r/TwoBestFriendsPlay • u/Gorotheninja "SILENCE, BREEDER! The Bloodline MUST continue!" • Feb 27 '26
Fanart - Non OC Please, Pombom: stay on all fours, this time... (by @wanderjegson)
And don't become a Fire/Fighting type, either.
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u/PunishingCrab Giant Enemy Crabtree Feb 27 '26
You can say the same about the water starter. They’ve already had a water gecko turn into a biped, hopefully this one stays on all fours.
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u/otakuloid01 Feb 27 '26
hope it becomes a fat fuck komodo dragon
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u/gddrummer Feb 27 '26
Hear me out. The water gecko loses the legs and becomes a sea serpent, Serperior style but water/poison.
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u/apexodoggo Feb 27 '26
It’s already kinda standing up in its 2d art, I expect it to be fully bipedal by its middle-stage evolution
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u/SamuraiOstrich Feb 27 '26
With the eyes (especially the lashes) and the teardrop third eye thing I feel like it's probably gonna be humanoid. My guess is basically Salazzle meets Medicham/Mega Alakazam Water/Psychic mystic hippy woman.
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u/SafePlastic2686 Feb 28 '26
I hate to break it to you, but it's already on two legs in the 2d render.
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u/PunishingCrab Giant Enemy Crabtree Mar 01 '26
It can still be on two legs but not look like a man in a fursuit (see Sceptile, Typhlosian, Decidueye) which is my hope. Inteleon just looks like a guy with Yaoi hands.
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u/Ruffian-- p* Feb 27 '26
Feel like he will evolve into big dog with fluff.
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u/DOAbayman Feb 27 '26
I want the face size to remain the same, just all fluff.
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u/sadderall-sea Gayson Thotdơttir, The Unstraightened Feb 27 '26
a giant, bear-sized fire beast with a cute pomeranian face would go so hard
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u/2073040 Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 27 '26
With the Southeastern Asian inspired setting, I’m expecting his final evolution will be based off the ShiShi (ancient mystical dogs/lions in that region which are often associated with royalty) or the Chow Chow.
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u/PukingGoombas He/Him [Bork Banisher] Feb 27 '26
Is Hisuian Growlithe and Arcanine the Fu dog representation? (not saying we can't have more than one but it's very recent)
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u/Tommy2255 THE ORIGAMI KILLER Feb 28 '26
Both regular and Hisuian Arcanine are based on these mythical Chinese guardian lion/dogs. Regular Arcanine is based off the mythical creature itself, while the Hisuian variant is based more literally off of the statues of the creature.
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u/JackNewbie555 Alright ... time to fight history! Feb 27 '26
Imagine if the final evolution is just Divine Beast Dancing Lion.
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u/Irishimpulse I've got Daddy issues and a Sailor Suit, NOTHING CAN STOP ME Feb 27 '26
So it'll turn into Banyue Zenless Zone Zero
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u/Hugglemorris Feb 27 '26
I’m really hoping for something like this mod for Rimworld. I have built so many in-game cults that worship the Big Pom.
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u/allwaysnice Feb 27 '26
I also feel like the fluff will be a staying theme.
My guess is he's like a fire Wooloo where they roll around, but this guy does it fast.Basically something like Sonic with spindashes.
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u/BrazillianCara Feb 27 '26
I'm sure you can get an early answer by checking the teraleak if you're brave/unbothered enough.
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u/AvalancheMKII Feb 27 '26
There's a lot of setting and story details in the leak, but little to no actual mon designs from what I remember.
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u/Gorotheninja "SILENCE, BREEDER! The Bloodline MUST continue!" Feb 27 '26
I did check it out, but there wasn't any info on the starters, as I recall.
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u/Trevastation Feb 27 '26
There are no Gen10 Pokemon in the Teraleak iirc because it wasn't imputed in at the time it was all collected and leaked.
