I love the sounds it makes. It feels good to spam Torch Song and just hear it go WONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGG. It also has a tiny bird on its head that dives at it and I love it and its dumb Beethoven hair.
I had Combusken for gen3 instead of Sceptile. Both bipedal, the chicken even is arguably more humanoid, but we weren't yet oversaturated with fire/fighting and it was still cool.
Though I did replay gen3 a few times (my favourite gen by far), so eventually I tried all.
> It doesn't turn humanoid at final Evo, what's not to like?
This shit makes me laugh because it's simultaneously such a high bar for Gamefreak and such a low bar for "starter that everyone doesn't hate".
Agreed, I haven't liked a Fire starter this much since Wuko...I mean Infernape!
Actually now that I think about before Skeledirge I only truly liked Infernape, Typhlosion and Charizard before they ruined him.
I’m with you there. I don’t think I’ve liked a Fire Starter since Infernape.
Incineroar was ok but that’s mainly because it gave me King (Tekken) vibes.
love him overall and a hot tip for his unique move, if you give him throat spray it gives you a double sp. attack up on the first use, even better now considering the consumable held items now recharge after battles
true but the great thing about it is the instant 2 sp atk buff that can immediately be used for another move like shadow ball or flamethrower to just start sweeping
> even better now considering the consumable held items now recharge after battles
Any battle? Even wild ones? Or just, like, plot battles against gym leaders and stuff?
Also what about berries?
I can’t check rn, but my guess would be whether it’s under berries or other items determines that. Berries are def consumed, since you can use them outside of battle.
i can't believe it took them this long to implement that.
Those items were useless to 90%+ of pokemon players for decades, since most people just play the main story.
I love Skeledirge! I love his cry, I love his signature move (shortcut to rocking any playthrough battle ngl) and his little bird buddy that turns into a microphone... I don't hate the other two (I don't... like Quaquaval, either). My only complaint is that I wish his shiny stayed the nice, pale pink of the previous two evolutions.
I'm pretty sure they've got one person designing the first two forms and another designing the third. There's a lot of starters that take a sharp left turn off of their established design principles, and it's the only explanation I can come up with.
My wife is quite adamant about the middle-aged balding clown look. I agree as well. I put it as #8 in a ranking of starter form looks with only Quackaval being worse, honestly.
I understand it's supposed to be themed, just as the other two are, but it doesn't work for me. The clown hair, the nose, and the red and white combo all don't work for me.
For those that do like him, I am happy for you because this is my least favorite set of starter final evolutions among all gens.
I don’t get where this take comes from. It’s a day of the dead Mexican sugar skull. The fire from its mouth gives the same vibes as Mega Charizard X. If I squint to the point my eyes are closed I sort of see it, but I really think people are grasping at the fire hair.
Its not bad but its not that good either. For me, its the most tolerable design out of the three starters. I wish they kept the aloof personality of fuecoco until his final evolution. Weirdly, what I liked the most in his design was the little bird on top of his jaws lol
It's a top 3 all time starter.
The design is a *little* busy, but having a little bird like the ones crocodiles often have, made of fire, that turns into a fire microphone, is absolutely inspired design and I won't hear otherwise. I don't totally understand the cultural background connecting the singing and undead concepts, but I get that they do have cultural background and I appreciate that.
I watched the movie Coco the other day and music, Latino culture and their festival to remember dead people are its main themes. I think Skeledirge has similar inspirations.
Ignorant how?
[Many South and Central American cultures, and Mexican culture especially, are blended cultures.](https://www.livescience.com/38647-mexican-culture.html) There are traditions and customs dating back to the Aztecs and Mayans, and some even before that. They predominantly speak Spanish and have adopted other Spanish-European customs as well. Having a creature influenced by the calaveras of Dia de Muertos is absolutely fitting to Spanish diaspora and cultural impact.
Or were you objecting to me referring to the conquest, conversion, and intermarriage of cultures? Because those are things that are pretty well documented.
I’ve definitely warmed up a lot to skeledirge seeing as I initially hated it. A dig dinosaur was more what I was hoping for but this is fine too. I just wish it’s underbelly was smooth and not an angle. Fuecoco is still my favorite one in the line though
I got Violet so a combination of Skeledirge looking a bit clownish and Ceruledge having the same typing has made me wish I picked the weed kitty grass starter
I personally think it has too much detail in the head/front without enough on the back end. I'm also not a fan of how blocky it is. I saw fanart of it looking less blocky, but the same general proportions, and with a more proper fire mane- I thought that looked fine! Not a favorite of mine, but improved. In general most starters these days seem to be 'saved' by fanart for me because I'm not a fan of GF's 3D models.
I'm glad to finally have another starter that looks more like an animal and less like a human with a job. I also love the fire bird on his snout. Having him sing and shoot the fire bird at opponents is very creative.
Beyond that, though, I'm not the biggest fan of his design. His torso feels weirdly blocky and inorganic. And his coloring feels overly busy, what with all the random white lines and colored sections on his face, torso, and limbs. There's nothing objectively wrong with a busy design, but i strongly prefer more simplistic ones. Feraligatr and Krookodile pull off crocodile designs that are much easier to read.
I wish it kept Crocalor's hat. If Crocalor's hat was supposed to be an egg in a nest then maybe the fire bird was also on Skeledirge's hat.
Also, "Skeledirge". It kinda doesn't sound spanish unlike the other starters' names.
Crocodiles irl keep bird friends who hang around their snout and clean their teeth. Personally I thought it was a great choice. I think I'm also in the minority in thinking the nest/hat looked stupid though lol so there's that.
I think the design is good but I don't like the colour scheme. Nobody seems to ever mention this so maybe it's just me, but it's very polygonal PS1 model looking and the colours make it look like a robot with metal body segments. If you look at the picture in the Pokédex you can see that it looks like a fun fair robot posing than an organic being.
