Fun Fact: crocodiles are closely related to birds, more so than to other reptiles. As birds are descended from theropod dinosaurs, all dinosaurs, birds, and crocodiles are classified as archosaurs
Another fun fact: by using cladistics, you are a fish. That is, if we attempt to make “fish” into an actual cladistic classification. In fact, by these rules, you are MORE similar to a Goldfish than a Goldfish is to a shark. 🅱️ones are kinda a big deal
It's worth noting that in addition to the theming of celebrations from former colonies, they're also all different types of performers (A magician/jester, a singer, and a dancer) and they also all have a floating accessory (the flower bomb, the fire bird, and the water feathers). Seriously incredible theming as a trio in my opinion, especially in contrast to the loose connections between the Galar starters
@@frederickdelius1106 Fun facts about that. 1. Recently, it came out that every past Pokémon and form (Megas, sure, but also Mystery Dungeon's "Primal Dialga", G-Max forms, the OG Ash-Greninja, Zygarde's various forms, Ultra Necrozma, and XD-001 from Pokémon XD) has, hidden in the code, a piece of artwork that serves as a menu sprite for when they're on your team in-battle. There might be a plan for this, or it might just be like what they did back in Gen 6- futureproofing so they have something for every single current Pokémon for decades in advance. 2. Weirdly, there were a lot of people conveying the idea that some Pokémon will be getting unique Terastalized forms, tied to being a specific Tera Type. I imagine that that's what these special Tera Raids are for; the Flying-Type Decidueye and the Dragon-Type Charizard seem a tad suspicious with this information in mind.
You will know the Jester You will know the man (with a golden mask) You will know Luciferia You will know the Lady in Black You will know the Clowns You will know the Minstrel You will know the Dancer You will know the Angel of Lust (Unrelated because I'm high from 4 beers: Wihenstephaner Hell and Weißbier, Wltenburger Kloster Bacrock Dunkel and Kellerbier)
I now appreciate Meowscarada much more than I ever thought I would. I already love cats, but a sneaky Spanish stage magician/jester cat is absolutely perfect.
Yeah this video really made me appreciate it way more! I love sneaky magicians/jesters and magic! (No wonder Hisoka is one of my favorite characters in the world. Lol) But yeah before watching this I never noticed and was meh stupid. At it but now I love it!
Brazillian representation and explanations about the cuca, carnaval, capoeira and everything else are so well articulated and without any flaws, I thank you so much for representing such a colorful nation with the most respect and optimism
Scarlet's Pokdex entry for Quaxly actually states that it was originally from a distant land, and both of Quaquaval's entries mention its dances originating from far-off lands. If we ever get a region based on Brazil, I wouldn't be surprised if Quaquaval and/or the rest of its evolution line end up getting regional variants.
I feel like Quaquaval is already way too perfect for a Brazilian region to get a regional variant, they should retroactively add a Paldean Quaquaval instead lol
Maybe the painting of an "Unknown place" (or whatever) in your house is a hint at a Brazil region? I'm not too familiar with the architecture, but that idea came to mind with your mention of the Quaxly line being a fantastic addition to a region fully based there.
What I appreciate about this channel is it allows for me to have a deeper appreciation for the Pokemon and Game Freak's work. It speaks to a love of humanity, history, nature, and art all in a format designed towards community and bringing people across cultures together.
I love how all the three starters have an element in their design that's detachable or disjointed from the main body. Meowscarada has the floating flower bomb, Skeledirge has his li'l bird pal and Quaquaval has his whole feather array. We don't have that often in Pokémon designs but they all really did it well and they're very cohesive as a trio. I think they may be my favorite starter set overall.
I been saying this forever they are slept on the only other time we got something like this for a starter was Ash-Greninja with his Floating Water Shuriken on his Back
These have been the most unique STARTERS of the Pokemon series. All 3 have such personalities! My personal favorite is the Fuecoco line. But, the Cat and the Duck have my respect.
@@RealLifeIronMan gen 7: wrestler, soloist, and archer Gen 8: Soccer player, Drum player, secret agent Gen 9: stage magician, singer, and dancer Ok, I see what you mean now, excluding Inteleon but it honestly is a very personable trope they're using. Besides, Emboar was a wrestler as well.
@@amaterasumaster8781 Inteleon is arguably also an actor in a spy movie. Inteleon is somewhat a reference to James Bond, a character famous in movie entertainment media.
You forgot to mention the connection between Skeledirge's name and it's signature move, Torch Song. A torch song being a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love. So it's singing dirge about a sad but passionately hot love that was not returned. And to to think our sweet innocent baby Fuecoco grew up to only to learn of love's cruel, cruel sting.
One awesome little detail that I love about Meowscarada is the potential reasoning why it probably has Protean as a hidden ability. You see, Meowscarada is indeed a stage magician but it also has a bit of a Jester theme. The Jester is usually a figure that represents the Fool arcana in the 78 Tarot Card deck. "The Fool" represents "new beginnings" but is also is described as an individual who doesn't know what to expect, fairly inexperienced, having beginners luck, and has very good improvisation. Basically, Meowscarada is the Joker card of pokémon, which I find super fun and creative (most persona fans probably see the correlation). But Meowscarada may not just be the fool arcana, but "The Magician" arcana as well, seeing as it is its title. The Magician Arcana is also a Tarot card that states "The message is to tap into one's full potential rather than holding back, especially when there is a need to transform something." I feel of the 3 protean starters, Meowscarada has the most creative take to justify an ability for a starter that I've ever seen. Also, Mari Shimazaki, the lead character designer for Bayonetta (and the person who designed Bayonetta herself) was the one who designed Meowscarada and Quaquaval. Looking at them, it makes much more sense now considering their personalities and flamboyant styles.
@@emerfirek I wanted to go for someone in Megami Tensei who was also grass affiliated. I also gave some other Pokémon Personas, actually. Quaquaval has Poseidon, Skeledirge has Kagutsuchi, Tinkaton has Vivian (Vivian is another name for the lady of the lake, and she is represented by Amy Rose in Sonic and the Black Knight; incidentally, my Tinkaton's nickname is Amy), Miraidon has Ave del Trueno a.k.a. Thunderbird, and Koraidon has Heracles.
You had me THIS close to renaming my shiny male Floragato to Joker (or Arsene or something else associated with him), but bringing up that they were designed by the character-designer of Bayonetta (don't remember if I've actually heard that somewhere before and this just reminded me of it or if that's the first I've heard of it), I HAVE to keep it nicknamed Luka!
As a Brazilian I fell glad for the representation in Quaquaval. Also worth mentioning Hitmontop (capoeira) and Whimsicott (this one being a little bit more stretchy reference in our folklore, the Saci Pererê). Hope we get a Brazilian region inspired eventually!
You will know the Jester You will know the man (with a golden mask) You will know Luciferia You will know the Lady in Black You will know the Clowns You will know the Minstrel You will know the Dancer You will know the Angel of Lust (Unrelated because I'm high from 4 beers: Wihenstephaner Hell and Weißbier, Wltenburger Kloster Bacrock Dunkel and Kellerbier)
1. So as a BR myself, I’ve noticed that the Paldean lore is actually really close to Brazilian history (well, it is close to almost any country that was conquered, but we have other context clues pointing to Brazil) which makes me have hopes of the next pokemon game to be in a Brazilian region 2. You got the Whimsicott from Leegengar, didn’t you?
Im starting to theorize that gen 10 will be in Brazil (I would hope that a legends game would be inspired by the Brazilian colonization of the 16th century ) because brazil was a portuguese colony and now because quaquaval is said to be based on samba and carnaval (I said now because I never knew nor noticed lol)
@@lucazanellaterradeoliveira7582 you have no ideia how much I wish for a Brazilian region, must confess that I would prefer a stand alone region instead of a "Legends" one, but in the end I would be extremely pleases with whatever comes as long as we are represented there ! 😅🤞🏽
I’ve got to admit, I love the thumbnail for this video. It looks like the trio are standing together like a team of three heroes. Entertaining the masses and fighting together as not just a trio of starter Pokémon, but a trio of friends. The Gato, the Gator and the Pato. Anyone else feel the same way?
You will know the Jester You will know the man (with a golden mask) You will know Luciferia You will know the Lady in Black You will know the Clowns You will know the Minstrel You will know the Dancer You will know the Angel of Lust (Unrelated because I'm high from 4 beers: Wihenstephaner Hell and Weißbier, Wltenburger Kloster Bacrock Dunkel and Kellerbier)
@@ldmtag Huh? How about also, You will know the Cat. You will know the Peacock. You will know the Crocodile and the ball of fire. You will know the trio and their arts, and companionship and friendship. You will know these three Heroes.
@@harry.t9523 I can't believe I posted that😅🤣🤣🤣🤣 I really was high. It's actually a quote from a song Theatres des Vampires - Macabre Banquet. I think I posted it because Lockstin said Meowscarada is a jester
When it comes to Meowscarada, don't forget that Zorro was from Spanish / Mexican California. So all three lines originate from different Iberian colonial territories: California, Brazil, and Mexico.
