Trainers aren’t happy with Pokemon Sword and Shield starter evolutions

After waiting nearly nine months, the Pokemon Sword and Shield starter evolutions have finally been revealed.

A reveal, or even a tease, of Galar’s starter evolutions had been expected at some point in the build up of the game. However, Game Freak kept us all waiting until the release of Sword and Shield — or at least they tried to before the Pokedex leaked.

It looks like their intention was to have trainers select one of Grookey, Scorbunny or Sobble without knowing what they’d evolve into — despite being perhaps a little unrealistic.

Now we know Grookey evolves into Thwackey then Rillaboom, Scorbunny into Raboot then Cinderace and Sobble into Drizzile and Inteleon.

The Pokemon Sword and Shield starter final evolutions: Rillaboom, Cinderace and Inteleon

Maybe it was the long build up or overly high expectations, but there has been a sense of disappointment by them within the Pokemon community. This is by no means unanimous, although it’s certainly widespread enough for it to be notable.

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Searching “starter evolutions” in Twitter will yield mostly negative comments. One trainer cut right to the point with his succinct tweet: “Sword & Shields starter evolutions are the worst in recent memory.”

Elsewhere, one Pokemon fan remained positive despite not being thrilled with the starter evolution designs.

They said: “Still unsure of which starter I’m gonna pick. I saw the leaked evolutions and I hate to say it, but I’m not a huge fan of any. Maybe I won’t use a starter? I hardly ever do anyway.”

It looks like the leaks didn’t impress another player, too: “I’ve been unsure of who I’m gonna pick for my new Pokemon starter ever since the Sword/Shield leaks. Honestly the evolutions are all awful.”

Maybe Game Freak would have been better off using these starter evolutions instead. After all we know how much they love Charizard…

Pokemon Sword and Shield starter evolutions Charizard style…

Pokemon Sword and Shield has received mixed reviews so far with the removal of several notable species from the game, questionable graphics and what is perceived as a mediocre storyline.

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It will be interesting to see if the fallout continues and how Sword and Shield will be looked back on in the months and years to come.