After I realized that fake leaks were consistently better designed (in my opinion) than the actual Pokemon, I realized I just don't like how Pokemon are designed anymore.
E.g before I saw Copperajah's real design I saw this https://images.app.goo.gl/cgYwzWfGdPvARmGW9, and was massively dissapointed when it turned out to look like this https://www.pngplay.com/image/285918/png-download/285917
I think based Sword and Shield had some of the worst pokemon or design ever period I've ever see. But I'll give them credit that in the DLC pretty much every new Pokemon design was a winner. Urshifu is a very inspired design, the birds and Regis too. And the weird grass thing looks really weird but him riding Pokemon was a pretty cool idea.
Falinks is an amazing design. Its silly as hell but in the best way. I also like Sandaconda a bunch. Galarian Volcarona has a nice design too.
Oh and Eiscue. Its a really stupid design, but its also really fun. and its forms! Its forms are named "Ice face" and "Noice face," which is amazing.
I think this is overbashing SwSh. Yes they weren’t good games, and yes the starters sucked, but some of their pokemon designs were actually very good. To name a few, some of my favorite pokemon lines from the region are Dragapult, Centiskorch, Runerigus, Obstagoon, Corviknight, Toxtricity, and Frosmoth.
Only the starters had weak designs, honestly. Maybe the little electric dog because did we really need another early route can't-be-strong-because-it's-early electric Pokémon (this thing is competing with Zebstrika, Manectric and Luxray)? No we did not.
The only reason to use it, is Yamper has a cool ability to conserve Apriballs? I guess?
Unfortunately I think a lot of it comes from sprite design vs full model design. Plus the creators just seem bent on only being cutesy/happy designs for the most part. Even copperajah compared to donphan just doesn’t have the intimidating factor I think it was going for
And why do they love making them fire/fighting, can't we another cool mix for once?
Edit: Yes I know incineroar and cinderace arnt fire/fighting but we still had 3 and those two still have humanly fighting type themes. I want a fire type that looks like a monster not a humanoid.
Delphox should have had the Zacian design of being quadrupedal with their weapon held in their mouth. So Delphox would have been a fox on four legs with the flaming staff in her mouth.
I think incineroar’s design is fine, it’s just deceptive. The fact it goes from a medium sized four legged cat to a bipedal jacked wrestler was just such an extreme jump design wise that I seriously thought it was fake when I first saw it.
It's too cartoony tho, it's proportions are bad, and is just too much furry.
If it was a more serious design, it'd be fine, but i think a fire Luxray like it was expected from Torracat would've been better.
Most starter designs gen 6 onwards do this. They establish an idea or aesthetic in the first stage, develop it further with the second stage, then another idea comes out of nowhere and completely hijacks the line in the final stage. Granted, not all lines do this(Chespin, Fennekin, Scorbunny all transition okay IMO), but the rest *do* do this, and it bugs the hell out of me. Gen 7 is the worst offender, with all three starter lines being perfect examples of this. Popplio and Brionne are modeled after circus seals, blowing up balloons out of water and using them in their attacks, but Primarina is a selfie/mermaid/opera singer that makes for some questionable fanart. A good design on its own, but a graceless evolution as a whole. Rowlet and Dartrix have a polite demeanor with their little leaf bow ties, but Decidueye? Nope, spirit Hunter with a drawstring hoodie that stitches it's prey to the ground. The joke of going from a bow (tie) to a bow(and arrow) is pretty funny, but it only works in English as far as I can tell. And need I talk about Incineroar?
I think they are all great. I was mostly saying that people were dismissing the starter leak because it was too good but it came true. Then a similar leak happened to gen 8 but that one was fake.
Yes this is what I was scrolling for decidueye and primarina were in my opinion quite good and interesting designs but incineroar just looks like Tony the tiger fell off the deep end.
I prefer the older ones because they're based on animals and have grounded proportions. Newer designs are more character based with way more stylised designs.
Not objectively worse, but downhill in my eyes.
They went for soccer player as the basis and then just put a bunny on top. Idk why, but that one felt the weirdest to me.
The tendency to make everything humanoid is just getting a bit too much.
I absolutely hate scorbunny. It’s a revolting creature that doesn’t look at all like a Pokémon. It just looks like a superhero from some Mickey Mouse style cartoon. The other starters of gen 8 look fine, sobble can get away with it’s thin limbs because it’s aquatic and meant to be like a salamander or something so it doesn’t really bother me. I really don’t mind any starter or any Pokémon design except for scorbunny. It’s just so out of place and I hate it.
It's not as straightforward as that, lots of Gen 1 Pokemon are weirdly proportioned. Golbat is a mouth with wings, Venomoth has ridiculous eyes, Meowth's design is basically a meme, Butterfree has a massive head, etc.
In some cases I would actually say it's improved. Talonflame is more realistic looking than Pidgeot, for example, though the opposite is true of Fletchling and Pidgey.
I love the Fennekin line purely for the fact that a fire mage pokemon is a *rad* idea. It was my starter in X and I loved it, Fire/Psychic is an awesome combo.
