Pokemon Go’s Professor Willow Is Hot Now, But Is It Really Him?

thegamer.com:

Pokemon Go has had a turbulent season, in terms of both the events that we played and the story that we watched unfold. My esteemed colleague Eric Switzer broke down exactly what worked and what didn’t during the Season of Go, but I’m here to talk about the juicy lore we saw dished out over the past few months.

“Pokemon Go has lore?” I hear you ask. There’s no need to be so incredulous, just because it’s a live-service mobile game doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a story to power you through the seasons and link each new event to the next. I’ll admit it’s not always amazing, with our good Professor Willow often bending over backwards to contort the story into something that ties in with a Psychic Spectacular or Bug Out.

Related: Pokemon Scarlet & Violet’s Cyclizar Is Clearly A Legendary Pre-Evolution, Right?

Hoopa’s slow unveiling during the Season of Mischief was played out over months of challenges and events connected by a singular Special Research story. It was one of Pokemon Go’s best examples of long-term storytelling, and the Season of Go had similar potential. It’s no coincidence that both Hoopa and Ultra Beasts have time-traveling, space-altering portals as parts of their stories, which helps connect seemingly disparate events with an overarching story, “because portals.” It works better than it sounds, trust me.

The Season of Go introduced Ultra Beasts, who apparently kidnapped our lovely professor and held him hostage. Okay, maybe his curiosity got the better of him and he dove into a portal, but you get the picture. In his place, Rhi from the Ultra Recon Squad gave us missions and tasked us with tracking down the very beasts that had portalled our professor and whisked away our Willow. This was a refreshing