Allister

About

Allister is a Ghost-type gym leader set to appear in Pokémon Sword and Shield. After he appeared in a trailer before the game's release, he quickly inspired lots of fan art, as fans of the series appreciated his emo style.

Origin

On July 8th, 2019, The Official Pokémon YouTube Channel posted a video trailer for the upcoming Sword and Shield games, introducing new characters and gym leaders, a new mechanic called Gigantamaxing, and several new Pokémon, including Alcremie (shown below). One of the new gym leaders was Allister, a Ghost-type user.

After Allister's reveal, the Pokémon Twitter account^[1] posted information about Allister, writing:

Meet Allister, the Ghost-type Gym Leader!
Allister is a talented Trainer of Ghost-type Pokémon who became a Gym Leader at a young age. He rarely makes public appearances and seems to spend most of his time near ruins or cemeteries.

The company also revealed that Allister would only be a Gym leader in an as-yet unnamed town in Pokémon Shield, whereas a Fighting-type user, Bea, would be a Gym leader in that town in Pokémon Sword.^[2]

Spread

Twitter users were quick to joke about Allister's design and post fan art for the character. Twitter user @Blupro^[3] joked that Allister's design made him appear much more sinister than Ghost type users of previous games, gaining over 40 retweets and 120 likes (shown below, left). User @ichiiart^[4] posted art of the character with the joke caption, "Gamefreak said emo rights," gaining over 60 likes (shown below, right).

Other users posted fan art of the character, praising his design. User @LadySuuke^[5] posted art that gained over 2,900 retweets and 7,500 likes (shown below, left). User @TimLiljefors^[6] posted art that gained over 940 retweets and 3,800 likes (shown below, right). Enthusiasm for Allister was covered by Kotaku.^[7]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References