Do "true" genwunners even exist?

[Quillion]

Because I don't think they do. Yes, there's a very ugly backlash towards genwunners being the ones holding the franchise back from evolving.

The closest thing I've ever encountered to a genwunner is someone who loves Gen I and II and despises everything else. These people aren't really hard to find. Genwuntooer would be a more accurate description, but that doesn't roll off the tongue as well.

Because of this, I can only come to two conclusions about the "genwunner" term.

1. That it's actually a misnomer for everyone who only likes the first to gens.
2. That it really is a shortening of genwuntooer.

I'll go with the first one since there's no proof of the latter,

 

[finalark]

I've met plenty of people who only like gen one. Usually these people never really played that much of the games and just watched the anime but grew out out/switched over to Yu-Gi-Oh when gen 2 started. Although I will agree that people forget that Pokemania did spill over into Gen 2, according my research the gen 1 games did outsell gen 2, but not by much. I still feel like it's popularity declined significantly to give way to the previously mentioned Yu-Gi-Oh or Harry Potter or any other major craze of the early 2000s I might be forgetting about.

That being said, I have met a few people who dislike the changes made in Gold/Silver. Although most of the time these people just say things to intentionally provoke Pokemon fans and really don't give a **** about the series either way. Not that it really matters since people who only like gen one don't actually like Pokemon, just the memories they associate with it.

 

[Iblistech]

I'll say one thing: They aren't true main series Pokemon fans if they only like one generation and despise the rest.

 

[finalark]

I'll say one thing: They aren't true main series Pokemon fans if they only like one generation and despise the rest.

Pretty much this. If you only like one game in an entire series you really can't call yourself a fan of it. Maybe a fan of just that one game, but not the entire series.

It's like saying you love Zelda when the only game you like is Ocarina of Time.

 

[Quillion]

I'll say one thing: They aren't true main series Pokemon fans if they only like one generation and despise the rest.

Again, the closest I've ever seen is people who like the first two gens; not just gen one.

 

[Substitution]

If we can live in world where people will send death threats to others all because they don't share the same opinion on a game, then I can believe Genwunners exist.

 

[finalark]

Again, the closest I've ever seen is people who like the first two gens; not just gen one.

I know some people who only like the first three gens. Although these people are usually in their early 20s and "outgrew" the series by gen four, so yeah. Same case as genwunners or gentwoers who don't actually like Pokemon, just the nostalgia.

Although on that note, I personally have met people who only like gen one. Maybe you're just lurking around the wrong places to find them.

 

[Quillion]

I know some people who only like the first three gens. Although these people are usually in their early 20s and "outgrew" the series by gen four, so yeah. Same case as genwunners or gentwoers who don't actually like Pokemon, just the nostalgia.

Although on that note, I personally have met people who only like gen one. Maybe you're just lurking around the wrong places to find them.

Maybe it's because they went into hiding because genwunners are now one of the most hated groups in the fandom now since there's a perception that they're "holding back" the series.

Another thing, genwuntoothreeers (one-two-three-ers) only started existing just now. It took a really long time for them to surface.

 

[finalark]

Maybe it's because they went into hiding because genwunners are now one of the most hated groups in the fandom now since there's a perception that they're "holding back" the series.

Another thing, genwuntoothreeers (one-two-three-ers) only started existing just now. It took a really long time for them to surface.

I'd imagine you don't see many genwunners because either A: They're too old to give a damn now or B: Because they've had their run revisiting Pokemon and are ready to move onto other things now.

You see people who only like gen two and three now because the generation that grew up with those games is in college now and is eagerly revisiting their childhood for the sake of nostalgia. They'll move onto other things soon enough.

 

[ZephyrZ]

I've met a genwunner or two back in the old days when Gen 5 was coming around.

I specifically remember one who tried to argue that generation 1 was much "darker", which I suppose it's true to some extent(Ghost Marowak), but it's certainly not franchise-changing.

But as the years went on, and X and Y came around, I've seen less and less. It's as if they've disappeared from the online community altogether. Maybe Mega Charizard or Pokemon Origins got them to shut up or something. I dunno.

 

[HeavyLobster]

Most true genwunners were casual Pokemon fans in the late 90s when it was everywhere and moved on to other things after that. You might find them every so often, but they don't show up on Pokemon forums or anything because they don't care anymore, save perhaps for a few childhood memories. People who are still Pokemon fans generally like the other gens to some extent, even if gen 1 happens to be their favorite due to nostalgia.

 

[finalark]

I've met a genwunner or two back in the old days when Gen 5 was coming around.

Usually whenever a new game comes out that's when you see them come out of the woodwork. Gen 5 had it the hardest, though. Every nostalgia-blind "fan" did nothing but endlessly complain about how Nintendo is running out of ideas, usually citing garbador and vanilluxe as examples, completely ignoring the badass deer Pokemon or the badass crocodile Pokemon that was introduced that gen.

But yeah, I also noticed that nobody seemed to complain about gen six. With the sheer amount of gen one pandering in that game either those folks were satisfied or they stopped caring.

 

[Firus]

"True genwunners" definitely exist. I think my sisters are probably both genwunners to a degree, where they stopped playing pretty early on (one of them only played gen 1, my oldest sister played up through gen 2) and they tend to be critical of anything after the original 151. My older sister's done more with later gens so maybe not so much with her, but I think for the most part they'd both cite the "they started running out of ideas after the first games" argument.

I definitely think "genwuntooers" are more common, because gen 2 hit close enough to the original craze that a lot of people still got into it, and I think the nostalgia is so thoroughly lodged within fans that even those who have continued to play cite the early games as the best, but that doesn't mean genwunners don't exist. Though to be honest, anybody who cites any generation as the endpoint of good anything isn't doing anybody any favors and is probably blinded by nostalgia. Which is fine if it that's what makes them happy, but tearing down others who disagree or trying to tell Game Freak to just go back to the beginning isn't cool. I've been dissatisfied with certain gens at certain points in time, but after replaying all of the games recently I've loved all of them and, at the very least, they all have something to offer to somebody out there. So terminology doesn't really matter to me (I don't even think I've heard "genwunner" before the last year), nor does the specific gen they're discriminating based on.