Artist reimagines Pokemon Sword & Shield’s starters as different types

Grookey, Scorbunny and Sobble in Pokemon Sword & ShieldGame Freak / The Pokemon Company

A talented artist shared their concept of what Pokemon’s Gen VIII starters would look like if they were a different type, reimagining Sword & Shield in a whole new way.

Pokemon Sword & Shield dropped in November 2019, and saw players exploring the U.K. inspired Galar region as they battled their way to becoming the champion.

However, if you’ve ever wondered what the game would look like if the starter Pokemon – Grookey, Scorbunny, and Sobble – were different types, a skilled artist made it a reality.

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Grookey, Scorbunny and Sobble Pokemon Sword & Shield startersGame Freak / The Pokemon Company
The starter Pokemon for Sword & Shield were Grookey, Scorbunny, and Sobble.

Gen VIII starters reimagined

Every title in Nintendo’s popular RPG series begins with players getting a starter Pokemon, as they began their journey by choosing one from the three types of grass, water, and fire.

However, artist ‘ill_be_Frank_wit_you‘ shared their reimagining of the Sword & Shield starter types on Reddit, making Grookey a fire monkey, Scorbunny a water rabbit, and finally Sobble a grass frog.

While some fans were not happy with the final evolutions of Gen VIII’s starters, the artist’s concept looks incredible, and especially makes Rillaboom look absolutely menacing. Although, we do have some questions about a bunny having fins.

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The poster’s submission was a big hit with the community, and went viral with over 16,000 upvotes on the social media platform since being posted on January 20.

This isn’t the first time the artist has recreated starters, and has uploaded several jaw-dropping redesigns that cleverly swap the types out for another which drastically changes the way the monsters look.

Back in 2017, the Redditor also uploaded his take on Red & Blue’s final evolutions, showing how awesome Venusaur would look with flames erupting from his back instead of plants, and how majestic Charizard is as a water dragon.

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Pokemon Sword & Shield broke sales record upon its release last year, pushing over six million units in its opening weekend alone, making it the fastest selling Switch game to date.

While not every fan was in the love with all aspects of the title, we can at least imagine what the game could have been like had the starter types been different, thanks to the talented artists in the Pokemon community.