Judge a Pokémon Express: Friends in Paldea
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heritage
Welcome to Paldea, would you like some friends? Game Freak seems to be giving us some squishy, fun Pokémon this go around! From a frog to a giraffe, we've got it all! Just don't think too hard about Wiglett.
| Wiglett | Farigiraf | Bellibolt | Grafaiai |
| Click on the images to reveal everyone's thoughts! | |||
zee
Noodles anyone? I'm not too well versed in marine biology but I did some digging into the garden eel that Wiglett is based on after it was revealed and I have to say I think these are some pretty cute critters. Convergence as a concept to introduce new Pokémon is super cool, and I think I like it more than just pumping out new regional forms for the next decade of games. It's a nice way to tug at nostalgia while still being a bit more inventive. As a kid, I was fascinated by the Delta Species set in the Pokémon TCG, collecting cards like Electric-type Totodile, and I think that's another reason I'm so in love with this concept and Wiglett as a whole. I do hope that we see more than just three Wiglett come together for the likely evolution though.
Sadly there's not too much competitive input that I can give here, since this is presumably an LC Pokémon and Dugtrio has never been especially VGC viable. Maybe Game Freak can come up with a busted "Wugtrio" due to the powers of convergence or something, but that's wishful thinking for now.
drampa's grandpa
Wiglett makes me very nervous. In theory it's just a bigger whack-a-mole. Possibly, given how tall, skinny, and white it is, it's an honorary member of the Wiggles and spends its days singing about fruit salad. But what it really looks like to me is one of those insane flapping human impersonators they have outside car dealerships. The ones with flailing arms that look like they should shoot up into the sky any second but don't and are variously called tube guys, tall boys, fly guys, and tube men, along with a variety of other names. These things are creepier than most horror movie monsters, and the fact that Wiglett looks like one of them does nothing for the vibes I get from said worm. The fact that it is "Gooey" does not make it better. I do not want a Gooey Tube Man flopping around anywhere in my vicinity, thank you very much.
The possibility of an evolution of Wiglett makes me three times more nervous. We started out with a single gooey floppy tall tube man advertising cars. It might evolve into conjoined triplet gooey floppy tall tube men advertising SUVs, which is notably worse. And not just because of the SUVs, which I don't really have the space here to go into here. When considering the horror it already is I really am unprepared for what multi-pronged, Lovecraftian nightmare might come next in that evolutionary line.
Swiffix
Everything, and I do mean everything, about this mon makes me feel uncomfortable. Where do I even start. It looks creepy as hell, like some sort of gooey and slimy parasite that you'll find slithering out of the darkest and smallest cavities. And the worst part is that it's not even tiny! This thing is apparently 1,2 meters tall and, I quote, “it's still unclear what the rest of its body hidden in the sand is like or how long it might be…” WHY? It's a long and slimy noodle that could literally slither into your bed while you're taking a nap and start coiling itself around you, like some kind of white snake except it's even worse than that because it would be staring right into your soul with its dumb Diglett face. And just to make things worse, this Pokémon can apparently sniff you out from 60 feet away. I don't care how much people try to convince me that Wiglett is cute—to me, it's one of the creepiest mons ever designed. Also, Wiglett? What kind of stupid name is that. It already looks horrifying; I don't also want to have to picture it wiggling eerily. I don't know what's up with Game Freak and Diglett, but I've really not been digging the regional variants that they've been giving it u.u
Lumari
Steering away from Pokémon a bit, I just wanted to say a few words about how I think Link's Awakening is lowkey one of the strongest Zelda titles. Rather than an epic adventure, it's a game that really doesn't take itself too seriously, partially through almost turning itself into a joke crossover of sorts. Between a Yoshi doll with assorted easter eggs, Goombas that you can literally jump on, and (depending on one's interpretation of Tarin) a cameo from the plumber himself, the numerous Mario references are just one way of the developers showing they were clearly in some sort of elevated state of mind while putting this game together. And I love the game for it.