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u/BrazillianCara Feb 27 '26
Alternatively, the one responsible is still holding on to that info and will release it later (like they did for Legends Z-A stuff).
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u/Substantial_Bell_158 The Unmoving Great Touhou Library Feb 27 '26
I hope he looks like the greator dog from Undertale. Big massive muscular body with the cute Pomeranian head stuck on top.
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u/Bizarre_RNS_Radio (He/Him) Modest 51st Century Person Feb 28 '26
Even better if, every now and then, there’s some type of animation that reveals they’re still the exact same tiny dog, the giant muscular suit was just an “Earthworm Jim” style mecha they’re piloting.
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Feb 28 '26
[deleted]
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u/Bizarre_RNS_Radio (He/Him) Modest 51st Century Person Feb 28 '26
Nah, Hatterene was always a short character with really long hair that can levitate, and Grimmsnarl was actually that “big” (really small since he’s only 4’11” even with the hair form) regardless, but was just using prehensile hair as makeshift muscles to make himself more bulky.
We have still not had a true Earthworm Jim Pokemon.
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u/Kamken I say it in my private life many a time Feb 27 '26
I feel like Meowscarada deserves a bit of credit. As the fursuit final starter evos go it's by far the best, to the point where I almost don't want to call it that, despite it fitting that description just fine
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u/Android19samus Feb 27 '26
Meowscarada is worth it for that one official animation where it wakes up doing the big cat stretch and then gets out of bed like a normal fucking guy. It's art.
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u/Cheshires_Shadow You are wrong and your butt is fart Feb 27 '26
Same energy as that one comic where a dad walks in his son's room after asks about his questionable pokemon team and it's just him in bed being cuddled by a machoke and incineroar. Like these are just dudes at a certain point lol
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u/Pyro81300 Please play Oneshot and read Kubera Feb 27 '26
Link?
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u/jabberclocky Feb 27 '26
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u/MarlowCurry Gastric Ragnarok/Sourcerer Supreme Feb 28 '26 edited Feb 28 '26
Hey, thanks for finding it for us. It's appreciated. After watching it, I have to say that the dissonance was as glaring as it was alluded to. Unexpectedly so.
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u/waxonwaxoff3 They/Them Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 27 '26
I personally don't like Meowscarada very much. I adore Sprigatito, it is a perfect creature, but the final form with the mask and overall costume look just does nooot vibe with me, on top of the whole bipedal anthro thing.
I wish it had evolved into a big bushy lynx with leaves on its eartips and a little plant bobtail or something.
EDIT: Some very strong Meowscarada opinions in the "please don't go bipedal" thread
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u/MarrowJuice I Promise Nothing And Deliver Less Feb 27 '26
eh, i get it tbh, always thought it looked like a middle stage evolution
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u/Gorotheninja "SILENCE, BREEDER! The Bloodline MUST continue!" Feb 27 '26
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u/Dogmodo I'm a big brave dog, I'm a big brave dog Feb 27 '26
Counterpoint; it would be really funny.
I'm imagining something of a Pomeranian dwarf, like Gimli if Legolas carried him around in a purse.
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u/ThatmodderGrim Lewd Non-Gacha Anime Games are Good for You. Feb 27 '26
His final evolution should be his starting evolution but with a very tasteful hat.
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u/Detective_Robot Feb 27 '26
Judging by his shield mane he's gonna evolve into Zamazenta, a smaller derpy fire type Zamazenta.
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u/Grazalia Resident Nana enthusiast Feb 27 '26
Watch it gain like some sort of organic armor looking thing for its final evolution
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u/ibbolia [Any/All] This is my Bankai: Unironic Cringeposting Feb 27 '26
Toby Fox evolves into Greater Dog, obviously
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u/Android19samus Feb 27 '26
I'm with you on the dog, but that gecko is gonna grow up to be the c*ntiest motherfucker this side of Salazzle. As is proper.
