The recent announcement ofPokemon Scarlet & Violetbrings thePokemonfranchise to a brand-new region with a brand-new starter trio. Some fans already appear to be falling in love with specific members of the new starter trio and are already hard at work creating tribute art to their favorite new Pokemon. One fan recently gave Fuecoco, the Fire-type starter inPokemon ScarletandViolet, a retro look straight out of the artwork for the original Gen 1 games.
Traditionally, each new mainlinePokemongame features a new starter trio–three Pokemon that offer the player the choice of a Grass-type, Fire-type, or Water-type to begin play with. These Pokemon are the first stage of a three-part evolutionary line and are usually quite difficult to encounter in the wild until the post-game, making the choice of starter quite important.
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Redditor VAC7 decided to celebrate theannouncement ofPokemon ScarletandVioletby sharing fan art of the new Fire-type starter, Fuecoco. Like the Gen 2 Water-type starter Totodile, Fuecoco resembles a small and adorable bipedal crocodile. However, Fuecoco has a visibly rounder and softer appearance than the spiky Totodile, more dinosaurian legs, and much smaller arms. Combined with its less menacing teeth and cartoony face, Fuecoco seems to embody many trends in modernPokemondesign. This did not stop VAC7’s depiction of the little monster from taking a distinctly retro approach.
VAC7’s fan art shows Fuecoco with its mouth open and its head thrown back, breathing a plume of fire at the viewer.The new starter Pokemonis also depicted standing in the center of a circle with the words “The Pocket Monster Trainer” running around the inside edge. At the bottom, the words “Pocket Monsters”–the original title of thePokemonseries–are shown in both English and the Japanese katakana alphabet. The drawing of Fuecoco clearly takes inspiration from classicPokemonart, especially in the faded but lighting-heavy coloring choices.
As of writing, it appears that otherPokemonfans are impressed by VAC7’s retro flair. One user asked if the artist intended to make a mobile wallpaper version of this piece, to which they said they might if they ended up doing similar retro art of theother twoPokemon ScarletandVioletstarters. Another user commented that Fuecoco translated very well to the retroPokemonart style, while several others praised VAC7’s attempt at recreating the approach of old-schoolPokemonart.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violetwill release in late 2022 for Nintendo Switch.
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