News: Pokémon Sun and Moon Starter evolutions, demo and Ash-Greninja

Hikamaru said:

Quoting Entermaid, here's the link between Rowlet, Litten, Popplio and their respective middle stages (Dartrix, Torracat, Brionne) to the leaked concept art's final stages:

You can see where he's going here with what he said.

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Yeah I think when you view them side by side you can see the link between the middle evolutions and the final evolutions more clearly. Torracat's flavour text on the US site says "The bell-like object attached at the base of Torracat?s neck is a flame sac, an organ that can produce flames" which I think links to its final evolution a lot more clearly.

OH MY GOD Dartrix and Brionne are so freaking adorable

This provides a nice summary of the connections:

I REALLY like how Brionne's bubble ears become pearls, yet they also resemble flowing braids. Also, she has three tiers of frills. One becomes the collar, one around the waist, and the one around the tail fin for the flaired train. Basically, the space between the frills is elongated and gives Poppmaid curves. This line is Perfection.

My reviews are just like what the people has said in here. Like, what can I say? That would be repeating several lines if one would share a similar opinion anyway.

Though I prefer Brionne the most among all of them. I dunno, Dartrix isn't going to be an Avian Version of Alolan Meowth in which you're gonna spend a lot of time to brush the thing or maybe shred it's feathers the rebellious way because men likes to get dirty besides, and Torracat who appeared to be the muscular quadrupled that ain't a Liepard nor Pyroar copy either. Actually that's cool, just don't give it Fire/Fighting or some people will cry out.

On the other side, several people deem Popplio as the worst starter to ever exist in Sun and Moon. (Some typical Rowlet and Litten fans, not gonna blame any of them though) It did it for you, to keep up with the pressure between the other two for Poppliority. Now it asks you if you can honestly tell what do you think of them, technically they pack better patience compared of that of a Gumshoos. Well, does that make you guys like the water lion even more though?

I'm okay with Ash-Greninja. Sounds a bit wrong though, but of course it will eventually be added into the game just like the other forms of Zygarde. (Protean is still better if Ash-Greninja BST spread is disappointing though)

There won't be any hate coming from this Pok?fan. After all, they have their own opinions and I think GameFreak did more than great so far.

Can Ash-Greninja please not be a thing? Thanks. :) Was super excited watching that trailer until they had to show us what I really hoped would stay in the anime.

My, too much infos for me to give my thoughts at!

I'm glad to see the starter's mid-evolution got revealed, and I think they are pretty fine. But Brionne, man, it looks so pretty, I think it might be a pretty good starter that I'm glad I'm still on #TeamPopplio even now.

And I was caught of guard when Ash-Greninja makes a debut in Sun and Moon? And in the Demo, too! I might grab the Demo once it's out weeks later. And it seems that you can do Mega Evolution as well, which is also a plus for anyone who likes them.

Kikaito plush said:

I am the only one who thinks Dartrix is so emo ?

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Casually listening to Panic! At the Discowl and My Chemicowl Romance

HyperMorian said:

On the other side, several people deem Popplio as the worst starter to ever exist in Sun and Moon. (Some typical Rowlet and Litten fans, not gonna blame any of them though) It did it for you, to keep up with the pressure between the other two for Poppliority. Now it asks you if you can honestly tell what do you think of them, technically they pack better patience compared of that of a Gumshoos. Well, does that make you guys like the water lion even more though?

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Ah the days when people used to shit on Popplio so much, but now the tides have surely turned. The concept art leak of what is the supposed final evolution was already a sign Popplio was getting redemption from the haters, and I feel we've now come full circle with the middle stages getting revealed.

Oh man, that hair flip. {XD} I like all the starters evolved forms, but this cemented my choice for picking Popplio. Also, pokemon in the PC are no longer rejected and forgotten. We've come a long way,

Can't really say I care Ash-Greninja being included. I think they should keep the anime/game universe separate, but if they have to add it, maybe they could have changed the name at least.

I can see the resemblance to the leaks :(

Rowlett evo: I'm becoming fine with this, probably my starter choice.
Litten Evo: Cute, 2nd favorite.
Popplio Evo: They should never touch the Fairy typing ever again.

I'm fine with Ash-Geninja, yeah it doesn't really make sense to be in the games, yeah its based on Ash still, no Ash likely isn't canon, its just a bonus pokemon that has no impact.

I'm satisfied with all of the mid evolutions. Like some people though, Brionne is my favorite and would be cool if its final evolution is part Fairy if the leaks are true.

I'm fine with Mega Evolutions coming back, wonder if it'll still play some significance in the games or just an added mechanic. As for Ash-Greninja, I"m indifferent. Haven't paid much attention to the anime, but I'm willing to still give it a shot I guess.

colours said:

That being said, I'm willing to be open-minded and give these games a chance. There's still so much more that we don't know! And yes, I've personally been disappointed with a starter before, but I still gave a generation a chance nonetheless (looking at you, Kalos). Chesnaught was very disappointing to me as a starter, the number of Pokemon revealed to be too few, and on top of that a limited amount of Megas seem to throw things way off-kilter for me, and was something that I'm not used to, in the slightest. Now, I will say that Kalos wasn't a region that I loved, but I'm not going to lie and say at the end of playing it, that I didn't enjoy going through it.