@AF That's very true. It's really a melting pot of a bunch of different ideas... everything from Don Juan to Tuxedo Mask to Zorro... part swashbuckler, part masquerade dancer, part magician. It's a really cool Pokemon.
I think it's kinda funny that Tsareena sees Quaquaval as its rival. Given its kicking prowess and its big bum, it makes sense, but it's rare fir an older Pokémon to have a new dex entry referencing a new _starter_ Pokémon, especially a fully evolved one. Not to mention how coincidental it is that this specifically is the case for one of my favorite Pokémon, too.
Older Pokémon becoming rivals with newer mon seems to be happening much more often now that the roster of Pokémon has expanded as much as it has (Corviknight being one I can think of, though it doesn’t specifically name Tinkaton). That being said, I really like this idea. I love the flavor and relevance it gives to older mons, while not making the newer mons completely dependent on those relationships.
I'm really loving that they're adding in entries for new and old mons to be territorial rivals. like how Tinkaton and Corviknight are rivals. But I also love that some Pokemon have a symbiotic relationship too. Like Krookodile and Flygon; in the Ultra Moon dex, it's stated that Krookodile hides in sandstorms Flygon whips up. Pokemon is expanding its lore to add in rivalries, symbiotic relationships, divergent and convergent evolution, it's just cool.
As a duck owner I’m kinda sad you didn’t go into the Wood or Mandarin ducks in regards to Quaquaval, since their behavior is very much flamboyant and in character to the titular mon
@@leonel392 Then there's swans, who are ever so graceful, and then cobra chickens which are just MEAN lol fits into Quaquaval being able to deliver a NICE roundhouse kick to opponents lol
@@TheRibottoStudios yeah, in Brazil (and Latin America in general) we have every kind of graceful bird, so it makes sense that they choose a dancing capoeira to represent it
@Leonel and I really do love his cry it's so saucy. And Skeledirge's cry reminds me of a croc/gator bellow IT. IT'S SO GOOD. I love him. He's just hulking and massive and if I could animate I'd love to animate him in battle. Sad he doesn't get like iron tail or anything like that, a tail type attack. That tail looks like it could do serious damage.
16:33 in Litten's defense, the Alolan starters are likely themed after endangered species (as Hawaiʻi is the endangered species capital of the world) that live in tropical climates: Rowlet is the Pueo (Hawaiian Short-Eared Owl) and Popplio is the Hawaiian Monk Seal, that much is obvious. As for Litten, itʻs likely based partially on the Iriomote Cat: a rare, dwindling species native to Iriomote Island, located just East of Taiwan, with a population of less than 110
The Paldean starters are some of my favorite batch of starters since Gen 3. I also think it’s important to note that “exploration” is not only a huge theme in Gen 9, but also the promotional material leading up to Gen 9 was “exploration” themed and so it makes perfect sense to have all 3 starters represent old Spanish/Portuguese colonies
As a Tusconan I. FLIPPIN'. LOVE. Skeledirge. He's *so* Spanish. And yes. I know, _I know_ that Dia De Los Muertos is a MEXICAN holiday. And a lot of my Spanish friends are pretty divided over if that should be repped in a Pokemon game that has a region based in Spain, not Mexico. But the way I look at it is this: Spain colonized Mexico. Dia De Los Muertos came about during the presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas to encourage Mexican nationalism through an "Aztec" identity. Not to mention similar traditions can be traced back to Medieval Europe, where celebrations like All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day are observed on the same days in places like Spain and Southern Europe. There's also the European traditions of Danse macabre and their allegories of life and death personified in the human skeleton to remind us the ephemeral nature of life. Skeledirge is a perfect combination then, of mixing cultures together, which is just brilliant when you take in Spain's history of colonization. It's not a PROUD part of their history sure, much like how America has its own dark past, but it IS part of history nonetheless, a history that if you look on the brighter side, allowed different traditions to spread across the globe. Now onto Skeledirge's name, it's just good stuff. Skele = skeleton and a dirge is a lament of the dead, which is a VERY Catholic/Christian thing vs Dia de Muertos which is very lively and colorful. Skeledirge's design is just TOP. NOTCH. The skull is very reminiscent of sugar skulls, and the flames on the corners of his jaw aren't flames, but MARIGOLDS. You do see the petals floating in the battle and idle animations. This Pokémon is just amazing, a big, hulking reptilian creature that just LOOKS like it could death roll you easy thanks to a couple of Torch Songs. Which, by the way, is FLIPPIN' BUSTED. It's. Straight. BUSTED. Also also speaking of Torch Song, I LOVE that it's based on crocodile/alligator bellows. Bellows that vibrate the water, and can be felt for MILES. God these animals are COOL. GOD I love this fcking reptile Pokémon.
I don't like fuecoco, at first I felt the same about Skelidurge, although it is cool looking, but it is growing on me, mostly through this video, Sprigatito is still my favorite by FAR though
I also feel like Skeledirge's Shiny being pink has to be a reference to Persona 3's Social Link storyline of Akinari Kamiki writing about a pink alligator who accidentally swallows his bird friend and dies at the end in his sorrow, but at the same time, it feels like it has to be a coincidence.
@@Daniel_Coffman its possible given that Sakurai is a massive persona fan, maybe someone at game freak, a Pokémon designer maybe, is too Also I love the idea of having a Persona reference in a series as big as Pokémon
@Donhimesama Daifutari Of the starter trios in the anime, usually only one or two of the trio members that are main characters end up evolving. In “Pokémon Journeys” only Scorebunny and Sobble evolved into Cinderace and Intellion respectively, but Grookey never did (which is a shame because it was My favourite of the trio along with Rillaboom), meanwhile in the “X and Y” anime, Ash’s Froakie was the only member of the trio that evolved all the way. Chespin and Fennekin never did. My bet for the “Scarlet and Violet” anime trio is that both Sprigatito and Fueccoco will evolve into Meowscarada and Skelidirge respectively, but Quaxley will be the member of the trio that will stay the same.
Something else I noticed in Skeledirge's design, specifically it's shiny, is because I played Persona 3 recently. The social link of Akinari, the Sun arcana (fire), has a little story of a pink alligator being lonely and not finding friends nor prey because of its coloring. On one day however the alligator meets a little bird and it becomes it's first friend. However after a time the alligator became very hungry and ate his bird friend (ghost typing). After this the alligator was very sad and cried so much that he drowned in his tears, but his tears turned into a lake with beautiful and fruitful trees, that attracted the local animals, thus the alligator made others happy. The character Akinari dies at the end of the social link, making the ghost typing an even stronger fit. And Skeledirge's shiny coloring is pink. I know this might be farfetched (skledirge is a crocodile not an alligator and game freak wouldn't want to copy other Japanese company's work), but I like this as a head cannon for shiny Skeledirge.
I'm kinda surprised the secretary bird wasn't mention for quaquaval since there kicking technique and feet are simular to each other as well as it would explain the red coloring on quaquavals face.
I gagged when he said Blaziken’s bottom when he referred to Quaquaval! 😂 While my favorite of the Paldea starters is Meowscarada, I love Quaquaval’s idle animation. Talk about fancy footwork!
@@amaterasumaster8781 Yes and no, Capoeira its a style of combat, but Blaziken was probably inspired by the "Tae-Kwon-Do" combat style, but the references of this combat style in Blaziken can also be translated to "Capoeira" because both combat styles use the legs to fight and wear big pants like Blaziken's legs.
I got excited after you mentioned Cipactli because I thought you were going to also mention how Cipactli was also the name of the first hour of the night, which is ruled by Xiuhtecuhtli, the Aztec god of fire and the personification of life after death. He wore a turquoise xiuhtototl bird on his forehead, the Xiuhcoatl fire serpent on his back, and owned fire serpent ear plugs. He had a paper crown on his head, painted with different colors and motifs. During his annual festival, quails were sacrificed to the idol, and his priests spent the day dancing and singing before their god. Also crocodilians release heat from their mouths. Also magician cats, also know as Matagot, were said to bring wealth but also prolong suffering if it has not been freed while you're dying. It is derived from the Spanish matagothos.
This video made me respect Meowscarada even more, it was already perfect, but getting a cat who's a masked magician, who's also sneaky is incredible, i don't even care about it standing up on two legs, i just care about lore and backstory. I always wanted a Puss in Boots based fully evolved form for Sprigatito. There's also a fan art for Sprigatito's final form which highly resembles Puss in Boots even before Meowscarada was revealed and it is much, much cooler, but i still respect the current Meowscarada.
I agree with you there. Sprigatito’s whole evolution line is one of my all time favourite Pokémon evolution lines. A masquerade magician cat as a Pokémon is just plain Awesome. Also, I think that out of the trio, Sprigatito has probably the most natural flowing evolution line and Meowscarada retains many of the features that were unique, whereas the other two feel slightly less so. Also, I know the artwork of the “Puss in Boots” Pokémon and it looks really good. In a way though, we did kind of get that.
By the way, part of what makes Meowscarada even better is that they also have a couple qualities of Black Cats. Some black cats are depicted with thick strands of fur hanging from their necks almost like a black scarf, which is very similar to what Meowscarada had. Plus in France, black cats are often called Magician cats. Hmm….
