Okay, just... before you comment that male crocodiles are called "bulls", so are male elephants, rhinos, whales, gorillas, almost any large male animal can be described as a bull. They could literally make a block of cheese fire starter and people will find a way to connect it to the Chinese Zodiac. That is all.

Naclstack's dex entry shook me to my core 'This Pokemon dry cures its prey by spraying salt over them' getting dry cured alive has gotta be one of the worst ways to go out

Octillery had huge missed paradox potential. The past form could have been a giant kraken, with a blackened nose meant to look more like a cannon. Give it a beard made of seaweed, skin texture similar to wood, and a skull pattern across it's face to make it kind of look like a pirate ship. Future Octillery could have actually looked like a tank, with treads on its side and a helmet-like structure on its head. Give it a cool looking visor and swap it's nose for say a laser gun with a lens and boom, cyborg octopus. There's also the CAAT, Captive Air Amphibious Transporter, a prototype vehicle which is essentially a boat with huge inflatable tank treads on its side. So the treads on future Octillery could have looked like balloons

Koraidon is such a friend. I love the legendaries that aren’t just ancient evil gods. It’s just a super strong friends dragon and he looks so friendly

The starters aren't just meant to be festival performers, they're all based on festivities in former Iberian colonies! Quaquaval is a Brazilian Carnavál peacock dancer with capoeira influence, skeledirge has a mix of mariachi, alebrije, and Calavera influence to reference Dia de Los Muertos, and meowscarada is a mascaraded magician inspired by Mardi Gras in New Orleans! I think this was honestly a really interesting theme for these starters, and I feel that they really should be appreciated for this influence :)

Another great thing about Skeledirge: it’s the first non-explicitly anthropomorphic starter in 12 years. It’s also the first explicitly quadrapedal fire type starter evolution. All of the elements you pointed out(some of which I hadn’t noticed until you said it) mix with those facts to make this a breath of fresh air in terms of starter designs, despite being the same typing as Hisuian Typhlosion. He’s my new favorite Fire starter now too!

Honestly, i love how the Pokedex are just a shelf of Encyclopedias

I love that Dudunsparce feels like a middle finger to people who have been headcanoning badass fanart of Dunsparce evolutions for 20 years.

An interesting bit for your critique of the armor of ceruledge and armorouge. The reason the armor isnt metalic is because its ceramic armor. Its clay hardened by heat, to fit the fire part. This is also likely the reason for weak armor being thier hidden ability as we mainly see it on things with rocky brittle armor. Hence the texture

Watching shiny fortress running in circles in the background is absolutely adorable. Fella’s just having a fun time

“Shrews are like the only venomous mammal.” Male Platypuses: “Are we a joke to you?”

I don't know if it was intented by the designers, but I kinda feel like Tatsugiri is also a play on catfishing. It mimics food in this case in order to lure in its prey and it is linked to Dondozo the Catfish pokemon, giving both a literal and a figurative catfish in the same package

I always wanted the first grass/fire type to be a Sunflora evolution. I always imagined the potential of a Sunflara, a literal sunflower, a grass stem topped with the entire actual star.

Clodsire's rib spikes are based on the Iberian ribbed newt, which does the same thing! It has a defense mechanism where it arches its back and spikes in its ribs puncture its own body to make it spiky (the newt is unharmed) (Edit: typo)

Okay but the best part about kingambit is that it is referencing a general during the War of Three Kingdoms. The general, Chuko Liang, was resting at a small town with only 100 men or so while his main army was marching forward. Then suddenly scouts came in to tell him that an enemy general's army was on their way. According to the stories, without any hesitation Liang told his troops to throw open the gates to the town and everyone hide. Liang himself sat in the center of town and played a flute while the enemy general and his army approached. The enemy general took one look at Liang and decided it was not worth trying to attack, because there was no way that this wasn't a trap. So he left, just like that. Kingambit literally references a gambit!