Back to the Pokémon at hand: I'll be upfront and say that I've been pretty worried about the new games so far because stuff like the open world feels very easy to mess up. Farigiraf has very much reassured me though. Now that the game literally features a literal giraf literally cosplaying as a literal Chain Chomp, it will always remind me of one of my favorite classic gaming titles. And as much as Paldea may not be based on Italy, I still hope there's gonna be more where this came from.
Band
Say it with me, people: proportionizing! One of the aspects of the original Girafarig design that bugs me the most is the fact that it's a giraffe and yet the neck length is really disappointing. And the Pokémon isn't even as tall as a real life giraffe! They could have given us at least that! But nope, it only stands up to 1.5m. It's smaller than even baby calfs, which can come out of the womb already measuring 2m tall! The newfound height, albeit still small for a giraffe, clocks in at the 3.2m mark and is a big improvement, but the weight is still not impressive. Adult giraffes can weigh up to 1000kg and Farigiraf weighs around 160kg, but that's still more than 4x Girafarig's original weight. This is all to say, I'm so, SO glad Farigiraf exists. It really makes justice to a Pokémon that was lacking in its true potential.
I can't deny I was hoping for an even stronger homage to the beloved Chain Chomp from the Mario series here: removing the Normal typing and replacing it with Steel. Not only would that be a really nice nod for Mario fans, since chances are, if you're playing Pokémon you've also played Mario, it would also bring some much-needed defensive utility to Farigiraf. Girafarig's stats and typing are not really good, so the BST boost gained from the evolution plus adding one of the best types in the game is probably one of the only ways it could really shine in competitive.
Pikachu315111
Legends: Arceus brought back the cross-generation evolutions, giving Pokémon like Stantler and Ursaring a new stage in life! Scarlet & Violet are continuing the trend by giving another Gen II Pokémon some evolutionary love: Girafarig with Farigiraf (try saying that three times fast). Those familiar with Gen II's beta builds likely know about Girafarig's strange development, notably at one point having an evolution where its tail grew into a second (sinister-looking) head. The evolution was scrapped, but the idea of the tail becoming a full-fledged head lives on with Farigiraf, just not the way expected. Two becomes one as the tail forms an armor-like casing around the original head, both giving it added protection and combining their brains to amplify their psychic powers (which allows it to be aware of its surroundings, thus no big issue losing the tail watching its back). It's a creative re-imagining and I really like it, I just wished they played with the idea like swapping its typing to be Psychic / Normal and making its category something like “Double Neck” Pokémon. Though I wonder, which pair of antenne belongs to which head?
Two heads mean two new abilities (I guess that's their reasoning). Both abilities are interesting (even if Armor Tail is yet another copy of Dazzling for some reason), though I'm concerned how effective they'll be with Farigiraf. Will it be fast enough that Armor Tail feels necessary? Would its stats be high enough where you'd want it to use Cud Chew with the stat-increasing Berries? Well, for Farigiraf, they're better than Inner Focus and Early Bird at the very least.
Swiffix
Uh oh, it looks like a bunch of Chain Chomps were set free in the Pokémon world and decided to go on a Girafarig hunt… All jokes aside, though, this new design is extremely cool! Fans often imagined what a Girafarig evolution would look like, and the most popular concepts always involved the tail taking over the rest of the body. Well, Game Freak did just that! Farigiraf looks both elegant and powerful, which is admirable considering how awkward a giraffe's anatomy can be. The emphasis on its long neck and the darker, richer color palette make it the perfect evolution for Girafarig, which looked much closer to a baby giraffe in terms of proportions anyway. I'm a big fan of this design!
Farigiraf also received two brand new abilities that are centered on its new tail-head. Cud Chew and Armor Tail are pretty cool abilities, with the former being entirely original while the latter is a “redesign” of the pre-existing Dazzling and Queenly Majesty. Both seem to be defensive abilities to me, though I can easily imagine Cud Chew resulting in some interesting shenanigans. Either way, I'm definitely looking forward to using this mon when the new games come out! Oh, and its name is also a palindrome! It's perfect.
