SwSh Galar Regional Variants aka Galarian Forms

[Eeveely]

I mean the theory is already dead, it's not like there are much theories that are there to be believed, most are for the sake of a fun and extremly odd and messed-up predictions that show you could have made money each time you've drowned in wikipedia.

And this is the best I could find with enough exemples:

Alchemy in art and entertainment - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

And tbf, this is the franchise where the ability "power of alchemy" exists, there are other pokemon with clearer alchemy-related inspirations, but their symbolism in alchemy was never fully shown, clearly ,just because x pokemon is based on y god or myth or whatever, doesn't mean it has y's powers and abilities, you don't see solgaleo biting the sun to make gold or whatever they believed, or lunala controlling the tides...

-The sophic salt inspiration could explain the choice of the ice-typing. And if you look at the winged one it has feathers, it's soft unlike the one with the scales, reshiram has more wyvern-like wings, as in that its arms are also its wings, but zekrom has it's limbs being more clear in its design, but also has the wings because apparently anything that's not a serpentine chinese dragon(or a sky byson) needs wings to fly.

IIRC, the idea of the 4 elements originates from Greek myths, kelpies are scottish, fire salmanders are japanese but the idea of 5 elements is related to alchemy,so they've done whatever the plot and the merch needed and I'm just kidding about being mad at it.

 

[Phosphene]

Hey poison/psychic with a shel on hand would be perfect to learn that.

How so? Shell Trap is very specific to Turtonator. It’s a move about setting an explosive trap, and is the signature move of a Pokémon that eats explosive materials and is based upon explosives. Heck, the animation is very similar in style to Turtonator’s shell. Just having a random shell, specifically a shell gun, doesn’t automatically make a Pokémon suited for the move. Nothing about Slowbro suggests it can make explosives. It shoots poison from its shell, not explosives.

Psychic is inteligent enough type and Slowbro learned fire moves in the past.

Irregardless of how intelligent Slowbro is, I don’t think it can magically create explosives from nothing. There’s quiet a few Psychic types that have shallow movepools—intelligence doesn’t mean the Pokémon can learn a move that wouldn’t be fitting otherwise. Nothing about it suggests it has explosive capabilities. It cannot learn Explosion nor Self Destruct while Turtonator can learn the former.

It would literary shield it self with a shel trap.

Shell Trap isn’t about shielding oneself—I’m fairly certain the user has to take damage for it to work—it’s about setting up an explosive mine. And even if it was about shielding, Slowbro’s shell is basically a gun, something not suited for defensive blocking.

Edit: Put in-line spoilers around spoiler-heavy content.

 

[prog rocker]

@TechSkylander1518 NintendoKusou is the kabbalah guy, right?

 

[Nicolas721]

But Slowbro and the birds come along, and more than anything they come off to me as just remixes of the base Pokémon themselves. Slowbro simply says "What if we took the shell off of my tail and moved it somewhere else?"

I don't think we can judge Slowbro completely until we have Slowking, but from what we have they could represent a hero and a villain. Or they could just be gagmons in the vein of Giga Meowth, Alolan Exeguttor and Dugtrio, Mega Slowbro, etc.

Ultimately, I feel like these variants are mainly just trying to make old designs look more striking and colorful.

Do you think so? Counting regional evolutions, 28 out of 42 (66%) of them have white, grey or black as their main color.

 

[Esserise]

I don't think we can judge Slowbro completely until we have Slowking, but from what we have they could represent a hero and a villain. Or they could just be gagmons in the vein of Giga Meowth, Alolan Exeguttor and Dugtrio, Mega Slowbro, etc.

3/4ths of those gagmons still have clear inspirational concepts though. The longcat meme, palm trees, and Pele's hair. Mega Slowbro is closer to what I'm talking about, since it's just an exaggeration of base Slowbro, but that's how most Mega Evolutions operate. It's more unusual for regional variants to not have some kind of outside conceptual root.

Do you think so? Counting regional evolutions, 28 out of 42 (66%) of them have white, grey or black as their main color.

I was referring to this bunch specifically, not all regional variants. Slowbro gets deep purple accents, Articuno gets a more complex coloration than its base form which is all icy blue, Zapdos becomes a rich orange color, and while Moltres does turn black, it serves to make the pink and red flames stand out more.