I thought the three starters were more based on different forms of art; grass cat becomes a theatre performer and gets a spotlight, fire croc becomes a singer, water duck becomes a dancer

My silly brain genuinely thought Dondozo was a Wiscash evolution for a bit, but I don’t care that it’s not, it’s so hecking cool

Something fun I haven't seen anyone pick up on yet is that Tarountula's design mimicks Lechonk's in many ways. The eyes mimick the snout and eyelids, the silk wrapped around it mimicks the roundness of Lechonk and even the little thread mimicks Lechonk's tail. It makes perfect sense for a stealthy spec-ops spider pre-evolution.

Greavards dex entry is kinda tragically beautiful to me. It's given a second chance at walking the mortal plane so that it could experience the love it never got? Also I think DJ G-Rave in Montenevra is getting all of the love they deserve :)

Pawmi didn't need a middle form, some other mons NEED a mid form because its a leap from the 1st stage into it's final stage

I *really* love the convergent lines, ESPECIALLY because they make perfect sense ecologically: Wiglett is a Water type living in and near the open coastal waters of the ocean, which would make it easy prey for the Wattrel line. But by looking like Diglett, it appears like a Ground type, which would be immune to their Electric attacks, making it a much less interesting prey. Something similar goes for the Toedscool line: Looking like the Water-type Tentacool line, they're scaring of their Fire-type predators, seeming both resistant to _and_ effective against them. But both are described as very fast and/or watchful! Why would they need to camouflage themselves when they could just escape? Because they can't, no matter how fast they are. The inclusion of the Fletchling line in this generation gives us the perfect predator/prey dynamic for mimicry like that. Both frigate birds (Kilowattrel) and falcons (Talonflame) are dive-bombers. They glide far above and scout for prey to swoop in before it has any chance to react. Neither Toedscools running speed nor Wiglett's sense of smell can beat that. The only chance for potential prey to *not* become a target of those is by either staying in hiding 24/7 - or by looking as unappealing to them as possible. Like for example another Pokémon they usually wouldn't risk attacking.

the thing about the legendaries this gen that I love is that you as the player character are literally writing the legend of these mons. it's completely foreign to everyone when it first escapes the crater, Nemona even says it's just a weird looking Cyclizar, and as it regains strength it becomes more incredible, it helps you accomplish your own goals and by the end you get the lore and it saves the region. so much more enticing than some older gens where the evil team wants to use it for world domination because the leader knew about it from who knows where

I heavily agree with the "you need to see them in game" sentiment. People were judging the designs from the leaked low-res Pokédex screenshots, and I was just confused how you could pass any judgement from a blurry lowres screenshot where you can't even see the entire Pokémon. I love Farigiraf so much, it's become one of my favourite Pokémon of all time. The combination of colours and patterns is just perfection, and the sheer size of it really makes it stand out. I really, really like Baxcalibur too, it was THE Pokémon I knew I absolutely had to have and I based the entire rest of my team around it. It's a freaking Godzilla Pokémon! It might be my second favourite Pokémon of all time, only because I don't think anything will ever replace Noivern for me.

I find it interesting how a lot of the past paradox pokemon give "dinosaur" features (spikes, jagged teeth, tails, big legs) to things that aren't even remotely dinosaurs. Meanwhile the most divergent change with future paradox pokemon is Iron Treads having a completely different face and most of them are just "X but robot"...

I was really taken off-guard by 2 things: 1) How much I adore Lechonk's evolution. 2) How hilariously derpy Koraidon (and I assume Miraidon) is. Whenever it appears in a cutscene in the game, its antics instantly make me smile. PS: My girlfriend and I both caught a radom spawn wild shiny Pokemon within one day of each other. She found a shiny female Lechonk. I found a shiny male Oinkologne. A perfect match!

The best part about Finizen line is its french names. I'm french and play in french. And the concept of this line is even dumber and greater. It's called Dofin which is pronounced exactly like Dauphin (the actual word for dolphin). And then it evolves into Superdofin. It is the laziest superhero name for a dolphin. And I love it.