I was hesitant on quaquaval when I saw the leaks but I just loved quaxly so much so I picked him anyways, but man I love quaquaval now. He has the best personality of any starter and is so much fun to see battle, run around, and it’s just like he’s always trying to impress you. People don’t like how it looks like he has a big rump but I like that it actually keeps him looking bird like unlike blaziken
Quaquaval took the "favorite starter" place in my heart, it completly annihilated Serperior, and seeing how much Brazilian this pokemon is makes me smile a lot, not often we get some good representation, usually we are just "spanish speakers" or the shadow of portugal, even tho we have A LOT MORE people and kinda some influence around the world also, there is a Brazilian person near you right now, be 1 km, 50 km, or right next door 👁👄👁 (no, really, there is Brazilians everywhere in the world, we are like a invasive species taking over, you can't escape from us)
Something I find odd about Skeledirge and Krookodile is that they’re exclusive to the mostly mammalian Field Egg group. Like it’d make a lot of sense to put them in Monster as well. Other than that I love Skeledirge and I’d love more quadrupedal fire starters. Would be down to see it get a regional variant
@@gsp6517 honestly it kind of a shame they didn't explore Cycliz more and it mostly just exists to tie into the legends. Visually you could argue that its supposed to be more of a Salamander than a Lizard (similar to Charizard being based on the mythical fire breathing kind) and while Salamanders IRL aren't as numerous as Lizards in terms of recognised species, the ones that do exist varies greatly. All I'm saying is the bike pokemon should have been the one to get different type rarer forms, not Turos.
Obviously crocodiles aren't mammals, but they DO have four-chambered hearts the way that most mammals do, while most reptiles only have three. I doubt Game Freak was considering this when making egg groups, but hey.
As a brazilian I really love Quaquaval, it brings out so much the culture here, often forgotten in so many games, but it also makes me a little worried because it may point aout that we will never receive a representation of a region in the pokemon world, but it's like we say here in Brazil "hope is the last thing to die" hehe. And great job on your investigation and video overall, i realy like your videos and this formate is great and suits the content veary well!!
Meowscrarada might be based on some theater elements, hence the spot light, and the trope is also quite common in theater things I believe, great video lockstin.! And the yoyo also looks like a rapier when you pause it, like in the pokedex. And the mask i just realized is very theater-esk
Another inspiration for Meowscada is Arlecchino role in the Italian street stock comedy Commedia Dell'arte where character wear masks,Arlecchino is well known for his tricky and acrobatics who had an rivalry with the clown Pierro over the love for Columbine
The Theater Magician Actor Cat The Singing Croc who spits literal fire And the Carnival Dancer. Spain and Portugal just love their Telenovelas and noontime shows
That can be bad for the new starter's isn't it ? Remember in gen 6 ? Starters didn't get mega evolution when the gifted gen 1 starters had one, the ONLY one that got away with it was Greninja because of the anime. It's probably why they gave the gen 3 starters a mega evolution for their remake. Actually, even gen 8 did the same, didn't we needed dlc for our starters to gigantamax when the first one we see is Charizard ? (Poor Venusaur and Blastoise too, even they had to wait for it)
@@Flamepunk post game i could see it, they could even be wild encounter or in specific zones so you can shiny hunt them that way. (Like Pikachu actually, he's a starter and a wild encounter depending on the game) Legends give you the opportunity to catch even your own starter with the time-space... thingy.
As an illustrator and someone who is working on their own Pokémon fan region/story and ideally game. I love these longer videos which work great as background noise and keep me in the right head space to design Pokémon 😁
I had already chosen Quaxly before seeing either of its evolutions, but soon as I saw Quaxwell and Quaquaval, the Quaxly line instantly surpassed the Oshawott line as my favorite starter line of all time. Everything about them is perfect, and I loved your deep dive on their design origins! I also have a special fondness for the Sprigatio line as well and I LOVE Floragato. It's really rivaling Raboot as my favorite middle stage starter.
Oshawott is still my all time favourite starter. It was the first Pokémon that I ever properly trained and used and evolved, even though Piplup was the first I ever had, but I lost that Platinum game.
Other than the fact that the crocodile is in the aztec zodiac ( which is even more fitting of skeledirge with its other Latin American inspirations ) I think the ancient egyptian goddess Ammit is also worth mentioning for skeledirge since it's already based on the "symbiotic relationship" of the nile crocodile and egyptian plover, A diety with a crocodile's head, a lion's mane and front legs AND and a hippo's back legs, she was known as the devourer of the dead and fuecoco loves to eat, it also has hair like fire energy on it's head and skeledirge has those flames coming out of both sides of it head which kind of make it look like a mane! Aaanndd it's ghost bird also goes into its mouth except it doesn't devour it ( which i think would've been a cool detail if did eat it and it spawned on it's head again lol )
I loved doing the lore dive on meowscarada with New Orleans. Couldn’t help but make the connection between voodoo and the dark type, magic and all that. These starters were incredible this Gen. Thank you L&G and thank you game freak.
@@shyguyrocks1 I know. Its just a coincidence mostly. Course in the Turkish area, the zodiac did have a hedgehog. And what is Cyndaquil similar too? :3
I didn’t realize they were that deep with inspiration. I just saw the pattern as forms of entertainment. Meowscarada is acting Skeledirge is singing And quaquavel is dancing
Here in Brazil, we have a lullaby about Cuca, one of the scary stories for kids on that Fuecoco’s line is based. Interestingly, he is a ghost singer since the lullaby is about a kid who's sleeping alone at home and needs to sleep asap because Cuca is approaching to capture him. It is mostly sung to kinds who sleep late and is used to teach them a lesson that if they don't sleep at the right time, Cuca will come and there's nothing they can do it because their parents aren't at home.
I’m surprised that you mentioned Meowscarada’s connection to New Orlean’s Mardi Gras, but you didn’t mention how the city was also famous for witch doctors and hoodoo practitioners
Note that the Firebird on top of Skeledirge also stems back to the story of the Cuca, where it resurrects its Soul into a Songbird to continue singing its Somber Songs...
This video really made me appreciate the starters a lot more than I already have, and that's saying something because I already loved all the starters. I choose Quaxly and I absolutely ADORED Quaquaval, especially how it always seemed to dance to the music every time it was in a battle, so seeing all the tidbits that could have potentially gone into its design and origins is just so much fun to learn about. Seriously, I never really considered the storyline of the Quaxly line being a sort of narrative of "finding your passion", with Quaxwell being a teen dancer trying so hard to "fit in" and follow strict forms and routines, compared to Quaquaval which has learned that dance is a form of self-expression and that you can really just do whatever the hell you want. It's pretty inspiring.
God I am so thankful you gave my boy Quaquaval so much love. He’s so my favorite and I was not not at all disappointed at the evolution surprise. 200,000,000/10 deep dive.
Yes, please more long-form videos like this! I'm happy to learn as much as possible about the delightfully deep inspirations behind so many Pokemon designs, it lets me learn new things while getting to appreciate characters from one of my favorite franchises in a whole new light!
You should make just the Quaquaval cry part a separate video so people can loop it for hours on end if they want xD Plus it deserves its own video. It's a gem 💎
One funny thing I want to bring up is the idea that we TECHNICALLY got two bird starter Pokémon in the same generation. Quaquaval and Skeledirge's fire birb friend, though to be frank, I can see the latter being able to be its own Pokémon eventually. Perhaps that Pokémon would have lost its partner Skeledirge or had some unfortunate falling out, with it, it wonders on its own, and eventually be capable of evolving into its own thing. Hell, even have the final evolution of the little birb be either friendly or rather hostile rivalries with other Skeledirges that still have their bird friend.
Would be neat to see a sort of split evolution like Ninjask/Shedinja. Since it's a 3rd, most likely won't happen, but maybe GameFreak will do something similar like you said.
The only S-tier thing to come out of Pokémon is the caliber of work this channel makes. Seriously, the amount of research is an obvious factor but the script and editing is the true star. Brilliant work! Edit: Also, this video backed up my realization that Quaquaval might be the best starter. Yesterday I used it for the first time (I started with Sprigatito) and I was in awe watching it spiral out of control with Aqua Step and Moxie.
Quaxly was initially my least of the three Paldea starters - but no joke, after this video, I have some MAJOR appreciation and hype for the Quaquaval line! This is a fantastic an insanely detailed video, I can't wait to watch more!
I LOVED this video! I love the Fuecoco line so much. When I first saw Skelidirge I was a little iffy on it, considering how in love I was with Fuecoco, but after learning about some of its origins I instantly fell in love with it as well. So I appreciate how in-depth you went with it. One thing that I love about Pokémon is how it helps people learn about different cultures and these videos of course help with that a lot as well.
Out of all the starters, Skeledirge is my favorite, and I can't wait for other Pokemon that were revealed recently with Walking Wake and Terapagos looking more awesome!
Another thing that connects Quaquaval to capoeira is its idle animation in battle! It’s an 1 to 1 of the Ginga step, which is like the “basic stance” of capoeira. Bonus points in that when performing it, Quaquaval dances to the background music XD
Quaquaval is my favorite mostly because I prefer water over the other types, nice to have a water bird that’s not flying type, also I always wanted a Pokémon with peacock inspirations Meowscarde my second for competitive reasons and the VR clips Skeledirge I still like but I would prefer the shiny color over the base.
