Five months have come and gone (and how!), and now we’re getting the first of the Sword/Shield expansions, with new Pokémon to boot. We saw the initial designs for several of these back in January, but now that we’ve learned so much more about them, let’s dig in deep, why not?
The changes to Galarian Slowpoke were fairly simple, but with interesting biological implications. Galarian Slowbro, then, can become much more elaborate: the build-up of spices in the thing’s body means that when its symbiotic Shellder latches on—going for the arm, rather than the tail—the chemical reaction changes it into poison. Makes sense to me! So, now Slowbro is covered in purple rashes that give it an appropriately sickly look, and the Shellder on its arm is a needle-shaped firearm that shoots venomous liquid, which is quite a bit different from its more gormless traditional form. It even goes through a bit of a personality change, as the Pokédex portrays it as a much wilder and more violent, which I guess fits the Poison typing (and the more painful-sounding transformation it goes through.) It’s not the craziest regional variation we’ve seen, but it’s still fairly creative.
Of course, since Charizard got a Gigantamax form, Venusaur and Blastoise get their own, and they mostly fall in line with previous ones—taking certain elements of the base form and exaggerating them to almost humorous degrees. The gigantic leaves on G-Max Venusaur kind of make it adorable, and I quite like the description of it as being like a flower volcano, constantly spitting out pollen that, as described, is more irritating rather than dangerous. For G-Max Blastoise, they followed the same design philosophy they did for its Mega Evolution—more cannons means more better. This time, the 31 cannons (I like how specific they are) are all on its back, making it like a fortress wall, and it can target each one individually. Blastoise is definitely the more ridiculous/entertaining of the two (although it’s stealing its pose from Turtonator like a total jerk), but both find some individual elements to make “this Pokémon, but bigger” concept more interesting—and considering that the original starters will probably always have some new version, finding new-ish angles on them is an accomplishment.
They also previewed some Pokémon that won’t be available until the next expansion, and they’re definitely the more interesting bunch.
First, we have two more additions to the Regi-/legendary golem family, the first since…2007, I think. Adding to an established line of legendary Pokémon is quite a move, especially since the design ideals have changed so much between Ruby/Sapphire and Sword/Shield. So, no, despite having some of the signature visuals of the other golems, Regieleki (which sounds like it could be a normal last name) and Regidrago don’t exactly match the style, but I also think they lean into it with these two. Firstly, rather than be based on solid material, they’re both more nebulous concepts—Regieleki is an energy being (like that electric gremlin in Gremlins 2), while Regidrago is made more to resemble something than be specifically made of something (although maybe it could be considered a “bone” golem, if you ignore all of that “crystallized dragon energy” nonsense.) This also means that they have more going on in terms of animation than their blocky predecessors: Regieleki’s electrical arms are constantly moving (although its Tesla coil restraints give it a more definite shape), which works well with the animation of its signature attack, while Reigdrago snaps itself into a dragon skull, which is a neat touch (and the plays into the idea dropped by the website that it’s technically “unfinished”, another really cool detail.) The older golems were pretty simple designs, especially for legendary Pokémon (with the exception of Regigigas, but one can easily chalk that up to “it was made during Gen Four”), while the new ones have a bit more going on—one could see that as an improvement or a detriment, but I like appreciate the distinctiveness it gives them. Although they’re possibly still playing into the series legacy/nostalgia, the two of them still provide a different take on the idea.
They’re not done playing with older legendary Pokémon, though—we also get some Galarian forms of the the classic bird trio, and while we could tell from the concept art dropped in January that they looked pretty different, learning more about their concept goes way farther than I expected. Not only do their type changes put them into a more direct relationship with each other (a rock-paper-scissors cycle not unlike the starters), but they are all clever parallels to their original types as well: Articuno freezes enemies with psychic-powered eye beams, Zapdos practices lightning-fast bird-fu, and Moltres burns with a dark aura. Rather than just subverting or inverting expectations, it feels like a lot more thought has been put into these ones, seeking a way to interpret their older abilities in ways that are new but also still make sense.
Even more interesting, all three of them are changed so that they look incredibly sinister and scary, quite unlike the more elegant visuals of their previous versions. The darker colours play into that, of course, but Articuno (who now sports a stylish mask) and Moltres are given two different kinds of malevolent glare, and are described as having less-than-pleasant personalities and even less pleasant abilities, while Zapdos (whose roadrunner design is so cute, it is instantly my personal favourite) is a little less outwardly intimidating, but also just loves fighting for the sake of it. Like the type changes, this is not just a standard “what if” alteration, but something that gives the Galarian versions of them a very different vibe, one that is less majestic and more…I don’t know, boss monster-esque? That the three of them seem to have an openly hostile relationship with each other also plays into that.
Meanwhile, we also got a new mythical ‘mon a while back, so why not talk about it now? What I appreciate about Zarude is, despite its special status, it is really just a scary-looking monkey, something intentionally unpleasant-looking. Sometimes, it’s perfectly suitable for a Pokémon to be kinda ugly, and one of those cases is when they’re a pack of angry baboons whipping things with vines. Almost as a knowing contrast, though, it’s signature move is a healing one—demonstrating that even something this menacing can still be in tune with the more benevolent side of nature. Zarude contains multitudes, you see.
A Scrapbook of Infinite Noise 