Pixelmon Mod

Of course, the new, smooth models look great and it's wild that they took the time to model nearly a thousand Pokemon like that... but it really has never felt like Minecraft to me. Nothing from the mod really fits with the rest of the game aesthetically, and it's honestly really jarring when coming back to the mod after a while.

If I had any modeling talent, I'd start a project dedicated to making a resource pack just creating blocky (but consistent) models for every smooth model in the mod. But, I don't, so really I've just gotta deal with the smooth models.

But does anyone else feel the same way?

This has been an ongoing debate for years. And there are good arguments for both sides.

For the most part, the team tries to get as close to the original games as possible, and visually pleasing models are a part of that. It also showcases the talent of our community (many of the assets aren't done by the core team, but created by volunteers from the community). Additionally, the complexity of some of the Pokémon designs - especially newer ones - are hard to do in a style consistent with Vanilla Minecraft.

On the other hand, you're right that it stands out a lot. While Minecraft's gameplay provides a good basis for an open world sandbox Pokémon mod, its esthetic varies a lot from that of the Pokémon franchise.
While custom models aren't officially supported, it might be interesting to see an approach to what a fully blocky Pixelmon would look like.

The new sleek models can really change the aesthetics of the game and look a bit unusual in the context of its blocky graphics. While the new models offer an updated look and may be attractive to some players, understanding that they are not everyone's cup of tea is important for the developers and community. This is a great incentive to create alternative solutions such as resource packs that can bring back the feeling of old Minecraft.
Your idea of creating a resource pack with block models for smooth Pokemon sounds great!

Hi there. Just to note, this post is a few years old. We're currently in the process of creating a Nostalgia Mode for Pixelmon that toggles Smooth models into Blocky ones (the Blocky models are made using BlockBench). You can see a sneak peak of one of them here on our Twitter: https://x.com/PixelmonMod/status/1643028191726936064?s=20