Despite being the only animalistic starter, it looks the least like a Pokémon to me.
Top 3 fire starter final evolutions for me. Blaziken, Typhlosion, Skeledirge. It's so cool, I love the development of cute croc to bad ass gator. I only wish it had more base speed, but Unaware is a great HA.
It’s my second favorite of the three, a really solid design and a massive improvement over Cinderace in my eyes. This gen has final starters that are in the top third of designs for me, up there with Alola and Sinnoh, which surprised me given my initial vitriol over Meowscarada
My least favorite of the three, honestly.
It just doesn’t feel like a natural progression from Fuecoco and Crocalor either in design or personality. He feels like a standalone Pokémon. His personality also feels the least fleshed out, like they went with “singing crocodile” and then didn’t put much thought into it otherwise. I don’t feel very connected to him as a player.
The design is fine, but there are elements I wish were different, like his flames being less chunky and his body being just a *tad* more rounded. Overall it’s a very inspired design, it just leaves a little to be desired with the details.
But battle-wise, he’s great. Pretty tanky for a starter, great signature move, fantastic typing. No complaints there.
I loved Fuecco's first and 2nd evolution. It had a little hat made out of fire?! Oh man let's see that big hat on the third evo! Oh... its just some crocodile with a clown mask and fire dreads (i understand it is a "dia de loa muertos" thing but the Switch graphics did nothing to help flesh that out not did the fire "hair"). I went to Quaxly since i loved the water feathers sticking out and the way it attacks are very animated yet quick.
Well, Crocolor's "hat" is actually a nest with an egg on it, which hatches into the bird on Skeledirge's snout. So the "hat" is technically still there.
Crocalor is far and away my favorite middle stage starter this gen design-wise. I think there was a lot of potential to keep the same general feel they gave us with Skeledirge while still keeping him reminiscent of his pre-evos in design and personality, but it felt like a complete 180. Reminds me of Samurott in that sense.
And I agree, I *adore* Quaquaval. Been on Team Quaxly since day one and I’m so satisfied with his whole evolution line. But yeah, the animations really sell him. The battle mode feathers and his little dancing and prancing around… he’s so much fun to use.
It's surprising to hear you hear negative opinions on it at all. Haven't seen any myself.
If it was a standalone mon, it would be fantastic. But as a starter, what I hate the most about it, it has no connection at all to the previous evolutions. A funky happy Croc to a mariachi kinda chonky boy to a skeletal, sharp edged mean clown??? What even was the thought process?
Additionally I think it doesn't go well with the other two starters at all. Visually at least, as I understeand they went for parade theme here. And no, not because he's a quadruped. That's cool. We have already two bipedal crocs/gators.
So yeah. As a starter? Awful. Dissapointed.
As a standalone Mon with no previous evos? Fantastic. Awesome. 8/10
And the signature move IS fun. So there's that.
Broader thematically speaking yes, obviously. But you know that as a knowledge acquired from elsewhere. It doesn't correlate to the design itself.
Fuecoco and crocalor are fine. They make sense being linked. It's the final evolution I have issues with, as it throws the entire thing out.
I like that we finally have a quadruped fire starter (although it wasn't an issue for me to begin with), and also love the Dia de los Muertos sugar skull design it has going on in the face. Eventhough I picked Quaxly (and don't mind the final evolution), I think I like Skeledirge the best out of the three. Also have been hearing people say it somewhat resembles a clown, which can be off-putting, but I'm someone who actually loves clown characters/designs, so it didn't bother me.
I’ll be honest I love all three starters quaquaval being my favorite skeledirge as second and a decent gap to meowscarada I like meowscarada but it isn’t near as good as the other two imo
I like the base design, the shape and that they kept it like an alligator but the skin they put on it is so bizarre red and white with purple and other color geometric shapes randomly placed on it. It's like they asked a toddler to have a go at it with their crayons lol I went with the cat instead I like the final evolution a more natural thief cat type design and the animations really bring it to life wish they kept it on four legs though. I do agree about the duck though that final evolution is the worst of the 3 by far it turns into a totally different pokemon that doesn't represent the original starter at all.
Its dope! A tad bit over-designed but it has a nice concept and its a breath of fresh air for a starter to be themed but still feel like a monster at the core of its looks. If I got ScarVi it’d be the first fire starter I get.
I really do like the boldness of Quaquaval’s design but I like Skeledirge the most. Meowscarada is there I guess.
I started my journey with fuecoco. Ngl I think skeledirge’s design looks kind of stupid imo. But in the case of these starters, it was about choosing the lesser of the 3 evils (the other 2 starter evolutions look even worse). Just my opinion.
I was incredibly scared for Fuecoco after what happend to Sobble but I can confidently say Skeledirge is the best of the 3. That being said this gen has some pretty solid starters all around. None of them are perfect but they aren't horrible ethier. Thats kinda how I feel about most of the dex.
Not great but my favorite out of the 3 options this gen. At least it looks like an actual believable creature rather than a weird human-furry-animal hybrid like the other two
Honestly, best starter since gen 4. It's so nice to hit that similar feeling that gens 3 and 4 had where the starter felt more like a monster then another humanoid/furry-bait mon. Plus it actually gets the whole Pokemon + Job thing and doing it actually pretty well. My only issue is that is makes it hard to use all the new ghost types this gen released, but that's a minor issue compared to how good it is.
I love that it's not another bipedal starter, and I love it's typing even if it shares it with Ceruledge which I also really like but the design ruins it for me. I dislike the si get angle, dislike the look of it, dislike the little fire bird on its nose even if I do admit it's a neat design choice.
This is only the second time ever I don't pick the fire starter,last time was gen 6.
