All Things Sylveon

[Aerilyn]

Earlier this month, in February's issue of CoroCoro, scans leaked online that revealed a silhouette of what most people speculated to be a new Eeveelution. As later scans leaked, this proved true by revealing Ninfia alongside Eevee's other evolutions. It was later confirmed by a video of Sylveon released by The Pokémon Company.

Not much is known about Sylveon other than it's a new evolution for Eevee and it's also the lightest. How does it evolve? What type is it? Is it a new type entirely? Is this going to the only new Eeveelution this generation? Will this be the last? These are all popular questions being asked, and probably won't be answered until next month's issue of CoroCoro where more "secrets" are said to be revealed about Sylveon.

Since it's such a hot debate and speculation, I figured it demanded its own thread. You can see the images from CoroCoro below as well as the video and details released by TPC. Discuss!



February's CoroCoro Scans

Spoiler:

[Elendil]

I'm still in the group that its a new type, and not flying or normal. Normal would close things off as others mentioned, and if it were flying it would really give the hint of it from the start. A good thing to notice is that the movie art has the ribbon tails being shiny instead of all of Sylveon, so I do believe its a hint of the things to come for it.

[PokémonShinySilver]

As much as I hope that it's a totally brand new type, it feels to me like it's probably going to either be Normal-type or Flying-type, based on where it's name originates from. In most languages it's from Nymph or Fairy, but our English one... which is Sylveon... I'm not exactly sure where it originates from, I can guess that it comes from 'Sylvania' which means trees and forests.

But again... I really do hope it's going to be a brand new type.

[Digital Eevee]

Originally Posted by PokémonShinySilver

In most languages it's from Nymph or Fairy, but our English one... which is Sylveon... I'm not exactly sure where it originates from, I can guess that it comes from 'Sylvania' which means trees and forests.

Sylph (also called sylphid) is a mythological creature in the Western tradition. The term originates in Paracelsus, who describes sylphs as invisible beings of the air, his elementals of air. There is no known substantial mythos associated with them.

So yeah, I'm betting she's a flying type.

[Forever]

After all the "proof" I'm definitely leaning towards the flying team. I mean sure it could be a variety of things but its name pretty much spells it out, for me.

[.EJ]

I'm not too keen on believing it's a flying type...with the other eeveelutions you always know at first glance what type it is but I can't say the same for Sylveon. It looks Normal-type to me but it could also be a new type. (doubt it)

[Sean13]

I don't know how it could fly whatsoever, so my doubts on it being a flying type are very high.

I honestly think it's a new type. Either that or just normal type which would be pretty boring.

[Handsome Samurott]

Based on appearance alone, I believe Sylveon will be a Normal type. Its color scheme is just right for normal - light and cute, just like Clefairy, Chancey, Audino, and a number of other Normal types. If Sylveon is Normal, that fact would not preclude other evolutions in the future as people are saying. Nevertheless, many people are speculating on the assumption that more Eevee evolutions will come in the future. How do we even know there will be another Pokemon game after X and Y? The Flying arguments seem dubious to me:

1. I have heard people say that Sylveon resembles Skyla from Mistralton City, both her appearance and colors. I can somewhat see that resemblance, but I do not put too much stock in it.

2. The butterfly bows are not necessarily indicative of a Bug or Flying type. They are exactly what they are - bows, which are generally for adornment.

3. Has a quadreped ever been a Flying type before? To me, this is the biggest obstacle to the theory that Sylveon is a Flying type, and an observation that has not received any attention as far as I have been able to tell. I find it highly unlikely that a quadreped would be a Flying type.

4. A new type at this stage of the series is highly unlikely. The reason Game Freak introduced the Steel and Dark types was to balance out the Psychic and Ghost types. Introducing a new type this late in the series would require adding several new Pokemon with that typing, creating new moves specific to that typing, and creating Pokemon who are immune to or resistant to that typing. I am of the opinion - which I hold with a degree of confidence - that no new typing will be introduced.

[kinataki]

i hope for new types too but.. no it wont happen. i know that sylveon is normal pokemon. it is so obvious..

