For the first time in over 24 years, Pokemon has bucked its long-standing fashion trend of giving its female protagonists short skirts and shorts, opting to give the Pokemon Legends Z-A protagonist the widest pant legs I've ever seen.
Pokemon Crystal was the first game in the series to introduce a playable girl, aptly named Kris, aka Crystal. She, like Ethan/Gold, wears shorts, which must have made that climb up Mt. Silver pretty chilly.
No matter the temperature of the series' previous regions, all the girls you can play as don a short layer on their bottom half. This makes sense for May in the warm Hoenn region, but even Dawn in the Platinum's Wintery Sinnoh region wears a skirt.
Even in X and Y and Sword and Shield, games where you can change the appearance of your character, the default girl option always wears shorts or a skirt. That's finally changed with Z-A, and fans seem pleased.
"Pokegirls finally freed from the shorts/miniskirt curse after 29 years," reads an excited all-caps tweet. It's been liked over 81,000 times, so clearly, a lot of people share the sentiment.
POKEGIRLS FINALLY FREED FROM THE SHORTS/MINISKIRT CURSE AFTER 29 YEARS https://t.co/H8rDQzWy4cFebruary 27, 2025
Overall, I like the designs of the new protagonists. The colors are cool, I like the varsity-style jackets, and the girl's belt looks awesome. I'm less keen on the slightly M-shaped hats that make it look like they have little mouse ears under there, so if we get the option to change any of their clothes, that's the first thing I'll be swapping out.
The girl's trousers have already been the subject of some memes, with one of the replies comparing them to Daffy Duck's huge bell bottoms. One eagle-eyed fan also spotted that Urbain and Taunie look like the two protagonists, just with different clothes and hair colors, but their hairstyles are the same. So the current theory is whichever protagonist you don't choose will reappear as a friend, and in this case, Taunie has shorts.
More changes are coming to Pokemon Legends: Z-A, too. There's now a sort of parkour system that will allow you to jump over the rooftops of Lumiose City. I'm most excited about a new battle mechanic. It looks like Pokemon don't faint instantly when you reduce their HP to zero, making life a lot easier for nuzlockers and shiny hunters.
If you want to learn all the details for Z-A, check out everything announced at the Pokemon Presents yesterday.