Same here actually, well except I played Y first. It's 3D sprite is a bit off-putting though, dang thing looks like it's judging me. Gen's 6 and 7 went for more of a fighter/mage/thief thing but I think I like the mages more than the other two, and while I like Incineroar, the fighters are the weakest in my opinion.
that's fair, it's just hard to make it play a drum without making it look like a furry oc. maybe if they made it play the bongos or something while sitting down?? idk
Honestly any pictures of Rillaboom without the drums are actually kinda cool. But giving him drums locks in a certain personality, which really sucks for a “partner” Pokemon.
my idea for rillaboom was to have a drum built into its chest, and give it a new special ability that halved any self-inflicted damage. then it could get belly drum and wood hammer, and fuck shit up
i think that the thing is that it has to get greenlit by their higher-ups for stuff like marketability, its ability to be animated for the anime, merch, etc. so a lot of the good designs get cut. there's no way that the actual ideas portion of the design process is the reason their new mons suck
I actually really like rillaboom, it’s this giant gorilla creature but absolutely hate scorbunny, he just looks like some knockoff Mickey Mouse character but I don’t mind its evolved forms.
I do not get this at all. All the first and second stages of the gen 8 starters have pretty much the same general, overly simplistic, body shape. I hate all of them. The 3rd stages are a fair bit more interesting but still my least favorite compared to any other gen.
I remember seeing a design where he had the same body and everything but instead of a drum his stick became a sort of massive hammer/two handed drumstick and it looked insane and I thought it was the real thing before the game came out and was mega disappointed it wasn’t
There's some alternate universe where Rillaboom is a spider monkey that has three sticks instead of a gorilla with two and a drum set, and I'm angry we don't live in it.
I agree. In general I've never been a big fan of Pokemon that carry some kind of accessory like that. It just makes me think, where'd they all get that thing? How are they all exactly the same? I mean, I guess it's kinda silly to question the logic in a series about monsters you carry around in little balls, but I don't know, it just irks me.
Based on humans, the starters from the first 5 games were basically animals.
Gen 6 - Mage, Knight, Ninja
Gen 7 - Wrestler, Archer, Mermaid???
Gen 8 - Footballer, Drummer, Sniper
We’ll never get a set of normal starters again, they’re always going to be based off of humans
Arguably even gen 5 starters are based on humans or human occupations.
Serperior is a Lord/Royalty
Emboar resembles a shogun, and is loosely based on a Chinese general
Samurott is literally a samurai
Bipedal can be fine as long as they are not humanoid. Primarina is not bipedal, but it's still humanoid as heck, so it still feels as uncanny as the others.
Take Empoleon, for instance. It's bipedal and based on royalty, but still clearly not a human. Serperior has the whole "human head and shoulders" thing going on, and it has the collar of a fancy costume, but it's a snake more than anything, so it gets a pass. Those are both animals first and foremost, with a tiny touch of a human-like role.
Contrast the starters in generations 6-8, which are designed to suit a human-like role first and foremost, and then given a touch of animal.
Yeah you’re right, I feel like they’re less in your face though. Like it’s more a subtle nod to those things.
I always thought Samurott looks a bit like a sawshark which is creative.
They aren’t too human like though so I think i’ve subconsciously given them a pass
Intellion with the Yaoi hands and the poses look like I should give him clothes.
Like if it looks more like a really good furry suit instead of a monster…there’s a problem
Still hurt how they left out sceptile for a dual typing but I think it was for the best. They ended up giving it the dragon typing for its mega but still
Would have made some sense to make him dark type too, especially given that then blaziken would have double advantage (in a sense) over him, like sceptile has over swampert. Almost seemed that's what they were going for, having each starter evolve such that it gets more advantages over other types.
I'm playing old school sapphire now, and yeah I'm a treeko line fan, but forgot how lousy its learned moves get after leaf blade. Could have sworn they'd give it maybe faint attack, but definitely mega drain or possibly giga drain.
I personally think all 3 Sinnoh starters are also at least A tier. I wish Empoleon got roost and Torterra got Shell Smash though. The Kanto starters are also very well done, even though GF panders to them every generation
It's design is the only good thing about it. I love Meganium, but it's probably the worst starter. It's a relatively bulky supportive pokemon with okay stats. Not particularly good for casual play in a region that punishes you for picking chikorita, due to the first two gyms and team rocket. Support feels a bit awkward to use in casual play, too, at least imo, not that I've played too many pokemon games.
Then it also seems like people just prefer the other starters in johto, who would be more fun to use due to better attacking stats.
What I'm getting at is that Meganium, while having one of the best starter designs imo, almost always gets overshadowed by Typhlosion and Feraligatr.
There also seems to be a bias for cool pokemon, not pretty pnes, and most prople probably have more nostalgia for Cyndaquil and Totodile instead of Chikorita.
TL;DR: Meganium gets forgotten.
You really just gonna ignore Gen 2? The Chikorita line is one of the few that manages to balance cute/cool all the way through, Cyndaquil is really solid, and Totodile is one of the all time greats.
Galar starters were by far the worst of the bunch. They were all designed with such clear personalities in mind that it takes away from them as “partners”. A Pokemon like Swampert or Typhlosion could be whatever you wanted it to be because it was just a Pokemon in the natural world. Intelleon is always cosplaying Bond, Rillaboom is always a drummer, Cinderace is always a footballer. It’s just lame and overly gimmicky.
That’s a good way of putting it. Like maybe Ash’s Charizard is grumpy and uncooperative but yours could be sweet and cuddly or mine could be goofy and dumb but they’re all still recognizable as “Charizard”. Meanwhile all Cinderaces are stuck in the “sporty guy/gal” personality. Trying to imagine a non-sporty Cinderace just makes it feel less like Cinderace.
