• Welcome back to Pokécharms! We've recently launched a new site and upgraded forums, so there may be a few teething issues as everything settles in. Please see our Relaunch FAQs for more information.

StellarWind Elsydeon

Armblades Ascendant
Staff member
Administrator
As promised, the fine folks at TPCi dropped a new trailer full of news, and here's the main take-aways.

The video trailer itself, for obvious reasons.
First off, the region forme gimmick is alive and kicking, with three Galarian forms revealed - and not just for genwun critters this time!

pokemon_weezing_2x.png
First up is the Poison/Fairy type Galarian Weezing, a creature that feeds on poison gas and emits purified air from the top-hat-smokestacks on its head - while still being able to use the toxins it absorbs as a defensive weapon. It maintains Levitate as an ability, though apparently it gets an alternate ability that has not been revealed yet. It has also not been revealed if only Weezing gets a hilarious new form or if Koffing does too.

pokemon_zigzagoon_2x.png pokemon_linoone_2x.png
Galarian Zigzagoon and Linoone, meanwhile, acquired a Dark type (becoming Dark/Normal) and an unholy desire to be Gene Simmons. Their abilities are Pickup and Gluttony, and believe it or not, their sudden obsession with KISS isn't the most surprising thing about them...

pokemon_obstagoon_2x.png
Because Galarian Linoone, unlike regular Linoone, have sprouted a brand snapping whole new evolution. Meet Obstagoon, the Blocking Pokémon. Despite its, er, fearsome appearance, this fuzzy disaster area (and I mean that in the best way possible, honestly) rarely ever makes the first move. Rather, it actively badgers its opponents into attacking first and obstructs their moves while counterattacking with its claws. The jury is still out on the questions of whether they're fond of mushrooms, are found in the general areas of snakes, or they put a contract out on DEFRA.

But unholy mutations of existing species aren't all that's new on the Pokemon front in this trailer. For after all, what's a Pokémon region without a completely redundant Pikachu clone with a daft gimmick?

pokemon_morpeko_2x.png
Morpeko, the "Two-Sided Pokémon" is just that. A cylindrical, Electric/Dark hamster-beast whose Hunger Switch ability permits it to shift between its Full Belly Mode (left) and Hangry Mode (right) every turn - which flips its signature attack, Aura Wheel, from Electric to Dark type and vice versa. Honestly, I expected more from the series' first Electric/Dark type but eh, I'm sure there's a market for this sort of thing. (And the Summon Hamster Wheel attack is kind of hilarious, to be honest).

But it's not just new Pokémon in this update - a few new humans were also introduced. The first are two more rivals, both said to be pursuing the title of champion to attain a certain goal that this burst of news obviously keeps to itself.

people_bede_2x.png
This smug, ominous-looking customer is named Bede (because Hop wasn't ludicrous enough a name), he was supposedly sponsored for the league by Chairman Rose himself - and aside from having a design that screams "bait and switch villain" he has a Duosion, and it's very nice to see Game Freak remembering the Reuniclus line exists from time to time.

people_marnie_2x.png
And this is Enoby D'arkness Dementia Raven Way, Goff Extraordinaire Marnie, whose signature Pokémon is the aforementioned gimmicky Pikaclone. Supposedly her 'sense of style and calm calculated battle strategies' have earned her many fans. Unfortunately for the rest of us, her "fans" all look like this.

people_team_yell_m_2x.png people_team_yell_f_2x.png
Team Yell, a gang of Foobaw Hooligans (keeping in theme with the Gym Challenge of Galar being Essentially FIFA) who would make even Team Skull cringe and mutter something about having some standards, yo. They are often seen with Galarian Zigzagoon and are bound to be seven kinds of obnoxious in an attempt to disrupt anyone that might stand in the way of their personal idol's victories - and they almost seem to show up out of no where when she's around.

Finally, not announced in the video trailer but announced on the official Sword/Shield website, is the introduction of the Poké Jobs system - which allows you to send your boxed Pokémon to the gulag assignments made available via Pokémon Centers. Certain 'mon are better suited for certain types of unpaid internships jobs - but all of them will supposedly grow from the experience - and using the system often may lead to some rare items as prizes. So basically kinda like Pelago but with 50% more capitalism.

And that's all she wrote for now. What complete nonsense will they think of next? stay tuned for whenever we get more news!
 
Holy crap! I love everything about Obstagoon, and it’s hands-down the first Galar Pokémon I’ve geeked out over since Scorbunny. I already liked Galarian Zigzagoon & Linoone’s designs, but the fact that Linonne evovlves into a Punk Badger Gene Simmons Warrior Thing is absolutely amazing. It just oozes personality & I think it’s now my new favorite Dark type!! (PS- I’m hoping that subtext comment’s a reference to Weebly’s Badger video)

That being said, I may be even more excited about Galarian Weezing since its goofy design and Fairy typing remind me of the Alolan Koffing & Weezing I designed back in 2016. So this is the closest thing I have to one of my Pokémon designs becoming canon!!

