The Chespin Family

As we speak, I've already finished the main storyline of the seventh generation, but the sixth - Pokemon X and Y - still feels so new and fresh in my memory, having brought in the shift from two-dimensional sprite graphics to those amazingly beautiful 3-d models we've been using since the Bulbasaur review. This is also the generation that introduced Mega Evolutions for existing pokemon, but we've already reviewed all of those with their respective base forms...which will leave this generation almost as brief as the fourth.

Anyway, here's Chespin, our grass starter. I'm not sure how I feel about a mammalian grass starter after five straight generations of reptiles, but it's certainly a cute little chestnut-hedgehog, or whatever it is.

The second stage, Quilladin, has all the goofy awkwardness we expect from middle evolutions, its chestnut "helmet" expanding into comically round and cumbersome body armor.

Our final stage, Chesnaught, is a surprise Grass/Fighting pokemon, and at first, it might not be totally clear what kind of animal we're looking at. The previous stages felt more like hedgehogs, porcupines or possibly even chipmunks, but the humped, scaly armor of this beast reeks more of armadillo, and a very particular sort of armadillo at that:

Complete with its shaggy facial fur and smaller headplate, Chesnaught is almost unmistakably a Glyptodon, maintaining the prehistoric animal theme we've seen in every grass starter since good old Bulbasaur, if you recall that the Snivy line also retained arms and Torterra resembled an Anklyosaur as well as giant, horned prehistoric turtles.

Additionally, Chesnaught has a sort of "armored warrior" motif going on, which will be relevant to our remaining starters!

Another solid opening to what's about to be a great generation!