One Pokemon I didn't expect to keep on my team was Flamigo. When I first saw it, I thought "This is so basic, it looks like your garden variety lawn ornament." But, darn is it powerful. Mine's name is Carney, and the longer I had it on my team, the more I grew attached to it, to the point that I couldn't swap it out for a much-needed Water-Type. Carney became the Water-Type that I needed, and I love it. I love that aggressive little Flamingo so much.

Now I want an hour and a half long video of Jack talking about Glaceon’s ass

“get a pretzel and punch my garganacl and snack off of it”🤣😭 i laughed way too hard

I absolutely adore Lokix so so much. It’s extremely powerful too, that thing hits HARD. And I love especially, that it’s “leg” acts like a switchblade! Nobody rlly talks about the fact it has FCKING SWITCHBLADE LEGS, ITS LIKE AN ASSASSIN- I named mine after an old order of assassins as well. Clever too, cus grasshoppers really really do cut grass like butter, it’s incredible (I recently dissected one, they are SHARP..)

About the zodiac thing being dead, I got creative with an Australian region with the idea of the fire starter a fire worm (a bristle worm that has these fiber glass-like bristles that burn like hell) that mimics snakes. As it evolved, I’d imagine the snake appearance becoming more of a secondary design element as the annelid elements start to become more prominent

I really liked the Tinka line when first saw Tinkatin, loved it when I saw Tinkaton, and then she became my favorite pokemon line ever when I red the dex entries

I saw the leaks and was a complete hater, then I played the actual game and now I think this is actually my new favorite region

I love Gimmieghoul's evolution. It looks like the Cheesestrings mascot. I have nothing more to say about it. I just love that it's literally a cheesestring.

Skeledirge is my favorite starter hands down. The in-battle animation of it letting it's fire birdie clean it's teeth is so cute.

1:08:05 I love that Forretress is just floating around in a circle. It is so surprisingly adorable! I'm just hearing it yell "wee" in my head everytime it passes by.

Skeledirge is everything I wanted from the starters. On top of everything you mentioned it is also the *very first fire type starter of the entire franchise* that _doesn't_ have a bipedal final stage.

I love QuAQUAval so much. It’s honestly one of my favorite starters ever. I’ve wanted a peacock Pokémon for a while too, so bonus.

I actually love Floragato. Probably one of my favorite mid-stage starters, the fact that it fights with a yoyo is SO funny to me. Meowscarada, same thing. I somehow picked the starter most suited to my own tastes, adding in the dark masquerade magician stuff on top of being a cat. Where Fuecoco is Jackcore, Sprigatito is definitely mecore

The ruinous quartet are firmly some of my favourite Pokémon now, the mythology behind and the unique designs just add to perfection

Maybe a cools video idea would be to draw these future paradox Pokémon using speculative evolution to show what their future versions would look like if they were still around or organic

the unprompted litleo attack between tauros and bramblin made me choke on my water

Had a lot of fun watching this. One of my favorite things about these games is how much the community loved them. It feels fun being a Pokémon fan again.

Yeah they remodeled so many Pokémon I was so “wow when I caught an Espeon and the model was revamped and gorgeous and it’s battle position so… “attack” in such a better way vs. it’s old poise- it just feels great in this game

what i don't like between the two versions is that the paradox forms in skarlet are so diverse but the violet forms are just all robots with no exception. i would have wished for a little more variety, especially since they've started to explore concepts like convergent evolution and stuff.

I think Meowscarda is based on yes carnival, but I think its also got inspiration from French and the 3 musketeers. It's got a puffy sleeved shirt, a ruffled collar and big boots, a cape and a mask. Not to mention it's signature move, flower trick, is a stealth based move where Meowscarada sneaks up and plants bombs on the enemy with misdirection. To me it screams more French musketeer, or what we would consider musketeer, in design. It's definitely got some carnival inspiration, but I think that's more a secondary concept. I love Meowscarada, but I also adore French designs, so I might just be heavily biased.

