What do you think of humanoid starter evolutions?

Sheep

Sheep

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    Final starter evolutions have become a bit more humanoid lately. Inteleon, Sobble's final evolution from gen VIII, was especially criticized for looking way too human. Cinderace is in a similar boat and, as someone in video content I've watched pointed out before, looks more like a 'shonen anime protagonist' than a Pokémon.

    What do you guys think of humanoid starter evolutions? Yay or nay? Do you prefer when they were more animal/monster-like?
     
    I used to dislike them back when I had a more narrow view of what Pokemon should be and look like but I've grown out of that. I consider Braixen and Delphox to be two of the better designed mons period, which isn't an opinion I would've had as a kid. It was silly for me to dislike humanoid Pokemon in the first place since Mewtwo was always one of my favorites.
     
    Wait, humanlike as in monkeys or just bipedal? Cause I think my least favorite starters have always been the monkey-inspired ones. :(

    But Totodile is still cute af.
     
    I'm not against humanoid designs (I actually adore Zeraora's design; Gallade is also cool), but I don't think most of the humanoid Starter evos are executed that well. Blaziken (my favorite humanoid Starter evo) and Greninja are alright, but that's it for me.

    I really wish that Delphox had been quadrupedal. I'm sure they could've expressed the mage theme without making it bipedal...
     
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    I think it depends on the execution. I remember watching a video on how Gen 1 starters were great because you can imagine them as a group in the wild and give them a personality yourself whereas the humanoid ones it's harder because their characteristics are present. I'm not entirely disagreeing with that but I do think starters who are more humanoid can still be imagined in a herd and have different personalities, even something like Incineroar can be shy despite being based on a wrestler. However, it does get to the point where Pokemon feel less like creatures and more like humans in fursuits, especially with something like Cinderace who feels that way too much. But I second the notion about adding more starters who feels more animal, especially would love to finally see a final stage quadped Fire starter.
     
    Sobble is the pokemon I plan on choosing when I finally get around to playing Sword and Shield, and it's because of the intelleon design actually. I think it's really cool. I also love the design of Braxien/Delphox. Blaziken is a starter I like too. I'd say I'm okay with anthropomorphism in my starter Pokemon or any pokemon. They can be bipedal and/ or have a bearing or facial expression that feels human. Some other Pokemon that I think fit the bill are Lucario, Vespiqueen, Tsareena and Hattarene. All of those I am fond of. As long as pokemon have some features that seem otherworldly or animal-like and truly are a blend like the word humanoid suggests then I don't mind.

    The pokemon that are more difficult for me to bond with are the ones that look almost exactly human and nothing about them has changed like Mr. Mime. Blaziken has a red body like a rooster and claws, or greninja still has amphibian attributes, but Mimey is just a man dressed as a mime. When pokemon just look straight up like people it's a little more unsettling because it makes me feels like I have enslaved another human being. I think it's also just a more imaginative use of design than to have a regular fighter or a clown or a woman with a wig as a pokemon without anything else to distinguish them.

    I don't think any of the starters fall into that category though of being quite that literal, all of them have something that makes them distinct.
     
    i feel like i... don't feel strongly about them? i certainly don't hate them like some people do, but i don't care much for them, either. i do feel bad for fire starter fans who haven't gotten a quadruped since forever, though. :x
     
    I don't like the current trend of starters trying to be more like "characters" than animal or monster species.

    Infernape is human-like, but it makes sense for being an ape, and it still looks like an animal species so it's fine. Feraligatr is a bipedal alligator, but does look and behave like a monster.

    However, from Gen 6 onwards (well, add Blaziken I guess), there's Greninja: a literal ninja in the body of a frog, Incineroar: a tiger-skinned wrestler, Cinderace: a soccer player with a bunny cosplay, and... the "Secret Agent" Pokémon, seriously come on.

    I mean, look at these:

    https://pokemon-project.com/espadaescudo/img/pokemon/815.png
    https://assets.pokemon.com/assets/cms2/img/pokedex/full/818.png

    These don't look like monster/animal stances. I don't think the designs are the issue, but the too humanized poses, traits and movements. They try so hard to give new starters a strong personality to stand out that they end up making them look more like (human) characters than actual Pokémon.
     
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    Since this recently got resurrected anyway, may as well respond!

    I very much love every single other starter besides the six I consider my least favorites, (strikethrough -four-) three of which are Fire-Fighting and two of which are from Galar. In order from liked to disliked, they're Combusken, Infernape, Rillaboom, Inteleon, Emboar, and Incineroar. The other five in that list are only placed there because they're just meh for me—which when compared to all of the great starters, ranks them super low!—but I actually can't help but dislike Incineroarnot just because it is the fourth fire-fighting [or not... heheh...], but because it's incredibly overexaggeratedly humanoid. [Edit2: just a few short days later and it's already starting go grow on me to the point where I don't outwardly dislike it anymore. I still don't rank it very highly, but a lot of my initial distaste was dispelled when I saw it in International PvP Champs—was the first time I'd ever seen its animations.] It may be a low meh if it were just a Pokémon in the background, but it is (imagine this is strikethrough -very-) out of place as a starter Pokémon in my eyes.