As for the characters, I love how it feels like they’re putting new twists on Pokémon’s various tropes by giving us rivals at various ages, & how the Team Leader this time is both a girl & someone who’s the same age as the trainer. Marnie seems like she has a lot of potential, & I can’t help but wonder if Bede’s somehow connected to either Bea or Prof. Magnolia since he looks similar to both of them.

Also, while recent events make Team Yell an obvious reference to the Pokémon fandom, I like that they’re actually meant to embody British punks & extreme sports fans since I’ve seen enough of the latter to know they act like that (this whole thing’s going to end up being one big coincidental meme like when they compared the Yungoos line to Trump).

The only thing I don’t really like about this trailer is that there wasn’t anything that made me decide whether to get both games or the double pack since that’s the only thing that’s keeping me from preordering.
 
Last edited:

Shiny Motley

2016 Singles Football
Less than a paragraph in and I immediately knew who wrote the article without checking the name XD

Seriously though, Marnie is adorable and I love her so much already omg

I'm super looking forward to training the new Ziggy and Linoone! I'm not too hyped for their new evolution but I'm sure it'll grow on me with time.

Smokestack Gentlemanly Weezing is hilarious. And it's a fairy type? God I love this thing XD
 

pluveon

Previously DreamyVictini
Welp, another somewhat shady character that is related to Chairman Rose. I think we all figured out "the big plot twist" by now...
 

Psycho Monkey

Member of the Literary Elite Four
This trailer had me laughing so hard. Tophat wearing, facial hair/smoke Weezing is the funniest regional variant since Exeggutor. Since we didn't see Koffing in this, I think it's safe to say it doesn't get a Galar Form. Linoone getting an evolution is an interesting twist since no previous regional variant got one. It makes me wonder if in Gen IX we'll get a plain Normal-type Obstagoon to go with the line or if this creature can only be obtained in Galar. What I'd really like to know is where Game Freak's fetish with tongues hanging out in this game came from. Morpeko kept me laughing just from the fact that Hangry Form is a thing.

As for the humans, I kinda want to punch Bede in the face. This is good. I'm glad GF listened and gave us an obnoxious dick of a rival again. Marnie is super cute and I'm really liking her. Her fans though... yeah... I'd call Team Skull my homies. Team Yell not so much. At least not right now. When the games come out they might prove to be entertaining enough. Either way, it looks like we're getting harmless punks as our evil Team again which makes the corporations that much more likely to be the real villains. Kinda like the real world I guess.
 

Linkachu

Hero of Pizza
Staff member
Administrator
My favourite reveal of this news drop was 100% the fact that through the Galarian forms, Linoone received an evolution. I’m completely down with them taking further advantage of this and giving several other older Pokémon new evolutions too. (It also helps that I quite like Obstagoon’s design ^^)

Galarian Weezing is also great and I dig the addition of the Fairy typing. Will likely end up training it at some point.
 
Interesting bit of news. I hope Gamefreak won't spoil as much as they did with Sun and Moon before the game released :? These new forms look pretty cool though, Weezing's looking dabber. Also love Marnie's design, the commentary about Team Yell made me laugh because it's dead on xD
 

StellarWind Elsydeon

Armblades Ascendant
Staff member
Administrator
Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of Mega Evos and Z-Moves being cut and replaced with the Dynamax/Gigantamax nonsense, but there you have it, I guess. I guess those are three-turn pseudo-megas with built-in Z-Moves, although we still don't know if the Gigantamax forms are just an aesthetic change or if they throw in type/ability changes etc. too like Megas could.
 
Sword and Shield have been both Awesome and Dissapointing. Most of the Pokémon, people, and places have been great from what I’ve seen, but the whole Dynamaxing deal... (and Zacian and Zamazenta) are... not great. I honesty think the armored evolutions that were rumored would have been very cool... definitely better than Dynamax.
 
This is looking more fun yet more cringey with every new trailer. I really like Marnie and that they are creating new evos for existing lines of Pokemon. I hope we see more Galar forms and new evos. Though I honestly do not care for the new Weezing. I really don't. And Gigantamaxing just looks like a gimmick. Not a fan.

Im on the fence with this game. I'll probably get it, but if it doesn't trip my trigger it will likely be my last one. I guess I just want something more raw. I guess that's why I constantly replay my gen 1 & 2 games.
 
The one thing that would win us all is another evolution for DUNSPARCE.

Btw, the perfect name for a DUNSPARCE is

Bungusboard. (Bun-Gus-Board for pronunciation)

Try it, it actually works.
 
Im happy that finally a team gets a female leader. All of them (I think) have been males, and it will be interesting to how the plot of the stories differ.
 
Top