Yet it's quite common to see that regular users will not remember winning teams so much, specially as years go through, tending to only remember the last winners, to the point that most people today don't remember who won the first SCL or which was the 2020 SPL champion team. It's time for Smogon to put up a system that builds onto the history of tournament franchises, specially the more relevant ones. That's why I propose that all winning teams of official tournaments such as SPL, SCL, and WCoP get a distinctive symbol that any football fan can attest that bring nostalgia and great memories every time they see it on their club's badge: I propose to put stars on the winning team's logo.
Objectively I agree that not everyone cares that much about team representation, and will consider this proposal unnecessary; yet the ones that live the passion and fanaticism for a team with their body and soul consider stars a detail that bring happiness and great memories seeing their victory framed for eternity on their team's logo. That's why I will aim to explain here the pros and cons of adding stars to champion's logos.
Pros:
More recognition and prestige for the competing franchises
Currently, recognition to winning franchises is mostly the "Won by X team" on the finals thread. A star on the logo has a visual cue that speaks for itself, when someone that doesn't know the team sees the star/s, they automatically know that this is a winning franchise. For example, if SPL used stars for the teams, the Alpha Ruiners would have 4 stars on their logo, and immediately anyone would know that the Alpha Ruiners are "the biggest SPL team". These details favor building franchise prestige for over what individual players can bring by themselves.
Reaching for collective recognition beyond individual compensation
Smogon's Hall of Fame gathers all champions from all official competitions that Smogon has hosted across the years. Surprisingly, all trophies from all tournaments are mentioned there, but you never see the winning team's name alongside. Of course that there will always be players that deserve more recognition than their teammates, but no team tour is won just by having the best individual record, but having more accumulated victories than the opponent. My point here is that logo stars have the potential to put all the players behind not only the objective of getting an individual trophy recognition, but also working for being immortalized on the franchise's legacy as a team.
Content creation utility
This is relatively secondary but also a valid added value. If there is something that always adds more content for social media, that's data, stats, and history. Add this with visual strategies (like stars on logos, but also more attention to franchise's art and avis) to enhance official franchises prestige and you have great tournament content potential for social media and Discord. People purely from Showdown or just outside of Smogon's loop can more easily understand, identify, and eventually familiarize themselves with old and new franchises, be it the classic SPL teams or the newer SCL ones.
Possible cons:
Edition and logo compatibility
Probably the most relevant con, and the one that should be analyzed more cautiously in my opinion. The SPL logos have a format that makes them quite similar one to another, so coming to a conclusion on how and where to add stars to any of them should be relatively easy. SCL is a more complicated case though, as the logos are more "free style" and of very different composition from one another, some seem more easy to have a star added, while some others look quite crowded and the task could be more annoying. Of course I would never suggest that if this suggestion is tried, people should rework their whole brand just to add a little star (even if the option to do so is there), yet different options are always there. From minimalist ways of clearly representing the star, to a different symbol across the tour overall; for example, Twitch's "Kings League" uses crowns instead of stars for their champions, so this proposal is of course open to different alternatives, as long as they keep the "champion mark" usefulness.
Something else I'd like to add to this point is that team's prestige also means prestige for the logo's creator. Considering someone that made the logo in the same level as a team's "founder" can be polemic, but I'm sure that any artist that put real efforts on a logo will feel pleased to see the team bringing it to the top and getting it functioning as a symbol that directly helps denoting the greatness and acclaims the franchise has built.
"What if we just make a franchise's Hall of Fame, listing the wins of each team across the years?"
Well, ye, this is the alternative choice, but I don't think it's sufficient and I'll explain why. Currently there exists a Hall of Fame listing all individual and team trophies. With the sheer number of people that have won one of these at least one time, more than a hall it looks like a big compilation on an excel sheet. While of course the work on putting something as big and keeping it updated is important and that should be recognized and valued, we should also accept that it doesn't bring enough visibility to the champions. You recongize a winner by the trophy on their badgeset, and that's why I think the same treatment should be done to franchises. If someone wins SPL or SCL they get a trophy along their name that will be there forever on the forums, so why would the team shouldn't get a similar award?
I'm unsure what is thinking the people that are reading and/or taking this thread seriously, but if there is something that should be valued equally to individual records and achievements, that's champion team/franchise recognition, the one that made the individual awards possible. Feel free to chime in with constructive ideas and criticism, these proposes a little detail that I can attest (personally I have participated on events that apply it) that can mean a lot for the users that put all their efforts on bringing a franchise to the glory and that one ends remembering with fondness forever.
Finally, I will post some examples of logos related to Pokémon that have a star/variant on their logo. To give some examples of what this proposal could be if it were approved.
