My review of 2025 Birmingham Regionals

Last weekend, I went to the 2025 Birmingham Regionals as a spectator. It was my first regionals and my third Pokémon event overall after Worlds in 2022 and EUIC in 2024. Given the proximity to where I live and knowing people there, I went with my partner and had a great time.

The event was held at the NEC, Birmingham and it was my first time there too. Not competing meant I didn’t have to travel over from my hotel too early and could relax a lot more and take in everything the event had to offer. We walked around the various stalls selling more plushies than I’d ever seen and a host of Pokémon cards at eye-watering prices. I held out and didn’t get anything but my partner got a couple of plushies.

The venue itself was perfect for this kind of regional. It wasn’t as big as ExCeL London but it didn’t feel claustrophobic either. There was space for everyone to do their own thing and get food and drink inside the hall if they wanted, in contrast to the ExCel where you had to leave the hall to get anything that wasn’t merch.

As for the event itself, I was mainly there for VGC and enjoyed all the matches and the general atmosphere (even if it did get controversial on the Saturday, IYKYK). Congratulations to William Bassolino on his maiden title, Oliver Eskolin on another final, and all the competitors who took part (there were 571 apparently!) And a special shout out to Ben White who made it to the top 100 in only his second regional and was at the top of the leaderboard for a period. Incredible achievements!

And I finally got to meet Charlie Merriman (merry by name; merry by nature!), a VG caster and Pokémon content creator who I’d known since connecting with him back in 2022(?) on Twitter. Not only that but I also got to meet a few people from Charlie’s Discord—which I’m a member of—and take part in a 8192 shiny hunting challenge where we all had to shiny hunt for an hour in a Gen 2–5 and see how many we could get in that time. In the end, two people got shinies (a Shellos and a Throh) and it was so fun to join in.

Worlds 2022 and EUIC 2024 have special places in my heart for different reasons but Birmingham is my overall favourite to date and made me feel like I was part of the community, more than I’ve ever felt. Thank you to everyone I met who were part of that and I hope to see you and others soon!