Shadowshocker
Because everyone has Johto nostalgia, anything coming from that generation will always lead to demand for an evolution—and fan scribbles to fuel that desire. I can only imagine that there were so many versions of Girafarig's tail gaining full sentience or possessing the original head that Game Freak ended up with this as their iteration, just to avoid potential lawsuits from that one fan that's foolhardy enough to challenge a company on alleged plagiarism grounds. A chompy hoodie isn't a bad idea by any means, but I think not having the two-toned, front-to-back symmetrical aesthetic that Girafarig originally had misses its point of its palindrome-based origins. A two-headed giraffe, whether the second head was placed at the front or back, would have felt like a marked improvement. Farigiraf somehow feels like they really wanted to push the two-headed idea more and yet settled for less.
We might have to wait and see if Farigiraf brings anything to the competitive table, even if it's just Girafarig gaining Eviolite access, because I don't remember Dazzling clones working all that well in singles, and Berry-based abilities have never seemed particularly noteworthy.
churine
Just a little bit ago in Legends Arceus, Game Freak bestowed upon an evolution to one of the most neglected Generation 2 Pokémon in the series, a Pokémon so neglected it rebounded into a meme of sorts. That Pokémon was of course Stantler, and they seemingly let it evolve into a Normal / Psychic Pokémon called Wyrdeer, which was, interesting? That's the same typing as a certain other quadrupedal hooved Generation 2 Pokémon that also has a similar BST and stats as Stantler, hmm?
So now the question asked was, would Game Freak leave Girafarig in the dust? Game Freak would respond with a swift "I'd go chomper here" as they introduced Farigiraf, with the Chain Chomp head now hilariously trying to swallow the Pokémon whole as it doubles in size. Also a god-tier name by the way. As for its typing, many anticipated a type change upon evolution but no, it is indeed Normal / Psychic still, which begs the question how Farigiraf will differentiate from Wyrdeer. They likely have similar movepools and will probably have similar stat distributions given the trends with cross-gen evolutions. However, the abilities will probably differentiate them the most, as Farigiraf has two new ones, Cud Chew and Armor Tail, which is cool but not very interesting frankly, as one is mostly a worse Harvest and the other is a reskinned Dazzling. Even then, it's nice to finally see Girafarig getting some acknowledgment in these games, and now we eagerly wait for the long-anticipated Dunsparce evolution to complete the trio of the funny Normal-types from Generation 2 getting evolutions.
Aaronboyer
I love that Game Freak is continuing to revisit underappreciated, deserving Pokémon from the older generations, and Girafarig was a fantastic pick to receive a new evolution. Farigiraf's head wearing its pre-evolution's tail alongside the four spherical antlers almost gives it an astronaut sort of feel to its design. Not much else has changed from Girafarig's original design bar a slight color palette swap and some new body patterns. Farigiraf is the perfect example of a Pokémon evolution that doesn't stray away from the original design yet stands out on its own virtue of simplifying all of the design changes. Gonna keep my fingers crossed that Farigiraf gets access to Meteor Beam.
Blitz
Due to it being a contender for one of the cutest mons in the franchise, I have now claimed Bellibolt as my son! You could tell me this guy is art for a new Kirby enemy in some upcoming game, and I'd totally believe you, and yet I wouldn't even care if they just ported it over and called it a Pokémon. Additionally, you absolutely KNOW that Iono shills the hell out of Bellibolt, and I guarantee you she makes mad bank off numerous Bellibolt merchandise, and she's also has emojis in the likeness of Bellibolt plastered all across her streams (e.g. bellipog, if you will). Gushing about its cuteness aside, it also seems like a very fun mon to use in-game with the combination of Charge as an ability and coverage potential in Water- and Ground-type moves due to being a frog. All I ask of GF is that if Bellibolt is "capable of moving quickly" according to them, that it is blessed with good base Speed and subverts expectations!
