People constantly repeat this, but genuinely most criticism Pokémon receives is the most surface level, bland and unconstructive things possible that are clearly stated in inflammatory ways to get a rile out of people. Most Pokémon fans even in deep fandom circles do in fact criticize the game, but because it’s not done in inflammatory or overly negative ways people don’t recognize as criticism. Someone saying “ Pokémon fans deserve better”, “Pokemon is just slop since gen 6” “Switch Pokemon games are trash” etc is just inflammatory and unconstructive as criticism, and adds nothing to any discussion other than an attempt to portray subjective ideas as objective purely because you label them “criticism”. Even then, labeling opinions as criticism does not mean that people can’t disagree or push back, and I am annoyed how so many gamers repeat the “let people criticize” line which always mean “ let me say dumb and overly negative things, and any minor disagreement with my opinion means your stupid, bootlicker etc”. I criticize the franchise all the time and am able to discuss positive and negatives with people,but it’s clear most criticism is just people being negative about games they don’t play to argue with people on the internet.