>>40657770The point you miss is that older gen pokemon looked like they evolved to live in their habitat. Even stuff like Jynx and Mr. Mime were good designs because theyre domestic/urban pokemon.
The newer designs dont have that natural appeal. They're stylized animals which, in a vacuum, still allows for great designs (and gen 7 starters are good designs), but within pokemon represents a style shift thats jarring because the newer gens have a lot of pokemon that dont fit that original idea of a monster creature evolving to adapt to its habitat and thats why older fans are off put by newer designs.
Take a meowth. They're urban pokemon that like shiny stuff and are popular as pets. Perfectly believable monster cat design. Its evolution builds on that, becoming a more fancy cat with a gleaming jewel in its head. You can imagine only the most successful meowths who attain the richest owners are able to evolve.
But then look at litten. Everythings fine till Incineroar, because it goes from a believable looking fire-breathing house cat to...a...wrestler? Why? Its a domesticated cat, why is it suddenly a wrestler? All torracats, wild or domesticated want to be a wrestler?
Incineroar is a cool design by itself. Wrestler cat bro with a sick fire spouting belt is awesome.
But as a pokemon, a game about kids exploring the wild and finding cool monsters that can grow to be kings of their habitats through evolution, the evolution is a huge mistakr based on that design philosophy
