Pokemon Sword and Shield Team/Rivals Trailer, My Thoughts

We've been learning a lot about the newest Pokémon games, Sword and Shield lately. We've learned about some of the new Pokémon occupying the region of Galar, some of the new Gym Leaders, but there are some questions that have been left unanswered. Will our characters be dealing with any regular rivals? Will there be a new team of bad guys for us to worry about? Well, those questions are going to be answered! Let's take a look at the Pokémon Sword/Shield Team and Rivals trailer!

Sun and Moon started a new tradition with Pokémon games: Certain Pokémon have unique variations in certain areas. These variants often have different appearances and slight type alterations from the "original". For example, in previous Pokémon games, Meowth was a Normal-type Pokémon. In Alola, the region that Sun and Moon/UltraSun and UltraMoon was set in, wild Meowth are Dark-type, and look a bit different.

See? Classic Meowth on the left and Alolan Meowth on the right. The same Pokémon, just a bit different. And Galar is continuing that tradition.

Oh my God, Galarian Weezing is hilarious! I love this variant! I especially love its design! The top hat smokestacks, the green cloud facial hair, it's beautiful! It's absolutely beautiful!

Zigzagoon is getting a glam rock makeover in Galar! It looks neat. And naturally, its evolved form Linoone gets the glam rock look. Looks awesome.

Well...this is a first. Evidently, in Galar, Linoone can evolve further into Obstagoon. You cannot tell me that that thing was not inspired by Kiss. Seriously, that's Gene Simmons if he was a Pokémon!

And now we're going to learn about yet another new Pokémon! This one has the ability to change forms. There have been Pokémon that have this ability to take on different forms, like Deoxys. Form changing is not quite like regular Pokémon evolution. I'm not sure how to explain it, but it's not like regular Pokémon evolution. Morpeko here is one such Pokémon.

Evidently, its form changes based on whether its hungry or not. That's an interesting take on a form change. And is it just me, or does Morpeko look like a mutant Pikachu?

And what's a Pokémon game without rivals, huh? Well, meet your rival for Galar! His name is Bede, and he seems like a jerk. Hmm, over the years, Pokémon games have shown the rivals having friendlier relationships with the player character. Is this one going back to the roots a bit with having a possibly meaner rival? And then there's Marnie, who looks like a punk rocker. Hey, maybe the two could be different kinds of rivals, with Bede being the meaner rival and Marnie being the nicer one? That would be cool.

And of course, a bad guy team. Another old Pokémon tradition continues on! Meet Team Yell, who are basically obnoxious fans. Pokémon bad guy teams over the years have been modeled on organized crime and cults, so having them modeled on a obnoxious fandom is a new one. Since Galar is based on the UK, I like to imagine that these guys may be slightly inspired by soccer hooligans a bit.

Well, I'm liking what I see so far. I think there well be more Galarian variants that have yet to be revealed, and Team Yell is hilarious. I'm hoping we do learn a bit more about Bede and Marnie down the line.

Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! See you next time!