Gen VIII Pokedex Review - Part 1: New Pokemon!

Pokemon Sword and Shield released almost a month ago when we first reviewed the game. Now we feel it's time to review and share our thoughts on all the new Pokemon introduced in this generation. As of this posting, TPCi has not officially revealed all Pokemon, so if you've yet to purchase the game, or haven't finished, be warned as this post will contain spoilers. For those who are ready, below is our review of all the new Pokemon introduced in Pokemon Sword and Shield.

Since there are a fair few new Pokemon, we've decided to split this up into two parts. The first part will focus on all the Gen VIII Pokemon, and the second part will focus on the Galarian and Gigantamax forms, which we will post next week. We've really got to take our hats off to the designers though. Out of all the Pokemon introduced, there aren't that many we dislike, and can easily count them on one hand.

Grookey: Grookey is the Grass starter of then region and was one of the first Pokemon revealed. Like most people, we're a big fan of Grookey, and it was the Pokemon we chose as our starter. There's so much personality packed into this little guy!
Thwackey: Unlike Grookey, it seems Thwackey gets the short end of the stick (no pun intended) when it comes to the fans, but we're the complete opposite. We love really Thwackey's design! It's a design that managed to be cool, yet cute, at the same time
Rillaboom: The final stage of the Grass starter and we find this design pretty solid. We do prefer it's official art to its in-game model, as we're not the biggest fans of the stump/drum it carries around.
Scorbunny: Scorbunny is the Fire type starter and everyone seemed worried it would again be another Fire/Fighting type. He's got a design going on that makes him look cool, yet shockingly adorable at the same time.
Raboot: We really love this one. It's soccer design works so well and it looks incredibly adorable. It's on par with Thwackey, maybe slightly above as it's name is easier to spell.
Cinderace: An alright design, but we're not the biggest fans, there's just something around the eye region that looks weird. Like Rillaboom, we much prefer it's official art to its model, but still a nice design. GameFreak did a solid for us though and decided to keep Cinderace a pure Fire type.
Sobble: The Water starter and probably the most controversial of the three. He was a fan favorite when he was first revealed, but once his evolutions got out, that all went downhill. 
Drizzile: This one is probably our least favorite of the starter evolutions. The green gloves and socks just look weird, and it just feels like a repeated, worse version of an angtsy teen Dartrix we saw last generation.
Inteleon: When we first saw this one, we weren't too impressed. Though with time, we actually kind of like it. It's a real improvement over Drizzile, but still gets a lot of hate. Unlike the other two final evolutions, we prefer Inteleon's model to its official art.

Skwovet/Greedent: The regional rodent of the region, and that's about it - a cute design, but nothing too special. When it evolves, it's a Glameow/Purugly situation. Greedent went from a cute Skwovet to a not-so-cute Greedent. We understand the logic behind it, but we just don't like it. Someone tell us we're not the only ones who get strong Garfield vibes from it?
Rookidee/Corvisquire/Corviknight: Rookidee is the regional bird of Galar, and the first non-Legendary pure Flying type. It follows our thoughts on Scorbunny, being a cute yet cool design, and we really love this one. Corvisquire is alright, but it really just looks like a Corviknight without its armor. Finally, it becomes a Flying/Steel bird that is used as a flying taxi service to help you venture across Galar. There are many positive opinions of this Pokemon out there, and we agree with all of them.
Blipbug/Dottler/Orbeetle: Blipbug is the regional bug, but something about it feels off. It pulls off the ladybug larvae design really nicely, though it looks like it's been squashed vertically. If it looked less squished and had a smaller head we'd probably like this one more. When our Blipbug evolved we didn't really like Dottler, and it reminded us of a Strollin' Stu from Super Mario Sunshine, but after a few battles we came to love it. Compared to most other three stage regional bugs, this one pulls off the middle stage without being a cocoon, which really makes it stand out. It evolves into Orbeetle, being the first Bug/Psychic type, and we love it. It's got really good stats, which makes it strong for a Bug type, but part of us feels like this would have worked really well as an evolution to Ledian.

Nickit/Thievul: It's cute, we love it's design, and has a great Shiny. Thievul is nowhere near as cute as Nickit, but it's still an alright design. Being a thief though, we feel this could have worked really well with a gender difference. A nice cat-woman vibe for the female, and a more grim burglar theme for the male.
Gossifleur/Eldegoss: Both are incredibly adorable. Gossifleur reminds us of Marin from Links Awakening, and Eldegoss gives us strong Oprah Winfrey vibes. We also love their Shiny colors.
Wooloo/Dubwool: Wooloo was everyone's favorite Pokemon from this generation... until it evolves. It's design is a little confusing, being a goat/sheep hybrid with a cow pattern, but it's not bad my any means, but doesn't have nowhere near as much of a fan following that Wooloo did.
Chewtle/Drednaw: To get straight to the point, we hate Chewtle. Maybe it was intentionally designed to be ugly, but a huge head, unibrow and buckteeth aren't a good combination. Drednaw is a huge improvement over Chewtle, and it's Shiny colors make it like Bowser. We like this one.
Yamper/Bolthund: Yamper is very cute, and we love ourselves a nice little corgi! We just wish it didn't have that odd green coloring. Bolthund isn't as cute as Yamper, but still looks really nice. It has a nice animation, but it just kind of looks like Zygarde's 10% form, so nothing really stands out too much.
Rolycoly/Carkol/Coalossal: This family is strange. We like Rolycoly, but when it evolves, it gets a derpy face, and we wish the coal stack stayed round instead of becoming pointed. Carkol reminds us a lot of Gogmazios from Monster Hunter, so we can't really hate it.

