Rumour: Concept Art Reveals the Final Evolutions of the Alola Starters

I'm not a fan... Rowlett's Final is the only one I find myself liking.

These would be hot garbage. Especially the water one

I doubt these are true. I highly doubt Game Freak would have a Fire-Fighting final evolution after having them three times in a row and drawing plenty of criticism for it.

Also, Popplio's final evolution looks nothing like Popplio itself coloration-wise.

Tbh I'm a little biased because I dislike everything except for Rowlett's supposed final evolution, but I still think this is unlikely.

If this is what they end up as I'll be pretty happy because a Water/Fairy final for Popilo is something I'd totally be onboard for. The only thing that I think is disappointing is that the Fire starter looks like is may be Fighting type AGAIN, which is a terrible idea. What happened to quadrupedal Pokemon?

I don't think it's real... It's just doesn't look that way.
But if it IS real, Rowlett just got some serious points on my starter-picking list.

I hope that these aren't what the final starter evolutions look like. I like the concept for Rowlett Hood, but the other two are disappointing. I'm a huge fan of Litten, but if that's what its final evolution looks like, I think I'll pass. We've already had enough Fire/Fighting starters as is. As for Popplio's supposed final stage...no. Just no. It's by far the worst of the lot.

its totally fake considering the water turns into a water fighting and fire turns to fire/rock this gen to coincide with grass flying.

The appearance of Mallow in the images is a pretty strong point of these designs since they've been around the internet for a while now.

Poppileos "rumor final" doesn't make much sense because it loses the clown motif.
I like Rowletts "rumor final".

The Archer, the Beast and the Dancer?

Seems like they've taken the RPG class route again with the final starter evolutions.

that awkward moment when popplio's final evo is so "girlish" and the starters female ratio is 12.5%.
Well.... braixen already did it . xD

nice..reminiscent of Robin hood. I shall call it.....Hoodlum.

If these are real, I think I've finally outgrown Pokemon at the tender age of 26.

As for Rowlet's final proposed final evolution, he reminds me of a certain person from Berserk that I don't exactly like and/or trust.

@DarkKirby That made my day, thank you haha

The top 2 look like fan art, but the bottom one reminds me of Yellow Submarine.

@Oat If you were trying to post an image you left out the forward flash / before img in the last set of brackets.

@rjejr thanks haha, I was trying to remember what it was lol

An uncolored, tiny sketch of a girl with a flower in her hair and another girl with a flower in her hair being conformed is what makes this rumor true?

I was really hoping that these were fake... but it's hard to deny that girl in the concept art for Litten's evolution looks exactly like the character from the trailer today, which somebody faking this art work a month ago couldn't have known about...

I just don't like the idea of Litten turning into a bipedal tiger wrestler... Admittedly, I actually like Rowlet and Poppolio's evolutions.

If it's real I just don't like the Litten one.
I like the Rowlet and Popplio ones.

I was going to choose Litten, but if he's going to be another Fire/Fighting type, and an ugly one at that, I think I'll pass, or never evolve Litten.

@amiiboacid But..
What are the chances the fake manages to get the specific hairstyle right? it's the same hairstyle from the official art, and.. it's pretty hard to get a coincidence with that specific hairstyle.

idk why people are dissing on the cat so much. I think he looks much better than the omega ruby starter fire. I actually like his design

@DarkKirby Is it just me or did anyone else change voices in their head for litten there?

Nothing too ugly imo. I like Poplio's final the best but I have no interest in starting out with it the first time.

Not gonna lie, Litten's evolution (if they turn out to look like this) is the only decent looking one. Don't really see why people dislike Fire/Fighting types. They usually have the coolest designs. We've all seen what happened with the sorry excuse of a starter Delphox turned out to be both design wise and reliability in battle but apparently people want more of that..

So an archer, Wrestler, and... a siren? Honestly, I think I'm the only one to like the Litten's final evolved form, but I would probably still choose Rowlet over the three. I think that, while is it evolves into a water fairy, Popplio's design is too feminine, but almost like it's for adult females.

If these are true, than it looks like Popplio becomes Water/Fairy. Also, I think Litten could be a Fire/Dark.

Guys, calm down. The rumours also say Litten's final evo is fire/DARK. Not fighting! Yes, it looks like a fighting type, it isn't... maybe.