My least favorite is Meowscarada just cause IT. STOOD. UP. Why the Iberian Lynx was RIGHT. THERE GAMEFREAK. Next up is Quaquaval. I love his design in animation, and his signature move IS really good. But my all time new favorite Pokemon HAS to be Skeledirge. HE'S SO SPANISH. And Torch Song is BUSTED. And UNAWARE?! What a MONSTER.
Another fact to reinforce the bird-crocodile connection : some crocodiles actually lay their eggs near nest of sand-nesting bird, and both protect nests without attacking each others.
I calculated: Skelly's segment was the longest. And had almost no breaks. almost, because of the croc mural jumpscare. The Award for the most OVERDESIGNED Pokemon goes to....
0:59 that fricken killed me 28:16 minor detail but i've never heard anyone mention it before; Crocalor's sombrero hat-bird's nest ALSO looks A LOT like a lil campfire! dunno how that'd be thematically relevant other than "it's fire", but i think it's a neat and fun way to tie the hat and nest with the Fire-type and stuff :))) also yes, i love the new format with the "being deep and long up in my skull" :D))
Honestly, I love this trio more than I have loved starter trios in a good while. Meowscarada is elegant and mischievous, Skeledirge has incredible stage presence, and Quaquaval.
8:30-8:43 Kind of reminds me of how the group of thieves ZIdane Tribal was a part of in FFIX were under the guise of a theater troupe. Part of their MO was using their performances as a distraction and Zidane fancied himself a dashing rouge, even though he really wasn't.
I've doubted using Fuecoco when i first played Scarlet. Once I got the hang of it, and evolved it to Skeledirge, I love my undead singing crocodile. Second place was the duck; im a sucker for fighting dancers.
The mugger croc might have been a mild inspiration for the head accessories on the Fuecoco line. The mugger croc has been observed resting sticks atop their head in order to attract a bird looking for nest material, which it then eats.
Wow, I'm actually early, will edit once I've watched the full video I fully agree with you Lockstin, Floragato and Dewott are the best Middle evos! I loved the section on the Quaxly line, soo funny 😂, I chose Quaxly as my starter and once it evolved into Quaquaval I was pretty surprised, but it grew on me and this video has made me like it even more!
37:03 Love it!!! The obsession with Quaquaval begins!!! I personally love this pokemon. I chose Sprigattito for my starter but the instant I could get a Quaxly I did!
I nicknamed my Skeledirge starter “Carmen”-after the French Opera based in Spain. Plus the Habanera that is sung mentions “love is like a rebel bird”. So the opera reference sprang to mind as soon as I saw the design and description of Skeledirge when it was first announced.
I nicknamed my Tabasco (since I went to the game blind I thought Fuecoco would become a pepper and Tabasco is a pepper sauce) but your idea seems better
As a Portuguese I was hoping that Quaxly would be mostly a sailor or conquistador I'm bit sad we don't have a boat pokemon or a pirate pokemon... But I think every pokemon in this Gen are amazing and have good inspirations... Hoping they add seafaring pokemon with the dlc to fill my hopes of that era... Keep the awesome work and a hug to our brothers from Spain and Brazil
Two other thing for the Quaxly line. The Qua could also be a reference to a "quiff", a kind of hairstyle popular in the 1950's. And Quaxwell's sports like outfit could also be a reference to leotards many dancers wear.
Part of why I never touched these games was because I couldn’t choose between these three. My cultural heritage quite literally lies in the Sprigatito line, as someone from New Orleans. Hell, look at my username. But for Quaxly, I am a water type loyalist and haven’t picked any starter that wasn’t water for my first playthroughs since I got my first pokemon game in gen 4. But Fuecoco is adorable and I love the way that design came together. Also I am happy we have a quadrupedal starter again. I could never choose one of them… All three are amazing.
Next to the Hoenn Starters, this might be one of my new favorite Starter trios, easily top 3 for me. All three of them are really cool in their own right, and learning more about their origins have made me appreciate them more. Quaquaval's grown to be my new favorite Water-type, Meowscarada is cool and flashy, and I've grown to appreciate Skeledirge a little more now that people have relaxed in singing its praises.
Fun Fact: crocodiles are closely related to birds, more so than to other reptiles. As birds are descended from theropod dinosaurs, all dinosaurs, birds, and crocodiles are classified as archosaurs
a fellow paleo nerd i see
Turtles, too. Maybe...
I think the jury's still out on whether turtles are archosaurs or lepidosaurs.
-🤓
@@drexnorm8061 - 🤓
Another fun fact: by using cladistics, you are a fish. That is, if we attempt to make “fish” into an actual cladistic classification. In fact, by these rules, you are MORE similar to a Goldfish than a Goldfish is to a shark. 🅱️ones are kinda a big deal
The community: "The new starter designs are lazy and uninspired"
Lockstin: inhales*
Lockstin calling Quaquaval “Blaziken’s bottom” literally made me do an actual spit take.
Yo I was like whhaaattt 😂😂
Same.
I just can't, it's so cursed yet so perfect at the same time!
For real! I couldn't help but laugh when I heard that.
That's very funny
I hope the mess wasn't too bad
Hahahaha!!
It's worth noting that in addition to the theming of celebrations from former colonies, they're also all different types of performers (A magician/jester, a singer, and a dancer) and they also all have a floating accessory (the flower bomb, the fire bird, and the water feathers). Seriously incredible theming as a trio in my opinion, especially in contrast to the loose connections between the Galar starters
I think of the water feathers as shiny eye catching jewelry worn by those dancer during the rio carnival
These are the ones that definitly need a mega form. Its just time to bring it back
@@frederickdelius1106 Fun facts about that.
1. Recently, it came out that every past Pokémon and form (Megas, sure, but also Mystery Dungeon's "Primal Dialga", G-Max forms, the OG Ash-Greninja, Zygarde's various forms, Ultra Necrozma, and XD-001 from Pokémon XD) has, hidden in the code, a piece of artwork that serves as a menu sprite for when they're on your team in-battle. There might be a plan for this, or it might just be like what they did back in Gen 6- futureproofing so they have something for every single current Pokémon for decades in advance.
2. Weirdly, there were a lot of people conveying the idea that some Pokémon will be getting unique Terastalized forms, tied to being a specific Tera Type. I imagine that that's what these special Tera Raids are for; the Flying-Type Decidueye and the Dragon-Type Charizard seem a tad suspicious with this information in mind.
Ithought i was the only one who noticed 😭
You will know the Jester
You will know the man (with a golden mask)
You will know Luciferia
You will know the Lady in Black
You will know the Clowns
You will know the Minstrel
You will know the Dancer
You will know the Angel of Lust
(Unrelated because I'm high from 4 beers: Wihenstephaner Hell and Weißbier, Wltenburger Kloster Bacrock Dunkel and Kellerbier)
I now appreciate Meowscarada much more than I ever thought I would. I already love cats, but a sneaky Spanish stage magician/jester cat is absolutely perfect.
Same here. I already loved Meowscarada, but I like all the interesting inspirations behind it as well.
Yess
Yeah this video really made me appreciate it way more! I love sneaky magicians/jesters and magic! (No wonder Hisoka is one of my favorite characters in the world. Lol) But yeah before watching this I never noticed and was meh stupid. At it but now I love it!
Same
@@AuraStrikeAce bros gonna marry his meowscarada
Brazillian representation and explanations about the cuca, carnaval, capoeira and everything else are so well articulated and without any flaws, I thank you so much for representing such a colorful nation with the most respect and optimism
The comment above me is a scammer lol
@@sceptilesteven i died when i thought it was him then i saw the username lol
@HeroHansel321 right? Gave me false hope 🤣
As someone whose Brazilian, I just loved your work on quaquaval! Cheers from Brazil!!
Im also from brazil, and I love the reference to Carnaval game freak did!
Sopa de macaco!
Water/Fire
Chimchar Brazil Region
Verdade mane
I'm glad you didn't same come to Brazil
I just still can’t tell if when he said Blaziken’s bottom, if he was making a gay joke or just saying it looks like a Blaziken Witt a dump trunk
Scarlet's Pokdex entry for Quaxly actually states that it was originally from a distant land, and both of Quaquaval's entries mention its dances originating from far-off lands. If we ever get a region based on Brazil, I wouldn't be surprised if Quaquaval and/or the rest of its evolution line end up getting regional variants.
Now I'm Imagining a Frevo dancer Quaquaval
I feel like Quaquaval is already way too perfect for a Brazilian region to get a regional variant, they should retroactively add a Paldean Quaquaval instead lol
Maybe the painting of an "Unknown place" (or whatever) in your house is a hint at a Brazil region? I'm not too familiar with the architecture, but that idea came to mind with your mention of the Quaxly line being a fantastic addition to a region fully based there.
This comment saying that you've won An amazing award don't touch it
I love this new gen, this is an excellent video. Take my sub. Incredible. I agree the starters are so memerable. I love popplio-primarina line.
