Pokemon Gen 10 Starter Leaks Kick the Fire-Type Zodiac…

With Pokemon Legends: Z-A's release rapidly approaching, glimmers of Pokemon Gen 10 are starting to shine through the cracks. As the first new generation of Pokemon designed for the Switch 2, the Gen 10 games have a lot of weight to shoulder in the face of Scarlet and Violet's controversial technical performance. However, the next generation may already be stoking the fires of controversy if recent leaks prove to be true.

According to a Pokemon Gen 10 leak from 4chan, the starters for the next games are going to be a Grass-type horse based on the Trojan Horse, a Fire-type phoenix, and a Water-type snake. While these leaks should be taken with a huge grain of salt, 4chan posts have accurately leaked details about past Pokemon games, and the rumored Greek Island setting for the region would lend credence to these starter designs. However, what makes these starters so controversial would be the way they flip the script on the now-debunked Zodiac Theory for Fire-type starters, almost as if calling out fans who believed in the trend.

Pokemon's Alleged Gen 10 Starters Would Fill in the Zodiac Theory, But for the Wrong Types

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Pokemon's Fire-Type Zodiac Theory Has Already Been Disproven

For nearly eight generations, there was a running theory within the Pokemon community that all the Fire-type starters align with the 12 animals that comprise the Chinese Zodiac. Of these 12, eight had fairly clear representatives among the Pokemon series' Fire-type starters:

Charmander – Dragon
Cyndaquil – Rat
Torchic – Rooster
Chimchar – Monkey
Tepig – Pig
Fennekin – Dog
Litten – Tiger
Scorbunny – Rabbit
Fuecoco – N/A
N/A – Snake
N/A – Horse
N/A – Ox
N/A – Goat

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Although some have tried to argue that Fuecoco represents the snake, that may be too much of a stretch, especially when Fennekin as the dog and Cyndaquil as the rat is already a bit of a leap in logic. With the Zodiac Theory being definitively disproven after Pokemon Scarlet and Violet broke the supposed pattern, there wasn't any expectation that Gen 10 would feature a Fire-type starter based on a snake, horse, ox, or goat. With the leaked Fire-type starter for Gen 10 alleged to be a phoenix, the Zodiac Theory would truly be dead, but there is still a chance the other starter types could fill in the missing pieces.

Leaked Grass and Water Starters for Gen 10 Would Cover Some of the Missing Zodiac Animals

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The leaked Grass-type starter is said to be a Grass/Fighting type inspired by the Trojan Horse, which is fitting given the rumored Greece-based Gen 10 region. While other horse Pokemon exist, such as Ponyta and Mudsdale, none have been a starter, and a Grass-type horse would be a first. What's more is that the horse is one of the animals missing from the Fire-type starter Zodiac Theory, so even though it's not a Fire-type, this leaked starter would fill in one gap in the broader starter Zodiac.

The leaked Water-type starter is described as the shed skin of a snake that is a Water/Ghost type, presumably evolving from a snake Pokemon as it sheds its skin. Snivy is already a snake-inspired starter from Gen 5, but the series hasn't featured a Water-type starter based on a snake yet. This would also fit within the missing Fire-type Zodiac Theory, but is once again not a Fire-type starter. If this leak is true, it seems like Game Freak is aware of the community's belief in the Starter Zodiac Theory, and may be poking fun at its existence, since two of the three alleged starters would fit the theory, but neither of them is the Fire-type starter—the only one that matters when it comes to the Zodiac Theory.

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