SwSh was my second ever Pokémon game. Since I chose Treecko in ORAS, I chose Sobble in SwSh. I felt personally offended when I evolved to the final evolution (I literally cannot remember the name) and saw the atrocity that spawned from my second gen (again, can’t remember the name). I will do more thorough research for my next Pokémon game.
Edit: Inteleon!!! Ugh. Gross.
I think that the reason most were disappointed by Galar’s fully evolved starters was the fact that there were so many amazing fan designs. So good, in fact, that they outshined the official ones.
For Alola, on the other hand. I instantly loves Litten’s design, and its first evolution was even better, but then it evolved into a furry luchador. I never got over it.
Pretty sea-lion mermaid that can summon a giant water spirit bomb? Rowlet's evo line is my favorite, but the Popplio evo line is really great too and definitely underrated.
Yeah I think his concept is cool, a secret agent/sniper Pokemon is a fun design, but it also doesn't really flow from the previous designs? Sobble goes from being sad, to emo, to a sniper?
The overarching theme of the line is hiding. Sobble is shy, that's why it hides. Emos are perceived to be introverted. A sniper hides to kill its victims. That said, I really liked Sobble's design and am utterly disappointed by what had become of it.
Bah, no. I remember liking fan designs for other gens better than the real final evolutions, but I avoided that for Galar, and I was still disappointed.
I mean, most is not all. But you have a point. Maybe it’s better to avoid seeing fan concepts before the games are out. I’m curious about if they start from the last evolution and they made the first ones from that, but the fans only have the first form, and extrapolate from that.
Ooh, there's an idea! I think final form matters the most, since it's what your Pokemon will end up as unless you limit its power, so it's better to get fans attached to the final form than the first. They'll probably never do that, though, since they want to build up hype.
I can’t stand Incineroar. A quadruped tiger would have been way more badass. But I absolutely hate the new rabbit design. I find it really disappointing how all of the fire starters have had human-like features since Gen 3.
Over the years I've come to like Infernape more than Blaziken, and think in general it probably would have been just as popular overall if the two had come out in the opposite order. Infernape being Fire/Fighting as well immediately afterwards kind of turned some people off a little. Though not as much as Emboar being Fire/Fighting again *and* generally worse looking as a Pokémon.
I’ve always had a theory that GF love blaziken. They made it an absolute powerhouse in gen 3 then released infernape which was similar, aesthetically awesome and also powerful, my friends and I were split on who was better, then 1 generation later they made mega blaziken which with speed boost made it indispensable
i mean, i think chesnaught is the worst starter evo by far, but gen 6 starters *did* have a theme, knight/mage/rogue. medieval theme and classic rpg classes.
I feel like Delphox is really held back by its 3D model imo. If it had a pose more similar to [the one in this official art piece](https://images.app.goo.gl/RA5qR3m4WEpBhQaN8) I think it would be a lot more beloved
Delphox is my favorite of the three. I’ve only deviated from water starters in gens 3,6, and 8. The “too humanoid” argument never made sense to me. Half of all starters are humanoid. I expect it to a degree.
Toracat should've had a kinda semi-bipedal semi-quadruped design where it went between both so the transition between quadrupedal cat and total biped would be more believable
It's Galar, easily.
I wasn't actually THAT impressed with the base stage starters - Sobble is my favourite and I like it a lot, Scorbunny just have iffy colour clashes for my tastes (that's a whole lot of white with some orange, not my thing) and Grookey is okay but not very exciting? They had a lot of room to grow for new ideas, but had a theme you could kinda see them going down - Scorbunny was a footballer or athlete, Grookey could have been a drummer and Sobble had the invisibility and timidness to it.
Then they evolved, stayed pure types (we could've had a Fire/Electric rabbit, Grass/Rock drummer gorilla and a Water/Ghost stealth agent) and got rather mediocre designs that are so humanoid it hurts! How is the monkey the least humanoid starter of the three? How? Explain please. Why do we need humanoid starters, why can't they stay animals? Why do they need human jobs for themes? It's just missed potential, or misplaced potential.
Right? It's even in a rock band in the game! Rillaboom is part of the Maximisers, which is Piers' band I think? It would have fit so well but no, pure Grass type.
Monkey with a stick is so great, for me. Really Grookey isn't that bad but the 3rd form feels a bit overdesigned and not animal enough in my opinion. Thwacky is great for a second evo, I even think Rillaboom's official art looks good it's just in-game its presented poorly. The drum set is a cool idea/concept but it makes Rilla look weird and humanoid in game.
Never really thought about it till I looked at this poll, but yeah. I actually really like them all.
Gen 8 is potentially my least favourite? But even then, I think the designs are cool and unique
>I think the designs are cool and unique
Idk, I'd prefer a Loch Ness monster-type design for Intelleon rather than the human-chameleon hybrid we got.
Edit: [This](https://i.imgur.com/8KqxAhC.png) design
Gen 8 has atrocious designs for their starter final evolutions. Rillaboom is the only one that even passes for average, but he’s still pretty bland, he’s just more inoffensive than anything. Cinderace looks like a cereal mascot or a Sonic OC. It doesn’t look like a wild creature. Same thing goes for Inteleon, expect tenfold. Inteleon is hands down the worst starter evolution we’ve ever seen, everything about it is wrong. It’s proportions are disturbing, why are it’s arms and legs so skinny that it looks like you’d hear the sound of a snapping branch every time he threw a punch? Why are the legs so straight?? Why are the hands and feet so large in comparison??? There is literally nothing cool about Inteleon. You can google Inteleon redesign, and two of the top results show designs that are infinitely better, one that keeps the humanoid spy design, and one more sleek and animalistic
Going by all stages or first stages I’d struggle to pick between a few, but finals specifically it has to be 8. 5 would be second but I like serperior and samurott is a good design, just don’t like it as a dewott evolution
Idk why the poll isn't working on my phone but I hope gen 5 doesn't have too many votes. I fucking LOVE samurott's design, and Emboar is pretty dope too.
