Professor Willow from 'Pokémon Go' needs to be immediately sacked

Worst. Professor. Ever.
 By 
Sam Haysom
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

LONDON -- As someone who's been life-alteringly addicted to Pokémon Go for over seven months now, I feel I'm as qualified as anyone to make the following statement: Professor Willow, as helpful as he may occasionally seem, needs to lose his job.

The guy is literally the worst professor in the world.

To begin with it sort of seemed like he knew what he was doing. With his wild grey hair and lab coat he at least looked the part, and he was there to guide us through the start of the game in the same grandfartherly way that Professor Oak used to do. He even had people writing think-pieces about how he was "kind of hot", while others actually made fan art about him.

But it wasn't long before the cracks began to show.

First, there was this monstrosity in the end of October update.

Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Now I'm no scientist, but I'm pretty sure Willow's not going to be getting the Nobel Prize in Physiology anytime soon for this particular nugget of information.

I mean it's literally taken him more than three months to work out the colour of a few eggs.

This was followed by a series of other, similarly naff "discoveries".

Slowly, the tide of public opinion began to turn.

Then December rolled round, and Professor Willow took things one discovery too far.

It's unclear whether people were fed up with Professor Willow's "discoveries" by this stage, or whether he'd simply become the scapegoat for people's increasing frustration with the game in general -- but either way, he suddenly became public enemy number one.

Someone even started a thread on Reddit describing him as the "worst Professor ever".

Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Flash forward now to Feb. 15 and the official announcement of Gen II, though, and Professor Willow is nowhere to be seen.

No mentions of his name. No mentions of any more "discoveries".

It seems clear that he's either a) gone into hiding or b) has neglected his professor duties to such a shocking extent that he hasn't even noticed 80+ new species of Pokémon.

At this point, it seems as though the only thing left is for Professor Willow to do the honourable thing and step down.

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Sam Haysom

Sam Haysom is the Deputy UK Editor for Mashable. He covers entertainment and online culture, and writes horror fiction in his spare time.

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