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How are you so sure there's still so much we don't know? XY revealed almost half, if not more than that, of its new Pok?mon roster, and ORAS revealed all of the new Megas beforehand. We may know the majority of evolutionary lines at this point; there's nothing to suggest these games will have gen 1 or gen 5 levels of new Pok?mon.

Sure it's an adventure, but it's an adventure that supposedly "brings everything together," when in reality that "everything" is revamped gen 1 Pok?mon and an anime reference that doesn't really feel like it should be in the game.

While you say you still enjoyed Kalos at the end of the day, the truth is you don't like the games very much in the grand scheme of things. The things you mentioned, like poor starters and limited number of Megas, well, just change Megas to Alola forms and you have a similar situation here with SM. I'm glad you and many others are looking forward to SM but I don't think it's so unfair to point out the gen 1 bias, which can really turn off some people.

And the plot on SM, who knows? That could turn out similarly to XY, with lots of good ideas and poor execution. The plot's probably the only thing that's really up in the air but there's no way to say with certainty it will be good (or bad).

As for me, Litten was one of the few new Pok?mon I even liked. And with the confirmation of an awful final evolution, along with no new Megas to look forward to to even moderately offset the gen 1 pandering, I don't think there's anything they can reveal at this point that will get my hopes up for these games.

Yeah, the middle stages definitely reminded me of those Chinese leaks as I was watching this. I like Popplio's evo line but I didn't believe the leaks initially because I just thought it was a very feminine design for a Pok?mon that has an 87.5% chance of being male. But, I mean, most Sylveon are boys too, that didn't stop them from making it super frilly and pink either, so yeah, I can see this happening.

After calming down from all the news we've got today I can finally write a proper post haha.

I had a feeling we'd get some big news today and I absolutely love all three of the starter evolutions, the designs are all so cool! I am quite disappointed GF chose to actually put Ash-Greninja into the game, I mean, as far as I remember the anime and games have been kept quite separate, I know there's been Pokemon themed around trainers and stuff but Ash-Greninja just seems unnecessary and with the new Alola forms and mega evolution returning (YAY) there's not really a need for it.

DEMO HYPE BTW

All of the mid-stage evolutions are absolutely fine by me. I'm happy the way they have all turned out, especially after previous letdowns! I'm extremely happy that Litten's line hasn't been ruined by an awful mid-stage design which I was half expecting to happen. The only qualm I have with this announcement is Ash-Greninja, otherwise, everything else is great!

Juno said:

for a Pok?mon that has an 87.5% chance of being male. .

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Is this confirmed? The chickorita line as a bigger female ratio, maybe this one will be more female too. But her, Pokemon gender are not a big deal either.



..... Brionne's category is Pop Star Pokemon. Rowlett's evo look emo/alternative? is the new Pokemon representing music? XD Okay that's a random thought...

Bu seriously, I think the chinese leaks are confirmed now. Just look at brionne and Rowlett's evo, Rowlet's line has the wing in the hair like the leaks.
The cat is on 4 legs. The leaks shows the cat on 2 paws, but I wonder if the Pokemon will be like half the time on 4 legs, and some times on 2. Like Purrloin?

Looks like Popplio is probably turning into what happened with Greninja in gen 6. Most people will prob switch to Popplio. If the final evo of Brionne is the Chinese leak it looks way better than what happened with Braixen to Delphox.

Mawa said:

Is this confirmed? The chickorita line as a bigger female ratio, maybe this one will be more female too. But her, Pokemon gender are not a big deal either.

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Not confirmed! Just an assumption I made based on the trend. But looking on Bulbapedia, the Chikorita line is also listed as 87.5% male. I agree it's not a huge deal either way though.

MarinoKadame said:

Looks like Popplio is probably turning into what happened with Greninja in gen 6. Most people will prob switch to Popplio. If the final evo of Brionne is the Chinese leak it looks way better than what happened with Braixen to Delphox.

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Nice you picked that up, because that was exactly what happened with Froakie when the Kalos starters' middle stages were revealed. Fennekin was initially leading the popularity race, while Froakie was dead last in every starter poll back then. Quilladin's reveal caused a lot of people on Team Chespin to be disappointed with the supposed derpy image and switch to Team Froakie after seeing the more awesome Frogadier.

Rowlet is the current most popular Alola starter and the awkward design of Dartrix, coupled with the cute appearance of Brionne and the fear of Litten's final evolution's fate has seen some people from both Team Rowlet and Team Litten jumping ship to Team Popplio. Up until this point, Popplio was the most hated of the three and came last in nearly every Alola starter poll, so it's definitely meeting the same fate as Froakie, going from least popular to a probable most popular starter for its generation.

Achromatic said:

I'm so happy. Rowlet's evolution is a bit iffy to me but hopefully the third one will pay off. This was a super cool reveal...

BUT ASH GRENINJA?! WHyyyyy.

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my thpughts also Rowlet's evo looks nothing like the leak sooo.... praying for Litten

Ready for the datamines on the 18th