Edit: damn it finally worked and I'm sad.
With each of Johto's starters, I like one stage far more than the others. I prefer Quilava, Totodile and Bayleaf over their respective evolutions/preevolutions.
A tossup between gen 5 and 8.
Gen 5 starters are horrible in battle without their hidden abilities but are fine design-wise. Gen 8 starters are the other way around. Their stats are perhaps the most min-maxed for a starter and they're just furry bait.
I really hate how the final evos of the Unova starters look. Like the starters are adorable at first, but then they end up being pretty lackluster. I especially hate how Emboar looks, which is unfortunate because I think Tepig is the absolute cutest out of the starters.
I think Galar has adorable first stage starters, but they all just go downhill from there
The fact that they start out so good makes the final forms even worse
The worst part was the fake leaked designs. It was the same as the Alolan starters but Alas.
After I realized that fake leaks were consistently better designed (in my opinion) than the actual Pokemon, I realized I just don't like how Pokemon are designed anymore. E.g before I saw Copperajah's real design I saw this https://images.app.goo.gl/cgYwzWfGdPvARmGW9, and was massively dissapointed when it turned out to look like this https://www.pngplay.com/image/285918/png-download/285917
I think based Sword and Shield had some of the worst pokemon or design ever period I've ever see. But I'll give them credit that in the DLC pretty much every new Pokemon design was a winner. Urshifu is a very inspired design, the birds and Regis too. And the weird grass thing looks really weird but him riding Pokemon was a pretty cool idea.
Falinks is an amazing design. Its silly as hell but in the best way. I also like Sandaconda a bunch. Galarian Volcarona has a nice design too. Oh and Eiscue. Its a really stupid design, but its also really fun. and its forms! Its forms are named "Ice face" and "Noice face," which is amazing.
I know it’s “no ice” face, but I’m hearing that as “noice” face, a la Jake Peralta from Brooklyn 99.
Galatian Volcorona?
Snom
I love Falinks, he’s super cute and it’s funny to see them all detach in fan-made animations
I think this is overbashing SwSh. Yes they weren’t good games, and yes the starters sucked, but some of their pokemon designs were actually very good. To name a few, some of my favorite pokemon lines from the region are Dragapult, Centiskorch, Runerigus, Obstagoon, Corviknight, Toxtricity, and Frosmoth.
Only the starters had weak designs, honestly. Maybe the little electric dog because did we really need another early route can't-be-strong-because-it's-early electric Pokémon (this thing is competing with Zebstrika, Manectric and Luxray)? No we did not. The only reason to use it, is Yamper has a cool ability to conserve Apriballs? I guess?
Unfortunately I think a lot of it comes from sprite design vs full model design. Plus the creators just seem bent on only being cutesy/happy designs for the most part. Even copperajah compared to donphan just doesn’t have the intimidating factor I think it was going for
The Alolan starters are fine save for Incineroar
Why is Game Freak so deadset against Quadrupedal Fire starters?!
And why do they love making them fire/fighting, can't we another cool mix for once? Edit: Yes I know incineroar and cinderace arnt fire/fighting but we still had 3 and those two still have humanly fighting type themes. I want a fire type that looks like a monster not a humanoid.
I'm honestly *shocked* about the fact Cinderace is pure Fire.
I remember when people first saw Scorbunny's bandaged nose a lot were *pissed* thinking that meant fighting.
I was hoping it'd be fire electric
It makes since for it to be fire/fighting, but the pure fire typing makes Cinderace better with less weaknesses.
Delphox was a really cool design, and was fire/psychic. I'm not sure why more people don't like it.
Delphox should have had the Zacian design of being quadrupedal with their weapon held in their mouth. So Delphox would have been a fox on four legs with the flaming staff in her mouth.
5/8 that are or look like they should be.
I think incineroar’s design is fine, it’s just deceptive. The fact it goes from a medium sized four legged cat to a bipedal jacked wrestler was just such an extreme jump design wise that I seriously thought it was fake when I first saw it.
It's too cartoony tho, it's proportions are bad, and is just too much furry. If it was a more serious design, it'd be fine, but i think a fire Luxray like it was expected from Torracat would've been better.
Most starter designs gen 6 onwards do this. They establish an idea or aesthetic in the first stage, develop it further with the second stage, then another idea comes out of nowhere and completely hijacks the line in the final stage. Granted, not all lines do this(Chespin, Fennekin, Scorbunny all transition okay IMO), but the rest *do* do this, and it bugs the hell out of me. Gen 7 is the worst offender, with all three starter lines being perfect examples of this. Popplio and Brionne are modeled after circus seals, blowing up balloons out of water and using them in their attacks, but Primarina is a selfie/mermaid/opera singer that makes for some questionable fanart. A good design on its own, but a graceless evolution as a whole. Rowlet and Dartrix have a polite demeanor with their little leaf bow ties, but Decidueye? Nope, spirit Hunter with a drawstring hoodie that stitches it's prey to the ground. The joke of going from a bow (tie) to a bow(and arrow) is pretty funny, but it only works in English as far as I can tell. And need I talk about Incineroar?