 

[TechSkylander1518]

@TechSkylander1518 NintendoKusou is the kabbalah guy, right?

Not positive I know what you're talking about, but he has talked about it a lot, yeah!

And this is the best I could find with enough exemples:

Alchemy in art and entertainment - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Ahh, my mistake, I had just tried changing the article title on the classical element one to see if there was an "Alchemy in pop culture". (Funny, Wikipedia's usually pretty uptight about keeping titles consisten)

And tbf, this is the franchise where the ability "power of alchemy" exists,

I don't really think one ability created in Gen 7 proves Pokemon is a franchise with a great love for alchemy.

there are other pokemon with clearer alchemy-related inspirations,

Like what? The only other example I can see is Solgaleo.

but their symbolism in alchemy was never fully shown,

If it's never fully shown, how is the inspiration clear?

,just because x pokemon is based on y god or myth or whatever, doesn't mean it has y's powers and abilities, you don't see solgaleo biting the sun to make gold or whatever they believed, or lunala controlling the tides...

No, but you do see Solgaleo explicitly referencing the idea of the alchemical lion devouring the sun in its dex entry.

In writings from the distant past, it's called by the name “the beast that devours the sun.”

-The sophic salt inspiration could explain the choice of the ice-typing.

I don't think you're seeing my problem here- there is no other evidence that Kyurem is based on sophic salt other than the idea that it would be Ice-type to reference sophic salt. Nothing about Kyurem relates to the mind, which salt is salt to represent, and even if we pretend that Reshiram and Zekrom are representing the two contraries, Kyurem's role isn't to balance them. There's plenty of other reasons for Kyurem's Ice typing, like the fact that it's a void left behind, and the fact that fire/electric/ice has been a popular trio of types in lots of RPGs, including Pokemon, so we don't need a justification for Kyurem to be Ice, we already have one.

And if you look at the winged one it has feathers, it's soft unlike the one with the scales,

That texture really does not look like soft feathers to me. Even if it is, though, you're still assuming that they chose to reference this specifically, when Ken Sugimori himself has said they made Reshiram soft to contrast with Zekrom to suit the yin-yang theme- we already have an existing explanation for why Reshiram and Zekrom are soft and hard, and we have explicit references to it in their dex categories.

but also has the wings because apparently anything that's not a serpentine chinese dragon(or a sky byson) needs wings to fly.

Golurk, Doduo, Arceus, Tornadus, Genesect, Celesteela, Dragapult, and Tapu Koko can all fly without wings.

IIRC, the idea of the 4 elements originates from Greek myths, kelpies are scottish, fire salmanders are japanese but the idea of 5 elements is related to alchemy,so they've done whatever the plot and the merch needed and I'm just kidding about being mad at it.

No, like I said earlier, the classical elements came long before alchemy, including the idea of a fifth one. Classical element - Wikipedia

 

[prog rocker]

Not positive I know what you're talking about, but he has talked about it a lot, yeah!

If he's the guy trying to link all legendaries to the kabbalah, then that's the guy I tend to make fun of.

 

[Esserise]

Also, notice how all these other examples outright name their influence- Dipper says it's an alchemical symbol, FMAB has alchemist in the name, Harry Potter calls it the Sorcerer's Stone. But somehow these direct references to alchemy never make their way into Pokemon- the franchise that names a squirting turtle Squirtle, and names a magma slug Slugma. Doesn't that seem a little weird? If alchemy is really so important to Pokemon, why is it that finding the connections takes such deep digging?

I think this is my big bugaboo, at the end of the day. Pokémon is not a series that likes to play elaborate secret-decoder-ring games with its audience. 99% of Pokémon design inspirations are pretty overt, and more importantly, are faithful to the inspiration. Take Mawile for instance - you don't have to be an expert on yokai to be able to see its resemblance to the futakuchi-onna, and it's not just a physical resemblance or a similar name (Mawile is called Kucheat in Japanese), but it's baked into Mawile's characterization as a deceptive trickster, too. It's not nicking some tangentially relevant alchemical symbolism and then burying it under layers of intricate storyline, it's faithfully designing a kid-friendly version of a yokai in such a way that the reference is readily recognizable. This is the same issue I take with the "XYZ trio is Norse" theory. It's superficially compelling, but comparing the trio to the actual substance of Norse mythology just creates a huge mess. And especially when it comes to box mascot Legendaries, we know what the developers strive for universal accessibility, hence them working hard to ensure that their names are kept approximately the same across all languages. I really don't think it's the kind of thing they'd want to make contradictory or difficult to grasp.

