They say that you can’t judge a book by it’s cover. It’s an expression that implies that the content of the book’s pages aren’t to be dismissed just because the cover itself isn’t terribly appealing, as an allegory for how a person’s character can be far different from what their appearance may imply. Sometimes, a literary masterpiece is disguised by a drab cover.

But what if the opposite is true? Could a garbage book be cleverly disguised by a cover which describes it as something it’s not?

For YouTube content creators, the thumbnail image is among the most important parts of the video. It doesn’t just identify the video among the sea of videos in someone’s recommendations, it says what your video is really about. Ideally, anyways. In some cases, the thumbnail is flat-out misleading.

Sadly, that’s the kind of crap that the Pokemon community has to deal with, as speculation about the upcoming 8th gen of Pokemon is building, and numerous YouTube content creators are out to fish up as many views as possible so they can benefit financially from the ad revenue.

Therefore, I’ve made a list of the worst clickbait thumbnails that are currently going around on YouTube. Because there are a lot of PokeTubers out there that are obviously motivated by greed, I have a lot to work with.

By Eryizo

I wonder how Eryizo was able to make a list of the top 5 new pokemon in gen 8 if the grand total of them revealed so far is zero? I don’t know, because I didn’t watch his video, and I’m not planning on it.

Also, his thumbnail will be the first of many on this list that attempts to pass off fan art as a newly-revealed pokemon. When I see thumbnails on YouTube of pokemon I’ve never seen before, the first thing I usually do is check a reputable news site such as Serebii.net to see whether it was revealed there. If so, the news site would be the best source of information for reveals outside of official sources. Then maybe I’d watch someone’s video about it if I were interested in their opinion.

Also, I liked Eryizo at one point, so it’s a shame to see him turn to the dark side.

By NGameTheCube

Hey look, more realistic looking graphics! What could that mean besides that some random guy on YouTube called NGameTheCube found some footage that, for some reason, only he has! Or it could be some fan mockup, which you see just about everywhere. What I want to know is, why did he choose a picture of two pokemon standing around being bored? Pokemon is about battling, so they could at least be facing each other.

By Twintendo

Would you check out how fresh and exciting this new game on new hardware will be by reusing official art a decade-and-a-half old that’s been doctored with an outfit to an evil team that we’ve already defeated? How new and fresh! Put aside, of course, that this implies yet another Hoenn remake when we’ve had one in the last gen.

Of course, there’s the obvious question of how this person was able to make a list of 5 features in gen 8 when absolutely zero are known to the public so far.

By Burlingtone

Burlingtone claims that he gained access to a leaked gameplay trailer for the next Pokemon games. The idea that some rudie poo YouTuber was resourceful enough to abscond with such a valuable resource requires quite a hearty suspension of disbelief. What really seals it is that he says that they’re called the Violet and Rose versions.

Yeah. Violet and Rose. Lame.

By Jimmy Tumor

One of the easiest templates to use when crafting your own fakemon is to make an Eeveelution, yet another evolved form for Eevee. If you’re already using a template, then a large part of the creative legwork has already been done for you, leaving you with less of an excuse to make something that looks lazy.

While we’re at it, can we just stop idealizing ancient Egypt, already? I know it’s weird and mysterious, but it’s far from the only ancient culture that existed.

By Some Northern Guy

We don’t know whether the next games will introduce new regional variant pokemon, but the escape clause for this thumbnail is that it doesn’t expressly state that they’re guaranteed to be included, only that that’s the subject. This makes this the thumbnail equivalent of that kid that rests his middle finger on his temple, but insists that he’s not flipping you off when you call him on it. It’s as dishonest as the kid is cowardly.

But could he have at least used a mock up variant of a pokemon that anyone cares about? Unless there’s some huge Noctowl community out there that managed to elude detection for 18 years.

WiiUGamer12

Thankfully, the answer is “no.” I’m glad that those aren’t the actual starters, because if they were, they’d be the lamest ones in the history of Pokemon. I’m not kidding, look at that cow. Someone managed to make a cow that looks stupider than the real thing. That thing would make the derpiest hamburger in history.

If you’re wondering what a Wii U is, believe it or not, Nintendo released a system between the Wii and the Switch.

By ThePokeRaf

Wow, forget Eryizo’s lame 5 pokemon list, some random guy managed to find 10 pokemon that weren’t revealed yet! Imagine the blatant violation of non-disclosure agreements that that took! If real, Nintendo would take this video down as soon as they noticed it!

But it’s still up. Awkward.

On the bright side, we don’t have to worry about that lame legendary appearing in a pokemon game. But I get the idea that if COPPA were vigorously enforced, we’d be seeing fewer fakes like this going around.

By Jimmy Tumor (again)

Jimmy has been spamming YouTube with these fakemons. While he does call them fanmade in the video titles, they come in the tail end of the titles, after a cutoff occurs on the main page. This, along with the thumbnail, makes you form your own first impression which hopefully leads to another view, and more ad revenue for having led you on.

By Mazz Ezzy

These gen 8 leaks look suspiciously like they came from a grade schooler’s sketchbook, where a couple failed drawings of animals just had random stuff drawn on them and then a sad attempt was made to pass them off as leaked legendary pokemon. If you’re going to try drawing legendaries, they should at least have a sense of majesty.

This is what you’re competing with:

Which is an actual legendary in the most recent games. Because this is what’s being called a legendary these days, making a cover legendary that looks lamer than any other cover legendary is like challenging people to care less.

Jimmy Tumor (yet again)

Please Jimmy, just stop.

There’s more. Lot’s more. To find it, just type “Pokemon gen 8” into the search at YouTube, and see the sad state of the Pokemon community.

Making clickbait thumbnails isn’t just a dishonest way to generate ad revenue, it demonstrates that their makers don’t respect our time, which is what we consume to see nothing but speculation and pointless discussion passed off as “leaks.” Such videos are a waste of time and bandwidth, and are a money making scheme that, sadly, works.

As a community, we have the solution to this problem: Instead of clicking on these videos, just open a new tab and check for Pokemon news to see whether it’s being discussed by reputable sources. If not, then it’s just some kid or NEET out to make a quick buck off ad revenue, and you don’t need to see his video at all.

Perhaps in the future I’ll make fun of some more thumbnails. Just because I posted this doesn’t mean that the clickbaiters should feel safe that I didn’t include their thumbnail or that they’ve “fallen under the radar.” As long as stupid stuff is posted on the internet, I’ll have plenty of material to work with.