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How would you feel if Goh Fully Evolved all 3 of his Starters?

Are you okay with Goh having Cinderace, Inteleon, AND Rillaboom?

  • I'm cool with it! A nice change of pace from the norm!

    Votes: 15 21.4%
  • No way! Goh has done nothing to deserve 3 Fully evolved Starters!

    Votes: 27 38.6%
  • I'm completely indifferent to be honest.

    Votes: 28 40.0%

  • Total voters
    70
To this day, I still don’t get what they were doing with Decidueye. While it wasn’t as popular as Rowlet, it was still a pretty popular Alola Pokémon yet all the writers did was turn it into a punching bag. It was the only Alola starter to never even be seen getting a win.
I get the feeling that TPCi didn't like Decidueye for whatever reasons.

How it was treated in the Anime

And Iirc there's a mini side quest in USUM where there's a Dartrix who refuses to evolve into a Decidueye

Sure it ended up in Pokken Tournament but that's a relatively obscure game (by Pokemon standards anyways)
And it only happened because Incineroar was already in Smash Bros and Primarina's body type wouldn't have really worked well in a Fighting Game

Is it any wonder people would rather have their favorite Galar Starter on the cast than being put through what Decidueye went through?
 
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I'm still skeptical that Grookey will evolve, though. Aside from the points I just made, it simply wouldn't be very practical for Goh's character development imo: Goh is someone who has trouble socializing to the point that a partial motivation for him catching every Pokemon was because he wanted to be surrounded by many friends, so a good way to have him subtly progress in that whole friendship thing would be for him to be constantly hanging out with a cutesy sidekick, something that wouldn't be so easily done if Grookey was a Rillaboom, as it would have to stay inside the ball at all times.

If anything I'd argue that we'd be far more likely to get all fully evolved Galar starters on the main cast if Ash had been the one to catch Grookey instead, since by contrast his goal for the series kinda requires him to have a team as powerful as possible.

The concern about Rillaboom being treated like Decidueye is understandable though, but again, there's no reason why it has to be between the two extremes of "starter becomes a main character" and "starter becomes a punching bag", there's plenty of room in the middle: we might get something like say, Emboar, Swampert, or Samurott instead, where Rillaboom appears as a major character for a few episodes, does a lot during those episodes, and is generally treated with a degree of dignity.
 
I'm still skeptical that Grookey will evolve, though. Aside from the points I just made, it simply wouldn't be very practical for Goh's character development imo: Goh is someone who has trouble socializing to the point that a partial motivation for him catching every Pokemon was because he wanted to be surrounded by many friends, so a good way to have him subtly progress in that whole friendship thing would be for him to be constantly hanging out with a cutesy sidekick, something that wouldn't be so easily done if Grookey was a Rillaboom, as it would have to stay inside the ball at all times.

If anything I'd argue that we'd be far more likely to get all fully evolved Galar starters on the main cast if Ash had been the one to catch Grookey instead, since by contrast his goal for the series kinda requires him to have a team as powerful as possible.

The concern about Rillaboom being treated like Decidueye is understandable though, but again, there's no reason why it has to be between the two extremes of "starter becomes a main character" and "starter becomes a punching bag", there's plenty of room in the middle: we might get something like say, Emboar, Swampert, or Samurott instead, where Rillaboom appears as a major character for a few episodes, does a lot during those episodes, and is generally treated with a degree of dignity.
You do raise a point

Another argument that could be used is that Grookey is being partnered with Chloe's Eevee in an upcoming Episode. (A Pokémon who we know for fact will not Evolve.)

Some have pointed out that this seems oddly reminiscent of Chespin and Bunnlby (Coincidentally also A Grass Starter and a Normal Type Pokémon who never Evolved throughout the XY saga. Tho Grookey's fate is still up in the air for now )

There's also the matter of Grookey's personality shift once it evolves.

Scorbunny didn't have a problem with this because Cinderace has the exact same personality.

Sobble didn't have any Personality to begin with so there was nothing to lose

But Grookey legitimately is shown to be quite active and likes to get up into mischief and having fun.
Sure it could still be like that as a Rillaboom but then it would also end up being too big to be outside of it's Pokeball 90% of time? Surely it couldn't do things like run errands with Eevee in that state could it?
 
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Between the Eevee pairing, Rillaboom being the least popular final stage, and Grookey being the resident comic relief, I can see the reasons for not evolving it. The writers also waited to bring Grookey onto the cast, it's always out of its pokeball, and there was the whole 'big role' statement, which is probably nothing.

Though even if it isn't for Goh's benefit, the 3 Galar starters have themes of growing up built into their designs. There were people who suspected that Scorbunny or Sobble wouldn't evolve, but both did along with the personality shift.

The show has also seemed less interested in establishing the First stage Galar starters as strong battlers, which still holds true for Grookey now. Given Goh will be clashing with multiple legendaries going forward, I can't see Grookey just sitting on his shoulder while he calls out Cinderace and later Inteleon.

Hopefully the writers are just giving Grookey its spotlight as Goh slowly builds up his core team. I'm not fond of the way the show avoids evolutions.

If Goh catches Kubfu or Toxel, I expect it to be around the time that Grookey evolves.
 
Though even if it isn't for Goh's benefit, the 3 Galar starters have themes of growing up built into their designs. There were people who suspected that Scorbunny or Sobble wouldn't evolve, but both did along with the personality shift.
This design philosophy is true for literally every starter ever, though. They're all small, weak, and immature versions of their final forms and yet this still never stopped plenty of them from receiving development despite never evolving (ex: Dawn's Piplup). I would also argue that out of the three Galar starters, Grookey is the one that's the most "complete" of the three development-wise: it's already characterized as being pretty happy and content in ways that neither Scorbunny nor especially Sobble are, so it feels like it's the one that needs its evolutions the least for growth.

