Hello, everyone!! Today we're going to be addressing something that we've been thinking about for a long time now - or since the revival of the website, at the very least. And that speficially is the limitations we currently have placed on G1 characters. Historically, G1 has always tended to be more exclusive, with G2 being where the main user involvement was centralized. But with the revival of the website, the rise in numbers in our community, among other varying factors, we've come to the decision that we'd like to remove the "exclucivity" aspect that has always applied to G1 and, like G2, have it be more open so that there aren't people who are barred from being a part of it simply because of a (mostly) arbitrary character cap. So, the tl;dr of it, to sum up everything that will be written below, is that we're removing the character cap and, moving forward, G1 is open to everyone (with a few exceptions/conditions/etc that are addressed below).

Character Caps
When we say that we're removing the character cap, we mean specifically as it pertains to G1 story mains overall. Certain character categories in G1 still have physical caps to the amount of characters that can be created for them (ex. 19 Originals) and certain families in G1 still have caps on the total amount of children they can have - specifically as far as originals go (ex. Water/Grass with their cap of 2 and Dragon/Fairy/Dark with their cap of 3). But the amount of characters that can be created for G1 overall no longer has a limit. This will allow people to have certain characters as mains that would have previously been treated as sides (such as half-glowchu children and predecessor offspring) otherwise, and also lifts the main character cap currently placed on all previous members.

Character Registrations (both paid and unpaid)
Throughout the history of G1, we have had alternating waves of payments for characters in exchange for "officiality" being required versus not being required. While G1 characters registrations before this point were officially unpaid, with the changes being made, they have been reverted back to being paid. Any characters that were unpaid that are currently registered will remain registered, but any characters that are registered down the line will require vouchers. Anyone who has a currently unpaid G1 main (which is basically everyone with a G1 story main at this point), will not be affected overall by this change, but unpaid characters will be formally account-locked and if traded, they will lose their main status and the new owner will need to pay to have them registered again (not that I expect anyone to actually trade their characters, but we want to address it just so the conditions are laid out regardless).

The Dividing Line Between Stock Preds/Preds and Side Clones/Clones
With this update, there is no longer a distinction between what were formerly known as Stock Predecessors versus Predecessors, or similarly, Side Clones versus Clones. The original clones/predecessors you associate with G1 are simply subgroups among a larger whole - kind of along the lines of the subgroups you commonly see in G2! It is important to note, however, that lorewise, Predecessors did not survive and the chance that we will end up including any others (aside from the original 10) beyond anything other than the prequel is very slim and therefore we would not recommend registering them as mains unless you're planning to port them into G2. Predecessors are the only G1 species that can be ported to G2.

Character Designs and Portrayal
Characters in G1 adhere to stricter design standards and overall characterization standards. This is something that will be elaborated upon later once we get the Creating a Character page fully updated. But in short, G1 characters cannot have mutations and must adhere to the standard of Glowchu designs (simple markings, no extra markings, normal colors, etc etc) - with few exceptions. They are also treated as being feral (more along the lines of what you see in the traditional pokemon anime) and we prefer that they aren't humanized (given full on clothes/weapons/houses/etc) in absolutely any capacity as they are still wholly beneath humans both in terms of intelligence and social hierarchy compared to G2 where they are the dominant species and more human-like in behavior/portrayal/social standing.

Character Trading/Selling/Etc/Generation Swapping
Because 90% of the characters in G1 are directly descended from the characters of others, we need to treat the selling/trading/etc of these characters a little differently than we would traditionally. If you pay for a voucher in order to create a character in G1, with very few exceptions, you are doing so only with the consent of the person whose character that YOUR character will invariably be tied to. For this reason, we can't simply allow people to trade/sell their G1 characters at their discretion, as it would directly impact the people whose characters that character is tied to. In situations where G1 characters are placed under new ownership, in absolutely any situation, unless the owners of the characters who are affected by that transfer are wholly aware and agree to said changes, the character will maintain it's officiality, but will be "demoted" to G2. We're not sure how we're going to handle the demotion process just yet, as it can result in some weird activity conflicts. So as of right now, it's not something users are volunarily able to do with their characters, but that's definitely something that's possible for the future!

There may be some points that we forgot to touch on or that will need more elaborating. If so, we'll add them as points on this news post as they come about! Otherwise, I think  we covered everything relatively well. But if you have any questions/concerns/etc, don't hesitate to reach out! <3