• Oricorio: not sure whether I first discovered it being used by a trainer dancer or in Melemele meadow, but I sure did find it fun that it had the same coloration as the flowers where it was found in the wild. But a pom-pom bird? Well, not sure what to think about it, especially with such a cry that's going to make real-life cats hate it - they really did their job at making the highest-pitched Pokémon cry I believe. It didn't look like something I'd use, so I boxed it after capture, and I wasn't sure of why it did have the Electric-type either. Then in Akala island I found another dancer with a pink bird that does the hula... I didn't realize it was the same species as one Pokémon I already caught until later. But that's also how I realized different forms now have their individual Pokédex entries, which is something I wished for that generation and I did get it! The Oricorio I caught in Melemele Meadow happened later to be useful for my adventure, although I did use it only briefly, during the Grass-type trial, thanks to spread Air Cutter and particulary useful defensive typing for that trial in particular- speaking about typing, why doesn't that thing learn any Electric move? I was disappointed at first, but it made more sense upon realizing that the "specific Pokémon species" mentioned in the Nectar item description was Oricorio, and if one form can learn a non-Flying STAB then the other forms would get it too, which thematically wasn't the point of the Pokémon. Thankfully I discovered Revelation Dance later - fun fact, the only move in the game that makes a distinction between primary and secondary typing to function, does that mean it opens the floodgates for more primary/secondary typing relevance for moves or mechanics for future gens? Maybe not if Forest's Curse and Trick-or-Treat oppened them for tertiary typings yet we got nothing to expend on that in this new gen. Design-wise it's a pretty cool Pokémon, not in the "OMG I want to use this" way but rather for feeling unique with how it represents different styles of dancing and doing that job well.
•
Cutiefly: I love this Pokémon! This is as much as an unsubtle introduction as my initial reaction when I first saw it in a trainer battle, it's one of those Pokémon I loved immediately as soon as I first saw it. I loved its simple, yet very appealing design with its yellow fur, rapidly flapping wings, and adorable face which still manages to look very bug-like. There's also the fact I initialy thought it to be inspired from the
hummingbird hawk-moth, one of my favorites insects and one of my most wanted sources of inspiration for a new Pokémon, but I was later slightly disappointed to learn that Cutiefly's inspiration source was something else. Still, it doesn't hurt my appreciation for the Pokémon after all, and I got to discover the
bee fly, something I had no idea existed. So when I checked its type in the Pokédex (cool thing that you don't have to catch a Pokémon to see its type in the Pokédex anymore) I realized it was Bug/Fairy, a type combination I absolutely no idea what it could ever give before. Not only it looks awesome but it also seems to be fairly unique, so I felt I absolutely had to catch one, and fortunately it was easy (contrary to many other Pokémon this gen I considered using but eventually ignored because they seemed like they'd be too hard to get). I used it as much as possible, although I had to drop it occasionally like in the Fire trial where it would have been more of a liability. Right now I can safely say it's my favorite of all non-fully evolved Pokémon. If I have a nitpick about the design it'd be the legs which don't seem like Cutiefly would walk on them, but at least I can imagine them being used for picking up small items for whatever reason.
• Ribombee: I'm going to tell it right now - I don't like Ribombee as much as Cutiefly, which is why I didn't put its name in bold. As much as I loved Cutiefly's design I knew it couldn't be its final form (
which the Pokédex confirmed) and I still wanted to see it. It eventually evolved at the start of my journey in Ula-Ula, and I was so happy to see it evolve! I didn't know what to expect, and I got... an humanoid butterfly. Okay. I can't say it isn't super cute, but an important aspect of what I liked about Cutiefly - its very bug-like appeal without the need of human-like features - doesn't apply to its evolution, instead going full-on cutesy anthropomorphic bug, with very distinct arms and legs, bipedal stance, and human-like mouth. And just like I first saw Brionne, I wasn't a huge fan of the contrast between its pre-evolved form's fairly gender neutral appearance and the feminized evolution (good coincidence that the one I caught and used was female). So rather than disliking it for being a "waste of potential" or "an unworthy evolution" or anything like that I just appreciated it for what it is and kept it in my team. I admit if there's something cool Ribombee does design-wise that Cutiefly doesn't it's
looking like an adorable bug girl the brown scarf-like feature that makes its color scheme both great and unique. Anyway, I still liked using it thanks to its unique typing that destroyed opposing Dark-types as well as its great speed, and eventually happened to be one of my most consistently used Pokémon in my adventure.
• Rockruff: the very first gen VII I got to discover in-game thanks to Kukui's introduction at the very beginning of the game. It's an adorable puppy with a good fur color, somewhere between light brown and beige, so even though it's maybe not the most amazing thing it still gave me a good first impression. For some time I never got the opportunity to see it in battle, only as a sort of overworld pet not counting Kukui's catching tutorial, so I knew about it without having registered in the Pokédex. So it made me wonder, when will I discover how this puppy fares in battle? For what I remember I got that opportunity in the Battle Royal Dome, and I got a surprise because I didn't expect it to be Rock-type! Yeah that seems weird but its French name "Rocabot" makes the Pokémon's rock aspect less obvious, so I assumed until then it was just Normal-type... Unfortunately I never got the opportunity to catch one, yeah I went in Ten Carat Hill where it can be found but the RNG decided to not make me encounter one.
• Lycanroc: I'll first talk about the midnight form since it's the first one I got to discover, specifically in the Kahuna battle against Olivia. I thought what, a rocky werewolf? That seems kinda random. And it's funny it looks like a shiny Yveltal. This might be cool, where it is in the Pokédex? It looks evolved, so it's probably the evolution of a Pokémon I completely missed. So I open the Pokédex, and... doesn't find it. Wait, didn't I actually find this Pokémon's pre-evolved form, simply Rockruff? It's a rocky canine too, so it would make sense. And yeah it was the case. Indeed the design difference surprised me a lot. Much later in my adventure I got to fight
and he sends... a Lycanroc, why did he also have one? Olivia already had one, it seems so repetitive... oh wait the design is different? Okay, I wasn't expecting that! Later I realized that the form I first saw was the midnight one, and the other way the midday form. Pretty clever since werewolves are traditionally said to be more ferocious during night, and the midnight form definitely looks more like it wants to shred you apart.