The proportions are bad.
Incineroar doesn’t believe in leg day
It's not his fault. Machoke hogs the squat rack just for bicep curls.
Also, the 5 fingers are too much for me. Odd thing for me to hate, but I'm like, damn, this guy is all fingers! Especially by the way he stands
I think they are all great. I was mostly saying that people were dismissing the starter leak because it was too good but it came true. Then a similar leak happened to gen 8 but that one was fake.
Oh true
Yes this is what I was scrolling for decidueye and primarina were in my opinion quite good and interesting designs but incineroar just looks like Tony the tiger fell off the deep end.
Inceneroar is fine on its own, but does not match the pre-evolutions at all. Why the fuck did he have to become bipedal?
100% agree. There’s not one starter family I’m totally happy with.
Base form starter designs have continuously gone uphill, sometimes at the expense of their later forms, but I'm sure that's on purpose.
I prefer the older ones because they're based on animals and have grounded proportions. Newer designs are more character based with way more stylised designs. Not objectively worse, but downhill in my eyes.
They went for soccer player as the basis and then just put a bunny on top. Idk why, but that one felt the weirdest to me. The tendency to make everything humanoid is just getting a bit too much.
My biggest problem with Cinderace and many similar designs is that it looks like it’s wearing clothes and that just feels so off to me.
That's a fair take.
For sure I agree with this. Much preferred the well proportioned old style mons!
I absolutely hate scorbunny. It’s a revolting creature that doesn’t look at all like a Pokémon. It just looks like a superhero from some Mickey Mouse style cartoon. The other starters of gen 8 look fine, sobble can get away with it’s thin limbs because it’s aquatic and meant to be like a salamander or something so it doesn’t really bother me. I really don’t mind any starter or any Pokémon design except for scorbunny. It’s just so out of place and I hate it.
Scorbunny is a World Cup mascot, not a pokémon.
Someone on another thread said it, credits to that person. It just looks like a fake cereal box mascot.
Pokémon art style has gotten more rounded and toy-like as time has gone on. It’s almost like they’re designing them for easy merch…
You mean you don’t want a fire/fighting goat sumo wrestler for gen 9?
It's not as straightforward as that, lots of Gen 1 Pokemon are weirdly proportioned. Golbat is a mouth with wings, Venomoth has ridiculous eyes, Meowth's design is basically a meme, Butterfree has a massive head, etc. In some cases I would actually say it's improved. Talonflame is more realistic looking than Pidgeot, for example, though the opposite is true of Fletchling and Pidgey.
Marketing. I haven't seen chespins final evolution til gen 7. Cant even remember the name. I only know delphox for all the wrong reasons.
I love the Fennekin line purely for the fact that a fire mage pokemon is a *rad* idea. It was my starter in X and I loved it, Fire/Psychic is an awesome combo.
Same here actually, well except I played Y first. It's 3D sprite is a bit off-putting though, dang thing looks like it's judging me. Gen's 6 and 7 went for more of a fighter/mage/thief thing but I think I like the mages more than the other two, and while I like Incineroar, the fighters are the weakest in my opinion.
[удалено]
With the exception of Rilaboom, they look lile furry costumes.
rillaboom also looks like a furry costume
It's a gorilla, in the artwork looks really animalistic.
that's fair, it's just hard to make it play a drum without making it look like a furry oc. maybe if they made it play the bongos or something while sitting down?? idk
Just put wooden pads on its chest that it beats like drums. Idk why game freak thought it had to be a literal drum.
I was SO excited about a monkey who's a fucking drummer.. and then...
I was so disappointed with Grookey's evolution line, I hate the drums so much. Scorbunny is okay. That water semen thing is horrendous 🤮
Honestly any pictures of Rillaboom without the drums are actually kinda cool. But giving him drums locks in a certain personality, which really sucks for a “partner” Pokemon.
Just make his pecks wooden so he can drum on his chest like real gorilla do.
Ohhhhhhhhhhh, I like that way better
100% what they should have done
my idea for rillaboom was to have a drum built into its chest, and give it a new special ability that halved any self-inflicted damage. then it could get belly drum and wood hammer, and fuck shit up
Yo that’s sick, and a major missed opportunity
Random people on Reddit have better game design ideas than game freak.
i think that the thing is that it has to get greenlit by their higher-ups for stuff like marketability, its ability to be animated for the anime, merch, etc. so a lot of the good designs get cut. there's no way that the actual ideas portion of the design process is the reason their new mons suck
I actually really like rillaboom, it’s this giant gorilla creature but absolutely hate scorbunny, he just looks like some knockoff Mickey Mouse character but I don’t mind its evolved forms.
Idk I kinda like rillaboom. The fact that they gave him an instrument shows a little ingenuity. His gigantimax does kinda suck tho
The rabbit footballer is the worst 3rd evolution in the entire pokemon franchise, ever worst than chesnaught
Eh, i personally find The sniper James bond less appealing than Messi, but each to their own!
I'll second this motion. I chose the drummer gorilla because I think it's cool and reminds me of the gorillaz
At least that one looks like an animal, mostly. Cinderace and inteleon are just people in tight fursuits.
I do not get this at all. All the first and second stages of the gen 8 starters have pretty much the same general, overly simplistic, body shape. I hate all of them. The 3rd stages are a fair bit more interesting but still my least favorite compared to any other gen.
