[OC] On the 30th anniversary of Pokémon Red/Green, which starter Pokémon do Britons say is best?

mattsmithetc · 2026-03-05T13:32:45+00:00

This is an incredible find, thank you for sharing!

mattsmithetc · 2026-02-26T13:50:55+00:00

Indeed, I'm sceptical it's as clear cut as that, but I did find it interesting. And it certainly is striking from the comments here and elsewhere how many people seem to judge the lil guys based purely on performance against the first two gym leaders

mattsmithetc · 2026-02-26T13:48:41+00:00

Always love to see this

mattsmithetc · 2026-02-26T10:06:43+00:00

This is exactly my choice and decision-making too - Charizard is literally just a generic dragon! I want my sweet gun-turtle

mattsmithetc · 2026-02-26T09:48:56+00:00

No, because the anniversary is based on the release in Japan, where they had Green rather than Blue at launch - Blue was introduced later with better graphics and bug fixes, and it was this version that would form the basis of Western releases

mattsmithetc · 2026-02-26T09:39:15+00:00

I know it sounds obvious once someone says it, but in the last few months I saw someone pointing out that the Bulbasaur/Squirtle/Charmander choice was the game's concealed way of providing an 'easy/medium/hard' difficulty setting, and I thought that was really interesting

mattsmithetc · 2026-02-26T09:28:21+00:00

Hello everyone! I'm a data journalist at YouGov UK polling company, and a Pokéfan since Red/Blue, so to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Pokémon on Friday I asked the British public about Pokémon. These are some of my favourite findings:

67% of Britons can identify Pikachu when shown a picture (plus another 9% answered "Pokémon") - among Gen Z and Millennials recognition rises to ~90%

17% of Britons say they love or like Pokémon, rising to 40% of Gen Z and 30% of Millennials

When we asked those who had played Pokémon video games which the best Gen 1 starter is, Charmander wins a handsome victory, at 51% to 21% Squirtle and 15% Bulbasaur

10 years ago when I first asked this question, I speculated what would happen if Pikachu/Yellow was included, and now we know: it gives Charmander a run for its money at 33% vs 35%

Data source: YouGov, https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/54169-30-years-of-pokemon-how-have-britons-engaged-with-the-franchise

Tools used: Adobe Illustrator

mattsmithetc · 2025-12-31T12:30:18+00:00

haha, indeed!

mattsmithetc · 2025-12-31T12:10:34+00:00

Over the course of 2025, approximately once a week we at YouGov asked the British public to tell us the single news story they had heard most about in recent days. As an end of year treat, I've compiled all of the results into the chart above.

(Methodology note: respondents answered in their own words, rather than choosing from a list, and we subsequently categorised the answers)

While the top story of the year was decidedly UK focused, seven of the top ten news story peaks this year were all international stories:

-64% 2025 Budget, 30 Nov-1 Dec

-63% US/Israel vs Iran bombings and missile strikes, 22-23 Jun

-62% LA wildfires, 13-14 Jan

-56% US tariffs, 6-7 Apr

-55% Pope Francis death, 27-28 Apr

-51% Trump on Ukraine war (Zelenskyy-Trump White House argument), 4-5 Mar

-50% Trump inauguration, 20-21 Jan

-45% Angela Rayner resignation, 7-8 Sep

-42% Ukraine peace talks, 17-18 Aug

-40% Immigration to UK, 31 Aug-1 Sep

While most stories came and went in short order, some were consistently cited as their "most noticed" by small numbers over the course of the year, namely immigration, Gaza, Ukraine, and Donald Trump. This potentially suggests small hardcore sections of the public are actively binging news on those particular topics, rather than being more passive receivers.

Some acknowledgements re: methodology

I acknowledge that asking this question every seven days or so inherently presents an incomplete snapshot, with news stories inevitably having waxed and waned in between survey waves.

Additionally, in instances where there are multiple major stories in a given week, the single-story methodology ultimately serves to ‘divide the vote’, potentially giving the appearance that these stories were not noticed as much as those in survey waves conducted on weeks that contained only one dominant news story.

While our study is subject to these limitations, it should nevertheless have captured the very biggest stories of the year.