[Scarf]

Originally Posted by .EJ

I'm not too keen on believing it's a flying type...with the other eeveelutions you always know at first glance what type it is but I can't say the same for Sylveon. It looks Normal-type to me but it could also be a new type. (doubt it)

But the other Eeveelutions' types were some of the easiest to notice: Fire, Water, Electric, Grass, etc. They have obvious color associations, too. Since some of the remaining types (Dragon, Normal, Flying, etc.) don't have a 'typical' color association if they were a type chosen for a new Eeveelution it makes sense that it wouldn't be as easy to spot.

[gimmepie]

Originally Posted by Handsome Samurott

1. I have heard people say that Sylveon resembles Skyla from Mistralton City, both her appearance and colors. I can somewhat see that resemblance, but I do not put too much stock in it.

I don't see a resemblance at all o.O

Originally Posted by Handsome Samurott

2. The butterfly bows are not necessarily indicative of a Bug or Flying type. They are exactly what they are - bows, which are generally for adornment.

This is true although there is a butterfly species with sylvia or something like that in it's name and Silver Wind is a bug move. I'd say bug is highly unlikely but plausible.

Originally Posted by Handsome Samurott

3. Has a quadreped ever been a Flying type before? To me, this is the biggest obstacle to the theory that Sylveon is a Flying type, and an observation that has not received any attention as far as I have been able to tell. I find it highly unlikely that a quadreped would be a Flying type.

Tropius is a flying type, that throws that out the window. Further than that Gyarados, Mantike, Doduo and Dodrio don't have wings and cannot fly (well... Doduo and Dodrio can learn the move but are flightless birds) which could very well mean Sylveon will be flying type, as much as that seems unlikely looking at it's design.

4. A new type at this stage of the series is highly unlikely. The reason Game Freak introduced the Steel and Dark types was to balance out the Psychic and Ghost types. Introducing a new type this late in the series would require adding several new Pokemon with that typing, creating new moves specific to that typing, and creating Pokemon who are immune to or resistant to that typing. I am of the opinion - which I hold with a degree of confidence - that no new typing will be introduced.[/QUOTE]

I am in full agreement with this.

Overall Sylveon LOOKS like it will probably be a Normal-typed eeveelution but I'd say that flying, bug and even ghost (I get this from its eyes and its weight) could be possibilities. I'd say it is most likely either Normal or Ghost.

[lizzzz]

Originally Posted by PokémonShinySilver

As much as I hope that it's a totally brand new type, it feels to me like it's probably going to either be Normal-type or Flying-type, based on where it's name originates from. In most languages it's from Nymph or Fairy, but our English one... which is Sylveon... I'm not exactly sure where it originates from, I can guess that it comes from 'Sylvania' which means trees and forests.

But again... I really do hope it's going to be a brand new type.

I totally agree with the Sylveon being connected to forests based on the the name being based off of the Latin word "silva", meaning forest. Seeing as all the bug-types were mainly located in the forest sections, and the big butterfree-esque eyes, I'm going to say say bug-type. Also, as pokemon generations progressed buy-type stats and advantages have seemed to grow (at least to me). I think that it would be a unique addition. I can see the strength of the normal-type evolution argument, but it's just more fun for me to think it will be the underdog: bug-type!

[Arlo]

I've pretty much discounted all but three possibilities: normal, dragon or some sort of multiple or changing type. I don't think it'll be any of the other standard types, simply because it's being treated as something particularly special, and there's nothing particularly special about a Flying (or Bug or whatever) Eeveelution. I would expect a Flying Eeveelution to be introduced as a part of a set, with a Fighting or a Rock or a Ground or something of that sort, depending on how GF wanted to imply a connection. I just can't see them building up all this mystery over a Flying Eeveelution by itself, since that's just inviting disappointment. ("....and..... it's a FLYING type! And it can learn..... AERIAL ACE!!! ooh yay.") And I don't think it'll be a new type because I don't think there are going to be any new types.

A Normal Eeveelution would at least be unique, so there's that. And pink and cute is not uncommon for Normal type pokemon, so there's that too. And that's about it. I think it's the least likely of the three possibilities, but can't be eliminated.

