Pokémon Sword & Shield: The Starters’ Final Evolutions Are Terrible, Just Terrible
The starter evolutions in Pokémon Sword and Shield – Inteleon, Cinderace, and Rillaboom – are just terrible, plain and simple.
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The starter evolutions in Pokémon Sword and Shield are just terrible, plain and simple. A starter Pokémon is supposed to be a trainer’s go-to Pokémon, always leading the team into battle. Starter Pokémon are gifted to trainers at the start of their journey just like Ash’s Pikachu and are expected to play a similar role of companionship. Unfortunately, Galar’s regional starters leave a lot to be desired.
Galarian starters not only fall short of the MVP title but appearances as well. While previous generations drew heavy inspiration from animals, both real and mythical, Galarian starter pokémon take on humanoid final forms.
Classic Animal-Inspired Starter Pokémon
In the game’s origins, Gen 1 took inspiration from both real-life and prehistoric animals. Squirtle’s design is literally a depiction of a squirrel-turtle cross and Bulbasaur’s evolutions are grassy-themed herbivorous dinosaurs. Charmander’s line was more mythically inspired, drawing on the evolutionary phases of a firebreathing dragon.
The inspiration from real-life fauna has continued throughout the series. Piplup is a baby chick evolving into a full-grown penguin, Serperior’s a giant snake, Oshawott’s an otter turned mythical sea-creature, and Decidueye – though now skilled at archery – maintains its owl-like physique. All of these are great pokémon, widely adored and effective on the battlefield.
The Rise of the Humanoid Designs
Humanoid designs for starter Pokémon have appeared in the past, but they are becoming more commonplace. Blaziken was the first more humanized starter introduced to the series in generation 3. Taking on the stance and move set of a fire-powered kickboxer. Emboar followed suit in Black and White, transforming from a cute piglet into a gigantic upright boar, more closely resembling a sumo wrestler than any species of swine. Alola’s Incineroar continued the fire-type ring fighter pattern, gaining a set of humanoid pecs and abs along with a large belt that makes it look like a heavyweight champion.
The fire-type starter Pokémon turned humanoid brawler trend continued with Scorbunny, which evolves into the thief-like Raboot and then onto Cinderace- a carbon copy soccer player. However, the humanoid designs have now spread to all three starter pokémon in the Galar region.
Though some may say Rillaboom is more akin to Donkey Kong and his bongo drums, its design gives off an intimidating drummer vibe. Sobble’s evolutions are the most exaggerated, too personified for their own good. Drizzle embodies everyone’s overemotional and misunderstood teenage angst then, evolving into Intelleon, manifests as a high-femme glam rocker.
Appearances aside, the Galarian starter Pokémon just aren’t up to snuff in battle. The starters aren’t completely awful and can hold their own, but there’s nothing spectacular about a single one. While some may like the high-femme flare Intelleon brings to the battlefield or Cinderace’s sporty kicks, they’re easily replaced by Pokémon like Gyrados and Arcanine; both sturdier alternatives able to pack a bigger punch.
Humanoid starter companions are cropping up more and more and it’s not sitting right with a lot of fans. The designs are lazy and unoriginal, which takes away from the engaging charm starter Pokémon should exude. In fact, there’s tons of fan art floating around with far better depictions of the Galarian starter evolutions.
The Galarian starters are truly terrible, if not altogether obsolete. With both underwhelming move sets and designs, these Pokémon may very well collect dust rather than badges. Perhaps Game Freak should take some design notes and consider what the fanbase would like to see in their number one Pokémon companions.
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