Excitement for Sword and Shield DLC during Lockdown

June 3, 2020

I was a little apprehensive to pre-order the Sword and Shield expansion DLC until we had a set in stone date. I’m not entirely sure why, I think it was just the idea of pre-buying DLC for a Pokemon game. However, not we know that part 1, The Isle of Armour will be released 17^th of June, I slapped money down on a metaphorical counter, and am now very curious to see what might happen.

The idea of finally giving Gigantamax forms to Rillaboom, Cinderace and Inteleon seems really strange. That these starters should have had this from the get go given it’s the signature mechanic of Gen 8, but then again, Gen 6 introduced Mega Evolution, a feature that the series starters did not have access to. However, it’s very telling that Veusaur, Blastoise and Charzard will now have Mega Evolution forms (though probably not existing in Sword and Shield) as well as Gigantamax forms. Nintendo and Game Freak does enjoy giving the original Kanto starters some love, it would be interesting however to see the second generation, Johto Pokemon getting some love.

The forms for Rillaboom, Cinderace and Inteleon all feel like natural progressions to their own abilities and designs. Rillaboom frequently uses a small drum, so the evolution to a full drum kit makes sense. Inteleon is quiet obviously based on a sniper or a secret agent, so putting him up high where he could shoot something down seems logical. Cinderace probably has the most obvious if uncreative evolution in theory, as he’s a football player, let’s give him a giant football on fire. But the edition of the long ears gives a sort of Antylamon or Terriermon from Digimon vibe. The addition of a face to the fireball almost gives it some Ghibli charm in the form of Calcifer from Howl’s Moving Castle.

Gigantamax Venasuar and Blastoise are both very interesting creations. With their Mega Evolution forms, it felt like they were just adding to what was already there, to the point that it could look a little cluttered, in the case of Venasaur, or just somewhat stupid with Blastoise. However, their Gigantamax forms seem to emphasis a single attribute rather than adding. With Venasaur, the flower now encompasses it like a shield, while Blastoise’s canon now acts more like a fortress, and a powerful strong hold. Over all, very creative evolutions to their original designs.

The Isle of Armour DLC will give us some new characters. The one I’m most curious about is Mustard, a former champion in the Galar region and Leon’s mentor. It’s not often we get to see past champions. The best examples I can think of are sequel/third entry games that replace Steven with Wallace and Alder with Iris. Mustard does seem heavily focused on Fighting types, as he seems to be the one to give you the new Pokemon, Kubfu. Leon was a very bombastic character, and very full of himself, so it will be interesting to see the mentor of such a guy. The two new characters, Klara and Avery, are interesting additions, as they are version exclusive. I’m not the biggest fan of version exclusives in this DLC, but it does carry on the tradition. Interestingly, Klara and Avery are wearing the gym uniforms we don’t see in the game. Namely Poison (Klara) and Psychic (Avery). This does give a good explanation as to why they were in the game in the first place if there wasn’t a gym for them. But this does give a good node that the missing gym types will be in the DLC. Even if it is just a node to them.

The first part of the DLC, The Isle of Armour, will reintroduce over 100 Pokémon to the game. This is something I am very much looking forward to as a life long fan. I have Pokemon stuck in Pokemon Home from when I was 10, dating back to the GBA games. The ability to bring these onto my Switch would be amazing. While not all of them are returning, of the 100+ I’m surprisingly most excited for the Fletchinder line (I grew very fond of this little fire bird), Zorua & Zoroark, Larvesta & Volcarona, as well as the Rockruff and Lycanroc lines. I’m curious to see if there will be a way to get the dusk form Lycanroc in the DLC. It is good to see a somewhat even mix of generations within this 100+ Pokemon.

The final part to talk about for The Isle of Armour is the ‘legendary’ Kubfu and Urshifu as well as the Galarian Slowpoke and Slowbro. First, Kubfu is adorable. A martial arts inclined bear that I’m certain to attempt a crochet plush of, and it’s evolved form, Urshifu. I really appreciate that Urshifu has two different forms based on how you train it. As a former martial artists, the style you choose does make a big difference in how you stand, and how you approach a fight. I studied Tang Soo Do, but specialised in a defensive form and a long range attack, involving a lot of jump kicks and low strikes. My masters would be taught the same things, but might specialise more in quick strike style. Seeing these kinds of variations, such as with Generation Ones Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan, is always a lovely node. The first we saw of Galarian Slowpoke was some months ago, but we now have seen a Slowbro variant. The addition of Psychic type is certainly interesting, but there are some concerns regarding the Slowbro. Why is the shell on his arm? Are their variations when it’s on the left arm instead of the right? What if it was a different type of shell on the tail? It just seems very strange. It will be interesting to see the Galarian Slowking.

There is less information about The Crown Tundra DLC at the moment, but given it won’t be released until the fall, that’s understandable. Most of what is known is related to some of the Pokemon that will appear, starting with the legendary mascot of the DLC, Calyrex. Honestly, I really don’t like this design. It feels like something from the Pokemon Fusion drawings that were going around about a year ago. The upper half seems like part of a deer, while the lower feels completely different, like a little rabbit creature. The only thing that does keep the two halves consistent is the colour scheme. It’s a design I imagine I will eventually get used to, but right now it just feels like a beta design. One they scribbled down as an idea that still needs fleshing out. I think it’s the face that doesn’t work here.

Happily, the Crown Tundra DLC will also include additions to the Regie line and Galarian variants of the legendary bird trio. An Electric (Regieleki) and Dragon (Regidrago) addition to the Titans works perfectly as we already had Rock, Ice, Steel and Normal. It would be curious to see if there will be future entries as this is the first we have had since Generation 4. The design of Regidrago is particularly interesting, as the two arms seem to be the upper jaw and lower jaw of a dragon’s mouth. Given England’s ties to Dragons, it seems very appropriate to include it here.

The new forms for Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres are beautiful! Especially Articuno and Moltres. The change in colour scheme works really well. Articuno in particular has somehow become more graceful. Moltres has taken on more of a personality compared to it’s original design. It’s not hard to see the original as just one big fire bird, as where here, we see this beautiful red/purple colouring with black markings. Zapdos may be the weakest in these redesigns, but it’s still very striking. The deep orange feathers, gold talons and black markings and beak. It’s curious to see it running rather than it’s wings extended. This leads to the question of weather or not the Galarian Zapdos will be a flightless bird.

Finally, a few Pokemon have been revealed to be available with the second update. It’s not as big a selection, but it’s still early days.

June 17^th is going to be a hell of a fun day, with a new isle to explore and Pokemon to collect. The upcoming trailers also seem to show a number of former Legendary Pokemon being made available in Max Raids. Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon had a similar method to collecting legendary Pokemon through the Ultra Warp Ride system. Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire also had Wonder spots to get them.