Also, who ultimately has more to benefit from Pokémon designs being complex tapestries of interrelated but also very subtle references to Hermeticism (and why that of all things, when Pokémon has never been overtly mystical? It's not exactly sci-fi, but I'd say it's closer to that than magick)? The design team, whose job it is to create accessible creatures for kids, or PokéTubers, whose job it is to create enticing longform video essays that rack up ad revenue? I'm just saying, consider the motives...

And tbf, this is the franchise where the ability "power of alchemy" exists

Even aside from the fact that that's just one ability for a random regional variant, the Japanese name for the ability seems to be "power of chemistry" (which frankly makes more sense, given that Alolan Grimer breaks down trash in its body to produce toxins) so that may very well just be a localization thing.

No, but you do see Solgaleo explicitly referencing the idea of the alchemical lion devouring the sun in its dex entry.

In writings from the distant past, it's called by the name “the beast that devours the sun.”

I've gotta be honest... I'm not even sure how convincing I find the Solgaleo thing, either. I admit that it's a comparison worth noting, but at the same time, for me it raises more questions than it does answers. Like, why is Solgaleo not green? Lions are not, according to my expert consultants, typically green in color, so that symbol using a specifically green lion is pretty distinctive. But not even Solgaleo's shiny coloration bothers to make the obvious choice that would cement the reference. Furthermore, why is it only Solgaleo? Why do I finding nothing about any orange bat vomiting the moon in alchemical symbolism that would form the equivalent basis for Lunala? There's plenty of sun and moon symbolism in literally all of history alchemy, but it's usually pretty standard Western stuff. That green lion with a sweet tooth for cosmic plasma stands out, but it's its own thing, its own concept - a metaphor for the purification of matter using acid. It's not a solar symbol per se, and Solgaleo, on the other hand, is pitched in a far more traditional "sun god" role, with nothing about it meaningfully referencing the transmutation of matter. (We don't even get Acid or some other Poison move in Solgaleo's moveset as a nod?)

When they say Solgaleo "devours the sun," I'm pretty sure they're just saying that it outshines the sun when using its full power. Ancient Alolans who witnessed it would then romanticize this as "devouring" the sun.

At any rate, I also think that fandom is a little too eager to latch on to superficially appealing ideas without questioning them because to some extent we can't seem to bear the possibility that we just might not totally know why something is the way it is. Like, Solgaleo's Steel typing. Maybe it's a subtle reference to alchemy. Maybe it's a subtle reference to stellar fusion, which produces the basic elements of the universe up to iron. Sure. That's all a conversation worth having, especially if people can learn something from it. But then... maybe the battle team just thought one of the Legendaries should be Psychic/Steel, and it doesn't run any deeper than that. It's possible and has been known to happen before.

 

[Matleo]

How so? Shell Trap is very specific to Turtonator. It’s a move about setting an explosive trap, and is the signature move of a Pokémon that eats explosive materials and is based upon explosives. Heck, the animation is very similar in style to Turtonator’s shell. Just having a random shell, specifically a shell gun, doesn’t automatically make a Pokémon suited for the move. Nothing about Slowbro suggests it can make explosives. It shoots poison from its shell, not explosives.

Irregardless of how intelligent Slowbro is, I don’t think it can magically create explosives from nothing. There’s quiet a few Psychic types that have shallow movepools—intelligence doesn’t mean the Pokémon can learn a move that wouldn’t be fitting otherwise. Nothing about it suggests it has explosive capabilities. It cannot learn Explosion nor Self Destruct while Turtonator can learn the former.

Shell Trap isn’t about shielding oneself—I’m fairly certain the user has to take damage for it to work—it’s about setting up an explosive mine. And even if it was about shielding, Slowbro’s shell is basically a gun, something not suited for defensive blocking.