Dragon is deliberately the most "uber" of the types, and has always been treated specially by GF - there's a sort of cachet attached to being a Dragon type. And they're introducing some sort of "bonding" mechanism in this gen, which one can presume will somehow tie in a happiness score (or something similar) and battle prowess. What better way to showcase that mechanic than an Eeveelution (one of the most popular forms of pokemon) that's Dragon type (probably the most popular type) and that is deliberately designed to appeal to people who love cute pokemon and want to care for them and cherish them and make them happy? It'll automatically reward the people who already want to take care of it, and the people who just want something instantly uber are going to be out of luck - they'll have to either invest the time into raising something that's all pink and cute, or do without. It's sort of a kick in the teeth to a part of the fanbase, which I think is a bit unlikely, but it is in keeping with a lot of the underlying message of the games, which have always treated caring for pokemon as a virtue and simply using them as a vice.

I think the most likely possibility though is that it's an indeterminate type - possibly Normal by default, but able to change type through some means, and that's specifically why its typing is not apparent. That's a thing GF has been toying with for at least three gens now, and what better base for a truly indeterminate, ever-changing type than the pokemon noted for genetic instability?

But, in the end, of course, I don't know. Nor do I pretend to. Those are just my best guesses.

[CloysterOyster]

I still think Sylveon is a Normal-type, due to its plain yet kind appearance, unless they release a new type. It could also be a Flying-type, because of the ribbons and maybe it can use those to fly. People shoot down the Flying aspect but maybe it doesn't even fly, maybe it levitates, which is almost like flying.

People don't like the idea of Eevee evolving into a Normal-type since it's already Normal but then again it'd be pointless for Eevee to evolve into all 17 types if it didn't at least cover the Normal attribute as well, despite it already being Normal.

[XanderO]

You can find a lot of interesting topics on Sylveon on Tumblr surprisingly enough. I think I may be addicted to Tumblr now XD

Just a few of the things I found that warrant interest.



Like how the Flying one compares Sylveon to Skyla, this one compares Sylveon to Iris. Yes I have posted this before but I never went into detail about it before.

First thing to note, the creator of the image "reverses" the cycle on us. When we first got Eevee Circle image people created images "proving" eevee was Flying type as on one side has weaknesses. This one points out Resistances/No Effects.

Starting with Glaceon, Glaceon deals NVE damage to Flareon. Espeon deals no Damage to Umbreon, Vaporeon deals NVE damage to Leafeon, and Jolteon deals NVE damage to (Dragon typed) Sylveon.

It then compares Sylveon's Red and Blue stripes on its ribbons to that of the old 3rd Gen Dragon button. The final comparison is Sylveon to Iris' Champion Dress. Iris' Champion dress is roughly the same shade of Pink as Sylveon and has various ribbons and bows on it.




This one is all text so it pretty much explains itself. It is one of many of the original findings linking Sylveon to Flying type.



Another one linking Sylveon to Dragon type. Pretty much the same as before minus Iris.


This one relates to the "Love interest" in B2W2 if you chose to play as Nate. The young pop star has bows on her outfit much like Skyla and Iris. This one is a fan speculation relating Sylveon to a new type: Love. Considering Sylveon was released on Valentines Day, a feat that seems to have been done on purpose by TPC.




This one is just a fan drawing to show how Sylveon looks like a Ghost type to them. Quite creepy, which is really well done considering how cute Sylveon is.

There were two more, one relating Sylveon to the Forests and proving its Bug relation, though I cannot find anything on Tumblr about it AND one relating Sylveon to another new type speculation: Magical Type.

A lot of the rumors popping up are quite fun to read, but this is pretty much all I've gathered so far. There are many speculations based on name but since we are doing it from the fan basis with no official name referencing, its all hard to sort out fact and fiction. A lot are taking name to force a thought that Sylveon is female only.

Though anyone that really delves into he mythos to Sylphs and Nymphs knows that neither have genders and can appear as males as well.

With this, my personal stand point lies in Dragon, Normal, or Flying. Either of the three I'd be okay with, though I am posting them with personal priority. I do not subscribe to the female only for reasons I've posted here. I feel Sylveon will retain Eevee's 9 to 1 Male dominance ratio. (Yes its 9 to 1, not 8 to 1. Eevee is 87.5% chance for male and 12.5% chance for female. Rounded to nearest whole favoring larger half is 88% to 12%. Rounded to nearest 10th, Male leads 90 to females 10. Divided for simplicity 9 to 1.)


And to finish this~ My favorite Sylveon related picture:

[MarinoKadame]

I like the Type Love idea it could replace the Light type everyone want.