About Gholdengo, it asks of you 999 coins because every Ghimighoul always have one they don't part with, so you actually give them 1000 coins, to honor it is also the 1000th pokemon in National Dex (presumably, based on the fact that there are 1008 now, and Gholdengo is 8th to last)

Always love hearing you talk about this type of stuff. Gives me a new insight and way to look at mons - for example, I REALLY disliked Oinkologne, but the way you explained it made me appreciate it's design a lot more!

I love how Baxcalibur’s signature move is a Godzilla vs. Hedorah reference

Its cool and unexpected how Flittle isn't really birdlike but becomes an Ostrich.

The legendary ruinous pokemon quartet are based on the four perils of Chinese mythology They're the opposite of the gen 5 genie trio,which became a quartet with pokemon Arceus,they're based on the four benevolent animals.

Mousehold is adorable. It’s Jerry and all of his family members from the old cartoons, as a pokémon, but somehow even better.

I think Scarlet and Violet are the first mainline pokemon games to have the legendary pokemon actually grow a bond with the player and it feels like a classic movie where the main character meets and becomes friends with a creature or monster that secretly holds a lot of power and I just love that and it makes me love Koraidon and Miraidon. Also im so glad you choose Fuecoco and I LOVED hearing you gush about Skeledirge as much as I have when I first played the game, probably my new favorite fire starter final evolution now too.

Honestly, I love how Palafin is just a huge Superman reference in a Pokemon game, from the heart-shaped emblem reminiscent of the classic Superman S, or how it only changes forms when it switches out (like how Clark Kent switches out of his regular clothing to become Superman), or the fact that it evolves at level 38 (a nod to the first Superman comic which released in 1938)

I love how bramble is one of the three you have to walk 1000 steps to evolve, but it’s the only 1 that doesn’t learn that teammate revival move. And I think that’s because you can find his evolution spawning on its own.

Probably a hot take, but grafaiai is the best pokemon design ever to me! There are so many layers to its inspiration, and it still looks cool with it's long gangly arms, it's spider man face, its sort of a fusion of a bunch of different lemur species, it has a hoodie!!! And I love how its sort of a small mammal pokemon that could still unleash some serious woop ass! And on top of all that... It's an artist,... Witch just appeals to me in the best way!!!

I randomly found a shiny Toedscool. Its shiny is so good. Pure white like it looks like its textures didnt load. And Toedscruel is black white and purple/pink

"Floating leaf thing"... okay until just now i tho8ght that was the tip of its tail lol.

35:26 Squawkabilly is based on the monk parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus), also known as the Quaker parrot. This species is an invasive species in Madrid and other cities in Spain and Portugal.

Found your channel from Truegreen7’s art challenges! I love how positive and supportive you are of the other artists, and your designs are always creative and cohesive. This video is exactly the kind of thing I love putting on in the background while I’m doing some sort of crafting project or playing video games etc. Thanks for the great content! Will definitely subscribe. 😊

Okay, so Finizen INTO Palafin is like All-Might's "weakened" and "Hero" forms. Capsakid INTO Scovillain is LITERALLY a VILLAIN! We got a Hero and Villain duo where they can actually fight each other lol 😂

I love that they gave the Pokémon which lost Mega evolutions new forms this gen. It gives me hope for amazing Absol, Lopunny, Mawile and Banette forms in the inevitable DLCs. Maybe we'll go to past or future versions of famous places across Pokémon history? Maybe I'll get contests back? Who knows?! I'm excited either way.

