[Sword & Shield] What do you think of the Galar starters?

What do you think of the three starters in SwSh? Do you like their designs overall? What about the evolutions? Which is your favorite?

I absolutely adore all of the base forms. Scorbunny in particular caught my attention right away. The little introduction sequence they get in the games does an excellent job showing off their personalities as well.

Unfortunately, that's where the praise stops, I'm afraid...All of the 2nd stage evolutions are incredibly underwhelming but that's kind of a common trend in Pokemon anyway.

However, I'm afraid that the final stages don't redeem them either. I used Cinderace in my first playthrough of Shield and while I don't hate the design, it does feel kind of lacking for a final stage.

Inteleon is just...a disgrace honestly. The regular art is kind of okay but still way too humanoid in a bad way. :c The in-game model is downright horrendous and those fingers give me nightmare. (Also what's with the 'hand on hip' pose??? That's just way too human-like too, it makes it feel like it's a guy wearing a suit rather than a Pokemon!!)

Rillaboom is probably the best out of the three design-wise, but just not my personal cup of tea. I prefer sleek and elegant looking Pokemon over the buff and bulky type.

Grookey is the best of the base forms for me, but scorbunny is good too.
I do not like the Sobble line at all and it's evolutions creep me the heck out.
Indifferent on Thwackey, Raboot and Cinderace.
Rillaboom is the only good final evo of the three to me.

Views this starter trio as okay. Is neither the best nor the worst.

Base forms
Seconds the cutscene showing off personalities being great. Wants more Pokemon with clear personalities.

- Scorbunny: The best of the three. Sports a unique, but uncomplicated design.
- Grookey: Not a fan. Might have too many colors: green, yellow, orange, and brown. Finds its mouth offputting too. Juts out too much, almost like a beak.
- Sobble: Slightly positive. Not a very memorable design. Could be due to being unable to place its animal inspiration beyond "lizard".

Middle stage
Remembers someone comparing these to awkward teenage years. Agrees with that.

- Raboot: Changed drastically from an energetic bunny. Looks very serious and ninja-like now. Fine in a vacuum, but a strange change from Scorbunny.
- Thwackey: Looks better than Grookey...sort of. Made the colors only on limbs more pronounced in a bad way.
- Drizzile: Terrible. Where did the yellow head fin go? (Reappears with Inteleon.) Turned into hair. Hates its lime green hands too. Looks so jarring against the rest.

Final form
- Cinderace: The best of the three, once again. Does not mind this humanoid design as much, perhaps due to starting on two legs. Would have preferred something less obviously clothes, however.
- Rillaboom: A bit bland without the drum. Stuck some leaves on an ape. Wants a drum more integrated with them...somehow.
- Inteleon: Likes this better than other people, apparently. Undoubtedly helped to spring from such a bad previous form. Resembles Sobble still, most importantly. Avoids looking too human with that. Brings Team Chaotix (from Sonic) to mind as well. Probably thought of Espio specifically. Camouflages like Sobble did in the cutscene.

Edit: For comparison:

SailorVee said:

However, I'm afraid that the final stages don't redeem them either. I used Cinderace in my first playthrough of Shield and while I don't hate the design, it does feel kind of lacking for a final stage.

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Personally I don't think it's lacking per se, but I never really got used to the tiny arms. Saw it in the anime and it's actually pretty cute there so I like Cinderace overall, but the arms.. eh. Then again, I can't even imagine what other arms I'd give it. Regular sized arms seem like they'd be even weirder lol. :x

I don't like Pokémon that look too much like human characters. Looking at Cinderace and Inteleon, their stances, they way they move and attack, they're basically people with an animal costume. Imo they shouldn't try so hard to give starters so much "personality" that at the end they hardly feel like Pokémon anymore.

I'm fine with the Grookey line, and even like Rillaboom (except for the drum). I don't mind Pokémon carrying small objects such as Cubone/Marowak's bone, but this is a bit too much, at least they could have given it the drumsticks but make the drum part of its body, so that it made music hitting its chest or something like that. I mean, Blastoise has freaking cannons, but they're somehow part of its body, it isn't wielding an actual cannon in its hands.

Overall, the Galar starters definitely aren't my favourites. It's a bit of a sweeping statement, but I think starters (in their final evolutions, I think) should be dual-typed, so right off the bat the Galar starters lose a few points for me.
Otherwise, they're weirdly underwhelming, and oddly overpowered at the same time. Hear me out:
In their base forms, Inteleon and Cinderace are glass cannons. Rillaboom is like a grass Incineroar - hard-hitting, but slow.

Their Hidden Abilities totally change them. Well, ignore Inteleon. Cinderace gets a (renamed) Protean, and with its insane speed it's nearly impossible to hit for super effective damage. Rillaboom creates Grassy Terrain and gets Grassy Glide, so between that and Fake Out, it's always going to get hits in with its insane Attack. It's almost frustrating, when they're all totally wipeable in-game, but you encounter them online and they'll certainly hurt you badly.

Design-wise, I'm not a huge fan. Inteleon and Cinderace are very humanoid (which is just creepier nowadays, lol). Rillaboom having a large drum to lug around is also a minus for me; just not a fan of Pokémon needing to use tools/instruments, as creative as it is.

I always choose the water type starter for tradition. Most of the time it turns out to be also the one I like the most lol. I often like grass type starters too, while I kinda dislike all the fire types lol. I don't really like sobble, even if it is still my fav Galar starter, but Intelleon looks amazing to me. I like it. I am disappointed by grookey's line. I really don't like Rillaboom. Cinderace is nice but still tells me nothing tbh. Intelleon instead is pretty cool. Considering all of them together they're not my fav starters but not the worst too. I'd say my personal ranking list is:

-Sinnoh starters
-Hoenn starters
-Alola starters
-Johto starters
-Galar starters
-Kalos starters
-Kanto starters
-Unima starters