Introduction

Pokémon has always been a series about befriending ‘pocket-monsters’ and training them so you and your Pokémon can be the very best while meeting new people. Once again, this is shown in its ninth installment of main games known as Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. In the world of Pokémon, no one starts off their journey by going into the tall grass and catching a random Pokémon, instead you get one for free, but you are only given three options. Starter pokemon are a staple to the franchise, as they define each game, each generation of pokemon, and they are also a trainer’s first choice in the game, which makes Scarlet and Violet no different. Today, we will not be talking about the classic Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle. We will be talking about the newest Pokémon starters; Sprigatito, the grass cat Pokémon, Fuecoco, the fire croc Pokémon, and Quaxly, the water duck Pokémon.

Each of the starters of this generation has the most adorable designs and would most likely have cool-looking final evolutions as well. This is why we are here today- to speculate on what the starters could look like in their final evolutions, as well as their potential typing for their evolution. Although you will see evolutions in this article, I want to make clear that this is all just speculation and comes from my creativity and inspiration. I am not affiliated with Game Freak or Nintendo in any way shape or form, I’m just an artistic fan speculating on their designs and types, and I will be working only on their final evolutions.

Starter trio theme

No matter the generation of pokemon, there is always a theme with the starters. The most well-known trio is the Kalos trio, which consist of Chespin, Fennekin, and Froakie. These three evolve into RPG class inspired roles, that being a bard for Chespin, a mage for Fennekin, and a rogue for Froakie. A non well-known group would be the Hoenn group, which consists of Treecko, Torchic, and Mudkip being based off of unique evolution. Since the recent group of starters, that being the Galar starters- Grookey, Scorbunny, and Sobble are based on British culture, a theme I was thinking of going for is something simple, yet also takes inspiration from the source. The theme I would like to go with is hispanic culture. The reason behind this is because I believe the region is themed from either Mexico or Columbia, and Sprigatito has ‘gato’ in the name which is Spanish for cat. So this will be the theme I will do for my speculative designs.

Quaxly:

Ever since Quaxly was revealed, I thought he looked like Donald Duck, but I have since looked past that belief. Now, when I look at Quaxly, I think of mariachi dancers. Although this Pokémon may be earnest and tidy in personality, I think Quaxly wouldn’t mind starting to dance to music when he hears it. When designing the final evolution for this pokemon, animals I’ve been inspired by are blue footed birds and albatrosses. I especially love the idea of a water and ice type starter, so I gave him ice maracas that make noise with smaller ice cubes inside them. I also made his neck feathers a bowtie. The hardest part was the sombrero, because I also wanted to make its hairdo look like it’s a part of the hat. I think a fitting name for this design would be Marialbra. Although I might not choose Quaxly, I think if they go for a water and ice type Pokémon for this starter then I would totally make this my favorite water starter.

Fuecco:

For everyone’s favorite starter, Fuecoco, I went with using its face as inspiration, leading me to day of the dead. I have made the marking on this pokemon’s face kind of like Cubone’s knack for bones and skulls. I have added some kind of orange and yellow markings to the spikes and around the eye areas to mimic that of the day of the dead skeletons and decorations. I have also added yellow markings on the body because of the fiery but laid back nature of Fucoco. I have also decided to take inspiration from Godzilla because I think there are some variations of Godzilla where he evolved from a crocodilian. I have also made this Pokémon fire and ground type because of fossils being another inspiration of mine when creating this pokemon. I feel that Resilojira would be a good name for Fuecoco’s final evolution. The fact that I have always wanted a fire and ground type starter pokemon would be cool because it would fill the gap between Swampert and Torterra, but overall I think that Fuecoco could be the better Charizard in my opinion.

Sprigatito:

The best for last is Sprigatito. I loved working on this Pokémon’s final evolution because it was a simple idea that should be easy to understand. Most grass type starters have a prehistoric animal as their inspiration, and I was thinking of making Sprigatito a smilodon or a saber-toothed cat because they lived in South America. The typing I decided on was grass and steel, with the fact that its teeth and claws are made of metal and they could be used as blades. I have also taken inspiration from alebrijes, which are wooden animals painted with patterns and colors. I originally had many pink spots on this Pokémon, but I replaced it with a flower pattern on the back of Sprigatito’s final evolution. I also tried to make everyone happy by keeping this pokemon animalistic and on quadrupedal. A good name for this final evolution could be Smilobreije. I love this Pokémon because I love grass types and cat pokemon, and this was a starter pokemon that I have been hoping for since gen 8 was revealed. This will be the starter I will be choosing for gen 9.

Conclusion:

Although these Pokémon were announced a little while ago, I tried to make sure that I got my ideas out there somehow before the release of the game. Also, I have reasons for my type choices. I wanted to make sure that there were two type triangles so It wouldn’t end up like a mess like gen 4 or gen 7. So I decided to go the “gen 6” route to make each of the dual types counteract each other. Therefore, I decided to do fire/ground which is good against grass/steel which is good against water/ice. However, my predictions could be wrong, but I wanted to show my work and ideas for these pokemon, and how they could work in the games. Overall though, I love all three and if you would ask me which one I’m choosing, I would automatically say Sprigatito, but it doesn’t matter which one you choose either way. They are each equally popular in their own way, like the memes for Sprigatito, Fuecoco’s cuteness and design, and Quaxly looking like Donald Duck. I hope this article about my ideas for these starter Pokémon would get you inspired to make your own predictions for Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly, but if not then thanks for reading and enjoy Pokémon Scarlet and Violet when it comes out.