>>38284147I can give you the Wartortle thing. I never really thought of that one much but you're right that it does kinda just give up on the wing ears and curly tail.
But I will also say that that is Gen 1. They were still finding footing back then.
The others you listed though really aren't equivalent here.
Froakie was meant to be a theif with the bubbles acting as a hood. Frogadier, going by it's various names, is the thief upgrading to being part of an organization (it's got shit like "squad leader" and some word for a yakuza member in it's other language names) and the bubbles have started to become a scarf. Greninja doesn't just lose the bubbles though, the bubble scarf becomes replaced with a tongue scarf that is still used the same way the bubbles were before. The idea evolved with it's evolutions.
And Decidueye didn't lose the gentleman thing at all. It's based on Robin Hood, and in many depictions of that legend, Robin was of noble birth. He was certainly a gentleman and Decidueye still has very elegant "clothing".
The point is Sobble clearly has a thing about being timid and crying. There's going to be SOMETHING related to that in it's final evolution.
