>>13975658Adding to this post, I've created an image showing some of my other concerns, conveniently numbered for /vp/. (ignoring obvious problems like the 'mistake' on Froakie's final evo's knee and stuff like that)
1. Since I'm picking Fennekin as my starter, I was naturally going to inspect Braixen's evo first. Something that jumped out at me was the complete lack of shading on the shoulder fur. Note how on Braixen, there's a clear sense of light/dark where as on its evolution, it's a solid shade.
2. On all of Sugimori's artwork involving the starters, a change in color (besides shading) has always been defined with a line. Notice on Froakie, Fennekin, Chespin, Frogadier, Braixen, and Quilladin that whenever a color change occours within the Pokemon, there is a clear and line differentiating between the two colors. Now notice on Braixen's evolution the complete lack of lines whenever a color change occours, sans the paws. I'm not saying it's impossible for Sugimori to change the artstyle on the final evo, but I find it strange that he'd change the style established for the final Pokemon.
3. This one is pretty important. Look at the shading on the official Pokemon versus the leaks. You can tell Sugimori built up the various shades using multiple stroke at a low opacity. If you look at Braixen's final evo, it looks like the artist used a high opacity, single brush stroke. The shading is not as soft/subtle as previous artwork.
4. This one only applies to Braixen because it received most of my attention. Note how Fennekin and Braixen's cheek tufts and fur (especially Braixen's shoulders) look. Now compare that to the final evo. The style seems to have changed a lot and the fur seems far too sharp. If Fennekin and Braixen didn't share this trait, I wouldn't have counted it as an issue.
That's a brief summary of some of my concerns. I haven't ruled these out as the real deal, but I'm keeping my mind open to the possibility that they're really good fakes.