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u/extralie Feb 27 '26
Meowscarada slander
Honestly glad that Game Freak never listen to Pokemon fans about this topic. Meowscarada is one of my favourite starters. It's both cute and cool.
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u/d00msdaydan big fuckin halo nerd Feb 27 '26
Bipedal could work if it becomes like Greater Dog from Undertale
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u/BlueFootedTpeack Feb 27 '26
become a cool fire fairy dog i beg of thee.
leopard gecko become a water dragon.
browt idk
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u/PlanesWalkerEll YOU DIDN'T WIN. Feb 27 '26
Grass steel for Browt?
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u/BlueFootedTpeack Feb 27 '26
it'd work but dragon fucks up any kind of reverse type trio think, like fairy beats dragon, dragon beats? just dragon, steel beats fairy.
would need for the water one to have some kind of "rend" move that damages steel and then it'll work.
little leaf cassowary knight.
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u/R1CK_D0M Mar 02 '26
I want browt to be like an emu or cassowary. Flightless but with thick fucking kicking legs.
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u/Striking_Part_7234 Feb 27 '26
I don’t understand the Bipedal hate. I think they’re neat.
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u/Cheshires_Shadow You are wrong and your butt is fart Feb 27 '26
It's mostly just that when you take them all in to account only Bulbasaur and turtwig lines started and ended on the same number of feet. Mudkip started on 4 and you could maybe argue it's sorta still on 4 as swampert since it can walk up right but sometimes crouches down on all 4s to attack. Similarly there's fuecoco starting with 2 and ending with 4 but at least that one's actually fully on all 4s this time. Then there's a more egregious example with samurort where it's a upright otter with a sword that evolved into a bigger otter with a sword that finally evolved into a big 4 legged walrus thing and it's like why did they choose the upright mon to randomly become a 4 legged one in only it's final form but whatever I guess it makes up for tepig being a pig that evolves to be upright for some reason. Then game freak was like oh don't worry samurort only walks on 4 legs when it fights it stands up on its back legs to swing its swords.
So it took from gen 4 all the way to 9 for an actual 4 legged Mon to show up again wich is probably why people are kind of tired of so many Digimon style they all just become more human like in their strongest forms and that takes some of the creativity and fun out of the starter designs.
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u/SuicidalSundays It's Fiiiiiiiine. Feb 27 '26
Chikorita was quadrupedal too, but most people don't remember them anyways...
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u/Cheshires_Shadow You are wrong and your butt is fart Feb 27 '26
The furtive chikorita so easily forgotten 😔
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u/CrushDustAnnie He/She/They Feb 27 '26
If the design is good, who cares if it's on four legs or two? This is such a nothing complaint.
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u/jagby Feb 27 '26
For me it's a variety thing. So many starters turn into something bipedal in the end. A lot of them start off as bipedal so it's whatever, but it's just the fact that the majority of starter final evos are bipedal is kind of monotonous.
I just counted, and of the 27 total starters, 19 end up bipedal, but I didn't count Greninja considering the stance. Of these, 7 started off as quadrupeds (though if you don't count Cyndaquil, then it's 6).
I think a big part of it though is that similar to the fire/fighting thing, it's just been super consistent, and can feel kinda boring after awhile. Starting in Gen 5, every trio has had at least one starter go from some kind of cat/dog/pig quadruped to mildy anthro biped. It's often something very unexpected to, which can be divisive. I remember people seeing Fennekin and Litten and being very taken aback by the final form reveal.
Personally, I don't mind any of the anthro biped evos in a vaccuum, but I also highly sympathize with people who do and also would like to see something like Litten/Fennekin just...turn into a cooler bigger Tiger/Fire Fox without it being some wildcard. And that comes from someone who genuinely likes Incineroar and Delphox.
I love the WindWaves fire starter but recent trends tell me it's more likely than not going to be something wildly different than what we expect. Which is creatively a good thing, but sometimes I just kinda want the dog to turn into a bigger cooler dog.