zee
Friend-shaped. I'm in love. Honestly, the first clickbait trailer with Iono was totally worth the build up to Bellibolt's reveal. I know a lot of the Pokémon revealed so far have been more on the cutesy side than edgy, and some people might be tired of that, but to those people I ask: who hurt you? There have been lots of comparisons to Bellibolt's design such as beta Politoed, Squishmallows, and even Chansey. I'm really not complaining though. I guess I'm not too difficult to please because it seems like you can just slap a smiley face on a round object and captivate me. I really like the dynamic Iono and Bellibolt had going on with each other in the reveal trailer, and I hope we can see more of that relationship in the actual games, as I think it'd give a lot more life to both characters.
Competitively the main discussion point has been its new ability: Electromorphosis. The talking point here has been using a Trick Room strategy with self-activating Weakness Policy or Electromorphosis via Bulldoze. Since it was shown to move rather slow in the gameplay trailer, we can surmise that it will likely be on the slower side, which should make this a potent Trick Room core with something like Bronzong if it has the stats to keep up with the metagame.
Lumii
I did not like Bellibolt's design at first glance. The entire design was very unsettling to me. However, after learning more about its design, Bellibolt quickly frog-leaped up my personal ranking of Pokémon by design! The little frog looks so happy, just look at its face! No! Not that face! The other face! The one that makes it look like it jumped right out of a Kirby game!
Anyways, competitively, Bellibolt's biggest draw would likely be its ability: Electromorphosis. Electromorphosis lets Bellibolt do extra damage if it is hit by an attack. It is still not confirmed if this has the same effect as the move Charge regarding damage output.
Anyways, this little frog guy will definitely be going onto any team I play through Pokémon Scarlet and Violet with.
Shadowshocker
I can't have been the only one who thought Bellibolt should have been called Paldean Palpitoad, right? I think we could have gone with that and the internet's reaction would have been entirely unchanged. What comes to my mind about Bellibolt is "inoffensive". It's a friend-shaped thing that has electrical motifs vaguely slapped together with plushie dimensions. Take away the "not actually eyes" and I probably wouldn't recognize it as a frog. The plasma globe that's supposed to be its stomach has just disappointing electrical effects that look like a 9-year-old drew it on with highlighters. It's a design that a kindergartener or PM7 scribbled with crayon and captioned it with "BEST POKEMON EVAR DO NOT STEAL". Which I suppose makes sense to give to Iono, a Gym Leader who's the embodiment of a generation that's spent most of their waking hours perpetually online.
Bellibolt is a marketable marshmallow. It doesn't make it bad, but considering the amount of work that Pokémon has been putting into its reveals as it transitions from CoroCoro releases to fully animated videos, it just doesn't feel like it lives up to the hype or effort involved. Something like Bellibolt is only going to disappoint more people when it evolves, or doesn't and becomes forgettable like Pincurchin. It's a Pokémon for the sake of being one, and I'm saying that as the guy who slapped a mustache on a spider on a dragon and called that a Pokémon for Smogon's 28th Create-a-Pokémon.
Aaronboyer
Bellibolt looks like a second-grader's clay art project, and I'm all here for it! Those are some great eyes, you think to yourself until you realize those aren't its eyes. Those "nostrils" are its actual eyes. Yikes. And although I find its colors to be a bit strange, I really do like Bellibolt's Electric frog blob design. I could just imagine Bellibolt slapping its belly like a drum. However, flavorwise Bellibolt has been described as a slow and physical Electric-type, and especially slow ones tend to perform poorly (looking at you Luxray). Bellibolt also gives off Chansey sort of vibes just based off its shape; I am expecting it to have a fairly high HP stat, so maybe it could also perform a support role. It's squishy, it's huggable, and it'll be a fantastic addition to my first playthrough team.