Whether these are real or not, I feel like their designs seem pretty neat. They sort of look like the Adventurer, Berserker and Songstress from FE:Fates, but maybe that's just me...
Litten's final form kinda reminds me of Armour King from Tekken, which is pretty cool I guess. Hoping it's Fire/Dark with how it uses dirty moves in its illustrations (slamming that table at Pikachu, wow)

If these are real I think Popplio's final evo looks great! Litten's final reminds me too much of Emboar though, and Rowlet's is kinda "meh" to me.

All things considered, I think these evolutions are pretty good. Litten is the only one I don't really like, but even then it's not actually that bad. I feel like there's no way these can't be real after having been around for so long and having a character that was confirmed in today's videos. I mean, maybe I'm wrong, but I don't know, I kinda want to hope these are real because liking 2/3 is pretty good for me lol.

If this is true, it's truly sad. I have seen far better Fan Art since Sun & Moon was announced and nothing made Litten a Fire/Fighting Type...

IMO these is the best Fanart: http://i.imgur.com/k4Ld2bv.jpg

These are 100% real. They were leaked ages ago. Today's reveal of Mallow confirms them. Not a rumor in the slightest.

Rowlet stays Grass/Flying, Litten becomes a Fire/Dark, and Popplio becomes Water/Fairy.

Don't worry, no Fire/Fighting here!

Also, similar concept art for Noivern was leaked before X/Y's release:

Litten's final evolution is supposed to be a wrestling heel - a term for a "villain" in pro wrestling, hence Fire/Dark type.

No no no no NO! My first choice is definitely Litten and it might turn into a freakin furry?? No to anthropomorphic! Then my second choice, Rowlet... Still too humanoid, come on, they can do better than that! And Popplio... Oh god, Popplio... What have they done to you...?

Please let this be fake or before it was finalized. Too much cringe.

Whoa, those are all awful! -_-
I bet they're fake though, because they all look too humanlike imo, for Pokémon.

Thanks for not putting them on the thumbnail of the article. I'm still trying to avoid them until they're officially revealed.

I'm very surprised no one likes these designs. I personally am fond of them all. The only one I would want changed is the final evolution for Litten. His design isn't bad at all, but I feel like since third generation, every fire starter has had a human like approach for the final form (with the exception of Infernape, he still looked like a monkey). Anyway, I am leaning toward starting with Popplio, and I really like his final evolution here.

As always, this is nothing more than a rumor, and even if this were to be true, it's just concept art. Remember that concept art for Mighty No. 9? We all know how accurate that was!

I now really dont like poplio evolution. It looks to much like a girl while starters are mostly male all the time. Or atleast make a male and female version. I do like littens evo but also to manly looking for a female. They should stop with that lopunny mentality when it comes to design. I understand whit machop and its evos because that was before genders where introduced but having a male lopunny thats obviously based an a "sexy woman" in its design just bothers me and is also very noncreative in a certain way. Another thing they can change in future installments.

Too humanoid for my tastes, kinda hope they're fakes. Gen 4 was the only one where I ditched my starter, don't want to do that again :/

When I look at Litten, I'm strangely reminded of destroyman from no more heroes, especially with that fire attack. Nevertheless, while I do dread the revelation of fire/fighting, I like the designs nonetheless.

I'm still not convinced... too many other possible explanations for it...
it could be a coincidence,
it could be a prank from someone inside the company who had seen Mallow's concept art, or
it could be unused concept art from earlier in development, which would explain the grass-type expert being with the fire-type final evolution (the character's concept art may have been done, but their role may not have been decided).

In another rumor that supposedly guessed everything on the recent reveal right, it said the starters would each get two last evolutions Dx

And before these concept arts my starter was either gonna be Rowlett or Popplio. But, right now totally Popplio! :3

Imma just gonna riff off these designs and the revealed design concepts we have.

Sun and moon are quiet clearly inspired by esoteric philosophy, or at least the heavy hitters so far are.

The three starters composing of the three basic principles
Grass pokemon: Salt
Fire pokemon:Sulphur
Water pokemon:mercury
(cant remember pokemons names)

The water starter being mercury, which is an analog of the theurgy and one of the composing pieces of the symbol is Venus, that final evolution could not be more a representation of Venus if it tried, the hair for one is very Sandro Botticelli the "Birth of Venus" with the long pony tail tied twice. Also Water/fairy would make a lot of sense if these are real.