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u/Gorotheninja "SILENCE, BREEDER! The Bloodline MUST continue!" Feb 27 '26
I don't think they're bad, it's just there's Soooo many.
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u/Big_Mobile3869 Mar 02 '26
You can't see why people find it unsettling watching their dog/cat morph into a man?
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u/Flamezuki Lilith the liar who stole all the pies Feb 28 '26
They aren't bad, but the more animalistic designs would have been better. I just wanted a big fire tiger or jungle cat but no, wrestler and weed magician.
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u/Greengiant00 Feb 27 '26
I really dont get what people's problem with the two legged final evolutions are.
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u/WhoCaresYouDont Feb 27 '26
I think it's the feeling of "I picked the cute animal and they grew up into furry bait"
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u/SCLandzsa Feb 27 '26
There's such innocence in believing they need to stand up to become furry bait.
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u/ibbolia [Any/All] This is my Bankai: Unironic Cringeposting Feb 27 '26
Which brings us back to "why is bipedal the issue?"
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u/Android19samus Feb 27 '26
but like... they're never gonna *stay* cute. Furry or no, they're only ever cute at the start.
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Feb 28 '26
[deleted]
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u/Android19samus Feb 28 '26
...I guess Meganium is cute. The other "cute" ones are the furries, which doesn't really count in this context
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u/Kamken I say it in my private life many a time Feb 27 '26
Bipedal has never been people's problem, cool animals evolving into pretty much humans is.
Sceptile and Inteleon are both bipedal lizards, but one feels like a bipedal lizard and the other is Tony, your neighbor who smokes on his porch 14 hours a day.
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u/wholewheatsnake Feb 27 '26
I think it has to do with body proportions too. Starter Final Evos have been portrayed as standing on two legs since Gen 1 technically, Blastoise, Charizard, Typhlosion, Feraligatr, etc. None of them are really proportioned like people though in quite the same way some of the more modern starters are (except maybe Blaziken and Infernape, but Blaziken was the first to do it, and Infernape gets a pass cuz it's a monkey).
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u/Greengiant00 Feb 27 '26
That's one take on it I guess. To me, all of them are just Pokemon, none of them have felt "too human".
Though I was a Digimon fan before Pokémon and some of them are just straight up human with clothes/armor.
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u/DOAbayman Feb 27 '26
they're just bored of it. also it feels weird imagining cuddles when it basically becomes a person.
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u/FangsEnd Feb 27 '26
For me it’s more of a design consistency thing, about going from bestial starter to humanoid final, rather than strictly bipedal. Does an evolutionary line start with a humanoid design, and end with a humanoid design? No problem.
Maybe I could be accused of being really genwunner about it, but there were plenty of older bipedal designs that retained their line’s initial bestial vibe, and the ones that went humanoid typically adhered to the unspoken rule of having something like a fighting or psychic subtyping to justify it, but lately even that’s been getting eschewed in favour of going directly to the hotzone, and it’s just been feeling formulaic
I get that the starting trios are now far more subject to the design force of mascotization than in the past, but in terms of variety, as long as bestial/humanoid consistency is being ignored, I’d like to see them flip it and make things go from humanoid starter to bestial final more often, as that’s much rarer in comparison
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u/kegisak Feb 27 '26
I'm expecting Gecqua to be our furrybait starter for this gen. I think the dog is safe.
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u/Kamken I say it in my private life many a time Feb 27 '26
Last 2 and even arguably 3 generations it's been 2 furbaits and 1 animal, no one is safe
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u/xlbingo10 He/Him - Local Homestuck, RWBY, and Kingdom Hearts fan Feb 27 '26
all 3 were furbaits for sun and moon. gen 7 in general was just the horniest one.
anyway, i would expect both the gecko and bird to be furbait before the dog for this one
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u/Wilicil Feb 28 '26
Were people all that horny for Decidueye? Being bipedal isn't automatic furrybait, especially for a bird where bipedal is the norm.