    Other than in Incineroar, it's not the humanoid features of these Pokémon I dislike. After all, the humanoid starters Greninja, Cinderace, and Delphox are among my very favorites! [EDIT: I originally included Decidueye in this list—not sure I think it's humanoid enough.] I think Pokémon starters are just becoming increasingly polarized to be hits or misses, for a reason I'd assume is related to marketing, burnout, or having to compete with other Pokémon for our attention. The starters are meant to be the stars of each generation alongside their respective legendaries, so there's a lot of pressure to prevent the starters from feeling same-y compared to the previous starters, in addition to needing to stand out among all of the other Pokémon introduced in that generation.

    Despite all that, I'm still really optimistic that Pokémon will end up doing fine, and that there will always be at least one starter in every future generation that gets me to smile!
     
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    In general, I like it when starters provide variety. I would be a lot more favorable towards anthro starters if they didn't theme all 3 starters to being anthro hybrids. So something like one starter line that is anthro and two which aren't would be fine, because then there's a variety. So we each pick what we like, and then when fans come together to talk about which starter they each picked and why, this is all part of the fun.

    I think something that will get across my point better is to describe what I mean by "variety in general". For example, I like how Chikorita provides a gentle and feminine option among the johto starters. It's the type of thing I wouldn't appreciate if all three were feminine choices (e.g., Chikorita, Fennekin, Popplio), but it's something that works when its part of the variety of the three starters. Conversations where Chikorita doesn't get as much love is also part of the fun of the fans coming together, and that's thanks to the variety.

    Gen 4 was a case where there were two anthro starters and a choice of non-anthro quadruped Torterra. That's something I'd like to see more of. 2:1 worked very well because we hadn't really seen anthro hybrid starters yet. In an upcoming Generation 9, I would rather see a 1:2 or 0:3.
     
    Shrew said:
    In general, I like it when starters provide variety. I would be a lot more favorable towards anthro starters if they didn't theme all 3 starters to being anthro hybrids. So something like one starter line that is anthro and two which aren't would be fine, because then there's a variety. So we each pick what we like, and then when fans come together to talk about which starter they each picked and why, this is all part of the fun.

    I think something that will get across my point better is to describe what I mean by "variety in general". For example, I like how Chikorita provides a gentle and feminine option among the johto starters. It's the type of thing I wouldn't appreciate if all three were feminine choices (e.g., Chikorita, Fennekin, Popplio), but it's something that works when its part of the variety of the three starters. Conversations where Chikorita doesn't get as much love is also part of the fun of the fans coming together, and that's thanks to the variety.

    Gen 4 was a case where there were two anthro starters and a choice of non-anthro quadruped Torterra. That's something I'd like to see more of. 2:1 worked very well because we hadn't really seen anthro hybrid starters yet. In an upcoming Generation 9, I would rather see a 1:2 or 0:3.
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    I agree with the notion I'm super sorry to reply with such a short response, but now I'm intrigued: How is Empoleon Anthro?

    I wouldn't even say Infernape is anthro. In my eyes, none of the Gen 4 starters seem anthro. You said we hadn't really seen anthro ones before then, but Combusken (Gen 3), to me, is far more anthro than Infernape!

    Out of curiosity, which Pokémon do you consider to be anthro? For me, it's only Combusken, Delphox, Greninja, Incineroar, Cinderace, and Inteleon!
     
    I don't mind it too much, but I don't like when the pokemon have clothing on. It is a huge region I am not a fan of Sawk, Throh, and Pignite. I also don't like Raboot and Cinderace because of that, but I like them more than the other to Sword/Shield starters.

    The thing that annoys me the most if that almost every Fire Starter has bee more human like and I just don't like it. Braxien I hate, but I love Delphox. So it just depends on the design I guess.

    And I don't mind pokemon wearing clothing, but I don't like when it is apparently how the pokemon was born like with Sawk and Throh.
     
    Thagnoth said:
    I agree with the notion I'm super sorry to reply with such a short response, but now I'm intrigued: How is Empoleon Anthro?

    I wouldn't even say Infernape is anthro. In my eyes, none of the Gen 4 starters seem anthro. You said we hadn't really seen anthro ones before then, but Combusken (Gen 3), to me, is far more anthro than Infernape!

    Out of curiosity, which Pokémon do you consider to be anthro? For me, it's only Combusken, Delphox, Greninja, Incineroar, Cinderace, and Inteleon!
    Click to expand...

    I consider Empoleon anthro because its features are hybridized heavily with an emperorm having a crown, swords, and a royal outfit. (Can't remember the name of the clothing, but its the white clothing Empoleon dons.)

    The ones which I consider anthro are any starters which are hybridized with a human role: Infernape with son wukong, Empoleon with napoleon or an emperor, Serperior with european knight like The Rose of Versailles, Samurott with facial hair and as a samurai, Emboar with military general Zhang Fei and Zhu Bajie, Chesnaught with a paladin, Delphox with a mage, Greninja with a rogue, Decidueye with a bipedal archer, Incineroar with a heel masked wrestler, Primarina with the human qualities of a mermaid such as hair, Inteleon with a bipedal spy, Rillaboom with a rocker with a rocker's hairdo, and Cinderace with a soccer player.

    Comparing something like Noctowl to Decidueye or Dewgong to Primarina might give insight to why my list is as extensive as it is. Here's a page that discusses the Gen 5 starters having human roles incorporated into their designs.
     
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