Edit: Put in-line spoilers around spoiler-heavy content.

Some Poisons explode Macgyver especialy after physical contact. Bombs and chemistry... Why do You underestimate Slowbro it got a cool shel arm and reminds me of Devil may cry and hellboy.

 

[TechSkylander1518]

Some Poisons explode Macgyver especialy after physical contact.

I don't understand your mention of Macgyver there- are you saying that the show Macgyver should have some kind of connection here?

If we say "some poisons could explode, so that's enough of a reason to give it Shell Trap", then by that logic every Poison-type should have a bunch of exploding moves. That's not logical.

Why do You underestimate Slowbro

There's a difference between underestimating a Pokemon and thinking that certain moves don't make sense for it. I don't think Samurott should learn Flamethrower, for example, doesn't mean I think it's weak.

and reminds me of Devil may cry and hellboy.

Doesn't mean that's what it's based on.

 

[Matleo]

I don't understand your mention of Macgyver there- are you saying that the show Macgyver should have some kind of connection here?

If we say "some poisons could explode, so that's enough of a reason to give it Shell Trap", then by that logic every Poison-type should have a bunch of exploding moves. That's not logical.

There's a difference between underestimating a Pokemon and thinking that certain moves don't make sense for it. I don't think Samurott should learn Flamethrower, for example, doesn't mean I think it's weak.

Doesn't mean that's what it's based on.

Its a armed shooting pokemon. Yeah but giving every water pokemon ice moves does...

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Its a armed shooting pokemon. Yeah but giving every water pokemon ice moves does...

That is because all water freezes into ice. The poison slowbro has will not set up land mines.

 

[Matleo]

That is because all water freezes into ice. The poison slowbro has will not set up land mines.

still would be better then flamethrowe and fire blast. Maybe Pyroball and shell trap it could get instead? We dont know how it shell works... Looks like it could pull it of. We would need more shell trap users actualy.

 

[Phosphene]

still would be better then flamethrowe and fire blast. Maybe Pyroball and shell trap it could get instead?

Flamethrower and Fire Blast are generic Fire moves. They’re easy to fit on a Pokémon because of that. Pyro Ball and Shell Trap are two highly specific signature moves that are based upon the Pokémon that can use them so it would be very difficult to fit them onto other Pokémon. Nothing about G-Slowbro suggests it has soccer/football skills (see: its tiny, stumpy legs) or the ability to create and set explosive mines. On the other hand, Cinderace has long legs and is based upon a soccer/football player, and Turtonator is literally a combination of the mata mata and an explosive mine, and is explicitly stated to eat explosive substances.

 

[Matleo]

Flamethrower and Fire Blast are generic Fire moves. They’re easy to fit on a Pokémon because of that. Pyro Ball and Shell Trap are two highly specific signature moves that are based upon the Pokémon that can use them so it would be very difficult to fit them onto other Pokémon. Nothing about G-Slowbro suggests it has soccer/football skills (see: its tiny, stumpy legs) or the ability to create and set explosive mines. On the other hand, Cinderace has long legs and is based upon a soccer/football player, and Turtonator is literally a combination of the mata mata and an explosive mine, and is explicitly stated to eat explosive substances.

Blazekick , leaf blade and muddy water once too were those. If You can shoot poison... Pyroball isnt only soccer related in my opinion but sports related. We know that spices in G-slowbro body changed it. Also its shell arm looks capable of both and wont steal their stab and roles but work as a nice support.

 

[Phosphene]

Blazekick , leaf blade and muddy water once too were those.

Those are much more generalized than Shell Trap and Pyro Ball. It makes sense to distribute them to more Pokémon when they are fitting for multiple Pokémon. On the other hand, Shell Trap and Pyro Ball are much more specific. They wouldn't make as much sense on G-Slowbro as Leaf Blade would on Victreebel, for example.

Pyroball isnt only soccer related in my opinion but sports related. We know that spices in G-slowbro body changed it.

I don’t think G-Slowbro is sports based. Nothing about its design, moves, abilities, and/or lore suggests that.