What I appreciate about this channel is it allows for me to have a deeper appreciation for the Pokemon and Game Freak's work. It speaks to a love of humanity, history, nature, and art all in a format designed towards community and bringing people across cultures together.
Yes!
I may even like Quaquaval now!
Hahaha
EXACTLY
Same! I watched his new video about Violet paradox forms and now I like Iron Moth maybe even as much as Flutter Mane.
I love how all the three starters have an element in their design that's detachable or disjointed from the main body. Meowscarada has the floating flower bomb, Skeledirge has his li'l bird pal and Quaquaval has his whole feather array. We don't have that often in Pokémon designs but they all really did it well and they're very cohesive as a trio. I think they may be my favorite starter set overall.
Fun fact: apparently meowscarada’s flower doesn’t actually float. It’s an optical illusion according to the Pokédex
Edit: nevermind he talked about it
I been saying this forever they are slept on the only other time we got something like this for a starter was Ash-Greninja with his Floating Water Shuriken on his Back
These have been the most unique STARTERS of the Pokemon series. All 3 have such personalities! My personal favorite is the Fuecoco line.
But, the Cat and the Duck have my respect.
Don't disagree, but wish they would stop repeating the same theme: entertainers.
@@RealLifeIronMan gen 7: wrestler, soloist, and archer
Gen 8: Soccer player, Drum player, secret agent
Gen 9: stage magician, singer, and dancer
Ok, I see what you mean now, excluding Inteleon but it honestly is a very personable trope they're using. Besides, Emboar was a wrestler as well.
@@amaterasumaster8781 Inteleon is arguably also an actor in a spy movie. Inteleon is somewhat a reference to James Bond, a character famous in movie entertainment media.
@@RealLifeIronMan well yea that's pretty common knowledge but you do have a good point, especially since Galar is the UK of pokemon
QUAQUAVAL!!!!!!!!
You forgot to mention the connection between Skeledirge's name and it's signature move, Torch Song. A torch song being a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love. So it's singing dirge about a sad but passionately hot love that was not returned. And to to think our sweet innocent baby Fuecoco grew up to only to learn of love's cruel, cruel sting.
Don't we all 😂.
Awww poor bb he used to have no thoughts behind those eyes.
One awesome little detail that I love about Meowscarada is the potential reasoning why it probably has Protean as a hidden ability. You see, Meowscarada is indeed a stage magician but it also has a bit of a Jester theme. The Jester is usually a figure that represents the Fool arcana in the 78 Tarot Card deck. "The Fool" represents "new beginnings" but is also is described as an individual who doesn't know what to expect, fairly inexperienced, having beginners luck, and has very good improvisation. Basically, Meowscarada is the Joker card of pokémon, which I find super fun and creative (most persona fans probably see the correlation). But Meowscarada may not just be the fool arcana, but "The Magician" arcana as well, seeing as it is its title. The Magician Arcana is also a Tarot card that states "The message is to tap into one's full potential rather than holding back, especially when there is a need to transform something." I feel of the 3 protean starters, Meowscarada has the most creative take to justify an ability for a starter that I've ever seen.
Also, Mari Shimazaki, the lead character designer for Bayonetta (and the person who designed Bayonetta herself) was the one who designed Meowscarada and Quaquaval. Looking at them, it makes much more sense now considering their personalities and flamboyant styles.
So what kind of Persona would you give Meowscarada? I went with Dryad.
@@adriellightvale8140
How about one of Joker's signature Personas? Or is that too surface-level? Idk, lol.
Quaquaval Umbra witch confirmed?/j
@@emerfirek I wanted to go for someone in Megami Tensei who was also grass affiliated. I also gave some other Pokémon Personas, actually. Quaquaval has Poseidon, Skeledirge has Kagutsuchi, Tinkaton has Vivian (Vivian is another name for the lady of the lake, and she is represented by Amy Rose in Sonic and the Black Knight; incidentally, my Tinkaton's nickname is Amy), Miraidon has Ave del Trueno a.k.a. Thunderbird, and Koraidon has Heracles.
You had me THIS close to renaming my shiny male Floragato to Joker (or Arsene or something else associated with him), but bringing up that they were designed by the character-designer of Bayonetta (don't remember if I've actually heard that somewhere before and this just reminded me of it or if that's the first I've heard of it), I HAVE to keep it nicknamed Luka!
As a Brazilian I fell glad for the representation in Quaquaval. Also worth mentioning Hitmontop (capoeira) and Whimsicott (this one being a little bit more stretchy reference in our folklore, the Saci Pererê). Hope we get a Brazilian region inspired eventually!
You will know the Jester
You will know the man (with a golden mask)
You will know Luciferia
You will know the Lady in Black
You will know the Clowns
You will know the Minstrel
You will know the Dancer
You will know the Angel of Lust
(Unrelated because I'm high from 4 beers: Wihenstephaner Hell and Weißbier, Wltenburger Kloster Bacrock Dunkel and Kellerbier)
1. So as a BR myself, I’ve noticed that the Paldean lore is actually really close to Brazilian history (well, it is close to almost any country that was conquered, but we have other context clues pointing to Brazil) which makes me have hopes of the next pokemon game to be in a Brazilian region
2. You got the Whimsicott from Leegengar, didn’t you?
I really want a region based on Rio Brazil eventually and a Pokémon based on the Spix’s Macaw so bad due to my fondness for the movie Rio.
Im starting to theorize that gen 10 will be in Brazil (I would hope that a legends game would be inspired by the Brazilian colonization of the 16th century ) because brazil was a portuguese colony and now because quaquaval is said to be based on samba and carnaval (I said now because I never knew nor noticed lol)
@@lucazanellaterradeoliveira7582 you have no ideia how much I wish for a Brazilian region, must confess that I would prefer a stand alone region instead of a "Legends" one, but in the end I would be extremely pleases with whatever comes as long as we are represented there ! 😅🤞🏽
I’ve got to admit, I love the thumbnail for this video. It looks like the trio are standing together like a team of three heroes. Entertaining the masses and fighting together as not just a trio of starter Pokémon, but a trio of friends. The Gato, the Gator and the Pato.
Anyone else feel the same way?
You will know the Jester
You will know the man (with a golden mask)
You will know Luciferia
You will know the Lady in Black
You will know the Clowns
You will know the Minstrel
You will know the Dancer
You will know the Angel of Lust
(Unrelated because I'm high from 4 beers: Wihenstephaner Hell and Weißbier, Wltenburger Kloster Bacrock Dunkel and Kellerbier)
@@ldmtag Huh? How about also,
You will know the Cat.
You will know the Peacock.
You will know the Crocodile and the ball of fire.
You will know the trio and their arts, and companionship and friendship.
You will know these three Heroes.
@@harry.t9523 I can't believe I posted that😅🤣🤣🤣🤣 I really was high. It's actually a quote from a song Theatres des Vampires - Macabre Banquet. I think I posted it because Lockstin said Meowscarada is a jester
@@ldmtag I see.
@@ldmtagcap
When it comes to Meowscarada, don't forget that Zorro was from Spanish / Mexican California. So all three lines originate from different Iberian colonial territories: California, Brazil, and Mexico.
@AF That's very true. It's really a melting pot of a bunch of different ideas... everything from Don Juan to Tuxedo Mask to Zorro... part swashbuckler, part masquerade dancer, part magician. It's a really cool Pokemon.
I think it's kinda funny that Tsareena sees Quaquaval as its rival. Given its kicking prowess and its big bum, it makes sense, but it's rare fir an older Pokémon to have a new dex entry referencing a new _starter_ Pokémon, especially a fully evolved one. Not to mention how coincidental it is that this specifically is the case for one of my favorite Pokémon, too.
Older Pokémon becoming rivals with newer mon seems to be happening much more often now that the roster of Pokémon has expanded as much as it has (Corviknight being one I can think of, though it doesn’t specifically name Tinkaton).
That being said, I really like this idea. I love the flavor and relevance it gives to older mons, while not making the newer mons completely dependent on those relationships.
I'm really loving that they're adding in entries for new and old mons to be territorial rivals. like how Tinkaton and Corviknight are rivals. But I also love that some Pokemon have a symbiotic relationship too. Like Krookodile and Flygon; in the Ultra Moon dex, it's stated that Krookodile hides in sandstorms Flygon whips up. Pokemon is expanding its lore to add in rivalries, symbiotic relationships, divergent and convergent evolution, it's just cool.
As a duck owner I’m kinda sad you didn’t go into the Wood or Mandarin ducks in regards to Quaquaval, since their behavior is very much flamboyant and in character to the titular mon
Most birds are very pedantic, man, we call Peacock in Spanish something like "Royal Turkey" (pavo real)
@@leonel392 I mean they're not wrong lol
@@leonel392 Then there's swans, who are ever so graceful, and then cobra chickens which are just MEAN lol fits into Quaquaval being able to deliver a NICE roundhouse kick to opponents lol
@@TheRibottoStudios yeah, in Brazil (and Latin America in general) we have every kind of graceful bird, so it makes sense that they choose a dancing capoeira to represent it
@Leonel and I really do love his cry it's so saucy. And Skeledirge's cry reminds me of a croc/gator bellow IT. IT'S SO GOOD. I love him. He's just hulking and massive and if I could animate I'd love to animate him in battle. Sad he doesn't get like iron tail or anything like that, a tail type attack. That tail looks like it could do serious damage.