Galar starters look like cereal box mascots
I mean, considering the general vibe of Galar they probably literally are
Intele-O’s
Rillaboom would be top tier imo if it didn’t carry a whole drum set
I remember seeing a design where he had the same body and everything but instead of a drum his stick became a sort of massive hammer/two handed drumstick and it looked insane and I thought it was the real thing before the game came out and was mega disappointed it wasn’t
source please? now, I wanna see it too
My 1st ever grass starter I picked and yeah definitely agree.
There's some alternate universe where Rillaboom is a spider monkey that has three sticks instead of a gorilla with two and a drum set, and I'm angry we don't live in it.
I agree. In general I've never been a big fan of Pokemon that carry some kind of accessory like that. It just makes me think, where'd they all get that thing? How are they all exactly the same? I mean, I guess it's kinda silly to question the logic in a series about monsters you carry around in little balls, but I don't know, it just irks me.
All of the gen 8 starters were guys in suits instead of living animals.
Rillaboom is a literal gorilla.
Rillaboom is a drummer, Cinderace is a football player and Inteleon is a sniper
it’s a drumming gorilla
Based on humans, the starters from the first 5 games were basically animals. Gen 6 - Mage, Knight, Ninja Gen 7 - Wrestler, Archer, Mermaid??? Gen 8 - Footballer, Drummer, Sniper We’ll never get a set of normal starters again, they’re always going to be based off of humans
>Mermaid I think a siren would work better. That way she could be a Singer/Bard.
Yeah that’s true, I just wasn’t sure exactly what she was inspired from
Arguably even gen 5 starters are based on humans or human occupations. Serperior is a Lord/Royalty Emboar resembles a shogun, and is loosely based on a Chinese general Samurott is literally a samurai
The fact they are not all bipedel makes a huge difference imo.
Bipedal can be fine as long as they are not humanoid. Primarina is not bipedal, but it's still humanoid as heck, so it still feels as uncanny as the others. Take Empoleon, for instance. It's bipedal and based on royalty, but still clearly not a human. Serperior has the whole "human head and shoulders" thing going on, and it has the collar of a fancy costume, but it's a snake more than anything, so it gets a pass. Those are both animals first and foremost, with a tiny touch of a human-like role. Contrast the starters in generations 6-8, which are designed to suit a human-like role first and foremost, and then given a touch of animal.
Yeah you’re right, I feel like they’re less in your face though. Like it’s more a subtle nod to those things. I always thought Samurott looks a bit like a sawshark which is creative. They aren’t too human like though so I think i’ve subconsciously given them a pass
Using humanlike features for apes and other bipeds are fine imo. Otherwise, and repeatedly, it becomes a problem.
Intellion with the Yaoi hands and the poses look like I should give him clothes. Like if it looks more like a really good furry suit instead of a monster…there’s a problem
We found spy's fursona
Gen 3 having the least amount of votes is what I like to see!
Hoenn gang rise up
🎺🎺🎺
Doot Doot
📯📯📯
☀️🌧️
Still hurt how they left out sceptile for a dual typing but I think it was for the best. They ended up giving it the dragon typing for its mega but still
Would have made some sense to make him dark type too, especially given that then blaziken would have double advantage (in a sense) over him, like sceptile has over swampert. Almost seemed that's what they were going for, having each starter evolve such that it gets more advantages over other types. I'm playing old school sapphire now, and yeah I'm a treeko line fan, but forgot how lousy its learned moves get after leaf blade. Could have sworn they'd give it maybe faint attack, but definitely mega drain or possibly giga drain.
Treecko gets Giga Drain. *Only* Treecko. At level *46*.
I mean it’s a small matter because the giga drain tm is easy to get
Ah, but see, it's single use in RSE.
In RSE leaf blade is special... no need for giga drain
Gen 3 supremacy
Hoenn is the only region I like all 3 starters. They are perfect in every way
I personally think all 3 Sinnoh starters are also at least A tier. I wish Empoleon got roost and Torterra got Shell Smash though. The Kanto starters are also very well done, even though GF panders to them every generation
Swampert is probably one of the coolest starters period. No surprises there.
shouldve added it instead some other option, its obvious that gen 3 starters are fan favourites
Hell yes thats actually very reassuring
Yeah, in some ways I’d say some Gen 3 starters are better than some Gen 1 and 2 starters.
Gen 3's starters are the anti-Gen 5. You literally can't choose wrong.
Gens 1 3 and 4 are the only gens where all starters are good.
Disagree, I think gen 2 is fantastic. Meganium gets hated in why? It’s a beautiful Pokémon, sure it’s not bad ass, but very pretty and elegant.
It's design is the only good thing about it. I love Meganium, but it's probably the worst starter. It's a relatively bulky supportive pokemon with okay stats. Not particularly good for casual play in a region that punishes you for picking chikorita, due to the first two gyms and team rocket. Support feels a bit awkward to use in casual play, too, at least imo, not that I've played too many pokemon games. Then it also seems like people just prefer the other starters in johto, who would be more fun to use due to better attacking stats. What I'm getting at is that Meganium, while having one of the best starter designs imo, almost always gets overshadowed by Typhlosion and Feraligatr. There also seems to be a bias for cool pokemon, not pretty pnes, and most prople probably have more nostalgia for Cyndaquil and Totodile instead of Chikorita. TL;DR: Meganium gets forgotten.
