Don't Get Too Attached to Pokemon Winds and Waves' Pombon

Pokemon Winds and Waves were announced just a few days ago, and they are already the talk of the town among fans for what seems like a sprawling open world with underwater exploration and the best graphics yet for the series. Not only that, but Pokemon Winds and Waves' starters are very much making waves (pun intended) online for various reasons. Be it the fact that Browt looks like it just got out of the Angry Birds franchise, be it that Gecqua seems straight out of Littlest Pet Shop, Gen 10 starters are a bit polarizing — you either love them or you don't. What's making fans stand under the same banner, however, is the new Fire-type starter, Pombon.

Pombom's design in Pokemon Winds and Waves is making it a fan favorite among the community. It's cute, it seems a bit dumb, it has the Japanese Kanji for "fire" on its paw, and more importantly, it's a dog. Dogs are obviously a very popular animal species for humans, and Pombon is already special because it's the first dog starter in the franchise after 30 years, as odd as that sounds. I'm sorry, Fennekin was never a dog, no matter how hard you try to make Pokemon's Chinese zodiac Fire starter theory sound right. And yet, while Pombon is getting a lot of love on social media, you should temper your enthusiasm.

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By Andrea Trama

Pokemon Winds and Waves' Pombon May Have a Disappointing Evolution

There is one simple, excruciating detail about Fire-type starter Pokemon in the franchise, and that's that they never stay on all fours. In fact, there is only one Pokemon that ends up being quadrupedal among Fire starters, and its evolution is actually bipedal. The list is as follows:

Charmander is bipedal and stays bipedal (Charmeleon, Charizard)
Cyndaquil is bipedal and stays bipedal (Quilava, Typhlosion)
Torchic is bipedal and stays bipedal (Combusken, Blaziken)
Chimchar is bipedal and stays bipedal (Monferno, Infernape)
Tepig is quadrupedal and becomes bipedal with its first evolution (Pignite, Emboar)
Fennekin is quadrupedal and becomes bipedal with its first evolution (Braixen, Delphox)
Litten is quadrupedal and becomes bipedal with its final evolution (Incineroar)
Scorbunny is bipedal and stays bipedal (Raboot, Cinderace)
Fuecoco is bipedal and becomes quadrupedal with its final evolution (Skeledirge)

What follows is that, despite Pombon being extremely cute and begging for its design to stay on all fours throughout its evolutions, it's very likely that it will become bipedal at some point. Many fans are already calling for it to stay on all fours on social media by drawing tape over its front paws, which is what happened with Sprigatito in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Unfortunately, Sprigatito did evolve into a bipedal critter, and while Meowscarada is very popular, many players wished it would stay quadrupedal.

Why Pombon is Likely to Be Bipedal in Pokemon Winds and Waves

On top of that, there's also Pokemon's Fire/Fighting-type curse, as Fire starters have gotten Fighting as a secondary type three generations in a row with Blaziken, Infernape, and Emboar. And even when they didn't, they often got bulky bipedal evolutions with the likes of Charizard, Incineroar, and Cinderace. This could be even more of a problem considering the likely mythological inspiration for the dog-like starter Pokemon in Winds and Waves.

Pokemon Winds and Waves' setting is inspired by the real-world Southeast Asia, including the likes of the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. A Twitter user by the name of @SitheachE shared a post on the platform highlighting the possibility of Pombon's evolution being inspired by Barong. This Balinese mythological creature is the king of all spirits and the embodiment of good, battling the demon queen Rangda.

It follows that, if this is indeed the inspiration for Pombon's final evolution, it could be the first-ever Fire/Fairy Pokemon — a protector that looks like a mix between a dog and a lion, adorned in jewelry. Costumes based on Barong are typically employed in dances where the creature stands up on two paws to battle Rangda and restore celestial order. Normally, the creature is represented on all fours, but several variations are bipedal. While this is speculation, between the Barong dance and past Fire starter Pokemon, it's better to curb your enthusiasm if you wish for Pombon to remain as dog-like as possible and to be quadrupedal. At least for now.