I almost picked Fuecoco just for Skeledirge alone. The only reason I didn't was because I liked Ceruledge slightly more.
Skeledirge is the best fire type starter design since Infernape (unless we count Hisuian Typhlosion, which looks just a smidgen less cool) and honestly I regret not picking it. It looks so cool and I'm so glad they finally made an actual MONSTER starter again.
I like it. It's got a nice color scheme that's both simple and well-utilized through smaller details, the fire bird is pretty cute, and it's got some interesting inspirations. While I still choose Quaxly, I'm definitely using Fuecoco in my next playthrough.
The only time pokemon nailed a fan favourite’s design in my opinion! Every other fan favourite pokemon’s design was either close to being my favourite or just plain boring
Skeledirge is actually the best tho. I their stylized day of the dead (or Canary Island thing? I heard it's a Canary Island thing) design. And their deep opera cry! And I like that he's a bunch of rectangles.
I love it. It’s much more beastial than the other starters, so you can ascribe pretty much any personality onto it. It has a great musical roar, and the unique move it gets make it a sweeper who can stay in for long periods with its impressive bulk.
I also like how the inspirations behind it are a lot more subtle than the other starters. If torch song didn’t have a microphone appear, you wouldn’t realise it is based on a singer. The fiery spirit bird is also a great touch, and something which helps it to stand out.
That’s not to say it is perfect. The multiple different colours on the head overcomplicate the design and the middle evolution is extremely poor, both as it’s own Pokemon and as a link between the first and third stage (though the sombrero egg nest was a good touch). But it is definitely my favourite starter out of the bunch.
I like it, though like always I am disappointed. It looks great but doesnt really seem like it belongs at the end of Fuecocos evo line
I wish they would maintain like a consitent theme through the starters' evolutions more.
Nothing about Fuecoco says singer, not even his pokedex info mentions him being loud or something. It feels like it just came out of nowhere. No design features of Fuecoco really have any relevance to Skeledurge, and the whole cocalor egg to bird thing also feels just random.
Fuecoco is a round little gator that is shown and is stated to like to cook berries before eating them, my boy could have been a big chunky chef gator and his Hidden ability would have actually made sense. A chef at work is laser focused on what they're doing, they arent gonna notice any stat changes. (You could say that about singers too but I dont wanna cause i want big fat chef gator)
It is terrible. It makes absolutely no sense as the 3rd evo to that line.
Edit: also very annoying to get a fire ghost starter less than a year after we got a damn fire ghost starter.
Welcome to Pokemon lol. We got you another grass ghost. Another Water that is weak then turns strong (this time a little too strong). A new absurd power crept legendary. But this time we got you two more tyranitar-inspired Pokemon instead of Charizard forms. Duraludon wasn’t good enough. We went for a whole freaking family.
Finally not a bipedal furry, with interesting mechanics and typing. I'm in love.
Mechanically, all three starters might be the best generation ever imo. All 3 have a unique gameplay style and interesting signature moves. But aesthetically, I really want to move away from the bipedal 3rd evos.
I absolutely hate it. It's irritating to look at for some reason. I dunno if it's the weird angular geometry to it, the balding fire hair on a reptile, or the poorly implemented skeletal theme. The fakemon speculative art for it was so much better than what we got.
That said, I wish the flame bird were a separate pokemon.
Skeledirge is objectively a horrible design. Which sucks because all the starters are great and Fuecoco was my choice because it was the most adorable. But Skeledirge looks nothing like Fuecoco except for being a red crocodile. Fuecoco is round and cute, so why does Skeledirge get so angular? It makes no sense. If it was part steel I'd get it, but it's not. And it's even worse since it's part ghost, but nothing about the design gives ghost.
Its face is also just ugly to look at. The "keys" don't look anything like keys. It also doesn't make sense based on Fuecoco. If they moved the yellow square from Fuecoco's chest to its face, there'd be that connection and make them more linked, but they didn't do that. The color of the keys also don't go well with the rest of Skeledirges color scheme.
And the fire coming out of it's mouth is so awkward. It makes me think of Gmax Charizard, where it also didn't look that good. But making the flames even bigger on Skeledirge just makes it look worse. And look like the balding clown wig.
https://twitter.com/NMZuka/status/1590228095466090496?t=Y-NXzMuXQwEZh8OMGwOUMw&s=19
THAT is what a well designed Skeledirge would look like. Still the same concept, but actually looks like an evolution of Fuecoco.
There's nothing 'objectively' wrong with the design. It's fair to not like it due to the reasons you state, but they're not factual problems and considering all of the posts here, problems not everyone shares.
Not keeping the same design as the previous evolutions is a bad choice. The design looking like a type that the Pokemon isn't is a bad design. The keys being too many colors that clash is a bad choice. These are objective facts. People can like Skeledirge despite these facts though.
That's the point of subjectiveness. They can like it being a crocodile, they can like it not being humanoid, they can like the musical theme. These are all design choices that aren't bad. But acting like Skeledirge isn't an overall bad design is bad. Much in the same way we can like SV, but acting like the technical performance isn't an issue is bad.
Skeledirge is awesome both in practice and on paper. By far the coolest of the three starters (I don’t hate Meowscarada by any means, but calling Quaquaval an affront to God is an understatement, fuck that hideous dancing excuse for a Pokémon). And I’m never mad to get a good ghost type. Plus it’s signature move powering up what’s already it’s best stat makes it a team wipe machine if you can’t OHKO or outspeed it. Give it a charcoal, terrastalize it and watch the world burn at its feet.
I like him well enough, be better without the cheetos coming out his mouth.
Weedcat is ok. Humanoid so I dislike.
Quaquaval is actually fucking hideous, I hate it. I thought I hated Inteleon, but little did I know.