[Forever]

Originally Posted by XanderO;7559429[img

Another one linking Sylveon to Dragon type. Pretty much the same as before minus Iris.

Hey interesting with special attacking Eeveelutions, although the flaw in that is that it'd be better if the Eeveelutions in particular specialised in the special attacking versions of their types. Flareon and Leafeon aren't special. :(

[Twilight Sky]

It would actually be quite interesting if Sylveon was a Dragon type...it sure doesn't look especially Dragon-ish, and it looks awfully cute for a Dragon, but that same argument could apply for Dragonite as well, so I'm not complaining, really. :x Heck. Dragon-type works better than Normal-type, for me!

[Napsy]

As I speculated earlier. I believe Sylveon is a "part 1" in the series of two new eeveeloutions. This is quite the long shot but I really think Sylveon is either a Normal type pokemon or a completely new type (like light or love) But I ALSO believe Sylveon is FEMALE only. Meaning if your Eevee is a female, it could evolve into this under certain conditions. This would make sense seeing as the prefixes "sylph" and "nymph" (from Ninfeon) are FEMININE prefixes! I took Latin for a little while so there's my credibility I guess. The Pokemon also has very obvious feminine features and attributes.

As I stated earlier I do think this is just a "part 1" and I think maybe we'll see a male counterpart very soon. There is no male prefixes that begin with S from Latin, just to throw that out there.
I think the male version would evolve from Eevee very similarly. And have more of a blue/black color scheme.

Also backing up my theory, we HAVE seen plenty of male and female exclusive Pokemon come in pairs!




Of course all of this is just speculation. But it would really be cute and it makes sense to some extent.

[Elendil]

Originally Posted by XanderO

You can find a lot of interesting topics on Sylveon on Tumblr surprisingly enough. I think I may be addicted to Tumblr now XD

Just a few of the things I found that warrant interest.



Like how the Flying one compares Sylveon to Skyla, this one compares Sylveon to Iris. Yes I have posted this before but I never went into detail about it before.

First thing to note, the creator of the image "reverses" the cycle on us. When we first got Eevee Circle image people created images "proving" eevee was Flying type as on one side has weaknesses. This one points out Resistances/No Effects.

Starting with Glaceon, Glaceon deals NVE damage to Flareon. Espeon deals no Damage to Umbreon, Vaporeon deals NVE damage to Leafeon, and Jolteon deals NVE damage to (Dragon typed) Sylveon.

It then compares Sylveon's Red and Blue stripes on its ribbons to that of the old 3rd Gen Dragon button. The final comparison is Sylveon to Iris' Champion Dress. Iris' Champion dress is roughly the same shade of Pink as Sylveon and has various ribbons and bows on it.

This one makes sense, but then again dragon takes half damage from another 3 on the type chart other Jolteon, which could make the theory all the truer. I still think if there is some super effective/not very effective thing going on with this it would be flying to fill it out on a more known type matching level.What I mean is that the pic obviously has the common duality's paired up in an instantly recognizable way that a flying type colored lightbulb turns on in your head.

This one relates to the "Love interest" in B2W2 if you chose to play as Nate. The young pop star has bows on her outfit much like Skyla and Iris. This one is a fan speculation relating Sylveon to a new type: Love. Considering Sylveon was released on Valentines Day, a feat that seems to have been done on purpose by TPC.

I'm all for a new type, but this isn't it. The ribbon shape is a generic bow tie look, and not a reference to some poorly though out NPC. Oh and the bolded? Coincidence at best, TPCi releases all of the info CoroCoro provides one day before the 15th, which unfortunately is Valentine's Day. Too big a stretch that one.

I love this photo cause of the smartly shaped text bubbles.

[CloysterOyster]

I'm surprised no one's mentioned that Sylveon's colors are like that of Milotic's

[Elendil]

Originally Posted by CloysterOyster

I'm surprised no one's mentioned that Sylveon's colors are like that of Milotic's

Actually a lot of people have speculate the prism scale being the exact shade of the ribbon tail ends might be a hint to it being used to evolve it. But I say its silly, considering how that would imply a water typing.

