RIP Zapdos: You Will Be Missed By Some, But Not Many

thegamer.com:

Today we bid farewell to Zapdos, the big zappy bird that has been the bane of every Pokemon Unite player’s existence for the last 12 months. With the start of Season 10, Remoat Stadium has been replaced by a brand new map, Theia Sky Ruins. Thus the reign of Zapdos has ended - at least for now. Sleep well, you majestic creature, or, alternatively, go to hell where you belong.

Zapdos was a complicated figure in Pokemon Unite. Every match, Zapdos would spawn in the middle of the map at exactly 2:00, signaling the final stretch of the game and the start of the final team battle. The reward for killing Zapdos was a total deactivation of the enemy’s goal, so fighting over this objective was the top priority in every game. Whichever team gets the last hit on Zapdos almost always goes on to win the game, no matter how far behind they may have been before the fight. For this reason, Zapdos is largely reviled by the community.

All over Twitter, Unite players have been paying their respects/celebrating the demise of Zapdos this week. “Rest in peace Zapdos,” wrote one Twitter user. “Gone, but never forgiven.” The fan account @PokeUniteES tweeted a picture of the Zapdos ascending the stairway to heaven with the rest of the Remoat Stadium wild Pokemon, and the replies have not been kind. “I will miss all of you except the electric bird,” wrote one player. “Goodbye damn Zapdos, I hope you don’t come back!” wrote another. Many are relieving themselves of 12 months built-up resentment, like @MosaMosaEX_ who wrote “So long Zapdos, you will never be missed. Good fuckin riddance!”

I asked players to share their final thoughts on Zapdos and some of the replies were a lot more empathetic than you might expect. Unite YouTuber and WCS caster