#now THIS was the starter that i chose in my actual playthrough of swsh. this little fucker was Basically my reintroduction to pokémon

[front-facing-pokemon]

[salscreaturefeature]

Pokémon No.810 - 812: The Grookey Line

Hello! Starting my reviews off with the creatures introduced in the latest generation of Pokémon games, mostly because they’re the freshest in my mind and I can give a lot more passionate opinions about them. (Also I was inspired by Bogleech’s Pokémon reviews to start reviewing creatures in the first place.)

Anyways, let us start the dex off with the starter I actually chose in my playthrough of swsh!

Grookey certainly is another monkey Pokémon, another monkey starter no less. Well, it’s harmless enough. This whole line is based of of drummers, and I’m a percussionist so that gives it at least a little bit of charm to me personally. I like the way the stick behind it’s little sprout head tuft thing looks like a pair of drumsticks in set position, if you squint maybe.

But oh my gosh, with this whole line being based off of drummers and the games themselves having a heavy sport theme, wouldn’t it have been cool if these guys had some kind of marching band aesthetic? With a little shako and a plume that looks inconspicuously like a little sprout! What if Grookey started by playing the marimba! Marimba’s are already made of wood! No, wait, what if he started on cymbals like those little monkey toys! What if all three of the starters had a shared football game theme, where Scorbunny was a footballer, Grookey was a band kid, and...Sobble was a cheerleader!

This is giving me ideas for a whole dex of Pokémon with purely band/orchestra themed mons, but I’m getting ahead of myself, so...

Thwackey! I love that funky body shape so much. It’s great. And this time, the sticks in it’s head tuft look like they’re in a playing position! About to diddle on a snare! Lovely! Also he has gauntlets and gloves, so my dream of this line having wearing little marching band uniforms is kinda there. I love this guy and his wedge shaped body and his perpetual state of wall sits, what a lovely mon!

Rillaboom! Now, that’s just a monkey though. That’s just a big old gorilla. I mean, he still has gauntlets and the markings on his chest and arms kind of look like a uniform, so yeah, these guys are alright I suppose. Not really my type and they could have made them a lot cooler, but they’re solid.

Sal’s Creature Grade: C+