[XanderO]

Originally Posted by Napsy

As I speculated earlier. I believe Sylveon is a "part 1" in the series of two new eeveeloutions. This is quite the long shot but I really think Sylveon is either a Normal type pokemon or a completely new type (like light or love) But I ALSO believe Sylveon is FEMALE only. Meaning if your Eevee is a female, it could evolve into this under certain conditions. This would make sense seeing as the prefixes "sylph" and "nymph" (from Ninfeon) are FEMININE prefixes! I took Latin for a little while so there's my credibility I guess. The Pokemon also has very obvious feminine features and attributes.

Only major issues with this is Neither Sylph nor Nymph have female specific origins. Neither have real gender and can appear as male or female. Secondly, NINfia and SYLVeon don't give us NYMph or SYLPH. Pronunciations are different, letter build up are different. SYLV as some pointed out can come from Sylvia which is feminine and latin that revolves around forests. But at the same time there are names such as SYLVester which is male so name origin is a nearly useless discussion without more info on the Pokemon. NINfia by many was thought to relate to NINja. Its missing like 1 syllable but still, the names cannot give us a decent enough meaning as pronunciations are too different to be a close coincidence.

When we get actual typing and Pokedex history, all the background info collected so far will either change completely to something different that what we already have, or solidify one of the hundreds of different meanings we already have.

Originally Posted by Napsy

As I stated earlier I do think this is just a "part 1" and I think maybe we'll see a male counterpart very soon. There is no male prefixes that begin with S from Latin, just to throw that out there.
I think the male version would evolve from Eevee very similarly. And have more of a blue/black color scheme.

Sylvester is a Male Latin name that has roughly the same meaning as Sylvia. Sylvester means wooded. There are other latin words that start with S that are masculine terms. Quick google search brought up five different dictionaries with a long list of words.

Originally Posted by Napsy

Also backing up my theory, we HAVE seen plenty of male and female exclusive Pokemon come in pairs!

Spoiler:

Of course all of this is just speculation. But it would really be cute and it makes sense to some extent.

There are many feminine looking Pokemon as part of pairs that are not 100% female.



All Pokemon with split gendered evolutions have a 50% chance of being Male or Female.
Snorunt, Ralts, Burmy. These are the only ones with split evolutions with one(or more) being a specific gender. Snorunt is 50:50, Only females can evolve into Frostlass while either female or male can become Glalie. Ralts is 50:50, Only males can evolve into Gallade, while either male or female can evolve into Gardevoir (most feminine Pokemon ever).

Burmy, while it has a 50:50 chance of being either evolves into two gender specific Pokemon. Males can only become Mothim and Females can only become Wormadam.

Only other Pokemon in existance that has a gender based evolution is Combee, but unlike the others ONLY females can evolve so Combee is a conditional evolution.

As for how Sylveon looks, that's all personal opinion. To me Sylveon is no more girly than Vaporeon, Espeon, Flareon, Glaceon, and Leafeon. To me Jolteon and Umbreon are the only two Male Eevee Evolutions. There are a lot of pictures on Tumblr of male Sylveon Gijinka as well, so Sylveon looking female only is personal opinion.

[Shiny Celebi]

What makes this so frustrating is, it dosent look like its any particular type. Pink could imply a Normal type as there are many cute, pink Normal types, but that's not always the case. I wont rule out Flying type because I wouldnt put it past Game Freak to have found some way to make a quadroped Flying type with wind/air based powers. Im not particularly ruling out any type at this point because, I simply dont think we can without very much info. They've made it and its name rather ambiguous, probably for a reason, which makes me believe theres something unique and special about it in particular. I wont rule out that a new type may be that reason.

[XanderO]

Originally Posted by Shiny Celebi

What makes this so frustrating is, it dosent look like its any particular type. Pink could imply a Normal type as there are many cute, pink Normal types, but that's not always the case. I wont rule out Flying type because I wouldnt put it past Game Freak to have found some way to make a quadroped Flying type with wind/air based powers. Im not particularly ruling out any type at this point because, I simply dont think we can without very much info. They've made it and its name rather ambiguous, probably for a reason, which makes me believe theres something unique and special about it in particular. I wont rule out that a new type may be that reason.

Already have a flying quadruped without wings.



I never ruled Flying out, though its wind based by suspected origin, not flying. There has only ever been one other Wind Based Origin Pokemon and he's Grass/Dark. (Does not count Drifloon and Drifblim because they aren't "wind based" just air travel based.)