GALARIAN DARUMAKA

Darumaka, huh? What the heck lead them to make that Galarian? Orangutans aren't British and Daruma aren't British, and haven't we given the various ape and monkey Pokemon MORE than enough spotlight over the years? I Like Darumaka, but it really didn't need an ice-type variant.

Uhhh...nno, sorry, don't like it. I thought Darmanitan was cool looking, but Galarian Darmanitan feels weirdly off-putting, and I think it's because the snazzy, saw-toothed grin has been replaced with a "beard" and "mustache" that you can just as easily read as unnervingly huge, puffy lips. The giant snowball on top is obviously meant to make the whole thing look like a snowman at a glance, but that just kinda lets me down, because I've always wanted a proper snowman-themed Pokemon and they had to go making it a fake snowman in the fur of an ape. We also literally JUST had another blue and white "yeti" last gen, which was also a crab. Wasn't that kind of enough yeti for a while? Wasn't Abomasnow a yeti already? A ready alyeti?

As you may well know, though, the original Darmanitan was known for its fiery anger, and transformed into a calmer, quieter, psychic-type "zen mode" when its health dropped below half. This Darmanitan not only swaps the fire typing for ice typing, but starts out calm and gentle, which means...

I like, maybe even kind of love the idea of this "inverted" Darmanitan whose "Zen Mode" is not only furious, but regains fire typing to become our first fire/ice Pokemon. I've also always wanted a Pokemon that looks like a traditional snowman, and I love the half-melted face on this snowman head.

Unfortunately, I do not love the mitten hands sticking out of the angry monkey face. Had we JUST gotten an ice/fire snowman creature I'd have given it a 5/5, but for me this is a disappointing use of both the visual motif and the type combination. What's more, it doesn't make any sense if you don't know exactly what this Pokemon is, which in turn doesn't make total sense unless you already know the older Pokemon it's referencing. I think I would, surprisingly enough, have at least preferred this mode to have actual arms and legs, so we can at least tell that it's supposed to be an ape-ish creature simply "dressed up" like a snowman. Is its leglessness funny? Sure. It's just that it's also one too many oddball changes that muddle the visual concept of the design.