Salt represents the essence of the material world in hermetic thought and an analog of astrology the second basic principle. This design is less in your face but with the bow I think Sagittarius but also with the owl motif with Athena whose symbolically connected to the owl and the Pallas Athena which is a major astrological symbol. Also the robin hoob looking design could be a reference to hermetic teaches in which one should reject material desires.

The fire one, sulphur, as the starter holds the leviathan cross on its head and is the final principle that of the soul and alchemy. Tis a masculine symbol as mercury is a fem. but thats all I get from that final evolution, other then maybe the belt is an "alchemy belt" but I do draw a blank on that. Though dark/fire would make more sense then fire/fighting here me thinks

On a prediction outside these I think we may be getting a third legendary based on the Ibis. With all the hermetic symbolism revealed already the Ibis would be a perfect fit for the third major legendary as it the bird used for the head of Thoth the Egyptian version of Hermes and closely related to Hermes Trismegistus the founding father of these esoteric thoughts and also a moon god who served as councilor to Ra the sun god and in some ancient teaching it was this relationship that caused an eclipse and could fit very well next to the sun eating lion and the crescent moon bat... Thats just my two cents

Wow, if true, Rowlett really is the best of the 3. I love it's design as a first stage but assumed it'd lose it for some in-cute design later, but surprise surprise it actually handles a cute to cool transition quite nicely Meanwhile Poplio is a wonderfully fun design that I really enjoy and thought that aspect would carry over to its final evolution but boy is that last one unexpected. From a jolly clown performer seal to a Mermaid-type character? Really jarring. And While litten struck me as rather plain, but with potential, to become yet another bipedal fire fighting is grown inducing.

Ultimately I hope these aren't true but if so, at least Rowlett saves the day.

These would be fine. It'd be nice if they'd stop remaking Blaziken, but Rowlet and Popplio ver. 3.0 are solid. I think I'll have to wait and see how they animated to make my choice.

If that's true then no cats for me.
Popplio suddenly looks full of grace tho.

I... kinda see this as quite possibly legit. I don't like that the Litten evo is humanoid, but it could still be a dark type and not fighting, so it might still not be the absolutely worst thing ever. Same thing as Delphox, not really a fan, but it's passable.

Nothing wrong with the Rowlet evo. Hope it gets some arrow related good offensive/utility moves like a grass move super effective against flying or something..

Popplio evo is a siren or some similar beautiful water thing similar to Milotic. Mermaids were inspired by manatees so OK. Better than Litten.

Please for the love of god let Litten and Popplio have gender based appearances, have a female final evolution of kitten and a male final evolution of popplio. If not then I'm not evolving my Pokemon if they don't have the gender that best suits their appearance. crosses fingers

This is honestly my favorite generation of starters if these are true. I'm tempted to go with Rowlet now because his final evolution is really cool, plus I like that he pulls on the hood strings to hide his face when he's ebarrassed or doesn't want people to look at him. It gives him a fun personality.

@Oat #GriffithDoneNothingWrong

I hope not, these are REALLY ridiculous.

Considering that these leaks came before the trailer in some parts of the internet...
http://i.imgur.com/1fSIJ56.jpg
I think it's real.

Fire/Fighting. It never ends.

sorry but no.....i won't be using any of these if that's the final evos for them all. They look ugly to me.

After looking at Ken Sugimori's art all these years, these Pokemon seem wayyy too elaborate to be legit. While his designs aren't exactly predictable these seem so far away from his design tendencies. Just not his style. If they're real I'll lay a Togepi egg.

Why isnt anyone talking about Litten and his fire spiral shaped erection

It takes a while for me to warm up to new starters, but I always do eventually. Except for Chesnaught. I really don't like Chesnaught.

Looks awesome to me!

i will wait for official confirmation to believe it.

I totally lol'd at Litten, I didn't think that was a tail.

Masculinity is so fragile istg. Team popplio.

FAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope it's fake.