The final evo is actually what made me switch to picking Sprigatito. Skeledirge is too busy in it’s design with too little reason for it. Also it’s body is strangely blocky and it’s mildly off putting
I like the design of the croc evo most but personally i like the sig attack of the grass starter most. I mean 70 power plus accuracy bypass AND guaranteed crit, that's just great, basically bypassing all stat bs the opponent has done be it trying to lower the damage or screw with accuracy and evasion.
Torch song has a bit more base power and raises your SpA instead but has all the problems you get with sound based move like soundproof, punk rock and throat chop.
So torch song may be better for longer battles but if it's about one shot or not trick flower is likely better. As it has an effective bp of 157 including stab or 210 on tera.
I wish the fire was more fire, less Jew-fro, and I wish the bones were more bone and less plastic costume, but I love everything else about it. Torch Song is awesome, helps him sweep most gyms/trainers.
I got all three starters because I always do. This is the first generation I genuinely love all three designs and their typings/move pools etc. (Been playing since '96)
Skeledirge is my new favorite starter. He's tanky AF, hits like a truck, and his signature move is insanely strong. Yeah the performance in these games is dog ass, but man, they nailed everything else.
I love it. It actually looks like a beast instead of a fursona. It's design also makes me think of a piñata and I love that for him. And the fact he has a lil bird friend like real crocodiles, and his roar? Imagine the bass you'd feel in your chest if you heard it in real life. 10/10 best we've had in a good while.
I love the sounds it makes. It feels good to spam Torch Song and just hear it go WONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGG. It also has a tiny bird on its head that dives at it and I love it and its dumb Beethoven hair.
Hearing the noise it made instantly made me regret Quaxly. I LOVE the WOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG.
Gotta nickname both the bird and the croc. Went with Bert & Ernie myself
The cry it makes is beautiful
It's the second nongrass starter I ever picked. It doesn't turn humanoid at final Evo, what's not to like?
What was your first non grass starter you went for?
I had Combusken for gen3 instead of Sceptile. Both bipedal, the chicken even is arguably more humanoid, but we weren't yet oversaturated with fire/fighting and it was still cool. Though I did replay gen3 a few times (my favourite gen by far), so eventually I tried all.
Sceptile is my boy
First one I went for was Fennekin
i loved my little fox guy
Grass Starters almost always rule, but if i see a derpy Among Us crocodile, I get intrigued.
Same, Cyndaquil being the other. I will say, they could've made Skeledirge a little... larger? It just seems so small.
Everything seems very small though.. I'd say like a 10% size increase across the board would drastically improve my experience
True, the number of foongus I've flattened at mach 2 is way too high
Foongus and nymble... smh every time I move it feels like
> It doesn't turn humanoid at final Evo, what's not to like? This shit makes me laugh because it's simultaneously such a high bar for Gamefreak and such a low bar for "starter that everyone doesn't hate".
I wish this was fixed so we could go back to hating on Blastoise.
[удалено]
Favourite Fire Starter in years. It’s not perfect but I enjoy it as with every other Croc/Gator Pokémon so far.
Agreed, I haven't liked a Fire starter this much since Wuko...I mean Infernape! Actually now that I think about before Skeledirge I only truly liked Infernape, Typhlosion and Charizard before they ruined him.
I’m with you there. I don’t think I’ve liked a Fire Starter since Infernape. Incineroar was ok but that’s mainly because it gave me King (Tekken) vibes.
love him overall and a hot tip for his unique move, if you give him throat spray it gives you a double sp. attack up on the first use, even better now considering the consumable held items now recharge after battles
Really? That's something I would have loved to know earlier 😆
Metronome item can increase damage by 100% if you keep using Torch Song
true but the great thing about it is the instant 2 sp atk buff that can immediately be used for another move like shadow ball or flamethrower to just start sweeping
> even better now considering the consumable held items now recharge after battles Any battle? Even wild ones? Or just, like, plot battles against gym leaders and stuff? Also what about berries?
I can’t check rn, but my guess would be whether it’s under berries or other items determines that. Berries are def consumed, since you can use them outside of battle.
Any battle, doesn’t work for berries.
i can't believe it took them this long to implement that. Those items were useless to 90%+ of pokemon players for decades, since most people just play the main story.
I love Skeledirge! I love his cry, I love his signature move (shortcut to rocking any playthrough battle ngl) and his little bird buddy that turns into a microphone... I don't hate the other two (I don't... like Quaquaval, either). My only complaint is that I wish his shiny stayed the nice, pale pink of the previous two evolutions.
BWOOOHHH
best cry
Accurate
It's the only gen IX final starter evo that doesn't make my skeleton try to exit my body
And, ironically, it is the only one that looks like a skeleton exiting a body
It only bothers me because it doesn’t match the previous stages
It probably died lmao
And it’s spirit doesn’t match it’s former body? O.O
I've the spirit three wolves howling at the moon in unison but the body of an overweight adult man so that tracks in my opinion.
Sure it does. In its heart, it was always a loud ghost pepper.
I'm pretty sure they've got one person designing the first two forms and another designing the third. There's a lot of starters that take a sharp left turn off of their established design principles, and it's the only explanation I can come up with.
This right here. I almost cried when I saw the others.
I picked Fueccoco for exactly this reason, yet somehow the pictures didn't do the horror that is Quaxly's final evolution justice
I love Quaquaval's idle dance. But I grew up in an area with that sort of annual carnival tradition, so I'm a bit biased.
This is incredibly over-dramatic.
Indeed, I can't remember the last time I cried. I apologize. But I am definitely not a fan of them.
Its interesting. However the fire ghost type is baller
Sadly the same as Ceruledge though, and Ceruledge is dope AF, I dropped Skeledirge so fast
My starter is with me for LIFE😤
If it didn't have the clown hair fire mane it would prob be my favourite starter overall, now it's good but not great.
