Sheet 02 · Specimen #0000051 · Gaming → Pokémon → Starter Pokémon reception · 2016
Popplio, Brionne, and Primarina
Water-type Pokémon that users hated, then loved
Rejected. It isn’t going to the Arctic.
“It got 21 percent in the official Twitter poll, then evolved into an opera singer and everyone apologised.”
Why Noah said no
Popplio was the clown-nosed sea lion starter from Pokémon Sun and Moon (2016) that lost every fan poll, then got forgiven once Primarina showed up. Fans turn on a new starter at every Pokémon reveal, and most of this article is the creature's design and appearances in the games and anime.
- Rejected
- 24 Oct 2026
- Original size
- 27.3 KB
- Made by
- Wikipedia contributors
Found via Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popplio,_Brionne,_and_Primarina
What it is
Popplio is a sea lion Pokémon introduced in the 2016 games Pokémon Sun and Moon. It had a poor initial reception on social media for its design, but opinion shifted when players saw its final evolved form, Primarina.
Why it’s internet culture
The specimen shows how online gaming communities form strong opinions about character design before seeing the full picture, then collectively reverse course once new information arrives. It captures a particular kind of fandom behaviour: early consensus followed by public rehabilitation.
In 2016 Pokémon fans decided within days that Popplio, the sea lion starter, was the ugly one, voting it last in polls, then softened once its final form, Primarina, was revealed. Fans pile on a new starter design like this at every Pokémon reveal.
What Noah read
Popplio ( ), Brionne ( ), and Primarina ( ), known as Ashimari (Japanese: アシマリ, Hepburn: Ashimari), Osyamari (Japanese: オシャマリ, Hepburn: Oshamari), and Ashirene (Japanese: アシレーヌ, Hepburn: Ashirēnu) in Japan, are a trio of Pokémon species in Nintendo and Game Freak's Pokémon franchise. The three were introduced in the 2016 video games Pokémon Sun and Moon. Popplio is a Water-type pinniped Pokémon that is primarily blue. After gaining enough experience, it evolves into Brionne, and then into Primarina. Responses to the trio have generally been mixed. Popplio was met with a strong negative reception upon its debut for its design, though it has retrospectively been viewed in a better light due to the designs of its evolutions. Concept and design Popplio, Brionne, and Primarina are a trio of species of fictional creatures called Pokémon created for the Pokémon media franchise. Developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo, the Japanese franchise began in 1996 with the video games Pokémon Red and Green for the Game Boy, which were later released in North America as Pokémon Red and Blue in 1998. In these games and their sequels, the player assumes the role of a Trainer whose goal is t…
The rest wasn’t kept.
History
Rejected
“Popplio was the clown-nosed sea lion starter from Pokémon Sun and Moon (2016) that lost every fan poll, then got forgiven once Primarina showed up. Fans turn on a new starter at every Pokémon reveal, and most of this article is the creature's design and appearances in the games and anime.”