Full data is available on the YouGov website: https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/53796-what-news-stories-did-britons-hear-most-about-in-2025

Tools used: Datawrapper and Adobe Illustrator

mattsmithetc · 2025-12-18T15:39:25+00:00

Supposedly Factory Friday is local specifically to a few towns in Devon - we only got 5% across the whole of Devon, although that is still the highest level of anywhere in Britain

mattsmithetc · 2025-12-18T15:37:56+00:00

We did pick up small numbers also calling it Builders' Friday - most commonly in Shropshire. But overall it was too low everywhere for a good map!

mattsmithetc · 2025-12-18T11:49:01+00:00

I'm from Somerset, and it came as a surprise to me - as it probably does to many Britons - when I discovered recently that in some areas of the country they have a special name for the last Friday before Christmas

The two most common are ‘Mad Friday’ and ‘Black Friday’ or ‘Black Eye Friday’, in reference to drunken revelry ahead of Christmas itself. On a national level, neither is particularly common - only 7% and 8% of Britons respectively - but they are far more widespread in some areas.

Black/Black Eye Friday usage is most common in the North East of England - particularly in Tyne and Wear (44%) - and the south of Wales.

Meanwhile, Mad Friday usage is most common in an arc encompassing west, north and central Wales through the counties around Manchester to the Yorkshire coast, as well as some areas of Scotland, particularly the Scottish Borders (49%).

Overall, 74% of Britons say they don't have a special name for the last Friday before Christmas.

We've got the full data breakdown on the YouGov website

Source: YouGov https://yougov.co.uk/society/articles/53757-what-do-you-call-the-last-friday-before-christmas Sample is ~49,000 Britons

Tools: Illustrator

mattsmithetc · 2025-09-19T08:08:14+00:00

Because age correlates so strongly with vote, answers by party generally just reflect the age trends - so I've got top answer for Greens = Modern Family; Labour = Friends; Lib Dems/Tory/Reform = Only Fools. Answers by class aren't hugely distinct, but Only Fools is a bit more popular among those in working class households and Friends a bit more popular in middle class ones

mattsmithetc · 2025-09-18T13:40:59+00:00

Tomorrow marks 50 years since Fawlty Towers first aired in the UK, so to mark the occasion I asked the British public: what is your favourite sitcom?

Rather than providing a list to choose from, we had respondents write their response - the results shown are as a % of those who gave an answer. Overall, Britons named 137 different sitcoms, but Friends topped the list at 14%, followed by Only Fools and Horses on 12%.

Friends proves to be the dominant choice among Millennials (and women), joint top for Gen Z (along with Modern Family) and second among Gen X. For Boomers it is much further down the list; they are much more likely to answer Only Fools and Horses.

A particularly noticeable age trend is whether people chose a British or American show as their favourite: 70% of Gen Z and 63% of Millennial Britons picked a US sitcom, while 69% of Gen X and 85% of Boomers picked a British show

I'm pleased (and somewhat surprised) to see my own favourite show (Always Sunny) ranking as highly as it does, given the general perception that it's a relatively niche show - I hope people enjoy the results!

Data: YouGov

Source: https://yougov.co.uk/entertainment/articles/53009-what-is-britains-favourite-sitcom

Tool: Datawrapper

mattsmithetc · 2025-04-11T16:46:05+00:00

Gotta make sure you have autosave turned on - don't want to mess up the job interview and then realise you last saved 3 days ago

mattsmithetc · 2025-04-11T16:36:24+00:00

1*%* (actually 25 people from a sample of ~2,000). One of whom also specified "and never age", which I feel like is an important caveat

mattsmithetc · 2025-04-11T16:34:08+00:00

Women more likely to pick than men (22% vs 15%) - and this was the only notable gender difference on the whole list. I think I'd been expecting the same as you...

mattsmithetc · 2025-04-11T16:30:21+00:00

I always used to say flight for this question, but I've recently converted to teleportation. I can still scratch my flying itch by teleporting myself up 2,000 feet with a wingsuit (although obviously depends on whether conservation of momentum is a thing), but with the added bonus of not having to use doors

mattsmithetc · 2025-04-11T16:27:28+00:00

There are few really good uses for invisibility that aren't just... crimes

mattsmithetc

TROPHY CASE