>>28029200Yeah, I'm not sure how they came up with a gryphon either. I searched through google and compiled what seemed to be the most common design concepts for the starters.
For Rowlet, it was pretty much just a bigger bird with a grass motif, a dapper gentleman, and surprisingly enough, gryphon.
I actually find Popplio3's feminine design to be quite refreshing. I know starters have a gender ratio of 87.5% male to 12.5% female, but I don't think people realize that this ratio doesn't necessarily equate to "87.5% masculine, 12.5% feminine." Chikorita was the first official feminine starter, and we've seen all kinds of seemingly bizarre combinations, such as male Bellossom, female Machamp, and so on.
The gender ratio was made like that to make it harder to breed starters, especially when it comes to egg moves. It's a lot more difficult to obtain a female starter with perfect IVs to breed with a male Pokemon that can pass down an egg move due to this gender ratio. Same goes for Eevee, who has the same gender ratio as well.
But this gender ratio doesn't actually reflect the "masculinity" or "femininity" of the Pokemon itself.
I think this is one of the more challenging ideas for Pokemon fans.