@Xaldin
I honestly can't see a single good quality in these evolutions. Maybe I've gotten old, but these look horrible. What exactly do you like about them? Especially the water one, who, in my opinion, is the worst design I've ever seen

Well, if I were to go a bit more negative than my previous comment, I might say I can see why people would dislike these designs besides "lol fugly"

The Gen1 starters evolved into three badass lizards, all of which looked like they were quite big. Gen2 had Meganium with Bambi eyes, but it was still a big looking dinosaur. The others were a punk alligator and a frickin flaming honey badger. Case closed.

The starters are in a way supposed to represent the core concept of Pokemon. Little monster -> Big badass monster. I'm not sure how many people want to see their little mon grow into a FABULOUS mermaid. I presume that can be badass too, but it's just not the same as when you look at Blastoise.

So, I don't think these are bad decisions, but they are questionable...

Rowlet is still the best by this theory. The evo could star in his owl stealth game.

(Also Litten evo is dum and looks like little Timmy's first Sonic OC, Steroid the Catman, original character do not steal)

@AlexSora89 It's Fire/Dark.

@Classic603 I don't think it has much to do with age, it's probably a variety of factors. I think it's mainly a different taste in art. With every generation there's going to be Pokemon you dislike and Pokemon you like, but there's always someone out there who likes a pokemon you dislike. I'm assuming you also grew up with generation one and played each one, so you must have noticed that happened even when you were a kid. Another factor could be people creating an image of their final forms in their mind, but then are shocked to see what they end up looking like. This would be especially true for newer generations, since it seems like all recent startes vastly change compared to their initial design. Usually this kind of biased hate fades away eventually though.

As for things that I like about each of the final evolutions...

Rowlet: I think the idea of him using his wing as a bow is very cool and I like both the mysterious and fun vibe he gives off, and it just seems really clever and fitting to me. Plus I find the design eye catching, not too complex and not too simple.

Litten: I can understand why people are hating on him. There does seem to be some sort of weird trend where 4-legged starters turn into 2-legged creatures by their final evolution (lile Cyndaquil, Embroar, Mudkip, and Fennekin), and some are upset with it because they think he's Fire/Fighting when it seems to be that he's actually Fire/Dark. Personally, as far as the humanoid portion goes, I'm glad it went this route. We have plenty of cat pokemon so far, and to my knowledge this is the first humanoid cat pokemon we've gotten, which makes him unique. Otherwise I think he would have been too similar to Sun's legendary. I think a lot of people were hoping he would turn out to look more like a lion to redeem Pyroar's underwhelming appearance, but we already have a badass looking lion now. He seems like a strong protector, which is what I expect from fire starters.

Popplio: This final design is very elegant and beautiful. It seems to balance out the other two starters. We have one starter that is cool/mysterious, one that is strong, and one that is elegant/beautiful. It is a bit surprising that it didn't keep the clown appearance, but I still like the design.

Overall it comes down to personal preferance. Although it seems like these are pretty legit, they still aren't 100% confirmed yet either. I don't think anyonr should get too upset or hopeful until they are officially announced.

So everyone seems to think Mallow being in the concept art confirms these as real. Why would that be a definite? Whose to say that her designed has not changed from then until now, but the starters have?

@UmbreonsPapa Nothing is definite, but having the exact concept of that girl that was just revealed in this trailer in pictures that were leaked months ago is quite a coincidence and it's not only the hairstyle (which is quite peculiar and not a common design) but also the clothes. Along with those pictures came some information like the lack of gyms, hich seems to be proven real after the last trailer.

@Piersen I'd hardly consider Meganium badass looking. And even with that theory (which I am sure there is some merit to it), not all of the gen 1 or gen 2 evolved to badass looking Pokemon. So its not like there isn't precedence

@roy130390 I guess what I'm getting at is isn't there a chance that her concept art hasn't changed at all from May til now. But its quite possible the starters have? I admit it's probably unlikely. But having read Hyrule Historia where alot of the concept art showed things that weren't used and were used in the same batch of concepts, its quite possible some things remained the same and some didn't.

@UmbreonsPapa Yeah, I know, which is why I mentioned the Bambi eyes But it still looked like a big beast, that you could use to, dunno, carry very heavy things around or whatever. It looked like your little Chikorita grew into something big and strong, and I'm not sure I get this impression from the Popplio evolution.

But again, I am no genwunner, I'm not saying they were the best at the start. I just think that the concept I mentioned is something that is important for starters, and I think gen1 and some of gen2 starters embodied it relatively well.