Band
Look, when we got the news that a new aye-aye Pokémon was coming, I immediately got excited, as I think the aye-aye is one of the most unique animals we have out there. The long fingers, big eyes that stare into your soul, and, may I say, kind of cute face make this thing basically a Pokémon already. Just slap some bright colors on it and you've got an instant weird-but-cute fan-favorite ala Psyduck and Mimikyu. Or so I thought.
Grafaiai's design takes the aye-aye inspiration and really cranks it up to 11 with the extremely long fingers and huge, almost insectoid eyes. Not to mention the neon blue and magenta paint it has on its fingertips, which it uses to mark its territory. What a truly bizarre and fascinating Pokémon. I think Game Freak went a little bit too overboard on the weird part and forgot the cute aspect, which is a shame, because I think it really had potential to be a very big hit with little kids (maybe it already is, I don't know) if it had actual pupils and a cuter face. As it is now, though, I'm happy with it and think the designers made justice to the aye-aye.
drampa's grandpa
It's not just a phase, mom. This little edgelord clearly shops at Hot Topic, dyes its eyeballs to express its individuality, and refuses to learn table manners such as not dribbling poisonous saliva that paralyzes people all over the place. The information we have states that it is ‘nocturnal' and "prefers to roam alone", which is code for the fact that every single member of the species has terrible sleeping patterns and refuses to leave their room even to help clean the house that they got saliva all over in the first place.
I look forward to seeing if there is an evolution to this Pokémon. Something that would eventually get it out of the house, maybe meet a nice girl, find a steady job. Back in my day I would have brought Grafaiai down to the corner store, forced the owner to shake its poisonous hands, look it firmly in its horrifying eyes with ooze trickling from its mouth below, and hire it on the spot.
Pikachu315111
YES! Finally, an aye-aye Pokémon! The aye-aye is one of those fascinating animals that sound like a fantasy creature; an impish lemur with a long, thin finger believed by locals to give death curses. But it's real, minus the death curse (yet sadly locals still hunt and kill them), and for some reason it's also a graffiti artist? Aye-ayes do mark their territory (though with scents rather than saliva paint), and Spainish cities are covered with massive murals on the side of buildings (not technically graffiti, but details), so GameFreak just mixed the two themes? Whatever, if that was needed to bring us an aye-aye Pokémon then I'm not complaining.
Aside from a unique type combination, Grafaiai doesn't really bring much else. Or does it? Remember those territory markings I mentioned? It's said they're made from saliva paint that paralyzes Bug-type Pokémon. While in the past such descriptions was just flavor text, with Scarlet & Violet being an open world game, many are hopeful behaviors such as this and Paldean Wooper poisoning Pokémon in its territory are something we'd actually see in the game! We'd find trees with ring markings and Bug-types that are paralyzed when you battle them, and if at night a Grafaiai appears angry you stole its meal. I'm all for world-building like that! And one final note, no, it will not have Sketch.
churine
Here you take the concept of Jet Set Radio, and apply it to an aye-aye, a kind of lemur, and you have Grafaiai. So, fun fact, Game Freak staff are actually huge fans of Sega. Prior to Pokémon, they developed Pulseman on the Genesis, and they've also collaborated with Sega on other projects since such as Tembo. Back to Grafaiai, it even has Aiai in the name, the same name as the main character of Super Monkey Ball, which is likely a coincidence granted, but it's funny to think about this Pokémon as combining aspects of two wholly different video games. Grafaiai is the first Normal / Poison Pokémon ever, which is pretty cool but, there isn't much to go off of besides the typing and humorous Sega coincidences, as it looks unevolved still. There was a trailer that portrayed what Grafaiai does like marking territory with graffiti among other things, which is also cool though, and a lot of people have said that this Pokémon is kind of like a new Smeargle; good, cause all my homies hate Smeargle.
heritage
Thanks for reading! Hopefully all these new Pokémon are just as cute in-game as they are in the art! We hope to see you next time for another edition of Judge-a-Pokémon-Express!
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