As a member of the FGC, I am quite familiar with the “pop off,” when a player excitedly celebrates a win on stage. It has become a form of self-expression and passion in games like Super Smash Bros, but it has apparently been a source of non-stop drama for the Pokémon esports crowd since the Orlando Regional Championships.

A Pokémon GO player, Aaron “Firestar73,” was given a penalty after winning the Grand Finals when he jumped up and pumped his fist in the air. This penalty cost him the win. Now, he’s sharing exactly what happened – and what should happen going forward.

Firestar73 was pretty nervous going into Day 2, but the matches were going quite well throughout the day. It turned out to be the first time he had ever been guaranteed a Top 3 spot.

Before the Grand Finals, Firestar73 was still nervous. He admitted to “shaking” as he walked up to do the pre-match interview. It was a tough battle, and he was able to reset the bracket 3-1. However, when he asked the judges for a break between sets to calm his nerves, they declined.

The intense back-and-forth continued. The judges gave Firestar73 a warning for “two light table hits,” which happened when he felt overwhelmed during the match. He noticed that this wasn’t a warning given to other players who had done this. It was now 2-2 and going into the final game. It was another intense battle, but his team prevailed.

“As soon as the Quagsire fainted, I knew the game was over, as I would win charged attack priority with Empoleon over Corviknight and would take the victory,” he wrote. “I spontaneously fist-pumped seconds before the victory was final, which unknowingly made the table shake because my body was in contact with it. The shaking was very minimal (which is again proven by the video). It affected the broadcast for a singular second. This did not affect the game in any way for me or my opponent — again, this is provable from the video.”

After winning Game 5, he “celebrated” by tossing his headphones down, standing up, and looking toward the crowd. He fist-pumped and then shook hands with his opponent. After catching his breath and hugging his Jirachi plushie, Firestar73 was told that the game win is “in contention” over “unsportsmanlike conduct” in Game 5.

“I was utterly surprised, and my nerves came right back as I saw this unfolding in front of me,” he said.

He waited quite a while to hear what was going on, about an hour. A judge eventually walked over to him with a second-place medal. Some judges came over t o him after that to talk to him, but this was already after the ruling was finalized. Firestar73 added that it was never explicitly stated that his actions actually had a negative impact on the game.

Firestar73’s competitor, NiteTimeClasher, didn’t agree with the ruling and has since called him the “Orlando Regional Champion.” Multiple staff members have also said they don’t agree with the ruling. Tens of thousands of support tickets were sent in regarding the matter, Firestar73 said, but nothing was done.

Now, Firestar73 is arguing that there should be more democracy in the way rulings are made in Pokémon tournaments. I have to agree. With the Head Judge making the final ruling – without having to take into account any other judges’ opinions or listen to any parties involved – this gives this one person far too much power over a situation. Their own personal opinion basically controls the narrative.

I remember similar scenarios happening back when I was more involved in the Pokémon TCG competitive scene. There were always stories of Head Judges making very shocking rulings, ranging from cheating accusations to breaking the code of conduct. Recently, Makani Tran was disqualified from a tournament for offending a non-binary judge who accused Tran of laughing when asked for his pronouns.

If Tran truly was mocking the concept of pronouns, I would not argue the disqualification myself. But I am more concerned about the judge allowing personal feelings to cloud their judgment. After the tournament, Tran explained that he was just laughing awkwardly because he forgot what the third pronoun was and got nervous. He alleges that the judge said to him: “I go by they/them, so don’t be a jerk about it.”

The judge eventually interrupted Tran’s match and disqualified him for violating an inclusive policy and for making someone feel unsafe and uncomfortable. He wasn’t allowed to appeal the disqualification. He wasn’t allowed to explain himself.

He wrote: “I have NEVER been treated so unbelievably unfairly and had such an opportunity just taken from me. For something I didn’t even do. The judge said that while he believed that I had no bad intentions, it didn’t matter because at the end of the day, someone was offended and upset.”

Again: If Tran was truly laughing in the judge’s face, that’s one thing. But we actually don’t know if that’s true or not. Instead of a group of judges making a ruling about the situation after hearing both sides, we just see the young player be disqualified over the sole feelings of that one judge.

That shouldn’t be allowed.

At a regional in Milwaukee in 2025, Lorenzo Arce was disqualified during a wild 5-0 streak because a judge believed he was receiving signals from someone in the crowd. He can be seen nodding in the livestream, but most in the community are not convinced that this was some sort of communication with a crowd member. At the time, someone accused the judge of being on a “power trip.” The Head Judge had also given three of Lorenzo’s opponents a retroactive win, which messed up the entire bracket. More transparency into the judge’s ruling was demanded.

Judges should be discussing these serious accusations and punishments before dishing them out. And they should be talking to the player and others involved to get all sides of the story before making a final decision. The player should also be able to appeal.

Not every decision will be in the competitor’s favor, sure. But they should have a chance to explain themselves.

Super Smash Bros. Melee pro Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma has been heavily invested in the disqualification of Firestar73. Not only did the regional take place in his hometown of Orlando, but Hungrybox is known for his very emotional and dramatic pop-offs. This includes throwing a chair and even passing out. He really felt for Firestar73, who celebrated after the very intense and challenging Grand Finals.

“I’m known to be one of the biggest celebrators after a clutch victory,” Hungrybox said. “I think pop-offs and celebrations are one of the most important things that we should never demote someone for.”

He brought up another pop-off issue at the Pittsburgh Regional in 2026. While celebrating, a card fell out of Abaan Ahmed’s deck. He entered the finals with one card missing, prompting a judge to abruptly pause the match.

“Strange situations that you’d think there’d be a little bit of understanding,” Hungrybox said, noting that it can be easily fixed. “It seems weird to end someone’s entire day over something so trivial. It doesn’t sit right with me.”

The Pokémon Company came out in defense of the judge, although this was way after the tournament wrapped up. While they said they support celebrations, they don’t support actions that “can negatively impact competitive integrity.” However, it’s unclear how the pop-off truly impacted the game. As Firestar73 said, there is no proof that the game was disrupted in any way.

For now, Firestar73 is not the official champion of the Orlando Regional. However, he has competed in about 10 Pokémon events since. It’s great that this situation hasn’t killed his passion for competing. But we can’t ignore the continued questionable rulings from Pokémon judges.

As Hungrybox said, there has to be some kind of nuance. Someone losing an entire tournament over nervously shaking a table is a strange decision. Not allowing a teenager to speak about his actions before booting him out of the venue is a strange decision.

Something to think about before the Pokémon regional in Los Angeles. I’ll be there, but it’s a bummer to see the competitors being treated so poorly and with such scrutiny when the competitive community is already quite small.