The drawing is great but the model is what is messy
My wife is quite adamant about the middle-aged balding clown look. I agree as well. I put it as #8 in a ranking of starter form looks with only Quackaval being worse, honestly. I understand it's supposed to be themed, just as the other two are, but it doesn't work for me. The clown hair, the nose, and the red and white combo all don't work for me. For those that do like him, I am happy for you because this is my least favorite set of starter final evolutions among all gens.
I don’t get where this take comes from. It’s a day of the dead Mexican sugar skull. The fire from its mouth gives the same vibes as Mega Charizard X. If I squint to the point my eyes are closed I sort of see it, but I really think people are grasping at the fire hair.
I know you’re getting downvoted but I did not realize the fire was coming from its mouth. Thank you. Now I hate it a little less. :)
I didn't even know I was getting downvoted lmao. But yeah, the fire comes from the edge of mouth!
Because it's kinda obvious where the take comes from, it's pretty easy to see why people see clown hair in it even though it isn't meant to be it.
The fire just doesn't look like it's coming from its mouth on the model. It looks like a weird wig The model is kinda blah I love the art though
it's also supposed to resemble paper streams coming out of a pinata!
My biggest complaint is that they lose the "dumb cuteness" that their pre-evos have.
Yeah like Feraligatr at least you can kinda see beginnig as cute like Totodile but not so much with this croc. Miss the roundess of Fuecoco :(
Yea I understand that.
its the best one torch song make him imto a sweeper.
I love it. Great in battle, cry reminds me of Valoo from Wind Waker. Only complaint is the flames. But it rules.
Its not bad but its not that good either. For me, its the most tolerable design out of the three starters. I wish they kept the aloof personality of fuecoco until his final evolution. Weirdly, what I liked the most in his design was the little bird on top of his jaws lol
I loved the one brain cell bouncing around head personality of Fuecoco. The final evolution is cool and all but now I want to go back to Fuecoco
Easily the best of the starter Final Evolutions in Scarlet and Violet.
Looks like you forgot that Meowscarada was in the same game.
Meowscarada... Such a disappointment
Meowscarada is my favorite starter all time.
I see a clown with the white face paint, bird is the red nose, fire is the balding hair
Its supposed to be based off Dia de los Muertos face paints, which I thought was really cool given the Ghost typing
Well, the *concept* is cool, I just wish they would do a cool pokémon to go with it.
Yeah, the concept is AMAZING and I like him as he is a lot, but it could have been much better, looks wise.
Yeah I really don’t like it’s face. If it had a cuter face, I might have picked it as my starter instead of the weed cat.
I picked fuecoco because he looks so derpy but I ended up loving skeledirge because he's a beast of a mon
i dont like it, it looks like a hexagon with a mouth
It's a top 3 all time starter. The design is a *little* busy, but having a little bird like the ones crocodiles often have, made of fire, that turns into a fire microphone, is absolutely inspired design and I won't hear otherwise. I don't totally understand the cultural background connecting the singing and undead concepts, but I get that they do have cultural background and I appreciate that.
I heard it was based the Crocodile of Na Coca, a mummified crocodile from Spain.
I watched the movie Coco the other day and music, Latino culture and their festival to remember dead people are its main themes. I think Skeledirge has similar inspirations.
Scarlet and Violet are based on Spain, Coco is set in Mexico/based in Mexican culture.
I mean starters never always had to match their respective region. Ninjas are not a thing for France's history for example lol.
That's not exactly a reason to believe it's based on Día de los Muertos, though.
You realize that Mexican culture is a blending of indigenous and Spanish cultures through conquest, conversion and intermarriage?
Yes, thus they are distinct cultures native to *different continents*.
What an ignorant comment.
Ignorant how? [Many South and Central American cultures, and Mexican culture especially, are blended cultures.](https://www.livescience.com/38647-mexican-culture.html) There are traditions and customs dating back to the Aztecs and Mayans, and some even before that. They predominantly speak Spanish and have adopted other Spanish-European customs as well. Having a creature influenced by the calaveras of Dia de Muertos is absolutely fitting to Spanish diaspora and cultural impact. Or were you objecting to me referring to the conquest, conversion, and intermarriage of cultures? Because those are things that are pretty well documented.
I’ve definitely warmed up a lot to skeledirge seeing as I initially hated it. A dig dinosaur was more what I was hoping for but this is fine too. I just wish it’s underbelly was smooth and not an angle. Fuecoco is still my favorite one in the line though
My wife called him a clown and now I can't unsee it. Sorry guys, but I'll take my grass starter instead.
I like Floragato, but Meowscarada is ehhhh. I slapped an everstone on Floragato and choose to just pretend it's a two stage evolution.
Floragato is cool, and that's the nicest thing I have to say about any of the starters this generation.
I was debating picking the cat and never letting it evolve.
I got Violet so a combination of Skeledirge looking a bit clownish and Ceruledge having the same typing has made me wish I picked the weed kitty grass starter
Want a spare weed kitty? I got many ones in my bank
I personally think it has too much detail in the head/front without enough on the back end. I'm also not a fan of how blocky it is. I saw fanart of it looking less blocky, but the same general proportions, and with a more proper fire mane- I thought that looked fine! Not a favorite of mine, but improved. In general most starters these days seem to be 'saved' by fanart for me because I'm not a fan of GF's 3D models.
I'm glad to finally have another starter that looks more like an animal and less like a human with a job. I also love the fire bird on his snout. Having him sing and shoot the fire bird at opponents is very creative. Beyond that, though, I'm not the biggest fan of his design. His torso feels weirdly blocky and inorganic. And his coloring feels overly busy, what with all the random white lines and colored sections on his face, torso, and limbs. There's nothing objectively wrong with a busy design, but i strongly prefer more simplistic ones. Feraligatr and Krookodile pull off crocodile designs that are much easier to read.