Your Fortetress just having a blast circling you in the bg was super cute for the back half of the video lol

The future pokemon feel pretty dull. They're just "hey, it's metal now. And they kinda glow". The only one I actually liked was Iron Valiant. But only cause it was it was a teeny bit more than a carbon, or steel, copy of another pokemon

Flamigo, Tandemaus/Maushold, Ceruledge, Gimmighoul/Gholdengo and Dudunsparce are probly my favs in this gen, but there are just WAY too many good designs to choose from, I have so many new favorites this gen Final Scarlet team ended up being Meowscarada, Ceruledge, Flamigo, Revavroom, Farigiraf and Tinkaton. Really excited to see what they Violet team will be Also all the Past Paradox 'mon that aren't fully-evolved? They're all stone-evolutions! Meaning that either those stones didn't always exist, or those 'mon really could only reach their full potential with the help of a Trainer Also ppl who complain about having the Legendary be with you the whole time apparently forgot about Nebby

That tumbleweed pokemon should've been tooled as a tangela variant

Learning that crocadilians sing makes me want a megaphone mouth croc pokemon

Those fish and snail legendaries toward the end are fucking dope. I hope we get more designs like that, they really feel like legendary/mythical creatures, maybe it's because they seem more realistic and detailed

for me, pawmi is like an anime protagonist, growing both in strength and in hair to protect its friends (as it says in the pokedex)

I gotta admit, I did end up really loving more of the new generation once I saw them in-game. You are right, they are best viewed as intended. My one complaint about this generation specifically with the pokemon is I kind of wish the new group matched with the setting. One of the things I love about the Mazah Region that you design is that the Pokemon *fit* there, like it feels natural and inspired. Whereas most of these just... don't. Love more of the designs then I thought but still let down by how seemingly random they are.

So excited to see Jack's reaction to the pseudo legend/ GODZILLA Edit: An unexpected reaction! I figured he would have been more excited by Excalibax being Godzilla (also it is a dinosaur named Concavenator), and I double expected him to recognize specifically what it's signature move is referencing!

I like how Phinizen never even loses it's original charm of it's first form and still gets a cool, extremely powerful transformation.

Fun fact btw, Goldhengo is officially the 1000th Pokémon, which is why you need 999 coins for it

45:54 YES! I was thinking the same and still think that this is the perfect evolution for Dunsparce. It's like Game Freak said: "I heard you like Dunsparce, so here is a Dunsparce who is more Dunsparce than Dunsparce! And there is more! It can get more Dunsprace with a rare form which has a third Dunsparce segment!".

Im avid fan of pokemon who are just objects so when i saw Garganacl i screamed, like its a rock!

Tandemaus is the only Pokémon that can evolve without an evolution screen. They basically just have kids and it's an evolution. I love it.

GameFreak is the true Zodiac Killer 😂

so happy to find someone who also appreciates all the inventive and new designs in this!

One thing you didn't point out about Skeledirge that is super cool is that its head is reminiscent of a sugar skull, AND it has a boxy, almost piñata like shape with its body. One of my favorite designs ever, for sure

it's probably important to say that while the game tells you that the paradox pokemon are from the past/future, everything around them heavily implies this not to be the case. Also, the scarlet/violet books describe them all accurately, despite being published in the professors' childhoods, thus predating the time machine by years

Quaquaval is a fruity fabulous gay bird and I love him very much.

My biggest surprise coming from the new designs this gen absolutely has to be Annihilape and there's a couple reasons for that, but first, some context. Months and months ago when leakers/credible sources were hinting and talking about all sorts of stuff for the games, Primeape getting an evolution was very much among those things discussed. People started crafting all sorts of theories and drawing fanart over what it could potentially be. What people were able to put together from what was provided was that this Primeape evolution would be a calm and collected sage monkey, a Primeape's ghost who had moved on and found peace, essentially. Then much, much later when the whole pokédex eventually leaked online... *_Everything changed._* Wow. What a 180°. We could not have been further from the truth. I don't think I've ever been this taken aback and slapped around by a new pokémon like this. I straight up _wept_ upon learning of this grand revelation. Reading the name "Annihilape" for the first time felt like one of the greatest anime plot twists in history. Simply incredible! Now THAT is how you subvert expectations! One of the best new mons of this gen easily! Me and a whole bunch of leak discussers and speculators being utterly bamboozled only added to the experience! Game Freak, I have no idea who you hired to make Annihilape, but please, don't let them go. They're a keeper!

