In fact, I have relatively little experience with Pokémon. When the cartoon appeared on Fox Kids in the late 90s, I was a bit too old for it. Or rather: I was the age that I found myself too old for that kind of colorful films. Yet I know the first generation of pokémon like the back of my hand, through the very first games on the Game Boy.

Although I enjoyed the RPG elements that I loved so much and the enormous urge to complete my collection of strange creatures, I lost sight of the franchise. The last game I played was Pokémon Go on my smartphone, and I also stopped that when new generations of pokémon came out that said little to me.

But now I am ready for a legendary adventure on my Switch. The nice graphics that are possible on the console, plus the fact that everything is portable, makes this a perfect time for me to step back in. Moreover, I am now mature enough to admit that I am not too old for it at all. I missed Let’s Go Eevee and Pikachu last year, because I thought it looked a bit simple, but I’m definitely going to make time for the next adventure.

There is one thing that makes me a little nervous, and those are all the new pokémon that they keep announcing. It seems as if the designers’ inspiration is running out and they have to pull out some strange looking objects to make something of it.

The first 150 pokémon were mainly based on standard animals, but then in monster form. In later games I already saw a lot stranger creations. For example, Klefki from Generation 6 is a key ring that you can use to attack other pokémon. Trubbish from Generation 5 is literally a garbage bag that evolves into a garbage dump. Palossand from Generation 7 is just a sandcastle! I get it: at a certain point you have had all the animals and you have to come up with something more creative, but say bad.

The pokémon that they’ve created for Sword and Shield strike everything for me. This week, Sirfetch’d, an evolution of the classic pokémon Farfetch, was unveiled. Sirfetch’d is a real gentleman, a stately bird standing upright, with its chest forward. In one hand he has a shield, in the other a giant spear that for some reason is twice as long as himself. That doesn’t seem practical to me. Or no, sorry, it’s not a spear, but a leek. According to the description, Sirfetch is very proud of its leek, which can last for years. Only when the vegetables wilt, does the bird retire.

That is strange, but it is by no means the craziest that was recently announced. A while ago the entire internet fell on Polteageist, and not just because of the terrible yet delicious word joke in the name. The body of this Pokémon is made of black tea with a clear aroma and taste. Only a trainer who has built up a relationship of trust with this being can taste the tea. But beware: if you drink too much, you can get sick. But wait, if his body is made of tea, and it is possible to drink that tea, does that mean that you literally drink this pokémon? What does that say about the relationship between people and Pokémon? Do we need this?

However, I was most surprised by Alcremie, who was unveiled in July. This beast looks like a dash of whipped cream. That has been so far, but because of the slightly ambiguous description of the pokémon, I wonder what the designers all drank. Alchemy can make cream, which becomes even more tasty when it is happy. If he is attacked, he throws his cream at an opponent to distract him or blind him temporarily. That cream has an extremely calming effect, and if you eat it you lose the will to fight even further. It was of course not long before the internet made a series of disturbing memes with this information.

I might exaggerate a bit, it’s just a game and it will be a lot of fun to spray a little cream with Alcremie.
Yet I would like to see how the creation of the new pokémon works. I can imagine how the developers are sitting together in a conference room, with an animal atlas in front of them, in which all used animals are already crossed out. They look outside desperately: ”Hey look, a garbage bag! Can we do something with that?”.
They relax a day on the beach to get inspired, and make a sandcastle pokémon as a souvenir.