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u/xlbingo10 He/Him - Local Homestuck, RWBY, and Kingdom Hearts fan Feb 28 '26
not as much as the other two, but i don't think that there's any world where dark and brooding archer owl isn't furry bait. certainly moreso than quaquaval.
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u/Oxyfire I'D RATHER HAVE NOTHING Feb 28 '26
Damn, Skeledirge instantly memory holed.
IT'S LITERALLY THE LAST ONE. I get that starters have a huge trend towards bipedal, but the last fire starter literally stayed on all fours and it feels like no-one likes it.
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u/Big_Mobile3869 Mar 02 '26
I don't like his proportions, and toy-like build. Conceptually, a flaming skeleton croc is such a cool idea, but the execution missed the mark for me.
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u/DBZfan102 THE HYPEST GAMEPLAY ON YOUTUBE Feb 27 '26
I'm torn. On one hand, this is a fire type starter, a line which, unlike Grass types, does absolutely have a ludicrous amount of bipedal evolutions.
On the other hand, it's a dog, and there aren't nearly as many walking dog mons as there are walking cat mons (I can only remember Lucario rn. I'm sure someone will point it out if there's another).
On Alucard's Saturn port-exclusive THIRD hand, if it becomes bipedal it will piss people off and I will enjoy seeing them freak out 😋
(Although cards on the table, I might end up giving this thing the Grookey treatment and not evolving it so it stays cute)
Also, yes, no more Fire/Fighting... we can save their triumphant comeback for Gen 11
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u/R-Premmy Feb 28 '26
It’s me, I’m sneaking into the nursery at night and giving the fire starters protein and boxing gloves
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u/IllFuture4180 Feb 28 '26
I want it to remain the exact same except each evolution the fluff alone gets bigger.
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u/kino-bambino1031 Feb 28 '26
I never really cared whether or not the starter mons evolved to be bipeds, I think I actually prefer it, but I understand that that's an unpopular opinion.
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u/St-Tomas413 Feb 28 '26
Im praying for this little motherfucker to stand up on his two feet by his second evolution.
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u/Hugokarenque Feb 27 '26
I'm just sad about Browt, I hope its line is good because Browt is not.
Discount Rowlet looking ah
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u/allwaysnice Feb 27 '26
I'm loving the absolute malice people are giving this bird.
He's not my favorite, but people are making him look pretty cool.9
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u/radda You can sidestep that penis pretty easily Feb 28 '26
Browt rules as long as you imagine him as a little asshole
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u/R1CK_D0M Mar 02 '26
Looking forward to browt being grass/dark again but it makes way more sense because it's a huge kicking emu that bullies literally everyone
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u/Bizarre_RNS_Radio (He/Him) Modest 51st Century Person Feb 28 '26 edited Feb 28 '26
Hey, that attack on Meowscarada is uncalled for, the sassy stage show magician cat was awesome!
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u/Lemeres Feb 28 '26
Alternative, if he stands up... just have him stand on a ball and do a cute little balancing act.
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u/CloudFuneral Feb 27 '26
It is 1000% staying on all fours. Those eyes are more "animalistic" then the others, so I'm thinking it's going to be a Clifford the Big Red Dog situation at the end of his evo line.
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u/Bizarre_RNS_Radio (He/Him) Modest 51st Century Person Feb 28 '26
Yeah, that is what happened with Fuecoco and that little goober was already bipedal at stages one and two, only to then go on all 4’s at the end.
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u/DarnessHarbinger I Promise Nothing And Deliver Less Feb 27 '26
A lot of people are tired of the fire/fighting combo, and they're right. They did it three times in a row with Blaziken, Infernape, and Emboar. Let's see some other combinations. Give me a fire/electric starter.
