Pokemon GO’s Necrozma announcement overshadowed by avatar woes

Big changes are coming to Pokemon GO, and as the augmented reality monster-catcher continues to evolve in its eighth year, it's clear there's still plenty of the Pokedex to explore. Where the likes of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and The Walking Dead: Our World have kicked the bucket, Pokemon GO is still going strong.

Thankfully, it's more than just an ever-growing roster of 'mon that's keeping Pokemon GO alive, with regional forms, shinies, and new mechanics helping Niantic make bank from us wannabe Pokemon Masters. 2024 isn't short of ideas, as Pokemon GO confirms the arrival of Necrozma.

Necrozma is coming to Pokemon GO

Pokemon GO Fest 2024 has confirmed the arrival of Necrozma, but alongside its beefy stats on its own, the addition of fusions could be about to topple the likes of Shadow Metagross from the top of the game's meta. In particular, Dusk Mane Necrozma looks like it'll put other Steel-type Pokemon to shame. 

Alongside its standard form, Necrozma can fuse with Solgaleo or Lunala to create Dusk Mane Necrozma or Dawn Wings Necrozma. It'll cost you, but for 30 Cosmog Candy and 30 Necrozma Candy, you're well on the way. The final piece of the puzzle is 1,000 Solar Fusion Energy to get Dusk Mane Necrozma or 1,000 Lunar Fusion Energy for Dawn Wings Necrozma. 

Of course, it all comes at a cost, and unless you're attending in-person Pokemon GO Fest events in Sendai, Madrid, and New York City, the easiest way to get Solar Fusion is by paying $14.99 to earn it from exclusive Research Tasks from the July 13th and 14th global event. 

Give us back our avatars

Unfortunately, the announcement of Necrozma and the potential of fusions have been overshadowed by the whole avatar debacle. It might sound like a relatively minor gripe, but after Niantic overhauled our avatars back in April, the developer has been bombarded with complaints.

Not a single Pokemon GO announcement goes by without the comment section being swamped by calls for avatars to be reverted. Although we were supposed to get more diversity with our avatars, there was the accidental effect of their cute style being changed to reassemble potatoes (players' words, not ours). 

Responding to the Necrozma reveal, one critic raged, "That's great, but the only opportunity we want to fuse is our old avatars or at least a fix of the current mess. Some sort of acknowledgement would be nice too." Another joked, "Why not give us a special event where we get our avatars back?"

Dot Esports claims that the avatar changes were rushed and that major changes aren't on the horizon. Pokemon GO has even been review-bombed over its new avatars, and while trying to mask the scandal with Necrozma is a clever tactic, the whole situation has left a stink worse than Trubbish over in Pokemon GO.