Also its shell arm looks capable of both

This is the animation for Pyro Ball:

Spoiler

As you can see, it does not involve anything like G-Slowbro's shell. Instead it involves fast and agile movements, something that I doubt G-Slowbro is capable of. And, to go back to your previous statement on how Pyro Ball is more than just soccer/football related, while the description for the move is very broad, the animation very clearly shows it is based upon soccer/football and not sports in general.

As for Shell Trap, I don't see how G-Slowbro's shell-gun arm is capable of creating explosive mines. Not only that,

Spoiler

The animation for Shell Trap is incredibly similar to Turtonator's shell. G-Slowbro's shell looks nothing like that.

 

[Matleo]

Those are much more generalized than Shell Trap and Pyro Ball. It makes sense to distribute them to more Pokémon when they are fitting for multiple Pokémon. On the other hand, Shell Trap and Pyro Ball are much more specific. They wouldn't make as much sense on G-Slowbro as Leaf Blade would on Victreebel, for example.

I don’t think G-Slowbro is sports based. Nothing about its design, moves, abilities, and/or lore suggests that.

This is the animation for Pyro Ball:

Spoiler

As you can see, it does not involve anything like G-Slowbro's shell. Instead it involves fast and agile movements, something that I doubt G-Slowbro is capable of. And, to go back to your previous statement on how Pyro Ball is more than just soccer/football related, while the description for the move is very broad, the animation very clearly shows it is based upon soccer/football and not sports in general.

As for Shell Trap, I don't see how G-Slowbro's shell-gun arm is capable of creating explosive mines. Not only that,

Spoiler

View attachment 133719View attachment 133720

The animation for Shell Trap is incredibly similar to Turtonator's shell. G-Slowbro's shell looks nothing like that.

No problem shel trap with the arm creating that symbol. Regular Slowbro could do the same with back. Pyroball could get other animation for other pokemon. Could see it beeing done by hand, head, spit from mouth or shot actually.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

No problem shel trap with the arm creating that symbol. Regular Slowbro could do the same with back. Pyroball could get other animation for other pokemon. Could see it beeing done by hand, head, spit from mouth or shot actually.

"Totally remove a Move‘s theme. Now it’s fine to give it to other Pokémon!"

Moves are much more than a collection of variables to give a Pokémon.

 

[Matleo]

"Totally remove a Move‘s theme. Now it’s fine to give it to other Pokémon!"

Moves are much more than a collection of variables to give a Pokémon.

- has a shell , checked
-learns fire type moves, checked
-has gun motive means ball and bomb moves checked...
- has lost water typing and is poison now, checked

yes moves are more thats why I suggested it.
I would not suggest of Cloyster to get it , maybe if it becomes water/fire type...

Weird Cloyster gets self-destruct... the shell in Slowbro has the same properties

 

[Pulsaro23]

- has a shell , checked

A lot of Pokémon have shells. Yet not all of them learn Razor Shell or Shell Smash (and those aren't even signature moves). So why should a Pokémon suddenly learn a shell-related move (and one that's the signature move of another Pokémon and whose animation is based entirely on that Pokémon's design) just because it has a shell?

-learns fire type moves, checked

Learns only three, generic Fire-type moves. It's not part Fire-type, it doesn't learn a ton of Fire-type moves, it doesn't have some special ability that allows it to use flames or detonate its Shellder gun or cause explosions around itself, it and its Shellder don't feed on sulfur or explosive material, we're never told that its Shellder has "a layer of explosive material in its shell" like Turtonator... basically, it has no reason to learn Shell Trap whatsoever, outside of some very superficial reasons.

-has gun motive means ball and bomb moves checked

And Blastoise and Volcanion have cannons, yet they don't learn all the ball-like/bomb-like moves out there, nor do they learn the signature moves of other Pokémon, despite it making sense for them to learn them (like Barrage). So there's no rule that a Pokémon should learn a certain move, including the signature moves of other Pokémon, juts because it makes sense design-wise or lore-wise (and, in this case, it doesn't even make sense for G-Slowbro to learn it (see all the other posts above))

-has lost water typing and is poison now, checked

What does poison have to do with it learning a Fire-type move themed around explosions and mines?