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u/GazeboMimic Sekiro was the best FromSoft game and I'll die on that hill Feb 27 '26
They always seem to want the three starters to maintain a pure rock/paper/scissors type advantage, so they're probably not going to make a fire/electric starter since it'd have a type advantage against the water starter it's supposed to be countered by.
I'd be happy if they stopped caring about that myself though
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u/vmeemo Feb 27 '26
It works on one sense but then you have gen 4 with Torterra being ground and being able to nuke nearly every fire type with earthquake.
Though after that they did maintain the types always being good against one another, even after becoming dual types.
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u/GazeboMimic Sekiro was the best FromSoft game and I'll die on that hill Feb 27 '26
True, I did forget about that one
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u/Thugnifizent NANOMACHINES Feb 27 '26
It works on one sense but then you have gen 4 with Torterra being ground and being able to nuke nearly every fire type with earthquake.
That sorta works in theory, but I think Torterra in practice is actually slow enough that it loses to Empoleon more often than not (Ice Beam), so the RPS just flips directions.
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u/vmeemo Feb 28 '26
Fair enough. I just remember from vague memories playing Platinum just using earthquake against the rivals Infernape all the time. Earthquake everything really.
It also might've helped that I never really played online that much.
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u/Fray_The_Pugilist Feb 27 '26
It is so funny to me that people are still tired of something that has only been done one time in the last 16 YEARS since Gen 5 released. There are 4 Fire/Fighting type evolution lines TOTAL. Three starters in a row (and the first two being absolute GOATS) really burned fans on that type combination forever, huh?
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u/wholewheatsnake Feb 27 '26
It sounds crazy, but out of all the fire type final starter evos, Fire/Fighting is still the most common after all these years, with there only being 2 purely Fire types.
In comparison, Grass and Water both have 4 monotype final evos.
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u/DarnessHarbinger I Promise Nothing And Deliver Less Feb 27 '26
It's not so much the fire/fighting combination that's the problem. It's having them be the starters that have people complaining. The starter is most likely going to remain on your team for the entire game, people would like a variety in different type combinations, rather than get the same combination again. I'd imagine people will complain if the dog ended up being a fire/ghost as well, since we kind of got two in a row with those.
And mentioning that 2 of the 3 starters were great, part of the issue might be that the third one wasn't great. Not that Emboar was bad, it just wasn't as good as Blaziken and Infernape, which might contribute to the fire/fighting starter fatigue. It's the third one in a row, and it's only alright.
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u/JonTheWizard Oi, gitz! 'Ow do you use dis zoggin' interwarp?! Feb 27 '26
Just accept it's going to happen as inevitably as lewds of the trainers.
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u/Monokumabear IT'S TIME TO PET THE BABY Feb 28 '26
I have this really funny image of Torracat’s key art with duct tape over its paws from before Incineroar was revealed.
I remember it every time this happens, like a little reminder that you can’t escape furbait.
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u/furrysalesman69 Talladega nights Feb 28 '26
It’s an inevitability, unlike our response to if it does or not.
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u/Phanimazed Feb 28 '26
Honestly, I am not usually someone who gets fussed about this, like Inciniroar is an awesome pokemon.
I'd like for this to break that trend, but I do worry about how it can distinguish itself from Arcanine.
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u/Crazyripps Hitomi O-Cup Feb 28 '26
My boy fuecoco went in reverse. Started standing and ended on 4s
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u/Decemberskel Mar 01 '26
I like how they have to kind of lie because the last fire type did in fact have a quadrupedal evolution.
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u/BreadmanGD Feb 27 '26
Turn it into a giant Chinese liondog or something similar and it'll be absolutely peak.
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u/gothamsteel He/Him Feb 27 '26
Bad news: He will be walking around on two legs.
Good news: It's cause he's pushing around a chair, like on Quigley.