16:33 in Litten's defense, the Alolan starters are likely themed after endangered species (as Hawaiʻi is the endangered species capital of the world) that live in tropical climates: Rowlet is the Pueo (Hawaiian Short-Eared Owl) and Popplio is the Hawaiian Monk Seal, that much is obvious. As for Litten, itʻs likely based partially on the Iriomote Cat: a rare, dwindling species native to Iriomote Island, located just East of Taiwan, with a population of less than 110
The Paldean starters are some of my favorite batch of starters since Gen 3. I also think it’s important to note that “exploration” is not only a huge theme in Gen 9, but also the promotional material leading up to Gen 9 was “exploration” themed and so it makes perfect sense to have all 3 starters represent old Spanish/Portuguese colonies
As a Tusconan I. FLIPPIN'. LOVE. Skeledirge. He's *so* Spanish. And yes. I know, _I know_ that Dia De Los Muertos is a MEXICAN holiday. And a lot of my Spanish friends are pretty divided over if that should be repped in a Pokemon game that has a region based in Spain, not Mexico. But the way I look at it is this: Spain colonized Mexico. Dia De Los Muertos came about during the presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas to encourage Mexican nationalism through an "Aztec" identity.
Not to mention similar traditions can be traced back to Medieval Europe, where celebrations like All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day are observed on the same days in places like Spain and Southern Europe. There's also the European traditions of Danse macabre and their allegories of life and death personified in the human skeleton to remind us the ephemeral nature of life. Skeledirge is a perfect combination then, of mixing cultures together, which is just brilliant when you take in Spain's history of colonization. It's not a PROUD part of their history sure, much like how America has its own dark past, but it IS part of history nonetheless, a history that if you look on the brighter side, allowed different traditions to spread across the globe.
Now onto Skeledirge's name, it's just good stuff. Skele = skeleton and a dirge is a lament of the dead, which is a VERY Catholic/Christian thing vs Dia de Muertos which is very lively and colorful. Skeledirge's design is just TOP. NOTCH. The skull is very reminiscent of sugar skulls, and the flames on the corners of his jaw aren't flames, but MARIGOLDS. You do see the petals floating in the battle and idle animations. This Pokémon is just amazing, a big, hulking reptilian creature that just LOOKS like it could death roll you easy thanks to a couple of Torch Songs. Which, by the way, is FLIPPIN' BUSTED. It's. Straight. BUSTED. Also also speaking of Torch Song, I LOVE that it's based on crocodile/alligator bellows. Bellows that vibrate the water, and can be felt for MILES. God these animals are COOL.
GOD I love this fcking reptile Pokémon.
I don't like fuecoco, at first I felt the same about Skelidurge, although it is cool looking, but it is growing on me, mostly through this video,
Sprigatito is still my favorite by FAR though
3 paragraphs... impressive!
I also feel like Skeledirge's Shiny being pink has to be a reference to Persona 3's Social Link storyline of Akinari Kamiki writing about a pink alligator who accidentally swallows his bird friend and dies at the end in his sorrow, but at the same time, it feels like it has to be a coincidence.
@@Daniel_Coffman its possible given that Sakurai is a massive persona fan, maybe someone at game freak, a Pokémon designer maybe, is too
Also I love the idea of having a Persona reference in a series as big as Pokémon
I did not know gamers had that big a vocabulary.
Really love how Meowscarada is a suave, mischievous cartoon villain, adds even more layers to my new favorite starter
To me, Meowscarada seems more like the Hero kind, almost like a Phantom Thief, or a character along the lines of Puss in Boots.
@Donhimesama Daifutari I bet that’s what it will be like in the anime. I believe Riko’s Sprigatito will evolve fully.
@Donhimesama Daifutari Of the starter trios in the anime, usually only one or two of the trio members that are main characters end up evolving. In “Pokémon Journeys” only Scorebunny and Sobble evolved into Cinderace and Intellion respectively, but Grookey never did (which is a shame because it was My favourite of the trio along with Rillaboom), meanwhile in the “X and Y” anime, Ash’s Froakie was the only member of the trio that evolved all the way. Chespin and Fennekin never did. My bet for the “Scarlet and Violet” anime trio is that both Sprigatito and Fueccoco will evolve into Meowscarada and Skelidirge respectively, but Quaxley will be the member of the trio that will stay the same.
10:52 So this is why Meowscarada knows "Chilling Water" as a TM Move. Neat.
The Paldean Starters are indeed a solid set of Starters. It makes me want to have all three starters in my team.
Something else I noticed in Skeledirge's design, specifically it's shiny, is because I played Persona 3 recently. The social link of Akinari, the Sun arcana (fire), has a little story of a pink alligator being lonely and not finding friends nor prey because of its coloring. On one day however the alligator meets a little bird and it becomes it's first friend. However after a time the alligator became very hungry and ate his bird friend (ghost typing). After this the alligator was very sad and cried so much that he drowned in his tears, but his tears turned into a lake with beautiful and fruitful trees, that attracted the local animals, thus the alligator made others happy. The character Akinari dies at the end of the social link, making the ghost typing an even stronger fit. And Skeledirge's shiny coloring is pink. I know this might be farfetched (skledirge is a crocodile not an alligator and game freak wouldn't want to copy other Japanese company's work), but I like this as a head cannon for shiny Skeledirge.
well if Sakurai is fan of Persona, I'm sure someone at Game Freak is also a fan of the series.
I got spoiled for p3 :( /lh
I'm kinda surprised the secretary bird wasn't mention for quaquaval since there kicking technique and feet are simular to each other as well as it would explain the red coloring on quaquavals face.
Why he would mention this when the pokedex says his kicking technique being a dance from a distant region?
I gagged when he said Blaziken’s bottom when he referred to Quaquaval! 😂
While my favorite of the Paldea starters is Meowscarada, I love Quaquaval’s idle animation. Talk about fancy footwork!
Blaziken 🤝 Quaquaval
being "capoeira" buddies
@@catoblepas8697 wait, that's Blaziken's fighting style? I mean, I knew it used it's powerful legs but didn't know that was its fighting style
@@amaterasumaster8781 Yes and no, Capoeira its a style of combat, but Blaziken was probably inspired by the "Tae-Kwon-Do" combat style, but the references of this combat style in Blaziken can also be translated to "Capoeira" because both combat styles use the legs to fight and wear big pants like Blaziken's legs.
@@catoblepas8697 ok well isn't the primary way of using Capoeira is dance fighting cuz Blaziken doesn't really dance
@@amaterasumaster8781 Yes you re right, thats why i said his are Capoeira buddies with " "
I got excited after you mentioned Cipactli because I thought you were going to also mention how Cipactli was also the name of the first hour of the night, which is ruled by Xiuhtecuhtli, the Aztec god of fire and the personification of life after death. He wore a turquoise xiuhtototl bird on his forehead, the Xiuhcoatl fire serpent on his back, and owned fire serpent ear plugs. He had a paper crown on his head, painted with different colors and motifs. During his annual festival, quails were sacrificed to the idol, and his priests spent the day dancing and singing before their god. Also crocodilians release heat from their mouths. Also magician cats, also know as Matagot, were said to bring wealth but also prolong suffering if it has not been freed while you're dying. It is derived from the Spanish matagothos.
Also, don’t forget the Mayan zodiac. Cipactli is in it.
so basically Skeledirge is just the Best is what im seeing. The more i learn the better it gets.
This video made me respect Meowscarada even more, it was already perfect, but getting a cat who's a masked magician, who's also sneaky is incredible, i don't even care about it standing up on two legs, i just care about lore and backstory. I always wanted a Puss in Boots based fully evolved form for Sprigatito. There's also a fan art for Sprigatito's final form which highly resembles Puss in Boots even before Meowscarada was revealed and it is much, much cooler, but i still respect the current Meowscarada.
I agree with you there. Sprigatito’s whole evolution line is one of my all time favourite Pokémon evolution lines. A masquerade magician cat as a Pokémon is just plain Awesome.
Also, I think that out of the trio, Sprigatito has probably the most natural flowing evolution line and Meowscarada retains many of the features that were unique, whereas the other two feel slightly less so.
Also, I know the artwork of the “Puss in Boots” Pokémon and it looks really good. In a way though, we did kind of get that.
By the way, part of what makes Meowscarada even better is that they also have a couple qualities of Black Cats. Some black cats are depicted with thick strands of fur hanging from their necks almost like a black scarf, which is very similar to what Meowscarada had. Plus in France, black cats are often called Magician cats. Hmm….