The show has also seemed less interested in establishing the First stage Galar starters as strong battlers, which still holds true for Grookey now. Given Goh will be clashing with multiple legendaries going forward, I can't see Grookey just sitting on his shoulder while he calls out Cinderace and later Inteleon.
But there's nothing stopping Grookey from providing assistance in some other way. Sobble managed to get in a hit against Flygon, so Grookey could very easily be used the same way: as a small support party member that provides light hits/distractions so that Goh's heavy hitters can have an easier time. Kind of like how Blue teamed up with Rexie in Jurassic World to take on the Indominus Rex, for example. That would also help in making battles against Legendaries far more interesting than to give Goh yet another heavy-hitter. Also keep in mind that on every occasion that Goh's taken on Legendaries, Ash has helped him in some way, so Ash himself could very easily provide extra muscle with any of his fully evolved mons in case the need should arise, making Rillaboom rather unnecessary in the long run.

If Goh catches Kubfu or Toxel, I expect it to be around the time that Grookey evolves.
While Toxel is still up in the air, I think it's safe to say that Kubfu won't be caught by any of the main characters, since both Urshifu forms are already being slated to appear under the ownership of some COTDs. Kind of a shame, since I would have actually really liked for Ash to get a Kubfu, but sadly it would just be redundant with Lucario...
 
I think it's because Gen 8 isn't a big focus for Journeys the writers are allowed to have more freedom on what they can do with the current generation of Starters.
(Tho Cinderace would've been an inevitability regardless of whether or not Galar was the main focus or not)

I have no idea what what they're going to do with Inteleon (or Rillaboom if we get to that point) tho

Considering the last time someone had 2 Fully evolved Starters on their team, things didn't go over so well, I'm a little bit wary of how the writers will balance both Cinderace and Inteleon let alone throwing Rillaboom into the mix
 
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What dictates which Pokemon evolves...
Lately; it comes out of the blue, rushed or both.

Please, not Erezun for Gou...
Sidelining a baby to the background sounds awful/cruel/neglectful.
 
What dictates which Pokemon evolves...
Is how popular the Final Stage is (with the Jpn fans usually anyways)

Lately; it comes out of the blue, rushed or both.
Usually it's hella obvious which ones will and won't evolve but in this show it's really hard to say.

Scorbunny's evolution came out of the blue

Sobble's evolution was obvious after it met Inteleon but it was rushed af

Please, not Erezun for Gou...
Sidelining a baby to the background sounds awful/cruel/neglectful.
Who is Erezun?
 
Cinderace I think is a definite yes. Inteleon is a strong probability as well. Rillaboom is entirely up to whether Grookey evolves or not: if it does, then yes, but if it doesn't, then it'll be up to someone else to showcase its Gigantamax.

That said, we're highly unlikely to see Gigantamaxes until we go back to Galar and actually stay there for more than one episode.
 
I'm a bit surprised that we haven't seen Gigantamax Cinderace yet. They need to be in Galar to Dynamax their Pokemon and they aren't there too often, but I thought that at least part of the reason they evolved Scorbunny so fast is because they wanted to showcase Gigantamax Cinderace. Gigatamax Inteleon is a possibility, but I'm not as sure about that one at the moment.
 
Somewhat related but do you guys think Gou will showcase all the Starters G-Max forms?
Not gonna lie, the prospect that they’d show all 3 G-Max starters through Go, the guy who isn’t even really into battle, just feels insulting and misplaced. While Max Raids exist, the primary use of Dynamax and G-Max in Galar is in their competitive scene.
 
Eh honestly I don’t really care if they introduce GMax forms via battle or elsewhere. The majority of them that have appeared so far were outside of official battles (Centiscorch, Pikachu, Meowth, Drednaw, Snorlax, Coalossal) while only two (Charizard and Duraludon) were revealed in an official match. So if they appear via Goh then I’m not that pressed.
 
Eh honestly I don’t really care if they introduce GMax forms via battle or elsewhere. The majority of them that have appeared so far were outside of official battles (Centiscorch, Pikachu, Meowth, Drednaw, Snorlax, Coalossal) while only two (Charizard and Duraludon) were revealed in an official match. So if they appear via Goh then I’m not that pressed.
To be fair, the majority still had to be battled and it was an exceptional case where the region was having a Gigantamax crisis.
 
Neither of those things changes the point of what I said, though.
They weren’t official battles, but they were still in a setting where they needed to be battled. I honestly doubt they’ll be pulling the "accidentally dynamaxed thanks to Eternatus" thing on Go's Pokémon, and since he has a Dynamax Band, it’s fairly certain it’ll happen in a situation where he needs to battle.
 
They weren’t official battles, but they were still in a setting where they needed to be battled. I honestly doubt they’ll be pulling the "accidentally dynamaxed thanks to Eternatus" thing on Go's Pokémon, and since he has a Dynamax Band, it’s fairly certain it’ll happen in a situation where he needs to battle.
Pikachu Snorlax and Drednaw did not GMax due to Eternatus. Even if it was done by Goh for a battle, Goh has been well established to participate in battles he just doesn’t participate much in official battles. So if he fought a wild Pokémon or some random trainer or something at a Dynamax spot, it really wouldn’t phase me. They introduced Mega Aggron via some random Team Rocket grunt of all things. In fact, Goh himself just debuted White Flower Floette. It’s just yet another debut, it doesn’t have to be done via a high-stakes battle to be done.
 
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