Pokemon Go October Community Day shorts players – instead we get worms

The announcement that Pokemon Go’s October Community Day will focus on Sewaddle has trainers frustrated and confused – and for good reason.

With past Community Days focusing on starters and base forms of pseudo-Legendaries like Goomy and Beldum, it’s clear why Unova’s early-game worm is such an underwhelming choice in comparison.

Beyond being a generally forgettable Pokemon, Sewaddle and its evolutions – Swadloon and Leavanny – aren’t great in battle. Their Bug/Grass typing gives them six weaknesses, with double vulnerability to Flying and Fire, and their stats don’t make up for it.

But while Sewaddle would have been an odd choice for any Community Day, it’s especially frustrating in October, as it means Pokemon Go won’t be highlighting one of the franchise’s many beloved spooky creatures.

October Community Day misses a chance to celebrate Ghost-type Pokemon

The Pokemon Company

Ghost-type Pokemon have been around since the very beginning and include among their ranks some of the most popular and memorable ‘mon like the classic Gengar and the tragic Mimikyu.

While some, like Gastly and Duskull, have been the focus of previous Community Days, you don’t have to look further than the community reactions to the Sewaddle news to find some great candidates for a spooky October event.

“I was counting on Phantump for October this year,” said one Reddit user.

YouTuber Ace Trainer Liam had a similar response to the Sewaddle Day announcement, mentioning Ghost-type options like Greavard, Dreepy, Pumpkaboo, and Yamask.

While Dreepy Community Day seems unlikely in the near future considering the Pokemon was just added in the Go All Out event, any of the others mentioned would have made a lot of sense. In addition to being Ghost-types, Phantump, and Pumpkaboo are pretty rare, Greavard hails from the most recent generation, and Yamask has a regional form that would tie in nicely with the Max Out season’s Galar theming.

In fairness to Niantic, the developer hasn’t given players a reason to expect this month’s event to be Halloween-themed. Out of the previous six October Community Days held so far, only two centered on a Ghost-type: Duskull in 2021 and Litwick in 2022.

Still, even those pre-2021 events centered around Pokemon players cared about. Last year’s October Community Day starred Timburr, a Fighting-type whose final evolved form Conkeldurr is fairly strong.

Instead, October 2024 is giving Pokemon Go trainers Sewaddle for Community Day. And while many fans, myself included, have very fond memories of Pokemon Black and White and the Unova region, it’s hard to imagine any die-hard Sewaddle fans making the case that the Sewing Pokemon befits this honor.