The results for the Google 2020 Pokemon of the Year are in and the winner is… Greninja!

The result of Greninja being crowned the 2020 winner will come as a surprise to many. In the build up to the vote, Greninja was hardly mentioned among the potential winners. Nevertheless, the final evolution of Froakie has provided quite an upset.

There had been a real feeling within the Pokemon community that one of the more famous, or known, species would win the vote. Pikachu, Charizard, Mew and even the likes of Lucario and Gible were among those expected to do well.

Bulbapedia

The 2020 Pokemon of the Year – Greninja!

2020 Pokemon of the Year – Full list

Lucario did finish in second place, with Mimikyu surprisingly finishing in third place. What’s interesting is that the Pikachu look-a-like finished in the top 3, while Pikachu itself didn’t even get in the top 10.

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There may have been surprises in the top 3 but Charizard being among the top will come as no surprise. Charmander’s final evolution has become a bit of a meme in recent years due to the Pokemon Company’s apparent obsession with the Kanto fire-starter.

Elsewhere, we all know how popular Eevee is, so it should come as no shock that two of the eeveelutions made it into the top 10. Sylveon and Umbreon finished sixth and fifth respectively. Here are the full results:

1. Greninja
2. Lucario
3. Mimikyu
4. Charizard
5. Umbreon
6. Sylveon
7. Garchomp
8. Rayquaza
9. Gardevoir
10. Gengar
11. Dragapult
12. Tyranitar
13. Bulbasaur
14. Toxtricity
15. Lugia
16. Rowlet
17. Aegislash
18. Chandelure
19. Pikachu
20. Eevee
21. Luxray
22. Decidueye
23. Zoroark
24. Lycanroc
25. Corviknight
26. Flygon
27. Hydreigon
28. Sceptile
29. Blaziken
30. Snom

Community reacts

The overall sense from the Pokemon community was that they were pleased with the results. Among the hardcore contingent, it seemed any winner other than Pikachu, Eevee, Charizard or any other ‘famous’ Pokemon would be welcomed.

“I’m even happier that Pikachu, Eevee, and Meowth didn’t even make the list,” DSK shared on Twitter.

Charizard got closest to the top and in a dig to the attention and publicity the infamous Flame Pokemon gets, Mark Hinman commented on the YouTube video: “I’m surprised that the whole list wasn’t Charizard.”

Other trainers keenly pointed out that the winner, Greninja, can’t be caught in Pokemon Sword and Shield – which is slightly ironic of course. “The number 1 pick for Pokemon of the Year 2020, Greninja, is not playable in Sword and Shield, like several hundred other Pokemon,” Dex Guy said on Twitter.

This is obviously a shot at the fact that Sword and Shield doesn’t include the National Pokedex. Whether Greninja and other missing ‘mons will become available at a later date remains to be seen.

These thoughts were echoed by AndrewFBR who said: “Greninja is the most popular Pokémon in the world, even more popular than Charizard, yet still cannot be transferred into SwSh.”

Interestingly, Pikachu and Eevee could only manage respective positions of 19 and 20 – rankings which will delight certain Pokemon fans.

Elsewhere, Mew and Mewtwo (despite having an upcoming movie named after it) couldn’t break into the top 30. They could only manage seventh and eighth rankings even among Kanto species.