I unironically love Incineroar. I wanted to pick Litten from day one as I thought it was the absolute cutest, and was half-happy, half-scared when I saw the leaks. I thought the design was really cool and beefy, and he looked like he had a great personality. On the other hand, I was scared of yet another fire/fighting. Regardless, I loved him just for looking awesome in my eyes. I adore the wrestler design and OTT personalities, they just really make me smile.
I was beyond ecstatic to hear he was fire/dark, and the more was revealed about the personality of Incineroar, the more I thought he was just a cute cuddly monster. He tries to be the bad guy to entertain people, and that's why he acts so OTT, but honestly loves putting a smile on people's faces. I think that's honestly really cute and admirable. I never disliked Incineroar just because he stood on two legs. Although it is a bit overused, it doesn't automatically make him a bad design, so I didn't really care when they decided that for him anyway. A wrestler on four legs would be pretty ridiculous, anyway.
And then when I finally got the game, I guess my loyalty was rewarded. I got a shiny Litten the first time I set up the game. I initially thought it was bugged, but no, it was a genuine shiny Litten. He supported me on my team all the way, and his animations were so honestly full of life it made me laugh at first. I was so glad when he finally evolved into Incineroar.
He's really cute in Refresh, too. Just overall, I personally like his design and personality, and he holds a lot of special value to me too. I feel like a lot of people just dislike him because of 'bara' and 'two legs fire type' memes. Who cares. He's a good standalone design and I feel like a lot of thought and care was put into him. Of course, you'll all just say I'm a bara-fetishist. I don't understand why people hate him so fervently. It's just a wrestling tiger with a fire belt. No one hated Rawk Hawk.