I was hesitant on quaquaval when I saw the leaks but I just loved quaxly so much so I picked him anyways, but man I love quaquaval now. He has the best personality of any starter and is so much fun to see battle, run around, and it’s just like he’s always trying to impress you. People don’t like how it looks like he has a big rump but I like that it actually keeps him looking bird like unlike blaziken
Quaquaval took the "favorite starter" place in my heart, it completly annihilated Serperior, and seeing how much Brazilian this pokemon is makes me smile a lot, not often we get some good representation, usually we are just "spanish speakers" or the shadow of portugal, even tho we have A LOT MORE people and kinda some influence around the world
also, there is a Brazilian person near you right now, be 1 km, 50 km, or right next door 👁👄👁 (no, really, there is Brazilians everywhere in the world, we are like a invasive species taking over, you can't escape from us)
portugal é a nossa sombra agora, meu compatriota
@@rodrigodausterpontualmotta8300 vdd somos ultra beasts....espécies invasivas
Pedrito? 😱
my boi Serperior :(
@@catoblepas8697eu ia comentar isso kkkkkk
This trio is so great. I fell in love with the first stages immediately, and the last stages are great too (even though they had to grow on me).
Something I find odd about Skeledirge and Krookodile is that they’re exclusive to the mostly mammalian Field Egg group. Like it’d make a lot of sense to put them in Monster as well.
Other than that I love Skeledirge and I’d love more quadrupedal fire starters. Would be down to see it get a regional variant
Cyclizar is also exclusively in the Field Egg group, which is interesting to be fair
So are Torchic's line, Kecleon, and Orthwrom.
Sure, it's "mostly" Mammalian, but there's always exceptions.
@@gsp6517 honestly it kind of a shame they didn't explore Cycliz more and it mostly just exists to tie into the legends. Visually you could argue that its supposed to be more of a Salamander than a Lizard (similar to Charizard being based on the mythical fire breathing kind) and while Salamanders IRL aren't as numerous as Lizards in terms of recognised species, the ones that do exist varies greatly.
All I'm saying is the bike pokemon should have been the one to get different type rarer forms, not Turos.
Like that would stop certain artists. If you know the rules of the internet, you know
Obviously crocodiles aren't mammals, but they DO have four-chambered hearts the way that most mammals do, while most reptiles only have three. I doubt Game Freak was considering this when making egg groups, but hey.
Somebody had fun editing the Quaqueval section.
As a brazilian I really love Quaquaval, it brings out so much the culture here, often forgotten in so many games, but it also makes me a little worried because it may point aout that we will never receive a representation of a region in the pokemon world, but it's like we say here in Brazil "hope is the last thing to die" hehe. And great job on your investigation and video overall, i realy like your videos and this formate is great and suits the content veary well!!
Meowscrarada might be based on some theater elements, hence the spot light, and the trope is also quite common in theater things I believe, great video lockstin.! And the yoyo also looks like a rapier when you pause it, like in the pokedex.
And the mask i just realized is very theater-esk
Another inspiration for Meowscada is Arlecchino role in the Italian street stock comedy Commedia Dell'arte where character wear masks,Arlecchino is well known for his tricky and acrobatics who had an rivalry with the clown Pierro over the love for Columbine
The Theater Magician Actor Cat
The Singing Croc who spits literal fire
And the Carnival Dancer.
Spain and Portugal just love their Telenovelas and noontime shows
the quaquaval cry samba bit had me cackling the entire time, i love this bird
Hot take I believe every starter should be in every pokemon game going forward, I feel they help represent all the older games.
Same I want to bring meganium with me
I personally wouldn't call it a hot take since all starters are loved by someone. I hope GF does so in the future as well.
That can be bad for the new starter's isn't it ?
Remember in gen 6 ? Starters didn't get mega evolution when the gifted gen 1 starters had one, the ONLY one that got away with it was Greninja because of the anime.
It's probably why they gave the gen 3 starters a mega evolution for their remake.
Actually, even gen 8 did the same, didn't we needed dlc for our starters to gigantamax when the first one we see is Charizard ? (Poor Venusaur and Blastoise too, even they had to wait for it)
@Avarith I would be okay if it's post game stuff, I do agree that getting them at the start could hurt them
@@Flamepunk post game i could see it, they could even be wild encounter or in specific zones so you can shiny hunt them that way. (Like Pikachu actually, he's a starter and a wild encounter depending on the game)
Legends give you the opportunity to catch even your own starter with the time-space... thingy.
As an illustrator and someone who is working on their own Pokémon fan region/story and ideally game. I love these longer videos which work great as background noise and keep me in the right head space to design Pokémon 😁
I had already chosen Quaxly before seeing either of its evolutions, but soon as I saw Quaxwell and Quaquaval, the Quaxly line instantly surpassed the Oshawott line as my favorite starter line of all time. Everything about them is perfect, and I loved your deep dive on their design origins! I also have a special fondness for the Sprigatio line as well and I LOVE Floragato. It's really rivaling Raboot as my favorite middle stage starter.
Oshawott is still my all time favourite starter. It was the first Pokémon that I ever properly trained and used and evolved, even though Piplup was the first I ever had, but I lost that Platinum game.
SAME HERE!
Also, you like Meowscarada?
@@harry.t9523 Yes
@@sakuraa1770 Thought so. Neat.
Other than the fact that the crocodile is in the aztec zodiac ( which is even more fitting of skeledirge with its other Latin American inspirations ) I think the ancient egyptian goddess Ammit is also worth mentioning for skeledirge since it's already based on the "symbiotic relationship" of the nile crocodile and egyptian plover, A diety with a crocodile's head, a lion's mane and front legs AND and a hippo's back legs, she was known as the devourer of the dead and fuecoco loves to eat, it also has hair like fire energy on it's head and skeledirge has those flames coming out of both sides of it head which kind of make it look like a mane! Aaanndd it's ghost bird also goes into its mouth except it doesn't devour it ( which i think would've been a cool detail if did eat it and it spawned on it's head again lol )
isn't Skeledirge fire/ghost?
@@_marshP A ghost-bird, not a ghost bird
I loved doing the lore dive on meowscarada with New Orleans. Couldn’t help but make the connection between voodoo and the dark type, magic and all that. These starters were incredible this Gen. Thank you L&G and thank you game freak.
Fun fact!
The crocodile is in its own zodiac. Specifically the Persian and Old Mongul Zodiac where it replaces the Dragon
And Charizard is not a dragon. It's a firey flying lizard, hence it's original Japanese name Lizardon.
@@michaeldaniels642 technically it’s a Drake. Which is, yes, s flying fiery lizard.
Someone upvote this!!
The theory is still definitely not real though
@@shyguyrocks1 I know. Its just a coincidence mostly. Course in the Turkish area, the zodiac did have a hedgehog. And what is Cyndaquil similar too? :3
I didn’t realize they were that deep with inspiration. I just saw the pattern as forms of entertainment. Meowscarada is acting
Skeledirge is singing
And quaquavel is dancing
Finally someone else sees Quaquaval for it's gloriously flamboyant majesty!!!
Here in Brazil, we have a lullaby about Cuca, one of the scary stories for kids on that Fuecoco’s line is based. Interestingly, he is a ghost singer since the lullaby is about a kid who's sleeping alone at home and needs to sleep asap because Cuca is approaching to capture him. It is mostly sung to kinds who sleep late and is used to teach them a lesson that if they don't sleep at the right time, Cuca will come and there's nothing they can do it because their parents aren't at home.
I’m surprised that you mentioned Meowscarada’s connection to New Orlean’s Mardi Gras, but you didn’t mention how the city was also famous for witch doctors and hoodoo practitioners
Note that the Firebird on top of Skeledirge also stems back to the story of the Cuca, where it resurrects its Soul into a Songbird to continue singing its Somber Songs...
It pretty much makes Skelidirge the best of the trio automatically.
This makes me appreciate the other two lines so much more
And the mewoscarada line even got some extra points too
This video really made me appreciate the starters a lot more than I already have, and that's saying something because I already loved all the starters. I choose Quaxly and I absolutely ADORED Quaquaval, especially how it always seemed to dance to the music every time it was in a battle, so seeing all the tidbits that could have potentially gone into its design and origins is just so much fun to learn about.
Seriously, I never really considered the storyline of the Quaxly line being a sort of narrative of "finding your passion", with Quaxwell being a teen dancer trying so hard to "fit in" and follow strict forms and routines, compared to Quaquaval which has learned that dance is a form of self-expression and that you can really just do whatever the hell you want. It's pretty inspiring.
God I am so thankful you gave my boy Quaquaval so much love. He’s so my favorite and I was not not at all disappointed at the evolution surprise. 200,000,000/10 deep dive.
Blazikens bottom was crazy though 😭
@@Blankspace-unrelated-to-song okay but was he wrong
@@anomaliexxx no lies whatsoever
@@Blankspace-unrelated-to-song absolutely~ crazy true! look at my gay icon go! Shake what Arceus gave ya!
I definitely agree, I love my flamboyant carnaval dancer peacock/duck
“LOOK AT THOSE FEET!”
And I bust out laughing, spooked all my dogs. Great work as always Lockstin. I really like this longer form vid.
The line, "hydrophobic, which means they don't like water getting married," did that for me 😂
Yes, please more long-form videos like this! I'm happy to learn as much as possible about the delightfully deep inspirations behind so many Pokemon designs, it lets me learn new things while getting to appreciate characters from one of my favorite franchises in a whole new light!