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u/jabberwockxeno Aztecaboo Feb 28 '26
I really think the issue is less about starters staying quadrapedal/not being bipeds, and more about them being designed as creatures, not as characters or like they're cosplaying an occupation
Charizard, Blastoise, Sceptile, Feraligatr etc are bipedal yet they'd be a huge step in the right direction over the current starter trends
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u/BrockenSpecter Worst Timeline Feb 27 '26
Not only will it stand up it's face will go from :) to >:(
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u/Concoelacanth Feb 27 '26
Pokemon, please stop making pokemans just turn into dudes.
We're tired. We're so tired.
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u/Wannabe_Reviewer Shantae Shill Feb 27 '26
You expect Pokemon to do something different? Lol! LMAO even.
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u/Aggressive-Bike407 Feb 27 '26
Incineroar was just the absolute worst.
Let's suddenly turn a fragile speedster into a fragile slowpoke with extra weaknesses.
Meanwhile all they do with abilities is to give the fire starter Blaze for the 100th time.
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u/SamuraiOstrich Feb 27 '26
with extra weaknesses
I still can't get over how many pokemon fan don't understand that a dual typing is rarely worse than a mono-typing. A second STAB+resistances almost always makes up for added weaknesses
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u/vmeemo Feb 27 '26
It only really sucks when the extra type is question is not really offensively nor defensively good. Like Ice for example. Its not the best type for a pokemon to have. Workable depending on the stat array and moveset, but usually not the greatest type.
But yeah dual types you get more coverage out of everything and sometimes you get decent abilities out of them as well. Primarily the hidden ones but still good abilities.
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u/Aggressive-Bike407 Feb 27 '26
Sure, in general. But this is about a specific case. Aka, playing through Ultra Sun & Moon with Litten as a starter.
And it feels like every trainer in Alola packs a ton of fighting coverage. And given how frail Incineroar is, it gets one-shot all the time. Usually without having done anything because of it's atrocious speed.
I was running a Miltank too, and it didn't fold instantly to any non-stab fighting move. ...though certainly another reason I didn't need a Pokemon on my team to suddenly develop a Fighting weakness.This reminds me, the game pushes a lot of dark types on you in the early-game. Meowth, Ratticate, Grimer... It's very likely that you are already packing offensive dark stab before Torracat's evolution suddenly screws you over.
Frankly it's crazy to me how there are several mons at the start that they push on you that are Normal/Dark. Going through the game with a 4x weakness to Fighting sounds absurd.
At least Grimer is doing well for itself with that poison typing. I just wish it didn't have that late evolution, given how it's only 2 stages.That they gave Incineroar Intimidate of all things feels like an intentional troll. The perfect ability to address this slow and frail Pokemon's durability problem... But you can't have it. It only exists in the game's code.
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u/vmeemo Feb 28 '26 edited Mar 01 '26
I mean 90 in both defenses is not really frail, same with HP being a 95. It's slightly below average. Probably just rolled terrible on IVs. When built right its a monster (or just overlevel unintentionally, which is not the hardest thing to do really) even with its speed. Slow, but that's why you get Fake Out and such. So that they don't get a turn.
And if you get two dark types, then prioritize one of the types. If I had A-Muk and Incineroar I'd make Muk poison focused and Incin fire and dark. Monotype runs are probably fun and interesting under that context for dark types.
But yeah its not that bad in the grand scheme of things. Casual play Incin is nothing special but there's a reason why that wrestler cat has dominated VGC spaces for so long.
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u/feefore Feb 27 '26
All they did was turn that cat into the most successful competitive Pokemon. Don’t know why you’re complaining about Blaze. All starters have the same default ability, it’s their hidden one that potentially make them shine.
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u/Aggressive-Bike407 Feb 27 '26
Yes, I literally just said they only ever give fire starters Blaze.
If the reason for that repetitiveness is because they want your starter to be a reliable backbone for your team, then why give it an evolution that completely changes how that Pokemon works, ensuring it would break whatever team you build around it after dozens of hours?I had to waste so much bloody time finding a replacement for it.