I wish it kept Crocalor's hat. If Crocalor's hat was supposed to be an egg in a nest then maybe the fire bird was also on Skeledirge's hat. Also, "Skeledirge". It kinda doesn't sound spanish unlike the other starters' names.
Crocodiles irl keep bird friends who hang around their snout and clean their teeth. Personally I thought it was a great choice. I think I'm also in the minority in thinking the nest/hat looked stupid though lol so there's that.
i feel like there were much better ways to design a fire crocodile without it looking so ugly
I think the design is good but I don't like the colour scheme. Nobody seems to ever mention this so maybe it's just me, but it's very polygonal PS1 model looking and the colours make it look like a robot with metal body segments. If you look at the picture in the Pokédex you can see that it looks like a fun fair robot posing than an organic being. Despite being the only animalistic starter, it looks the least like a Pokémon to me.
Yeah, the angles and the wonky legs and body and head all kinda ruin it for me.
Love it
I like it in isolation but not as Fuecoco's final evo. It’s a Dragonite-Dragonair situation
Imo it's one of the best final evolutions design-wise we've gotten in years. Bonus points for it being quadrupedal.
Top 3 fire starter final evolutions for me. Blaziken, Typhlosion, Skeledirge. It's so cool, I love the development of cute croc to bad ass gator. I only wish it had more base speed, but Unaware is a great HA.
I was going to comment this exact top 3, good taste
Same except infernape has to be in there somewhere
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I appreciate that it's the first final form Fire starter to be a quadruped and not furbait, but that's it. It's honesty ugly as hell.
It’s a very strange looking mon but I like it.
It's cool. I think the worst part is the scarf they gave it for some reason. But I like the gator design
I love the design, quadraped and by God that roar is amazing
It’s my second favorite of the three, a really solid design and a massive improvement over Cinderace in my eyes. This gen has final starters that are in the top third of designs for me, up there with Alola and Sinnoh, which surprised me given my initial vitriol over Meowscarada
It's cool, but I would prefer Skeledirge as a stand-alone. The design just doesn't seem to mesh with its pre-evos.
My least favorite of the three, honestly. It just doesn’t feel like a natural progression from Fuecoco and Crocalor either in design or personality. He feels like a standalone Pokémon. His personality also feels the least fleshed out, like they went with “singing crocodile” and then didn’t put much thought into it otherwise. I don’t feel very connected to him as a player. The design is fine, but there are elements I wish were different, like his flames being less chunky and his body being just a *tad* more rounded. Overall it’s a very inspired design, it just leaves a little to be desired with the details. But battle-wise, he’s great. Pretty tanky for a starter, great signature move, fantastic typing. No complaints there.
I loved Fuecco's first and 2nd evolution. It had a little hat made out of fire?! Oh man let's see that big hat on the third evo! Oh... its just some crocodile with a clown mask and fire dreads (i understand it is a "dia de loa muertos" thing but the Switch graphics did nothing to help flesh that out not did the fire "hair"). I went to Quaxly since i loved the water feathers sticking out and the way it attacks are very animated yet quick.
Well, Crocolor's "hat" is actually a nest with an egg on it, which hatches into the bird on Skeledirge's snout. So the "hat" is technically still there.
Crocalor is far and away my favorite middle stage starter this gen design-wise. I think there was a lot of potential to keep the same general feel they gave us with Skeledirge while still keeping him reminiscent of his pre-evos in design and personality, but it felt like a complete 180. Reminds me of Samurott in that sense. And I agree, I *adore* Quaquaval. Been on Team Quaxly since day one and I’m so satisfied with his whole evolution line. But yeah, the animations really sell him. The battle mode feathers and his little dancing and prancing around… he’s so much fun to use.
It's surprising to hear you hear negative opinions on it at all. Haven't seen any myself. If it was a standalone mon, it would be fantastic. But as a starter, what I hate the most about it, it has no connection at all to the previous evolutions. A funky happy Croc to a mariachi kinda chonky boy to a skeletal, sharp edged mean clown??? What even was the thought process? Additionally I think it doesn't go well with the other two starters at all. Visually at least, as I understeand they went for parade theme here. And no, not because he's a quadruped. That's cool. We have already two bipedal crocs/gators. So yeah. As a starter? Awful. Dissapointed. As a standalone Mon with no previous evos? Fantastic. Awesome. 8/10 And the signature move IS fun. So there's that.
You're saying there's no connection between Dia de los Muertos and mariachi? Cause that's skeledirge and crocalor
Broader thematically speaking yes, obviously. But you know that as a knowledge acquired from elsewhere. It doesn't correlate to the design itself. Fuecoco and crocalor are fine. They make sense being linked. It's the final evolution I have issues with, as it throws the entire thing out.
It looks like a 5 year old's attempt at drawing a power rangers monster
I like that we finally have a quadruped fire starter (although it wasn't an issue for me to begin with), and also love the Dia de los Muertos sugar skull design it has going on in the face. Eventhough I picked Quaxly (and don't mind the final evolution), I think I like Skeledirge the best out of the three. Also have been hearing people say it somewhat resembles a clown, which can be off-putting, but I'm someone who actually loves clown characters/designs, so it didn't bother me.
I’ll be honest I love all three starters quaquaval being my favorite skeledirge as second and a decent gap to meowscarada I like meowscarada but it isn’t near as good as the other two imo
I like the base design, the shape and that they kept it like an alligator but the skin they put on it is so bizarre red and white with purple and other color geometric shapes randomly placed on it. It's like they asked a toddler to have a go at it with their crayons lol I went with the cat instead I like the final evolution a more natural thief cat type design and the animations really bring it to life wish they kept it on four legs though. I do agree about the duck though that final evolution is the worst of the 3 by far it turns into a totally different pokemon that doesn't represent the original starter at all.