Applin/Flapple/Appletun: This family seems to get a lot of love, but we're just not feeling it. Flapple is probably the best of the bunch, and reminds us of Yooka-Laylee, whilst Appletun looks like Eeyore. We do like how their Shiny colors turn them into green apples, however.
Silicobra/Sandaconda: Silicobra is just adorable, and Sandaconda's gun-like design once again again reminds us of a Bowgun straight out of Monster Hunter. The only thing we don't like about these are their names.
Cramorant: We didn't really like this little derp when he was first shown off, but he's certainly grown on us. His flying animation in game is what made it for us.
Arrokuda/Barraskewda: Arrokuda is kind of basic, but it evolves into an incredibly menacing Barraskewda which we love! Much like the sand snakes, we don't really like the names here either, but everything else is on point.
Toxel/Toxtricity: Toxel is... something? It's a baby triceratops (maybe?) wearing a diaper, but that all changes once it evolves. Toxtricity is probably one of our favorite designs of this generation, and has a different form based on it's nature. It's got the unique Poison/Electric typing, and we can already see this one becoming a fan favorite.
Sizzlipede/Centiscorch: We really like these designs as they both look cool. Being part bug is always a struggle since it's always been seen as such a weak type, but these guys manage to pull it off - that doesn't help their x4 weakness to Rock though!
Clobbopus/Grapploct: Clobbopus is adorable, but Grapploct, not so much. It looks tough and it's design and animations are cool, but it reminds us of an Octoomba and we just want to know why so many Pokemon this generation look like damn Mario enemies.
Sinistea/Polteageist: Honestly, not a fan. Sinistea is cute, but Polteageist just looks like one of the ghosts from Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon. The solid sunset color that fills the hole in the teapot just looks out of place, if it's meant to be part of it's body, why does it cover the crack so efficiently? Even when it moves out of its pot, it's still there.

Hattena/Hatrem/Hatterene: The family is very cute, we just wish Hattena had visible eyes. The soft baby colors they used here just all blend together really well, and they really managed to pull off the whole forest witch design really well
Impidimp/Morgrem/Grimsnarl: We always flail around these guys. Some days we love them, some days we hate them. They're certainly an odd, yet unique design, and we just can't figure out how we feel. Grimsnarl reminds us of Bayonetta, and its Shiny color is akin to Jeanne, we do have to wonder if that was intentional...
Milcrey/Alcremie: Milcrey is pretty cute and so is Alcremie, but something about Alcremie we just don't like. Maybe it's because it looks like Merengue form Animal Crossing, or that it's literally just a pile of whipped cream? There's also just way too many forms of Alcremie it's a little messy.
Falinks: Look us in the eyes and tell us this isn't a Wiggler from Mario, we dare you. That said, we really like this design. Its marching animation is adorable.

Pincurchin: A lot of comments seem to say this guy should have been a Galarian form or evolution of Pyukumuku, but we disagree. We absolutely love this design, and if it hadn't been snatched up by Toxel, we'd have loved this guy to be the first Electric/Poison Pokemon.
Snom/Frosmoth: The very first Ice/Bug types, and they're just as beautiful as we hoped. The design here is just really on point, with Snom looking cute, and Frosmosh being very elegant and graceful, we just know they're already a fan favorite.
Stonjourner: Not great, but not terrible. Honestly, we're trying to think of something else to say, but there's nothing. It's basically just a pile of rocks, nothing that hasn't already been done before.
Eiscue: Not a fan at all, it's ice face form looks a lot better than its noice face form - which is literally a penguin. It also had it's official art revealed not that long ago, which looks much better than its in game model, but that doesn't save this guy from being our least favorite design this generation. Sorry!

 

Indeedee: The new Chansey that has a different form based on its gender. We really love both, it just feels a little unfinished and wish it had an evolution.
Morepeko: When we were writing this, Morepeko was the last entry we wrote. It's the first Electric/Dark type and its ability changes its form, as well as the type of it's signature move, but other than that it's really just the Pikachu clone of this generation, which in a way makes it a little difficult to stand out.
Cuffant/Copperajah: When we first saw them we weren't their biggest fans, but they grew on us over time. They're still not great, and we don't like how square Copperajah is, but they did something more original than a teapot elephant, so props to them.
Dracozolt/Arctozolt/Dracovish/Arctovish: We love the concept behind these guys, but hate their execution, yet can't help feeling that was their point. Dracozolt is the best of the four, and makes us excited for fossil Pokemon in the future.
Duraludon: He's alright. He looks a lot smaller than we thought, and we don't like how it looks when it gets down on all fours, but it could be worse. It's just a shame this guy doesn't evolve either.
Dreepy/Drakloak/Dragapult: The pseudo legendaries, and we LOVE them. They look cool, cute, intimidating, sleek, and strong. There really isn't anything to dislike here and they're all solid designs.
Zacian/Zamazenta: So these guys are the box legendaries, and have a Hero of Many Battles form, and a Crowned form, which grants them the Steel type. They're both really cool, but we prefer Zacian to Zamazenta. Sorry Shield fans!
Eternatus: It's really cool and is reminiscent of an Ultra Beast, and looks incredible for a final boss fight. We just wish there was a lot more lore behind this guy. It looks completely different than any other Legendary we've had which certainly makes it stand out.

So that's our thoughts on the new Pokemon this generation. Be sure to follow BidoofCrossing on Twitter and Tumblr to stay up to date with the latest Animal Crossing and Nintendo news, and make sure you tune in next week we'll finish off our tri-review with the Galar and Gigantamax forms introduced in this generation!