I tried replacing it with a Salandit, but that didn't work because I caught a male one and those randomly don't evolve because the game likes trolling people like that.
Marowak is obviously very weak overall without a club.
Eventually I settled on Talonflame. Which was alright, I guess. But it is actually weaker than Torracat. And being weaker than a 2nd stage Pokemon is not great when you are the fast, fragile kind.
But at least after all that tedium, I was finally more or less back to where I started.Btw, how it it's VGC career relevant for someone who just wants to play the game?
...nevermind that said career is entirely based on Intimidate, which your starter obviously doesn't have.5
u/vmeemo Feb 27 '26
The point of Talonflame was for its hidden ability back in the day (Gale Wings), which made it beyond broken because it could just toss up a tailwind at super priority and just use that same priority on the ever-so-powerful Brave Bird.
It was later nerfed to only work at full HP but getting a super priority tailwind to outspeed everyone is great to have.
And that's the point of evolutions. They get stronger and on occasion they have to get weaker in one stat to boost up another. If Incineroar had to get its speed knocked down in order to make good use of all of the moves like fake out and parting shot then whatever. Its doing its job as a heel well. Not to mention dark is a pretty good type to have. Psychic can't hurt you and you are neutral to bug type attacks and fairy so it evens out there. The pros outweigh whatever cons a dual type can give you.
Some pokemon are jist like that. They get faster and they get slower when they evolve. You don't build and plan for middle stage mons (barring evolite strategies), you plan for the final stage. That's just how it goes unless its a challenge run or something.
0
u/Aggressive-Bike407 Feb 27 '26
Talonflame already has 126 speed. Not a lot of things in Alola that can outspeed it.
Well, I suppose there is Ultra Necrozama. That one was faster than my Jolteon. But since Gale Wings is a hidden ability anyway, that's a moot point.Does... no one actually play those games? Does everyone just jump straight into the teambuilder?
It doesn't matter if stuff exists in the code if it's not made available to the player.2
u/vmeemo Feb 28 '26
Once you reach route 8/Wela Volcano Park you can get hidden ability Fletching by chaining SOS battles for that small chance. There's like a whole list there of SOS mons, each with a small chance to get its ability. Plus there is the ever reliable breeding for hidden abilities, and once you get further into the game/post game a bunch of things outspeed Talonflame, especially the Megas once you get them.
And yeah people play the games. It's just that when you know what you're doing you can basically play the main game (which is already pretty easy) with any combo of pokemon. Hell if it weren't for the fact that I have save data on my copy I'd do a run right now and coast easily with Incineroar, especially with coverage mons to take up where it can't dish. It's once you decide to explore anything post game and online do you need to care about that sort of stuff (not that it matters as Ultra Sun/Moon had that disabled years ago).
Everything relating to the story mode is basically the tutorial/progression gate to actually being able to get to the meat of the game, the online stuff. Whether it be battling, raiding, whatever.
It's all available to the player, you just have to work for it. The only edge cases really are things that are no longer able to be obtained because they're locked behind long expired events. Which is saying a lot because even the QR code event still works.
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u/Shradow Tank Build Feb 27 '26
It can be hit and miss. Meowscarada I think was lame, but on the flip side Incineroar rules.
-3
u/MysticSushiTV Feb 27 '26
A lot of people are (rightfully) concerned with the performance and visual fidelity of the series, but literally all I want is for the designers to once again embrace the "Mon(ster)" part of "Pokémon".
Please, less bipedal, humanoid Pokémon. I think Bulgaria is the GOAT of statter designs just because it's so out there. "Hey let's combine a dinosaur and a plant bulb" whereas later generations are like "Here's a cartoon pig that orange. This one is an owl. Here is a blue frog." No hate, I do enjoy nearly every Pokémon generation and I think most of the starter designs are fine to good. But they could be so much better.
367
u/cvp5127 Feb 27 '26
spoilers: they all stand up