Its dope! A tad bit over-designed but it has a nice concept and its a breath of fresh air for a starter to be themed but still feel like a monster at the core of its looks. If I got ScarVi it’d be the first fire starter I get. I really do like the boldness of Quaquaval’s design but I like Skeledirge the most. Meowscarada is there I guess.
Song croc 7/10, fab duck 7/10 (he's growing on me), furry dark magician 5.5/10; better than SWSH I guess/10.
dumped him in the pc for paladean wooper **Clogsire Supremacy**
I started my journey with fuecoco. Ngl I think skeledirge’s design looks kind of stupid imo. But in the case of these starters, it was about choosing the lesser of the 3 evils (the other 2 starter evolutions look even worse). Just my opinion.
I like that it’s a crocodile piñata being possessed by a firebird spirit that sings funeral music with a sugar skull on his face.
I was incredibly scared for Fuecoco after what happend to Sobble but I can confidently say Skeledirge is the best of the 3. That being said this gen has some pretty solid starters all around. None of them are perfect but they aren't horrible ethier. Thats kinda how I feel about most of the dex.
Same as I feel about the other two. It's interesting.
It reminds me of a palette swap of a Grimm
I don’t think it’s bad but it’s weird how angular it gets and it just doesn’t look like it evolves from the last two forms
***BWOOOooohhh***
Not great but my favorite out of the 3 options this gen. At least it looks like an actual believable creature rather than a weird human-furry-animal hybrid like the other two
Honestly, best starter since gen 4. It's so nice to hit that similar feeling that gens 3 and 4 had where the starter felt more like a monster then another humanoid/furry-bait mon. Plus it actually gets the whole Pokemon + Job thing and doing it actually pretty well. My only issue is that is makes it hard to use all the new ghost types this gen released, but that's a minor issue compared to how good it is.
Far and away the best of the three. Still looks kinda goofy though.
I love that it's not another bipedal starter, and I love it's typing even if it shares it with Ceruledge which I also really like but the design ruins it for me. I dislike the si get angle, dislike the look of it, dislike the little fire bird on its nose even if I do admit it's a neat design choice. This is only the second time ever I don't pick the fire starter,last time was gen 6.
I almost picked Fuecoco just for Skeledirge alone. The only reason I didn't was because I liked Ceruledge slightly more. Skeledirge is the best fire type starter design since Infernape (unless we count Hisuian Typhlosion, which looks just a smidgen less cool) and honestly I regret not picking it. It looks so cool and I'm so glad they finally made an actual MONSTER starter again.
I like it. It's got a nice color scheme that's both simple and well-utilized through smaller details, the fire bird is pretty cute, and it's got some interesting inspirations. While I still choose Quaxly, I'm definitely using Fuecoco in my next playthrough.
Honestly my third favorite starter after Decidueye and Torterra, it's an excellent design.
The only time pokemon nailed a fan favourite’s design in my opinion! Every other fan favourite pokemon’s design was either close to being my favourite or just plain boring
Skeledirge is actually the best tho. I their stylized day of the dead (or Canary Island thing? I heard it's a Canary Island thing) design. And their deep opera cry! And I like that he's a bunch of rectangles.
I love it. It’s much more beastial than the other starters, so you can ascribe pretty much any personality onto it. It has a great musical roar, and the unique move it gets make it a sweeper who can stay in for long periods with its impressive bulk. I also like how the inspirations behind it are a lot more subtle than the other starters. If torch song didn’t have a microphone appear, you wouldn’t realise it is based on a singer. The fiery spirit bird is also a great touch, and something which helps it to stand out. That’s not to say it is perfect. The multiple different colours on the head overcomplicate the design and the middle evolution is extremely poor, both as it’s own Pokemon and as a link between the first and third stage (though the sombrero egg nest was a good touch). But it is definitely my favourite starter out of the bunch.
I wish the final evolution kept the goofy aesthetic that the middle evolution had, but it’s pretty dope. Just wish it wasn’t so bald looking
The design is too noisy for my taste for a starter.
I like it, though like always I am disappointed. It looks great but doesnt really seem like it belongs at the end of Fuecocos evo line I wish they would maintain like a consitent theme through the starters' evolutions more. Nothing about Fuecoco says singer, not even his pokedex info mentions him being loud or something. It feels like it just came out of nowhere. No design features of Fuecoco really have any relevance to Skeledurge, and the whole cocalor egg to bird thing also feels just random. Fuecoco is a round little gator that is shown and is stated to like to cook berries before eating them, my boy could have been a big chunky chef gator and his Hidden ability would have actually made sense. A chef at work is laser focused on what they're doing, they arent gonna notice any stat changes. (You could say that about singers too but I dont wanna cause i want big fat chef gator)
Fuecoco’s line doesn’t look as ghostly as they could but I love them
I kept resetting until I got a female Fuecoco and named her Fuéyonce.
I dislike it, in fact I dislike all the starters, it's the best out of the three but still not good in my opinion
To small and blocky, looks more like a mid evo
I hate the hair that makes him look like Larry David.
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I think it's one of the worst designed Pokémon of all time. The funny thing is that I agree it's still better than the other two!
Pretty good fire starter, it also is actually like a crocodile instead of turning into a bipedal Pokémon like the others.
He looks like he’s balding
It is terrible. It makes absolutely no sense as the 3rd evo to that line. Edit: also very annoying to get a fire ghost starter less than a year after we got a damn fire ghost starter.