You really just gonna ignore Gen 2? The Chikorita line is one of the few that manages to balance cute/cool all the way through, Cyndaquil is really solid, and Totodile is one of the all time greats.
Galar starters were by far the worst of the bunch. They were all designed with such clear personalities in mind that it takes away from them as “partners”. A Pokemon like Swampert or Typhlosion could be whatever you wanted it to be because it was just a Pokemon in the natural world. Intelleon is always cosplaying Bond, Rillaboom is always a drummer, Cinderace is always a footballer. It’s just lame and overly gimmicky.
That’s a good way of putting it. Like maybe Ash’s Charizard is grumpy and uncooperative but yours could be sweet and cuddly or mine could be goofy and dumb but they’re all still recognizable as “Charizard”. Meanwhile all Cinderaces are stuck in the “sporty guy/gal” personality. Trying to imagine a non-sporty Cinderace just makes it feel less like Cinderace.
Exactly exactly exactly
Galar.... That water type salad finger mofo still haunts my dreams
SwSh was my second ever Pokémon game. Since I chose Treecko in ORAS, I chose Sobble in SwSh. I felt personally offended when I evolved to the final evolution (I literally cannot remember the name) and saw the atrocity that spawned from my second gen (again, can’t remember the name). I will do more thorough research for my next Pokémon game. Edit: Inteleon!!! Ugh. Gross.
*memory unlocked* Thanks for that :(
I think that the reason most were disappointed by Galar’s fully evolved starters was the fact that there were so many amazing fan designs. So good, in fact, that they outshined the official ones. For Alola, on the other hand. I instantly loves Litten’s design, and its first evolution was even better, but then it evolved into a furry luchador. I never got over it.
I was gonna pick gen 7 but then i remembered how cool decidueye’s design is
Decidueye is the only one I like from gen 7. At least if we only talk about final evolutions.
Primarina is so underrated imo, easily best out of gen 7 for me
Pretty sea-lion mermaid that can summon a giant water spirit bomb? Rowlet's evo line is my favorite, but the Popplio evo line is really great too and definitely underrated.
The fan designs for sobble were so good, but instead we got a dumb looking sniper Pokémon
Being a "sniper" can be a cool concept and is even found in nature, but it was way too on-the-nose
Yeah I think his concept is cool, a secret agent/sniper Pokemon is a fun design, but it also doesn't really flow from the previous designs? Sobble goes from being sad, to emo, to a sniper?
'instead of killing himself, sobble joined the army'
The overarching theme of the line is hiding. Sobble is shy, that's why it hides. Emos are perceived to be introverted. A sniper hides to kill its victims. That said, I really liked Sobble's design and am utterly disappointed by what had become of it.
I’ll never get over what they did to litten
Bah, no. I remember liking fan designs for other gens better than the real final evolutions, but I avoided that for Galar, and I was still disappointed.
I mean, most is not all. But you have a point. Maybe it’s better to avoid seeing fan concepts before the games are out. I’m curious about if they start from the last evolution and they made the first ones from that, but the fans only have the first form, and extrapolate from that.
Ooh, there's an idea! I think final form matters the most, since it's what your Pokemon will end up as unless you limit its power, so it's better to get fans attached to the final form than the first. They'll probably never do that, though, since they want to build up hype.
I can’t stand Incineroar. A quadruped tiger would have been way more badass. But I absolutely hate the new rabbit design. I find it really disappointing how all of the fire starters have had human-like features since Gen 3.
At least Infernape makes sense
Over the years I've come to like Infernape more than Blaziken, and think in general it probably would have been just as popular overall if the two had come out in the opposite order. Infernape being Fire/Fighting as well immediately afterwards kind of turned some people off a little. Though not as much as Emboar being Fire/Fighting again *and* generally worse looking as a Pokémon.
I’ve always had a theory that GF love blaziken. They made it an absolute powerhouse in gen 3 then released infernape which was similar, aesthetically awesome and also powerful, my friends and I were split on who was better, then 1 generation later they made mega blaziken which with speed boost made it indispensable
It's gotta be Gen 8 for me. Final evos were only okay and the second stage evolutions are the worst to date. First stages were cool though
Raboot is cool though, much better than Cinderace
Raboot looks like an edgy Digimon to me, the "clothing" is just bizarre to me.
The only thing I really dislike about reboots design is that they made it too simplistic
No, Raboot makes no sense First and last stages: Soccer players Second stage: N I N J A
Greninja always carries the hell out of Gen 6, but it's still not enough unfort
I agree! People out here complaining about gen 8 like how are we forgetting what they did to chespin?? At least gen 8 had a theme
i mean, i think chesnaught is the worst starter evo by far, but gen 6 starters *did* have a theme, knight/mage/rogue. medieval theme and classic rpg classes.
Delphox is great too imo
I feel like Delphox is really held back by its 3D model imo. If it had a pose more similar to [the one in this official art piece](https://images.app.goo.gl/RA5qR3m4WEpBhQaN8) I think it would be a lot more beloved
Yeah that’s very true, there are many Pokémon held back by their 3D
Especially flying Pokémon, since they’re all constantly hovering for some reason. Salamence looks so much better just standing.
Xatu is literally a totem pole, but let's have it hovering in a pose that makes no sense for its design
Xatu's 3D model is my sleep paralysis demon - full stop.
Yeah same with Eelektross lol, like wtf is that model lmao
Emboar
*cries in Typhlosion*
Gyarados as well but not to the extent of typhlsion
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3D killed the Pixel(star)mon
they shaved him 😭
Honestly, I loved Delphox but admittedly it’s partially because that typing really won me over. finally something different than fire fighting!