I think my main issue with more abstract looking Pokémon like this, is that it blurs the line of what can be a Pokémon, which isn't inherently bad, but you also have to account for the possibility of the franchise itself adopting a inconsistent art style with its Pokémon. I hope that what I'm say8ng makes sense.

The main reason that I really like Meowscarada is because it just looks so much like a digimon. I’m not even necessarily partial to digimon, I just thought it was funny. (I also appreciate that despite it being bipedal, at the very least it isn’t super human proportioned. It doesn’t feel like a human dressed up like a Pokémon)

The pepper pokemon really grew on me especially since the green one launches fire moves and the red one uses grass moves

Tropious is so short now though, seeing it in the over world it’s so much tinier then I thought… the animations are a win but like I thought he was supposed to be huge

There is something so satisfying about an actual tumbleweed cruising through your Pokémon battle I adore that Pokémon just for the ambiance

I’m just happy Gogoat is back! It’s surprising good on my play through.

also "3 stage rock type" is actually not quite as common as the other pokemon archetypes, we have like 4 and a half families

Hearing ya loud and clear buddy! Thanks for the stream/video!

My favorites are Klawf and Tinkaton. Klawf is just this fun goofy crab, and it's deceptively good too when played right. Everything about Tinkaton from the design to the lore to the gameplay is just great. I've heard people mention that it's shiny hammer is made of shiny Corviknight parts, but nope. The REGULAR hammer has silver parts mixed in though, meaning that every Tinkaton has scrapped shiny Corviknights. I suddenly feel like Galar was a little more justified with not letting certain species in. In spite of the lore, it's built as the anti-fairy instead of the anti-steel. Squashing things like Florges and Sylveon with that giant Monster Hunter style hammer is so satisfying.

I think it was a missed opportunity for Pokémon with wattrel and killowatrel. They are so similar in body type to tailow and swellow that they could have been regional variants with killowatrel being a new 3rd evolution

I’m personally not a great fan of Skeledirge for design reasons even if I think it’s a good design, but I genuinely enjoy the huge passion you have for its design.

Yes! I was waiting for this exact video. I'd love to see your takes on some new Paradox Pokemon. I bet you'd put out some absolute bangers!

100% agree about Tropius. I've been begging for it to go back on all fours ever since I first saw it's 3D model. It's a god damn sauropod! Give it some weight! The 3D model gave it all the weight and presence of an empty wrapper fluttering in a breeze. I love Tropius, but I haven't used it since it went to 3D because I can't abide having that model on my team and seeing it every time I battle. It's finally back on the ground and I can't wait to use it again. The only downside is that so far every Tropius I've seen in the game looks 4ft tall. I'm hoping with the size variations, I'll eventually find one that actually looks closer to the size I expect it to be.

Holy crap this video made me realize that Clodsire is totally a reference to Spanish Ribbed Newts!

The absolute best thing about Rabsca to me is how scarabs represents life, death, ressurection, and rebirth, and the way rellor evolves and the main body becomes liveless, while a new living creature is put into the womb-shaped ball it holds, perfectly represents that Plus I love how it's shaped exactly like all those depictions of scarabs holding up the sun, absolute top tier pokemon design right there

I’m having a really hard time right now and an hour+ long video on Pokémon character design is helping so much This is peak content

I still find it funny how as far as I've heard the length of Maushold's cry depends on how many babies there are (shorter if 1 longer if 2)

Spidops and Lokix also have this whole american vs japanese superhero thing going on where Lokix looks like a sentai character and Spidops' shiny colors make it look like spider-man