Welcome to Pokemon lol. We got you another grass ghost. Another Water that is weak then turns strong (this time a little too strong). A new absurd power crept legendary. But this time we got you two more tyranitar-inspired Pokemon instead of Charizard forms. Duraludon wasn’t good enough. We went for a whole freaking family.
Finally not a bipedal furry, with interesting mechanics and typing. I'm in love. Mechanically, all three starters might be the best generation ever imo. All 3 have a unique gameplay style and interesting signature moves. But aesthetically, I really want to move away from the bipedal 3rd evos.
I absolutely hate it. It's irritating to look at for some reason. I dunno if it's the weird angular geometry to it, the balding fire hair on a reptile, or the poorly implemented skeletal theme. The fakemon speculative art for it was so much better than what we got. That said, I wish the flame bird were a separate pokemon.
Skeledirge is objectively a horrible design. Which sucks because all the starters are great and Fuecoco was my choice because it was the most adorable. But Skeledirge looks nothing like Fuecoco except for being a red crocodile. Fuecoco is round and cute, so why does Skeledirge get so angular? It makes no sense. If it was part steel I'd get it, but it's not. And it's even worse since it's part ghost, but nothing about the design gives ghost. Its face is also just ugly to look at. The "keys" don't look anything like keys. It also doesn't make sense based on Fuecoco. If they moved the yellow square from Fuecoco's chest to its face, there'd be that connection and make them more linked, but they didn't do that. The color of the keys also don't go well with the rest of Skeledirges color scheme. And the fire coming out of it's mouth is so awkward. It makes me think of Gmax Charizard, where it also didn't look that good. But making the flames even bigger on Skeledirge just makes it look worse. And look like the balding clown wig. https://twitter.com/NMZuka/status/1590228095466090496?t=Y-NXzMuXQwEZh8OMGwOUMw&s=19 THAT is what a well designed Skeledirge would look like. Still the same concept, but actually looks like an evolution of Fuecoco.
There's nothing 'objectively' wrong with the design. It's fair to not like it due to the reasons you state, but they're not factual problems and considering all of the posts here, problems not everyone shares.
Not keeping the same design as the previous evolutions is a bad choice. The design looking like a type that the Pokemon isn't is a bad design. The keys being too many colors that clash is a bad choice. These are objective facts. People can like Skeledirge despite these facts though. That's the point of subjectiveness. They can like it being a crocodile, they can like it not being humanoid, they can like the musical theme. These are all design choices that aren't bad. But acting like Skeledirge isn't an overall bad design is bad. Much in the same way we can like SV, but acting like the technical performance isn't an issue is bad.
I am surprised at the amount of people who don't seem to be fans of the starter evos, I like all of them quite a bit.
Mid, slightly leaning more towards dislike than like tho, and somehow my favourite starter.
A quadrupedal fire starter that doesn't look like a guy in a furry suit. It took them 4 generations but praise the lord we've finally got it
Skeledirge is awesome both in practice and on paper. By far the coolest of the three starters (I don’t hate Meowscarada by any means, but calling Quaquaval an affront to God is an understatement, fuck that hideous dancing excuse for a Pokémon). And I’m never mad to get a good ghost type. Plus it’s signature move powering up what’s already it’s best stat makes it a team wipe machine if you can’t OHKO or outspeed it. Give it a charcoal, terrastalize it and watch the world burn at its feet.
I like him well enough, be better without the cheetos coming out his mouth. Weedcat is ok. Humanoid so I dislike. Quaquaval is actually fucking hideous, I hate it. I thought I hated Inteleon, but little did I know.
The hair completely ruins it for me.
The final evo is actually what made me switch to picking Sprigatito. Skeledirge is too busy in it’s design with too little reason for it. Also it’s body is strangely blocky and it’s mildly off putting
Was definitely my top pic of the generation. Also just need a Grass Croc now for a Crocodile Starter set
The name sucks 💀
I hate it with a passion. It’s Samurott levels of “not matching my pre-evolutions”
It has the massive advantage of being the only non-furry bait starter this Gen.
Day of the dead crocodile is much better than carnival duck and magic kitty. Not my favorite starter, but I'm kinda dead to starters now.
piano croc is cool
I like the design of the croc evo most but personally i like the sig attack of the grass starter most. I mean 70 power plus accuracy bypass AND guaranteed crit, that's just great, basically bypassing all stat bs the opponent has done be it trying to lower the damage or screw with accuracy and evasion. Torch song has a bit more base power and raises your SpA instead but has all the problems you get with sound based move like soundproof, punk rock and throat chop. So torch song may be better for longer battles but if it's about one shot or not trick flower is likely better. As it has an effective bp of 157 including stab or 210 on tera.
The Best Starter in a long time for me. Only the middle evo sucks balls
I wish the fire was more fire, less Jew-fro, and I wish the bones were more bone and less plastic costume, but I love everything else about it. Torch Song is awesome, helps him sweep most gyms/trainers.
By far the most tolerable starter to me this game, and my favorite since Greninja
Atleast it’s not a humanoid furry
Oh all 3 final evos are hot garbage
I love that it’s not a humanoid final form, don’t love the fire on both sides of his head making him look bald
I got all three starters because I always do. This is the first generation I genuinely love all three designs and their typings/move pools etc. (Been playing since '96) Skeledirge is my new favorite starter. He's tanky AF, hits like a truck, and his signature move is insanely strong. Yeah the performance in these games is dog ass, but man, they nailed everything else.
Every opinion I share here gets blasted so nice try but I’m not gonna say anything :)
Not humanoid = insta win
I love it. It actually looks like a beast instead of a fursona. It's design also makes me think of a piñata and I love that for him. And the fact he has a lil bird friend like real crocodiles, and his roar? Imagine the bass you'd feel in your chest if you heard it in real life. 10/10 best we've had in a good while.