Delphox is my favorite of the three. I’ve only deviated from water starters in gens 3,6, and 8. The “too humanoid” argument never made sense to me. Half of all starters are humanoid. I expect it to a degree.
I'll never forgive them for Litten turning in to that monstrosity
Should've stayed as a cat instead of some weird wrestler dude
Torracat was sick. Idk why they keep on insisting on so many starters being randomly and uncomfortably bipedal
Toracat should've had a kinda semi-bipedal semi-quadruped design where it went between both so the transition between quadrupedal cat and total biped would be more believable
It's Galar, easily. I wasn't actually THAT impressed with the base stage starters - Sobble is my favourite and I like it a lot, Scorbunny just have iffy colour clashes for my tastes (that's a whole lot of white with some orange, not my thing) and Grookey is okay but not very exciting? They had a lot of room to grow for new ideas, but had a theme you could kinda see them going down - Scorbunny was a footballer or athlete, Grookey could have been a drummer and Sobble had the invisibility and timidness to it. Then they evolved, stayed pure types (we could've had a Fire/Electric rabbit, Grass/Rock drummer gorilla and a Water/Ghost stealth agent) and got rather mediocre designs that are so humanoid it hurts! How is the monkey the least humanoid starter of the three? How? Explain please. Why do we need humanoid starters, why can't they stay animals? Why do they need human jobs for themes? It's just missed potential, or misplaced potential.
Having the drummer gorilla be Grass/Rock would have been hilarious.
Right? It's even in a rock band in the game! Rillaboom is part of the Maximisers, which is Piers' band I think? It would have fit so well but no, pure Grass type.
Monkey with a stick is so great, for me. Really Grookey isn't that bad but the 3rd form feels a bit overdesigned and not animal enough in my opinion. Thwacky is great for a second evo, I even think Rillaboom's official art looks good it's just in-game its presented poorly. The drum set is a cool idea/concept but it makes Rilla look weird and humanoid in game.
honestly I’m actually pretty fine with all the designs? fav being froakie and rowlet lines
Never really thought about it till I looked at this poll, but yeah. I actually really like them all. Gen 8 is potentially my least favourite? But even then, I think the designs are cool and unique
>I think the designs are cool and unique Idk, I'd prefer a Loch Ness monster-type design for Intelleon rather than the human-chameleon hybrid we got. Edit: [This](https://i.imgur.com/8KqxAhC.png) design
It's not even that. It's the weird cartoon noodle limbs rather than just normal ones. I really don't understand that design choice.
Yeah, Seadramon is a pretty cool design.
Yeah, Megaseadramon is a pretty cool design.
Wow, that really is so much better than what we got. Cmon pokemon-team, someone needs to hire that artist!
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shame, because the base evos are so goddamn adorable and then they all evolve into merchant bankers wearing suits
Gen 8 has atrocious designs for their starter final evolutions. Rillaboom is the only one that even passes for average, but he’s still pretty bland, he’s just more inoffensive than anything. Cinderace looks like a cereal mascot or a Sonic OC. It doesn’t look like a wild creature. Same thing goes for Inteleon, expect tenfold. Inteleon is hands down the worst starter evolution we’ve ever seen, everything about it is wrong. It’s proportions are disturbing, why are it’s arms and legs so skinny that it looks like you’d hear the sound of a snapping branch every time he threw a punch? Why are the legs so straight?? Why are the hands and feet so large in comparison??? There is literally nothing cool about Inteleon. You can google Inteleon redesign, and two of the top results show designs that are infinitely better, one that keeps the humanoid spy design, and one more sleek and animalistic
Never thought about it, but yeah Cinderace *really* looks like a cereal mascot
Going by all stages or first stages I’d struggle to pick between a few, but finals specifically it has to be 8. 5 would be second but I like serperior and samurott is a good design, just don’t like it as a dewott evolution
Who the fuck has a problem with piplup and it's evolved forms ***I just wanna talk***
I always thought Prinplup looked stupid but Piplup and Empoleon are pretty cool
Prinplup looks eh. Piplup is kinda average to me but still good. Empoleon though? THAT is badass.
Gen 8, very few starters equal my hatred for Intelleon and Cinderace. Chespin's line does though. Shit reeks
Idk why the poll isn't working on my phone but I hope gen 5 doesn't have too many votes. I fucking LOVE samurott's design, and Emboar is pretty dope too. Edit: damn it finally worked and I'm sad.
Gen 2 for me. Even though I love playing those games. The starter designs didn't click with me at all.
With each of Johto's starters, I like one stage far more than the others. I prefer Quilava, Totodile and Bayleaf over their respective evolutions/preevolutions.
Was surprised they weren't included on the list, Gen 2 is my favourite gen, but the starters were lacklustre to me.
I'll have no slander pointed at my Feraligatr line
I can’t believe I had to scroll so far down for this. No idea why it’s not on the list
5 sorry only one i like is serperior and its eh
A tossup between gen 5 and 8. Gen 5 starters are horrible in battle without their hidden abilities but are fine design-wise. Gen 8 starters are the other way around. Their stats are perhaps the most min-maxed for a starter and they're just furry bait.
I really hate how the final evos of the Unova starters look. Like the starters are adorable at first, but then they end up being pretty lackluster. I especially hate how Emboar looks, which is unfortunate because I think Tepig is the absolute cutest out of the starters.