You should make just the Quaquaval cry part a separate video so people can loop it for hours on end if they want xD Plus it deserves its own video. It's a gem 💎
If you haven't seen it already, he added it to his shorts
@@ShouldaWoulda I saw! He did it like yesterday. Not sure if my comment had anything to do with it or not but it was cool to see xD
Lockstin is the guy that makes you like a pokemon a lot more after watching any of his videos
One funny thing I want to bring up is the idea that we TECHNICALLY got two bird starter Pokémon in the same generation. Quaquaval and Skeledirge's fire birb friend, though to be frank, I can see the latter being able to be its own Pokémon eventually. Perhaps that Pokémon would have lost its partner Skeledirge or had some unfortunate falling out, with it, it wonders on its own, and eventually be capable of evolving into its own thing. Hell, even have the final evolution of the little birb be either friendly or rather hostile rivalries with other Skeledirges that still have their bird friend.
Counting with Hisuian Decidueye that's all 3 starter types with bird starters in 2022
Would be neat to see a sort of split evolution like Ninjask/Shedinja. Since it's a 3rd, most likely won't happen, but maybe GameFreak will do something similar like you said.
I love how skeledirge goes all like whaaaaaa it’s epic
0:58 I will forever refer to Quaquaval as Blazikens Bottom, thank you Lockstin
The only S-tier thing to come out of Pokémon is the caliber of work this channel makes. Seriously, the amount of research is an obvious factor but the script and editing is the true star. Brilliant work!
Edit: Also, this video backed up my realization that Quaquaval might be the best starter. Yesterday I used it for the first time (I started with Sprigatito) and I was in awe watching it spiral out of control with Aqua Step and Moxie.
Quaxly was initially my least of the three Paldea starters - but no joke, after this video, I have some MAJOR appreciation and hype for the Quaquaval line! This is a fantastic an insanely detailed video, I can't wait to watch more!
meowscrada is like such a good pokemon I adore them
I realize that the 3 starters of paldea are based on performers Meowscarada is a magician,Skeledirge is a singer and Quaquaval is a dancer
With this deep dive I love Quaquaval even more!! 🌊🌊🌊
Same!
Quaquaval has been my starter since quaxly, i loved it even more when i saw that beautiful final evolution, just perfect
You won’t believe the huge smile on my face as a Paper Mario fan when I saw what my Floragato became.
Dimeowntio heheheh
Nah, they have more of a charm like that of NiGHTS from the “NiGHTS into Dreams” series. They’re like more of a heroic jester than a villainous one.
I LOVED this video! I love the Fuecoco line so much. When I first saw Skelidirge I was a little iffy on it, considering how in love I was with Fuecoco, but after learning about some of its origins I instantly fell in love with it as well. So I appreciate how in-depth you went with it. One thing that I love about Pokémon is how it helps people learn about different cultures and these videos of course help with that a lot as well.
Out of all the starters, Skeledirge is my favorite, and I can't wait for other Pokemon that were revealed recently with Walking Wake and Terapagos looking more awesome!
The amount of research this guy had to do must be enormous, amazing content
Could the bird on Skeledriege's head also be based on a phoenix? Being based on death, rebirth and fire. Just a thought.
For one I absolutely love the longer videos, just as much as I love all 3 starters being a reference to different festivals
Another thing that connects Quaquaval to capoeira is its idle animation in battle! It’s an 1 to 1 of the Ginga step, which is like the “basic stance” of capoeira. Bonus points in that when performing it, Quaquaval dances to the background music XD
I love Quaquaval and that entire segment for it was just perfect 😂😂
Quaquaval is my favorite mostly because I prefer water over the other types, nice to have a water bird that’s not flying type, also I always wanted a Pokémon with peacock inspirations
Meowscarde my second for competitive reasons and the VR clips
Skeledirge I still like but I would prefer the shiny color over the base.
My least favorite is Meowscarada just cause IT. STOOD. UP. Why the Iberian Lynx was RIGHT. THERE GAMEFREAK.
Next up is Quaquaval. I love his design in animation, and his signature move IS really good.
But my all time new favorite Pokemon HAS to be Skeledirge. HE'S SO SPANISH. And Torch Song is BUSTED. And UNAWARE?! What a MONSTER.
39:13
Oooh. I knew there was a reason I loved that flip kick.
Another fact to reinforce the bird-crocodile connection : some crocodiles actually lay their eggs near nest of sand-nesting bird, and both protect nests without attacking each others.
These starters were so much deeper than I ever thought. Wow.
I calculated:
Skelly's segment was the longest.
And had almost no breaks.
almost, because of the croc mural jumpscare.
The Award for the most OVERDESIGNED Pokemon goes to....
0:59 that fricken killed me
28:16 minor detail but i've never heard anyone mention it before; Crocalor's sombrero hat-bird's nest ALSO looks A LOT like a lil campfire! dunno how that'd be thematically relevant other than "it's fire", but i think it's a neat and fun way to tie the hat and nest with the Fire-type and stuff :)))
also yes, i love the new format with the "being deep and long up in my skull" :D))
Honestly, I love this trio more than I have loved starter trios in a good while. Meowscarada is elegant and mischievous, Skeledirge has incredible stage presence, and Quaquaval.
Furry detected
Quaquaval is awesome.
Skeledirge is my favorite one out of the 3! But there all cool
@@powersurge_beast Quaquaval doesn’t have fur. They have feathers.
@@harry.t9523 Cope
8:30-8:43 Kind of reminds me of how the group of thieves ZIdane Tribal was a part of in FFIX were under the guise of a theater troupe. Part of their MO was using their performances as a distraction and Zidane fancied himself a dashing rouge, even though he really wasn't.
I've doubted using Fuecoco when i first played Scarlet. Once I got the hang of it, and evolved it to Skeledirge, I love my undead singing crocodile. Second place was the duck; im a sucker for fighting dancers.
thank you for giving the quaquaval the love he deserves 💙
I love Meowscarada even more now!
Best part of this video is the absolute thirst for Quaquaval's whole design XD Very precious :3c
That Quaquaval samba sequence gave me life, thanks for that
The mugger croc might have been a mild inspiration for the head accessories on the Fuecoco line. The mugger croc has been observed resting sticks atop their head in order to attract a bird looking for nest material, which it then eats.
I love this video and the deep dives, and I love that you gave Quaquaval so much love! I'm definitely getting its plush once it's made!
Wow, I'm actually early, will edit once I've watched the full video
I fully agree with you Lockstin, Floragato and Dewott are the best Middle evos!
I loved the section on the Quaxly line, soo funny 😂, I chose Quaxly as my starter and once it evolved into Quaquaval I was pretty surprised, but it grew on me and this video has made me like it even more!
Quaxswell is wearing lil birdie shoes, i love it 😆
37:03
Love it!!! The obsession with Quaquaval begins!!!
I personally love this pokemon. I chose Sprigattito for my starter but the instant I could get a Quaxly I did!
I nicknamed my Skeledirge starter “Carmen”-after the French Opera based in Spain. Plus the Habanera that is sung mentions “love is like a rebel bird”. So the opera reference sprang to mind as soon as I saw the design and description of Skeledirge when it was first announced.
"Carmen mi amor"
-Don (from Punch Out)
I nicknamed my Tabasco (since I went to the game blind I thought Fuecoco would become a pepper and Tabasco is a pepper sauce) but your idea seems better
As a Portuguese I was hoping that Quaxly would be mostly a sailor or conquistador I'm bit sad we don't have a boat pokemon or a pirate pokemon... But I think every pokemon in this Gen are amazing and have good inspirations... Hoping they add seafaring pokemon with the dlc to fill my hopes of that era... Keep the awesome work and a hug to our brothers from Spain and Brazil
Two other thing for the Quaxly line. The Qua could also be a reference to a "quiff", a kind of hairstyle popular in the 1950's. And Quaxwell's sports like outfit could also be a reference to leotards many dancers wear.
When i first saw quaquaval, i thought it was a reference to captain jack sparrow from pirates of the carribean
Part of why I never touched these games was because I couldn’t choose between these three.
My cultural heritage quite literally lies in the Sprigatito line, as someone from New Orleans. Hell, look at my username.
But for Quaxly, I am a water type loyalist and haven’t picked any starter that wasn’t water for my first playthroughs since I got my first pokemon game in gen 4.
But Fuecoco is adorable and I love the way that design came together. Also I am happy we have a quadrupedal starter again.
I could never choose one of them… All three are amazing.
So choose them all! Don't let anything stop you!
Next to the Hoenn Starters, this might be one of my new favorite Starter trios, easily top 3 for me. All three of them are really cool in their own right, and learning more about their origins have made me appreciate them more. Quaquaval's grown to be my new favorite Water-type, Meowscarada is cool and flashy, and I've grown to appreciate Skeledirge a little more now that people have relaxed in singing its praises.
Anyone else think Quaquavals cry sounds like "move your body and move your feet"?
The fuecoco line was already my favorite of the three but knowing all this inspiration makes me like it so much more
All of this back story makes me consider Meowscrada as my all time favorite Pokémon
This is the type of content I crave. Insanely in depth analysis of every single aspect in the pokemon's design.
Another theme i noticed in the paldean starters is theater stage performers: an actor (Meowscarada), a singer (Skeledirge) and a dancer (Quaquaval)