Paldean Tauros

 doing this here with all the other regional evolutions, so I don't forget

For a Spain-inspired region, there's not a whole lot of Spanish flavor in Paldea. But if there's one thing I was looking forward to, it was a bullfighting Pokemon. El toro y el matador, you know? So what they decided to do with this easy layup is... odd, to say the least.

First up, it's just a regional form of Tauros. Which isn't awful, I mean they could have just made a new bull Pokemon, but they already have one, so hey. But when I saw it, I thought it was just a shiny Tauros. Then I noticed its horns were blunted. Somehow, this makes it a Fighting type.

I mean, yes, it is a bull that fights, because bullfighting, so Fighting, that's fine. But wouldn't that make it look, idk, more aggressive? Shouldn't the horns be emphasized, if anything?


Then I realized that there are multiple forms of this regional form, which seems pretty pointlessly confusing, especially since Blaze Breed is easily the best of the lot and should have been the only one. Fire/Fighting is a better combo, it has badass horns, plus the tail being braided into a bullwhip is such a cool detail! It's one of those rare regional forms that's just a straight improvement on the original in every way.


Finally, the Aqua Breed, just seems redundant. Why do we have this water buffalo? This isn't Veggie Tales. Its horns look dumb, and spinning its tails like a propeller in the water is barely anything.

But again, I have to ask: Why are there three of these guys? I would have simply done Blaze Breed on its own, that's Paldean Tauros, no further questions. If there must be multiple, then I suppose Fire and Water are traditional counterparts, whatever. But then why does there exist a third version whose defining characteristic is just "lacks the defining characteristics of the other two"? Especially since you could just use regular Kanto Tauros in that role. I don't get it.

 

Combat Breed: 6/10

Blaze Breed: 10/10

Aqua Breed: 4/10 

No. 952: Scovillain

 two heads are worse than one

Well, that was disappointing. I do applaud Scovillain for the typing, the overall concept, and for bringing back the iconic Gen 1 Single White Toenail, but dear lord are there problems here. The biggest one is that those necks look ready to snap right off. I know plant stems are pretty skinny, but surely it would look better to taper in the opposite direction? (it's not just a quirk of the artwork's perspective, either - they're actually modeled that way)

Almost as important is the bizarre way those lower teeth are cutting through their jaws. I guess the teeth are supposed to be like pepper seeds, but uh... are pepper seeds known for poking through the pepper like that? It looks painful at best, and if it wasn't for the artwork I would have assumed they were a model clipping issue.

See? Now was that so hard? In my version, the red head is always the one to shoot Fire attacks, and the green head always does Grass attacks. Also it gets Drought as a hidden ability. But alas, the perfect ideal can never exist. So we are left with the flawed reality.


Overall: 6/10