Pokemon Fan Art Swaps Sinnoh Starter Evolutions' Types

The starters from the Gen 4 Pokemon games tend to be viewed as some of the most popular in the franchise, and a creative fan has set about redesigning the three critters' final evolutionary stages by imagining what they'd look like if they used different types. Many regional variant Pokemon introduced since the Gen 7 Pokemon titles have demonstrated how each species can look totally different based on what types they use, and have inspired countless artists from the franchise's community to work on some custom designs of their own.

Starter Pokemon are a big deal in every Pokemon game, with almost every title in the franchise requiring Trainers to choose one Pokemon out of three to become their companion when setting out on a journey across a new region. The general pattern regarding starter Pokemon has remained pretty much unchanged since the very first Pokemon games, with each region's group of starter Pokemon consisting of three candidates — one Grass-type, one Fire-type, and one Water-type. Considering the overwhelming popularity of the Gen 4 Pokemon games in general, it's not too surprising that the Sinnoh starters have long been the favorites of many fans.

While every starter Pokemon in the franchise's history has been subject to fan art, a community artist known as primaljort recently shared a few fantastic redesigns of the Sinnoh starters' final evolutions. These designs are based on the trio's types each being swapped, with the custom Emperado being a Grass and Fighting-type redesign of Empoleon, Forgeterra presenting a Fire and Steel-type redesign of Torterra, and the Water and Ground-type Inundape showing off what Infernape might look like had it been the Water-type starter instead. These unofficial designs are rich with detail, even including custom Pokedex entries, shiny versions, stats, and more.

Even with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's roster of starter Pokemon seizing much of the community's attention for quite a while following the release of the Gen 9