While everyone is loving or hating the designs, I may be the only one here who saw that people are boiling water in a kettle on Litten's final's crotch-belt.

I will add that if these are the final designs, it's hard to really get a gauge on how well they eventually are until we see them animated in game (as well as the anime). I really was hoping for something a little more intimidating with Popplio's final evolution (if these are real). It's cute nonetheless. I will say I definitely like the concepts for Litten and Rowlet's final stages.

@Piersen I definitely agree with being a bit underwhelmed with Popplio's final evolution.

My team of three fully evolved Littens:

I like all of the designs, Popplio being my favorite. I don't mind if Litten were to look like that, but he better not be a Fire/fighting type...

I like them, Rowlet being my favorite. Seems I finally found a great replacement for Bulbasaur

Here's hoping more of the new pokemon get beefier evolutions like these.

@Xaldin I guess where you see mysterious and intrigue with the grass type, I see poor decision making. An owl that wears a hood and somehow uses a wing as a bow instead of a BA grass bird? Or the fire starter being humanoid. They could have made a panther style, or tiger, and kept it different from the Sun mascot. And where you see a graceful/beautiful creature in the water starter, I see a man dressed as a woman lol. It's ugly, convoluted and overly busy. Blastoise was a turtle with cannons. Charizard was an awesome dragon. Venasaur was an awesome dinosaur with a huge flower. Each generation (with the exception of B/W) had intriguing and creative designs for the starters. This? This isn't on the caliber of any other generation. I consider B/W to be the worst, yet it still had some redeeming qualities. I can't get behind any of these 3 starters. And it's a shame, I love ice Vulpix and the electric bug type. there are some neat creatures this gen but the starters are a huge turn off for me. But I agree, it comes down to personal taste. So if these are the official forms, then hopefully it can grow on me. As of right now, I'm doubtful though

@IceClimbers
Now that's interesting! Especially considering the only other fire slash dark Pokémon I can remember is - ironically - a hellhound!

For me, these go: Popplio > Rowlet > Litten

I'm always very suspicious of anything that has obvious words like 'CONFIDENTIAL' on it.

I'm calling these fake.

Litten's final form will become the first 3 type pokemon Fire/Fighting/Dark!

@smm1
"Popplio's final evolution looks nothing like Popplio itself coloration-wise"

That's... Kind of an odd statement in regards to why these might not be real.

Because I mean, neither does Dratini's final evolution. We have a line of two blue/white dragons, which look similar to each other, but ultimately end up as a tan/green dragon that looks completely different than either of it's two previous forms.

Another example is Exeggutor. It's a palm tree with yellow eggs, while Exeggcute is just a cluster of pink eggs. The color theme doesn't match there, either.

These are both examples that date back to Gen 1, and they're not even the only examples, so IDK it just... Seems weird to bring that up as to why these might be fake images.

I don't know if these images are legit or not, but if they are, I'm super happy for Rowlet and Poplio because these look awesome. Litten, on the other hand...

@artswaifu
You make a valid point. I forgot about Dratini and Dragonite, and Exeggcute and Exeggutor.

I guess a better criticism would be that thematically-wise Popplio and its supposed final evolution are different (Popplio is associated with the circus, and its final evolution is associated with singing). Though even then that's hardly a rock-solid criticism.

After giving these some more thought I think that these may actually be correct, but there may be more forms of the final evolutions. It could be that each gender gets a different form, or maybe that each island gets a different form. So if this theory is true, and if these evolutions are true, these may be some of multiple final evolution forms.

@smm1
Hm, forgive me as I may just be remembering incorrectly, but I thought the starters as Circus-themed pokemon was entirely a fanon creation and not actually real? I've looked at the official artwork that we have of Popplio and I can't really see any actual circus themed elements to it.

I hope to Arceus that Litten doesn`t evolve into that disgusting beast. They`re my top priority starter, and if they turn into THAT, idk who. Maybe Rowlet.

@Yoshis95 He just looks like a clone of Emboar, an already bad starter. Litten is so gothic, so I hope they go down that route, not...
THAT.

@artswaifu

I could slightly see it in how Popplio plays around with balls of water and balances them on its nose in official concept art, sort of like how circus sea lions balance balls on their nose.